“A moment where death and the ceasefire intersect” – Day 469

contact@ifamericansknew.org January 19, 2025 bernie sanders ceasefire, Bezalel Smotrich, ceasefire, Hossam Shabat, humanitarian aid gaza, itamar ben gvir, Salah Yahya, trump ceasefire

Palestinian Shot and Killed After Alleged Stabbing Attack in Tel Aviv

A Palestinian young man was killed, on Saturday, and an Israeli was seriously injured after an alleged stabbing attack in the city of Tel Aviv in southern Israel.

Media sources said that an armed Israeli citizen shot and killed the Palestinian youth after he allegedly carried out a stabbing attack at a restaurant in Tel Aviv, on Saturday afternoon.

Sources added that an Israeli man in his thirties was stabbed by the suspect; he was transported to the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, where his condition was described as serious.

The Arab 48 News website quoted Israeli reports which stated that “the perpetrator of the stabbing operation is Salah Yahya (19 years old), a resident of the Tulkarm area, who stayed in the country illegally.”

It quoted the Israeli police who stated that “The initial investigation indicates that a ‘terrorist’ armed with a knife arrived at the restaurant area on ‘Lepontine’ Street and stabbed a citizen, seriously injuring him. An armed citizen who was near the scene opened fire on the ‘terrorist’ and he was neutralized.”

Bernie Sanders: What U.S. Must Learn from Its Role in the Horrific Tragedy

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I- VT) statement on the ceasefire agreement (excerpt)

Netanyahu’s war machine has damaged or destroyed two-thirds of all structures in Gaza, including 92 percent of the housing units. Most hospitals and primary healthcare facilities have been bombed, leaving Gazans without basic medical care.

The civilian infrastructure has been devastated, including 70 percent of water and sanitation plants. Every one of Gaza’s 12 universities has been bombed, as have hundreds of schools. There has been no electricity in Gaza for 15 months.

And Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid have left tens of thousands of children facing malnutrition and starvation.

Netanyahu has overseen these policies, and the ICC is right to indict him as a war criminal, alongside Mr. Sinwar.

This ceasefire is just the first step. Massive amounts of humanitarian aid must immediately reach starving, malnourished people in Gaza. The UN must be granted unfettered access to the Gaza Strip. The international community must insist that the ceasefire be made permanent. Credible plans for rebuilding Gaza must be laid out. Peaceful governance must be established, with the Palestinian people in control.

Finally, as Americans, we must grapple with our role in this dark chapter. The United States allowed this mass atrocity to continue by providing an endless supply of weapons to Netanyahu and failing to exert meaningful leverage. This blanket military support took place in clear violation of US and international law.

This must not happen again. Future political leaders should learn from this terrible lesson and restore respect for our own laws and moral principles (read the full statement here).

‘It better hold,’ Trump says of Gaza ceasefire, hostage deal

US President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas “better hold,” warning that if it does not “all hell will break out.”

When asked about the likelihood of the deal’s success in a phone interview with NBC News, Trump responded: “Well, we’re going to see very soon, and it better hold.”

Trump also said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue “doing what you have to do.”

“Just keep doing what you have to do. You have to have — this has to end. We want it to end, but to keep doing what has to be done,” Trump said in a phone interview with NBC News.

“Respect. The US has to get respected again, and it has to get respected fast. But respect is the primary word that I use,” Trump said, adding, “If they respect us, it will hold. If they don’t respect us, all hell will break out.”

Trump’s Mideast Envoy Forced Netanyahu to Accept a Gaza Plan He Repeatedly Rejected

Trump’s new cabinet is great news for Israel

First aid and civil defense workers demonstrate their joy after the announcement of ceasefire, January 19, 2025 in Gaza City, Gaza (Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea/Anadolu Agency)

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports

Informed Comment: Biden Reveals Netanyahu’s Determination to Turn Gaza into Hiroshima, and his own Complicity

The New Arab: Palestinian Authority, Jenin fighters reach deal after weeks of deadly clashes

Anadolu Agency: Over 70 arrested after clashes with police at London pro-Palestine rally

Looking for a way to help get the word out about Palestine? Go here.

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – JANUARY 18, 2025:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – January 18, 2025: at least 47,772* – 46,913 in Gaza; in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers and/or settlers have killed at least 859 Palestinians (~176 of them children).

Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 11,000 more are still buried under rubble.

According to a report in the Lancet, by multiplying the reported deaths by five, it is possible to reach a conservative estimate of total deaths (including indirect causes like starvation and lack of medicine). Using the latest figure from AFP (46,913), it is reasonable to estimate at least 234,495 total deaths in Gaza since October 7th, 2023.

According to a recent report by the UN Human Rights Office of identified fatalities in Gaza, about 44% were children. It is reasonable to estimate that 20,642 of known direct deaths and 103,209 of the total deaths are children.

(Gaza’s health ministry has used the estimate of 18,000 of the known deaths to be children since at least September 2024; total deaths since then have risen by about 5,000, which would add about 2,200 to the children’s death estimate. This indicates that the estimate of 20,587 is fairly accurate.)

Palestinian injuries from October 7, 2023 – January 18, 2025: at least 117,725 (including at least 110,750 in Gaza and 7,000 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 – January 18, 2025: ~1,616 (or 1,590) (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 436*** (or 405) military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza (updated: Jan. 13, 2025); 46 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.

ADDITIONAL STATISTICS: Since October 7th, 2023:

At least 54 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (at least 35 of them from Gaza).
At least 43 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.
About 345,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

*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.

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 59 Israeli soldiers – nearly 17% 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, 22 January 2025