Israel may be using internationally banned weapons against Gazans – Day 282

Israel’s possible use of internationally banned weapons; new allegations of rape and torture of Palestinian prisoners; 13 human rights groups accuse Israel of blocking aid to Gaza; municipality runs out of fuel, water pumps cease; estimated 15 years, $500 million to clear rubble in Gaza; EU sanctions settlers; Israel ‘explains’ its failed attack on Mawasi; West Bank death, home demolitions; Smotrich opposes release of any Palestinian prisoners; RNC platform mentions one foreign country – Israel; a quick look at JD Vance’s position on Israel; Biden’s delusional statement on Palestinians; more.

By IAK staff, from reports.

Gaza hospitals report injuries consistent with internationally banned weapons

Al Jazeera reports: The Government Media Office in Gaza says in a statement that at least 320 dead or wounded Palestinians have been brought to hospitals across the enclave in a particularly bloody 48 hours.

It quoted healthcare officials as saying that many of the dead and injured arrived with third-degree burns caused by internationally banned weapons like thermal bombs.

“These weapons cause chemical substances to interact with the skin and directly cause chemical corrosion of the tissues in the bodies of the martyrs and the injured. They also cause severe pain.”

The office said many victims die in a little more than a day after being wounded by such weapons, adding that it holds Washington fully responsible for arming Israel and causing the many “massacres” committed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.

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New testimonies of Palestinians raped and tortured in Israeli detention

Middle East Eye reports: New incidents of abuse suffered by Gaza detainees at the hands of Israeli forces have come to light following a news conference held on Monday by the Commission of Detainees Affairs, a Palestinian prisoner’s organization.

Speakers at the press conference in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, provided updates on the conditions faced by Palestinians taken from Gaza and held in Israeli custody.

Khaled Mhajne, the commission’s lawyer, recently spoke to television correspondent Mohammed Arab in Israel’s Ofer prison in the West Bank. Arab had previously spent time in the notorious Sde Teiman detention center in Israel’s Negev desert.

Sde Teiman came under scrutiny after investigations and reports exposed severe torture inflicted on prisoners abducted from Gaza.

Despite Israel’s previous announcement to phase out the use of Sde Teiman, Mhajne said that detainees from Gaza continued to be brought to the detention center.

Mhajne’s conversation with Arab confirmed that the conditions in Ofer are just as bad as those in Sde Teiman.

“Mohammed also spoke of cases of abuse, where detainees were tied up to walls, with dogs released to attack them,” Mhajne said.

He described other types of torture, including beatings and rape.

(Read the full article here.)

RECOMMENDED READING: Hostages of Israeli revenge in the Gaza Strip: Testimonies of 100 released Palestinian detainees reveal crimes of torture, cruel treatment

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13 prominent relief organizations accuse Israel of blocking aid to Gaza

AFP reports: Access to war-torn Gaza has become increasingly difficult for humanitarian groups, 13 leading NGOs warned on Monday, accusing Israel’s military of blocking much-needed aid from reaching the besieged Palestinian territory.

Denouncing “Israel’s systematic obstruction of aid and its ongoing attacks on aid operations”, the humanitarian organizations said that Israel had facilitated only 53 — less than half — of the 115 relief missions they had recently planned.

They said the so-called “humanitarian zone” where most of the strip’s population of 2.4 million people now reside had become “an active combat zone” and “extremely unsafe”.

Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council were among the charities to contribute to the document.

Israel’s capture at the beginning of May of the Rafah crossing, which has since been destroyed, brought aid deliveries to a “complete halt”, the NGOs said, adding that tons of “absolutely necessary aid” were left blocked at the crossing points in the south “due to the deterioration in security conditions”, the statement said.

Oxfam said it took it five weeks to transport just 1,600 food parcels from Jordan to Gaza — a journey it said “should take no more than six hours”.

Israel denies any famine in Gaza and accuses the United Nations of blocking aid deliveries.

NOTE: Since the beginning of this war, thousands of aid trucks have reportedly been kept waiting just outside Gaza, as Israel has delayed delivery through complicated and arbitrary procedures. In addition, Israel has on multiple occasions fired at individuals waiting for food aid (once killing over 100); Israel has also attacked food aid convoys. Additionally, Israeli citizens have blocked border crossings, and attacked and looted trucks they believed were heading to Gaza – all with no meaningful attempt by Israel to stop them.

In mid-March, Israel promised to “flood” Gaza with aid, but has failed to do so.

The US has for months expressed its desire to see appropriate amounts of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza on one hand, while undermining Gaza’s largest aid organization on the other.

The Guardian reports: In Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, where Israel hasn’t yet invaded and hundreds of thousands of people have taken refuge, the municipality issued an urgent statement saying it was no longer able to provide 700,000 people in the area with drinking water after running out of fuel.

The statement said: “We urge citizens to preserve what is left in their private tankers and we stress the need to maintain the spirit of cooperation and sharing.”

Aid agencies have warned that the lack of clean water and flows of untreated sewage pose a serious threat to health for Palestinians in Gaza.

When Israel cut off fuel to Gaza after 7 October, the resulting power cuts meant wastewater could not be pumped to treatment plants, leading to 100,000 cubic meters of sewage a day spewing into the sea, according to the UN Environment Programme.

A BBC Verify investigation found in May that hundreds of water and sanitation facilities in the devastated enclave had been damaged or destroyed since October.

UN: It will take 15 years to clear the rubble from Gaza

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has highlighted data from the UN Environment Programme, which says that it will take a decade and a half to clear the roughly 40 million tonnes of rubble created by Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

This would require over 100 trucks and cost more than $500m, but is an essential effort, UNRWA said, because debris created by war can contain unexploded bombs and “harmful substances”.

Turkey condemns Israeli attacks on Gaza cancer hospital

"The most immoral army in history" occupies & destroys the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, the only hospital that provides cancer treatment in the Gaza Strip
Before its destruction, the Israeli Army used it as a military base & denied cancer patients essential treatment pic.twitter.com/l76AMRq8AV

— Hamzé Attar (@hamzattar) July 15, 2024

EU sanctions extremist Israeli settlers, entities over rights abuses against Palestinians

Andalou Agency reports: The EU on Monday announced sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers, illegal outposts, and a far-right group over severe and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The five individuals and three entities sanctioned are “responsible for serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank, including abuse of the right of everyone to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental integrity, the right to property, the right to private and family life, to freedom of religion or belief and the right to education,” the EU Council said in a statement.

The council identified the settlers as Moshe Sharvit, Zvi Bar Yosef, Baruch Marzel, Ben-Zion Gopstein, and Isaschar Manne. Marzel had who openly called for the ethnic cleaning of Palestinians, while Gopstein is the founder and leader of extremist group Lehava.

It also slapped sanctions on the Moshe’s Farm, an outpost owned by Moshe Sharvit in the Jordan Valley, and Zvi’s Farm, which was established by Bar Yosef.

A violent Israeli far-right group known as Tzav 9 was also sanctioned.

NOTE: Israel has illegally built around 280 settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are home to more than 700,000 illegal settlers. Israeli settlements and settlers on Palestinian land are a violation of international law, and considered by many Palestinians to be the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement.

A number of settler groups (beyond those sanctioned), moreover, have a history of violence against Palestinians, often with the assistance of Israeli military forces.

Israel reveals details on Saturday’s attack that missed its target

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a press conference on Saturday after the brutal Al-Mawasi attack that there was no certainty Deif was killed in the strikes. He claimed, however, that Hamas was becoming weaker and vowed that the war would continue until all its aims were achieved.

“We tell Netanyahu that Mohammed Deif is listening to you now and laughing at your empty statements,” Hayya told Al Jazeera on 13 July.

East Jerusalem: Israeli forces displace family of 50 as homes demolished

Israel singled out for ‘extraordinary’ US support in Republican party platform

The Cradle reports: Israel is the only foreign nation mentioned in the Republican Party’s newly published platform, signaling Donald Trump’s strong support for Israel should he win November’s US presidential election, Israel Hayom reported on 15 July. [It actually signals the Israel lobby’s power over the US.]

The platform was published ahead of the Republican Party’s national convention, which began Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

During the convention, Republican party members will ratify the party platform, which details Trump’s agenda for the next four years if he defeats President Joe Biden. The platform confirms Trump’s strong support for Israel, stating, “We will stand with Israel, and seek peace in the Middle East.”

In an interview with Israel Hayom several months ago, Trump said he “was the best president in the history of Israel.”

The Republican Party is known to have strong ties with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his governing Likud Party.

The platform states that NATO member states must “meet their obligations to invest in our Common Defense and by restoring Peace to Europe.” However, no such demand is made of Israel.

The Council on Foreign Relations notes, “Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid since its founding, receiving about $310 billion (adjusted for inflation) in total economic and military assistance.”

Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October, the US has enacted legislation providing at least $12.5 billion in military aid to Israel.

What a JD Vance vice presidency would mean for American Jews and Israel

The Forward reports: Vance has said that antisemitism must be prosecuted. “If you beat up a Jew and don’t face consequences, the attacks will continue and get worse,” he said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post in 2022.

In response to campus pro-Palestinian protests, Vance introduced a bill that would bar colleges and universities from receiving federal financial assistance if they do not remove disruptive encampments from their campuses. He also said the government should target organizations that fund the protests.

[Vance is going on along with what Congress members have done for years: pander to the pro-Israel lobby. When voters demand that this stop, American politicians will finally be free of this destructive foreign influence.]

NOTE: Pro-Israel organizations and politicians consistently work to silence Palestine advocacy on campus. Besides demonizing protests and stifling free speech, they often pressure universities to officially adopt the IHRA “definition” of antisemitism, which defines legitimate criticism of Israel as antisemitic. Other strategies include blocking prestigious appointments of and events with supporters of Palestinian rights, threatening to withhold major donations, bullying administrators, and more.

Typically, any move that defies the standard pro-Israel position is followed by a compulsory apology like the one Sonoma State University’s president Mike Lee issued – an apology that recognizes only the sentiments of pro-Israel students and ignoring the actual issues of free speech and divestment from Israel.

Pro-Palestine demonstrations on college campuses have overall been peaceful and non-confrontational, and have notably included a significant number of Jewish students. When there has been violence, it has come from pro-Israel counter-protesters and police.

The Forward claims: But Vance was also a promoter of replacement theory during the 2022 campaign, versions of which implicate Jews as the orchestraters of a plan to replace white Americans with people of color. He warned of an immigrant “invasion” ahead of the midterm elections to influence the vote.

In May, Vance explained his strong opposition to Ukraine aid and his commitment to supporting Israel.

“If we are going to support Israel, as I think that we should, we have to articulate a reason why it’s in our best interest,” he said in a speech at the Quincy Institute. “A big part of the reason why Americans care about Israel is because we are still the largest Christian-majority country in the world, which means that a majority of citizens of this country think that their Savior, and I count myself a Christian, was born and died and resurrected in that narrow little strip of territory on the Mediterranean. The idea that there is ever going to be an American foreign policy that doesn’t care a lot about that slice of the world is preposterous.”

[It’s not known whether Vance has watched Tucker Carlson’s interview with the Palestinian Pastor in Bethlehem and their discussion about how Israel treats Christians.]

Lee Fang reports: “In many ways, he is the most pro-worker, anti-war running mate of any Republican of the modern era….  Vance was one of the first modern Republicans to walk the picket lines in support of the United Autoworker Union strike for higher wages and benefits last year.

He has repeatedly savaged the neoconservatism establishment, claiming that they have entrenched America in unwinnable “forever wars” that serve no strategic interest for the country. 

The Daily Beast reports: “Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson ‘Secretly Lobbied’ for Vance”

Biden says he has done ‘more for the Palestinian community than anybody’