For many displaced Gazans, a return home remains out of reach as Israeli military deployment areas expand and shelter aid is restricted, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Friday.
OHCHR documented a westward shift in Israeli deployment zones at Al Shujaiyeh in Gaza City and in three Middle Gaza areas: eastern Al Maghazi, eastern Deir Al-Balah and eastern Al Bureij. Israel has said it aims to extend military deployment areas to 70% of Gaza’s territory.
OHCHR said it received reports that an Israeli drone dropped munitions on tents near the Al Shujaiyeh junction on Oct. 25; the resulting fire burned for five hours. The Palestinian Ministry of Public Works and Housing said 200 families, or 800 people, were displaced, most of them women, children and older people.
The office also cited reports of at least two Israeli attacks on displacement camps in Al Shujaiyeh. Israeli forces reportedly used explosive robots to detonate some of the few buildings still standing there, OHCHR said.
Ajith Sunghay, head of U.N. Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, called the displacement “acute and chronic.” He said many areas left by people displaced before the ceasefire announcement remain inaccessible beyond the so-called yellow line, limiting their prospects of returning.
OHCHR said Israeli forces appeared to treat the boundary as a “kill zone,” leaving Palestinians unable to reach surviving homes on the far side. The office called on Israel to stop forcibly transferring Palestinians within Gaza and enable safe, dignified returns. It said forcible transfer is a war crime and may also amount to a crime against humanity.
OHCHR said repeated military operations had forced nearly all Gaza residents to move multiple times and damaged or destroyed buildings, structures and civilian infrastructure. It said Israeli restrictions on shelter-related humanitarian aid had worsened the crisis.
Sunghay said most Palestinians in Gaza were in a fourth year of displacement and facing a fourth winter in tents unable to withstand rain. “Let this be the last,” he said.
