US rejects Gaza ‘genocide’ accusation against Israel

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The United States said it disagreed both with a UN committee’s finding that Israeli warfare methods were consistent with “genocide” and a Human Rights Watch allegation of “crimes against humanity” in Gaza, AFP reports.

The United Nations Special Committee’s report, which accused Israel of using starvation as a war tactic, “is something we would unequivocally disagree with”, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said.

“We think that that kind of phrasing and those kind of accusations are certainly unfounded,” he said.

He also took issue with a report by HRW which said that Israel had forcibly displaced Gazans over more than a year of bombardment in what amounted to “crimes against humanity”.

Forced displacement of Palestinians “would be a red line” for the United States and inconsistent with principles laid out at the start of the war by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Group of Seven allies, Patel said.

“It is wholly consistent and acceptable to ask civilians to evacuate a certain area while they are conducting certain military operations, and then for them to be able to go home,” Patel said. “We have not seen any kind of specific force displacement.”

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