Gaza children obliged to work for family survival – Not a Ceasefire Day 53

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

(While a “ceasefire” is ostensibly in place, Israel has continued its assault on Gaza without interruption. If Americans Knew considers the war to be ongoing, and in its 785th day.)

Israeli forces killed one on Monday, as they continued violating the “ceasefire agreement,” in place since October 10, with heavy bombardments, airstrikes, and demolitions across multiple areas of the Gaza Strip.

Since the “ceasefire” began on October 11, Israel has killed at least 356 Palestinians. Among the dead are at least 136 children. Death toll figures are tentative.

Israel has so far violated the 11 October ceasefire deal in Gaza at least 591 times.

GAZA NEWS & HEADLINES:

(For some basic info on the Palestine-Israel conflict, go here. For 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’s war forces Gaza children into work as breadwinners

Carrying thermoses through the streets of Gaza City, Palestinian teenager Mohammed Ashour calls out to passersby, hoping they might buy a cup of his coffee.

At 15, Mohammed should be in school with his peers, but since his father was killed in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, he has been forced to abandon his education and shoulder responsibilities as the breadwinner for his family.

With at least 39,000 children having lost one or both parents in the war, and the enclave’s economy devastated by the conflict, children as young as eight have been pushed into work for their families’ survival – losing not only their education, but their childhoods (continue reading here).

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UNRWA report: Israel Blocks 6,000 Aid Trucks Destined for Gaza

• Israeli occupation authorities are holding back nearly 6,000 trucks loaded with food and relief supplies, enough to sustain Gaza for three months.
• The shipments include hundreds of thousands of desperately needed tents and blankets.
• Other humanitarian organizations also report that Israel has been rejecting most of their requests to bring in supplies.
• Only about 170 trucks per day are entering Gaza, compared to the 500–600 trucks Israel agreed to in the ceasefire deal.
• Israel is blocking critical medical equipment, spare parts for desalination and sewage plants, sanitation supplies, and basic foodstuffs.
• The majority of Gaza’s population has lost almost all purchasing power, leaving total dependence on aid as the only remaining lifeline as malnutrition rates soar.
• Fuel shortages have crippled municipal services, halting waste collection, water pumping, and emergency rescue operations.

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The genocide in Gaza cost this Palestinian woman her hands. She lost so much more than that.

Nibal’s life changed on October 7, 2024, the first anniversary of the start of the genocide, when Israeli artillery shelling struck her shelter in the Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza. The area had been designated a “safe zone” under Israeli evacuation directives.

The blast severed both her hands. “My forearms were amputated immediately,” she recalls. “I watched blood pour from my arms before my eyes.”

In the hospital immediately after the blast, wrapped in bandages and hospital sheets, Nibal begged nurses to bring her infant daughter. She remembers Rita taking one look at her and crying uncontrollably. “She refused to come near. That moment destroyed my mental health” (continue reading here).

RELATED: What to expect when needing surgery during genocide

OCCUPIED WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM HEADLINES:

(Every day, Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem endure dozens of incidents like the ones below, at the hands of Israeli soldiers and/or settlers. 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.)

School from area featured in ‘No Other Land’ film targeted for demolition

Israeli authorities issued demolition orders for a school near Hebron in the area that rose to prominence after it was featured in an Oscar-winning documentary.

The Khallat Umayra School, east of the town of Yatta, has 54 enrolled students from kindergarten through fourth grade. 

Yatta is near a cluster of villages called Masafer Yatta that has been targeted since the 1970s by the Israeli military. It featured in the documentary No Other Land. 

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WEST BANK HEADLINES:

NEWS ABOUT ISRAEL:

(Israel is a tiny country, about the size of New Jersey, with a population smaller than the US state of Georgia – about 10 million (of which about 20 percent are Palestinians), yet it is in the news constantly. As has been demonstrated again and again, however, mainstream media rarely covers Israel accurately. IAK passes along only factual reporting.)

Rights groups: Electric shocks now ‘main tool’ of torture in Israel’s Gilad Prison

Palestinian detainees held in Gilad Prison, part of Israel’s Ofer detention complex, are being subjected to electric shocks as a primary method of torture, according to testimonies gathered by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.

One detainee said that a fellow prisoner was shocked after guards saw him leading other inmates in prayer. Others reported being punished with electric shocks simply for standing near the cell’s iron bars to breathe fresh air. Prisoners described the shocks as “one of the most brutal and severe forms of torture” (continue reading here).

RELATED:

Report: Palestinian journalist raped, sexually tortured inside Israeli detention center

Welcome to Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps

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Has the Israeli state lost control of the settler movement?

The recent spike in settler attacks, including settlers clubbing a 55-year-old Palestinian woman picking olives and stoning a Reuters journalist, is also causing a media frenzy and drawing international condemnation, increasing pressure on the Israeli administration to rein in the settlers. 

The Israeli state now faces a dilemma: the force it created to advance its annexation goals in the West Bank is now acting independently, drawing international scrutiny and undermining domestic stability (continue reading here).

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Revenues from sales of arms and military services by the 100 largest arms-producing companies rose by 5.9 per cent in 2024, reaching a record $679 billion, according to new data released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Three Israeli arms companies in the ranking increased their combined arms revenues by 16 per cent to $16.2 billion. 

‘The growing backlash over Israel’s actions in Gaza seems to have had little impact on interest in Israeli weapons,’ said Zubaida Karim, Researcher with the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program. ‘Many countries continued to place new orders with Israeli companies in 2024.’

The Israeli army raided a Syrian town in the southern Quneitra countryside early Monday in the latest of its almost daily violations of the country’s sovereignty, according to local media. The Israeli army has carried out over 1,000 airstrikes and 400 cross-border raids on Syria since December 2024.

RELATED: Trump warns Israel not to ‘interfere’ in Syria following deadly attack

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ISRAEL HEADLINES:

NEWS & HEADLINES FROM ISRAELI MEDIA:

(Get a glimpse inside this country that is rife with turmoil and contradictions that receives $63 million a day from American taxpayers. Israeli media sometimes tells the truth about itself, but often publishes myths, half-truths, and lies as facts.)

‘A Taste of Propaganda’: Young German Leaders Deem Recent Trip to Israel a ‘PR Operation’ Run by Foreign Ministry

In mid-November, some 160 young Germans, described as the country’s “handpicked future leaders” and representing each German state, were brought to Israel by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Berlin for a trip billed as a celebration of 60 years of diplomatic relations.

Their itinerary included visits to the Knesset, the President’s Residence, the Supreme Court, weapons manufacturer Rafael, October 7 survivors and sites.

Several participants described the trip as “a tightly stage-managed PR operation” that “had a taste of propaganda for the Israeli government” (continue reading here).

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HEADLINES FROM ISRAELI MEDIA

Court Extends Arrest of Anti-government Activist Arrested for Social Media Post

Dark Days on Campus: Tel Aviv University Must Take a Stand for Its Students’ Rights

Instead of Seeking Deals, Israel Prefers Keeping Syrian and Lebanese Fronts Hot

OTHER NEWS & HEADLINES:

AIPAC* over affordability: Democratic candidates come under fire for support of Israel

“[Congressman] Ritchie Torres’s unwavering support for Israel is no longer the mainstream opinion; it is the fringe opinion,” Andre Easton, a public school teacher running as an independent candidate against Torres, told the Guardian in an interview. He cited recent polls that show 77% of Democrats believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. “This is something that we’ve never seen before.”

Torres’s district – New York’s 15th – is regularly tagged “the poorest congressional district in the country”. Home to large Latino, Black, and immigrant communities, it fares poorly by most metrics and foreign policy does not usually rank at the top of voter concerns. Torres said recently that most of his constituents “are not talking about Israel, people are talking about how to put food on the table” (continue reading here).

*NOTE: (Read about AIPAC and the Israel lobby here and here. Much more here.)

RELATED:

• How Does AIPAC Shape Washington? We Tracked Every Dollar.

• Netanyahu Hosts 20 AIPAC-Sponsored House Republicans in Israel

• AIPAC: Has the pro-Israel lobby bribed and bought the US Democratic Party?

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MORE HEADLINES:

Trump invites Israeli premier to White House meeting ‘in the near future’

The US bulldozed the prospect of Uniting for Peace in Palestine

Comparing the Ukraine and Gaza Peace Deals

Trump, Gaza, and Oslo Déjà Vu

US, Israel fear leak of tech secrets from unexploded bomb in Beirut

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

Gaza: War has made children violent, sad, and bereft

Israel to promote commander of soldiers who executed Palestinians in Jenin

After Two Years of War, Israelis Are Numb to Suffering Other Than Their Own

(Read yesterday’s daily update here.)

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STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – DECEMBER 1, 2025*:

• At least 71,194 Palestinians killed, 180,986 injured – including:
• At least 70,112 killed in Gaza (~22,000 children, 33,000 women and girls)
• At least 1,082 killed in the West Bank (~222 children)
• At least 170,986 injured in Gaza
• More than 10,000 injured in the West Bank
• At least 482 have died from malnutrition in Gaza, including 160 children
• About 616 bodies have been recovered since the ceasefire began

*NOTE: Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 10,000 more are still buried under rubble. Additionally, the numbers of injured and starved are very conservative estimates. Only the dead who are brought to hospitals are included in the official fatality count.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – December 1, 2025: ~1,661 – including ~1,139** on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 471 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, about 52 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel. 

By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 274 Palestinian journalists and media workers; Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 207 and 327 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

• Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated
• ‘I searched for my father in the ruins’: The fate of thousands buried under Gaza’s rubble
• Melanie Phillips: Jews Worldwide Must Put ‘The Jewish People and The Jewish Nation’ First
• Israeli Settler Kicks Detained Palestinian as IOF Soldiers Watch
• Infiltration: A Cardinal Function of the Zionist Movement
• Israeli Human Rights Groups Tell UN That Israel Increased Use of Torture During Gaza War
• On the uncontrollable Israeli urge to kill Palestinians
• ‘AIPAC Radicalized Me’: Mamdani’s Jewish Gen Z Strategist
• How Israel markets its US-funded genocidal weapons to the world
• Jeffries Misleads on AIPAC PAC Money
• Child Amputees in Gaza Use Makeshift Prosthetics as Israel Restricts Medical Supplies
• Jeffrey Epstein Aided Alan Dershowitz’s Attack on Mearsheimer and Walt’s “Israel Lobby”
• UN condemns torture in landslide vote, but Israel and US oppose resolution
• A Single Warehouse in Jersey City Moved Over A Thousand Tons of Military Cargo to Israel Every Week
• Zionists Pine for Censorship at World Jewish Congress, Jewish Leadership Conference and More