The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressedconcern on April 11 over the legality of recent Israeli evacuation orders under international humanitarian law, citing fears over the permanent displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Since resuming hostilities on March 18, Israel has issued 21 “evacuation orders.” On March 31, the Israeli military issued an order covering almost all of Rafah, the Strip’s southernmost governorate, followed by a large-scale ground operation in the area. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were already reportedly trapped in Rafah, with no way out and no access to humanitarian aid.
According to the OHCHR statement, while Israel “can lawfully order the temporary evacuations of civilians in certain areas under strict conditions,” the nature and scope of such orders raises concerns over whether the Israeli leadership has intentions of forcibly transferring civilians out of Gaza, breaching the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates that individual or mass forcible transfers and the deportation of protected persons from an occupied territory are prohibited, regardless of the motive. Moreover, Articles 7 (1) (d) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute state that “deportation or forcible transfer of population” without grounds under international law are considered war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The OHCHR also raised concerns about the targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists, citing the deaths of more than 200 journalists in Gaza since October 2023. According to Article 79 of the Geneva Conventions, Additional Protocol I, journalists working in areas of armed conflict must be considered civilians and, therefore, protected.
According to to the International Crisis Group, if Israel’s offensive continues, it “will further render Gaza uninhabitable, increase the risk of famine and again raise the spectre of Palestinians’ forced displacement from the strip,” triggering grave consequences for the whole region.
US President Donald Trump has, since resuming office in January, unequivocally stated that Gaza should be “emptied,” and has repeatedly shared plans for the US to take over the Strip.
From JURIST, April 13. Used with permission.
See our last report on the “transfer” plan and genocide accusations against Israel.
Photo: Jaber Jehad Badwan via Wikimedia Commons
Starvation fears as aid response collapses in Gaza
Eighteen months into Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian aid system in the enclave is on the brink of total collapse, according to a warning by the CEOs of 12 major aid organizations. Every single person in Gaza is reliant on humanitarian assistance to survive, and Israel has been blocking the entry of all aid and goods into the enclave since March 2. Since Israel resumed its military campaign on March 18, 95% of NGOs operating in Gaza have suspended or reduced their services, according to a new humanitarian access survey, which also found that there are fewer than 9,000 pallets of aid remaining for Gaza’s 2.1 million residents. There have also been numerous Israeli attacks on hospitals and on aid workers and installations in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, malnutrition among children is rapidly rising and the entire population is facing the threat of starvation. Israel has seized large areas of Gaza since it renewed its offensive, once again forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands of people. It has also signalled that it intends to keep the territory it has grabbed in the enclave, and in Lebanon and Syria, which would be a blatant violation of international law. (TNH)