Jenin under deadly siege, as Gaza war appears to engulf West Bank – Day 329
Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
West Bank: Fourth day of invasion in Jenin
The Cradle reports:
Saturday marks the fourth consecutive day that Israeli forces have reportedly continued their assault on the northern West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp.
Local sources reported that additional military reinforcements were deployed to the Jenin refugee camp Saturday, where Israeli troops raided homes, detained Palestinian men, and demolished structures in several quarters of the camp.
Local sources also reported that Palestinian resistance fighters ambushed Israeli soldiers in the Al-Damj neighborhood. Helicopters have been seen transporting the wounded from the ongoing battle.
At least 14 Palestinians have been killed in Jenin alone, with a total of 26 across the West Bank (all of their names and ages are listed here).
In a recent interview with Drop Site News, Francesca 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.”
West Bank: Israeli invasion causes extensive damage to Jenin infrastructure
Andalou Agency reports:
According to Bashir Matahen, the director of Public Relations and Media at the Jenin Municipality, “The occupying (Israeli) forces have demolished more than 70% of the city’s streets completely (…) to a depth of approximately one to one-and-half meters, which has led to the destruction of water and sewage networks, as well as communication and electricity cables, in the areas that were demolished, initially estimated to cover 20 kilometers.”
He noted that “water has been cut off from 80% of the city and the entire camp due to the destruction of networks and the inability of technical teams to reach these networks to redirect them to other areas.”
Matahen added that municipality teams attempting to repair the damage, “were subjected to gunfire from the occupying (Israeli) forces.”
He also pointed out that the Israeli forces “have burned parts of the central vegetable market in the city, and initial estimates of the damage to the market and its commercial shops indicate that they have suffered severe damage, in addition to the destruction of hundreds of homes and vehicles.”
West Bank: Israeli forces use ten-year-old girl as human shield
The Guardian reports:
When Israeli soldiers arrived at the modest house along an alleyway in Nur Shams camp on Wednesday night, they sent the women and four of the children out into the street, but kept hold of Malak Shihab.
Terrified, she pleaded to be with her mother, but the soldiers seemed to have just one phrase in accented Arabic: “Open the doors.”
The platoon pushed her up to each of the doors in her aunt’s house, according to Malak’s account, while they remained braced behind her ready to fire at whoever might be inside. One door wouldn’t open, and in her desperation to obey, the girl remembers hammering on it with her head.
The door was finally forced open with a rifle butt which left a hole above the handle, but there was no one on the other side and the soldiers moved on.
The IDF rejected the allegations of the Shihab family.
“Such events are inconsistent with the IDF’s code of conduct, and according to a preliminary inquiry this story is fabricated and did not occur,” a spokesperson said.
Israeli army blocks water supply to Jenin hospital, causing suspension of dialysis services
Andalou Agency Andalou Agency and WAFA report:
The Israeli army blocked water trucks from reaching Jenin Government Hospital on Saturday, ultimately resulting in the shutdown of kidney dialysis services there.
The hospital’s kidney dialysis department requires a daily 100 cubic meters of water to operate, said Dargham Zakarneh, director of the Jenin Civil Defense Center.
The hospital has been under Israeli military siege for the past four days, leading to severe operational challenges.
In a press statement, the hospital explained that the suspension of dialysis services was necessitated by the lack of water and a prolonged power outage. Israeli forces have damaged the electricity supply line to the hospital, and the backup generators have been running continuously for four days.
Due to the heavy load on these generators, said the hospital, it has had to consolidate several sections of the hospital, shut down air conditioning, and operate oxygen stations partially.
The situation remains critical as the Israeli military offensive and blockade continue, impacting the hospital’s ability to provide essential services.
UN Human Rights calls for the end of militarized operations in Jenin
OHCHR statement:
The UN Human Rights Office condemns the Israeli security forces (ISF) use of unlawful force during militarized operations in the occupied West Bank and calls for an immediate end to the current attack on Jenin refugee camp. The ongoing ISF operation has led apparently to unlawful killings, insecurity for Palestinian residents and enormous destruction of the camp, home to about 11,000 Palestinians.
Since the start of the operation on 28 August, the ISF has deployed a large number of armored personnel carriers, bulldozers and snipers, supported by drones and aircrafts, and imposed a curfew in the refugee camp and adjacent parts of the city, which have also been cut off from electricity and water supplies. Many families are reportedly stuck in their homes without water and food, including for babies.
Israeli soldiers are reportedly rounding up dozens of young Palestinians from their homes and interrogating them, as well as subjecting them to various forms of mistreatment. Many of those taken into custody have been reportedly taken to undisclosed locations.
ISF’s use of military weapons and tactics are contributing to an escalation of violence in the Occupied West Bank.
The International Court of Justice recently held that Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful and called for it to end this unlawful presence as rapidly as possible.
Israel ‘can’t use the excuse of fighters to starve civilians’
Al Jazeera reports:
Kenneth Roth, a visiting professor at the Princeton School for International Affairs, says Israel’s attacks on the occupied West Bank have become a “flat-out war” with far-right members of the government wanting to expel all Palestinians from the territory.
“Even though there’s extensive combat between Israeli forces and militants in the Jenin refugee camp, that doesn’t mean there are no rules – the Geneva Conventions still apply,” Roth told Al Jazeera.
“One of the basic rules is Israel has to allow access to humanitarian aid. So it can’t just cut off food, water, electricity and medical care – as we’ve heard it’s doing. It has a duty to allow those for the civilian population. It can’t use the excuse of the fighters to starve civilians, and that’s what it did in Gaza.”
Palestinian father of seven dies in Israeli custody
WAFA reports:
A Palestinian father of seven Saturday evening died in Israeli custody, according to the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission (PAC) and the Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS).
The PAC and PPS said in a joint press release that 65-year-old Nasr Salem Said Zyara, a resident of Gaza, died in the Israeli Prison of Ramleh, on Friday, 16 August 2024.
The groups described him as one of scores of Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip who died due to systematic torture, and whose identities are still concealed and bodies withheld by the occupation authorities.
West Bank: Israeli army imposes siege on Hebron after double car bombing attack
The Cradle reports:
The Israeli army has imposed a siege on the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank after Palestinian resistance fighters carried out car bomb attacks against illegal Jewish settlements in the area late on 30 August.
In response to the attack, the army temporarily closed the Ibrahimi Mosque and restricted worshipers from entering, invaded homes, and arrested many people indiscriminately. A video appeared on social media showing the Israeli army executing an unarmed Palestinian in the area.
In the first incident, a car exploded at a gas station near the Gush Etzion junction. Israeli soldiers dispatched to the scene killed a Palestinian fighter who had arrived in the vehicle, and who attempted to attack them, the military said.
In the second incident, a Palestinian resistance fighter rammed a car through the entrance to the nearby settlement of Karmei Tzur. Israeli troops opened fire at the attacker. A member of the settlement’s local security team used his own car to crash into him and kill him.
A short while later, the attacker’s car exploded due to a bomb planted in it.
The commander of the Israeli army’s Etzion Regional Brigade, Col. Gal Rich, was wounded by gunfire in the attack at the gas station, a military source said.
Gaza: Israeli jets bomb al-Ahli hospital
Middle East Eye reports:
Israeli fighter jets bombed al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Saturday, according to local reporters.
The attack has left a number of people killed and wounded.
The hospital had previously been targeted by the Israeli army earlier in the war, according to Palestinian sources, in an attack that left nearly 500 people killed or wounded, making it one of the deadliest attacks of the war.
IDF says it located several bodies of hostages in Gaza, forces working to recover, identify them
Ha’aretz reports:
Several bodies of hostages have been located in Gaza and the process of rescuing and identifying them will take several hours, the IDF said. Forces are continuing to operate in the area.
UPDATE: 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.
Israel, with US complicity, seeks “total control of the region”
The Intercept reports:
For Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, the nature of Israel’s strikes in the West Bank reveal what he says is Israel’s real motivation: total control of the region.
“There was never an attack from the West Bank, and Hamas is not the dominant force in the West Bank, and it goes to show that this is not as much about Hamas as it is about the Israeli state’s long-term plan to eliminate, wipe Palestine off the map,” he said. “The strategy has always been to take advantage of moments in the international community where Israel can get away with as much as possible,” he added, noting that Israel has faced little accountability from the international community.
With human rights violations in Gaza, potential war crime charges from the International Criminal Court, and an ongoing genocide case within the U.N. International Court of Justice, a growing number of Democrats have pushed President Joe Biden to follow U.S. law, which bars the transfer of military aid if there is any evidence of human rights violations.
Even so, Biden’s administration continues to send weapons.
This level of support, said Parsi, also hurts the standing of the U.S. within the international community, such as in the U.N. Security Council, where America has largely stood isolated from other member nations. Decades of U.S. involvement in other Middle East conflicts have hurt its international standing as well, he said.
“All of these different things have weakened the U.S.,” he said. “And on top of that, we’re seeing a generation of Americans that will have a lower standard of living than their parents on average, which is to a very large extent, a result of the massive amount of money and treasure and blood that has been wasted on these needless wars.”
![Palestinians walk among the rubbles of destructed buildings and streets following the withdrawal of Israeli army after 48 hours of heavy attacks in on Nur Shams Refugee Camp in Tulkarm, West Bank on August 30, 2024. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/8-30-h-300x200.jpg)
Palestine secures new position at UN general assembly for 79th session
Andalou Agency reports:
Palestine’s Mission to the UN announced on Friday that it will participate in the 79th session of the UN General Assembly (GA) for the first time with an official seat.
“Starting the 79th GA session, and for the first time, you can find the State of Palestine seated between Sri Lanka and Sudan,” the mission wrote on X, adding that the position comes following a resolution being adopted at the General Assembly.
The resolution, ES-10/23, grants Palestine additional rights and privileges for participation at the UN, marking a notable enhancement of its status within the international organization.
In May, the General Assembly endorsed a resolution calling for the reevaluation of Palestine’s UN membership bid and granting additional rights. The resolution was adopted with 143 member states voting in favor. The US was among nine countries to oppose it, while 25 others abstained.
Palestine applied for full UN membership in 2011 but did not receive the necessary support from the Security Council due to a US veto. However, in 2012, it obtained “permanent observer status.”
![A general view of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, in New York, United States on December 12, 2023 [Fatih Aktaş/Anadolu Agency]](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/9-1-u-300x200.jpg)
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STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 31:
Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – August 31, 2024: at least 41,411* (40,738 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 31: at least 99,574 (including at least 94,154 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 31, 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.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
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