At least 26 Palestinians were killed and dozens more injured on Tuesday as Israeli occupation forces (IOF) launched a series of airstrikes across various areas of the Gaza Strip, targeting residential homes, tents sheltering displaced families, and civilian gatherings.
According to medical sources and eyewitnesses, the strikes were concentrated in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, where four consecutive airstrikes killed 11 Palestinians, including women and children, inside tents and homes. Among the dead were five members of the Al-Inshasi family, who perished in their tent in the Hamad City area. Three more people were killed in a nearby tent, while another airstrike on Al-Nas Street killed one civilian.
In central Gaza, a strike on the Abu Al-Rous family home in Al-Bureij refugee camp claimed the lives of eight people. Four others were killed in a strike on a house in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City, while three Palestinians were killed in Beit Lahia in the north of the Strip.
In parallel with these attacks, the Israeli blockade on Gaza remains firmly in place. Since 2 March, no humanitarian or medical aid has been allowed to enter through border crossings, pushing thousands of families to the brink of famine.
The United Nations has confirmed that approximately 124,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced once again due to ongoing bombardment and Israeli evacuation orders.
These indiscriminate attacks, which deliberately target civilian infrastructure and populations, constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, such actions—including forced displacement and collective punishment—are clear violations that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
However, the scale and systematic nature of what is unfolding in Gaza go beyond the legal definitions of conventional war crimes. Under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, or religious group—including mass killings, inflicting severe physical or psychological harm, and imposing living conditions intended to bring about the group’s physical destruction—are considered acts of genocide. All of these conditions are currently manifest in the Gaza Strip through continued bombardment and the deliberate starvation of the population.
Furthermore, the long-standing blockade of Gaza, now intensified by the denial of humanitarian access, violates Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits collective punishment. The use of starvation as a method of warfare is explicitly prohibited and classified as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Amid this worsening crisis, calls are intensifying for international accountability. Human rights advocates are urging immediate legal action against Israeli officials responsible for these violations, stressing the urgent need to halt the ongoing genocide that continues to claim the lives of Palestinian civilians in flagrant breach of international law and moral conscience.
