In Occupied Palestine

Zionism in practice

Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land

08:00, 17 June until 08:00, 18 June 2024

[Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group]

Gaza Strip

Air strikes: Heavy aerial bombardment on buildings, homes and many facilities.

Attacks: All over Gaza, there are air strikes, heavy gunfire, tank and artillery shelling, as well as missiles fired from Israeli forces and military occupation, especially in Khan Yunis. The Israeli Navy continues to fire missiles, targeting facilities and buildings along the shoreline of the whole of Gaza.

Victims: 25 more people killed in Gaza now brings the total number of deaths, since 7 October, to at least 37,372. With another 80 wounded,that figure has risen to more than 85,452.

OCHA Flash Update #180

The above OCHA update has been delayed. So far we have been unable to ascertain the reason why. We shall keep trying and will share whatever we find out.

Palestine today

Don’t say you didn’t know

From Ali Kazak

World Bank warns that Palestinian economy on the verge of collapse in the wake of Gaza war

The Palestinian economy is currently losing about $20 million every day due to the complete cessation of production in the Gaza Strip and disruption in the West Bank. The World Bank has warned of the pending fiscal collapse of Palestine’s economy as a result of Israel’s war in Gaza, the withholding of Palestinian Authority (PA) taxes by the Israeli government, and the rapidly widening gap between the amount of revenue coming in and the amount needed to finance essential public expenditure. “As of the end of 2023, this financing gap reached US$682 million. This gap is projected to double within the coming months, reaching up to US$1.2 billion,” the World Bank reported. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an extremist, right-wing member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, has withheld tax funds as a punitive measure following the PA’s involvement in the International Criminal Court (ICC) possibly issuing arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders.

Israel’s Gaza attacks continue despite ‘tactical pauses’ claim, Unrwa chief says

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) on Monday said Israeli attacks are ongoing and no changes have been reflected on the ground in Gaza, after Israel announced “tactical pauses” along a road in Rafah. On Sunday, the Israeli military declared a daily humanitarian pause, from 8pm to 7pm local time in the area from the Karem Abu Salem crossing, also known as Kerem Shalom, in southern Israel, to the Salah al-Din Road and then northwards. The Gaza government office said talk of “tactical pauses” was “an Israeli lie”. On Monday morning, Israeli forces set ablaze the departure hall of Rafah crossing, between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, according to local officials and media reports. Damage to the crossing, the only non-Israeli exit point for Palestinians with the outside world, may make it inoperable in the near future, leaving Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinian population trapped inside.

Israeli army burns down Rafah crossing’s departure hall

The Israeli army on Monday reportedly burned the departure hall and several facilities on the Palestinian side of the Rafah land crossing in the southern Gaza Strip. A photo circulated by Israeli soldiers’ accounts on social media showed the departure hall completely burned. “This is a new crime committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinians by besieging them and preventing the sick and wounded from their last hope of travelling and receiving treatment abroad,” the government’s media office in Gaza said in a press statement.

Netanyahu dissolves inner war cabinet, Israeli official says, following Gantz departure

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war cabinet, an Israeli official said on Monday, in a widely expected move that came after the departure from government of the centrist former general Benny Gantz. The war cabinet’s dissolution has been reportedly “anticipated”, as Ben-Gvir has been lobbying to be added to the forum, while Netanyahu and Gallant will reportedly hold ad hoc consultations with other relevant officials to made “key decisions” on the war, The Times of Israel reported. “Sensitive decisions” will be addressed in a smaller consultation forum, Haaretz said. Gantz and Eisenkot both left the government last week, over what they said was Netanyahu’s failure to form a strategy for the Gaza war, ongoing for over eight months.

Israeli occupation forces raid Jenin destroying cars, roads and markets

Israeli occupation forces raided the Jenin refugee camp and used bulldozers and diggers to raze the roads, destroying cars and markets in the area. Locals reported that Israel killed 3 Palestinians during the raid. At least 545 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers since Israel launched its bombing campaign in Gaza in October 2023, according to Palestinian officials.

Israeli settlers in brutal attack on Palestinian shepherds in occupied West Bank

Israeli settlers have carried out another bloody assault on Palestinian locals, with the police standing idly by. Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian shepherds with rocks, sticks, and stun guns over the weekend, in the late assault on local Palestinians in the Jordan Valley region of the occupied West Bank. The gang of youths from the nearby settlement of Shadmot Mehola also smashed up a car belonging to an Israeli activist assisting the injured Palestinian with windows smashed and the chassis damaged. Shadmot Mehola is a self described “religious community” settlement of around 150 families, close to the Jordan border, with grocery stores, hotels, and other amenities and access to main highways, while the local Palestinian population live under stifling military population.

Israel forces kill another journalist in Gaza, bringing death toll to 151 since 7 October

Another journalist was killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Monday, bringing the total number of media persons’ deaths to 151 since 7 October of last year, local authorities said. In a statement, the Gaza Government Media Office identified the victim as Mahmoud Qasem, who worked for a local news website. His death brings the total number of journalists killed in Gaza by Israeli forces to 151 since 7 October,  the statement noted. On 24 May, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said it had filed its third complaint with the International Criminal Court regarding Israeli war crimes against journalists.

‘No joy’: Gazans mark sombre Eid in shadow of Israeli onslaught

In tents in the stifling heat and in bombed-out mosques, Gazans marked Sunday the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, devoid of the usual cheer as the Israel-Hamas war raged on. “There is no joy. We have been robbed of it,” said Malakiya Salman, a 57-year-old displaced woman, now living in a tent in Khan Yunis city in the southern Gaza Strip. “I hope the world will put pressure to end the war on us, because we are truly dying, and our children are broken,” said Salman. Many gathered for the Eid al-Adha morning prayer in the courtyard of Gaza City’s historic Omari Mosque, which was heavily damaged in Israeli bombardment, placing down their frayed prayer mats next to mounds of rubble.

Is the US lying about Hamas blocking Israel peace deal in Gaza?

The US has set out to blame Hamas for the failure of its ceasefire proposal, The New Arab looks into whether Washington’s claims are true? On 31 May US President Joe Biden announced what he described a “comprehensive Israeli proposal” for bringing an end to its war on Gaza. Biden outlined a three-phase proposal that would see a captive exchange deal that would allow for the end of military operations in Gaza and the withdrawal of its forces from the enclave. On the other side, Hamas unequivocally welcomed Biden’s announcement, only drawing back from full acceptance when it became clear that Israel did not accept a permanent ceasefire. The group also compiled a report of ways in which the ceasefire proposal presented by Biden vastly differed from what was actually being offered to the group. Specifically, Israel did not accept a permanent ceasefire or the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza.

Israel holding 9,300 Palestinians in prisons, detention centres

Israel is holding 9,300 Palestinians in prisons and detention centres, including around 250 children and 75 women, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a statement. The PPS said that the number includes thousands of Palestinians detained from the Gaza Strip, where Israel has carried out a brutal military assault since October. More than 3,400 of the total number of prisoners are held under ‘administrative detention’ – a procedure that allows Israeli authorities to hold alleged suspected for six months at a time, which can be extended indefinitely.

Former MP invokes Hitler in call to expel Gaza’s ‘Islamo-Nazi’ population

Israeli politician and former Likud lawmaker Moshe Feiglin invoked Adolf Hitler when urging in a TV interview the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, whom he described as “Islamo-Nazis”. In a panel discussion on Channel 12, Feiglin called for resettlement in Gaza and argued Israel should transform the Palestinian territory into a “Hebrew Gaza”. “As Hitler said, ‘I cannot live if one Jew is left’. We can’t live here if one ‘Islamo-Nazi’ remains in Gaza.” Feiglin said. Feiglin told crowds of supporters “For us, the war in Gaza is not merely a defensive war. It’s a war of liberation, the liberation of the land from its occupiers”. Feiglin has also previously called for the “complete destruction of Gaza, before invading it … Destruction like Dresden and Hiroshima, without a nuclear weapon” in an interview with Al Jazeera in October 2023.

Israel says its arms exports hit record sales amid war on Gaza

Israel says it exported $13bn in weapons in 2023, while US continues to supply Israel’s weapons stockpiles. More than a third of the sales comprised missiles, rockets and air-defence systems, with one of the biggest contracts of 2023 being with Germany, which signed a deal to purchase the Arrow 3 long-range air defence system for around $4bn. Roughly half, 48 percent, of all sales went to the Asia and Pacific region, while Europe accounted for 35 percent of sales, and North America accounted for nine percent. The figures were released by the defence ministry as a growing number of countries have begun to boycott or suspend the purchase of weaponry from Israel, citing the country’s ongoing destruction of Gaza and killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians there. Colombia announced it would be pausing its purchases of Israeli arms, after its president, Gustavo Petro, called Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide.

Norway increases funding for UNRWA as refugee agency in ‘difficult’ financial situation

Norway said Monday that it was increasing its funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) by 100 million kroner ($9.3 million). The additional 100 million kroner comes on top of 275 million kroner Norway announced for the agency in February, according to the country’s foreign ministry, which noted that nearly 200 of the agency’s staff had been killed since the start of the war in Gaza. Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 37,347 people in Gaza, while thousands more are feared trapped under rubble as Israel flattens the enclave’s infrastructure. Last week, G7 leaders said that UNRWA must be allowed to work unhindered in the war-torn territory.

New Zealand to provide another $5m to World Food Programme, UNICEF for Gaza

New Zealand will provide an additional $5 million to the World Food Program and UNICEF for humanitarian support in Gaza, the country’s foreign minister said early Monday. “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic,” Winston Peters wrote on X. “New Zealand will provide a further $5m to the World Food Programme & UNICEF for emergency food, sanitation and health assistance. This brings NZ’s total humanitarian support for those impacted by the Israel-Hamas conflict to $22m,” he added.

The death of American exceptionalism

Amid Israel’s genocidal onslaught, the international rules-based order has been torn to shreds. There’s no going back. For more than eight months, Israel’s US-backed assault on Gaza has killed tens of thousands of civilians. It has levelled Gaza’s buildings and infrastructure to such a degree that it is noticeable from space. In the Biden administration’s fictionalised world, every documented horror perpetrated against the civilians of Gaza – babies, aid workers, doctors, journalists, ambulance drivers, zip-tied patients with IVs still in their arms excavated from mass graves – all of it, they tell us, Israel is investigating and can be trusted to do so. It doesn’t matter that Israel has never legitimately carried out any such investigation. They haven’t even (at least publicly) investigated what happened on 7 October. 

British far-right and pro-Israel activists are fighting the Palestinian movement together

UK Palestine solidarity activists and students staging encampments have faced racial abuse and intimidation by groups waving Israeli flags and Union Jacks. On 23 May, hundreds of far-right British nationalists and Israel supporters gathered outside the entrance of a small arthouse cinema in North London. Brandishing Union Jacks, Israeli and Israeli military flags, they swarmed round a group of some 80 pro-Palestine activists who were staging a vigil on the far side of the road. “They were shouting really close to our faces, trying to grab signs and banners off us, hurling racist abuse, and spitting. People were throwing eggs too,” the organiser said, adding that a racist slur for south Asians was used.  “They were trying to provoke a reaction,” the organiser told MEE. In a video circulated online, a counter-protester is heard screaming at the activists to “go home to your country”.

Boycott Battleground: Can Consumer Activism Shape a Marketplace?

The ongoing Gaza conflict has prompted waves of boycotts of Western brands, such as Starbucks and McDonald’s, by consumer activists and ordinary citizens in an attempt to force these companies to rethink their business interests with Israel. Consumer activism is increasingly perceived as a potent force for social, economic, and political change. Motivations for participation in boycotts vary and have been extensively studied by marketing and consumer behaviour researchers. Their findings underscore the significance of perceived efficacy and impact as key motivations for boycott participation. Social factors such as message credibility, expected overall participation, and perceived effectiveness also play a key role in motivating consumers to boycott specific brands and products. Additionally, boycotts are viewed as a form of expression, where emotions such as outrage play a key role in increasing participation. An array of successful boycotts throughout history demonstrate the significant impact of consumer motivations and behaviours on corporate decisions. The emergence of social media, demands for responsible consumption and investment, and other initiatives also highlight the evolution of the practice and principles of boycotting.

West Bank

[Palestinian Monitoring Group]

Home invasions – stun grenades: Ramallah – evening, Israeli Occupation forces, firing stun grenades, raided the village of Ajul andinvaded a number of homes.

Home invasion: Tulkarem – Occupation forces raided the village of Ramin and searched a house.

Home invasions: Nablus – dawn, Israeli Occupation forces raided Nablus and searched an apartment building and a shop.

Home invasions: Nablus – dawn, the Israeli Army raided Huwara and searched a number of houses.

Home invasions: Salfit – evening, Israeli troops raided Deir Istiya and searched several homes.

Israeli Army abduction of youngster: Hebron – evening, the Israeli Army set up a checkpoint at the northern entrance to Hebron, and abducted a 16-year-old youth, Hadi Wael Skafi.

Israeli Army population control: Hebron – Occupation forces blocked the entrances to the al-Aroub and al-Fawar refugee camps.

Occupation settler violence and injuries: Ramallah – evening, stone-throwing Israeli Occupation settlers invaded the outskirts of Deir Dibwan, injuring seven residents who were taken by ambulance to be treated at the local medical centre. The settlers also attacked and damaged the ambulance.

Occupation settler stoning: Nablus – evening, Israelis from the Yitzhar Occupation settlement stoned passing vehicles at the nearby roundabout, north of Huwara.

Occupation settler vandalism: Jericho – Israeli Occupation settlers brought herds of sheep among residents in the al-Maliha Bedouin community, raiding and vandalising the local prayer hall.

Occupation settler land-grab: Hebron – Israeli settlers invaded and seized an area in Bani Naim, erecting accommodation shelters in preparation for establishment a new settlement outpost.

Occupation settler agricultural sabotage: Hebron – Israeli Occupation settlers grazed their sheep on crops and olive groves in the areas of Fateh Sidra and Shaab al-Butam.

Raid – 3 taken prisoner: Ramallah – dawn, Israeli Occupation forces raided Safa village, taking prisoner three people.

Raid: Ramallah – dawn, Israeli forces raided Sinjil, taking prisoner one person.

Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Ramallah – dawn, the Israeli Army raided the village of Deir Bazi, taking prisoner one person.

Raid: Jenin – Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Jalboun and conducted a patrol.

Raid: Tubas – the Israeli military raided and patrolled the village of Kardala.

Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Nablus – dawn, Israeli soldiers raided Qusra, taking prisoner two people.

Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Jericho – dawn, Israeli forces raided Jericho, taking prisoner two people.

Raid – abduction: Bethlehem – dawn, the Israeli Army raided Husan village and abducted a 17-year-old youth, Montaser Mahmoud Shusha, as well as taking prisoner his older brother.

Raid – population control: Hebron – Israeli troops raided Hebron and invaded a number of shops.