Israeli forces’ ‘massive’ forced displacement in Gaza amounts to war crimes: report

A new Human Rights Watch report says the “massive” and “deliberate” forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza carried out by Israeli forces equates to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The report, which was published Thursday, comes as Palestinians displaced from northern Gaza said Israeli forces had inflicted widespread destruction on their home districts in a more than monthlong offensive. 

“The Israeli government cannot claim to be keeping Palestinians safe when it kills them along escape routes, bombs so-called safe zones and cuts off food, water and sanitation,” said Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. 

“Israel has blatantly violated its obligation to ensure Palestinians can return home, razing virtually everything in large areas.”

The report found that Israeli authorities’ conduct has led to the displacement of roughly 1.9 million Palestinians, more than 90 per cent of the population of Gaza, and the widespread destruction of much of Gaza over the last 13 months. 

Forced displacement across the Gaza Strip has been “widespread, and the evidence shows it has been systematic and part of a state policy,” the report found.

“Such acts also constitute crimes against humanity,” it said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military or foreign ministry, but Israeli authorities have previously rejected such accusations and say their forces operate in compliance with international law.

The 154-page report is the latest in a series from aid groups and international bodies warning about the dire humanitarian situation in the war-ravaged enclave.

“Israeli forces have carried out deliberate, controlled demolitions of homes and civilian infrastructure, including in areas where they have apparent aims of creating ‘buffer zones’ and security ‘corridors,’ from which Palestinians are likely to be permanently displaced,” the report said. Human Rights Watch said such actions would amount to “ethnic cleansing.”

Evacuation orders ‘inconsistent’ and ‘inaccurate’: report

The report said evacuation orders have been “inconsistent, inaccurate and frequently not communicated to civilians with enough time to allow evacuations, or at all,” adding that the orders did not take into consideration the needs of people with disabilities.

The law of armed conflict forbids the forcible displacement of civilian populations from occupied territory, unless necessary for the security of civilians or imperative military reasons.

For the past month, Israeli troops have moved tens of thousands of people from areas in the north of the enclave as they have sought to destroy Hamas forces the military says have been reforming around the towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun.

WATCH | Tens of thousands of Palestinians forcibly displaced from northern Gaza: 

What displacement looks like for Palestinians in Gaza

Recent photos posted on X by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) show hundreds of displaced civilians lined up together, holding their meagre belongings and filing out of the Jabalia refugee camp, under IDF instruction.

Hear from two people who spoke to a CBC News freelance journalist in Gaza about what it was like to be forced out.

Israel invaded the Gaza Strip last year after the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed an estimated 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities, and abducted more than 250 as hostages. An estimated 100 hostages remain in Gaza.

The Israeli campaign has killed more than 43,500 people, according to Gaza health authorities, and destroyed much of the enclave’s infrastructure, forcing most of the 2.3 million population to move several times. 

Last week, the UN Human Rights Office said nearly 70 per cent of the fatalities it has verified for the first six months of the Gaza war were women and children.

Human Rights Watch said it interviewed 39 displaced Palestinians in Gaza, analyzed Israel’s evacuation system, including 184 evacuation orders and satellite imagery confirming the widespread destruction, and verified videos and photographs of attacks on designated safe zones and evacuation routes.

The Israeli military has denied seeking to create permanent buffer zones, and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Monday that Palestinians displaced from their homes in northern Gaza would be allowed to return at the end of the war.