In a dangerous move, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for reoccupying the Gaza Strip and reducing the number of Palestinian residents there by half through what he called “voluntary migration.”
These remarks are made in light of the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, 2023, and has killed and injured over 149,000 Palestinians, primarily women and children, while leaving tens of thousands more missing beneath the debris.
Incitement and Genocide
Smotrich stated that “occupying the Gaza Strip is both possible and necessary” during his remarks at an Israeli Settlements Council conference, emphasizing the necessity of the occupation enforcing complete military and civil control.
According to international law, Smotrich’s proposal to reduce Gaza’s population amounts to a scheme for widespread forced relocation masquerading as “voluntary migration,” which is a crime against humanity.
According to statistics, the Israeli invasion of Gaza has made the already dire humanitarian situation worse, with over two million Palestinians experiencing starvation and a lack of access to essential services.
The population in Gaza is unable to live due to the deliberate destruction of infrastructure, which heightens concerns among the international community about a plan to forcibly uproot the population.
Legal framework: A call for investigation and accountability
Smotrich’s declarations and demands to retake Gaza run counter to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid targeting civilians and causing forced displacement.
According to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, attempts to force “voluntary migration” under the cover of massacres and devastation are considered acts of genocide.
The Israeli minister’s remarks show a flagrant lack of respect for the recent Security Council resolution calling for an immediate halt to the aggression against Gaza. In the meantime, a persistent breach of international law is demonstrated by the refusal to abide by the International Court of Justice’s directives to take immediate action to stop genocide.
The international community, including the UN and the International Criminal Court, must launch an investigation into Smotrich’s remarks right away, hold the minister responsible for inciting people to commit crimes against humanity, and establish an impartial commission of inquiry to record the abuses in Gaza and prosecute those responsible.
It is impossible to read Betzalel Smotrich’s remarks without considering the tragic situation in Gaza, where Israel is attempting to radically alter the population’s demographics.
These remarks serve as a fresh call to action for the entire world to stop the genocide crimes being committed against the Palestinian people, who perceive international inaction as both complicity and indirect involvement in an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
