What is the human cost of Israel's ruthless pursuit of Hamas commanders in Gaza?
LONDON: Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinian civilians and injured hundreds, including children, in their brutal pursuit of Hamas commanders in the Gaza Strip. But the Israeli military has designated many areas of its operations as “safe zones.”
Palestinian health officials said on Monday that Israeli shelling had killed 16 civilians in eastern Khan Yunis, even after Israel issued new orders to evacuate some neighborhoods to keep civilians out of the fighting zone.
It is the latest bloodshed after Israel struck the al-Mawashi camp, another safe zone in southern Gaza, on July 13, killing at least 90 Palestinians and wounding 300, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israel said the targets of the airstrikes were Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas's military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, and Rafa Salama, the commander of Hamas' Khan Younis Brigades. Israel believes Salama was behind the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
A Hamas official denied reports of his death, telling AFP after the strike that Deif was “directly supervising” the operation, but provided no evidence to back up the claim.
Meanwhile, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said there were “growing signs that we have succeeded in eliminating Mohammed Deif.”
Smoke rises in Gaza amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (Reuters)
In an interview with Al-Arabiya TV channel on Friday, he said: “Rafa Salama has definitely been eliminated. Mohammed Deif and Salama sat next to each other during the strike. Hamas is hiding what happened to Deif.”
Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi also accused Hamas of “covering up the consequences” of the airstrike on the western Khan Yunis compound where Deif and Salama were hiding.
Whether the airstrikes on al-Mawashi were successful or not, the attack on an area teeming with civilians drew condemnation from around the world, with observers accusing Israeli forces of violating international humanitarian law.
“War has its limits, established by international law. The end cannot justify all means. We condemn violations,” the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles, wrote on social media platform X.
“We once again demand an independent investigation and accountability, and an end to the horrific situation for innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip,” he added.
On the day of the attack, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Minister of Strategy and Finance Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Charchi Hanegbi to “express our grave concerns about the recent civilian casualties in Gaza.”
Women who took refuge at Jaouni School after Israeli bombing. (AFP)
The deadly al-Mawasi airstrike was not the first time Israeli forces have been accused of disregarding civilian safety and violating international humanitarian law in their pursuit of Hamas commanders since the conflict began on October 7.
According to the UN Human Rights Office, at least 38,900 Palestinians, including more than 13,000 children, have been killed in fighting since the Hamas-led offensive on October 7. The proportion of combatants among the dead is disputed.
Israeli bombing campaigns, which Israeli officials say are aimed at Hamas and not civilians, have destroyed medical, sanitation and education infrastructure across the Palestinian territories.
Last month, Israeli forces killed and wounded hundreds of Palestinians in the densely populated Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza during an operation to rescue four hostages.
The Israeli military said Palestinian casualties were “less than 100”, but it was unclear how many of them were “terrorists”.
But Al-Awda hospital in Nusseirat told BBC Arabic's “Gaza Today” show that of the 142 people killed in the operation, nearly a quarter were women and children, and 250 were wounded.
Children walk past a destroyed classroom in the Gaza Strip. (AFP)
UN spokesman Jeremy Lawrence expressed “deep shock” at the impact on civilians in Nusseirat, saying the Israeli military's actions “raise serious questions about whether the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution have been observed”.
In March, Israeli forces raided the al-Shifa hospital, the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip, claiming that Hamas fighters and other Palestinian militants were hiding there.
About 3,000 people were taking refuge in al-Shifa during the Israeli airstrikes, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. At least 1,500 Palestinians, including 13 children and 21 sick people, were killed in the two-week bombings, according to the Geneva-based nongovernmental organization Euromed Monitor.
Israeli officials said “more than 200 terrorists” had been killed in al-Shifa and surrounding areas and hundreds more had been detained, including several Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives.
Due to lack of reporting access to the Gaza Strip, it was not possible to independently verify the reported numbers.
Israeli soldiers move in military vehicles across the Israel-Gaza border. (Reuters)
Between July 8 and 12, Israel reportedly attacked six schools run by the UN relief agency, killing dozens of civilians sheltering in the area, before destroying the UN relief agency's headquarters in Gaza City on July 15.
Israel has accused UNRWA local staff of being involved in an attack on southern Israel on October 7. The UN agency has launched an internal investigation, and several major donors, including the United States, have suspended funding for UNRWA operations in Gaza and throughout the region.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini condemned the Israeli attack on UNRWA's Gaza headquarters as “another case of blatant disregard for international humanitarian law”.
In a post on X, he said: “UN facilities must always be protected. They must not be used for military or combat purposes. Every war has its rules. Gaza is no exception.”
In a separate post, Lazzarini stressed that “schools should never be used for combat or military purposes by any party to the conflict.”
Notable civilian casualty incidents
• October 7, 2023: A Hamas-led attack kills 1,200 Israelis and other civilians in southern Israel and takes hundreds more hostage.
• October 31, 2023: More than 110 Palestinians are killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a “senior Hamas commander” in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.
• February 29, 2024: 112 Palestinians waiting for aid on the outskirts of Gaza City are killed and more than 760 wounded amid Israeli gunfire and terror.
• April 1: Israel violated military protocol by attacking a convoy delivering aid supplies in the Gaza Strip, killing seven World Central Kitchen workers.
• May 27: At least 45 Palestinians are killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting “two senior Hamas commanders” in Rafah.
• June 9: Israeli airstrikes to free four hostages held in the Nuseirat refugee camp kill 274 Palestinians.
• July 13: Israel launches an airstrike targeting Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif in al-Mawasi, killing more than 90 Palestinians and wounding 300.
Source: Gaza Health Ministry, Government of Israel
“All the rules of war have been broken in Gaza,” he warned, adding that “the blatant and relentless disregard for international humanitarian law continues.”
Israel has consistently denied accusations that it attacks civilian infrastructure, and has accused Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups of using tunnels beneath Gaza hospitals to launch attacks, hiding weapons and using residents as human shields.
A New York-based international lawyer who spoke on condition of anonymity to comment on Israel's actions told Arab News that in the Gaza war, “international law remains relevant as a framework for accountability and justice by providing a mechanism to hold perpetrators accountable for war crimes, genocide and other atrocities.”
Palestinians walk through a street flooded by sewage in Deir el-Balah. (AFP)
The International Criminal Court, which prosecutes individuals accused of war crimes, has attempted to hold “both parties to the conflict” accountable for alleged war crimes.
Israeli media reported on July 17 that Israeli officials believe the ICC will likely issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant within the next two weeks.
ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants in May for two Israelis and three Palestinians suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Hamas commander Daif is one of the Palestinians listed on the ICC's arrest warrant, along with Hamas political director Ismail Haniyeh and Gaza's Islamic Movement chief Yahya Sinwar.
The arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galland accuse them of using starvation as a weapon of war, committing massacres, deliberately attacking civilians, and other war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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Khan said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the five men were “criminally responsible” for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Gaza conflict.
The decision has sparked outrage among Hamas leaders in Israel and even in the United States, where U.S. President Joe Biden described the move as “outrageous” and said there is “no equivalence whatsoever between Israel and Hamas.”
Hamas has demanded that the ICC prosecutor drop the charges against its leaders, saying they are “equating the victims with the executioners”.
Israel has consistently denied accusations that it has targeted civilian infrastructure. (AFP)
The New York-based international lawyer said that while international law and its ongoing developments “provide a foundation for addressing atrocities and fostering a more just and peaceful world,” its enforcement “is inconsistent and subject to political influence.”
On July 19, the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague issued a landmark ruling declaring Israel's occupation and annexation of Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, “illegal.”
The ICJ ordered Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories “as soon as possible,” noting that Israel's discriminatory laws and policies against Palestinians violate the prohibition of racial segregation and apartheid.
According to UN figures, Israel has carried out dozens of airstrikes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 7, killing at least 500 Palestinians, 143 of them children.
However, the ICJ's recent ruling is a non-binding advisory opinion that the UN General Assembly sought in advance of Israel's 2022 strike on Gaza, and is not directly related to the strike on Gaza.
In response to the ruling, Netanyahu’s office issued the following statement: “The Jewish people are not occupiers of their own land: neither our eternal capital, Jerusalem, nor the ancestral heritage of Judea and Samaria (the occupied West Bank).
“Even if a false verdict is handed down in The Hague, this historical truth will not be distorted, just as the legality of Israeli settlements in all parts of our homeland is beyond dispute.”
Last December, South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging that Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Between July 8 and 12, Israel attacked six schools run by the U.N. relief agency, killing dozens of civilians who had taken refuge in the area. (Reuters)
The ICJ issued an interim ruling in January and revised it in May, ordering Israel to “immediately cease its military offensive” and urging Hamas to immediately and unconditionally release the hostages.
Despite this, Israel continues to bomb Rafah and other areas of the Gaza Strip where more than a million Palestinians are seeking refuge, and Hamas is believed to still be holding 116 hostages.
No matter how much legal fighting went on, the conflict got no closer to resolution.
Diplomats and local observers are urging both sides to accept an immediate ceasefire, exchange hostages and prisoners, and make active efforts to resolve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
