GENEVA, (PIC)
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has warned that Israeli authorities are turning the Gaza Strip into a “genocidal ghetto,” imposing a tragic reality whose severity and intensity surpass that of the infamous Srebrenica enclave.
“Israel is legitimizing and enforcing a systematic pattern of geographic siege on Gaza, extending beyond a comprehensive blockade to include forcible internal confinement. This traps Palestinians within a small, devastated area under conditions more severe and crowded than those in the Srebrenica enclave before its fall in 1995, when genocide occurred,” Euro-Med said in a press release on Monday.
“The Srebrenica genocide serves as a clear historical warning about the deadly impact of besieging civilians and depriving them of protection and essentials for life, particularly when these actions are part of systematic behavior that is a core component of ongoing genocide, as seen in Gaza,” Euro-Med explained.
“On the eve of Srebrenica’s fall in 1995, nearly 40,000 people were besieged within roughly 150 square kilometers. Meanwhile, for most of Gaza’s approximately 2.1 million residents, the remaining habitable area has shrunk to just about 128 square kilometers,” according to the press release.
“The residents of the Gaza Strip face a reality that deliberately subjects them to conditions intended to undermine the Palestinian population, either partially or entirely. This includes measures such as deportation or forced transfer, with efforts to legitimize and promote this displacement internationally under misleading terms like ‘freedom of movement’ or ‘voluntary emigration.’”
Euro-Med accused Israel of changing the demographic and military landscape of the Gaza Strip by increasing its de facto control and imposing severe restrictions on roughly 65 per cent of the enclave.
“This action deprives over two million residents of essential resources, prevents their return to their lands and homes, and makes large parts of Gaza prohibited zones under Israeli military control. These measures effectively amount to an unlawful annexation and seizure of land.”
“The attempts to forcibly transfer the population are a direct continuation of Israel’s settler-colonial approach, which has persisted for decades and is based on policies aimed at erasing Palestinian history, space, and demographics, along with the systematic seizure of land. This phase is characterized by its rapid pace and broad scope, aiming to reach over two million people suffering from ongoing genocide. These individuals have been deprived of legal protection and basic survival means for nearly three years,” Euro-Med highlighted.
Euro-Med called on the international community and all countries to unequivocally oppose any plans to depopulate Gaza or force residents to leave it using misleading terms like “voluntary emigration” or “freedom of movement.”
The rights group also urged countries to implement prompt and effective punitive actions against Israel instead of merely issuing condemnation statements.
“Such population movements … are not genuinely voluntary but are crimes of forced displacement. These are prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. When this act occurs during an ongoing genocide, it triggers all states’ responsibilities to prevent and stop the crime, avoid recognizing any illegal situation resulting from it, abstain from helping or supporting its continuation, and work together to end it and ensure those responsible are held accountable,” it said.