Gaza, 17 May 2025 – Al Mezan issues an urgent warning to the international community: Israel has begun to execute its plan of mass extermination and territorial takeover in Gaza. The window for action is rapidly closing. Each hour of inaction results in more Palestinians killed, more Palestinian families wiped out, and more life-sustaining infrastructure destroyed.

On 7 May 2025, Al Mezan issued an urgent warning that the Israeli security cabinet had unanimously approved a plan to further escalate military operations in Gaza, with the declared aim of taking over the territory, forcibly transferring the Palestinian population to southern Gaza, and potentially deporting them outside of Palestine. Al Mezan warned that this plan marked the final stage of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

This plan is no longer a looming threat: it is being actively implemented. The Israeli military is currently carrying out the plan under the codename ‘Operation Gideon’s Chariots,’ signaling a formal and organized phase of its implementation. Satellite imagery, eyewitness and victims testimonies, and video footage reviewed by Al Mezan all point to a coordinated and escalating campaign of elimination.

On 13 and 14 May 2025, the Israeli military issued a new wave of forced displacement orders addressed at the Al-Rimal neighborhood in central Gaza City and at Jabaliya, in the North Gaza Governorate. In the past 48 hours, northern Gaza has witnessed a mass exodus, particularly from Tal Al-Zaatar and surrounding areas, Beit Lahiya, Al-Karama and Al-Sudaniyya neighborhoods, with thousands fleeing toward Gaza City. Israeli displacement orders orders have sparked widespread panic and terror among the population. Many of the displaced are now sleeping in the streets, as shelters and tent camps are dangerously overcrowded and unable to accommodate them.

Between 15 and 17 May 2025, Israeli forces also intensified their military operations, particularly in northern Gaza. At dawn on Friday, 16 May 2025, the Israeli military launched a series of heavy aerial and artillery attacks targeting civilian homes in Tal Al-Zaatar, Jabaliya, and Beit Lahiya. These attacks have killed over 120 Palestinians, the majority of whom were women and children. Among the victims are members of the Al Mezan Director’s extended family. Many others remain trapped beneath the rubble, with emergency and civil defense teams unable to reach them due to the heavy bombardment and lack of equipment and resources.

Among the families massacred were the Al-Tattari, Abu Rukba, Khalil, Abu Oun, and Salha families in Tal al-Zaatar; the Al-Sayyed, Al-Hassani, and Al-Sultan families in the Al-Salatin neighborhood; the Assaf family n the Al-Twam neighborhood; the Ghandour, Al-Sheesh, and Al-Kilani families in Beit Lahiya; and the Taha family in Al-Fakhoura.

At dawn today, 17 May 2025, the Israeli military continued attacking northern Gaza for the second consecutive day, particularly Tal al-Zaatar, east Jabaliya, and west Beit Lahiya. Trapped families have repeatedly called for assistance but remain unable to evacuate due to the targeting of anyone moving. Meanwhile, Israeli military vehicles haved advanced into the Al-Atatra and American districts, Al-Hattabiya Street, and Al-Salatin west of Beit Lahiya, as well as into Ezbet Abd Rabu east of Jabaliya, the industrial zone, and Ezbet Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. Israeli warplanes also dropped leaflets ordering residents of the targeted areas to evacuate and move south.

This is unfolding while Israeli authorities have deliberately continued to block the entry of water, food, medicine, and other essential supplies into Gaza for two and a half months (since 2 March 2025). Palestinian children are starving: at least 52 have already died from malnutrition and dehydration. Nursing mothers can no longer breastfeed their babies. Pregnant women are giving birth prematurely to underweight infants, while miscarriage rates continue to rise.

Israel has made its objective clear and unmistakable: to depopulate Gaza, destroy its people, and annex the land. That Israeli officials have openly declared this intent—and that the Israeli military is now actively implementing it—is a direct result of the persistent impunity afforded to Israel by the international community.

This impunity is rooted in the consistent failure to enforce international law or hold Israel accountable. Israel’s belief that it operates above the law is directly enabled—and continually reinforced—by the international community’s ongoing failure to take meaningful and decisive action. Nowhere is this failure more apparent than among Western states—most notably the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and its member states—which continue to provide political, military, and diplomatic cover to Israel.

The United States in particular bears clear responsibility for its complicity in Israel’s violations of international law, notably through the continued transfer of weapons and unwavering political support. U.S. backing for Israel’s efforts to depopulate Gaza underscores the depth of this complicity. Alarming reports that the United States is working to relocate one million Palestinians from Gaza to Libya point to an inherently unlawful plan. We call on Libya and any other state approached to unequivocally reject this morally indefensible scheme and refuse any involvement in actions that would contribute to the forced expulsion of the Palestinian people from their homeland.

Al Mezan urgently calls for the following immediate and concrete actions to stop the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. At this stage, statements of concern are no longer sufficient. The situation in Gaza demands decisive, enforceable measures:

-       Targeted sanctions against Israeli officials and institutions responsible for grave violations of international law.

-       The immediate revision and suspension of diplomatic and economic relations with Israel, including the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

-       A comprehensive two-way arms embargo and the immediate suspension of all military support and cooperation with Israel.

-       The prompt implementation of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli officials implicated in war crimes and crimes against humanity without delay, excuse, or exception.

-       The full implementation of the ICJ Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

-       An unequivocal public statement to be issued by the Acting Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide explicitly warning of the genocidal nature of Israel’s actions in Gaza and calling for urgent, concrete international action to halt them.

The tools to stop this genocide exist. What is lacking is the political will to use them.