The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Al-Haq and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights have warned of escalating violence in the occupied West Bank and the use of tactics by Israeli forces that the world has witnessed in Gaza.
This follows after Israel launched the largest assault on the occupied West Bank in years, with hundreds of soldiers carrying out raids in which at least 11 Palestinians were killed and many wounded.
In a joint statement, the rights groups called on the international community to “immediately intervene and implement countermeasures against Israel as required by international law.”
“Our organisations warn of even more escalated violence in the West Bank, with the employment of tactics that mirror those used in Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, particularly attacks on hospitals and healthcare facilities, and the use of excessive and indiscriminate force,” they said.
Separately, Amnesty International said that Israeli forces have followed their “escalation in unlawful killings” in the occupied West Bank with a major military assault on the Palestinian territory that puts “more Palestinians at risk.”
Describing an already “horrifying spike in lethal force” against Palestinians by Israeli soldiers and armed settlers, Amnesty said that the new military operation will result “in further loss of Palestinian lives” as well as “an increase in forced displacement, destruction of critical infrastructure and measures of collective punishment.”
In a statement, Erika Guevara Rosas, a Director at Amnesty International noted, “Amid alarming reports that Israeli forces have encircled and blocked off access to hospitals, Amnesty International urges the Israeli authorities to take action to safeguard health facilities and personnel.”
“As the occupying power, Israel has a clear obligation to protect Palestinians, their homes and the infrastructure throughout the occupied Palestinian territory,” Guevara Rosas said.
“A Very Grave Development”
Kenneth Roth, former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch and Visiting Professor at Princeton University said that the increasing levels of Israeli violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank was a “very grave development.”
Speaking with a news agency, Roth noted that Under Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian territory, the standard of policing should be that which applies to normal law enforcement, “to the police on the street.”
“That means you cannot use lethal force except as a last resort to meet an imminent lethal threat,” Roth added..
“Now, it looks like that is not what Israel is doing. It is bombing away. And, indeed, the Israeli Foreign Minister – Israel Katz – said that this is a war. Now, in war, you can just shoot the other side’s combatants. No need to try and capture them. Nothing about last resort.
“So, Israel is now escalating its standards for the use of lethal force to war standards.”
Kenneth Roth
“The last thing that we want is this kind of massive displacement taking place in the West Bank too,” Roth stated.
“Frankly, ‘the dream’ of the far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s government is to ‘solve the problem’ of the West Bank. ‘Solve the problem’ of the apartheid regime that Israel is maintaining there, by just getting rid of the Palestinians.
“That would be a massive war crime. But this is what certain members of the Netanyahu government – whose votes in the Knesset Netanyahu needs to stay in power – this is what they talk about.”
Kenneth Roth
“This is an urgent reason to nip this in the bud and not to let this continue down the path that we have seen in Gaza,” he added.
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