It is currently estimated that the remains of thousands of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces lie beneath the rubble across the Gaza Strip. Rescue and relief workers continue to face enormous difficulties in reaching them and providing the dead with a proper burial. Yet, as the situation on the ground develops, there are growing fears that many of those trapped beneath the ruins may never be recovered. The prospect is made even more disturbing by Israel’s increasingly explicit indications that it wants to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s defence minister said last week that his government had plans to remove Palestinians from Gaza but was awaiting US approval. Israel’s national security minister, meanwhile, said the proposed plan would seek to remove 250,000 Palestinians from Gaza during its first year, followed by the displacement of the remaining roughly two million residents over the subsequent six years. Such a forced expulsion would be a grave violation of international law. The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkiye have rightly condemned any plan to forcibly expel Palestinians from their homeland, warning that such measures directly challenge US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the Gaza conflict.
The problem, however, is that illegality has rarely prevented Israel from pursuing policies it considers to be in its interests. Nor has the United States demonstrated an ability, or perhaps the willingness, to restrain Israel in any meaningful way. Washington has instead continued to provide strong political and strategic backing to the Israeli government, while its own confrontation with Iran has further complicated an already volatile regional situation. If the United States is serious about ending the conflict, it cannot continue to overlook policies that threaten to make a peaceful settlement even more difficult.
The ceasefire deal brokered by President Trump has also been repeatedly undermined by Israeli actions. More than 1,300 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have reportedly been killed since the October ceasefire. The latest addition to this grim toll came on Sunday, when Israeli strikes reportedly killed a man and his eight-year-old daughter. The obvious question is what threat a father and his young child could possibly have posed. When the objective becomes the removal of an entire population, however, even the mere presence of civilians on their ancestral land can apparently be portrayed as a security concern.
While the reported plans for the forced expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza may still be at a preliminary stage, the situation in the occupied West Bank suggests that forced displacement is already occurring on a significant scale. A UN human rights report published last week said Israeli security forces had forcibly displaced the entire Palestinian populations of three refugee camps in the occupied West Bank during January and February 2025 and continued to prevent their return, in violation of international law.
The operation, described by Israel as ‘Iron Wall’, resulted in the displacement of around 33,000 people. This mass displacement has taken place alongside an expansion and intensification of Israeli settler attacks in areas that remain under direct Palestinian control. The pattern is deeply troubling: Palestinians are being driven from their homes, prevented from returning and confronted with an expanding settler presence. All of this is occurring in territory that Israel illegally occupies.
The international community cannot afford to treat these developments as isolated incidents. They form part of a broader pattern that threatens to make a negotiated and peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict increasingly impossible. Permanent displacement, settlement expansion and the destruction of civilian infrastructure do not create the conditions for peace; they deepen grievances and make future reconciliation more difficult.
This reality should be particularly clear to the United States. The Trump administration must recognise that Israel’s continued violations and expansionist policies are among the major obstacles to a sustainable peace in the Middle East. By allowing such actions to go unpunished, Washington risks not only undermining prospects for a Palestinian settlement but also contributing to wider instability across the region.
There is also a fundamental moral question that cannot be ignored. Regardless of strategic calculations or geopolitical alliances, supporting policies that result in mass civilian displacement, destruction and the denial of Palestinians’ right to return to their homes carries profound ethical consequences. The world cannot speak of peace while simultaneously allowing policies that make the permanent removal of an indigenous population increasingly conceivable.
The fate of those still buried beneath Gaza’s rubble is therefore more than a humanitarian issue. Their remains symbolise the devastating human cost of the conflict, while the efforts to prevent their recovery and burial would add another indignity to an already immense tragedy. If the international community genuinely wants an end to the bloodshed, it must confront not only the violence itself but also the policies that threaten to turn temporary displacement into permanent expulsion. Above all, Washington must use its considerable influence to ensure that Israel is held accountable rather than encouraged by impunity.
Shafaqna Pakistan
pakistan.shafaqna.com
Note: Shafaqna do not endorse the views expressed in the article
