US weapons used in Rafah massacre: CNN report – Day 235

US weapons used in Rafah massacre: CNN report – Day 235

More Israeli strikes rock Rafah as Israeli military pushes into city center; Biden administration doesn’t flinch; Hebron in the West Bank faces apartheid policies; US and Israeli pressure on ICC; Nikki Haley signs off on genocide; $320 million Gaza pier out of service; another expert says Israel is committing genocide; Rafah bombs were US-made, says CNN; more EU countries may recognize Palestine; UN Security Council considers ceasefire resolution; more

By IAK staff, from reports.

Israeli strike on humanitarian zone near Gaza’s Rafah kills ‘at least 21’

Middle East Eye reports: Israeli forces have struck a group of tents west of the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, killing at least 21 people, according to Palestinian medical officials.

The attack on Tuesday struck the al-Mawasi area near Rafah, which had been designated a “humanitarian zone” by Israeli forces. At least 12 of the dead were reportedly women.

Israel’s military has encouraged Palestinians in Rafah to seek shelter in the area, as it continues its offensive on the southern Gaza city.

Tuesday’s strike follows Sunday’s widely condemned Israeli attack on a displacement camp in Rafah, which killed at least 45 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

Another 249 were wounded, some seriously, including people with severe burns and severed limbs.

Images of headless children prompted widespread condemnation of Israel.

HA’ARETZ ADDS: According to eyewitnesses, the attack was carried out with artillery fire.

The Israeli army denies striking the area.


Israeli tanks seen advancing further into Rafah despite international calls to halt offensive

‘No policy changes’ after deadly Rafah strike: White House

Al Jazeera reports: US President Joe Biden is not turning a “blind eye” to the deaths in Israel’s strike on Rafah over the weekend but has no plans to change policy yet.

“This is not something that we’ve turned a blind eye to, nor is it something we’ve ignored or neglected,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. He had been asked “how many charred corpses” it would take for Biden to change course on support for Israel.

At the same time, Kirby said he had “no policy changes to speak to” following Sunday’s strike in which 45 people were killed as a blaze tore through a camp for displaced people, adding that the incident “just happened”.


US expresses deep concern to Israel Rafah tent camp attack

Al Jazeera reports: US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said the United States will continue to emphasize to Israel its obligation to comply fully with international humanitarian law, minimize the impact of its operations on civilians and maximize the flow of humanitarian assistance.

The tent camp bombing, which killed at least 45 people, has drawn widespread international outrage, including from some of Israel’s closest allies, over the military’s expanding offensive into Rafah.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life in Rafah over the weekend,” Miller told reporters.

The Israeli military “has promised that its investigation will be swift, comprehensive and transparent. We will be watching those results closely”, he added.

NOTE: Israel’s self-investigations consistently whitewash its crimes and fail to appropriately punish the perpetrators. Israeli sources, including the government itself, have a long track record of lying (for example, this and this and this.)

US says Israel Rafah assault still ‘limited’ after deadly bombing

AFP reports: The United States says it still considers Israel’s assault on the southern Gazan city of Rafah to be “limited in scope” despite attacks that killed at least 70 people in displacement camps over the past three days.

“Right now it is still our assessment that what is happening in Rafah, what the [Israeli military] are doing, it is limited in scope,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters.

The comments come after Israeli tanks were seen in the heart of Rafah city, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering with no safe place to go.

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp area housing internally displaced people in Rafah, Gaza, on May 27
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp area housing internally displaced people in Rafah, Gaza, on May 27 (photo)

Another State Department official resigns over Gaza, taking aim at aid

Washington Post reports: A career State Department official involved in the Biden administration’s contentious debates over Israel’s conduct in Gaza resigned this week, citing disagreements with a recently published U.S. government report that claimed that Israel was not impeding humanitarian assistance to Gaza, two officials told The Washington Post.

The outgoing official, Stacy Gilbert, served in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. Gilbert sent an email to staff Tuesday explaining her view that the State Department was wrong to conclude that Israel had not obstructed humanitarian assistance to Gaza, officials who read the letter said.

The cause for resignation is unusual in that it speaks to internal dissent over a hotly disputed report that the Biden administration relied on to justify continuing to send billions of dollars of weapons to Israel.

When asked about her resignation, a State Department spokesman said that “we have made clear we welcome diverse points of view and believe it makes us stronger.”

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel issue, said the department would continue to seek out a wide range of view points for the benefit of the policymaking process.

“On the day when the White House announced that the latest atrocity in Rafah did not cross its red line, this resignation demonstrates that the Biden Administration will do anything to avoid the truth,” Josh Paul, the first State Department official to resign over Gaza policy, wrote on LinkedIn after this article was published online.

“This is not just a story of bureaucratic complicity or ineptitude — there are people signing off on arms transfers, people drafting arms transfer approval memos, people turning a blind eye,” Paul wrote. People “who could be speaking up, people who have an awesome responsibility to do good, and a lifelong commitment to human rights — whose choice is to let the bureaucracy function as though it were business as usual.”

The report Gilbert objected to was published this month in response to a presidential memo known as NSM-20.

President Biden issued the memo in February after coming under pressure from congressional Democrats concerned about the rising death toll in Gaza. It required the State Department to assess whether Israel’s use of U.S. weapons in Gaza violated U.S. or international humanitarian law and included an examination of whether humanitarian aid had been deliberately obstructed.

RECOMMENDED READING: New report shows Biden is going to extraordinary lengths to continue arming Israel

Rafah family mourns after boy, 10, is killed in Israeli attack

A family is mourning the loss of a 10-year-old boy to Israeli artillery shelling while trying to flee Rafah.

The family’s home was hit by shelling as they prepared to leave the Zourob area in Rafah as Israeli forces advanced and intensified their attacks on the neighborhood.


Hamas ends ceasefire talks until Israel halts Rafah operation and withdraws troops

Middle East Eye reports: Hamas has told international mediators it is ending its participation in ceasefire talks aimed at ending the war on Gaza, following Sunday’s “massacre” in Rafah by Israel, a source close to the Palestinian organization has told Middle East Eye.

At least 45 people were killed and dozens more wounded, most of them women and children, when Israel struck a camp housing displaced Palestinians in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood of western Rafah.

The air strikes, which resulted in some Palestinians being burned alive, came just two days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah”.

A source close to Hamas told MEE on Tuesday that the Palestinian organization had informed mediators it was ending its participation in negotiations until Israel ends its offensive on Rafah, withdraws its troops, and that the Rafah crossing, a critical entry point for food, medicine and other supplies for Gaza’s 2.3 million people, is reopened under its previous administration.



West Bank: Fear, hunger and displacement follows Israel’s worsening abuse of Palestinians in Hebron

The New Arab reports: In Hebron, where approximately 650 illegal Israeli settlers forcefully planted themselves in the heart of an urban Palestinian population and dictate the fate of its roughly 40,000 residents, Palestinians’ lives have become an even worse nightmare since 7 October.

Israel’s abuse plays out on every detail of citizens’ every day in this part of the West Bank,” Issa Amro, a UN-recognized human rights defender and founder of grassroots group Youth Against Settlements, told The New Arab.

In “H2” — the 20 percent of Hebron that is under direct Israeli control and where those settlers reign over the Palestinian-majority population — a labyrinth of checkpoints and a network of barriers that have long been put in place by the Israeli army to control Palestinians and keep them off certain areas and roads, have only got worse.

“In Old Hebron, there are 122 checkpoints and barriers to block movement, including 22 military checkpoints. Of these 22 checkpoints, only six open to allow citizens through, but only partially and at specific hours,” explained Amro.

These checkpoints, he noted, close and open according to the whims of Israeli soldiers.


Spying, hacking and intimidation: Israel’s nine-year ‘war’ on the ICC exposed

The Guardian reports: When the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) announced he was seeking arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders, he issued a cryptic warning: “I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence the officials of this court must cease immediately.”

Karim Khan did not provide specific details of attempts to interfere in the ICC’s work, but he noted a clause in the court’s foundational treaty that made any such interference a criminal offence. If the conduct continued, he added, “my office will not hesitate to act”.

The prosecutor did not say who had attempted to intervene in the administration of justice, or how exactly they had done so.

Now, an investigation by the Guardian and the Israeli-based magazines +972 and Local Call can reveal how Israel has run an almost decade-long secret “war” against the court. The country deployed its intelligence agencies to surveil, hack, pressure, smear and allegedly threaten senior ICC staff in an effort to derail the court’s inquiries.

Israeli intelligence captured the communications of numerous ICC officials, including Khan and his predecessor as prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, intercepting phone calls, messages, emails and documents.

The surveillance was ongoing in recent months, providing Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with advance knowledge of the prosecutor’s intentions. A recent intercepted communication suggested that Khan wanted to issue arrest warrants against Israelis but was under “tremendous pressure from the United States”, according to a source familiar with its contents.

US President Joe Biden (2nd left) and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (right) with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) during a joint press conference in Tel Aviv, October 18, 2023
US President Joe Biden (2nd left) and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (right) with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) during a joint press conference in Tel Aviv, October 18, 2023 (photo)

Nikki Haley writes ‘finish them’ on IDF artillery shells during Israel visit

The Guardian reports: Nikki Haley, the failed Republican presidential nominee, signed Israeli artillery shells with the inscription “Finish Them!” on a Memorial Day visit to Israel.

The former South Carolina governor’s graphic display of support came on a trip to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where she was accompanied by Danny Danon, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and a noted hawkish member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party in the Knesset.

Talking to reporters, Haley was unapologetic, criticizing Joe Biden’s administration for temporarily withholding weapons as a means of discouraging an Israeli attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and aiming barbs at the international criminal court (ICC) – which is seeking Netanyahu’s arrest – and the international court of justice (ICJ), which is considering charges of genocide against Israel.

“What America needs to understand is if Israel’s fighting our enemies, how can we not help them,” said Haley, whose missile message also carried the words “America loves Israel”.

“The sure way to not help Israel is to withhold weapons. The sure way to not help Israel is to praise the ICC, the ICJ or any of those that are condemning Israel instead of condemning what happens.

“America needs to do whatever Israel needs and stop telling them how to fight this war. You are either a friend or not a friend.”

According to one Israeli peace activist, Alon-Lee Green, Haley also visited settlements in the West Bank, which are not recognised under international law.

“Dear Americans, Nikki Haley visited us today: she went to the West Bank settlements and then signed on a bomb ‘finish them’. Just disgusting,” Green posted. “Can you take her back please? We already have one [Itamar] Ben-Gvir [Israel’s national security minister] and don’t need your filthy death-promoting politicians as well. Thanks!”

Former U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley signs artillery shells near the northern border of Israel on Tuesday, May 28, 2024.
Former U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley signs artillery shells near the northern border of Israel on Tuesday, May 28, 2024. (PHOTO)

Trump told donors he will crush pro-Palestinian protests, deport demonstrators

Washington Post reports: Former president Donald Trump promised to crush pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, telling a roomful of donors — a group that he joked included “98 percent of my Jewish friends” — that he would expel student demonstrators from the United States, according to participants in the roundtable event with him in New York.

“One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave,” Trump said on May 14, according to donors at the event.

When one of the donors complained that many of the students and professors protesting on campuses could one day hold positions of power in the United States, Trump called the demonstrators part of a “radical revolution” that he vowed to defeat. He praised the New York Police Department for clearing the campus at Columbia University and said other cities needed to follow suit, saying “it has to be stopped now.”

“Well, if you get me elected, and you should really be doing this, if you get me reelected, we’re going to set that movement back 25 or 30 years,” he said, according to the donors, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail a private event.

The private New York meeting offers new insight into his current thinking. Speaking to wealthy donors behind closed doors, Trump said that he supports Israel’s right to continue “its war on terror” and boasted of his White House policies toward Israel.


US military pier temporarily removed from Gaza coast for repairs

Reuters reports: A U.S. military-built pier off Gaza’s coast is being temporarily removed after a part of the structure broke off, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, in the latest blow to efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

The pier was announced by U.S. President Joe Biden in March and involved the military assembling the floating structure off the coast. Estimated to cost $320 million for the first 90 days and involve about 1,000 U.S. service members, it went into operation two weeks ago.

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said a portion of the pier had separated and that the pier would be towed over the next 48 hours to Ashdod port in Israel for repairs, adding that the pier would take over a week to repair and then returned to its place off the coast of Gaza.

Since the pier began operations, the United Nations has transported 137 trucks of aid from the pier, said a U.N. World Food Program spokesperson. This amount is roughly equal to one quarter the amount delivered to Gaza in a single day before October 7th.

NOTE Thousands of aid trucks are reportedly waiting just outside Gaza, where Israel has made it extremely difficult to pass, employing complicated and arbitrary procedures. Israel has on multiple occasions fired at individuals waiting for food aid (once killing over 100); Israel has also attacked food aid convoys. Additionally, Israeli citizens have blocked a border crossing for weeks, and attacked and looted trucks they believed were heading to Gaza – all with no meaningful attempt by Israel to stop them.
In mid-March, Israel promised to “flood” Gaza with aid, but has failed to do so.
The US has for months expressed its desire to see appropriate amounts of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza on one hand, while undermining Gaza’s largest aid organization on the other. 
Meanwhile, the US has built a “temporary pier” off the Gaza coast to receive aid by sea – at a cost of at least $320 million (which has so far been ineffective) – and has, along with other countries, airdropped packages of aid into Gaza – causing over 20 Palestinian deaths due to malfunction.
The Biden administration has so far not used its leverage as the provider of billions of dollars in military aid to and for Israel (with one exception), a move that could potentially end the war in short order.
In this image provided by the U.S. Army, soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) and sailors attached to the MV Roy P. Benavidez assemble the Roll-On, Roll-Off Distribution Facility, or floating pier, off the shore of Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea on April 26, 2024
In this image provided by the U.S. Army, soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) and sailors attached to the MV Roy P. Benavidez assemble the Roll-On, Roll-Off Distribution Facility, or floating pier, off the shore of Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea on April 26, 2024 (photo)

Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention: “Israel is committing genocide”

Statement: The Lemkin Institute has had it with the cynical lies and propaganda from Israel and the USA. One can have different views about the definition of genocide, but one may not use definitional disputes to deny genocide. If a genocide may be occurring, every nation is compelled by customary law to try to stop it.

Let us be clear: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The US is complicit in genocide. These are not political statements. They are statements that are made from knowledge and experience. Nevertheless, you do not need a PhD, a law degree, or X-ray vision to see the genocidal dimensions of Israel’s carnage in Gaza. It is clear in the behavior of the state and its military, on full display in [the] horrific bombardment of a Rafah camp.

But even if there were legitimate doubts about Israel’s genocide, there is no doubt that Israel is committing atrocity crimes of the most barbaric kind. Israel must be stopped. Israel must be stopped now.

We are disgusted by Western leaders, especially in the USA, Germany, and the UK. They have demonstrated not only that they don’t care one bit about genocide prevention and human rights, but also that they are willing to allow an ally to commit atrocity crimes while they offer material and diplomatic support. It is reprehensible and the individuals involved in this gaslighting campaign should be deeply ashamed. They should also be put on trial.

Humanity has a choice: Either we decide that our children can all be killed whenever a superior force alleges that “terrorists” are among us, or we decide that under no circumstances will we allow these superior forces to lay waste to our world any longer. We each must choose and act accordingly. The watershed moment is now.


“Shrinking map of Gaza”


Israeli FM accuses Spanish PM of helping incite Jewish ‘genocide’

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz has lashed out at Spain’s PM Sanchez over the recognition of Palestine, saying he is a “partner to incitement” of Jewish “genocide”.


CNN analysis: bombs used on Sunday’s deadly Rafah strike were US-made

CNN reports: US-made munitions were used in the deadly Israeli strike on a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah on Sunday, a CNN analysis of video from the scene and a review by explosive weapons experts found.

CNN geolocated videos showing tents in flames in the aftermath of the strike on the camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) known as “Kuwait Peace Camp 1.”

Four explosive weapons experts identified for CNN the tail of a US-made GBU-39 small-diameter bomb (SDB).

The GBU-39, manufactured by Boeing, is reportedly a high-precision munition “designed to attack strategically important point targets,” and result in low collateral damage.

However, “using any munition, even of this size, will always incur risks in a densely populated area,” said explosive weapons expert Chris Cobb-Smith, a former British Army artillery officer.

CNN’s identification of the munition is consistent with a claim made by Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari in a briefing on Tuesday. Hagari said the strike – which he said targeted senior Hamas commanders – used two munitions with small warheads containing 17 kilos of explosives, adding these bombs were “the smallest munitions that our jets could use.”

Al Jazeera’s verification unit made the same identification.

A New York Times visual analysis found that munition debris filmed at the scene were remnants of a GBU-39, a bomb designed and manufactured in the United States.
A New York Times visual analysis found that munition debris filmed at the scene were remnants of a GBU-39, a bomb designed and manufactured in the United States.

Mexico files a declaration of intervention at ICJ, joining South African genocide case against Israel

The state of Mexico has made a formal intervention at the International Court of Justice, requesting that the court allow it to join South Africa’s ongoing case accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The formal application to intervene and join South Africa’s case means Mexico has joined a growing list of countries who have sought to join the case against Israel.

The countries of Nicaragua, Colombia, Libya, Egypt, Turkey have all sought to join South Africa’s legal battle.


‘No Longer Taboo’: More European States Considering Recognizing Palestine, Senior EU Diplomat Tells Ha’aretz:

Ha’aretz reports: Several EU member states are seriously looking into recognizing a Palestinian state, like Spain, Norway and Ireland have done, says the EU’s special representative for the Middle East peace process.

Sven Koopmans, a Dutch diplomat who has held the role of special representative since 2021, told Ha’aretz in an interview.

“There are a few member states that are looking at this very closely and are likely to take a step soon,” Koopmans told Ha’aretz. He emphasized that he can’t speak on behalf of specific countries, only the entire bloc, but noted that in the aftermath of the war in Gaza and in light of statements made by senior Israeli government officials against the two-state solution, the issue of recognizing Palestine was “no longer a taboo” for European governments.

Koopmans said Europe was “very alarmed” by certain statements and actions taken by the current Israeli government. He added that Israel’s continuation of the operation in Rafah was a violation of the International Court of Justice’s order limiting the fighting in Gaza’s southernmost city.

“ICJ orders are binding upon everyone, and the order was very clear. But people are still being targeted. The suffering is unimaginable,” Koopmans said.

In response to a question from Ha’aretz if the humanitarian situation in Gaza wasn’t mostly now the fault of Egypt, which has refused to bring aid into the Strip ever since Israel took over the Rafah crossing, Koopmans said that at the end of the day, Israel, which is currently occupying Gaza, is the one responsible for making sure the local population has enough aid to avoid starvation.

Palestinians queue up to buy bread from recently reopened Ajour Bakery in Gaza City
Palestinians queue up to buy bread from recently reopened Ajour Bakery in Gaza City (photo)

Algeria drafts UN resolution calling for immediate Gaza cease-fire and release of all Israeli hostages:

Associated Press reports: Algeria is circulating a proposed UN Security Council resolution that would demand an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and order Israel to halt its military offensive in the southern city of Rafah immediately.

The draft resolution, obtained Wednesday evening by The Associated Press, also demands that the cease-fire be respected by all parties. It also calls for the immediate release of all hostages taken during Hamas’ attack in southern Israel on October 7.

“It is our hope that it can be done as quickly as possible because life is in the balance,” Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong told reporters.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: “We’re waiting to see it and then we’ll react to it.”

The United States has vetoed multiple resolutions demanding a cease-fire in Gaza.

The draft demands compliance with previous Security Council resolutions that call for the opening of all border crossings and humanitarian access to Gaza’s 2.3 million people who desperately need food and other aid.


Freedom Flotilla Boat ‘Handala’ in London on its way to Gaza:

Press release: At 17:00, on Thursday 30 May, members and supporters of the International Committee for Breaking the Siege on Gaza, Health Workers 4 Palestine and the Palestinian Forum in Britain will gather at Old Billingsgate Walk, Riverside, EC3R 6DX and march to welcome the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s boat ‘Handala’ at London Bridge, on the River Thames.

After visiting ports in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Netherlands, ‘Handala’ continues on its way to physically challenge Israel’s illegal maritime blockade of Gaza. Three other Freedom Flotilla Coalition ships are currently in the eastern Mediterranean preparing to sail to Gaza with hundreds of human rights observers and 5,500 tons of humanitarian aid.

“We are outraged that so many governments are failing to protect Palestinian people from Israel’s genocidal actions, including the famine they have imposed on more than two million people, and so we must sail to break the siege,” said Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) Steering Committee member Zaher Birawi.

The FFC is a non-partisan international coalition of campaigns which stand for freedom and human rights. We have sailed since 2010 with the goal of breaking the blockade of Gaza, in solidarity with Palestinians’ cries for freedom and equality. Our non-violent direct action missions support the dignity and humanity of Palestinians, working with civil society partners, rather than any party, faction or government. More background information available at freedomflotilla.org

NOTE: Previously, a civilian project to take aid to Gaza by boat, originated by activists Greta Berlin and Paul Larudee, had resulted in multiple humanitarian flotillas attempting to deliver aid to Gaza.
Israeli forces attacked them, killing 9 people on one of the boats, including an American citizen, 19.
RECOMMENDED READING: How the Freedom Flotilla became a global humanitarian mission to Gaza
Four boats left from Scandinavia in mid-May, 2018 and stopped in some 28 ports along the way. The Israeli navy intercepted the boat containing activists that was part of the flotilla. (Read about this flotilla at the end of the news article.)
Four boats left from Scandinavia in mid-May, 2018 and stopped in some 28 ports along the way. The Israeli navy intercepted the boat containing activists that was part of the flotilla. (Read about this flotilla at the end of the news article.) (photo)

Danish university withdraws investments from Israeli settlements:

Middle East Monitor reports: Denmark’s University of Copenhagen yesterday said it would “cease investing in Israeli companies conducting business in the occupied West Bank.”

The university campus has witnessed student protests calling on it to divest and urging for a ceasefire in Gaza since early May.

The university’s students demand “severing its academic relations with Israel, and to withdraw its investments from companies operating in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

The university said in a post on X: “As of May 29, it will divest all of its holdings, with a total value of approximately one million Danish kroner ($145,810) in Airbnb, Booking.com and edreams.com, which are sites that advertise apartments for rent in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”

The university added that it “will cooperate with fund managers to ensure its investments adhere to a United Nations list of companies involved in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”

NOTE: Israel has illegally built around 280 settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are home to more than 700,000 illegal settlers. Israeli settlements and settlers on Palestinian land are a violation of international law. Some settler groups, moreover, have a history of violence against Palestinians, often with the assistance of Israeli military forces.

More News:

Middle East Monitor: Innocence is under siege, with a psychological toll on Gaza’s children.
IMEMC: Palestine UNESCO Ambassador Condemns Israeli Theft of Artifacts, Demolition Of Heritage Sites In Gaza.
IMEMC Reports.

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – May 28: at least 36,567* (36,171 in Gaza* – 4,959 women (20%), 7,797 children (32%). This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 517 in the West Bank (~117 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 43,640 Palestinian deaths. (Ralph Nader has estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.)

At least 42 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 14 from West Bank).

At least 31 Palestinian children and several adults have died due to malnutrition**.

About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.

About 1.1 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are facing Catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – May 28: at least 86,066 (including at least 81,420 in Gaza and 5,040 in the West Bank).

It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – May 28: ~1,440 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 287 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

Times of Israel reports: The IDF also 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. 

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org

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