UN rights chief condemns civilian toll of Israel-Iran escalation, warns of regional conflagration

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Thursday condemned the mounting civilian toll in the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran, and warned that the conflict risks plunging the wider region into war. (AP/File)
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Updated 19 June 2025
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UN rights chief condemns civilian toll of Israel-Iran escalation, warns of regional conflagration

  • ‘Threats and inflammatory rhetoric by senior officials on both sides suggest a worrying intention to inflict harm on civilians,’ says Volker Turk
  • Official figures from both sides put the death tolls at 224 in Iran and at least 24 in Israel, and mass displacement is surging, particularly in Tehran

NEW YORK CITY: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Thursday condemned the mounting civilian toll in the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran, and warned that the conflict risks plunging the wider region into war.

In a strongly worded statement he said the “wide-scale, continuing attacks” by Israel on Iranian territory and the retaliatory missile and drone strikes by Iran were having “severe human rights and humanitarian impacts” on civilians.

“The extensive airstrikes and missile and drone attacks have already caused significant harm beyond military objectives,” Turk said, citing attacks that have killed civilians and damaged critical infrastructure including hospitals, homes, water supply systems and energy facilities.

According to the latest official figures from Tehran, 224 people have been killed in the attacks on Iran, though human rights groups estimate the toll to be more than twice that number. In Israel, government figures report at least 24 dead and more than 840 wounded. Displacement is surging, particularly in the Iranian capital, where evacuation orders have prompted the large-scale flight of people from affected areas.

Turk urged both nations to adhere to the principles of international humanitarian law, emphasizing the in particular the legal obligation to distinguish between military and civilian targets, and to refrain from indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks.

“It is appalling to see how civilians are treated as collateral damage in the conduct of hostilities,” he said. “Threats and inflammatory rhetoric by senior officials on both sides suggest a worrying intention to inflict harm on civilians.”

He called for “maximum restraint,” respect for international law, and a return to the negotiating table as the only way to halt the “spiraling illogic of escalation.”

The latest flare-up, which began when Israel launched attacks on Iran on June 13, follows months of rising tensions and tit-for-tat strikes that have drawn concern from regional powers and global leaders who fear a wider escalation of war in the Middle East.


Israeli snipers shooting children ‘like a game’ at Gaza aid centers: British surgeon

Updated 56 min 17 sec ago
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Israeli snipers shooting children ‘like a game’ at Gaza aid centers: British surgeon

  • Prof. Nick Maynard: Different body parts being targeted depending on day of the week
  • ‘I’ve never had so many patients die because they can’t get enough food to recover’

LONDON: Israeli soldiers are opening fire on children in Gaza at aid distribution centers, targeting different body parts depending on the day of the week, a British doctor has said.

Prof. Nick Maynard, a gastrointestinal surgeon working at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told the BBC that he and his colleagues are encountering “clear patterns of injury” in young casualties, including “certain body parts on different days, such as the head, legs or genitals.”

Speaking to the “Today” program on BBC Radio 4, Maynard said: “On one day they’ll all be abdominal gunshot wounds, on another they’ll all be head gunshot wounds or neck gunshot wounds, on another they’ll be arm or leg gunshot wounds.”

He added: “It’s almost as if a game is being played, that they’re deciding to shoot the head today, the neck tomorrow, the testicles the day after.”

Maynard said the victims at the aid distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which he called “death traps,” tend more often than not to be teenaged boys.

“These are mainly from the militarized distribution points, where starving civilians are going to try and get food but then report getting targeted by Israeli soldiers or quadcopters,” he added.

“A 12-year-old boy I was operating on died from his injuries on the operating table — he’d been shot through the chest.”

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READ MORE: British surgeon in Gaza describes wounded Palestinians dying due to malnutrition

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GHF sites, backed by the US and Israel, are manned by private contractors and Israeli soldiers.

At least 875 Palestinians seeking food at the centers have been killed by live fire since May, according to the UN.

Maynard said levels of malnutrition seen in young patients are affecting their ability to recover from their wounds.

“The repairs that we carry out fall to pieces, patients get terrible infections, and they die,” he added. “I’ve never had so many patients die because they can’t get enough food to recover.”

The BBC said other medics working in central and southern Gaza had also reported patterns of gunshot wounds in people shot at GHF centers.


Ancient statue returns to Turkiye 65 years later

Updated 19 July 2025
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Ancient statue returns to Turkiye 65 years later

  • “It was a long struggle … we won,” Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Ersoy said
  • “We brought the ‘Philosopher Emperor’ Marcus Aurelius back to the land where he belongs“

ISTNABUL: Turkiye has repatriated an ancient statue believed to depict Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius from the United States as part of efforts to recover antiquities illegally removed from the country, the government announced on Saturday.

The bronze statue, smuggled from the ancient city of Boubon — now the province of Burdur in southwest Turkiye — in the 1960s, was returned to Turkiye after 65 years, according to Turkish officials.

“It was a long struggle. We were right, we were determined, we were patient, and we won,” Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Ersoy said.


“We brought the ‘Philosopher Emperor’ Marcus Aurelius back to the land where he belongs,” he added.

This unique artefact, once exhibited in the United States, was repatriated to Turkiye based on scientific analyzes, archival documents and witness statements, added the minister.

“Through the combined power of diplomacy, law, and science, the process we conducted with the New York Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the US Homeland Security Investigations Unit is more than just a repatriation; it is a historical achievement,” Ersoy said.

“Marcus Aurelius’s return to our country is a concrete result of our years-long pursuit of justice.”

The headless statue had been on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art from April to July, before its return to Turkiye.

Ersoy said Turkiye was determined to protect all its cultural heritage that has been smuggled out.

“We will soon present the Philosopher Emperor to the people of (Turkiye’s capital) Ankara in a surprise exhibition,” he announced.


21 dead in Iran as coach overturns: state media

Updated 19 July 2025
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21 dead in Iran as coach overturns: state media

  • The accident, the cause of which remains unclear, occurred near Kavar
  • Iranian media showed images of a coach lying on its side on a mountain road

TEHRAN: At least 21 people were killed and nearly 30 injured when a coach overturned in southern Iran on Saturday, state media reported.

The accident, the cause of which remains unclear, occurred near Kavar, a town about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from the capital, Tehran.

“Unfortunately, 21 deaths have been recorded,” Kavar Hospital director Mohsen Afrasiabi told state television, adding that 29 people were injured.

Iranian media showed images of a coach lying on its side on a mountain road.

Iran has a poor road safety record, with nearly 20,000 deaths from traffic accidents in the 12 months to March, according to official news agency IRNA.


Unidentified drone kills PKK member, injures another near Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah, sources say

Updated 19 July 2025
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Unidentified drone kills PKK member, injures another near Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah, sources say

  • Officials said this is the first attack of its kind in months

BAGHDAD: An unidentified drone attack killed a member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and injured another near Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah on Saturday, security sources and local officials said, the first attack of its kind in months.


Six local officials detained over Iraq deadly mall fire

Updated 19 July 2025
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Six local officials detained over Iraq deadly mall fire

  • The ministry said: “There was clear negligence among several officials and employees” in Kut
  • Three local officials, including the head of civil defense in Kut, had been detained

BAGHDAD: Iraq has detained six local officials and suspended other public employees following a fire that killed 61 people at a shopping mall earlier this week, authorities said Saturday.

The blaze, which broke out late Wednesday in a newly opened shopping mall in the eastern city of Kut, is the latest fatal disaster in a country where safety regulations are often ignored.

After an initial investigation, the interior ministry said “there was clear negligence among several officials and employees” in Kut, located around 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

It added that three local officials, including the head of civil defense in Kut, had been detained, and 17 employees suspended from work until further notice.

The Commission of Integrity, an anti-graft body, said later that security forces had detained three more officials “over the violations that led to the fire” at the Corniche Hypermarket Mall, including the head of the violations department at Kut’s municipality.

Officials say their investigation is ongoing, and the number of detainees may change.

Safety standards in Iraq’s construction sector are often ignored, and the country — its infrastructure weakened by decades of conflict — frequently experiences fatal fires and accidents.

Fires increase during the blistering summer as temperatures approach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).

The cause of the mall fire was not immediately known, but one survivor told AFP an air conditioner had exploded on the second floor before the five-story building was rapidly engulfed in flames.

Several people told AFP they lost family members — and in some cases whole families — who had gone to shop and dine at the mall days after it opened.