U.N. calls for probe of breaches of humanitarian law in Israel-Hamas war

Nov. 16 (UPI) -- United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk called Thursday for an international investigation of allegations of serious violations of international law in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Probes of "extremely serious allegations of multiple and profound breaches" of international humanitarian law were the responsibility of national authorities but where they were unwilling or unable to do so, or the facts were contested, an international investigation was called for, Turk said in a briefing to U.N. states in Geneva.

Turk also urged the warring parties to comply with Wednesday's U.N. Security Council resolution calling for "urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip."

"I urge the parties to give effect, immediately, to the council's calls. And I urge all those with responsibility to step back from this devastating escalation of death, destruction and grief," said Turk, speaking after a five-day Middle East visit for talks with senior Egyptian, Jordanian, Palestinian and Arab League officials and civil society representatives.

Turk went further, saying the unprecedented "outpouring of fear, anger and despair" he was met with on his trip demanded a cease-fire.

"There must be a cease-fire on humanitarian and human rights grounds, and an end to the fighting -- not only to deliver urgently needed food and water, but to create the space for a path out of this horror."

Turk's plea comes after Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called for Israel's targeting of hospitals in Gaza to be investigated saying that no evidence backing claims Hamas is using medical facilities as command centers justified overriding the protected status afforded to them under international humanitarian law."

The group said the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the International Criminal Court should investigate Israel's attacks as war crimes.

Last week, the New York-based International Rescue Committee warned that nearly 1.5 million civilians in Gaza displaced by Israel's military offensive face a collapsing healthcare system with almost no access to safe water.

It said that with 95% of the population without access to safe water and 64% of primary health care facilities shuttered, diseases like cholera and typhoid "will inevitably spread " due to the lack of clean water and access to proper sanitation and hygiene.