In the first bombing, Israeli missiles killed nine Palestinian children and young adults while they were following the 2014 FIFA World Cup on TV.
The second attack was conducted in front of hotels that sheltered foreign journalists, several of whom witnessed the Israeli shelling, and at least one of whom described the targeting of the children as intentional.
[3] A United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, reviewing the evidence, found that the Israeli military had failed in its obligations to adopt feasible measures to avoid or minimize incidental harm to civilians.
[4] On 9 July, a semi-final match between Argentina and the Netherlands was broadcast as part of the 2014 FIFA World Cup knockout stage.
The café, owned by the al-Sawalli family,[5] and, according to a local PNA-employed policeman, Wael Soboh, not a military area,[5][6] was a makeshift arrangement covered by cloth, umbrellas and palm leaves, furnished with plastic chairs and a converted container which served as the kitchen.
[9] The body of Salim Sawalli could not be found immediately, but later the following day bulldozers managed to find his remains, bringing the death toll to 9.
The IDF said it was investigating this incident and another bombing with substantial civilian casualties on the same night roughly three hours later in Khan Younis Refugee Camp which killed 8 members of the Al Haj family.
"[18] Israel said the incident was designed as a precision strike with the missile aimed at a single terrorist, and Peter Lerner, the IDF spokesman, said that in such operations, no warning is given.
[8] Human Rights Watch, after an investigation, cited the case as an apparent example of Israel targeting civilian structures and people in violation of the laws of war.
On the explosion at the jetty, they all fled but were unable to outrun the second shell, which landed in their midst and killed 4 boys aged between 9 and 11, all cousins in a family group forming part of the extensive Bakr clan.
[23][24] The killed were: The injured were: Several journalists were present during the incident, and some directly observed it at approximately 200 metres distance from the Al-Deira hotel.
An IDF comment stated that while it was investigating the incident, a preliminary analysis indicated that Hamas terrorist operatives had been targeted, and that the civilians were victims of "a tragic accident.
"[1] NBC almost immediately ordered its reporter Ayman Mohyeldin to leave Gaza, citing security concerns given the imminence of an Israel ground invasion.
Further, the breakwater was readily accessible through a side lane, is located on one of the busiest sectors of a public beach, and used regularly by both fishermen and sunbathers.
[27] Writing for The Globe and Mail, Patrick Martin, who was also present that day, said the report's description did not tally with the fact that the "compound" described as spanning "the length of the breakwater of the Gaza City seashore" was mainly used by fishermen: fishing boats, not Hamas naval vessels, are tethered all along it, as satellite images reveal.
[19] Paul Mason, who was present in the area some days later, asked why with overhead drone footage and high-resolution optical devices from ships off-shore, the IDF was unable to distinguish 10-year-olds from physically fit scuba-diving commandos preparing an attack.
A cousin, Mowfaq, decided after the boys' funeral to lead his family out, since though unscathed by the conflict so far, he considered that the future held no guarantees for their safety.
He and 8 of his family members, mostly children, escaped via Egypt, took a boat from Dalmietta and, close to Malta, drowned along with 500 others, when the vessel was rammed by another smuggler's launch.