Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
Israel’s “heinous” attack on al-Mawasi incinerated Gazans using US-made one-ton bombs
The Cradle reports:
Israeli forces committed a new massacre against displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza’s Al-Mawasi region early on 10 September, described by the strip’s Civil Defense as among “the most heinous” since the start of the war.
The strike occurred in a designated “safe zone,” where displaced Palestinians in tent encampments have been repeatedly targeted by Israel over the past months.
Over 20 tents sheltering displaced Palestinians were hit in the early morning attack on Al-Mawasi, located on the coast near Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis.
“We are facing one of the most heinous massacres since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip … entire families disappeared under the sand due to the concussion missiles,” Gaza’s Civil Defense said.
The Civil Defense added that entire families and over a dozen tents completely disappeared after the Israeli strike.
WAFA news agency reported that “five missiles were used in the attack, causing total destruction to the tents and digging craters nine meters deep into the ground, which made it more difficult for rescue and medical teams to reach the victims.”
“The people were buried in the sand … They were retrieved as body parts,” eyewitnesses told AP.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported on Tuesday that “dozens are still missing and the civil defense have been digging with their bare hands to get the people out.”
Despite ‘safe zone’ designation, 5 Israeli massacres have killed 217 Palestinians in al-Mawasi since May
Andalou Agency reports:
[NOTE: Some reports say 19 were killed Tuesday, some say 40. An explanation of the discrepancy is here. Either way, the death toll is likely to rise.]
Despite Israel declaring it a “safe area,” effectively promising Palestinians shelter from attacks, the al-Mawasi area, located along the southern Palestinian coastline of the Mediterranean Sea in southwestern Gaza, has suffered five Israeli massacres since May.
The Israeli military had designated the area a “safe humanitarian zone.” However, these attacks, which have claimed the lives of at least 217 Palestinians and injured 635 others, have been condemned by international and UN bodies, as well as numerous countries.
This sandy region, devoid of basic living necessities, has become home to about 1.7 million displaced Palestinians seeking shelter from months of Israeli attacks.
Forced to relocate under heavy fire, the majority arrived in al-Mawasi following the Israeli military’s ground operation in Rafah starting on May 6.
(Read the details here.)
Gaza’s toxic air a ‘death sentence’ for trapped Palestinians, warn experts
Andalou Agency reports:
Experts are warning that millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are breathing toxic and polluted air that is nothing short of a “death sentence.”
Hundreds of thousands of people in the besieged and bombarded enclave are suffering breathing problems and respiratory issues, and doctors say the scale of the problem will continue to grow as Israeli bombs disperse more chemicals into the air, mixing with dust from the unending mounds of rubble throughout Gaza.
The extent of the crisis will also become clearer when Gaza’s health system is restored and hospitals get back the ability to conduct tests and offer other basic services destroyed in Israel’s ongoing assault.
Dr. Riyad Abu Shamala, a Palestinian ENT specialist in Gaza, fears an increase in birth defects in the near future, along with cases of lung cancer, particularly once “hospitals resume operations and departments such as radiology, MRI, CT scan and others … are restored.”
“I believe the general situation will worsen due to the deterioration of living conditions, increased pollution, lack of sanitation, and the contamination of water and air,” he told Anadolu.
Since Oct. 7 last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded 995,000 cases of acute respiratory infections in Gaza.
Yara Asi, an academic specializing in health management, believes these numbers are likely a significant undercount.
Human Rights Watch: In Gaza, Israeli Military’s Digital Tools Risk Civilian Harm
New HRW report:
The Israeli military’s use of surveillance technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and other digital tools to help determine targets to attack in Gaza may be increasing the risk of civilian harm, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question and answer document about the tools. These digital tools raise grave ethical, legal, and humanitarian concerns.
The Israeli military is using four digital tools in the Gaza hostilities to estimate the number of civilians in an area prior to an attack, notify soldiers when to attack, and to determine whether a person is a civilian or a combatant, as well as whether a structure is civilian or military.
One is based on mobile phone tracking to monitor the evacuation of Palestinians from parts of northern Gaza. Another, which the military calls “The Gospel,” generates lists of buildings or other structural targets to be attacked. Another, which the military calls “Lavender” assigns ratings to people in Gaza related to their suspected affiliation with Palestinian armed groups for purposes of labeling them as military targets. “Where’s Daddy?” purports to determine when a target is in a particular location so they can be attacked there.
Human Rights Watch found that the digital tools appear to rely on faulty data and inexact approximations to inform military actions in ways that could contravene Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular the rules of distinction and precaution.
“The Israeli military is using incomplete data, flawed calculations, and tools not fit for purpose to help make life and death decisions in Gaza, which could be increasing civilian harm,” said Zach Campbell, senior surveillance researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Problems in the design and use of these tools mean that, instead of minimizing civilian harm, the use of these tools could be resulting in the unlawful killing and wounding of civilians.”
These tools entail ongoing and systematic surveillance of Palestinian residents of Gaza, including data collected prior to the current hostilities, in a manner that is incompatible with international human rights law. The tools use Palestinians’ personal data to inform threat predictions, target identification, and machine learning.
(Read the rest of the summary here; find the full report here.)
RECOMMENDED READING: ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
UN says lives of staff endangered in Israeli halt of Gaza polio vaccine convoy
The Guardian reports:
On Monday, Israeli soldiers halted a UN convoy involved in the recent polio vaccination drive in Gaza and detained two staff members for questioning, in an incident during which live shots were fired and vehicles damaged by a bulldozer, the UN has said. The UN has released a statement that offers more detail about the incident.
According to the statement, a convoy of 12 UN staff members “whose movement was fully coordinated with Israel Defense Forces, and whose details were shared with them in advance,” was stopped Monday by Israeli forces on its way to northern Gaza to support the polio vaccine campaign.
Israeli soldiers demanded to question two of the UN staff members in the convoy.
“The situation escalated quickly, with soldiers pointing their weapons directly towards the convoy personnel. Live shots were fired, and tanks and bulldozers approached, engaged with, and damaged UN vehicles, endangering the lives of UN staff inside the vehicles.”
The staffers were questioned and released, and 7.5 hours after arriving at the checkpoint, the convoy left, returning to their base without fulfilling their mission.
“This incident highlights the ongoing dangers and obstacles humanitarian personnel face in Gaza. Despite daily coordination of humanitarian movements with the Israel Defense Forces, our staff and assets were not provided with sufficient protection, hindering our work.
“Under international humanitarian law, such protection is mandatory.”
The IDF claimed that it had “intelligence” that required the delay of the convoy.
Did Israel kill 5 at a food stall near polio vaccine sites to “undermine” vaccination campaign?
Euro Med Monitor reports:
Israel is critically undermining Gaza’s Polio vaccination campaign: This morning, Israel bombed a food stall in the Tuffah neighborhood located between 3 deconflicted centers designated as safe for providing Polio vaccination to children in Northern Gaza 5 were killed
According to our field information, the targeted food stall in the Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City is only tens or hundreds of meters away from the designated safe vaccination centers in the Tuffah, Al-Daraj, and Al-Balad neighborhoods.
We have also documented airstrikes in Southern Gaza that similarly undermine the crucial polio vaccination campaign.
Additionally, Israel’s stopping & interrogating a UN mission yesterday indicate a clear tendency for the IDF to obstruct humanitarian & relief efforts.
Most Americans want to stop arming Israel. Politicians don’t care.
The Intercept reports:
When Kamala Harris sat down with CNN’s Dana Bash last month, Bash asked a question: “Would you withhold some U.S. weapons shipments to Israel? That’s what a lot of people on the progressive left want you to do.”
Harris sidestepped the question, talked about a ceasefire, and ultimately said that she would not change course from the Biden administration’s policy of arming Israel as its war on Gaza enters its 11th month.
But polls of the American voting population show that she’s ignoring more than just the “progressive left”: A majority of voters support ending arms transfers to Israel, and support for an arms embargo is growing.
“The reality is that the public is far more in favor of stopping arms sales to Israel than opposed,” Yousef Munayyer, head of the Palestine/Israel Program at Arab Center Washington D.C., told The Intercept. He pointed to a June poll from CBS that showed 61 percent of all Americans said the U.S. should not send weapons to Israel, including 77 percent of Democrats and nearly 40 percent of Republicans.
Poll results have been consistent for months.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, a majority of Americans have expressed support for some form of restrictions on the U.S. sending weapons to Israel in repeated public surveys. Americans are even more overwhelmingly in favor of a ceasefire.
(Read the full article here.)
‘Our policy is clear’: Canada halts more arms sales to Israel
Al Jazeera reports:
Canada has suspended some 30 permits for arms shipments to Israel, including a US company’s Canadian subsidiary’s deal with the US government – a rare move.
“Our policy is clear: We will not have any form of arms or parts of arms be sent to Gaza. Period,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said.
Canada drew the ire of Israeli leaders when it initially announced it would halt new arms shipments to Israel as of January 8.
Pro-Palestinian protests across Canada – at universities, political events and even the Toronto International Film Festival last week – have continued to put pressure on the government to go further.
US president calls Israeli killing of Turkish American activist in West Bank an ‘accident’
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said of the shooting of a Turkish American activist by an Israeli sniper, “Apparently it was an accident — it ricocheted off the ground, and she got hit by accident.”
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was fatally shot by Israeli forces on Friday during a protest against illegal Israeli settlements in Beita, a town just outside of Nablus.
The Israeli army said Tuesday that it is “highly likely” that Eygi was “indirectly and unintentionally” hit by fire from its forces.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel’s killing of Eygi was “unprovoked and unjustified” and that it is “unacceptable.”
Eygi, born in Antalya, Türkiye in 1998, graduated in June from the University of Washington, where she studied psychology and Middle Eastern languages and cultures.
She arrived in the West Bank last Tuesday to volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement as part of an effort to support and safeguard Palestinian farmers.
MORE NEWS:
IMEMC Daily Reports.
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Reuters: UN likely to vote next week on push to end Israel presence in Palestinian territory
Mondoweiss: No, Israel does not have a right to defend itself in Gaza. But the Palestinians do.
Palestine Chronicle: “My house became a torture dungeon” – Palestine Chronicle reports from inside devastated Jenin
FPA statement demanding entrance to Gaza pic.twitter.com/Agu8DFtNd0
— Foreign Press Assoc. (@FPAIsPal) September 10, 2024
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – SEPTEMBER 10:
Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 10, 2024: at least 41,712* (41,020 in Gaza* – 11,308 women (30%), 16,715 children as of September 5. [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 694 in the West Bank (~148 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 49,032 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 300,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.
- At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 23 from West Bank).
- At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition (at least 37 of them children)**.
- About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
- Almost 500,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – September 10: at least 100,625 (including at least 94,925 in Gaza and 5,700 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how man Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – September 10, 2024: ~1,452 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 288*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 25 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.
NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis 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.
***Approximately ten of the deaths listed above were Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah in fighting at the Israel-Lebanon border. The figure does not include the reportedly 53 Israeli soldiers – nearly 16% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents.
† 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
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