Evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip

On 13 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces ordered all communities north of the Wadi Gaza, including Gaza City, to evacuate to the south. According to the UN, the Israeli military gave a 24 hour deadline for the evacuation, while an Israeli military spokesperson did not specify a deadline and said the IDF understood an evacuation would "take time".[1][2][3] The order came one week after a surprise offensive on Israel from Gaza was mounted by Hamas. By 14 October, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians evacuated northern Gaza.[4] Palestinians have described the depopulation of northern Gaza as the "second Nakba."[5]

The line in black represents the IDF's boundary at Wadi Gaza for evacuation.

Paula Gaviria Betancur, UN special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, condemned the forcible evacuation order as a "crime against humanity and a blatant violation of international humanitarian law."[6]

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called on Palestinians to leave the northern part of Gaza, including Gaza City, saying: "The camouflage of the terrorists is the civil population. Therefore, we need to separate them. So those who want to save their life, please go south."[7]

Background

Tensions escalated when Hamas launched an offensive on Israel. Israel responded with a series of airstrike attacks on Gaza. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) issued a warning to residents in the northern regions to evacuate. The United Nations initially considered this evacuation order impractical to execute safely due to the significant number of people it affected.[8]

Responses

UN response

In a statement, the UN warned of "devastating humanitarian consequences" of displacing 1.1 million Palestinians.[9] Shortly after the evacuation orders were issued, UN facilities, including UNRWA,[10] were instructed to move to Rafah.[1]

Hamas response

Hamas officials rejected the warning and urged those in affected areas to ignore the order and stay in their homes.[11][12] The Hamas Authority for Refugee Affairs told residents in northern Gaza to "remain steadfast in your homes and to stand firm in the face of this disgusting psychological war waged by the occupation."[13]

International organizations

Doctors Without Borders issued a statement calling the order to evacuate "outrageous" and "an attack on medical care and on humanity" and condemned the Israeli order "in the strongest possible terms."[14]

The World Health Organisation released a plea "appealing to Israel to immediately rescind orders for the evacuation of over 1 million people living north of Wadi Gaza" arguing that its extremely difficult to move patients in critical care, medical supplies are depleting and that "the four Ministry of Health hospitals in south Gaza are already beyond capacity".[15] Similar statements were issued by UNICEF and IRC.[16][17] The WHO expressed concern about the evacuation order sent to the al-Quds Hospital in Gaza.[18]

Accusations of war crime and Israeli humanitarian claims
See also: Allegations of war crimes against Israel § 2023 Israel–Hamas war

Israel's evacuation order was characterized as a forcible population transfer by Jan Egeland, the Norwegian former diplomat involved with the Oslo Accord.[19] A "forcible transfer" is the forced relocation of a civilian population as part of an organized offense against it and is considered a crime against humanity by the International Criminal Court.[20] In an interview with the BBC, Egeland stated, "There are hundreds of thousands of people fleeing for their life — [that is] not something that should be called an evacuation. It is a forcible transfer of people from all of northern Gaza, which according to the Geneva Convention is a war crime."[19] UN Special rapporteur Francesca Albanese warned of a mass ethnic cleansing in Gaza.[21] Raz Segal, an Israeli historian and director of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies program at Stockton University, termed it a "textbook case of genocide."[22]

The call for north Gaza residents to head south of the battle zone was characterized by a former Israeli officer as a "Humanitarian Exodus" to save as many lives as possible.[23] On October 15, Israel's chief military spokesman accused Hamas of trying to use civilians as human shields and issued a new appeal to Gaza residents to move south of the battle zone.[24]

On 21 October 2023, the Israeli army dropped more leaflets in Gaza with the message: "Urgent warning! To the residents of Gaza: your presence to the North of Wadi Gaza is putting your lives at risk. Anyone who chooses not to evacuate from the North of the Gaza Strip to the South of the Gaza Strip may be identified as a partner in a terrorist organization."[25][26]

Attempts of blocking Palestinian evacuation
Further information: 2023 attacks on Palestinians evacuating Gaza City

Attacks

On 13 October 2023, multiple bombings targeted Palestinians attempting to leave northern Gaza City killing 70 people, mostly women and children as coinciding with an evacuation directive from Israel, urging more than a million residents from northern Gaza to move to the southern part of the territory.[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]

Hamas issued a statement accusing Israel for bombing civilians.[35] In return, Israel directly accused Hamas of blocking Palestinian evacuation, in order to use them as "human shields".

The party behind the bombings is still unknown due to the nature of the explosion.[36][37]

Agitation against leaving by Hamas

On October 13, Gaza mosques broadcast messages telling Gaza Strip residents to not evacuate.[38]

Reportedly, the IDF said that as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving south, many were getting stuck in traffic caused by roadblocks that Hamas set up on Saturday, October 14th.[39]

International efforts to open humanitarian corridor

Despite international efforts to open a humanitarian corridor for civilians, there has been no success in reaching a deal. Egypt has been involved in discussions to provide humanitarian aid, but did not have any safe evacuation corridors set up as of October 11.[40]

See also

References
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  2. Falk, Pamela; Tanyos, Paris (13 October 2023). "Israeli military informs U.N. that all 1.1 million northern Gaza residents should evacuate south within 24 hours". CBS News. Archived from the original on 13 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  3. Deng, Chao; Lubold, Gordon; AbdulKarim, Fatima (2023-10-14). "Gaza Residents Brace for Israeli Offensive After Evacuation Demand". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
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