Gaza Genocide: 4% of Those Killed Are Old People

The Israeli occupation army’s recent killing of an elderly couple in the Gaza Strip and an elderly man in the West Bank constitute grave crimes against elderly Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory that require international investigation.

During the 330-day Israeli genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 2,122 elderly men and women have been killed. This represents roughly 2% of the 107,000 elderly people who live in the Strip and roughly 4% of all Palestinian deaths there since 7 October 2023. These crimes, which have been committed hundreds of times, are unjustified and particularly cruel to this defenseless civilian group, which Israel has been targeting ever since it launched its large-scale attack on the Gaza Strip.

Most of these elderly victims were crushed to death under the debris of their homes or shelter centres after Israeli aircraft bombed them on their heads, or during their forced evacuations in the streets or visits to markets to meet their basic needs. Shockingly, however, dozens of them were killed directly through field executions and liquidation operations.

Following the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Khan Yunis on Friday 30 August, the discovery of the bodies of the elderly man Wajih Misbah Shaath (71 years old) and his wife Sabah Shaath (65 years old) was documented by the Euro-Med Monitor field team. The Israeli army shot the couple in their Khan Yunis home, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

Mr. Shaath’s sister-in-law provided Euro-Med Monitor with the following account of the execution of her husband’s brother and his wife, who were shot in the head: “My husband, my daughters, and I left Khan Yunis due to evacuation orders, but my husband’s brother Wajih Misbah Shaath, Abu Misbah, and his wife Sabah Shaath remained. Because of their advanced age, the difficulty of moving their belongings, the exhaustion of walking for extended distances every time the occupation issued new evacuation orders, and other factors, they decided to stay at home rather than endure the weariness of the displacement journey and the search for a safe place, which they had already gone through many times.”

She continued, “They stayed in the unlocked house because the doors were loose as a result of numerous previous attacks. We had been attempting to get in touch with them frequently since 26 August, but we had received no response. This worried us, so we reached out to friends, family, and acquaintances in the area to see if there was any update that would reassure us.”

Added Mr. Shaath’s sister in law: “My husband went home in the early hours of 30 August to see how his brother and his wife were doing after learning of the withdrawal of the Israeli army, only to discover that they had been killed by Israeli army bullets that struck them squarely in the head. Upon closer inspection, it was evident that the occupation forces had set off a hand grenade at the entrance of the house before raiding it and opening fire at the couple. Their bodies were discovered with bloodstains all over the floor of the room they were hiding in, empty bullet casings next to their blood, and bullet fragments scattered throughout the house.”

Numerous other horrific accounts of physical liquidations and field executions of elderly people over the age of 60 in the Gaza Strip have previously been documented by Euro-Med Monitor. During their second incursion into Al-Shifa Medical Complex and its surroundings during the ongoing genocide in Gaza, for example, Israeli forces executed and set ablaze the 92-year-old Naifa Rizk al-Sawda.

Maha Al-Nawati, the victim’s daughter, told the Euro-Med Monitor team: “After the Israeli army stormed Al-Shifa Hospital and invaded the surrounding area, they raided the residential building where my mother and married brothers live. As soon as they got inside, they separated the women from the men and told the men to undress. After searching and interrogating them, they ordered both the men and the women to evacuate towards the south. My 92-year-old mother was at home at the time. She suffers from Alzheimer’s and cannot walk, speak, eat, or do anything on her own. I think she probably would not have known how to respond if they had asked her about her name. ‘This is my mother, I will take her with me,’ my brother’s wife said to the soldiers. An Israeli officer responded, ‘No, you go, we will take care of her,’ and ordered her to leave my mother behind and evacuate right away.”

She added: “We had no information about her for about two weeks during the Israeli siege of the area and invasion of Al-Shifa Hospital. We had no knowledge about her fate during that time, nor did we know if they had left her alone inside the house or taken her with them to Al-Shifa Hospital. When the soldiers left the area, my sister and brother went to the house to look for her. As they searched for her, they climbed to the roof of the house, where they discovered my niece and her husband dead, with burned bones. Upon entering my niece’s flat, they discovered my mother lying on the bed in a fully burned-out room. Only a few of my mother’s bones were left, and her body was severely burned. It seems that they killed her or burned her alive inside the house.

In the West Bank last Friday, Israeli occupation forces executed the 82-year-old elderly man Tawfiq Ahmed Younis Qandil in the eastern neighbourhood of Jenin city, during the Israeli military attack that has been ongoing for five days in Jenin Governorate and other areas in the occupied West Bank. According to local medical sources, nine bullets fired by Israeli army snipers struck the elderly man, killing him. Ambulances carrying the man following the initial attack were also fired at.

These cases, along with other cases that have been well-documented, are but a sample of the systematic and deliberate executions and physical liquidations to which dozens of elderly Palestinians are being subjected in areas where Israeli occupation forces are conducting military operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

In addition to bearing a heavy price for the haphazard and out-of-proportion attacks carried out by Israeli forces—particularly in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of elderly people have been killed and thousands more injured—it will be difficult for survivors to recover because of their precarious health and lack of access to proper medical care.

Additionally, Israeli forces have arrested elderly Palestinians, both men and women over the age of 70. Many of those arrested have been subjected to abuse, torture, and denial of basic rights, without regard for their advanced age or health conditions. As a result, many of them have died in Israeli prisons and detention centres.

Tens of thousands of elderly people in the Gaza Strip are at serious risk of dying, as 69% of them have chronic illnesses, and the majority have not received any medical attention as a result of the Israeli army’s systematic and pervasive destruction of the healthcare system, as well as Israel’s arbitrary blockade of the area. Israel continues to prevent the entry of medical supplies, including medical devices and essential medicines, as well as sufficient and nourishing food, in an effort to deprive Palestinians of the necessities of life and subject them to intolerable living conditions meant to destroy them. The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has provided data showing a marked increase in the number of deaths of members of this vulnerable group during the last 10 months when compared to the same period of time in previous years.

In addition to the protections guaranteed to civilians by international humanitarian law, the elderly are entitled to additional protection as a vulnerable group of people. This protection should include setting up organised recovery and safety areas and sites for them as well as making the necessary arrangements to safely transport them out of besieged or encircled areas. Yet amid the international community’s silence and complicity, Israel has violated these rights, turning all people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including women, children, the injured, the ill, and the elderly into targets.

International pressure must be applied immediately to compel Israel to stop all of its crimes against the Palestinian people, including the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip; to fully withdraw from the Palestinian territories that it has occupied since 1967; to hold it responsible for all of its serious human rights violations and crimes; and to guarantee compensation for all Palestinian survivors and victims’ families. Effective and decisive international intervention is needed at once to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip completely and ensure the safe, complete, and unhindered access of humanitarian supplies to all affected people and the provision of basic services and urgently required relief aid. Should those on the outside fail to take the necessary action, it will soon be impossible to stop the humanitarian crises in the Gaza Strip from getting even worse.

Euro-Med Monitor

CrossFireArabia

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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Hiding The Evidence: Israel Removes Mass Debris Via 100 Trucks Daily

Euromed stated that Israel is seeking to hide the evidence of genocide in Gaza Strip by removing the rubble and wreckage of destroyed buildings and the remains of missing persons underneath them through transport via 100 trucks daily.

In a press statement reported by the Sanad News Agency, Monday, the European-Mediternean human rights organization explained that the Israeli occupation is unilaterally carrying out a systematic operation to remove the rubble in areas under its military control and is transport it out of the Gaza Strip to obliterate evidence the criminal evidence it carried out in Gaza since 7 October, 2023.

Euromed,  officially named he Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, has indicated that initial estimates suggest Israel wants to remove about 10 million tons of rubble in the so-called Yellow Line areas which is under Israeli military control.

Euromed emphasized that its estimates that are 400 Israeli vehicles involved the removal of the rubble, besides the 100 trucks who are transporting the debris to unknown locations inside Israel.

It pointed out that the rubble that is being removed and transported focuses on sites where murders have taken places and where mass graves exist. It warned that “removing it separates physical evidence from its spatial context.”

Euromed added: The remains of some 8,500 missing persons are being crushed and mixed with rubble due to the use of crushers without forensic investigation. Meanwhile, the removed rubble contains property and essential building materials, and removing it without compensating its owners constitutes confiscation and looting, which is prohibited under international law.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called on the international community to intervene urgently, halt the rubble removal, and send international investigation teams to inspect and document the sites of destruction.

The amount of rubble and debris accumulated in the Gaza Strip by the first half of 2026 is estimated at approximately 60 million tons (other UN estimates put the figure at 68 million tons), following the complete or partial destruction of more than 80% of buildings and infrastructure.

Official statistics issued by the Government Media Office in Gaza indicate that more than 80% of buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged, while the area is covered by approximately 60 to 70 million tons of rubble.

See Full Report Below:

The Israeli forces, along with Israeli civilian contractors, are conducting a wide and organised operation to process and clear the rubble from neighbourhoods and facilities they have destroyed in the Gaza Strip and relocate it from areas under their military control to outside the Strip.

This is occurring without any official record of the quantities removed or independent oversight, and before international and local investigative committees have had the chance to survey, examine, and document the sites. This risks destroying crucial evidence of genocide and the remains of victims still unaccounted for under the rubble.

These operations are not part of organised humanitarian efforts to rescue the missing, open roads, or prepare for reconstruction. Instead, Israel is acting unilaterally within closed areas under its military control by demolishing remaining buildings and then crushing, mixing, and transporting the rubble before forensic teams, evidence experts, and unexploded ordnance specialists can examine, document, and preserve the sites, along with the evidence and human remains.

The Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment, published jointly by the World Bank, the United Nations, and the European Union in April 2026, estimated that approximately 68 million tonnes of rubble are spread across the Gaza Strip, based on damage reports up to October 2025. This figure does not necessarily account for damage caused by later demolition and destruction operations.

According to its initial field data, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor estimates that at least 10 million tonnes of rubble have been removed, crushed, or moved from their original sites within the areas under Israel’s unlawful military control, which encompass about 66 per cent of the Gaza Strip.

Approximately 400 heavy pieces of excavation, demolition, crushing, and transport machinery, operated by Israeli civilian companies under military protection, are active across eastern and southern Gaza. They demolish remaining structures, crush rubble from destroyed neighbourhoods, and load the debris onto trucks for transportation away from the original sites.

In recent weeks, Euro-Med Monitor tracked nearly 100 Israeli trucks daily leaving the Gaza Strip with debris. These trucks carry rubble to undisclosed sites within Israel and further south of the occupied West Bank. The Israeli authorities have not provided details on the quantities removed, the routes taken, the destination sites, or how the material is utilised. They also have not permitted independent oversight of the sorting, weighing, or transport processes. This lack of transparency makes it very difficult to trace the transported material, identify evidence, or recover any human remains that might be present.

The systematic removal of rubble at this pace conceals the evidence of appalling crimes Israel committed in Gaza, especially those related to genocide, such as summary executions and killing unarmed civilians. These sites need careful examination and thorough criminal investigation before any intervention that might change or erase their features.

The debris scattered throughout the Gaza Strip includes possible locations of unlawful killings and bombings that targeted entire families, as well as sites believed to contain mass graves or bodies buried within destroyed homes, hospitals, shelters, and civilian facilities.

These sites hold evidence critical for identifying the weapon, attack sequence, victim and attacker positions, firing ranges, cause and manner of death, as well as fragments, projectiles, spent cartridges, biological traces, and personal belongings.

Crushing, mixing, and transporting rubble can erase evidence, location details, and connections within the crime scene. This process also disrupts the chain of custody, potentially making it impossible to trace where evidence was collected or to link it to a particular incident or victim. This damage cannot be reversed by aerial photographs or subsequent testimony, as investigating international crimes also requires tangible evidence that can be examined, compared, and legally verified.

These operations pose a direct risk to the remains of thousands of missing persons, estimated by Gaza’s Civil Defence to be around 8,500 in July 2026. Using crushers and heavy machinery without prior forensic and humanitarian surveys could crush or scatter the remains, mix them with rubble, and separate them from belongings and documents vital for victim identification. This process may also lead to transporting the remains to unknown locations that may become impossible to access later.

This conduct infringes on the families’ right to know the fate of their missing relatives and to recover and bury their remains with dignity. It also contradicts international standards that call for searching for the deceased, collecting and safeguarding information about them, and ensuring proper identification and recording. Additionally, removing sites before investigation breaches the guidelines outlined in the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death. This protocol emphasises securing and documenting the scene, gathering evidence while preserving its chain of custody, and recovering and examining remains with scientific methods that uphold the victims’ dignity and their family’s rights.

The debris in the Gaza Strip comprises more than just rubble; it includes private and public property, essential building materials like steel, stone, and concrete that can be recycled and reused, as well as other valuable assets necessary for Palestinians to reconstruct their homes, roads, and infrastructure. It may also contain property documents, official records, and personal belongings that are part of individuals’ and families’ rights and memories.

Removing rubble from the Gaza Strip and commercially exploiting it without the owners’ consent or compensation may, depending on the circumstances and intent of the seizure, constitute unlawful confiscation or pillage. Such acts are prohibited under international humanitarian law, especially Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the relevant provisions of the Rome Statute.

These actions are part of a broader pattern that has involved bulldozing sites believed to contain mass graves, storming and damaging hospitals and medical facilities after they were suspected of being sites of grave crimes, ongoing demolition of buildings in military-controlled zones, and targeting Palestinian journalists. Additionally, international investigators and independent media have been prevented from accessing the most heavily destroyed areas.

This deliberate removal of evidence occurs when the International Criminal Court (ICC) is still investigating crimes in Palestine, alongside other cases under universal jurisdiction in national courts. Destroying crime scenes before investigations are finished hampers legal accountability and complicates efforts by international investigators and prosecutors to establish facts, as vital evidence may be lost once removed from the Gaza Strip.

Moreover, Article 70(1)(c) of the Rome Statute considers “destroying, tampering with or interfering with the collection of evidence” as criminal acts that hinder the ICC’s justice mission when done deliberately. The ICC Prosecutor should investigate these actions as deliberate interference with evidence collection related to the ongoing investigation into the Situation in the State of Palestine, which also includes unlawful destruction, seizure, or pillage of property.

The large-scale crushing and removal of rubble not only destroys evidence but also erases land boundaries, house foundations, street networks, and neighbourhood features. This process strips Palestinians of the physical markers of ownership and their connection to the land, making it more difficult for them to return and rebuild their communities as they once were.

Transforming forcibly depopulated Palestinian towns and neighbourhoods into levelled, open spaces under Israeli control is a concrete act that deepens the displacement and ethnic cleansing. This process is inseparable from Israeli settler colonialism, which involves uprooting Palestinians, erasing signs of their presence, and redefining the land without them. This sets the stage for Israel’s efforts to re-establish settlements in Gaza and displace Palestinian residents, advancing a new phase of colonisation and the ongoing denial of land and the right of return.

The international community, including the Security Council, the UN General Assembly, and states parties to the Rome Statute, must urgently intervene to halt the systematic removal and transport of rubble from the Gaza Strip. They should also advocate for independent international forensic and criminal investigation teams to be granted access to assess and document the destruction sites before any further removal or transport occurs, ensuring that physical evidence is preserved to hold those responsible for genocide accountable.

Euro-Med Monitor urges the international community to push Israel to immediately and fully stop all rubble removal and transport activities. This includes requiring detailed disclosures of transported materials, weighing logs, truck routes, ultimate destinations, company and contractor names, beneficiary parties, payment information, machinery and truck registration numbers, and tracking data, as well as transparency regarding any sale, recycling, or commercial use of materials extracted from Gaza.

Furthermore, removing rubble or recyclable materials from the Gaza Strip should be prohibited until a transparent Palestinian and international system for managing these materials is put in place. This system should ensure that any unlawfully transported materials are either returned or their full value is compensated to the owners. Additionally, rubble suitable for reuse should be allocated to local reconstruction projects that benefit the Palestinian population and protect individual and public property rights.

States where the implicated companies or machinery manufacturers are based should mandate a halt to any actions that could lead to property demolition, evidence removal, or rubble seizure. They must also preserve all relevant contracts, correspondence, and operational data, and carry out independent investigations into the accountability of their directors and staff. Euro-Med Monitor urges targeted measures against individuals and companies found to have known about and taken part in these illegal activities, such as exclusion from public contracts, freezing assets, and criminal prosecution.

Any efforts to remove rubble or rebuild in the Gaza Strip must be led by Palestinians, involving local residents, property owners, and families of the missing. These initiatives should ensure the protection of evidence, recovery of remains, clearance of unexploded ordnance, sorting of hazardous materials, local reuse of rubble, preservation of property maps and urban fabric, and prevent reconstruction from being used to cement control or alter the enclave’s geographic or demographic makeup.

Euro-Med Monitor affirms that a ceasefire or political agreements do not erase crimes or their evidence. Reconstruction and rubble removal should happen alongside preserving evidence, discovering the fate of the missing, recovering property, holding perpetrators accountable, and ensuring victims’ rights to truth, justice, and reparation.

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Israeli Bullet Rips a Child’s Hand in a Gaza Classroom

CROSSFIREARABIA – A bulled fired by an Israeli soldier pierced through the hand of a pupil in-the-sixth grade and lodged into his wrist. The incident occurred on Monday while the pupil was sitting in class in school in Gaza City according to the Education Ministry. It said the boys name was Khaled Al Ashram from Al Sawafir School in the west of Gaza City. “The bulled pierced the small hand of the child while he was sitting at a school desk holding his open,” a Ministry statement emphasized. In its statement the Ministry included a photo showing the hand of the child pierced by the bullet and covered in blood according to Anadolu.

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