UN rights chief urges end to disproportionate Israeli force in Hebron

UN human rights chief Volker Turk has called for an end to what he described as unnecessary and disproportionate Israeli force in Hebron, amid reports of forced Palestinian displacement. France 24 reported that the United Nations raised concerns on Monday over the operation in the West Bank city.

According to Middle East Eye, Turk said Israeli threats to empty neighbourhoods in Hebron raised “serious concerns of ethnic cleansing”. His warning concerned threatened removals from those neighbourhoods, while the news reports also described Palestinians who had already been forced from their homes.

Anadolu Agency and Middle East Eye reported that more than 2,000 Palestinians had been forcibly displaced in Hebron since Friday. Both outlets placed the reported displacement in the occupied West Bank, where Middle East Eye said the Israeli operation began that day.

France 24 gave a different figure, describing an Israeli operation to forcibly displace more than 3,000 Palestinians from their homes. Its account linked the operation to the United Nations' concerns about ethnic cleansing, but its report did not make the scope of that figure clear.

The figures cannot be treated as directly comparable: the reports citing more than 2,000 described displacement that had already occurred, while France 24's wording did not establish whether more than 3,000 referred to people already displaced or those facing removal under the operation.

Anadolu Agency also reported that Israeli forces were demolishing homes and restricting movement in Hebron. Those specific actions were described by that outlet; the other reports focused on the displacement operation and Turk's warnings about the use of force and threats to empty neighbourhoods.

France 24 placed the operation after a checkpoint attack near Hebron on Friday. It reported that two Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers there before the displacement operation. The report did not name the checkpoint.

Turk also said collective punishment is a grave violation of international law, according to France 24 and Middle East Eye. His appeal called for an end to the use of force he described as unnecessary and disproportionate.