Attacks on Refugee Camps in the Gaza War

Before the late-October 2023 strikes in Jabalia, Israel had issued an evacuation order affecting the camp’s population.[5] A UNRWA official subsequently estimated that about 30,000 of its 116,000 residents remained; the available account did not establish whether those who left had moved south or relocated elsewhere in northern Gaza.[5] The Israeli military described Jabalia as containing an extensive Hamas tunnel network and said that commanders targeted there had played key roles in the October 7 attacks.[5]

Schools were already serving as shelters for displaced people during the opening weeks of the war.[6] A reported October 17 strike affected a UNRWA school in al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, where an estimated 4,000 internally displaced people were sheltering.[6] The available account supplied no casualty total for that incident and specified that the Gaza-wide health-ministry figures it cited did not include fatalities from the school strike.[6]

The presence of displaced civilians in school compounds also formed part of the circumstances surrounding later operations in Nuseirat.[7] For the June 6, 2024, strike there, the IDF described a target consisting of 20–30 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives in three classrooms, while acknowledging that the school also sheltered displaced civilians.[7] These accounts placed military targeting claims and the protection of people sheltering at civilian facilities at the center of the incidents described below.[3][7]

The reported incidents extended from strikes affecting shelters in October 2023 to renewed operations in northern Gaza and further school strikes in late 2024.[6][8] Jabalia was the site of major Israeli operations in October–November 2023, May 2024, and October 2024, while Nuseirat was the setting for several school-compound strikes and the June hostage rescue.[1][9]

Jabalia in October and November 2023

On October 31, 2023, the IDF said ground forces identified Hamas operatives barricaded in a high-rise building near a school, medical center, and government offices in Jabalia.[10] Aircraft attacked the building under the direction of troops on the ground, and the military identified Ibrahim Biyari, commander of Hamas’s Jabalia Central Battalion, among those killed.[10] Another Israeli account said the strike caused underground tunnels to collapse, bringing down nearby buildings.[11] A further account described Biyari and about 50 other fighters as being in a tunnel beneath the camp when the surrounding ground collapsed, killing and injuring many civilians.[1]

Reporting published on November 1 also described a strike on a gathering of Hamas fighters in a multistorey building near the same types of civilian facilities.[12] It separately reported an Israeli Air Force attack on a vehicle carrying anti-tank missiles toward Israeli forces.[12] Palestinian accounts described many civilian casualties, although that report supplied no numerical toll.[12]

The Hamas-controlled Gaza Interior Ministry initially reported 400 people dead and wounded and said that a residential neighborhood in the camp’s center had been destroyed.[10] It claimed that most of the dead were women and children, while Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem denied that a Hamas commander had been present.[10] In another October 31 statement, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry reported at least 50 deaths and approximately 150 injuries, following an earlier combined figure of about 400 dead and wounded.[13] Video from the scene appeared to show at least 47 bodies recovered from rubble after strikes hit several houses.[13]

The following days brought further attacks and additional hospital admissions.[5] A doctor at Kamal Adwan Hospital described receiving about 40 people who had died and 250 wounded after the first of three consecutive days of strikes, with nearly the same numbers arriving after the following day’s attack.[5] After a Thursday strike damaged a United Nations school being used as a shelter, the hospital received 10 people who had died and 80 wounded.[5] Describing the injuries, the doctor said, “I've never in my life seen injuries this bad.”[5]

UNRWA reported that four of its shelters, together accommodating nearly 20,000 people, had been damaged during the preceding 24 hours.[5] Its reported death toll included 20 people at the Jabalia shelter and three in other strikes at the Shati and Bureij camps.[5] A November 2 account carried a combined figure from the Hamas-run government media office for Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s Jabalia attacks: at least 195 Palestinians killed, approximately 120 missing under rubble, and at least 777 wounded.[14] Israel said its attacks had targeted and killed Hamas leaders in the camp.[14]

Maghazi in December 2023

An Israeli strike in Maghazi on December 24, 2023, prompted both reports of substantial casualties and an internal military review of the weapon used.[15][16] Hamas health authorities initially reported 70 deaths and subsequently revised the figure to 68.[16] Local authorities did not specify how many of those killed were civilians or members of armed groups.[16] In a separate account of a strike on a house in Maghazi, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it transported five fatalities and eight injured people.[16]

An Israeli military official later said an internal air-force review had found that the weapon used did not match the mission and caused avoidable, extensive collateral damage.[15] The IDF spokesperson said that buildings adjacent to the intended targets had also been damaged and that this apparently harmed people uninvolved in the fighting.[15] The military expressed regret for that harm.[15]

Renewed Fighting in Jabalia in May 2024

During May 2024, Israeli forces again fought in Jabalia camp, carrying out air and tank attacks and raiding Hamas compounds.[17] Palestinian media accounts described residents leaving amid heavy fighting and reported that al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals were inoperative.[17]

The IDF announced the end of the operation on May 31, after approximately 20 days.[9] Its reported operational figures included more than 200 airstrikes, about 500 terrorist operatives killed, and ten kilometers of tunnels destroyed.[9] Israeli forces also recovered the bodies of seven hostages, while two Israeli soldiers were killed during the operation.[9] Following the withdrawal, Palestinian media reported residents returning and rescue teams searching rubble for survivors and bodies.[9]

Nuseirat and Shati School Strikes in May and June 2024

On May 22, 2024, a strike was launched against a UNRWA compound in Nuseirat where the IDF said terrorists and weapons were located.[1] The available account did not provide a casualty count or further details about the incident.[1]

On June 6, an Israeli airstrike hit another UNRWA school in Nuseirat.[7] The IDF said Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad were using three locations in the compound as command centers and staging areas.[3] Its initial account described 20–30 operatives in three classrooms, within a school that also accommodated displaced civilians.[7] The military said the operation had been planned for several days and postponed twice to improve intelligence and reduce the danger to civilians.[3]

Gaza’s Health Ministry reported at least 27 Palestinians killed in an early account.[7] Other reports gave higher figures: UNRWA reported at least 35 deaths, with some estimates approaching 45, while the Hamas-affiliated Gaza Government Media Office reported that 14 children and nine women were killed and 74 people wounded.[3] The IDF initially released the names of nine people it identified as Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists killed in the strike.[3] In a later account, the military identified at least 17 operatives from the two organizations among the dead and said the compound had been used to attack Israeli forces and prepare further attacks.[18]

A separate account described a June strike on the UNRWA Asmaa school in Gaza’s Shati area, with media reports giving a toll of 33 Palestinians killed.[19] The IDF described the targeted rooms as a Hamas operations cell and meeting point and said approximately 30 Hamas Nukhba and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives had occupied three rooms.[19] It reported nine alleged terrorists killed in that incident.[19]

The June 8 Nuseirat Hostage Rescue

On June 8, 2024, Israeli forces rescued four hostages from two buildings in Nuseirat during a daylight operation.[2] The joint force included IDF troops, Shin Bet personnel, and police counterterrorism officers.[20] Yamam and Shin Bet personnel raided the buildings, which were a few hundred meters apart, while the IDF provided ground and air support.[2] IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the hostages were rescued under fire and that forces attacked threats in the area.[2]

Heavy fighting followed as the rescuers withdrew with the hostages.[21] The IDF said troops and aircraft struck places from which Hamas operatives were firing in order to protect the rescue force and the people it had freed.[22] Yamam officer Arnon Zamora, the mission’s leader, was critically wounded and died shortly afterward; the operation was subsequently named Operation Arnon in his honor.[21]

The IDF acknowledged that Palestinian civilians were killed.[20] Its spokesperson said the military knew of fewer than 100 Palestinian casualties but could not say how many were fighters.[20] Hamas’s government media office reported at least 210 deaths, and Gaza hospital officials also gave a total of 210.[20][22] Hospital representatives said that 109 bodies had been brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and 101 to Al-Awda Hospital.[20] A later account placed the number of Palestinians killed in the vicinity at more than 270 as airstrikes shielded the rescuers.[21]

Further School Strikes in Nuseirat

On July 6, 2024, an Israeli aircraft attacked buildings in the al-Ja’ouni school complex in Nuseirat.[23] The Hamas government media office said approximately 7,000 displaced people were staying at the school and reported 16 deaths and more than 75 injuries.[23]

At a July 15 U.S. briefing, a question referred to another Israeli attack on a United Nations school in Nuseirat over the preceding weekend.[24] U.S. spokesperson Matthew Miller said Israel claimed that armed operatives were inside the site and expressed serious concern about civilian casualties.[24] He said their presence did not justify attacks on civilians or civilian deaths.[24]

Following a September strike on the Al-Jaouni School, hospital officials reported 14 deaths, and UNRWA said six of its staff members were among those killed.[25] The IDF said it had struck a Hamas command room at the school and identified nine Hamas operatives killed.[25] Three of those it identified were people the military said also worked for UNRWA.[25]

Northern Gaza Operations in Late 2024

Israel resumed major ground operations in Jabalia in early October 2024 in response to reports that Hamas fighters were reconstituting in northern Gaza.[26] Later that month, the IDF reported finding hundreds of terrorists in the camp and ordered civilians to evacuate while troops surrounded it.[1] The military reported killing approximately 300 terrorists and said hundreds more had surrendered.[1]

By early November, Israeli military figures for the wider operation stood at more than 1,000 terrorists killed and another 700 captured, with 19 Israeli soldiers killed.[1] These figures referred to the wider operation rather than a single strike on the camp.[1] In another refugee-camp incident on November 7, Palestinian sources reported that an Israeli strike on the Shahiber school in al-Shati killed 12 Palestinians and injured 35.[8] Those sources described the school as a shelter for refugees.[8]

The Related Rafah Tent-Camp Fire

The May 26, 2024, Rafah incident involved a displaced-persons tent encampment in the Tel Sultan area, rather than a named refugee camp such as Jabalia or Nuseirat.[4] The Israeli strike targeted two senior Hamas officials, Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar.[4] A fire spread through the nearby encampment, and Hamas-run health authorities reported 45 deaths.[4]

The IDF said it had used surveillance, precision munitions, and intelligence to reduce civilian risk and had not expected uninvolved civilians to be harmed.[4] It also said the strike was outside the designated humanitarian zone in al-Mawasi.[4] Palestinian claims placed the attack at a tent camp in the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone and reported more than 40 people killed in the fire.[9]

In its May 28 account, the IDF placed the targeted officials in a tin-shed area about 1.7 kilometers from the camp and described the use of small rockets carrying 17 kilograms of explosives.[9] Later reporting described precise munitions carrying 34 kilograms of explosives and placed the target approximately 1.7 kilometers from the humanitarian area.[27] The military investigated whether shrapnel had caused a secondary explosion at a Hamas munitions warehouse more than 100 meters from the strike site, potentially starting the fire.[27]

The October 31 Jabalia attack drew condemnation from several Arab governments.[10] Qatar’s Foreign Ministry called it a “new massacre against the defenseless Palestinian people, especially children and women,” while Israeli officials maintained that the strikes targeted Hamas facilities and personnel.[28] Palestinian United Nations observer Riyad Mansour condemned the attack and called for the International Criminal Court to act.[12] The strike also prompted international criticism and questions about its necessity.[1]

Hospital and shelter accounts recorded the immediate human consequences of the Jabalia attacks, including large numbers of wounded people arriving at Kamal Adwan Hospital and damage to facilities housing displaced residents.[5] After the May 2024 operation, returning residents and rescue workers searched damaged areas for people and bodies beneath the rubble.[9] The military’s account of that operation also recorded the recovery of seven hostage bodies, alongside its reported destruction of tunnels and killing of terrorist operatives.[9]

The Maghazi strike produced an acknowledgment of avoidable harm within the Israeli military’s review process.[15] An official’s account of the review identified a mismatch between the weapon and mission, while the IDF spokesperson acknowledged damage to additional buildings and expressed regret over harm to people uninvolved in the fighting.[15]

The Rafah fire led to an Israeli military inquiry and public statements from senior Israeli officials.[4] Israel’s military advocate general called the incident “very difficult.”[4] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the civilian deaths as a “tragic error” and said the incident would be investigated.[4] The military examined a possible secondary explosion as the cause of the fire, rather than presenting that explanation as a completed investigative finding.[27]

The June 8 Nuseirat operation resulted in the release of four hostages, but also the death of its mission leader and acknowledged Palestinian civilian deaths.[21][20] The subsequent naming of Operation Arnon commemorated Arnon Zamora.[21] Later U.S. comments about a Nuseirat school attack emphasized concern for civilians even where Israel said armed operatives were present.[24]

Accounts of these incidents differ over casualty totals, the identities of those killed, the military use of civilian facilities, and the relationship between intended targets and damage to nearby shelters.[3][6] The available material does not establish a single, reconciled civilian–combatant breakdown for the major incidents described here.[14][20] The underlying conflict reporting also carries limits on independent verification and does not provide definitive determinations of whether individual incidents constituted war crimes or other violations of international law.[6]

For October 31 in Jabalia, the figure of 400 in the Gaza Interior Ministry account referred to people dead and wounded, not 400 confirmed deaths.[10] Separate accounts gave at least 50 deaths and approximately 150 injuries, while the November 2 figure of 195 deaths covered attacks on two days.[13][14] Similarly, the hospital-based figure of 10 deaths following the Thursday school strike and UNRWA’s report of 20 deaths at the Jabalia shelter were not reconciled in the available account.[5]

A December 2023 Senate resolution recounted reporting that an American-provided bomb had leveled a Jabalia apartment block, killing more than 100 people in an effort to eliminate a Hamas leader who was also reported killed.[29] That account did not specify the strike’s date, so the material does not establish its relationship to the separately described sequence of attacks.[29]

Commentary from the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs characterizes the October 31 target as an underground Hamas headquarters and describes a bunker-busting bomb collapsing a tunnel, with shock waves damaging surrounding buildings.[30] The commentary disputes a reported toll exceeding 400 deaths by pointing to photographs it says showed approximately 40–50 bodies; those photographs do not establish a complete alternative death toll.[30] A later commentary argues that the killing of Biyari and other combatants undermines claims of disproportionality, but that argument is not an independent legal finding.[31]

For the June 6 Nuseirat school strike, the IDF’s identification of nine, and later at least 17, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives did not reconcile the reported civilian toll.[3][18] For June 8, early Israeli references to fewer than 100 Palestinian casualties and Palestinian reports of 210 deaths used different categories and cannot be treated as equivalent measurements.[20] The higher later figure of more than 270 deaths likewise should not be silently combined with the early estimates.[21] In Rafah, the location of the target relative to the camp and humanitarian area, together with the cause of the fire, remained central differences between the accounts.[9][27]