UN: Israeli settlement expansion in Palestine is a war crime

"The expansion of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories constitutes a war crime and risks destroying any practical possibility of creating a viable Palestinian state."
This was stated by the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, AFP reported.
Turk said the creation and continued expansion of the settlements was tantamount to Israel transferring its own civilian population to the occupied territories, which "constitutes a war crime" under international law.
"Settler violence and settlement-related violations have reached shocking new levels and risk eliminating any practical possibility of creating a viable Palestinian state," he said.
The report, based on the UN's own monitoring as well as other sources, documented 24,300 new Israeli homes in the occupied West Bank in the one-year period to the end of October 2023, which the report said was the highest number recorded since the beginning of monitoring in 2017
She also said there has been a dramatic increase in the intensity, severity and regularity of violence by both Israeli settlers and the state against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, particularly since the deadly attacks by Hamas on Israel on 7 October. /BGNES