Human Rights and Democracy Media Center- SHAMS, warns against the ramifications of incursion of Rafah Governorate, by the Israeli army where a massacre could be committed there against Palestinians. In addition to that, there is an Israeli plan to evacuate Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip. The Israeli political and military leadership is still discussing such a plan and the Israeli government is waiting for the appropriate opportunity to implement it. The Center added that the statements released by the Israeli leaders about the intention to invade Rafah Governorate indicate the tendency to kill the maximum possible number of Palestinians. There are currently more than 1.5 million Palestinians in Rafah Governorate as Palestinians from the North and Middle of the Gaza Strip have been displaced and pushed to the south (Rafah) since October 7, 2023. The Center added that the Israeli occupation is planning to impose control on the Philadelphia Corridor and the southern borders. Following controlling these parts, the Israeli occupation is expected to proceed with its plans, either to continue the genocide process or forcibly displace and evacuate Palestinians, through the so-called “Voluntary evacuation”, which is the policy applied by the Israeli occupation against Palestinians. There is alignment from some countries with the tendency of the occupation where they provide facilitations for Palestinians to immigrate outside the Gaza Strip. SHAMS Center stressed that the incursion of Rafah Governorate is still included within the agenda of the Israeli army awaiting the decision and instructions from the political leadership to implement it and push Palestinians toward the Sinai Peninsula under the shelling and ongoing attack.
The Center confirms that since the beginning of the aggression, the occupation planned to displace Palestinians from the north and middle of the Gaza Strip to the south. To achieve that, excessive power was applied and the civilians and civil objects were intentionally targeted. In addition to that, a restricted siege was imposed on Palestinians, and life essentials (food, water, electricity, fuel, and medicine) were not allowed to enter. Palestinians were forced to flee toward Rafah Governorate where it is clear that the hidden objective was to gather Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in Rafah and then evacuate them to Sinai.
SHAMS Center affirms the necessity to propose an international, Arabic, and Islamic stance regarding the Israeli aggression committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Such a strong stance would contribute to defeating the plan of the occupation to impose forcible displacement of Palestinians toward Sinai. The Center stresses the necessity to ensure that Palestinians will not be subject to a new Nakba, similar to the 1948 Nakba. The Center confirms that solving the Palestinian question should not be on account of the neighborhood Arab countries and their national security. Gaza Strip, as SHAMS Center affirms, is part of the Palestinian land and Palestinians have the right to live on their land and establish their independent state on their homeland, in accordance with the international legitimacy resolutions; and stresses that the occupation is an illegal phenomenon that should end.
The Center affirms that the forcible displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation army is a profound violation of international law. In particular, Israel is violating the Geneva Fourth Convention (dated 12/8/1949), which protects civilians under war and armed conflicts. The Convention states that civilians should be neutralized during wars and armed conflicts. Individual and mass displacing of Palestinians violate Article 49 of the Convention, which states: “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive”. The perpetrator of such acts should be subject to the appropriate litigation procedures. Forcible displacing civilians is among the reasons that pave the road in the face of genocide and ethnic cleansing crimes. It violates Rule 129 of the international human rights law rules, which stipulates: “Parties to an international armed conflict may not deport or forcibly transfer the civilian population of an occupied territory, in whole or in part, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand”. Forcible displacement breaks Article 7 of Rome Statute- 1998, which serves as the constitution of the International Criminal Court where this Article states: “For the purpose of this Statute, “crime against humanity” means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack Deportation or forcible transfer of population”. Article 8 of the Statute considers transferring and displacing persons as a war crime.
SHAMS Center demands the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League, the governments of the countries that signed the Geneva Conventions, the World Council of Churches, the Holy See in the Vatican, the Apostolic See in the Holy Land, governmental and non-governmental organizations and institutions, the necessity of pressuring the Israeli occupation government and forcing it to stop the crime of forced displacement it practices in the Gaza Strip, preventing it from displacing Palestinians to the Sinai Desert, and obliging it to comply with the provisions and principles of international law by neutralizing civilians from areas of conflict and military operations, providing protection for them, and not harming them