The following is a reposting of the deeply disturbing update published by Mondoweiss yesterday as the number of Palestinians of all ages who have been killed quickly climbs towards 30,000. These are war cimes.
I have also included an updated report published today by Euro Med Human Rights Monitor below.
Israel’s opposition welcomes Supreme Court ruling against Netanyahu's law restricting judicial powers. Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in a single West Bank village, and a seventh Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli prisons.
PEOPLE GATHER HUDDLE TO KEEP WARM BY A STOVE OUTDOORS AT A CAMP FOR DISPLACED PALESTINIANS IN RAFAH IN THE SOUTHERN GAZA STRIP NEAR THE BORDER WITH EGYPT ON DECEMBER 31, 2023. (BASHAR TALEB/ APA IMAGES)
Casualties
21,978+ killed* and at least 56,451 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
321 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.
506 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 2,193 injured.
*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on January 1. Due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health in Gaza has been unable to regularly and accurately update its tolls since mid-November. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 30,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.
Key Developments
Israeli forces kill at least 4,156 Palestinian students and injure 7,818 others, majority of them in Gaza Strip, since October 7.
Israeli forces bomb and vandalize 278 governmental schools in Gaza Strip and 65 schools affiliated with UNRWA.
At least 133 schools turn into shelters for thousands of displaced Palestinians as students stopped attending school since October 7.
Haaretz newspaper says number of Palestinians arrested in Gaza went up by 150 percent in January compared to December.
Al-Akhbar reports Israeli forces are finding it hard to tackle resistance fighters in Gaza as their tactics are elusive and change rapidly.
Israeli Shin Ben officers attempt to extract information on hideouts of resistance fighters in north Gaza, locations of tunnels and boobytraps.
Israel’s Supreme Court rule against law passed in July to eliminate reasonableness clause.
National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, lambasts Supreme Court ruling as “dangerous, anti-democratic event,” while opposition leader, Yair Lapid, welcomes it.
Israeli rights group, Yesh Din, says 2023 was the worst year of settlers’ violence in occupied West Bank.
According to PA’s Ministry of Health, Israel killed 520 Palestinians in West Bank, 51 of them in Jerusalem.
A total of 55,158 Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem in 2023, according to Al-Quds Governate report.
Abdul Rahman Bassem Al-Bahash, 23, seventh Palestinian prisoner to die in Israeli jail.
Israel’s bombardment kills 4,000 Palestinian students in Gaza
In 2023, Israeli forces killed at least 4,156 Palestinian students and injured 7,818 others, the majority of them in the past three months in the Gaza Strip, according to a report by the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Ministry of Education.
The figure includes students killed in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, where settlers’ attacks and Israeli forces’ raids on Palestinian towns ran amok.
In Gaza alone, 4,119 students were killed and 7,536 injured in the relentless Israeli bombardment since October 7, while in the West Bank, Israeli forces or settlers killed 37 students, injured 282 others, and arrested 85 pupils.
Teaching staff and administrators also found themselves under Israeli fire as 221 of them were killed and 703 injured in the Gaza Strip, while in the West Bank, Israeli forces arrested 71 teachers.
The PA’s Ministry of Education said that Israeli forces bombed and vandalized 278 governmental schools in the Gaza Strip and 65 schools affiliated with the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
Israeli forces severely damaged 83 schools and completely destroyed seven in the Gaza Strip, while in the West Bank, it vandalized and stormed 38 schools.
Since October 7, Palestinian students stopped attending schools due to the Israeli bombardment in Gaza. At least 133 schools were turned into shelters for thousands of displaced Palestinians. Ninety percent of all school buildings in the Gaza Strip were damaged, and 29 percent could not be operated as they were either destroyed or severely bombed.
Israeli forces bomb houses as intelligence extracts information from Gaza’s detainees
In the past 24 hours, Israeli bombing and shelling killed at least 70 Palestinians and injured more than 100 in the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli airstrike on the house of the Matar family killed 15 members of the household in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health announced on Monday that 21,978 Palestinians were killed and 57,697 injured since Israel’s aggression on October 7.
Israeli artillery shelled north of Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Monday night and launched airstrikes on the center and east of Khan Yunis, Wafa news reported.
Several Palestinians were killed in an Israeli raid on Al-Nuseriat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Alongside its bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces had arrested hundreds of Palestinians from the enclave.
The Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper reported that Palestinian detainees were harshly interrogated for long hours, verbally abused, and threatened if they did not collaborate with the Israeli internal intelligence, the Shin Bet.
According to one of the detainees, who was released in December, the Israeli Shin Ben officers tried to extract information on the hideouts of resistance fighters in north Gaza, the locations of tunnels, and boobytraps.
Al-Akhbar said that Israeli forces are finding it hard to tackle resistance fighters as their tactics are elusive and rapidly change as armed battles develop. Al-Akhbar’s correspondent in Gaza reported that in the case of boobytraps, some of them are set up amid Israel’s bombardment and reconnaissance drone activity.
Israel cages hundreds of Gaza’s detainees in ‘New Guantánamo’
Haaretz newspaper said that the number of Palestinians arrested in Gaza went up by 150 percent in January compared to December.
Currently, there are 661 Palestinian prisoners from the Gaza Strip in Israeli jails. Last month, 260 were detained, most of them in the notorious desert prison of Sde Teman, which was described as Israel’s Guantánamo.
Palestinian prisoners from Gaza were subjected to violence and collective punishment in Sde Timan, according to Haaretz.
Israeli jailers covered the prisoners’ eyes and bound their hands with plastic handcuffs. They allowed them to sleep on thin yoga-like mats, with rough woolen blankets, and were not allowed to change their clothes during their detention periods.
The Geneva-based Euro-Med Monitor said in a report last month that detainees in Sde Teman are “caged in inhumane conditions” and that the Israeli army used “open-air chicken coops to house the detained and withholding of food or drink for long periods of time.”
“The Sde Teman camp detains Palestinians of all ages, from young children to elderly people. Within fenced compounds, detainees are blindfolded and subjected to harsh interrogations with their hands tied,” Euro-Med said.
“According to testimonies, lights are turned on and intensely shone upon them at night, with the intention of exhausting and torturing them,” it added.
Palestinians were not allowed to meet lawyers, access legal help, or make a phone call.
Israel’s Supreme Court rules against Netanyahu’s attempts to limit its powers
On Monday, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled against a law passed in July by the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that eliminated the so-called “reasonableness clause.”
The clause allows the Supreme Court to overrule government decisions and deem it invalid if regarded as “unreasonable,” according to the spirit of law.
Since January 2023, thousands of Israelis have protested against Netanyahu’s government plan to limit the Supreme Court’s power to override government actions.
Judges voted in a razor-thin majority in favor of the decision on Monday. Since January 2023, thousands of Israelis protested weekly against Netanyahu’s plan to curb the power of the Supreme Court, whose decision is viewed as a setback for Netanyahu as he faces protests and calls for resignation.
The court said that July’s law to eliminate the reasonableness clause was a “severe and unprecedented blow to the core characteristics of the State of Israel as a democratic state.”
Benny Gantz, a minister in the war cabinet but an opposition figure who led protests against Netanyahu’s judiciary overhaul plan, said the Supreme Court’s ruling must be respected.
“These are not days for political arguments, there are no winners and losers today. Today we have only one common goal – to win the war together,” Gantz said.
However, the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was a major proponent of limiting the court’s power, lambasted the ruling.
He called the decision “illegal” and “a dangerous, anti-democratic event — and at this time, above all, a ruling that harms Israel’s war effort against its enemies.”
Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader, backed the Supreme Court decision, saying it “protected” the citizens of Israel.
“If the Israeli government again starts the quarrel over the Supreme Court then they have learned nothing,” Lapid said.
“They didn’t learn anything on October 7, they didn’t learn anything from 87 days of war for our home,” he added.
Seventh Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli jail as forces kill four Palestinians in West Bank village
The year 2023 was the worst for settler violence in the occupied West Bank in decades, according to the Israeli monitor group Yesh Din.
“At least 10 Palestinians were killed by settlers and dozens of homes and vehicles were set on fire [in 2023],” the group said.
“[It] was the most violent year in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank in both the number of incidents and their severity,” it added.
There are nearly half a million Israeli settlers living among three million Palestinians in the West Bank.
Yesh Din said that since October 7, there has been an uptick in settler attacks, which take place with the knowledge and frequent supervision or participation of Israeli authorities.
The group documented 242 incidents in which hundreds of Israeli settlers “raided Palestinian villages, setting fire to dozens of homes and vehicles.”
Meanwhile, according to the PA’s Ministry of Health, at least 520 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank in 2023, and 51 were killed in occupied Jerusalem.
The PA’s Al-Quds Governorate said in a report that 20 children were killed in Jerusalem, while a total of 55,158 Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound under the protection of police and intelligence.
As the Israeli government authorized the construction of 29 settler housing projects in 2023, it issued demolition orders for 316 Palestinian houses in Jerusalem. At least 3,081 Palestinians were arrested, and 740 were barred entry to Jerusalem or to the Al-Aqsa compound in 2023.
Israeli forces arrested dozens of Palestinians overnight from the towns and cities of Nablus, Hebron, Tulkarem, Jenin, and Jericho.
Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in Azzun village, east of Qalqilya, on Tuesday morning, while an Israeli soldier was injured.
Israeli forces stormed Azzun and opened fire, using stun grenades, tear gas and live ammunition on Palestinians in the village.
The Palestinians killed were identified as Walid Ismail Radwan, 18, Qusay Jamal Adwan, 21, Iyad Ahmad Shubita, 22, and Muhammad Abdel Fattah Radwan, 29.
Israeli forces detained their bodies, raided shops and houses, and confiscated security cameras in Azzun.
In Jenin, Israeli forces also stormed the town and arrested and injured a number of Palestinians.
The groups accused Israel of assassinating Al-Bahash, who was arrested from his hometown of Nablus on May 31, 2022, and sentenced to 35 months in prison.
Bahash died in Megiddo Prison, which “witnessed horrific crimes and systematic torture against prisoners [since October 7], where three other prisoners were killed prior to the prisoner Abdul Rahman Al-Bahash.”
The Commission and the Prisoners Club added that 4,910 Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli forces in the West Bank since October 7.
The following report was published this morning by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.
Geneva – Israel’s intensification of its military assaults on the Gaza Strip’s shelter centres is part of a declared effort to carry out its displacement plans against the Gazan people, give them the impression that there is nowhere safe for them to live within the Strip, and worsen their suffering amid the genocide that has been ongoing since 7 October, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said in a statement issued Monday.
The Geneva-based organisation stressed that Israel’s deliberate attacks on Gaza’s shelter centres explicitly violate the rules of international law, particularly international humanitarian law. Shelter centres are supposed to be considered safe places, and Israel bears responsibility for the security of those who seek refuge inside them. Given that most victims of these attacks are civilians, including women and children, it is also evident that the methods used to carry out the attacks violate the principle of discrimination and fail to consider the standards of proportionality and military necessity. This could amount to serious violations and war crimes in accordance with international humanitarian and criminal law.
In this regard, Euro-Med Monitor pointed to public statements made by a number of senior Israeli officials regarding potential countries willing to accept large numbers of Gaza Strip residents, and the Israeli officials’ desire to relocate Gazans forcibly.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right Minister of Finance, called on Sunday for encouraging the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. He called for Palestinian residents of Gaza to leave the besieged enclave, making way for the Israelis who could “make the desert bloom” “if [they] act in a strategically correct way”.
Smotrich added, “If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million, the whole discourse of the day after [the war] will be completely different.”
A week ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he is pushing for plans to implement a policy of “voluntary migration” on Palestinians in Gaza in the hope of evacuating them to other countries. “Our problem is the countries that are willing to absorb [them], and we are working on it,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli army ordered approximately 1.1 million people living in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south on 12 October 2023, according to the Euro-Med Monitor. No assurance was given that they would be permitted to return, however, or that their safety would be ensured while they were being displaced. Conversely, the Israeli army frequently targeted Gazans as they were forcibly evacuated along routes that Israel specifically designated as safe.
The rights group noted that the Israeli army threatened to label the people of Gaza City and its northern region as “terrorists” if they did not comply with the evacuation orders. This reveals a blatant disregard for the principle that distinguishes between combatants and civilians, Euro-Med Monitor said, and stated that the prohibited act of purposefully launching military strikes against civilian residents who do not actively take part in hostilities is deemed a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Over the past few weeks, the Israeli army has expanded its indiscriminate attacks and forced evacuations throughout the Gaza Strip, pushing hundreds of thousands of displaced people into severe overcrowding in Rafah City on the border with Egypt. With more than 12,000 people per square kilometre living there, Rafah is currently thought to be the most densely populated area in Gaza. The already congested space and scarce resources have been made worse by the recent wave of displaced people.
Euro-Med Monitor said that Israel’s insistence on keeping the vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s population displaced means that most Gazans will continue to be denied necessary health care, including those suffering from chronic diseases as well as pregnant women, amid the continued Israeli ban on humanitarian aid, food, and medical supplies.
Those displaced have been forced to erect tents in open areas in Rafah and Gaza’s central governorates. Further, they are unable to obtain basic sanitary amenities and supplies, such as hygienic toilets and personal care products, which worsens the spread of infectious diseases and raises the risk of a widespread health catastrophe.
Initial monitoring by the Euro-Med Monitor revealed that the Israeli army was persistently targeting residential homes and shelters for displaced people in different parts of the Gaza Strip, including:
31 December 2023: Attacks on the Sakina Bint Al-Hussein School in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, resulted in the deaths and injuries of dozens of displaced Palestinians.
30 December 2023: A displaced Palestinian was killed and 10 others were injured in an Israeli artillery shelling targeting the Siham A School in the Khan Yunis camp in the southern Gaza Strip.
29 December 2023: Israeli gunfire and artillery shelling inside the Abu Helu school in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip resulted in the deaths of two displaced Palestinians and the injuries of several others.
27 December 2023: Dozens of displaced Palestinians were killed and injured in an Israeli artillery shelling of Al-Maghazi Girls’ School in the central Gaza Strip.
27 December 2023: Three displaced people were killed and several others were injured in an Israeli bombing in the vicinity of the Khaled bin Al-Walid school in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
25 December 2023: A number of displaced people were injured in an Israeli bombing of the Ebad Al-Rahman School on Al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City.
24 December 2023: Dozens of displaced Palestinians were killed and injured in an Israeli bombing in the vicinity of Al-Rafi’i School in the town of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.
23 December 2023: A pregnant woman was seriously injured in an Israeli artillery shelling in the vicinity of the Khaled School in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
22 December 2023: A displaced child was killed in Israeli gunfire that targeted Al-Rafi’i School in the town of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.
20 December 2023: Dozens of displaced people were killed and injured in intense Israeli bombing in the vicinity of a school housing displaced people in Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip.
20 December 2023: Dozens of displaced people were killed and injured in an Israeli bombing of Al-Mustaqbal school in Al-Sabra neighbourhood, south of Gaza City.
19 December 2023: A displaced person was killed and at least another was injured in Israeli gunfire that targeted Al-Hanawi School in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
18 December 2023: Three displaced people were injured, one of them seriously, in an Israeli bombing that targeted the vicinity of the Qandila School in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
17 December 2023: Dozens of displaced people were killed and injured in an Israeli bombing in the vicinity of the Abu Tammam School in the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.
15 December 2023: Dozens of displaced people were killed and injured in an Israeli bombing in the vicinity of the Shadia Abu Ghazala School in the northern Gaza Strip.
15 December 2023: Dozens of Palestinians, including photojournalist Samer Abu Daqqa, were killed in an Israeli artillery shelling on the Farhana school in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
14 December 2023: 14 displaced Palestinians were killed in an Israeli bombing on a school in the northern Gaza Strip.
13 December 2023: Dozens of displaced people were killed and injured in an Israeli bombing on the Abu Hussein school in the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
11 December 2023: Dozens of displaced people were killed and injured in an Israeli bombing of a school in a camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
9 December 2023: Dozens of displaced people were killed and injured in an Israeli bombing on the Khalifa School in the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.
8 December 2023: Israeli special forces executed four displaced persons after storming the Cairo School in Gaza City.
7 December 2023: A number of displaced people were killed and injured in an Israeli bombing on the Khalifa School in the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.
5 December 2023: A number of displaced people were killed and injured in an Israeli bombing of both the Palestinian and Al-Falah schools in Gaza City.
4 December 2023: Five displaced people were killed in an Israeli bombing of a school in the Ma’an area in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.
2 December 2023: 20 displaced people were killed in an Israeli bombing on the Salah al-Din School in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood.
25 November 2023: Dozens of Palestinians were killed and injured in an Israeli bombing of the UNRWA-run Al-Faluja school in the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.
23 November 2023: Israeli aircraft targeted a charity building behind the Kuwaiti Hospital, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians in a shelter centre.
21 November 2023: Israeli artillery bombed the vicinity of the Khalifa school in the centre of the Beit Lahia project, sheltering more than 8,000 displaced people. Dozens of displaced people were killed and injured in the attack.
20 November 2023: Israeli artillery bombed the Kuwait School in the northern Gaza Strip, which was sheltering thousands of displaced people. Dozens of casualties were reported due to the attack.
19 November 2023: Dozens of Palestinians were killed and injured in an Israeli bombing targeting the Amr Bin Al-Aas School in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, north of Gaza City.
18 November 2023: Hundreds of Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed and injured in two Israeli massacres in both the Tal Al-Zaatar and Al-Fakhoura schools in the northern Gaza Strip’s Jabalia camp.
17 November 2023: Israeli aircraft bombed the UNRWA-run Al-Falah school in Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood, in the southern part of Gaza City, which had been sheltering displaced people. Dozens of deaths and injuries were reported in the attacks.
15 November 2023: At least three Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in an Israeli air strike on the Malaysian School in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.
13 November 2023: Israeli aircraft bombed a UNRWA-run school in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip that was sheltering displaced persons, claiming the lives of dozens.
11 November 2023: UNRWA reported that Israeli forces had invaded two of its health facilities and one of its schools in the northern Gaza Strip, forcing the displaced people who were taking refuge there to flee south. The two health facilities had then been bombed.
11 November 2023: Dozens of people were killed and injured when Israeli aircraft bombed the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) headquarters in Gaza City’s Al-Nasr neighbourhood, which serves as a shelter for displaced people.
11 November 2023: Approximately 500 displaced people were being housed at the Swedish Clinic’s headquarters in Al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City, when it was raided by the Israeli army. The precise number of casualties is still unknown.
10 November 2023: At least 50 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli bombing on Al-Buraq School, which was sheltering hundreds of displaced people, in Gaza City’s Al-Nasr neighbourhood.
8 November 2023: An Israeli bombing of a UNRWA-run school in Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, in the west part of Gaza City, resulted in the deaths of dozens of Palestinians.
4 November 2023: 20 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in an Israeli bombing on Al-Falujah School, which was housing thousands of displaced people in the northern Gaza Strip’s Jabalia camp.
4 November 2023: Israeli aircraft targeted the Osama bin Zaid School, which was sheltering thousands of displaced people in the northern Gaza Strip’s Al-Saftawi area. The attack resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries.
3 November 2023: An Israeli bombing of a government school in the northern Gaza Strip’s Jabalia camp, which houses hundreds of displaced people, resulted in 27 deaths and numerous injuries.
2 November 2023: Israeli aircraft bombed the vicinity of the UNRWA-run Abu Assi School in the Beach camp, in the western part of Gaza City, which houses thousands of displaced people. Five people were killed and dozens more were injured during the attack.
30 October 2023: At least 20 people were killed and dozens were injured in an Israeli bombing that targeted the Tal al-Qamar Hall, east of Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, sheltering hundreds of displaced people.
19 October 2023: At least eight people, including women and children, were killed in an Israeli bombing of the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrios in Gaza, where hundreds of displaced people took refuge.
18 October 2023: Israeli aircraft bombed a UNRWA-run school in Khan Yunis, leaving dozens of deaths and injuries.
15 October 2023: Israeli aircraft bombed the headquarters of a charitable organisation sheltering dozens of displaced people in Rafah, leaving 11 people dead and dozens injured.
15 October 2023: Israeli warplanes targeted a residential building near Al-Najma Roundabout in central Rafah, housing displaced people. Dozens of casualties were reported during the attack.
13 October 2023: 17 people were killed in an Israeli bombing of a residential building belonging to the Abu Madian family in the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip. The building was housing approximately 70 individuals, the majority of whom were displaced persons.
According to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Israel is determined to carry out the forcible displacement of civilians in the Gaza Strip, beyond the bounds of international law. Even more concerning, the rights organisation said, is that Israel has granted itself permission to target and designate as “terrorists” those who defy its appalling evacuation order.
In the absence of a safe haven in the Strip, Euro-Med Monitor emphasised that warning Gazan civilians that their residential areas will be the target of indiscriminate attacks is both ineffective—as evidenced by the scores of deaths documented above—and illegal. An occupying authority such as Israel is required to protect civilians who are unwilling or unable to flee.
The indiscriminate and targeted murder of Palestinians of all ages by Israeli personnel are war crimes. Israel must immediately be held to account for their genocidal ethnic cleansing of Gaza, the West Bank and other areas of Palestine.
