Gaza is “the most dangerous place in the world to be a child” – Day 57

RECOMMENDED READING: ‘We will never forget’: Reliving the pain of the Nakba amid Israel’s war

People of Gaza ‘terrified’: Martin Griffiths, the UN humanitarian chief, said in a statement that the situation in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis is a “shocking reminder” of what happens in the absence of a ceasefire.

Today, in a matter of hours, scores were reportedly killed and injured. Families were told to evacuate, again. Hopes were dashed. Almost two months into the fighting, the children, women and men of Gaza are all terrified. They have nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on. They live surrounded by disease, destruction and death.

Hospital attacked: Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) says northern Gaza’s al-Awda Hospital, where its staff works, came under attack and was damaged hours after the truce ended. In a post on X, MSF said it is one of the only hospitals functioning in the battered northern region. It added the hospital never stopped treating patients since October 7 despite coming under attack “several times”. MSF said that the hospital received more than 50 injured individuals today. Al-Awda Hospital is running “dangerously low on medical supplies”, it said, and reiterated calls for a ceasefire.

RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Is Israel meeting its obligations under the laws of war? | Inside Story

West Bank news:

Settler/soldier violence: Settlers, protected by the occupation soldiers, today prevented farmers from plowing their lands in several areas in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron. Local sources said that colonists and soldiers threatened the farmers in the village of Wadi Jahish against going to plow their lands.

Additional violence was reported in Deir Ballout, where Israeli settlers attacked sheep herders.

Teenager dies in Jenin: A 16-year-old Palestinian boy seriously injured from Israeli army gunfire during a raid in Jenin on October 9 has died today of his wounds. Eleven people were killed and more than 20 were injured, some seriously, on that day.

UN reports ‘dramatic increase’ in number of Palestinians detained by Israel: Since 7 October, over 3,000 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with more than 160 in the past six days, often without direct evidence of an offense, the UN Human Rights Office has said. According to the Office, six Palestinian men have died in Israeli custody during this period, a decades-long high. The surge in arrests, reports of ill-treatment, and failure to adhere to due process raise serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law, it said.

RECOMMENDED READING: Is Israel criminalizing Palestinian thoughts too, amid Gaza war?

Home demolitions imminent: The Israeli occupation forces early this morning sealed shut the family homes of the siblings Murad and Ibrahim Nimr, who were killed yesterday after a shooting attack in Jerusalem. Occupation forces stormed the neighborhood and cordoned off the two houses and welded their doors and windows shut to prevent entry to them until the decision to demolish them is implemented.

The punitive demolition of homes belonging to families of alleged attackers is a form of collective punishment, a war crime under international law.

Palestinian ambulance blocked: As Israeli attacks and raids continue in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent is saying that Israeli forces prevented its ambulance crew from reaching a young man who was shot at a checkpoint near Nablus.

RECOMMENDED READING: Palestinians in Israeli prisons face dwindling rights, escalating violence, say human rights groups

Other news:

CNN report claiming sexual violence on October 7 relied on non-credible witnesses, some with undisclosed ties to Israeli govt: Mondoweiss reports:

CNN’s Jake Tapper failed to adhere to professional and ethical journalism standards in a story claiming to offer proof of sexual violence by Palestinian fighters on October 7.

On November 18, 2023, CNN aired a report by journalist Jake Tapper. The report claims to provide testimonies on “rape crimes” against Israeli women that allegedly took place on October 7, 2023. Within a few hours of the publication of the CNN report, an international media campaign by Israel and pro-Israeli groups was launched.

Other media outlets, including The Washington Post, based their reporting on CNN’s report. Feminist activists and groups who have been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza were also targeted as part of this campaign.

Samantha Pearson, the director of the Sexual Assault Centre at the University of Alberta in Canada, was fired from her job a few hours after the airing of the report. She had signed a letter on October 25 that stated that the accusation that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence remains “unverified.” The letter did not say that sexual violence did not occur but that there was no sufficient evidence yet to support these accusations (read the full article here).

Self-immolation: A pro-Palestine protester set herself ablaze Friday afternoon outside an Israeli consulate in downtown Atlanta in what authorities say was “likely an extreme act of political protest.” The woman arrived outside the consulate, draped herself in a Palestinian flag, and began setting herself on fire. A security guard tried to stop the unnamed woman, but couldn’t. She is reportedly in critical condition, with serious burns.

Anat Sultan-Dadon, the consul general of Israel to the southeastern U.S., released a statement criticizing the protester:

We are saddened to learn of the self-immolation at the entrance to the office building. It is tragic to see the hate and incitement toward Israel expressed in such a horrific way. The sanctity of life is our highest value. Our prayers are with the security officer who was injured while trying to prevent this tragic act.

“Netanyahu made a mockery of the Biden administration”: In a statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:

The Biden administration must join other governments and the United Nations in demanding the resumption of the ceasefire and negotiations before the extremist Israeli government kills another 14,000 thousand civilians and ethnically cleanses the southern half of Gaza.

Just hours after Secretary Blinken claimed that Israel had made concrete plans to minimize civilian casualties, Benjamin Netanyahu once again made a mockery of the Biden administration by bombing civilian sites, killing more than 100 Palestinians in less than a day.

The Biden administration has taken belated but positive steps in the right direction over the past few weeks, but it now risks destroying that progress by once again giving Benjamin Netanyahu’s racist, far-right government political cover to bomb civilians in Gaza. These war crimes were completely predictable, and the Biden Administration must stop enabling them.

Muslim Americans launch anti-Biden campaign over his handling of war: Axios reports:

Muslim Americans in several swing states are scheduled to gather in Michigan on Saturday to start a campaign they’re calling #AbandonBiden, a reflection of their outrage over President Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Arab American and Muslim American anger could hurt Biden’s re-election prospects in most of the 2024 swing states he won in 2020, as those groups have been heavily Democratic.

Muslim American leaders from Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania are expected to meet in Dearborn, Mich., to start the new campaign.