GENEVA, (PIC)
The Euro-Med Monitor for Human Rights stated that the Israeli occupation army is expanding the scope of forced displacement in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, through killing, destruction, and comprehensive persecution, as part of the ongoing genocide against Palestinian civilians since October 7th of last year.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Euro-Med affirmed that it documented severe suffering of thousands of residents during their forced displacement from Khan Yunis refugee camp and several other areas in the governorate to coastal areas, amidst rainy and cold weather and Israeli persecution measures, without providing any safe shelters that meet the minimum humanitarian needs.
The Euro-Med highlighted that this comes less than two days after the International Court of Justice announced its decision to impose interim measures on Israel for violating its obligations under the Genocide Prevention Convention and pursuing military operations, including widespread forced displacement to unsafe locations.
The Israeli army issued new evacuation orders through social media channels for Palestinians in a new number of areas in Khan Yunis, covering an area of over four-square kilometers.
The population of the targeted areas is estimated at around 90 thousand people, in addition to more than 400 thousand internally displaced persons seeking shelter in 24 schools and shelters, including three hospitals: Nasser Hospital (475 beds), Al-Amal Hospital (100 beds), and the Jordanian Hospital (50 beds), which represent about 20 percent of the remaining hospitals partially operating throughout the Gaza Strip, along with three health clinics, according to the statement.
Following the intense Israeli bombardment on Khan Yunis and the central region of the Gaza Strip in recent days, in addition to the new Israeli military evacuation orders, thousands of new displaced persons moved to Rafah city, the southernmost city in the Strip.
The Euro-Med team observed the Israeli occupation forces setting up a security checkpoint on the sea road west of Khan Yunis refugee camp, after closing all the side streets used by residents in the past few days to flee the camp.
It was noted that the occupation army forced residents to leave their belongings and all their possessions and pass individually. While women and children are allowed to pass, males aged 15 and above are forced to present their identity cards and undergo eye scans through dedicated cameras.
The Euro-Med stated that based on this, some are allowed to pass while others are arrested and detained after being forced to undress and confined in an open area filled with rainwater.
According to testimonies collected by the Euro-Med from displaced persons, Israeli soldiers forced some of them to chant collective slogans against Palestinian factions to allow them to pass without being targeted.
It was pointed out that many women were forced to leave the checkpoint alone, after the arrest or detention of the husband or father, leaving them stranded without anyone to help them and their children.
The majority of the displaced persons who manage to pass through the checkpoint head to Rafah, which has become a refuge for more than 1.3 million people, standing in the open air waiting for assistance amid extremely poor humanitarian conditions. While other numbers remain in coastal areas and outskirts of Khan Yunis, or head to Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
The total number of displaced persons in the Gaza Strip is estimated at about two million people, many of whom have been displaced several times, with families forced to move repeatedly in search of safety, while some resort to living outdoors and on the ground where rainwater and sewage flow.
The Euro-Med warned that the ongoing expansion of forced displacement in Khan Yunis coincides with a dangerous escalation in Israeli army attacks on Khan Yunis, including escalating the destruction of entire residential blocks and besieging hospitals and institutions where tens of thousands of displaced persons are directly targeted.
It was noted that over the past three days, several mass graves were established in Al-Amal neighborhood and Khan Yunis refugee camp and others in the Nasser Medical Complex square to bury hundreds of the expected increasing number of victims and the need to manage burial operations.
For days now, Nasser Complex, which originally operated at minimum capacity, has been besieged by the Israeli army and subjected to repeated shelling and gunfire, making it no longer able to receive patients and casualties or supplies. Concurrently, Al-Khair Hospital in Khan Yunis, one of only three in Gaza providing maternity services, went out of service, forcing patients who have just undergone critical operations there to leave.
The Euro-Med Monitor stressed the need to stop Israeli violations of forced displacement and to comply with the laws of war, which prohibit deliberately targeting civilians under any pretext and consider their forced displacement as a serious violation amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It emphasized that the recent decision of the International Court of Justice to find “reasonable doubt” that Israel is violating its obligations as a party to the Genocide Prevention Convention, and the practices on the ground require international pressure in all forms to stop the ongoing crimes against Palestinian civilians.
