Palestinian Territory – As part of an explicit and deliberate policy that relies on the systematic commission of various crimes, Israel continues to carry out the forced displacement of Gaza Strip residents.
Israel's methods of forced displacement include widespread bombing, bulldozing, deliberate starvation, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and expulsion through firepower and evacuation orders. These practices have driven residents into an area comprising less than 15 per cent of the enclave, in apparent preparation for mass displacement beyond it.
Most of the Gaza Strip has been rendered devastated and uninhabitable, both now and in the future, which constitutes a continuation of the genocide carried out over the past 21 months.
Between 28 and 30 June, Israeli forces issued three new military orders demanding the evacuation of residents from large areas in the east and south of Gaza City, as well as parts of the northern Gaza Strip. These orders covered a large area of several square kilometres, forcibly displacing tens of thousands of civilians who were left trapped between continuous displacement, starvation, and relentless bombardment, with no safe refuge anywhere.
We fled Shuja'iyya while under bombardment. We walked for hours, not knowing where to go. Every place said to be safe is being bombed. There is nowhere to hide except under the open sky
Mohammed Hillis, a resident of the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City
The latest orders bring the total number of evacuation orders or renewals issued by the Israeli army since 18 March, the date Israel backed out of the temporary ceasefire, to 51. These orders, coupled with expanding military incursions, are unlawful and have placed over 85 per cent of the Gaza Strip under direct military control or forced evacuation. This reflects a systematic erasure of the Palestinian presence and a clear intent to impose permanent demographic change in the area.
Each of these orders has been issued without any military necessity or even the usual pretexts, such as rocket fire from the area. This indicates that Israel no longer seeks to justify its actions to the international community, and that displacement itself has become an open objective—one that is part of a deliberate policy of systematic uprooting and that constitutes a fully-fledged act of genocide.
Evacuation orders issued since last March have led to the renewed displacement of around one million people, most of whom have been forced to seek shelter in overcrowded or destroyed areas, or sleep in the streets and open spaces, amid widespread disease, severe shortages of water and food, and the collapse of basic services.
The Israeli army is conducting large-scale destruction in neighbourhoods it has invaded or ordered evacuated. These operations include airstrikes, bombing with explosive-laden robots, and widespread demolition and bulldozing of buildings and infrastructure, constituting one of the largest systematic erasures of cities and residential areas in the modern era.
In a testimony to Euro-Med Monitor, Mohammed Hillis, a resident of the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City, said: "We fled Shuja'iyya while under bombardment. We walked for hours, not knowing where to go. Every place said to be safe is being bombed. There is nowhere to hide except under the open sky."
In another testimony, Maram Abdel Aal, a resident of the Tuffah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City, said: "We left the Tuffah neighbourhood under shelling and headed to western Gaza, only to find bombardment surrounding us. I moved to Al-Mawasi in Khan Yunis, but the shelling continued there as well. Entire families were killed in their tents. Not a single neighbouring family survived."
Israeli forces continue to bomb areas where civilians are forced to flee, including schools, temporary shelters, and tents, carrying out mass killings that target displaced residents already suffering from bombardment and starvation. This constitutes a flagrant and deliberate violation of the most basic rules of international law. It confirms that forced displacement in Gaza is occurring not only under threat but within a deadly and inhumane environment designed to kill and cause suffering, indicating that displacement is being used as a tool in the ongoing genocide.
Five civilians, including a woman and two children, were killed and several others injured on Tuesday, 1 July, in Israeli airstrikes targeting the tents of displaced people in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis. This area has been designated safe by the Israeli army, underscoring a recurring pattern of deliberate and systematic targeting of civilians within displacement areas.
Israeli forces also killed 12 civilians, including women and children, most of them from the al-Hallaq family, by bombing a house in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in southern Gaza. This attack reflects the ongoing pattern of mass killings targeting Palestinian families.
Forced displacement is a war crime under the Rome Statute and a grave violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forcible transfer of civilians in occupied territories. It also constitutes a crime against humanity when carried out as part of a widespread or systematic attack targeting the civilian population.
The ongoing pattern of displacement in the Gaza Strip meets these criteria, as it is not limited to forced evacuations but is carried out under deadly and devastating conditions. When combined with the intent to partially destroy the Palestinian people by imposing life-threatening conditions, it also amounts to an act of genocide.
The pattern of forced evacuation orders, widespread killings, destruction, and the deliberate use of starvation are all integral parts of an Israeli plan clearly advancing toward its final objective: the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their land, particularly beyond the Gaza Strip.
This follows more than 20 months of genocidal crimes, including the killing and wounding of over 200,000 civilians, the destruction of entire towns, the near-total collapse of Gaza's infrastructure, the eradication of basic living conditions, and systematic internal displacement. All of this has taken place within a broader effort to eliminate the Palestinian community as an entity and existence.
The forced displacement of Palestinians is a direct extension of Israel's decades-long settler-colonial project, rooted in the erasure of Palestinian existence and the seizure of their land. What sets this phase apart is its unprecedented scale and severity, demonstrated by the comprehensive targeting of all 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023 through genocide and the denial of people's most basic human rights. The conditions of extreme coercion and deprivation forced upon the Palestinian people represent a deliberate effort to push them out of their homeland, not by choice but as a condition for their very survival. This stands as one of the most blatant cases of planned mass displacement in modern history.
All states, both individually and collectively, must fulfil their legal responsibilities by taking urgent action to stop the genocide in the Gaza Strip, through implementing effective measures to protect Palestinian civilians; ensuring Israel's compliance with international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice; preventing the implementation of the US-Israeli forced displacement plan; and holding Israel and its more powerful allies accountable for all crimes against the Palestinians in the Strip. The International Criminal Court must implement the arrest warrants for the Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Defence at the earliest opportunity, in accordance with the principle that there is no immunity for international crimes.
The international community must also impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel for its systematic and grave violations of international law. These sanctions should include an arms embargo; an end to all political, financial, and military support; freezing the assets of officials involved in crimes against Palestinians; imposing travel ban on these officials; suspending the operations of Israeli military and security industries companies in international markets; banning involved companies' access to banking services; and suspending trade privileges and bilateral agreements that provide Israel with economic benefits that enable its continued crimes.
Countries with universal jurisdiction courts must issue arrest warrants for Israeli political and military leaders involved in the ongoing genocide and initiate legal proceedings, even with the accused in absentia, to fulfil their international legal obligation to prosecute serious crimes and combat impunity.
