The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli Occupation Forces’ (IOF) escalation of mass killings, targeting innocent civilians in temporary shelters, houses, and tents, as well as their imposition and announcement of the establishment of the Philadelphi II axis, which would completely isolate Rafah from the rest of Gaza Strip. This marks an alarming expansion of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
According to PCHR’s field documentation, the IOF deliberately bombs residential neighborhoods and buildings sheltering displaced people who had fled intense bombardment. As a result, many were killed and injured over the past few days. This comes while famine begins to loom over Gaza, following the shutdown of bakeries and the depletion of most goods, food supplies, medicines, and medical consumables. This exacerbates the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe threatening the lives of 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and trapping them between two horrific choices- to die from bombardment or slowly perish from hunger and lack of medical treatment.
In a horrific crime, at approximately 10:55 on Wednesday, 02 April 202, two Israeli drones, according to initial reports, fired two missiles at the western side of the second floor of Jabalia Refugee Camp Health Center, which is run by UNRWA and currently used as a shelter for displaced people, in Jabalia Camp, north of the Gaza Strip. As a result, 15 people, including 2 women and 9 children, among them 3 infants, were killed, while 20 others, including 6 children and 8 women, were injured, with some deemed to be in critical condition.
At approximately 12:30 om the same day, an Israeli drone targeted a group of farmers in al-Salam neighborhood, southeast of Khan Yunis, killing 8 people, including a father and his two children.
At around 13:30 on the same day, the IOF’s warplanes launched an airstrike near Omar Mosque in al-Sawarha area, north of al-Zawaida village, killing three people from ‘Ayyash family, among them an elderly man.
According to our researchers’ follow-up, since Tuesday and a day following the IOF’s issuance of evacuation orders for Rafah City and three neighborhoods in southern Khan Yunis, forcibly displacing tens of thousands of their residents, IOF has intensified airstrikes and artillery shelling on Rafah and southern Khan Younis’s neighborhoods, amid expansion of their ground assault there.
In a serious escalation, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the establishment of the “Morag Axis,” and that it would serve as “Philadelphi II.1” This means Rafah will be totally isolated and separated from Khan Yunis and the rest of the Gaza Strip.
PCHR emphasizes that the IOF’s repeated attacks on shelters and houses while civilians inside reflect a systematic policy of committing genocide against the Palestinian people. PCHR warns that Israel’s return to ground assaults, imposing its control over Palestinian cities and neighborhoods, committing extensive mass killings, and perpetuating its policy of starvation and deprivation of medical treatment raises grave concern about inflicting thousands of casualties, either from direct bombardment or the devastating repercussions of the ongoing siege. This will further deteriorate the already catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip that has been continuously deteriorating since 07 October 2023.
PCHR affirms that the continuation and daily expansion of this Israeli military aggression, without any international deterrence, is a disgrace to all states and bodies that turn a blind eye to these atrocities. It underscores the urgent need for immediate intervention to put an end to the ongoing crimes committed by the IOF against the Palestinian people.
Therefore, PCHR calls on the international community to take decisive and urgent measures to stop the ongoing genocide and hold the Israeli leaders accountable for their atrocious crimes. PCHR also urges the State Parties to the Genocide Convention to fulfil their legal obligations and take urgent action to protect the Palestinian civilians from the genocide and mass killings.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, official Twitter page, 02 April 2025. Link: https://x.com/i/status/1907459855788449978 ↩︎
