Establishing a “security zone” in Gaza is a war crime [EN/AR/HE]

ring the very first month of the war in Gaza, in early November 2023, Israel started working on a buffer zone inside the Gaza Strip. According to media reports, it will be about one kilometer wide, stretch along the entire border with Israel, about 60 kilometers, and feature military posts, paved roads and surveillance devices. The area will be off limits to Palestinians – even those who lived or cultivated fields in it before the war.

To create the buffer zone, Israel is currently destroying almost everything in the area it has designated for it, including residential buildings, public structures such as schools, medical clinics and mosques, fields, groves and greenhouses. A soldier involved in this work described it as “flattening everything”. Reservist testimonies confirm that the demolitions are carried out to clear the way for a security zone rather than as a response to intelligence information or findings in the field. Only buildings belonging to UNRWA or donated by the European Union, such as water reservoirs and wastewater treatment facilities, are left standing.

Satellite images published by the media reveal the immense damage caused by the military, including the demolition of entire residential neighborhoods and public buildings hundreds of meters from the border, and the destruction of extensive farmland in other areas. According to a study by Adi Ben Nun of the Geography Department at the Hebrew University, by 17 January 2024, the Israeli military demolished 1,072 of 2,824 structures located a kilometer or less from the border, most of which were homes. Bin Nun says the most densely populated area being cleared is near Khan Yunis, where, within a one-kilometer range from the border, 704 of 1,048 buildings – almost 70% – have been demolished. Corey Scher of City University of New York and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University put the damage even higher, estimating at least 1,329 buildings in this area have been destroyed.

The destruction in Beit Hanoun is a case in point. Satellite images show an entire neighborhood ruined, including more than 150 residential buildings, schools and two hospitals. The surrounding farmland was destroyed, too. Another example of this policy is the town of Khuza’a, which lies opposite the Israeli kibbutz of Nir Oz and has homes closest to the border. The military demolished the entire town, including residential buildings and mosques, as well as surrounding farmland and greenhouses.

Israel has not officially admitted its intention to create a “security zone” along the border. The IDF Spokesperson and other official sources have repeatedly claimed the massive demolition is a response to Hamas actions and that all affected homes, roads and farmlands were “terrorist infrastructure.” For example, in response to an article on the planned buffer zone, the IDF Spokesperson stated that Hamas

“unlawfully embedded military assets inside densely populated civilian areas… The IDF identifies and destroys terrorist infrastructure located, among other things, within structures in these areas. In some cases, entire neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip have become combat complexes used for ambushes, command, control centers, weapon depots, combat tunnels, observation posts, firing positions, booby-trapped homes and roadside explosive devices.”

However, other official statements clarify that Israel considers establishing a buffer zone as crucial for civilian defense. According to one statement by the military, it “is part of the imperative actions that are needed in order to implement a defense plan that will provide improved security in Southern Israel”. The IDF Spokesperson explained that the military was demolishing buildings in Gaza as part of the buffer zone effort.

Yet, this cannot justify widespread demolition inside Gaza and the creation of a “security zone.” The demolitions carried out by Israel for this purpose are unlawful and constitute a war crime: they are a preventive measure intended to thwart a future threat, and demolition for such purposes is absolutely prohibited.

International humanitarian law, which determines what parties to hostilities may – and primarily may not – do, allows targeting military objects only. To be considered a legitimate target, an object must meet two criteria: it must make an effective contribution to military action, and its destruction must provide a clear military advantage to the attacking side. This requires examining the actual use of the buildings and areas demolished, and not their potential future use.

Destroying private property is permissible only in highly exceptional cases. It is explicitly prohibited, among other things, as a means to deter, intimidate or retaliate against the civilian population, or to deliberately cause prolonged or permanent damage. In addition, the extensive scope of destruction carried out by Israel violates a basic principle of international humanitarian law, proportionality, which prohibits actions that cause excessive harm to persons not participating in hostilities and their property, relative to the military advantage expected from the action.

Creating a “security zone” inside the Gaza Strip is not a new idea for Israel. Even before the war, the military restricted Palestinian access to areas located some 300 meters from the perimeter fence, treating them as “no-go zones,” though Israel never officially announced this policy or clarified to the Palestinians precisely where access was restricted. The ban was nevertheless enforced by the military through open-fire regulations that allowed shooting Palestinians present in those areas even if they posed no threat. From September 2005, when Israel implemented “disengagement plan” to 6 October 2023 (excluding periods of fighting), at least 88 Palestinians who did not participate in hostilities were killed in these areas. The military has also enforced the ban by spraying herbicides on crops near the fence.

Israel’s policy profoundly altered the area along the border. Before the ban, residents cultivated fruit trees and grazed sheep and cattle there. After the ban was imposed, farmers switched to crops that require less care and which the military cannot argue obstruct its field of vision, such as wheat, barley, beans and vegetables.

Creating a “security zone” within the Gaza Strip will drastically change the area, with long-term implications. It will shrink the territory of Gaza, already one of the most crowded areas in the world. Thousands of residents will be unable to return home, communities will be destroyed, and entire lives built over years will be ruined. The widespread damage to farmland will also affect food production capacity in Gaza, harming farmers’ livelihoods and the future nutrition of Gaza residents.

Nazih Abu Rabi’, a 50-year-old father of seven, lived about a kilometer from the border. When the war began, he fled his home and is currently in Deir al-Balah. In late January, a relative told him the military had destroyed his home and olive grove, along with about 20 homes nearby. What he said to B’Tselem field researcher Khaled ‘Azayzeh illustrates the impact of Israel’s policy:

I wasn’t surprised when my nephew told me, but I felt deep sorrow because I lost all my property after years of effort. I put everything I earned into building the house, which was demolished in seconds. I was planning to build another floor for one of my sons, and to build another house on my plot of land. I’m very worried, because I don’t know if we will be able to go back to our land and build there again. I was born and raised on that land, and my father and grandfather before me. I have no other home.”