Israel: A European envoy criticised Israel for the lack of proportionality in the use of force, while international envoys visited the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank after a deadly raid.
Mr. Sven Kuehn von Burgsdorff, the European Union representative to the Palestinian territories, expressed his concerns while leading a delegation of UN officials and diplomats from 25 countries to the camp in the northern occupied West Bank.
The envoy’s statements echoed those of UN chief Antonio Guterres, who stated on Thursday that Israeli forces had used excessive force during their 48-hour operation, the largest in the occupied Palestinian territory in years. The operation involved air raids and armoured bulldozers, causing destruction in the streets.
“We are concerned about the deployment of weaponry and weapons systems that question the proportionality of the military during the operation,” Mr. Kuehn von Burgsdorff said of the operation, in which 12 Palestinians, including five children, were killed.
“The military assault on Jenin was painful. What happened is a violation of international law. This cycle of violence has to end; it cannot continue. If there is no political solution to the conflict, we are going to stand here in a week’s time, in a month’s time, in a year’s time, with nothing changed,” the EU envoy added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has frequently referred to the refugee camp as a “terrorist nest” due to the presence of Palestinian armed fighters.
Last Wednesday, three independent human rights experts said the Israeli air attacks and ground actions in Jenin “amount to egregious violations of international law and standards on the use of force and may constitute a war crime”.
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