Leading international humanitarian organizations on Friday have expressed shock and deep concern for civilians in the Gaza Strip after Israel ordered the entire population - more than 1.1 million people - to leave the northern part of Gaza as airstrikes continue and the humanitarian crisis worsens. Fearing catastrophic consequences, they warn that neither the demand to leave nor the total siege of Gaza imposed by Israel is compatible with international humanitarian law (IHL).
According to IHL experts, both actions constitute collective punishment of the civilian population and therefore war crimes and may also amount to crimes against humanity.
âThe noose around the civilian population in Gaza is tightening. How are 1.1 million people supposed to move across a densely populated warzone in less than 24 hours? I shudder to think what the humanitarian consequences of the evacuation order would beâ, said United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, on a social media platform.
The deep concern comes after team leaders of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN Department of Safety and Security in Gaza were informed late Thursday by Israeli liaison officers in the Israeli military that the entire population of northern Gaza, about 1.1 million people, should relocate to southern Gaza within 24 hours. Later, Israel issued another evacuation demand for everybody in Gaza City ahead of an expected ground offensive.
âWe consider it is impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequencesâ, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement Friday. âWe strongly appeal for any such order to be rescinded. It could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation.â
Dujarric also said, UN Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres was in constant contact with Israeli authorities, urging them to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) issued a statement urging the protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
âAs Gaza remains under heavy bombardment with Israel tightening its grip over the overpopulated Strip, it is left to the UN and humanitarians to protect civiliansâ, said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
âThe call from Israeli Forces to move more than 1 million civilians living in northern Gaza within 24 hours is horrendous. This will only lead to unprecedented levels of misery and further push people in Gaza into the abyssâ, he said.
Over 423,000 people have already been displaced by Israeli military attacks, more than two thirds of them, some 270,000 people, have taken refuge in UNRWA shelters, where basic food, medicine and support is provided.
âThe scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone-chilling. Gaza is fast becoming a hell hole and is on the brink of collapse. There is no exception, all parties must uphold the laws of war; humanitarian assistance must be provided at all times to civiliansâ, LazzariniâŻsaid.
In Gaza, more than 2 million people are caught up in the conflict. UNRWA is severely struggling to fulfil its mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestinian refugees.
âI urge all parties and those with influence over them to put an end to this tragedy and provide immediate and unconditional humanitarian access and protection to the civilians, among them far too many women and children. The time for humanity to prevail is now.â
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement: âWhen military powers order people to leave their homes, all possible measures must be taken to ensure the population has access to basic necessities like food and water and that members of the same family are not separated.â
âThe instructions issued by the Israeli authorities for the population of Gaza City to immediately leave their homes, coupled with the complete siege explicitly denying them food, water, and electricity, are not compatible with international humanitarian lawâ, the statement said.
âGaza is a closed area of limited size and resources. People have nowhere safe to go and many, including the disabled, elderly, and sick, will not be able to leave their homes. International humanitarian law protects all civilians, including those who remainâ, the ICRC said
The international humanitarian organization MĂ©decins Sans FrontiĂšres (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) has condemned Israelâs demand in strong terms.
âIsraelâs 24-hour notice that people in Northern Gaza must leave their land, homes and hospitals is outrageous â this represents an attack on medical care and on humanity. We have consistently seen dehumanizing language and this violence is a manifestation of that. We are talking about more than a million human beingsâ, said Meinie Nicolai, MSF General Director.
â'Unprecedented' doesnât even cover the medical humanitarian impact of this. Gaza is being flattened, thousands of people are dying, this must stop now. We condemn Israelâs demand in the strongest possible terms."
The humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) urged the Israeli government to reverse its ultimatum to Gaza.
âThe Israeli military demand that 1.2 million civilians in northern Gaza relocate to its south within 24 hours, absent of any guarantees of safety or return, would amount to the war crime of forcible transfer. It must be reversedâ, said Jan Egeland, NRC Secretary General, in a statement.
Egeland stressed that the collective punishment of civilians, among them children, women, and the elderly, in retaliation for acts of horrible terror undertaken by armed men is illegal under international law.
âMy colleagues inside Gaza confirm that there are countless people in the northern parts who have no means to safely relocate under the constant barrage of fireâ, he said. âThe loss of civilian lives caused by deliberate or indiscriminate use of force is a war crime for which the perpetrators will have to answer.â
Earlier on Friday, Oxfam International warned that a total siege on Gaza will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe as it will stop all food, water, electricity and fuel from reaching an already vulnerable population.
âThe decision to implement a âtotal siegeâ by the Israeli government, in addition to the ongoing blockade, will further deny Gazan civilians essentials like food, water and electricityâ, Mustafa Tamaizeh, Oxfam Acting Country Director in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel said.
âThis constitutes collective punishment of a population that bears no responsibility for the violence and is illegal under international law. It will not contribute to peace and security, instead, it will further fan the flames of this crisis.â
On October 7, Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, including fighters from the militant Hamas group, launched thousands of rockets toward Israel and breached through a perimeter fence of Gaza at multiple locations. Members of armed groups entered into Israeli towns, communities, and military facilities near the Gaza Strip, killing and capturing Israeli forces and civilians. More than 1,300 Israelis and foreign nationals, most of them civilians, were reportedly killed and nearly 3,400 injured.
Following the large-scale attack, the Israeli cabinet declared war and the military begun launching indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks in the Gaza Strip, killing nearly 1,800 Palestinian civilians and wounding nearly 6,400. Among those killed are at least 12 UN staff.
More than 2,500 housing units in Gaza, a densely populated area, have been completely destroyed or severely damaged and rendered uninhabitable, while nearly 23,000 residential buildings have also sustained damage. The UN Common Premises Compound, which houses UNRWA and OCHA, among other UN organizations, saw most of its buildings heavily damaged by nearby Israeli airstrikes.
So far, some 423,000 people have been internally displaced in Gaza due to the attacks by the Israeli military. An estimated 270,000 people are sheltering in 92 UN schools. The numbers continue to increase as airstrikes from the Israeli Air Forces are continuing.
Since Wednesday, Gaza has been experiencing a full electricity blackout, which has brought essential health and water and sanitation services to the brink of collapse. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hospitals only have a few hours of electricity each day as they are forced to ration depleting fuel reserves. Health facilities also face severe shortages of medicine and blood.
A water crisis is looming in UN emergency shelters and across the Gaza Strip due to damaged infrastructure, lack of electricity needed to operate pumps and desalination plants, and limited supply of water in the local market.
Water supplies cannot be replenished due to the total blockade on the Gaza Strip by Israelis authorities. Fuel cannot be brought in, and Israeli water suppliers can no longer deliver water to Gaza.
Gazaâs sole power plant has run out of fuel and was forced to stop functioning, triggering an immediate black-out, which continues throughout Gaza. Israel said it will not restore electricity or allow basic resources and humanitarian aid into Gaza as the military pounds the territory with air and artillery strikes.
Before the situation escalated, the United Nations estimated that 2.1 million Palestinians across the Occupied Palestinian Territories needed humanitarian assistance this year. Among them were more than 1 million children. The people in need represented 58 percent of the population in Gaza and one quarter of people living in the West Bank.