Israel’s Gaza takeover plan ‘must be immediately halted,’ says UN rights chief

UN human rights chief Volker Turk says that “the Israeli Government’s plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted.”

“It runs contrary to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must bring its occupation to an end as soon as possible, to the realisation of the agreed two-State solution and to the right of Palestinians to self-determination,” he says in a statement.

Israel’s security cabinet approved a proposal overnight by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take over the densely populated Gaza City.

Although the proposal did not appear to go as far as what had earlier been characterized as a plan to occupy the entirety of the Strip, a statement from Netanyahu’s office described it as being aimed at “defeating Hamas,” indicating that there may be subsequent operations beyond the plans for Gaza City.