Israeli missiles hit crowded neighborhoods without warning – War on Gaza Day 589
Israel has attacked 68 humanitarian aid and food distribution centers in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, according to the Gaza government media office.
“This criminal behavior, which deliberately targets relief and social welfare facilities, confirms beyond doubt that the Israeli occupation is using food as a weapon of war, in flagrant violation of all international laws, most notably the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the targeting of humanitarian facilities and civilians under any circumstances,” a statement by the government office read.
RELATED: What is famine, and why is Gaza at risk of reaching it soon?
Israel-backed food aid group admits it won’t be able to reach most vulnerable in Gaza
The organization backed by Israel to take over food distribution in Gaza as famine looms has admitted it would not be able to feed some of the most vulnerable civilians from the militarized compounds it plans to set up.
Aid groups and the United Nations have already refused to work with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a Swiss-registered organization led by a former US marine. They say it does not have the capacity to end hunger in Gaza and would make it harder to get aid to civilians caught up in other wars by undermining their neutrality.
Israel has not officially laid out its plans for food distribution in Gaza, but statements from the GHF and briefings from Israeli officials envisage four or five militarized distribution centers in southern Gaza, run by private security companies, under the oversight of Israeli military bases.
Heads of household would be expected to collect boxes weighing up to 20kg with several days’ supply of food and basic hygiene items like soap for their families. There is no provision for those too sick or weakened by famine to walk long distances across Gaza’s ruined landscape with heavy loads.
“From what we have understood, the plan would increase the ongoing suffering of children and families in the Gaza Strip,” said United Nations Children’s Fund spokesperson Jonathan Crickx.
“How is a mother of four children, who has lost her husband, going to carry 20kg back to her makeshift tent, sometimes several kilometers away?” Crickx said. “The most vulnerable people, including the elderly, people with disabilities, the sick and wounded, and orphans, will face huge challenges to access aid.”
“These plans are basically instrumentalizing humanitarian aid, putting it into the hands of a party to the conflict, which goes against the principles of impartiality and independence. We don’t work with parties to (any) conflict,” said Bushra Khalidi, policy lead for the Palestinian territory at Oxfam.
“Giving Israel power over who receives the aid and where basically turns it into a tool of coercion, and it blurs the line between the humanitarian assistance and Israel’s military objectives, which in turn puts civilians and aid workers at serious risk” (continue reading here).
FACT: Before the war, Israel allowed about 500 truckloads of aid to enter Gaza per day; two-thirdsof Gazans were dependent on food aid. During the first 15 months of Israel’s war on Gaza, the number of trucks varied widely, but averaged 85 per day. In early March, Israel completely cut off humanitarian supplies to Gaza. Since then, no humanitarian aid – including food, water, medicine, shelter, and hygiene supplies – has been allowed to enter.
Read more about Gaza’s long-term food insecurity, and Israel’s culpability, here.
UNRWA chief: New plans for Gaza ‘distraction from atrocities’
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), has stressed that there is an imminent danger of famine looming over Gaza’s population.
“Don’t reinvent the wheel: putting together new ‘plans’ is a distraction from the atrocities + a waste of resources,” he said in a post on X.
“Our aid is piled up outside: food will rot, medicines will expire. At the same time, the clock is ticking towards famine. The people of Gaza are dying… Lift the siege. Open the gates. Let us do our jobs.”
Italy Breaks Ranks: ‘Enough!’ Tajani Demands Israel Halt Gaza Genocide
In an unprecedented display of condemnation, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has issued a stark rebuke to Israel, demanding an immediate cessation of its relentless military offensive in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Tajani’s forceful words reflect a growing tide of international outrage against the devastating human cost of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, which Palestinian health authorities report has claimed the lives of at least 146 people in the past 24 hours alone.
“We have to tell the Israeli government, ‘That’s enough’,” Tajani declared in a statement, marking a significant departure from Italy’s previously unwavering support for Israel. “We no longer want to see the Palestinian population suffer. Stop the attacks, let’s secure a ceasefire, free the hostages, but leave in peace a people who are victims of Hamas.”*
*NOTE: Calling the people of Gaza “victims of Hamas” is disingenuous at the very least, and a convenient pro-Israel talking point. While the current situation followed Hamas’ incursion into Israel on October 7th, 2023, that is not when the story began. Hamas fighters attacked Israel after years of oppression and many nonviolent attemptsto call attention to the issue. The UN has passed hundreds of resolutions demanding justice – to no avail.
In fact, Israel has been oppressing Palestinians since its creation in 1948, and even before that.
The people of Palestine have many legitimate grievances for which resistance is an appropriate response. Israel is, according to the International Court of Justice, plausibly committing genocide,illegal occupation, apartheid, extermination, and a targeted campaign of starvation – to name a few.
International law supports the efforts of resistance groups against an occupying power, even to the point of armed resistance.
Watch this short video from the United Nations for a synopsis of the history of the Palestinian problem:
WEST BANK HEADLINES
Middle East Eye: Israeli army continues West Bank raid as settlers attack homes and burn vehicles
(For background on the West Bank, read this and this)
NEWS ON MEDIA BIAS, CENSORSHIP:
The Intercept: Audio Analysis: Eurovision Broadcaster Muted Sounds of Crowd Booing and Shouting “Free Palestine!”
MORE NEWS:
The Intercept: Students and Teachers in Gaza: “Education Itself Is a Form of Defiance”
Middle East Monitor: UK Labour approved more weapons to Israel in three months than Tories did in four years
IMEMC Daily Reports
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – MAY 17, 2025:
- At least 54,320 Palestinians killed, 129,427 injured – including:
- at least 53,339 killed in Gaza (~15,600 children)
- at least 981 killed in the West Bank (~196 children)
- at least 121,034 injured in Gaza
- at least 8,393 injured in the West Bank
According to Palestinian authorities, during the ceasefire Jan. 19 – March 18 2025, Israeli attacks killed at least 170 Gazans, and Israel committed at least 962 ceasefire violations.
Since the Israeli army resumed its assaults on Gaza on March 18, it has killed at least 3,193people. 9 Israeli soldiers have been killed during the same time period.
Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 14,000 more are still buried under rubble.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – May 17, 2025: ~1,598 – including ~1,139 on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 414 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, 46 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel.
By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 210 Palestinian journalists and media workers; Palestinians have killed 4 Israelis (other groups have tallied between 179 and 269 Palestinian journalists killed – depending on the criteria used).
NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.
- Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
- Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the West Bank is growing more frantic
- Nakba of the Children: How Israel is Targeting the Palestinian Future
- 77 Years of Dispossession — Everything You Need to Know about the Nakba
- Did PBS’s Censorship Lead to the October 7th attack on Israel?
- Why Israel’s demand for Hamas to disarm is a red herring
- Independence Day, Nakba Day, and the Starvation of Gaza
- The Media Calls Israeli Captives “Hostages” and Palestinians “Prisoners”
- Hannibal Directive: Israeli troops ‘killed civilian during Hamas attack and covered it up’
- ‘Terrorism’? Israel has weaponized the charge for decades
- ‘Honey, he’s had enough of you’: Trump’s Middle East moves increasingly appear to sideline Israel
- US Gaza pier op was more than a flop, it was a gigantic hazard
- To my newborn son: I am absent not out of apathy, but conviction
- What Google’s largest-ever acquisition of an Israeli software company tells us about Big Tech’s complicity in genocide
- ‘Tortured, starved, and even killed’: How Israeli forces have accelerated arrest campaigns against Palestinian children since genocide began
- Knesset Debate Reveals Not Everyone Thinks Starving Gazan Children Is a Bad Thing
- US-Hamas talks show that peace is possible
- Why many Americans are unaware of the massive event in Gaza BEFORE October 7th
- 15 Family Members Killed in Israeli Strike on Gaza; Only Seven-year-old, His Mother Survived
- Israel Targets Gaza’s Last Lifeline for Food and Escalates Civilian Killings amid Widespread Famine
- Israel Must Let International Journalists Into Gaza: Our Call as Foreign Press Association Members
- Israel is starving Gaza to death, and still the world does nothing
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