Netanyahu alone is calling the shots as Israel’s massacre of 90 Palestinians in Mawasi camp misses Hamas target, but kills ceasefire talks; massive bombs may have been US-made; US Defense Sec’y stands by Israel’s decision to attack; UN special rapporteur says attack was a violation of int’l law; a separate attack in Shati refugee camp kills 20; Palestinian journalist killed; unimaginable humanitarian crisis; dangerous situation in West Bank; more.
By IAK staff, from reports.
Israeli strikes kill at least 90 in Gaza “safe zone”
Al Jazeera reports: Israeli air strikes on the al-Mawasi camp in southern Gaza have killed at least 90 people and wounded 300 others, according to Palestinian health officials.
The attack on Saturday on the Israeli-designated “safe zone”, located west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, reportedly involved fighter jets and drones, according to witnesses.
The attack killed at least 90 civilians in a densely populated area sheltering about 80,000 people, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Displaced people sheltering in the area described bodies and body parts strewn on the ground.
Alleged Hamas targets
The figures allegedly targeted were Rafa’a Salameh, commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, and Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s military wing – both accused of masterminding the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel. The two were supposedly in a “fenced Hamas area” surrounded by mostly militants.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was “not absolutely certain” that the Hamas officials were killed in the attack: “Just the attempt to assassinate Hamas commanders delivers a message to the world, a message that Hamas’s days are numbered,” he said.
Netanyahu said he approved the strike after receiving satisfactory information on collateral damage and the type of ammunition to be used (more on the weapons below).
The Guardian adds: Hamas says that Israeli claims of targeting leaders of the Palestinian militant group are “false” and are aimed at “justifying” the attack.
Earlier, a senior Hamas official called the Israeli allegations “nonsense”. “All the martyrs are civilians and what happened was a grave escalation of the war of genocide, backed by the American support and world silence.”
Multiple eyewitnesses told the Washington Post that a few minutes after the strike, Israeli aircraft fired on civil defense workers who tried to respond.
At least two civil defense workers were killed in the attack.
An eyewitness told the BBC that the strike site looked like an “earthquake” had hit. The British state broadcaster reported that “videos from the area show smoldering wreckage and bloodied casualties being loaded onto stretchers. People can be seen trying desperately to pick through the rubble of a large crater with their hands.”
The OHCHR (UN human rights group) has said it condemns the continued Israeli military use of weapons “with area effects in populated areas of Gaza, including in areas which [the military] has itself designated as humanitarian zones, killing many civilians”.
The Office said that the use of “weapons with wide area effect in densely populated areas” has led to “disproportionate harm to civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure”, suggesting a “pattern of willful violation of the disregard of International Humanitarian Law principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution”.
Made in America
The Washington Post verified a video that circulated online of a man standing near the aftermath of the IDF airstrikes, holding what appeared to be a weapon fragment. Two weapons experts independently confirmed to The Post that the fragment was a metal tail fin from a U.S.-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM ) guidance kit.
Images of the strikes’ aftermath are consistent with the use of MK-series bombs, which weigh between 500 and 2,000 pounds. The bomb itself could be US- or Israeli-made, but the guidance kit is US-made.
One source reported that Israel used American MK84s, 2,000-lb bombs with 900 pounds of explosives, in the Mawasi massacre. The explosive ammunition makes up 45% of the bomb’s total weight and can create a crater about 15 meters wide and over 10 meters deep. It causes deadly damage around it, with a radius of approximately 73 meters.
These same US weapons have been used in previous massacres including in Jabalia, Al-Maamadani Hospital massacre, and Al-Nuseirat market massacre where US assistance to IOF was directly involved. The United States has provided Israel with 14,000 of these 2-ton bombs since October 7th.
NOTE: The US has withheld a recent shipment of 2,000-lb bombs from Israel because of their potential to cause “great human tragedy” – although even a “small” bomb can cause great human tragedy. In May, 250-lb bombs killed 45 Gazans.
On detonation, a 500-pound bomb can severely harm or kill everything or anyone within a 20-meter (65-foot) radius, according to the Project on Defense Alternatives (PDA), which conducts defense policy research and analysis.
A 2,000-pound bomb has a destruction radius of 35 meters (115 feet).
See the size of the crater created Saturday in Mawasi in the tweet below.
This is how a 500-lb bomb explosion looks:
#شاهد
😯🤯
الحفرة الهائلة التي تسببت بها صواريخ الاحتلال الإسرائيلي في منطقة #المواصي ب #خان_يونس pic.twitter.com/iLEZDvrGrP— ريان المصري (@Rian_almasri) July 13, 2024
Target of Mawasi attack alive and well, but ceasefire talks are dead, says Hamas
AFP reports: Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh reportedly told international mediators of the end of the talks on a ceasefire plan first outlined by US President Joe Biden in May.
Haniyeh said Hamas would “halt negotiations due to the occupation’s (Israel) lack of seriousness, continued policy of procrastination and obstruction, and the ongoing massacres against unarmed civilians,” according to the official.
“Hamas has shown great flexibility to reach an agreement and end the aggression and is ready to resume negotiations when the occupation government demonstrates seriousness in reaching a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal.”
Pentagon chief says US shares Israel’s goal of ‘enduring’ Hamas defeat
Department of Defense: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held a phone call with his Israeli counterpart Yaov Gallant after the al-Mawasi attack.
“Secretary Austin and Minister Gallant reaffirmed the shared goals of ensuring the enduring defeat of Hamas and securing the release of all hostages, and the Secretary emphasized the importance of taking all necessary steps to minimize civilian harm,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Israeli media outlets had reported that Israel did not give the US prior knowledge of the al-Mawasi raids.
.@WHO and partners are responding to the injuries from the series of airstrikes in #Gaza’s Al-Mawasi area, near Khan Younis, reportedly resulting in 78 deaths, 294 injuries and many missing under the rubble.
134 severely injured people have been admitted to Nasser Medical… pic.twitter.com/S6P1ILpR5i
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) July 13, 2024
Mawasi attack and Netanyahu’s speech were a PR stunt
Israeli journalist Gideon Levy has told Al Jazeera that the news conference held by Netanyahu “just proved that Mohammed Deif’s assassination – whether it was successful or not – was aimed at public opinion”.
The Israeli prime minister wanted to show the public “that we are on the way to total victory” in Gaza, Levy said. “Ninety people paid with their lives, but this doesn’t interest either Netanyahu,” he added.
The journalist said that the attacks on al-Mawasi were a further indication that Netanyahu has no intention of negotiating a deal with Hamas. “If you go into an assassination operation such as today’s, you don’t aim to get a deal,” he said. “I never thought that Netanyahu wanted to get a deal and today he proved it.”
Netanyahu also said, “And this is what I will be doing next week at the US Congress. I will deliver Israel’s message [that Hamas’ days are numbered] to the United States and the entire world.”
In addition, he declared that Hamas is part of the “axis of evil.”
Andalou Agency reports: Following the Mawasi attack, Israel’s defense minister on Saturday instructed the army to continue targeted attacks on Hamas leaders.
Israel’s attacks on al-Mawasi safe zone is a breach of int’l law
Al Jazeera reports: Israel’s attacks on al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian zone, are in breach of international law according to several legal principles, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese has told Al Jazeera.
Here are a few of her key quotes:
-
- Proportionality: People in a safe area are protected under international law. If there is a military target within a safe zone, the action has to be proportional to the military advantage that is going to be achieved. Killing 70 people for one is not proportional.
- Distinction: Israel must distinguish between combatants and civilians, but 70 percent of the victims in this conflict have been women and children.
- Precaution: Nearly 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza [with Israel claiming to be attacking] claiming military targets. The reality is that there are no restraints whatsoever for Israel and Israeli soldiers.
“I’m disgusted by the tolerance of Israel’s impunity which is enabling the genocidal war,” Albanese said. In March, the UN expert issued a report listing “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza is the bitter fruit of Israel's decades long impunity. https://t.co/gvFcp5fWMW
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) July 12, 2024
CAIR Calls on President Biden to ‘Stop Enabling’ Israeli Massacres After Mass Slaughter in Gaza ‘Safe Zone’
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“Israel’s far-right government carries out this mass slaughter of Palestinians secure in the knowledge that it will be supported and excused by the Biden administration and that American bombs and taxpayer funds will continue to flow. President Biden’s continuing support for and silence about the genocide gives a green light for more Israeli abuses and war crimes.
“President Biden must stop enabling these daily massacres and end our nation’s complicity in genocide. Administration officials must begin to treat Palestinians as human beings worthy of life, dignity and justice, not as animals only fit for slaughter.”
He noted that CAIR recently condemned a reported decision by the Biden administration to send Israel the 500-pound bombs for its genocide in Gaza that had previously been held back.
Awad said media silence about the daily massacres only serves to “normalize” genocide.
Massacre in Shati refugee camp kills at least 20
WAFA and Al Jazeera report: In a new massacre committed by the Israeli occupation tanks and artillery, at least 20 civilians were killed and dozens were injured Saturday afternoon in the al-Shati refugee camp to the west of Gaza City.
Local sources reported that the occupation warplanes targeted people who had gathered to pray near the ruins of a mosque in the camp. Casualties included children and women.
More people remain in critical condition, the civil defense spokesperson said in a statement.
1 more Palestinian journalist killed in Gaza, says media office
Andalou Agency reports: One more Palestinian journalist was killed in an Israeli attack in the southern Gaza Strip, the Gaza government media office said on Saturday.
In a statement, the media office said Palestinian journalist Muhammad Manhal Abu Armana was killed in an Israeli bombing of displaced people’s tents in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The new fatality brings the total number of Palestinian journalists killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip to 159 since Oct. 7, 2023, it added.
According to data and statistics from the International Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based NGO, the Israeli war on Gaza has become “the bloodiest for journalists” since the committee began documenting journalist killings worldwide in 1992.
UNRWA reports unimaginable humanitarian situation in Gaza
Latest update from UNRWA: Over 1.9 million people displaced throughout Gaza continue to face harrowing conditions. A few examples:
- A school-turned-shelter in Deir al Balah is currently hosting over 14,000 people in classrooms as well as in makeshift structures in the courtyard. UNRWA staff on site reported that no food could be distributed since 11 March, with children being now “unrecognizable” due to malnourishment.
- Only 25 toilets are available at the shelter – one for every 560 people approximately – with diseases proliferating and a shortage of water “due to lack of fuel to pump water from the water well.”
- Between 1 and 11 July, out of 38 planned humanitarian assistance missions coordinated with the Israeli authorities to northern Gaza, 14 (37 per cent) were facilitated, 13 (34 per cent) were impeded, seven (18 per cent) were denied access, and four (11 per cent) were cancelled due to logistical, operational, or security reasons.
- In addition, out of 147 coordinated humanitarian assistance movements in southern Gaza, 118 (80 per cent) were facilitated by the Israeli authorities, nine (six per cent) were impeded, five were denied (three per cent) and 15 (10 per cent) were cancelled.
- Conditions are particularly bleak for displaced women, who are being forced to cut off their hair, due to lice and lack of hygiene products, and are increasingly unable to provide for their families, particularly their children who “go to bed without eating and drinking” as well as disabled or sick relatives.
- Due to the breakdown in public order and safety, women are also facing an increase in sexual and gender-based violence, further exacerbating their suffering.
West Bank & East Jerusalem: Israel is forcing more Palestinians to tear down their own homes
The number of Palestinians who are bulldozing their own homes has doubled in recent months, amid a surge in Israeli-ordered demolitions on occupied Palestinian territory.
Homeowners say Israeli authorities are using the world’s focus on atrocities in Gaza as cover to escalate activity in the occupied West Bank.
Watch the full report below:
Israel targets Palestinians from land and air in West Bank
Electronic Intifada reports: At any other time in Palestinian history, the West Bank’s resistance to Israel’s lethal military raids and colonial encroachments would earn the title of a third intifada.
Since 7 October, Israel’s military has intensified its raids into occupied West Bank cities, towns and refugee camps. These military operations, which often involve special units and an array of armored vehicles and bulldozers, have wrought widespread devastation, severely damaging electricity networks, water and sewage infrastructure, uprooting roads and destroying homes.
In the West Bank, Israel has been killing Palestinians by various means.
Israeli forces shoot Palestinians at protests, during military incursions or even by carrying out extrajudicial executions.
Now, even aerial attacks in the occupied West Bank are not an unusual occurrence, after the practice was dormant since the second intifada until last summer. Since 7 October, Israel has conducted dozens of airstrikes in the occupied West Bank, killing at least 86 Palestinians, including 14 children, according to records kept by UN monitoring group OCHA.
Armed Palestinian cells have expanded and refined their tactics to resist and confront Israel’s military raids, particularly in northern cities and refugee camps. One such tactic has been the wider use of explosive devices planted within roads where Israeli armored vehicles pass. Palestinians remotely detonate the explosive devices, killing and injuring a number of Israeli soldiers in recent months.
(Read the full article here.)
Netanyahu alone steering negotiations with Palestinians: Israeli sources
Andalou Agency reports: Informed sources in Israel revealed Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is almost alone in steering negotiations on a prisoner swap deal with Palestinian resistance groups.
Public broadcaster KAN quoted unidentified sources who said Netanyahu is alone in conducting the talks, and he decided to harden his position related to the discussions.
Netanyahu is steering all details of the talks and is focusing on the negotiations more than in the past, they said.
The Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said there is fear in Israel that Netanyahu is trying to obstruct the prisoner deal, following disagreements between him and Mossad’s chief David Barnea concerning some of the terms of the cease-fire proposal.
It added that one of the main differences between the Mossad, Israel’s general security service, Shin Bet, and Netanyahu is that the security agencies do not agree on a return to fighting unless Hamas breaches any of the deal terms, contrary to Netanyahu who wants to return to fighting in any case.
Op-Ed: Netanyahu Has Won Channel 13 News – Another Defeat for Freedom of the Press in Israel
The lead editorial at Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reveals that a new pro-Netanyahu CEO at Israeli news channel 13 is dismantling what is left of free speech in Israel. A clear step in this direction is the cancellation of the news program “War Zone.”
Ha’aretz said the move is “purely a political decision, contravening all financial and journalistic logic. This means one thing: Channel 13 has been conquered. The Bibi-ism flag flies over it, and a clear message was delivered to the subjects still employed there: you serve the government here.”
The editorial adds that Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich was selected as Channel 13’s News CEO “to carry out a political purge and damage Channel 13 News’ journalistic freedom” and “turn the channel into Netanyahu’s mouthpiece.”
“The main loser is the public. Channel 13’s awareness will be politically washed away, as was already done at Channel 14 and parts of the new i24 channel in Hebrew. The mediation of reality will be tainted by the interests of the government, along with trampling on the freedom of the press – without which there is no democracy.”
NOTE: While Israel has had something of a free press, Israel is not a democracy. Multiple human rights organizations have documented and reported on Israeli apartheid, including: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Israeli human rights groups B’Tselem, and Yesh Din , the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic.
MORE NEWS:
IMEMC Daily Reports.
Middle East Monitor: Stifled voices: Israel’s Arab citizens battle repression to speak out against war on Gaza
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JULY 13:
Palestinian death toll from October 7 – July 13: at least 39,157* (38,584 in Gaza* – 11,445 women (30%), 16,034 children as of June 17. [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 573 in the West Bank (~138 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 45,223 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 46 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
- At least 40 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
- About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
- 2.15 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are projected to face Crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – July 13: at least 94,301 (including at least 88,881 in Gaza and 5,420 in the West Bank, including 830 children).
[It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – July 13: ~1,478 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 326 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.
Times of Israel reports: The IDF 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.
† 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.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
- Lancet: Counting the dead in Gaza – difficult but essential
- ‘Revealer of Inconvenient Truths’ – Julian Assange’s Impact on Palestine
- Fact or Fiction: Is Israel Unfairly Singled Out for Global Condemnation?
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- ‘Buying Our Own Stolen Water’ in Bethlehem – Scorching Summer Awaits Palestinians in the West Bank
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- The craziest ‘pro-Israel’ votes on the Hill today.
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- Why As A Christian, I Won’t Be Condemning Hamas Anytime Soon.
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- ADL faces Wikipedia ban over reliability concerns on Israel, antisemitism.
- Fear, hunger and displacement follows Israel’s worsening abuse of Palestinians in Hebron.
- Rafah Attack: Netanyahu’s Lies Expose The Truth About Israel.
- Veterans For Peace: U.S. Army Major Quits Over Israel.
- While Gaza suffers physical genocide, the West Bank faces economic genocide.
- The Palestinians’ Ironclad, Inalienable Right To Resist.
- Candace Owens & Briahna Joy Gray say criticism of Israel is “red line” for media.
- The night Israel killed my family.
