Israel may be committing war crime with Gaza buffer zone, UN warns
▶ Senior Hamas official arrives in Egypt to begin next round of peace talks
Israel’s continuing destruction of buildings in Gaza with the aim of creating a buffer zone along the border is unjustified and may be a war crime, the UN’s human rights chief said.
Volker Turk warned the destruction of homes and essential civilian infrastructure “appears to be aimed at, or has the effect of, rendering the return of civilians to these areas impossible”.
The “extensive destruction of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, amounts to a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and a war crime”, he said.
He said Article 53 of the convention “prohibits destruction by the occupying power of property belonging to private persons”.
The “forcible transfer of civilians” may also constitute a war crime, he added.
The US, Israel’s top ally and the largest provider of military aid to the country, has said repeatedly that Gaza’s territory should not change and a buffer zone would be a breach of that principle.
“When it comes to the permanent status of Gaza, we remain clear about not encroaching on its territory,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month.
Satellite images show continuing demolition in a kilometre-wide corridor within Gaza, along the border with Israel.
The UN Human Rights Office reported that demolitions have occurred in recent weeks in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, As Shujaiyeh in Gaza city, An Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza and Khan Younis in the south.
“Israel has not provided cogent reasons for such extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure,” Mr Turk said.
Israeli leaders have said the buffer zone is aimed at preventing a repeat of the October 7 attack by Hamas.
The demolition represents only a fraction of the destruction from the war, amid estimates Israel has damaged or destroyed half of all the buildings in the enclave.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has finished his latest tour of the Middle East amid widening divisions between Washington and Israel after a proposed truce in Gaza was rejected by Israeli leaders.
Mr Blinken met Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Thursday before returning to the US, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Mr Miller said they had “reviewed the latest efforts to facilitate the safe return of all remaining hostages and to increase levels of life-saving humanitarian assistance” to the Gaza Strip.
The previous day, Mr Blinken travelled to the occupied West Bank, where he reaffirmed Washington’s support for Palestinian statehood during talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
He also visited Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar during his tour, talking up Riyadh’s interest in normalising relations with Israel, provided the Gaza war ends and the Palestinians are given a clear, credible and time-bound pathway to an independent state.
Mr Blinken’s visit – his fifth to the region since the war began in October – was part of US efforts to press Israel to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and reach terms on a truce.
“We remain determined as well to pursue a diplomatic path to a just and lasting peace, and security for all in the region, and notably for Israel,” he said late on Wednesday.
“On all of my previous visits here and pretty much every day in between, we have pressed Israel in concrete ways to strengthen civilian protection, to get more assistance to those who need it. And over the past four months, Israel has taken important steps to do just that.
“And yet … the daily toll that its military operations continue to take on innocent civilians remains too high.”
The end of the tour came as Hamas, the militant group that governs the enclave, announced that its deputy leader in Gaza, Khalil Al Hayah, had arrived in Egypt to continue discussions on the prospect of a ceasefire.
Efforts to find a formula for peace deemed acceptable by both sides have floundered, and the fighting in Gaza continues with few clear avenues to end the crisis.
Proposals submitted by Hamas on Tuesday included Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire and a reconstruction plan with a threeyear timetable.
They also envisaged a detainee and hostage swap between Israel and Hamas.
However, they were rejected on Wednesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called them “delusional”.
Relations between Israel and the US have been tense for months, and the divide was highlighted by Mr Netanyahu’s public dismissal of a plan Washington believes to have merit.
But Mr Blinken remained optimistic that progress could be made in improving humanitarian conditions for civilians in Gaza, securing the release of hostages, preventing the war from spreading and laying the ground for a postwar plan in the enclave.
“We see space to continue to pursue an agreement,” he said on Wednesday. “And these things are always negotiations. It’s not flipping a light switch. It’s not ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ There’s invariably back and forth.”
He appealed to Mr Netanyahu and other Israelis still reeling from the October 7 Hamas attack not to allow vengeance to dictate their response.
“Israelis were dehumanised in the most horrific way on October 7,” Mr Blinken said. “And the hostages have been dehumanised every day since. But that cannot be a licence to dehumanise others.”
But Mr Netanyahu appeared to dismiss concerns from the US and others about Israel expanding its military operations in southern Gaza, particularly in Rafah.
He vowed once again to continue the war until Hamas is eradicated and all Israeli hostages are freed from captivity in Gaza.
However, Egyptian security sources told The National that Mr Netanyahu plans to meet Egyptian and Qatari officials to discuss the way forward in truce talks.
Cairo has sent more troops to the borders with Israel and Gaza and placed them on high alert, the sources said, as Israel prepares to move its troops into the southern city of Rafah, where at least a million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge.
Recent operations have devastated Khan Younis, about 10km from the Egyptian border.
Egypt fears that Palestinians living in makeshift camps on the Gaza side of the border will be forced to cross into its Sinai Peninsula if Israel takes its search for Hamas fighters into Rafah.
Cairo says this would “liquidate” the Palestinian cause, create hurdles for negotiations to settle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and breach Egypt’s national security.
The UN and others have repeatedly warned that an Israeli assault on Rafah would cause a large number of civilian casualties, given how crowded the city is.
Egypt has sent aircraft on reconnaissance missions over the area and increased its monitoring of Israeli troop movements, the sources said.
Relations between Egypt and Israel have been tense since the Gaza war started, with Cairo frequently accusing Israel of using collective punishment, not doing enough to avoid civilian casualties, impeding humanitarian aid delivery and bombing the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing on at least four occasions.
These things are always negotiations. It’s not flipping a light switch. It’s not ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ There’s invariably back and forth
ANTONY BLINKEN
US Secretary of State