[PDF version available here]

This legal briefing outlines how the trajectory and coercive conduct of Israel’s massive military response in Gaza since 7 October, approved at the highest levels of its leadership, are converging towards the mass deportation of the civilian population of Gaza in the absence of a ceasefire. If mass deportation transpires, it would constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law and also appear to be a crime against humanity.

Mass deportation of Gaza’s population would violate international humanitarian and criminal law

Under international humanitarian and criminal law, deportation refers to displacement across an international border, and forcible transfer refers to displacement within national borders.

On Friday 13 October, the Israeli military ordered about 1.1 million civilians in northern Gaza to flee southwards within 24 hours, ahead of planned ground military operations. The ensuing manifest lack of safety for civilians who fled, the coercive acts employed to displace them, and the sheer numbers of those displaced, means that LPHR has categorically assessed the order to amount to mass forcible transfer in violation of international humanitarian and criminal law.

On Wednesday 15 November, the Israeli military ordered residents in four areas of eastern Khan Younis, the biggest city in southern Gaza, to flee. This was reportedly followed by heavy tank shelling. We similarly assess this order to constitute an unlawful mass forcible transfer.

These two orders form a sequence of coerced mass internal displacement that appears – with southern Gaza soon to be the key focus for Israel’s invasion – to be leading inexorably towards the mass deportation of civilians from Gaza to Egypt. Mass deportation is being advocated for by ministers and cross-party parliamentarians in Israel, falsely describing it as a ‘voluntary relocation‘.

International humanitarian law prohibits deportation of the civilian population in both international and non-international armed conflicts. Deportation is considered a war crime in both international and non-international armed conflicts. Furthermore, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction for the crime against humanity of deportation or forcible transfer. The ICC has clarified that the crime against humanity of deportation or forcible transfer comprises five elements:

1. The perpetrator deported or forcibly transferred, without grounds permitted under international law, persons to another State or location, by expulsion or other coercive acts.
2. Such persons were lawfully present in the area from which they were displaced.
3. The perpetrator was aware of the factual circumstances that established the lawfulness of such presence.
4. The conduct was committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population.
5. The perpetrator knew that the conduct was part of or intended the conduct to be part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population.

The first element makes clear that if mass deportation does occur, a material issue to determine will be whether or not there were coercive acts by Israel’s military forces to compel Palestinians in Gaza – where they are lawfully present – to be externally displaced. A preliminary assessment of Israel’s conduct of hostilities to this date would reveal a horrendous scope of plainly coercive acts:

• Unlawful mass killings of civilians in Gaza on a rapid and large-scale. Over 14,500 fatalities are reported to be killed, including about 6,000 children and 4,000 women, since 7 October. 1,384 families have had multiple members killed. There has been no revision in Israel’s military targeting policy despite overwhelming evidence that targeted attacks against presumptive civilian objects, including homes, shelters and hospitals, are disproportionate.

• Intentional infliction of acts causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health. Hospitals in Gaza have reported large number of patients – including women, children and the elderly – with catastrophic injuries. The psychological trauma caused by the conduct of Israel’s military is certain to be severe for the civilian population.

• The near-total siege on Gaza. This clearly violates the prohibition of starvation under international humanitarian law (IHL) and is a coercive act against the civilian population.

• The deliberate, organised, targeted, and widespread destruction of homes and other civilian property by air, land and sea. This clearly appears to violate the key IHL principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack, and is a coercive act against the civilian population. It is rendering populated areas of Gaza to be unliveable.

The existence of these coercive acts is compelling evidence to support the assertion that an externally displaced Palestinian could not be said to have exercised a genuine choice to leave Gaza. Rather, a fleeing of Palestinian civilians out of Gaza would be the result of a multitude of clearly coercive acts by Israel’s military forces, approved at the highest levels of Israel’s leadership.

In terms of substantiating the fourth and fifth elements of the crime against humanity of deportation, it clearly appears that if external displacement of Palestinians from Gaza does occur, it would have been committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against a civilian population. The above outline of the key components of Israel’s massive and organised military response in Gaza since 7 October, horrifically impacting the entire Palestinian civilian population, provide a cogent basis to confidently make this preliminary summary assessment.

While international law permits displacement in limited circumstances where it is necessary for the “security of the population” or “imperative military reasons”, the range and scale of coercive acts by Israel’s military against Gaza’s civilian population strongly indicates that a prospective mass deportation of Palestinian civilians could not be credibly justified on these specific narrow grounds.

Conclusion

LPHR submits that if the foreseeable mass deportation of Gaza’s civilian population does transpire, it would be a serious violation of international humanitarian law and appear to fit the legal criteria to constitute the crime against humanity of deportation. Crimes against humanity are among the gravest crimes under international law and demands legal accountability for its perpetrators.

All necessary diplomatic efforts must be exercised to ensure this gross violation of international humanitarian and criminal law does not materialise. This means effecting an immediate ceasefire. Otherwise, the trajectory of these hostilities is threateningly set towards an enduring catastrophe: the indefinite displacement en masse of Gaza’s civilian population outside of Palestinian territory.

Tareq Shrourou

[PDF version available here]

Ahead of Monday’s Global Food Security Summit in London, 12 charities call on the British Prime Minister to demand an immediate ceasefire, an end to Israel’s ongoing siege, and the urgent entry of food, fuel, water and other vital aid. Read their open letter below:

Dear Prime Minister

Monday’s Global Food Security Summit in London is an important step in galvanising international action to address the shocking rise in global hunger and malnutrition caused by covid, conflict, and climate change. We welcome your decision to open the meeting, which shows the UK intends to reclaim its leadership in this area.

As you know, beating world hunger is not just about resources, it’s about political choices: choices about how the world nurtures and sustains the environment and our food systems; choices about how governments shape their societies so the vulnerable are protected; choices about how countries, and their militaries, conduct themselves when civilians are caught up in armed conflict.

More than two million people in Gaza are going hungry, including one million children. With barely a tenth of necessary food supplies able to enter since the conflict began, the UN is now warning of widespread hunger and even starvation.

Private diplomacy by Israel’s allies has failed to end its month-long siege of food, fuel, water and other aid. Civilians are suffering as a result, but so too is the UK’s reputation as custodian of UN Security Council Resolution 2417, which forbids the use of starvation as a weapon of war.

The world has everything it needs to start saving lives in Gaza today, but unless Israel agrees to an immediate ceasefire and to allow food, fuel and other aid to enter, we will all be relegated to powerless bystanders, forced to watch from the sidelines as scores of civilians die from starvation at the hands of a UK ally.

We urge you to use your opening remarks on Monday to call for an immediate ceasefire, condemn Israel’s ongoing siege and insist that food, fuel, water and other aid vital for survival is allowed into Gaza with immediate effect.

You must choose to act.

Signed:

Jean-Michel Grand, Executive Director of Action Against Hunger UK

Chris Doyle, Director of Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu)

Christine Allen , Director of CAFOD

Patrick Watt, CEO of Christian Aid

George Graham, Chief Executive of Humanity & Inclusion

Waseem Ahmad, CEO of Islamic Relief

Tareq Shrourou, Director of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights

Melanie Ward, CEO of Medical Aid for Palestinians

Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Chief Executive of Oxfam GB

Rose Caldwell, CEO of Plan International UK

Rob Williams, CEO of War Child UK

Caroline Qutteneh, Director of Welfare Association

The catastrophic attacks yesterday on the Tal Al Zaata and Al Fakhouri schools in Gaza, killing scores of internally displaced Palestinian civilians, are an unbearable outrage and extremely serious war crimes.

Attacks against sheltering families are a horrific inevitability when hostilities are being systemically conducted outside the very strict civilian protection boundaries provided by international humanitarian law.

We urge the UK Government and Labour Party to unequivocally condemn these grotesque school attacks and urgently revise their untenable position of refusing to support an immediate ceasefire when unremitting serious violations of international law are being committed.

This should be supported by demanding legal accountability and fully supporting the International Criminal Court to carry out an impartial assessment of the facts and clearly determine the perpetrators. Accountability for grave criminal wrongdoing is an absolute imperative.

[PDF version available here]

[PDF version available here]

Yesterday’s mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Jabalia refugee camp should overwhelmingly signal to the UK Government and Labour Party that they must now call for an immediate ceasefire.

UN OCHA states that an Israeli airstrike struck Jabalia refugee camp at 14:00, reportedly destroying an entire quarter with 30 residential buildings. At least 50 people are reported to have been killed, with further people being trapped under the rubble. MSF reports that young children arrived at the hospital with deep wounds and severe burns, without their families.

As constantly warned by LPHR, the Jabalia airstrike adds to the established fact pattern – assessed during this conflict and previous hostilities in Gaza – that Israel clearly appears not to be properly adhering to key IHL obligations of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack.

It is also abundantly established that Palestinian armed groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, act in manifest violation of IHL and international criminal law.

Systemic unlawful conduct by the parties to this conflict should be strongly challenged by the UK Government and Labour Party. Instead, by disavowing an immediate ceasefire and being unwilling to call out apparent serious violations of IHL committed by Israel, acute questions must regrettably be raised about their respect for the human rights of Palestinians in Gaza, including the right to life.

We urge the UK Government and Labour Party to urgently revise their position in light of the Jabalia mass killing, and clearly place the future preservation of civilian life as its highest objective.

This entails they publicly call for an immediate ceasefire; an end to the siege and unimpeded supply of humanitarian relief; the immediate release of all hostages; and to support the ICC to ensure legal accountability for perpetrators of violations of international criminal law.

[PDF version available here]

The catastrophic airstrike yesterday on the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza killing hundreds of Palestinian civilians is an outrage of unspeakable proportions and an extremely serious war crime.

It must be the tipping point for an immediate ceasefire and for Israel to end its persecutory policy of siege starvation against civilians in Gaza.

We urge the UK Government and Labour Party to unequivocally condemn the horrific hospital attack and to demand full legal accountability.

This should be supported by calling for investigators from the International Criminal Court to be granted access to Gaza to enable an impartial assessment of the facts and clearly determine the perpetrators.

An independent investigation and judicial process is vital to provide justice for the innocent victims, accountability for grave criminal wrongdoing, and deter mass atrocities which characterise this cruel conflict from being repeated.

[PDF version available here]

[PDF version available here]

As lawyers committed to the protection and advancement of Palestinian human rights, we call upon the international community to act decisively to immediately cease the catastrophic resumption of hostilities in Israel and Gaza. Previous large-scale hostilities between Israel’s military forces and Palestinian armed groups have caused massive loss to civilian life and destruction to civilian infrastructure, predominantly in Gaza. We have no confidence that the parties to this conflict will properly adhere to key international humanitarian law principles that govern the conduct of hostilities – distinguishing between civilian and military targets, proportionality, and precautions in attack – based on our assessment of previous escalations.

LPHR acutely deplores the acts of Palestinian armed groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to kill and abduct hundreds of Israelis, and to indiscriminately launch thousands of rockets into Israel. As of 10 October, it is reported that at least 900 Israelis have been killed and at least 2,600 injured since 7 October. More than 100 Israelis have been abducted and are being held captive in Gaza.

LPHR is also acutely appalled by Israel’s military response to deliberately target scores of civilian homes in Gaza. As of 11:00 on 10 October, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 770 Palestinians have been killed and 4,100 injured. It is clearly apparent that many of the casualties are civilians who have been killed whilst sheltering inside their homes.

Israel’s immediate military response demonstrates that it is again implementing its extremely controversial military policy of deliberately targeting family homes in Gaza. The execution of this policy was viewed by local human rights organisations as the emblematic feature of Israel’s military offensive on Gaza in 2014. The subsequent UN independent Commission of Inquiry quoted a witness who said: “This war was different from previous wars, especially for women. Civilians were attacked particularly in their homes. The home is the domain of the women”.

Over 66 per cent of children killed (370 out of 556) and over 82 per cent of women killed (241 out of 293) during the 51-day hostilities in 2014 were targeted inside their homes. LPHR is exceptionally concerned that these hostilities will see similar enormous numbers of women, children and the elderly being killed inside their homes.

Israel’s general legal justification for its deliberate military targeting of family homes in Gaza is that a home can be lawfully targeted on the basis of operating as a ‘command and control centre’. However, very significant questions have been raised by the UN independent Commission of Inquiry, and by LPHR, as to whether Israel’s authorisation of airstrikes against family homes are in compliance with international humanitarian law.

The massive scale and rapidity of civilian casualties, Palestinian and Israeli, only three days into this current escalation is extremely alarming. Israel’s announcement yesterday of the implementation of a ‘complete siege of Gaza’ is beyond conscionable. The deeply threatening statements by the parties to the conflict about what is likely to lie ahead over the coming days, weeks, and possibly months, indicate that civilians will continue to bear the brunt and immeasurably suffer.

LPHR accordingly urges the UK government and wider international community to emphasise in the strongest terms the importance of all parties adhering to international law, and to uphold its vital role in ensuring the parties do so.

[PDF version available here]

Recognising the need to protect humanitarian personnel on World Humanitarian Day, health and human rights organisations underline that Israel’s actions during its military assault on Jenin in July 2023 included clear violations of international humanitarian law (IHL), which requires protection for the sick and wounded and for medical teams. During the military assault, Jenin Government Hospital and staff were harmed, the windows of al Amal hospital were damaged by gunfire, and ambulances in Jenin were consistently delayed – all of which negatively impacted the health and well-being of patients. The undersigned health and human rights organisations call for an end to impunity and accountability for Israel’s violations of international law, which come during a particularly deadly year for Palestinians.

On 5 July 2023, the Israeli military fired tear gas canisters at the entrance of the Jenin Government Hospital, near the emergency room (ER). Dr. Muhammad al Abadi, an ER doctor, recalled that “it caused the staff to feel terrible and prevented us from functioning”. It also forced doctors to move around 25 patients from the ER to other departments further inside the hospital, to escape the impact of the tear gas. Live fire was also fired at the hospital walls, and a grenade landed in the hospital yard, lightly injuring three people and causing great distress to patients within. IHL prohibits attacks on medical facilities. While there are uncorroborated Israeli reports that shots were fired from inside the hospital, hospitals can only lose their protected status under IHL after a due warning had been given, naming a reasonable time limit, and only if that warning had remained unheeded. There appear no indications that Israel had done this. Moreover, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, al Amal hospital in Jenin sustained damage, with the widows of the hospital broken by gunfire.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that during the assault two ambulances heading to evacuate the wounded were stopped by Israeli military jeeps, who forced the ambulance drivers to hand over the keys for more than half an hour at a time. In at least one other instance, ambulance drivers reported that military jeeps deliberately bumped into them. As a result of ambulance delays, one woman was forced to deliver her baby at home. Even when ambulances were not stopped by Israeli forces, the damage done to the roads by military bulldozers impeded swift access to the wounded. As a consequence, in at least three cases, patients were forced to access Jenin Government Hospital by private vehicles. The local PRCS station was unable to deal with the vast numbers of the wounded, and requested assistance from nearby stations.

Twelve Palestinians, including five minors, were killed during the Israeli military assault on Jenin and at least 143 were wounded. Roughly 3,500 individuals were internally displaced. Israel’s air strike and ground operation, which, according to UN Special Rapporteurs, may constitute a war crime, comes during a deadly year for Palestinians, with pogroms in the West Bank, an Israeli military assault on Gaza and continued entrenchment of what Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organisations have concluded is a regime of apartheid.

The deliberate obstruction of ambulances attempting to assist the wounded and the attack on Jenin Government Hospital during Israel’s last military assault is counter to international law. World Humanitarian Day serves as a reminder of the ongoing need to protect humanitarian personnel and the individuals they assist. Israel continuously — both during times of escalations and as a matter of routine — hinders and harms the work of Palestinian medical personnel. These IHL and human rights violations are a consistent part of Israeli policy throughout the recent decades — whether in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and within Israel — and are not limited to the current government. To prevent further violations by the Israeli authorities, the international community must take clear and concrete steps to end impunity and ensure accountability and adherence by Israel to international law.

Signatories:

Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement
Hamoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual
Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights
MAP – Medical Aid for Palestinians
MEDACT
PAX
PCATI – The Public Committee against Torture in Israel
Physicians for Human Rights Israel

For further information, please contact