Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip

Bombing of the Gaza Strip
Part of the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
Rimal in Gaza City following an Israeli airstrike, 10 October 2023
LocationGaza Strip, Palestine
Coordinates31°27′00″N 34°24′00″E / 31.45000°N 34.40000°E / 31.45000; 34.40000
Date7 October 2023 – present
Attack type
Bombardment, War crimes
Deaths15,797+ civilians[1]
Unknown number of militants
Perpetrator Israel

The bombing of the Gaza Strip is an ongoing aerial bombardment campaign on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Air Force during the Israel–Hamas war. During the bombing, Israeli airstrikes damaged or destroyed Palestinian refugee camps, schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, and other civilian infrastructure.[2][3] By late April 2024 it was estimated that Israel had dropped over 70,000 tons of bombs over Gaza, surpassing the bombing of Dresden, Hamburg, and London combined during World War II.[4][5]

Israel has faced accusations of war crimes due to the large number of civilian casualties and the large percentage of civilian infrastructure destroyed.[6] Meanwhile, Israel stated that it utilized a wide-scale evacuation notification system,[a] and claimed that its targets were used by Hamas. The United Nations reports that 86% of the Gaza Strip is under Israeli evacuation orders.[8] Satellite data analysis indicates that 80% of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.[9] As of January 2024, researchers at Oregon State University and the City University of New York estimated that as much as 50–62% of all buildings in the Gaza Strip had been damaged or destroyed.[10][11][b][c] Meanwhile, Israel has claimed only 16% of Gaza buildings were destroyed.[14]

Background

Israel's bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip began in response to the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.[15] In prior conflicts — such as the 2014 Gaza War — Israel damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of buildings.[16] Rebuilding costs in prior conflicts have estimated to range in the billions of dollars.[17]

Israel alleges that hospitals, clinics, mosques and schools are used for fighting, and also claims that ambulances transport combat equipment and militants throughout the Gaza Strip.[18] Israel published videos from alleged interrogations of captured militants telling about the military activities in hospitals and ambulances,[18] and other IDF videos show alleged use for weapons storage, [19] and as access points to warfare tunnels.[20] The IDF claims for breach of international law in such military use.[21]

Munitions

The Israeli bombing campaign has used mostly American type bombs. From October until July, the US has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions. Although there was a pause of one shipment of 3,500 MK-84 2,000 pound bombs, no significant change in the supply of the bombs happened since October.[22][23][24] Investigative reports by The New York Times and CNN have shown that the MK-84 bombs have been responsible to some of the deadliest attacks against Gaza civilians.[25][26] Unlike the detailed information released for the shipment of weapons to Ukraine, the US government has revealed few details about the munitions sent to Israel. The bombs are provided from US stockpiles as well as new orders to Boeing and General Dynamics.[22]

Bombing campaigns 2005 to 2023

Bombing of the Gaza Strip in 2014

Further information: 2014 Gaza War and List of Israeli strikes and Palestinian casualties in the 2014 Gaza War

The war in 2014, which the Israeli military called Operation Protective Edge killed: over 2100 Palestinians in Gaza, most of whom died in bombings,[27][28] 67 Israeli soldiers, 5 Israeli civilians, and one Thai national in Israel.[29][30][31]

8 July 2014

In a joint ISA-IDF operation, an airstrike hit a yard by the home of Hafiz Hamad (30), killing the target and five members of his family, and injuring two children. According to B'tselem, which has collected an eyewitness account by the grandfather,[32] no warning was received.[33] Four children survived unharmed after the mother placed them in the safest room, but the last was injured before it could be relocated and was taken to the ICU.[34] It was the 2nd in 59 incidents in which whole families were bombed.[35][d]

Attacks before 7 October in 2023

8 May 2023

Airstrikes on the family homes of Palestinian Islamic Jihad members in the Gaza Strip killed 13 people, three alleged militants, and 10 civilian family members.[37] reports on the total number of dead ranged from 12 to 15.[38][39] The dead included 4 women and four children.[40] Israel described the militant members of the targeted families as "kingpin terrorist".[37] They were in response to fire from Islamic Jihad, that was in turn in response to the death in Israeli custody of a member of their political wing, Khader Adnan.[38] Israel claimed two of the men, Jihad Ghannam and Tareq Izzeldeen were responsible for attacks in the West Bank.[41] There has also been recent rocker fire from Gaza.[42]

22 to 24 September 2023

There were three days of Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip in late September 2023.[43] Dozens of people were wounded on the first day.[44] Earlier that week Israeli forces shot protestors at the border, as they threw explosives at Israeli posts.[45]

Attacks during the Israel-Hamas war

Medical facilities

Further information: Attacks on health facilities during the Israel–Hamas war

On 22 October 2023, Israeli airplanes bombed the areas around the Al Shifa and Al Quds hospitals on a night described as the "bloodiest" of the conflict so far.[46][47] On 29 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombed the area around the Al-Quds hospital.[48] On 30 October 2023, Israel bombed the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital.[49] On 3 November 2023, the Health Ministry stated 136 paramedics had been killed, and 25 ambulance vehicles had been destroyed.[50] On the same day, Israel bombed a medical convoy outside of al-Shifa hospital.[51] The IDF claimed the ambulance was being used by Hamas, leading Queen's University professor Ardi Imseis to state Israel needed to prove its claim.[52] On 6 November 2023, at least eight people died in airstrikes on the Nasser Medical Complex.[53]

By April 2024, 30 out of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip had been bombed, according to Save the Children and UNICEF.[54]

Refugee camps

Main article: Refugee camp airstrikes in the Israel–Hamas war
Victim of Israeli airstrike in Jabalia.

On 23 October 2023, airstrikes killed 436 people in the Al-Shati camp and southern Khan Younis in one night.[55][56] By 28 October 2023, the Israeli Air Force bombed residential buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp without any prior warning, killing an estimated 50 people per hour.[57] On 31 October 2023, an airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp was described as a "massive massacre".[58] On 13 November, an Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp killed thirty people, with Gaza's civil defence team unable to rescue injured people from the rubble due to a lack of equipment.[59] By 6 March 2024, aerial footage showed that the Al-Shati refugee camp, which had been one of the world's most densely populated areas before the war, was in complete ruins.[60]

Schools

Main article: School airstrikes in the Israel–Hamas war

According to UNOCHA, 87 percent of schools in Gaza were hit or damaged between October 2023 and 2024.[61] Similarly, The Intercept reported that 85% of the schools in Gaza had been bombed by October 2024.[62] By March 2024, the United Nations had recorded 212 "direct hits" on schools in Gaza by Israeli bombardment, with at least 53 schools totally destroyed.[63]

An airstrike at a UNRWA school killed at least six people.[64][65] On 18 October 2023, the Ahmed Abdel Aziz School in Khan Yunis was hit.[66] On 3 November 2023, the IDF bombed the Osama Ben Zaid school.[67][68] On 4 November 2023, Israel bombed the Al-Fakhoora school, killing at least fifteen people.[69] On 5 November 2023, Israel bombed and destroyed Al-Azhar University.[70]

On 17 November 2023, dozens were reported killed after an airstrike on al-Falah School in the Zeitoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City.[71] A strike on the Al-Fakhoora school reportedly killed at least 50.[72] Deaf, blind, and intellectually handicapped individuals were at particular risk of death by airstrikes.[73] On 13 December 2023, a UNRWA school in Beit Hanoun was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike.[74] On 10 August 2024, more than 100 Palestinians died in rocket attacks on Al-Tabaeen school.[75]

Housing and infrastructure

See also: 2023 Israeli airstrikes on municipal services in the Gaza Strip

On 16 October 2023, Israeli airstrikes destroyed a UNRWA humanitarian aid supply depot.[76][77] The same day, airstrikes destroyed the headquarters of the Palestinian Civil Defence, an agency responsible for emergency response services, including firefighting and search and rescue.[78] Journalists reported Israel was targeting solar panels and personal generators.[79] On 15 November 2023, Gaza's last remaining flour mill was hit by an Israeli airstrike.[80]

On 12 November 2023, Israel used earthquake bombs on an apartment complex in Khan Yunis, killing at least thirteen people.[81] 26 people were killed in an airstrike of a residential building in southern Gaza on 18 November.[82] By 28 November 2023, a United Nations (UN)-led consortium estimated 60 percent of all housing in Gaza had been destroyed.[83] Numerous casualties were reported in an airstrike on a residential building near Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, with hospital staff reporting having to bury 40 bodies on the hospital grounds.[84] On 4 February 2024, two residential towers in Rafah were bombed, part of a series of strikes killing 127 people.[85] 104 people were killed between 21 and 23 February 2024 in residential building airstrikes conducted without prior warning.[86] In March 2024, a man in Gaza City described the situation there, stating, "Destruction on a massive scale, beyond any description. Our homes were destroyed. Nothing remained of our property".[87]

In March 2024, a joint report by the EU, World Bank, and UN estimated 57 percent of water infrastructure was damaged or destroyed.[88] Sewage overflowed as a result of the infrastructural damage.[89] In May 2024, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and Ministry of Communications and Information Technology stated that 75 percent of Gaza's telecoms towers had been rendered inoperable by Israeli attacks.[90] In June 2024, UNOSAT stated 57 percent of Gaza's agricultural land had been degraded by conflict.[91]

Places of worship

Main article: Attacks on religious sites during the Israeli invasion of Gaza
Mosque destroyed by an Israeli bombing in Khan Younis

On 19 October 2023, an Israeli airstrike hit the Church of Saint Porphyrius, where 500 people were sheltering.[92] On 8 November 2023, Israel bombed and destroyed the Khalid bin al-Walid Mosque.[93] By 13 November 2023, at least sixty mosques had been destroyed by Israeli bombs.[94] In December 2023, an Israeli bombing destroyed the Great Mosque of Gaza.[95] At least seven people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Rafah mosque full of displaced people on 23 February 2024.[96] Five people were killed in a mosque in northern Gaza that was bombed without warning.[97] The al-Riad mosque in Khan Younis was heavily damaged by an Israeli bombing on 9 March 2024.[98]

By 10 March 2024, more than 1,000 mosques had been destroyed by Israeli attacks.[99] In May 2024, an Israeli bombing on a mosque in Gaza City reportedly killed at least 10 people.[100]

Safe zones

See also: Gaza Strip evacuations § Strikes on safe zones, Tel al-Sultan massacre, and Attacks on Protected Zones and Civilians in Gaza

On 17 October 2023, Israel conducted intensive airstrikes in southern Gaza, in areas it told residents to seek refuge.[101] Israel "pounded" areas in south Gaza it had declared as "safe zones", raising fears amongst residents that nowhere was safe.[102] On 20 October 2023, Israeli continued to bombard south Gaza, and IDF spokesman Nir Dinar said, "There are no safe zones".[103][104] Following Israel's evacuation orders for Palestinians to flee northern Gaza, the IDF intensified its attacks on southern Gaza.[105]

Analyses by CNN, The New York Times, and Sky News all found that Israel had bombed areas it had previously told civilians to evacuate to. The Sky News investigation also concluded that Israel's evacuation orders had been "chaotic and contradictory",[106] NYT found that Israel had dropped 2,000-pound bombs in those areas,[107] while CNN stated it had verified at least three locations Israel bombed after telling civilians it was safe to go there.[108]

On 5 January 2024, evacuees fleeing Israeli attacks in central Gaza stated the situation there was "hell on Earth".[109] One survivor of an Israeli airstrike wrote, "Even though that air strike did not kill us, it destroyed something inside us."[110] On 12 January, the UN Secretary-General for Human Rights stated that at least 319 internally displaced persons were killed and 1,135 injured by Israeli airstrikes while sheltering in UN shelters.[111] After an Israeli bomb killed two sheltering in a tent in Deir el-Balah on 23 February 2024, a surviving family member stated, "It's just a tent. They are displaced and evacuated from the north here to seek refuge. They were sleeping. Why were they attacked? Even in tents, we are not safe."[112] After a bombing on tents in Rafah killed eleven people, Director-General of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated it was "outrageous and unspeakable".[113]

Casualties

See also: List of Israeli massacres in Gaza 2023-2024

Missing persons

Rescue teams searching for survivors under rubble, October 2023

On 15 October 2023, more than 1,000 people were reported missing beneath rubble.[114] On 27 October 2023, the World Health Organization stated more than 1,000 unidentified people were buried under rubble.[115] On 3 December 2023, the Palestinian Civil Defence stated the situation "beyond dire" as the organization was unable to rescue many people buried under rubble.[116]

Individuals were rescued by aid workers after reportedly surviving several days buried underneath rubble.[117] Emergency responders stated that part of what made rescue so difficult is that Israeli bombs tend to "flatten entire buildings".[118] On 24 February 2024, Dr. Paul B. Spiegel stated that total death counts were undercounts due to the large number of people under rubble, stating, "We projected the number of deaths that may be missing, and it was probably up to about ten to fifteen per cent more."[119] On 26 February 2024, Israeli warplanes bombed and destroyed an emergency rescue machinery in Beit Lahia.[120]

According to The New York Times, "The buried make up a shadow death toll in Gaza, a leaden asterisk to the health ministry's official tally of more than 31,000 dead".[121] In May 2024, U.S. doctor described the deterioration of rescue operations in Gaza, stating, "We hear bombs and before my thought used to be 'what patients are we going to meet tomorrow?' And now we hear bombs and no one comes."[122] The United Nations stated that more than 10,000 people were estimated to be buried under the rubble.[123] Dr. Marwan al-Hams stated the number was so high because of the lack of heavy equipment or fuel to dig through concrete and steel to rescue them.[124]

In late-June 2024 it was reported by Save the Children that up to 21,000 children are estimated to be missing due to the bombing and the ongoing war. While the organization acknowledged that it was difficult to collect and verify information in Gaza, it was believed that about 17,000 children were unaccompanied and separated, about 4,000 likely missing in the rubble and an unknown number in mass graves.[125] In July 2024, emergency crews stated there were many people trapped under debris in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood following heavy attacks by Israel.[126]

AI-assisted targeting

Israeli bombing of Palestine Tower in Gaza City on 7 October 2023
Main article: AI-assisted targeting in the Gaza Strip

During the bombing campaign, Israel used artificial intelligences to determine what targets the Air Force would bomb.[127] A system known as Habsora, "the Gospel", would automatically provide a targeting recommendation to a human analyst,[128][129] who would decide whether to pass it along to soldiers in the field.[129] The recommendations can be anything from individual fighters, rocket launchers, Hamas command posts,[128] to private homes of suspected Hamas or Islamic Jihad members.[130] This would automate most of the target selection process.[131]

NPR cited Anthony King, professor of defense and security studies at the University of Exeter, as saying this may be the first time AI-generated targets are being rolled out on a large scale to try and influence a military operation.[132]

Timeline

October 2023

  • 15 October: In the war's first week, Israel dropped more than 6,000 bombs on Gaza.[133]
  • 16 October: Airstrikes had killed 2,750 people, including more than 700 children, and wounded nearly 10,000.[134]
  • 18 October: The death toll in Gaza had risen to 3,478.[135]
  • 19 October: U.S. officials reported alarm at Israeli comments about the "inevitability" of civilian casualties and reminders about "civilian deaths from the U.S. atomic bombs" in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[136]
  • 21 October: Israel intensified its airstrikes in advance of an expected ground invasion.[137][138]
  • 26 October: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu stated Israel had "already eliminated thousands of terrorists – and this is only the beginning".[139]

November 2023–January 2024

  • 17 November: Historian Raghu Karnad cited reports that Israel had dropped 25,000 tonnes of explosives on Gaza since the beginning of the conflict, stating this was the equivalent of two nuclear bombs.[140]
  • 20 November: Satellite imagery showed half of Northern Gaza had been destroyed by Israeli airstrikes.[141]
  • 24 November: Israel intensified strikes across Gaza before the temporary November ceasefire.[142]
  • 26 November: Israel had dropped an estimated 40,000 tons of explosives on Gaza since the start of the war.[143]
  • 1 December: In the hours following the end of the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, 109 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes.[144]
  • 2 December: The IDF stated it had struck at least 400 locations in Gaza since the pause had ended, including 50 in Khan Younis in Southern Gaza.[145]
  • 3 December: 700 were reported killed in the preceding twenty-four hours.[146]
  • 8 December: 350 people were killed in the preceding twenty-four hours.[147]
  • 9 December: the Palestinian Civil Defence stated it only had one operational rescue vehicle left in the entirety of Northern Gaza.[148]
  • 6 January: More than 85% of Palestinians in Gaza, or around 1.9 million people, were internally displaced.[149]
  • 14 January: Israel's offensive had either damaged or destroyed 70–80% of all buildings in northern Gaza.[150][151]
  • 30 January: At least half of all buildings in the entirety of Gaza had been destroyed or damaged.[152]

February–April 2024

  • 1 February: The New York Times estimated that at least half of Gaza's buildings had been damaged or destroyed.[153]
  • 2 February: UNOSAT, the UN's satellite centre, found that 69,147 structures, or approximately 30 percent of Gaza's total buildings, had been damaged or destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, shelling, and demolitions.[154]
  • 6 February: Israeli bombing campaigns intensified in Central Gaza, as displaced people in Rafah grew fearful of an impending Israeli attack on the city.[155][156]
  • 1 March: Residents of the Nuseirat refugee camp stated that Israeli forces bombed the camp "without warning".[157]
  • 2 March: Zeitoun, one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Gaza before the war, was in ruins, with one resident calling it "destruction on a massive scale beyond any description".[158]
  • 4 March: An F-16 bombed and destroyed a cemetery in the Jabalia refugee camp.[159]
  • 15 March: UNOCHA estimated that there were 23 million tonnes of debris in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel's bombing campaign, which would take several years to clear.[160]
  • 21 March: UNOSAT stated 88,868 structures, or 35% of buildings in Gaza, had been destroyed or damaged.[161]
  • 31 March: The Wall Street Journal reported on a U.S. government memorandum indicating there is a lack of independent oversight to ensure U.S. intelligence is not used for airstrikes to kill civilians or damage infrastructure.[162]
  • 29 April: Bellingcat estimated 50 percent of buildings in Gaza were damaged or destroyed.[163]

May–July 2024

  • 3 May: The United Nations Mine Action Service estimated there were 37 million tonnes of debris containing around 800,000 tonnes of asbestos and other contaminants, and 7,500 tonnes of unexploded ordnance, which could take up to 14 years to clear.[164]
  • 3 June: UNOSAT estimated that 55 percent of all buildings had been destroyed, damaged, or possibly damaged.[165]
  • 27 June: IDF says 16% of Gaza buildings destroyed; disputes higher UN figures.[14]
  • 11 July: Gaza's Civil Defense Agency stated 85 percent of buildings in Shuja'iyya were destroyed, leaving more than 100,000 homeless.[166]
  • 17 July: An Israeli air raid destroyed the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City.[167]

August 2024–present

  • 2 August: UNOSAT estimated that two-thirds of Gaza's buildings were damaged or destroyed.[168]
  • 8 September: An Israeli airstrike killed the deputy director of the Gaza Civil Emergency Service in northern Gaza.[169]
  • 3 October: UNOSAT and the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated 67.6 percent of croplands had been damaged.[170]

Reactions

The Financial Times described northern Gaza as a "bombed-out wasteland", and Palestinians feared northern Gaza was becoming uninhabitable.[171][172] Israel's bombing was described as "unlike any other in the 21st century".[173]

On 6 January 2024, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths stated that Gaza had "simply become uninhabitable".[174] James Elder, the UNICEF spokesman, stated, "I have never seen such devastation. Just chaos and ruin, with rubble and debris scattered in every single direction."[175] Tor Wennesland, the UN special coordinator for Middle East Peace, stated, "Israel's use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas has destroyed entire neighborhoods and damaged hospitals and other civilian infrastructure, schools, mosques, and United Nations premises."[176] In November 2024, Jan Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, stated during an interview with Christiane Amanpour: "Gaza is destroyed, there is no other way to describe it".[177]

The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell stated Israel's objective appeared to be making Gaza "temporarily or permanently impossible to live in".[178] Mary Robinson, the former-president of the Republic of Ireland and leader of The Elders, called on the United States to cease providing bombs to Israel, stating, "Netanyahu is on the wrong side of history, completely".[179]

On 10 July 2024, the Biden administration resumed shipments of the 500-pound bombs to Israel, which had been halted since May that year over concerns about the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza.[180]

In response to the indiscriminate bombing, U.S. President Joe Biden noted that support for Israel was declining. Benjamin Netanyahu remarked, however, “You carpet bombed Germany, you dropped the atom bomb, a lot of civilians died.” To which Joe Biden replied, “Yeah, that's why all these institutions were set up after World War Two to see to it that it didn't happen again".[181] In the United States Congress, lawmakers Tim Walberg and Lindsey Graham supported the bombing and compared the situation to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[182][183]

Analysis

Historian Robert Pape stated, "Gaza will also go down as a place name denoting one of history's heaviest conventional bombing campaigns."[184] Scholars termed the destruction of Gaza a domicide, leading the UN special rapporteur on the right to housing to argue that international law should be amended to consider domicide a war crime.[185][186] Israel's airstrikes were described as a carpet bombing and "indiscriminate".[187][188] An US intelligence report found half of the bombs dropped on Gaza had been unguided bombs.[189] Experts stated the bombing campaign against Gaza had been among the deadliest and most destructive in modern history, with Corey Scher of the CUNY Graduate Center stating, "Gaza is now a different color from space."[190] Several months later, Scher, who was involved with mapping the destruction in Gaza, stated, "The rate of damage being registered is unlike anything we have studied before. It is much faster and more extensive than anything we have mapped".[191]

The Wall Street Journal termed Israel's bombing the "most devastating urban warfare in the modern record".[192] According to analysis by Humanity & Inclusion, approximately 45,000 bombs were dropped on the Gaza Strip in the conflict's first three months, but with a 9% to 14% failure rate, several thousand unexploded bombs lay amongst the ruins.[193] The United Nations Mine Action Service estimated that there was more rubble in Gaza (25 miles long) than in all of Ukraine (600 miles long), with the rubble in Gaza likely "heavily contaminated" by unexploded ordnance.[194] In June 2024, scholars referred to the bombing of Gaza as an example of urbicide, or the "deliberate, widespread destruction of the urban environment".[195]

War crimes

Main article: Israeli war crimes in the Israel–Hamas war
Gaza City rubble, December 2023

A group of UN special rapporteurs asserted that Israel's airstrikes are indiscriminate, stating that the airstrikes are "absolutely prohibited under international law and amounts to a war crime".[196] Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said that "while balancing accuracy with the scope of damage, right now we're focused on what causes maximum damage".[197] A +972 Magazine investigation found the IDF had expanded authorization for bombing non-military targets.[198] Research conducted by Dr. Yagil Levy at the Open University of Israel confirmed the +972 report, which stated Israel was "deliberately targeting residential blocks to cause mass civilian casualties".[199]

During two airstrikes on 10 October and 22 October 2023, the IDF used Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) in attacks described by Amnesty International as "either direct attacks on civilians" or "indiscriminate attacks".[200][201] Marc Garlasco, a war crimes investigator, stated a JDAM bomb "turns earth to liquid".[202] On 12 January 2024, the spokesperson for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights stated Israel's attacks were failing to account for distinction, proportionality and precautions, thus leaving Israeli exposed to liability for war crimes.[203] IDF has argued that it uses delayed fuzing, so that the bomb explodes underground and minimizes the blast and fragmentation; however, experts argue that delayed fuzing creates a new problem of leveling residential buildings, as was seen in the 31 October 2023 Jabalia refugee camp airstrike.[204] This delayed fuzing "pancakes" buildings and endangers civilians in buildings nearby.[205]

In February 2024, the IDF bombed and destroyed the Belgian government's Gaza development office.[206] In response, Belgium recalled the Israeli ambassador and condemned the "destruction of civilian infrastructure" as a violation of international law.[207][e] Scott Lucas, a professor at the University of Birmingham, stated Israel's bombing campaign was in breach of the law of proportionality.[209] In June 2024, the UN Human Rights Office published a report stating Israel's use of heavy bombardment raised "serious concerns under the laws of war".[210] The head of an independent U.N. Commission of Inquiry stated Israel's use of heavy weapons in dense areas "constitutes an intentional and direct attack on the civilian population".[211]

Attorney Dylan Saba argues that Israel's dropping of 2,000lb bombs (each with a lethal fragmentation radius of 1,200 feet) in densely populated civilian areas is as indiscriminate as using chemical weapons.[212] This is because such bombs kill everyone within their lethal radius, both militant and civilian, without distinction.[212]

Aftermath

The bombardment left behind a large amount of debris, including unexploded ordnance. An official from United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), has said it could take up to 14 years to remove the debris, including the rubble of destroyed buildings.[213] As of June 2024, the war left an estimated 39 million tons of debris in a widely urbanized, densely populated area, according to the UN Environment Programme.[214] This number had grown to 42 million tons by August 2024.[215] In July 2024, UNOCHA warned of the "significant risk" of explosive remnants of war and unexploded ordnance on civilians in Gaza, citing multiple casualties caused by unexploded ordnance.[216] In addition to fears about unexploded ordnance, health officials were concerned that Israel's bombing of buildings exposed civilians to highly carcinogenic airborne particles, including asbestos.[217] A UN estimate found that clearing the 40m tonnes of rubble in Gaza could take as long as 15 years and cost between $500 and $600 million dollars.[218] The Norwegian Refugee Council further warned that when the war ends, half of all families in Gaza will be homeless due to the destruction of their homes.[219]

According to the United Nations, the Israel military's destruction of infrastructure set back Gaza's human development by nearly 70 years.[220]

Rebuilding

The Financial Times estimated it would cost billions to rebuild Gaza.[221] Mohammed Mustafa, the chief economist of the Palestine Investment Fund, estimated rebuilding Gaza's homes alone would cost around US$15 billion.[222][f] The World Bank and the United Nations estimated in April 2024 that the war had caused $18.5 billion dollars worth of damage to Gaza's infrastructure thus far.[224] In May 2024, the United Nations Development Program stated it would take at least until 2040 to rebuild the homes destroyed in Gaza.[225] Mark Jarzombek, a professor at MIT, stated, "The cost of rebuilding will be prohibitive. Construction sites on this scale have to be empty of people, creating another wave of displacements. No matter what one does, for generations Gaza will be struggling with this".[215]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ According to the Goldsmith's College research team Forensic Architecture, rather than preventing civilian casualties, Israel's evacuation system had instead "produced mass displacement and forced transfer, and contributed to the killings of civilians throughout Gaza".[7]
  2. ^ In northern Gaza, including Gaza City, the number of buildings damaged or destroyed is as high as 80 percent.[12]
  3. ^ In October 2024, the The New York Times estimated 168,000 buildings in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed.[13]
  4. ^ Family members killed:
    • Dunia/Dinah Mahdi Hamad, 16 (granddaughter)
    • Mahdi Muhammad Hamad, 46 (son)
    • Fawziya Khalil Hamad, 62 (mother)
    • Abd al-Hafez Hamad, 30 (son)
    • Suha Hamad, wife of Hafez, 25 (daughter-in-law)
    • Ibrahim Muhammad Hamad, 26 (son)[34][36]
  5. ^ Two weeks after the bombing, the Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation Caroline Gennez stated Israel had still not responded to a request for an investigation.[208]
  6. ^ Mustafa became the prime minister of the State of Palestine in March 2024. As prime minister, Mustafa wrote an editorial in The Washington Post outlining a rebuilding plan for the Gaza Strip.[223]

References

  1. ^ "Occupied Palestinian Territories: AOAV explosive violence data on harm to civilians". Action on Armed Violence. 28 May 2024. Archived from the original on 10 June 2024. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  2. ^ Dyer, Evan. "Israel's Gaza bombing campaign is the most destructive of this century, analysts say". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2 February 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  3. ^ French, Howard W. (29 January 2024). "Retribution in the Israel-Hamas War". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  4. ^ Monitor, Euro-Med Human Rights. "200 days of military attack on Gaza: A horrific death toll amid intl. failure to stop Israel's genocide of Palestinians". Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. Archived from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  5. ^ Pape, Robert A. (21 June 2024). "Hamas Is Winning". Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Archived from the original on 21 June 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  6. ^ "New evidence of unlawful Israeli attacks in Gaza causing mass civilian casualties amid real risk of genocide". Amnesty International. 12 February 2024. Archived from the original on 20 February 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  7. ^ "Gaza 'safe zones' led to displacement, Israeli attacks on civilians: Report". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 16 March 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  8. ^ "UN says 86 percent of Gaza now under Israeli evacuation orders". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  9. ^ "The Ruined Landscape of Gaza After Nearly Three Months of Bombing". The Wall Street Journal.
  10. ^ "Israeli Troops Return to Gaza City". The Wall Street Journal.
  11. ^ de Hoog, Niels; Voce, Antonio; Morresi, Elena; Ganguly, Manisha; Kirk, Ashley. "How war destroyed Gaza's neighbourhoods – visual investigation". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 February 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
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