Systematic Destruction: A Pre-Meditated Campaign Of Erasure?

Author:

Kamran Faqir

Press Release: Veritas Press C.I.C. Author: Kamran Faqir Article Date Published: 27 Aug 2025 at 14:27 GMT Category: Middle East | Palestine-Gaza | US-Israel At War Source(s): Veritas Press C.I.C. | Multi News Agencies

The unfolding devastation across Gaza City, its neighbourhoods levelled into rubble, is emerging not as random chaos but as systematic erasure, raising alarming questions under the lens of international law.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reports that since 8 August, more than 50 attacks on residential blocks in Al-Zaytoun, Sabra, Sheikh Radwan, and Shujaiya have transformed cityscapes into unrecognisable wastelands. OHCHR warns of a “systematic destruction” and an escalating “pattern of Israeli strikes on crowded hospitals, residential buildings, and tent shelters,” describing the use of wide-area munitions as indicative of deliberate, indiscriminate targeting.

This approach mirrors the Dahiya doctrine, Israel’s adopted military strategy to dismantle civilian infrastructure to break the will of hostile populations. The doctrine, named after Beirut’s Dahiya quarter, openly advocates targeting civilian structures to extract political compliance. Its application in Gaza spotlights a calculated policy rather than collateral damage.

Voices From Ground Zero: Stories Of Loss, Shock, And Resistance.

On the Rubble of Lives Lost.

Dr. Younis Eid, based in the Bureij refugee camp, describes in visceral terms the total eradication of entire blocks:

“They obliterated all the houses entirely… The map of my area, once full of homes… has turned into rubble.”

“Dozens of victims, mostly children and women, have been under the rubble of destroyed houses for several days, waiting for equipment…”

In Al-Zahraa, Bilal Abu Kamil echoes similar despair:

“The occupation changed all its landmarks… There are no longer homes for people to live in or streets to walk. It has become a dark, sad, and miserable place.”

UNRWA And The Shock Of The Nakba Revisited:

Adnan Abu Hasna, UNRWA media advisor, reflects the collective trauma:

“I have never seen… entire neighbourhoods wiped off from existence in Gaza City… Everyone is in severe shock. You feel like it’s a nightmare.”

Aid Workers’ Ethical Outcry:

CARE humanitarian worker Deepmala Mahla delivers a haunting refrain:

“The amount of rubble and destroyed buildings is hard to imagine… I have not met a single person … who has not been evacuated at least five times… ‘Where is humanity?’”

Famine, Siege, And Environmental Devastation:

“Unrelenting Starvation”

UNRWA reports an acute malnutrition rate among Gaza children soaring to 28.5%, a nearly sixfold increase since March. Humanitarian aid services, medical, water, and sanitation, are rapidly collapsing.

Four Palestinians were shot dead near a food distribution point in Gaza City, highlighting how the siege turns aid zones into lethal traps.

Ecocide: An Environmental War Crime.

Beyond human loss, Gaza is facing ecological collapse:

By early 2024, 80% of its tree cover was gone; nearly half its farmland was destroyed.
130,000 cubic metres of untreated sewage now pollute Gaza’s seas daily.
Over 50 million tonnes of debris, laden with hazardous material, block rebuilding.
Experts, like Forensic Architecture and the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network, argue these acts may amount to ecocide, a war crime under the Rome Statute.

Collapse Of Healthcare: The Targeting Of Hospitals.

Gaza’s already fragile healthcare system is shattered:

A joint statement by doctors from the US, UK, and France accused the IDF of systematically dismantling medical infrastructure, including destroying oxygen tanks and CT scanners, undermining even post-war recovery.
During a ceasefire inspection (January 2025), the New Yorker described conditions akin to WWII, burnt-out wards, mass graves, surgeries without anaesthesia, painting a picture of a healthcare system decimated beyond quick repair.

Breaking The Silence: Global And Local Responses.

At Nasser Hospital, a double-tap airstrike killed at least 20 individuals, including five journalists, spurring UN demands for accountability.
The UN and ICRC have issued grim warnings: the planned offensive on Gaza City would produce a humanitarian catastrophe likely to breach international law.
Over 200 European diplomats have appealed for EU pressure on Israel, even as protests erupt in Israel demanding a ceasefire and hostage release.
The killing of Palestinian photojournalist Mariam Abu Dagga, who chronicled Gaza’s suffering, underscores the conflict’s grim toll on truth-tellers, making this the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern history.

In Conclusion: Gaza’s Erasure, Genocide in Real Time, as Israel Edges Toward Absolute Control of the OPT.

Gaza City is being methodically erased. Entire neighbourhoods, Zeitoun, Sabra, Shujayya, Sheikh Radwan, have been flattened by Israeli tanks, warplanes, and drone strikes. Families lie buried beneath their homes, hospitals are destroyed, and civilians are displaced by the tens of thousands. This is not the chaos of war; it is systematic destruction executed under the pretext of security, while Israel simultaneously edges toward absolute control of all occupied Palestinian territories (OPT).

International observers and rights groups, including the UN Human Rights Office, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, warn that Israel is actively committing genocide in real time. The deliberate targeting of civilians, hospitals, aid convoys, and infrastructure, combined with forced displacement and engineered starvation, constitutes crimes under the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention.

“This is not collateral damage. This is systematic,” says Deepmala Mahla of CARE, who has witnessed families displaced five times in five months, only to be killed in the very shelters meant to protect them.

Voices from the Ground:

Residents describe the destruction as apocalyptic.

Sara Awad, Gaza City resident: “All the time, I wonder why I must flee and live in a tent while my home is here… They treat us not as human beings. I feel we are living our final days in Gaza City.”

Dr. Younis Eid, Bureij refugee camp: “Dozens of victims, mostly children and women, have been trapped under rubble for days. Equipment is insufficient, and every minute counts… yet the bombs do not stop.”

Aid workers confirm that hospitals are operating without electricity, medicine, or oxygen, while children starve and displaced families are left with nowhere safe to go. UNRWA reports that 28.5% of children are acutely malnourished, a number projected to rise as Israel intensifies its siege.

Global Inaction and Geopolitical Complicity:

Despite the mounting evidence of mass atrocities, the international response remains limited. The United States continues military and diplomatic backing for Israel, while Arab states and European powers issue statements that fail to halt the destruction. Over 200 European diplomats have urged intervention, yet civilians continue to die under relentless bombardment.

“The destruction is unprecedented. It is not just a city under fire; it is a city under siege, its people under attempted erasure,” says a UNRWA field coordinator.

Every strike, every leveled building, and every death underscores a grim reality: Israel is not only devastating Gaza but systematically consolidating control over the entire OPT. This is a campaign that threatens the very existence of Palestinian society and tests the world’s moral and legal resolve.

The question is no longer whether war crimes are being committed; they are. The question is whether humanity will act to prevent the total erasure of a people, or stand by as Gaza, and the Palestinian people, are obliterated before our eyes.