As Israeli military aggression enters its 15th month, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue their systematic genocidal campaign by targeting humanitarian aid warehouses, killing security guards escorting aid trucks, attacking police officers, destroying residential homes over its residents’ heads, and committing mass killings. In a clear demonstration of the IOF’s intent to sustain a policy of starvation as a weapon of war to spread chaos, their warplanes bombed an aid warehouse intended for displaced people.
According to PHCR’ field documentation, at around 13:20 on Sunday, 05 January 2025, the IOF’s warplanes targeted MA’AN Development Center’s warehouse, located on the ground floor of Abu ‘Amra family house on al-Berka Street in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip.
The missile penetrated the ceilings of both the ground and first floors and exploded inside the center. As a result, three staff members were injured, including one woman who sustained serious injuries, and all the warehouse’s contents were damaged. Shortly after the strike numerous individuals arrived and looted the stored flour bags meant for distribution to the displaced people.
According to MA’AN Development Center, several staff members involved in a food aid project, jointly implemented with the World Food Program (WFP), were present at the warehouse when it was directly targeted by a missile. It’s important to note that this warehouse had been in use for about a year to distribute food aid to displaced families in Deir al-Balah, and the coordinates had been shared with WFP.
Moreover, the IOF has once again targeted security personnel escorting humanitarian aid trucks and police officers. These attacks are part of the broader strategy and intent to undermine any effort to achieve minimum levels of security, plunge Gaza further into chaos, promote organized crimes, and intensify human suffering—further solidifying the ongoing genocidal actions by Israel.
At approximately 02:20 on Saturday, 04 January 2025, an Israeli drone targeted an SUV on Salah al-Deen Street in eastern Satar area in Khan Yunis. As a result, five security guards escorting aid trucks were killed. The guards were employees of Al Aqsa Insurance and Security Company, a private company.
On the same day, at approximately 12:30, another Israeli drone launched an airstrike on a civilian dark blue Fiat Panda car carrying a number of security guards escorting aid trucks near the Abu Holi intersection in Deir al-Balah, killing three of them. At around 17:45, an Israeli drone struck a stall in front of Abu Hemaisa UNRWA School in Block (9) in al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip. As a result, three Palestinians were killed, and 25 others were injured. At approximately 11:50 on Thursday, 02 January 2025, an IOF’s warplane launched an airstrike on the Ministry of Interior Headquarters in central Khan Yunis, which housed a police station. The strike killed six Palestinians, including a father and his daughter, and others were injured. Among those killed were numerous police officers and visitors who had come to the headquarters for routine tasks.
Since the onset of the ongoing genocide on the Gaza Strip, the IOF have systematically targeted and destroyed all civil police stations and headquarters, resulting in the killing of hundreds of police officers and chiefs.
The PCHR has also documented numerous attacks on security teams guarding the humanitarian aid convoys with IOF having the same intent to spread chaos and crime and exacerbate the human suffering. These acts are part of a deliberate attempt to spread chaos, facilitate crime, escalate human suffering, all of which align with the definition of genocide—inflicting conditions of life that are intended to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians, in whole or in part. Additionally, the IOF has continued to launch dozens of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, including bombing houses over their residents’ heads. PCHR’s staff has documented several of these attacks as follows:
– At approximately 01:52 on Monday, 06 January 2025, IOF warplanes targeted the Barakat family home near al-Sheikh Redwan Pond in northern Gaza City. Four family members were killed, including parents and their two children, while others were injured.
– At around 08:00, an Israeli drone targeted a group of Palestinians near al-Shawka School in al-Sjawka village, east of Rafah, killing two brothers, Raed (5) and Morad (12) Mohammed Shehda al-Najjar.
– At around 13:10 on Sunday, 05 January 2025, IOF’s warplane bombed Abu Jarbou’ family home in Block (1) in the Nusirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip. Four women were killed, including a mother and her daughter and a female doctor, while many others were injured. The airstrike caused severe damage to the area. The victims were identified as: ‘Abeer Mohammed Salem Abu Jarbou’ (53), her daughter Eman ‘Abed al-Kareem Isma’il Abu Jarbou’ (32), Aseel Yousef Subhi al-Rantisi (27), who was Jarbou’ family’s daughter-in-law, and Thabat Ibrahim Mohammed Saleem (31), a volunteer doctor at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
– At around 20:25, IOF’s warplanes launched an airstrike on the ‘Emad family house in Block (3) in al-Bureij refugee camp, central Gaza Strip. Khaled Kamal Mohammed ‘Emad (35), his wife Israa’ ‘Ali Hasan ‘Emad (Abu ‘Issa) (34), and their child Osama (5) were killed. Many other residents of the house remain trapped under the rubble.
PCHR condemns the ongoing crimes of the IOF and affirms that the impunity granted to Israel, alongside the military and political support from Israel’s Western allies, emboldens the Israeli regime to persist in its genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people.
PCHR reiterates its call for urgent and effective international action to compel Israel to cease its genocide, impose an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and adhere to the rulings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which mandated provisional measures to halt and prevent the ongoing genocide.
Targeted MA’AN Development Center’s warehouse.
