The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the mass killing committed yesterday noon by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yunis. The attack killed 13 people, including 8 children and a woman, despite the IOF’s claim that al-Mawasi is a “safe zone” and their orders for hundreds of thousands of displaced people from the northern Gaza Strip to relocate there.

This crime occurs while the IOF continue their airstrikes and artillery shelling, as well as erasing entire residential squares with tons of explosives using explosive-laden robots across the Gaza Strip, as part of the ongoing genocidal campaign that has persisted for 23 months.

According to eyewitnesses’ testimonies and information collected by PCHR’s staff, at around 13:25 on Tuesday, 02 September 2025, Israeli drones launched three successive strikes on a vehicle traveling near al-‘Attar area, southwest of al-Mawasi. Before the third strike, the vehicle’s owner attempted to flee, but one of the drones pursued him and opened fire among displaced people’s tents and near a group of children who were lining up to fill water from taps installed on the street between the tents. The strikes killed 13 displaced people, including 8 children and a woman, while others sustained various injuries. Those killed were identified as: Nourseen (10) and Heba (6) Mohammed Ayoub Abu Darraz, Waseem (3) and Sama (8) Sami Mahmoud Abu Mostafa, Majed Ramzi Mohammed al-Soufi (8), Basel Sami Khalil al-Nadi (10), Ibrahim Raed ‘Abed al-Hafiz ‘Ayyad (11), Adam Ahmed ‘Awni ‘Awida (7), Reem Tawfiq al-‘Abed Qasem (40), Hani ‘Abed al-Salam Shafeeq Saqer (30), Wisam ‘Abed al-Rahman Mohammed al-Mishwakhi (27), Mo’ath Ahmed Mahmoud Abu ‘Anzah (32), and ‘Abdullah Fareed Salem Abu Lehiyia (29).

In his testimony to our staff, Raed ‘Abed al-Hafiz ‘Ayyad, victim Ibrahim’s father, stated that since the onset of the war, he was forcibly displaced twice, and he finally sought refuge on his a plot of land located near al-‘Attar area, where he established a water well and taps to provide free water for displaced people. He clarified that he heard three successive explosions before being confronted with the massacre in front of his house, where he found his son among children covered in blood while they were lining up to collect water.

This crime reflects the IOF’s complete violation of al-Mawasi area, which has been turned into a site of crimes, bombardment, and killings, despite its claim that it is a “safe displacement area.” In recent days, the IOF repeatedly ordered residents and displaced people in Gaza City to move to al-Mawasi, amid escalating bombardments, mass killings, and the destruction of entire buildings in the northern, eastern, and southern neighborhoods of Gaza.  Such acts are part of the IOF’s attempt to depopulate the city as a prelude to its destruction under their declared plan to impose military control over it.

This crime, which is an extension of dozens of airstrikes targeting displaced persons in al-Mawasi area, once again demonstrates that there is no safe place across the Gaza Strip and that the IOF intend to concentrate Gaza’s population within a confined area of less than 10% to facilitate their killing, starvation, and forcible displacement into permanent exile.

PCHR emphasizes that targeting civilians, particularly children and displaced persons, constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity under international humanitarian law, and is part of the crime of genocide pursued by the IOF in the Gaza Strip.

PCHR calls on the international community to take immediate action to stop the ongoing genocide, including imposing an immediate arms embargo and pressuring Israel to halt its planned offensive on Gaza City and its attacks across the Gaza Strip. It underscores the urgent need to protect civilians, enforce arrest warrants issued against Israeli officials responsible for these crimes, and issue further warrants to ensure accountability and justice.