B'Tselem says international community 'impotent' in face of Israel's 'ethnic cleansing'

Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has called on the international community to stop what it labelled an Israeli campaign of "ethnic cleansing" in northern Gaza. 

In a statement, the Israeli human rights group said the "international community has shown utter impotence" to stop Israel's "indiscriminate" attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip.

"Now, when it is clearer than ever that Israel intends to forcibly displace northern Gaza’s residents by committing some of the gravest crimes under the laws of war, the world’s nations must take action," B'Tselem said. 

The statement specifically addressed the humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza, where rights groups say Israel appears to be enacting its starvation policy. 

B'Tselem noted that 50,000 Palestinians have already been driven from their homes, while residents are subjected to "starvation, disease without access to medical care and incessant bombardments".

"The magnitude of the crimes Israel is currently committing in the northern Gaza Strip in its campaign to empty it of however many residents are left is impossible to describe".