SPECIAL REPORTS PALESTINE

FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA - FREE PALESTINE
July wk3 --  July wk2 P3 -- July wk2 P2 -- July wk2 -- July wk1 P3 -- July wk1 P2 -- July wk1 -- June wk4 P3 --   Click here for an overview by week in 2024
 

July 13 - 11, 2024 "'critical lifeline'... ...Gaza 'is absolutely atrocious'... ...'safe zone' kills more than 70... ...Dozens of bodies recovered from rubble... ...Beatings, deprivation, torture, rape... ...Gazans mourn their loved ones killed... ...Death and rubble fill streets... ...and more news called 'genocide'

Special report: July 12, 2024: Scorched Hospitals - Schools -  Housing - Bodies -- fake or fact? July 11 - 8, 2024 <<Israel orders evacuation of Gaza City: 'People don't know where to head anymore', says Ahmed Bayram... and <<At least 29 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike on school in Khan Younis... and <<'Famine has spread from northern Gaza into central and southern Gaza'... and <<Palestinians mourn relatives killed in strikes on Gaza... and <<Israeli air strike on Gaza school kills at least 16... and <<CPJ:108 journalists and media workers killed since October 2023 and more news but most with a 'give way or go away' yell!

July 9 - 6, 2024 <<Israeli arrests daunt Palestinian journalists in West Bank... and <<'The war in Gaza is also an environmental catastrophe'... and <<Thousands of Palestinians flee fighting in Gaza City, mediators push for truce deal... and <<Israeli forces bombard Gaza City as tanks re-enter central areas... and <<Gaza death toll rises to 38,193... and <<Alain Dieckhoff, sociologist: 'Netanyahu offers no political prospects for Gaza'... and <<Protesters rally in Israel to call for Gaza ceasefire and Netanyahu's resignation... and <<Hamas drops key demand to accept phased US deal on ceasefire, hostages... and more news but most with a 'give way or go away' yell!    Click here to go throughout July and earler, 2024

June 14, 2024 Palestinian-Jordanian journalist Hiba Abu Taha sentenced to one year in prison

Related news: July 11, 2024: Media organizations demand access to Gaza July 2 2024: Arrests of Palestinian journalists since start of Israel-Gaza war   Click here for earlier stories/news

May 23, 2024 In commemoration of Roshdi Sarraj and tribute to Shrouq Al Aila

 
When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.

Al Jazeera - July 13, 2024
<<Despite UN appeal, US and UK don't fund 'critical lifeline' to Palestinians
Israel has tried for years to dismantle the UNRWA, which helps Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere. The United Nations chief has led an internationally backed effort to support its agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) but has yet to persuade its biggest Western donors. The United States and the United Kingdom, key allies of Israel, have continued to financially block the main organisation delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere. Fourteen of the 16 donor nations resumed funding after suspending it in January, when Israel accused members of the organisation of having taken part in the October 7 Hamas-led attacks that killed more than 1,100 people in southern Israel. The US was the UNRWA's biggest donor, but Congress has banned any payments to the agency until March 25, 2025. An independent review in April found that Israel has not presented credible evidence for its claims. There is a separate investigation into the October attack itself, by the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a pledge conference in New York on Friday that the UNRWA faces <a profound funding gap> and that without financial support to the organisation <Palestinian refugees will lose a critical lifeline and the last ray of hope for a better future>. <Let me be clear - there is no alternative to UNRWA,> he said, also warning that Israeli evacuation orders are forcing Palestinians <to move like human pinballs across a landscape of destruction and death>. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini thanked the 118 countries that signed on to a shared commitment to support and bolster financial and political support for the agency as it <undergoes unprecedented attacks and systematic attempts to dismantle it>. Lazzarini said he was hopeful the UK - which elected a new Labour government last week - would soon resume its financial support. He said the organisation has currently secured funding from donor countries until September, but the total amount in pledges won't be known until next week. According to Lazzarini, there are now 600,000 Palestinian <girls and boys of the age of primary and secondary school living in the rubble, deeply traumatised>, who need the UNRWA's help to restart their education. The initiative to support the organisation at the UN was spearheaded by Slovenia, Jordan and Kuwait and was signed by all 15 members of the UN Security Council.
'Kill the refugee file'
Hassan Barari, professor of international affairs at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera that Israel has been trying for years to defund the UNRWA because they believe that the organisation has been effective in helping Palestinian refugees. <They think that if they defund UNRWA then the Palestinians would be in their own societies and forgotten in the years to come,> he said. <This is the continuation of the Israeli attempt to defund UNRWA in order to kill the refugee file from any future negotiations.> Lex Takkenberg, former chief of UNRWA's ethics office, told Al Jazeera that the agency is the only international body with an elaborate neutrality framework that includes staff training, financial checks and inspections of its installations. <It can never be ruled out that there are abuses, as in any other organisation, but it is doing an amazing job in providing support to Palestinians in the direst circumstances,> he said, adding that the agency was going above and beyond to operate according to humanitarian principles. Takkenberg said Israel did not present credible evidence to support its claims that UNRWA staff took part in the October 7 attacks. These claims instead served to normalise raids against the UNRWA and its facilities, which have become <an integral part of the onslaught in Gaza>, he said.>>
Source:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/13/despite-un-appeal-us-and-uk-dont-fund-critical-lifeline-to-palestinians

France 25 - July 13, 2024
<<After 10 months of war, the humanitarian situation in Gaza 'is absolutely atrocious'
As the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza enters its 10th month, NGOs are once again sounding the alarm. The Palestinians, who have been displaced several times in the enclave on the Israeli army's orders, are crammed into overcrowded areas where humanitarian aid can no longer get through. As the war between Israel and Hamas enters its tenth month, vast military operations are being carried out in Gaza, making the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave inexorably worse. The conflict has displaced over 80% of the territory's 2.3 million people. In Gaza City where 300,000 to 350,000 people are crowded together, according to the UN, Israel has intensified military operations in various neighbourhoods and issued multiple evacuation orders. A leaflet seen by an AFP correspondent reads: <To all those present in Gaza City, the safe passages will allow you to pass quickly and without inspection from Gaza City to shelters in Deir Al-Balah and Al-Zawiya [in central Gaza].> <Gaza City will turn into a dangerous battlefield,> continues the leaflet. But where can Gazans evacuate to? <Since October, there hasn’t been a place in Gaza that is completely safe. As a reminder, even in the southern part of the enclave, which was supposed to be secure by the end of 2023, the mortality rate was already at 30%. So the situation remains dramatic,> says Jean-François Corty, a humanitarian doctor and president of the NGO Doctors of the World. <This civilian population is living in an open-air prison, because Gaza is 40 kilometres long and eight kilometres wide, and is completely closed off.> Gaza City, which was home to a quarter of the Palestinian enclave's inhabitants before October 7, was almost completely destroyed during the first weeks of fighting in 2023. In recent months, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to their ruined homes in the wake of various Israeli evacuation orders. <Now people have to cram into tiny areas, tiny alleys and tiny camps that are so overcrowded that people are now sleeping under the stars. They don't know where to go, they're heading into the unknown,> says Ahmed Bayram, media adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). <The situation when people arrive is appalling. In the areas where we are supplying water, for example, there is an extreme fuel shortage. We are only supplying half the amount of clean water that we did last week. The situation is not improving. On the contrary, the situation is getting much worse for everyone in the region.> Many residents refuse to comply with the evacuation orders. Testimonies are pouring in on social media. <We will die but we won't go south. We have endured starvation and bombs for nine months and we are ready to die as martyrs here,> wrote Mohammad Ali, 30, in a text message to Reuters.
'Malnutrition is on the rise'
The few humanitarian organisations still present on the ground describe situations never seen before in armed conflicts, including a lack of food, water and medicine. <We're under constant pressure for medical supplies because not much is getting into Gaza. Humanitarian aid is disproportionately low. And another worrying factor is that malnutrition is on the rise,> says Corty, whose NGO has around 50 people still working there. <This malnutrition correlates with the UN’s July 9 report: the Israeli army's sea, air and land blockade, plus the bombings, are causing an intentional famine that has all the hallmarks of a genocide. So the situation is absolutely atrocious.> In the hospitals that are still operational, the injured are being treated on the ground, using whatever resources are available. <There are still five or six hospitals that are saturated with patients, have run out of everything and are therefore providing substandard medicine,> says Corty. Chronic illnesses, even when detected, cannot be treated. <Health services collapsed a long time ago. People are once again having to make do with what they have, with the little equipment and very few medicines they have,> says Bayram. Delivering humanitarian aid has become almost impossible. <Food is dwindling in quality and quantity. There are only 10 foodstuffs,> says Bayram. <Up until last week, you could only find aubergines, onions and tomatoes on the market. Other foodstuffs are also running out. But food is the absolute priority at the moment.>
A trickle of humanitarian aid
Already under Israeli blockade since 2007, very few goods enter Gaza. Since early May and the closure of the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt, Kerem Shalom has become the main gateway for supplies to the Gaza Strip. Some 250 trucks pass through daily, according to Cogat, the Israeli Ministry of Defence body overseeing civilian affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This is far less than the 500 trucks a day before the war.
<The international community’s silence is astounding,> says Corty. <The United States's humanitarian communication is ineffectual. It tells us that a jetty with a humanitarian corridor is supposed to bring in boats from Cyprus. But it is not working. There are passages to the south, notably at Rafah, where thousands of trucks are pre-positioned. It is closed on the Egyptian side. There is a small crossing that has opened up to the west, notably to the northern part of the Gaza Strip, which is relatively functional. But in June, for example, 80 trucks came in out of the 500 to 1,000 needed every day to support Gaza’s 2 million inhabitants. And of the few trucks coming in every day, half are empty.> US President Joe Biden voiced dissatisfaction on Thursday over failures in providing aid to Gaza through the makeshift humanitarian corridor, which US authorities say will be permanently decommissioned. Since its installation in mid-May, the $230-million military pier has been beset by rough seas and onshore distribution problems, leading to repeated operational obstacles. According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Israel is not issuing permits quickly enough to allow convoys to reach certain areas inside the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, only a few shipments enter and most come from the private sector, which is not affected by the crisis. According to the NRC, a box of eggs costs €30, baby formula costs €17 and shampoo goes for €24. Lacking money, the poorest of the poor trade what they can for clothes or jewellery. <Today, transfers from the private sector are more effective than humanitarian organisations,> Shimi Zuaretz, a spokesman for Cogat, told AFP. The Palestinians are deprived of <essential means of life>, according to the NRC. <There is a real militarisation of food, which should never be the case in a conflict zone, because these people have nothing to do with any of this,> says Bayram. <These people are facing famine.> <Thirty-four Palestinians have died from malnutrition since 7 October, the majority being children,> announced 10 independent UN experts on July 9 (though not speaking on the UN’s behalf), accusing Israel of conducting a <targeted famine campaign>. <This famine is intentional and has all the hallmarks of genocide,> says Corty. <These are the words being used by the United Nations, and they are in line with what the International Court of Justice said in April when it spoke of an 'increased risk of genocide in Gaza'. And yet the international community today remains silent.> Israel entirely rejects these accusations, placing the blame on Hamas, which they accuse of <intentionally stealing and concealing aid from civilians>. <Since the beginning of the war, more than 565,000 tonnes of food have entered Gaza,> said the Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva after the publication of the independent experts' communique.
'We need a ceasefire now'
The security situation has become untenable for humanitarian aid workers on the ground. <The two biggest risks are obviously on the Israeli side,> says Bayram. <The aid routes are not secure, and law and order inside the country have totally collapsed. We have seen criminal elements on the road, of course there is a state of desperation. Trucks have been attacked. But Israel must provide these guarantees to humanitarian workers so that they can travel safely along these aid routes, as in all other conflicts. Nothing will be safe while hostilities rage.> US-backed talks resumed on Wednesday in Egypt and Qatar. This time, Hamas has conceded that it will not make an end to Israeli military operations a precondition for a ceasefire and the release of hostages. <We need a ceasefire now,> concludes Bayram. <For the sake of the population, for the sake of the hostages. None of this helps either side. We hope that the next round of negotiations will be successful.>
This article has been translated from the original in French.>>
Source:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240713-after-10-months-of-war-the-dire-humanitarian-situation-in-gaza-gets-inexorably-worse


Airstrikes on safe zones
France 25 - July 13, 2024
<<Israeli strike on Gaza 'safe zone' kills more than 70, officials say
An Israeli air strike that hit the densely populated Al-Mawasi area, previously designated as a humanitarian safe zone, near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Saturday killed at least 71 people, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave. The Israeli army said the strike targeted Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas's military wing, according to Israeli media reports. Al-Mawasi, a coastal area near Khan Younis, was designated a safe zone by the Israeli military after it ordered civilians to evacuate other parts of the Gaza Strip. The strike on the camp for displaced Gazans caused massive damage as fleets of ambulances rushed casualties to the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, the Kuwaiti field hospital in Rafah and other nearby clinics. Gaza's civil defence agency said ongoing shelling had prevented its teams from reaching victims in the tent city where tens of thousands have sought refuge. <There are still many bodies of martyrs scattered in the streets, under the rubble and around the tents of the displaced that cannot be reached due to the heavy shelling of the occupation (Israeli army) that targeted places and tents in the in Al-Mawasi,> civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP. The health ministry in the besieged Hamas-run Palestinian enclave said at least 71 people were killed and 289 others were wounded in the attack. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed the attack targeted Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas's military wing, according to Israeli media. Deif is believed to be one of the main planners of the October 7 attack that triggered the latest Israel-Hamas war. He has topped Israel's most-wanted list for years and is believed to have escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts in the past. Hamas however rejected the Israeli claim. <This is not the first time that the occupation has claimed to target Palestinian leaders, and their lies were later proven to be false,> the group said in a post on X.
Blackened tents, burnt-out cars, desperate emergency workers
Footage of the aftermath showed blackened tents and burnt-out cars as emergency workers and Palestinians displaced by the nine-month war searched for survivors. The Al-Muwasi coastal strip has been home to hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians, sheltering mostly in makeshift tents. The UN Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA, has estimated that up to 1.5 million people may now be living in the Al-Mawasi district. Suhaib Al-Hams, head of the Kuwait field hospital, called the attack <a real massacre>. He said there were many <severe injuries including amputations and lacerations of internal organs>. <A real disaster is happening now amid the collapse of the healthcare system,> he added. The attack came as health officials at Nasser Medical Complex, previously the biggest functioning hospital in Gaza, said on Saturday that the hospital was no longer able to function. Doctors said they were overwhelmed and could not provide medical healthcare to the large number of casualties because of the intensity of Israel's military offensive and acute shortages in medical supplies.
Mediators continue to push for ceasefire
The latest deadly strike comes as US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators continue to push to narrow gaps between Israel and Hamas over a proposed deal for a three-phase ceasefire and hostage release plan in Gaza. The potential killing or injury of any senior Hamas official threatens to derail the ongoing talks. The US-backed proposal calls for an initial ceasefire with a limited hostage release and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from populated areas in Gaza. At the same time, the two sides will negotiate the terms of the second phase. Phase two is supposed to bring a full hostage release in return for a permanent cease-fire and complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after the October 7 attack, in which militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted around 250 people from southern Israel. Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed at least 38,443 people in Gaza and wounded more than 88,481, according to the territory's health ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. More than 80% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, and most are now crowded into squalid tent camps, facing widespread hunger.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)>>
Source:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240713-israeli-strike-on-gaza-safe-zone-kills-more-than-70-officials-say

Le Monde - July 12, 2024
<<Gaza: Dozens of bodies recovered from rubble after Israeli onslaught
The Israeli army carried out days of bombardments in the districts of Tal al-Hawa and Sanaa in Gaza City, as war enters its tenth month. Civil defense workers on Friday, July 12, dug bodies out of collapsed buildings and pulled them off rubble-covered streets, as they collected dozens of Palestinians killed this week by an Israeli assault in a district of Gaza City. The discovery of the bodies came after Israeli troops reportedly pulled out of parts of the Tal al-Hawa and Sanaa neighborhoods following days of bombardment and fighting there. The Israeli military launched an incursion into the districts earlier this week to fight what it said were Hamas militants who had regrouped. The grisly scenes of the dead underscored the horrifying cycle nine months into the Gaza war. After invading nearly every urban area across the tiny territory since October, Israeli forces are now repeatedly re-invading parts as Hamas shifts and maintains capabilities. Palestinians are forced to flee over and over to escape the changing offensives - or to remain in place and face death. Cease-fire negotiations push ahead, nearing but never reaching a deal. Videos circulating on social media showed civil defense workers wrapping bodies, including several women, in blankets on the rubble-strewn streets of Tal al-Hawa and Sinaah. A hand poked out of the smashed concrete where workers dug into a collapsed building. Other video showed burned-out buildings. About 60 bodies have been found so far, including entire families who appeared to have been killed by artillery fire and airstrikes as they tried to flee, said Mahmoud Bassal, the director of civil defense in Gaza. Some bodies had been partially devoured by dogs, others burned inside homes and others remained unreachable in rubble, he said.
Horrific scenes
The director of nearby Al-Ahli Hospital, Fadel Naem, said at least 40 bodies found in the districts had been brought to the facility, though he didn't have a precise number. The Israeli military said it could not comment on the discovery of the bodies. Israel's assault on the district began after it issued an evacuation order for the area on Monday. In a statement Friday, the military said its troops targeted the abandoned headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, where it said Hamas had set up operations. UNRWA left the compound in October, early in the war. The military said Friday that troops had battled Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters in the compound and discovered material for building drones and stashes of weapons. It issued photos of some of the discovered material, though the claims could not be independently confirmed. On Friday, troops had withdrawn from most of the area, but snipers and drones continued to open fire, said Salem Elrayyes, a resident who fled months ago to the south but spoke to family members still in the neighborhood. He said that during the days of the offensive, troops set fire to many homes - including that of one of his uncles - and carried out wide-scale arrests, taking people for interrogation inside the UNRWA compound. At least 11 of his relatives were detained, he said. Two were released after being severely beaten, while the rest are still missing. His family was searching for other relatives still unaccounted for - <some may be detained, and some may have lost communication. Others may be killed,> Elrayyes said.
A day earlier, civil defense workers said they found dozens of bodies in Shijaiyah, another Gaza City district from which Israeli troops withdrew in recent days after a two-week offensive.
Assault after assault, evacuation after evacuation
Most of the population of Gaza City and the surrounding areas in the north fled earlier in the war. But the UN estimates that some 300,000 people remain in the north. With each new assault, people often flee to other parts of the north, since so far Israel has not allowed those who flee south to return to the north. An airstrike early Friday hit an aid warehouse in Muwasi, part of an Israeli-declared <humanitarian safe zone> covering parts of south and central Gaza, a UK-based aid group Al-Khair Foundation said. Imam Qasim Rashid Ahmad, the group’s director in London, said one of its staffers, an engineer, was killed in the strike along with three staffers from other humanitarian groups using the warehouse. The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike. Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people - mostly civilians - and abducted about 250. Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,300 people in Gaza and wounded more than 88,000, according to the territory's Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. More than 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, and most are now crowded into squalid tent camps, facing widespread hunger. Meanwhile in Cairo, US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators continued to push to narrow gaps between Israel and Hamas over a proposed deal for a three-phase cease-fire and hostage release plan in Gaza. The US-backed proposal calls for an initial cease-fire with a limited hostage release and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from populated areas in Gaza. At the same time, the two sides will negotiate the terms of the second phase. Phase two is supposed to bring a full hostage release in return for a permanent cease-fire and complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Israel refuses full withdrawal
But obstacles remain. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel won’t agree to any deal that would prevent it from resuming its military campaign until Hamas is eliminated. On Thursday, he indicated that Israel intends to keep a hold of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which would contradict a full withdrawal from Gaza. Hamas dropped its demand that Israel commit ahead of time to reach a permanent cease-fire. But a Hamas political official told The Associated Press that the group still wants written guarantees from the mediators that negotiations will continue until a permanent cease-fire is reached. Otherwise, <Netanyahu can stop the negotiations and thus resume the aggression> at any time, said Ahmed Abdul-Hadi, the head of Hamas' political office in Lebanon. Abdul-Hadi also said that Hamas does not expect to resume its role as the sole ruling party in Gaza after the war but wants to see a Palestinian government of technocrats. <We do not want to rule Gaza alone again in the next phase,> he said. Israeli officials have suggested they will demand Hamas' removal in the talks for the second phase. Netanyahu is under growing pressure both domestically and internationally. Relatives of hostages are marching to Jerusalem to demand a deal and the release of their loved ones as Israeli politicians, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, call for a broad government investigation into the conduct of Israel's leaders.
A risk of regional escalation remains. Israel’s military said Friday that one of its soldiers was killed in northern Israel, where the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel continue to trade border fire.
Le Monde with AP>>
Source:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/07/13/gaza-dozens-of-bodies-recovered-from-rubble-after-israeli-onslaught_6682686_4.html

France 25 - July 13, 2024
<<UN chief Guterres calls for funding for Gaza aid agency
The United Nations chief appealed for funding Friday for the beleaguered UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East, accusing Israel of issuing evacuation orders that force Palestinians <to move like human pinballs across a landscape of destruction and death.> UNRWA's 30,000 staff provide education, primary health care and other development activities to about 6 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.>>
Source incl. video:
https://www.france24.com/en/video/20240713-un-chief-guterres-calls-for-funding-for-gaza

Le Monde - July 12, 2024 - By Clothilde Mraffko (Jerusalem, correspondent)
<<Beatings, deprivation, torture, rape: Palestinians speak of the 'hell' of Israeli prisons
YOUR STORIES - Since October 7, 18 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli detention centers, and dozens more in army-run camps. Physicians for Human Rights Israel has denounced 'continuous and systematic abuse by prison staff.' Amer Abu Hlel was released from prison on April 15, but in his mind, he's still rotting away in there. His youthful features contrast with his hunched-over figure, which moves painfully at the entrance of his family home, leaning on an elegantly carved wooden cane. In front of him, a vast terrace overlooks part of the city of Dura, a dense cluster of white dwellings that cover the yellow hills of southern Hebron and the occupied West Bank, wilting under the scorching air of the mid-June afternoon.
Amer has a broken vertebra: A blow in prison aggravated an old spinal fracture. His medical report mentions dilated veins in his testicles. <That's where it hurts the most. The day I was released, they hit me in the street, in front of people,> grimaced the 30-year-old, his eyes reddened by insomnia. <The physical pains will eventually pass, but those of the soul are indelible.> >>
Read more here:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/07/12/beatings-deprivation-torture-rape-palestinians-speak-of-the-hell-of-israeli-prisons_6682380_4.html

France 25 - July 12, 2024 - Video by: Solange MOUGIN
<<Gazans mourn their loved ones killed in Israeli strikes
Israeli strikes killed another 32 people in the Gaza Strip, the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory said Friday (July 12), more than nine months into Hamas's war with Israel. Fighting raged from the north to the south of the coastal territory as talks have continued towards reaching a truce and hostage-release deal.>>
Source incl. video:
https://www.france24.com/en/video/20240712-gazans-mourn-their-loved-ones-killed-in-israeli-strikes

France 25 - July 12, 2024 - Video by: Monte FRANCIS
<<Dozens of bodies found in rubble of Gaza City district, officials say
Around 60 bodies were found under the rubble of a Gaza City neighbourhood, officials in the Hamas-run territory said Thursday (July 11), after Israel's military declared an end to its operation there. Gaza's civil defence agency said around 60 bodies had been found under the rubble in Shujaiya, after some of Gaza City's heaviest combat in months.>>
Source incl. video:
https://www.france24.com/en/video/20240712-dozens-of-bodies-found-in-rubble-of-gaza-city-district-officials-say


<<466 people killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October
At least 466 people have been killed, 1,904 others injured in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
News Center- Israeli attacks on South Lebanon have killed hundreds and injured thousands since October 8, 2023. At least 466 people have been killed, 1,904 others injured in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October 8, 2023, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement on Thursday
Hashem Haidar, the head of the government's regional development agency the Council for South Lebanon, announced Thursday the extent of the damage in villages and towns across southern Lebanon. <The extent of the damage has so far reached 3,000 completely and partially demolished housing units; 12,000 housing units were severely damaged; 20,000 partially damaged units; and the total cost of the damage so far has been estimated at more one billion US dollars.> >>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/466-people-killed-in-israeli-attacks-on-lebanon-since-october-35370?page=1

BBC - July 11, 2024 - By Fergal Keane in Jerusalem
<<Death and rubble fill streets of Tal Al-Sultan as rescuers dodge Israeli fire
Rescue workers in Gaza say they often struggle to identify bodies
The things they see. The dead girl lowered by a rope from a ruined building. She sways slightly, then comes to rest, legs folding beneath her on the rubble. They see people and parts of people lying out in the open where the blast or the bullet caught them. Violent death in all of its contortions.
Bodies lying in the streets, in the blasted open sitting rooms of houses, under the rubble. Sometimes covered by so much concrete the men will never reach them, and only in the future when the war is over will somebody come and give them a decent burial. The men of the Gaza Civil Defence cannot close their eyes to any of this. There is no shutting out the smell. Every sense is on alert. Death can come from the skies in an instant.
When the fighting in places like Shejaiya in eastern Gaza City, or Tal Al-Sultan, near Rafah, in the south, is as fierce as it has been in the last few days, the ambulances of the Civil Defence dare not venture out. <Entering areas close to the Israeli occupation is dangerous, but we try to intervene to save lives and souls,> says Muhammed Al Mughayer, a local Civil Defence official. He and his men seize any lull in the conflict to recover the dead and the wounded. Families constantly ask about missing relatives. Muhammed Al Mughayer, a Gaza Civil Defence official, says it can take days to reach casualties. <It is very difficult to identify the bodies,> explains Mr Mughayer. <Some remain unidentified due to complete decomposition.>
Stray animals also prey on the corpses, tearing off clothes and scattering papers that might be used to identify them. The ambulance crews are short of fuel. Two days ago one broke down in Tal Al-Sultan and had to be towed out, a nerve-wracking experience for the crews. The risk of being fired on by the Israeli forces, says Mr Mughayer, means seriously injured people often cannot be rescued. <There is currently a report of an injured person near Al-Salihin Mosque from two days ago, but we can't reach them due to delays in coordination. It may result in their death.> Refugees are continuing to flee from Gaza city and areas like Shejaiya. Many have been displaced multiple times. For them it is a world without laws or rules. World leaders express concern. But nobody is coming to rescue them. Nothing is more acute for these people than the sense that they can die at any moment.
'A slow death': Gazans live alongside rotting rubbish and rodents
Sharif Abu Shanab stands outside the ruins of his family home in Shejaiya with an expression that is part bewilderment, part grief. <My house had four floors, and I can't enter it,> he says. <I can't take anything out of it, not even a can of tuna. We have nothing, no food or drink. They bulldozed all the houses, and it is not our fault. Why do they hold us accountable for the fault of others? What did we do? We are citizens. Look at the destruction around you....Where do we go, and to whom? We are thrown in the streets now, we have no home or anything, where do we go? There is only one solution and that is to hit us with a nuclear bomb and relieve us of this life.> There are occasional glimpses of reprieve. The Al-Fayoumi family, arriving close to Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, were relieved to have escaped from Gaza City. This after a warning this week to evacuate from the Israel Defense Forces sent thousands of people onto the road south. In the boiling heat of the asphalt road, without shade, family members were reunited with others who had gone ahead of them. The new arrivals were given water and soft drinks. A boy sucked from a carton of juice, then squeezed it with all his strength to coax out a last few drops. Nobody in the group took their survival for granted. So to see everyone alive, all in the one place, brought smiles and cries of happiness. An aunt reached into a car to hug her young niece. At first the child smiled. Then she turned her head and sobbed. Where will they be tomorrow, next week, next month? They have no way of knowing. It depends on where the fighting moves next, on the next Israeli evacuation order, on the mediators and whether Hamas and Israel can agree a ceasefire. These lines could have been written at any time in the last few months. Civilians dying. Taking to the roads. Hunger. Hospitals struggling. Talks about a ceasefire. Since February, we have been following the story of Nawara al-Najjar whose husband Abed-Alrahman was among more than 70 people killed when Israeli forces launched an operation to rescue two hostages in Rafah. They had fled Khan Younis 9km (6 miles) to the north, and took refuge closer to Rafah when bullets and shrapnel tore through the tented camp where they slept. Nawara was six months pregnant when she was widowed, and taking care of six children, aged from four to 13. When a BBC colleague found her again today, Nawara was nursing her newborn baby, Rahma, just one month old.
She gave birth on a night of heavy airstrikes, rushed to the hospital by her in-laws. <I kept saying: 'Where are you Abed-Alrahman? This is your daughter coming into the world without a father.'> Baby Rahma has red hair like her dead father. The Israeli advance into Rafah last month sent Nawara and her children fleeing again, back to their old home in Khan Younis. She struggled to settle there again. <My husband's things were there, his laugh, his voice. I couldn't open the house. I tried to be strong. Then I took my children and opened the door, and we wandered around the house, but it was hard. I cried for my husband...He was the one who cleaned the house, cooked for us, made sure I was comfortable.> There has been fighting around Khan Younis again in the last week. An Israeli air strike close to a school killed 29 people, local hospital sources say, and wounded dozens more. But Nawara is adamant she will not move again. Here she is close to the memory of the man she loves. She imagines her husband as a still living presence. She sends texts to his phone: <I complain to him, and I cry to him...I try to reassure myself, telling myself that I need to be patient. I imagine he's the one telling me.>
With additional reporting by Haneen Abdeen, Alice Doyard and Nik Millard.>>
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjjw6dz8w2eo

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