The 2014 Gaza war beach bombing incidents refers to two incidents that took place during the 2014 Gaza War on 9 and 16 July. In the first incident, Israeli missiles killed nine youths while they were following the 2014 FIFA World Cup on TV; in the second, four boys were killed by Israeli naval fire while playing on a beach. According to an Israeli investigation, the second was a 'tragic mistake'. The latter attack was conducted in front of hotels that sheltered foreign journalists, several of whom witnessed the Israeli shelling, and at least one of whom described the targeting of the children as intentional. Several eyewitnesses have remarked that, even at a distance, it was clear that the targets of the Israeli attack were children. The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, reviewing the evidence, found that the IDF had failed in its obligations to adopt feasible measures to avoid or minimize incidental harm to civilians.
9 July
On 9 July, a semi-final match between Argentina and the Netherlands was broadcast as part of the 2014 FIFA World Cup knockout stage. In the 48 hours since the outbreak of hostilities, Israel had launched an aerial blitz that struck over 750 locations in the Gaza Strip.
On a beach in the al-'Izbeh area of Khan Younis, roughly 30 metres from the shoreline and 200 metres from housing, around a dozen Palestinians had gathered at the Fun Time Beach café (Waqt al-Marah) to watch a broadcast of the game. The café, owned by the al-Sawalli family, and, according to a local PNA-employed policeman, Wael Soboh, not a military area, was a makeshift arrangement covered by cloth, umbrellas and palm leaves, furnished with plastic chairs and a converted container which served as the kitchen. The portable television was powered by a generator. All of the victims were avid soccer fans. It was customary for the two Sawalli brothers, who would be killed in the strike, to break the Ramadan fast at the café, which was also considered a safe place. The other victims also used the café's services for the iftar meal, to break their fast, though a survivor said that youths had also come to the café because it had a generator for its television, and there had been an electrical outage earlier in Khan Yunis. Palestinians like many in the Arab world, it was reported, could follow the games by courtesy of the Israeli broadcast service. The youths were aware that the Gaza Strip was being bombed, but heard no aircraft in their vicinity, and were relaxed.
Half an hour into the match, at 11.30 p.m., an Israeli missile blasted the flimsy roof of the improvised café cratering the site and killing 3 sets of brothers and a cousin, Two 15-year-olds were killed, and 3 people were wounded, including a 13-year-old boy. The missile's impact was such that it left a hole so deep seawater seeped in from underground to fill it. The body of Salim Sawalli could not be found immediately, but later the following day bulldozers managed to find his remains, bringing the death toll to 9. Gaza's emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra commented: "Israel won 9-0". A bystander Ahmed al-Aqad made a similar quip: "And the result from this match here? The Jews won 9-0,". Another 15 people were wounded.
Those killed were: Ahmed Astal (18), Suleiman Astal (16), Musa (16, a cousin of the Astals), Mohammed Ganan (24), Ibrahim Ganan (25), Hamdi Sawalli (20), Ibrahim Sawalli (28), Salim Sawalli (23, body not recovered) and Mohammed Fawana (18).
IDF investigation
The IDF said it was investigating this incident and another bombing with substantial civilian casualties on the same night roughly three hours later in Khan Younis Refugee Camp which killed 8 members of the Al Haj family. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor stated that Hamas was exposing Palestinians to Israeli attacks by operating "within houses and streets and neighborhoods which are populated with civilians,... exposing these civilians to retaliation and to backfire."
Israel said the incident was designed as a precision strike with the missile aimed at a single terrorist, and Peter Lerner, the IDF spokesman, said that in such operations, no warning is given. No information was forthcoming as to the identity of the putative terrorist in their midst.
Responses to Israel's preliminary investigation
Human Rights Watch, after an investigation, cited the case as an apparent example of Israel targeting civilian structures and people in violation of the laws of war. No evidence had been provided that civilians watching a soccer match had been engaged in terrorist activities.