Under a cloud of destruction and promises of relief, hundreds of thousands remain trapped between threat and forced evacuation.
Gaza, September 2025
Israel has reinforced its military campaign in Gaza, ordering civilians to evacuate and announcing new humanitarian zones in the south. The measure aims to channel a growing exodus, while intensified airstrikes on residential towers have dramatically increased the civilian death toll.
In recent days, the offensive has escalated with strikes on high-rise buildings that, according to the Israeli Defense Forces, contained Hamas infrastructure. Palestinian groups counter that many of these towers were serving as shelters for displaced families, which explains the rising number of casualties. Civilians thus find themselves caught in a strategy that blends military operations with mounting pressure to abandon the city.
Authorities have designated areas in Khan Younis and Al Mawasi to host those fleeing the north. These spaces include field hospitals, desalination plants, pipelines, food distribution centers, and emergency medical supplies. Yet humanitarian organizations warn these areas have been at the brink of collapse for weeks and cannot realistically absorb new waves of displaced people.
According to official estimates, Israel currently controls between half and three-quarters of Gaza’s territory. Thousands of reservists have been deployed under the direct orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seize Gaza City, considered the last major Hamas stronghold. Senior military officials, however, have voiced doubts about the feasibility of such a full-scale operation, citing the heavy human cost and the potential diplomatic fallout.
Civilian suffering remains the most visible dimension of this conflict. Preliminary figures suggest more than 64,000 people have died in Gaza since the war erupted in October 2023, with hospitals overwhelmed and basic infrastructure near collapse. The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that a mass evacuation of the city is both unsafe and unworkable. Southern shelters lack the resources to sustain the displaced, and access to basic medicine has become a scarce privilege for thousands of families.
Across Europe, diplomatic voices insist that establishing humanitarian corridors must be a priority, since large-scale forced displacement without minimum guarantees could amount to a breach of international law. Religious leaders and humanitarian law scholars have also cautioned that these campaigns represent a contemporary form of population transfer with highly questionable legality. The pope, in a recent address, called for an immediate halt to mass expulsions, reminding that communities cannot be treated as movable pieces on a military board.
Meanwhile, regional actors are carefully calibrating their positions. Within the Arab world, some governments have criticized Israeli operations but stopped short of taking steps that could trigger direct confrontation. The United States continues to back Israel, though in Washington dissenting voices grow louder in demanding a halt to hostilities. China observes cautiously, linking the crisis to its broader narrative about the need for an alternative international order. In Africa, states with seats in multilateral forums have joined the call against a humanitarian collapse that risks overwhelming global relief agencies.
The paradox of so-called safe zones is stark: they are presented as havens of protection, yet fill with families fleeing bombardment without assurances that these areas will remain untouched. For Gaza’s inhabitants, every choice carries risk—staying at home under artillery threat, or moving to overcrowded camps with little certainty of real aid.
The conflict has thus entered a critical stage, where the language of security collides with the reality of a large-scale humanitarian disaster. Gaza is no longer just a local battlefield; its reverberations cut across borders, strain international alliances, and fuel a global debate over the relevance of humanitarian law in asymmetric wars.
Facts that do not bend.
Hechos que no se doblan.