Gaza children vaccinated against polio, West Bank and Israel in chaos – Day 330

contact@ifamericansknew.org September 2, 2024ben gvir, Dr. Khaled Alser, Hebron, israeli hostages, Jenin, polio vaccine, the lancet, torture

Israeli forces organize a raid with bulldozers on Jenin in the West Bank on September 01, 2024. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency] (photo)

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Al Jazeera reports:

On the first day of the campaign, 72,611 children in Gaza were vaccinated against the poliovirus, raising hope the goal of 640,000 kids can be achieved over the coming days.

Polio can cause paralysis of the limbs or even death in children. The vaccination drive comes after the virus was discovered last month after 25 years, highlighting the collapse of Gaza’s health infrastructure after almost 11 months of nonstop Israeli bombardment.

Hamas and Israel agreed to pause fighting in areas of Gaza for at least eight-hours daily from Sunday to Tuesday to allow the World Health Organization and Palestinian medics to begin a complex operation to vaccinate 640,000 children.

Israeli drones were reportedly hovering over Deir el-Balah during the pause, even though it is designated to be a safe zone.

Chessa Latifi, the deputy director of emergency preparedness and response at Project HOPE, said, “The vaccine campaign doesn’t address the core issue, which is the lack of hygiene, sanitation and clean water,” she said.

“Because if we had those components – the clean water, the proper facilities for bathing and latrines – we wouldn’t have polio. But this infrastructure has been completely destroyed. You have people living in these ad hoc camps. It’s a really really dangerous situation.

Health workers carry containers filled with polio vaccines in Zawayda, the central Gaza Strip, on Sept. 1, 2024. Photo by Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images. (photo)

A baby receives a polio vaccine in Gaza (photo)

West Bank: Update on Israel’s deadly raid on Jenin – now in its fifth day

Various news agencies report:

The Israeli military brought in reinforcements on Sunday after demolishing shops and bulldozing streets, while preventing tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians from accessing humanitarian aid, in a step described as a “war crime”. Israel has also been accused of war crimes during its ongoing military offensive in Gaza.

According to the Jenin municipality, the Israeli army has bulldozed nearly 70 percent of the city’s streets and 20km (12.4 miles) of its water and sewage networks since it launched its raids on Wednesday, August 28. As a result, 80 percent of the Jenin refugee camp, home to 20,000 people, is left without water access, the Jenin municipality said.

Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim said this has been “the most destructive raid we’ve seen” in decades.

“This is a reminder of what it means to be a Palestinian under military occupation. You have no control over your town, no control over your streets. You don’t know if you’re going to get home safely or even if your home is going to be spared,” said Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim while reporting from the outskirts of Jenin.

A Palestinian man killed by Israeli forces in Jenin was handed over received by paramedics with “torture marks” found on his body, according to health officials.

Wisam Bakr, the director of the Jenin Governmental Hospital, also known as the Khalil Suleiman Hospital, reported that Abed’s body arrived handcuffed with marks in different parts indicating he was beaten before his death.

An Israeli drone strike killed a young Palestinian man and injured another, on Sunday, in the town of Silat al-Harithiya, northwest of Jenin in the northern West Bank.

Israeli forces have killed 30 citizens in the past 5 days, including 18 in the Jenin governorate, 4 in Tulkarem, 1 in Qalqilia, 4 in Tubas, and 3 in Hebron, bringing the death toll in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, to 681. (Their names and ages can be found here.)

The mayor of Jenin on Sunday compared an ongoing Israeli military operation in the northern occupied West Bank city to an “earthquake,” estimating that about 500 million shekels ($135.2 million) of damage had been caused so far.

“The scale of destruction surpasses that of previous operations, with damages estimated at around 500 million shekels ($135.2 million),” Nidal al-Obaidi said in an interview with Anadolu.

Describing the situation, particularly in the eastern neighborhood and the camp, the mayor said it was “as if an earthquake has struck the city — massive destruction, streets torn apart, homes demolished, and others blown up.”

The Israeli occupation army deliberately destroyed a football stadium in the city of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank during the ongoing military offensive in the city and its refugee camp which started last Wednesday.

The Palestinian Football Association published a video clip showing shocking scenes of the extensive damage to the stadium including its grounds and stands. With the entire area turned into rubble by the Israeli occupation’s bulldozers.

The Palestinian Football Association condemned the attack on the stadium saying it constitutes a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms that protect sports facilities and guarantee the right of youth to practice sports.

Israeli forces kill five Palestinian teens in West Bank in a week

Defense for Children International-Palestine reports:

Since Sunday, Israeli forces have killed five Palestinian teenagers in the occupied West Bank, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) says.

Brothers Murad, 13, and Mohammad, 17, were killed by an Israeli drone-fired missile in the Far’a refugee camp on Wednesday. Israeli forces blocked Palestinian ambulances from reaching their bodies for more than eight hours, the group said.

Last week, an Israeli drone strike in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem killed 15-year-old Adnan and 13-year-old Mohammad after they sustained shrapnel wounds all over their bodies.

On Sunday, Israeli forces shot dead 17-year-old Mosab while he was in a car. Israeli authorities confiscated his body.

“As Israeli forces bomb and starve Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip, they are targeting children in the occupied West Bank with lethal force,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Years of systemic impunity has created a situation where Israeli forces kill Palestinian children without limit or consequence.”

UPDATE: Two more Palestinian youths were killed Sunday: Media sources said that on Sunday afternoon, occupation forces shot and killed the two children, Abdullah Nasser Abdullah Hamou, 16, and Mohammed Mahmoud Abdullah Hamou, 13, after chasing and opening fire at their vehicle.

Israeli forces have killed seven Palestinian teens in West Bank in a week. (IMEMC)

Renowned Surgeon and Lead Author of New Lancet Study Tortured by Israeli Military

Drop Site News reports:

Dr. Khaled Alser, a highly respected Palestinian surgeon, is the lead author of The Lancet’s first medical paper to detail cases of trauma among Gazan patients and medical professionals.

But he has had little opportunity to mark the occasion: On March 25, the Israel Defense Forces abducted him during a raid on his hospital and he remains in captivity, his whereabouts unconfirmed.

Since his abduction, he has been held at Ofer Detention Center. He has also spent at least three months at Sde Teiman, a notorious IDF-run torture camp in the Negev Desert.

A Physicians for Human Rights Israel report provided to his colleagues recently includes testimony detailing Dr. Alser’s torture and abuse at the camp, though Alser has been accused of no wrongdoing.

A PHR attorney was able to interview Alser at the Ofer prison in late July, where the organization believes he is still being held. PHR provided the testimony to his colleagues, who shared it with Drop Site News. (The testimony is included here.) An IDF spokesperson was unable to provide details as to his status by publication time.

(Read the full article here; read Dr. Alser’s experiences in Gaza before his abduction here.)

Destruction near Nasser Hospital on March 13. | Palestine 2024 © MSF (photo)

Three Israeli officers killed by Palestinian near Hebron

Middle East Eye reports:

Three Israeli police officers were killed on Sunday morning near Hebron in the occupied West Bank by a former member of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Presidential Guard.

According to the Israeli army, the suspect’s vehicle followed the car carrying the three officers. After the shooting, the officers lost control of their vehicle, with one officer killed at the scene and two declared dead en route to the hospital.

The assailant, Muhannad al-Asood, a resident of Idhna in Hebron, abandoned his car and fled on foot, according to Israeli reports. He hid in a house in Hebron, where Israeli forces later killed him.

Sources said that after surrounding the home, soldiers opened heavy fire towards the home and fired an “Energa” anti-tank grenade at it, killing Al-Aswad, before confiscating his body.

The Tarqumiya crossing north of Hebron in the the occupied West bank on Sept.1 [Getty]t (photo)

Following deaths of six Israeli hostages, everything in Israel is up for grabs

Various outlets report:

On Sunday morning, Israel announced that six bodies had been recovered, all allegedly shot in the head. According to the source, while the physical condition of the hostages was frail, it did not indicate extreme emaciation or starvation, and had they not been shot, they would have survived. No sign of other physical trauma was found on the bodies.

Some were slated to be released in the first phase of the prisoner exchange, when a deal was reached.

As the Israeli government faces mounting criticism over its handling of the potential hostage deal and cease-fire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under fire both domestically and internationally. Amid the growing tension, Palestinian political and strategic affairs expert Saeed Ziad, based in Istanbul, strongly condemned Israel’s current approach.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Ziad argued that Israel’s decision to maintain control over strategic crossings, such as the Philadelphi route between Gaza and Egypt, effectively amounted to “a vote by the majority to kill all hostages.”

Israeli political commentator Ori Goldbergsays the Netanyahu government is now on the defensive after the deaths of six captives in Gaza.

Commenting on the massive, spontaneous protests that erupted after the recovery of six dead hostages was announced, Goldberg said, “Everything about the demonstrations tonight, the scope of the protests and the general vibe tells me that it’s different,” said Goldberg.

“The death of these six hostages, which apparently came right before the military forces converged on them, proves to many Israelis that the ‘military pressure’ – as the prime minister calls it – is instrumental in killing the hostages, rather than rescuing them.

“What has really been driven home today is the understanding that the policy of Israel’s government is profoundly detrimental to Israelis – and perhaps, in the case of the hostages, even lethal,” he told Al Jazeera.

Some analysts said the public outcry over the six hostages who died could signal a new level of political pressure on Netanyahu.

Three of the six captives found dead in Gaza in recent days were reportedly scheduled to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed in July. This fueled fury and frustration among the protesters.

As Prime Minister Netanyahu attempted to make a condolence call on the family of one of the dead hostages, they refused to speak to him, instead calling on Israelis to join protests demanding a deal to release the remaining captives.

“We have no interest in talking to whoever murdered Carmel or being a prop in his media circus. We will not allow him to use us as justification and legitimization for the murder of the next abductee. The blood of the kidnapped is on his hands,” Gat’s cousin, Gil Dickmann, wrote on X.

The head of Israel’s Histadrut labor unionhas called for a general strike on Monday to pressure the government into reaching a deal to return Israeli captives still held in Gaza.

“We must stop the abandonment of the hostages… I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention can shake those who need to be shaken,” said Arnon Bar-David in a statement.

“We need to reach a deal, a deal that is more important than anything else. A deal is not progressing due to political considerations and this is unacceptable.”

The call for a strike was supported by the Israel Business Forum, which represents most private-sector workers from 200 of the country’s largest companies, as well as by Israel’s opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

Mossad chief contradicts Netanyahu’s ceasefire demand

Al Jazeera reports:

Mossad chief David Barnea says Israel’s military should withdraw from the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors as part of a captive-release deal, saying its presence there is “not operationally necessary”.

According to Israel Hayom, Barnea made the comments in a private meeting with captives’ relatives on Friday, updating them on the status of the ceasefire negotiations to release their loved ones.

A dispute over the Netzarim Corridor, which cuts through central Gaza, remains a key sticking point to the deal, he said. That’s because Israeli negotiators, at Netanyahu’s order, have insisted that Palestinians returning to northern Gaza first be vetted at the corridor. But Hamas has insisted on Israel’s full withdrawal from the enclave, including Netzarim and Philadelphi.

Israeli troops observe the Gaza Strip from the Israeli side of the border on August 29 (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images) (photo)

Israel’s Ben-Gvir calls for death penalty for Palestine prisoners, more checkpoints in West Bank

Middle East Monitor reports:

In a post on X, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called for the deployment of additional military checkpoints across the occupied West Bank and for the introduction of the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners.

He stated that the right of Israelis to live is more important than the freedom of movement for Palestinians residents of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir (C) in Kiryat Malachi, Israel on February 16, 2024 [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency] (photo)

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – SEPTEMBER 1:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 1, 2024: at least 41,467* (40,786 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 681 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 – September 1: at least 99,644 (including at least 94,224 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 – September 1, 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

Monday, 2 September 2024