UN experts slam attacks on Gaza shelters, forced displacement in West Bank

Panel details incidents of violence by Israeli forces and settlers against displaced Palestinians in Gaza and occupied West Bank.United Nations experts have reiterated calls for an end to Israeli attacks on displaced Palestinians in Gaza as well as forced displacement measures in the occupied West Bank.In a statement issued on Monday by the UN Human Rights Council (OHCHR), the experts detailed several incidents in March in which Israeli air strikes set tents of displaced Palestinians in Gaza on fire, killing many.“This cycle of displacement, terror, and targeted attacks serves an ultimate purpose: to make life unbearable for Palestinians and permanently force them from their land,” the panel said.Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, was one of the experts [Gregorio Borgia/AP]“The vast majority of Gaza’s population has already been displaced multiple times which amounts to forcible transfer,” the panel said, adding that “targeting areas known to shelter displaced civilians is a grave breach of international humanitarian law.”The experts noted that civilians in tents and makeshift shelters are already experiencing grave health risks, including hunger, freezing, flooding, and a lack of basic services. The panel said that “women and children bear a disproportionate share of deprivation”.The panel also criticised “the sharp escalation in forced displacement” across the occupied West Bank, driven by the Israeli Army and what the experts called “State-backed settler terrorism”. This includes “daily attacks resulting in killing, injury, and harassment of women and children, and the widespread destruction of Palestinian homes, farmland and livelihoods”.