Israel's announcement to forcibly evacuate Palestinians from Gaza City to southern Gaza, starting Sunday, has sparked widespread condemnation for its potential to exacerbate the already dire humanitarian crisis in the strip.
The plan, articulated by the Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee, involves relocating residents from so-called “combat zones” to areas like Rafah near the Egyptian border, with promises of tents and shelter equipment provided through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
This follows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s directive to “dismantle” what he claims are Hamas strongholds in Gaza City and al-Mawasi.
Critics, including Palestinian groups, view this as a continuation of Israel’s genocide, which has already claimed over 61,827 lives since October 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The forced displacement plan comes amid intensified Israeli strikes, particularly in Gaza City’s Zeitoun and Shujayea neighborhoods, where residents report relentless aerial and tank fire.
A drone strike in Zeitoun’s Asqaula area killed two people and wounded others, while an attack near al-Alami Mosque left one dead and three injured, per the Wafa news agency.
In al-Mawasi, previously declared a “safe zone,” an air raid killed a family, including a two-and-a-half-month-old baby girl, highlighting Israel’s deliberate and repeated targeting of areas meant for civilian refuge.
The United Nations has warned that such actions could push thousands of families into catastrophic conditions, with Gaza’s health system already collapsed and malnutrition claiming 251 lives, including 11 in the past 24 hours alone.
Legal experts and scholars, including UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, have labeled Israel’s actions as genocidal, pointing to a pattern of deliberate destruction aimed at Palestinians as a group.
Albanese’s report, Anatomy of Genocide, cites Israel’s violation of the Genocide Convention through mass killings, starvation policies, and forced displacement, which she frames as part of a “settler-colonial genocide.”
Scholars like Raz Segal and Omer Bartov echo this, noting Israel’s use of indiscriminate bombings and denial of aid as evidence of intent to destroy Gaza’s societal fabric.
Palestinian lawyer Nimer Sultany has criticized the international community’s delayed recognition of these acts, arguing that Israel’s siege tactics and defiance of International Court of Justice orders since January 2024 confirm genocidal intent.
The forced relocation plan threatens to worsen Gaza’s humanitarian disaster, where only 10 percent of needed food supplies are entering, according to Amjad Shawa of the Palestinian NGOs Network.
Hospitals like al-Shifa are overwhelmed, with director Mohammed Abu Salmiya reporting that over 200 patients face death due to medicine shortages and malnutrition.
The World Health Organization notes that over 14,800 patients require urgent care unavailable in Gaza, while cases like 20-year-old Marah Abu Zuhri, who died in Italy after arriving severely emaciated, underscore the lethal impact of Israel’s aid restrictions.
As starvation and violence escalate, the international community faces mounting pressure to intervene, while Israel’s actions continue systematic erasure of Palestinian life and culture.