In Gaza, Human Rights Watch denounces ethnic cleansing and war crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians

GAZA – A catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip which continues to deteriorate. The result of Israeli decisions according to the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW). The latter estimated in a report published this Thursday, November 14 that the repeated evacuation orders from the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip lead to forced displacements of the population, which falls under the “war crime”. According to HRW, “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.

“Human Rights Watch has documented evidence that Israeli officials… are committing the war crime of forcible transfer” civilians, the report said. 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.

More “Israel should demonstrate in every case that the displacement of civilians is the only 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.

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.

The areas of Gaza become “uninhabitable”

HRW Middle East spokesperson Ahmed Benchemsi adds that “systematically render large parts of Gaza uninhabitable” constitutes “ethnic cleansing”. “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. According to the NGO, Israeli authorities are orchestrating the movements and ensuring that certain affected areas “remain permanently empty”.

The 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, said Nadia Hardman during a presentation to the press. 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.

The report draws on interviews with Gazans, satellite images and public data, all collected through August 2024. It does not take into account the ongoing Israeli offensive in the northern Gaza Strip since more than a month, and which forced at least 100,000 people to leave the northernmost localities for Gaza City and its surroundings, according to Louise Wateridge, spokesperson for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

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