Palestinians with their belongings leave Gaza City as they flee from their homes following the Israeli army’s warning on October 13, 2023. Palestinians carried belongings through the rubble-strewn streets of Gaza City on October 13 in search of refuge as Israel’s army warned residents to flee immediately before an expected ground offensive. (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
Palestinian women and children flee their homes in Gaza City on October 11, 2023. (Photo: AFP / Mohammed Abed)
Judith Butler writes about violence and the condemnation of violence
Amir Rafat Mahmoud Mlaitat, 13, is the eighth Palestinian child shot and killed by Israeli forces and settlers since October 7, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine. (Photo: Courtesy of the Mlaitat family)
The Israeli army’s order to people in northern Gaza and Gaza city to “evacuate” to the south of the Gaza Strip, cannot be considered an effective warning and may amount to forced displacement of the civilian population, a violation of international humanitarian law, said Amnesty International.
Since Hamas’ fighters entered Israeli territory less than a week ago at least 1,200 people in Israel and 1,100 in Gaza have been killed, more than 100 have been taken hostage, thousands have been wounded, more than 2 million are cut off from food, fuel and clean water, millions more have suffered trauma. Hamas has wiped out whole families. Israel’s armed forces are reacting by wiping out whole families. While some questions await answers, these facts are not contested. They have polarized a discourse that was always harsh. Beyond unqualified affirmations of Israel’s right to defend itself, some politicians, commentators, and scholars now endorse indiscriminate harming of Palestinians as a response to Hamas’ terrorism. Other politicians, civil society organizations, and scholars cast this terrorism as justified resistance to Israel’s occupation. The logic of collective punishment characterizes not only the actions of Hamas and the Israeli government, but also many statements justifying them. Anything goes when you defend yourself against terrorists? Anything goes when you resist occupiers?
We, members of the undersigned human rights organizations in Israel, are shocked and horrified in these dreadful days.
The United Nations said late on Thursday evening in New York that it had received an evacuation order from the Israeli Defence Forces saying that everyone in northern Gaza should leave within the next 24 hours and go to the south.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) called the situation in the Gaza Strip “dire” and warned that crucial supplies were running dangerously low after Israel imposed a total blockade on the territory.
The deliberate targeting of civilians is a war crime
