Jabalia, Gaza City, Deir el-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah: Israel's Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Post-Truce

By Hanna M. Warsame

December 4, 2023

In what has been described as “Hell on Earth” by Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israel has returned to a severe and continuous bombing of the Gaza Strip, immediately following the expiration of the truce between Israel and Hamas on Friday, December 1. [1]

By Saturday, December 2, Palestinian officials and media reported that almost 300 Palestinians had been killed in less than 48 hours since the return of Israel’s war efforts on Palestine. [2]

Notably, the post-truce period saw the return of white phosphorus bombs previously documented and verified to have been dropped in both Gaza [3] and Lebanon [4] in October. White phosphorus is a type of incendiary bomb and military technology that violates international humanitarian law when used against civilians [5], and despite the reporting of both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on this humanitarian issue, Israel once again retuned to inflicting it upon Palestinians, this time in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. [6] Upon his return from Gaza, British-Palestinian surgeon Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah (Doctors Without Borders) testified that he had been treating patients that had been injured as a result of what appeared to be Israel’s use of white phosphorus bombs on Gaza, arguing that the symptoms and markings caused by white phosphorus were similar to what he had been treating. [7]

The extent of Israel’s atrocities did not stop there. On December 1, The Guardian reported for the very first time on Israel’s unique use of artificial intelligence technology to further fuel their illegal military strikes on Gaza. The Guardian reported that with the help of AI technology, the targeting system used by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has been capable of identifying military targets in Gaza at an unprecedented rate. [8]

Despite Israel’s assertion that the technology inflicts “minimal harm to non-combatants,” [8] witnesses around the world can see for themselves that this is evidentially false. By December 2, numerous news sources had reported that to date, Israel has killed more than 15,200 Palestinians, injured more than 40,700, and wrought damage to thousands of pieces of infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip. [9] On December 3, Al Jazeera confirmed that an additional 700 Palestinians had been killed by Israel in one day. [10]

Despite Israel’s insistence on its main target being Hamas, the IDF is no closer to its aim of destroying Hamas than it was since this new round of occupation began in early October.

Looking at what is to come, Al Jazeera had reported over the weekend that “Israel’s bombing of the south is believed to be paving the way for further military ground operations, similar to what happened in the north.” This statement followed Israel’s use of an “evacuation map” that aims to forcibly displace Palestinians to the southern regions of Gaza. [11] And indeed, by the end of December 3 and early hours of December 4, Israel’s ground attack on Gaza began to be reported by Palestinian journalists on the ground. [12]

Palestinians, who have repeatedly documented and shared that they have no where to go, and that nowhere is safe in Gaza, due to intense bombing on all regions of the Strip [13] are now likely to face forced mass displacement from their traditional territory if Israel’s current trajectory of an onslaught of violence against Gaza continues.

Bibliography

[1] Al Jazeera Staff, “‘Hell on Earth’ in Gaza: Israel strikes hit Deir el-Balah,” Al Jazeera, Dec. 02, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/12/2/hell-on-earth-as-israel-hits-deir-al-balah-in-central-gaza.

[2] Al Jazeera Staff. “More than 180 killed as Israel resumes Gaza assault after truce lapses,” Al Jazeera, Dec. 01, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/1/more-than-170-killed-as-israel-resumes-bombing-of-gaza-after-truce-expires;

Middle East Monitor Staff. “Gaza death toll from Israeli attacks tops 15,200,” Middle East Monitor, Dec. 02, 2023. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231202-gaza-death-toll-from-israeli-attacks-tops-15200;

Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau. “‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 57: ‘Not an inch’ of Gaza is spared by Israeli strikes after truce ends,” Mondoweiss, Dec. 02, 2023. https://mondoweiss.net/2023/12/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-57-not-an-inch-of-gaza-is-spared-by-israeli-strikes-after-truce-ends.

[3] Amnesty International. “Israel/OPT: Identifying the Israeli army’s use of white phosphorus in Gaza,” Oct. 13, 2023. https://amnesty.ca/human-rights-news/israel-opt-identifying-the-israeli-armys-use-of-white-phosphorus-in-gaza.

[4] Amnesty International. “Lebanon: Evidence of Israel’s unlawful use of white phosphorus in southern Lebanon as cross-border hostilities escalate,” Oct. 31, 2023. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/lebanon-evidence-of-israels-unlawful-use-of-white-phosphorus-in-southern-lebanon-as-cross-border-hostilities-escalate.

[5] Human Rights Watch. “Israel: White Phosphorus Used in Gaza, Lebanon,” Oct. 12, 2023. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/12/israel-white-phosphorus-used-gaza-lebanon.

[6] Jordan News Staff. “Israel kills more than 100 Gazans in attack on a house in Jabalia,” Jordan News, Dec. 02, 2023. https://www.jordannews.jo/Section-20/Middle-East/Israel-kills-more-than-100-Gazans-in-attack-on-a-house-in-Jabalia-32709.

[7] Middle East Eye Staff. “Israel-Palestine war: British surgeon accuses Israel of using white phosphorus in Gaza,” Middle East Eye, Nov. 27, 2023. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-palestine-war-british-surgeon-accuses-israel-using-white-phosphorus-gaza. 

[8] Davies, H., McKernan, B., & Sabbagh, D. “‘The Gospel’: how Israel uses AI to select bombing targets in Gaza,” The Guardian, Dec. 01, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/01/the-gospel-how-israel-uses-ai-to-select-bombing-targets.

[9] Al Jazeera Staff. “Israel-Palestine war of words,” Al Jazeera, Nov. 30, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/11/30/israel-palestine-war-ceasefire-or-pause-what-have-world-leaders-said;

Middle East Monitor Staff. “Gaza death toll from Israeli attacks tops 15,200,” Middle East Monitor, Dec. 02, 2023. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231202-gaza-death-toll-from-israeli-attacks-tops-15200.

[10] Al Jazeera Staff. “From north to south, nowhere safe in Gaza as 700 killed in 24 hours,” Al Jazeera, Dec. 03, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/12/3/from-north-to-south-nowhere-safe-in-gaza-as-700-killed-in-24-hours;

Abu Sneineh, Mustafa. “‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 58: Israel kills 700 in Gaza over 24 hours as Palestinians get forced further south toward Egypt,” Mondoweiss, Dec. 03, 2023. https://mondoweiss.net/2023/12/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-58-israel-kills-700-in-gaza-over-24-hours-as-palestinians-get-forced-further-south-toward-egypt. 

[10] Al Jazeera Program. “Israel issues ‘evacuation map’ as it targets south Gaza,” Al Jazeera, Dec. 02, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2023/12/2/israel-issues-evacuation-map-as-it-targets-south-gaza. 

[12] Regencia, Ted. “Israel-Gaza war live: Israel expands ground attack in southern Gaza,” Al Jazeera, Dec. 04, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/12/4/israel-gaza-war-live-israel-expands-ground-attack-in-southern-gaza. 

[13] Al Jazeera Staff. “‘Where to go?’ Palestinians say nowhere safe as Israel resumes Gaza bombing,” Al Jazeera, Dec. 01, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/1/where-should-we-go-palestinians-unprepared-as-israel-bombards-gaza.