Human Rights Watch: A massacre in Gaza that killed 106 civilians constitutes a war crime

Human Rights Watch said that the Israeli air strike on a six-story residential building housing hundreds of people in the central Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023 constitutes a “presumed war crime.”

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The organization stated that this attack, which killed 106 civilians, including 54 children, is one of the bloodiest attacks since the start of the Israeli bombing and ground incursion into Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7.

It confirmed that it did not find “any evidence of the presence of a military target in the vicinity of the building at the time of the Israeli attack, which makes the raid indiscriminate and illegal under the laws of war. The Israeli authorities also did not provide any justification for the attack,” noting that “the Israeli army has a track record of failing to investigate properly.” "A reliable investigation into alleged war crimes highlights the importance of the International Criminal Court investigating serious crimes committed by all parties to the conflict."

“This raid is one of dozens of attacks that caused massive carnage, underscoring the urgent need for an ICC investigation,” said Gerry Simpson, co-director of Human Rights Watch’s Crisis and Conflict Division.