As part of the ongoing genocide against civilians in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation army carried out a series of massacres from the early hours of Friday, killing 25 Palestinians, including children and women, through direct targeting of shelters, inhabited homes, and displaced persons’ gatherings.
In northern Gaza City, Israeli artillery shelled the “Amr Ibn Al-As” school, which shelters hundreds of displaced people in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, killing 12 Palestinians, including women and children, and injuring dozens, some critically. In the same neighbourhood, another massacre took place when the occupation targeted a tent sheltering displaced members of the Shahin family on Al-Jalaa Street, killing five, including three children.
In the western part of the city, four members of the Al-Aswad family, a couple and their two daughters, were killed in a helicopter strike on an apartment behind Abu Asi School in Al-Shati refugee camp.
In the Sabra neighbourhood, southeast of Gaza City, a mother and her son were killed by a drone strike that targeted civilians near Al-Istijaba Mosque. Bombardment of the homes of the Al-Amareen and Al-Ja’al families resulted in casualties and widespread destruction. The area around Sabra Clinic and the Islamic Complex Mosque also came under heavy shelling.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that occupation forces are using explosive-laden robots to demolish residential buildings, alongside ongoing aerial and artillery bombardment on neighbourhoods in Jabalia, in the north of the Strip.
In central Gaza, two women were killed and five others injured after two suicide drones struck a residential flat in “Ittihad Tower” in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp.
In the south of the Strip, several Palestinians were injured in a strike on a water desalination station west of Khan Younis, where displaced people had gathered to collect water. “Hamad City” also came under heavy artillery fire, in addition to the targeting of a home belonging to the Bdeir family near Ibad Al-Rahman Mosque.
These incidents reveal a systematic pattern of targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, legally defined as war crimes and crimes against humanity. The widespread and deliberate attacks on vulnerable groups such as women and children, and the deprivation of basic life necessities, meet the criteria for genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Since 7 October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed over 62,192 Palestinians and injured 157,114, most of them women and children. Additionally, nearly 9,000 people remain missing under the rubble, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Hunger caused by the blockade and starvation tactics has claimed 271 lives, including 112 children.
The Israeli occupation continues its war of extermination against Gaza, blatantly disregarding international appeals and rulings by the International Court of Justice to halt the offensive. This places the international community before a real test of its commitment to international law and the principles of justice and humanity.
