UN raises 'ethnic cleansing' concerns over Israel's Hebron operation

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UN raises ‘ethnic cleansing’ concerns over Israel’s Hebron operation

Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Hebron, launched after a deadly attack by Palestinian gunmen, raises serious concerns of “ethnic cleansing,” the United Nations warns.

The municipality in Hebron, the West Bank’s largest city, said in a statement that 3,189 people had been forced from their homes by the ongoing operation.

It followed Friday’s attack in which two Palestinian gunmen killed two soldiers at a checkpoint near the city. The gunmen were killed in a shootout.

Israeli troops entered the Hebron neighborhood of Ein Deir Baha, where the two assailants lived, and ordered residents to pack up and leave.

Israel’s “aggressive operation” has already resulted in the forcible displacement of thousands of Palestinians, “demolished homes and commercial property, and deprived residents of the ability to move freely,” UN rights chief Volker Turk says in a statement.

“The sweeping steps taken raise grave concerns of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force — which must end.”

He says the lockdown is confining many to their homes and immediate neighborhoods.

“Declarations by senior Israeli government officials indicate that the measures implemented are punitive in nature and designed to instill fear. This is unacceptable,” says Turk.

“Those who have been displaced must be allowed to return home. Israel must ensure compensation and reparation for unlawful evictions and demolitions, and associated displacement.

“Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law. Threats to empty and erase entire neighborhoods also raise serious concerns of ethnic cleansing.”

The IDF said Friday that the operation in Hebron was expected to last several days and was “focused and limited to the area from which the terrorists operated.”

Speaking earlier in Cairo, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was deeply alarmed by Israeli actions in the West Bank.

“Evictions are unrelenting with Palestinians driven from their lands. Settler violence is surging,” he said. “We are seeing an increasingly coercive environment, with the specter of ethnic cleansing looming ever larger. This must end.”

The Times of Israel Community.

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What we found (1)

The Times of Israel reports the UN's warning of ethnic cleansing in Hebron, gives the displacement figure and quotes Volker Turk and Antonio Guterres at length. But it never once says the West Bank is occupied. It calls Hebron simply a West Bank city, where the same wire account used by other outlets says the occupied West Bank and the Palestinian territory, so a reader is not told the legal status that the UN's warnings about international law rest on.

Hedges the documented record
Serious
“the West Bank city of Hebron”
Why this matters
The Times of Israel places Hebron in "the West Bank" with no word that the territory is occupied, in the opening sentence of a report about forcible displacement and international law.
The impression it gives
A reader takes Hebron to be a city in a region of ordinary or undefined status, where an Israeli military operation is a domestic security matter.
The context
The ICJ has found Israel's occupation of the West Bank unlawful. Other outlets carrying the same account write "occupied West Bank city of Hebron". The word occupied appears nowhere in this article, although Turk's statements on collective punishment and unlawful evictions turn on that status.
How we know
- Al-Monitor reported“occupied West Bank city of Hebron”UN raises 'ethnic cleansing' concerns over Israel's Hebron operation (opens in a new tab)
- On the recordThe International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion found Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem unlawful.icj-cij.org (opens in a new tab)
- Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “occupied” and “occupation”.
Show it in the article
“the West Bank’s largest city”
Why this matters
The outlet describes Hebron as "the West Bank’s largest city", where the same municipal statement is reported elsewhere as the largest city of the Palestinian territory.
The impression it gives
A reader is given no sign that Hebron sits in Palestinian territory under Israeli military occupation, and reads the 3,189 people forced out as residents of an area without a defined status.
The context
France 24 and Al-Monitor both report Hebron as "the Palestinian territory's largest city" in the same sentence. The ICJ has ruled the occupation of this territory unlawful. This second description repeats the omission and also drops the Palestinian identity of the territory.
How we know
- France 24 (English) reported“which is the Palestinian territory's largest city”UN cites 'ethnic cleansing' concerns around Israel's Palestinian displacement operation in Hebron (opens in a new tab)
- On the recordThe International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion found Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem unlawful.icj-cij.org (opens in a new tab)
Show it in the article
Written straight
Israel's military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron raises serious concerns of ethnic cleansing, the UN warns. The municipality in Hebron, the largest city in the occupied Palestinian territory, said 3,189 people had been forced from their homes.

UN raises 'ethnic cleansing' concerns over Israel's Hebron operation

Hedges the documented record

How other outlets reported it

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