Geneva, 25 October 2024 (dpa/MIA) - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, is calling on the international community to protect the population in the Gaza Strip from serious human rights violations.

"We are facing what could amount to atrocity crimes, including potentially extending to crimes against humanity." he warned on Friday, referring to the Israeli military campaign in the northern Gaza Strip.

The entire population in this area is affected by bombs, sieges, displacement and hunger, said the Austrian UN diplomat. People are at risk of being arrested or shot. However, it is also "completely unacceptable" that Palestinian armed groups are putting their own people at risk by mixing with civilians, he emphasized.

Türk reminded the audience that states are not only obliged to take action against war crimes. "Under the Genocide Convention, state parties also have the responsibility to act to prevent such a crime, when risk becomes apparent," he said.

He made a direct appeal to heads of state and government, imploring them to "put the protection of civilians and human rights first, and not to abandon that minimum of humanity."

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