Israel is ethnically cleansing north Gaza, says B'Tselem
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has accused Israel of taking advantage of the world's diverted attention to commit ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza.
B'Tselem is one of the most prominent rights groups in Israel and notably released an eight-page report in January 2021 calling it an apartheid state.
In a statement published on Tuesday, the group said Israel intends to forcibly displace residents of northern Gaza and is committing what it calls some of the gravest crimes under the laws of war.
It said hundreds of thousands of people were "enduring starvation, disease without access to medical care and incessant bombardments and gunfire", and that Israel had "cut them off from the world".
Since 5 October, the northern Gaza Strip has been under a near total Israeli siege, with almost no food, clean water or medical supplies entering.
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B’Tselem said Israel was "taking advantage of the fact that global attention has been diverted to irreversibly change reality on the ground".
"About 50,000 people have already been forced out of their homes since the offensive began. The three hospitals that still operate in northern Gaza are on the brink of collapse and themselves vulnerable to attack," the group said.
It added that displacement camps where Palestinians had sought refuge have also been targeted by Israel.
"The few testimonies that have trickled out of northern Gaza describe dead bodies lining the streets, hunger, drinking water nowhere to be found, and civilians being killed as bombs are dropped on their homes without warning or as they flee for their lives."
'Generals' Plan' under way
Last week, Israeli media reported evidence that a plan to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza and kill or starve any Palestinians who remained was under way.
Three Israeli reserve soldiers serving in Gaza told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that they believed the "Generals' Plan", also known as the Eiland Plan, was being implemented.
On Tuesday, in a segment on Israel's Channel 12, Amit Segal, the broadcaster's chief political analyst, said: "We can keep denying that what's happening is an implementation of the Generals' Plan - emptying of the strip, starving the terrorists, eliminating them, capturing them. That's in my opinion what's happening here."
B'Tselem said that the international community had shown "utter impotence" over the past year in stopping Israeli attacks on civilians.
"Now, when it is clearer than ever that Israel intends to forcibly displace northern Gaza’s residents by committing some of the gravest crimes under the laws of war, the world’s nations must take action," it said.
It called on the international community to use "political, legal and economic" tools to stop mass killing and the besieging of northern Gaza.
More than 42,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began over a year ago, while more than 100,000 others have been wounded during that time.
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