According to a Human Rights Watch report, Israel committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by intentionally causing mass displacement of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Some 1.9 million people, or 90% of the Gaza Strip’s population, have fled their homes in the past year, and 79% of the territory is under evacuation orders issued by Israel, according to the United Nations.
The HRW report said this amounted to “forced removal” and that “evidence shows it is systematic and part of national policy.” It also said that Israel’s actions appear to “meet the definition of ethnic cleansing.”
The Israeli military has not commented, but has previously said the evacuation was aimed at protecting civilians and its actions were in accordance with international law.
It also accused Hamas of operating inside homes and civilian infrastructure and using civilians as human shields.
The report was released as Israeli forces continue to carry out ground offensives in northern Gaza, displacing up to 130,000 people in the past five weeks.
The United Nations says 75,000 people remain under siege as water and food supplies dwindle in the towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, where Israeli forces say they are preventing a Hamas resurgence. .
Under the laws of war, the forced movement of civilians within occupied territory is prohibited unless necessary for security or urgent military reasons.
For forced removals to be legal, civilians must be moved safely and provided with accommodation and necessities. They must also be able to return to their homelands after the end of local fighting.
HRW’s report is based on interviews with displaced Palestinians, an analysis of Israeli evacuation orders, satellite images showing the destruction of buildings, and videos and photos of the attacks, covering nearly the entire population of Gaza and the Gaza Strip. It concludes that there are no plausible and urgent military reasons to justify the evacuation of the population. The other conditions for it to be legal are also not met.
The U.S.-based group said Israel’s evacuation orders are “often inconsistent, inaccurate and not communicated to civilians in sufficient time” and that “people with disabilities and those who cannot evacuate are It did not take into account the needs of the people.” Israeli forces also “repeatedly attacked designated evacuation routes and safe zones,” it added.
The report found that Israeli authorities were blocking “all but a small portion of essential humanitarian aid, water, electricity and fuel from reaching civilians in need” and depleting critical resources such as hospitals and bakeries. It accuses them of carrying out attacks that cause damage and destruction.
HRW also claims that the Israeli military “intended civilian infrastructure, including controlled demolition of housing, with the apparent purpose of creating an extended ‘buffer zone’ along the Gaza border with Israel and a corridor bisecting Gaza.” “They are destroying or causing serious damage.” “The destruction is so massive that it signals an intention to permanently displace many people,” it warned.
Israeli government ministers also reportedly said that Gaza’s territory would be reduced and the land would be handed over to Israeli settlers.
“Forced migration is widespread and evidence shows it is systematic and part of state policy. Such acts also amount to crimes against humanity,” HRW said. There is.
The report also states that “the systematic and violent displacement of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who are members of another ethnic group, is planned to take place on a permanent basis, possibly in buffer zones and security corridors.” It also states that such acts “amount to ethnic cleansing.”
The Israeli military denies it is seeking to create a permanent buffer zone, and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar recently said those displaced from northern Gaza would be allowed to return at the end of the war.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been asked to respond to HRW’s report.
Israel launched an operation to annihilate Hamas in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which left approximately 1,200 people dead and 251 hostages taken.
More than 43,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-controlled region’s health ministry.
