GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Amnesty International said Tuesday that Israeli strikes on Gaza last month could amount to a "war crime" and said Palestinian militant groups should be investigated on the same charge for their rocket fire.
Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, including Islamic Jihad, traded heavy fire in the May 9-13 flare-up that claimed 35 lives, including civilians and combatants.
The London-based human rights group charged that Israeli strikes carried out "without military necessity" amount to "a form of collective punishment against the civilian population".
It also accused Palestinian militant groups of "indiscriminate" rocket fire aimed at Israel that "should also be investigated as war crimes".
Amnesty said the Israeli military operations damaged 2,943 housing units, including 103 homes which were completely destroyed.
"Israel also conducted apparently disproportionate air strikes which killed and injured Palestinian civilians, including children," the statement added, noting that "intentionally launching disproportionate attacks ... is a war crime".
Israel and militant groups in Gaza have fought several wars since the Islamist movement Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.
According to the Israeli army, more than 1,230 rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel from May 10-13 before a ceasefire came into effect.
"Israel's impunity for the war crimes it repeatedly commits against Palestinians, and for its cruel ongoing 16-year illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip, emboldens further violations and makes injustice chronic," said Heba Morayef, Middle East and North Africa Regional Director at Amnesty International.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to requests from AFP for comment on Amnesty's claims.
A spokesperson for Palestinian Islamic Jihad -- considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union -- said the group "welcomes" the report.
"We are doing our part to defend ourselves against the crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people," it added in a statement.
Some 2.3 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip which has been under a crippling Israeli-led blockade since Hamas rose to power.
Amnesty condemns possible ‘war crimes’ in Gaza conflict
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Amnesty condemns possible ‘war crimes’ in Gaza conflict
- The London-based human rights group charged that Israeli strikes carried out "without military necessity" amount to "a form of collective punishment against the civilian population"
- It also accused Palestinian militant groups of "indiscriminate" rocket fire aimed at Israel that "should also be investigated as war crimes"
Medical charity ‘may have to halt Gaza operations in March’
- MSF called this demand a “scandalous intrusion” but Israel says it was needed to stop extremists from infiltrating into humanitarian structures
PARIS: Banned from the Gaza Strip with 36 aid bodies, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said on Saturday it will have to end its operations there in March if Israel does not reverse its decision.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was “deeply concerned” at the development.
Israel confirmed on Thursday that it was barring 37 major international humanitarian organizations from entering the Gaza Strip, accusing them
of failing to provide the list of their employees’ names, which is now officially required for “security” reasons.
FASTFACT
MSF has approximately 40 international staff in the Gaza Strip and employs 800 Palestinian staff across eight hospitals.
MSF called this demand a “scandalous intrusion” but Israel says it was needed to stop extremists from infiltrating into humanitarian structures.
“To work in Palestine, in the occupied Palestinian territories, we have to be registered ... That registration expired on Dec. 31, 2025,” said Isabelle Defourny, a physician and president of MSF France, on France Inter.
“Since July 2025, we have been involved in a re-registration process, and to date, we have not received a response. We still have 60 days during which we could work without being re-registered, and so we would have to end our activities in March,” if Israel maintains its decision, she said.
MSF has approximately 40 international staff in the Gaza Strip and employs 800 Palestinian staff across eight hospitals.
“We are the second-largest distributor of water (in the Gaza Strip). Last year, in 2025, we treated just over 100,000 people who were wounded, burned, or victims of various traumas. We are second in terms of the number of deliveries performed,” the president of MSF France said.
According to her, the Israeli decision is explained by the fact that NGOs “bear witness to the violence committed by the Israeli army” in Gaza.
The UN chief “calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organizations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in the statement.
“This recent action will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians,” he added.
Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence.
On Thursday, 18 Israel-based left-wing NGOs denounced the decision to ban their international peers, saying “the new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality.”
In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out.
Nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data, leaving infrastructure decimated.
About 1.5 million of Gaza’s more than 2 million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.
