UN human rights chief warns Gaza is like a “powder keg” that could spark a wider regional war

Volker Turk, the United Nations human rights chief, likened the situation in Gaza to a “powder keg” that could spark a wider regional war at any moment.

Turk on Monday told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that overlapping conflicts across the globe are “making the specter of spillover conflicts very real.”

“The war in Gaza has already generated dangerous spillover in neighboring countries. And I’m deeply concerned that in this powder keg, any spark could lead to a much broader conflagration,” Turk stressed.

“This would have implications for every country in the Middle East, and many beyond it.” 

Israel’s war in Gaza has created a full-blown humanitarian disaster over its nearly five-month span, resulting in the deaths of over 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. CNN cannot independently confirm the number of casualties because of the lack of international media access to wartime Gaza.

Turk also pointed toward the escalation in southern Lebanon, calling the tensions between the Israeli military and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah “extremely worrying.” Nearly 200 people in Lebanon have been killed by the recent escalation, and 90,000 people have been internally displaced, according to Turk. Some 80,000 Israelis have also been displaced from border areas, Turk said.

The human rights chief also singled out the situation in Yemen where Iranian-backed proxy, the Huthis, have been targeting ships in the Red Sea in against the backdrop of Israel’s war in Gaza.