UN Warns Israel’s Forces Killed Palestinians Near Gaza Armistice Line, Possible War Crimes

The United Nations raised alarm over killings of Palestinians near Israel’s armistice line in Gaza, warning that some deaths may amount to unlawful killings and potential war crimes.

“The United Nations has “added Israel to the blacklist of sexual violence in conflict zones”, prompting Israel to cut ties with UN chief Antonio Guterres, the country’s ambassador to the UN says”

Al Jazeera

The UN human rights office said around one-third of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the October truce died near the military’s designated boundary area with Hamas, and it documented 453 verified Palestinian deaths between the start of the ceasefire and February 5.

Al Jazeera

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory, said the available information raises serious concerns that the Israeli army is shooting at and killing presumed civilians simply for approaching the zone.

Sunghay added that civilians often appeared not to pose a threat to Israeli troops and that “Nobody clearly knows exactly where it starts, where it ends, and how it moves, and when it moves,” describing how the boundary location can be unclear to Palestinians.

The Straits Times reported that Israeli maps show a widened restricted zone of military control now covers nearly two-thirds of Gaza, heightening fears among displaced Palestinians living in tent camps and damaged homes near the yellow line.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a conference at the Ein Prat pre-military academy in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank that Israel has gradually expanded its control over Gaza since the ceasefire agreement was implemented in October.

Netanyahu said, “We are now in 60% of the Gaza Strip, more or less. We were at 50%; now we’ve moved to 60%,” and he then responded to audience shouts by saying, “First 70%. Let's start with that.”

AnewZ

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said Israel’s expansion of control in Gaza and construction of fortified military sites “directly contradicts the requirements of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement” and is creating conditions of “de facto annexation.”

Common Dreams quoted Dylan Williams, the vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, calling Netanyahu’s pledge “a war criminal admitting to his crimes.”

The same Common Dreams report said Israel ordered more than 200,000 residents of southern Lebanon to forcibly evacuate north of the Zahrani River despite an ongoing ceasefire that began last month, and it reported that more than 3,200 Lebanese have been killed.

Beyond the armistice-line allegations and Netanyahu’s territorial remarks, the United Nations also “added Israel to the blacklist of sexual violence in conflict zones,” according to Al Jazeera.

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Common Dreams

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said, “We are done with this secretary-general,” and he denounced the upcoming report from Guterres’s office.

Al Jazeera reported that Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, wrote on X that adding Israel to the blacklist for sexual violence is “long overdue,” and she said it “could not have come soon enough.”

In parallel, Middle East Eye reported that Polish-Palestinian survivors filed a criminal complaint in Wrocław, southern Poland, accusing senior Israeli officials of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

Middle East Eye said the complaint named former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and his successor, Israel Katz, and it described the case as “one of the first cases of its kind in Europe brought by named survivors with dual citizenship.”