Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
At least 62 Palestinians were killed and 300 others injured in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours.
FLASHBACK: Gaza Genocide
DAY 6 (OCT 12, 2023) If Americans Knew wrote:
- ONE YEAR AGO TODAY: Israeli airstrikes hit the 1,600-year-old Saint Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City. At least 2 Gazan Christian women are dead and dozens more believed to be trapped under the rubble. The 1,600-year-old Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrios in the Gaza Strip has collapsed as a result of Israeli airstrikes.
- ONE YEAR LATER, ISRAEL HAS DESTROYED ALL 3 CHURCHES IN GAZA and wiped out at least 3% of Gaza’s already tiny Christian population.
- SPEAKING AT CHRISTMAS EVE MASS 2023, POPE FRANCIS BEGAN WITH A LAMENT: “Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world.” He spoke just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to fight deeper into Gaza.
- IN HIS CHRISTMAS DAY ADDRESS, POPE FRANCIS CALLED FOR AN END TO THE “APPALLING HARVEST” of civilians in Gaza; children dying in wars, including Gaza, are the Little Jesuses of today.”
- ONE YEAR AGO TODAY: Delegates from around the world invited to attend the US ambassador’s speech to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva turned their backs.
- ALMOST A YEAR LATER, IN SEPTEMBER 2024, UNITED NATIONS DELEGATES WENT EVEN FURTHER, WALKING OUT OF THE CHAMBER as Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage. The delegation from the US did not even show up that day.
- ONE YEAR AGO TODAY: The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 19 journalists have been confirmed dead: 15 Palestinian, 3 Israeli, and 1 Lebanese. 3 journalists have been reported missing or detained.
- ONE YEAR LATER, AT LEAST 128 JOURNALISTS HAVE BEEN KILLED, ALMOST ALL OF THEM IN GAZA. The Biden administration has not held Israel accountable.
Latest from Gaza
Almost everyone in Gaza going hungry: World Health Org
The World Health Organization (WHO) chief said that almost everyone in the Gaza Strip is going hungry, calling this situation “inhumane.”
“@WHO calls for immediate access for all humanitarian aid, starting with food and medicine for severely malnourished children, who need to be treated urgently,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
WHO continues to call for a cease-fire as “best medicine is peace,” he said on Thursday.
UN special rapporteur on the rights to food, Michael Fakhri, on Friday emphasized Israel’s systemic nature of starvation in Gaza, arguing that it is not merely a humanitarian issue but a consequence of decades of choices.
“Starvation doesn’t happen overnight. It doesn’t happen just in war. Starvation is the result of choices that are made over decades,” Fakhri said.
Israel bans at least six medical aid missions from entering Gaza
At least six medical aid missions currently operating inside the Gaza Strip received orders this week from the Israeli government that they would no longer be allowed access to their patients in the enclave.
Israel told the World Health Organization (WHO) about the decision, apparently giving no reason for banning the missions.
“This is a death sentence for thousands of patients,” the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) said in a statement. “These organizations have, collectively, sent hundreds of medical delegates to provide life-saving aid to sick and injured Palestinians in Gaza over the past twelve months.”
No food or aid of any kind has entered northern Gaza since 1 October amid a massive ground operation launched by the Israeli army.
RECOMMENDED READING: ‘I see my wife and son burning every time I close my eyes’
Israel cuts internet in northern Gaza amid its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians
On Friday, the Israeli army reportedly shut down communication and internet services in northern Gaza, amid a two-week-long bombing campaign of extermination and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.
The local Palestinian Al-Aqsa TV said on its Telegram account that the Israeli army “has severed communication and internet services in northern Gaza”.
For the 14th consecutive day, the Israeli army has continued its offensive in northern Gaza, targeting Jabaliya and its camp.
Israeli Censorship in Gaza
On Friday, Irene Khan, special rapporteur on freedom of expression, strongly denounced Israel’s increasing censorship and attacks on journalists: “In no other conflict has freedom of expression been so seriously or so far beyond its borders than in Gaza,”, she said.
“Only one [journalist] has been permitted to enter (Gaza) by Israel,” she said. “The banning of Al-Jazeera, the tightening of censorship within Israel and in the occupied (Palestine) territories, seem to indicate a strategy of the Israeli authorities to silence critical journalism and obstruct documentation of possible international crimes,” Khan added.
“We all know the deliberate killing of a journalist is a war crime, yet not a single killing of a journalist this past year, or in previous years in the occupied Palestinian territory has ever been properly investigated, prosecuted or punished,” she said, stressing that “impunity is total.”
RECOMMENDED READING: “Eliminating Witnesses on Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing Crimes in the Gaza Strip,” new report from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
Destruction in Jabaliya
Residents of Jabaliya said Israeli tanks had reached the heart of the camp after pushing through suburbs and residential districts. They said the Israeli army was destroying dozens of houses daily, from the air and the ground, and by placing bombs in buildings then detonating them remotely.
At least 33 Palestinians were killed on Friday night and 85 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on the Indonesian Hospital and neighboring homes. Among the victims are at least 21 women and children.
Lebanon news
UNIFIL confirms Israel ‘deliberately attacking’ its positions in south Lebanon
The spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Andrea Tenenti, said Friday that “the Israeli army’s targeting of UNIFIL forces was deliberate, contrary to what Israeli officials say.”
He said that Israel targeted “UNIFIL several times, including five deliberate times.”
“The control tower in Naqoura was directly targeted, which resulted in the injury of two peacekeepers. They also targeted the communications system and cameras and entered one of the UNIFIL headquarters a few days ago and stayed there for 45 minutes,” Tenenti added.
He stressed that “all these attacks are deliberate and constitute a violation not only of UN Resolution 1701 but also of international laws.”
West Bank update
Israeli forces attack foreign volunteer
A foreign activist of unspecified nationality was injured Friday after being assaulted by Israeli forces while volunteering to pick olives alongside Palestinian farmers in the village of Susiya, located in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, according to local reports.
The activist was beaten with batons by Israeli soldiers as she assisted Palestinians in harvesting olives near the illegal Israeli settlement of Susiya.
The activist refused treatment from Israeli medical services, opting instead for care from the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Israel news
Hezbollah drone hits near Netanyahu’s private home
An explosive drone launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon hit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private home in the coastal town of Caesarea. He was not at present at the time.
Three drones were launched from Lebanon and crossed into Israeli airspace; two were intercepted by Israeli attack helicopters but the third eluded them.
The blast sent shockwaves across the country, marking a significant breach in Israeli airspace and security.
Israeli police swiftly closed off streets around the targeted neighborhood, preventing media from approaching the area, while military and emergency services rushed to the scene to assess the damage.
According to Israeli media outlets, the drone had flown approximately 70 kilometers from Lebanon before directly hitting Netanyahu’s home.
US and elsewhere
No, the U.S. is not ‘putting pressure’ on Israel to end its war
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter earlier this week to Israel, vaguely threatening to withhold arms if northern Gaza doesn’t get more food aid.
Those who find that a hopeful sign have apparently not been paying attention for the past year.
From the beginning of Israel’s genocide project in Gaza, there have been massive violations of international law and human rights abuses as ugly as any in history. These have been documented with a clarity that is unprecedented during a genocide, largely due to the fact that Israel has made no secret of them and their soldiers have been consistently and proudly broadcasting their crimes.
That has not impeded the flow of arms to Israel in the slightest. Joe Biden’s administration has repeatedly broken U.S. law, including having Blinken mislead Congress about Israel’s facilitation of aid transfers to the people of Gaza, and may well have doomed its own political party to defeat with its insistence on sustaining the worst genocide of the 21st century.
US presidential election
A spokesperson for the Harris campaign suggested that the images of dead civilians are complicating Kamala Harris’ path to victory in key swing states with sizable Arab American and Muslim populations. “It’s a huge concern,” they said. “It comes down to people saying, ‘I can’t support anyone who supports a genocide.’”
RECOMMENDED READING:
‘International Crimes’ – UN Launches Probe into Role of Private Sector in Enabling Israeli Occupation
The United Nations has announced a far-reaching investigation into the involvement of private entities in international crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
The inquiry, set to culminate in a report to the Human Rights Council in March 2025, will investigate the involvement of business enterprises – including financial institutions such as banks, pension funds, insurance companies, universities, as well as private military and security companies (PMSC) and weapons manufacturers (WM) – that are enabling international crimes, such as apartheid.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner said the report will “particularly consider the higher due diligence imposed on the private sector after the start of the International Criminal Court investigation in the situation in Palestine (2014), the provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) since 26 January 2024, the ICJ’s reminder to states in its order of 30 April 2024 in Nicaragua v Germany, and the ICJ Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024.”
French NGOs use tax-free donations to fund Israeli military equipment
Non-profit organizations dedicated to charitable activities in France illegally make tax-free calls for donations to finance military equipment for Israeli soldiers, a French media outlet revealed earlier this week.
In an investigation published on Tuesday, titled “How our taxes finance drones for the Israeli army”, Le Media reported on how community associations break the fiscal legislation enabling charities to benefit from tax-free donations in order to help the army of Israel, which has been waging a devastating war on Gaza and Lebanon over the past 12 months.
MORE NEWS:
IMEMC Daily Reports.
Mondoweiss: ‘No one else is going to deliver the truth from Gaza’: An interview with the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate
The Intercept: After Israel Killed Hamas Leader, D.C. Pushes to Hand Palestine to Saudi Arabia
Anadolu Agency: US remains indifferent to Israel’s murder of Americans
Electronic Intifada: UK police raid home, seize devices of Electronic Intifada’s Asa Winstanley
View this post on Instagram
‘Creative activism’ raises voices in support of Palestinians
🗣️’It’s the same message, but from a new angle, new perspective because everybody has a different perspective’
👉Abu Rahs, Founder of Palestine News Network, pushes creative activism for Gaza by going undercover to… pic.twitter.com/38dwqq4NY1
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) October 18, 2024
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – OCTOBER 18, 2024:
Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – October 18, 2024: at least 43,276* ( 42,519 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 identified – and at least 757 in the West Bank (~165 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more in Gaza still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 49,032 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 300,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.
- At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 25 from West Bank).
- At least 41 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.
- Almost 500,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – October 18, 2024: at least 105,887 (including at least 99,637 in Gaza and 6,250 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 – October 18, 2024: ~1,457 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 297*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 25 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 2,412 and 11,285 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.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
- Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
- FLASHBACK 2014: U.S. Senators Are Nearly All Stooges for Israel
- More on Israeli Atrocities: Attacking UN peacekeepers is a dangerous policy
- How Israel killed hundreds of its own people on October 7
- The most precarious place in the world to be a child: Israel’s year of war on children
- Every accusation a confession: Israel and the double lie of ‘human shields’
- Most Americans want to stop arming Israel. Politicians don’t care.
- Happy 100th birthday, Jimmy Carter – loved by many, smeared by some
- You can’t arm a genocidal state into moderation. So why does the West keep trying?
- How Does Israel Justify Mass Killings? It Starts in the Schools.
- From the Americas to Gaza: Spreading disease has long been used by colonizers to commit genocide
- Contrived charges of antisemitism are the new ‘Red Scare’
- How Israel’s quadcopters traumatize, maim and kill Palestinians in Gaza
- Israeli society’s dehumanization of Palestinians is now absolute
- The unpublished genocide diaries of Refaat Alareer
- An arms embargo on Israel is not a radical idea — it’s the law
- Israel is redrawing the West Bank, cutting into a prospective Palestinian state
- Gaza breakdown: 20 times Israel used US arms in likely war crimes
- U.S. universities spent the summer strategizing to suppress student activism. Here is their plan.
- ‘Words like Slaughter:’ A comparative study of The New York Times reporting in Ukraine and Gaza
- Cracks in the Dome: Israel’s security mirage
