Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
US approves $164.6M military equipment sale to Israel amid Gaza war
The Biden administration approved the sale of $164.6 million worth of heavy-duty tank trailers and related equipment to Israel on Thursday amid its war on the devastated Gaza Strip and escalation in the West Bank.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it notified Congress of the potential sale, and deliveries are estimated to begin in 2027.
“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability. This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives,” it said in a statement.
The State Department approved last month the sale of $20 billion in fighter jets and other military equipment to Israel.
NOTE: The Leahy Laws require the US to withhold aid to countries that commit Gross Human Rights Violations – but in spite of overwhelming proof of abuse by Israel, our politicians have thus far declined to cut off military support. The US provides Israel an estimated $38 million a day in military aid, which is mostly used to purchase weaponry from the US.
The US has made special efforts to create loopholes for Israel, and has bypassed Congressional oversight on at least two major weapons transfers since October 7th, and “quietly approved and delivered more than 100 separate foreign military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began.”
RECOMMENDED READING: Democrats Don’t Know Their Own Voters on Israel-Palestine
![Evidence has shown that US weapons have been used to carry out massacres of Palestinians in Gaza [Getty]](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/9-13-f-300x169.jpg)
Relief groups say ‘more than a million go without food,’ as Israel continues to block aid
The Guardian reports:
Relief groups have said more than 1 million people in Gaza will not have enough food this month, while trucks loaded with fresh vegetables or meat spoil waiting to cross Israeli checkpoints, and thousands of aid packages of food, medical supplies and even toothbrushes and shampoo remain stuck in a backlog of lorries unable to enter from Egypt.
“We estimate that over a million Gazans will go without food in September,” said Sam Rose, a senior deputy director of UN’s relief agency for Palestinians (Unrwa), in Gaza. “Over half the medicines in our health centers are running low, as is chlorine for water purification and other basic supplies.”
He added that Unrwa had resorted to trying to import single items such as soap, because kits containing a range of items such as washing powder alongside it have been blocked from entering.
“We believe we’re better served by bringing in bars of soap than trying for anything more complicated,” he said. “This shows how desperate the situation has become – we’re reduced to aiming for the absolute bare minimum to improve hygiene conditions, which is an atrocious state of affairs in a situation where there is a growing risk of infectious disease.”
“So little aid is getting in that we can’t meet basic needs,” he said.
NOTE: This article from The Guardian fails to clearly name Israel as the responsible party for the horrific situation in Gaza. It acknowledges a slowdown of aid “since Israeli forces took control of the Rafah crossing,” and quotes aid organizations as being at fault – but does not spell out Israel’s active prevention of aid from entering Gaza.
![Palestinians in Jabalia Refugee Camp wait in line to receive food distributed by charitable organizations in Jabalia, Gaza on August 1, 2024. [Mahmoud İssa – Anadolu Agency]](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/8-3-b-300x200.jpg)
New video, witnesses indicate Israel lied about U.S. activist’s killing
Washington Post reports (excerpts):
The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday it was “very likely” Aysenur Eygi had been hit “unintentionally” by one of its soldiers. “The incident took place during a violent riot,” the statement said, and the fire was aimed at “the key instigator.”
But a Washington Post investigation has found that Eygi was shot more than a half-hour after the height of confrontations in Beita, and some 20 minutes after protesters had moved down the main road — more than 200 yards away from Israeli forces.
A Palestinian teenager, who witnesses say was standing about 20 yards from Eygi, was wounded by Israeli fire; the IDF would not say if he was a target.
Citing an ongoing investigation, the IDF also declined to answer questions from The Post about why its forces fired toward the demonstrators so long after they had retreated, and from a distance where they posed no apparent threat.
To reconstruct the day’s events, The Post spoke to 13 eyewitnesses and Beita residents and reviewed more than 50 videos and photos provided exclusively by the International Solidarity Movement, the organization Eygi was volunteering with, and Faz3a, another Palestinian advocacy group.
Some foreign activists spoke on the condition they be identified by their first name, or on the condition of anonymity, for fear of Israeli reprisals, including being barred from reentering the country.
Since 2021, the IDF has killed 15 Palestinians during demonstrations in Beita, according to Faz3a and Hisham Dweikat, a local resident and member of the Palestinian National Council.
Last month, another American citizen, Daniel Santiago, a 32-year-old teacher from New Jersey, was shot in the thigh by Israeli forces in the same olive grove where Eygi was killed. The IDF said Santiago was “accidentally injured” when soldiers “fired live rounds in the air” to disperse protesters.
It’s unclear how the confrontation began, those present said, but initially it followed the regular rhythm of clashes between heavily armed soldiers and Palestinian protesters. Some threw stones, including with slingshots, while others burned tires on the hillside, photographs show.
Israeli forces used tear gas to disperse the crowd, then resorted almost immediately to live ammunition, residents and activists said….
(Read the full article here.)
MIDDLE EAST EYE ADDS: Three separate forensic experts who viewed an autopsy report prepared by the Palestinian Authority told Middle East Eye that the damage on Ezgi’s skull and the destruction within suggest that it was a direct hit.
![Posters of 26 year old Turkish-American Aysenur Ezgi who was killed by Israeli forces in Nablus, as she was standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Westlake Park, in Seattle, Washington, United States on 7 September, 2024 [Tayfun Coşkun/Anadolu Agency]](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/9-13-a-300x200.jpg)
Netanyahu attempts to ‘fool’ Int’l Criminal Court with staged probe into Gaza war crimes
The Cradle reports:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has attempted to launch a “fake” investigation against himself and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a bid to stave off arrest warrants sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against them, according to Hebrew media.
The Channel 12 reports said Netanyahu asked his Justice Minister Yariv Levin to request that Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara open and then close an investigation to create the appearance that Israeli courts are investigating allegations against Tel Aviv at the ICC.
“The Attorney General refused to open an unjustified, fake investigation,” the Hebrew news outlet reported on 11 September, because it was a “blatant ploy” that would not fool the ICC.
The Israeli premier also faces a slew of fraud and corruption cases within Israel, dating back years.
The Hague-based court announced in May that it has decided to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant (as well as for Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammad Deif).
The charges include deliberately causing the suffering of Palestinian civilians, including through starvation, as well as collectively punishing the Gaza Strip’s population for Hamas’ operation against Israel on 7 October.
Israel is also being accused of committing genocide by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
RECOMMENDED READING: Spying & threats: Israel spent 9 years trying to keep the ICC off the trail of Israel’s war crimes.
EU Foreign Policy chief Borrell cancels his trip to Israel
Andalou Agency reports:
European Union Foreign Policy chief, Josep Borrell, cancelled his planned visit to Israel, according to Israeli media on Thursday.
Borrell is currently on a regional tour that took him to Egypt and Lebanon for talks on current regional tensions over Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.
But the top European diplomat told Israel’s ambassador to the EU, Haim Regev, that he decided to cancel his visit to Israel after Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, refused to permit it, Israeli daily, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Borrell announced his plans to visit Israel on 14-15 September, but Tel Aviv asked him to postpone the visit to late October, which would come after his term in Brussels concludes.
Borrell has been under Israeli fire over his call for imposing sanctions on far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, over their hate messages against Palestinians.
The European diplomat expressed his outrage on Thursday over Israeli air strikes on an UN-run school which left at least 18 people dead in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip a day earlier.
World Health Org: at least 22,000 wounded in Gaza have life-changing injuries, likely “astronomically higher”
Al Jazeera reports:
The World Health Organization has said about one-quarter of people wounded in Gaza during Israel’s assault – more than 22,000 people – have “life-changing” injuries.
Dr Thaer Ahmad, an emergency physician who worked in Gaza earlier this year, said the actual figure is “likely to be astronomically higher”.
UN special rapporteur says ‘outrageous’ to blame Palestinians for latest ‘massacre’
Al Jazeera reports:
UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese says it is “outrageous” to blame Palestinians for the “massacre” committed by Israel at a UN-run school sheltering displaced people in Gaza on the basis of “unevidenced ‘human shielding’ accusations”.
Albanese said Israel’s claims that Hamas operatives hide in humanitarian zones are part of “Israel’s logic of genocide”.
Responding to a statement by the German Foreign Office repeating the Israeli line that “Hamas uses civilians as human shields” despite no evidence having been provided to substantiate the claim, Albanese said she could not believe “how far Germany seems ready to go to protect Israel’s genocidal campaign”.
NOTE: Regarding this massacre, a Gazan speaking to AFP said, “The area was bombed without prior warning, they didn’t ask us to flee to a safer area or anything. They told us to come to al-Mawasi, so we came to al-Mawasi.” Clearly, Israel did not attempt to protect the civilian population in this case, and in many other similar cases.
Israel, the US, Germany, and other powerful states continue to repeat the “human shields” mantra, in spite of the logical and moral problems it raises. +972 Magazine conducted in-depth investigations that prove Israel prefers to kill Gazan fighters when they are at home, rather than on the battlefield or elsewhere – creating a situation where civilians are likely to be killed. (An excellent commentary on the topic is here.)
Israel rarely, if ever, provides evidence of the presence of Hamas fighters in a targeted area.
Additionally, Israel has blatantly used Palestinians as human shields on many occasions (see this, this, this, this, this for example.)
Moreover, Israel locates its own military bases in civilian population centers – the IDF headquarters is located in the heart of Tel Aviv.
Israel tells High Court it is not obligated to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza
Ha’aretz reports:
The Israeli government has given the High Court a response to petitions submitted by human rights organizations demanding that Israel expand the scope of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
The petitioners insisted that, based on the decision by the International Court of Justice that Israel is an occupying power in Gaza, Israel is responsible for providing the population with aid. The government argued that Israel does not maintain “effective control” of the area, and therefore does not need to increase humanitarian aid.
Among other things, the government claimed that the IDF was not present throughout the war and is not currently in areas where there is a population; that the army forces “are still fighting many terrorists, and the state is unable to perform governmental functions on the ground”; and that despite the significant damage to Hamas, the organization still continues to function and operate.
It also states that forces should return and fight in the areas from which they withdrew – including Gaza City, the central camps, and Khan Younis – in view of Hamas’s attempt to rebuild its capabilities.
The Gisha organization, one of the groups who petitioned the High Court, stated: “The state’s response proves that Israel continues to deny its obligations towards the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. Despite the explicit determination of the International Court of Justice in The Hague that Israel is an occupying power in the Gaza Strip, the state abdicates its responsibility, and denies the catastrophic consequences of its actions in the Gaza Strip.”
NOTE: Israel does indeed maintain “effective control” of Gaza: It controls every border crossing into Gaza, the coastline of Gaza, the airspace over Gaza, and the entire armistice line dividing Israel from Gaza.
As many as 1,400 aid trucks are reportedly waiting and spoiling at the southern border of Gaza, where Israel has made it extremely difficult to pass, employing complicated and arbitrary procedures.
![Palestinians wait in line to receive food from charities in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on August 25, 2024 [Hassan Jedi/Anadolu Agency]](https://israelpalestinenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/8-27-p-300x200.jpg)
Israel admits it killed at least 2,300 Palestinians in Rafah assault
Middle East Eye reports:
Israel said that the Hamas “Rafah Brigade” has been severely weakened after nearly six months of military operations.
Israel reportedly killed at least 2,308 Palestinians, whom the military claims are fighters. Israel often does not differentiate between fighters and civilians, and its claims about targeting Hamas members have rarely been supported by concrete evidence.
Israeli military officials in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, said that over 13 kilometers of tunnels had been destroyed.
“The Rafah Brigade has been defeated. Their four battalions have been destroyed, and we now have full operational control over the urban area,” the Israeli military claimed.
Israeli combat engineers claim to have discovered 203 separate, interconnected tunnels in the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs from the Egyptian border to 300 meters outside Rafah. Contrary to Israel’s previous statements, no tunnels crossing from Gaza into Egypt have been found.
Woman loses six children in Israeli attack on al-Jaouni school
Al Jazeera reports:
A Palestinian woman who was sheltering at the UN-run school said the Israeli attack killed all of her six children.
“Are these children terrorists? May God punish them. The Israelis destroyed our home; killed and starved our people; women are widowed and children orphaned,” she told Al Jazeera in a video testimony.
“Six children, including a baby twin. What crime, what wrong did those innocent children do?”
