An independent UN expert has warned that Israel’s “genocidal violence” in Gaza risks spreading to other parts of the occupied Palestinian territory amid a large-scale military operation in the West Bank, AFP reports.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, warned in a statement that Israel’s recent intensification of its operations in the West Bank, which is separated from Gaza by Israeli territory, marked “a dangerous escalation”.

“Israel’s genocidal violence risks leaking out of Gaza and into the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole,” she said. “The writing is on the wall, and we cannot continue to ignore it. There is mounting evidence that no Palestinian is safe under Israel’s unfettered control.”

“Apartheid Israel is targeting Gaza and the West Bank simultaneously, as part of an overall process of elimination, replacement and territorial expansion,” Albanese said. “The long-standing impunity granted to Israel is enabling the de-Palestinisation of the occupied territory, leaving Palestinians at the mercy of the forces pursuing their elimination as a national group,” she added.