Executions and assassinations during the Gaza war

[13] The IDF claimed Fayeq Mabhouh,[a] the police officer, who was killed during the Al-Shifa Hospital siege (see below), had been appointed to intimidate local Gazan clans in order to thwart them from cooperating with Israel on guarding the distribution of humanitarian aid,[14] and accused him of "orchestrating" the execution of the leader of the Doghmush clan the week before he was killed.

[19] Israeli forces disguised as medical staff and civilian Muslim women have shot dead three Palestinians inside a hospital in the West Bank city of Jenin.

[24] According to experts from the United Nations, the killing of three Palestinian men in a hospital in the occupied West Bank by Israeli commandos disguised as medical workers and civilians may amount to war crimes.

[25] Wounded combatants are further protected under the Geneva Conventions, they are not allowed to be killed or captured,[25][26] but they may be kept as prisoners of war after they recover if they are treated at enemy hospitals.

[38][39] Neither side acknowledged a possible target, but the families are described elsewhere as relatives of the leaders and founders of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement.

Then on 29 November, during hostage negotiations, it was announced that Shiri Bibas and her children had been killed in an Israeli air strike while in captivity, most media credited this claim to "Hamas".

[43] The brothers are both Australian citizens, Ali lived locally but Ibrahim was visiting from Sydney to bring his wife home to Australia.

[43] OHCHR stated on 20 December it had received allegations of Israeli soldiers summarily killing at least eleven unarmed men in Rimal.

"[46] Euro-Med Monitor told Al Jazeera they believe there is a pattern of "systematic" killing, that "In at least 13 of field executions, we corroborated that it was arbitrary on the part of the Israeli forces.

"[47] On 26 December 2023, Euro-Med Monitor submitted a file to the International Criminal Court and United Nations special rapporteurs documenting dozens of cases of field executions carried out by Israeli forces and calling for an investigation.

[54] A mass grave with 283 bodies was uncovered in April 2024 at Khan Younis's Nasser medical complex in the southern Gaza city.

[60] William Schabas, a Canadian expert on international human rights law, stated mass graves have "always been an indication that war crimes have been committed".

[61] During an IDF raid on Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Faiq Mabhouh[b] (Arabic: فائق المبحوح, romanized: Fāy'q el-Mapħouħ, also spelled Arabic: فايق المبحوح) was killed in what sources based on reports from the IDF described as a firefight between "Hamas militants" or "terrorists" and Israeli troops.

[70][62][71] The raid was launched at approximately 2:30 am, by troops from the IDF’s 401st Armored Brigade and other units, including special forces and the Shin Bet security agency encircling the hospital.

[74][75] The Israel Arabic account of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the X platform announced the killing of Mabhouh, describing him as, "the head of the Operations Directorate of the Internal Security Service of the Hamas terrorist organization.

"[19] Hamas released an extremely strongly worded statement, in which they claimed the killing of a civilian police officer was a violation of international law.

[76] It read, in part, "This terrorist crime, by targeting civilian police protected under international humanitarian law, is further evidence of the Nazi enemy’s efforts to spread chaos, undermine societal peace in the Gaza Strip, and perpetuate the state of famine from which our people suffer, in implementation of the plan of a war of extermination and the displacement of our people from their land.

"[76][77] Arabic language social media speculated about the motives for the killing and the attack on the hospital, with comments such as, "The trucks passed over the past two days peacefully, without chaos, massacres, stampedes, wounded, or martyrs, but the criminal occupation does not like it.

[92] The foreign ministries of Qatar and Egypt stated they believed Israel's assassination of Haniyeh would impact the chances of a ceasefire deal, with the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani writing, "Peace needs serious partners & a global stance against the disregard for human life.