Six months after the Gaza ceasefire and as the US-Israel war on Iran and the strikes on Lebanon dominate the headlines, how would you assess the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories today? Do you agree that global attention has shifted away from Gaza?

Without a doubt. The situation today is at its most dire, and unfortunately, it continues to deteriorate. Since October 2023, Israel has launched an all-out assault on the Palestinian people across all the territories under its control: from genocide and total destruction in Gaza to the expanding ethnic cleansing and killings in the West Bank, and the deepening of apartheid within Israel’s borders.

While the world’s focus has shifted towards larger regional wars in West Asia, the genocide in Gaza has not truly ceased. Israel continues its bombardments and persists in obstructing any meaningful aid or reconstruction. Over a million Palestinians remain displaced, and the population in Gaza continues to perish under a deliberate humanitarian crisis engineered by Israel.

There is a growing perception that the regional war—particularly the Iran confrontation and the besieged Lebanon front—has effectively diverted scrutiny from Gaza. Do you see this as a “distraction effect”, and if so, how has it played out on the ground?

The Israeli-American attack against Iran has various geopolitical layers. However, there is no question that Israel is exploiting this regional instability to accelerate ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. We are witnessing daily assaults by settler militias and the Israeli military against Palestinian communities. Since the beginning of the war, settler militias have killed at least seven Palestinians in the West Bank. The frequency of violent attacks—including village invasions, burning of homes, theft of livestock, and infliction of dozens of injuries—continues to escalate.

B’Tselem reports continued strikes and severe restrictions on aid going into Gaza despite the ceasefire. In your view, is this a violation of the ceasefire framework, or is it a redefinition of it?

Israel violated the ceasefire agreement from its inception. From the declaration of the “ceasefire” on October 10, 2025, Israel went on to kill 754 people across the Gaza Strip; over 200 of them have been killed since February 28, the date of the joint Israeli-American attack on Iran.

The “Yellow Line”—established as part of the Trump plan—leaves more than half of Gaza’s territory under “temporary” Israeli control. This area has become a theatre of killing and repeated displacement, solidifying into a de facto border. Recent satellite imagery confirms that since the ceasefire began, the Israeli military has erected seven new posts along this line, shifted its route to seize more Gazan land, and begun constructing a ground barrier stretching for kilometres.

Gaza’s 2.1 million residents are now forced into an area comprising less than half the strip’s total territory. More than 1 million displaced people lack basic shelter and live in makeshift tents that are vulnerable to flooding or in damaged structures that are at risk of collapse. Since the onset of the attack on Iran, Israel has imposed draconian restrictions, causing an 80 per cent drop in aid. In March, only 16 patients were permitted to leave for urgent medical treatment, while over 18,500 remain trapped. With the healthcare system nearly destroyed, 1.6 million people are expected to face severe hunger in April.

B’Tselem’s characterisation of the Gaza campaign as genocide has drawn global attention. How do you establish “intent” legally, especially when Israeli authorities frame actions as security-driven?

Throughout this genocide, we have tracked both the explicit declarations of senior Israeli leaders and the actions of the military on the ground. Israeli officials stated clearly that all Gaza residents are legitimate targets; they declared policies of starvation, siege, and the deliberate erasure of entire cities.

These declarations were translated into reality: over 70,000 killed—including tens of thousands of women and children—hospitals bombed, journalists targeted, and urban centres systematically levelled.

The vision of pushing the entire Palestinian population out of Gaza was a central blueprint. When you hear these intentions declared day and night in Hebrew across domestic media and see the military execute them precisely, there is no doubt regarding intent.

After a clash between Palestinians and a Israeli-backed settler militia in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on April 20. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Do you see the surge in settler violence since late February as annexation advancing under the cover of regional war?

The escalation in settler militia violence has been a developing phenomenon for three years. Backed by the military and armed by the state, these militias have already displaced 59 Palestinian communities. Their goal is the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank and the establishment of Jewish supremacy over all lands [in the Occupied Territories].

Has the line between the Israeli military and armed settlers effectively blurred?

Completely. Today, it is difficult to distinguish between settlers and the military; they are two arms of the same system. Within the military hierarchy, settlers hold key command positions. Conversely, thousands of settlers wear military uniforms and carry state-issued weapons as part of regional “defence” units. They operate with total systemic immunity. Israel is currently in a race to annex the West Bank, forcing three million Palestinians into isolated enclaves. By seizing agricultural lands and destroying infrastructure, Israel is engineering the space to ensure Jewish supremacy while implementing widespread ethnic cleansing.

How do you interpret the expansion of the conflict into Lebanon?

Defence Minister Israel Katz explicitly stated that Israel is applying the “Rafah and Beit Hanoun model” in southern Lebanon. This means massive bombardment, forced population transfer, and the levelling of villages. The genocide in Gaza has become the blueprint. Israel sees a total licence to use disproportionate force because the world has failed to stop it. Entire villages in southern Lebanon have already been reduced to rubble.

Do you still see global accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, as capable of influencing realities?

Sadly, the immunity granted to Israel throughout the genocide in Gaza signals the decline of international accountability mechanisms. We are witnessing a collapse of global norms where war crimes are committed with impunity. However, it remains vital for people worldwide to pressure their leaders. This assault on human rights is not just an attack on Palestinians; it is an attack on the very idea of international law—the price for which all of humanity is already paying..

What role can India and the Global South play in shaping political outcomes?

Governments that continue to support Israeli policy after two and a half years of genocide reveal their own lack of values. Across the Global South, millions now recognise that Israel is not the “democracy” it claims to be but a cruel apartheid regime that has suppressed the Palestinian people for 80 years. It is crucial for the global public to demand that their governments cease all policies that enable this ongoing injustice.

Is Israeli society becoming less receptive to human rights discourse?

Israeli society is raised within a system of apartheid and segregation. From infancy, the system instils values of supremacy, militarism, and the dehumanisation of Palestinians. While there are Israelis who resist this regime, they are still a minority. The genocide in Gaza was only made possible due to decades of deep dehumanisation, state propaganda, and the international immunity that Israel has long enjoyed.