In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land
08:00, 29 July until 08:00, 30 July 2024
[Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group]
Gaza Strip
Attacks: There are no safe places for the militarily-dominated population in Gaza, who find themselves subjected to airstrikes and other missile attacks on buildings, homes and many essentialfacilities, as well as constant gunfire and invasions by Israeli forces. The Israeli Navy continues to fire missiles, targeting facilities and buildings along the entire Gaza shoreline.
Victims: 37 more people killed in Gaza now brings the total number of deaths, since 7 October, to at least 39,400. With another 73 wounded, that figure has risen to more than 90,996. The daily average of men, women and children killed in Gaza is at least 133 and, of those injured, the daily average is over 307.
Does Israel Really Believe
It Can Win a War Against Hezbollah?
Amal Saad, a leading expert on the Lebanese resistance movement, says all-out war could lead to Israel’s downfall.
Jeremy Scahill | 30 July
https://www.jeremyscahill.com/
On Monday, flights at Beirut’s airport were cancelled as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to carry out a “harsh” military attack on Lebanon, following Saturday’s deadly strike on a Syrian Druze community in the Israeli-occupied Golan town of Majdal Shams.
The horrifying incident killed 12 children on a soccer field. Israel and the US immediately accused Hezbollah of hitting the town with a Falaq-1 rocket launched from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has denied it was behind the attack and both it and the Lebanese government have called on the United Nations to undertake an independent investigation.
The way that blame for this incident unfolded publicly lends itself to competing theories of responsibility. Earlier Saturday, Hezbollah had announced it had launched a series of attacks on nearby Israeli military installations in retaliation for the killing of four Hezbollah fighters in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon. When news of the deaths at the soccer field began to emerge, Hezbollah swiftly issued a statement saying that it had “no connection to the [Majdal Shams] incident at all, and categorically denies all false allegations.” Hezbollah charged that an Israeli Iron Dome interceptor missile had missed its target and hit the town. Israel has claimed it identified the Hezbollah commander of the strike.
“Despite [Hezbollah’s] denials, it’s their rocket, it was launched from an area that they control,” said White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Monday.
Since Saturday, Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials have weaponised the deaths in the Golan Heights to pre-emptively justify a larger scale attack on Lebanon. “We are all Druze,” proclaimed a post on the state of Israel’s official Twitter/X account on Saturday. “These children are our children,” Netanyahu said when he visited Majdal Shams on Monday — though
the vast majority of the estimated 20-25,000 Druze residents of occupied Golan Heights have rejected Israeli citizenship and have regularly protested against Israel’s wars and policies. None of the 12 victims held Israeli citizenship. “Israel will not and cannot let this simply pass on by,”
Netanyahu declared. “Our response will come, and it will be harsh.” A crowd of residents gathered to confront Netanyahu, chanting at times in Hebrew for him to go away. Others chanted “Killer! Killer!” and accused Netanyahu of coming to “dance on our children’s blood.” Some locals told journalists they did not want to be used by any side as fuel for a war between Israel and Hezbollah and questioned why either would attack their town.
Families of the Majdal Shams victims refused to meet Netanyahu, according to Ha’aretz. The visit was under a media censorship restriction until Netanyahu departed the town. Ronen Bar, the director of the Shin Bet intelligence agency, accompanied Netanyahu on the trip and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the site a day earlier.
Israel first occupied large swaths of the Golan region in southwestern Syria in 1967 and formally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981. Under international law it remains Syrian territory. In 2019, President Donald Trump reversed decades of US policy and officially recognised the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. No other nations have followed suit. Despite written requests from community leaders in Majdal Shams that no Israeli officials attend the funerals, far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and a handful of other Israeli officials showed up at a funeral Sunday for 10 of the victims. Mourners shouted them down and demanded they leave. Some denounced Smotrich as a “murderer.”
The rise of the Axis of Resistance introduces an array of other forces that could join Hezbollah’s side in a war with Israel. The Biden-Harris administration, while publicly affirming that Israel would be justified in attacking Lebanon in response to the Majdal Shams incident, has claimed it does not want a wider regional conflict or a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon. In a call with reporters, Kirby said talk of a broader war was “exaggerated,” adding, “I’m confident that we’ll be able to avoid such an outcome.” Hezbollah and Israel have both conducted military strikes on each other since the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks, but to date there has been no escalation that has sparked the type of ground and air battles that ensued in 2006 when Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war.
Since Saturday, Israel has launched a series of attacks in southern Lebanon, though they have been similar in scope to its previous strikes over the past ten months. On Sunday, Gallant said, “Hezbollah will pay a heavy price for this.”
While the Netanyahu regime has consistently threatened war against Lebanon over the past 10 months and specifically against Hezbollah, many leading regional analysts believe such action would result in catastrophe for Israel, militarily and politically. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, far less sophisticated and armed groups, have managed to wage a nearly 10-month insurgency against Israeli ground forces in Gaza while enduring sustained bombardment from U.S.-provided weapons.
Iran has also shown a willingness to attack Israel. The rise of the Axis of Resistance, which, in addition to Iran, includes Ansar Allah (the Houthis) in Yemen, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as the Syrian government and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, introduces an array of other forces that could join Hezbollah’s side in a war with Israel.
West Bank
Israeli Army attack – 2 wounded in refugee camp: Nablus – 15:10–17:55, Israeli Occupation forces, firing live ammunition, stormed the Askar refugee camp, wounding two residents: Osama Bashkar and Izz al-Din Shadi Ziyad Madani.
Israeli Army attack – 1 wounded and 4 taken prisoner in refugee camp: Nablus – 05:55–07:40, Israeli Occupation forces, raiding and opening fire in the Ein Beit al-Maa refugee camp, woundedone resident, Diya Hani Abdel Rahman Dweikat, and took prisoner four others.
Home invasions – stun grenades: Jenin – evening, Israeli Occupation forces, firing stun grenades, stormed the village of Fahma and invaded a number of homes.
Home invasions: Nablus – 18:30-20:30, Israeli forces stormed the village of Burqa and invaded several homes.
Home invasion and demolition: Jericho – 11:20, the Israeli Army demolished a house, in the village of Ein al-Dyouk al-Tahta.
Israeli police and settlers’ mosque violation: Jerusalem – 08:00, settler militants, escorted by Israeli police, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and molested worshippers.
Israeli Army population–control – 1 taken prisoner: Jenin – evening, Israeli military forces took prisoner one man, Raafat Hefzi Muhammad Fraihat, when he reported, as ordered, for interrogation at Israeli Military Intelligence.
Occupation settler pastoral sabotage – population–control: Tubas – 11:55, Israeli settlers assaulted a number of shepherds, in the Ein al-Hilweh area of the North Jordan Valley, and prevented them from taking their cattle to drink at the Ein al-Hilweh spring.
Occupation settler stoning: Nablus – 20:40, Israelis, from the Yitzhar Occupation settlement, stoned passing vehicles at the nearby roundabout, north of Huwara.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Jerusalem – 03:00–05:10, Israeli Occupation forces raided the village of Beit Ijza, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Jerusalem – 04:10–05:50, Israeli forces raided the village of Beit Duqqu, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – 3 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 00:45–04:30, the Israeli Army raided Qibya village, taking prisoner three people.
Raid – 3 youngsters abducted: Ramallah – 03:45–07:40, Israeli troops raided Silwad and abducted three 17-year-old youths: Ahmed Nael Abdullah Hamed, Adi Awad Jumah Hammad and Haitham Abdel Nasser Mahmoud Faraj.
Raid: Tulkarem – 12:10-17:20, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Kafr al-Labad.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Tulkarem – 03:55, Israeli soldiers raided the Shweika suburb, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – surveillance – population–control: Qalqiliya – 16:10, Israeli Occupation forces raided the city, invading shops and seizing surveillance–camera recording devices.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Qalqiliya – 04:40, Israeli forces again raided Qalqiliya, taking prisoner two people.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Nablus – 09:00, the Israeli Army raided the village of Burqa, taking prisoner two people.
Raid: Nablus – 10:30-13:30, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Salem.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Nablus – 18:30-20:30, the Israeli military raided Burqa village, taking prisoner two people.
Raid: Nablus – 19:35-20:55, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Jureish.
Raid: Nablus – 21:40–23:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Yatma village.
Raid: Nablus – 21:55–01:00, Israeli forces raided the village of Madama.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Jericho – 07:50, the Israeli Army raided the city, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Bethlehem – 11:10, Israeli troops raided Doha, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – agricultural and economic sabotage: Bethlehem – 16:25–17:40, the Israeli military raided the town of Nahalin and issued orders for the destruction of two agricultural facilities as well as a tourist resort.
Raid – stun grenades – 1 taken prisoner: Bethlehem – evening, Israeli soldiers, launching stun grenades, raided al-Khadr and took prisoner one resident.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Bethlehem – 02:35, Israeli Occupation forces raided Tuqu, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Bethlehem – 05:20–06:20, Israeli forces raided Beit Fajjar, taking prisoner one person.
YAWN!!!!
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