As the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza nears two years, the Israeli occupation has intensified its military operations in recent hours, killing 36 people, most of them women and children, in airstrikes, artillery bombardments, and live fire that targeted civilian gatherings in different areas of the besieged Strip.
The attacks struck tents of displaced families, homes, and shelters, targeting people waiting for humanitarian aid, in scenes that reflect a systematic campaign aimed at civilians’ survival and the denial of the most basic necessities of life.
In Khan Younis, dozens of Palestinians were shot by Israeli occupation forces while waiting for aid trucks. The attacks included artillery and air bombardment on camps for displaced people near the city gate, and in Hamad City in Al-Mawasi area, killing 16, including six children.
Elsewhere, civilians were killed in separate bombardments, including entire families in Deir al-Balah, and in Al-Hamami and Al-Ashqar families’ homes in central Gaza, alongside drone strikes on tents of the displaced in Khan Younis.
In Gaza City, several Palestinians were killed and injured in heavy artillery shelling on Street 10, while another group was struck as they waited for aid in Zeitoun neighbourhood in the north.
Since 27 May, the occupation has imposed a new mechanism for aid distribution through what it calls the “Gaza Humanitarian Relief Foundation,” supported by the United States, and operating without United Nations supervision. However, this mechanism has effectively turned into “death traps,” as local statistics show more than 2,000 Palestinians killed while waiting for aid and over 15,000 injured.
The bombardment has not been limited to southern and central Gaza but has extended to the north, with heavy shelling of the Zeitoun neighbourhood and widespread demolitions of buildings and infrastructure, as part of a plan to reoccupy Gaza City and forcibly displace its residents, numbering around one million.
What is happening in Gaza falls squarely within the definition of genocide under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It targets Palestinians on the basis of their national identity through mass killings, destruction, starvation, and the denial of aid. These crimes are being committed under circumstances of systematic bombardment, siege, and forced displacement, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
Since 7 October 2023, Israeli occupation crimes have killed more than 61,897 Palestinians and injured over 155,660, the majority of them women and children. In addition, more than 9,000 remain missing under the rubble, and hundreds of thousands are displaced. Starvation alone has so far claimed the lives of 273 people, including 112 children.
These numbers do not only reflect a profound human tragedy; they reveal a deliberate policy of extermination aimed at erasing Palestinian existence in Gaza. This systematic campaign of killing, starvation, and destruction disregards international legal obligations and openly defies binding rulings of the International Court of Justice to halt such crimes.
