Still no evidence of UNRWA employees' participation in October 7th

People sit on the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli bombardment in Khan Younis (photo)

Months after allegations, no proof from Israel that UNRWA employees were part of October 7th attacks; baby girl delivered after mom killed in Rafah; mass grave in Khan Younis contains at least 283 bodies; thousands of Gazans missing following Israeli military withdrawal; bread and baby formula at last in northern Gaza; increased drone activity worries Rafah residents; new report from Amnesty; West Bank devastation, death; Netzah Yehuda battalion’s very bad reputation; campuses across US show solidarity with Columbia’s pro-Palestine students, more

By IAK staff, from reports

Israel has yet to provide evidence of UNRWA staff terrorist links: Colonna report

Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of its claims that employees of the UN relief agency Unrwa are members of terrorist organizations, an independent review led by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna has said.

The Colonna report, which was commissioned by the UN in the wake of Israeli allegations, found that UNRWA had regularly supplied Israel with lists of its employees for vetting, and that “the Israeli government has not informed Unrwa of any concerns relating to any UNRWA staff based on these staff lists since 2011”.

Israeli allegations of the involvement of UNRWA staff in the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel led major donors in January to cut their funding to the agency, the main channel of humanitarian support not only to Palestinians in Gaza but to Palestinian refugee communities across the region – despite the dire needs of 2.3 million people in Gaza.

Most of the donor nations have resumed their funding in recent weeks. UK ministers had said they would wait for the Colonna report to make a decision on resuming funding. US financial support of Unrwa has been permanently banned by Congress since the allegations were made.

The Colonna review, which was drafted with the help of three Nordic research institutes and is due to be published Monday, makes clear that Israel has yet to substantiate any of its broader claims about the involvement of UNRWA staff in Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

NOTE: Human rights groups have called for evidence to support Israel’s allegations from the start; US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that Israeli “intelligence” backing the allegations was “highly credible.” The United States typically provides $300 million to $400 million per year to UNRWA.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency buildings after fighting in Gaza City, Feb. 10. (photo)

Baby girl delivered from womb of Palestinian woman killed by Israeli attack

Al Jazeera reports: The mother was killed along with her husband and another daughter by an Israeli attack in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Palestinian health officials have said.

The baby, weighing 1.4kg (3lb) and delivered in an emergency caesarean section, was stable and improving gradually, said Mohammed Salama, a doctor caring for her.

Her mother, Sabreen al-Sakani, had been 30 weeks pregnant.

The baby would stay in hospital for three to four weeks, said Salama, the doctor. “After that we will see about her leaving, and where this child will go, to the family, to the aunt or uncle or grandparents. Here is the biggest tragedy. Even if this child survives, she was born an orphan,” he said.

A second strike killed 17 children and two women from an extended family.

A woman and three children were still under the rubble.

Sabreen Jouda lies in an incubator in the al-Helal hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza (photo)

Mass grave in Khan Younis among ‘the most unthinkable war crimes’

Gaza’s civil defense crews continue exhuming human remains from a mass grave at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as grieving relatives collect bodies wrapped in white shrouds.

At least 283 bodies have been recovered so far, rescue workers say.

Rescuers estimate there to be at least 400 bodies.

The Gaza government media office said some of bodies found had been decapitated, and had their skin and organs removed.

Palestinian health workers dig for bodies buried by Israeli forces in the Nasser hospital compound in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 21 April 2024 (photo)

Official: 2,000 Palestinians missing after Israel army withdrew from Gaza

Middle East Monitor reports: Some 2,000 Palestinians have been found to be missing following the Israeli occupation army’s withdrawal from several areas across Gaza, spokesman for the Civil Defense in the Strip, Major Mahmoud Basal, has said.

Speaking to the media, Basal said around 500 people were reported missing in the aftermath of the Khan Younis massacre following the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces.

He expressed deep concern regarding the fate of those missing, explaining that the Israeli occupation forcibly disappearsPalestinians as part of a systematic strategy, and often bulldozes bodies and buries them before retreating.

Women and children make up the vast majority of victims found in mass graves, he added.

Israel is ethnically cleansing Gaza, Basal warned, adding that many of the deceased were found naked, with their identities unknown as their bodies were too decomposed to identify them, raising concerns about the use of new and previously unseen weapons that had caused victims’ bodies to disintegrate and turn into ash.

A view of the destruction after Israeli forces’ withdrawal from Khan Younis. Reportedly more than 90 percent of the city has been destroyed, not only residential homes but also public facilities, the roads. Some residents of the eastern part of Khan Younis said they could not recognize the streets where they lived all their lives. (photo)

Bakeries resume production in north Gaza after WFP deliveries

The World Food Program says it delivered fuel and wheat flour to bakeries in northern Gaza “so they can begin production again after 170 days of being inoperable”.

“Four bakeries are now up and running and WFP is urgently working to deliver more supplies,” the UN organisation added.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza are at risk of famine as ongoing fighting and Israel’s limited entry of aid has decimated its food supply.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society continued distributing infant milk to #Gaza hospitals for the second day, supported by the Three Charitable Children’s Association and the Palestine Children Relief Fund. Deliveries were made to several hospitals, including Emirati Hospital and… pic.twitter.com/gS1qtCqQlj

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) April 22, 2024

Increased Israeli drone activity above Rafah

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reports from Rafah in southern Gaza: Roughly 1.5 million Palestinians seeking refuge in the area have witnessed an increase in Israeli military operations.

In particular, military surveillance quadcopter drones have been active in the skies, he said, as the loud buzzing sound of one hovering overhead could be heard.

“We’ve been hearing this buzzing since the early hours of this morning,” he said, adding that this could indicate that Rafah could face a further “intensification” of Israeli military efforts.

He said the area has already experienced heavy bombardments, and that the increased surveillance could also signal “a potential military incursion” similar to the ground operations in Khan Younis, which is also located south of the enclave.

Israeli PM Netanyahu said on Sunday that his country’s military would increase the pressure on Hamas in the “coming days”.

State-backed deadly rampage by Israeli settlers underscores urgent need to dismantle apartheid: Amnesty Int’l

New report from Amnesty International: An alarming spike in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank in recent days highlights the urgent need to dismantle illegal settlements, end Israel’s occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and its longstanding system of apartheid, said Amnesty International.

Videos verified by Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab show Israeli forces were present and failed to intervene during attacks by settlers in Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah. Witness testimonies gathered by the organization also indicate members of the Israeli military either joined in the attacks or stood by, failing to prevent the violence in Aqraba, southeast of Nablus and Kufr Malik, northeast of Ramallah.

(Read the full report here.)

West Bank refugee camp devastation is ‘pure revenge’

Al Jazeera reports: Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are used to Israeli forces destroying infrastructure but they say the scale of damage during the recent raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp – with homes demolished, roads dug up and power lines cut – is something they’ve never seen before.

“Even during the 1960s, the roads never looked like this,” said Mahmoud Khalifeh, an elderly resident of the camp. “They [Israeli forces] want to take us decades back.”

Munir Abdel Raheem, another resident, called the destruction “pure revenge”.

“It is our enemy and has been damaging our lives since 1948. I’m now 54 years old and have only been seeing the ugliness and torture of the Israeli occupation since I was a child.”

In addition to destroying infrastructure, Israeli forces also killed 14 Palestinians during the three-day raid on Nur Shams.

Israeli army unit accused of abuses ‘kills Palestinians for no real reason,’ says party leader

Andalou Agency reports: Israeli Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli called Sunday for dismantling an army unit with a history of abuses, saying it is killing Palestinians “for no real reason.”

Her call came amid reports that the US was preparing to impose sanctions on the Netzah Yehuda battalion over human rights violations committed by the combat unit against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

“The violent and corrupt conduct of the Netzah Yehuda battalion and those around it has been known for years, and nothing has been done to stop it,” she said, adding, “This is a regiment of ‘hilltop youth’…that kills Palestinians for no real reason and beats and abuses them.”

The Israeli party leader said that Washington established a team two years ago to investigate the conduct of the army unit.

“The political and military echelons cannot pretend they did not know about it,” she added. “Instead of wising up and dealing with the situation, we get yet another dose of denial and foot-dragging, lies and covering up the bitter reality.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the US decision to impose sanctions on this battalion, saying that he and his government would act against these sanctions [and that they were] “absurd and morally incorrect,” and “If somebody thinks they can impose sanctions on any IDF unit, I’ll fight that with all my might,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz posted on X saying he had “great appreciation for our American friends”, but the decision to impose sanctions on an Israeli military unit and its soldiers “sets a dangerous precedent and conveys the wrong message to our shared enemies during wartime”.

“I intend on acting to have this decision changed,” he concluded.

NOTE: The US has a law that prohibits military aid from going toward military units that perpetrate gross human rights violations.

Israeli soldiers of the Jewish Ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion hold morning prayers in 2014 (photo)

Ex-Israel general calls on Netanyahu to declare end of war Israel has already lost

Middle East Monitor reports: Retired Israeli General and military expert, Yitzhak Brik, told the news website Maariv that Israel must declare an end to the war and acknowledge defeat.

“Israel must declare the war over, we have taken our troops out of Gaza anyway, there is no way to destroy it completely, and entering Rafah will not help. If you don’t realize it, we have already lost,” he said in the interview published yesterday.

Ultra-Orthodox leader Meir Porush, last month (photo)

Israel Minister Demands that UN Deliver Wine, Matza to Israeli Hostages in Gaza

Ha’aretz reports: Barring release, wine and matza could lift Israeli hostages’ spirits, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush wrote in Hebrew in a letter addressed to the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process.

If the hostage release fails to materialize before Passover, “we adamantly demand that [the UN] takes steps to deliver matzos and wine to the hostages, so that they can mark the holiday – even symbolically.”

These amenities, he said, could “lift their spirits and allow them to survive in their difficult conditions. “This is a basic humanitarian demand,” Porush concluded.

NOTE: The Muslim holiday of Ramadan was recently completed; during that time, Israeli prisons starved, tortured, and beat Palestinian prisoners.

Israel is currently holding over 9,000 Palestinian prisoners in inhumane conditions where many are systematically tortured – 200 of them are children, 51 are women, and over 3,500 are administrative detainees – being held without charge or trial. Administrative detention is intended to be used only in “exceptional” circumstances, but Israel uses it widely. Read more here.

Students at MIT, Tufts, Emerson universities set up protest camps

Students at three prestigious universities in and near the US city of Boston have set up protest camps, demanding that their institutions cut off ties with Israel, according to campaigners.

The universities are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Tufts, and Emerson, the National Students for Justice in Palestine said.

The moves come after students at Columbia University in New York launched a Gaza Solidarity Encampment at their campus. That protest is now in its fifth day. Some 100 students were arrested there on Friday.

Pro-Palestine demonstrators at Yale arrested over protest camps on US university campus

Between 40 to 50 people, including students, have been arrested and charged with trespassing at the US university, on the third day of protests calling for divesting from weapons manufacturers amidst Israel’s war on Gaza, according to the Yale Daily News.

In a heartwarming display of global solidarity!

Pro-Palestinian activists from around the world unite in a powerful video wholeheartedly applauding in support of Columbia University students.🙌🏻🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/izIfnbaCWI

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) April 22, 2024

This is how mainstream media interprets pro-Palestine rallies

Politico reports: President Joe Biden warned on Sunday of an “alarming surge of antisemitism” in a statement tied to the approaching Jewish holiday of Passover but with clear reference to highly charged student protests at Columbia University.

“Silence is complicity,” Biden’s statement read. “Even in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant Antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous — and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.”

“While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous — they have absolutely no place on any college campus, or anywhere in the United States of America,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement, after video emerged on social media over the weekend that appeared to show pro-Palestinian activists telling Jewish students, “The 7th of October is going to be every day for you,” in reference to the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel last fall.

“Echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable. We condemn these statements in the strongest terms,” Bates added.

HERE IS WHAT THE REPORT GOT WRONG: This Politico article, like most mainstream media outlets’ coverage of campus protests, failed in at least 3 ways:

1. It equated Jews with Israel. Pro-Palestine rallies on the whole protest against the genocide that Israel is perpetrating against the people of Palestine, not against Jews. In fact, Jewish students invariably participate on the side of Palestine in these events. In many cases, Jewish groups are the organizers.
2. The October 7th attacks were not “committed against the Jewish people.” They were against the brutal, decades-long Israeli occupation.
3. This article failed to point out that the Biden administration was silent when over 100 pro-Palestine students were arrested during their peaceful demonstration.

New York City Police Department has stormed the campus of Columbia University, where students have been camped out in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, demanding that the institution divest from Israel. (photo)

How did your representative vote on aid to Israel?

Over the weekend, the House passed a bill that includes about $26 billion for supporting Israel and providing humanitarian relief for people in Gaza. About $4 billion of that would be dedicated to replenishing Israel’s missile defense systems. More than $9 billion of the total would go toward humanitarian assistance in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Senate passage is expected this coming week. President Joe Biden has promised to sign the package as soon as he gets it.

Find out how your representative voted here.

Rep. questions billions in US aid to Israel as it attacks Gaza

US Representative Joaquin Castro raised concerns during the House vote to send billions in military assistance to the Netanyahu government, questioning moves by the Israeli leader.

“His actions have not led to the release of the remaining hostages. He’s ignored the pleas of the families of hostages. He’s ignored the pleas of the president of the United States. He’s ignored his own people. He’s engaged in self-preservation. We should not be sending offensive weapons to Israel right now,” said Castro.

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the vote is a missed opportunity to rein in the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

“This has taken away any leverage President Biden might have to Netanyahu to pull back on invading Rafah or killing more innocent people,” he said.

MORE NEWS

Al Jazeera: Summer Lee’s primary race tests fallout for critics of the US’s Gaza policy

Mondoweiss: Palestinians warn of a Jewish and Christian Zionist plot to threaten Al-Aqsa Mosque, starting with a red heifer from Texas

Palestine Chronicle: Iran’s retaliation against Israel: the “theater” and the spectators

IMEMC News Reports

"Black faces in high places are not going to save us … Just look at the Black women's hand voting against a ceasefire in Gaza" – Professor Ruha Benjamin pic.twitter.com/JGrC9FrGrH

— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) April 21, 2024

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – APRIL 21:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – April 21: at least 35,039* (34,544 in Gaza* (at least 14,560 children, 9,582 women), and at least 495 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 1.1 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are facing Catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – April 21: at least 81,664 (including at least 76,833 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 21: ~1,407 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 259 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

Still no evidence of UNRWA employees’ participation in October 7th – Day 198