Twenty-one Israeli strikes on schools-turned-shelters since July 4: UN Committee

The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People says the Israeli strike on the al-Tabin School was Israel’s 21st attack on a school serving as a shelter in Gaza since July 4.

These strikes, it said, have resulted in at least 274 fatalities, including women and children.

“Half of the school buildings that have been directly hit since October 2023 were sheltering displaced people,” the Committee said, citing the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The recent attack on a school sheltering hundreds of displaced families in #Gaza has caused mass casualties and utter devastation.

Half of the school buildings that have been directly hit since October 2023 were sheltering displaced people.

Watch the aftermath 📹⬇️

— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) August 12, 2024

Aftermath of Israeli air strike on Gaza’s al-Tabin school

The devastation was everywhere after an Israeli attack killed dozens of Palestinians sheltering in a school in Gaza City. Some of the survivors told Al Jazeera about the horrors of looking for their family in the carnage.

A bit of aid reaches Gaza City but it’s not enough, UNRWA says

UNRWA’s senior communications officer Louise Wateridge says that “basic needs” in northern Gaza have not improved in the last six months.

In a video post on X, Wateridge says that a convoy carrying medical supplies, hygiene kits and food managed to reach Gaza City, which has been under relentless Israeli bombardment.

“Emotional response from these exhausted families, relieved to see aid supplies reach them,” Wateridge writes. “But it’s not enough,” she added.

Israeli forces have continued to shut vital crossings into Gaza, banning much-needed fuel, medicine, and food from entering the ravaged enclave.

Our joint @UN convoy arriving in Gaza City this morning with medical supplies, hygiene kits, food & more.

Emotional response from these exhausted families, relieved to see aid supplies reach them. But it’s not enough - basic needs in north #Gaza have not improved in 6 months. pic.twitter.com/K0aE8wrGKg

— Louise Wateridge (@UNWateridge) July 12, 2024

Lawsuit alleges US citizen added to ‘no-fly’ list for Palestine advocacy

A new lawsuit alleges that two Palestinian American men were profiled by the US government for their pro-Palestine advocacy.

The lawsuit, filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), alleges that Mustafa Zeidan was added to the notorious “no-fly list” after organising community protests in southern California, where he lives.

He had been travelling to Jordan regularly to visit his ailing mother before being denied boarding at Los Angeles International Airport on March 28. He was later informed that he had been added to the list because he had been identified “as an individual who may be a threat to civil aviation or national security”, the lawsuit says.

The claim also says Osama Abu Irshaid, the executive director of Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action), was repeatedly interrogated by federal agents during a recent trip to Jordan.

Beyond the “harassing and intrusive questions”, the agents confiscated his phone, which has never been returned, the suit says.

The lawsuit names US Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas among the defendants.

Israeli evacuation orders force closure of WFP warehouse

The UN’s World Food Programme said it has paused operations and evacuated all staff at a warehouse containing 1,401 metric tonnes of supplies in Deir el-Balah due to recent Israeli evacuation orders.

“Only one WFP warehouse is accessible covering 3,158 mt of different commodities, insufficient to meet the August cycle of requirements,” the UN’s food agency said.

Palestinians still looking for remains of relatives at Gaza City school

They been getting ashamed for 1 year now and US just keeps on supporting them like a spoiled kid that can get away with anything.

UNSC’s inability to address Gaza crisis hurts its legitimacy

Maya Ungar, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the UN Security Council’s failure to bring an end to Israel’s war on Gaza is undermining its authority.

She noted that the council has now called 24 special sessions on Palestine since October 7.

“Twenty-four sessions, yet very little that the Security Council has actually been able to do. That’s significant and it’s something that will continue to hurt and undermine the legitimacy of the Security Council, you know, far past when a ceasefire is reached in Gaza,” she told Al Jazeera.

“I think one of the biggest takeaways, which many member states have been shouting from the rooftops, is a need for reform of the Security Council. We’re in a situation where the Security Council is clearly not working to maintain international peace and security as it was mandated to do.”

Fitch downgrades Israel’s credit rating

The credit ratings agency cut Israel’s credit rating to A from A+, citing worsening geopolitical risks as the war on Gaza drags on.

It also kept the rating outlook negative, meaning a further downgrade is possible.

“In our view, the conflict in Gaza could last well into 2025 and there are risks of it broadening to other fronts,” Fitch said in a statement.

“In addition to human losses, it could result in significant additional military spending, destruction of infrastructure and more sustained damage to economic activity and investment, leading to a further deterioration of Israel’s credit metrics.”

Israeli Pro-R*pe Protesters Storm Military Base

Max Blumenthal and Aaron Maté discuss a new milestone achieved by the genocidal apartheid Israeli regime on its road to hell. Pro-r*ape protests, aiming to free IDF soldiers who were detained for using perverse acts of violence against defenseless Palestinian prisoners in torture sessions. One of these victims was left with life-threatening bleeding and paralysis.

These riots inspired Israeli legislative action to legalize the r*pe of non-Jewish prisoners.

It's also about thought control. The US has made Iran and Islam the boogeyman for decades so can't now tell Israel off for attacking Iran. The US needs to keep the black and white view intact so people don't start to realize Iran has no interest in attacking the US. Hence only threats, ironclad support and sending more troops to the ME.

Plus the US is afraid of China and the Global South diminishing US' power grip on the world. China successfully mediates between Iran and Saudi-Arabia, US responds by lifting weapon sanctions on Saudi-Arabia to get Saudi-Arabia back on the 'attack Iran' side and to defend Israel.

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-to-lift-ban-on-offensive-weapons-sales-to-saudi-arabia-sources-say-/7736921.html

Sanctions they put in place to stop the Yemen war. Another miserable saga

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/war-yemen

Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when Houthi insurgents—Shiite rebels with links to Iran and a history of rising up against the Sunni government—took control of Yemen’s capital and largest city, Sanaa, demanding lower fuel prices and a new government. Following failed negotiations, the rebels seized the presidential palace in January 2015, leading President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to resign. Beginning in March 2015, a coalition of Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia launched a campaign of economic isolation and air strikes against the Houthi insurgents, with U.S. logistical and intelligence support.

...

Talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia in April 2023, mediated by China, have raised hopes of a political settlement to end the conflict in Yemen. The talks led to a breakthrough agreement to re-establish diplomatic relations and re-open both sides' embassies after years of tension and hostility. Iran’s UN mission said that the agreement could accelerate efforts to renew the lapsed cease-fire.

Defend Israel has become an excuse for the US to tighten their grip on the ME. And yes they can get away with anything including making sure another state can get away with everything :/

Several killed, wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza City, Maghazi camp

Israeli forces have bombed a home in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north of the Strip, killing at least two people and wounding six others, according to Al Jazeera’s correspondents on the ground.

Israeli forces also launched air raids on the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, killing and wounding several people, AJA reported.

Palestinians flee Khan Younis as Israel orders more evacuations

_{Palestinians packed their belongings on carts, trucks and other vehicles on Monday after the Israeli army issued orders to evacuate the Hamad area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza}

Israelis demolish Gaza buildings to create ‘buffer zone’ for military corridor: Monitors

Palestinian fighters fired mortar shells at Israeli forces deployed on the Netzarim Corridor, located south of Gaza City, as Israeli combat engineers continued to demolish buildings in the vicinity of the corridor in what appears to be the creation of a “buffer zone”, war monitors report.

According to the latest situation report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP), Israeli media reported in July that the buffer zone along the corridor would be 4km (2.5-mile) wide.

In southern Khan Younis, Palestinian Islamic Jihad reported detonating a minefield on Monday that targeted Israeli forces, and fighting continued to rage in the nearby city of Rafah where Hamas targeted an Israeli tank with an explosive charge designed to penetrate armour.

Palestinian fighters also fired on Israeli troops with sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the ISW-CTP reported. At least three rockets were launched from Gaza on Monday in two separate attacks that targeted areas in Israel, the US-based defence think tanks said.

Deadly Israeli strikes continue across the Gaza Strip

In the last few hours, the Israeli army has hit Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza at least twice, in blocks five and nine of the camp.

In Block Nine, the Wafa news agency reports that two Palestinians, a father and his son, were killed. In Block Five, our Al Jazeera colleagues report, a number of people were killed and wounded when Israeli bombs hit a residential home. We do not have exact casualty numbers from this strike at this time, but we will update you as information comes in.

Also in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s correspondent reports that the body of one person killed in an Israeli strike, along with several wounded people, were recovered from Deir el-Balah.

In the southern Gaza Strip, the civil defence announced the transfer of the bodies of two people to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis after they were recovered from Rafah.

Two children killed near Deir el-Balah

Israeli forces have struck an apartment in al-Qastal Towers, near Deir el-Balah, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic. The attack killed at least four people, including two children, they report.

Earlier, we reported that at least one person had been killed and several others wounded by an Israeli air raid in the area.

Seven killed from Bureij home strike

Earlier, we brought you reports of several deadly strikes in Bureij refugee camp. The Palestinian Wafa news agency is now reporting that at least seven people have been killed from one attack targeting a residential home in the camp.

Gaza’s Civil Defence say they are continuing to search for more victims who may be trapped under the rubble.

Baby girl is sole survivor of overnight Khan Younis attack that killed 10: Report

Earlier, we reported that an overnight Israeli attack on a family home in Khan Younis killed 10 people. Now, it has emerged that the only survivor of the attack is a three-month-old baby girl, according to a medic cited by AFP news agency.

Named Rim, the baby girl lost both her parents and eight other family members to the attack. “This little girl was pulled out of the rubble. Her whole family is dead. Who will take care of her now?” asked local resident Ibrahim Barbakh.

Hamas fighters say Israeli tank hit in southern Gaza

The Qassam Brigades, the Palestinian group’s armed wing, says that it targeted a Merkava tank with an explosive device, specifically a barrel bomb, in the al-Zana area, in the eastern section of Khan Younis.

The Israeli army began a new offensive in eastern Khan Younis last week, displacing nearly 70,000 residents from their homes, according to the UN.

Qassam Brigades say they struck Tel Aviv with rockets

Hamas’s armed wing has said it targeted the coastal Israeli city and its “environs” with two M-90 rockets, which have a range of 90 km. In a statement on its official Telegram channel, the Brigades said “it was in retaliation for the massacres and forced displacement perpetrated by Israel”.

According to local news reports, explosions were heard in Tel Aviv but there were no reports of casualties.

Doctors in Gaza face ‘impossible’ task as Israeli attacks kill, maim hundreds

Dr Swee Ang, the co-founder of Medical Aid for Palestinians, says Gaza’s badly damaged healthcare facilities cannot cope with the influx of the dead and wounded.

In Gaza, “there’s only one hospital that’s not physically damaged and that’s closed down”, Ang told Al Jazeera from London. Almost all facilities have either been bombed or shelled.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military’s blockade on Gaza that prevents the entry of medical supplies – as well Israel’s use of devastating 2,000-pound (900kg) bombs – “makes it impossible to treat patients properly”, she said.

“It makes me very angry. When you create so many casualties, who can cope with that? Most of the patients are already dead, the bodies are shredded. So, I understand how the doctors feel. They will be running from body to body, wondering who to save and who not to save,” she said.

Ang noted that Gaza has suffered multiple rounds of Israeli bombardment in recent years, including in 2008, 2012 and 2014. “People rebuild and then they are again attacked… Gaza hasn’t got a chance to properly recover in between,” she said.

_{Flames rise following an Israeli attack on a residential building in Gaza City, on August 11}

‘The worst place I have ever seen’: Doctor on suffering in Gaza

“This is the worst place I’ve ever seen in my life and the in the entire world.”

This is how the Egyptian-American physician, Dr Adam al-Hamwi, described the situation in Gaza, comparing the tragic scene to his 30-year career in medicine, during which he worked in countries that witnessed wars such as Syria, Iraq and Bosnia.

His comments came during a UK seminar a few days ago entitled Live Testimonies of Doctors Returning from Gaza, in which eight international medical professionals returning from Gaza were invited to speak about their experiences.

“Seventy percent of those we receive in Gaza hospitals die, which is a very high percentage,” unlike other war zones he’s worked in, which recorded a death rate of only about 10 percent, as he put it.

The official death toll in the Gaza Strip from Israel’s war on Gaza is nearing 40,000, though that number is likely much higher, according to an independent scholarly estimate.

UNICEF sounds alarm over Gaza’s clean water, sewage crisis

The UN agency said the “appalling” hygiene conditions in Gaza were threatening children’s lives and health.

“Sewage water is all over the streets,” UNICEF spokesman Salim Oweis said from central Deir el-Balah, where untreated sewage run-off has formed large pools on the road.

“With the lack of clean water, the destruction of the sanitation system, sewage treatment systems, children and families are still struggling,” he said.

The hygiene conditions in Gaza are appalling and threatening children’s lives and health.

UNICEF is on the ground providing clean water.

But it’s not enough - more aid is required and a ceasefire is urgently, critically needed. pic.twitter.com/2DSuokOvzi

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) August 12, 2024

‘Displacement never ends in Gaza’: UNRWA

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, which is the main humanitarian agency in Gaza, has said in a post on X that nearly 84 percent of the Gaza Strip has been placed under evacuation orders by the Israeli military.

Displacement never ends in #Gaza. Nearly 84% of the Gaza Strip - about 305 km² - has been placed under evacuation orders by the Israeli military

People run for their lives, grabbing what they can and leaving everything else behind. They are exhausted and have nowhere safe to go. pic.twitter.com/ojt2yzoFL2

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 13, 2024

Israeli army runs over Palestinian, 4 shot and injured during West Bank raids

The five people were injured during predawn military raids in the cities of Ramallah and el-Bireh in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.

Israeli forces stormed the at-Tira area in Ramallah and the Umm ash-Sharayet neighbourhood in el-Bireh where they raided the homes of Palestinian prisoners and demolished two apartments with explosives, Wafa reports.

Four people were shot during the Ramallah raid, including a young Palestinian man who was hit in the back and is in serious condition. The Palestine Red Crescent Society told Wafa that a young man was also seriously wounded in the chest, while another was shot in the foot. A 31-year-old man was run also over by an Israeli military vehicle.

Earlier on Monday night, an 18-year-old was shot and killed in the town of Azzun, located to the east of Qalqilya city. Wafa reports that Israeli forces took away the teenager’s body.

Other overnight Israeli operations included:

Palestinian dies of bullet wounds following Israeli military raid in West Bank

A young Palestinian man has died after being shot by Israeli forces during raids in the occupied West Bank cities of Ramallah and el-Bireh.

We reported earlier that four people were shot and a fifth was run over by an Israeli military vehicle during the predawn raids, which were carried out as Israeli forces stormed neighbourhoods in the nearby cities to locate and demolish the homes of Palestinian prisoners.

The Wafa news agency identified the victim as Moataz Sarsour, a resident of the Am’ari refugee camp, which is located in the Ramallah and el-Bireh areas. Shot in the chest, Sarsour died of his injuries at the Palestine Medical Complex, Wafa reports.

Wafa did not provide further details on the condition of the three other gunshot victims or the young man hit by the Israeli army vehicle.

Israeli forces blow up occupied West Bank homes of detained prisoners

_{Palestinians inspect the interior of a destroyed apartment in Ramallah after Israeli soldiers raided the occupied West Bank city, and the nearby el-Bireh, and used explosives to blow up the homes of two Palestinian prisoners on August 13}

_{The apartment in Ramallah is now unliveable due to the damage inflicted by the Israeli forces}

Israeli army says it destroyed Ramallah homes of prisoners

The military has confirmed it destroyed the homes of two Palestinian prisoners, who, it claimed, took part in a shooting that killed two people.

Soldiers destroyed the homes in Ramallah, saying that the owners carried out the January 7 shooting attack at the British Police intersection in the occupied West Bank, an army statement said. In addition, troops arrested 10 wanted suspects and interrogated dozens, it added.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported earlier that the Israeli forces raided two residential buildings in the cities of Ramallah and el-Bireh, before blowing them up.

Hundreds of Palestinians missing in the occupied West Bank

On top of the hundreds of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since October 7, there are hundreds more in Israeli custody whose fate remains unknown.

The uncertainty is crippling for their relatives, who agonise over whether their loved ones are alive or dead. “Deprived of burial rituals of their dead or visitation rights if they’re alive, families say this confusion is intentional and part of a collective punishment,” reports Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim.

‘Israel feels it has impunity in West Bank’

While the world’s focus stays on the Gaza war, Israel is intensifying violent raids in the occupied West Bank and attempting to shift the “status quo” of East Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, to its advantage, says Hassan Barari, a professor of international affairs at Qatar University.

“The international community is either complicit or indifferent to what is happening in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” Barari told Al Jazeera, noting that Western leaders issue empty condemnations with little action.

“Israel feels it has impunity to do whatever it wants in the West Bank.”

Twenty arrested in latest West Bank raids

Israeli forces have rounded up 20 Palestinians, including a child and several former prisoners, in the occupied West Bank since last night, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.

During the arrests, the soldiers also broke into the detainees’ homes and “vandalised” them, according to the group.

Since October 7, Israeli forces have made more than 10,000 arrests during their near-daily raids in the West Bank.