UN Experts: Israeli Ground Operations in Jenin May Constitute War Crime

Palestinian woman walks on damaged road in Jenin refugee camp in West Bank, Wednesday, July 5 2023 - AP
Palestinian woman walks on damaged road in Jenin refugee camp in West Bank, Wednesday, July 5 2023 - AP
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UN Experts: Israeli Ground Operations in Jenin May Constitute War Crime

Palestinian woman walks on damaged road in Jenin refugee camp in West Bank, Wednesday, July 5 2023 - AP
Palestinian woman walks on damaged road in Jenin refugee camp in West Bank, Wednesday, July 5 2023 - AP

UN experts said that Israeli air strikes and ground operations in the occupied West Bank targeting the Jenin Refugee camp may constitute a war crime.

“Israeli forces’ operations in the occupied West Bank, killing and seriously injuring the occupied population, destroying their homes and infrastructure, and arbitrarily displacing thousands, amount to egregious violations of international law and standards on the use of force and may constitute a war crime,” the experts said, OHCHR reported.

“The attacks were the fiercest in the West Bank since the destruction of the Jenin camp in 2002,” the UN experts noted.

They highlighted multiple reports about ambulances being prevented from accessing Jenin Refugee Camp to evacuate the wounded, hampering their access to medical assistance.

Around 4,000 Palestinians reportedly fled the Jenin Refugee Camp overnight on Monday and Tuesday after the deadly air strikes.

“It is heart-breaking to see thousands of Palestinian refugees originally displaced since 1947-1949, forced to march out of the camp in abject fear at the dead of night,” the experts said.

Denouncing so-called “counter terrorism” operations by Israeli forces, the experts said the attacks found no justification under international law.

“The attacks constitute collective punishment of the Palestinian population, who have been labelled a “collective security threat” in the eyes of Israeli authorities,” they said.

They also expressed grave concern about military weaponry and tactics deployed by Israel’s occupation forces at least twice over the last two weeks against Jenin’s population.

“The Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory are protected persons under international law, guaranteed of all human rights including the presumption of innocence,” the experts said.

“They cannot be treated as a collective security threat by the occupying Power, all the more while it advances the annexation of occupied Palestinian land, and displacement and dispossession of its Palestinian residents.”

The experts said Israel’s operations in Jenin were amplifications of the structural violence that has permeated the occupied Palestinian territory for decades.

“The impunity that Israel has enjoyed for its acts of violence over decades, only fuel and intensify the recurring cycle of violence,” they said, according to OHCHR.

The UN experts called for Israel to be held accountable under international law for its illegal occupation and violent acts to perpetuate it.

“For this relentless violence to end, Israel’s illegal occupation must end. It cannot be corrected or improved in the margins, because it is wrong to the core,” they said.



Lebanon Extends Suspension of Flights from Iran

Passengers departing from Lebanon walk with their luggage to the airport due to a protest by supporters of Hezbollah in front of the entrance to Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, 15 February 2025. (EPA)
Passengers departing from Lebanon walk with their luggage to the airport due to a protest by supporters of Hezbollah in front of the entrance to Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, 15 February 2025. (EPA)
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Lebanon Extends Suspension of Flights from Iran

Passengers departing from Lebanon walk with their luggage to the airport due to a protest by supporters of Hezbollah in front of the entrance to Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, 15 February 2025. (EPA)
Passengers departing from Lebanon walk with their luggage to the airport due to a protest by supporters of Hezbollah in front of the entrance to Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, 15 February 2025. (EPA)

Lebanon extended the suspension of flights to and from Iran and directed security agencies to ensure access to the country’s only airport.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said Sunday that Israel threatened to strike if an Iranian plane landed at Beirut airport and criticized the Lebanese government for banning last week's Iranian commercial flight from Beirut. The Israeli military has accused Iran of smuggling cash to Hezbollah via commercial flights.

Travelers stuck in Tehran are still unable to return, and Lebanon's foreign minister has been tasked to ensure the safe return of Lebanese nationals, according to a statement following a Cabinet meeting with President Joseph Aoun.

Hezbollah supporters have protested and blocked roads outside the Beirut airport in recent days. The outgoing deputy commander of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was injured Friday when protesters attacked a convoy taking peacekeepers to the airport.

Hezbollah has attempted to distance itself from the incident. Qassem said Hezbollah was “against the attack on UNIFIL” but also criticized the Lebanese army for tear gassing protesters who gathered “peacefully” on Saturday.