Zionist regime destroys 1,600 residential buildings, 13,000 tents, displacing over 350,000 in one month

In a statement, the GMO described the Israeli occupation forces’ (IOF) targeting of Gaza’s civilian neighborhoods as “brutal,” part of a campaign of systematic destruction, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement that has marked the ground offensive since its inception.

The statement dismissed remarks by Zionist regime’s war minister Yisrael Katz, who claimed “the gates of hell in Gaza have been opened on the resistance,” calling it a narrative that reverses reality. It stressed, “The truth is that the occupation is systematically opening fire on unarmed civilians, destroying homes, hospitals, schools, mosques, and tents, not military targets.”

The GMO emphasized that this campaign constitutes a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, and serves as ongoing justification for genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement” against a densely populated city with hundreds of thousands of children, women, and elderly residents.

Since the start of the offensive, the IOF has completely demolished over 1,600 multi-story residential towers and heavily damaged another 2,000 buildings, in addition to destroying more than 13,000 tents sheltering displaced families.

In September alone, the IOF demolished 70 buildings entirely, severely damaged 120 more, and destroyed over 3,500 tents, further intensifying the suffering of displaced residents.

The GMO noted that the destroyed buildings contained more than 10,000 housing units, home to over 50,000 people, while the targeted tents sheltered more than 52,000 displaced individuals. In total, over 100,000 people have lost their homes, resulting in forced displacement of more than 350,000 residents from eastern neighborhoods toward central and western Gaza, a situation the GMO described as “clear evidence of war crimes through systematic ethnic cleansing and genocide.”

The GMO outlined the main affected neighborhoods and camps, including Shuja’iyya, Zeitoun, Tuffah, Daraj, Northern and Southern Rimal, Tel al-Hawa, Sheikh Radwan, Sabra, Al-Nasr, al-Shati Camp, and Sheikh Ajleen, along with sub-divisions such as Harazin, Turkman, and Al-Muntar in Shuja’iyya.

The statement concluded, “The occupation deliberately targets civilians, their homes, and displacement sites, committing clear and systematic genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement,” urging the international community to act immediately to protect unarmed civilians.

UN estimates indicate that over one million people were living in Gaza City and its surroundings before the IOF intensified its assault, targeting high-rise buildings last week.

On Saturday, the IOF dropped leaflets instructing residents of western neighborhoods to evacuate, while the Civil Defense reported ongoing airstrikes. The majority of Gaza’s population, over two million, has been forced to relocate multiple times during the war.

The IOF has recently destroyed several residential towers in Gaza City, stating that it aims to “intensify targeted strikes to damage Hamas’s infrastructure and reduce the threat posed by its fighters.”

The United Nations has repeatedly warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if Israel proceeds with its plan to occupy Gaza City, while humanitarian organizations denounce the renewed forced displacement of northern residents to the south.