The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the escalating mass killings and systematic extermination of families as part of Israel’s ongoing military offensive against the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.  This comes while famine spreads in Gaza within a systematic crime of genocide Israel has been committing in the Gaza Strip for 18 months.

PCHR’s field researchers have monitored a surge in the Israeli Occupying Forces’ (IOF) systematic extermination of Palestinian families through the relentless bombardment of houses, tents and shelters, where they had sought refuge, without a prior warning.  IOF have also used highly destructive explosive weapons that erased more entire families from the civil registry.

According to our field documentation, at dawn on Saturday, 26 April 2025, Israeli warplanes bombed al-Khour Family house in al-Sabrah neighborhood in Gaza City, killing ten and wounding others.  Meanwhile, many are still trapped under the rubble of the 3-storey house.

At around 01:50 on Friday, 25 April 2025, IOF used an explosive drone to target a tent for displaced Abu T’eimah family behind al-Aqsa University, western Khan Younis.  As a result, five were killed and they were a couple and their 3 children identified as: Ibrahim Khalil Mousa Abu T’eimah (33), his pregnant wife Hanadi Sha’aban Abu T’eimah /Abu Sabet (29), and their children Samira (9), ‘Aazem (6), and Ra’afat (4). The family was erased from the civil registry.

At around 14:55 on the same day, Israeli warplanes bombed a house for Shurrab family near Murtaja Street in Ma’en area, eastern Khan Younis.  As a result, eleven were killed, including 5 women and 2 children.  Among those killed were 3 brothers from Shurrab family and a mother with her 3 daughters from al-Sharif family.

At around 15:10 on the same day, Israeli warplanes struck a house belonging to al-‘Amour family in al-Fukhari village, southeastern Khan Younis.  As a result, nine were killed and they were a couple and their 7 children identified as: Mohammed Barakah al-‘Amour (48), his wife, Zinat Ibrahim al-‘Amour (45) and their children Shatha (22), ‘Ola (21), ‘Ahed (20), Raghad (18), Barakah (16), Ahmed (14) and Sama (6).

At around 00:50 on Thursday, 24 April 2025, Israeli warplanes bombed a house for al-Najjar Family in Qizan al-Najjar area, south of Khan Younis.  As a result, 73-year-old elderly Mahmoud Yasin was killed along with his wife Laila Hamdi Mohammed al-Najjar (69).

At around 03:30 on the same day, an Israeli helicopter bombed a displaced people’s tent in al-Mawasi area, western Khan Younis, killing two little siblings identified as Jana (16) and Mahmoud (10) Jawad al-Zamli.  Moreover, others were wounded, including their third brother Adam (2 years old), who succumbed to his critical burns and wounds the next day.

On the same day at around 15:30, Israeli warplanes bombed an apartment for Faraj family in al-Seddeeq building on al-Yarmouk Street in Gaza City.  As a result, seven people were killed, including Faraj ‘Ali Faraj and his 5 little daughters, Zeinah (14), Razan (12), Leen (13), So’ad (7), and Jouri (2). Meanwhile, others were injured, including the only surviving child from his siblings, Ali Faraj, who was found on the rooftop of the building opposite the targeted house alongside the remains of the victims.  Ali was thrown there by the intensity of the explosion and sustained shrapnel wounds in his face and left foot while his mother sustained bruises and fractures throughout her body.

 At around 17:00 on the same day, Israeli warplanes bombed a residential square near Halawah square in Central Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip.  as a result, at least 23 people were killed, including 8 children and 14 women, while many more sustained varied injuries- some were seriously injured.  Meanwhile, many remain missing under the rubble.

At around 23:40 on Wednesday, 23 April 2025, an Israeli drone struck a residential apartment sheltering a displaced family from Rafah in a house in Block G in Khan Younis. As a result, a woman namely Dalia Marwan ‘Issa al-Jamal (30) and 2 children namely Sewar (3) and ‘Issam (5) Mohammed ‘Issam Ahmed were killed while others sustained various injuries.  

At around 04:00 on Tuesday, 22 April 2025, Israeli warplanes attacked a commercial complex on al-Sikkah Street in Khan Younis.  The complex is owned by Shbeir Family and rented by displaced families.  The strike killed 8 people, including 4 women and 4 children, and injured others.  Those killed were identified as Nahed Soliman ‘Awad Mohammed (39), her daughter, Leen Ra’afat ‘Abdel Bari Mohammed (14), Fatmah Soliman ‘Awad Kaware’a (36) and her daughter Mayan Mohammed ‘Amer Dahleez (2), Walaa’ Nidal Ramdan Abu Taha (24), her 10-month-old son, Mahmoud Tariq Mahmoud al-Najar, Ayah ‘Adnan Mohammed al-Azhari (38) and Yamen Tamer Khamis ‘Ashour (16).

At around 02:55 on Monday, 21 April 2025, an Israeli warplane attacked a tent for Barakah family displaced in al-Zanah area, north Bani Suhaila area, eastern Khan Younus.  As a result, four members of the family were killed and they were a couple and their 2 children identified as Khaled ‘Abdel Latif ‘Abdel Rahman Barakah (57), his wife, Aml Mohammed Hammad Barakah (54) and their children Seif (21) and Ghaydaa’ (6).  Others were also variously wounded.

Since the beginning of the military offensive on the Gaza Strip, IOF has escalated their targeted and intentional attacks on Palestinian families inside their houses, tents and shelters. As a result, hundreds of families have been wiped out of the civil registry and victims have been buried under the rubble- a scene reflecting a clear intent to destroy a group based on its national identity.

Meanwhile, IOF continues to issue forced displacement orders for the residents and displaced families, further shrinking the already limited areas available for refuge within the Gaza Strip. As a result, nearly 2.3 million people are now enclosed into a narrow geographical area- less than 35% of the Gaza strip’s total area of 365 km². These areas are uninhabitable without water, food, medicine, and shelter, leaving no safe place across the whole Gaza Strip amid the relentless Israeli bombardment repeatedly targeting tents set up by the displaced in areas previously declared as “safe zones,” particularly in the Al-Mawasi area, western Khan Younis and Rafah. This embodies a deliberate policy by Israel aimed at depriving civilians of any safe haven.

This comes at a time the starvation crisis is escalating as Israel continues to close all Gaza’s crossings and block entry of humanitarian aid and food and medical supplies for 56 consecutive days.  As a result, hunger and malnutrition have hit high levels, especially among children, women and patients.

The intensity of the Israeli military offensive alongside the starvation policy unequivocally proves it is not a mere military assault but a systematic policy by Israel calculated to destroy a population in whole through mass killings, deliberate starvation, forced displacement and deprivation of all means for survival. All these acts constitute the essence of the crime of genocide that Israel has been committing for over 18 months, with open support from the United States, complicity from several European countries, and the silence of the international community.

PCHR emphasizes that silence towards these crimes is explicit complicity. The international community must rise to its responsibilities not merely under law, but towards the very essence of humanity. Immediate international action is urgently needed to end the systematic violations and crimes committed by IOF against the Palestinian people.

PCHR calls for immediate and serious measures to stop the ongoing crime of genocide and hold the Israeli perpetrators of these crimes accountable before international courts.  PCHR also urges the State Parties to the Genocide Convention to fulfil their legal and moral obligations and take urgent action to protect the Palestinian civilians from the mass killings and serious human rights violations.