'Even wars have rules': The colossal civilian casualty in Gaza

‎Motaz Azaiza, an independent journalist in Gaza, broke down when he heard the news that his neighbour's house was hit by Israeli air strikes earlier this month. Azaiza's neighbours were killed. 

On 27 October, Al Jazeera bureau chief Wael Dahdouh was reporting live in Gaza when he learned an Israeli air raid had killed his wife, son, daughter, grandson and at least eight other relatives. 

An Al Jazeera footage of Dahdouh in Gaza's Al-Aqsa hospital showed him beside the body of his deceased son. "They take vengeance on us through our children?" asked the veteran journalist. 

All of these people were civilians, non-combatants. So were the over 7,000 Palestinians who were killed by the Israeli government's indiscriminate bombing since 7 October. This figure does not include those who are trapped under the rubble of bombed buildings, the ones who were buried in graves before being taken to a hospital, or those who were taken to a hospital but the registration process was incomplete. 

Gaza's healthcare system is overwhelmed and on the brink of collapse due to Israel's complete siege of the region; Israel has blocked all supplies (food and medicine) going into Gaza and cut off water and electricity.

The Gaza Health Ministry published a report listing the names of more than 7,000 "documented deaths" in Gaza since 7 October. It also said a further 281 bodies had not yet been identified. 

It is worth noting at this point that this Palestinian civilian death toll occurred before Gaza plunged into a blackout in the early hours of 28 October after Israel severed internet and communications, cutting off the territory's residents from contact with the outside world.

Israel's latest aggression against Gaza is unprecedented and reflective of the rigour that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, top Israeli military officials and politicians promised in destroying Hamas — the Palestinian militant group. 

The Israeli government vowed "retaliation" of a catastrophic scale that will "reverberate for generations to come." The pledge came after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a terrorist attack on south Israel on 7 October. 

Hamas killed over 1,300 Israelis and kidnapped about 200 hostages, committing war crimes which, swiftly and unequivocally, received deserving condemnation in the strongest language from Israel and its allies in the West. 

However, experts say that Israel's "retaliation" which includes indiscriminately killing Palestinian civilians demands equal condemnation and a call for an immediate ceasefire.

'Even wars have rules'

On 14 October, António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, "Even wars have rules. International humanitarian law & human rights law must be respected & upheld; civilians must be protected & also never used as shields. All hostages in Gaza must be released immediately."

Hamas' crimes, which include the killing of Israeli civilians and abduction on 7 October, fall under war crimes. But where does the international law put the Israeli government's military action against the Palestinians in Gaza? 

Scores and scores of footage evidence came out of Gaza, filmed by professional and citizen journalists, and reported by major news outlets across the world. The carnage of civilian casualties continued to be well-documented. Israeli air strikes levelled neighbourhoods and in many instances, killed entire Palestinian families. 

"In their stated intent to use all means to destroy Hamas, Israeli forces have shown a shocking disregard for civilian lives. They have pulverised street after street of residential buildings killing civilians on a mass scale and destroying essential infrastructure, while new restrictions mean Gaza is fast running out of water, medicine, fuel and electricity," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General on 20 October. 

"Testimonies from eyewitnesses and survivors highlighted, again and again, how Israeli attacks decimated Palestinian families, causing such destruction that surviving relatives have little but rubble to remember their loved ones by," Callamard added.

Amnesty International spoke to survivors and eyewitnesses, analysed satellite imagery and verified photos and videos to investigate air bombardments carried out by Israeli forces between 7 and 12 October. The organisation presents an in-depth analysis of its findings in five of these unlawful attacks and says that in each of these cases, Israeli attacks violated international humanitarian law.

The indiscriminate attacks which caused massive civilian casualties "must be investigated as war crimes," said Amnesty International, which is not alone. 

"The international community has the responsibility to prevent and protect populations from atrocity crimes. Accountability for international crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces and Hamas must also be immediately pursued," Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur said on 14 October. 

Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem accuses Israel of war crimes, due to the extent of the airstrikes and the blockade. Humanitarian aid organisation Doctors Without Borders speaks of a collective punishment of Gaza that contravenes international law.

'Nowhere in Gaza is safe'

Gaza residents were instructed by Israel to evacuate to the south earlier this month. 

However, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the custodian of the law of war, called the evacuation order illegal. UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned it, as well, saying it is "extremely dangerous" and potentially impossible.

However, scores of reports poured in from journalists on the ground about how even civilians on the move were hit by Israeli air strikes. In the south, civilians were not spared from air strikes. 

A strike on a four-story building in Khan Younis (a city in the southern Gaza Strip) killed at least 32 people, including 13 members of the Saqallah family, said Ammar al-Butta, a relative who survived the airstrike, according to an Associated Press report.   

He told AP that about 100 people were sheltering in the building, including many who had evacuated from Gaza City. "We thought that our area would be safe," he said.

Another strike destroyed a bustling marketplace in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, witnesses said. AP photos showed the floor of a vegetable shop covered with blood.

In Gaza City, at least 19 people were killed when an airstrike hit the house of the Bahloul family, according to survivors, who said dozens more people remained buried. The legs of a dead woman and another person, both still half buried, dangled out of the wreckage where workers dug through the dirt, concrete and rebar, reported AP. 

On Saturday (28 October), Gaza Civil Defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said, "Hundreds of buildings and houses were completely destroyed and thousands of other homes were damaged. 

"The intense bombardment had 'changed the landscape' of northern Gaza," he told AFP.

Previously, the total number of housing units destroyed and rendered uninhabitable was 15,749 and 10,935, respectively, as of 21 October 2023, according to the Gaza Ministry of Public Works.

Aid and human rights groups have stepped up criticism of the Israeli bombing and order to evacuate. "Israeli officials do not deny striking residential buildings and mosques or killing and injuring noncombatants. However, they insist that they are targeting Hamas's officials, weapons caches, tunnels and safe houses, all deeply intertwined with Gazan civilian infrastructure," reported The New York Times. 

Israeli air strikes have also hit churches and UNRWA (UN schools) – all civilian facilities. 

Matthias von Hein, a Deutsche Welle journalist, wrote "Israel's right to self-defence against armed attack according to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter is indisputable. This right, however, is restricted by international humanitarian law. The warring parties must differentiate between civilians and combatants, between civilian objects and military targets."

Mounting Palestinian civilian death toll 

Despite international laws in place to limit civilian casualties during times of armed conflict or war, Palestinian civilians continue to pay the highest price. 

At least 24 journalists have been killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists on 26 October. Dozens of family members of journalists, both slain and alive, have also been killed. Additionally, media institutions have been destroyed, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. These attacks "are part of a systematic policy and an official decision to intimidate journalists to prevent [Israeli] crimes from being transmitted to the world," the syndicate said in a recent statement. 

Describing the "deep sense of feeling alone" in Gaza amid the communication blackout, a staff of Doctors Without Border told Al Jazeera, "One of my colleagues today in Gaza said the whole world is watching us getting massacred on TV and just silently watching. This is also reflective of a particular type of psychological trauma of feeling completely isolated and feeling like the world is voluntarily silent to your pain and suffering." 

The UN general assembly has overwhelmingly called for an "immediate, durable and sustainable humanitarian truce" between Israel and Hamas and demanded unhindered aid access to the besieged Gaza Strip, The Guardian reported. 

The motion – drafted by Jordan – passed late on Friday with 120 votes in favour, while 45 abstained, and 14 (including Israel and the United States) voted against.

While it is not binding, "it carries political weight, reflecting the degree to which the US and Israel are isolated internationally as Israel steps up its ground operations," wrote Patrick Wintour, an editor at The Guardian. 

Gaza plunged into darkness shortly after.