Rabat – Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report today accusing the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) of forcibly displacing Palestinian civilians in Gaza, calling the actions a potential “war crime” and drawing parallels to what it describes as “ethnic cleansing.”
Recent Israeli evacuation orders, alongside military tactics, have driven mass displacement among Gaza’s population, the report found.
The 170-page report presents evidence suggesting Israeli authorities may be committing “the war crime of forced transfer” of civilians in Gaza, a violation of international humanitarian law.
According to HRW, the IOF campaigns seem intended to establish areas where Palestinians have been ordered to leave and cannot return, including areas that Israeli forces have expanded, cleared, or fortified for security purposes.
Israeli officials have maintained that evacuation orders are necessary to “protect civilians,” citing military operations as essential for national security.
“Israel should demonstrate in each case that displacing civilians is the only viable option,” said HRW researcher Nadia Hardman. She stressed that the mere presence of armed groups does not justify a blanket displacement of civilians, as Israel has claimed.
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According to HRW’s Ahmed Benchemsi, entire regions have become uninhabitable. The NGO’s report references two main zones — the so-called Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors — as heavily impacted.
Satellite imagery and testimony indicate that the IOF have “razed, expanded, and cleared” these corridors, effectively dividing Gaza City from Wadi Gaza and establishing a 4-kilometer-wide buffer along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Meanwhile, the UN estimates that more than 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have been displaced since the conflict began, with forced displacements and evacuations ongoing.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has documented at least 100,000 additional recent displacements from Gaza’s northern region, where fighting has intensified.
HRW’s report relies on interviews, satellite data, and public records collected through August 2024, though it notes that recent escalations are not fully accounted for in the findings.
Gazan civilians report enduring repeated displacements, with some feeling the situation has shifted beyond mere relocation.
