Inside Israel’s torture, rape, and dehumanization centers Shocking even by Israeli standards, the horrifying truth of the occupation’s systematic torture, rape, and degradation of Palestinian detainees reveals a brutality buried in silence. Robert Inlakesh While the world witnesses the atrocities and massacres committed by Israel’s military assault on Gaza every day, the thousands of Palestinians detained by occupation forces – before and after the events of 7 October 2023 – face torture and death behind closed doors, alone. Worse yet, these detention horrors have been brazenly publicized and even bragged about by occupation soldiers, with violent, vocalized support from wide swathes of Israeli society. In the shadows of Israel’s prisons, tens of thousands of Palestinian detainees are enduring a relentless campaign of cruelty. Reports detail harrowing accounts of beatings, gang rape, and psychological torture, compounded by the denial of essential needs such as food, water, and medical care. This systematic abuse, carried out on an industrial scale, is staggering in its scope and savagery. Public protests have emerged – not to condemn these atrocities – but to demand the release of Israeli soldiers implicated in acts of sexual violence so severe that their victim tragically died from the injuries inflicted. Secrecy and suffering inside Israeli prisons Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, issued a dire warning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in June, describing the situation in Israeli prisons as a “ticking time bomb,” which may endanger senior Israelis abroad and expose them to “international tribunals.” Bar’s letter revealed that over 21,000 Palestinian detainees were being held, far exceeding official figures and the capacity of the centers. Rather than addressing these concerns, Israel’s extremist Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who has barred Red Cross and humanitarian access to Palestinian detainees, responded by boasting about his role in worsening conditions for prisoners. A policy paper from the Institute for Palestine Studies highlighted the draconian measures implemented as early as 17 October – a mere 10 days after the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. These measures included: Constricting living spaces; removing detainees’ beds when necessary and replacing them with mattresses on the floor, leading to overcrowding; a policy of ‘closures’ whereby prison cells are locked, and total isolation is imposed; closing prisons to all family visits or visits by the Red Cross or by lawyers, and rescinding the possibility of bringing detainees before judges so that all judicial sessions are conducted through video conference. The situation under the security minister has deteriorated to the point where Ben Gvir has openly called for the execution of Palestinian detainees, which he offers up as a “simpler solution.” Since 7 October, at least 35 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli jails and military detention camps. Reports of rape and abuse despite censorship While many details remain obscure, evidence from court documents, eyewitness testimonies, and leaked photos and videos paint a harrowing picture of the conditions inside these facilities. One particularly disturbing case is that of Bassem Tamimi, a resident of Nabi Saleh in the West Bank, who was released from administrative detention – a form of imprisonment without charge – physically emaciated and emotionally broken. Even Israeli news outlet Haaretz had its report on Tamimi’s treatment redacted by authorities in an attempt to conceal the breadth of prison brutality. In January, a joint report published by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) detailed what it called “systemic” torture of Palestinians. One testimony presented in the report, from a detainee called “Prisoner R” held in Ketziot Prison, revealed the following details: The wardens would threaten to kill the prisoners as they entered the cells … Wardens would conduct searches while the prisoners were naked, place naked prisoners against each other, and place the aluminum device used in the searches in their buttocks. In another instance, the wardens passed a card in a prisoner’s buttocks. All of this took place in sight of other prisoners and wardens, while the wardens took pleasure in beating the prisoner’s genitals. After a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas in late November, claims began to emerge of severe torture and rape – testimonies that largely fell on deaf ears. On 1 December, Baraah Abo Ramouz, a Palestinian journalist just released from prison, told the press that: The situation in the prisons is devastating. The prisoners are abused. They are being constantly beaten. They’re being sexually assaulted. They are being raped. I’m not exaggerating. The prisoners are being raped. Gender-based violence as collective punishment Upon exiting the prisons, many Palestinian detainees opted to remain silent on their experiences inside Israeli detention facilities due to fears of retribution but also out of a deep sense of shame and the need to preserve their honor in a conservative society. At the time, the Israeli security minister directed Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai to crack down on any celebrations by families of the released prisoners. As Ben Gvir publicly stated: My instructions are clear: there are to be no expressions of joy ... Expressions of joy are equivalent to backing terrorism; victory celebrations give backing to those human scum. A UN report released on 12 June almost entirely focuses on cases of sexual abuse and rape committed against Palestinian men, women, and children while under detention. Israeli forces, the report says: Systematically targeted and subjected Palestinians to SGBV [Sexual and Gender-Based Violence] online and in person since October 7, including through forced public nudity, forced public stripping, sexualized torture and abuse, and sexual humiliation and harassment. The report further states that gender-based violence “directed at Palestinian women was intended to humiliate and degrade the Palestinian population as a whole.” The men and young boys were stripped and paraded through the streets, and the women were forced to watch as the kidnapped, cuffed, and blindfolded captives were “coerced to do physical movements while naked.” In Gaza, not only are random Palestinian civilians rounded up and subjected to public degradation, but many are then transferred to Israeli detention centers, without charges, to suffer torture and even death. According to eyewitness testimonies collected by the Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC) in July, four blindfolded detainees held without any charge were summarily executed in front of other inmates at the Kerem Abu Shalom site located along the perimeter of Gaza. Palestine’s Abu Ghraib Perhaps the most infamous cases of abuse, torture, and rape against Palestinian detainees have emerged from the Sde Teiman detention center, a facility located at an Israeli military site in the Naqab (Negev) desert that is specifically designed for people abducted from Gaza. Per an amendment to Israeli law back in December, the military is permitted to hold ‘suspected terrorists’ for up to 45 days without charge before transferring them to the Israeli Prison System (IPS). Many of the Palestinian abductees, however, were held for much longer using loopholes in Israel’s legal and prison system. Despite countless leaked reports on the conditions faced by detained Gazans, including women, children, doctors, people with disabilities, and the elderly, the first real expose that broke through the English-language mainstream media barrier was an investigative piece published by CNN in May. The US outlet leaked photos of prisoners kept bound, blindfolded, and held behind barbed wire fences in stress positions, and quoted Israeli whistleblowers who worked in the facility. The testimonies attested to the horrifying sanitary conditions and routine torture practiced there, which one Israeli whistleblower said had “stripped them down of anything that resembles human beings.” Later, the New York Times went on to publish its own three-month-long investigation into the Sde Teiman facility, confirming three cases of electrocution, two cases of prisoners having their ribs broken during arbitrary beatings, and heinous crimes such as the anal rape of detainees. It also detailed how prisoners were humiliated and forced to wear only diapers during interrogations. Corroborating the investigative piece’s evidence, a leaked segment of a UN report on the facility quoted prisoners directly, revealing stomach-churning details. ‘We saw worms coming out of his body’ In testimony collected by UNRWA, a 41-year-old former detainee said: They made me sit on something like a hot metal stick, and it felt like fire – I have burns [in the anus]. The soldiers hit me with their shoes on my chest and used something like a metal stick that had a small nail on the side ... They asked us to drink from the toilet and made the dogs attack us … There were people who were detained and killed – maybe nine of them. One of them died after they put the electric stick up his [anus]. He got so sick; we saw worms coming out of his body, and then he died. A woman in her thirties also testified to being shown the aerial view of her neighborhood and threatened with the bombing of family members. While another 32-year-old woman described her harrowing experience while being transferred between different detention facilities: They asked the soldiers to spit on me, saying, ‘She is a b****, she is from Gaza.’ They were beating us as we moved and saying they would put pepper on our sensitive parts [genitals]. They pulled us, beat us, they took us on the bus to the Damon prison after five days. A male soldier took off our hijabs, and they pinched us and touched our bodies, including our breasts. We were blindfolded, and we felt them touching us, pushing our heads to the bus. We started to squeeze together to try to protect ourselves from the touching. They said ‘b****, b****.’ They told the soldiers to take off their shoes and slap our faces with them. Dehumanization of Palestinian prisoners Confirming previous reports on the issue, Haaretz also published a piece on the amputation of prisoners’ limbs by unqualified individuals, which was performed due to the extended periods detainees were shackled, leaving their circulation-deprived flesh to rot and get infected. A 32-year-old Gazan man, speaking to The Cradle on the condition of anonymity, says Israeli guards “beat me repeatedly and then urinated on me” while held at Sde Teiman detention center. He testifies to being severely tortured, too. “There were even doctors there, disabled people and young people, but they didn’t care who you were; we were all treated below animals,” he says, explaining that sounds were constantly played to disrupt sleep and make it impossible to tell what time it was. He goes on to say that he was beaten with metal tools and that the prison guards would mock him and threaten to kill the rest of his family, with full knowledge that his brother had been murdered in a previous series of Israeli airstrikes prior to his abduction, and using the information to torment him mentally. The director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, Dr Mohammad Abu Salmiya, who was released after spending seven months in Israeli detention without any charge, testified to what he witnessed after being ferried through a range of detention facilities, including Sde Teiman. Dr Abu Salmiya stated that “prisoners in Israeli jails endure different types of torture. The army treats them as if they were inanimate objects, and Israeli doctors physically assaulted us.” He went on to say that there were “severe torture and almost daily assaults inside the prisons and were denied medical treatments,” adding that “no international organization visited us in Israeli prisons, and we were prohibited from meeting any lawyers. Many detainees are still left behind in very poor health and psychological conditions.” Showers come with severe punishments Beyond the countless makeshift detention facilities hastily erected inside Gaza – where prisoners were stripped, blindfolded, and left in the sand to endure harsh weather conditions – there are three official detention centers specifically for Palestinians from Gaza, surrounding the besieged coastal territory. Palestinian lawyer with Israeli citizenship, Khaled Mahajneh, provided an insightful first-hand account of the conditions faced in the Sde Teiman detention camp after being granted a rare visit, stating that “the treatment is more horrifying than anything we have heard about Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.” Mahajneh recounted the testimony of one prisoner, who revealed that the only time shackles were removed was during a weekly one-minute shower. But Palestinian detainees began refusing these showers because exceeding the one-minute limit, without a timer to guide them, resulted in “severe punishments, including hours outside in the heat or rain.” After months of mounting evidence on the deadly conditions faced at Sde Teiman, 10 Israeli reservist soldiers were accused of gang-raping a Palestinian prisoner with a stick. Nine of the accused were arrested, one of whom would be released the next day and go on to brag about his actions on Israeli television. The arrests, however, triggered the invasion of military facilities by thousands of Israeli protesters, backed by Ben Gvir, who lionized the rapists as “heroes.” A debate on the incident even followed in the Israeli Knesset, where Likud Party MK Hanoch Milwidsky argued in favor of the gang rape. Since then, a video of the assault has surfaced, and Israel’s Honenu legal aid organization, representing four of the accused, has claimed their clients were acting in “self-defense.” It’s not just one facility At a press conference held in the West Bank city of Ramallah in mid-July, Mahajneh also revealed that he had learned, during a visit to the Ofer detention center located in the West Bank, that a 27-year-old Palestinian inmate was brutally raped as follows: A pipe from a fire extinguisher was used on a handcuffed prisoner. Forcing him to lie on his stomach, stripping him of all his clothes, and inserting the pipe of the fire extinguisher into the prisoner’s rectum. Then, activating the extinguisher … in front of the eyes of the other prisoners. The case of Palestinian bodybuilder Muazzaz Abayat from Bethlehem, who lost half his body weight during his nine-month incarceration, is indicative of the inhumane conditions that all prisoners are subjected to and that the foul treatment is in no way confined to the detention camps surrounding Gaza. Official Israeli figures put the number of Palestinian political prisoners at just under 10,000, including 3,380 administrative detainees and 250 children. These numbers are clearly inaccurate, given that Israel’s Shin Bet director has already estimated detainees to number around 21,000 – in June. The exact figures remain elusive, and many prisoners remain unaccounted for. The confirmed death toll among Palestinian prisoners, currently at 53, is also likely an underestimation, as many detainees are still considered missing. In stark contrast to the intense media coverage and political concern for the Israeli captives held in Gaza, the plight of Palestinian detainees is largely ignored. There are more Palestinian children held as hostages by Israel than the total number of Israelis seized on 7 October, even according to the lower 10,000 prisoner estimate. In comparison to the suffering of Palestinian detainees, the issue of their Israeli counterparts – less than 100, by some accounts – is a mere drop in the ocean. https://thecradle.co/articles/inside-israels-torture-rape-and-dehumanization-centers https://donshafi911iamthefaceoftruth.blogspot.com/2024/10/inside-israels-torture-rape-and.html

To cover for war crimes, Israel claims it ‘lost control’ over soldiers Israel’s claim to have lost control over military units in Gaza is an attempt to gain legal cover for its troops’ war crimes, and masks a far deeper issue of systemic impunity inside the occupation army. Robert Inlakesh Several months after media commentators began predicting a “strategic defeat” for Israeli forces in Gaza, Israel’s military high command is claiming it has lost control over various units in their armed forces. The argument appears to scapegoat occupation soldiers to provide plausible deniability for their superiors and dissociate them from war crimes charges. The vast body of evidence emerging on these alleged ‘rogue Israeli units’ could potentially lead to a damning indictment of Tel Aviv’s military leadership. Despite the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) recent call on Israel to halt its military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains resolute in his vow to invade, even while personally facing an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. Marred by internal division and pressure to comply with the ICJ order, Tel Aviv finds itself in a precarious position. ‘Rogue units’ in the occupation army Hebrew-daily Haaretz dropped a narrative bombshell last weekend when it claimed that the Israeli army’s “General Staff lost control over the units, especially reserve units, months ago.” The article attempts to depict a situation in which Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has just “woken up” to the reality of allegedly rogue elements operating under his watch, with these ‘uncontrolled units’ committing the crimes cited by the ICJ against Israel. Throughout the war in Gaza, Israeli soldiers have been publishing evidence of themselves committing crimes, showing genocidal intent, and performing perverse acts while operating inside the besieged coastal territory. These incriminating clips, published primarily on TikTok and Instagram and also within Telegram groups that glorify the killing of Palestinian civilians, have attracted a lot of bad press. It appears that Israel’s leadership is now floating the “few bad apples” strategy to absolve their military high brass of accountability. It won’t be easy. Some of these social media groups are run by occupation officials. Furthermore, the Israeli military establishment has admitted to running accounts on Telegram that showcase snuff films as part of a psychological warfare operation under the “Operations Directorate’s Influencing Department.” Which units have gone rogue? As of now, there is no official list of the units that have allegedly ‘gone rogue.’ Haaretz writer Amos Harel proposes that these troops can simply be identified by those who have posted incriminating videos of themselves. Consider the case of Yair Ben David, a commander in the 2908th Battalion, cited in the South African ICJ submission for expressing genocidal intent. He boasted about the destruction his forces caused in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, referencing a biblical story where all male inhabitants were massacred, and stated, “the entire Gaza should resemble Beit Hanoun.” Despite this statement being made in a video published on social media in December 2023, there has been no action taken by Israel’s military leadership to rein in his unit. Another Haaretz article published in late January, titled ‘The Israeli Army Must Act Before Some of Its Soldiers Turn Into Lawless Gangs,’ referenced Ben David’s comment and noted that “90 reservist battalion commanders petitioned the IDF chief of staff not to stop in Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank until victory.” David Bar Kalifa, commander of Division 36, the largest regular division in the Israeli army, was also quoted in the article for his orders of “vengeance” against the Palestinian population. However, Tel Aviv has taken no actions to structurally change or reform the division, which was instead later transitioned to the Lebanese border, despite the head of Israel’s Southern Command, Yaron Finkelman, arguing for them to move to central Gaza. Aviad Yisraeli, an officer in the 261 Brigade’s 6261st Battalion, openly posted on social media about his intent to “make sure there is no one left” before participating in the invasion of Khan Yunis in December. Yisraeli, who lives in an illegal settler outpost near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, was not disciplined by his superiors and was recently deployed to Rafah. On 6 May, when Israeli forces seized the Rafah Crossing, soldiers filmed themselves destroying and desecrating the crossing and posting the footage on social media. These soldiers belonged to the 401st Brigade of the 162nd Division, while the Givati Brigade captured other areas east of Rafah. The Rafah Crossing seizure was perhaps one of the most sensitive military offensives committed by the Israelis during the entire war because their entrance into what is known as the ‘Philadelphi Corridor’ technically violated the 1979 Camp David agreement with Egypt. The use of the 401st Brigade, known for its subordination, reflects a deeper issue within the Israeli high command. Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari has been urging soldiers not to film such acts for months, which is a clear indication that the army leadership has long been aware of their actions. No disciplinary actions have been taken to date – the most proactive measure conducted by authorities has been to announce police’ investigations’ into the posting of footage online. And there has been no follow-up on these inquiries into the thousands of videos, photos, and posts from soldiers. Controlling chaos If the Israeli leadership has truly lost control of entire units in their military, why would such units be deployed back into action in sensitive areas like the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and along the Lebanese border? Such reckless decision-making, involving soldiers suspected of not following orders and whose videos are used as evidence of genocidal intent at the ICJ, is a significant indictment of the Israeli high command. In January, a report by the Hebrew ‘Kan Reshet Bet’ radio stated: Reservist fighters who were called to training ahead of the establishment of the Hashomer Brigade … have severely criticized the serious gaps in equipment, professionalism, the lack of manpower and especially the fact that in the middle of the training they were informed that they were entering the Gaza Strip without having trained as required. Such reports are not uncommon in Israeli media and reflect the state of the military leadership’s decision-making. When combined with numerous statements of genocidal intent, as documented by Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, from both military and political leadership, it paints a picture of controlled chaos. The South African legal team at the ICJ linked Netanyahu’s invocation of the biblical story of Amalek to Israeli soldiers, interpreting this as a call to mass murder Palestinian civilians. Potential war crimes motivated by such rhetoric cannot be isolated to individuals when military leadership decisions allow such behavior. If the Israeli high command is unaware of radical and uncontrolled elements within their military, how do they explain the formation of the ‘Desert Frontier’ unit, which has integrated extremist settlers from the ‘Hilltop Youth?’ This radical group of settler-vigilantes was previously described by Israeli media as terrorists for attacking Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians. An environment of impunity This problem of reckless soldier behavior did not begin in 2023; it stems from Israeli troops operating in an environment of complete impunity. During the 2008/9 war in Gaza, the worst punishment doled out to an Israeli soldier committing a crime was for stealing a credit card – not for killing, torturing, beating Palestinians, or razing their homes, businesses, and land. Or for using Palestinians as human shields – a crime Tel Aviv attributes to Hamas, but one its troops commit daily. According to B’Tselem, two soldiers involved in using a nine-year-old boy as a human shield received a three-month conditional sentence and were demoted from staff sergeant to private two years after the incident. None of their commanding officers were tried. The two soldiers in question had ordered a nine-year-old boy, at gunpoint, to open a bag they suspected was booby-trapped. Despite the gravity of their conduct - putting a young child at risk – the two were given a three-month conditional sentence and demoted from staff sergeant to private some two years after the incident took place. None of their commanding officers were tried. Since then, troop behaviors have only worsened. Despite there being so many more documented cases of Israeli soldiers deploying Palestinian civilians – often children – as human shields, this was the last case punished by the Israeli judicial system. The argument that Israel’s military leadership is only now waking up to the reality of their soldiers’ misconduct serves to create plausible deniability. It is no coincidence that extremist ideologues have been empowered in the Israeli army and that ill-disciplined soldiers, encouraged by their leaders’ genocidal rhetoric, are given carte blanche to commit crimes against Palestinians. https://thecradle.co/articles-id/25201 To cover for war crimes, Israel claims it ‘lost control’ over soldiers Israel’s claim to have lost control over military units in Gaza is an attempt to gain legal cover for its troops’ war crimes, and masks a far deeper issue of systemic impunity inside the occupation army. Robert Inlakesh Several months after media commentators began predicting a “strategic defeat” for Israeli forces in Gaza, Israel’s military high command is claiming it has lost control over various units in their armed forces. The argument appears to scapegoat occupation soldiers to provide plausible deniability for their superiors and dissociate them from war crimes charges. The vast body of evidence emerging on these alleged ‘rogue Israeli units’ could potentially lead to a damning indictment of Tel Aviv’s military leadership. Despite the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) recent call on Israel to halt its military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains resolute in his vow to invade, even while personally facing an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. Marred by internal division and pressure to comply with the ICJ order, Tel Aviv finds itself in a precarious position. ‘Rogue units’ in the occupation army Hebrew-daily Haaretz dropped a narrative bombshell last weekend when it claimed that the Israeli army’s “General Staff lost control over the units, especially reserve units, months ago.” The article attempts to depict a situation in which Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has just “woken up” to the reality of allegedly rogue elements operating under his watch, with these ‘uncontrolled units’ committing the crimes cited by the ICJ against Israel. Throughout the war in Gaza, Israeli soldiers have been publishing evidence of themselves committing crimes, showing genocidal intent, and performing perverse acts while operating inside the besieged coastal territory. These incriminating clips, published primarily on TikTok and Instagram and also within Telegram groups that glorify the killing of Palestinian civilians, have attracted a lot of bad press. It appears that Israel’s leadership is now floating the “few bad apples” strategy to absolve their military high brass of accountability. It won’t be easy. Some of these social media groups are run by occupation officials. Furthermore, the Israeli military establishment has admitted to running accounts on Telegram that showcase snuff films as part of a psychological warfare operation under the “Operations Directorate’s Influencing Department.” Which units have gone rogue? As of now, there is no official list of the units that have allegedly ‘gone rogue.’ Haaretz writer Amos Harel proposes that these troops can simply be identified by those who have posted incriminating videos of themselves. Consider the case of Yair Ben David, a commander in the 2908th Battalion, cited in the South African ICJ submission for expressing genocidal intent. He boasted about the destruction his forces caused in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, referencing a biblical story where all male inhabitants were massacred, and stated, “the entire Gaza should resemble Beit Hanoun.” Despite this statement being made in a video published on social media in December 2023, there has been no action taken by Israel’s military leadership to rein in his unit. Another Haaretz article published in late January, titled ‘The Israeli Army Must Act Before Some of Its Soldiers Turn Into Lawless Gangs,’ referenced Ben David’s comment and noted that “90 reservist battalion commanders petitioned the IDF chief of staff not to stop in Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank until victory.” David Bar Kalifa, commander of Division 36, the largest regular division in the Israeli army, was also quoted in the article for his orders of “vengeance” against the Palestinian population. However, Tel Aviv has taken no actions to structurally change or reform the division, which was instead later transitioned to the Lebanese border, despite the head of Israel’s Southern Command, Yaron Finkelman, arguing for them to move to central Gaza. Aviad Yisraeli, an officer in the 261 Brigade’s 6261st Battalion, openly posted on social media about his intent to “make sure there is no one left” before participating in the invasion of Khan Yunis in December. Yisraeli, who lives in an illegal settler outpost near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, was not disciplined by his superiors and was recently deployed to Rafah. On 6 May, when Israeli forces seized the Rafah Crossing, soldiers filmed themselves destroying and desecrating the crossing and posting the footage on social media. These soldiers belonged to the 401st Brigade of the 162nd Division, while the Givati Brigade captured other areas east of Rafah. The Rafah Crossing seizure was perhaps one of the most sensitive military offensives committed by the Israelis during the entire war because their entrance into what is known as the ‘Philadelphi Corridor’ technically violated the 1979 Camp David agreement with Egypt. The use of the 401st Brigade, known for its subordination, reflects a deeper issue within the Israeli high command. Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari has been urging soldiers not to film such acts for months, which is a clear indication that the army leadership has long been aware of their actions. No disciplinary actions have been taken to date – the most proactive measure conducted by authorities has been to announce police’ investigations’ into the posting of footage online. And there has been no follow-up on these inquiries into the thousands of videos, photos, and posts from soldiers. Controlling chaos If the Israeli leadership has truly lost control of entire units in their military, why would such units be deployed back into action in sensitive areas like the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and along the Lebanese border? Such reckless decision-making, involving soldiers suspected of not following orders and whose videos are used as evidence of genocidal intent at the ICJ, is a significant indictment of the Israeli high command. In January, a report by the Hebrew ‘Kan Reshet Bet’ radio stated: Reservist fighters who were called to training ahead of the establishment of the Hashomer Brigade … have severely criticized the serious gaps in equipment, professionalism, the lack of manpower and especially the fact that in the middle of the training they were informed that they were entering the Gaza Strip without having trained as required. Such reports are not uncommon in Israeli media and reflect the state of the military leadership’s decision-making. When combined with numerous statements of genocidal intent, as documented by Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, from both military and political leadership, it paints a picture of controlled chaos. The South African legal team at the ICJ linked Netanyahu’s invocation of the biblical story of Amalek to Israeli soldiers, interpreting this as a call to mass murder Palestinian civilians. Potential war crimes motivated by such rhetoric cannot be isolated to individuals when military leadership decisions allow such behavior. If the Israeli high command is unaware of radical and uncontrolled elements within their military, how do they explain the formation of the ‘Desert Frontier’ unit, which has integrated extremist settlers from the ‘Hilltop Youth?’ This radical group of settler-vigilantes was previously described by Israeli media as terrorists for attacking Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians. An environment of impunity This problem of reckless soldier behavior did not begin in 2023; it stems from Israeli troops operating in an environment of complete impunity. During the 2008/9 war in Gaza, the worst punishment doled out to an Israeli soldier committing a crime was for stealing a credit card – not for killing, torturing, beating Palestinians, or razing their homes, businesses, and land. Or for using Palestinians as human shields – a crime Tel Aviv attributes to Hamas, but one its troops commit daily. According to B’Tselem, two soldiers involved in using a nine-year-old boy as a human shield received a three-month conditional sentence and were demoted from staff sergeant to private two years after the incident. None of their commanding officers were tried. The two soldiers in question had ordered a nine-year-old boy, at gunpoint, to open a bag they suspected was booby-trapped. Despite the gravity of their conduct - putting a young child at risk – the two were given a three-month conditional sentence and demoted from staff sergeant to private some two years after the incident took place. None of their commanding officers were tried. Since then, troop behaviors have only worsened. Despite there being so many more documented cases of Israeli soldiers deploying Palestinian civilians – often children – as human shields, this was the last case punished by the Israeli judicial system. The argument that Israel’s military leadership is only now waking up to the reality of their soldiers’ misconduct serves to create plausible deniability. It is no coincidence that extremist ideologues have been empowered in the Israeli army and that ill-disciplined soldiers, encouraged by their leaders’ genocidal rhetoric, are given carte blanche to commit crimes against Palestinians.

New Israeli atrocities coming to light – Day 368 [email protected] October 10, 2024 international criminal court, Jeremy Loffredo, Lebanon, Matthew Brodsky, northern Gaza, Ofer Prison, Palestinian children, palestinian olive harvest, The Killings They Tweeted, west bank deaths At least 10 Gazans were killed in a horrific Israeli massacre targeting displaced people’s tents in the yard of Al-Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital in the heart of Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza. (Hossam Shabat) Compilation of news reports – IAK staff At least 45 Palestinians were killed and 130 were injured in three massacres of families in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry in Gaza said on Wednesday. On Wednesday, at least 10 Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces bombed the tents of displaced people in Jabaliya. Gaza has become a sea of rubble and a graveyard for tens of thousands of people Gaza has become a sea of rubble and a graveyard for tens of thousands of people (Image: Getty) The reality in northern Gaza: witnesses report a bloodbath From Mondoweiss: The following are some eyewitness reports from residents of Jabaliya, where the Israeli army surrounded the area and launched a surprise invasion on Sunday morning, coinciding with the first anniversary of October 7. Roughly 200,000 Palestinians are under siege; the hospitals in the vicinity are under evacuation orders. Most residents could not [or would not] evacuate and were locked in their homes with very little available for them to survive. One family that evacuated carrying a white flag found themselves under fire from quadcopter attack drones. The father and one son were killed; the rest of the family took shelter. What they saw was “like a horror movie.” The road was filled with dead bodies, and “dismembered bodies strewn across the streets.” “My cousin came the second night and joined us in the shelter,” Raneem explains. “They said that people lay dead at their homes’ front doors and in the street,” killed as they tried to follow evacuation orders. The Civil Defense in Gaza has reported several massacres perpetrated by the Israeli army during the ongoing invasion of Jabalia, although rescue workers have been unable to tally an exact number of casualties due to difficulties accessing the area. (Read the full report here.) Local journalist Hossam Shabat, living and working in northern Gaza, confirmed the above descriptions: Israeli occupation forces have asked all residents of northern Gaza (300k+) to evacuate as a means of ethnically cleansing North Gaza . However, they then besieged Jabalia refugee camp, and when people tried to leave, they were shot at by snipers. Many residents are on the streets, bleeding, as Israeli forces have destroyed ambulances and are targeting anyone who tries to help. The situation in the north is horrific and very dangerous; there are currently hundreds of thousands trapped, and the shelling is nonstop. RECOMMENDED READING: Ex-US diplomat calls ‘red lines’ meaningless as Israel orders 400,000 to leave Gaza’s north US: former White House advisor urges Israel to ‘carpet bomb’ Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon Middle East Monitor reports: Former White House advisor Matthew Brodsky has urged Israel to drop napalm on Irish peacekeepers in South Lebanon, sparking outrage and concern over the ideological stance of individuals advising the US administration on Israel and Palestine. UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon) has some 10,000 peacekeepers in south Lebanon, including members of the Irish Defense Forces. All UNIFIL personnel are distinguishable by their blue helmets and white vehicles. Brodsky, a Senior Fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy and former Director of Policy at the Jewish Policy Centre, posted a shocking tweet on X stating: “Israel should carpet bomb the Irish area and then drop napalm over it.” The tweet, which has since been deleted, included a map showing the deployment of Ireland’s peacekeeping force in Southern Lebanon. The comment has been condemned widely, with many questioning the appropriateness of having individuals with such extreme views in advisory roles within the US government. Brodsky’s comments come at a time of heightened tensions in the region and have raised concerns about the influence of hard-line Zionist ideologues on US foreign policy. Critics have accused Brodsky, who has lived and studied in Israel, of promoting Jewish supremacism. This incident has reignited debates about the prevalence of extremist ideologies within US political circles and their potential impact on diplomatic efforts in the Middle East. (Read more here.) NOTE: According to his website, Matthew Brodsky has worked for over two decades in U.S. foreign policy and national security. He has briefed members of Congress, Department of State, Department of Defense, and the National Security Council on Iran, Syria, and Palestinian-Israeli issues. New York Times: American doctors who volunteered in Gaza report massive number of children shot in the head Some eyewitness accounts from the New York Times: At least 44 doctors, nurses and paramedics saw multiple cases of preteen children who had been shot in the head or chest in Gaza. Dr. Mohamad Rassoul Abu-Nuwar, General, bariatric and foregut surgeon, 36 years old, Pittsburgh, Pa. “One night in the emergency department, over the course of four hours, I saw six children between the ages of 5 and 12, all with single gunshot wounds to the skull.” Rania Afaneh, Paramedic, 23 years old, Savannah, Ga. “I saw a child who had been shot in the jaw. No other part of his body was affected. He was fully awake and aware of what was going on. He stared at me while he choked on his own blood as I tried to suction the blood out with a broken suction unit.” Dr. Khawaja Ikram, Orthopedic surgeon, 53 years old, Dallas, Texas “One day, while in the E.R., I saw a 3-year-old and 5-year-old, each with a single bullet hole to their head. When asked what happened, their father and brother said they had been told that Israel was backing out of Khan Younis. So they returned to see if anything was left of their house. There was, they said, a sniper waiting who shot both children.” Dr. Ahlia Kattan, Anesthesiologist and critical care doctor, 37 years old, Costa Mesa, Calif. “I saw an 18-month-old little girl with a gunshot wound to the head.” Dr. Nidal Farah, Anesthesiologist, 42 years old, Toledo, Ohio “I saw many children. In my experience the gunshot wound was often to the head. Many had non-curable, permanent brain damage. It was almost a daily occurrence to have children arrive at the hospital with gunshot wounds to the head.” Times Opinion sent questions about the experiences of these American health care workers to the Israel Defense Forces. A spokesperson for the I.D.F. responded with a statement that did not directly answer whether or not the military had investigated reports of shootings of preteen children, or if any disciplinary action had been taken against soldiers for firing at children. The statement began, “The I.D.F. is committed to mitigating civilian harm during operational activity. In that spirit, the I.D.F. makes great efforts to estimate and consider potential civilian collateral damage in its strikes. The I.D.F. is fully committed to respecting all applicable international legal obligations, including the Law of Armed Conflict.” NOTE: Israeli sources, including the government itself, have a long track record of lying (for example, this and this and this.) Israel’s self-investigations consistently whitewash its crimes and fail to appropriately punish the perpetrators. These photographs of X-rays were provided by Dr. Mimi Syed, who worked in Khan Younis from Aug. 8 to Sept. 5. She said: “I had multiple pediatric patients, mostly under the age of 12, who were shot in the head or the left side of the chest. Usually, these were single shots. The patients came in either dead or critical, and died shortly after arriving.” These photographs of X-rays were provided by Dr. Mimi Syed, who worked in Khan Younis from Aug. 8 to Sept. 5. She said: “I had multiple pediatric patients, mostly under the age of 12, who were shot in the head or the left side of the chest. Usually, these were single shots. The patients came in either dead or critical, and died shortly after arriving.” (Dr. Mimi Syed) Israel detains US journalist reporting on damage to its military bases Middle East Monitor reports: Israel has detained American Grayzone journalist Jeremy Loffredo while he was on assignment in Israel. According to social media posts, Loffredo was detained on Tuesday along with four other journalists who were “beaten, blindfolded, and taken to an Israeli military base.” They also had their phones confiscated. Loffredo remains in custody, while the others, including Andrey X, were released 11 hours later. Loffredo’s last video posted on X reported the damage caused by the Iranian missile strikes on Israel’s military sites on 1 October. Social media users believe this is the reason for his detention as no local news organisations have covered the damage from the attack. Netanyahu says it will be Lebanese civilians’ fault if Israel destroys Lebanon Various agencies report: Once again, Israel is setting the stage for massive civilian casualties – this time in Lebanon – and placing the blame for it squarely on the civilians’ shoulders. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu released a video statement Tuesday, calling on the people of Lebanon to “free [their] country from Hezbollah,” threatening them with “destruction and suffering” if they refused to do so. “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza. It doesn’t have to be that way,” Netanyahu said, as his country’s air force continued to launch non-stop raids across Lebanon. Israeli officials have been saying they’re going to destroy Lebanon like they destroyed Gaza for months. Back in December Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant said, “Every person in Lebanon can take the map, the aerial photograph of Gaza, place it on an aerial photograph of Beirut, and ask themselves if this is what they want to happen there.” Now Netanyahu himself is saying this. Notably, Netanyahu’s statement was delivered in English, with English subtitles. This wasn’t actually a plea made to the people of Lebanon, it was propaganda made for western consumption. Netanyahu does not actually believe the Lebanese people are going to take up arms against Hezbollah to stop their country from being destroyed, he’s just creating a narrative to justify what he already plans on doing to Lebanon. And the US is encouraging Israel to move forward. On Tuesday State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller told the press that the Biden administration no longer supports a ceasefire with Hezbollah, saying “We support Israel’s efforts to degrade Hezbollah’s capability” instead. Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threats toward Lebanon, the US on Wednesday warned that the situation there must not turn into something resembling the situation the Gaza Strip, where more than 42,000 people have been killed in the last year. “We cannot and must not see the situation in Lebanon turn into anything like the situation in Gaza. That would, of course, not be acceptable,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. Ben Gvir oversees violent raid against Palestinians inside Ofer Prison Palestine Chronicle reports: A pre-dawn raid on Ofer prison on Monday saw police officers using stun grenades and dogs. In the footage shared by Ben-Gvir on X, detainees are seen handcuffed, and being violently moved around inside the prison, and several are seen laying face down on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs. “With zero tolerance and a heavy hand – this is how the prison fighters work with the animals of prey from the Nohba terrorists. I back them up!” Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said alongside the footage. He claimed detainees whom he called “human scum” were “planning to riot inside the prison to mark the anniversary” of the October 7 resistance operation. Historic Int’l Criminal Court War Crimes Complaint Names 1,000 Israeli Soldiers Common Dreams reports: A Belgium-based advocacy group on Tuesday announced it “filed an unprecedented and historic complaint with the International Criminal Court against 1,000 Israeli occupation forces soldiers for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza,” where more than 150,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded and millions more displaced, starved, and sickened by Israel’s yearlong onslaught. The Hind Rajab Foundation—named after the 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in January along with half a dozen relatives and rescue workers by Israeli troops invading Gaza in retaliation for the October 2023 Hamas-led attack—said that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel identified by name in the International Criminal Court (ICC) complaint “are accused of participating in systematic attacks against civilians during the ongoing genocide in Gaza.” “This complaint, supported by over 8,000 pieces of verifiable evidence—including videos, audio recordings, forensic reports, and social media documentation—demonstrates the soldiers’ direct involvement in these atrocities,” the group explained. “All of the named soldiers were located in Gaza during the genocidal assault, and the evidence reveals their participation in violations of international law.” “This complaint is not only the largest ever submitted to the ICC, but it is also a milestone in documenting Israeli war crimes for future generations,” the Hind Rajab Foundation said. “By meticulously identifying the perpetrators and detailing their crimes, we are establishing a historical record that will ensure the individuals responsible are remembered and held accountable.” (Read more about the case here.) Bodies of Palestinians are brought to al-Awda Hospital after an Israeli attack on northern Gaza City. Bodies of Palestinians are brought to al-Awda Hospital after an Israeli attack on northern Gaza City. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu) West Bank: Israeli Soldiers Kill Five Palestinians IMEMC reports: On Wednesday, Israeli special forces assassinated four Palestinian young men, and injured one, after targeting their vehicle in the northern West Bank city of Nablus. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the slain men as Issam Mohammad Suleiman Salaj, 30, Abdul Halim Mohammad Nasser, 43, Salim Izz al-Din Mahmoud Abu Saada, 40, and Naim Mohammad Raji Abdul Hadi, 32. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said their ambulance crews transported the bodies of the slain men to the Rafidia Governmental Hospital in Nablus, in addition to a young man who sustained injuries to the head and chest as a result of shrapnel from live rounds. Media sources said that an undercover Israeli unit (Musta’ribeen) infiltrated the eastern area of Nablus city, on Wednesday afternoon, and fired many live rounds at a vehicle, executing all four men inside. Issam Mohammad Suleiman Salaj, 30, Abdul Halim Mohammad Nasser, 43, Salim Izz al-Din Mahmoud Abu Saada, 40, and Naim Mohammad Raji Abdul Hadi, 32. Issam Mohammad Suleiman Salaj, 30, Abdul Halim Mohammad Nasser, 43, Salim Izz al-Din Mahmoud Abu Saada, 40, and Naim Mohammad Raji Abdul Hadi, 32. (photo) On Tuesday night, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian man, after surrounding his home, in Aqaba town, north of Tubas in the northeastern part of the occupied West Bank, and took his corpse before withdrawing. Media sources said Israeli undercover forces infiltrated the town and surrounded a house, before additional military vehicles invaded it. Media sources in the town, said the soldiers fired an Energa shells at the home, killing the Palestinian. Sources from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said their crews received a report of an injury inside the besieged house, but Israeli forces detained the injured young man, abducted him, and withdrew. The army later confirmed the death of the slain Palestinian, identified Abdul-Rauf Rajeh Hamed Al-Masri, 37, but refused to allow the release of his corpse. In West Bank, Palestinian olive harvest terrorized by Israeli settlers, blocked by Israeli restrictions Anadolu Agency reports: Palestinians are unable to harvest olives in their orchards due to restrictions imposed by the Israeli army since Oct. 7, 2023, and attacks by Israeli settlers. Palestinian Minister of Agriculture Rezq Basheer-Selimia told the press that the ongoing restrictions imposed by the Israeli army and attacks by the Israelis are affecting Palestinian farmers, noting that at least 100,000 acres (approximately 404.69 sq km) of olive groves in the West Bank are not available for harvesting. For example, Palestinians in Madma, a town of 2,500 inhabitants in the northern part of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, are unable to harvest their 5,000 acres (around 20.23 sq km) of olive groves. Israeli settlers attacked the town of Madma, beat and threatened the Palestinian residents, damaged their homes, and stole agricultural tools. A town spokesman said, “A group of Israeli settlers attacked residents of the town who were harvesting olives the other day. The settlers opened fire at the farmers and drove them away from the olive groves.” The Israeli army responds by protecting the attackers and imposing restrictions on Palestinians. NOTE: According to Bethlehem Bible College, the olive tree in Palestine has essential economic, cultural, social, and national significance, and symbolizes the Palestinian attachment to their land – olive trees resist the tough conditions of drought and poor soil conditions and remain attached to their place. Many Palestinian families inherited olive trees over many generations. Families gather every year in October to harvest the olive trees. They feel proud, bearing in mind their ancestors who were taking care of these trees before. Olive fruit compromises the income of 80,000 Palestinian families. Almost half of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (48%) is planted with olive trees. 70% of food production in Palestine is accounted for by olive trees, and economically olive trees contribute to 14% of the Palestinian economy. Most olive harvesting (90%) is used for oil production, while the rest (10%) is used for olive soap and pickling. A group of Jewish settlers under the protection of Israeli soldiers raids the Old City area of Hebron, West Bank on September 14, 2024 [Mamoun Wazwaz/Anadolu Agency] A group of Jewish settlers under the protection of Israeli soldiers raids the Old City area of Hebron, West Bank on September 14, 2024 (Mamoun Wazwaz/Anadolu Agency) MORE NEWS: Anadolu Agency: Pro-Palestinian Australian senator announces launch of new political party Al Jazeera: Is Israel deliberately targeting Lebanon’s first responders? STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – OCTOBER 9, 2024: Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – October 9, 2024: at least 42,814* ( 42,065 in Gaza* – 69% are women and children, according to Gaza’s Media Office). [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 749 in the West Bank (~164 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more in Gaza 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 300,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza. At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 25 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 – October 9, 2024: at least 104,086 (including at least 97,886 in Gaza and 6,200 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, 2023 – October 9, 2024: ~1,457 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 293*** 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. The death toll in Lebanon since October 8, 2023 is at least 2,141 and 10,099 injuries. An estimated 1.2 million have been displaced. 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. ***The figure does not include the reportedly 56 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) How Israel killed hundreds of its own people on October 7 The most precarious place in the world to be a child: Israel’s year of war on children Every accusation a confession: Israel and the double lie of ‘human shields’ Most Americans want to stop arming Israel. Politicians don’t care. Happy 100th birthday, Jimmy Carter – loved by many, smeared by some You can’t arm a genocidal state into moderation. So why does the West keep trying? How Does Israel Justify Mass Killings? It Starts in the Schools. From the Americas to Gaza: Spreading disease has long been used by colonizers to commit genocide Contrived charges of antisemitism are the new ‘Red Scare’ How Israel’s quadcopters traumatize, maim and kill Palestinians in Gaza Israeli society’s dehumanization of Palestinians is now absolute The unpublished genocide diaries of Refaat Alareer An arms embargo on Israel is not a radical idea — it’s the law Israel is redrawing the West Bank, cutting into a prospective Palestinian state Gaza breakdown: 20 times Israel used US arms in likely war crimes U.S. universities spent the summer strategizing to suppress student activism. Here is their plan. ‘Words like Slaughter:’ A comparative study of The New York Times reporting in Ukraine and Gaza Cracks in the Dome: Israel’s security mirage Israel Suddenly Has A Problem With Attacks On Population Centers Americans are always the last to know…about Israel’s crimes https://israelpalestinenews.org/new-israeli-atrocities-coming-to-light-day-368/

Northern Gaza has become a killing field – Day 367 [email protected] October 9, 2024 ecocide, ethnic cleansing, Hezbollah, hind rajab, human shield, Iran, Lebanon, military aid to israel, northern Gaza In the first four months of the attacks, Israel dropped 70,000 tons of bombs on the region, including phosphorus bombs, which are prohibited under the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), the government in Gaza announced. (Anadolu Agency) Compilation of news reports – IAK staff Gaza’s Health Ministry said Tuesday that Israeli forces killed at least 56 Palestinians and wounded another 278 in the previous 24-hour period as Israel continues to launch strikes across the Strip. The Lebanese Health Ministry said in a statement that during the past 24 hours 36 people were killed and 150 others injured. In Syria, at least seven people, including women and children, have been killed by an Israeli strike on a residential building in Damascus. Israel has dropped more than 85,000 tonnes (94,000 tons) of explosives on Gaza; about 17 percent of these ordnances remain unexploded,” according to Gaza’s civil defense. Bodies of Palestinians are brought to al-Awda Hospital after an Israeli attack on northern Gaza City. Bodies of Palestinians are brought to al-Awda Hospital after an Israeli attack on northern Gaza City. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu) ‘Humanitarian situation in northern Gaza becoming more dangerous’ Al Jazeera reports: The Palestinian Civil Defense said the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza is becoming more dangerous following a large-scale Israeli military attack on Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and Jabalia that has been ongoing for four days. “Israeli forces have imposed a tight siege on these areas and are preventing the entry of water, food and medical supplies. The occupation has committed massacres against civilians, killing dozens and injuring hundreds. People’s bodies are strewn in the streets and it is difficult to reach them because soldiers are targeting ambulance and civil defense crews,” it said in a statement. The Palestinian Civil Defense added that the Israeli military is forcing the more than 200,000 citizens in these areas to evacuate their homes and medical staff and patients to leave hospitals in the northern Gaza. Palestinians in the north say the Israeli forces are wiping everything out: agricultural land, houses, water plants. Any source of life is being wiped from the Israeli forces. A Palestinian child at Ibn Rushd school in Al-Zawaida following an Israeli airstrike, Gaza, 6 October 2024. A Palestinian child at Ibn Rushd school in Al-Zawaida following an Israeli airstrike, Gaza, 6 October 2024. (Anadolu/Getty Images) Israel orders 3 hospitals to be evacuated in northern Gaza: Health Ministry Anadolu Agency reports: The Israeli army ordered the evacuation of patients and staff at three hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, the enclave’s Health Ministry said Tuesday. Israel “demands the evacuation of Kamal Adwan Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital, and Al-Awda Hospital from patients and health personnel,” it said in a statement. Israeli troops arrested “a paramedic who accompanied a critical care patient during their transfer from Kamal Adwan Hospital despite prior coordination,” according to the statement, that noted the army is besieging the Kamal Adwan Hospital and firing at its administrative headquarters. The army threatened the hospitals with “destruction, killing, and arrest” if they did not evacuate. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israeli forces threatened Kamal Adwan Hospital staff and opened fire at the administration office. The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital stated, It is evident that there is a new plan to displace our people in northern Gaza by dismantling the healthcare system across all its sectors in this region. We urge the world to intervene to stop this terrifying decision, which does not serve the people of northern Gaza. We have informed everyone that the northern region is densely populated with a significant number of residents. We have the right to continue providing services to these people. We will remain steadfast, we will stay and we will continue to offer medical services no matter the cost. On Monday, the Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF has was providing “expanded” services in northern Gaza, including field hospitals, tent compounds, and supplies of food, water, and medicine. Local Palestinians in Jabaliya report that there is nowhere to receive healthcare, nowhere to live, as buildings have been turned to rubble, As has been reported for 12 months, Israel has destroyed hospitals, schools and residential areas. Tuesday’s evacuation orders are a continuation of this policy. The Jerusalem Post report appears to be fictional. NOTE: Israel’s attacks are wreaking havoc on healthcare in Lebanon too. RECOMMENDED: Israel’s war on Gaza:Before and after satellite images reveal the extent of ruin to civilian infrastructure after a year of war Al-Shifa Medical Complex is currently out of service due to the Israeli army bombing and setting fire to every one of its buildings, including the mortuary and all internal and external courtyards and corridors. Al-Shifa Medical Complex is currently out of service due to the Israeli army bombing and setting fire to every one of its buildings, including the mortuary and all internal and external courtyards and corridors. (photo) Gaza faces one of largest cases of ecocide in recent history, including contamination from “depleted uranium bombs” Various agencies report: Israel’s attacks in Gaza, in addition to causing massive loss of life and shelter, have brought about ecocide – “the destruction and devastation of the environment at any cost.” Ecocide is recognized as a crime under the category of war crimes in the Rome Statute. In the first four months of the attacks, Israel dropped 70,000 tons of bombs on the region. Various analyses have concluded that bombings, damage caused by heavy vehicles, airstrikes, and other elements of conflict have severely impacted agricultural areas. Approximately 75% of the agricultural land in northern Gaza has suffered damage. According to the Environmental Quality Authority affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, Israeli attacks are putting Gaza’s biodiversity at risk, including between 150 and 200 bird species, around 20 mammal species, and 20 rare and endangered reptile species. Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh, head of the Biodiversity and Sustainability Center at Bethlehem University, told Anadolu that some of the environmental damage in the region is now irreversible. He noted that the water aquifers in the region have suffered significant damage and may not recover; if they do, it could take decades. The president of the Lebanese Association of Social Medicine, Raif Reda, said Israel has been using banned bombs with uranium warheads in south Beirut. and called for an international investigation. Warheads made with depleted uranium casings are designed to penetrate deep fortifications, causing significant destruction and releasing toxic gases. They are also radioactive and have been linked to massive increases in cancer rates in Iraq following the US wars on that country in 1991 and 2003. Israeli air forces may have used depleted uranium bombs on at least four residential buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27 to kill Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli air force has already been known to use these bombs in Gaza. A UN Human Rights report documented airstrikes by the Israeli air force carried out on residential buildings, a school, refugee camps, and a market between October 9 and December 2, 2023. Depleted uranium munitions pose a risk to civilians years after a site is bombed because they release radioactive particles upon impact and contaminate the soil and surrounding environment. Radioactive dust emitted by depleted uranium munitions has been linked to rises in cancer and congenital defects in babies following the US bombing of Iraq. RELATED READING: ‘Death sentence’: Asbestos released by Israel’s bombs will kill for decades Residents check the damaged in the aftermath of overnight Israeli bombardment in Beirut’s southern suburbs, on September 28, 2024. Residents check the damaged in the aftermath of overnight Israeli bombardment in Beirut’s southern suburbs, on September 28, 2024. (Anwar Amro | Afp | Getty Images) ‘Undeniable’ – Probe Confirms Israeli Army Presence when Hind Rajab was Killed in Gaza Sky News reports: Even though the Israeli military denies being in the area on the day that six-year-old Hind Rajab and six members of her family were killed in Gaza, a Sky News investigation has found that the army’s presence in the area was “undeniable.” Two paramedics who were trying to rescue her were also killed. The channel analyzed satellite imagery, Israeli military press materials, and interviewed weapons and forensics experts. (Read the full analysis here.) RECOMMENDED READING: You need to meet this little girl named Hind FOR HIND’S STORY, ALSO WATCH: The Night Won’t End: Biden’t War on Gaza Hezbollah says Israel using UN troops as ‘human shields’ in south Lebanon, as Israel expands ground operation Various agencies report: Hezbollah has ordered its fighters not to attack Israeli forces who established a forward operating base behind UN peacekeeping troops (UNIFIL) near a Lebanese border village: “the Israeli enemy is attempting to use UNIFIL forces as human shields,” a statement issued by the Islamic resistance movement on 7 October said. “The operations room of the Islamic Resistance instructed the fighters to hold back and not engage with the movement to protect the lives of international soldiers,” the statement added, just a day after UNIFIL warned Israel’s operations near their position at Maroun al-Ras were an “extremely dangerous development.” “It is unacceptable to compromise the safety of UN peacekeepers carrying out their Security Council-mandated tasks,” UNIFIL stated while reminding all actors in the conflict of their obligations to protect UN personnel and property. NOTE: Israel has blatantly used Palestinians as human shields on many occasions (see this, this, this, this, this for example.) RECOMMENDED READING: Every accusation a confession: Israel and the double lie of ‘human shields’ Israel has said it is expanding its ground operation in Lebanon with the deployment of a fourth division after another night of intense airstrikes across the south and east of the country. Launching what it has called Operation Northern Arrows last week, the Israeli army said the ground offensive would involve “limited, localized and targeted raids” to remove Hezbollah infrastructure along the disputed de facto border between the two countries, known as the blue line. The rapid deployment of four divisions operating across south Lebanon, alongside evacuation orders for Lebanese villages upwards of 20 miles from the blue line and the intensive bombing of the country’s south, east and the capital, suggests however that Israel is preparing for a wider offensive against the Lebanese militia. Since 1978 a series of Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon, including a years-long occupation, have failed to bring security and calm to northern Israel. RECOMMENDED READING: How does Israel’s Lebanon invasion compare with its previous operations? Israeli air strikes on Beirut on Sunday were the heaviest yet Israeli air strikes on Beirut on Sunday, Oct 6 were the heaviest yet (Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty) Support for Israel Has Cost US Taxpayers At Least $22.76 Billion in One Year Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University reports: U.S. spending on Israel’s military operations and related U.S operations in the region total at least $22.76 billion and counting. This estimate is conservative; while it includes approved security assistance funding since October 7, 2023, supplemental funding for regional operations, and an estimated additional cost of operations, it does not include any other economic costs. This figure includes the $17.9 billion the U.S. government has approved in security assistance for Israeli military operations in Gaza and elsewhere since October 7 – substantially more than in any other year since the U.S. began granting military aid to Israel in 1959. Yet the report describes how this is only a partial amount of the U.S. financial support provided during this war. Related U.S. military operations in the broader region since October 7 are part of the fuller picture. In particular, the U.S. Navy has significantly scaled up its defensive and offensive operations against Houthi militants in Yemen, which the Houthis claim is related to Israel’s war in Gaza. Hostilities have escalated to become the most sustained military campaign by U.S. forces since the 2016-2019 air war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. U.S. operations in the region, including in Yemen, have already cost the U.S. government $4.86 billion (included in the overall figure, above, of $22.76 billion). (Access the full report here.) NOTE: US voters strongly favor ceasefire and de-escalation. This military spending goes against the will and priorities of Americans. Nearly all the publicly available information on U.S. arms transfers to Israel comes from leaks reported by the media. The Biden administration says very little about the weapons it delivers to Israel or how the Israeli military uses them. Nearly all the publicly available information on U.S. arms transfers to Israel comes from leaks reported by the media. The Biden administration says very little about the weapons it delivers to Israel or how the Israeli military uses them. (photo) Report: US Considers Launching Airstrikes Against Iran To Support Israeli Attack NBC News reports: American military officials have discussed possibly supporting Israeli retaliation with intelligence or airstrikes of their own, according to two U.S. officials. The U.S. has long supported Israel with intelligence and that support could continue during Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Iran, the two officials said. NOTE: Characterizing Israel’s strikes against Iran as “retaliatory” de-contextualizes the conflict, which began when Israel attacked the Iranian consulate in Syria on April 1, then killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran on July 31; Israel also assassinated Hezbollah leader Nasrallah on September 27th. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi correctly declared that Iran’s missile attack was an act of “self-defense” that only targeted military and security sites used for attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. He pointed out that Iran’s measured attack came “after exercising tremendous restraint for almost two months [after the attack inside Iran], to give space for a ceasefire in Gaza.” The foreign minister added that Iran’s action was “concluded” unless Israel “decides to invite further retaliation” – words that indicate that Western leaders who want an end to the conflict ought to counsel Israel to let the matter drop. NBC continues: Senior U.S. military officials have also discussed conducting very limited strikes against Iranian targets, the two officials said. Strikes inside Iran have been discussed, as have strikes on targets outside Iran, though strikes of any kind are less likely than intelligence sharing, the officials said. The U.S. could target Iranian assets at sea, the officials said, or try to disrupt Iran’s military assistance to proxies in the region by hitting Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps sites that support militia groups in Yemen or Syria. A U.S. strike on an Iranian target could be considered defensive if it eliminates a possible threat to the U.S. or allies, like previous American strikes on Iran-linked targets inside Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. NOTE: Iran has already declared that Israel’s allies ought to “part ways with the [Israeli] regime,” suggesting that an attack on Iran by the US would not go unanswered – that is, while some players might consider a US strike on Iran to be “defensive,” Iran would not. ALSO NOTE: The US has offered Israel a “compensation package” if it avoids hitting certain targets in its planned attack on Iran, The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday, citing the Israeli TV channel Kan 11. USS Abraham Lincoln USS Abraham Lincoln, currently stationed in the Middle East (Wikimedia Commons) The Guardian: Rashid Khalidi, America’s foremost scholar of Palestine, is retiring: ‘I don’t want to be a cog in the machine any more’ The Cradle: Israel looking at $66bn war bill as economic woes deepen Anadolu Agency: UN official warns about ‘use of reproductive violence in unfolding genocide in Gaza’ Jonathan Cook: Why is the ‘liberal’ media peddling the vilest genocide apologism? Sky News investigation: ‘Undeniable’ – Probe Confirms Israeli Army Presence when Hind Rajab was Killed in Gaza STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – OCTOBER 8, 2024: Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – October 8, 2024: at least 42,753* ( 42,010 in Gaza* – 69% are women and children, according to Gaza’s Media Office). [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 743 in the West Bank (~160 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 300,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza. At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 25 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 – October 8, 2024: at least 103,920 (including at least 97,720 in Gaza and 6,200 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, 2023 – October 8, 2024: ~1,457 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 293*** 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. The death toll in Lebanon since October 8, 2023 is at least 2,119 and 10,019 injuries. An estimated 1.2 million have been displaced. 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. ***The figure does not include the reportedly 56 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) How Israel killed hundreds of its own people on October 7 The most precarious place in the world to be a child: Israel’s year of war on children Every accusation a confession: Israel and the double lie of ‘human shields’ Most Americans want to stop arming Israel. Politicians don’t care. Happy 100th birthday, Jimmy Carter – loved by many, smeared by some You can’t arm a genocidal state into moderation. So why does the West keep trying? How Does Israel Justify Mass Killings? It Starts in the Schools. From the Americas to Gaza: Spreading disease has long been used by colonizers to commit genocide Contrived charges of antisemitism are the new ‘Red Scare’ How Israel’s quadcopters traumatize, maim and kill Palestinians in Gaza Israeli society’s dehumanization of Palestinians is now absolute The unpublished genocide diaries of Refaat Alareer An arms embargo on Israel is not a radical idea — it’s the law Israel is redrawing the West Bank, cutting into a prospective Palestinian state Gaza breakdown: 20 times Israel used US arms in likely war crimes U.S. universities spent the summer strategizing to suppress student activism. Here is their plan. ‘Words like Slaughter:’ A comparative study of The New York Times reporting in Ukraine and Gaza Cracks in the Dome: Israel’s security mirage Israel Suddenly Has A Problem With Attacks On Population Centers Americans are always the last to know…about Israel’s crimes https://israelpalestinenews.org/northern-gaza-killing-field-day-367/

The beginnings of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, as Year Two of the revolution begins – Day 365 [email protected] October 7, 2024 apartheid, beersheba, desmond tutu, ethnic cleansing, evacuation, generals plan, hassan hamad, Iran, iron dome, population transfer, religious freedom, self immolation, Syria, West Bank “If you look at Gaza really through the eyes of a child, it is a hellscape,” UNICEF’s executive director Catherine Russell told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, noting the toll of family deaths and displacements, as well as ongoing lack of food and clean water. “They are so traumatized by what’s happening,” Russell said of the kids. “Even if we can get more supplies in there, the trauma that these children are suffering is going to have lifetime and even post-generational challenges for them.” (Dawoud Abo Alkas – Anadolu Agency) Compilation of news reports – IAK staff LATEST STATISTICS: The Palestinian Health Ministry announced that 68 people have been killed in Gaza in a series of deadly attacks on Sunday The Government Media Office in Gaza said that Israeli forces have committed 3,654 massacres in the Gaza Strip since 7 October. Israeli strikes across Lebanon Saturday killed 23 people and injured 93 others, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday. Around 40 per cent of Lebanon’s 1.25 million schoolchildren have been displaced by ongoing Israeli airstrikes, according to Imad Achkar, the director general of education. FLASHBACK 2023: Day 1 If Americans Knew reported: (October 7th, 2023) Palestinian resistance launches surprise attack on Israel After decades of Israeli occupation and human rights abuses, and after a 20-month-long mass nonviolent effort, Palestinians in Gaza launched a surprise operation against Israel on early Saturday morning, October 7th. Its scale is unprecedented, involving aerial, sea and ground operations. Details are only beginning to emerge. Israel immediately began bombing Gaza and has turned off electricity to the enclave, leaving most of its two million inhabitants in the dark and hospitals dangerously impacted. There are now 200 Israelis dead, 9000 injured, and an unknown number captured; and 232 Palestinians dead and 1,600 injured. Israeli forces, partly funded by the $13 million dollars per day that U.S. politicians have voted for them, are one of the world’s most powerful militaries, their weaponry vastly dwarfing Palestinians’. Today’s Palestinian land incursions largely consisted of individuals riding motorcycles and pickup trucks. WHY DID THEY DO IT? Hamas spokesperson Khaled Qadomi told Al Jazeera that the group’s military operation is in “response to all the atrocities the Palestinians have faced over the decades,” and the Hamas deputy chief said the group is engaged “in a battle for freedom.” Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif explained: “We have decided to put an end to all of the occupation’s crimes”; senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh indicated that recent provocations at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem were a major reason for the surprise attack. Other Israeli provocations include increased violence against Palestinians by illegal Israeli settlers, Israel’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners, and a spike in killings of Palestinians by the Israeli military. 2023 was the deadliest year on record for Palestinians in the West Bank, including for children. Hamas fighters broke down the barrier wall that imprisons Gaza and entered several Israeli communities near the border. They took over 200 prisoners, which they hope to exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and also captured a number of Israeli military vehicles. After being surprised by the scope of the Palestinian offensive, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced, “Citizens of Israel, we are at war [and will] fight back on a scale and intensity that the enemy has so far not experienced. The enemy will pay an unprecedented price.” In Gaza, Israeli warplanes reportedly destroyed a 5-story residential building, hit a hospital, and targeted an ambulance. Some media outlets refer to the Palestinian resistance fighters as “terrorists” – but under international law, armed resistance is the right of occupied people. Israel's war has left the Gaza Strip in ruins and killed over 40,000 Palestinians, including 16,000 children. Israel’s war has left the Gaza Strip in ruins and killed over 40,000 Palestinians, including 16,000 children. (Getty) Israeli troops bombard, besiege northern Gaza as ethnic cleansing unfolds AntiWar reports: The Israeli military has launched a fresh assault on northern Gaza and ordered all Palestinian civilians living in the north to head south, signaling Israel may be enacting an ethnic cleansing plan that has been reviewed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Known as the “general’s plan” since it was drawn up by retired IDF generals, the plan would result in the complete ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from areas in Gaza north of the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land controlled by the Israeli military that separates Gaza City and other parts of the north from the south. Itsik Zuaret, a reporter for Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, said the general’s plan was underway. “In the future, the entire northern area of ​​the Gaza Strip will be cleansed according to the general’s plan,” he wrote on X. The first step of the plan is to transfer the estimated 300,000 Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza, then impose a full siege on the north to starve out remaining Hamas fighters and other Palestinians who remain. Northern Gaza would be declared a “closed military zone,” meaning anyone who remains will be targeted by the IDF. Palestinian leaders are encouraging residents of the north to stay, reminding them there is no safe place in Gaza. ANADOLU AGENCY ADDS: At least 30 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in Israeli airstrikes on northern Gaza early Sunday, marking the deadliest Israeli escalation since May. Palestinian medics reported that 30 bodies and several injured people were transported to hospitals in northern Gaza following Israeli airstrikes that struck Jabalia and Beit Lahia. NOTE: In 1948, Israel dispossessed 750,000 Palestinian people and exiled them permanently to Gaza and other locations in what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba (“catastrophe”). Many Palestinians see the current situation as another Nakba – already 75% of the population of Gaza has been internally displaced – and fear that they will never be allowed to return to their homes. Forced transfer of a people group is a crime against humanity. Palestinians, carrying what belongings they can, migrate toward areas they believe to be safer as the Israeli army intensifies its attacks in Jabalia, Gaza on October 6, 2024. Palestinians, carrying what belongings they can, migrate toward areas they believe to be safer as the Israeli army intensifies its attacks in Jabaliya, Gaza on October 6, 2024. (Hasan N. H. Alzaanin – Anadolu Agency]) Report: US To Give Israel ‘Compensation’ If It Hits Only US-Approved Targets in Iran AntiWar reports: The US has offered Israel a “compensation package” if it avoids hitting certain targets in its planned attack on Iran, The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday, citing the Israeli TV channel Kan 11. Amichai Stein, a correspondent for Kan 11, said the package would include military aid and a guarantee that the US would provide total diplomatic support. “An American official said, ‘If you don’t hit targets A, B, C, we will provide you with diplomatic protection and an arms package,” Chair said. “Israeli officials responded saying, ‘We consider the United States and listen to them. But we will do anything and everything we can to protect the citizens and the security of the State of Israel.’” The US is coordinating with Israel on its plans to respond to the Iranian missile barrage that hit Israel last week, which came in response to several Israeli escalations throughout the region, including the July 31 assassination of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. The US has said it will ensure Iran faces “severe consequences” but has warned against certain types of attacks, including attacks on Iran’s civilian nuclear facilities. President Biden said the US and Israel were discussing the idea of strikes on Iranian oil sites, but later said if he was in Israel’s shoes, he would be thinking about “other alternatives than striking oil fields.” NOTE: Mainstream media and pro-Israel leaders ignore the context of Iran’s attack, framing it instead as somehow unprovoked. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, however, correctly declared that Iran’s missile attack was an act of “self-defense” that only targeted military and security sites used for attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. He pointed out that Iran’s measured attack came “after exercising tremendous restraint for almost two months, to give space for a ceasefire in Gaza.” The foreign minister added that Iran’s action was “concluded” unless Israel “decides to invite further retaliation” – words that indicate that Western leaders who want an end to the conflict ought to counsel Israel to let the matter drop. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden meet in New York on Sept. 20. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden meet in New York on Sept. 20, 2023 (photo) Report: Israel’s year-long attacks on religious freedom Anadolu Agency reports: Israel destroyed 611 mosques, eight cemeteries and three churches and caused the partial destruction of 214 mosques during its year-long aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip which began on 7 October 2023, the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments has said. In a report issued Sunday, the ministry pointed out that over the past year, Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank have stormed and desecrated Al-Aqsa Mosque 262 times, performing Jewish prayers in the Muslim holy site. According to the report, Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque along with ministers of his far-right government six times, and threatened to establish a Jewish synagogue on the site. Ben-Gvir has relentlessly worked to intensify the Jewish presence at the mosque through government support and by giving it a legal cover, it added. The report indicated that “extremist Jewish religious groups have attacked and spat on Christians and Christian pilgrims in the occupied city of Jerusalem, specifically around ​​the Church of the Prison of Christ, and restricted them during Christian holidays, and prevented them from reaching the Nativity Church in Bethlehem in southern occupied West Bank and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in East Jerusalem.” Gaza’s Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs also said that 19 of 60 cemeteries were targeted, with bodies exhumed and desecrated. The ministry also reported that 238 of its staff members were killed and 19 were detained by Israeli forces. 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. 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. (photo) Israel issues new evacuation orders for 26 towns in southern Lebanon Various agencies report: The Israeli army ordered civilians in 26 border towns in southern Lebanon on Sunday to evacuate immediately amid air and ground attacks on the country. Military spokesman Avichay Adraee asked the Lebanese residents to leave their homes and move north of the Awali River. A key ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed the creation of an “empty” buffer zone in southern Lebanon. Writing in Israel Hayom, an outlet traditionally supportive of Netanyahu, former national security advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat said that emptying the border area in Lebanon of people would be one way to ensure that residents in northern Israel can return home without facing attacks. “The advantage of this alternative is the relatively low costs of enforcement and the fact that it can be made possible on a routine basis without serious dilemmas,” he wrote. “Another advantage of it is in the message it conveys: that terrorism against Israel causes a loss of territory.” NOTE: Forced transfer of a people group is a crime against humanity. Dozens of families were seen leaving the border village of Wazzani in southern Lebanon, after the Israeli army dropped leaflets ordering the evacuation of the village, September Dozens of families were seen leaving the border village of Wazzani in southern Lebanon, after the Israeli army dropped leaflets ordering the evacuation of the village, September (Ramiz Dallah/Anadolu]) Palestinian journalist killed in Israeli bombing after threats against his life Middle East Eye reports: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian journalist on Sunday, weeks after he received threatening messages instructing him to stop filming Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. Hassan Hamad, 19, died when his home in Jabalia refugee camp was struck by artillery fire. Hamad was reporting on the new Israeli incursion just moments before he was killed. A colleague with access to his account on X said that Hamad had been sending videos about the assault late into the night. During their last phone call at 6am (3am GMT), Hamad said: “There they are. There they are. It’s over.” A few months before his killing, Hamad shared a screenshot with his colleagues of a threatening WhatsApp message he received from an Israeli number. The message read: “Listen… If you continue spreading lies about Israel, we’ll come for you next and turn your family into… This is your last warning.” RECOMMENDED READING: Israel has killed more journalists in Gaza than in any conflict in 30 years Lebanon calls for international pressure to end brutal Israeli attacks on medics, hospitals Anadolu Agency reports: Lebanese authorities called on Sunday for piling pressure on Israel to halt its attacks against the health sector in Lebanon amid air and ground attacks on the country. In a statement, the Lebanese Order of Nurses (ONS) accused Israel of deliberately targeting hospitals, doctors, nurses, and paramedics “in a blatant defiance of international laws and conventions,” and called on international groups to pressure Israel to cease. Israel has launched massive airstrikes on Lebanon against what it calls Hezbollah targets, killing more than 2,011 victims since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. At least 97 medical and emergency personnel have been killed and more than 10 hospitals damaged in the attacks. RELATED: Israeli airstrikes targeted areas in a southern suburb of Beirut on Sunday following Israeli army warnings to evacuate two areas. Israeli aircraft carried out strikes on three different locations in the southern suburbs of Beirut, an Anadolu correspondent said. RELATED: Israel has killed more than 100 children in Lebanon over the past 11 days, while 690 others have been wounded during the last six weeks of the Israeli onslaught, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced. RELATED: The Syndicate of Chemists in Lebanon (SCL) has warned that the extent of destruction and the depth of damage to buildings and the ground confirms the use of internationally banned bombs containing depleted uranium by Israeli forces, warning of the risk of contracting many diseases as a result of inhaling the dust caused by the bombing. Israeli air strikes on Beirut on Sunday were the heaviest yet Israeli air strikes on Beirut on Sunday were the heaviest yet (Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty) On 1st anniversary of Oct. 7, Israel imposing complete lockdown on West Bank Anadolu Agency reports: Israel has announced a complete lockdown on the occupied West Bank for Monday, marking the first anniversary of the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023 and the start of Israel’s offensive on Gaza. The official broadcasting authority reported Sunday that Israeli authorities have decided to enforce a full security perimeter around the West Bank, closing the crossings that connect it to Israel and preventing the entry of Palestinian workers. In the occupied West Bank, at least 742 Palestinians, including children, have since been killed, nearly 6,200 others injured, and more than 10,900 arrested, according to Palestinian figures. Israeli forces raid Jenin refugee camp in Jenin, West Bank, on November 29, 2023 Israeli forces raid Jenin refugee camp in Jenin, West Bank, on November 29, 2023 (photo) Man attempts self-immolation at pro-Palestine protest near White House Anadolu Agency reports: A man attempted to self-immolate Saturday during a pro-Palestine protest near the White House, according to footage on social media. The man, who claimed to be a journalist, was seen in the video with burns to his left arm as those around him poured water on it. He raised his left arm high with flames engulfing it. The man is heard screaming that he is a journalist. “We spread the misinformation,” he screams at one point. “I’m a journalist and I said it was okay.” Police detained the man and established a perimeter around the area; one report said he was transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Witnesses said the man is a CBS-affiliated journalist and he was accusing the network of “spreading misinformation.” Four people so far have staged self-immolations in the US to protest Washington’s support of the war in the Gaza Strip. RECOMMENDED READING: Ignoring Immolators Lulls the Society to Sleep: Aaron Bushnell at the Israeli Embassy: “FREE PALESTINE!” A man attempted to self-immolate Saturday during a pro-Palestine protest near the White House, according to footage on social media. A man attempted to self-immolate Saturday during a pro-Palestine protest near the White House, according to footage on social media. (social media) Remembering Archbishop Desmond Tutu, defender of Palestine Middle East Monitor looks back: When the world lost Archbishop Desmond Tutu on 26 December 2021, it lost more than just a Nobel Peace Prize laureate or the former Archbishop of Cape Town. It lost a moral compass, a voice that refused to be silenced in the face of injustice, whether in the townships of South Africa or Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. Tutu displayed a rare foresight that was lacking in most public figures. As early as 2002, in an article for the Guardian titled ‘Apartheid in the Holy Land’ he described Israel as an apartheid state, a stance taken at a time when such comparisons were still relatively rare. The former US President Jimmy Carter was the only other global figure to describe Israel as such in a 2006 book titled ‘Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid’. Many have followed since, and over the past few years, a wall-to-wall consensus has formed within the international human rights community about Israel’s practice of apartheid. Talking to South African media, Tutu would say: “I have witnessed the systemic humiliation of Palestinian men, women and children by members of the Israeli security forces. Their humiliation is familiar to all black South Africans who were corralled and harassed and insulted and assaulted by the security forces of the apartheid government.” Often he’d describe the racism perpetrated by Israel as being worse than the racism in South Africa. “In many instances [Israeli apartheid] is worse” than South Africa under white minority rule, said Tutu in a 2012 interview with David Frost. Tutu’s journey to becoming a leading voice for Palestine began in the townships of South Africa, where he witnessed the daily indignities and injustices of apartheid. As Tutu rose to prominence in the Anglican Church and the anti-apartheid movement, he developed a theology that emphasised what he would describe as God’s concern for justice and human dignity. “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor,” Tutu would say. “If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” In this 2012 interview with Sir David Frost he talks about how Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is ‘in many ways worse than apartheid in South Africa’: NOTE: Multiple human rights organizations have documented and reported on Israeli apartheid, including: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Israeli human rights groups B’Tselem, and Yesh Din , the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic. Iranian missiles ‘overwhelmed’ Israel’s air defenses: Wall St. Journal The Cradle reports: Satellite imagery shows that Iran’s barrage of ballistic missiles earlier this week was successful in overwhelming Israel’s air defenses, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on 6 October. The Iranian attack on Israel demonstrated Iran’s advanced missile capabilities and caused major damage to three Israeli airbases, where as many as 32 of the roughly 180 Iranian missiles (18 percent) successfully hit within the bases’ perimeters, according to experts. WSJ concluded that future Iranian strikes “could have much more serious consequences if they target civilian infrastructure or heavily populated residential areas.” Iran fired the ballistic missiles at Israel on 1 October in response to a series of aggressions committed by Israel, including the assassination of high-level Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. The Iranian armed forces’ general staff has promised that, if Israel retaliates, Iran will answer with “widespread and comprehensive destruction” of infrastructure within Israel. Many rockets, fired from Iran, are seen over Jerusalem from Hebron, West Bank on October 01, 2024 [Wisam Hashlamoun – Anadolu Agency] Many rockets, fired from Iran, are seen over Jerusalem from Hebron, West Bank on October 01, 2024 (Wisam Hashlamoun – Anadolu Agency) Israeli Airstrikes Target Aid Trucks in Central Syria AntiWar reports: Israeli attacks against Syria continued apace over the weekend, with strikes reported against humanitarian aid trucks in the Homs Province of Central Syria. The trucks were carrying food and blankets, along with medical aid, from the Iraqi Red Crescent for those fleeing Israel’s attacks in Lebanon. Details are still emerging. The attacks reportedly took place in an industrial area, near a car factory. Three members of the relief teams sent from Iraq were reported wounded in the strikes, and their condition is not at present clear. Israel has reportedly been attacking Syria almost daily since its ground invasion of Lebanon started. Shooting operation kills one Israeli officer, injures several in Beersheba The Cradle reports: One female Israeli officer was killed and ten people wounded, two of them critically, in a shooting operation at the central bus station in the city of Beersheba in southern Israel, Israeli media reported on 6 October. The attacker was identified as Ahmed Saeed al-Uqbi, an Israeli citizen and resident of Hura, a Bedouin village in the Negev Desert. Uqbi, who wore a bulletproof vest and was armed with a gun and a knife, opened fire at Beersheba’s central bus station, authorities reported, before being shot and killed by police. RECOMMENDED READING: Cleansing the Negev: Israel plans to evict “tens of thousands” of Palestinian Bedouin MORE NEWS: Middle East Monitor: Israel settlers publish children’s book claiming ‘Lebanon is ours’ The Guardian: Disabled Palestinians are facing horrors piled upon horrors. I think of their suffering every day. Anadolu Agency: 1 year of Gaza genocide: ‘Element of decay’ and signs of strain in Israeli society Axios: Harris won’t say whether the U.S. has “a real close ally” in Netanyahu Truthout: View From Gaza: This War Has Broken Me in Ways I Didn’t Think Possible Middle East Eye: How the US revived ‘war on terror’ era surveillance to suppress pro-Palestine movement STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – OCTOBER 6, 2024: Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – October 6, 2024: at least 42,650* ( 41,909 in Gaza* – 11,308 women (30%), 16,859 children 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 741 in the West Bank (~160 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 300,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza. At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 25 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 – October 6, 2024: at least 103,503 (including at least 97,303 in Gaza and 6,200 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, 2023 – October 6, 2024: ~1,457 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 293*** 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. The death toll in Lebanon since October 8, 2023 is at least 2,011 (at least 127 children, 194 women) and 9,535 injuries (690 of them children). An estimated 1.2 million have been displaced. 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. ***The figure does not include the reportedly 56 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) Every accusation a confession: Israel and the double lie of ‘human shields’ Most Americans want to stop arming Israel. Politicians don’t care. Happy 100th birthday, Jimmy Carter – loved by many, smeared by some You can’t arm a genocidal state into moderation. So why does the West keep trying? How Does Israel Justify Mass Killings? It Starts in the Schools. From the Americas to Gaza: Spreading disease has long been used by colonizers to commit genocide Contrived charges of antisemitism are the new ‘Red Scare’ How Israel’s quadcopters traumatize, maim and kill Palestinians in Gaza Israeli society’s dehumanization of Palestinians is now absolute The unpublished genocide diaries of Refaat Alareer An arms embargo on Israel is not a radical idea — it’s the law Israel is redrawing the West Bank, cutting into a prospective Palestinian state Gaza breakdown: 20 times Israel used US arms in likely war crimes U.S. universities spent the summer strategizing to suppress student activism. Here is their plan. ‘Words like Slaughter:’ A comparative study of The New York Times reporting in Ukraine and Gaza Cracks in the Dome: Israel’s security mirage Israel Suddenly Has A Problem With Attacks On Population Centers Americans are always the last to know…about Israel’s crimes https://israelpalestinenews.org/the-beginnings-of-ethnic-cleansing-in-northern-gaza-as-year-two-of-the-revolution-begins-day-365/

Alison Weir trending on social media – what the buzz is about [email protected] August 31, 2024 Alison Weir, Boykin, council for the national interest, Religious Freedom Coalition, William J. Murray Alison Weir at National Press Club, May 2011 (screengrab) If Americans Knew founder Alison Weir experienced harassment and assault in 2011 for telling the truth about Palestine and Israel. The ideology behind the attack is alive and well today. A video has gone viral of an angry Israel partisan knocking Alison Weir’s phone out of her hand in 2011. Below is a longer video (three minutes) of what went on before that moment: Israel partisans were yelling outlandish, Islamophobic claims not based on fact. (The participants were not aware they were being filmed.) Alison was attempting to give important facts to a prominent general, who was listening attentively to what she was sharing – this seemed to be what drew the ire of the other people in the room. Below the video, find Alison’s account of the incident, written at the time, including who she was talking to and who hit her phone. Further down is more factual information about Christians and Muslims in Palestine. Alison Weir experienced this harassment and assault in 2011 – but the ideology behind it is alive and well today. “Israel Is Not Alone” member knocks phone out of my hand – Press TV films incident (from Alison Weir’s blog, May 2011) We had just completed a CNI press briefing at the National Press Club, when the next group scheduled to use the room, “Israel Is Not Alone,” began to enter. One of their members saw our signs and began a discussion with a member of the CNI group. The conversation was heated but within appropriate bounds. Another “Israel Is Not Alone” member, however, then approached the CNI man in a somewhat threatening posture and loudly began to berate him. At that point Lt. Col Karen Kwiatkowski, who had spoken on our panel, thought she recognized the man and he was asked his name. At first he only gave his first name, Jerry, but eventually also gave his last name: Boykin. Lt. Gen Boykin (three stars) is known for making offensive statements about Islam and supporting Israel. For some reason, I actually thought I might be able to convince him to rethink his positions. I told him I had been born at West Point and tried to tell him about Palestine. I was holding a booklet from our press conference, and asked him fervently to read it. He didn’t say anything. As I was trying to describe the facts, another man came up and began haranguing me. He was almost shaking with fury. He yelled that Muslims tear the fingernails off Christians and similar things. I tried to answer him, but he shouted over everything I tried to say. I got my phone out and tried to video what he was yelling at me. I then tried to resume my conversation with Boykin and tell him about my first trip to Palestine, but the man continued shouting at me, drowning out my words, so I again tried to video what he was yelling at me. He suddenly violently hit my hand and phone, knocking the phone across the room. I was stunned. A bit shaken, I asked someone to get security, which they did. Some of the “Israel Is Not Alone” group, probably realizing that their member had just crossed a serious line and was guilty of battery, brought me the pieces of my phone (fortunately, and surprisingly, it still works). The man (I haven’t yet learned his name) proffered an unconvincing apology. Some people have suggested that I file charges. It turns out that a Press TV crew apparently filmed the whole incident and led off with part of it on their broadcast about our conference. You can see the video and news report here. I’m undecided about filing charges. I know that if the situation were reversed, they would do so. I don’t know what’s behind this angry, disturbed man. Was he angry because he was spreading such venomous lies? Or is it that the people behind “Israel Is Not Alone” are exploiting a vulnerable man and intentionally creating or fueling his rage? Text of Press TV report: Tempers flared at the prestigious National Press Club in Washington, DC . A pro Israeli advocate knocked a camera out of the hands of Alison Weir, President of the Council for the National Interest Foundation. The group just finished their press conference on what they call unjustifiable US Aid to Israel. The two sides met when the Press Club scheduled a pro Israeli news conference to follow held in the same room. The altercation illustrates heightened tensions on differing views regarding America’s relationship with Israel. The Council for the National Interest Foundation wants Americans to know how much of their tax dollars are going to Israel. CNIF alleges Israel receives so much aid and special treatment because the US Congress is controlled by AIPAC, America’s pro Israel lobby. Executive director Phillip Giraldi says Israel spends a lot of money on U.S. elections. The Council for the National Interest Foundation says many members of Congress fear, if they don’t always side with Israel, that they will face retaliation in their own re-election campaigns. Giraldi is a former CIA counter terrorism expert. He questions why America gives aid to Israel when Israel conducts more espionage for profit against the US than any other US friendly country. Retired Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski worked at the Pentagon and says Israel receives preferential treatment. Kwiatkowski believes America is beginning to take more interest in US foreign policy in the Middle East in large part due to tough economic times. More and more Americans want to know where their hard earned tax dollars are going and why. Update on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 11:55AM by Alison Weir I’ve just learned that the furious man was William J. Murray, chair of the “Religious Freedom Coalition.” Update on Friday, January 31, 2014 at 05:50PM by Alison Weir I later learned the name of my assailant: William J. Murray. Murray is the head of something called The Religious Freedom Coalition, a fervently anti-Muslim organization. He is also, apparently, the son of infamous atheist proponent Madeline Murray O’Hare. I consulted an attorney about the incident, and he advised me to file a police report since Murray’s actions seemed to constitute “assault and battery.” I filed a police report and then waited and waited. Finally, the detective in charge of determining whether or not to prosecute Murray decided not to do so. The detective’s name is in another notebook somewhere. As I recall, it was Rosenbaum or something similar. What is the truth about Palestinian Christians? IN BRIEF: The loudest of Alison’s detractors in the video (and the one who assaulted her), William J. Murray, insisted that Muslims in Palestine have been persecuting Christians “since Israel ceded [Bethlehem] to Muslims.” He added that the drop in the Christian population of Bethlehem was proof of Muslim oppression. For starters, Israel did not “cede” Bethlehem to Muslims. Bethlehem is in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. It is governed by the Palestinian Authority – a Palestinian regime, not Muslim. In 1922, Christians made up about 85 percent of the population of Bethlehem (see Andrea Pacini’s Socio-Political and Community Dynamics of Arab Christians in Jordan, Israel, and the Autonomous Palestinian Territories. Clarendon Press, 1998). In 1945, Bethlehem’s population was 8,820 (6,430, or 73 percent Christians; 2,370 or 27% Muslims), By 1967, the Christian population had dropped slightly (6,231 vs. 6,430 in 1945), while the Muslim population had more than tripled (8,169 vs. 2,370 in 1945). The dramatic increase in the Muslim population was due mostly to Israel’s ethnic cleansing, both in 1948 and in 1967, during which a large Muslim population was forced into exile, thousands of whom ended up in refugee camps in Bethlehem. The Christian population has continued to dwindle, due not to persecution by Muslims, but to the intolerable life under Israeli occupation. Christians were more easily able to emigrate, as they on the whole were more liquid, while Muslims were more often tied to the land as farmers. Muslims have also been emigrating, in smaller numbers; those who stay tend to have larger families than Christians. Christians and Muslims – and Jews – have lived together in relative harmony throughout history. It was only with the beginning of Jewish colonialist pursuits that the trouble began. Indigenous Palestinians welcomed Jewish refugees, but did not approve of their aspiration to take over the land and create a Jewish state. Further reading about Christians in Palestine: VIDEO: Armenian Christians under siege by Israel Prominent Israeli Settler Says Spitting on Christians ‘Ancient Jewish Custom’ Christians come under attack as Israeli leaders get more extreme Sacred Christian site Emmaus destroyed by Israel Israel severely restricts Orthodox Easter celebration in Jerusalem Does Israel Permit Freedom of Worship? Are Palestinian Christians Doomed? Hundreds of Israelis disrupt prayers in oldest Christian monastery In Palestine Israel is not as Christian-friendly as you think https://israelpalestinenews.org/alison-weir-trending-social-media-buzz/

Violence against West Bank Palestinians intensifies, as Gaza’s “safe” space shrinks – Day 313 [email protected] August 16, 2024 amputation, arms embargo, ceasefire, east jerusalem water crisis, evacuation, israeli economy, israeli outposts, israeli settler violence, pogrom, west bank deaths The taps have run dry in Jerusalem’s largest Palestinian neighborhood +972 Magazine reports: In the searing heat of summer, Jerusalem’s largest Palestinian neighborhood is facing a major water crisis. Since June, residents of Kufr ‘Aqab have been receiving just 2 to 12 hours of water per week. Their complaints have been redirected from one official to the next, yet no one has provided them with a solution — nor taken responsibility for the problem. Located within Jerusalem’s northeastern municipal boundary but severed from the rest of the city by the separation wall, Kufr ‘Aqab’s residents have grown accustomed to the systematic neglect they face from the Israeli authorities. But the current crisis is the worst it’s ever been. During the few hours that the water does flow, residents try to do everything they can with it: take showers, do laundry, and clean the house. The rest of the time, they are forced to buy water from private suppliers and store it in containers on the roofs of their apartment blocks. “We have hospitals, nurseries, and schools in the area,” Iyad Sanduka, a member of the neighborhood’s residents’ committee, told +972 Magazine and Local Call. “Everyone suffers from the water shortage.” Despite the fact that the majority of the neighborhood is officially part of Jerusalem, Kufr ‘Aqab doesn’t receive water from the municipal water supplier, Hagihon. Instead, like Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank, water is provided by the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) — an arm of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) — which purchases it from the Israeli national water company, Mekorot. This is symptomatic of Israel’s system of water apartheid in the occupied territories: Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are denied control of the aquifers under their feet, and must instead buy the water back in limited quantities from Israel. While Israelis have access to an average of 300 liters of water per day, Palestinians in the West Bank enjoy only 80 liters — 20 liters less than the World Health Organization’s recommended daily quantity. For Palestinians in Gaza, it is currently as low as 3 liters. (Read the full article here.) RECOMMENDED READING: ‘Buying Our Own Stolen Water’ in Bethlehem – Scorching Summer Awaits Palestinians in the West Bank New York Times reports: Israel has achieved all that it can militarily in Gaza, according to senior American officials, who say continued bombings are only increasing risks to civilians while the possibility of further weakening Hamas has diminished. With the Biden administration racing to get cease-fire negotiations back on track, a growing number of national security officials across the government said that the Israeli military had severely set back Hamas but would never be able to completely eliminate the group. Israel has made bold claims about the number Hamas deaths, without proof. But one of Israel’s biggest remaining goals — the return of the roughly 115 living and dead hostages still held in Gaza after being seized in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks — cannot be achieved militarily, according to current and former American and Israeli officials. Israel’s most recent military operations have been something of a Whac-a-Mole strategy in the eyes of American analysts. U.S. officials are skeptical that approach will yield decisive results. While Israel has tried to damage the tunnels, it has failed to destroy them, American officials said. The network has proved much larger than Israel anticipated, and it remains an effective way for Hamas to hide its leaders and move around fighters. And even as the Israel Defense Forces have seized territory and killed Hamas fighters from north to south of the territory, they have repeatedly had to go back in as Hamas fighters regrouped. For example, Israel weakened Hamas’s grip in the Jabaliya camp, in northern Gaza, but had to return to the area in May after the group reconstituted in the power vacuum. Biden administration officials say diplomacy is the only way that Israel can achieve possibly its biggest goal — getting its hostages back. Israeli economy on the brink as it awaits retaliation from Resistance Axis The Cradle reports: The Israeli economy is on the ropes as the country awaits retaliation for its attacks against Iran, Lebanon, and Yemen over the past month, according to reports in Hebrew media. “These two weeks have exhausted the market, as some economic activities have been canceled, and another part has been reduced due to public fear,” the economic affairs commentator for Israel’s Channel 13 News said on 15 August. Israel’s tourism industry, in particular, has recorded massive losses due to the broad cancellation of flights by international airlines. Israel’s education sector will also be severely affected if the wait continues into September, as institutions will have to “maneuver within combat scenarios,” according to the Israeli broadcaster. The Israeli economy has already taken several hits 10 months into the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, with the most recent one being the decision by US financial services firm Fitch to downgrade the nation’s credit rating. UN rapporteur says ‘shocking’ 40,000 deaths in Gaza were preventable Al Jazeera reports: UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese says the “shocking” death toll in Gaza, which has reached a landmark 40,000 people, was predictable and avoidable as United Nations experts have long issued warnings and called for international action to stop the violence. In spite of this, the UN Security Council and other international bodies have failed to stop the conflict. “The moral abyss in which [Israel has] fallen is hard to comprehend,” Albanese told Al Jazeera, adding that the war in Gaza points to “an epic failure of the system of international law that was built after World War II to prevent and punish crimes such as this”. The conflict also shed light on the “hypocrisy” in the legal system, where “a few countries have the power to determine to whom international law can be applied and to whom it cannot”. Palestinians examine the destruction left behind after the Israeli army’s withdrawal in Tal al-Hawa, Gaza City [File: Mahmoud İssa/Anadolu Images] Palestinians examine the destruction left behind after the Israeli army’s withdrawal in Tal al-Hawa, Gaza City [File: Mahmoud İssa/Anadolu Images] (photo) “Blue Vote Red Line” movement seeks commitment from Harris for Palestine justice The “Blue Vote Red Line” movement seeks to collect 1 million voters to pledge a vote for the Democratic ticket if, and only if, it commits to 1) enforce an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as ordered by the World Court and UN Security Council Resolution 2735 or 2) end all military aid to Israel. Their goal is to “force the Democratic Party to listen to its voters and not just its donors. We demand concrete results from the current Biden-Harris Administration to end the Gaza Genocide and a credible commitment from a Harris-Walz ticket which will pressure Israel to achieve a just and lasting solution to the illegal occupation of Palestine.” “We hereby pledge to vote Democratic on November 5th only if the current administration: 1) enforces an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as ordered by the World Court and UN Security Council Resolution 2735 or 2) ends all military aid to Israel.” The pledge can be viewed and signed here. Pledging arms embargo on Israel would help Harris gain more voter support: Poll Middle East Eye reports: According to a new poll, roughly one-third of Democratic Party voters in the US states of Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania have said they are more likely to vote for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election if she were to agree to stop sending arms to Israel. In Pennsylvania, 34 percent of voters were more likely to vote for Harris if she agreed to the arms embargo, while 44 percent were more likely to vote for her if Biden achieved a ceasefire. In Georgia, an arms embargo would make 39 percent of voters more likely to vote for Harris, and a ceasefire would similarly make 44 percent of voters more likely to choose the vice president. Arizona showed similar numbers, with 35 percent of voters more inclined to choose Harris if she agreed to an arms embargo on Israel, while 41 percent of voters would do so if Biden achieved a ceasefire in Gaza. Columbia students protest in support of Palestine on campus on Oct. 12. More demonstrations have occurred since, including one on Nov. 9 that appears to have led to the suspension of two groups. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Columbia students protest in support of Palestine on campus on Oct. 12. More demonstrations have occurred since, including one on Nov. 9 that appears to have led to the suspension of two groups. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (photo) Journalists Demand Blinken Back Israel Arms Embargo From Consortium News: In an open letter to Antony Blinken, 113 journalists, 7 press freedom groups and 20 news outlets accused the U.S. secretary of state of being “complicit in one of the gravest affronts to press freedom today” in Gaza. Here are excerpts from the letter, which was delivered to the State Department on Thursday morning with a request to meet with the Secretary of State. Dear Secretary Blinken, Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 160 Palestinian journalists. This is the largest recorded number of journalists killed in any war. While Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of the densely populated Gaza means no civilians are safe, Israel has also been repeatedly documented deliberately targeting journalists. Israel’s military actions are not possible without U.S. weapons, U.S. military aid, and U.S. diplomatic support. By providing the weapons being used to deliberately kill journalists, you are complicit in one of the gravest affronts to press freedom today. On World Press Freedom Day this year, you called on “every nation to do more to protect journalists,” and reiterated your “unwavering support for free and independent media around the world.” As journalists, publications and press freedom groups in solidarity with the courageous Palestinian journalists of Gaza, we call on you to do more to protect journalists and show unwavering support for free and independent media by supporting an arms embargo against Israel… Under international law, the intentional targeting of journalists is a war crime.5 While all governments are bound by international law protecting reporters, U.S. domestic law also prohibits the State Department from providing assistance to units of foreign security forces credibly accused of gross violations of human rights.6 Israel’s well-documented pattern of extrajudicial executions of journalists is a gross violation of human rights. Additionally, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects the American people’s right to receive information and ideas.7 Israel’s deliberate targeting of journalists follows a longstanding pattern by the Israeli government to suppress truthful reporting on its treatment of Palestinians and its war in Gaza. By providing Israel with the weapons used to kill journalists, the State Department is abetting Israel’s violent suppression of journalism. The U.S. is providing the weapons Israel continually uses to target Palestinian journalists in Gaza. This is a violation of International law and U.S. domestic law. We urge you to immediately cease the transfer of all weapons to Israel. An Israeli soldier carries a 155mm artillery shell near a self-propelled howitzer deployed at a position near the border with Lebanon in the upper Galilee region of northern Israel on October 18, 2023. (Photo: Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images) An Israeli soldier carries a 155mm artillery shell near a self-propelled howitzer deployed at a position near the border with Lebanon in the upper Galilee region of northern Israel on October 18, 2023. (Photo: Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images) (photo) MORE NEWS: IMEMC Daily Reports. Al Jazeera: Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks: A timeline of obstruction Middle East Eye: UK judge tells Muslim man jailed for fighting back against rioters to ‘rise above’ racism Middle East Eye: ‘Good riddance’: Ex-Columbia University president remembered for silencing pro-Palestine speech The New Arab: Polio: Israel’s dirty bioweapon is bringing Gaza to its knees STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 15: Palestinian death toll from October 7 – August 15: at least 40,634* (40,005 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 632 in the West Bank (~145 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 1.9 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 – August 15: at least 97,821 (including at least 92,401 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 15: ~1,454 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 290*** 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 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. ***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 41 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) 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 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 https://israelpalestinenews.org/violence-against-west-bank-palestinians-intensifies-gaza-safe-space-shrinks-day-313/

Saved by @InstantMediaBot Palestinian Reverend Munther Isaac to U.S. Faith Leaders: If You Are Silent, You Approve of Genocide Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's war on Gaza, according to the official death toll, though the true casualty figure is likely far higher with thousands of the dead unaccounted for. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have raided towns and villages across the occupied West Bank, and settlers under military protection have repeatedly stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in recent days. This all comes as the State Department on Tuesday announced the approval of $20 billion in new arms sales to Israel, including scores of fighter jets. We speak with the Reverend Munther Isaac, pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, who joins us in our New York studio for an in-depth conversation. He is in the United States on a speaking tour to encourage faith leaders to oppose U.S. support for...

‌Johann Spischak (Twitter) Palestinian Reverend Munther Isaac to U.S. Faith Leaders: JI You Are Silent, You Approve of Genocide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRn9allxnIg?si=2woZf2CJH4Dvu6W_ Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's war on Gaza, according to the official death toll, though the true casualty figure is likely far higher with thousands of the dead unaccounted for. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have raided towns and villages across the occupied West Bank, and settlers under military protection have repeatedly stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in recent days. This all comes as the State Department on Tuesday announced the approval of $20 billion in new arms sales to Israel, including scores of fighter jets. We speak with the Reverend Munther Isaac, pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, who joins us in our New York studio for an in-depth conversation. He is in the United States on a speaking tour to encourage faith leaders to oppose U.S. support for Israel's onslaught. "We're still calling for a ceasefire, and it feels like we're still calling for the world to humanize the people of Gaza, to humanize Palestinians," says Isaac. "If you're silent, knowing how your money is being spent, that means you approve." Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET. #UNseatIsrael #AirBlockade4Israel #NoFlyZone4Israel #ICJ_Breach #ICC4Israel #GazaGenocide #PalestinianGenocide #StopArmingIsrael #BoycottOlympics #SanctionIsrael #RegimeChange4Israel #BoycottAdidas #AnatomyofGenocide

Official Gaza death toll passes 40,000; over 92,000 injured – Day 312 [email protected] August 15, 2024 genocide, hatch act, humanitarian aid, israel attacks on schools, israeli settlement, mask ban, minouche shafik, US made weapons, West Bank FEWS NTET reports: The amount of humanitarian food supplies entering Gaza through crossings in the south were at their lowest levels in July since Israel’s war on the enclave began. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) said that only 724 humanitarian trucks with food or mixed items entered through the Karem Abu Salem crossing in the entire month of July. They carried roughly 5,035 to 5,566 metric tonnes of supplies. A further 54,764 to 60,529 metric tonnes of food supplies carried on commercial trucks also entered through the crossing, but the network said that increased “commercial cargo entry into Gaza may not necessarily translate to improved food availability and access within Gaza, particularly given low household purchasing power”. RECOMMENDED READING: This is the truth about “there is no famine in Gaza” 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 also attacked food aid convoys and those who accompanied them. In mid-March, Israel promised to “flood” Gaza with aid, but has failed to do so. Israel has killed 2,100 babies under two in Gaza: Rights monitor The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reports that out of nearly 17,000 Palestinian children killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip since October 7, about 2,100 were babies under the age of two. “The number of Palestinian children – whether infants or children in general – killed by the Israeli army is horrifying, and the rate of their killing is unprecedented in the history of modern wars,” says the Geneva-based organization. “It also represents a dangerous trend based on the dehumanization of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s military targets Palestinians and their children daily, methodically, and widely in the most heinous and brutal ways possible, and virtually without pause for 10 consecutive months.” Palestinian triplets with their mother flee following the Israeli army’s attacks on Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Gaza on March 21, 2024 [Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency] Palestinian triplets with their mother flee following the Israeli army’s attacks on Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Gaza on March 21, 2024 [Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency] (photo) Israel shoots dead 2 firefighters in Gaza Middle East Monitor reports: Two civil defense crew members were shot dead today by Israeli occupation forces in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. The General Directorate of Civil Defence confirmed the death of firefighter Suhaib Abu Taqiya and Hussein Abu Jamous after they were shot while carrying out their work in Rafah. Their deaths bring to 82 the number of civil defense crew members who have been killed since the outbreak of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, the directorate added. Since the beginning of the Israeli war of genocide, the IOF has targeted dozens of civil defense and ambulance crew members while they were providing services to displaced Palestinians in addition to destroying civil defense facilities and vehicles to prevent rescue and evacuation efforts. Firefighters intervene fire broke out following Israeli attack on the house of the Al-Tavil family as Israeli attacks continue at Az-Zawayda town of Gaza City, Gaza on December 27, 2023 [Ashraf Amra – Anadolu Agency] Firefighters intervene fire broke out following Israeli attack on the house of the Al-Tavil family as Israeli attacks continue at Az-Zawayda town of Gaza City, Gaza on December 27, 2023 [Ashraf Amra – Anadolu Agency] (photo) Israel’s intensifying attacks on Gaza schools Al Jazeera reports: Israel has hit more than 500 of Gaza’s 564 schools in the past 10 months. Within a 10-day period in August, Israeli forces struck five schools in Gaza City, killing more than 179 people and injuring scores more. Last week, more than 100 people were killed after Israel hit a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced Palestinians. The UN accused Israel of intensifying attacks on schools. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, schools are considered civilian objects and should be protected from attacks. West Bank: Israeli occupation forces kill five Palestinians in assault on Tubas WAFA reports: Five Palestinians today were killed during the ongoing Israeli aggression on the city of Tubas and the town of Tamoun, southeast of the city. Security sources reported that four Palestinians were killed when an Israeli drone bombed a group of young men in the town of Tamoun, southeast of Tubas. They also said that the occupation forces withheld the bodies of the four young men after killing them. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that the occupation prevented its crews from reaching the targeted location. Meanwhile, the fifth Palestinian was killed after Israeli occupation forces besieged his house in the early morning hours in the city of Tubas. Israeli army vehicles near Tubas, occupied West Bank Israeli army vehicles near Tubas, occupied West Bank (screengrab) Shocking news in OCHA’s weekly report on the West Bank Since October 7th, there have been over 100 instances of Palestinian bodies being withheld by Israeli forces. In the last week, Israeli settlers perpetrated 25 attacks against Palestinians, while Palestinians perpetrated three attacks against settlers. Between 7 October 2023 and 12 August 2024, OCHA recorded around 1,250 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, of which around 120 led to Palestinian fatalities and injuries. On 12 August, Israeli settlers physically assaulted and injured two 15-year-old Palestinian boys near Artas, Bethlehem, attacking them with knives. The settlers assaulted the boys, broke their legs, and urinated on them, then handcuffed the boys and threw them in an open area near Artas. A local resident discovered them and called for an ambulance. The boys were then taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. On 7 August, the Israeli Civil Administration along with Israeli forces dismantled and confiscated three donor-funded tents in the Birin herding community, Hebron governorate. As a result, three families comprising 15 people including 6 children were displaced. The tents had been provided by the Palestinian Authority as a response to a previous demolition that took place on 4 July 2024 in the same area. Between 7 October 2023 and 12 August 2024, Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced the demolition of 1,380 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, displacing more than 3,100 Palestinians, including 1,375 children. Israeli forces, and in some cases settlers, have killed over 570 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7th, with near total impunity. Israeli forces, and in some cases settlers, have killed over 600 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7th, with near total impunity. (photo) Israel approves new West Bank settlement on UNESCO World Heritage Site near Bethlehem The Cradle reports: The Israeli government on 14 August officially approved municipal boundaries for a new settlement on a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Jewish supremacist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said his office had “completed its work and published a plan for the new Nahal Heletz settlement in Gush Etzion,” a bloc of settlements south of occupied Jerusalem. “No anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist decision will stop the development of settlements. We will continue to fight against the dangerous project of creating a Palestinian state by creating facts on the ground. This is my life’s mission, and I will continue it as much as I can,” the Israeli official, who lives in an illegal settlement, said via social media. All of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have planning permission or not. According to the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now, the intended area of the new settlement was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO. “Smotrich continues to promote de facto annexation, disregarding the UNESCO Convention that Israel is a signatory to, and we will all pay the price,” the organization said in a statement, calling the move by the Civil Administration a “wholesale attack” on an area “renowned for its ancient terraces and sophisticated irrigation systems, evidence of thousands of years of human activity.” “These actions are not only fragmenting Palestinian space and depriving large communities of their natural and cultural heritage, but they also pose an imminent threat to an area considered to be of the highest cultural value to humanity,” Peace Now added. The Times of Israel reports: “The new settlement will be built on land it says belongs to Battir, home to ancient hillside agricultural terraces that have been designated a world heritage site by UNESCO.” NOTE: Israel has illegally built around 280 settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are home to more than 700,000 illegal settlers. As the ICJ ruling confirms, Israeli settlements and settlers on Palestinian land are a violation of international law, and considered by many Palestinians to be the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement. Some settler groups, moreover, have a history of violence against Palestinians, often with the assistance of Israeli military forces. Map: Israel attacked ‘nearly every inch of Gaza with US-made bombs’ Jewish Voice for Peace, a US-based advocacy group, has made a map of the more than 70,000 bombs that Israel has dropped on the Gaza Strip since October 7 using UN satellite data. “With the US as its collaborator, the Israeli military is carrying out the goal of Zionism: the complete and total ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land,” the group says. “The US isn’t just allowing the Israeli government to commit a genocide, it’s actively assisting it. It’s well past time for a weapons embargo. We demand a complete end to US funding, arming, and backing of the state of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.” She wrote an op-ed criticizing Biden on Gaza. The Justice Department accused her of breaking the law. Emma West Rasmus wrote in The Hill: I used to see myself as part of the future of the Democratic Party, but I just got back from Palestine, and I will now work to ensure it never wins again.” (photo) The Intercept reports (excerpt): In March, Justice Department employee Emma West Rasmus wrote an [extremely powerful, personalized] op-ed criticizing the Biden administration over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. he next business day, she was accused by senior Justice Department attorneys and ethics officials of violating the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from using their “official authority” to engage in certain political activity, especially advocating for or against a particular candidate or political party. Five months later, however, the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates Hatch Act violations, determined there was no Hatch Act violation in the first place. “Although you engaged in political activity while referencing that you work for the federal government in the op-ed, and specifically the Department of Justice in the byline, these references do not constitute a use of official authority rising to the level of a Hatch Act violation,” reads an August 8 determination letter from OSC. West Rasmus, who still works for the Justice Department, says this decision lifted a huge weight off her shoulders, but that the investigation itself “absolutely had a chilling effect” on her and other federal employees trying to galvanize internal dissent on Gaza policy. “I always felt like putting the op-ed out there in the way that I did was worth the risk,” she said. “That speaks to how urgently I and other federal employees feel about the need to take actions that we wouldn’t otherwise take.” (Read the full article here.) Columbia University president Minouche Shafik resigns in wake of Gaza protests Al Jazeera reports: Minouche Shafik, the president of Columbia University, has announced her resignation after a tumultuous year marked by tensions with staff and students over her handling of campus protests against the Gaza war. The university announced her departure in a statement on its website on Wednesday. “This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community,” Shafik wrote in a letter to the university’s staff and students. “It has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.” Protests against the Gaza war began on Columbia’s New York City campus in April inspiring similar encampments at other institutions across the United States and beyond. As the protests gathered momentum, Shafik was summoned to a congressional committee over allegations the university had failed to protect students and staff from rising anti-Semitism. The next day, she allowed New York City police onto the campus to clear the protests and about 100 people were arrested, triggering outrage from protesters and some academics and calls for her resignation. Tensions rose further at the end of April, when police returned again to campus, arresting some 300 people and removing the encampment. THE GUARDIAN ADDS: Meanwhile, Elise Stefanik, one of the congressional representatives most critical of Shafik’s handling of reports of antisemitism on campus, wrote: “THREE DOWN, so many to go,” adding “after failing to protect Jewish students and negotiating with pro-Hamas terrorists, this forced resignation is long overdue”. Sludge reports: Stefanik’s trip to Israel was paid for by the Jewish Policy Center, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that describes its mission as “educat[ing the American public about Israel, foreign affairs and domestic issues of importance to the Jewish community.” The organization spent nearly $48,000 on the trip, including on business-class airfare tickets for the representative and stays at luxury hotels. [The Jewish Policy Center has multiple individuals on its board of fellows who have been identified as anti-Muslim hate figures, including Daniel Pipes and David Horowitz.] This election cycle, the PAC of lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has given $284,000 to Stefanik’s campaign in conduit contributions through April 30, placing her in its top 10 recipients among House Republicans. New York county signs first mask ban into US law, sparking controversy Bruce Blakeman hosts a number of rabbis for a mezuzah instalation at his new office ahead of his inauguration as Nassau County’s first Jewish County Executive on Dec. 31, 2021. The Forward reports: “Blakeman situated himself at the right on issues related to Israel.” (photo) The Guardian reports: Nassau county in New York implemented a controversial ban on wearing face coverings in public on Wednesday, in a move criticized by state politicians and civil rights advocates. Opponents of the bill have described it as “a dangerous misuse of the law to score political points and target protesters”, given it was introduced in response to protests against Israel’s war on Gaza. The Mask Transparency Act, signed into law by Bruce Blakeman, the Republican county executive, makes it a misdemeanor for anyone to wear a facial covering to hide their identity in public. [Vote Smart reports that Blakeman has been a board member of the American Jewish Congress, which advocates for Israel.] People who defy the law could be sentenced to up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, although there are some exemptions for health or religious reasons. Susan Gottehrer, the regional director of the Nassau county New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), said after the bill was passed, “Masks protect people who express political opinions that are unpopular. Making anonymous protest illegal chills political action and is ripe for selective enforcement, leading to doxxing, surveillance and retaliation against protesters.” Columbia students protest in support of Palestine on campus on Oct. 12. More demonstrations have occurred since, including one on Nov. 9 that appears to have led to the suspension of two groups. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Columbia students protest in support of Palestine on campus on Oct. 12. More demonstrations have occurred since, including one on Nov. 9 that appears to have led to the suspension of two groups. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (photo) Melbourne orchestra cancels pianist’s performance after he speaks out on Gaza Al Jazeera reports: Musician Jayson Gillham was scheduled to perform at Melbourne Town Hall on Thursday, but he was dropped after he discussed the media workers killed in Gaza in a Sunday performance. “The killing of journalists is a war crime in international law, and it is done in an effort to prevent the documentation and broadcasting of war crimes to the world,” the musician told the audience, adding that Israel has killed more than 100 journalists since October 7. UPDATE FROM VARIETY: The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on Thursday tried to extricate itself from controversy caused by its earlier decision to cancel future performances by Australian-British classical pianist Jayson Gillham. “The MSO acknowledges that an error was made in asking Jayson Gillham to step back from his performance on Thursday 15 August,” it said in a new statement. MORE NEWS: IMEMC Daily Reports. The Intercept: Israeli Society Is in a Deepening State of Contradiction Middle East Eye: Pro-Palestinian campus protests: What have they achieved so far? STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 14: Palestinian death toll from October 7 – August 14: at least 40,634* (40,005 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 629 in the West Bank (~145 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 1.9 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 – August 14: at least 97,821 (including at least 92,401 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 14: ~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) 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 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 https://israelpalestinenews.org/official-gaza-death-toll-passes-40000-over-92000-injured-day-312/

As Israel continues killing in Gaza, more torture and rape allegations surface – Day 304 [email protected] August 7, 2024 anti-masking law, ceasefire, evacuation, gaza death toll, Israeli prisons, malnutrition gaza, palestinian journalist killed, rape, tim walz, torture, turkey joins icj, turkiye, us troops to israel, west bank deaths Israeli air strikes have targeted parts of central Gaza where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought shelter. Pictured: the aftermath of a bombing in Deir el Balah (screengrab) 166th Palestinian journalist killed; child malnutrition in Gaza; another evacuation order; Gaza’s official death toll is way too low; news of Israeli torture and rape of Palestinian prisoners keeps coming, keeps getting worse; Israel killed 12 West Bank Palestinians in 24 hours; majority of Americans don’t support sending troops to assist Israel; NY anti-masking law targets pro-Palestine protesters; VP candidate Tim Walz on Palestine; ceasefire agreement allegedly getting close; Turkey joins ICJ case against Israel; more. By IAK staff, from reports. Another Palestinian journalist killed in Israeli attack on Gaza Al Jazeera reports: Gaza’s Government Media Office says the number of journalists killed in Israeli attacks has risen to 166 since the start of Israel’s war. It said in a statement that Mohammed Issa Abu Saada, a correspondent and field photojournalist for several media outlets, is the latest to be killed. Child malnutrition surges in Gaza: UN OCHA reports: In the five-day period up to Monday, 143 Palestinians were reported killed and 341 injured by Israeli attacks on Gaza from air, land and sea forces, according to the UN’s latest situation report. Detected cases of child malnutrition in Gaza have jumped almost 50 percent in July compared with June, with more than 650 Palestinian children now suffering from “acute malnutrition” in the enclave, which is a three-fold increase in cases since May. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also reports that an estimated 10,000 people remain missing or under the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza. Save the Children, in a new statement, said 21,000 children are missing, some separated from their families, some buried under the rubble, their fate unknown. The advocacy group calls for a ceasefire to look for the missing children. Israel's abuses saw it added to the UN's global blacklist of countries that harm children. Save the Children, in a new statement, said 21,000 children are missing, some separated from their families, some buried under the rubble, their fate unknown. The advocacy group calls for a ceasefire to look for the missing children. Israel’s abuses saw it added to the UN’s global blacklist of countries that harm children. (screenshot) Israeli Military Orders Another Mass Evacuation in Northern Gaza – ‘To the Known Shelters’ Palestine Chronicle reports: The Israeli military threatened a new military operation in the northern Gaza Strip under the pretext of the firing of rockets from the area. In a tweet published early Wednesday on the X platform, Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adraee said that all those in the Beit Hanoun area, the Manshiya and Sheikh Zayed neighborhoods should evacuate their areas immediately to “known shelters” in the center of Gaza City. He added that Hamas and other factions were firing rockets from those areas and that the Israeli army would act “immediately and forcefully against them.” Throughout the war, Israel has repeatedly targeted refugee encampments of displaced Gazans, resulting in the killing and wounding of thousands. Israel’s Channel 12 said the army was preparing for what it described as large-scale ground activity in Beit Hanoun. Meanwhile, there are reports of shelling all over Gaza. RECOMMENDED READING: ‘The martyrs were cut up and burned’: Survivors of the latest tent massacre in Gaza recount the horror A scene from the massive fire ignited when Israel struck Rafah A scene from the massive fire ignited when Israel struck Rafah on May 26 (screenshot) Gaza’s official death toll is a lie Jonathan Cook writes: The reported death toll in Gaza is way too low by every imaginable metric. We need to be stressing this — all the more so when Israel’s apologists are vigorously engaged in a disinformation campaign to suggest that the figures are inflated. On May 6, seven months into Israel’s slaughter, there were reported to be 34,735 dead. That was an average of 4,960 Palestinians killed each month. Today, nearly three months on, the reported death toll stands at 39,400 — or an increase of 4,665. It should not need a statistician to point out that, were the rise linear, the expected number of deaths would stand by this point at around 49,600. So, even by the simplest calculation, there is a large shortfall in deaths — a shortfall that needs explaining. Such an explanation is easy to provide: Israel destroyed Gaza’s institutions and its medical infrastructure, including its hospitals, many months ago, making it impossible for officials there to keep track of how many Palestinians are being killed by Israel. The death toll figures started to stall in the spring, around the time Israel completed its destruction of Gaza’s hospitals and kidnapped much of the enclave’s medical personnel. More than a month ago, Save the Children pointed out that some 21,000 children in Gaza were missing, in addition to the 16,000 known to have been killed by Israel. Many are likely to have suffered lonely, terrifying deaths under rubble — gradually suffocated to death, or dying slowly from dehydration. But again, even those shocking figures are likely to be a severe undercount. (Read the full article here.) Reports of torture in Israel’s Sde Teiman ‘only represent the tip of iceberg’ UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights: Reports of alleged torture and sexual violence in Israel’s Sde Teiman prison are grossly illegal and revolting, but they only represent the tip of the iceberg, independent human rights experts* warned today. “Israel’s widespread and systemic abuse of Palestinians in detention and arbitrary arrest practices over decades, coupled with the absence of any restraints by the Israeli State since 7 October 2023, paint a shocking picture enabled by absolute impunity,” the experts said. Around 9,500 Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently imprisoned—around one-third without charge or trial. Another unknown number are arbitrarily being held in detention facilities and ad hoc camps following a wave of arrest and abduction campaigns across Palestinian territory that targeted men, women and children particularly following 7 October. The experts received substantiated reports of widespread abuse, torture, sexual assault and rape, amid atrocious inhumane conditions, with at least 53 Palestinians apparently dying as a result in 10 months. Countless testimonies by men and women speak of detainees in cage-like enclosures, tied to beds blindfolded and in diapers, stripped naked, deprived of adequate healthcare, food, water and sleep, electrocutions including on their genitals, blackmail and cigarette burns. In addition, victims spoke of loud music played until their ears bled, attacks by dogs, waterboarding, suspension from ceilings and severe sexual and gender-based violence. “Allegations of gang-rape of a Palestinian detainee, now shockingly supported by voices in the Israeli political establishment and society, provide irrefutable evidence that the moral compass is lost,” the experts said. In February 2024, a number of experts also expressed grave concern regarding the reports of sexual and other forms of gender-based violence committed against Palestinian women and girls in Israeli detention. (Read the full statement here.) NOTE: The Cradle reported yesterday that US President Joe Biden has apparently 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. This is the “absolute impunity” to which this report referred. A leaked photograph of the detention facility shows a blindfolded man with his arms above his head. Obtained by CNN A leaked photograph of the detention facility shows a blindfolded man with his arms above his head. Obtained by CNN (photo) Key takeaways from B’Tselem’s report on Israel’s ‘torture camps’ The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem collected testimonies from 55 Palestinians, including 21 from the Gaza Strip, who had been held in Israeli prisons since October 7. The detainees spoke to B’Tselem following their release – here are some details: The B’Tselem report reveals that more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities were converted into a network of camps “dedicated to the abuse of inmates” following October 7. “Such spaces, in which every inmate is intentionally condemned to severe, relentless pain and suffering, operate in fact as torture camps,” it said. The violations include “frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation and degradation; deliberate starvation; forced unhygienic conditions; sleep deprivation; prohibition on, and punitive measures for, religious worship; confiscation of all communal and personal belongings; and denial of adequate medical treatment”. B’Tselem said at least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 7. Some 48 of them were from Gaza. The report said that detainee testimonies demonstrate “a systemic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners”. This policy, it said, is implemented under the direction of Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, with the full support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. B’Tselem also noted that the number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails has doubled to 9,623 since the war on Gaza began. Executive summary of the B’Tselem report can be found here; full report here. Israeli soldiers stand by a truck packed with stripped, bound, and blindfolded Palestinian prisoners, Friday December 8, 2023 Israeli soldiers stand by a truck packed with stripped, bound, and blindfolded Palestinian prisoners, Friday December 8, 2023 (photo) UN probe into UNRWA not given full access to Israeli evidence UNRWA reported earlier this week that an internal UN investigation concluded that nine UNRWA staff members “may have been involved” in the 7 October attacks. The UN has now revealed that it does not have 100% conclusive evidence, and that the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services was never given full access to Israel’s evidence that it claims it has against the UN personnel. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ordered this internal review shortly after Israel leveled its claims against UNRWA personnel in late January. Now, because of legal and confidentiality reasons, this OIOS report will not be made public. Meanwhile, since October 7, more than 200 UNRWA personnel have been killed due to Israel’s continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip. In Less Than A Day, Israel Killed Twelve Palestinians In West Bank IMEMC reports: The Israeli occupation army has killed, overnight and earlier Tuesday, twelve Palestinians in Jenin, Tubas, and Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank. In Jenin, the army fired a missile at the eastern neighborhood of the city, killing five Palestinians whose bodies have been severely mutilated. Wisam Bakr, the director of the Jenin Governmental Hospital, said the severely mutilated corpses of five Palestinians were transferred to the medical facility after the army fired a missile at them in the Eastern Neighborhood, and prevented Palestinian medics from entering the area for several hours. Details on the deaths are here. RECOMMENDED READING: Far right pulling masks off Israeli legal charade Israelis continue to protest detention of soldiers accused of raping Palestinian prisoner Al Jazeera reports: Israelis are demonstrating in front of the military court at the Beit Lid base in the center of the country, to protest the continued detention of five reserve soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner in Sde Teiman prison in the Negev desert. Last week, dozens of Israeli protesters, including far-right members of the Knesset, clashed with military police after at least nine soldiers suspected of abusing a Palestinian prisoner were detained for questioning. Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said the demonstration comes ahead of the start of a court hearing on the third extension of the detention of the five soldiers. Demonstrators chanted slogans such as “This is the state of the Jews and it precedes democracy” and called for the release of the accused soldiers. Israeli reservists fail polygraph probing sexual abuse allegations: Report Al Jazeera reports: Two Israeli reservists suspected of sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner have failed a polygraph test about the allegations, reports Israel’s Channel 12. The soldiers, among five still detained over sexual abuse allegations at Israel’s Sde Teiman facility, denied committing or covering up an act of sexual assault during the polygraph examination, but the examiner deemed their responses deceptive, said the report. The allegations against the reservists have divided Israeli society, with a group of far-right activists storming the facility they were held at last week demanding their release. Israeli forces blindfold and strip Palestinian prisoners who are arbitrarily detained Israeli forces blindfold and strip Palestinian prisoners who are arbitrarily detained (photo) Poll: Most Americans don’t want to send troops to defend Israel Responsible Statecraft reports: According to a survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, only 41% of Americans support the idea of U.S. troops defending Israel, even if its neighbors attacked it. This is a decrease from 53% in 2021 and represents the lowest level of support since the the council started tracking the question in 2010. According to the survey, 55% of Americans overall are against the idea of sending troops to defend Israel. These numbers show a decrease in support from Republicans, typically Israel’s biggest supporters, from 72% in 2021 to 55% today. Democrats went from 42% in favor of defending Israel with U.S. troops in 2021 to 35% today. The poll was conducted online from June 21 through July 1. Americans still believe in a peacekeeping mission, however, with 54 percent of Americans supporting sending peacekeeping troops if a deal between Israel and the Palestinians is arranged and kept, according to the survey. One Year in Prison and a Fine: NY Mask Ban Targets Palestine Protesters Palestine Chronicle reports: New York’s suburban Nassau County has passed a bill to ban the wearing of masks intended to hide the identity of pro-Palestinian protesters against US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, Reuters has reported. The mask ban will cover any sort of public protest, but lawmakers in the Republican-controlled county say that the bill aims to prevent protesters who engage in alleged violence and anti-Semitism from hiding their identity and avoiding accountability. Civil rights advocates view the step as an infringement on free speech rights. The bill was approved late on Monday, with all 12 Republicans in the county legislature voting in favor. The seven Democrats abstained. Veterans for Peace call for immediate ceasefire in Gaza Veterans for Peace call for immediate ceasefire in Gaza (screenshot) Tim Walz called Gaza situation “Intolerable,” sought ceasefire, praised Uncommitted; Shapiro did not Informed Comment reports: Presumptive Democratic Party standard-bearer Kamala Harris’ pick of Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate has widely been implied to have something to do with his stance on the Gaza genocide. On March 5, Super Tuesday, Abby Phillip at CNN asked Walz about the Gaza protest vote: “We’re seeing a fairly sizable, about 40,000 votes right now, 20 percent of the vote going to uncommitted. And we’ve seen that already in this primary in Michigan. What message are voters in your state trying to send to President Biden? And what do you want to see President Biden do in response?” Walz replied, “Yeah, look, they’re engaged. We’re really proud of Minnesota civic responsibility. We have some of the highest voter turnouts. These are voters that are deeply concerned as we all are. The situation in Gaza is intolerable. And I think trying to find a solution, a lasting two-state solution, certainly the President’s move towards humanitarian aid and asking us to get to a ceasefire, that’s what they’re asking to be heard. And that’s what they should be doing. We’ve gone through this before. And we know that now we make sure we’ve got eight months. We start bringing these folks back in. We listen to what they’re saying.” The important thing here is that Walz did not simply dismiss the Uncommitted movement or condemn it. He heard their concern and said it mirrored his own. “The situation in Gaza is intolerable.” He approved of getting “to a ceasefire” and humanitarian aid. The Intercept reports: “Harris’s selection of Walz could also signal a shift from President Joe Biden’s stance on Israel’s war in Gaza.” “Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute, contrasted Walz with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was widely reported to be the other frontrunner for Harris’s running mate, and believes that rejecting Shapiro in favor of Walz bodes well for Harris’s approach to the world.” “It’s impossible to know exactly what calculations were made and what issues mattered the most,” Duss said, referring to the Walz selection. “But I think it’s clear that there is a growing constituency in the Democratic Party that takes the issue of Palestinian rights much more seriously than in previous years, and it has to be engaged with and its views have to be taken into account.” “By deciding against Shapiro, Duss said, Harris is showing that she is to some degree listening to this movement within the party…” “Some observers also noted Walz’s antiwar record while a member of Congress, pointing to his opposition to a war in Syria in 2013 and his support of repealing the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which has given the White House broad powers to bypass Congress to conduct attacks and military operations in other countries.” The NY times reports: “Selecting Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania could mollify many Jewish voters and other centrists over a subject that has bedeviled the Biden-Harris administration for nearly a year, Israel’s war in Gaza. It could also inflame the left, which has been protesting the administration for months. “Ms. Harris’s selection of Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota likely avoided fueling the Gaza demonstrations.” [Tim Walz [File: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images via AFP] [Tim Walz [File: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images via AFP] (photo) Blinken says ceasefire negotiations have reached ‘final stage’ Al Jazeera reports: US Secretary of State Blinken has pressed for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza and warned against the possibility of worsening regional escalation. Here are a few of Blinken’s key remarks: An agreement between Israel and Hamas is in the “final stage” and called on all parties to finalise it “as soon as possible”. Further attacks “only perpetuate” conflict, instability and insecurity. The US has told Iran and Israel “directly” that regional fighting must not escalate further. The Cradle reported yesterday that 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. If the ceasefire agreement says that Israel can resume the war, it is unlikely that Hamas will agree. Turkey submits bid to join ICJ case against Israel Middle East Eye reports: Turkey has reportedly submitted its formal bid to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. According to the report, Turkey’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Selcuk Unal, presented a “comprehensive and detailed” application to the UN court in The Hague on Wednesday. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who announced the move on Monday, said that Ankara has prepared a dossier that will likely significantly impact the trial. Turkey’s intervention is expected to be the most impactful in the case, and likely to encourage other countries to join. International Court of Justice, The Hague, Netherlands International Court of Justice, The Hague, Netherlands (photo) US and UK to boycott Nagasaki bombing memorial after Israel disinvited Middle East Eye reports: The American and British ambassadors to Japan have announced they will skip an upcoming ceremony commemorating the victims of the US’s 1945 atomic bombing because the city’s mayor did not invite the Israeli ambassador. The Russian and Belarusian ambassadors have also been excluded from the event this Friday by Japanese authorities. The Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony is intended to mark the 79th anniversary of the US atomic bomb attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima that killed tens of thousands of Japanese civilians, with many more later dying from radiation poisoning. Pentagon confirms US troops injured in attack on Iraqi air base The Cradle reports: At least five US soldiers and contractors were injured during a rocket attack that hit Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base late on 5 August, Pentagon officials have confirmed. US defense officials revealed to Reuters that at least one person was “seriously injured.” “Base personnel are conducting a post-attack damage assessment,” the unnamed officials added. The US military took control of Ain al-Assad in 2003 following the White House’s illegal invasion and occupation of the country but withdrew its forces in 2011 when Barack Obama failed to secure a new Status of Forces (SOFA) agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. However, US forces returned to the base under the pretext of training Iraqis to fight ISIS six months after the extremist group invaded and occupied Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, in June 2014. They have remained there since. Ain al-Assad air base had been targeted at least twice over the past three weeks as local resistance groups working under the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) umbrella have steadily resumed pro-Palestine operations that were halted earlier this year. Wednesday’s attack comes just a few days after a US airstrike killed four members of the anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) north of Babil. [Note: Israel partisans were largely responsible for the disastrous US decision to invade Iraq.] RECOMMENDED READING: The U.S. has dozens of secret bases across the Middle East. They keep getting attacked. MORE NEWS: IMEMC Daily Reports. Drop Site News: Microsoft Encourages Employee Donations to Illegal West Bank Settlements, While Barring UNRWA STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 6: Palestinian death toll from October 7 – August 6: at least 40,292* (39,677 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 615 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 6: at least 97,065 (including at least 91,645 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 6: ~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) “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 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-killing-gaza-torture-rape-allegations-surface-day-304/

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? Embed from Getty Images 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.” Embed from Getty Images 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. Embed from Getty Images 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. Embed from Getty Images 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 Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated) 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 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. https://israelpalestinenews.org/where-to-go-14-percent-gaza-not-under-evacuation-orders-day-295/

‘Slow-motion trainwreck’ in Gaza as Netanyahu lectures America – Day 291 [email protected] July 25, 2024 debunked hamas video, excessive force, Gaza, israel at the olympics, khan younis, netanyahu speech, police brutality, West Bank Gaza war: 150,000 people flee Khan Younis, UN says | BBC News (screenshot) Now we also face the threat of polio, putting countless lives at risk to this crippling disease: Mercy Corps; HRW: Israeli forces publish degrading pictures of Palestinian prisoners; Netanyahu’s speech was full of lies, smears, claims of fighting America’s battles; police use excessive force against protesters; distressing news from the West Bank; calls to remove Israel from Olympics, as Israel’s Olympics flagbearer signed bombs for Gaza; debunked “Hamas” threat video; more. By IAK staff, from reports. Latest from Gaza ‘Slow-motion trainwreck’ in Gaza as Netanyahu addresses US Congress: Mercy Corps Al Jazeera reports: While the media focus on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, the humanitarian situation in Gaza “is in a nosedive”, the humanitarian organization Mercy Corps has warned. “No humanitarian goods are crossing into Gaza via Kerem Shalom [Karem Abu Salem] because the unloading zone has been full for weeks. High insecurity, lawlessness, and bombardments in areas under Israeli military operation make collection and distribution impossible,” Vice President of Global Policy and Advocacy Kate Phillips-Barrasso said in a statement. “We have been warning for months about a looming famine and secondary diseases taking hold, and now we face the threat of a polio outbreak, with the virus detected in sewage samples, putting countless lives at risk to this crippling disease. While Netanyahu speaks to Congress, the slow-motion trainwreck in Gaza continues.” Crisis in Khan Younis More than 400,000 Palestinians have been told to leave eastern Khan Younis and they are heading towards a designated “humanitarian” area of al-Mawasi and the central areas of the Gaza Strip. But these areas have also been witnessing more attacks within the past 24 hours. In particular, the Bureij refugee camp where there is a very notable Israeli military incursion in the eastern areas. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric commented: “OCHA has expressed our concern about the short interval between the dropping of the leaflets telling people to leave and the escalation of military operations, which posed significant risks to those fleeing. That delay was about an hour. Many have been observed on the move without any belongings.” Some key statistics from the past 24 hours in Khan Younis, according to the Gaza Government Media Office: About 129 people have been killed. At least 24 children are among the dead, according to Save the Children. 416 have been injured, more than 100 of whom have not yet reached hospitals. 44 people are missing. 237 houses and residential buildings have been bombed. “The [Israeli] army targets everything that moves on Salah al-Din Street in Khan Younis,” the office said in a statement, adding that the army is obstructing efforts to rescue wounded people who have appealed for help. For three days now, there are areas where the paramedics have been unable to reach in Khan Younis. That’s why we are expecting the death toll and number of injuries to increase. Local sources tell Al Jazeera that four Palestinians were in a car belonging to the Khan Younis electric company when Israeli forces targeted it. Several other people were injured in this attack. Exclusive video obtained by Al Jazeera shows the scene minutes after the bombing, as people rushed to recover the bodies of those killed and aid those injured, which include children. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis has been calling for blood donations but it’s saying most volunteers who came aren’t eligible because they’re malnourished. People are trying but unfortunately they’re not in good enough shape to help other Palestinians. Al Jazeera Arabic reports that Israeli soldiers have been blowing up residential buildings east of war-torn Khan Younis amid Israeli tank fire Israeli forces open fire towards humanitarian aid truck in Khan Younis Israeli occupation forces Wednesday opened fire at a humanitarian aid truck in Khan Younis, wounding its driver. Local sources reported that occupation military tanks and vehicles opened heavy gunfire towards an aid truck near al-Salam Hospital while it was on its way to transport food baskets for the Central World Kitchen Foundation. Israeli forces publishing degrading pictures of detained Palestinians, says HRW Human Rights Watch has accused Israeli forces of publishing degrading photographs and videos of detained Palestinians, including children, in acts that amount to war crimes. In many cases, detainees were stripped of their clothing, sometimes fully, then photographed or filmed, with the images published by Israeli soldiers, media outlets or activists, the group said. Forced nudity followed by capturing and sharing sexualised images on social media is a form of sexual violence and also a war crime, it said. “Israeli authorities have for months turned a blind eye as members of their military published dehumanizing fully or seminude images and videos of Palestinians in their custody,” said Balkees Jarrah, acting Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Senior officials and military commanders can be held criminally responsible for ordering these crimes, or for failing to prevent or punish them, including at the International Criminal Court.” Take-aways from Netanyahu’s speech Netanyahu insulted and smeared the pro-Palestine protest movement. Congress clapped. The Intercept reports: As thousands of protesters gathered outside the Capitol, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress — and spent a significant portion of his hourlong speech attacking the U.S. pro-Palestinian protest movement with insults and misinformation. The prime minister went after campus protesters, drawing a false equivalence between students calling on their schools to divest from Israel and antisemitic attacks. He went on to insult protesters’ geographical and historical knowledge of the region, in reference to the protest slogan “From the river to the sea,” and belittled the slogan “Gays for Gaza,” saying it was the same as “Chickens for KFC.” More broadly, Netanyahu claimed that movements for Palestine liberation were choosing “to stand with evil … to stand with Hamas.” The prime minister also claimed that the pro-Palestinian movement is funded by the Iranian government, labeling protesters “Iran’s useful idiots,” without offering any evidence to substantiate his claim. To Palestine solidarity advocates demanding a ceasefire and an end to Israel’s war, Netanyahu’s attacks spoke to the power of their movement. The speech was an “attempt to delegitimize a social movement that has a lot of power, that has a lot of clarity,” said Benjamin Kersten, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, who participated in the rally outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, as well as the sit-in a day earlier in the Capitol rotunda. “It is also a distraction from what should be in focus, which is that over 39,000 people, over 14,000 children, have been killed by the Israeli government and military, making great use of United States’ weapons and funding.” Embed from Getty Images Netanyahu lectures Americans, makes case for ‘total victory’ Responsible Statecraft reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent a major portion of his hour-long speech to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday lecturing the American people about how they should think and react to Israel’s war on Gaza. “When we fight Hezbollah, we’re fighting Iran,” he continued. “When we fight the Houthis, we’re fighting Iran. And when we fight Iran, we’re fighting the most radical and murderous enemy of the United States of America. And one more thing, when Israel acts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons that could destroy Israel and threaten every American city, every city that you come from, we’re not only protecting ourselves, We’re protecting you.” THE GUARDIAN ADDS: Netanyahu brushed aside humanitarian concerns for the civilian population of Gaza, denying that Israel was blocking shipments of food aid to Palestinians and issuing an appeal for the US to fast-track military aid to Israel: “Give us the tools and we’ll get the job done faster.” He thanked Biden for his “heartfelt support for Israel”, while also praising Donald Trump for his “leadership” during his first term.’ RECOMMENDED READING: Citizen’s arrest: Thousands of US protesters demand Israel’s Netanyahu be locked up Embed from Getty Images Protests outside Capitol Police deploy toxic spray at anti-Netanyahu march in Washington The New Arab reports: A march to demonstrate against the state speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a joint session of US Congress in Washington, DC on Wednesday started out peacefully, but was quickly dispersed when police used toxic spray against multiple protesters. After several speeches by organizers, the march towards the US Capitol began on a hot and humid day. A diverse array of people and religious groups held signs showing their support for Palestinians. Off to the side of the march, volunteers distributed water bottles. Within minutes of the march getting under way, multiple demonstrators had collapsed by the side of the road, unable to get up. As the march continued, more people collapsed. Volunteers were quick to render first aid. The collapse of dozens of protesters, many of whom had fallen in the middle of the street, quickly broke the momentum of the march, as people tried to help those in need by holding their heads up, dousing them with water and rinsing their eyes with eyedrops and water. It quickly became apparent that demonstrators had come into contact with toxic chemicals. As people lay on the ground, many of them were coughing and had a bright red flush across the skin of their arms, legs and faces. During the march the Capitol Police issued a tweet saying they had used spray on protesters because they had become violent. There were no reports of violence, though some demonstrators acknowledged they had come close to the police barricades. Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images West Bank news Israeli troops use Palestinian man as human shield in West Bank raid (again) NOTE: A previous incident like this in June drew widespread global condemnation. RECOMMENDED READING: Israel confirms more cases of army using Palestinians as human shields in West Bank In weekly West Bank report, OCHA highlights ongoing settler attacks, home demolitions OCHA reports: Between 7 October 2023 and 22 July 2024, OCHA recorded 1,143 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, of which 108 resulted in casualties, 916 resulted in damage to Palestinian property, and 119 resulted in both casualties and property damage. Between 16 and 22 July, the Israeli authorities demolished or forced the demolition of 48 Palestinian-owned structures due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. These include 45 structures in Area C and three in East Jerusalem. As a result, 57 Palestinians, including 29 children, were displaced and about 180 people were otherwise affected, including 88 children. Between 7 October 2023 and 22 July 2024, Israeli authorities demolished, sealed, confiscated or forced the demolition of 1,247 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, of which 39 per cent (481 structures) were inhabited homes. As a result, 2,836 people, including 1,245 children, were displaced. More West Bank headlines: Palestinian youth shot dead by Israeli forces near Jerusalem Palestinian customs officer shot dead by Israeli forces near Tubas Palestinian in Tulkarm dies of wounds sustained from Israeli gunfire UN Special Rapporteur: Israeli occupation authorities continue to target human rights defenders in West Bank Israel seizes archeological land to build military site: Report Embed from Getty Images Olympics news Paris protesters call for Israel’s Olympic expulsion Al Jazeera reports: France will deploy hundreds of police officers to secure Israel’s opening Olympic football match against Mali in an initial security test before the Games’ opening ceremony. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 1,000 security personnel will be deployed. The Palestinian Olympic Committee this week called for Israel to be excluded from the Games in an open letter to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. The letter accused Israel of breaching the traditional Olympic truce with its ongoing war on Gaza. Far-left French lawmakers have urged protests against Israel’s participation in the Games. At a small rally in Paris late on Tuesday, pro-Palestinian protesters chanted, “Free, free Palestine.” “Israel should be expelled because it is systematically violating rights and international laws,” demonstrator Elena Guerra said. ‘Genocide Games’ – Israel’s Flagbearer for Paris Olympics ‘Signed Bombs for Gaza’ Olympic policy: ban gov’ts engaging in apartheid, discrimination Football fans open Palestinian flag to protest Israel at Paris 2024 Olympics Andalou Agency reports: Football fans unfurled Palestinian flags to protest Israel during a match at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Wednesday. Israel drew with Mali 1-1 in an Olympic football match at Paris’ Parc des Princes Stadium as many fans in the stands protested Israel waving Palestinian flags. Before the kick-off, some sections of the crowd at the stadium booed the Israeli national anthem. The match was held without major security incidents. <Embed from Getty Images Video of ‘Palestinian fighter’ threatening Paris Olympics debunked Middle East Eye reports: Wearing a keffiyeh around his face, and a Palestine flag hoodie, a man in a recent viral video proclaimed in Arabic that “rivers of blood” would flow through the streets of Paris during the upcoming Olympics. Social media users were quick to attribute the video to Hamas – an accusation the group denied. Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said on Tuesday that the clip was fabricated as part of “Zionist propaganda” and incitement against Palestinian resistance. Analysts and commentators have pointed to several factors casting doubt on Hamas being responsible for the footage. One analyst said that Hamas sees itself only as a Palestinian resistance army, whose fight is on its own soil. “Clearly the framing is an attempt to equate Hamas with IS, who have a very different political outlook,” Marc Owen Jones, an expert on disinformation and the Middle East, told MEE. The Arabic spoken in the viral clip has also been scrutinised. It appears to be far from what we would expect to hear from Hamas fighters based in Gaza. Chief among the offending phrases is the use of “Allaha akbar” instead of “Allahu akbar” – an error an Arab adherent of the Muslim faith would be highly unlikely to make. One Palestinian social media user noticed at least nine other linguistic transgressions, including a failure to roll the letter “r”. “We have no idea who did this,” said the analyst. “But it wasn’t made by a Palestinian. It’s unlikely to be Hamas-affiliated or even Palestine-affiliated.” MORE NEWS: STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JULY 24: Palestinian death toll from October 7 – July 24: at least 39,764* (39,175 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 589 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 24: at least 95,823 (including at least 90,403 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 24: ~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 Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated) 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 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. https://israelpalestinenews.org/slow-motion-trainwreck-in-gaza-as-netanyahu-lectures-america-day-291/ https://donshafi911iamthefaceoftruth.blogspot.com/2024/07/slow-motion-trainwreck-in-gaza-as.html

As Israel-First politicians embrace Netanyahu, many people say No Thanks – Day 290 [email protected] July 24, 2024 gaza displacement, gaza evacuation, israeli settler violence, jewish activists, jewish voice for peace, kamala harris, khan younis, labor unions, netanyahu speech, Olympics, palestinian unity government, starlink, targeting aid workers, us complicity in war crimes, West Bank Israel's assault on Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians seek shelter near hospital (screenshot) 2 million Gazans are squeezed into 20% of their land, as Israeli bombers and snipers keep killing; UNICEF vehicles hit by Israeli gunfire; peace activists arrested in US Capitol; Israeli luminaries call Netanyahu an “existential threat” to Israel and US; Rashida Tlaib: “Netanyahu’s Congress speech is a celebration of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians”; Schumer says he will attend Netanyahu’s Congress speech; Israeli gov’t heavily funding illegal Israeli outposts; 350 “experts” endorse Kamala Harris for her Israel support; Olympics news; Israeli forces killing spree in West Bank; seven major labor unions demand that Biden pull the plug on Israel aid; China brokers reconciliation deal with Palestinian factions By IAK staff, from reports. Israel blocks Palestinians from 80 percent of Gaza The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says the Israeli military has placed more than 80 percent of the Gaza Strip “under evacuation orders or designated as a no-go zone”. “We just keep hearing the same question: Where do I go?” UNRWA said on X, quoting its spokeswoman’s remarks to the BBC’s Radio 4. It comes a day after Israel ordered thousands of people to flee from the eastern parts of the Khan Younis governorate to al-Mawasi in the west. Death toll from Israeli bombing in Khan Younis rises to 89 At least 89 people have been killed in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis governorate, according to the enclave’s Government Media Office, since Israel launched a new military operation in the area yesterday morning, without giving civilians time to flee. Hundreds of people are also reported injured. Palestinians, including women and children, living in the east of Khan Younis city move towards safe areas with whatever belongings they can take with them after Israel announced that an operation will be carried out and ordered the Palestinians to evacuate the area immediately in Khan Yunis, Gaza on July 22, 2024. Palestinians, including women and children, living in the east of Khan Younis city move towards safe areas with whatever belongings they can take with them after Israel announced that an operation will be carried out and ordered the Palestinians to evacuate the area immediately in Khan Yunis, Gaza on July 22, 2024. (photo) UNICEF vehicles attacked with gunfire in central Gaza NOTE: The targeting of aid workers in Gaza by Israel has been a long-standing pattern. Since October 2023, at least 278 aid workers were reported killed in Gaza, including 201 UN staff members. Following an Israeli attack on a high-profile humanitarian aid convoy in early April, MSF official Christopher Lockyear decried what was already a norm: “This pattern of attacks is either intentional or indicative of reckless incompetence.” US Capitol Police arrest activists calling for Israel arms embargo Al Jazeera reports: The rotunda of an office building in the United States Capitol complex filled in minutes with hundreds of people who appeared as if from nowhere, as part of a surprise protest against Israel’s war in Gaza. “Let Gaza live,” they chanted in unison inside the Cannon House Office Building, removing their outer garments to reveal matching red T-shirts. One side of the shirt read, “Jews say stop arming Israel.” The other side: “Not in our name.” Tuesday’s coordinated protest, led by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), took Congressional staffers and law enforcement agents aback, as it came together within minutes. But the crackdown started almost immediately after the protesters assembled. Capitol Police quickly declared the area a closed “zone” and arrested hundreds of demonstrators who refused to leave. “This is a moment in history where we have to say we stood up for Palestinian freedom. We stood up to end this genocide,” said protester Liv Kunins-Berkowitz. “For so many of us, we are the descendants who survived ethnic cleansing and genocide. Our ancestors and grandparents taught us that the worst thing to do in these moments is to be a bystander.” The activists are of all faiths, races, and ethnicities. They’re working to overcome the powerful Israel lobby. Embed from Getty Images Seven major US labor unions call on Biden to ‘shut off military aid to Israel’ The Guardian reports: Seven major US labor unions representing about 6 million workers sent a letter to Joe Biden on Tuesday calling on his administration to “immediately halt all military aid to Israel” ahead of a visit to the US from Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, this week. The unions that signed on to the letter include the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), American Postal Workers Union (APWU), International Union of Painters (IUPAT), National Education Association (NEA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United Auto Workers (UAW) and United Electrical Workers (UE). “Our unions are hearing the cries of humanity as this vicious war continues,” said Mark Dimondstein, the APWU president, in a press release. “Working people and our unions are horrified that our tax dollars are financing this ongoing tragedy. We need a ceasefire now, and the best way to secure that is to shut off US military aid to Israel.” The UAW stated, “This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to come to Congress to ask our government to keep supporting this war [in Gaza]. We reject this insult to all those calling for peace and justice.” Amnesty issues fresh warning about US complicity in Israeli war crimes Middle East Monitor reports: Amnesty International has issued a fresh warning about US complicity in Israeli war crimes as Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington. The human rights NGO also called on the US to halt arms exports to Israel with Netanyahu set to meet Joe Biden and possibly Kamala Harris during his trip. In the absence of a UN Security Council arms embargo, Amnesty is calling on all countries to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel immediately, until there is no longer a substantial risk that arms could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights or humanitarian law. Countries which continue to transfer arms to Israel with knowledge that the recipient state or group is using these arms to commit “internationally wrongful acts” — which include crimes under international law such as war crimes and crimes against humanity — are not only violating their obligation to ensure respect for international humanitarian law, said Amnesty today, but are in fact also assisting these violations. Companies manufacturing and exporting arms also have a responsibility to respect human rights and international humanitarian law throughout their value chains. Any companies providing material assistance in the commission of a war crime can be found legally liable for such a crime. “The US government has been presented with ample evidence from experts around the world that US-origin arms have been used in war crimes and unlawful killings by the Israeli government.” Continued weapons transfers will make the US “complicit” in violations of international law committed with these arms, explained the Amnesty official. NOTE: Weapons transfers to armed Palestinian groups also fall within Amnesty’s call for embargo – although 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 carries out major strikes on three regions in one day Israel carries out major strikes on three regions in one day (collage) Israeli executives, former security officials denounce Netanyahu ahead of address to US Congress Andalou Agency reports: Dozens of Israeli executives, academics, and former national security officials denounced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, warning in a letter to US congressional leaders that he represents an “existential threat” to the US and Israel. The letter signed by 31 Israelis comes on the eve of Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress where many lawmakers are expected to not attend or stage protests to interrupt the Israeli leader’s speech. It is addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. “We cannot overstate this: Prime Minister Netanyahu poses an existential threat to the State of Israel. He has no clear strategic objectives for the war in Gaza, no plan for the day after, nor a strategy for how to deal with the existential threat of Iran. For decades, he has been inciting Israelis against each other, damaging our national social fabric, dramatically harming our defense capabilities, eroding our economy and devastating our international standing,” the authors wrote. A copy of the letter was posted publicly by CNN. “Further, Netanyahu severely harms the US national security interests through his approach to this war, which adversely impacts American policy in the Middle East and beyond and further endangers Israel,” they added. Prominent signatories include former Israeli military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Haloutz, ex-Mossad Director Tamir Pardo, former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Nobel Prize Laureate Aaron Ciechanover and Israel’s former UN envoy Gabriela Shalev. Netanyahu’s speech to Congress is a ‘celebration of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians’ Middle East Eye reports: Palestinian-American Representative Rashida Tlaib called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming speech to Congress “a celebration of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians”. Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, said that “Netanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress. He should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court.” She further remarked, “Make no mistake: this event is a celebration of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. It is a sad day for our democracy when my colleagues will smile for a photo op with a man who is actively committing genocide. “It is hypocritical to claim concern about the massive death toll of innocent civilians, then turn around and welcome the person responsible for these war crimes to our Capitol. Their silence is betrayal, and history will remember them accordingly. Our government must stop supporting and funding this genocide now.” Israel was founded in 1948 through a war of ethnic cleansing. Embed from Getty Images Schumer says he will attend Netanyahu’s Congress speech despite ‘disagreements’ Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at Congress: “Even though I disagree with many of Bibi Netanyahu’s policies, I will attend this speech because the United States’ relationship with Israel remains ironclad and transcends any prime minister.” Schumer endorsed Kamala Harris for president. Ha’aretz reports: The Democratic Majority for Israel wholeheartedly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the party’s nomination for the upcoming presidential election. Israeli government quietly sends millions to unauthorized West Bank settler outposts Associated Press reports: The Israeli government has budgeted millions of dollars to protect small, illegal, unauthorized Jewish farms in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, underwriting tiny outposts meant to grow into full-fledged , illegal settlements, according to an anti-settlement monitoring group. Documents uncovered by Peace Now illustrate how Israel’s pro-settler government has quietly poured tens of millions of dollars into the unauthorized outposts, which are separate from its more than 100 officially recognized – but also illegal – settlements. Some of those outposts have been linked to settler violence against Palestinians and are sanctioned by the U.S. The group estimates approximately 500 people live on the small, unauthorized farms and 25,000 more live in larger outposts. Those outposts, while not officially authorized by the government, often receive tacit support before they are retroactively legalized. Rights groups say the expanding network of remote farms atop West Bank hilltops are the primary drivers of violence and displacement of Palestinians. On Friday, the top United Nations court said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and called for an immediate halt to settlement construction. NOTE: While there has been an 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. Settlers, moreover, have a history of violence against Palestinians, often with the assistance of Israeli military forces. NOTE: The International Solidarity Movement recently posted this video of Israeli settlers brutally attacking both Palestinians and international volunteers – one day after the ICJ ruled that the Israeli occupation and settlements are illegal. 350 foreign policy and national security personages endorse Kamala Harris, highlighting her involvement in the U.S.’ ‘defense of Israel when Iran attacked in April’ Ha’aretz reports: 350 leading foreign policy and national security experts endorsed U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s candidacy for U.S. President, calling her “the best qualified person to lead our nation as commander in chief.” “She has been by the president’s side in the Oval Office and in the Situation Room managing high-stakes international crises and advising on the toughest decisions,” they wrote, highlighting “the United States’ defense of Israel when Iran attacked in April 2024.” Among those to sign the letter include former U.S. Ambassadors to Israel Tom Nides and Daniel Kurtzer, former Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations Frank Lowenstein, former national security advisers Susan Rice and Thomas E. Donilon, former secretaries of state John F. Kerry and Hillary Clinton; former secretaries of defense Chuck Hagel and Leon Panetta; and former top intelligence officials Michael Hayden and James Clapper. NOTE: While it’s not hard to find cheerleaders for Israel in its genocidal war on Gaza, voters themselves are not so enthusiastic: A Gallup poll in March showed that 55 percent of respondents disapproved of the Israeli military’s actions in the Gaza Strip. Among Democratic Party voters, the percentage was even higher, with 75 percent of respondents expressing a negative view of Israel’s actions, while 60 percent of independents also said they disapproved. Politicians have failed to grasp the significance of millions of Americans across the country protesting for ceasefire and an end to military aid to Israel – wrongly accusing them of antisemitism and ignoring their message. RECOMMENDED READING: How Israel twists antisemitism claims to project its own crimes onto Palestinians. AIPAC: Has the pro-Israel lobby bribed and bought the US Democratic Party? It isn’t Netanyahu who is acting against the will of his people, it’s Biden Palestinians accuse Israel of Olympic Truce breach Al Jazeera reports: The Palestine Olympic Committee has called for the “immediate exclusion of Israel from the Paris Olympics 2024”. In a letter to Thomas Bach, head of the International Olympic Committee, the Palestinians said Israel has been engaged in violations that include illegal colonial settlement, occupation and annexation, as well as genocidal incitement. The letter also stressed that there has been a breach of the Olympic truce. The UN General Assembly Resolution on the Paris 2024 Olympics mandates an Olympic truce from July 19 to September 15, 2024, to ensure a peaceful environment for the Games. “However, Israel has violated this truce within the first 24 hours by continuing its bombing on Gaza, resulting in the killing of at least 70 Palestinians. This contravention underscores the urgent need for OIC and FIFA to act in line with its statutes and promote respect for international human rights law,” the letter said. The letter was also sent to FIFA President Gianni Infantino by the Palestine Football Association. NOTE: At least 265 Palestinian sportsmen have been killed in Israeli attacks since last October, according to the Palestinian Football Association. “The victims include players, administrators and technical staff, including 11 in the West Bank” Jibril Rajoub, head of the association, told reporters. “Dozens of athletes remain under the rubble, and we are unable to count their number,” he said. “Many athletes are also held in Israeli jails.” RECOMMENDED READING: Palestinians launch first national amputee football team in Gaza Many West Bank deaths on Tuesday Five Palestinians were killed Tuesday by Israeli occupation army gunfire in Tulkarm camp, including three men, a young girl, and a 50-year-old woman. Four of the bodies were confiscated by Israeli forces. The men were reportedly a Qassam commander and two members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. A 13-year-old child from the town of Bal’a, east of Tulkarem, succumbed Tuesday to critical injuries he sustained by Israeli forces’ live bullets about two weeks ago. A 39-year-old Palestinian man was Tuesday morning killed by Israeli occupation forces in the town of Sa’ir, northeast of Hebron. A young man, age 22, was Tuesday killed by Israeli occupation army gunfire from the town of Shuyoukh, northeast of Hebron. Palestinians hail new reconciliation deal amid Israeli opposition Andalou Agency reports: A China-mediated agreement to heal the years-long rift between Palestinian factions and form a national unity government has been met with Palestinian praise and Israeli opposition. The Palestinian groups on Monday reached a reconciliation agreement following three days of intensive talks in the Chinese capital Beijing to end their political division since 2007. Representatives of 14 Palestinian groups, including the rival Fatah and Hamas movements, signed a new statement pledging to end the division and strengthen unity. The agreement aims at maintaining Palestinian control over the Gaza Strip following the end of Israel’s ongoing offensive on the enclave. Signatories of the agreement said they would form an interim national unity government to supervise the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip and hold new elections. “The Beijing declaration is an additional positive step towards achieving Palestinian national unity,” Husam Badran, a member of Hamas political bureau, said in a statement. He said the factions agreed to form a national unity government to supervise Gaza reconstruction and prepare the conditions for holding elections. The agreement also underlined the right of the Palestinian people to resist the Israeli occupation and to self-determination based on international laws and UN Charter. Embed from Getty Images Palestinians living inside Israel face home demolition MORE NEWS: MintPress News: Meta’s Policy On Zionism Exposed: Cyberwell Scrambles After Israel Ties Revealed Declassified UK: UK Covers Up Gaza Spy Footage From Day of Aid Worker Massacre Mondoweiss: Biden staffers who resigned over Gaza say US has destroyed international law and endangered Americans Middle East Eye: Cambridge University to review investments in response to pro-Gaza protests STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JULY 23: Palestinian death toll from October 7 – July 23: at least 39,668* (39,090 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 587 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 23: at least 95,567 (including at least 90,147 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 23: ~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 Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated) 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 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. https://israelpalestinenews.org/many-american-politicians-embrace-netanyahu-real-people-say-no-thanks-day-290/ https://donshafi911iamthefaceoftruth.blogspot.com/2024/07/as-israel-first-politicians-embrace.html

Horrific Israeli attack in Khan Younis with almost no warning – Day 289 [email protected] July 23, 2024 garbage in Gaza, israeli attack on UN convoy, israeli hostages killed, kamala harris, khan younis attack, knesset, october 7th myths, Palestinian journalists, polio vaccine, unrwa, west bank children, Yemen Palestinians, including women and children, living in the east of Khan Younis city move towards safe areas with whatever belongings they can take with them after Israel announced that an operation will be carried out and ordered the Palestinians to evacuate the area immediately in Khan Yunis, Gaza on July 22, 2024. (photo) A77 Gazans killed in Khan Younis with no chance to flee; Israeli army admits leaving Palestinian man with Down Syndrome to die; journalists killed by Israel reaches 163; Israeli forces fire on UN convoy; water and garbage crisis in Gaza; polio vaccines for Israeli soldiers, but not for Gazan civilians; Israel killed 2 more Israeli hostages; 250% increase in killing of West Bank children; Yemeni harbor still ablaze after Israeli strike; Knesset members listen to debunked myths of Oct 7; our founding fathers supported Israel?; JD Vance to skip Netanyahu speech; Dem Majority for Israel endorses Harris; potential VPs regarding Israel; more. By IAK staff, from reports. Israel gives 400,000 Palestinians minutes to flee Khan Younis before latest blitz The Cradle reports: The Israeli army ordered the sudden evacuation of over 400,000 Palestinians taking shelter in eastern Khan Younis on 22 July, dropping leaflets in the besieged city moments before warplanes began their raids. At least 77 deaths and 200 wounded have been reported in the aftermath of the attacks. Ha’aretz reports that the death toll from this operation has risen to 89, that 68 are reported missing, and 263 more people were injured. 13 houses in the city were reportedly directly targeted. Authorities at Nasser Medical Complex appealed for urgent blood donations, saying it faces a shortage of blood units, “which poses a serious threat to the lives of the sick and injured in light of the ongoing massacres carried out by the occupation forces against the innocent and civilians.” “The IDF is about to forcefully operate against the terror organizations and therefore calls on the remaining population left in the eastern neighborhoods of Khan Younis to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi,” the Israeli military said in a statement on Monday morning. 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. Israeli Army Radio reported that Monday’s air raids in Khan Younis are the most violent since the end of the military operation in the city earlier this year. Local reports say many victims are still under the rubble and scattered along the streets, with ambulance and civil defense crews unable to reach them due to the violent and continuous shelling. AL JAZEERA ADDS: Many fleeing Palestinians are hesitant to join the swelling tent camps in al-Mawasi, declared a humanitarian zone in May, after a recent attack on the area killed at least 92 people and wounded more than 300, according to figures from the Health Ministry. That attack caused global outrage. OCHA ADDS: The new evacuation order by the Israeli military encompasses about 8.7 square kilometres (3.4 square miles) in the so-called “humanitarian zone” in Al Mawasi area of Khan Younis decreases the area of the zone by nearly 15 per cent. Gaza: Israeli army admits abandoning Palestinian man with Down syndrome Middle East Eye reports: The Israeli army has admitted that a Palestinian man with Down syndrome who died after being attacked and injured by an army dog was abandoned by its soldiers. The army’s admission comes two weeks after Middle East Eye originally reported on the death of Muhammed Bhar following a raid by Israeli soldiers on his family home in eastern Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighborhood on 3 July. His family told MEE they had been forced at gunpoint to leave behind the 24-year-old after he was mauled by the dog. Relatives described Muhammed as “like a one-year-old”, and said he needed help eating. Family members contacted the Red Cross daily for a week, pleading for Muhammed’s release or medical treatment, but were told that the Israeli army was not cooperating. After a week, and once Israeli troops withdrew from Shujaiya, they returned to find his decomposing body at their home. An Israeli spokesperson said, “The IDF regrets the harm to civilians during the fighting.” Number of journalists killed in Gaza rises to 163 The Israeli army struck a tent sheltering journalists in Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, central Gaza on Monday . At least one person, journalist Haydar Ibrahim al-Msaddar, was killed while several others were wounded and suffered serious injuries. Msaddar was a media researcher and a specialist in media affairs, according to local authorities. According to his friend and fellow journalist Islam Bader, Msaddar had specialized in the study of propaganda and public opinion. “All the contents in the tent are journalistic equipment,” Youssef al-Hindi, a rescue worker who attended the scene after hearing the explosion, told Middle East Eye. Holding up a press helmet he found at the scene, Hindi said that he believes the journalists’ tent was intentionally targeted. Khalil al-Dakran, a doctor at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, agreed. It was the second time a tent in the grounds of the hospital had been hit, he said. Israeli forces shoot at UN convoy heading for Gaza City Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), said that Israeli forces shot at a UN convoy heading towards Gaza City on Sunday. The movement of the convoy was coordinated and approved by the Israeli authorities. “One vehicle received at least five bullets while waiting just ahead of the Israeli Forces’ checkpoint south of Wadi Gaza,” Lazzarini said on X. “The car was severely damaged, it left the convoy. The teams re-assembled & finally reached Gaza City.” He concluded saying that “those responsible must be held accountable.” Medical Threat: Water and Garbage in Gaza A new report by PAX, an international NGO, highlights the growing public health risks of solid waste exposure in Gaza due to the collapse of the waste management system and blocked access to designated landfills by Israeli forces. The report especially highlighted the potential medical threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), whereby patients in conflict areas fail to respond to antibiotic treatments, which health experts have linked to the degradation and damage of water and wastewater treatment infrastructure as well as to heavy-metal exposure including munition remnants. The environmental consequences of the crisis are also enormous, according to the report, as they can render Gaza wholly uninhabitable and cause grave ecosystem and public health problems in the overall region due to the contamination of agricultural lands and the aquifer and the possible penetration of toxic substances into the food chain. The report presents a number of short-term and long-term recommendations for policymakers. FOR A SAMPLING OF REPORTS ON ISRAEL’S RECENT HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, SEE Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated) Embed from Getty Images Israel launches polio vaccination campaign for soldiers in Gaza, nothing for Palestinians The New Arab reports: On Sunday, the Israeli army launched a campaign to vaccinate its soldiers who are carrying out military operations in the Gaza Strip to avoid the infection of poliovirus, while ignoring the Palestinian population. Israel’s vaccination campaign occurs after an official announcement issued by the Palestinian health ministry said it discovered the spread of the poliovirus in the wastewater in the war-torn, besieged Gaza Strip. “The coastal enclave has been suffering from the lack of medicine and even vaccines that would be enough for the local people to avoid the spread of the poliovirus,” said sources. Meanwhile, Israel claimed “it sent about 300,000 polio vaccines to Gaza in cooperation with international organizations since the beginning of the war […] which is enough for more than a million citizens in Gaza.” “All the Israeli claims are not true […] it seems that the Israeli authorities decided to kill all the Palestinians in Gaza, either through the strikes or diseases and starvation,” Ismail Thawabta, the director of the Palestinian government media office in Gaza, remarked to TNA. HA’ARETZ ADDS: The IDF stresses that the soldiers not make any use of the local Gazan water system, and that the army regularly brings in large quantities of water from Israel, including millions of bottles of water for drinking and bathing, and tons of ice, as well as field showers, soap and disinfectant wipes. According to a recent Lancet study, the death toll in Gaza could be at least 186,000 dead due to direct and indirect impacts of Israel’s war on Gaza. RECOMMENDED READING (March 2021): Israel’s pattern of broken Covid vaccine promises to Palestinians – is it genocide? Embed from Getty Images Knesset passes bills to close UNRWA, label it ‘terrorist organization’ Middle East Eye reports: Israel’s parliament has passed three bills in their first readings to close the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and designate it a “terrorist organization”. The first bill prohibits UNRWA from operating any mission, providing any service or conducting any activity on Israeli territory. It was passed 58-9, The Times of Israel newspaper reported. The second bill was approved 63-9 and calls for stripping UNRWA personnel of their legal immunities and privileges offered to UN staff in Israel. The third bill calls for designating the UN agency as a “terrorist organization” and requires Israel to cut ties with it. It was passed by a 50-10 vote. The three bills will now go to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for further deliberation. They will require two more readings to become effective. Israel has lobbied hard to have UNRWA closed, especially since it began its war on Gaza in October. RECOMMENDED READING: Designation of Palestinian Rights Groups as Terrorists is an Attack on the Human Rights Movement Embed from Getty Images Two Israeli hostages confirmed dead – IDF admits likely at fault Jerusalem Post reports: The Israeli military confirmed on Monday that two more hostages are dead, and that they were probably mistakenly killed by IDF forces during battles in Khan Younis some months ago. On March 10, Hamas had announced that the two hostages had been killed, but Israeli officials chose to assume the announcement was a bluff, and did not believe it. Now, based on “new, unspecified intelligence,” they have accepted their deaths as fact. The IDF did not disclose the exact circumstances of the hostages’ deaths, but did admit it is likely that they were mistakenly killed by Israeli forces. NOTE: Hamas offered a prisoner swap immediately after October 7th, but Israel rejected it. RECOMMENDED READING: Israel has repeatedly rejected Hamas truce offers Israel’s Netanyahu says deal could be nearing for hostages The New Arab reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told families of hostages held in Gaza that a deal that would secure their loved ones’ release could be nearing, his office said on Tuesday. “The conditions are undoubtedly ripening. This is a good sign,” Netanyahu told the families on Monday in Washington, where was expected to meet US President Joe Biden later this week after making an address to Congress. Efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal, outlined by Biden in May and mediated by Egypt and Qatar, have gained momentum over the past month. On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said negotiators were “driving toward the goal line.” Ruby Chen, father of dual US-Israeli citizen Itai Chen, a soldier whose body is being held in Gaza, was one of the family members who met with Netanyahu. “He did say that conditions were ripening but I’m taking that with a pinch of salt,” Chen told Israeli Army Radio. Embed from Getty Images Israel’s West Bank Assault Sparks 250% Surge in Killings of Palestinian Kids Common Dreams reports: Three days after the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is unlawful, the United Nations children’s rights agency said that after decades of being “exposed to horrific violence,” the number of children who have been killed in the West Bank since last October has skyrocketed. Since Israel began its bombardment of the Palestinian territories nearly 10 months ago, 143 Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank, according to the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The number represents a 250% increase compared to the nine months preceding October 7th. “The situation has deteriorated significantly, coinciding with the escalation of hostilities inside Gaza,” said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF. “We are seeing frequent allegations of Palestinian children being detained on their way home from school, or shot while walking on the streets. The violence needs to stop now.” Some of the killings of children in the West Bank over the last 10 months have received international attention, like the Israeli forces’ shooting of two children, Basil Suleiman Abu al-Wafa and Adam Samer al-Ghoul, during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in November. Al-Ghoul, who was nine, was shown on CCTV footage trying to run away from IDF soldiers when he was gunned down. Since October, two Israeli children have been killed in fighting the West Bank, said UNICEF. RECOMMENDED READING: Genocide alert issued over Israeli violence in West Bank Embed from Getty Images Yemeni harbor still ablaze two days after Israeli attack, as US says Israel justified Al Jazeera reports: Firefighting teams are struggling to contain a blaze at Yemen’s Hodeidah port, two days after a deadly Israeli strike damaged oil storage facilities and endangered aid ships in the harbor, AFP reports. Firefighting teams appear to have made little progress. The blaze appears to be expanding in some parts of the port amid fears it could reach food storage facilities. High-resolution satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies showed flames consuming a heavily damaged fuel storage area at the harbor in Hodeidah, a city on the Red Sea. An analysis of satellite imagery from Planet by the Dutch peace organization PAX showed at least 33 destroyed oil storage tankers, said Wim Zwijnenburg, a project leader with the organization. “We expect [to find] more damage as not all storage tanks are visible because of heavy smoke” from the fire and burning fuel, Zwijnenburg said. Embed from Getty Images Knesset hears [fictitious] accounts of Hamas rape, infanticide from “casualty identification unit” Israel Hayom reports: In a chilling testimony before Knesset, Rabbi Moshe Dickstein, who served as a reservist in the IDF’s Southern Command, provided disturbing details of the alleged atrocities committed by Hamas members during the October 7 attack on Israeli communities. NOTE: Israel has disseminated numerous atrocity stories about the October 7th attack that have since been proven untrue. In addition, an unknown but significant number of the Israeli soldiers and civilians killed on October 7 were shown to have been killed by Israeli fire. The Israeli military has also disseminated false stories about civilians captured. Visit https://www.oct7factcheck.com/index for a growing list of debunked myths. “The first body we came across was an overturned stroller. Inside the stroller was a baby, and his head was thrown aside with a knife in it. The woman we found, presumably the mother, was lying on the couch with blood flowing from her private area. We were told to collect only the bodies. In the next stage, they would come to clean up the blood and everything else,” Rabbi Dickstein said, choking back tears. The rabbi continued with the difficult [and fabricated] descriptions: “And so we went from house to house and found women lying on the floor with legs spread, it’s indescribable. Another house and another house, then also in the field. They cut off men’s genitals, and we found women with severed breasts. A pregnant woman with her belly opened up to reveal the umbilical cord and the baby with a knife in its body.” NOTE: There is zero evidence that any of these alleged incidents actually occurred. Israeli media and others have thoroughly debunked these and similar stories months ago. Colonists break into Jerusalem’s Aqsa Mosque, perform Talmudic rituals WAFA reports: Israeli colonists, under the protection of Israeli police, Monday morning broke into Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem. Eyewitnesses said that dozens of colonists entered the holy site in groups, conducted provocative tours throughout the compound, and performed Talmudic rituals. During the incursion, Israeli police imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshippers to the mosque. Additionally, Israeli police intensified the restrictions at the gates of the Old City, effectively turning the area into a military zone. Ahistorical statement by Speaker Johnson: Supporting Israel Is One of America’s ‘Founding Principles’ Antiwar reports: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) described US support for Israel as one of America’s “founding principles” during a speech at an event hosted by the Republican Jewish Committee on July 18. “It is an important principle that America and Israel stand together resolutely. That is part of who we are as a country. It’s one of our founding principles. I believe that we maintain peace through strength, and I think that the relationship with Israel is essential to who we are as Americans,” Johnson said. Since the modern state of Israel was created in 1948, it’s unclear what Johnson meant when he said the US-Israel relationship is a “founding principle.” The most well-known Founding Fathers would also disagree with Johnson since they strongly warned against permanent alliances and “attachments” to other nations. In his farewell address in 1796, George Washington said, “A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification.” Johnson also threatened Democratic lawmakers with possible arrest if they protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, which is scheduled for this Thursday. “There’s a number of Democrats in the House who have said they are going to boycott the event, and then some others are gonna protest,” he said. “We’re gonna have extra sergeants at arms on the floor, and if anybody gets out of hand the Speaker of the House will bang the gavel. We’re gonna arrest people if we have to do it. We’re gonna get the message out.” RECOMMENDED READING: Netanyahu purveyed a fictional history of Israel to Jordan Peterson Palestinian families flee their village of Tantura, May 1948. During its founding war to create a Jewish state in Palestine, Israeli forces committed numerous massacres like the one in Tantura and worked to expel the indigenous population of Palestinian Muslims and Christians. Photo from National Library of Israel. (photo) Democratic Majority for Israel endorses Harris: ‘She stands shoulder to shoulder with Israel’ Ha’aretz reports: The Democratic Majority for Israel has wholeheartedly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the party’s nomination for the upcoming presidential election. “We proudly endorsed Kamala Harris as part of the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020 and again in 2024. Since then, the Vice President has helped lead the most pro-Israel administration in American history, standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel as it has faced unprecedented attacks on its homeland and people,” said DMFI President & CEO Mark Mellman. RECOMMENDED READING: Democratic bigwigs create group DMFI to promote Israel to progressives GOP Jewish group slams Harris for ‘snubbing’ Netanyahu; J.D. Vance won’t attend Netanyahu’s speech to Congress Ha’aretz reports: The Republican Jewish Coalition has described as “disgraceful” what it described as “Kamala Harris’ first official act as the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States […] to snub the leader of America’s key strategic ally, the Jewish state. Kamala Harris would be a total disaster for the US-Israel relationship,” the RJC said. Prior to Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race, Harris was scheduled to be on the road campaigning for him during Netanyahu’s address to Congress. She was also supposed to meet with the Israeli prime minister, though it remains unclear if this meeting will still occur. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s running mate and the Republican senator from Ohio, J.D. Vance, has opted to hit the campaign trail rather than attending Netanyahu’s speech. It remains unclear whether he or Trump will speak or meet with the Israeli prime minister during his U.S. visit. Trump’s Ambassador to Israel David Friedman: VP Harris ‘never expressed sympathy for the Israelis suffering from Hamas’ Ha’aretz reports: Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said that Vice President and 2024 Presidential candidate Kamala Harris “has never expressed sympathy for the Israelis suffering from Hamas’ barbarism with the same fervor that she exhibits when speaking of Palestinian suffering.” He continued criticizing Harris, saying, “she wrongly accused Israel of overseeing a famine in Gaza, proven to be totally false. She said that Palestinians in Rafah ‘had no place to go’ just before 900,000 were successfully evacuated in a week. Apart from that, she plainly is not up to the task of protecting Americans from the growing threats around the world — threats that will intensify further if our enemies see her campaign gaining strength.” RECOMMENDED READING: This is the truth about “there is no famine in Gaza” The Forward says Harris’s past statements on Israel-Hamas, “broadly speaking, do not differ much from those of President Biden” Both centrist Democrats and those to the left are seeing what they want in Harris… Jewish Republicans are smearing Harris as anti-Israel. “The shock troops of misinformation deserve high marks for speed, but not so much for accuracy…” The veepstakes… Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona has strong ties to Jews and Israel, starting with his marriage by a rabbi to Gabby Giffords, the Jewish former congresswoman who survived a mass shooting in 2011. Kelly, a former astronaut and Navy captain, co-sponsored the bipartisan Countering Antisemitism Act and has visited Israel at least twice since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Read the story ➤ Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania is proudly and publicly Jewish, and the experts we interviewed said that should help — not hurt — the campaign if he were chosen as Harris’ running mate. “The interesting thing is that, historically, that has always been a much greater concern for Jews,” while most other voters don’t care, said Jonathan Sarna, one of the leading historians of American Jewry. Read the story Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado was asked Monday on CNN if he’d accept the offer to be vice president. “Look,” he quipped, “if they do the polling, and it turns out that they need a 49-year-old, balding gay Jew from Boulder, Colorado, they got my number.” MORE NEWS: IMEMC Daily Reports. Al Jazeera: Israel’s Netanyahu goes to the US: All to know about the visit Mondoweiss: Looking at Kamala Harris’s record on Israel Middle East Eye: Netanyahu’s US visit solidifies Israel’s upper hand in Washington Middle East Eye: Even the US propaganda machine can’t whitewash Biden’s sordid record The New Arab: Over half of European Jews feel ‘ashamed’ of Israel’s actions, survey shows STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JULY 22: Palestinian death toll from October 7 – July 22: at least 39,668* (39,090 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 578 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 22: at least 95,567 (including at least 90,147 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 22: ~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 Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated) 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 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. https://israelpalestinenews.org/horrific-israeli-attack-in-khan-younis-with-almost-no-warning-day-289/