The number of amputated children is shocking – Without anesthesia, the operations in question are carried out, says a lawyer, a UN official<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Israel has violated international law by "relentlessly" shelling the Gaza Strip, leveling neighborhoods and killing thousands of Palestinians, an independent United Nations human rights expert said Thursday.<\/p>\n
"Israel did things that are completely illegal," Francesca Albanese said during a press conference in Madrid.<\/p>\n
The comments by the Italian jurist, the UN's special rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, came as Israel faced an appeal by South Africa to the UN's International Court of Justice (IC) in The Hague, accusing it of "genocide".<\/p>\n
Although Israel has the right to defend itself, international humanitarian law must be respected, "to protect people who are not actively involved in the fighting: civilians, prisoners of war, the sick and the wounded," Mrs. Albanese stressed.<\/p>\n
It is necessary to separate combatants from civilians and it must be ensured that the operations conducted are proportionate, the specialist continued.<\/p>\n
"Instead, we witnessed 100-plus days of incessant bombing \u2014 the first two weeks with 6,000 bombs per week, 2,000-pound bombs, (dropped) on highly populated areas," he noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost hospitals can no longer function. A large number of these hospitals, the larger ones, were closed, bombed or occupied by the (Israeli) army. People are dying now not only because of the bombs, but also because there are not enough health facilities to offer them care," the specialist said.<\/p>\n
"The number of children who are amputated every day, who have one or two limbs amputated, is shocking. In the first two months of this war, 1,000 children were mutilated without anesthesia. This is monstrous," he added, without specifying where he got the information.<\/p>\n
Generally, special rapporteurs are independent and are appointed by the UN human rights committee.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Albanese "strongly condemned" the attacks by Hamas, which in her opinion may constitute crimes against humanity, adding at the same time that "nothing justifies what Israel did."<\/p>\n
The unprecedented attack by Hamas' military arm on southern sectors of Israeli territory on October 7 killed some 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official statements from the authorities.<\/p>\n
In the Gaza Strip, at least 24,620 people, the vast majority of them women and children, were killed in the Israeli army's shelling and retaliatory operations, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The text discusses the violation of international law by Israel in bombing the Gaza Strip and killing thousands of Palestinians. The United Nations special rapporteur for human rights condemned Israel's actions, stating that they were completely illegal. The special rapporteur also highlighted the need for the separation of combatants from civilians and the importance of adhering to international humanitarian law. The text also mentions the closure and destruction of hospitals in Gaza, leading to a lack of healthcare facilities. The shocking fact mentioned is that 1,000 children have been amputated without anesthesia during the war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[384,3,145,115,187,136,299,462,170,293],"class_list":["post-1984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-bombing","tag-cyprus","tag-gaza","tag-human-rights","tag-international","tag-isiyiioeiyi","tag-israel","tag-palestinians","tag-violation","tag-war"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n