New York, June 16 (QNA) – United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said that Israeli occupation forces have killed nearly 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire was declared last October.

In an address to the Human Rights Council, Turk said that the occupation is pushing Palestinians into an ever-shrinking area within the Gaza Strip while imposing restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid.

In the West Bank, the occupation forces and settlers are accelerating the destruction of communities and the annexation of land. Since the beginning of the year, 57 Palestinians have been killed, nearly 1,300 injured—many of them by settler gunfire—, hundreds arrested, and 23 land confiscation orders issued.

The High Commissioner stressed that statements by some officials in the occupation government regarding the "removal" of all Palestinians from Gaza and the elimination of any possibility of a viable Palestinian state are completely illegal. (QNA)