Delivered by Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilze Brands Kehris At New York Mr President, Excellencies, The humanitarian and human rights situation for Palestinian civilians across Gaza is catastrophic. According to figures verified by our Office, close to 70 percent of those killed in Gaza by strikes, shelling and other hostilities were children and women. The age group most represented in verified fatalities was children from 5 to 9 years old. According to the Ministry of Health of the State of Palestine, at least 43,000 people have been killed since the horrific attacks by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups on Israel on 7 October last year. More than 100,000 people have been injured. These numbers are likely to be a serious understatement, as many of those killed and injured remain under the rubble. Nearly 1.9 million people have been displaced, many repeatedly, including pregnant women, people with disabilities, older people, and children. Israeli strikes on shelters and residential buildings continue to kill unconscionable numbers of civilians: women, men, young and old. Attacks on so-called “safe zones” prove that nowhere in Gaza is safe. Monitoring by our Office indicates that this unprecedented level of killing and injury of civilians is a direct consequence of the parties’ choices of methods and means of warfare, and their failure to comply with fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. The pattern of strikes indicate that the Israeli Defense Forces have systematically violated fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack. Palestinian armed groups have also conducted hostilities in ways that have likely contributed to harm to civilians. Israel’s conduct of hostilities has destroyed Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, including places that have protected status under international law: hospitals, schools, and vital services including electricity, water and sewage. This contributes directly to the famine risk being discussed today. Israel has killed hundreds of medical personnel, civilian police, journalists, and humanitarian aid workers, including more than 220 of our own United Nations staff. Thousands of Palestinians have been taken from Gaza to Israel, usually shackled and blindfolded to be held incommunicado. Meanwhile, there is constant and continued interference with the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance, which has fallen to some of the lowest levels in a year. As the Occupying Power, Israel is obliged under international law to protect Palestinian civilians, and to provide them with supplies essential to their survival. Yet – the cumulative impact of more than a year of destruction in Gaza has taken an enormous toll – basic services for Palestinians in Gaza, the fabric of society, have been decimated. Conditions of life, particularly in northern Gaza, are increasingly not fit for survival. Mr President, Turning specifically to the situation in northern Gaza: the latest report from the respected and independent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification – the IPC – warns there is a strong likelihood that famine is imminent. This horrific possibility cannot be separated from the unrelenting attacks on the human rights of civilians there. Over the past five weeks, the Israeli military has conducted strikes that have led to massive civilian fatalities in northern Gaza, particularly impacting women, children, older people, the sick and people with disabilities, many of whom are reportedly trapped by Israeli military restrictions and attacks on escape routes. The pattern and the frequency of these reported attacks suggest the systematic targeting of locations known or which should have been known as sheltering significant numbers of civilians, coupled with the continued use of weapons with wide area effects in populated areas. We have warned repeatedly that this has led to disproportionate civilian fatalities. The Israeli military has also conducted repeated attacks on the three major hospitals in the area and on other vital infrastructure, while unlawfully restricting the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance to northern Gaza. Already OHCHR has documented how by April of this year, the severe restrictions imposed by Israel on the entry and distribution of goods and services necessary for the survival of the civilian population brought the risk of famine and starvation to Gaza. We again recall that the use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law. Just recently, the High Commissioner for Human Rights presented a detailed analysis of violations between November 2023 and April 2024. The report’s conclusions call for a reckoning with the serious allegations of violations of international law. The manner in which the Israeli military is conducting operations in northern Gaza suggests not only that Israel’s actions are seeking to empty northern Gaza of Palestinians, by displacing survivors to the South, but points to further grave risks of atrocities of the most serious nature. Palestinian armed groups must also comply with international humanitarian law, including refraining from deliberately co-locating military objectives with civilians and civilian infrastructure, and must take all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population under their control from the effects of attacks. But failure by Palestinian armed groups to comply with international humanitarian law does not remove or reduce the obligation of Israeli forces to comply. Mr President, All States, consistent with their obligations under international law, must therefore assess arms sales or transfers and provision of military, logistical or financial support to a party to the conflict, with a view to ending such support if this risks serious violations of international law. As the High Commissioner has repeatedly said, the violence must stop immediately. The hostages and those arbitrarily detained must be released. We must rush humanitarian aid into Gaza by all routes, and restore essential services immediately. And there must be accountability, due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law through credible and impartial judicial authorities. The risks are very real and very immediate. The IPC has called for action in days not weeks. We call on this Council to take all steps within its powers under the Charter to influence the parties to end violations, facilitate impartial humanitarian access, and protect civilians. This horrific war must end. In line with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion and General Assembly resolution ES-10/24, Israel must end its continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible, allowing the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination. The only sustainable solution to this conflict is by forging a path that gives Palestinians and Israelis the chance to live side by side in peace, equality, and dignity. Thank you.