In another serious escalation within the broader context of Israel’s ongoing genocidal campaign against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) today in the morning committed a new horrible crime by directly targeting displaced civilians as they queued to collect drinking water in Nussairat refugee camp. As a result, ten were killed, including 7 children, and 20 others were wounded, including some sustaining critical injuries.

According to eyewitness testimonies and field documentation by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR, at around 08:40 on Sunday, 13 July 2025, an Israeli drone launched a missile at a group pf Palestinians who were collecting water in front of the Salamah Family house adjacent to Afaq Kindergarten and Society’s headquarter in the center of al-Jadeed refugee camp in Nussairat.

The attack killed 10 Palestinians, including 7 children, and injured 20 others, including 8 children, with several sustaining critical injuries. Those killed were identified as: ‘Abdullah Yaser Mahmoud ‘Abdel Rahman (14); Bader al-Deen ‘Abdel Rahman Qarman (10); Seraj al-Deen Khaled Saleh Ibrahim (11); Ibrahim Ashraf Ibrahim Abu ‘Areiban (10); Karam Ashraf Yasser al-Ghussein (10); Lana Ashraf Yasser al-Ghussein (11); Ahmed Saleem Mohammed Abu Selmiyah (15); Qassem Mahmoud Qassem al-Minawi (41); Fo’ad Nabhan Hasan Salamah (58) and Mohammed Mahmoud Musalam Qarman (29).

According to eyewitness testimonies, People were standing in a long line to get drinking water amid a suffocating water crisis resulted from the IOF’s destruction of the water and sanitation networks and cutoff of fuel supplies and the equipment necessary for the operation of water pumping and desalination plants.

Ashraf Yasser Mas’oud al-Ghussein (48), the father of Karam and Lana, said to PCHR’s field researcher that his children daily went to a nearby water distribution point to fill the family’s jerricans and carry them back to the classroom, where he and his family are seeking refuge in an UNRWA School in Al-Jadeed Refugee Camp.

The bereaved father said, “at around 08:30, Karam (10) and Lana (11) wen,t as they did every morning, to the water distribution point. Around 10 minutes later, a deafening explosion shocked the area. Immediately, I rushed to the scene, only to find my children among those wounded. They had been taken by other people to al-‘Awda Hospital in the Camp.”

He continued in a suffocating voice, “it turned out that Karam and Lana had already passed away/ They were among the ten victims killed in this attack.  It was indescribable shock, and I could not do anything but bury them in the cemetery.”

The brother of Fo’ad Salamah said to PCHR’s field researcher that his brother used to go daily to fetch drinking water to fill his tank from a source operated by the Afaq Kindergarten and Society near their house to the east.  He added that many residents in the area queued up every day to fill their jerricans and tanks due to the severe shortage of water.

He said that while civilians were waiting in line, an Israeli drone launched a missile at the gathering, killing several and injuring others with various wounds, including his brother Fo’aad. All those wounded and killed were taken to al-‘Awda Hospital in the same camp.

Targeting civilians in Nussairat refugee camp, the majority of them are children, while queuing to fetch drinking water is not an isolated incident but falls under the broader context of the ongoing Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip which manifests through killings, destruction, starvation and thirst.  These acts are part of a systematic policy aimed at eradicating the basic conditions of life and eliminating any prospect for survival, within a broader attempt to erase and exterminate the Palestinian people.

This attack coincided with an announcement by the municipalities of the Central Gaza Strip, in coordination with the Solid Waste Management Council in the Southern Gaza Strip (Rafah, Khan Younis, and the Central Governorate), regarding the complete suspension of essential public services. This shutdown is due to the total depletion of fuel supplies required for the operation of water wells, sanitation facilities, waste collection and transfer systems, and heavy machinery needed for rubble removal and road clearance.¹

Given the direct targeting of civilians queuing for water and the suspension of critical services due to the suffocating siege, it is unequivocal that Israel is pursuing a genocidal strategy. This strategy manifests in multiple forms, including killings, starvation, denial of water, and total siege, serving one purpose: to erase the Palestinian people and forcibly remove them from both geography and history.

In this context, lawyer Raji Sourani, PCHR’s Director, says:

“IOF have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of persecution through killings, destruction, starvation, and forced displacement. These acts include the systematic targeting of food sources, hospitals, and other life-sustaining infrastructure, while confining Gaza’s entire population into an area less than 15% of the Strip. All of this serves one aim: to leave Palestinians with no choice but forced displacement, which is part of Israel’s broader policy of ethnic cleansing and the creation of a new Nakba against the Palestinian people.

Israeli leaders have openly declared these intentions and reflect them in practice by rendering Gaza unlivable zone.

This is a stain on the conscience of the international community, which, despite having full knowledge and real-time documentation of these atrocities, remains shamefully silent. Worse still, some states continue to provide Israel with weapons and ammunition used to kill women and children in Gaza, all while failing to uphold even the most basic obligations under international law.”

The targeting of children and displaced civilians while attempting to secure the bare minimum for survival constitutes a full-fledged war crime under international humanitarian law. It violates the core principles of the four Geneva Conventions, which explicitly prohibit attacks on civilians and vital infrastructure, and guarantee the right of civilians to access food, water, and essential care.

PCHR reiterates that the policy of starvation, thirst, and systematic destruction of infrastructure is serving as a genocidal tool as defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention and emphasizes that the international community’s silence in the face of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian encourages Israel to persist in its bloody policies and undermine the very foundations of justice and human dignity.

PCHR reiterates its urgent call to the international community to take immediate action to stop the genocide, ensure effective protection for civilians, and secure safe corridors for the safe, equitable, and dignified delivery of humanitarian aid. PCHR warns if the world will not act now, more children and women will be killed, and more blood of innocent people will be unjustifiably shed.

1. Nussairat Municipality, official Facebook Page, Statement issued by the Central Governorate Municplaities, Gaza Strip and the Solid Waste Management Council in the Southern Governorates, 13 July 2025:Link ↩︎