UN official: Trump’s Gaza displacement plan "illegal" and "ethnic cleansing"

U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza is illegal under international law and constitutes “ethnic cleansing,” a senior United Nations investigator on Palestinian human rights has said.

Navi Pillay, head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, noted that Trump’s plan to forcibly displace Palestinians breaches international law, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

“Trump is woefully ignorant of international law and the law of occupation. Forcible displacement of an occupied group is an international crime, and amounts to ethnic cleansing,” Pillay stated in an interview.

Trump last week proposed that the United States take control of the Gaza Strip, relocate the Palestinian population, and transform the area into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a key ally of Trump, said the plan was “worth listening to.”

Pillay, a former judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the tribunal for the Rwandan genocide, also condemned Trump’s sanctions on the ICC, which has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes.

“International law must be applied equally, without double standards favouring certain states,” she said.

 A coalition of nearly 80 nations issued a joint statement on February 7, in support of the ICC, warning that sanctions against the court could hinder its investigations and lead to the closure of field offices.

Pillay, who was the first non-white woman to serve as a judge on South Africa’s High Court, also backed the possibility of the ICC charging Israel with apartheid.

“Apartheid is one of the forms of control in the region,” she said, adding that global sanctions helped dismantle apartheid in South Africa and should be considered for Israel. Apartheid is classified as a crime against humanity under ICC statutes.

“I don’t see [ICC prosecutor] Karim Khan charging that crime. I was a judge on that court, I understand that it’s a bit complicated to charge a crime that has never been charged before … but if apartheid comes up, sure I will support it,” Pillay said.

Pillay’s commission is set to investigate Israel over allegations of apartheid. In a report last October, the commission accused Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity by systematically targeting Gaza’s healthcare system.

Israel withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council on February 5, citing what it called “discrimination” and “antisemitism” within the body.

By Aghakazim Guliyev