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EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell on Saturday added his voice to international calls for action to end “the human tragedy” unfolding in northern Gaza amid Israel’s military offensive there.
“I join U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in his call for immediate action by world leaders to bring about an end to the human tragedy unfolding in Gaza,” Borrell said in a statement on Saturday.
“The too little information coming out from North Gaza still attests to a catastrophic level of killing, destruction and starvation, in addition to forced displacements of civilians, while an entire population is under bombings, siege and risk of starvation, as well as being forced to choose between displacement or death,” Borrell said.
“It is our duty to protect civilians and human rights, and it is high time to act on it,” he added.
The U.N.’s Türk said on Friday that the Gaza war’s “darkest moment” was unfolding in the north of the territory, where Israel is carrying out a massive ground offensive to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping.
As refugees continue to flee Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, the U.N. has warned that the “forcible transfer of a large part of the population of North Gaza would amount to a war crime.”
Türk said that more than 150,000 people were reportedly dead, wounded or missing in Gaza. “My gravest fear is, given the intensity, breadth, scale and blatant nature of the Israeli operation currently under way in North Gaza, that number will rise dramatically,” he said.
The calls for action come amid fear of an all-out war in the Middle East following an Israeli strike on Iran’s capital on Saturday.
