Israel’s policy ‘a war crime’: UN

Israel must evacuate all settlers from the West Bank and make reparations for decades of illegal settlement, the UN rights chief said yesterday, describing the policy as "a war crime".

"The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime," Volker Turk said in a statement.

"Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers."

Violence in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967, has escalated since the start of the war in Gaza.

"Israel's settlement policy, its acts of annexation, and related discriminatory legislation and measures are in breach of international law, as the International Court of Justice has confirmed, and violate Palestinians' right to self-determination," Turk said.

His comments came as his office released a new report on the situation in the West Bank between October 2023 and last November.

That timeline concludes before the Israeli military began conducting a sweeping offensive across multiple areas of the West Bank on January 21, two days after a fragile ceasefire took effect in the Gaza Strip, largely halting 15 months of war there.

The operation, dubbed "Iron Wall", has resulted in dozens of deaths, including Palestinian children and Israeli soldiers, according to the UN.

Before that operation began, the UN rights office found that a total of 612 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces and settlers in the West Bank during the period covered by its report, amid "a climate of revenge".

During the same period, 24 Israelis were also killed in alleged attacks or clashes with Palestinians, it found.

The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah has put the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank between October 7, 2023 and March 14 at 911.

Meanwhile, at least 32 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in that period in Palestinian attacks or during military operations, according to official Israeli figures.