Urgent health update: Consequences of war on Gaza, West Bank/East Jerusalem, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen 1/18/25

Ceasefire offers hope, stakes remain high

Ceasefire explained:

First phase, lasting 42 days, will include a complete halt of hostilities, and a gradual release of Israeli captives in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian captives in Israeli jails. Hamas and other Palestinian factions will release 33 Israelis who were captured on 10/ 7/23, including all remaining five women, those aged above 50, and those with illnesses. It is not known yet who of them is still alive. Israel will simultaneously release hundreds of Palestinians, from the same category, reaching up to 1,000 prisoners and detainees.

Israeli army will begin to withdraw its forces from populated areas of Gaza on the first day of the ceasefire. The return of displaced Palestinians to the north will begin on the 7th day of the ceasefire. Israel backed down on its previous refusal to allow the return of Palestinians to the north, as well as previous stipulations around age restrictions. The displaced who return on foot only will be searched, but not those who will return in vehicles. The deal also stipulates the entry of humanitarian aid in the first days of the ceasefire, at a rate of 600 trucks a day. Aid that will enter in the first phase includes medical supplies and necessary material to rehabilitate destroyed hospitals and bakeries.

Negotiations over the details of the second phase will begin on the 16th day of the ceasefire which includes release of the remaining captives being held in Gaza, specifically Israeli army soldiers and officers, as well as the remaining bodies of killed captives. Names and numbers of Palestinian detainees to be released in this phase is yet to be negotiated. This phase will also include the beginning of reconstruction in Gaza. Israel will complete its withdrawal from the Gaza strip in the second phase, maintaining only a military presence in a 700 meter strip along the fence line of the strip, and in some parts of the Philadelphi corridor, which runs along the border with Egypt.

Israel will completely withdraw from the Rafah crossing point. US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators gave guarantees to secure the completion of Israeli withdrawal. The third phase will see negotiations for a permanent end of the war. here, here, here, here

More on ceasefire:

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher welcomed the agreement, urged that it be upheld, stated that humanitarian agencies are prepared to deliver aid, urged countries to provide the desperately needed support and UN bodies to ensure its safe and unimpeded delivery, and noted: “We call for accountability for the atrocities committed… This is a moment of hope and opportunity, but we should be under no illusions how tough it will still be to get support to survivors. The stakes could not be higher.” See the full statement here.

Trump may have forced Netanyahu into taking the ceasefire deal, but he may have made promises that would enable Israel’s violence in other ways. It’s also yet to be seen if this will be a vehicle to fully end the war, or simply another short-term pause to get at least some hostages out before continuing the bombing.

Gaza, journalist Abubaker Abed: devastating spate of Israeli attacks that have followed after ceasefire announcement. While Hamas and Israel have agreed to a temporary halt in fighting and exchange of captives, Israel continues its scorched earth campaign, killing over 80 Palestinians in the last 24 hours alone.

Far-right Ben-Gvir resigned from the Netanyahu government over hostage deal. ministers Amichai Eliyahu and Yitzhak Wasserlauf will resign from their posts, as well as Tzvika Foghel who serves as chair of the National Security Committee, and MK Yitzhak Kroizer, who will no longer be part of the judicial appointment committee.

UN: The humanitarian situation is at catastrophic levels

UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated: “Our priority must be to ease the tremendous suffering caused by this conflict, …delivering aid across Gaza so that we can support a major increase in urgent lifesaving humanitarian support. The humanitarian situation is at catastrophic levels.”

“This deal is a critical first step, but we must mobilize all efforts to also advance broader goals, including the preservation of the unity, contiguity, and integrity of the OPT. Palestinian unity is essential for achieving lasting peace and stability, and I emphasize that unified Palestinian governance must remain a top priority… Only through a viable two-state solution can the aspirations of both peoples be fulfilled.” See the full statement here.

REPORTS & RECORDINGS

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights emphasizes that the forced displacement of Gaza’s residents, including women, and their subsequent deprivation of shelter, clothing, food, and healthcare, amounts to genocidal acts. PCHR also highlights that winter’s hellish conditions exacerbate the violence and suffering experienced by women, who have endured unprecedented challenges and hardships since the onset of the ongoing Israeli aggression. here

Event presented key findings from the Gaza Community Mental Health Program’s latest report, 'There, People Suffer and Die,' shared by Dr. Lama Khouri. A video from Gaza depicted the daily lives of its people. A conversation followed between Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei, Director General of GCMHP, and Gwyn Daniel, family therapist, writer, and activist. They explored the work of Gaza's mental health teams, the trauma they addressed, and the resilience within the community. Members of the GCMHP team shared their on-the-ground experiences, providing personal perspectives on the situation in Gaza. here

Op ed by Alice Rothchild: “Zionist Fragility,” The time is long overdue for liberal Zionists to find the courage to take a long hard look at their uncritical support for the actions of the Israeli state as it becomes increasingly indefensible. here

Two Knesset bills ending Israel’s “cooperation” with UNRWA, are scheduled to come into force end of January. If they do, UNRWA’s activities in the territory of the state of Israel would be illegal under Israeli law and any Israeli official or institution engaging with the agency would be breaking the law. here

Dissent within the State Department over US role in Israel/Hamas war. here

A Year of Empty Threats and a “Smokescreen” Policy: How the State Department Let Israel Get Away With Horrors in Gaza here

A visual guide to the destruction of Gaza here

Report from Israeli prisons here

GAZA

Israeli air, land, & sea bombardment continues across Gaza, causing further civilian casualties, and destruction of houses & other civilian infrastructure despite announcement of the cease-fire. Israeli violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon, widespread Israeli bombing of Syria and Yemen, the expanded Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, and the expansion of the war to the West Bank continue unabated, maintaining a regional health and human rights emergency.

Killed: 46,645+ (210 this week)

Injured: 110,012+ (738 this week)

Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza: 405 (12 this week)

Israeli soldiers injured in Gaza: 2,561

Hostages in Gaza: 98

(Numbers are cumulative through 1/14/25, per OCHAOPT. For more details: here

The Lancet estimates that between 10/7/23-6/30/24, 64,260 people died from traumatic injury in Gaza (2.9% of Gaza’s pre-conflict population). This mortality rate is 41% higher than the estimates of Gaza’s MoH (37,877 deaths). “Assuming that the level of under-reporting of 41% continued from July to October 2024, it is plausible that the true figure now exceeds 70,000.” (For more details, see the full report.

Israeli attacks

• 1/7, 9 & 11, Israeli strikes on schools sheltering IDPs killed 15 (3 children) and injured 30+ (19 children) in Jabalya.

• 1/13, Israeli strikes on a school sheltering IDPs killed 5 and injured others in Gaza City.

• 1/7, 5 killed (a mother and her 4 children) and others injured in an IDP tent in the Al Mawasi “safe” zone, Khan Younis.1/7, 8 killed and others injured in a house in Jabalya Al Balad.

• 1/7, 7 killed (3 children) in a house in Khan Younis.

• 1/8, telecom technicians fixing lines in Gaza City hit.

• 1/10, journalist shot and killed in An Nuseirat refugee camp, the 195th media worker killed since 10/ 2023). 2 additional journalists killed in Gaza City on 1/13 &14.

• 1/10, 1 child killed and others injured by unexploded ordinance detonating in Al Mawasi.

• 1/11, 3 killed (1 child) and 4 injured in an IDP tent hit in Al Heker, south of Deir al Balah.

• 1/12, an ambulance officer wounded in Jabalya died. MoH reports 1,060 health workers killed in Gaza since October 2023.

• Israel has killed another Palestinian journalist in Gaza, Ahlam Al Nafed, who recently reported from the besieged Indonesian Hospital for Drop Site News and other outlets. In a statement, Drop Site News said, “Through her words and images, she ensured that atrocities which might have been silenced were brought to light, allowing the world to witness the brutal reality unfolding there.” Ahlam Al Nafed was killed as she was walking to Al-Shifa Hospital.

• Israeli genocide against Gaza has resulted in the killing of 708 Palestinian athletes, including 95 innocent children, as conveyed by Mustafa Sayam, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Union for Sports Media.

Children

• UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell stated: “The new year has brought more death and suffering from attacks, deprivation, and increasing exposure to the cold.” In the first week of 2025, at least 74 children were killed in mass casualty events across Gaza, “including nighttime attacks in Gaza City, Khan Younis, and Al Mawasi.” Continued lack of basic shelter amid winter temperatures, with nearly one million children living in makeshift tents, coupled with lack of access to nutrition and healthcare and the dire sanitary situation, pose extreme risks for children, with newborns and children with medical conditions being particularly vulnerable.

• 1/14, Save the Children reported weapons left “an average of 475 children each month – or 15 children a day - with potentially lifelong disabilities,” including loss of limbs, sight and hearing. In the first 11 months of 2024, at least 5,230 children sustained conflict-related injuries requiring significant rehabilitation support inaccessible in Gaza due to the decimation of the health system and restrictions on entry of critical supplies, “leaving them with a high likelihood of disability.” Rising child malnutrition aggravates the situation, hampering the healing of wounds; thousands of children who lack prosthetics for their injured limbs face the risk of also developing deformities on their back or issues on the opposite limb, including early osteoarthritis in the hip or knee joint.

Health and hospitals

• 1/11: Palestinian Civil Defense stated that several firefighting and rescue vehicles in Gaza, Deir al Balah, and Khan Younis cannot function due to the lack of parts and repair equipment, and that their stockpile of supplies has been destroyed. More than half of Civil Defense vehicles across Gaza remain out of service due to the lack of fuel.

• Health Cluster reports that all functional hospitals have no fuel and rely on small quantities delivered by partners in an attempt to safeguard critical services. The fuel crisis affects 2,000 patients in Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah, 10% of whom are in ICUs; and 220 patients in the north, 1/3 of them in ICUs. The fuel crisis also impedes the operation of 75 hemodialysis machines, a lifeline for 700 patients suffering from kidney diseases, who now receive shorter and fewer treatments than required by international standards. Prior to the Israeli destruction of the health system, there were 198 dialysis machines in Gaza.

• 1/8, MSF warned that the Nasser Medical Complex, Al-Aqsa, and European Gaza hospitals in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis were “on the verge of closure due to a lack of fuel,” threatening hundreds of patients’ lives, including newborns in incubators, and patients with burns and trauma. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) reports that Nasser Medical Complex must prioritize power for operating theaters, pediatric and neonatal ICUs, while other hospital facilities have minimal lighting and rely on a small generator and solar during daylight hours. The last fuel delivery In the Gaza governorate was on 1/4. As of 1/13, Al Awda Hospital is struggling to provide care to 36 patients amid severe shortages of medicines, medical supplies, fuel and food, having been without fuel for 95 days.

• WASH Cluster warns that lack of fuel will cause the imminent collapse of all WASH services in Gaza (with the sole exception of the Southern Gaza Desalination Plant, reconnected to an Israeli electric line in November). WASH partners will be unable to truck and distribute water, and sewage and solid waste management will be impossible. Combined with Israeli limitations on access to water production facilities, WASH groups are forced into impossible choices, having to decide daily between providing water, pumping sewage, repairing water or sewage leaks, or transferring solid waste. Lack of water and sewage solid waste accumulation in or near displacement sites exacerbate the spread of vermin, disease and other public health risks.

• Several firefighting vehicles in Gaza City and Khan Yunis are no longer operational due to a lack of equipment and spare parts. At least half of the firefighting vehicles are out of service due to fuel shortage. Most of the necessary equipment was destroyed as a result of Israeli strikes.

• 1/15 Democracy Now speaks with journalists Steven Thrasher and Afeef Nessouli about their new report for The Intercept, which examines how queer, HIV-positive Palestinians are struggling to survive in Gaza with limited access to medication due to Israel’s siege and ongoing attacks on the territory. The report centers on E.S., a young Palestinian man who is HIV-positive and who has been in “a race against time,” says Nessouli. “The genocide is making it impossible to get medication to people like E.S.,” adds Thrasher.

• It has been 3 weeks since Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was abducted by Israeli forces from north Gaza. New information reveals details about the first hours of the doctor's detention at the Sde Teiman prison camp. here

Food and Nutrition

• The UNFPA reports 40,000+ pregnant women are experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity and 8,000+ are enduring catastrophic food insecurity conditions. Amid severe access impediments to maternal and neonatal care, rising malnutrition drives up rates of preterm births and neonatal complications. Emergency OB and newborn care is only available at 7 of 18 partially functional hospitals, 4 of 11 field hospitals, and 1 community health center.

Evacuation and displacement

• 1/12, Israeli military issued an evacuation order for An Nuseirat refugee camp in Deir al Balah, affecting 4,100 people, including 2 UNRWA shelters, 3 medical points, 2 water trucking points and 2 Temporary Learning Spaces.

• Between 11/4-12/16, a survey of 565 displacement sites in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, hosting 171,505 households (842,000 people), found: 80% were makeshift shelters, 19% collective centers; 82% had some type of site committee and 70% included women in leadership roles; there was insufficient food (87%) and drinking water (51%); 95% had no lighting; 36% had people in the open with no shelter; 60% reported no access to hygiene items. The 5 most critical needs highlighted by residents were food, shelter, household items, personal hygiene supplies and latrines.

• UNFPA reports that gender-based violence (GBV) is surging, as women and girls in overcrowded, poorly lit shelters face denial of access to resources and heightened vulnerability to emotional and physical violence, including sexual exploitation and abuse. Lack of privacy and safe spaces, hygiene facilities and menstrual supplies exacerbates risks and undermines safety and dignity, with hygiene-related infections on the rise. In December, 37,000 people received specialized GBV services.

Aid

• Between 1/1-13, of 204 aid movements coordinated with Israeli authorities, 41% (83) were facilitated, 34% (70) were denied, 15% (31) were impeded, and 10% (20) were cancelled. Of 10 attempts to reach the besieged North Gaza, 8 were denied and 2 were withdrawn. Coordinated missions to Rafah faced similar challenges: 15 of 22 were denied, 4 were facilitated, and 2 were impeded.

WEST BANK, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM

This week, Israeli forces killed 6 Palestinians (3 children).

Killed since October 2023: 1006 (216 children) and injured: 16,233 (2,487 children).

For more detail: here

Between 10/7/23-1/13/25, Israeli forces killed and withheld bodies of 152 West Bank Palestinians. Only 5 were returned to their families, 147 remain withheld.

Israeli Attacks

• 1/7, 2 killed (1 17-year-old boy) by an Israeli airstrike in Tammun, south of Tubas, that involved military jeeps and bulldozers, causing extensive damage to infrastructure. The child’s body was taken to a hospital, while the other body, run over by a bulldozer, was withheld. Another airstrike on Tammun the next day killed 3 cousins (2 children) in their back yard; Israeli forces then raided the house and withheld the bodies for 6 hours.

• 1/7, undercover Israeli forces shot and killed a man at his house in Talluza, east of Nablus.

• 1/14-15, 2 Israeli airstrikes on Jenin refugee camp killed 12 (1 child).

Prisoners

• 1/13, a 35-year-old from Dura (Hebron) died in an Israeli prison, the 18th West Bank prisoner to die in custody since 10/7/23. There are 10,221 Palestinians in custody, including 2,025 with sentences, 2,934 remand detainees, (pre-trial or preventive detention), 3,376 administrative detainees held without trial, and 1,886 people held as “unlawful combatants.” here

• The number of children held in administrative detention rose from six in early 2023 to 85 in September 2024. Data compiled by Defense for Children International-Palestine show that Israel’s use of administrative detention against minors reached a record level over recent months. here

Palestinian unrest

• Since the Palestinian Authority’s operation in Jenin began on 12/5/24, access has been restricted and 2,000 families have been displaced from Jenin Refugee Camp to Jenin City and surrounding villages. The remaining 3,400 residents struggle to meet basic needs in the face of shortages of food, water, and electricity as well as restrictions of movement. 4 UNRWA schools have been closed since 12/9, affecting 1,600 students. UNRWA estimates 42 homes have been severely damaged, as well as widespread damage to water and electrical networks.

• 1/9, 50-year-old Palestinian woman died from injuries sustained earlier that day after being hit by a stray bullet in Jenin City during an operation by PA forces in the nearby Jenin refugee camp. The source of the gunfire remains unknown.

• Sabbagh was standing on the stairs of her home on the outskirts of the Jenin refugee camp when she was shot and killed. The bullets weren’t fired by Israeli troops but, according to eyewitnesses and forensic evidence, by Palestinian Authority security forces. The Palestinian Authority has been conducting a large-scale military operation in Jenin since early December, dubbing it “Operation Homeland Protection.”

Settler Attacks

This week, settlers carried out 22 attacks against Palestinians, causing injuries and/or property damage. In 2024, OCHA documented 1,432 attacks by settlers against Palestinians. Since 10/7/23, settler attacks and access restrictions displaced 300 Bedouin households (1,762 people, 856 children).

• 1/9, settlers burned an agricultural structure in Khirbet Abu Falah (Area B, Ramallah).

• 1/10, settlers from a new outpost near Bardala, northern Jordan Valley, vandalized 100 Palestinian-owned olive trees and harassed farmers examining the damage. Settlers called Israeli forces to the scene, who detained 4 Palestinians, forced the rest from the area claiming it was a military zone.

• 1/11, armed settlers raided Turmus'ayya (Ramallah), damaging 2 homes and several agricultural structures. Stone-throwing between the Palestinians and settlers injured 4 Palestinians (1 child), who were taken to a hospital.

• 1/11, armed settlers raided Barriyet Kisan (Bethlehem), attacking homes with stones and a Molotov cocktail, burning and damaging the house and supplies.

• 1/15, Israeli settlers carried out multiple attacks across the Nablus governorate, damaging homes and properties in Huwwara, Qusra, Madama, and Burin, and injuring 4 Palestinians

• 1/7, sewage overflow from Keidar settlement forced the relocation of livestock of a Bedouin family in Al Muntar (Eastern Jerusalem). The settlement’s recurrent sewage overflow has caused unsanitary conditions and triggered an outbreak of bluetongue disease, killing dozens of the community’s sheep in the past 5 months.

Demolitions

This week, Israeli authorities demolished 43 Palestinian-owned structures for lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 55 (28 children).

• 1/13, the Israeli Civil Administration demolished 4 agricultural structures in Area C (Al Funduq, east of Qalqiliya), affecting 2 families (18 people, 8 children). They destroyed a 1,000 sq.m. greenhouse, the livelihood of a Palestinian woman and her daughters after her husband’s death. The greenhouse had 2,500 tomato plants ready to be harvested, and its 30 tons of tomatoes would have generated US$24,000. The structure was demolished because it stood in the way of a road expansion for the Kedumim settlement.

• 1/8&9, Israeli forces punitively demolished the Tulkarm refugee camp home of a prisoner accused in the 11/23 shooting of an Israeli soldier. The home, located in a multi-story building, was demolished with explosives which also made 2 other housing units in the same building uninhabitable, resulting in the displacement of 3 families (15 people, 7 children). The bulldozing also damaged an adjacent home and infrastructure, causing electricity outages and disruptions of water delivery. The operation closed 4 UNRWA schools for the day, while other Tulkarm schools shifted to remote learning, affecting 1,400 students. Punitive demolitions are a form of collective punishment and are illegal under international law.

Movement restrictions

• After a deadly 1/6 attack on 3 settlers near Al Funduq (Qalqiliya), Israel imposed extensive movement restrictions on thousands of Palestinians in the northern West Bank, particularly in Nablus, Qalqiliya and Salfit governorates, disrupting access to services and workplaces. House raids, search operations, physical assaults and detentions have also increased. For example, the 2 entrances to Marda village (Salfit) were closed by Israeli forces for 4 days, severely restricting movement for the village’s 2,400 residents; 1 is still closed. Israeli forces also blocked entrances to Immatin (pop. 3,700) in Qalqilya, and Odala (pop. 1,700) in Nablus.

• A surge in Israeli settler attacks and access restrictions against Palestinians occurred after 7 new settlement outposts were established in Area B: 2 in Ramallah and 5 in Bethlehem. The Oslo Accords place Area B under Palestinian civilian and Israeli security control, but the 5 Bethlehem outposts are in the "Agreed-Upon Reserve" area where Palestinian construction was prohibited, and where jurisdiction was unilaterally transferred to the Israeli Civil Administration by a 7/18/24 military order. After the 2 new settlement outposts were established in Ramallah, there have been 30 incidents of settlers attacking or harassing Palestinians and damaging their property: multiple cases of arson that damaged 3 farmhouses and destroyed 100 olive trees, thefts of furniture and agricultural equipment, and destruction of water tanks and solar systems. Palestinians also face heightened restrictions in accessing their agricultural lands.

• After the 5 settlement outposts were established in Bethlehem, settlers have paved roads, built observation posts, and significantly increased their presence in the area. There have been 9 attacks on the nearby communities of Barriyet Tuqu’ and Barriyet Kisan, entailing: vandalism of 80 olive trees, crops and water pipelines; theft of livestock, solar panels and agricultural equipment; and the displacement of a family of 8 (6 children) following repeated settler attacks and access restrictions.

ISRAEL

• 1/12, activists from the Radical Bloc in Tel Aviv disrupted the operations of the Israeli Medical Association in protest of the ongoing silence of Israel's medical establishment regarding the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system and the evidence of severe torture and medical neglect of Palestinian detainees held in Israel. During the protest, activists displayed images depicting the widespread destruction carried out by Israel in Gaza, including photos of children killed in airstrikes, destroyed hospitals, and other evidence of the humanitarian crisis. The protesters called for the resignation of the IMA leadership and its Ethics Committee, a clear condemnation of war crimes in Gaza and the neglect of Palestinian detainees’ rights, and urged the international medical community to take steps to isolate the IMA globally until these actions are taken. here

• 28 year old Yotam Vilk says the image of Israeli soldiers killing an unarmed Palestinian teenager in the Gaza Strip is seared in his mind. An officer in the Israeli armored corps, Vilk said the instructions were to shoot any unauthorized person who entered an Israeli-controlled buffer zone in Gaza. He saw at least 12 people killed, he said, but it is the shooting of the teen that he can’t shake. “He died as part of a bigger story. As part of the policy of staying there and not seeing Palestinians as people.”

• Israeli government has announced regulations that could bar NGOs and their workers from the country. Three senior officials in the field worry the move will stop humanitarian aid to the West Bank and Gaza. “The West should know what's going on.” here

• Israel admits soldiers used ambulance in raid on refugee camp. Families seek justice after a raid on Balata camp in the West Bank resulted in the death of an 80-year-old woman and another civilian.

LEBANON

• Lebanon’s new president has demanded that Israel must withdraw from his country’s south by the 1/26 deadline agreed in last year’s Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire as he met the UN chief, Antonio Guterres. French President Macron called on Israel to accelerate its troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

SYRIA

• Since Al-Assad’s fall, Israel expanded its occupation of Syrian land in the south of the country, expelling hundreds of Syrians from their homes. It also launched a devastating campaign of aerial bombardment, wiping out the Syrian air force and military capabilities. Some of the bombardment was so massive that it registered as minor earthquakes. Dozens of people have been killed as a result of these strikes.

YEMEN

• Houthi rebels have backed the Gaza ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas, with the Yemeni group’s spokesperson saying they will halt their military operations against Israel as well as commercial ships in the Red Sea if the truce comes into force.

US

• Columbia University and one of its longtime law professors, Katherine Franke, have severed ties after an investigation stemming from her advocacy on behalf of pro-Palestinian students. The Center for Constitutional Rights, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization, called the end of Ms. Franke’s Columbia career “an egregious attack on both academic freedom and Palestinian rights advocacy.”

• Despite repression, the campus movement for Palestine remains strong. Attacks on Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard at the University of California Irvine reflect the repression facing the Palestine campus movement across the country. But like other liberation movements before, activists remain strong and need our support.

• Andrew Miller, the former State Department point person on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said the U.S. did not impose any red lines, leaving Netanyahu with the message that "he was the one in the driver's seat."

• To Fady Joudah—a Houston-based ER physician and translator, child of exiled Palestinians, and highly accomplished poet— the indignities of the extractive, for-profit hospital system that he sees his patients caught up in serve as a microcosm of the state of being a refugee, of living in exile with neither rights nor a voice—at least not one that is heard. As Joudah said in 2008, his poems allow him to bring attention to the harrowing experiences of dislocation that he observes both in hospitals and among his Palestinian family and friends.

• With echoes of peace groups during the US wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the growing movement of military veterans has been using social media and demonstrations to protest against their government’s arming of Israel.

• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) called for the intervention of Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Israeli kidnapping of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a top Palestinian physician serving victims of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. here

• Psychologists Call for Justice and Accountability: Confronting the Atrocities Against Palestinian Lives here

INTERNATIONAL

• The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor Karim Khan has told judges to reject Israel's appeal against the arrest warrants issued to Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

• The names of over 1,000 Israeli soldiers have been sent to the International Criminal Court by the Brussels-based human rights organization Hind Rajab Foundation, Israeli media reported. The Foundation is actively pursuing Israeli soldiers who have left “digital footprints” while engaging in military operations in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. “All through the war in Gaza, Israeli soldiers have been leaving behind not only their physical footprints but also digital fingerprints, with many of them posting videos and photos of themselves online – and sometimes recording improper conduct and potential war crimes.” here

• The Hind Rajab Foundation announced that it has approached authorities in Italy with a demand to arrest Israeli IDF officer Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, whom the organization claims is currently in the country, for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

• World Health Organization: hoped that a Gaza cease-fire would see aid deliveries accelerate sharply to 500-600 trucks daily, from 40-50 in recent months, and allow the first steps toward restoring health services after 15 months of war. Hundreds of aid trucks are already lined up in Arish, close to the Rafah crossing, mostly carrying food, tents and other supplies. W.H.O. estimates that more than $10 billion will be needed in the next five to seven years to rehabilitate Gaza’s health system. Now, W.H.O. is focusing on delivering critical needs ranging from medicines and trauma care supplies to fuel and spare parts for generators. It also sees repairing crippled electricity supplies, water and waste management systems as priorities for restoring public health, he said.

• Over the coming six weeks to two months W.H.O. also plans to bring in prefabricated hospitals and emergency medical teams to support treatment no longer available in hospitals that were heavily damaged in the fighting.

SOURCES

OCHAOPT, New York Times, Haaretz. People’s Dispatch, Palestine Chronicle, Mondoweiss, Drop Site News, AP, The Nation, The Guardian, Zeteo, Electronic Intifada, Defense of Children International, , The New Arab, Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence, Division 48 of the American Psychological Association