Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by deliberately expelling Palestinians from Gaza, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.
About 1.9 million people – 90 percent of Gaza's population – fled their homes last year, and 79 percent of the area is under evacuation orders issued by Israel, according to the UN.
The HRW report states that this amounts to “forced transfer” and that “evidence shows that it was systematic and part of national policy”. It also says Israel's actions appear to “meet the definition of ethnic cleansing”.
Israel said the report was “completely false and has nothing to do with the truth”.
“Contrary to the claims in the HRW report, Israel's efforts are directed only at dismantling the terrorist forces of Hamas and not at the people of Gaza,” Oren Marmorstein, a spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry wrote in X.
He added that Israel “will continue to act in accordance with the law of armed conflict”.
HRW also accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields by operating inside people's homes and infrastructure.
The report was published as the Israeli army continued its offensive in northern Gaza, which has displaced around 130,000 people in the past five weeks.
The UN said 75,000 people remained besieged with water and dwindling food in the towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, where Israeli forces said they were holding back a Hamas offensive.
Under the laws of war, the forced eviction of any civilians from the occupied zone is prohibited, unless it is necessary for their safety or for an important military reason.
For displacement to be legal, residents must be safely relocated and provided with shelter and basic necessities. They must also be able to return to their homes after the end of the wars in the area.
The HRW report – based on interviews with displaced Palestinians, analysis of Israeli evacuation orders, satellite images showing the destruction of buildings, and videos and photos of strikes – concludes that there is no compelling military reason to justify the evacuation of nearly all Gazans that other conditions for its legalization also include. has not been reached.
The US-based group says that Israel's evacuation orders are “inconsistent, inaccurate, and rarely communicated to citizens with sufficient time”, and that they “did not take into account the needs of people with disabilities and others who cannot travel”. Israeli forces have also “repeatedly hit designated exit routes and safe areas”, he adds.
It accuses the Israeli authorities of preventing “all but a small portion of the necessary humanitarian aid, water, electricity, and fuel from reaching the needy citizens”, as well as carrying out attacks that have damaged and destroyed important facilities such as hospitals and bakeries.
HRW also alleges that Israeli forces “deliberately destroyed or severely damaged civilian infrastructure, including controlled demolitions, with the aim of creating a 'safe zone' near the Gaza-Israel border and the Gaza Strip”. “The destruction is so great that it shows the intention to permanently evict many people,” it warned.
Israeli government ministers are said to have also said that the territory of Gaza will shrink and the land will be given to Israeli settlers.
“Forcible evictions are widespread, and evidence shows that they were systematic and part of government policy. Such actions also constitute crimes against humanity,” said HRW.
It also says that “the organized, violent displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, who belong to another race, may be planned to be permanent in safe areas and security roads”, and that these actions “are tantamount to ethnic cleansing”.
The Israeli army has denied that it wants to create permanent safe zones and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has recently said that people displaced from their places in northern Gaza will be allowed to return to their homes at the end of the war.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas following the group's unprecedented attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were captured.
More than 43,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the area.
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