Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented a dangerous policy of extortion by Israeli forces against families in the Gaza Strip, presenting them with a catastrophic, no-win choice: either collaborate with the Israeli army and its militias, or face mass killing, starvation and forcible displacement.

What began as individual extortion has escalated into a systematic, collective practice aimed at dismantling Palestinian social fabric by forcing people to betray their communities and subordinating survivors to survival conditions that destroy communal identity and resilience.

The pressure has shifted from targeting individuals to organized collective extortion that places entire families before a horrific equation: join militias created by Israel or face persecution, mass killing, starvation and forced expulsion, a coordinated attempt to eliminate Palestinian society or reduce it to submission under occupation control.

Euro-Med Monitor received shocking testimonies from families who were forced to choose between remaining under siege and bombardment with no shelter, food or medicines, and forced displacement into unknown conditions lacking basic life necessities, all under explicit threats of death if they refused Israeli orders. These testimonies show a deliberate policy to break civilian will by using fear and destruction as instruments of subjugation.

Other testimonies indicate that some Palestinian families were directly pressured to provide security cooperation to Israeli forces in exchange for being allowed to stay in certain areas or to receive basic assistance. This practice transforms humanitarian relief from an unconditional right into a tool of extortion and control, placing civilians’ lives on coercive bargaining tables and stripping them of fundamental protections.
 Source: Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor