Mondoweiss – January 18, 2024
‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 104:
Israel’s unrelenting assault continues – ‘If we’re not killed by bombs,
we die from the cold, starvation, or disease’
As Palestinians in Gaza continue to be starved and bombed by Israel, the U.S. has designated Yemen's Ansar Allah group as terrorists in hopes of intimidating their resistance against Israel's ongoing aggression.
By Leila Warah
Casualties
- 24,448+ killed* and at least 61,504 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 388+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
- 549 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.**
- *This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on January 16. Some rights groups put the death toll number at more than 31,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.
**This figure is released by the Israeli military.
Key Developments
- Occupied West Bank: Deadly military raid in Tulkarem continues for second day.
- UN: Every single person in Gaza is hungry, and a quarter are facing starvation
- PRCS: Two ambulance workers wounded by Israeli fire in the West Bank while trying to reach victims of air attack in Tulkarem refugee camp.
- U.S. designates Ansar Allah as a “terrorist” group for its attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
- $15bn needed to rebuild Gaza’s 350,000 homes after the war
- 300% increase in Gaza miscarriages since October 7
- At leastﾠ16 Palestinians, including children, killed in an Israeli shelling of a house east of Rafah.
- Medicine and aid entered Gaza for Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages as per Qatari-mediated deal.
- UNOCHA: Israeli missile strikes UNRWA health clinic in Daraj, in Gaza City.
- Gaza’s telecommunications blackout imposed by Israel enters seventh day.
Every day, the situation in Gaza grows exponentially worse amid Israel’s bombardment and ongoing blockade, leaving the majority of the besieged enclave’s population displaced with little to no belongings and nowhere safe to run.
In Rafah, southern Gaza, 16 people were killed by Israeli forces on Thursday when the home sheltering them was bombed, reported Al Jazeera, which expects the death toll to rise as more bodies are found in the rubble.
Abu Khaled, a relative of those killed in the attack, told the network, “They fled their homes in Gaza City to the Bureij refugee camp to Khan Younis before coming to Rafah because they thought it was safer.”
Although the U.S. claims that Israel is beginning to lower the intensity of their attacks on Gaza, Palestinians living in the besieged enclave have noticed no changes in Israel’s bombardment.
“The strikes have not stopped over the last few hours across the Gaza Strip, despite the fact that Israel says that they’re moving to a completely new phase with low-intensity bombing,” Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Rafah in southern Gaza.
“We can see that the death toll and casualties among civilians keeps rising, to reach more than 163 Palestinians killed in the past 24 hours,” Abu Azzoum said Wednesday evening.
“Every day, hundreds of us are killed,” Abu Khaled added, “If we’re not killed by the bombs, we die from the cold, or starvation, or from disease.”
According to the UN, every single person in the Gaza Strip is hungry, with a quarter of the population facing starvation. Residents of the besieged enclaves make up 80 percent of the world’s collective population facing famine or catastrophic hunger.
“In addition, all children under five – 335,000 of them – are at high risk of severe malnutrition as the risk of famine conditions continues to increase, a whole generation is now in danger of suffering from stunting,” the humanitarian group said.
The UN’s humanitarian agency’s (OCHA) latest update, which has been limited to Israel’s ongoing telecommunications blackout imposed on the besieged enclave, said that a missile reportedly struck the UNRWA health clinic in Daraj, in Gaza City on Wednesday.
The humanitarian group also reported heavy bombardment in the Khan Younis area for the last two days, targeting residential buildings, a cemetery, and hospitals.
“Initial reports and video footage show that much of the al-Namsawi cemetery was destroyed and graves empty with some corpses reportedly missing,” it said.
“The people of Gaza have moved from the sheer shock of losing everything – in some cases every member of their family – to a debilitating struggle to stay alive and protect their loved ones,”ﾠsaid UNRWA Commissioner Philippe Lazzarini after his fourth trip to Gaza since October 7.
Amnesty International has said the telecommunications blackout, which has entered its seventh day, has put civilians at risk, hampered the work of rescue services, and complicated aid delivery efforts.
“These recurrent and life-threatening blackouts must not be normalized. An immediate ceasefire is critical to urgently restore power and connectivity to Gazans,” the group said, adding that the communications blackout is the ninth imposed by Israeli forces since the beginning of the current round of fighting.
“This has gone on for far too long. There are no winners in these wars. There is endless chaos and growing despair. I call once again for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to bring some respite,” Lazzarini added.
Over 61,000 people have been wounded by Israel’s aggression on Gaza, which has left healthcare workers and humanitarian staff overwhelmed as undersupplied hospitals witness people die in front of them every day.
“I’ve seen children full of shrapnel dying on the floor because there are not the supplies in the emergency department, and the healthcare workers … to care for them,” Sean Casey of the World Health Organization saidﾠafter a visit to several of Gaza’s hospitals.
“Doctors can’t find anything to treat their patients, now they just use salt. Even salt is $13 per kilogramme. Can you imagine putting salt on people’s wounds to disinfect them?” displaced Palestinian Ibrahim Baraikat told Al Jazeera.
“We’ve reached a critical point. People are dying and they don’t even have painkillers.”
To make matters worse, hospitals have been repeatedly targeted by Israel’s military, making it impossible for patients to remain safe as they receive treatment.
On Wednesday, the Jordanian field hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis was badly damaged as a result of Israeli shelling in the vicinity.
Wafa reported that a Palestinian citizen, who was receiving treatment in the ICU, was injured by shrapnel and a bullet during the Israeli attack and that the hospital was subjected to severe material damage as a result of the continuous Israeli bombing.
Despite the damages, the hospital remains adamant that it will continue to operate.
The Jordanian Armed Forces have said they hold Israel fully accountable for the safety of the hospital’s staff, who are performing their humanitarian role by international laws and norms, added Wafa.
Meanwhile, pregnant women in Gaza are experiencing a 300% increase in miscarriages, which has been caused by the limited medical supplies and access to health centers, putting them at an increased risk of infection, Nour Beydoun, regional adviser on protection and gender in emergencies for humanitarian agency CARE, told Jezebel.
Beydoun added that another reason for the increase is that pregnant women lack proper food and nutrition, resulting in poor fetal health.
Israel’s “draconian” measure to restrict dissent
Meanwhile, in Israel, authorities have been cracking down on Palestinians “for simply expressing their views or opinions on various online platforms, through a variety of measures including censorship, surveillance and arrests,” says 7amleh, The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, asﾠcited by Al Jazeera.
7amleh says since October 7, Israel has introduced “draconian legislation” to restrict freedom of expression and criticism of its actions in Gaza.
“The most notable measures included mass content removals and extensive ‘shadowbanning’ of users criticizing Israel or posting in support of Palestinians. During Israel’s war on Gaza, these content restrictions and removals soared to unprecedented levels,” it noted.
“Users of Meta’s platforms, including journalists, activists, media pages, and those simply documenting reality on the ground or posting in support of Palestinian rights, were subject to account banning, content removal, and other restrictive measures,” the group continued.
Israel has also planned to indict Israeli politician Ofer Cassif, a member of the Knesset for the Hadash-Ta’al party, on charges of aggravated assault on a police officer that took place in 2022, The Times of Israel reports.
It is unclear why the indictment is proceeding in January 2024, however, it is essential to note that Cassif recently declared his backing for South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The politician has also been in the spotlight for his comments against members of the government, saying they are “calling for ethnic cleansing and even actual genocide” against Palestinians.
U.S. intimidation tactics not working on Yemen
On Wednesday, the U.S. designated Ansar Allah as a “terrorist” group for its attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
“Today, in response to these continuing threats and attacks, the United States announced the designation of Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
The designation comes into effect in 30 days and could be reevaluated if the Yemeni group ceases attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
“This designation is more like an insult. It’s the old glove in the face – slap someone with your glove. You’re sort of challenging but not really hurting them,” Nabeel Khoury, a former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Yemen,ﾠtold Al Jazeera.
Khoury said Ansar Allah would likely see the move as an “insult” and “provocation” that could lead to further escalation. He called the Biden administration’s strategic motivation “baffling.”
“I think the idea from the Biden administration is this will intimidate and this will stop further widening of the war,” Khoury said. “But if it has the opposite effect, which I think is more likely, then you are widening the war and opening yourself up and American presence to further attacks. And so the only possible thing I see is negative or potential further escalation.”
Ansar Allah spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam told Al Jazeeraﾠthat the group would not stop its attacks on ships heading to Israel from the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.
Abdulsalam said the group would “not back down in its position in support of the Palestinian people,” adding that the U.S. had no power to implement its decision against the Houthis and denied reports that Iran has been supplying arms to the group.
Hours after the U.S. announcement, the Yemeni group targeted a U.S. ship in the Gulf of Aden, achieving “precise and direct” hits.
“The Yemeni armed forces reaffirm that the response to the American and British aggression is inevitable, and no aggression will pass without response or punishment,” said Ansar Allah.
The U.S. later launched yet another barrage of missiles at Yemen.
Sullivan’s statement added that the re-designation of Ansar Allah, which comes with harsh sanctions, will not hurt the people of Yemen since the sanctions will include “unprecedented” humanitarian carve-outs.
Still, “rights advocates have warned that blacklisting the Houthis would complicate the work of humanitarian organizations operating in areas under the group’s control. Yemen is enduring one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises where millions of people are dependent on international aid,” reported Al Jazeera.
Hamas has denounced the U.S. designation of Ansar Allah as a ‘terrorist’ group, describing the Biden administration’s decision as “politicized,” saying that the move shows Washington’s “blatant bias” and aims to protect Israel as it continues its “barbaric aggression and genocide” in Gaza.
Over 30 hours of Israeli terror in West Bank city
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces have continued their overnight rampages in Palestinian neighborhoods and cities, which often turn deadly and have resulted in dozens of arrests.
The military has wreaked havoc in Tulkarem for two days straight now, demolishing infrastructure, destroying homes, beating and arresting residents, and killing the Palestinian city’s youth. It is unclear when the deadly raid will end.
Since the military invasion began, seven Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces.
The Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the killings of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have raised concerns of “unlawful” lethal attacks by the Israeli military.
“Unlawful killings of Palestinians must end,” the OHCHRﾒs Palestine office said.
“Israel must ensure a prompt, independent and effective investigation” of the killings, as “according to initial information, both cases raise concerns of unlawful killings,” it continued.
Drone strikes, mass arrests, and demolitions: Massive Israeli raid kills at least 11 Palestinians in northern West Bank
Israeli drone strikes have killed nine Palestinians in Nablus and Tulkarem during a massive ongoing army operation in the West Bank. As many as a 1,000 Palestinians have been detained in what locals are calling a "collective punishment" campaign.
BY SHATHA HANAYSHA AND YUMNA PATEL
Massive Israeli military operations in the northern occupied West Bank have killed at least 11 Palestinians since Wednesday, with thousands of Palestinians trapped inside their homes in the Tulkarem refugee camp, as an Israeli army invasion enters its second day.
Before dawn on Wednesday morning, January 17, Israeli forces conducted simultaneous raids and drone strikes in the cities of Nablus and Tulkarem.
In Nablus, Israeli forces raided the Balata refugee camp in the eastern part of the city, sparking armed confrontations with local armed groups. Shortly after the raid began, the military carried out a drone strike on a vehicle that was reportedly carrying a number of fighters with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the armed wing of the Fatah movement.
Five Palestinians were killed in the drone strike on Balata. Three of them were identified as Mohammad al-Qatawi, and siblings Saif al-Najmi and Yazan al-Najmi, Wafa reported.
In the city of Tulkarem, which sits close to the Green Line in the northwestern West Bank, the Israeli invasion began around 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday. A large number of Israeli forces, accompanied by at least two army bulldozers, raided the city and surrounded its two refugee camps, the Nur Shams refugee camp and the Tulkarem refugee camp.
According to reports, Israeli forces positioned snipers and troops around the vicinity of Tulkarem refugee camp, as well as around two hospitals in the area, preventing the entry and exit of civilians from the hospitals. Meanwhile, Israeli bulldozers began razing roads and infrastructure, including the entrances of homes and storefronts.
Intense confrontations erupted as armed groups in both refugee camps fought back against the invading troops. Shortly after the invasion began, the Israeli army carried out an airstrike in the al-Tammam neighborhood of the Tulkarem refugee camp, killing four Palestinians, among them two children.
The four Palestinians were identified as Ahmed Tariq Noman Faraj, 18, Walid Ibrahim Muhammad Ghanem, 17, Ahmed Musa, 17, Ahmed Moin Deeb Mahdawi, 35.
Medical personnel and sources in the camp told Mondoweiss that Israeli forces prevented ambulances and medical crews from accessing the site of the bombing, though crews were eventually able to transport the four martyrs and three others who were wounded in the drone strike to the local hospital.
As the raid continued in Tulkarem camp, residents told Mondoweiss that Israeli forces were “shooting everywhere and at everyone.” At least two more Palestinians were killed by Israeli live fire, including one young man who was reportedly “assassinated” in his vehicle in Ezbet Al-Jarad in the city of Tulkarem. He was identified as Ashraf Ahmed Yassin, 22.
Medical sources told Mondoweiss that the 13-year-old brother of Yassin was also injured by live fire when Israeli forces attacked their vehicle but was reported to be in stable condition.
The sixth martyr in Tulkarem refugee camp was reportedly shot by an Israeli sniper and identified as Abuldrahman Othman Turk. According to local sources, Turk was reportedly left on the ground to bleed out for 12 hours, as ambulances were prevented from reaching him. His body was reportedly tied with a rope by Israeli forces and dragged for a few meters before being left on the ground for hours. A photo seen by Mondoweiss shows a body on the ground, feet bound by a long rope, though it is not visible what the body is tied to.
Sources told Mondoweiss that after he was left on the ground to die by Israeli forces, a group of women from a neighboring house went outside to cover him with a blanket and placed a pillow beneath his head. Ambulances were unable to reach him, and were shot at every time they tried to enter the area. His body was taken to a neighbor’s home, where local women watched over him and read Qur’an over his body before medics eventually evacuated him.
According to local sources in the camp, there were reports that at least two more Palestinians were killed in Tulkarem camp, including one whose body was reportedly taken by Israeli forces, which would bring the total death count in Tulkarem refugee camp to eight. At the time of publication, however, the Ministry of Health had still not confirmed the killing of a seventh or eighth Palestinian in Tulkarem camp.
Meanwhile, it was reported that one Palestinian was killed in the nearby Nur Shams refugee camp. He was identified as Mohammad Faisal Dowwas Abu Awwad.
Radwan Bleibleh, a surgeon at the Tulkarem Governmental Hospital (Thabet Thabet Hospital), told Mondoweiss that the process of identifying the number of casualties is incredibly difficult due to the Israeli siege on the camps and the prevention of ambulances and medical crews from accessing the camps.
“We cannot fully know the number of wounded or casualties because the families of the wounded do not take them [out of the camp] for fear of being arrested,” Bleibleh said, adding that many wounded are being treated at makeshift field clinics in the camp, or are receiving triage care by residents themselves.
“We may know the exact number of casualties until the [Israeli] occupation forces withdraw and casualties begin to arrive [to the hospital],” he said.
At the time of publication, the Israeli army invasion was still ongoing in Tulkarem, approaching on 48 hours, one of the largest invasions in the area since the Second Intifada. While parts of the Nur Shams refugee camp became accessible to journalists after Israeli forces left, the Tulkarem refugee camp is still completely under siege as armed confrontations with local resistance groups continued.
At the time of publication, the latest statement from the Palestinian Red Crescent said that its crews had treated six martyrs in Tulkarem and 34 injuries, among them six for live ammunition, four with shrapnel injuries, and 24 injuries from assault and battery.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that with the death toll in Nablus and Tulkarem, the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank since the start of 2024 reached 41. Since October 7, 360 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank.
Throughout the army invasion in Tulkarem, Palestinian ambulances and medical crews were targeted and attacked and were prevented from treating and evacuating the wounded.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, from the outset of the invasion, its crews were held up by Israeli forces and prevented from accessing the site of the drone strike that killed four people and injured several others.
Red Crescent spokesman Ahmed Jibril said it took two hours for ambulances to evacuate the dead and injured due to “arbitrary measures and continuous searches of vehicles,” adding that the longer that injured people are being made to wait for medical treatment, the more it affects their prognosis or ability to survive.
According to Jibril, one of the ambulances was hit in an “explosion” while exiting the camp, causing shrapnel damage to the ambulance and injuries to the crew. Jibril said that it took around half an hour for the injured crew to be reached and evacuated by another ambulance and that the damaged ambulance was left inside the camp, with the crew unable to retrieve it due to the siege by Israeli forces.
Israeli forces routinely target Palestinian ambulances and medical crews in the occupied West Bank, and prevent them from accessing the wounded during Israeli military raids. During the Israeli onslaught in Gaza, Palestinian medics have reported being deliberately targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
A policy of collective punishment
Throughout the invasion of both the Nur Shams and Tulkarem refugee camps, Israeli forces have embarked on a campaign of destruction, using bulldozers to raze streets and critical infrastructure of the camp, in a practice being decried by residents as “collective punishment.”
According to local sources in both camps, Israeli forces have partially and fully destroyed a number of homes and buildings using bulldozers. In the Tulkarem camp, at least three homes were blown up by Israeli forces. In the Nur Shams camp, at least one home was reportedly set on fire by Israeli forces.
Faisal Salama, the director of Tulkarem camp services and the spokesman for the factions in the camp told Mondoweiss that the streets, sewage, and electricity networks in the camp, which had all been previously damaged in prior Israeli raids, were targeted once again and further destroyed, causing irreparable damage.
“The shops surrounding the camp were bulldozed and vandalized. Camp institutions and special landmarks in the camp were vandalized and bulldozed,” Salama said, adding that similar destruction was carried out in Nur Shams camp.
“The camps are punished under the pretext of the brigades’ presence [here],” he said, referring to groups of armed Palestinians, known as the Tulkarem Brigade, who operate from within the camps.
“All of their efforts are in vain,” the young fighter told Mondoweiss. “The resistance is still holding on, and people’s spirits are not broken.”
“They [Israel] implement a policy of collective punishment of all camp residents, including our services like electricity, water, and the arrest and targeting of young people,” he said, adding that the goal of the military is to cause extensive damage to the camp infrastructure and to civilian life, as a means of “inciting” the local population and turning them against the resistance fighters.
“Young people have the right to defend themselves, and the camp’s people, from what the occupation is doing in this camp,” Salama said.
“The Israeli occupation is raiding Tulkarem on a daily basis, and attacking the infrastructure of Nur Shams and Tulkarem refugees to try and hurt the people of the camp, and stop them from embracing the resistance” a fighter from the Nur Shams camp told Mondoweiss.
“But all of their efforts are in vain,” the young fighter said. “The resistance is still holding on, and people’s spirits are not broken.”
Mass arrests and interrogations
Throughout the raid on the two camps, Israeli forces have rounded up hundreds of camp residents, conducting “field interrogations,” raiding homes, ransacking them, and turning homes and buildings in the camp into “field interrogation centers.”
Video footage and photographs from the Tulkarem refugee camp show large groups of civilians being tied up, blindfolded, and corralled by Israeli forces. One image being circulated on social media, reportedly taken inside a building in the Tulkarem camp, shows a crowded room of young men, some sitting up and some lying on the ground, their hands zip-tied and their eyes blindfolded, some with their IDs in their hands.
Another video shows Israeli soldiers sitting in a room, smiling and talking to the camera as a number of blindfolded Palestinians are sat down and tied up on the ground.
Faisal Samala told Mondoweiss that Israeli forces were positioned in “every alleyway” of the camp, raiding homes and rounding people up. During these raids, as the men and teenage boys are rounded up, he said “the women are placed in one room, while the rest of the house is occupied [by soldiers], its contents are used, vandalized, and stolen.”
Salama said that mobile phones were taken from women and young men inside their homes, and that soldiers broke phones, televisions, and radios. “Doors, windows, and pictures,” were also broken and vandalized by Israeli soldiers, he said, adding that soldiers emptied the contents of some families’ refrigerators, destroying the food and dirtying the home.
According to Salama, the local community center in the camp was turned into a field “interrogation center” by the army, and the center’s doors, windows, and walls were damaged. Some residents are released after interrogations, and others are arrested and taken away by forces to unknown locations.
One resident of Tulkarem camp, who asked to remain anonymous, told Mondoweiss that he was arrested along with approximately 1,000 young men from the camp.
“They entered my house, smashed it, broke it, and arrested me,” he said, describing the soldiers as “frenzied” and aggressive, saying he feared he was going to be killed. According to the man, clashes were ongoing outside, and during his arrest, Israeli forces used him as a human shield as they moved through his neighborhood.
The man said he was blindfolded and taken to a house with a group of other detainees, where he was held and interrogated for hours, from the early morning until 7:00 p.m. at night.
“They were interrogating us about the camp and the resistance fighters and asking us whether we would open our homes to the resistance fighters or not,” he recounted. “There are some who were severely beaten during their detention, and there are others who are still detained until this moment, that we have no knowledge about,” he said, adding that his brother and nephews were also arrested, but he was unsure of their whereabouts or what happened to them.
According to the man, after his interrogation, he was released to an area outside the camp and threatened by Israeli soldiers not to return to his home inside the camp, saying they would kill him if he did.
“The situation is very difficult. It’s a war zone,” he said. “They did not have mercy on anyone.”
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The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
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