The severe escalation by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip has drawn strong condemnation from Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC).

The continued targeting of civilians, the systematic destruction of residential infrastructure, and the progressive territorial compression of the population through the so-called "Yellow Line" and "Orange Line" constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law and demand urgent international accountability.

WJWC emphasizes that the massacre perpetrated by occupation forces on the eve of Eid al-Adha—killing 11 Palestinian civilians in aerial bombardments across multiple areas on 26 May—reflects a deliberate assault on the symbolism of religious observance and a persistent strategy to transform spaces of life into scenes of grief and destruction. Israeli forces continue to violate the ceasefire agreement through sustained aerial and artillery bombardment of displacement camps, demolition operations within the "Yellow Line" zone, and the imposition of severe restrictions on the movement of goods, humanitarian aid, and civilians. A newly demarcated "Orange Line" has further reduced the territory available to the civilian population.

According to data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, 904 Palestinians have been killed and 2,713 wounded since the ceasefire of 10 October 2025. An additional 777 bodies have been recovered during the same period. Cumulative figures since 7 October 2023 indicate that 72,803 Palestinians killed have been transported to hospitals, with rescue teams unable to reach numerous victims trapped beneath rubble or in streets due to ongoing bombardment and the targeting of aid workers.

Territorial Compression and the Engineering of Permanent Control

WJWC underscores that approximately 65 percent of the Gaza Strip is now under Israeli military control. Palestinians are prevented from returning to large areas of the territory, and forced displacement orders are continuously imposed—in clear violation of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Israel continues to expand its control by extending the "Yellow Line" and establishing new buffer zones, transforming temporary ceasefire arrangements into instruments for imposing a permanent military reality and further shrinking the area available to civilians. The "Yellow Line" was originally drawn as a temporary measure within U.S.-brokered ceasefire understandings, supposedly to be followed by Israeli withdrawal. However, occupation forces are utilizing it to re-engineer the Gaza Strip geographically and demographically.

Satellite imagery has revealed the widespread deployment of the occupying army within Gaza, with at least 32 military sites positioned near the "Yellow Line," alongside a new expansion designated as the "Orange Line." This reinforces concerns regarding the establishment of a permanent military border that imposes control over the Gaza Strip and isolates substantial portions of its territory.

This escalating compression is forcing approximately 2.1 million Palestinians into a confined area constituting no more than 35 percent of the Gaza Strip, amid a severe collapse in services, health infrastructure, and environmental conditions.

Systematic Destruction of Residential Infrastructure

WJWC notes that occupation forces continue to carry out widespread destruction of homes and residential areas as part of a systematic campaign to erase Palestinian cities and forcibly displace their inhabitants. Israeli companies are participating in this destruction, in direct implementation of statements by the head of the Israeli occupation government—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court—declaring intent to "continue to destroy the homes of Gaza until the Palestinians have no shelter and no option but to leave."

On 26 May, occupation aircraft bombed a residential area in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, amid ongoing violations of the ceasefire. Camp 5 in Nuseirat witnessed extensive destruction affecting an entire residential block following heavy bombardment, resulting in the complete destruction of several homes and severe damage to others—including inhabited dwellings—reflecting the escalating scope of civilian targeting.

Over two years, Israel has dropped an estimated 150,000 tons of explosives on Gaza, destroying approximately 90 percent of the infrastructure and damaging or destroying more than 440,000 housing units. These attacks have forcibly displaced more than two million Palestinians, leaving over 55 million tons of rubble in streets and residential areas.

Acts Constituting Genocide

WJWC affirms that what the population is experiencing in one of the most densely populated areas in the world can only be interpreted as a systematic attempt to erase the Palestinian city and its indigenous inhabitants from existence.

The ongoing violations in the Gaza Strip constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law, particularly the principles of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity enshrined in the four Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols. Targeting civilians, bombing residential areas, destroying infrastructure and civilian facilities, and imposing forced displacement and mass starvation constitute acts prohibited under international law and amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, warranting international criminal accountability.

Furthermore, the expansion of buffer zones and the imposition of the "Yellow Line" and "Orange Line" within the Gaza Strip, combined with the prevention of residents from returning to their homes, constitute a form of unlawful seizure of land by force and a clear violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forcible transfer or displacement of civilian populations from occupied territories.

WJWC holds that the widespread and systematic pattern of Israeli attacks—accompanied by the mass killing of civilians, the extensive destruction of homes and vital infrastructure, and the imposition of living conditions calculated to threaten the survival of the population—constitute acts of genocide within the meaning of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This necessitates urgent international action to halt these violations, hold those responsible accountable, and prevent their impunity.

Institutional Position

"The transformation of temporary ceasefire lines into permanent mechanisms of territorial seizure and demographic engineering represents an assault not merely on the Gaza Strip, but on the very architecture of international humanitarian law. We will not remain silent as civilian populations are compressed, starved, and erased from their own land."

— Women Journalists Without Chains

Demands Aligned with International Human Rights Principles

In accordance with its mandate and international legal obligations, WJWC calls upon the international community, the United Nations Security Council, and the International Criminal Court to take immediate action and demands that all relevant actors:

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Women Journalists Without Chains