Since October 7, 2023, some 1.9 million people have been displaced in Gaza – out of a population of 2.2 million. In a report published on Thursday, November 14, and entitled "Hopeless, starving and besieged": Israel's forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza," the human rights NGO Human Rights Watch shows that Israel has not only carried out multiple forced displacements in Gaza – a war crime – but that these are "widespread and systematic" and the result of a political will on the part of the Israeli government.

They constitute a crime against humanity, asserts the report's author, Nadia Hardman. Her work is the fruit of an eight-month investigation completed in August, which does not include the current brutal Israeli offensive in northern Gaza.

According to Article 49, evacuations must be exceptional, and the conditions are very strict. If these criteria are not met, it's forced displacement. Israel cannot simply rely on the presence of members of armed groups, military equipment and installations in Gaza to justify the displacement of civilians. It would have to demonstrate it was in each instance its only option.

Our report shows that evacuation corridors and so-called "safe zones" were consistently and repeatedly bombed, undermining the Israeli position that people were moved for their safety. Israel's evacuation system put people in harm's way. It gave instructions which were unclear, inaccurate and sometimes contradictory.

Dozens of [evacuation] orders were issued after the time period specified for safe evacuations had already begun while others were issued after attacks had already started.

Sahar, a 42-year-old woman who lived in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, with her family before October 7, 2023, received evacuation orders via air-dropped leaflets. In her words, "the Israelis started bombing the area even before we were warned of the evacuation order. People were killed in huge numbers and in brutal ways." The occupying power has to put in place measures to ensure the health, nutrition, safety and shelter of the displaced population. Instead, Israel displaced people to areas where they didn’t provide them with and where they could not access essential goods and services, food and water.

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