UN Expert: Israel’s Aggression on Jenin Constitutes a War Crime
New York, MINA – Israeli airstrikes and ground operations in the occupied West Bank targeting the Jenin Refugee camp and killing at least 12 Palestinians may constitute war crimes, UN expert says.
“The operations of Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, killing, and seriously injuring the occupied population, destroying their homes and infrastructure and arbitrarily displacing thousands of people, are gross violations of international law and standards regarding the use of fiber force and can constitute war crimes,” said UN experts as quoted from Wafa on Thursday.
Israeli forces killed at least 12 Palestinians, including five children, and injured more than 100 Palestinians, in one of Israel’s largest military operations in the occupied West Bank lasting two days on Monday and Tuesday.
In addition, the attack forced thousands of Palestinians to flee and spread damage to infrastructure and residential buildings.
“The offensive is the most intense in the West Bank since the destruction of the Jenin camp in 2002,” the UN expert said.
They referred to multiple reports of ambulances being prevented from accessing the Jenin Refugee Camp to evacuate the injured, hindering their access to medical assistance.
“It is heartbreaking to see the thousands of Palestinian refugees initially displaced from 1947-1949, forced out of the camps in abject fear in the middle of the night,” the experts said.
UN experts also denounced so-called “counterterrorism” operations by Israeli forces. The attack finds no justification under international law.
“The attack is a collective punishment against the Palestinian population, which has been labeled a “collective security threat” in the eyes of the Israeli authorities,” the experts said.
They expressed deep concern about the weaponry and military tactics deployed by the Israeli occupation forces at least twice during the last two weeks against the residents of Jenin.
“Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories are a protected people under international law, guaranteed all human rights including the presumption of innocence,” experts said.
“They cannot be treated as a threat to collective security by the occupying Powers, especially when they are advancing the annexation of occupied Palestinian lands, and the displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian population,” he continued.
Experts say Israel’s operation in Jenin is an amplification of the structural violence that has spilled over into the occupied Palestinian territories for decades.
“The impunity that Israel has enjoyed for its decades of violence has only fueled and intensified a repeated cycle of violence,” they said.
UN experts have called for Israel to be held accountable under international law for its illegal occupation and acts of violence to perpetuate it.
“For this non-stop violence to end, Israel’s illegal occupation must end, because it is wrong at its core,” they said. (T/RE1/P2)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
