At least 25 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip since dawn on Wednesday, following a series of Israeli airstrikes that hit residential areas and schools sheltering displaced civilians.
The escalation comes as part of what rights groups and observers increasingly describe as a campaign of genocide targeting the besieged civilian population. This continues amid international silence and complicity, amid complete disregard for international laws and conventions.
Since the beginning of the offensive on 7 October 2023, over 168,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded, according to local authorities, the majority of them women and children. Large civilian infrastructure have been systematically destroyed, as the international community remains unable, or unwilling, to curb the violence or hold those responsible to account.
Medical and civil defence sources reported that Israeli strikes hit the “Yaffa” school in north-eastern Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced families, resulting in the deaths of ten civilians, including women and children. Additional strikes targeted homes belonging to the Jalies and Sharabasi families in separate areas, killing at least four more people. Several others remain trapped beneath the rubble.
In Khan Younis, Israeli warplanes targeted tents housing displaced people in the al-Mawasi area, as well as locations near the Bank of Palestine and the al-Fajam neighbourhood in Bani Suheila, killing two and injuring dozens more.
Eyewitnesses also reported indiscriminate tank fire and shelling in eastern Gaza City, alongside renewed demolition of homes in central and northern Rafah, in the southern part of the Strip.
Legal experts and human rights advocates argue that the situation in Gaza meets the definition of genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention, citing deliberate efforts to impose deadly living conditions on the population through mass killings, starvation, systematic destruction of infrastructure, and attacks on shelters and hospitals. The full blockade, which restricts access to food and medicine, further exacerbates the crisis.
International humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, affords strict protections to civilians during armed conflict and prohibits deliberate attacks on schools and civilian facilities. Nevertheless, Israeli forces continue to violate these principles, emboldened by steadfast US support that shields them from diplomatic and political consequences.
Despite mounting evidence of genocidal acts, Western powers, led by the United States, continue to offer political cover, effectively paralysing international legal mechanisms such as the International Criminal Court from taking meaningful action.
