We know the names of 15,613 children that Israel has killed in Gaza – Day 535

Israel refused to coordinate a rescue operation for paramedics stuck in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

In a statement, the agency said it lost contact with a team of paramedics in Rafah since early Sunday after Israeli forces besieged it amid a rescue mission.

“We are still awaiting a green light (from Israel) to reach out to the team in Rafah,” it added.

According to the organization, several paramedics were injured and four ambulances were besieged by Israeli forces in the city since Sunday.

The Israeli army on Monday launched an investigation into the explosion at the Turkish Hospital in central Gaza, amid suspicions that a senior Israel Defense Forces commander ordered the building’s demolition without the required authorization.

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.)

The Israeli military’s self-investigation – including this one – tend to focus on individuals and individual incidents, ignoring the dangerous, far-reaching policies and assumptions rampant in Israeli thinking: impunity, lethality, and dehumanization.

The US State Department on Monday deflected questions about the killings of two journalists in Israeli attacks on Gaza, including Al Jazeera’s Hossam Shabat, placing blame on Hamas.

“I would say that every single thing that’s happening is a result of Hamas and its choices to drag that region down into a level of suffering that has been excruciating and has caused innumerable deaths,” Tammy Bruce told reporters during a press briefing.

Bruce further reiterated US support for Israel, stating that Washington stands by Israel’s “needs as it defends itself.”

She framed Hamas as an entity that has “destroyed lives for generations and continues to.”

Pressed on whether the killing of journalists could be considered a war crime, Bruce declined to provide a direct answer, instead attributed responsibility for all events in Gaza to Hamas.

“I’m not going to stand here and declare what’s a war crime and what isn’t,” she said. “But what we do know is a crime is the mass slaughter of any individuals, certainly the targeting of people simply because of who they are.”

NOTE: Tammy Bruce’s comments, blaming Hamas for “every single thing,” centering Jewish suffering, and dismissing Palestinian suffering, echo Israeli talking points.

Israel’s narrative has it that Hamas “started a war” on October 7th, implying that on October 6th there was peace. In reality, Israel has been at war with the Palestinian people since its creation.

Hamas was exercising – albeit imperfectly – its internationally recognized right to resist the oppressor and occupier of its people.

For years, Palestinians have tried rational, peaceful methods of achieving justice: they have petitioned the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. They have held thousands of peaceful protests. In the ICC and ICJ, the United States always exercises veto power in Israel’s favor. When it comes to peaceful protests, Israeli soldiers shoot to kill.

In 2018 thousands of families in Gaza gathered every week for over a year and a half in unarmed, Gandhian style demonstrations. Israeli snipers shot one after another, and the world was silent.

There is no indication that the events of October 7th were antisemitic. In fact, Hamas has explained in no uncertain terms why it carried out its attack.

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