The UN special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced people, Paula Gaviria Betancur, urged Israel to protect Palestinians under international law and warned against the forced displacement of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, in comments to AlQahera News on Friday.
Gaviria Betancur said Israeli settlers were deliberately setting fire to Palestinian farms and preventing Palestinians from accessing water and food.
She called on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop supplying settlers with weapons, saying a lack of political will in Israel was preventing the protection of Palestinian children.
The rapporteur also expressed “serious concerns” about military attacks on the Gaza Strip and warned against targeting displaced Palestinians near the so-called Yellow Line on the pretext that they had crossed it.
Many displaced people in Gaza, she said, had no option of returning to their homes because of ongoing attacks. She also called for the removal of unexploded ordnance and other explosives from areas of the enclave.
