Amnesty urges war crimes probe over Israeli levelling of Gaza infrastructure for buffer zone

Amnesty International urges a war crimes probe into Israel razing homes and farms in eastern Gaza to expand a so-called buffer zone between it and the Palestinian territory.

“Using bulldozers and manually laid explosives, the Israeli military has unlawfully destroyed agricultural land and civilian buildings, razing entire neighbourhoods, including homes, schools and mosques,” it says.

The London-based rights group says the levelling since the start of the war on October 7 “should be investigated as war crimes of wanton destruction and of collective punishment.”

Israel says it is creating the buffer zone to better protect Israeli communities on the other side of the fence after they were ravaged by thousands of terrorists who broke through the border during the October 7 attacks.