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› › Gaza genocide enters month 11 as Israel provokes regional war
Gaza genocide enters month 11 as Israel provokes regional war

Gaza genocide enters month 11 as Israel provokes regional war

By 9 Aug 2024 Comment Edit
Mourners pray over the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, 1 August. (Omar Ashtawy/APA images)

Maureen Clare Murphy, in Palestine, 8 August 2024 : Israel issued new forced displacement orders in Gaza, killed another journalist and massacred more civilians at schools being used as shelters for displaced Palestinians as the genocide stretched into its 11th month.

The latest attacks on Palestinians in Gaza come amid a looming regional war following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last Wednesday and the killing of Fuad Shukr, Hizballah’s top military commander in Beirut, hours earlier.

Both Iran and Hizballah have promised significant retaliatory attacks.

Israeli officials have stayed silent over the country’s role in the killing of Haniyeh, though Tel Aviv is widely assumed responsible. Israel did admit responsibility for the killing of Shukr, who was described by Hizballah Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah as a founding leader of the group during remarks delivered on Tuesday.

Hamas announced on Tuesday that Yahya Sinwar, the former head of the faction in Gaza who is believed to be one of the architects of the unprecedented and devastating 7 October operation dubbed al-Aqsa Flood, would be succeeding Haniyeh as head of the movement.

The announcement was likely a surprise to some after international outlets suggested that other Hamas figures such as Khaled Meshaal or Khalil al-Hayya would be likely to succeed Haniyeh, whose deputy Saleh al-Arouri was assassinated in Beirut in January.

Whereas Haniyeh was based in Qatar, and was considered a more moderate figure in the movement, the succession of Sinwar was seen as sending a message that Hamas remains committed to armed struggle and that there is unity between the leadership in Gaza, the West Bank, those in Israeli prison and in the diaspora.

Because a full leadership meeting of Hamas’ decision-making Shura council would be impossible to convene with dozens of its members in Gaza, Sinwar appears to be a consensus pick before a formal election, as political analyst Hani al-Masri anticipated in a comment given to the AP news agency.

The decision reinforced that “the decision-making lies in Gaza and on the ground,” according to commentator Ibrahim Hamami, who added that it is a “clear message” that negotiations for a ceasefire and exchange of captives happen there.

It also was a sign of discontent over the subservient role played by Arab states during the Gaza genocide, Hamami said, and of Hamas’ strengthened relations with Iran, which the faction may lean on to rebuild when the war is over.

Amal Saad, an expert on Hizballah, said that the selection of Sinwar not only signals a harder line in Gaza ceasefire talks with Israel, it “also broadcasts an uncompromising and resolute message for the ‘day after’ political landscape.”

Saad added that this “implies that Hamas has secured commitments from its partners guaranteeing ongoing and steadfast military backing.”

“This support is all the more meaningful considering the very real possibility of a worst case scenario unfolding – where Israel exploits Iran and Hizballah’s retaliatory actions as a justification for initiating all out war against the entire [Resistance] Axis,” Saad said, referring to armed groups throughout the region.

More than 300 days of genocide

The government media office in Gaza said on Tuesday that since the beginning of Israel’s offensive in early October, more than 39,650 fatalities had been received at hospitals, including 16,365 children and more than 11,000 women, indicating that the vast majority of Palestinians killed were civilians. An additional 10,000 people remain missing under the rubble or their bodies not yet recovered from the streets or inaccessible areas.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor estimates that at least an additional 51,000 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel’s siege on Gaza and its deliberate collapse of the medical sector in the territory, as well as the widespread destruction of infrastructure and mass displacement of civilians, leading to the spread of disease.

Nearly three dozen hospitals and 68 health centers in Gaza have been knocked out of service due to Israel’s assault. Israel’s military offensive has inflicted $33 billion in “direct initial losses” overall, the government media office added.

After more than 300 days of genocide, the media office said, more than 91,500 people in Gaza had been injured, at least 36 people had starved to death, while nearly 900 medical workers and nearly 80 civil defense members were killed.

The Israeli military had dropped 82,000 tons of explosives on Gaza, according to the office, destroying homes, universities, schools, mosques, churches, government buildings, sports and recreation facilities, water and hygiene infrastructure, and archaeological and heritage sites.

Meanwhile, Gaza has gone 300 days without electricity, the government media office said on Friday after Israel cut off the supply of power on 7 October and the only power plant in the territory was forced to shut down four days later after running out of fuel.

In what is widely cited as proof of Israel’s genocidal intent, Ghassan Alian, the head of the military body that deals with the civil administration of the occupation, said in early October that “Israel has imposed a total blockade on Gaza, no electricity, no water, just damage.”

“You wanted hell – you will get hell,” he added while referring to the population of Gaza as “human beasts.”

Israel Katz, Israel’s electricity minister, likewise stated following the cut-off of fuel in early October that this is what Israel would do “to a nation of murderers and butchers of children. What was will not be.”

The absence of electricity has prevented the normal operation of vital infrastructure and services for Gaza’s population, which before the war stood at 2.3 million Palestinians. This includes health, water and sanitation facilities, schools, flour mills and bakeries. The resulting environmental catastrophe has allowed for the spread of diseases and the emergence of the highly infectious polio virus and meningitis.

Journalist killed

The government media office in Gaza said on Tuesday that the number of journalists killed in the territory since last October now stands at 166 after the death of Muhammad Issa Abu Saada, a correspondent and photographer with several media outlets, in an Israeli attack.


Last week, Israel deliberately killed prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi in an airstrike in Gaza City. Khaled al-Shawa, a 17-year-old bystander, was also killed in the strike.

Basma al-Shawa, the slain teen’s mother, said that the boy was killed while out delivering food to an older man and told The Washington Post that “my son is not just a number.”

Israel attempted to justify the killing of the two journalists by accusing al-Ghoul of participating in the 7 October attack “while working as a journalist for Al Jazeera,” though he only joined the network in November. An Israeli military spokesperson claimed that a file from a Hamas computer showed that al-Ghoul was “an engineer in the Hamas Gaza Brigade.”

Al Jazeera Media Network rejected the accusations as “baseless” and pointed to “Israel’s long history of fabrications and false evidence used to cover up its heinous crimes.” It pointed out that Israel is denying international journalists access to Gaza, thereby preventing them from reporting on “the deteriorating humanitarian conditions and suffering” there.

The accusation against al-Ghoul echoed Israel’s attempted justification for previous attacks targeting Al Jazeera personnel.

In January, an Israeli strike killed Hamza Dahdouh, a journalist and son of the broadcaster’s Gaza bureau chief. Mustafa Thuraya, a drone operator, was killed alongside Hamza Dahdouh, along with their driver, after they had used “a drone to document the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike south of Khan Younis,” a Washington Post investigation found.

Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail Abu Omar was severely injured in a deliberate Israeli attack in February but survived.

Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, condemned the killing of al-Ghoul and al-Rifi and said “the Israeli military seems to be making accusations without any substantive evidence as a license to kill journalists, which is in total contravention of international humanitarian law.”

A statement released by Khan noted Israel’s “total ban on [Al Jazeera] in Israel, and the vicious smear campaign against the broadcaster” and called for the International Criminal Court “to move swiftly to prosecute the killing of journalists as a war crime.”

Schools, hospital courtyard attacked

On Wednesday, 7 August, Israel issued additional forced displacement orders in the already hard-hit areas of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, instructing residents to evacuate to shelters in central Gaza City. Local media warned that “a ‘large scale’ Israeli army operation is expected to begin there soon,” Al Jazeera reported.

Palestinians in central Gaza were also bracing for an Israeli invasion after “concentrated air attacks” on the area, “coupled with heavy artillery in the past few days,” Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday.

Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, now densely populated with people displaced from other areas of the Strip, is the only city in the territory that has remained largely intact, “with buildings people can shelter in,” the broadcaster added.

“But right now, there is a growing concern that the repeated attacks on Deir el-Balah indicate that this area, and largely the central area, is on the verge of a wider-scale attack and a larger invasion,” according to Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud.

Three Palestinians were killed in a home in the al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Several Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent housing displaced Palestinians east of Khan Younis the same day, according to Al Jazeera.

Journalist Anas al-Sharif reported that the victims included a woman and child whose bodies were burned by the fire caused by the bombing:

Also on Wednesday, at least four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack in western Khan Younis, “a very busy area,” Al Jazeera reported.

Israel bombed three schools sheltering displaced people on Saturday and Sunday, killing dozens of Palestinians.

At least 17 Palestinians, including women and children, were reportedly killed in a strike on the Hamama school in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City on Saturday.

On Sunday, at least 30 Palestinians were killed in strikes on al-Nasser and Hasan Salama schools in the Nasser neighborhood. Another 16 people were missing under the rubble of al-Nasser school, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense.

That same day, five Palestinians were killed and 15 injured in an Israeli strike on tents in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah. Thousands of displaced people were at the hospital complex at the time of the attack, which occurred without warning, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel.

The strike on the hospital sheltering displaced people came the same day as the Israeli military issued new orders for the forcible displacement of Palestinians in parts of Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza.

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, said on Saturday that “people in Gaza are constantly displaced, living in tents under the scorching summer sun with minimal access to drinking water.”

The UN human rights office stated on Monday that it was “horrified by the unfolding pattern” of “escalating” Israeli attacks on schools being used as shelters.

“Strikes on at least 17 schools just in the last month reportedly killed at least 163 Palestinians, including children and women,” the UN office said, adding that it indicates “a failure to comply with the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in carrying out these attacks.”

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said “the Israeli military is systematically creating a coercive environment by repeatedly, violently and directly bombing homes, residential neighborhoods and shelter centers.”

Israel hands over “desecrated” bodies

Israel transferred the decomposed remains of 89 people whose corpses had been handled in an undignified manner, the government media office said on Monday.

Yamen Abu Suleiman, the director of the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service in Khan Younis, told media that Israel provided no information about the “names, or ages, or anything” regarding the bodies and that it was unclear whether they had been exhumed from cemeteries or if they belonged to “detainees who had been tortured and killed.”

“He said the bodies would be examined in an attempt to determine the causes of death and to identify them, before being buried in a mass grave at a cemetery near Nasser hospital in Khan Younis,” Reuters reported.

Israeli forces have seized more than 2,000 human remains from cemeteries in Gaza during the military’s ground offensive, according to the government media office in the territory.

Israel has previously returned bodies to Gaza “after confirming that they were not Israeli hostages taken by Hamas,” according to Reuters.

The Gaza government media office said on Sunday that Abd al-Fattah al-Zriei, the deputy economy minister in the territory, was killed along with his mother in an Israeli airstrike on a home in Deir al-Balah.

The Israeli military claimed without substantiation that al-Zriei was “involved in the manufacturing department” of Hamas’ military wing and “stopped humanitarian aid from reaching Gazan civilians” – a tacit acknowledgement that al-Zriei was deliberately killed.

One day after the Israeli military implied that al-Zriei had diverted aid from reaching those in need in Gaza, Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, complained that “nobody will let us cause two million civilians to die of hunger, even though it might be justified and moral, until our hostages are returned.”

Smotrich said that “international legitimacy for this war” was holding Israel back from doing so.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies such as Smotrich are viewed within Israel’s defense establishment and its negotiating team, as well as its allies abroad, as the primary obstacle for a negotiated ceasefire agreement that would secure the release of the remaining captives in Gaza – particularly after the assassination of Haniyeh, a key Hamas interlocutor in the talks.

A deal to end the war is also necessary to prevent a further escalation between Israel and Hizballah, the latter of which has reiterated its position that de-escalation will come only once the bloodshed ends in Gaza.

Nasrallah describes existential battle

During his speech on Tuesday, Hizballah’s Nasrallah said that judging by Israel’s actions in Gaza, “it is clear that Netanyahu doesn’t want a ceasefire and he doesn’t want to end the war.”

He added that Israel’s plan in Gaza is to uproot the population and force it into submission while consolidating its hold on the lands of historic Palestine, Golan Heights and Shebaa Farms.

If Israel and the US “were to achieve victory against the resistance in Gaza, in the West Bank and the region,” Nasrallah warned, it would mean that there would be no deterrence against the genocidal state “running loose in the region.”

“The region today is confronting real dangers, everyone must understand the nature of this current battle,” Nasrallah emphasized. “If [the Israeli] government were to achieve victory in the battle of Gaza and the West Bank, it would mean there is no such thing as Palestine and the Palestinian people, nor Palestinian refugees.”

“Even al-Aqsa mosque, which the Muslims say is our first qibla, our sanctity … will be in very grave danger,” he added.

The defeat of resistance to Israel’s ambitions would endanger Lebanon’s sovereignty while the regime in Jordan, viewed by Netanyahu and his far-right allies as an alternative location for Palestinians, “would become something of the past.”

“I’m speaking about the current dangers, not in the next 10 years,” Nasrallah said.

But a defeat of the resistance is hardly a foregone conclusion.

“Nothing has changed: the captives haven’t returned, the resistance in Gaza hasn’t been eliminated,” Nasrallah said. To the contrary, he added, Israel’s army is becoming exhausted while its economy is suffering and social and political divisions within the country are widening.

“So there’s a horizon for this battle,” Nasrallah said, adding that “the fate of the region is now being determined.”

As if to underscore Nasrallah’s warnings of the danger posed by Tel Aviv, people in Beirut reported sonic booms from Israeli warplanes minutes before his televised address.

“The loud booms sent residents rushing to open their windows to prevent the glass from shattering, or standing on their balconies to get a glimpse of the planes flying over,” the news agency added.

Nasrallah’s speech marked the one-week anniversary of the killing of the resistance group’s senior military commander Fuad Shukr. Israel said that it killed Shukr in retaliation for what it said was a Hizballah rocket strike that killed 12 children in Majdal Shams, a Syrian town in the occupied Golan Heights, late last month.

Hizballah has said that it was not connected in any way to the explosion in Majdal Shams. In a speech last week, Nasrallah blamed it on a failed Israeli missile interceptor.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hizballah said “it launched a swarm of attack drones at two military sites near Acre in northern Israel and also attacked an Israeli military vehicle in another location,” according to Reuters.

Several people were injured, one critically, by an interceptor that “missed the target and hit the ground,” the Israeli military said.

Nasrallah did not divulge anything about the nature or timing of Hizballah’s response to the killing of Shukr but said it “will be strong, effective and impactful.”

A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday that Tehran “seeks to establish stability in the region, but this will only come with punishing the aggressor and creating deterrence against the adventurism of the Zionist regime.”

Maureen Clare Murphy is senior editor of The Electronic Intifada

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