- Council of Europe warned Israel was sowing ‘the seeds for the next Hamas’ in the territory
GENEVA: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights chief Volker Turk has denounced Israel’s sharp escalation of attacks in Gaza — and an apparent push to permanently displace the population — as amounting to “ethnic cleansing”, AFP reports.
“This latest barrage of bombs … and the denial of humanitarian assistance underline that there appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in Gaza that is in defiance of international law and is tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” Volker Turk said in a statement.
Turk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, warned that a clear intensification in attacks this week raised fears the wider Israeli offensive had begun.
“We must stop the clock on this madness,” he said, urging all parties, including third states with direct influence, to stop the assault.
Council of Europe denounces ‘deliberate starvation’ in Gaza
Meanwhile, the Council of Europe said Gaza was suffering from a “deliberate starvation”, and warned that Israel was sowing “the seeds for the next Hamas” in the territory, AFP reports.
“The time for a moral reckoning over the treatment of Palestinians has come — and it is long overdue,” said Dora Bakoyannis, rapporteur for the Middle East at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
“No cause, no matter how just or pure, can ever justify every means,” Bakoyannis said in a statement. “The mass killing of children and unarmed civilians, the deliberate starvation, and the relentless pain and humiliation inflicted upon Palestinians in Gaza must end.”
Bakoyannis said that “it takes a smart and brave nation to recognise when its actions are causing more harm than good. What is unfolding in Gaza helps no one”.
Conference on two-state solution to Mideast conflict set for June
On the other hand, a French and Saudi-backed conference on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will take place from June 17 to 20 at UN headquarters in New York, a French diplomatic source has told AFP.
The conference will be organised by the UN General Assembly under a shared French and Saudi presidency, the diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Hamas urges US to press Israel to lift Gaza blockade after hostage release
A senior Hamas official has told AFP that the group expects the United States to pressure Israel into lifting its aid blockade of Gaza after the group released a US-Israeli hostage this week.
“Hamas is awaiting and expecting the US administration to exert further pressure on the Netanyahu government to open the crossings and allow the immediate entry of humanitarian aid — food, medicine and fuel — to the hospitals in the Gaza Strip,” Taher al-Nunu said, adding that aid entry was part of an understanding with US envoys in exchange for Edan Alexander’s release.
Hamas says that Israeli “settler gangs, supported by the occupation army” continue their attacks in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reports.
Hamas said in a statement on Telegram that the latest attacks took place at dawn in several villages in the Salfit governorate and northwest of Nablus.
It said the attacks reflect a dangerous escalation and called for increased resistance and confrontation with the settlers.
