The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns and expresses its deep shock at the shameful airstrike carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Tuesday, 10 July 2025, targeting a group of Palestinian civilians, most of whom were women and children, while they were waiting to receive nutritional supplements for children from a humanitarian organization in Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip. The strike killed 15 civilians and injured dozens.
This crime is neither an isolated incident nor a military error; rather, it is part of a systematic and repeated Israeli policy aimed at killing starving civilians and entrenching the use of starvation as a weapon of war. It embodies a genocidal policy against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by turning aid distribution points and relief centers into daily death traps and targeting the remaining children and mothers as they search for scraps to stave off hunger and preserve their fragile lives.
According to testimonies obtained by PCHR’s staff, at around 07:10, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a group of people gathered in front of the headquarters of Human Appeal Institution, north of al-Tayara intersection in Deir al-Balah. As a result, 15 people, including 9 children and 4 women, were killed, while dozens more sustained various injuries, many of whom are children and others in critical condition. Among those killed were: Arwa Mohammed Suliman Abu Samaha (32), her brother Ahmed (37), his daughter Yasmeen (1 year and 7 months old); Mohammed Helal Emad Abu Halhoul ( 1 and a half years old); two brothers Ameer (4) and Omar (10) Hatem Ishaq al-Nouri and their cousin Sama Nidal Ishaq al-Nouri (14); al-Mo’taz Bellah Saif al-Deen “ Mohammed Mahdi” al-Bahtini (13); Aya Ashraf Mohammed Mishmish (3); Jamal Mahmoud Yousef Bader (16); Shifa Mousa Hussain Abu Qitta (36); Fatema Riyad Mohammed ‘Abed Rabbu (22); Mahmoud Ahmed Salman Abu Bureek (24); Ahmed Ibrahim Yaseen (17); and Manal Ahmed Rabee’ ‘Abed Rabbu (47).
Testimonies collected by PCHR’s staff indicate that dozens of people, mostly women and children, had gathered since early morning hours in front of the gate of Project Hope, an American health and relief organization, to receive nutritional supplements for children. During that time, an Israeli drone suddenly launched a strike in front of the nearby headquarters of the Human Appeal Institution. Local sources confirmed that the coordinates of these humanitarian institutions are well known to the IOF and are regularly shared through the UN and humanitarian organizations.
Donia ‘Azmi Salem Abu Halhoul (29) said to PCHR’s researcher:
“Today at approximately 06:00, I, along with my children Mohammed (one year and four months old) and Emad (9) headed to Project Hope Institution’s headquarters to receive the nutritional supplement for children, which alleviates the effects of hunger caused by the severe shortage of food supplies, especially flour. I sat on the sidewalk in front of the institution’s headquarters, waiting for the doors to open at 8:00. Many women and their children were in the place for the same purpose. At around 07:10, while we were waiting, the area was targeted by Israeli warplanes, causing me to lose consciousness immediately. I later woke up inside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where I was informed that my son Mohammed had been killed, and my son Emad sustained shrapnel injuries to his chest and lower limbs. I also sustained shrapnel injuries all over my body. Dozens of others were killed or injured in the incident scene.”
This crime proves that the IOF continue to shed the blood of civilians, including children and women, and do not hesitate to seize any opportunity to kill and terrorize them, even when children are simply waiting for something to ease their hunger.
This crime is part of a broader pattern of similar crimes targeting starving civilians and systematically and unjustifiably undermining all efforts to deliver humanitarian aid, whether through community-led initiatives or local and international organizations and near aid distribution points established in areas under the IOF’s control. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH), 1 these crimes have resulted in the killing of 773 Palestinians and the injury of more than 5,101 others since 27 May.
PCHR reiterates its call on the international community to take urgent action to immediately stop the genocide, ensure effective protection for civilians, and secure safe corridors for the safe and just delivery of humanitarian aid that preserves human dignity. PCHR warns that unless the world acts immediately, more children and women will be killed, and further innocent blood will be shed without any justification.
PCHR calls for the accountability and prosecution of Israeli leaders for this crime and previous related crimes, which constitute an escalating pattern of targeting civilians within a broader policy of genocide, starvation, and forced displacement.
