GAZA, (PIC)
The Gaza Center for Human Rights (GCHR) warned of an escalating, systematic pattern pursued by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip, based on forcibly evacuating what remains of residential homes via telephone calls, then bombing and destroying them even though most of them are already on the verge of collapse as a result of previous attacks, in a scene that deepens mass displacement and perpetuates the lack of shelter for thousands of Palestinian civilians.
The Center expressed in a statement on Saturday its fears of Israeli plans to expand the circle of displacement and destruction in central Gaza Strip, after repeated evacuations and bombings east of al-Bureij and al-Maghazi refugee camps, and bulldozing operations east of Deir al-Balah.
GCHR pointed out that it documented, between 20 and 22 May 2026, the occupation forces’ destruction of residential blocks in Nuseirat, al-Bureij, and al-Maghazi camps in central Gaza, following telephone evacuations conducted by the occupation army, in an approach that confirms it does not target legitimate military targets, but rather seeks to eliminate the last of what remains of a viable residential environment in these areas.
The Center mentioned that its field team documented no less than twelve targeting and bombing operations after calling for evacuation during the current month of May, which is an old Israeli policy that has re-emerged within a documented, long-term pattern that systematically targets the residential environment in the Gaza Strip.
It indicated that these crimes come after Israel destroyed, during the ongoing genocide, about 90% of the buildings in the Gaza Strip, which forced about two million people to reside in worn-out tents, or next to the rubble of their homes, or inside cracked buildings on the verge of collapse in light of the absence of safe housing alternatives.
The Center stressed that the intensive return of the occupation forces to target what remains of housing demonstrates the existence of explicit deliberation to complete the destruction of the residential environment in these areas and impose a catastrophic living reality that pushes the population towards further displacement.
It warned against continuing to reduce the geographical space in which more than two million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, which currently does not exceed 35% of the area of the Gaza Strip, and imposing a catastrophic reality with which living is impossible, in preparation for imposing forced displacement plans.
The GCHR emphasized that telephone calls or evacuation orders issued by the occupation forces prior to carrying out attacks do not exempt them from legal responsibility, nor do they confer any legitimacy on the targeting of civilian objects.
It warned that the occupation forces use this method as a tool to pave the way for mass destruction, intimidation, and imposing displacement, stressing that the documented incidents in their cumulative context with thousands of similar incidents represent part of the ongoing crime of genocide through the systematic destruction of the components of survival and life, and deliberately subjecting the civilian population to living conditions intended to bring about their actual destruction, in whole or in part.
The Center called on the international community to assume its responsibilities and obligate Israel to put an immediate halt to all attacks targeting residential areas and civilian homes in the Gaza Strip.
It also demanded urgent international action to provide actual protection for civilians in the Gaza Strip in accordance with the provisions of international humanitarian law, and to pressure Israel to allow the entry of emergency shelter materials and begin the necessary reconstruction operations for the displaced population.