Euro- Mediterranean Monitor: Israel continues the crime of forced displacement and prevents the return of Palestinians to their homes

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor condemned the Israeli occupation forces’ attack with artillery shells and bullets on thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians as they attempted to return to their homes in Gaza City and its north. The Monitor noted that this attack, which resulted in dozens of martyrs and wounded, constitutes a crime against humanity, a war crime, and an extension of the crime of forced displacement.

The Monitor explained in a statement today that the serious crimes carried out by the occupation army, especially the crime of forced displacement, aim to destroy the lives of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and all of them fall within the framework of the crime of genocide that “Israel” has been committing for more than six months.

The Monitor Pointed out that yesterday, the occupation forces attacked thousands of displaced people in the central and southern Gaza Strip as they attempted to cross one of its barriers on Al-Rashid Street in order to return to their areas of residence in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, which led to the death of at least five Palestinians, including a woman and a girl, and the injury of dozens.

The Monitor documented identical testimonies regarding the occupation forces’ direct and deliberate firing of artillery shells, machine guns from gunboats, bullets, including quadcopter aircraft, and poison gas bombs towards thousands of civilians as they attempted to return.

Displaced people said that news circulated on social media accounts about the occupation allowing the displaced to return to the north of the Gaza Strip, but they were surprised by targeting them directly and randomly on Al-Rashid Street on their way back to the north, which forced them to leave the area and return to their places of displacement.

The Monitor stated that the number of forcibly displaced people in the Gaza Strip is estimated at about two million people suffering from catastrophic conditions, many of whom have been displaced several times in search of safety, while some of them resort to living in the open because of the lack of shelter.

The Monitor stressed the necessity of implementing the rules of international law and stopping the crime of forced displacement committed by “Israel” against civilians in the Gaza Strip and working to enable them to return immediately to their homes and places of residence. The Monitor called on the international community to put pressure on “Israel” to stop all its crimes in the Gaza Strip, warning that its continued impunity empties international law of its content and goals.

Souha Suleiman