The non-governmental organization human rights defender Human Rights Watch (HRW) considers that the Israeli authorities carry out a “ethnic cleansing“on the Strip Loopwhere “widespread, unjustified and systematic” forced displacement of Palestinians is taking place.
HRW published this Thursday an exhaustive report of 154 pages in which it includes these crimes that constitute “crimes against humanity.” Nobody Hardmana refugee and migrant rights researcher at the organization, said: “Forced displacement is widespread, systematic and intentional and is part of a State policy and constitutes a crime against humanity. We consider that these actions by the Israeli authorities amount to “ethnic cleansing.”
Hardman emphasized at a press conference that the displacement for military operations It can only be justified if there are no other alternatives. “Israel cannot simply rely on the presence of members of Palestinian armed groups to justify the displacement of civilians. Israel would have to demonstrate that the displacement of civilians was, in each case, its only option,” he said.
In the document titled Desperate, hungry and besieged: the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gazathe organization highlighted that 1.9 million residents of the enclave, 90% of the population, have been displaced.
The organization urged USA, Germany and other countries to “immediately suspend arms transfers and military assistance to Israel,” and assured that those who continue to provide weapons to this country risk being accomplices to their crimes.
The impossible return to Gaza
Furthermore, the study highlights that the international community
should condemn as war crimes and crimes against humanity forced displacement of the civilian population by Israel, and pressure him through sanctions and other measures to put an end to this situation and protect the lives of civilians.
Since the conflict began, on October 7, 2023, more than 43,500 people have died and 86% of civil infrastructure has been destroyed, according to data from the Gazan government that controls the Islamist group. Hamas. Hardman noted that the extensive and often permanent damage in Gaza “is a deliberate attempt by the Israeli authorities to create conditions that will cause the return is not only difficult but impossible for many Palestinians”
The publication of the report coincides with a military campaign in the north of the enclave that began on October 6 and has caused new displacements towards Mawasia cloistered “humanitarian zone” by the sea in the southwest, also a target of attacks and in which around two million displaced people are overcrowded.
According to HRW, Israel has failed to comply with international humanitarian lawwhich allows the displacement of civilians only under military conditions of extreme necessity and requires guaranteeing the security and return of displaced people.
Absence of humanitarian aid
The document also states that the instructions for carrying out evacuations have often been imprecise and made known with little notice, and also accuses Israel of block the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid. In recent weeks, agencies of the UN They have accused Israel of increasingly restricting humanitarian aid in Gaza, to the point that October was the month in which the least aid entered.
So much so, that the US threatened the Israeli authorities with reducing military and weapons support. if they do not allow the entry of 350 trucks per dayalthough there has been no direct response to that ultimatum. What is clear is with the approval of the laws that restrict the activities of the UNRWAas well as the absence of aid in the strip, the Palestinian situation is “worse than ever“, according to humanitarian organizations.
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