UN rights office warns of growing displacement and ethnic-cleansing concerns in Gaza

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned on Friday that Israeli forces are increasingly displacing Palestinians in Gaza and expanding the area under military control. The agency said the Israeli army is moving beyond the "Yellow Line" and treating the zone as a "kill zone," limiting residents' ability to return to homes on the opposite side.

According to the OHCHR, the military has been destroying remaining civilian infrastructure and targeting displacement sites as it seeks to extend its deployment to about 70 percent of Gaza's territory. Recent reports document new displacements in Shujayea, Gaza City, and in eastern Bureij, Deir el-Balah and al-Maghazi in central Gaza. In Shujayea, at least two attacks on displacement camps were recorded, including the use of explosive robots that destroyed remaining buildings, and a drone strike that hit a tent housing displaced families, prompting a fire that forced 200 families, roughly 800 people, to flee.

"The nightmare of displacement in Gaza is both acute and chronic," said Ajith Sunghay, head of the OHCHR in occupied Palestine. "Those displaced before the announcement of a ceasefire have little to no prospect of return to the areas they fled, most of which are inaccessible because they fall beyond the so-called Yellow Line. And they continue to be displaced again and again."

Human-rights groups and aid agencies have repeatedly called on Israel to halt forced displacement and attacks on shelters. The UN agency noted that despite a ceasefire announced on 11 October 2025, Israeli attacks have continued, with the Gaza Ministry of Health reporting at least 1,574 deaths and 5,687 injuries since the ceasefire, and overall conflict casualties since October 2023 exceeding 74,000 deaths and 175,000 injuries.