Amnesty International calls for war crimes probe over creation of Gaza buffer zone
Rights group cites satellite data and soldiers’ clips, decries ‘wanton destruction and of collective punishment’; Israel says buffer zone needed to prevent another Oct. 7 massacre
Amnesty International on Thursday said there should be a war crimes probe into Israel for razing homes and farms in eastern Gaza to expand a buffer zone between Israeli communities and the coastal enclave as part of its war against the Hamas terror group there.
“Using bulldozers and manually laid explosives, the Israeli military has unlawfully destroyed agricultural land and civilian buildings, razing entire neighborhoods, including homes, schools and mosques,” the human rights group charged.
An Amnesty investigation, which examined satellite imagery and videos posted by Israeli soldiers between October and May, showed “newly cleared land along Gaza’s eastern boundary, ranging from approximately 1 to 1.8 km (0.6 to 1.1 miles) wide,” the group said.
The expanded buffer zone covers around 58 square kilometers (22 square miles), or about 16 percent of the Gaza Strip, it said, charging that more than 90 percent of buildings within that zone appeared to have been destroyed or severely damaged.
More than half of the agricultural land in the area showed “a decline in health and intensity of crops due to the ongoing conflict,” it added.
Israel has said it needs a buffer zone along the enclave’s eastern border to prevent a repeat of what happened on October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists from Gaza burst through the border fence and invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, starting the ongoing war.
The purpose of the zone is to give the IDF more time to see anybody heading toward the border from Gaza, to push back terrorists seeking to target Israel from inside the Strip, and to help restore a sense of security for residents of the Israeli border communities.
The London-based agency said Israel had not responded to requests for comment.
Amnesty said the leveling “should be investigated as war crimes of wanton destruction and of collective punishment.”
“Our analysis reveals a pattern along the eastern perimeter of Gaza that is consistent with the systematic destruction of the entire area,” said Amnesty’s Erika Guevara-Rosas.
“The homes were not destroyed as the result of intense fighting. Rather, the Israeli military deliberately razed the land after they had taken control of the area.
“Israeli measures to protect Israelis from attacks from Gaza must be carried out in conformity with its obligations under international law including the prohibition of wanton destruction and of collective punishment,” she said.
The report is only the latest in a series of allegations that Israel has violated international law over the course of its war against Hamas, all of which Israel strenuously denies.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 40,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
