This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.The Zeitoun killings refer to the Israeli military incursion, led by the Givati Brigade unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF),[1] into the Zeitoun district of Gaza as part of the three-week 2008–09 Gaza War.

[2] A total of 48 residents of Zeitoun were killed, most of them women, children, and the elderly;[3] 27 homes, a mosque and a number of farms were destroyed by Israeli forces.

"[4] A report released by United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs stated that the attack on the Samouni family, who were among the Zeitoun victims, was one of the "gravest incidents" in the conflict.

[5] Zeitoun residents believed that because the area is a natural choke point where the Gaza Strip narrows to just four miles wide, Israeli troops turned their neighborhoods into a military base from which to launch their operations.

The IDF has refused to discuss individual charges in detail, but an army spokesman speaking on the condition of anonymity with The Los Angeles Times said, "As a matter of policy, we do not target civilians."

Jonathan D. Halevi of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, an Israeli think tank and advocacy organisation, said that printed flyers from Palestinian Islamic Jihad and its associated websites named five members of the Samouni extended family as being affiliated with the group in some role.

Halevi also states that militants from that organisation were operating in the area around the time Israeli tanks began shelling the group of homes belonging to the Samouni extended family.

After a short lull, the house was shelled and hit by missiles fired by the Israeli Air Force, severely damaging the building and killing and injuring the occupants.

This activity was seen in aerial drone photographs, and the poles that the men were carrying were mistakenly identified as rocket-propelled grenades by an Israeli Givati Brigade commander operating from a remote location.

[3] According to a report from Newsweek, published online in The Daily Beast, Zahwa Samouni, and her son Faraj, said that prior to the alleged shooting, her husband presented his ID to the IDF and identified himself as the owner of the house.

[14] According to a report from Newsweek, published online in The Daily Beast, one killed Samouni member was found on the street on January 4.

He suggests that the official Palestinian Islamic Jihad version of the occurrences on the days of the incident indicate that its fighters had been operating in the area against IDF.

[4][15] On Wednesday, Israelis ordered a three-hour pause in hostilities to allow entry of rescue workers and humanitarian aid.

The head of Red Cross operations in the Gaza Strip said the first rescue team could only take out only the wounded, and had to leave the dead, because they only had four ambulances and they had limited time.

On the following Thursday, the Red Cross stated that the Israelis did not fulfil its role in the care and vacating of the wounded as required by international law.

[4][14] The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Navanethem Pillay, along with other international aid officials advocated an investigation in Zeitoun for possible war crimes.