Devastation of Gaza City is beyond belief (and just beginning) – War on Gaza Day 681

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Devastation of Gaza City is beyond belief (and just beginning) – War on Gaza Day 681
Citizens and relatives of the Palestinians who died as a result of the Israeli drone strike in the courtyard of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital attend the funeral ceremony after the dead bodies were taken from the hospital morgue for burial in Gaza City, Gaza on August 17, 2025. (Khames Alrefi – Anadolu Agency)

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Israeli forces killed at least 57 Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, including at least 38 aid seekers. In total, Israel has killed at least 1,965 aid seekers since May 27, 2025 (learn about aid seekers here).

The total known number of Palestinians who have died from malnutrition stands at 263, including 112 children.

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

An aerial view of Gaza City in early August 2025 from a Jordanian military aircraft shows a city reduced to rubble — bombed beyond recognition, yet still sheltering 2.3 million people struggling to survive.
An aerial view of Gaza City in early August 2025 from a Jordanian military aircraft shows a city reduced to rubble — bombed beyond recognition, yet still sheltering 2.3 million people struggling to survive. It has only been further demolished since then. (social media)

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.)

A REMINDER FROM UNRWA: This time of year, children in Gaza should be preparing for school — choosing backpacks, sharpening pencils, dreaming of the year ahead. Instead, they search for water, queue for food, and shelter in classrooms turned into crowded refuges. Children in Gaza have lost three years of schooling risking to become a lost generation. 

A view of Deir al-Balah UNRWA secondary school after Palestinians take refuge, November 7, 2024.
A view of Deir al-Balah UNRWA secondary school after Palestinians take refuge, November 7, 2024. (Ashraf Amra – Anadolu Agency)

An imam of few words

In Gaza, the Friday sermon lasted only a few seconds. The imam began and ended with these words: “God, I can’t speak ’cause I’m so hungry. And you can’t even hear me. All because of hunger. Let’s pray, may God have mercy on us all.” That was all.

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.) 

Israeli army arrests 19 Palestinians as illegal settlers escalate attacks in occupied West Bank

Soldiers, Colonizers Continue Attacks in West Bank

ISRAEL NEWS & HEADLINES:

(Get a glimpse inside Israel and the turmoil within its government. Often, our news items and headlines are taken from Israeli media.)

NETANYAHU SAYS ANTIWAR PROTESTS STRENGTHEN HAMAS: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned antiwar protesters who have come out across the country, demanding an end to the war on Gaza: “Those calling today for an end to the war without the defeat of Hamas not only harden Hamas’s position and draw out the release of our hostages but also ensure that the horrors of October 7 will reoccur.”

OTHER NEWS:

US Judge Rules Burning Israeli Flag as ‘Racial Hate,’ Making It the Only National Flag Americans Cannot Burn

A US federal judge last week equated the Israeli flag with “the Jewish race.”

Pro-Israel Jewish activist Kimmara Sumrall filed the lawsuit in a federal district court in Washington, DC, last month. Sumrall alleged that she was attacked at a pro-Israel demonstration in Washington in November 2024 while wearing an Israeli flag tied around her neck as a cape.

An anti-Israel activist at the protest approached Sumrall from behind and yanked on the Israeli flag, briefly choking Sumrall. A police officer witnessed the incident and arrested the assailant at the scene, the complaint said.

The lawsuit, like others filed by Jewish Israel supporters around the US, argued that Zionism is a facet of the faith and not a political position, and claimed that Sumrall had been targeted due to her race, religion and national origin.

“That battery was direct evidence of discrimination that likely would not have occurred but for racial animus,” the judge said in a court filing last week.

The judge dismissed the defense’s argument that such an action could be “an objection to state policies.”

The decision means burning, tearing, or grabbing the Israeli flag can be prosecuted as hate conduct. By contrast, the US Supreme Court has long protected the burning of the American flag under the First Amendment. Citizens remain free to burn the flags of all fifty US states and every other nation. Only Israel’s flag now carries legal protection against desecration.

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US to ‘re-evaluate’ visa process for Gazan children amid ‘pause’: Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the administration has decided to “re-evaluate” visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza seeking medical treatment, including children.

“We’re going to re-evaluate how those visas are being granted, not just to the children, but to the people who are accompanying them,” Rubio told CBS, adding that multiple congressional offices have raised concerns about the program.

Rubio claimed that some organizations involved in acquiring medical visas have “strong links” to Hamas*, adding: “We are not going to be in partnership with groups that are friendly with Hamas.”

*NOTE: It is important to understand the context of the phrase “affiliation with Hamas”: Hamas is a political movement with an armed wing. Thousands of residents of Gaza work for Hamas, in the sense that they are government employees, and Hamas is the governing authority. People employed, for example, in the ministries of health, transportation, agriculture, public works, and many other branches of the government are in that sense “affiliated with Hamas.” There is no implied connection to the military arm or “terrorism” (a political, not a fact-based choice of words).

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Hamas is a Political Movement, Not a Band of Murderers, Says UN’s Albanese

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, said that many people lack a clear understanding of what Hamas is, emphasizing that it is a political movement rather than a group of murderers.

“Hamas is a political movement that rose to power in Gaza through elections widely described as the most democratic, not a band of killers as some depict it,” Albanese explained during an event in Italy, according to Italian media.

She noted that “people keep repeating the same narrative about Hamas, but I don’t think many really know what it is.”

Albanese stressed that Hamas emerged as a political force after winning the 2006 elections, and, whether one agrees with it or not, the movement has administered Gaza by building schools, hospitals, and public facilities, becoming the de facto authority.

“It is important to understand that when talking about Hamas, one should not automatically think of bloodthirsty killers or heavily armed fighters. That is not the reality,” she said.

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

Israel weaponizes shelter in pursuit of ethnic cleansing

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – AUGUST 17, 2025*:

  • At least 63,036 Palestinians killed, 165,460 injured – including:
  • at least 62,004 killed in Gaza (~18,500 children) 
  • at least 1,032 killed in the West Bank (~210 children)
  • at least 156,230 injured in Gaza
  • at least 9,230 injured in the West Bank
  • at least 263 have died from malnutrition in Gaza, including 112 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 1,965 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 10,460 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 17, 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

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