Scenes of civilian massacres have become tragically routine in the Gaza Strip, where even children and women are no longer safe—not even within displacement tents.
As the war continues and the humanitarian crisis deepens, human rights organisations are warning that the situation has escalated beyond a mere military offensive and now constitutes an organised campaign of genocide. This is taking place under the sustained failure of the international community and the silence of institutions tasked with protecting civilians in armed conflict.
Dr Munir Al-Bursh, Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, stated that Israeli forces are deliberately targeting tents housing displaced families, affirming that “children are being killed directly,” in what he described as a repeated pattern of systematic attacks against civilians.
Al-Bursh further noted an unprecedented increase in burn injuries arriving at hospitals, indicating the likely use of internationally prohibited and lethal weapons. He added that Gaza’s healthcare system has collapsed entirely due to the destruction and deliberate disabling of hospitals—an act in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit attacks on medical facilities and personnel.
Dr Fadi Al-Madhoun, Medical Director for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) in Gaza, reported that more than 50,000 patients and wounded individuals are in urgent need of surgery. He warned that the lack of medicine and essential supplies is putting thousands of lives at immediate risk, particularly among children.
He added that child malnutrition has reached critical levels due to the blockade and the denial of food aid—an act that amounts to a war crime, with starvation used as a weapon against civilians.
Since 7 October 2023, Israel has continued a campaign of mass killing in Gaza that has resulted in over 168,000 casualties, most of them women and children, along with more than 14,000 people still missing.
The use of systematic tactics of killing, destruction, and starvation by the occupying power aligns with the elements defined in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Moreover, the repeated targeting of populated areas, medical infrastructure, and obstruction of humanitarian aid, along with the ongoing blockade, constitute grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. These actions place direct legal responsibility not only on Israel but also on the states that provide it with military and political support—chief among them the United States and several European countries—who are considered complicit through their funding and diplomatic backing.
The Israeli military resumed its offensive on Gaza in the early hours of 18 March 2025, ending a two-month ceasefire that began under an agreement implemented on 19 January. Despite the truce, Israel continued to violate its terms throughout, targeting civilians and critical infrastructure with no effective international mechanisms in place to ensure accountability or pressure to halt these ongoing crimes.
