While the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) are attempting to forcibly displace nearly one million residents of Gaza City and internally displaced people to central and southern Gaza as part of their declared plan to assert control over the city and destroy it, they continue to carry out killings, target the means of survival, and inflict widespread destruction in the areas where they are forcing the displaced population to relocate. This provides clear evidence that Israel is systematically destroying livelihoods as part of its genocidal campaign and as a prelude to forcibly pushing Palestinians into permanent exile.
In a new crime reflecting the IOF’s intent to enforce starvation and deprive Gaza’s residents of local agricultural production, the IOF killed five Palestinian farmers while they were working on a farmland in western Khan Yunis.
According to testimonies and information collected by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ (PCHR) staff, at around 08:30 on Thursday, 21 August 2025, a group of farmers working in northwest of al-Amal neighborhood in Khan Yunis were targeted by IOF with artillery shells and quadcopter gunfire. As a result, five farmers were killed, and they were identified as: Mohammed Marwan Ahmed al-Astal (40), Suliman (28) and Mohammed (38) Jamal Darwish al-Astal, Mousa ‘Abdullah al-Sallal Ahmed al-Astal (32), and Mahmoud Nayif Mostafa al-Astal (49).
This crime is part of a systematic pattern of killings committed by the IOF against dozens of Palestinian farmers and fishermen while carrying out their work. It is worth noting that over the past months, the IOF have bombed and destroyed more than 90% of Gaza’s agricultural land, rendering it unusable and depriving the population of their vegetable food supply.
In his testimony to PCHR’s staff, farmer Ahmed Mohammed al-Astal, stated:
“While I, along with about 30 farmers, were working in agricultural greenhouses in western Khan Yunis, a quadcopter drone suddenly opened fire at us while other drones hovered overhead. We dropped to the ground to take cover from the quadcopter’s gunfire, which continued for about 15 minutes. When the shooting stopped and the area calmed, we assumed, as in previous incidents, that the situation had eased and returned to work. About 15 minutes later, artillery shells began to rain down on us, scattering shrapnel everywhere. We fled westward, and while running, a quadcopter drone dropped a bomb on us. Some of the farmers shouted that five farmers had fallen, but we continued running and moved approximately 500 meters away from the scene. Fifteen minutes later, the shelling stopped, and the quadcopter drone left, so we returned. I stayed at the gate of the land, fearing that the shooting might resume, while some of the farmers, using a pickup truck, entered the land and retrieved those killed. All of whom were members of my family, and they were transported to Nasser Medical Complex.”
In yet another crime reflecting the IOF’s determination to destroy even the makeshift displacement camps established by forcibly displaced civilians in central Gaza, Israel continues to target these shelters with no justification other than imposing harsh living conditions that make survival and stability impossible.
According to information gathered by PCHR’s staff, at approximately 09:40 on Thursday, an Israeli drone fired two missiles at the “al-Manasra” displacement camp, located in the middle of the street leading to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. A few minutes before the strike, many of the displaced people sheltering in the camp received warning calls from the IOF, ordering them to evacuate the camp as a prelude to bombing it. About five minutes later, Israeli warplanes fired three successive missiles at the camp, completely destroying it along with all the displaced people’s tents and belongings. The strike also created a crater approximately 10 meters deep and injured around 10 people with minor wounds. It is worth noting that the camp was a shelter to 170 forcibly displaced families of 1100 members, most of them are women and children, who were left homeless following the attack. Additionally, the building of the Islamic Da‘wa College, located adjacent to the camp on the eastern side and sheltering displaced families, sustained significant material damage.
One of the survivors, who lives in a room in the Islamic Da‘wa College building adjacent to the camp on the eastern side, told PCHR staff that many displaced people seeking refuge in the camp and in the college received phone calls from the IOF ordering them to evacuate within ten minutes in preparation for the bombing. Just five minutes later, an Israeli drone fired a missile at an empty area between the camp and the college. A few minutes later, Israeli warplanes directly fired several missiles at the camp, completely destroying it and burning all tents, rooms, and belongings. The college, which shelters dozens of displaced families, also sustained severe damage. Several people sustained minor injuries, and the displaced families were unable to evacuate their belongings due to the limited time, focusing solely on saving their lives. As a result, dozens of families were left homeless.
The killing of the farmers and the destruction of the displacement camp comes just before the Israeli spokesperson released a recording of a phone conversation with an official from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in which he demanded them to prepare plans to transfer hospital equipment from northern Gaza Valley to the southern Strip.1 This is part of the IOF’s declared plan to consolidate military control over Gaza City as a prelude to forcibly displacing its residents and destroying the city, similar to what previously occurred in Rafah, Khan Yunis, and northern Gaza Strip
PCHR reiterates its warning that the IOF’s announced plan represents yet another stage in Israel’s systematic attempt to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza: to forcibly empty the area of its residents, annex the territory, and establish illegal Israeli settlements. If implemented, it will inevitably lead to mass killings, detentions, torture, starvation, and the forcible displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, including children, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups.
PCHR affirms that there is no safe place across the Gaza Strip, and that the IOF are ordering Palestinians to relocate to specific locations in southern or central Gaza Strip, where they are carrying out intense airstrikes aimed to maximize killing and destruction.
PCHR reminds that after 23 months of mass killings, destruction, starvation, siege and repeated displacement, Palestinian civilians across the Gaza Strip are devastated—physically exhausted, mentally shattered, and struggling daily to survive while deprived of the minimum requirements for life. They are living under catastrophic conditions, without shelter, food, electricity, clean water, or medical treatment. They quite literally have nowhere left to go due to the absence of safe zones in Gaza. After nearly two years, the civilian population PCHR reminds that after 23 months of mass killings, destruction, starvation, siege and repeated displacement, Palestinian civilians across the Gaza Strip are devastated—physically exhausted, mentally shattered, and struggling daily to survive while deprived of the minimum requirements for life. They are living under catastrophic conditions, without shelter, food, electricity, clean water, or medical treatment. They quite literally have nowhere left to go due to the absence of safe zones in Gaza. After nearly two years, the civilian population can no longer withstand the relentless onslaught of genocide and aggression.
PCHR reiterates its position that this is not a plan to “occupy” Gaza as the Gaza Strip has remained under the Israeli occupation since 1967, as recently reaffirmed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Rather, it is a another attempt at ethnic cleansing: to forcibly depopulate the Northern Gaza and Gaza City after Israel failed to do so last year when it implemented the so-called “Generals’ Plan.”
The international community must act now and end the ongoing genocide, including by imposing an immediate arms embargo and pressuring Israel to halt its planned offensive on Gaza City and its attacks across the Gaza Strip. There is also an urgent need to protect civilians, enforce the arrest warrants issued against Israeli officials responsible for these crimes, and issue further warrants to ensure accountability and justice.
