Context: A Conflict Recast as a War for Survival

Following the Hamas-led attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023—which killed about 1,200 people in Israel and resulted in the abduction of hostages—Israel launched a large-scale military campaign in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government states its objective is to dismantle Hamas’s military and governance capabilities and secure the release of hostages. Palestinian armed groups have continued to fire rockets into Israel and to operate within dense civilian areas, a practice that violates international humanitarian law and places civilians at extreme risk.

In Gaza, the intensity and duration of bombardments, the siege conditions, and widespread displacement have produced a humanitarian catastrophe. By late 2023 and through 2024, UN agencies and humanitarian organizations described near-total displacement across Gaza, repeated mass evacuation orders, and the collapse of essential services such as water, sanitation, electricity, fuel, and healthcare.

Against this backdrop, some Palestinian officials, human rights organizations, and international law experts have accused Israel of pursuing policies amounting to “ethnic cleansing”—a term used in public discourse to describe the forced removal of a population from an area, often through violence, coercion, or the creation of untenable living conditions. Israel rejects these allegations, arguing that its operations target armed groups and military infrastructure, not civilians, and that civilian harm is an unintended consequence of fighting an adversary embedded in urban settings.

On the Phrase “Ethnic Cleansing”

“Ethnic cleansing” is not codified as a standalone offense in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, but the conduct commonly associated with the term may overlap with crimes such as persecution, forcible transfer, or other crimes against humanity. The label is politically and legally contested. Some UN officials, humanitarian agencies, and independent experts have warned that displacement patterns and the dismantling of civilian infrastructure may amount to or risk amounting to prohibited forced transfer. Israeli authorities dispute the characterization, pointing to advance warnings, evacuation corridors, and claims of efforts to mitigate harm, while asserting that Hamas uses civilians as human shields—an assertion Hamas denies or reframes as inevitable in a besieged, densely populated territory.

At the Frontline: Gaza City’s New Geography of Absence

Gaza City, once the administrative and commercial heart of the Strip, is now a landscape of ruptured streets, cratered intersections, and facades torn open by air and artillery strikes. The skyline’s familiar landmarks—universities, apartment towers, ministry buildings—are punctuated by rubble mounds laced with rebar. Much of daily life has migrated below ground, into basements, improvised shelters, and the shadowed interiors of shattered structures.

Residents, medics, and local journalists—reached through encrypted messaging and satellite calls when networks permit—describe an exodus that rarely ends with arrival. Families move under orders to evacuate, only to be told to flee again, often toward areas that later come under fire. People carry half-packed bags and documents in plastic sleeves, ready to run when the next voice note, leaflet, or neighborhood rumor tells them to go.

“We evacuated three times in one week,” said Amal, a schoolteacher sheltering in a partially collapsed apartment block. “There is no safe direction—north, south, east, or west. We follow the orders, and still the bombs find us.”

In several districts, streets once dense with commerce are quiet but for the clatter of scavenged building materials and the rumble of aid trucks when access opens. Bakeries, when supplied with flour and fuel, spawn hours-long queues; tap water, where it exists, is often brackish and unreliable. With electricity grids largely offline, the city’s nights are lit by fire streaks and drone-borne spotlights, the dark stitched by the buzz of quadcopters and the distant thunder of artillery.

Local crews document strikes that hit homes, schools, and markets, while Israeli statements typically cite nearby militant activity, rocket launches, or tunnel infrastructure. Amid these competing narratives, families bury loved ones in courtyards, beneath road edges, and in shallow plots carved from parks—many cemeteries have filled or are unreachable.

Displacement as Daily Routine

Displacement in Gaza City is not a singular event but a repetitive state. UNRWA schoolyards have become tent cities; classrooms, hallways, and stairwells double as living quarters. Where formal shelters overflow, survivors pitch tarps between the bones of buildings or nest in stairwells whose stairs no longer connect. The movement of people follows the logic of survival rather than planning: the nearest roof, a rumor of bread, the line of a working tap.

Evacuation orders, a core Israeli tool in urban battles, have been issued by neighborhoods and zones, sometimes via maps shared online, sometimes via leaflets or recorded calls. Humanitarian organizations have criticized the practicality of such orders given limited safe passage, the wounded who cannot move, and the lack of secure destinations. Israeli officials counter that warnings reflect a legal obligation to minimize civilian harm and that corridors are announced and secured where possible. Residents say corridors can become flashpoints, with fighting or strikes erupting unexpectedly; some report being turned back by gunfire, others by the crush of crowds.

Infrastructure has decayed in step with the fighting. Water and sanitation systems leak into cratered streets; hospitals run on dwindling fuel supplies or not at all. Neighborhoods without trash pickup quickly choke on waste, bringing vermin and disease. With commercial supply chains broken, daily survival depends on aid convoys and informal markets—where a small bag of flour or sugar can consume a week’s wages.

Hospitals Under Fire and Under Strain

Medical capacities in Gaza City have contracted to crisis levels. International medical agencies report shortages of anesthetics, antibiotics, and basic supplies like sutures and gauze. In recent months, major hospitals have been damaged or surrounded by fighting. Israel has alleged that Palestinian armed groups operate within or beneath medical facilities and use them for military purposes; hospital staff and Hamas officials deny or contest the extent of such activity. Independent verification remains difficult, though journalists and human rights groups have documented both the devastating impact on patients and the hazards faced by medical workers.

Ambulance crews recount navigating streets mapped by danger rather than addresses. With fuel scarce, some vehicles are pushed to start; others are cannibalized for parts. The journey from triage to surgery can span multiple checkpoints, blocked avenues, or active combat zones. For those with chronic illnesses—cancer patients, dialysis recipients, diabetics—care interruptions carry a quiet lethality beyond the blasts and gunfire.

International Humanitarian Law and the Question of Forced Transfer

Under the laws of armed conflict, parties must distinguish between civilians and combatants, ensure that civilian harm is not excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage (proportionality), and take feasible precautions to protect civilians. Forced displacement of civilians is generally prohibited unless required for their security or imperative military reasons; even then, displaced populations must be ensured proper shelter, hygiene, health, safety, and nutrition.

Human rights organizations and some UN officials argue that serial evacuation orders, coupled with the destruction of housing and essential infrastructure, indicate a policy that risks or amounts to unlawful forced transfer. Israel rejects this, asserting that movements are temporary and compelled by urgent military necessity to save lives in combat conditions created by Hamas’s embedding of forces within civilian areas.

Legal proceedings and international oversight intensified through 2024. The International Court of Justice ordered provisional measures in a case brought by South Africa, directing Israel to prevent acts that could constitute genocide and to facilitate humanitarian aid—without making a final determination on genocide. Separately, the International Criminal Court prosecutor announced applications for arrest warrants related to alleged crimes by leaders of both Israeli and Palestinian parties; those applications were pending judicial review as of mid-2024. These processes underscore the gravity of the allegations but do not, by themselves, resolve the contested facts on the ground.

Competing Narratives: Israel, Hamas, and Civilians Trapped Between

Israel’s Position

Israeli officials emphasize the necessity of neutralizing Hamas following the October 7 attacks and the ongoing detention of hostages. They cite efforts to mitigate civilian harm via warning systems, evacuation orders, and designated routes, and accuse Hamas of using human shields, storing weapons in civilian areas, and operating from tunnels beneath neighborhoods and public institutions. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) argue that urban warfare in such an environment inevitably risks civilian casualties, but that responsibility rests with those who deliberately embed military assets among civilians.

Palestinian Armed Groups and Governance

Hamas and other armed factions frame their actions as resistance to occupation and blockade. Their continued rocket fire into Israeli population centers, hostage-taking, and operations within civilian areas violate international humanitarian law. Hamas denies some Israeli claims regarding the scale and nature of its infrastructure within protected sites, while also asserting that the siege conditions and destruction are designed to uproot Palestinians. Civil governance services in Gaza—already strained by years of blockade—have frayed under bombardment, with municipal workers, medics, and teachers functioning in emergency or volunteer capacities where they can.

Civilians as the Epicenter of Harm

The overwhelming through-line is civilian harm. Families split across multiple shelters to hedge risk; parents ration calories; children’s schooling has ceased or moved to ad hoc lessons in crowded rooms. Psychological trauma manifests in the smallest details: a child flinching at a slammed door; an elder refusing to sleep indoors for fear of a collapse. What agency remains is expressed in routine—baking flatbread from animal feed flour, boiling brackish water, mending tarps against the wind.

Humanitarian Access: Corridors, Convoys, and the Risk of Famine

Access constraints have marked the response. Aid agencies cite inconsistent border openings, security incidents along convoy routes, and bureaucratic bottlenecks. Periodic high-casualty incidents involving aid workers and convoys triggered global condemnation and operational pauses. Markets, when stocked, offer goods at prices inflated beyond reach for many. Nutrition experts warn of acute malnutrition in children and increased mortality from preventable diseases due to waterborne pathogens and reduced vaccination coverage.

Even when ceasefires or “pauses” have been announced, their scope and enforcement have varied, with local commanders, active engagements, and logistical breakdowns producing uneven results. Nighttime distributions face looting risks and a lack of lighting; daytime drops risk crowd crush or exposure to nearby fighting. The absence of a sustained, predictable access framework leaves both aid planners and recipients improvising in conditions that punish improvisation.

International Reaction and Diplomatic Fault Lines

Diplomatic responses have followed familiar grooves but with sharper edges. The UN Security Council has struggled to maintain consensus, cycling through resolutions on ceasefires, hostages, and humanitarian access. Some governments have suspended or conditioned arms transfers, while others reinforce Israel’s right to self-defense and prioritize efforts to free hostages. Regional dynamics, including border tensions and flare-ups beyond Gaza, introduce the risk of wider escalation.

Civil society globally has mobilized: mass protests, boycotts, fundraising drives, and academic petitions. The legal sphere has become a parallel battleground, with universal jurisdiction cases in national courts and scrutiny by international tribunals. In this environment, the term “ethnic cleansing” operates as both legal claim and political charge—galvanizing action for some and hardening resistance for others.

Methodology and Verification

This report draws on a combination of eyewitness accounts, local journalism, satellite imagery analysis, geolocated videos and photos, humanitarian organization situation reports, and statements from Israeli authorities and Palestinian armed groups. Communications blackouts and access restrictions impede independent, on-site verification of many specific incidents. Where events could not be corroborated through multiple sources, we note the limitations or characterize them as allegations. Casualty and displacement figures fluctuate and are often revised; readers should treat snapshot numbers as provisional.

On the legally charged term “ethnic cleansing,” we present how and why various actors apply it and outline the applicable law. We do not make final legal determinations; those rest with competent courts and investigative bodies. Our focus remains the documented effects on civilians and the policies and practices that shape those effects.

What Comes Next

Looking ahead, three intertwined tracks will determine Gaza City’s fate and whether allegations of ethnic cleansing gain further traction:

• Ceasefire and Hostage Negotiations: Durable agreement frameworks could reduce civilian harm and stabilize aid operations; failures risk renewed or escalated offensives.
• Return, Reconstruction, and Rights: The ability of displaced residents to return safely and rebuild will be a litmus test. Absent credible guarantees, legal and political claims of forced transfer will intensify.
• Accountability and Security Architecture: International and domestic investigations, combined with security arrangements to prevent renewed mass-casualty attacks, will shape the incentives and constraints on all parties.

For Gaza City’s civilians, the horizon remains clouded by immediate needs: food that is edible, water that will not sicken, shelter that will not collapse, and a night’s sleep uninterrupted by the calculus of where the next strike might land. Whether history records this period as a campaign of ethnic cleansing or as the brutal arithmetic of urban warfare will depend not only on legal findings but also on the tangible restoration—or denial—of the right to remain, to return, and to live.