Sixteen civilians, including at least ten children, were killed and others wounded in varying degrees in an Israeli air strike at dawn on Thursday on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
The strike targeted a queue of civilians who were waiting to receive nutritional supplements intended for children in the “Al-Tayyara roundabout” area, in a scene that reflects an ongoing escalation against civilians and a deliberate shift in the war towards the most vulnerable groups, children and women.
This massacre comes as part of a continuing military campaign since 7 October 2023, which has so far resulted in the killing of more than 57,860 people, the vast majority of whom are women and children, and the injury of over 137,400 others. Gaza remains in a catastrophic humanitarian situation, under complete siege, with many victims still trapped under rubble or lying in the streets.
The situation in Gaza amounts to an act of genocide carried out in full view of the world, where civilian life is directly targeted, healthcare and educational institutions are bombed, and essential resources such as food, water and medicine are used as weapons of war, denied to entire populations in blatant violation of international humanitarian law.
Israeli forces continue to target densely populated areas, aid distribution centres, and shelters for displaced persons, revealing a policy of collective punishment waged relentlessly against civilians. This goes far beyond so-called “collateral damage,” reflecting a clear intent to kill, displace and starve the population.
These attacks come at a time when Gaza’s population is enduring a suffocating siege, a complete collapse of the healthcare system, and total paralysis of rescue operations due to ongoing bombardment and the prevention of aid entry.
The bombing of a queue waiting for children’s nutritional supplements represents a particularly egregious violation, not only targeting civilians, but attacking them as they attempt to secure the bare minimum to sustain their starving children. Such scenes now occur daily in Gaza, where childhood itself has become a direct target, while international protection mechanisms erode and fail in the face of these continuing crimes.
This relentless assault on Gaza can no longer be measured simply by the number of dead or the scale of destruction, but by the collective loss of hope, the destruction of civil life, the targeting of vital infrastructure, the erasure of entire residential neighbourhoods, and the abandonment of their residents to the rubble or mass graves without markers.
