Besides genocide, Israel carries out major political assassinations – Day 297

contact@ifamericansknew.org July 31, 2024 Barak Hiram, BUREIJ CAMP, congressional aides, east jerusalem, Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah, humanitarian aid, Ismail Haniyeh assassination, khan younis, medical evacuation, Mohammad Jaradat, palestinian state, ramadan Sadeq, Saint Porphyrius Church, sexual violence in prison

Israel assassinates Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, attempts to assassinate Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr; total killed in Khan Youn is over 250 in 9 days; sexual violence by Israeli prison guards against Palestinians is widespread: Physicians for Human Rights in Israel; general who ordered Hannibal Directive on October 7th promoted to commander of Gaza; 80 patients evacuated for medical treatment, as thousands more wait; humanitarian aid remains stalled at border; Israeli attack on the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City; West Bank deaths; East Jerusalem evictions catch attention of UN; Congressional aides start a public channel to air grievances about Palestine policy

By IAK staff, from reports.

BREAKING: Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran after Israel bombs Beirut

Electronic Intifada reports: Hamas announced early Wednesday that Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Palestinian faction’s political wing, was assassinated in Tehran, where he was present for the inauguration of the new Iranian president.

The assassination, in Iran no less, marks a major escalation that will likely have regional ramifications and came hours after Israel bombed Lebanon on Tuesday evening, killing three civilians, according to Lebanese state media. Israel claimed that it killed a senior Hezbollah figure in the strike, but the Lebanese resistance group had not issued a statement on the matter at the time of publication.

Israel killed multiple members representing multiple generations of Haniyeh’s family in Gaza since October. Several leaders of Hamas have been assassinated by Israel before Haniyeh, only to be replaced and for the organization’s capabilities to grow.

In January, Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy head of Hamas’ politburo, was killed in a strike in Beirut along with several other cadres and commanders with the group.

Two weeks ago, Israel claimed to have killed Muhammad Deif, the secretive head of Hamas’ armed wing, in a strike in Gaza that killed at least 90 Palestinians in an area it had unilaterally declared as a humanitarian zone.

Qatar PM asks, ‘How can mediation succeed when one side assassinates negotiator?’

Reuters reports: The prime minister of Qatar, which has acted as a mediator in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, suggested on Wednesday that the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh could jeopardise efforts to secure a truce in Gaza.

“Peace needs serious partners & a global stance against the disregard for human life,” he added in a post on X.

Egypt’s foreign ministry said in a statement that a “dangerous Israeli escalation policy” over the past two days had undermined efforts to broker an end to the fighting in Gaza, and “indicates the absence of Israeli political will to calm [the region] down.”

Israeli army says it assassinated top Hezbollah commander in Beirut attack

Andalou Agency reports: The Israeli military said late Tuesday that it assassinated Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s top military commander, in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

There has been no comment from Hezbollah on the attack so far.

“In a targeted, intelligence-based elimination, Israeli Air Force fighter jets eliminated Hezbollah’s most senior military commander and the head of its Strategic Unit, Fuad Shukr ‘Sayyid Muhsan’, in the area of Beirut,” the army said in a statement.

The army noted that Shukr served as “Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah’s right-hand man and was Nasrallah’s adviser for planning and directing wartime operations.”

NOTE: Israel’s attack on Hezbollah’s leader is in apparent “retaliation” after a projectile struck a community in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, killing 12 youths. Israel blamed Hezbollah, which denied the allegation.

Indications in the hours following the incident suggest it may have been an Israeli Iron Dome missile. Kim Ghattas, a writer for The Atlantic and a Lebanon expert, told Times Radio that it is unlikely that Hezbollah ‘deliberately targeted’ the Golan Heights football pitch.

Nine Palestinians killed by Israel while transporting bodies from Bureij camp

Al Jazeera reports: Exclusive footage obtained by Al Jazeera shows the first moments after a group of young men were targeted by the Israeli army while trying to transport bodies from the Bureij refugee camp to the Nuseirat camp on an animal-drawn cart.

Local sources and witnesses told Al Jazeera the men were bombed when they reached Salah al-Din Street.

The attack killed all of the men, nine in total.

Al Jazeera’s video footage shows the bodies of the nine victims lying on the ground, and Al-Awda Hospital said it had received nine victims from Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

In nine days, Israeli army killed 255 people in Khan Younis: Gaza officials

Al Jazeera reports: A statement on Telegram says 255 people have been killed, about 300 people wounded with 31 missing in the nine-day “horrific massacre” carried out on the eastern outskirts of Gaza’s second-largest city.

Thirty-one homes were bombed by the Israeli military while their residents were inside, the office said, adding 320 homes and residential buildings were struck in total. The army obstructed operations to reach dozens of wounded during the attack, it said.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation’s horrific massacre against civilians and displaced persons in the east of the Khan Younis governorate,” the office said.

Accounts of sexual abuse in Israeli detention are not isolated incidents: medical group says

Middle East Monitor reports: Physicians for Human Rights in Israel (PHRI) reportedly said yesterday it has information about other cases of Palestinian prisoners who had been sexually assaulted by Israeli soldiers in the notorious Sde Teiman detention centre in the Negev desert in southern Israel.

PHRI said a victim of sexual violence was hospitalized three weeks ago and was in a life-threatening condition. He had injuries to the upper part of his body and a serious injury to the rectum.

It confirmed that it knows about other cases of sexual assault that have not been disclosed, either because the victims are afraid to complain to the Israeli authorities or because the authorities did not open an investigation.

“Mounting testimonies indicate these incidents are not isolated. They suggest systematic abuse and violence, and a blind eye to violations. The Sde Teiman torture facility must be shut down urgently, abuse across all prisons must end, and those responsible must be prosecuted,” it added in a tweet.

On Monday, Israeli public broadcaster KAN revealed that a Palestinian detainee was gang-raped by Israeli soldiers at the Sde Teiman. The detainee was taken to a hospital with severe injuries to an intimate body part, which left him unable to walk.

Ten Israeli reservists were detained as a result. However, far-right members of Israel’s cabinet have called on authorities to “take your hands off our fighters” and labelled the reservists “heroes”, while some tried to storm the detention centre they were being held in in an effort to free them.

In recent months, the army has released dozens of Palestinian detainees who bear signs of torture, malnutrition and exhaustion.

Israeli Army Appoints Gen. Barak Hiram – who ordered the killing of Israelis on October 7th – as Commander of Gaza Division

Ha’aretz reports: Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram will assume the post of commander of the Gaza Division of the Israeli army.

On October 7th, Hiram ordered a tank commander to break into a home in Kibbutz Be’eri that he knew housed Hamas fighters and Israelis. even at the risk of harming civilians. The tank fired shells at the house, killing 12 Israelis and a number of Hamas members. Two Israelis survived the attack.

When Hiram met with families of the Israeli victims, some of them called on him to resign, or to command another operational division. But, Hiram “insisted that precisely because he was the officer in charge in Be’eri, he is in the best position” to take over in Gaza.

When Hiram was asked what actions should be taken as part of accepting responsibility, he said: “I will correct the mistakes that were made when I take responsibility for the division. I don’t ask for thanks for this.”

NOTE: In January, Hiram ordered Israeli forces to blow up Al-Isra University, which they had used as a military headquarters prior to its demolition. Hiram was officially reprimanded for carrying out the demolition without prior approval from his superiors.

Endless occupation: How Israel has always rejected a Palestinian state

The New Arab reports: In July, Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset, overwhelmingly passed a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Passing with a 68-9 majority, the resolution “firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of Jordan”.

“If you look at all of the political parties’ platforms, they don’t believe in Palestinian freedom at all,” Palestinian human rights lawyer Diana Buttu told The New Arab.

“When they talk about a state – and very few of them do – they’re not talking about ending the occupation. They’re talking about something less than a state, just something that they can say they’ve gotten rid of Palestinians. But they’re never talking about ending control over Palestinian lives.”

Buttu noted the timing of the resolution’s vote is noteworthy, which came just a day before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was unlawful.

“Israel is sending a very clear message that they will never end the occupation, that it doesn’t matter what the ICJ says, and it doesn’t matter what the world says, they’re going to hold onto it,” Buttu said.

(Read the full article here.)

More than 80 patients evacuated from Gaza in biggest operation since war, WHO says

WHO reports: At least 85 sick and severely injured Palestinians from Gaza, including 35 children, were evacuated to Abu Dhabi for specialized care, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

“This extremely complex joint evacuation was supported by the (United Arab Emirates), WHO and partners. It is the largest medical evacuation since October 2023,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X.

The evacuated patients suffered from various severe conditions including cancer, neurological issues and cardiac diseases. They were accompanied by 63 family members and caregivers, Tedros said.

NOTE: The World Health Organization saidlast month that a minimum of 7,000 to over 11,000 Palestinian patients need immediate medical evacuations.

Gaza aid delivery still being ‘drastically impeded’, say aid agencies

ReliefWeb reports: Many aid organizations have supplies approved and waiting to enter the Gaza Strip, but the unloading zone at the Kerem Shalom/Karam Abu Salem border crossing on the Gaza side has been full for weeks due to high insecurity, Israeli military operations and the risk of looting given the soaring needs facing Palestinian families.

Save the Children managed to get four trucks (80 pallets) of medical supplies into Gaza on a convoy after waiting at the Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel in the heat for over a month, following hostilities on the Gaza side of the border. The pallets included standard medication such as antibiotics and heart disease medications.

Save the Children’s teams also have 17 pallets of temperature-controlled medicines stuck in El-Arish, Egypt, including four boxes that require continuous refrigeration. Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) system only allows flatbed trucks, not the closed trucks required to transport such supplies, resulting in repeated rejections of such temperature-controlled shipments.

Other aid agencies confirmed that they are facing similar challenges. Oxfam has water tanks, desalination units, tap stands, generators and latrines approved but unable to enter through the crossing, whilst 864 tents procured by the Norwegian Refugee Council that had been at El-Arish port arrived recently at Kerem Shalom but still remain inaccessible due to insecurity and safety concerns.

Israeli attack on Greek Orthodox church in Gaza ‘crime against religions,’ authorities say

Andalou Agency reports: Palestinian authorities on Tuesday called an Israeli attack on the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City a “crime against religions.”

Damage was reported after two missiles hit the building, where dozens of displaced Palestinian Christians have taken refuge.

A Palestinian official said that more than 600 mosques and all three churches in Gaza have been destroyed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7, 2023.

“These are crimes against religions and religious teachings,” he said. “Israel does not respect anything, and its army used 2,000-pound rockets and bombs (in attacking) churches and places of worship.”

Photos taken by Anadolu showed an unexploded ordnance on the church’s ground.

Saint Porphyrius Church is one of the oldest Christian sites in Gaza. It was built in the 5th century and named after Saint Porphyrius, whose tomb is inside the church.

A view of the damaged historical Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church, where civilians took shelter, after Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Gaza on October 20, 2023. [Ali Jadallah – Anadolu Agency] (photo)

West Bank: Palestinian in Nablus succumbs to critical injury from Israeli army gunfire

WAFA reports: A Palestinian Tuesday evening succumbed to his critical injury from Israeli army gunfire in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, according to security and medical sources.

They said that Ramadan Hussein Mohammad Sadeq died of his critical injury after being shot with live rounds fired by Israeli occupation forces in the head, chest and back.

Sadeq, 45, was shot by the gun-toting soldiers while in front of his house in the Nablus city neighborhood of Khallet al-Amoud.

During the raid, the soldiers fired barrages of live ammunition and tear gas canisters towards civilians’ houses.

Sadeq was rushed to a hospital in a critical condition. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and he died afterwards.

West Bank: Palestinian north of Hebron succumbs to injury from Israeli army gunfire

WAFA reports: A Palestinian minor Tuesday evening succumbed to his injury from Israeli army gunfire near the Beit Einun village junction, north of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, according to security sources.

Mohammad Murad Mohammad Jaradat, 14, a resident of Sair, died of his injury he sustained after being hit by live rounds fired at close range on him by Israeli forces.

The soldiers left Jaradat bleeding on the ground and prevented Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) medics from reaching him.

2 Palestinians killed in West Bank — Mohammad Sadeq (L) and Mohammad Murad Mohammad Jaradat (photo)

UN concerned over Palestinian families in East Jerusalem facing eviction

Al Jazeera reports: The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says it’s concerned that more than 80 Palestinian families face eviction from their homes in Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem due to “unlawful” and “discriminatory Israeli laws against Palestinians”.

In a statement, it said 87 Palestinian families, totaling 600 to 680 individuals, are facing legal proceedings initiated by Israeli settlers to evict them from their homes in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood.

It said the “systematic settlers’ campaign” aims to “uproot Palestinians from their homes, take over their property and implant Israeli settlers in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem”.

“International humanitarian law prohibits Israel from imposing its own laws in occupied territory, which includes the application of Israeli laws to evict Palestinians from their homes,” the UN said.

Aides in Congress Create Dissent Channel to Protest Support for Israel

New York Times reports: Since Israel began its military offensive in Gaza last fall, hundreds of congressional aides have spoken out in protest of the United States’ support for the war — many of them breaking with their bosses to do so.

Acting anonymously to protect their coveted positions on Capitol Hill, they have written letters, circulated petitions, posted on social media and, in some cases, walked off the job to push for a cease-fire and an end to the shipments of U.S.-made weapons to Israel.

They argue that members of Congress have refused to heed Americans’ objections — expressed through hundreds of thousands of calls, letters, emails and in-person visits to their offices — to the war and Israel’s conduct in it.

On Sunday night, a group of at least a dozen junior staff members escalated their objections by launching a website where they and their like-minded colleagues can publish anonymous memos criticizing U.S. policy on Israel and the war in Gaza — including their own bosses’ positions — without risking retaliation.

Organizers say the forum, known as the Congressional Dissent Channel, is modeled after the State Department’s dissent channel for Foreign Service officers. That channel was created during the Vietnam War— another conflict that opened bitter political divisions in the United States and galvanized a protest movement, particularly among young Americans.

But while that channel is a classified internal government system in which named authors offer dissenting views that are distributed carefully and confidentially, the new website is the opposite: a public platform where anonymous congressional aides can air their criticisms and spotlight private discord within their offices.

It is being created by the same group of staff aides that organized a pro-Palestinian staff walkout on Capitol Hill last week when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel spoke to a joint meeting of Congress, and which planned an anonymous flower vigil outside the Capitol in November to demand a cease-fire.

DropSite News: Does Israel Really Believe It Can Win a War Against Hezbollah?

Al Jazeera: The ICJ opinion on Israel’s occupation leaves the US facing a hard choice

Mondoweiss: Netanyahu’s willing executioners: how ordinary Israelis became mass murderers

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JULY 30:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – July 30: at least 39,991* (39,400 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,251 children as of July 22. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

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

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

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

At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
2.15 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are projected to face Crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – July 30: at least 96,416 (including at least 90,996 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 30: ~1,486 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 331 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

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

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

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

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

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

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

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

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Wednesday 31 July 2024