US rejects ‘genocide’ accusation against Israel

The United States said Thursday it disagreed both with a UN committee’s finding that Israeli warfare methods were consistent with “genocide” and a Human Rights Watch allegation of “crimes against humanity” in Gaza.

The United Nations Special Committee’s report, which accused Israel of using starvation as a war tactic, “is something we would unequivocally disagree with,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.

“We think that that kind of phrasing and those kind of accusations are certainly unfounded,” he said.

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He also took issue with a report by Human Rights Watch which said that the Israel had forcibly displaced Gazans over more than a year of war in what amounted to “crimes against humanity.”

Forced displacement of Palestinians “would be a red line” for the United States and inconsistent with principles laid out at the start of the war by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Group of Seven allies, Patel said.

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“It is wholly consistent and acceptable to ask civilians to evacuate a certain area while they are conducting certain military operations, and then for them to be able to go home,” Patel said.

“We have not seen any kind of specific force displacement.”