'Gaza is being strangled': why Israel's evacuation order violates international law

During the second world war, for instance, thousands of children across Europe were sent to rural areas or abroad under evacuation schemes initiated by governments and child welfare agencies.

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The ConversationThe Conversation
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https://theconversation.com/gaza-is-being-strangled-why-israels-evacuation-order-violates-international-law-215787https://theconversation.com/gaza-is-being-strangled-why-israels-evacuation-order-violates-international-law-215787
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Tuesday, October 17, 2023
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Tags: 
People, Food, Parent, Health, International law, Hospital, Hamas, Family, Clothing, World, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, Risk, Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Safety, Survival, State, Population, World Health Organization, Starvation, Disability, Friends, Hygiene, Refugee, International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone, World war, International Committee of the Red Cross, Child, UN, Patient, International, Water, Transport, Tunnel, Residential care, Nursing, Telescopic sight
Geotags: 
GAZA, EGYPT, US, ISRAEL, EUROPE
Summary
Key Points: 
  • During the second world war, for instance, thousands of children across Europe were sent to rural areas or abroad under evacuation schemes initiated by governments and child welfare agencies.
  • We are witnessing an urgent, chaotic evacuation ordered by a belligerent party to the conflict, which is fast becoming a humanitarian catastrophe.
  • Israel has told 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to move to the south ahead of an impending ground invasion.
  • He said if we are dying anyway, let’s be at home in Gaza.

Evacuating civilians under international law

    • Evacuations in armed conflict are strictly governed by international humanitarian law, which seeks to balance military and humanitarian needs.
    • International law requires it to allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need.
    • As an occupying power under international humanitarian law, Israel may order an evacuation for imperative military reasons, or for the safety of civilians, but civilians must still be protected.
    • Specifically, Israel must ensure displaced civilians have adequate shelter, hygiene, health, safety and nutrition, and that family members are not separated.

‘Extremely dangerous’

    • Gaza is being strangled and it seems that the world right now has lost its humanity.
    • Gaza is being strangled and it seems that the world right now has lost its humanity.
    • The International Committee of the Red Cross, the custodian of the law of war, rarely publicly rebukes governments.

Treating Gazans as refugees

    • Gazans are also unable to reach safety in other countries.
    • Read more:
      How the 'laws of war' apply to the conflict between Israel and Hamas

      Gazans are normally protected as refugees by the UN relief agency for Palestinians, under a bespoke legal regime.

    • However, the relief agency’s present inability to provide protection and assistance means Palestinian refugees who do reach another country should be automatically protected as refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention, without the need for further status determination.
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