AMNESTY International has demanded that Israel immediately revoke its mass displacement order for residents of Gaza City, issued on 9th September, denouncing it as unlawful and genocidal, amid the intensification of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip.
‘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, Amnesty’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
She added: ‘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 13th October 2023.’
Amnesty reiterated that forced displacement of Palestinians within Gaza or deportation outside the territory constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law.
A healthcare worker treating malnourished children told Amnesty: ‘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 elderly woman with disabilities in Tal al-Hawa recounted: ‘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, and to buy a tent, you have to pay at least 3,000 shekels, 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, orphaned in an Israeli 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.’
Amnesty’s Regional Director said: ‘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 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.’
