Dozens of Palestinian civilians were killed and wounded in the early hours of Tuesday as Israeli occupation forces launched a series of intense air and artillery strikes on multiple areas across the Gaza Strip. This assault is part of the ongoing war of genocide that began on 7 October 2023, which has so far claimed over 51,000 lives and left more than 116,000 injured—most of them civilians.
The latest attacks resulted in the killing of 14 civilians, including two children and a doctor, alongside multiple injuries following the targeting of residential buildings and displacement shelters.
In central Khan Younis, nine people, including two children, were killed and 13 others injured after an apartment building belonging to the Shubeir family was struck. A tent sheltering displaced persons in the Al-Katiba neighbourhood of the same city was also hit, leaving several civilians wounded.
In Gaza City, residents were killed when a home belonging to the Bakr family was bombed. Meanwhile, in Deir al-Balah, Dr Majed Nasr Ismail was killed while carrying out his medical duties, in yet another instance of the systematic targeting of healthcare personnel.
The strikes also destroyed municipal and company-owned heavy equipment depots, flattened residential buildings in Rafah, and targeted four civilian bulldozers in the town of Al-Qarara, north of Khan Younis—highlighting a clear pattern of attacks on civilian infrastructure and emergency services.
In the south, Israeli ground forces advanced from northern Rafah toward the Qizan Abu Rishwan area in southern Khan Younis, under the cover of artillery fire. This incursion triggered further waves of displacement from the targeted neighbourhoods, exacerbating the already catastrophic humanitarian situation amid the collapse of basic living conditions.
The repeated violations by Israeli forces in Gaza reflect a systematic campaign of genocide aimed at the eradication of the Palestinian population and the destruction of essential civilian infrastructure—blatant and grave breaches of international humanitarian law, particularly the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the targeting of civilians and vital facilities and require the protection of medical personnel and infrastructure.
The deliberate bombing of densely populated areas, shelters for displaced families, and the killing of doctors and medics can only be understood as a policy of collective annihilation. These acts constitute crimes of genocide under international law and must not go unpunished.
Given the worsening death toll and humanitarian disaster, there is an urgent need for an independent international investigation to examine the elements of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and hold those responsible accountable before international courts. This is essential to affirm the right of people to protection and uphold the principles of international justice.
The continued silence and inaction of the international community do not merely grant impunity to the perpetrators—they represent complicity in a historic crime playing out in plain sight. Such inaction threatens the very foundations of international law and deepens public disillusionment in global institutions meant to uphold human rights and justice.
