From Gaza to Iran: Israel’s strategy of family erasure

In the course of its assault on Iran, the Israeli regime committed numerous atrocities and carried out large-scale killings of civilians — actions that constitute clear violations of international law, the UN Charter, humanitarian law, and human rights.

One of the most horrific aspects of this blatant crime was the massacre of Iranian women and children. During the aggression, the Israeli regime killed 44 Iranian women and 13 children, and injured 163 women.

Among the female martyrs were two pregnant women, killed along with their unborn children.

These crimes occurred despite the fact that international law — recognizing the vulnerability and special needs of women and children in wars and armed conflicts — has established significant protections for them.

The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols include specific provisions for the protection of such vulnerable civilians, while the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other human rights treaties were drafted to alleviate the suffering of women and children during war and armed conflict and to safeguard them extensively.

One of the lesser-discussed aspects of the Israeli regime’s recent aggression against Iran was its deliberate targeting and extermination of entire families. In several instances, the regime committed massacres in which all members of a household were killed.

This inhumane and anti-human approach has been part of the Israeli regime’s strategy of genocide against Palestinians for the eight decades of its fabricated existence — a crime that has consistently gone unpunished.

Experts stress that family massacres are among the most grotesque forms of genocide, carried out amid the paralysis of society, international bodies, and mechanisms, and the silence of the world’s conscience.

Historical accounts show that since its establishment on Palestinian land in 1948, the Israeli regime has repeatedly slaughtered Palestinian families and erased their names from civil registries as part of its policy of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Statistics indicate that since the start of its war on Gaza in October 2023, the Israeli regime has completely erased 2,700 families from the civil registry.

Official figures from the regime’s recent war of aggression against Iran show that around 60 Iranian families fell victim to this policy of family extermination.

These included 32 families in which 2 members were killed, 17 families with 3 members killed, 7 families with 4 members killed, 3 families with 5 members killed, and one family in which 8 members were killed.

One of the most horrific such massacres during the Israeli regime’s assault on Iran took place in Astaneh Ashrafiyeh, Gilan Province.

On June 23, 2025, in this small city in Gilan, 12 members of a single family were killed in a targeted, premeditated strike by the Israeli regime. Among the dead was a 6-year-old child.

Another massacre took place in Damghan, Semnan Province, where 7 members of one family were killed.

These atrocities against Iranian families occurred in various locations, underscoring the fact that the Israeli regime’s policy of family-killing deliberately targets civilians. In one such attack, a three-member family from Andimeshk — father, mother, and son — were killed while tending their livestock.

Rayan Ghasemian, the youngest martyr of the Israeli regime’s aggression against Iran, was among those killed along with his entire family in a nighttime strike on their home. Two-month-old Rayan and five-year-old Kian, along with their parents, were victims of the regime’s attack.

A report by the UK’s Telegraph on the youngest victims of the Israeli regime’s assault on Iran stated: “Rayan Ghasemian was even too small for the oxygen mask that might have saved his life.”