Gaza Herald – Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza has entered a new phase: the systematic isolation of Gaza City and the prevention of displaced families from returning to their homes. This policy, presented under the guise of “security zones” and “humanitarian safety,” is in fact a deliberate strategy of fragmentation and forced displacement aimed at erasing the Palestinian presence from their land.
A day after Israel issued an order preventing Palestinians from traveling northward toward Gaza City, occupation forces reached the coastal al-Rashid Street and began erecting sand barriers to enforce the city’s isolation and seal the siege. The move marks a dangerous escalation in Israel’s broader strategy to fragment Gaza’s territory and drive out its remaining population through hunger and deprivation.
Fragmenting Gaza’s Unity
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor warned that Israel’s takeover of the Netzarim Corridor and al-Rashid Street, combined with its ban on return to Gaza City, amounts to a deliberate effort to fragment the Strip. By cutting off Gaza City and the north, Israel is effectively transforming them into besieged enclaves, making survival impossible and paving the way for mass forced displacement.
According to the rights group, Israel’s strategy is clear: starve out the remaining population of Gaza City by cutting off food, medicine, fuel, and humanitarian aid, enforcing a policy of systematic hunger as part of its ongoing genocide.
Siege Tightens
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee confirmed that al-Rashid Street would be closed to traffic from Wednesday noon, blocking movement from the central Strip into Gaza City. Movement southward will be allowed temporarily without inspection, a one-way evacuation that reveals Israel’s intent to empty Gaza City, isolate its residents, and impose a new demographic reality.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz openly declared that this was the “last opportunity” for civilians to leave Gaza City, threatening that anyone remaining would be considered a fighter or “supporter of terrorism.” Such statements, rights groups say, amount to direct threats against unarmed civilians and constitute an official declaration of forced displacement and collective punishment — flagrant violations of international humanitarian law.
Humanitarian and Legal Violations
The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor stressed that dividing Palestinian land in this way constitutes a violation of the right to self-determination, which under international law requires territorial continuity and integrity. Preventing Palestinians from returning to Gaza City entrenches a systematic policy of starvation against more than 300,000 people still trapped inside, now cut off from humanitarian supplies.
Israel has already halted aid deliveries via the newly established Zikim crossing in the north, meaning Gaza City residents are now completely deprived of food and medicine. The result, the monitor warns, will be famine, health collapse, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war and genocide.
Families Torn Apart, Livelihoods Destroyed
The new restrictions deepen the suffering of civilians by dividing families who had been moving between Gaza City and the central or southern Strip to remain connected. The enforced separation now severs these ties.
Economically, the closure wipes out what little activity survived under siege, depriving hundreds of families of their only sources of income and intensifying starvation. Gaza’s already fragile civilian life is being pushed into a state of complete deprivation.
Medical sources add that the closure of the Netzarim axis and al-Rashid Street effectively strangles the last partially functioning hospitals in Gaza City by blocking the delivery of medicine and medical staff. With 20 hospitals already shut down completely, doctors warn that the health system is collapsing as casualties mount daily without adequate capacity for treatment or rescue.
A Strategy of Starvation and Erasure
Human rights organizations underline that these measures confirm Israel’s long-term strategy: transforming Gaza into a fragmented territory of enclaves, erasing its demographic and geographic integrity, and using starvation and siege as tools of war. Far from being accidental, this is part of a declared policy of genocide and forced displacement carried out in full view of the international community.
This latest policy cements Israel’s intent to weaponize siege and displacement as tools of war, leaving over 300,000 people trapped in Gaza City without food, medicine, or safety. By institutionalizing forced exile and fragmenting Palestinian land, Israel is not only committing war crimes but dismantling the very possibility of life in Gaza. The international community cannot remain silent as an entire population is deliberately starved, scattered, and erased.
