Israeli forces have “systematically destroyed” civil life across Gaza since October 2023, while demonstrating a “clear intent” to forcibly remove Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, effectively preventing any possibility of a future Palestinian state, according to a new UN report released on the opening day of the annual General Assembly meeting.

In the report released on Tuesday, the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory outlined Israel’s plans to destroy life in Gaza and expand its illegal settlements in the occupied territory, saying Israel is demolishing civilian infrastructure, repeatedly forcibly transferring Palestinians across the enclave and razing basic infrastructure.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

“Since October 2023, Israeli officials have demonstrated a clear and consistent intent to establish permanent military control over Gaza and to change its demographic composition while systematically destroying Palestinian life in Gaza,” the report states, citing Israeli demolition of wells, sewage pumping stations and wastewater treatment plants, as well as the destruction of educational institutions, mosques and cemeteries.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 65,382 people and wounded 166,985 since October 2023. Thousands more are believed to be buried under the rubble. On Tuesday alone, deadly Israeli air attacks were intensifying in Gaza City as ground forces advanced in the south of the city, killing at least 29 Palestinians across the enclave.

Israel launched its war after a Hamas-led attack killed 1,139 people on October 7, 2023. Of the roughly 200 taken captive, some 48 still remain in Gaza. At least 20 of them are believed to be alive.

Advertisement

Last week, a United Nations inquiry found that Israel’s war on Gaza is a genocide, a landmark moment after nearly two years of war that campaigners say is a war of vengeance without any specific goals.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unilaterally withdrew from the ceasefire agreement with Hamas on March 18 and launched massive air strikes. It also imposed a total aid blockade, triggering famine and starvation deaths in the enclave – home to 2.3 million people, most of whom have been forcibly displaced by the Israeli war.

“The widespread destruction of Gaza has created a situation in which Palestinians cannot return to their homes, effectively paving the way for Israeli officials to propose that they ‘voluntarily migrate’ to other countries,” the UN found in its report on Tuesday.

“The Commission emphasises that plans proposed by Israeli officials – ‘voluntary migration’ and establishing a ‘humanitarian city’ – if implemented, would constitute the war crime and crime against humanity of forcible transfer and deportation of the Palestinian population.”

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has continued to push for “voluntary migration,” of Palestinians from Gaza, a euphemism for forced displacement and ethnic cleansing.

Last year, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes.

Responding to the UN’s most recent report, the Israeli mission in Geneva said, “Hamas has genocidal intent towards Israel, the report has everything backwards. This Commission does not miss an opportunity to reveal its true character and politically-driven agenda.”

Israel has dubbed the UN “anti-Israel”, though it has provided no evidence to back its allegations. At least 373 UN staff have been killed in the last two years in Israeli strikes.

Life in the occupied West Bank

The UN commission also highlighted Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank in the last two years.

“Israeli policies and actions implemented since October 2023 in the West Bank demonstrate clear intent to forcibly transfer Palestinians, expand Israeli civilian presence and annex the entirety of the West Bank, preventing any potential Palestinian self-determination and statehood and maintaining an indefinite occupation,” the UN report found.

Israel has launched a crackdown on the occupied West Bank since it began its devastating war on Gaza, killing more than 1,000 Palestinians. At least 18,000 Palestinians have been arrested in the last 23 months. Even before the October 7, 2023, attack inside Israel by the Hamas-led Palestinian groups, Israeli military and settler violence was at its highest in years.

Advertisement

Earlier this month, Israeli forces detained more than 100 Palestinians in raids on the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem as it continues to expand settlements on Palestinian lands.

Netanyahu has long been vocal on his goal to prevent a future Palestinian state.

“We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state. This place belongs to us,” Netanyahu said earlier this month as he signed an agreement to expand a settlement that would make any future Palestinian state virtually impossible.

He also boasted of having derailed the 1993 Oslo peace process, which called for a freeze of settlements, considered illegal under international law. Last September, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling on Israel to end its occupation of the occupied territories within a year.

The UN concluded its report by calling on the Israeli government to immediately end the genocide in Gaza, as well as “recognize and ensure the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.”