Israel's Evacuation Order Is Inhumane, UN Human Rights Head: Gaza Residents Continue to Be Hit by Bombs, Disease and Even Starvation

Palestinian refugee shelters at UNRWA facilities. (Twitter/@UNRWA)

JAKARTA - Israel's order to relocate Palestinians from Rafah is inhumane and risks exposing them to further danger and suffering, the UN Human Rights Chief said on Monday, warning such actions could sometimes amount to war crimes.

Israel carried out airstrikes on Rafah on Monday, ordering Palestinians out of parts of the city south of Gaza, where more than a million people driven from their homes by seven months of war are sheltering in tents and schools. which is crowded.

"Gaza residents continue to be hit by bombs, disease and even hunger. And today, they are being told that they have to move again because Israel's military operations in Rafah are increasing," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, as reported by Reuters, May 7 .

"This is inhumane," he stressed.

The Israeli offensive has leveled much of the Gaza Strip, so that no location outside Rafah has the infrastructure and resources to accommodate those currently sheltering there, the UN Human Rights Office said in a statement.

Ordering the transfer of civilians is prohibited by international humanitarian law, the statement added, with only a few exceptions subject to strict legal requirements.

If these requirements are not met, the act could be considered a war crime of forced displacement, the statement said.

Previously, UNRWA's Director of Gaza Affairs Scott Anderson said on Monday that the newly expanded area of ​​Al-Mawasi, where the Israeli military directed thousands of people from eastern Rafah to seek refuge, was not "fit enough" for habitation.

Speaking from Rafah, Anderson described Gaza's western coast as a "sandy area" with "many beaches."

"It's really not a suitable place for people to pitch a tent and be able to sit down and try to live and meet their basic needs every day," he told CNN.

"I know they expanded their territory recently, but most of it is in Khan Younis and we are still trying to recover from the operations that took place there," he continued.

Anderson said Israel's evacuation order could impact about 100,000 people of the more than one million people currently in Rafah, more than half of whom are children.

He said that some of the residents who would be affected by the evacuation had already moved their evacuation location four or five times.