Israel must immediately rescind the mass displacement order issued by the military to the residents of Gaza City on 9 September as it escalates its assault on Gaza City compounding the suffering of civilians amidst an ongoing genocide, said Amnesty International today.
The order issued yesterday morning by the Israeli military for the mass displacement of Gaza City residents is cruel, unlawful, and further compounds the genocidal conditions of life that Israel is inflicting on Palestinians.
Heba Morayef, Amnesty International.
“The order issued yesterday morning by the Israeli military for the mass displacement of Gaza City residents is cruel, unlawful, and further compounds the genocidal conditions of life that Israel is inflicting on Palestinians,” said Heba Morayef, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
“For the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City who, for nearly two years, have been enduring relentless bombardment while starved and crammed in makeshift camps or taking refuge in extremely overcrowded buildings, this is a devastating and inhuman repeat of the mass displacement order issued for all of North Gaza on 13 October 2023.”
Amnesty International has repeatedly and unequivocally stated that forcibly displacing Palestinians within the Gaza Strip or deporting them violates international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. The organization has collected horrifying testimonies from residents and healthcare workers after the order was issued. Some had already been trying to flee southwards since Israel began striking high-rise buildings last Friday but were unable to do so because they cannot afford transportation costs or because the small area designated by Israel for evacuation is not fit for human habitation.
A healthcare worker treating children with malnutrition told Amnesty International: “I don’t want to leave my patients, the little children whose bodies are too frail to deal with yet another displacement, but I don’t know what to do. It’s like having to choose between two deaths: death by bombardment or the slow death of displacement, not knowing where to go. I have already been displaced on 15 occasions; I couldn’t sleep a wink for the past few nights because of the heavy bombardment nearby, and we’re still trying to go to our work to treat the children, but we have collapsed.”
An older woman with disabilities staying at a makeshift camp for internally displaced people in Tal al-Hawa, in southern Gaza City told Amnesty International: “We were displaced from Sheikh Radwan three weeks ago; my son had to carry me on his shoulders because I have no wheelchair and no transportation could reach our area. Now, we are ordered to evacuate again. Where do we go? To secure transportation to the south, you have to pay close to 4,000 shekels [1,000 Euros], and to buy a tent, you have to pay at least 3,000 shekels [800 Euros], and we don’t know if we’ll find any land to pitch our tent on. We had already spent all our savings to survive this war, looking for food and basics. Every day is like the war is starting all over again, only far worse, but we are totally depleted, we have no will or strength to carry on.”
A grandmother caring for her injured eight-year-old granddaughter, whose parents were killed in an air strike last May, said: “She’s all that I have left, and I have tried everything I can to protect her. We have been displaced twice just in the last week. We don’t have the means to go to the south, and we are tired of being forced to relive this ordeal all over again.”
The latest displacement order, combined with the expansion of military operations in Gaza, including the destruction of high-rise buildings where thousands of families have been sheltering, is yet another illustration of Israel deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of an already devastated population. That Israel has failed to heed the warnings of humanitarian and human rights groups about the catastrophic implications of this operation, along with its continuous defiance of the orders of the International Court of Justice to ensure that Palestinians in Gaza receive adequate aid and protection is an undeniable indication of its intent to continue its genocide unabated.
It is unconscionable that states with leverage over Israel continue to provide it with arms and diplomatic support to destroy Palestinian lives.
Heba Morayef.
“Gaza City, which has an ancient heritage that dates back millennia and has already suffered devastating destruction and damage, is now facing complete obliteration. It is evident that Israel is determined in pursuing its goal to physically destroy Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It is unconscionable that states with leverage over Israel continue to provide it with arms and diplomatic support to destroy Palestinian lives,” said Heba Morayef.
“Deplorably, companies and investors continue to profit from Israel’s genocide. States and companies that continue to arm Israel risk complicity in genocide All those with influence over Israel must press for an immediate end to Israel’s genocidal campaign and full humanitarian access to Gaza’s civilians.”
