A group of Palestinian men were walking along a quiet street in southern Gaza, raising a white flag, trying to reach family members trapped down the street. As they attempt to continue, shots are fired, and the men take cover. Before they are able to get away, one of the men collapses and is shot dead. The incident, recorded in the Al Mawasi neighborhood in Khan Younis, raises questions about Israeli forces’ treatment of civilians caught in the war, which has already claimed many Palestinian lives, including children.
After the gunfire stops, locals gather to remove the body from the street, and the larger group takes shelter in the courtyard of a nearby university. The bullets were reportedly from one of the nearby Israeli tanks, according to a Palestinian videographer who witnessed the event and recorded the videos. The Israeli military had designated the area as a “safe zone.”
According to the Palestinian videographer, the group of men had hoped to reunite with about 50 family members they had been separated from. They were trying to retrieve their family members who were surrounded by Israeli tanks and were returning east in hope of rescuing them. Minutes before he was killed, one man said, “They didn’t bring my brother. We want to go get him out, God willing.”
The shooting happened just outside the walls of Al-Aqsa University on Al-Bahr Street, near Al-Khair Hospital, according to geolocation analysis. The street was formerly occupied by displaced civilians seeking relative safety in the city of Rafah.
Under the laws of war, parties must take all feasible measures to distinguish between civilians and combatants and may target only combatants. Waving a white flag is a universally recognized symbol as an attempt to show that one is unarmed and means no harm.
U.S. officials have seen the video, and State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said the U.S. would support an Israeli investigation based on the circumstances of the situation. He emphasized the need for every possible measure to avoid civilian harm during an operation and to investigate credible allegations of law or war violations when they arise.
