UN human rights chief accuses Israel of showing ‘blatant disregard’ for international law

The United Nations’ human rights chief has urged countries to act on what he called Israel’s “blatant disregard” for international law.

Speaking at the 57th session of the human rights council in Geneva, the UN high commission Volker Turk called on partners in the organisation to “comprehensively address” Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as its continued offensive in Gaza.

“States must not – cannot – accept blatant disregard for international law, including binding decisions of the [UN] Security Council and orders of the International Court of Justice [ICJ], neither in this nor any other situation,” Mr Turk said, opening the session.

He cited an opinion released by the ICJ, the UN’s top court, in July that called Israel’s occupation illegal. Israel has rejected the opinion.

The court in July, directed by a 15-judge panel, called on Israel to “evacuate all settlers from existing settlements”.

“Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law," President Nawaf Salam said, speaking on behalf of the panel.

In a swift reaction, Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the opinion as “fundamentally wrong” and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region can only be reached by negotiations.

“The Jewish nation cannot be an occupier in its own land,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

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More than half a million Israelis have settled in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since a 1967 war, during which Israel claimed the territory.

The population of Israeli settlers in the West Bank grew around three per cent in 2023, according to a report compiled by pro-settler group. It has grown more than 15 per cent in the last five years, the report added, passing the half a million mark in 2022.

After Hamas, who run the Gaza Strip, launched their attack into Israel on 7 October, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, violent clashes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank have led to the death of hundreds of civilians.

The nearly 11-month-long Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 people according to Palestinian health officials – and has displaced about 90 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

The US has sanctioned several Israeli individuals and groups linked to the violence in the occupied territories in July, the same month as the ICJ ruling.

The Israeli security cabinet, during a meeting on Sunday, reportedly discussed the situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

It followed the death of a 26-year-old Turkish-American woman, who was killed while participating in a demonstration in Beita in the West Bank on Friday.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi is believed to have been “shot in the head” by what her family say was an Israeli sniper after the military responded to demonstrators throwing rocks at them.

Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian organisation, and was in Beita on Friday for a weekly demonstration against Israeli settlements, according to ISM, who denied the Israeli account that they were throwing rocks.

Her family called on the US to launch an investigation into this latest incident of violence in the occupied territories.

Two days later, on Sunday, three Israeli men were shot dead at a border crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan, Israeli officials said.

It was the first attack of its kind along the border with Jordan since 7 October.

The Israeli military said the gunman had approached the Allenby Bridge crossing in a truck from the Jordanian side, before exiting the vehicle and opening fire.