The United Nations Human Rights Office has warned that Israel is “effectively sealing off North Gaza” and may be carrying out the “large-scale forced transfer of the civilian population,” which it said would amount to a war crime.
The Israeli military has, for more than a week, been carrying out an intense offensive in the north of the Palestinian enclave. It has ordered all civilians north of Gaza City to leave and has blocked all food from entering northern Gaza since the beginning of the month, according to the World Food Programme.
The UN Human Rights Office said Monday that Israel’s roadblocks were effectively sealing off northern Gaza, and that the Israeli military had reportedly fired on civilians attempting to flee, as CNN and others have reported.
“In the shadow of the escalation of hostilities across the Middle East, the Israeli military appears to be cutting off North Gaza completely from the rest of the Gaza Strip and conducting hostilities with absolute disregard for the lives and security of Palestinian civilians.”
Some background: Israel’s operation in northern Gaza bears striking resemblance to a “surrender or starve” proposal made last month by retired Israeli general Giora Eiland. Known as “The General’s Plan,” it recommended that the military order all civilians out of northern Gaza and then besiege any Hamas fighters left behind.
Israel’s cabinet has not adopted Eiland’s proposal in full. But Eiland told CNN last week that while there were differences in what the military was doing in northern Gaza, the government had adopted a version of his plan.
“There are a number of plans Israel has considered and is implementing as part as the overall strategy for Gaza,” an Israeli official familiar with the matter told CNN.
The military told CNN that “the evacuation of the civilian population from the combat areas in the northern Gaza Strip is carried out in order to protect the uninvolved population.” The military said that it is committed to abiding by international law.
The UN Human Rights Office said that “the separation of North Gaza raises further concerns that Israel does not intend to allow civilians to return to their homes, and the repeated calls for all Palestinians to leave northern Gaza raise grave concerns of large-scale forced transfer of the civilian population.”
The “forcible transfer of the population of North Gaza would amount to a war crime and may amount to other atrocity crimes,” it added.
