Israel wages months of war on UNRWA in Gaza

Five UNRWA schools have been attacked by Israeli forces in just the last 10 days, killing dozens in an intensification of attacks on the facilities of the UN agency that has been a target of Israel’s military since the start of the war on Gaza

_{The Gaza City headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees [UNRWA] on February 15}

_{An UNRWA-run school destroyed during Israel’s military offensive lies in ruins in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in April 2024}

_{UNRWA staff inspect the destruction after an Israeli strike on a school run by UNRWA in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza in May 2024}

Israeli attacks on schools ‘an almost daily occurrence’: UNRWA chief

Commissioner-General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini has yet again called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying Israeli attacks on schools have become “an almost daily occurrence”.

“At least eight schools hit in the last 10 days, including six UNRWA schools,” Lazzarini wrote on X. “The war robbed the girls and boys in Gaza of their childhood and education. “Schools must never be used for fighting or military purposes by any party to the conflict. Schools are not a target.”

• 189 UNRWA installations have been damaged.
• As of July 14, Israeli forces had killed 197 UNRWA staff.
• Only 10 of 26 UNRWA health centres in Gaza are currently operational.
• There have been 458 incidents impacting UNRWA premises and the people inside them, including at least 74 incidents of military use or interference at UNRWA premises.

An almost daily occurrence.
At least eight schools hit in the last 10 days, including six @UNRWA schools.

The war robbed the girls and boys in #Gaza of their childhood & education.

Schools must never be used for fighting or military purposes by any party to the conflict.… pic.twitter.com/nJE5hfy9df

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 17, 2024

How Israel used a cancer hospital in Gaza as an army base





10th anniversary of Israeli impunity over killing of 4 children on Gaza beach

The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights has marked a decade of impunity following the killing of four Palestinian children while playing football on the Gaza City beach.

On July 16, 2014, Israeli forces fired three missiles that killed the Bakr family boys: Ahed, 9, Zakaria,10, Mohammed,11, and Ismail, 9, and wounded six other children.

“Despite clear evidence as to the indiscriminate nature of the attack, the Israeli probe, which was neither impartial nor independent as required by international law, was promptly closed in June 2015,” the rights group said.

“A decade later, there is no justice for the Bakr family and countless other Palestinian victims of blatant crimes committed by the Israeli military and other officials,” the group added.

1/ On 16 July 2014, at 3:30 pm, Israeli forces fired three missiles killing four Palestinian children from the Bakr family—Ahed, Zakaria, Mohammed and Ismail—while they were playing football on Gaza City’s fishing beach.#Gaza10YearsOnhttps://t.co/0DfLdm57xH

— Al-Mezan الميزان (@AlMezanCenter) July 16, 2024

Video shows rocket attacks on Israel tank, bulldozer, troops in Rafah

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic have obtained and verified video clips of Palestinian fighters said to be battling Israeli forces east of Rafah city in the south of the Gaza Strip.

One clip shows a Hamas fighter emerge from what appears to be an underground position to fire an antitank rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli tank. In another, a fighter takes aim from inside a destroyed building and appears to hit an armoured bulldozer with an antitank rocket.

In the final clip, Israeli soldiers based in a building are targeted with an attack after which flames are seen engulfing their location.

https://x.com/AJA_Palestine/status/1813247079881592886

Translation: Qassam Brigades fighters target Israeli vehicles and a building where soldiers are barricaded, east of the city of Rafah.

Death toll for Israeli attack in az-Zawayda rises

Eight people are now confirmed dead following an Israeli military attack on a home in the az-Zawayda area of central Gaza.

Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military had bombed the home belonging to the Diab family, which was reportedly sheltering as many as 70 displaced people.

Still no confirmation Hamas’s Mohammed Deif killed in Israeli strike: Monitors

The Israeli air force dropped eight 2,000-pound bombs in its attack on the al-Mawasi area of Gaza on Saturday in a bid to kill Hamas commander Mohammed Deif.

US-based defence think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) also said that Israel’s military has still not officially confirmed that it killed Deif in the attack that killed at least 90 people – mostly women and children – and wounded 300 others.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces deployed along the Netzarim Corridor continued to come under mortar, rocket and sniper fire from Palestinian fighters, while in southern Rafah city Israeli armour was targeted with mortar shelling, the ISW/CTP said in their latest battlefield update.

Israel’s air force said it attacked 40 targets across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and at least three rockets were fired towards Israel’s Sderot city by Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters, the ISW/CTP report.

Central Gaza refugee camps under fire

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report that Israeli artillery is shelling the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza.

Two confirmed dead in Israeli mosque bombing in Gaza

At least two people have been confirmed killed and 15 injured following an Israeli attack on a mosque in central Gaza, the Wafa news agency reports.

Wafa also reports that at least one person has been killed after the Israeli military bombed a building housing displaced people, belonging to the al-Issawi family, near Camp 1 in the Nuseirat area.

The aftermath of the Israeli strike on Abdullah Azzam Mosque in Nuseirat

Israeli bombing kills two more Palestinians in Rafah

At least two Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli bombing that targeted the Shakoush area, northwest of the city of Rafah.

Israeli army detects three rockets fired from northern Gaza

The projectiles targeted the Sderot area and the air force hit the source of the fire, the military said.

Ambulance recovers four bodies west of Rafah

Ambulance crews have recovered four bodies from the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood, west of Rafah, an Al Jazeera correspondent reports. The reporter added that Israeli artillery shelling targeted the Awda Roundabout and the Yibna and Shaboura camps in the centre of Rafah.

Israeli forces kill children in Gaza City, Khan Younis

There have been numerous casualties in the past few hours as Israel intensifies attacks across Gaza.

Four people – including three children – have been killed in Israeli bombardment near a school in Gaza City’s western al-Rimal neighbourhood, our colleagues on the ground report.

Meanwhile, in central Gaza, an elderly Palestinian was killed in Israeli bombing that targeted a house west of the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Further south, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Israeli forces killed four people – three children and a woman – and wounded more than 10 people when it targeted a house in the Abasan al-Kabira area in the Khan Younis governorate.

Israeli forces committed four “massacres” in the past 24 hours, it added.

9 killed in Israeli attack as strikes on Gaza schools continue

In the west of Gaza City, Israeli bombardment near a school in the al-Rimal neighbourhood killed at least nine Palestinians, including three children.

Two children wounded in latest Israeli strike face amputations

An attack just took place on the eastern part of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which has been repeatedly hit over the past few days.

Three children are among the wounded so far brought to the hospital where we’re reporting from. They came in crying in agony from the wounds they suffered. Two face amputations, a doctor told us.

The Israeli military attacks have surged not only on residential buildings but also on public infrastructure. UN schools used as shelters have been major targets for the past 10 days now. It’s all a part of psychological warfare.

Gaza soon will be inhabitable as all means of life have been destroyed. But there’s no escape.

At least 38,794 Palestinians killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began

Gaza’s Health Ministry reports at least 38,794 people in the Palestinian territory have been killed since Israel launched its war on October 7. The toll includes 81 deaths in the latest 24-hour reporting period, a ministry statement said.

Another 89,364 people have been wounded in more than nine months of attacks, it added.

COGAT claims that 206 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday

The Israeli Defense Ministry agency that oversees the occupied Palestinian territory has claimed that 206 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Tuesday.

The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said the Egyptian, Jordanian and Israeli trucks went through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing in southern Gaza and the Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossing in the north.

However, the UN and other international organisations continue to report Israeli restrictions on aid delivery to Gaza, while independent UN experts say famine has spread throughout the besieged enclave after more than nine months of war.

July 16 - humanitarian efforts:

🚛206 aid trucks were transferred to Gaza.
Trucks from Egypt, Jordan a d Israel entered via the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings, as well as a convoy that entered via Gate 96.

🔃A rotation coordination of humanitarian personnel has been… pic.twitter.com/yfLp9fG4ZP

— COGAT (@cogatonline) July 17, 2024

What life is like for Palestinians living under occupation

What if every aspect of your life was under someone else’s control? This is the reality for millions of Palestinians who say Israel’s occupation has deprived them of freedom for generations.

Since October 7, conditions in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem have significantly worsened with settler attacks tripling, according to the UN.

In the 76 years since the Nakba, Israel has controlled the resources Palestinians can use, the services they can access, where they can travel and even what they can build on their own land.

Palestinian residents of Jerusalem get 4-12 hours of running water per week

Ir Amim, a Jerusalem-focused Israeli rights group, says that in the midst of a record-breaking heatwave, there is an acute water crisis in Kufr Aqab, a large Palestinian neighbourhood located along the northern edge of occupied East Jerusalem.

Kufr Aqab is one of eight Palestinian neighbourhoods that are part of the Israeli-run Jerusalem municipality but are located beyond the Israeli separation barrier. It is home to 100,000 people, roughly 30 percent of East Jerusalem’s Palestinian population.

Given severe municipal neglect, which has led to substandard living conditions, “the extreme water scarcity in Kufr Aqab is only liable to further deteriorate conditions and make the area completely uninhabitable, forcing residents out of the city entirely,” Ir Amim said in a statement.

“Although the severe water shortage has continued for nearly two months, there has been little to no acknowledgment by the Jerusalem municipality, Israeli Water Authority, and/or other relevant Israeli bodies, much less attempts to mitigate this humanitarian emergency.”

The group said that in contrast, a recent water service disruption due to a burst pipe in a Jewish neighbourhood in West Jerusalem was immediately addressed by the municipality and emergency measures were taken to swiftly rectify the issue.

Israeli military announces attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

The Israeli military has said that its fighter jets have attacked Hezbollah “terrorist infrastructures” in the Yarin, Ayta ash-Shab, and Aalma ech-Chaab areas of southern Lebanon.

Posting on X, it added that it had carried out “artillery fire” to remove a threat in Lebanon’s Majdal Zoun area.

The Israeli military also said that it had detected some 15 rocket launches from Lebanon, some of which were “intercepted by the air defence fighters”, while others fell in open areas, causing no casualties or damage.

Earlier, we reported that Hezbollah had said it had launched “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at the city of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel in “response to the Israeli enemy attacks”.

Maersk: Red Sea shipping ‘disruption’ effects spread globally

Denmark’s shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk says “disruption” to its routes via the Red Sea has now extended beyond the Middle East and Europe to its entire global network.

Shipping groups have diverted cargo vessels around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope since December to avoid attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militia in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with the longer voyage times pushing freight rates far higher and delivery times taking months longer.

“The cascading impact of these disruptions extends beyond the primary affected routes, causing congestion at alternative routes and transshipment hubs essential for trade with Far East Asia, West Central Asia, and Europe,” Maersk said in a statement.

“Ports across Asia – including Singapore, Australia, and Shanghai – are experiencing delays as ships reroute and schedules are disrupted, caused by ripple effects from the Red Sea.”

The Houthis have been attacking ships since November in what they say is a campaign of solidarity with the besieged Palestinians of Gaza.

Drones target Iraq base housing US-led coalition: Report

Two attack drones were launched against a military base in Iraq where US and international forces are stationed in Anbar province.

“One drone was shot down outside the [Ain al-Assad] base by defence systems, and the second exploded inside the base without causing any injuries or damage,” an unnamed security official told AFP news agency.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an alliance of Iran-backed armed groups, has carried out more than 175 rocket and drone attacks against US-led troops in Iraq and Syria in recent months.

It says the attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinians during the continuing war in Gaza, demanding an end to the Israeli invasion.

‘We will go to jail, but not to the army’

Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish youths protested against changes that would see them forced to serve in the Israeli military in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv.

The Israeli military on Tuesday said it would begin sending draft notices to Jewish ultra-Orthodox men next week.

Israelis are bound by law to serve in the military from the age of 18 for 24-32 months (with plans submitted to raise to 36 months), but ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students have largely been exempt.

The changes could pose challenges for Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, which relies on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties that oppose the recruitment changes, even though many support the war itself

Hamas-led groups committed war crimes on October 7: Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has published new research detailing war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas-led Palestinian armed groups on October 7 in Israel.

Hamas fighters led four other armed groups in attacks against 19 kibbutzim and 5 moshavim (cooperative communities), the cities of Sderot and Ofakim, two music festivals, and a beach party on October 7, HRW said.

“The Hamas-led assault on October 7 was designed to kill civilians and take as many people as possible hostage,” said Ida Sawyer, crisis and conflict director at HRW. Hamas officials, however, told HRW its fighters were instructed not to target civilians and to abide by international human rights and humanitarian law.

Israel’s ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of October 7 amounted to the war crime of collective punishment, HRW also said, exacerbating Israel’s 17-year illegal blockade of Gaza and its crimes of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians.

Taking hostages is not abiding by international human rights and humanitarian law. And the assault was most definitely planned to take as many hostages as possible, even though Hamas mostly wanted to capture soldiers.


CNN's take

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/17/middleeast/hamas-israel-october-7-attack-human-rights-watch-report-mime-intl/index.html

Same stuff except focusing more on the alleged (and largely debunked) sexual and gender based violence. Got to get those trigger words in for Western audiences! Sexual violence is worse than gravely wounding and blowing children to bits it seems... (All violence is terrible, double standards are terrible as well)

38 children killed on October 7, thousands traumatized.

You never see CNN mentioning that. Yet the one gang rape at the Nova festival (which was debunked) has been repeated ad nauseam.

Hamas rejects Human Rights Watch report citing ‘lies and blatant bias’

Earlier we reported on a new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report that said Hamas’s armed wing and four other groups “committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians” during the October 7 attack on Israelis.

In response, Hamas rejected “the lies and blatant bias” towards Israel and demanded HRW withdraw its report and apologise.

“The Human Rights Watch report adopted the entire Israeli narrative and moved away from the method of scientific research and the neutral legal position, and became more like an Israeli propaganda document,” Hamas said in a statement.

HRW said dozens of serious human rights violations occurred on October 7 including “murder, hostage-taking, and other grave offenses”.

_{A video screengrab shows the aftermath of the attack on the Supernova music festival in southern Israel on October 8}

You filmed yourself committing war crimes... I haven't seen the footage myself but I'll believe the general consensus and as well as the results / evidence of the attack. Many war crimes were committed that day, whether all originally intended or not.

Armed resistance is justified, however not against civilians. Shit when horribly wrong on Oct 7, Hamas is responsible. Just as Israel is responsible for the ongoing genocide, civilian deaths, continued destruction and abductions from Gaza.

Violence as Redress: A Right to Rebellion for Armed Groups under International Law?

https://www.justsecurity.org/95653/right-to-rebellion/

This analysis discusses the place of the right to rebellion and, drawing on the work of Eliav Lieblich, on the concept of jus ad bellum internum (or internal jus ad bellum). Looking at an armed group’s limited right to rebellion is not aimed at glorifying or romanticising violence by non-state armed groups, but points to the situation some communities find themselves in without any legal or political process to remedy the violations they experience. For those who are oppressed, such as communities living under military occupation, and who have experienced decades of violence and displacement, law often rings hollow in failing to remedy violations that continue to deny their rights and dignity. In some ways, violence speaks in ways that the law will not or cannot. This reflects the inherent, often Western, hegemony in international law: on the one hand, it valorises self-determination, but on the other, it permits the continued violation of the human rights of people denied self-determination, which risks the law amounting to “empty rhetoric.”

...

Many armed groups operate within a community where they have political and/or material support from members of the community (e.g. Maoists in Nepal, IRA in republican communities in Northern Ireland). In turn the armed group may provide medical care to civilians or weapons to community volunteers, who would otherwise not be able to secure their own defense in situations of lawlessness. Such a resort to violence by a group is not unlimited. This is because failure to comply with cardinal rules of IHL could delegitimize an armed groups’ resort to violence, unless redressed by the group, i.e. to account for harm caused, through amends to victims in an effort to prevent their repetition. Such actions differentiate a legitimate armed struggle from terrorism – that is, violence is aimed at State forces and not to spread terror amongst the civilian population.

While the attacks were originally aimed at military bases i.e. State forces, the results are for everyone to see.

In the situation of Myanmar, Syria and Gaza different international fora have been engaged to stop international crimes, but it has not abated nor redressed the violations that civilians still suffer. This is not to justify the violence of armed groups in such contexts, but rather to underscore the failure of international law to provide justice for the worst violations that can be committed against other human beings, where violence or death are their only recourses. Such resort to violence is limited by necessity and proportionality, which does not give rise to a pre-emptory form of self-defense and only allows the use of violence to prevent further harm, not to carry out international crimes or reprisals against other civilians.

...

Moving beyond discussion of when the resort to force by non-state armed groups is lawful, it is also important to focus on the reason why such groups exist, which is often ignored, neglecting an important opportunity to end conflict and prevent its repetition. Instead of tackling the structures that gave rise to violence and addressing grievances, we risk conflicts becoming protracted, as some violations and injustices are piled on top of historic ones, entrenching positions of enmity.

Israel’s PM rejects calls for official inquiry into October 7 attack

In a speech to Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset, Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed demands for the creation of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attacks saying “first, I want to defeat Hamas”.

There are increasing calls for an official probe into the deadly assault by Palestinian armed groups. The Israeli military last week released the results of its first internal investigation that admitted “severe mistakes and errors”.

Netanyahu has been accused of avoiding an inquiry to stay in power.

The prime minister said on Wednesday that Israel is “progressing methodically to achieve the goals of the war: the release of the abductees [and] the destruction of Hamas”, the Haaretz newspaper quoted him as saying.

500 health workers killed in Gaza, including doctors with rare specialisations

Israeli attacks have killed 500 health workers in Gaza since October, including several specialised doctors, AP news agency reports.

The specialist doctors killed include a plastic surgeon specialising in wound care, a reconstructive surgeon, an obstetrician/gynaecologist, an orthopaedic surgeon, a fertility doctor, and the only liver transplant doctor in Gaza.

Hassan Hamdan, a plastic surgeon who specialised in wound reconstruction, was killed along with 12 members of his family earlier this month after coming out of retirement to treat victims of the war.

His son, Osama Hamdan, an orthopaedic surgeon, was on duty in the emergency room at Nasser Hospital when he received the call. His wife and two sons – aged three and five – were among those killed.

“I was only able to collect some body parts of my kids and their mother because of how huge the explosion was,” Hamdan said.

_{Dr Hassan Hamdan was killed in an Israeli air attack on July 3 along with his wife, son, two daughters, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law and six grandchildren in a declared ‘safe zone’}

Palestinians released from Israeli detention recount torture, humiliation

The Palestinian Red Crescent says its teams have treated 13 detainees, including an elderly woman, who were released this morning by the Israeli army at the Kissufim checkpoint in central Gaza.

Upon arrival at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, one of the prisoners – who declined to be named – said that a number of inmates inside Israeli prisons had lost their senses as a result of the torture and electric shocks they were subjected to.

Released prisoner Mustafa Fayyad recounted the difficult conditions of his detention due to lack of sleep and food, and being tortured more than once.

Nader Asaliya, who is blind, spoke about the conditions of his detention saying: “They treated us inhumanely inside prisons and called us dogs. We were subjected to all kinds of torture, hunger and humiliation.”

Earlier this month Israel freed dozens of Palestinians detained during its war in Gaza, including the director of al-Shifa Hospital, one of the enclave’s main hospitals.

Israeli army releases Palestinian reporter after 9 months of detention

Palestinian media report Israeli forces have released journalist Imad Abu Awad from the Nafha desert prison in the Negev after nine months of incarceration.

تغطية صحفية: الاحتلال يفرج عن الصحفي عماد ابو عواد من سجن نفحة بعد اعتقال دام 9 أشهر. pic.twitter.com/z15yQe3qoh

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) July 17, 2024

Netanyahu aims to eradicate Palestinian collective memory: Analyst

Adel Abdel-Ghafar, a political analyst, says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is punishing Palestinians collectively in Gaza in the absence of a victory to present to his own constituency.

“It is clear that this is less about eradicating Hamas and more about the collective punishment of Palestinians,” Abdel-Ghafar, director of the foreign policy and security programme at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera.

The destruction of schools, mosques, churches, historical archives, among other institutions, he said, is a form of collective punishment aimed at eradicating the collective memory of Palestinians.

“Netanyahu can’t go back to his constituency and sell a ceasefire without coming out with some sort of win – and so far there has not been a major win – so the continued destruction of Gaza is his own win,” he added.

Gaza attacks improve chances of captive release: Israeli minister

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has told his US counterpart that Israeli military attacks on the Strip have enabled favourable conditions for a captive release agreement to be reached with Hamas.

Gallant made the comments during an overnight phone call with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, his office said in a statement.

Israeli army incursions and bombardment of Gaza “have led to the conditions necessary to achieve an agreement for the return of hostages, which is the highest moral imperative at this time”, Gallant said.

With Gaza’s death toll surpassing 38,700, and its people facing dire conditions, both Israel and Hamas are under increased international pressure to reach a truce – most recently based on a UN-backed plan outlined by US President Joe Biden in May.

However, Israeli leaders continue to insist on Hamas’s destruction before ending the war, a reality on the battlefield that appears far off after more than nine months of fighting.

And over 40 hostages have been killed in the bombardments and cross fire.

British King Charles III outlines Labour’s Middle East plan

The United Kingdom plans to secure “long-term peace” in the Middle East, King Charles III has said in his parliament speech as he outlined the Labour Party’s programmes.

The new government led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer is “committed” to a two-state solution” in the Israel-Palestine conflict. The UK backs “a viable and sovereign Palestinian state” living side by side with a “safe and secure Israel”, Charles said in reference to Israel’s war on Gaza.

Starmer has been criticised for initially refusing to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. He has since changed his position. Campaigners have been calling on the UK government to stop supplying weapons to Israel, which has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians since October.