Expanding Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories constitutes “a war crime” and risks eliminating any likelihood of a viable Palestinian state, the UN rights chief warned, AFP reports.

Volker Turk said there had been a drastic acceleration in Israeli illegal settlement building in the occupied West Bank as it assaults the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

The UN high commissioner for human rights said creating and expanding settlements amounted to the transfer by Israel of its own civilian population into occupied territories.

“Such transfers amount to a war crime that may engage the individual criminal responsibility of those involved,” Turk said in a report to the UN Human Rights Council.