Palestinian bodies returned by Israel show signs of torture; Israel continues killing Gazans – “Ceasefire” Day 7

Many of the 90 unidentified bodies of Palestinians returned to Gaza by Israeli authorities under the ceasefire deal showed signs of torture and execution, including blindfolds, cuffed hands and bullet wounds in the head, according to doctors’ accounts.

“Almost all of them had been blindfolded, and had been bound up, and they had gunshots between the eyes. Almost all of them had been executed,” said one doctor, adding, “there were also scars and discolored patches of skin showing they had been beaten before being killed. There were also signs that their bodies had been abused after they were killed.”

The bodies belonged to men ages 25 to 70. Most had bands on their necks, including one who had a rope around the neck. Most of the bodies wore civilian clothing, but some were in uniforms, suggesting they were Palestinian fighters.

To date, the identities of four martyrs have been identified by their families.

NOTE: While Israel complains that not all Israeli remains have been returned (see below) and threatens to restart the war because of it, CNN reports that the US doesn’t consider it a ceasefire violation.

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Gaza City faces ‘catastrophic reality’ after Israel’s war

Entire Gaza City neighborhoods are without access to water after Israeli strikes destroyed 56 water wells and damaged dozens more.

More than 250,000 tonnes of solid waste are piled up across residential areas, he added, warning of an impending environmental and health disaster if it isn’t urgently removed.

Israel has dropped an estimated 70,000 tons of explosives on Gaza in the last 2 years, of which an estimated 5-10% have not exploded, according to the UN’s Mine Action Service.Three Palestinian children were injured Monday in the Gaza Strip by what was likely Israel Defense Forces unexploded ordnance, a danger that United Nations experts say could take more than a decade to defuse. 

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Gazans still waiting for food aid to arrive

Journalist Hind Khoudary reports that only a small number of trucks are entering the Strip, and it is mostly commercial trucks carrying goods for sale rather than essential relief supplies. But, she points out, the vast majority of Palestinians have no money to purchase anything.

Aid will not be delivered to the people until aid groups have stocked the warehouses, but aid items are not coming in.

The 600 truckloads a day that Israel promised are not coming in – and even if they were, that would not meet Palestinians’ needs.

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Palestinians face dire water shortages in war-ravaged Gaza City

People are asking when water will be in this area. Are water tanks coming? Over the past seven days, only a couple of water trucks made it here. Compared to the number of people who returned to this area, that’s not nearly enough.

People are walking long distances to get to this area, and they don’t find water. Everywhere we go, we see people carrying plastic containers, buckets and bottles – searching for water, something that used to come just by a turn of a tap.

More than 200,000 meters of sewage networks were also destroyed, raising fears of widespread sewage floods as the rainy season approaches.

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Released Palestinian detainee hospitalized in Gaza

How Israel plans to continue the war without its army

‘We Died a Thousand Times’: Freed Palestinian Detainees Describe Horrific Torture

NOTABLE QUOTE: “This should not even need to be said”

Caitlin Johnstone, political commentator, on Israel’s threats to withhold aid and restart the war if all Israeli remains are not returned posthaste:

The onus for stopping a genocide is on the party committing the genocide. The onus is not on the victims of the genocide to end it by meeting certain conditions. This should not even need to be said.

The world shouldn’t be bending over backwards to ensure that the state which is committing genocide is happy with the terms by which the genocide is ended. The world should be aggressively punishing the state that is committing genocide until it stops. That would be true peace. What we are seeing now is just a bad joke.