{"id":254301,"date":"2024-02-12T12:01:01","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T12:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=254301"},"modified":"2024-02-10T06:52:22","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T06:52:22","slug":"gaza-buffer-zone-possible-war-crime-un-human-rights-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/02\/gaza-buffer-zone-possible-war-crime-un-human-rights-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza \u2018Buffer Zone\u2019 Possible War Crime: UN Human Rights Chief"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"views-field views-field-field-news-story-lead\">\n<div class=\"field-content\">\n<div id=\"attachment_254309\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/gaza-israel-genocide-palestine-10.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-254309\" class=\"wp-image-254309\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/gaza-israel-genocide-palestine-10-1024x464.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/gaza-israel-genocide-palestine-10-1024x464.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/gaza-israel-genocide-palestine-10-300x136.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/gaza-israel-genocide-palestine-10-768x348.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/gaza-israel-genocide-palestine-10.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-254309\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Whole neighbourhoods have been erased in northern Gaza.\u00a0 \u00a9 UNOCHA<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW134837841 BCX8 NormalTextRun\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">8 Feb 2024 &#8211;<\/span><em><span class=\"TextRun SCXW134837841 BCX8 NormalTextRun\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"> Israel\u2019s reported attempt to create a \u201cbuffer zone\u201d with Gaza could constitute a war crime, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/about-us\/high-commissioner\/volker-turk\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\" xml:lang=\"EN-GB\">Volker T\u00fcrk<\/span><\/a><span class=\"TextRun SCXW134837841 BCX8 NormalTextRun\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\"> warned today.<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) are reportedly destroying all buildings in the Gaza Strip that are within one kilometre of the Israel-Gaza fence and \u201cclearing the area\u201d to achieve this objective, he said in <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/press-releases\/2024\/02\/turk-warns-israeli-extensive-destruction-near-gaza-border-grave-breach\" ><u>a statement<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. T\u00fcrk stressed to the Israeli authorities that the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/genocideprevention\/documents\/atrocity-crimes\/Doc.33_GC-IV-EN.pdf\" >Fourth Geneva Convention<\/a> prohibits the occupying Power from destroying property belonging to private persons except where absolutely necessary by military operations.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Israeli Defence Forces are reportedly destroying all buildings in the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Gaza?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#Gaza<\/a> Strip within a km of the Israel-Gaza fence.<\/p>\n<p>Extensive destruction of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully &amp; wantonly, amounts to a war crime &#8211; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/volker_turk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >@volker_turk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UNHumanRights\/status\/1755615404041609469?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >February 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Unlawful Destruction<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cDestructions carried out to create a \u2018buffer zone\u2019 for general security purposes do not appear consistent with the narrow \u2018military operations\u2019 exception set out in international humanitarian law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFurther, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since late October, the UN human rights office, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/pages\/home.aspx\" >OHCHR<\/a>, has recorded widespread destruction by the IDF of civilian and other infrastructure such as residential buildings, schools and universities in areas where fighting is not or no longer taking place.<\/p>\n<h2>Impact on Returns<\/h2>\n<p>Demolitions have also occurred in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, As Shujaiyeh in Gaza City and at <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unrwa.org\/where-we-work\/gaza-strip\/nuseirat-camp\" >Nuseirat refugee camp<\/a> in central Gaza, among other areas, with reports of the destruction of many residential buildings and blocks in Khan Younis in the south in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsrael has not provided cogent reasons for such extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure,\u201d Mr. T\u00fcrk said.<\/p>\n<p>He said the destruction \u201cappears to be aimed at or has the effect of rendering the return of civilians to these areas impossible,\u201d adding that the forcible transfer of civilians may constitute a war crime.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2024\/02\/1146352\" >Go to Original &#8211; news.un.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>8 Feb 2024 &#8211; Israel\u2019s reported attempt to create a \u201cbuffer zone\u201d with Gaza could constitute a war crime, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T\u00fcrk warned today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":254309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[87,865,88,427,1949,124,965],"class_list":["post-254301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-nations","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-israel","tag-palestine","tag-un-human-rights-council","tag-united-nations","tag-war-crimes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254313,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254301\/revisions\/254313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}