Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
Sunday was the sixteenth consecutive day of the Israeli occupation forces’ aerial, ground, and naval bombardment of northern Gaza. The siege has included blocking supplies of food, water, medicine, and fuel, destroying homes, demolishing entire residential blocks, attacking hospitals, and assassinating individuals trying to escape.
At least 84 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Sunday.
A Lebanese health ministry statement said 16 people were killed and 59 others injured in Israeli attacks over the last 24 hours.
FLASHBACK: Gaza Genocide
DAY 15 (OCT 21, 2023) If Americans Knew wrote:
- ONE YEAR AGO TODAY: Israel has doubled the number of Palestinian prisoners from 5,000 to 10,000 in two weeks.
- ONE YEAR LATER: Israel is holding 10,100 Palestinian prisoners, of which 3,400 are administrative detainees (without charge, trial, or access tto lawyers – read more here).
- ONE YEAR AGO TODAY: Hamas offered to release two more hostages, but Israel turned them down. Israel denied the report. Hamas says it informed mediators of it’s intention to release the additional people on Friday, the same day it freed 2 Americans. In both cases Hamas did not require any Palestinian prisoners be returned in exchange.
- ONE YEAR LATER: The Israeli government appears to have abandoned its citizens in captivity, opting instead for the total destruction of Gaza.
Latest from Gaza
Israeli forces bomb Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza
The Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia came under direct attack by Israeli forces on Sunday, as heavy bombardment continues across northern Gaza, an official said.
Hossam Abu Safiya, the hospital’s director, confirmed in a statement that Israeli strikes have damaged the hospital’s water tanks and electricity grid, severely disrupting medical services.
The area surrounding the hospital has been subjected to intense bombing and gunfire for several hours, placing patients and medical staff in grave danger, he added.
3 killed as Israeli warplanes hit car in central Gaza
Three people were killed when an Israeli fighter jet struck a car in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah on Sunday, a medical source said.
The strike targeted the car in an area designated by the Israeli army as a “safe zone” for civilians in the city’s western part, witnesses said.
2 Oxfam aid workers killed in Israeli airstrikes in northern Gaza
Two aid workers with British aid group Oxfam, a doctor and a midwife, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, the group said.
“Attacking aid workers is a war crime,” Oxfam said, renewing its call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
Saturday, an Israeli strike killed four water engineers near Khan Younis in the south, despite prior coordination with Israeli authorities and driving a clearly-marked vehicle.
Friday, a Mercy Corps worker was killed in an Israeli strike.
RECOMMENDED READING: It was only their machines: on Yahya Sinwar’s last stand
Lebanon update
Israel shells Lebanese town with banned phosphorous munitions: Media report
The Israeli army shelled the southern Lebanese town of Kafr Shuba with internationally banned phosphorus munitions, Lebanon’s state news agency reported on Sunday.
Israeli army demolished UNIFIL observation tower in southern Lebanon
An Israeli army bulldozer “deliberately” demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position in Marwahin, southern Lebanon, United Nations peacekeeping mission UNIFIL said in a statement.
“Yet again, we note that breaching a UN position and damaging UN assets is a flagrant violation of international law and Security Council resolution 1701,” read the statement. “It also endangers the safety and security of our peacekeepers in violation of international humanitarian law.”
UN Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, calls for a cease-fire between Lebanon and Israel, establishing a demilitarized zone where the Israeli military is prohibited.
The incident is the latest in a series of attacks against UN bases in southern Lebanon as the Israeli army is pressuring the peacekeepers to leave their positions.
“Despite the pressure being exerted on the mission and our troop-contributing countries, peacekeepers remain in all positions. We will continue to undertake our mandated tasks to monitor and report,” UNIFIL said.
West Bank/East Jerusalem
Nearly 1,400 illegal Israeli settlers storm Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque to celebrate Sukkot
Some 1,390 illegal Israeli settlers forced their way into the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, according to a Palestinian agency.
The Jordan-run Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem said the settlers entered the flashpoint site through the Mughrabi Gate in the western wall of the mosque under the protection of Israeli police.
According to witnesses, far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir joined the illegal settlers in performing Talmudic rituals at the site amid restrictions on the entry of Muslim worshippers into the complex.
Ben-Gvir’s office, however, said he did not enter the site but welcomed Israeli settlers at the entrance of the complex.
US and global news
Presidential candidate denies genocide, Nakba, erases the entire Palestinian struggle for existence
US says THAAD anti-missile system is ‘in place’ in Israel
The US military has rushed its advanced anti-missile system to Israel and it is now “in place”, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, according to Reuters.
THAAD, or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, is a critical part of the US military’s layered air defense systems and adds to Israel’s already formidable anti-missile defenses.
“The THAAD system is in place,” Austin said, speaking to reporters before his arrival in Ukraine today.
He declined to say whether it was operational, but added: “We have the ability to put it into operation very quickly and we’re on pace with our expectations.”
Leaked documents show US intelligence on Israel’s plans to attack Iran, sources say
Israel to take legal action against Macron over naval trade show ban
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz says he ordered legal proceedings against French President Emmanuel Macron after France banned Israeli firms from participating in an upcoming naval trade show.
“[These] are undemocratic steps that are not acceptable between friendly countries and I call on French President Macron to cancel them completely,” he wrote on X in Hebrew.
The decision to bar Israeli firms is the latest incident in a row fueled by the Macron government’s unease over Israel’s conduct in the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
MORE NEWS:
IMEMC Daily Reports.
The Intercept: Israeli Military Joins In on Settlers’ War to Displace Palestinian Bedouins
Axios: Pro-Iranian account leaks alleged U.S. intel on Israel’s attack plans
Anadolu Agency: ‘Secrecy and opacity’: Arms sales to Israel continue despite genocide accusations
Al Jazeera: Israel has taken human shields to a whole new criminal level
In Gaza, the collective shame of the century continues unabated and unstopped, in defiance of every norm of international law and morale. The Palestinians, exhausted by relentless attacks on their bodies and souls are abandoned to their tormentors. Shocking images of summary… https://t.co/Ajn729G7DN
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) October 20, 2024
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – OCTOBER 20, 2024:
Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – October 20, 2024: at least 43,362* ( 42,603 in Gaza* – 69% are women and children, according to Gaza’s Media Office). [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 759 in the West Bank (~165 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more in Gaza still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 49,032 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 300,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.
- At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 25 from West Bank).
- At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition (at least 37 of them children)**.
- 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 – October 20, 2024: at least 106,045 (including at least 99,795 in Gaza and 6,250 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – October 20, 2024: ~1,457 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 301*** 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.
The death toll in Lebanon since October 8, 2023 is at least 2,464 and 11,530 injuries. An estimated 1.34 million have been displaced.
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.
***The figure does not include the reportedly 56 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.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
- Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
- FLASHBACK 2014: U.S. Senators Are Nearly All Stooges for Israel
- More on Israeli Atrocities: Attacking UN peacekeepers is a dangerous policy
- How Israel killed hundreds of its own people on October 7
- The most precarious place in the world to be a child: Israel’s year of war on children
- Every accusation a confession: Israel and the double lie of ‘human shields’
- Most Americans want to stop arming Israel. Politicians don’t care.
- Happy 100th birthday, Jimmy Carter – loved by many, smeared by some
- You can’t arm a genocidal state into moderation. So why does the West keep trying?
- How Does Israel Justify Mass Killings? It Starts in the Schools.
- From the Americas to Gaza: Spreading disease has long been used by colonizers to commit genocide
- Contrived charges of antisemitism are the new ‘Red Scare’
- How Israel’s quadcopters traumatize, maim and kill Palestinians in Gaza
- Israeli society’s dehumanization of Palestinians is now absolute
- The unpublished genocide diaries of Refaat Alareer
- An arms embargo on Israel is not a radical idea — it’s the law
- Israel is redrawing the West Bank, cutting into a prospective Palestinian state
- Gaza breakdown: 20 times Israel used US arms in likely war crimes
- U.S. universities spent the summer strategizing to suppress student activism. Here is their plan.
- ‘Words like Slaughter:’ A comparative study of The New York Times reporting in Ukraine and Gaza
- Cracks in the Dome: Israel’s security mirage
