Johnathan Paoli
THE state of Israel has said on Monday that it was not seeking to force Palestinian civilians to permanently leave their homes, even as it acknowledged conditions in the besieged Gaza Strip were “tough”.
Many have called the recent bombardement and killing of Palestinian by Israeli forces a replay, if not worse, of The Nakba, where more than 760 000 Palestinians were displaced.
Since the 7 October attacks on Israel by Hamas, more than 15 500 Palestinians, about half of whom are children, have died during Israel’s retaliation and more than 1.8 million Gaza Strip citizens, have been displaced.
This constitutes 75% of the population that have been pushed into refugee shelters in hospitals and other places that have also come under constant bombardment from the Israel Defence Force.
Following the collapse last week of a truce that allowed for the release of dozens of Israeli and other hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, Israel has expanded its offensive in Gaza and more casualties are expected as more and more people try and seek shelter far away from the attacks.
Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus however, has said that they were not trying to displace anyone nor trying to move anybody from anywhere permanently.
But he confirmed that civilians were being evacuated from the ‘battlefield’ and provided a designated humanitarian zone – a tiny coastal area of the territory named Al-Mawasi.
“We are perfectly aware that there is limited space and limited access and that is why it is so important to have the buy-in and support of international humanitarian organisations to help with the infrastructure in the Al-Mawasi area,” Conricus said.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said over the weekend that he was alarmed that hundreds of thousands of Gazans were “being confined into ever smaller areas” in the south of the territory.
Egypt as well as Jordan have expressed their concerns and said that they would not accept the mass movement of Palestinians into their territory.
In addition, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that people should be able to stay in Gaza, their home.
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