UN rights office condemns Israeli minister’s call to displace people from West Bank

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The UN human rights office on Friday condemned an Israeli minister’s call to displace people from the West Bank, saying these statements only serve to escalate an already “very dire situation.”

“On these statements that have been made by some officials that may amount to incitement to commit human rights violations, we roundly condemn these statements,” spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a UN briefing in Geneva in response to Anadolu’s question.

On Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called for applying Gaza-style measures in the northern West Bank, including temporary evacuations of Palestinians, amid a major military operation in the area, the largest in two decades.

“These can only serve to escalate an already very dire situation,” Shamdasani said.

She said that the office is “extremely concerned” about the “catastrophic” situation.

Recalling the “long-standing impunity” in the West Bank for violations that have been committed against Palestinians, she stressed that there has been settler violence, violence by Israeli security forces, hundreds of arbitrary detentions of Palestinians, however “very little accountability.”

“What that does is it creates a climate of impunity,” she said.

“So, the situation was already very, very volatile, and what we've seen in the past few days is a real deepening of this, as we said, catastrophic situation,” she warned.

“We've seen raids, we've seen killings. We've also seen damage to infrastructure, essential infrastructure, including water supplies of the communities that reside there,” Shamdasani said.

She called on Israel to abide by its obligations under international law as the occupying power.

“Israeli security forces use of airstrikes and other military weapons and tactics violates human rights norms and standards applicable to such law enforcement operations, and any unlawful killings must be thoroughly independently investigated, and those responsible must be held to account,” she said.