Report: Israel prevents the return of displaced people in Gaza to their homes through killing and threats

Gaza - Ma'an - The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory condemned the Israeli army's targeting of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians as they tried to return to their homes in Gaza City and its north, directly with artillery shells and live bullets, which led to dozens of deaths and injuries, including women and children, and the rest of them were forced to To return to their places of displacement and prevent them from returning to their areas of residence in the northern Gaza Strip. Euro-Med said that the Israeli army committed on Sunday what may constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes by deliberately directing attacks against the civilian population, deliberately killing and wounding dozens of them, and continuing to implement and consolidate the crime of forced displacement against the Palestinians, by preventing forcibly displaced civilians, including... This includes women and children, who are able to cross from the center and south of the Gaza Strip and return to their areas of residence in the northern regions, despite the cessation of hostilities in most of those areas. Euro-Med stressed that the serious crimes carried out by the Israeli 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. He pointed out that the Israeli forces killed at least five Palestinians, including a woman and a girl, and injured dozens, while others are still missing, while thousands of displaced people in the central and southern Gaza Strip were trying to cross an Israeli army checkpoint on the coastal road, 'Al-Rashid Street.' Wadi Gaza Bridge Road in order to return to their residential areas. The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory documented identical testimonies regarding Israeli army forces firing artillery shells, machine guns from naval boats, and live bullets, including from Quadcopter aircraft, as well as tear gas bombs, directly and deliberately towards thousands of civilians as they attempted to return. Displaced people said that news circulated on social media accounts about the Israeli army allowing the displaced to return to the northern Gaza Strip under conditions, but they were surprised to be targeted directly and randomly on 'Al-Rashid' Street on their way back to the north. Muhammad Habib told the Euro-Med team that he and his cousin, Naim Ismail Habib, tried to return to their homes in Gaza City via Al-Rashid Street, but Israeli forces stationed near the Al-Baydar Resort area targeted them with heavy gunfire along with hundreds of other displaced people. "Habib" explained that while he "miraculously" survived the Israeli targeting, his cousin was killed as a result of being hit by two bullets in the head and flank areas as a result of bullets fired from a quadcopter drone. He also saw at least 10 others being wounded in the same area simultaneously. Hassan Ahmed Abu Maarouf (55 years old) said that he ar rived in the New Port area on Al-Rashid Street, trying with hundreds of others to return to the northern regions, but he was targeted by direct fire, which led to his being injured in his feet, noting that he was bleeding for a period of time. For a long time in the area of ??his injury before he was recovered by an ambulance with great difficulty due to the continued shooting around the area. The Euro-Med team monitored the coastal road in the central Gaza Strip being crowded with trucks, buses, vehicles of various sizes, and animal-drawn vehicles carrying thousands of forcibly displaced people, trying to return to their areas of residence in Gaza City and its north before the Israeli army prevented them from doing so. Later, it was monitored that the displaced people from the 'Netzarim Crossing' area returned to the central and southern Gaza Strip due to their inability to return and cross to the northern Gaza Strip, while the Euro-Med team, which was present there, monitored the transport of dead and wou nded as a result of being exposed to gunfire from the Israeli army after it intercepted it. The displaced people's road. Mrs. Umm Khaled Harb (45 years old) said that she and others heard that the Israeli army was allowing women and children to return to Gaza City. When they arrived at an army checkpoint, walking on foot for more than two hours, they were exposed to heavy gunfire, which led to dozens of injuries amid loud noises. Explosions terrified them and forced them to leave the area and save themselves. Khaled Saad (31 years old), a displaced person from the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, said: 'We heard news about the return of people to northern Gaza, and we found thousands, but when we arrived, the planes opened fire on us, and there were young men and women who were injured, and there was a large number of wounded.' Their fate is not known." On the other hand, the Israeli army stressed its insistence on preventing the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes in Gaza City and its north, claiming that it is a 'war zone,' despite the cessation of combat operations in most of these areas. The Israeli army spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said on the Salah Al-Din Road or Al-Rashid (Al-Bahr) Street. The total number of forcibly displaced people in the Gaza Strip is estimated at about two million people, many of whom have been displaced several times, with families forced to move again and again in search of safety, while some resort to living in the open and on the ground where sewage flows. Since last October 12 (that is, 5 days after the start of the crime of genocide it launched against the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip), the Israeli army has tried to implement the largest forced displacement campaign against about 1.1 million residents of Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, by forcing them to move to the center of the Gaza Strip. And in the south of the Gaza Strip, without a safe place to go, and without any guarantees to allow them to return in the future, or guarantee securi ty for them during their displacement. On December 1, the Israeli army expanded illegal evacuation orders in large areas of the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip, and later areas in the central Gaza Strip for evacuation towards the city of Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor stressed the necessity of stopping the crime of forced displacement committed by Israel against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, and working to enable them to return immediately to their homes and places of residence, in accordance with the rules of international law that require the occupying authority to return the transferred residents to their homes as soon as the work stops. combat in it. Euro-Med called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop all its crimes in the Gaza Strip, and to abide by the laws of war, which prohibit, under any justification, intentionally targeting civilians, and consider their forced displacement a grave v iolation that amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity. He highlighted that international parties that explicitly declare their opposition to any form of forced displacement have a responsibility to confront Israel's plans to turn forced displacement into a reality, as this entails an increasing level of continued dehumanization, deprivation of rights, and destruction of the lives of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Euro-Med reiterated that the suffering of the forcibly displaced people in the Gaza Strip must be ended, and their immediate return to their areas of residence must be ensured in light of the catastrophic and extremely complex humanitarian conditions they are suffering from, warning that Israel's continued action with impunity and without consequences empties international law of its content and goals. It undermines the remaining credibility of the system charged with enforcing it. Source: Maan News Agency