ICSPR Releases a Comprehensive Report Documenting Escalating Israeli Violations Entitled: Forced Displacement Toward the South: Evacuation Orders and Systematic Extermination Targeting “Safe Humanitarian Zones
Date: 2 December 2025
Press Release
ICSPR Releases a Comprehensive Report Documenting Escalating Israeli Violations Entitled:
Forced Displacement Toward the South: Evacuation Orders and Systematic Extermination Targeting “Safe Humanitarian Zones”
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) has issued an extensive and authoritative report documenting the escalating Israeli violations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since the beginning of the ongoing genocide. The report, titled “Forced Displacement Toward the South: Evacuation Orders and Systematic Extermination Targeting Safe Humanitarian Zones”, prepared by researcher Yasmin Qasim, offers an in-depth analysis of the practices accompanying forced evacuation orders used by the Israeli occupation as a central tool for displacement and reshaping the demographic landscape of the Gaza Strip—constituting a clear and explicit violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions. The report is released at a time when large-scale military operations continue to target civilians, infrastructure, and residential areas in a systematic manner, resulting in unprecedented humanitarian deterioration and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians under extremely harsh conditions.
The report affirms that the occupation, amid relentless attacks on civilian neighborhoods, camps, and public facilities, has used evacuation orders not as an exceptional measure intended to protect civilians—as stipulated in Article (49) of the Fourth Geneva Convention—but rather as a coercive tool to impose mass displacement and alter the demographic reality. Israel has exploited legal loopholes that allow evacuation in cases of “temporary security necessity” and transformed this narrowly defined exception into a long-term policy tied to military and geographic agendas that span the entire Gaza Strip. The report clarifies that the legal text permitting evacuation only under very specific and temporary circumstances has been manipulated by the occupation to justify large-scale forced displacement, despite international humanitarian law’s strict emphasis that the rule is an absolute prohibition on forced transfer, and that any evacuation must remain temporary, limited, and conducted with full guarantees for civilian safety and the right of return once danger subsides.
The report notes that the occupation applied two forms of evacuation. The first is partial evacuation, enforced through direct phone calls or by firing so-called “warning missiles” onto rooftops, coercing residents to flee their homes within seconds—an impossible task under constant bombardment—leading to the killing of many civilians during attempts to escape or while gathering near targeted buildings. The report shows that this form of evacuation, which Israel attempts to present as a “humanitarian measure,” is carried out without safe routes or alternative shelter and is used primarily to instill fear and create a false appearance of legality before carrying out the actual strikes. It further emphasizes that partial evacuation has effectively become a tool of psychological terror and political justification for killing, not a measure of protection, as none of the legal safeguards required under international humanitarian law are provided.
The second form, total evacuation, represents one of the gravest violations due to its scale and its targeting of entire districts in northern, central, and southern Gaza. The occupation issued consecutive orders to more than one million civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate toward the south under direct threat of bombardment, amid destroyed roads and the absence of any humanitarian corridors. ICSPR’s report documents numerous cases in which Israeli forces targeted evacuation convoys, resulting in hundreds of casualties, while the areas designated as “safe” were bombed shortly thereafter—disproving any claim of protection and confirming that the true objective was mass forced displacement and depopulation of the north. These actions constitute severe violations rising to the level of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. The report stresses that total evacuation was not a temporary measure linked to specific operations but expanded gradually across all governorates until the entire Gaza Strip became an open displacement zone with no safe place to go.
The report also addresses the concept of forced eviction as defined by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which describes it as the removal of individuals or communities from their homes without free consent, without providing safe alternatives or legal protection. This definition perfectly applies to Gaza, where residents have been compelled to leave under imminent threat of death, without access to legal remedies, compensation, or alternative housing. The report underscores that the absence of due process, lack of protection, and denial of return rights make Israeli evacuation orders a clear form of forced transfer—absolutely prohibited under the Geneva Conventions—and cannot be considered “warnings” or “military necessities” but rather tools for systematic displacement and restructuring of the geographic reality of Gaza.
The report provides detailed documentation of the methods used by the occupation to implement evacuation orders, describing them as part of an orchestrated psychological warfare strategy aimed at forcing civilians to flee. Israeli forces relied heavily on hundreds of air-dropped leaflets containing colored maps of areas designated for evacuation and threatening language such as “Leave immediately,” “Remaining puts your life at risk,” and “This area will be bombed soon.” These leaflets were often dropped over areas already besieged or largely destroyed, making compliance impossible. Many leaflets were immediately followed by direct bombardment, exposing their real purpose as tools of intimidation rather than protection. ICSPR also documented the use of leaflets to spread social fragmentation by publishing photos of “wanted individuals” and offering financial rewards for information, in an attempt to sow chaos and erode social cohesion—practices that violate Article (47) of the Hague Regulations and the Rome Statute, which criminalize unlawful seizure of property and coercive propaganda in conflict zones.
ICSPR stresses that all forms of evacuation—partial, total, or coercive—constitute a unified system aimed at depopulating Palestinian areas, dismantling the social fabric, and redrawing the demographic map of Gaza as part of a long-term plan rooted in force rather than lawful justification. The report documents overwhelming evidence and direct testimonies proving that evacuation orders were never intended as humanitarian measures but were integral to the broader strategy of genocide and forced displacement carried out against civilians.
In conclusion, ICSPR calls on the international community and the United Nations to take immediate and binding steps to halt these violations, ensure accountability for those responsible, provide urgent protection for civilians, guarantee the right of displaced families to return to their homes, and reject any imposed geographic reconfiguration by force. ICSPR further stresses the urgent need for safe corridors and humanitarian aid for a population enduring the gravest humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza’s history.
