ICSPR Condemns the Dangerous Escalation of Assassinations, Systematic Targeting, and the Destruction of Residential Blocks Against Civilians in the Gaza Strip

Date: 28 May 2026

Press Release

A Bloody Eid al-Adha in the Gaza Strip: The Ongoing Genocide and the Escalation of the Systematic Targeting of Palestinian Civilians

The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) condemns in the strongest terms the continued commission by the Israeli occupation forces of mass killing and large-scale targeting crimes against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, within the context of an ongoing genocide being perpetrated before the eyes of the world, amid alarming international silence and a persistent failure to provide international protection for civilians and enforce the rules of international humanitarian law.

ICSPR affirms that the occupation forces have turned the blessed Eid al-Adha into a bloody occasion in which the lives of Palestinian children, women, and families are violated through intensified aerial and artillery bombardment, the carrying out of assassinations inside densely populated residential neighborhoods, and the targeting of inhabited homes, tents of displaced persons, shelters, civilian infrastructure, and humanitarian facilities, constituting war crimes, crimes against humanity, and a fully-fledged crime of genocide.

ICSPR considers that this escalation reflects a systematic policy based on collective punishment, comprehensive destruction, and the forcible reshaping of the demographic reality, through combining killing, starvation, siege, destruction, and forced displacement, with the aim of dismantling the social and humanitarian fabric of the Gaza Strip and turning it into an environment unfit for life.

In this context, ICSPR strongly condemns the crime of bombing a residential building in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza City, which resulted in the killing of Hamas leader Mohammad Odeh “Abu Amro,” his wife, and his children, in addition to the killing of citizen Hidaya Al-Batrihi and the injury of approximately $20$ civilians, in a stark example of extrajudicial assassinations carried out within a densely populated civilian environment and the direct targeting of families inside their homes.

ICSPR also condemns the massacre committed by the occupation forces near Al-Israa Tower in the Al-Samer area on Omar Al-Mukhtar Street in central Gaza City, which resulted in the killing of $10$ civilians and the injury of no fewer than $18$ others, including children, women, and elderly persons. Those identified among the victims include Imad Hassan Salim, Ahmad Abdel Wahab Abu Halima, Israa Imad Salim ($17$ years old), Sidra Iyad Azzam ($12$ years old), Sara Sameh Rajab ($9$ years old), Nour Abu Halima ($12$ years old), Yamen Abu Halima ($13$ years old), Shaimaa Al-Suwairki, Ihsan Matar Balbul, and Ataf Subhi Balbul. This reflects the scale of direct targeting of Palestinian families and the transformation of homes and residential neighborhoods into military targets, repeatedly resulting in large numbers of civilian casualties.

ICSPR indicates that the crimes extending from Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and eastern Gaza to Nuseirat, Al-Maghazi, Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, and Al-Mawasi reveal a unified pattern of targeting based on shelling populated areas, destroying residential blocks, and targeting civilian vehicles, tents of displaced persons, shelters, and rescue and civil defense teams, in flagrant violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity enshrined in international humanitarian law.

ICSPR affirms that these crimes are taking place in the context of a continuing war since $7$ October $2023$, during which the number of killed Palestinians has exceeded $72,803$, in addition to more than $172,855$ injuries, amid an unprecedented military escalation, the near-total collapse of the health and service sectors, and the continued policy of impunity.

ICSPR also condemns the policy of silent forced evacuation in the areas of Deir al-Balah, Al-Maghazi, Al-Bureij, and Nuseirat, and the direct shelling that follows in the areas being evacuated, as part of a systematic policy aimed at imposing forced displacement. This comes at a time when approximately $90\%$ of Gaza Strip buildings have been destroyed, only $35\%$ of the Strip’s area remains habitable, military control continues over nearly $65\%$ of the Strip’s area, and the so-called “orange line” is being imposed to entrench geographic fragmentation and impose facts on the ground by force.

ICSPR condemns the continued policy of starvation and systematic siege, as only $49,973$ aid trucks out of $135,600$ have been allowed to enter, representing no more than $36\%$, in addition to depriving more than $18,000$ patients and wounded persons of their right to travel for treatment, while only $5,636$ have been permitted to leave, reflecting a systematic policy of restricting movement and the rights to life and health.

ICSPR also warns of the danger of Israeli statements concerning the so-called “voluntary migration” from the Gaza Strip, considering them part of policies aimed at imposing forced displacement and ethnic cleansing through the creation of coercive living conditions based on killing, starvation, destruction, and insecurity.

ICSPR affirms that this integrated system of killing, destruction, siege, starvation, deprivation of medical treatment, and forced displacement constitutes war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide under international law, and that the continuation of these crimes amid international inaction represents a dangerous collapse of the international justice system and a grave undermining of the rules of international humanitarian law.

Accordingly, ICSPR calls on the United Nations and the States Parties to the Geneva Conventions to take urgent action to stop the genocide, impose a comprehensive ceasefire, compel the occupation to stop targeting civilians and civilian objects, lift the siege, open the crossings, guarantee the free and safe flow of humanitarian and medical aid, and ensure the evacuation of the wounded and sick for treatment.

ICSPR also calls on the International Criminal Court to expedite investigation and prosecution procedures against Israeli officials responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, and urges the international community to take practical steps to end the policy of impunity and provide urgent and effective international protection for the Palestinian people.

ICSPR calls upon free peoples and human rights and humanitarian forces around the world to escalate popular, legal, and rights-based action in order to pressure for an end to Israeli crimes, activate international accountability mechanisms, and put an end to the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.

International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR)