Israeli military shooting at Gazan aid-seekers "becoming a daily occurrence" Day 150

A view of new humanitarian aid after arriving to the northern Gaza Strip from sky with parachutes in Northern Gaza, Gaza on March 02, 2024. (photo)

With little pushback, Israel continues to target hungry Gazans as they wait for aid trucks; photographer recounts Israeli killing of his daughter; in West Bank, youths killed, settler attacks up; property seized from Palestinians is being sold at US, Canada synagogues; inhumane prison conditions for Palestinians are rampant; more

By IAK staff, from reports

BREAKING: Open Letter in Support of Jairo I. Fúnez-Flores

We write, as scholars within and beyond academia, in support of our colleague, Texas Tech University assistant professor Jairo I. Fúnez-Flores, who has been targeted, doxxed, and slandered due to his pro-Palestine commitment and online speech. This comes in the context of the repression and vilification of free speech in our academic institutions, with student and student groups, as well as faculty and staff, doxxed, banned, or otherwise singled-out for bullying and harassment due to their advocacy to end the genocide of Palestinians by Israeli forces.

We write with an urgent demand that universities and colleges, including Texas Tech University, be maintained as bastions of academic freedom, debate, and free speech. Professor Fúnez-Flores has, since October, been targeted by right-wing media who have repeatedly misrepresented his statements and actions. Not only was he accused of antisemitism for speaking out about Israeli atrocities, but due to local laws allowing it, his personal communications were FOIA’d by his accusers. These harassing and violating actions are the most recent in the targeting of his scholarship which has long championed people facing injustice.

We believe that regardless of their own political positions all scholars should be deeply concerned about this harassment of Professor Funez-Flores by right-wing media, the attempt to use his personal correspondence against him, and the attack on his livelihood. The blatant persecution and intimidation against Professor Funez-Flores is sad evidence of the insidious erosion of academic freedom and the return of political persecution of intellectual dissent. The quality of our pedagogy, our ability to further academic discourse and thought, is contingent on the institutional protections around academic freedom, which have long been a core value of our academic institutions. This commitment demands unwavering solidarity against such attacks.

Click here to become a signatory.

Al Jazeera reports: In what is becoming a daily occurrence, Israeli forces once again opened fire on a crowd of thousands who had been waiting all day for humanitarian aid. The shooting began as soon as the trucks arrived. Injuries were reported.

Some people had been waiting for aid for 16 hours, and only a small fraction of those present were able to get an aid box, which included water, flour and a few other supplies.

RECOMMENDED READING (Palestine Chronicle): Palestine Chronicle Speaks to Survivors of Gaza’s “Flour Massacre” – Special Report

A relative carries the body of three-week-old baby girl Sahar Musleh who was killed in the Israeli bombardment of the al-Faqawi family home (photo)

Al Jazeera reports: Here is a list of some of the recent Israeli attacks on aid seekers and convoys:

March 3: At least nine people were killed in an Israeli strike on an aid distribution truck in Deir el-Balah; elsewhere, there were reportedly dozens of casualties in a “horrific massacre” of aid seekers in Gaza City
February 29: At least 112 Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded after Israeli troops opened fire on people waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City.
February 26: Ten people were reportedly killed when Israeli forces shelled and fired on a crowd waiting for food aid trucks in Gaza City.
February 19: Israeli forces open fire at crowds looking to receive aid in Gaza City. The attack sent people fleeing and killed at least one person.
February 6 and 10: Eight people were reportedly killed in two separate Israeli attacks on police escorting aid convoys in Rafah.

Al Jazeera reports: UNRWA photographer recounts Israeli killing of his daughter:

Al Jazeera reports: Israel has bombed an improvised mass grave in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, leaving bodies scattered around the cemetery. An eyewitness, whose relatives were buried there, said the cemetery was targeted by an F16 aircraft.

WEST BANK – Defense for Children International-Palestine reports: Israeli forces shot and killed 10-year-old Amr Mohammad Ghaleb Najar in the northern occupied West Bank.

He was shot in the head by Israeli forces while sitting in the front seat of his father’s car with his younger brother as his father drove into the village of Burin. One soldier fired shots towards the vehicle from a distance of approximately 20 meters (66 feet), hitting Amr in the head.

WEST BANK – WAFA reports: A Palestinian minor, Mustafa Abu Shalbak, age 16, was killed Monday by Israeli forces during a military raid in al-Amari camp in the city of Ramallah. He was shot with live bullets in the neck and chest.

WEST BANK – Al Jazeera reports: A Palestinian Authority spokesperson says settler attacks have risen despite American, British and French sanctions.

“In February, settlers carried out 129 attacks in the occupied West Bank with 38 attacks concentrated in the Nablus governorate, 37 in Hebron and 17 in the Ramallah area,” the spokesperson told Al Jazeera.

“Last month also witnessed a significant and dangerous escalation in confiscation and theft of citizens’ property, cattle and agricultural equipment as well as vehicles, money, gold and mobile phones,” he added.

Attacks, he said, escalated after the sanctions were imposed in what he calls “a clear challenge to the world and a message that sanctions will not deter settlers”.

NOTE: Israel has illegally built around 280 settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are home to more than 700,000 illegal settlers. Israeli settlements and settlers on Palestinian land are a violation of international law. Settlers, moreover, have a history of violence against Palestinians, often with the assistance *of Israeli military forces.***

Palestinians walk amid the rubble of houses destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Gaza City on Sunday (photo)

Middle East Eye reports: The sale of property in the occupied West Bank being promoted at multiple synagogues in North America is stirring controversy due to the illegal nature of the settlements per international law as well as its discrimination against non-Jews going against domestic laws.

Two of the most recent examples of such sales have taken place near Toronto and in New Jersey, where property sales are being promoted without recognition that these homes are the result of Palestinian displacement, directly or indirectly, going against international law. Moreover, the targeting of buyers from specific religious backgrounds, implicitly or explicitly, goes against the law in the US and Canada.

The events appear to be part of a larger real estate fair, with others being hosted in Montreal and New York state.

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel has released a new report entitled “Systematic Violation of Human Rights: The Imprisonment Conditions of Palestinians in Israel Since October 7th.” The report thoroughly investigates the incarceration conditions of Palestinians since October 7th including the systematic violations of the rights of Palestinians in Israeli custody.

These actions, now inherent in the practices and policies of Israeli security bodies, include forced disappearances, torture, and severe violations of human rights, have been encouraged and, at times, explicitly demanded by the political ranks. Simultaneously, the judicial system has allowed these blatant deviations from professional and ethical standards to persist without intervention.

The report calls for the release of all Palestinians detained without legal justification since the start of the war and a complete end to all forms of torture and abuse. It demands access for the Red Cross and other human rights organizations, and a comprehensive and impartial investigation into the deaths of Palestinians in custody.

The number of Palestinians held by the Israel Prison Service (IPS) has surged from around 5,500 before the war to approximately 9,000 as of January 2024, including dozens of minors and women.

A Palestinian child walks amid the rubble of a house destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Gaza City on Sunday (photo)

OTHER NEWS:

Al Jazeera: UN report finds sexual violence on October 7 and in West Bank

Middle East Eye: US lobbies others for Unrwa funds while cutting own donations –

A US official tried to convince Turkey to provide more funds after Washington froze its donations following Israeli claims that Unwra staff were involved in the 7 October attack

Al Jazeera: UNRWA says Israel authorities tortured detained staff

The New Arab: Gaza’s schools are closed. But here’s what we learned in the school of war –

Today, both young and old learn not in a classroom but in the school of war in Gaza. Here, every day, a thousand stories are told, lived, heard, taught, and written, as a thousand wounds bleed. From our deep wounds, we have learned, and we are still learning, and we will learn what this entire world has yet to learn.

Middle East Monitor: Airdrops of humanitarian aid are hypocrisy in action –

What did the US do after Thursday’s massacre? President Joe Biden wants to make sure that Israel has enough ammunition “to defend itself”.

Al Jazeera: Gaza Health Ministry: We detected about one million cases of infectious diseases

Middle East Eye: Israeli soldier ‘boasted about running over dead Palestinian man with tank’ –

Reservist posted video of Palestinian body through tank window, stating that he drove over the man with a 65-tonne tank

Middle East Eye: Ben-Gvir is a threat to national security: Israeli opposition leader

Middle East Eye: Israelis threaten to kill prominent Palestinian doctor on Telegram channel –

Mohammed Qudaih, who has been documenting attacks against Palestinians, has said that the threats would not deter him

Jerusalem Post: Israel said to boycott Cairo ceasefire talks over hostage list

Palestinian children are seen as they wait in front of a boiler amid steam to receive hot food distributed by charitables and charity organization in Gaza City, Gaza on February 26, 2024. (photo)

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – MARCH 4:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – March 4: at least 31,469* (30,631 in Gaza* (over 13,430 children, 8,900 women), and at least 419 in the West Bank (over 100 children). This does not include an estimated 7,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 38,066 Palestinian deaths.

11 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons

16 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition

About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.

About 2.2 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are facing Crisis, Emergency, or Famine levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – March 4: at least 76,654** (including at least 72,043 in Gaza and 4,611 in the West Bank).

It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – March 4: ~1,397 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~574 were civilians, 373 or 337 were security and/or military forces, ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 245 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza;, 13 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

NBC reports: “According to the latest available IDF data… nearly 1 in 5, or 17%, of all Israel’s losses have come not at the hands of Hamas but from mishaps on its own side.”

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel 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.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

For more news, go here and here. Broadcast news from the region is here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org

Israeli military shooting at Gazan aid-seekers “becoming a daily occurrence” Day 150