BEIRUT, May 15, 2025 (WAFA) – The Israeli government’s plan to demolish what remains of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure and concentrate the Palestinian population into a tiny area would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and acts of genocide, Human Rights Watch said today.
“Hearing Israeli officials flaunt plans to squeeze Gaza’s 2 million people into an even tinier area while making the rest of the land uninhabitable should be treated like a five-alarm fire in London, Brussels, Paris, and Washington,” said Federico Borello, interim executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Israel’s blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination.”
The United Nations has warned that Gaza is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the beginning of hostilities. The world’s foremost experts on food insecurity, the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC), said on May 12 that there is a “high risk” that famine will occur in Gaza in the coming weeks, with one in five people likely to face starvation.
The World Health Organization said on May 11 that Gaza is experiencing “one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time,” citing a Ministry of Health report that at least 57 children have died from malnutrition in Gaza since the blockade began.
According to the Israeli government, 58 Israeli hostages are still believed to be held in Gaza, of whom 23 are believed alive. Palestinian armed groups should im
mediately and safely release all civilians they detain, just as Israeli authorities should immediately and safely release all unlawfully held Palestinians.
In early May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved a plan dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots,” which it says could start as soon as US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region concludes on May 16. The plan involves forcibly displacing much of the Palestinian population of Gaza while seizing and occupying the territory.
“States that are party to the Genocide Convention committed themselves not just to punish genocide, but also to prevent it from taking place,” Borello said. “Failing to act to stop Israeli authorities from starving civilians in Gaza and further rendering it unlivable flies in the face of the very purpose of the convention.”
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