Several Palestinian human rights organizations have warned of what they describe as “unprecedented humanitarian consequences of the large-scale Israeli military attack on the entire Gaza Strip.”
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Al-Mezan Center, and Al-Haq Foundation, in a statement issued on Tuesday highlighted the danger of the heinous crimes and genocide taking place in Khan Yunis and the entire Gaza Strip. They emphasized the urgent need for the international community to take immediate action to stop the aggression and compel Israel to cease the genocide it is committing.
The human rights organizations pointed out that “intense and continuous shelling is creating an unprecedented state of panic, with the sounds of children and women screaming being heard. In the morning, the citizens were seen trying to move to the western part of Khan Yunis in search of shelter or a safer location.”
They further noted that the expansion of the Israeli ground assault has forced tens of thousands from nearby areas, not covered by evacuation orders, to leave their homes due to indiscriminate shelling, warning of a humanitarian catastrophe.
The Human rights organizations stressed that the ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Jabalia and Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, as well as the Shujaiya and Tuffah neighborhoods in Gaza City, and the siege imposed on Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the Strip, all constitute developments that will lead to a catastrophic situation.
Two million displaced without shelter
They also highlighted that there are approximately two million displaced people in Gaza, hundreds of thousands of whom cannot find a place to take refuge. Most shelter centers, including those managed by UNRWA, lack essential services such as food, water, sanitation, and bathing facilities, posing a serious risk of disease outbreaks.
According to official UNRWA data until December 3, 2023, nearly a million displaced people out of 1.9 million are residing in 99 facilities in the central, Khan Yunis, and Rafah governorates. Among these facilities, 64 are located in Khan Yunis and Rafah.
According to the latest update from the Ministry of Health on Monday, December 4, 2023, the death toll from the Israeli attack on Gaza has risen to 15,899, with 42,000 residents injured since October 7 of the same year. Seventy percent of the victims are reported to be children and women.
The ongoing displacement conspiracy
The human rights organizations warned in their statement that these dangerous events indicate that Israel is proceeding with its plan to displace the population of Gaza outside its borders towards the south, initiating a new Nakba.
They cautioned that Israel seeks to achieve its objectives through mass killing operations aimed at terrorizing civilians and destroying a significant portion of the Palestinian people by bombing homes and shelters on their heads.
The statement also highlighted the use of massive firepower, including destructive bombs weighing over 2 tons each, alongside acts of starvation, thirst, and deprivation of health services that have intensified over the past 60 days.
The international community, civil society organizations, and influential powers were urged to activate their efforts and exert all forms of political and legal pressure on their governments, especially in Europe and the United States, to change their stance and cease support for the genocide against the Palestinians, complying with the rules of international humanitarian law.
The international community was called upon to take serious and immediate action to stop the Israeli military attack on Gaza, prevent Israeli plans and arrangements for implementing the second Nakba for the Palestinians, and take effective measures to ensure accountability for the war crimes and genocide committed by its armed forces.
They renewed the demands for the international community to ensure the end of the occupation, the dismantling of Israeli settlement colonization and the Israeli apartheid system, and the repeal of all discriminatory and inhumane laws, policies, and practices against the entire Palestinian people.
