Biden has “no red lines” that would change his position on arming Israel – Day 155

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Biden has “no red lines” that would change his position on arming Israel – Day 155
As President Biden declares his staunch support for Israel, its genocide of Gazans continues unabated. (photo)

President Biden doesn’t seem to comprehend the true mission of Zionism; Israeli soldier brags on video about killing an unarmed elderly Gazan man; Israel brags about aid delivery, but its record is abysmal; Gaza’s government estimates $30 billion in damage by Israel’s attack; more Israeli acknowledgement that Israel killed its own people on October 7th; and more

By IAK staff, from reports

BIDEN RHETORIC – Reuters reports: U.S. President Joe Biden MSNBC interview on Saturday sent some mixed messages, but mostly emphatically embraced Israel.

Asked whether an Israeli invasion of Rafah would be a red line for him with Netanyahu, Biden said: “It is a red line but I’m never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical. So there’s no red line (in which) I’m going to cut off all weapons so they don’t have the Iron Dome to protect them.”

Biden insisted, however, that Netanyahu “must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken,” adding, “they cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after” Hamas militants.

Addressing the mounting death toll in Gaza, Biden said that “it’s contrary to what Israel stands for. And I think it’s a big mistake”.

NOTE: As a state built on Zionism and a self-proclaimed Jewish State, the mounting death toll in Gaza is exactly in line with what Israel stands for. Zionism is the racist ideology under which Israel dispossessed 750,000 Palestinian people and exiled them to Gaza and other locations. As a Jewish state, Israel must maintain a Jewish majority, which makes non-Jews a “demographic threat,” and the reduction of Palestinians desirable.
WHO and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society lead lifesaving missions to transfer critical patients from besieged hospitals in Gaza.
WHO and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society lead lifesaving missions to transfer critical patients from besieged hospitals in Gaza. (photo)

KILLING OF UNARMED ELDERLY MAN – Palestine Chronicle reports: In more evidence of Israeli forces targeting unarmed civilians in the Gaza Strip, a soldier is seen on video being lauded for killing a 73-year-old deaf Palestinian man in a raid on a house.

“I killed him with four bullets…It was fantastic,” the soldier boasted in the bodycam footage, shared by Al-Jazeera’s channel as well as on social media.

“We opened the door, he fluttered, came in my direction and did like this,” the soldier gesticulated, saying “No, No.”

After congratulating the killer, the soldiers returned to fire additional shots into the man’s body.

CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said, “As the forces of the far-right Israeli government brag to each other about the execution of an elderly Palestinian, the Biden administration offers only piecemeal aid increases and softened rhetoric while allowing the genocide, forced starvation and ethnic cleansing to continue on camera aided and abetted by US support.”

“These war crimes must be condemned and not normalized. The Biden administration is greenlighting these crimes every day by not calling for a permanent ceasefire. This must end.”

Ha’aretz reports: the Israeli military had this comment: “The IDF forces were operating in the south of Shatti in a complex combat area under fire. The location in question was attacked in light of shots fired at our forces from the area. Weapons were found in the location, and a shot was fired at an unarmed man who was suspected of being a terrorist and was moving towards the soldier who came to scan the house. The circumstances of the case are clear.”

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HUMANITARIAN AID CLAIMS AND REALITIES – Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) claims it “coordinated” a 28-truck convoy carrying food to northern Gaza, as well as bringing fuel to several locations.

NOTE: This appears to be an anomaly, based on UN statistics. Also, Israeli forces continue lethal fire on aid seekers:

UN agencies report only six out of 24 aid missions into northern Gaza were permitted by the Israeli military in February, and Tel Aviv continues to be internationally pressured to allow more aid in through land crossings.

Andalou Agency reports: Several Palestinians were killed and many others injured Saturday as the Israeli army again targeted hundreds of people who were waiting for aid trucks east and west of Gaza City.

“A number of dead and wounded arrived at the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City after being targeted by Israeli drones while they were waiting for aid trucks to arrive in the areas of the Kuwait and Nabulsi Roundabouts,” medical sources told Anadolu.

They added that many of the wounded are in serious condition, while there are no capabilities to provide them with the necessary treatment.

Palestinians receive food rations at a donation point at a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah
Palestinians receive food rations at a donation point at a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah (photo)

GAZA DESTRUCTION – Gaza’s Government Media Office has said the destruction caused by Israel in the enclave since October 7 amounts to more than $30bn due to the damage to homes, facilities, and other infrastructure, including road, electricity, water, and sewage networks.

Palestinians in Gaza increasingly have no shelter or food, said Salameh Maarouf, head of the enclave’s media office.

Five months into the war, 80 percent of the homes in Gaza have been rendered “uninhabitable” said Salameh Maarouf, head of the enclave’s media office.

A view of the damaged Burj al-Masri building following an Israeli army attack on Saturday, in Rafah
A view of the damaged Burj al-Masri building following an Israeli army attack on Saturday, in Rafah (photo)

OCTOBER 7TH UPDATE – Palestine Chronicle reports: An investigation by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) revealed that the Israeli army was aware of the presence of Israeli captives in the house it targeted with two tank shells in the Be’eri settlement on October 7, Al-Jazeera Arabic reported on Saturday.

An Israeli detainee reportedly informed the Israeli forces that there were 12 Israelis inside the house. She told KAN that they did not believe her.

According to Al-Jazeera, KAN confirmed that Hamas fighters did not fire on the captives and that it was Israeli fire that killed the Israelis, along with 40 fighters.

An Israeli soldier walks by a destroyed house in Kibbutz Be'eri on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. Israeli media report that Israel is responsible for at least some of the death and destruction.
An Israeli soldier walks by a destroyed house in Kibbutz Be’eri on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. Israeli media report that Israel is responsible for at least some of the death and destruction. (photo)

EAST JERUSALEM – Al Jazeera reports: Israeli settlers have smashed and defaced tombstones at an historic Islamic cemetery along the eastern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Media Center, which documented the vandalism.

The cemetery, Bab al-Rahma, hosts the graves of notable companions of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

ISRAEL – Ha’aretz reports: 730 academics called on the Israeli government to “take urgent measures to prevent starvation in the Gaza Strip” before “the humanitarian catastrophe gets out of control, causes mass death and becomes an indelible stain.”

“We were all shocked by the murderous terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, which was accompanied by a gross trampling of every basic human norm, and which still continues with the criminal holding of the Israeli hostages – who must be released immediately – and the indiscriminate shooting of Israeli civilians. Precisely because of this, we cannot stand opposite to the humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eyes in the last few weeks in the Gaza Strip,” the petition reads.

The few remaining hospitals across Gaza are badly overcrowded. In Rafah, 77 newborns were sharing 20 incubators
The few remaining hospitals across Gaza are badly overcrowded. In Rafah, 77 newborns were sharing 20 incubators (photo)

More news:

The New Arab: Torture of Gazans in Israeli prisons ‘worse than Guantanamo Bay’: human rights monitor
Andalou Agency: Holocaust survivor draws parallels between her childhood and Gaza children
Al Jazeera: Lawmakers in US state of Indiana pass bill defining anti-Semitism
Middle East Monitor: US dispatches ship to Mediterranean to build temporary port off Gaza
Al Jazeera: More injuries in Gaza City by airdropped aid
+972 Magazine: A new surge of settler outposts is terrorizing Palestinians off their land
Al Jazeera: Israel’s ‘anti-Zionists’ brave police beatings, smears to demand end to war

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – MARCH 9:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – March 9: at least 31,469* (31,045 in Gaza* (over 13,430 children, 9,000 women), and at least 424 in the West Bank (113 children). This does not include an estimated 7,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 39,178 Palestinian deaths.

At least 38 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 11 from West Bank)

At least 25 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition

About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.

About 2.2 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are facing Crisis, Emergency, or Famine levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – March 9: at least 77,319** (including at least 72,654 in Gaza and 4,665 in the West Bank).

It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – March 9: ~1,399 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~574 were civilians, 373 or 337 were security and/or military forces, ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 248 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza;, 15 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

NBC reports: “According to the latest available IDF data… nearly 1 in 5, or 17%, of all Israel’s losses have come not at the hands of Hamas but from mishaps on its own side.”

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.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

For more news, go here and here. Broadcast news from the region is here.

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

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