Military Attacks on Gaza's Designated Humanitarian Zone

Attack on Gaza, December 2024. Photo: Yossi Zamir, Shatil-Stok

On April 8, 2025, we approached the Chief Officer of the Southern Command and the Chief Military Prosecutor regarding IDF attacks in the area in Gaza that it had declared as a humanitarian zone and safe for civilians. Documentation from various sources shows that the military undertook numerous attacks on humanitarian zones with heavy artillery that resulted in extensive damage and numerous casualties. In our appeal, we argued that the frequent attacks in the humanitarian zone and civilian targets, as well as the designation of kill zones, systematically violate the laws of war. 

Attorney Reut Shaer, Director of the Unit for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, noted that since fighting resumed, at least 13 evacuation orders have been issued for various areas in Gaza. More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced from their homes and sought shelter in protected areas during these two weeks alone. Shaer emphasized that, given the demographics of Gaza's population, there can be no doubt that the vast majority of those in the densely populated humanitarian area are children, women, the elderly, and others who are not involved in the fighting. Those planning military operations must be aware that attacks in this area, particularly when using ammunition that is imprecise and that has a wide impact range, will cause major harm to uninvolved civilians. 

We therefore requested that the military be ordered to completely refrain from aerial attacks within the humanitarian zone, as well as the publication of clear borders for the humanitarian zone with sufficient time for preparation if and when those borders change. We also called for the urgent establishment of adequate living conditions for the many displaced people crowded in the area designated as protected. 

ACRI's appeal, April 8, 2025 (Heb)