Rights and Accountability 20 June 2024
Israeli airstrikes and artillery targeted Gaza City in the north, Rafah in the south and in the central Gaza Strip areas of Deir al-Balah and Maghazi, Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps over the last several days.
Early Wednesday morning, Israel bombed the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in the north of Gaza City, setting the top floor of an apartment building on fire and killing at least four people, as Israeli navy boats fired heavy artillery at the Beach refugee camp in the west.
Around the same time, Israel once again bombed the al-Mawasi area northwest of Rafah, targeting the tents of displaced people.On Sunday, as people in Gaza began to celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday, Israeli forces struck the Bureij refugee camp, killing at least nine Palestinians including six children.
On the same day, Israel killed at least two Palestinians in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah. Al Jazeera reported that Israeli soldiers targeted an ambulance that was trying to reach the victims.
Attacks on Bureij and the Nuseirat refugee camps continued on Tuesday. Israeli airstrikes killed 17 Palestinians in two separate locations.
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reported from the Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Hospital in Deir al-Balah on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Israeli tanks invaded deeper into all areas of Rafah. Reuters reported that medics and rescue teams weren’t able to reach victims buried in the rubble.A resident of Rafah told the news agency that “Rafah is being bombed without any intervention from the world, the occupation (Israel) is acting freely here.”
Israeli forces have taken over the Rafah crossing at the Gaza-Egypt border since 7 May, closing it completely to both people and humanitarian aid.
On Monday, it was reported that Israeli soldiers destroyed and set fire to the departure hall.
The Israeli military announced on Saturday a so-called tactical pause in its military activity in the southern areas, claiming that this was in order to increase humanitarian aid deliveries.But Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, stated that “operationally nothing has changed” in southern Gaza.
He told Reuters that UNRWA received a notification from the Israeli military that there would be a pause, but that it was only in English, not in any other language, and was soon followed by the government contradicting that instruction.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the military’s plans for alleged tactical pauses unacceptable.
On Sunday, Israeli airstrikes killed at least eight Palestinians who were waiting for aid trucks in Rafah, including merchants and civil guards who have been organizing necessary security for aid distribution.
Palestinian civil guards and policemen who are tasked with securing aid deliveries have been routinely targeted and killed by Israeli forces over the last eight months.
Journalist Hossam Shabat said of the attacks on civil guards: “It’s clear that Israeli occupation forces don’t just want starvation; they want chaos and anarchy. They target anyone who’s trying to implement rules and regulations. All they want is bloodshed and killing.”
A farmer in Khan Younis expressed his anger over airdropped humanitarian aid when his farmland and greenhouses were damaged by the falling parcels a few days ago. Without proper regulations and security coordination for humanitarian aid, these airdropped aid packages are putting people in danger in multiple ways. The farmer, Raed Al-Agha, said that armed gangs came to collect the parcels, and that he was threatened.Starvation deepens
Israel’s systematic starvation policies continue apace across the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, said that “With continued restrictions to humanitarian access, people in Gaza continue to face desperate levels of hunger. Over 50,000 children require treatment for acute malnutrition.”
The head of the World Health Organization this week stated that there have been at least 32 recorded deaths attributed to malnutrition already, including 28 children under 5 years old. On 14 June, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip reported that they have so far documented more than 200 cases of children with multiple signs of malnutrition.And Israeli forces continue to block international aid convoys from delivering food, medical supplies and aid to people in need.
James Elder, the spokesperson for the United Nations’ children’s fund, UNICEF, stated last week that the agency’s aid convoy was stopped for eight hours at an Israeli checkpoint inside Gaza, and then one of the critical aid trucks was turned away.
He also said that fishers were shot dead in front of him and his colleagues.
He recorded this video the same day, documenting the aid truck convoy being stopped by Israeli forces.
The bureaucratic arm of Israel’s occupation, COGAT, responded by calling Elder a liar and claimed the UNICEF truck that was turned away violated security protocols.The Israeli army is also destroying warehouses for humanitarian aid, food and essential supplies.
Humanity and Inclusion, a US-based non-governmental organization, reported last week that the Israeli military had completely bulldozed its warehouse in Rafah, where they say nearly 200 pallets of humanitarian aid, including medical supplies, mattresses, and jerrycans for transporting fuel and water were being stored.
And the head of Refugees International, Jeremy Konyndyk, stated that due to Israeli attacks, the main warehouses “in and around Rafah are now inaccessible or destroyed” and that other areas of Gaza have few remaining structures that are either suitable, intact or safely accessible.
He added that before the Israeli army seized the Rafah border crossing in early May, “aid groups and the bulk of the population were co-located in Rafah, and security there was manageable. Aid programs were much more straightforward. Now, displaced people are much harder to safely reach.” He warned of the increasing risk of catastrophic hunger.Attacks on health sector
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza reported on Tuesday that the health sector has lost more than 70 percent of its capacity across the Gaza Strip.
The ministry added that it is struggling with its partner institutions to support the remaining medical centers by establishing field hospitals which are limited in their scope of services.
The health ministry also appealed to international and human rights institutions to “reveal the fate of dozens of health personnel who were kidnapped from hospitals while they were working.”
This week, it was reported that yet another Palestinian physician was kidnapped and likely tortured to death by Israeli forces.
Dr. Iyad al-Rantisi, the head of obstetrics and gynecology at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, was abducted by Israeli forces in November and taken to Shikma prison. He was interrogated by Israeli Shin Bet agents and died six days later.
The manager of Kamal Adwan Hospital told the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz that neither he nor al-Rantisi’s family received any information about his fate.Haaretz stated that “the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court issued a six-month gag order prohibiting publication of all details of the case, including the existence of the gag order.”
Settler, soldier attacks in West Bank
Turning to the West Bank, Israeli settlers attacked and beat Palestinians in several areas on Tuesday, including the villages of Deir Dibwan, Huwwara and Burin.
The Wafa news agency reported that settlers also set fire to Palestinian agricultural lands in the village of Barqa, east of Ramallah.
Israeli soldiers, meanwhile, shot and injured two Palestinian youths near Nablus on Tuesday.
This video shows at least seven armored personnel carriers invading the nearby town of Beit Abya on Wednesday morning:
Other invasions were reported in Qalqilya, the Jenin area and al-Bireh.Three Palestinian youths were shot and injured during a raid into the southern West Bank village of Beit Ommar, near Hebron, on Tuesday.
Volker Turk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said on Tuesday that the situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, “is dramatically deteriorating.”
He stated that as of 15 June, “528 Palestinians, 133 of them children, have been killed by Israeli security forces and/or settlers since October, in many cases raising serious concerns of unlawful killings.”
Our colleague Tamara Nassar reported last week on the Israeli military’s killing of six Palestinians in the village of Kafr Dan near Jenin.
“Israeli forces and settlers have injured over 5,200 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7th, at least 800 of them children. One-third of all injuries were by live ammunition,” Nassar reports.
Highlighting resilience
Finally, we wanted to bring you some images and videos from journalists and others in Gaza who are not just relentlessly documenting the unspeakable atrocities but also making sure to highlight the resilience, joy and determination of the Palestinian people.
Worshippers held Eid prayers amongst the rubble in Gaza:
Palestinian women made traditional date cookies to celebrate Eid al-Adha in Khan Younis, forming the rings of dough amongst the rubble. Our contributor Abubaker Abed posted these photos of himself with smiling children on Eid. Ahmed al-Astal, a professor of architecture at the Islamic University of Gaza, which Israel has destroyed, showed his plans for the house he will build after the war. Volunteers began cleaning and repairing al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, which was heavily damaed by Israel months ago.And the Palestine Red Crescent Society repaired one of its clinics in Jabaliya. The medical association also saluted one of its veteran ambulance drivers, Hamed al-Kurdi, in a social media post on Tuesday. Hossam Shabat, a young journalist in northern Gaza, documented the installation of a water well this week in Jabaliya refugee camp. He also helped deliver clothes to hundreds of children who he said hadn’t had a change of clothes in months. On top of all of that, he said that he has been working with his team to renovate and repair a UN school in the Jabaliya refugee camp.
Other articles cited
- “Famine at a feast time,” Sondos Alfayoumi
- “Fears rise for Gaza’s starving children,” Khuloud Rabah Sulaiman
- “Nothing to eat at Eid,” Ruwaida Amer
- “Hunger is rapidly getting worse in Gaza,” Ruwaida Amer
- “Craving the simple pleasures of Eid,” Eman Alhaj Ali
Photo: Omar Ashtawy / APA images
Tags
- Rafah
- humanitarian aid
- UNRWA
- COGAT
- starvation
- al-Bureij refugee camp
- Nuseirat refugee camp
- Maghazi refugee camp
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