The Gaza Strip’s population is enduring the harshest and most brutal forms of forced displacement after the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) ordered residents of northern Gaza valley to move south. This coincided with the intensified indiscriminate bombardment and the detonation of booby-trapped armored vehicles in areas that had received evacuation orders to forcibly displace civilians, who are being compelled to flee amid a suffocating siege, escalating famine and absence of essentials of life.
Under this unbearable reality, women find themselves trapped between their desperate efforts to protect their children from death due to the Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza valley, and their bitter realization that the areas to which the IOF have ordered them to relocate are unsafe. In this context, Israeli claims that the central and southern Gaza Strip are “humanitarian and safe zones” are false and misleading, as these very areas were subjected to 133 continuous bombardments between 11 August and 27 September 2025, resulting in the killing of 1,903 civilians, representing 46% of the total casualties in the Gaza Strip during the same period.1 This reality proves that there is no safe place across the Gaza Strip, leaving women and children under constant threats with no protection or safe haven.
At the same time, the areas to which the IOF have forced residents to relocate lack the most basic means of survival, with insufficient food, no safe drinking water, and no health or humanitarian services, while essential infrastructure is almost completely destroyed. The massive overcrowding resulting from the influx of tens of thousands of families has made access to adequate shelter nearly impossible. Maps issued by the IOF show that the areas designated as so-called “shelter zones” do not exceed 12% of the Gaza Strip’s total area, reflecting a deliberate attempt to confine over 1.7 million people within a narrow geographic space as part of a broader policy of forced displacement aimed at depopulating northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City.2
Under these circumstances, families are crammed into worn-out tents as winter approaches, while tens of thousands of other families are left sleeping in the open without any shelter or protection, making this harsh reality a daily struggle for survival.
( A. ‘A.), 57, stated that she was forcibly displaced on foot amid bombardment and destruction, leaving her house and all belongings behind, until she found herself in the open without any shelter. She said: “When the humanitarian truce came into effect, I returned with my children to Gaza and remained steadfast there until 25 September 2025. Afterwards, explosive robots, successive blasts, and quadcopter drones besieged us in Al-Shati refugee camp, leaving me with no choice. I tried to save what remained of my home, but transportation costs were exorbitant, forcing us to leave our belongings behind and take only a small bag. I left with my children and grandchildren, bidding farewell to my home with tears. We walked amid rubble and the sounds of bombardment until my grandchildren’s feet bled from the stones, and they cried from exhaustion and fear. Upon reaching the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Yunis on foot, physically and mentally drained, we found ourselves without shelter or any means of survival.”3
As the demand for transportation increased and fuel became scarce due to the closure of crossings, transportation costs soared beyond what residents could afford, forcing hundreds of them to walk long and exhausting distances under the scorching sun or the freezing cold of the night. During their arduous displacement journeys, women endured severe hardships, carrying on their frail and hungry bodies, along with the screams and cries of their terrified children, the few belongings that might help them survive. However, the Israeli war machine not only humiliated displaced people but also deliberately and indiscriminately targeted them with quadcopter drones, turning every moment of displacement into a constant confrontation with death — an inhumane and unbearable ordeal.
Nebal Shamalakh, 28, shared with PCHR’s staff her extremely harsh displacement experience with her children, expressing her constant feelings of helplessness and fear, as well as the lack of basic necessities of life in the area where she has sought refuge, saying:
“On 19 September 2025, we were shaken by the evacuation order to southern Wadi Gaza, carrying deep fears from our previous bitter experiences. When evacuation leaflets were dropped over us, fear overwhelmed us. We saw Israeli military tanks and quadcopter drones’ gunfire, and an artillery shell fell near my tent, where my children were sitting, putting our lives in direct danger. We waited for transportation for three days in the street without any shelter. Afterwards, my husband, children, and I were forced to displace on foot under the scorching sun, smoke, and shelling, in a grueling journey filled with fear for their safety.
I brought some water and bread for them, taking only a little for myself to ensure they had enough. We witnessed many people fainting due to the extreme heat and lack of food and water, and every step was weighed down by anxiety and helplessness. Finally, we reached Khan Yunis Camp to find ourselves in a tent lacking even the most basic necessities of life: no privacy, no comfort, and no safe space for the children, with skyrocketing food prices and scarce water, making its shortage one of the most severe crises we face. Today, children live in constant fear and anxiety without any psychological support, while I am burdened by feelings of helplessness toward them day after day.”4
Women in the Gaza Strip bear the heaviest toll of forced displacement, as the constant fear of bombardment intersects with the loss of safety and the absence of any prospects for survival. This reality, fraught with daily threats, has resulted in chronic anxiety and severe psychological stress, as well as a constant feeling of helplessness in protecting their children. Many women also find themselves under immense pressure, having to make critical decisions between staying under bombardment or fleeing into the open, generating persistent feelings of guilt, mental exhaustion, and psychological breakdown.
In the areas to which the IOF have forced residents to relocate, women have found themselves facing conditions no less harsh than those they had left behind, as these areas completely lacked basic necessities of life, including adequate shelter or protection. They were forced to confront daily struggles to care for their children and meet their basic needs in an overwhelming reality of suffering. This has resulted in long-term psychological harm, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, in addition to a persistent sense of low self-worth, insecurity, and hopelessness about the future.
Forced displacement constitutes a form of genocide in itself when accompanied by the deliberate deprivation of food, medical care, and shelter, as it leads to both physical and psychological destruction of members of the group. The IOF have committed this form of genocide against the Gaza Strip population, forcing civilians, including women, to displace under inhumane conditions that deprived them of basic necessities of life. The impact of these policies is not limited to the material deprivation alone but extends to causing severe psychological harm to women, by exposing them to ongoing suffering, food and health insecurity, and the absence of basic protection- acts that fall under the crime of genocide as defined by international law.
Therefore, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) calls on the international community to take urgent action to immediately stop the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip and to halt all forms of forced displacement and direct targeting of civilians, including women and children.
PCHR emphasizes the necessity of holding Israeli officials accountable for their involvement in the crime of genocide, including the crime of forced displacement without providing basic necessities of life for Palestinian women and civilians, and ensuring the immediate enforcement of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), as a crucial step toward ending the policy of impunity and ensuring justice for women and all civilian victims.
PCHR also calls for the immediate and permanent opening of crossings to ensure the unrestricted entry of essential humanitarian aid, including tents, food, water, medicine, and shelter materials, and to ensure their equitable distribution to women and children in displacement areas.
