2023-10-30 07:05:03
ICC: Blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza could constitute a crime
(AFP, Cairo, 29th) After visiting the Rafah Border Crossing at the junction of Egypt and the southern Gaza corridor today, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karin Khan said that blocking the humanitarian aid pipeline may constitute a crime.
“Obstruction of relief supplies stipulated in the Geneva Conventions may constitute a crime within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court,” he told reporters in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
Karim Khan said he wanted to “clearly emphasize to Israel the need for immediate and visible efforts” to ensure that “civilians in Palestinian territories controlled by the Islamist group Hamas have access to basic food and medicine”.
“I saw trucks full of humanitarian aid stranded in places where no one needed them, stranded in Egypt, stranded in Rafah,” Kalimhan said. “These supplies must be sent to Canada as quickly as possible,” he said. In the hands of common people.”
The United Nations warned today that looting at a food aid center of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Gaza has raised concerns about a breakdown in public order.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the situation was “increasingly desperate” as war casualties increased and basic supplies of food, water, medicine and shelter dwindled.
The Palestinian people in Gaza have been living under an Israeli blockade for the past 16 years, and the Gaza region has been under full siege for the past three weeks since Hamas launched a deadly raid on Israel on October 7, triggering the war.
Karim Khan made a surprise visit to the Rafah border checkpoint earlier today and released a video statement on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter. He said he was unable to enter Gaza but hoped to visit Gaza and Israel during his visit.
The International Criminal Court has been conducting investigations in the occupied Palestinian territories since 2021, and began investigating possible war crimes and crimes against humanity there in 2014. (Translator: Liu Wenyu/Verification: Cai Jiamin)
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