Gaza workers in the occupied lands trapped between two ways of death.. The Egyptian Center demands the formation of an International Committee to investigate the crimes committed against them, in addition to clarifying their fate

At the time of Israeli occupation aggression against Gaza Strip is escalating, leaving thousands of martyrs and wounded civilians in an unprecedented crime amounting to a genocide as what is described by UN Rapporteurs, another humanitarian crisis is emerging resulting in thousands of victims of workers from Gaza, as the Occupation Authoutiy arrested a number of those workers since the outbreak of this recent assault. The luckiest ones among those workers are trapped in the West Bank and other Palestinian cities with no way out to return, fearing from being abused by occupation personnel or zionist extremists.

Reports indicated that a number of Gaza workers were deported to the Strip without explaining their actual numbers. Due to that, they now face death after being returned to their homes that are subjected to the ongoing bombing of the Occupation, while the fate of the detainees inside the Occupation prisons hadn’t been revealed yet after Al Aqsa Flood operation.

Adel Saba’neh, the media official in Sharek Youth Forum in Palestine, one of the volunteering official to help Gaza workers, says that nearly 13000 workers from Gaza were in Israel since the last October 7. A number of them were able to move directly to the West Bank due to the difficulty to return to Gaza in this time, while another number are still trapped in Israel and hiding themselves fearing from being abused, and the third part exists inside the Occupation prisons.

Saba’neh explained to the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) that Ramallah city in the West Bank had received more than 3000 workers, in addition to other workers who headed to neighboring Palestinian Govenorates and shelter centers, all of them showed signs of being assaulted by the Occupation army, after being expelled and targeted following Al Aqsa Flood operation.

The Palestinian activist indicated that the number of Gaza workers detained inside Occupation prisons are estimated with hundreds, and without any information regarding their fate or the conditions of their detention, pointing out that the numbers of the released persons so far don’t exceed dozens, all of them suffer from poor health conditions and have been subjected to torture, physical and moral abuse. On yhe other side, Hebrew media outlets estimated that the deportees’ number is 3000 workers.

Gaza workers who headed to shelter centers in the West Bank, are living in difficult humanitarian conditions. While they had been subjected to torture and abuse, together with losing their sources of livelihood, they are living in a permanent worry about the fate of their families in Gaza Strip due to the continuing reports regarding the expansion of the scope of aaggressionon Gaza led by Idraeli Occupation Army resulting in hundreds of victims daily, according to Sabanaah.
On Friday, November 3, 2023, according to media reports, Occupation Authorities cexplained expelling thousands of Palestinian workers who have been stranded since October 7 to Gaza Strip in light of an ongoing severe bombing on the besieged Strip for weeks, while a large number of them were subjected to torture and their belongings were rubbed.
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Security Cabinet of Israel said in a statement that Gaza workers who were in Israel on the day the war began, will be returned to Gaza through Karem Shalom Border Crossing on the east of Rafah Border Crossing between the besieged Gaza Strip and Egypt. Moreover, the statement added that: “Israel cuts all ties with Gaza. There will not be Palestinian workers from Gaza”
Occupation forces had issued work permits to 18,500 Palestinians from Gaza Strip, according to the Office for Coordination of the Occupation Government’s Activities in the Palestinian territories. Thus, the decision to cancel their work permits turned them to “illegal residents”. Such action forms an imminent threat to their life, in light of reports of giving the green light to Israeli Security Bodies to pursue them.
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Liz Throssell, Spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), said during a press briefing in Geneva that those workers “are being expelled despite the seriousness of the situation” in Gaza Strip that are subjected to destructive Israeli bombing which has killed thousands of martyrs.

According to Article No.52 of Geneva Convention – General protection of civilian at war time “No contract, agreement or regulation shall impair the right of any worker, whether voluntary or not and wherever he may be, to apply to the representatives of the Protecting Power in order to request the said Power’s intervention. All measures aiming at creating unemployment or at restricting the opportunities offered to workers in an occupied territory, in order to induce them to work for the Occupying Power, are prohibited”.

While the Egyptian Center condemns with the strongest terms the crimes of genocide committed by Israeli Occupation forces in Gaza Strip against civilians and buildings, and the unprecedented humanitarian atrocities, the Center calls for an immediate ceasefire of the aggression against Gaza and accompanied by the entry of humanitarian aids to the Gaza people. Moreover, ECESR expresses its serious concerns regarding the fate of thousands of workers whether the returned ones or those who are trapped or others who are under detention, calling for the formation of independent international committee to investigate violations committed against them.

Amid the absence of information regarding the number of workers and their fate due to the monopoly of their date on the hands of one party – Occupation Authority- together with destroying several records of Gaza residents due to the ongoing aggression, the Egyptian Center stresses the necessity of international organizations, most notably the United Nations, International Labor Organization, International Committee of Red Cross, the International Confideration of Arab Trade Unions, and others, to fulfill their responsibilities towards the protection of those workers, and ensure full disclosure of their data and clarify their fate.