Israel kills quintuplets, as Biden insists “both sides” are dying – Day 317 Roundup

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Israel kills quintuplets, as Biden insists “both sides” are dying – Day 317 Roundup
At least 12 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school that shelters displaced people in Gaza City, the Civil Defense Agency said. Civil defense teams are still struggling to recover the victims from under the rubble of the destroyed building, they said. (photo)

Compilation by IAK staff of news reports

 

Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill 10-Year-Old Quintuplets

Associated Press reports:

The latest Israeli bombardment included a strike on a home in Deir al-Balah that killed a woman and her six children, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. An Associated Press reporter there counted the bodies.

Mohammed Awad Khatab, the children’s grandfather, said his daughter was a teacher, and the youngest child was 18 months. The others were 10-year-old quintuplets, the hospital said.

“The six children have become body parts. They were placed in a single bag,” Khatab told reporters. “What did they do? Did they kill any of the Jews? … Will this provide security to Israel?”…..

Israel Kills another Journalist in Gaza – 169 since October 7

By Nurah Tape – The Palestine Chronicle

One Palestinian journalist has been killed and another injured after Israeli forces targeted a group of journalists in the Hamad area west of Khan Yunis in the besieged Gaza Strip.

According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), Ibrahim Muhareb, 26, was killed as a result of gunfire and shells fired from Israeli tanks that targeted journalists on Sunday night.

The official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, reported that tanks targeted a group of journalists who were on their way to Hamad City, north of Khan Yunis, where Israeli forces had launched a ground invasion.

Following the attack, communication with Muharab was cut off. Ambulance crews discovered his body on Monday morning, WAFA said.

Another journalist Salma Al-Qaddoumi was injured in the attack with shrapnel in her back, and transferred to hospital.

Muhareb worked as a freelance journalist for several press institutions and was a member of the PJS. He was the 169th journalist to be killed in Gaza by the Israeli military, since October 7…

Lives of babies at risk as Kamal Adwan Hospital faces closure

Al Jazeera reports:

Officials at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza have been sounding the alarm over shortages of fuel and medicine that are threatening to shut down operations at the facility imminently.

The hospital has the only functioning neo-natal intensive care unit left in Gaza.

“We are facing a real dilemma here that will have serious effects on the lives of these babies,” said Ahmed Zeyad, head of the ICU.

“We have new borns who are dependent on ventilators to breathe. We need electricity to administer fluids and power working incubators, otherwise the infants will face imminent death,” Zeyad told Al Jazeera. “We are using solar power right now, which was been interrupted five times within just the last hour. This affects the care we provide in this unit.”

Al-Awda Hospital in north Gaza is also at risk of closure….

Pediatric doctor describes tragedies in Gaza at first Palestinian human rights panel at DNC

The Guardian reports:

A pediatric doctor who has treated patients in Gaza during the war told the Democratic party faithful about the horrors she witnessed there – children who lost their entire families, suffered debilitating injuries and amputations. So many left on their own that a term was coined: wounded child, no surviving family.

Pediatrician Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan spoke at the DNC convention Monday about her experiences treating children in Gaza.
Pediatrician Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan spoke at the DNC convention Monday about her experiences treating children in Gaza. (screengrab)

Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan was part of a panel centered on Palestinian human rights at the Democratic national convention, the first time the Democratic party has directly hosted an official panel on the topic.

Haj-Hassan is one of dozens of medics who sent a letter to Joe Biden’s administration in July to share what they have witnessed while caring for people in Gaza.

Attendees, who numbered in the hundreds, wiped away tears as Haj-Hassan described what she saw and as other panelists detailed the losses they’ve experienced among family members in Gaza.

Haj-Hassan told of a young boy who came to the emergency room with half of his face and neck badly injured and said to her that because everyone he loved was in heaven, he wished he had died, too. She held the hands of children as they took their last breaths because there were no family members left to hold those hands.

Jim Zogby, the founder and president of Arab American Institute, said the panel represented the start of pressuring the party at the convention. “It is not the prize – the prize is a change in policy, that’s the prize, that’s what we want,” he said….

Israeli society appears to strongly support gang rape of Palestinian prisoners

Mondoweiss reports:

A shocking poll published on August 18 by the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies surveys attitudes concerning various aspects of what Israel calls “Swords of Iron” — the genocide of the last ten months and counting.

The poll asks, among else, how people would want to handle the soldiers suspected of gang-raping Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman torture facility if it turned out that the suspicions were strong. 65%, almost two out of three Jewish Israelis, opposed criminal prosecution, and would prefer them be “handled in a disciplinary manner, by the commanding level only.”

Only 28% of Jewish Israelis answered that “they should stand criminal trial”; 14% of Jewish Israelis didn’t know.

It is now clear, that the torture of Palestinians in this network of torture camps is systemic, as also documented by B’tselem in their report “Welcome to Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps.” High brass is involved in this, so the idea that the gang rapists would be disciplined by their own commanders is tantamount to letting them off the hook.

Two-thirds of Jewish Israelis are saying that there is simply nothing criminal here — only “bad behavior,” at worst…..

Israeli forces take safety measures as fanatic Jewish settlers organize a provocative march in the Old City under the protection of Israeli forces on July 27, 2024 in Hebron, West Bank. [Amer Shallodi – Anadolu Agency]
Israeli forces take safety measures as fanatic Jewish settlers organize a provocative march in the Old City under the protection of Israeli forces on July 27, 2024 in Hebron, West Bank. [Amer Shallodi – Anadolu Agency] (photo)

Officials, Biden fans try to block Pro-Palestine activists during Biden’s ‘both sides’ speech at Dem Nat’l Convention

Delegates Unfurl Banner During Biden Speech – see video (screenshot)

Huffpost reports:

According to reporters inside the convention hall, some people in the audience held up a banner, featuring the colors of the Palestinian flag, that read, “STOP ARMING ISRAEL,” minutes into Biden’s speech.

Videos shared of the incident on social media show those seated in front of the protesters holding up their “I [heart] Joe” signs to block the sight of the banner as security officials repeatedly tried to pull it down. Some in the audience also broke into “We love Joe” chants.

A video posted on X, formerly Twitter, by Akela Lacey of The Intercept shows a man standing a few rows behind the protesters hitting one of them on the head with a pro-Biden sign. In a follow-up post, Lacey wrote that eventually the man’s “colleagues got him to stop.”

Organizers turned off the lights in that section of the auditorium as the activists were escorted out.

The Associated Press reported the activists belonged to the “Abandon Biden” movement, which was recently renamed to “Abandon Harris” to reflect the change at the top of the Democratic ticket. The group has been calling on Americans to withhold their vote for Democrats over the party’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza…

A different group of activists present in the room turned their backs on Biden while he was delivering his address, holding one hand over their mouths, while displaying a sign reading “not another bomb” in the other, according to NBC News…

Biden addressed the pro-Palestinian protests in Chicago.

“Those protesters out in the street, they have a point,” Biden said. “A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.” …..

NOTE: Over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza are dead, with at least another 10,000 buried in rubble and presumed dead; about 300 Israeli soldiers and several dozen civilians have been killed.

West Bank: Israeli forces arrest Palestinian freed in last exchange deal

Al Jazeera reports:

Israeli soldiers have reportedly arrested Dania Hanatsheh, a student at Birzeit University, after raiding her family’s home in the town of Baqat al-Hatab in Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank.

Hanatsheh was among the Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in a prisoner-captive exchange deal in late 2023.

Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank have increased since the war on Gaza began in October, with some 10,000 Palestinians arrested since, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society…..

A new investigation from Israeli human rights organization reports that Israel is carrying on a "systematic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel."
A new investigation from Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem reports that Israel is carrying on a “systematic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.” (screengrab)

Israel’s settlement expansion flies in face of international law – OHCHR

UN Human Rights office statement:

The UN Human Rights Office is alarmed by Israel’s recent and ongoing settlement expansion and legal changes in the occupied West Bank; measures which fly in the face of international law, including a landmark ruling by the International Court of Justice in July.

On 14 August, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced a military order to allocate 148 acres of land for the new settlement…west of Bethlehem.The UN Human Right Office has raised concerns in the past that the transfer of wide administrative powers, relating to settlements and land administration, from the military authorities to a civilian administration within the Ministry of Defense could facilitate the annexation of the West Bank in violation of international law, including the United Nations Charter.

In its Advisory Opinion of 19 July, the ICJ held that Israel’s policies and practices amount to annexation of large parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It called for the evacuation of all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory. .. (Read the full statement here.)

Israeli Soldiers Kill a Palestinian, Injure Another, Near Hebron

Mahmoud Ibrahim Al-Hroub, 18
Mahmoud Ibrahim Al-Hroub, 18, shot in the head by Israeli soldier.

IMEMC reports:

Israeli forces shot and killed, on Monday night, a Palestinian young man and injured another, after invading the town of Doura, southwest of Hebron in the southern West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry announced, after midnight Monday/Tuesday, that the young man, Mahmoud Ibrahim Al-Hroub, 18, succumbed to his critical injuries inflicted on him by Israeli forces.

Sources added that soldiers opened fire with live rounds, concussion grenades, and tear gas canisters at those who resisted the incursion, injuring two with live rounds, including Al-Hroub who was critically wounded.

Occupation forces shot Al-Hroub in the eye with live ammunition, the bullet reportedly entered the brain; he was rushed to hospital in critical condition, where he succumbed to his injuries…

Five suspects in Sde Teiman rape case interrogated

Al Jazeera reports:

Israel’s Channel 12 reports that Israeli military police are currently interrogating five suspects in the Sde Teiman prisoner abuse case who are under house arrest.

Ten soldiers were initially arrested for the gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner by the guards on July 29.

Military prosecutors released three of the arrested soldiers on August 4, adding to the two previously released by investigators following a military court hearing in Kfar Yona on July 30….

RECOMMENDED READING: Israel’s escalating use of torture against Palestinians in custody a preventable crime against humanity: UN experts

A still image, captured from a video recently released, shows Israeli soldiers raping a Palestinian prisoner, hiding their faces, and taking cover behind shields to avoid being seen on cameras.
A still image, captured from a video recently released, shows Israeli soldiers raping a Palestinian prisoner, hiding their faces, and taking cover behind shields to avoid being seen on cameras. (screenshot)

Troop Shortage – Israel Reenlists Reservists Excused from Duty

Palestine Chronicle reports:

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued his orders to the Israeli army to call back on duty the reservists released in the last few years due to a shortage of troops.

The move was justified in a statement issued by Gallant indicating that “in the light of the situation assessment and the scale of activity of regular and reserve forces and as part of the army’s plan to increase the number of soldiers in service.”

According to the statement Israel’s occupation army has already started contacting exempted reservists in what was described as “vital units” and are still within the eligible age for service.

Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said the target is to reenlist 15,000 previously excused reservists.

According to The Times of Israel, those who will be reenlisted “are those who were released from service due to personnel reductions and are younger than the exemption age, which is 40 for most soldiers, 45 for officers, and 49 for specialists.”….

An Israeli soldier carries a 155mm artillery shell near a self-propelled howitzer deployed at a position near the border with Lebanon in the upper Galilee region of northern Israel on October 18, 2023. (Photo: Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images)
An Israeli soldier carries a 155mm artillery shell near a self-propelled howitzer deployed at a position near the border with Lebanon in the upper Galilee region of northern Israel on October 18, 2023. (Photo: Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images) (photo)

Human Rights Watch: Israeli Port Attack in Yemen Possible War Crime

HRW:

The Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah port on the evening of July 20, 2024, were an apparently unlawful indiscriminate or disproportionate attack on civilians that could have a long-term impact on millions of Yemenis who rely on the port for food and humanitarian aid, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Israeli strikes came a day after a Houthi drone strike, which may amount to a war crime, on a Tel Aviv residential neighborhood that killed one civilian and wounded four others. The Israeli airstrikes, which killed at least six civilians and reportedly injured at least 80 others, hit more than two dozen oil storage tanks and two shipping cranes in Hodeidah port in northwest Yemen, as well as a power plant in Hodeidah’s Salif district.

The attacks appeared to cause disproportionate harm to civilians and civilian objects. Serious violations of the laws of war committed willfully, that is deliberately or recklessly, are war crimes.

“The Israeli attacks on Hodeidah in response to the Houthis’ strike on Tel Aviv could have a lasting impact on millions of Yemenis in Houthi-controlled territories,” said Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Yemenis are already enduring widespread hunger after a decade-long conflict. These attacks will only exacerbate their suffering.”…

Scottish gov’t suspends meetings with Israeli ministers over war on Gaza

Middle East Eye reports:

Scottish government said on Monday that it is suspending meetings with the Israeli government until “real progress” is made in Gaza ceasefire talks.

The move comes amid calls for the suspension of Scotland’s external affairs secretary, Angus Robertson, following his decision to hold a secret meeting with Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK.

Robertson subsequently apologized for the meeting, which he said was held in secret at Israel’s request.

The minister also pledged that the government would reject future invitations from Israel until it “co-operates fully with its international obligations on the investigation of genocide and war crimes.”…..

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.
Consortium News: Journalist Richie Medhurst Arrested at Heathrow Airport Under ‘Terrorism Act’
The Guardian: Lawyers seeking arms export ban submit claims of Israeli war crimes to UK court
Middle East Eye: Activists launch ‘Abandon Kamala Harris’ campaign over Gaza policy
Middle East Monitor: Smotrich launches annexation campaign to expel Palestinians from ‘Area B’ of West Bank

Daniel Davis Deep Dive: CEASE-FIRE in Gaza: Who’s it Really up to?

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 19:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – August 19, 2024: at least 40,809* (40,173 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,251 children as of July 22. [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 636 in the West Bank (~147 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 46,848 Palestinian deaths.

Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.

Ralph Nader earlier estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

      • At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
      • At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
      • About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
      • Almost 500,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – August 19: at least 98,277 (including at least 92,857 in Gaza and 5,420 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how man Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – August 19, 2024: ~1,457 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 293*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 25 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.

**Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals. 

***Approximately ten of the deaths listed above were Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah in fighting at the Israel-Lebanon border. The figure does not include the reportedly 53 Israeli soldiers – nearly 16% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents. 

† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org

 

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