Biden should press Netanyahu on journalist killings: CPJ and rights groups
Biden should also press the Israeli prime minister on the near-total ban on international media entering the besieged Gaza Strip, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and seven other human rights and news freedom organisations say.
In letters to the White House and US congressional leaders, the groups called on the US to “ensure that Israel ceases the killing of journalists, allows immediate and independent media access to the occupied Gaza Strip, and takes urgent steps to enable the press to report freely throughout Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.
Netanyahu is expected to meet with Biden on Tuesday and is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
The letters were signed by Amnesty International USA, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Knight First Amendment Institute, National Press Club, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.
Israeli air attack strikes media tent outside Al-Aqsa Hospital
Israel has launched a new military operation on the city of Khan Younis.
At least 27 Palestinians have been killed and dozens of wounded taken to hospital, and a tent being used by journalists outside the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah was also hit by an Israeli drone strike.
At least one person has been killed.
Home demolitions across West Bank are on the rise: Rights group
The Good Shepard Collective, a grassroots organisation that addresses violent and unjust structures in Palestine, says “there has been a ramp-up in Israeli military operations as a means to depopulate strategic areas of control.”
Since the beginning of this year, it said, Israel has carried out 225 military operations across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank alone, destroying 638 structures and displacing 783 people.
“But over the last 90 days, demolitions and displacements have been rapidly increasing. The year-to-date average for the daily displacement of people is 3.915 while in the previous 90 days, the figure has risen to 6.79,” the group said.
It added that during the past 90 days, there were 130 Israeli military operations. These operations displaced 550 people – 139 men, 141 women and 270 children. A total of 329 structures were destroyed over this time, it said.
Our Demolition Report is out. As you can see, home demolitions across East Jerusalem and the West Bank are on the rise, aligning with the Knesset formally declaring the end of a Palestinian state.
There are also some critical updates on Gaza as well. https://t.co/TR8ggvg7qb pic.twitter.com/jtlXXxSUDV
— Good Shepherd Collective (@Shepherds4Good) July 22, 2024
Netanyahu requests meeting with Trump
US news outlet Politico reports that the Israeli prime minister has requested an in-person meeting with the former US president, as Netanyahu begins his trip to the country.
Politico cited two people familiar with the meeting request without naming them.
Netanyahu will meet with President Joe Biden, who yesterday removed himself as a candidate from the 2024 US presidential race, and Vice President Kamal Harris, who Biden has endorsed as his replacement, along with other US lawmakers.
Politico’s sources say “Trump has yet to agree to a meeting, but also has not outright rejected the idea”.
