UN rights chief urges probe into 'Israel's high-impact weapons'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Reuters
11 Nov 2023 06:05
1 Shares

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights demands an investigation into “Israel’s” indiscriminate bombardment and shelling in densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip.

Fire and smoke rise following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, October 8, 2023 (AP/Hatem Moussa)

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for an investigation into “Israel’s” indiscriminate bombardment and shelling in densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.

Taking a swing at “Israel’s” deadly weapons considering their high explosivity, Turk told reporters in Jordan, “The extensive Israeli bombardment of Gaza, including the use of high-impact explosive weapons in densely populated areas ... is clearly having a devastating humanitarian and human rights impact.”

The UN High Commissioner said “Israel” must end its use of such weapons in the densely populated area, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, half of whom have been forcibly displaced in the last month.

“The attacks must be investigated ... We have very serious concerns that these amount to disproportionate attacks in breach of international humanitarian law.”

On November 7, the head of the Gaza government media office, Salama Marouf, said the Israeli occupation's aircraft, tanks, and naval vessels have bombarded the Gaza Strip with more than 30,000 tonnes of explosives, averaging 82 tonnes per square kilometer since the beginning of the aggression on October 7.

Meanwhile, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported on November 2 that the Israeli media had acknowledged dropping 10,000 bombs on the Strip since the beginning of the aggression on October 7.

The international organization said the quantity of explosives launched on Gaza exceeds 25,000 tons at a rate of 70 tons per square kilometer, noting that this amount of explosives is equivalent to twice the power of the US nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The Geneva-based organization said the Israeli occupation army claimed that its warplanes targeted more than 12,000 "targets" in the Gaza Strip, whereby the share of each individual in the Strip exceeds 10 kilograms of explosives.

The organization also pointed out that "Israel" is deliberately using a mixture of explosives known as RDX, with a strength times 1.34 of TNT.

As per Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, this means that the destructive force of the explosives dropped on Gaza exceeds what was dropped on Hiroshima, noting that the area of the Japanese city is 900 km2, while the area of Gaza does not exceed 360 km2.

"Israel" is using bombs with huge destructive power, some of which range from 150 kg to 1,000 kg, highlighting the statement of Israeli Security Minister Yoav Galant who admitted that more than 10,000 bombs were dropped on Gaza City alone.

Most recently, Israeli "Heritage" Minister Amihai Eliyahu said nuking the Gaza Strip is on the table in light of the ongoing aggression on the Palestinian people.

The extremist Otzma Yehudit minister was asked in an interview for Radio Kol Berama whether an atomic bomb should be dropped on Gaza, to which he replied by saying it was "one of the possibilities."

Eliyahu also underlined that he was staunchly opposed to any humanitarian aid making its way to Gaza, a statement which he backed by saying, "We wouldn't hand the Nazis humanitarian aid."

"There is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza."

An Israeli minister said nuking #Gaza is an option, but in reality, the Israeli occupation did nuke Gaza, just in small doses.#PalestineGenocide #GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/dnKiPyQVaT
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 7, 2023

His remarks created a backlash in the international community with many calling on the IAEA to investigate Israeli nuclear sites considering that the Israeli Minister’s remarks constitute an admission that “Israel” does possess nuclear weapons.

This comes as the US plans to contain the genocidal rampage campaign in Gaza by requesting that the Israeli occupation forces use "smaller bombs" to reduce the increasingly morbid number of killed civilians in an effort to dodge international humanitarian concerns, a report by The New York Times revealed.

According to the report, which cited anonymous US officials who were involved in private meetings with the Israeli officials, the US outlined a set of directives that could make the Israeli operation more effective and allegedly fatal to civilians in Gaza:

Focusing their efforts on assassinating Hamas leaders
Enhancing intelligence gathering regarding Hamas command and control networks before launching airstrikes
Using smaller bombs to destroy the tunnel network
Deploying ground forces to separate civilian population centers from areas with concentrated militant presence.

American military officials have advised the Israelis to use small bombs, which they assess to be more suitable for the dense urban environments of Gaza, instead of the larger bombs that they are currently using (which have been reportedly stockpiled over the years to be used against fortified Hezbollah military positions in Lebanon).