UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, said that there are no moral arguments that can justify the continued sale of arms to Israel by states that respect the principle of the universality of human rights.

Lawlor added that providing weapons to Israel, which kills more Palestinian civilians, is a “war on human rights” and nothing justifies continued arms sales to it.

She pointed out that Israel has proven over time that it will use such weapons “indiscriminately against the Palestinians,” and that any claims by Israel of self-defense will be “useless.”

Lawlor pointed to the human rights defenders, journalists and healthcare workers who have been killed in the besieged Gaza Strip over the past few months, noting that this is a “war on women and children”, who constitute approximately 72% of the victims of the current war.

Regarding the journalist victims, Lawlor said that more than 122 journalists and media professionals were martyred in the Gaza Strip at the hands of Israel.

Referring to the killing of 162 employees of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Lawlor stressed that this is also a “war against humanitarian workers.”

She stressed that the international human rights structure is "suffering under the weight of the hypocrisy" of countries that have expressed their support for a rules-based system, but at the same time continue to send weapons to Israel that kill more Palestinian civilians, noting "above all else." "It is a war on human rights."

The death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen since October 7, to about 32,000 killed and 74,188 injured, the majority of whom are women and children, in addition to thousands of victims who are still under the rubble.

The aggression against the Gaza Strip, which entered its 168th day, pushed more than 85% of Gaza’s citizens into internal displacement amid a stifling siege of most food supplies, clean water and medicines, while 60% of the Strip’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to a United Nations report.

Israel faces charges of genocide before the International Court of Justice, which in January issued interim rulings ordering it to stop acts of genocide and take the necessary measures to ensure the provision of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.