❗️Gaza Government Media Office: One million Palestinians remain steadfast in Gaza and its north, refusing forced displacement to the south, while around 190,000 have been displaced under plans for permanent expulsion
❗️Gaza Government Media Office: One million Palestinians remain steadfast in Gaza and its north, refusing forced displacement to the south, while around 190,000 have been displaced under plans for permanent expulsion
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“The Government Media Office affirms that more than one million Palestinians remain rooted in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, holding onto their land and homes, and categorically rejecting displacement to the south, despite the savage bombardment and genocidal war carried out by the Israeli occupation as part of its crime of permanent “forced transfer” in violation of all international laws and conventions.
The population of Gaza City and the northern governorate exceeds 1.3 million people, including about 398,000 residents of North Gaza Governorate, most of whom were forcibly displaced westward, in addition to more than 914,000 residents of Gaza Governorate, among whom approximately 350,000 were forced to flee from the city’s eastern neighborhoods toward its central and western areas.
Government teams have recorded, in recent days, an escalation of forced displacement from Gaza City toward the south due to Israel’s atrocities, with nearly 190,000 people forced to leave their homes under bombardment. At the same time, they also documented reverse displacement: more than 15,000 residents returned to their original areas in Gaza City as of Tuesday noon, after initially moving belongings to the south for safekeeping, only to come back because of the complete absence of basic living conditions there.
Meanwhile, the Mawasi area in Khan Yunis and Rafah, currently housing about 800,000 people and falsely promoted by the occupation as ‘safe humanitarian zones,’ has itself been subjected to over 109 airstrikes and repeated bombardment, leaving more than 2,000 martyrs in successive massacres. These areas lack all essentials of life: no hospitals, infrastructure, or vital services such as water, food, shelter, electricity, or education — making survival nearly impossible.
The area designated by the occupation on its maps as ‘shelter zones’ covers only 12% of Gaza’s total territory, where it is attempting to cram more than 1.7 million people. This forms part of a plan to establish ‘concentration camps’ under a systematic policy of forced displacement aimed at emptying Gaza City and the north of its residents — a full-fledged war crime and a crime against humanity, in violation of international law and international humanitarian law.
We strongly condemn the continuation of genocide and forced displacement carried out by the Israeli occupation against Palestinian civilians. We denounce the shameful international silence and failure to uphold legal and moral responsibilities regarding these crimes. We hold the Israeli occupation, its strategic ally the US administration, and all states complicit in the genocide fully responsible for what is happening and for the resulting international legal consequences. We call on the international community, the United Nations, and international courts and legal institutions to act immediately and seriously to stop these crimes, prosecute occupation leaders before competent courts, and ensure the protection of civilians and their right to remain on their land in safety and dignity.”