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UN Human Rights Office Says IDF's Deadly Nuseirat Raid May Amount to War Crime
Israeli forces killed at least 274 Palestinians in the refugee camp on Saturday while conducting an operation to save four hostages.
Jun 11, 2024
Citing the "principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution" that international humanitarian law demands military forces obey, the United Nations' top human rights office on Tuesday said the raid conducted at Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces over the weekend may amount to a war crime.
The IDF conducted the operation at the camp in the central Gaza Strip in order to free four Israeli hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, and Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) told reporters their release was "clearly very good news."
But the OHCHR, Laurence said, is "profoundly shocked at the impact on civilians of the Israeli forces' operation," which killed at least 274 Palestinians, including 64 children and 57 women, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
"The manner in which the raid was conducted in such a densely populated area seriously calls into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution—as set out under the laws of war—were respected by the Israeli forces," said Laurence in a statement.
Actions by both the IDF and Hamas, he added, "may amount to war crimes."
As it has since beginning its bombardment of Gaza in October in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, the IDF blamed the civilian casualties on Saturday on the militant group, saying the hundreds of deaths were the result of Hamas operating in the densely populated Nuseirat camp.
But while Laurence said the OHCHR was "deeply distressed" by Hamas' capture of hostages and its operating in densely population areas, Rutgers Law School professor Adil Haque concurred with the office that Israel is obligated to protect civilian lives in Gaza regardless of Hamas' conduct.
"The fact that your adversary is breaking international humanitarian law does not change your obligations," Haque told The Washington Post. "The foreseeable harm to civilians was disproportionate to the legitimate aim of rescuing the four hostages."
Eyewitnesses and aid groups have said the attack began in broad daylight andstarted after IDF soldiers entered the camp in a humanitarian aid truck. The operation was carried out with jets, drones, and tanks and included strikes in the vicinity of a maternity clinic that has been converted to a hospital to help care for people wounded in Israeli attacks since October.
Paramedic Abdel Hamid Ghorab told the Post he witnessed "random and continuous bombing in the vicinity of the hospital with unprecedented intensity."
"All they cared about was carrying out the operation, even if it was at the expense of all these lives," said Ghorab.
Israeli lawyer Michael Sfard told the Post that the 274 casualties "is enough to raise questions about whether the use of fire was indiscriminate," which would be a violation of international humanitarian law.
"Was the air power used on a prospected military objective, or was it a random, indiscriminate use of bombardment in a very densely populated area?" he asked.
As the OHCHR made its statement, Writers Against the War on Gaza condemned The New York Times' publication of "a whitewashed puff piece on the Nuseirat refugee camp massacre," authored by former IDF soldier Ronen Bergman, which they said was aimed at dehumanizing Palestinian civilians while including no context about potential war crimes by the IDF.
"The framing of this article, typical of New York Times coverage of the massacre, foregrounds four (alive) Israelis over hundreds of dead Palestinians, and presents the IDF as swashbuckling heroes," the group wrote on the X account of its project, The New York War Crimes. "This prefigures the reader to accept the justification for IDF butchery."
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On World Refugee Day, Calls to 'Broker Peace' So 35 Million People Can Go Home
"We know too well the cost of inaction: a world with the highest forced displacement in recorded history," the U.N.'s top refugee official noted. "We cannot let this continue."
Jun 20, 2023
As the worldwide number of refugees soars to an all-time high due in large part to war, advocates marked World Refugee Day on Tuesday by imploring the international community to work toward achieving peace and provide the financial and other resources necessary to enable tens of millions of displaced people to return home.
More than 108 million people around the world were displaced as of the end of 2022—and over 35 million of those people were refugees—due to war and other violence, climate shocks, persecution, and other human rights violations, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) said in its annual Global Trendsreport released last week.
That's a 23% increase—or 8 million more people—from 2021, and the figure is expected to surge even higher due largely to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the battle between rival factions of Sudan's military government, the agency warned.
"Right now, the world is facing a refugee crisis unlike any since World War II."
"On World Refugee Day, we honor the courage and hopes of the millions of people forced to flee war, violence, and persecution," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement on Tuesday. "This year I'm marking the occasion in Kenya, meeting refugees brimming with strength and ambition despite escaping conflict, drought, and other horrors."
Grandi asserted that the world "can—and must—do more" to offer "hope, opportunities, and solutions to refugees, wherever they are and whatever the context."
\u201c110 million people have been #ForcedToFlee due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, disasters & more.\n\nOn Tuesday's #WorldRefugeeDay, UNHCR has 5 ways you can stand #WithRefugees. https://t.co/beqF6jVscf via @Refugees\u201d— United Nations (@United Nations) 1687233780
According to UNHCR, more than three-quarters of global refugees are hosted by low- and middle-income countries, with Turkey, Iran, and Colombia hosting the most displaced people. The agency also said that roughly 7 in 10 refugees live in nations bordering their countries of origin.
Noting efforts by countries that "have generously hosted refugees," Grandi asserted that "host countries cannot do it on their own."
"The international community must step up and provide the financial resources to enable such progressive policies," he stressed. "We have seen enormous progress in this area over the past years... but clearly, more must be done."
\u201cBREAKING: the police tried to stop our banner drop.\n\nThis World Refugee Day, we couldn\u2019t let them silence us: REFUGEES WELCOME, ALWAYS\n\n\ud83d\udccdParliament, London\u201d— Freedom from Torture\ud83e\udde1 (@Freedom from Torture\ud83e\udde1) 1687276971
"Unfortunately, in today's divided world, long-term solutions for people forced to flee remain pitifully scarce, leaving many of the world's 35 million refugees in limbo," Grandi continued. "That is why, on World Refugee Day, I [call on] leaders to live up to their responsibility to broker peace so that violence stops, and refugees can return home safely and voluntarily."
"I call on governments to increase resettlement opportunities for refugees desperately in need," he added. "And I call on states to embrace policies that harness the enormous potential refugees have to contribute to the social, economic, and political life of the countries hosting them."
\u201cToday we mark #WorldRefugeeDay. This year's theme is "hope away from home." Palestinians are among the largest refugee populations in the world. For over 75 years, apartheid Israel has denied our refugees their @UN-stipulated right to return home and receive reparations.\u201d— BDS movement (@BDS movement) 1687264681
"We know too well the cost of inaction: a world with the highest forced displacement in recorded history," Grandi said. "We cannot let this continue."
This year's World Refugee Day comes amid fears that most of the more than 700 refugees aboard an overloaded fishing boat that sank off the southern Greek coast last week drowned. So far, 81 bodies have been recovered and 104 asylum-seekers have been rescued from the shipwreck.
\u201c\ud83d\udd34Open letter:\u00a0Together with @TimaKurdi, more than 180 international initiatives demand a full investigation of the shipwreck off Greece and an end to systematic border violence.\n#Pylos \n#WorldRefugeeDay\n\nhttps://t.co/hKPrBlaRh1\u201d— Sea-Watch International (@Sea-Watch International) 1687241479
Former U.K. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: "It is a political choice to let human beings drown at sea. On World Refugee Day, we demand justice."
In the United States, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)—a childhood refugee from Somalia—noted that "right now, the world is facing a refugee crisis unlike any since World War II, with refugee crises in Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Myanmar," and other countries.
"The climate crisis is only expected to fuel more forced migration from the most-impacted regions," Omar wrote on Twitter. "It is on all of us to live up to our professed values."
\u201cI and millions of others would not be where we are today if it weren\u2019t for the United States of America\u2014a country that stands as a beacon of hope for the poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free around the world.\u201d— Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan Omar) 1687276846
"We must provide safe refuge to those seeking asylum and reject nativist efforts to punish and criminalize asylum seekers," Omar added. "And we must pursue a binding agreement on global migration to hold each other accountable for addressing this crisis."
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110 Million Now Forcibly Displaced as War, Climate Crisis Wreak Global Havoc
"The 46 least developed countries account for less than 1.3% of global gross domestic product, yet they hosted more than 20% of all refugees," a new report by the United Nations shows.
Jun 14, 2023
The United Nations refugee agency on Wednesday released its annual report on forcible displacement across the globe, revealing that the refugee population has hit a new record of 110 million people who have been driven from their homes due largely to violent conflicts and climate-related disasters—with the numbers showing the crisis is rapidly intensifying with each passing year.
At the end of 2022, more than 108 million people were living as refugees—up nearly 20 million from the previous year, according to the report, Global Trends in Forced Displacement 2022.
The recently erupted conflict in Sudan has pushed millions more people out of their homes this year, bringing the mid-year total to 110 million.
More than 32.5 million people have also been displaced by disasters, including those caused by the climate crisis, and 21% of those refugees have left their homes in the world's least developed countries and small island nations.
\u201c110 million people in the world have been forced to flee their homes owing to conflict, violence, instability and persecution. #GlobalTrends \nReport: https://t.co/zGeG9wS6vL\n\nhttps://t.co/0ejgO0VsoG\u201d— UNHCR News (@UNHCR News) 1686734854
Dominique Hyde, director of external relations for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the agency's report marks "a world record that no one wants to celebrate."
The majority of people—58%—who have been forcibly pushed out of their homes have gone elsewhere in their own countries. More than 35 million people have fled their home countries to find refuge from conflicts, persecution, and the effects of planetary heating, including drought and flooding.
The war in Ukraine has caused the fastest growth in refugee numbers since World War II and was the main driver of displacement in 2022, with 5.7 million people having fled the country by the end of last year.
Violence in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Myanmar have also displaced more than one million people each, as vulnerable residents fled to safety within their own countries.
In Somalia, an extreme drought that began in January 2021 has now displaced one million people. The drought has been linked to the climate crisis and the food shortage it's caused has been exacerbated by the war between Russia and Ukraine, which collectively used to provide Somalia with 90% of its wheat.
"This one-million milestone serves as a massive alarm bell," said Mohamed Abdi, the Norwegian Refugee Council's (NRC) director in Somalia. "Starvation is now haunting the entire country."
About six million Palestinian people are currently refugees, as well as 6.1 million Syrians, 5.7 million Afghans, and 5.5 million Venezuelans.
While low- and middle-income countries are where refugees typically come from, countries in the Global South also disproportionately take responsibility for welcoming and resettling displaced people, compared to wealthy nations.
More than three-quarters of refugees are hosted in low- and middle-income countries.
"The 46 least developed countries account for less than 1.3% of global gross domestic product, yet they hosted more than 20% of all refugees," said the UNHCR.
Iran is currently hosting 3.4 million refugees, including many from Afghanistan. Colombia and Peru have also welcomed millions of Venezuelan refugees, while countries including the United States have enacted policies in recent months making it more difficult for people fleeing persecution and conflict to find refuge there.
"We see increasingly a reluctance on the part of states to fully adhere to the principles of the [1951 refugee] convention, even states that have signed it," Filippo Grandi, the high commissioner for refugees at the U.N., toldReuters.
The record-breaking number of international refugees shows that policymakers "are far too quick to rush to conflict, and way too slow to find solutions," said Grandi in a statement.
"The consequence is devastation, displacement, and anguish for each of the millions of people forcibly uprooted from their homes," he added.
The agency noted that the refugee crisis has exploded in the past decade after roughly 20 years of relatively stable numbers that hovered around 40 million people worldwide prior to the conflict in Syria that began in 2011. Now, more than one in every 74 people is displaced.
"This has been a dark decade," Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Al Jazeera. "Every year, the world watches the number of displaced people increase, and then does too little to protect and assist the displaced. There is a reason for the dramatic increase in refugees and internally displaced: we fail to prevent war and violence, and national and international leaderships fail in conflict resolution where we have protracted emergencies."
Hyde noted in a column at Reuters that there are solutions that would help mitigate the refugee crisis, both by allowing people to stay safely in their homes and ensuring they are given support in host countries.
"When refugees are included in national systems and given opportunities to study and work, they move out of a state of dependency to one of self-reliance, contributing to local economies to the benefit of themselves and their hosts," wrote Hyde. "If host countries were given proper support on job creation, educational provision, technology, climate change mitigation, healthcare, and more, both the displaced and local communities would benefit."
"We have also seen refugees and IDPs [internally displaced people] return home when the conditions are right," she added. "During 2022, at least 5.7 million IDPs returned home, while 339,300 refugees were also able to go back to their country of origin. But this can only happen if lasting peace is achieved."
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