‘Reproduction of genocide’: Euro-Med condemns escalation in Israel’s West Bank offensive

An international human rights organization has warned of a sharp escalation in the forced displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces during the latest military campaign in the northern West Bank, calling it a “reproduction of the crime of genocide.”

The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, in a statement released on Monday, condemned ongoing military offensives that have uprooted thousands from their homes, particularly in refugee camps across the region.

It added that Israeli forces have been conducting frequent raids on the town of Tamoun and the Far’a camp since February 2, destroying infrastructure and homes while enforcing a rigorous curfew on the populace.

The Euro-Med Monitor noted that hundreds of Palestinian families were left with no choice but to flee under dire conditions, driven out by the threat of home bombings, starvation, and siege. 

The humanitarian organization revealed that Israeli military forces have displaced more than 11,000 people from Tulkarm camps, and the majority of the Jenin camp’s 13,000 residents. 

This marks one of the biggest forced displacement campaigns conducted by the Israeli occupation army in the West Bank in decades, it stated.

Israel expands shooting orders in West Bank, adding to Palestinian death toll

Israel has expanded shooting orders for its soldiers in the occupied West Bank in a move that has generated a high Palestinian death toll.

The Euro-Med Monitor said that the Israeli military’s current genocidal strategy in the West Bank, in addition to forced displacement, has involved widespread destruction.

“This destruction has included the bombing and burning of residential buildings and infrastructure, the cutting off of water, electricity, and communications supplies, and a killing policy that has resulted in the deaths of 30 Palestinians — including four children — and the injury of almost 300 others over the course of 19 days,” it pointed out.

The international human rights organization warned that Israel, emboldened by “decades-long impunity and the international community’s general attitude of helplessness that accompanied its atrocities in the Gaza Strip for over 15 months”, could wage another genocidal campaign in the West Bank.

The Euro-Med Monitor finally urged the international community to take immediate action to halt Israeli military offensives, protect Palestinian civilians, and pressure the Te Aviv regime to abandon its plans to annex the West Bank and wrest full control over it.

The Israeli military launched a large-scale offensive in the occupied West Bank on January 21, just two days after a Gaza ceasefire deal between the Tel Aviv regime and Hamas came into effect.

The onslaught has resulted in the displacement of more than 35,000 Palestinians from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Far’a refugee camps.

According to the United Nations, some 90 percent of the residents of the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps have been forced to flee.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says displacement and destruction in the Jenin camp have turned the area into a “ghost town,” while the UN human rights office says the killings and the demolition of homes “indicate ongoing violations of international law.”

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