Children in Gaza are dying ‘in every way possible’ – Day 91

If Americans Knew – IsraelPalestine News: Israel reportedly targeting random civilians, stealing 1,100 Gazan corpses from cemeteries; US senators critical of border policy for aid; 39 UPenn profs take propaganda trip to Israel; MSF evacuates hospital; Israeli settlers out of control; Chilean lawyers support Palestine; African countries deny discussing accepting displaced Gazans

Children in Gaza are dying ‘in every way possible’: a spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders says children are “dying in every way possible. The death toll had been over 8,000 when you were last able to get an accurate death toll. It’s been several weeks now, so the figure is likely closer to 10,000.

“About three months into the Ukraine war, the UN had stated that the lives of children had been devastated on a level not seen since World War II. At the time, on average, two children were being killed per day. The average number of children being killed per day in Gaza is well over 100.”

Al Jazeera’s Ismail al-Ghoul says Israeli warplanes targeted a group of Palestinians who had gathered to try to catch a signal on their mobile phones, near the Saraya intersection west of Gaza City. Ten were killed.

“The bombardment has not stopped at all,” Ghoul said, speaking from al-Shifa Hospital. “The area near Saraya is one of the few remaining spots in northern Gaza where residents can connect to the phone networks and get a signal, so that they can communicate with their families in the south.”

Gaza’s government media office has accused the Israeli military of stealing the bodies of some 150 people from a cemetery in the east of the Palestinian enclave. In a statement released Saturday, the media office said Israeli forces used bulldozers to dig up some 1,100 graves at the Al-Tuffah cemetery and steal the bodies.

The remains have been taken to an unknown location, raising suspicions that organs could be stolen from them, the statement said. The office called the exhumation of graves and theft of dead bodies “a heinous crime”.

Since launching its war on Gaza on 7 October, Israel has been accused on multiple occasions both of digging up graves of dead Palestinians and of stealing organs from bodies.

For previous reports on this practice see this.

Two US senators have said that the delivery of much-needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza is being stymied by an arbitrary Israeli inspections regime. Democratic Senators Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley visited the border between Egypt and Gaza on Saturday, where a warehouse is full of vital supplies rejected by Israeli authorities, including water testing equipment and medical goods.

“The warehouse was a testament to the arbitrariness” of the process, Van Hollen said. “What struck me yesterday was the miles of backed-up trucks. We couldn’t count, but there were hundreds,” Merkley told a group of reporters in Cairo.

Notably, Israel has recently begun blaming the UN for delays in delivering humanitarian aid.

Palestinian families who had to leave their homes continue their lives in a tent city where they have taken shelter from Israeli attacks, in Rafah

Jewish Telegraph Agency reports: This week, the 39 Penn professors spent three days traveling in Israel, in the first solidarity visit by faculty members of an Ivy League school since the outbreak of the war on Oct. 7 and the congressional hearing on campus antisemitism that led directly to the resignation of Penn’s president.

During their 66-hour visit, they met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and families of hostages. In what has become a new rite of passage for visitors to Israel, they also visited devastated Gaza border communities where they heard accounts from survivors and first responders, according to a statement released by the mission’s tour operator, Israel Destination.

Now, according to a statement, the professors are “returning home with a greater understanding of how the U.S. academic community can support their Israeli colleagues during this traumatic time, and with renewed vigor to withstand the antisemitism and anti-Israel feelings prevalent on campus.”

Pro-Israel organizations consistently work to silence Palestine advocacy on campus – a free speech violation. One strategy they use is to pressure universities to officially adopt the IHRA “definition” of antisemitism, which defines legitimate criticism of Israel as antisemitic. Other strategies include blocking prestigious appointments of and events with supporters of Palestinian rights, threatening to withhold major donations, and more. But supporters of Palestine on campus are fighting back.

It is also notable that pro-Israel orgs regularly sponsor trips to Israel for influencers and the influence-able – trips that invariably provide a whitewashed view of Israel and no exposure to the Palestinian narrative, and by withholding the truth, “buy” new Israel partisans (as evidenced by the above story).

Many displaced Palestinians have little protection from the elements

Doctors Without Borders say they will pull staff and their families out of the areas around Al-Aqsa Hospital, after Israeli forces dropped evacuation orders on neighborhoods near the facility this morning “It is with heavy conscience that we have to evacuate while patients, hospital staff and many people seeking safety remain in the hospital premises,” said Carolina Lopez, emergency coordinator at Al-Aqsa Hospital.

The organization says that artillery fire, sniper fire and drone attacks have taken place within hundreds of meters of the hospital over the last several days, and that a bullet penetrated the wall of the ICU yesterday.

Dr Ebraheem Matar, who is at Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, concurs, that Israeli forces are closing in after weeks of intense shelling. He says many doctors and nurses have left, fearful the Israelis “will do there what they did at Shifa and the Indonesian hospital”. Matar said that “the hospital is filled with injured and sick.”

Targeting hospitals is a war crime.

Arif Daraghmeh, an expert on settlement affairs and Israeli violations in the Jordan Valley, says that in the last week, Israeli troops have prevented Palestinian farmers from cultivating their land and settlers are free to trespass. “Soldiers have stopped farmers from ploughing the agricultural land, detained some of them and confiscated their agricultural tractors,” Daraghmeh told Al Jazeera.

In the northern Jordan Valley, he said, dozens of Palestinian vehicles are seen on a daily basis queueing at military checkpoints. Settlers have also been using Palestinian lands to let their own animals graze, while soldiers continue to militarize the Jordan Valley, restricting access to the area and closing checkpoints for varying periods of time,” Daraghmeh added.

Israeli settlements and settlers on Palestinian land are a violation of international law.

About 100 Chilean lawyers have filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court regarding the crimes of the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip. The complaint alleges charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed by the Israeli army on Palestinians.

“They are demanding that Benjamin Netanyahu bear criminal responsibilities, to impose an immediate ceasefire,” said Francisco Shahwan, the chairman of the foreign relations committee.

Officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Chad have all said that they have not had the discussions with Israeli officials that were reported by Israeli media outlets, including i24NEWS earlier this week.

Chad’s government reportedly said, “Our commitment to the fundamental principles of international law prohibits any agreement to displace individuals from Gaza or participation in such actions, as it would constitute a violation of these rights,” the spokesman reportedly said.

Rwanda’s foreign ministry on Friday issued a “disinformation alert” over the reports, and said it is “not in discussion with Israel on transfer of Palestinians from Gaza”.

DRC government spokesman Patrick Muyaya was also quoted as saying that the Israeli media claims were false, and that there were no plans to take in forcibly displaced Palestinians.

Forced transfer of a people group is a crime against humanity.

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Gaza you are not forgotten. Thousands protest in Westminster today and this is one of many taking place across the UK. British complicity, not in our name. #Ceasefire_In_Gaza pic.twitter.com/ub5mwviiKt

— Nick Dearden (@nickdearden75) January 6, 2024

The occupation forces launch a surveillance balloon in the sky of Jenin in the West Bank. pic.twitter.com/ucyZSVQYbk

— Palestine (@FromPalestinee) January 6, 2024

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JANUARY 5:

Palestinian death toll since October 7: at least 22,455* (~22,251 in Gaza* (at least 9,100 children), and at least 326 in the West Bank, about 77 of them children). This does not include an estimated 7,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 30,676 Palestinian deaths.

*IAK does not yet include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile is being disputed; although much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, experts are still looking into the incident. Israel is blocking an international investigation.

About 1.9 million people have been displaced (about 85% of the population).

Palestinian injuries since October 7: at least 61,245** (including at least 58,166 in Gaza** and 3,949 in the West Bank). **NOTE: it is impossible to provide an accurate number of injuries in Gaza due to the ongoing bombardment and communication disruption.

It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza**.

Reported Israeli death toll since October 7: ~1,139 (7 killed in West Bank, 173 in Gaza), including 32 Americans, and 8,730 injured, approximately 36 children).

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel may have been caused by Israeli soldiers; additionally, since Israel has a policy of universal conscription, it is unknown how many of those attending the outdoor rave a few miles from Gaza on stolen Palestinian land were Israeli soldiers.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

For more news, go here and here. Broadcast news from the region is here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org