A committee UN Special Tribunal ruled Thursday that the methods of warfare employed by Israel in Gaza had the “characteristics of genocide” quot;, Human Rights Watch considering for its part that the repeated forced displacement of Gazans constituted a crime against humanity. ;eacute;. Israel has rejected HRW’s accusations as “completely false” but has not yet commented on the UN committee’s findings. The United States has “unequivocally” disapproved of the UN report’s findings. “We believe that this type of language and these types of accusations are most certainly unfounded,” said State Department spokesman Vedant Patel. In a report covering the period from October 7, 2023, the start of the war sparked by the deadly attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israel, to July 2024, the special UN committee expressed alarm at the “massive civilian casualties” and the use of “starvation as a weapon of war.” “Through its siege of Gaza, its obstruction of humanitarian aid, its targeted attacks and the killing of civilians and aid workers, despite repeated calls by the UN, binding orders by the International Court of Justice and Security Council resolutions, Israel is intentionally causing death, starvation and serious injury,” the committee said in a statement. The methods of warfare employed by Israel “correspond to the characteristics of genocide,” according to this special UN committee, created in 1968 and tasked with investigating Israeli practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, conquered the previous year by Israel (West Bank and Gaza Strip). This is not the first time that Israel has been the subject of such accusations since the start of the war more than a year ago. an. The report, which is 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. Palestinian children fill water containers in Gaza City on November 14, 2024 © AFP – Omar AL-QATTAA “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 said. – “They want to kill us” – In another report published Thursday, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) claims that the repeated evacuation orders by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip are leading to forced population displacements constituting “a crime against humanity.” Palestinians displaced from Beit Hanoun shelters cross the main road from Salah ad-Di to Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip following evacuation orders from the Israeli army, on November 12, 2024 © AFP – Omar AL-QATTAA In October, the UN estimated that 1.9 million Gazans had been displaced by the war, out of a total population estimated at 2.4 million at the start of the conflict. “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 states, recalling that the “forced transfer” of civilians is a “war crime” under international law. The Israeli authorities, for their part, claim to be calling on residents of large sections of the Gaza Strip to evacuate due to military imperatives and thus claim to be participating in the protection of civilians. “Again and again, Human Rights Watch's rhetoric regarding Israel's behavior in Gaza is completely false and detached from reality,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said on the social network X. The army Israeli, for its part, rejected “certain flagrant distortions” of reality by HRW, which it accused of “anti-Israeli bias”. An ongoing Israeli offensive for more than a month has forced at least 100,000 people from the northernmost towns of the territory to move to Gaza City, according to Louise Wateridge, spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency (UNRWA). Iman Hamad, a 41-year-old mother from Beit Hanoun (north), says she has been displaced more than 10 times. “Before, I thought they wanted to displace us, now I realize they want to kill us and erase us,” she told AFP on Wednesday. “It is better to die instantly from a shell than to die a thousand times from the humiliation of being displaced, from hunger and misery,” Ashraf Abou Habl, a 50-year-old taxi driver, told AFP. “I'm staying in Jabalia (far north of Gaza). I won't flee,” he added. – “Ethnic cleansing” – Palestinians carry the body of a man killed in an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on November 13, 2024 © AFP – – 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 says have been “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 of these facts. All reproduction and distribution rights reserved. representation reserved. © (2024) Agence France-Presse
By Teilor Stone
Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116