Early Wednesday morning, Israeli tanks, armored vehicles and D-4 bulldozers stationed in the illegal settlement of Netzarim, deep in the heart of Gaza, raided the suburb of al-Zeitoun in Gaza City. The operation, which lasted several hours, left eight Palestinians dead, including an 11-year-old boy and two teenagers, and seriously injured ten others.

According to Palestinian human rights monitors, Israeli troops fired live bullets and artillery shells at civilians, civilian property and an ambulance during the raid. Bakr Abu Saffiyeh, head of emergency services at the Al-Chifa hospital in Gaza City, said that five had been shot with "a single bullet to the head or the nape of the neck," which suggests they were murdered in cold blood. Medics, who rushed to the scene to aid the wounded, where met with relentless Israeli fire that seriously injuring one of them.

The eight Palestinians killed were identified as Sami Badawi, 11, Sameh Kamel Tutah, 17, Akram Abdul Karim Abu Ajami, 17, Ahmad Mahmud Ali Abu Rukab, 22, Othman Mahmud Jundiya, 22, Moussa Sulaiman Walwal, 30, Iyad Mahmud al-Ra'aei, 38, and Marwan Mahmoud A’tiyyah Basal, 39.

The illegal and heavily guarded settlement of Netzarim deep in Gaza, inhabited by 339 settlers, has been the source of deadly friction as it lies at a strategic junction controlling traffic between the north and south Gaza Strip, where there is frequent disruption and unbearable harassment suffered by Palestinians. In total there are 17 illegal settlements in Gaza, whose collective population is 7,800, among 1.3 million Palestinians.

Palestinians in Gaza have suffered several devastating raids in the last four months. In October, nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in Rafah refugee camp. This was followed a few days later with the killing of 14 Palestinians in an Israeli air strike in the Nusseirat refugee camp. Most recently, in December 11 Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli raids on Rafah refugee camp.

The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of a Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) is alarmed at Israel’s operations in Gaza, which have resulted in unbearable loss of civilian lives. MIFTAH strongly opposes the killing of all civilians, whether Palestinians or Israelis, and calls on the international community to condemn Israeli incursion into Palestinian territories that only further fuel the conflict. Both the Israeli government and Palestinian militants must consider the grave consequences of their actions, which only bring suffering to their respective civilian populations, and must resolve not to plunge the situation into further chaos.