Nearly 70 percent of Gaza is now under Israeli-issued displacement orders or within a “no-go zone” to create the worst humanitarian crisis since October, according to the United Nations (UN), leaving Palestinians in dire straits as Tel Aviv and Hamas tussle over a ceasefire deal amid incessant bombings and starvation.
In the latest development, Palestinian militant group Hamas said it was reviewing a new ceasefire proposal delivered by Egypt and Qatar from Israel. It also rejected demands to disarm, unless it received Israeli guarantees of a serious prisoner-hostage swap and a permanent end to the conflict.
The new proposal reportedly included Hamas laying down its weapons and a 45-day temporary ceasefire in exchange for Hamas releasing half of the Israeli hostages, Xinhua reported.
READ MORE: China says it opposes forced displacement of people in Gaza
Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas senior official reportedly expressed surprise at a clause related to the movement's disarmament. He said disarmament was “not on the table” and that any agreement must begin with a “cessation of Israeli aggression and the forces’ withdrawal from the Gaza Strip”.
With no tangible progress and significant obstacles to a deal, civilians bear the brunt of the fighting.
UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the humanitarian crisis is likely to be the worst since the conflict broke out on Oct 7, 2023, with the death toll nearing 51,000 as of April 15 and life-saving supplies dwindling.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is now likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities, the UN relief coordination office, OCHA, reported on Monday.
At least 17 Palestinians have been killed and 69 wounded in recent Israeli attacks across Gaza.
Gaza health authorities said last week that around 60,000 children were facing life-threatening malnutrition owing to the continued closure of border crossings by Israel, preventing the entry of food, humanitarian assistance, and medical supplies.
Belal Alakhras, a political analyst and researcher at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, told China Daily that Israeli authorities have “systematically weaponized essential human needs — food access, healthcare, and shelter—as instruments of collective pressure and genocide in Gaza”.
He said Israel’s approach appears designed to achieve what military operations alone could not accomplish over the past 18 months: population displacement and militarily settling the battle with Palestinian resistance movements.
“Basic necessities are being leveraged as bargaining chips against Hamas and other Palestinian factions, yet this strategy has produced not tactical success but rather an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” said Alakhras.
“The current military approach emphasizes establishing remote buffer zones rather than direct engagement with Palestinians,” he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on April 2 that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were “seizing territory, striking the terrorist, and destroying the infrastructure”.
He also said they were seizing the Morag Corridor, which he said would be “an additional Philadelphi Corridor” to step up pressure on Hamas for the return of hostages.
However, with the attack on hospitals and other critical civilian infrastructure in recent days, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on April 11 criticized the increasing IDF issuance of “evacuation orders”.
Noting that they are effectively displacement orders, the OHCHR said the orders have resulted in the forcible transfer of Palestinians in Gaza with little to no access to services, water, food, and shelter.
Israel has issued 21 “evacuation orders” since March 18, according to the OHCHR.
On March 31, the Israeli military issued an order covering almost all of Rafah, where tens of thousands of Palestinians were already reportedly trapped, including in the Tal Al Sultan area, with no way out and no access to humanitarian aid.
OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani acknowledged that the temporary evacuation of civilians in certain areas could be legal, under strict conditions.
But she also said the nature and scope of the evacuation orders raised serious concerns that Israel intends permanently to remove the civilian population from these areas to create a so-called buffer zone.
“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,” said Shamdasani.
Alakhras, from the University of Malaya, said Israeli policy appears “emboldened by extensive American support”, including substantial weapons transfers and diplomatic protection under the Donald Trump administration.
“This war is establishing dangerous precedents that undermine the international normative order established after World War II,” he said.
Alakhras noted the repercussions extend beyond Gaza, altering even conventional state interactions in traditionally neutral domains such as trade.
“As rational calculation gives way to unconstrained power politics, the international community risks normalizing behavior previously considered beyond acceptable boundaries,” he said.
Alakhras added that while Gaza faces an immediate crisis, the more profound concern may be whether faith can be restored in global systems.
READ MORE: Thousands of displaced Palestinians return to northern Gaza
Elsewhere, King Abdullah II of Jordan and visiting Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto condemned Israeli violations against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and their attempts to divide it both "temporally and spatially," according to a statement by Jordan's Royal Court on April 14.
About 700 Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Mughrabi Gate, performing Talmudic rituals and conducting provocative tours of its courtyards on April 15 of the Jewish Passover holiday, Al Jazeera reported.
Islam’s third holiest site, the Al-Aqsa plaza is built on the site known as Temple Mount to Jews, the holiest site in their religion.
Contact the writer at jan@chinadailyapac.com
