He said in his message on social media on Thursday that no place and no person is safe in Gaza since the war started in October 2023.
“As the new year dawned, we received reports of another attack in Al Mawasi, resulting in a large number of deaths and injuries.”
According to Commissioner General Lazzarini, this incident reminds us once again that there is no humanitarian zone in Gaza, let alone a safe zone.
He warned that each day that passed without a ceasefire would bring more tragedy.
Attack on media
The UN agency noted that the Israeli administration imposed restrictions on the work of international media inside the Gaza Strip and the delivery of information from there.
In this context, UNRWA stressed that international journalists must be allowed to enter Gaza and report freely on the situation there.
On the other hand, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has expressed deep concern that the Palestinian Authority has closed the offices of the Al Jazeera news network in the occupied West Bank and banned the channel’s operations.
The Qatar-based channel was accused of broadcasting fraudulent material that was “deceptive, misleading and incites conflict”. International media reported this information citing the Palestinian news agency Wafer.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the trend of suppression of freedom of expression and expression in the occupied West Bank is alarming. Accordingly, the Palestinian Authority is called upon to change course and respect international obligations.
Risks to health systems
Meanwhile, independent UN human rights experts have condemned the complete disregard for the right to health care in Gaza and called for an end to these practices.
Last week, medical services at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza were suspended after the Israeli military launched a crackdown and detained the hospital’s director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safia.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Dr. Tlang Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on Physical and Mental Health, and Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, expressed outrage over these incidents.
He said that this move is part of the same approach adopted by Israel, under which it continues to bombard and completely destroy the right to health in Gaza.
In some areas of Gaza, UN agencies are able to distribute fresh doses of food. But Gaza has become a graveyard, from which there seems to be no escape.
Health workers are not targets
He said his son was killed in front of the director of the hospital, Dr. Abu Safia, before he was abducted.
The Special Rapporteur said there were also allegations that Israeli forces extrajudicially killed some people in the area near the hospital, including a Palestinian carrying a white flag.
Independent experts say more than 1,000 Palestinian health workers and medical workers have been killed in the Gaza war so far. A large number of them have been arbitrarily detained.
He emphasized that medical workers have special protections under international humanitarian law and that their targeting can never be justified. Nor can they be detained while performing their medical duties.
The Special Rapporteur called for an immediate end to attacks on health care facilities and the release of Dr. Abu Safia, saying that Israel, as the occupying power, must respect Gaza’s right to life and access to health care.
Human rights expert
Independent human rights experts, or Special Rapporteurs, are appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to monitor the human rights situation or conditions in a country and submit reports.
These human rights experts are independent from the UN and any country’s government, they are not UN staff, they do not receive any salary from the UN for their work.