The English version of Wikipedia has updated the status of several cities in Gaza, including Rafah, Beit Hanoun, Al-Qarya as-Suwaidiya, and Om al-Nasr, now referring to them as "former" places, using the past tense. This wording may lead to the normalization of the erasure process, implying the disappearance of these settlements in a significant sense. Thus, facts about genocide and depopulation may be perceived as a fait accompli. This information is provided by TRT.
Supporters of such edits refer to satellite images and UN reports that confirm that over 90% of the infrastructure in these cities has been destroyed, and the population has either been completely evacuated or deported. They argue that these settlements no longer function as administrative units.
Critics of these changes emphasize that a city is not just its buildings, but also the rights of its residents to return. By using the term "former" to describe a city, Wikipedia effectively excludes it from the list of functioning settlements, which occurs before its status is definitively determined by international law.
The initial information that Wikipedia refers to the cities of Gaza as "former" was published by K-News.
