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West Bank, Gaza face similar annihilation tactics at Israel’s hands – Day 328

contact@ifamericansknew.org August 31, 2024biden genocide complicity, evacuation, humanitarian aid, Jenin, unaccompanied children, West Bank

A damaged apartment building belonging to the al-Ghandour family after Israeli attacks in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, on Thursday [Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut/Anadolu] (photo)

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

In third day of Israeli invasion, destruction and death in Jenin

WAFA reports:

Israeli occupation forces have continued their offensive on the city of Jenin and its refugee camp in the northern West Bank for the third consecutive day, including searches, harassment, interrogations, detentions, and arrests.

Additionally, Israeli bulldozers have been destroying streets and infrastructure, causing significant damage, as well as water and power outages.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA says the 20 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank incursion this week include a person with disabilities and several children, without specifying how many.

Three Palestinian young men were killed early Friday morning in an Israeli airstrike near Jenin. According to the Ministry of Health, their bodies were taken away by Israeli forces.

Israeli occupation forces Friday evening killed another Palestinian, an 82-year-old man, and injured one in Jenin; occupation forces opened fire towards the ambulance as it transported the dead and injured individuals.

Israeli occupation forces Friday also opened live fire at a group of journalists covering the ongoing aggression on Jenin and its camp, in addition to deliberately obstructing the movement of ambulances and targeting ambulance crews.

Israeli occupation forces Friday afternoon blew up a house in Jenin, according to local sources. In addition, the occupation soldiers broke into an unidentified number of houses, forced the families to leave, and turned the houses into military outposts.

Palestinian health authorities add that Israeli forces targeted medical workers in Jenin.

Five Palestinian children killed in occupied West Bank since Sunday: Advocacy group

DCIP tweeted:

Child rights advocacy group Defense for Children International has again called for an arms embargo to be placed on Israel as Israeli forces killed five more Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank this week.

The slain Palestinian boys include two 13-year-olds, a 15-year-old, and two 17-year-olds, Defense of Children International – Palestine (DCIP) said in a statement, calling for action against Israel to stop the “relentless killing of Palestinian children”.

Israel’s Violent Invasion of West Bank Parallels the Early Stages of War on Gaza

Al Jazeera reports from the West Bank:

All eyes are on Jenin.

Entry into the camp is nearly impossible. But scenes emerging from there reveal utter devastation.

Scenes of dispossession familiar in Gaza over the past 11 months repeated here in the West Bank. Families carrying what they can as they are forced out of their homes under the threat of Israeli gunfire.

The targeting of medical workers is being repeated, too. Paramedics were shot at as they retrieved the bullet-ridden body of an 82-year-old man. UN experts have repeatedly condemned these Israeli tactics as war crimes but with little effect.

Families experience constant loss, fear and repeated dispossession. And with nothing on the horizon to offer a break from this deadly pattern, Palestinians fear the worst is yet to come.

Drop Site News reports the same message:

Speaking of the events of the last three days in the West Bank, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said “This is an incredible scaling up of the violence of the preceding months and in particular weeks with a full military assault, destroying hospitals, destroying roads, destroying vital infrastructure which had already been severely damaged during the preceding months, and Voila!, telling the Palestinians to go, ordering mass evacuations.”

In an interview with Drop Site News, Albanese said, “I see a serious pattern parallel with what is happening in the Gaza Strip”—“patterns of torture, of destruction, of extrajudicial killings, of uprooting that are very similar to Gaza.”

“It is my responsibility to warn against the risk of the genocide leaking into the West Bank. There is similar rhetoric, similar patterns, and escalating violence, ordering similar things.”

Brandishing Israel’s well-worn propaganda ensign of self-defense, foreign minister Israel Katz has described the operation as “a war in every sense,” declaring that Tel Aviv would approach its invasion of parts of the West Bank “exactly as we deal with terror infrastructure in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of Palestinian civilians.”

“We are in the post 9/11 era,” Albanese said. “So resistance movements are naturally considered terrorist first, and then it’s very difficult to dismantle this perception which is so entrenched, so ingrained in ordinary people’s mindset. So if politicians say that—and journalists amplify it—probably this is going to convince people that they are protecting all of us from these masses of savages.”

Francesca Albanese: “Are we blind to history repeating?”

OCHA reports massive numbers of unaccompanied children, massive Israeli denial of humanitarian aid deliveries

Humanitarian Situation Update:

The number of unaccompanied and separated children in Gaza has likely increased to 3-5 per cent of the overall displaced population according to a recent assessment by International Rescue Committee (IRC). Doctors reported to the IRC that children without surviving family members are being found in hospitals, essentially living there alone due to the lack of alternative care arrangements.

IRC indicated that, since October, 41 per cent of families in Gaza were caring for children who were not their own, and a UN survey in April 2024 estimates that this rate is more than eight times higher than in other emergency situations, where the figures range between three and five per cent.

In August, the number of humanitarian missions and movements within Gaza that have been denied access by Israeli authorities has doubled in the north (68 vs. 30) and almost doubled in the south (99 vs 53), compared with July. Between 1 and 29 August, out of the 199 planned humanitarian missions coordinated with the Israeli authorities for northern Gaza, just 74 (37 per cent) were facilitated. In southern Gaza, out of 372 coordinated humanitarian movements, 173 (46 per cent) were facilitated.

In addition, aid groups say that approximately 1,600 trucks full of essential medicines, health and hygiene supplies and food are currently stuck at crossing points along the Gaza boundary with “no progress” on their movement.

Israel’s repeated and incessant displacement orders, which are pushing Palestinians into an ever-shrinking corner of Gaza, have also impacted storage warehouses for humanitarian aid, the organizations say.

“Numerous warehouses, including four UN and one HI [Handicap International] warehouse, have reported that their locations are no longer within the ‘humanitarian zone,’ leaving them with no space to store supplies being shipped into Gaza,” the groups state.

Additionally, the severe damage to key infrastructure including roads, water and sanitation – along with the risks of unexploded ordnance – have impeded or prevented deliveries of humanitarian aid altogether.

A report by the Pacific Institute, a California-based non-partisan think tank, revealed that despite its small size and accounting for only 0.12 per cent of the global population, Israeli attacks on Palestinian water supplies accounted for a staggering quarter of all water-related violence globally in 2023.

The war on Gaza has devastated the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinian children. In the the city of Deir el-Balah, displaced families say they're dealing with constant grief. Many of the children living there, are now orphans. — The war on Gaza has devastated the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinian children.
In the the city of Deir el-Balah, displaced families say they’re dealing with constant grief.
Many of the children living there, are now orphans. (screenshots)

Israeli forces hinder access to Al-Aqsa Mosque

Al Jazeera reports:

In videos published by local Palestinian platforms and verified by Al Jazeera, Israeli forces are seen restricting access to Al-Aqsa Mosque for Friday prayers.

Additional footage documented Israeli forces deployed in the area surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and checking identification documents.

Israeli authorities have repeatedly barred Palestinians from entering the site for Friday prayers since October 7, forcing many to pray on the streets near the Old City.

Israeli forces have also attacked Palestinian worshippers inside the mosque.

US urges Israel to revamp evacuation policy in Gaza – because US cares about “the most vulnerable”

NPR reports:

The Biden administration is urging Israel’s military to make major changes to its “drastically increased” pace of mass evacuation orders that is driving repeated displacement of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza, according to a U.S. Embassy memo obtained by NPR.

The Aug. 28 cable by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the State Department, contained an assessment by officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development on the effects of Israel’s evacuation orders on the Palestinian population.

The document recommends several “mitigating measures” including that the Israeli military “rescind lapsed evacuation orders to allow greater freedom of movement, hold operations at least 48 hours after issuance of evacuation orders to enable populations to safely move.”

USAID said in a statement to NPR that while the agency does not comment on internal documents, “The humanitarian conditions in Gaza are incredibly dire, and the U.S. government is working relentlessly to increase assistance reaching the most vulnerable.”

NOTE: The US is working relentlessly to keep Israel armed – including through secret arms sales – to enable its genocidal war on the Palestinian people.

American arms shipments to Israel since October 7th have surpassed 50,000 tons.

Thousands of displaced Palestinians on their way to find somewhere to stay after Israeli authorities order them to evacuate an area once declared a safe humanitarian zone due, in the eastern part of Khan Younis, Gaza, on July 23. Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images — Thousands of displaced Palestinians on their way to find somewhere to stay after Israeli authorities order them to evacuate an area once declared a safe humanitarian zone due, in the eastern part of Khan Younis, Gaza, on July 23.
Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images (photo)

Palestinians Seek US Appeals Court Review of Biden Genocide Complicity Case

Common Dreams reports:

Six weeks after a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit filed by Palestinians, Palestinian Americans, and rights groups accusing senior Biden administration officials of complicity in Israel’s Gaza genocide, plaintiffs in the case on Thursday asked the full federal appellate court to revisit their suit.

The plaintiffs’ petition —which was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the law firm Van Der Hout LLP—requests an en banc rehearing of their case, in which U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are defendants. To win such a rehearing, a case must involve a matter of “exceptional importance” or be inconsistent with previous court rulings.

While the court originally found that “the current treatment of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military may plausibly constitute a genocide in violation of international law,” it dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds in late January. The 9th Circuit subsequently granted an expedited appeal in the case, which was heard by the three-judge panel in June and dismissed the following month.

“For almost 11 months we have witnessed the intentional destruction of the Palestinian people in Gaza made possible by these officials,” CCR senior staff attorney Pam Spees said on Friday. “With this ruling, the panel has said our courts are too small to do the job they were assigned at the founding—to be a co-equal branch in our government and a check and balance on presidential power.”

“If the 9th Circuit doesn’t course-correct here, it will be giving this and future presidents license to violate the law at will in the realm of foreign relations,” Spees added.

Families and children, returning to @UNRWA schools in Khan Younis to seek "safety" and "shelter". The classrooms are torched. Walls are blown out. There is rubble everywhere. This situation is unfolding under the world's watch — Families and children, returning to UNRWA schools in Khan Younis to seek “safety” and “shelter”. The classrooms are torched. Walls are blown out. There is rubble everywhere. (photo)

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

AntiWar: In CNN Interview, Harris Dodged Gaza Genocide and Damaged Her Election Prospects

Drop Site News: How Israel’s Elite Intelligence Unit Targets Queer Palestinians in the West Bank

Mondoweiss: Standing for Justice: Why we raised a “Stop Arming Israel” banner on Day 1 of the DNC Convention

Mondoweiss: Demystifying how the Hamas leadership works

Electronic Intifada: German envoy admits he spread lie about 7 October mass rapes

Middle East Eye: How US universities are trying to muzzle pro-Palestine protests before they begin

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 30:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – August 30, 2024: at least 41,364* (40,691 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 673 in the West Bank (~147 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 49,032 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, 23 from West Bank).
At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
Almost 500,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – August 30: at least 99,480 (including at least 94,060 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, 2023 – August 30, 2024: ~1,452 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 288*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 25 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis 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.

***Approximately ten of the deaths listed above were Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah in fighting at the Israel-Lebanon border. The figure does not include the reportedly 53 Israeli soldiers – nearly 16% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents.

† 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

Saturday 31 August 2024