As you read this, many families in Gaza are wondering whether they should flee their current shelter and risk having to endure the harsh winter on the streets or risk being bombed and killed where they are. There is no guarantee that they will be safe from Israeli bombs and bullets if they choose either option.
These are dilemmas that no human being should ever have to endure, but a recent study by Action For Humanity found that 98 percent of the 200,000 people living in the “humanitarian zones” of central Gaza have had to do so. face. In fact, according to our findings, more than a quarter of these people have had to move 10 times or more over the last 13 months.
Yes, you read correctly: residents of these “humanitarian zones” received “evacuation orders” and had to flee for their lives, often with just the clothes on their backs, 10 or more times in just over of one year.
The investigation, based on testimonies from displaced Palestinians on the ground, found that Israel’s “evacuation orders” often give people only an hour, and sometimes even less, to pack up their remaining belongings. life and run for their lives. And when they agree to “evacuate,” they are often pursued by a hail of bullets as they try to find new shelter in another “humanitarian zone.”
The devastating details of the report, titled Erasure by Design, make clear that there are no real humanitarian zones in Gaza and that the “evacuation orders” issued by Israel are not intended to keep Palestinians out of harm’s way. The use of these terms by Israel, its allies and the international media only serves to whitewash what is happening before our eyes in Gaza: land grabs under threat of extermination.
The Israeli army is not acting humanely and is doing a disservice to the Palestinians when it threatens them with death by bombing if they do not leave their homes and makeshift shelters. It is not about constantly driving exhausted and hungry people from one place to another, under threat of death or mutilation, using difficult-to-decipher instructions, out of humanitarian concern. He does this to ensure that nowhere in Gaza is safe for Palestinians. He is trying to kill two birds with one stone: creating the illusion of respect for humanitarian law while laying the foundations for an illegal expansion of Israeli territory.
This is why we should stop using the language of “humanitarian zones” and “evacuation orders.”
According to our findings, a third of Israeli “evacuation orders” were issued at night, while families were sleeping. About 85 percent of Palestinians we spoke with who are currently sheltering in the “humanitarian zones” of Deir el-Balah and al-Mawasi said they had difficulty understanding the evacuation orders they received. received at some point during the past year. Another 15 percent said they were unable to evacuate due to disability or caregiving responsibilities after receiving an “evacuation order.” Because Israel rarely, if ever, provides people with alternative transportation or shelter after ordering them to move, its “evacuation orders” are particularly meaningless for disabled, pregnant, injured, sick Palestinians. chronic or elderly and their caregivers.
Conditions for those who are able to repeatedly evacuate and move to new “humanitarian zones” are also no better. They too live under constant threat of extermination and have limited, if any, access to most basic resources.
The food that can be found on these shrinking humanitarian islands in the strip has almost no nutritional value and is rancid to the point of being inedible. While Israel has turned off the taps and poisoned most of the wells with its bombs, there is not enough water either.
Sixty-eight percent of people who participated in our research reported difficulty accessing clean drinking water. They say they go without water as long as they can and risk getting sick by drinking all the water they can find when they absolutely need it. For almost 20 percent of the population, that’s not even an option: There’s no water – clean or otherwise – to choke on. Getting sick from contaminated water can be a death sentence in itself in Gaza, where more than 80 percent of the population has no access to health care, even in “humanitarian zones.”
The reality on the ground is therefore clear: there are no “humanitarian zones” or “evacuation orders”, but only threats of extermination and islands of medieval suffering, unsuitable for basic survival, and even less to a dignified life.
Israel treats all Palestinians as subhuman and forces them to endure conditions worthy of the Dark Ages in order to permanently drive them from their land and claim it as its own. It blocks aid access to northern Gaza, allowing the bare minimum to flow to other areas and has banned the United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA – the Palestinians’ main lifeline – to operate in the region.
And it does all this while claiming to fulfill its humanitarian obligations under international law. This is happening now. By reading this article. And the world lets it happen.
Action For Humanity’s findings are not anecdotal. This idea is supported by research by many other humanitarian organizations, by the UN itself and, most importantly, by first-hand accounts of Palestinians experiencing Israel’s genocidal actions.
The world cannot continue to turn a blind eye to what is happening in Gaza. We have endless quantitative and empirical evidence that Israel’s actions in Gaza have nothing to do with defense or humanitarian concerns. Every Israeli action in Gaza is a tool of territorial expansion, mass displacement and extermination.
This is why the world must stop using Israel’s preferred language when talking about Gaza.
There are no “humanitarian zones” or “evacuation orders” in the Gaza Strip. There are land grabs, exterminations and atrocities on an industrial scale. There is also no “humanitarian crisis” in the region. It is time to abandon all the euphemisms that help Israel evade responsibility and start calling what is happening in Gaza what it is: genocide.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.
