Israel has rejected HRW’s accusations as “totally false” but has not yet commented on the UN committee’s findings.
The United States, for its part, “unequivocally” disapproved of the conclusions of the UN report. “We believe that this type of wording and these types of accusations are most certainly unfounded,” responded US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel.
In a report covering the period from October 7, 2023 to July 2024, the UN special committee is alarmed by “massive civilian losses” and the use of “famine as a weapon of war“.
“Through its siege of Gaza, its obstruction of humanitarian aid, its targeted attacks and killing of civilians and aid workers, despite repeated appeals from the UN, binding orders from the International Court of Justice and resolutions of the Security Council, Israel intentionally causes death, starvation and serious injury,” the committee said in a statement.
The methods of war used by Israel “correspond to the characteristics of genocide”, according to this special UN committee, created in 1968 and responsible for investigating Israeli practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
This is not the first time that Israel has been the subject of such accusations.
The report, due to be presented to the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, says Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza will have long-term consequences.
“By destroying vital water, sanitation and food systems, and contaminating the environment, Israel has created a deadly mix of crises that will inflict grave harm on generations to come,” the committee denounces.
In another report published Thursday, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) affirms that the repeated evacuation orders of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip lead to forced population displacements constituting “a crime against humanity “.
In October, the UN estimated 1,9 million the number of Gazans displaced by the war, out of a total population estimated at 2.4 million inhabitants.
“Statements by senior officials with command responsibility show that forced displacement is intentional and part of Israeli state policy, and therefore constitutes a crime against humanity,” the report details, recalling that the “forced transfer” of civilians is a “war crime” under international law.
“Ethnic cleansing”
According to HRW, Israel’s “actions also appear to meet the definition of ethnic cleansing” in areas where the army has ordered Palestinians to leave and where they will not be able to return.
HRW mentions in particular two areas generally referred to as the Neztarim and Philadelphia corridors, which it said were “razed, expanded and cleared” by the Israeli army to create buffer zones.
The UN committee called on the international community to act urgently to end the bloodshed, recalling that countries continue to provide “military support” to Israel.
HRW encouraged the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to “investigate” all these facts.
(With AFP)
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