The Israeli occupation forces have turned Salah al-Din Road the main artery that connects the south of the Gaza Strip to the north into a trap to kill humiliate and arrest Palestinians despite designating the street as a safe corridor for displacement from Gaza to its southern areas.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor stated that it has received testimonies from displaced Palestinians indicating that Israel has turned the announced evacuation corridor into a trap for killing and arresting Palestinian citizens in addition to engaging in systematic and widespread acts of harassment and varied forms of abuse.
The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor said in a statement on Saturday: The Israeli occupation army’s talk about a safe corridor for the exit of the displaced Palestinians is part of its military tactics used to target Palestinian civilians.
It mentioned that the Israeli occupation army which is pressuring the residents of the city and its north to leave their residential areas towards the center and south of the Strip has designated a “corridor” along the main traffic artery Salah al-Din Road between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.
Painful Testimonies
The Monitor team collected testimonies from displaced individuals who crossed the declared corridor over the past three days and they spoke about shocking incidents of killings arrests and deliberate humiliation.
Eyad Zakaria a 43-year-old resident of Gaza City said that he and his family of seven along with his elderly mother were forced to walk about seven kilometers on foot to reach the south of the Gaza Strip.
He mentioned that the occupation army prohibits all vehicles from reaching a distance of about 4 to 5 kilometers from a military checkpoint located on the outskirts of Gaza City in the area of Netzarim and they force the displaced individuals to raise their arms throughout their journey and carry white flags.
Zakaria reported that he witnessed dozens of dismembered and charred bodies mostly women and children scattered on the ground and others inside civilian cars targeted by Israeli missiles shells along the entire route leading to the military checkpoint and beyond. Additionally two young men who were near him were arrested after their ID cards were investigated.
On Friday the occupation forces targeted a group of displaced individuals and those assisting them on Salah al-Din Road opposite the Dawah Mosque in southern Gaza resulting in a large number of martyrs and wounded individuals some of whom are still lying on the road.
In turn Sa’ada Awad in her thirties stated that she and her family of 11 members were displaced after being forced by the occupation army to leave some of their personal belongings and walk long distances while waving their arms.
She mentioned that continuous shelling was taking place above their heads and she witnessed a family of five who were about 500 meters behind her being hit by an artillery shell without being able to ascertain their fate amid the terrifying atmosphere they experienced.
A Destroyed Road
Video clips show the devastated and crowded road making it extremely difficult to traverse especially for the elderly disabled individuals patients and women.
An elderly man who identified himself as Abu Khalil and who was displaced from the Shati refugee camp suffered from extreme exhaustion. He said that Salah al-Din Street is a deathtrap rather than a safe passage noting that one of his grandsons was shot and injured.
The man mentioned that his sons were forced to carry his injured 16-year-old grandson and walk with him for over 3 kilometers while he was bleeding.
Similarly a young man named Saleem witnessed on Friday the artillery shelling targeting children and women during their displacement. The soldiers prevented young men from attempting to rescue them and save their lives.
He explained that the soldiers were shouting at the male displaced individuals to raise their hands and phones high pronouncing their names and then arresting those they desired.
Doctor Sara El-Sakka stated that they were forcibly made to walk under the sun alongside tanks and corpses carrying nothing but their identification cards. The soldiers ordered them to stop for about an hour threatening them with death and arrest before allowing them to continue their journey without even allowing them to turn around and look around.
The Monitor pointed out that Israel warned over one million people half of the total population to evacuate Gaza City and its north less than a week after launching a devastating and unprecedented war on the Gaza Strip on October 7.
Forced Displacement
The monitor emphasized that it had warned since the issuance of the Israeli evacuation order of serious legal and humanitarian concerns and fears for the safety of Palestinian civilians. It added that the order constitutes forced displacement and transfer violating international humanitarian law and may amount to a war crime.
It noted that Israel not only settles for forcibly displacing civilians in Gaza but also does not provide them with a safe shelter or a means to evacuate safely and it targets them during this process in explicit violation of the laws of war that prohibit “acts of violence or threats thereof intended primarily to spread terror among the civilian population.”
The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor called on US President Joe Biden whose country provides annual military aid amounting to $3.8 billion to Israel to intervene immediately with Israel to stop the killing and harassment it carries out through what it claims to be a safe passage for Palestinians.