Israeli government 'exploiting' Gaza war, human rights leader says

Israel laying groundwork for long-term control of Gaza that could lead to new settlements, says B’Tselem head

Supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza protest in Tel Aviv, Israel. EPA

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A prominent Israeli human rights activist on Wednesday accused her government of leveraging the conflict in Gaza to advance an ideological agenda aimed at rendering the Palestinian territory uninhabitable.

Yuli Novak, the executive director of B’Tselem, told the UN Security Council that Israel has destroyed “a vast part” of Gaza's homes and infrastructure, displacing millions in the process.

“Israel is laying the groundwork for long-term control of Gaza that could lead to re-establishing Israeli settlements,” she said. “The government is exploiting the circumstances to create irreversible changes.”

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in protest after news broke at the weekend that Hamas had executed six hostages, including one American.

“They feel angry, desperate and betrayed by their government,” Dr Novak said, adding that many Israelis believe their government has no intention of securing the hostages' release in any future deals.

Dr Novak, who had been invited by Slovenia to brief the council, said the government is “cynically exploiting” Israelis' collective trauma since the Hamas attacks of October 7 to “violently advance its project of cementing Israeli control over the entire land”.

“It is waging war on the entire Palestinian people, committing war crimes almost daily in Gaza. This has taken the form of expulsion ... killing and destruction on an unprecedented scale,” she said.

“This goes beyond revenge. Israel is using the opportunity to promote an ideological agenda, making Gaza inhabitable.”

A Palestinian walks past the rubble of houses destroyed by Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to foreign reporters in Jerusalem about the need for the military to continue to occupy Gaza's border with Egypt, saying that otherwise the porous crossing would be used to rebuild Hamas.

The question of Israeli control of the Salah Al Din area, also known as the Philadelphi Corridor, which was seized by Israel in May, has become a central obstacle in the talks.

Hamas wants any agreement ending the war to include a withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.

The Security Council in June adopted Resolution 2735, which backed a three-phase plan, laid out by US President Joe Biden, for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas. But mediation efforts, led by the US, Egypt and Qatar, have yet to secure a ceasefire.

Washington's top UN envoy, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said diplomacy is not a matter of “snapping our fingers and voila”.

“It takes hard work. It takes effort, and unfortunately, it takes time. It has not failed. After all, it was diplomacy that helped secure the release of more than 100 hostages in November, and it is through diplomacy that we aim to bring the remaining hostages home,” she said.

During the meeting requested by Israel and Algeria, she said that the six hostages killed this weekend were executed at the same time negotiators were discussing the names of those to be released in a ceasefire deal.

“It reveals, yet again, the ugly truth about the vile, depraved ideology that Hamas represents,” Ms Thomas-Greenfield said.

The deadlock is causing frustration for countries across the region and around the globe, including the 15 members of the Security Council.

“It is gravely alarming that with each briefing this council receives, the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel steadily worsens,” Malta’s UN ambassador Vanessa Frazier said.

Slovenia's permanent representative at the world body, Samuel Zbogar, whose delegation holds the council’s rotating presidency this month, voiced strong criticism on the current situation.

“The Slovenian public expressed its outrage this week over parallel realities, criticising the political reality of our ongoing debates without solutions,” he stated.

Mr Zbogar underscored the coexistence of multiple realities: “Let me be clear that parallel realities exist: a reality of decades-long suffering and human rights violations of the Palestinian people, a reality of security challenges for the Israeli people, but also, a reality of regional instability which is a threat to international peace and security.”

He called on Hamas and Israel to “recalibrate their interests and place the interest of peace and protection of all civilians, Palestinians and Israelis alike, first.”