GAZA | RED LINES CROSSED WITH APPROVAL OF GAZA CITY OCCUPATION

“Military escalations and the total occupation of Gaza in order to free the hostages is a strategy that is doomed to fail, and will only cause further suffering. We all know that the only road to peace is a permanent ceasefire to stop the massacre of civilians, the establishment of safe humanitarian corridors, unhindered entry and access of aid, and the restoration of and respect for international law.”

These comments are made by the NGO EMERGENCY on the Israeli government’s approval of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to take over Gaza City, an operation that will require the evacuation of the area – currently home to around one million people – by 7 October 2025, and will involve a total military siege.

“Since the conflict began, 87% of the Gaza Strip has already been occupied by the Israeli army and subjected to active evacuation orders [OCHA],” EMERGENCY continues. “Two million people are already being crammed into what little territory is not under active occupation or evacuation orders, amounting to less than 20% of the total. Evacuating even just the population of Gaza City, accounting for half of Gaza’s two million people, would certainly lead to a very high number of civilian casualties in a very short period of time, as EMERGENCY has already witnessed throughout the conflict. It would result in mass displacement, with dramatic consequences on top of those already caused by the Israeli military’s actions. As has consistently been the case, operations would likely begin before the entire civilian population is safe, leading to further civilian casualties. An intensification of operations for the total occupation of Gaza would mean further complicating the work of humanitarian organisations and the end of any collective hope for the Gazan population already suffering from nearly two years of violence, which have caused over 60,000 deaths, almost 145,000 wounded and two million displaced. The population is starving, with 470,000 people facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, and being forced to live in tents and makeshift shelters, constantly moving due to daily evacuation orders. Humanitarian intervention depends on the access that the Israeli government grants humanitarian organisations: for five months there has been a blockade, at first total and now partial, on the entry of humanitarian aid. Inadequate and dangerous distribution of aid by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has demonstrated since its implementation that it does not work, has only caused further death and distress to the population. With this decision, the situation is only going to worsen. All the red lines have already been largely crossed, and each time a new one is drawn, it is quickly crossed in turn.”

EMERGENCY reiterates its calls for international pressure on the Israeli government to implement an immediate ceasefire and to guarantee the full, impartial access and distribution of humanitarian assistance to the Gazan population.

EMERGENCY’s ORA! Campaign, with more than a quarter of a million signatures, leads calls in Italy for the government not to renew its military cooperation agreement with Israel; to halt the sale of arms and weapons systems to Israel; and, alongside 17 other countries who have already done so, to support the suspension of the Association Agreement between the EU and Israel due to ongoing human rights violations.