Israel's Genocidal Policy in Gaza: Systematic Destruction and Forced Displacement

The Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip has been ongoing for 21 months, leaving behind a devastating reality where Palestinians are crammed into stifling conditions, with each person given less than 24 square meters of space. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has documented that Israel has destroyed more than 92% of the homes in the Gaza Strip, inflicted severe total or partial damage on over 80% of the schools and 90% of the hospitals, and completely destroyed all the universities. The Strip's infrastructure has been severely damaged, and entire neighborhoods, cities, villages, and camps have been wiped off the map.

Key Takeaways:

• The Gaza Strip has been reduced to a mere 55 square kilometers, where approximately 2.3 million people are forced to live under bombardment and siege, lacking basic necessities like water, food, shelter, and healthcare.
• The population density in the Gaza Strip has reached an unprecedented 40,000 people per square kilometer, with the Al Mawasi area alone having more than 47,000 people per square kilometer.
• Israel has issued forced displacement orders for approximately 85% of the area of the Strip, involving mass evictions and repeated expulsions of residents from their original areas.
• The Observatory noted that all families in the Gaza Strip have been forcibly displaced, with most relocating five, six, or even ten or more times.
• The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has documented that Israel is deliberately implementing life-destroying conditions with the aim of destroying a protected group as such, constituting an actual and deliberate application of the elements of the crime of genocide as defined by international law.
• The Israeli plan involves the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their land, specifically from the Gaza Strip, and aims to prevent any possibility of return.
• The inscription of Article (49) of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the forcible transfer of civilians, unless imperative security necessities or for reasons relating to the safety of the civilians themselves require it.
• The widespread displacements in Gaza are being carried out in a systematic, collective manner, without any imperative military necessity, and without providing protection, shelter, or the possibility of return, constituting a grave breach of the Convention and a war crime under international humanitarian and criminal law.

Statistics:

• Over 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded in the conflict in Gaza.
• More than 92% of the homes in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed.
• Over 80% of the schools and 90% of the hospitals have been damaged or destroyed.
• The Gaza Strip has been reduced to a mere 55 square kilometers.
• The population density in the Gaza Strip has reached an unprecedented 40,000 people per square kilometer.
• The Al Mawasi area alone has more than 47,000 people per square kilometer.

Sources:

• Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, "Israel's Genocidal Policy in Gaza: Systematic Destruction and Forced Displacement"
• The Fourth Geneva Convention, Article (49)
• The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court