The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, expressed this Thursday “very dismay” at the statements of two Israeli ministers who advocated the forced expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip by the Islamic after the end of the offensive that began on October 7 Resistance movement (Hamas). “Very dismayed by the statements made by senior Israeli officials about plans to transfer civilians from Gaza to third countries,” Turk said through his official account on the social network “IDPs” and has stated that these people “have the right to return to their homes.” “International law prohibits the forced displacement of protected persons within an occupied territory or their deportation,” concluded Turk, adding to international criticism of recent comments by Israeli Minister of National Security and Finance Itamar Ben. Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich respectively. Despite recent criticism from the United States, the far-right Smotrich on Wednesday doubled down on his defense of the forced expulsion of the Palestinian population from Gaza, while warning of possible ethnic cleansing as part of the Israeli offensive in the Palestinian enclave. In fact, last week South Africa announced an application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to take interim measures against Israel to protect the Palestinian population from the “genocide” it is committing in the Gaza Strip. It would defend itself against what it called ” “Blood Libel” by Pretoria. The Israeli army launched an offensive against the Palestinian enclave following the Hamas attacks, leaving about 1,200 people dead and nearly 240 kidnapped. Authorities in the enclave controlled by the Islamist group have so far reported more than 22,300 Palestinian deaths due to the Israeli offensive, in addition to more than 300 deaths in security force operations and settler attacks in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.