HRW says Israel violated international law in Gaza strike that killed 106 civilians

An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Gaza in October 2023 that killed over a hundred people violated international law, according to an investigation carried out by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The strike that targeted a six-story building, named the Engineer's Building, south of Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed 106 civilians in total, including 54 children, some of whom were playing football at the time.

HRW determined that there was no military target in or around the building when the strike occurred after conducting interviews and satellite, photograph and video analysis.

In total HRW spoke to 16 people about the strike, all of whom said they weren't aware of any military target around the building, which was sheltering 350 people at the time.

At 2:30pm four Israeli munitions struck the building within a 10-second time span, with the group saying that the use of multiple munitions reveals the strike was not accidental.

Hatem Abdo, who lost his son in the attack, said he was playing football in a street close to the building when the bombs fell.

According to HRW "the absence of a military objective would render the attack on the Engineer's Building unlawfully deliberate or indiscriminate".

"I saw about 50 children and some young men in the street, near the southern side of the Engineer's building. I saw that the northern side of the building had been hit. Immediately the second bomb hit the southern side, which I could see clearly from my home."

"I saw debris from the building falling and trapping about 20 of the children, as well as some adults," he added, saying that by the fourth explosion he couldn't see due to all the dust and smoke. Both Hatem and his brother Rami lost family in the strike.

Gerry Simpson, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch, said: "This strike inflicted massive civilian casualties without an apparent military target – one of scores of attacks causing overwhelming carnage, and highlighting the urgency of the ICC probe."

Israel's war on Gaza has killed 33,037 Palestinians, mostly women and children, with a further 75,668 being injured.

Both the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice and investigating the conduct of Israel's war.