‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 34: Children who survive the bombs may die of starvation, disease, and dehydration
Leila WarahNovember 9, 2023
A Palestinian father carries his child as he marches with a crowd of Palestinians from northern Gaza to southern Gaza amidst a relentless Israeli bombing campaign, and orders by the Israeli military for Gazans to leave the northern part of the strip.
Palestinians flee to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, November 8, 2023. Photo by STR apaimages
Casualties
Gaza
10,818 Killed, 4,412 including children
26,905 injured
West Bank
175 Palestinains Killed
Key Developments
Palestinian Ministry of Health: “nowhere in Gaza is safe”.
UNRWA: 92 agency staff have been killed since October 7, the “highest number of United Nations aid workers killed in a conflict in the history of the United Nations.”
UNRWA: 160 people sheltering in UNRWA school facilities share a single toilet; one shower unit for every 700 people
Palestinian lawmaker Rashida Tlaib was censured by the House of U.S. Representatives over the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”
70 Democrats sign onto a statement condemning the “river to the sea” phrase “as a rallying cry for the destruction of the State of Israel and genocide of the Jewish people.”
The Israeli parliament passes “draconian” law criminalizing ‘consumption of terrorist materials’, the latest development in Israel’s censorship war against Palestinians.
Israeli forces arrested Palestinian politicians in Israel, including the head of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, Mohammad Barakeh, and former Knesset member Haneen Zoabi, reports Wafa.
Two mosques were completely destroyed in the attack on Khan Younis on Wednesday: Khalid bin al-Walid and al-Ikhlas mosques, according to the Interior Ministry in Gaza.
The U.S. carried out a strike on a facility in eastern Syria, the second U.S. attack on the country since October 7, in “response to attacks on American personnel in Iraq and Syria” over the past weeks, killing at least nine people, according to the Pentagon.
An American drone was shot down off the coast of Yemen by the country’s pro-Iranian Houthi rebels, U.S. officials confirmed to Reuters and AFP.
Israeli airstrikes have hit eight hospitals in the Gaza Strip in the last three days, according to Gaza’s government media office.
Treating patients in ‘corridors, on the floor, and outdoors’
Israel has subjected Gaza’s population to five weeks of incessant bombing while denying over two million people trapped in the besieged enclave necessities, including food, water, medical care, and fuel.
Hospitals, in particular, have been targeted during the ongoing aggression and hard hit by the tight siege.
Al Jazeera reported three people were killed and dozens of others injured after Israeli airstrikes hit the vicinity of Al-Nasr Hospital in western Gaza at dawn on Thursday, adding that Israel also fired several missiles around Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Medical Complex, resulting in missile fragments falling into the hospital courtyard.
Similarly, the vicinity of Al-Quds Hospital in the north of Gaza has been subjected to daily bombardment since Sunday, according to Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
On Wednesday, PRCS reported the Israeli bombardment near Al Quds Hospital resulted in all roads leading to the hospital being closed and medical teams being unable to leave the hospital to reach the injured.
The organization added that the hospital was facing “an acute shortage of fuel and was expected to run out of fuel today,” so they have curtailed most operations in an attempt to ration what is left.
“We have about 500 patients inside the hospital. We have 15 patients in the ICU. They are wounded and on respirators. We have newborns in incubators. We have 14,000 displaced people, the majority of whom are women and children,” Farsakh told Al Jazeera, adding that they have had to “stop four ambulances from working.”
“Patients are undergoing immense and unnecessary pain as medicines and anesthetics are running out. In addition, tens of thousands of displaced people have sought shelter in the hospital’s parking lots and yards,” Farsakh said.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini and the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a joint statement that doctors in Al-Shifa, where the conditions are “disastrous,” doctors are being forced to treat the sick and injured in “corridors, on the floor, and outdoors” as emergency rooms are overflowing.
“Without fuel, hospitals and other essential facilities such as desalination plants and bakeries cannot operate, and more people will most certainly die as a result,” they said.
Alexandra Saieh of Save the Children underscored that the children who are not killed by bombs may die of starvation, disease, and dehydration.
“The situation is catastrophic. Civilians, especially children, continue to pay the heaviest price for the ongoing violence. If we don’t have a ceasefire, the numbers will continue to worsen,” she stated, according to Al Jazeera.
On Wednesday, The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said 106 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent, loaded with aid and five ambulance vehicles from Kuwait, crossed through the Egypt Rafah border crossing; however, none contained much-needed fuel.
The organization says 756 trucks have entered the besieged enclave since October 21, which is still far below what the besieged enclave needs. In contrast, before October 7, the besieged enclave would receive about 500 truck deliveries daily.
A convoy with much-needed medical supplies was delivered to Gaza’s main hospital, al-Shifa, according to Ghebreyesus and Lazzarini.
However, the supplies are “far from sufficient to respond to the immense needs” in Gaza, as the situation at al-Shifa Hospital is “disastrous,” and medical facilities across the besieged enclave are running out of supplies and fuel.
“The ability of hospitals and medical facilities to operate is paramount, especially during conflicts,” the statement continued.
Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari presented video, photographs, and audio recordings that allegedly pointed to a Hamas building tunnel under hospitals.
However, an investigation conducted by Al Jazeera found no grounds to support Israel’s claims of a Hamas tunnel under hospitals and, specifically, under the Sheikh Hamad Hospital in north Gaza.
Similarly, Mohammed al-Emadi, the chairman of the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, described Israel’s allegation as a “blatant attempt to justify the occupation’s targeting of civilian facilities, including hospitals, schools, gatherings of population and shelters of displaced people.”
Fighting on the ground continues
As civilians continue fighting for their lives across the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military has continued its advancement into northern Gaza.
“I’d like to put to rest all kinds of false rumors we’re hearing from all kinds of directions, and reiterate one clear thing: There will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
That same day, after 10 hours of battle, the Israeli army said they took control of a Hamas outpost in Jabalia, north of Gaza City, saying their soldiers confronted and killed Hamas figures, adding that they confiscated weapons and destroyed tunnel shafts.
“Since the beginning of the fighting, 130 tunnel shafts have been destroyed,” the military said.
“Soldiers of the Nahal Brigade conducted operational activity at a Hamas training post in northern Gaza. Tunnels were located under the post, and after they were exposed, the shafts in the post were destroyed.”
Hamas, who has accused Israel of spreading lies in the past, has not commented on the statement.
While Israelis call for Jews to resettle in Gaza, their government says they have “no intention” of reoccupying Gaza or controlling it for a long time, the Reuters news agency reported, quoting an unnamed senior Israeli official.
During a televised address on Wednesday, Deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri clarified that the Hamas attack on October 7 was launched mainly to “ensure the freedom and independence of our people, which begins with the freedom of our political prisoners.”
“All of our prisoners must be released from prisons,” Arouri said, reiterating Hamas’s readiness for a “comprehensive deal.”
“Take everyone we have and give us all of the prisoners you have,” he proposed, referring to the captives taken from Israel on October 7 and Palestinian political prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
“It’s best to take your hostages alive. Come forward and agree to an exchange deal now.”
“This issue cannot be resolved except via a trade within each of these categories [of prisoners and captives] or in a comprehensive process that includes everyone,” Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obeida said in a televised address on Al-Aqsa T.V.
West Bank: ‘Enough is enough’
The situation in the West Bank continues to worsen as Israeli soldiers and settlers continue their deadly attacks on Palestinians.
In the last 24 hours alone, Israeli forces have killed at least 12 Palestinians.
In Jenin, the north of the West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported nine Palestinians were killed during an Israeli military raid on Thursday morning in the Palestinian city.
Two Palestinian men were killed overnight on Wednesday by Israeli forces during a violent military incursion in Hebron and Bethlehem, according to Wafa.
In Hebron, Anas Abu Atwan, 25, was killed after being shot in the chest in the village of Tabqa.
In Bethlehem, Mohammad Thawabta, 51, from Beit Fajjar, died of wounds sustained during Israeli forces’ incursion into Bethlehem on Wednesday, injuring 19 people were wounded by live bullets and five by shrapnel.
The 12th Palestinian died from critical wounds after being shot by Israeli forces Thursday morning in al-Amari refugee camp, Ramallah.
Israel’s mass arrest campaign has also continued, detaining over 2,200 Palestinian men and women since October 7, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.
Ahed Tamimi, a 22-year-old prominent Palestinian activist from the Ramallah-area village of Nabi Saleh, was beaten in custody after being reported earlier this week for alleged social media activity, reported Al Jazeera journalist Dena Takruri, citing Tamimi’s mother.
“Her mom received a call from a lawyer who was visiting another female Palestinian prisoner. That prisoner informed her lawyer of Ahed’s status [and] to notify her family,” Takruri said.
Human rights organizations such as the U.K.-based group Amnesty International recorded “horrifying cases of torture and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees” amid the “spike in arbitrary arrests.”
Israeli news outlet Haaretz has also noted an increase in Israeli soldiers openly documenting their abuse of Palestinians online.
As tensions rise in the West Bank, Al Jazeera said an armed Palestinian fighter reportedly shot two Israeli settlers near the illegal Israeli settlement of Itamar, east of Nablus, and one of them is now in critical condition.
Conditions in the occupied West Bank are becoming “increasingly dire,” says U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, outlining the number of Palestinians, including dozens of children, who have been killed, injured, and displaced since October 7.
“Enough is enough,” he said.
U.S. representatives ignore constituents, staffers calling for ceasefire
The Biden administration has continued to offer its unwavering support to Israel’s mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza while repeatedly rejecting pressure to support a ceasefire. Instead, U.S. President Joe Biden is supporting a “pause” in the fighting to allow captives in Gaza a safe evacuation.
White House Spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the pause would be localized, temporary, and short, “hours to days,” depending on the need.
“So it would be an agreement that for a set period of time in these agreed coordinates, there would be a pause in the fighting,” Kirby said.
“That doesn’t mean there won’t be, or couldn’t be, fighting outside that zone during that same period of time. So all of that has to get factored in, and I have no doubt that on the Israeli side, as they look at each proposal, they’ll think about the potential impact on their military operations on the ground or in the air.”
On Tuesday, democratic lawmaker Rashida Tlaib was censured by the House of U.S. Representatives, claiming she was “promoting false narratives regarding the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”
According to the House, a censure is a “deep disapproval of Member misconduct that, nevertheless, does not meet the threshold for expulsion.”
Taliba rejected the charge, which condemned her use of the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and described it as “widely recognized as a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel and its people to replace it with a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
Progressive Jewish American senator Bernie Sanders slammed the U.S. for the censure of Talib. Describing it as “Pathetic and shameful.”
In response, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib delivered a speech on the House floor “on the attempts to silence her” while expressing her gratitude for the countless Jewish Americans across the country standing with Palestine.
“I’m the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, Mr. Chair, and my perspective is needed here now more than ever. I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words,” she said.
Tlaib also used the opportunity to highlight Israel’s extensive list of human rights violations against Palestinians in Gaza, including collective punishment, the use of white phosphorous bombs, and the denial of food, water, electricity, and medical care to “millions of people with nowhere to go.”
“We will continue to call for a ceasefire, Mr. Chair, for the immediate delivery of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza, for the release of all hostages and those arbitrarily detained, and for every American to come home.”
Following her speech, more than 100 congressional staffers staged a walkout as they demanded a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Our constituents are pleading for a ceasefire, and we are the staffers answering their calls,” the staffers said, “Most of our bosses on Capitol Hill are not listening to the people they represent. We demand our leaders speak up.”
Hours later, Democratic Congresswoman Sara Jacobs withdrew her proposal to censure Republican Brian Mast for the racist comments he made on the House floor last week likening Palestinian civilians to Nazis, according toThe Hill.
The comment in question: “As a whole, I would encourage the other side to not so lightly throw around the idea of innocent Palestinian civilians, as is frequently said. I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term innocent Nazi civilians during World War II.”
While expressing their continued support for U.S. aid to Israel, U.S. senators have asked the Biden administration to clarify Israel’s “strategy in Gaza” in a letter signed by Twenty-six lawmakers, including more than half of all democratic senators.
The senators asked for an “assessment of the viability of Israel’s military strategy in Gaza” and an “achievable plan” to govern Gaza after the fighting ends as well as “assessment of the viability of Israel military strategy in Gaza” and an “achievable plan” to govern Gaza after the war ends.
Meanwhile, Israel’s war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, says Israel has not set a limit for its current Gaza ground operation in Gaza, reported Israeli media.
“On the question of the operation’s length, there are no limitations,” Gantz said on Wednesday.
“The war here is for our existence and for Zionism, and so I can’t provide an estimate of the length of each stage in the war and the fighting that will continue after. We can’t retreat from our strategic objective.”
Following his war on the besieged enclave, Netanyahu told ABC News that Gaza should be governed by “those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas” without elaborating.
“I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it. When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine,” he said.
‘It’s time for sanctions against Israel’
Every day Israel continues their ruthless bombardment of Gaza, they experience more diplomatic fallout.
Turkey’s President Erdogan says Israel is “crushing all humanitarian values.”
“Israel continues to bomb schools, mosques, churches, hospitals, crushing all humanitarian values,” Erdogan said, adding that 73 percent of those killed are women and children.
On Wednesday, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told reporters that Italy will send a hospital ship to the coast of Gaza with 170 staff members and 30 people trained for medical emergencies to help treat victims.
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, which has a long history of supporting Palestine and advocating for a two-state solution, denied the U.S. proposed legislation for unilateral sanctions against Hamas, targeting the Palestinian resistance group as well as foreign supporters.
“We only recognize decisions of the United Nations Security Council that are considered multilateral,” Al Jazeera quoted Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as telling the parliament.
Belgian’s Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter is urging Belgium to adopt sanctions on Israel and is calling for investigations into the bombings of hospitals and refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.
“It is time for sanctions against Israel. The rain of bombs is inhumane,” Reuters reported her saying.
“It is clear that Israel does not care about the international demands for a ceasefire,” she continued, adding that those responsible for war crimes should be banned from the E.U.
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Leila WarahNovember 9, 2023
A Palestinian father carries his child as he marches with a crowd of Palestinians from northern Gaza to southern Gaza amidst a relentless Israeli bombing campaign, and orders by the Israeli military for Gazans to leave the northern part of the strip.
Palestinians flee to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, November 8, 2023. Photo by STR apaimages
Casualties
Gaza
10,818 Killed, 4,412 including children
26,905 injured
West Bank
175 Palestinains Killed
Key Developments
Palestinian Ministry of Health: “nowhere in Gaza is safe”.
UNRWA: 92 agency staff have been killed since October 7, the “highest number of United Nations aid workers killed in a conflict in the history of the United Nations.”
UNRWA: 160 people sheltering in UNRWA school facilities share a single toilet; one shower unit for every 700 people
Palestinian lawmaker Rashida Tlaib was censured by the House of U.S. Representatives over the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”
70 Democrats sign onto a statement condemning the “river to the sea” phrase “as a rallying cry for the destruction of the State of Israel and genocide of the Jewish people.”
The Israeli parliament passes “draconian” law criminalizing ‘consumption of terrorist materials’, the latest development in Israel’s censorship war against Palestinians.
Israeli forces arrested Palestinian politicians in Israel, including the head of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, Mohammad Barakeh, and former Knesset member Haneen Zoabi, reports Wafa.
Two mosques were completely destroyed in the attack on Khan Younis on Wednesday: Khalid bin al-Walid and al-Ikhlas mosques, according to the Interior Ministry in Gaza.
The U.S. carried out a strike on a facility in eastern Syria, the second U.S. attack on the country since October 7, in “response to attacks on American personnel in Iraq and Syria” over the past weeks, killing at least nine people, according to the Pentagon.
An American drone was shot down off the coast of Yemen by the country’s pro-Iranian Houthi rebels, U.S. officials confirmed to Reuters and AFP.
Israeli airstrikes have hit eight hospitals in the Gaza Strip in the last three days, according to Gaza’s government media office.
Treating patients in ‘corridors, on the floor, and outdoors’
Israel has subjected Gaza’s population to five weeks of incessant bombing while denying over two million people trapped in the besieged enclave necessities, including food, water, medical care, and fuel.
Hospitals, in particular, have been targeted during the ongoing aggression and hard hit by the tight siege.
Al Jazeera reported three people were killed and dozens of others injured after Israeli airstrikes hit the vicinity of Al-Nasr Hospital in western Gaza at dawn on Thursday, adding that Israel also fired several missiles around Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Medical Complex, resulting in missile fragments falling into the hospital courtyard.
Similarly, the vicinity of Al-Quds Hospital in the north of Gaza has been subjected to daily bombardment since Sunday, according to Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
On Wednesday, PRCS reported the Israeli bombardment near Al Quds Hospital resulted in all roads leading to the hospital being closed and medical teams being unable to leave the hospital to reach the injured.
The organization added that the hospital was facing “an acute shortage of fuel and was expected to run out of fuel today,” so they have curtailed most operations in an attempt to ration what is left.
“We have about 500 patients inside the hospital. We have 15 patients in the ICU. They are wounded and on respirators. We have newborns in incubators. We have 14,000 displaced people, the majority of whom are women and children,” Farsakh told Al Jazeera, adding that they have had to “stop four ambulances from working.”
“Patients are undergoing immense and unnecessary pain as medicines and anesthetics are running out. In addition, tens of thousands of displaced people have sought shelter in the hospital’s parking lots and yards,” Farsakh said.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini and the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a joint statement that doctors in Al-Shifa, where the conditions are “disastrous,” doctors are being forced to treat the sick and injured in “corridors, on the floor, and outdoors” as emergency rooms are overflowing.
“Without fuel, hospitals and other essential facilities such as desalination plants and bakeries cannot operate, and more people will most certainly die as a result,” they said.
Alexandra Saieh of Save the Children underscored that the children who are not killed by bombs may die of starvation, disease, and dehydration.
“The situation is catastrophic. Civilians, especially children, continue to pay the heaviest price for the ongoing violence. If we don’t have a ceasefire, the numbers will continue to worsen,” she stated, according to Al Jazeera.
On Wednesday, The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said 106 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent, loaded with aid and five ambulance vehicles from Kuwait, crossed through the Egypt Rafah border crossing; however, none contained much-needed fuel.
The organization says 756 trucks have entered the besieged enclave since October 21, which is still far below what the besieged enclave needs. In contrast, before October 7, the besieged enclave would receive about 500 truck deliveries daily.
A convoy with much-needed medical supplies was delivered to Gaza’s main hospital, al-Shifa, according to Ghebreyesus and Lazzarini.
However, the supplies are “far from sufficient to respond to the immense needs” in Gaza, as the situation at al-Shifa Hospital is “disastrous,” and medical facilities across the besieged enclave are running out of supplies and fuel.
“The ability of hospitals and medical facilities to operate is paramount, especially during conflicts,” the statement continued.
Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari presented video, photographs, and audio recordings that allegedly pointed to a Hamas building tunnel under hospitals.
However, an investigation conducted by Al Jazeera found no grounds to support Israel’s claims of a Hamas tunnel under hospitals and, specifically, under the Sheikh Hamad Hospital in north Gaza.
Similarly, Mohammed al-Emadi, the chairman of the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, described Israel’s allegation as a “blatant attempt to justify the occupation’s targeting of civilian facilities, including hospitals, schools, gatherings of population and shelters of displaced people.”
Fighting on the ground continues
As civilians continue fighting for their lives across the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military has continued its advancement into northern Gaza.
“I’d like to put to rest all kinds of false rumors we’re hearing from all kinds of directions, and reiterate one clear thing: There will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
That same day, after 10 hours of battle, the Israeli army said they took control of a Hamas outpost in Jabalia, north of Gaza City, saying their soldiers confronted and killed Hamas figures, adding that they confiscated weapons and destroyed tunnel shafts.
“Since the beginning of the fighting, 130 tunnel shafts have been destroyed,” the military said.
“Soldiers of the Nahal Brigade conducted operational activity at a Hamas training post in northern Gaza. Tunnels were located under the post, and after they were exposed, the shafts in the post were destroyed.”
Hamas, who has accused Israel of spreading lies in the past, has not commented on the statement.
While Israelis call for Jews to resettle in Gaza, their government says they have “no intention” of reoccupying Gaza or controlling it for a long time, the Reuters news agency reported, quoting an unnamed senior Israeli official.
During a televised address on Wednesday, Deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri clarified that the Hamas attack on October 7 was launched mainly to “ensure the freedom and independence of our people, which begins with the freedom of our political prisoners.”
“All of our prisoners must be released from prisons,” Arouri said, reiterating Hamas’s readiness for a “comprehensive deal.”
“Take everyone we have and give us all of the prisoners you have,” he proposed, referring to the captives taken from Israel on October 7 and Palestinian political prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
“It’s best to take your hostages alive. Come forward and agree to an exchange deal now.”
“This issue cannot be resolved except via a trade within each of these categories [of prisoners and captives] or in a comprehensive process that includes everyone,” Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obeida said in a televised address on Al-Aqsa T.V.
West Bank: ‘Enough is enough’
The situation in the West Bank continues to worsen as Israeli soldiers and settlers continue their deadly attacks on Palestinians.
In the last 24 hours alone, Israeli forces have killed at least 12 Palestinians.
In Jenin, the north of the West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported nine Palestinians were killed during an Israeli military raid on Thursday morning in the Palestinian city.
Two Palestinian men were killed overnight on Wednesday by Israeli forces during a violent military incursion in Hebron and Bethlehem, according to Wafa.
In Hebron, Anas Abu Atwan, 25, was killed after being shot in the chest in the village of Tabqa.
In Bethlehem, Mohammad Thawabta, 51, from Beit Fajjar, died of wounds sustained during Israeli forces’ incursion into Bethlehem on Wednesday, injuring 19 people were wounded by live bullets and five by shrapnel.
The 12th Palestinian died from critical wounds after being shot by Israeli forces Thursday morning in al-Amari refugee camp, Ramallah.
Israel’s mass arrest campaign has also continued, detaining over 2,200 Palestinian men and women since October 7, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.
Ahed Tamimi, a 22-year-old prominent Palestinian activist from the Ramallah-area village of Nabi Saleh, was beaten in custody after being reported earlier this week for alleged social media activity, reported Al Jazeera journalist Dena Takruri, citing Tamimi’s mother.
“Her mom received a call from a lawyer who was visiting another female Palestinian prisoner. That prisoner informed her lawyer of Ahed’s status [and] to notify her family,” Takruri said.
Human rights organizations such as the U.K.-based group Amnesty International recorded “horrifying cases of torture and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees” amid the “spike in arbitrary arrests.”
Israeli news outlet Haaretz has also noted an increase in Israeli soldiers openly documenting their abuse of Palestinians online.
As tensions rise in the West Bank, Al Jazeera said an armed Palestinian fighter reportedly shot two Israeli settlers near the illegal Israeli settlement of Itamar, east of Nablus, and one of them is now in critical condition.
Conditions in the occupied West Bank are becoming “increasingly dire,” says U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, outlining the number of Palestinians, including dozens of children, who have been killed, injured, and displaced since October 7.
“Enough is enough,” he said.
U.S. representatives ignore constituents, staffers calling for ceasefire
The Biden administration has continued to offer its unwavering support to Israel’s mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza while repeatedly rejecting pressure to support a ceasefire. Instead, U.S. President Joe Biden is supporting a “pause” in the fighting to allow captives in Gaza a safe evacuation.
White House Spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the pause would be localized, temporary, and short, “hours to days,” depending on the need.
“So it would be an agreement that for a set period of time in these agreed coordinates, there would be a pause in the fighting,” Kirby said.
“That doesn’t mean there won’t be, or couldn’t be, fighting outside that zone during that same period of time. So all of that has to get factored in, and I have no doubt that on the Israeli side, as they look at each proposal, they’ll think about the potential impact on their military operations on the ground or in the air.”
On Tuesday, democratic lawmaker Rashida Tlaib was censured by the House of U.S. Representatives, claiming she was “promoting false narratives regarding the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”
According to the House, a censure is a “deep disapproval of Member misconduct that, nevertheless, does not meet the threshold for expulsion.”
Taliba rejected the charge, which condemned her use of the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and described it as “widely recognized as a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel and its people to replace it with a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
Progressive Jewish American senator Bernie Sanders slammed the U.S. for the censure of Talib. Describing it as “Pathetic and shameful.”
In response, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib delivered a speech on the House floor “on the attempts to silence her” while expressing her gratitude for the countless Jewish Americans across the country standing with Palestine.
“I’m the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, Mr. Chair, and my perspective is needed here now more than ever. I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words,” she said.
Tlaib also used the opportunity to highlight Israel’s extensive list of human rights violations against Palestinians in Gaza, including collective punishment, the use of white phosphorous bombs, and the denial of food, water, electricity, and medical care to “millions of people with nowhere to go.”
“We will continue to call for a ceasefire, Mr. Chair, for the immediate delivery of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza, for the release of all hostages and those arbitrarily detained, and for every American to come home.”
Following her speech, more than 100 congressional staffers staged a walkout as they demanded a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Our constituents are pleading for a ceasefire, and we are the staffers answering their calls,” the staffers said, “Most of our bosses on Capitol Hill are not listening to the people they represent. We demand our leaders speak up.”
Hours later, Democratic Congresswoman Sara Jacobs withdrew her proposal to censure Republican Brian Mast for the racist comments he made on the House floor last week likening Palestinian civilians to Nazis, according toThe Hill.
The comment in question: “As a whole, I would encourage the other side to not so lightly throw around the idea of innocent Palestinian civilians, as is frequently said. I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term innocent Nazi civilians during World War II.”
While expressing their continued support for U.S. aid to Israel, U.S. senators have asked the Biden administration to clarify Israel’s “strategy in Gaza” in a letter signed by Twenty-six lawmakers, including more than half of all democratic senators.
The senators asked for an “assessment of the viability of Israel’s military strategy in Gaza” and an “achievable plan” to govern Gaza after the fighting ends as well as “assessment of the viability of Israel military strategy in Gaza” and an “achievable plan” to govern Gaza after the war ends.
Meanwhile, Israel’s war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, says Israel has not set a limit for its current Gaza ground operation in Gaza, reported Israeli media.
“On the question of the operation’s length, there are no limitations,” Gantz said on Wednesday.
“The war here is for our existence and for Zionism, and so I can’t provide an estimate of the length of each stage in the war and the fighting that will continue after. We can’t retreat from our strategic objective.”
Following his war on the besieged enclave, Netanyahu told ABC News that Gaza should be governed by “those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas” without elaborating.
“I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it. When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine,” he said.
‘It’s time for sanctions against Israel’
Every day Israel continues their ruthless bombardment of Gaza, they experience more diplomatic fallout.
Turkey’s President Erdogan says Israel is “crushing all humanitarian values.”
“Israel continues to bomb schools, mosques, churches, hospitals, crushing all humanitarian values,” Erdogan said, adding that 73 percent of those killed are women and children.
On Wednesday, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told reporters that Italy will send a hospital ship to the coast of Gaza with 170 staff members and 30 people trained for medical emergencies to help treat victims.
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, which has a long history of supporting Palestine and advocating for a two-state solution, denied the U.S. proposed legislation for unilateral sanctions against Hamas, targeting the Palestinian resistance group as well as foreign supporters.
“We only recognize decisions of the United Nations Security Council that are considered multilateral,” Al Jazeera quoted Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as telling the parliament.
Belgian’s Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter is urging Belgium to adopt sanctions on Israel and is calling for investigations into the bombings of hospitals and refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.
“It is time for sanctions against Israel. The rain of bombs is inhumane,” Reuters reported her saying.
“It is clear that Israel does not care about the international demands for a ceasefire,” she continued, adding that those responsible for war crimes should be banned from the E.U.
Before you go – we need your support
At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever.
Our traffic has increased ten times since October 7, and we need your help to cover our increased expenses.
Support our journalists with a donation today.
‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 34: Children who survive the bombs may die of starvation, disease, and dehydration
Leila WarahNovember 9, 2023
A Palestinian father carries his child as he marches with a crowd of Palestinians from northern Gaza to southern Gaza amidst a relentless Israeli bombing campaign, and orders by the Israeli military for Gazans to leave the northern part of the strip.
Palestinians flee to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, November 8, 2023. Photo by STR apaimages
Casualties
Gaza
10,818 Killed, 4,412 including children
26,905 injured
West Bank
175 Palestinains Killed
Key Developments
Palestinian Ministry of Health: “nowhere in Gaza is safe”.
UNRWA: 92 agency staff have been killed since October 7, the “highest number of United Nations aid workers killed in a conflict in the history of the United Nations.”
UNRWA: 160 people sheltering in UNRWA school facilities share a single toilet; one shower unit for every 700 people
Palestinian lawmaker Rashida Tlaib was censured by the House of U.S. Representatives over the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”
70 Democrats sign onto a statement condemning the “river to the sea” phrase “as a rallying cry for the destruction of the State of Israel and genocide of the Jewish people.”
The Israeli parliament passes “draconian” law criminalizing ‘consumption of terrorist materials’, the latest development in Israel’s censorship war against Palestinians.
Israeli forces arrested Palestinian politicians in Israel, including the head of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, Mohammad Barakeh, and former Knesset member Haneen Zoabi, reports Wafa.
Two mosques were completely destroyed in the attack on Khan Younis on Wednesday: Khalid bin al-Walid and al-Ikhlas mosques, according to the Interior Ministry in Gaza.
The U.S. carried out a strike on a facility in eastern Syria, the second U.S. attack on the country since October 7, in “response to attacks on American personnel in Iraq and Syria” over the past weeks, killing at least nine people, according to the Pentagon.
An American drone was shot down off the coast of Yemen by the country’s pro-Iranian Houthi rebels, U.S. officials confirmed to Reuters and AFP.
Israeli airstrikes have hit eight hospitals in the Gaza Strip in the last three days, according to Gaza’s government media office.
Treating patients in ‘corridors, on the floor, and outdoors’
Israel has subjected Gaza’s population to five weeks of incessant bombing while denying over two million people trapped in the besieged enclave necessities, including food, water, medical care, and fuel.
Hospitals, in particular, have been targeted during the ongoing aggression and hard hit by the tight siege.
Al Jazeera reported three people were killed and dozens of others injured after Israeli airstrikes hit the vicinity of Al-Nasr Hospital in western Gaza at dawn on Thursday, adding that Israel also fired several missiles around Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Medical Complex, resulting in missile fragments falling into the hospital courtyard.
Similarly, the vicinity of Al-Quds Hospital in the north of Gaza has been subjected to daily bombardment since Sunday, according to Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
On Wednesday, PRCS reported the Israeli bombardment near Al Quds Hospital resulted in all roads leading to the hospital being closed and medical teams being unable to leave the hospital to reach the injured.
The organization added that the hospital was facing “an acute shortage of fuel and was expected to run out of fuel today,” so they have curtailed most operations in an attempt to ration what is left.
“We have about 500 patients inside the hospital. We have 15 patients in the ICU. They are wounded and on respirators. We have newborns in incubators. We have 14,000 displaced people, the majority of whom are women and children,” Farsakh told Al Jazeera, adding that they have had to “stop four ambulances from working.”
“Patients are undergoing immense and unnecessary pain as medicines and anesthetics are running out. In addition, tens of thousands of displaced people have sought shelter in the hospital’s parking lots and yards,” Farsakh said.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini and the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a joint statement that doctors in Al-Shifa, where the conditions are “disastrous,” doctors are being forced to treat the sick and injured in “corridors, on the floor, and outdoors” as emergency rooms are overflowing.
“Without fuel, hospitals and other essential facilities such as desalination plants and bakeries cannot operate, and more people will most certainly die as a result,” they said.
Alexandra Saieh of Save the Children underscored that the children who are not killed by bombs may die of starvation, disease, and dehydration.
“The situation is catastrophic. Civilians, especially children, continue to pay the heaviest price for the ongoing violence. If we don’t have a ceasefire, the numbers will continue to worsen,” she stated, according to Al Jazeera.
On Wednesday, The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said 106 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent, loaded with aid and five ambulance vehicles from Kuwait, crossed through the Egypt Rafah border crossing; however, none contained much-needed fuel.
The organization says 756 trucks have entered the besieged enclave since October 21, which is still far below what the besieged enclave needs. In contrast, before October 7, the besieged enclave would receive about 500 truck deliveries daily.
A convoy with much-needed medical supplies was delivered to Gaza’s main hospital, al-Shifa, according to Ghebreyesus and Lazzarini.
However, the supplies are “far from sufficient to respond to the immense needs” in Gaza, as the situation at al-Shifa Hospital is “disastrous,” and medical facilities across the besieged enclave are running out of supplies and fuel.
“The ability of hospitals and medical facilities to operate is paramount, especially during conflicts,” the statement continued.
Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari presented video, photographs, and audio recordings that allegedly pointed to a Hamas building tunnel under hospitals.
However, an investigation conducted by Al Jazeera found no grounds to support Israel’s claims of a Hamas tunnel under hospitals and, specifically, under the Sheikh Hamad Hospital in north Gaza.
Similarly, Mohammed al-Emadi, the chairman of the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, described Israel’s allegation as a “blatant attempt to justify the occupation’s targeting of civilian facilities, including hospitals, schools, gatherings of population and shelters of displaced people.”
Fighting on the ground continues
As civilians continue fighting for their lives across the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military has continued its advancement into northern Gaza.
“I’d like to put to rest all kinds of false rumors we’re hearing from all kinds of directions, and reiterate one clear thing: There will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
That same day, after 10 hours of battle, the Israeli army said they took control of a Hamas outpost in Jabalia, north of Gaza City, saying their soldiers confronted and killed Hamas figures, adding that they confiscated weapons and destroyed tunnel shafts.
“Since the beginning of the fighting, 130 tunnel shafts have been destroyed,” the military said.
“Soldiers of the Nahal Brigade conducted operational activity at a Hamas training post in northern Gaza. Tunnels were located under the post, and after they were exposed, the shafts in the post were destroyed.”
Hamas, who has accused Israel of spreading lies in the past, has not commented on the statement.
While Israelis call for Jews to resettle in Gaza, their government says they have “no intention” of reoccupying Gaza or controlling it for a long time, the Reuters news agency reported, quoting an unnamed senior Israeli official.
During a televised address on Wednesday, Deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri clarified that the Hamas attack on October 7 was launched mainly to “ensure the freedom and independence of our people, which begins with the freedom of our political prisoners.”
“All of our prisoners must be released from prisons,” Arouri said, reiterating Hamas’s readiness for a “comprehensive deal.”
“Take everyone we have and give us all of the prisoners you have,” he proposed, referring to the captives taken from Israel on October 7 and Palestinian political prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
“It’s best to take your hostages alive. Come forward and agree to an exchange deal now.”
“This issue cannot be resolved except via a trade within each of these categories [of prisoners and captives] or in a comprehensive process that includes everyone,” Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obeida said in a televised address on Al-Aqsa T.V.
West Bank: ‘Enough is enough’
The situation in the West Bank continues to worsen as Israeli soldiers and settlers continue their deadly attacks on Palestinians.
In the last 24 hours alone, Israeli forces have killed at least 12 Palestinians.
In Jenin, the north of the West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported nine Palestinians were killed during an Israeli military raid on Thursday morning in the Palestinian city.
Two Palestinian men were killed overnight on Wednesday by Israeli forces during a violent military incursion in Hebron and Bethlehem, according to Wafa.
In Hebron, Anas Abu Atwan, 25, was killed after being shot in the chest in the village of Tabqa.
In Bethlehem, Mohammad Thawabta, 51, from Beit Fajjar, died of wounds sustained during Israeli forces’ incursion into Bethlehem on Wednesday, injuring 19 people were wounded by live bullets and five by shrapnel.
The 12th Palestinian died from critical wounds after being shot by Israeli forces Thursday morning in al-Amari refugee camp, Ramallah.
Israel’s mass arrest campaign has also continued, detaining over 2,200 Palestinian men and women since October 7, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.
Ahed Tamimi, a 22-year-old prominent Palestinian activist from the Ramallah-area village of Nabi Saleh, was beaten in custody after being reported earlier this week for alleged social media activity, reported Al Jazeera journalist Dena Takruri, citing Tamimi’s mother.
“Her mom received a call from a lawyer who was visiting another female Palestinian prisoner. That prisoner informed her lawyer of Ahed’s status [and] to notify her family,” Takruri said.
Human rights organizations such as the U.K.-based group Amnesty International recorded “horrifying cases of torture and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees” amid the “spike in arbitrary arrests.”
Israeli news outlet Haaretz has also noted an increase in Israeli soldiers openly documenting their abuse of Palestinians online.
As tensions rise in the West Bank, Al Jazeera said an armed Palestinian fighter reportedly shot two Israeli settlers near the illegal Israeli settlement of Itamar, east of Nablus, and one of them is now in critical condition.
Conditions in the occupied West Bank are becoming “increasingly dire,” says U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, outlining the number of Palestinians, including dozens of children, who have been killed, injured, and displaced since October 7.
“Enough is enough,” he said.
U.S. representatives ignore constituents, staffers calling for ceasefire
The Biden administration has continued to offer its unwavering support to Israel’s mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza while repeatedly rejecting pressure to support a ceasefire. Instead, U.S. President Joe Biden is supporting a “pause” in the fighting to allow captives in Gaza a safe evacuation.
White House Spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the pause would be localized, temporary, and short, “hours to days,” depending on the need.
“So it would be an agreement that for a set period of time in these agreed coordinates, there would be a pause in the fighting,” Kirby said.
“That doesn’t mean there won’t be, or couldn’t be, fighting outside that zone during that same period of time. So all of that has to get factored in, and I have no doubt that on the Israeli side, as they look at each proposal, they’ll think about the potential impact on their military operations on the ground or in the air.”
On Tuesday, democratic lawmaker Rashida Tlaib was censured by the House of U.S. Representatives, claiming she was “promoting false narratives regarding the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”
According to the House, a censure is a “deep disapproval of Member misconduct that, nevertheless, does not meet the threshold for expulsion.”
Taliba rejected the charge, which condemned her use of the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and described it as “widely recognized as a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel and its people to replace it with a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
Progressive Jewish American senator Bernie Sanders slammed the U.S. for the censure of Talib. Describing it as “Pathetic and shameful.”
In response, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib delivered a speech on the House floor “on the attempts to silence her” while expressing her gratitude for the countless Jewish Americans across the country standing with Palestine.
“I’m the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, Mr. Chair, and my perspective is needed here now more than ever. I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words,” she said.
Tlaib also used the opportunity to highlight Israel’s extensive list of human rights violations against Palestinians in Gaza, including collective punishment, the use of white phosphorous bombs, and the denial of food, water, electricity, and medical care to “millions of people with nowhere to go.”
“We will continue to call for a ceasefire, Mr. Chair, for the immediate delivery of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza, for the release of all hostages and those arbitrarily detained, and for every American to come home.”
Following her speech, more than 100 congressional staffers staged a walkout as they demanded a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Our constituents are pleading for a ceasefire, and we are the staffers answering their calls,” the staffers said, “Most of our bosses on Capitol Hill are not listening to the people they represent. We demand our leaders speak up.”
Hours later, Democratic Congresswoman Sara Jacobs withdrew her proposal to censure Republican Brian Mast for the racist comments he made on the House floor last week likening Palestinian civilians to Nazis, according toThe Hill.
The comment in question: “As a whole, I would encourage the other side to not so lightly throw around the idea of innocent Palestinian civilians, as is frequently said. I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term innocent Nazi civilians during World War II.”
While expressing their continued support for U.S. aid to Israel, U.S. senators have asked the Biden administration to clarify Israel’s “strategy in Gaza” in a letter signed by Twenty-six lawmakers, including more than half of all democratic senators.
The senators asked for an “assessment of the viability of Israel’s military strategy in Gaza” and an “achievable plan” to govern Gaza after the fighting ends as well as “assessment of the viability of Israel military strategy in Gaza” and an “achievable plan” to govern Gaza after the war ends.
Meanwhile, Israel’s war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, says Israel has not set a limit for its current Gaza ground operation in Gaza, reported Israeli media.
“On the question of the operation’s length, there are no limitations,” Gantz said on Wednesday.
“The war here is for our existence and for Zionism, and so I can’t provide an estimate of the length of each stage in the war and the fighting that will continue after. We can’t retreat from our strategic objective.”
Following his war on the besieged enclave, Netanyahu told ABC News that Gaza should be governed by “those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas” without elaborating.
“I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it. When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine,” he said.
‘It’s time for sanctions against Israel’
Every day Israel continues their ruthless bombardment of Gaza, they experience more diplomatic fallout.
Turkey’s President Erdogan says Israel is “crushing all humanitarian values.”
“Israel continues to bomb schools, mosques, churches, hospitals, crushing all humanitarian values,” Erdogan said, adding that 73 percent of those killed are women and children.
On Wednesday, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told reporters that Italy will send a hospital ship to the coast of Gaza with 170 staff members and 30 people trained for medical emergencies to help treat victims.
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, which has a long history of supporting Palestine and advocating for a two-state solution, denied the U.S. proposed legislation for unilateral sanctions against Hamas, targeting the Palestinian resistance group as well as foreign supporters.
“We only recognize decisions of the United Nations Security Council that are considered multilateral,” Al Jazeera quoted Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as telling the parliament.
Belgian’s Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter is urging Belgium to adopt sanctions on Israel and is calling for investigations into the bombings of hospitals and refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.
“It is time for sanctions against Israel. The rain of bombs is inhumane,” Reuters reported her saying.
“It is clear that Israel does not care about the international demands for a ceasefire,” she continued, adding that those responsible for war crimes should be banned from the E.U.
Before you go – we need your support
At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever.
Our traffic has increased ten times since October 7, and we need your help to cover our increased expenses.
Support our journalists with a donation today.
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