NEW YORK CITY: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Sunday issued a stark appeal ahead of a high-level conference on Palestine, urging governments to exert pressure on the Israeli regime to end its “carnage” in Gaza and warned that inaction could amount to complicity in war crimes and genocide.
In a video statement released from Geneva, Turk called for “immediate steps by Israel to end its unlawful continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory,” and urged all parties to work toward implementing a two-state solution.
The event, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, is being described as urgent and historic.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher on Sunday warned that the situation in Gaza was dire, with widespread hunger, children wasting away, and people risking their lives just to access food.
While Israel’s recent move to ease restrictions and allow more aid through was a step forward, Fletcher said it was not enough.
Vast quantities of aid, safe access routes, consistent fuel supplies, protection for civilians, and an immediate ceasefire were urgently needed to prevent further catastrophe.
Turk said: “This conference must deliver concrete action.”
He urged the participating governments to “put all possible pressure on the Israeli government to end the carnage in Gaza — permanently.” Turk cautioned that “countries that fail to use their leverage may be complicit in international crimes.”
Describing the situation in Gaza and the West Bank as an “unspeakable tragedy,” Turk said that daily violence and destruction were fueling the “dehumanization of Palestinians.”
He condemned Israeli plans that he said amounted to consolidating the annexation of the West Bank and forcing Palestinians out of Gaza.
“Every day, we see actions and hear about plans (to) crowd extremely exhausted and hungry people into ever-smaller areas of the territory, after repeated displacement orders by the Israeli military,” he said.
“These steps put the two-state solution even further out of reach.”
“Children are starving and dying in front of our eyes,” Turk said, calling Gaza “a dystopian landscape of deadly attacks and total destruction.”
He criticized what he described as the failure of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, supported by the US and Israel, saying its chaotic, militarized distribution centers “are failing utterly to deliver humanitarian aid at the scope and scale needed.”
According to figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry, Turk said, over 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured since Oct. 7, about 10 percent of the territory’s population.
He also noted that more than 1,000 people have died since May while trying to access food, and that over 300 humanitarian workers have been killed by Israel.
“All countries have an obligation to take concrete steps to ensure that Israel, the occupying power in Gaza, complies with its obligations to ensure that sufficient food and lifesaving necessities are provided to the population,” he said.
Turning to the occupied West Bank, Turk accused Israeli security forces and settlers of “continuing to kill Palestinians, demolish houses, cut off water supplies, and consolidate systems of oppression and discrimination.”
While condemning the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian groups and recognizing the trauma inflicted on Israel, Turk reiterated his long-standing condemnation of the scale of Israel’s military response in Gaza.
He said he has warned repeatedly of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the need to prevent genocide, echoing concerns raised by the International Court of Justice.
“The people of the world will judge this conference on what it delivers,” he warned.
Turk renewed calls for an “immediate, permanent ceasefire,” the “unconditional release of all hostages and all others arbitrarily detained,” and for “massive” humanitarian aid to be delivered to Palestinians “wherever they are.”
He concluded by expressing the UN human rights office’s readiness to support Palestinian state-building efforts grounded in human rights and the rule of law, and emphasized the importance of victim support and accountability.
