Biden and US are at Bibi's beck and call

Palestinians in Jabalia Refugee Camp wait in line to receive food distributed by charitable organizations in Jabalia, Gaza on August 1, 2024. [Mahmoud İssa – Anadolu Agency] (photo)

Israel continues to confound aid delivery; unbelievable amount of debris covers Gaza; 85-year-old Al Aqsa mosque preacher detained for mourning Ismail Haniyeh’s killing; several Hamas officials killed; Biden tells Bibi, “don’t count on Washington in an escalation– then sends a dozen warships to the Middle East; Archbishop of Canterbury calls for all to respect ICJ’s occupation ruling; Rashida Tlaib: hero; AIPAC calls on US to support rogue Israeli state; more.

By IAK staff, from reports.

Gaza aid is “significantly hindered” by Israeli restrictions, unsafe conditions: UN

OCHA reports: The UN’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says Israeli restrictions, the closure of the Rafah border crossing, continued fighting, and damaged and risky roads are preventing life-saving aid from getting to Gaza.

OCHA’s latest Gaza report says the Israeli military continues to impose restrictions on the entry of certain humanitarian supplies, including recreational and psychosocial support kits for children.

“Between 1 and 29 July, an average of 77 truckloads of aid supplies entered Gaza daily, representing a decline of about 42 per cent compared with the daily average of 132 trucks between January and April 2024,” the OCHA says.

NOTE: Before the war, about 500 truckloads of aid entered Gaza every day.

“In July, out of 157 humanitarian assistance missions coordinated with the Israeli authorities to northern Gaza, 67 missions were facilitated by the Israeli authorities, 42 were impeded, 30 were denied, and 18 were cancelled due to logistical, operational, or security reasons.”

Out of 386 aid mission requests to reach areas south of Wadi Gaza that require coordination, 250 missions were facilitated by the Israeli authorities, 46 were impeded, 53 were denied and 37 were cancelled, according to OCHA.

UN says debris in Gaza amounts to 41.95 million metric tonnes

UNITAR reports: The UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) has said that the total debris in the Gaza Strip generated by the war amounts to approximately 41.95 million metric tonnes.

The figure is up 83 percent from the nearly 23 million tonnes estimated on January 7.

The Israeli war has resulted in 14 times more debris than the combined total from all previous conflicts in the Palestinian territory since 2008, UNOSAT said.

The agency estimated that 114 kilogrammes (250 pounds) of debris were generated for each square metre in the Gaza Strip.

A view of the destruction after buildings turn into piles of rubble due to intense Israeli attacks in Gaza City [File: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu Agency] (photo)

Israeli police arrest Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher for mourning Haniyeh

Middle East Monitor reports: Israeli police, on Friday, reportedly arrested Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, for mourning slain Hamas Political Bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh.

Haniyeh was assassinated on Wednesday in Tehran, Iran’s capital. While Hamas and Iran blamed Israel for the killing, Tel Aviv has not confirmed or denied its responsibility.

One of Sabri’s relatives said that the Israeli police officers stormed into his home in the Occupied East Jerusalem and arrested him.

Following the Friday prayer in Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sabri led a funeral prayer in absentia for Haniyeh.

“The people of Jerusalem and the environs of Jerusalem from the pulpit of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque mourn the martyr Ismail Haniyeh,” he said during his sermon.

Following the sermon, the Israeli police said they were probing whether the statement constituted “incitement” and that they would act accordingly.

The 85-year-old preacher was detained multiple times by the Israeli forces in the past and was banned from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied East Jerusalem for several months.

Sabri is a staunch critic of the decades-long Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian Territories. He had previously held the position of Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories from 1994 to 2006.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had boasted earlier about Sabri’s detention.

“My policy towards instigators is clear – zero tolerance,” Ben-Gvir said in a social media post.

UPDATE: Lawyer Khalid Zabarqa was quoted as telling al-Jazeera that Israeli police had decided to release Al-Aqsa Mosque imam, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, after interrogation.

Sheikh Ekrima Sa’id Sabri, the former grand mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories walks outside an Israeli police station after being summoned for interrogation, in Jerusalem on January 2, 2023. [Saeed Qaq/NurPhoto via Getty Images] (photo)

Two senior Hamas officials, three from military wing killed in Israeli strikes last week: Report

Middle East Eye reports: The Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat quoted two Hamas sources as saying that two senior officials of the group’s political bureau, along with another three military wing members, were killed in an Israeli air strike while in a tunnel in Gaza last week.

The Saudi newspaper named the two senior officials as Rawhi Mushtaha and Samah al-Sarrag, and the other three military members as Abdel Hadi Seyam, Samy Awdah, and Mohamed Hadid.

The report says Mushtaha is a close associate of the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.

According to the report, the strike hit southwest of Gaza City and targeted an area located above a tunnel where the five Hamas members were said to be residing.

It said the tunnel had already been damaged at the start of the war on Gaza.

The five Hamas members were buried on Thursday, according to Hamas sources cited in Asharq Al-Awsat.

MEE has not been able to independently verify the report.

West Bank: Paramedic succumbs to wounds from Israeli army gunfire in Balata camp

WAFA reports: A Palestinian paramedic Friday evening succumbed to his wounds sustained from Israeli army gunfire in the Balata refugee camp, according to the Health Ministry.

The Ministry announced that Jalal Mohammad Saqr died of the critical wounds he had sustained after being shot by Israeli occupation forces almost a week earlier in the refugee camp.

Saqr, 21, a volunteer paramedic with PRCS, had sustained wounds while evacuating casualties in an Israeli drone airstrike on a house in the camp last Saturday, which resulted in killing two people and injuring over 20 others.

Abbas faces backlash for skipping Haniyeh’s funeral after attending Peres’s

Middle East Monitor reports: A number of activists expressed their objections in the media on Friday to the absence of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from the funeral of the elected Palestinian Prime Minister and head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, in the Qatari capital, Doha.

The activists criticized Abbas’s absence from Haniyeh’s funeral after he attended the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres. However, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Abbas sent Deputy Chair of the Fatah Movement Mahmoud Al-Aloul and Secretary of the Central Committee of the movement Jibril Rajoub to Doha to participate in the funeral.

U.S. forces move toward Israel as Iran threatens to attack

Washington Post reports: The U.S. military is repositioning assets and moving additional forces into the Middle East and Europe to defend against a potential attack on Israel by Iran, U.S. officials said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the deployment of additional Navy destroyers and cruisers, both with offensive and defensive ballistic missile capabilities, as the Pentagon also takes steps to beef up land-based missile defense, Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a statement Friday evening.

An additional squadron of fighter jets also will be deployed to the Middle East to reinforce defensive air support, she said.

They will be added to the “broad range of capabilities the U.S. military maintains in the region.”

The moves come after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, and Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate after the killing this week of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and a senior Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr.

Israel has not claimed responsibility, but U.S. officials privately acknowledge it was behind the killing. Washington was not apprised of the operation beforehand and had no role in it, officials have said.

Shukr was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a Beirut suburb.

The events have brought the region closer to full-blown conflict than perhaps at any point since the Gaza war began 10 months ago.

Biden tells Netanyahu “not to count on Washington” in case of regional escalation: Axios

Middle East Eye reports: US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to rely on Washington’s support in case a regional escalation occurred, Axios has reported, citing unnamed US officials.

In a “tough” phone call, the US president said his country would only help Israel against an expected Iranian attack, following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, but there should be no more escalation from Israel and progress towards a Gaza ceasefire.

However, the White House has issued an official statement stating that Biden has “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis”.

The Axios story also cited three anonymous Israeli officials as saying there was tension during Biden’s meeting with Netanyahu in the Oval Office last week, in which Biden “raised his voice and said he wants a deal reached within a week to two weeks”.

Archbishop of Canterbury urges respect for ICJ ruling against Israeli occupation

Reuters reports: The Church of England’s spiritual head has urged governments to respect the findings of the United Nations top court that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal, saying the law should be upheld across the board, not in a “selective manner”.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said in an advisory opinion last month that the occupation should be withdrawn as soon as possible.

Justin Welby – who also heads the worldwide Anglican Communion – said in a statement the ICJ opinion had made it clear the occupation is “unlawful” and must end.

“At a time when the world is marked by increasing violations of international law … it is imperative governments around the world reaffirm their unwavering commitment to all decisions by the ICJ, irrespective of the situation,” Welby said.

He added that it was clear to him from many visits in recent decades the “system of military rule” imposed by successive Israeli governments in occupied Palestinian territory was one of “systemic discrimination”.

Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport’s website is down, Israeli media says

Middle East Eye reports: Israel’s Channel 12 has reported that the website of Israeli Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv is down because of immense pressure from travellers, amid the current tensions and cancellation of several countries’ airline flights to Israel.

Several airlines have suspended their flights from and to Israel due to the ongoing tensions in the region

Rashida Tlaib: A Profile in Courage

Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union and “proud Jewish-American,” writes in Common Dreams: During the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., famously said, “The time is always right to do what is right.”

While she may have been a lone protest voice during Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress last week, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) did what is right.

Most mainstream news reporting either ridiculed her or only briefly mentioned her silent protest displaying a sign with “War Criminal” printed on one side and “Guilty of Genocide” on the other. Missing was any analysis as to whether she was right.

While Rashida Tlaib, the one Palestinian-American in Congress, courageously protested inside the Capitol, thousands of us, including this union leader and proud Jewish-American, were peaceably demonstrating outside demanding a cease-fire, condemning Netanyahu’s crimes against humanity, and the U.S. government for continuing to send armaments to Israel.

I am proud that my union, which deplored the Hamas actions of October 7 and condemned Israel’s barbaric response, called for the release of all hostages and advocates for a permanent cease-fire and for massive humanitarian aid. Recently, our union took further action by a vote at our national convention to demand that our government halt military aid to Israel and joined six other unions, representing over 6 million U.S. unionized workers, calling on President Biden to implement an arms embargo. As the largest arms supplier to Israel, the Biden-led U.S government should use its leverage to stop the carnage.

We are outraged that the taxes of workers are being used to kill, maim, and slaughter innocent people.

AIPAC says US must ‘stand with Israel’ against Iran

Al Jazeera reports: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has suggested that Washington and its allies should support Israel in retaliating against a possible Iranian response to the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran.

“As Iran plans an attack that could cause mass destruction in Israel and spark a regional war, America and our allies must work together to deter Iran by demonstrating that we will stand with Israel as it responds to any strikes by the Iranian regime and its proxies,” the pro-Israel lobby group said in a message to supporters.

AIPAC has spent tens of millions of dollars in recent US elections to help defeat candidates critical of Israel.

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

The Guardian: AFP must investigate Israel’s killing of Zomi Frankcom after quest for truth and justice goes nowhere

Al Jazeera: Thousands mourn Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at funeral prayer

Al Jazeera: Gaza and the death of Western journalism

The situation in the #WestBank is worsening daily. Nur Shams and Tulkarm camps are suffering from water shortages & electricity outages.

Israeli Security Forces’ operations continue causing destruction & threatening the lives of people in the area. This “silent war” has to end. pic.twitter.com/UFOUkTLOVP

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 2, 2024

People in #Gaza are facing yet another peril: Hepatitis A is spreading including among children.
Since the war began, @UNRWA is reporting nearly 40,000 cases in our shelters and clinics against only 85 in the same period before the war.
This is a frightening increase.

The… pic.twitter.com/Dg6bbXuwe0

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) August 2, 2024

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A post shared by Middle East Monitor (@middleeastmonitor)

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 2:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – August 2: at least 40,071* (39,550 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,251 children as of July 22. [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.]

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 591 in the West Bank (~140 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 46,848 Palestinian deaths.

Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death9 to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.

Ralph Nader earlier estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
2.15 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are projected to face Crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – August 2: at least 96,548 (including at least 91,280 in Gaza and 5,420 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how man Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – August 2: ~1,486 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 331 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

Times of Israel reports: The IDF listed 41 soldiers killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents – nearly 16%.

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.**

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.

† 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