Israel has overseen the forced mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza in a deliberate and systematic campaign that amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity, according to a new Human Rights Watch report. <\/p>\n
The 154-page report, published by the US-based advocacy group on Thursday, details more than 13 months of widespread destruction in Gaza that, according to the United Nations, has seen the displacement of about 1.9 million Palestinians \u2013 more than 90% of the territory\u2019s population. <\/p>\n
In a statement, Human Rights Watch (HRW) cited the illegal and \u201cdeliberate, controlled demolitions of homes and civilian infrastructure,\u201d by Israeli forces in Gaza \u201cwhere they have apparent aims of creating \u2018buffer zones\u2019 and security \u2018corridors,\u2019 from which Palestinians are likely to be permanently displaced.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Israeli government cannot claim to be keeping Palestinians safe when it kills them along escape routes, bombs so-called safe zones, and cuts off food, water, and sanitation,\u201d said Nadia Hardman, a HRW refugee and migrant rights researcher. <\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael has blatantly violated its obligation to ensure Palestinians can return home, razing virtually everything in large areas.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a response to the report on Thursday, the Israeli military said it is \u201ccommitted to international law and operates accordingly,\u201d and that it issues evacuation orders to protect civilians from combat. <\/p>\n
The Israeli military also denied there was any \u201cdoctrine that aims causing maximal damage to civilian infrastructure regardless of military necessity,\u201d and said any \u201creports and complaints regarding the violation of international law\u201d are referred to an internal review body. <\/p>\n
Israel has been accused by multiple human rights groups \u2013 and UN investigators \u2013 of military conduct that could amount to war crimes over the past year, which it has vociferously denied. Hamas has also been accused of war crimes. <\/p>\n
In October, a UN inquiry said Israel had a \u201cconcerted policy\u201d of destroying the health care system in Gaza in what it said amounted to war crimes. <\/p>\n
The Israeli foreign ministry called those accusations \u201coutrageous\u201d and said they were \u201canother blatant attempt by the (commission) to delegitimize the very existence of the State of Israel and obstruct its right to protect its population while covering up the crimes of terrorist organizations.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said that \u201cIsrael has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population.\u201d <\/p>\n
On Sunday, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar said Palestinians would be able to return to their homes in northern Gaza when the war ends \u2013 but not before Israel\u2019s objectives were achieved. <\/p>\n
Several Israeli ministers, however, have said they would like to see Palestinians leave Gaza and reestablish Israeli settlements there. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe must promote a solution to encourage the emigration of the residents of Gaza,\u201d far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on January 1. <\/p>\n
And far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a position in the Defense Ministry, has said Israel \u201cwill rule (in Gaza). And in order to rule there securely for a long time, we must have a civilian presence.\u201d <\/p>\n
The HRW report comes after the US State Department said Tuesday that Israel had not violated United States law following the passing of a 30-day deadline for it to take specific steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza \u2013 a stance in sharp contrast to the findings of aid organizations about the dire reality in the enclave. <\/p>\n
Aid agencies have described the situation in northern Gaza as apocalyptic, with areas at imminent risk of famine as Israel wages an ongoing military offensive there. <\/p>\n
Human Rights Watch said the Israeli campaign in northern Gaza would likely lead to the displacement of hundreds of thousands more civilians. <\/p>\n
The group urged countries to halt arms sales to Israel and impose sanctions on the Jewish state to push it to comply with its international obligations to protect civilians. It also called on the International Criminal Court to investigate the alleged forced displacement of Palestinians as a crime against humanity. <\/p>\n
This story has been updated with additional information.<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Israel has overseen the forced mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza in a deliberate and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}