New worries as polio virus detected in Gaza sewage – Day 285

New worries as polio virus detected in Gaza sewage – Day 285

Polio risk added to long list of crises in Gaza; Amnesty speaks out on Israeli torture, Oxfam speaks out on Israeli water weaponization; LA may hire ex-IDF soldiers to patrol streets; 1,000+ attacks on Palestinian healthcare; Ben Gvir’s provocative prayer visit to Al Aqsa; Netanyahu nixes children’s hospital for Gaza kids; ICC arrest warrants expected soon; Republican and Democratic parties scramble to ingratiate with Israel; much more.

By IAK staff, from reports.

New health crisis unfolds in Gaza as poliovirus found in sewage

Andalou Agency reports: A new health crisis unfolded in the bombarded Gaza Strip with the detection of poliovirus in sewage, the Gaza Health Ministry revealed on Thursday.

A ministry statement noted that “tests on sewage samples, conducted in coordination with UNICEF, confirmed the presence of the poliovirus.”

The statement added that the presence of the virus in sewage, which flows through areas with displaced persons and residential zones due to infrastructure destruction, “represents a new health crisis.”

The situation is exacerbated by severe overcrowding, scarce and contaminated water supplies, accumulated garbage, and the Israeli blockade on hygiene supplies.

The ministry warned that the detection of the virus in sewage puts thousands of residents at risk of contracting polio.

UNICEF and other organizations have been warning for months of the possibility of an outbreak if they weren’t able to get on top of vaccination programs and decontamination efforts in Gaza. But that has been impossible due to Israel’s ongoing war and the limits imposed by the Israeli military on the entry to Gaza of hygiene kits, vaccines and other essential medicines.


Amnesty Int’l calls on Israel to end mass incommunicado detention and torture of Palestinians from Gaza

From Amnesty’s website: Israeli authorities must end their indefinite incommunicado detention of Palestinians from the occupied Gaza Strip, without charge or trial under the Unlawful Combatants law, in flagrant violation of international law, said Amnesty International.

The organization documented the cases of 27 Palestinian former detainees, including five women, 21 men and a 14-year-old boy, who were detained for periods of up to four and a half months without access to their lawyers or any contact with their families, in connection with this law. All those interviewed by Amnesty International said that during their incommunicado detention, which in some cases amounted to enforced disappearance, Israeli military, intelligence and police forces subjected them to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

The Unlawful Combatants Law grants the Israeli military sweeping powers to detain anyone from Gaza that they suspect of engagement in hostilities against Israel or posing a threat to state security for indefinitely renewable periods without having to produce evidence to substantiate the claims.

“While international humanitarian law allows for the detention of individuals on imperative security grounds in situations of occupation, there must be safeguards to prevent indefinite or arbitrary detention and torture and other ill-treatment. This law blatantly fails to provide these safeguards. It enables rampant torture and, in some circumstances, institutionalizes enforced disappearance,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“Our documentation illustrates how the Israeli authorities are using the Unlawful Combatants Law to arbitrarily round up Palestinian civilians from Gaza and toss them into a virtual black hole for prolonged periods without producing any evidence that they pose a security threat and without minimum due process. Israeli authorities must immediately repeal this law and release those arbitrarily detained under it.”

(Read the full statement here.)



Oxfam report: Water War Crimes: How Israel has weaponized water in its military campaign in Gaza 

Oxfam’s new 66-page report, released Wednesday, documents how since October, Israel has systematically reduced the water available in Gaza by 94%, with just 4.74 liters per resident obtainable each day—less than a third of the recommended minimum amount in emergencies.

An average of five of Gaza’s water and sanitation sites have been taken out of service every three days, Oxfam found, reducing water production from sources in the Gaza Strip by 84% by late May.

Gaza City, the enclave’s most populous city before it was largely destroyed by the bombardment, has lost 88% of its water wells.

With Israel blocking fuel deliveries as well as food, medical, and other necessary aid, 100% of the city’s water desalination plants have been put out of service, making it impossible to treat seawater and brackish water to make it safe to drink.

Seventy percent of sewage pumps and 100% of wastewater treatment plants have also been destroyed throughout the enclave.

(Read the full report here, or a summary here.)

West Bank – Israeli military drops threatening leaflets over Jenin camp

The Israeli military has reportedly dropped leaflets in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, threatening to kill wanted young men if they do not surrender themselves.

The leaflets, dropped via reconnaissance aircraft, were dropped near a mosque on Mahyoub Street in the camp.

The Jenin area has long been a center of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s occupation in the West Bank and has witnessed some of the most intense fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups since October 7.


L.A. city council considers funding former IDF soldiers to patrol its streets

The Intercept reports: The Los Angeles City Council is considering whether to give public funds to private, armed security patrols to protect its religious communities, following a protest against the marketing of West Bank settlement properties at an LA synagogue last month that turned violent.

Anti-war group CodePink, which organizes pro-Palestine protests, said of the event, “The protest was solely focused on the illegal sale of Palestinian land. We respect religious practices and make sure our actions are directed toward real estate activities, not against worshippers,” No religious services were scheduled at the time of the real estate event.

Pro-Israel counter protesters were also present at the same time, and reportedly used violence and racial slurs.

Codepink claimed that Los Angeles police employed a double standard against the pro-Palestine protestors.

In the immediate wake of the incident, city council members introduced a motion to give $1 million to several Jewish security organizations that would expand their work around Jewish schools, religious institutions, and neighborhoods – in spite of the fact that the protest was not against Jews.

Magen Am, a nonprofit that runs armed patrol services and firearm training programs for the Jewish community, was named as the recipient of $350,000 in the motion. The group is largely made up of former Israeli soldiers, along with U.S. military veterans, according to the group’s website and social media posts.

The majority of the former Israel Defense Forces soldiers in the group are “lone soldiers,” according to several reports, the term for individuals with no direct ties to the state of Israel who immigrate there to serve in the nation’s military.

The city council has since introduced a new motion, which would give $2 million to various faith groups that want to hire additional security and does not mention Magen Am or any recipients by name. But LA activists are still concerned that city funds will go to an armed group with hard-line political stances.

“The fact that Magen Am was even named in that original motion as a recipient of money, that exposes the intention,” said Miguel Camnitzer, an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace. The group is alarmed that city leaders are choosing to fund individuals who served a military that commits ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.

“It’s the same military that’s enacting this genocide, and we’re going to have them patrolling our streets with guns seems wild to me,” Camnitzer said. The group also notes that the new motion does not include any provisions for keeping the recipients of city money accountable to the public interest. “We’re talking about essentially a private militia that can use force and detain people, and has no accountability.”

(Read the full article here.)


Over 1,000 attacks on healthcare in Occupied Palestinian Territory since October

ReliefWeb reports: The World Health Organization (WHO) has registered more than 1,000 attacks on healthcare facilities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since the October 7 terror attacks in Israel sparked the on-going war in Gaza, the agency’s top official in the region said on Wednesday.

In a press briefing, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the West Bank and Gaza, told journalists there are currently no functional hospitals in the enclave’s southernmost city of Rafah, following Israel’s recent offensive there.

The availability of hospital beds has drastically declined, dropping from 3,500 before the conflict erupted, to just 1,400 today, he added.

He said 600 of those 1,400 are being provided by field hospitals “so currently from the Ministry of Health and NGO fixed hospitals, there’s only 800 hospital beds in service from the 3,500, plus 600 field hospital beds, for a population of 2.2 million people”.

The WHO official also highlighted the urgency of allowing critically ill patients to leave Gaza, stating that around 10,000 patients still require urgent evacuation, half of whom are suffering from severe trauma – including spinal injuries and amputations.

Palestinians start to fix and restore the Shifa Hospital after being heavily damaged by Israeli attacks and demolished some parts to prepare it to service again in Gaza City, Gaza on June 05, 2024
Palestinians start to fix and restore the Shifa Hospital after being heavily damaged by Israeli attacks and demolished some parts to prepare it to service again in Gaza City, Gaza on June 05, 2024 (photo)

Israeli legislature votes overwhelmingly against Palestinian statehood, days before PM’s US trip

Times of Israel reports: The Knesset late Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to pass a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The initiative was passed just days before Netanyahu’s visit to the US to address a joint session of Congress and meet with President Joe Biden at the White House. The move was likely to further irk Democrats uncomfortable with embracing an Israeli government that increasingly rejects a two-state solution.

The resolution — passed 68-9 — altogether rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state, even as part of a negotiated settlement with Israel.

“The Knesset of Israel firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of Jordan. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel will pose an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region,” the resolution stated.

NOTE: The reality is the opposite of what the resolution states: rather than a Palestinian state being created in the “heart of the land of Israel,” the state of Israel was created in the heart of historic Palestine.

Al-Aqsa Mosque stormed by far-right Israeli minister for fifth time

Middle East Monitor reports: Israel’s far-right National Security Minister stormed into Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem yesterday, accompanied by a group of Israeli soldiers. Palestinian worshippers were barred from entering the site while Itamar Ben-Gvir was there.

“I came here, to the most important place of the State of Israel [sic] and to the people of Israel, to pray for the return of the abductees to their home,” said right-ring extremist Ben-Gvir, “but without an illegitimate deal and surrender.” This was a reference to any ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, which he opposes.

The incident on Wednesday marked the fifth time that Ben-Gvir has raided the mosque by force since becoming an Israeli minister in December 2022. The leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party is well-known for encouraging Israeli settlers to storm Al-Aqsa.

Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is the third-holiest site in the world for Islam and Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, and there are plans to knock down the mosque and other Islamic buildings across the Noble Sanctuary, including the iconic Dome of the Rock Mosque, and build a temple in their place.


Israeli government shelves plans to block terror convicts from running for Knesset: Report

Middle East Eye reports: The Israeli government has shelved plans to pass legislation that would prevent terror convicts from running for the Knesset over concerns that it would impact far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reports.

in 2008, Ben Gvir was convicted by the Jerusalem District Court of incitement to racism and supporting a terror organisation.

Kan says that Likud MK Nissim Vaturi proposed the legislation on Sunday, which aims at preventing anyone who has ever been involved in terrorist activity from running from a Knesset seat, regardless of the severity of the crime.


Netanyahu vetoes Gallant’s planned field hospital for Gaza kids

The Times of Israel reports: A public fight broke out between Yoav Gallant and Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday over the medical treatment of Gaza children.

Gallant announced on Wednesday that a field hospital for children would be established by the IDF in Israel, near the Gaza border, due to the extended closure of Gaza’s Rafah Crossing into Egypt, which Gazans had previously used in order to travel overseas for medical treatment.

But Gallant’s announcement was apparently not coordinated with the prime minister. Netanyahu’s office reportedly informed Gallant that he would not approve the establishment of the field hospital “and for this reason it will not be established.”

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