Despite the ceasefire announcement in Gaza on Sunday morning, January 19, 2025, Israeli military forces have continued to claim Palestinian lives. The ongoing violations highlight the scale of the catastrophe, showing that what has been documented over the past fifteen months as part of a broader genocidal campaign is just the tip of the iceberg.
Recent shootings by the IOF, documented by PCHR’s field researchers, clearly show the deliberate targeting and killing of civilians as they attempted to inspect their homes near military positions ranging from 400 to 1,000 meters along Gaza’s southern, eastern, and northern borders. There was no threat to the soldiers’ lives. These attacks have resulted in the killing of 43 civilians, including 7 children, 2 women, and an elderly man, with others wounded.
Key Incidents Documented by PCHR:
On Sunday, January 19, 2025, the IOF stationed 400 to 1,000 meters inside Rafah, near the Gaza-Egypt border, opened fire on thousands of returning civilians inspecting their homes after being displaced since May 2024. The attack killed 10 people, including one child.
On the same day, 15 people were killed in Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis, including 2 women and a child, when the IOF fired shells and live ammunition at civilians inspecting their homes.
Israeli aircraft also targeted 3 vehicles in central Khan Younis, killing 11 civilians, including 3 children, and injuring several others, including a paramedic from the Red Crescent, whose ambulance was passing through the area.
Despite conflicting reports on the ceasefire timing, with the media citing 08:30 AM and Israeli sources stating 11:15 AM, most killings occurred between these hours.
On Monday, January 20, 2025, the IOF stationed deep inside Rafah, near the Gaza-Egypt border south of the city, opened fire with machine guns at civilians returning in large numbers to the city on the second day of the Gaza ceasefire. The shooting resulted in the killing of two civilians: a child killed near the Al-Najma Roundabout in Rafah, approximately 900 meters from the Israeli positions, and the other was killed near the municipal building, about 500 meters from the Israeli positions.
Tuesday, January 21, 2025, At approximately 2:00 PM, the IOF stationed on the Egyptian-Palestinian border, near Tal Sultan in southwest Rafah, opened fire on civilians returning to inspect their homes, killing a 73-year-old man.
On Wednesday, January 22, 2025, at approximately 1:00 PM, the IOF stationed at the Egyptian-Palestinian border south of Rafah city opened fire with machine guns from a crane and quadcopters hovering over the area, targeting the remaining homes of residents in the al-Shabura refugee camp located approximately 1000 meters north of the Egyptian border. This resulted in the killing of one civilian and injuries to four others while they were cleaning a house from the debris of destroyed neighboring homes. Eyewitnesses reported that the civilian was killed when he climbed into the house to assist the four injured individuals and when he tried to carry one of them out, the IOF fired at him, hitting him with a bullet in the head. The following morning, medical sources at the European Gaza Hospital announced the death of one of the injured, due to a gunshot wound to the chest.
On Thursday, January 25, 2025, the IOF stationed outside the Salah al-Din axis on the Egyptian-Palestinian border south of Rafah city, at approximately 11:00 AM, opened fire and shells towards the remaining homes of residents in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood southwest of Rafah city. This resulted in the killing of a 10-year-old child and his 20-year-old brother, and their bodies were burned as a result of bombing their family’s rented apartment in a building approximately 900 meters from the Egyptian-Palestinian border.
Over the past five days, civil defense teams have recovered the bodies of 166 Palestinian victims, most of them from Rafah, and many of them were decomposed bodies. Meanwhile, search efforts continue with limited and primitive means for thousands of missing persons, most of whom are believed to be under the rubble.
PCHR condemns these ongoing crimes and emphasizes the need to hold the occupation accountable for its crimes, including unjustified killings, and to facilitate the entry of specialized equipment and teams to recover the bodies of the victims.
PCHR affirms that the impunity, and western military and political support for the IOF, all serve as encouraging factors to continue committing the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people, stressing the need to activate accountability measures for the occupation’s ongoing crimes.
