Israel is taking its genocide to "a whole new level of brutality"

Children react during the funeral of the Faojo family, killed in Israeli bombing on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 11 November, 2023 (photo)

Deputy Hamas chief assassinated in Beirut; kidnapped Palestinian babies and children; sound of prayer calls disappearing; Israel partially withdrawing from northern Gaza; vaccines in Gaza; 5 killed in West Bank; US deviates from script, criticizes Israeli leaders

An eight-year-old child waits her turn to receive food in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip (photo)

Dr Alain Gabon discusses “Israel’s eight methods of genocide” “Now in its third month, the leveling of Gaza, which has caused unprecedented destruction to people, infrastructure and habitats, seems unstoppable.”

Unbelievable as it sounds, it seems that the fate of millions of Palestinians will continue to be decided by just two men: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.

It appears that Israel seized this opportunity to take its slow-motion genocide to a whole new level of brutality, using eight techniques (read the full article here).

People stand at a damaged building following an explosion at the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, Lebanon January 2, 2024. (photo)

Deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri was killed on Tuesday night in an Israeli drone strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, a stronghold of the allied Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, three security sources told Reuters. Two security sources said the strike had targeted a meeting and that another Palestinian militant commander was among them, but there were no details on the additional four casualties.

Seven other Hamas members were also killed.

Ismail Haniyeh, chairman of Hamas’s political bureau, called the killing a “craven assassination”, a “brutal aggression” and a “blatant crime that demonstrates, once again, the brutality that is carried out by the occupation against our people”.

“It is also a violation of Lebanese sovereignty – one that represents an expansion of the scope of the Israeli aggression against our people and our nation,” he said.

“The occupation is responsible for any repercussions.”

Hezbollah vowed, “this crime will not pass without response or punishment, and that our resistance is still on its promise – defiant and loyal to its principles and commitments with its fingers on the trigger, and its fighters are at the highest degree of readiness.”

Screengrab from a recent video, published by IDF, of Palestinian hostages (screengrab)

Fate of a baby and other Palestinian children is unknown after Israeli army forcibly transfers them out of Gaza Strip: The Israeli army has abducted Palestinian children and transferred them out of the Gaza Strip, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said, as part of its genocide against Gazans that has been ongoing since 7 October. The rights group called on Israel to return the children to their parents.

In light of the horrific crime of kidnapping children, as well as the recent mysterious disappearance of hundreds of Palestinian detainees from the Strip, Euro-Med Monitor stressed that the international community must bear its responsibilities and apply pressure to Israel in order to ensure the safe return of all victims.

The Geneva-based organization also stated that it takes very seriously the information published by Israeli Army Radio on 1 January 2024 regarding the kidnapping of a Palestinian infant from inside her Gaza family home by Israeli officer Harel Itach, a commander in the Givati Brigade, after the killing of her family members. The incident’s date was not revealed…

Euro-Med Monitor expressed its deep fear and concern that the incident involving the officer and the Palestinian baby is not an isolated case. Numerous testimonies that the rights group has received say that the Israeli army regularly detains and transfers Palestinian children without disclosing their whereabouts.

More than 7,000 Palestinians—mostly women and children—are reportedly missing…While most of the missing are thought to have perished beneath the debris of houses hit by Israeli airstrikes, some are believed to be lost on the streets, or have vanished from neighborhoods where Israeli army ground incursions took place. The risk of Israeli soldiers forcibly transferring and disappearing children is only increasing, Euro-Med Monitor stressed, especially since hundreds of Palestinian families have reported the loss of one or more of their children, and as verifying the location and condition of these individuals is typically impossible right now due to Israel’s ongoing genocide.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says Israeli forces have targeted the eighth floor of its headquarters in Khan Younis, resulting in the deaths of five people, including a baby.

Video of an infant named Lyan injured by Israeli forces is here – warning: deeply disturbing video

Palestinians holding belongings walk past a destroyed mosque in Gaza City on the northern Gaza strip, on 24 November 2023 (photo)

Israel’s war on Gaza silences its historic mosques: With over 300 mosques damaged, a void is felt across Gaza as the soul-stirring call to prayer is absent. In a series of targeted strikes during its ongoing bombardment of Gaza, the Israeli army laid waste to many mosques, including the iconic Al-Omari Mosque, renowned for its historical and archaeological significance.

The destruction has left Palestinians, both in Gaza and in the diaspora, mourning the loss of a mosque with a unique heritage. Since 7 October, Israeli forces have completely or partially destroyed more than 300 mosques and three churches. As a consequence, the affected neighborhoods now suffer a void during prayer times, missing the soul-stirring call to prayer that once echoed throughout the city…

The persistent targeting of mosques in Gaza has led many Palestinians to believe they are unsafe even during prayers. Despite the fear, a significant number refuse to cease attending mosques, expressing resilience against the attacks. (Read the full article here.)

Israel said it will be withdrawing some troops from Gaza this week, an indication it may be changing its tactics on the ground even as it remains committed to the war effort. In a statement Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said that two brigades would be pulled back from Gaza this week. Three others would follow at an undisclosed date, the IDF said.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesperson, said Sunday night that pulling back reservists “will significantly ease the burden on the economy and allow them to gather strength for the upcoming activities in the next year,” but vowed that “prolonged fighting” would continue into 2024.

Thousands of Palestinians are returning to the north of Gaza after some Israeli forces withdrew from the area. “The people here sit and sleep on top of the debris where the smell of blood and death is everywhere,” said one woman after returning. “A lot of massacres have been committed here. The resilience of the people here will always be stronger than the occupation army.”

I deplore today’s strikes on the @PalestineRCS-run Al-Amal hospital in the southern #Gaza city of Khan Younis, which severely damaged the Palestine Red Crescent Society training centre located within the hospital complex.

My @WHO and @UNOCHA colleagues today undertook a mission… pic.twitter.com/qZ8srhqDwf

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 2, 2024

Thousands of doses of vaccines against childhood diseases including polio and measles have begun entering the Gaza Strip to help deal with a growing health emergency in the besieged enclave, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday.

The ministry said supplies, estimated to be sufficient to cover vaccinations for between 8 and 14 months, had entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt with the aid of Egyptian government cold storage facilities.

“That some vaccine doses are now being let into Gaza does not mean, amid the chaos, bombardment and displacement, that children will be vaccinated,” Dr Annie Sparrow, an associate professor of global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, said on social media.

RECOMMENDED READING: Gaza war takes medical apartheid to new extreme

The Fourth Geneva Convention obligates an occupying power to ensure that proper medical supplies are provided and that hospitals and health services are maintained in the territory under occupation.

“Israel is doing the exact opposite.

It is subjecting healthcare to collective punishment so that Palestinians are tortured, displaced and killed…

Israel has been hampering the development of, destroying and openly targeting the Palestinian healthcare system…. Read more

Four young Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli occupation forces this morning in the town of Azzun (photo)

Four young Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli occupation forces this morning in the West Bank town of Azzun, according to Palestinian security sources. Israeli occupation soldiers fired live ammunition, stun grenades, and teargas towards the local residents during the raid resulting in this tragic human toll.

The four martyrs were identified as Walid Radwan, 18, Qusai Jamal Adwan, 21, Iyad Shbeita, 22, and Mohammad Abdefattah Radwan, 29. The bodies of the four were subsequently seized and taken away by the occupying forces.

During the raid, the Israeli occupation forces conducted raids and searches of homes and businesses, seizing surveillance footage from multiple shops.

A fifth Palestinian was killed during an Israeli raid in Qalqilya.

Al Jazeera reports that the Israeli military prevented medical workers and ambulances from reaching a wounded Palestinian man during the raid. “Medical workers and those who are working in ambulances are saying that even their medical vehicles, the ambulances themselves, were targeted by the Israeli military,” the reporter said.

Demolitions reported today, 1 January 2024, in Al Maniya, #Bethlehem, #WestBank, occupied #Palestinian territory.

2023 ended with 1,119 structures demolished and 2,210 people displaced, as a result, in the #WestBank.

All statistics here: https://t.co/hG9VUlAUXf pic.twitter.com/Q3Wx3ptphN

— OCHA oPt (Palestine) (@ochaopt) January 1, 2024

Israeli occupation authorities yesterday imposed a fine of 49,000 shekels ($13,500) against a Palestinian farmer as a condition for the release of his 19 detained cows, which had been seized by occupation forces last week while grazing in the occupied Jordan Valley. The confiscation occurred following the instigation of Israeli settlers, who, protected by the Israeli occupation security forces, often prevent Palestinian farmers’ livestock from grazing in the open pastures in the northern Jordan Valley.

In a rare case of criticism of Israel, the U.S. calls out far-right Israeli ministers for advocating transfer of Palestinians out of Gaza – even more rare is that it explicitly called out Smotrich and Ben-Gvir by name. The U.S. State Department said in a statement that the United States rejects recent statements from Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza.

State Department Spokesperson Mathew Miller said in the statement that “this rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible. We have been told repeatedly and consistently by the Government of Israel, including by the Prime Minister, that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government. They should stop immediately.”

The statement additionally says that “Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land, with Hamas no longer in control of its future and with no terror groups able to threaten Israel. That is the future we seek, in the interests of Israelis and Palestinians, the surrounding region, and the world.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir rejected the U.S. statement, and said, “We highly value America’s friendship, but respectfully, we aren’t another star on the American flag.” He added, “We’ll do what’s best for Israel.”

Despite the emerging harsh rhetoric, the U.S. is showing no signs of slowing down support for Israel’s military campaign. This was most recently made evident last week after the State Department circumvented Congress to sell Israel nearly $150 million in weapons.

Let me be clear: NO MORE U.S. funding for Netanyahu’s illegal, immoral, brutal, and grossly disproportionate war against the Palestinian people. Congress must reject any effort to pass $10 billion of unconditional military aid for the right-wing Netanyahu government. pic.twitter.com/P3AoprlKli

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 2, 2024

Netanyahu & his right-wing war cabinet have created a humanitarian catastrophe, killing thousands of Palestinian civilians. Israel needs leadership that will bring the hostages home, not wage months of war.

Stop bombing Gaza. Resume the cease-fire. Work toward a permanent peace. https://t.co/KRfaq5dLfk

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) January 2, 2024

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JANUARY 1:

Palestinian death toll since October 7: at least 22,166* (~21,842 in Gaza* (at least 8,800 children), and at least 324 in the West Bank, about 77 of them children). This does not include an estimated 7,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 30,034 Palestinian deaths.

*IAK does not yet include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile is being disputed; although much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, experts are still looking into the incident. Israel is blocking an international investigation.

Palestinian injuries since October 7: at least 61,245** (including at least 57,296 in Gaza** and 3,949 in the West Bank). **NOTE: it is impossible to provide an accurate number of injuries in Gaza due to the ongoing bombardment and communication disruption.

It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties. in Gaza**. About 1.9 million people have been displaced (about 85-90% of the population).

Reported Israeli death toll since October 7: ~1,139 (7 killed in West Bank, 173 in Gaza), including 32 Americans, and 8,730 injured, approximately 36 children).

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel may have been caused by Israeli soldiers; additionally, since Israel has a policy of universal conscription, it is unknown how many of those attending the outdoor rave a few miles from Gaza on stolen Palestinian land were Israeli soldiers.