Shocking details of Israeli army’s massacre of 90 civilians from Juha family in Gaza

Geneva, February 25 (RHC)-- A Euro-Med Monitor investigation has revealed shocking details of the Israeli army’s massacre of 90 Palestinian civilians from the Juha family in Gaza during its 15-month-long genocidal war.

The Israeli army attacked the Juha family’s home in the eastern parts of Gaza City shortly after the first truce ended in early December 2023 without warning or military necessity, killing about 90 civilians – including 71 women and children – and injured dozens more, the Euro-Med Monitor reported on Monday.

This was one of the most horrifying massacres carried out by Israel during its genocidal war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.  The investigation found that the Israeli military assault included an attack on the Juha family building located in the densely populated Sha’af area, which, along with the Shuja’iyya neighborhood, was a focus of the offensive.

Israeli warplanes bombarded the Juha family’s home in the Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City on the morning of December 6, 2023.  The bombardment completely destroyed the house – a compound consisting of two adjacent buildings, killing all of its occupants.

At least 117 people – including several relatives who had been forcibly relocated from the Zeitoun neighborhood – were living in the building at the time of the attack, with women, children, and the elderly comprising the majority, according to the Euro-Med Monitor.  

The bombing killed most occupants. Some were dragged out from under the debris, and others were thrown outside by the force of the explosion.  At least 17 people suffered burns, wounds, and fractures.  Some of them needed to have limbs amputated.

The explosion was so powerful that it ripped apart the bodies of many victims, leaving their remains lying across the street and even on the roofs of buildings close by.

Approximately 56 people were recovered from beneath the debris.  More than 34 bodies remain buried beneath the rubble.

The Euro-Med Monitor team conducted multiple field surveys of the main site.  The targeting of the Juha family was a grave violation of international humanitarian law, constituting various war crimes against civilians and civilian property.

The team described these actions as fully-fledged crimes against humanity but also as part of a large-scale, organized genocidal assault on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip that began in October 2023.

The report highlights that the targeting of the Juha family home is emblematic of a broader pattern of a deliberate strategy to target Palestinian civilians and infrastructure.  This pattern includes the partial or complete destruction of 436,000 homes (roughly 92% of the homes in the Gaza Strip) and the killing of more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of whom were inside their homes.

Liali Raid Zaki Juha, 14, a survivor of the massacre who was pulled from under the rubble, told the Euro-Med Monitor team: “I was talking with my uncle’s family when, suddenly, I couldn’t feel anything and found myself buried under the rubble, surrounded by a raging fire.”

“The fire was so intense that my uncle’s family melted right before me, and there was no one to rescue us.  My uncle’s family kept screaming for help—‘Get us out, Dad, get us out!’—with my uncle replying that he couldn’t,” she said.

“The ceiling was collapsing on us, and they were only able to dig a small hole to reach us.  They began smashing through with a heavy hammer to pull us from under the rubble, and after a lot of struggle, they managed to do it.”

The investigation called the International Criminal Court to examine all of Israel’s crimes in the Gaza Strip, including the murder of the Juha family.