UN condemns intensifying Israeli attacks in Gaza

GENEVA: The United Nations on Tuesday condemned what it described as intensifying Israeli attacks in Gaza, saying the strikes had killed at least 57 Palestinians in the past week despite the ceasefire that has been in place since October.

Speaking in Geneva, UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said the situation remained perilous for civilians in the enclave. “Nine months after the announcement of a ceasefire, still, nowhere is safe for Palestinians in Gaza,” he told reporters, adding that Israeli military operations had “intensified” in recent days and left dozens dead and wounded.

According to the UN rights office, the dead included at least six children and eight women between July 13 and 20. The agency said the strikes hit residential buildings, at least one tent sheltering displaced people and other crowded locations. It said 34 of those killed were “far away from the Israeli-imposed yellow line,” a boundary referenced by the UN in recent remarks on the conflict.

Al-Kheetan said the office had documented 10 Israeli attacks in Gaza City, middle Gaza, northern Gaza and Khan Younes on July 17 and 18 that killed at least 21 Palestinians. In one of those attacks, he said, an apartment in Gaza City was struck and five members of one family were killed together, including both parents and three children reportedly aged eight, 15 and 17.

He said the killing of civilians raised concerns about possible violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes and other atrocity crimes. “Under international law, deliberately attacking civilians is a war crime,” he said.

The spokesman also warned that the repeated shifting of the “yellow line” westward had left Palestinians “trapped in an ever-shrinking area.” He said the situation created a continuing threat to life, with the Israeli military appearing to fire routinely on Palestinians near that line, in his view in breach of international human rights and humanitarian law.

Separately, Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday killed a father, his wife and their four children in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood. Medics identified the dead as Firas Al-Masri, his wife Salsabeel, and their three daughters and son. A video circulating on social media showed rescue workers trying to extinguish flames at the house and recover bodies wrapped in white shrouds. The family’s relatives said the explosion occurred while they were asleep.

Health officials also said another Israeli airstrike on Tuesday hit a vehicle in central Gaza, killing two people and wounding others.

The Israeli military said in earlier strikes since Friday it had killed four Hamas and Islamic Jihad members, including three it said were involved in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. It has also said the truce halted full-scale fighting, but Palestinian officials and the UN say near-daily strikes have continued.

Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, says more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect in October. The UN rights office said it had independently verified 685 killings between last October and April.

The report is based on a monitored public feed. Source attribution: Dawn World. Source: Dawn World - https://www.dawn.com/news/2017417/un-condemns-intensifying-israeli-attacks-in-gaza