Israel revives Gaza expulsion plan as UN probe confirms genocide against children

Israeli officials have renewed the discussion of the possibility of expelling Palestinians from Gaza, as an independent UN inquiry confirmed that the occupying regime continues to commit genocide in the besieged strip.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Shmuel Ben Ezra, head of the so-called national security council, convened an urgent meeting with military officials to discuss “encouraging voluntary emigration” from Gaza.

According to the report, officials from the Israeli army, Shin Bet, and Mossad were among those who attended the meeting.

During the meeting, Mossad representatives said the agency has not identified any country willing to accept the relocation of Gazans.

The Israeli daily cited military officials as saying that they were surprised by the urgency of the discussion, noting the issue has been raised repeatedly in the past without progress.

“So far, we know of no country in the world that is willing to take in Palestinians who choose to leave the Gaza Strip,” one official said, adding, “We also don’t know of any change that would enable such a move without complex coordination between international elements.”

A member of the Knesset admitted that any such plan lacks “political or international feasibility,” citing the opposition of Arab states and the wider international community.

The campaign to depopulate Gaza intensified throughout Israel’s genocidal war that began in October 2023, alongside calls from Israeli settlers and far-right politicians for permanent control and the establishment of new settlements inside the territory.

Inside the occupied territories, support for the expulsion of Palestinians is not limited to the Gaza Strip.

Nissim Vaturi, a lawmaker from the Israeli prime minister’s Likud party, told Channel 14 News on Tuesday that Jewish Israelis “will not be able to live here in peace until we expel all the Arabs from this area,” speaking about the occupied West Bank.

“There should not be any Arabs there at all,” Vaturi, who is serving as deputy speaker of the Knesset, said.

“We need to strengthen Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria,” Vaturi said, using the Israeli name for the West Bank, adding that “only in this way will we be able to live here in the Land of Israel.”

Israeli war minister pushes Gaza mass-expulsion plan framed as ‘voluntary emigration’

An Israeli minister has advanced plans for the mass expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip under the guise of so-called ‘voluntary emigration.’

Israel continues to commit genocide in Gaza: UN inquiry

An independent UN inquiry confirmed that Israel continues to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza.

The report by the UN independent international commission of inquiry examined violations against Palestinian children since the start of the war in Gaza, noting that nearly 30% of the people killed by Israeli troops have been children.

Genocide, which became a crime after the Second World War, is considered the most serious international crime.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines it as “any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”

In its report released on Tuesday, the ​UN commission said that Palestinian children were deliberately targeted and killed during the ‌war, including after a ceasefire came into effect ‌in October last year, stressing this was a key element in establishing genocidal intent by the occupying regime to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, ‌in Gaza.

“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, the commission’s chair, in a statement accompanying the report.

The inquiry found that Israeli forces continued to use high-payload munitions and weapons with widespread effects in densely populated residential areas, despite mounting child casualties.

“This indicates that ‌such attacks, which killed children in such high numbers, were intentional,” the commission said.

Muralidhar said that by targeting children, Israel was undermining the capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future.

The report also highlighted preventable deaths and trauma caused by Israel’s blockade of Gaza and restrictions imposed on the entry of aid, food, and medicine into the strip, widespread attacks, and repeated displacement.

The commission also found a sharp increase in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds, and documented evidence of torture, including sexual and gender-based violence, during mass arrests and detention.

According to the report, Palestinian children, especially boys, were subjected to systemic mistreatment in detention, including forced stripping, beatings, and food deprivation.

The commission concluded that the treatment constituted the crimes against humanity of torture and other inhumane acts causing great suffering or serious injury.

A previous report by the commission in September found that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials incited these acts. Netanyahu is separately wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir