Geneva - Saba:
The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, called on the international community to take collective and urgent action to put an end to the worsening humanitarian suffering in the Gaza Strip.
Spoljaric said in a press statement issued on Saturday that "there is no justification for what is happening in Gaza. The scale of human suffering and the level of violation of human dignity has exceeded all legal and moral acceptable limits."
"The ongoing hostilities are mercilessly claiming lives, with children dying from food shortages and families being forced to repeatedly flee in search of nonexistent safety."
She stated that 350 ICRC staff in Gaza face the same dire conditions for accessing food and clean water.
Spoljaric stressed the need to end this tragedy immediately and decisively, emphasizing that any political hesitation or justification for ongoing violations will go down in history as a collective failure to uphold a minimum of humanity in times of war.
She called on States to fulfill their obligations under the Geneva Conventions, ensure respect for international humanitarian law, including refraining from transferring weapons that could be used to commit grave violations, and work to compel the parties to the conflict to fully comply with international humanitarian law.
She urged the urgent resumption of unhindered and indiscriminate humanitarian access throughout the Gaza Strip, the release of all remaining hostages, and the resumption of the ICRC's visits to Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention centers.She emphasized that saving lives in Gaza is possible if there is the political courage to respect the rules of war and ensure the protection afforded to civilians by international humanitarian law.
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