The Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq published a 136-page report, “How to Hide a Genocide: The Role of Evacuation Orders and Safe Zones in Israel’s Genocidal Campaign in Gaza” which details step by step the methodical genocide ongoing in Gaza, the deliberate intent to impose this genocide, and unmasks any pretense that Israel is abiding by international humanitarian law. In particular the report examines the legal-sounding terms such as “safe zones,” “humanitarian corridors,” and “evacuation orders.”
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) have repeatedly imposed evacuation orders on civilians in Gaza requiring them to go to “safe zones” and anyone who refuses to evacuate will potentially lose their civilian status and be considered a military target. The displacements repeatedly split families and are calculated to create hopelessness. Evacuations are not normally seen as acts of genocide, but in the context of Israel’s notorious “General’s Plan” of creating a siege, restricting food, water, medical care, etc., evacuations have been integral to the intent to commit genocide. Any valid displacement must be temporary and civilians must be allowed to quickly return to their homes; however, most of those homes have been destroyed, which adds evidence that these “evacuations” and displacements are war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, Israel attempts to present to the international community the evidence of evacuation orders as proof of Israel’s efforts to minimize civilian casualties and its commitment to abide by international humanitarian law.
Gaza’s “safe zones” are in reality death camps. Overcrowded, and lacking sufficient shelter, sanitation facilities, food, water, and medical care, these zones are intentionally designed to destroy life, not protect it. The IDF has routinely attacked these “safe zones” from land, sea, and air. With Gazan civilians densely packed and no place to flee, Israel’s intent is that these civilians are either killed in its military assaults or die a slow death from injuries, starvation, dehydration, or the rampant spread of infectious diseases in unsanitary conditions.
