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Nowhere in Gaza is safe, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said on Friday, casting doubt on Israeli arrangements to protect civilians as its military ferociously goes after Hamas.
Mr Turk said Israel also has an obligation to protect civilians in the occupied West Bank, where dozens of people have been killed in mounting violence over the past five weeks.
“At the moment nowhere in Gaza is safe. Bombardment is being reported in all parts of the strip,” Mr Turk told reporters in Jordan, the second stop in a regional trip that started with Egypt.
He said Israel's demands for civilians to relocate to areas in southern Gaza designated as safe by its military were “very alarming”.
An Israeli military spokesman said this week that there had been a “sizeable response” to the safe passages created for civilians to move to the south of the Palestinian enclave, closer to the border with Egypt.
“So-called safe zones, when established unilaterally, can heighten risk to civilians and raise a real question whether security can be guaranteed in practice,” Mr Turk said.
The priority should be “to agree on a ceasefire on the basis of human rights imperatives”, he said, describing the situation in Gaza as “nightmarish”.
Mr Turk heads the Geneva-based Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The organisation says it has an international mandate “to promote and protect all human rights”.
This week in Cairo, he met Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and visited the Rafah border crossing with Gaza where humanitarian aid is being sent into the besieged territory while foreigners and injured Gazans are being allowed out. He visited a hospital in the area where wounded Palestinian children were receiving treatment.
With Palestinian casualties mounting from Israel's continuing bombardment as its forces circle Gaza city, Egypt and Jordan have warned of the war spreading to the West Bank, which borders Jordan and is administered by the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Fourteen people were killed in an Israeli raid on Jenin refugee camp on Thursday. It was the bloodiest day in the West Bank in months, and the latest Israeli army incursion into the tightly packed camp.
Israel confirmed it killed at least 10 West Bank militants in a drone strike, a once-rare tactic that is being used increasingly in the area.
Mr Turk said Israel must take “immediate measures to ensure the protection of civilians”, as Israeli attacks on West Bank targets continue on “daily basis”.
He said at least 176 Palestinians had been killed in West Bank violence since the beginning of October.
He appealed to Israel “to ensure the protection of Palestinians in the West Bank, who are being on a daily basis subjected to violence from Israeli forces and settlers, ill treatment, arrests, evictions, intimidation and humiliation”.
Keane on …
Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”
Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
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