Israel Commits Atrocities In Many Shapes And Forms

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Israeli attacks across Gaza killed at least 50 people on Wednesday, while UNICEF said at least 74 Palestinian children have been killed during the first week of 2025 alone.

‘How many more to go?’: Aid group slams Israel, US over killing of neonatal doctor in Gaza

The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has denounced Israel for what it called “the targeting and killing of women and healthcare workers” after an Israeli air raid killed Dr Thabat Salim, a 30-year-old female neonatal doctor, in the central Nuseirat refugee camp on Friday.

Salim’s death “is more than a tragedy”, said Dr Alvaro Bermejo, the director general of IPPF.

“It is a devastating indictment of the conditions under which women healthcare providers live and work. She was Palestinian. She was living in Gaza. She was a woman of reproductive age. She was a doctor. She worked in a hospital. She cared for Palestine’s next generation; newborn babies. These factors should have made her a symbol of hope and healing. Instead, they culminated in her murder.”

The Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association (PFPPA) shared:

“Dr. Thabat Salim, you were an unwavering white angel at every moment. You moved tirelessly among the ruins of war, doubling your efforts to provide humanitarian aid and services. You were a source of comfort, wiping the tears of mothers and easing the pain of children and patients suffering the horrors of war in Gaza.

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3-year-old Gazan child faces life without limbs after deadly Israel strike

Near a makeshift fabric tent that offers little protection from the winter cold, three-year-old Jihad Mahmoud sits on the chilly sand, playing with a friend. Using his hands to move a ball, Jihad struggles with the loss of his legs, amputated following an Israeli air strike on an area designated as a “safe zone” in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza.

More than four months ago, an air strike claimed both his legs and three fingers on his left hand.

Dragging what remains of his legs and relying on his hands, Jihad moves around while his family clings to hope for prosthetics that could restore some normalcy.

Despite his severe injuries, Jihad retains his joyful spirit, often breaking into laughter when his mother plays with him.

The child is one of over 22,000 Palestinians left with life-altering injuries, according to Sigrid Kaag, the UN coordinator for humanitarian affairs in Gaza, as of September 2024. Among them, roughly 4,000 have suffered amputations due to Israel’s genocidal war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The crisis is particularly dire for children.

“Gaza is home to the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history,” declared Lisa Doughten, an official with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in October 2024. “Each day, ten children are losing one or both of their legs,” she added, citing data provided by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Gaza’s only specialized centers – the Hamad Rehabilitation Hospital and the Gaza Prosthetic Center – were forced out of service after being targeted in Israeli air strikes, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry (continue reading here).

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Khan Younis hospital registers first death from kidney failure

Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed reported on Wednesday that the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis registered its first patient death from kidney failure.

The kidney failure was caused by the hospital’s lack of fuel, which is needed to run its dialysis machine, Abed reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hamas accused Israel of hindering fuel deliveries to Gaza’s hospitals, and called on the UN to assist the enclave’s healthcare facilities.

RELATED: Kidney patients face excruciating death in Gaza

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The post sparked outrage from Palestinians and Arab countries, who called on the international community to rein in Israel’s expansionist ambitions and prevent it from attempting to seize more Palestinian and Arab territory.

A spokesperson for Jordan’s foreign ministry condemned the post “in the strongest terms” and described the illustration as “allegations and illusions” promoted by Israel’s right wing to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said the map “claiming to represent historical Israel” was a “flagrant violation” of international norms, warning that Israel’s evident aspirations could further hinder the chances of peace in the region.

Doha called on the international community to “fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities by pressuring the Israeli occupation to comply with international legitimacy resolutions and confront its expansionist ambitions in Arab lands”.

RELATED: Erasing Palestine: the convergence of digital censorship and settler-colonial violence.

Israel continues to violate ceasefire with Lebanon

The Israeli army committed 19 violations of a cease-fire agreement with Lebanon on Wednesday, bringing the total number of breaches since the agreement took effect on Nov. 27 last year to 432.

The violations included incursions, artillery and tank shelling, demolitions of homes and buildings, drone and warplane overflights, and sweeping operations with machine guns.

Israel kills two children in air strike in occupied West Bank

On a quiet morning in the Palestinian town of Tammun, Wednesday, Jan. 8, eight-year-old Rida Ali Ahmed Bisharat and ten-year-old Hamza Ammar Ahmed Bisharat played in the courtyard near their homes, a familiar and cherished spot where they often spent their time.

Nearby, their 23-year-old cousin, Adam Khair Al-Din Ahmed Bisharat, sat peacefully, enjoying a cup of coffee.

What happened next shattered the tranquility of the scene—and the lives of their families forever. A missile, launched from an Israeli drone, struck the spot where the three sat, killing them instantly.

The Israeli military claimed the attack targeted an “armed cell,” a justification immediately rejected by the local community and witnesses. Residents described the area as a small courtyard surrounded by homes, far from any main road.

“They were just sitting near their homes, as they always did,” said Jallal Bisharat, a relative of the victims.

“They were children, playing in their usual spot,” added Yusuf Bisharat, another family member, standing in the devastated courtyard. With his arms outstretched, he described the tight space where the missile struck. “This was not a battlefield—it was a place of safety for our children.”

Since the beginning of the Israeli military onslaught against the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have killed 845 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 175 children, and injured 7,000.

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Ex-Palestinian prisoner dies after ‘medical crimes’ committed by Israel: Prisoners’ groups

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society have confirmed the death of former prisoner Ismail Taqatqa (40) from Bethlehem, after he passed away on Wednesday morning in Jordan, five months after his release, due to systematic medical negligence in Israeli prisons.

According to a joint statement by the commission and the society Taqatqa was diagnosed with leukemia after his release on August 29, 2024.

They stated that Taqatqa is the latest known victim of the systematic medical crimes perpetrated by the Israeli prison system against thousands of prisoners who have been subjected to unprecedented systematic torture since the beginning of the genocide war.

Medical crimes and denial of treatment have been the primary tools for executing systematic killings of dozens of prisoners since the war began.

These crimes include imposing harsh and tragic detention conditions, torturing and assaulting prisoners, deliberately causing illnesses by denying them treatment and healthcare, starving them, and turning their need for treatment into a tool of torture.

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White House denies Gaza genocide following Sudan determination

The White House rejected successive findings from multiple organizations Wednesday that Israel’s war on the besieged Gaza Strip constitutes genocide, just one day after it said one was taking place in Sudan.

“There’s no genocide happening from the Israeli side on Palestinians. It’s clear, as the secretary of state articulated, that what we’re seeing in Sudan is genocide. It’s the wanton, systematic, direct, deliberate slaughter, rape, murder, torture of people based on their ethnicity or their faith that is genocide, and that’s what’s going on,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

“That is not what we’re seeing in Gaza, just not. The IDF isn’t waking up every day putting their boots on the floor and saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to go kill some innocent people because they happen to be Palestinian.’

“Now that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been too many civilian casualties in this conflict, absolutely too many,” he added in reference to the Israeli military.

NOTE: The “wanton, systematic, direct, deliberate slaughter, rape, murder, and torture” carried out by Israel’s military is in fact based on Palestinians’ ethnicity (they are not Jewish) and their faith (they are not Jewish). Israel claims its enemy is Hamas, but its actions and rhetoric are genocidal.  

The statement by the White House opposes well-documented findings by globally recognized human rights organizations.

As a Jewish state, Israel must maintain a Jewish majority, which makes non-Jews a “demographic threat,” and the reduction of Palestinians desirable.

IMEMC Daily Reports

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis has registered the first death from kidney failure due to fuel lack that runs the dialysis system.

The story below shows horrific results of deaths because of the overcrowding in the past.

All the patients I have reported on are in extreme… https://t.co/aECAUOKczW

— Abubaker Abed (@AbubakerAbedW) January 8, 2025

Today, @WHO and partners supported medical evacuation of four patients and five companions to #Jordan, and six children patients and five companions to the #USA where they will receive specialised health care.

Over 12,000 people in #Gaza still need medical evacuations. We… pic.twitter.com/RKcHFGG3bQ

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 8, 2025

‘I almost got kicked out of #NBA for saying #FreePalestine‘

In an interview with The GAUDs Show, NBA player @DwightHoward highlighted how raising the plight of the Palestinians almost got him kicked off the league. ‘ I tweeted Free #Palestine. Less than 10 minutes later, I got a… pic.twitter.com/Axeod25Bc3

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) January 8, 2025

Activist arrested at gym wearing shirt: ‘Israel kills children’

An activist wearing a shirt reading ‘Israel kills children’ was arrested for alleged trespassing after the gym terminated his membership because he refused to take off his t-shirt. The man said he had been a member… pic.twitter.com/efdTwpKcrL

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) January 8, 2025

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – JANUARY 8, 2025:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – January 8, 2025: at least 46,851* – 46,006 in Gaza; in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers and/or settlers have killed at least 845 Palestinians (~175 of them children).

Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 11,000 more are still buried under rubble.

According to a report in the Lancet, by multiplying the reported deaths by five, it is possible to reach a conservative estimate of total deaths (including indirect causes like starvation and lack of medicine). Using the latest figure from AFP (46,006), it is reasonable to estimate at least 230,030 total deaths in Gaza since October 7th, 2023.

According to a recent report by the UN Human Rights Office of identified fatalities in Gaza, about 44% were children. It is reasonable to estimate that 20,243 of known direct deaths and 101,213 of the total deaths are children.

Palestinian injuries from October 7, 2023 – January 8, 2025: at least 116,274 (including at least 109,378 in Gaza and 7,000 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – January 8, 2025: ~1,608 (or 1,581) (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 423*** (or 396) military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza (updated: Jan. 7, 2025); 46 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

ADDITIONAL STATISTICS: Since October 7th, 2023:

• At least 54 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (at least 35 of them from Gaza).
• At least 43 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition (at least 37 of them children)**.
• About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
• About 345,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

*The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.

Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.

**Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals. 

***The figure does not include the reportedly 59 Israeli soldiers – nearly 17% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents. 

† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.