GENEVA:&nbsp;Israel&#39;s increased attacks and forcible transfers of Palestinians &quot;raise concerns over ethnic cleansing&quot; in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the United Nations said Thursday. The UN human rights office said the cumulative impact of Israel&#39;s military conduct during the war in Gaza, plus its blockade of the territory, had inflicted living conditions &quot;increasingly incompatible with Palestinians&#39; continued existence as a group in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/israel-conducting-gradual-de-facto-annexation-of-west-bank-un-official" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gaza</a>.&quot; &quot;Intensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighborhoods and the denial of humanitarian assistance appeared to aim at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza,&quot; the office said in a report. &lsquo;Ethnic cleansing&rsquo;&nbsp;&quot;This, together with forcible transfers, which appear to aim at a permanent displacement, raise concerns over ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/israel-accused-of-move-expanding-jerusalem-borders-for-first-time-since-1967" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">West Bank</a>.&quot; The report covered the period from Nov. 1, 2024, to Oct. 31, 2025. In the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem, the report said the &quot;systematic use of unlawful force&quot; by Israeli security forces, &quot;widespread&quot; arbitrary detention, and the &quot;extensive unlawful demolition&quot; of Palestinian homes were being carried out to &quot;systematically discriminate, oppress, control and dominate the Palestinian people&quot;. These violations were &quot;altering the character, status and demographic composition of the occupied West Bank, raising serious concerns of ethnic cleansing,&quot; it said. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">&#39;Inhumane choice&#39;&nbsp;</h2>In Gaza, the report condemned the continued killing and maiming of &quot;unprecedented numbers of civilians&quot;, the spread of famine, and destruction of the &quot;remaining civilian infrastructure.&quot; During the 12 months covered in the report, at least 463 Palestinians, including 157 children, starved to death in Gaza, it said. &quot;Palestinians faced the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risking being killed while trying to get food,&quot; said the report. &quot;The situation of famine and malnutrition was the direct result of actions taken by the Israeli government,&quot; with the deaths and suffering from hunger &quot;foreseeable and repeatedly foretold.&quot; <h2 style="line-height: 2;">Impunity &#39;kills&#39;&nbsp;</h2>Last week, UN rights chief Volker Turk warned that the world was witnessing &quot;rapid steps to change permanently the demography of the occupied Palestinian territory.&quot; On Tuesday, Israel&#39;s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed to encourage &quot;emigration&quot; from the Palestinian territories. And on Wednesday, UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo warned the Security Council that steps by Israel to tighten control of areas of the West Bank administered by the Palestinian Authority amount to &quot;gradual de facto annexation.&quot; Thursday&#39;s rights office report concluded that, considered together, Israeli practices &quot;indicated a concerted and accelerating effort to consolidate annexation of large parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and to deny Palestinians&#39; right to self-determination.&quot; The report said there was a pervasive climate of impunity for serious violations of international law by the Israeli authorities in the Palestinian territories. &quot;Impunity is not abstract -- it kills. Accountability is indispensable. It is the prerequisite for a just and durable peace in Palestine and Israel,&quot; Turk said in a statement.

Middle East

‘Intensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighborhoods and the denial of humanitarian assistance appeared to aim at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza,’ UN human rights office says in a report.

Articles tagged with "Palestinian Ethnic Cleansing"

UN says Israeli actions raising 'ethnic cleansing' fears in West Bank, Gaza

UN says Israeli actions raising 'ethnic cleansing' fears in West Bank, Gaza