Almost all of Gaza ‘totally and completely uninhabitable’ – Day 264

contact@ifamericansknew.org June 27, 2024 AIPAC, BDS, caterpillar, destruction of gaza, home demolition, israel lobby, Jamaal Bowman, Lebanon, netanyahu speech to congress, palestinian prisoners, prisoner deaths

What remains after Israel carried out airstrikes on Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on Saturday, June 27, killing dozens of Palestinians. (screenshot)

Parts of Gaza are unrecognizable; Israel continues to deliberately bomb shelter centres, killing displaced people; 2,000 medical evacuations from Gaza prevented by Rafah crossing closure; Israel claims it will increase water supply to Gaza; home demolition frenzy in West Bank; Palestinian prisoner deaths highest ever; Israel threatens could take Lebanon “back to the Stone Age”; Israeli VIPs urge Congress to “disinvite” Netanyahu; how much does it cost to buy an election for Israel?; UC Berkeley pledges to expand antisemitism education to all new students; Norwegian group divests from Caterpillar; more

By IAK staff, from reports.

Almost all of Gaza ‘totally and completely uninhabitable’:

Al Jazeera reports: Arwa Damon, the founder of the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance (INARA), says that on a recent trip to Gaza City to distribute aid, she saw “how widespread the destruction is of every single aspect of life that would make the Gaza Strip inhabitable”.

“Where I am standing now in Deir el-Balah, this is pretty much the only area in Gaza that is relatively speaking still standing. Every single other part of this tiny stretch of land has been rendered totally and completely uninhabitable,” she told Al Jazeera from Deir el-Balah.

“And in the north, you not only have a shortage of basic food items and hygiene items, but you also have people trying to live on top of the rubble of their homes where their loved ones were killed.”

Damon said that shown footage of Gaza City, residents could not recognize the streets or the main thoroughfares because of the level of destruction.

“Most will tell you that they barely recognize themselves or their own people. There are very real fears about the lawlessness that is growing, the criminal activity, the looting, which is leading to conversations about who is going to restore the moral code that existed among people.”

What remains after Israel carried out airstrikes on Al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on Saturday, June 27, killing dozens of Palestinians. (screenshot)

Israel continues to deliberately bomb UN-run shelter centres, killing displaced people inside:

Euro-Med human rights monitor: Israel has implemented a systematic policy of targeting civilians of the Gaza Strip, who are protected by international humanitarian law. This includes intensifying the bombing of shelter centres over the heads of the displaced people inside, as well as targeting areas designated as humanitarian zones.

The Israeli military has been killing large numbers of Palestinians in the Strip for nearly nine months now by bombing civilian targets, attacking United Nations-run shelter centres, and carrying out mass killings—each of which is a serious violation of international law on its own.

By targeting UNRWA schools functioning as shelter centres, Israeli bombing tactics demonstrate a deliberate policy intended to prevent security across the entire Gaza Strip and deny displaced Palestinians stability or shelter, even if that shelter is only temporary… Read more

At least 2,000 medical evacuations from Gaza prevented by Rafah crossing closure, says WHO

Reuters: Before the closure, “approximately 50 critical patients a day left Gaza … It means that since the 7th of May at least 2,000 people have been unable to leave Gaza to receive medical care,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the West Bank and Gaza.

The Rafah crossing was the main conduit for evacuations as well as for humanitarian aid… It shut when Israel launched an operation on the southern edge of the Gaza strip in May.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar held talks late last week aimed at re-opening the crossing and increasing humanitarian aid flows, according to Egyptian security sources. But Rafah, where Egypt wants Israeli troops to pull back and a Palestinian presence to be restored, remains closed…

Under pressure, Israel may INCREASE WATER SUPPLY FOR PALESTINIANS IN GAZA, SOURCES SAY:

Reuters reports: Israel, under pressure from Western allies to ease a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, is preparing to boost electricity to a desalination plant so it can produce more water for people in the enclave, an Israeli security official and a western official told Reuters on Wednesday.

The Israeli plan, the details of which were shown to Reuters, is to directly supply electricity from Israel to a large water desalination facility in Khan Younis, the two sources said.

The facility was established with United Nations funding in 2017 to provide drinking water to areas in Deir Al-Balah, Khan Younis and the Mawasi area, where many Palestinians have fled due to fighting.

The facility has a production capacity of about 20,000 cubic meters of water per day, while today the facility provides only some 1,500 cubic meters due to the lack of electricity. Gaza depends on Israel for much of its electricity supply. That power has been cut since the fighting started.

The Israeli source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the planned supply of electricity to the water plant could provide water for just under a million people.

“There are parties who are trying to cancel the process,” the source said without providing details

Water in Jabaliya is hard to come by and mixed with sewage. Here, people wait for hours and receive just one gallon of contaminated water. (screenshot)

Israeli occupation forces demolish 17 homes in the West Bank, one in 1948 occupied land (Israel):

WAFA reports: Israeli occupation forces today demolished 17 Palestinian-owned homes in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, and one more in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1948.

In the city of Jericho, the occupation demolished four houses under the pretext that they were built without an Israeli-issued building permit.

In the village of Bitello, west of Ramallah, the occupation bulldozers demolished a three-story house.

Meanwhile, the occupation municipality demolished a house in the East Jerusalem town of Silwan.

The occupation army, accompanied by a bulldozer, demolished eleven homes and other facilities in the Umm Al-Khair community in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.

In the city of Kafr Qara, within the 1948 occupied territories, Israeli bulldozers demolished a house that was still in the construction stage.

Israel refuses to permit virtually any Palestinian construction in Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and falls under full Israeli military rule, forcing residents to build without obtaining rarely-granted permits to provide shelters for their families.

NOTE: These homes are among at least 1,013 Palestinian structures to be demolished or confiscated in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October 7, displacing at least 2,246 people (over 990 children), according to UN figures.

Number of Palestinians killed in Israeli jails by torture is highest in history of prisoners’ movement:

WAFA reports: According to the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), the number of Palestinian detainees who were killed in Israeli prisons and detention camps as a result of torture since the beginning of the Israeli aggression and genocide on October 7, 2023, is the highest in the history of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.

In a joint statement issued on the occasion of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which falls annually on June 26, the Commission and PPS emphasized that the Israeli occupation system has resorted to the crime of torture against prisoners and detainees since its occupation of the land of Palestine.

The number of detainees killed since the beginning of the genocide has reached at least 18, along with dozens of Gaza detainees who died in Israeli custody and their identities remain unknown.

The occupation has practiced the crime of torture against Palestinian detainees as an approach and worked to develop many tools to consolidate it. “The occupation has turned every right recognized by the international prisoners’ system into an instrument of torture.”

Israeli minister orders food reduction for Palestinian prisoners:

Ha’aretz reports that Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, says he has ordered a further reduction in the amount of food offered to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, advancing a policy that rights groups have compared to forced starvation.

After October 7, Ben-Gvir closed prison canteens and kitchens, leaving Palestinian detainees entirely reliant on the prisons for food.

In a letter on Wednesday, however, he said he gave further instructions to reduce the amount of food given to the prisoners. He said the move was aimed at deterring attacks from fighters, but he did not explain how the two could be related.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has challenged the food restrictions in court, arguing they amount to a policy of starvation.

Citing prisoner testimony, the rights group says the food provided is insufficient and unhealthy and has led to “severe damage to [prisoners’] health and dignity”. It says the prisoners suffer from “constant hunger, extreme weight loss [and] forced fasting” and are held in “veritable torture conditions”.

Israel threatens could take Lebanon “back to the Stone Age”:

Reuters reports: Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned during a visit to Washington that Israel’s military is capable of taking Lebanon “back to the Stone Age” in any war with Hezbollah militants but insisted his government prefers a diplomatic solution on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Gallant insisted that Israel cannot accept Hezbollah “military formations” on the border with Lebanon.

“We do not want war, but we are preparing for every scenario,” Gallant told reporters.

UC Berkeley pledges to expand antisemitism education to all new students:

LA Times reports: UC Berkeley will expand antisemitism education to all incoming students beginning this fall, after pro-Palestinian protests over the Israel-Hamas war fueled anxieties among many Jewish campus members, Chancellor Carol Christ announced this week.

For the first time, the campus will provide afive-year funding commitment to widen the educational effort, which began on a much smaller scale in 2019, to all new students, leaders of official student organizations and residential assistants.

Berkeley also will strengthen the Center for Jewish Studies with a new designation that will allow it to have its own endowed chairs and faculty members and launch faculty searches.

A new Israel Studies minor, which has been in the works for years, will begin this fall…

History of Modern Israel: From the Emergence of Zionism to Our Time.
Click for more information about Jewish Studies 121A.001 (source)

Six senior Israeli figures call on US Congress to ‘disinvite’ Netanyahu – NYT:

Ex-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo and four other senior political figures have published a joint letter in the New York Times, calling on the leaders of the US Congress to prevent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from giving a speech to US lawmakers on July 24.

The invitation from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to Netanyahu came after consultation with the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject.

What follows is an excerpt from the letter:

To date, Mr. Netanyahu has failed to come up with a plan to end the war in Gaza and has been unable to gain the freedom of scores of hostages. At the very least, an invitation to address Congress should have been contingent upon resolving these two issues and, in addition, calling for new elections in Israel.
Mr. [Itamar] Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, whose support Mr. Netanyahu needs to maintain his government, are strongly opposed to stopping the war in Gaza, even for a temporary truce. They demand that the Gaza Strip be conquered and filled with new settlements…
Mr. Netanyahu’s speech to Congress fits in with his political needs. No doubt it will be carefully stage-managed to prop up his shaky hold on power and allow him to boast to his constituents about America’s so-called support for his failed policies.
His supporters in Israel will be emboldened by his appearance in Congress to insist that the war continue, which will further distance any deal to secure the release of the hostages, including several U.S. citizens.
Giving Mr. Netanyahu the stage in Washington will all but dismiss the rage and pain of his people, as expressed in the demonstrations throughout the country. American lawmakers should not let that happen. They should ask Mr. Netanyahu to stay home.

Last July, Israel’s president spoke before Congress. See what happened:

Israeli forces have killed hundreds in southern Lebanon:

Andalou Agency reports: The Lebanese Ministry of Health says 435 of its residents have been killed, and at least 1,366 people have been injured since October 7th.

It added that 35 percent of those people were injured by explosions, 44 percent by shocks, and 16 percent by chemical exposure.

The ministry said that the Israeli attacks have displaced at least 92,228 people since Oct. 8.

AIPAC’s defeat of Bowman: “Now we know how much it costs to buy an election” (answer: $25 million):

The Intercept reports: Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s Tuesday upset defeat by Westchester County Executive George Latimer generated many perspectives on what exactly precipitated his downfall.

The New York Times published the headline “Bowman Falls in House Primary, Overtaken by Flood of Pro-Israel Money” — before swapping it out for “Bowman Falls to Latimer in a Loss for Progressive Democrats.” Other coverage claimed that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s spending wasn’t the only factor in the race and that Bowman’s flaws made him particularly vulnerable, as did changed district lines that made his reelection even tougher.

Progressive strategists, however, had a much more clear takeaway from the results.

“You don’t drop $15 million on an election if your positions are popular,” said Eva Borgwardt⁩, national spokesperson for the Jewish advocacy group IfNotNow, which endorsed Bowman. “This was an act of desperation from a pro-war lobby that is at odds with the majority of Americans, including American Jews.”

[Pew: Only 33% of Jewish American adults believe that Israel’s military actions are unacceptable. “89% of Jewish Americans say Israel’s reasons for fighting Hamas are valid – far more than the 58% of all U.S. adults who say this.” ]

Borgwardt⁩ was referring to nearly $15 million spent on the race by AIPAC, the Israel lobby’s flagship in the U.S. Millions more poured in from AIPAC-aligned groups and donors, bringing the outside spending total to around $25 million.

“Congressman Bowman’s progressive platform — which includes defending Palestinian rights and halting weapons to the Israeli military — is popular among Democratic voters,” said Beth Miller, political director for Jewish Voice for Peace Action, which endorsed Bowman. “AIPAC had to spend a truly unprecedented amount of money in order to buy NY-16.”

“It is noteworthy that many of AIPAC’s ads did not even mention Israel,” she said. “AIPAC understands that they are losing on the issues, because voters and constituents do not want to fund a genocide.”

The amount of spending on the race should be alarming to everyone who cares about democracy, said Sophie Ellman-Golan, director of strategic communications at Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.

“Now we know how much it costs to buy an election,” she said. “That price tag was nearly $25 million.”

(Read the full article here.)

WFP's Matthew Hollingworth says, what we do need is for this to be simplified. We need that consistent at volume delivery if we're going to not just prevent the very worst of suffering but actually turn this around and help people to get back closer to where they were before this crisis started. — WFP’s Matthew Hollingworth says, what we do need is for this to be simplified. We need that consistent at volume delivery if we’re going to not just prevent the very worst of suffering but actually turn this around and help people to get back closer to where they were before this crisis started. (screenshot)

BDS win – Norwegian fund drops stake in US construction giant Caterpillar over Palestinian home demolitions:

The Cradle reports: Norway’s largest private pension fund, Kommunal Landspensjonskasse Gjensidig Forsikringsselska (KLP), has dropped its $69 million stake in US construction giant Caterpillar Inc, citing “concerns” the company is contributing to the destruction of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank.

“Although Caterpillar has shown itself willing to engage in a dialogue with KLP, the company’s responses failed to credibly substantiate its ability to actually reduce the risk of violating the rights of individuals in situations of war or conflict, or of violating international law,” Kiran Aziz, the firm’s head of responsible investments, told Bloomberg.

She also cited allegations that Caterpillar equipment is being used by the Israeli army in Gaza.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights last week named Caterpillar among several corporations supplying Israel with military equipment and urged investors with stakes in these companies to “take action.”

The Israeli military killed 23-year-old American Rachel Corrie with a caterpillar tractor in 2003.

NOTE: According to OCHA, Israeli forces have demolished at least 565 structures in the West Bank so far in 2024, displacing over 1,000 Palestinians. In Gaza, more than 60% of residential structures and 80% of commercial structures have been demolished since October 7th.

House demolitions are not a recent development but an enduring chapter imprinted into the region since 1967, when Israel annexed the West Bank and began its military occupation. Home demolitions are a trademark of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions reports that Israel has demolished more than 56,500 Palestinian homes since 1967. The consequences of such actions reverberate far beyond the physical rubble, as it intensifies human suffering, loss, and resilience.

View of one Palestinian family's destroyed home in November. The family was reportedly forbidden from sifting through the remains: "Even the rubble claimed as the property of the Israeli State." — View of one Palestinian family’s destroyed home in November. The family was reportedly forbidden from sifting through the remains: “Even the rubble claimed as the property of the Israeli State.” (screenshot)

MORE NEWS:

Al Jazeera: Israeli forces continue Gaza bombardment as UN aid chief demands access

Electronic Intifada: US drives Israel’s efforts to exterminate Palestinians

JVP/Palestine Chronicle: Health and Human Rights Crisis in the West Bank – Emergency Statement

IMEMC Reports.

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JUNE 26:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – June 26: at least 38,317* (37,765 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 15,747 children as of June 17.

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 552 in the West Bank (~134 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. (Ralph Nader has 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 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 – June 26: at least 91,799 (including at least 86,429in Gaza and 5,370 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 – June 26: ~1,466 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 315 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

Thursday, 27 June 2024