Israel’s plan for a complete military takeover of Gaza is a further step towards the ethnic cleansing and starvation of Gaza, and the world must not stand by and allow it to happen. The idea that an assault that has thus far forced Gaza into famine and killed or wounded more than 200,000 people is now set to be further escalated is unfathomable. 

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has already found a plausible case of genocide in Gaza and ordered provisional measures that have been ignored – yet instead of compliance we now see plans for even greater escalation.

Today the Israeli cabinet approved a plan to fully take over Gaza City in the north of the Strip, where starvation is already above famine levels. Child malnutrition in Gaza City has almost quadrupled between May and July while Israel has cut off most humanitarian supplies, and Islamic Relief aid workers report children who are now only skin and bones and wasting away.  

Any further escalation there will inevitably kill many more people from starvation and violence, forcing many more people from their homes yet again and further restricting humanitarian access at a time when aid urgently needs to be scaled up.  

Gaza is already under Israeli occupation but this latest announcement will further entrench it. More than a year since the ICJ ruled that Israel’s occupation and annexation is illegal and must end, international governments have failed to act while Israel has tightened its grip on the territory even further. Senior Israeli officials have repeatedly stated their intention to force Palestinians out of Gaza or into confined areas that are effectively internment camps, and the Israeli military has now declared around 88% of Gaza’s territory to be off-limits to Palestinians. 

World leaders must protect the fundamental right of Palestinians to remain on their land — removing Palestinians from all or parts of Gaza amount to ethnic cleansing.