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Special UN tribunal for Gaza could be needed: Griffiths

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
18 Dec 2023 11:23
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A special tribunal for Gaza could be necessary as the Israeli genocide unfolds further with complete impunity and no accountability.

Martin Griffiths, United Nations Under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief on Dec. 6, 2022, at UN headquarters. (AP)

Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, stated that a special tribunal for Gaza could be necessary as the Israeli genocide unfolds further with complete impunity and no accountability.

He also lamented the loss of humanitarian aid workers, saying it "has never been greater."

"The impunity that goes along with the choosing of war as your first option has never been greater. And the impunity for killing humanitarian aid workers has never been greater... Impunity we have seen rampant in this war... Maybe there is a need for a special tribunal [for Gaza]," Griffiths said as quoted by the Financial Times.

He also described the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as the "worst ever", saying that it is nearing a new phase of rampant disease and hunger that would be the leading cause of deaths in the Strip and that the agony Palestinians have to endure will only get worse.

Griffiths also addressed the death toll in Gaza, saying that once what is under the rubble gets revealed, the number, currently at least 19,000, will increase exponentially.

In the context of Israeli strikes, Griffiths debunked all claims of accurate strikes launched by "Israel" in the south. "The truth of the matter is we have not seen it at all in the south. On the contrary, we’ve seen it grow more," he told the newspaper, claiming that "the Americans doing a lot of diplomacy on this."

UN humanitarian plan 'in tatters'

Looking back at his November 10-point plan for containing the genocide and restricting its toll in the Strip, Griffiths admitted that it was rendered useless. "I just threw it in the bin... I was a fool to even think that it was sensible... We turn around and find out the truth: the war ain’t over yet, it ain’t half over... I don’t think we’re halfway through this yet. We’ve got weeks and weeks to go of this savage war," he said.

Last week, Griffiths warned of the potential complete UN humanitarian efforts collapse in Gaza due to heavy and reckless Israeli bombardments that have eliminated any safe places in the Strip.

The Israeli occupation's genocidal aggression on the South "made no place safe for civilians in southern Gaza, which had been a cornerstone of the humanitarian plan to protect civilians and thus to provide aid to them."

Southern Gaza was left "without places of safety," and as a result, the UN plan was "in tatters", Griffiths explained.

"We do not have a humanitarian operation in southern Gaza that can be called by that name anymore," the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs stressed.

Humanitarian workers: Exhausted, helpless, or killed

During a video conference last week in the presence of journalists, international aid charities and organizations raised concerns about an “apocalyptic” situation in Gaza, after illustrating a picture of the “horrors” there, as depicted by Save The Children.

It is with profound sadness we confirm that a staff member of Save the Children and his family have been killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

Sameh Ewaida, 39, was the proud father of four children – Mohammad (12), Heba (11), Zeina (3), and Zein (2)
— James Denselow (@jamesdenselow) December 12, 2023

Alexandra Saieh of Save the Children said, “Those who survived the bombardment now face imminent risk of dying of starvation and disease,” adding, “Our teams are telling us of maggots being picked from wounds and children undergoing amputations without anesthetic," while others wait by the “hundreds” for a “single toilet” or searching for food.

Sandrine Simon of the Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) charity spoke of an incident suffered by a colleague wounded in Khan Younis “when a tank attacked a school where he had taken refuge." She stated that after it “took him hours to reach a hospital,” where “exhausted” nurses were trying to care for hundreds of patients lying on the floor.

“Gaza’s hospitals are becoming morgues. That’s unacceptable.”

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) President Isabelle Defourny relayed a similar story, highlighting the urgent matter that fuel and medical supplies are “critically low".

“We are working in Al-Aqsa hospital, receiving an average of 150 to 200 war-wounded patients daily... since the first of December.”

Defourny added that this week, “they received more dead than wounded patients. The hospital is overflowing, the morgue is overflowing, fuel and medical supplies have reached a critically low level,” accusing "Israel" of displaying “a total disregard for the protection of Gaza’s medical facilities."

On December 9, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that over 130 confirmed UNRWA staff, predominantly with their families, have been killed by Israeli bombings, adding that this number may increase.