Where to go? Only 14% of Gaza is not under evacuation orders – Day 295
Khan Younis massacre; Netanyahu denies children medical evacuation from Gaza; only 14% of Gaza is NOT under evacuation orders; Israel destroys Rachel Corrie’s water facility in Rafah; Syria implies Majdal Shams attack may be a false flag incident; 256 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons since 1967; torture, starvation, suicide attempts in Israel’s Ofer prison; Israeli military raid Sde Teiman prison to arrest soldiers for torture – soldiers fight back; IDF redeployment refuseniks; more.
By IAK staff, from reports.
Decapitated child among victims of latest Khan Younis massacre as assault intensifies
The Cradle reports: Israeli forces massacred at least 17 Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday 28 July, including four children, one of them a baby who was decapitated by Israeli bombs, amid a broader assault on the southern city of Khan Younis.
Twelve Palestinians were killed in a strike on a home in the center of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, and five others were killed in a bombing of a tent west of the southern city.
An Israeli drone strike killed one Palestinian in Deir al-Balah. Sniper fire from an Israeli quadcopter drone killed another in Gaza City in the north, the channel added.
Images spread on social media of Palestinian babies killed in Sunday’s strikes, including one whose head was blown off.
Israel began a renewed military campaign in Khan Younis a week ago, forcing 180,000 Palestinians to flee their homes and seek refuge in squalid tent cities in Al-Mawasi on the Gaza coast.
Israeli forces have bombed Al-Mawasi multiple times over previous months despite designating it as a so-called “humanitarian zone.” On 13 July, an Israeli assault killed 90 people in Al-Mawasi.
RECOMMENDED READING: Will attack on occupied Golan Heights push Israel, Hezbollah towards war?
Netanyahu denies children exit from Gaza to UAE for treatment
Al Jazeera reports: According to Israeli media reports, Israel had perviously given approval to allow 150 critically ill children from Gaza to receive treatment in the UAE.
However, following the incident in Majdal Shams, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended this decision, the reports said.
Tania Hary, executive director at Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, said the children were meant to leave tomorrow via Israel’s Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.
UNRWA says only 14 percent of Gaza not under evacuation orders
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini says Israeli evacuation orders create “havoc” and “panic” among the population of the Gaza Strip.
“Almost everyone in Gaza has been impacted by these orders. Many were forced to flee on average once a month since the war began nine months ago,” Lazzarini said on X.
“This evacuation tactic only brings more misery, fear and suffering for people who have nothing to do with this war.”
The IDF Just Destroyed a Key Rafah Water Facility Rachel Corrie Spent Her Last Month of Life Defending
DropSite News reports: On Friday, I discovered a video posted on Instagram by an Israeli soldier from the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion, showing the calculated demolition of a chief water facility in Rafah. The video—which is captioned in Hebrew, “Destruction of the Tal Sultan water reservoir in honor of Shabbat”—ends with footage of the water facility being blown up.
When some described the post as evidence of war crimes, the soldier quickly made his account private and deleted the stories.
The water facility, also known as the Canada Well, is situated in the western part of Rafah city. U.S. human rights activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death in 2003 by an Israeli military bulldozer while attempting to prevent demolitions in the city, spent much of her time during the last month of her life helping to protect the municipality workers at the Canada Well.
[NOTE: Read about Rachel Corrie here.]
For months, Israeli forces have been targeting vital water resources in the strip leading to starvation and, according to new reports, worsening access to clean water.
The Canada well is the main water facility in the city of Rafah and provides services to 50 percent of the city’s residents, mainly in West Rafah.
Monther Shoblaq, Director General of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, told Drop Site in an interview that his organization had provided the Israeli military with precise GPS coordinates for the Canada Well and all water facilities in the Strip, in coordination with the Red Cross. Despite these precautions, the well was blown up.
“I was shocked when I saw the video. It’s not just that they targeted this water facility; it’s the fact that they planted explosives, celebrated the act on Instagram, and did so under the guise of honoring the Sabbath. It’s deeply cruel.”
HA’ARETZ ADDS: The reservoir was destroyed last week with the approval of the commander of the soldiers, who belong to the 401st Brigade of the Armored Corps, but without the approval of senior officers from the IDF Southern Command.
The Israeli army says it is investigating the incident as a possible violation of international law.
NOTE: While this individual act may be a violation of international law, it is only one of many, much more serious violations. Israel is, according to the ICJ, plausibly committing genocide, illegal occupation, apartheid, extermination, and a targeted campaign of starvation – to name a few.
Syria attributes deadly Golan strike to Israel, denounces attempts to expand war
The Cradle reports: The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on 28 July that Israel is trying to ignite the region by blaming Hezbollah for the strike in the Syrian Druze town of Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights a day earlier.
“People in occupied Golan, who have refused for decades to give up their Syrian Arab identity, will not be fooled by the occupation’s false accusations that Lebanese national resistance shelled Majdal Shams.” Hezbollah officials declared that the group targets only military positions.
Twelve Syrian children were killed when a missile fell on a soccer field in Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights Saturday. Israel immediately blamed Hezbollah and rejected the Lebanese resistance group’s statement on 27 July, categorically denying its involvement in the incident.
Eyewitnesses at the scene reported that it was an Israeli Iron Dome interceptor missile that fell on the field, according to an Al-Arabi TV correspondent who spoke with a member of Israel’s ambulance service, Magen David Adom.
A military expert cited by Sputnik said, “the missile that exploded in Majdal Shams was 100 percent Israeli, and we are faced with two possibilities: either a malfunction in the performance of the Israeli air defense systems, or a deliberate launch to achieve specific goals.”
Residents of the town have refused Israeli citizenship and continue to view themselves as Syrians. The Druze community in Majdal Shams called on Israel not to politicize the incident. However, Israeli officials have used it to reinforce calls for launching a broader war against Lebanon.
Israeli officials have vowed escalation. “Hezbollah will not escape punishment for this incident” and will “pay a heavy price,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday.
AL JAZEERA ADDS: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said the country’s security cabinet has authorized himself and the defense minister to decide when and how Israel responds to the deadly attack.
Lebanese officials say they do not want war and have called for an international probe into the attack.
From Kamala Harris’ spokesperson: “The Vice President has been briefed and is closely monitoring Hezbollah’s horrific attack on a soccer field in Majdal Shams in northern Israel yesterday which killed a number of children and teenagers. She condemns this horrific attack and mourns for all those killed and wounded.
“Israel continues to face severe threats to its security, and the Vice President’s support for Israel’s security is ironclad,” Gordon said in a statement.
“Every indication is that indeed the rocket was from Hezbollah,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a visit to Japan, without elaborating on the existence of any evidence.
PPS: 256 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons since 1967
The Palestine Information Center reports: The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) has said in a statement issued on Sunday that 256 Palestinians have died in prison since 1967; there are 28 prisoners whose bodies are still being held by Israeli authorities.
17 of the 28 have died since October 7th, and their bodies have not been returned to their families for burial, the PPS added.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continue to escalate their arrest campaigns in the West Bank, coinciding with the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Since October 7th, 9,845 Palestinians have been rounded up by the IOF troops.
Since 1967, one million Palestinians have been arrested by Israel.
In Israel’s Ofer prison, torture,starvation, medical neglect, deprivation of basic rights have led to suicide attempts
WAFA reports: The crackdown on Palestinian detainees at the Israeli occupation’s Ofer Prison has reached a crisis point, with reports of severe mistreatment, including systematic starvation, since October 7, 2023, according to a lawyer from the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Authority.
The lawyer, who recently visited Ofer Prison, southwest of Ramallah, reported seven suicide attempts by detainees due to the dire conditions, brutal treatment by guards, and the use of hunger and medical neglect as forms of collective punishment. The detainees are subjected to beatings during arrest and in prison, especially if they are late for roll call or fail to wake up at the designated time (4 a.m.) each day.
One detainee suffered severe burns while taking a shower with excessively hot water, a situation resulting from the prison administration’s control over water temperature. This detainee has not received medical treatment for the burns.
Additionally, Amr Abu Khalil, a cancer patient, was assaulted while being transferred for chemotherapy treatment, only to later be informed that his treatment session had been canceled.
Another detainee, Bashir Zaghloul Khatib from Birzeit, has been subjected to severe beatings during his arrest and has lost over 12 kilograms since his detention on February 18, 2023.
The lawyer also highlighted the severe overcrowding in the prison, with at least 11 detainees confined to each cell. Five of them must sleep on the floor while the others share metal bunk beds. They lack basic necessities, including adequate clothing, blankets, and food.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is also in charge of the prisons where Palestinians are being detained, recently declared, “The conditions of the terrorists in the prisons have indeed worsened and I am proud of that”.
*NOTE: The use of the word “terrorist” for a group that resists occupation and oppression is a political, not fact-based choice. In reality, international law supports the efforts of resistance groups against an occupying power, the UN extending that right to the point of armed resistance.
Israel is currently holding about 9,700 Palestinian prisoners in inhumane conditionswhere 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.
Israeli military police raid Sde Teiman detention facility to arrest soldiers accused of torture; soldiers fight back
Ha’aretz reports: Military Police officers raided the Sde Teiman Prison on Monday and detained several soldiers on suspicion of abusing a Palestinian detainee. According to a security source, the detainee was taken to a hospital with severe injuries in an intimate place – injuries that left him without the ability to walk.
According to a security source, during the arrest of the soldiers at the Sde Teiman detention facility, a confrontation developed between military police personnel and some of the soldiers who refused to evacuate, and barricaded themselves in the facility.
It was also reported that soldiers used pepper spray at military police personnel.
One soldier was recorded saying: “We will unite against the IDF arresting our fellow soldiers”.
Another soldier said: “The military police came to arrest us because we are responsible for Nukhba [elite] terrorists. Every Israeli should go out into the streets for us, I am not ready for the shame of being arrested – I gave my life for you, for my country”.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir responded to the reports, saying, “the spectacle of military police officers coming to arrest our best heroes in the Sde Teiman detention facility is nothing less than shameful…Soldiers need to have our full support.”
‘I can’t justify this military operation any more’: the IDF reservists refusing to return to Gaza
The Guardian reports: For Israeli military paramedic Yuval Green, it was the command to burn down a house that made him decide to end his reserve duty.
Green had spent 50 days in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis earlier this year with his paratrooper unit, sleeping in a home lit only by battery-powered fairy lights among the rubble and devastation.
He had begun to have doubts about the unit’s purpose there months earlier when he heard about Israel’s refusal to agree to Hamas’s demands to end the war, along with freeing hostages.
Green is one of three Israeli reservists who told the Observer they will not return if called for military service in Gaza. All three previously undertook compulsory military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which forms the backbone of society.
They returned after the 7 October attacks by Hamas militants, when almost 1,200 people were killed in towns and kibbutzim around Gaza and about 250 taken hostage.
But the destructive behavior Green says he witnessed from other soldiers only fueled the misgivings that he carried into Gaza, despairing at what he describes as a cycle of violence. He said he had stayed out of a sense of duty to care for those in his unit, who he knew from his years of compulsory military service.
(Read the full article here.)
According to satellite analyses by Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, an associate professor of geography at Oregon State University, 56.9 percent of Gaza buildings were damaged or destroyed as of April 21, making a total of 160,000. (photo)
‘For Palestine’ – Belal Muhammad Becomes First Palestinian to be Undisputed UFC Champion
Palestine Chronicle reports: In the city of Manchester, UK, on Sunday, Palestinian MMA fighter Belal ‘Remember the Name’ Muhammad fought Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards for the undisputed UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) title in the welterweight division.
Muhammad dominated Edwards throughout the five-round bout, which saw Muhammad win by unanimous decision.
Due to the ongoing Israeli genocide in Muhammad’s homeland, which has killed tens of thousands in Gaza, the undisputed world champ used his massive platform to speak on the only issue that truly mattered.
Millions were watching as Muhammad stood with the Golden World championship belt around his waist and declared to the world,
“This fight is nothing. This is for my family, my people in Palestine. They’re fighting the real fight. Inshallah, it puts a smile on their face.”
Belal Muhammad is a class act who showed his unbreakable spirit, akin to the collective character of his indefatigable people.
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JULY 28:
Palestinian death toll from October 7 – July 28: at least 39,954* (39,363 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,251 children as of July 22. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]
This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 591 in the West Bank (~140 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 46,848 Palestinian deaths.
Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death9 to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.
Ralph Nader earlier estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.
- At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
- At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
- About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
- 2.15 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are projected to face Crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – July 28: at least 96,343 (including at least 90,923 in Gaza and 5,420 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how man Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – July 28: ~1,486 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36were 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.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
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