The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, began on Tuesday a visit to the Middle East amid the escalation of massacres committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip, coinciding with a warning by the United Nations that the besieged enclave is approaching a "breaking point" due to its lack of fuel.
Türk began his five-day tour from Egypt, which he arrived today, and will visit the Rafah crossing on Wednesday before traveling to the Jordanian capital Amman next Thursday, and the tour also includes Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, according to a statement issued by his office.
The statement said the tour "comes against the backdrop of the ongoing and very serious human rights and humanitarian crisis" in Gaza, noting that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will speak during his visit with government officials and civil society actors, with those affected and injured, and with his UN colleagues on the human rights situation in the region.
"It's been a full month of carnage, incessant suffering, bloodshed, destruction, anger and despair," Türk said.
He stressed that "human rights violations are the root of this escalation," and said that "human rights play a key role in finding a way out of this cycle of pain."
Breaking point
Jens Lerke, spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, warned on Tuesday that services in the Gaza Strip were approaching a "breaking point" without fuel supplies, adding that the 569 relief trucks that entered the Strip so far were not carrying any fuel for Gaza.
Martin Griffiths, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator, said last week that there was progress in negotiations to allow fuel into the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, without elaborating.
The Israeli occupation continues its war on Gaza for the 32nd consecutive day, and the heavy bombardment has killed more than 10,25 Palestinians in the Strip so far, most of them women and children, and injured more than <>,<> people.