When a phone flashlight is as important to a doctor as her stethoscope – Day 322

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When a phone flashlight is as important to a doctor as her stethoscope – Day 322
A view of the Deir al Balah area beach in Gaza on Wednesday, August 21, where tens of thousands of Palestinian displace families have fled. (screengrab)

Compilation of news reports by IAK staff 

Gaza doctors left in the dark as fuel shortages hit hospitals

AFP reports:

In the dim corridors of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, mobile phone flashlights are now as essential as stethoscopes for doctors doing rounds without functioning generators.

Dr. Mahmoud Abu Amsha said, “international organizations no longer supply it with the fuel needed for the generators”.

The fuel shortages could soon prove deadly, Abu Amsha said.

“Children in the incubators are threatened with cardiac arrest and death, and there are also seven cases in the intensive care unit, and they will die due to the fuel shortage,” he said.

Relatives of Palestinian children, killed in an Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp, carry the bodies to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, on August 16 [Hassan Jedi/Anadolu Images]
Relatives of Palestinian children, killed in an Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp, carry the bodies to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, on August 16 [Hassan Jedi/Anadolu Images] (photo)

‘Panic’ in Deir el-Balah as displaced people flee attacks in last ‘intact’ city

Al Jazeera reports from Deir el-Balah, central Gaza:

More than 100,000 people have been displaced from [eastern Der el-Balah] over the last 48 hours. The concern is that the number is going to increase as more areas become potential targets for the Israeli military. The city is running out of space.

More residential blocks are part of Israel’s “red zone” and people are not being given enough time to evacuate. There have been artillery strikes since the early hours of the morning, causing a great deal of panic. The heavy artillery can go deep into the city.

The skies above the city are clouded with quadcopters, surveillance drones and other aircraft, intimidating everyone who is trying to seek safety to the west. Even now, the sound of shots from quadcopters is going off.

There is a growing fear that Deir el-Balah, which is the only city left in the entire Strip that is relatively intact, will suffer the same fate as other cities. There is fear that Israel’s military will move gradually towards the centre and then the western part.

The population is traumatized by the many times it has been forced into internal displacement.

Hamas condemns Israeli soldiers’ burning Muslim holy book the Quran, desecrating mosques & churches

Andalou Agency reports: 

Israel has destroyed 610 mosques completely, 214 partially, and also destroyed 3 churches since its offensive on Gaza Strip began last Oct. 7

Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Saturday condemned Israeli soldiers’ burning of copies of the Muslim holy book Quran and the destruction of mosques in the Gaza Strip, calling it “fascist behavior filled with hatred and criminality.”

“We strongly condemn the actions of Zionist soldiers burning copies of the Quran during their raid and desecration of the Bani Saleh Mosque in northern Gaza,” the group said in a statement on Telegram.

They added: “The burning of the Quran, the desecration, targeting, and destruction of mosques confirms the extremist nature of this entity and its soldiers, who are filled with hatred and criminality, and their fascist behavior towards everything related to the identity and sanctities of the nation.”

Hamas called on Arab and Islamic nations and governments to “express their anger and condemnation of the Zionist behavior, and to act to defend the Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine and to stop the genocide against our people.”

On Sunday, Qatari channel Al Jazeera released images showing Israeli soldiers storming the Bani Saleh Mosque in northern Gaza and burning all the copies of the Quran inside.

According to the channel, the images also show the destruction of the Grand Mosque in Khan Younis, one of the oldest mosques in Gaza.

One million may miss food aid amid displacement, fighting in south, central Gaza: UN

Al Jazeera reports:

More than a million people in southern and central Gaza may not receive humanitarian food aid rations for August, the UN reports, amid repeated evacuation orders by the Israeli military on top of dire shortages of cooking gas disrupting the operation of food aid kitchens and bakeries.

The dire warning comes as the UN reports that the amount of humanitarian food aid that successfully entered southern Gaza in July was among the lowest level recorded since the start of Israel’s war on the territory in October.

“Intense fighting, damaged roads, a breakdown of law and order, and access challenges along the main humanitarian route between the Kerem Shalom Crossing and Khan Younis and Deir al Balah have led to critical food shortages,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) says in its latest flash assessment.

Palestinians carry their belongings as they flee Israeli attacks on the Zeitoun neighbourhood in southern Gaza City on Friday [Hamza Qraiqea/Anadolu]
Palestinians carry their belongings as they flee Israeli attacks on the Zeitoun neighborhood in southern Gaza City on Friday [Hamza Qraiqea/Anadolu] (photo)

Little chance of successful polio vaccine campaign unless days of peace in Gaza: Physician

Al Jazeera reports:

Al Jazeera spoke earlier with Dr Thaer Ahmad, an emergency medicine physician, about the dangers of polio for Palestinians in Gaza.

“We know that there are others [cases of polio] out there,” he said.

“You know, we use chlorine tablets to help clean and disinfect the water. There have been no chlorine tablets that have entered Gaza since January. All of the water that people are using is contaminated. It’s not safe,” Ahmad told Al Jazeera.

“How can we get them to vaccines if we can’t even bring in medical supplies because of restrictions?” he said.

“The WHO, the Health Ministry, all different NGOs, they are saying we need days of tranquillity so that we can at least deliver these vaccines and administer them. They want to plan to roll this out on August 31. But by the looks of it, we have no chance of a successful rollout vaccination campaign.”

After Israel destroyed Gaza's water and sewage systems, filthy water runs or stands stagnant all over the enclave, carrying polio and other diseases.
After Israel destroyed Gaza’s water and sewage systems, filthy water runs or stands stagnant all over the enclave, carrying polio and other diseases. (collage)

‘They made us wear Israeli uniforms’: Palestinian used as human shield in Gaza

Al Jazeera reports (video here):

A young Palestinian man, who was arrested near the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing while trying to find food for his displaced family, was used as a human shield by Israeli forces multiple times before being left for dead.

He was shot after being told to inspect an area, and woke up in a hospital a day later.

“The helmet has a camera and a mic, and they direct us,” he told Al Jazeera. “They say to us: Film here, do this here. They enter the house after we scout it for them, then they go in. The quadcopter stays above you, the tank remains pointed at you, meaning you cannot escape or do anything.”

WATCH: Netanyahu is escalating the war in Lebanon instead of ending the war on Gaza – Marwan Bishara

This is the speech that the DNC refused to let America hear

At DNC, the Squad warns Democrats to wake up to the threat of AIPAC

The Intercept reports:

With the Democratic primary season winding down, [some – see this and this] members of the Squad are speaking more directly than ever about the role that the pro-Israel lobby played in silencing critics of Israel’s human rights abuses in Congress, as well as Democrats’ complicity.

As the Democratic National Convention entered its final day in Chicago, the topic of the war on Gaza and the role of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in elections had been largely absent from the main stage. No Palestinian speakers got time on the dais, despite the protest efforts from the “Uncommitted” movement this week.

Instead, the conversation among Democrats about pushing for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an end to U.S. weapons shipments to Israel, and the party’s role in allowing AIPAC to shape its primaries has been taking place outside the United Center, where progressives held protests to hold convention delegates’ feet to the fire.

And victims of AIPAC’s political campaigns were on hand to add their voices to the demonstrations.

“Their role in my primary was egregious,” Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who was unseated amid an onslaught of millions of dollars from AIPAC, told The Intercept during an interview at the DNC. “It was largely deceptive, because they were trying to hide their affiliation as far as the reason they needed to run someone against me. But after my opponent won, they wanted to boast the win.”

AIPAC spent more than $25 million to unseat Bush and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., in primaries this cycle. The outside spending from AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups made the two races the most expensive Democratic House primaries in history.

AIPAC’s attack ads against Bush concealed the group’s sole policy priority is Israel, Bush said.

“Not one ad spoke about Israel. Not one ad spoke about Palestine,” she said. “Not one ad spoke about antisemitism.”

(Read the full article here.)

AIPAC deliberately targets the progressive candidates it either hates or who are the most vulnerable, writes Richard Silverstein
AIPAC deliberately targets the progressive candidates it either hates or who are the most vulnerable, writes Richard Silverstein (photo)

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STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – AUGUST 24:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – August 24, 2024: at least 40,971* (40,334 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,251 children as of July 22. [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 – and at least 637 in the West Bank (~147 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 46,848 Palestinian deaths.

Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death9 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 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

      • At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
      • At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
      • About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
      • Almost 500,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – August 24: at least 98,776 (including at least 93,356 in Gaza and 5,420 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how man Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – August 24, 2024: ~1,457 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 279*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 25 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.

*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. 

***Approximately ten of the deaths listed above were Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah in fighting at the Israel-Lebanon border. The figure does not include the reportedly 53 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.

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

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