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Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army, including around 41,870 recorded by the Gaza Ministry of Health, the majority being women and children. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel Must Prevent Genocidal Acts in Gaza. The Court’s jurisdiction on Article 36, paragraph 1, of the Statute of the Court and on Article IX of the Genocide Convention allow as provisional measures, pursuant to Article 41 of the Statute of the Court and Articles 73, 74 and 75 of the Rules of Court, the Court must take provisional measures in order to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention and to ensure Israel’s compliance with its obligations. In the midst of unrelenting carnage, the Gaza war has expanded its reach, ensnaring additional facets of the region. For twelve consecutive months, the beleaguered enclave has borne witness to scenes of unmitigated horror, as Israel’s campaign of war against civilians persists with unyielding ferocity. In the past year in the Gaza Strip, Israel has bombed more than 90,000 targets on civilians, as a result, Israel died on soldiers numbered 5679 with Injured troops of Israel numbered 14,576. The precipice towards which events in the Middle East are hurtling with alarming velocity inspires a sense of terror. The initial year of conflict in Gaza has wrought the forced displacement of a staggering 95% of the populace. The singular nature of this displacement is trifurcated: the objective of the war is expulsion; the purpose of this expulsion is expansion into the territory; and the expulsion is intended to be permanent, precluding any possibility of return. These three aspects have constituted a constant in the history of the Palestinian people since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The calamitous failure of international law, both in the humanitarian sphere and regarding asylum, is exemplified by Gaza. The relentless pace of expanding war, destruction, and death is both mind-bending and soul-crushing for anyone with a connection to the region or who cares about the well-being of its people. Meanwhile, a wider war that has increasingly ensnared Iran and Israel in direct war threatens to engulf the remainder of the Middle East. Targeting Hezbollah and Lebanon could precipitate a wider and more perilous war, as Hamas and Hezbollah vow to continue their fight. Amidst this maelstrom, the fact that Israel has waged total war against the entirety of the Gaza Strip and its population for one year now risks being overshadowed. On October 1, Israel initiated a ground offensive in southern Lebanon, a move redolent of a similar 1982 invasion of the country’s south by Israeli forces, which led to an 18-year occupation and a month-long war fought against Hezbollah in 2006. Less than 24 hours later, Iran launched a massive ballistic missile attack on Israel.
The Palestinian have the right to rebuild their lives in a safe place and with dignity. Anything else, that is to say continuing to prioritise interests over rights, is unacceptable, essentially because renouncing our common humanity can only be synonymous with barbarism.
The protracted war in Gaza has resulted in a substantial humanitarian crisis, with a reported 41,870 Palestinian fatalities in the past year, including approximately 16,000 children. In March, the United Nations reported that Israel had caused more child casualties in Gaza in recent months than in the preceding four years of global conflicts combined. Despite international condemnation for its actions, Israel has expanded its military operations, targeting Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. Furthermore, around 100,000 individuals have been wounded, and over 10,000 are presumed dead beneath the rubble, according to health authorities in the enclave. The war has led to the forced displacement of approximately 1.9 million people, accounting for 90% of the population, with many experiencing multiple displacements. Additionally, nearly half a million individuals face catastrophic food insecurity, exacerbating the crisis. Israel’s invasion of Rafah on May 6, 2023, despite international opposition, has resulted in the prolonged bombardment of the southern Gaza city, which previously served as a refuge for approximately 1.4 million Palestinians fleeing Israeli airstrikes. Israeli warplanes targeted displaced people’s tents and a water distillation unit in an area that a Gaza civil defence spokesperson said Israel had designated a “safe zone”. The healthcare system in Gaza has been severely impacted, with most hospitals no longer operational. The attack was one of many massacres Israel committed in Gaza in the last year. Others were: Killing more than 100 people at the al-Tabin School in Gaza City on August 10; Killing 274 Palestinians at the Nuseirat refugee camp on June 8; Killing 45 people on May 27 in a refugee camp in the al-Mawasi area of Rafah, an attack known as the “Tent Massacre”; Killing 400 people in its March 18 to April 1 siege on al-Shifa Medical Complex; and Killing 118 people standing in line waiting for humanitarian aid at Gaza City’s Nabulsi Roundabout on February 29 in the “Flour Massacre”. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an order for Israel to immediately halt its military assault on Rafah in May 2023, but this directive was not complied with, resulting in the deaths of at least 90 Palestinians and injuries to hundreds in attacks on al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis. The extent of the devastation has prompted warnings from the UN and other monitoring groups, emphasizing that Israel’s actions are rendering Gaza uninhabitable. Recent data from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, and Palestinian officials in Gaza indicate that the attacks have resulted in the destruction or damage of over half of Gaza’s homes, 80% of its commercial facilities, and 85% of the territory’s schools. The scarcity of food, drinking water, and temporary shelter materials has led to a reliance on international relief organizations for support. The humanitarian situation is further compounded by the fact that people in Gaza are limited to one meal every other day, with an estimated 50,000 children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years requiring urgent treatment for malnutrition. The United Nations reports that approximately 1 million Lebanese have fled their homes amid the Israeli airstrikes, while Israeli authorities indicate that around 63,000 Israelis remain displaced from the border area with Lebanon due to Hezbollah rocket fire. The Lancet has reported that deaths related to the conflict, including those due to malnutrition or lack of medical attention, are estimated to have reached 186,000 in June 2024. These figures suggest that 85% of Gaza’s population have been forced to flee their homes, with 8% of the population, primarily women and children, believed to have perished during the offensive. The military campaign in Gaza has resulted in a higher daily death rate than any other 21st-century armed war, prompting the International Court of Justice to conclude that genocide charges against Israel cannot be dismissed. Approximately 900,000 individuals require tents and bedding, according to estimates. The United Nations reports that the war has resulted in the destruction or damage of over 92 per cent of Gaza’s primary roads and more than 84 per cent of its healthcare facilities. Furthermore, nearly 70 per cent of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure, including all five wastewater treatment facilities, desalination plants, sewage pumping stations, wells, and reservoirs, have been destroyed or damaged. The war has left behind approximately 40 million tons of debris and rubble in Gaza. The clearance of this debris is expected to take up to 15 years and nearly $650 million. The World Bank estimated that the damage incurred in Gaza during the first three months of the war amounted to $18.5 billion, a figure comparable to the combined economic output of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022. The Shelter Cluster now estimates that rebuilding all of Gaza’s destroyed homes would take approximately 40 years under the current system. The paramount question remains as to when and how the war will conclude, and what the aftermath will entail. The war has since escalated into a comprehensive genocide of the Palestinian population in Gaza, the actual number is presumed to be significantly higher. Thousands of individuals remain buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings or are unaccounted for, and numerous others are likely to succumb to the ongoing bombing and the dire conditions created by Israel’s military campaign. Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah publicly declared its support for the Gaza population and announced its entry into the conflict, stating that its involvement would cease upon the declaration of a ceasefire. This resulted in the displacement of tens of thousands of individuals on both sides of the border, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the region. In a related development, the Houthis, allies of Hamas who control parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, initiated their first attack on the Red Sea on November 19, 2023. They have since launched approximately 130 attacks on vessels allegedly linked to Israel in a critical trade route. In response to these attacks, United States and British warplanes commenced bombing Yemen on January 12, 2024, resulting in the deaths of five fighters. However, these attacks failed to halt the Houthis’ military activities against vessels in the Red Sea. The Houthis’ vow that their attacks are in support of the people of Gaza has garnered significance in Yemen, leading to the recruitment and training of approximately 200,000 new fighters since October 2023. The conflict expanded to Lebanon on September 17, 2024, when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkie radios exploded, marking a significant escalation of the war. On September 23, 2023, Israel launched a direct attack on Lebanon, targeting the southern region, the Bekaa Valley in the east, and the southern suburb of Dahiyeh in Beirut, resulting in at least 550 casualties. Subsequently, on September 27, 2023, Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, was assassinated in a substantial attack on Dahiyeh that demolished several apartment buildings. The attack involved approximately 80 bombs, claiming the lives of at least six individuals and injuring 90 others. Following Nasrallah’s assassination, Israel promptly issued directives for the evacuation of extensive areas in Dahiyeh. According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, the conflict has resulted in over 2,000 fatalities in Lebanon since its inception. Notably, Israel’s military operations in Gaza have claimed the lives of a greater number of women and children than in any other conflict in the past two decades.
The expulsion-expansion pairing has been a constant in the history of the Palestinian people since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Then, the Nakba led to the death of 15,000 people and the forced displacement of 800,000. In 1967, with the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, a further 300,000 Palestinians were forced to flee their homes. The expulsions have not stopped since. In the West Bank, they have been achieved through land seizures, the demolition of homes, the expansion of illegal settlements, and as a result of severe restrictions on movement within the territory. October 7th has only accelerated these processes, with a surge in attacks and murders perpetrated by settlers and punitive incursions on the part of the Israeli army. The history of the Palestinian people since 1948 shows that more expulsions of Palestinians spell further Israeli expansion. Given the circumstances, one might ask what the role of the United Nations has been as a guarantor of the observance of international law and the protection of civilians. The convention on Refugees Article 33, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Articles 6 and 7 and the Convention Against Torture Article 3 all oblige states not to turn people away at their borders if returning them could pose a risk to their lives. Given the circumstances of the extreme emergency in Gaza, there is no doubt that rejection at the border with Egypt could well present such a case. If so, Egypt, as a signatory to the refugee convention, and by extension UNHCR, would be responsible. Yet neither Egypt nor UNHCR, which has barely commented on the issue of Palestinian refugees in Gaza, appears willing to acknowledge that responsibility. As they are expelled by Israel and shunned by neighbouring states, the Palestinian refugee issue has become a key element of international relations. It is what we might define as the geopoliticisation of migration. We must return to international law and reconcile what is politically possible with what is acceptable and fair, or in other words, political equilibriums with legal principles. Like any forcibly displaced person, the Palestinian people have the right to rebuild their lives in a safe place and with dignity. Anything else, that is to say continuing to prioritise interests over rights, is unacceptable, essentially because renouncing our common humanity can only be synonymous with barbarism.