Heat wave intensifies Palestinians' already unbearable misery – War on Gaza Day 679

Members of the Bakr family mourn inside an ambulance after losing their 1-year-old son, Kanan Bakr, in an Israeli strike on a tent along Martyrs Street in western Gaza on August 15, 2025. (Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea – Anadolu Agency)

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Israeli forces killed at least 51 Palestinians in Gaza in the last 24 hours, including at least 17 aid seekers. In total, Israel has killed at least 1,927 aid seekers since May 27, 2025 (learn about aid seekers here).

The total known number of Palestinians who have died from malnutrition stands at 251, including 108 children.

For detail on Israeli attacks in Gaza on Friday, go here.

GAZA NEWS:

(For some basic info on the Palestine-Israel conflict, go here. For a bit more critical context, skim this, this, and this.To read about a remarkable but underreported, 20-month-long peaceful protest in Gaza against Israel, go here.)

ISRAEL ALLOWS ABOUT 10% OF NEEDED AID INTO GAZA: At least 1,000 trucks per day carrying various forms of aid have to enter the besieged Gaza Strip to meet people’s needs, a local official has said. A spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense, Mahmoud Basal, said Thursday evening that only about 100 trucks are entering daily, most of which go to commercial traders and do not meet the needs of the market.

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Agonizing heat wave hits Gaza amid widespread dehydration and famine

As temperatures in the Gaza Strip surpass 40 degrees celsius (104 F), health authorities and rights organizations have sounded the alarm over increasing dehydration cases and the spread of diseases.

“Bombardments and forced displacement continue. With limited electricity and fuel, there is no relief from the extreme heat,” a spokesperson from UNRWA said. “There must be a ceasefire.”

Gaza is facing severe water shortages due to months of Israeli attacks targeting water and sanitation infrastructure, including desalination plants and sewage systems.

The blockaded enclave – which was already suffering from a water crisis before the nearly 700-day genocide – now has less than four percent of the fresh water in needs, with surrounding sea water polluted by sewage (continue reading here).

Palestinians who had to migrate to central Gaza to protect themselves from Israeli attacks, wait in queues to receive clean drinking water amid further Israeli attacks in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on October 19, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib – Anadolu Agency)

OCCUPIED WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM HEADLINES:

(For background on the West Bank, read this and this. For information on the significance of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, read this and this.)

Two Palestinians Reportedly Attacked by Israeli Settlers* in Southern West Bank

A group of 10-15 Israeli settlers attacked a married Palestinian couple overnight into Friday in the southern West Bank village of Susya with clubs and stones, according to local reports. The attackers then fled towards an outpost called Rojom. The victims were evacuated to a hospital. The police arrived at the scene and collected evidence.

*NOTE: Violence committed by settlers against Palestinians has been documented since the very early days of the occupation. Settlers initiate violent altercations on a daily basis. It is recorded in countless government documents and dossiers, in thousands of testimonies from Palestinians and soldiers, in books, in reports by Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations.

The military avoids confronting violent settlers as a matter of policy, although soldiers have the authority and duty to detain and arrest them. Israeli security forces routinely enable settler violence against Palestinians and their property. Read more about settler violence and impunity here.

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ISRAEL DEMOLISHES FRENCH-FINANCED SCHOOL IN WEST BANK: The French Foreign Ministry has condemned Israel’s demolition of a school in the West Bank that was financed by the French Development Agency (AFD). The school – the second AFD-financed educational facility to be demolished – had been planned to serve approximately 100 children in the village of Aqaba.

MORE WEST BANK HEADLINES (a quick skim of headlines can be very informative!):

Israeli settlers shoot Palestinians and torch cars in latest West Bank assaults

Israeli Colonizers Expel Two Palestinian Families from Shallal al-Auja

Israeli forces conduct searches during the raid in Nablus, West Bank on April 28, 2025. (Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency)

ISRAEL NEWS & HEADLINES:

(Get a glimpse inside Israel and the turmoil within its government. Most of the below news items and headlines are taken from Israeli media.)

Former IDF General Calls Palestinian Death Toll in Gaza ‘Necessary’ in Recording

Aharon Haliva, Military Intelligence chief during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, said in a recording aired by Israeli Channel 12 that mass deaths in Gaza were not revenge but ‘a message for future generations.’ The former Israeli military intelligence chief said the high number of Palestinians killed in Gaza is “necessary for future generations,” according to recordings broadcast Friday on Israel’s Channel 12.

In the recordings, Maj. Gen. (res.) Aharon Haliva can be heard saying that “50 Palestinians should die” for every victim of Hamas’* attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. “There’s no choice, they need a Nakba every now and then to feel the consequences,” Haliva added, referring to the 1948 displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of what would become the border of the State of Israel (continue reading here).

*NOTE: It can not be stressed enough that “many, if not most of the civilians killed that day were killed by the overwhelming firepower the Israeli military deployed” using the Hannibal Directive.

Even if all of the approximately 1,140 Israelis killed on October 7, 2023 had been killed by Hamas fighters, Israel has already surpassed Haliva’s target of 50 Palestinians for every victim of Hamas.

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Israel violates ceasefire with Lebanon, warns Lebanese gov’t to “uphold the ceasefire agreement”

The IDF reported that it struck a Hezbollah site where it had detected “military activity” Friday night. Following the strike, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that the Lebanese government is “directly responsible for enforcing Lebanon’s sovereignty and upholding the ceasefire agreement.”

Katz added that Israel “will not return to the reality of October 7th and will continue to act forcefully against any violation.”

CONTEXT NOTE: A ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel was reached in November 2024, but Israeli forces have conducted near-daily attacks in southern Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah activity. As recently as Wednesday, an Israeli drone strike killed one person in southern Lebanon.

Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said that the Israeli army has carried out 600 airstrikes on Lebanon since the ceasefire agreement was signed on Nov. 27, 2024.

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MORE ISRAEL HEADLINES (a quick skim of headlines can be very informative!):

ICC arrest warrant applications ready for Israel’s Ben Gvir and Smotrich on apartheid charges

Netanyahu isn’t Just Talking About ‘Greater Israel’, He is Creating It

How the world is reacting to Israel’s settlement plan in occupied West Bank

Thirty-one Arab, Islamic states condemn Netanyahu’s ‘Greater Israel’ vision

A woman sits on the ground near the Netzarim Corridor where Palestinians went to receive limited food supplies on Monday, 4 August 2025 (Hassan Jedi/Anadolu)

OTHER NEWS & HEADLINES:

Second Most Powerful House Democrat Calls Israel’s Genocide a ‘Genocide’

Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts called Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide Thursday night, making her the highest-ranking House Democratic official to do so.

“[W]e have to continue to have an open heart about how we do this, how we do it effectively, and how we take action in time to make a difference. Whether that is stopping the starvation, and genocide, and destruction of Gaza, or whether that means we are working together to stop the redistricting that is going on, taking away the vote from people in order to retain power. And it’s exhausting to do all of it, but we have to…” Clark said at an event hosted by the Quaker organization Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Up to this point, Clark has largely aligned with the rest of Democratic leadership on Israel’s war – expressing concern for civilian harm, advocating for an “end to the hostilities” (and, eventually calling for a ceasefire), and criticizing the Benjamin Netanyahu government. But she has fallen short of advocating for conditioning or ending aid to Israel, or supporting resolutions like Rep. Delia Ramirez’s “Block the Bombs” Act (continue reading here).

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Do your Congress members have the courage to call Israel’s genocide a “genocide”?

Here are the now 15 members of Congress calling Israel’s genocide a genocide:

See the list of others, including experts, countries, and human rights groups, who have called Israel’s genocide a ‘genocide’ here.

Netanyahu hosting a delegation of US Republican lawmakers (released by Netanyahu’s office)

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Palestinian Youth Movement Vows to Make Genocide Support Too Costly for Maersk

After two years of continuous effort in research, agitation and direct action, the organizers of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) celebrated a landmark organizing victory in late June. Their “Mask Off Maersk” campaign had sought to prove the complicity of the Danish freight-logistics titan A.P. Møller – Maersk A/S in the genocide in Gaza.

Maersk, as it’s generally known, was found by PYM to be contributing to the ongoing crimes against humanity in Gaza by shipping arms transfers to the perpetrating Israeli military; these shipments included critical parts for the F-35 fighters that have been used to bomb Gaza’s civilian population.

Aligning with the broad strategy of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, PYM organized to make a material difference by interrupting Israel’s still-unfolding campaign of ethnic cleansing, mass displacement and, incontrovertibly, genocide (continue reading here).

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MORE HEADLINES (a quick skim of headlines can be very informative!):

“We Can’t Have Greece Become a Playground For IDF Soldiers”: Israeli Tourists Traveling to Greek Islands Met With Pro-Palestine Protests

Stop Giving Israeli Officials A Media Platform To Spout Lies

Groups calls on Delaware to revoke Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s corporate charter over complicity in genocide

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT) – A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:

Israeli attacks destroy Gaza hospital septic system, flooding it with sewage

Israel tried to bribe Anas al-Sharif into silence

Israel moves forward with new settlement plan, which ‘ends hope of Palestinian state’

“Sadness and grief are for natural disasters”

Palestinians wait with pots in their hands as a charitable organisation distributes food to Palestinians suffering a famine under an Israeli blockade in Gaza City (Ahmed Jihad Ibrahim Al-arini/Anadolu)

**STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – AUGUST 15, 2025*:**

At least 62,928 Palestinians killed, 164,890 injured – including:
at least 61,897 killed in Gaza (~18,500 children)
at least 1,031 killed in the West Bank (~210 children)
at least 155,660 injured in Gaza
at least 9,230 injured in the West Bank
at least 251 have died from malnutrition in Gaza, including 108 children

According to Palestinian authorities, during the ceasefire Jan. 19 – March 18 2025, Israeli attacks killed at least 170 Gazans, and Israel committed at least 962 ceasefire violations.

At least 1,924 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access aid parcels from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which started operating on May 26, 2025.

Since the Israeli army resumed its assaults on Gaza on March 18, 2025 it has killed at least 10,362 people. 50 Israeli soldiers (most recent July 26) have been killed during the same time period.

*NOTE: Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 14,000 more are still buried under rubble. Additionally, the numbers of injured and starved are very conservative estimates.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – August 15, 2025: ~1,629 – including ~1,139 on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 454 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, 46 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel. (72 soldiers have reportedly died due to “operational incidents.”)

By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 234 Palestinian journalists and media workers; Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 192 and 304 Palestinian journalists killed – depending on the criteria used).

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

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

Heat wave intensifies Palestinians’ already unbearable misery – War on Gaza Day 679