2

1. SCOPE OF ANALYSIS
   1.1. Forensic Architecture has conducted an analysis of open-source data, press releases, social media
   posts, and statements by officials in the Israeli occupation forces (IOF/Israeli military) concerning
   warnings, ‘evacuation orders’, ‘known shelters’, and suggested ‘evacuation routes’, and examined the
   means by which this information was disseminated, by reference to testimonies both online and
   collected first-hand, media evidence, documentation of these events by Palestinians in the occupied
   Gaza Strip, and satellite imagery from 8 October 2023 to 16 February 2024.
   1.2. The aim of the study was to:
   1.2.1. establish and examine a timeline of warnings and 'evacuation orders', including the establishment of
   so-called ‘safe corridors’, ‘safe zones’, and ‘known shelters’, and the map of ‘evacuation zones’ or
   ‘blocks’ made available to the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza by the Israeli military;
   1.2.2. plot the location, boundaries, and timeline of ‘safe zones’ and ‘evacuation grids’ declared by the Israeli
   military;
   1.2.3. examine the effectiveness of the Israeli military’s means of disseminating information on the
   ‘evacuation orders’, ‘safe corridors’ and ‘safe zones’;
   1.2.4. examine direct attacks by the Israeli military on its declared ‘safe corridors’ and ‘safe zones’; and
   1.2.5. examine the relationship between the Israeli military ‘evacuation orders’ since 7 October 2023 to the
   mass displacement and unprecedented killing of the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
2. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
   2.1. The evacuation of civilians from active combat zones is prohibited under international humanitarian law
   (IHL) unless exercised for the protection of civilian populations.1 Areas to which civilians are directed
   must be provided with ‘the essentials for survival, including food, water, shelter, hygiene, health
   assistance, and safety’.2 While Israel has claimed that its ‘evacuation orders’ were an attempt to protect
   Palestinian civilians, our study reveals that since 7 October 2023, the ‘humanitarian measures’
   employed by the Israeli military have failed to provide protection for the Palestinian civilian population.
   2.2. Our findings further reveal that the ‘humanitarian measures’ employed by Israel, including ‘warnings’,
   ‘evacuation orders’, ‘safe zones’, and ‘safe corridors’ were not used as a means of protecting life and
   livelihood—as has been suggested by the Israeli military and as was argued by its legal team at the
   International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 12 January 2024—but rather have:
   2.2.1. amplified the forced transfer and mass displacement of Palestinians;
   2.2.2. created confusion and panic by providing unclear, incorrect, inconsistent, elastic, unspecified,
   conflicting, and inaccessible instructions, formats, names, and communication protocols (referred to
   herein as ‘cartographic terror’ ) ;
   2.2.3. resulted in cases of targeting and military bombardment of routes and zones designated as ‘safe’ by
   the Israeli military;
   2.2.4. facilitated the movement and direction of displaced civilians to areas of active Israeli military presence
   and operations which, in numerous cases, led to significant civilian fatalities;
   2.2.5. repeatedly ordered the evacuation of civilians to areas declared ‘safe’ that consistently lacked access

Footnotes:
1 Article 8 (2) (viii) of the Rome Statute forbids ‘ordering the displacement of the civilian population for reasons related to the conflict, unless
the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand. <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/RS-Eng.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="forumlink">[icc-cpi.int]
2 [interagencystandingcommittee.org] *

to basic means of life, including adequate ‘shelter, hygiene, health, safety and nutrition’ as required by
international humanitarian law3;
2.2.6. attacked civilians in areas designated as ‘safe’;
2.2.7. continued even after the ruling of the ICJ on 26 January 2024 which found, by a large majority, that
‘at least some of the acts and omissions alleged by South Africa to have been committed by Israel in
Gaza appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the [Genocide] Convention’. Since this
ruling, Israel has continued the expulsion and forced displacement of Palestinians from their homes
and deprived them of access to adequate food and water, humanitarian assistance, fuel, shelter,
clothes, hygiene, sanitation, and medical care, in contravention of the court’s order.
2.3. Together, these measures have become tools in a military campaign that has, at the time of writing,
killed over 30,000 Palestinians, over 70% of them women and children, with thousands more missing,
and tens of thousands more civilians wounded. This has been exacerbated by unparallelled and
catastrophic levels of infrastructural destruction and agricultural damage, and the systematic targeting
of vital civilian structures, including hospitals, schools, religious and cultural heritage sites, bakeries,
and homes.
2.4. This study reveals the way in which the Israeli military’s above declared ‘humanitarian efforts’ served to
facilitate what numerous international experts have called Israel’s genocidal actions. Rather than
‘humanitarian acts’ used as preventative measures for the safeguarding of civilian life, this report
supports claims that Israel has exercised a form of ‘humanitarian violence’, in concert with and in
support of its broader genocidal actions.

[content.forensic-architecture.org]