Live blog: Israel kills 25 Palestinians in most recent Gaza massacre

Source: TRT World
Author: Baba Umar

2210 GMT -- Israeli rights group says buffer zone in Gaza 'war crime'

An Israeli rights group has said that the army's buffer zone in Gaza constitutes a "war crime" because it will deprive Palestinians of movement in the area.

"To create the buffer zone, Israel is currently destroying almost everything in the area it has designated for it, including residential buildings, public structures such as schools, medical clinics and mosques, fields, groves and greenhouses," B'Tselem said in a report.

It noted that the planned buffer zone will stretch more than 60 kilometres with a 1 kilometre width, by which "the area will be off limits to Palestinians -- even those who lived or cultivated fields in it before the war."

B'Tselem quoted Israeli soldiers who were in Gaza and indicated that "the demolitions are carried out to clear the way for a security zone rather than as a response to intelligence information or findings in the field."