Israeli Offensive on Gaza Strip

August 2022

Time: 11:00 GMT

Date: 08 August 2022  

On Sunday afternoon, 07 August 2022, 4 Palestinian civilians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on central Gaza City only few hours before the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Islamic Jihad Movement following a massive offensive launched by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on the Gaza Strip, inflicting deaths and injuries and widespread destruction of houses and agricultural lands by airstrikes and artillery shells.

According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)’s documentation, the death toll due to the Israeli offensive has risen to 25, including 12 civilians: 3 women and 2 children, while PCHR is still investigating some incidents that inflicted casualties.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that 265 Palestinians have been injured, including 95 children, 36 women, 8 elderlies, and 11 in serious condition.

The following are the most significant developments:

At approximately 19:00 on Sunday, 07 August 2022, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a horse cart near al-Samer intersection in central Gaza City, immediately killing 2 Palestinians on the cart. Those killed were identified as Shadi ‘Emad Nimer Kuhail (27) and Khaled Ayman Jameel Yaseen (27), from al-Zaytoun neighborhood. The cart belongs to Kuhail’s father who works for the Gaza Municipality’s Heath Department. Also, ‘Abed al-Rahman Jum’a Khalaf al-Selik (22), from Shuja’iyya neighborhood, was killed when he was coincidentally passing by in a taxi returning from shoes shop he owns in al-Shati refugee camp. Moreover, a traffic officer namely Mahmud Ahmed Sabe’a Dawoud (21), from al-Nafaq Street, was critically injured when he was on duty at al-Samir intersection and then transferred to al-Shifa Hospital, where he was pronounced dead today in the morning.

At around 20:40 on Sunday, IOF’s warplanes launched 3 missiles at Gaza Municipality’s landfill behind al-Yarmouk Staduim in Gaza City, but no casualties were reported.

PCHR emphasizes that these airstrikes violate the principles of necessity and proportionality while conducting directed attacks against densely populated areas and use of weapons based on collective punishment is a grave breach of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and amount to war crimes.

PCHR calls upon the international community to take immediate action in order to stop the Israeli crimes and avoid any further deterioration of the humanitarian situation.