UN: damage inflicted by famine will be “carried by Palestinians for several generations in the future” – Day 343
Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
Israeli forces killed at least 26 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to rescue workers, including five at another school-turned-shelter for war-displaced civilians in Gaza City.
Earlier, Israeli attacks destroyed a preschool facility that housed many of the displaced families in the northern part of Gaza as well as a residential home in the eastern part of Gaza City, where 11 people from one family were killed, including four children and three women.
![Palestinians, including children, evacuate the area with their belongings after the Israeli army announced that “an operation to be organized” at the Bureij refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on July 28, 2024. [Ashraf Amra – Anadolu Agency]](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/9-15-b-300x200.jpg)
UN: Framing famine and starvation in Gaza
From the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, “Starvation and the right to food, with an emphasis on the Palestinian people’s food sovereignty”:
Below are several key points from the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, recently presented to the UN General Assembly.
Moments of famine are usually triggered by external shocks that are symptoms of long-standing underlying issues; in turn, famine has a long-term impact. As such, famine is a form of slow violence.
Famine causes lasting physical and psychological harm to survivors; studies also suggest that famine affects gene transmission and may harm the health of descendants for generations.
Famine is also a social trauma that reverberates across an entire community, passing through future generations. Survivors of famine experience the unique shame of having had to make existential choices of whom to feed or not, whom to share food with or deny it to, in times of profound destitution.
Starvation reflects a State’s [in this case, Israel’s] fundamental abandonment of its human rights obligations. The right to food includes the right to be free from hunger, thus free from starvation.
Put in terms that address the root causes of hunger and starvation, it means the right to be free from oppression, exploitation and occupation.
What is usually at stake in starvation campaigns is power over land. As such, starvation is often used as a technique of displacement, dispossession and occupation. Starvation was a common tactic of colonial Powers of the past, and those same tactics are used today to colonize, conquer or dominate different territories.
In sum, starvation has unfortunately become a common tactic, as it has been widely used by competing major Powers and their allies as a weapon of warfare. This may explain why the international community has been slow to name and respond to famines.
Untangling the Reality of Famine in Gaza
The New Arab reports:
Israel’s restrictions on the flow of aid into Gaza and its destruction of food facilities had a direct impact on famine conditions for the enclave’s population throughout the past eleven months of war, a new report has found.
Palestinians have been subject to famine-like conditions and been forced into negative coping mechanisms “symptomatic of famine situations,” according to a new report on Gaza’s hunger crisis.
The report by NGO Refugees International sheds light on Israel’s “counter-narrative” of downplaying and denying the existence of a hunger crisis in the devastated Strip, which was promoted by senior Israeli government and military figures.
Aid agencies, including the United Nations, have repeatedly called on Israel to allow full humanitarian access throughout the dense enclave and to drop restrictions on the entry of certain items.
Many Palestinian families have said they only eat one meal a day with parents often skipping meals to let their children eat instead. Others have reported eating animal food and tree leaves out of desperation.
Refugees International’s 25-page report published on Thursday found that the “ebbs and flows in hunger conditions are closely linked to Israeli government restrictions and concessions on aid access and to the conduct of the Israeli military”.
[Read the new Refugees International report here.]
![Palestinian children queue with their containers for food at Rafah’s last remaining food distribution center. [Hani Alshaer/Anadolu]](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/5-19-h-300x225.jpg)
5 killed, many injured in Israeli airstrike on school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza
Andalou Agency reports:
At least five Palestinians, including two children and a woman, were killed and several others injured on Saturday in an Israeli bombing targeting a school housing displaced people in southeastern Gaza City.
“Five martyrs, including two children and a woman, and several injured, some of whom are in critical condition, in an Israeli airstrike on Zeitoun Martyrs School in Zeitoun neighborhood of southeastern Gaza City,” Palestinian Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said in a statement on Telegram.
The Israeli army acknowledged the bombing of the school, claiming that it targeted “a group of militants operating within a command-and-control center,” which is nearly identical to the claim made after all previous strikes on displaced Palestinian camps and tents in Gaza.
Israel has systematically targeted civilian facilities, including schools, hospitals, and places of worship, amid its ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Under the rules of war, targeting such civilian facilities can constitute a war crime.
Israeli army issues orders to evacuate parts of northern Gaza Strip
Andalou Agency reports:
The Israeli army on Saturday issued new evacuation orders for Palestinians in large areas of the northern Gaza Strip, in preparation for attacking the area under the pretext of Palestinian rockets fired towards Israel.
“To all those present in the neighborhoods of Al-Manshiyya, Sheikh Zayed, and Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, evacuate your homes,” Avichay Adraee, the army spokesperson, said on X.
The new evacuation orders were issued under the pretext that Palestinian armed factions were launching rockets against Israel, according to the army.
He pointed out that “the designated area is considered a dangerous combat zone, and we emphasize that the evacuation does not include medical facilities in the area.”
Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said that two rockets were launched from the northern Palestinian enclave, with one falling into the sea and the other being intercepted near Ashkelon in southern Israel, with no injuries reported.
UN agencies call for another round of humanitarian pauses for polio vaccination
Al Jazeera reports:
WHO, UNICEF and UNRWA have called on the warring parties in Gaza to commit to another round of humanitarian pauses so that the second phase of a polio vaccination campaign can proceed.
The agencies, working with the Palestinian Ministry of Health, administered the first dose of the vaccine to some 558,963 children under the age of 10 in Gaza from September 1 to 12, and say the children need their second dose within four weeks.
“The progress made in this first round is encouraging, but the job is far from done,” said Jean Gough, UNICEF special representative in the State of Palestine. “We are poised to finish the task and call on all involved to ensure we can do so in the next round in four weeks’ time for the sake of children everywhere,” she added.
Palestinian medic killed in Israeli prison: Gaza Health Ministry
Andalou Agency reports:
A Palestinian paramedic was killed in Israeli prison following his arrest at a medical complex in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry confirmed the death of medic Hamdan Abu Anaba while in Israeli detention, the World First Aid Day said on Telegram.
Anaba and his colleagues were arrested while performing their duties as medics at Nasser Medical Complex in December, the ministry said.
The ministry called on international and human rights groups to investigate the fate of dozens of healthcare workers who were detained at hospitals while carrying out their humanitarian duties.
World First Aid Day, observed annually on the second Saturday of September, was established in 2000 by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
More than 885 medical personnel have been killed and 310 others detained since the war on Gaza began last October, said the government media office on Sept. 10.
RECOMMENDED READING: Welcome to Hell: the Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps
![Red Cross officials wait outside Israel’s Ofer Prison as thousands of displaced Palestinians go to check on their homes as the 4-day humanitarian pause begins for prisoner exchange and aid in Ramallah, Gaza on November 24, 2023. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/9-14-g-300x200.jpg)
2 million displaced people need help ‘before it’s too late’
Middle East Eye reports:
Gaza’s Government Media Office has issued a “humanitarian SOS” to the international community, urging assistance for 2 million internally displaced people in the besieged coastal enclave “before it’s too late.”
The office highlighted the urgent need for aid with the onset of autumn, which could bring lower temperatures and “difficult weather conditions.”
“More than 74 percent of the tents for those displaced are unsafe or unsuitable for use,” it stated.
![Tent camp near Al-Aqsa Hospital that was hit by a deadly Israeli air attack [Abdallah FS Alattar/Anadolu]](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/9-6-g-300x205.jpg)
West Bank: Illegal Israeli settlers escorted by security forces storm Old City of Hebron
Middle East Monitor reports:
Dozens of illegal Israeli settlers escorted by security forces on Saturday evening stormed the Old City of Hebron in the southern West Bank, forcing Palestinians to head back home, Anadolu news agency reported.
“Dozens of settlers, accompanied by dozens of Israeli soldiers, entered the Old City of Hebron, including the traditional Palestinian market areas,” eyewitnesses told Anadolu.
The witnesses added that guides with illegal Israeli settlers forced local residents to stay indoors.
Badr Al-Daour, a merchant in the Old City, told Anadolu that “the storming of Hebron by settlers aims to drive out the residents.”
“When settlers come through the area, it means that life comes to a halt,” Al-Daour added.
He noted that the incursions were marked by “violations, offensive language, thefts, and vandalism.”
However, Al-Daour emphasized, “Despite the heavy military presence, life in the area of our ancestors and grandparents will not stop, no matter how much they try to create a hostile environment.”
![A group of Jewish settlers under the protection of Israeli soldiers raids the Old City area of Hebron, West Bank on September 14, 2024 [Mamoun Wazwaz/Anadolu Agency]](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/9-15-d-300x200.jpg)
Netanyahu to expand military operation against Lebanon, delay hostage deal till after US elections: Israeli media
Andalou Agency and Ha’aretz report:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to expand a military operation on the northern front with Lebanon, an Israeli media outlet said Saturday.
Channel 13 reported that Netanyahu made the statement during a strategic dialogue session on Thursday to discuss the escalation on the northern front, without specifying the parties involved in the session.
Israel is “on the verge of a broad and strong operation on the northern front,” he said.
The channel quoted an unnamed senior official from Netanyahu’s office who said, “No date has yet been set” for the escalation “but it is expected in the near future.”
What is very obvious now is that in the absence of significant pressure on Netanyahu (it’s doubtful that even the large demonstrations seen in recent weeks move him), he has no intention of advancing a hostage deal before the U.S. presidential election in early November.
His latest declarations indicate that the lives of the hostages are of secondary importance for him. It is more important for him to survive in office and maintain good relations with Donald Trump, who may return to the White House then.
Jewish Chronicle retracts allegedly fabricated articles on Gaza
Middle East Eye reports:
The Jewish Chronicle (JC) has removed a series of articles alleged to contain fabricated quotes from Israeli officials, prompting an investigation by the military. The outlet, which is the oldest Jewish news source in the UK, had published several articles by a reporter named Elon Perry.
One of the articles claimed the discovery of a document from Gaza, allegedly detailing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s plans to escape with Israeli hostages taken during the 7 October attack, using the Philadelphi Corridor as a route to Iran.
However, the Israeli army stated that it had no knowledge of such a document and several Israeli outlets began to question Perry’s identity and professional background.
+972 Magazine questioned his claims of having served as a commando during Operation Entebbe and being a professor at Tel Aviv University for 15 years, as there appear to be no records confirming these assertions.
Given the similarity between Perry’s claims and statements made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, some have speculated that this could be part of a broader disinformation campaign.
Despite the mounting controversy, the JC initially chose not to remove the articles from its website.
However, on Saturday, the outlet reversed course.
“While we understand he did serve in the Israel Defense Force, we were not satisfied with some of his claims,” the outlet said in a statement, without further explanation.
“We have therefore removed his stories from our website and ended any association with Mr Perry.”
RECOMMENDED READING: Has the UK’s oldest Jewish newspaper become Benjamin Netanyahu’s propaganda tool?
UAE says it will not back post-war Gaza plans without Palestinian state
Al Jazeera reports:
“The United Arab Emirates is not ready to support the day after the war in Gaza without the establishment of a Palestinian state,” UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan posted on X on Saturday.
In May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published online a post-war plan for Gaza, claiming the Palestinians “would enjoy unparalleled prosperity” once it is implemented.
The plan included investments in ports, solar energy, electric car manufacturing and benefits from newly discovered Gaza gasfields.
The plan consisted of three stages from an unspecified “victory date” to 2035.
The roadmap said Palestinians in Gaza would run the plan under Israeli occupation, supervised by a coalition of Arab states, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan and Morocco.
In response, Abdullah had lambasted Netanyahu, saying he “lacked legitimate authority to implement this step or take any similar measures” and making it clear that the UAE was not consulted on the Gaza plans.
“Furthermore, the UAE refuses to be involved in any plan aimed at providing cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip,” a statement released by the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
“When a Palestinian government is formed which meets the hopes and aspirations of the brotherly Palestinian people, and is distinguished by integrity, competence and independence, the UAE will be fully prepared to provide all forms of support to that government,” it added.
(Read the full article here.)
‘Collective Conscience’ – South Africa’s Justice Minister Calls for Global Solidarity with Palestine
Palestine Chronicle reports:
South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola addressed the US Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 53rd Annual Legislative Conference in Washington on Friday.
He said, “We continue to call on the collective conscience of the global community to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine, to call Israel to stop the genocide that is currently unfolding.”
“We will continue to do so, despite threats that come from across the globe, because we believe we are standing on principles,” he added.
Lamola’s weeklong visit to the US comes amid a report by the news website Axios that Israeli diplomats were being instructed to lobby members of the US Congress to pressure South Africa into dropping its genocide case against Tel Aviv at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
He reiterated his government’s support for the Palestinian cause, saying, “As you are aware this has been a historic position of the South African government informed by former president Mandela when he said that South Africa will not be free until the people of Palestine are free.”
RECOMMENDED READING: My grandfather Nelson Mandela fought apartheid. I see the parallels with Israel
Israel’s war on Palestine: ‘A disgusting affront to all of humanity’
Al Jazeera reports:
Rob Sadler of the International Solidarity Movement says despite the killing of its volunteer Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, he and other foreign activists will continue to highlight Israel’s deadly violence and land theft in the occupied West Bank.
“Clearly Israel is gearing up to subjugate the West Bank and the Palestinian people even further with the view of increasing their military control over the territory,” Sadler told Al Jazeera.
“We’re here because we’ve been invited to expose this program of destruction against the Palestinian people and support them in practical and nonviolent ways. Clearly the international community cannot be trusted to do this as we’ve seen by the Americans’ complicity in the genocide in Gaza.
“So it’s more important than ever for us to show the world that Palestine does not stand alone. The existence of this terrorist state and their genocidal campaign should be a disgusting affront to all of humanity. And if our governments won’t stand against it, we will.”
Matt Nelson self-immolates for Gaza, media omit his location – across from the Israeli consulate
Common Dreams reports:
For the third time since Israel launched a war on Gaza for which it is currently on trial for genocide at the World Court, a person in the United States has set themself on fire to protest Israel’s killing of more than 41,000 Palestinians and U.S. complicity in the slaughter.
In an incident all but completely ignored by the U.S. corporate media, a man identified as Matt Nelson set himself alight near the Israeli Consulate in Boston at around 8:15 pm local time on Wednesday, September 11.
“My name is Matt Nelson and I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” he said in a video first uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday. “We are all culpable in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
According to NBC Boston, first responders confirmed a man suffered serious burn injuries. Nelson’s current condition has not been reported.
The video in which Nelson explains his action did not appear until the next morning, but two other people have also self-immolated for the cause of Gaza since October 7th. Local media either did not recognize the pattern or chose to ignore it.
NBC Boston and other local media took flak from critics on social media, who noted that the outlets chose to report the incident’s location as “outside the Four Seasons Hotel” instead of by the Israeli Consulate.
Open Letter to President Biden from Committee On Academic Freedom
re: Israel’s targeted destruction of all Schools and Universities in Gaza (excerpt):
We write to you on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) and the Board of Directors of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) to vehemently condemn the government of Israel’s brutal and cruel military campaign against the Palestinian people of Gaza, and beseech you to urgently insist upon its immediate cessation.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health – Gaza, the death toll of Gazan Palestinians from Israeli attacks from 7 October 2023 until 9 September 2024 reached a shocking 40,972, with at least 94,761 wounded and untold numbers of dead who remain beneath the rubble.
In this letter, as in our last two letters to Israeli government officials (25 January 2024; 21 November 2023), we focus on the decimation of the education sector in the Gaza Strip through the military’s killing of students, faculty, and staff and its targeted destruction of schools, university buildings, and related facilities. We are especially concerned to underscore the magnitude of the decimation by identifying by name and affiliation as many of the murdered Gazan scholars as is possible at this time.
Over the past 11 months, the unprecedented extent of death and destruction wrought by Israel’s war on Gaza has devastated the educational sector…
(Read the full letter here.)
IMEMC Daily Reports.
Bracing Views: Israeli Genocide Historian Omer Bartov on Israel and Gaza
Responsible Statecraft: Is Israel intentionally attacking aid workers? (14 incidents where humanitarians were attacked despite giving the IDF their coordinates and being clearly identified as civilians)
Middle East Eye: Hollywood stars call for protection of pro-Palestinian voices from ‘McCarthyist repression’
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – SEPTEMBER 14:
Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 14, 2024: at least 41,819* (41,206 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 701 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 14: at least 100,825 (including at least 95,337 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 14, 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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