HRW published this 154-page report as Israel’s ongoing military campaign in northern Gaza has likely created a new wave of forced displacement numbering hundreds of thousands of civilians. For this report, we interviewed 39 displaced Palestinians in Gaza, analyzed Israel’s evacuation system, including 184 evacuation orders and satellite imagery confirming the widespread destruction, and verified videos and photographs of attacks on designated safe zones and evacuation routes.
One man we spoke to said he feared leaving his home because he thought the Israeli authorities were trying to seize the territory. “Once I heard the evacuation order to go south, my first reaction was: I'm not leaving. It is not an option to leave everything I have worked for … but then the bombs started and our houses were being destroyed, I needed to protect my family. This is why I finally left,” he told us.
There is no plausible imperative military reason to justify Israel’s mass displacement of nearly all of Gaza’s population. As the occupying power, Israel is obliged to accommodate displaced civilians. Instead, authorities have blocked all but a small fraction of humanitarian aid, water, electricity, and fuel from reaching civilians. Israel is also obliged to ensure the return of displaced people to their homes as soon as hostilities in the area have ceased. Instead, it has left swathes of Gaza uninhabitable.
No one can be in denial that the Israeli military is committing these atrocity crimes. Governments should adopt targeted sanctions, and governments supplying the Israeli military with weapons should stop, as they are handing Israel a blank check to commit even more crimes as well as putting themselves at risk of complicity.
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