DaysOfPal — Israeli forces have killed at least 60 Palestinian civilians using armed quadcopter drones since the Gaza ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025, in a continuing pattern of deliberate attacks on civilians, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor revealed.
In a statement Saturday, Euro-Med said the victims included children, displaced Palestinians, farmers, shepherds and people attempting to return to their homes, none of whom were participating in hostilities or posing an imminent threat when targeted.
The Geneva-based rights group said Israel’s repeated use of highly precise drones capable of identifying individuals, tracking their movements and firing directly at them provides strong evidence that civilians were deliberately selected as targets rather than mistakenly identified or incidentally harmed.
According to Euro-Med, armed quadcopters can be equipped with daytime and thermal cameras, target-identification and tracking systems, firearms and explosive munitions, allowing operators to observe individuals at close range before attacking them.
The organisation documented three main patterns of attacks: direct gunfire against identifiable individuals, the dropping of explosive munitions on civilians and displacement tents, and the use of quadcopters to impose lethal control around the so-called “Yellow Line,” where Palestinians have been targeted while trying to reach their homes, farmland and livelihoods.
Among the cases documented was 12-year-old Abdullah Nour Saeed Dawas, who was killed on April 11 after a quadcopter opened fire on displaced Palestinians near schools and a health centre in Jabalia refugee camp. Euro-Med also documented the killing of 62-year-old Nidal Eid Salmi Abu Halib, who was shot while attempting to inspect his family home in al-Qarara, northeast of Khan Younis.
In another case, 11-year-old Amir Mohammed Khalil Shaath suffered severe injuries after a low-flying quadcopter opened fire and dropped an explosive munition as he and his father returned from collecting a food parcel near Khan Younis on August 12. Shrapnel lodged in Amir’s skull and thigh, leaving him unable to walk or stand, according to testimony provided by his father.
Euro-Med said its findings were consistent with a June 2026 report by Brown University’s Costs of War project examining 18 cases of Palestinian children killed or wounded by gunfire in Gaza. Witnesses attributed the shooting to quadcopters in 90% of those cases, while many of the children suffered single small-caliber gunshot wounds to the head, neck, chest or abdomen.
The rights group said that the drones’ ability to observe and track individuals significantly reduces the possibility of mistaken identification. Repeated attacks on clearly identifiable civilians therefore provide, in its assessment, strong evidence of intentional targeting.
Euro-Med said such deliberate attacks on civilians would constitute war crimes and affirms that, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against Gaza’s civilian population, they could also amount to crimes against humanity. It further said the attacks should be examined within the broader context of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The organization called on the International Criminal Court to include the use of armed quadcopters in its investigation into the situation in Palestine and urged international investigators to preserve drone footage, flight and location data, firing records, targeting information, rules of engagement and the identities of operators and commanders involved.
Euro-Med also called for an immediate international embargo on armed drones, their components, ammunition, targeting software and related technical support to Israel, warning that continued transfers could contribute to further attacks on Palestinian civilians.
“The ability to see them, identify them and track their movements before opening fire,” Euro-Med said, makes the repeated killing of children and other unarmed civilians particularly difficult to dismiss as accidental.
