UN report warns of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and Gaza

The United Nations warned on Thursday of “ethnic cleansing” in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as a result of intensified Israeli attacks and the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians.

A report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated, “The intensified attacks, the systematic destruction of entire neighborhoods, and the denial of humanitarian access appear designed to bring about a permanent demographic change in Gaza.”

The report continued, “This, along with forced displacements that appear designed to create a permanent displacement, raises concerns about ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank.”

The report documented “details of the ongoing killing and maiming of unprecedented numbers of civilians by Israeli forces” during the war that began in October 2013.

It condemned “the widespread famine and the destruction of what remained of the civilian infrastructure, which has forced Palestinians into living conditions that are increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a community in Gaza.” The report, which compiles data from the United Nations, government sources, and NGOs, stated that “the patterns of deadly attacks witnessed in Gaza raise serious concerns that Israeli forces deliberately targeted civilians and civilian objects.”

It specifically documented the deaths of at least 463 Palestinians, including 157 children, due to starvation in the Gaza Strip, emphasizing that “the famine and malnutrition were a direct result of actions taken by the Israeli government.”

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights affirmed that “any use of starvation against the civilian population as a method of warfare constitutes a war crime,” and may also constitute “crimes against humanity” or even “genocide” if its aim is “the destruction, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”