Amnesty has “repeatedly and unequivocally stated that forcibly displacing Palestinians within the Gaza Strip or deporting them violates international humanitarian law and constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Amnesty International has warned that the Israeli army’s order for the mass displacement of Gaza City residents “is cruel, unlawful, and further compounds the genocidal conditions of life that Israel is inflicting on Palestinians.”
The army issued a new demand on Tuesday for residents to evacuate and move south, as its ongoing military offensive continues with heavy bombardments that have left numerous Palestinians dead and wounded.
Israel’s mass displacement order for the entirety of Gaza City is unlawful and inhumane.
Read more 👇 https://t.co/dRjJiaRdOa
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) September 10, 2025
“For the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City who, for nearly two years, have been enduring relentless bombardment while starved and crammed in makeshift camps or taking refuge in extremely overcrowded buildings, this is a devastating and inhuman repeat of the mass displacement order issued for all of North Gaza on 13 October 2023,” Heba Morayef, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said in a statement on Thursday.
Amnesty has “repeatedly and unequivocally stated that forcibly displacing Palestinians within the Gaza Strip or deporting them violates international humanitarian law and constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the statement said.
‘Horrifying Testimonies’
The international organization has collected what it called “horrifying testimonies” from residents and healthcare workers after Israel’s order was issued.
Some residents, it said, had already been trying to flee southwards since Israel began striking high-rise buildings last Friday but were unable to do so because they cannot afford transportation costs or because the small area designated by Israel for evacuation is not fit for human habitation.
More than 200,000 Palestinians displaced from Gaza City amid escalating Israeli air strikes and humanitarian crises in besieged areas — in pictures https://t.co/uH1p22Ln61 pic.twitter.com/PMcmVIBHs8
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) September 11, 2025
A healthcare worker treating children with malnutrition told Amnesty: “I don’t want to leave my patients, the little children whose bodies are too frail to deal with yet another displacement, but I don’t know what to do.”
“It’s like having to choose between two deaths: death by bombardment or the slow death of displacement, not knowing where to go,” the worker added.
‘No Wheelchair, No Transportation’
At a makeshift camp for internally displaced people in Tal al-Hawa, in southern Gaza City, an older woman with disabilities told Amnesty: “We were displaced from Sheikh Radwan three weeks ago; my son had to carry me on his shoulders because I have no wheelchair and no transportation could reach our area. Now, we are ordered to evacuate again. Where do we go?”
#Gaza: In a region gripped by famine, displacement leaves families more vulnerable.
Many are too weak, sick, or starving to move at all.
Each evacuation order brings an impossible choice: the risk of fleeing or the risk of staying.
The fighting must stop. A ceasefire is long… pic.twitter.com/fFLIbTOfNP
— World Food Programme (@WFP) September 11, 2025
The woman said that to secure transportation to the south, “you have to pay close to 4,000 shekels [1,000 Euros], and to buy a tent, you have to pay at least 3,000 shekels [800 Euros], and we don’t know if we’ll find any land to pitch our tent on.”
She added that they had already spent all their savings to survive, looking for food and basics.
“Every day is like the war is starting all over again, only far worse, but we are totally depleted, we have no will or strength to carry on,” the woman stressed.
‘Tired of Reliving Ordeal’
A grandmother caring for her injured eight-year-old granddaughter, whose parents were killed in an air strike last May, said: “She’s all that I have left, and I have tried everything I can to protect her.”
She added, “We have been displaced twice just in the last week. We don’t have the means to go to the south, and we are tired of being forced to relive this ordeal all over again.”
Israel orders a mass evacuation of Gaza City, forcing over a million residents to flee once more pic.twitter.com/g08J85W1n7
— TRT World (@trtworld) September 11, 2025
Amnesty emphasized that Israel’s latest displacement order, combined with the expansion of military operations in Gaza, “is yet another illustration of Israel deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of an already devastated population.”
“That Israel has failed to heed the warnings of humanitarian and human rights groups about the catastrophic implications of this operation, along with its continuous defiance of the orders of the International Court of Justice to ensure that Palestinians in Gaza receive adequate aid and protection is an undeniable indication of its intent to continue its genocide unabated,” the organization said.
‘Facing Complete Obliteration’
Morayef emphasized that Gaza City, which has an ancient heritage that dates back millennia and has already suffered devastating destruction and damage, “is now facing complete obliteration.”
“It is evident that Israel is determined in pursuing its goal to physically destroy Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It is unconscionable that states with leverage over Israel continue to provide it with arms and diplomatic support to destroy Palestinian lives,” she added.
‘We Will Not Be Silent’: Hearing Stilled Voices of the Gaza Genocide
Furthermore, Morayef stressed that companies and investors “continue to profit from Israel’s genocide.”
“States and companies that continue to arm Israel risk complicity in genocide,” she warned, urging all those with influence over Israel to press for an immediate end to Israel’s genocidal campaign and full humanitarian access to Gaza’s civilians.
WHO to Remain in Gaza City
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it is “appalled” by Israel’s latest evacuation order demanding one million people move from Gaza City to a so-called “humanitarian zone” in the south.
“The zone has neither the size nor scale of services to support those already there, let alone new arrivals. This includes health care,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed.
He pointed out that almost half of all functional hospitals are in Gaza City, adding that “This includes 36% of all hospital beds and 50% ICU beds across the Strip.”
.@WHO is appalled by the latest evacuation order, demanding that one million people move from Gaza City to a so-called “humanitarian zone” in the south designated by Israel.
To civilians in Gaza: WHO and partners remain in Gaza City.
To the international community: Act.
This… pic.twitter.com/TkDtu8sHol
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) September 10, 2025
“The crippled health system cannot afford to lose any of these remaining facilities,” Ghebreyesus emphasized.
He said hospitals in Gaza City “are under immense pressure” and have once more turned into a “massive trauma ward, overwhelmed by the influx of wounded people and shortages of beds and critical supplies.”
In a message to the civilians in Gaza, he said: “WHO partners remain in Gaza City.”
The WHO chief urged swift international action, calling for an immediate ceasefire and protection for medical staff, humanitarian workers, and civilians.
Close to 65,000 Killed
Starting on October 7, 2023, the Israeli military, with American support, launched a genocidal war against the people of Gaza. This campaign has so far resulted in the deaths of more than 64,700 Palestinians, with more than 163,000 wounded.
Children Among Dead as Israeli Forces Intensify Attacks on Gaza City
The vast majority of the population has been displaced, and the destruction of infrastructure is unprecedented since World War II. Thousands of people are still missing.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
