Israeli plans to make Gaza 'buffer zone' war crime: UN
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Volker Turk warned that Israeli actions do not appear consistent with such exceptions and therefore the "extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure," is in direct breach of the convention which amounts to a war crime.
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A picture taken from southern occupied Palestine on February 1, 2024, shows an Israeli tank near the separation fence and destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip (AFP)
The UN rights director cautioned on Thursday that "Israel's" continuous destruction of all homes along the Gaza border to create a "buffer zone" is a war crime.
Volker Turk in a statement addressed Israeli officials reminding them of Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which "prohibits destruction by the occupying power of property belonging to private persons, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations."
He observed that Israeli actions do not appear consistent with such exceptions and therefore the "extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure," is in direct breach of the convention which amounts to a war crime.
Turk also emphasized that the amount of destruction ensures that populations who lived in these areas prior to the war will render their return to such places "impossible," warning Israeli authorities that "forcible transfer of civilians may constitute a war crime."
In October, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights accused "Israel" of executing "widespread destruction and demolition" of civilian infrastructure, including "residential buildings, schools and universities in areas in which fighting is not or no longer taking place."
According to a Guardian investigation last month, in the three focal neighborhoods investigated at least 250 residential buildings, 17 schools and universities, and 16 mosques were leveled to the ground. The numbers prompted experts to label the genocide as a "domicide" as it not only forces Palestinians out of their homes or shelters but also makes it impossible for them to return to them.
Satellite images obtained by the Associated Press show a destroyed belt between the Gaza Strip and the bordering occupied territories, possibly indicating the greenlit plan "Israel" has devised to create what they coined a buffer zone that separates Gaza from the rest of the land to avoid another operation similar to Al Aqsa Flood.
The destruction of Gaza has certainly been extensive, as neighborhoods and almost half of the infrastructure had been pulverized by Israeli bombardments. However, the images indicate that the placement of these bombings coincides with the "borders" of Gaza and the occupied territories.
Israeli destructive operations were peculiarly concentrated where the buffer zone would sit. To clarify, along the "border" itself were farmlands included within the Gazan territory, but were bombed and bulldozed nonetheless, creating a sliver of unusable land.
Moreover, "Israel" had bombed factories, warehouses, and civilian infrastructure within the potential buffer zone. Some of the buildings had been deliberately mined by Combat Engineering units, in preparation for the demolition of the residential bloc.
1,100-1,330 buildings destroyed in total
A manager at the Geographic Information System Center, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told AP that satellite images clearly reflect the Israeli intention of creating the buffer zone. According to Adi Ben-Nun, around 2,850 buildings border the zone, of which 1,100 have been targeted and destroyed as of January 17.
Another analyst told AP that 1,329 buildings have been damaged in total.
A person familiar with the matter previously informed the Financial Times that the goal is to "keep this area completely clean of any [Resistance fighters] or infrastructure, rocket launchers, mortars . . . and to give us the freedom of operation in that space”."
Israeli officials refused to comment on how wide the buffer would be, but Amos Yadlin, former head of Israeli military intelligence, said he expected "Israel" would enforce a "perimeter" of 500 meters to 1km inside Gaza.
