Gaza Herald- In yet another move underscoring its pursuit of genocidal policies against Palestinians, the Israeli army announced on Friday that Gaza City, home to nearly one million people, has now been designated a “dangerous combat zone.” The declaration paves the way for a fresh wave of bombing, killings, and forced displacement.
The announcement, delivered by Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee, also cancels the so-called “tactical pause” declared last July to supposedly allow the passage of humanitarian aid. Yet even under that nominal pause, Israel continued to target tents and homes, killing civilians. The latest decision is nothing more than a false legal cover to expand its war crimes against the besieged city’s residents.
Since the start of the genocidal war on October 7, 2023, Gaza City, once a bustling urban center hosting hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families, has been transformed into an open killing field. After multiple invasions followed by withdrawals in April 2024, during which Israel claimed to have dismantled the resistance’s infrastructure, the military is once again labeling the city a “combat zone,” signaling readiness for yet another wave of atrocities.
Labeling a densely populated civilian city as a “combat zone” effectively strips more than a million people of their legal protections. This is in direct violation of international humanitarian law, which explicitly guarantees civilian immunity under all circumstances. The measure falls squarely within the framework of genocide, which includes mass killings, starvation, systematic destruction, and forced displacement, all of which are clear pillars of this international crime.
Despite Israel’s claims of “supporting humanitarian efforts” in Gaza, the reality on the ground reveals the opposite. Aid distribution centers have been bombed repeatedly, displaced families have been killed inside their tents, and relief convoys are routinely blocked from reaching hundreds of thousands of besieged civilians.
Declaring Gaza a “combat zone” is not a mere military term. It is a declaration of war on civilians, a new attempt to legitimize mass killings at a time when the enclave is enduring an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. Tens of thousands have been killed and wounded, thousands more remain missing under the rubble, starvation has claimed hundreds of lives, most of them children, and hundreds of thousands have been forcibly displaced.
In doing so, Israel is turning an entire city into an open-air graveyard in blatant defiance of international law and conventions. This is a living manifestation of one of the most horrific cases of genocide in modern history, all amid deafening international silence.
