The Israeli Air Force was founded on 28 May 1948. Since the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces have launched thousands of airstrikes[1] on the Gaza Strip from Israel as part of the continuing Gaza–Israel conflict.[2][3][4][5] The airstrikes, widely condemned for targeting civilians,[6][7] have been described as war crimes by the United Nations,[8] human rights groups Amnesty International[9] and Human Rights Watch.[10] The international community considers indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets to be illegal under international law.[11] Israel says the airstrikes are a response to the rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.[12]
West Bank
The vast majority of Israeli airstrikes are aimed at the Gaza Strip, but smaller munitions, such as from drones and helicopters, are occasionally used in the West Bank region.
In 2001, PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa was killed by two rockets fired from two Israeli Apache helicopters through his two office windows, as he sat at his desk in his office in Al-Bireh city, in a targeted killing on 27 August 2001.[13][14][15]
Between October 2023 and August 2024, Israeli forces carried out 50 or 60 air strikes in the West Bank.[16]
Gaza Strip
Killing of Ahmed Yassin
On 22 March 2004, Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, was killed by an Israeli airstrike outside a mosque in Gaza City.[17][18]
Killing of
Destruction of the al-Jalaa Building
On 15 May 2021, an Israeli airstrike targeted and destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of Al Jazeera, the Associated Press and other media outlets.[19][20]
Israel-Hamas war (2023 to 2024)
World Central Kitchen
On 1 April 2024, a strike by Israel's armed forces on a convoy of the humanitarian group World Central Kitchen, traveling from Deir al-Balah to Khan Younis, killed six aid workers and their Palestinian driver.[21]
References
- ^ "Gaza under siege: Israel dropped 6,000 bombs in 6 days". Samaa. 5 November 2023.
- ^ Sharp, Alexandra (10 October 2023). "Israel Pummels Gaza Despite Hamas Threats to Hostages". Foreign Policy.
The Israel Defense Forces unleashed devastating airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, flattening entire neighborhoods, reducing streets and buildings to rubble, and flooding hospitals and morgues with the wounded and dead. Israeli strikes targeted apartment buildings, mosques, and markets...
- ^ Casey, Nicholas; Pronczuk, Monika; Boxerman, Aaron (17 October 2023). "'No More Safe Places in Gaza': Evacuees Face Airstrikes in North and South". The New York Times.
- ^ Parker, Claire; Dadouch, Sarah (9 October 2023). "Gaza reels from Israeli airstrikes and braces for all-out war". Washington Post.
- ^ "Israeli airstrikes pummel Gaza, including civilian refuge areas, ahead of expected ground invasion". PBS NewsHour. Associated Press. 23 October 2023.
- ^ "UN Middle East envoy condemns deadly Israeli airstrikes in Gaza". news.un.org. UN News. 9 May 2023.
- ^ Landler, Mark; Bergman, Ronen (3 November 2023). "As Gaza War Enters New Phase, Israel Faces Pressure Over Civilian Deaths". The New York Times.
- ^ "UN rights chief: Israel's airstrikes on Gaza may constitute 'war crimes'". Times of Israel. 27 May 2021.
"...airstrikes in such densely populated areas resulted in a high level of civilian fatalities and injuries, as well as the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure," she said. "If found to be indiscriminate and disproportionate in their impact on civilians and civilian objects, such attacks may constitute war crimes."
- ^ "Israel/OPT: unlawful Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have 'decimated' entire Palestinian families". www.amnesty.org.uk. Amnesty International. 20 October 2023.
As Israeli forces intensify their cataclysmic assault on the occupied Gaza Strip, Amnesty International has documented unlawful Israeli attacks in Gaza - including indiscriminate ones - which caused mass civilian casualties and must be investigated as suspected war crimes.
- ^ "Gaza: Israel's May Airstrikes on High-Rises". Human Rights Watch. 23 August 2021.
The Israeli military's airstrikes that destroyed four high-rise buildings in Gaza City during the May 2021 fighting apparently violated the laws of war and may amount to war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.
- ^ "Protection of the civilian population". Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977. International Committee of the Red Cross.
- ^ "Gaza before and after: satellite images show destruction following Israeli airstrikes". The Guardian.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules Gaza, in retaliation for the 7 October attacks in which they killed 1,400 people and took more than 200 people hostage. Since then, Israel has continuously struck Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and is preparing a ground invasion.
- ^ "Israel kills key Palestinian leader". BBC. 27 August 2001. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
- ^ Marmari, Hanoch (6 June 2002). "Digging beneath the surface in the Middle East conflict". Haaretz. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
- ^ Cave, Peter (28 August 2001). "Israel assassinates Abu Ali Mustafa". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 26 September 2004. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ "Daily Briefing Aug. 4: Day 303 – Iran attack scenarios and how Israel could counter them". Times of Israel. 4 August 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024. (Segment starts at approximately timestamp 12:45)
- ^ "LEADER OF HAMAS KILLED BY MISSILE IN ISRAELI STRIKE". The New York Times. 22 March 2004.
- ^ "Hamas founder killed in Israeli airstrike". edition.cnn.com. CNN. 22 March 2004.
- ^ "Israeli air strike flattens Gaza building housing AP, Al-Jazeera as violence spirals". France 24. 15 May 2021.
- ^ Stelter, Brian (16 May 2021). "Media offices destroyed by Israeli airstrike in Gaza". CNN.
- ^ "7 World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli airstrike in Gaza". www.cbsnews.com. CBS News. 2 April 2024.