UNITED NATIONS, May 12 (APP): Israel and Palestine are heading towards a full-scale war, the UN Special Envoy to the Middle East Peace Process has warned.
“Stop the fire immediately. We’re escalating towards a full-scale war. Leaders on all sides have to take the responsibility of de-escalation,” Tor Wennesland, the UN envoy said in a post on Twitter late Tuesday.
“The cost of war in Gaza is devastating & is being paid by ordinary people. UN is working w/ all sides to restore calm. Stop the violence now,” he said.
According the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of 5 pm Tuesday (local time) at least 28 people, including 10 children, were reported to have been killed in Gaza in Israeli airstrikes, and two women were killed in Israel as a result of rockets fired from Gaza. Many more are said to be injured on both sides.
Wennesland stressed that the “cost of war in Gaza is devastating and is being paid by ordinary people”.
“Leaders on all sides have to take the responsibility of deescalation … stop the violence now,” he added.
Tensions have been running high in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem since last week, after an Israeli court ordered the eviction of Palestinian families.
Palestinians protesting in solidarity with residents of Sheikh Jarrah have been targeted by Israeli forces.
Three Israelis have also been killed and 31 others injured in Palestinian rocket attacks.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed the entire city in 1980 – a move that has never been recognized by the international community.
UNRWA, the UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, expressed “profound concern” over the impact of the military escalation on children and called on parties to exercise maximum restraint.
“Our hearts go out to their families and friends in communities that have been so cruelly affected by this latest escalation”, UNRWA said in a statement.
“Children are and must be protected under International Law and those responsible for breaching their obligations must be held fully accountable on the basis of clear evidence”, it added, reiterating its appeal to all parties “to exercise maximum restraint and comply with their obligations under International Law in the strictest terms, including with regard to protecting the inherent right to life of children”.
OCHA also highlighted that current escalation in the region risks worsening “an already poor humanitarian situation”, especially in Gaza, where the struggling health sector is further burdened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Of immediate concern is the shutdown of Gaza’s sole power plant by the end of this week due to lack of fuel, with negative consequences for the provision of vital services”, it said.
OCHA added that the humanitarian community, including UN agencies and the NGO partners, are continuing to deliver assistance to those in need, with the protection of civilians of paramount importance.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in Gaza that Israel had “ignited fire in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa and the flames extended to Gaza, therefore, it is responsible for the consequences.”
Haniyeh said that Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations had been in contact urging calm but that Hamas’s message to Israel was: “If they want to escalate, the resistance is ready, if they want to stop, the resistance is ready.”
The White House said on Tuesday that Israel had a legitimate right to defend itself from rocket attacks but applied pressure on Israel over the treatment of Palestinians, saying Jerusalem must be a place of coexistence.
A 13-story residential block in Gaza collapsed after one of several dozen Israeli air strikes, according to media reports..
Late into the night, Gazans reported their homes shaking and the sky lighting up with near-constant Israeli strikes.
