GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief said Israel's warfare in Gaza is inflicting “horrifying, unconscionable suffering" on Palestinians and urged government leaders on Monday to “wake up” and exert pressure to bring an end to the conflict.
“The facts speak for themselves,” said Volker Türk. “Everyone in government needs to wake up to what is happening in Gaza. All those with influence must exert maximum pressure on Israel and Hamas, to put an end to this unbearable suffering.”
Türk made the comments at the opening of the latest Human Rights Council session in a broad address that also raised concerns about escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, the fallout from U.S. tariffs, and China's human rights record — alongside wars and conflict in places like Sudan and Ukraine.
As the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights — who has regularly spoken out about bloodshed in Gaza and called for the release of Israeli hostages held by armed Palestinian militants — Türk used some of his most forceful words yet to highlight the Mideast violence.
“Israel’s means and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza,” he told the 47-member-country body, which Israeli authorities have regularly accused of anti-Israel bias. The Trump administration has kept the United States, Israel's top ally, out of the council proceedings.
Israel’s military campaign since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in Israel has killed over 55,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It says that women and children make up most of the dead, but it does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva responded by accusing Türk and his office of been “relentless in making irresponsible and uneducated statements regarding Israel’s conduct of hostilities — including reliance on information propagated by terrorist organizations.” It called on Türk to "condemn Hamas’s declared strategy to maximize harm to the population in Gaza.”
In Brussels, medical aid charity Doctors Without Borders appealed to European Union leaders to use what leverage they have over Israel to end the siege of Gaza.
Secretary-General Christopher Lockyear described Gaza as a “hell on earth,” and said that almost two years of relentless bombardment has turned “this narrow strip of land into a graveyard of shattered hospitals, mass graves and destroyed neighborhoods.”
Aid deliveries organised by the U.N. were cut off in mid-March, and violence has accompanied distributions of food from the recently created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has U.S. and Israeli backing.
Beyond the suffering of inflicted on in Gaza, Doctors Without Borders said its international staffers are living often on one meal a day, and some have been admitted to their own facilities for treatment.
The EU is the world’s biggest donor of aid to the Palestinians but has little real leverage over Israel. The bloc's 27 member states are divided in their approach to the conflict, although concern over the plight of Gazans has grown as the siege has dragged on.
In his speech, Türk also bemoaned an increase in civilian casualties in Ukraine, nearly 3 1/2 years after Russia's full-scale invasion. He denounced executions without a fair trial and “wide-scale sexual violence, including against children" in Sudan.
Without mentioning U.S. President Donald Trump by name, Türk likened the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration in April to “a high-stakes poker game, with the global economy as the bank.”
“But the shockwaves of a trade war will hit least developed countries with the force of a tsunami,” he said, warning of a potentially “devastating” impact on exporters in Asia, and the prospect of higher costs for food, healthcare and education in places.
Türk expressed concerns about U.S. deportations of non-nationals, including to third countries, and called on authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly.
The council session, which has been shortened by 2 1/2 days because of funding issues at the U.N., is set to run through July 9. The Geneva-based council is the U.N.'s top human rights body.
Associated Press writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.
FILE - U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) Volker Türk speaks during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks of credit-card companies are tumbling on Monday after President Donald Trump threatened moves that could eat into their profits. The rest of Wall Street, meanwhile, was showing only modest signals of concern after tensions ramped to a much higher degree between the White House and the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% from its all-time high as U.S. stocks drifted through mixed morning trading, while prices for gold and other investments that tend to do well when investors are nervous rose. The value of the U.S. dollar also dipped against the euro and other currencies amid concerns that the Fed may have less independence in setting interest rates to keep inflation under control.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 179 points, or 0.4%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was nearly unchanged.
Some of the market's sharpest drops came from credit-card companies, as Synchrony Financial, Capital One Financial and American Express all fell between 4% and 7%. They sank after Trump said he wanted to put a 10% cap on credit-card interest rates for a year. Such a move could eat into profits for credit card companies.
But it was a separate move by Trump that was grabbing more attention on Wall Street. Over the weekend, the Federal Reserve's chair, Jerome Powell, said the U.S. Department of Justice subpoenaed the Fed and threatened a criminal indictment over his testimony about renovations underway at its headquarters.
With an unusual video statement released on Sunday, Powell said his testimony and the renovations are “pretexts” for the threat of criminal charges, which is really “a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.”
The Fed has been locked in a feud with the White House about interest rates. Trump has been loudly calling for lower interest rates, which would make borrowing cheaper for U.S. households and companies and could give the economy a kickstart.
The Fed did cut its main interest rate three times last year and has indicated more cuts may be arriving this year. But it’s been moving slowly enough that Trump has nicknamed Powell “Too Late.”
In a brief interview with NBC News Sunday, President Donald Trump insisted he didn’t know about the investigation into Powell. When asked if the investigation is intended to pressure Powell on rates, Trump said, “No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way.”
Powell’s term as chair ends in May, and Trump administration officials have signaled that he could name a potential replacement this month. Trump has also sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook.
The Fed has traditionally operated separately from the rest of Washington, making its decisions on interest rates without having to bend to political whims. Such independence, the thinking goes, gives it freedom to make unpopular moves that are necessary for the economy’s long-term health.
Keeping interest rates high, for example, could slow the economy and frustrate politicians looking to please voters. But it could also be the medicine needed to get high inflation under control.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury ticked up to 4.19% from 4.18% late Friday. A less independent Fed and higher inflation in the long term could also erode the value of the U.S. dollar, and it slipped 0.3% against the euro and 0.4% against the Swiss franc.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. Stocks jumped 1.4% in Hong Kong and 1.1% in Shanghai for two of the world’s bigger gains following reports that Chinese leaders were preparing more help for the economy.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
James Lamb works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Specialist Anthony Matesic works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Daniel Kryger works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Dealers watch computer monitors near the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer walks near the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Dealers talk near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer walks near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
