UN rights chief urges Israel's next government to change course on Gaza and West Bank

Türk's call for a change of course

In New York on Wednesday, 28 October, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged the government that emerges from Israel's post-election negotiations to abandon its current military course. He said that government must stop acting as if it stands above international law, which he said the UN had seen in the present context. Türk rejected claims that the UN condemns only Israel, pointing to his repeated condemnations of the 7 October attacks and his close monitoring of abuses by Hamas. He voiced particular concern about reports of extrajudicial executions carried out by Hamas militants. Israel, he stressed, has obligations under international law, international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and must respect them. He added that he hoped the next government would do exactly that.

“I hope that the next government will do precisely that and change course massively.”

The Hebron operation

Türk's statement of Monday, 26 October focused on the occupied West Bank. Two Palestinians near Hebron shot dead two Israeli soldiers on Friday, 23 October, after which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a large-scale military operation in the West Bank. Türk said that operation raised serious concerns about the use of force, which he described as unnecessary and disproportionate. He put the number of people displaced at more than 2,000 and pointed to houses and businesses destroyed and movement restricted by the lockdown. Thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes in the operation, among them many young children. Türk also flagged threats to empty entire neighbourhoods as raising concerns of ethnic cleansing.

“Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law.”

The election count

With more than 80% of votes counted, the Electoral Commission's tally and calculations by the main national media gave the Netanyahu-led right and far-right bloc 53 seats. Arab parties took 19 seats, while the opposition coalition led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former armed forces chief, reached 48. Every bloc remains below the 61 seats needed for a majority in the Knesset, so the result leaves no clear winner. The figures cover only the portion of votes counted so far as of 28 October. Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot has a clear route to power yet, and the coalition talks will decide the next government.

Netanyahu-led bloc53

Arab parties19

Eisenkot-led opposition48

Netanyahu-led bloc

53 seats

Arab parties

19 seats

Eisenkot-led opposition

48 seats

Data from the article text

Reactions from Germany

Omid Nouripour, a deputy speaker of Germany's Bundestag, read the turnout as a sign that Israelis still trust democracy, with Arab Israelis voting in large numbers. He told DW that the shape of any coalition remained unknown. He also argued that Netanyahu's campaign, aimed first and foremost at Arab Israelis, had mobilised so many people that his camp no longer held a majority. Nouripour, a former Green party co-leader who has sat in the Bundestag for 20 years, was born in Tehran and moved to Germany as a teenager. He spoke while accompanying German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on a state visit to China.