Israel intent on ethnically cleansing Gaza: Analyst
Israel is intent on ethnically cleansing Gaza, according to Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies.
“Netanyahu shows no signs of changing his demand that Hamas simply surrender as the only answer he would accept, or he will otherwise go ahead with more devastation of Gaza City, and the destruction one by one of high-rise buildings, regardless of who’s in them,” she told Al Jazeera.
Bennis pointed out that more than one million Palestinians living in Gaza City, many of them living in tents among the rubble of homes, have now been told to leave.
“This is about ethnic cleansing. This is about creating conditions that make impossible the survival of a group. That’s the language of Article III of the Genocide Convention, the third of five acts of violence, that along with intention, constitute genocide.
“Israel has been carrying out that genocide by creating conditions that make it impossible for Palestinians to survive in Gaza.”
UN renews call for ceasefire as high-rise attacks displace Palestinians
The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says dozens of Palestinian families have been displaced as a result of Israel’s latest attacks on high-rise buildings in Gaza City.
Israel’s defence minister said 30 buildings have been levelled and threatened more destruction.
The attacks on residential towers in #Gaza have displaced dozens of families, many left on the streets without shelter or basic necessities.
With humanitarian access severely restricted, the suffering of already displaced persons is only deepening.
We need a #CeasefireNow. pic.twitter.com/vSwGzg3Pes
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) September 9, 2025
‘We are heading into the unknown’: Medical NGO in Gaza
A medical NGO operating in Gaza says it is highly concerned about the humanitarian sector’s ability to respond to the wave of people displaced by Israel’s offensive on Gaza City.
Speaking from Deir el-Balah, Mai el-Awawda, communications officer at Medical Aid for Palestinians, said support to meet the needs of Palestinians was already inadequate.
But with the latest flow of people from Gaza City, “we are heading into the unknown”, she said.
Al-Mawasi was already overcrowded ”with hundreds of thousands of people with almost no basic life needs – no water nor enough food”, she said. “There is no contingency plan that will be able to [address] the needs we are … to witness in the upcoming days.”
‘Gaza is being obliterated, reduced to a wasteland’: Lazzarini
The head of UNRWA says the Gaza Strip is being emptied of its forcibly starved population, which is forced to move into the so-called “humanitarian” area in al-Mawasi.
“There is no safe place in Gaza, let alone a humanitarian zone. It is a large and growing camp concentrating hungry Palestinians in despair,” Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement.
“Warnings of famine have fallen on deaf ears,” he said, asking whether the same fate awaits the deepening catastrophe in Gaza City.
“End the impunity before atrocities become the new norm.”
Hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators rally outside London arms show
They gathered outside a major arms fair in London as it opened without the presence of Israeli government officials because of tension between the UK and Israel over the Gaza conflict.
Police watched as some 300 protesters waved Palestinian flags and held up placards, including one reading “UK: Stop arming Israel. Stop the Gaza Genocide.”
The UK government excluded the officials from the four-day event, but 51 Israeli defence companies are set to attend, including arms manufacturer Elbit.
Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries, both government-owned, will also have exhibitions, making Israel the fifth-largest national contingent at the fair at the Excel London exhibition centre.
The Israeli companies “should be investigated for crimes against humanity, not invited to profit from the unspeakable devastation they have caused in Gaza”, Campaign Against Arms Trade spokesperson Emily Apple said in a statement.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog is due in London on Tuesday for a three-day official visit.
