Horror in Gaza, Netanyahu’s latest scandal, the Madleen – War on Gaza Day 608

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Horror in Gaza, Netanyahu’s latest scandal, the Madleen – War on Gaza Day 608
Gaza is dying; Netanyahu has been lying; flotilla is trying to break the siege (screenshots)

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Bodies of 70 Gazans were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, while 189 people were injured, according to a Ministry of Health statement.

Among the dead were 4 Palestinian journalists, reportedly killed in Israeli strikes targeting media workers in Gaza City’s Al Ahli Arab hospital’s courtyard.

Over 2,700 children in the Gaza Strip were diagnosed with acute malnutrition in the second half of May, marking a sharp deterioration in the humanitarian situation, according to a report by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Thursday.

Preliminary data from the Global Nutrition Cluster shows that 2,733 children under the age of five – 5.8 percent of the 46,738 screened – were diagnosed with acute malnutrition. This represents a significant increase from the first half of May, when 4.7 percent of children in Gaza were affected. During that earlier period, all crossings into the Strip were closed, and humanitarian aid was unable to enter. Israel reopened access to aid on May 19.

(Find news on the Gaza flotilla at the bottom)

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Palestinians flee with their belongings after Israeli air strikes in Gaza City, Gaza on May 17, 2025.
Palestinians flee with their belongings after Israeli air strikes in Gaza City, Gaza on May 17, 2025. (Ali Jadallah – Anadolu Agency)

Another blood-soaked Eid al-Adha in Gaza, where Palestinians are the sacrifice

Eid al-Adha, the festival of sacrifice, now bears a cruel irony in Gaza. The sounds of joy are buried beneath the wail of grief, and the sweets of Eid come caked with ash and ruin. Under genocide, even the ‘best days’ of Dhul Hijjah are heavy with mourning. 

Before the war, a few fortunate pilgrims made the journey to Makkah to perform Hajj, one of Islam’s five pillars. But for over two years, no Gazan has set foot in those holy places — a silent, final blow to fading hopes.

Even Qurbani, the sacred ritual of animal sacrifice, is beyond reach. For more than two million Gazans, the thought of fresh meat is unbearable amid these dark days of famine — we don’t even have flour, let alone livestock (continue reading here).

RELATED: Israel’s Rockets Make the Joy of Eid Impossible in Gaza for a Second Year

Netanyahu is arming ‘equivalent of ISIS’ gangs in Gaza. ‘What’s Wrong With That?’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel has mobilized clans that rival Hamas in Gaza, asking, “What’s wrong with that?”

The statement follows opposition MK and former defense minister Avigdor Lieberman, who said earlier Thursday that Israel is providing weapons to an ISIS-affiliated group in the Gaza Strip.

In an interview with Kan Bet public radio, Lieberman said that, similar to how Netanyahu propped up Hamas as a counterweight to the PA, he is now helping establish a new armed force as a counterweight to Hamas.

In a prerecorded video uploaded to social media, Netanyahu said that the move was made “on the advice of security officials,” and “saved the lives of IDF soldiers.”

“Israel has provided assault rifles and light weapons to crime families in Gaza, on Netanyahu’s orders,” Lieberman, the head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party and a former finance minister and deputy prime minister, told Israeli public broadcaster Kan on Thursday. We’re talking about the equivalent of ISIS in Gaza,” he added, referencing the Islamic State group.

Sources in Gaza claim the group consists of roughly 100 armed men who operate with the tacit approval of the IDF, The group is reportedly led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a Rafah resident from a Bedouin family, known locally for his involvement in criminal activity and the looting of humanitarian aid late last year.

NOTE: For months, Israeli officials have claimed that Hamas has been stealing and looting (US officials have parroted the accusations) – while providing no evidence. On the contrary, Israelinews outlets have reported that theIsraeli military itself is behind the looting of aid trucks.

RELATED: Political Earthquake in Israel: The Collapse of Netanyahu’s Government Grows Closer?

Committee to Protect Journalists and global media leaders call for urgent, unrestricted access to Gaza for journalists

More than 130 global leaders of news and press freedom organizations called on world leaders, governments, and international institutions on Thursday to act immediately to ensure  journalists from outside Gaza are given immediate, independent access to the territory, in a letter coordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters without Borders (RSF).

After 20 months of almost complete exclusion of international media from Gaza, the letter demands the protection of Palestinian journalists currently reporting under siege in the territory.

Israeli authorities have prevented international journalists from entering Gaza since the start of the war, except for brief excursions, tightly controlled by the military. Meanwhile, local Palestinian journalists have risked their lives to report under extreme conditions of violence, displacement, and hunger. At least 181 journalists and media workers have been killed – 179 of them by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon since the war started, making it the deadliest conflict for the press since CPJ started recording data in 1992 (continue reading here).

Israeli Colonizers Desecrate Armenian Monastery In Occupied Jerusalem

In an attack that occurred Tuesday, illegal Israeli colonizers stormed the Armenian Quarter in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, attacking the Armenian Monastery and desecrating Christian holy symbols.

Footage released Wednesday shows colonizers spitting on the monastery, crosses, and sacred symbols, underscoring the escalating violations against Christian and Islamic places of worship in the city.

Occupied Jerusalem faces a dangerous rise in attacks targeting Christian properties, with the occupation authorities complicit in enabling these crimes.

Jerusalemite Journalist Kegham Balian, from the Armenian Quarter, pointed out that although the occupation police station is located just a minute away from the monastery, officers arrived 25 minutes after the attack—long after the assailants had fled (continue reading here).

MORE WEST BANK HEADLINES:

(For background on the West Bank, read this and this) 

Israeli Army Demolishes Two Homes In Silwan, Jerusalem

Illegal Israeli Colonizers Establish New Outpost Near Ramallah

Soldiers Abduct A Palestinian, Assault Another, Near Jericho

Soldiers Abduct Two Siblings Near Ramallah

US: A Doctor Said Israel’s War Is Fueling Health Crises in Gaza. UCSF Fired Her.

A doctor and professor is suing the University of California, San Francisco, alleging school officials fired her for her advocacy for Palestinian human rights in an attempt to silence her.

In late May, UCSF terminated Rupa Marya following a nine-month suspension from the elite medical school based on social media posts in which she criticized Israel’s genocide in Gaza and questioned how Zionist ideology affects health care outcomes.

As a part of her dismissal, UCSF officials will place a letter of censure in Marya’s file for 10 years, which she said will likely damage her ability to seek future employment and continue practicing medicine (continue reading here).

NOTABLE QUOTES:

Annelien Bredenoord, president of the executive board of Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) in the Netherlands, announcing the decision to suspend programs with Israeli universities: “Our international collaborations are based on academic freedom and scientific diplomacy. But that freedom has limits when fundamental human rights are at stake. Based on the committee’s investigation, we consider the risk of indirect involvement in human rights violations too high.”

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Latest on the Gaza flotilla ship the Madleen, Greta Thurnberg, and human rights

‘They cannot block us,’ says activist on Madleen aid ship to Gaza

One of the 12 activists on board the Madleen has posted an update on their progress, saying the mission would not be deterred by Israel’s threats to block them.

In a video posted to X, Thiago Avila said the crew, which includes high-profile climate activist Greta Thunberg, was not intimidated by a message they had received from Israel on Thursday.

He said Israeli authorities had said that the Madleen, which is carrying food and medical supplies, would be blocked from entering Gaza – and that if they attempted to deliver them, they would come under attack.

“It’s important that we understand that Netanyahu and any other repressive regime throughout history, they actually fear the people, we do not fear them,” he said.

“We know that this is part of a global uprising much larger than this humble mission of 12 people on a small boat. It will not be through force that they will make a way to defeat us.”

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Yas (@yaseminacr_)


"4 people threw themselves into the sea when the Libyan Coast Guard intervened, we were able to rescue them, they are with us on our boat."
“4 people threw themselves into the sea when the Libyan Coast Guard intervened, we were able to rescue them, they are with us on our boat.” (social media)

Former ICJ judge calls Israel’s self-defense claim around flotilla ‘nonsense’

John Dugard, a professor emeritus of international law at Leiden University in the Netherlands, has called Israel’s claims of acting in self-defense to block the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) “absolute nonsense”.

Dugard, who also served as the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory and ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice, said in order to “justify action in self-defense, Israel has to satisfy the international community that it has been subjected to an attack”.

“And one can hardly describe the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza as an attack,” he said in an interview with the FFC.

More than 650,000 send Freedom Flotilla Coalition letter to Israeli government

Some 650,706 people have now heeded the activist group’s call to send a letter to the government of Israel, serving as a “formal notice” of the Madleen ship’s planned route to Gaza and a reminder of the country’s legal obligations under international law.

“The ship is unarmed, poses no threat, and is operating in full accordance with international maritime, humanitarian and human rights law. Its passengers and crew include parliamentarians, journalists, attorneys and human rights defenders representing global civil society,” the letter template reads.

“Any interception, attack, sabotage, or interference with the Madleen or its civilian passengers and crew will constitute a deliberate, knowing, and unlawful attack on civilians and a violation of international law. Such actions would amount to grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and potentially constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” it adds.

Greta and Macklemore in Ireland

Tuesday night, Wednesday night drones hover threateningly over Madleen

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Thiago Ávila (@thiagoavilabrasil)

A ship called Madleen: Gaza’s first fisherwoman inspires flotilla solidarity mission

As the Madleen sails towards Gaza to try to deliver life-saving aid to its people, little is known about the woman the boat was named after: Madleen Kulab, Gaza’s only fisherwoman.

Madleen has been fishing since she was 15, a familiar figure heading out on her father’s boat, getting to know all the other fishermen and also becoming well-known to international solidarity activists.

But now, she can’t fish any more and neither can Khader because Israel destroyed their boats and an entire storage room full of fishing gear during the war.

“We’ve lost everything – the fruit of a lifetime,” she says (continue reading here).

Read more about the Freedom Flotilla here.

Track the Madleen (also spelled Madeleine) here.

[Editor’s note: The flotilla movement was begun by Greta Berlin, Paul Larudee, Mary Hughes-Thompson, Sharyn Locke, AND Eliza Ernshire. Afterward, Jewish Voice for Peace and some others tried to ‘cancel’ Greta Berlin and Ann wright, despite their heroic and extremely consequential actions.]

Madleen Kulab says she is honored to have a vessel trying to break the siege of Gaza named after her, but she has experienced more than a year and a half of displacement and death since Israel's war on Gaza began
Madleen Kulab says she is honored to have a vessel trying to break the siege of Gaza named after her, but she has experienced more than a year and a half of displacement and death since Israel’s war on Gaza began (Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera)

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – JUNE 5, 2025:

  • At least 55,658 Palestinians killed, 134,315 injured – including:
  • at least 54,677 killed in Gaza (~16,500 children) 
  • at least 981 killed in the West Bank (~199 children)
  • at least 125,530 injured in Gaza
  • at least 8,785 injured in the West Bank

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.

Since the Israeli army resumed its assaults on Gaza on March 18, it has killed at least 4,402 people. 15 Israeli soldiers have been killed during the same time period.

Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 14,000 more are still buried under rubble.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – June 5, 2025: ~1,605 – including ~1,139 on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 420 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, 46 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel.

By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 215 Palestinian journalists and media workers; Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 180 and 274 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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