‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 325: As ceasefire talks falter, Israeli army orders evacuation of al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital
The only running hospital in central Gaza is threatened with closure after an Israeli evacuation order amidst ongoing military operations in the area. Meanwhile, ceasefire negotiations resume in the wake of Hezbollah’s retaliatory attack.
Casualties
- 40,435 + killed* and at least 93,534 wounded in the Gaza Strip. The identities of 32,280 of the slain have been identified, including 10,627 children and 5,956 women, representing 60% of the casualties, and 2,770 elderly as of August 6, 2024. Some 10,000 more are estimated to be under the rubble*
- 646+ Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This includes 146 children.**
- Israel revised its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,140.
- 702 Israeli soldiers and officers have been recognized as killed, and 4096 as wounded by the Israeli army, since October 7.***
* Gaza’s branch of the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed this figure in its daily report, published through its WhatsApp channel on August 26, 2024. Rights groups and public health experts estimate the death toll to be much higher.
** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. This is the latest figure according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health as of August 25.
*** These figures are released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported on August 4, 2024, that some 10,000 Israeli soldiers and officers have been either killed or wounded since October 7. The head of the Israeli army’s wounded association told Israel’s Channel 12 that the number of wounded Israeli soldiers exceeds 20,000, including at least 8,000 who have been permanently handicapped as of June 1. Israel’s Channel 7 reported that according to the Israeli war ministry’s rehabilitation service numbers, 8,663 new wounded joined the army’s handicap rehabilitation system since October 7 and as of June 18.
Key Developments
- Gaza branch of Palestinian Health Ministry says death toll surpasses 40,435, with 93,534 wounded since October 7, including 33% children, 18.4% women, and 8.6% elderly; at least 115 Palestinian children born and killed by Israeli forces since October 7.
- Hezbollah declares it responded to Fouad Shukr assassination after launching rocket barrage and drone swarm targeting Israei military sites.
- Israel claims it disabled large Hezbollah attack with preemptive series of airstrikes, allegedly destroying thousands of rocket launchers.
- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah denies Israeli preemptive attack, says group targeted military intelligence and Mossad headquarters outside of Tel Aviv.
- Israel orders evacuation of new areas in Deir al-Balah, including Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, forcing hospital to cease operations.
- Human Rights Watch urges International Criminal Court to investigate Israel’s violations against medical staff in Gaza.
- Israel kills 15 Palestinians on Monday in airstrikes on houses and schools sheltering civilians.
- Israeli media reports Israeli army has been enlarging Netzarim corridor south of Gaza City, creating permanent stations for troops.
- Israeli forces raid Nablus and Qalqilya.
- Israeli forces kill Palestinian in Masafer Yatta and two Palestinians in Jenin.
- Israeli settlers attack Palestinian rural communities in Masafer Yatta, near Jericho, and north of Nablus, wounding at least two Palestinians, including a child.
- Israeli settlers start two new outposts in West Bank.
Attempts to resume ceasefire talks after Hezbollah retaliation
Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Abu Habib, urged the European Union to pressure Israel to end its attacks on Lebanon and comply with UN resolution 1701. The resolution calls for the full cessation of hostilities, the deployment of Lebanese forces to Southern Lebanon, the parallel withdrawal of Israeli forces behind the Blue Line, the strengthening of the UN force (UNIFIL) to facilitate the entry of Lebanese Forces into the region and the establishment of a demilitarized zone between the Blue Line and the Litani River.
The Lebanese minister reportedly made his remarks during a conversation with the EU chief diplomat, Joseph Borrell, on Monday. According to reports, Borrell stressed “the importance of continuing efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, as an entry to put a limit to the escalation in the region and avoid a large-scale war.”
The diplomats’ statements came a day after Hezbollah announced that it conducted its retaliation against Israel for the assassination of its top military commander, Fouad Shukr, in late July.
Hezbollah detailed in a statement that it had launched 320 Katyusha rockets on Israeli positions in order to “clear the way for the drones to cross safely towards the target in the depth of the entity [Israel],” adding that the operation was completed “with success.”
Israeli media quoted the Israeli army saying that Hezbollah’s attack is “thought to have targeted the Mossad headquarters near Tel Aviv,” which would mean that the attack reached some 100 kilometers across the border.
Hezbollah denied Israeli claims regarding the targeting of thousands of rockets and launchpads in a later statement, saying that “all the drones left their bases in their appointed time and crossed the border safely towards that target,” asserting that Israel’s claims were “baseless.”
The secretary general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a live speech on Sunday that Hezbollah had delayed its response to Israel’s assassination of Shukr to give a chance for ceasefire talks.
According to Nasrallah, Hezbollah had delayed its retaliation to Israel’s strike on Beirut’s southern Dahiya district and the assassination of Shukr on July 31 due to the ceasefire talks that began in mid-August, since “the entire purpose of [the Lebanese] front is to stop the aggression on Gaza.”
“After it became clear that Netanyahu was adding new conditions and that the Americans were complicit, we concluded that there was no longer any point in delaying our response,” Nasrallah added.
Meanwhile, the Israeli public broadcaster reported that Israel’s negotiating team returned from Cairo after a round of talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators. Reports pointed out that an Israeli technical team remained in Cairo to discuss details of the ceasefire proposal.
For its part, Hamas reaffirmed its position on the talks in a statement, saying that it demands mediators pressure Israel into the implementation of the version of the proposal that Hamas had accepted in July, which includes a total Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Israel currently insists on Netanyahu’s latest condition to maintain Israeli forces in the Philadelphi corridor, along the Gaza-Egypt border, and in the Netzarim corridor, south of Gaza City.
On Sunday, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, Michael Herzog, said in an interview with CBS that Israel isn’t obligated to leave the Philadelphi corridor at the moment, but it agreed to reduce its troops there.
Deir al-Balah hospital ordered to evacuate amidst widespread infrastructure destruction
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, one of the four remaining functional hospitals in the Gaza Strip, was included in an Israeli evacuation order on Monday, the Deir al-Balah municipality announced on Monday. The Gaza-based Palestinian health ministry said that the hospital continued to operate as of Monday afternoon local time, despite the Israeli evacuation order, and despite the proximity of Israeli troops.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is the only operating hospital in the overcrowded central governorate of Deir al-Balah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have been concentrated due to multiple displacements fleeing Israeli bombings. Currently, the hospital is treating some 100 resident patients.
The Israeli army has been reducing the area it had designated as a “safe zone” to less than 25 square kilometers, pushing more people into the already-crowded center of Deir al-Balah under extreme sanitary conditions.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel’s violations against medical staff in a statement on Monday. According to Gaza’s health ministry, Israel has killed some 500 health workers in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
In the same context, the union of the northern Gaza municipalities said in a joint statement on Monday that “the Gaza Strip is lacking the most fundamental services amidst a grave environmental catastrophe.”
The statement was made by a group of municipality representatives who spoke to the media in the center of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday. According to their statement, Israel has destroyed over 1.5 million square meters’ worth of roads and streets, 35 water wells, five principal sewage water pumps, 200,000 meters of water pipelines, 100,000 meters of sewage pipelines, 5,000 meters of rain drainage pipelines, 57 power plants used to operate wells and sewage pumps, and about 95% of municipal machines and equipment used for garbage collection and public works.
The statement added that most of the municipal facilities in some 37 buildings were also destroyed by Israeli forces, in addition to 15 public parks and the main water desalination plant that used to serve all of the north of the Strip. The statement also said that Israeli forces have destroyed 45,000 residential units in the north, rendering 75% of inhabitants homeless. The municipalities also warned of floods and deteriorating sanitary conditions as winter approaches due to the destruction of infrastructure.
The municipal officials called on the international community to provide urgent assistance, especially repair parts, reconstruction material, and machine equipment. The officials called on international citizens to pressure their respective governments “to stop the war of genocide and destruction and save what remains of human life in the Gaza Strip.”
Five Palestinians killed in the West Bank over the weekend
Israeli forces killed five Palestinians over the weekend in the occupied West Bank. Late on Sunday, Israeli forces opened fire on a car traveling between Jenin and Salfit in the northern West Bank, killing two men. Israeli forces withheld their bodies. The men were identified as Musaab Mqasqas, 17, and Odai Abu Naaseh, 27. The Israeli army claimed that the men tried to car-ram its soldiers near the Israeli settlement of Ariel.
On Monday, Israeli forces opened fire on a Palestinian in Yatta, south of Hebron. The man was identified as Eyad Najjar, 48, and was reportedly on his way to work inside Israel. On Sunday, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission announced the death of Zaher al-Raddad, 19, in Israeli captivity.
Al-Raddad was wounded during an Israeli raid on Jenin in late June. A video circulated of al-Raddad tied to the front of an Israeli jeep while wounded during the raid.
On Saturday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed the death of Ahmad al-Anteer, 18, who was wounded by Israeli forces earlier, alongside two other youth at the Jalameh checkpoint north of Jenin.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian rural communities in Masafer Yatta in the south Hebron hills, injuring an unspecified number of people. In Beit Furik, east of Nablus, Israeli settlers attempted to install a new settlement outpost on Palestinians’ private land, clashing with inhabitants. Local sources said that the settlers failed and left after attacking houses with rocks, injuring one Palestinian.
In al-Awja, north of Jericho, Israeli settlers kidnapped a Palestinian and beat him severely, causing him serious injuries. The man was rescued and identified as Laith Aweinat, 34, from the village of Battir, near Bethlehem. His brother, Nader Aweinat, told Palestinian media that Laith had “bleeding injuries, swellings, and bruises all over his body, including his head and limbs, and he has difficulty in speaking.”
Since October 7, Israeli forces or settlers have killed 646 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 146 children.
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