Initial B’Tselem investigations indicate that 102 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip between the launch of the Israeli military’s “Pillar of Defense” operation on the afternoon of November 14, 2012 and the night of November 19. The investigations indicate that at least 40 of those killed were civilians, among them 19 minors, and 10 women.
From the testimony of Julia Chaitin: "Then there was another alert. We were across from the dining hall and ran inside. The dining hall is not reinforced either. People there told us to go and stand in the stairwell. We went to the stairwell. We heard many explosions very close by. Everything was shaking and I could actually feel the shock of the explosions."
According to testimonies gathered by B’Tselem, on Thursday, 15 Nov. 2012, an Israeli military air strike took place in an urban area in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip. B’Tselem does not know the objective of the strike. A large crater was created at the point of impact and nearby houses were extensively damaged.
On Sunday 18 November 2012, Judi Ronen, a 58-year-old resident of Sde Nitzan was on her way home from Soroka Hospital in Beersheba where she works as a midwife. On the road just outside the city of Ofakim, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded near the car in which she was a passenger.
A B’Tselem inquiry shows that on the morning of 17 November 2012, an Israeli attack targeted three armed men in Rafah. Two of them were killed on the spot and a third was wounded. Shortly afterwards, while 'Awad a-Nahal, age 31, a resident of a nearby house, was trying to evacuate the injured man, a second attack killed both the armed man and the civilian trying to evacuate him.
Testimony gathered by B’Tselem reveals that in the early morning hours of Sunday, 18 November 2012, an Israeli aircraft fired at the ground near the Sa’ifan family home in the Tel a-Za’tar neighborhood. The strength of the explosion collapsed the room on top of the sleeping Sa’ifan family: mother, father, and two children. Their son Tammer, age 4, and daughter Jomanah, age 2, were killed.
"During one of the sirens that day, I was with a few other students in the migunit. Even when the sirens stopped, we didn’t want to leave. It looked like a support group. We stayed together in the small, dark migunit and just stood there for 20 minutes after the sirens stopped, just standing and talking. It was as if we were trying to bring ourselves back to normal daily living."
"The nights are long and terrible now. I stay awake all night. How could I sleep when my children are afraid? When I am hearing the bombing? All night I try to reassure the children and protect them."
"There are children here who show behavioral regression. I know that some are unwilling to sleep anywhere in a house except in the secure room, even on ordinary days. Even though they are 13-14 years old and have siblings who are 5 or 6, they all sleep there and they aren’t willing to sleep alone; they are afraid to sleep alone."
"The children’s conversation is about the types of missiles and planes. It hurts me so much to hear them talking about these things, instead of games or things they are learning in kindergarten or that they did with their friends. What kind of life do they have with this situation looming over them?
Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank.
B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.