UN rights chief warns of 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza

The UN's rights chief on Friday denounced Israel's sharp escalation of attacks in Gaza -- and an apparent push to permanently displace the population -- as amounting to "ethnic cleansing".

"This latest barrage of bombs... and the denial of humanitarian assistance underline that there appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in Gaza that is in defiance of international law and is tantamount to ethnic cleansing," Volker Turk said in a statement.

Israel violated a two-month ceasefire with Hamas in early March, before reimposing a total blockade on the Strip, which aid agencies say has sparked critical food shortages that could soon cause famine.

Israeli media reported Friday that the military had stepped up its offensive in Gaza following government approval of a plan to seize the territory earlier this month, though the army has yet to formally announce its threatened expansion of the campaign.

Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned that a clear intensification in attacks this week raised fears the wider Israeli offensive had begun.

"We must stop the clock on this madness," he said, urging all parties, including third states with direct influence, to stop the assault.

'Tragic... abhorrent' 

Medical services were already in a state of collapse, even as access to shelter continues to shrink amid displacement orders and destruction, he said.

"Families are forced to live in tents under conditions far below standards keeping their human dignity, and extreme hunger is deepening due to the Israeli blockade," the statement said.

Israel cut off aid to Gaza on 2 March, plunging the Strip into a dire humanitarian crisis.

The health ministry in Gaza said 2,876 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on 18 March, taking the war's overall toll to over 53,010.

Turk highlighted in particular Israeli strikes that hit two of the largest hospitals in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, the Nasser Medical Complex and the European Hospital, leaving the latter out of service.

"Hospitals are protected at all times - and are even more indispensable during war," Turk said.

"The killing of patients or of people visiting their wounded or sick loved ones, or of emergency workers or other civilians just seeking shelter, is as tragic as it is abhorrent," he said.

"These attacks must cease," he said.

The rights chief insisted that "even if, as Israel says, it was targeting Hamas command centres underground, and even if destroying these structures offered a definite military advantage at the time of the attack, it is bound by international law to ensure that constant care is taken to spare the lives of civilians".

"That's clearly not the case."