Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, ongoing since 7 October 2023, continue to be marked by widespread killings, destruction of homes, civilian targeting, starvation, and forced displacement. These actions have prompted repeated warnings from rights groups and humanitarian organisations, who describe the situation as a systematic campaign aimed at the destruction of the Palestinian population in Gaza.
In the latest incidents, seven Palestinians were killed in airstrikes, including an entire family—a father, mother, and their three children—who were targeted while sheltering inside a tent in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood of southern Gaza City. Another Palestinian was killed in an aerial strike in Al-Tuffah, in the city’s east, and a child was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper near the northern shore of Rafah.
Intensified artillery shelling has also continued across multiple areas, including Al-Shuja’iya, eastern Khan Younis, and around Al-Nuseirat. The attacks have caused further injuries among civilians and extensive damage to residential structures, contributing to a growing pattern of deliberate, wide-scale destruction.
These developments are taking place under a protracted and total blockade that has denied Gaza’s population access to food, medicine, clean water, and safe shelter. Mass internal displacement continues, with hundreds of thousands repeatedly forced to flee within a devastated landscape that lacks the minimum requirements for civilian survival. Many families are still searching for missing relatives trapped beneath rubble, while the absence of secure humanitarian corridors or protection guarantees has left civilians in a state of ongoing risk.
The attacks have not been limited to direct military force. Access to humanitarian aid remains blocked, and facilities such as hospitals, schools, and shelters have been repeatedly targeted, undermining all civilian life-support systems. Humanitarian agencies have warned that the conditions constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law.
After more than eighteen months of continuous conflict, no effective international action has been taken to halt the mass killings or to ensure accountability for violations committed. Human rights observers continue to call for urgent investigations into potential crimes under international law, including the crime of genocide as defined by the 1948 Convention, which includes acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
