Palestinian Territory – The Israeli plan, announced by Defence Minister Israel Katz, to transfer the entire population of the Gaza Strip to a so-called "humanitarian zone" over the ruins of part of Rafah marks a dangerous escalation in the ongoing genocide. It reflects a deliberate effort to depopulate Gaza and impose a new demographic reality that advances a colonial project to erase the Palestinian presence.
The proposed plan aims, in its initial phase, to gather hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians inside the Gaza Strip as a prelude to confining them in a "humanitarian zone" built on the ruins of a destroyed city lacking even the most basic necessities of life. The zone will be placed under strict security control, with severe restrictions on movement, including a ban on exiting. This effectively constitutes the establishment of a closed mass detention camp, where the population will be forcibly held outside any legitimate legal framework.
The danger of this plan is compounded by Defence Minister Katz's endorsement of what he termed the "voluntary migration" of Palestinians, clearly indicating Israel's adoption of a policy of external displacement targeting the population of the Gaza Strip. This confirms that the concentration of people in the south is not a humanitarian measure but a transitional phase within a systematic plan to depopulate Gaza. It is a direct continuation of the policies of ethnic cleansing pursued by Israel since the Nakba of 1948, aimed at erasing the Palestinian presence and uprooting them from their land permanently.
The use of misleading terms such as "humanitarian zone" in the context of ongoing crimes, including bombing, starvation, and forced displacement, is a blatant attempt to conceal a full-fledged crime and mislead the international community
The Israeli plan constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the absolute prohibition on the forced transfer and mass detention of protected populations under the Fourth Geneva Convention. It falls within the scope of forced displacement, persecution, and apartheid, which are patterns of policies and practices that individually amount to crimes against humanity under international law.
The most dangerous aspect of this plan is the concentration of nearly two million Palestinians in a devastated, sealed-off area deprived of basic living conditions and subject to severe movement restrictions. This constitutes an organised act of genocide, involving the deliberate imposition of life-threatening conditions aimed at the gradual destruction of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip through starvation, humiliation, mass detention, and forced subjugation.
Katz's statements about exploiting the temporary ceasefire, currently under negotiation, clearly indicate that the ceasefire is not intended to halt the ongoing genocide but to give the Israeli army time and the necessary ground conditions to establish mass detention camps. These camps are meant to receive hundreds of thousands of civilians who will later be forced to flee under the pressure of escalating killings, starvation, and forced displacement.
According to the Israeli minister, the plan involves transferring 600,000 Palestinians after subjecting them to so-called "security checks," imposing severe restrictions on their movement and preventing them from leaving the area. This constitutes a flagrant violation of core principles of international law, including the prohibition of forced transfer, the right to freedom of movement and return, and protection from arbitrary detention and racial discrimination. It also breaches the peremptory norm prohibiting genocide, which may not be violated under any circumstances and imposes immediate legal obligations on all states to prevent the crime, stop its commission, and hold perpetrators accountable.
These official statements, which reflect a deliberate and declared policy, confirm that Israel is pursuing a systematic plan of forced displacement in the Gaza Strip through demographic engineering aimed at erasing the Palestinian presence by concentrating civilians in closed and besieged areas resembling mass detention camps and forcibly imposed ghettos.
The contradiction between Defence Minister Israel Katz's announcement of a plan to forcibly transfer and confine Gaza residents and the Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir's statement two days earlier that transferring the population is not a military objective exposes a deliberate effort to mislead public opinion and the international community.
While the Israeli army seeks to deny such intentions, Katz outlined a detailed plan that fully aligns with the facts on the ground, including mass killings, forced evacuation orders, the targeting of shelters, and the confinement of hundreds of thousands of people in besieged areas.
Field evidence clearly shows that this is the execution of a political plan, not the result of emergency military operations. Katz's statements, rather than the army's denials, reflect the true intent and official policy, serving as conclusive evidence of mass forced displacement carried out under military cover.
The use of misleading terms such as "humanitarian zone" in the context of ongoing crimes, including bombing, starvation, and forced displacement, is a blatant attempt to conceal a full-fledged crime and mislead the international community. The plan has no genuine humanitarian dimension; it serves only as a cover for a clear strategic objective to forcibly alter the demographic composition of the Gaza Strip and gradually depopulate it.
The aid distribution centres run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, located within the so-called "humanitarian zone," have effectively become death traps, with 758 Palestinians killed and over 5,000 injured since the centres opened in late May. This offers a stark warning of what awaits hundreds of thousands of civilians if forcibly transferred to that zone under a false humanitarian pretext that conceals a systematic genocide.
Katz's statements, along with the latest Reuters' reporting on the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's plan to establish "humanitarian transit areas" inside and potentially outside the Gaza Strip to house Palestinian residents, clearly expose the true and dangerous nature of the ongoing scheme. It aims to compel Palestinians to flee under a false humanitarian pretext.
According to Reuters, the plan proposes establishing "transit areas" for Palestinians to "temporarily reside," potentially paving the way for their transfer outside the Gaza Strip. This model establishes forced displacement as an explicit political objective, while phrases like "deradicalize, re-integrate and prepare to relocate if they wish" serve as rhetorical tools to market a pre-announced process of ethnic cleansing.
Labelling these camps as "humanitarian zones" or "humanitarian transit areas" is a deliberate manipulation of language, intended to justify coercive policies and reshape Gaza's demographic reality. The use of false humanitarian rhetoric, such as claims to "gain trust with the local population" or promote deradicalisation, serves as a deceptive security pretext for depopulating the Gaza Strip.
Forced displacement is a standalone crime under international law, involving the expulsion of people from areas where they are lawfully present through force, threats, or other coercive means, without any recognised legal justification.
Coercion in this context extends beyond direct military force to include the creation of unbearable conditions that make remaining practically impossible or pose a real threat to life, dignity, or livelihood. This coercive environment takes various forms, including fear of violence, persecution, detention, intimidation, starvation, or any other circumstances that effectively strip individuals of their free will and compel them to leave.
Any departure from the Gaza Strip under the current circumstances cannot be deemed voluntary, as the population is effectively deprived of the ability to make a free and informed choice. Legally, such departures constitute forced displacement, which is prohibited under international law. Those forced to leave the enclave retain their inalienable right to return to their land and property immediately and unconditionally, along with the full right to compensation for all damages and losses resulting from Israel's crimes, including loss of housing, violation of dignity, psychological and physical harm, and deprivation of basic rights.
The indifference of relevant states and UN organisations to Israel's policy of forced displacement in the Gaza Strip cannot be explained by incapacity. Rather, it reflects a level of tolerance, and in some cases, complicity in advancing plans aimed at depopulating the Strip.
Since the first mass evacuation order issued by Israeli forces on 9 October 2023, hundreds more have followed unabated and without any effective pressure to stop this crime. As a result, most of Gaza's population has been forcibly displaced, left without shelter or protection, in one of the most extreme and brutal cases of mass displacement in modern history.
Since the beginning of its assault, Israel has pursued a policy of comprehensive destruction targeting the fabric of life in the Gaza Strip as part of a genocidal campaign. This policy systematically dismantles all means of survival, forcing the population into displacement through siege, starvation, and devastation. The people have been exhausted, their resilience depleted, amid clear international complicity that enables Israel to persist in its crime of forced displacement, with no regard for the fate of over two million people on the brink of annihilation.
Euro-Med Monitor is alarmed by the international community's inaction, with over 21 months passing without halting a single tool of Israeli genocide. The forced displacement of the population cannot, under any circumstances, be justified by military or security considerations. Ongoing international silence effectively enables the continuation of this crime.
Euro-Med Monitor calls for comprehensive and independent international investigations into the role of the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in facilitating and executing serious crimes committed against Palestinian civilians. These investigations should address the individual responsibility of the organisation's founders, directors, logistics coordinators, team leaders, and any other staff members, whether through planning, facilitating, directly contributing, or knowingly failing to prevent the commission of crimes.
We urge all states with territorial or universal jurisdiction to open immediate criminal investigations against all individuals affiliated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and its contracted private security firms, in order to hold them accountable for their role in crimes committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, particularly including wilful killings, starvation, and cruel or degrading treatment.
Euro-Med Monitor urges all states to recognise that what the people of the Gaza Strip are facing is not evacuation, but the systematic erasure of an entire people. It is not enough to merely acknowledge or condemn these crimes; states must stand firmly between the people of Gaza and the completion of the genocide, to protect them from annihilation and to ensure their right to remain on their land with dignity.
All states, both individually and collectively, must fulfil their legal responsibilities by taking urgent action to stop the genocide in the Gaza Strip, through implementing effective measures to protect Palestinian civilians; ensuring Israel's compliance with international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice; holding Israel accountable for all crimes against the Palestinians in the Strip; and providing redress to victims as per international law.
The international community must also impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel for its systematic and grave violations of international law. These sanctions should include an arms embargo; an end to all political, financial, and military support; freezing the assets of officials involved in crimes against Palestinians; imposing travel ban on these officials; suspending the operations of Israeli military and security industries companies in international markets; banning involved companies' access to banking services; and suspending trade privileges and bilateral agreements that provide Israel with economic benefits that enable its continued crimes.
Countries with universal jurisdiction courts must issue arrest warrants for Israeli political and military leaders involved in the ongoing genocide and initiate legal proceedings to fulfil their international legal obligation to prosecute serious crimes and combat impunity. They must also hold accountable their citizens found to have committed violations against Palestinians, in line with their national and international legal obligations and within their territorial or personal jurisdiction.
Furthermore, the International Criminal Court (ICC) must expedite its investigations and issue arrest warrants for every Israeli official involved in international crimes committed in the Gaza Strip. These crimes must be formally recognised and treated as acts of genocide. States Parties to the Rome Statute are reminded of their legal obligation to fully cooperate with the Court, ensure the implementation of the arrest warrants, and bring the perpetrators to justice.
