Israeli Genocide of Gaza Reaches 300th Day | Palestine Policy Roundup 08.02.2024
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Lloyd Doggett: “An immediate ceasefire is the surest way to prevent the horror of more children being blown apart in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon, and it is the surest way to secure the return of all hostages after 9 painful months. As their families said last week, it is long past time to ‘Seal the Deal.’”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib in response to the Israeli strike on the Khadija school: “Bombing a school is a war crime under international humanitarian law. Period.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal: “The United States cannot and should not provide another dollar of offensive military assistance to Israel as the right-wing Netanyahu government continues to escalate this conflict and kill civilians in Gaza.”
IN THE NEWS
❌ MARKING 300 DAYS OF GENOCIDE IN GAZA
The Israeli assault on Gaza reached its 300th day on Thursday, marking nearly a year of its genocide against Palestinians there. Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, but the death toll could be as high as 186,000 when accounting for direct and indirect deaths according to an article published in The Lancet medical journal. A snapshot published by nearly two dozen humanitarian organizations documents how Israel has continuously impeded critical aid from entering Gaza and how Israeli attacks have put humanitarian workers in danger and prevented them from carrying out their critical work. The report also highlighted the findings of human rights organizations on the impact of Israel’s destruction of Gaza, including that water availability in Gaza has been reduced by 94% since October and nearly half a million people face catastrophic levels of food insecurity. According to UNRWA’s situation report, 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza - 90% of Gaza’s population - have been displaced by Israel’s assault, and 86% of the area is under evacuation orders, leaving very little space for Palestinians to move to.
As issues of overcrowding and sanitation continue to mount in the few areas that Palestinians can go to, Israel has attacked the Al-Mawasi designated humanitarian zone at least 10 times since May 6, and UNRWA reports that 85% of school buildings have been damaged or destroyed and more than 500 people have been killed while sheltering on UNRWA premises. Palestinians in Gaza are faced with an impossible choice of fleeing to a shrinking designated humanitarian zone that is routinely attacked by Israel and faces major humanitarian issues due to overcrowding and lack of infrastructure, or staying in areas where Israeli soldiers routinely executed Palestinian civilians simply because they entered an area that the military defined as a “no-go zone.” The Biden administration has the ability to end this carnage and destruction today by halting all weapons to Israel. Congress must exercise its authority and pressure the Biden administration to follow international and US law and halt all weapons to Israel.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: From the humanitarian snapshot: “Our continued presence should not be mistaken for an indication of unimpeded access. We operate at great risk, despite significant impediments to our access. The risks our colleagues are exposed to each moment are unacceptable and contrary to their protections under international law. In Gaza, we are not witnessing a "shrinking" humanitarian space; there is barely any space left to operate at all. We, the undersigned NGOs continue to call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire and maintain it is the only way to provide humanitarian assistance and protect and save lives in Gaza.”
⚖️ UK DROPS CHALLENGE TO ICC ARREST WARRANT AGAINST BENJAMIN NETANYAHU
The Office of Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced last week that the UK will not challenge the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The effort was started by the government of former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and it threatened to delay the court’s decision on issuing the warrants. While this may increase the likelihood that the court issues the warrants, more than 60 groups and countries have now been allowed to submit arguments related to the warrants, which are likely to delay the court’s decision on the matter.
This development also comes after reports that the US pressured the Labour government to maintain the challenge against the warrants. The US may have sought to use the UK as a proxy to delay the warrants as part of the Biden administration’s campaign to stop accountability for Israel at the ICC. The Biden administration must end its campaign against the ICC and uphold accountability for all at the court.
🚨 ISMAIL HANIYEH ASSASSINATED, CASTING SHADOW OVER CEASEFIRE TALKS
Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas' political wing and a key figure in ceasefire negotiations, was assassinated in Tehran on Tuesday. It is widely assumed that Israel carried out the assassination though Israel has not claimed responsibility. This killing was carried out in violation of international law, and is an escalation that could threaten to pull the US into a regional war while also thwarting efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza. As the Biden administration maintains an unimpeded flow of weapons to Israel, it bears responsibility for the devastation caused by the Israeli assault on Gaza and escalations in violence that will only intensify the genocide of Palestinians there. President Biden must follow US and international law and end all weapons to Israel in order to stop this genocide and prevent any further escalation in violence.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
⛓️ ISRAELI PROTESTERS STORM ARMY BASE AFTER SOLDIERS ARRESTED FOR ABUSING PALESTINIAN DETAINEE
Israeli protesters, including far-right members of the Knesset, stormed an Israeli military base following reports that military police arrested nine soldiers accused of abusing a Palestinian detainee held at Sde Teiman. Some of the soldiers arrested are accused of severely raping the detainee, leaving him with severe injuries including a “ruptured intestine, severe injury to the anus and lungs, and broken ribs”. In response to the raid, members of the Israeli Knesset criticized the actions by the military police, with one member proclaiming “If he is a Nukhba (Hamas commando), everything is legitimate” in response to a question about whether inserting an explosive device into a detainee’s rectum is legitimate.
Palestinians taken from Gaza have been held at the army base and elsewhere in Israel indefinitely without charge and have reported horrifying testimonies of torture, rape and abuse at the hands of Israeli soldiers. A a report released this week by the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights provided further detail on the conditions faced by Palestinian detainees. The report includes testimony from former detainees, who say they were held in “cage-like facilities, stripped naked for prolonged periods, wearing only diapers” and it described the torture they faced, alleging that “... dogs were released on them, and others said they were subjected to waterboarding, or that their hands were tied and they were suspended from the ceiling. Some women and men also spoke of sexual and gender-based violence”.
🎧 LISTEN: Listen to the latest episode of This Is Palestine, a podcast produced by our affiliated organization the IMEU, which focuses on the testimony of Khaled Mhajne, the lawyer for Mohammed Arab, Al Araby TV’s Gaza correspondent who has been detained by Israeli forces since March.
💧 ISRAELI FORCES DESTROY WATER RESERVOIR AS HEALTH MINISTRY DECLARES EPIDEMIC OF POLIO IN GAZA
A video published on Instagram reportedly shows Israeli forces placing explosives around and destroying the Canada Well, a reservoir located in the Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah. A report from Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed that the soldiers were ordered to blow up the reservoir by their commanders, in violation of international law. Just days after this was reported, the Palestinian Ministry of Health declared an epidemic of polio in Gaza, which is likely to be exacerbated by deteriorating conditions and destruction of water infrastructure. This comes just weeks after a report from Oxfam detailed how Israel has weaponized water in Gaza through its destruction of water infrastructure, aid obstruction, and cutting Gaza’s external water supply, reducing its water supply by 94%. The severe lack of water is contributing to dire sanitation issues as Palestinians are forced into overcrowded camps, making the disastrous and rapid spread of diseases like polio much more likely.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Awan Abu Odeh, speaking to Democracy Now: “We, as mothers, along with our children, are suffering from skin diseases. Our skin has begun to show spots in both moms and kids, young and old. Everyone is starting to suffer from this problem. We have been struggling with a lack of cleaning supplies for a while, like shampoo, soap, sponges, chlorine. We are living in tents, in sand, among insects, lacking in hygiene.”
🏫 ISRAELI FORCES ATTACK SCHOOLS, KILL JOURNALISTS IN VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
Israeli forces carried out more strikes on schools this week, killing at least 15 Palestinians in an attack on the Dalal Mughrabi School in Shujaiya on Thursday and killing at least 30 Palestinians in an attack on the Khadija school in Deir el-Balah on Saturday. Thousands of people were sheltering at the Khadija school when it was attacked. The targeting of schools is a war crime under international law. Israeli forces also killed Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi in an airstrike on their car near the Shati refugee camp near Gaza City on Wednesday. The pair were in the area to report on the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, were wearing press vests, and were riding in a clearly identifiable car when they were killed. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 113 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October, and notes that targeting journalists is a war crime because they are civilians. As Israel continues to kill journalists in Gaza, it has also heavily restricted access by foreign journalists and not allowed any independent reporting.
📺 WATCH: Watch Al Jazeera correspondent Hind Khoudary report on the killing of her colleagues and the life-and-death challenges and decisions journalists in Gaza are forced to make.
Many Palestinians have returned to parts of Khan Younis after Israeli forces killed more than 250 Palestinians and ended their assault there. The Israeli assault on Khan Younis displaced more than 200,000 people after Israeli forces launched their assault on the city less than an hour after issuing an evacuation order, leaving very little time for Palestinians to find out from where they needed to evacuate and to where they could go. The evacuation order issued that day also reduced the size of the designated humanitarian zone near Al-Mawasi by 15%.
📺 WATCH: A video published by The Guardian showcases the widespread destruction that many Palestinians are returning to.