US proposal to ‘take over’ Gaza would shatter fundamental rules of international order, warn UN experts

GENEVA – UN experts* today condemned shocking threats by US President Donald Trump to “take over” and “own” Gaza and move the Palestinian population elsewhere, using military force if necessary.

“Such blatant violations by a major power would break the global taboo on military aggression and embolden other predatory countries to seize foreign territories, with devastating consequences for peace and human rights globally,” they said.

“Implementing the US proposal would shatter the most fundamental rules of the international order and the United Nations Charter since 1945, that the US was instrumental in creating to restore peace after the catastrophic Second World War and Holocaust. It would return the world to the dark days of colonial conquest,” the experts said.

“It is manifestly illegal to invade and annex foreign territory by force, to forcibly deport its population, and to deprive the Palestinian people of their inalienable right to self-determination, including to retain Gaza within a sovereign Palestinian state,” they said.

“Such violations would replace the international rule of law and the stability it brings with the lawless “rule of the strongest.” International law aims to stop predatory countries from violently colonising foreign lands and subjugating their populations, which inevitably leads to gross human rights violations,” they said.

“Just as over half a century of Israeli occupation of Palestine has not brought peace or security to Israel or Palestine, US occupation would be similarly ruinous and fuel perpetual war, death and destruction,” they said.

The mass deportation of civilians from occupied territory was recognised as a war crime under the Geneva Conventions of 1949 after the Second World War, to prevent the recurrence of acts such as Nazi Germany’s expulsion of populations from European countries. Today, it is also a crime against humanity.

“The US proposal would accelerate forced displacement of Palestinians from their lands, which began in the 1947-48 Nakba, and has since included home demolitions, evictions, destruction and theft of natural resources and the criminal building of illegal Israeli colonial settlements,” they said.

In his previous term, President Trump illegally recognised Israel’s unlawful annexations of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, which have been rejected by the International Court of Justice, the General Assembly, the Security Council and an overwhelming majority of countries.

“If the US President is genuinely concerned for the welfare of Palestinians, the US should broker a lasting ceasefire, resume funding to UNRWA, compensate Palestinians for damage resulting from US weapons and munitions supplied to Israel despite the serious risk of violations of humanitarian law, and end arms transfers. It should also pressure Israel to fund reconstruction and provide reparation for violations, pursue accountability for perpetrators of international crimes, and meaningfully support Palestinian statehood,” they said.

The experts also urged the United States to support the multilateral bodies that protect human rights in Palestine, including the Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court, which advance US national interests in liberty and justice.

Israeli military attacks in Gaza have killed over 48,100 Palestinians and injured 110,000, the majority women and children. They left 85 per cent of the population, about 1.9 million people, homeless and deprived of adequate food, water and other essentials, damaged or destroyed most housing, agricultural and public infrastructure and devastated the environment.

“All countries who care about human rights and the international rule of law should resolutely oppose the US President’s illegal threats. The world must never again accept a lawless world dominated by brute force that endangers us all,” they warned.