Online Reporter
Herald Reporter
PALESTINE has rejected the Israeli plan to forcibly transfer the entire population of the Gaza Strip to a “humanitarian zone” built on the ruins of Rafah.
The plan was announced by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, who has been described as “racist and fascist”.
In a statement on Sunday, Palestinian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Dr Tamer Almassri said the plan “marks a dangerous escalation in the ongoing genocide”.
“This heinous plan reflects a deliberate effort to depopulate Gaza and impose a new demographic reality, advancing a colonial project aimed at erasing the Palestinian presence,” he said.
“The initial phase of this sinister plan seeks to gather hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians inside the Gaza Strip to a mass concentration camp under strict security control with severe restrictions on movement, including a ban on exiting, a situation worse than the Nazi camps.
“The Israeli plan is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the absolute prohibition on the forced transfer and mass detention of protected populations under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
“It falls within the scope of forced displacement, persecution, and apartheid, which are patterns of policies and practices that individually amount to crimes against humanity under international law.”
Ambassador Almassri reiterated that all states, both individually and collectively, must fulfil their legal responsibilities by taking “urgent action to stop the genocide in the Gaza Strip”.
“This includes implementing effective measures to protect Palestinian civilians; ensuring Israel’s compliance with international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice; holding Israel accountable for all crimes against Palestinians in the Strip; and providing redress to victims as per international law,” he said.
An Israelli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, said moving people to one crowded area would amount to a “concentration camp”.
On Sunday, Israeli forces continued to strike Gaza a day after killing 95 Palestinians across the Strip, including seven children waiting for water and 17 people at a busy market in Gaza City.
Eight United Nations agencies in Gaza said they may have to stop their operations in Gaza entirely “without adequate fuel”, at a time when malnutrition continues to kill children.
Since October 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 58 026 people and wounded 138 520, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
