‘Apartheid Israel Is Targeting Gaza and the West Bank Simultaneously’: Independent UN Special Rapporteur

GENEVA, 2 September 2024 (UN Human Rights)* – A UN independent expert warned today that Israel’s intensification of its military assault against the northern West Bank marks a dangerous escalation of grave violence and human rights violations committed by Israel against the Palestinian people since October 7, 2023.

“Israel’s genocidal violence risks leaking out of Gaza and into the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole,” warned Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.

“The writing is on the wall, and we cannot continue to ignore it. There is mounting evidence that no Palestinian is safe under Israel’s unfettered control. While this was also true before Hamas’ attack on 7 October, the risk has since intensified,” Albanese said.

Continuous genocidal incitements by top Israeli leaders and officials remain unpunished, and are often acted upon by soldiers, armed settlers and others, revealing the intent to destroy the Palestinian people under occupation.

Increasingly loud calls by Israeli leaders for turning the towns in the West Bank and refugee camps into a “mini-Gaza”, are translating into military operations that are causing heavy death tolls and widespread destruction to the West Bank’s urban areas.

Systematic aerial and ground attacks on Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem and Tubas governorates, particularly targeting refugee camps, have intensified in the past few months.

Recently, on 28 August, Israeli occupation forces launched a full-scale military operation against these areas that have already killed 22 Palestinians and injured dozens.

Bulldozers have destroyed critical infrastructure, including roads, water and energy grids.

New checkpoints have been established, following Israel’s Foreign Minister Katz’s declaration that “We must deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian residents and whatever steps are required. This is a war for everything, and we must win it.”

An evacuation order has been issued to Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem and a city hospital in besieged Jenin, currently treating 150 patients.

The Israeli occupation forces have blocked entry to the three main hospitals and imposed a curfew, while Israeli ground forces have invaded and besieged Shu’fat refugee camp in East Jerusalem.

The expert notes that since 7 October 2023, 652 Palestinians have been killed outside of Gaza, including 151 children, thousands injured, over 3,300 have been displaced and over 12,000 arbitrarily detained, de facto hostages of the unlawful occupying Power.

The increasing violence in the West Bank coincides with unprecedented levels of displacement, depopulation and land confiscation carried out by the State of Israel in collaboration with settler militias in the area since the Oslo era.

This continues even after the International Court of Justice concluded that this occupation is unlawful, and Israel must dismantle it together with the colonies and its associated regime.

“Apartheid Israel is targeting Gaza and the West Bank simultaneously, as part of an overall process of elimination, replacement and territorial expansion” she said.

“The long-standing impunity granted to Israel is enabling the de-Palestinisation of the occupied territory, leaving Palestinians at the mercy of the forces pursuing their elimination as a national group,” warned the expert.

“The international community, made of both states and non-state actors, including companies and financial institutions, must do everything it can to immediately end the risk of genocide against the Palestinian people under Israel’s occupation, ensure accountability and ultimately end Israel’s colonisation of Palestinian territory.”