DayofPal– Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq issued Thursday a new report accusing Israel of using evacuation threats as an act of its ‘genocidal campaign’ in Gaza, mostly in areas declared by the Israeli army as safe zones.
Human rights advocates have slammed Israel’s extensive evacuation orders across the Gaza enclave, which have forced over 1.9 million Palestinians to leave their homes and to take shelter in areas labeled as “safe zones” by Israeli forces.
Titled ‘How to Hide a Genocide: The Role of Evacuation Orders and Safe Zones in Israel’s Genocidal Campaign in Gaza’, the Al-Haq report sheds light on the growing evidence of Israel’s systematic targeting of the Gaza population in safe zones under allegations of security measures and humanitarian concerns.
It argues that the large-scale displacement caused by Israel in Gaza amounts to a war crime under international law, specifically the crime of forcible transfer. The report says these evacuation orders lack any legal justification and have compelled civilians to move to areas occupying less than 20% of Gaza’s total territory.
The report points out that rather than providing refuge, these zones crammed displaced Palestinians into confined, densely populated areas, which are then subjected to deliberate shelling. This move is branded by the report as “a slow-motion massacre” carried out under the guise of self-defense.
The report described these so-called safe zones as nothing more than traps set by Israeli forces, and even the very language used to describe these areas is a weapon in itself.
“With insufficient space, shelter, sanitation facilities, food, or water sources, and medical care, these safe zones are intentionally designed to ensure the destruction of all life sheltering there,” the report said.
“These actions are not merely military operations but an orchestrated campaign to eliminate a people,” the report concluded.
the past 24 hours, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 70 Gazans and injuried 104 with health ministry reporting that many of them were killed in the so-called humanitarian “safe zone” of Al-Mawasi and other displacement centers.
Around 83% of the Gaza enclave has been marked unsafe for civilians after falling under intense destruction and devoid of basic humanitarian resources.
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