Amnesty International has called for an investigation into Israel\u2019s destruction of high-rise residential and commercial buildings in Gaza City, saying the attacks may amount to war crimes of wanton destruction, collective punishment and direct attacks on civilian objects. The organization released its findings on 12 May 2026, focusing on the levelling of at least 13 multi-storey buildings between September and October 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Amnesty International, the destroyed buildings had housed thousands of people, including internally displaced Palestinian families. The organization said Israeli forces dropped multiple bombs on the buildings after forcing residents to evacuate, often with very little notice, leaving families unable to recover belongings or essential items. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amnesty said its Crisis Evidence Lab analysed satellite imagery and verified more than 25 videos, while researchers interviewed 16 former residents, displaced people and witnesses. The organization stated that the available evidence did not show the destruction was \u201cabsolutely necessary\u201d for military operations, a key legal standard under international humanitarian law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report also highlighted statements by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, which Amnesty said suggested the destruction was linked to political pressure on Hamas rather than imperative military necessity. Amnesty argued that using civilian suffering as leverage could constitute collective punishment, which is prohibited under international law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israeli military statements cited by Amnesty claimed that some high-rise buildings were used by Hamas for military purposes, including observation and intelligence-gathering. However, Amnesty said the Israeli military did not provide sufficient evidence for those claims and did not respond to questions sent by the organization before publication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The destruction caused severe humanitarian consequences for families already displaced by the conflict. Former residents described fleeing in panic after warning calls, leaving homes, documents, furniture and personal belongings behind. Some families later ended up living in tents in harsh conditions, with children suffering trauma and illness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amnesty also noted that the destruction of Gaza\u2019s high-rise buildings forms part of a wider pattern of damage to homes and civilian infrastructure. Citing international assessments, the organization said more than three quarters of homes across the Gaza Strip were damaged or destroyed during the first two years of the war, while 83 percent of structures in Gaza City had been damaged or destroyed by late September 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amnesty International urged Israel to allow immediate and unrestricted access to humanitarian aid and shelter materials, and called for officials responsible for unlawful destruction, collective punishment or acts of genocide to be held accountable. The organization stressed that any investigation must examine whether the attacks violated international humanitarian law and whether civilian property was destroyed without lawful military necessity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amnesty says Israel\u2019s destruction of Gaza high-rise buildings must be investigated as alleged war crimes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[33,237,370,369,373,372,39,35,374,376,375,371],"class_list":["post-1670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-amnesty-international","tag-civilian-infrastructure","tag-collective-punishment","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-city","tag-gaza-high-rise-buildings","tag-human-rights","tag-international-humanitarian-law","tag-israel-opt","tag-palestinian-civilians","tag-wanton-destruction","tag-war-crimes-investigation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1672,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670\/revisions\/1672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civilsocietypost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}