Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
Gaza’s health ministry says Israeli strikes have killed 36 Palestinians and wounded 96 others in the latest 24-hour reporting period.
At least 25 people were killed when Israeli warplanes hit and leveled an inhabited home in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, a local source said on Monday. Women and children were sheltering there.
More than 3,700 people have been killed or reported missing during 60 days of Israeli military’s operations in northern Gaza, the enclave’s media office said Monday. 1,750 are reported detained.
In Lebanon, in spite of a ceasefire, Israeli forces killed at least 11 on Monday.
There are no ‘humanitarian zones’ or ‘evacuation orders’ in Gaza
As you read this, many families in Gaza are weighing whether they should flee their current shelter and risk having to endure the harsh winter out on the streets or risk being bombed and killed where they are. There is no guarantee that they will be safe from Israel’s bombs and bullets if they choose either option.
These are dilemmas no human should ever have to endure, yet recent research by Action For Humanity found that 98 percent of the 200,000 people in the “humanitarian zones” in central Gaza have had to wrestle with them. In fact, according to our findings, more than a quarter of these people have had to move 10 or more times in the past 13 months.
The research, based on the testimonies of displaced Palestinians on the ground, revealed that Israel’s “evacuation orders” often give people just an hour, and sometimes even less, to pack up what remains of their lives and run for their lives. And when they agree to “evacuate”, they are often still chased by a hail of bullets as they try to find new shelter in another “humanitarian zone”.
The devastating details in the report, titled Erasure by Design, make it clear that there are no real humanitarian zones in Gaza and that the “evacuation orders” Israel issues are not aimed at getting Palestinians out of harm’s way. The use of these terms by Israel, its allies and international media serve only to whitewash what is happening before our eyes in Gaza: land grabs under the threat of extermination.
It is doing so to ensure nowhere in Gaza is safe for Palestinians. It is trying to kill two birds with one stone: creating the illusion of adherence to humanitarian law while laying the groundwork for illegally expanding Israeli territory.
The reality on the ground is clear: There are no “humanitarian zones” or “evacuation orders” but only threats of extermination and islands of medieval suffering not fit for basic survival, let alone dignified living.
Israeli army razes 600 buildings in Gaza to build dozens of military bases, expand Netzarim Corridor
The Israeli army has been expanding its construction of military bases, outposts, and communication towers in the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, the New York Times (NYT) reported on 2 December.
The military has demolished over 600 buildings around the corridor in the past three months “in an apparent attempt to create a buffer zone,” the report states.
Satellite images reviewed by NYT showed the Israeli army has built at least 19 large bases throughout the area and dozens of small ones, suggesting plans for a long-term occupation.
“While some were built earlier in the war, the imagery also shows that the pace of construction appears to be accelerating: 12 of the bases were either built or expanded since early September,” NYT writes.
As a result of the construction, the corridor has slowly grown into a 46.6 square-kilometer military zone occupied by Israeli forces.
Hamas says 33 Israeli captives killed in Gaza
Hamas says 33 captives held by the group in Gaza have been killed since the start of Israel’s nearly 14-month-old war in the besieged enclave.
The group issued a video statement on Monday saying the captives were killed “because of the stubbornness of the war criminal” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “his ongoing aggression”.
Hamas made the announcement as key mediators, including Egypt, Qatar and the United States, launch another effort to reach a ceasefire that would see the release of Israeli captives.
The push comes after a recent truce in Lebanon raised hope for a diplomatic breakthrough.
Hamas’s video lists and dates the incidents in which the group said captives were killed. Most of them were air strikes. However, some were rescue attempts by the Israeli military gone wrong.
Hamas offered to release all Israeli hostages in the early days of the war.
B’Tselem: “Unleashed: Abuse of Palestinians by Israeli Soldiers in the Center of Hebron”
In the West Bank, the view of all Palestinians as enemies who should be treated with unyielding force is translating into further oppression of the entire civilian population, by the various arms of the Israeli regime.
A record number of Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in 2024, and the number of detentions and administrative detainees reached a historic high.
Since the beginning of the war, many attacks on Palestinians by soldiers and settlers have been documented throughout the West Bank. The attacks were aimed at Palestinians suspected of no wrongdoing and often carried out in plain sight, in full view of officers and commanders.
Soldiers are being urged to take more “proactive” and “offensive” actions, while the public is demanding – or, at least, accepting – revenge on all Palestinians for the crimes of Hamas.
They see themselves as authorized to play the role of prosecutor, judge and executioner in any encounter with a Palestinian. In practice, every soldier has been granted virtually unlimited power to use violent means of oppression.
They know they will not be held accountable for their conduct.
B’Tselem’s field researchers gathered testimonies from Palestinians who were attacked by soldiers in the city center of Hebron between May and August 2024. Their accounts indicate a rise in the scope, type and severity of violence that soldiers are currently employing against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Read the report, “Unleashed: Abuse of Palestinians by Israeli Soldiers in the Center of Hebron” here.
Israel has demolished over 1,500 West Bank facilities in 2024, says UN
Israeli forces have demolished 1,528 Palestinian-owned structures in the occupied West Bank since the start of the year, according to the latest figures published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The UN data, published on 29 November, indicated that 3,637 Palestinians have been displaced as a result of an ongoing Israeli demolition campaign.
The destroyed infrastructure included inhabited residences (700), agricultural infrastructure (398), and livelihood-related assets (205), such as shops and businesses.
‘Significant progress’ made by Hamas, Fatah on post-war Gaza govt: Report
Hamas and the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Fatah party have made “significant progress” towards forming a joint governing body to administer a post-war Gaza Strip during talks in the Egyptian capital Cairo, Al-Araby al-Jadeed reported on 2 December.
The source said, “There is a general consensus among all on the need to seize the opportunity to resolve the differences and end the suffering of the Palestinian people.”
In late July this year, Hamas, Fatah, and 12 other Palestinian factions signed a Chinese-brokered reconciliation agreement during meetings in Beijing.
Washington has been pushing its own plans for post-war Gaza, which involves the installment of a “reformed” PA under the tutelage of an Arab-International mission.
The Palestinian resistance factions have rejected western initiatives for post-war Gaza and maintain that the fate of their people must remain in their hands.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to reject the PA and Fatah’s involvement in any post-war government in Gaza. The premier has advanced his own plans for the ‘day after’ the war, which involves indefinite Israeli security control over the strip.
Israel strikes Lebanon again and again, but hopes ceasefire will hold
Israel has a unique and unilateral interpretation of the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, whereby Israel has given itself the right to enforce that agreement with “fire”. So far, according to UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, Israel has broken the ceasefire at least 100 times.
These were the words of the Israeli army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, “We will maintain the ceasefire with fire”, meaning that Israel can strike at Hezbollah on Lebanese territory and beyond.
Israel views any infraction, any movement, any activity of Hezbollah as a violation that it has the right to respond to.
US envoy Amos Hochstein has expressed frustration and fear that these Israeli attacks could threaten this fragile ceasefire.
In the meantime, Israel continues striking but is still hoping that this ceasefire would hold.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told his French counterpart in a phone call that his country is, in fact, enforcing the ceasefire – which stipulates Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the Israel-Lebanon border area – rather than violating it, Sa’ar said on X Monday.
On Monday alone, in spite of the ceasefire, Israeli forces killed at least 11 Lebanese.
RECOMMENDED READING: The ‘Ceasefire’ in Lebanon is a Ticking Bomb
Over 500 digital rights violations against Palestinian content recorded in November: Report
Sada Social, an organization dedicated to documenting digital rights violations against Palestinian content online, reported over 500 violations in November.
The organization documented extensive digital suppression across multiple platforms in its monthly report.
Meta platforms accounted for 57% of the violations, followed by TikTok at 23%, YouTube at 13% and X at 7%.
Additionally, 30 WhatsApp accounts belonging to Palestinians were removed, including two news groups.
These actions deepen “digital policies that suppress Palestinian voices and limit their reach to audiences,” the organization said.
It also noted that a persistent “digital blackout” continued in northern Gaza, “severely hindering residents’ ability to communicate.”
MORE NEWS:
The Intercept: How Universities Are Trying to Stop Another Year of Anti-War Activism
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Nearly 70,000 Palestinians have been trapped for two months without access to food or medicine, as Israeli occupation forces continue to pursue them throughout the northern #Gaza Striphttps://t.co/QK8hFKETlB
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) December 3, 2024
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – DECEMBER 2, 2024:
Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – December 2, 2024: at least 45,303* ( 44,502 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. This does not include an estimated 10,000 more in Gaza still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children).
In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers and/or settlers have killed at least 801 Palestinians (~167 of them children).
In July 2024, the Lancet said: “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 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (at least 47 from Gaza).
- At least 43 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.
- About 345,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – December 2, 2024: at least 111,904 (including at least 105,454 in Gaza and 6,450 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 – December 2, 2024: ~1,584 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 406*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza (updated: Nov 29); 39 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 3,961, with 16,520 injuries.
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
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