‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 25: Israel bombs refugee camp; videos show Israeli soldiers torturing Palestinian detainees in the West Bank
Palestinians describe scenes of a massacre after Israel bombs a refugee camp in north Gaza. Videos surface of Israeli soldiers torturing and abusing naked, bound Palestinian detainees in the West Bank.
Casualties
Gaza: 8,610 Killed, 23,000 injured
Occupied West Bank: 124 Killed
Key Developments
- Disturbing videos surface across social media showing Israeli forces torture and beat Palestinian detainees as they lay on the ground naked, hands and feet bound
- Israel flattened apartment buildings in a massive airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
- Israel bombed the third floor of the only cancer hospital in Gaza while 150 patients were receiving medical treatment.
- The Palestine Red Crescent Society says its staff alone has dealt with at least 2,580 cases of deaths and 7,667 injuries in Gaza since October 7.
- The death toll among medical staff in Gaza rose to 124 people and 100 injured. Israeli bombardment has damaged 50 ambulances, causing 25 to go out of service.
- 420 children are being killed or injured every day in Gaza, according to UNICEF.
- Israeli forces blew up the house of Saleh al-Arouri, a senior figure in Hamas politburo, in the occupied West Bank.
- An Israeli military vehicle was targeted by a homemade explosives device as it passed a street in the town of Qabatiya near Jenin.
- Houthi rebels’ drone attack on Eilat deepens the fear of Israel war on Gaza Strip spilling into a regional conflict.
- Palestinian resistance movements deny Israeli reports on Monday evening that forces managed to free a captive soldier from Gaza Strip in a ground operation.
- Following weeks of checkpoint closures and stopped work permits, Israel approved on Monday a decision to allow 8,000 Palestinian workers from the West Bank to enter Israel as the country faces shortage of staff in the hospitality sector.
Israel targets four hospitals in Gaza Strip, refugee camp
On Tuesday afternoon dozens of Palestinians were killed in the vicinity of the Indonesian Hospital in the Jabalia area of the northern Gaza Strip, when Israel dropped six bombs, each weighing a ton of explosives.
Al-Jazeera reported that an entire neighborhood in the center of Jabalia refugee camp was destroyed and victims include women and children.
“More than 50 martyrs and around 150 wounded and dozens under the rubble, in a heinous Israeli massacre that targeted a large area of homes in Jabalia camp in the northern [Gaza] Strip,” Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement.
The hospital director said that they saw burn injuries and disfigurements of the bodies and that they could not fully count the number of people killed.
On Monday evening, Israeli warplanes bombed the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital and the vicinity of three Palestinian hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip, causing damage to the buildings’ facades and instilling fear and terror among patients and medical staff.
Airstrikes hit the third floor of the Turkish Friendship Hospital on Monday afternoon, while 150 patients were receiving medical care, the hospital director Dr. Subhi Skaik said.
The hospital opened in 2020 and is the only medical facility equipped to treat cancer patients in Gaza Strip. Since the Israeli bombardment began on October 7th, the hospital has run short on fuel and supplies, forcing it to scale down its facilities.
Dr. Skaik said that the airstrike irreparably damaged medical equipment and oxygen cylinders in two rooms which were empty of patients and doctors at the time of the strike.
There are almost 10,000 cancer patients in Gaza Strip, to whom the Turkish Friendship Hospital is a lifeline. The hospital was built with funds from the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli attack on the hospital.
“It is inexplicable for such an attack to take place given all the necessary information, including the coordinates of the institution in question, which is the only cancer hospital in Gaza, was shared with Israeli authorities in advance,” the ministry said in a statement.
However, the attacks on Palestinian medical centres in Gaza Strip, seem to fit with the Israeli military narrative that blurred the lines between civilians and Palestinian resistance fighters.
The Israeli army has been adamant in claiming that Hamas hosts so-called “command centres” under Gaza’s hospitals. Last week, Israel released an animated video purporting to show Hamas fighters in a labyrinth of tunnels underneath Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Israel provided no proof of the claims, save for the 3D video renderings and infographics supplied by the Israeli military itself.
On Monday Israeli war planes also attacked homes in the vicinity of the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia, shattering glass windows and the facade of the building.
Homes near Al-Quds Hospital, which is affiliated with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), west of Gaza City, were also bombed.
In the past days, Al-Quds Hospital received multiple threats from the Israeli army of an imminent attack, as well as an order to evacuate patients, which management and medical staff rejected.
The PRCS said on Tuesday that it dealt with at least 2,580 deaths and 7,667 injuries since the first week of October, although its medical facilities, including Al-Quds Hospital, are operating despite lack of medical supplies, medication, and shortage of staff.
Wafa news agency reported that the vicinity of the Gaza European Hospital in the south of Gaza Strip, was also targeted, while Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah was hit with a power outage after failing to operate generators due to fuel scarcity.
The health sector in Gaza is hemorrhaging resources and equipment, as hospitals struggle to replenish supplies as Israel continues to choke off aid, allowing only few dozens of trucks to enter daily.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said that a third of the hospitals (34 percent) are not operating, while two-thirds of Gaza’s health centres (65 percent) had shuttered their doors.
Some of the closed hospitals are the International Eye Hospital, Dar Al Salam Hospital, Al-Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital, Psychiatric Hospital, Beit Hanoun Hospital, Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital, Hamad Rehabilitation Hospital, Al-Karama Hospital, and Al-Wafa Hospital for Medical Rehabilitation and Specialized Surgery.
The death toll among medical staff rose to 124 people and 100 injured. Israeli bombardment has so far damaged 50 ambulances, putting 25 completely out of service.
Since October 7, the Israeli army has issued orders to 24 hospitals and medical facilities to evacuate.
In addition to the killing of medical professionals and emergency services personnel, Israel has also killed a growing number of UN employees and journalists,
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced on Tuesday that 64 of its staff have been killed in the Gaza Strip. “UNRWA will never be the same without them RIP,” Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications posted on X.
At least 31 journalists have also been killed in the recent fighting, 26of them were Palestinians, one Lebanese, Issam al-Abdullah, and the rest are Israelis, the New York-based rights group Committee to Protect Journalists said
420 Palestinian children are being killed or injured every day
As Israel continues its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian civilians, including children are increasingly facing the brunt of Israel’s aggression. According to UNICEF, 420 children are being killed or injured every day in Gaza.
On Monday night, at least 40 Palestinian were killed in Israeli air raids on Gaza. Numbers continued to rise during the day on Tuesday as paramedics and rescue teams continued to find people and bodies under the rubble.
The residential building of the Hijazi family was targeted, west of Gaza City, while a four story-building of the Habib family was flattened in Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood, southeast of Gaza City, with ambulances struggling to enter the area filled with rubble.
At least 13 people were killed when Israel attacked a house in the Al-Zawaideh area in the central Gaza Strip. In Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, the al-Raqab family saw their relatives injured and their house bombed in the town of Bani Suhaila.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli artillery fire heavily targeted the neighborhoods of Al-Zaytoun, Al-Shujaiya, and Al-Tuffah, east of Gaza City, as well as east of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Sheikh Zuweid, north of Gaza Strip.
Disturbing videos show Israeli soldiers torturing and abusing naked Palestinian prisoners
Disturbing videos have begun to surface across social media, showing armed and uniformed Israeli soldiers physically abusing and torturing Palestinians in the West Bank.
A viral video circulating on X and Telegram Tuesday showed a large group of blindfolded Palestinians lying on the ground, on a dirt, rugged terrain. All of the men are blindfolded with their hands and feet bound. Several were stripped completely naked. In the video, purportedly filmed by Israeli soldiers, the soldiers can be seen dragging some of the men across the rough ground, while stomping on the faces of others. Mondoweiss could not independently verify the video or its location.
This is a link to a censored version of the video referenced above. We strongly advise you to exercise caution when viewing the video, which is extremely disturbing.
In another video, an Israeli soldier or officer is heard cursing and spitting at a Palestinian who is blindfolded, his hands bound, and kneeling in front of the soldier. “Good morning bitch,” he is heard saying to the Palestinian before kicking him in the chest twice. The identity of the man in the video, a resident of the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, and the details of his arrest were confirmed by Mondoweiss. It remained unclear exactly where the video was filmed.
The videos are some of several that have begun circulating across social media, showing Israeli soldiers harassing, mocking, abusing and torturing Palestinian detainees. Some videos have shown soldiers forcing blindfolded and bound Palestinians to hold Israeli flags and sing Israeli songs, or to praise the state of Israel.
Israel forces blow up West Bank home of senior Hamas figure
Two Palestinians were killed, and dozens were arrested and injured during a series of overnight raids in the occupied West Bank.
One Palestinian child and an elderly man succumbed to their wounds on Tuesday morning after being shot by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
Muhammad Abdul Qadir al-Kharaz, 14, was shot with live bullets in the pelvic area during an Israeli raid on the village of Zawata, west of Nablus. Rawhi Rashid Sawafta, 70, was injured after being shot during an Israeli raid on the city of Tubas, in the northern West Bank. Nine Palestinians were also injured in the raid on Tubas. Sawafta and Kharaz were both pronounced dead on Tuesday afternoon, bringing the death toll in the occupied West Bank to 124.
In the Ramallah-area town of Arura, Israeli forces punitively blew up the house of Saleh al-Arouri, a senior figure in the Hamas politburo. Arouri, 57, was deported abroad in 2010 after spending 17 years in Israeli prisons. Arouri became Hamas deputy political chief in 2017, and reportedly moves between Turkey, Lebanon and Qatar.
Israeli forces arrested several of his relatives on October 21st after storming the village and subsequently taking over Arouri’s house, turning it into “an intelligence centre.”
Overnight Tuesday, Israeli forces also arrested 60 Palestinians during raids across the West Bank in the cities of Bethlehem, Hebron and Nablus, and the towns of Salfit, Jenin, Tulkarm, and Ramallah, as well as in occupied Jerusalem.
Since early October, at least 1,740 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, according to prisoners’ rights groups. Additionally, an estimated 4,000 Gazans who were working in Israel have also been rounded up and arrested.
Rocket fire continues out of Gaza, Hamas fighters confront Israeli ground forces in Gaza
Several warning sirens were heard in various Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, when a rocket fired from Gaza hit a building in the southern town of Nirim, with no casualties reported.
Hamas also said on Tuesday that its fighters confronted Israel forces northwest of Gaza City, killing one Israeli soldier and shelling two armoured vehicles, Al-Jazeera reported. Israel has launched a ground invasion of Gaza, though the Israeli military and media continue to frame it as a “limited invasion”, focused on the northern and border areas of Gaza.
Israel said on Tuesday that it killed Nasim Abu Ajina, a Hamas commander of the Beit Lahia battalion in northern Gaza.
“In the past, he commanded the Hamas air force, and took part in the development of the terrorist organization’s drone and paraglider capabilities,” the army statement said.
Israel also said it attacked 300 targets overnight in Gaza Strip, and claimed it destroyed “anti tank and rocket launching positions, tunnel shafts and military compounds of Hamas.”
In north of occupied Palestine, Israel said it struck “weapons, posts and sites in Lebanon,” and clashed with fighters from Hezbollah.
Houthi rebels attack Eilat with a drone, vow more retaliation until Israel stops bombing Gaza
Sirens in the city of Eilat, located in southern Israel on the Red Sea, were triggered on Tuesday afternoon as a number of drones and ballistic missiles fired from Yemen made their way to the city.
Israel said it shot down an unidentified “aerial target” over the Red Sea.
“These drones belong to the state of Yemen,” Abdelaziz bin Habtour, Prime Minister of the Houthi government, said, according to Al-Jazeera.
According to Reuters, the operation was the third of its kind launched from Yemen towards Israeli targets.
In a televised statement Tuesday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree vowed that the operation would not be the last, so long as the “Israeli aggression” on Gaza continued.
The Houthi rebels’ attack on Tuesday has deepened fears of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip escalating into a regional conflict.
Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah is expected to give a televised speech on Friday afternoon, in which he will be sending messages to Israel – the first official message from the leader since October 7.
Over the weekend, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned that “the crimes of the Zionist regime have crossed the red lines, and this may force everyone to take action.”
“Washington asks us to not do anything, but they keep giving widespread support to Israel,” he wrote on X.
Before you go – we need your support
At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever.
Our traffic has increased ten times since October 7, and we need your help to cover our increased expenses.
No comments:
Post a Comment