The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue to escalate their widescale military aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has recently culminated with the issuance of new forced displacement orders targeting around 300,000 residents of Khan Yunis. This escalation has coincided with intensified airstrikes and artillery shelling on residential houses and tents sheltering displaced people, alongside the perpetration of massacres that have wiped out entire families. These acts reflect Israel’s deliberate continuation of the crime of genocide ongoing for 19 months.
These crimes are accompanied by the IOF’s blockade of humanitarian aid, particularly food, medicine, and fuel, and the deliberate use of mass starvation as a weapon of warfare. This is part of a systematic policy aimed at subjugating the civilian population and eradicating their existence. The IOF announced that only five aid trucks would be allowed to enter Gaza, while the other trucks remain held at the Kerem Shalom crossing and have not been permitted to enter the Gaza Strip. This confirms that the IOF’s announcement was merely symbolic and does not alleviate the worsening humanitarian catastrophe, especially after 81 days of complete closure of the crossings.
The most prominent incidents documented by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)’s researcher are as follows:
At approximately 00:00 on Monday, 19 May 2025, Israeli warplanes targeted a tent for al-Khriti family in western al-Nusirat refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip. As a result, three sibling children were killed, while 6 other people were injured. Those killed were identified as: Mos’ab (11), Maria (9), and Anas (5) Isma’il Mohammed al-Khriti.
At around 00:50 on the same day, Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike on Badwan family house in Abu al-Jumeiza plot of land in Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip. As a result, ‘Essam Khalil Mohammed Badwan (61) and his children Mohammed (26) and Hadeel (29) were killed.
At approximately 05:30 on the same day, an Israeli special unit disguised in civilian clothes as displaced people infiltrated al-Mathaf Street in al-Katiba neighborhood, north of Khan Yunis. The unit raided a house, killing Ahmed Kamel Sarhan and arresting his wife, Mervat Hammad Mohammed Sarhan (36), and their child Mohammed (12). The IOF released the child a few hours later, while his mother is still detained. The unit withdrew from the area under heavy fire cover from helicopters and quadcopters amid bombing from warplanes and drones across the vicinity of the area and throughout Khan Younis lasting for approximately 20 minutes. As a result, at least 10 Palestinians, including a woman and 4 children, among them 3 siblings, were killed, while others were injured, including three in serious condition.
In a serious escalation, at noon on the same day, the IOF published an illegal evacuation map for Khan Yunis and its eastern villages, which are home to about 300,000 residents and displaced persons, and ordered residents to evacuate immediately and head westward to al-Mawasi area.1 The map, published on the IOF’s official website, also revealed the expansion of the buffer zone adjacent to the eastern border fence, extending over 2 kilometers deep in some areas and annexing large areas of land from the eastern villages. According to our researchers’ monitoring, tens of thousands have been forced to flee while starving using animal-drawn carts and on foot or in a few vehicles in desperate search of alternative shelters in al-Mawasi area, which is already overcrowded with displaced people.
At around 13:15 on the same day, Israeli warplanes targeted the UNRWA al-Hasaina School, which is used as a shelter for internally displaced people, west of al-Nusirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip. As a result, 6 people, including 2 women, were killed, while others were injured.
At around 13:30 on the same day, Israeli warplanes targeted a tent in the eastern al-Khawalda area in Deir al-Balah, killing three siblings. Those killed were identified as: Osama (34), Hamza (28), and Mohammed (21) Khaled Mansour al-Louh.
At around 15:00 on the same day, Israeli warplanes bombed displaced people’s tents near water well No. (22) in al-Mawasi area, west of Rafah. As a result, three displaced people, including a woman and two brothers, were killed, while 15 others sustained various injuries. Those killed were identified as Sujoud Khaled Zariq Abu Shalouf (23), and Hani (31) and Saher (25) Ghanem Hani al-Masri.
At approximately 16:00 on the same day, Israeli warplanes bombed Palestinians’ houses in al-‘Amour neighborhood in al-Fukhari village, east of Khan Yunis. As a result, a mother and her 6 daughters were killed. They were identified as: Safaa ‘Eliyan Saleem al-‘Amour (45) and her daughters Sama (17), Lama (12), Saja (10), Leen (14), Nada (8), and Layan (4).
At around 22:10 on the same day, an Israeli drone targeted ‘Afana family house in al-Masha’la area, south of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza Strip. As a result, 4 people, including parents and their two children, were killed, while others were injured.
At approximately 20:55 on the same day, Israeli warplanes targeted displaced people’s tents opposite Fish Fresh Restaurant in al-Mawasi area, west of Rafah. As a result, a mother and her 6 children, including an infant, were killed, while 5 other displaced people sustained various injuries. Those killed were identified as: ‘Abeer Ziad Mohammed Kassab (35) and her children, Ghali (8 months), ‘Abeer (5), Sireen (8). Samira (10), ‘Emad (12), and Qamar (14) Yousef Saleh Kassab.
At around 00:50 on Tuesday, 20 May 2025, Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike on Abu Samra family house in al-Mahata area in Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip. As a result, 12 people, including 5 women and 4 children, were killed.
At around 01:15 on the same day, Israeli warplanes targeted Radi Petrol Station, which sheltered displaced people from Nassar family, west of al-Nusirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, killing 15 of them.
At approximately 06:00, Israeli warplanes targeted al-Moqayid family house in ‘Izbit Maleen area in Jabalia refugee camp, north of the Gaza Strip. As a result, 8 people, including 3 children and a woman, were killed.
These incidents further prove that Israel continues to commit horrific crimes against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip without deterrence, including mass killings, widescale destruction, forced displacement, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war.
Although famine is one of the most devastating aspects of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the core of the tragedy lies in the ongoing genocide and its accompanying acts of killing, destruction, and systematic forced displacement. Therefore, what is required today goes beyond condemnation and denunciation; practical and tangible diplomatic and economic measures must be taken, foremostly an immediate half of all arms exports to Israel and real and meaningful sanctions that hold Israel accountable for its ongoing crimes. Statements of condemnation, expressions of concern, and even describing the situation as unacceptable mean nothing to Israel and fail to serve as a genuine deterrent.
PCHR reiterates it calls for urgent and tangible measures to halt the ongoing genocide and ensure accountability of the Israeli officials for their crimes before international courts. PCHR also urges all States Parties to the Genocide Convention to uphold their legal and moral obligations and to take immediate action to protect Palestinian civilians from mass killings and serious human rights violations.
