56. On 24 January 2024, at around 08:30, a family was preparing to evacuate from their ground-floor apartment in a seven-storey building at al-Amal, west of Khan Younis, following receipt of an evacuation order by the Israeli security forces. The father noticed quadcopters hovering over the area and presence of the Israeli security forces about 100 meters east of their house, instructing people to head west to Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis. His 15-year-old son stepped out of the house holding a white cloth, when the father, who was inside the house, heard a gunshot from the eastern side where Israeli soldiers were located. The boy was hit in the left foot, and he fell on his face. As he attempted to stand, two more gunshots were fired within seconds from the same direction. One shot hit the boy on his back and another on the left side of his neck. Seeing this, the boy’s 20-year-old brother ran towards him and was also shot on the left side of his chest. He collapsed on top of his younger brother.
57. The victims’ mother waved her hands at the south side window to signal for an ambulance when the Israeli security forces fired bullets which hit her too, slightly injuring her in her left hand. The father tried several times to pull away the bodies of both his sons but, every time he tried to advance towards them, the Israeli security forces fired in his direction. He then left the neighbourhood with the rest of his family. In early March 2024, he learned that two days after the incident, an ambulance arrived to retrieve his sons’ bodies. To date, the family is unaware where the bodies are buried.
58. The Commission assesses that the 15-year-old boy holding the white flag was shot by Israeli soldiers using a DAN.338 calibre bolt-action sniper rifle, commonly used by Israeli snipers, from a position located around 200 metres away. Given that sniper rifles used by the Israeli security forces normally have a precision accuracy range of more than 1,200 metres, the Israeli shooter should have been able to see that the target was a child and that he was holding a white flag. The additional two shots fired after the boy was hit were likely meant to ensure that he was dead. The additional killing of the boy’s brother points to a deliberate effort by the Israeli security forces to target the boy as well as any person that came to retrieve him. The Commission could not find any indication of a threat towards members of the Israeli security forces from the family’s location. The Commission finds that the Israeli security forces’ 98th Division were operating in the area at the time of the incident.
Injuring of a 10-day-old baby by quadcopter inside the tent in Nuseirat camp
59. On 12 April 2024 at 13:00, a 10 day-old-baby boy was shot by a quadcopter while being breastfed by his mother inside their tent in Nuseirat camp. The mother was alone in the tent, breastfeeding her baby, when a single bullet from a quadcopter hit the baby in the head and exited through the back of his head, hitting the pillow behind her. The baby survived but sustained brain injuries and now suffers from seizures.
60. The Commission viewed and analysed images of the bullet that hit the baby. The Commission concluded on reasonable grounds that the bullet was fired from a sniper rifle mounted on a quadcopter. Considering that the shooting occurred in broad daylight, the
Commission concludes that the quadcopter controller would have been able to see inside the tent and assesses that the target was a mother and a baby.
Injuring of a four-year-old girl in Khan Younis displacement camp
61. On 24 August 2024, at around 08:00, a four-year-old girl was hit by a bullet to her head while she was eating with her family in her tent in Khan Younis, southern Gaza…………..