Israel/OPT: Civilian deaths and extensive destruction in latest Gaza offensive highlight human toll of apartheid – occupied Palestinian territory

In its offensive in early May in occupied Gaza, Israel unlawfully demolished Palestinian homes, often without military necessity, in a form of collective punishment of civilians, Amnesty International said today. Israel also carried out what appeared to be disproportionate airstrikes, killing and injuring Palestinian civilians, including children.

Amnesty International investigated nine Israeli airstrikes that killed civilians and damaged and destroyed homes in the Gaza Strip. Three separate attacks on the first night of bombings on May 9 in which precision-guided bombs targeted three senior Al-Quds Forces commanders, killing 10 Palestinian civilians and injuring at least 20 others. They were deployed at 2am in densely populated urban areas while families were sleeping at home. This suggests that those who planned and authorized the attacks anticipated, and likely ignored, the disproportionate harm to civilians. Deliberately carrying out disproportionate attacks, a pattern Amnesty International has documented in previous Israeli operations, is a war crime.

Gaza-based Palestinian armed groups, led by the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, fired indiscriminately rockets that killed two civilians in Israel and three Palestinian civilians in Gaza, in an act also under investigation as a war crime .

“A month has passed since the ceasefire agreement between Israeli authorities and Palestinian armed groups, but the suffering inflicted on civilians in the Gaza Strip by these repeated Israeli offensives never ends. In our investigation, we heard vivid accounts of bombs destroying houses, fathers rescuing their little girls from the rubble, and a teenager fatally injured while lying in bed with a teddy bear. Even scarier than all of this is the almost certain fact that unless the perpetrators are held accountable, these horrific scenes will repeat themselves,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“That we continue to document the same pattern of unlawful killings and destruction is a charge of the international community’s failure to hold Israel accountable. Israel’s impunity for the war crimes it repeatedly commits against Palestinians and for its cruel 16-year illegal blockade of Gaza encourages further violations and makes injustice chronic.”

The Five Day Offensive

On May 9, Israeli forces launched a five-day offensive in the Gaza Strip, which appeared to target members and assets of the Al-Quds Forces. Eleven Palestinian civilians, including four children, were killed in the Israeli attacks. The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that 190 people were injured, including 64 children.

Israeli military operations damaged 2,943 housing units, including 103 houses that were completely destroyed. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Public Works, the offensive displaced at least 1,244 Palestinians.

On May 10, Al Quds Forces, along with smaller armed groups, responded to the Israeli attack by firing hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities for four days, killing two Israeli civilians – Inga Avramyan, an 82-year-old Israeli, and Abdallah Abu Jibbeh, a 35-year-old Palestinian worker from the Gaza Strip — and injured 40 others, according to Israel’s Health Ministry. Missiles from Palestinian armed groups that missed or did not reach their target also killed three Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza, including two children, Layan Mdoukh, 10, and Yazan Alayan, 16. This is not an isolated case, but Amnesty International’s latest findings on Palestinian casualties from misfires were released after the military operation in August 2022.

“Rocket attacks by Palestinian armed groups are notorious for their inherent inaccuracy and are indiscriminate; These attacks must be investigated as war crimes are committed and victims must be given immediate and adequate redress,” said Heba Morayef.

Unspeakable violence

At 2 a.m. on May 9, Israeli airstrikes hit a two-story building in Gaza City’s al-Sha’af district with a GBU-39 bomb, a small-diameter bomb manufactured by Boeing Defense, Space & Security and after Israel was exported by the United States. The attack targeted the home of Khalil al-Bahtini, a senior member of the Al-Quds Forces. Khalil al-Bahtini, his wife Leila al-Bahtini and their four-year-old daughter Hajar were killed. The neighboring apartment was also attacked, killing 19-year-old Dania Adas and her 17-year-old sister Iman.

Alaa Adas, Dania and Iman’s father, told Amnesty International that he woke up when his bedroom door fell on him. He ran to Iman and Dania’s room and found his daughters in bed. Dania, whose wedding was scheduled for July, was already dead. Iman, an enthusiastic student who dreams of becoming a doctor, was still breathing and was rushed to hospital, where she died a few hours later.

“Instead of graduating, going to university, and pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor, she has [Iman] died,” said Adas.

“As civilians, the lives of Leila and Hajar al-Bahtini, as well as Dania and Iman Adas, should have been protected and not taken. Israel is obliged to call off an attack if it is determined that it could cause disproportionate damage to civilians and civilian objects. “Deliberately carrying out a disproportionate attack is a war crime,” Morayef said.

intentional destruction

Israel’s deliberate demolition of civilian homes also took a heavy toll on Gaza’s civilian population, including people with disabilities.

On May 13, Israeli forces attacked a four-story building in the Jabalia refugee camp. The building housed 42 people from the Nabhan extended family. Five family members live with disabilities, including three wheelchair users.

Hussam Nabhan, an eyewitness to the attack, told Amnesty International he received a call around 6pm which he believed was from an Israeli intelligence officer. It said residents of the building had 15 minutes to evacuate the building. Hussam told the caller that there were people with disabilities in the building and they needed more time, but the caller just repeated the warning.

After the strike, 22-year-old Haneen Nabhan was so traumatized that she found it difficult to speak. Her wheelchair was buried under the rubble of her house, so she can no longer move independently.

Amnesty International investigations have found no evidence that the Nabhan building – and other residential buildings destroyed or damaged in the last two days of the offensive – were used to store weapons or other military equipment, or that rockets were fired in their immediate vicinity.

“The main cause of this unspeakable violence is the Israeli apartheid system. “This system must be dismantled, the blockade of Gaza lifted immediately, and those responsible for the crime of apartheid, war crimes and other crimes under international law held accountable,” Morayef said.

background:

As Israeli authorities continue to prevent Amnesty International from entering the Gaza Strip, the organization hired a local field researcher to collect evidence and interview witnesses at attack sites during and after the five-day offensive. Amnesty International researchers conducted follow-up interviews and analyzed satellite imagery and other open-source evidence, including footage of the attacks and their aftermath and statements by Israeli officials.

The unlawful attacks on Palestinian homes and the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007 are part of Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians, which amounts to a crime against humanity of apartheid under both the Apartheid Convention and the Rome Statute.