[2][3] The shelling followed the IDF's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in completion of a week-long operation codenamed Operation "Autumn Clouds", which the Israeli government stated had been intended to stop the Qassam rocket attacks on Israeli civilians by Palestinian militants.

Early in the morning of 8 November 2006, Israeli artillery shelled a densely built-up area in Beit Hanoun, striking a building where an extended family was sleeping.

[6] Israel stated that the shelling was in response to a Qassam rocket attack from that location, a day earlier,[6] possibly from a car driven into the area.

[8][9] It did not clarify why the shelling occurred a full day after the firing of the Qassam,[6] On 15 November 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted resolution S-3/1[14][15] which called for a fact-finding mission, consisting of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Professor Christine Chinkin of the United Kingdom to travel to Beit Hanoun.

"[21] Andrew Exum has stated that the Israeli military had a "long history of mistakes causing many civilian casualties."