Mass civilian casualties of Israeli bombing, shelling and rocket attacks on the Gaza Strip have occurred in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, in which Israeli bombing attacks on the Gaza Strip cause numerous civilian fatalities. The reason for such operations is purportedly to carry out targeted assassinations of militants from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other groups seen to be a threat to Israel, whose Shin Bet data banks monitor thousands of Palestinians for targeting. Israel regards such cases as either unfortunate errors, the consequence of civilians being used to shield militants, or as acceptable collateral damage.
2002
On 22 July 2002 an Israeli F-16 dropped a one-ton bomb on the three-story apartment where Salah Shehade and his family, together with numerous other families, dwelt in the midst of the Daraj residential neighbourhood of Gaza City full of many other apartment blocks. The death toll amounted to 17 people, of whom 15 were civilians, 11 were children. In addition to Shehadeh and his bodyguard, and 15 residents killed, a further 150 were wounded by collateral damage. The then Israeli Minister for Defense, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, stated that their information was that no civilians were in the building at the time. Dan Halutz, a year later, admitted that when taking the decision, both the government and the IDF were fully aware Shehadeh's wife was with him, but went ahead with the operation nonetheless.
Reactions
The then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called the bombing "one of our most successful operations". Halutz in an interview where he called on NGOs like Gush Shalom to be incriminated for treason for exposing the realities, also stated no changes would be made in the decision-making and operational procedures that led to the bombing. In protesting the operation, 27 Israeli pilots signed a letter expressing their refusal to continue to participate in bombing flights over Gaza.
2009
Zeitoun killings
The Zeitoun Incident took place on 5 January 2009 during Operation Cast Lead, after members of the Samouni extended family had been herded out of their homes and told to relocate to another building. In a dawn raid on the 4th, a raid into one Samouni house, using grenades and live fire, killed Ateya al-Samouni and severely wounded a four-year-old child, Ahmad, who was refused medical treatment. One of the Samoiuni men was fluent in Hebrew from working as a mechanic in Israel for 35 years and introduced the gathered members of Samouni family to Givati soldiers. The men were blindfolded and led away, and eventually 100 people, mostly women and children, were corralled into a cement block warehouse for storing fruit and vegetables. The day after the latter was subject to artillery fire and missiles from either a drone or an Apache helicopter overhead, killing 21 members of Wa'el al-Samouni's family while wounding dozens of others. The initial log at the al-Shifa hospital registered 39 al-Samouni members requiring emergency treatment.
The airstrike was ordered by Colonel Ilan Malka, then commander of the Givati Brigade, who had called up the attack after interpreting drone photographs of a cache of wooden boards the family had stacked to light a fire and heat water as rocket propelled grenades. The men had ventured out that morning through the front door to scrounge up some firewood, and an Israeli military outpost lay a mere 80 metres away, troops were positioned on rooftops and patrols were regular with frequent interactions with local residents. When Samouni men tried to pull the injured from the ruins they were turned back with slogans, such as one – "Go back into death!" - in classical Arabic. Three days later, the IDF finally permitted Palestinian rescue teams to enter the area, and recovered 13 family members, several children, still alive. On their evacuation, the IDF bulldozed the house, and, after the conclusion of hostilities, family members came across hands and legs still poking out up from the rubble.