The Israeli occupation committed two new massacres in the Gaza Strip at dawn on Wednesday, resulting in the killing of 15 Palestinian civilians, including women and children, in airstrikes that targeted two homes in Gaza City and Deir al-Balah.
These crimes continue on the 600th day of the full-scale war on the residents of the Strip; a war that has taken on a clear pattern of genocide against the civilian population.
According to medical sources and eyewitnesses, an Israeli warplane struck the home of the Al-Arabeed family in a neighbourhood of Gaza City, killing nine civilians instantly and injuring 12 others with varying degrees of wounds.
In a similar airstrike, six more civilians were killed and at least 15 injured when a residential house was bombed in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that women and children were among the dead, while rescue teams continue to retrieve bodies from beneath the rubble, despite severely limited resources and capacity.
These attacks form part of a series of daily strikes targeting civilian homes, reflecting a systematic policy of destroying Gaza’s infrastructure and civil society. The deliberate targeting of inhabited homes without warning makes it clear that the aim is not merely to kill, but to dismantle the very social fabric of the Strip.
Since 7 October 2023, Palestinians in Gaza have endured a comprehensive military assault that has left more than 177,000 people killed or wounded, the vast majority of them children and women. In addition, more than 11,000 remain missing, their fate unknown beneath the rubble or in secret detention facilities.
The deliberate targeting of civilians, the destruction of vital facilities such as hospitals, schools, and shelters, and the denial of access to water, food, and medicine, all constitute actions that fall under the legal classification of genocide as defined by international law. The intentional destruction, in whole or in part, of a national group through killing, starvation, and forced displacement represents a grave violation of every humanitarian convention and principle.
Despite the appalling statistics and undeniable facts on the ground, the international community continues to respond to this catastrophe with disturbing silence. Meanwhile, the occupation continues its operations with political and military support from major powers, mainly the United States, without facing accountability or deterrent measures.
In Gaza it is not just a war, but a comprehensive campaign of collective extermination against a defenceless people, whose only means of resistance is their determination to remain on their land.
