Trump administration is actively involved in ethnic cleansing plans – War on Gaza Day 672

(Get familiar with the charges against Israel: genocide, ethnic cleansing, forced transfer, starvation as a weapon of war, use of human shields, indiscriminate shooting at civilians, and more.) 

NOTABLE QUOTES:

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, on Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City (full statement here):

It is utterly outrageous and revolting that the Israeli cabinet has approved plans for the military to scale up their ground presence in the occupied Gaza Strip and completely take over Gaza City.

Just as we thought we had already seen the cruelest, most painful chapters of this genocide unfold – through Israel’s continued and escalating use of starvation as a method of warfare – plans to escalate the military operations in Gaza City indicate that indeed the worst is yet to come.

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, on Israel’s plan:

In reality, the goal of this war has been the same since the very first day: it is the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population of Gaza, the whole population.

In reality, what I have to say [and] what many Western leaders don’t want to listen to, is that this is the beginning of a terrible second Holocaust – caused by the same people whose ancestors suffered from another Holocaust in the second world war.

[Netanyahu’s] goal is the annihilation of the Palestinian people. His goal is a Second Nakba. Now he wants to push them out of Palestine completely. That’s the reality: They’re trying to repeat what they have done in 1948.

OCCUPIED WEST BANK/EAST JERUSALEM NEWS & HEADLINES:

(For background on the West Bank, read this and this. For information on the significance of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, read this and this.) 

Israeli Authorities Force Palestinian To Demolish His Home In Jerusalem

ISRAEL NEWS & HEADLINES:

(Get a glimpse inside Israel and the turmoil within its government. Many of the below news items and headlines are taken from Israeli media.)

ISRAEL WARNS: UK HAS “A LOT TO LOSE” IF IT RECOGNIZES PALESTINIAN STATE: Israel is considering taking punitive action against the UK for its anticipated recognition of Palestinian statehood, which may include stopping intelligence sharing, The Times reported on 8 August. A diplomatic source reportedly threatened that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “had many cards to play too.” Israel denounced UK Prime Minister Starmer’s anticipated move as “rewarding terrorism.”

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MORE HEADLINES ON ISRAEL (a quick skim of headlines can be very informative!):

Israel replaces term ‘occupation’ with ‘control’ to avoid legal responsibility in Gaza

Israeli army chief says Gaza occupation to require 200,000 reservists

World condemnations mount over Israeli plans to take Gaza City; UN Security Council to meet

OTHER NEWS AND HEADLINES:

Trump says ‘looking into’ reports Somaliland open to taking in Palestinians

Trump offers UCLA $1B settlement amid pro-Palestine protest standoff

The Trump administration has requested that UCLA submit to a $1B settlement to resolve accusations stemming from the school’s handling of pro-Palestine protests. This week Trump also suspended $584M in federal grants to the school.

According to the DOJ Civil Rights Division, the school had acted “with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students” – in what free speech advocates describe as willfully conflating pro-Palestine and antiwar advocacy with antisemitism* in order to silence protesters.

MORE HEADLINES (a quick skim of headlines can be very informative!):

Team Leader at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites Belongs to Anti-“Jihad” Motorcycle Club, Has Crusader Tattoos

France launches probe into Israeli rabbi’s death threats against President Macron

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT) – A SELECTION OF YESTERDAY’S HEADLINES:

US-made bombs used in deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza schools, HRW says

MSF calls GHF aid hubs “orchestrated killing”

Netanyahu claims Hamas is destroying every building

Israeli security cabinet chose starvation policy in Gaza over deal to free captives: Report

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – AUGUST 8, 2025*:

• At least 62,288 Palestinians killed, 161,275 injured – including:
• at least 61,369 killed in Gaza (~18,500 children) 
• at least 1,030 killed in the West Bank (~210 children)
• at least 152,850 injured in Gaza
• at least 9,230 injured in the West Bank
• at least 193 have died from malnutrition in Gaza, including 96 children

According to Palestinian authorities, during the ceasefire Jan. 19 – March 18 2025, Israeli attacks killed at least 170 Gazans, and Israel committed at least 962 ceasefire violations.

At least 1,743 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access aid parcels from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which started operating on May 26, 2025.

Since the Israeli army resumed its assaults on Gaza on March 18, 2025 it has killed at least 9,862 people. 50 Israeli soldiers (most recent July 26) have been killed during the same time period.

*NOTE: Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 14,000 more are still buried under rubble. Additionally, the numbers of injured and starved are very conservative estimates.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – August 8, 2025: ~1,629 – including ~1,139 on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 454 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, 46 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel. (72 soldiers have reportedly died due to “operational incidents.”)

By one count, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 229 Palestinian journalists and media workers; Palestinians have killed 4 Israeli journalists (other groups have tallied between 186 and 298 Palestinian journalists killed – depending on the criteria used).

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

• Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
• Israel’s military is taking over Gaza City, and you’ll be paying for it.
• Israel Is Beginning To Choke On Its Own Lies
• Israel has always used food as a weapon against Palestinians
• Blaming the Israeli ‘far right’ lets a genocidal society off the hook
• Israel is losing the US front
• Netanyahu Hosts 20 AIPAC-Sponsored House Republicans in Israel
• Only 1.5% of cropland, 3% of animal wealth left in Gaza
• Jewish Currents: “We Need New Jewish Institutions,” and “How Support for Palestine Became a Hate Crime”
• Egypt’s Sisi calls Israel’s war, starvation campaign in Gaza a ‘systematic genocide’
• A war crimes net is tightening around Israeli soldiers abroad
• We Must Oppose a Definition of Antisemitism That Bolsters Genocide
• I saw many atrocities as a senior UN aid official in Gaza. Now Israeli authorities are trying to silence us.
• Report: Mass Abductions, Torture, Enforced Disappearances
• ‘She’s disappearing in front of me’: Gaza’s children are the most vulnerable victims of Israeli-imposed starvation
• Mainstream media largely sidelined Gaza starvation story, until it couldn’t
• The Cruelty and Speciousness of Bret Stephens’ Denial of Genocide
• Israel abducted starving children at Gaza “aid” sites, then tortured them
• Israel Is Imprisoning Florida-Born Cousin of American Slain by Settlers
• Billionaire Jeff Yass linked to $16m in donations to anti-Muslim and pro-Israel groups