On Palestinian Land Day

The 30th of March, marks the fiftieth anniversary of Land Day, commemorated by Palestinians in various parts of their homeland and across the diaspora each year. This ceremony comes this year amid the ongoing genocide that the Israeli forces are waging against the civilians of the Gaza Strip for the third consecutive year, in which hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed and injured, denied of medication, food and water supplies, and were and remain forced into inhumane conditions in the aim of inflicting the greatest possible losses on their end. It has also reduced the Gaza Strip area after taking over the Eastern, Southern, and Northern parts of the Strip, also known as the “Yellow Area”.

The Israeli forces continue to attack civilians despite the ceasefire agreement. They bombard their homes and the residential buildings that survived the genocide especially on the eastern sides of Khan Younis and Gaza City in the areas that they're in control of, beyond the yellow line that they defined, which has consumed more than 50% of the Strip’s area. This expansion aims to take over these areas and acquire more land. It also forces thousands of civilians into displacement while prohibiting farmers from going near it, and firing alongside the bombings.

The Israeli military forces have totally destroyed more than 102,000 buildings. The housing units that have been totally or partially destroyed are estimated to be no less than 330,000 housing units. This forms 70% of the Gaza Strip housing units. In addition to destroying schools, Universities, hospitals, mosques, churches, governmental buildings, and thousands of economic facilities and destroying all aspects of infrastructure, including roads, waterlines, electricity, sewer system, and agricultural lands, making the Gaza Strip uninhabitable.

In Testimony to Al Mezan, (A.F) from Khan Younis: “I was displaced from my home multiple times, and I am originally a Palestinian refugee. My family was displaced in 1948. This war left us nothing; the houses have all been bombarded, and schools and mosques have been wiped out. I can't recognize the streets as they are completely destroyed, and there is no infrastructure. As if we are reliving what our parents lived and we used to hear about. We are in a state of constant displacement after the house was destroyed. And I do not know if we are going to return to our destroyed houses or not. We do not want anything except to live safely and to access our essential needs of food, water, housing, education, and healthcare.”

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the Israeli forces, since October 2023, have killed 72,280 and injured 172,014 Palestinians. And moreover, since the entry into force of the agreed ceasefire, they killed 704, and injured 1914 other Palestinians.

The Israeli forces continue to impose severe restrictions on nutritional, medical, and other essential humanitarian aid, such as cooking gas, fuel, shelter, mobile homes, and spare parts needed to operate electric generators and hospital equipment, which endangers patients' lives and threatens intensive care units as well as neonatal incubators and dialysis units. This also could lead to the spoilage of sensitive medications, vaccines, and blood units. By that, it seeks to put civilians in brutal, inhumane conditions that push them to give up their land.

The Palestinian suffering continues also in the West Bank and Jerusalem through the occupation’s oppression daily practices and the abuse by it’s settlers. In addition to its discriminatory policies that strive for the entrenchment of land control and impose new realities at the cost of Palestinian existence through settler expansion, land confiscation, and impose strict restraints on the freedom of speech.

This anniversary takes on a special character this year, especially due to the increase in aggressive policies adopted by the most extremist Israeli government. As the Palestinian suffering has multiplied in Jerusalem and the West Bank as a result of illegal settlers’ aggression, fully supported by the Israeli forces. Crimes against Palestinians aim to take over lands and expel their inhabitants through acts of killing, intimidation, destruction, vandalism, arson, and forcibly annexing their lands. These are constant attempts to force Palestinians out of their own houses and lands.

The land appropriation policies on the 1976 Palestinian lands represent a systematic approach adopted by the occupation’s authorities over several years. Especially in Jerusalem and the West Bank, where they are constantly being targeted. Attempting to alter their demographic composition through destroying Palestinian houses, imposing construction restraints, and seizing Palestinian properties in favor of illegal settlers. In addition to isolating Palestinian neighborhoods from their surroundings, the Israeli forces are imposing tightening procedures that would push them to abandon their land.

According to available information, by the end of 2024. The total Israeli colonial settlements and military bases in the West Bank have reached 580. This number is distributed over 151 established settlements, 256 colonial enclaves, in which 29 inhabited enclaves were categorized as districts subordinate to settlements, as well as 114 other classified locations that include industrial, touristic, and service areas, besides the military camps affiliated with the Israeli army. The colonizers and Israeli authorities, under the protection of the Israeli army, have committed 23,827 attacks targeting Palestinian civilians and their properties. These attacks include Killings, burning of homes, facilities, and vehicles, in addition to theft of property.

Issam Younis, General Director of Al Mezan stated:

“Since the entry into force of ceasefire in Gaza, the occupation forces in the West Bank have carried on with committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the rest of Palestinian territories. As they continue to commit their crimes and raids on residences and tents of displaced Palestinians, and proceed to murder innocent civilians, women, and children. They race against time to destroy everything in their path within the region that falls under its force control, called the “yellow area”. They also continue to de facto annex Palestinian lands in Jerusalem and the West Bank while rapidly expanding their colonies at an accelerated and unprecedented pace, while releasing settlers to terrorize and torment Palestinians by destroying and burning their properties and uprooting their trees.”

Al Mezan strongly condemns Israeli crimes, practices and policies that torment Palestinian civilians and deny them their rights to movement, protection, on their land. While imposing a forced reality that targets transforming Palestinian lands, especially the Gaza Strip, into an uninhabitable area and forcibly driving its residents to abandon it in the frame of a systematic forced displacement policy by turning the civilians' lives into an unbearable daily hell. This is a large-scale collective punishment and a consistent crime that aims to break the Palestinian people’s will and strip them of their basic human rights.

Al Mezan center for human rights calls for an urgent intervention by the international community to put an end to the genocidal crime, and to initiate the necessary measures and actions to put an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory in respect to the July 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice. While also ending the blockade and the restrictions imposed on the free movement of individuals and goods to and from the Gaza Strip.

Al Mezan Center reiterates its appeal to the free people of the world to expand forms of solidarity with the Palestinian people and to push their governments to put an end to the ongoing genocide, respect international law, and guarantee the Palestinian’s right of self-determination.