Press briefing notes on Israel and Iraq

Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Ravina Shamdasani
Location:  Geneva
Date: 1 July 2014
Subject:   1) Israel and 2) Iraq

1) Israel

We mourn the killing of the three Israeli teenagers who went missing in the West Bank on 12 June. We extend our condolences and sincere sympathy to the families of the three teenagers, and call for the perpetrators of this crime to be brought to justice.

We call on all Israelis and Palestinians to exercise maximum restraint and to prevent the situation from worsening further. Overnight, a Palestinian teenager was killed by Israeli forces in the north West Bank, bringing to 7 the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank, including 3 teenagers, since 12 June. Our condolences go to all of their families.  Also, last night, at least 6 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces in the West Bank. OHCHR has also noted an increase in rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and air and sea strikes by Israeli forces in Gaza, additional movement restrictions and incidents of settler violence in the West Bank.

We reiterate our call for strict adherence to international law by all relevant actors, to avoid further loss of life, injuries and negative impact on human rights. We urge all parties to refrain from punishing individuals for offences they have not personally committed or by imposing collective penalties.

2) Iraq

The UNAMI human rights team has today released figures on the number of civilians who have been killed and injured in Iraq over the past month, bringing into stark focus the terrible toll on civilians of the ongoing insurgency.

In June, a total of at least 1,531 civilians were killed. The last time such a high number of civilians was killed in a single month was in 2007. An additional 886 members of the Iraqi security forces were killed. Another 1763 civilians were injured in June. These figures do not include Anbar province, where 244 civilians were reportedly killed, according to official figures, and 588 civilians were injured.

We condemn in the strongest terms this upsurge in violence and killings. International law requires parties to the conflict to take all possible measures to ensure that civilians are protected from violence. However, we are consistently receiving reports of civilians being targeted, kidnapped, harassed and killed by ISIL forces, and of indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas. We have also received reports that ISIL forces have been going door to door in Mosul trying to forcibly recruit young men to fight against ISF.

We urge all parties to the conflict to respect international human rights law and international humanitarian law and call on the Iraqi authorities to hold accountable those responsible for such violations.

ENDS

For more information or media requests, please contact Ravina Shamdasani (+41 22 917 9169 /rshamdasani@ohchr.org) or Cécile Pouilly (+41 22 917 93 10 / cpouilly@ohchr.org)

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