Catastrophic famine; MSF says latest massacres illustrate disregard for Palestinian lives; statistics in Gaza on Day 250; ceasefire proposal confusion; bodies as bargaining chips; shooting in Jerusalem’s Old City; West Bank; Israel says “no innocent civilians” in Gaza; the Day After; Hezbollah; Gideon Levy on Israel’s lost conscience; more

By IAK staff, from reports. June 13, 2023

The latest massacres in Gaza’s Middle Area illustrate disregard for Palestinian lives – MSF:

Statement from Doctors Without Borders (MSF): Since the beginning of June, more than 800 people have been killed and over 2,400 wounded in intense bombing and ground offensives by Israeli forces in Gaza, according to health authorities; these horrific attacks have led to unacceptable pain and suffering and illustrate a clear disregard for Palestinian lives, says Doctors Without Border/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Numerous military offensives in recent weeks have led to recurrent mass casualty influxes at MSF-supported medical facilities in Rafah and the Middle Area of Gaza. MSF calls on Israel to immediately halt these massacres. We also call on Israel’s allies, including the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union member states, to do everything in their power to influence Israel to stop attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza.

According to local health authorities, 274 people were killed on June 8 alone.  On that day, over 60 severely injured patients, including unconscious children, were referred to the MSF-supported Nasser hospital. Meanwhile, at Al-Aqsa hospital, we supported medical teams who received 420 wounded and 190 dead, again with many children among the casualties. Those admitted bore the hallmarks of intense kinetic strikes: dismemberment, severe trauma, burns and open fractures.

“How can the killing of more than 800 people in a single week, including small children, plus the maiming of hundreds more, be considered a military operation adhering to international humanitarian law? We can no longer accept the statement that Israel is taking ‘all precautions’ – this is just propaganda,” says Brice de le Vingne, Head of MSF Emergency Unit.

Earlier in the same week, Israel repeatedly bombed so-called safe zones, refugee camps, a school and multiple humanitarian warehouses, which were formally registered as ‘deconflicted’ by Israeli forces. Heavy strikes on 4 June in the Middle Area resulted in at least 70 deaths and over 300 wounded Palestinians, mostly women and children, who were brought to the MSF-supported Al-Aqsa hospital with severe burns, shrapnel wounds, and fractures.

These attacks are the latest in a broad litany of atrocities and illustrate the type of war that Israel is fighting. Israel and its allies have repeatedly shown that there is no watershed moment, or red line in this violence.

(Read the full statement here.)

Gaza’s Government Media Office marks 250 days of war:

The Government Media Office has released statistics to mark the 250th day of Israel’s war on Gaza. Here are some of what it reported:

    • 37,202 people in Gaza have been documented as killed, and another 10,000 people are missing.
    • 15,694 children have been killed (of which 7,797 have been definitively identified).
    • 33 people have died due to famine.
    • 498 medical staff have been killed.
    • 150 journalists have been killed.
    • 70 percent of the victims are women and children.
    • 17,000 children are living without either or with only one of their parents.
    • 5,000 people from Gaza have been detained.
    • 79,000 tonnes of explosives have been dropped by Israeli forces.
    • 206 archaeological and heritage sites have been destroyed.
    • Initial losses from the destruction are estimated at $33bn.

Gaza’s Health Ministry latest figures:

    • 71,338 Palestinians have viral hepatitis infections due to displacement.
    • 60,000 pregnant women are in danger of losing their babies because of a lack of healthcare.
    • 350,000 chronic patients are at risk due to lack of medication.


Health Ministry calls for fuel to operate generators:

Gaza’s Ministry of Health warns that hospitals, health centers and the only oxygen station in Gaza City Governorate are at a risk of going out of service due to a lack of fuel.

“This exposes the lives of dozens of sick and wounded people to inevitable death,” it said in a statement, adding that medicines stored in refrigerators will be damaged due to a lack of diesel fuel operating generators.

“We appeal to all relevant, international and humanitarian institutions to intervene quickly to bring in the necessary fuel, in addition to the electric generators and spare parts needed for maintenance.”



Confusion abounds as US continues to say Israel accepts ceasefire proposal:

UNOCHA weekly update on West Bank – 13 Palestinians killed, settler violence, property demolition:

During the reporting period (June 4-10), Israeli forces shot and killed 13 Palestinians, 11 of whom were killed in operations in refugee camps and villages. In addition, 75 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces. In total, since October 7th, Israeli forces and/or settlers have killed at least 545 Palestinians in the West Bank.

During the reporting period, Israeli settlers perpetrated 13 attacks that resulted in the injury of 15 Palestinians and damage to Palestinian property, including the vandalism of trees, saplings and crops. Between 7 October 2023 and 10 June 2024, OCHA recorded 968 settler attacks against Palestinians.

During the reporting period, Israeli authorities demolished or forced Palestinian owners to demolish 50 Palestinian-owned structures due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 88 people, including 43 children.

Since 7 October 2023 and until 10 June 2024, the Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated, or forced Palestinian owners to demolish 990 Palestinian-owned structures, of which 34 per cent (366 structures) were inhabited homes displacing, 2,155 people, including 1,036 children.

Scene from Nur Shams refugee camp, West Bank - 20 May 2024
Scene from Nur Shams refugee camp, West Bank – 20 May 2024

Israel official social media account declares ‘there are no innocent civilians’ in Gaza:

Middle East Eye reports: An official account representing Israel on social media platform X shared a video on Tuesday claiming “there are no innocent civilians” in Gaza.

The claim appeared within a post accusing Palestinian civilians of involvement in the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October and of harbouring captives taken by the group during the assault.

“We need to talk about the elephant in the room,” the post starts, before continuing: “Many Gazan civilians participated in the horrific events of 7 October. It is also reported that Gazan civilians held Israeli hostages captive in their homes. The world must condemn this in the strongest terms.”

In the video accompanying the statement, former captive Mia Shem is heard saying, “There are no innocent civilians there” –  a quote that is repeated in bold font in the video’s captions.

Previous statements made by Israeli officials about Palestinian civilians in Gaza as a whole have been cited in the ongoing International Court of Justice (ICJ) case against Israel, in which the state stands accused of genocide.


US to present ‘concrete ideas’ on post-war Gaza within weeks:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said his country would be presenting “concrete ideas” for Gaza post-war within the coming weeks.

Speaking in Qatar, Blinken said they would be presenting “key elements of the day-after planning including concrete ideas for how to manage governance, security, reconstruction”.

He added that he had reviewed suggestions submitted Tuesday by Hamas for a ceasefire deal in Gaza, saying “some of the changes are workable, some are not”.


U.S. scrambling to prevent Israel-Hezbollah war amid Gaza ceasefire push:

Axios reports: The Biden administration has grown extremely concerned that escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah in recent days will deteriorate into an all-out war — and is scrambling to prevent it, according to U.S. officials.

Amid the highly sensitive push to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza, a full-blown war with the Lebanese militant group would dramatically exacerbate the regional crisis and draw the U.S. deeper into the conflict.

The Biden administration has cautioned Israel in recent weeks against the notion of “a limited war” in Lebanon — warning that Iran could intervene and flood Lebanon with pro-Iranian militants from Syria, Iraq and even Yemen who would want to join the fighting.

NOTE: Netanyahu has ignored almost all Biden administration recommendations thus far.

Why Did Israel Conceal Hundreds of Gazans’ Deaths in ‘Perfect’ Hostage Rescue Operation? – Gideon Levy (excerpts):

Ha’aretz reports: Nothing interests Israel anymore other than its sacrifice, the punishment it was subjected to, its suffering and courage. Recent days have provided definitive proof of this. Subsequently, there is no more room for questions about its moral sense. It’s gone.

The euphoria that erupted in Israel after the rescue last Saturday of the four hostages was justified, human, sweeping and very moving. The blindness that accompanied it attested to the demise of the national conscience.

On the day of the rescue operation alone, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, 274 people died in the Nuseirat refugee camp and another 698 were injured. The images of convoys of ambulances, private cars and donkey carts carrying hundreds of wounded people and corpses to the completely overwhelmed hospital in Deir al-Balah were among the most difficult of the war.

Israel chose to conceal them, to erase their memory, to deny their existence, as though if they are hidden and ignored they did not happen.

Israel wrapped itself in joy; this whole week, songs of praise – for the bold operation, which was indeed bold, for the bravery of the rescuing soldiers, who were indeed courageous, for the officer who was killed and for whom the operation will be named – have been on constant repeat, and with not a word about what else happened in Nuseirat in the course of the operation.

When Daphna Liel of Channel 12 News describes the operation as “perfect,” what does she mean? That 300 deaths are perfection? And if 1,000 people had been killed, would Liel still think that the operation was perfect? Would tens of thousands of dead bodies have crossed Liel’s line of perfection? What number would have been crossing the line for Israelis? Would 1,000 bombs dropped on Nuseirat have raised questions? It is very doubtful.

When the commander of the Border Police, Maj. Gen. Itzhak Brik – the hero of the hour, whose forces rescued the hostages – says they carried out a “surgical” operation and were driven by “values,” what is he referring to? What would killing people in a manner not driven by values look like? Are 300 dead people a “surgical” operation? What would genocidal killing look like?

When no one says differently or corrects such statements, when no one expresses reservations or even adds an asterisk so as not to mar the joy of the masses on the country’s beaches, something is very sick here.

A society that ignores, so blatantly the price paid by tens of thousands of people, with their lives, bodies, souls and property, for the rescue of four of its hostages and for a moment of joy for its members, is a society that is missing something vital. It is a society that has lost its conscience.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Consider the possibility that Israel lost its conscience long before October 7th – that Zionism itself lacks a moral compass.
“The immense numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza and widespread destruction of civilian objects and infrastructure were the inevitable result of a strategy undertaken with intent to cause maximum damage, disregarding the principles of distinction, proportionality and adequate precautions" UN Commission of Inquiry.
“The immense numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza and widespread destruction of civilian objects and infrastructure were the inevitable result of a strategy undertaken with intent to cause maximum damage, disregarding the principles of distinction, proportionality and adequate precautions” UN Commission of Inquiry.

MORE NEWS:

Al Jazeera: Nuseirat, anatomy of Israel’s massacre in Gaza.
Electronic Intifada: Israel’s desert torture camp faces legal challenge.
Middle East Eye: Employees accuse Apple of donating to groups funding West Bank settlements.
Palestine Chronicle: Unprecedented in Modern History – After Gaza, what?
IMEMC Reports.

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – June 12: at least 37,747* (37,202 in Gaza* – 4,959 women (20%), 7,797 children (32%). This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 545 in the West Bank (~134 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 43,640 Palestinian deaths. (Ralph Nader has estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.)
At least 42 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 14 from West Bank).
At least 37 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
About 1.1 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are facing Catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – June 12: at least 90,132 (including at least 84,932 in Gaza and 5,200 in the West Bank).
It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – June 12: ~1,449 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 295 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.
Times of Israel reports: The IDF listed 41 soldiers killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents – nearly 16%.
NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.
*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. 
Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

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