Israeli Human Rights Organization: Israel is Carrying Out Genocide in Gaza and Deliberate Starvation

The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem published a detailed report on Israeli crimes in the Gaza Strip, particularly the forced displacement of the sector's residents during the war period, confirming that the Israeli regime has been carrying out ongoing genocide in the sector since October 2023.

The organization's report first addresses the numbers of victims, martyrs, and injured during the war, relying on reports from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, which estimated the number of deaths resulting from the direct attack at around 68,519 people, the vast majority of whom were civilians who did not participate in the fighting, while estimating the number of injured at around 170,382 people.

However, the organization noted that a series of studies published over the months of the attack indicate that these figures represent an underestimate of the number of deaths, and that there is reasonable cause to believe that the number of victims claimed by Israeli attacks is much higher.

The organization discusses in its report -among other things- the main "waves of displacement" in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, noting that dividing what happened into "waves" is a simplification of the routine of displacement and the dynamic and continuous pushing of residents to flee their areas, which dictated the life path of Gaza Strip residents without interruption since October 2023.

It stated that between October 2023 and October 2025, the Israeli army issued at least 161 evacuation orders to the sector's residents, many of which ordered the evacuation of dozens of areas at the same time.

The organization mentioned in its report that the Israeli army issued on October 13, 2023 (that is, only 6 days after the outbreak of the war) the first collective evacuation orders for Gaza Strip residents, which ordered about 1.1 million people from the northern sector to leave their homes and head south within 24 hours.

It said that hundreds of thousands of people -who were exposed to intense bombing at the time- were forced to make a hasty decision about where to flee, without knowing if they would be able to return to their homes and when. As a result, many began fleeing to the central and southern sectors with little equipment that they could carry on their bodies.

The second wave came in December 2023, that is, about two months after the start of the war, coinciding with the start of the attack on the Khan Yunis city area in the south of the sector, where the Israeli army ordered about half a million people who were in Khan Yunis and the central sector, half of whom were approximately displaced people who had arrived in those areas from the north during the previous two months, to evacuate an area of 80.8 square kilometers, which is about 22% of the sector's area. Most of them reached the Rafah city area.

On May 6, 2024, the army issued new evacuation orders asking those in Rafah city to move to what it described as the "new and expanded humanitarian zone" in the Moasi area, which shrank from December 2023 to May 2024 from about 22% to about 17% of the sector's area, according to the report.

October 2024 witnessed another wave of displacement, following the launch of what was known as the Generals' Plan, which sought to attempt to displace the remaining civilians in northern Gaza through starvation and siege.

During that time, residents of Gaza City and the towns of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, and Jabalia were asked to head south to the "humanitarian zone" in the Moasi area.

The organization mentioned that Israel's practices in the northern sector, including the policy of starvation, widespread destruction, and displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents from their homes, were considered by many experts -including the UN Secretary-General- as an attempt to implement ethnic cleansing.

Between January and March 2025, about half a million displaced people returned to the north, after the ceasefire signed at the beginning of 2025, and many spoke of the immense destruction and devastation they saw with their own eyes in the places where their homes, neighborhoods, and cities once stood.

The organization said that since the violation of the ceasefire on March 18, 2025, until September 2025, Israel completely stopped designating "humanitarian zones" in the evacuation orders it distributed to the sector's residents, but at the same time continued to displace people from their homes in various areas, whether in the northern sector or in the south.

By the end of August and the beginning of September 2025, Israel launched a large-scale attack on Gaza City, and for the first time since March 2025, designated a new "humanitarian zone" around Khan Yunis, extending over about 11% of the sector's area.

The organization extensively discussed the harsh conditions prevailing in the displaced camps, including severe overcrowding, acute shortages of food and clean water, and basic services, in addition to the spread of epidemics, lack of care for the injured and disabled, and the prevention of entry of basic necessities such as crutches and sanitary pads.

It also discussed the ongoing effects of displacement, including severe effects on the mental health of Gaza Strip residents.

It pointed to a study on the displaced in the sector, conducted in October 2024, which found that between 70% and 90% of participants met the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The study also showed that 63% of them had serious indicators of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder at the same time.

Researchers believed that unlike previous conflicts, where displaced people were able to find alternative shelter at some point, displaced people in the sector this time remained trapped inside a raging war zone for several months, without the possibility of resettling or ensuring basic security for themselves or starting the recovery process, according to the report.

In addition to the successive waves of collective displacement, the organization said in its report that famine in Gaza is not a secondary result of the war, but the expected result of Israel's deliberate and declared starvation policy, after it systematically destroyed and disrupted most of the food production and distribution systems that existed in the sector.

It said that while systematically preventing the entry of food into the sector, an American entity called the "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" (GHF) began operating 4 "relief centers" in the sector at the end of May 2025, and these centers, which were established with encouragement and support from Israel, aimed -according to the report- among other things, to force the sector's residents to gather in the crowded areas designated by Israel as humanitarian zones.

It mentioned that from the first days of its activity, a UN representative described these complexes as "death traps," where crowds of starving and exhausted people are forced to stand in severe congestion and compete among themselves for the few aid packages, under the fire of Israeli forces present in the area, which were ostensibly securing the distribution of food.

It added that almost every day the centers were operated, dozens of people were killed by gunfire in their vicinity, most of them from displaced camp residents who arrived there in an attempt to obtain a little food for themselves and their families.

At the end of the report, the organization confirmed that in light of the seriousness of the crimes for which the Israeli leadership bears responsibility, it is the duty of the international community to act immediately and decisively to ensure that Israeli decision-makers are brought to justice and held accountable for their actions.

It also confirmed that -in addition to that- the international community must ensure the entry of the required humanitarian aid in the immediate term, then begin the process of rebuilding the Gaza Strip, which is expected to last for decades, without delay and in an effective manner, overcoming the difficulties and obstacles placed by Israel, and which it is expected to continue placing in front of the reconstruction process as stated in the report.