Israel Resumes Military Offensive and Escalates Genocide, Endangering 2.3 Million Lives in Gaza – The Palestinian Center For Human Right (PCHR):
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli Occupation Forces’ (IOF) resumption of widescale and deadly attacks on the Gaza Strip, including mass killings of hundreds of civilians, among them women and children, and the issuance of evacuation orders. This is part of a broader crime of genocide, which has never ceased on the ground since 19 January, the date the ceasefire began.
Israel’s decision to resume its widescale military aggression on the Gaza Strip comes after 17 days of closing Gaza’s crossings and blocking the entry of goods and aid as part of Israel’s policy to use starvation as a weapon of war, following its unliteral renunciation of the ceasefire agreement.
According to PCHR’s initial field documentation, at approximately 02:10 on Tuesday, 18 March 2025, the IOF simultaneously launched dozens of intense airstrikes on houses, shelters, and tents housing displaced people across the Gaza Strip. These airstrikes have killed and injured hundreds of people, most of whom were civilians.
According to the initial toll reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH), hospitals in the Gaza Strip have received 326 people killed and more than 440 injuries, including many in critical condition, due to the IOF’s several attacks on the Gaza Strip at dawn.1 Meanwhile, a large number of victims remain trapped under the rubble, and many of them are impossible to retrieve.
Our teams are tirelessly working on documenting these crimes in detail despite the difficulties of movement and the risks posed by the ongoing Israeli military attacks. Meanwhile, ambulance and civil defense teams are facing challenges in retrieving and transporting the victims due to the lack of necessary equipment and fuel shortages.
Moreover, the IOF has issued evacuation orders urging all the Gaza Strip’s residents living near the buffer zone, which the IOF had imposed and where they are stationed, in the southern, eastern, and northern parts of Gaza Strip. These orders were specifically directed to the residents of Beit Hanoun, Kherbet Khuza’a, and Abasan al-Kabira and al-Jadida, ordering them to head towards western Gaza and Khan Yunis.2
These crimes come as part of the ongoing genocide committed by the IOF since the beginning of their military aggression on Gaza ongoing for more than 17 months now, which has never ceased. Since the ceasefire on 19 January until yesterday, more than 170 Palestinians have been killed, while hundreds more have been injured.
PCHR warns that Israel’s resumption of mass killings, along with its perpetuation of the crime of starvation and denial of medical treatment, raises concerns about inflicting thousands of victims, whether due to direct bombardment or the repercussions of the siege. This will also exacerbate the catastrophic and tragic situation in the Gaza Strip, which has not seen any improvement over the past months.
PCHR calls on the international community to take immediate and decisive action to stop the ongoing genocide and hold the Israeli leaders accountable for their crimes. PCHR also urges the State Parties to the Genocide Convention to fulfill their legal obligations and take urgent measures to protect Palestinian civilians from genocide and mass killings.
As silence of the international community on these crimes continues, Israel is given a green light to continue their deadly violations. Therefore, PCHR stresses the need to scale up efforts to impose sanctions and hold the Israeli leaders accountable.
- The Palestinian Ministry of Health, official Telegram account, link: https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6358
https://t.me/MOHMediaGaza/6356 ↩︎ - Israeli Spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, official page, link:
https://x.com/AvichayAdraee/status/1901888785308143730 ↩︎
