Israel-Palestine war: First week ends with over 2,500 Palestinians, 1,400 Israelis killed

One of the world’s most respected humanitarian organisations has said Israel’s order to more than a million Palestinians in northern Gaza to move to the south within 24 hours “absent of any guarantees of safety or return” would amount to a war crime.

The Norwegian Refugee Council reiterated that the collective punishment of Gaza’s civilians by Israel was illegal under international law.

In a statement on Wednesday it said: “The loss of civilian lives caused by deliberate or indiscriminate use of force is a war crime for which the perpetrators will have to answer. 

“We fear that Israel may claim that Palestinians who could not flee northern Gaza can be erroneously held as directly participating in hostilities, and targeted.”

It further called on Israel’s allies in the West and the Middle East to rein in its actions.

“The United States, the UK, the European Union and other western and Arab nations who have influence over the Israeli political and military leadership must demand that the illegal and impossible order to relocate is immediately rescinded.” 

Middle East Eye’s Editor-in-Chief David Hearst has written about Israel’s wider ambitions beyond its current campaign in Gaza.

Hearst writes that the Israeli government might be trying to force an exodus of Palestinians from Gaza into neighbouring Egypt.

“On Friday, little doubt remained of Israel’s intentions.” Hearst says, continuing: “The Israeli Army told Palestinians of north Gaza to leave, saying they would not be allowed to return ‘until we say so’.
“The second Nakba has started.”

A second nakba, or catastrophe, would have an impact not just on Palestinians but on the countries forced to host a new refugee population.

It will also remove the element of calm that Israel currently enjoys on its borders with Egypt and Palestine, as these become new targets for the expelled population.

All that is besides others the regional consequences, as Israel’s regional enemies, including Hezbollah and Iran remain potent threats to the state.

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Read more: The second Nakba has started

MEE’s correspondent on the ground in Jerusalem says that there are heightened tensions in the Old City as Israeli forces have been deployed in large numbers ahead of Friday prayers at al-Aqsa. 

“All the gates of the Old City have been closed off, Israeli forces are stopping people from entering the holy site. There are a large number of Israeli forces deployed around the Old City and they are carrying out thorough checks on every single Palestinian’s IDs,” she says.

“Anyone under the age of 50 has been stopped from entering al-Aqsa, apart from those who live in the Old City,” she added. 

Reinforced barriers have been placed around the Old City, and the movement of Palestinians “depends on the mood of Israeli forces,” she says. 

Young people have been totally stopped from entering al-Aqsa.

Cement blocks have been put around the Old City, while Israeli forces are targeting Palestinians on horseback.  

Live footage shared on Al Jazeera Arabic shows Israeli forces firing tear gas at Palestinian worshippers heading towards al-Aqsa for Friday prayers. 

Thousands of Palestinians are chanting in support of Palestinians in Gaza, in the first Friday prayers held since the war started. 

Global shows of solidarity have been held for Palestinians in Gaza, including in Iran, Iraq and Jordan, with more expected to follow.
 

Jordan’s Royal Court has issued a statement saying that King Abdullah “warns against any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians from all Palestinian Territories or cause their internal displacement.”

He also called for the prevention of a “spillover of the crisis into neighbouring countries and the exacerbation of the refugee issue.” 
 

Dr Mai al-Kaila, the Palestinian minister of health, said that there is a “humanitarian and health catastrophe affecting the Gaza Strip” today, as electricity, food and water continue to be cut off in the besieged enclave. 

Six hospitals in the Gaza Strip have completely stopped operating. 

Residents have no access to showers, toilets, clean running water or food, as Israel continues its heavy bombardment of the Strip. 
 

Israeli army tanks and vehicles have been deployed along the border with Gaza, after Israel ordered the forced evacuation of Palestinians in northern Gaza.

Videos shared on social media platforms show UN vehicles leaving northern Gaza after Israel ordered residents to leave the area within 24 hours. 
 

In an interview with Sky News, British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps backed Israel’s order to residents of the northern half of Gaza to move to the south as it prepares for a ground invasion.

Sky News correspondent Mark Austin had asked whether such a move was feasible and acceptable.

Shapps said: “(Israel) has the perfect right to defend itself. It is doing that in a manner which is giving people warning in advance when they go after areas.”

Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets to voice their support for Palestinians in Gaza, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment and forced removals.

Similar rallies are under way in other cities across Iraq and Jordan, with more expected across the world, as Hamas called for a "day of rage" to show solidarity with Palestinians. 

The World Health Organization has said that Israel forcing severely ill people in Gaza, including those on life support, to move amounts to a “death sentence”.

Scotland’s Humza Yousaf has shared a video from his mother-in-law Elizabeth el-Nakla, who is currently trapped in Gaza with her husband Maged.

The pair, who are British nationals, have been told to leave the area, but like millions of others in Gaza, they have no way out of the territory.

“This will be my last video,” El-Nakla says. “Everybody from Gaza is moving towards where we are. One million people, no food or water. They’re bombing them as they leave, where are they going to put them?

“My thought is, all these people in the hospital cannot be evacuated. Where’s humanity? Where’s peoples’ hearts to let this happen in this day and age? May God help us. Goodbye.”

Israel has warned 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza to move to the south of the besieged territory as it prepares for a ground invasion.

The state has also said that those who leave will not be allowed to return until they say so.

Residents are describing it as a second ‘Nakba’, the series of forced expulsions from historic Palestine by Zionist militias, which allowed for the creation of Israel.

More than 700,000 Palestinians were sent into exile and they and their descendants have never been allowed back.

Many of those Palestinian families ended up in Gaza and the current order to leave will bring back historic memories of the ethnic cleansing of 1948.

Put simply, Palestinians fear that once they go, they will never be allowed back.

That’s why many are even concerned about humanitarian corridors into Egypt. In 1948, Palestinians fled into neighbouring Arab states.

Many refugees remain in those countries and in the vast majority of cases, live without citizenship and often in squalid refugee camps

Israel has continued to bomb Gaza after ordering residents in the north to leave.

While many have left, residents of Gaza say they will remain steadfast on their land and would rather die there than “experience a second Nakba.”
 

Palestinians have called for a ‘day of rage’ today and called on people around the world to take action and voice their support for Palestinians. 

A spokesperson for the interior ministry in Gaza said in a press conference that people should “not wait for calls, just take action.”

He also called on Egyptians, Lebanese and Jordanians to head to the borders and protest.

Thousands of Iraqis have already gathered in the capital in a mass protest, while Jordanians have been seen heading to the border with Israel waving Palestinian flags. 

The calls for solidarity come after Israel gave people in north Gaza a 24 hour order to leave their homes.