Israel kills American activist, terrorizes prisoners, as Biden admin shrugs – Day 335
CNN reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday was as clear as he has ever been that he does not believe a ceasefire and hostage deal is likely in Gaza in a sharp rebuke to the Biden administration’s insistence it’s close at hand. “There’s not a deal in the making,” Netanyahu told Fox News. “Unfortunately, it’s not close.” His comments stand in stark contrast to the relentlessly hopeful messaging from the Biden administration over the past months. On Sunday, President Joe Biden claimed that the parties were on the verge of a deal, and on Wednesday, a senior administration official claimed 90% of the agreement had been completed. That, Netanyahu said, is “exactly inaccurate.” UN Humanitarian Affairs: Israel is blocking entrance of explosive ordnance disposal equipment OCHA reports: The ongoing escalation of hostilities is resulting in widespread contamination by Explosive Ordnance (EO). While the exact number of EO-related casualties is unknown, there have been cases of people who died due to the explosion of EO, according to humanitarian partners. On 3 September, a Palestinian girl was reportedly critically injured by the explosion of an EO in southwestern Khan Younis and succumbed to her wounds on 4 September. Children face a heightened risk of being exposed to EO, as they usually play outside, tend to search for scraps amongst rubbish and rubble, and lack an awareness on the dangers of EO. Despite ongoing efforts by humanitarian partners to conduct in-person and digital Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) campaigns, educational material as well as minimum standard Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) equipment are refused entry into Gaza by Israeli authorities, therefore limiting the capacity of the mine action response. The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster is concerned with the staggering increase in the cost of basic hygiene items. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), in July, the price of soap has increased 1,177 per cent and shampoo has increased 490 per cent across the Strip, compared to July 2023. Israeli army kills Palestinian girl in West Bank: Health Ministry Al Jazeera reports: A 13-year-old girl succumbed to her wounds after being shot by Israeli forces in Qaryout, a village south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank. The village was reportedly attacked by Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces when Bana Amjad Bakr was shot in the chest by an Israeli soldier. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its teams dealt with the “serious” injury after confrontations broke out in the village. Amjad Bakr was shot while she was in her bedroom, her father said. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she died. Settler attacks are common in the West Bank and have increased in scale and intensity since October 7. The Israeli army and settlers have displaced more than 1,200 Palestinians and destroyed hundreds of structures, according to UN figures. Israel pulls out of Jenin, but denies end of West Bank offensive Middle East Eye reports: Israeli forces have pulled out of Jenin after a 10-day assault, but the military has denied it is ending its operation in the occupied West Bank. The offensive, which has so far left at least 39 Palestinians dead, saw soldiers backed by armored vehicles and bulldozers targeting the city and its adjacent refugee camp, forcing the flight of many of the residents. Palestinians started returning to their Jenin homes on Friday, while those who had been trapped by the offensive were able to venture outside for the first time in more than a week. Israel said on Friday that it would continue its operation in Jenin until its “objectives are achieved”. The Palestinian Ministry of Health says at least 40 people (6 of them youths) have been killed in the West Bank since August 28 when Israeli forces launched a large-scale incursion into several towns and cities: 21 Palestinians were killed in Jenin; 8 in Tubas; 8 in Tulkarem; and 3 in Hebron. Footage originally shared by Israel’s Channel 14 correspondent showed Israeli soldiers detaining Palestinian children, women and men in Jenin, occupied West Bank, and forcing them to walk in one line. This is not Gaza. This is in the West Bank Israeli soldiers share footage with Netenyahu’s channel 14 depicting them humiliating young Palestinian girls, women and elderly in Jenin during their invasion to the city pic.twitter.com/y2DZz1rImP — Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) September 6, 2024 France arrests nurse who volunteered in Gaza Middle East Monitor reports: France yesterday arrested then released nurse Imane Maarifi who spent 15 days volunteering as a medic in the Gaza Strip. Notably, the arrest took place at a time when French soldiers who fight in Gaza enjoy total impunity. Thomas Portes, a lawmaker from the La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed (LFI) party, wrote that Maarifi has been released from custody. “The search of the home in front of the family leaves no doubt about the desire to intimidate the voices that are raised to support the Palestinian people and demand an immediate ceasefire,” he wrote on X. Maarifi attended pro-Palestinian rallies in France to share her testimony about the crippling situation in Gaza. She has also expressed her demand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a boycott of companies supporting Israel.
[email protected] September 7, 2024 Ayşenur Eygi, btselem, ceasefire, international solidarity movement, israeli settler violence, palestinian prisoners, Tally Gotliv, unexploded ordnance, west bank death, white phosphorus, Yuli Novak
Photos and videos obtained by Haaretz show dozens of detainees lying on their stomachs while handcuffed, some without clothes, as a guard dog barks over their heads. The Prison Service described this as a "routine exercise." (screenshot)
Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Israeli army kills American International Solidarity Movement volunteer during demonstration in West Bank

Various sources report:

During the weekly demonstration in Beita, Palestine, on the morning of September 6th, 2024, the Israeli army intentionally shot and killed an International Solidarity Movement (ISM) human rights activist named Ayşenur Eygi. The demonstration, which primarily involved men and children praying, was met with force from the Israeli army stationed on a hill. Initially, the army fired a large amount of tear gas and then began using live ammunition.

Ayşenur, who we (ISM) consider a martyr in the struggle, was the 18th demonstrator to be killed in Beita since 2020. She was an American citizen of Turkish descent.

She was involved with the Faz’a campaign, an organization that aims to support and protect Palestinian farmers from violations by illegal Jewish settlers and military forces.

The Israeli forces fired two rounds. One hit a Palestinian man in the leg, injuring him. The other round was fired at international human rights activists who were observing the demonstration from a distance, striking the human rights activist in the head.

Neither Ezgi nor the other wounded person posed any threat to the soldiers stationed on the hills adjacent to the site of the weekly march.

Eygi died shortly after being transported to a local hospital in Nablus.

The Israeli military admitted to firing at the demonstrators and said it was looking into reports that a foreign national was killed. The Israel Defense Forces said it “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them”.

The US has not said whether Eygi had been shot by Israeli troops. “We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death, and will have more to say as we learn more,” Matthew Miller, a state department spokesperson, said.

Asked if the US would take action against Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “First things first – let’s find out exactly what happened and we will draw the necessary conclusions and consequences from that.”

Eygi’s family released a statement declaring, “A US citizen, Aysenur was peacefully standing for justice when she was killed by a bullet that video shows came from an Israeli military shooter,” adding, “Given the circumstances of Aysenur’s killing, an Israeli investigation is not adequate.”

“We call on President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary of State Blinken to order an independent investigation into the unlawful killing of a US citizen and to ensure full accountability.”

Ayşenur Eygi, 26, ‘was not a naive traveler – this experience was, according to one of her professors, the culmination of all her years of activism. Her friends say she was a longtime activist “bearing witness to oppression.”

She was remembered by friends and former professors as a dedicated organizer who felt a strong moral obligation to bring attention to the plight of Palestinians.

Eygi, who is also a Turkish citizen and leaves behind her husband, graduated from UW earlier this year with a major in psychology and minor in Middle Eastern languages and culture, Fani said. She walked the stage with a large “Free Palestine” flag during the ceremony, Fani said.

Ezgi is the third ISM volunteer to be killed by the Israeli forces in occupied Palestine. Rachel Corrie was killed in Gaza’s Rafah in 2003 after an Israeli soldier crushed her with a bulldozer. Tom Hurndall was killed in Gaza in 2004 by an Israeli sniper. An Israeli soldier shot Brian Avery in the face in Jenin in 2003. He survived the attack but was permanently maimed. The bullet ripped through his cheek and smashed his eye socket and jaw bones.

RECOMMENDED READING: Instead of Taylor Force Act, Congress should consider Rachel Corrie Act, Orwah Hammad Act




Israeli Prison Guards Filmed Abusing Detainees; Prison Service Says It’s a ‘Routine Exercise’

Ha’aretz reports:

Israeli Prison Service personnel in the security wing of Megiddo Prison handcuffed and humiliated detainees on Friday morning, despite no unusual incident occurring in the prison.

Photos and videos obtained by Haaretz show dozens of detainees lying on their stomachs while handcuffed, some without clothes, as a guard dog barks over their heads. The Prison Service described this as a “routine exercise.”

The Prison Service said in response that it “maintains an operational routine for the safety of the prison inmates and the public. In this case, too, in an operation that includes intelligence [gathering], soldiers of the ‘Nachshon’ unit…raided terrorist cells, searched them and seized assault weapons and prohibited materials.” The service failed to present any of the assault weapons allegedly seized.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) has urged the United Nations to open an independent investigation.

The group has also said that the Israeli authorities are “deliberately” leaking images and footage of the torture of Palestinian detainees, explaining in a statement that this was “part of the competition between the ministers of the current government over who tortures and kills Palestinians more”.


UNICEF says Israelis refusing to facilitate polio vaccine campaign

Al Jazeera reports:

UNICEF says it is making every effort to distribute the polio vaccine in Gaza during the agreed-upon pauses in fighting.

However, it reported that Israel continues to deny medical teams access to communities in certain areas of southern Gaza.

Nearly 355,000 children have received the vaccine in spite of Israel’s lack of cooperation.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reports from Khan Younis:



Israeli legislator calls on police to probe B’Tselem activist for ‘aiding the enemy’

Middle East Monitor reports:

Israel’s Likud Party Knesset Member Tally Gotliv called for the execution or life imprisonment of human rights activist Yuli Novak following her speech at the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

Novak, the executive director or Israeli rights group B’Tselem, told the UNSC: “Since Israel was founded, its guiding logic has been to promote Jewish supremacy over the entire territory under its control.”

She added that the far-right Israeli government has been “cynically exploiting” its citizens’ “collective trauma” since the 7 October 2023 infiltration of Israel by Palestinian resistance fighters.

It is doing this, she explained, “to violently advance its project of cementing Israel[i] control over the entire land … committing war crimes almost daily.”

Gotliv called for Novak to be probed by Israel Police “for the suspected serious crime of assistance to the enemy in war.”

She said that such a crime was an offense under the penal law, “which carries the death penalty or a life sentence”.

“Novak has shamefully put the state of Israel, currently engaged in a war for survival, at risk and assisted Israel’s enemies on various fronts,” the lawmaker wrote, accusing the activist of telling lies about Israel committing war crimes.

Gotliv was among the legislators that joined Israeli crowds to protest the arrest of soldiers accused of gang-raping a Palestinian detainee from Gaza held in the Israeli Sde Teiman prison.

NOTE: B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories strives for a future in which human rights, liberty and equality are guaranteed to all people, Palestinian and Jewish alike, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Such a future will only be possible when the Israeli occupation and apartheid regime end. That is the future we are working towards.

B’Tselem (in Hebrew literally: in the image of), the name chosen for the organization by the late Member of Knesset Yossi Sarid, is an allusion to Genesis 1:27: “And God created humankind in His image. In the image of God did He create them.” The name expresses the universal and Jewish moral edict to respect and uphold the human rights of all people.



Netanyahu is unequivocal about ceasefire and hostage agreement with Hamas: ‘There’s not a deal in the making’


Israel shells Lebanon with white phosphorus bombs, performs ground invasion drills

The Cradle reports:

According to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), Israel targeted southern Lebanon with white phosphorus on Friday. “The area between Tal Nahas and Al-Hamams towards the Marjayoun plain is being subjected to artillery shelling with phosphorus shells, which caused fires to break out,” NNA said.

Israeli threats against Lebanon have escalated once again. The Israeli military said on 6 September that its Yiftah Brigade carried out drills this week simulating a ground invasion of Lebanon, moving along a “mountainous route” and “complex terrain.”

NOTE: Use of white phosphorus in civilian areas is considered a war crime due to its extremely dangerous effects on the human body.

White phosphorus ignites instantly when in contact with oxygen. It can burn through the human body, including through bone, causing severe, excruciating damage.

It can also cause extreme harm when inhaled, with risks of suffocation, cardiovascular failure, coma, death, and other lifelong effects. The substance burns at temperatures of up to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

The Cradle: Israel’s energy insecurity: How blackouts could paralyze the occupation state

+972 Magazine: Under cover of war, Israel is demolishing home after home in Silwan

Middle East Monitor: ‘Game of demographics’: How Israel aims to wipe out Palestinians from Occupied East Jerusalem

Middle East Eye: ‘I recognized her by her roller skate’: Israeli strike on Gaza kills children playing in the street

The New Arab: Is Israel using Gaza’s ‘mowing the lawn’ strategy in the West Bank?





STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – SEPTEMBER 5:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 5, 2024: at least 41,546* (40,878 in Gaza* – 11,308 women (28%), 16,715 children (41%) as of September 5. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 691 in the West Bank (~148 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 49,032 Palestinian deaths.

Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death9 to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.

Ralph Nader earlier estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 23 from West Bank).
At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition (at least 37 of them children)**.
About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
Almost 500,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – September 5: at least 100,098 (including at least 94,454 in Gaza and 5,700 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how man Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 5, 2024: ~1,452 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 288*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 25 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.

**Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals.

***Approximately ten of the deaths listed above were Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah in fighting at the Israel-Lebanon border. The figure does not include the reportedly 53 Israeli soldiers – nearly 16% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents.

† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org

Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
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Inside Israel’s torture, rape, and dehumanization centers
I’m a pediatrician. The scars I saw on Gaza’s children will take generations to heal.
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Israeli army probe covered up “friendly fire” killings on October 7
Are US officials’ investments of public funds in Israeli bonds ethical? How much is too much?
Honoring the memory of a Gazan Olympic hero: Majed Abu Maraheel
An American was just shot in the West Bank. The American press can’t be bothered.
Understanding what motivates ultra-orthodox Jewish attacks on West Bank Palestinians
Palestinians’ harrowing stories of rape by Israeli soldiers (including female soldiers)
A Palestinian journalist visited Ismail Haniyeh’s home in Gaza to report on his death. Israel assassinated him too.
I reported a piece for the New York Times on antisemitism. I found a major error, but the Times didn’t care.
How Israel plans to whitewash its war crimes in Gaza
Why the West Bank is on the verge of economic collapse
Netanyahu’s plan to involve US in regional war on its behalf
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“Well What SHOULD Israel Have Done After October 7?”
Welcome to Hell
More dead children. More BBC ‘news’ channelling Israeli propaganda as its own
U.S. media downplays and ignores ICJ ruling declaring Israeli occupation illegal
Israeli soldiers tell story of savage cruelty in Gaza – one given blessing by the West
Searching for Gaza’s missing children

https://israelpalestinenews.org/israel-kills-american-activist-terrorizes-prisoners-as-biden-admin-shrugs-day-335/

https://donshafi911iamthefaceoftruth.blogspot.com/2024/09/israel-kills-american-activist.html

Not once, not twice, but at least three times... an Israeli bulldozer ran over the body of 17-year-old Palestinian teenager Majed Fida Abu Zina in Tubas after he was shot dead by Israeli occupation forces.

According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), an occupation soldier shot him "in the leg, and then a soldier ordered him to take off his shirt and he obeyed. And when the soldier ordered him to take off his pants, the boy tried but couldn’t. Immediately, the soldiers fired two bullets that hit his neck and chest, causing him to collapse."

PCHR said, "He was left to bleed for approximately an hour and a half, as the soldiers denied medics from reaching him to provide aid or even retrieve his body."

Then, "at around 2:30, IOF brought in a bulldozer and began desecrating the boy’s body, tearing open his abdomen and exposing his internal organs before dragging and throwing him on al-Far’a hill along Nablus-Tubas Road and opposite al-Far’a Valley."

A video from several days ago shows an Israeli military bulldozer running over and desecrating the body of a Palestinian youth, Majed Abu Zeina (17), in the Al-Far’a camp south of Tubas, during the army's large scale assault on the occupied West Bank.

https://t.me/thecradlemedia/19855

Israeli-inflicted Palestinian injuries in Gaza, West Bank surpass 100,000 – Day 332
[email protected] September 4, 2024 arms sales to israel, columbia university, david cameron, David Friedman, Gaza, hamas, Merrick Garland, palestine erased, Palestinian journalists, West Bank
Israeli forces organize a raid with bulldozers on Jenin in the West Bank on September 01, 2024. [ Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency] (photo)
Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

‘3,000 operatives’: Hamas regains capabilities in northern Gaza – report

Jerusalem Post reports:

Hamas has managed to regain some of its capabilities in the northern Gaza Strip, according to a Monday Channel 12 report, citing a security source.

The report specified that Hamas had enlisted some 3,000 new operatives into its ranks in that area of Gaza.

Additionally, the resistance group reportedly provided them with weapons, ammunition, and payment.

According to the Channel 12 report, while some Israeli forces remain in northern Gaza, the absence of large troop deployments has allowed Hamas to operate more freely in that area.

At the beginning of the war with Gaza, Israeli forces invaded northern Gaza, reportedly destroying much of the Hamas infrastructure there.

In mid-July, the IDF ended a re-invasion of northern Gaza to concentrate on the central Gaza Strip.



Israel to classify West Bank as ‘combat zone’ amid dramatic escalation

Israel Hayom reports:

Recent events have triggered a major policy shift in Israel’s approach to the West Bank, Israel Hayom has learned. Previously designated as a “secondary arena” requiring stable maintenance, the Israeli military now operates under a new paradigm, viewing the West Bank as the second most critical front, immediately after Gaza.

A series of operations across the West Bank are imminent. “The Jenin operation is just the beginning,” security officials emphasize.

Security officials recommend launching extensive operations. One security source described it as “not just mowing the lawn, but uprooting the problem at its source.”

NOTE: In reality, International law supports the efforts of resistance groups against an occupying power, even to the point of armed resistance. Hamas has clearly and openly stated that its enemy is not the Jewish people, but the racist ideology of Zionism – the ideology under which Israel dispossessed 750,000 Palestinian people, exiled them to Gaza and other locations, and continues to oppress and ethnically cleanse their population.

Israeli forces carry the dead body of a Palestinian after an operation in Hebron, West Bank on September 1, 2024. [Mamoun Wazwaz – Anadolu Agency]
Israeli forces carry the dead body of a Palestinian after an operation in Hebron, West Bank on September 1, 2024. [Mamoun Wazwaz – Anadolu Agency] (photo)
Some West Bank updates: Israel continues killing spree

various media outlets report:

The Israeli aggression, since dawn last Wednesday, on the West Bank until now, has killed at least 32 Palestinians: 19 in Jenin, 6 in Tulkarem, 4 in Tubas, and 3 in Hebron, bringing the number of slain Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, to at least 685.

The total number of injuries in the West Bank and Gaza combined has surpassed 100,000 (94,398 in Gaza, 5,700 in the West Bank) – even as healthcare facilities in both areas remain under siege.

JENIN AREA: Israeli forces today directly targeted four journalists in the town of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin, as they covered the Israeli aggression in the town.

The occupation forces fired live bullets directly at the vehicle of the two photojournalists while they were trying to reach the location of the other journalists in the village of Kafr Dan.

“We narrowly escaped death,” one of the victims explained. “If we hadn’t sped up a bit in our car, they would have killed us. It was a direct assassination attempt.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian teenage girl and prevented medics from reaching her until she succumbed to her wounds in Kafr Dan town, west of Jenin, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said its medics moved the slain child, Lujain Osama Abdul-Rauf Mosleh, 16, to a hospital in Jenin.

TULKARM: A Palestinian minor was killed Tuesday dawn by Israeli occupation forces during the ongoing raid on Tulkarm camp.

Medical and local sources said that Mohammad Kanaan was killed after being shot in the head by the occupation forces’ snipers while he was with his father in one of the camp’s neighborhoods, while his father was shot in the abdomen by the occupation forces.

On Tuesday evening, two Palestinians were killed after the army surrounded a home and fired at it, in the Thannaba Suburb in Tulkarem.

Media sources said that the attack killed two young men inside the home before the soldiers took their corpses to an unknown destination. (More on Tulkarm here.)

HEBRON: After closing the Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslim Palestinian worshippers, the Israeli army allowed thousands of illegal settlers to hold a concert and perform their rituals at the site in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Mosque director Moataz Abu Sneineh said that the Israeli settlers held a concert in the mosque’s courtyards “in a blatant violation of the places of worship and the privacy of Muslims.”

Some of Tuesday's victims of Israeli attacks in the West Bank
Some of Tuesday’s victims of Israeli attacks in the West Bank (photos)
Unprecedented number of Palestinian journalists arrested by Israel since October 7th

The Committee To Protect Journalists reports:

Since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, an unprecedented number of journalists and media workers have been arrested — often without charge — in what they and their attorneys say is retaliation for their journalism and commentary.

As of September 4, CPJ has documented a total of 54 arrests of journalists in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza and in the city of Jerusalem, claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians as a capital, since the war began on October 7, 2023. Israel arrested 51; Palestinian authorities arrested three.

Nineteen of these journalists, including the three held by Palestinian authorities, have since been released, while 35 remain under arrest.

At least 14 of the journalists arrested by Israel are being held under administrative detention, a policy under which a military commander may detain an individual without charge, typically for six months, on the grounds of preventing them from committing a future offense. Detention can be extended an unlimited number of times.

(Editor’s note: These numbers are being updated regularly as more information becomes available. The tally includes all arrests documented by CPJ. As is our global practice, journalists who request anonymity out of concern for their safety are not named in the list below.)

“Since October 7, Israel has been arresting Palestinian journalists in record numbers and using administrative detention to keep them behind bars, thus depriving the region not only of much needed information, but also of Palestinian voices on the conflict,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna in New York. “If Israel wants to live up to its self-styled reputation of being the only democracy in the Middle East, it needs to release detained Palestinian journalists and stop using military courts to hold them without evidence.”

CPJ ALSO REPORTS: Since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7, journalists and media across the region have faced a hostile environment that has made reporting on the war exceptionally challenging.

In addition to documenting the growing tally of journalists killed and injured, CPJ’s research has found multiple kinds of incidents of journalists being targeted while carrying out their work in Israel and the two Palestinian territories, Gaza and the West Bank.

These include 54 arrests, as well as numerous assaults, threats and harassment, cyberattacks, and censorship.

(Find details and examples here. Find an up-to-date list of journalists killed here.)

RECOMMENDED READING: CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’

Int’l Criminal Court likely to decide whether to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant ‘over coming days’

Ha’aretz reports:

Justice Ministry officials expect the International Criminal Court (ICC) to decide in the coming days on whether to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, but are cautiously optimistic that the court will decide against the warrants.

The officials said the government’s refusal to set up a state commission of inquiry to investigate the events of the war, as recommended by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, along with the fact that Israel has been lagging in its own investigations of alleged war crimes – something that would preempt ICC action under the principle of complementarity – strengthen the likelihood that the court will accept Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for the warrants.

The officials said they expect the court to issue its decision within days, or at most a few weeks.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 13, 2023.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 13, 2023. (photo)
US Justice Department files criminal charges against Hamas

Al Jazeera reports:

The US announced criminal charges against Hamas’s top leadership, including the group’s chief Yahya Sinwar, accusing them of leading efforts to kill civilians and destroy the state of Israel.

“As outlined in our complaint, those defendants — armed with weapons, political support, and funding from the Government of Iran, and support from Hezbollah — have led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the State of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Other Hamas leaders charged include Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, Khaled Meshaal, a deputy of slain former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and a former leader of the group, Mohammed al-Masri and Ali Baraka.

NOTE: Garland’s nomination was endorsed by pro-Israel groups such as the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which advocates for Israel.

HA’ARETZ ADDS: U.S. National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged Tuesday that the events of the weekend will dictate U.S. actions moving forward.

“I’d be lying to you if I said the work going on in the days ahead are not going to be shaped or colored by our outrage about what Hamas did,” he said.

RECOMMENDED READING: US charges Hamas leaders over October 7, Gaza mediation role under question

Netanyahu once again erases Palestine during address

Middle East Monitor reports:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a map of Israel that erases the occupied West Bank, marking it as Israeli territory, in an address to the media yesterday.

The Israeli premier appeared standing in front of a wall-sized digital map that obliterated the West Bank. Palestinians decried the move as an explicit annexation of the occupied territory by Tel Aviv.

Speaking about the importance of the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt, Netanyahu used a map which showed the entirety of the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as being annexed to Israel and only had the Gaza Strip outlined.

“Netanyahu’s map reveals the truth of the colonial and racist agendas of the extremist right-wing government,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Netanyahu continues and repeatedly uses a map that includes the West Bank as part of the occupation state, in clear and explicit recognition of this racist colonial crime, and disregard of international legitimacy and its resolutions, international will for peace and the signed agreements,” the ministry said.

NOTE: Israel’s supporters criticize the pro-Palestine slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free,” because they claim it calls for the erasure of Israel. In reality, the phrase is, in the words of Palestinian American congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence.” Netanyahu’s map says, in essence, “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall not exist.”

RECOMMENDED READING: No more “shrinking map of Palestine” – it’s gone

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu used a map of Israel that erases the occupied West Bank to address the media [Screenshot/Anadolu]
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu used a map of Israel that erases the occupied West Bank to address the media [Screenshot/Anadolu] (photo)
Trump advisor pushes to divert Palestine aid funds for Israeli annexation of West Bank

The Cradle reports:

Former US ambassador to Israel and advisor to Donald Trump, David Friedman, proposed in his new book that Congress should redirect $1 billion allocated for Palestinian aid to support Israeli plans for an annexation of the occupied West Bank.

“Israel will need financial assistance to assert and maintain its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria,” Friedman wrote in his new book, using the biblical term used by Israel to refer to the West Bank.

Friedman writes in his book, titled One Jewish State: The Last and Best Hope for Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, that the US could divert $1 billion in current aid to the Palestinians – which includes funds for Palestinian Authority (PA) security services – to fund the Israeli annexation plan.

Friedman also compares Palestinians living under Israeli occupation to Puerto Ricans, who live on an island considered US territory.

“Palestinians, like Puerto Ricans, will not vote in national elections. Palestinians will be free to enact their own governing documents as long as they do not conflict with those of Israel,” he wrote.

Friedman argues the US should support Israel’s annexation “based first and foremost on biblical prophecies and values”, saying that such a policy “hearkens back to basic Judeo-Christian values of kindness, human dignity, humility and prosperity”.

Friedman said he has not yet shared his idea for funding the annexation with Trump. “I hope to share it with him at the appropriate time.”

NOTE: “Biblical prophecies” do not speak anywhere of a modern Jewish state. Pro-Israel (and in many cases, antisemitic) interpretations of Biblical prophecies have twisted the words of the sacred text to imply that a modern Jewish state is a precursor to the endtimes and the return of Christ.

RECOMMENDED READING: Friedman drove the radical overhaul of US policy on Israel-Palestine and Trump Is Desperate for Miriam Adelson’s Cash. Her Condition: West Bank Annexation

President Donald J. Trump, joined by White House senior staff members, delivers a statement announcing the agreement of full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020, in the Oval Office of the White House (David Friedman, L).
President Donald J. Trump, joined by White House senior staff members, delivers a statement announcing the agreement of full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020, in the Oval Office of the White House (David Friedman, L). (photo)
U.S. Still Talking Up a Hostage Deal, but Privately Despair About Netanyahu

Ha’aretz reports:

The Biden administration continues to insist publicly that it is committed to negotiations on a hostage and cease-fire deal in Gaza Strip, but senior officials in the government are expressing despair and frustration about the state of the talks, especially after Israel’s security cabinet approved a resolution last week opposing withdrawal from the Philadelphi route in the context of an agreement.

The aim of the administration’s public messages, according to one of the officials, was to allow the talks to continue, in the hope that a breakthrough might occur nonetheless. “It has no real connection to reality,” he said.

President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House national security spokesman John Kirby repeat every few days that progress has been made in the talks, the gaps between Israel and Hamas can be bridged and an agreement is within reach, if both sides agree to compromise.

Behind the scenes, however, the administration is well aware that the talks have reached an impasse due to Netanyahu’s insistence on the issue of the Philadelphi route, and it seems that both the prime minister and Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas and the organization’s top official in Gaza, are refusing to take the necessary steps to reach a deal at this time. “We want this agreement more than they do,” the American official said.

HA’ARETZ ALSO REPORTS: A source inside the Netanyahu coalition who is closely involved in and a part of the government said, “Benjamin Netanyahu decided some weeks ago that he does not want a deal, and when it became possible, he got nervous and did all he could to torpedo it. He figured out that [he could use] the Philadelphi corridor” to stall the process.

“The media fell for this spin and is consumed all day long with the question of yes or no to the Philadelphi, when the real question is really the fate of the hostages versus the fate of the coalition,” the source added.

“Not one minister, including those who know that Netanyahu is sabotaging a deal, will do anything,” the source says. “They are bound to one another, their political survival depends on the government’s survival, and therefore this situation will continue. Netanyahu will pursue an endless war because that’s what is good for him.”

Netanyahu, centre, chairs a cabinet meeting at the Kirya, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defense, in Tel Aviv
Netanyahu, center, chairs a cabinet meeting at the Kirya, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defense, in Tel Aviv (photo)
David Cameron sat on advice that there was breach of law in Gaza, officials say

The Guardian reports:

As far back as February, UK’s former foreign secretary David Cameron sat on advice that arms export licenses to Israel should be banned.

The recommendation was based on clear evidence that Israel was violating international humanitarian law in Gaza, for which the UK risked being complicit, a former Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) adviser said.

The source, who contributed to the drafting of the advice, was speaking after the Labour government banned 30 of about 350 arms export licenses due to a clear risk cited in a government memorandum published on Monday that they might be used in serious breaches of international humanitarian law.

“The tragedy has to be considered: how many lives might have been saved if the arms export licenses had been stopped [in February and not in September, and what the potential ripple effect might have been on how other countries would have reacted in ceasing trade.”

NOTE: While the Biden administration has claimed often to be “working day and night” on a ceasefire, in reality, it has been working relentlessly to keep Israel armed – including through secret arms sales – to enable its genocidal war on the Palestinian people. American arms shipments to Israel since October 7th have surpassed 50,000 tons.

Most Americans are opposed to arms transfers to Israel.

RECOMMENDED READING: An arms embargo on Israel is not a radical idea — it’s the law

Then-Foreign Secretary David Cameron meets Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State for a bilateral meeting and press conference at the US State Department in Washington D.C., December 2023
Then-Foreign Secretary David Cameron meets Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State for a bilateral meeting and press conference at the US State Department in Washington D.C., December 2023 (photo)
Which countries have banned or restricted arms sales to Israel?


Britain is the latest country to shift its position on arms sales to Israel, which has been dependent on international weaponry for an 11-month assault on Gaza that has killed more than 40,000 people.

Here is how different countries have responded to Israel’s war:

Banned or restricted arms sales

Britain
Italy
Spain
Canada
Belgium
The Netherlands
No ban on arms sales

The US
Germany
Denmark
(For details on each country listed, go here.)



There Is No Argument For Supporting Israel That’s Both Logical And Moral

by Caitlyn Johnstone:

It’s wild when you realize that nobody can actually articulate a reason why Israel should be supported that is both logically coherent and morally defensible.

Westerners grow up being indoctrinated with the understanding that this tiny country in the middle east is super duper important and needs to be supported and defended at all cost, but if you examine the reasons given for why this is so as an adult, you find that none of them really hold water.

“Israel is the only place where Jews can be safe!”
“The Jews deserve a homeland!”
“Israel is the only liberal democracy in the middle east.”
“I support Israel’s existence but I oppose the mistreatment of Palestinians.”
“Israel is essential for protecting our interests in the region.”
(Read Caitlyn Johnstone’s rebuttal to each of these statements here.)

Palestinians remove whatever belongings they can salvage from the area as the devastation left by the Israeli army’s withdrawal comes to light in eastern Deir al-Balah, Gaza on August 29, 2024. [Ali Jadallah – Anadolu Agency]
Palestinians remove whatever belongings they can salvage from the area as the devastation left by the Israeli army’s withdrawal comes to light in eastern Deir al-Balah, Gaza on August 29, 2024. [Ali Jadallah – Anadolu Agency] (photo)
Columbia U students will not be silenced on Palestine

Palestine Chronicle reports:

The students at Columbia University in New York City inaugurated their first day of the fall semester on Tuesday by staging pro-Palestine demonstrations.

This resulted in the arrest of two students by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) outside of Barnard gates, as reported by the Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine.

The group live-streamed on the social media platform X parts of the protests, stating that the NYPD officers were “extremely aggressive with students, shoving protestors against the barricades”.

The student group stressed that as long as their university remains complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza “there is no business as usual during a genocide.”

“We refuse to live in a world where the mass murder of Palestinians is normal, acceptable, and profitable. Columbia University is complicit in genocide. Their investments in weapons manufacturers & defense contractors, companies such as Lockheed Martin, are fueling the genocide,” the students said on X.

The students also posted photos and footage of the statue of Alma Mater, on the steps of Columbia’s library, soaked in red as a sign of their university’s financial support for Israel and repression of pro-Palestine voices amid genocide, per the group.

The statue of Alma Mater, on the steps of Columbia’s library, was soaked in red as the protests resumed. (Photo: via NationalSJP TW Page)
The statue of Alma Mater, on the steps of Columbia’s library, was soaked in red as the protests resumed. (Photo: via NationalSJP TW Page) (photo)
MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

The Guardian: Australia’s security chief says person who likes tweet supporting 7 October attacks on Israel could fail visa security test

The Cradle: Amnesty blasts UK ‘gesture politics’ after suspension of less than 10 percent of arms export licenses to Israel

Caitlyn’s Newsletter: The West Truly Doesn’t See Palestinians As Human

Al Jazeera: Paralympics: Palestine’s Aldeeb sees himself as the voice of his people

+972 Magazine: ‘This is also America’s war’: Why the U.S. isn’t stopping Israel’s Gaza onslaught




STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – SEPTEMBER 3:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 3, 2024: at least 41,546* (40,861 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,251 children as of July 22. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 685 in the West Bank (~147 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 49,032 Palestinian deaths.

Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death9 to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.

Ralph Nader earlier estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 23 from West Bank).
At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
Almost 500,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – September 3: at least 100,098 (including at least 94,398 in Gaza and 5,700 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how man Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 3, 2024: ~1,452 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 288*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 25 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.

**Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals.

***Approximately ten of the deaths listed above were Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah in fighting at the Israel-Lebanon border. The figure does not include the reportedly 53 Israeli soldiers – nearly 16% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents.

† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org

Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
Alison Weir trending on social media – what the buzz is about
Israeli media’s coverage of the rape of Palestinian detainees shows support for sexual violence in service of genocide
Inside Israel’s torture, rape, and dehumanization centers
I’m a pediatrician. The scars I saw on Gaza’s children will take generations to heal.
What Harris’s Jewish outreach director said at a private DNC afterparty
‘Strong record of supporting the U.S.-Israel relationship’: a look at Tim Walz’s votes on Palestine as a member of Congress
Nearly Two-Thirds of All Campaign Funds for Cori Bush Challenger Came From AIPAC
Israeli army probe covered up “friendly fire” killings on October 7
Are US officials’ investments of public funds in Israeli bonds ethical? How much is too much?
Honoring the memory of a Gazan Olympic hero: Majed Abu Maraheel
An American was just shot in the West Bank. The American press can’t be bothered.
Understanding what motivates ultra-orthodox Jewish attacks on West Bank Palestinians
Palestinians’ harrowing stories of rape by Israeli soldiers (including female soldiers)
A Palestinian journalist visited Ismail Haniyeh’s home in Gaza to report on his death. Israel assassinated him too.
I reported a piece for the New York Times on antisemitism. I found a major error, but the Times didn’t care.
How Israel plans to whitewash its war crimes in Gaza
Why the West Bank is on the verge of economic collapse
Netanyahu’s plan to involve US in regional war on its behalf
Western media continue to withhold the truth about Israel and Gaza – 4 stories
“Well What SHOULD Israel Have Done After October 7?”
Welcome to Hell
More dead children. More BBC ‘news’ channelling Israeli propaganda as its own
U.S. media downplays and ignores ICJ ruling declaring Israeli occupation illegal
Israeli soldiers tell story of savage cruelty in Gaza – one given blessing by the West
Searching for Gaza’s missing children

https://israelpalestinenews.org/israeli-inflicted-palestinian-injuries-gaza-west-bank-surpass-100000-day-332/

Israeli-inflicted Palestinian injuries in Gaza, West Bank surpass 100,000 – Day 332
[email protected] September 4, 2024 arms sales to israel, columbia university, david cameron, David Friedman, Gaza, hamas, Merrick Garland, palestine erased, Palestinian journalists, West Bank
Israeli forces organize a raid with bulldozers on Jenin in the West Bank on September 01, 2024. [ Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency] (photo)
Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

‘3,000 operatives’: Hamas regains capabilities in northern Gaza – report

Jerusalem Post reports:

Hamas has managed to regain some of its capabilities in the northern Gaza Strip, according to a Monday Channel 12 report, citing a security source.

The report specified that Hamas had enlisted some 3,000 new operatives into its ranks in that area of Gaza.

Additionally, the resistance group reportedly provided them with weapons, ammunition, and payment.

According to the Channel 12 report, while some Israeli forces remain in northern Gaza, the absence of large troop deployments has allowed Hamas to operate more freely in that area.

At the beginning of the war with Gaza, Israeli forces invaded northern Gaza, reportedly destroying much of the Hamas infrastructure there.

In mid-July, the IDF ended a re-invasion of northern Gaza to concentrate on the central Gaza Strip.




Israel to classify West Bank as ‘combat zone’ amid dramatic escalation

Israel Hayom reports:

Recent events have triggered a major policy shift in Israel’s approach to the West Bank, Israel Hayom has learned. Previously designated as a “secondary arena” requiring stable maintenance, the Israeli military now operates under a new paradigm, viewing the West Bank as the second most critical front, immediately after Gaza.

A series of operations across the West Bank are imminent. “The Jenin operation is just the beginning,” security officials emphasize.

Security officials recommend launching extensive operations. One security source described it as “not just mowing the lawn, but uprooting the problem at its source.”

NOTE: In reality, International law supports the efforts of resistance groups against an occupying power, even to the point of armed resistance. Hamas has clearly and openly stated that its enemy is not the Jewish people, but the racist ideology of Zionism – the ideology under which Israel dispossessed 750,000 Palestinian people, exiled them to Gaza and other locations, and continues to oppress and ethnically cleanse their population.

Israeli forces carry the dead body of a Palestinian after an operation in Hebron, West Bank on September 1, 2024. [Mamoun Wazwaz – Anadolu Agency]
Israeli forces carry the dead body of a Palestinian after an operation in Hebron, West Bank on September 1, 2024. [Mamoun Wazwaz – Anadolu Agency] (photo)
Some West Bank updates: Israel continues killing spree

various media outlets report:

The Israeli aggression, since dawn last Wednesday, on the West Bank until now, has killed at least 32 Palestinians: 19 in Jenin, 6 in Tulkarem, 4 in Tubas, and 3 in Hebron, bringing the number of slain Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, to at least 685.

The total number of injuries in the West Bank and Gaza combined has surpassed 100,000 (94,398 in Gaza, 5,700 in the West Bank) – even as healthcare facilities in both areas remain under siege.

JENIN AREA: Israeli forces today directly targeted four journalists in the town of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin, as they covered the Israeli aggression in the town.

The occupation forces fired live bullets directly at the vehicle of the two photojournalists while they were trying to reach the location of the other journalists in the village of Kafr Dan.

“We narrowly escaped death,” one of the victims explained. “If we hadn’t sped up a bit in our car, they would have killed us. It was a direct assassination attempt.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian teenage girl and prevented medics from reaching her until she succumbed to her wounds in Kafr Dan town, west of Jenin, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said its medics moved the slain child, Lujain Osama Abdul-Rauf Mosleh, 16, to a hospital in Jenin.

TULKARM: A Palestinian minor was killed Tuesday dawn by Israeli occupation forces during the ongoing raid on Tulkarm camp.

Medical and local sources said that Mohammad Kanaan was killed after being shot in the head by the occupation forces’ snipers while he was with his father in one of the camp’s neighborhoods, while his father was shot in the abdomen by the occupation forces.

On Tuesday evening, two Palestinians were killed after the army surrounded a home and fired at it, in the Thannaba Suburb in Tulkarem.

Media sources said that the attack killed two young men inside the home before the soldiers took their corpses to an unknown destination. (More on Tulkarm here.)

HEBRON: After closing the Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslim Palestinian worshippers, the Israeli army allowed thousands of illegal settlers to hold a concert and perform their rituals at the site in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Mosque director Moataz Abu Sneineh said that the Israeli settlers held a concert in the mosque’s courtyards “in a blatant violation of the places of worship and the privacy of Muslims.”

Some of Tuesday's victims of Israeli attacks in the West Bank
Some of Tuesday’s victims of Israeli attacks in the West Bank (photos)
Unprecedented number of Palestinian journalists arrested by Israel since October 7th

The Committee To Protect Journalists reports:

Since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, an unprecedented number of journalists and media workers have been arrested — often without charge — in what they and their attorneys say is retaliation for their journalism and commentary.

As of September 4, CPJ has documented a total of 54 arrests of journalists in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza and in the city of Jerusalem, claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians as a capital, since the war began on October 7, 2023. Israel arrested 51; Palestinian authorities arrested three.

Nineteen of these journalists, including the three held by Palestinian authorities, have since been released, while 35 remain under arrest.

At least 14 of the journalists arrested by Israel are being held under administrative detention, a policy under which a military commander may detain an individual without charge, typically for six months, on the grounds of preventing them from committing a future offense. Detention can be extended an unlimited number of times.

(Editor’s note: These numbers are being updated regularly as more information becomes available. The tally includes all arrests documented by CPJ. As is our global practice, journalists who request anonymity out of concern for their safety are not named in the list below.)

“Since October 7, Israel has been arresting Palestinian journalists in record numbers and using administrative detention to keep them behind bars, thus depriving the region not only of much needed information, but also of Palestinian voices on the conflict,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna in New York. “If Israel wants to live up to its self-styled reputation of being the only democracy in the Middle East, it needs to release detained Palestinian journalists and stop using military courts to hold them without evidence.”

CPJ ALSO REPORTS: Since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7, journalists and media across the region have faced a hostile environment that has made reporting on the war exceptionally challenging.

In addition to documenting the growing tally of journalists killed and injured, CPJ’s research has found multiple kinds of incidents of journalists being targeted while carrying out their work in Israel and the two Palestinian territories, Gaza and the West Bank.

These include 54 arrests, as well as numerous assaults, threats and harassment, cyberattacks, and censorship.

(Find details and examples here. Find an up-to-date list of journalists killed here.)

RECOMMENDED READING: CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’

Int’l Criminal Court likely to decide whether to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant ‘over coming days’

Ha’aretz reports:

Justice Ministry officials expect the International Criminal Court (ICC) to decide in the coming days on whether to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, but are cautiously optimistic that the court will decide against the warrants.

The officials said the government’s refusal to set up a state commission of inquiry to investigate the events of the war, as recommended by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, along with the fact that Israel has been lagging in its own investigations of alleged war crimes – something that would preempt ICC action under the principle of complementarity – strengthen the likelihood that the court will accept Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for the warrants.

The officials said they expect the court to issue its decision within days, or at most a few weeks.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 13, 2023.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 13, 2023. (photo)
US Justice Department files criminal charges against Hamas

Al Jazeera reports:

The US announced criminal charges against Hamas’s top leadership, including the group’s chief Yahya Sinwar, accusing them of leading efforts to kill civilians and destroy the state of Israel.

“As outlined in our complaint, those defendants — armed with weapons, political support, and funding from the Government of Iran, and support from Hezbollah — have led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the State of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Other Hamas leaders charged include Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, Khaled Meshaal, a deputy of slain former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and a former leader of the group, Mohammed al-Masri and Ali Baraka.

NOTE: Garland’s nomination was endorsed by pro-Israel groups such as the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which advocates for Israel.

HA’ARETZ ADDS: U.S. National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged Tuesday that the events of the weekend will dictate U.S. actions moving forward.

“I’d be lying to you if I said the work going on in the days ahead are not going to be shaped or colored by our outrage about what Hamas did,” he said.

RECOMMENDED READING: US charges Hamas leaders over October 7, Gaza mediation role under question

Netanyahu once again erases Palestine during address

Middle East Monitor reports:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a map of Israel that erases the occupied West Bank, marking it as Israeli territory, in an address to the media yesterday.

The Israeli premier appeared standing in front of a wall-sized digital map that obliterated the West Bank. Palestinians decried the move as an explicit annexation of the occupied territory by Tel Aviv.

Speaking about the importance of the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt, Netanyahu used a map which showed the entirety of the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as being annexed to Israel and only had the Gaza Strip outlined.

“Netanyahu’s map reveals the truth of the colonial and racist agendas of the extremist right-wing government,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Netanyahu continues and repeatedly uses a map that includes the West Bank as part of the occupation state, in clear and explicit recognition of this racist colonial crime, and disregard of international legitimacy and its resolutions, international will for peace and the signed agreements,” the ministry said.

NOTE: Israel’s supporters criticize the pro-Palestine slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free,” because they claim it calls for the erasure of Israel. In reality, the phrase is, in the words of Palestinian American congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence.” Netanyahu’s map says, in essence, “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall not exist.”

RECOMMENDED READING: No more “shrinking map of Palestine” – it’s gone

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu used a map of Israel that erases the occupied West Bank to address the media [Screenshot/Anadolu]
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu used a map of Israel that erases the occupied West Bank to address the media [Screenshot/Anadolu] (photo)
Trump advisor pushes to divert Palestine aid funds for Israeli annexation of West Bank

The Cradle reports:

Former US ambassador to Israel and advisor to Donald Trump, David Friedman, proposed in his new book that Congress should redirect $1 billion allocated for Palestinian aid to support Israeli plans for an annexation of the occupied West Bank.

“Israel will need financial assistance to assert and maintain its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria,” Friedman wrote in his new book, using the biblical term used by Israel to refer to the West Bank.

Friedman writes in his book, titled One Jewish State: The Last and Best Hope for Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, that the US could divert $1 billion in current aid to the Palestinians – which includes funds for Palestinian Authority (PA) security services – to fund the Israeli annexation plan.

Friedman also compares Palestinians living under Israeli occupation to Puerto Ricans, who live on an island considered US territory.

“Palestinians, like Puerto Ricans, will not vote in national elections. Palestinians will be free to enact their own governing documents as long as they do not conflict with those of Israel,” he wrote.

Friedman argues the US should support Israel’s annexation “based first and foremost on biblical prophecies and values”, saying that such a policy “hearkens back to basic Judeo-Christian values of kindness, human dignity, humility and prosperity”.

Friedman said he has not yet shared his idea for funding the annexation with Trump. “I hope to share it with him at the appropriate time.”

NOTE: “Biblical prophecies” do not speak anywhere of a modern Jewish state. Pro-Israel (and in many cases, antisemitic) interpretations of Biblical prophecies have twisted the words of the sacred text to imply that a modern Jewish state is a precursor to the endtimes and the return of Christ.

RECOMMENDED READING: Friedman drove the radical overhaul of US policy on Israel-Palestine and Trump Is Desperate for Miriam Adelson’s Cash. Her Condition: West Bank Annexation

President Donald J. Trump, joined by White House senior staff members, delivers a statement announcing the agreement of full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020, in the Oval Office of the White House (David Friedman, L).
President Donald J. Trump, joined by White House senior staff members, delivers a statement announcing the agreement of full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020, in the Oval Office of the White House (David Friedman, L). (photo)
U.S. Still Talking Up a Hostage Deal, but Privately Despair About Netanyahu

Ha’aretz reports:

The Biden administration continues to insist publicly that it is committed to negotiations on a hostage and cease-fire deal in Gaza Strip, but senior officials in the government are expressing despair and frustration about the state of the talks, especially after Israel’s security cabinet approved a resolution last week opposing withdrawal from the Philadelphi route in the context of an agreement.

The aim of the administration’s public messages, according to one of the officials, was to allow the talks to continue, in the hope that a breakthrough might occur nonetheless. “It has no real connection to reality,” he said.

President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House national security spokesman John Kirby repeat every few days that progress has been made in the talks, the gaps between Israel and Hamas can be bridged and an agreement is within reach, if both sides agree to compromise.

Behind the scenes, however, the administration is well aware that the talks have reached an impasse due to Netanyahu’s insistence on the issue of the Philadelphi route, and it seems that both the prime minister and Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas and the organization’s top official in Gaza, are refusing to take the necessary steps to reach a deal at this time. “We want this agreement more than they do,” the American official said.

HA’ARETZ ALSO REPORTS: A source inside the Netanyahu coalition who is closely involved in and a part of the government said, “Benjamin Netanyahu decided some weeks ago that he does not want a deal, and when it became possible, he got nervous and did all he could to torpedo it. He figured out that [he could use] the Philadelphi corridor” to stall the process.

“The media fell for this spin and is consumed all day long with the question of yes or no to the Philadelphi, when the real question is really the fate of the hostages versus the fate of the coalition,” the source added.

“Not one minister, including those who know that Netanyahu is sabotaging a deal, will do anything,” the source says. “They are bound to one another, their political survival depends on the government’s survival, and therefore this situation will continue. Netanyahu will pursue an endless war because that’s what is good for him.”

Netanyahu, centre, chairs a cabinet meeting at the Kirya, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defense, in Tel Aviv
Netanyahu, center, chairs a cabinet meeting at the Kirya, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defense, in Tel Aviv (photo)
David Cameron sat on advice that there was breach of law in Gaza, officials say

The Guardian reports:

As far back as February, UK’s former foreign secretary David Cameron sat on advice that arms export licenses to Israel should be banned.

The recommendation was based on clear evidence that Israel was violating international humanitarian law in Gaza, for which the UK risked being complicit, a former Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) adviser said.

The source, who contributed to the drafting of the advice, was speaking after the Labour government banned 30 of about 350 arms export licenses due to a clear risk cited in a government memorandum published on Monday that they might be used in serious breaches of international humanitarian law.

“The tragedy has to be considered: how many lives might have been saved if the arms export licenses had been stopped [in February and not in September, and what the potential ripple effect might have been on how other countries would have reacted in ceasing trade.”

NOTE: While the Biden administration has claimed often to be “working day and night” on a ceasefire, in reality, it has been working relentlessly to keep Israel armed – including through secret arms sales – to enable its genocidal war on the Palestinian people. American arms shipments to Israel since October 7th have surpassed 50,000 tons.

Most Americans are opposed to arms transfers to Israel.

RECOMMENDED READING: An arms embargo on Israel is not a radical idea — it’s the law

Then-Foreign Secretary David Cameron meets Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State for a bilateral meeting and press conference at the US State Department in Washington D.C., December 2023
Then-Foreign Secretary David Cameron meets Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State for a bilateral meeting and press conference at the US State Department in Washington D.C., December 2023 (photo)
Which countries have banned or restricted arms sales to Israel?


Britain is the latest country to shift its position on arms sales to Israel, which has been dependent on international weaponry for an 11-month assault on Gaza that has killed more than 40,000 people.

Here is how different countries have responded to Israel’s war:

Banned or restricted arms sales

Britain
Italy
Spain
Canada
Belgium
The Netherlands
No ban on arms sales

The US
Germany
Denmark
(For details on each country listed, go here.)




There Is No Argument For Supporting Israel That’s Both Logical And Moral

by Caitlyn Johnstone:

It’s wild when you realize that nobody can actually articulate a reason why Israel should be supported that is both logically coherent and morally defensible.

Westerners grow up being indoctrinated with the understanding that this tiny country in the middle east is super duper important and needs to be supported and defended at all cost, but if you examine the reasons given for why this is so as an adult, you find that none of them really hold water.

“Israel is the only place where Jews can be safe!”
“The Jews deserve a homeland!”
“Israel is the only liberal democracy in the middle east.”
“I support Israel’s existence but I oppose the mistreatment of Palestinians.”
“Israel is essential for protecting our interests in the region.”
(Read Caitlyn Johnstone’s rebuttal to each of these statements here.)

Palestinians remove whatever belongings they can salvage from the area as the devastation left by the Israeli army’s withdrawal comes to light in eastern Deir al-Balah, Gaza on August 29, 2024. [Ali Jadallah – Anadolu Agency]
Palestinians remove whatever belongings they can salvage from the area as the devastation left by the Israeli army’s withdrawal comes to light in eastern Deir al-Balah, Gaza on August 29, 2024. [Ali Jadallah – Anadolu Agency] (photo)
Columbia U students will not be silenced on Palestine

Palestine Chronicle reports:

The students at Columbia University in New York City inaugurated their first day of the fall semester on Tuesday by staging pro-Palestine demonstrations.

This resulted in the arrest of two students by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) outside of Barnard gates, as reported by the Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine.

The group live-streamed on the social media platform X parts of the protests, stating that the NYPD officers were “extremely aggressive with students, shoving protestors against the barricades”.

The student group stressed that as long as their university remains complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza “there is no business as usual during a genocide.”

“We refuse to live in a world where the mass murder of Palestinians is normal, acceptable, and profitable. Columbia University is complicit in genocide. Their investments in weapons manufacturers & defense contractors, companies such as Lockheed Martin, are fueling the genocide,” the students said on X.

The students also posted photos and footage of the statue of Alma Mater, on the steps of Columbia’s library, soaked in red as a sign of their university’s financial support for Israel and repression of pro-Palestine voices amid genocide, per the group.

The statue of Alma Mater, on the steps of Columbia’s library, was soaked in red as the protests resumed. (Photo: via NationalSJP TW Page)
The statue of Alma Mater, on the steps of Columbia’s library, was soaked in red as the protests resumed. (Photo: via NationalSJP TW Page) (photo)
MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

The Guardian: Australia’s security chief says person who likes tweet supporting 7 October attacks on Israel could fail visa security test

The Cradle: Amnesty blasts UK ‘gesture politics’ after suspension of less than 10 percent of arms export licenses to Israel

Caitlyn’s Newsletter: The West Truly Doesn’t See Palestinians As Human

Al Jazeera: Paralympics: Palestine’s Aldeeb sees himself as the voice of his people

+972 Magazine: ‘This is also America’s war’: Why the U.S. isn’t stopping Israel’s Gaza onslaught

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – SEPTEMBER 3:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 3, 2024: at least 41,546* (40,861 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,251 children as of July 22. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 685 in the West Bank (~147 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 49,032 Palestinian deaths.

Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death9 to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.

Ralph Nader earlier estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 23 from West Bank).
At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
Almost 500,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – September 3: at least 100,098 (including at least 94,398 in Gaza and 5,700 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how man Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 3, 2024: ~1,452 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 288*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 25 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.

**Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals.

***Approximately ten of the deaths listed above were Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah in fighting at the Israel-Lebanon border. The figure does not include the reportedly 53 Israeli soldiers – nearly 16% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents.

† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org

Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
Alison Weir trending on social media – what the buzz is about
Israeli media’s coverage of the rape of Palestinian detainees shows support for sexual violence in service of genocide
Inside Israel’s torture, rape, and dehumanization centers
I’m a pediatrician. The scars I saw on Gaza’s children will take generations to heal.
What Harris’s Jewish outreach director said at a private DNC afterparty
‘Strong record of supporting the U.S.-Israel relationship’: a look at Tim Walz’s votes on Palestine as a member of Congress
Nearly Two-Thirds of All Campaign Funds for Cori Bush Challenger Came From AIPAC
Israeli army probe covered up “friendly fire” killings on October 7
Are US officials’ investments of public funds in Israeli bonds ethical? How much is too much?
Honoring the memory of a Gazan Olympic hero: Majed Abu Maraheel
An American was just shot in the West Bank. The American press can’t be bothered.
Understanding what motivates ultra-orthodox Jewish attacks on West Bank Palestinians
Palestinians’ harrowing stories of rape by Israeli soldiers (including female soldiers)
A Palestinian journalist visited Ismail Haniyeh’s home in Gaza to report on his death. Israel assassinated him too.
I reported a piece for the New York Times on antisemitism. I found a major error, but the Times didn’t care.
How Israel plans to whitewash its war crimes in Gaza
Why the West Bank is on the verge of economic collapse
Netanyahu’s plan to involve US in regional war on its behalf
Western media continue to withhold the truth about Israel and Gaza – 4 stories
“Well What SHOULD Israel Have Done After October 7?”
Welcome to Hell
More dead children. More BBC ‘news’ channelling Israeli propaganda as its own
U.S. media downplays and ignores ICJ ruling declaring Israeli occupation illegal
Israeli soldiers tell story of savage cruelty in Gaza – one given blessing by the West
Searching for Gaza’s missing children

https://israelpalestinenews.org/israeli-inflicted-palestinian-injuries-gaza-west-bank-surpass-100000-day-332/

Israel’s Barbarianism
How can Israel get away with it?

November 12, 2023

VT Condemns the ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINIANS by USA/Israel

$ 280 BILLION US TAXPAYER DOLLARS INVESTED since 1948 in US/Israeli Ethnic Cleansing and Occupation Operation; $ 150B direct "aid" and $ 130B in "Offense" contracts
Source: Embassy of Israel, Washington, D.C. and US Department of State.

The Secret Of The Indomitable Strength Of Israel’s Barbarianism Upon Palestinians And the World’s Impotency

by Mr. Nobody Zahir Ebrahim

How Can Israel Get Away With It?

If the world public really wants to understand the secret of the indomitable strength of Israeli barbarism upon unarmed Palestinian civilian men women and children with such impunity before the impotent world, fully aided and abetted by Western governments, with full propaganda covered by the Western news media, they have to understand the power of the name Rothschild and its ability to hide in plain sight because it owns all governments and all news media…

Statement on Israel-Palestine

United States of America, Monday, November 6, 2023

If the world public really wants to understand the secret of the indomitable strength of Israeli barbarism upon unarmed Palestinian civilian men women and children with such impunity before the impotent world; carried out with direct American and Western European governments’ aiding and abetting; executed by the indoctrinated foot soldiers of Zionism to save the Jews from the Amalekites, no differently from the indoctrinated foot soldiers of the Third Reich who carried out unspeakable horrors upon civilian populations under the blaring national trumpet of Lebensraum, and also not any differently from the unspeakable horrors inflicted upon civilian populations by the American and British Allied bombers from Dresden to Tokyo, not to forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki under their own blaring national trumpets; while the international banksters and Wall Street profited from enabling both sides in the merciless killings not just of the foot soldiers of nationalism and patriotism, but the millions of unarmed civilian populations treated as dispensable cattle, burnt and obliterated alive in an unparalleled real Shoah for which the heavens too must shed tears in shame at its own criminal culpability for exiling such an inhuman monstrous species to earth and calling this ugly creature “al insaan”, human being; the world public must first get acquainted with the god-like power of the name Rothschild. And its ability to hide in plain sight because it owns all Western governments, all politicians, and all news media.

Even today very few Westerners have actually ever seen the Balfour Declaration, let alone know that it is addressed to Lord Rothschild. Forget about ever understanding its short treacherous proclamation by the British Empire to the Jews. If they did, they’d at least wonder WHY; ask WHY? Ask who is this Rothschild character. Does it still exist? Why has no one from a high school student of world history to a university student of any discipline ever actually read the short sentence-long Balfour Declaration?


The Balfour Declaratiion
Very few people in the world have also ever seen this map of Eretz Yisrael…. for then they’d stop listening to their criminal news media and criminal politicians in suits waving Israeli propaganda of anti-Semitism and self-defense against the Amalekites in the world’s silly ignorant face with such arrogance.

Also, let’s stop fictitiously separating Jews from Zionists, and The Jewish State from The Zionist State for cowardly political correctness.

And just because there are some handful of vocal outstanding moral Jews among the 20 million or so total number of Jewry in the world — from few hundred to few thousand, less than one percent, for even if their conscience was at least 1 percent strong, that would have seen 2 million Jews protesting worldwide against Israeli barbarism — who don’t treat goy as inferior to them, and value their life as much, and at times even more than their own; including the handful of secular Jews such as the Jewish Voices for Peace, and the tiny Neturei Karta Anti-Zionist Jewish orthodox sect, who rise-up in protest marches, and even a tinier handful in Jewish organizations like International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who actively stand up in the Holy Land of Jewish oppression to defend the Palestinians and take IDF sniper bullets to their head like the young 22 years old British activist and photo journalist Tom Hurndall , or mercilessly and deliberately butchered under IDF Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers like the courageous young 23 years old American activist Rachel Corrie… all shouting Not In Our Name in virtually every Western country, including in Israel itself; and I of course salute these handful of real human being Jews as the real “Yahweh’s Chosen People” for they are better than us comatose 1.6 billion cowardly Muslims who all seem to be WAITING FOR ALLAH… ; let’s not forget that All Zionists in Israel are JEWS… and they claim so themselves, and most Jewry outside Israel, all mostly in important economic positions (none flip burgers in McDonald’s) support The Jewish State.

Let’s just have at least this little self-respect and moral decency left among the spectating world to call a spade a spade!

To really figure out why Israel can get away with its barbarism … and why wars are necessary … as David-Ben Gurion had famously explained the utility of revolutionary times to remake world order :

“What is inconceivable in normal times is possible in revolutionary times, and if at this time the opportunity is missed and what is possible at such great hours is not carried out – a whole world is lost.”,

See my attached book to this Press Release, Al Nakba 2020: World Order / Zionism – Palestinian-Goyim Studies | Yet Another Report on the Banality of Evil by Zahir Ebrahim



Download the PDF Book


ATTENTION READERS

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In fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.

About VT - Policies & Disclosures - Comment Policy
Due to the nature of uncensored content posted by VT's fully independent international writers, VT cannot guarantee absolute validity. All content is owned by the author exclusively. Expressed opinions are NOT necessarily the views of VT, other authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, or technicians. Some content may be satirical in nature. All images are the full responsibility of the article author and NOT VT.


https://www.vtforeignpolicy.com/2023/11/press-release-israels-barbarianism/

Corpse dump in Gaza, war crimes, Israel mulls possible preemptive strike on Iran – Day 303
[email protected] August 6, 2024 ceasefire, ethnic cleansing, hamas, Iran, iraq, Omer Dostri, palestinian state, smotrich, torture, unrwa, war crime, west bank deaths
Israeli occupation authorities return ‘unidentifiable’ bodies of 80 Palestinians to Gaza, on 5 August 2024 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor] (photo)
Israel hands over bags of decomposed bodies; Amnesty: Israel committing war crimes against Palestinian prisoners; US reportedly signs off on indefinite war; Hamas is in better shape than Netanyahu claims; Israel may strike Iran again; Netanyahu makes Israeli ethnic cleansing proponent official spokesperson; Smotrich makes blatant pro-ethnic cleansing statements; update on UNRWA October 7th probe; US is in the middle of Middle East activities; more.

By IAK staff, from reports.

Five police officers killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza

Middle East Eye reports: At least five members of the Palestinian police force were killed in an Israeli air raid targeting the vehicle they were traveling in, said Gaza’s interior ministry.

“The Israeli occupation continues its crimes against our people, as well as its direct targeting of members of the police force as part of its efforts to strike the home front and spread chaos in the Gaza Strip,” the ministry said.

“We call on the international community to put pressure on the occupation to stop its direct and repeated targeting of police officers, as they are civil protection personnel, as targeting them is a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law,” they added.

Israel has been targeting police officers and officials in Gaza throughout the war. Analysts say it is a deliberate attempt to create chaos. The absence of policing has created a state of lawlessness in Gaza.

Israel returns ‘unidentifiable’ bodies of 80 Palestinians to Gaza


Middle East Monitor reports: Israeli occupation authorities today handed over the bodies of more than 80 Palestinians killed in various circumstances during the Gaza war.

The corpses were transferred to the Strip in coordination with the International Red Cross (ICRC), which in turn handed them over to the Ministry of Health in Gaza in the city of Khan Yunis, where they were buried in a mass grave and a ceremony took place.

According to sources, the bodies were in different stages of decomposition and most had numbers but no names and were not identified.

Some 10,000 Palestinians are missing from Gaza, including those forcibly disappeared by Israel and the bodies of those Israel has exhumed from cemeteries across the enclave.

As a result of the occupation forces’ bombing campaign, medical facilities are very limited in Gaza and DNA tests cannot be carried out on the bodies returned today in an effort to identify them.

AL JAZEERA ADDS a quote from the Gaza Government Media office: “Over the course of 304 days of the genocide, the occupation has kidnapped more than 2,000 bodies of martyrs and dead people from dozens of cemeteries in the governorates of the Gaza Strip, which the occupation bulldozed with bulldozers and military vehicles and turned their graves over, in a scene that violates humanity and human feelings.”



Torture, sexual violence against Palestinian detainees ‘war crimes’, Amnesty says

Andalou Agency reports: Israel’s inhumane treatment of Palestinian detainees at Sde Teiman Prison in southern Israel, including torture and sexual violence, are “war crimes,” according to an official of Amnesty International, a global human rights watchdog.

“In its recent research, Amnesty International documented the harrowing torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees at Sde Teiman military camp and other detention facilities,” Sara Hashash, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, told Anadolu.

Hashash added that in the context of an armed conflict, torture and other ill-treatment, including sexual violence, are “war crimes.”

She said the organization interviewed 27 former detainees — all civilians arrested from the occupied Gaza Strip — including 20 men, six women and one child, who were held for periods ranging from two weeks to up to 140 days in military or Israeli Prison Service-run detention facilities.

“All of them said that during their incommunicado detention, Israeli military, intelligence and police forces subjected them to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” she added.

These accounts are consistent with findings of other human rights organizations and the UN bodies as well as numerous reports based on accounts of whistleblowers and released detainees, she added.

Regarding the reported gang-rape of a Palestinian detainee at the facility, she said the incident provided further evidence of the horrifying torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees that Amnesty International has already documented in its recent research.

Due to Israel’s poor track record on impartial investigation, she said there must be an independent impartial investigation by the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Prosecutor’s office to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice and to deter future violations.

She highlighted the urgent need for Israel to grant immediate access for independent monitors to places of detention.

RECOMMENDED READING: Welcome to Hell



US ‘guarantees’ Israel can resume Gaza war after captive swap: Report

The Cradle reports: The US has agreed to guarantee that Israel will be able to resume the war against the Palestinian resistance in Gaza after the first phase of an exchange deal, according to Hebrew media.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth and Haaretz, Washington has not yet given a written commitment, but has agreed in principle to the idea of Israel resuming the war once captives are exchanged.

Netanyahu is “still waiting for a letter of commitment from the Americans. This is a letter regarding the possibility of continuing the war between the first and second stages of the exchange deal,” Yedioth Ahronoth’s Ynet news site reported on 5 August, citing “prominent” sources.

“Netanyahu intends to demand, among other things, the disarmament of Hamas and the removal of its leadership, as a condition for the second part of the deal … they are not expected to go up well [in the security establishment],” it added.

“The US had already agreed to give this letter, in one form or another, and there are already drafts.”

US President Joe Biden responded to the ICC arrest warrant request for Israel's leaders by condemning it.
US President Joe Biden responded to the ICC arrest warrant request for Israel’s leaders by condemning it. (photo)
Ceasefire negotiations on hold until after Iran retaliation, replacement of Haniyeh: Report

Times of Israel reports: Negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire are currently on hold and are not expected to resume until after Iran carries out its promised retaliation against Israel for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

The negotiations are also on pause until Hamas selects a replacement for its politburo chief, according to two officials familiar with the situation.

Netanyahu says ‘victory’ over Hamas is in sight. The data tells a different story

CNN reports: Nearly half of Hamas’ military battalions in northern and central Gaza have rebuilt some of their fighting capabilities despite more than nine months of Israel’s brutal offensive, according to analyses by the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project, the Institute for the Study of War and CNN.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces growing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, has repeatedly said that Israeli forces are nearing their stated goal of eliminating Hamas and destroying its military capabilities. Addressing a joint meeting of Congress on July 24, he said: “Victory is in sight.”

But forensic analyses of Hamas’ military operations since it led attacks against Israel on October 7, which draw on Israeli and Hamas military statements, footage from the ground and interviews with experts and eyewitnesses, indicate that Israel has only destroyed three of the Qassam Brigades’ 24 fighting battalions.

The research, which covers Hamas’ activities up until July, shows that the group appears to have made effective use of dwindling resources on the ground. Several units have made a comeback in key areas cleared by the Israeli military after pitched battles and intensive bombardment, according to the new analyses, salvaging the remnants of their battalions in a desperate bid to replenish their ranks.

(Read the full article here.)

The Jibaliya refugee camp in Gaza City, 27 July. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
The Jibaliya refugee camp in Gaza City, 27 July. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images (photo)
Israel signals readiness for pre-emptive strikes against Iran, Hezbollah

Middle East Monitor reports: Israel has reportedly left the door open for possible pre-emptive strikes against Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, according to remarks made by government spokesperson David Mencer.

During a press briefing yesterday, Mencer neither confirmed nor denied whether the United States is preventing Israel from conducting pre-emptive strikes against Iran and Hezbollah amidst threats of retaliation for assassinations in Tehran and Beirut.

“In the past, we have carried out some remarkable pre-emptive strikes and did not wait for an attack on us when an attack appeared imminent,” Mencer said.

“Israel will take the appropriate action decided by its elected government to protect the people, and there is no doubt this country will be safeguarded,” he continued.

“If any pre-emptive action needs to be taken, it will be authorized by the government and directed to the Israeli military, which will carry out the government’s decisions.”

srael has raised its state of alert in recent days, anticipating military retaliation from Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas following the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last Wednesday, and prominent Hezbollah military leader Fuad Shukr in Beirut a day earlier.

Meanwhile, Israeli calls have intensified for “pre-emptive strikes” to prevent a potential retaliation.

Tanks, armored personnel carriers and military jeeps belonging to the Israeli army are seen from the areas close to the Israel – Gaza Strip border line while Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip, which started on October 7, continue uninterruptedly in Israel on July 02, 2024. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]
Tanks, armored personnel carriers and military jeeps belonging to the Israeli army are seen from the areas close to the Israel – Gaza Strip border line while Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip, which started on October 7, continue uninterruptedly in Israel on July 02, 2024. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency] (PHOTO)
Netanyahu Appoints New Spokesman Who Wants Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza

Ha’aretz reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed Dr. Omer Dostri as his new official spokesperson. Dostri has publicly shared his support for the voluntary [sic] transfer of Gazans, Jewish settlement of the Gaza Strip, and opposition to a Palestinian state. He will be responsible for leading the communications division in the Prime Minister’s Office.

In his writings, Dostri has described the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state as a “disaster for Israel.” Writing in January, Dostri said, “There is no victory over Hamas without three basic conditions: military occupation of the entire Gaza Strip, military and civilian control of the area, and encouragement of voluntary migration of Gazans out of the strip.”

In December, he called for the Egyptian president to be promised “an economic and perhaps even security package” to agree to the transfer of “Gaza refugees to Sinai, even if only temporarily.”

He wrote, “Israel must order the rapid establishment of Israeli settlements in many of the areas it occupies, especially those close to the current border.”

He explained that “more than killing terrorist operatives and senior leaders, more than destroying buildings and infrastructure, more than capturing prisoners – the extremist Islamic enemy will be struck down and fall to the ground when Israeli settlements are built on the ruins of its territory. This will be the true, significant, and most deterrent Israeli victory.”

NOTE: In reality, International law supports the efforts of resistance groups against an occupying power, even to the point of armed resistance.

Hamas has clearly and openly stated that its enemy is not the Jewish people, but the racist ideology of Zionism – the ideology under which Israel dispossessed 750,000 Palestinian people, exiled them to Gaza and other locations, and continues to oppress and ethnically cleanse their population.

The use of words like “terrorist” and “extremist” for a group that resists occupation and oppression is a political, not fact-based choice.

Smotrich: Israel is expanding settlements to block Palestinian statehood


Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X that Israel has expanded the construction of settlements “to remove the threat” of Palestinian statehood.

The far-right minister stated that “this agenda” would be blocked through “strengthening settlements in construction, development, establishment and regulation of settlements and infrastructure”.

“Stopping the Arab takeover of the open areas, fighting the terrorist financing of the Palestinian Authority and its leaders and complete Israeli control of the territory [the occupied West Bank]. This is the only way,” Smotrich added.

Western countries, including the US, have repeatedly expressed support for the creation of a Palestinian state within the framework of a two-state solution.

Blocking aid to Gaza ‘justified and moral’ even if 2 million civilians starve, Israel minister says


Middle East Monitor reports: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced today that blocking humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip might be “justified and moral,” even if it results in the starvation of two million civilians.

“We are bringing in aid because there is no choice. We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause two million civilians to die of hunger even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned…We live today in a certain reality, we need international legitimacy for this war.” he said.

According to the Times of Israel, the far-right minister further claimed that Israel needs to regain complete control over what enters the Gaza Strip, claiming that Hamas diverting the aid is the “main factor” prolonging the war.

COMMON DREAMS ADDS: Peace Now, an anti-occupation Israeli group, condemned Smotrich’s remarks in several social media posts, expressing disbelief that a “senior member of our government” would say such a thing and arguing that it would be “justified” for the U.S. to sanction Smotrich.

“All the way to the Hague,” Peace Now wrote, suggesting that Smotrich or other Israeli leaders were guilty of war crimes.


Inconclusive UN probe says nine UNRWA workers ‘may have’ been involved in 7 October attacks on Israel

Middle East Eye reports: An internal UN investigation concluded in a highly-anticipated investigation that nine staff members of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) “may have been involved” in the 7 October attacks on southern Israel last year.

UNRWA has fired those employees and said they can no longer work for the agency but did not say that the evidence of those employees’ alleged involvement was concrete.

“The evidence – if authenticated and corroborated – could indicate that the UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the attacks of 7 October,” Philippe Lazzarini, Unrwa commissioner general, said in a statement on Monday.

“I have decided that in the case of these remaining nine staff members, they cannot work for UNRWA. All contracts of these staff members will be terminated in the interest of the Agency.”

RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Chris Guiness on UNRWA report

UNRWA is the key agency providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza [GETTY]
UNRWA is the key agency providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza [GETTY] (photo)
Four Palestinians are killed in Israeli raid in West Bank

The New Arab reports: The Palestinian Health Ministry said Tuesday that Israeli forces carried out a raid overnight Monday in the village of Aqaaba in the northern West Bank, killing four.

Those killed included two 19-year-olds and a 14-year-old.

IMEMC ADDS: Several Israeli military vehicles invaded Aqaba town, leading to protests before the army fired barrages of live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets, and gas bombs.

More than ten Palestinians were injured in the incident.

US CENTCOM chief in Israel for ‘preparations’ against Iran, Hezbollah

Axios reports: The U.S. general in charge of American forces in the Middle East arrived in the region on Saturday as preparations continue for a possible attack against Israel from Iran in retaliation for the assassinations of senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, two U.S. officials said.

Gen. Michael Kurilla’s trip to the region was planned before the recent escalation between Israel, Iran and Hezbollah but he is expected to use the trip to try to mobilize the same international and regional coalition that defended Israel against an attack from Iran on Apr. 13, a U.S. official said.

A U.S. official said the Biden administration wanted to announce the boosting of U.S. forces on Friday as Iran and Hezbollah were still discussing what their retaliation would look like with the hope that the announcement would help to deter them and influence their military plans. [

[For info on Iran go here.]

State Dept calls for Iran to waive its right to self-defense

State Dept press briefing: When asked whether various countries are intervening with Iran to de-escalate the situation with Israel, State Dept spokesperson Matt Miller said that the US has been urging countries to “make clear to Iran that it is very much not in their interests to escalate this conflict, that it is very much not in their interests to launch another attack on Israel.

A reporter seeking clarification asked, “So there’s a consensus position against escalation, but is there a consensus on whether Iran does have the right to launch any kind of retaliatory act?”

Miller replied, “I’m going to answer that question this way: The right is one question; what’s productive is another. And ultimately, we don’t think it’s productive or conducive to anyone’s interests, including Iran’s, to conduct further actions, be they retaliatory or not. Any further action by Iran just raises the risk of increased tensions.”

U.S. personnel hurt in attack against base in Iraq, officials say

Reuters reports: Several U.S. personnel were injured in an attack against a military base in Iraq on Monday, three U.S. officials told Reuters.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the suspected rocket attack took place at Al Asad airbase in Iraq. They said they were citing initial information which could change.

Two Katyusha rockets were fired at al Asad airbase in western Iraq, two Iraqi security sources said. One Iraqi security source said the rockets fell inside the base. It was unclear whether the attack was linked to threats by Iran to retaliate over the killings.

AL JAZEERA ADDS: According to the White House’s press office, President Biden discussed with his national security team steps the US is taking to defend its forces and respond in a manner of its choosing and place.

[For info on Iraq go here.]

NOTE: It appears that the Biden administration is not waiving the US’s right to self-defense, as it is asking Iran to do.

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

Al Jazeera: The US is no longer the senior partner in the US-Israel relationship


STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 5:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – August 5: at least 40,257* (39,653 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,251 children as of July 22. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 604 in the West Bank (~140 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 46,848 Palestinian deaths.

Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death9 to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.

Ralph Nader earlier estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
2.15 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are projected to face Crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – August 5: at least 96,955 (including at least 91,535 in Gaza and 5,420 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how man Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – August 5: ~1,486 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 331 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

Times of Israel reports: The IDF listed 41 soldiers killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents – nearly 16%.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.**

Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals.

† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org

Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
Welcome to Hell
More dead children. More BBC ‘news’ channelling Israeli propaganda as its own
U.S. media downplays and ignores ICJ ruling declaring Israeli occupation illegal
Israeli soldiers tell story of savage cruelty in Gaza – one given blessing by the West
Searching for Gaza’s missing children
What Would You Do With An Extra $320 Million?
Assassination of Haniyeh an intentional, dangerous escalation – Parsi, Macgregor
When Israel Burned Refugees Alive, Establishment Media Called It a ‘Tragic Accident’
Israel has turbocharged West Bank housing demolitions under the cover of war
Western media ignores Israeli confirmation of Hannibal Directive on 7 Oct
US Should Arrest Benjamin Netanyahu When He’s in Washington
Airwars investigation: Israeli airstrikes uniquely lethal (video)
Hesen Jabr paid the price of conscience
Gaza genocide denial
Why the news media’s job is to groom us
‘Disappeared, buried, detained’: The horrors of Gaza’s missing children
Hundreds of social media influencers attend Israel strategy summit in NYC
Supporting Israel Is Big Business in the U.S. for Israel partisans
Toys, spices, sewing machines: the items Israel banned from entering Gaza
Synopsis of ICJ’s decision on Israeli occupation, reactions, and take-aways
Russia attacks hospitals in Ukraine; Israel does the same in Gaza. The US response couldn’t be more different.
‘I have the prison inside me’: The emaciated Palestinian bodybuilder broken by Israel
Israel has manufactured an industrial-scale version of Jim Crow rape hoaxes
If Americans Knew Mobile Billboard Truck at Republican Convention
Col. Douglas MacGregor: US is under the control of Israel, likens Gaza to Warsaw Ghetto

https://israelpalestinenews.org/corpse-dump-in-gaza-war-crimes-israel-mulls-possible-preemptive-strike-on-iran-day-303/

Israel has killed over 600 in West Bank since October 7th – Day 301
[email protected] August 4, 2024 Bram Settenbrino, hamas, home demolition, israeli attack west bank, israeli settlement, josh shapiro, netanyahu lying, neturei karta
One of the latest massacres to take place in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (photo)
Israel rains death and destruction on Gaza and West Bank; UNRWA gradually resumes educational activities; anti-Zionist rabbis attend Haniyeh’s funeral; Israeli-American soldier posted videos of Gaza homes, mosque being detonated; Kamala Harris VP contender Shapiro has ties to Israeli military; US aircraft carrier has eyes on Iran; US official says Biden figured out Netanyahu has been lying to him.

By IAK staff, from reports.

Israeli attack on school in Gaza kills at least 15 people

Al Jazeera reports: At least 15 people have been killed in multiple Israeli air raids on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza on Saturday, Gaza’s Government Media Office said.

Many others were reportedly injured in the attack on the Hamama school in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on Saturday, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said that at least three bombs were dropped on the school as rescuers and volunteers inside the facility were trying to help people escape from under the rubble from a bomb just a few minutes earlier.

“Those three bombs destroyed the facility completely. This is the tactic that the Israeli military has widely used in the past. The military drops a bomb that partially destroys facilities, namely evacuation centers, killing a number of people, and then within a few minutes, it drops other bombs,” he said.

The Israeli military said the school was being used as a command centre for Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs Gaza, to hide fighters and manufacture weapons.


Israeli army bombs university in Gaza City, destroying campus buildings


Andalou Agency reports: The Israeli army bombed the University College of Applied Sciences in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of southwest Gaza City, completely destroying campus buildings, the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza reported on Saturday.

Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said in a press release that “Israeli occupation forces, which have penetrated the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, executed operations of bombing and destroying the university buildings, leading to their total demolition.”

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that massive explosions were heard around the university premises, and thick clouds of smoke were seen rising from the area.

Since the onset of the devastating Israeli war on Gaza on Oct. 7, the Israeli army has deliberately targeted and destroyed educational institutions, particularly during ground offensives.

According to statistics from the Government Media Office in Gaza, Israel has destroyed 117 schools and universities, damaged 332 others, and killed 107 scientists, university professors, and researchers.

West Bank: Israeli Drone Strikes Assassinate Nine Palestinians Near Tulkarem

IMEMC reports: Israeli forces assassinated, on Saturday, nine Palestinian young men in two separate drone strikes in the Tulkarem governorate, in northwestern part of the West Bank.

Media sources said that early Saturday morning, an armed Israeli drone fired two missiles at a vehicle carrying five Palestinian young men on a road northeast of Tulkarem.

According to the director of the Martyr Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarem, reported that five badly burned bodies arrived at the hospital, only one of whom was identified as Haitham Nour al-Din Balidi, 25, from the Tulkarem refugee camp.

Meanwhile, at dawn on Saturday, occupation forces invaded the city of Tulkarem, accompanied by four military bulldozers, which proceeded to raze streets and infrastructure in the city, while reconnaissance drones flew overhead.

Bulldozers destroyed streets and privately-owned property in the eastern part of the city and razed streets and infrastructure inside the Tulkarem camp, amid heavy gunfire.

The army reportedly opened fire with tear gas canisters towards a group of journalists near the Tulkarem camp, causing at least three of them to sustain inhalation injuries.

Furthermore, on Saturday afternoon, a second Israeli drone strike killed four more Palestinian citizens while they were present on lands located between the towns of Iktaba and Bal’a, northeast of the city.

Media sources said that an armed Israeli drone fired a missile at a group of citizens, killing four young men.

Sources added that a large army force surrounded the site, prevented ambulance crews from reaching the slain men, before confiscating the bodies.

AL JAZEERA ADDS: Israel is averaging 40 raids per day in the occupied West Bank, a massive increase since the war started.

West Bank: contrary to Int’l Court ruling, Israel demolished Palestinian structures, approved settlement plans in July

Andalou Agency reports: The Israeli army demolished 135 homes and other facilities in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in July alone, the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Committee reported on Saturday.

According to the committee’s monthly report, “Israeli authorities carried out 98 demolition activities in July, affecting 135 structures, including 62 inhabited homes, 14 uninhabited homes, and 12 agricultural facilities.”

The report also noted that the Israeli army issued demolition notices for 16 homes and other structures in several West Bank provinces.

Regarding illegal Israeli settler attacks, the report said “Illegal settlers carried out 196 assaults ranging from land seizures and expansion activities to extrajudicial executions, vandalism, land leveling, tree uprooting, property seizures, roadblocks, and the burning of homes and vehicles.”

The report stated: “Israeli authorities reviewed 54 illegal settlement plans for the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in July, approving 20, including one in Jerusalem and 19 in West Bank settlements.”

Additionally, 33 plans were submitted for future approval, with one in Jerusalem and 32 in West Bank provinces.

According to the report, Israeli authorities also “legalized three new settlement outposts, adding to the 11 outposts already in the process of legalization since the beginning of the year.”

Settlement outposts are small communities established by illegal Israeli settlers on privately owned Palestinian land without approval from the Israeli government.

In a landmark opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

UN agency gradually resuming educational activities in Gaza amid Israeli offensive


Andalou Agency reports: The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced on Saturday that it began a gradual resumption of educational activities in some shelters in the central and southern Gaza Strip this week.

In an interview with Anadolu, UNRWA Media Director Inas Hamdan explained that the resumed activities are part of a longer-term plan, focusing initially on sports, arts, drama, and games.

She added that these activities will also include psychosocial support for students in various shelters, tailored to the prevailing conditions.

Hamdan stressed that while this step aims to help children affected by the ongoing war regain a semblance of normalcy, it is still too early to discuss a comprehensive educational plan due to the continuing war and multiple challenges.

The UNRWA reported earlier this week that 85% of its schools in Gaza, or 477 out of 564 buildings, have been either directly damaged or require significant repairs to become operational again.

RECOMMENDED READING: ‘Suffering horrifically’: 10 months of Israel’s ‘war on children’ in Gaza

Anti-Zionist rabbis attend Haniyeh’s funeral in Doha

Andalou Agency reports: Rabbis from the anti-Zionist Jewish movement “Neturei Karta” attended the funeral of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Qatari capital Doha.

Neturei Karta announced on its Facebook page that “anti-Zionist Jewish Rabbis arrived in Qatar to participate in the funeral procession of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh.”

A viral video from Haniyeh’s funeral showed these rabbis holding signs reading “Jews are not Zionists.”

This movement is made up of Orthodox Jews who say Zionism is an ideology that does not represent Judaism.

“This latest crime was committed amidst the ten-month-long genocide launched on the besieged Gaza, with tens of thousands killed in the brutal aggressive war, leading to a humanitarian disaster within the territory under siege,” the movement said.

Neturei Karta revealed that its rabbis had met with Haniyeh during a “historic humanitarian visit” to Gaza in 2009, where they “emphasized the authentic Jewish opposition to Zionism and the hope to live peacefully as we did historically.”

The rabbinic delegation had assured Haniyeh that “according to the Jewish religion, Jews are forbidden to have their own sovereign state and are forbidden to kill, steal, or fight any nation.”

They informed Haniyeh that “authentic Jews stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people until total liberation” and pointed out that “the State of Israel does not represent the Jewish people, and the nationalistic movement does not represent Judaism, which is a holy religion.”

Hamas says it has started process of choosing new leader

Al Jazeera reports: Hamas has issued a statement saying it has initiated a broad consultation process to select a new leader of its movement following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.

Haniyeh headed the group’s political bureau. His deputy, Saleh al-Arouri, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut in January, would have been the automatic replacement.

Several top Hamas officials could replace Haniyeh once the group’s Shura council, the main consultative body, meets.

NYT ‘completely fabricated’ report saying Haniyeh killed by remote bomb: Hamas

The Cradle reports: Speaking to The Cradle, Hamas representative in Iran Khaled Kaddoumi called “ridiculous” and “completely fabricated” a recent New York Times (NYT) report claiming to reveal how Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran this week.

The NYT report from 1 August claimed Haniyeh was killed by an explosive device planted in his room in a guest house controlled by the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC). The bomb was planted two months ago and detonated remotely by Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad, NYT report claimed.

Haniyeh was in the Iranian capital, Tehran, for the inauguration of newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian.

In contrast, Kaddoumi stated that Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed by explosives dropped from the air.

“I was there, and the wall and ceiling of the place where he was were collapsed. It is clear from the appearance of the place after the attack, and from the body of the martyr leader Ismail Haniyeh, that the targeting was carried out by an air-dropped projectile,” Kaddoumi told The Cradle.

He noted further, “There are ongoing investigations, and technicians who inspected the crime scene will issue detailed reports on what happened.”



Israeli-American soldier posted videos showing detonation of Gaza homes and mosque

The Guardian reports: An American-Israeli man deployed in Gaza with a combat engineering unit of Israel’s armed forces posted videos online that show indiscriminate fire at a destroyed building and the detonation of homes and a mosque.

One video posted by the man, Bram Settenbrino, and filmed from the shooter’s viewpoint, shows dozens of rounds being fired into the ruins of a building. Another video shows what appears to be an armored vehicle’s fire-control system trained on a mosque before it is razed to the ground. Others depict the detonation of several homes as soldiers cheer.

It is not clear whether Settenbrino personally filmed the videos or was involved in the acts depicted in them, but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Settenbrino did not dispute the videos’ authenticity. The videos recently went viral on X, drawing accusations that they showed “war crimes”. Settenbrino wrote in a message to the Guardian that the videos were “taken out of context” but declined to elaborate. “I have not committed any war crimes whatsoever,” he added.

After the Guardian reached out to Settenbrino and his family, his father published a response attributed to his son through Arutz Sheva, a news site associated with the settler right. “The machine gun fire video in question was suppressive fire in an area cleared of civilians after my team was attacked by Hamas terrorists from that area. The mosque that was blown up was being used to house armed terrorists and weapons stockpiles and used as a base to attack IDF soldiers.”

The soldier’s father said his son had “sent a congratulatory video dedicating a detonation to honor a friend’s new marriage”, and that the family business had received threats since the videos began circulating.

Israeli soldiers have shared scores of videos during the 10-month war showing themselves mocking Palestinians in Gaza and destroying Palestinian property. Some have been used as evidence in the genocide case against Israel at the international court of justice (ICJ).

With thousands of Americans serving in the IDF, potential misconduct documented by soldiers themselves raises uncomfortable questions for US officials about their willingness to enforce federal law against citizens acting in an overseas war the US government funds and supports.

The extensive destruction of property, when “not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly” is a violation of international law regulating conflict and a war crime under US law.


Kamala Harris VP contender Josh Shapiro downplays Israeli military volunteer experience

Times of Israel reports: Pennsylvania Governor and potential Democratic vice presidential nominee Josh Shapiro on Friday sought to distance himself from a recently uncovered op-ed he wrote in college, in which he identified as a former volunteer in the IDF and argued that the Palestinians are too “battle-minded” to pursue peace with Israel.

“While he was in high school, Josh Shapiro was required to do a service project, which he and several classmates completed through a program that took them to a kibbutz in Israel where he worked on a farm and at a fishery,” Shapiro’s spokesperson Manuel Bonder told The Times of Israel.

“The program also included volunteering on service projects on an Israeli army base. At no time was he engaged in any military activities,” Bonder added in a statement responding to an inquiry regarding the nature of his volunteer work.

While Shapiro’s Jewish roots are well established — including his enrollment at the Akiba Hebrew Academy in Philadelphia — the op-ed from his time at the University of Rochester appeared to be the first revelation of such direct ties to the IDF.

“Palestinians will not coexist peacefully,” Shapiro also wrote in a 1993 op-ed titled “Peace Not Possible.”

“They do not have the capabilities to establish their own homeland and make it successful even with the aid of Israel and the United States. They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own,” added the then-20-year-old student.

Salon reports that Shapiro’s support for Israel has continued in recent times:

“On the contentious issue of Israel’s relentless war against civilians in Gaza, Shapiro sounds much less bothered by the lethal violence than by U.S. activists for Palestinian lives, many of whom he has demonized.”

“In 2021, after Ben & Jerry’s (a company founded and led by Jewish Americans) refused to sell its products in Israel’s illegal settlements, Shapiro, who was then Pennsylvania’s attorney general, threatened the company by urging state agencies to enforce a constitutionally suspect law targeting advocates of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, against Israel over its discriminatory policies.

Shapiro smeared such advocates by claiming that “BDS is rooted in antisemitism” – although the effort has wide support globally, including from many Jews, as a thoroughly nonviolent tactic aimed at advancing Palestinian rights.”

After the Oct. 7 attack, critics objected Gov. Shapiro’s one-sided comments: “Not only did you fail to recognize the structural root causes of the conflict,” they argued, “you chose to intentionally ignore the civilian loss of life in Gaza.”

After Democratic governors in other states had called for a ceasefire in Gaza, Shapiro refused to do so.

On May 9, Shapiro invoked student “safety” in demanding the encampment be shut down. Police arrested 33 people. In two different interviews, Shapiro seemed to compare campus ceasefire activists, many of whom are Jewish or students of color, to “white supremacists”…



US aircraft carrier arrives in the Strait of Hormuz: Report

Al Jazeera reports: Israeli Army Radio reports that the US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt has arrived in the Strait of Hormuz, just 10km (6.2 miles) from the coast of Iran, amid fears of Iranian retaliation for the killings of Hamas’s political leader in Tehran and a Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the Middle East and areas under the United States European Command, as well as a new fighter squadron to the Middle East.

In April, the US, UK, France and Jordan helped shoot down missiles and drones fired by Iran at Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike on Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Friday that “the Department of Defense continues to take steps to mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran or Iran’s partners and proxies”.

U.S. Official: Biden Realized Netanyahu Lied to Him About Hostage Deal

Ha’aretz reports: A senior official in the Biden administration told Haaretz on Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ungrateful toward the United States and disregards the significant amount of aid it has provided to Israel throughout the past 10 months of war.

The official also said that the last two conversations between President Joe Biden and Netanyahu – one during a meeting at the White House some 10 days ago, the other over the phone last week – were difficult and tense.

“Biden realized that Netanyahu was lying to him about the hostages,” the official told Haaretz. “He’s not saying it publicly yet, but in the meeting between them, he specifically told him, ‘Stop bullshitting me.'”

“Netanyahu is trying to prolong the war instead of focusing on how to get to a hostage deal,” the official said. “It’s making it harder for us to continue supporting Israel over time.”

Netanyahu responded to the reports Saturday night about the tense conversations between him and Biden through a press release attributed to the Prime Minister’s Office that read, “The prime minister does not interfere in American politics and will work with whoever is elected president, just as he also expects the Americans not to interfere in Israeli politics.”

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.


STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 3:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – August 3: at least 40,186* (39,583 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,251 children as of July 22. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 603 in the West Bank (~140 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 46,848 Palestinian deaths.

Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death9 to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.

Ralph Nader earlier estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
2.15 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are projected to face Crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – August 3: at least 96,818 (including at least 91,398 in Gaza and 5,420 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how man Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – August 3: ~1,486 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 331 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

Times of Israel reports: The IDF listed 41 soldiers killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents – nearly 16%.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.**

Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals.

† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org

Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
More dead children. More BBC ‘news’ channelling Israeli propaganda as its own
U.S. media downplays and ignores ICJ ruling declaring Israeli occupation illegal
Israeli soldiers tell story of savage cruelty in Gaza – one given blessing by the West
Searching for Gaza’s missing children
What Would You Do With An Extra $320 Million?
Assassination of Haniyeh an intentional, dangerous escalation – Parsi, Macgregor
When Israel Burned Refugees Alive, Establishment Media Called It a ‘Tragic Accident’
Israel has turbocharged West Bank housing demolitions under the cover of war
Western media ignores Israeli confirmation of Hannibal Directive on 7 Oct
US Should Arrest Benjamin Netanyahu When He’s in Washington
Airwars investigation: Israeli airstrikes uniquely lethal (video)
Hesen Jabr paid the price of conscience
Gaza genocide denial
Why the news media’s job is to groom us
‘Disappeared, buried, detained’: The horrors of Gaza’s missing children
Hundreds of social media influencers attend Israel strategy summit in NYC
Supporting Israel Is Big Business in the U.S. for Israel partisans
Toys, spices, sewing machines: the items Israel banned from entering Gaza
Synopsis of ICJ’s decision on Israeli occupation, reactions, and take-aways
Russia attacks hospitals in Ukraine; Israel does the same in Gaza. The US response couldn’t be more different.
‘I have the prison inside me’: The emaciated Palestinian bodybuilder broken by Israel
Israel has manufactured an industrial-scale version of Jim Crow rape hoaxes
If Americans Knew Mobile Billboard Truck at Republican Convention
Col. Douglas MacGregor: US is under the control of Israel, likens Gaza to Warsaw Ghetto

https://israelpalestinenews.org/israel-killed-over-600-west-bank-since-october-7th-day-301/

https://donshafi911iamthefaceoftruth.blogspot.com/2024/08/israel-has-killed-over-600-in-west-bank.html

Israeli soldiers tell story of savage cruelty in Gaza – one given blessing by the West
[email protected] August 2, 2024 genocide in Gaza, international criminal court, Israeli drone strikes, Lavender AI, rebuilding Gaza, rules of engagement, US weapons
Israel has torn up the rulebook on war. According to sources within the Israeli military, it now considers it acceptable to kill more than 100 Palestinian civilians in the pursuit of a single Hamas commander – a commander, let us note, who will simply be replaced the moment he is dead. (photo)


Women and children in Gaza are being targeted intentionally, say Israeli whistleblowers. From ground troops to commanders, the rules of war have been shredded.

by Jonathan Cook, reposted from Middle East Eye, July 18, 2024

They just keep coming. On the weekend, Israel launched another devastating air strike on Gaza, killing at least 90 Palestinians and wounding hundreds more, including women, children and rescue workers.

Once again, Israel targeted refugees displaced by its earlier bombs, turning an area it had formally declared a “safe zone” into a killing field.

And once more, western powers shrugged their shoulders. They were too busy accusing Russia of war crimes to have time to worry about the far worse war crimes being inflicted on Gaza by their Israeli ally – with weapons they supplied.

The atrocity committed at al-Mawasi camp, packed with 80,000 civilians, had the usual Israeli cover story – one rolled out to reassure western publics that their leaders are not the utter hypocrites they appear to be for supporting what the World Court has described as a “plausible genocide.”

Israel said it was trying to hit two Hamas leaders – one of them Mohammed Deif, head of the group’s military wing – although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed uncertain as to whether the strike was successful.

No one in the western media appeared to wonder why the pair preferred to make themselves a target in an overcrowded, makeshift refugee camp, where they were at huge risk of being betrayed by an Israeli informant, rather than sheltering in Hamas’s extensive tunnel network.

Or why Israel deemed it necessary to fire a multitude of massive bombs and missiles to take out two individuals. Is that Israel’s new, expansive redefinition of a “targeted assassination?”

Or why its pilots and drone operators continued the strikes to hit emergency rescue crews dealing with the initial destruction. Was there intelligence that Deif was not just hiding in the camp, but had hung around to dig out survivors, too?

Or how killing and maiming hundreds of civilians in an attempt to hit two Hamas fighters could ever possibly satisfy the most basic principles of international law. “Proportion” and “distinction” require armies to weigh the military advantage of an attack against the expected toll on civilian life.

Biblical vengeance

But Israel has torn up the rulebook on war. According to sources within the Israeli military, it now considers it acceptable to kill more than 100 Palestinian civilians in the pursuit of a single Hamas commander – a commander, let us note, who will simply be replaced the moment he is dead.

Even if the two Hamas leaders were assassinated, Israel could not have been in any doubt that it was perpetrating a war crime. But it has learned that, the more routine its war crimes become, the less coverage they receive – and the less outrage they provoke.

In recent days, Israel has struck several United Nations schools serving as shelters, killing dozens more Palestinians. On Tuesday, another strike in the “safe zone” of al-Mawasi killed 17.

According to the UN refugee agency, UNRWA, more than 70 percent of its schools – almost all of them serving as refugee shelters – have been bombed.

Last week, western doctors who had volunteered in Gaza said Israel was packing its weapons with shrapnel to maximize injuries to those caught in the blast radius. Children, because of their smaller bodies, were being left with much more severe wounds.

Aid agencies cannot properly treat the wounded, because Israel has been blocking the entry of medical supplies into Gaza. Committing war crimes, if western publics have not worked it out by now, is the very point of the “military operation” Israel launched in Gaza in the wake of Hamas’s one-day attack on October 7.

That is why there are more than 38,800 known deaths from Israel’s 10-month assault – and likely at least four times that number unrecorded, according to leading researchers writing in the Lancet medical journal this month.

That is why it will take at least 15 years to clear the rubble strewn across Gaza by Israeli bombs, according to the UN, and as much as 80 years – and $50 billion – to rebuild homes for the remnants of the enclave’s 2.3 million people still alive at the end.

Israel’s twin goals have been biblical vengeance and the elimination of Gaza – a genocidal rampage to drive the terrified population out, ideally into neighboring Egypt.

Shoot-everyone policy

If that was not clear enough already, six Israeli soldiers recently stepped forward to speak out about what they had witnessed while serving in Gaza – a story the western media has entirely failed to report.

Their testimonies, published by the Israel-based publication 972 last week, confirm what Palestinians have been saying for months.

Commanders have authorized them to open fire on Palestinians at will. Anyone entering an area the Israeli military is treating as a “no-go zone” is shot on sight, whether man, woman or child.

Back in March, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz warned that the Israeli military had created just such “kill zones,” where anyone entering was executed without warning.



After months of an Israeli aid blockade that has created a man-made famine, Israel’s military has turned the people of Gaza’s ever-more frantic search for food into a game of Russian roulette.

This perhaps explains, in part, why so many Palestinians are unaccounted for – Save the Children estimates some 21,000 children are missing. The soldiers quoted in 972 say the victims of their shoot-everyone policy are bulldozed out of view along routes where international aid convoys pass.

A reserve soldier, identified only as S, said a Caterpillar bulldozer “clears the area of corpses, buries them under the rubble, and flips [them] aside so that the convoys don’t see it – [so that] images of people in advanced stages of decay don’t come out.” The soldier also noted: “The whole area [of Gaza where the army operates] was full of bodies… There is a horrific smell of death.”

Several of the soldiers reported that stray cats and dogs, denied food and water for months just like Gaza’s population, feed on the dead bodies.

The Israeli military has repeatedly refused to publish its open-fire regulations since it was first challenged to do so in the Israeli courts in the 1980s.

A soldier named B told 972 that the Israeli army enjoyed “total freedom of action,” with soldiers expected to shoot directly at any Palestinian approaching their positions, rather than a warning shot in the air: “It’s permissible to shoot everyone, a young girl, an old woman.”

When civilians were ordered to evacuate from a school serving as a shelter in Gaza City, B added, some mistakenly exited right towards the soldiers, rather than to the left. That included children. “Everyone who went to the right was killed – 15 to 20 people. There was a pile of bodies.”

According to B, any Palestinian in Gaza can inadvertently find themselves a target: “It is forbidden to walk around, and everyone who is outside is suspicious. If we see someone in a window looking at us, he is a suspect. You shoot.”

‘Like a computer game’

Drawing on military practices familiar in the occupied West Bank too, the Israeli army encourages its soldiers to shoot even when no one is engaging them. These random, indiscriminate eruptions of fire are known as “demonstrating presence” – or more accurately, terrorizing and endangering the civilian population.

In other instances, soldiers open fire just to let off steam, have fun, or, as one soldier put it, “experience the event” of being in Gaza.

Yuval Green, a 26-year-old reservist from Jerusalem, the only soldier prepared to be named, observed: “People were shooting just to relieve the boredom.”

Another soldier, M, similarly noted that “the shooting is very unrestricted, like crazy” – and not just from small arms. Troops use machine guns, tanks and mortar rounds in a similar, unwarranted frenzy.

A, an officer in the army’s operations directorate, pointed out that this mood of utter recklessness extended all the way up the chain of command.

Although the destruction of hospitals, schools, mosques, churches and international aid organizations requires authorization from a senior officer, in practice, such operations are almost always approved. A said: “I can count on one hand the cases where we were told not to shoot. Even with sensitive things like schools, [approval] feels like only a formality … No one will shed a tear if we flatten a house when there was no need, or if we shoot someone who we didn’t have to.”

Commenting on the mood in the operations room, A said destroying buildings often “felt like a computer game.” In addition, A cast doubt on Israel’s claim that Hamas fighters comprised a high proportion of Gaza’s death toll. Anyone caught in Israel’s “kill zones” or targeted by a bored soldier was counted as a “terrorist.”

Burning homes

The soldiers also reported that their commanders destroyed homes not because they were suspected of serving as bases for Hamas fighters, but purely out of an urge for revenge against the entire population.

Their testimonies confirm an earlier Haaretz report that the army was implementing a policy of torching Palestinian homes after they served their purpose as temporary locations for soldiers. Green said the principle was: “If you move [on], you have to burn down the house.” According to B, his company “burned hundreds of houses.”

A policy of wanton, vengeful destruction is similarly implemented – on a far larger scale – by Israel’s fighter pilots and drone operators, explaining why at least two-thirds of Gaza’s housing stock has been left in ruins.

There are other deceptions too. One of the stated reasons for Israel being in Gaza is to “bring back the hostages” – many dozens of Israelis who were dragged into Gaza on October 7. That message, however, has apparently not reached the Israeli military.

Palestinians return to their homes after the withdrawal of Israeli army from the eastern Khan Yunis, Gaza on July 30, 2024 [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]
Palestinians return to their homes after the withdrawal of Israeli army from the eastern Khan Yunis, Gaza on July 30, 2024 [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency] (photo)
Green noted that, despite a blunderbuss operation last month that killed more than 270 Palestinians to rescue four Israeli hostages, the army is actually deeply indifferent to their fate.
He said he heard other soldiers stating: “The hostages are dead, they don’t stand a chance, they have to be abandoned.”

Back in December, Israeli troops shot dead three hostages waving white flags. Reckless shooting into buildings poses the same threat to the lives of hostages as it does to Palestinian fighters and civilians.

Such indifference might also explain why the Israeli political and military leadership has been willing to conduct such a comprehensive bombing of buildings and tunnels in Gaza, risking the lives of the hostages as much as Palestinian civilians.

Culture of violence

The story told by these soldiers in 972 should not surprise anyone – apart from those still desperately clinging to fairytales about Israel’s “most moral army in the world.”

In fact, an investigation by CNN on the weekend found that Israeli commanders identified by US officials as committing particularly heinous war crimes in the occupied West Bank over the past decade have been promoted to senior positions in the Israeli military. Their job includes training ground troops in Gaza and overseeing operations there.

A whistleblower from the Netzah Yehuda battalion who spoke to CNN said the commanders, drawn from Israel’s religious extremist ultra-Orthodox sector, stoked a culture of violence towards Palestinians, including vigilante-style attacks.

As the CNN investigation indicates, the wanton death and destruction in Gaza is very much a feature, not a bug.

For decades, the Israeli military has been implementing its inhumane policies towards Palestinians not just in the tiny enclave, but across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem too.

Israel has been suffocating Gaza with a siege for 17 years. And since 1967, it has been suffocating the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem with illegal settlements – many of them home to violent Jewish militias – to drive out the Palestinian population.

What is new is the intensity and scale of the death and destruction Israel has been allowed to inflict since October 7. The gloves have come off, with the West’s approval.

Israel’s agenda – of leaving historic Palestine empty of Palestinians – has been advanced from an ultimate, distant goal to an urgent, immediate one.

Snake-like politicians

Nonetheless, Israel’s much longer history of violence and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is about to come sharply into focus, despite the best efforts of Israel to keep our attention fixed on a Hamas “terrorism” threat.

The International Court of Justice in the Hague, often referred to as the World Court, is considering two cases against Israel. Best known is the one launched in January, putting Israel on trial for genocide.

But on Friday, the World Court is due to issue a ruling on an older case – one that predates October 7. It will pronounce on whether Israel has broken international law by making the occupation of Palestine permanent.



While stopping the genocide in Gaza is more pressing, a ruling from the court recognizing the illegal nature of Israel’s rule over Palestinians is equally important. It would give legal backing to what should be obvious: that a supposedly temporary military occupation long ago mutated into a permanent process of violent ethnic cleansing.

Such a ruling would provide the context for understanding what Palestinians have been truly up against, while western capitals and western media have gaslit their publics year after year, decade after decade.

This week, Oxfam accused the new British government under Keir Starmer of “aiding and abetting” Israel’s war crimes by calling for a ceasefire from one side of its mouth while actively supplying Israel with weapons to continue the slaughter. The Labor government is also dragging its feet on restoring funding to UNRWA, best placed to address the famine in Gaza.

At Washington’s behest, Labor is seeking to block efforts by the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes. And there are still no signs that Starmer has any plans to recognize Palestine as a state, thus putting a UK marker down against Israel’s ethnic cleansing program.

Sadly, Starmer is typical of the West’s snake-like politicians: flaunting his outrage at Russia’s “depraved” attacks on children in Ukraine, while keeping silent on the even more depraved bombing and starvation of Gaza’s children.

He vows that his support for Ukrainians “won’t falter.” But his support for Palestinians in Gaza facing a genocide never even started.

The Palestinians of Gaza – and the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem – are not just up against a law-breaking, savage Israeli military. They are being betrayed each day afresh by a West that gives such barbarity its blessing.

Jonathan Cook is the author of three books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His website and blog can be found at www.jonathan-cook.net

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Where to go? Only 14% of Gaza is not under evacuation orders – Day 295
[email protected] July 29, 2024 Belal Muhammad, children in war, evacuation orders, false flag, gaza water shortage, khan younis massacre, majdal shams, Ofer Prison, palestinian prisoners, prison death, rachel corrie, refusenik, Sde Teiman, torture, UFC champion
War on Gaza: Palestinians have nowhere to go as Israel orders more evacuations (screengrab)
Khan Younis massacre; Netanyahu denies children medical evacuation from Gaza; only 14% of Gaza is NOT under evacuation orders; Israel destroys Rachel Corrie’s water facility in Rafah; Syria implies Majdal Shams attack may be a false flag incident; 256 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons since 1967; torture, starvation, suicide attempts in Israel’s Ofer prison; Israeli military raid Sde Teiman prison to arrest soldiers for torture – soldiers fight back; IDF redeployment refuseniks; more.

By IAK staff, from reports.

Decapitated child among victims of latest Khan Younis massacre as assault intensifies

The Cradle reports: Israeli forces massacred at least 17 Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday 28 July, including four children, one of them a baby who was decapitated by Israeli bombs, amid a broader assault on the southern city of Khan Younis.

Twelve Palestinians were killed in a strike on a home in the center of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, and five others were killed in a bombing of a tent west of the southern city.

An Israeli drone strike killed one Palestinian in Deir al-Balah. Sniper fire from an Israeli quadcopter drone killed another in Gaza City in the north, the channel added.

Images spread on social media of Palestinian babies killed in Sunday’s strikes, including one whose head was blown off.

Israel began a renewed military campaign in Khan Younis a week ago, forcing 180,000 Palestinians to flee their homes and seek refuge in squalid tent cities in Al-Mawasi on the Gaza coast.

Israeli forces have bombed Al-Mawasi multiple times over previous months despite designating it as a so-called “humanitarian zone.” On 13 July, an Israeli assault killed 90 people in Al-Mawasi.

RECOMMENDED READING: Will attack on occupied Golan Heights push Israel, Hezbollah towards war?

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Netanyahu denies children exit from Gaza to UAE for treatment

Al Jazeera reports: According to Israeli media reports, Israel had perviously given approval to allow 150 critically ill children from Gaza to receive treatment in the UAE.

However, following the incident in Majdal Shams, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended this decision, the reports said.

Tania Hary, executive director at Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, said the children were meant to leave tomorrow via Israel’s Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.

A few of the many children wounded by shrapnel – some also severely burned – in the course of Israel's now nine-month-long attack on Gaza. The weapons create small pieces of shrapnel that leave barely discernible entry wounds but create extensive destruction inside the body.
A few of the many children wounded by shrapnel – some also severely burned – in the course of Israel’s now nine-month-long attack on Gaza. The weapons create small pieces of shrapnel that leave barely discernible entry wounds but create extensive destruction inside the body. (collage)
UNRWA says only 14 percent of Gaza not under evacuation orders

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini says Israeli evacuation orders create “havoc” and “panic” among the population of the Gaza Strip.

“Almost everyone in Gaza has been impacted by these orders. Many were forced to flee on average once a month since the war began nine months ago,” Lazzarini said on X.

“This evacuation tactic only brings more misery, fear and suffering for people who have nothing to do with this war.”

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The IDF Just Destroyed a Key Rafah Water Facility Rachel Corrie Spent Her Last Month of Life Defending

DropSite News reports: On Friday, I discovered a video posted on Instagram by an Israeli soldier from the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion, showing the calculated demolition of a chief water facility in Rafah. The video—which is captioned in Hebrew, “Destruction of the Tal Sultan water reservoir in honor of Shabbat”—ends with footage of the water facility being blown up.

When some described the post as evidence of war crimes, the soldier quickly made his account private and deleted the stories.

The water facility, also known as the Canada Well, is situated in the western part of Rafah city. U.S. human rights activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death in 2003 by an Israeli military bulldozer while attempting to prevent demolitions in the city, spent much of her time during the last month of her life helping to protect the municipality workers at the Canada Well.

[NOTE: Read about Rachel Corrie here.]

For months, Israeli forces have been targeting vital water resources in the strip leading to starvation and, according to new reports, worsening access to clean water.

The Canada well is the main water facility in the city of Rafah and provides services to 50 percent of the city’s residents, mainly in West Rafah.

Monther Shoblaq, Director General of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, told Drop Site in an interview that his organization had provided the Israeli military with precise GPS coordinates for the Canada Well and all water facilities in the Strip, in coordination with the Red Cross. Despite these precautions, the well was blown up.

“I was shocked when I saw the video. It’s not just that they targeted this water facility; it’s the fact that they planted explosives, celebrated the act on Instagram, and did so under the guise of honoring the Sabbath. It’s deeply cruel.”

HA’ARETZ ADDS: The reservoir was destroyed last week with the approval of the commander of the soldiers, who belong to the 401st Brigade of the Armored Corps, but without the approval of senior officers from the IDF Southern Command.

The Israeli army says it is investigating the incident as a possible violation of international law.

NOTE: While this individual act may be a violation of international law, it is only one of many, much more serious violations. Israel is, according to the ICJ, plausibly committing genocide, illegal occupation, apartheid, extermination, and a targeted campaign of starvation – to name a few.

Embed from Getty Images

Syria attributes deadly Golan strike to Israel, denounces attempts to expand war

The Cradle reports: The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on 28 July that Israel is trying to ignite the region by blaming Hezbollah for the strike in the Syrian Druze town of Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights a day earlier.

“People in occupied Golan, who have refused for decades to give up their Syrian Arab identity, will not be fooled by the occupation’s false accusations that Lebanese national resistance shelled Majdal Shams.” Hezbollah officials declared that the group targets only military positions.

Twelve Syrian children were killed when a missile fell on a soccer field in Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights Saturday. Israel immediately blamed Hezbollah and rejected the Lebanese resistance group’s statement on 27 July, categorically denying its involvement in the incident.

Eyewitnesses at the scene reported that it was an Israeli Iron Dome interceptor missile that fell on the field, according to an Al-Arabi TV correspondent who spoke with a member of Israel’s ambulance service, Magen David Adom.

A military expert cited by Sputnik said, “the missile that exploded in Majdal Shams was 100 percent Israeli, and we are faced with two possibilities: either a malfunction in the performance of the Israeli air defense systems, or a deliberate launch to achieve specific goals.”

Residents of the town have refused Israeli citizenship and continue to view themselves as Syrians. The Druze community in Majdal Shams called on Israel not to politicize the incident. However, Israeli officials have used it to reinforce calls for launching a broader war against Lebanon.

Israeli officials have vowed escalation. “Hezbollah will not escape punishment for this incident” and will “pay a heavy price,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday.

AL JAZEERA ADDS: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said the country’s security cabinet has authorized himself and the defense minister to decide when and how Israel responds to the deadly attack.

Lebanese officials say they do not want war and have called for an international probe into the attack.

From Kamala Harris’ spokesperson: “The Vice President has been briefed and is closely monitoring Hezbollah’s horrific attack on a soccer field in Majdal Shams in northern Israel yesterday which killed a number of children and teenagers. She condemns this horrific attack and mourns for all those killed and wounded.

“Israel continues to face severe threats to its security, and the Vice President’s support for Israel’s security is ironclad,” Gordon said in a statement.

“Every indication is that indeed the rocket was from Hezbollah,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a visit to Japan, without elaborating on the existence of any evidence.


PPS: 256 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons since 1967

The Palestine Information Center reports: The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) has said in a statement issued on Sunday that 256 Palestinians have died in prison since 1967; there are 28 prisoners whose bodies are still being held by Israeli authorities.

17 of the 28 have died since October 7th, and their bodies have not been returned to their families for burial, the PPS added.

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continue to escalate their arrest campaigns in the West Bank, coinciding with the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip.

Since October 7th, 9,845 Palestinians have been rounded up by the IOF troops.

Since 1967, one million Palestinians have been arrested by Israel.

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In Israel’s Ofer prison, torture, starvation, medical neglect, deprivation of basic rights have led to suicide attempts

WAFA reports: The crackdown on Palestinian detainees at the Israeli occupation’s Ofer Prison has reached a crisis point, with reports of severe mistreatment, including systematic starvation, since October 7, 2023, according to a lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Authority.

The lawyer, who recently visited Ofer Prison, southwest of Ramallah, reported seven suicide attempts by detainees due to the dire conditions, brutal treatment by guards, and the use of hunger and medical neglect as forms of collective punishment. The detainees are subjected to beatings during arrest and in prison, especially if they are late for roll call or fail to wake up at the designated time (4 a.m.) each day.

One detainee suffered severe burns while taking a shower with excessively hot water, a situation resulting from the prison administration’s control over water temperature. This detainee has not received medical treatment for the burns.

Additionally, Amr Abu Khalil, a cancer patient, was assaulted while being transferred for chemotherapy treatment, only to later be informed that his treatment session had been canceled.

Another detainee, Bashir Zaghloul Khatib from Birzeit, has been subjected to severe beatings during his arrest and has lost over 12 kilograms since his detention on February 18, 2023.

The lawyer also highlighted the severe overcrowding in the prison, with at least 11 detainees confined to each cell. Five of them must sleep on the floor while the others share metal bunk beds. They lack basic necessities, including adequate clothing, blankets, and food.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is also in charge of the prisons where Palestinians are being detained, recently declared, “The conditions of the terrorists in the prisons have indeed worsened and I am proud of that”.

*NOTE: The use of the word “terrorist” for a group that resists occupation and oppression is a political, not fact-based choice. In reality, international law supports the efforts of resistance groups against an occupying power, the UN extending that right to the point of armed resistance.

Israel is currently holding about 9,700 Palestinian prisoners in inhumane conditions where many are systematically tortured – 250 of them are children, 79 are women, and over 3,300 are administrative detainees – being held without charge or trial. Administrative detention is intended to be used only in “exceptional” circumstances, but Israel uses it widely. Read more here.

Palestinian prisoner Ma'zuz Abayat
Palestinian prisoner Ma’zuz Abayat, previously an amateur weight lifter, leaves Israeli prison a shadow of his former self. (photo)
Israeli military police raid Sde Teiman detention facility to arrest soldiers accused of torture; soldiers fight back

Ha’aretz reports: Military Police officers raided the Sde Teiman Prison on Monday and detained several soldiers on suspicion of abusing a Palestinian detainee. According to a security source, the detainee was taken to a hospital with severe injuries in an intimate place – injuries that left him without the ability to walk.

According to a security source, during the arrest of the soldiers at the Sde Teiman detention facility, a confrontation developed between military police personnel and some of the soldiers who refused to evacuate, and barricaded themselves in the facility.

It was also reported that soldiers used pepper spray at military police personnel.

One soldier was recorded saying: “We will unite against the IDF arresting our fellow soldiers”.

Another soldier said: “The military police came to arrest us because we are responsible for Nukhba [elite] terrorists. Every Israeli should go out into the streets for us, I am not ready for the shame of being arrested – I gave my life for you, for my country”.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir responded to the reports, saying, “the spectacle of military police officers coming to arrest our best heroes in the Sde Teiman detention facility is nothing less than shameful…Soldiers need to have our full support.”



‘I can’t justify this military operation any more’: the IDF reservists refusing to return to Gaza


The Guardian reports: For Israeli military paramedic Yuval Green, it was the command to burn down a house that made him decide to end his reserve duty.

Green had spent 50 days in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis earlier this year with his paratrooper unit, sleeping in a home lit only by battery-powered fairy lights among the rubble and devastation.

He had begun to have doubts about the unit’s purpose there months earlier when he heard about Israel’s refusal to agree to Hamas’s demands to end the war, along with freeing hostages.

Green is one of three Israeli reservists who told the Observer they will not return if called for military service in Gaza. All three previously undertook compulsory military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which forms the backbone of society.

They returned after the 7 October attacks by Hamas militants, when almost 1,200 people were killed in towns and kibbutzim around Gaza and about 250 taken hostage.

But the destructive behavior Green says he witnessed from other soldiers only fueled the misgivings that he carried into Gaza, despairing at what he describes as a cycle of violence. He said he had stayed out of a sense of duty to care for those in his unit, who he knew from his years of compulsory military service.

(Read the full article here.)

Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on the planet, where before the war 2.3 million people had been living on a 365-square-kilometre (140-square-mile) strip of land. According to satellite analyses by Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, an associate professor of geography at Oregon State University, 56.9 percent of Gaza buildings were damaged or destroyed as of April 21, making a total of 160,000.
Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on the planet, where before the war 2.3 million people had been living on a 365-square-kilometre (140-square-mile) strip of land.
According to satellite analyses by Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, an associate professor of geography at Oregon State University, 56.9 percent of Gaza buildings were damaged or destroyed as of April 21, making a total of 160,000. (photo)
‘For Palestine’ – Belal Muhammad Becomes First Palestinian to be Undisputed UFC Champion

Palestine Chronicle reports: In the city of Manchester, UK, on Sunday, Palestinian MMA fighter Belal ‘Remember the Name’ Muhammad fought Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards for the undisputed UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) title in the welterweight division.

Muhammad dominated Edwards throughout the five-round bout, which saw Muhammad win by unanimous decision.

Due to the ongoing Israeli genocide in Muhammad’s homeland, which has killed tens of thousands in Gaza, the undisputed world champ used his massive platform to speak on the only issue that truly mattered.

Millions were watching as Muhammad stood with the Golden World championship belt around his waist and declared to the world,

“This fight is nothing. This is for my family, my people in Palestine. They’re fighting the real fight. Inshallah, it puts a smile on their face.”

Belal Muhammad is a class act who showed his unbreakable spirit, akin to the collective character of his indefatigable people.

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STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JULY 28:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – July 28: at least 39,954* (39,363 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,251 children as of July 22. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 591 in the West Bank (~140 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 46,848 Palestinian deaths.

Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death9 to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.

Ralph Nader earlier estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
2.15 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are projected to face Crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – July 28: at least 96,343 (including at least 90,923 in Gaza and 5,420 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how man Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – July 28: ~1,486 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 331 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

Times of Israel reports: The IDF listed 41 soldiers killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents – nearly 16%.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.**

Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals.

† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
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https://israelpalestinenews.org/where-to-go-14-percent-gaza-not-under-evacuation-orders-day-295/

Blind Spots in "Who Really Runs the World" Podcast.
Charles Wright
Some months ago, I was contacted by Ginger Breggin requesting to do an interview with me. After agreeing not to discuss Robert Malone’s early cancer and mRNA research, we agreed to discuss the extremely worthy topic of Hospital Protocols. Around this time, however, I published an article “The United States should back Iran over Israel with Militar Force if it becomes Necessary,”to which the Breggins objected in a long, polite email, and canceled the interview.

The United States should back Iran over Israel with Military Force if it becomes Necessary.

The United States should back Iran over Israel with Military Force if it becomes Necessary.
I’ll make this one quick. Iran is now launching strikes against Israel after Israel bombed Iran’s Embassy in Syria on April 1, 2024. Israel was deeply involved in the attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. The World Trade Center Towers were demolished using explosives and nano-thermite. The DEA

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Before going much further, let me state that I greatly respect the research and reporting of both the Breggins and Sasha Latypova. We all have our “blind spots” however, myself included. This is not a personal attack against anyone; it is the high road of facts presented in a polite manner.

I believe blind spots were first identified by Freud’s protege Carl Jung. Paraphrasing Jung based on my understanding, blind spots are things that you suppress consciously. These things stay in the subconscious and wind up controlling you subconsciously in ways you do not understand. The Breggins are of course psychiatrists and certainly understand the topic far better than I.


Many people of the Jewish religion are having a difficult time coming to grips with the obvious Genocide in Palestine. For a people whose history includes being systematically exterminated, many just prefer not to consider that Benjamin Netanyahu, the modern version of Adolph Hitler, is doing the exact same thing to the Palestinians. When the fundamental beliefs you’ve held all of your life- your views of righteousness and evil, are challenged, it’s just too much for many people to bear, so they just block it out.

As best I can tell, the process of psychotherapy involves drawing facts out of the subconscious into the conscious for consideration. I think the modern social media description of this process is “red pilling.”

Today, the Breggins have published an excellent and informative interview with Sasha Latypova, titled “Who really runs the world? A stunning interview with Sasha Latypova.”

Who really runs the world? A stunning interview with Sasha Latypova

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS Breggin Alerts! Exposing Global Predators is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. First airing on AmericaOutLoud.news July 20, 2024…

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2 days ago · 138 likes · 67 comments · Dr. Peter and Ginger Breggin

An excerpt from Peter Breggin:

17:40: The level we’re talking about now … is not the top. It’s the concentration camp Commandants. It’s the leaders of some Nazi sector. Way above them where the money is pooring down from, are the Global Predators of all kinds of sorts. We decribe the system of COVID-19 and the Global Predators. But it’s a giant system and these are the henchmen and women of the system.

I’m not anti-Semetic, or anti any average person. Criticizing people based on their demographics and not their deeds is something I consciously try to avoid. As I say when I criticize Israel and their atrocities, it is not aimed at their DNA. I am a white American male, and anyone can find plenty of atrocities committed by white American males. Judge people by their deeds.

But I also don’t care who I piss off: Republicans, Democrats, Russians, Israelis, Chinese, Americans, or whoever. To a certain degree, all the people of the world are evil and/or naive. The average person is divided against each other and triggered to kill the other by Globalists. I don’t play that game, and when I find it going on, I try to stop it. That means calling out the evil and naivety, which necessarily will hurt feelings no matter how politely I try to present it. “Divide and Conquer” is an ancient strategy of War presented by Sun Tzu. I choose to divide and conquer along the lines of Mankind versus Globalists, where the true front is. You have to show people where the front really is.

So how is, Mr. Breggin, that Palestine can be considered anything but a huge concentration camp that Israel is exterminating?


I hear no references to Israel or the Rothschilds in the interview about who’s really running the world. Meanwhile just look at the recent news. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, with a near-certainty of victory over Joseph Biden, chose J.D. Vance to be his running mate the day after an assassination attempt against him. Vance clearly owes his choice by Trump to his “Israel First” agenda.


Iran has become a nuclear counterweight to Israel in the Middle East, with capabilities demonstrated to penetrate the “Iron Dome” with missiles. Vance wants to “punish” Iran with methods that go far beyond the usual bombings.

Politico reported that there were “Iranian” plans to assassinate Trump, as if Iran had anything to do with the mental state of a 20-year-old white kid in Pennsylvania or chose to hold a rally at a location with undefended sniper locations in close proximity.

Along with the choice of Vance as Trump’s running mate after the assassination attempt, charges of mishandling classified documents were dismissed by a judge in Florida that same day, a dismisssal that received little press despite constant reporting on the charges against Trump earlier.

Netanyahu has gone so far as to claim that Israel controls the Congress of the United States, and of course he’s right.

How obvious do things have to be?


They may as well state a Pledge of Allegiance to Israel.


“I pledge Allegience, to the Rothschild’s nation of Israel, and to their power to promote me to the highest office in the United States with unlimited financing and press, and to their right to conduct Genocide and start nuclear Armageddon as prophesied in the Old Testament, and to blackmail or assassinate me if I do not do their bidding.”

In other recent news, the International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel is an Apartheid state. It was never in question, as Benajamin Netanyahu made perfectly clear:

Netanyahu, 2019: Israel is not a state of all its citizens. According to the nation-state law we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people — and not anyone else.

Below are few excerpts of Sasha on the DOD from her interview with the Breggins.

25:15. The US can occupy 15 military bases in Finland and in Sweden. … It’s occupation. This occupation has been since the end of World War 2. US has occupied Europe and gradually pushed these countries to give up their military, to give up their own defense, in exchange for protection. 2540. The Globalist role of the US Department of Defense is to hold guns literally to every government’s head so that they accept the Petrodollar.

28:40. The DOD is the largest Globalist organization. For some reason everbody screams at WEF and Klaus Shwab, but they forget that that’s the enforcer.

Fact check: True enough- at least that’s one aspect of the DODs role in world government. But is the DOD the highest level of world government, or are they merely the “henchmen” of the higher levels, as Dr. Breggin described?

Sasha, I believe, was raised in the former Soviet Union. I was raised in a very conservative Patriotic area of the United States. We both probably have some bias and blind spots lingering from the Cold War. Who really runs it all? Where does it all lead?

The Rothschilds, German descendants who established Israel and coordinated World War 2 and the Holocaust to kill Jews and drive them out Germany into the desert in Zion, control the Central Banking system of the world, which gives them the ability to print money for themselves and distribute it via “loans” to anyone they choose. They back people who do their evil bidding- people like Elon Musk, a frontman for the CIA’s secret MK Ultra (Minde Kontrolle- Ultra meaning “code break,” as in codebreaking measurable brain waves) research program, now becoming a public corporation, as Globalist immigrant to the United States, Elon Musk, takes over control of the DODs most advanced weaponry programs, including a low-altitude satellite grid that surrounds the globe).

The government of Israel is controlled by the Rothschilds, as is the government of the United States and most other governments of the world. This is your top level. The Jesuits, the Illuminati, the Freemasons, the CIA, the FSB, and whoever else you can think of are all the Rothschild’s “henchmen.”

And why? Because the Rothschilds control the money supply, and who controls the money supply controls the world.

Nathan Meyer Rothschild:


Russia was once an outlier of the Rothchild’s world government. After World War 1, Russia refused to support the League of Nations, an effort at world government that preceded the establishment of the United Nations after World War 2. The Rothschilds conducted a coup in Russia in 1917 the Bolshevik (“majority”) Revolution.

The primary financier of the Russian revolutionary movement 1905–1917 was Jacob Schiff, of Kuhn Loeb and Co (Rothschilds bank in the US)., New York. The reaction of bankers from Wall Street and The City towards the overthrow of the Czar was enthusiastic.

The Federal Reserve, owned 90% by Rothschild banks, was established in 1911. The US bankers welcomed the Bolshevik Revolution and Karl Marx. Image below is from the book The Creature from Jekyll Island.


The Bolsheviks assassinated the entire family of the Imperial Russian family, the Romanovs, women and children alike, so that none of their descendants could ever have a claim on Russian government again. Hate of the Rothschilds and Central Bankers still lingers and burns in Russia over this. The US DOD didn’t do it.


I doubt you’ll ever find anyone you agree with 100% of the time. History lessons aside, of all the things that I have heard or read from Sasha, there is only one thing that I really take exception to: she said Dr. Pierre Kory was a “good person.” As far as I can tell, Dr. Kory has killed more patients than any doctor in the world in the name of “COVID” by using ventilators and drugs, and has led an effort to create an alibi for his crimes that Ivermectin cured the virus, when in fact Ivermectin reversed the effects of the deadly protocols used against patients hospitalized with a nonexistent virus. On Dr. Kory, Sasha and I must disagree. I would be glad to present evidence to her that supports my position. Much of it is already on my Substack in Kory’s own words.

I’ll only touch the following issue very lightly. As many are aware, Sasha’s daughter has been in the news after calling for assassinations, and has been depicted with guns.

It’s a sign of the times.

We are in a social media age. Kids have access to microphones, cameras, and the internet and they say things that make us cringe, as always. “From the mouth of babes.”

Here’s the questions that adults should be asking instead of worrying about a child: What kind of world are today’s adults leaving for future generations? Why does a 14-year-old child feel that there is no other recourse for Justice in the world other than violence? Why does the Department of Justice refuse to prosecute the mass murder of Americans with vaccines and hospital protocols, with countless reports of homicides all over social media? Why do more adults not demand that the Department of Justice hold the criminals accountable?

America was founded on a bloody Revolution. Is that the only way to achieve Justice again? Sasha’s daughter hit a nerve in the public. Too many people are refusing to take action. Think about our nation’s future and what you are doing to shape it, and don’t waste your time arguing with a 14-year-old. Her mother will handle that any way she chooses, as is her right.

But let’s talk about Che Guevara, hero of Revolutionaries worldwide. Sasha likes Che, a leader of the Cuban Revolution, and the enemy of the CIA. But was it really Guevara’s and Castro’s revolution?

The following text is from the Central Intelligence Agency:

In the 1950s, a young, charismatic Cuban nationalist named Fidel Castro led a guerrilla army against the forces of General Fulgencio Batista from a base camp deep within the Sierra Maestra Mountains, the largest mountain range in Cuba. Castro’s goal was to overthrow Batista, the US-backed leader of Cuba.

After three years of guerrilla warfare, Castro and his ragtag army descended from the mountains and entered Havana on January 1, 1959, forcing Batista to flee the country. Castro took control of the Cuban Government’s 30,000-man army and declared himself Prime Minister.

Remember the date of Castro’s entry into Havana: January 1, 1959.

The following picture of Frank Stugis, aka “the Second Gunman on the Grassy Knoll,” is dated January 11, 1959. It shows Stugis over a trench dug to hold the bodies of 71 Cubans executed by firing squad.


Sturgis had been in the Sierra Maestra mountains for some time.

In March 1958, Sturgis opened a training camp in the Sierra Maestra mountains, where he taught Che Guevara and other 26th of July Movement rebel soldiers guerrilla warfare.[15] When Castro seized power, a rebel firing squad on San Juan Hill executed 71 of their opponents on January 11, 1959, into an awaiting 40-foot (12.2 m) ditch that had been opened with a bulldozer. Although Sturgis did not take part in the execution, he was photographed afterwards holding a rifle on top of the covered mass grave.[16]

Sasha, do you really think a Revolutionary like Che can run around the Caribbean and South America toppling governments without the support and approval of the CIA?

Sturgis was a member of Operation 40, led by George Bush Sr., a group of 40 agents devoted to drug trafficking from South America and taking over governments to achieve their objectives. Pictured here are some of the members of Operation 40 in Mexico City after the assassination of JFK. Barry Seal, George Bush Jr., Porter Goss, and Frank Sturgis. The picture was provided by Seal’s wife after Barry was assassinated by drug dealers after agreeing to provide information on the role of Bush Sr. in drug trafficking. Seal flew the getaway plane.


Bush transferred from the Texas National Guard to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, where Cuban pilots were trained in the “Bay of Pigs” invasion. Several Alabama residents of Maxwell also flew planes.

The invasion of Cuba was weak, and Cuba knew they were coming. They were shot them down in parachutes. Cuba imprisoned many of them. My father was in the Navy in the time, on a ship in the Caribbean. His vessel was briefed about what was going on in Cuba, and told to stand by to potentially provide artillery support. The order never came.

Someone from Maxwell told me once, after a conversation about the assassination of JFK, “but do you know why? It’s because he (JFK) left them there to die.” In my estimation, the invasion was designed to fail in order to give the US the boogeyman menace they needed for public support of massive funding increases for the DOD, not for the CIA to take out a leader that they had just installed in Cuba.

Maria Lorenz, of Operation 40, became Castro’s girlfriend at the age of 19 after Castro’s (CIAs) coup.

Marita Lorenz, the daughter of a German father and an American mother, was born in Bremen, Germany, on 18th August, 1939. Lorenz visited Cuba in February, 1959. Soon afterwards she began an affair with Fidel Castro and claims to have had his child. Later she was recruited by Frank Sturgis to work for the Central Intelligence Agency. In January 1960, Lorenz took part in a failed attempt to poison Castro.


Hundreds of CIA attempts to topple or assassinate Castro always failed. Castro became a Communist boogeyman in the Americas, driving massive amounts of funding to the US Department of Defense to counter the red menace.

the former head of Cuban intelligence, Fabian Escalante, told a British documentary team the CIA had tried to kill Fidel Castro more than 600 times, over a period of about 40 years.

Below are Lorenz, Sturgis, and Lee Harvey Oswald. This still picture of a video has previously been described as somewhere in the Florida everglades. It may well have been on Useppa Island, however. Continuing with the CIA link:

The Brigade was taken to Useppa Island, a private island off the coast of Florida that was secretly leased by the CIA.


And of course this island would have been used for drug running. Porter Goss, member of George Bush’s Operation 40 which assassinated JRK, and future CIA Director, was a small boat operator who ran drugs through the islands between South America and Florida.

Now the point here isn’t to bash Che either. He has a certain revolutionary sincerity that appeals to many people at times like these when the governments are known to be evil and killing their citizens. Che’s image below is the most reproduced image in history.


Revolution is one thing, economic theory is another. At this point I must bore you with some economic theory. Communism is not a failure; communism is intentinally evil. Communism is command and control of an economy. Command and control systems, like the ones used in Germany and the United States in World War 2, can produce tremendous amounts of goods when that’s the goal.

Now consider the massive starvation programs in China and the Soviet Union under Communism. In areas that were extremely fertile and could produce massive amounts of food, women in the Soviet Union lined up at stores in hopes for a piece of bread to feed their babies, and they didn’t get it.

In college studying Economics shortly before the Berlin Wall fell, Communism versus Capitalism was presented as Capitalism being far superior to Communism based on incentives and rent seeking in free markets. While those things are undoubtedly true, the education never presented the historical context that Communism was designed to fail. It’s not Capitalism versus Communism in my view anymore, it’s Freedom versus Slavery. There is little difference between Capitalistic Monopoly and Communism. In one case, the government controls the means of production, in the other, Corporations control the government.

Ernesto was likely recruited by the CIA in 1952 in Miami.

HAVANA TIMES — Very little is known about the time Che spent in Miami. There’s not very much to know anyway. An accidental and forced stop, while he was traveling back to Argentina to get his medicine degree.

When Che was in Bolivia, he was struck by the extreme poverty and disease of the people. I figure he was trying to divert some of the CIA’s cocaine trafficking profits to the poor people of Bolivia. The CIA’s cocaine trafficking program in Bolivia was led by Klaus Barbie, aka “the Butcher of Lyon,” a Nazi installed in Bolivia at the end of World War 2 in a negotiated merger between the OSS and SS to form the CIA.

In the end, Che’s greatest claim to fame is that he wound up eating a bullet. Felix Rodriguez, also of Operation 40, helped Barbie track down and execute Che. Pictured below, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis awarding the “Governor’s Medal of Freedom” to Rodriguez. DeSantis is also, like most all prominent politicians, a public agent of Israel, that controls the highest levels of the CIA and all their associated child trafficking, drug trafficking, etc. He told Felix to tell Castro that “the Revolution lives on,” which to me, meant that he did not support Castro.



Pictured below is Che with Mao Zedong, who starved tens of millions of Chinese with Communism. This is what it looks like when you play with the big boys. Selling out and compromising never works. Never.


I’m sure all that on Che, Castro, and the CIA pissed everyone off in one way or another because it requires you to adjust your thinking somehow.

Myself, I’m not in favor of armed Revolution in the United States, because we are hopelessly outgunned, and the “opposition” effort would be led by the enemy anyway, as it is today with the opposition led by Pierre Kory and Robert Malone against the mass homicide programs of vaccines and hospital protocols. I think Due Process in the legal system is our best option, but we are apparently going to somehow force them to do their job, and not expect them to do it otherwise.

As for the Breggins, if you are ever willing to set our differences aside on Israel, I am still willing to discuss Hospital Protocols with you. I call this information below in support of the criminal complaint of the homicide of Danielle Alvarez “best effort to use Due Process and the legal system.”

Hospital Protocols

Information Supporting Criminal Complaint 990009-24 of Rebecca Charles provided to Nassau County District Attorney, New York Attorney General, and United States Attorney General

Information Supporting Criminal Complaint 990009-24 of Rebecca Charles provided to Nassau County District Attorney, New York Attorney General, and United States Attorney General
June 29, 2024 To: Anne Donnelly, District Attorney of Nassau County, New York 262 Old Country Rd, Mineola, NY 11501 ---------------- CC: Letitia James, Attorney General of New York Office of the New York State Attorney General The Capital Albany New York 12224-0341

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As for Sasha, if you ever want to talk about Pierre Kory or Che, that would be great too.

Charles Wright


https://substack.com/home/post/p-146848221

Israel has killed over 2,500 Palestinians every month since ICJ ruling – Day 284
[email protected] July 18, 2024 Elor Azaria, FIFA, free speech, gaza pier, genocide, home demolition, humanitarian aid, Netanyahu, rafah crossing, torture, water shortage, West Bank
Al Jazeera reports: The Palestinian Red Crescent says its teams have treated 13 detainees, including an elderly woman, who were released this morning by the Israeli army at the Kissufim checkpoint in central Gaza.

Upon arrival at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, one of the prisoners – who declined to be named – said that a number of inmates inside Israeli prisons had lost their senses as a result of the torture and electric shocks they were subjected to.

Released prisoner Mustafa Fayyad recounted the difficult conditions of his detention due to lack of sleep and food, and being tortured more than once.

Nader Asaliya, who is blind, spoke about the conditions of his detention saying: “They treated us inhumanely inside prisons and called us dogs. We were subjected to all kinds of torture, hunger and humiliation.”

292 injured Gazans have died due to Israel’s closure of Rafah crossing, authorities say

Andalou Agency reports: At least 292 Palestinians lost their lives due to Israel’s closure of the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, local authorities said on Wednesday.

“Among the victims were injured people who were supposed to receive treatment in hospitals outside Gaza, but died as they waited for the opening of the Rafah crossing,” Gaza’s government media office said.

The media office estimates that more than 3,500 patients and injured people have been denied exit via the crossing since Israel’s capture of the terminal last May.

Around 2,500 patients have also applied to leave Gaza via the Rafah crossing for medical attention abroad.

“Israel’s closure of the crossing prevents these people from traveling for treatment, which leaves them at risk of death,” the media office warned.

A view of the Rafah crossing, destroyed by Israeli forces this week.
A view of the Rafah crossing, destroyed by Israeli forces this week. (screenshot)
The Guardian reports: The US military-built pier for carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza will be dismantled and brought home, ending a mission that has been fraught with repeated weather and security problems that limited how much food and other supplies could get to starving Palestinians.

Vice Adm Brad Cooper, deputy commander at US Central Command, told reporters in a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday that the pier had achieved its intended effect in what he called an “unprecedented operation”.

“Having now delivered the largest volume of humanitarian assistance ever into the Middle East, we’re now mission complete and transitioning to a new phase,” said Cooper.

NOTE: The U.S. was forced to halt operations four times on the $230 million pier due to weather events. In fact, in the two months since the pier was up and running, it has been operational for only nineteen days.

In that time, about nineteen million pounds of food were brought ashore. If that sounds like a lot, it’s not – it’s about 9,700 tons (8,800 metric tons), which translates to about 646 truckloads, an average of less than fourteen trucks per day.

The pier was expected to handle ninety to one hundred fifty trucks per day.

Prior to the start of hostilities, an average of 500 truckloads entered Gaza every working day.



Food aid from Israel – like US pier – is not more than a trickle

According to OCHA records, the amount of aid reaching the people of Gaza has been trending low since May, when Israel destroyed the Rafah crossing, the main point of entrance for aid trucks.



NOTE: Hundreds of aid trucks are reportedly waiting and spoiling at the southern border of Gaza, where Israel has made it extremely difficult to pass, employing complicated and arbitrary procedures. Israel has on multiple occasions fired at individuals waiting for food aid (once killing over 100 at one time), at least once allegedly sending fake text messages to Gazans, telling them to assemble and then shooting at them when they did; Israel has also attacked food aid convoys and those who accompanied them several times.

Additionally, Israeli citizens have blocked a border crossing for weeks with no meaningful attempt by Israel to reopen it; they have also attacked trucks they believed were heading to Gaza, destroying their contents and in some cases starting them on fire.

In mid-March, Israel promised to “flood” Gaza with aid, but has failed to do so.

Palestinian residents of Jerusalem get 4-12 hours of running water per week

Al Jazeera reports: Ir Amim, a Jerusalem-focused Israeli rights group, says that in the midst of a record-breaking heatwave, there is an acute water crisis in Kufr Aqab, a large Palestinian neighbourhood located along the northern edge of occupied East Jerusalem.

Kufr Aqab is one of eight Palestinian neighbourhoods that are part of the Israeli-run Jerusalem municipality but are located beyond the Israeli separation barrier. It is home to 100,000 people, roughly 30 percent of East Jerusalem’s Palestinian population.

Given severe municipal neglect, which has led to substandard living conditions, “the extreme water scarcity in Kufr Aqab is only liable to further deteriorate conditions and make the area completely uninhabitable, forcing residents out of the city entirely,” Ir Amim said in a statement.

“Although the severe water shortage has continued for nearly two months, there has been little to no acknowledgment by the Jerusalem municipality, Israeli Water Authority, and/or other relevant Israeli bodies, much less attempts to mitigate this humanitarian emergency.”

RECOMMENDED READING: ‘Buying Our Own Stolen Water’ in Bethlehem – Scorching Summer Awaits Palestinians in the West Bank

OCHA weekly West Bank report highlights massive property demolition, damage

A sample of points from OCHA update on West Bank:

Between 7 October and 15 July, Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated or forced the demolition of 1,179 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, of which 40 per cent (474 structures) were inhabited homes. As a result, 2,756 people, including 1,113 children, were displaced. Almost half of those displaced (1,410) had their homes destroyed during military operations, particularly in Jenin and Tulkarm cities and the surrounding refugee camps; 43 per cent (1,176 people) were displaced due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits; and six per cent (170) were displaced by punitive demolitions.
Between 7 October 2023 and 15 July 2024, OCHA recorded 1,122 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, of which 105 led to Palestinian fatalities and injuries, 898 led to damage to Palestinian property, and 119 led to both casualties and property damage.
On 9 July, Israeli forces raided Nur Shams Refugee Camp (Tulkarm) with bulldozers, causing significant damage to essential infrastructure within and around the camp, including about 1,600 metres of sewage and water networks and resulting in disruptions of water, electricity, and internet services. During the 15-hour operation, sounds of exchanges of fire and detonations of explosive devices were reported. A UN-led inter-cluster assessment on 10 July found that 24 residential structures sustained severe damage and were rendered uninhabitable, displacing at least 36 families comprising 149 people.
Israeli settlers live illegally on Palestinian land.
Israeli settlers live illegally on Palestinian land. (photo)
Netanyahu rejects calls for immediate inquiry into 7 October security failures

The Guardian reports: The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected calls for an immediate independent inquiry into the security failures that allowed the deadliest attack in his country’s history.

Speaking to Israel’s parliament, Netanyahu told lawmakers: “First, I want to beat Hamas.”

A spokesperson for Netanyahu said the Israeli prime minister is not seeking to dodge an inquiry but that “the government is completely focused on winning this war”.

“What people want us to do right now, they don’t want us to go into a dramatic internal investigation while our hostages are still being held, and so many soldiers have abandoned their lives to protect the country,” said the spokesperson. “Of course there will be an investigation, but right now we’re focused on winning this war.”

A video of a three-hour meeting at the prime minister’s office, described in the Israeli media as “tense,” aired on television shortly afterwards, showing a series of confrontations between the bereaved families and the prime minister, who rejected their demands for an apology over his role in the security failures.

(Read the full article here.)

NOTE: While Netanyahu claims to be focused on “beating Hamas,” he is taking a trip to the US next week to speak before Congress. His travel plans required him to avoid stopovers in countries where he might face arrest for war crimes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (screengrab)
Israeli govt extends law restricting foreign media

The New Arab reports: Israel’s parliament extended a temporary law which allows the country to shut down foreign media outlets they consider a threat to Israel’s security. In a marathon session that lasted until early Thursday morning, the parliament gave final approval to extend the emergency law until Nov. 30.

Israeli officials used the new law on May 5 to close Qatar-based Al Jazeera within Israel, confiscating its equipment, banning its broadcasts and blocking its websites.

Under the law, Israel’s Communications Ministry also briefly seized AP broadcasting equipment from southern Israel after accusing it of violating a new media law by providing images to Al Jazeera. The government returned the equipment to AP several hours later.

A bill that would make the emergency legislation permanent is currently making its way through the Israeli parliament. The draft said a permanent bill is needed because Israel “has faced serious security threats since its establishment and is expected to continue to face them in the future, possibly even more severely”.

Critics say the measure passed earlier this year is undemocratic and a threat to press freedom.

Far-right minister clashes with Arab Knesset members after telling them: ‘Get out, terrorists’

Ha’aretz reports: There were ugly scenes in the Knesset on Wednesday night, after National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, addressing Arab parliamentarians, said: “Get out, get out. All the terrorists get out.”

MKs Ayman Odeh and Youssef Atauna both responded by shouting at Ben-Gvir and telling him to leave the plenum. The far-right minister responded in Arabic, telling them again to “get out.”

At one stage, when Arab MKs approached the podium, Likud lawmaker Hanoch Milwidsky ran toward them and ushers were forced to separate between them. MK Moshe Roth, who was chairing the session, gently reproached Ben-Gvir, asking him “not to use such language.”

The incident occurred during a discussion into Atauna’s demand that the state set up an inquiry into the 2017 killing of Yacoub Abu Al-Qia’an by Israeli police during the demolition of his homes in the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran.

At a later meeting of the Knesset Committee, the legal advisor to the Israeli parliament, Sagit Afik, said that, according to regulations, Roth should have ordered Ben-Gvir to step down from the podium after his comments.


US imposes visa restrictions on former IDF sergeant for human rights violation


CNN reports: The Biden administration imposed visa restrictions on former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sergeant Elor Azaria “for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights, namely an extrajudicial killing in the West Bank,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller announced Wednesday.

As a result of the action, Azaria and his immediate family will generally be blocked from coming to the United States.

RECOMMENDED READING (+972 Magazine): A prison sentence that tells the true story of the occupation

The State Department is “also taking steps to impose visa restrictions on an additional group of individuals for having been involved in or meaningfully contributed to undermining the peace, security, or stability in the West Bank,” Miller said in a statement.

“There hasn’t been appropriate accountability across the board” in response to the violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, Miller said at a press briefing Wednesday.

“Part of the point is not just to impose accountability on people who’ve engaged in acts of violence or people who’ve engaged in other acts that increase instability in the West Bank, it is also to let others know that we are paying attention and we are watching and we’re not going to hesitate to act,” Miller said – Azaria was convicted of manslaughter in 2016 and served nine months in prison.

However, the Biden administration is still undecided on whether to restrict aid to one IDF battalion – Netzah Yehuda – which the US found to have committed gross violations of human rights prior to the start of the war in Gaza. A CNN investigation found that former commanders of that unit have been promoted to senior positions in the IDF and are now active in training Israeli ground troops as well as running operations in Gaza.

NOTE: While there has been an major uptick in settler violence since October 7th, every one of the more than 700,000 Israeli settlers living on Palestinian land are violating international law. Israel has illegally built around 280 settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and incentivized Israeli Jews to live in them. Many Palestinians believe that Israeli settlements and settlers on Palestinian land are the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement.

Over a quarter of Israel’s population contemplate emigration: Poll

The Cradle reports: More than a fourth of Israel’s population say they would leave the country if they could, according to a new survey published on 17 July by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI).

The poll results show that about 25 percent of Jewish Israelis and 40 percent of Palestinians with Israeli citizenship agreed with the statement, “If I had a practical possibility to immigrate abroad, I would do so.”

Based on the most recent census figures from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, this would be proportional to 1,811,750 Jewish Israelis and 835,600 Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, making up more than a quarter of the country’s population.

The survey also shows that public trust in Israel’s political and military leadership has dropped dramatically. Fifty-five percent of respondents said they had low or very low trust in the army’s command, and only 26 percent expressed confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.







CAIR Condemns GOP Jewish Coalition CEO’s Apparent Support for ‘Carpet Bombing’ Gaza


From website: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned remarks by Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks that appeared to endorse the idea of giving a “blank check to Israel” to “finish the job quickly” by carpet bombing Gaza.

“If you need to carpet bomb the area, do it. Just get it done. Rip the band-aid off,” Brooks told reporters when explaining his own understanding of what President Trump’s Gaza policy would be following an address to the Republican National Convention.

In a statement, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said:

“The Republican Jewish Coalition leader’s apparent support for the genocidal idea of carpet-bombing Gaza speaks volumes about the systematic, racist dehumanization of the Palestinian people. Genocide is wrong, no matter its victim. Republican elected officials should renounce this genocidal rhetoric, as well as the Israeli government’s ongoing use of American taxpayer dollars to bomb churches, mosques, hospitals, schools, refugee camps, and innocent men, women and children across Gaza.”

RECOMMENDED READING: CAIR Action Alert: Call on IOC to Ban Israel from Official Participation in 2024 Olympics, Just Like Russia

Israel must be suspended for violating FIFA statutes, human rights lawyers say

Reuters reports: Israel must be banned from any football-related activities for violating FIFA’s statutes amid the war in Gaza, according to an independent legal analysis by lawyers who specialize in international law and human rights.

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) had submitted a proposal to suspend Israel in May, with FIFA ordering an urgent legal evaluation while promising to address it at an extraordinary meeting of its council in July.

The Asian Football Confederation had also given its backing for action against Israel and PFA President Jibril Al-Rajoub said that FIFA could not afford to remain indifferent to “violations or to the ongoing genocide in Palestine”.

Attorney Max du Plessis, who was part of the case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice, co-wrote the analysis along with Sarah Pudifin-Jones after they were approached by Eko, a social justice non-profit organization.

There can be no doubt that Israel’s conduct in Palestine has undermined, and continues to undermine, FIFA’s objectives,” the report said.

“Israel has violated the internationally recognized human rights of Palestinians, contrary to Article 3. It has discriminated and continues to discriminate against Palestinians on the basis of race, national origin and birth in direct contravention of Article 4(1).

Protest in Switzerland demanding that Israel be banned from Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Protest in Switzerland demanding that Israel be banned from Paris 2024 Olympic Games (photo)
MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

Al Jazeera: ‘My brothers, my brothers!’: Survivors recall chaos after al-Mawasi attacks

Palestinian Center for Human Rights: Marking a Decade of Impunity: The Killing of Four Bakr Children by the Israeli Military in Gaza

Mondoweiss: ‘They are trying to buy this seat’: Can Cori Bush beat AIPAC?

Electronic Intifada: Sleeping hungry as famine afflicts northern Gaza

The New Arab: Will Gaza’s missing children ever be found?



STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JULY 17:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – July 17: at least 39,370* (38,794 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,034 children as of June 17. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 576 in the West Bank (~140 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 46,848 Palestinian deaths.

Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death9 to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.

Ralph Nader earlier estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

At least 46 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
At least 40 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
2.15 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are projected to face Crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – July 17: at least 94,784 (including at least 89,364 in Gaza and 5,420 in the West Bank, including 830 children).

[It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – July 17: ~1,481 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 326 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

Times of Israel reports: The IDF listed 41 soldiers killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents – nearly 16%.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.**

Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals.

† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
If Americans Knew Mobile Billboard Truck at Republican Convention
Col. Douglas MacGregor: US is under the control of Israel, likens Gaza to Warsaw Ghetto
Israel’s leading paper says its own army deliberately killed Israelis on October 7
Gaza has turned into Biden’s most perplexing moral and foreign policy failure
‘Suffering horrifically’: 10 months of Israel’s ‘war on children’ in Gaza
Pro-Israel ADL ‘spied on’ African American activist over opposition to US-Israel police exchange programme
‘I’m bored, so I shoot’: The Israeli army’s approval of free-for-all violence in Gaza
Lancet: Counting the dead in Gaza – difficult but essential
‘Revealer of Inconvenient Truths’ – Julian Assange’s Impact on Palestine
Fact or Fiction: Is Israel Unfairly Singled Out for Global Condemnation?
How an Israeli colonel invented the burned babies lie to justify genocide
Widely reported Palestinian father-son ‘rape’ confession contradicted by piles of evidence
The Gaza Project reveals how Israel has targeted the press – in 3 stories
‘Buying Our Own Stolen Water’ in Bethlehem – Scorching Summer Awaits Palestinians in the West Bank
Israel’s covert info bots targeting America met with hypocritical silence
AIPAC: Has the pro-Israel lobby bribed and bought the US Democratic Party?
Israel’s war on Gaza is the deadliest conflict on record for journalists.
Israeli army hits Gaza family, uses them as human shields, and runs over their mother.
Strangling Israeli restrictions were in place long before October 7th.
The day Israeli tanks fired directly at AFP’s Gaza Bureau.
The craziest ‘pro-Israel’ votes on the Hill today.
Israeli documents show expansive government effort to shape US discourse around Gaza war.
Why As A Christian, I Won’t Be Condemning Hamas Anytime Soon.
Is “Israel Has a Right to Defend Itself” Code for “We Are Killing the Geneva Conventions”?
‘I heard all of my friends’ last breath’: Testimonies from the Nuseirat massacre.
Rep. Thomas Massie: Every congressperson has an AIPAC babysitter.
(VIDEO) Col. Douglas Macgregor: US seen as taking orders from Netanyahu.
UN finds at least 14 Israelis likely intentionally killed by own army on October 7.
ADL faces Wikipedia ban over reliability concerns on Israel, antisemitism.
Fear, hunger and displacement follows Israel’s worsening abuse of Palestinians in Hebron.
Rafah Attack: Netanyahu’s Lies Expose The Truth About Israel.
Veterans For Peace: U.S. Army Major Quits Over Israel.


https://israelpalestinenews.org/israel-has-killed-over-2500-palestinians-every-month-since-icj-ruling-day-284/

The Sisi-linked cartel boss in charge of Gaza "file" - Why Egypt is not a friend of Palestine Part 3
The Sinai Mafia boss and powerbroker linked to the Sisi regime and military

vanessa beeley

Ibrahim Al-Arjani (Organi) the Sinai cartel chief in charge of Gaza. Image from FT.

Ibrahim Al Arjani rose to prominence during the alleged Egyptian war on terror in the Sinai as head of the Sinai Tribal Union. His rise was meteoric and his Empire established almost overnight as the Al Organi group that dominates construction and trade in the Sinai Peninsula. Al Arjani was a smuggler during the Mubarak era but became one of the most powerful men in Egypt under the Sisi regime. According to a 2023 article in Egypt Watch:

The man whose name was associated with the president’s son, who helps him control the General Intelligence, suddenly seemed to have an empire or, as it is called, the Al-Arjani group, which is a partner of the regime internally and externally and is considered as an ambassador of the “Decent Life” initiative, and one of the warlords who will help the Armed forces in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

Timothy Kaldas, deputy director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said the nature of the political economy under Sisi “means almost nobody can be a big player in business without co-ordination and some kind of dependence on the regime”. Financial Times

14 years ago Al Arjani was in prison as a Bedouin tribal leader targeted in the crack down on Bedouin protests against the destruction of their environment as mentioned in Part Two of this series.

Today Al Arjani is one of Egypt’s most influential warlords with shared business interests and close ties to the son of the Egyptian president, Mahmoud Al Sisi.

Arjani, who owns some of the largest construction firms in Egypt, takes his orders from Egyptian intelligence – and also a big cut of Egypt's aid to Gaza, and from the movement of goods from Egypt into Gaza, mostly those that pass through the Saladin checkpoint in Rafah.

Al Arjani has a de facto monopoly in the Sinai development project:

Al-Arjani is a member of the board of directors of the National Agency for the Development of the Sinai Peninsula, a public economic agency affiliated with the Egyptian Ministry of Defence, which is responsible for granting the right for Egyptians and foreigners to own or use land, as well as managing and investing in land in Sinai.

Please refer to Part One for information on the international (majority Gulf State) investment in the Sinai. The Sisi regime claims that it has spent $ 12.8 billion since Sisi took power in 2013 on the Sinai development project - headed up by Al Arjani.

The Treasure Plane scandal

In August 2023, 2 months before the Israeli genocide was launched, scandal rocked the Sisi strong-arm regime. While the majority of Egypt suffers power cuts, gas shortages, economic uncertainty and corruption a plane carrying millions of dollars, gold and weapons left Cairo and landed in Zambia where it was promptly seized by the authorities. According to a report in Middle East Monitor:

Such speculation is reinforced by reports of links between the aircraft and Sinai businessman Ibrahim Al-Arjani, who is close to Mahmoud Al-Sisi, the son of the Egyptian president. Al-Arjani is suspected of being involved in the attack on the National Security headquarters in El-Arish last month in an attempt to release detainees belonging to his Tarabin tribe. Some say that those behind the attack were paid back in Zambia.

This incident exposed the deep corruption within the Sisi regime’s close circle. Millions of dollars being smuggled during a time of severe dollar hard currency shortages in the country and while the regime was requesting yet another loan from the International Monetary Fund point to insider dealing.

The plane was reported to have carried out multiple mysterious missions over the years. There is potential that scrutiny of these missions will highlight the involvement of regional and even international partners. Political opponents have claimed that the plane is affiliated to the General Intelligence Services and to Mahmoud Al Sisi. Middle East Monitor reported:

Pictures being circulated show that the location of the aircraft often coincided with the presence of Egyptian intelligence and security delegations. These include officials from the Egyptian intelligence service accompanied by Al-Arjani in Libya, as well as Interior Minister Mahmoud Tawfiq at the head of an Egyptian security delegation participating in the 40th session of the Arab Interior Ministers’ Council in Tunisia in February.

Al Arjani’s Gaza Monopoly

Al Arjani’s monopoly extends into the Rafah border and Gaza itself. In 2021 Egypt was given the exclusive contract to rebuild Gaza after the May 2021 Zionist aggression against the besieged enclave that left thousands of Palestinians injured and killed an estimated 250 (probably a much higher number)


Post-Zionist-aggression billboards were erected along the coastal road in Gaza emblazoned with Sisi’s image. Egyptian bulldozers rolled into the enclave along with construction workers and engineers - their mission to “rebuild Gaza”. Egypt pledged $500 million to reconstruct and to build new roads inside Gaza. An article in Haaretz at the time reported:

The main beneficiary of the reconstruction plan is the company Beni Sinai, owned by Bedouin businessman Ibrahim al-Arjani, who also heads the Tarabin Bedouin tribe and the association of the tribe's leaders in northern Sinai – which are cooperating with Egyptian intelligence in its war against the terrorist groups in the Sinai Peninsula. Arjani, who owns some of the largest construction firms in Egypt, takes his orders from Egyptian intelligence – and also a big cut of Egypt's aid to Gaza, and from the movement of goods from Egypt into Gaza, mostly those that pass through the Saladin checkpoint in Rafah.

Egypt was awarded a monopoly over more than just the initial rebuilding efforts. With the consent of Israel, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, Qatar agreed to a new arrangement for transferring its aid: Qatar would pay Egypt for oil and gasoline that Egypt would supply to Gaza where Hamas would have control over the sale of the resources.

The pretext given by Israel for this change was that it no longer wanted Qatar-managed suitcases of cash being brought into Gaza. Israel has always claimed that Hamas has used a percentage of this cash to fortify the Resistance infrastructure and to buy weapons.

Egypt would therefore take charge of the indirect distribution of $ 30 million per month. In the past this sum was divided three ways. One part was paid out directly to poor families, another was for buying diesel fuel for the Gaza power plant, and the third was for projects to create jobs and reduce unemployment that has now topped 60 percent.

The irony is that the Sisi regime benefits from the sale of gas and oil to the Gaza strip while 1. the Egyptian people endure power outages and gas shortages 2. There are 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas sitting 20 nautical miles off the Gaza coastline that Palestinians have never been given access to by the Zionist regime and its allies in the UK and US.

Please refer to Part Two for Sisi’s deepening ties with Israel.

The Rafah Border provides blood money for the Sisi regime

The Rafah border crossing is the only crossing allegedly not controlled by Israel. The reality is a little different, Israel controls Egyptian policy at the Rafah crossing without a doubt.

In his November 2023 CNN interview, Egyptian Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar addresses the challenging situation regarding the transfer of infants from Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital to Egypt. Despite Egypt’s preparedness, boasting 37 hospitals and over 11,000 beds, the transfer process is stalled due to required clearances from an unspecified authority. When probed about Israel’s potential role in controlling border access, Ghaffar, while non-committal, acknowledges the influence of an external decision-maker. Israel. Watch:

A young Iranian team of journalists and researchers put together this short report on the intricacies of the 2005 Philadelphi Accords, perceived by Israel as an extension of the 1979 Camp David agreement:

Al Arjani has control over trade and construction at the Rafah border. That trade extends to the millions extorted from Palestinian refugees, many children, who have fled to Egypt. An adult is charged $ 5000 and a child $ 2,500. An average family of two parents and three children will be forced to pay $ 17,500 to enter Egypt where they are given only a three month visa which does not include a work permit. After three months they are effectively illegal aliens and face expulsion back to Gaza.

Palestinians desperate to leave Gaza are paying bribes to brokers of up to $10,000 (£7,850) to help them exit the territory through Egypt, according to a Guardian investigation. [..] Belal, a US citizen from Gaza, was told he would need to raise $85,000 to get 11 family members out of the territory, including five children under three.

Before the genocide, the cost was $ 500. This is a shocking exploitation of human suffering to profit from their bloodshed by Al Arjani and the Sisi regime - while Egypt is portrayed as a peace broker and mediator, it is taking blood money from the most vulnerable Palestinians without remorse.


When Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry was asked in March whether the government condoned Hala now charging $5,000 for Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip, he said: “Absolutely not.”

“We will take whatever measures we need so as to . . . eliminate it totally,” Shoukry told Sky News.

Yet weeks later Hala was still providing the service. Financial Times

Where next for Al Arjani and the Sisi regime?

A recent report in the Financial Times has detailed the “shuttering” of the Rafah Crossing. The Zionist military occupation of the crossing has dealt a blow to the Egyptian regime’s economic stake in Gaza, controlled by Al Arjani.

The FT reports that Al Arjani’s response to the crisis was to create the “Union of Arab Tribes” to “work side by side with the Egyptian state” on security.

In a sign of Cairo’s concerns, Organi, a leader of the Tarabin, Sinai’s largest tribe, last month announced the formation [already formed, perhaps mothballed and revived - my note] of an “Union of Arab Tribes” to “work side by side with the Egyptian state” on security.

There have been recent reports on social media that Egypt is increasing its military presence in Sinai close to the Rafah border. According to Zionist media, at least 160 armoured vehicles and 140 other vehicles have been deployed to the area. It is wishful thinking to assume that this may be a reaction to halt the genocide that Israel has been conducting since October 7th.

Instead I believe that this is linked to Al Arjani’s “security” project which is designed to PREVENT the exodus of exhausted, starved and hunted Palestinians from Gaza.

Experts viewed the move as a sign of an anxious government seeking the support of the Bedouin — once nomadic tribes that inhabit the Sinai — amid concerns that Israel’s offensive could eventually drive Palestinians into Egypt. “It is with one eye towards Rafah and long-standing fears about displacement [of Gazans],” said Michael Hanna, an expert at Crisis Group. FT

With the effective occupation of the Rafah border by Israel, with very little concrete protest by Egypt - Al Arjani will instead assume the role of policing the Egyptian side of the border with the tribal alliance.

Sabry said he saw no signs that militias were being re-established, but added that the military was likely to be “trying to organise a locally grown, broad network of spies and informants” to monitor events on the Sinai side of Gaza’s border. FT

A spokesperson for the alliance made it even clearer:

Mostafa Bakry, spokesman for the union, has said the alliance would not be armed, adding that weapons were collected from the previous tribal union three years ago.

But he told a Saudi television channel that the alliance “comes at a very important moment”.

“We are surrounded by a ring of fire,” Bakry said. “We are facing a displacement plot and the president has been very clear from the start. We will not allow displacement [of Gazans].” FT

During a televised address on Sunday 30th June, Sisi made the following statement:

The region is going through serious changes recently amid intense Israeli war in the Gaza Strip and attempts to impose forced displacement towards Egyptian territories.

The conscience of humanity was absent in this war. The international community remained silent, turning its face away from tens of thousands of innocent victims. (Emphasis added)

I don’t think I need to spell out the rank and criminal hypocrisy of such a statement in the context of this article and Part One and Two.


Von Der Leyen and President Sisi in Cairo. Body language says it all.

Meanwhile European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announces the signing of more than 20 memorandums of understanding between European companies and Egyptian companies worth more than 40 billion euros, covering the fields of hydrogen, water, construction, chemicals, shipping, aviation, and automobiles.

Egypt is the Ukraine of West Asia.


****

Please do consider subscribing to my Substack. My work is entirely dependent upon public donations and I would like to thank everyone who already contributes xxx

https://substack.com/home/post/p-146102703

‘I’m bored, so I shoot’: The Israeli army’s approval of free-for-all violence in Gaza
Israeli soldiers describe the near-total absence of firing regulations in the Gaza war, with troops shooting as they please, setting homes ablaze, and leaving corpses on the streets — all with their commanders’ permission.

By Oren Ziv July 8, 2024
Israeli soldiers from the 8717 Battalion of the Givati Brigade operating in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, December 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israeli soldiers from the 8717 Battalion of the Givati Brigade operating in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, December 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
In early June, Al Jazeera aired a series of disturbing videos revealing what it described as “summary executions”: Israeli soldiers shooting dead several Palestinians walking near the coastal road in the Gaza Strip, on three separate occasions. In each case, the Palestinians appeared unarmed and did not pose any imminent threat to the soldiers.

Such footage is rare, due to the severe constraints faced by journalists in the besieged enclave and the constant danger to their lives. But these executions, which did not appear to have any security rationale, are consistent with the testimonies of six Israeli soldiers who spoke to +972 Magazine and Local Call following their release from active duty in Gaza in recent months. Corroborating the testimonies of Palestinian eyewitnesses and doctorsthroughout the war, the soldiers described being authorized to open fire on Palestinians virtually at will, including civilians.

The six sources — all except one of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity — recounted how Israeli soldiers routinely executed Palestinian civilians simply because they entered an area that the military defined as a “no-go zone.” The testimonies paint a picture of a landscape littered with civilian corpses, which are left to rot or be eaten by stray animals; the army only hides them from view ahead of the arrival of international aid convoys, so that “images of people in advanced stages of decay don’t come out.” Two of the soldiers also testified to a systematic policy of setting Palestinian homes on fire after occupying them.

Several sources described how the ability to shoot without restrictions gave soldiers a way to blow off steam or relieve the dullness of their daily routine. “People want to experience the event [fully],” S., a reservist who served in northern Gaza, recalled. “I personally fired a few bullets for no reason, into the sea or at the sidewalk or an abandoned building. They report it as ‘normal fire,’ which is a codename for ‘I’m bored, so I shoot.'”

Since the 1980s, the Israeli military has refused to disclose its open-fire regulations, despite various petitions to the High Court of Justice. According to political sociologist Yagil Levy, since the Second Intifada, “the army has not given soldiers written rules of engagement,” leaving much open to the interpretation of soldiers in the field and their commanders. As well as contributing to the killing of over 38,000 Palestinians, sources testified that these lax directives were also partly responsible for the high number of soldiers killed by friendly fire in recent months.

Israeli soldiers from the 8717 Battalion of the Givati Brigade operating in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, during a military operation, December 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israeli soldiers from the 8717 Battalion of the Givati Brigade operating in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, during a military operation, December 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
“There was total freedom of action,” said B., another soldier who served in the regular forces in Gaza for months, including in his battalion’s command center. “If there is [even] a feeling of threat, there is no need to explain — you just shoot.” When soldiers see someone approaching, “it is permissible to shoot at their center of mass [their body], not into the air,” B. continued. “It’s permissible to shoot everyone, a young girl, an old woman.”

B. went on to describe an incident in November when soldiers killed several civilians during the evacuation of a school close to the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, which had served as a shelter for displaced Palestinians. The army ordered the evacuees to exit to the left, toward the sea, rather than to the right, where the soldiers were stationed. When a gunfight erupted inside the school, those who veered the wrong way in the ensuing chaos were immediately fired at.

“There was intelligence that Hamas wanted to create panic,” B. said. “A battle started inside; people ran away. Some fled left toward the sea, [but] some ran to the right, including children. Everyone who went to the right was killed — 15 to 20 people. There was a pile of bodies.”

‘People shot as they pleased, with all their might’

B. said that it was difficult to distinguish civilians from combatants in Gaza, claiming that members of Hamas often “walk around without their weapons.” But as a result, “every man between the ages of 16 and 50 is suspected of being a terrorist.”

“It is forbidden to walk around, and everyone who is outside is suspicious,” B. continued. “If we see someone in a window looking at us, he is a suspect. You shoot. The [army’s] perception is that any contact [with the population] endangers the forces, and a situation must be created in which it is forbidden to approach [the soldiers] under any circumstances. [The Palestinians] learned that when we enter, they run away.”

Even in seemingly unpopulated or abandoned areas of Gaza, soldiers engaged in extensive shooting in a procedure known as “demonstrating presence.” S. testified that his fellow soldiers would “shoot a lot, even for no reason — anyone who wants to shoot, no matter what the reason, shoots.” In some cases, he noted, this was “intended to … remove people [from their hiding places] or to demonstrate presence.”

M., another reservist who served in the Gaza Strip, explained that such orders would come directly from the commanders of the company or battalion in the field. “When there are no [other] IDF forces [in the area] … the shooting is very unrestricted, like crazy. And not just small arms: machine guns, tanks, and mortars.”

Even in the absence of orders from above, M. testified that soldiers in the field regularly take the law into their own hands. “Regular soldiers, junior officers, battalion commanders — the junior ranks who want to shoot, they get permission.”

S. remembered hearing over the radio about a soldier stationed in a protective compound who shot a Palestinian family walking around nearby. “At first, they say ‘four people.’ It turns into two children plus two adults, and by the end it’s a man, a woman, and two children. You can assemble the picture yourself.”

Only one of the soldiers interviewed for this investigation was willing to be identified by name: Yuval Green, a 26-year-old reservist from Jerusalem who served in the 55th Paratroopers Brigade in November and December last year (Green recently signed a letter by 41 reservists declaring their refusal to continue serving in Gaza, following the army’s invasion of Rafah). “There were no restrictions on ammunition,” Green told +972 and Local Call. “People were shooting just to relieve the boredom.”

Green described an incident that occurred one night during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah in December, when “the whole battalion opened fire together like fireworks, including tracer ammunition [which generates a bright light]. It made a crazy color, illuminating the sky, and because [Hannukah] is the ‘festival of lights,’ it became symbolic.”

Israeli soldiers from the 8717 Battalion of the Givati Brigade operating in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, December 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israeli soldiers from the 8717 Battalion of the Givati Brigade operating in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, December 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
C., another soldier who served in Gaza, explained that when soldiers heard gunshots, they radioed in to clarify whether there was another Israeli military unit in the area, and if not, they opened fire. “People shot as they pleased, with all their might.” But as C. noted, unrestricted shooting meant that soldiers are often exposed to the huge risk of friendly fire — which he described as “more dangerous than Hamas.” “On multiple occasions, IDF forces fired in our direction. We didn’t respond, we checked on the radio, and no one was hurt.”

At the time of writing, 324 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground invasion began, at least 28 of them by friendly fire according to the army. In Green’s experience, such incidents were the “main issue” endangering soldiers’ lives. “There was quite a bit [of friendly fire]; it drove me crazy,” he said.

For Green, the rules of engagement also demonstrated a deep indifference to the fate of the hostages. “They told me about a practice of blowing up tunnels, and I thought to myself that if there were hostages [in them], it would kill them.” After Israeli soldiers in Shuja’iyya killed three hostages waving white flags in December, thinking they were Palestinians, Green said he was angry, but was told “there’s nothing we can do.” “[The commanders] sharpened procedures, saying ‘You have to pay attention and be sensitive, but we are in a combat zone, and we have to be alert.’”

B. confirmed that even after the mishap in Shuja’iyya, which was said to be “contrary to the orders” of the military, the open-fire regulations did not change. “As for the hostages, we didn’t have a specific directive,” he recalled. “[The army’s top brass] said that after the shooting of the hostages, they briefed [soldiers in the field]. [But] they didn’t talk to us.” He and the soldiers who were with him heard about the shooting of the hostages only two and a half weeks after the incident, after they left Gaza.

“I’ve heard statements [from other soldiers] that the hostages are dead, they don’t stand a chance, they have to be abandoned,” Green noted. “[This] bothered me the most … that they kept saying, ‘We’re here for the hostages,’ but it is clear that the war harms the hostages. That was my thought then; today it turned out to be true.”

Israeli soldiers from the 8717 Battalion of the Givati Brigade operating in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israeli soldiers from the 8717 Battalion of the Givati Brigade operating in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
‘A building comes down, and the feeling is, “Wow, what fun”’

A., an officer who served in the army’s Operations Directorate, testified that his brigade’s operations room — which coordinates the fighting from outside Gaza, approving targets and preventing friendly fire — did not receive clear open-fire orders to transmit to soldiers on the ground. “From the moment you enter, at no point is there a briefing,” he said. “We didn’t receive instructions from higher up to pass on to the soldiers and battalion commanders.”

He noted that there were instructions not to shoot along humanitarian routes, but elsewhere, “you fill in the blanks, in the absence of any other directive. This is the approach: ‘If it is forbidden there, then it is permitted here.’”

A. explained that shooting at “hospitals, clinics, schools, religious institutions, [and] buildings of international organizations” required higher authorization. But in practice, “I can count on one hand the cases where we were told not to shoot. Even with sensitive things like schools, [approval] feels like only a formality.”

In general, A. continued, “the spirit in the operations room was ‘Shoot first, ask questions later.’ That was the consensus … No one will shed a tear if we flatten a house when there was no need, or if we shoot someone who we didn’t have to.”

A. said he was aware of cases in which Israeli soldiers shot Palestinian civilians who entered their area of operation, consistent with a Haaretz investigation into “kill zones” in areas of Gaza under the army’s occupation. “This is the default. No civilians are supposed to be in the area, that’s the perspective. We spotted someone in a window, so they fired and killed him.” A. added that it often was not clear from the reports whether soldiers had shot militants or unarmed civilians — and “many times, it sounded like someone was caught up in a situation, and we opened fire.”

But this ambiguity about the identity of victims meant that, for A., military reports about the numbers of Hamas members killed could not be trusted. “The feeling in the war room, and this is a softened version, was that every person we killed, we counted him as a terrorist,” he testified.

“The aim was to count how many [terrorists] we killed today,” A. continued. “Every [soldier] wants to show that he’s the big guy. The perception was that all the men were terrorists. Sometimes a commander would suddenly ask for numbers, and then the officer of the division would run from brigade to brigade going through the list in the military’s computer system and count.”

A.’s testimony is consistent with a recent reportfrom the Israeli outlet Mako, about a drone strike by one brigade that killed Palestinians in another brigade’s area of operation. Officers from both brigades consulted on which one should register the assassinations. “What difference does it make? Register it to both of us,” one of them told the other, according to the publication.

During the first weeks after the Hamas-led October 7 attack, A. recalled, “people were feeling very guilty that this happened on our watch,” a feeling that was shared among the Israeli public writ large — and quickly transformed into a desire for retribution. “There was no direct order to take revenge,” A. said, “but when you reach decision junctures, the instructions, orders, and protocols [regarding ‘sensitive’ cases] only have so much influence.”

When drones would livestream footage of attacks in Gaza, “there were cheers of joy in the war room,” A. said. “Every once in a while, a building comes down … and the feeling is, ‘Wow, how crazy, what fun.’”

Palestinians at the site of a mosque destroyed in an Israeli airstrike, near the Shaboura refugee camp in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, April 26, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
Palestinians at the site of a mosque destroyed in an Israeli airstrike, near the Shaboura refugee camp in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, April 26, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
A. noted the irony that part of what motivated Israelis’ calls for revenge was the belief that Palestinians in Gaza rejoiced in the death and destruction of October 7. To justify abandoning the distinction between civilians and combatants, people would resort to such statements as “‘They handed out sweets,’ ‘They danced after October 7,’ or ‘They elected Hamas’ … Not everyone, but also quite a few, thought that today’s child [is] tomorrow’s terrorist.

“I, too, a rather left-wing soldier, forget very quickly that these are real homes [in Gaza],” A. said of his experience in the operations room. “It felt like a computer game. Only after two weeks did I realize that these are [actual] buildings that are falling: if there are inhabitants [inside], then [the buildings are collapsing] on their heads, and even if not, then with everything inside them.”

‘A horrific smell of death’

Multiple soldiers testified that the permissive shooting policy has enabled Israeli units to kill Palestinian civilians even when they are identified as such beforehand. D., a reservist, said that his brigade was stationed next to two so-called “humanitarian” travel corridors, one for aid organizations and one for civilians fleeing from the north to the south of the Strip. Within his brigade’s area of operation, they instituted a “red line, green line” policy, delineating zones where it was forbidden for civilians to enter.

According to D., aid organizations were permitted to travel into these zones with prior coordination (our interview was conducted before a series of Israeli precision strikes killedseven World Central Kitchen employees), but for Palestinians it was different. “Anyone who crossed into the green area would become a potential target,” D. said, claiming that these areas were signposted to civilians. “If they cross the red line, you report it on the radio and you don’t need to wait for permission, you can shoot.”

Yet D. said that civilians often came into areas where aid convoys passed through in order to look for scraps that might fall from the trucks; nonetheless, the policy was to shoot anyone who tried to enter. “The civilians are clearly refugees, they are desperate, they have nothing,” he said. Yet in the early months of the war, “every day there were two or three incidents with innocent people or [people] who were suspected of being sent by Hamas as spotters,” whom soldiers in his battalion shot.

The soldiers testified that throughout Gaza, corpses of Palestinians in civilian clothes remained scattered along roads and open ground. “The whole area was full of bodies,” said S., a reservist. “There are also dogs, cows, and horses that survived the bombings and have nowhere to go. We can’t feed them, and we don’t want them to get too close either. So, you occasionally see dogs walking around with rotting body parts. There is a horrific smell of death.”

Rubbles of houses destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the Jabalia area in the northern Gaza Strip, October 11, 2023. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)
Rubbles of houses destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the Jabalia area in the northern Gaza Strip, October 11, 2023. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)
But before the humanitarian convoys arrive, S. noted, the bodies are removed. “A D-9 [Caterpillar bulldozer] goes down, with a tank, and clears the area of corpses, buries them under the rubble, and flips [them] aside so that the convoys don’t see it — [so that] images of people in advanced stages of decay don’t come out,” he described.

“I saw a lot of [Palestinian] civilians – families, women, children,” S. continued. “There are more fatalities than are reported. We were in a small area. Every day, at least one or two [civilians] are killed [because] they walked in a no-go area. I don’t know who is a terrorist and who is not, but most of them did not carry weapons.”

Green said that when he arrived in Khan Younis at the end of December, “We saw some indistinct mass outside a house. We realized it was a body; we saw a leg. At night, cats ate it. Then someone came and moved it.”

A non-military source who spoke to +972 and Local Call after visiting northern Gaza also reported seeing bodies strewn around the area. “Near the army compound between the northern and southern Gaza Strip, we saw about 10 bodies shot in the head, apparently by a sniper, [seemingly while] trying to return to the north,” he said. “The bodies were decomposing; there were dogs and cats around them.”

“They don’t deal with the bodies,” B. said of the Israeli soldiers in Gaza. “If they’re in the way, they get moved to the side. There’s no burial of the dead. Soldiers stepped on bodies by mistake.”

Last month, Guy Zaken, a soldier who operated D-9 bulldozers in Gaza, testified before a Knesset committee that he and his crew “ran over hundreds of terrorists, dead and alive.” Another soldier he served with subsequently committed suicide.


‘Before you leave, you burn down the house’

Two of the soldiers interviewed for this article also described how burning Palestinian homes has become a common practice among Israeli soldiers, as first reported in depth by Haaretzin January. Green personally witnessed two such cases — the first an independent initiative by a soldier, and the second by commanders’ orders — and his frustration with this policy is part of what eventually led him to refuse further military service.

When soldiers occupied homes, he testified, the policy was “if you move, you have to burn down the house.” Yet for Green, this made no sense: in “no scenario” could the middle of the refugee camp be part of any Israeli security zone that might justify such destruction. “We are in these houses not because they belong to Hamas operatives, but because they serve us operationally,” he noted. “It is a house of two or three families — to destroy it means they will be homeless.

“I asked the company commander, who said that no military equipment [could be] left behind, and that we did not want the enemy to see our fighting methods,” Green continued. “I said I would do a search [to make sure] there was no [evidence of] combat methods left behind. [The company commander] gave me explanations from the world of revenge. He said they were burning them because there were no D-9s or IEDs from an engineering corp [that could destroy the house by other means]. He received an order and it didn’t bother him.”

“Before you leave, you burn down the house — every house,” B. reiterated. “This is backed up at the battalion commander level. It’s so that [Palestinians] won’t be able to return, and if we left behind any ammunition or food, the terrorists won’t be able to use it.”

Before leaving, soldiers would pile up mattresses, furniture, and blankets, and “with some fuel or gas cylinders,” B. noted, “the house burns down easily, it’s like a furnace.” At the beginning of the ground invasion, his company would occupy houses for a few days and then move on; according to B., they “burned hundreds of houses. There were cases where soldiers set a floor alight, and other soldiers were on a higher floor and had to flee through the flames on the stairs or choked on smoke.”

Green said the destruction the military has left in Gaza is “unimaginable.” At the beginning of the fighting, he recounted, they were advancing between houses 50 meters from each other, and many soldiers “treated the houses [like] a souvenir shop,” looting whatever their residents hadn’t managed to take with them.

“In the end you die of boredom, [after] days of waiting there,” Green said. “You draw on the walls, rude things. Playing with clothes, finding passport photos they left, hanging a picture of someone because it’s funny. We used everything we found: mattresses, food, one found a NIS 100 bill [around $27] and took it.”

“We destroyed everything we wanted to,” Green testified. “This is not out of a desire to destroy, but out of total indifference to everything that belongs to [Palestinians]. Every day, a D-9 demolishes houses. I haven’t taken before-and-after photos, but I’ll never forget how a neighborhood that was really beautiful … is reduced to sand.”

The IDF Spokesperson responded to our request for comment with the following statement: “Open-fire instructions were given to all IDF soldiers fighting in the Gaza Strip and on the borders upon entering combat. These instructions reflect the international law to which the IDF is bound. The open-fire instructions are regularly reviewed and updated in light of the changing operational and intelligence situation, and approved by the most senior officials in the IDF.

“The open-fire instructions provide a relevant response to all operational situations, and the possibility in any case of risk to our forces full operational freedom of action to remove threats. This, while giving tools to the forces to deal with complex situations in the presence of a civilian population, and while emphasizing the reduction of harm to people who are not identified as enemies or who do not pose a threat to their lives. Generic directives regarding the open-fire instructions such as those described in the query are unknown and to the extent that they were given, they are in conflict with the army’s orders.

“The IDF investigates its activities and draws lessons from operational events, including the tragic event of the accidental killing of the late Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samer Talalka. Lessons learned from the investigation of the incident were transferred to the fighting forces in the field in order to prevent a repeat of this type of incident in the future.

“As part of the destruction of Hamas’ military capabilities, an operational need arises, among other things, to destroy or attack buildings where the terrorist organization places combat infrastructure. This also includes buildings that Hamas regularly converted for fighting. Meanwhile, Hamas makes systematic military use of public buildings that are supposed to be used for civilian purposes. The army’s orders regulate the approval process, so that damage to sensitive sites must be approved by senior commanders who take into account the impact of the damage to the structure on the civilian population, and this in the face of the military need to attack or demolish the structure. The decision-making of these senior commanders is done in an orderly and balanced manner.

“The burning of buildings that is not necessary for operational purposes is against the orders of the army and the values ​​of the IDF.

“In the framework of the fighting and subject to the orders of the army, it is possible to use enemy property for essential military purposes, as well as take property of the terrorist organizations subject to orders as spoils of war. At the same time, taking property for private purposes constitutes looting and is prohibited according to the Law of Military Jurisdiction. Incidents in which forces acted not in accordance with orders and the law will be investigated.”






‘I’m bored, so I shoot’: The Israeli army’s approval of free-for-all violence in Gaza
Israeli soldiers describe the near-total absence of firing regulations in the Gaza war, with troops shooting as they please, setting homes ablaze, and leaving corpses on the streets — all with their commanders’ permission.
By Oren Ziv July 8, 2024
http://donshafi911iamthefaceoftruth.blogspot.com/2024/07/im-bored-so-i-shoot-israeli-armys.html

TREAD - DOCUMENTARY OF KILLDOZER GUY
https://www.bitchute.com/video/kIUhvA1aXmcC/