"No words can do justice to the horrors that people in Gaza are living in"

Gaza has been threatened by plague and deadly diseases as garbage fills the streets. In this photo, a group of children play near a waste landfill site in Gaza City (photo)

Human rights officials have never seen anything like Gaza; Israel’s AI killer, “Lavender”; Israeli army withdraws from part of Khan Younis; WCK founder says Israel is in a “war against humanity”; cancer-stricken Walid Daqqa dies in Israeli prison from medical negligence; Nicaragua takes Germany to world court over arming of Israel; more

By IAK staff, from reports

“This war broke all the superlatives”

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), has said in a statement posted on X that “no words can do justice to the horrors that people in Gaza are living in since the war began six months ago”.

“This war broke all the superlatives with the highest number of children killed, aid workers, journalists and medical teams,” he said, slamming “unprecedented attacks” on hospitals as well as UN buildings in Israel’s “blatant disregard” of international humanitarian law.

“All lines – including the red lines – were crossed,” he added. “This war is made far worse through technologies misused by humans to harm other humans, en mass.”

He also said that the situation was “made worse by the famine born from an Israeli-imposed siege”.

Lazzarini concluded by calling for all captives in Gaza to be released and a ceasefire to be implemented immediately. Israel must open more land crossings and lift all restrictions on the UNRWA without further delay, he said.

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Yuval Abraham, Israeli journalist, film director, and activist, and author of ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza (read here), talks about his findings on Israel’s use of AI in conducting the war against Gaza:

Israeli army withdraws from the west of Khan Younis

Israeli media report the Israeli army has withdrawn from the western portion of Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip.

“The 98th Division, with its three brigades, withdrew from Khan Younis last night after the end of the operation there after fighting that lasted four months,” Army Radio reported.

Only one brigade is left in Gaza, the Nahal Brigade, which is responsible for securing the corridor established by the Israeli army to prevent displaced Gaza people from returning to the north, it added.

Palestinian sources report that Israeli forces retreated from all western areas of Khan Younis city but they remained stationed in the east.

“As of this stage of the maneuver, the Israeli army completed its operation in Khan Younis and soldiers have completed their exit from there,” Israel’s Channel 12 said.

Al Jazeera adds: Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Israeli troops who pulled out of Gaza on Sunday did so to prepare for future operations, including in the enclave’s southern city of Rafah.

“The forces are exiting and preparing for their next missions. We saw examples of such missions in the Shifa operation, and also of their coming mission in the Rafah area,” Gallant said at a meeting with military officials, according to a statement from his office.

Israel’s Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi said in a televised statement that “the war in Gaza continues, and we are far from stopping. Senior Hamas officials are still hiding. We will reach them sooner or later”.

WCK founder condemns Israeli ‘war against humanity’ in Gaza

The New Arab reports: World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres on Sunday called for an independent probe into the Israeli strike that killed seven of his staff in Gaza, and warned that the conflict had become a “war against humanity itself.”

This investigation and many others should be done right, should be done in an independent way,” Andres said in an emotional interview with ABC‘s “This Week.”

“This doesn’t seem like a war against terror. This doesn’t seem anymore like a war about defending Israel,” he said. “It really, at this point, seems like a war against humanity itself.”

Andres is a celebrity chef in the United States, and the White House has called the killing of the aid workers from his charity a “catalyst” for sterner calls by US President Joe Biden for Israel to curtail the killing of civilians and aid workers, and improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Cancer-Stricken Walid Daqqa Dies in Israeli Prison

Palestine Chronicle reports: The Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission and the Prisoners’ Club announced in a brief statement that Walid Daqqa died at the Assaf Harofeh Hospital as a result of the policy of deliberate medical negligence and slow killing carried out by Israeli occupation authorities.

Daqqa is a Palestinian writer, activist, and political prisoner from Baqa Al-Gharbiya, a Palestinian town in today’s Israel.

Daqqa’s health had reportedly deteriorated since March of last year, as a result of a severe pneumonia and acute kidney failure.

The 62-year-old Palestinian prisoner was arrested in 1986 and sentenced to 37 years in prison, which he completed in March 2023.

Israeli authorities, however, extended his sentence by two years in 2017 over charges of smuggling a mobile phone into prison.

Palestinian Prisoner Walid Daqqa. (photo)

Palestinian human rights organizations have repeatedly accused Israel of medical negligence, which led to the worsening of Daqqa’s health condition.

Over 9,100 Palestinian prisoners are currently detained in Israeli prisons, and their conditions have worsened since the beginning of a devastating war and genocide on the Gaza Strip starting on October 7.

Regarding Daqqa’s death, Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, stated: “Unfortunately, the life of Waleed Abu Daqqa ended in a natural death, and not according to my perception; his life should have ended with a death penalty.”

At least 42 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons since October 7 (27 from Gaza, 14 from West Bank)

Nicaragua's Ambassador to The Netherlands Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez (R) attends a hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) 8 April — Nicaragua’s Ambassador to The Netherlands Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez (R) attends a hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) 8 April (photo)

Nicaragua seeks to halt German arms exports to Israel at World Court

Reuters reports: Nicaragua asked the International Court of Justice on Monday to order Berlin to halt military arms exports to Israel and reverse its decision to stop funding U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, saying there is a serious risk of genocide in Gaza.

Nicaragua’s agent ambassador Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez told the court Germany had violated the 1948 Genocide Convention by continuing to supply Israel with arms after ICJ judges ruled it was plausible that Israel violated some rights guaranteed under the genocide convention during its assault on Gaza.

“There can be no question that Germany (…) was well aware, and is well aware, of at least the serious risk of genocide being committed,” in the Gaza strip, Arguello Gomez said.

Israel has denied allegations of genocide and said it has the right to defend itself. German officials have said the ICJ case is not justified.

Arguello Gomez recalled that under the genocide treaty signatory states like Germany also have the duty to prevent genocide.

Berlin will present its side in court on Tuesday.

Germany has been one of Israel’s staunchest allies since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas militants which killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

It is also one of the major arms exporters to Israel, sending 326.5 million euros ($353.70 million) in military equipment and weapons in 2023, according to Economy Ministry data.

Palestinians return to their homes in Khan Younis to find widespread destruction (photo)

Palestinians inspect the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive after Israel withdrew from Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 7, 2024 (photo)

More news:

Middle East Eye: Why Israel is not held accountable for sexual violence

Mondoweiss: No, Senator Schumer, Netanyahu isn’t the problem

Middle East Monitor: WHO: Infectious diseases rising among displaced in Gaza

Al Jazeera: Israel may have started a forever war in Gaza

IMEMC News Reports

It has been 6 months since the brutal attacks in #Israel by Hamas and other groups, in which 1,200 people were killed, many more injured and hundreds abducted. @WHO once again condemns this barbaric act of violence and demands the release of remaining hostages.

However, this… pic.twitter.com/4esDoUEt2F

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 7, 2024

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – APRIL 7:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – April 7: at least 34,111* (33,643 in Gaza* (14,500 children, 9,560 women), and at least 468 in the West Bank (117 children). This does not include an estimated 7,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 40,042 Palestinian deaths.

At least 42 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 14 from West Bank)

At least 31 Palestinian children and several adults 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 Catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – April 7: at least 80,577 (including at least 75,750 in Gaza and 5,000 in the West Bank).

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

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – April 7: ~1,407 (~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); 260 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza;, 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

Times of Israel reports: The IDF also listed 41 soldiers killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents – nearly 16%.

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.

**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.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

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

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

“No words can do justice to the horrors that people in Gaza are living in” – Day 184