UN: Israel’s destruction of homes in Gaza Strip is a war crime

GAZA, Feb. 10 (YPA) – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has stated that the Israeli occupation army’s destruction of private buildings and property in the Gaza Strip along the border amounts to a war crime.

“Further, extensive destruction of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, amounts to a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and a war crime,” Volker Turk said in a statement.

According to him, the Israeli destruction to create a “buffer zone” for general security purposes do not appear consistent with the narrow “military operations” exception in international humanitarian law.

The UN rights chief added that Israel has not provided cogent reasons for such extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure.

According to the office of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, the Israeli forces are reportedly destroying all buildings in the Gaza Strip that are within a kilometer of the Israel-Gaza fence.

E.M