  {"id":316759,"date":"2026-04-10T10:50:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T14:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&#038;p=316759"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:52:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T14:52:56","slug":"ohchr-press-release-10april2026","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/ohchr-press-release-10april2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinians across Gaza unsafe six months on from ceasefire announcement, says UN Human Rights Chief"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>10 April 2026<\/p>\n<p>GENEVA \u2013 Six months since the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza, Palestinians across the strip are still unsafe, as Israeli attacks continue routinely, said UN Human Rights Chief Volker T\u00fcrk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe unrelenting pattern of killings reflects continuing disregard for Palestinian lives, enabled by sweeping impunity,\u201d the High Commissioner said.<\/p>\n<p>At least 32 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since early April, as airstrikes, gunfire, and shelling persist daily across Gaza, bringing to 738 the number of Palestinians killed since a ceasefire came into effect on 10 October 2025, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the past 10 days, Palestinians are still being killed and injured in what is left of their homes, shelters and tents of displaced families, on the streets, in vehicles, at a medical facility and a classroom,\u201d T\u00fcrk said.<\/p>\n<p>Victims include women, children, people with disabilities, a humanitarian contractor, and a journalist.<\/p>\n<p>On 9 April, Ritaj Rihan, a third grade schoolgirl, was killed as Israeli military forces opened fire on the crowded tent encampment housing her makeshift classroom, in Beit Lahiya, North Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>On 8 April, the Israeli military used a drone to target and kill Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Washah in Gaza City, later issuing a statement claiming he had been a Hamas operative. This is the same basis Israel has invoked in many similar killings of journalists in Gaza, with no independently verifiable evidence to substantiate the claim. Washah is the 294th Palestinian journalist to be killed by Israeli forces since 7 October 2023 as verified by UN Human Rights Office. In the meantime, Israel continues to enforce a blanket ban on independent access to Gaza by international journalists.<\/p>\n<p>On 6 April, Israeli forces shot at a car transporting World Health Organisation workers, killing the driver. As of early April, 589 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023, including 397 UN staff and team members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe number of journalists and humanitarian personnel killed in Gaza is unprecedented, and further compounds civilian harm as it makes reporting on the situation and responding to its humanitarian implications life-threatening,\u201d T\u00fcrk said. \u201cMovement itself has become a life-threatening activity. Incidents of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces while walking, driving, or standing outside are recorded nearly every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Israeli forces also continue to kill Palestinians apparently for their proximity to the so-called \u201cyellow line\u201d \u2014 the Israeli forces\u2019 shifting and poorly marked deployment line which cuts through Gaza. \u201cTargeting civilians not taking direct part in hostilities is a war crime, regardless of their proximity to deployment lines,\u201d said the High Commissioner.<\/p>\n<p>The suffering has been further exacerbated by persistent Israeli restrictions on the entry and flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid, destruction of civilian infrastructure, the targeting of law enforcement and civil administration structures, and the increasing violence by Palestinian armed actors reportedly backed by the Israeli military.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPalestinians have no blueprint for survival: whatever they do or don\u2019t do, wherever they go or don\u2019t go, there is no safety or protection afforded to them. It is hard to square this with a ceasefire,\u201d said T\u00fcrk, pointing to the killing of over 700 Palestinians and injuries to over 2,000 others in the last six months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter two-and-a-half years of repeated crimes under international law, committed with sweeping impunity, and tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians killed, the international community must move beyond words,\u201d the UN Human Rights Chief said. \u201cIt must undertake meaningful actions to end Israel\u2019s ongoing violations of international law, ensure accountability for crimes committed by all parties, and guarantee that Palestinians are able to start the recovery and rebuilding of their homes and community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; 10 April 2026 GENEVA \u2013 Six months since the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza, Palestinians across the strip are still unsafe, as Israeli attacks continue routinely, said UN Human Rights Chief Volker T\u00fcrk. \u201cThe unrelenting pattern of killings reflects continuing disregard for Palestinian lives, enabled by sweeping impunity,\u201d the High Commissioner said. At <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/ohchr-press-release-10april2026\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[1825],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1829,2033,5358,2005,1741,6844],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-316759","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-source-office-of-the-united-nations-high-commissioner-for-human-rights-ohchr","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-children","document-subject-ClosuresCurfewsBlockades","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-war-crimes","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/316759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/316759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316766,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/316759\/revisions\/316766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=316759"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=316759"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=316759"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=316759"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=316759"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=316759"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=316759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}