In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land
08:00, 26 August until 08:00, 27 August 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: 41 more people killed in Gaza now bring the total number of deaths, since 7 October, to at least 40,476. With another 113 wounded, that figure has risen to over 93,647. The daily average number of men, women and children killed in Gaza is at least 124 and, of those injured, more than 289.
Western world complicit in Gaza Hellfire attacks
By Alison Broinowski | 26 August 2024
Western world complicit in Gaza Hellfire attacks (independentaustralia.net)
Gaza schools and hospitals continue to be bombarded by Israeli weaponry, much of which has been supplied by Western governments. Dr Alison Broinowski reports. BY HALFWAY through August, the Israeli military had bombed at least five schools. Accused of using six-bladed American-made “Ninja” missiles, they have chopped to pieces the Palestinians inside, most of them women and children.
On 19 November 2023, Head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Martin Griffiths wrote: “Shelters are a place for safety. Schools are a place for learning . . . civilians cannot and should not have to bear this any longer. Humanity needs to prevail”.
This was the day after Israel’s military bombed the Al-Fakhoora School in northern Gaza, where displaced people were sheltering. On the same day, they bombed another nearby school with a combined total of more than 150 dead.
Humanity still has not prevailed in Gaza, where the surviving Palestinians are bearing even worse consequences. It’s alleged that the massacres are now being delivered by Ninja Hellfire AGM-114R9X missiles. These are nicknamed “assassination” missiles for having killed Al Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in 2022. Soon after the Hamas breakout on 7 October, Israel cut off supplies to Palestinians and pushed them into northern Gaza. It then forced displaced people to flee south to Rafah, where shelter and supplies were as limited as in the north. The fact that Hamas is the elected governing authority in Gaza didn’t stop Israel’s cynical, genocidal pursuit.
First were bombs on hospitals, which the Netanyahu Government claimed harboured Hamas, leaving them ruined or barely functioning. Next, Israel’s military made schools their target, with the same excuse. On 6 and 7 June, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) attacked a UN-run school at Nuseirat refugee camp, killing 33 people, and another school in Deir al-Balah in northern Gaza killing more. Some of the victims (including an 8-year-old boy) were claimed to be Hamas militants.
At the same time, Israel expressed outrage in the UN at being listed as a nation violating its obligation under the Fourth Geneva Convention to protect children in armed conflict. School bombings then multiplied. On 9 July, an attack on Abbasan, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, hit the entrance of al-Awdah school, killing at least 30 people who were sheltering there and wounding 53. Palestinian medics said most of the victims, as always, were women and children. The Israeli military said its sole target was a ‘terrorist from Hamas’ military wing’ near the school. In the first ten days of August, Israeli attacks on five schools in Gaza City killed more than 179 Palestinians. On 1 August, Israel’s military attacked the Dalal al-Mughrabi school, and on 10 August, at least 100 displaced people were killed at the Al-Tabin school in Daraj, part of Gaza City. In this deliberately-timed attack as the Palestinians were preparing for dawn prayers, or were already in the mosque area, many bodies were shredded into unrecognisable pieces.
Three Israeli rockets reportedly hit the school, setting fire to the building that housed hundreds of displaced people. Described as the deadliest massacre in the ten-month-old war, this attack confirmed a deliberate pattern of Israel killing and maiming defenceless civilians sheltering in schools. It was the latest of 174 UN-identified bombings of shelters, and Al Jazeera reports 500 school attacks over the last ten months. Fragments of at least two shells used at al-Tabin school on 10 August were identified as being of the American GBU-39 SDB type, manufactured and exported to Israel by Boeing.
Columbia’s Professor Anthony Zenkus alleges that AGM-114 Hellfire missiles were also used, made of 45 kilogrammes of dense material with six blades flying at high speed, supposedly to crush and cut a targeted person. If they were, in fact, used in crowded spaces in Gaza, Israel cannot claim they “targeted” any Hamas individual. Zenkus claims that by 2 July, 3,200 Ninja Hellfires had been sent to Israel by the Biden–Harris
As every day brings news of another school massacre, the choice facing Australians is between psychic numbing and motivated, active outrage. How can we make our government protest on our behalf against Israel’s atrocities? Ministers know that all the US has to do is cut off the funds and stop the export of weapons of terror like the Ninja Hellfire to Israel. How many more schoolchildren will be shredded before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong come out and say it?
When will they adhere to Australia’s obligations to the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court? When will they stop exporting the multiple Australian-made components for the F-35 bombers made by American companies that Israel uses for its attacks on schools and hospitals? We are already complicit in Israel’s genocide. How much worse can it get?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr Alison Broinowski is a former Australian diplomat, Vice-President of Australians for War Powers Reform and Vice-President of Honest History.
West Bank
Israeli airstrike – 5 killed (including 2 youngsters): Tulkarem – 22:00, an Israeli military drone launched a number of missiles, targeting a house in the Nour Shams refugee camp, killing two youngsters, Adnan Ayser Jaber (aged 15) and 16–year–old Muhammad Ali Mustafa Youssef, as well as killing three other people: Muhannad Kamal Qaraawi, Jibril Ghassan Jibril and Muhammad Ali Mustafa Youssef.
Israeli airstrike – 1 killed – 3 wounded – Israeli Army complicity: Bethlehem – 22:45, armed Israeli Occupation settlers, supported by Israeli troops firing stun grenades, opened fire on homes near the Boys’ School in the village of Wadi Rahal, killing one resident, Khalil Salem Khalawi, and wounding three others: Muhammad Jamil Jabr Ziada, Muhammad Mustafa Othman Ziada and Othman Mahmoud Othman Fawaghra.
Home invasion – 3 taken prisoner: Jerusalem – 04:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided al-Ram, taking prisoner a resident, Iyad Al-Mutawar, as well as his two sons: Ahmed and Musa.
Home invasions: Jerusalem – dawn, Israeli forces raided the Qalandiya refugee camp and searched several homes.
Home invasion: Ramallah – morning, the Israeli Army raided Ni’lin and searched a house.
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: Ramallah – 09:20, Israeli Occupation forces closed to traffic the entrance to Nabi Saleh village.
Israeli Army population–control: Ramallah – 13:30, Israeli forces closed to traffic the Shuqba village road junction.
Israeli Army population–control: Jenin – 11:40, the Israeli Army took prisoner one man, Muhammad Ahmad Fashafsha, when he reported, as ordered, for interrogation at Israeli Military Intelligence.
Israeli Army population–control – pastoral sabotage: Tubas – Israeli troops, at gunpoint, forced off shepherds from pastoral land in the North Jordan Valley.
Israeli Army population–control: Qalqiliya – 12:50–15:00, the Israeli military closed a road under the bridge in the town of Azzun.
Israeli Army population–control: Salfit – 08:35, Israeli soldiers closed to traffic the northern entrance to the city.
Israeli Army population–control: Salfit – 08:50, Israeli soldiers closed to traffic the entrance to the town of Kifl Haris.
Occupation settler intrusion: Ramallah – morning, Israeli settlers, escorted by Occupation forces, raided the village of Deir Qadis and invaded a number of abandoned homes.
Occupation settler stoning: Jenin – 11:45, Israeli Occupation stoned passing vehicles, south of Ya’bad, causing damage.
Occupation settler stoning and robbery: Jericho – evening, Israeli Occupation settlers, stoning members of a family in al-Auja and set police dogs onto them, also robbing them of a tent and food supplies.
Occupation settler stoning: Bethlehem – 21:00, Israeli settlers stoned passing vehicles, near the western entrance to the town of Tuqu.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Jerusalem – 16:00-17:55, Israeli Occupation forces, firing stun grenades, raided al-Eizariya, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Jerusalem – 16:00-17:45, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the town of Hizma.
Raids – stun grenades fired: Ramallah – 19:20–21:30, the Israeli Army, firing stun grenades, raided and patrolled Turmusaya, as well as the village of Ein Yabrud.
Raid: Tulkarem – 01:30, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the city.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Nablus – dawn, the Israeli military raided the town of Qabalan, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Nablus – 18:10, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the archaeological area in Sebastia.
Raid: Salfit – 15:20-16:40, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of Rafat.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Salfit – 03:15, Israeli forces raided the city, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Jericho – 14:15-16:15, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled al-Auja.
Raid – stun grenades fired: Bethlehem – 23:20, Israeli troops, firing stun grenades, raided and patrolled al-Khadr.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Bethlehem – dawn, the Israeli military raided the village of al-Manshiya, taking prisoner two people.
Raid – 2 wounded and armed robbery: Hebron – 15:55–17:40, Israeli soldiers, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, wounded two people while raiding the town of Idhna. The troops also invaded and plundered a currency exchange shop, making off with cash.
Raid – 3 taken prisoner: Hebron – 00:50, Israeli Occupation forces raided Yatta, taking prisoner three people.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – 06:00, Israeli forces raided the al-Aroub refugee camp, taking prisoner one person.