GENEVA: Israel is trying to make Gaza City unliveable in its assault on the enclave’s largest urban area and is endangering the lives of Israeli hostages, the top UN expert on Palestinian rights Francesca Albanese said on Monday.
“Israel is bombing using unconventional weapons ... it is trying to forcibly evacuate Palestinians. Why? This is the last piece of Gaza that needs to be rendered unlivable before advancing the ethnic cleansing of that piece of land,” Albanese told reporters in Geneva.
The Israeli mission in Geneva was not immediately available for comment.
Israel says the offensive to take control of Gaza City is part of a plan to defeat Palestinian militant group Hamas for good and that it has warned civilians to head south to a designated humanitarian zone.
However, the UN and numerous countries say its tactics amount to forced mass displacement and that conditions in the humanitarian zone are dire, with food in short supply.
