Israeli orders for civilians to leave northern Gaza may violate international law: Amnesty

The recent order by the Israeli military ordering civilians to immediately evacuate northern Gaza may be in violation of international law, Amnesty International reported.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) dropped leaflets on northern Gaza on Saturday telling civilians to immediately evacuate the area. The note warned residents that their lives were at risk and that anyone who chooses to stay in the area would be determined an
accomplice in a terrorist organization,” the organization said.  

The Israeli military’s request comes one week after they issued an order warning 1.1 million residents in the area to evacuate and move southward. The World Health Organization condemned the evacuation, calling it a “death sentence” for the sick and injured.  

According Rovera Donatella, Amnesty International’s senior crisis response adviser, the order might violate international law.

“Declaring a whole city or region a military target flies in the face of international humanitarian law, which stipulates that those carrying out attacks must distinguish at all times between civilians or civilian objects and military objectives, and that they must take all possible measures to spare civilians and civilian object,” Rovera said.

Targeting civilians and carrying out random attacks that kill or injure civilians is a war crime, she dded.

Dropping a message to evacuate in leaflets is not considered an effective warning and provides “further evidence that Israel aims to forcibly displace” civilians in Gaza, Rovera said.

The IDF finding civilians who stay in their homes to be equivalent to being an accomplice to a terrorist organization may amount to a war crime, Amnesty’s statement said.

Amnesty said it is reiterating its call on Israeli authorities to rescind its forced evacuation orders and “put an end to threats designed to sow fear and panic among Gaza’s civilian population.”

The call from the group comes one day after United Nations chief Antonio Guterres urged Israel and Hamas militants to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, citing international law violations, Al Jazeera reported.

In remarks to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, Guterres defended the civilians in Gaza, saying evacuation orders in the region “where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel,” are not “protecting civilians.”