Amnesty: Israeli Gaza destruction highlights human toll of apartheid
On May 9, three separate attacks targeting PIJ commanders resulted in 10 civilian casualties and injured 20 others. The airstrikes targetted densely populated areas late at night when families were at home asleep.
Smoke rises from an explosion caused by an Israeli airstrike the in Gaza Strip, May 12, 2023. (AP)
The most recent offensive against the Gaza Strip in May saw the unlawful destruction of Palestinians' homes and the killing of Palestinian civilians including children; which was described by Amnesty International as "collective punishment against the civilian population".
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How are both Israeli and Palestinian civilians affected by this conflict?
In a recent report, Amnesty International investigated nine Israeli airstrikes that inflicted severe damage on civilians and their property in Gaza.
On May 9, three separate attacks targeting PIJ commanders resulted in 10 civilian casualties and injured 20 others: the airstrikes targetted densely populated areas late at night when families were at home asleep which suggests that those who executed the attacks knew that the strikes would result in disproportionate harm to civilians and dismissed this prospect as collateral damage.
One of the attacks, which targeted Khalil al-Bahtini, resulted in the death of his wife Leila al-Bahtini, their four-year-old daughter Hajar and their neighbors, killing two teenage sisters. The IOF targeted the two-story building with a GBU-39 bomb.
"It has been a month since the ceasefire agreement between Israeli authorities and Palestinian armed groups, but the suffering that these recurrent Israeli offensives inflict upon the civilian population in the Gaza Strip never ceases. In our investigation, we heard vivid accounts of bombs obliterating homes, of fathers digging their little girls out from under the rubble, of a teenager fatally injured as she lay in bed holding a teddy bear. More frightening than any of this is the near certainty that, unless perpetrators are held to account, these horrifying scenes will be repeated," said Heba Morayef, Middle East and North Africa Regional Director at Amnesty International.
"That we have been documenting the same patterns of unlawful killings and destruction over and over again is an indictment of the international community's failure to hold Israel accountable. Israel's impunity for the war crimes it repeatedly commits against Palestinians, and for its cruel ongoing 16-year illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip, emboldens further violations and makes injustice chronic."
During the five-day offensive, 2,943 houses were damaged and 103 homes were completely destroyed. 1,244 civilians were also displaced, according to numbers by the Palestinian Ministry of Public Works.
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How much damage did the Israeli military operation cause to housing units in Gaza according to Amnesty International?
On May 13, the report expounds, the IOF commanded air strikes on a four-story building in the Jabalia refugee camp attacking a house that housed 42 people from the Nabhan family: five of whom are disabled, and 3 of whom are in wheelchairs.
Research by Amnesty international shows that there was no evidence to show that the building in the Jabalia refugee camp was used to store weapons or any other military equipment.
"The root cause of this unspeakable violence is Israel's system of apartheid. This system must be dismantled, the blockade of the Gaza Strip immediately lifted, and those responsible for the crime of apartheid, war crimes, and other crimes under international law must be held to account," Morayef said.