The Israeli NGO for Human Rights B'Tselem has called this Saturday for the urgent intervention of the international community to stop the "campaign of ethnic cleansing" that, it claims, Israel is carrying out in the city of Hebron, in the south of the West Bank, as well as to prevent the "forced displacement of citizens, collective punishment, and massive and illegal destruction" of Palestinian territory.
In a statement, B'Tselem emphasizes that "Israeli leaders openly declare their intentions, and the measures on the ground have already begun." The organization links these words to the recent statements of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, following the death of two Israeli soldiers near Hebron last Friday, when they made public their plans to "forcibly displace Palestinian residents from their homes and carry out massive destruction in the area."
Netanyahu has assured that they will apply the "successful offensive model" in the cities of the West Bank, replicating the operations carried out in refugee camps in the north, where, according to data provided by the NGO, more than 33,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee.
The entity also denounces a "siege" in Hebron and Halhul imposed by the Israeli Army, while the "civil administration has begun to demolish Palestinian structures in the Wadi al Hawá neighborhood." At the same time, Israeli Minister Smotrich has announced the establishment of four new outposts of farms in the southern area of the Hebron hills.
According to B'Tselem, Israel has made public "openly its plans for collective punishment and acts that could constitute war crimes." These "plans" are part, in the NGO's view, of the "destructive actions" that Israeli authorities have executed in the "context of genocide in Gaza" and represent an "additional escalation" in the campaign of "ethnic cleansing" and the "erasure project" that they are promoting in the West Bank.
Finally, the organization warns of the "systematic dismantling of the collective Palestinian existence, along with the expansion of settlements and the strengthening of a permanent Israeli control" and concludes its note by calling for a firm response from governments and international institutions to prevent this situation from consolidating.