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

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

Various sources report:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




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

Ha’aretz reports:

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

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

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

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

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


UNICEF says Israelis refusing to facilitate polio vaccine campaign

Al Jazeera reports:

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

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

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

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reports from Khan Younis:



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

Middle East Monitor reports:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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


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

The Cradle reports:

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

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

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

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

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

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

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

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

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

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

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





STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – SEPTEMBER 5:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

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

Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
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Are US officials’ investments of public funds in Israeli bonds ethical? How much is too much?
Honoring the memory of a Gazan Olympic hero: Majed Abu Maraheel
An American was just shot in the West Bank. The American press can’t be bothered.
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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.
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More dead children. More BBC ‘news’ channelling Israeli propaganda as its own
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https://israelpalestinenews.org/israel-kills-american-activist-terrorizes-prisoners-as-biden-admin-shrugs-day-335/

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

Gazans flee (again) as Israel, Hezbollah conflict heats up – Day 323
[email protected] August 26, 2024 ben gvir, child malnutrition, evacuation gaza, Hezbollah, polio vaccine, torture, west bank deaths
Palestinians flee Israeli bombing in Gaza (Photo credit: Amnesty International) (photo)
Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Chaotic scenes as central Gaza residents evacuate after Israeli orders

Al Jazeera reports:

Palestinians have shared videos on Instagram documenting the displacement of residents from Deir el-Balah after Israeli evacuation orders.

The videos show residents carrying their belongings with some even transporting mattresses on their backs as they navigate crowded roads.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military issued a new evacuation order in an area of eastern Deir el-Balah amid an expanding ground offensive.

The latest attacks between Israel and Hezbollah

Al Jazeera reports:

Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged attacks across the Lebanon-Israel border in a marked escalation of the tit-for-tat engagement they have been undertaking since October 7.

Israeli jets attacked southern Lebanon in the early hours of Sunday morning, saying it was a preemptive strike against Hezbollah rocket launchers that were preparing to attack Israel……

Global fears of an all-out regional conflict multiplied after the assassination last month of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and of Shukr in Beirut, both blamed on Israel.

Here’s everything you need to know about what happened on Sunday morning… (Read the full article here.)

RECOMMENDED READING: Netanyahu says attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon ‘not the end of the story and Five key takeaways from Nasrallah’s speech after Hezbollah-Israel attacks

Report: US aided Israel with intelligence in attack on Hezbollah

Middle East Monitor reports:

The US provided intelligence assistance to Israel for its “pre-emptive strike” against Hezbollah, the Israeli state-run broadcasting authority reported on Sunday, citing an American official.

The official, who was not named, said that Washington “provided intelligence assistance to Israel in the (Sunday) pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah in Lebanon,” without providing further details.

As of yet, there has been no official response from Israel regarding the American official’s statement. However, the White House previously stated that President Joe Biden “is closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon.”

Israel claimed to have launched preemptive strikes on southern Lebanon after detecting plans of an attack targeting Israeli soil. Hezbollah said it fired at least 340 rockets into Israel.
Israel claimed to have launched preemptive strikes on southern Lebanon after detecting plans of an attack targeting Israeli soil. Hezbollah said it fired at least 340 rockets into Israel. (photo)
WHO says nearly 15,000 Gaza children are acutely malnourished

The New Arab reports:

Nearly 15,000 children in Gaza have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition since early this year, according to the United Nations.

The UN humanitarian office OCHA has said that 239,580 children were checked since mid-January, leading to 14,750 diagnoses of malnutrition affecting children aged between six months to just under five years, including 3,288 cases of severe acute malnutrition.

Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hossam Abu Safiya said that a quarter of these cases “were classified as malnutrition with complications”.

“The influx of cases with complications means that this is the stage – God forbid – that comes before death.”

Kamal Adwan Hospital is located in northern Gaza and has a malnutrition treatment center supported by WHO.

Palestinians in Jabalia Refugee Camp wait in line to receive food distributed by charitable organizations in Jabalia, Gaza on August 1, 2024. [Mahmoud İssa – Anadolu Agency]
Palestinians in Jabalia Refugee Camp wait in line to receive food distributed by charitable organizations in Jabalia, Gaza on August 1, 2024. [Mahmoud İssa – Anadolu Agency] (photo)
First shipment of polio vaccine arrives in Gaza as disease resurfaces after 25 years


The National reports:

Unicef says aim is for 640,000 children to be vaccinated in the Palestinian enclave amid a high risk of the disease spreading

Gaza has received the first batch of polio vaccines needed for a mass immunisation drive among children, following its first confirmed case in a quarter of a century.

About 1.3 million doses were delivered to the Palestinian enclave by UN children’s fund Unicef through the Karam Abu Salem border crossing after the disease left a 10-month-old child paralysed, the Health Ministry said on Sunday evening. There are two other suspected cases.

Polio was eradicated from Palestine 25 years ago but returned amid a complete breakdown of sanitary infrastructure in Gaza. Its spread was exacerbated by overcrowding in Al Mawasi’s “humanitarian zone” where the population density is at least 30,000 people a square kilometre, with most living in tents….

The arrival of the vaccines – a rare piece of positive news in Gaza, where more than 40,400 people have been killed – comes as patients flee Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir Al Balah, putting even more strain on what remains of Gaza’s healthcare system.

The area surrounding the hospital has been declared a military zone, the Health Ministry announced on Sunday night, “causing panic” and prompting many to flee the hospital, currently home to 100 patients, including seven in intensive care. The medical centre currently remains open to patients, the ministry added, calling for the site to be protected.

Deir Al Balah is in central Gaza, currently the focus of intense Israeli air strikes and shelling along with the southern city of Khan Younis.

A worker unloads a shipment of polio vaccines provided with support from UNICEF to the Gaza Strip through the Karm Abu Salem crossing, also known as Kerem Shalom, at a depot belonging to Gaza’s health ministry on August 25, 2024 [EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images]
A worker unloads a shipment of polio vaccines provided with support from UNICEF to the Gaza Strip through the Karm Abu Salem crossing, also known as Kerem Shalom, at a depot belonging to Gaza’s health ministry on August 25, 2024 [EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images] (photo)
Israel’s military tortured Palestinian healthcare workers, HRW says

Middle East Eye reports:

In its latest report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that Israel has arbitrarily detained Palestinian healthcare workers since the war on Gaza began on 7 October, deported them to detention facilities in Israel, and allegedly tortured and ill-treated them.

“The detention of healthcare workers in the context of the Israeli military’s repeated attacks on hospitals in Gaza has contributed to the catastrophic degradation of the besieged territory’s healthcare system,” the report reads.

Released doctors, nurses and paramedics told the organisation of their mistreatment, which included “humiliation, beatings, forced stress positions, prolonged cuffing and blindfolding, and denial of medical care”.

“They also reported torture, including rape and sexual abuse by Israeli forces, denial of medical care, and poor detention conditions for the general detainee population.”

Balkees Jarrah, acting Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said that “the torture and other ill-treatment of doctors, nurses, and paramedics should be thoroughly investigated and appropriately punished, including by the International Criminal Court (ICC)”.

Palestinian youth succumbs to injuries sustained from Israeli gunfire near Jenin

WAFA reports:

JENIN, Sunday, August 25, 2024 (WAFA) – A young Palestinian man, identified as Ahmad Mohammad Khalil Al-Anteer, 18, succumbed this morning to injuries sustained from Israeli occupation forces’ gunfire near the Jalameh military checkpoint, north of Jenin.

Local sources reported that Israeli forces had opened fire earlier today on three young men who were in a vehicle near the checkpoint.

The sources added that the Israeli forces prevented ambulances from reaching the scene and detained the three individuals from the vehicle.

Later, Palestinian security sources confirmed that one of the three young men had died from his injuries, while the condition of the other two remains unclear.

With this latest murder in Jenin, the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October 7 has risen to 644, including 147 children.

Shot Palestinian Youth, Used by Israel as Human Shield, Dies of Injuries in Israeli Custody

Palestine Chronicle reports:

Zahir Tahseen Raddad, 19, from the town of Saida, north of Tulkarm, died on Sunday morning, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said in a joint statement.

Raddad had sustained serious injuries on July 23, following a siege by Israeli forces on the house in the Azbat al-Jarad neighborhood east of Tulkarm.

An Israeli drone reportedly targeted the house, and Raddad was arrested along with three other young men, one of whom had moderate injuries.

The prisoner organizations confirmed Raddad’s death at the Israeli Meir Hospital.

Raddad was shot by Israeli forces and used as a human shield after he was placed on the front of an Israeli military vehicle, as documented in video footage of the military operation in Tulkarm, the organizations said.

The statement further said that Raddad had been held in hospital under critical and unstable health conditions, reliant on artificial respiration after undergoing several surgeries.

Despite his grave condition, the Israeli authorities continued his detention until his death, which amounts to medical neglect.

RECOMMENDED READING: Israel is torturing, abducting, and using children as human shields in Gaza – analysis

Israeli forces kill Two in occupied West Bank

IMEMC reports:

On Sunday evening, the Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the death of two Palestinians who were shot after Israeli soldiers opened fire at their car near the northern entrance of Salfit, in the central West Bank, and prevented Palestinian medics from approaching them.

The two were kidnapped by a paramilitary Israeli colonizer and managed to escape before the soldiers killed them when they accidentally entered Ariel illegal colony.

The Health Ministry said the soldiers killed Odai Nizar Nimir Abu Na’sa (Troush), 27, and Mos’ab Hassan Ali Moqasqas, 17, before taking their corpses to an unknown location.

The Israeli army claimed the two Palestinians drove a car into oncoming traffic, hitting vehicles while trying to ram into a military post.

Israeli National News claimed that the vehicle driven by the two Palestinians collided with other cars “and attempted to ram soldiers operating in the area, lightly wounding one,” before the soldiers “eliminated the two.”

It added that one soldier was mildly injured before he was taken to a medical center to receive medical treatment.

Ben-Gvir’s call to build synagogue at Al-Aqsa ‘to drag region into religious war’: Palestine

Andalou Agency reports:

Palestine denounced a call by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Monday to build a synagogue inside Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem as an attempt to drag the region into a “religious war.”

“The Palestinian people will not accept any harm to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is a red line that cannot be crossed under any circumstances,” Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.

“These calls to alter the status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque are attempts to drag the region into a religious war that will burn all,” he added.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry warned of grave consequences from Ben-Gvir’s call to build a synagogue at the flashpoint site.

“This is an explicit and public call to demolish Al-Aqsa and build the alleged temple in its place,” a ministry statement said.

Ben-Gvir claimed Monday that Jews have the right to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque, saying that he would build a synagogue at the flashpoint site.

It was the first time for the Israeli minister to openly speak about building a synagogue inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (2nd L) forces his way into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex under police protection in East Jerusalem on 18 July 2024 [Stringer/Anadolu Agency]
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (2nd L) forces his way into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex under police protection in East Jerusalem on 18 July 2024 [Stringer/Anadolu Agency] (photo)
Israel’s new police chief, a Ben-Gvir appointee, ‘brings a Zionist and Jewish agenda’

Ha’aretz reports:

The government approved the appointment of Danny Levy as the new Israel Police Commissioner on Sunday at the request of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Levy “brings a Zionist and Jewish agenda and will lead the police according to the policy I have laid out for him,” Ben-Gvir said, following his approval.

At the appointment ceremony for Levy in Jerusalem, the incoming police commissioner stated, “We will strengthen governance and fight anyone who tries to undermine authority.” He added that “governance and sovereignty are the cornerstones of a well-functioning society.”

Ben-Gvir echoed this, saying, “We are the lord of this lands – it’s time for us to take control.”

The incoming police commissioner, closely linked with the far-right national security minister, saw rising crime and murder during his brief stint as Coastal District commander and led a harsh crackdown on anti-government and anti-war protesters.

A RECENT HA’ARETZ EDITORIAL ADDS: “Itamar Ben-Gvir supports Jewish terrorists. As national security minister, he uses the power, authority and resources that are at his disposal to protect them.

“Make no mistake: The Jewish terrorists are the military wing of the organization to which Ben-Gvir belongs and whose interests he represents as a cabinet minister. Ben-Gvir serves in the government, but he remains loyal to a bigger idea. And in a choice between his loyalty to the state and his loyalty to a Kahanist Greater Land of Israel, he will choose the latter.”



US to keep two aircraft carrier strike groups in Middle East: Pentagon

Al Jazeera reports:

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the presence of two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Middle East, the Pentagon says as it strengthens the US military presence amid soaring regional tensions.

The announcement, made in a summary of a call between Austin and his Israeli counterpart, represents a shift. The Pentagon had initially deployed the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group into the region with a plan to replace the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group.

MORE NEWS:


IMEMC Daily Reports.

Common Dreams: Rashida Tlaib Says She Is ‘Ashamed of Our Country Looking Away’ as Gaza Faces Polio Crisis

Palestine Chronicle: Subsidizing Racism – end tax breaks for “charities” pushing genocide, to save kids

Middle East Eye: Gaza family accuses Israel of killing Palestinian with Down syndrome during incursion


STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 25:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – August 25, 2024: at least 41,079* (40,435 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 644 in the West Bank (~147 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 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, 23 from West Bank).
At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
Almost 500,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – August 25: at least 98,954 (including at least 93,534 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, 2023 – August 25, 2024: ~1,452 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 288*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 25 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.

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

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

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

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

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

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

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

Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
Israeli media’s coverage of the rape of Palestinian detainees shows support for sexual violence in service of genocide
Inside Israel’s torture, rape, and dehumanization centers
I’m a pediatrician. The scars I saw on Gaza’s children will take generations to heal.
What Harris’s Jewish outreach director said at a private DNC afterparty
‘Strong record of supporting the U.S.-Israel relationship’: a look at Tim Walz’s votes on Palestine as a member of Congress
Nearly Two-Thirds of All Campaign Funds for Cori Bush Challenger Came From AIPAC
Israeli army probe covered up “friendly fire” killings on October 7
Are US officials’ investments of public funds in Israeli bonds ethical? How much is too much?
Honoring the memory of a Gazan Olympic hero: Majed Abu Maraheel
An American was just shot in the West Bank. The American press can’t be bothered.
Understanding what motivates ultra-orthodox Jewish attacks on West Bank Palestinians
Palestinians’ harrowing stories of rape by Israeli soldiers (including female soldiers)
A Palestinian journalist visited Ismail Haniyeh’s home in Gaza to report on his death. Israel assassinated him too.
I reported a piece for the New York Times on antisemitism. I found a major error, but the Times didn’t care.
How Israel plans to whitewash its war crimes in Gaza
Why the West Bank is on the verge of economic collapse
Netanyahu’s plan to involve US in regional war on its behalf
Western media continue to withhold the truth about Israel and Gaza – 4 stories
“Well What SHOULD Israel Have Done After October 7?”
Welcome to Hell
More dead children. More BBC ‘news’ channelling Israeli propaganda as its own
U.S. media downplays and ignores ICJ ruling declaring Israeli occupation illegal
Israeli soldiers tell story of savage cruelty in Gaza – one given blessing by the West
Searching for Gaza’s missing children
What Would You Do With An Extra $320 Million?

https://israelpalestinenews.org/gazans-flee-again-israel-hezbollah-conflict-heats-up-day-323/

The Misinformation Million

Executive Summary

Who We Are

The Global Institute For Truth (GIFT) is a planetary-wide alliance of over 150,000 journalists, scientists, and physicians, committed to disrupting the spread of lies and misinformation in media about healthcare. We are a coalition of concerned individuals who seek to educate the public about the dangers of corporate dominance of the medical industry, blind vaccine promotion, and the unfounded pretense that vaccination is the primary therapy for protecting humans from disease.

Motivated solely by the truth, GIFT maintains the highest standards of objectivity by having no affiliation with any government or the pharmaceutical industry, including their previous employees. We have no allegiances based on monetary or political influence.

Our irrefutable premise is that media, particularly news dissemination, has been colonized and exploited by powerful corporate forces that spread misinformation and instrumentalize hate.

The individuals and organizations involved in this charade are opportunistic, agile, and confident in exerting influence and persuading people. Over time these actors, advocating for diverse products and causes — from harmful denatured foods to pharmaceuticals with long lists of side effects — have dominated all forms of electronic media. Their trolling, misinformation, and skilled advocacy have impacted the world for the worse.

In a continuing gargantuan promotion of dangerous and unproven products, this invasive and unethical group disseminated fear about the degree of an unconfirmed pandemic — and subsequently indoctrinated the world with an idolization of an experimental flu vaccine.

Our work combines both analysis and active disruption of these players and networks through the distribution of written articles and reports. GIFT's solutions seek to increase the economic, political, and social costs of all parts of the dangerous infrastructure — the actors, systems, and culture — that support and profit from disseminating misinformation.

This foundational report, the Misinformation Million, reveals the activities of the top individuals and the associated organizations responsible for the bulk of pro-vax content produced, published, and aired by news media.

The majority of the Misinformation Million continue to push refuted findings and violate all standards of truthfulness.

The misconduct of thousands of leading pro-vaxxers must not go unpunished. Nefarious or misdirected souls are responsible for hawking vaccines through the mainstream media when their benefit is negligible and risks are documented. Whether this is done out of intentional duplicity or extreme ignorance, the damage that they continue to do is staggering.

Our analysis of news content between February 2019 and September 2023 uncovers how a specialized, influential group of determined pro-vaxxers continues to be responsible for a tidal wave of misinformation.

We demand that every news outlet brings to an end this blatant propaganda by enforcing their claims to have balanced and truthful reporting.

Key findings

The number of key people disseminating vaccine misinformation — including celebrities, doctors, scientists, politicians, corporate leaders, and educators — is estimated at well over a million individuals.

This report specifically identifies only some of the leading representatives of the Misinformation Million; selected because of their high visibility and multiple appearances in news programs and productions with overt or subversive pro-vaccine content.

The Misinformation Million is a cadre of numerous influencers who act through institutions, government, media, and community involvement; disseminating misleading, false, and damaging information on a local, national, and global level.

Analysis of a representative sample of pro-vax content that aired or played on television and the internet reveals that the vast majority of content can be traced to the Misinformation Million.

Our sample of programming on mainstream media revealed misinformation was presented approximately 1,104,531 times over three years, between September 2019 and September 2023 with 99% of those contrivances attributable to the Misinformation Million.

Detailed analysis of most of these pro-vaccine broadcasts and articles found verifiably false statements initiated or presented by key members of the Misinformation Million listed in the appendix below.

In the last three months, with no sign of a pandemic or serious flu outbreak, our analysis of numerous broadcasts and news stories found pro-vax forces continued to heavily influence programming. This media content originates from the same leading Misinformation Million included in this report.

Networks and publishers are almost all compromised by paid advertising placed by the pharmaceutical industry; a clear conflict of interest in presenting or reporting the truth about the ineffectiveness and adverse reactions.

While some pro-vaxxers identified by GIFT have stopped promoting because of contracting COVID-19 despite numerous boosters — or sustaining vaccine injuries — most remain active through various media outlets.

GIFT’s poll in January of 2022 on the effect of 1135 pro-vax newspapers, TV stations, and internet sites, found that the total number of US residents entranced by the deceitful rhetoric reached a peak of 192 million people.

Subsequent surveys revealed that by February of 2023, a majority of 332 million Americans had begun to question the validity of the Misinformation Million — and as of this date, increasing numbers are seeking more sound, unbiased information, indicating increasing distrust of mainstream news media.

Despite open admission of vaccine failure and damage — and the lack of extreme risk for healthy people from infectious disease — the Misinformation Million are openly preparing for another round of vaccine promotion as the winter of 2023 - 2024 approaches.

Factual Chronological Analysis

As an impending pandemic was hyped and fear was spread with images of dead and sick people around the globe, the grand promise of a warp-speed production of a panacea was hailed as a coming miracle by the Misinformation Million (MM).

When the COVID-19 vaccine arrived, the group provided rhetoric with exuberant promotion and advice to get the jab and take one for the team. The damage and division caused by this unprecedented sales campaign is incalculable.

The friendly promotion of the COVID-19 vaccine eventually devolved to where the MM were repeating the flagrantly hostile and illogical truth: that the US was facing a pandemic of the unvaccinated, causing further division in all walks of life.

Knowing facts are dangerous to their cause, the MM attempted to silence anyone with views that competed with efforts to ensure that the only viable remedy was Big Pharma’s vaccine.

The vehement political repression and unwillingness to consider or discuss alternatives confirmed another success of the corporate capture of government agencies.

The single solution for the pandemic satisfied the requirement to keep the new mRNA vaccines in an experimental status, ensuring immunity from liability for the manufacturers.

The vast majority of severe cases and those dying had pre-existing conditions that made them vulnerable. Many who were counted as COVID-19 deaths died with COVID, rather than from COVID.

As the vaccine proved ineffective, the abject failure to prevent infection was defended by the MM; they attempted to describe the vaccinated who got ill as breakthrough cases, a deceptive term used in an attempt to hide the failure of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Ultimately, when it was clear vaccination was unable to stop transmission, the MM told the public another bold lie with unequaled pretense. They claimed the vaccine could diminish the severity of infection, while severe illness and death continued to remain a risk only to those with pre-existing conditions.

Claims of vaccine success are based on the false assertion that those who survived the disease did so because they were vaccinated.

Having no ethical bounds, the MM abused caregivers who offered relief for those infected by the virus, including deprecating the use of Ivermectin, which was gleefully condemned as a horse dewormer. The MM failed to mention that Ivermectin is internationally regarded as one of the safest and most effective treatments for COVID-19.

Even with a decrease in illness ascribed to the virus — and diminished faith in government and the pharmaceutical industry — the MM are preparing for their next offensive, supported by organizations determined to dominate healthcare and reduce medical autonomy.

Authorities And News Sources Must Reverse The Damage Done By The Misinformation Million

The public cannot make decisions about their health when they are constantly inundated by misleading advertising, misinformation, and false content. Challenging or removing the sources of misinformation — will allow television, print, and internet news to support individuals in making a truly informed choice about vaccines.

The best recourse to prevent harm and devastation by the MM is a continued campaign to expose their lies and the application of pressure on government representatives and news outlets to limit their destructive impact.

The vast majority of deceptive content continues to be spread by the Misinformation Million. Identifying the deceitful information and duplicitous motives of the most dangerous individuals and associated groups can significantly reduce the amount of harm being done by news sources.

Mainstream media must be pressured to follow up on their claims of objectivity with concrete action — and a willingness to ask tough questions.

The most effective and efficient way to stop the dissemination of harmful information is to recognize and challenge the most highly visible repeat offenders; those we designate the Misinformation Million. This effort also includes the organizations these individuals control or fund, as well as any associated institutions disguised as philanthropic — established to evade regulation.

Appendix: The Misinformation Million

The following profiles of key members of the Misinformation Million present a concise explanation for why they are identified as such by the Global Institute For Truth. These individuals continually violate standards and practices of sound analysis, reasonable discourse, or objective commentary — by obfuscating, manipulating, or fabricating the truth. They are directly responsible for repressive actions and continuing denial of the true impact of COVID-19 vaccine promotion.

Anthony Fauci — Served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022. Member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force established in late January 2020, under President Donald Trump, to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. He became a de facto public health spokesperson for the office of the president during the pandemic and an influential advocate for social distancing and masking mandates. His position on almost everything continuously changed, with the exception of his relentless condemnation of alternative opinions and unwavering support of the continued use of vaccines and boosters. A comprehensive book, The Real Anthony Fauci, details his deceptive and damaging career.

Tedros Adhanom — Director General of the World Health Organization and prime mover of their COVID-19 vaccination advocacy and an international vaccine passport.

Imran Ahmed — CEO of the discredited Center For Countering Digital Hate and disseminator of The Disinformation Dozen, the report that attempted to undermine the free speech of an influential group who doubt and criticize government policies and vaccine efficacy. Ahmed and his organization are currently being scrutinized by the House Judiciary Committee.

Bill Gates — Founder of Microsoft and one of the world’s most influential foundations; the single largest funder of the World Health Organization. Gates is the wealthiest and most active supporter of the COVID-19 vaccines, never missing a public opportunity to promote his perspective on their utility and safety. The reality of his objectives and benefits from shaping public policy is less obvious, though critical in understanding his motivation.

Jake Tapper — Washington anchor for CNN and irrepressible proponent of the COVID-19 vaccine, giving an unchecked platform for Anthony Fauci and others to promote a product. As an attack dog, he has pounced on any criticism of government mandates or policies during the pandemic.

Sean Penn — Actor and activist who was an early and vehement promoter of mandatory vaccination.

Big Bird — Sesame Street star who attempted to indoctrinate children with the announcement of getting jabbed. Confirmed PBS participation in the farce.

Dolly Parton — Country music star and one million dollar donor to Moderna to develop their COVID-19 vaccine, she has urged followers to get vaccinated framing the decision as a life or death choice.

Stephen Colbert — Late Night host and pro-vaccine fanatic; promoting boosters and broadcasting an infomercial with Anthony Fauci.

Ralph Baric — A University of North Carolina researcher who received unprecedented grants and Anthony Fauci’s go-to gain of function scientist — claims he has no connection to the virus that has been blamed for bringing turmoil to the world for three years. News media repeated his denials — while failing to report information supporting allegations that the pandemic was something other than a natural event.

Joe Biden — 46th President of the United States and favorite son of corporate America, including the banking and pharmaceutical industries. Leading proponent of the concept pandemic of the unvaccinated, also claiming the vaccine stops the virus — both fallacies repeated incessantly by newscasters — and staunch defender of the stranglehold that Big Pharma has on Washington politics. His administration enthusiastically and unlawfully pressured social media to repress or de-platform anyone who contradicted government pandemic policies.

Whoopi Goldberg — Actress and co-host of The View, promoted the COVID-19 vaccine to a national audience and pressured other celebrities and athletes to join those demanding that everyone gets vaccinated. Despite being triple-vaxxed, she has had the virus twice, yet continues to justify boosters and vaccination.

Justin Trudeau — Prime Minister of Canada, responsible for some of the most repressive tactics in any country against those who disagreed with government policies and mandates. His attempt to repress the Trucker’s Freedom Convoy exemplified how supporting the pharmaceutical industry was more important than defending the rights of citizens.

Katie Couric — Former host of Today and the CBS Evening News — supported prosecuting anyone who presented information that contradicted CDC guidelines and Big Pharma’s agenda.

Donald Trump — 45th President of the United States — was in office as pandemic paranoia was incited, enthusiastically initiating Operation Warp Speed, the program that quickly developed and distributed Big Pharma’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. He continues to take credit for this — as a success. Currently, as a presidential candidate, he has wavered on his position about continued vaccination.

Neil deGrasse Tyson — Celebrity astrophysicist and frequent guest on news segments promoting the COVID-19 vaccine. Despite a broad scientific background, he repeated the unfounded, phrase to millions of people in attempts to get people vaccinated.

Rochelle Walensky — Former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a leading proponent of COVID-19 vaccines. A key voice in the campaign to lay blame at the feet of the unvaccinated.

Jimmy Kimmel — Late-night host who proposed that the unvaccinated should not have access to ICU beds and mocked the use of Ivermectin.

Gavin Newsom — California governor and militant enforcer of lockdowns, restrictions, and mandates. First Governor to require COVID-19 vaccination for all school children, the group least likely to be harmed by the virus, though susceptible to long and short-term damage from the vaccine.

Anderson Cooper — CNN journalist and commentator who consistently voiced support for COVID-19 vaccination — giving an ongoing platform for pharmaceutical promoters, including repeatedly having Anthony Fauci on his program.

Joy Behar — Co-host of The View, who continually pushed for vaccination, ignoring risks or the right of medical autonomy.

Alex Azar — Former US Health and Human Services director and Lilly USA president — chief engineer of Operation Warp Speed, the initial engine that boosted the prominence and profits of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Howard Stern — Radio shock jock who repeatedly insulted the unvaccinated; saying, You’re going to go home and die.

Sanjay Goopta — CNN’s chief medical propagandist, who in tandem with Anderson Cooper and other newscasters, repeatedly spewed Big Pharma’s vaccine sales pitch.

Arnold Schwarzenegger — Actor and former governor of California who pleaded for people to get vaccinated — in regard to mandates and masks, said, s.

Emmanuel Macron — French President and friend of Big Pharma, attempted to make vaccines mandatory in his country. His efforts to combat vaccine hesitancy were unsurpassed by any other European leader.

Klaus Schwab — Chairperson of the World Economic Forum and proponent of The Great Reset — his enthusiastic plan for stakeholder capitalism. This concept is a thin veneer for allowing more corporate control of governments, demonstrated by Big Pharma’s powerful performance during the pandemic.

Mike Pence — former Vice President and leader of the Trump White House coronavirus task force — an early promoter of wearing ineffective masks and public proponent of taking the vaccine.

Rachel Maddow — MSNBC news reporter and vehement COVID-19 vaccine promoter — insisted falsely, that the vaccines work well enough that the virus stops with every vaccinated person.

Kamala Harris — Vice President who encouraged vaccination in interviews and appearances without any doubt — repeatedly said the vaccines are safe, they are free and they are effective.

Don Lemon — CNN commentator and continuous critic of the unvaccinated —revealed the level of his ability to critique information by saying, I think that you need to tell people that their behavior is idiotic and nonsensical.

Organizations and Institutions Behind The Misinformation Million

The following groups work in conjunction with the Misinformation Million, supporting and reinforcing their efforts to compel universal vaccination for COVID and other diseases. They are all instrumental in determining public health policy that benefits the pharmaceutical industry. These powerful bodies openly describe their operations and enthusiasm for continuing vaccination without any reference to respected experts who disagree with their perspective, intent, or impact.

World Health Organization

World Economic Forum

The World Bank

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation

The United Nations

NewsGuard

Center For Countering Digital Hate

The Council On Foreign Relations

American College of Physicians

American Medical Association

American Academy of Pediatrics

American Academy of Family Physicians

Federal Drug Administration

Center For Disease Control

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

National Institutes of Health

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency


Report From Planet Earth initially developed this article, the Misinformation Million, as a satirical piece to dramatically counter The Disinformation Dozen. The release of that unfounded and scurrilous document in March of 2021, initiated a wave of hostile, biased news coverage condemning the brave individuals who dared to counter the conventional narrative on the pandemic and the viability of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Although the Global Institute For Truth is an imaginary institution and numbers are estimates, this report stands as a very real and compelling assembly of the primary aggressors and organizations who are pushing untested and dangerous vaccines on humanity. Individuals, organizations, news media outlets, and informational websites are welcome to re-publish this piece — without limitation.


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Israeli massacres, evacuation orders, torture continue unabated – Day 302
[email protected] August 5, 2024 ceasefire, evacuation orders, freedom flotilla, Gaza education, humanitarian aid, israeli mass surveillance, israeli settler violence, massacre, palestinian prisoner torture, pope francis
An aerial view of the makeshift tents set up in the coastal area as Palestinians, who left their homes due to Israeli attacks, try to survive under difficult conditions in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on May 16, 2024. (photo)
Bombs without warning, Gazans on the move again; more reports of prisoner torture; Gaza’s kids have lost one full school year; Israeli settlers storm Al Aqsa mosque; Israel adds new conditions to ceasefire proposal; Amazon provides storage for Israeli military mass surveillance; US military build-up in Middle East – “for peace”; VP contenders Shapiro & Pritzker are Israel partisans; more.

By IAK staff, from reports.

At least 19 killed when Israel bombs several camps in besieged Gaza Strip


Middle East Monitor reports: At least 19 Palestinians were reportedly killed and several others injured on Sunday in an Israeli attack targeting various areas of the besieged Gaza Strip.

Separately, Israeli army vehicles stationed on the eastern border of the central governorate fired intensively at eastern areas of the Bureij and Maghazi camps.

Children among 30 killed after Israel bombs two schools in Gaza without warning

Al Jazeera reports: At least 30 people have been killed and many others injured in Israeli strikes on two United Nations-run schools in the west of Gaza City.

The latest death toll was reported to Al Jazeera by Dr Marwan al-Hams, the director of hospitals in the Gaza Ministry of Health.

According to the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza, 80 percent of those killed and injured in the strikes on Sunday on the Hassan Salama and al-Nasr schools were children.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said that the schools, which have been used as shelters by displaced Palestinians, have been severely damaged.

“This is the same exact scenario that we’ve seen in the past few days. What we know for a fact right now is that there is [a] concentration of attacks on evacuation centers. What’s really concerning about that is … that the Israeli military is not giving any prior warning to people inside these evacuation centers,” Mahmoud said.

The correspondent noted that most of the buildings used as shelters for the displaced in Gaza are schools, as they are the only large spaces available now to house a significant number of people.

“This is happening in an unpredictable way, causing severe casualties and increasing the trauma of a population already displaced in some cases up to five, six or seven times across the northern part of the Gaza Strip,” Mahmoud said.

Sunday’s attacks followed the bombing of a school on Saturday by the Israeli army. Following Sunday’s attacks, at least 15 people were killed in Israeli air raids on the Hamama school in the Sheikh Radwan neighbohood in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced Palestinians.



Israel orders Palestinians to leave from southern, southeastern parts of Khan Younis

Al Jazeera reports: The Israeli military has issued a new order for Palestinians to leave the southern and southeastern parts of Khan Younis in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary in Deir el-Balah.

The residents of these areas were warned that “any presence of civilians in these areas is dangerous and of high risk”, she said.

It was not clear where people were expected to flee, as there is no safe place left in the enclave.

Earlier this month, the United Nations said more than 86 percent of Gaza was already affected by Israel’s so-called evacuation orders, with most people asked to live in small “safe zones” that repeatedly come under Israeli attacks.

Palestinian detainees describe torture in Israel’s Ofer Prison

Al Jazeera reports: Three Palestinians from Gaza who are being held in Israel’s Ofer Prison have recounted abuse and mistreatment, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.

Mohammed Jamous, 44; Fadi Ayad, 39; and Fadi Howaydi, 38, told the commission’s lawyer who visited them last week that they were stripped of their clothes, beaten, tortured, bound and blindfolded.

The detainees described Israeli soldiers as “rabid beasts” who took pleasure in their suffering.

“We were turned into prey to these monsters, who enjoyed our hunger, thirst, screams and illnesses. We still do not believe that we are still alive,” a prisoner was quoted as saying.

The abuse, according to the detainees, began immediately upon their detention in Gaza and continued through transportation in military vehicles where they faced insults, degradation and torture.

“Today, we are all sick,” a detainee said, according to the commission. “Our bodies are exhausted, and we have become prey to illness and injury. No medical treatment or medication is provided. Despite these dire conditions, we cling to the hope of returning to our families alive.”

Israel extends detention of 5 soldiers accused of sexually assaulting Gaza prisoner


Middle East Monitor reports: An Israeli military court yesterday extended the detention of five soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner from Gaza in the Sde Teiman detention facility, according to local media.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that the military court ruled that the men could be held until tomorrow. They are accused of sexually and physically assaulting a Palestinian prisoner from the Gaza Strip.

The newspaper quoted Judge Lt. Col. Toby Hart as saying that there is a reasonable and solid basis to assume that the detainee was harmed, and that there is reasonable suspicion that the five harmed the detainee together.

RECOMMENDED READING: Hostages of Israeli revenge in the Gaza Strip: Testimonies of 100 released Palestinian detainees reveal crimes of torture, cruel treatment.



A year of silence in Gaza’s classrooms: the urgent need for educational revival

ReliefWeb reports: Children in Gaza have lost one year of education. As of 30 July 2024, all the 625,000 enrolled students in Gaza have lost one full scholastic year.

39,000 students missed the Tawjihi (12th grade official exams) for the first time in decades. This means none of them can transition to higher education, and the majority of them may never return to school again.

In place of being full of children eager to learn, school buildings are housing displaced families desperately seeking safety, when they are not being damaged. Mattresses and blankets fill classrooms and hallways; desks are repurposed as walls and wardrobes, and playgrounds are filled with tents and tarpaulins.

This places a massive strain on the limited WASH facilities. At the same time, overcrowding contributes to an unhygienic environment and rapid spread of disease, increased protection risks due to lack of privacy, and damage to furniture and equipment.

These conditions have had a significant negative impact on the mental health and psychosocial well-being of children, teachers, and caregivers, as well as severely harming the ability of children in Gaza to exercise their right to learn.

As of 30 July, according to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) – State of Palestine, 9,211 students and 397 educational staff members have been killed by the Israeli forces, while more than 14,237 students and 2,246 teachers have been injured since 7 October in the Gaza Strip.

The educational infrastructure in Gaza has also been significantly affected with 92.9% of schools sustained some level of damage to their buildings, including Direct hit, Damaged, and Likely damaged.

At least 84.6% of schools require full reconstruction or significant rehabilitation before resuming schooling. One-third of directly hit or heavily damaged schools are UN-run schools under UNRWA’s jurisdiction.

The Israeli military claims its attacks are targeting ‘terrorists’, but most victims have been Gaza’s children
The Israeli military claims its attacks are targeting ‘terrorists’, but most victims have been Gaza’s children (photo)
At least 10,000 Israeli soldiers killed, injured in Gaza war: Report

Andalou Agency reports: At least 10,000 Israeli soldiers have been killed and injured since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict last Oct. 7, according to Israeli media on Sunday.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said some 1,000 soldiers are transferred every month to the Defense Ministry’s rehabilitation department due to injuries sustained in the Gaza war.

“The army is suffering from a shortage of at least 10,000 soldiers killed or wounded during the long months of fighting in the Gaza Strip,” the daily said.

The newspaper criticized the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) for going on summer break from July 22 until mid-October without passing legislation to extend mandatory military service.

According to the newspaper, female soldiers serving in Israel-occupied Syrian Golan Heights were unexpectedly informed of an additional four-month extension of their service.

Illegal Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque amid rise in tensions

Andalou Agency reports: Under Israeli police protection, a mob of illegal Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday.

Israeli forces and illegal settlers entered the flashpoint mosque performing religious rituals while Israeli police established checkpoints around the Old City of East Jerusalem, restricting Palestinian access to the mosque, according to official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Separately, the Palestinian Awqaf and Religious Affairs Ministry released a monthly report detailing increased violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque and Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, reporting that Israel conducted 23 raids on Al-Aqsa Mosques this July.

The report also highlighted that Israeli forces had obstructed the call to prayer at Ibrahimi Mosque 43 times last month and prevented Palestinians from entering the mosque.

The illegal settler incursion came amid rising tensions across the occupied West Bank as Israel continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 40,000 people since last October following a Hamas attack.

Embed from Getty Images

Israel blocking and letting aid rot ‘first phase of its genocide,’: Turkish FM

Al Jazeera reports: Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says Israel’s practice of blocking aid, killing aid workers, blocking evacuations, and allowing humanitarian supplies to rot are crimes against humanity and the “first phase of the genocide”.

His remarks came after a visit to Egypt’s El Arish port and the Rafah border.

Fidan urged the global community not to remain silent on “Israel’s oppression” and called for “greater efforts” to ensure that aid reaches Gaza without being obstructed or interrupted.

Tel Aviv: Two Israelis Killed, Three Injured, Perpetrator Killed

IMEMC reports: Two Israelis were killed and three others were injured, on Sunday morning, in the city of Holon, south of Tel Aviv in central Israel, while the perpetrator of the attack, a Palestinian man, was killed by occupation police.

Media sources said that a Palestinian man carried out a stabbing attack in the city of Holon, south of Tel Aviv, killing two Israelis and injuring three others, two seriously.

Sources added that an Israeli police officer shot the Palestinian perpetrator, critically injuring him; he later died.

Media sources identified the perpetrator as 35-year-old Ammar Rizq Kamel Odeh, from the central West Bank city of Salfit, while police later arrested a Palestinian man accused of assisting the perpetrator in the attack.

After the attack, Israeli forces closed the northern entrance to the city of Salfit with an iron gate, and prevented Palestinian citizens from entering or leaving the city.

Later, the army invaded the city of Salfit, and stormed the family home of the slain perpetrator, detained and interrogated his family members, and prevented press crews from the area.

Ben-Gvir renews call for more Israeli civilians to take up arms

Al Jazeera reports: In the context of the recent stabbing, Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir said that he’s calling for more civilians to take up arms and use them. This has been quite a controversial policy that he’s had throughout this war.

He has essentially expedited the way that a regular, average person can obtain a weapon in Israel, and it’s been something that has caused a lot of backlash.

He’s even distributed weapons to people in the occupied West Bank, including settlers.

Israel adds new conditions to Gaza ceasefire proposal


Middle East Monitor reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added a new condition to the proposed prisoner exchange deal, including the deportation of about 150 Palestinian prisoners, according to Israeli media.

Israel’s Channel 13 quoted unnamed informed sources as saying that Netanyahu added several new conditions to the prisoner exchange deal proposal, including the deportation of several Palestinian prisoners who will be released from prisons in Israel under the terms of the deal.

The sources told the Israeli channel that these 150 prisoners are accused of killing Israelis.

They noted that Netanyahu proposes deporting them to countries such as Turkiye or Qatar and banning them from ever returning to the Gaza Strip or the occupied West Bank.

Israel seizes $26m tax funds meant for Palestinian Authority

Al Jazeera reports: Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has ordered the seizure of about 100 million shekels ($26m) of tax funds meant to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority.

He says the money will be given to the families of Israeli victims of “terror” inflicted by Palestinians.

“The fight against terrorism is not only a military fight but a combined fight that includes a war against the wild incitement of the Palestinian Authority and the terrorist funds which it directs from its budget to the families of terrorists,” Smotrich wrote in a post on X.

“We will continue to protect the security of the citizens of Israel and fight with all the tools at our disposal against terrorism and its supporters.”

‘Order from Amazon’: How tech giants are storing mass data for Israel’s war

+972 Magazine reports: A new investigation by +972 and Local Call can reveal that the Israeli army has in fact stored some intelligence information collected via the mass surveillance of Gaza’s population on servers managed by Amazon’s AWS. The investigation can also reveal that certain cloud providers supplied a wealth of AI capabilities and services to Israeli army units since the start of the Gaza war.

Military sources emphasized to +972 and Local Call that the scope of intelligence collected from the surveillance of all Palestinian residents of Gaza is so large that it cannot be stored on military servers alone.

Three sources who took part in Israeli army attacks said that it was used in a number of cases to provide “supplementary information” ahead of airstrikes against suspected military operatives, some of which killed many civilians.

In particular, according to intelligence sources, much more extensive storage capabilities and processing power were needed to keep billions of audio files (as opposed to just textual information or metadata), which compelled the army to turn to the cloud services offered by tech companies.

As +972 and Local Call revealed in a previous investigation, the Israeli army authorized the killing of “hundreds of civilians” in attacks against senior Hamas commanders at the level of brigade commander and sometimes even battalion commander. In some of these cases, security sources explained, Amazon’s cloud was operationalized.

Sources said that the AWS-based system is particularly useful for Israeli intelligence because it can hold information “on everyone,” with no storage limitations.

(Read the full article here.)

Embed from Getty Images

Turkiye blocks Freedom Flotilla setting sail for Gaza


Middle East Monitor reports: Turkish authorities have blocked the new Freedom Flotilla, carrying urgent and lifesaving aid to Gaza in an attempt to break Israel’s siege on the Strip, from departing Istanbul, organisers reported.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, comprising multiple humanitarian and pro-Palestinian groups, issued a statement on Saturday announcing that they had been awaiting approval from the Istanbul port authority to set sail.

“It has now become clear that the Turkish government will not grant permission,” the statement said.

The coalition added that the government did not offer “any explanation” for preventing the flotilla to sail, but placed the blame on “intense pressure from the United States, the United Kingdom, and perhaps other NATO countries that are strongly allied with Israel.”

In May 2010, the six-vessel Freedom Flotilla I was intercepted by the Israeli navy, with Israeli commandos boarding the Turkish lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, opening fire and killing nine activists.

Pope Francis says assassinations ‘never a solution’

Al Jazeera reports: Pope Francis has once again appealed to all sides to resume negotiations to achieve an “immediate ceasefire in Gaza and on all fronts”.

The pope also denounced “attacks, even targeted ones, and killings” in an address to thousands of pilgrims and tourists in St Peter’s Square.

Such attacks “can never be a solution”, he said, adding that they “do not help us walk in the path of justice, the path of peace, but generate even more hatred and revenge”.

Embed from Getty Images

US says military moves in Middle East aimed at de-escalating tensions


Reuters reports: The US is deploying additional military might in the Middle East as a defensive measure with a goal of de-escalating tensions in the region, a White House official said on Sunday.

US President, Joe Biden, will convene his national security team in the situation room on Monday to discuss developments in the Middle East, the White House said, adding that he would speak with Jordan’s King Abdullah as well.

US news service, Axios, reported that US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, told his counterpart from G7 countries that Iran and Hezbollah could start attacking Israel as early as Monday, citing three sources briefed on the call. But Blinken, according to Axios, said it was unclear how Iran and Hezbollah would attack and did not know the exact timing.

“The overall goal is to turn the temperature down in the region, deter and defend against those attacks, and avoid regional conflict,” Jonathan Finer, the White House’s deputy National Security Adviser, said on CBS‘ “Face the Nation” program.

VP contenders Shapiro & Pritzker are Israel partisans


Governor Josh Shapiro takes stand in support of Israel. “Israel is a special place – it’s a place where some of us have made friends and spent meaningful time.” – October 18, 2023. By that time, Israeli forces had killed 5,791 people in Gaza since Oct. 7 (including at least 2,055 children (800 more missing) and 1,119 women, and at least 95 in the West Bank); 17,636 injured (15,898 in Gaza – 70% of them women and children – and over 1,738 in the West Bank). About 1.4 million people had been displaced. (screenshot)
Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reports that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro “has made his Jewish identity central to his career…. ‘Israel not only has a right to defend itself, it has a responsibility to combat Hamas,’ he said recently.”

Ha’aretz continues: “His presence on the ticket would bolster its already historic Jewish presence – Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff is the first Jewish spouse of a U.S. president or vice president in American history.”

“Upon graduating from Georgetown University Law Center, Shapiro worked on Capitol Hill for Jewish lawmakers like Michigan Sen. Carl Levin and Florida Rep. Peter Deutsch, who moved to the Israeli city Ra’anana after failing in his 2004 Senate bid.”

“He has also bucked growing Democratic criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza in recent months, insisting to the Jewish Democratic Council of America that “Israel not only has a right to defend itself, I think Israel has a responsibility to combat Hamas head-on and to defeat Hamas.”

Jewish Insider reports: In The New York Times, pollster and former Clinton adviser Mark Penn endorses Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, writing that he “would be the highest-ranking Jewish official in U.S. history. He has supported Israel and has been strongly critical of the campus protests.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports He volunteered in the IDF.

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

The New york Times reports that Shapiro “has been unapologetic in his love for Israel; he has visited often and even proposed to his wife there.”


J.B. Pritzker speaks at Israeli Solidarity Gathering on Oct. 10. (screenshot)
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker also has a long history of support for Israel.

On Oct 10, he spoke at a Jewish United Fund sponsored Israeli Solidarity Gathering, saying: “We need to stand with Israel.”

The Capital News report on the event noted: “Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 800 and wounded more than 4,000 Palestinians in the days following the initial attack.

“Pritzker’s address included a message of support for the Israeli military.

“We pray today for the strength and safety of the men and women of the Israeli Defense Forces as they embark on this most difficult and important mission,” the governor said. “Each step of the way they should know, and the people of Israel should know, that America and Illinois unequivocally stands with them in their battle to end the ongoing Hamas attacks. We stand with Israel.”

By then, Israeli forces had killed 900 in Gaza (over 18 in West Bank), injured 4,500 in Gaza (100 in West Bank), killed 260 children and 230 women; and displaced: 200,000. A large part of Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood was reduced to rubble after hours of airstrikes. Residents found buildings torn in half or demolished to mounds of concrete and rebar. Cars were flattened and trees burned out on residential streets transformed into moonscapes.” Israel had impsed a ‘total’ blockade on Gaza, including ban on admission of food, electricity and fuel.

On Oct 17 Pritzker announced tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by the attacks that took place in Israel.

In January he opposed a Chicago resolution backing a cease-fire.

The Times of Israel reports: “J.B. Pritzker is the scion of a wealthy Jewish hotelier family long involved in Democratic politics. His sister Penny, a major donor to Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns.”

The Pritzker family (net worth: $32.5B) is one of the wealthiest families in the U.S. It is known for being pro-Israel. The Chicago Tribune reported in 1985: “The Pritzker family buys $500,000 worth of Israel bonds each year and, besides their other philanthropies, also makes donations to universities and institutions in Israel.

JTA reports that J.B. Pritzker “has served on the board of AIPAC.” [Also see this.] He is “the scion of the Hyatt hotel family with deep Jewish community ties.” [His net worth is $3.5B]

Pritzker emceed a fundraiser for Friends of the IDF in 2013.

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

Middle East Monitor: Shin Bet prepares underground bunker to protect Netanyahu, senior officials from possible Iran attack

Middle East Monitor: Could the US-China rivalry save the peace process in the Middle East?

The New Arab: Palestine Authority presents Gaza day-after plan, while US truce draft allows Israel to continue war

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 4:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – August 4: at least 40,186* (39,623 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,251 children as of July 22. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

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

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

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

At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
2.15 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are projected to face Crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – August 4: at least 96,818 (including at least 91,469 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 4: ~1,486 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 331 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

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

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

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

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

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

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

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

https://israelpalestinenews.org/israeli-massacres-evacuation-orders-torture-continue-unabated-day-302/

US-made “precision” bomb kills 30, mostly children, in Gaza – Day 294
[email protected] July 28, 2024 balata, ceasefire, deir al balah, golan heightss, majdal shams, West Bank
DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - JULY 28: Palestinian living in the area inspect the rubbles of the destroyed school building following an Israeli attack on Khadija School, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on July 28, 2024. (Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images) (photo)
At least 30 Palestinians dead in Israeli attack on Deir Al Balah, Gaza; 11 mostly Syrian Druze killed in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights – Hezbollah denies responsibility; 2 Palestinians killed in Israeli attack on West Bank refugee camp; Israeli president horrified only by Golan Heights attack; Israeli negotiators blame Netanyahu for stalled ceasefire talks

By IAK staff, from reports.

Israel army kills 30 in bombing of field hospital at Gaza school

The New Arab reports: The Israeli army on Saturday killed at least 30 Palestinians and wounded over 100 others by bombing a field hospital inside a school in central Gaza, according to the Palestinian ministry of health.

The attack targeted the hospital at the Khadija school in Deir Al-Balah, with Gaza’s government media office saying the attack used three missiles from warplanes.

“These ongoing massacres carried out by the Zionist occupation [Israel] come amid the collapse of the health system and the destruction and burning of hospitals, leaving them out of operation, and amid immense pressure on the medical teams and what remains of the operating rooms,” the media office said.

It condemned “the Zionist occupation carrying out this horrific massacre against a field hospital providing medical services to dozens of patients and injured people”, adding that they were all civilians.

WASHINGTON POST ADDS: The IDF said it targeted a Hamas position with “precision,” but the bombing left a massive crater and video and eyewitness testimonies from the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital suggested that most of the dead were civilians.

Video from the immediate aftermath of the attack showed bodies on the ground and bloodied children carried by adults. At the hospital, doctors said they had received patients with full-body burns or their limbs shorn off.

The IDF described the strike as targeting “terrorists operating a Hamas command and control center embedded inside the Khadija School” and said precautions were taken to “mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of appropriate munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.”

Military experts caution that precision munitions still have the capacity to kill large numbers of people when they are used in densely populated areas. A video from the scene, confirmed by the local civil defense force, appeared to show an unexploded U.S.-made small diameter bomb in the wreckage, according to Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army bomb technician who reviewed the footage.

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At least 11 killed in rocket attack in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights

Al Jazeera reports: At least 11 people have been killed and 19 others wounded in a rocket attack on a football pitch in the town of the Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Israeli authorities said. (CNN places the number killed at 12.)

Israel’s military spokesman Daniel Hagari said children were among those killed and accused the Lebanese group Hezbollah of carrying out the attack on Saturday, but the group denied any involvement.

“Our intelligence is clear. Hezbollah is responsible for the killing of innocent children,” Hagari said.

“We will prepare for a response against Hezbollah … we will act,” he said.

Hezbollah swiftly denied responsibility for the attack on Saturday. The group said in a statement it “categorically denies the allegations reported by certain enemy media and various media platforms concerning the targeting of Majdal Shams”.

“Hezbollah will pay a heavy price, the kind it has thus far not paid,” Netanyahu said.

CNN ADDS: Majdal Shams, a village that is home to a large Druze community.

Some 20,000 Druze Arabs live in the Golan Heights, an area Israel seized from Syria in 1967 during the Six-Day War and annexed in 1981. Considered occupied territory under international law and UN Security Council resolutions, the area is home to about 50,000 Israeli Jewish settlers and Druze. Most Druze there identify as Syrian and have rejected offers of Israeli citizenship.

NOTE: The Golan Heights (like the West Bank) is an occupied territory held in violation of international law and the principle behind UN Security Resolution 242, according to which the acquisition of territory by war is inadmissible.

Embed from Getty Images

Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz describes the occupied Golan Heights as “northern Israel.”

Most Druze, and consequently most of the victims of this strike, identify as Syrian, not Israeli.

Israel’s president says ‘world cannot sit in silence’ in the face of Hezbollah’s attacks

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said “the world cannot continue to sit in silence in the face of Nasrallah’s terror attacks,” after the attack in Majdal Shams.

The Israeli military has blamed the air raid on Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, lead by Hassan Nasrallah, but the group has denied any responsibility.

“Hezbollah, armed and funded by Iran, does not distinguish between child or adult, soldier or civilian, Jew or Muslim, Druze or Christian,” he said on X.

“The State of Israel will firmly defend its citizens and its sovereignty.”

NOTE: The irony of Herzog’s comment can not be overstated: Israel is armed and funded by a foreign country; Israel does not distinguish between child and adult, soldier and civilian, Christian, Druze, or Muslim. Palestinians wants only to defend its citizens and its sovereignty – only when Hezbollah allegedly hits a civilian location, it’s “terrorism,” and when Israel does the same, it’s “self-defense.”

West Bank: Two killed, 28 injured in Israeli air raid on Balata refugee camp


Middle East Eye reports: At least one person has been killed and 28 others injured during an Israeli army raid on the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Red Crescent.

The health ministry in Gaza has named the man killed as Louay Muhammad Misha, stating he was 17 years old.

It added that nine of the injured are currently being treated at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus. Two are in a critical condition.

Earlier, the Israeli army said it had launched an attack on the camp and killed a man that the army said was wanted.

Also, an Israeli army spokesperson said that a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a military site near an entrance to Nablus, injuring an Israeli soldier.

According to the Israeli media outlet Haaretz, which quoted an unnamed security source, the attack came as a response to the shooting of the Israeli soldier.

MIDDLE EAST EYE ADDS: The Palestinian health ministry named a second fatality in the attack as as 24-year-old Ali Hashash.

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Top Israeli negotiators boycott next round of ceasefire talks citing govt ‘sabotage’

The Cradle reports: Two top Israeli officials have refused to travel to Qatar for talks with Hamas regarding a Gaza ceasefire, citing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to sabotage the negotiations, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on 27 July.

Two top negotiators believe that “there is no point in traveling,” because Netanyahu “wants to make changes to the deal that Hamas will not accept. Therefore, Mossad chief Yossi Cohen will travel alone.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu is demanding that conditions be added to the current proposal for a ceasefire deal with Hamas in an effort to “cause a crisis” in the negotiations; some reportedly fear it will cost the lives of Israeli captives still in Gaza.

“Netanyahu is single-minded, and his position does not allow for negotiations to begin,” the sources continued. “It’s not clear if he wants a deal.”

Before speaking to Congress, Netanyahu delayed the departure of the negotiating team for talks in Qatar while claiming during his speech he was doing everything in his power to bring the captives home.

Traumatized children escape the al Mawasi area – an Israeli-designated "safe zone" – after an intense and unexpected Israeli bombing on Saturday, July 13.
Traumatized children escape the al Mawasi area – an Israeli-designated “safe zone” – after an intense and unexpected Israeli bombing on Saturday, July 13. (screengrab)
The Intercept: Google planned to sponsor IDF conference – but now has disappeared from sponsor list

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JULY 27:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – July 27: at least 39,764* (39,324 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 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 27: at least 95,823 (including at least 90,830 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 27: ~1,481 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 328 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

https://israelpalestinenews.org/us-made-precision-bomb-kills-30-mostly-children-gaza-day-294/


https://donshafi911iamthefaceoftruth.blogspot.com/2024/07/us-made-precision-bomb-kills-30-mostly.html

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OCHA weekly West Bank report highlights massive property demolition, damage

A sample of points from OCHA update on West Bank:

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Read the full article here.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ha’aretz reports: There were ugly scenes in the Knesset on Wednesday night, after National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, addressing Arab parliamentarians, said: “Get out, get out. All the terrorists get out.”

MKs Ayman Odeh and Youssef Atauna both responded by shouting at Ben-Gvir and telling him to leave the plenum. The far-right minister responded in Arabic, telling them again to “get out.”

At one stage, when Arab MKs approached the podium, Likud lawmaker Hanoch Milwidsky ran toward them and ushers were forced to separate between them. MK Moshe Roth, who was chairing the session, gently reproached Ben-Gvir, asking him “not to use such language.”

The incident occurred during a discussion into Atauna’s demand that the state set up an inquiry into the 2017 killing of Yacoub Abu Al-Qia’an by Israeli police during the demolition of his homes in the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran.

At a later meeting of the Knesset Committee, the legal advisor to the Israeli parliament, Sagit Afik, said that, according to regulations, Roth should have ordered Ben-Gvir to step down from the podium after his comments.


US imposes visa restrictions on former IDF sergeant for human rights violation


CNN reports: The Biden administration imposed visa restrictions on former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sergeant Elor Azaria “for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights, namely an extrajudicial killing in the West Bank,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller announced Wednesday.

As a result of the action, Azaria and his immediate family will generally be blocked from coming to the United States.

RECOMMENDED READING (+972 Magazine): A prison sentence that tells the true story of the occupation

The State Department is “also taking steps to impose visa restrictions on an additional group of individuals for having been involved in or meaningfully contributed to undermining the peace, security, or stability in the West Bank,” Miller said in a statement.

“There hasn’t been appropriate accountability across the board” in response to the violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, Miller said at a press briefing Wednesday.

“Part of the point is not just to impose accountability on people who’ve engaged in acts of violence or people who’ve engaged in other acts that increase instability in the West Bank, it is also to let others know that we are paying attention and we are watching and we’re not going to hesitate to act,” Miller said – Azaria was convicted of manslaughter in 2016 and served nine months in prison.

However, the Biden administration is still undecided on whether to restrict aid to one IDF battalion – Netzah Yehuda – which the US found to have committed gross violations of human rights prior to the start of the war in Gaza. A CNN investigation found that former commanders of that unit have been promoted to senior positions in the IDF and are now active in training Israeli ground troops as well as running operations in Gaza.

NOTE: While there has been an major uptick in settler violence since October 7th, every one of the more than 700,000 Israeli settlers living on Palestinian land are violating international law. Israel has illegally built around 280 settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and incentivized Israeli Jews to live in them. Many Palestinians believe that Israeli settlements and settlers on Palestinian land are the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement.

Over a quarter of Israel’s population contemplate emigration: Poll

The Cradle reports: More than a fourth of Israel’s population say they would leave the country if they could, according to a new survey published on 17 July by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI).

The poll results show that about 25 percent of Jewish Israelis and 40 percent of Palestinians with Israeli citizenship agreed with the statement, “If I had a practical possibility to immigrate abroad, I would do so.”

Based on the most recent census figures from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, this would be proportional to 1,811,750 Jewish Israelis and 835,600 Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, making up more than a quarter of the country’s population.

The survey also shows that public trust in Israel’s political and military leadership has dropped dramatically. Fifty-five percent of respondents said they had low or very low trust in the army’s command, and only 26 percent expressed confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.







CAIR Condemns GOP Jewish Coalition CEO’s Apparent Support for ‘Carpet Bombing’ Gaza


From website: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned remarks by Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks that appeared to endorse the idea of giving a “blank check to Israel” to “finish the job quickly” by carpet bombing Gaza.

“If you need to carpet bomb the area, do it. Just get it done. Rip the band-aid off,” Brooks told reporters when explaining his own understanding of what President Trump’s Gaza policy would be following an address to the Republican National Convention.

In a statement, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said:

“The Republican Jewish Coalition leader’s apparent support for the genocidal idea of carpet-bombing Gaza speaks volumes about the systematic, racist dehumanization of the Palestinian people. Genocide is wrong, no matter its victim. Republican elected officials should renounce this genocidal rhetoric, as well as the Israeli government’s ongoing use of American taxpayer dollars to bomb churches, mosques, hospitals, schools, refugee camps, and innocent men, women and children across Gaza.”

RECOMMENDED READING: CAIR Action Alert: Call on IOC to Ban Israel from Official Participation in 2024 Olympics, Just Like Russia

Israel must be suspended for violating FIFA statutes, human rights lawyers say

Reuters reports: Israel must be banned from any football-related activities for violating FIFA’s statutes amid the war in Gaza, according to an independent legal analysis by lawyers who specialize in international law and human rights.

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) had submitted a proposal to suspend Israel in May, with FIFA ordering an urgent legal evaluation while promising to address it at an extraordinary meeting of its council in July.

The Asian Football Confederation had also given its backing for action against Israel and PFA President Jibril Al-Rajoub said that FIFA could not afford to remain indifferent to “violations or to the ongoing genocide in Palestine”.

Attorney Max du Plessis, who was part of the case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice, co-wrote the analysis along with Sarah Pudifin-Jones after they were approached by Eko, a social justice non-profit organization.

There can be no doubt that Israel’s conduct in Palestine has undermined, and continues to undermine, FIFA’s objectives,” the report said.

“Israel has violated the internationally recognized human rights of Palestinians, contrary to Article 3. It has discriminated and continues to discriminate against Palestinians on the basis of race, national origin and birth in direct contravention of Article 4(1).

Protest in Switzerland demanding that Israel be banned from Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Protest in Switzerland demanding that Israel be banned from Paris 2024 Olympic Games (photo)
MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

Al Jazeera: ‘My brothers, my brothers!’: Survivors recall chaos after al-Mawasi attacks

Palestinian Center for Human Rights: Marking a Decade of Impunity: The Killing of Four Bakr Children by the Israeli Military in Gaza

Mondoweiss: ‘They are trying to buy this seat’: Can Cori Bush beat AIPAC?

Electronic Intifada: Sleeping hungry as famine afflicts northern Gaza

The New Arab: Will Gaza’s missing children ever be found?



STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JULY 17:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – July 17: at least 39,370* (38,794 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,034 children as of June 17. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 576 in the West Bank (~140 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 46,848 Palestinian deaths.

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

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

At least 46 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
At least 40 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
2.15 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are projected to face Crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – July 17: at least 94,784 (including at least 89,364 in Gaza and 5,420 in the West Bank, including 830 children).

[It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – July 17: ~1,481 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 326 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

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

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

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

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

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

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
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https://israelpalestinenews.org/israel-has-killed-over-2500-palestinians-every-month-since-icj-ruling-day-284/

“Safe zone” massacre, hospital gutted, shelter flattened – just another day in Gaza – Day 279
[email protected] July 13, 2024 Anwar El Ghazi, bernie sanders, ceasefire deal, international criminal court, israeli economy, mawasi massacre, safe zone, unrwa, west bank deaths
Crowds of Palestinians flee the area after an Israeli attack on the Mawasi area of Khan Younis. (screengrab)
Massive casualties in Mawasi “safe zone”; “planned massacre” in Gaza City; UNRWA finds international support while under Israeli attack; West Bank deaths; 46,000 Israeli businesses closed since October 7th; obstinacy from Netanyahu; US seeks new way to help Israel dodge ICC arrest warrants; Sanders says, amid election frenzy, “we must not forget Gaza”; more.

By IAK staff, from reports.

Breaking News: over 70 massacred in “safe zone” Saturday morning

Al Jazeera reports: At least 71 people have been killed and 289 wounded in an Israeli air attack on the al-Mawasi refugee camp, west of Khan Younis, the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip says.

Gaza’s Civil Defense has told Al Jazeera the targeted area was designated by the Israeli forces as a so-called “safe” zone. Witnesses say rescue workers and health teams on the scene targeted by Israeli forces.

Images from the scene showed Palestinians trying to rescue people from under the rubble, with children and paramedics among the wounded.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said this was “a new massacre committed by the Israeli military”, adding that the area was hit by “five bombs and five missiles”.

“The scenes that are coming from the area that was targeted are incredibly bloody and devastating,” he said.

The Israeli forces have confirmed that Saturday’s attack on displaced people in Mawasi targeted Hamas military chief, Mohammed Deif.

Hamas has dismissed Israel’s claim that Saturday’s Mawasi strike was targeting the group’s leaders as “false.” “It’s not the first time Israel claims to target Palestinian leaders, only to be proven false later,” the group said in a statement.


Israel leaves Gaza hospital in ruins


One month after Palestinians in Gaza City renovated and reopened the Patient’s Friends Hospital, Israeli occupation forces attacked it again, destroying it and leaving it unable to serve civilians in the north of the enclave. There are currently no fully functioning hospitals in the Gaza Strip.



Israel flattens UNRWA HQ sheltering displaced Gazans


Israeli occupation forces have flattened the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City leaving thousands of already displaced Palestinians with no shelter. Civil defense teams have said scores of bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, with many more thought to be trapped beneath it.



Israeli army killed dozens in Gaza City in ‘planned massacre’: Official

Al Jazeera reports: Director-General of the Government Media Office Ismail al-Thawabta has accused Israeli authorities of carrying out a “planned massacre” that killed dozens in Gaza City.

Al-Thawabta told Al Jazeera Arabic that the Israeli army directed thousands of Palestinians in eastern Gaza City to move to neighborhoods in the west and south of the city, then opened fire at them once they got there.

He said 70 bodies have been retrieved by rescue crews in the area of Tal al-Hawa, and at least 50 people remain missing.

“Some displaced people were pointing to the Israeli army, carrying white flags and saying, ‘We are not fighters; we are displaced.’ But the Israeli occupation army executed these displaced people with cold blood,” al-Thawabta said.



ICJ to issue advisory opinion on Israeli occupation on July 19

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will issue an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory on July 19, the court said in a news release.

The UN’s highest court held historic hearings into Israel’s occupation in February of this year.

The court heard from 52 countries and three organizations on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

‘Blatant Disregard’ – UNRWA Attacked for Safeguarding Palestinian Refugees’ Rights

Palestine Chronicle reports: UNRWA Chief Philippe Lazzarini has cautioned that turning a blind eye to the attacks on the UN agency in the occupied Palestinian territories could set a dangerous precedent, adding that it is being targeted for its role in safeguarding the rights of Palestinian refugees.

“In more than 30 years of humanitarian work, I have never encountered such blatant disregard for the protected status of humanitarian workers, facilities and operations under international law,” Lazzarini, the agency’s Commissioner-General said in his speech at the opening of the UNRWA Pledging Conference in New York on Friday.

He said, “Turning a blind eye to these attacks sets a dangerous precedent, undermining respect for the rules-based international order in other conflicts.”

UNRWA’s Lazzarini says funding guaranteed until September

Al Jazeera reports: Speaking to the press after a pledging conference, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini says funding for the UN Palestinian refugee agency had been guaranteed through September.

He added that the pledged amount was not yet known but would be disclosed in the coming days.

Out of the 16 countries that suspended funding after Israeli allegations against UNRWA, 14 have now resumed funding. The US and the UK did not resume funding, but Lazzarini said he was confident Britain – which elected a new government last week – would soon resume its financial support.

118 countries signed a shared commitment to support and bolster financial and political support for UNRWA.


Israeli forces gun down Palestinian in Ramallah-governorate town

WAFA reports: Israeli occupation forces Friday evening reportedly gunned down a Palestinian in the Abwein town, northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

Mayor of Abwein, Mahmoud Hamad, said that the occupation forces barged their way into the town, triggering confrontations between heavily armed Israeli soldiers and Palestinians.

During the confrontations, Hamad added, the heavily armed Israeli soldiers opened live fire directly on 26-year-old Ali Muwafaq Muzahem, critically injuring him. A short time later, he was pronounced dead.

More detail on Israeli forces’ killing of 14-year-old Palestinian boy south of Jenin

Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) reports: On Thursday, Israeli forces shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian child in the northern occupied West Bank.

Around 5 p.m. 14-year-old Ali Hasan Ali Rabaya was shot under the armpit by an Israeli soldier inside a heavily armored military vehicle from a distance of 20 to 40 meters (65 to 131 feet) near the western entrance of the Palestinian village of Maithaloun, south of Jenin in the northern occupied West bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine.

After Israeli forces shot him, Ali ran about three meters (10 feet) before collapsing to the ground. Israeli forces continued firing in Ali’s direction, striking at least five other Palestinian children, including a 13-year-old boy who was seriously injured in the chest and legs.

Continued Israeli military fire prevented Palestinian residents from reaching Ali for about five minutes. When the Israeli military vehicles withdrew, a private car brought Ali to the Turkish Governmental Hospital in Tubas, where he was pronounced dead around 5:35 p.m.

“Without a second thought, Israeli forces killed 14-year-old Ali and injured at least five other Palestinian children when they opened fire in Maithaloun,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Decades of systemic impunity have emboldened Israeli forces to shoot to kill without consequence, demonstrating contempt for Palestinian children’s lives. The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court must issue arrest warrants for Israeli authorities now and force accountability.”

After raiding another Palestinian town, Israeli forces passed the Palestinian village of Maithaloun, where Palestinian residents confronted passing Israeli military vehicles.

Ali was allegedly throwing stones toward the heavily armored Israeli military vehicles at the time he was shot.



Israel quietly disappears West Bank land

Electronic Intifada reports: As Israel’s genocide in Gaza enters its tenth month, its settler-colonial project advances relentlessly across historic Palestine.

The UN Human Rights Office is sounding alarm bells over Israel’s accelered land theft in the occupied West Bank, exacerbated by the forcible displacement of Palestinians through settler violence, home demolitions and access restrictions.

“The situation in the occupied West Bank is a matter of grave concern as Israel allows and facilitates an environment characterized by fear forcing communities from their homes and lands,” the UN office said.

Settlers, the statement continued, “acting with the protection and support of Israeli security forces, are escalating violent attacks on herding communities in the South Hebron Hills, Jordan Valley and East Jerusalem that have been encircled by settlements and outposts.”

Israel’s so-called security cabinet approved the legalization of five settler “outposts.”

While all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law and building them is a war crime, what Israel refers to as “outposts” are often built without even Israel’s permission and are considered illegal under Israeli law.

(Read the full article here.)

An Israeli settlement, built on Palestinian land. Settlements are considered illegal under international law.
An Israeli settlement, built on Palestinian land. Settlements are considered illegal under international law. (screengrab)
‘Israel in collapse’: 46,000 businesses forced to close since 7 Oct

The Cradle reports: Forty-six thousand Israeli businesses have been forced to shut as a result of the ongoing war and its devastating effect on the economy, Hebrew newspaper Maariv reported on 10 July, referring to Israel as a “country in collapse.”

“This is a very high number that encompasses many sectors. About 77 percent of the businesses that have been closed since the beginning of the war, which make up about 35,000 businesses, are small businesses with up to five employees, and are the most vulnerable in the economy,” Yoel Amir, CEO of Israeli information services and credit risk management firm, CofaceBdi, told Maariv.

The report adds that “the most vulnerable industries are the construction industry, and as a result also the entire ecosystem that operates around it: ceramics, air conditioning, aluminum, building materials, and more – All of these were significantly damaged,” according to CofaceBdi’s risk ratings.

The trade sector has also been severely affected. This includes the service sector and industries including fashion, furniture, housewares, entertainment, transport, and tourism.

Israel is in a situation where “there is almost no foreign tourism,” the report said, adding that “damage to businesses is all over the country, and almost no sector has been spared.”

This includes the agriculture sector, which is based mainly in the south and the north – both considered active combat zones due to the threat posed by the Palestinian resistance and Lebanon’s Hezbollah – whose support front against Israel has significantly contributed to the downfall of the economy.

The CofaceBdi CEO estimates that 60,000 Israeli businesses are expected to be shut down by the end of 2024.

Israeli PM Netanyahu has ‘rejected’ probes into security lapses leading up to October 7

Al Jazeera reports: Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has long rejected any sort of investigation into the events on October 7 and the days leading up to it because he has said that all of the focus and resources should be allocated to the current war on Gaza.

In fact, members of his far-right government – including ultra-nationalists like Itamar Ben-Gvir – have said there shouldn’t be an investigation until after the war.

This is the first time the Israeli army has revealed any sort of findings from any investigation as to what happened on October 7.

They say there are more investigations that they are currently working on, and are going to make those findings public once those investigations are completed.

Senior Israeli official says Netanyahu holding up hostage-truce deal with new demands

Times of Israel reports: A senior Israeli official involved in the negotiations for a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding up an agreement with new demands.

Speaking to Hebrew media, the official says that the prime minister is now insisting on the establishment of an enforcement mechanism that would prevent armed Hamas operatives from returning to northern Gaza.

The negotiating team told Netanyahu that they were opposed to the new condition and it was not feasible. Netanyahu told the team he insists on it.

Channel 12 quotes officials as saying that they believe Netanyahu is trying to delay a deal because he is likely to lose his coalition over the deal, with far-right parties vowing to quit if the agreement goes through.

“This is the moment of truth for the hostages,” the official tells Channel 12. We can reach an agreement within two weeks and bring the hostages home.”

NOTE: While Hamas holds around 100 prisoners in Gaza, Israel is currently holding over 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.

US considers fresh legal bid questioning ICC jurisdiction over Israel

Middle East Eye reports: The US is considering a legal bid to question the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) authority in seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister over alleged war crimes in Gaza, Middle East Eye can reveal.

A US official briefed on the matter told MEE that the Biden administration is considering submitting an amicus curiae to the ICC, voicing its staunch opposition to the decision of the court’s chief prosecutor to seek arrest warrants for the Israeli officials, despite the US not being a signatory to the treaty that created the court.

The deliberations, not previously reported, come amid a lobbying campaign at the highest levels of the Biden administration to prevent the UK from dropping its legal appeal against the ICC.

The Biden administration has made no secret of its objection to the court’s decision to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, alongside senior Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip.

Protesters gather outside the ICC to call for the court to prosecute Israel for war crimes.
Protesters gather outside the ICC to call for the court to prosecute Israel for war crimes. (photo)
Poll finds 72% of Israelis think Netanyahu should quit over Oct. 7 failures

Times of Israel reports: Seventy-two percent of Israelis think Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to resign over the failures of October 7, according to a Channel 12 poll published Friday.

Of those, 44% believe Netanyahu needs to quit immediately, while another 28% believe he should resign when the war ends.

The poll also found that the public views Netanyahu as the Israeli most responsible for the October 7 catastrophe.

Football player wins case against club for wrongful termination over Palestine support

Al Jazeera reports: A German court has ruled that football club Mainz wrongfully terminated the contract of Anwar El Ghazi – whose parents are of Moroccan descent – after the Dutch forward refused to stay silent about his support for Palestinians.

German club Mainz suspended El Ghazi in October, before terminating his contract in November, after he refused to stop posting about Israel’s war on Gaza on social media.

The forward, who wrote the statement “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in one such post, has previously said he has “no regrets or remorse” about his stand.

CAIR, ACC Announce New Fund to Help Students Targeted for Palestine Advocacy on College Campuses


Press release: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, and A Continuous Charity (ACC) today announced that they are establishing a new fund to help students targeted for their pro-Palestine advocacy on college campuses.

CAIR and ACC’s new Educational Pursuit Fund (EPF) is dedicated to assisting students who have faced adverse consequences for voicing their support for Palestine.

How Your Contributions Help:

70% of all donations go toward providing interest-free educational loans. These funds will enable students to continue their education without financial strain.
30% of contributions are allocated to grants for students who have lost scholarships, housing, or other support because of their advocacy. Each grant is valued at $1,000, offering vital unrestricted funds that recipients can use as they see fit, helping them navigate through their challenging circumstances.
“We Must Not Forget Gaza,” says Sanders

Statement from Bernie Sanders: While much of the media is focused on the drama of the U.S. presidential election, we must not lose sight of what is happening in Gaza, where an unprecedented humanitarian crisis continues to get even worse.

Nine months into this war, more than 38,000 people have been killed and 88,000 injured…The full toll is likely higher, with thousands more buried beneath the rubble.

Nine in ten Gazans – 1.9 million people – have been driven from their homes…60 percent of residential buildings [have been] damaged or destroyed.

Israel continues to restrict the entry of UN humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza…

The results are catastrophic.

Unbelievably, one in four Gazans face starvation, some 495,000 people…Many people, including children, are sifting through the rubble for food, and boiling leaves for sustenance.

In searing heat, clean water is in short supply. Some 67 percent of water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed…

These conditions have spread dangerous diseases like hepatitis and diarrhea, yet most hospitals and health clinics have been destroyed by the bombardment, and some 500 health care workers killed.

Yet, in the midst of this horror and violations of international law, the United States continues to send billions of dollars and thousands of bombs and other weapons to support this war. We, as Americans, are complicit.

We must end our support for Netanyahu’s war. Not another nickel to make this horrific situation even worse. I intend to do everything I can to block further arms transfers to Israel, including through joint resolutions of disapproval of any arms sales. The United States must not help a right-wing extremist and war criminal continue this atrocity.

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)
MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

Al Jazeera: The spotlight should be on Palestine at the Paris Olympics

Al Jazeera: Israel’s attacks on Gaza: A guide

Mondoweiss: Biden or not, U.S. policy on Palestine stays the same

Electronic Intifada: A long wait for water

Middle East Eye: In Gaza, Palestinian with Down syndrome ‘left to die’ by Israeli soldiers after combat dog attack


STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JULY 12:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – July 12: at least 38,917* (38,345 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 573 in the West Bank (~138 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 45,223 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 12: at least 93,715 (including at least 88,295 in Gaza and 5,420 in the West Bank, including 830 children).

[It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – July 12: ~1,478 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 324 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
Lancet: Counting the dead in Gaza – difficult but essential
‘Revealer of Inconvenient Truths’ – Julian Assange’s Impact on Palestine
Fact or Fiction: Is Israel Unfairly Singled Out for Global Condemnation?
How an Israeli colonel invented the burned babies lie to justify genocide
Widely reported Palestinian father-son ‘rape’ confession contradicted by piles of evidence
The Gaza Project reveals how Israel has targeted the press – in 3 stories
‘Buying Our Own Stolen Water’ in Bethlehem – Scorching Summer Awaits Palestinians in the West Bank
Israel’s covert info bots targeting America met with hypocritical silence
AIPAC: Has the pro-Israel lobby bribed and bought the US Democratic Party?
Israel’s war on Gaza is the deadliest conflict on record for journalists.
Israeli army hits Gaza family, uses them as human shields, and runs over their mother.
Strangling Israeli restrictions were in place long before October 7th.
The day Israeli tanks fired directly at AFP’s Gaza Bureau.
The craziest ‘pro-Israel’ votes on the Hill today.
Israeli documents show expansive government effort to shape US discourse around Gaza war.
Why As A Christian, I Won’t Be Condemning Hamas Anytime Soon.
Is “Israel Has a Right to Defend Itself” Code for “We Are Killing the Geneva Conventions”?
‘I heard all of my friends’ last breath’: Testimonies from the Nuseirat massacre.
Rep. Thomas Massie: Every congressperson has an AIPAC babysitter.
(VIDEO) Col. Douglas Macgregor: US seen as taking orders from Netanyahu.
UN finds at least 14 Israelis likely intentionally killed by own army on October 7.
ADL faces Wikipedia ban over reliability concerns on Israel, antisemitism.
Fear, hunger and displacement follows Israel’s worsening abuse of Palestinians in Hebron.
Rafah Attack: Netanyahu’s Lies Expose The Truth About Israel.
Veterans For Peace: U.S. Army Major Quits Over Israel.
While Gaza suffers physical genocide, the West Bank faces economic genocide.
The Palestinians’ Ironclad, Inalienable Right To Resist.
Candace Owens & Briahna Joy Gray say criticism of Israel is “red line” for media.
The night Israel killed my family.


https://israelpalestinenews.org/safe-zone-massacre-hospital-gutted-shelter-flattened-just-another-day-gaza-day-279/

Why Egypt is not a friend of Palestine Part Two - Sisi deepens ties with Israel
Sisi has placed Egypt in a position of political and military paralysis - destroying Egypt's sovereignty in the process

vanessa beeley

In Part One I covered Egypt’s debt quagmire that has reduced its ability to act as a sovereign nation, indebted to the Western neocolonialist cartel and their Arab State allies in the region.


Source: Central Bank of Egypt

In Part Two I want to delve into the Sinai Peninsula destabilisation and Egypt’s flourishing military and economic collaboration with Israel.

The Sinai Islamist insurgency (an ISIS offshoot branded Wilayat Sinai or Sinai Province - SP) began at the same time as the Western-orchestrated “Arab Springs” were launched across the region but in particular, in Egypt and Syria.

The campaign “Operation Eagle” began in 2011 following an increase in alleged Islamist militant activities in the Peninsula. Approximately 1000 troops and hundreds of armored personnel carriers were deployed.

This represented the first major deployment of Egyptian troops in Sinai since the end of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, thus marking a substantial change in the military and security situation in Sinai.

I personally remember trying to cross the Sinai in August 2012 for my first attempt at entering Gaza. Fifteen Egyptian soldiers were killed at the Rafah border during Ramadan by unknown gunmen and the entire area was shut down while Egyptian military scoured the desert for the killers. Entry to Gaza was denied, even to Palestinians.

The recently “elected” Muslim Brotherhood President Morsi ordered full military control of the Sinai. Gaza was put on devastating lockdown with Morsi flooding the lifeline tunnels between Gaza Rafah and Egyptian Rafah with sewage water. This was done under the pretext of preventing the “flow of weapons” from Hamas to the Islamists in the Sinai - despite the fact that Hamas and ISIS have not been considered allies although their agendas may have some cross-over, as in Syria.

At the same time Morsi was effectively exporting terrorist (Muslim Brotherhood) forces to fight alongside Al Qaeda in the Western-sponsored regime change war in Syria. As reported by the Washington Institute:

In May 2013, for example, Qatar-based cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi -- a major Brotherhood ideological influence -- called on Sunnis to join the fight in Syria. The next month, then-President Morsi's office announced that Egyptians returning from the fight in Syria would not be prosecuted, and Mr. Morsi later keynoted a rally at Cairo Stadium at which radical clerics endorsed the Syrian jihad.

After Sisi took control in Egypt, deposing Morsi in a violent military coup, reportedly supported by Israel - the radicalisation of Muslim Brotherhood factions in Egypt increased as did the exodus to fight in Syria.

In 2022 Arab Center DC reported that:

Over the past decade, Sinai has been the epicenter of terrorist attacks in Egypt and the base from which Islamist militants wage their insurgency against the Egyptian government. Their assaults mainly target security forces, including military convoys, checkpoints, and facilities, and have mostly taken place in the cities of northern Sinai, particularly al-Arish, Sheikh Zuweid, and Rafah. However, as a result of Egyptian military operations, over the past few years SP’s activities have moved to the western part of North Sinai, notably to the city of Bir al-Abd, which in November 2017 witnessed one of the deadliest extremist attacks in Egypt’s history when SP militants stormed the al-Rawda Mosque, injuring 128 people and killing more than 300, including 27 children.

Under Sisi the military operations have achieved very little success in quelling the SP insurgency. Sisi has also been accused of human rights abuses in his “war on terror” with indiscriminate attacks that have led to the destruction of Bedouin homes and villages and the deaths of civilians during bombing campaigns and artillery bombardment.

From a Human Rights Watch report (Caveat - HRW is a tool of the US deep state and as such, the information must be considered in context with the direction of travel of Zionist and US agendas in the region)

Egyptian military and police have carried out systematic and widespread arbitrary arrests—including of children—enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings, collective punishment, and forced evictions—abuses it has attempted to conceal through an effective ban on independent reporting. The military has also possibly conducted unlawful air and ground attacks that have killed numerous civilians—including children—and used civilian properties for military purposes. In addition, it has recruited, armed, and directed local militias, which have themselves engaged in serious rights violations, such as torture and arbitrary arrests, often exploiting their position to settle personal scores.

This failure to bring militants to justice fuels theories about the Sisi regime’s political interest in prolonging the conflict in Sinai, which may serve to secure domestic political support - war is always a way to retain power particularly when confronting turbulent domestic environments.

It could also have a more sinister purpose. We should always bear in mind that ISIS in Syria is a US alliance proxy as are the majority of terrorist groups globally, acting in the interests of the Zionist regime and neocolonialist adventurism in the West Asia region and further afield.

Strategic ties between Egypt and Israel have deepened under Sisi’s rule. Israel has allowed significant Egyptian military units and armaments to be deployed to the northeastern section of the Sinai Peninsula in contravention of the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, which restricts the number of Egyptian personnel and armaments in this zone.

Egypt allegedly gave Israel permission to carry out drone strikes in the Sinai, officially targeting extremists which could have included Palestinian Resistance fighters. Israel carried out an estimated 100 strikes between 2015 and 2018, with the 2014 savage aggression against Gaza conducted during these operations.

When the New York Times exposed these operations in 2018 it described Egypt and Israel as secret allies in a covert war against a common foe. The Sisi regime issued vehement denials fearing a public backlash from a majority Egyptian population that has historically opposed the Zionist theft and occupation of Palestinian territory.

This information leak also led to a security blackout in the Sinai region which has provided cover for the Sisi regime human rights abuses including the razing of Egyptian Rafah homes and infrastructure and the displacement of thousands of Bedouin tribes.

In 2019 Sisi admitted to CBS ‘60 Minutes’ News program that relations were the closest they had ever been with Israel. From a Reuters report:

Asked whether the cooperation was the closest and deepest that he has had with Israel, Sisi responded: "That is correct."

"The Air Force sometimes needs to cross to the Israeli side. And that's why we have a wide range of coordination with the Israelis,"

The Egyptian regime also tried to kill this report, demanding that CBS not air the interview. The request was denied.

Both Egypt and Israel have cooperated in closing down tunnels connecting the Sinai to Gaza, which have been used to smuggle people and goods in both directions. Egypt has also kept the border crossing between Gaza and the Sinai closed for the most part, generally only opening it for certain periods to allow for medical and family visits.

Again, I have personally experienced the dehumanisation and collective humiliation of Palestinians by the Egyptian security forces at the Rafah border crossing. In August 2012 temperatures were in the mid 40s and the area outside the entrance gates to the border terminal had no shade. Buses were constantly arriving carrying more Palestinian families to the area.

Thousands of Palestinians were waiting at the gates to be processed and to return to Gaza. The gates remained closed from morning to night for three days forcing us to sleep in Al Arish which was known as a security risk especially for foreigners.

On the third day, with crowds of Palestinians packed into a small area outside the gates in sweltering temperatures and a cloudless sky - the Egyptians opened a tiny side gate forcing the Palestinian crowds to crush each other in an attempt to push through the gap. Egyptian guards yelled and pushed the scrambling people, treating them just as Zionists treat them in the apartheid Occupied Territories. This inhumane treatment did not improve in the passport processing terminal where Egyptian intelligence forces deliberately delayed the procedures and left Palestinians waiting for hours.

In May 2020, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency traveled to Cairo to meet secretly with Egyptian officials, according to Israeli press reports. The meeting was supposedly geared to alerting Cairo about Netanyahu’s annexation plans for the West Bank - the plans were delayed but this serves to demonstrate the close intelligence and political ties between the two countries.

The natural gas field alliance

In 2021 Egypt’s Minister of Energy Tarek al-Molla traveled to Israel to meet with his Israeli counterpart, Yuval Steinitz, as well as with Prime Minister Netanyahu, to discuss a major collaborative project. From the ACDC report:

Gas from Palestine’s large offshore Leviathan field in the eastern Mediterranean would be transported via a new pipeline on the seabed to connect with liquefication facilities in Egypt. Currently, gas from the Leviathan field is being sent to Egypt via a pipeline that runs to the Sinai Peninsula. The goal of this new project, according to an Israeli official, would be to use these facilities to export gas to Europe, where demand is rising.

Undoubtedly, Israel sees this collaboration as a way of linking the Egyptian economy to Israel so that any future Egyptian leader would think twice about rolling back bilateral relations.

From Egypt’s perspective, this deal fits into its plans to become a major regional hub for natural gas. In 2015, a large gas field, called Zohr, was discovered in Egyptian territorial waters in the Mediterranean, and Egypt has been the force behind the establishment of the “East Mediterranean Gas Forum” which includes Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority which is nothing more than a traitorous subordinate of the Zionist regime.

The tourism incentive

In early March 2021, Israeli Minister of Intelligence Eli Cohen met with Egypt’s Deputy Minister of Intelligence Nasser Fahmi in the coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and said Egypt was doing “everything possible” to make the Sinai safe for Israeli tourists.

Interestingly, Cohen was reportedly accompanied by 60 Israeli officials and businesspeople, indicating that both countries hope to boost tourism in the coming years. (ACDC)

Again Egypt ensured scarce media coverage of the Cohen delegation. The risk of public backlash was still high with the Egyptian public sympathy consistently engrained in the Palestinian nationalist movement.

Cohen was cited as saying:

“Egypt is interested in promoting cooperation with Israel in all fields. We will continue to act to bolster economic and bilateral ties in the future.”

Polling in 2020 conducted by the respected Zogby Research Services found some interesting data on Egyptian public attitudes toward Israel and the Palestinian issue. The question “How important is it that there be a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?” revealed that 79 percent of Egyptians thought it was “very important”; 15 percent said “somewhat important”; and only 6 percent said “somewhat unimportant or not important at all.” Concerning the question about the possibility of Israeli annexation of large parts of the West Bank, 75 percent of Egyptians believe that cooperation with Israel should come to an end if that were to occur.

There are limits to how far Sisi can publicly go in collaborating with Israel and a more serious disconnect from the Arab Peace Initiative would incur domestic unrest. At the same time he must avoid any major confrontation with Israel to secure the strategic and economic projects that have ensured financial and political support from the Zionist lobby and supporters in the US. Sisi must also keep the US and EU on board to avoid prosecution for the human rights abuses conducted by his regime.

It should however come as no surprise that, since October 7th, the Sisi regime has banned journalists from entering Gaza:

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said “any unilateral action” by Egypt as regards letting journalists into Gaza might be seen [by Israel] as “inappropriate” and might “have adverse consequences to other components” of the arrangement between Egypt and Israel, such as “the entry of assistance.”

Cairo-based journalists confirmed that they had been told to request Israel’s agreement if they wanted to enter Gaza via the Egyptian Rafah border crossing. Those journalists who did seek Israel’s permission were refused entry.

An audio recording of the response that an Israeli press spokesperson gave to a journalist who requested a permit to enter via Rafah. She said she could not issue permits for a crossing point that is not under Israeli control and, referring to what the Egyptians are telling journalists, she said: “I have the impression it’s just a pretext. I think they’re making you go round in circles.”

Both regimes have an agenda of preventing international media coverage of the Zionist brutal genocide that has been ongoing for 9 months in Gaza. Israel is the driver of the blockade but Egypt is complicit in the deliberate news black-out which only serves to protect Israel from exposure as the terrorist entity it really is.

In Part Three I will get to the non-state actors with close ties to the Sisi regime who control Sinai, mediate with Israel and secure monopoly deals to rebuild Gaza post 2021’s Zionist aggression.

In further chapters I will also have a look at some of the organisations that publicly oppose Sisi’s normalisation-with-genocidal-Israel policy and examine who is really responsible for the humanitarian relief blockade on trucks entering Gaza through Rafah since October 7th, Israel or Egypt?

****

Thank you for reading, listening, watching. Please do consider subscribing to my Substack. Thank you to all those who already do! xx

https://substack.com/home/post/p-145662883

Opinion: Why I’m resigning from the State Department
Editor’s Note: Annelle Sheline, PhD, served for a year as a foreign affairs officer at the Office of Near Eastern Affairs in the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. The views expressed here are her own. Read more opinion on CNN.

CNN — normal
Since Hamas’ attack on October 7, Israel has used American bombs in its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 32,000 people — 13,000 of them children — with countless others buried under the rubble, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Israel is credibly accused of starving the 2 million people who remain, according to the UN special rapporteur on the right to food; a group of charity leaders warns that without adequate aid, hundreds of thousands more will soon likely join the dead.

Yet Israel is still planning to invade Rafah, where the majority of people in Gaza have fled; UN officials have described the carnage that is expected to ensue as “beyond imagination.” In the West Bank, armed settlers and Israeli soldiers have killed Palestinians, including US citizens. These actions, which experts on genocide have testified meet the crime of genocide, are conducted with the diplomatic and military support of the US government.

For the past year, I worked for the office devoted to promoting human rights in the Middle East. I believe strongly in the mission and in the important work of that office. However, as a representative of a government that is directly enabling what the International Court of Justice has said could plausibly be a genocide in Gaza, such work has become almost impossible. Unable to serve an administration that enables such atrocities, I have decided to resign from my position at the Department of State.

Whatever credibility the United States had as an advocate for human rights has almost entirely vanished since the war began. Members of civil society have refused to respond to my efforts to contact them. Our office seeks to support journalists in the Middle East; yet when asked by NGOs if the US can help when Palestinian journalists are detained or killed in Gaza, I was disappointed that my government didn’t do more to protect them. Ninety Palestinian journalists in Gaza have been killed in the last five months, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. That is the most recorded in any single conflict since the CPJ started collecting data in 1992.

By resigning publicly, I am saddened by the knowledge that I likely foreclose a future at the State Department. I had not initially planned a public resignation. Because my time at State had been so short — I was hired on a two-year contract — I did not think I mattered enough to announce my resignation publicly. However, when I started to tell colleagues of my decision to resign, the response I heard repeatedly was, “Please speak for us.”

Related article Opinion: What Biden needs to know about Rafah

Across the federal government, employees like me have tried for months to influence policy, both internally and, when that failed, publicly. My colleagues and I watched in horror as this administration delivered thousands of precision-guided munitions, bombs, small arms and other lethal aid to Israel and authorized thousands more, even bypassing Congress to do so. We are appalled by the administration’s flagrant disregard for American laws that prohibit the US from providing assistance to foreign militaries that engage in gross human rights violations or that restrict the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The Biden administration’s own policy states, “The legitimacy of and public support for arms transfers among the populations of both the United States and recipient nations depends on the protection of civilians from harm, and the United States distinguishes itself from other potential sources of arms transfers by elevating the importance of protecting civilians.” Yet this noble statement of policy has been directly in contradiction with the actions of the president who promulgated it.

President Joe Biden himself indirectly admits that Israel is not protecting Palestinian civilians from harm. Under pressure from some congressional Democrats, the administration issued a new policy to ensure that foreign military transfers don’t violate relevant domestic and international laws.

Yet just recently, the State Department ascertained that Israel is in compliance with international law in the conduct of the war and in providing humanitarian assistance. To say this when Israel is preventing the adequate entrance of humanitarian aid and the US is being forced to air drop food to starving Gazans, this finding makes a mockery of the administration’s claims to care about the law or about the fate of innocent Palestinians.

Related article Opinion: The crux of Israel’s challenge

Some have argued that the US lacks influence over Israel. Yet Retired Israeli Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Brick noted in November that Israel’s missiles, bombs and airplanes all come from the US. “The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting,” he said. “Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”

Even now, Israel is considering invading Lebanon, which brings a heightened risk of regional conflict that would be catastrophic. The US has sought to prevent this outcome but shows no appetite for withholding offensive weapons from Israel in order to compel greater restraint there or in Gaza. Biden’s support for Israel’s far-right government thus risks sparking a wider conflagration in the region, which could well put US troops in harm’s way.

So many of my colleagues feel betrayed. I write for myself but speak for many others, including Feds United for Peace, a group mobilizing for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza that represents federal workers in their personal capacities across the country, and across 30 federal agencies and departments. After four years of then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to cripple the department, State employees embraced Biden’s pledge to rebuild American diplomacy. For some, US support for Ukraine against Russia’s illegal occupation and bombardment seemed to reestablish America’s moral leadership. Yet the administration continues to enable Israel’s illegal occupation and destruction of Gaza.

I am haunted by the final social media post of Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old US Air Force serviceman who self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington on February 25: “Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”

I can no longer continue what I was doing. I hope that my resignation can contribute to the many efforts to push the administration to withdraw support for Israel’s war, for the sake of the 2 million Palestinians whose lives are at risk and for the sake of America’s moral standing in the world.


https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/27/opinions/gaza-israel-resigning-state-department-sheline/index.html

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 171: ‘Horrific’ eyewitness accounts continue to emerge from Israel’s siege on Gaza’s hospitals
Leila WarahMarch 25, 2024
Injured Palestinians, including children, are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir El-Balah for treatment following the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, on March 23, 2024. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)
Injured Palestinians, including children, are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir El-Balah for treatment following the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, on March 23, 2024. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)
Casualties

32,333 + killed* and at least 74,694 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
435+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
594 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.***
*Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on its Telegram channel. Some rights groups estimate the death toll to be much higher when accounting for those presumed dead.

** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to the PA’s Ministry of Health on March 17, this is the latest figure.

*** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”

Key Developments

UNRWA: Israel says no more UNRWA food convoys to north Gaza.
UNRWA chief: Israeli decision to deny all UNRWA food convoys to northern Gaza is “obstruct[ing] lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine.”
Doctors Without Borders “deeply concerned” after medical staff arrested at al-Shifa Hospital amid “heavy air strikes by Israeli forces and fierce fighting” nearby.
Tanks crushed bodies, ambulances at al-Shifa Hospital, reports AP News, citing witnesses.
Footage emerges of Israeli soldiers assaulting Palestinian boy
Casualties in Israeli attack on aid distributors at Kuwaiti roundabout in Gaza City, reports Al Jazeera.
Israeli forces raid Al Aqsa mosque during nightly prayers, assault and expel worshipers, reports Al Jazeera journalist.
WHO Chief: Israel must reverse decision on blocking north Gaza aid.
Israeli war cabinet minister threatens to quit if bill exempting ultra-Orthodox Jews from conscription passes
UNRWA: U.S. funding cut will ‘compromise access to food’ in Gaza.
UN special rapporteurs decry underreporting of sexual violence against Palestinians.
Israel blocks access to Jerusalem for West Bank Christians on Palm Sunday, reports Wafa.
PRCS says it has lost radio contact with staff at al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis.
Euro-Med: Israel’s attacks on academics in line with Gaza ‘genocide’
WAFA correspondent killed along with son Israeli airstrike on Gaza
MAP report: Doctor says conditions inside European Gaza Hospital ‘unimaginable’
Gaza: Three Hospitals under military siege

The Israeli military has imposed ongoing sieges on at least three medical facilities in the besieged enclave, terrorizing, injuring, and killing thousands of civilians in the process.

Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza has entered its seventh day under siege, and the civilians able to flee are reporting ruthless massacres in and around the medical complex.

A teenage Palestinian boy, Farouk Mohammed Hamd, told Al Jazeera he witnessed Israeli soldiers executing a group of eight people, including his father and brother, inside al-Shifa Hospital.

He said he and the others were stripped of their clothing and moved several times inside the al-Shifa Hospital building in central Gaza over the course of hours before being taken to the top floor of the facility.

“They left us for about three hours, then said, ‘You are safe. You can go south.”

“We stood up, but then they opened fire. We all laid down on the floor again. Then, the snipers entertained themselves by shooting us one after the other.”

Hamad said his father told him before being killed to run away if he could, and he managed to run, but not before seeing the unresponsive bodies of the executed group.

On Sunday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its staff have reported “heavy air strikes by Israeli forces and fierce fighting” in the vicinity of al-Shifa hospital, “endangering patients, medical staff and people trapped inside with very few supplies.”

Jameel al-Ayoubi, one of the thousands of Palestinians sheltering at the hospital, saw Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers drive over at least four bodies in the hospital courtyard, AP News reports. Ambulances were also crushed, he says.

Kareem Ayman Hathat, who lived in a five-story building about 100 meters (328 feet) from the hospital, told AP he hid in his kitchen for days waiting as explosions shook the building.

“From time to time, the tank would fire a shell,” he said. “It was to terrorise us.”

MSF added that Israeli forces have carried out a mass-arrest campaign of medical staff and other people and that the organization is “deeply concerned” for the safety of those detained.

Meanwhile, another two hospitals in Khan Younis have been under Israeli military siege for the last 24 hours: al-Amal and Nasser hospitals, reports Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud from Gaza.

“Military vehicles, tanks and attack drones are encircling these two facilities. They’re also blocking the entrance with piles of sand, preventing medical staff, patients and injured people inside from leaving safely and constantly failing to provide a safe corridor for people and evacuees trapped inside the hospital,” Mahmoud said.

Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) gave their latest update on the situation in al Amal hospital on Sunday afternoon, saying Israeli tanks and armored vehicles have completely surrounded all entrances to the hospital and control any movement in and out.

Israeli forces attacked the hospital earlier on Sunday, surrounding it with tanks and forcing nearly everyone inside, from patients to displaced Palestinians sheltering there, to evacuate.

“What we’re getting confirmed from al-Amal Hospital is that not only has it been under constant bombing and tank shells, but loudspeakers are ordering people inside the hospital to come out only with their underwear on. And that has been confirmed by multiple sources and witnesses on the ground, those who managed to flee the harrowing situation,” Mahmoud added.

On Sunday evening, the PRCS announced that they lost radio contact with their staff at the hospital.

While all displaced Palestinians and patients who could move independently were evacuated towards the al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, hospital staff remain, along with nine patients and their ten companions and a displaced family with children who have disabilities. PCRS says all of them need to be safely evacuated.

PRCS added that staff member Amir Abu Aisha and a wounded individual who was being treated at the hospital after being shot in the head by the Israeli military were both killed, and their bodies need to be removed.

In a statement, Hamas said the Israeli military is systematically targeting hospitals across Gaza with the goal of displacing all Palestinians from their lands, showing Israel wants to continue its “war of extermination” against Palestinians and forcibly displace them from their land “by destroying all means of life in the Gaza Strip, especially hospitals,” reported Al Jazeera.

Underreporting of sexual violence against Palestinians

Witnesses at al-Shifa hospital have reported that “Palestinian women have been subjected to rape, torture, and execution by Israeli forces.”

Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said in a post on X that it is “abhorrent” that reports of rape by Israeli forces keep coming out without any consequences.

“Rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide! It must stop!”

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, similarly said, “I lost count of how many renowned journalists interviewed me on the alleged mistreatment of/sexual abuse against Palestinian women by Israeli forces, and never published any article on this.”

“What we can see on the ground is a systematic creation of a corrosive environment in which Israel, with its destruction of neighborhoods and hospitals, is making Gaza unliveable for the majority of Palestinians,” said Al Jazeera co-respondent, Tareq Abu Azzoum from Gaza while reporting on the besieged hospitals.

“Horrific scenes” at European Hospital

Meanwhile, at Gaza’s European Hospital near Khan Younis, one of the last functioning medical facilities, medical staff report “horrific scenes” at the hospital with patients “dying from infections with evidence of serious malnutrition,” reported Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).

Husam Basheer, an orthopedic surgeon working at the hospital, says he and his staff are “managing with the bare minimum of resources” at the medical facility due to Israeli restrictions on medical aid entering the besieged enclave.

“One day we wanted to do a plate and screw, which is a standard procedure for bone fixation, but we didn’t have the right equipment. Sometimes we’ve also lacked gauze which is a basic supply for surgery. We worked around the challenges we faced and managed in a different way, but the staff here are overwhelmed,” he said.

Similarly, Konstantina Ilia Karydi, an anesthetist, described the situation inside the medical facility as “unimaginable.”

“This hospital had an original capacity of just 200 beds. Now, it has expanded to 1,000 beds,” she said.

“There are around 22,000 displaced people sheltering in the corridors and in tents inside the hospital because people feel that it’s safer to be here than anywhere else.”

Israel bars UNRWA from northern Gaza

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Sunday that Israel has officially barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.

“This is outrageous [and] makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine. These restrictions must be lifted,” the head of the UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, wrote in an X post.

Famine is likely to occur by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the enclave by July, according to the world’s hunger watchdog, Integrated Food-Security Phase Classification (IPC), said last week.

Lazzarini warned that Israel’s decision would speed up the coming of famine in the north of the Strip and said that “many more will die of hunger, dehydration.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), says Israel must “urgently reverse” its decision to block the entry of food convoys organized by UNRWA into northern Gaza, where humanitarian needs are most urgent.

“The levels of hunger are acute. All efforts to deliver food should not only be permitted but there should be an immediate acceleration of food deliveries,” Ghebreyesus said in a post on X.

Martin Griffiths, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator at the UN, says he repeatedly urged Israel to lift all its restrictions on aid to Gaza. Still, it has now done the exact opposite.

“UNRWA is the beating heart of the humanitarian response in Gaza,” Griffiths said on X , “The decision to block its food convoys to the north only pushes thousands closer to famine. It must be revoked.”

No other agency is able to provide lifesaving assistance in Gaza in the same way as UNRWA, Natalie Boucly, the deputy commissioner-general of the UN agency, has said on X.

Boucly added that attempts to “isolate” UNRWA will result in more people dying, “UNRWA is part of the UN and it was given a specific mandate by the General Assembly.”

In January, several countries cut funding to UNRWA following unverified Israeli allegations that less than a dozen employees participated in Hamas’s operation on October 7.

While some countries, including Canada and Sweden, have since reinstated their funding, several countries, including the US, have yet to follow suit, which will have severe implications for Palestinians in Gaza and the region.

Israel is using famine as a “weapon of war” in Gaza to put pressure on the Palestinian people to leave the besieged enclave, Adel Abdel Ghafar, an analyst at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera.
“In Gaza, the humanitarian community is racing against the clock to avert famine. As the backbone of the humanitarian response, any gap in funding to UNRWA will compromise access to food, shelter, primary health care & education at a time of deep trauma,” the organization’s chief, Lazzarini, wrote on X.

“Palestine Refugees are counting on the international community to step up support to meet their basic needs.”

Israel is using famine as a “weapon of war” in Gaza to put pressure on the Palestinian people to leave the besieged enclave, Adel Abdel Ghafar, an analyst at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera.

The “dream” of many far-right politicians in Israel is to make Gaza “uninhabitable” for Palestinians, with the goal of re-establishing settlements for the Israelis, Ghafar continued.

“The destruction of schools, hospitals, infrastructure [is making Gaza] almost unlivable and it will force the international community to take further refugees and thin out the population of Gaza,” he said.

“I think Israel wants to have a big chunk of the population leave and become refugees elsewhere.”

UN Resolution for ceasefire

On Monday, the UN Security Council is expected to vote on yet another resolution regarding Israel’s war on Gaza. Since October seven, only two of eight resolutions have been accepted, with both mainly dealing with humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave.

Guterres says the most recent UN Security Council resolution does not link a ceasefire in Gaza to the release of Israeli captives, reported Al Jazeera.

In the resolution, “a ceasefire is required together with, but not in a linkage with, the unconditional release of all hostages,” he said. “And we have also claimed the need for that release.”

Diplomats told the AFP news agency that the resolution had been worked on with the U.S. to avoid a veto, reported France 24. The U.S. has vetoed three resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“We expect, barring a last-minute twist, that the resolution will be adopted and that the US will not vote against it,” one diplomat told AFP.

Last Friday, the Security Council voted on a draft submitted by the U.S. that called for an “immediate” ceasefire linked to the release of captives. China and Russia vetoed the resolution, criticizing it for stopping short of explicitly demanding Israel halt its campaign.

No progress on negotiations.

Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas have continued negotiations mediated by Qatar with little progress.

Hamas’s political bureau official Basem Naim says a lot of “misinformation” has recently been circulated through the media regarding the ongoing truce talks in Doha, reported Al Jazeera.

Naim said the Israelis are focusing on only one aspect of the negotiations, the release of captives, and are unwilling to discuss Hamas’s three demands – a permanent end to the war, “total withdrawal” from Gaza, and the return of displaced people to their homes.

Hamas had proposed the release of some 100 Israeli captives in phases in exchange for a permanent end to the war, total withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the return of displaced people to their homes; however, according to Al Jazeera, Israel rejected the demand to end the war and withdraw troops from Gaza.

Al Jazeera added that Israeli negotiators said they would allow only 2,000 Palestinians to return to their homes each day, meaning it would take more than two years for all displaced Palestinians to leave Rafah.

Meanwhile, Israel wants all Israeli captives released immediately. Hamas has indicated it will only release women and children in the first phase.

As negotiations continue, Yossi Amrosi, an ex-senior official of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as admitting that the Israeli army does not have the means to return all captives currently held in Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said at the start of the war that it had taken 250 captives during its October 7 incursion into Israel.

According to the Qassam Brigades, 50 captives have been killed in Israeli air raids. Israeli intelligence officers say 30 captives have died in Gaza so far since they were taken to the enclave.

https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-171-horrific-eyewitness-accounts-continue-to-emerge-from-israels-siege-on-gazas-hospitals/

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 166: Israel kills Gaza officials handling food delivery to the north; Canada votes to halt arms sales to Israel
Mustafa Abu SneinehMarch 20, 2024
Palestinians embrace in a bombed out building that was attacked by Israeli airstrikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing 27 members of the same family (Photo: APA Images)
A view from the damaged buildings after Israeli airstrikes on Nuseirat in central Gaza killed 27 members of the same family on March 20, 2024. As a result of the attack, many buildings were destroyed and surrounding buildings were damaged. Palestinians in the area carried out search and rescue operations in the rubble of buildings destroyed in the attack. (Omar Ashtawy/apaimages)
Casualties

31,923 + killed* and at least 74,096 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
435+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
594 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.***
*Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number at more than 40,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.

** The death toll in West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to PA’s Ministry of Health on March 17, this is the latest figure.

*** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”

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Key Developments

Israel bombs members of Palestinian clans and officers of Gaza’s emergency committee who handled aid supplies and delivery in north Gaza.
Among people Israel killed on Tuesday evening is Amjad Hathat, director of Gaza’s emergency committee. On Monday, Israel assassinated Faiq Mabhouh, head of police operations in Gaza, who handled delivery of food in north Gaza.
Hamas accuses Israel of spreading chaos in north Gaza in bid to create “administrative vacuum” by targeting members of emergency committee.
In north Gaza, every 25 individuals share one kilogram of flour, or 20 loaves of bread, over one or two days. However, thousands of others cannot get a single loaf.
Doctor who visited Gaza tells UN that “infections are getting worse and worse,” with whole families suffering from explosive injuries and burns.
Israeli airstrikes on houses in Nuseirat refugee camp kill at least 27 Palestinians from the Habbash family.
Israel’s Finance Minister says expanding settlements is “holistic Zionist response to [EU] declaration” of planned sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Israeli forces and settlers kill two Palestinians in the West Bank in separate incidents.
Canada to halt arms sales to Israel after non-binding vote in parliament.
Agreement made between White House and U.S. Congress bars U.S. funds to UNRWA until March 2025, according to a Reuters report.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says, “We will reiterate our opposition to military action on the ground by Israel in Rafah that could have even more catastrophic consequences for the civilians crowded in that area.”
Israel bombs north Gaza’s Kuwait roundabout, targeting authorities tasked with aid delivery

Israeli forces bombed a gathering point of dozens of Palestinians near the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City, killing at least 23 people and injuring dozens on Tuesday evening.

Most of them were members of Palestinian clans and officers of Gaza’s emergency committee who handled aid supplies and deliveries to starving people in north Gaza.

Since Saturday, they had successfully ensured the arrival of 35 aid trucks at the Kuwait and Nabulsi roundabouts, unloading the deliveries in shelters and centers of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza’s Al-Tuffah neighborhood and Jabalia refugee camp.

Such a mission could not have been successful without Gaza Police directing Palestinians not to gather around aid trucks on Al-Rashid and Sala El-Din streets in north Gaza and allowing the emergency committee to do its job of unloading and distributing food.

The missions between local police, the heads of clans in Gaza, and UNRWA were coordinated in an effort to protect civilians in the north after numerous attacks in recent weeks in which Israeli forces shot and killed hundreds of Palestinians as crowds attempted to get food and flour from trucks in Gaza since late February; a number of the dead were also reportedly killed in the crowd crush.

In the past few days, Palestinians lined up to get their rations of flour inside the premises of the humanitarian centers in Jabalia and Gaza. Among the people Israel killed on Tuesday evening is Amjad Hathat, the director of Gaza’s emergency committee.

Hamas says Israel is ‘spreading chaos’ in north Gaza

In response to the targeting of the local officials in north Gaza, Hamas accused Israel of “spreading chaos” in a bid to create an “administrative vacuum” by targeting the emergency committee. Ismail Al-Thawabteh, a media government spokesperson, told Al-Jazeera Arabic that Israel allows aid trucks to enter north Gaza and then bombs people approaching it.

On Monday evening, Israel assassinated Faiq Al-Mabhouh, the head of police operations in Gaza, who handled the entry of food trucks and managed to deliver 13 of them to north Gaza. Israel said Mabhouh was “the head of Operations Directorate of the Internal Security Service of Hamas.”

Tel Aviv is trying to create an authority in the Gaza Strip in place of Hamas, and it views the successful coordination between local clans, Gaza Police and UN agencies to deliver aid as a sign of Hamas’s ability to administer in Gaza.

Israel is still trying to use food and medical deliveries as a tool to strengthen and push some clan leaders to the front seat and put them in charge of handling the aid, coordinating with Israel and the international agencies.

However, several Palestinian clans in the Gaza Strip refused to be “an alternative political regime” in the Gaza Strip and coordinate humanitarian missions with Israel.

One kilogram of flour for every 25 people

Although dozens of aid trucks reached north Gaza in the past days, where thousands of Palestinians are at risk of famine and starvation, the loads remain short to meet people’s needs.

Al-Akhbar reported that a flour truck arrived at Abu Bakr al-Razi shelter center in Gaza’s Al-Tuffah neighborhood on Monday, where 8,000 people currently live, and contained 1,000 bags of flour, each weighing 25 kilograms.

“We give each family what is sufficient for one or two days only. We have no other choice,” a member of the emergency committee told Al-Akhbar’s correspondent.

“Every 25 individuals share one kilogram of flour. Knowing that a kilogram is enough to make 20 loaves, it means that a large number of people… won’t get even a single loaf of bread,” in Gaza, he added.

Children in Gaza face grave injuries, malnutrition as hospitals struggle to operate

A few trucks were also loaded with medical supplies and delivered to the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia, to Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in north Gaza, which are depleted and partially operating. Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are still short of fuel, medicine and medical machines, while other hospitals like Al-Shifa in Gaza City have been under Israeli attack since Sunday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has long warned that Israel is generating a famine in north Gaza, and that “over a million people are expected to face catastrophic hunger unless significantly more food is allowed to enter Gaza.”

Children have already started dying of malnutrition in Gaza, which has long-term effects, such as “low consumption of nutrient-rich foods, repeated infections, and [the] lack of hygiene and sanitation services slow children’s overall growth,” the WHO added.

Israel has killed more than 13,000 children in bombing Gaza since October 7, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Four doctors from France, the U.S. and the U.K., who visited the Gaza Strip, said during a UN event in New York that the healthcare system in the enclave is collapsing and that they treated children severely burned by Israel’s bombs.

Nick Maynard, a cancer surgeon with British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, saw a Palestinian girl so badly burned in an Israeli bombardment that he could see her facial bones.

“We knew there was no chance of her surviving that but there was no morphine to give her,” Maynard said. “So not only was she inevitably going to die but she would die in agony.”

Maynar said that an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah “will be apocalyptic, the number of deaths we’re going to see.”

Amber Alayyan, a pediatrician doctor, said hospitals in Gaza are operating on patients and the injured amid lack of supplies and in dire conditions.

“The infections are getting worse and worse,” she said.

“We have seen patients who traveled, who were victims of explosive injuries, a family of 11, for example, a whole family that arrived at our hospital in the south from the north,” Alayyan told the UN.

“They’ve been moving for three months looking for hospital care. They were victims of explosions. Eleven members of the family were burnt,” she added.

Israeli attack on Nuseirat refugee camp kills 27 family members

In the past 24 hours, Israeli forces committed 10 massacres in various areas of the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health on Telegram, killing at least 104 people and injuring 162. Thousands remain under the rubble of bombed buildings, and nearly 32,000 Palestinians were killed and 74,000 injured.

Israeli air strikes on houses in Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, killed at least 27 Palestinians from the Habbash family and injured dozens, Wafa news agency reported.

In north Gaza, Israel bombed Al-Rimal and Al-Daraj neighborhoods. Palestinian rescue team recovered the bodies of 20 people in Gaza City following an Israeli bombardment.

In Beit Lahia and Deir Al-Balah, Israeli artillery bombed several areas, while in Bureij refugee camp, six Palestinians were recovered from under the rubble of a bombed house.

Italian PM opposes Rafah Invasion, Canada votes to stop arms transfers to Israel

The Israeli government has vowed to press on with its planned invasion of the crowded city of Rafah in southern Gaza, despite warnings from international leaders and humanitarian groups. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has joined the chorus, saying that her country opposes the planned offensive.

“We will reiterate our opposition to military action on the ground by Israel in Rafah that could have even more catastrophic consequences for the civilians crowded in that area,” Meloni told lawmakers in the Senate.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said during a meeting with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi this week, that she is “concerned about the risks a full-scale offensive in Rafah would have on the most vulnerable civilian population. This needs to be avoided at all costs.”

An Israeli invasion of Rafah, the southernmost town in the Gaza Strip where 1.2 million Palestinians are sheltering, could spike tensions with Egypt which watches the western side of the border.

Some Israeli officials and ministers said their wish is to evacuate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt. However, Egypt is closing its borders firmly, and is not allowing mass flux of Palestinians to its territories.

Meanwhile, Canada’s House of Commons voted on Tuesday to halt arms sales to Israel, with Canadian foreign affairs minister, Mélanie Joly, reaffirming the vote, saying her government would halt future arms shipments to Israel, saying “it is a real thing.”

Smotrich calls settlements ‘holistic’ response to sanctions

Israel’s Finance Minister and far-right settler Bezalel Smotrich, suggested that expanding settlement was the “holistic” response to an agreement by the EU on Monday to sanction Israeli settlers, who assaulted Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

“There is one holistic Zionist response to this [EU] declaration, strengthening and entrenching settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel,” Smotrich said on Tuesday.

He claimed that the Israeli justice system could deal with incidents of settlers’ violence on Palestinians. Israeli authorities systematically fail to investigate and prosecute ideological crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and are often documented joining the settlers in their attacks on Palestinian communities.

The far-right minister is a vocal opponent of the establishment of Palestinian state, and is a supporter of annexing the West Bank into Israel. In January, he said Israel should “encourage the migration of Gaza residents as a solution to the humanitarian crisis”.

The U.S. has recently sanctioned several Israeli settlers involved in attacks against Palestinians, including two entire outposts for the first time.

Israeli forces and settlers kill two Palestinians in West Bank

Two Palestinian were killed in separate incidents in the West Bank on Tuesday afternoon.

Ziad Farhan Diab Hamran, 31, from the Al-Hashimiyah village in Jenin, was shot by Israeli forces near the entrance of Beit Fajjar village and the settlement of Gush Etzion, near Bethlehem. His body remains in Israel’s custody.

Israel said that Hamran shot two intelligence officers from the Shin Bet, who were injured in the attack. Hamran succumbed to his wounds on Tuesday evening.

In Nablus, Israeli settlers killed Fakher Bassem Bani Jaber, 43, from Aqraba village, south of Nablus.

Wafa reported that Jaber was taken to Rafidiya Hospital where he died. Settlers attacked Khirbet al-Tawil area, near Aqraba village, which prompted Palestinians to defend their lands.In occupied Jerusalem, only 20,000 Palestinians performed Ramadan’s Al-Tarawih prayer on the tenth night as Israeli authorities kept restricting the numbers of Palestinians who could enter Jerusalem from the West Bank. It was also rainy and cold in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, Wafa reported.

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https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-166-israel-kills-gaza-officials-handling-food-delivery-to-the-north-canada-votes-to-halt-arms-sales-to-israel/


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‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 165: Israeli attacks escalate on Rafah, al-Shifa Hospital invasion enters second day
Mustafa Abu SneinehMarch 19, 2024
A Palestinian man inspects a destroyed building following an Israeli air attack on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, March 19 2024. (Photo: © Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa via ZUMA Press APA Images)
A Palestinian man inspects a destroyed building following an Israeli air attack on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, March 19 2024. (Photo: © Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa via ZUMA Press APA Images)
Casualties

31,819 + killed* and at least 73,934 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
435+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
594 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.***
*Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number at more than 40,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.

** The death toll in West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to PA’s Ministry of Health on March 17, this is the latest figure.

*** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”

Key Developments

Palestinian Authority warns that Israel started offensive on Rafah without official announcement to avoid international pressure.
Majed Al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, says Israeli attack on Rafah will negatively affect the ceasefire talks in Doha.
Ansari says “it is still too early to talk about any breakthrough in the negotiations” between Israel and Hamas, but mediators remain “optimistic.”
All communication with Palestinian medical staff trapped inside al-Shifa Hospital went silent on Monday evening
Israel arrests Al-Jazeera correspondent Ismail Al-Ghoul in al-Shifa Hospital. He says Israeli forces detained them for 12 hours, destroyed media tent, and seized smartphones, cameras, and laptops from journalists.
WHO chief says, “hospitals should never be battlegrounds. We are terribly worried about the situation at al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, which is endangering health workers, patients, and civilians.”
Israel bombs several houses on Al-Jalaa Street in north Gaza, close to al-Shifa Hospital, killing and injuring several Palestinians and causing immense damage.
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA chief, was barred entry by Israel to Rafah, while Tel Aviv says he did not follow “proper procedure.”
Lazzarini says his visit “was supposed to coordinate and improve the humanitarian response. This man-made starvation under our watch is a stain on our collective humanity.”
Israeli settlers vandalize UNRWA’s headquarters in occupied Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and affix posters on main gate calling for its closure.
In Jerusalem, only 25,000 Palestinians were allowed by Israeli forces to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Ramadan’s prayer on the ninth night.
Ahmed Al-Tibi, Palestinian Knesset member, warns that the life of national figure and Fatah leader Marwan Al-Barghouti is at risk inside Israeli prison.
PA warns that “Israel began to destroy Rafah”

The Palestinian Authority (PA) warned that Israel has started an offensive on Rafah without an official announcement to avoid international pressure.

Overnight, Israel heavily bombed Rafah, killing at least 14 Palestinians in the area where more than one million people are displaced, the majority of them living in tents.

“Israel began to destroy Rafah on a daily basis and in a systematic manner through repeated attacks on homes, bombing them, and killing and wounding dozens of civilians,” the PA’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

It added that to avoid condemnation and international pressure to halt such attacks, “Israel… did not wait for permission from anyone, and did not announce” the operation publicly.

The escalation of Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling in Rafah comes as the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting the region where talks between Israel and Hamas continue in Qatar, but has not seen any breakthrough to reach a ceasefire and hostages’ exchange deal.

Israel has bombed several areas in Rafah overnight, targeting mainly Palestinian homes and residential blocks, according to Wafa, including the neighborhoods of Musabah, Khirbet Al-Adas, and Al-Jeneina.

On Tuesday, Majed Al-Ansari, the spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, said that an attack on Rafah would negatively affect the ceasefire talks in Doha.

“Any attack on Rafah will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe and will negatively affect the progress of the talks,” he said. Ansari added that mediators are working on a temporary ceasefire deal to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

“It is still too early to talk about any breakthrough in the negotiations, but we are optimistic about that,” he said, according to Al-Jazeera Arabic.

Displaced Palestinians fleeing from the vicinity of Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital arrive at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 18, 2024. (Photo: Naaman Omar/APA Images)
Displaced Palestinians fleeing from the vicinity of Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital arrive at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 18, 2024. (Photo: Naaman Omar/APA Images)
Al-Shifa Hospital under Israeli control for second day

In north Gaza, Israel forces storming of the al-Shifa Hospital has been ongoing since late on Sunday.

All communication with medical staff trapped inside the hospital went silent on Monday evening. This is the second time Israeli forces stormed the al-Shifa Hospital since October, this time claiming that there were Hamas figures inside it, but has yet to provide evidence.

A fire broke out in the al-Shifa’s specialized surgery building after the Israeli assault began. Around 25,000 Palestinians were sheltering in the medical complex, and Israel arrested 90 Palestinians, including journalists from inside al-Shifa. Among them was Al-Jazeera’s correspondent in north Gaza, Ismail al-Ghoul, who was released after 12 hours of detention.

Al-Ghoul later said that Israeli forces destroyed the media tent inside the al-Shifa Hospital and seized smartphones, cameras, and laptops from journalists who were arrested and stripped of their clothes.

“The [Israeli] occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us and interrogated all the journalists present in the place,” he told Al-Jazeera Arabic in a phone call on Monday.

Al-Ghoul is one of the few journalists who report from north Gaza to a mainstream TV channel. He recently reported Israeli forces killing hundreds of Palestinians who gathered to get flour, aid and food near the Al-Nabulsi roundabout and Al-Rashid Street in Gaza City.

“Hospitals should never be battlegrounds”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the chief of World Health Organization (WHO), said that “hospitals should never be battlegrounds. We are terribly worried about the situation at al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, which is endangering health workers, patients, and civilians.”

Ghebreyesus added that the al-Shifa Hospital is partially operating. In November, Israeli forces stormed the complex following days of siege, claiming that Hamas hosted a “command center” underneath the facility and has yet to present a proof.

Israel also bombed several houses on Al-Jalaa Street in north Gaza, which is close to the al-Shifa Hospital, killing and injuring several Palestinians and causing immense damage to the area.

Some Palestinians were walking on Al-Jalaa Street at the time of the air raids, others came back from getting flour to find their apartments bombed while their families were inside.

In the past 24 hours, Israeli forces committed several massacres in various areas of the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health on Telegram, killing at least 93 people and injuring 142. Thousands remain under the rubble of bombed buildings.

Israeli bombing killed 16 Palestinians in north Gaza overnight. At least 15 people were killed in an Israeli air raid on a house of the Muqbel family in central Gaza City. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that 14 members have been killed since the Israeli aggression started on Gaza in October.

In north Gaza, Israel bombed the house of the Al-Banna family in Jabalia, killing at least eight people, Wafa reported. Hundreds of Palestinians saw their tents sink or blown away as a result of strong wind and torrential rain in Deir al-Balah, Rafah, and the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis overnight, Wafa reported.

Israel denies entry for UNRWA chief to Rafah

Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), was barred entry to Rafah by Israel, as Tel Aviv claimed he did not follow “proper procedure.”

Last month, Lazzarini accused Israel of aiming to destroy UNRWA and defended the organization’s relentless work in offering humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“I intended to go to Rafah today, but I have been informed an hour ago that my entry into Rafah is declined,” Lazzarini said during a press conference in Cairo on Monday alongside the Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry.

Shoukry said that Lazzarini was barred by Israel. “You were declined by the Israeli government, refused the entry, which is an unprecedented move for a representative at this high position,” he said.

Although the Rafah crossing is an entry point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, Israel is in charge of who can enter or leave the enclave, according to the Israeli-Egyptian agreement.

Lazzarini also accused Israel of creating a man-made famine in Gaza and said that UNRWA was “engaged in a race against the clock to try to reverse the impact of the spreading hunger and the looming famine in the Gaza Strip.”

He added that his visit “was supposed to coordinate and improve the humanitarian response. This man-made starvation under our watch is a stain on our collective humanity.”

“Too much time was wasted, all land crossings must open now. Famine can be averted with political will,” Lazzarini said.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine, wrote on X platform that “Israel wants no witnesses, no truth-tellers”, in a comment on Lazzarini’s entry denial.

On Monday, Israeli settlers vandalized the headquarters of UNRWA in occupied Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. They have affixed posters on the main gate calling for the shutdown of UNRWA agency, which also provides humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Jerusalem’s refugee camps, and operate in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

Muslims who managed to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque are seen performing tarawih and night prayers during holy month of Ramadan in Jerusalem on March 17, 2024. (Photo: Department of Islamic Awqaf in Jerusalem/APA Images)
Muslims who managed to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque are seen performing tarawih and night prayers during holy month of Ramadan in Jerusalem on March 17, 2024. (Photo: Department of Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem/APA Images)
Israeli settlers attack Deir Istiya village

Overnight, Israeli forces arrested several Palestinians from the occupied West Bank towns of Hebron, Jenin, Qalqilya, Nablus, and the Balata refugee camp.

In Jerusalem, only 25,000 Palestinians were allowed by Israeli forces to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Ramadan’s Al-Tarawih prayer on the ninth night. This is a sharp drop from the 60,000 Palestinians who performed Al-Tarawih on Saturday night.

Israeli authorities are still limiting the number of Palestinians from the West Bank to enter Jerusalem. Last week, Israeli forces set up at least 30 makeshift checkpoints on the outskirts of the Old City, at the city’s gates and the entrances of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Since October, Israel has issued 100 deportation orders against Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and Palestinian citizens of Israel, barring 55 of them from entry to Jerusalem and 45 to Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to Wadi Hilweh Human Rights Information Center.

Wadi Hilweh added that this has become a routine policy “to deprive Palestinians of their right to worship and visit Al-Aqsa,” especially around religious occasions such as Ramadan.

In the north of the West Bank, Israeli settlers attacked Deir Istiya village near Salfit, stole contents from an agricultural room owned by Youssef Salman, and destroyed the solar panels, Wafa reported.

Marwan Al-Barghouti’s life is in danger inside Israeli prison

Ahmed Al-Tibi, the Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, warned that the life of Marwan Al-Barghouti is at risk inside Israeli prison.

Barghouti, a popular national figure and Fatah leader was put in solitary confinement in Megiddo prison. Since October, he has moved between several detention centers, including Ofer, Ramla, and Rimonim.

“Marwan Al-Barghouti’s life is in danger inside the prison due to the assault on him and other detainees. I hold Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for any harm caused to him, his life, or the lives of the prisoners,” Al-Tibi said in a video post on the X platform.

He added that Barghouti was assaulted and bled as a result, and warned that since October, 13 Palestinians died inside Israeli jail, “some of them were found murdered, according to families and judges, due to violence and torture.”

Barghouti is seen by Palestinians as a national figure who could bridge the schism between Fatah and Hamas and lead a future Palestinian state. Hamas insisted that Barghouti will be among the prisoners that will be released in any exchange deal with Israel.

Last month, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the National Security Minister, said that he ordered the transfer of Barghouti to solitary confinement in prison “following information about a planned uprising” in the occupied West Bank.

https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-165-israeli-attacks-escalate-on-rafah-al-shifa-hospital-invasion-enters-second-day/

https://telegra.ph/Operation-Al-Aqsa-Flood-Day-165-Israeli-attacks-escalate-on-Rafah-al-Shifa-Hospital-invasion-enters-second-day-03-20