The martyred child, Hajar Al-Bahtini, 5 years old

الطفلة الشهيدة هاجر البهتيني 5 سنوات

They were preparing for their wedding in a month... The young Palestinian man, Muhammad Saeed, whose fiancée, Dania Adas, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip, returns to her destroyed home and inspects the site of her death with deep sorrow and pain.

كانا يجهزان لحفل زفافهما بعد شهر.. الشاب الفلسطيني محمد سعيد، الذي استشهدت خطيبته دانية عدس في غارة إسرائيلية على قطاع #غزة، يعود إلى منزلها المدمر ويتفقد مكان استشهادها بكل حسرة وألم

Heartbreaking video The father of the two martyrs, Iman and Dania Adas, speaks about the circumstances of their deaths following the Israeli bombing east of Gaza. Dania was preparing for her wedding, which was to be in a month, and all the arrangements had been finalized. Her fiancé sat beside her, bidding her farewell while reciting the Holy Quran.

فيديو مؤلم والد الشهيدتين إيمان ودانية عدس يتحدث عن ظروف استشهادهن إثر القصف الإسرائيلي شرق غزة دانية كانت تستعد لحفل زواجها بعد شهر، وقد أتموا كل الاستعدادات لذلك خطيبها يجلس بجانبها يودعها وهو بقرأ القرآن الكريم ..

"The wedding dress turned into a shroud": A young man bids farewell to his fiancée, a martyr of the Gaza bombing. #Continue #Dania_Adas #Palestine

"فستان الزفاف تحول إلى كفن".. شاب يودع خطيبته شهيدة قصف #غزة #تواصل #دانية_عدس #فلسطين

The two martyred students, Iman Alaa Adas and her sister Dania Alaa Adas

الشهيدتين الطالبتين إيمان علاء عدس، وشقيقتها دانية علاء عدس

Martyr | Dania Alaa Atta Adas Age | 19 years old Date | May 9, 2023 Location | Gaza City Palestinian Martyrs Telegram Channel

الشهيدة | دانية علاء عطا عدس العُمــــر | 19 عامًا التاريخ | 09 - 05 - 2023 المكــان | مدينة غزة حساب شهداء فلسطين على تيليجرام

Operation to neutralize Khalil al-Bathini, the commander of the northern Gaza region of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.

عملیات خنثی سازی خلیل البهتینی، فرمانده منطقه شمال غزه در سازمان تروریستی جهاد اسلامی.

A wedding ceremony unlike any other in Gaza. The groom, Muhammad Saad, and his bride, Dana Adas, were preparing for their wedding ceremony, but an Israeli missile changed the wedding ceremony and turned joy into eternal sorrow.

حفل زفاف مختلف في غزة.. كان العريس محمد سعد يستعد وعروسه دانا عدس لحفل زفافهما، غير أن صاروخ الاحتلال غيّر مراسم الزفاف وبدّل الفرح حزنا أبدياً.

The scene of the Israeli occupation’s crime committed in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, at dawn today, which resulted in the martyrdom of the two women, Dania and Iman Alaa Adas.

مسرح جريمة الاحتلال الإسرائيلي التي ارتكبها بحي التفاح شرق مدينة غزة فجر اليوم، وارتقى على إثرها الشهيدتين دانيه وإيمان علاء عدس.

Martyr | Iman Alaa Atta Adas Age | 14 years old Date | May 9, 2023 Location | Gaza City Palestinian Martyrs Telegram Channel

الشهيدة | إيمان علاء عطا عدس العُمــــر | 14 عامًا التاريخ | 09 - 05 - 2023 المكــان | مدينة غزة حساب شهداء فلسطين على تيليجرام

Sanad News Agency correspondent: The funeral procession for the martyrs of the Israeli aggression has begun, heading towards Al-Batsh cemetery in Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of #Gaza city.

مراسل وكالة سند للأنباء: بدء موكب تشييع شهداء العدوان الإسرائيلي، باتجاه مقبرة البطش في حي التفاح شرق مدينة #غزة.

"Why did you leave us, Dad?" A heartbreaking scene of the daughter of martyr Khalil al-Bahtini bidding farewell to her father, who was assassinated by treacherous Israeli warplanes. #GazaUnderAttack

"ليش سبتنا يا بابا".. مشهد مؤثر لابنة الشهيد "خليل البهتيني" في وداع والده الذي اغتالته طائرات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي الغادرة. #غزة_تحت_القصف

The beautiful and elegant Hajar al-Bahtini was torn apart and burned by Israeli shells that targeted her, her mother, and her father, who were both martyred this morning. #GazaUnderAttack

تمزق جسد هذه الجميلة الأنيقة "هاجر البهتيني"، واحترقت بنيران القذائف الإسرائيلية التي استهدفتها رفقة أمها وأبيها ليرتقوا معا شهداء، فجر هذا اليوم. #غزة_تحت_القصف

Social media users circulated photos and videos of a young man from Gaza reading the Quran beside the body of his fiancée, whom he was to marry in about a month. In one photo, the young man is seen holding a copy of the Quran next to the body of his fiancée, Dania Adas, who was killed during the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. In another video, he is seen weeping and bidding her a final farewell. On Tuesday morning, the Israeli occupation army announced a military operation against the Gaza Strip called "Operation Defensive Arrow," which resulted in the deaths of 15 Palestinians, including 4 children, 4 women, and 3 commanders of the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, as well as injuries to 23 others, some of whom are in critical condition. The high number of women and children among the victims of these raids was particularly noteworthy. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the "horrific massacre against our people in the Gaza Strip," considering it "state terrorism." Organized and an extension of the 1948 Nakba.” Countries and organizations, most notably Egypt, Jordan, and the European Union, condemned the Israeli airstrikes. Egypt expressed its complete rejection of “such attacks, which contravene the rules of international law and international legitimacy.” Receive instant alerts and updates based on your interests. Be the first to know about important stories. The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the Israeli “aggression” and stressed “the need for the international community to act immediately and effectively to stop it.” The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, condemned “the killing of civilians in the Israeli airstrikes,” deeming it “unacceptable.” Source: Al Jazeera Mubasher + Social Media

تداول ناشطون على مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي صورا وتسجيلات لشاب من غزة، وهو يقرأ القرآن الكريم بجانب جثمان خطيبته التي كان من المقرر أن يتزوجها بعد نحو شهر.ويظهر الشاب في إحدى الصور، وهو ممسك بنسخة من المصحف بجانب جثمان خطيبته دانية عدس التي استُشهدت خلال العدوان الإسرائيلي على القطاع.كما يظهر في فيديو آخر، وهو يبكي ويودعها الوداع الأخير.المحتوى غير متاح بسبب إعدادات ملفات تعريف الارتباط الخاصة بكقم بتحديث تفضيلاتك لتتمكن من مشاهدتهوفجر الثلاثاء، أعلن جيش الاحتلال الإسرائيلي شن عملية عسكرية ضد قطاع غزة أطلق عليها اسم “السهم الواقي” أسفرت عن استشهاد 15 فلسطينيا بينهم 4 أطفال و4 نساء، و3 من قادة “سرايا القدس” الجناح العسكري لحركة “الجهاد الإسلامي”، فضلا عن إصابة 23 آخرين بينهم حالات خطرة.وكان من اللافت في هذه الغارات ارتفاع عدد الضحايا من النساء والأطفال.المحتوى غير متاح بسبب إعدادات ملفات تعريف الارتباط الخاصة بكقم بتحديث تفضيلاتك لتتمكن من مشاهدتهوأدان رئيس الوزراء الفلسطيني محمد اشتيه “المجزرة المروعة ضد أهلنا في قطاع غزة”، معتبرا ذلك “إرهاب دولة منظما، وامتدادا لنكبة عام 48”.كما أدانت دول ومنظمات على رأسها مصر والأردن والاتحاد الأوربي الضربات الجوية الإسرائيلية.المحتوى غير متاح بسبب إعدادات ملفات تعريف الارتباط الخاصة بكقم بتحديث تفضيلاتك لتتمكن من مشاهدتهوأعربت مصر عن رفضها الكامل “مثل تلك الاعتداءات التي تتنافى مع قواعد القانون الدولي والشرعية الدولية”.تلقّ تنبيهات وتحديثات فورية بحسب اهتمامك. كن أول من يعلم بالقصص المهمةكما أدانت وزارة الخارجية الأردنية “العدوان” الإسرائيلي، وأكدت “ضرورة تحرك المجتمع الدولي بشكل فوري وفاعل لوقفه”.وأدان المنسق الخاص للأمم المتحدة لعملية السلام في الشرق الأوسط تور وينيسلاند “مقتل مدنيين في الضربات الجوية الإسرائيلية”، معتبرا أن “هذا غير مقبول”.المصدر: الجزيرة مباشر + مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي

A wedding that never happened, moments of profound pain and anguish that brought tears to the eyes. Just when you dream of your white wedding dress and eagerly await the moment your bride will be with you, those hopes and dreams are shattered by grief and sorrow. The Israeli missiles that struck both people and property during Tuesday's bombardment of the Gaza Strip, killing fifteen and wounding dozens, also left a deep wound in the heart of the fiancé of the martyr, Dania Adas. Dania, 19, was supposed to be married in her white wedding dress within a month, but Israeli warplanes turned her wedding dreams into a funeral. The bride was left in a white shroud, leaving her fiancé to his grief. A Dream Cut Short "What happened was incredibly painful," said Mohammed Saad, Dania Adas's fiancé. "We were looking forward to celebrating our wedding soon. We talked about so many dreams, but everything is destroyed. We are filled with immense sorrow and even greater pain." For a moment, the young man, Muhammad, was unable to continue speaking, overcome with tears, as he surveyed the destruction caused by the occupation's airstrikes. He continued, "This was her room, and these are the remains of her furniture. A dream unfulfilled. May God have mercy on her and forgive her. This is God's will. A heinous crime by the occupation in every sense of the word." The father, Alaa Adas, couldn't believe what had happened. He said, "My daughter was a kind girl who had memorized 15 parts of the Quran. She was so happy that she was going to be married next month, especially since her sister, Iman, who was martyred with her, told me she had dreamt of being married. I told her that this dream was for her sister, the one whose wedding it was. And, praise be to God, she is now a bride in Paradise, God willing." The father was at his bombed home. Speaking to Al-Ghad TV, his voice choked with grief, Alaa explained that everything for the wedding had been purchased, except for the gold jewelry. But that hadn't happened, and Dania was martyred. A Heartbreaking Farewell Activists on social media circulated photos and videos of a young man, Muhammad Saad, reciting the Quran beside the body of his fiancée, whom he was to marry in about a month. In one of the photos, the young man is seen holding a copy of the Quran next to the body of his fiancée, Dania Adas, who was killed during the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. Dania Alaa Adas was killed along with her sister, Iman, in the horrific massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, at dawn on Tuesday. This occurred during the military operation against the Gaza Strip, dubbed "Operation Defensive Arrow," which resulted in the deaths of 17 Palestinians, including four children, four women, and three commanders of the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement. An additional 23 Palestinians were wounded, some critically.

مراسم زفاف لم تتم، لحظات مؤلمة و مؤثرة تصل إلى حد القهر و البكاء، فعندما تكون تحلم بفستان الزفاف الأبيض وتنتظر أن يمر الوقت لتزف إليك عروسك، تجد ان تلك الأمنيات التي تنتظرها تتحول إلى مأتم وحزن. فصواريخ الاحتلال التي طالت الحجر والبشر خلال القصف الذى تعرض له قطاع غزة أمس الثلاثاء وأدى إلى إرتقاء خمسة عشرة شهيدا و عشرات الجرحى، ترك جرحا غائرا أيضا لدى خطيب الشهيدة دانيا عدس. وكان من المقرر أن تزف دانيا ابنة الـ19 ربيعًا بثوبها الأبيض إلى عريسها خلال شهر، إلا أن طائرات الإحتلال الإسرائيلي حولت أحلام الزفاف إلى مراسم عزاء، فارتدت العروس الكفن الأبيض، تاركة خطيبها لحسرته. حلم لم يكتمل وقال الشاب محمد سعد خطيب الشهيدة دانيا عدس: "ما حدث كان مؤلما جدا، كنا ننتظر أن نقيم فرحنا خلال الفترة القادمة، أحلام كثيرة تحدثنا عنها، لكن كل شيء تدمر، حزن كبير وألم أكبر". وللحظات لم يقدر الشاب محمد على إكمال حديثه الذى غلب عليه البكاء الشديد، وهو يتفقد آثار الدمار التي أحدثته صواريخ طائرات الاحتلال، موصلا حديثه" هنا كانت غرفتها، وهذه بقايا من أثاثها، حلم لم يكتمل، الله يرحمها ويغفرها، هذا قدر الله، جريمة بشعة من الاحتلال بكل معاني الكلمة". أما الأب علاء عدس لم يصدق ما حدث قائلا: "ابنتي كانت فتاة طيبة تحفظ 15 جزء من القرآن، وكانت سعيدة أنها ستزف الشهر القادم، خاصة أن شقيقتها إيمان التي استشهدت معها قالت لي إنها حلمت بأنها تزف، فقلت لها إن هذا الحلم من أجل اختك هي التي سيكون فرحها، وسبحان الله زفت عروس في الجنة إن شاء الله". الأب في منزله التي تعرض للقصف وأوضح الأب علاء خلال حديثه والحسرة تخنقه لقناة "الغد"، أنه تم شراء كل جهاز الفرح، ولم يبقى إلا شراء الذهب، لكن لم يتم ذلك وذهبت دانيا شهيدة. وداع حزين وتداول ناشطون على مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي صورا وتسجيلات لشاب محمد سعد، وهو يقرأ القرآن الكريم بجانب جثمان خطيبته التي كان من المقرر أن يتزوجها بعد نحو شهر. ويظهر الشاب في إحدى الصور، وهو ممسك بنسخة من المصحف بجانب جثمان خطيبته دانيا عدس التي استُشهدت خلال العدوان الإسرائيلي على القطاع. واستشهدت دانيا علاء عدس برفقة شقيقتها إيمان جراء المجزرة البشعة التي ارتكبها الاحتلال الإسرائيلي بحي التفاح شرق مدينة غزة فجر أمس الثلاثاء، خلال  العملية العسكرية ضد قطاع غزة التي أطلق عليها اسم “السهم الواقي” و أسفرت عن استشهاد 17 فلسطينيا بينهم 4 أطفال و4 نساء، و3 من قادة “سرايا القدس” الجناح العسكري لحركة “الجهاد الإسلامي”، فضلا عن إصابة 23 آخرين بينهم حالات خطرة.

There is no power nor strength except with God, the Most High, the Almighty. Names of the martyrs of dawn in Gaza: 1- Tariq Ibrahim Muhammad Ezz El-Din 2- Ali Tariq Ibrahim Ezz El-Din 3- Mayar Tariq Ibrahim Ezz El-Din 4- Youssef Jamal Saber Khuswan 5- Jamal Saber Muhammad Khuswan 6- Marwa Saleh Muhammad Khuswan 7- Khalil Salah Khaled Al-Bahtini 8- Hajar Khalil Salah Al-Bahtini 9- Layla Magdi Mustafa Al-Bahtini 10- Dania Alaa Atta Adas 11- Jihad Abdel-Hafez Ghanem 12- Wafaa Shadeed Al-Ghanem #ToGodWeBelongAndToHimWeShallReturn Uncle Abu Adnan

لا حول ولا قوه الا بالله العلي العظيم أسماء الشهداء الفجر في غزه 1 - طارق إبراهيم محمد عز الدين 2 - علي طارق إبراهيم عز الدين 3 - ميار طارق إبراهيم عز الدين 4 - يوسف جمال صابر خصوان 5 - جمال صابر محمد خصوان 6 - مرفت صالح محمد خصوان 7 - خليل صلاح خالد البهتيني 8 - هاجر خليل صلاح البهتيني 9- ليلي مجدي مصطفي البهتيني 10- دانيه علاء عطا عدس 11 - جهاد عبد الحافظ غنام 12 - وفاء شديد الغنام #انا_لله_وانا_اليه_راجعون عمو ابو عدنان

It’s quiet now in Gaza after five terrifying days of Israeli bombardment between May 9 to May 13, which killed 33 people, including six children. As the aftermath of the assault sets in, people who have been locked in their homes for the better part of a week are eager to walk freely outdoors. Crowds spill into the streets and observe the spectacle of destruction wrought by the Israeli airstrikes. Families will take their kids to the few free parks that can be found in Gaza, and maybe if they can, they will buy them a shawarma sandwich to try and relieve the pressures of war.  A total of 2,041 houses across the Gaza Strip were damaged during the airstrikes, while 31 buildings were completely destroyed, 93 families were made homeless, and 128 homes became uninhabitable, according to a report by the government media office.  Even though their lives were turned upside down last week, everything was back to normal after a ceasefire was reached at 10 p.m. on Saturday, May 13. But some people’s lives were forever changed during those five days. As in every previous war, people in Gaza must endure the lists of the dead, the injured, and the destroyed houses. But beyond this, many more in Gaza must live with the sorrow and pain of losing their loved ones. Your donation will be MATCHED! “I’m the one who was killed. My heart was destroyed and torn apart, and nothing is going to repair it,” Mohammed Saed told Mondoweiss, mourning his fiance, Dania Adas.  Dania, 19, was sleeping in her home when she was killed mere months before she was going to start a family with Mohammed. Dania is one of the many Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza, described by Israel as “collateral damage.” She was killed alongside her sister Iman, 17, in the al-Nakheel area east of al-Shuja’iyya, in an airstrike targeting senior PIJ leader Khalil al-Bahtini, whose 4-year-old daughter, Hajer, and his 40-year-old wife, Laila Hiji, were also killed in the strike.  A wedding interrupted While Dania and Iman are mourned by their family, Dania’s fiancé, Mohammed, is caught up in his own grief. Both of them had committed that nothing would separate them but death as a way of showing their love for each other. On the same night of her death, Mohammed and Dania had stayed up late talking and planning for their future. They had already picked out names for their future children. He now sits amid the rubble in the same living room where he and Dania had spent their last night together, sobbing and squeezing the couch with both hands. Dania’s father, Alaa Adas, attempts to calm him down. Mohammed hugs him and keeps crying.  “Her smile was everything to me, she was my dream,” he says. “Even after a billion years I won’t be able to forget a single thing about her.” They would have been married on June 26. On the night of the airstrike at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, May 9, Ala Adas’s bedroom door was ripped from its hinges.  “I ran to the girls’ room,” he tells Mondoweiss. “But the dust blinded me. I reached the room, but it was destroyed, and I could only find rubble. I called out loudly, ‘Dania, Iman,’ over and over again, but there was no answer.”   “This is hers,” he says, holding the blood-stained pillow that belonged to his daughter. “They were sleeping happily. They were both killed, my beautiful butterflies.”  “I started digging through the rubble and finally found my daughters over here,” he continues as he stands in the middle of the destroyed house, pointing at the place where he found Dania. “I found her pillow, and it was covered in her blood, I kept digging until I reached her, but she wasn’t breathing.” The father took a deep breath in an attempt to stifle his sadness. He kept trying to find his other daughter, Iman, until he finally found her clutching her doll under the rubble.   ‘Scared to death‘ Mohammed Dawoud, 36, lives with his family of two children. His 4-year-old son, Tamim, was born with a heart issue requiring open heart surgery at six months old. Tamim’s condition remained stable after the operation, and he was able to join kindergarten this year. He and his 7-year-old sister, Judi, have filled their parents with joy.  In the al-Rimal neighborhood west of Gaza City, the apartment building next to the Dawoud family’s home was hit in an Israeli airstrike targeting another PIJ leader.  “When Tamim heard the bomb in the next building, he was terrified and screamed in fear,” Mohammed says. “He put his little hands on his chest, and then he turned silent for a while. After that, his face turned to blue, and he died before we could arrive at the hospital.”  Tamim was one of six children who were killed in the five days of Israeli attacks. But he was not hit by shrapnel or buried under the rubble. His heart simply could not handle the horror of the sound of Israeli bombardment.  Yet Mohammed says that the heart issue is not the reason for his death. “Many people live a long life with heart issues and can control their lives,” he asserts. “But the sound was terrifying even for adults. The scene next to our building, with the ambulances and the civil defense teams who pulled the martyrs out of the rubble, all of could be heard. The fear gripped his little heart, and it couldn’t bear it.” Walking into his son’s room and holding his toys and bag a week after his death, Mohammed still can’t believe that his son has died. “I can’t believe that I lost my beautiful boy,” he says. “He could have lived happily and enjoyed a future. But the Israeli bombs scared him to death.” Gaza is being carved up. Palestinians are being written out. As governments and billionaires design a “new Gaza,” most corporate media treat it as a technical project, not a colonial mandate that denies Palestinians the right to govern themselves. The basic fact of Palestinian self-determination is pushed to the margins or erased. Mondoweiss refuses that logic. We report the truth about Gaza’s devastation and publish Palestinian journalists, activists, and community leaders who insist on telling their own stories on their own terms. Our work exposes who profits from this violence and how Palestinians continue to resist their erasure. We can only do this because readers like you choose to fund it. We do not take corporate money, and we do not hide our reporting behind paywalls. This December, we must raise $217,000 to sustain this work, and a $62,000 match will double your impact. If you want journalism that rejects dehumanization and defends Palestinian freedom, please make a donation today—monthly if you can. Suport Journalism for Justice today

Harrowing images have been surfacing from the Gaza Strip since Israel’s offensive in the besieged enclave started on 9 May. Residential buildings have crumbled to the ground as Israeli shelling continued on, with families left in the streets.  Children have been some of the worst affected, with at least seven children amongst the 33 Palestinians killed.  In videos circulating online, children are shown weeping in fear as the sound of shelling continues above them, while others search through the rubble of their homes for loved ones and their possessions.  So far, over 500 residential units have been damaged, while civilians describe the fear of the ground shaking beneath them.   New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Here, we take a look at the children killed in the offensive* Mayar Tariq Ibrahim Ezz el-Din, aged 11 Mayar Tariq Ibrahim Ezz el-Din was killed on 9 May 2023 in Gaza City. She was 11 years old.  Mayar, and her brother Ali, are the children of Tareq Ibrahim Ezz el-Din, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) military commander. The family were sleeping when an Israeli fighter jet targeted the entire floor of their residential building in al-Remal neighbourhood in the centre of Gaza City. Fifteen Palestinians were killed in the attack, including three PIJ members, four children, and four women. Over 20 others were wounded, including three children and seven women, some of whom are in serious and critical condition, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Ali Tariq Ibrahim Ezz el-Din, aged nine Ali Tariq Ibrahim Ezz el-Din was killed with his sister Mayar on 9 May 2023 in Gaza City. He was nine years old. Ali, along with his sister, had bought sweets and prepared his clothes, excited for the next day, where he was joining a school trip before he was killed.  Online, social media users shared photos of the siblings during happy celebrations and mourned the loss of them.  The attack has left the family’s home completely destroyed, as well as the surrounding housing units.    Hajar Khalil Salah el-Bahtini, aged five Hajar Khalil Salah el-Bahtini, five, was killed on 9 May 2023 in Gaza City alongside her 44-year-old mother, Layla al-Bahtini. She is the daughter of Al-Quds Brigades commander Khalil al-Bahtini who was also killed in the raid that targeted their home. Many have shared photos of Hajar at school, and condemned Israel for targeting children in the attacks.  Eyewitnesses that have spoken to Middle East Eye have described a sense of fear among children, who are also showing signs of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Schools have also been shut as young children mourn their peers and many buildings have sustained heavy damage.    Layan Bilal Maddoukh, aged eight Layan Bilal Maddoukh, eight, was killed on 10 May 2023 in an Israeli raid that hit residential buildings in al-Sahaba Street in Gaza City. Tamim Mohamed Dawoud, aged four Tamim Mohamed Daoud, four, died of a panic attack as a result of an Israeli air strike on his neighbourhood in Gaza on 10 May 2023, his father told Middle East Eye. Iman Adas, aged 17  Iman was killed along with her older sister Dania, who was just days away from her wedding.  The sisters were killed in an air strike that targeted their neighbour’s home in the early hours of the morning.  The walls of their home turned into a mountain of rubble, with their belongings peeking through the shards of glass and stone.  Yazan Jawdat Elayyan, aged 16 Elayyan’s home was completely destroyed in an airstrike, where he sustained fatal injuries. Hundreds of people joined a funeral procession for the teenager, where they mourned his loss.  Witnesses told local news agencies that they were asleep when the deafening sound of air strikes struck, and Elayyan’s home came crumbling down.  “Me and my wife were sleeping when we heard the sound and the kids jumped up," one witness described to local media. "We looked outside to see the building covered in smoke and fully destroyed. Everything was shaking…there was no prior warning for people to leave." *Photo credits: Social media.

In a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City there hangs a poster paying tribute to “the martyrs,” as those who die in the conflict with Israel are typically called. The youngest members of the group are distributing the usual dates and coffee with cardamom to people who come to offer their condolences.On a poster showing the faces of Jamal Khaswan and his son Yousef, there are no emblems of Palestinian militias, and no photos of well-known Palestinian leaders such as Yasser Arafat, Ahmed Yasin or Mohammed Dahlan. Instead, there are only three logos: one from the city’s Al Wafa hospital — where the deceased had served as chairman of the board —, another one from a charitable association and a third from a nursing home.Khaswan’s relationship with Palestine’s armed groups came down to living in the apartment unit right above Tariq Ibrahim Ezzedin, one of three leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad against whose homes Israel’s military aviation launched a missile in a series of synchronized selective assassinations, triggering a new escalation of violence and five days of fighting that ended this past Saturday with a ceasefire after 33 deaths in Gaza and two in Israel.It was 2:00 a.m. when the ceiling collapsed on the bed in which Jamal and his wife, Mervat, were sleeping. Both died, as did their 20-year-old son Yousef, who was sleeping in an adjoining room. Another son, Yasem, who is five years younger, did not find out until the next day, at the hospital, that he had lost three members of his family. The youngest child, a nine-year-old girl, still believes that her parents and one of her brothers “are traveling,” explains Musa Saber Khaswan, Jamal’s brother. They are three of the 14 civilians whose lives were claimed by Israel’s Operation Shield and Arrow, defined this Sunday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “perfect” for having killed ”dozens of terrorists” — including six leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad — and doing so “with total surprise and continuing initiative.”“I was sleeping and suddenly things fell on my bed. It took me a few minutes to react,” Yasem, who a visible limp from the injuries caused by the falling debris, explains about the moment the missile hit the house. “We live in Gaza and we know that it is a dangerous place, but we never thought it could happen to us, because we know that my family is not a target for Israel,” he says with an absent look in his eyes.Jamal Khaswan, 53, was a respected figure in Gaza, says his brother Musa Saber, who is four years older. In the 1990s, he studied dentistry and earned a doctoral degree in Russia, and had dual nationality. He was part of the family business of dental prosthetics, which currently employs 10 people and has been run by Musa since his graduation from Tel Aviv University (back when studying in Israel was not a pipe dream for a resident of Gaza). All the children in the family have gone on to study dentistry at college.Musa had visited his brother, who also headed the Gaza Dental Association, shortly before the latter’s death. Two hours later, he received a call that the building had been bombed. “It’s a good neighborhood. No one had moved away, no one expected anything to happen. If everyone in Gaza who has a neighbor from Hamas or from Islamic Jihad had to get out, the Israelis would have to start building lots of apartments for us,” he says ironically in one of the rare moments in which his voice does not tremble. “The pain of losing a brother is impossible to explain, but beyond that, the question is: why did he have to die? And I would say the same if I were a Jew or a Christian. And another question, how long will it go on like this?”Three goalsThe gaping holes in the buildings attest to the accuracy of both the impact (the buildings are still standing and, generally, with a single burnt-out apartment) and of Israel’s intelligence information regarding the location of the targets. The missiles were launched at dawn against three bedrooms in three different houses where the leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad were resting with their wives and children. Of the 13 deaths caused by that first wave of selective assassinations, on May 9, there were 10 civilians. One of them was five-year-old Hajar, who had snuggled in with her parents in their bed. Her father was Jalil Bahitini, a top commander of the Islamic Jihad.Another daughter, 10-year-old Nada, has a black eye. That night, she was sleeping on the couch in the family home, just a few meters from the room where the projectile hit. At first, she says, she thought it was a dream. Then she saw a small fire. “I started screaming and realized that no one could hear me because I was under rubble,” she recalls, standing next to her sister Sara, 14. “I was expecting that something might happen to my father. At first, they told me that he had died, but that my mother and sister were only injured,” says Nada, before a lump in her throat prevents her from speaking further.“My father used to tell us: ‘I could die at any moment,’” says his son Abdelaziz, 17, who was sleeping on the top floor of the two that make up the family home. “Yes, we were worried about him, because we knew he was part of the resistance and because what he said was true. But we thought it could happen in the middle of the street, or in a training field. What I could not imagine is that they would also take my mother and my sister,” he says, standing under the funeral tent where the Islamic Jihad is honoring his father. A group of hooded armed militiamen, the Al-Quds Brigades, are posing while loudspeakers blast nationalist and religious music against the “Zionist enemy.”Considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union, the Islamic Jihad — which depends on Iran for weapons and financing — is not very large, but it is particularly combative and Islamist, which is evident in the staging of the tributes to their deceased commanders. There are only men inside the tents, and the dead wives do not typically appear on the posters. The images of their dead leader Tariq Ibrahim Ezzedin extol the warrior in fatigues with the Temple Mount in the background, rather than the father in civilian clothes standing next to his two deceased sons: Ali, eight, and Miar, 12.Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition

Current sectionIsrael NewsSo far, three children and four women were killed in the overnight Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave which killed three Islamic Jihad commanders. With 20 injured, some critically, the numbers could soon climbShare to FacebookShare to XArticle printing is available to subscribers onlyPrint in a simple, ad-free formatSubscribeComments: 7Zen reading is available to subscribers onlyAd-free and in a comfortable reading formatSubscribeIn the early hours of Tuesday morning, Israel launched an airstrike on the Gaza Strip, killing 13 Palestinians, including three senior Islamic Jihad officials.Only $1 for the first monthSubscribe now for on-the-ground reporting and analysisSUBSCRIBE NOWAlready signed up? Log inOrRegister to get up to 6 articles per monthClick the alert icon to follow topics:You Might Also LikeYou Might Also LikeCommentsYour Perspective Belongs HereWant to reply? Subscribe to join the conversationEnter the commenter display name6Sam • 10.05.2023 | 06:55Yeah that little Hajar Bahtini, it’s a good thing Our Hero Yoav Gallant was “precise and successful” in killing her. What an awesome military feat by the most moral army in the world. She looks dangerous as hell. A real bloodthirsty ticking bomb Jew killer that one. So gallant of Gallant.5Jimmy NYC • 09.05.2023 | 19:21BDS - BDS - BDS - BDSTzezlJimmy NYC • 11.05.2023 | 08:58EXACTLY + ICJ4Some Guy • 09.05.2023 | 18:48The children looked happy and full of joy. Rest in peace little Ali , Miar and hajar.3Aurangzeb Iqbal • 09.05.2023 | 17:18When will the world eventually condemn and sanction this evil entity otherwise known as apartheid Israel?2dlb • 09.05.2023 | 16:59Perhaps we can look forward to Netanyahu's success with the courts and Israeli war criminals will be more easily prevented from traveling abroad even if they are never actually prosecuted. The current legal system does too little to protect the Arab minority within the green line let alone those Arab's unlucky enough to live under de facto Israel. Pulling the mask off Israel may be preferable to maintaining the current fiction.1Louis • 09.05.2023 | 16:36If I take Yoav Gallant at his word, and stipulate that the strike in Gaza was "precise and successful," then I have to assume that Ali and Miar Izzeldeen, mere children, were intentionally assassinated along with their father.Go Israel. You have a right to defend yourself against those five year old monsters.In the NewsUN Passes Resolution Calling on Israel to Cooperate With UNRWA, Prompting Israeli PushbackMurder of Four Arab Israelis Raises Community's Annual Crime Death Toll to 241Lebanese Foreign Minister Reportedly Says Israel Planning Major Attack on LebanonGet Ready for a Netanyahu-friendly Probe Bashing the IDF Just Before the ElectionIron Cage, Hunger, Meeting Top Hamas Official: Ex-hostage Reveals New Details of CaptivityRemembering and rebuilding two years laterICYMIAnalysisAnalysisThe Ultra-hawkish Right and anti-Zionist Left Have Drowned the American Jewish MajorityAnalysisAnalysisThe Visionary Palestinian Peace Plan for Israel and Gaza That You've Never Heard OfRaised in the Heart of the Settler Right, They're Determined to Revive Israel's LeftAnalysisAnalysisIsrael's Right Wing Bet the Country's Future on U.S. Christian Nationalists. It BackfiredHe Takes Killer Dogs, and Teaches Them to Love AgainWhy Did So Many Jews Vote for Mamdani?

Palestinians in Gaza say that Israel’s strikes against Islamic Jihad amount to a collective punishment aimed at making them fearful about who their neighbors might be.The aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.Credit...May 31, 2023As the Khoswan family slept, the Israeli military dropped three GBU-39 bombs into their sixth-floor apartment. One of the bombs exploded just outside the parents’ bedroom, leaving the apartment looking as if a tornado had swept through, killing three family members.But they were not the stated target of the attack earlier this month.The Israeli military had dropped the bombs into their home to assassinate a commander of the Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad who lived in the apartment below.Jamal Khoswan, a dentist, Mirvat Khoswan, a pharmacist, and their son, a 19-year-old dental student, were killed in the strike as well as the Islamic Jihad commander who lived downstairs, Tareq Izzeldeen, and two of his children, a girl, 11, and a boy, 9.“Commanders have been targeted before,” Menna Khoswan, 16, said this month at a memorial service for her father at the hospital where he served as chairman of the board. “But to target the commander and those around him, honestly this is something we didn’t expect.”Israel says that it conducts “precision strikes” aimed at taking out armed groups’ commanders or operation sites, and that it does not target civilians. But the airstrikes are often conducted in heavily populated areas, and many Palestinians in Gaza say they amount to a collective punishment aimed at making them fearful about who their neighbors might be.Israel also destroys entire residential buildings or towers if it believes an armed group has an office or apartment there, although it usually issues an evacuation warning beforehand.Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.Raja Abdulrahim is a correspondent in Jerusalem focused on Palestinian affairs.A version of this article appears in print on June 1, 2023, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: The Civilian Anguish Behind Israel’s ‘Precision Strikes’. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | SubscribeRelated ContentTrending in The TimesAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT

The Electronic Intifada 2 June 2023 The Israeli military, police and armed civilians killed more than 50 Palestinians during May, which witnessed yet another deadly and destructive attack on Gaza. At least 33 Palestinians in Gaza were killed during five days of intense cross-boundary fire that began when Israel launched a surprise attack by assassinating three Islamic Jihad leaders in their homes. Several of the targeted resistance leaders’ family members and their neighbors – including several women and children – were also killed in those first strikes on Rafah and Gaza City. Israel targeted and killed three more Islamic Jihad leaders in the following days. The resistance faction responded by firing hundreds of rockets toward central and southern Israel. Initial reports suggest that at least three of the fatalities in Gaza during the five-day escalation were likely the result of rockets fired from the territory that fell short of Israel. The UN’s human rights office said that at least 13 civilians, including seven children, were killed during the Israeli offensive. Those killed include Dania Adas, a student of accounting who was planning to wed in July, and Iman, her 17-year-old sister. The sisters were killed in an airstrike using a US-sourced warplane that killed Islamic Jihad leader Khalil al-Bahtini, along with his wife Laila and their 4-year-old daughter Hajar. Jamal Khaswan, a Russian national and dentist who chaired the board of al-Wafaa Hospital, was killed in a strike targeting Islamic Jihad leader Tariq Izzedine. Khaswan died along with his wife Mervat and 19-year-old son Youssef when the ceiling of their home collapsed as they slept. Izzedine was killed along with his children Ali, 8, and Mayar, 12. Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza meanwhile killed an 80-year-old Israeli woman and a Palestinian laborer from Gaza who was working in the southern Naqab region before an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire brought the escalation to an end on 13 May. It was the second ceasefire reached in May; resistance factions in Gaza fired rockets towards Israel following the death of Khader Adnan after a lengthy hunger strike in Israeli detention on 2 May. Israel continues to withhold Adnan’s body, along with those of at least 132 other Palestinians, some since 2016, according to the UN. One Palestinian civilian in Gaza was killed as a result of Israeli bombing in response to the rocket fire. After the day-long exchange of fire on 3 May, members of Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s extreme-right Jewish Power party boycotted parliament in protest, insisting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should have meted out a more hardline response in Gaza. Rather than acts of military necessity, the assassinations of Islamic Jihad leaders were likely a capitulation by Netanyahu to Ben-Gvir’s demands in order to preserve his fragile ruling coalition, despite Israel risking a regional spillover of armed hostilities by doing so. “Pressure cooker” executions While a regional escalation was averted, Israel’s routine killing with impunity carried on in the West Bank during May. On 1 May, Israeli troops shot 17-year-old Jibril Muhammad Said Kamal in the head during a raid in Aqbat Jabr refugee camp near the West Bank city of Jericho, killing him. Israeli troops killed three Palestinians – Muath Masri, Ibrahim Jabr and Hasan Qatnani – belonging to the armed wing of Hamas during a raid in Nablus on 4 May. Israel appears to have used the “pressure cooker” procedure during the raid, a form of extrajudicial execution by which occupation forces fire progressively more powerful weapons at a targeted building in an effort to force those inside to surrender. Israel claimed that two of the slain men carried out a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley three weeks earlier that resulted in the deaths of an Israeli-British settler and two of her daughters. Also on 4 May, Iman Ziyad Odeh, 26, was shot and killed by Israeli troops during an alleged stabbing attack in Huwwara, a town south of Nablus. Her death may also constitute an extrajudicial execution. B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, has said that Netanyahu is responsible for “the transformation of police officers, and even of armed civilians, into judges and executioners” who shoot and kill Palestinians in the streets. That deadly vigilantism, spurred by racist incitement by Israel’s top leaders, all but certainly factored into the shooting death of Diyar Omari, a 19-year-old Palestinian citizen of Israel, on 6 May. Israel claims that Omari was killed in the north of the country during a road rage dispute. But video of the deadly encounter shows Omari being attacked by an Israeli man identified as Denis Mukin, who is seen removing the teen from his vehicle and then opening fire at him as Omari attempts to get back into his car. Later in the month, Israeli police raided Sandala, where Omari lived. The raid was intended to intimidate people accused of protesting against the young man’s killing, Adalah, a group that advocates for the rights of Palestinians in Israel, suggested. Police violently searched several homes and arrested 13 Palestinians during the “quasi-military” operation in Sandala, Adalah added. Left to bleed Also on 6 May, Samer al-Shafei and Hamza Khayroush, both 22, were killed in a military raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. Israel claimed that the two men had carried out a shooting attack at a nearby settlement earlier in the week, injuring a civilian. Graphic video shows al-Shafei and Khayroush laying on a tin roof, apparently lifeless, as Israeli troops search them, turning one of their bodies over with his foot. The video does not show the troops attempting to provide first aid. Eyewitnesses told Palestinian media that the soldiers left the men to bleed and fired at them at close range to ensure they were dead. The Tulkarm raid appears to be yet another extrajudicial execution operation in which the intent was to kill rather than apprehend the wanted men, despite capital punishment being banned by Israel. On 10 May, amid Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, troops killed two Palestinians – Ahmad Jamal Assaf, 19, and Rami Walid Qatanat, 25 – in Qabatiya, a town near the northern West Bank city of Jenin. The Israeli army said the pair opened fire from a car before they were killed. A third man – Aws Jamal Hamamdeh Kmeil, 30 – was also shot and died from his injuries the following day. Also on 11 May, Ghazi Yusif Mustafa Shihab, 66, died after he was shot in the stomach by Israeli troops during a raid on Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus on 13 May. Israeli undercover forces invaded Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank city and besieged the home of a wanted Palestinian, firing several rocket-propelled grenades at the two-story building, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The rights group said that during the daytime raid, Saed Jihad Misheh, a 32-year-old merchant, was attempting to reach his workplace when he was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper, killing him. While Wasim Adnan al-Araj, 19, was attempting to evacuate Misheh, he too was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper and killed, his body falling on top of that of the other slain man. That same day, 33-year-old Ahmad Muhammad Atatreh was shot and killed by Israel’s paramilitary Border Police at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank. Israel’s Border Police claimed that Atatreh ran towards Checkpoint 300 near the settlement of Shaked while brandishing a knife. No Israelis were hurt in the incident, as is frequently the case in supposed attacks resulting in a Palestinian fatality. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said that Atatreh was shot while riding his bicycle near the checkpoint and that soldiers left him to bleed to death on the ground, preventing Palestinian paramedics and bystanders from coming to his aid. On 15 May, Saleh Muhammad Saleh Sabri, 22, was shot in the chest during an Israeli raid in Askar refugee camp near Nablus. Israeli troops raided the home of Abdulfattah Khrousheh, who was killed during a raid in Jenin during March, in order to prepare for its demolition. Killed without warning Israeli forces killed three Palestinians during a raid in Balata refugee camp on 22 May. Muhammad Bilal Zaytoun, a 31-year-old cleaner with the Nablus municipality, was shot without warning when he stepped out of a vehicle upon returning home from work and was left to bleed on the street. He died as a result of his injuries. Resistance activists became aware of the presence of Israeli troops in the camp following Zaytoun’s shooting and two fighters – Fathi Jihad Rizq, 30, and Abdullah Yousef Abu Hamdan, 24 – died in an ensuing exchange of fire. On 26 May, Alaa Khalil Qaisiya, 28, was shot and killed by a setter after allegedly attempting a stabbing at a synagogue in Teneh Omarim, a settlement south of the West Bank city of Hebron. A 38-year-old Palestinian intelligence officer died after being shot with two expanding bullets that injured his liver and lung during an Israeli raid in Jenin on 29 May. The death of the officer – Ashraf Muhammad Amin Ibrahim – brings to at least 155 the total number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, police and armed civilians so far this year. Two dozen people in Israel and Israelis in the West Bank were killed by Palestinians in the context of the occupation during the same period, or died from injuries sustained previously, including the two people killed by rocket fire from Gaza in May. An Israeli settler was shot and killed while driving near Hemesh settlement in the area of Jenin in the northern West Bank on 30 May. The Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. The following day, Chana Nachenberg, 52, died in a Tel Aviv hospital from injuries sustained during the 2001 bombing of Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem. Fifteen others, including seven children, were killed during the attack, in addition to the Palestinian bomber. The New York-born Nachenberg, whose 3-year-old daughter survived the attack without physical injuries, never regained consciousness after the bombing. Meanwhile, Rami Ezzat Bakr, a 45-year-old Palestinian fisher, was killed after his vessel was allegedly struck by an Egyptian gunboat during May. Another Palestinian fisher survived the assault. Six Palestinian fishers have been killed by the Egyptian military in recent years, according to the Palestinian Fishermen’s Syndicate. Also during May, the Palestinian herding community of Ein Samiya near Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, was forced to evacuate following increased settler attacks and after years of Israeli demolitions of homes and the community’s only school. Israeli settlers also attacked and set fire to several structures in Burqa village near Nablus following the visit of a European-led delegation of diplomats. Burqa has endured years of attacks by settlers from Homesh, a nearby outpost built on land owned by Palestinians from the village. Facebook Twitter Donate Now

In its early May offensive on the occupied Gaza Strip, Israel unlawfully destroyed Palestinian homes, often without military necessity, in what amounts to a form of collective punishment against the civilian population, Amnesty International said today. Israel also conducted apparently disproportionate air strikes which killed and injured Palestinian civilians, including children.   Amnesty International investigated nine Israeli airstrikes that resulted in the killing of civilians and in the damage and destruction of residential buildings in the Gaza Strip. Three separate attacks on the first night of bombing on 9 May, in which precision-guided bombs targeted three senior Al-Quds Brigades commanders, killed 10 Palestinian civilians, and injured at least 20 others. They were launched into densely populated urban areas at 2am when families were sleeping at home, which suggests that those who planned and authorized the attacks anticipated – and likely disregarded – the disproportionate harm to civilians. Intentionally launching disproportionate attacks, a pattern Amnesty International has documented in previous Israeli operations, is a war crime.  Palestinian armed groups based in the Gaza Strip, led by Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, fired indiscriminate rockets which killed two civilians in Israel and three Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, which should also be investigated as war crimes.   “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 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.  In our investigation, we heard vivid accounts of bombs obliterating homes, of fathers digging their little girls out from under rubble, of a teenager fatally injured as she lay in bed holding a teddy bear. 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.”   The five-day offensive  On 9 May, Israeli forces began a five-day offensive on the Gaza Strip, apparently targeting members and facilities of the Al-Quds Brigades. The Israeli attacks killed 11 Palestinian civilians, including four children. The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that 190 people were injured, of whom 64 were children.  The Israeli military operations damaged 2,943 housing units, including 103 homes which were completely destroyed. At least 1,244 Palestinians have been displaced due to the offensive, according to numbers provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Public Works.  On 10 May, Al-Quds Brigades, along with smaller armed groups, responded to Israel’s attack by firing hundreds of rockets towards Israeli towns over four days, killing two civilians in Israel – Inga Avramyan, an 82-year-old Israeli woman, and Abdallah Abu Jibbeh, a 35-year-old Palestinian worker from the Gaza Strip – and injuring 40 others, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health. Rockets by Palestinian armed groups that misfired or fell short also killed three Palestinian civilians in the north of the Gaza Strip, including two children Layan Mdoukh, aged 10, and Yazan Alayan, aged 16. This is not an isolated incident, Amnesty International’s most recent findings on Palestinian casualties caused by rocket misfire were published after the August 2022 military operation.    “Known for their inherent inaccuracy, rocket attacks by Palestinian armed groups are indiscriminate; these attacks must be investigated as war crimes and victims be granted prompt and adequate redress,” said Heba Morayef.   Unspeakable violence  At 2am on 9 May, Israeli air strikes hit a two-storey building in the al-Sha’af district in Gaza City with a GBU-39 bomb, a small diameter bomb manufactured by Boeing Defense, Space & Security, and exported to Israel from the United States. The strike targeted the apartment of Khalil al-Bahtini, a senior member of Al-Quds Brigades. It killed Khalil al-Bahtini, his wife Leila al-Bahtini and their four-year-old daughter Hajar. The neighbouring apartment was also struck, killing 19-year-old Dania Adas and her 17-year-old sister Iman.   Alaa Adas, Dania and Iman’s father, told Amnesty International that he was woken up by his bedroom door falling on him. He ran to Iman and Dania’s room and found his daughters in bed. Dania, whose wedding was due in July, was already dead. Iman, a keen student with dreams of becoming a doctor, was still breathing, and was rushed to the hospital where she died a few hours later.  “Instead of graduating and studying at university and fulfilling her wish of becoming a doctor, she [Iman] died,” said Adas.  Instead of graduating and studying at university and fulfilling her wish of becoming a doctor, she [Iman] died  Alaa Adas, father of Gaza attack victims Dania, 19 and Iman, 17 “As civilians, the lives of Leila and Hajar al-Bahtini and Dania and Iman Adas should have been protected, not snuffed out. Israel has an obligation to cancel an attack if it becomes apparent that it may disproportionately harm civilians and civilian objects. Intentionally launching a disproportionate attack is a war crime,” said Morayef. Deliberate destruction Israel’s deliberate destruction of civilian homes also took a heavy toll on civilians in the Gaza Strip, including on people living with disabilities.  On 13 May, Israeli forces targeted a four-storey building in the Jabalia refugee camp. The building was home to 42 people from the extended Nabhan family. Five members of the family live with disabilities, including three being wheelchair users.   Hussam Nabhan, an eyewitness to the attack, told Amnesty International he had received a call he believed to be from an Israeli intelligence officer at around 6pm, saying residents of the building had 15 minutes to evacuate. Hussam told the caller that there were people with disabilities in the building and they needed more time, but the caller just repeated the warning.  After the strike, 22-year-old Haneen Nabhan was so traumatized she found it hard to talk, saying that her wheelchair had been buried under the rubble of her home so she could no longer move around independently.  Research by Amnesty International found no evidence that the Nabhan building – and other residential buildings destroyed or damaged during the last two days of the offensive – had been used to store weapons or any other military equipment or that rockets had been launched from their direct vicinity.   “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,” said Morayef.  Background:   As Israeli authorities continue to prevent Amnesty International from accessing the Gaza Strip, the organization contracted a local field researcher who collected evidence and interviewed witnesses at strike sites, both during and after the five-day offensive. Amnesty International researchers conducted follow-up interviews and analyzed satellite imagery and other open-source evidence, including footage of the attacks and their aftermath, along with statements from Israeli officials.  The unlawful attacks on Palestinian homes and the illegal blockade imposed on Gaza since 2007, are part and parcel of Israel’s apartheid system against Palestinians which amounts to the crime against humanity of apartheid under both the Apartheid Convention and the Rome Statute.

In its early May offensive on the occupied Gaza Strip, Israel unlawfully destroyed Palestinian homes, often without military necessity, in what amounts to a form of collective punishment against the civilian population, Amnesty International said today. Israel also conducted apparently disproportionate air strikes which killed and injured Palestinian civilians, including children.   Amnesty International investigated nine Israeli airstrikes that resulted in the killing of civilians and in the damage and destruction of residential buildings in the Gaza Strip. Three separate attacks on the first night of bombing on 9 May, in which precision-guided bombs targeted three senior Al-Quds Brigades commanders, killed 10 Palestinian civilians, and injured at least 20 others. They were launched into densely populated urban areas at 2am when families were sleeping at home, which suggests that those who planned and authorized the attacks anticipated – and likely disregarded – the disproportionate harm to civilians. Intentionally launching disproportionate attacks, a pattern Amnesty International has documented in previous Israeli operations, is a war crime.  Palestinian armed groups based in the Gaza Strip, led by Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, fired indiscriminate rockets which killed two civilians in Israel and three Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, which should also be investigated as war crimes.   “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 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.  In our investigation, we heard vivid accounts of bombs obliterating homes, of fathers digging their little girls out from under rubble, of a teenager fatally injured as she lay in bed holding a teddy bear. 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.”   The five-day offensive  On 9 May, Israeli forces began a five-day offensive on the Gaza Strip, apparently targeting members and facilities of the Al-Quds Brigades. The Israeli attacks killed 11 Palestinian civilians, including four children. The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that 190 people were injured, of whom 64 were children.  The Israeli military operations damaged 2,943 housing units, including 103 homes which were completely destroyed. At least 1,244 Palestinians have been displaced due to the offensive, according to numbers provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Public Works.  On 10 May, Al-Quds Brigades, along with smaller armed groups, responded to Israel’s attack by firing hundreds of rockets towards Israeli towns over four days, killing two civilians in Israel – Inga Avramyan, an 82-year-old Israeli woman, and Abdallah Abu Jibbeh, a 35-year-old Palestinian worker from the Gaza Strip – and injuring 40 others, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health. Rockets by Palestinian armed groups that misfired or fell short also killed three Palestinian civilians in the north of the Gaza Strip, including two children Layan Mdoukh, aged 10, and Yazan Alayan, aged 16. This is not an isolated incident, Amnesty International’s most recent findings on Palestinian casualties caused by rocket misfire were published after the August 2022 military operation.    “Known for their inherent inaccuracy, rocket attacks by Palestinian armed groups are indiscriminate; these attacks must be investigated as war crimes and victims be granted prompt and adequate redress,” said Heba Morayef.   Unspeakable violence  At 2am on 9 May, Israeli air strikes hit a two-storey building in the al-Sha’af district in Gaza City with a GBU-39 bomb, a small diameter bomb manufactured by Boeing Defense, Space & Security, and exported to Israel from the United States. The strike targeted the apartment of Khalil al-Bahtini, a senior member of Al-Quds Brigades. It killed Khalil al-Bahtini, his wife Leila al-Bahtini and their four-year-old daughter Hajar. The neighbouring apartment was also struck, killing 19-year-old Dania Adas and her 17-year-old sister Iman.   Alaa Adas, Dania and Iman’s father, told Amnesty International that he was woken up by his bedroom door falling on him. He ran to Iman and Dania’s room and found his daughters in bed. Dania, whose wedding was due in July, was already dead. Iman, a keen student with dreams of becoming a doctor, was still breathing, and was rushed to the hospital where she died a few hours later.  “Instead of graduating and studying at university and fulfilling her wish of becoming a doctor, she [Iman] died,” said Adas.  Instead of graduating and studying at university and fulfilling her wish of becoming a doctor, she [Iman] died  Alaa Adas, father of Gaza attack victims Dania, 19 and Iman, 17 “As civilians, the lives of Leila and Hajar al-Bahtini and Dania and Iman Adas should have been protected, not snuffed out. Israel has an obligation to cancel an attack if it becomes apparent that it may disproportionately harm civilians and civilian objects. Intentionally launching a disproportionate attack is a war crime,” said Morayef. Deliberate destruction Israel’s deliberate destruction of civilian homes also took a heavy toll on civilians in the Gaza Strip, including on people living with disabilities.  On 13 May, Israeli forces targeted a four-storey building in the Jabalia refugee camp. The building was home to 42 people from the extended Nabhan family. Five members of the family live with disabilities, including three being wheelchair users.   Hussam Nabhan, an eyewitness to the attack, told Amnesty International he had received a call he believed to be from an Israeli intelligence officer at around 6pm, saying residents of the building had 15 minutes to evacuate. Hussam told the caller that there were people with disabilities in the building and they needed more time, but the caller just repeated the warning.  After the strike, 22-year-old Haneen Nabhan was so traumatized she found it hard to talk, saying that her wheelchair had been buried under the rubble of her home so she could no longer move around independently.  Research by Amnesty International found no evidence that the Nabhan building – and other residential buildings destroyed or damaged during the last two days of the offensive – had been used to store weapons or any other military equipment or that rockets had been launched from their direct vicinity.   “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,” said Morayef.  Background:   As Israeli authorities continue to prevent Amnesty International from accessing the Gaza Strip, the organization contracted a local field researcher who collected evidence and interviewed witnesses at strike sites, both during and after the five-day offensive. Amnesty International researchers conducted follow-up interviews and analyzed satellite imagery and other open-source evidence, including footage of the attacks and their aftermath, along with statements from Israeli officials.  The unlawful attacks on Palestinian homes and the illegal blockade imposed on Gaza since 2007, are part and parcel of Israel’s apartheid system against Palestinians which amounts to the crime against humanity of apartheid under both the Apartheid Convention and the Rome Statute.

On May 9th, 2023, the IDF launched Operation “Shield and Arrow” in a targeted operation against the Islamic Jihad terror organization in the Gaza Strip. The IDF targeted three senior Islamic Jihad commanders responsible for launching rockets toward Israel over the last month and planning further terror attacks against Israel. The IDF also struck Islamic Jihad terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, including weapons manufacturing sites and military compounds. The strikes were carried out with pinpoint accuracy based on real-time intelligence, while making efforts to avoid harming uninvolved civilians as much as possible.  All three senior Islamic Jihad members targeted in the operation were heavily involved in the terrorist attempts of the Islamic Jihad to harm IDF soldiers and uninvolved Israeli civilians, both from Gaza and in Judea and Samaria. Most notably, over 100 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel on May 2nd, 2023, targeting Israeli communities and leading to the injuries of several civilians. Khalil Bahitini:  Khalil Bahtini (44, lived in Gaza City) started his activity in the Islamic Jihad in the late 1990s and throughout the years was involved in many terrorist acts against Israel, including suicide bombings, explosive attacks, rocket fire and directing terrorist activities in Judea and Samaria. After the elimination of Tayseer Jabri during Operation “Breaking Dawn” in August 2022, Bahitini took over his position as the senior operational officer of Islamic Jihad and the commander of the Northern Gaza Division. Bahitini was a member of the terrorist organization’s military council and had direct and active contact with senior members of the Islamic Jihads’ Political Bureau. Bahitini was entrusted with approving and carrying out all terrorist activities from northern Gaza as well as, planning and directing terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and planned shooting attacks against Israel in the immediate future, he was also responsible for the rocket fire toward Israel in the past month. Tarek Az Aldin: Az Aldin (49, originally from A’arbe in Samaria) was the director of Islamic Jihad operations in Judea and Samaria from Gaza. Recently, he was entrusted with planning and directing multiple attacks against Israeli civilians, the coordination between the Islamic Jihad in Judea and Samaria as well as transferring funds for terrorism from Gaza to Judea and Samaria. Az Aldin was also responsible for disturbing inciting content of the terrorist organization in Israel meant to promote and encourage terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. Jahed Ahnam: Jahed Ahnam (62, lived in Rafiah), was one of the most senior members of the Islamic Jihad, previously served in key positions in the terrorist organization including the Commanding Officer of the Islamic Jihads’ Southern Gaza Brigade and Secretary of the Military Council. In his last position, he was entrusted with coordinating weapons and money transfers between the Hamas terrorist organization and the Islamic Jihad. Ahnam operated in promoting terrorism in Gaza, Judea and Samaria and around the world. As part of the IDF’s security situational assessment, the Home Front Command is instructing civilians in the area surrounding Gaza need to remain in the vicinity of a designated shelter.  Special instructions on the Israeli Home Front within 40 km of Gaza have been posted on the National Emergency Portal. (https://www.oref.org.il/en) The IDF will continue to operate against the threat of terrorism and maintain security for the civilians in the State of Israel.