As Gaza crisis spirals, Norwegian Refugee Council head calls for accountability, cease-fire

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) – The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council has added his voice to the growing chorus of calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, while also stressing the need for accountability the harrowing death and destruction.

“Those who are not supporting a humanitarian cease-fire now, those who are not supporting a lifting of the siege on Gaza now, those who are not supporting the call for a release of the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, they will have the verdict of history,” Jan Egeland, secretary general of the NRC, said in a video interview with Anadolu.

“We have to have everybody call for a humanitarian cease-fire.”

With more than 11,300 Palestinians now killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, Egeland emphasized that, under humanitarian law, the civilian population has “to be protected where they are, and one is to have distinction between armed actors and civilians.”

The death toll in Gaza includes around 7,800 children and women, while some 29,000 others have been injured.

Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques and churches have also been damaged or destroyed in the Israeli offensive.

The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, stands at 1,200, according to official figures.

“So, if and when Hamas and other armed groups are mixing themselves inside the civilian population, it’s a war crime. But if Israel is attacking civilians, that are close to these armed groups, it’s also a war crime. It’s indiscriminate,” he said.

“There has to be accountability for what’s happening here.”

He added that there have been a lot of violations of humanitarian law on both sides.

“Israeli children and civilians were killed on Oct. 7 and since then, thousands of Palestinian children have been killed in what seems to be indiscriminate warfare on a densely populated area, where people are trapped in a Gaza that is under siege,” he said.

“The high commissioner for human rights of the United Nations say that they have documented war crimes and there are investigations, so I hope there will be accountability.”

Israel’s order for over 1.1 million Palestinians to move out of the northern Gaza Strip was “forcible transfer, not a humanitarian evacuation,” said Egeland.

“What we had from the very start was a deadline for people to leave their homes without protection, without any accommodation waiting them, with no safety, with no dignity,” he said.

“That’s why we call this forcible transfer, not a humanitarian evacuation, forcible transfer of people and that is a violation of international law.”

- Humanitarian cease-fire

Egeland said the entire world should focus all their energy on securing a humanitarian cease-fire for all of Gaza to protect the civilian population and open access for aid.

“We (NRC) are in Gaza with 54 relief workers. We’re unable to provide meaningful relief now because we have no supplies and we have no security for our aid workers,” he said.

He called out the countries who have been providing weapons and ammunition for the deadly conflict.

“Gaza is a crime scene, just like the Israeli kibbutz and the concert area. They are crime scenes, and to have your fingerprints all by providing arms to this, by providing support for operations, is not a good thing,” he said.​​​​​​​

He said the situation in Gaza is at a point where “people are drinking polluted water, if they have water at all.”

“In the hospitals, we get reports that there is no fuel for generators. The morgue, which is full of bodies, is not refrigerated. People have to do operations without anesthetics. There is no light, even for basic medical work in Gaza,” he said.

Members of the NRC have also “lost their children in this bombardment,” he added.

“It couldn’t be worse, really. And there is very little time. I urge all other countries that have influence on Israel and all countries that will have influence on the armed groups in Gaza – Hamas and Islamic Jihad and others – to get the cease-fire, to get the release of the hostages, to get some sanity in this senseless madness which is killing so many innocent children,” he concluded.