Urgent health update: Consequences of war on Gaza and West Bank/East Jerusalem-August 10, 2024

The horrific assaults on Gaza continue unabated with devastating health and humanitarian consequences. Of particular concerns are: constant evacuations of internally displaced people, overwhelmed and largely destroyed healthcare system, hunger and famine, risk of outbreak of paralytic polio epidemic, Israeli obstruction of aid, rising settler and army attacks in West Bank/East Jerusalem, clear evidence for Israeli torture of Palestinian detainees, and continued US support to Israel. This is on us. Keep up the political pressure!!!

Join us for the next JVP Health Advisory Council webinar, August 24, 2024, 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern, Understanding and Countering Anti-Palestinian Racism, for more info and registration click here.

B’tselem report on torture in Israeli prisons, Welcome to Hell here

Video: Dr. Ahmad Yousaf, an American pediatrician who recently returned from a medical mission to Gaza, shared rare footage from inside Al Aqsa Hospital where he captured harrowing conditions for medical workers and patients, particularly children. here

We Volunteered at a Gaza Hospital. What We Saw Was Unspeakable. Report from American surgeons who witnessed the civilian carnage of the Israel-Hamas war. here

Eye witness report on bombing of Gaza school Al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City here

T-Shirt: Health Workers for Health Justice in Palestine

Shirts made in Jericho can be ordered here: Many will wear these t-shirts at the American Public Health Association conference this year: https://www.palestine-shirts.com/store/p370/Health-workers.html

Constant evacuations ordered by Israeli military

8/4, Israeli military issued an evacuation order covering  ~11,000 people in southern Khan Younis & northern Rafah to immediately move to the “safe zone” in Al Mawasi, affecting 41 displacement sites, 19 WASH facilities, 12 schools & 2 functional medical points. 

8/7-8, the Israeli military issued 3 evacuation orders covering thousands of people. The 1st order told people, including IDPs, in North Gaza to immediately evacuate to shelters in Gaza City. 2nd ordered residents to evacuate to Deir al Balah & Az Zawayda along Salah ad Din Road. 3rd ordered people in Khan Younis to immediately move to the “humanitarian area.” Areas under evacuation encompass about 230 IDP sites, 91 WASH facilities, 67 educational facilities, & 5 functional health facilities, including the Indonesian Hospital. 

Despite recurrent evacuation orders, many families stay in these areas due to high levels of insecurity, harsh conditions in displacement sites, displacement fatigue, & limited access to aid & basic services. UNRWA stated: “People in Gaza are constantly displaced, living in tents under the scorching summer sun with minimal access to drinking water.”

On 8/9, Israeli military announced a large military operation in Khan Younis. 

Numbers are cumulative

GAZA 

·       Killed: 39,699, 219 this week. Includes: 855 health workers, 166 journalists, and 287 aid workers (205 UNRWA staff)

·       Injured: 91,722, 594 this week

·       Israeli soldiers killed: 329 (none this week)

·       Israeli soldiers injured: 2,199

·       Hostages: 115

Attacks

• 8/3-4, 3 schools hosting thousands of IDPs in Gaza City, killing 47, injuring many, with 16 reported missing under the rubble. Israeli forces have targeted 172 shelters hosting tens of thousands of IDPs, including 152 public & UNRWA schools killing >1,040. 

• 8/2 & 8/8, 16 killed (3 children), 14 injured in & around Gaza City. 

• 8/3, 8 killed, others injured in Jabalya Refugee Camp

• 8/4, 5 killed, 15 injured in Al Aqsa Hospital, Deir al Balah. 

• 8/5, 80 unidentified bodies of Palestinians were brought from Israel to Gaza. Media reports are unclear whether these were bodies dug up from cemeteries or were detainees who had been killed. The bodies were buried in a mass grave in Khan Younis.

• 8/5, 8 killed (5 police officers), others injured when a Gaza Police car was hit while distributing aid in Deir al Balah. 8/5 & 8/8, 22 killed (4 children), others injured in Al Bureij Refugee Camp, Deir al Balah.

• 8/6-7, 9 killed (including a journalist), others injured in Khan Younis. 

• 8/8, 2 schools in Gaza City were hit, killing 16 IDPs. Israeli military claimed armed groups operated “command and control centers” at both schools. On 8/5, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) reported a pattern of Israeli strikes on schools killing IDPs seeking shelter. Over the past month, 17 schools have been struck, killing at least 163 Palestinians. Such attacks are escalating, as 7 schools were hit in the 8 days prior, all serving as IDP shelters, 1 also serving as a field hospital. OHCHR stressed: presence of armed groups “does not negate Israel’s obligation to comply strictly with International Humanitarian Law, including the principles of proportionality, distinction & precaution when carrying out military operations. Israel, as the occupying power, is also obliged to provide the evacuated populations with basic humanitarian needs, including safe shelter.” 

• 8/8, Israeli ground assault in the southern Gaza Strip forced tens of thousands of Palestinians to flee their homes & shelters, many for a third time or more. Between 60,000 & 70,000 people had fled after the Israeli military ordered people in the city of Khan Younis to leave, according to UNRWA, and more continued to flee into the next day.

• 8/10, ~100 Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike on a school & mosque sheltering displaced people. Gaza Civil Defense said people were performing dawn prayers at the in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in the eastern part of Gaza City when it was hit overnight. 

Health care

• Health Cluster reported 492 documented attacks on health centers; currently 56% of hospitals (20 of 36) and 58% of primary health center (73 of 126) are non-functional. >885 Gaza health workers have been killed, 310 arrested since October. Israel has killed about 3.5% of Gaza’s health workforce which, prior to the war, numbered ~25,000.  

• Describing the strain on Gaza’s health system & health workers, Medical Aid for Palestinians noted: “medical workers have continued to work without being paid, eating properly, seeing their families, having a home to go to, or having enough water to drink or wash in.” ICU doctor at Al Aqsa Hospital: “The huge volume of patients coming in & the severity of the injuries are unbelievable & beyond our ability to treat. Simple cases pass away in your arms because there is no space or no basic medical supplies.”  

• In the past month, 48 Health Cluster partners served 264,000 people across the Strip. Only 14 Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) support the local healthcare workforce. 

• Per UNRWA, 85 sick & severely injured patients were evacuated to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for care. Per Physicians for Human Rights Israel, 140 patients & their accompanying loved ones were evacuated through the Ramon Airport, marking only the second medical evacuation since May. A total of 13,877 evacuation requests have been submitted since the start of the war, with only 42% being approved. According to PHR Israel, 14,000 await urgent transfer.

• Lack of access to clean water, hygiene kits, & sanitation facilities poses major health risks & drives a surge in acute respiratory infections (>990,000 cases), diarrheal illnesses (577,000 cases), acute jaundice (107,000 cases), skin infections, exacerbated by poor living conditions & overcrowding.

·       WHO: organization will send over one million polio vaccines to Gaza, which will be administered in the coming weeks.

·       Palestinian Health Ministry: “Gaza needs 1.3 million doses of polio vaccine … Israel is still refusing to allow vaccines into the Strip.” 

·       Per CDC: Countries that have low Oral Polio Vaccine coverage in routine immunization also are at risk of experiencing poliomyelitis cases & outbreaks caused by circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV). The live attenuated poliovirus strains contained in the Sabin OPV can circulate in areas with inadequate OPV coverage & revert to having wild-like characteristics. This is what may/will happen in Gaza as the polio found in the sewage is the live attenuated strain, likely from Egypt. Confirmed in article here

Aid

• Head of OCHA emphasized need to scale up humanitarian operations given “the absolute physical and psychological exhaustion of an entire population” warning we cannot allow ourselves to become “immune to horror.” 

• 8/7, World Central Kitchen staff  reported killed by an Israeli airstrike near Deir al Balah. UN reports 287 aid workers (including 205 UNRWA staff) killed since October. Echoing the UN Secretary-General calling for “full accountability for each & every one of these deaths,” UNRWA Commissioner-General stated: this is “by far the largest loss of personnel killed in a single conflict or natural disaster since the creation of the UN… These are not numbers…[they] are teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, support staff, technicians who spent their life supporting the community. Many were killed with their families.” Emphasizing the risks facing staff, WFP head stated: “Operations are super-complicated. We work in a war zone. Roads are destroyed. We are waiting hours at checkpoints for green lights to move….[and] the risks are high. Very high. We have bullets close to our convoys. We’re there repairing roads. We’re there moving with our trucks. We’re there reaching people. And it’s very dangerous.” 

• Entry of aid remains obstructed by access constraints & insecurity. 8/6, Israel closed the Kerem Shalom Crossing, halting 5 missions, including a humanitarian personnel rotation, & preventing collection of critical supplies. Erez West (Zikim) entry point has been closed for maintenance since 8/2. Over the past 3 months, aid cargo via Kerem Shalom Crossing dropped by > 80%, from an average of 127 trucks/day in April to 23 trucks/day in July. Humanitarian aid entering Gaza has more than halved since the Rafah ground invasion began & closed the Rafah Crossing in May.   

• Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) reported that it has been unable to transport aid to its Gaza warehouses for 3 months, with 488 pallets stranded at Kerem Shalom Crossing. NRC Secretary-General, highlighted the severity: "There is still no real access for aid to the starving population…law & order has broken down…donkeys carry aid for lack of fuel & trucks.”  

• The passage of fuel and supplies between southern/central Gaza & the north & via all crossings remains impeded. From 8/1-8, of 67 missions coordinated with the Israeli authorities to northern Gaza, only 24 were facilitated, 9 were impeded, 29 were denied, & 5 were cancelled. In southern Gaza, of 99 coordinated missions, 48 were facilitated, 7 were impeded, 33 were denied, and 11 were cancelled.

Food and Nutrition

• Child malnutrition surged >300% in July, the Nutrition Cluster reports, only 2 of 5 children receiving supplements in past 3 months. In North Gaza, >650 children were diagnosed with acute malnutrition, up 47% since June, 8% of 50,000 received supplements July, down from 18% in June & 13% in May. Worsening nutrition conditions are due to access constraints, shortages of essential nutrition supplies, limited availability of fresh vegetables, fruits & meat, poor water & sanitation services, related spread of disease outbreaks, poor infant feeding practices. 

• 7/20-8/2, 55,082 children <5 and 23,297 pregnant or breastfeeding women received 30 days needs of Lipid-based Nutrient Supplements (LNS-MQ) in Khan Younis, Dier al Balah, & Rafah.

• Repeated displacement, insecurity & access constraints continue to hamper early detection & support to children & women requiring nutrition services. Tents have been set up for malnutrition screening & service provision, but lack of privacy renders breastfeeding counselling challenging. 

• 8/4, 13 of 18 bakeries were operational– 4 in Gaza City, 2 in North Gaza, 7 in Deir al Balah. 5 Rafah bakeries remain closed. Half the bread produced by the 13 bakeries is distributed free along with cooked meals, while the other half is sold at a reduced price.

• ~500,000 cooked meals prepared in 150 kitchens are provided daily to families, a 30% decrease compared to 700,000 meals from 200 kitchens in July, due to the blockage of food supplies, cooking fuel, & humanitarian aid into Gaza. 

• ~80 tons of animal feed were distributed in southern and central Gaza in July, contributing to the local production of meat & dairy products.

• UNOSAT imagery collected in July shows 65% of crop fields showed significant damage, up from 63% in June. 

Education

• Education Cluster report  highlights that all 625,000 school children in Gaza lost a scholastic year, 7/30, 9,211 students & 397 teachers were killed, with >14,200 students & 2,200 teachers injured. Educational facilities have been systematically destroyed, ~93% of school buildings assessed as directly hit or damaged. Many schools have been used to shelter IDPs, but overcrowded conditions & limited WASH facilities contribute to unhygienic conditions, spread of disease, lack of privacy, & heightened protection risks. Educational activities are constrained by: insecurity; impediments to humanitarian access; lack of approval for any fuel requests; restrictions on the entry of educational supplies; significant lack of funding. Only 365,000 children (54.7%) have been reached with recreational activities, assistive devices for children with disability, or psycho-social support. 

• In the past month, Cluster members supported 15,000 children (43% boys/57% girls) with psychosocial support, recreation, awareness sessions, & informal learning activities. 10 new Temporary Learning Spaces (TLS) established, adding to the 48 TLSs (28 in Deir al Balah, 19 in Khan Yunis, 1 in north Gaza), supporting approximately 8,750 students.

• 8/1, UNRWA launched a “Back to Learning” program to provide safe spaces for children to play, learn and cope with trauma. Phase 1 focuses on psychosocial support activities in 45 UNRWA schools/shelters, with plans to expand to 94 schools. Phase 2 will concentrate on reading, writing and math lessons until formal education resumes. 

Housing

• UNOSAT published  its 8th assessment of structural damage in Gaza. 63% (156,409 buildings) are destroyed or damaged, including 215,137 housing units.

Water & Sanitation

WASH Cluster partners preparing for the winter, focusing on flooding, shortages of essential supplies, damage to infrastructure, including the stormwater drainage. Prior to the war, ~180 locations were identified as flood risks with inadequate drainage. The situation has significantly deteriorated, in areas such as Khan Younis, >80% of infrastructure has been compromised. Raw sewage accumulates in streets & at IDP sites. During the rainy season, this poses a dual threat of increased flooding & water source contamination, which could lead to serious public health risks. 

·       7/29-8/4, Palestinian Water Authority reported average safe water supply was ~93,000 m3, about ¼ of the supply prior to the war. This includes 49,500 m3 of water produced by municipal, UNRWA, & private wells. 

• In northern Gaza, lack of fuel limited water access. Repair of UNRWA wells continues; only 4 of 7 are operational. 

• Lack of generators, fuel & spare parts continue to hamper water production & sewage pumping, creating major health risks.

• Middle Area Short Term Low volume (STLV) and South Gaza STLV desalination plants were closed 7/27 by bombardments that risked damaging the plants.

• Israeli forces have damaged the Canada reservoir water facility, a critical blending & distribution point for central & western Rafah, serving 150,000 people. Footage shows soldiers detonating explosives on the pump machinery.

• Chlorine reserves are being consumed at double the rate before the war, requiring the urgent import of new supplies for water purification.

Civil Protection

• Protection Cluster held an Emergency Protection Responder (EPR) training with 100 responders, to build a frontline protection workforce to support humanitarian response across Gaza. >250 people have registered for training. 

• 10 explosive hazard assessments (EHA) at humanitarian sites & on 13 aid routes were held. Sessions focus on displacement areas in Nuseirat, Deir al Balah, Khan Younis & Gaza; digital campaigns using SMS, radio and social media; awareness-raising sessions for humanitarians; distribution of materials, Training of Trainers (ToT) sessions. Lack of funding limits the deployment of additional EOD experts and Explosive Ordnance Risk Education & Conflict Preparedness & Protection (EORE-CPP) teams to meet soaring needs. Administrative hurdles, such as registration of organizational entities & delayed visa provision, prevents the scale-up of de-mining work. 

• Shortage of tents affects the ability to expand group-based psycho-social support & support safe space or temporary accommodation for unaccompanied children. Limited availability of supplies, including menstrual hygiene management kits & dignity kits, has disproportionate impact on women & girls at risk of GBV, increasing their vulnerability to disease & violence.  

Emergency Telecommunications (ETC)

• Availability of telecommunications equipment is severely limited. Equipment is damaged or destroyed, new equipment importation is challenging. Since October, only 20 satellite phones, 30 VHF digital radios, 4 VHF repeaters, 4 solar power solutions have been allowed into Gaza by Israeli authorities. 

West Bank, including East Jerusalem

In the past week, Israeli forces in the West Bank killed 16 Palestinians (2 children) and injured 56 (6 children).

Killed: 587 Palestinians, including 570 by Israeli forces, 10 by settlers, 7 where it remains unclear.

Israelis killed: 14, including 9 soldiers, 5 settlers, were killed by Palestinians in the West Bank/ East Jerusalem. West Bank Palestinians have killed 10 Israelis in Israel.

Attacks

• 8/6-7, 13 Palestinians killed in West Bank. Israeli media report Israeli forces shot & killed a man for stabbing a border patrol officer at the Tunnels Checkpoint, Bethlehem. Body is being held by Israeli forces. Other media claim that 4 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes & 7 killed by live ammunition in Jenin. Palestine Red Crescent Society say Israeli forces shot at their ambulances, prevented them from evacuating casualties.

• 7/30, Israeli forces shot & killed a 16-year-old near Hebron. Body being withheld by Israeli authorities.

• 7/30, Israeli forces shot & killed a Palestinian in Nablus. 

• 8/3, drone strikes incinerated a car & its 5 occupants in Tulkarm, killed 4 walking southeast of Tulkarm. Bodies are being withheld. Israeli military claims all 9 were responsible for attacks against Israeli security forces & settlers.

• 8/4, after killing 2 Israelis & injuring 2 others, a Palestinian man from Salfit in the West Bank was shot & killed by an Israeli police officer in Holon. 

• 8/5, Israeli forces shot & killed 4 (1 child), injured 9 others in Aqqaba town, Tubas. After a firefight, Israeli forces broke into the Tubas Turkish Government Hospital.

Settler attacks

In the past week, 27 settler attacks injured 17 (2 children) & damaged property. Since October, of 1,143 settler attacks, 114 led to Palestinian fatalities & injuries, 964 to property damage, 127 to both. 255 Palestinian households (1,500 people, mostly herding families, including 720 children), have been displaced by settler violence & access restrictions. 

• 7/30 & 8/2, settlers from Givat Assaf & other settlements attacked the village of Burqa (Ramallah), cutting down a metal fence, attempting to set fire to a Palestinian home. Residents woke to the door on fire, managed to douse it. Setters vandalized property, 3 days later, returned to set fire to a vehicle.

• 7/31, settlers shot & injured 2 & assaulted 9 others in the herding/ farming community of Khirbet an Nahla (Bethlehem). They attacked farmers repairing a stone wall & tried to kick them off the land. Settlers damaged 3 vehicles parked nearby. Israeli forces intervened by shooting tear gas to disperse everyone & confiscated the vehicles.

• 7/31, a Palestinian from Sa’ir (Hebron) stabbed & injured a settler on Road 60 near Kiryat Arba settlement. Israeli forces are still searching for him.

• 7/31, 8/1, 8/4, armed settlers uprooted 140 olive trees & grape vines in Masafer Yatta, located in the closed miliary area “Firing Zone 918.” Settlers cut fencing around the land, set fire to a building, destroyed equipment, uprooted trees.

• 8/3, Israeli forces accompanying settlers attacking Al Mughayyir village (Ramallah) shot & injured 2 Palestinians, assaulted another, fired tear gas, sending 3 to the hospital for tear gas inhalation. 2 households (10 people, including 6 children) were displaced for the 3rd  time in a year. When 8 settlers from Adei Ad settlement were frustrated in their attack on the village, they returned with 50 settlers & soldiers, who shot live ammunition, rubber bullets & tear gas as the settlers destroyed Palestinian property. Soldiers then prevented medical teams & fire brigades from reaching the area.

• 8/10, Jewish settlers attacked 4 Palestinian/Israeli women from the Bedouin city of Rahat who had a baby with them when they accidentally entered the West Bank outpost of Givat Ronen. "They told us to get out of the car. We told them we were Israeli citizens, we weren't doing anything, just got confused because of Waze [navigation system], but they didn't even hear us," said one of the women, who added that the settlers torched their car after they fled the scene.

House demolitions

In the past week, Israeli authorities demolished 23 Palestinian-owned structures, 22 due to their lack of impossible-to-attain Israeli building permits. Demolished structures in Area C & East Jerusalem displaced 27 (10 children) and affected 105 (38 children).

• Since October, Israeli authorities demolished 1,355 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, displacing >3,000 (1,343 children). This is >double the number of the previous year. Since October, >181,000 have been affected by 25 demolitions & destruction of public infrastructure during Israeli military operations in Tulkarm & Jenin. 

• In highly contested Silwan (East Jerusalem), Jerusalem Municipality & Israeli forces delivered on 8/1 at least 9 demolition orders to be implemented within a week, part of a plan to build & expand an Israeli settlement. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), representing 85 Silwan demolition cases, “Al-Bustan, home to about 1,550 Palestinians & 150 housing units...is near the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. This has led Israeli authorities to focus on increasing the Jewish presence & displacing Palestinians. All structures in Al-Bustan are currently unprotected and at risk of demolition.”

ISRAEL

·       Hundreds participated in a march calling to stop the war in the Palestinian city of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel.

·       New report by Israeli-Palestinian NGO B'Tselem reveals dozens of testimonies from Palestinians detained by Israel since the Gaza war began. Most were released without prosecution, their accounts detail routine abuse, starvation, humiliation, sleep deprivation, & denial of medical treatment.

·       An Israeli military investigation that has roiled the country with allegations of sexual abuse by its own ranks was set in motion by doctors in a civilian hospital, who reported life threatening injuries, (including rectal trauma) to a Palestinian detainee that were so severe they required surgery. Court hearings began last week to determine whether any of the 10 reservists initially detained by the military in a raid at the Sde Teiman detention center should face charges. “It was pretty horrifying,” medical staffer said. “It’s just setting the bar so low that I don’t know how we can deteriorate more morally. I was aware things like that could happen but I’ve never witnessed anything like that.”

·       Far-right protesters, soldiers, & MKs rallied for guards suspected of raping a Palestinian detainee. Once fringe, they are now the public face of the state.

·       Israeli government said it will add 2 new wings for Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman detention center in its response to a petition in Israel's High Court by human rights groups to shut it down, citing human rights abuses.

·       2 of the 5 reservists still under arrest for suspected aggravated abuse of a Palestinian arrested in the Gaza Strip were found to be lying when asked during a polygraph test whether they had committed an "act of sodomy" on the detainee & answered that they did not.

·       Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich: a truce with Hamas would endanger Israel & return only a few of the hostages. "No one would let us starve to death two million civilians, despite it maybe being right & moral to do until we get our hostages back," he added.

·       Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel: "numerous testimonies of sexual abuse in detention facilities are horrendous, and require action."

·       How Israel's healthcare system is preparing for war with Hezbollah. Hospitals across Israel are stocking up on medical & surgical supplies, thousands of units of blood, diesel fuel, gasoline

·       3 18-year-old conscientious objectors reported to the Israeli army’s Tel Hashomer recruitment center, near Tel Aviv, declared their refusal to enlist in mandatory military service in protest of the occupation & the current war on Gaza.

·       Israeli reservists occasionally refuse to return to Gaza, citing military’s destructive approach. “Ideas like killing the entire population of Gaza suddenly became almost normal… suddenly hearing our commanders say that we’re not going to be merciful this time… I felt like we were going to a very bad place.”

US

·       Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli met with Black Cube in June to discuss a possible espionage mission against Students for Justice in Palestine, the group leading anti-Israel protests on U.S. campuses. 

·       US State Department officially notified Congress of its intent to proceed with a new authorization for weapons to Israel, including 6,500 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). Secretary of State Antony Blinken also announced his decision not to sanction the IDF's notorious Netzah Yehuda battalion, despite credible evidence of its systematic & gross human rights violations in the West Bank. 

·       Washington is deploying a substantial fleet of warships, fighter jets, & defense systems to the region. Biden has lifted its restrictions on supplying Israel with the MK-83 half-ton (1000lb) bombs. That decision was made even before the current escalation. These munitions had previously been withheld for months, even prior to the outbreak of the current conflict. The fate of the heavier MK-84 bombs, weighing one ton each, remains uncertain, with no clear indication of whether the US will agree to their transfer to Israel.

·       US medical professional organizations have remained conspicuously silent on the genocide in Gaza. 11/3, the American Public Health Association (APHA) issued a statement recognizing Israel’s right to self-defense but failed to address the 16-year blockade of Gaza & its devastating humanitarian impact. APHA referred to the situation as a “growing humanitarian crisis arising from limited access to basic human necessities” without mentioning the ongoing bombing campaign targeting civilians in Gaza. 2 weeks later, the same organization issued a one-sentence call for an immediate ceasefire in the “Hamas-Israel war.” AMA has been silent. Even the World Medical Association (WMA), alarmed by the escalating healthcare & humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including starvation & lack of medical care, unanimously passed a resolution calling for a “bilateral, negotiated, & sustainable ceasefire.”

·       CAIR Chicago has filed a landmark federal lawsuit against Canary Mission, the shadowy pro-Israel website that has targeted pro-Palestinian individuals with doxxing attacks for nearly a decade.

• Since 10/7, a new precedent has emerged of the US government sanctioning violent settlers, including Issachar Mann who has been seen in Umm al-Kheir grazing his sheep on private Palestinian land. With American ties to the small village already strong, recent events could lead to a strong push to pressure the US government to place sanctions on Atia, the orchestrator of much of the violence against Umm al-Kheir 

INTERNATIONAL

·       “Oxfam does not support US airdrops into Gaza, which would mostly serve to relieve the guilty consciences of senior US officials whose policies are contributing to the ongoing atrocities & risk of famine in Gaza.” -Oxfam’s associate director for peace & security.

·       Biden and leaders of Qatar & Egypt plan ‘final’ cease-fire proposal. The leaders said “the time has come” to conclude a deal between Israel & Hamas, insisting that the negotiators meet in Cairo or Doha 8/15.

SOURCES

OCHAOPT, Haaretz, +972, Electronic Intifada, The Cradle, DAWN MENA, New York Times, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Counterpunch, Portside, Israel Hayom, PHR Israel, CDC, ABC News, Mondoweiss