The UN human rights office said on Friday it fears that Israel may intend to permanently remove civilians in Gaza as part of an expanded buffer zone, amid evacuations orders and escalating bombardment.

Hostilities in the Gaza Strip resumed mid-March following the collapse of the ceasefire and Israel’s border closure.

As it enters its sixth week, the denial of aid into the enclave has left more than 2.1 million Gazans trapped without access to food, drinking water, and basic services.

Israel in recent weeks has ramped up its attacks on civilian infrastructure such as residential buildings and camps, leaving many more dead or missing under the rubble.

Between March 18 and April 9, Israeli forces have struck housing and tents for internally displaced people (IDPs) on 224 occasions during 36 separate strikes, according to the UN rights office, OHCHR.

Vast new exclusion zones

Earlier on Friday, Israeli authorities issued two new displacement orders “covering vast areas in northern and southern Gaza,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said at the regular noon briefing in New York.

“Together, these areas span more than 24 square kilometres – roughly the size of everything south of Central Park here in Manhattan.”

Some medical facilities and storage sites containing critical supplies are located within the newly designated zones, prompting aid coordination office OCHA to warn that this could have life-threatening consequences for people in urgent need of care.

“This leaves Palestinians with less than a third of Gaza’s area to live in – and that remaining space is fragmented, it’s unsafe and it’s barely livable following 18 months of hostilities.”

‘Forcible transfer’

OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani also highlighted the growing trend in attacks against media workers, reporting that at least 209 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the deadly Hamas-led terror attacks of October 2023, as Israel continues to deny international media entry into the Strip.

The OHCHR spokesperson acknowledged that the temporary evacuation of civilians in certain areas can be legal, under strict conditions.

But "the nature and scope of the evacuation orders raises serious concerns that Israel intends permanently to remove the civilian population from these areas in order to create a so-called buffer zone”, she said.

“Permanently displacing the civilian population within occupied territory amounts to forcible transfer, which is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and a crime against humanity.”

War crimes

Combatants need to demonstrate compliance with the rules of war, particularly the principles of distinction – meaning defenceless civilians should not be targeted – as well as proportionality and precaution.

“Intentionally directing attacks against civilians not taking a direct part in hostilities constitutes a war crime, further compounding the desperate conditions for Palestinian civilians,” Ms. Shamdasani said.

OHCHR has also repeatedly warned that collective punishment and the use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of war, constitute crimes under international law.

Ms. Shamdasani also stressed that her office was “seriously concerned that Israel appears to be inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza, conditions of life increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group”.

Supplies pile up

With stocks of drugs sharply declining, medicines and other essential supplies have been piling up at the shuttered border crossings.

Almost 36 million tons of supplies in Dubai are on standby for entry into the enclave, according to Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization Representative (WHO) for the West Bank and Gaza.

Medical evacuations for patients in need of urgent treatment have slowed significantly. Likewise, the number of international emergency medical teams deployed has dropped, depriving hospitals of the help they crucially need, “because the caseload is immense”, Dr. Peeperkorn stressed.

“We urgently call for the immediate resumption of medical evacuation through all possible routes, particularly restoring the medical referral pathway to the West Bank and Jerusalem.”

The latest attacks, which began on 11 April, saw Rapid Support Forces (RSF)-affiliated forces launch coordinated assaults on Zamzam and Abu Shouk – two of the largest camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Darfur – as well as the regional capital, El Fasher.

Among those killed were 23 children as well as nine humanitarian workers who were operating one of the last remaining health posts.

No end in sight to suffering

The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) for Sudan condemned the violence, warning that the situation is deteriorating as ethnically driven violence and hate speech escalate.

“The world has witnessed two years of ruthless conflict which has trapped millions of civilians in harrowing situations, subjecting them to violations and suffering with no end in sight,” Mohamed Chande Othman, FFM chair, said in a statement on Monday.

“Amid the rising tide of hate speech and ethnically driven violence and reprisals, we fear the darkest chapters of this conflict have yet to unfold.”

Bring perpetrators to justice

UN Secretary-General António Guterres also condemned the latest violence, stressing that attacks on civilians, humanitarian and medical personnel are strictly prohibited under international law.

“The perpetrators of these attacks must be brought to justice,” he said, calling for urgent, safe and sustained access to besieged areas like Zamzam camp, where famine conditions have already been identified.

Two years of atrocities

The Darfur attacks are the latest flashpoints in a conflict that erupted on 15 April 2023, when fighting broke out in Khartoum between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF.

The power struggle quickly descended into a nationwide civil war, killing thousands and displacing over 12.4 million people – more than 3.3 million as refugees into neighbouring countries.

According to the FFM, both sides have committed serious violations of international humanitarian law, including deliberate attacks on civilians,removed and sexual violence, starvation tactics, mass looting and destruction of civilian infrastructure.

Aid workers targeted

Clementine Nkweta-Salami, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, described the escalation as “deadly and unacceptable,” and condemned the deliberate targeting of civilians and aid workers.

“These families – many of whom have already been displaced multiple times – are once again caught in the crossfire, with nowhere safe to go. This must end now,” she stressed.

Survivors from Zamzam camp – once home to over 750,000 people, half of them children – were reported as being placed under siege-like conditions, according to the FFM.

Humanitarian access inside the camp remains nearly impossible, while children are reported to be dying from hunger and the few remaining health outposts have been overrun or destroyed.

Protect children

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also sounded the alarm.

“These unconscionable acts of violence against civilians, children and aid workers must end immediately,” said Executive Director Catherine Russell.

“Children must be protected from this senseless violence, and humanitarian workers must never be targets.”

Ms. Russell warned that with aid blocked and violence surging, famine is already “stalking children,” placing over one million people at high risk in and around El Fasher and Zamzam camp.

Situation beyond Darfur

Violations are not confined to Darfur.

The SAF and its allies have allegedly committed reprisal attacks in areas recently recaptured from the RSF, particularly in Sinja and Al-Dinder in Sennar state and Wad Madani in Al-Jazirah (also spelled Gezira).

Witnesses described arbitrary detentions, mass arrests and public executions, including in newly controlled areas of southern Khartoum, the FFM said. Many of those detained have reportedly disappeared.

“These acts highlight the urgent need to prevent further escalation and to protect civilians and the lifesaving systems they rely on,” said FFM member Mona Rishmawi.

Stop encouraging the war

In the midst of the violence, the Fact-Finding Mission alongside humanitarian agencies continue to call for international accountability and support.

As key regional and global actors set to meet this week in London to discuss humanitarian funding and strategies for civilian protection, the FFM reiterated the need for all States to “respect and ensure respect” for the Geneva Conventions – the core of international humanitarian law.

“This means that States should neither finance the war nor provide weapons, as this may encourage, aid and assist the warring parties in committing violations,” said Ms. Rishmawi.

The Human Rights Council – UN’s primary human rights forum – established the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan in October 2023 and extended its mandate until October this year.

Its core task is to investigate all alleged human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law linked to Sudan’s ongoing conflict since April 2023.

Basically some removed rights activists wrote “removed rights <3” in chalk (not even spray paint) on a suffragette statue, also the statue of a “South African Statesman” got improved with a pro-trans message but you can see why some outlets like the Telegraph are leading with the first one