Palestinians peer into a large crater following Israeli strikes on a tent encampment for displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza on September 10 that killed at least 40 people and injured several others. Photo by Abid AlRahim Al-Khatib/UPI | License Photo
Human Rights Watch on Thursday alleged that Israel has forcibly displaced 1.9 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza, destroyed most of the strip and is responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The 154-page report, titled Hopeless, Starving and Besieged, said that Israeli authorities’ actions in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks “do not comply with the laws of war” and have caused the displacement of 90% of the population, including deliberate, controlled demolitions by Israel Defense Forces of homes and civilian infrastructure, including in so-called “buffer zones” and “security corridors” from which residents would probably be excluded permanently. Advertisement
“The Israeli government cannot claim to be keeping Palestinians safe when it kills them along escape routes, bombs so-called safe zones, and cuts off food, water, and sanitation,” said HRW refugee and migrant rights researcher Nadia Hardman. Advertisement
“Israel has blatantly violated its obligation to ensure Palestinians can return home, razing virtually everything in large areas.”
Analysis of Israel’s operations based on interviews with displaced Palestinians, almost 200 evacuation orders, satellite imagery showing widespread destruction and verified video and photo evidence of attacks on designated safe zones and evacuation routes, found civilians were not given enough time to leave, or at all, and that orders were inconsistent and provided incorrect information.
The orders also took no account of the needs of people with disabilities and others unable to leave without assistance.
HRW noted that while displacing civilians in a safe manner to properly resourced facilities was permitted under international law in exceptional circumstances — military reasons or for the population’s security — Israel had “no plausible imperative military reason” to justify its mass displacement of nearly all of Gaza’s population, often multiple times.
It said Israel’s evacuation system had caused “severe harm” to the population and often served only to spread fear and anxiety and that, rather than providing security for displaced civilians, Israeli forces had repeatedly targeted evacuation routes and safe zones it had designated.
HRW said the evidence showed Israel’s claim it was engaged in a lawful process of removing the civilian population to allow it to get to Hamas fighters and other militants while limiting harm to non-combatants was false. Advertisement
Israel had reneged in its duty as the occupying power to ensure adequate facilities to accommodate displaced civilians and instead had blocked virtually all necessary humanitarian aid, water, electricity, and fuel from reaching civilians in need in Gaza.
“Israeli attacks have damaged and destroyed resources that people need to stay alive, including hospitals, schools, water and energy infrastructure, bakeries, and agricultural land,” HRW said.
Forced displacement has been so widespread, HRW said, that it believed it was systematic and part of a state policy.
“Such acts also constitute crimes against humanity,” said HRW adding that because Israel’s “organized, violent displacements” were of people of another ethnic group, and likely permanent in buffer zones and security corridors, they amounted to ethnic cleansing.
The report makes 18 recommendations directed at Israel calling for an immediate halt to forced displacement and “collective punishment” of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and when evacuation is necessary for a system that provides accurate and timely information with instructions on how to safely reach safe zones, and that ensures they are safe, have adequate shelter, and meets other humanitarian needs.
It urged Israel to publicly commit to allowing displaced people to return to their homes and places of origin as soon as hostilities cease or the reason for the displacement ends. Advertisement
HRW said Israel should comply with all provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice as part of South Africa’s case alleging that Israel is violating the Genocide Convention of 1948.
Israel must also end “deliberate or indiscriminate or other unlawful attacks on civilian objects, including those essential to survival, in areas of origin for displaced people that render them uninhabitable, including attacks on water and sanitation infrastructure, residences, and farmland” and halt mass demolitions.
Other recommendations include ceasing to obstruct aid from entering Gaza — particularly food, including those items needed by children on a special diet — water, medicine, assistive devices, and fuel and restoring electricity, water, and telecommunications services.
Recommendations directed at Egypt included keeping its side of the Rafah border crossing open to Palestinian civilians who wish to leave Gaza in line with the customary international law not to expel or return anyone to a place where they would face the threat of persecution, torture, or other serious harm.
HRW also said Egypt should provide fleeing Palestinians with basic services and support, including access to health care, education, and protection, and help to facilitate the onward movement of Palestinians from Gaza who have legal pathways to other countries. Advertisement
It called on Western governments to publicly condemn forced displacements by Israel as a war crime and crime against humanity, as well as other violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and international criminal law by Israeli authorities and apply pressure on them to cease.
HRW urged governments to suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel until its forces cease their violations of international humanitarian law and enforce domestic legislation limiting weapons transfers and military aid to states in breach of international human rights and humanitarian law.
