UNICEF says Gaza Children “need an immediate ceasefire”; desperation rips apart Gaza’s social fabric; Hamas says no new ceasefire proposal, but stands by previous one; UN experts call on global community to recognize Palestine; Israeli forces kill at least 5 Palestinians in West Bank; Israel conducts criminal investigations into 48 Gazan deaths; over 9,000 Palestinians have been “arrested” in West Bank since October 7th; 4 Israeli hostages dead, one by Israel; State Department veteran says administration submitted falsehoods to Congress; US senator calls for sanctions against Israeli minister.
By IAK staff, from reports.
Tones of solid waste are piling up across the #Gaza Strip.
Children and their families are living alongside waste dumps, suffering from diseases and foul smell.
No child should go through this, Children need an immediate ceasefire. pic.twitter.com/Y49BRqJfOg
— UNICEF MENA – يونيسف الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا (@UNICEFmena) June 3, 2024
Flood of sewage forces displaced Gazans out of tents:
AFP reports: “All the tents were flooded with sewage water. This is no life,” said Abdullah Barbakh, surrounded by bombed out buildings in the Palestinian city which has been devastated by months of war.
“I implore all Arab countries and the entire world to see what is happening to us. We’re living in the middle of sewage.”
The spill has made it almost impossible to live in the city, where piles of debris and massive concrete slabs from bombed-out buildings line the streets, residents said.
“The sewage has flooded over us. We can’t eat or drink, and we’re unable to sleep. We are sleeping in the streets,” said Abdul Samad Barbakh.
Earlier in the war, Khan Younis was a focus of the fighting, but now it has become a hub for displaced people with 1.7 million reportedly sheltering in the area – many of whom have been forced to flee many times during the conflict.
Mohammad Ahmad Abdul Majid, who now lives in Khan Yunis after fleeing Gaza City, told AFP, “We live in harsh conditions in tents, sleeping on bedding unfit for a human being. It’s not suitable to sleep on it for eight or nine hours during the night,” he said.
Workers in Khan Yunis told AFP they lacked the proper equipment to be able to repair the pipeline properly.
“We’re working to stop people suffering because of the sewage, but we don’t have the capabilities, material and equipment we need for the job,” a local municipality worker said.
Living in makeshift tents filled with insects and worms, extreme temperatures, and constant fear, children in al-Mawasi, #Gaza are enduring unimaginable conditions.
No child should go through this, they need ceasefire NOW. pic.twitter.com/t25JPZb5Dj
— UNICEF MENA – يونيسف الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا (@UNICEFmena) May 30, 2024
More than 3,500 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip are at risk of death due to the “Israeli policy of starvation,” the government media office in the besieged Gaza strip said.
Ongoing war destroying social fabric in Gaza, UN aid official says:
UN News reports: The narrowing space left for civilians in the Gaza Strip is becoming increasingly limited and crowded, while dire living conditions are eroding the social fabric there, a senior official with the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, said on Monday.
Andrea De Domenico, Head of OCHA’s Office in the occupied Palestinian territory, recently spent three weeks in the enclave, where over one million people have fled the southern city of Rafah following the step-up in Israeli military operations.
Briefing journalists in New York, Mr. De Domenico added that the operational environment for humanitarians also remains dangerous and challenging, despite engagement with the parties.
“This intensity of living conditions is progressively eroding the social fabric of the community in Gaza,” he continued.
Recalling the “formidable” hospitality of the people, he said that even the poorest families would find a way to “put something on the table” for visitors. Additionally, social bonding among immediate and extended family members is fundamental in Palestinian society.
“What we are witnessing more and more is that this fabric is progressively being destroyed, where the rule of the strongest is becoming the only rule that is prevailing simply because there is so little for people to survive that only the strongest can have access to that.”
He was told about a dispute between two brothers over a can of chickpeas. The two families are no longer speaking “and losing that network of mutual solidarity and support that is essential in a situation of despair like this”.
“Unfortunately, once again, we are living through the breakdown of law and order,” he said.
“Two days ago, we had the worst of our experiences in bringing in commodities, where almost 70 per cent of the convoy that we were able to put together for that day did not reach the final destination because it was intercepted by mostly criminals but also desperate people.”
More than half of Gaza’s buildings are damaged or destroyed UN says:
About 55 percent of all structures in Gaza have been destroyed, damaged or possibly damaged by the war, according to a preliminary satellite analysis carried out by the United Nations Satellite Center (UNSOAT).
The analysis, which surveyed 137,000 buildings in the enclave, found:
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- 36,591 destroyed structures.
- 16,513 severely damaged structures.
- 47,368 moderately damaged structures.
- 36,825 possibly damaged structures.
Central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah and northern Gaza’s Gaza City experienced the worst damage between April 1 and May 3.
Palestine asks to join genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel at ICJ:
WAFA reports: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said today that the State of Palestine filed in the Registry of the Court an application for permission to intervene and a declaration of intervention in the South Africa case against Israel concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian request comes within the framework of Palestine’s commitment to continue taking all legal steps at the international level to defend the rights of the Palestinian people and stop the crime of genocide committed against them.
It also comes in the context of Palestine’s commitment to legitimacy and international law as a basis for ending historical injustice and colonial occupation and holding it accountable for its crimes.
The State of Palestine called on all states parties to the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide to join the lawsuit procedures filed by South Africa, protect the Palestinian people from the crime of genocide, ensure the non-repetition of this heinous crime in the future and to preserve the viability of the international law-based system.
UN experts urge all States to recognize State of Palestine:
United Nations reports: All States must follow the example of 146 United Nations Member States and recognize the State of Palestine and use all political and diplomatic resources at their disposal to bring about an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, UN experts* said today.
“This recognition is an important acknowledgement of the rights of the Palestinian people and their struggles and suffering towards freedom and independence,” the experts said.
They insisted that Palestine must be able to enjoy full self-determination, including the ability to exist, determine their destiny and develop freely as a people with safety and security.
“This is a pre-condition for lasting peace in Palestine and the entire Middle East – beginning with the immediate declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza and no further military incursions into Rafah,” the experts said.
The State of Palestine, formally declared by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on 15 November 1988, claims sovereignty over the remaining parts of historic Palestine that Israel occupied in 1967: the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
As of 28 May 2024, the State of Palestine was recognized by the vast majority of Member States of the United Nations.
The experts include George Katrougalos, Francesca Albanese, Cecilia M Baillieto and numerous others.
Israeli forces kill five Palestinians in West Bank:
WAFA reports: Two Palestinians were killed with live bullets after midnight on Monday near the Nitzanei Oz checkpoint to the west of Tulkarem, in the northern occupied West Bank, said a security source.
The men were identified as Abdel-Fattah Salahaddin Jabara and Ahmed Mustafa Rajab, both from the Tulkarem refugee camp. The Israeli forces prevented ambulances access to the area, then confiscated the two slain Palestinians’ bodies.
IMEMC reports: Israeli forces shot and killed three Palestinian young men, on Monday, and injured at least eight others during an Israeli military incursion into the city of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank.
The men were identified as Ahmad Omar Al-Khudari, 30, Moataz Khaled Sadiq Al-Nabulsi, 28, and Adam Salah al-Din Mansour Farraj, 23.
Israeli Army Is Conducting Criminal Investigation Into 48 Deaths of Gazans During War, Mostly Detainees:
Ha’aretz reports: IDF military police have launched dozens of criminal investigations involving soldiers’ conduct, including cases of unbecoming conduct. No charges, however, have been filed yet in the cases that involve Gazans’ deaths.
The Israeli army is conducting criminal investigations of 48 cases of deaths of Gaza residents held in Israeli prisons.
According to the IDF, since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israeli military police have opened 70 criminal investigations involving soldiers’ conduct.
Thirty-six of the deaths under investigation were of prisoners detained at the Sde Teiman military detention center near Be’er Sheva.
The sources added that while all cases remain open, no criminal charges have been filed and none of the suspects have been arrested.
Some cases are based on complaints by international officials who have raised the issue of the deaths of Palestinians in Israeli detention.
NOTE: 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.)
Number of Palestinians “arrested” in West Bank since October 7 passes 9,000:
Palestinian prisoners groups report: Detention campaigns carried out since October 7th are accompanied by escalated crimes and violations such as humiliation, brutal beat, threats against detainees and their families, in addition to vandalism and destruction in detainees’ houses, confiscating vehicles, gold and money, and destruction of infrastructure, especially in the refugee camps of Tulkarem and Jenin.
Statistics include detainees who were arrested from their houses, at checkpoints, those who surrendered themselves and those who were arrested as hostages, and detainees who still under arrest and liberated ones.
Data does not include detention cases of Gaza, due to Israel’s refusal to give any information and the continuation of practicing the crime of enforced disappearance against them. It is worth mentioning that the occupation forces arrested (4000) citizens from Gaza and released (1500), in addition to hundreds of Gazans who have been arrested in the West Bank.
More news from West Bank/East Jerusalem:
These are some of the local headlines from Monday, June 3, from WAFA, the Palestine News and Info Agency:
Four more Israeli hostages have reportedly died in Gaza, at least one from Israeli fire:
AFP reports: The four men were identified as Chaim Peri, 80, Yoram Metzger, 80, Amiram Cooper, 84, and Nadav Popplewell, 51.
All four were filmed alive in hostage videos posted by Hamas. Hamas said that Popplewell had died of wounds sustained during an Israeli air strike when posting his video last month.
Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that new intelligence led to confirmation of their deaths. The military believes the four were killed together in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis a “number of months” ago when Israeli forces were operating in the city.
“We are thoroughly examining the circumstances of their deaths and checking all possibilities. We will present soon the findings, first to their families, and then to the public,” he said.
‘Absolutely unanimous’: Israel is blocking aid to Gaza – US official says:
After serving 20 years with the US Department of State, Stacy Gilbert resigned last week after working on a report she says falsely stated Israel is not “restricting or prohibiting” crucial aid to the people of Gaza.
Gilbert said: “I and others know that’s not true.”
“I can’t recall in my many years working in the US government seeing anything so obviously wrong, and yet that is what we submitted as a report to Congress. The conclusion of the subject matter experts who work in humanitarian assistance … is absolutely unanimous that Israel is blocking humanitarian assistance, which is why there’s famine,” she said.
US senator calls for sanctions against Israel’s Finance Minister Smotrich:
Jewish Insider reports: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on Monday called for U.S. sanctions on at least one Israeli leader during an appearance at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C.
Van Hollen said that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich should be sanctioned under new U.S. policy targeting those involved in West Bank settler violence, for “facilitating” settler violence, as well as supporting settlement expansion and Israeli annexation of the West Bank and attempting to “destroy the Palestinian Authority.”
The Maryland senator dismissed the idea that a Palestinian state would reward or validate Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel by noting that Hamas has pursued a one-state solution. He added that Netanyahu, Finance Minister Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir likewise reject a two-state solution — “they want it all.”
“The United States is going to have to — this is a moment of reckoning — have to be willing to stand up” to push for a two-state solution, he said.
He said the Biden administration had “really failed” to hold the Israeli government to account for allegedly blocking humanitarian aid, particularly calling out the two right-wing ministers.
Van Hollen complained that Netanyahu has “listened much more” to coalition members like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir than to President Joe Biden, and said that the decision to invite Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress “sends a really bad signal.”
Van Hollen said that House Speaker Mike Johnson, who spearheaded the invitation, “has essentially… become the campaign manager for Bibi Netanyahu.”
Earlier this year, Biden issued an executive order (EO) to impose sanctions on individuals “undermining peace, security and stability” in the West Bank. But only four private Israeli citizens have been sanctioned under the directive.
“In my view, Smotrich should be subject to sanctions under this EO,” Van Hollen said, adding, “You’ve got this person whose stated goal is for essentially Israel to take over the entire West Bank.”
The finance minister has withheld taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority. And in March, he also declared 800 hectares (1,977 acres) in the occupied West Bank as Israeli state land.
