Red Cross chief says Gaza is 'hell on earth' as Israeli assault continues... "No state, no party to a conflict... can be exempt from the obligation not to commit war crimes, not to commit genocide, not to commit ethnic cleansing,"

Imogen Foulkes, BBC News Reporting from Geneva

More than 1,500 people are reported killed and nearly 400,000 displaced since Israel resumed fighting last month

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has told the BBC that Gaza has become "hell on earth", as Israel's military assault there continues.

Mirjana Spoljaric's comments come on the same day the UN human rights office warned that Israel's tactics were threatening the viability of Palestinians continuing to live in Gaza at all.

The ICRC is the guardian of the Geneva Conventions - internationally agreed rules of conduct in war - and normally only speaks confidentially to warring parties when it thinks violations are taking place.

But Ms Spoljaric has now said publicly that what is happening in Gaza is an "extreme hollowing out" of international law.

Israeli bombardment has killed 1,542 people since it renewed the war on 18 March...

....  Under the fourth Geneva Convention, occupying powers, as Israel is in Gaza, must ensure civilians have food and medicine, and protect hospitals and health workers. The convention also prohibits the forcible transfer of entire populations from occupied territories.

"No state, no party to a conflict... can be exempt from the obligation not to commit war crimes, not to commit genocide, not to commit ethnic cleansing," Ms Spoljaric said.

"These rules apply. They are universal."

Civilians were bearing the brunt of a relentless pursuit of military objectives, she added, being displaced multiple times, and their homes reduced to rubble.

Of 36 recent airstrikes verified by the UN human rights office, all those killed were women and children... READ MORE https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g2k4zgvppo  

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