HRW accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza

Human Rights Watch said in a report released Thursday that Israel's repeated evacuation orders in Gaza amount to the "war crime of forcible transfer", and to "ethnic cleansing" in parts of the Palestinian territory.

"Human Rights Watch has amassed evidence that Israeli officials are... committing the war crime of forcible transfer," the report said.

"Israel's actions appear to also meet the definition of ethnic cleansing" in the areas where Palestinians will not be able to return, HRW added.

Nadia Hardman, an HRW researcher, noted the 172-page report's findings are based on interviews with displaced Palestinians, satellite imagery, and public reporting conducted until August 2024.

Although Israel says the displacement is justified for civilians' safety or by military imperatives, Hardman said that "Israel cannot simply rely on the presence of armed groups to justify the displacement of civilians". 

"Israel would have to demonstrate in every instance that displacement of civilians was the only option", to fully comply with international humanitarian law.

According to the United Nations, 1.9 million Palestinians were displaced in Gaza as of October 2024. Before the start of the war on 7 October 2023, the official population figure for the territory was 2.4 million inhabitants. 

"Systematically rendering large parts of Gaza uninhabitable... in some cases permanently... amounts to ethnic cleansing," Ahmed Benchemsi, spokesman for HRW's Middle East division said in a press briefing.

The HRW report pointed in particular to the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors, running along the Egyptian border and cutting Gaza along its east-west axis respectively, which have been "razed, extended, and cleared" by Israel's army to create buffer zones and security corridors.

Reporting by AFP