Thousands in central Gaza now under evacuation orders – Day 77

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Thousands in central Gaza now under evacuation orders – Day 77
A Palestinian child stands amid rubble after an Israeli attack on Rafah, southern Gaza, December 22, 2023 (photo)

Evacuation ordered in areas of central Gaza; evidence of execution of civilians – some of them pregnant – holding white flags; more evidence of Israel’s assault on Catholic church; another journalist dead; British activists for Palestine paying a price

Number of Gazans killed since the Biden administration vetoed UNSC ceasefire resolution: at least 2,626 (approximately 1,103 children)

Scenes of mass displacement once again filled Salah al-Din Street
Scenes of mass displacement once again filled Salah al-Din Street (photo)

After evacuation of northern Gaza and parts of southern Gaza, Israel has ordered Palestinians to evacuate from parts of central Gaza, its latest such directive as it pushes more of the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million-strong population into a smaller area while widening its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Scenes of mass displacement once again filled Salah al-Din Street that is linked to the entrance of the Bureij refugee camp.

Salah al-Din, a road stretching across the length of Gaza, has been dubbed the “death corridor” by many in the Strip. In previous evacuations, Palestinians fleeing parts of northern Gaza have been arrested, shot at and even killed – despite it being declared as a safe route by the Israeli army. (Read the full article here.)

Politico reports: US Congressional staff tried to protect Gazan churches by sending locations to Israel: The Israeli military received and confirmed the coordinates of the church and covenant in Gaza, both of which aid groups say were later struck by rockets and snipers.

The emails, which were obtained by POLITICO, show an increasingly frenzied back-and-forth between Catholic Relief Services — one of the largest Christian aid organizations in Gaza — and Senate staff over an effort to get a commitment from Israel to avoid targeting a number of buildings where its staff and civilians were sheltering. The locations were struck anyway.

(Israel has been flatly denying that its forces hit the Catholic church. One Israeli politician incorrectly claimed there are no Christians in Gaza.)

Aid agencies say much more is needed to assist the 2.3 million people living in the besieged enclave, calling the conditions on the ground ‘catastrophic’
Aid agencies say much more is needed to assist the 2.3 million people living in the besieged enclave, calling the conditions on the ground ‘catastrophic’ (photo)

According to witnesses, more than 137 Gazan civilians have been executed by Israeli forces in Gaza City and the northern Strip. Among them are people killed in front of other family members and pregnant women who were trying to make their way to Al Awda hospital as they were holding up white flags. The spokesman also said some people were buried alive.

Four pregnant women, reportedly raising white flags, were gunned down by Israeli bulldozers in Gaza’s Tal al-Zaatar. The bodies of the pregnant women were run over by the bulldozers and left unburied among piles of other bodies in Tal al-Zaatar.

More than 90 Palestinians, including 76 members of one extended family, have reportedly been killed in Israeli airstrikes that leveled two homes in Gaza, marking one of the deadliest bombardments in Israel’s war against Gaza. Friday’s strike in Gaza City killed 16 heads of household from the al-Mughrabi family, local health and rescue officials said on Saturday.

 

RECOMMENDED READING: Famine by February: How bad is Gaza’s hunger crisis under Israeli attacks?

Death toll of journalists rises to 99: The Government Media Office in Gaza has said on their Telegram channel that the number of journalists killed by Israeli forces has risen to 99 since the start of the war. Muhammad Khalifa is the latest journalist to be killed in Gaza after Israeli forces bombed his family’s home in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Palestinians receive food at a donation point in a refugee camp in Rafah, on Saturday
Palestinians receive food at a donation point in a refugee camp in Rafah, on Saturday (photo)
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Seeking truce for Gaza: Palestinian-Americans frustrated with government

British org call for British singer Olly Alexander to be removed as the British representative for Eurovision 2024 after he signed an open letter condemning Israel as an “apartheid state.” The letter, initiated by the British LGBTQ+ organization Voices4, garnered over 1,400 signatures. The signatories express solidarity with Palestine and reject any claim that pro-Palestinian or anti-Zionist positions promote antisemitism.

(A number of major human rights organizations have demonstrated in detailed reports that the Israeli government is practicing apartheid against the Palestinians over which it rules – including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Israeli human rights groups B’Tselem, and Yesh Din, and the United Nations.)

RECOMMENDED READING: UN resolution on Gaza aid criticized as ‘insufficient’, ‘meaningless’

Two of Britain’s most prominent solidarity activists were arrested this week for saying they support the Palestinian right to resist Israel. Mick Napier, a founder of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was snatched by police at a protest in Glasgow on Saturday. He had given a speech saying, “I agree with the Palestinian right to resist by means that they choose.”

Anti-Zionist author Tony Greenstein was arrested from his home early Wednesday morning by “anti-terror” police. Greenstein said police questioned him about a post he wrote last month on X (formerly known as Twitter) saying that he supports Palestinian resistance group “Hamas against the Israeli army.”

Below is Napier’s speech that he was arrested for:

A mother and her children wait for medical treatment
A mother and her children wait for medical treatment (photo)

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – DECEMBER 22:

Palestinian death toll since October 7: at least 20,090* (~19,787 in Gaza* (8,663 children), and at least 303 in the West Bank). This does not include an estimated 8,000 more still buried under rubble. Euro-Med Monitor reports 27,137 Palestinian deaths.

*IAK does not yet include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile is being disputed; although much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, experts are still looking into the incident. Israel is blocking an international investigation.

Palestinian injuries since October 7: at least 58,659** (including at least 55,000 in Gaza** and 3,665 in the West Bank). **NOTE: it is impossible to provide an accurate number of injuries in Gaza due to the ongoing bombardment and communication disruption. 

It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties. in Gaza**. About 1.9 million people have been displaced (about 85-90% of the population).

Reported Israeli death toll since October 7: ~1,139  (7 killed in West Bank, 140 in Gaza), including 32 Americans, and 5,431 injured, approximately 36 children).

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel may have been caused by Israeli soldiers; additionally, since Israel has a policy of universal conscription, it is unknown how many of those attending the outdoor rave a few miles from Gaza on stolen Palestinian land were Israeli soldiers.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here. For more news, go here and here. Live broadcast news from the region is here.

 

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

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