NEW YORK (Dispatches) – Almost 40 Palestinian children have been killed so far this year in the occupied territories and in many incidents, Zionist troops appear to use lethal force in a manner that violates international human rights law, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said.
The United Nations rights chief issued a statement on Thursday expressing “alarm” at the large numbers of Palestinians – particularly children – who have been killed and injured by Zionist troops in occupied Palestinian territory so far this year.
“Inflicting hurt on any child during the course of conflict is deeply disturbing, and the killing and maiming of so many children this year is unconscionable,” Bachelet said in a statement.
“International humanitarian law is clear,” the UN official said. “Launching an attack which may be expected to incidentally kill or injure civilians, or damage civilian objects, in disproportionate manner to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited. Such attacks must stop.”
Bachelet condemned the widespread use of live ammunition by the Zionist troops during operations across the occupied West Bank, including East Al-Quds, that had “led to an alarming increase in Palestinian fatalities.”
The official finally lamented “this climate of impunity, along with the long-standing violations” that drives the cycle of violence and the recurrence of violations.
Meanwhile, a young Palestinian man has died of injuries he sustained from the latest Zionist onslaught against the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll from the regime’s air strikes against the blockaded coastal sliver of land to 49 people.
The man, identified as 22-year-old Anas Khaled Anshasi, succumbed to his wounds at Nasser Medical Complex in the city of Khan Yunis, where he was taken for necessary medical treatment, Palestine’s official WAFA news agency reported, citing medical sources.
Anshasi was wounded by a Zionist drone strike east of Khan Yunis. He was subsequently transferred to the hospital and was pronounced dead on Friday.
According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, a 10-year-old Palestinian girl also died of her injuries on Thursday, bringing the number of children killed during the aggression to 17.
“Our crews are working to transport the body of Lian Al-Shaer after she died of wounds she sustained during the recent aggression on Gaza,” the humanitarian organization stated.
Shaer and two other children were transferred days earlier to al-Makassed Hospital in Al-Quds for medical attention via Erez crossing by a Red Crescent crew member.
She arrived at the hospital on Tuesday in a state of clinical death as a result of shrapnel injuries in her head from an Israeli missile, al-Makassed Hospital said in a statement carried by WAFA news agency.