The United Nations Human Rights office said on Tuesday that Israel has expanded and consolidated settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of the steady integration of the territories into the State of Israel, in breach of international law.
It was gathered that the report, to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council later this month, comes amid growing fears of annexation following U.S. policy shifts under President Donald Trump and the establishment of new settler outposts in areas of the West Bank seen as part of a future Palestinian state.
UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said this in a statement accompanying the report, urging the international community to take meaningful action against Israel’s advancing settlement activities.
“The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime.
“Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers,” he said.
It could be recalled that Israel disengaged from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, alleging a chronic anti-Israeli bias.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it was conducting counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and targeting suspected militants.