US-made “precision” bomb kills 30, mostly children, in Gaza – Day 294

At least 11 killed in rocket attack in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights

Al Jazeera reports: At least 11 people have been killed and 19 others wounded in a rocket attack on a football pitch in the town of the Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Israeli authorities said. (CNN places the number killed at 12.)

Israel’s military spokesman Daniel Hagari said children were among those killed and accused the Lebanese group Hezbollah of carrying out the attack on Saturday, but the group denied any involvement.

“Our intelligence is clear. Hezbollah is responsible for the killing of innocent children,” Hagari said.

“We will prepare for a response against Hezbollah … we will act,” he said.

Hezbollah swiftly denied responsibility for the attack on Saturday. The group said in a statement it “categorically denies the allegations reported by certain enemy media and various media platforms concerning the targeting of Majdal Shams”.

“Hezbollah will pay a heavy price, the kind it has thus far not paid,” Netanyahu said.

CNN ADDS: Majdal Shams, a village that is home to a large Druze community.

Some 20,000 Druze Arabs live in the Golan Heights, an area Israel seized from Syria in 1967 during the Six-Day War and annexed in 1981. Considered occupied territory under international law and UN Security Council resolutions, the area is home to about 50,000 Israeli Jewish settlers and Druze. Most Druze there identify as Syrian and have rejected offers of Israeli citizenship.

NOTE: The Golan Heights (like the West Bank) is an occupied territory held in violation of international law and the principle behind UN Security Resolution 242, according to which the acquisition of territory by war is inadmissible.

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Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz describes the occupied Golan Heights as “northern Israel.”

Most Druze, and consequently most of the victims of this strike, identify as Syrian, not Israeli.

Israel’s president says ‘world cannot sit in silence’ in the face of Hezbollah’s attacks

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said “the world cannot continue to sit in silence in the face of Nasrallah’s terror attacks,” after the attack in Majdal Shams.

The Israeli military has blamed the air raid on Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, lead by Hassan Nasrallah, but the group has denied any responsibility.

“Hezbollah, armed and funded by Iran, does not distinguish between child or adult, soldier or civilian, Jew or Muslim, Druze or Christian,” he said on X.

“The State of Israel will firmly defend its citizens and its sovereignty.”

NOTE: The irony of Herzog’s comment can not be overstated: Israel is armed and funded by a foreign country; Israel does not distinguish between child and adult, soldier and civilian, Christian, Druze, or Muslim. Palestinians wants only to defend its citizens and its sovereignty – only when Hezbollah allegedly hits a civilian location, it’s “terrorism,” and when Israel does the same, it’s “self-defense.”

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West Bank: Two killed, 28 injured in Israeli air raid on Balata refugee camp

Middle East Eye reports: At least one person has been killed and 28 others injured during an Israeli army raid on the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Red Crescent.

The health ministry in Gaza has named the man killed as Louay Muhammad Misha, stating he was 17 years old.

It added that nine of the injured are currently being treated at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus. Two are in a critical condition.

Earlier, the Israeli army said it had launched an attack on the camp and killed a man that the army said was wanted.

Also, an Israeli army spokesperson said that a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a military site near an entrance to Nablus, injuring an Israeli soldier.

According to the Israeli media outlet Haaretz, which quoted an unnamed security source, the attack came as a response to the shooting of the Israeli soldier.

MIDDLE EAST EYE ADDS: The Palestinian health ministry named a second fatality in the attack as as 24-year-old Ali Hashash.

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Top Israeli negotiators boycott next round of ceasefire talks citing govt ‘sabotage’

The Cradle reports: Two top Israeli officials have refused to travel to Qatar for talks with Hamas regarding a Gaza ceasefire, citing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to sabotage the negotiations, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on 27 July.

Two top negotiators believe that “there is no point in traveling,” because Netanyahu “wants to make changes to the deal that Hamas will not accept. Therefore, Mossad chief Yossi Cohen will travel alone.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu is demanding that conditions be added to the current proposal for a ceasefire deal with Hamas in an effort to “cause a crisis” in the negotiations; some reportedly fear it will cost the lives of Israeli captives still in Gaza.

“Netanyahu is single-minded, and his position does not allow for negotiations to begin,” the sources continued. “It’s not clear if he wants a deal.”

Before speaking to Congress, Netanyahu delayed the departure of the negotiating team for talks in Qatar while claiming during his speech he was doing everything in his power to bring the captives home.

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The Intercept: Google planned to sponsor IDF conference – but now has disappeared from sponsor list

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JULY 27:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – July 27: at least 39,764* (39,324 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 591 in the West Bank (~140 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 46,848 Palestinian deaths.

Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death 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 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 18 from West Bank).
• At least 41 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 27: at least 95,823 (including at least 90,830 in Gaza and 5,420 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 – July 27: ~1,481 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 328 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.