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The United Nations Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory condemns the Israeli military’s repeated strikes that have led to massive civilian fatalities in North Gaza over the past five weeks while its siege has cut off the governorate’s population from humanitarian aid, medical care or emergency rescue service.
Since the beginning of the Israeli military’s intensified operation in North Gaza on 6 October 2024, our office has recorded at least 17 reported incidents which each resulted in more than 10 fatalities. Of these, at least 12 reportedly resulted in more than 20 fatalities, including at least 3 resulting in more than 80 fatalities. In addition, there were more than 100 incidents that resulted in a smaller number of fatalities. Most of the incidents were strikes on residential buildings where entire families reportedly were sheltering, resulting in a high number of fatalities from single families.
The strikes have disproportionally affected women, older people and people with disability, many of whom are reportedly trapped due to restricted movement and attacks on escape routes. The latest strike, for example, on 10 November on the residential building of the Aloush family in Jabalya, reportedly killed 24 Palestinians, including 14 children and 5 women.
The severe restrictions on movement, including for the rescue and medical teams as well as journalists, imposed by the Israeli military, ongoing combat, and reported attacks on civilians on the move, the limited communication network available, and the collapse of the healthcare system in North Gaza, make it extremely difficult to verify these numbers at this stage. However, the pattern and the frequency of the reported incidents suggest systematic targeting of shelters. The large number of those reported to have been killed raise serious concerns that the Israeli military continues to use weapons with wide area effects in residential areas with indiscriminate and disproportionate effects, a pattern of which we have already documented has led to excessive civilian facilities, particularly of children and women.
Such killings are occurring in a context in which the Israeli military are unlawfully restricting the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance to North Gaza, leaving those remaining in the northern-most governorate at the risk of starvation. The Israeli military has also conducted repeated attacks on the three major hospitals in the area, rendering them out of service. To add to the horrors of injured and trapped civilians, the Israel military has attacked the workers of the Palestinian Civil Defense Department, forcing the department to suspend its operations on 24 October, depriving residents of North Gaza all support in recovering their loved ones who are left to die trapped under rubble.
The manner in which the Israeli military is conducting hostilities in northern Gaza, including the attacks on shelters, the siege and other restrictions on the entry and distribution of the necessities of life, and reported attacks on those fleeing, suggest Israel’s actions are aimed at creating conditions of life that are very likely to result in emptying North Gaza of its civilian Palestinian population by death or forcible transfer. We reiterate our grave concern at the risk of the commission of atrocity crimes, which includes war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
ENDS
For more information and media requests, please contact:
UN Human Rights office at ohchr-opt@un.org
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