AhlulBayt News Agency: Euro-Med Monitor stated that Israel’s designation of Al-Mawasi in Khan Yunis as a “humanitarian zone” is misleading propaganda, contradicted by ongoing military assaults and the dire living conditions of hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians. Families in the area lack shelter, food, water, and medical care, living in overcrowded tents that pose severe risks to children, women, and the elderly.
In a statement issued Sunday, Euro-Med Monitor said that on 6 September, the Israeli army again claimed improved services would be provided in Al-Mawasi, despite the area lacking infrastructure to accommodate the massive influx of displaced people from Rafah and Khan Yunis. The organization noted that similar claims have been made before, even as Al-Mawasi has faced continuous bombardment from air, land, and sea since October 2023, in violation of international law.
The Monitor documented 109 airstrikes on Al-Mawasi since October 2023, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries. Israeli military vehicles, drones, gunboats, and artillery have repeatedly targeted displaced civilians in tents, killing them while they sought aid or water. The organization said the “safe zone” label has become a tool of genocide, amplifying casualties and trauma through overcrowding and destructive weaponry.
Euro-Med Monitor emphasized that under international law, any evacuation zone must provide adequate shelter, food, clean water, healthcare, and safety. Al-Mawasi fails to meet these standards and instead functions as a death trap. Spanning only 12,000 dunums—three percent of Gaza—it cannot accommodate nearly one million newly displaced people along with the 800,000 already present, resulting in extreme overcrowding and unlivable conditions.
The organization reported that hospitals in Al-Mawasi are either non-functional or targeted. The Nasser Medical Complex was stormed in February 2024, used for executions, and later shelled, killing over 20 people including five journalists, a doctor, and a civil defense worker. Al-Amal Hospital is out of service due to repeated attacks, and Gaza European Hospital is partially destroyed and located in a combat zone. Field hospitals offer minimal care and remain vulnerable, as shown when Israeli forces detained the Ministry of Health’s field hospitals director and killed journalist Tamer Al-Za’anin during an assault.
Euro-Med Monitor warned that displaced families face starvation, dehydration, and lack of medicine, increasing the risk of epidemics and infections. Many live in deteriorated tents or outdoors without protection from weather extremes. The absence of sewage infrastructure has created deadly conditions. The organization also reported that aid distribution points have become sites of massacres, with at least 2,362 deaths and over 17,434 injuries recorded.
The Monitor called on the international community to act under UN General Assembly Resolution 377 (Uniting for Peace) to deploy an international peacekeeping force in Gaza, ensuring civilian protection, unrestricted aid delivery, and safety for medical and relief facilities. It urged states to impose sanctions on Israel, including arms bans, suspension of political and military cooperation, asset freezes for perpetrators, and cancellation of trade privileges that enable violations.
The organization further urged immediate international action in line with legal obligations reaffirmed by the International Court of Justice in its 2024 advisory opinion. It called for ending the root causes of Palestinian suffering over the past 77 years, guaranteeing their rights to freedom, dignity, and self-determination, ending Israel’s occupation and settlement colonialism, dismantling apartheid systems, withdrawing from 1967-occupied territories, lifting the Gaza blockade, ensuring accountability, and securing compensation for victims.
Euro-Med Monitor concluded that only urgent, collective international action can halt the ongoing genocide and protect over two million Palestinians from annihilation.
/129
Your Comment