Israel kills and kills while maintaining innocence; Biden supports Israel in front of the world – Day 353

contact@ifamericansknew.org September 25, 2024biden's UN speech, hezbollah rockets, Lebanon, targeting civilians, torture, weapons to israel

Palestinians searched for survivors in Gaza City after an Israeli strike on Monday.Credit...Omar Al-Qattaa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images (photo)

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

The Palestinian civil defense in Gaza has said that 56 people, mostly women and children, have been killed by Israeli bombing over the past 24 hours.

A mother and four of her children were killed on Tuesday evening in an Israeli airstrike on Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

The death toll from Israel’s assault on Lebanon has risen to at least 569 people since Monday, according to Lebanon’s Health Minister Firas Abiad.

A Lebanese journalist, Hadi al-Sayed from Al Mayadeen Media Network, has been killed by an Israeli air strike.

Civil defence teams and local residents launch search and rescue efforts following the attack by the Israeli army on the home of the Al-Wasifi family in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, located in the central Gaza Strip, which resulted in casualties, including children, in Gaza City, Gaza on September 24, 2024 [Moiz Salhi – Anadolu Agency] (photo)

Israeli military offers animation, wild speculation as pretext for attacking civilian structures – again

IAK reports:

The Israeli military released an animated videopurporting to illustrate how Hezbollah has been storing enormous weaponry inside Lebanese civilian homes. While offering no evidence (or explanation of how heavy weapons could get to the upper floors of buildings), Israel is using this “information” to justify its targeting of civilian structures across southern Lebanon.

In addition to the alleged weapons storage, one expert said, “Israel believes that they have sufficient documented evidence that there are a network for fortifications and tunnels in the vicinity of homes.” This “evidence” has not been shared.

The animations are reminiscent of Israel’s earlier depiction of the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which it alleged was a cover for a massive underground “command and control center” for Hamas. No evidence was provided before the Israeli military relentlessly attacked the hospital, and no such structure was ever found.

As if to clarify further to the West Israel’s innocence in the killing of Lebanese civilians, Prime Minister Netanyahu declared in English Tuesday, “I say to the people of Lebanon: Our war is not with you. Our war is with Hezbollah. I told you yesterday to evacuate homes in which there is a missile in the living room and a rocket in the garage. Whoever [does not] will no longer have a home.”

The irony of Israel’s demand that Hezbollah stop firing rockets

Various outlets report:

Israeli former War Cabinet member Benny Gantz reportedly threatened on Tuesday that if Hezbollah does not stop launching rockets at Israel, Tel Aviv will carry out a ground operation in southern Lebanon.

The warning is heavy with irony, as Israel has been responsible for about 82 percent of the cross-border attacks.

Just one day earlier, on Monday 23 September, Israel’s military conducted over 1,500 strikes in Lebanon, while Hezbollah fired about 240rockets.

On Tuesday, the IDF itself reported that Hezbollah fired over 300 rockets from Lebanon, a record since beginning of war.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said of Monday’s efforts – which resulted in hundreds of Lebanese deaths, “Today was a masterpiece… This was the worst week Hezbollah has had since its establishment, and the results speak for themselves.

In fact, the Israeli military described the air strikes on Lebanon as one of the largest campaigns in its history, with 250 fighter jets dropping 2,000 munitions.

US delaying Israeli request to replenish munitions and missile interceptors

Middle East Eye reports:

The Biden administration may be slow-rolling a new Israeli request to refill its arms and munitions stockpiles, raising some questions among US officials whether or not it is trying to apply pressure on Israel to stop a full-scale offensive on Lebanon, Middle East Eye can reveal.

Israel submitted an “extensive” three-page request last week for additional munitions and armaments to the Biden administration, a senior US official and former US official told MEE.

Last week’s request includes more US military aid and foreign military sales, the latter of which Israel buys with its sovereign funds.

A few of the many children wounded by shrapnel – some also severely burned – in the course of Israel's now nine-month-long attack on Gaza. The weapons create small pieces of shrapnel that leave barely discernible entry wounds but create extensive destruction inside the body. — A few of the many children wounded by shrapnel – some also severely burned – in the course of Israel’s now nine-month-long attack on Gaza. The weapons create small pieces of shrapnel that leave barely discernible entry wounds but create extensive destruction inside the body. (collage)

Vast majority of Monday’s casualties in Lebanon were civilians: Health Minister

New York Times reports:

Lebanese Health Minister Dr. Firass Abiad said on Tuesday that the “overwhelming majority, if not all,” of the people killed and wounded by Israel’s bombardment in Lebanon on Monday were civilians.

The latest health toll from Lebanon’s Health Ministry puts the number killed by the Monday bombing at 558, which includes 50 children and 94 women. Nearly 2,000 were wounded in the attack.

The toll in Israel’s bombardment is about half of the toll for the entire 2006 Lebanon War, which lasted 34 days.

In CNN interview, Iran’s president warns against Lebanon turning into ‘another Gaza,’ says Hezbollah can’t face Israel alone

CNN interview:

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told CNN that Israel must be stopped from turning Lebanon into “another Gaza,” adding that Hezbollah “can’t do that alone.”

Israel’s extensive strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon are “a human and humanitarian crisis” that risks tipping the region into wider conflict, Iran’s new president told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an exclusive interview.

“The danger does exist that the fire of events that are taking place (in Lebanon) will expand to the entire region,” Pezeshkian said.

When asked whether Iran will counsel Hezbollah to restrain itself in its response to Israeli strikes, Pezeshkian said Hezbollah is facing a country “armed to the teeth and has access to weapons systems that are far superior to anything else.”

“We must not allow for Lebanon to become another Gaza at the hands of Israel,” he warned.

“Hezbollah cannot do that alone. Hezbollah cannot stand alone against a country that is being defended and supported and supplied by Western countries, European countries, and the United States of America.”

Pezeshkian spoke with CNN as world leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday, in which hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon are expected to dominate the discussion agenda.

Pezeshkian warned that events could spiral into a regional conflict, which “can be dangerous for the future of the world and planet Earth itself, so we must prevent the ongoing criminal acts being committed by Israel.”

New Testimonies of Horrific Torture in Israeli Prison Camp

IMEMC reports:

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission has released a new report detailing the horrific conditions in the Israeli torture prison in the Negev desert.

The testimonies of the eight detainees included details of the crimes of torture, abuse, and horrific attacks to which they were subjected, specifically during the first period of their detention, before they were transferred to the Negev prison.

According to the available data from the Gaza detainees in the Negev prison, there are about 1,200 detainees from Gaza in the Negev prison.

It is worth mentioning that the Israeli occupation authorities imposed the crime of enforced disappearance on thousands of detainees in Gaza.

Several months ago, in light of some legal amendments that were made, human rights organizations were able to make limited visits to detainees in Gaza.

However, many of them are still subject to enforced disappearance, in addition to thousands of missing persons.

The Israeli occupation also refuses to this day to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit them or to know any information related to them.

This is in addition to the set of major obstacles that legal teams have faced since the beginning of the war in following up on them and visiting them.

(Read some prisoners’ testimonies here.)

West Bank: Israeli Forces Kill a Palestinian Near Hebron

IMEMC reports:

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian young man, and injured three others, late Tuesday night, after invading the Al-Fawwar refugee camp, north of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.

Medical sources at the Yatta Governmental Hospital announced that the young man, Yahya Daniel Awad, 29, succumbed to his critical injuries after occupation forces shot him in the chest with live ammunition.

Sources added that occupation forces fired many live rounds and tear gas canisters, shooting four young men with live rounds, including Awad. The other three survived.

It is important to mention that the slain young man was a married father of a young child, and his wife is pregnant with their second child; he was an employee of the Hebron Municipality.

Since the beginning of the Israeli military onslaught against the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have killed 717 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 160 children, and injured 5,700.

UN refugee agency says 2 staffers killed in latest Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon

Andalou Agency reports:

The chief of UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, confirmed Tuesday that two staffers were among the hundreds who have been killed in the latest Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon.

“Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon are now relentlessly claiming hundreds of civilian lives. And I am very saddened to confirm that two UNHCR colleagues were also killed yesterday,” Filippo Grandi wrote on X.

Grand extended condolences to their families, friends and colleagues on behalf of all at the UNHCR.

Commissioner-General of UNRWA, the refugee agency specifically for Palestinians, wrote on September 11th that Israel had killed at least 220 UNRWA staff since the war began.

“Humanitarian staff, premises and operations have been blatantly and unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war,” he said, warning that “the longer impunity prevails, the more international humanitarian law and the Geneva conventions will become irrelevant.

Emergency workers look through the remains of buildings after an Israeli attack on the Nabatiyeh Al Faouqa area close to Lebanon's border — Emergency workers look through the remains of buildings after an Israeli attack on the Nabatiyeh Al Faouqa area close to Lebanon’s border (photo)

In swan song to UN General Assembly, Biden’s bias was on full display

IAK reports:

In his final address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, President Joe Biden arguably spent more time reciting the events of October 7th than discussing the developments in the ensuing 350+ days.

When Biden did mention the people of Gaza, it was in passive terms: they have been killed, dislocated, crowded into tents – why and by whom, and where the firepower came from, he didn’t say. Regarding the West Bank, he acknowledged the “rise of violence against innocent Palestinians” without an indication of the source of the violence – Israel’s extremist settlers, backed by the Israeli military.

But his verb choices when referring to Hamas were both specific and evocative:’ “slaughtering” and “massacring,”; and he was unequivocal about Israel’s supposed “right” to defend itself (in fact, Israel has no such right, but Palestinians do have the right to resist their occupier).

Biden also declared, “Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest,” adding, “Even as the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible” – a solution he claims to have been “working tirelessly to achieve,” while selling massive quantities of non-diplomatic weapons to Israel.

President Joe Biden will leave the international community – especially the Middle East – less safe and less stable than ever.

In UN address, South African president welcomed international support for genocide case against Israel

Andalou Agency reports:

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday welcomed international support for the genocide case against Israel his country filed last December at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York, Ramaphosa said,

The violence that Palestinian people are being subjected to is a grim continuation of more than half-a-century of apartheid that has been perpetrated against Palestinians by Israel. We South Africans know what apartheid looks like. We lived through apartheid, we suffered and died under apartheid, we will not remain silent and watch as apartheid is perpetrated against others.
The only lasting solution is the establishment of the Palestinian state, a state that will exist side by side with Israel, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

South Africa filed the case with The Hague-based tribunal late last year, accusing Israel, which began a relentless offensive against Gaza last October, of failing to uphold its commitments under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Several countries – including Türkiye, Nicaragua, Palestine, Spain, Mexico, Libya and Colombia – have joined the case, which began public hearings in January.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (photo)

Hundreds cross into Syria from Lebanon: Report

Al Jazeera reports:

Some 500 people have crossed from Lebanon to war-torn Syria, a Syrian security official told the AFP news agency, fleeing the deadliest Israeli bombardment since Hezbollah and Israel fought a devastating war in 2006.

“Around 500 people crossed the border through the Qusayr and Dabousiya crossings between 4pm (1300 GMT) and midnight,” Monday, the security official told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

“Vehicles were still crossing in the early hours of the morning,” he added.

IMEMC Daily Reports.

Jill Stein calls for end to US arms supplies to ‘murderous’ Israel over Lebanon attack

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – SEPTEMBER 24:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 24, 2024: at least 42,212* (41,495 in Gaza* – 11,308 women (30%), 16,715 children as of September 5. [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 717 in the West Bank (~148 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 300,000 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 (at least 37 of them children)**.
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 24: at least 101,706 (including at least 96,006 in Gaza and 5,700 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 24, 2024: ~1,457 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 293*** 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.

Hezbollah reports a death toll of 502 fighters since October 8, 2023.

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.

***More than 40 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

Wednesday 25 September 2024