Human Rights Watch charges Israel of war crimes in the Gaza Strip

Human Rights Watch (HRW) just released a report claiming that Israel is engaging in “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza.

The report accuses Israel of committing a “war crime” by deliberately causing the large-scale, forced displacement of Gaza’s civilian population since October 2023.

The report, which was based on interviews with 39 Palestinians who have been displaced, asserts that Israel’s claims of lawfully displacing people are untrue and that they have not felt safe either during the forced evacuation or once they had reached the designated safe zones.

In the end, it added, no place in Gaza is safe because Israel keeps hitting areas that are supposed to be safe. Instructions regarding “evacuation” were sometimes last-minute, confusing, and conflicting.

Satellite photography included in the HRW report shows apparently systematic destruction of buildings and other land along areas Israel has dubbed “security corridors” including agricultural land whose destruction is exacerbating an already dire food shortage.

Israeli state policy deliberately included forced displacement, according to statements made by senior officials with command responsibility.

“When it kills Palestinians along escape routes, bombs so-called safe zones, and cuts off food, water, and sanitation, the Israeli government cannot claim to be keeping Palestinians safe,” said Nadia Hardman, an HRW researcher dedicated to refugee and migrant rights.

“Israel has brutally disregarded its duty to allow Palestinians to return home by destroying almost everything in vast swaths of land.”