In yet another atrocity added to the ongoing record of crimes against civilians in the Gaza Strip, 19 Palestinians — including women and children — were killed and dozens more wounded at dawn on Friday, the first day of Eid al-Adha, as a result of a series of Israeli airstrikes and heavy artillery shelling across several areas of the besieged enclave.
The attacks occurred as Palestinian families tried to preserve what little remained of their Eid rituals under siege and bombardment. In Khan Younis, an Israeli drone strike targeted a mobile charging point near tents for displaced civilians, killing three people, including a child, and injuring several others. In Rafah, occupation forces opened fire on civilians waiting for food assistance, killing four — including a woman — and injuring many more.
In northern Gaza, Israeli warplanes bombed the Jabalia town area, killing nine civilians, including members of the same family. Artillery shells struck Al-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, sparking large fires in residential buildings and forcing dozens of displaced families to flee once again.
These crimes are part of the ongoing military campaign launched by Israel since October 7, 2023 — a campaign that has taken a systematic and deliberate form, amounting to acts of genocide. To date, more than 54,600 Palestinians have been killed and over 125,000 wounded, the majority of them women and children. This has occurred amid the near-total destruction of civilian infrastructure and a comprehensive blockade that deprives over two million people of food, medicine, and clean water.
Targeting displaced persons and humanitarian aid sites constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit attacks on civilians and protect humanitarian facilities. The repeated pattern of indiscriminate and deliberate killings amounts to composite crimes — including mass murder, the targeting of population centers, and the violation of special protections under international law for displaced civilians and humanitarian zones.
This massacre, like others before it, holds Israel directly responsible for committing genocide against the Palestinian people, through deliberate killing, the imposition of living conditions designed to bring about their destruction, and systematic attacks on civilians in places of refuge or while seeking aid.
This catastrophic reality obligates the International Criminal Court (ICC) to immediately open formal investigations into the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza, and to hold Israeli political and military leaders accountable under universal jurisdiction.
It also obligates States Parties to the Geneva Conventions to take concrete action to stop these violations, including applying political and economic pressure on Israel and activating international accountability mechanisms.
Moreover, it demands that the international community at large, especially states providing military and political support to Israel, urgently reassess their policies and suspend all forms of assistance that enable the continuation of these crimes — including arms deals and intelligence cooperation.
As the massacres escalate, the responsibility to protect Palestinian civilians is a legal and moral obligation that falls on the shoulders of the international community — which cannot afford to remain silent as a genocide unfolds in plain sight.
