Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
At least 56 people have been killed in Gaza in several Israeli strikes, including at least 20 in Jabalia refugee camp.
FLASHBACK: Gaza Genocide
DAY 6 (OCT 12, 2023) If Americans Knew wrote:
- There is growing evidence suggesting that the murder of the six-year-old boy in Illinois was not the result of anti-Muslim bigotry but of of media misinformation. READ THIS IAK INVESTIGATION: Palestinian-American child killed in Illinois: this is what media reports left out
- The United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on Wednesday that would have called for humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Hamas conflict to allow humanitarian aid access to the Gaza Strip. SINCE THIS VETO, THE US WENT ON TO SUPPORT ISRAEL’S GENOCIDAL WAR ON GAZA SEVERAL MORE TIMES, BEFORE FINALLY ALLOWING THE PASSAGE OF A CEASEFIRE RESOLUTION IN JUNE. ISRAEL IGNORED IT.
Israel blocks World Health Org evacuation of sick children in northern Gaza: Health Ministry
Anadolu Agency reports:
The Israeli army blocked a World Health Organization (WHO) delegation from evacuating sick children from hospitals in northern Gaza amid the worsening situation due to ongoing military operations in the area, now in their sixth day, a senior Gaza health official said Friday.
A health ministry spokesperson said, “The army turned back the WHO delegation tasked with evacuating intensive care patients and children from northern hospitals.”
He added that Israeli attacks and blocking of fuel trucks are putting the hospitals at risk of halting operations.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society also revealed on Friday that all its ambulances in northern Gaza were forced to stop over the lack of fuel due to the Israeli army’s incursion and siege for the sixth consecutive day.
World Food Program warns of famine threat in Gaza as winter approaches
Anadolu Agency reports:
The World Food Program (WFP) warned Thursday that the threat of famine persists in Gaza amid tragedy and suffering in the Palestinian enclave.
There are around 100,000 tons of food waiting to enter Gaza – enough to feed over a million people for five months – but according to WFP, the closure of crossing points, security issues and route disruptions at crossings are limiting aid delivery.
WFP warned that one million people risk losing vital support if the flow of assistance does not resume.
“As another winter approaches, every day is a struggle for survival. Hunger remains rampant and the threat of famine persists,” the UN agency said on X.
(Click to enlarge.)
Four Days in Gaza: Five Journalists Killed or Wounded
The Intercept reports:
On Wednesday, a group of journalists were covering the siege in northern Gaza, when they were attacked. Witnesses said the journalists were targeted.
Like other Palestinian journalists who have been killed and injured in Gaza, Fadi al-Hawidi, a cameraman for Al Jazeera Arabic, was wearing a flak jacket with the word “PRESS” clearly visible on it.
In his last post on Instagram before he was shot, al-Hawidi filmed himself as he reported on civilians being shot at by Israeli forces while attempting to leave the area in compliance with the military’s orders. Unarmed people can be seen running as gunfire rings in the background.
One of the other journalists described what happened: “Suddenly a quadcopter drone appeared above the broadcast vehicle and the place where we were, and it started firing directly at us.
“The drone started chasing us and the entire crew, firing directly at us. A bullet hit my colleague Fadi’s neck and he immediately passed out and fell to the ground.”
According to his colleagues, Fadi is now permanently paralyzed due to his injuries.
A spokesman for the Israeli military told The Intercept, “The IDF is not aware of the incident referred to. The IDF has never, and will never, deliberately target journalists.”
(Read the full story here.)
Below is a short video of one of the first Israeli attacks on journalists in this war: Dylan Collins’ video testimony of the targeted IDF attack on October 13, 2023.
UPDATE: According to The Intercept, Jeremy Loffredo was released from prison Friday morning by Israeli authorities after four days in Israeli detention, but was ordered to remain in the country until October 20, allowing investigators more time to bring additional allegations or to further interrogate him.
Israeli police had held Loffredo, an independent journalist from New York, on suspicion of assisting an enemy in war, a serious allegation that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment or death, his attorney said.
In his reporting, he showed the locations of several Iranian missiles that had landed inside Israel earlier this month. As was the case with other media outlets, some of Loffredo’s footage was shot near sensitive Israeli sites.
Israeli forces again attack UNIFIL in southern Lebanon, peacekeepers injured
Anadolu Agency reports:
Israeli forces on Friday launched another attack on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters in southern Lebanon, injuring several Sri Lankan peacekeepers stationed there.
An Israeli Merkava tank reportedly targeted one of UNIFIL’s observation towers on a main road, in front of a Lebanese Army checkpoint, injuring the Sri Lankan contingent stationed there.
Israeli artillery fired a shell that struck the main entrance of the UNIFIL command center, causing damage to the site. This was the second attack on the location in three days.
According to legal experts, recent Israeli attacks on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) constitute a serious violation of international law.
AL JAZEERA ADDS: The Israeli military says it is “conducting a thorough review” to determine details of attacks on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon: “The [Israeli military] expresses deep concern over incidents of this kind and is currently conducting a thorough review at the highest levels of command to determine the details,” the army said in a statement.
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.)
WATCH: 254 days after Hind Rajab’s murder, Biden admin says Israel can investigate itself
From Middle East Monitor:
Zeteo News’ Prem Thakker asked US Secretary of State spokesperson Matthew Miller how Washington can continue to arm Israel when its investigations into misconduct by its soldiers keep being closed without anyone being held to account.
Miller said it’s not for the US ‘to adjudicate’ over what information Tel Aviv issues is accurate.
US officials continue to see Israel’s operation across Lebanese border as ‘limited’: Pentagon
Anadolu Agency reports:
Israel is conducting a “limited” operation across the Lebanese border to remove the Hezbollah group’s infrastructure, the Pentagon said Thursday.
“All indications that we have right now are that Israel continues to conduct limited ground operations across the border to remove Hezbollah attack infrastructure,” Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.
Israel has been mounting massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23 that have killed more than 1,323 people and injured nearly 3,700.
US expands sanctions against Iran following attack on Israel
In the context of Israel’s siege on northern Gaza, shooting civilians and journalists, blocking healthcare for critically ill children, attacking peacekeeping forces, and other actions – the US has chosen to sanction Iran.
Anadolu Agency reports:
The US expanded sanctions on Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors in response to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack on Israel, the Treasury Department said on Friday.
“This action intensifies financial pressure on Iran, limiting the regime’s ability to earn critical energy revenues to undermine stability in the region and attack U.S. partners and allies,” the department said in a statement.
“As long as Iran devotes its energy revenues to funding attacks on our allies, supporting terrorism around the world, and pursuing other destabilizing actions, we will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to hold it accountable.
“These measures will be reinforced by ongoing close coordination with partners and allies to address and counter Iran’s actions,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
US military veteran arrested by Israeli forces in occupied West Bank
Middle East Eye reports:
United States citizen and military veteran, Michael Jacobsen, was arrested Thursday by Israeli forces while accompanying a Palestinian farmer in a village in the West Bank, according to the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
The ISM said the farmer was facing “daily harassment, attacks, and invasions of his private land by Israeli settlers and occupation forces”.
Israeli police arrested Jacobsen and took him into custody at the interrogation center created by Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. ISM explained that Israel has a policy of silencing international activists, who often raise awareness of the plight of Palestinians.
Police said Jacobsen was “endangering the public due to provocation of disturbances” and accused him of entering the country illegally because they suspected him of supporting the Palestinian-led Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment (BDS) movement – which is forbidden in Israel.
Jacobsen was threatened with “imprisonment and deportation if he did not leave the country immediately”, according to the ISM, and he chose to leave for Jordan.
The US won’t run for another term on UN human rights council. Israel is likely why.
Kenneth Roth writes for the Guardian:
Something unusual happened this week at the UN: the US government decided not to run for a second term on the human rights council.
Various rationales are circulating, but one, in my view, looms large: Israel. Or more to the point, Joe Biden’s refusal to suspend or condition the massive US arms sales and military aid to Israel as its military bombs and starves the Palestinian civilians of Gaza.
The election for the 47-member human rights council in Geneva is conducted by the UN general assembly in New York.
It is rare that the UN general assembly has the chance to vote on the US government’s conduct. Given widespread outrage at Israeli war crimes in Gaza – and at Biden’s refusal to use the enormous leverage of US arms sales and military aid to stop it – that vote could easily have resulted in an overwhelming repudiation of the Biden administration. Rather than face the possibility of a humiliating reprimand, the US government withdrew its candidacy.
By virtue of its diplomatic and economic power, the US government can be an important force for human rights. Other than on Israel, its presence on the council has generally helped the defense of human rights.
But US credibility, already compromised by Washington’s close alliances with the repressive likes of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has been profoundly undermined by Biden’s aiding and abetting of Israeli war crimes in Gaza. With Biden seemingly constitutionally unable to change, the defense of human rights is taking a hit.
Iraqi resistance warns of crippling oil shortages worldwide if Israel begins ‘energy war’
The Cradle reports:
A leader of a major faction in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has warned that if Israel begins a war that involves the energy sector, the world will lose 12 million barrels per day, “and this is what we will make sure of.”
Abu Ali al-Askari, the head of the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades Security Bureau, stated: “This is what we will be taking care of, but only God knows what our brethren in Yemen will do in Bab al-Mandab and our brethren in Iran will do in the Strait of Hormuz,” referring to important shipping routes for oil tankers.
Israeli leaders have threatened to launch a massive attack against Iran, including against nuclear power and oil infrastructure.
Askari warned further that the resistance’s response “will not be limited to Israel, but will extend to Washington’s bases and interests in Iraq and the region.”
Some analysts believe that oil prices, currently around $80 per barrel, could reach more than $300 per barrel in the case of a full blockade of the Gulf of Hormuz.
