Israeli forces accused of sexual assault (again) – Day 448

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Israeli forces accused of sexual assault (again) – Day 448
The dead body of one-month-old Juma al-Batran, who froze to death in a tent in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on December 29, 2024 (Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency)

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians in attacks across Gaza on Saturday, most of them in besieged northern areas of the enclave.

Gaza authorities warn of ‘disaster’ amid freezing temperatures, decaying tents

The Government Media Office reports that 110,000 out of 135,000 tents used by displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are now out of service and have “completely deteriorated”.

It said in a statement on its Telegram channel that the Israeli military is “causing a tragic humanitarian crisis” that is once again threatening the lives of thousands of civilians as the freezing winter cold sets in.

“This catastrophic humanitarian situation is a direct result of the genocide committed by the ‘Israeli’ occupation army, which has completely destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes of these citizens, forcing them to resort to living in tents that lack the minimum requirements for a decent life.”

Several Palestinian babies have frozen to death in the past few nights. About 2 million Palestinians in the enclave have been displaced, many numerous times, as a result of devastating Israeli military attacks that have killed more than 45,000 people so far.

Heavy rains and chilly winds in Gaza can make the winter unbearable, especially for people stranded in makeshift plastic tents.
Heavy rains and chilly winds in Gaza can make the winter unbearable, especially for people stranded in makeshift plastic tents. (AbdelHakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera)

Many warnings given that Israeli ‘strangulation of Gaza’ would lead to babies freezing to death: NRC

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), said the deaths of babies in Gaza due to hypothermia is a “man-made” catastrophe. In a short post on social media, Egeland said warnings that children would freeze to death had been given “many times”.

“We warned of this many times: the Israeli strangulation of Gaza, where neither shelter nor food reach the innocent, had led to babies freezing to death,” he said. “This catastrophe is man-made from A to Z,” he added.

At least four Palestinian infants have frozen to death over recent days as temperatures plummet in Gaza, which is in the grips of winter.

A Palestinian healthcare worker also died due to “extreme” weather conditions in the territory, where hundreds of thousands are living in flimsy tents and other makeshift shelters.

The body of Al-Hakim Ahmed al-Zaharneh, who worked at the European Gaza Hospital, was found inside his tent in the al-Mawasi area where he had died from the cold, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

NOTE: Israel has been blocking the delivery to Gaza of critical winter items, including warm clothes and shoes, blankets, and tents.
The lifeless body of Sile, who lost her life due to cold weather, is brought to Nasser Hospital for a funeral in Khan Younis, Gaza, on December 25, 2024
The lifeless body of Sile, who lost her life due to cold weather, is brought to Nasser Hospital for a funeral in Khan Younis, Gaza, on December 25, 2024 (Hani Alshaer/Anadolu)

Israeli forces ‘sexually assaulted, beat and insulted women’ during Gaza hospital raid

Israeli forces sexually assaulted Palestinian women and executed unarmed civilians during the Friday raid on Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, witnesses have said in a new report.

The violence against women included stripping off their clothes, touching them under the threat of violence, beating them and hurling sexual insults at them.

Their testimonies were collected by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor and published on Saturday. 

According to the report, dozens of women and girls detained during the raid received degrading abuse that amounts to sexual violence. 

In one incident, a soldier tore the clothes of a woman, exposing her chest, after she refused to remove her hijab, or headscarf. 

Recalling a different incident, an unnamed woman said: “A soldier forced a nurse to take off her trousers, then placed his hand on her. When she tried to resist, he struck her hard across the face, causing her nose to bleed.” 

Another eyewitness said a soldier told a woman: “Take it off, or we’ll force it off you.”

A hospital staff member told the monitor: “The soldiers ordered us to remove our hijabs, but we refused. They then turned to the girls under 20 years old and demanded they remove their hijabs, but they also refused.

“The soldiers decided to punish us by taking two women at a time and forcing them to lift their clothes and lower their trousers under threats and coercion.”

The last known photo of Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hussam Abu Safiyeh before he was arrested by Israeli forces.
The last known photo of Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hussam Abu Safiyeh before he was arrested by Israeli forces. (social media)

Israel confirms arrest of Kamal Adwan Hospital director

The Israeli military on Saturday confirmed it arrested the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, a day after Israeli forces stormed the hospital and forcibly emptied it of patients and medical staff.

The military said it had taken Dr Hussam Abu Safiya in for questioning, and accused him of being a “suspected Hamas terrorist operative”.

Several medical staff were burned alive in fires set off during Israel’s raid on the medical facility, and patients and medics were stripped down before being forced out of the hospital on foot.

The Kamal Adwan Hospital was the last large medical facility that remained functioning in northern Gaza before the raid.

On the night of 23 November 2024, a drone strike targeted Abu Safiya’s office, leaving him seriously wounded.

Speaking from his hospital bed in a Whatsapp press statement on 24 November, Abu Safiya said:

“This will not stop us. I was injured at my workplace, and that is an honor. My blood is no more precious than that of my colleagues or the people we serve. I will return to my patients as soon as I recover.”

[Above] is the last known photo of Dr. Abu Safiyeh, taken as he walked alone toward two Israeli tanks, by photographer Muhannad al-Muqayed.

The caption reads, “One man against empire, against an entire army. This is Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya standing alone against the Israeli occupation army, forced to leave the hospital after 84 days of unwavering resilience and determination. Stories of this picture will be told for centuries to come.”

Gaslighting: Israeli officer denies soldiers stormed, set fire to Gaza hospital

Israeli army Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said a preliminary investigation found “no connection” between Israel’s military activity and “a small fire” that broke out in the Kamal Adwan Hospital, The Times of Israel reports.

Shoshani told the Israeli news outlet that reports of Israeli soldiers setting fire to the hospital were “unsubstantiated”.

Witness accounts collected by Al Jazeera and other media outlets contradict these claims, while the UN’s World Health Organization said reports indicate that “key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid”.

The operating and surgical departments, laboratory, maintenance, and emergency units of Kamal Adwan Hospital have reportedly been completely burned, according to sources.
The operating and surgical departments, laboratory, maintenance, and emergency units of Kamal Adwan Hospital have reportedly been completely burned, according to sources. (screengrab)

Palestinian journalist shot in the head ‘by PA forces’ in West Bank

A Palestinian journalist was shot and killed outside her family’s home in the northern West Bank town of Jenin late Saturday, where Palestinian Authority (PA) security officers, backed by the Israeli military, continued their crackdown on Palestinian resistance fighters.

Shatha al-Sabbagh, 22, was killed late on Saturday while she was with her mother and two children
Shatha al-Sabbagh, 22, was killed late on Saturday while she was with her mother and two children (Getty)

According to her family, Shatha al-Sabbagh, 22, was killed by a sniper with the Palestinian security forces while she was with her mother and two small children. She added that there were no fighters in the area at the time.

Sabbagh’s brother-in-law, Suhaib al-Mura’i, said a sniper stationed inside a nearby house – which was seized by the PA forces and turned into a military post – had fired at her as she left his home with her two small children, her mother and sister.

“Shatha and her mother had been staying at my house because their home was heavily damaged during earlier clashes,” al-Mura’i said.

“She was carrying two young children, aged one-and-a-half and two years old, and was accompanied by her mother and sister. All of them were wearing prayer garments and were clearly visible to the sniper, who fired at them intentionally and without reason,” he added.

He added that the area was fully under PA control and there were no clashes or other armed fighters nearby.

A statement from PA forces said Sabbagh was shot by “militants”, in reference to Palestinian fighters who had been battling Israeli occupying forces in recent years. The PA condemned the shooting and said it would “investigate” it.

NOTE: The Palestinian Authority is widely seen as a collaborator with, or subcontractor for the Israeli occupation.

West Bank: 2 more Palestinian Authority security personnel killed as ‘operation’ in Jenin refugee camp continues

Two more Palestinian Authority security personnel were killed in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, bringing the death toll from the ongoing “operation” to nine, which was launched in response to the killing of a senior security officer.

Palestinian security forces launched the operation three weeks ago against what they called “outlaws” in the Jenin refugee camp.

Anwar Rajab, a spokesperson for the Palestinian security forces, said an intelligence agent who was on duty in the Jenin camp when he was injured died of his wounds on Wednesday.

According to local media, at least nine people have been killed in the campaign, including five security personnel, three civilians, and an Islamic Jihad commander.

The operation has prompted several Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to accuse the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah of targeting resistance fighters in the camp.

US: Coalition of labor, community, and faith groups wins victory for the BDS movement in California

Organizers and workers from across Alameda County, California, scored a major victory for the BDS movement on December 10th, successfully pressuring the Board of Supervisors to vote to develop an ethical investment policy that, when implemented, could move tens of millions of dollars in investments out of companies profiting off of Israel’s genocide and system of apartheid.

The County Treasurer, who is an independent elected official, also announced that he had already dropped $12 million in bonds in Caterpillar (CAT), which directly profits from Israeli apartheid and the ongoing genocide, after sustained organizing from county residents and organizations requesting him to do so. He further pledged to dump the county’s remaining CAT bond, worth $20 million.

This vote comes after months of grassroots organizing and pressure, including from many organizers with Bay Area Divest! (BAD!) and the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America’s (EBDSA) “Divest from Apartheid” campaign.

“Organizing local governments to divest from Israeli apartheid and genocide is our chapter’s top priority,” said Zach Weinstein, co-chair of EBDSA. “It’s been incredible to see the combined power of organized workers, faith communities, racial justice organizations, Palestinian and Arab-led groups, and Jewish anti-zionists to win this major victory for the Palestine solidarity movement in the US, even as state repression of that movement continues to escalate.”

Alameda County is the first U.S. county to divest in this manner, and, once this policy is fully developed and implemented, it will be the largest jurisdiction in the US to have divested from Israel, following the Bay Area cities of Richmond and Hayward, California and a handful of other cities across the country.

RELATED: How research at MIT abets Israel’s genocide in Gaza
Protestors in Melbourne, Australia, hold a banner promoting the boycott of Israel at rally on October 10. The nearly 20-year-old movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel, called BDS for short, has re-emerged this month after an attack violence by Hamas spurred retaliatory strikes by Israel. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images
Protestors in Melbourne, Australia, hold a banner promoting the boycott of Israel at rally on October 10. The nearly 20-year-old movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel, called BDS for short, has re-emerged this month after an attack violence by Hamas spurred retaliatory strikes by Israel. (Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

MORE NEWS:

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STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – DECEMBER 28, 2024:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – December 28, 2024: at least 46,350* – 45,514 in Gaza; in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers and/or settlers have killed at least 836 Palestinians (~172 of them children).

Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 11,000 more are still buried under rubble.

According to a report in the Lancet, by multiplying the reported deaths by five, it is possible to reach a conservative estimate of total deaths (including indirect causes like starvation and lack of medicine). Using the latest figure from AFP (45,514), it is reasonable to estimate at least 227,570 total deaths in Gaza since October 7th, 2023.

According to a recent report by the UN Human Rights Office of identified fatalities in Gaza, about 44% were children. It is reasonable to estimate that 20,026 of known direct deaths and 100,131 of the total deaths are children.

Since Israel launched an extermination campaign in northern Gaza in early October, over 4,000 Palestinians have been killed or are missing and another 12,000 wounded.

Palestinian injuries from October 7, 2023 – December 28, 2024: at least 114,689 (including at least 108,189 in Gaza and 6,500 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 28, 2024: ~1,595 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 417*** (or 392) military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza (updated: Dec 17); 43 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.

ADDITIONAL STATISTICS: Since October 7th, 2023:

  • At least 49 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (at least 30 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.

*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.

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 59 Israeli soldiers – nearly 17% 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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