The United Nations has warned that the Israeli regime’s forcible mass eviction of approximately 1,200 Palestinians from their homes in the Masafer Yatta area of the occupied West Bank amounts to a “war crime.”
Faraan: The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on Thursday that “evictions that lead to displacement, if enforced, amount to forced forcible deportation and a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and therefore constitute a war crime.”
“The international humanitarian law imposes an absolute prohibition on the forcible transfer of civilians from or within the occupied Palestinian territories, and that Israeli authorities must put an end to all coercive measures, including planned evictions, demolitions, and military training in it,” the OCHA said.
The OCHA further said that “constant eviction of Palestinians from their ancestral homes and Israel’s decades-long settlements expansion activities have changed realities on the ground, and are inconsistent with international humanitarian law and UN Security Council resolutions, which are legally binding.”
The statement stated that “215 Palestinian families, comprising 1,150 individuals, including 569 children, are currently living in the Masafer Yatta area and are facing threats of home demolition, as well as violence from settlers who live in outposts close to them.”
Meanwhile, the head of the European Union’s mission to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has also rejected Israel’s forcible eviction of Palestinians from the Masafer Yatta area. Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff said on Thursday that the Israeli decision to displace the residents of the area was “illegal and contrary to international humanitarian law.”
