In a move that reinforces its policy of genocide against Palestinians, the Israeli occupation army declared on Friday that Gaza City, home to nearly one million people, is now a “dangerous combat zone.” This declaration paves the way for a new wave of bombing, killing, and forced displacement.
The decision, announced by Israeli occupation army spokesperson Avichay Adraee, included the cancellation of the so-called “tactical humanitarian pause” that was declared in July to allow the passage of aid. Yet even under that symbolic pause, Israeli occupation continued bombing tents and homes, killing civilians, making this new announcement merely a false legal cover to expand its war crimes against the besieged city’s population.
Since the start of the genocidal war on 7 October 2023, Gaza City, once an urban centre for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families, has become an open killing field. After several ground invasions and partial withdrawals—most recently in April 2024, when Israeli occupation claimed it had “dismantled the resistance infrastructure,” the occupation returns to reclassify it as a “combat zone,” signalling readiness for yet another round of atrocities.
Labeling a densely populated city as a combat zone effectively strips over a million civilians of legal protection. This fundamentally contradicts international humanitarian law, which asserts that civilians are protected under all circumstances and must not be treated as military targets. In fact, this step forms part of a systematic policy of genocide involving direct killing, starvation, systematic destruction, and forced displacement—all clear components of this grave international crime.
Although Israeli occupation claims to be “supporting humanitarian efforts” in Gaza, the facts on the ground tell a different story. Aid distribution centres have been bombed repeatedly, displaced civilians have been killed in their tents, and relief convoys are routinely blocked from reaching hundreds of thousands of besieged people.
Declaring Gaza a “combat zone” is not just military terminology, it is an outright declaration of war against civilians, a fresh attempt to legitimise mass killings at a time when the Strip faces an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe: tens of thousands killed and injured, thousands still missing beneath the rubble, a famine that has claimed hundreds of lives, mostly children, and the ongoing mass displacement of hundreds of thousands.
Through this, the occupation continues to turn an entire city into an open grave, in flagrant defiance of international norms and treaties, offering a chilling portrait of one of the most horrific acts of genocide in modern history, as the world watches in silence.
