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The Palestinian Centre For Human Rights (PCHR): Israel Continues Total Destruction of al-Zaytoun Neighborhood as Prelude to Occupying Gaza City and Forcibly Displacing Its Residents

For eight days, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have carried out a widescale military operation in al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southern Gaza City, marked by the destruction of hundreds of homes and civilian objects and the mass forced displacement of its residents. This operation evokes a scorched-earth policy that appears to be gradually expanding across Gaza City, in a prelude to imposing full military control over it.

Despite the massive destruction already inflicted on the neighborhood through eight largescale ground assaults in recent months combined with hundreds of airstrikes and artillery shelling, the IOF this time appear intent on wiping out Al-Zaytoun entirely. The neighborhood, spanning approximately 9,156 dunums, faces the threat of complete erasure as part of a broader plan to level Gaza City to the ground—echoing the devastation previously stricken other areas of the Gaza Strip.

In this regard, lawyer Raji Sourani, PCHR’s Director, said:

“Al-Zaytoun is one of the oldest and most densely populated neighborhoods in Gaza City. Since the beginning of the current war, it has been a constant target of Israeli attacks, subjected to relentless bombardment and repeated ground invasions. The devastation in al-Zaytoun reflects Israel’s clear policy of gradual annexation and comprehensive destruction- erasing one neighborhood after another until Gaza City is completely emptied of its residents. The scale of brutality, violence and destruction in al-Zaytoun has triggered mass forced displacement, accompanied by unprecedented fear and panic among the population. Residents now fear the most that what is unfolding is only the beginning of a wider plan: to confine the entire population of Gaza to a narrow area in the south, itself under relentless bombardment, as a prelude to their forced displacement outside the Strip. Al-Zaytoun thus stands as a stark example of the next phase in Israel’s ongoing plan to depopulate Gaza.”

According to PCHR’s follow-up, on Monday, 11 August 2025, the IOF launched a ground invasion into al-Zaytoun neighborhood under the cover of intense airstrikes targeting homes, accompanied by the use of explosive robots inside the neighborhood. This assault came just five days after the IOF issued illegal evacuation orders to the residents of al-Zaytoun1—one of Gaza’s oldest and most densely populated neighborhoods, home to around 110,000 people. Since then, bombardment of houses and streets has continued without pause. On 15 August 2025, the IOF officially announced that the offensive on al-Zaytoun, on the outskirts of Gaza City, was being carried out by the 99th Division, supported by the Nahal Infantry Brigade and the 7th Armored Brigade.

In recent days, the IOF has intensified its military offensive in al-Zaytoun following the forced displacement of its residents and those of nearby neighborhoods, driven by indiscriminate bombardment and evacuation calls issued through IOF drones. Israeli armored vehicles advanced to Street 8 and positioned themselves around the al-Maslabah area, ‘Ali Mosque, and al-Nojoum Hall, where they carried out large-scale destruction and razing operations. These attacks targeted hundreds of homes and civilian infrastructure, including schools, which were bombarded and destroyed amid the ongoing targeting of the western and northern outskirts of the neighborhood.

During the ongoing offensive, IOF warplanes bombed several homes with their residents still inside, preventing any chance of evacuation. Among them was the Mortaja family home, where a couple was killed; the Irhayem family home, where nine members of the family were killed; and the al-Hosary family home, where four residents lost their lives. People, together with civil defense teams, managed to recover and evacuate many of the dead and injured to al-‘Arabi al-Ahli Hospital and the Kuwaiti Field Hospital, while other bodies remain trapped beneath the rubble or scattered across the neighborhood’s streets.

Over the past days, IOF warplanes have carried out relentless airstrikes, while artillery shelling has continued around the clock under the constant presence of drones striking at anything that moved. These attacks clearly demonstrate an intent to destroy everything and enforce a scorched-earth policy directed against civilians and civilian objects.

Mohammed Saleh (31), a resident of the neighborhood, told PCHR: “We fled barefoot, without taking any of our belongings—only our lives—amid houses collapsing around us and relentless bombardment. I saw with my own eyes explosive robots entering the streets and detonating… it was a scene that looked like hell.”

Meanwhile, Mariam Yasin (70), who was forcibly displaced from the neighborhood along with her grandchildren, told PCHR: “There is no safe place… even as we were running, the bombardment chased us, as if they wanted to kill everything that moved.”

Al-Zaytoun neighborhood and its surroundings encompass several vital facilities, most notably Al-Ahly Baptist Hospital, which continues to provide health services but may shutdown if the military operation advances further. The area is also home to significant cultural and religious landmarks, including St. Porphyrius Church and the Latin Monastery Church, both of which have been repeatedly targeted, resulting in numerous civilian casualties, while still sheltering hundreds of displaced persons. Additionally, the neighborhood contains Dar al-Imam al-Shafi’ie as well as historical heritage sites such as Hamam al-Samra.

As the impact of the Israeli military offensive extended into al-Zaytoun and its surroundings, thousands of nearby neighborhoods’ residents began fleeing, forcibly displaced by the bombardment that had already reached their neighborhoods and in fear of the ground invasion expanding into their areas.

PCHR notes that the IOF’s deployment in the neighborhood, along with the highly dangerous situation on the ground, has prevented its field teams from carrying out full and detailed documentation of the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the IOF in the area. PCHR emphasizes that the statistics presented are based on the scale of explosions and demolition operations, as well as testimonies from displaced residents, which together indicate the destruction of hundreds of homes and buildings. These acts appear to form part of a systematic operation to erase the neighborhood, similar to what previously occurred in Rafah, Khan Younis, and northern Gaza.

What is unfolding in al-Zaytoun neighborhood is part of a systematic policy aimed at depopulating Gaza City by destroying its neighborhoods one after another through a strategy of gradual annexation and comprehensive destruction—beginning with al-Zaytoun and extending to the rest of Gaza’s neighborhoods. Similar operations of destruction are now underway in al-Sabrah neighborhood, south of Gaza City, serving as a prelude to imposing full military control over the city, erasing its buildings, and forcibly displacing its population to the south. This latest assault comes only days after the revelation of Israel’s plan to fully control and depopulate Gaza.

PCHR condemns in the strongest terms Israel’s ongoing systematic policy of wiping out Palestinian neighborhoods and cities and warns that the implementation of Israel’s plan to seize control of Gaza and forcibly displace its residents portends the infliction of thousands of additional casualties and will severely undermine the effectiveness of humanitarian response efforts. Israel’s bid for full control over Gaza City paves the way for the complete erasure of its cultural, historical, and archaeological landmarks, mirroring what has already been carried out in Rafah, Khan Younis, and North Gaza. In doing so, Israel is entrenching the largest forced demographic and cultural change in the Strip’s history—constituting an act of genocide and a systematic attempt to obliterate Palestinian presence and push survivors into permanent exile.

PCHR calls on the international community—particularly the permanent members of the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary-General, the International Court of Justice, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights—to take urgent and immediate action to halt Israel’s plan, prevent the repetition of another Nakba against the Palestinian people, protect Gaza City—the largest Palestinian urban center, home to hundreds of historical and cultural landmarks—and compel Israel to end its ongoing genocide against the population of the Gaza Strip.

PCHR also warns Israel’s partners in the crime of genocide—whether through their unlimited military and political support to the occupying state or through their silence—and urges them to fulfil their legal obligations before it is too late. They must take concrete measures to protect Palestinian civilians and prevent the completion of the ongoing crime of genocide.

*Spokesperson of the Israeli Army on the official Telegram Channel, 06 August 2025:Link ↩︎