'Israel' used captives to kill, starve Palestinians: UN expert
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The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs describes the Nuseirat refugee camp as "the epicentre of the seismic trauma that civilians in Gaza continue to suffer."
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Palestinians look at the aftermath of the Israeli bombing in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Saturday, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
"Israel" has used captives to legitimize killing, injuring, and starving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, said Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, on Saturday.
The Israeli occupation military said its forces retrieved four captives who were held by the Palestinian Resistance from the Nuseirat refugee camp. The Gaza Government Media Office confirmed that Israeli raids on the camp killed at least 210 Palestinians and wounded more than 400.
The operation came days after an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which had killed 37 people.
UNRWA condemned the Israeli strike on the facility, which it said had been housing 6,000 displaced people.
Albanese said she was "relieved" that four Israeli captives had been released but stressed that this "should not have come at the expense of at least 200 Palestinians, including children, killed and over 400 injured by Israel and allegedly foreign soldiers, while perfidiously hiding in an aid truck."
The UN expert wrote on her account on X that "Israel" has used its captives to "legitimize killing, injuring, maiming, starving and traumatizing Palestinians in Gaza. And while intensifying violence against Palestinians in the rest of the occupied territory and Israel."
She indicated that "Israel" could have retrieved all captives alive and intact eight months ago when the first ceasefire and prisoner exchange was put on the table. "Yet, Israel refused in order to continue to destroy Gaza and the Palestinians as a people."
Relieved that four hostages have been released. It should not have come at the expense of at least 200 Palestinians, including children, killed and over 400 injured by Israel and allegedly foreign soldiers, while perfidiously hiding in an aid truck.
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) June 8, 2024
This is "humanitarian…
Meanwhile, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, said the "Nuseirat refugee camp is the epicentre of the seismic trauma that civilians in Gaza continue to suffer."
He stressed that all Israeli captives must be released but expressed that "the images of death and devastation following Israel's military operation there prove that each day this war continues, it only grows more horrific."
Nuseirat refugee camp is the epicentre of the seismic trauma that civilians in #Gaza continue to suffer.
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) June 9, 2024
As 4 hostages are reunited with their families, scores are still being held captive. All of them must be released.
Each day this war continues, it only grows more horrific. pic.twitter.com/lhKnvfjJH0
"Seeing shrouded bodies on the ground, we are reminded that nowhere is safe in Gaza," Griffiths mentioned, saying that "seeing bloodied patients being treated on hospital floors, we are reminded that health care in hanging by a thread."
Read more: Mahmoud Abbas urges UN emergency session following Nuseirat massacre
