The death toll and number of injured civilians in the Gaza Strip have reached devastating levels following a renewed wave of heavy bombardment by Israeli occupation forces since dawn. The attacks are part of what has become a systematic campaign of genocide, targeting civilians — particularly women and children.
Twelve civilians, including several children, were killed in an airstrike that hit the Abu Samra family home in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. Meanwhile, two more civilians were killed and others injured in a drone strike on the Al-Manara area, east of Khan Younis.
In Nuseirat refugee camp, the number of victims rose to 15 following the bombing of a fuel station, while another civilian was killed in Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood, southeast Gaza City. In Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, Israeli naval vessels continue to shell residential homes.
According to medical sources, more than 60 civilians were killed since dawn, the majority of them women and children. The deaths follow a series of massacres in which Israeli forces bombed homes and tents sheltering displaced families — reflecting a deliberate and targeted pattern of genocide.
What is happening in Gaza cannot be described simply as violations of the Geneva Conventions or random acts of war. It is a systematic and intentional destruction of a specific population — the Palestinian people — through mass killing, severe physical harm, starvation, deprivation of shelter and medical care. These actions fall squarely within the legal definition of genocide as outlined in the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
According to the latest figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 53,486 people have been killed and 121,398 injured since 7 October 2023. These figures are not final, as thousands of wounded people are denied access to medical care, and many bodies remain trapped beneath rubble — all of which reflects a deliberate policy of extermination aimed at the collective erasure of a civilian population.
The Israeli military continues to target residential neighbourhoods, displacement centres, and critical infrastructure — including fuel stations, bakeries, and hospitals — indiscriminately, depriving civilians of the basic necessities for survival. These attacks serve no genuine military objective; rather, they are part of a strategy to break the will to live and forcibly depopulate the land.
Given these facts, continuing to describe this aggression simply as “war” — without recognising it as a fully-fledged genocide — only perpetuates impunity. There must be real accountability through international courts, and legal mechanisms must be activated to prosecute those responsible and isolate them from the global community.
