GENEVA: The UN human rights chief on Thursday deplored the “grim milestone” of 40,000 Palestinians reported killed in Israel’s 10-month assault on Gaza, accusing the country’s military of breaking the “rules of war”. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk blamed Israel for the soaring death toll in the territory.

The health ministry in Gaza said on Thursday that the death toll from the conflict had reached at least 40,005 people, with another 92,401 wounded.

“Today marks a grim milestone for the world,” Turk said in a statement.

“Most of the dead are women and children. This unimaginable situation is overwhelmingly due to recurring failures by the Israeli Defence Forces to comply with the rules of war,” he added.

“The scale of the Israeli military’s destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and places of worship is deeply shocking.” He said his office had documented “serious violations” of international humanitarian law by both the Israeli military and Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas.

He reiterated a call for an immediate ceasefire and for the release of Israeli prisoners held in Gaza and of Palestinians “arbitrarily detained”. Ceasefire talks resumed in Qatar on Thursday.

The bloodiest-ever Gaza conflict which broke out more than 10 months ago has taken an appalling human toll. At least 40,005 people have been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory.

In addition to the deaths in Gaza, attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the occupied West Bank have killed at least another 632 Palestinians, according to the data provided by the Ramallah-based health ministry.

Israeli fire since October has killed 570 people in Lebanon. Hezbollah announced that more than 370 of its fighters have been killed. Fighters from other groups in Lebanon including Hamas and the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement are also included in the total.

The cross-border fire has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. At least 25 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Israeli strikes in Syria, with seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards killed in a strike on Damascus in April.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2024