UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Thursday (August 11) that she was alarmed by the number of Palestinian children killed in recent days and called for those responsible to be held to account.
In the past week, 19 Palestinian children have been killed, bringing to 37 the number of deaths since the beginning of the year, according to the High Commission.
17 were killed during the hostilities in Gaza from August 5 to 7, and two others were killed on August 9 during Israeli law enforcement operations in the West Bank.
"
The high number of children killed or injured this year is unconscionable
," Michelle Bachelet said in a statement.
Read alsoThe UN Security Council considers the situation in Gaza
On August 5, the Israeli army launched in the Gaza Strip an operation presented as “
preventive
” against Islamic Jihad during which its main military leaders in Gaza were killed, as well as several fighters of the group.
“
The civilian cost of the latest escalation in Gaza, August 5-7, was heavy
,” according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Michelle Bachelet's services were able to verify that among the 48 Palestinians killed, there were at least 22 civilians, including 17 children and 4 women.
Of the 360 Palestinians reported injured, almost two-thirds were civilians, including 151 children, 58 women and 19 elderly people.
The Israeli army maintains that Palestinians, including children, have been killed by rockets fired by Islamic Jihad towards Israel but mistakenly landed in the Palestinian enclave.
According to the High Commission, a number of Israeli strikes hit property that was visibly civilian.
“
Such attacks must stop
,” said Michelle Bachelet.
She also accused Palestinian armed groups of launching hundreds of rockets in indiscriminate attacks, causing civilian casualties and damaging civilian property in Israel and Gaza.
Read alsoIsrael believes it has dealt a severe blow to Islamic Jihad in Gaza
The High Commissioner has called for prompt, independent, impartial, thorough and transparent investigations into all incidents where people have been killed or injured.
"
An almost total lack of accountability persists...whether for the violations of international humanitarian law committed by all parties to the hostilities in Gaza, or for the recurrent Israeli violations of international human rights law and of occupation law in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem
," said Michelle Bachelet.
