DayofPal– The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported on Saturday that Israeli forces have destroyed approximately 400 homes in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood of eastern Gaza City over the past six days, utilizing explosive-laden robots and airstrikes as part of a wide-scale military offensive.
According to the Geneva-based organization, Israeli forces have been systematically leveling the densely populated neighborhood since August 11, in what it described as a deliberate campaign to forcibly displace civilians and assert full Israeli control over Gaza City.
The rights group stated that the offensive is part of a declared Israeli plan to reoccupy Gaza gradually, beginning with Gaza City. The plan, it says, involves forcibly relocating more than a million people, including original residents and internally displaced persons from northern Gaza, into smaller, isolated areas in the south of the besieged enclave.
Drones, particularly quadcopters, have reportedly been used to trap residents in housing blocks and coerce them to evacuate at gunpoint. The Israeli army is said to have advanced under heavy fire cover and positioned themselves in strategic locations behind Street 8, near the Doula intersection and the areas of Al-Bar’asi and Al-Aliyeen.
More than 90,000 civilians have fled the neighborhood due to the intense bombardment, Euro-Med said, warning that nearly half of Al-Zeitoun’s homes have been demolished without any clear military necessity.
The report emphasized that no recent armed clashes were recorded in the area, and many homes were systematically destroyed using remote detonation after being vacated, signaling what the monitor described as a campaign to “eradicate Palestinian life and infrastructure.”
The monitor called the destruction part of a broader Israeli strategy aimed at “completing the crime of genocide” and erasing Palestinian cities through the annihilation of residential areas and basic infrastructure.
“The attack on Al Zeitoun represents an unprecedented escalation in Israel’s war on Gaza,” the report said. “It is a calculated step in a publicly declared strategy, not a spontaneous military development, and it carries the clear intent of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement.”
Euro-Med urged the international community—including the United Nations and global legal institutions, to intervene urgently to stop the atrocities, protect civilians, and hold Israeli leaders accountable.
The organization warned that the continuation of Israel’s campaign to secure full military control over Gaza City could result in “unprecedented massacres” and completely collapse the already devastated humanitarian response in the Strip.
The report also called for the immediate enforcement of International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, stressing the importance of upholding the principle that no one is above accountability for international crimes.
The escalation follows a decision by Israel’s security cabinet on August 8 to approve Netanyahu’s plan for the gradual reoccupation of Gaza, starting with Gaza City. The subsequent assault on Al-Zeitoun included aerial bombings, artillery fire, sniper attacks, and forced evacuations, confirmed by multiple eyewitnesses and journalists.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has resulted in a genocide. According to the latest figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry, the death toll has reached 61,827 Palestinians, with over 155,275 injured, more than 9,000 missing, and hundreds of thousands displaced. At least 251 people, including 108 children, have died due to famine.
Despite repeated international appeals and rulings from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Israel continues its operations with steadfast backing from the United States and several Western allies.
Euro-Med concluded its statement by calling on all states to take urgent and concrete steps to halt the genocide, protect civilians, and ensure Israel complies with international law.
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