UN rights chief concerned over growing number of Gazans 'corralled' towards Egypt

GENEVA

The UN human rights chief on Tuesday expressed concern over the growing number of civilians in Gaza being "increasingly corralled" towards the Palestinian enclave's border with Egypt as hostilities with Israel continue.

"The call for a ceasefire — on human rights and humanitarian grounds — is getting louder by the day, and must be heeded," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.

Noting that nearly 2 million people have been displaced, with many forced to move multiple times, Turk stressed that Israeli forces continue issuing evacuation orders in "a confusing and contradictory manner."

"Now, Palestinians are being forced into smaller and smaller areas, in a mass displacement up to the Gaza-Egyptian border while military operations continue to encroach ever closer," he said. "There is simply nowhere left in Gaza for them to go."

He stated that the southern city of Rafah has become an epicenter for displaced people, with over 1 million people "concentrated in extremely overcrowded and unbearable living conditions, exacerbated by the onset of winter."

The rights chief said that as Israel's siege of Gaza remains in place, the trickle of humanitarian aid entering from Egypt, as well as from the Kerem Shalom crossing which Israel opened on Sunday, allowed only a fraction of the relief needed, while people in the north of the enclave "getting no relief at all."

"In the north, an estimated 100,000 civilians remain completely isolated from relief efforts, and too scared to move amid the relentless bombing, tank patrols and for fear of snipers," Turk said.

"They are trapped in a living hell," he added.

Turk also called for a "full and immediate" investigation into all allegations of breaches of laws of war.

"Those responsible for such acts must be held to account, and justice served," he said.

Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip from the air and land, imposed a siege, and mounted a ground offensive in retaliation for a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 19,667 Palestinians have since been killed and 52,586 injured in the Israeli onslaught, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stands at 1,200, while over 130 hostages are still held by the Palestinian group in Gaza, according to official figures.