Evidence of unlawful Israeli attacks in Gaza causing mass civilian casualties uncovered

Amnesty International investigated four strikes, which it says demonstrate how Israeli forces continue to flout international humanitarian law, obliterating entire families with total impunity

Palestinians search for survivors after an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Rafah. Picture: AP Photo/Hatem Ali

New evidence of unlawful Israeli attacks in Gaza causing mass civilian casualties has been uncovered by Amnesty International amid warnings of genocide.

The organisation carried out an investigation into four strikes, which it says demonstrate how Israeli forces continue to flout international humanitarian law, obliterating entire families with total impunity.

The attacks killed at least 95 civilians, including 42 children, in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost governorate at a time when it was supposedly the “safest” area in the strip. Israeli forces are currently gearing up for a ground operation in that region.

Amnesty International has warned that such an operation will likely have devastating consequences for more than a million people who are crammed within an area of 63sq/km following successive waves of mass displacement.

Air strikes on the city, which straddles the Egyptian border, killed around 67 Palestinians in the early hours of Monday during an operation which saw two Israeli hostages freed.

The Amnesty International investigation into four attacks, three of which took place in December and one in January, did not find any indication that the residential buildings hit could be considered legitimate military objectives or that people in the buildings were military targets, raising concerns that these strikes were direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects and must therefore be investigated as war crimes.

Palestinians walk by a residential building destroyed in an Israeli strike in Rafah. Picture: AP Photo/Hatem Ali

The evidence collected also indicates the Israeli military failed to provide effective, or indeed any, warning before launching the attacks.

“Entire families were wiped out in Israeli attacks even after they sought refuge in areas promoted as safe and with no prior warning from Israeli authorities," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director of Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.

"These attacks illustrate an ongoing pattern of Israeli forces brazenly flouting international law, contradicting claims by Israeli authorities that their forces are taking heightened precautions to minimise harm to civilians.” 

mong those killed in these unlawful attacks were a baby girl who was less than three weeks old, a prominent 69-year-old retired physician, a journalist who welcomed displaced families into his house and a mother sharing a bed with her 23-year-old daughter.

"The testimonies that grieving survivors shared should serve as a reminder that these atrocity crimes in Gaza are a stain on the collective conscience of the world,” said Ms Guevara-Rosas.

Amnesty International visited the sites of all four attacks, captured photographs and videos of the destruction and interviewed 18 people, including 14 survivors and four relatives who took part in rescue operations. The organisation’s Crisis Evidence Lab analysed satellite imagery, photos and videos to geolocate and verify the attacks and resulting destruction.

“Following the International Court of Justice’s key interim ruling that the risk of genocide is real and imminent, the horrific details of these cases reinforce the urgency for all states to push for an immediate and sustained ceasefire, which is the most effective way to implement the provisional measures ordered by the court. They also underscore the importance of imposing a comprehensive arms embargo on all parties to the conflict," Ms Guevara-Rosas said.