Israel prevents entry of 1M life-saving polio vaccines into Gaza – Day 305

Al Jazeera reports: The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs says Israeli forces have arrested some 690 Palestinian children since October 7.

It said in a statement that Israeli soldiers have been arresting Palestinian children “systematically, as part of a punitive mass arrest campaign”, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

At least 250 of those who have been arrested remain in detention.

Attn. Sari Huriyyah (53), a father of four from Shfaram, Israel, arrested over a Facebook post : "I was in Megiddo prison, which I now call Abu Ghraib".
To full testimony and video >> https://t.co/lYAO2Fnep6 pic.twitter.com/54prX7eYaM

— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) August 6, 2024

The World Central Kitchen (WCK), a US-based aid group, said today that one of its staff members was killed in the central Gaza Strip.

In a statement, WCK said Nadi Sallout, a Palestinian, was killed near the central city of Deir Al-Balah, without providing details about the circumstances of his death.

“He was an integral member of our warehouse team from the early days of our response in Rafah and a humanitarian at his very core,” WCK said.

“We are still learning the details of this tragedy, but believe he was off duty at the time,” it added.

On 1 April, an Israeli air strike killed seven WCK aid workers; three Britons, an Australian, a Polish national, a US-Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian.

The killings triggered calls for accountability, with many, including WCK founder Jose Andres, disputing Israel’s claim that the attack was a “mistake” and a case of “misidentification.”

Bloody days and nights in as Israeli forces strike across West Bank

Embed from Getty Images

Middle East Monitor reports: The number of detainees held by Israel in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, has risen to 10,000 since 7 October, including those who were released after being arrested.

This follows the arrest of at least 26 Palestinians by the Israeli occupation army on Tuesday evening, according to a joint statement from the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.

They noted that these figures do not include detainees from the Gaza Strip, whose numbers are estimated to be in the thousands.

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West Bank: violence against Palestinians continues apace – OCHA

OCHA’s weekly update on the West Bank:

• During the last week, Israeli forces killed 16 Palestinians, including two children, and injured another 56 Palestinians, including six children.
• In Israel, a Palestinian from the West Bank stabbed and killed two Israeli civilians and injured two others.
• Between 7 October 2023 and 5 August 2024, 587 Palestinians (Palestinian sources say 616) were killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, including two who died of wounds sustained prior to 7 October. These include at least 570 killed by Israeli forces, ten by Israeli settlers, and seven where it remains unknown whether the perpetrators were Israeli forces or settlers.
• During the same period, 14 Israelis, including nine members of Israeli forces and five settlers, were killed by Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In Israel, attacks by Palestinians from the West Bank resulted in the killing of ten Israelis and six Palestinian perpetrators.
• During the last week, Israeli settlers perpetrated 27 attacks against Palestinians, resulting in 17 injuries, including two children, and damage to property.
• Palestinians perpetrated five attacks against settlers in this period, resulting in the injury of one Israeli settler.
• Between 7 October 2023 and 5 August 2024, OCHA recorded 1,143 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, of which 114 led to Palestinian fatalities and injuries. Since 7 October, some 255 Palestinian households comprising 1,500 people, mostly herding families, including 720 children, have been displaced amid settler violence and access restrictions.
• In the last week, Israeli authorities demolished or forced the demolition of 23 Palestinian-owned structures, 22 of which were due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. All demolished structures were in Area C and East Jerusalem. As a result, 27 Palestinians, including 10 children, were displaced and about 105, including 38 children, were otherwise affected.
• Between 7 October 2023 and 5 August 2024, Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced the demolition of 1,355 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, displacing more than 3,000 Palestinians, including 1,343 children.

Middle East Monitor reports: Palestine today demanded the International Criminal Court (ICC) issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich after he said starving Palestinians in Gaza was “justified and moral”.

“This is an explicit admission of adopting and bragging about the policy of genocide,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Smotrich said Monday that letting two million people in Gaza die from hunger is “justified and moral” but “nobody will let us cause two million civilians to die of hunger.”

The Palestinian ministry condemned the Israeli minister’s call as a “flagrant violation of the rules of international law and basic principles of humanity, a blatant challenge to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and a direct disregard for international legitimacy decisions and the international consensus on protecting civilians and securing their basic humanitarian needs.”

AIPAC just bought the seat of another Squad member, Cori Bush

The Intercept reports: Missouri Democratic Rep Cori Bush narrowly lost the Democratic congressional primary on Tuesday against St. Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell, a challenger backed by the leading pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The race was AIPAC’s second targeted attack on a Squad member this cycle.

With roughly 95 percent of precincts reporting election results, Bush trailed by less than 6,000 of the 112,000 cast. The Associated Press called the race two hours after polls closed.

After spending more than $17 million to topple Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., in June, AIPAC shifted its focus toward ousting Bush. The group poured more than $8 million into the race to unseat Bush in less than two months.

Outside groups dumped $18.2 million into the race. Bell’s backers outspent groups supporting Bush roughly 4 to 1. AIPAC’s super PAC spent $8.5 million backing Bell’s campaign.

Democratic Majority for Israel PAC spent half a million, and major Democratic donor Reid Hoffman’s Mainstream Democrats PAC spent $1.5 million in support of Bell.

Justice Democrats and the Working Families Party spent just under $3 million in support of Bush.

The infusion of cash made the race the fourth most expensive primary in House history, according to the Working Families Party.

Bush’s loss marks another victory for a pro-Israel movement seeking to silence critics of Israel’s human rights abuses and its ongoing war on Gaza.

THE GUARDIAN ADDS: Bush said her loss to St Louis county prosecutor Wesley Bell after the hardline American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) targeted her for opposition to Israel’s attack on Gaza had freed her to openly challenge the powerful pressure group, which has vowed to spend $100m to influence US elections this year in favor of Israel.

“They’re about to see this other Cori, this other side,” she told supporters. “AIPAC, I’m coming to tear your kingdom down.”

Bush, who will continue to serve in Congress until January, added: “All they did was radicalize me, so now they need to be afraid.”

Israel planned to spy on anti-war activists in US, Canada

Middle East Monitor reports: It has been revealed that Israel planned to spy on anti-war activists in the US and Canada, especially the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group, which has been leading protests against Israel in North American universities since the outbreak of Israel’s war against the Palestinians in Gaza.

A ministry spokesperson claimed that Black Cube had initiated the proposal to spy on the anti-war organization, and claimed that the proposal was rejected. However, according to the Israeli Hebrew-language newspaper the Marker on Wednesday, Black Cube said that the Israeli ministry had initiated the proposal to spy on US citizens, and that the company refused, fearing that it would become involved with the US authorities and damage its ability to operate in the United States.

Former Israeli diplomats have warned that using a private spy company against an organization whose activities are concentrated in the United States and most of whose activists are American citizens could be considered an attack on American sovereignty. Such activities, they pointed out, could harm Israel’s relations with the US administration and Israel’s image among the American public.

Black Cube has been linked to several scandals in recent years, including carrying out espionage operations on behalf of disgraced and imprisoned Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who was accused by around 100 women of sexually assault, as well as hacking the computers of those close to the head of the anti-corruption authority in Romania in 2016. Five of the company’s employees, including its founder, Zorella, were convicted of criminal charges for this.

The company has also been accused of carrying out espionage operations against human rights activists, journalists, a judge and a government official, with the aim of advancing the interests of its clients.

(Read the full article here.)

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A few recent headlines from Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz:

Israeli Police Continue Confiscating Anti-war Protest Signs Despite Repeated Orders Not To

Israel Braces for Fallout of Far-right Minister’s Comments on Starving Gazans to Death

Israel Police Aren’t Investigating Storming of IDF Bases by Far-right Mobs, Senior Officer Says

Israel Revokes Eight Norwegian Diplomats’ Status With the Palestinian Authority as Punishment for Recognizing Palestine

Andalou Agency reports: The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Wednesday that accountability must be ensured for violations against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.

“Humanity at its worst,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on X. “No one seems to be spared: no one is safe even in Israel,” he said. “Those responsible must be held accountable. The survivors must have justice.”

Recalling the UN human rights office’s recent report on such practices as well as a report by the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’tselem), Lazzarini said: “A systematic and deliberate policy of dehumanization and torture against the Palestinian people is described. It’s very hard to read it.”

Several Israeli media outlets circulated a video involving Israeli soldiers allegedly raping a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman Prison in the Negev desert in southern Israel.

Late last month, 10 soldiers were arrested for the alleged rape of a Palestinian detained in the detention center, with three of them being released Sunday after new evidence emerged.

The incident sparked actions from far-right Israeli groups, which included a member of parliament, a minister and demonstrators raiding a military court building to protest measures against the soldiers.

RECOMMENDED READING: Welcome to Hell

US calls for ‘zero tolerance’ for rape after video shows Israeli soldiers sexually abusing Palestinian detainee

Andalou Agency reports: State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Wednesday , “There ought to be zero tolerance for sexual abuse, rape of any detainee. Period. That’s a fundamental belief of the United States.” He added that if there are detainees who have been abused, sexually assaulted or raped, Israel needs to “fully investigate” those actions and hold anyone responsible accountable.

Miller said the video and reports of sexual abuse at the notorious Israeli detention center are “horrific,” adding that the human rights of prisoners “need to be respected.”

“It is appropriate that the IDF in this case, has announced an investigation, has arrested a number of people who are alleged to have been involved, and I won’t speak to the outcome of that investigation, but it ought to proceed swiftly,” he added.

NOTE: This US State Dept response is typical after allegations are made against Israel: framing the issue as a hypothetical while refusing to acknowledge the facts as presented by multiple human rights organizations; congratulating Israel for opening an investigation and assuming it will be conducted swiftly – while ignoring the fact that Israel is incapable of investigating its own crimes.

Israel’s self-investigations consistently whitewash its crimes and fail to appropriately punish the perpetrators. Israeli sources, including the government itself, have a long track record of lying (for example, this and this and this.)

US claims of nearing agreement on ceasefire; Netanyahu denies progress

Andalou Agency reports: US National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters Wednesday that “there is a good proposal before both sides, and they need to both accept that proposal so we can get this in place.”

The US believes both sides “need to do a final bit of work” to get to a conclusion, he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by claiming that his government had not received a response from the Palestinian resistance group on a cease-fire and prisoner exchange proposal, despite submitting a “clear proposal” and sending a negotiation team to Cairo last Saturday.

NOTE: It is generally accepted that Netanyahu is prolonging this war for his own political ends. He is under investigation for corruption, and faces a possible prison sentence when he leaves office.

House Speaker urges Biden to release weapons to Israel

Andalou Agency reports: House Speaker, Mike Johnson, urged US President Joe Biden on Tuesday to release all weapons to Israel after an attack on an Iraqi airbase injuring American personnel.

“After repeated attacks on American troops in the region, and while Israel is under threat from Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, the US cannot hesitate to defend our service members and our ally,” Johnson said in a statement.

That was after several US personnel were injured in a suspected rocket attack Monday against US and coalition forces at the Ain Al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq.

Johnson said any attack by Iran against Israel or American interests would be “unjustified and met with decisive force.” He said the US and its allies in the region should work to “strongly counter Iran and its terror proxies to send a clear message against these malign activities.”

“We know the current Iranian aggression, backed by Chinese and Russian interests, comes after a months-long pressure campaign against Israel from the Biden-Harris Administration. Now is the time for the White House to realize their choices have brought us to the brink of disaster and give full-throated support to Israel.

“President Biden must immediately release all previously withheld and delayed weapons to Israel — so it can defend its people and deter Iran — and make clear that there will be decisive economic, military and international ramifications should Iran engage in or support any attacks,” he added.

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VP Harris does not support arms embargo on Israel, advisor says, after pro-Palestinian activists claim she is open to discussions

Ha’aretz reports: Phil Gordon, Vice President Kamala Harris’ foreign policy advisor, reaffirmed that she does not support an arms embargo on Israel hours after pro-Palestinian activists said she was open to meeting to discuss the matter.

“[She] has been clear: she will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups. She does not support an arms embargo on Israel. She will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law,” Gordon said.

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Kamala Harris gives Palestine protesters a scolding

Ha’aretz reports: A speech in Detroit on Wednesday by Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, was briefly interrupted by a group of pro-Palestinian hecklers, who chanted “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide, we won’t vote for genocide.”

Harris paused for a moment, saying she believed in democracy and the importance of every voice, and then added, “But I am speaking now.” When the chants continued, she repeated, “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”

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Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia reject US request to send peacekeepers to Gaza

Middle East Monitor reports: Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have rebuffed US requests to contribute troops to a post-war peacekeeping force in Gaza, an Arab official and a second source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel, the newspaper reports.

According to the report, the dispatched troops would be seen to be “protecting Israel from the Palestinians”, the Arab official says, explaining the opposition of Amman, Doha and Riyadh to the effort being advanced by the US to secure Gaza after the war.

Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, have expressed willingness to participate in the effort, the report added.

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UK’s largest private pension fund divests £80m from Israeli assets

Middle East Monitor reports: The UK’s largest private-sector pension fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), has divested £80 million from Israeli assets, joining a global trend of retirement funds pulling out of the region amid public pressure.

According to the Financial Times, the £79 billion fund, which serves over 500,000 members, has significantly reduced its investments in Israeli government bonds and currency over the past six months.

The decision came after persistent pressure from members concerned about Israel’s human rights record in the occupied Palestinian territories following the start of the war with Hamas last year.

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.

The Intercept: What Tim Walz could mean for Kamala Harris’s stance on Gaza and Israel

A number of demonstrators from the ultra-orthodox Haredi community stormed the Tel HaShome base during a demonstration against compulsory recruitment into the Israeli military.

According to Israeli Channel 12 News, the situation is out of control, with rioters outnumbering… pic.twitter.com/Y4EuSprIVv

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) August 6, 2024

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 7:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – August 7: at least 40,315* (39,699 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 616 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 death 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 7: at least 97,142 (including at least 91,722 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 7: ~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.

• Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
• Western media continue to withhold the truth about Israel and Gaza – 4 stories
• “Well What SHOULD Israel Have Done After October 7?”
• Welcome to Hell
• More dead children. More BBC ‘news’ channelling Israeli propaganda as its own
• U.S. media downplays and ignores ICJ ruling declaring Israeli occupation illegal
• Israeli soldiers tell story of savage cruelty in Gaza – one given blessing by the West
• Searching for Gaza’s missing children
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• Assassination of Haniyeh an intentional, dangerous escalation – Parsi, Macgregor
• When Israel Burned Refugees Alive, Establishment Media Called It a ‘Tragic Accident’
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