Israel may be ruthless, but it’s not impenetrable, as Iron Dome fails again – Day 371

contact@ifamericansknew.org October 13, 2024 iron dome, Jabaliya, journalists, peacekeepers, unifil, war crime, West Bank

Ambulances in north Gaza are no longer working due to a lack of fuel (Getty)

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

At least 36 people were killed across Gaza as a result of Israeli strikes on Saturday, Gaza’s Civil Defense said.

The Lebanese health ministry announced that in the past 24 hours, 26 people were killed and 144 wounded in Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

A Palestinian woman along with a child stands in front of the rubble of houses destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis. Follow live for the latest in the Middle East crisis. — A Palestinian woman along with a child stands in front of the rubble of houses destroyed by Israeli bombardment (AFP/Getty Images)

Saturday in Jabalia: Israel’s relentless, deadly siege

Various agencies report:

Israeli forces continued to push deeper into the Jabalia area on Saturday amid heavy air and ground bombing, as troops pressed on with a week-long offensive in northern Gaza.

The Israeli army launched a renewed assault on the area on 6 October, as it seemingly began to implement the so-called “general’s plan“, which aims to empty northern Gaza of its 400,000 residents to make way for a “closed military zone”.

Conceived by retired Major-General Giora Eiland, “the general’s plan”, which was launched in an Israeli TV campaign in September, called for the ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza, warning that those that remained would face starvation.

According to a report published on Friday in the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli military was now implementing a “scaled-down” version of the plan in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza.

The Israeli military’s war jets and artillery have since been striking Jabalia, the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, trapping thousands of people in their homes. The densely populated area has been encircled and besieged for a week, with no food or water coming in.

At least 220 people have been killed since the start of the operation, according to the civil defense in Jabalia.

Reports from journalists inside Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza are describing scenes of carnage and despair as Israel pummels the crowded camp with air and ground strikes.

Al Jazeera reporter Hossam Shabat said the camp’s inhabitants are, “literally living our last moments,” as Israeli forces beige the area.

“Hundreds of warplanes and reconnaissance planes above us. A state of anticipation of how we will be targeted.. All of Jabalia is under fire,” he said.

Reporter Younis Tirawi wrote on X, “Dozens of bodies [are] scattered across the streets. It smells [of] death all over. Residents refuse to be displaced. Food [supplies] are nearly depleted & no medical services are available”.

The Israeli army is forcing Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza to walk in front of army vehicles as human shields, Mustafa Barghouti, the chief of the Palestinian National Initiative, said on X.

NOTE: Forced population transfer (ethnic cleansing) is a crime against humanity.

Saturday in Lebanon: Israeli threats causing uncertainty, displacement

Various agencies report:

The Israeli army threatened Saturday to target ambulances in southern Lebanon, claiming they are being misused by Hezbollah to “transport fighters and weapons.”

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee alleged that intelligence has revealed “Hezbollah elements are using ambulances to transport fighters and arms.” He warned, “The Israeli army will take the necessary measures against any vehicle carrying armed elements, whether it is an ambulance or otherwise.”

The Israeli army has previously targeted ambulances in Gaza, asserting that Hamas was using them to transport fighters and weapons.

Adraee also issued a direct warning to residents in southern Lebanon, instructing them to avoid their homes and refrain from traveling south. “The Israeli army continues to target Hezbollah positions in or near your villages. It is forbidden for you to return home until further notice,” the statement read, emphasizing that movement southward would “risk their lives.”

Top United Nations official Carl Skau urged Israel on Saturday during a visit to Beirut not to attack Lebanon’s ports and airports, saying such an attack could spark a food crisis.

He said Israel made commitments not to attack the facilities, but that could change.

“We have huge concerns and there are many, but one of them is indeed that we need the ports and we need the supply routes to continue to be able to operate”.

Continuing Israeli air strikes across Lebanon are directly affecting the country’s education sector.

At least 60 percent of the country’s public schools are now being used as shelters for the displaced, meaning that the start of the school year has been pushed back to November 4, affecting more than 300,000 children’s access to education, UN figures show.

More than 40 percent of students have been forced from their homes due to Israeli attacks.

Of 207 primary healthcare centers in conflict areas in Lebanon, 100 are now closed due to Israeli military attacks, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Five hospitals have been shut as a result of structural damage following Israeli attacks, the organization said, calling for attacks on health workers and facilities that have killed almost 100 people to stop.

A man looks at the destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike in the Ruwais neighborhood in Beirut, on Oct. 1. (AFP - Getty Images)

No justice for journalists targeted by Israel despite strong evidence of war crime

Special Report by Committee to Protect Journalists:

Less than a week into the Israel-Gaza war, at 6:02 p.m. on October 13, 2023, the Israeli military fired two tank shells 37 seconds apart into south Lebanon. The military’s target? Seven journalists standing on a hilltop around a mile from the closest hostilities, wearing clearly marked “Press” vests and reporting next to a car marked “TV.”

The Israeli attack instantly killed Reuters’ Issam Abdallah, a veteran video journalist with extensive experience covering conflict in his native Lebanon, as well as in Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine. Agence France-Presse (AFP) photojournalist Christina Assi, also from Lebanon, sustained injuries resulting in the amputation of her right leg. Five other journalists were also wounded: AFP’s Dylan Collins, from the United States; Al Jazeera’s Carmen Joukhadar and Elie Brakhya, also from Lebanon; and Reuters’ Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, from Iraq.

In March 2024, an investigation by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon concluded that an Israeli tank targeted “clearly identifiable” journalists in violation of international law, according to Reuters’ review of the investigation, which has not been made public.

Four additional investigations — by AFP, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Reuters — all independently arrived at the same conclusion: that Israel conducted a deliberate attack on the journalists. A deliberate attack on civilians constitutes a war crime under international law.

Yet, a year later, Israel still has not confirmed if it has even completed a preliminary investigation into the attack. The North America Media Desk of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CPJ in an email that the military used tank and artillery fire on October 13 to prevent a suspected “terrorist infiltration,” and the incident was “under review.”

Israel has not released information about the identities of the officials who authorized or conducted the strike, leaving the survivors with more questions than answers about the attack that upended their lives and impeded their work.

The October 13, 2023, attack was an early example of the Israeli military deliberately targeting journalists for their work after the outbreak of the war on October 7. Since then, CPJ has found that four other journalists, all Palestinians, were deliberately targeted by Israel for their reporting in Gaza. They are: Hamza Al Dahdouh, Mustafa Thuraya, Ismail Al Ghoul, and Rami Al Refee. CPJ is investigating at least 10 other cases of suspected targeting.

(Access the full report here.)

Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah (left) is seen in a selfie video image on October 13, 2023, on the day and at the site in southern Lebanon where he was killed by Israeli tank fire in cross-border strikes that wounded six others, including two Al Jazeera crew members whose car was destroyed. (Reuters/Issam Abdallah, Reuters/Thaer Al-Sudani)

UN peacekeeper wounded by gunfire near Israeli border

Middle East Eye reports:

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported on Saturday that an unknown gunfire incident had injured a peacekeeper near the Israeli border, marking the fifth peacekeeper wounded in the region over the past two days.

“Last night, a peacekeeper at Unifil’s headquarters in Naqura was hit by gunfire due to ongoing military activity nearby… We do not yet know the origin of the fire,” the statement said, adding that the peacekeeper’s condition was “stable”.

West Bank: Half-life, half-house: Portrait of a Palestinian family after Israeli raids

Al Jazeera reports:

Tulkarem, occupied West Bank – In the heart of the occupied West Bank’s Tulkarem refugee camp, in the Hammam neighbourhood that is a frequent target of Israeli raids, stands the home of 36-year-old former police officer Akram Nassar and his two children.

The street leading to the house is littered with rubble, broken pipes and other debris, and sewage flows down its side.

Closer to the house, Akram’s two sons, five-year-old Rahim and four-year-old Bara, appear. Bara is in shorts and a T-shirt in the mild, mid-September weather.

They are visible from the street because the entire front wall – and a good chunk of the side wall – of their house is missing after Israeli raids tore them off.

Their exposed front room is barren – except for two red plastic chairs; a single grey armchair; an old computer monitor without its casing; and a black-framed mirror hanging on the damaged interior door.

(Read the full story here.)

Akram Nassar's children, Rahim and Bara, in their partially demolished house, Tulkarem refugee camp, occupied West Bank, September 16, 2024 — Akram Nassar’s children, Rahim and Bara, in their partially demolished house, Tulkarem refugee camp, occupied West Bank, September 16, 2024 (Al Jazeera)

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STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – OCTOBER 12, 2024:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – October 12, 2024: at least 42,978* ( 42,227 in Gaza* – 69% are women and children, according to Gaza’s Media Office). [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 751 in the West Bank (~164 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more in Gaza 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, 25 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 – October 12, 2024: at least 104,664 (including at least 98,464 in Gaza and 6,200 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 – October 12, 2024: ~1,457 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 296*** 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.

The death toll in Lebanon since October 8, 2023 is at least 2,255 and 10,212 injuries. An estimated 1.2 million have been displaced.

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.

***The figure does not include the reportedly 56 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

Sunday, 13 October 2024