In Occupied Palestine – 06 September 2024
In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land
08:00, 06 September until 08:00, 07 September 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: 61 more people killed in Gaza now bring the total number of deaths, since 7 October, to at least 40,939. With another 162 wounded, that figure has now risen to over 94,616. The daily average number of men, women and children killed in Gaza is at least 122 and, of those injured, more than 282.
Palestine today
Don’t say you didn’t know
Ali Kazak akazak@bigpond.net.au
Gaza death toll now surpasses 40,900 as Israel kills 61 more Palestinians
The Israeli army has killed 61 more Palestinians in attacks on the Gaza Strip, raising the overall death toll to 40,939 since October 7, 2023, according to the Health Ministry in the enclave on Saturday, Anadolu Agency reports. The ministry also reported that approximately 94,616 people have been injured in the ongoing assault. “Israeli forces killed 61 people and injured 162 others in four ‘massacres’ against families in the last 48 hours,” the statement said. “Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire. An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins. Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.
Israeli forces horrifically mutilate Palestinian boy after killing him in West Bank
Israeli forces horrifically mutilated the body of a teenage Palestinian boy after killing him in the West Bank town of Tubas, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) said in a statement on Friday. A graphic video shared widely on social media showed an Israeli bulldozer cutting up and moving the body of 17-year-old Majed Fida Abu Zina, a resident of the Al-Fara’a refugee camp in Tubas. Israeli forces entered the camp at 12:45 am of Thursday morning, and residents gathered to throw stones at them. Israeli soldiers opened fire on the residents and stopped the boy, ordering him to take off his shirt, according to the PCHR. After he complied, they also told him to take off his trousers but he couldn’t. They opened fire on him and hit his neck and chest. He collapsed and the soldiers left him to bleed to death for an hour and a half, stopping medics from aiding him or even removing his body. At 2:30 am, an Israeli bulldozer moved and cut up his body, exposing his internal organs and then throwing him on the Al-Far’a hill on the road between Nablus and Tubas. His mutilated body was later retrieved by Palestinians at around 6:45 am and taken to the Turkish hospital in Tubas. On the same day, five people who the Israeli military claimed were a group of fighters were killed in a drone strike in Tubas.
UK doctor: ‘80% of Gaza victims I treated were children’
This UK doctor has just returned from Gaza and says she was shocked by the number of children she operated on.
US citizen shot dead by Israeli troops during West Bank protest
Israeli forces shot and killed a female international activist during an anti-occupation protest in the town of Beita near Nablus in the West Bank, WAFA news agency reported on 6 August. Twenty-six-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a US citizen of Turkish descent, died on Friday after being shot in the head with live ammunition by Israeli forces in Beita, a town located south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Eygi was participating alongside local Palestinians in the weekly protest against settlement expansion. WAFA added that the activist was rushed to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus and placed in the intensive care unit in an effort to save her life. “We tried to perform a resuscitation operation on her, but unfortunately she died,” Rafidia Hospital Director Fouad Nafaa told Reuters. Local sources told WAFA that the confrontation erupted when Israeli forces violently suppressed the Friday protest, firing live ammunition, stun grenades, and tear gas at demonstrators. An 18-year-old Palestinian was also injured by Israeli forces when shrapnel struck her in the thigh. Eygi was a volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and was involved with the Faz’a campaign, which works to support and protect Palestinian farmers from Israeli military and settler violence.
An autopsy report of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish-American activist, has confirmed she was killed by an Israeli sniper’s bullet to the head, Nablus governor Ghassan Daghlas said on Saturday.
In a statement to Anadolu, Daghlas said the autopsy results indicated Eygi’s cause of death was a gunshot wound inflicted by a sniper, specifically targeting her head. Eygi had been rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead.
How Israel’s war on Gaza is destroying Palestinian education
With 80 percent of schools destroyed, students in Gaza have lost a year of education and are on the brink of losing another. It is a back-to-school week in the Middle East, except for Palestinian students in the Gaza Strip. Their classrooms are in ruins or have become shelters for the displaced. Their backpacks used to be filled with books but now carry the little they have left.
Almost 80 percent of schools in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, and the last remaining university in the Strip was demolished by the Israeli military in January. What effect will all these losses have on the culture and the memory of Palestinians?
New footage shows mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prison
Haaretz released footage Friday that showed security guards mistreating Palestinian prisoners at the Megiddo Prison in northern Israel, Anadolu Agency reports. The video by the Israeli newspaper depicts a guard running a police dog on the hands of prisoners, some of whom are handcuffed and lying face down. Palestinian inmates said guards beat them in areas without camera coverage, according to the newspaper. An unnamed senior Israeli Prisons Service official acknowledged to the newspaper that there is “severe violence” against prisoners in Megiddo, while the service described procedures as “routine.”
France slaps Telegram CEO with 12 criminal charges after Israel calls platform ‘unco–operative’
Telegram has been the ‘least co–operative’ among the social media sites in responding to Israeli censorship requests during its genocide in Gaza. Telegram founder Pavel Durov is being held in custody by French authorities as part of a cyber-criminality investigation, the Paris prosecutor said in a statement on 26 August. The Russian-born billionaire and founder of the popular messaging app was arrested upon landing in the French capital on Saturday evening. The prosecutor’s statement mentioned 12 different offenses under investigation for “complicity” in organised crime, including illicit transactions, child pornography, fraud, and the refusal to disclose information to authorities.
Telegram has played an important role in the ongoing information war surrounding the genocide in Gaza. Supporters of Palestinians have been able to use the app to freely share information exposing ongoing Israeli war crimes while highlighting the efforts of Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen, and Iran to resist Israel. It is unclear if Israel had a role in Durov’s detention in Paris on Saturday.
Last week, Haaretz reported that “Telegram has proved a massive challenge for Israel since the start of the war.” This includes sensitive data leaks from Israel acquired by hackers and released on Telegram channels. The Israeli newspaper noted, “While many tech firms have streamlined mechanisms through which states can reach out to them” to censor content, “Telegram is considered the least cooperative of them all.” Israel has been successful in controlling and censoring information on other social media apps, including Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok, via the lobbying of Cyberwell, an NGO with extensive links to Israeli intelligence.
Meta’s role in Israel’s digital proxy war on The Cradle
Evidence suggests that Israeli intelligence-connected entities played a significant role in Meta’s decision to ban The Cradle, a dissenting, anti-Zionist news outlet reporting on the region, from the region. This act of censorship will unlikely be the last against those who dare to expose the brutal realities of the war on Gaza and cover those resisting it. There appears to be a disturbing alliance between Meta’s leadership and powerful Zionist organizations that identify targets for censorship, while Meta executives comply without question. Speaking to The Cradle, independent tech industry researcher Jack Poulson says: “Meta banning a news source such as The Cradle that is critical of Israel is less surprising when you consider their history.
Beyond Meta’s head of Israel policy, Jordana Cutler, being a former chief of staff of Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs, and nearly his director general. Israeli government propaganda offshoot CyberWell is also a ‘trusted partner’ to Meta. In July, the organization helped influence Meta’s policy on criticism of Zionism.” In June, Poulson, alongside journalist Lee Fang, exposed CyberWell’s part in a broader Israeli government effort, known as Voices of Israel, to shape and disseminate pro-Zionist narratives across the west. Despite CyberWell’s denials of government funding or ties, the organization swiftly removed references to its founders, staff, and advisors from its website following these revelations. Archival evidence reveals that many members of the non-profit’s “dynamic team” of “academics, retired generals, intelligence alumni, and innovative tech professionals” have deep ties to Israeli intelligence and military forces, such as US founder Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor, a former occupation soldier and intelligence professional.
Meta’s Oversight Board rules ‘from the river to the sea’ not hate speech
The Oversight Board of social media giant Meta ruled on 4 September that the popular term used by Palestinians, “from the river to the sea,” does not constitute antisemitic hate speech and should not be removed from its platforms. “While [the phrase] can be understood by some as encouraging and legitimizing antisemitism and the violent elimination of Israel and its people, it is also often used as a political call for solidarity, equal rights and self-determination of the Palestinian people, and to end the war in Gaza,” the Oversight Board said in its ruling. The board said it reviewed three different cases where the term was used on Facebook and terminated all appeals to have the content taken down. “Specifically, the three pieces of content contain contextual signs of solidarity with Palestinians – but no language calling for violence or exclusion. They also do not glorify or even refer to Hamas, an organization designated as dangerous by Meta,” it added.
The ruling went on to say that the term’s use by “terrorist” groups, referring to Hamas or other Palestinian resistance factions, “does not make the phrase inherently hateful or violent – considering the variety of people using the phrase in different ways.” The ruling came despite an attempt by Cyberwell to convince Meta that the term should be taken down from its platforms. Cyberwell is an online data initiative. Cyberwell, considered a “trusted partner” of Meta, has close links to Israeli intelligence, The Cradle columnist Kit Klarenberg outlined on 3 September. Earlier this year, Cyberwell had submitted a formal guidance report on censoring the Palestine solidarity phrase. The board ruling comes as Meta has been cracking down on pro-Palestinian content and views critical of Israel.
‘Game of demographics’: How Israel aims to wipe out Palestinians from Occupied East Jerusalem
For months, as death and destruction rained down on Gaza, analysts have been calling the world’s attention to Israel’s simultaneous war on the other Palestinian Territories, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The plight of Palestinians in the West Bank has garnered some global attention as Israel launched its largest military operation there in more than two decades, inflicting wanton destruction of properties and infrastructure in the northern cities of Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas. Its forces have killed and wounded scores of Palestinians over the past 10 days, adding to the more than 6,000 casualties in the Occupied Territory since the Gaza war began on 7 October.
In Occupied East Jerusalem, however, experts say Israel has taken a different approach, using the Gaza war to accelerate the “silent displacement” of Palestinians to reshape its demographic landscape. The strategy there has four main elements: demolitions, evictions, land confiscation and expansion of illegal settlements. It is designed specifically to isolate East Jerusalem from the West Bank, imposing further restrictions on Palestinian residents, and advancing Israel’s “settler colonial” ambitions. “All measures of forced displacement have seen a drastic escalation since 7 October, and Israel is well known to exploit these kinds of situations in order to advance its settler colonial endeavours,” said Tamara Tamimi, a Palestinian policy fellow at think tank, Al-Shabaka, living in East Jerusalem. “Israel has exploited its genocidal onslaught on Gaza in order to advance settler colonialism in other key strategic areas, particularly Jerusalem and Area C in the remainder of the West Bank.”
Israel’s Shadow Over Free Speech: The Truth Behind the TikTok Ban Bill
On March 13, U.S. lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favor of a bill forcing TikTok’s foreign owner, ByteDance, to sell up or face a stateside ban. Its advocates claim the popular video-sharing app is a Chinese Communist Party-controlled national security threat that could be weaponized as a tool of surveillance and manipulation if it isn’t already. Yet, despite the anti-Beijing hysteria running wild, many haven’t swallowed the bait, with even some typically pliant mainstream outlets alleging a far darker rationale. Now that the anti-TikTok “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” has passed, much of the media is fraudulently claiming the app is confirmed to be Beijing-owned and controlled. One might argue this is a deliberate smokescreen designed to obscure the true rationale behind the app’s Congressional attack, the individuals and organizations behind it, and who precisely benefits from TikTok being run by U.S. government-approved figures and entities.
In every case, the answer lies in plain sight and is the same. TikTok has long been in the crosshairs of powerful pro-Israel lobbying organizations due to the speed and ease with which content critical of Israeli atrocities and apartheid spreads on its platform. The risk younger users might question the concertedly concealed, horrific reality of Israel’s occupation has become all the graver throughout the Gaza genocide. Now, those same groups have corralled U.S. lawmakers into launching a fatal attack on free speech online. Several prominent Jewish celebrities and influencers sought to lobby TikTok behind closed doors to erase any “anti-Israel content” from its platform and generally “do more to address a surge of antisemitism and harassment” on the app following October 7. Among the assembled was Sasha Baron Cohen. As MintPress documented in January, his cinematic oeuvre is almost exclusively rabidly Islamophobic and rife with genocidal pro-Israel propaganda tropes.
West Bank
Israeli Army attack – 1 wounded: Ramallah – 02:00–05:30, Israeli Occupation forces, firing live ammunition, left one resident wounded as they stormed and patrolled the town of Beitunya.
Israeli Army attack: Qalqiliya – 13:45, Israeli forces fired live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades towards people in Kafr Qaddum protesting against the closure of their village.
Israeli Army attack – 1 killed: Nablus – 11:55, the Israeli Army, firing live ammunition towards people demonstrating against the Occupation‘s seizure of land for settlement projects, killing one person, an American activist: Aysenor Eji.
Israeli Army attack – 1 young girl killed – 2 people wounded: Nablus – 15:15, Israeli troops stormed Qaryut village, firing live ammunition towards people trying to defend their homes against armed invading settlers, shooting dead a 13-year-old girl, Bana Amjad Bakr, and wounding two other people: Muntaser Harb Samara Kassab and Muhammad Ubaid al-Hamid Musa.
Home invasion – 1 taken prisoner: Qalqiliya – 02:15–04:00, Israeli Occupation forces stormed the village of Baqa al-Hatab and searched a house, taking prisoner one person.
Home invasions: Nablus – 18:50–03:10, Israeli forces, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, raided the town of Beita and searched two homes.
Home invasions: Hebron – 01:40, the Israeli Army raided al-Samou and searched two houses.
Israeli Army assault with stun grenades: Qalqiliya – 21:55, Israeli Occupation forces fired stun grenades towards people in the Wadi al-Tin area, between the villages of Izbit Jalloud and Ras Atiya.
Israeli Army population–control: Nablus – 16:25, Israeli forces closed, for a time, the entrance on the north side of Huwara.
Israeli Army assault in support of raiding settlers – 3 residents taken prisoner: Jericho – 09:40, Israeli troops raided an Arab al-Maliha gathering in the al-Ma’arjat area, west of Jericho, taking prisoner three people who were trying to resist invading settlers.
Israeli Army destruction and agricultural sabotage: Hebron – 11:30, the Israeli Army demolished five agricultural facilities, in the Taybeh area of Tarqumiya.
Occupation settler arson: Ramallah – 09:25, Israeli Occupation settlers invaded the al-Marj area, east of Deir Dibwan town, and set fire to a number of motor vehicles.
Occupation settler – plunder and agricultural sabotage: Tubas – 10:15, Israeli settlers raided farmland in the Khirbet Ahmayr area of the North Jordan Valley, and stole agricultural equipment.
Occupation settler – agricultural sabotage: Nablus – morning, Israeli Occupation settlers raided Rujeib village, cut off branches from a number of olive trees and vandalised property.
Occupation settler intrusion: Jericho – 15:50, Israeli settlers invaded an area overlooking the Aqbat Jabir refugee camp and set up camp there. Occupation forces intervened and evacuated themfrom the area.
Occupation settler – land-grab: Jericho – afternoon, Israeli Occupation settlers occupied an abandoned house in the Ras Ein al-Auja Bedouin area, west of al-Auja, and established an outpost, bringing in sheep and a water–storage tank.
Occupation settler – plunder and agricultural sabotage: Hebron – 16:35, a gang of Israeli settlers invaded and plundered the Kushan Omar area, south of Yatta, taking away agricultural water-storage tanks.
Occupation settler – population–control: Hebron – evening, armed Occupation settlers stormed the village of Zanuta, south of al-Dhahiriya, and assaulted a number of people in an attempt to prevent them from making use of a well.
Occupation settler – population–control: Hebron – evening, armed Occupation settlers stormed the Bir Ma’in area in Yatta and prevented residents from approaching it, or even moving aroundinside it. They then set up camp, so as to Occupy the area.
Raid: Jerusalem – 23:55, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled al-Ram.
Raid: Jerusalem – 01:35, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the town of Hizma.
Raids: Ramallah – 08:15-13:30, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled al-Mazra’a al-Sharqiya and Silwad.
Raid: Ramallah – 12:45-16:05, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Turmusaya.
Raid: Ramallah – 19:50–22:40, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the village of Deir Qadis.
Raid: Ramallah – 21:05–22:40, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Beit Lilo.
Raid – refugee camp: Ramallah – 00:10–01:10, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the al-Jalazoun refugee camp.
Raids: Ramallah – 01:10–03:40, Israeli forces raided Ni’lin as well as the villages of Budrus and Ein Qiniya.
Raid: Jenin – morning, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the town of Ya’bad.
Raids: Jenin – 16:35, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the villages of al-Jalameh and Ti’inik.
Raid: Jenin – 19:45–21:10, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the town of Ya’bad.
Raid: Jenin – 00:15, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Araba.
Raids: Tulkarem – 18:10–19:45, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the villages of Shufa as well as Izbit Shufa.
Raid: Tulkarem – 18:35, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Farun.
Raid: Tulkarem – 21:05–05:20, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the town of Anabta.
Raid – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades fired: Qalqiliya – 17:00, Israeli forces, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, raided and patrolled the city.
Raids: Qalqiliya – 19:00-midnight, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the villages of Hajja and al-Funduq.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 21:50, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the town of Hablat. off
Raids: Qalqiliya – 03:10, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the villages of Kafr Abush, Kafr Zibad and Kafr Jamal.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 05:55–07:00, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the town of Azzun.
Raids: Nablus – 12:15-15:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the villages of Burin and Madama.
Raid: Nablus – 12:45-17:55, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Tal.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Nablus – 18:50–22:00, the Israeli Army raided the village of Burin, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Nablus – 21:10–01:20, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Bizzariya.
Raid – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades fired: Nablus – 22:35, the Israeli military, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, raided the town of Sebastia.
Raid – population–control: Nablus – 00:25–03:10, Israeli soldiers raided the village of Qusin, taking hostage one person so as to pressure his son to surrender to Occupation forces.
Raid: Nablus – 06:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the eastern neighbourhoods of the city.
Raids: Nablus – 06:45, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the villages of al-Badhan and Talluza.
Raid: Salfit – 17:25–03:45, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Deir Istiya.
Raid: Salfit – 20:15–03:45, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Kifl Haris.
Raid: Bethlehem – 11:20, the Israeli military raided the town of al-Khadr.
Raid: Bethlehem – 18:20–20:05, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the town of Tuqu.
Raid: Bethlehem – 23:00–01:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled al-Khadr.
Raid: Hebron – 23:30–01:15, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Surif.
