Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has accused Israel of taking advantage of the world’s diverted attention to commit ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza. In a statement, “The World Must Stop the Ethnic Cleansing of Northern Gaza”, published on Tuesday, October 22, B’Tselem said Israel intends to forcibly displace residents of northern Gaza and is committing what it calls some of the gravest crimes under the laws of war.
It said hundreds of thousands of people were “enduring starvation, disease without access to medical care and incessant bombardments and gunfire”, and that Israel had “cut them off from the world”. Since 5 October, the northern Gaza Strip has been under a near total Israeli siege, with almost no food, clean water or medical supplies entering.
The ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza (Photo: B’Tselem)
B’Tselem said Israel was “taking advantage of the fact that global attention has been diverted to irreversibly change reality on the ground”. “About 50,000 people have already been forced out of their homes since the offensive began. The three hospitals that still operate in northern Gaza are on the brink of collapse and themselves vulnerable to attack,” the group said.
It added that displacement camps where Palestinians had sought refuge have also been targeted by Israel.
“The few testimonies that have trickled out of northern Gaza describe dead bodies lining the streets, hunger, drinking water nowhere to be found, and civilians being killed as bombs are dropped on their homes without warning or as they flee for their lives.” Last week, Israeli media reported evidence that a plan to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza and kill or starve any Palestinians who remained was under way.
B’Tselem said that the international community had shown “utter impotence” over the past year in stopping Israeli attacks on civilians. “Now, when it is clearer than ever that Israel intends to forcibly displace northern Gaza’s residents by committing some of the gravest crimes under the laws of war, the world’s nations must take action,” it said. It called on the international community to use “political, legal and economic” tools to stop mass killing and the besieging of northern Gaza.
During the past 24 hours, the Israeli occupation army committed six massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the killing of 74 civilians and the injury of 130 others, according to medical sources. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza the number of people killed since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7th, 2023, has surged to 42,792, the majority of whom are children and women. Some 100,412 others have been wounded. Thousands of victims are still trapped under the rubble or scattered on the roads, as ambulance and civil defense teams are facing difficulties in reaching them due to the continued Israeli attacks, the massive number of debris and the shortage of fuel and heavy equipment.
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