Amnesty International: The forced displacement of Gaza residents amounts to war crimes
SANAA, Sept. 11 (YPA) – Amnesty International called on the Israeli occupation to immediately revoke the mass displacement order issued by its army for the residents of Gaza City as it escalated its attack on the city, warning that this order exacerbates the suffering of civilians amid an ongoing genocide.
Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director, said: “The Israeli army’s order for the mass displacement of the residents of Gaza City is cruel and unlawful.”
She added that this further entrenches the genocidal living conditions imposed by the entity on the Palestinians, stressing that the decision threatens hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City.
She pointed out that the residents of Gaza have suffered for nearly two years from continuous bombardment, starved, and crowded into makeshift camps or sheltered in extremely overcrowded buildings.
For them, this decision represents a devastating and inhumane repetition of the mass displacement order issued to all residents of northern Gaza on October 13, 2023.
Amnesty International has repeatedly stressed that the forced displacement or deportation of Palestinians within the Gaza Strip constitutes a “violation of international humanitarian law and amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
It reported that it had collected testimonies it described as “horrific” from residents and health care workers after the order was issued.
The organization considered that the latest displacement order, along with the expansion of military operations in Gaza, including the destruction of high-rise buildings that housed thousands of families, show yet another example of the Israeli occupation deliberately imposing living conditions calculated to destroy an already shattered population.
It also stressed that the Israeli occupation’s disregard for warnings from humanitarian and human rights organizations regarding the catastrophic repercussions of this operation, and its continued defiance of orders from the International Court of Justice to ensure that Palestinians in Gaza have access to aid and protection, represent “unmistakable evidence of its intention to continue the genocide.