SOS warning issued for ‘imminent genocide’ of Palestinians in Rafah
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention says that the Israeli bombing strikes on the southern city where nearly 1.4 million people are sheltering “could be the opening salvo to Israel’s promised ground invasion of the town”.
“This bombing is a genocidal act conducted by Israel against a trapped civilian population,” the organisation says in a post on X.
“There is no way to ensure that protection in urban combat with an army that has proved to be motivated by genocidal zeal.”
The organisation warns that if the US president fails to act on his own words to prevent the further genocide of the people of Gaza “and to behave in accordance with the rules-based international order he purports to prize, his betrayal of humanity will be remembered by the world forever.”
Israeli forces killed 6,050 Palestinian students, says ministry
The Palestinian Ministry of Education says in a statement that another 10,219 students have been injured in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip since October 7. The ministry says that the majority of the students, 5,994, were killed in the besieged coastal enclave, while the remaining 56 were killed in the West Bank.
At least 105 students have been detained in the occupied West Bank since October 7, the ministry adds.
WHO reports sharp rise in newborn deaths in Gaza
Newborn mortality is rising sharply in the Gaza Strip, with babies being born underweight, the World Health Organization has said, citing medics on the ground.
“From different doctors, particularly in the maternity hospitals, they’re reporting that they’re seeing a big rise in children born with low birth weight, and just not surviving the neonatal period because they’re born too small,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said at a briefing in Geneva.
She said that at Kamal Adwan, the only paediatric hospital in northern Gaza, “at least 15 malnourished children are coming in per day, and the needs are just getting ever more severe”.
Damage to Gaza infrastructure estimated at $18.5bn
According to a new report released by the World Bank and the United Nations, that number is equivalent to 97 percent of the combined GDP of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022.
The report finds that damage to structures affects every sector of the economy. Housing accounts for 72 percent of the costs. Public service infrastructure such as water, health and education account for 19 percent, and damage to commercial and industrial buildings account for 9 percent.
“An estimated 26 million tons of debris and rubble have been left in the wake of the destruction, an amount that is estimated to take years to remove,” the report says.
The report also says:
- More than a million people are without homes, and 75 percent of the population is displaced.
- Eighty-four percent of health facilities have been damaged or destroyed.
- The water and sanitation system has nearly collapsed, delivering less than 5 percent of its previous output.
- The education system has collapsed with 100 percent of children out of school.
War with Lebanon is still going as well
Hezbollah fires rocket barrage at Israeli town
On its official Telegram channel, the Lebanese group says it fired a number of Katyusha rockets at the area of Nahariya, specifically at the Gesher HaZiv kibbutz.
It said that this attack was “in response to the Israeli attacks on the steadfast southern [Lebanese] villages and civilian homes, the latest of which was on the town of Yarin … wounding of a woman there”.
Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 says on X that air raid sirens were activated in the Nahariya area, and that MDA, Israel’s national emergency ambulance service, reported that no reports of damage or casualties from the rocket attack were reported.
