Amnesty International said that Israel’s unjustified and unlawful destruction of high-rise civilian buildings in Gaza continues to have devastating consequences for displaced Palestinian families, amid ongoing genocide and relentless airstrikes despite the so-called ceasefire in October 2025.
The organization added that reconstruction remains a “distant dream” for the residents of the occupied Gaza Strip, and that the destruction of high-rise buildings is part of a broader pattern of the ongoing destruction of vital infrastructure and waves of forced displacement.
In a new investigation, Amnesty International documented the leveling of at least 13 multi-story residential and commercial buildings across Gaza City between September and October 2025. It said the Israeli military destroyed or severely damaged these buildings by bombing them after forcing residents to evacuate “without giving any real warning.”
Amnesty International called for an investigation into these attacks as “war crimes, including unjustified destruction, collective punishment, and direct attacks on civilian objects.” The organization considered that the statements of Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz following some of the destruction operations represent “further evidence” that the buildings were not destroyed for compelling military necessity, but rather to “inflict collective punishment and widespread destruction on the civilian population” to exert political pressure on Hamas and as part of a “campaign of mass forced displacement”.
