As Biden exits US presidential race, Israeli president expresses gratitude for unshakeable support

Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel, has taken to X to thank Biden for his support during Israel’s war on Gaza.

Herzog thanked Biden for his “friendship and steadfast support for the Israeli people over his decades long career”, adding that he is a “symbol of the unbreakable bond between our two peoples”.

Biden has, since Israel began its war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas’s deadly attacks on Israel, been unflinching in his support for what he calls Israel’s “right to self-defence”, even as the country’s attacks on Gaza have killed at least 38,983 and wounded and 89,727 others.

The outgoing US president has gone against much of the international community, which has called for harsh consequences for Israel over its actions during the war.

Biden-Netanyahu meeting to go ahead

The Associated Press reports that the two leaders will meet as planned as the Israeli prime minister makes his trip to Washington, DC.

The meeting was thrown into doubt when Joe Biden announced earlier today that he will not be seeing re-election to the US presidency this November.

More Israeli officials ‘thank’ Biden for his support

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett called Biden a “true friend of Israel who stood by us in our most difficult moments”.

“During my tenure as prime minister, I witnessed his unwavering support of the State of Israel,” he said. “Thank you for everything.”

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant also thanked the US President for his “unwavering support of Israel over the years”.

“Your steadfast backing, especially during the war, has been invaluable,” he said. “We are grateful for your leadership and friendship.”

Thank you President @JoeBiden, for your unwavering support of Israel over the years. Your steadfast backing, especially during the war, has been invaluable. We are grateful for your leadership and friendship. 🇺🇸🇮🇱

— יואב גלנט - Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) July 21, 2024

Israel lawmaker slams Biden’s Palestine legacy

Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi, who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, has published a post on X saying: “When President Biden visited [Bethlehem] at the beginning of his term, he promised to secure 4G technology for Palestinians.

“The term ended without 4G communication, but with thousands of guided bombs and F-35s that killed thousands of Palestinian children [in Gaza].”

In July 2022, Biden visited Israel and the occupied West Bank, where he proposed US assistance for UNRWA and the East Jerusalem Hospitals Network. Washington also said at the time that Israel would help Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza achieve 4G connectivity by the end of next year.

Biden announced today that he will not be seeking re-election, dropping out of the 2024 US presidential race.

And Biden banned UNWRA funding until at least 2025 by law.
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/03/25/u-s-bans-unrwa-funding-for-one-year/

US Palestinian rights group says Joe Biden’s legacy is ‘genocide’

The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action (USCPR) said on social media that Joe Biden had “repeatedly funded, armed, and backed Israel’s mass slaughter of the Palestinian people”.

“It was not Biden’s failed debate that showed he is unfit to lead. It was the tens of thousands of bombs he sent to kill Palestinian families,” the group said in a statement posted on X.

“Nothing will erase the fact that” President Biden’s “legacy is – and always will be – GENOCIDE”, the group added.

🧵 STATEMENT: BIDEN'S LEGACY IS GENOCIDE

Nothing will erase the fact that @POTUS's legacy is—and always will be—GENOCIDE.

Over the past 9 months, he has repeatedly funded, armed, and backed Israel’s mass slaughter of the Palestinian people. #StopArmingIsrael

— USCPR ACTION (@uscpr_action) July 21, 2024

Netanyahu’s US trip ‘overshadowed’ by Biden stepping down

We have heard from Israel’s President Isaac Hertzog, who emphasised the fact that Biden was the only US president to visit Israel during wartime. We also heard from Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant who thanked Joe Biden for his support for Israel throughout this war.

We haven’t yet heard from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who, on Monday, is expected to go to Washington and on Tuesday, meet with US President Joe Biden, then on Wednesday, address Congress.

All of this comes as there are a lot of issues domestically for Netanyahu. You even have members of his far-right government who have said that they are waiting for Trump in November because they did not see Joe Biden’s policies towards Israel’s war on Gaza as favourable.

The amount of US weapons and support that Joe Biden has given the Israelis for this war! Yet, the right wing in Israel is saying that it’s simply not enough.

But, of course, this visit by Netanyahu and the address to Congress are going to be overshadowed by this news of Biden stepping down.

Good, I hope Biden steals Netanyahu's thunder by holding his address to the nation on Wednesday :)

Israelis protest at Ben Gurion airport over Netanyahu’s visit to US

_{Antigovernment protesters rally at Ben Gurion airport, in Lod, Israel, on Sunday to demonstrate against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s departure to the US, where he is due to meet with US President Joe Biden and address Congress}

Demonstrators say Netanyahu should not be travelling to the US before making a deal with Hamas that secures the release of Israeli captives in Gaza


Tougher tone but same stance expected by Kamala Harris towards Israel’s war on Gaza: Analysis

Kamala Harris is expected to stick largely to Joe Biden’s foreign policy on key issues such as Ukraine, China and Iran, but could adopt a tougher tone with Israel over its war on Gaza should she replace the president as the Democratic candidate.

Although as vice president, she mostly echoed Biden in firmly backing Israel, Harris has at times stepped out slightly ahead of the president in criticising Israel’s conduct in its war on Gaza, the Reuters news agency said.

In March, she bluntly criticised Israel, saying it was not doing enough to ease a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. Later that month, she did not rule out “consequences” if Israel launched a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah city in southern Gaza where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians had sought refuge.

But analysts do not expect a big shift in US policy toward Israel.

Halie Soifer, who served as a national security adviser to Harris from 2017 to 2018, said her support of Israel has been just as strong as Biden’s. “There really has been no daylight to be found” between the two regarding Israel, Soifer told Reuters.

Much better than Trump anyway and I don't see her bear-hugging Netanyahu!

Palestinians call for international civil protection in light of increased settler attacks

Defend Palestine, a local initiative calling for international civil protection from Israeli violence, has said that there is a dire need for foreign supporters to come to the “West Bank en masse and be part of an organised international protective presence”.

This call came in response to a settler attack in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, in which Israelis from the Esh Kodesh settlement attacked four foreign activists and a Palestinian, injuring them.

Earlier, we reported about this attack in which settlers assaulted Palestinian farmers trying to tend to their lands. Soldiers at the scene did not detain any of the settlers, the campaign said.

Defend Palestine said that three foreigners sustained wounds that required hospitalisation. A German national was hit in the face and arm with a metal pipe, and two American volunteers were clobbered with wooden batons. A fourth American volunteer was hit with rocks and had her phone stolen.

Mohammed Khatib, a campaign organiser, said in a statement: “The attack today, not even 24 hours after the ICJ ruled that Israeli occupation is illegal and that settlers enjoy impunity when exercising violence, serves as further proof for the dire need for international civil protection in Palestine”.

Biden Stands Down - History Will Damn Him

Open-source journalism in the war on Gaza | The Listening Post

The bombing of al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City – just ten days after Hamas’ October 7th attacks – was a harbinger of the horrors that were to come, as well as the denial, deflection, and disinformation that would surround them.

The reporting that followed seemed to point in different directions – some would substantiate the Israeli narrative, that a rocket launched by Hamas was to blame, while others proved that theory false. The Listening Post examined what happened at al-Ahli, and what it tells us about the strengths and shortcomings of open-source journalism.

Nicaragua condemns Israel, says USA should disappear if Palestine can't have a state



Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega blasted Western support for Israel in its war on Gaza and asked, if a state of Palestine is not allowed to exist, why should the US be allowed to exist? He was joined at the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution by Palestinian ex guerrilla Leila Khaled, who denounced imperialism and neocolonialism.

Read our related article - US legally owes Nicaragua reparations, but still refuses to honor 1986 Int’l Court of Justice ruling:
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/06/28/us-owes-nicaragua-reparations-1986-icj/

Five killed in overnight Israeli attacks on homes in north, south Gaza

Three people were killed and several injured when Israeli forces bombed the home of the Batash family in the Tuffah area of Gaza City in the past few hours, the Wafa news agency reports.

One person was also killed and five injured in an Israeli attack on the home of the Jadallah family in the west of Khan Younis city. Meanwhile, a young girl was killed and six others injured when the al-Raqab family’s house was bombed in the Bani Suheila area east of the southern Gaza city, Wafa reports.

Israeli artillery strikes, quadcopter drone attacks reported

According to local media reports, Israeli artillery is hitting central Rafah city, in the south of Gaza, as well as areas to the west of the city.

Targets to the north of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza are also being hit by shelling, according to the reports, and Israeli quadcopter aerial drones have attacked and injured several people east of the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah area.

We reported earlier that five people were killed in Israeli attacks on Palestinian homes overnight in northern Gaza City and Khan Younis in the south.

Israel orders evacuation from eastern Khan Younis to al-Mawasi

The Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee tells residents of eastern Khan Younis that “remaining in that zone has become dangerous” as the military plans to respond to attacks on Israel’s forces from there.

“The [army] will act forcefully against terrorist organisations and therefore calls on the residents remaining in the eastern neighbourhoods of Khan Younis to evacuate immediately and temporarily towards the humanitarian zone created in al-Mawasi,” he said.

The order comes just days after al-Mawasi experienced a massacre carried out by the Israeli army that killed at least 90 displaced people sheltering in tents.

Israel launches air attacks on Khan Younis minutes after evacuation order: Report

The Israeli army has started carrying out its air attacks on eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to Israel’s Army Radio.

The news came just 15 minutes after the army spokesman announced new evacuation orders for residents of Khan Younis, according to Army Radio.

And Israel will claim they're covered by international law because of the evacuation orders... This is how perverted Israel's interpretation of international law has become with total impunity. Evacuation orders -> all civilians in the area are now human shields.

At least 5 killed in new Israeli attacks on eastern Khan Younis: Reports

At least five people have been killed in new Israeli air raids and artillery shelling in the eastern areas of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, according to Palestinian media. The bodies were received by Nasser Medical Complex in the city, the reports said.

Khan Younis death toll rises to 17: Reports

The death toll in Israel’s attack on the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis has risen to 17, according to the Palestinian media.

The bodies are arriving at Nasser Medical Complex in the southern city. The dead include six from the Abu Harb family as their house was attacked in Bani Suheila, 2km (1.2 miles) east of Khan Younis.

Other targeted areas include Qizan an-Najjar, Abasan al-Kabira and Khuza’a to the east of the city, as well as al-Qarara to the north.

Israel asks over 400,000 people to leave eastern Khan Younis: Civil Defence

Palestinian Civil Defence has said the Israeli evacuation order affected more than 400,000 people in the eastern areas of Khan Younis. Our reporter said earlier that the residents were given no time to flee as the Israeli military operation started shortly after the leaflets were dropped.

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis appeals for urgent blood donations

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis is appealing for urgent blood donations, the Palestinian Health Ministry has said in a statement.

The hospital said it faces a shortage of blood units, “which poses a serious threat to the lives of the sick and injured in light of the ongoing massacres carried out by the occupation forces against the innocent and civilians”.

Israeli professors call for Gaza ceasefire to stop polio spread

Eight professors of epidemiology, hematology and other health sciences are calling for a cessation of fighting in the besieged and bombarded coastal enclave, citing the detection of polio in sewage samples in Gaza as a threat to both Israelis and Palestinians.

In an opinion piece published in the Israeli daily Haaretz, the health professionals said the identification of the polio virus in Gaza “reminds us that pathogens and toxic exposures know no borders. Polio can be spread for weeks by infected individuals who have no symptoms. The devastating consequences of this disease, including paralysis, long-term disability and death are well known”.

The experts said the response to the threat of the highly infectious poliovirus must be coordinated and comprehensive. It requires the cooperation of international organisations to reach infants, humanitarian and health workers and immunocompromised adults, and the vaccination of all soldiers currently or recently in Gaza, as well as infants who have not yet been adequately vaccinated.

“A ceasefire will enable efforts to improve the water, sanitation and hygienic conditions and to enhance food security, rebuild adequate shelter and rehabilitate Gaza’s health system,” they wrote.

On Friday, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said a ceasefire was “essential” to effectively respond after type-2 poliovirus was found in several wastewater samples taken in southern Gaza.

On Sunday, the Israeli army said it has started “a broad vaccination operation for all ground troops” in Gaza.

The highly contagious virus is caught by drinking contaminated water or through oral contact. It can cause paralysis and in extreme cases, death.

_{Sewage floods a street in Khan Younis, one of two locations in the Gaza Strip where poliovirus was found in wastewater samples}

Israeli forces shoot at UN convoy heading to Gaza City: UNRWA chief

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), says Israeli forces shot at a UN convoy heading to Gaza City yesterday, despite the movement being coordinated and approved by Israeli authorities.

“One vehicle received at least five bullets while waiting just ahead of the Israeli Forces’ checkpoint south of Wadi Gaza,” he said on X. “The car was severely damaged, it left the convoy. The teams re-assembled & finally reached Gaza City.”

Lazzarini added that the teams were “traveling in clearly marked UN armoured cars and wearing UN vests”, yet still had to duck and take cover.

He called for those responsible to be held accountable.

#Gaza
Heavy shooting from the Israeli Forces at a UN convoy heading to Gaza city.
While there are no casualties, our teams had to duck and take cover.

This took place yesterday. The teams were traveling in clearly marked UN armoured cars & wearing UN vests.

One vehicle…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 22, 2024

Jordan’s top diplomat condemns Israeli attack on UN convoy in Gaza

We have quoted the UNRWA chief as saying that Israeli forces shot at a UN convoy heading to Gaza City yesterday, despite the movement being coordinated and approved by Israeli authorities.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi condemned the attack, saying it was “a war crime”, calling for the protection of UNRWA and other humanitarian teams “from Israeli occupation forces and war crimes”.

“Gaza has not only become a graveyard for children. It has become a graveyard for [international] law, a shameful stain on whole [international] order,” Safadi added.

Death toll in Khan Younis rises to 27: Medical sources

We earlier reported on the Israeli assault on eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza that killed 17 people.

Medical sources have told Al Jazeera Arabic that the death toll has risen to 27.

Graphic video footage shared online and verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad showed the arrival of a truck loaded with bodies and injured people at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.

The video that we are not using due to the distressing images showed bodies of children, including one who appeared to be just several months old.

Meanwhile, in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Israeli bombing of a family house killed at least two Palestinians and injured a number of others, according to the Wafa news agency.

Palestinians flee eastern Khan Younis after Israel launches attacks

Israeli drone strikes Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah

We were sitting and suddenly we heard a huge explosion. Some of our colleagues fell on the ground. We did not realise that this was coming from inside the hospital.

People started screaming. We’re talking about a place that has thousands of displaced Palestinians and then we saw fire erupting and smoke rising.

We realised the target was inside the hospital, where one Palestinian was killed and three others were injured. But it’s obviously an Israeli drone strike and that’s why it was a small strike.

This is not the first time the Israeli forces target a tent inside Al-Aqsa Hospital. This happened a couple of months ago where a number of Palestinians were killed and injured.

This is a place where people seek refuge in, all the tents are close to each other. Until this moment, people are still trying to put out the fire. Everyone is terrified.

Qassam Brigades claims bombing Israeli military site in central Gaza

The armed wing of Hamas says its fighters targeted an Israeli military “command headquarters” in the so-called Netzarim Corridor with 114mm short-range missiles.

The Netzarim Corridor, named after a Jewish settlement in Gaza that was dismantled in 2005, was set up during the war by the Israeli army to separate northern Gaza from the south.

A glimpse of the Red Crescent Gaza team at work

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has shared a video showing members of its team recovering a body and assisting wounded survivors in Deir el-Balah after Israeli forces targeted a house in the city in central Gaza.

🚨Palestine Red Crescent teams have recovered the body of a martyr and assisted two injured individuals from Deir al-Balah city following the occupation’s targeting of a house there.
📷Filmed by: PRCS volunteer, Mohammad Suleiman pic.twitter.com/Lwxos4ra9Q

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) July 22, 2024

‘We are tired and fed up’: People in Khan Younis say they have nowhere to go

Displaced Palestinians say the area of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza is already full, after Israel ordered Palestinians in eastern Khan Younis to move there.

“Even the sidewalks are full of people and tents,” Youssef Abu Taimah, from the town of al-Qarara in Khan Younis, told AFP after his family found no space in al-Mawasi. “We are tired and fed up. Enough of this displacement and migration.”

Ahmed al-Bayouk, a 53-year-old from Khan Younis, also told the news agency: “We barely settle for a few days before the army comes, bombs, displaces us and destroys more.”

“Where should we go? Every place is at risk of bombing.”

The Israeli military earlier issued a notice ordering people in eastern Khan Younis to move to al-Mawasi, warning that its forces were “about to forcefully operate” in the area.

Khan Younis death toll rises to 45

Mohamed Saqer, the official spokesman of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, says that the Israeli attacks on eastern Khan Younis has so far killed at least 45 people.

The medical facility which is the last remaining hospital in southern Gaza, has been receiving the rising number of casualties, including children, since this morning when the Israeli forces started their air and ground attacks, giving the residents no time to follow their evacuation orders.

MSF doctor describes a day at last remaining hospital in southern Gaza

“I’ve worked in mass casualties around the world and the smell of blood is the same wherever you are. But here in Gaza the horror really hits home.”

Medical team leader @DrJavidA describes a day in Al-Nasser hospital, one of the last in south Gaza.https://t.co/j93KEMNK2b

— MSF International (@MSF) July 22, 2024

Nasser hospital overwhelmed with casualties as Israeli bombardment continues

Health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis have urged residents to donate blood because of the large number of casualties being rushed into the medical facility.

“The situation in the Nasser medical complex is out of control. We have been receiving hundreds of casualties and mortalities within or during three hours. Our situation is very bad. We need to be supported by medical supplies and instruments,” said spokesman Mohammed Sakr.

“Tens of cases are on the floor; we don’t find beds to place patients on, we don’t find enough supplies to give healthcare services to our patients. The situation is very hard,” he added.

“We are swimming in a pool of blood.”

Sakr said that the hospital received more than more than 30 dead bodies and two 200 injuries.

“We ask all countries worldwide to force Israel to open the borders in order to transfer our patients who need urgent operations to neighbouring countries” to get treatment, he said.

Israeli military arrests 3 in Bethlehem raid

Israeli soldiers have arrested three Palestinians in the Bethlehem area of the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency is reporting, beating one of them.

According to Al Jazeera Arabic, Israeli forces stormed the Dheisheh refugee camp south of Bethlehem with confrontations breaking out with local Palestinian people.

Israeli forces demolish Palestinian building in Anata

A local Palestinian media channel has shared videos showing Israeli bulldozers demolishing a building in the town of Anata, 4km (2.5 miles) northeast of the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem.

Footage shows the demolition of buildings by a bulldozer and the bulldozing of land, with Israeli soldiers and military vehicles at the site. In one video, Palestinian resident Ziad Fahidat spoke about how Israeli forces also demolished a water well in the neighbourhood.

The videos have been verified by Sanad, Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency.

Child casualties from Israeli violence ‘skyrocket’ in West Bank since October 7: UNICEF

Since October 7, one Palestinian child has been killed every two days on average in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

It said in a statement that a total of 143 Palestinian children have been killed there during the past nine months, a spike of nearly 250 percent compared to the preceding nine months, during which 41 Palestinian children were killed. Two Israeli children have been killed in the West Bank in conflict-related violence during the same period.

Additionally, more than 440 Palestinian children have been injured with live ammunition, the press release said.

“For years now, children living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been exposed to horrific violence,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “The situation has deteriorated significantly, coinciding with the escalation of hostilities inside Gaza. We are seeing frequent allegations of Palestinian children being detained on their way home from school, or shot while walking on the streets. The violence needs to stop now.”

The casualties have been reported in 10 out of 11 governorates in the West Bank, with more than half of the killings taking place in Jenin, Tulkarem and Nablus, the statement said.