Through intensified airstrikes, mass killings, widespread home demolitions, and the ongoing issuance of illegal evacuation orders, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) seek to eradicate every prospect for life and survival in Gaza City and forcibly displace its residents under bombardment and intimidation toward southern Gaza. Such actions are part of Israel’s plan to depopulate the city of its original residents and displaced persons, imposing a new reality and perpetuating the ongoing crime of genocide that has persisted for nearly two years.

Field information indicates that the intensified Israeli bombardment of Gaza City is intended to depopulate the city, a goal that has been openly declared by both the IOF and the political leadership. The city has witnessed daily escalations in bombardment targeting the remaining residential neighborhoods, civilian infrastructure, and displacement camps, thereby exacerbating the displacement crisis and rendering the city uninhabitable.

According to PCHR staff follow-up, the IOF have intensified their policy of bombing and destroying residential buildings over the past three days. In most cases, this occurs shortly after the IOF call one of the residents, ordering evacuation within only a few minutes, forcing families to flee to save their lives without being able to take any belongings. The bombardment and destruction have been concentrated in al-Shati Refugee Camp and al-Nasr neighborhood in western and northwestern Gaza City, with an average of 15 to 17 houses and buildings destroyed daily

The intensified bombardment in both areas is accompanied by the destruction of residential neighborhoods with explosive-laden robots, particularly during nighttime and at dawn in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza City, forcing most residents to flee from one area to another.

Field observations indicate that homes are being destroyed at an accelerated pace, in a deliberate policy aimed at forcibly displacing residents from their neighborhoods and instilling fear and panic as Israeli warplanes hover constantly overhead.

According to our staff’s monitoring, the IOF, through intense airstrikes and the advancement of their military vehicles from the southern, eastern, northern, and western parts of Gaza City, aim to encircle residents and displaced people, forcing them to evacuate and flee these areas. Most are relocating to other neighborhoods in central and western Gaza, while others head further south into an already crammed Gaza Strip, where there is no space for tents and where hundreds of thousands of displaced people endure a severe lack of services under repeated Israeli attacks.

In parallel with the intensified destruction, the IOF continue to commit mass killings, whether by bombing houses on top of their residents or targeting gatherings and displaced persons’ tents. The airstrikes on Gaza City on Friday killed 56 people, including women and children, while 36 were killed on Thursday and 60 on Wednesday, according to data released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH).

Among the incidents documented by our staff was IOF’s strike at around 19:00 on Thursday, 11 September 2025, when Israeli warplanes bombed Al-Husari family’s house in al-Shati Refugee Camp, west of Gaza City. The house was completely destroyed with about 25 family members inside. One of them appealed for rescue, but due to a lack of equipment and resources, they could not be evacuated.¹ The next morning, the civil defense managed to recover six bodies from under the rubble of the targeted house, including a mother and her three children, while the rest remained missing under the rubble. Among those recovered were: Niveen Jamil Ya’qoub al-Husari (43), and her children Yara (23), Baraa (15), Foad (19), who were sons of Nader Foad al-Husari, along with their cousin Eman Mohammed Foad al-Husari (22).

According to our staff’s follow-up, Israeli aerial and artillery bombardments are accompanied by the IOF’s use of quadcopter drones, explosive-laden robots and drones to carry out attacks in neighborhoods and areas overcrowded with residents and displaced people. Sheikh Radwan neighborhood has repeatedly been the scene of such attacks, resulting in daily casualties.

These incidents demonstrate the IOF’s deliberate targeting of civilians, the use of weapons that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, and the creation of coercive conditions leading to forced displacement. Such actions constitute serious violations of the laws of war and amount to crimes punishable under international law.

In light of the above, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) renew its urgent call to the international community to assume its responsibilities to halt this military assault and prevent Israel from continuing the destruction of what remains of a historic city that contains hundreds of cultural and historical landmarks and remains home to hundreds of thousands of residents and displaced persons.

PCHR calls on the international community, United Nations bodies, and the Security Council to assume their responsibilities and take immediate action, including providing urgent protection for civilians, establishing safe corridors for the delivery of medical and food aid, halting the use of tactics and weapons that target civilian neighborhoods, and compelling Israel to end the genocide it is committing against the residents of the Gaza Strip.

1. A footage showing the Civil Defense’s inability to retrieve them:Link ↩︎