The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) alarmingly follows up the rapidly escalating events in the Gaza Strip within a widescale aggression launched by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and the accompanying retaliatory strikes on dozens of civilian objects, including the bombing and destruction of residential towers and houses over their residents’ heads.
PCHR emphasizes that these Israeli airstrikes are retaliatory widely targeting civilian objects. PCHR also warns that the Israeli threats and conduct in field would inflict further Palestinian civilian casualties and cause mass forcible displacement across the Gaza Strip.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH), 256 persons killed, including 20 children, and 1788 others wounded, including 121 children, arrived at the Gaza Strip’s hospitals.
PCHR’s fieldworkers are working around the clock in extremely difficult situation to investigate the death circumstances of many Palestinian civilians and to document various airstrikes that have targeted civilian objects and inflicted casualties and losses.
Moreover, IOF have ordered by phone calls or in public statements, residents of many neighborhoods from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip to evacuate their houses, in a measure that amounts to a form of forced displacement. Thus, thousands of civilians took refuge in dozens of schools that were opened as temporary shelters in Gaza Strip’s central cities.
Moreover, Gaza Power Plant has announced that the electricity deficit had risen to more than 80% after power supply lines coming from Israel were cut as decided by the latter to stop supplying Gaza with electricity. This will unequivocally cause a critical humanitarian catastrophe.
The Following are the most prominent attacks against civilians and civilian objects:
Saturday 07 October 2023
At 10:30: journalist Mohammed Tuhami al-Salhi (29), from Nussairat refugee camp, arrived a dead body at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah after being injured in his back while he was covering the events after Palestinians broke into the security border fence, east of central Gaza Strip.
At 11:00: Ameer ‘Abdullah Mohammed al-Khour (19) was killed when he was coincidingly passing by an area, where IOF’s warplanes were targeting Palestinian armed groups in southern Gaza City.
At 12:00: IOF warplanes targeted an MOH ambulance in eastern Khan Yunis while the latter was evacuating several injuries. As a result, paramedic Marwan Abu Ridah was killed while other paramedics and Palestinians were injured. About half an hour later, IOF warplanes fired another missile at another ambulance at the time of its arrival at the emergency department in the Nasser Medical Complex, west of Khan Yunis. As a result, the ambulance sustained severe damage and many persons, including paramedics, sustained injuries. Additionally, journalist Ibrahim Mohammed Qannan (50), Al-Ghad TV’s correspondent, was injured while he was covering the incidents in the area.
At 14:30: a bomb fell in the Indonesian Hospital’s yard in Jabalia, killing Yusra Husni Salha (67) after she sustained shrapnel injuries, and causing damage to the hospital’s oxygen station.
At 16:20: IOF warplanes fired several missiles at Palestine Tower in al-Rimal neighborhood, destroying it and causing severe damage to nearby buildings. The 14-storey tower housed 78 apartments, including residential apartments and media and commercial offices.
At 16:30: IOF warplanes fired several missiles at a building housing charitable societies in central Gaza City, destroying it and causing severe damage to nearby buildings.
At 18:30: IOF warplanes targeted Ihab Kuhail’s 2-storey house and its warehouses in Gaza City. As a result, the house was destroyed, and Kuhail’s 2-year-old son Nour al-Deen was killed.
Around the same time, IOF warplanes targeted ‘Awni Dous’s 3-storey house in al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City without prior warning. The house, which sheltered 3 families, was destroyed over their residents’ heads, killing 11 of them, including 5 children and 3 women.
At 18:35: IOF warplanes targeted al-Hashem (3) Residential Building of 8 floors in Beit Lahia, destroying it and another nearby house. Al-Hashem Building housed 9 residential apartments and 6 shops.
At 21:41: an Israeli drone targeted 3 ambulances in Jabalia. As a result, two paramedics namely Tareq Mohammed ‘Ashour (39) and Mahmoud Sameeh Abu Mashayikh (33) were killed, and two other paramedics were injured.
At 20:00: IOF warplanes targeted a 5-storey house belonging to Abu Quta family in al-Shaboura refugee camp in Rafah. As a result, 18 persons were killed: 13 were residents of the house, including 5 children and a woman, 3 from a nearby house and the last 2 were a neighbor and a passer-by. Also, 25 others sustained various injuries.
At 21:20: IOF warplanes targeted a plot of land in Jabalia after ordering residents in the area to evacuate. As a result, two houses were destroyed.
At 21:00: IOF warplanes fired a missile at al-Mahmoum family house in eastern Rafah, destroying it, but no casualties were reported.
At 22:05: IOF warplanes targeted Sa’d al-Ansari Mosque in Beit Lahia, destroying it completely and causing partial damage to nearby houses and schools.
At 22:42: IOF warplanes fired a missile at al-Ameen Mohammed Mosque in the Emirati neighborhood in western Khan Yunis, destroying it completely and causing damage to nearby houses and 2 UNRWA schools.
At 23:00: IOF warplanes fired without prior warning several missiles at Abu Daqqah’s 3-storey house in ‘Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis, destroying it completely over the residents’ heads and causing damage to nearby houses. As a result, 10 dead bodies were pulled from the rubble, including 4 women and 3 children. Additionally, the civil defense teams are still searching for missing people trapped under the rubble.
At 23:30: IOF warplanes fired several missiles at a 6-storey residential building housing13 apartments in al-Naser neighborhood. As a result, the building was destroyed.
Sunday, 08 October 2023
At 12:40: IOF warplanes bombed a densely populated area surrounding the office of Hamas Chief, Yahya Sinwar, and the vicinity of Palestine Stadium in central Gaza City. As a result, the Office was destroyed, 2 UNRWA Schools: Al-Mamounia Preparatory and Primary Schools, were directly targeted in addition to empty land and a building belonging to Younes family. Also, an elderly woman was killed while the search continues for missing persons under the rubble.
At 01:00: IOF warplanes launched several missiles at the 3-storey Islamic National Bank headquarter in Al-Nasr neighborhood in northern Gaza, destroying it completely.
At 01:45: IOF warplanes launched several missiles at the 3-storey Palestine Production Bank headquarter in central Gaza, destroying it completely. Also, the Palestine Endowment Bank was destroyed noting it is still under construction.
At 03:00: IOF warplanes launched 2 missiles at a building housing the central Beit Hanoun market, the Ministry of Interior, Health Insurance Unit, Workers’ Office, and Higher Committee for Tribal Affairs in central Beit Hanoun. As a result, the building was destroyed, causing damage to nearby houses, and many people were injured.
At 03:30: IOF warplanes fired a missile at a house, south of Rafah. As a result, the house was destroyed, and two Palestinians sustained light injuries. Also, IOF warplanes also bombed and destroyed a house in Al-Tanour neighborhood in Rafah.
At 03:40: IOF warplanes bombed and destroyed Al-Aqsa residential building of 4 floors housing 16 apartments in Al-Rimal neighborhood in central Gaza City.
At 04:15: IOF warplanes bombed the 5-storey house of Hamas Leader Fathi Hammad in Beit Lahia housing project. As a result, the house, which sheltered 5 families, was destroyed. At 08:45: IOF warplanes bombed and destroyed another 2-storey house belonging to him in Jabalia.
At 05:25: IOF warplanes bombed and destroyed Watan Tower in central Gaza. The 14-storey building housed 8 apartments on each floor; all of them were commercial offices, shops and clinics. Also, nearby houses and buildings were also severely damaged.
At 06:20: IOF warplanes bombed a 2-storey house belonging to Abu ‘Oun family on the heads of its residents without prior warning. As a result, the house was destroyed and four of its residents were killed, including the father and his three children.
At 06:30: IOF warplanes bombed and destroyed a 3-storey residential building of 5 apartments in Al-Nasr neighborhood in northern Gaza over the heads of its residents without prior warning. As a result, a father, mother and their four children were killed.
At 06:40: IOF warplanes bombed Al-‘Aklouk Tower on Al-Nasr Street in Gaza. As a result, the 10-storey tower, which housed 70 residential apartments, was destroyed, and nearby buildings and facilities sustained severe damage.
At 06:55: IOF warplanes launched two missiles at the house of Hamas Leader Ghazi Hamad in Al-Geneina neighborhood in Rafah and destroyed it.
At 07:00: IOF warplanes bombed and destroyed the house of Hamas Leader Nizar ‘Awadallah in Al-Nasr neighborhood in northern Gaza, killing his son Muhammad.
At 07:00: IOF warplanes bombed and destroyed the 3-storey house of Hamas Leader Salah Bardawil in Al-Qarara, north of Khan Yunis. Also, nearby houses sustained damage.
At 07:00: IOF warplanes bombed and destroyed a house belonging to Abu Rakab in Al-Zawaida village in central Gaza Strip, over the heads of its residents without prior warning. As a result, a family of 7 was killed, including a father, mother and their 5 children.
At 07:20: IOF warplanes bombed a house belonging to Abu Khousa family in Deir al-Balah City without prior warning. As a result, the house and a nearby house were destroyed, 2 persons were killed, including a woman who was a resident in the house, while the search continues for the missing persons trapped under the rubble.
Moreover, IOF warplanes bombed a building in Nuseirat refugee camp. As a result, the flying rubble hit a nearby house belonging to Abu Hujair family, killing a person and seriously wounding another.
At 07:30: IOF warplanes bombed the house of Hamas Leader Zakaria Abu Muammar in Ma’an area, east of Khan Yunis. As a result, the house was destroyed, and 5 persons sustained minor injuries.
Meanwhile, IOF warplanes fired two missiles at the house of Hamas Leader Isma’il Barhoum in Al-Geneina neighborhood in Rafah. As a result, the house was destroyed, and several minor injuries were reported.
At 09:00: IOF warplanes bombed a 2-storey house belonging to Hamdan Al-Najjar in Khuza’a, east of Khan Yunis, without prior warning. As a result, the house was destroyed on the heads of its residents, and the medic crews recovered 3 bodies from the rubble belonging to the house’s owner, his wife, and his son.
At 09:00: IOF warplanes bombed a building housing Itqan Office for Financial and Management Consulting in central Gaza City. As a result, the building sustained partial damage in addition to nearby buildings.
At 10:45: IOF warplanes launched 2 missiles at a house belonging to Mohammad Abu Jazar in Al-Geneina neighborhood in Rafah and destroyed it.
At 10:35: IOF warplanes bombed a residential building housing shops in Jabalia refugee camp, completely destroying it. Also, several nearby houses and facilities sustained severe damage and injuries were reported.
At 11:55: IOF warplanes bombed and destroyed a 3-storey house in Beit Lahia.
PCHR’s fieldworkers are working around the clock in an extremely difficult situation to investigate the death circumstances of many Palestinian civilians and to document various airstrikes that have targeted civilian objects and inflicted casualties and losses.
PCHR warns against further loss of civilian life in one of the most densely populated areas in the world that completely lacks any form of protection as there is neither public or private shelters nor safe humanitarian corridors. PCHR reiterates that in all previous aggressions on the Gaza Strip, civilians and civilian objects have been always under IOF’s attacks to exert pressure on the Palestinian armed groups.
PCHR stresses that the Israeli airstrikes violating the international humanitarian law principles (distinction and proportionality,) the strikes targeting densely-populated areas, and the use of weapons as collective reprisals constitute grave breaches of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and amount to war crimes.
PCHR calls upon the international community to take immediate action to end the Israeli crimes and prevent any further deterioration of the humanitarian conditions.
