Israel’s Mass Killing of Palestinian Families in Gaza

PHOTO: The Kelani family, killed by an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in Gaza City on July 22 

According to the United Nations, at least 68 Palestinian families in Gaza have had three or more members killed by the Israeli military in the same incident since Israel began its current assault on Gaza on July 7, for a total of 360 people. In its daily Gaza emergency report on July 30, the UN expressed deep concern at the “alarming number” of such incidents. To date, Israel has killed approximately 1400 people in Gaza during its current assault, approximately 75% of them civilians according to the UN, including more than 250 children.

On July 30:

• Sixteen members of the Abu Amer family, including four children, were killed when Israeli forces shelled their apartment building in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. The same attack, which killed at least 35 people in total, also killed seven members of the al Najar family, six members of the Breeka family, and four members of the Mu’ammar family. At least 18 children were among the dead.
• Israeli shelling killed 11 members of the Balata family, including five women and four children, in Jabalia in northern Gaza.
• Israeli shelling killed seven members of the al Khalili family as they ate breakfast, including three children and two women, one of whom was pregnant. Another child was critically injured in the attack.
• Israeli attacks killed six members each from the Hamouda and Abed-Rabbo families, including six women and five children.

On July 29:

• The Israeli military killed 16 members of the Abu Jabber family, including four children, in Al Bureij camp in central Gaza.
• 13 members of the al-Agha family were killed, including four children, by Israeli airstrikes on three homes in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

On July 26:

• Shortly before a 12-hour ceasefire came into effect, at least 20 members of the Al-Najar family were killed, including 11 children, and many others wounded when their home was attacked by the Israeli military in southern Gaza. According to reports, they had been trapped inside the home since Thursday.
• The bodies of 11 members of the Hilo family were pulled from the rubble of their home in Shejaiya, which was bombarded by the Israeli military a week before. According to a relative, they had received phone calls and leaflets from the Israeli military on July 29 telling them to leave, but that shelling had already begun and they didn’t think it was safe to leave.

On July 24:

• The Israeli military killed at least ten members of the al-Astal family, including three children, in two separate attacks on civilian homes in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. According to the UN, in one of the incidents, Israeli forces fired on civilians attempting to aid the survivors of the initial strike. At least six other members of the al-Astal family have been killed by the Israeli military in the past week.
• Israeli forces killed five members of the Abu Aita family, including an eleven-year-old boy in Jabalia in northern Gaza. The dead were 67-year-old Ibrahim Abdullah Abu Aita, 65-year-old Jamila Salim Abu Aita, 30-year-old Ahmad Ibrahim Abdullah Abu Aita, and 11-year-old Adham Ahmad Abu Aita.

On July 22:

• Seven members of the Kelani family and five others were killed, and 40 others injured, when Israeli warplanes attacked a high-rise apartment building in Gaza City, reducing most of it to rubble. The dead family were Ibrahim Kelani, his wife and four children.
• Israeli forces killed four members of the Hajjaj family in Gaza City. The dead were 15-year-old Rawan Ziad Hajjaj, 28-year-old Yousef Muhammed Hajjaj, 31-year-old Muhammad Shehadeh Hajjaj, and 66-year-old Fayzeh Saleh Hajjaj.

On July 21:

• Approximately 25 members of the Abu Jamea family and three others were killed by an Israeli missile strike on a home in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. The dead included 18 children and five women, two of who were reportedly pregnant.
• Ten members of the al-Qassas family were killed, including six children, and four others wounded when Israeli forces shelled their home in Gaza City. The dead children were 3-year-old Saman, 4-year-olds Arwa and Mohamad, Isra’ and Nesma, both 7, and 13-year-old Layma.

On July 20, seven members of the al Hallaq family were killed, including three children and a pregnant woman, by an Israeli missile strike on a home where they were taking shelter in Gaza City. The family had moved to a relative’s house in the center of the city from their home on the outskirts, which they feared wouldn’t be safe from Israeli attacks.

​On July 19, four members of the Zuwaid family and one other person were killed by Israeli shelling in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. The dead family were Mahmoud Zuwaid, his wife Daliah, and their children, three-year-old Nagham, and two-year-old Ruya.

On July 18:

• Eight members of the Abu Jrad family including four children were killed by an Israeli missile fired into their home in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.
• Four members of the Shaath family were killed and four others injured including one seriously by an Israeli airstrike on their home in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

On July 16, four young boys were killed and three others injured, by Israeli shelling on the beach in Gaza City. The dead, all cousins, were Ahed Atef Bakr and Zakariya Ahed Bakr, who were ten years old, eleven-year-old Mohammad Ramiz Bakr, and nine-year-old Ismail Mahmoud Bakr.

On July 13, 18 members of the al-Batsh family, including six children and three women, one of them pregnant, were killed, and 16 others injured by Israel in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Gaza’s chief of police by attacking his cousin’s home.

On July 10, Israeli forces killed 8 members of the Al Haj family, including five children, during an attack on their home in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

(Source / 31.07.2014)