Israeli soldier threatens mutiny – “We want to annihilate them” – Day 232

Victims of an Israeli attack on a school near Jabalia refugee camp have poured into al-Ahli Hospital, according to footage reviewed by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency.

The attack is now reported to have killed at least 10 people and injured another 17, including children.

“The children were playing in the schoolyard, and suddenly we were bombed,” said one displaced woman whose daughter was injured in the attack.

Targeted while fetching water:

Also in Jabaliya, an Israeli airstrike hit an elementary school where there are hundreds of refugees.

A group of Palestinians were filling up gallons of water there when Israeli forces targeted them with air strikes.

Palestinians killed waiting for aid:

Vessels supporting US-built, $320 million Gaza aid pier wash away in rough seas:

Al Jazeera reports: Waves have swept away vessels supporting the United States-built pier installed to transfer aid to Gaza, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said.

In a statement on Saturday, CENTCOM noted that during the transportation of humanitarian aid, the US floating dock was disconnected from the small boat tugging it and the vessels broke free from their moorings with two of them now anchored on the beach near the pier.

Part of the dock later drifted towards Israel’s Ashdod shore, while the third and fourth vessels have beached on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon, CENTCOM added.

No injuries have been reported so far and efforts to recover the vessels are under way with assistance from the Israeli and US navies.

Reporting from Washington DC, Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro said that the Pentagon has stressed that the pier still remained fully functional.

The construction of the $320m floating pier was completed in mid-May to provide aid to the Gaza Strip.

The pier has been criticised as a complicated and costly alternative that tries to deflect attention from demanding a much simpler solution – for Israel to fully open all land crossings to Gaza and to secure aid trucks going in.

NOTE: Thousands of aid trucks are reportedly waiting at the southern border of Gaza, where Israel has made it extremely difficult to pass, employing complicated and arbitrary procedures. Israel has on multiple occasions fired at individuals waiting for food aid (recently killing over 100 at one time); Israel has also attacked food aid convoys and those who accompanied them several times. Additionally, Israeli citizens have blocked a border crossing for weeks, and attacked trucks they believed were heading to Gaza, destroying their contents and in some cases starting them on fire – all with no meaningful attempt by Israel to stop them.

In mid-March, Israel promised to “flood” Gaza with aid, but has failed to do so.

The US has for months expressed its desire to see appropriate amounts of humanitarian aid reaching the starving people of Gaza on one hand, while undermining Gaza’s largest aid organization on the other. 

Meanwhile, the US has built a “temporary pier” off the Gaza coast to receive aid by sea – at a cost of at least $320 million – and has, along with other countries, airdropped packages of aid into Gaza – a practice that has caused over 20 Palestinian deaths due to malfunction.

The Biden administration has so far not used its leverage as the provider of billions of dollars in military aid to and for Israel (with one exception), a move that could potentially end the war in short order.

U.S. Central Command personnel continue to team up with USAID and the UN to deliver aid to the people of Gaza via a temporary pier affixed to the beach.

Aid delivered by CENTCOM personnel from the sea to the beach transfer point:

• 1005 metric tons (2,214,543 pounds) total as… pic.twitter.com/wxjfife9Ps

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) May 25, 2024

NOTE: the UN indicates that one truckload of aid might contain 20 metric tons. If the US pier has facilitated the delivery of 1,005 metric tons of aid since the pier began operating on May 17, that is the equivalent of 5 trucks per day.

Hamas says it captured members of Israeli force in ambush:

Middle East Eye reports: Hamas said Palestinian fighters captured members of an Israeli force in an ambush inside the Gaza Strip on Saturday, a claim denied by the Israeli military.

Abu Obaida, spokesman for the group’s armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said fighters killed, wounded or captured members of the Israeli force during fighting in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

He did not say how many had been abducted and provided no further information about their identities. He said more details would follow soon.

“Our fighters lured a Zionist force into an ambush inside a tunnel … The fighters withdrew after they left all members of the force dead, wounded, and captured,” Abu Obaida said in a recorded message broadcast by Al Jazeera early on Sunday.

The Israeli military was quick to deny the claim.

NOTE: According to Israeli protocol, when a soldier is captured, one possible response is to implement the Hannibal Directive, which calls for an Israeli military policy that stipulates the use of maximum force in the event a soldier is kidnapped. The use of force is carried out even at the risk of killing a captive soldier. Israeli forces reportedly implemented the Hannibal Directive on October 7th, resulting in the deaths of an unknown number of Israeli citizens – deaths that are blamed on Hamas.

During their visit, diplomats witnessed first-hand the distressing impact of settler violence on Palestinian communities, including the recent displacement of families in As-Sukhun community following relentless attacks from Israeli settler outposts and the destruction of multiple properties in Al-Jiftlik area neat Jericho. The delegation also condemned the recent declaration of 800 hectares of land as state land in Aqraba by Israeli authorities, exacerbating the coercive environment faced by these communities.

The delegation expressed deep concern over the surge in settler violence, which has led to numerous displacements and casualties throughout the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley.

While acknowledging some measures, recently announced, taken by Israeli authorities, the diplomats stressed the need for effective implementation and more robust actions to hold perpetrators of settler violence accountable and prevent further intolerable situations for Palestinians.  Diplomats call on Israel to respect all its obligations under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, including the prohibition on forcible transfer, and reiterated their opposition to illegal settlements, which fuel violence and impede the two-state solution.

Punched, choked, kicked: German police crack down on student protests:

Al Jazeera reports: Campus activism in Germany has stepped up in recent weeks as students, following their American counterparts, have established occupations or encampments on university grounds in Berlin, Munich, Cologne and other cities.

While some protests have proceeded peacefully, others have been dispersed by police, sparking public debate about whether students have exceeded the limits of protected speech and protest in Germany, or whether authorities have infringed on those same rights in order to suppress antiwar activism.

One student occupier at Berlin’s Humboldt University told Al Jazeera that police punched his head repeatedly and kicked him as they broke up protesters’ occupation of a campus building, sending him to the hospital with a concussion.

(Read the full story here.)

German Vice Chancellor says Israel is breaking international law by continuing its offensive against Rafah:

His remarks represent a shift in rhetoric of senior German government representatives, who previously have warned Israel not to attack Rafah but have been reluctant to make such direct accusations.

“The famine, the suffering of the Palestinian population, the attacks in the Gaza Strip are — as we are now seeing in court — incompatible with international law,” Habeck said.

“In other words, it is indeed the case that Israel has crossed a line there, and it must not do so,” said Habeck , who is also economy minister.

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Jewish 2nd grade girls meet with Kirby, White House officials:

Jewish Insider reports: “For a group of Jewish 2nd grade girls, a lesson in advocacy — and a life-changing trip to Washington.
The classmates at a Chicago Jewish day school met with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and White House spokesperson John Kirby during their trip.”

The extraordinary access was initiated by one of the girl’s mothers, who works at AIPAC. Their day began on Capitol Hill, in meetings with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and the chief of staff to Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and a private tour of the Capitol.

Afterward, they went to the White House for a visit that included conversations with White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, White House Gender Policy Council Director Jennifer Klein and Deputy Director Rachel Vogelstein, and Rebecca Lissner, deputy national security advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris.

The girls wore pins featuring two Israeli flags, the words “Jewish Girls Rights,” and  a blue Star of David. Kirby also wore a pin.

“Each girl had a clipboard with printed-out copies of the scripts for their meetings. An Israeli student mentioned her family members who had to “leave their houses because of Hamas,” according to the prepared script. “We want to visit them and get them presents and I miss them.” Another student said she is proud because Israel is the only Jewish country in the world, and also because it has had a female leader, “and we should have a female president in America,” the script stated.”

Wasserman Schultz commented: “I was very impressed by how they had a keen sense of the ancient prejudices that fuel this recent rise in antisemitism.”

There is no indication that the girls have been told that Israeli forces have killed thousands of children in Gaza and that Israel is intentionally starving the entire population.

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