Terrifying Israeli attack on Rafah, more mass graves, more int’l law violations – Day 214

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Terrifying Israeli attack on Rafah, more mass graves, more int’l law violations – Day 214
Palestinians wait to evacuate on May 7, after Israeli forces launch a ground and air operation in the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip (photo)

Rafah nightmare; another cache of buried Gazan bodies; Israeli hostage dies from Israeli bombing; evacuation orders not compliant with int’l humanitarian law; Biden admin drags its feet on Israel report; settlers attack aid trucks (again) as famine grows; cousin of extremist Israeli Meir Kahane rams Columbia pro-Palestine protesters; US reportedly delays shipment of one-ton bombs to Israel; news on ceasefire proposal…

By IAK staff, from reports

Firsthand accounts from Rafah

‘They have gone crazy’: Intense tank fire on Rafah

Rafah residents report heavy tank shelling in the evening in some areas of eastern Rafah.

“They have gone crazy. Tanks are firing shells, and smoke bombs cover the skies and with smoke over al-Salam and Jnaina neighborhoods,” said Emad Joudat, 55, a Gaza City resident displaced in Rafah.

Israel bombs Rafah municipal building

Al Jazeera’s correspondent reports that Israeli army artillery fire has hit the headquarters of the local government in Rafah, as it steps up strikes on the southern Gaza city.

‘Never in my life have I ever seen bombardment like this’

A man in Rafah has described the night of heavy Israeli attacks. Here’s his account:

“Intense bombardment, very very intense bombardment … Air strikes, rockets, artillery shelling, tank shelling, drones – all firing at us!

“Never in my life – I am 69 years old – have I ever seen bombardment like this, and I have witnessed several wars. I have never seen a war like this one.

Israeli shelling hits children near Nuseirat camp

Israel’s military has shelled an area in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, causing numerous injuries, including of children, report our colleagues on the ground.

Nuseirat is one of the areas in central Gaza that Palestinians fleeing Rafah, where Israel’s military has launched a limited incursion, have begun heading to.

Where are Gazans going?

An UNRWA spokesperson in Gaza reports that roughly 50,000 people have fled from Rafah in the last 48 hours following Israel’s evacuation order. “We’ve seen them go to Khan Younis, some have gone to the expanded humanitarian area of Al-Mawasi, others have gone to Deir al-Balah,” he said.

Khan Younis and Deir al Balah are both already devastated by the war.

Israel has designated a region called Al Mawasi for Gazans to shelter, but “it’s essentially a sandy area, so there’s no sewage infrastructure, there’s no water infrastructure. There aren’t roads that lead into it,” according to UNRWA. 400,000 Palestinians are already there.

Over 130 mass graves found in Gaza as more bodies uncovered at Al-Shifa

Middle East Monitor reports: Another mass grave has been uncovered at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, as the number of mass graves discovered since Israel’s invasion of the besieged Strip has climbed to over 130.

In the latest discovery, 62 bodies, including women and children, were uncovered in an advanced state of decomposition, which will make them hard to identify.

Israeli hostage dies of wounds from Israeli attack: Hamas

Andalou Agency reports: Palestinian group Hamas said Tuesday that an Israeli hostage had died of injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike a month ago.

Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, identified the hostage as Judy Feinstein, 70, saying she and another hostage sustained serious injuries in an Israeli attack on a site where they were held.

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli air strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on April 29, 2024
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli air strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on April 29, 2024 (photo)

Israel’s evacuation orders not compliant with int’l humanitarian law

Al Jazeera reports: Arwa Mhanna, senior policy and advocacy adviser for the Middle East at Mercy Corps, says Israel’s evacuation orders are not compliant with international humanitarian law.

“People were given only one day to evacuate. There was no clarity about where to go … they moved to places that are as described ‘unlivable’. They don’t have infrastructure and even the roads they were asked to take weren’t guaranteed to be safe,” she told Al Jazeera.

“They were asked to go to so-called ‘safe zones’ and by history, we know safe zones that are announced unilaterally are not safe. Civilians are protected under international humanitarian law; they should be safe everywhere and not in zones or specific zones.”

Wounded children receive treatment at ‎al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah
Wounded children receive treatment at ‎al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah (photo)

As Israel attacks Rafah, Biden admin delays report on whether Israel has violated int’l law

Politico reports: The Biden administration’s report on whether Israel has violated U.S. and international humanitarian law during the war in Gaza has been delayed and will no longer be released Wednesday as planned, three Senate aides and a House aide told POLITICO.

The State Department has been working for months on the report, which will issue a determination on whether Israel has violated international humanitarian law since the war in Gaza began. If so, the U.S. would be expected to stop sending Israel military assistance.

The report was supposed to be finished by Wednesday, but will “be delayed by less than a week,” according to a senior administration official.

NOTE: While the White House has been saying for months that it has seen no evidence that Israel has violated international law, the Biden administration’s own words contradict that statement – see, for example, this and this and this.
ALSO NOTE: House Democrats undertook two significant missives in recent days aimed at informing Biden of their significant alarm at Israel’s conduct. Last Wednesday, 56 House Democrats urged the president to “immediately withhold certain offensive military aid to the Israeli government, including aid sourced from legislation already signed into law, in order to preempt a full-scale assault on Rafah.” Forty-eight hours later, 88 House Democrats urged Biden to enforce the National Security Memorandum and the underlying law, Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken looks on as protestors hold their hands in the air during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing to examine the national security supplemental request, on Capitol Hill, Oct. 31, 2023.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken looks on as protestors hold their hands in the air during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing to examine the national security supplemental request, on Capitol Hill, Oct. 31, 2023. (photo)

Israeli settlers attack aid convoy on way to Erez crossing

Reuters reports: Jordan says Israeli settlers have attacked a humanitarian aid convoy on its way to Erez crossing in northern Gaza and “tampered with its contents” in the second such incident in less than a week.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Sufyan Qudah said the convoy, which drove through the Israeli-occupied West Bank from Jordan, later managed to continue its journey and reach its destination in war-devastated Gaza.

“Jordan holds Israel responsible for the attack by extremist settlers … it constitutes a breach of its legal obligations as an occupying power,” Qudah said.

NOTE: Israel has on multiple occasions fired at individuals waiting for food aid (recently killing over 100 at one time), at least once allegedly sending fake text messages to Gazans, telling them to assemble and then shooting at them when they did; Israel has also attacked food aid convoys and those who accompanied them several times. Additionally, Israeli citizens have blocked a border crossing for weeks with no meaningful attempt by Israel to reopen it. 
In mid-March, Israel promised to “flood” Gaza with aid, but has failed to do so.
Cindy McCain, the American director of the U.N. World Food Program, recently disclosed, “There is famine — full-blown famine — in the north, and it’s moving its way south.”

Translation: The convoy managed to pass the blockade – the protesters moved to block the trucks on Highway 1 near Mevsheret Zion and the Letron junction. Blockade of aid trucks to Gaza on Route 1 by protest activists.

Pro-Israel driver rams Columbia pro-Palestine protesters

The activist group Columbia University Apartheid Divest says a pro-Israel driver ran into a pro-Palestine demonstration in New York City earlier today.

A statement from CAUD says the driver was a relative of Meir Kahane, the far-right Jewish radical who advocated violent attacks against Arabs and remains a major influence on the Israeli far-right.

“One member of CAUD’s de-escalation team was struck and has since been hospitalized,” the news release reads, stating that it is the second time their group has been assaulted by pro-Israel individuals in one week and the fourth time this year their members have been hospitalized in such attacks.

Also see: ‘‘Extremist’ rabbi tries to run-over pro-Palestine protesters in NY and Reuven Kahane, cousin of extremist rabbi, said arrested in NYC for ramming anti-Israel protesters

…A relative [cousin] of Meir Kahane, the founder of the Zionist terror group, Jewish Defense League, and a fierce proponent of the expulsion of all Arabs from Palestine.

Meir Kahane, a former Israeli MP who was assassinated in 1990, was the founder of Jewish extremist Kach party which was banned in Israel after the 1994 murder of 29 Palestinians in Al Khalil city by one of his supporters.

Reuven Kahane writes: “I am a 13th-generation rabbi, born and raised in Manhattan. I went to Ramaz through high school and then I learned in Beit Midrash L’Torah (BMT) in Israel for a year and a half. When I came back to the US, I went to Yeshiva University, which is where I earned my semichah and law degree. I learned from many of the roshei yeshivah there, including Rav Ahron Soloveitchik, Rav Dovid Lifshitz and Rav Hershel Schachter.
“My grandfather, Rav Levy Yitzchak Kahane, was the rav of the Kleinman Street Synagogue in Williamsburg…”

Maryellen Novak, 55, who was hit by the car, was also arrested, as well as another protester, 63-year-old John Rozendaal.

US paused shipment of bombs to Israel amid concerns over potential use in Rafah, official says

CNN reports: The United States paused a shipment of bombs to Israel amid concerns over their potential use in a Rafah incursion, according to a US official.

The shipment, which was held back last week, includes 1,800 bombs weighing 2,000 pounds and 1,700 bombs weighing 500 pounds.

“We are especially focused on the end-use of the 2,000-pound bombs and the impact they could have in dense urban settings as we have seen in other parts of Gaza,” the official said.

“We have not made a final determination on how to proceed with this shipment,” the official said.

Among the largest conventional weapons in the US arsenal, 2,000 pound bombs can have a devastating impact, especially on a densely populated area such as Gaza. The heavy munitions leave a massive crater and can send deadly shrapnel hundreds of feet from the impact site. A CNN analysis of satellite imagery early in the war found more than 500 impact craters consistent with the use of a one-ton bomb.

Marc Garlasco, a former US defense intelligence analyst and former UN war crimes investigator said in December that the density of Israel’s first month of bombardment in Gaza had “not been seen since Vietnam.”

RECOMMENDED READING (CNN): ‘Not seen since Vietnam’: Israel dropped hundreds of 2,000-pound bombs on Gaza, analysis shows
Details of the ceasefire deal that Hamas agreed to on Monday
Details of the ceasefire deal that Hamas agreed to on Monday (graphic)

Biden administration denies that Hamas accepted ceasefire proposal

The Biden administration has denied in a news briefing that Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal yesterday.

“[State Department spokesperson] Matthew Miller said that Hamas did not accept the ceasefire proposals, it responded and in their response made several suggestions.

“This is very different interpretation of what Hamas itself thinks that it did, and is certainly the kind of comment that could have an impact on what is happening in Cairo at present,” Al Jazeera correspondent Mike Hanna reported from the State Department in Washington, DC.

Israelis frustrated with U.S. handling of hostage talks

Axios reports: Israeli officials claim the Biden administration knew about the latest hostage and ceasefire deal proposal Egypt and Qatar negotiated with Hamas, but didn’t brief Israel before Hamas announced it accepted it on Monday.

Three Israeli officials said the Hamas announcement on Monday surprised the Israeli government and that Israel didn’t receive the text of the group’s response from the mediators until an hour after Hamas released its statement.

A senior U.S. official pushed back saying “American diplomats have been engaged with Israeli counterparts. There have been no surprises.”

The episode has created deep disappointment and suspicion among senior Israeli officials regarding the U.S. role in the hostage deal talks and could negatively influence the negotiations going forward.

White House hopeful Hamas-Israel can close ‘remaining gaps’

The Biden administration is hopeful Israel and Hamas can “close the remaining gaps” in their ceasefire talks and a deal is reached soon.

“A close assessment of the two sides’ positions suggests that they should be able to close the remaining gaps, and we’re going to do everything we can to support that process,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said.

Kirby said Hamas offered amendments on Monday to an original Israeli proposal aimed at ending the impasse. The deal text, as amended, suggests the remaining gaps can “absolutely be closed”.

He also said CIA chief William Burns will attend the ongoing Cairo truce talks. “Everybody’s coming to the table. That’s not insignificant.”

UNRWA HQ attacked in East Jerusalem

The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, says a group of Israeli protesters have attacked the agency’s headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem after calls for protests against UNRWA by an Israeli municipal official.

“This protest called by an elected member of the Jerusalem municipality is nothing less than harassment, intimidation, vandalism & damage to UN property,” Lazzarini said in a social media post.

“It took place today at the UNRWA Headquarters in East Jerusalem under the watch of the Israeli Police. This has nothing to do with freedom of expression. Host countries, in this case Israel, are expected to protect United Nations premises, operations and staff at all times.”

Israel plans to demolish 47 Palestinian homes in the Negev today

Middle East Monitor reports: The Israeli authorities plan to demolish 47 homes belonging to the Abu Asa family near the village of Umm Butin in the Negev’s Hebron Valley Wednesday morning, according to the Supreme Arab Guidance Committee in the area. The committee exposed the plan on Tuesday evening.

“This is the largest home demolition operation in a single day in many years, led by racist ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Amichai Chikli, who want to ignite the Negev in order to deepen racial discrimination and forced transfer,” said the committee.

The Israeli police planned to close roads in the area early this morning, in order to prevent protesters from gathering against the demolitions and displacement. “The government’s move is unprecedented in the history of the Negev,” added the committee.

MORE NEWS

Al Jazeera: ‘The goal is to destroy Gaza’: Why Israel rejects a ceasefire with Hamas
Amnesty Int’l: Israeli military must guarantee civilians’ safety as ground operation begins in eastern Rafah
Electronic Intifada: Warning of “Srebrenica” in Gaza as Israel seizes Rafah crossing
Palestine Chronicle: “Can not be justified” – South Africa says forced displacement of Rafah residents unlawful
IMEMC News Reports

 

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RECOMMENDED READING (IAK): Leahy Law would cut aid to Israel, but no one wants to enforce it

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – MAY 8:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – May 8: at least 35,191* (34,735 in Gaza* (at least 14,690 children, 9,680 women), and at least 508 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 42,510 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 – May 8: at least 83,018 (including at least 78,018 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 – May 8: ~1,421 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 266 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.

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

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