News - Middle East: A top UN official condemns the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, describing Israeli violations against Palestinians as “acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes.”

Joyce Msuya, interim chief of the OCHA humanitarian agency, made the statement at a UN Security Council meeting in Palestine on Tuesday.

"We are witnessing acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes," she said.

She condemned the Israeli military’s recent escalations in Gaza’s north, noting that civilians have been "driven” from their homes and often forced to witness the deaths of their family members.

"What distinction was made, and what precautions were taken, if more than 70 percent of civilian housing is either damaged or destroyed?" Msuya told the UN Security Council.

The UN official raised alarm over the Israeli Knesset's recent bill which aims to ban the activities of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees or UNRWA, starting in January.

She urged UN member states to use diplomatic and economic pressure to prevent further suffering of the Palestinian people.

The eight organisations including Oxfam and Save The Children said: "The humanitarian situation in Gaza is now at its worst point since the war began in October 2023."

The Security Council meeting came after a recent UN-backed report warned of an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine in the blockaded Palestinian territory.

Israel unleashed the Gaza onslaught on October 7. The Tel Aviv regime has killed about 44,000  Palestinians, mostly women and children. 

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said women and children comprise nearly 70 percent of those killed in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s campaign of genocide in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The office published the figures in a 32-page report that covers the six months from November 2023 to April 2024.

About 80 percent of the victims were killed in residential buildings, out of which 44 percent were children and 26 percent women, the report said.

Most of the verified deaths in Gaza were children between the ages of five and nine.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk stressed the imperative for Israel to fully and immediately comply with those obligations.

Volker Turk, the UN human rights chief called it “a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.”

Source: Press TV