The Israeli army’s methods in the Gaza Strip are increasingly criticized. Today, the NGO Human Rights Watch condemns “war crimes” on the part of the Israelis.
The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) estimates in a report published Thursday that the Israeli army’s repeated evacuation orders in the Gaza Strip lead to forced population displacements, which amounts to a “war crime.” .
“Human Rights Watch has collected evidence that Israeli officials… are committing the war crime of forcible transfer” civilians, writes HRW. The report adds that “Israel’s actions also appear to fit the definition of ethnic cleansing” in areas where the army has ordered Palestinians to leave and where they will not be able to return.
The Israeli authorities say they are calling on the inhabitants of entire sections of the territory to evacuate due to military imperatives and thus say they are participating in the protection of civilians.
“Israel should demonstrate in each case that the displacement of civilians is the only possible option” to comply with international humanitarian law, notes Nadia Hardman, researcher at HRW.
“Israel cannot simply rely on the presence of armed groups to justify the displacement of civilians“, she continues.
HRW Middle East spokesperson Ahmed Benchemsi adds that “systematically render large parts of Gaza uninhabitable“constitutes”ethnic cleansing“.
In October, the UN put the number of Gazans displaced by the war at 1.9 million. The total population was estimated at some 2.4 million at the start of the war.
“Shaved, spread, cleaned”
According to HRW, Israeli authorities are orchestrating the movements and ensuring that certain affected areas “remain permanently empty“.
The NGO’s 170-page report focuses on two areas that Israelis call the Neztarim and Philadelphia corridors.
They were, according to HRW “shaved, spread and cleaned” by the army to create buffer zones for security reasons.
The first, which cuts the Gaza Strip from east to west, now extends between Gaza City and Wadi Gaza over 4 km wide, according to the report. Almost the entire building was demolished, Ms. Hardman said during a press presentation.
The second runs along the border between Gaza and Egypt, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the army must continue to control it.
“What the Israeli authorities are doing in Gaza is what one ethnic or religious group is doing aimed at expelling Palestinians, another ethnic or religious group, from areas inside Gaza by violent means“, mentions HRW.
The report draws on interviews with Gazans, satellite imagery and public data, all collected through August 2024.
It does not take into account the Israeli offensive underway in the north of the Gaza Strip for more than a month, and which has forced at least 100,000 people to leave the northernmost localities for Gaza City and its surrounding areas. surroundings, according to Louise Wateridge, spokesperson for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
Imam Hamad, a 41-year-old father from Beit Hanoun – one of these localities – says he has been displaced more than ten times: “before I thought they wanted to move us, now I realize they want to kill us and erase us“, he told AFP on Wednesday.
Gaza Israel Hamas war war crime
