A former UN war crimes prosecutor says Israel has no grounds legally to create a “buffer zone” in Gaza by destroying Palestinian homes and confiscating agricultural land, Al Jazeera reports.

“If you want to a demilitarised zone that you’re going to fill with landmines, why not have it on the Israeli side and stop people crossing it,” Geoffrey Nice told Al Jazeera. “What they’re proposing, effectively and in anyone’s interpretation, is occupation.”

He noted the fertile farmland Israel is eyeing to takeover is “crucial to Gaza’s economy”.

“But the process has already started. A large number of buildings have already been flattened. It is unjustified, by any view, under international law,” said Nice, proposing sanctions by powerful nations against Israel to stop the landgrab.