Israel perpetrates atrocity after atrocity, as some US politicians hold Biden admin accountable – Day 404

Israel perpetrates atrocity after atrocity, as some US politicians hold Biden admin accountable – Day 404

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli attacks killed 24 Palestinians and wounded 112 in the latest 24-hour reporting period.

In Lebanon, at least 21 people were killed and  wounded on Thursday, the Health Ministry said. At least four of the victims were paramedics.

Palestinians carrying belongings on their way in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza due to the recent Israeli attacks on November 12, 2024.
Palestinians carrying belongings on their way in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza due to the recent Israeli attacks on November 12, 2024. (Dawoud Abo Alkas – Anadolu Agency)

Australia backs UN resolution recognizing ‘permanent sovereignty’ of Palestinians in major departure

Australia has backed in a United Nations resolution to recognise the “permanent sovereignty” of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, marking a major departure from its previous position.

At a UN committee vote on Thursday, Australia voted with 158 other countries, including the UK and New Zealand, on a resolution to recognise the “permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources”.

Seven, including the US, Israel and Canada, voted against the resolution while 11 others abstained. The vote will now proceed to the UN general assembly.

It is the first time an Australian government has voted in favor of the “permanent sovereignty” resolution since it was introduced in some form two decades prior.


Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians constitutes war crimes: Human Rights Watch

The Israeli army’s forced displacement of Palestinians amounts to a “crime against humanity,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a 154-page report released on 14 November.

“HRW found that forced displacement has been widespread, and the evidence shows it has been systematic and part of a state policy. Such acts also constitute crimes against humanity,” it added.

The Israeli army said in a statement,“This report, like many before it, both selectively presents information in a manner that obscures context, as well as makes certain blatant misrepresentations,” though the 154-page report is annotated and is based on actual interviews.

When asked about the HRW report, US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters, “We have not seen any kind of specific forced displacement. But as you’ve heard us say consistently, this is something that we’re going to pay incredibly close attention to.”


UN Special Committee finds Israel’s warfare methods in Gaza consistent with genocide, including use of starvation as weapon of war

Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians there, the UN Special Committee to investigate Israeli practices said in a new report released today.

“Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life — food, water, and fuel,” the Committee said.

“Through its siege over Gaza, obstruction of humanitarian aid, alongside targeted attacks and killing of civilians and aid workers, despite repeated UN appeals, binding orders from the International Court of Justice and resolutions of the Security Council, Israel is intentionally causing death, starvation and serious injury, using starvation as a method of war and inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian population,” the Committee said.

Israel disputes the findings.

US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said the US also unequivocally disagrees with the findings.

Palestinians, who took refuge at Nuseirat refugee camp due to Israeli attacks, wait in queue to receive food, distributed by a charity organization in Gaza City, Gaza on October 18, 2024.
Palestinians, who took refuge at Nuseirat refugee camp due to Israeli attacks, wait in queue to receive food, distributed by a charity organization in Gaza City, Gaza on October 18, 2024. (Moiz Salhi – Anadolu Agency)

Doctors Without Borders shocked and outraged as Israel blocks medical evacuation for kids

On 10 November, Israeli authorities blocked, without explanation, the medical evacuation of eight children and their caretakers from Gaza who are in need of medical care, including a two-year-old with leg amputations, to the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Jordan.

We strongly denounce this decision. “It’s utterly shocking and outrageous that children who need essential treatment are being blocked by Israel from leaving Gaza. Israel’s denial of urgent medical evacuations defies reason and humanity,” says Moeen Mahmood, MSF country director in Jordan.

In recent months, MSF applied for 32 children and caretakers to be medically evacuated from Gaza to Jordan. Only 6 were allowed to leave. Lengthy procedures and unexplained denials block the provision of medical treatment for children who have been severely injured in Gaza.

Palestinians injured or killed in Israeli attacks, including children, are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on August 15, 2024.
Palestinians injured or killed in Israeli attacks, including children, are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on August 15, 2024. (Ashraf Amra – Anadolu Agency)

Israeli strike on Gaza ‘safe-zone’ damages Doctors Without Borders clinic

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym, MSF, says an Israeli air attack that hit the Israeli-designated “safe zone” of al-Mawasi damaged the group’s medical clinic in the area.

“The blast was huge. We didn’t receive an official evacuation order from Israeli forces, we were notified by the residents,” Myriam, an MSF coordinator, said in a post on X.

“Both staff and patients fled the clinic. We later found the facility with equipment destroyed, and shrapnel damaged the desalination plant,” she added.

MSF condemned Israel’s use of heavy weapons in zones it had designated safe, saying the attack is “further proof of the blatant disregard for Palestinian lives and humanitarian law”.

A view of the destroyed makeshift tents of displaced Palestinians living in Al-Mawasi Area after Israeli attacks in Khan Yunis, Gaza on November 13, 2024.
A view of the destroyed makeshift tents of displaced Palestinians living in Al-Mawasi Area after Israeli attacks in Khan Younis, Gaza on November 13, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib – Anadolu Agency)

How Israel has decimated local food production in Gaza

It’s not just Israel’s restrictions on the entry of food aid that are contributing to the hunger crisis in Gaza. It’s also the Israeli military’s decimation of local food production across the whole of the coastal enclave.

Before Israel launched its war on Gaza, about 42 percent of the Strip’s land was used for crops.

But according to the UN, the ongoing hostilities have resulted in “significant damage” to the agricultural sector, including cropland, greenhouses, agricultural infrastructure, wells and solar panels.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says:

  • Nearly 70 percent of cropland – which contributed up to one-third of daily consumption – has been destroyed
  • More than 70 percent of olive trees and orchards have been burned to the ground
  • About 95 percent of cattle and more than half of sheep and goat herds have died.
Palestinians walk on a dirt road lined with building rubble in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City on October 7, 2024.
Palestinians walk on a dirt road lined with building rubble in the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City on October 7, 2024. (Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images)

One-year-old boy dies in Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital

A one-year-old boy has died in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah in the past half an hour despite his case being treatable according to the doctors we spoke to,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported from Deir al Balah on Thursday.

He added, “Due to the lack of medical supplies, the hospital could not do anything to save him. A medical mission organized by the WHO was trying to get him out of the Gaza Strip but failed because the Israeli military banned this one-year-old boy from leaving the enclave.

“This is part of the silent death that is happening on an hourly basis in the Gaza Strip. We see more of it here because we are at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. We see people being brought out of the hospital and into the morgue on an hourly basis from all age groups due to the lack of medical supplies.”

The Israeli military killed at least 710 Palestinian babies before they made it to their first birthday, the equivalent of two infants under one-year-old killed by Israel every day for nearly a year.
The Israeli military killed at least 710 Palestinian babies before they made it to their first birthday, the equivalent of two infants under one-year-old killed by Israel every day for nearly a year. (photo)

Aid deliveries to northern Gaza blocked by Israel repeatedly in recent days: UN

Six attempts by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to deliver aid to besieged areas in northern Gaza were blocked over the past two days by Israeli authorities, the spokesman for the UN secretary-general said.

“Every attempt by the UN to access these areas with food, water and health missions this month were either denied or impeded,” Stéphane Dujarric said during a press briefing.


Elizabeth Warren denounces Biden administration over Gaza humanitarian situation

Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive voice in the US Senate, has denounced the Biden administration’s failure to punish Israel over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and endorsed a joint resolution of disapproval in Congress.

The amount of aid reaching the territory has dropped to the lowest level in 11 months, official Israeli figures show. The White House last month gave Israel an ultimatum of 30 days to improve conditions or risk losing military support. As the deadline expired on Tuesday, international aid groups said Israel had fallen far short.

But the US state department announced it would not take any punitive action, insisting that Israel was making limited progress and was not blocking aid and therefore not violating US law. Warren condemned the Biden administration’s decision to continue supplying arms to its ally.

For the first time on the issue, Warren threw her weight behind a joint resolution of disapproval, a legislative tool that enables Congress to overturn actions taken by the executive branch. Such a resolution must pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate.



ACLU Slams Senate Push to Crack Down on Campus Criticism of Israel

The ACLU on Thursday sent a letter to U.S. senators arguing that bipartisan legislation which backers claim would combat antisemitism on university campuses would actually be an affront to free speech protections and censor legitimate criticism of the Israeli government as it carries out atrocities in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Lebanon.

“Instead of addressing antisemitism on campus, this misguided legislation would punish protected political speech,” said ACLU senior policy counsel Jenna Leventoff, who signed the letter with Christopher Anders, director of democracy and technology.

“At a time when civil rights enforcement on campus could not be more critical, this bill risks politicizing these vital protections by censoring legitimate political speech that criticizes the Israeli government,” Leventoff warned. “The right to criticize government actions is the most fundamental protection provided by the First Amendment—and this includes the actions of foreign governments. The Senate must continue to block this bill and protect free speech.”

Pro-Palestine protesters stand firm as Chicago police officers prepare to begin arrests at the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois on May 4, 2024. Protests on US school campuses are continuing nationwide, with pro-Palestine encampments calling on institutions to divest investments in Israel and in support of a ceasefire in Gaza
Pro-Palestine protesters stand firm as Chicago police officers prepare to begin arrests at the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois on May 4, 2024. Protests on US school campuses are continuing nationwide, with pro-Palestine encampments calling on institutions to divest investments in Israel and in support of a ceasefire in Gaza (photo)

Israeli parliament to discuss bill banning Palestinian flag

On Sunday, the Knesset will discuss a bill that bans the raising of the Palestinian flag in “state-funded or supported institutions”, Israeli media has reported.

This would apply to state institutions such as universities, where protesters have at times used the Palestinian flag to protest against the war in Gaza.

The bill targets the flags of “enemy countries” and gives authorities permission to disperse gatherings, and impose prison sentences and fines of “no less than NIS 10,000 [$2,674].”

Protest against displacement, demolitions and evictions in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem
Protest against displacement, demolitions and evictions in Sheikh Jarrah, West Jerusalem (@abby_seitz/Twitter)

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.
Middle East Monitor: Why does the West condone and forget Israel’s child abuse?
The Guardian: Ben & Jerry’s says Unilever tried to block pro-Palestinian statements
Anadolu Agency: 1988 Palestinian independence declaration: A pivotal step toward statehood
Axios: Scoop: Israel destroyed active nuclear weapons research facility in Iran, officials say
Common Dreams: Democrats Discover Backing Genocide Is Not a Winning Issue
Ha’aretz: From Its Ruins, a Settlement: The Story of Umm al-Hiran and the Dark Side of Zionism

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – NOVEMBER 14, 2024:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – November 14, 2024: at least 44,549* ( 43,764 in Gaza* – 69% are women and children, according to Gaza’s Media Office). [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 identifiedThis does not include an estimated 10,000 more in Gaza still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children).

In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers and/or settlers have killed at least 785 Palestinians (~167 of them children).

In July 2024, the Lancet said: “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 300,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

  • At least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons.
  • At least 43 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition (at least 37 of them children)**.
  • About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
  • About 345,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – November 14, 2024: at least 109,790 (including at least 103,490 in Gaza and 6,300 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – November 14, 2024: ~1,579 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 401*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza (updated: Nov 2); 39 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.

The death toll in Lebanon since October 8, 2023 is at least 3,386, with 14,417 injuries. An estimated 1.34 million have been displaced.

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

***The figure does not include the reportedly 56 Israeli soldiers – nearly 16% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents. 

† 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

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