Ramallah, August 7, 2022—Five more Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip have been killed as Israeli attacks on Gaza stretch into a third day.
Mohammad Iyad Hassouna, 13, was killed in an Israeli airstrike around 9:30 p.m. on August 6 in Rafah refugee camp, west of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Mohammad sustained severe lacerations all over his body, specifically the right side of his chest.
A U.S.-sourced Israeli warplane apparently targeted a three-story residential building without warning, according to information collected by DCIP. The Israeli warplane fired at least six rockets, destroying eight homes with families still inside, killing seven people, and injuring another 35 people, including 18 children.
“It is clear the Israeli military exhibits near complete disregard for civilians, including children, during active hostilities,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Yet, the United States supplies all the warplanes, bombs, and weapons necessary for Israeli forces to continue systematically killing Palestinians. The U.S. and other countries must end their complicity with the belligerent Israeli apartheid regime.”
Another four Palestinian children were killed by an explosion on Trance street in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip around 9 p.m. on August 6, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
The explosion killed 5-year-old Momen Mohammad Ahmad Al-Nayrab, 11-year-old Ahmad Mohammad Ahmad Al-Nayrab, 9-year-old Hazem Mohammad Ali Salem, and 16-year-old Ahmad Waleed Ahmad Al-Farram, according to documentation collected by DCIP. The explosion killed a total of seven people and injured 43, including 26 children.
At the time of the explosion, Israeli warplanes were visible in the sky and Palestinian armed groups were firing rockets. DCIP is still working to confirm the source of the explosion.
The explosion struck an area where many people were sitting outside due to the power outage in the Gaza Strip. Israeli authorities have completely closed the Gaza Strip’s borders since August 2, resulting in a critical fuel shortage. Gaza’s main power plant closed around noon on August 6, causing rolling power cuts of more than 20 hours per day, according to UN OCHA.
Six Palestinian children have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Friday, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
Alaa Abdullah Riyad Qaddoum, 5, was killed around 4:30 p.m. on August 5 by an Israeli airstrike in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. The Israeli airstrike hit a group of people gathered outside Abu Samra mosque in the Wadi Al-Arayes area of Shuja’iyya neighborhood. Alaa’s six-year-old brother, Riyad, and father, Abdullah, were injured in the same attack.
The Israeli military launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on August 5, killing at least 31 people and injuring at least 260, according to Al Jazeera. The Israeli military offensive comes days after Israeli forces arrested a senior Islamic Jihad leader in Jenin and killed 16-year-old Dirar Riyad Lufti Al-Haj Saleh, also in Jenin, who was protesting the Israeli military’s incursion into Jenin refugee camp.
International humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks and requires all parties to an armed conflict to distinguish between military targets, civilians, and civilian objects. Israel as the occupying power in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the Gaza Strip, is required to protect the Palestinian civilian population from violence.
Israeli authorities have imposed a closure policy against the Gaza Strip since 2007 by strictly controlling and limiting the entry and exit of individuals; maintaining harsh restrictions on imports including food, construction materials, fuel, and other essential items; as well as prohibiting exports. Israel continues to maintain complete control over the Gaza Strip’s borders, airspace, and territorial waters.
