Israel reportedly running over Palestinians with tanks while alive – Day 149

Israel reportedly running over Palestinians with tanks while alive – Day 149

EuroMed reports that Israel regularly runs over Palestinians while they are alive; CNN reports on Israel’s criminal blockage of aid to Gaza; UNSC agrees on US watered-down statement on Flour Massacre; 2 more Israeli attacks on aid trucks, recipients; health risks multiply, especially for children, infants; Israel’s use of robots and remote-controlled dogs in the Gaza War; West Bank injustices, more

By IAK staff, from reports

ON ISRAEL RUNNING OVER PALESTINIANS WHILE STILL ALIVE – EuroMed reports: The Israeli army’s repeated killings of Palestinian civilians by deliberately running them over alive with military vehicles was vehemently denounced by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor on Sunday, as was the widespread destruction of civilian property. These crimes are part of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the rights group said, ongoing since 7 October 2023.

Euro-Med Monitor documented the Israeli army’s killing of a Palestinian man who was deliberately run over in Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighborhood on 29 February after he was arrested. The man was subjected to harsh interrogation by members of the Israeli army, who bound his hands with plastic zip-tie handcuffs before running him over with a military vehicle.

Israeli soldiers restrained the victim’s hands before they crushed him, and tramped on his body from the legs up, confirming that he was alive during the incident. To guarantee thorough and complete crushing, the victim was placed on asphalt rather than in an adjacent sandy area.

It appears that the victim was purposefully stripped of his clothes, as he was seen wearing only his underpants at the time of his death.

Armored bulldozer the Israeli military calls "Teddy Bear," used in the current invasion of Gaza, is the D9R, made by Caterpillar.
Armored bulldozer the Israeli military calls “Teddy Bear,” used in the current invasion of Gaza, is the D9R, made by Caterpillar. (photo)
RECOMMENDED READING (If Americans Knew) Israeli rapes of Palestinian women and children, past & present

ON ISRAEL’S CRIMINAL BLOCKAGE OF AID – CNN reports: CNN interviewed over two dozen humanitarian and government officials, and reviewed documents that show what items Israel most frequently rejects at the Gaza border, including anesthetics and anesthesia machines, oxygen cylinders, ventilators and water filtration systems.

One CNN source, a high level aid coordinator, said that over 15,000 tons of their relief supplies await Israeli approval to enter Gaza. More than half consists of food items.

A top executive at Save the Children told CNN that toys were rejected because they were in a wooden box rather than a cardboard box, sleeping bags were denied because they had zippers, and sanitary pads were turned back because a nail clipper was included in the hygiene kit.

US Senators Chris Van Hollen, who visited the Rafah crossing in January, said, “We learned that when a truck with just one [unacceptable item] is turned down, the entire truck gets turned around and has to go back to the beginning of the process, which can take weeks.”

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, which manages the flow of aid into Gaza, stated, “Israel assists, encourages and facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid for the residents of the Gaza Strip and for medical and other critical infrastructures in the strip,” and described the testimony given to CNN as “false accusations.”

NOTE: Israel has not proven itself trustworthy in its dealings. Among Israel’s recent lies are numerous atrocity stories about the October 7th attack that have since been proven untrue (additional examples here). Previously, Israel has been caught in many lies – for example, this and this and this.
NOTE: Israeli sources, including the government itself, have a long track record of lying (for example, this and this and this.)

UNSC STATEMENT ON “FLOUR MASSACRE’ – Al Jazeera reports: The UN Security Council (UNSC) has issued a joint statement – excessively watered-down by US demand – expressing “deep concern” that more than “100 individuals lost their lives” in “an incident involving Israeli forces at a large gathering surrounding a humanitarian assistance convoy southwest of Gaza City”.

The statement notes that several hundred people were also injured, including with “gunshot wounds as observed by [the UN humanitarian agency] UN-OCHA” but does not specify who was responsible for the gunfire.

The statement does specifically mention Israel’s role in keeping “border crossings open for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza” and calls on Israel “to support the rapid and safe delivery of relief items to people in all of the Gaza Strip”.

The joint statement comes after the US on Thursday blocked a statement from the council which would have assigned blame to Israel for the so-called “flour massacre“.


WAFA reports: Sunday, eight Palestinians were martyred and others were injured in a bombing by Israeli occupation aircraft on a small truck carrying humanitarian aid in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. 


WAFA also reports: Israeli occupation forces committed a new massacre against Palestinian citizens at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City, medical sources said on Sunday evening, opening fire on citizens at the Kuwait roundabout while they were waiting for aid trucks loaded with flour, killing and injuring dozens.


UN OHCHR has statedBetween mid-January and the end of February, the UN office said it had “recorded at least 14 incidents involving shooting and shelling of people gathered to receive desperately needed supplies” at the Kuwait Roundabout on Salah al-Din Street and Al Nabulsi Roundabout.


Al Jazeera reports: The Israeli military, in the last hours, targeted a cemetery in the Jabalia refugee camp that was recently built by the residents of the repeatedly bombed area in northern Gaza, causing a large crater, and leaving shrouded bodies of the dead scattered.

Residents have been trying to bury them again at another site.

Ha’aretz reports (because Ha’aretz uses a paywall, IAK has reposted this article since we feel all Americans should read it – read it in full here): In an effort to avoid harming soldiers and dogs, the IDF has been experimenting with the use of robots and remote-controlled dogs in the Gaza War.

The Vision 60, a dog-shaped walking robot. Another robot, called the Rooster, is installed on the robot's back, creating a kind of ground robot and drone.
The US-made Vision 60, a dog-shaped walking robot. Another robot, Israeli-made, called the Rooster, is installed on the robot’s back, creating a kind of ground robot and drone.. (photo)

Most of the tests have been with a “robot dog,” which is also equipped with a drone and can replace or reinforce the Oketz Unit’s dogs in certain situations. Unmanned remote-control D9 bulldozers are also being used.

It is nothing new for the IDF to use robots and unmanned ground vehicles, especially by elite units and the Yahalom Unit operating in the tunnels.

But defense establishment officials confirm that there has been a leap in the use and sophistication of robots on the battlefield.

A prominent example is the procurement of Vision 60 units, a dog-shaped walking robot made by Philadelphia-based Ghost Robotics. The first four units entered military service during the war, financed by donors. The defense establishment subsequently procured more units.

Another robot, called the Rooster, is installed on the robot’s back, creating a kind of ground robot and drone, jointly developed by Israeli startup Robotican and the Defense Research & Development Directorate. (Read the full article here.)

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – March 3: at least 30,953* (30,534 in Gaza* (over 13,430 children, 8,900 women), and at least 419 in the West Bank (over 100 children). This does not include an estimated 7,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 38,066 Palestinian deaths.

11 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons

15 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition

About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.

About 2.2 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are facing Crisis, Emergency, or Famine levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – March 3: at least 76,531** (including at least 71,920 in Gaza and 4,611 in the West Bank).

It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – March 3: ~1,392 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~574 were civilians, 373 or 337 were security and/or military forces, ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 245 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza;, 13 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

NBC reports: “According to the latest available IDF data… nearly 1 in 5, or 17%, of all Israel’s losses have come not at the hands of Hamas but from mishaps on its own side.”

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel 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.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

For more news, go here and hereBroadcast news from the region is here.

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

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