• UN human rights office labels new Israeli scheme for West Bank ‘a war crime’
• Palestinian leaders oppose Tel Aviv ‘plan’ to relocate people from Gaza to South Sudan
• At least 23 dead in fresh Israeli strikes; number of aid-seekers killed since May at 1,760

ISLAMABAD / JERU­SALEM: Pakis­tan condemned Israeli statements that suggest the creation of a so-called ‘Greater Israel’ and a plan for the forced displacement of Pales­tinians, as the UN human rights office described new Israeli settlement expansion scheme as “a war crime”.

Foreign Office spokesperson Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan, in a strongly worded statement on Friday, said that such rhetoric was a “blatant violation of international law, the UN Charter, and relevant United Nations resolution”.

The reaction came a day after Israeli far-right Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that work would start on a long-delayed settlement that would divide the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, a move his office said would “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state.

Israel has long had ambitions to build on the sensitive parcel of land east of Jerusalem known as E1, but the plan has been frozen for decades amid international opposition.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law, while critics and the international community have warned construction on the roughly 12 square kilometres would undermine hopes for a contiguous future Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

In his statement, the FO spokesperson urged the international community to “outrightly reject these provocative” notions, warning that the actions were aimed at entrenching Israel’s illegal occupation and undermining peace efforts.

“These statements demonstrate the occupying power’s complete contempt for international efforts and reveal its intention to escalate instability in the region,” Mr Khan said.

He reiterated Pakistan’s support for a viable Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

‘War crime’

Separately on Friday, the UN human rights office said the Israeli plan to build thousands of new homes in the West Bank was illegal under international law and would put nearby Palestinians at risk of forced eviction, which it described as a ‘war crime’.

A UN rights office spokesperson said the plan would break the West Bank into isolated enclaves and that it is “a war crime for an occupying power to transfer its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”.

Most world powers say settlement expansion erodes the viability of a two-state solution. The plan envisages a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel cites historical and biblical ties to the area and says the settlements provide security, viewing the West Bank as “disputed” rather than “occu­pied”. About 700­,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Pale­stinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Sudan settlement

Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Friday that South Sudan and Israel were discussing a deal to resettle Palestinians from war-torn Gaza in the troubled African nation, a plan that was quickly dismissed as unacceptable by Palestinian leaders.

Although no agreement had been reached, but talks between South Sudan and Israel were ongoing.

The plan, if carried further, would envisage people moving from an enclave shattered by almost two years of war with Israel to a nation in the heart of Africa riven by years of political and ethnically-driven violence.

But the account appeared to contradict South Sudan’s foreign ministry which on Wednesday dismissed earlier reports on the plan as “baseless”.

Arab and world leaders have rejected the idea of moving Gaza’s population to any country. Palestinians say that would be like another “Nakba” (catastrophe) when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.

Gaza death toll rises

The UN human rights office said on Friday that at least 1,760 Palestinians had been killed while seeking aid since late May.

That marks a jump of several hundred from the 1,373 deaths it reported at the beginning of August.

“Since May 27, and as of August 13, we have recorded that at least 1,760 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid,” the agency’s office for the Palestinian territories said. It stated that most of the killings were committed by the Israeli military.

Also on Friday, Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 23 people were killed by Israeli fire, including 12 who were waiting for humanitarian aid. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2025