Expanding Israeli settlements a ‘war crime’: UN

EU sees maritime aid corridor to Gaza opening this weekend amid famine fears

FE Team | Published: March 08, 2024 22:10:47

GENEVA, Mar 08 (Agencies): Expanding Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories constitutes "a war crime" and risks eliminating "any practical possibility" of a viable Palestinian state, the United Nations rights chief warned on Friday.
Volker Turk said there had been a drastic acceleration in Israel's illegal settlement building in the occupied West Bank, at the same time as it wages a relentless war in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
The UN high commissioner for human rights said creating and expanding settlements amounted to the transfer by Israel of its own civilian population into occupied territories.
"Such transfers amount to a war crime that may engage the individual criminal responsibility of those involved," he said in a report to the UN Human Rights Council.
Reported Israeli plans to build another 3,476 settler homes in the West Bank colonies of Maale Adumim, Efrat and Kedar flew "in the face of international law", he said.
Israel seized the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
It is illegal under international law for Israel to establish settlements in these Palestinian territories.
Despite opposition abroad, Israel has in recent decades build dozens of settlements across the West Bank.
They are now home to more than 490,000 Israelis, living in the same territory as around three million Palestinians.
Israel gave the go-ahead for the homes fewer than two weeks after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said any settlement expansion would be "counterproductive to reaching enduring peace" with the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, the head of the European Commission said on Friday a maritime aid corridor could start operating between Cyprus and Gaza this weekend, part of accelerating Western efforts to relieve the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.
Ursula von der Leyen's comments came a day after President Joe Biden announced plans for the US military to build a temporary port on Gaza's Mediterranean coast, amid UN warnings of famine among the tiny territory's 2.3 million people.
Negotiations on a possible ceasefire in Israel's war against Hamas, now in its fifth month, remained deadlocked in Cairo, while the UN human rights office urged Israel not to extend its military offensive into the border town of Rafah, saying this would cause a further "massive loss of life".
EU Commission President von der Leyen said a pilot test run of food aid collected by a charity group and supported by the United Arab Emirates could be leaving Cyprus as early as Friday.
Netanyahu to push on with Gaza offensive, including in Rafah
Israel will push on with its offensive against Hamas, including into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite growing international pressure to stop, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas after its fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253, according to Israeli tallies. More than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza during Israel's subsequent offensive, Palestinian health authorities estimate, prompting worldwide criticism and condemnation.
"There is international pressure and it's growing, but particularly when the international pressure rises, we must close ranks, we need to stand together against the attempts to stop the war," he said.
Biden tells Israel not to use aid as 'bargaining chip,' pushes truce deal
US President Joe Biden warned Israel that it cannot use aid as a "bargaining chip" as he issued a call for an immediate, temporary ceasefire with Hamas in the bloody Gaza war.
"To the leadership of Israel I say this-Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority," Biden said in his annual State of the Union address.
Biden laid out a plan, announced by officials earlier in the day, to set up a temporary pier in the Mediterranean to bring aid into Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of the risk of famine.
Biden again said that Israel was justified in attacking Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, over the massive attack on October 7 and said that the Hamas "could end this conflict today" by releasing hostages.