GENEVA: Israel\u2019s increased attacks and forcible transfers of Palestinians \u201craise concerns over ethnic cleansing\u201d in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the United Nations said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The cumulative impact of Israel\u2019s military conduct during the conflict in Gaza and blockade of the territory, has inflicted living conditions \u201cincreasingly incompatible with Palestinians\u2019 continued existence as a group in Gaza\u201d, said the UN human rights office.<\/p>\n
\u201cIntensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighbourhoods and the denial of humanitarian assistance appeared to aim at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza,\u201d the office said in a report.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis, together with forcible transfers, which appear to aim at a permanent displacement, raise concerns over ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report covered Nov 1, 2024 to Oct 31, 2025. It highlighted the Israeli security forces\u2019 \u201csystematic use of unlawful force\u201d in the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
The report also pointed to \u201cwidespread\u201d arbitrary detention and the \u201cextensive unlawful demolition\u201d of Palestinian homes. The aim, it said, was to \u201csystematically discriminate, oppress, control and dominate the Palestinian people\u201d.<\/p>\n
These actions are altering \u201cthe character, status and demographic composition of the occupied West Bank, raising serious concerns of ethnic cleansing\u201d, it added.<\/p>\n
\u2018Inhumane choice\u2019<\/p>\n
In Gaza, the report condemned the continued killing and maiming of \u201cunprecedented numbers of civilians\u201d, the spread of famine, and destruction of the \u201cremaining civilian infrastructure\u201d. During the 12 months covered in the report, at least 463 Palestinians, including 157 children, had starved to death in Gaza, it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPalestinians faced the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risking being killed while trying to get food,\u201d it added. The famine, the malnutrition and the \u201cforeseeable and repeatedly foretold\u201d deaths directly resulted from actions taken by the Israeli government, said the report.<\/p>\n
Any use of starvation of civilians as a method of war constitutes a war crime, it said \u2014 and depending on the intent, it could also constitute genocide.<\/p>\n
During the period covered by the report, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups continued to hold Israeli and foreign hostages seized during the Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel \u2014 dead or alive \u2014 as \u201cbargaining tools\u201d.<\/p>\n
The rights office said the treatment of the hostages amounted to war crimes. \u201cIsraeli forces, Hamas, and other Palestinian armed groups committed serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, gross violations and abuses of international human rights law, and atrocity crimes,\u201d the report concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GENEVA: Israel\u2019s increased attacks and forcible transfers of Palestinians \u201craise concerns over ethnic cleansing\u201d in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the United Nations said on Thursday. The cumulative impact of Israel\u2019s military conduct during the conflict in Gaza and blockade of the territory, has inflicted living conditions \u201cincreasingly incompatible with Palestinians\u2019 continued existence as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16157,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16155\/revisions\/16157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}