Displaying items by tag: civilian casualties

On 9 April Israel carried out an airstrike in northern Gaza, reportedly killing a senior Hamas commander, Haitham al-Sheikh. The IDF said the operation targeted a high-ranking terrorist and said there were multiple measures to minimise civilian casualties. However, Palestinian sources reported at least 23 killed, including women and children, though the numbers remain unverified. Local accounts described missiles striking a building near tents housing displaced families. Hamas condemned the strike as a ‘massacre’, while Palestinian Islamic Jihad also denounced the attack. Al-Sheikh is the third commander of the battalion killed since the war began in October 2023. His predecessors, Wisam Farhat and Jamil Amar Wadia, were also eliminated in IDF operations. Meanwhile, the World Food Programme is desperately short of funding for its aid programme in Gaza: see

The UN reported the number of Afghan civilians killed or hurt has sharply increased since the Western coalition began pulling out of the country. A total of 1,659 civilians were killed and 3,254 injured in the first half of 2021, a 47% increase from the same period in 2020. The actual numbers may be even higher, considering that the UN only records casualties it is able to verify independently. Out of those killed or maimed, 46% were women and children. The Taliban and other militants were responsible for 64% of civilian casualties, while 25% were attributed to pro-government forces and 11% to ‘crossfire’ between warring parties. An alarming trend of growing death toll since May reveals the highest number since the UN began keeping records in 2009. If this violence is not stemmed, an unprecedented number of civilians will perish or be maimed this year.