Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by deliberately causing the mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, a report by Human Rights Watch says.
About 1.9 million people – 90% of Gaza’s population – have fled their homes over the past year, and 79% of the territory is under Israeli-issued evacuation orders, according to the UN.
HRW’s report says this amounts to “forcible transfer” and that “evidence shows it has been systematic and part of a state policy”. It also says Israeli actions appear to “meet the definition of ethnic cleansing”.
The Israeli military has not commented, but it has previously said the evacuations are designed to protect civilians and that its actions comply with international law.
It has also accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields by operating inside homes and civilian infrastructure.
The report was published as Israeli forces continued a ground offensive in northern Gaza that has displaced up to 130,000 people over the past five weeks.
The UN has said 75,000 people remain under siege with dwindling supplies of water and food in the towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, where the Israeli military says it is preventing a Hamas resurgence.
Under the laws of war, the forced displacement of any civilians inside an occupied territory is prohibited, unless it is necessary for their security or for an imperative military reason.
For displacement to be lawful, civilians must be moved safely and provided with accommodation and essential supplies. They must also be able to return to their homes after the end of hostilities in the area.
HRW’s report – based on interviews with displaced Palestinians, analysis of Israeli evacuation orders, satellite imagery showing destruction of buildings, and videos and photos of strikes – concludes that there is no plausible imperative military reason to justify the displacement of nearly all of Gaza’s population and that the other conditions for it be lawful have also not been met.
The US-based group says the Israeli evacuation orders have been “inconsistent, inaccurate, and frequently not communicated to civilians with enough time”, and that they “did not consider the needs of people with disabilities and others who are unable to leave”. Israeli forces have also “repeatedly struck designated evacuation routes and safe zones”, it adds.
It accuses Israeli authorities of blocking “all but a small fraction of the necessary humanitarian aid, water, electricity, and fuel from reaching civilians in need”, as well as carrying out attacks that have damaged and destroyed vital resources like hospitals and bakeries.
HRW also alleges that Israel’s military has “intentionally demolished or severely damaged civilian infrastructure, including controlled demolitions of homes, with the apparent aim of creating an extended ‘buffer zone’ along Gaza’s perimeter with Israel and a corridor which will bifurcate Gaza”. “The destruction is so substantial that it indicates the intention to permanently displace many people,” it warns.
Israeli government ministers are also cited as saying that Gaza’s territory would decrease and that land would be handed to Israeli settlers.
“Forced displacement has been widespread, and the evidence shows it has been systematic and part of a state policy. Such acts also constitute crimes against humanity,” HRW says.
It also says that the “organised, violent displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, who are members of another ethnic group, is likely planned to be permanent in the buffer zones and security corridors”, and that such actions “amount to ethnic cleansing”.
The Israeli military has denied that it is seeking to create permanent buffer zones and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar recently said that displaced people from northern Gaza would be allowed to return home at the end of the war.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been approached for a response to the HRW report.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 43,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.