Israel's Buffer Zone in Gaza a War Crime: UN Rights Chief
Israel's Buffer Zone in Gaza a War Crime: UN Rights Chief
Israeli ground forces continued last week to carry out the controlled demolition of buildings in Gaza under the auspices of creating a security “buffer zone”
Israel’s effort to build a “buffer zone” by razing buildings inside Gaza is a war crime, Volker Turk, the UN’s rights chief said in a statement last week.
“I stress to the Israeli authorities that Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits destruction by the occupying power of property belonging to private persons, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations,’” he said, according to the AFP.
Israeli ground forces continued last week to carry out the controlled demolition of buildings in Gaza under the auspices of creating a security “buffer zone,” which has been—at least publicly—rejected by the U.S. and other sponsors.
The New York Times, which looked at Israeli military footage and satellite imagery, reported that there have been at least 33 controlled demolitions that have resulted in the destruction of hundreds of buildings inside the enclave.
An IDF spokesman told the paper that these demolitions are intended to destroy terror infrastructure and “combat complexes” used by Hamas fighters.
Israel has sped up work on creating a “buffer zone” with Gaza by destroying everything in a 1-kilometer-wide area (on the Gaza side). Israel said the clearing would create a “field of fire so Israeli troops can see and stop anyone approaching the frontier. Basically, a no man’s land.
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, told Common Dreams that if the Israeli government wants a buffer zone, it has “every right to create one in far larger Israel, but it has no right to seize land in Gaza, squeezing the 2.3 million Palestinians into an even tinier area.”
The Times reported that most of the buildings that have been razed are “well outside” the buffer zone, and the reported number of demolitions are likely well below the actual number. (The paper said it pulled reporters from Gaza due to security concerns.)
The plan to create a buffer zone, which has not been officially announced by Israel, is another example of Israel dictating the terms to Washington. Israel suffered its biggest troop casualty during the demolition campaign when 21 reservists died while placing explosives inside these buildings.
Nadia Hardman, a refugee rights expert at Human Rights Watch, told the AFP that there is mounting evidence that Israel “appears to be rendering large parts of Gaza unlivable,” which could amount to another war crime.
Cecilie Hellestveit, of the Norwegian Academy of International Law, also told the outlet that the situation could make the case for ethnic cleansing because “the Palestinians will eventually be forced out of the area entirely.”
Adi Ben-Nun, the manager of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Geographic Information System Center, told The Times of Israel that there are 2,850 buildings that could face demolition and about 1,100 in the buffer zone have been damaged. That is not counting the 80,000 structures that have been damaged in the enclave since the war began.
Other analysts said the total number of buildings or structures either damaged or destroyed in Gaza is over 143,900, or about half the buildings in the city. About 1.7 million people have been internally displaced—or 80 percent of the population.
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said the group is “determined” not to allow a buffer zone to happen.
Haaretz reported last week that IDF soldiers have burned hundreds of Gaza homes and everything in them, on direct orders of their commanders, Common Dreams noted. The report said some IDF members posed in front of these homes and said the arson was in revenge for the 7 October attack.
TRENDPOST: Who, with a mind bigger than a pea, would keep swallowing the Israeli, U.S., and EU bullshit that Israel is bombing Gaza into ruins and killing nearly 30,000 Palestinians—40 percent children, 30 percent women—all in the name of fighting Hamas!