Gaza Strip: Forced Displacement of Palestinians Reported

Gazans Citizens during a Israeli Siege in North Gaza, Oct 10, 2024 Photo: Middle East Eye

October 10, 2024 Hour: 11:09 am

The move made it impossible for humanitarian actors to provide necessities such as health services, clean water and food to the civilian population.

On Thursday, nearly 20 non-governmental organizations condemned the Israeli army’s new orders for the forced displacement of Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip because it will aggravate the humanitarian crisis in the area.

The decision threatens to force civilians to move to ‘increasingly troubled areas and jeopardies aid operations,’ they said in a joint statement released here.

On 6 October, Gaza’s military command ordered the inhabitants of the northern region to march into southern Gaza, after which it began an offensive centered on the Jabalia refugee camp.

“The move made it impossible for humanitarian actors to provide necessities such as health services, clean water and food to the civilian population,” stressed the text, signed among others by ActionAid, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children and CARE International,

🚨 Yesterday, #Israel occupation forces bombed Al Yemen Assaeed Hospital in northern #Gaza , where hundreds of displaced civilians were taking shelter. When firefighters arrived to extinguish the fire engulfing the displacement tents, the Israeli military shot at them. pic.twitter.com/ihP0N6YHI7
— @PalasAtenea🍊 (@AthenaMia2nd) October 10, 2024

Given the short notice to move and the large population in the affected area, many are likely to remain, increasing the risk of further civilian casualties, it warned.

Against this background, the NGOs called for ‘the protection of all civilians in line with international humanitarian law’. Last month, the Kan Broadcasting Corporation revealed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was considering a plan to forcibly displace Palestinians from the northern Gaza Strip.

According to the source, during a closed-door meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the Knesset (parliament), Netanyahu said the plan was very logical.

It is one of the initiatives we are considering, but there are many others to dismantle the civilian control of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), the right-wing politician said.

The draft is known as the Generals’ Plan because it was drawn up by retired senior army officers, including Giora Eiland, former head of the National Security Council.

Many Israeli ministers and members of the Knesset have in recent months publicly supported the re-establishment of settlements in the coastal enclave, which is opposed by the UN and the international community.

The Haaretz newspaper revealed in August that Netanyahu plans to keep the army in the Strip after the end of the conflict and begin Jewish settlement in the north.

‘The occupation (of Gaza) is the goal Netanyahu is fighting for, even at the cost of the death of the remaining (Israeli) hostages and at the risk of a regional war,’ Aluf Benn, the paper’s editor-in-chief, said in an article.