Israel preparing to forcibly displace Palestinians to southern Gaza

Israel has announced preparations to forcibly evacuate Palestinians from “combat zones” to southern Gaza from Sunday, days after it announced a new offensive to seize control of Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban centre.

The army’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Saturday that residents would be provided with tents and other shelter equipment transported through the Karem Abu Salem, or Kerem Shalom, crossing by the United Nations and international relief organisations.

The statement comes less than a week since Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that the military had been given the green light to “dismantle” what he described as two remaining Hamas strongholds: Gaza City in the north and al-Mawasi further to the south.

The UN has not commented on the plan or on its alleged role in providing humanitarian assistance.

The army has not specified whether the shelter equipment was intended for Gaza City’s population, estimated at around one million people presently, and whether the site to which they will be relocated in southern Gaza would be the area of Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

The UN did not immediately comment on the Israeli announcement, however, it warned on Thursday that thousands of families already enduring appalling humanitarian conditions could be pushed over the edge if the Gaza City plan moves ahead.

The Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, described the military’s announcement as “part of its brutal attack to occupy Gaza City” and “a blatant and brazen mockery of international conventions.”

Forcing people to flee amidst starvation, massacres, and displacement is an ongoing crime against humanity. Criminal behaviour in Gaza is inseparable from the daily crimes committed by the occupation in the occupied West Bank,” the group said in a statement.

Israeli forces have increased operations on the outskirts of Gaza City over the past week. Residents in the neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Shujayea have reported heavy Israeli aerial and tank fire.

An Israeli drone targeted a group of people in the Asqaula area of the Zeitoun neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City, killing two and wounding several others, the Wafa news agency said.

other person was killed and three were injured when a house near the al-Alami Mosque on az-Zarqa Street, also in eastern Gaza City, was hit.

The tented encampment of al-Mawasi, in southern Gaza, also came under attack on Saturday. An Israeli air raid killed Motasem al-Batta, his wife and their baby daughter in their tent. The area was designated a so-called “humanitarian”, or “safe”, zone early in the war, but it has nonetheless repeatedly come under attack.

A neighbour of the family, Fathi Shubeir, told The Associated Press that displaced civilians were living in the densely populated al-Mawasi area. Speaking of the baby girl, he said, “Two and a half months, what has she done?”

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 61,827 people since October 2023. Malnutrition has killed 251 people so far, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Eleven people, including a child, have starved to death in the past 24 hours, the ministry said on Saturday.

At Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, the lives of more than 200 patients were hanging by a thread, due to acute shortages of medicine and malnutrition.

Director Mohammed Abu Salmiya said the hospital was overcrowded with wounded patients amid relentless Israeli bombardments and doctors were performing an increasing number of amputations as they were unable to combat the infection of wounds.

According to the World Health Organisation, more than 14,800 patients need lifesaving medical care that is not available in Gaza. Yet, leaving the Strip is not always enough to save a life.

Twenty-year-old Marah Abu Zuhri arrived in Pisa on an Italian government humanitarian flight overnight on Wednesday while severely emaciated. The University Hospital of Pisa said she had a “very complex clinical picture” and serious wasting, before she was reported dead on Friday.

Director-General of Gaza’s Health Ministry Munir al-Bursh told our reporters that 40,000 infants in the territory were suffering from severe malnutrition amid critical food shortages caused by Israel’s restrictions on aid into Gaza.