Escalating Israeli Crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem Reveal a Comprehensive Plan of Genocide, Forced Displacement, Annexation, and the Erasure of Palestinian National Rights
Date: 19 June 2026
Press Release
Escalating Israeli Crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem Reveal a Comprehensive Plan of Genocide, Forced Displacement, Annexation, and the Erasure of Palestinian National Rights
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) expresses its grave concern over the continued dangerous Israeli escalation throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This escalation is manifested in the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, the intensification of organized settler terrorism in the West Bank, the acceleration of annexation, settlement expansion, and Judaization projects, the targeting of Islamic and Christian holy sites, and the continuation of arbitrary arrests and the persecution of medical personnel and human rights defenders. These actions confirm the existence of a comprehensive Israeli policy aimed at targeting the Palestinian people, their land, national identity, and their inalienable historical rights.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli occupation forces continue to perpetrate mass killings and directly target civilians and displaced persons through relentless bombardment of residential areas, displacement camps, shelters, civilian gatherings, beaches, and civilian infrastructure. Simultaneously, they continue demolishing homes and residential blocks and destroying what remains of essential infrastructure and public services. The policy of siege, starvation, and deprivation of food, water, medicine, and fuel also continues, further deepening the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe affecting more than two million Palestinians in Gaza.
According to official data released by the Ministry of Health in Gaza, the death toll since 7 October 2023 has risen to more than 73,016 Palestinians killed and 173,265 injured. Moreover, more than one thousand Palestinians have been killed since the announcement of the ceasefire, demonstrating that Israel’s killing machine has not ceased despite international efforts and understandings aimed at ending the war.
In a highly alarming development, Israeli reports have revealed the completion of approximately forty military sites and bases inside the Gaza Strip. This confirms a shift from managing the war to attempting to consolidate its outcomes and impose permanent realities on the ground. Such developments indicate a move toward entrenching long-term military occupation, establishing security belts and buffer zones, geographically fragmenting the Gaza Strip, and obstructing the return of displaced persons as well as reconstruction and recovery efforts. These actions constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law and threaten the territorial unity of the Palestinian people.
In the occupied West Bank, terrorist attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, their property, and their holy sites continue under the direct protection of occupation forces. Several Palestinian communities have recently witnessed organized attacks, including the burning of two mosques in Jaljulia and Al-Mazra’a Al-Gharbiya north of Ramallah, as well as the torching of homes and civilian property in Beit I’mrin, Deir Dibwan, and other Palestinian localities. These attacks form part of a systematic policy intended to spread fear among Palestinian residents and forcibly displace them to facilitate settlement expansion.
Palestinian Bedouin and pastoral communities are also facing escalating attacks aimed at uprooting and forcibly displacing them, constituting the crime of forcible transfer prohibited under international law. These actions form part of a broader settlement project designed to alter the demographic and geographic character of the occupied Palestinian territory.
In a parallel development, the announcement by extremist Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich regarding the cancellation of key provisions of the Hebron Protocol related to planning and construction, and the transfer of authority to Israeli occupation bodies, represents a dangerous escalation aimed at imposing Israeli sovereignty over the Old City of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque. This step constitutes another phase in the creeping annexation process and further undermines signed agreements and international legal obligations.
ICSPR also expresses deep concern over the escalating attacks against Islamic and Christian holy sites, particularly Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as extremist activities linked to the so-called “Red Heifer Project,” which seek to alter the historical and legal status quo in occupied Jerusalem and impose Judaization measures affecting one of the most sensitive and dangerous dimensions of the conflict.
At the same time, Israeli authorities continue their policy of arbitrary detention against Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian physician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya remains detained without formal charges and without the guarantees of a fair trial, in blatant violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The continued targeting and detention of medical personnel also reflects a dangerous pattern of violations directed against healthcare workers who enjoy special protection during armed conflicts.
Taken together, these policies and practices—including mass killings, starvation, siege, systematic destruction of infrastructure, targeting of civilians and displaced persons, attacks on places of worship and holy sites, settlement expansion, forced displacement, arbitrary detention, and attempts to impose annexation by force—constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law and amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. They also reinforce the growing body of evidence indicating the commission of genocide against the Palestinian people.
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) stresses that the continuation of these crimes reflects a serious international failure to protect civilians and enforce international law. It further encourages Israeli authorities to continue their policies of aggression, settlement expansion, annexation, and impunity.
Accordingly, ICSPR calls for:
- An immediate and comprehensive halt to the genocide and Israeli military aggression against the Gaza Strip.
- The complete lifting of the siege and the unrestricted flow of humanitarian, relief, medical aid, and fuel.
- The provision of urgent international protection for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
- The cessation of all forms of settlement expansion, annexation, and forcible displacement, and the accountability of those responsible.
- An end to settler violence and the dismantling of the official protection and support system provided to settler groups.
- The protection of Islamic and Christian holy sites and the preservation of their historical and legal status quo.
- The immediate release of all arbitrarily detained individuals, foremost among them Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, and the guarantee of international fair trial standards.
- The withdrawal of Israeli forces from newly established military sites and bases inside the Gaza Strip and an end to the policy of imposing realities by force.
- The acceleration of international accountability procedures before the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and all relevant UN mechanisms.
- The imposition of effective international sanctions on Israeli officials involved in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
The continuation of these crimes in the absence of effective international measures not only threatens the Palestinian people but also undermines the foundations of the international legal order and poses a direct threat to international peace and security. The international community must therefore move beyond verbal condemnation and take practical and concrete measures to stop the ongoing crimes, protect civilians, ensure accountability, and enable the Palestinian people to exercise their legitimate national rights, foremost among them the right to freedom, self-determination, and independence.
International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR)
