LUISTER NAAR DE JOODSE STEMMEN OVER

DE ISRAELISCHE MEGA-MISDRIJVEN TEGEN

HET INTERNATIONAAL HUMANITAIR RECHT

JEGENS DE PALESTIJNEN !

THE JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE - JVP

  LEES "THE WIRE" !

BERICHTEN NA 31-07-2025 STAAN HIER

31 augustus 2025

On 25 August 2025, Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis twice, killing 22 civilians — including journalists, doctors, rescue workers, and a 14-year-old child. Today, the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights filed a complaint to the International Criminal Court, exposing the full chain of command behind the massacre. Our investigation proves that the Golani Brigade engineered and coordinated the attack under continuous drone surveillance, the 188th Armored Brigade executed it with guided missiles, and senior commanders up to Prime Minister Netanyahu authorized and enabled it. This was not crossfire, but deliberate killing with genocidal intent. Justice demands accountability.

Read the full press release below.

Today, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) submitted a formal complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the massacre at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on 25 August 2025. The attack killed 22 civilians, including five journalists, three hospital staff, one doctor, a civil defense worker, and one child, 14-year-old Rayan Omar Mahmoud Abu Omar. More than fifty others were injured in what can only be described as a deliberate double-tap strike carried out with full knowledge of the civilian presence.

Golani at the Center of the Operation

The Golani Brigade was at the heart of this atrocity. Evidence demonstrates that Golani forces engineered the attack from its inception. Their reconnaissance unit, Sayeret Golani (Recon 631), conducted continuous UAV surveillance over Nasser Hospital and may have executed the first strike themselves using a drone-fired munition. The footage and testimonies establish that Golani’s operators had uninterrupted “eyes on the target,” observing the stairwell where Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri positioned his live camera every day. They knew precisely who was present—journalists in clearly marked press vests, civil defense workers in uniform, doctors, patients, and even a child.

The first strike killed al-Masri and cut his live broadcast. Nine minutes later, once rescue workers and journalists had gathered to assist the wounded, Golani requested and coordinated a second strike. The timing and method show that this was no accident, but a calculated decision to maximize civilian casualties.

Tactical Execution by the 188th Armored Brigade

The 188th Armored Brigade, commanded by Col. Miki Sharvit, executed the second strike. Forensic analysis of debris and video footage confirms that at least two LAHAT laser-guided missiles were fired in near-simultaneous salvo from Merkava tanks, striking the exact same stairwell landing within a second of each other. This precision was only possible because Golani’s UAVs provided the laser designation that guided the missiles directly onto the stairwell filled with civilians.

The 188th Armored Brigade therefore carried out the tactical launch of the massacre, fully aware—thanks to drone oversight—of who their victims would be.

Divisional Oversight by the 36th Armored Division

Above these units stood the 36th Armored Division (“Ga’ash”), commanded by Brig. Gen. Moran Omer. This division held operational responsibility over both the Golani Brigade and the 188th Armored Brigade in Khan Younis. Brig. Gen. Omer personally toured the area in the days before the attack, meeting with his subordinate commanders and overseeing their deployment. His division had ultimate control over fire missions in the sector, and the precision strikes against the hospital stairwell could not have taken place without his approval.

Sectoral Authorization by the Southern Command

The next level of responsibility lies with the Southern Command, led by Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor. All operations in Gaza fell under his authority, including the approval of attacks on highly sensitive sites such as hospitals. Reports confirm that the first strike on Nasser Hospital was approved specifically as a drone attack due to the sensitivity of the location. The second strike, launched with guided missiles only minutes later, likewise required his approval. His authorization allowed the escalation that transformed one lethal strike into a massacre.

Strategic Oversight by the Chief of Staff

The overall command rested with Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Chief of Staff of the Israeli military. Zamir visited Khan Younis just days before the massacre, together with Maj. Gen. Asor and Brig. Gen. Omer, meeting directly with Golani and 188th commanders. As Chief of Staff, Zamir was responsible for the rules of engagement and permitted the use of double-tap tactics: an initial strike, followed by a second strike once journalists, doctors, and rescue teams had rushed to assist the wounded. By endorsing such methods, Zamir effectively institutionalized a strategy designed to maximize terror and death among civilians.

Political Responsibility of the Prime Minister

At the very top stands Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who provided the political and ideological framework that made this massacre possible. By repeatedly branding journalists as “Hamas affiliates” and hospitals as “terrorist infrastructure,” without offering evidence, Netanyahu legitimized attacks on civilians and created an environment in which the targeting of hospitals and journalists became state policy. His leadership role makes him not only an enabler but also an architect of this policy of extermination and erasure.

Weapons Analysis: Precision and Intent

The weapons analysis carried out by HRF’s forensic team underscores the deliberate nature of the attack. The first strike was carried out with a drone-fired munition, consistent with eyewitness accounts and the localized damage that killed Hussam al-Masri without collapsing the hospital building. The second strike involved at least two LAHAT guided missiles launched from Merkava tanks, homing in on the stairwell designated by Golani’s UAV. Debris collected at the site showed modular alloy casings consistent with guided missile systems, not conventional shells.

The presence of UAVs over the hospital during the entire attack confirms that the perpetrators saw exactly who was on the ground. The choice to strike the same spot twice, with such precision, proves that this was intentional killing rather than incidental harm.

War Crimes and Genocide

The massacre at Nasser Hospital is not an isolated event but part of a wider pattern. Since October 2023, more than 270 journalists have been killed in Gaza, making it the deadliest conflict for media workers in modern history. At the same time, 94% of Gaza’s hospitals have been damaged or destroyed. This systematic targeting of both healthcare and the press shows a dual strategy: to deprive Palestinians of survival and to erase the evidence of their suffering. Such acts are consistent with a genocidal policy.

HRF and PCHR therefore conclude that the Nasser Hospital massacre constitutes war crimes under the Rome Statute, including willful killing, deliberate attacks on a hospital, and disproportionate harm. It also constitutes genocide, as it involves the intentional killing of members of a protected group and the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to destroy that group in whole or in part.

A Call for Justice

With today’s filing before the ICC, the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights demand that the Court open proceedings and issue arrest warrants against those responsible—from the Golani operators who designated the target, to the tank commanders who launched the missiles, to the generals who approved the attack, and ultimately to Prime Minister Netanyahu who provided political cover.

This massacre was not the result of chaos or confusion but of a carefully executed plan under a clear chain of command. Journalists, doctors, rescue workers, and even a child were killed deliberately, under the watching eyes of Israeli drones. This was not only a war crime—it was an act of genocide.

The world cannot allow impunity to continue. Justice for the victims of Nasser Hospital demands accountability at the highest level.

1730.

31 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Trump continues to dabble in dangerous fantasy as Netanyahu razes Gaza to the ground

Mitchell Plitnick

This week, the Trump administration invited Jared Kushner and Tony Blair to the White House to discuss the "day after" in Gaza. The meeting was an exercise in fantasy, and its only intended beneficiary was not even present - Benjamin Netanyahu.

1729.

30 augustus 2025

The movement for Palestinian freedom is winning

This week, I’m in Detroit for the second annual People’s Conference for Palestine , along with a few other Mondoweiss staff members. If you are in the Detroit area, you can still attend, and we’d love to see you at our table. If you are not in the area, BreakThrough News is live-streaming many of the sessions on YouTube. Click here to visit their conference playlist , which includes the upcoming live-streams.

Today, I spoke to young people whose college graduations are being held up as punishment for protesting the Israeli genocide in Gaza. I talked to organizers from all over the country who were desperate for other people in other communities to know about their efforts and were looking for validation and encouragement. I reconnected with movement leaders who are still putting in the long hours building the movement for Palestinian freedom. There is a real sense here that something is shifting in the struggle against Israeli apartheid.

We’ve also met many people who depend on Mondoweiss to bring them accurate news and analysis about Palestine that mainstream media ignores. We always love to meet our readers in person. It’s energizing and reinvigorating, and it reminds us of the critical role movement-centered media plays in these struggles. Mondoweiss is a key outlet for news and analysis that activists and leaders depend on. It’s humbling, and we take this work very seriously.

The movement for Palestinian freedom is growing and changing the political landscape. One day soon, politicians will have to campaign for Palestinian freedom, and that day is coming sooner than anyone may think. The size, commitment, and passion of this event are proof of that.

We’re gearing up for our most important fundraising season, and I want to tell you about a new program we’re building to help us strengthen our financial sustainability. Frontline Funders is our new matching donor program. We’re looking for a core group of supporters to help raise $200,000 to fuel Mondoweiss campaigns over the coming year. This fund will incentivize others to become donors by matching their gifts. If you’re interested in learning more or joining our Frontline Funders, just hit reply and let me know. We’d love to talk.

I’ll be back next week with more reflections on this weekend. For now, please take a look below at some of the key stories we published over the last several days.

David Reed, Publisher

Articles / Donate today

Must read: Airstrikes, explosive vehicles, and bulldozers cause ‘insane’ destruction in Gaza City, eyewitnesses and civil defense say

Tareq Hajjaj: The Israeli army is using airstrikes, rigged explosive APCs, and bulldozing operations to level neighborhoods and displacement centers in Gaza City. Eyewitnesses and local officials say it is to cause mass flight and prevent residents from returning.

Palestinians inspect the destruction of the al-Falah school in Gaza City’s Zaytoun neighborhood, June 30, 2025. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)

Genocide in Gaza

 Amena Al-Ashkar: Hamas’s effort to gain Western sympathy by comparing the Gaza genocide to the Holocaust is understandable but ultimately shortsighted. Instead, putting the genocide in the larger context of colonial violence could build genuine solidarity.

 Mitchell Plitnick: The denial of the Gaza genocide has been echoed from the mainstream media to the White House. While reminiscent of Holocaust denial, today’s denials have deadly consequences as they are used to justify the very genocide that deniers claim isn’t happening.

 Craig Mokhiber: As a key deadline approaches in the United Nations General Assembly, a little-used UN mechanism, immune from the U.S. veto, could bring military protection to the Palestinian people – if we demand it.

 Tareq Hajjaj: The Israeli army carried out a ‘double-tap’ strike on the Nasser Hospital in Gaza, killing at least 20 people, including five journalists who worked for Al Jazeera, Reuters, and the Associated Press.

Catch-up

 Phil Weiss: The Jewish community and the Democratic Party are being torn apart over their complicity in the Gaza genocide and decades of supporting Palestinian oppression. This overdue reckoning will only be resolved by abandoning Zionism.

 Shir Hever: While Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s announcement that Germany is stopping arms deliveries to Israel made international headlines as a shocking policy reversal, the details tell a different story.

 Qassam Muaddi: Israel uprooted 10,000 olive trees in al-Mughayyir during a three-day siege of the West Bank Palestinian village. The Israeli army stated that uprooting the trees was intended to “deter” village residents and make them “pay a heavy price.”

 Michael Arria: Democratic National Committee members rejected a resolution calling for an arms embargo on Israel, but pressure continues to mount on party leaders to adopt a stronger stance against the Gaza genocide.

 Qassam Muaddi: The Israeli army carried out one of its most extensive raids on the city center of Ramallah in years, firing at civilians with teargas, stun grenades, and live ammunition.

1728.

30 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

The problem with Hamas equating the Gaza genocide to the Holocaust

Amena al-Ashkar

Hamas's effort to gain Western sympathy by comparing the Gaza genocide to the Holocaust is understandable but ultimately shortsighted. Instead, putting the genocide in the larger context of colonial violence could build genuine solidarity.

The Democrats and the Jewish community are being torn apart over their support for genocide – it’s about time

Philip Weiss

The Jewish community and the Democratic Party are being torn apart over their complicity in the Gaza genocide and decades of supporting Palestinian oppression. This overdue reckoning will only be resolved by abandoning Zionism.

1728.

Dringend: hongersnood afgekondigd in Gaza

Onze inspanningen om overheden te doen ingrijpen, zijn nu crucialer dan ooit. Kinderen en baby’s zijn letterlijk aan het verhongeren.

30 augustus 2025

Als arts ben ik een van de weinigen die getuige kan zijn van de onvoorstelbare verschrikkingen in Gaza.

Ik heb in gebombardeerde ziekenhuizen gewerkt waar de mensen verhongeren. Ik heb dingen gezien die niemand ooit zou mogen zien, laat staan meemaken. Het lijden voel ik tot in mijn botten.

Uitgemergelde baby’s en kinderen zonder ledematen. Moeders die te zwak zijn om hun pasgeboren kind te voeden. Verpleegkundigen en chirurgen die bezwijken van de honger.

Als arts leg je een eed af om patiënten te beschermen -- en dat gaat verder dan hun directe medische zorg. Daarom heb ik me bij Avaaz aangesloten en ben ik afgereisd om regeringsleiders persoonlijk te ontmoeten: om hun te vertellen wat ik heb gezien, hen te confronteren met de realiteit van genocide -- en met de prijs van hun nietsdoen.

Politici huilden. Ze gaven toe dat ze geen idee hadden dat het zo erg was. Ik zag hun perspectief kantelen toen ze beseften dat het hun kinderen hadden kunnen zijn die gebombardeerd werden, verhongerden en alleen achterbleven.

Sommige regeringen hebben eindelijk sancties aangekondigd en stoppen met het leveren van wapens, maar het is nog steeds niet genoeg -- en daarom vraag ik om jouw steun.

Avaaz treft momenteel voorbereidingen om nog veel meer artsen naar de vergaderkamers van presidenten en ministers te brengen. Zij hebben de macht om deze genocide te stoppen en de grenzen te openen voor een massale toestroom van humanitaire hulp. Zelf kunnen we die hulp niet leveren -- de blokkade van Israël maakt dat onmogelijk. Maar we kunnen wél met man en macht vechten om onze regeringen tot ingrijpen te dwingen.

In mij brandt een vuur voor alle kinderen die ik heb vastgehouden en verloren. En ik beloof je nu: ik zal niet stoppen.

Laten we degenen met de macht om dit te stoppen overtuigen om te doen wat nodig is.

Dit is geen natuurramp -- dit is massamoord en opzettelijke uithongering. Vrachtwagens vol met babyvoeding, voedsel en medicijnen staan klaar aan de andere kant van de grens. Maar Israël laat ze niet binnen.

Politici worden niet altijd geraakt door krantenkoppen of rapporten. Maar ik heb gezien hoe ze reageren op de persoonlijke, menselijke getuigenissen van artsen zoals ik.

Eén enkel moment van verbinding tussen twee mensen kan onverschilligheid volledig openbreken. Wanneer dat gepaard gaat met gigantische, niet-aflatende publieke druk, vallen de excuses weg en ontstaat er ruimte voor daadkrachtig handelen.

1727.

29 augustus 2025

As Israel intensifies ethnic cleansing, the U.S. deepens its support for genocide and apartheid, further isolating itself from the world

Over the last week, while much of the world's powers were moving to cut aid to and trade with Israel, the United States was busy doubling down on its complicity. On Wednesday, August 27, Donald Trump convened a White House meeting to discuss the so-called “postwar future” of Gaza. That same day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat across from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, pledging once again America’s “unwavering commitment” to Israel’s security.

These staged meetings took place as Israel doubled down on its genocide. In Gaza City, Israel has intensified its bombardment, leveling the city and blocking the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid. At least 322 Palestinians have died as a result of forced starvation. Just days ago, another hospital was intentionally struck, killing at least twenty Palestinians—including five journalists who were clearly targeted for documenting the devastation.

At the same time in the West Bank, the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) carried out the most extensive military raids in months, storming Nablus, wounding dozens, and deploying snipers and live fire. In al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah, the IOF uprooted about 3,000 olive trees, destroyed homes and vehicles, intensifying a forced displacement campaign. These operations come amid an ongoing surge in settler violence: between January and July, there were over 2,370 attacks, and 671 Palestinians were murdered, while nearly 36,000 people were displaced in the West Bank since early 2024.

This is precisely why our Palestine Advocacy Days (October 19th-21st) are so important. Every time our elected officials shake hands with Israeli officials or sign off on weapons packages, they do so in our name. Confronting Congress and every federal official enabling this genocide is not a choice; it’s an obligation. We cannot give them the room to look away while their continued complicity and negligence greenlight the deaths of thousands more.

1726A.

29 augustus 2025

Your Activist Scoop

• The State Department suspended visitor visas from Gaza in a cruel move preventing Palestinian kids wounded by U.S. bombs from receiving medical treatment.
• Despite overwhelming support from the Democratic voter base, the Democratic National Convention rejected .
• Former Biden spokesperson Matthew Miller admitted that Israel sabotaged ceasefire deals, exposing his lies to the American public. Meanwhile Israel has refused to respond to the latest ceasefire deal on the table—a failure of the Trump administration to pressure Israel.
• With U.S. weapons, Israel is assassinating journalists, attacking communities in the West Bank, and violently invading Gaza City to demolish homes and slaughter Palestinians.³

READ ABOUT BLOCK THE BOMBS 

CONTACT MEDIA OUTLETS 

1726.

29 augustus 2025

Afgelopen woensdag voerde de Tweede Kamer opnieuw een fel debat over de politieke crisis die het demissionair kabinet (voor de tweede keer) ten val heeft gebracht. Officieel draaide het debat om interne spanningen binnen de coalitie en de toekomst van de regering, maar in werkelijkheid stond Gaza wederom centraal.

Druk loopt op
De groeiende druk vanuit de samenleving – van actiegroepen, organisaties en duizenden mensen op straat – laat zich ook in Den Haag voelen. Het kabinet hield die druk niet langer vol: de verdeeldheid binnen de coalitie over maatregelen tegen Israël kwam op pijnlijke wijze naar boven en droeg zo bij aan het uiteenvallen van de regering.

VVD en BBB blokkeren maatregelen
Met name de rol van de VVD en BBB is hierin op zijn zachtst gezegd beschamend te noemen. Waar minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Veldkamp eindelijk schoorvoetend pleitte voor ingrijpen (too little too late), weigerden deze twee partijen akkoord te gaan met zelfs minimale aanvullende maatregelen tegen Israël. Zo is opnieuw duidelijk geworden: zolang de VVD en BBB de koers bepalen, kan Nederland geen geloofwaardig mensenrechtenbeleid voeren.

Caspar Veldkamp, demissionair minister van Buitenlandse Zaken, loopt richting de pers in het ministerie van Algemene Zaken na afloop van de ministerraad. © ANP

Verkiezingen in zicht
Wat de oppositiepartijen (beginnen te) begrijpen, moeten wij als samenleving blijven benadrukken: de genocide in Gaza mag niet genegeerd worden, en Nederland kan niet langer wegkijken. Juist nu, met de verkiezingen van 29 oktober in aantocht, is het van groot belang onze stem luid en duidelijk te laten klinken.

In oktober zullen wij opnieuw een verkiezingswijzer publiceren, evenals een overzicht van de standpunten van de partijen met betrekking tot Palestina en Israël. Tot die tijd blijven we acties en rechtszaken voeren om te zorgen dat Nederland wel een rechtvaardig beleid gaat voeren dat gebaseerd is op internationaal recht en humanitaire normen en waarden.

Onze berichtgeving over Gaza:

Wat doet Nederland om het Strafhof te beschermen na nieuwe sancties VS?

De Verenigde Staten heeft nieuwe sancties ingesteld tegen vier medewerkers van het Internationaal Strafhof in Den Haag. Het volgt op eerdere sancties tegen hoofdaanklager Karim Khan en vier rechters van het Hof.

De nieuwe sancties treffen twee rechters en twee aanklagers vanwege hun betrokkenheid bij zaken tegen (individuen uit) de VS en Israël. Een van de rechters wordt gesanctioneerd vanwege haar rol in een onderzoek naar Amerikaanse oorlogsmisdaden in Afghanistan; de overigen vanwege het autoriseren of steunen van de arrestatiebevelen voor Netanyahu en Gallant.

Rechters Tomoko Akane, Kimberly Prost en Keebong Paek van het Internationaal Strafhof. Prost is één van de medewerkers van het Strafhof tegen wie de Verenigde Staten sancties heeft ingesteld. © ANP via Alamy

Volgens de Palestijnse analist Muhammad Shehada hadden de twee aanklagers een aanklacht klaar liggen tegen de Israëlische ministers Bezalel Smotrich en Itamar Ben-Gvir op beschuldiging van de misdaad van apartheid.

Nederland keurt de sancties af, maar het blijft ongewis hoe het zich wil inspannen om het Strafhof zijn werk te kunnen laten doen en de internationale rechtsorde te beschermen.

 Lees verder

DEADLIFT الحَمّالون
Een Palestijns-Nederlandse voorstelling over menselijke veerkracht

Het intense, filmische theaterwerk van de Palestijnse regisseur Bashar Murkus verovert de internationale podia. Zijn nieuwe, visuele voorstelling, DEADLIFT الحَمّالون, is een unieke samenwerking tussen het Palestijnse theatergezelschap Al-Harah uit Palestina en Boy Jonkergouw Producties uit Nederland.

Murkus laat zich inspireren door een schilderij van de Palestijnse kunstenaar Suleiman Mansour, Jamal Al Mahamel, waarop een man een hele stad (Jeruzalem) op zijn rug draagt. In DEADLIFT الحَمّالون onderzoekt Murkus hoeveel een mens kan dragen. Waar ligt het breekpunt? Wanneer verandert de strijd tegen vernietiging in een daad van vernietiging?

Met een Palestijnse cast brengt DEADLIFT een poëtisch eerbetoon aan de veerkracht van mensen in nood. De voorstelling werd deels in Palestina, deels in Nederland gemaakt, de muziek werd in Palestina gecomponeerd.

In samenwerking met vredesorganisatie PAX en Podium LUX wordt een contextprogrammering bij de voorstellingen georganiseerd, met bijdragen van gasten zoals schrijver Abdelkader Benali, journalist Step Vaessen, theatermaker Lotte van den Berg

 Op deze website lees je waar en wanneer de voorstelling speelt.

Uit onze agenda
zaterdag 30 augustus t/m zaterdag 6 september

Demonstraties en wakes
• Doorlopende 24-uurs stiltewake in Den Haag, bij het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Rijnstraat 8, Den Haag
• 'The People for Gaza' – dagelijks protest in Amsterdam, Stationsplein, Centraal Station (20.00 uur)
• Wake voor Palestina op zaterdag 30 augustus in Nijmegen, Plein '44 (14.00 uur)
• Wake voor Palestina op zaterdag 30 augustus in Groningen, Waagplein (13.00 uur)
• Getuigen van Gaza op zaterdag 30 en zondag 31 augustus in Hoorn, Het Foreestenhuis, Grote Oost 43
• Tentoonstelling van een replica van de auto waarin Hind Rajab zat toen zij door het Israëlische leger werd vermoord op zaterdag 30 (Ganzenmarkt) en zondag 31 augustus (Vredenburgplein) in Utrecht (11.30 uur)
Fietstocht voor Palestina vanaf maandag 1 september langs alle provinciehoofdsteden van Nederland
• Stilteprotest voor Palestina op maandag 1 september in Utrecht, Neude, langs het fietspad (08.30 uur)
• Landelijke protestactie op maandag 1 september tijdens het luchtalarm (12.00 uur)
• Getuigen van Gaza van woensdag 3 september tot en met zondag 7 september in Leeuwarden, grasveld naast de Waag (09.00 uur)
• Sit-in rijksambtenaren op donderdag 4 september in Den Haag, Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Rijnstraat 8 (12.00 uur)
• Demonstratie voor Palestina op donderdag 4 september in Zaandam, Stationsplein (17.00 uur)
• Wekelijkse lawaaidemonstraties op stations in heel Nederland, op donderdag 4 september. Houd onze agenda en de pagina van Plant een Olijfboom in de gaten voor meer informatie.
• Wake voor Palestina op vrijdag 5 september in Amsterdam, Spui (12.45 uur)
• Wekelijks protest tegen genocide, voor menselijkheid op vrijdag 5 september in Doetinchem, voor het gemeentehuis (10.00 uur)
• Wekelijks stilteprotest tegen genocide op vrijdag 5 september in Amersfoort, start bij de Varkensmarkt (09.30 uur)
• Wake voor Palestina op zaterdag 6 september in Maastricht, Markt, bij het standbeeld van J.P. Minckelers (16.00 uur)

Culturele en andere evenementen
• Don’t stop talking about Palestine op woensdag 3 september in Tilburg, 013 (18.30 uur)
• Behandeling van het beroep door het Gerechtshof Den Haag in een zaak die door SOMO en negen Palestijnse en Nederlandse organisaties is aangespannen tegen de Nederlandse staat op woensdag 3 september, via livestream te volgen (10.00 uur)

Bekijk hier de hele agenda

1725.

29 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Airstrikes, explosive vehicles, and bulldozers cause ‘insane’ destruction in Gaza City, eyewitnesses and civil defense say

Tareq S. Hajjaj

The Israeli army is using airstrikes, rigged explosive APCs, and bulldozing operations to level neighborhoods and displacement centers in Gaza City. Eyewitnesses and local officials say it is to cause mass flight and prevent residents from returning.

Gaza Genocide deniers are no different from Holocaust deniers, except that their denial abets the genocide itself

Mitchell Plitnick

The denial of the Gaza genocide has been echoed from the mainstream media to the White House. While reminiscent of Holocaust denial, today's denials have deadly consequences as they are used to justify the very genocide deniers claim isn't happening.

1724.

28 augustus 2025

Humanitarian Situation Update #318
West Bank

28 August 2025

Land levelling and uprooting of trees in Al Mughayyir village, in Ramallah governorate, during a four-day Israeli operation between 21 and 24 August 2025. Photo by OCHA.

The Humanitarian Situation Updates on the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank are both issued every Wednesday/Thursday. The Gaza Humanitarian Response Update is issued every other Tuesday. The next Humanitarian Situation Update on the West Bank will be published on 3 or 4 September.

Key Highlights

• Israeli forces carried out a four-day operation in Al Mughayyir village in Ramallah, blocking entrances, searching homes, and uprooting thousands of olive trees.
• Home demolitions in Area C due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits displaced nearly 900 Palestinians so far in 2025, representing a 39 per cent increase compared with the corresponding period in 2024 and more than double the figure in the same period in 2023.
• Six Palestinian herding families comprising 34 people were forcibly displaced from Barriyet Kisan in Bethlehem governorate, after Israeli settlers raided homes, threatened residents, and looted property.
• OCHA documented 11 settler attacks against farmers in Halhul village, in Hebron governorate, within the context of the grape harvest season in August.

Humanitarian Developments

• Between 19 and 25 August, one Palestinian was killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank. On 21 August, Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian man near Tel Rumeida checkpoint in Hebron city. According to the Israeli military, the man was shot after he pulled out what appeared to be a pistol and pointed it at soldiers stationed at the checkpoint. The injured man was transferred to an Israeli hospital, where he died of his wounds on 25 August. During the same period, at least 25 Palestinians, including 11 children, were injured, the majority (18) by Israeli forces and seven by Israeli settlers.
• Between 19 and 25 August, OCHA documented the demolition of 60 Palestinian-owned structures due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain. As a result, 32 people, including 12 children, were displaced, and more than 2,000 others were affected. More than half of the demolitions (33 structures) took place in Area C and 27 structures were in East Jerusalem.
• In one of the key demolition incidents in Area C, on 21 August, Israeli authorities demolished 23 structures in Ein al Hilwa herding community, in Area C of Tubas governorate in the northern Jordan Valley, citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits. Demolitions in this community in 2025 are the first to take place since August 2015 and follow residents’ legal efforts to obtain building permits and challenge demolition orders in Israeli courts that were unsuccessful. Demolished structures included five residential structures (of which one was donor-funded), five donor-funded mobile latrines, four donor-funded solar systems, eight animal shelters and a fodder storage room. As a result, four Palestinian households comprising 12 people, including three children, were displaced, while two other households comprising three people, including a child and an elderly woman with a disability, were affected. During the demolition, several water tanks, trees, a surveillance system, and an internet network were also destroyed. Following the demolition, the displaced families tried to install a cover to provide shade, but Israeli forces arrived and ordered them to remove it.
• Among the 27 structures demolished in East Jerusalem due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, 18 were in Sur Bahir, five in Al ‘Isawiya, three in Silwan and one in Al Walaja. In Sur Bahir, on 25 August, the 18 demolished structures were all agricultural – including horse stables, sheep barns, and chicken coops, among others – and served as the primary sources of income for nine Palestinian households comprising 47 people, including 17 children. On the same day in Al ‘Isawiya, three Palestinian households were forced to demolish five structures, including a house, two horse stables and two caravans, resulting in the displacement of one household of five people and affecting two other households comprising eight people.
• Between 1 January and 25 August 2025, at least 272 inhabited homes and 60 uninhabited residential structures were demolished across the West Bank for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, the majority of which (237 out of 332 residences) took place in Area C, displacing 873 Palestinians, half of whom were children. Compared with the corresponding periods in the past two years, displacement due to lack-of-permit demolitions in Area C this year marks a 39 per cent increase over 2024 and is more than double the figure in 2023.

Israeli forces’ operation in Al Mughayyir Village

• Between 21 and 24 August, Israeli forces launched a four-day operation in Al Mughayyir village (population of about 3,300) in Ramallah governorate, following a Palestinian shooting attack earlier that day on 21 August, near Road 458 and Adei Ad settlement outpost, in which an Israeli settler was injured, according to official Israeli sources. During the operation, Israeli forces-imposed a near-total closure by blocking the village’s western entrance, where a partial (intermittently staffed) checkpoint is installed, from the direction of Khirbet Abu Falah village. The other main (eastern) entrance to Al Mughayyir, off Road 458 (the ‘Allon Road’), has been closed with a road gate since mid-2023 (see map).

Bulldozing of Thousands of Olive Trees in Al Mughayyir Village
August 2025

• Israeli forces prevented movement to and from the village for the duration of the four-day operation, with the exception of a few humanitarian cases who managed to leave on foot as ambulances were prevented from reaching them. One of those cases was a woman in labour, who was walking to reach an ambulance near the western entrance to the village and had tear gas cannisters fired in her direction by Israeli forces stationed there, but she was not injured.
• Starting on the morning of 21 August, hundreds of Israeli soldiers raided the village, conducted house-to-house searches, ransacked their contents, and physically assaulted residents. Community sources reported that Israeli forces fired sound cannisters, including inside homes, some of which were searched more than once. During one of the house raids, Israeli forces beat two children, causing fractures and bruises in the upper parts of their bodies, and they were transferred to a medical clinic inside the village for treatment. Israeli forces also fired tear gas canisters, injuring 11 other Palestinians by tear gas inhalation, including five women and six children, one of them an infant. Throughout the operation, Israeli forces detained 14 Palestinians, including a woman, a child, and the head of the village council. Several of those detained were physically assaulted. As of 27 August, four remained in Israeli custody, while the others were released, including the woman and the child.
• On 22 August, Israeli forces issued a military order to seize about 300 dunums of privately owned land adjacent to Road 458 on the eastern side of the village, citing security needs, including the trimming of trees. The same day, Israeli bulldozers leveled land beyond the areas cited in the order and uprooted thousands of olive trees. They additionally demolished a bathroom constructed on agricultural land, damaged stone walls, and started constructing a new road that extends to Road 458 on the northern outskirts of the village, according to community sources.
• Additionally, Israeli forces confiscated or damaged dozens of Palestinian-owned vehicles. According to community sources, Israeli forces placed many of the confiscated vehicles at the eastern entrance, which is closed by a road gate (see above). Subsequently, settlers believed to be from nearby outposts, and who were reportedly present in the area alongside Israeli forces, were filmed by local Palestinians stealing one of the confiscated cars and loading uprooted trees onto trucks.
• Al Mughayyir village has historically been subject to attacks by Israeli settlers, particularly those believed to reside in Adei Ad settlement outpost, and these attacks have been on the rise recently. Since January 2025, OCHA has documented about 40 settler incidents affecting Al Mughayyir village that resulted in casualties or property damage, with an average of roughly five incidents per month. This marks a sharp increase compared with the monthly average of one to two incidents in the preceding three years and follows the establishment since mid-2024 of at least four new settlement outposts in the areas surrounding the village. One of the outposts is located in the northwestern area of the village, in Area B, which under the Oslo Accords falls under Palestinian civilian and Israeli security control, and which also impacts the neighboring villages of Khirbet Abu Falah and Turmus’ayya. Attacks by Israeli settlers have resulted in Palestinian injuries, extensive property damage, and significant agricultural losses, including the burning or vandalism of cultivated land, the uprooting of olive trees, and the stabbing and killing of livestock. Over the past seven years, OCHA documented the killing of three Palestinians in Al Mughayyir village within the context of attacks by Israeli settlers, including one by an Israeli settler, one by Israeli forces and one where it remains unknown if he was killed by Israeli settlers or forces. In addition, 161 Palestinians were injured in attacks by Israeli settlers, including 45 by Israeli settlers, 112 by Israeli forces, and four where it remains unknown if they were injured by Israeli settlers or forces.

Intensification of Israeli Settler Attacks

• Between 19 and 25 August, OCHA documented at least 15 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in casualties, property damage, or both in 13 communities across the West Bank. These attacks led to the displacement of six Palestinian herding families, comprising 34 people, including 19 children, and the injury of eight Palestinians, including an elderly man, a child and one woman. Seven were injured by settlers and one by Israeli forces during or following settler-related incidents. Incidents resulting in casualties and displacement included the following:
  • On 21 August, six Palestinian families, comprising 34 people, including 19 children, were forcibly displaced from Barriyet Kisan in Bethlehem governorate. Armed settlers believed to be from Ma’ale Amos settlement raided the Sha'oub Taymah area of the community and attacked the families. The assault, which lasted from the early morning until the afternoon, involved settlers searching homes, threatening residents, and stealing generators. Settlers ordered the families to leave at gunpoint, threatening to kill them if they refused, and prevented them from taking any belongings. As a result, the residents fled and relocated to Ar Rashaydeh Bedouin community, leaving behind 10 residential structures made of concrete blocks, three animal shelters, and a solar panel system. Between October 2023 and August 2025, at least 64 Palestinian herding families comprising 191 people, including 84 children, were forcibly displaced from communities in and around Barriyet Kisan in Bethlehem governorate due to settler violence and intimidation. In a single incident in July 2025, 18 families were displaced following assaults, threats, and the destruction or looting of property, leaving behind dozens of residential and animal structures, many of them are donor-funded structures.
  • On 21 August, in Susiya village in Hebron governorate, armed settlers believed to be from Susiya settlement raided a family gathering and physically assaulted three Palestinians, including a 70-year-old man and a child. The settlers attacked them with stones and sticks, causing injuries. They also vandalized the structure in which they were gathered, breaking windows, slashed the tires of an agricultural tractor, and smashed the windshield of a vehicle.
  • On 21 August, in Al Minya village in Bethlehem governorate, settlers assaulted a Palestinian man and his wife after grazing their sheep on Palestinian agricultural land. When the couple, who were working on their land, tried to push the settlers back, they were attacked with stones and sticks, and both were injured. Israeli police later intervened, detaining one family member, while evacuating the settlers.
  • On 24 August, settlers armed with stones and sticks assaulted two Palestinian farmers in Wadi al Ameer area in Halhul village, in Hebron governorate, while they were harvesting grapes. Both men sustained serious injuries. Local residents rushed to the scene to protect the farmers, forcing the settlers to flee. August marks the grape harvest season in the southern West Bank, and in Halhul alone, 11 settler attacks were reported since the beginning of the month against farmers during the harvest, resulting in the injury of six Palestinians. Local sources estimate that hundreds of dunums of grapevines have been left unharvested due to these attacks, causing significant financial losses for farmers, many of whom depend on the seasonal revenues.
  • On 25 August, Israeli settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, raided the Jaba’ Bedouin community (Jaba’ Tajamu’ Badawi) in Jerusalem governorate, breaking into residents’ houses. Settlers physically assaulted a Palestinian child, while Israeli forces ransacked homes and beat residents, injuring one man. Israeli forces also prevented an ambulance from reaching the injured man for about 20 minutes.
• Out of the 15 documented settler-related attacks between 19 and 25 August, at least 11 incidents involved damage to Palestinian-owned property, the majority of which targeted agricultural lands and related structures. Key incidents resulting in property damage included the following:
  • In Beitillu village in Ramallah governorate, Israeli settlers carried out three attacks against Palestinian agricultural lands over three consecutive days. On 23 August, settlers destroyed several olive saplings on the northern outskirts of the village – an area repeatedly targeted in the past.
  • On 24 August, settlers from a newly established outpost near Deir Nidham village, in Ramallah governorate, raided farmland and stole a mobile latrine installed on the property. The following day, on 25 August, settlers from the same outpost cut a metal fence around a vineyard, broke into the land, and stole crops. Local sources reported that settlers believed to be from the newly established outpost frequently raid agricultural lands in this area, causing damage, stealing property, and restricting access.
  • In Haris village in Salfit governorate, on 24 August, Israeli settlers, reportedly from Revava settlement, uprooted and cut about 200 olive trees in the southern area of the village, along Road 5. The targeted lands, estimated at 25 dunums, belonged to at least eight families who lost their olive trees. Eyewitnesses reported that settlers used electric saws to cut the trees and transported them out of the area. According to the village council, Israeli forces also prevented villagers from accessing the affected lands.
  • In Burin village in Nablus governorate, on 19 August, three armed Israeli settlers, believed to be from Yitzhar settlement, stole a donkey from a Palestinian farmer while he was working his land and transported it to a newly established outpost near Yitzhar.
  • In the Dkaika Bedouin community in southern Hebron, on 25 August, five settlers from a newly established outpost on a nearby hill raided the area, some on foot and others using a tractor and a vehicle. The settlers attacked Palestinian herders while they were grazing their camels near their homes and began seizing the animals. When residents gathered to protect their livestock, Israeli forces arrived and fired tear gas canisters at Palestinians, enabling the settlers to drive away 23 camels. The animals were herded in front of the settlers’ vehicle and taken toward a nearby military base. Video footage documents the incident. During the raid, Israeli forces also arrested a Palestinian resident for several hours before releasing him. The following day, Israeli forces returned 13 camels to the community, while the remaining animals were reportedly transferred by settlers from the military base to an unknown location.
  • For key figures and additional breakdowns of casualties, displacement and settler violence between January 2005 and July 2025, please refer to the OCHA West Bank July 2025 Snapshot.

Ongoing Operations in the Northern West Bank

• Israeli forces continue to operate in and around Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, where access is denied or very limited. On 23 August and as of 27 August, Israeli forces were operating and conducting house-to-house searches, in the Al Hadaf neighbourhood, west of Jenin Camp. No casualties or displacement have been reported. This is the second time in a month that such operations have taken place. On 26 July, Israeli forces searched homes in the neighbourhood and approximately eight Palestinian families were temporarily evacuated from their homes by the forces. Once the forces withdrew, all families were able to return. Furthermore, on 25 August, three large explosions and subsequent fires were observed inside the camp. These explosions were in the Ghubaz and Damaj neighbourhoods and are believed to be part of the ongoing demolitions in the camp. To date, the Israeli military has issued demolition orders against 162 structures in Jenin camp.
• In Tulkarm city, Israeli forces have installed a military observation tower in the Nasser neighbourhood, adjacent to Nur Shams refugee camp. The tower is positioned where it can oversee the entire camp. Over the past three days, local sources have observed Israeli forces operating in the eastern side of the city, conducting multiple house raids and searches. On 23 August, Israeli forces forced the closure of all commercial shops in this area for the day.

Funding

• As of 28 August 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$950 million out of the $4 billion (23 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the OPT. Nearly 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during July 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 111 ongoing projects, totalling $65.2 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 54 are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 43 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 39 out of the 68 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.

1723.

28 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

How the UN could act today to stop the genocide in Palestine

Craig Mokhiber

As a key deadline approaches in the United Nations General Assembly, a little-used UN mechanism, immune from the US veto, could bring military protection to the Palestinian people - if we demand it.

Germany’s declaration to stop sending weapons to Israel: symbolic gesture or major shift?

Shir Hever

While Chancellor Friedrich Merz's announcement that Germany is stopping arms deliveries to Israel made international headlines as a shocking policy reversal, the details tell a different story.

1722.

28 augustus 2025

Humanitarian Situation Update #317
Gaza Strip

28 August 2025

Children scavenging on Gaza’s shore. Photo by OCHA/Olga Cherevko

Key Highlights

• Famine is now occurring in Gaza governorate and is projected to expand further to Deir al Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September.
• At least 2,000 people seeking aid have been killed in three months, according to records from the UN Human Rights Office.
• Nearly 120,000 displacement movements have been recorded in two months, including about 23,000 in the past week, reports the Site Management Cluster.
• If the Israeli-announced offensive on Gaza city goes ahead, the Gaza Strip could lose half of its hospital bed capacity.
• Acute respiratory infections and acute watery diarrhoea remain the most commonly reported illnesses in the Gaza Strip.
• Humanitarian officials call for the lifting of impediments to large-scale flows of humanitarian and commercial supplies into and throughout the Gaza Strip, including directly to the north and to Gaza city.

Humanitarian Developments

• Over the past week, Israeli forces
• ave carried out heavy bombardment from the air, land and sea across the Gaza Strip, alongside continued ground operations. Reports continue to emerge of demolitions of residential buildings and of strikes on schools, tents, residential buildings, and on people trying to access food supplies. According to records of the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), since the establishment of a militarized distribution system in the Gaza Strip on 27 May and as of 26 August, at least 2,014 people seeking aid – mostly young men and boys – were killed in Gaza – 1,074 near militarized distribution sites and 940 along convoy supply routes.
• In its updated analysis on the Gaza Strip, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) global initiative found with reasonable evidence that famine (IPC Phase 5) is currently occurring in Gaza governorate and projected to expand to Deir al Balah and Khan Younis governorates by the end of September 2025 (see more below). In a statement on 22 August 2025, the UN Secretary-General said that “just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: ‘famine’. This is not a mystery – it is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself. Famine is not only about food; it is the deliberate collapse of the systems needed for human survival. People are starving. Children are dying. And those with the duty to act are failing. As the occupying power, Israel has unequivocal obligations under international law – including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population.”
• The Israeli military intensified its operations in North Gaza and Gaza governorates and issued additional displacement orders. Since the beginning of August, six displacement orders have been issued by Israeli forces, including most recently on 26 August when dropped leaflets showed parts of two neighbourhoods of Gaza governorate marked for displacement (Ash Sheikh Radwan and Ad Daraj), part of which had already been included in orders issued over the past three months. Among other civilian infrastructure, the area includes the Ash Sheikh Radwan Pond, three water wells, three wastewater pumping stations, two medical points and one ambulance centre. According to the Site Management Cluster (SMC), nearly 54,000 displacement movements were recorded in July and over 65,000 displacement movements have been recorded since 1 August, including 23,199 over the past week, bringing the total recorded since 18 March to over 833,000 displacement movements. Most displacement flows in August originated from Gaza governorate, followed by North Gaza, and include nearly 18,700 movements reported to have crossed from northern to southern Gaza since 14 August, primarily to Deir al Balah and Khan Younis. A single person may be counted multiple times if displaced more than once.
• According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, between 20 and 27 August, 475 Palestinians were killed, and 2,169 were injured. This brings the casualty toll among Palestinians since 7 October 2023, as reported by MoH, to 62,895 fatalities and 158,927 injuries. According to MoH, the total number includes 298 fatalities who were retroactively added on 23 August 2025 after their identification details were approved by a ministerial committee. MoH further noted that the number of casualties among people trying to access food supplies has increased to 2,158 fatalities and more than 15,843 injuries since 27 May 2025.
• According to the Israeli military, between 20 and 27 August, as of noon, one Israeli soldier was killed in Gaza. This brings the casualty toll among Israeli soldiers since the beginning of the Israeli ground operation in October 2023 to 455 fatalities and 2,883 injuries, according to the Israeli military. According to Israeli forces and official Israeli sources cited in the media, more than 1,655 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed, the majority on 7 October 2023 and its immediate aftermath. As of 27 August, it is estimated that 50 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including hostages who have been declared dead and whose bodies are being withheld.
• On 25 August, at about 10:00, Nasser Medical Complex in central Khan Younis was hit by two strikes carried out by Israeli forces, killing 22 Palestinians, including two who died of their wounds on 27 August according to MoH. Among the fatalities were one female photojournalist, four male journalists, a Palestinian Civil Defence (PCD) driver, a doctor and three other medical staff. Over 30 people were reportedly injured, including one doctor and one nurse, critically ill patients who were receiving care at the complex, two journalists, one Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedic, and seven PCD officers who got injured live on the news while attempting to rescue the injured and retrieve the fatalities from the first strike. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the strikes hit the hospital’s main building, which houses the emergency department, inpatient ward and surgical unit, and damaged the emergency staircase. On the same day, at about 16:45, two Palestinians, including a journalist, were reportedly killed and several others injured when tents sheltering internally displaced people (IDPs) were hit, northwest of Khan Younis. Earlier on 23 August, at about 18:00, a Palestinian journalist was reportedly shot and killed while he was covering events near Zikim crossing, in North Gaza.
• The UN Secretary-General condemned the killing of Palestinians in the Israeli strikes that hit Nasser Medical Complex and extended condolences to the families and friends of journalists. He stated that “these latest horrific killings highlight the extreme risks that medical personnel and journalists face as they carry out their vital work amidst this brutal conflict” and called for “a prompt impartial investigation into these killings.”
• On 26 August, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) stated that, since October 2023, 245 journalists and media workers, including 33 female journalists, have been killed, at least 520 have been injured, and 39 have been arrested by Israeli authorities, of whom 22 remain in detention. This is in addition to at least 800 family members of journalists killed in Gaza, PJS said. According to PJS, “more than 800 journalists in Gaza continue to live under conditions of repeated displacement from the north to the south of the Strip, facing severe hardships including lack of safety due to Israeli airstrikes on their tents, the absence of basic living conditions, and the lack of electricity and internet necessary to continue their work.” PJS added that Israeli forces have carried out airstrikes and tank assaults that destroyed 115 media institutions in the Gaza Strip, encompassing all types of media outlets.
• Other key incidents resulting in fatalities over the past week included the following:
  • On 20 August, at about 21:00, six Palestinians were reportedly killed and at least 10 others injured when the vicinity of a school sheltering IDPs was hit in Ash Shati’ (Beach) Camp, in western Gaza city.
  • On 21 August, at about 16:00, at least eight Palestinians were reportedly killed when a residential building was hit in As Sabra, in southern Gaza city.
  • On 22 August, at about 8:30, 12 Palestinians were reportedly killed and dozens injured when a school and surrounding IDP tents were hit in Ash Sheikh Radwan, in northern Gaza city.
  • On 23 August, at about 3:50, 17 Palestinians, including three women and at least five boys and two girls aged between 6 months and 13 years, were reportedly killed when an IDP tent was hit north of Khan Younis.
  • On 24 August, between 18:00 and 19:00, 10 Palestinians were reportedly killed and more than 50 injured while waiting for aid convoys in As Sudaniya area, west of Beit Lahiya.
  • On 26 August, at about 0:15, six Palestinians, including a couple, their three children and a woman, were reportedly killed when an IDP tent was hit in Al Qarara area, north of Khan Younis.
  • On 26 August, at about 3:30, nine Palestinians were reportedly killed when a residential building was hit in As Sabra, in southern Gaza city. Seven of the fatalities, including five females, were recovered while the other two fatalities, including a girl, reportedly remained missing under the rubble.

Impediments to Humanitarian Access

• Delays and impediments of humanitarian movements continue. Recently, fewer humanitarian movements have been denied outright by Israeli authorities. However, missions that are approved still take hours to complete and teams have been compelled to wait on roads that are often dangerous, congested or impassable. Between 20 and 26 August, out of 89 attempts to coordinate planned movements with Israeli authorities across the Gaza Strip, 53 were facilitated (59 per cent), 23 were initially approved but then impeded on the ground (26 per cent), seven (eight per cent) were denied and six (seven per cent) had to be withdrawn by the organizers. Facilitated movements included missions to transfer fuel, collection of medical, nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) supplies, staff movements and rotations. Denied movements included missions aiming to repair water pipe connections and roads and to relocate WASH chemical supplies. Among the 23 impeded missions, five were fully accomplished despite the impediments, including missions to collect supplies from Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings and medically evacuate patients through Kerem Shalom crossing. The remaining 18 missions were partially accomplished. Overall, eight out of the 89 movements involved fuel collection and transfer, 26 involved the collection of other supplies from Gaza’s crossings, 21 were staff movements and rotations, and 34 aimed to support other ongoing humanitarian operations.
• In recent weeks, the number of trucks and fuel tankers entering Gaza through UN coordination have increased. For example, according to the UN2720 mechanism, the UN and its partners have collected more than 27,000 metric tons of food supplies from Gaza’s crossings so far in August, compared with over 13,000 metric tons in July. Moreover, according to the Food Security Sector (FSS), as of 26 August, 453,000 individual meals were prepared daily at 99 community kitchens supported by 19 FSS partners, including about 131,000 meals in the north and 322,000 meals in southern and central Gaza. While reflecting a noticeable increase compared with the 259,000 daily meals prepared in early August, this remains far below the over one million daily meals that partners were able to distribute in April, when stocks from the ceasefire period were still available. Vital medical supplies, including blood units, also continue to be delivered and the World Health Organization (WHO) has re-established its warehouse in Deir Al Balah, enabling the continuation of large-scale support, after it was destroyed in the July 2025 attacks. Limited commercial support has resumed, helping to bring down prices that, nonetheless, remain elevated and largely out of reach for much of the population. In recent days, the entry of animal fodder has also resumed. Describing these important developments, Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, cautioned in a briefing to the Security Council on 27 August that these developments “will neither reverse famine nor stop it in its tracks.” She called on the Council and Member States to immediately work to ensure: an immediate and sustained cessation of hostilities; the release of all hostages, immediately and unconditionally; the protection of civilians and critical infrastructure; the safe, rapid and unimpeded delivery of large-scale, multi-sector humanitarian assistance through all entry points, including the lifting of restrictions on essential items and halting the delays and denials that undermine humanitarian work; and the at-scale restoration of commercial flows, market systems, essential services and local food production.
• Hundreds of thousands of families across the Gaza Strip continue to live in overcrowded, undignified and unsafe conditions in displacement sites, where site density has fallen below 30 square metres per person, according to the Shelter Cluster. While Israeli authorities have recently issued limited approvals for the entry of shelter materials, following five months of no entry of any shelter items, none have yet entered Gaza. Approvals of shelter items appear to be conditional on the entry of items through Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza, the cluster added. Moreover, according to the cluster, five partners have recently reported that their requests for the entry of shelter items have been rejected at the pre-clearance stage, which happens before they can enter Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Meanwhile, already, 1.4 million people are estimated to require basic emergency shelter – needs that are expected to drastically increase due to ongoing bombardments and Israeli military calls on people in northern Gaza, including Gaza city, to evacuate and move southward. Shelter Cluster partners warned that humanitarian aid must not be used to facilitate or legitimize mass displacement.
• On 21 August, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that the lack of equipment and sufficient fuel to repair and operate damaged water pipes and desalination plants is making it impossible for people in Gaza to get enough water and leading to an increase in disease. Since June 2024, for every 10 import requests of items for water desalination, MSF has had only one approved by Israeli authorities, and the organization’s efforts to deliver nine new treatment units to Gaza have faced continued denials for months. According to MSF, the reliance on water trucking, coming from desalination plants, means that people do not always know when or where their next glass of drinking water will come from. In addition, the expansion of military activities and bombardments have disrupted service provision, with MSF forced to stop providing water at least at 137 distribution points so far in 2025. In terms of repairing damage incurred by water infrastructure, MSF noted that there is currently reliance on improvised repairing techniques in reachable locations, such as locally sourcing spare parts or using parts from one generator or broken sites to fix another.

Famine Confirmed in Gaza Governorate

• On 22 August, the IPC confirmed that famine is currently occurring in Gaza governorate and is projected to expand to Deir al Balah and Khan Younis governorates. Conditions in North Gaza are estimated to be as severe – or worse – than in Gaza city. However, limited data prevented an IPC classification, highlighting the urgent need for access to assess and assist. Rafah was not analyzed, given indications that it is largely depopulated. Analyzing a population of 1.98 million people in Gaza, Deir al Balah and Khan Younis governorates, the IPC projected that, by the end of September 2025, more than 640,000 people will face catastrophic levels of food insecurity – classified as IPC Phase 5 – across the Gaza Strip. An additional 1.14 million people in the Gaza Strip will be in emergency (IPC Phase 4), and a further 198,000 people in crisis (IPC Phase 3) conditions. Through June 2026, at least 132,000 children under five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition – double the IPC estimate from May 2025. This includes over 41,000 severe cases of children at heightened risk of death, up from 14,100 cases estimated in May. Nearly 55,500 malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women will also require urgent nutrition response by mid-2025, triple the IPC estimate of 17,000 in May.
• Presenting the findings, the Famine Review Committee (FRC), made two main recommendations to senior decision makers and resource partners: to “act without delay to put in place an immediate humanitarian response at a large enough scale to prevent further deepening of suffering and avoidable mortality from this entirely man-made catastrophe,” noting that partial and temporary relaxations of restrictions have been repeatedly implemented in response to previous reviews and alerts, only for restrictions to be reapplied; and to “exert maximum pressure to achieve a ceasefire… to allow for restoration of essential, lifesaving services at the scale required” to reverse famine conditions.
• Following the issuance of the IPC report confirming famine in Gaza governorate, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, stated: “It is a famine within a few hundred metres of food, in a fertile land. It is a famine that hits the most vulnerable first. Each with a name, each with a story. That strips people of dignity before it strips them of life. That forces a parent to choose which child to feed. That forces people to risk their lives to seek food. It is a famine that we repeatedly warned of. But that the international media has not been allowed in to cover. To bear witness. … It is a famine on all of our watch. … It is a predictable and a preventable famine.”
• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and WHO underscored that famine must be stopped at all costs, noting that famine warnings have been clear for months and that they have consistently highlighted “the extreme urgency for an immediate and full-scale humanitarian response given the escalating hunger-related deaths, rapidly worsening levels of acute malnutrition and plummeting levels of food consumption, with hundreds of thousands of people going days without anything to eat.” The agencies also expressed grave concern about the threat of an intensified military offensive in Gaza city, where famine conditions already exist. They added that whereas aid supplies entering Gaza increased slightly since July, they “remained vastly insufficient, inconsistent and inaccessible compared to the need.” Warning that there is no time to lose, WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “The world has waited too long, watching tragic and unnecessary deaths mount from this man-made famine. Widespread malnutrition means that even common and usually mild diseases like diarrhoea are becoming fatal, especially for children. The health system, run by hungry and exhausted health workers, cannot cope. Gaza must be urgently supplied with food and medicines to save lives and begin the process of reversing malnutrition.”
• In a statement, the UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk, attributed the famine confirmed in Gaza governorate by the IPC to actions taken by the Israeli government: “It has unlawfully restricted the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance and other goods necessary for the survival of the civilian population in the Gaza strip. We have already seen deaths from starvation and malnutrition across the strip. The Israeli military has destroyed critical civilian infrastructure and almost all agricultural land, banned fishing, and forcibly displaced the population – all drivers of this famine.” Recalling that it is a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare, the Human Rights Chief said that the “Israeli authorities must take immediate steps to end the famine in the Gaza governorate and prevent further loss of life across the Gaza strip.”
• For pregnant and breastfeeding women and their newborns in Gaza, famine is “a possible death sentence,” the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) stated. “For mothers in Gaza, it means being forced to give birth while malnourished, exhausted and at heightened risk of death. It means their babies are born too small, too weak or too early to survive. It means mothers unable to breastfeed because they, too, are starving. And it forces mothers to make the impossible choice between which of their children to feed, and which must be left to perish,” UNFPA added. The consequences are all too visible, according to UNFPA, with one in five babies born prematurely or underweight and one in seven newborns in need of emergency neonatal care because of severe complications. UNFPA added that the children who survive will be marked by lasting scars, including stunting, developmental delays, weakened immunity, and increased risk of chronic disease in adulthood. Famine today will shape the health prospects of Palestinians for generations, UNFPA emphasized.
• According to Save the Children, 61 per cent of pregnant women and new mothers screened at its two primary health-care clinics in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah in the first two weeks of August were found to be malnourished, nearly seven times higher than the nine per cent recorded in the first two weeks of March, before aid and goods were almost entirely cut off. It added that cases of acute malnutrition among children under five seen at its two clinics have surged tenfold in four months. While Save the Children has been unable to get any of its own aid into Gaza since 2 March, doctors at its two clinics are seeing about 100 patients per day, double the recommended caseload, carrying out malnutrition screenings and medical interventions, and providing supplements, high calorie biscuits and pastes to malnourished children and mothers.
• According to MoH in Gaza, as of 27 August, 313 malnutrition-related deaths, including 119 children, were documented since October 2023. This includes 248 deaths since 1 July 2025, of whom 58 were children, and 10 people who died in the past 24 hours.

Challenges Facing the Health System

• Hospitals across Gaza continue to face extreme challenges that are hampering their ability to provide adequate health care to patients across Gaza. According to WHO, Al-Shifa and Al-Ahli hospitals, in Gaza city, are operating at nearly 300 per cent over capacity, with a constant influx of complex trauma injuries. Al-Ahli and Patient Friends Association hospitals lie close to displacement areas and risk becoming nonfunctional if not protected, WHO warned. During his visit to Al-Shifa hospital, Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the OPT, said that Al-Shifa hospital was turned to “one massive trauma ward,” with trauma patients all over the hospital, including floors, stairs and even in the new maternal and child health department. According to WHO, the total hospital bed capacity in the Gaza Strip is currently at 2,085 beds, including 1,547 inpatient beds, 68 intensive care units (ICUs), and 92 incubators, and the 11 hospitals still partially functional in Gaza city represent 49 per cent (1,022) of total hospital beds, 47 per cent (722) of inpatient beds, and 51 per cent (35) of all ICU beds in the Gaza Strip. In other words, if the Israeli-announced offensive on Gaza city goes ahead, the Gaza Strip could lose half of its hospital bed capacity.
• Infectious diseases in Gaza continue to spread, threatening public health. According to WHO, this is driven by overcrowding, poor WASH conditions, and malnutrition-related weakened immunity. Acute respiratory infections and acute watery diarrhea remain the most frequently reported conditions, accounting for 58 per cent and 41 per cent of all reported illnesses, respectively, between 3 and 9 August. In addition, the Health Cluster reported that between 1 and 22 August, a total of 115 cases of meningitis were reported across the Strip, bringing the total number of cases since May to 1,043. The number of suspected Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) cases has also increased to 94, with about 25 per cent requiring ICU treatment and 10 associated deaths reported. GBS treatment options, such as plasmapheresis (plasma exchange) filters and intravenous immunoglobulin, remain out of stock, with efforts to replenish supplies ongoing.
• On 20 August, the World Health Organization (WHO) supported a large-scale medical evacuation of critically injured and sick patients to the UAE. This included 63 patients, including 37 children, along with 92 companions. In a second evacuation this week, on 27 August, WHO evacuated 19 patients, including 18 children, along with 62 companions from Gaza to Jordan. According to WHO, more than 15,800 critical patients in Gaza remain in urgent need of specialized medical care that they cannot receive in Gaza. WHO calls on more countries to step forward to accept patients, and for the restoration of medical evacuations to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
• According to Dr. Ahmad Al-Farra, Head of the Paediatric Department at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, the health situation in southern Gaza has reached a catastrophic level, with significantly more hospitals needed to accommodate the growing number of children suffering from malnutrition. He noted that just a few months ago, Nasser Complex allocated only eight beds for the treatment of malnutrition cases, while 25 children are currently admitted. Some are lying on the floor due to the lack of available beds, with most in critical condition. Dr. Al-Farra indicated that the hospital’s malnutrition clinic, operating only two days a week, is receiving 10 times the previous caseload.
• On 24 August, the head of the Nutrition Department at Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, Dr. Mohammed Kuhail, said that the hospital is currently treating over 800 cases of malnutrition. He highlighted the risks facing post-operative patients and that pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering from anaemia and severe deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals, increasing the risk of premature birth and low birth weight. In addition, elderly patients, as well as those with kidney failure and stroke, require special dietary regimens that are currently unavailable. He further emphasized that the absence of animal protein, fresh vegetables, and fruits is exacerbating the health crisis, while reliance on canned food is insufficient and delays recovery.

Funding

• As of 26 August 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$950 million out of the $4 billion (23 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the OPT. Nearly 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during July 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 111 ongoing projects, totalling $65.2 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 54 are being implemented by INGOs, 43 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 39 out of the 68 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.

1721.

28 augustus 2025

The Hind Rajab Foundation, together with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, has filed a powerful case at the International Criminal Court naming the Israeli military and political figures behind the assassination of Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif and his colleagues. This unprecedented complaint identifies top commanders—Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar, Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asor, Brig.-Gen. Yossi Sariel, the Palmachim Airbase Commander, the "Black Snake" Squadron Commander, and Col. Avichay Adraee—and demands their immediate arrest. It also calls for expanding Benjamin Netanyahu's arrest warrant to include crimes against journalists, framing these killings as part of a systematic effort to erase witnesses and silence the truth from Gaza.

Read the full press release below.

SUPPORT OUR WORK

By any measure, Anas Al-Sharif should still be alive.

On the morning of 10 August 2025, the 28-year-old Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent was doing what he had done since the first days of the Gaza onslaught—reporting from the frontlines, armed only with a camera and a press vest. Outside the main gate of Al Shifa Hospital, in one of the last corners of northern Gaza where journalists could still work, Al-Sharif was filing footage of bombardments that shook the streets around him. Moments later, a missile struck the tent where he and his colleagues were sheltering.

Seven people died instantly. Among them: Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa—four Al Jazeera journalists who, like Al-Sharif, had refused to stop documenting the Genocide. Mohammed Al-Khaldi, also a journalist who worked for Sahat Media Platform, and Saad Jundiya, a Palestinian civilian who happened to be present in the scene at the time of attack were also killed.

The Israeli military would later admit the strike was deliberate. Their justification? The same recycled accusation used in killing over 220 journalists since October 2023: that the victims were "terrorists in press vests."

For the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), this was not just another tragedy in a long war on the press. This was a clear-cut criminal act—a war crime and part of a broader genocidal campaign—and it demanded a direct, targeted legal response.

A Joint Case to The Hague

The new Article 15 Communication to the International Criminal Court was filed jointly by HRF and PCHR. While HRF focused its investigation on the chain of command and operational decisions that led to Al-Sharif's killing, PCHR brought to the case its meticulous documentation of the other Al Jazeera journalists killed in Gaza—cases that fit the same pattern of premeditation and deliberate targeting.

PCHR's files cover the assassinations of Hussam Shabat, Ismail Al-Ghoul, Ahmed Al-Louh, Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh, and Samer Abu Daqa, among others—all journalists marked by Israel as "terrorists" before being eliminated in targeted strikes. These cases show that Al-Sharif's killing was not an isolated event but part of an established policy.

Following the Chain of Command

When HRF investigators began reconstructing the strike, they followed the trail from the moment a drone camera locked onto Al-Sharif's position to the instant the missile hit.

Using operational patterns, signals intelligence reports, and expert military analysis, the foundation identified the chain of command behind the killing:

Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir – IDF Chief of the General Staff

Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar – Commander of the Israeli Air Force

Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asor – Southern Command Commander

Brig.-Gen. Yossi Sariel – Former Commander of Unit 8200 (Israel's signals intelligence branch)

General A. : Current Commander of Unit 8200

Palmachim Airbase Commander – Name undisclosed

"Black Snake" Squadron Commander – Name undisclosed  

Col. Avichay Adraee – IDF Spokesperson's Unit, Arab Media Division, responsible for a sustained smear campaign against Al-Sharif

At the political summit stands Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister who presided over—and encouraged—a strategy to eliminate journalists as part of Israel's assault on Gaza.

The Smear Before the Strike

If the missile was the killing blow, the campaign to delegitimize Anas Al-Sharif had begun long before. For nearly two years, Avichay Adraee, Israel's Arabic-language military spokesperson, used social media to accuse Al-Sharif of being a Hamas operative. He mocked the journalist's emotional reporting, called his on-camera tears "crocodile tears," and framed his work as propaganda.

This smear playbook is familiar. Before being killed, journalists such as Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh, Ismail Al-Ghoul, and Hussam Shabat—whose cases PCHR has fully documented—were branded "terrorists" by Israeli officials. Days or weeks later, they were dead—killed in precision strikes on clearly marked press vehicles or while wearing "PRESS" vests.

A War on Witnesses

The killings of Anas Al-Sharif and his colleagues are not isolated incidents. Together, HRF and PCHR's investigations reveal a systematic policy targeting Al Jazeera journalists:

Label them terrorists without any plausible proof.

Smear them publicly to dehumanize and justify their killing.

Eliminate them in targeted strikes.

In the Gaza war, local journalists are not just chroniclers—they are the last line of independent witness to a conflict foreign reporters are barred from entering. Silencing them is not collateral damage; it is strategic.

From Evidence to Action

The joint submission to the ICC does not mince words. It accuses the identified military and political figures of:

War crimes under Article 8(2)(a)(i) of the Rome Statute (willful killing)

Genocide under Article 6(a) of the Rome Statute (as part of the broader campaign to destroy the Palestinian people and erase those documenting their suffering)

And it makes three urgent demands to the ICC Prosecutor:

Issue arrest warrants for the military officials named in the submission.

Expand Netanyahu's arrest warrant to include crimes against journalists.

Formally include all 220+ journalist killings in the ICC's Palestine investigation.

Hunting the Perpetrators

This is not symbolic litigation. HRF is tracking these individuals, identifying their roles, and preparing to pursue them in any jurisdiction willing to act. The case is being built not only for The Hague, but also for prosecution in national courts that recognize universal jurisdiction for war crimes and genocide.

​"The assassination of Anas Al-Sharif was so blunt, so arrogant, and so drenched in contempt for human life, truth, the legal order, and humanity itself, that it cannot and will not be allowed to pass into silence." says  HRF Chairman Dyab Abou Jahjah.

The Message to The ICC

The evidence is there. The legal foundation is unshakable. The jurisdiction is established beyond question. What remains is for the International Criminal Court to move past statements of "grave concern" and take the decisive step that justice demands: act.

The killing of journalists in Gaza is not a footnote to the story—it is the method by which every other war crime is hidden from the world. It is the deliberate blinding of humanity's eyes, the extinguishing of the witnesses who stand between atrocity and oblivion. To ignore this is not neutrality—it is complicity. It is to give the perpetrators the silence they seek.

Anas Al-Sharif knew this better than anyone. His last words, prepared in anticipation of his own assassination, still echo across the digital world:

"If these words of mine reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice."

But voices like his are not so easily buried. The joint HRF–PCHR case ensures that his words will rise again—in the courtroom of the ICC, in the ink of arrest warrants, and in the unyielding memory of history. They will stand as testimony not only to his courage but to the moral imperative that binds us all: that truth must be defended, justice must be pursued, and those who kill to hide their crimes must one day answer for them. 

1720.

27 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Israel wanted to punish a Palestinian village. So it destroyed 10,000 of its olive trees.

Qassam Muaddi

Israel uprooted 10,000 olive trees in al-Mughayyir during a three-day siege of the West Bank Palestinian village. The Israeli army stated that uprooting the trees was intended to “deter” village residents and make them “pay a heavy price.”

In defiance of voter base, DNC rejects resolution calling for Israel arms embargo

Michael Arria

Democratic National Committee members rejected a resolution calling for an arms embargo on Israel, but pressure continues to mount on party leaders to adopt a stronger stance against the Gaza genocide.

Israeli army injures 24 Palestinians during the largest raid on Ramallah in years

Qassam Muaddi

The Israeli army carried out one of its most extensive raids on the city center of Ramallah in years, firing at civilians with teargas, stun grenades, and live ammunition.

1719.

27 augustus 2025

We sturen deze themanieuwsbrief om je op de hoogte te brengen van een nieuwe internationale campagne die gestart is.

Met No Room for Genocide wil de BDS beweging de druk op de toeristische sector vergroten en ook toeristische bedrijven overhalen om zich bij het protest te voegen.

Het eerste artikel geeft de achtergrond van de campagne aan. Het tweede is een toolkit: wat kun je doen als toerist of als toeristisch bedrijf?

Ten laatste een actieoproep voor 3 september in Den Haag. Details hieronder.

Een strijdbare groet van het docP team; blijf BDS-en!

Het BDS Nationale Comité is een nieuwe campagne gestart:  No Room for Genocide. Het gaat bij de campagne nadrukkelijk om medeplichtigheid, niet om identiteit. Bij deze campagne biedt de BNC een toolkit aan om toeristische organisaties aan te spreken en verantwoordelijk te houden. De BNC hier geeft achtergrond en een aantal criteria.

Voor concrete maatregelen zie het volgende artikel, met de toolkit.

Toolkit No Room for Genocide

De toolkit No room for genocide biedt handvatten voor concrete actie om toeristische medeplichtigheid aan Israëls apartheid en genocide tegen te gaan. Bedrijven kunnen zich aansluiten bij het netwerk van Apartheidsvrije Zones, of een Sanctuary of Peace worden. Ze kunnen verklaringen vragen van gasten uit (bijv.) Israël dat ze zich niet hebben schuldig gemaakt aan oorlogsmisdaden.

De toolkit biedt nog meer mogelijkheden. Dus ga kijken.

Kom 3 september naar Den Haag

Op 3 september vindt het hoger beroep van SOMO en negen andere eisers tegen de staat plaats om deze tot maatregelen tegen Israël te dwingen. In de eerste zitting in december vorig jaar werd het verzoek afgewezen, maar wel de verantwoordelijkheid van Nederland erkend om aan haar wettelijke verplichtingen te voldoen om genocide te voorkomen.

Het hoger beroep op 3 september zal een belangrijk moment zal zijn voor de internationale juridische strijd tegen de genocide in Gaza.

De coalitie stelt dat de materiële steun van de Nederlandse staat aan de Israëlische misdaden niet alleen in strijd is met verplichtingen onder het Genocideverdrag, de Verdragen van Genève en het Wapenhandelsverdrag. De Nederlandse steun ondermijnt ook de geloofwaardigheid en levensvatbaarheid van het internationale recht, een stelsel waarin Den Haag als “stad van vrede en recht” een centrale rol speelt.

Vanwege het belang van dit beroep is er een oproep massaal naar het gerechtshof te komen op 3 september om 10 uur, aan de Prins Clauslaan 60.

1718.

26 augustus 2025

Yesterday, the Israeli occupation forces bombed Nasser Medical Complex in broad daylight, on live television, killing 21 Palestinian people, including five journalists.¹ This is not normal.

Wherever you are right now, try feeling the ground beneath your feet. Root by root, ocean by ocean, this ground is connected to the same ground supporting the staircase that became a mass grave today.

Israel bombed a fourth-floor hospital staircase because it had Wi-Fi. That staircase was the lifeline between the truth tellers of Khan Younis to the world—to you and me.

Malnourished journalists used to climb the four floors of the hospital and reach their hands up to the sky, hoping their phones could connect to the world wide web. In their last moments, Hussam Al Masri, Mohammed Salama, Mariam Abu Daqqa, Moaz Abu Taha, and Ahmed Abu Aziz were trying to connect with us.

ANSWER THE CALL: DEMAND MEDIA COVERAGE

1717.

26 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Israeli army says it ‘does not target’ journalists, after targeting and killing 5 journalists

Tareq S. Hajjaj

The Israeli army carried out a 'double-tap' strike on the Nasser Hospital in Gaza, killing at least 20 people, including five journalists who worked for Al Jazeera, Reuters, and the Associated Press.

mothers all have one thing in common: Israel killed their sons

Majd Jawad

United in grief over their sons, either killed or jailed by Israel, these Palestinian mothers formed a "league" to support one another. But as Israel's violence expands, and new mothers join their league, the group is finding it harder to operate.

1716.

25 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Stop Censoring Palestine: A public call for accountability at the Harvard Education Publishing Group

Open Letter

Hundreds of scholars, educators, and education practitioners condemn Harvard Educational Review's cancellation of a special issue on Palestine, saying it aims to silence discussion of the genocide and dehumanization of the Palestinian people.

Gaza is the Compass: Second annual People’s Conference for Palestine

People’s Conference for Palestine 

From August 29-31, thousands of Palestine supporters will gather in Detroit, Michigan, for the second annual People’s Conference for Palestine, guided by the principle: Gaza is the Compass.

1715.

24 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

70 Palestinian students admitted to Canadian universities are trapped in Gaza. We need Canada to defend our right to education.

Reem A. Hamadaqa

Reem Hamadaqa is among 70 Palestinian students accepted into Canadian graduate programs who are unable to leave Gaza due to the Israeli siege and genocide. The students are calling on the Canadian government to defend their right to education.

Why it took Palestinians starving for many to finally admit Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

Maryam Jamshidi

Why has starvation been so crucial in getting some to finally admit Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, as compared to deadlier atrocities? The answer lies in the dehumanization of the Palestinian people and the desire to find "innocent" victims.

1714.

24 augustus 2025

West Bank Monthly Snapshot
Casualties, Property Damage and Displacement

July 2025

1713.

23 augustus 2025

Israel has officially created a famine in Gaza

On Friday, the UN’s food-security system confirmed famine in Gaza City—the first official famine ever declared in the Middle East—and warned it will spread without an immediate ceasefire and full access for food and medical aid. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are already in catastrophic hunger. This is not a mystery or an inevitability; agencies say it’s the product of Israeli policy, and they explicitly caution that further military escalation in Gaza City will make the death toll worse. Read our report on the declaration of famine 

But this warning is too late. Israel has already begun the next phase of the war. As Tareq Hajjaj reports, the “October” timeline to occupy Gaza City is misinformation. The invasion started on August 10 in the al-Zaytoun district. In just nine days, locals counted roughly 450 buildings destroyed; tanks probed the neighborhood; and about 80% of residents fled as the bombardment intensified. This includes parts of the Old City of Gaza, a historic neighborhood now being erased. Read Tareq’s report 

Put plainly, famine was confirmed on the same week Israel expanded its assault into the very area where people were already starving. UN officials call this catastrophe “entirely human-made,” and health agencies are “gravely concerned” about an intensified offensive in Gaza City. The choice before world leaders is not complicated: open the crossings and stop the genocide, or watch the famine spread.

U.S. politics is cracking under the weight of this reality. As Mitchell Plitnick writes, Democrats, including several with 2028 ambitions, are flailing between a donor class invested in maintaining Israel’s impunity and voters who want the genocide to stop. Supporting Israel’s war has become a political loser with the Democratic base, and party leaders are scrambling to square that circle with empty gestures. Read Mitchell’s analysis 

Mondoweiss is covering all this honestly, every day, with reporters on the ground and analysis that doesn’t pull punches. For those of you reading who are not yet donors to our work, please hit reply and tell me why that is, and what we could do to earn your support. We rely on feedback from our readers to guide our work, and I’m eager to hear from you!

David Reed, Publisher

Must read: Israel has started the invasion of Gaza City, and is now annihilating one of its most historic neighborhoods

Taraq Hajjaj: Despite the Israeli army’s announcements that it plans to occupy Gaza City in October, the first stage of the invasion has already begun. It is starting with the flattening of the Zaytoun neighborhood, including the Old City of Gaza.

Israeli army tank deploys near the Gaza border, May 20, 2025. (Photo: © Saeed Qaq/ZUMA Press Wire/ZUMA Wire/APA Images)

Genocide in Gaza

 Jonathan Ofir: In leaked comments, the former head of Israel’s Military Intelligence said it is necessary for Israel to carry out a genocide in Gaza: “The fact that there are already 50,000 killed in Gaza is necessary and required for future generations.”

 Tareq Hajjaj: Hamas accepted the ceasefire proposal presented by Egypt and Qatar that would pave the way for negotiations on permanently ending the war on Gaza. The ball is now in Israel’s court.

 Bilal Irfan and Alyssa Seliga: The Trump administration’s decision to halt all visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza, which came after pressure from right-wing activists, will be a death sentence for children who require life-saving medical treatment.

Catch-up

 Abdaljawad Omar: Itamar Ben-Gvir’s staged attempt at humiliating Marwan Barghouti exposed the impotence of the Palestinian political order — but it also laid bare the insecurities and anxieties that fuel Israel’s need to publicly subjugate Palestinians.

 Michael Arria: On August 5, the Iowa City Council unanimously voted to boycott and divest from Israel bonds and all companies complicit in the Gaza genocide and occupation of Palestine.

 Emma Lucia Llano: Peru’s state-owned munitions company’s new strategic partnership with Israel’s Elbit Systems indicates an increasing complicity in the Gaza genocide and suggests Israeli surveillance technology will soon be used against Peru’s own dissidents.

 Majd Jawad: Israel is reviving a settlement plan that would annex a strategic tract of land east of Jerusalem and effectively split the West Bank in two, “burying” the possibility of any future Palestinian state in the territory.

 Mitchell Plitnick: Democrats, including those eyeing a 2028 presidential run, are flailing as it becomes clear that supporting Israel is now a political loser. While politicians navigate this new terrain, pro-Israel groups are scrambling to rebuild liberal support.

 Michael Arria: The United Methodist Church (UMC) will divest from Israel bonds and from other governments maintaining illegal military occupations, making it the first church in the world to make such a pledge.

1712.

23 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Famine has officially taken hold in Gaza, and it is ‘entirely man-made’, experts say

Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau

The world’s largest authority on food crises declared that Gaza City, the largest governorate in the Gaza Strip, is officially experiencing famine. If the international community doesn't intervene, the famine will spread - fast.

DNC vote on Israel arms embargo will be the next Democratic Party showdown over Palestine

Michael Arria

At its summer meeting, the Democratic National Committee will vote on two rival resolutions concerning Gaza. The competing proposals highlight the growing divide over Israel within the Democratic Party.

1711.

22 augustus 2025

UN’s Famine Declaration Confirms What Palestinians Have Already Stated—Trump and Israel Are Solely Responsible for This Man-Made Catastrophe

Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action) condemns the Israeli-manufactured famine ravaging Gaza, now officially recognized by the United Nations as a deadly reality. The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed that famine is occurring in Gaza City and its surrounding areas, where more than half a million Palestinians are enduring catastrophic conditions marked by starvation, destitution, and death.

This declaration only affirms what Palestinians and humanitarian organizations have been warning for months: Israel, with the full backing of President Donald Trump, has deliberately engineered famine as a weapon of war. As of today, at least 273 people, including 112 children, have been starved to death by Israel. The IPC warns that famine will spread to central and southern Gaza by the end of September unless the siege is ended.

“This famine is not a natural disaster—it is a man-made atrocity, imposed by Israel and the Trump administration, and it could be ended tomorrow if the blockade were lifted,” said Dr. Osama Abu Irshaid, Executive Director of AJP Action. “The world must stop pretending Palestinians are dying of anything other than deliberate starvation, carried out with political intent and U.S. complicity.”

International law is explicit: Article 54 of the Geneva Conventions prohibits the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. Yet Israel continues to block food, water, medicine, and fuel while targeting Palestinians at so-called distribution points, leaving civilians to die within sight of withheld aid. President Trump’s policies, which condition humanitarian access on ceasefire negotiations and provide cover for Israeli war crimes, make him directly responsible for enabling this genocide by hunger.

AJP Action calls on all members of Congress, human rights organizations, and the international community to:

1. Demand the immediate lifting of Israel’s blockade and allow unrestricted UN humanitarian access into Gaza.
2. Hold President Trump and the Israeli government accountable for crimes against humanity and violations of international law. This includes immediately suspending all military aid to Israel, in accordance with both U.S. and international law.
3. Publicly recognize that Gaza’s famine is entirely man-made and act urgently to stop it before thousands more perish.

Palestinians in Gaza are not being starved by natural disaster or circumstance, but by deliberate political design. This isn’t a temporary crisis that will simply resolve itself—the damage being done is compounding daily, pushing an entire population toward a breaking point that is already nearly irreversible. The U.S. has the power and duty to intervene and facilitate change; every day it chooses not to is another day of engineered starvation, another day of death imposed on millions.
 

In solidarity,
Americans for Justice in Palestine Action

1710.

22 augustus 2025

Een demissionair minister, Caspar Veldkamp, die niet weet of hij namens zichzelf of namens het kabinet spreekt: het was het voorlopige sluitstuk van het chaotische debat over Gaza dat gisteren plaatsvond in de Tweede Kamer.

Met het zogenoemde tweeminutendebat zou het debat van 7 augustus over de genocide Gaza en mogelijke extra maatregelen tegen Israël worden afgesloten. Partijen konden moties indienen, waarover zou worden gestemd. Maar zo ver kwam het gisteren niet. De reden: tijdens het debat bleek dat minister Veldkamp eerst nog met zijn collega's in de ministerraad moest overleggen wat het kabinetsstandpunt is over maatregelen tegen Israël. 

Demissionair minister Caspar Veldkamp heeft huiswerk te doen voordat het debat in de Tweede Kamer vanavond verder gaat. © Alamy / Robin van Lonkhuijsen

VVD laat het afweten
Het gebrek aan een eenduidig kabinetsstandpunt bleek onder meer tijdens de bespreking van een motie die tijdens het debat door D66 werd ingediend. Die roept het kabinet op om de handel met illegale Israëlische nederzettingen te verbieden. De motie werd medeondertekend door GroenLinks-PvdA, CDA, SP, Volt, Partij voor de Dieren, én NSC, de partij van minister Veldkamp.
 
De VVD, dat samen met BBB en NSC de (demissionaire) regeringscoalitie vormt, liet het echter afweten: woordvoerder Eric van der Burg zag meer in zijn eigen motie, die het kabinet oproept zich ‘in Europees verband’ in te zetten voor zo’n handelsverbod. Dat is binnen de Europese Unie een kansloze missie, en staat dus gelijk aan het afzien van extra maatregelen.

Minister niet voorbereid
Onenigheid binnen de coalitie, dus. Minister Veldkamp noemde de motie ‘sympathiek’, maar wist niet of hij in het kabinet steun zou krijgen voor zo’n maatregel. Uit de bijdrage van Van der Burg leek duidelijk dat dit niet het geval is, om over BBB nog maar te zwijgen. Die denken, zo bleek uit een bijdrage van BBB’er Henk Vermeer, dat alles goed komt als ‘Hamas de wapens neerlegt’. Toen Sarah Dobbe (SP) hem vroeg of BBB had nagedacht over maatregelen om genocide te voorkomen, zei Vermeer: ‘Wij hebben daar op dit moment zelf niet over nagedacht.’

Wordt vervolgd
Minister Veldkamp besloot het debat met de volgende woorden: 'Ik kan niks garanderen. Ik weet niet hoe de ministerraad loopt. Maar ik zeg heel duidelijk: hier laat ik het niet bij. Dat is dus duidelijk, denk ik.' Integendeel: dat is volstrekt onduidelijk.

Vanmiddag, na de ministerraad, wordt het debat voortgezet en zal duidelijk moeten worden waar het demissionair kabinet staat. Dan komt ook een motie van wantrouwen tegen minister Veldkamp in stemming, ingediend door de SP. Gezien de rechtse kamermeerderheid lijkt die het niet te zullen halen.

Over de uitkomsten van dit debat houden wij u uiteraard op de hoogte. 

Explainer | De hetze tegen ‘From the river to the sea’: de dader bepaalt hoe zijn slachtoffer zich mag uiten

Een rechtszaak, een Tweede Kamermotie en volop media-aandacht: de leus From the river to the sea leidde in Nederland tot buitenproportionele reacties en oproepen tot een verbod.

Ook bij The Rights Forum krijgen we geregeld vragen over de leus. Daarom publiceerden we afgelopen week een explainer, waarin we de belangrijkste vragen beantwoorden en de leus in context plaatsen.

Studenten aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam protesteren in mei 2024 tegen de Israëlische genocide en komen op voor Palestijnse rechten ‘From the river to the sea’. © Robert vant Hoenderdaal / Alamy

Onderdrukking van Palestijns narratief
De kern van de zaak is dat de onderdrukking van de Palestijnen niet alleen fysiek is, maar zich ook richt tegen hun narratief. Doel van de protesten tegen 'from the river to the sea...' is het delegitimeren en verdacht maken van het gerechtvaardigde Palestijnse streven om na 77 jaar in vrijheid te kunnen leven. Die strategie bestaat al lang en is succesvol: decennia van delegitimering en dehumanisering van de Palestijnen heeft de wereld op het punt gebracht dat wordt toegekeken hoe in Gaza de fase van uitroeiing en verdrijving zich voltrekt.

Vrijwilligers gezocht | Doorlopende 24-uurs wake voor Gaza

Sinds 25 juli organiseert de Rotterdam Palestina Coalitie een doorlopende 24-uurs wake bij het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken in Den Haag. De organisatoren roepen de Nederlandse regering op om direct sancties tegen Israël in te stellen, en geven aan niet weg te gaan tot hun eisen zijn ingewilligd.

Tijdens de wake worden onafgebroken de namen van de vermoorde Palestijnen hardop voorgelezen. Voor het voorlezen van de namen, evenals voor de organisatie van de wake zelf, is de organisatie op zoek naar vrijwilligers. Meer informatie is te vinden op deze website.

Duidelijke eisen
De actie van de Rotterdam Palestina Coalitie is een dringend moreel en politiek appèl aan de Nederlandse regering om per direct sancties tegen Israël in te stellen. De organisatoren eisen onder meer een wapenembargo tegen Israël, de opschorting van het EU-associatieverdrag en een einde aan de Nederlandse medeplichtigheid aan de genocide in Gaza.

Opinie | Het CDA blijft grondoorzaken negeren

In een nieuwe notitie van Kamerlid Derk Boswijk presenteert het CDA haar standpunt over Palestina en Israël als evenwichtig. In werkelijkheid negeert de partij de kern van de kwestie, betoogt Gerard Jonkman, directeur van The Rights Forum. Decennia van bezetting, apartheid en schendingen van internationaal recht blijven structureel onderbelicht.

'Door de structurele oorzaken (bezetting, apartheid, etnische zuivering, ontzegging van zelfbeschikking) te negeren, kiest het CDA voor symptoombestrijding. Maar wie de ziekte niet erkent, kan haar niet genezen.

'De enige weg naar vrede is het doorbreken van deze structuren van onderdrukking. Dat vraagt onder meer om de erkenning van de staat Palestina, een volledig wapenembargo tegen Israël en een verbod op handel met Israël.'

Uit onze agenda
zaterdag 22 augustus t/m zaterdag 29 augustus
• Doorlopende 24-uurs stiltewake in Den Haag, bij het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Rijnstraat 8, Den Haag
• 'The People for Gaza' – dagelijks protest in Amsterdam, Stationsplein, Centraal Station (20.00 uur)
• (Bijna) dagelijks stilteprotest, elke doordeweekse ochtend bij Neude, Utrecht, langs het fietspad (08.30 uur)
• Het dertiende schoenenherdenkingsprotest van Plant een Olijfboom op zondag 24 augustus in Utrecht, Vredenburgplein (10.30 uur)
• Liederen voor Vrede op zondag 24 augustus in Utrecht, Pieterskerk (15.00 uur)
• Getuigen van Gaza op woensdag 27 augustus, vanuit Nijmegen naar Brussel (11.30 uur)
• Sit-in rijksambtenaren op donderdag 28 augustus in Den Haag, Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Rijnstraat 8 (12.00 uur)
• Wekelijkse lawaaidemonstraties op stations in heel Nederland, op donderdag 28 augustus. Houd de pagina van Plant een Olijfboom in de gaten voor meer informatie.
• Wekelijks protest tegen genocide, voor menselijkheid op vrijdag 29 augustus in Doetinchem, voor het gemeentehuis (10.00 uur)
• Workshop Palestijnse literatuur op vrijdag 29 augustus in Vianen, De Vrije Lekpoort (19.30 uur) Door Marianne Dagevos van Podium voor Palestina. Toegang gratis, wel vooraf aanmelden via info@vrijelekpoort.nl
• Wekelijks stilteprotest op vrijdag 29 augustus in Amersfoort, Varkensmarkt & De Hof (09.30 uur)
• Wake voor Palestina op zaterdag 30 augustus in Nijmegen, Plein '44 (14.00 uur)
• Wake voor Palestina op zaterdag 30 augustus in Groningen, Waagplein (13.00 uur)
• Getuigen van Gaza op zaterdag 30 en zondag 31 augustus in Hoorn, Het Foreestenhuis, Grote Oost 43

1709.

22 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Israel has started the invasion of Gaza City, and is now annihilating one of its most historic neighborhoods

Tareq S. Hajjaj

Despite the Israeli army’s announcements that it plans to occupy Gaza City in October, the first stage of the invasion has already begun. It is starting with the flattening of the Zaytoun neighborhood, including the Old City of Gaza.

Students urge George Washington University not to capitulate to Trump threats over Palestine activism

GWU Left Coalition

Students at George Washington University urge the school's administration not to give in to Trump administration demands following a Justice Department investigation into alleged "antisemitism" stemming from protests against the Gaza genocide.

1708.

21 augustus 2025

Humanitarian Situation Update #316
West Bank

21 August 2025

A Palestinian herding sheep after Israeli forces demolished animal shelters on 11 August 2025 in the South ’Anata Bedouin community, near the area designated for the E1 settlement plan. Photo by OCHA

Key Highlights

• The Israeli government’s advancement of the E1 settlement plan in eastern Jerusalem governorate would effectively separate the northern and central West Bank from the south, further threaten the territorial contiguity of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and heighten the risk of forced displacement of about 18 Palestinian Bedouin communities.
• Attacks, harassment and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinians continue unabated. Between 12 and 18 August, OCHA documented 29 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in casualties, property damage, or both.
• On 13 August, an Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian man during a settler attack near Duma south of Nablus. Since the beginning of this year, Israeli settlers have killed five Palestinians in attacks perpetrated by settlers, compared to three in 2024.
• OCHA has documented more than 1,000 attacks by Israeli settlers in 230 communities across the West Bank since the beginning of 2025, which resulted in the killing of 11 Palestinians and the injury of roughly 700 others by Israeli settlers or forces as well as property damage.

Humanitarian Developments

• Between 12 and 18 August, two Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, one by Israeli forces and one by an Israeli settler. During the same period, at least 18 Palestinians, including two children, were injured, half by Israeli forces and half by Israeli settlers.
  • On 13 August, an Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian man during a settler attack near the village of Duma, south of Nablus. According to the village council, since the establishment of a new outpost on 30 May 2025, settlers have been bulldozing and vandalizing agricultural lands in the area to construct a new one-kilometre road that extends from the outpost toward the village. Video footage shows Palestinian residents arguing with the settlers, during which Palestinians threw stones at the settlers. One of the settlers then opened fire at the Palestinians. According to the Israeli military, Palestinians threw stones at Israelis who were doing engineering work near Duma, one of which was an off-duty soldier, and two were injured. According to the Israeli military, one of the Palestinians attempted to grab the weapon of the off-duty soldier who opened fire at the Palestinians.
  • On 16 August, Israeli forces shot and killed an 18-year-old Palestinian following a settler attack in Al Mughayyir village, in Ramallah governorate. At noon, dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian property in the area located between the villages of Al Mughayyir and Khirbet Abu Falah, blocking access between the two villages and causing damage to Palestinian property, including livestock, an animal shelter, a residential tent, a caravan, vehicles, several agricultural rooms, trees and saplings, solar panels, and farming equipment. The settlers and Palestinians from the two villages threw stones at each other and Israeli forces arrived to disperse both groups. Later that day, Israeli forces raided the village, and Palestinians threw stones at the forces, who fired live ammunition at Palestinians, killing one of them.
• Between 12 and 18 August, OCHA documented the demolition of eight Palestinian-owned structures due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which affected over 60 Palestinians. The demolitions included six structures in Area C and two in East Jerusalem. In two incidents on 12 and 13 August, Israeli authorities demolished two ready-to-be-inhabited, two-storey residential buildings in Area C of Silwad town, in Ramallah governorate, and Qalandiya village, in Jerusalem governorate, respectively, affecting around 40 Palestinians. Between 1 January and 18 August 2025, at least 230 empty and inhabited residences have been demolished across Area C for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, compared with 185 and 91 in the parallel periods of 2024 and 2023, respectively.
• As the summer heat wave persists, many Palestinian communities across the West Bank, are facing extreme water shortages. During the reporting period, water supply from the Israeli water company (Mekorot) was reduced by at least 10-15 per cent for communities in Jerusalem and Ramallah governorates, without a clear reason given for the continuous reduction. The supply to the network serves two cities, Ramallah and Al Bireh, 10 towns, five refugee camps and over 40 villages. Some of these areas have been further affected by multiple settler attacks on Ein Samiya Spring, its water wells and the surrounding infrastructure in July 2025; this source normally provides water to 20 villages, serving an estimated 100,000 Palestinians. In addition to settler violence, many communities face water shortages due to the demolition of water structures by Israeli authorities. Since 1 January 2025, OCHA has documented the demolition by Israeli authorities of more than 130 water and sanitation structures across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Advancement of the E1 settlement plan

• On 20 August, the Israeli government approved the construction of over 3,400 housing units for settlers as part of the E1 settlement expansion plan. The plan entails the construction of thousands of settlement housing and commercial units, creating a continuous built-up area between Ma’ale Adumim settlement and Jerusalem. The area is also planned to be surrounded by the Barrier. According to Peace Now, on 6 August 2025, objections submitted by affected Palestinian communities and Israeli NGOs against the construction of thousands of housing units for the E1 settlement plan were rejected by the Israeli Higher Planning Council.
• On 20 August, the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, condemned the E1 settlement expansion plan, stating that “Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are a violation of international law and run directly counter to United Nations resolutions. The advancement of this project is an existential threat to the two-State solution...The Secretary-General reiterates his call on the Government of Israel to immediately halt all settlement activity and to comply fully with its obligations under international law and to act in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions and in line with the International Court of Justice in its Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024.”
• Humanitarian partners are concerned that the plan would further disrupt the territorial contiguity of the Occupied Palestinian Territory by cutting off Palestinians in the northern and central West Bank from the south, further disconnect East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, heighten the risk of forced displacement of 18 Palestinian Bedouin communities of over 3,500 people residing in the area, and have a devastating humanitarian impact on them and other Palestinians across the West Bank. In the same area designated for the E1 settlement plan in eastern Jerusalem governorate, the Israeli Security Cabinet had approved on 29 March 2025 the construction of a road that would link Az Za’ayyem and Al ‘Eizariya towns – this is part of a broader, alternative road network that would divert Palestinian traffic away from the existing Road 1, which connects Jerusalem to Jericho. The area is also slated to be encircled by the Barrier, which was approved by the Israeli Cabinet in 2006 and has not been completed (see map). Additionally, Israeli authorities had previously advanced a plan to relocate Bedouin communities from the area, which was rejected by residents, the majority of whom are Palestine refugees. Some 18 Bedouin communities in the area are directly affected and have been long deemed to be at risk of forcible transfer due to these plans, Barrier and relocation plans as well as a coercive environment generated by Israeli practices that encompassed the demolition of homes, schools and animal shelters, denial of access to basic infrastructure, rejection of applications for building permits, and restricted access to grazing land and markets.
• On 21 August, the UN Office for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a statement condemning the approval of the E1 plan by stating that “[the plan] represents another grave and unlawful step to consolidate annexation of the occupied West Bank, in violation of international law...By dramatically restricting Palestinian’s ability to move within the occupied West Bank, it will have catastrophic effects on their enjoyment of fundamental rights to access health, education, employment, and maintain family and society connections.”

Bedouin Communities at risk of displacement in the area designated for the E1 settlement plan

• Since 2009, Israeli authorities have demolished more than 500 Palestinian-owned structures in the 18 Bedouin communities located in an area designated for the E1 settlement plan in the eastern Jerusalem governorate, displacing over 900 people. These include 181 donor-funded structures provided as humanitarian assistance. The highest number of demolitions were recorded in the Az Za’ayyem Bedouin community, which accounted for 31 per cent of all demolished structures in the area, followed by Abu Nuwar and Jabal al Baba. The highest annual figures were recorded in 2016 and 2023, when 85 and 76 structures were demolished, respectively. So far this year, 68 structures have been demolished in these communities, including nine homes and 52 animal shelters. This is an average of eight structures demolished per month, surpassing the monthly average of seven structures demolished per month in 2016. Recently, over the course of three days between 12 and 14 August 2025, Israeli authorities delivered demolition orders in several of the affected Bedouin communities in this area, issuing orders against a total of 42 structures, mostly residential and animal shelters, including in Jabal al Baba (20 structures) and Wadi al Jimel (12), which are located immediately adjacent to the planned road between Az Za’ayyem and Al ‘Eizariya.

Intensification of Israeli Settler Attacks

• Since the beginning of 2025, OCHA has documented more than 1,000 attacks by Israeli settlers in 230 communities across the West Bank that resulted in casualties, property damage or both, more than 60 per cent of which were in Ramallah, Nablus and Hebron governorates. In total, 11 Palestinians were killed in these attacks, including five by Israeli settlers, five by Israeli forces and one where it remains unknown if he was killed by Israeli settlers or forces. In addition, 696 Palestinians were injured in these attacks, including 473 by Israeli settlers, 217 by Israeli forces and six where it remains unknown if they were injured by Israeli settlers or forces. In comparison, 11 Palestinians were killed in attacks by settlers in 2024, including three by Israeli settlers, two by Israeli forces and six where it remains unknown whether they were killed by Israeli settlers or forces. In addition, last year, there were 486 Palestinians injured in settler attacks, including 362 by Israeli settlers, 115 by Israeli forces, and nine where it remains unknown if they were injured by Israeli settlers or forces.
• Between 12 and 18 August, OCHA documented at least 29 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in casualties, property damage, or both in 23 communities across the West Bank. These attacks led to the injury of 11 Palestinians, including an elderly man, a child and three women. Nine were injured by settlers and two by Israeli forces during or following settler-related incidents. Settlers also vandalized or destroyed almost 700 trees, mostly saplings. Key incidents resulting in casualties included the following:
  • On 13 August, Israeli settlers assaulted a Palestinian family in their tent in Al Farisiya–Ihmayyer herding community, in the northern Jordan Valley in Tubas Governorate, injuring two men. The settlers broke into the family’s tent at night, beating one man with a spiked metal club and attempting to strangle his father with a metal chain. Both men required hospital treatment. The settlers fled the area after the family began throwing stones at them and other residents of the community began gathering around.
  • On 15 August, a large group of armed and masked Israeli settlers, believed to be from surrounding outposts, attacked Palestinians in the area between Al Mazra’a ash Sharqiya and Silwad villages in Ramallah governorate. Settlers threw stones and fired live ammunition at the Palestinians, injuring two men. In another incident, on 17 August, a group of armed settlers from a nearby outpost raided a Palestinian-owned swimming resort in ‘Abud village, west of Ramallah. The resort’s owner was injured after being pepper-sprayed. About an hour later, the same group returned to the resort and threw stones at Palestinian families and property, damaging chairs, tables, and plastic coverings.
  • On 15 August, a group of armed settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, assaulted a Palestinian family near Beit Awwa village, in Hebron governorate. Settlers attempted to seize the family’s vehicle. Israeli forces then fired tear gas cannisters and sound bombs and physically assaulted several family members, injuring two women. In another incident, on 16 August, settlers assaulted a Palestinian family of nine and prevented them from harvesting their grapes on their land in Halhul town, in Hebron governorate. The settlers beat the family with sticks, injuring three members, including a 55-year-old woman and two men, one of them elderly.
  • On 17 August, Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles and injured a five-year-old child in the head near the entrance of An Naqura village, in Nablus governorate. The injured child was transported to hospital for medical treatment.
• Out of the 29 documented settler-related attacks between 12 and 18 August, at least 23 incidents involved damage to Palestinian-owned property, the majority of which targeted agricultural lands and related structures across 18 communities. These attacks destroyed nearly 700 trees and vines, mostly olive and grape, which were uprooted, cut down, or burned, alongside the torching of an animal barracks and the vandalism of a water network. These incidents have severe repercussions for Palestinians to access livelihoods and services. Key incidents resulting in property damage included the following:
  • In Atara village, in Ramallah governorate, on 13 August, settlers raided the village at dawn, set fire to four vehicles, and sprayed racist graffiti on house walls.
  • In the Ma’azi Jaba’ Bedouin community, in Jerusalem governorate, on 13 August, armed and masked settlers, escorted by Israeli forces, raided the community at midnight, ransacked a residential house, broke doors, and cut surveillance system cables.
  • In Abu Falah village, in Ramallah governorate, on 15 August, settlers cut down about 60 olive trees.
  • In Madma village, in Nablus governorate, on 15 August, settlers vandalized a four-floor poultry farm, damaging facilities and leading to the death of about 100 chicks.
  • In Shufa village, in Tulkarm governorate, on 16 August, settlers grazed livestock on Palestinian farmland, damaging about 600 olive trees and saplings and a water spring.
  • In Al Mughayyir village, in Ramallah governorate, on 16 August, settlers burned animal shelters, tents, and agricultural rooms, damaged saplings, solar panels, and farming equipment, and stabbed and killed a goat.
  • In Halhul town, in Hebron governorate, on 17 August, settlers destroyed a grape arbor covering about 1.5 dunums and sprayed 10-year-old grape trees with chemicals; on the same day, they also installed a room on privately-owned grapevine land in the area.
  • In Al Farisiya–Nab’a al Ghazal, in Tubas governorate, on 17 August, settlers raided the community at dawn, damaged taps and emptied three water tanks, leaving families without access to already scarce water supplies.
  • In Umm Saffa village, in Ramallah governorate, on 16 August, settlers used slingshots to hurled stones at houses on the village’s eastern outskirts, causing minor roof damage and cutting a water pipeline.
  • In Turmus’ayya village, in Ramallah governorate, on 17 August, settlers cut underground pipelines supplying Palestinian homes, disrupting water access for several households. On the same day, settlers believed to be from a newly established outpost raided homes twice, cutting a water pipeline in the afternoon and later throwing stones at windows and solar lights. During the night raid, two men were assaulted and detained by settlers before being handed over to Israeli forces, who broke into the homes and confined women and children in one room for the duration of their search.
  • In Yanun village, Nablus governorate, on 18 August, settlers grazed livestock on agricultural land, damaging crops and trees.
• For key figures and additional breakdowns of casualties, displacement and settler violence between January 2005 and June 2025, please refer to the OCHA West Bank June 2025 Snapshot.

Funding

• As of 16 August 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$912 million out of the $4 billion (22 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the OPT. Nearly 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during July 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 111 ongoing projects, totalling $65.2 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 54 are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 43 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 39 out of the 68 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.

1707.

21 augustus 2025

The 2025 Arms Trade Treaty Conference will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from August 25-29. 
 

Israel, a signatory to the ATT, has been committing a genocide against  2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza for over 22 months, using military supplies purchased from and transferred by/through State Parties of the Treaty.

By providing Israel with military materiel, including dual-use items, State Parties are blatantly violating the rules of the ATT which they have agreed to uphold.

As a legally-binding UN document, the ATT must be respected beyond mere rhetoric, and the behaviour of its State Parties must not be taken lightly. State Parties have not only failed to take measures to deter, end and punish Israel’s crimes, but have also been complicit in arming, funding, and otherwise enabling them.
 

We are calling on supporters to endorse the statement from the global BDS movement calling on State Representatives to fulfil their legal and moral obligations as explicitly detailed in the Treaty, which member states have consistently violated.

­

Click here to email state representatives.

We call for pressure on states to end their complicity in Israel’s genocide by at the very least:
 

1. Enforcing the ATT mechanism by effectively banning all transfer, including export, import, transit, trans-shipment and brokering, to and from Israel of arms, ammunition/munition, or their parts and components, and dual-use items.
2. Guaranteeing that national control systems are effective and that violations of the ATT by Member States face proper sanctions and accountability measures;
3. Withdrawing any diplomatic privileges Israel is granted as a signatory of the ATT.

1706.

AVAAZ

21 augustus 2025

1705.

21 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

In leaked audio, ex-Israeli military intel chief justifies killing tens of thousands in Gaza -‘they need a Nakba once in a while’

Jonathan Ofir

In leaked comments, the former head of Israel’s Military Intelligence said it is necessary for Israel to carry out a genocide in Gaza: “The fact that there are already 50,000 killed in Gaza is necessary and required for future generations."

Iowa City Council passes Israel divestment resolution

Michael Arria

On August 5, the Iowa City Council unanimously voted to boycott and divest from Israel bonds and all companies complicit in the Gaza genocide and occupation of Palestine.

The Peruvian military’s partnership with Israeli arms manufacturer signals deepening complicity in the Gaza genocide

Emma Lucia Llano

Peru’s state-owned munitions company's new strategic partnership with Israel’s Elbit Systems indicates an increasing complicity in the Gaza genocide and suggests Israeli surveillance technology will soon be used against Peru's own dissidents.

1704.

21 augustus 2025

Humanitarian Situation Update #315
Gaza Strip

21 August 2025

Worn out makeshift shelters in Gaza city. Photo by OCHA/Olga Cherevko

Key Highlights

• Hunger-related deaths, casualties among people seeking food, and casualties in strikes on schools, tents and residential buildings continue to be reported.
• The UN and NGOs will maintain presence in Gaza city, warning that the Israeli authorities’ plan to intensify military operations there will have a horrific humanitarian impact.
• Major international NGOs face imminent de-registration by the Israeli authorities, and most have been unable to deliver any supplies to Gaza since 2 March.
• People with disability are gravely affected by the dearth of adequate rehabilitation services, which suffer restrictions on the entry of equipment and personnel.
• Sewage continues to be diverted into stormwater basins and the sea, causing severe environmental pollution.

Humanitarian Developments

• Over the past week, Israeli forces have continued to carry out heavy bombardment from the air, land and sea across the Gaza Strip, alongside continued ground operations. Rocket fire by Palestinian armed groups into Israel and fighting with Israeli forces have taken place. There are continued reports of casualties due to strikes on schools, tents and residential buildings and among people trying to access food supplies at militarized distribution points or waiting for humanitarian aid convoys, detonation and demolition of residential buildings, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and large-scale displacement. The Israeli authorities announced that, as of 17 August, and as part of preparations by the Israeli military to “move the population from combat zones to southern Gaza for their protection, the supply of tents and shelter equipment to Gaza will resume.” On 20 July, the Israeli military reported that in recent days, Israeli forces have resumed extensive military activity in Jabalya area and the outskirts of Gaza city. As of late July, it is estimated that about one million people are in northern Gaza. According to the Site Management Cluster (SMC), between 12 and 20 August, intensified military operations in Gaza city prompted over 16,000 displacement movements by people from the eastern parts of Gaza city, such as Az Zaytoun, to the south and the west. In total, over 796,000 displacement movements have been recorded since 18 March 2025.
• On 18 August, the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), comprising UN agencies and over 200 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), welcomed the Israeli authorities’ announcement that tents and other shelter equipment will again be allowed entry into Gaza but found it “deeply troubling … that it comes in connection with a looming offensive.” The HCT said that the lifting of the shelter ban would allow humanitarian partners to deliver much needed supplies across the Gaza Strip, including in Gaza city, noting that this scale-up will take effect to the extent “that systematic restrictions – such as Israeli customs clearance, access to crossings and insecurity – are addressed.” The HCT further warned that the Israeli authorities’ plan to intensify military operations in Gaza city “will have a horrific humanitarian impact on people already exhausted, malnourished, bereaved, displaced, and deprived of basics needed for survival” and that “[f]orcing hundreds of thousands to move south is a recipe for further disaster and could amount to forcible transfer.” The HCT affirmed that the UN and NGOs will maintain presence in Gaza city to provide lifesaving support.
• According to the Shelter Cluster, more than one million tarpaulins and sealing-off kits, 86,000 tents and about five million non-food items have been procured or in-process for delivery to Gaza. However, ongoing restrictions on INGOs and UNRWA continue to block shelter deliveries, with critical materials denied entry even after approval. Following the announcement by the Israeli authorities that the ban on the entry of shelter supplies would be lifted, partners continue to face major challenges, including in relation to registration. Meanwhile, amid ongoing hostilities and displacement, shelter needs continue to grow, with more families living in severely overcrowded, unsafe, and undignified conditions and some living without any form of shelter. At present, the Shelter Cluster estimates that 1.4 million people require emergency shelter items and 1.45 million need essential household items.
• According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, between 13 and 20 August, 400 Palestinians were killed, and 2,683 were injured. This brings the casualty toll among Palestinians since 7 October 2023, as reported by MoH, to 62,122 fatalities and 156,758 injuries. MoH further noted that the number of casualties among people trying to access food supplies has increased to 2,018 fatalities and more than 14,947 injuries since 27 May 2025.
• According to the Israeli military, between 13 and 20 August, as of noon, no Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza. The casualty toll among Israeli soldiers since the beginning of the ground operation in October 2023 stands at 454 fatalities and 2,874 injuries, according to the Israeli military. According to Israeli forces and official Israeli sources cited in the media, more than 1,654 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed, the majority on 7 October 2023 and its immediate aftermath. As of 13 August, it is estimated that 50 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including hostages who have been declared dead and whose bodies are being withheld.
• Key incidents resulting in fatalities over the past week mainly occurred in Gaza city and included the following:
  • On 13 August, at about 10:00, at least 14 Palestinian males were reportedly killed when fire was opened towards Palestinians seeking food near the militarized distribution point in Khan Younis.
  • On 13 August, around dawn, seven Palestinians, including five children, were reportedly killed when a tent for internally displaced people (IDPs) was hit in Tel Al Hawa, in southwestern Gaza city.
  • On 13 August, around dawn, 12 Palestinians were reportedly killed when a residential building was hit in Az Zaytoun, in southeastern Gaza city.
  • On 14 August, at about 9:15, at least 12 Palestinian males were reportedly killed and many others injured when fire was opened towards people waiting for aid convoys in the Morag area, south of Khan Younis.
  • On 14 August, around dawn, eight Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when a residential building was hit in Az Zaytoun, in southeastern Gaza city.
  • On 14 August, at about 18:15, seven Palestinians were reportedly killed and 15 others injured while waiting for aid convoys near Zikim crossing, in North Gaza.
  • On 15 August, at about 16:00, seven Palestinians, including two boys, were reportedly killed when a school sheltering IDPs was hit in Ad Daraj, in central Gaza city.
  • On 15 August, at about 20:00, seven Palestinians, including women and children, were reportedly killed and others injured when an IDP tent was hit near a school, west of Gaza city.
  • On 16 August, during the morning, a Palestinian fisher was reportedly killed and others injured when fire was opened at a fishing boat off the coast of Gaza city.
  • On 17 August, at about 1:30, seven Palestinian males were reportedly killed and others injured in the yard of Al Ahli Hospital, in central Gaza city.
  • On 17 August, between the morning and evening hours, at least 31 Palestinians were reportedly killed when fire was opened towards Palestinians waiting for supply trucks in the Morag area, south of Khan Younis.
  • On 18 August, at about 9:00, a Palestinian fisher was reportedly killed and his brother injured on a fishing boat, west of Gaza city.
  • On 18 August, at about 2:00, three Palestinians including a girl were reportedly killed when a governmental building sheltering IDPs was hit in Ad Daraj, in central Gaza city.

• According to records of the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), since the establishment of a militarized distribution system in the Gaza Strip on 27 May and as of 18 August, at least 1,889 people – mostly young men and boys – were killed while seeking food in Gaza – 1,025 near militarized distribution sites and 864 along convoy supply routes – most of whom appear to have been killed by the Israeli military, and with no information to suggest that these people “were directly participating in hostilities or posed any threat” to Israeli forces or other people.
• Since the beginning of August 2025, OHCHR has recorded 11 incidents involving attacks on Palestinians guarding convoys in North Gaza and Deir al Balah, resulting in the killing of at least 46 Palestinians, mainly those providing security to humanitarian and other supply convoys, along with some seeking aid, and the injury of many others. OHCHR stressed that these attacks have contributed to the breakdown of law enforcement and worsened the starvation of Palestinians. This is in addition to the dozens of incidents recorded by OHCHR since October 2023 where “the Israeli military unlawfully targeted civilian police officers not taking part in hostilities, contributing to the collapse of law enforcement, leading directly to disorder around supply convoys, as the population becomes increasingly desperate to access food in the face of deepening starvation.”
• Delays and impediments of humanitarian movements continue to be reported. Recently, while fewer humanitarian movements have been denied outright, missions that are approved still take hours to complete and teams have been compelled to wait on roads that are often dangerous, congested or impassable. Between 13 and 19 August, out of 79 attempts to coordinate planned movements with Israeli authorities across the Gaza Strip, 45 were facilitated (57 per cent), 21 were initially approved but then impeded on the ground (27 per cent), five (six per cent) were denied and eight (ten per cent) had to be withdrawn by the organizers. Facilitated movements included missions to transfer fuel, collection of medical, nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) supplies, staff movements and rotations. Denied movements included water pipe connection repairs, movements of WASH chemical supplies and road repairs. Among the 21 impeded missions, five were fully accomplished despite the impediments, including missions to collect supplies from Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings and medical evacuation of patients through Kerem Shalom crossing. The remaining 16 missions were partially accomplished. Overall, five out of the 79 movements involved fuel collection, 24 involved the collection of other supplies from Gaza’s crossings, 18 were staff movements and rotations, and 32 aimed to support other ongoing humanitarian operations.
• On 13 August, over 100 international NGOs raised the alarm over increasing obstructions by Israeli authorities on the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. “Despite claims by Israeli authorities that there is no limit on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, most major international NGOs have been unable to deliver a single truck of lifesaving supplies since 2 March,” which “has left millions of dollars’ worth of food, medicine, water, and shelter items stranded in warehouses across Jordan and Egypt, while Palestinians are being starved,” they stated. This obstruction is tied to a new registration process introduced by Israeli authorities for international NGOs, where, according to the statement, “registration can be denied based on vague and politicized criteria, such as alleged “delegitimization” of the state of Israel” and where registration requirements include the submission of sensitive donor and staff data. Failing to comply could force organizations to halt operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and remove all international staff within 60 days. Some organizations have already been issued a seven-day ultimatum to provide Palestinian staff lists. International NGOs made clear that sharing the requested data violates data protection laws and undermines humanitarian principles. On 6 August, UN agencies and NGOs called on Israeli authorities to rescind the requirement introduced on 9 March obliging international NGOs to share sensitive personal information about their Palestinian employees or face termination of their humanitarian operations.

The Hunger and Malnutrition Crisis

• Starvation in Gaza is at the worst level since October 2023 and the amount of aid entering the Strip is insufficient to meet the scale of needs. According to the Food Security Sector (FSS), as of 17 August, 404,000 individual meals were prepared daily at 86 community kitchens supported by 19 FSS partners, including about 132,000 meals in the north and 272,000 meals in southern and central Gaza. While reflecting a noticeable increase compared with the 259,000 daily meals prepared two weeks earlier, this remains far below the over one million daily meals that partners were able to distribute in April. Amid this reality, people continue to suffer from extremely imbalanced diets that lack essential nutrients, increasing the risk of acute malnutrition, with an especially severe impact on elderly people, pregnant and breastfeeding women, children under five, and newborns who are more likely to be born with health complications.
• The FSS estimates that more than 62,000 metric tons of food is required every month only to cover basic humanitarian food assistance needs and the World Food Programme (WFP) confirms that it has some 170,000 metric tons of food currently stored, under procurement, or in transit in the region to feed the entire population for nearly three months. Yet, between 19 May and 18 August 2025, available data on aid delivered to Gaza through the UN2720 mechanism, which covers only humanitarian relief consignments processed through the mechanism, indicates that humanitarian organizations were able to collect from crossings only about 54,000 metric tons of food supplies (out of the roughly 57,000 metric tons collected in total). To address rising food insecurity, FSS calls for the scaled-up entry of nutritious food through the commercial sector, including fresh produce and foods fortified with micronutrients, and for unfettered humanitarian access to enable the large-scale entry of humanitarian food aid by all humanitarian partners.
• While data for the first two weeks of August is not yet available, in July, partners reported more than 13,000 admissions of acutely malnourished children, double the number of admissions recorded in June and more than a six-fold increase compared with the 2,000 admissions in February. On 7 August, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that the pace of this deterioration was alarming and demanded that nutrition supplies urgently reach children before more lives are lost. The number of the most severe cases, who need to be hospitalized in stabilization centres, is also increasing, with 54 admissions reported by WHO for the first two weeks of August. Despite the growing caseload, there are only five centres for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition across the Gaza Strip, including two in Gaza city, one in Deir al Balah, and two in Khan Younis, with a combined bed capacity of 43 that is insufficient to cope with the high number of cases. However, at present, malnutrition prevention stocks are almost depleted after months of total blockade and only limited aid entry since 19 May. Both the WFP’s blanket and targeted supplementary feeding programmes for children and pregnant and breastfeeding women are now on hold due to the lack of lipid-based nutrient supplements.
• On 15 August, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that their teams in Gaza city and Khan Younis are seeing a significant and steady increase in malnourished patients since mid-June. Unable to conduct community level screenings due to insecurity, MSF teams at primary health-care centres have been screening more than 1,000 people per week and are reporting a 20 per cent rate of global acute malnutrition. The situation is especially critical in Gaza city; according to MSF, as of 9 August, 1,599 people were enrolled as outpatients for malnutrition care in MSF facilities in Gaza city, a 10-per-cent increase compared with the preceding week and a five-fold increase compared with the end of May 2025. MSF cautioned, however, that malnutrition is not just a food shortage, but a life-threatening medical condition that requires, among others, immediate access to treatment, including therapeutic foods, and more capacity to provide inpatient care for complicated cases to save lives.
• According to MoH in Gaza, as of 20 August, 269 malnutrition-related deaths, including 112 children, were documented since October 2023. This includes 204 deaths since 1 July 2025, of whom 51 were children, and three people who died in the past 24 hours.

Challenges Facing the Health System

• Diabetes patients in Gaza are increasingly unable to access their treatment due to severe medication shortages, leading to serious consequences for their health. An estimated 71,000 diabetes patients, including about 2,500 patients with type 1 diabetes, are dependent on insulin, which has only one month of stock remaining. About 30,000 units of insulin were needed per month prior to October 2023. Securing both insulin and adequate food remains a daily challenge. According to the UNRWA Director of Health, people with type 1 diabetes, including children, require multiple daily insulin injections, but insulin sometimes works too strongly, causing hypoglycemia – a drop in blood sugar that can lead to unconsciousness and even death. This condition is typically easy to manage with simple solutions like juice, candy, or sugar, but widespread shortages of these basic items and unaffordable prices make timely treatment of such side effects nearly impossible. Additionally, devices to monitor blood glucose levels (glucometers and testing strips) are unavailable.
• The ongoing escalation in hostilities in Gaza for over 22 months has resulted in more than 156,000 injuries, according to MoH, many leading to life-long disabilities. This week, the Director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr. Mohammed Abu Selmiyah, indicated that limb amputations have increased due to the inability of antibiotics to combat bacteria. According to a recent peer-reviewed study by the Lancent Infectious Diseases, 982 out of over 1,300 samples taken from the microbiology laboratory of Al Ahli Hospital between November 2023 and August 2024 showed bacterial growth, and in two thirds of these samples multi-drug resistant bacteria was present. According to MoH in Gaza, there is only one workshop that manufactures and repairs artificial limbs. Ongoing shortages of electricity and fuel severely limit the facility’s ability to meet the growing demand for prosthetic care, which continues to rise daily. A lack of medications and medical consumables further hamper the provision of adequate services to patients with limb injuries.
• Rehabilitation services in Gaza remain limited; according to the Health Cluster, only 45 out of 112 rehabilitation service facilities (approximately 40 per cent) are operational, all partially, including 10 hospitals, two field hospitals, 19 medical points, and 14 primary health care centres, reflecting a significant gap in service provision. Highlighting the challenges facing organizations supporting people with disability in the OPT, including the Gaza Strip, the Global Disability Fund noted in a recent report that “humanitarian actors, including UN agencies and NGOs, face increasing access and operational restrictions, including entry restrictions on essential equipment and aid, legal restrictions related to registration, and obstructions on the entry of humanitarian personnel, significantly impacting their ability to implement operations and deliver services to the population, with persons with disabilities often being the most difficult to reach and assist.” The report emphasizes that these realities have “placed an increased burden on local disability-focused organizations who are under-resourced in the context of soaring needs and whose operations have been critically impacted by the ongoing escalations, including through the destruction of physical infrastructure, loss of assets, and death, injury or displacement of staff members.”
• Gaza’s laboratory testing services are facing a near-total collapse due to severe shortages of essential supplies and equipment. According to MoH, nearly 49 per cent of laboratory test materials have been depleted, and over 60 per cent of the remaining core lab items are expected to run out within a month. In addition, 51.4 per cent of laboratory consumables and supplies have less than one month of stock remaining. Critical tests in operating rooms and intensive care units have already run out or are nearing depletion as well as materials required to monitor drug levels in patients with kidney and liver transplants. Complete Blood Count test kits, among the most basic and frequently used diagnostics, are nearly exhausted and can only sustain operations for a few more days while supplies for screening blood units for viruses (HBsAg, HCV, HIV) are also nearly depleted, posing a serious risk of unsafe blood transfusions. Furthermore, approximately 45 per cent of laboratory equipment has been damaged or destroyed and urgently requires maintenance and spare parts.
• The World Health organization (WHO) has documented 772 attacks on health care since October 2023 in the Gaza Strip. This includes 115 attacks reported between 1 January and 10 August 2025, which resulted in the killing of 50 people and the injury of 119. The highest number of attacks took place in North Gaza followed by Khan Younis, with May being the most intense month. Some 46 per cent of the attacks involved violence with heavy weapons, 28 per cent involved violence with individual weapons, and 38 per cent involved obstruction to health-care delivery (a single incident can involve more than one type of attack). Nonetheless, humanitarian and health workers continue to step up risking everything to save others, added WHO.
• On 2 August 2025, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) announced the opening of a new Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at Al-Mawasi Field Hospital in western Khan Younis, in response to the growing needs of pregnant women in shelters and in Al-Mawasi area following recent displacement orders. The department offers natural and caesarean deliveries, prenatal and postnatal care, routine pregnancy follow-ups, and essential gynaecological surgeries. Al-Mawasi Field Hospital, one of the largest field hospitals, currently includes 70 beds across various departments, including surgery, radiology, and outpatient clinics, with plans to increase to 150 beds pending the availability of large-capacity generators. According to the Health Cluster, the opening of this department brings the total number of Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care (CEmOC) to 13 facilities, in addition to a total of nine Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU). This includes four CEmOC and five NICU in Gaza governorate, two CEmOC and two NICU in Deir al Balah, six CEmOC and two NICU in Khan Younis and one CEmOC in Rafah.

Water and Sanitation Crisis

• Water supply from the three main Israeli Mekorot water lines remains inconsistent. The water provided from the Mekorot (Al-Muntar) line in northern Gaza was providing suitable quantities of water to the eastern side of Gaza city, but damage to the control valves prevented the water from entering the network, forcing a heavy reliance on water trucking for nearly one million people. In southern Gaza, one of the Mekorot lines (Bani Saeed), which used to supply Deir al Balah with water, has been nonfunctional since 20 January 2025, with attempts to conduct repairs repeatedly denied. The third Mekorot line (Bani Suhaila), in Khan Younis, which provides water to Rafah and Khan Younis, is intermittently operational, due to recurrent damage and, for six days now, it has been non-operational. To compensate for the shortage of water from the Mekorot lines in southern Gaza, seawater and brackish desalination plants have increased production despite critical fuel shortages.
• Since October 2023, all wastewater treatment plants in Gaza have ceased operations due to the lack of electricity, infrastructure damage, and restricted access. As a result, sewage is being diverted into stormwater basins and the sea, causing severe environmental pollution. For example, wastewater is currently being discharged from the Sheikh Radwan Lagoon in Gaza city into the sea to prevent overflow and flooding in surrounding neighbourhoods. This practice is expected to continue as long as fuel supplies remain available. However, increased reliance on generators has also driven up the demand for engine oil and filters, making their availability equally critical. Over 130,000 metres of sewage pipelines are damaged, 67 per cent of pumping stations are nonfunctional, and untreated sewage continues to spill into streets, shelters, and residential areas, posing significant public health risks.
• Solid waste management in Gaza remains a persistent challenge, with access to official landfills not possible amid frequent displacement orders and denied access to militarized zones. Fuel shortages are the primary constraint affecting solid waste collection across Gaza, with solid waste fuel allocations only being given on an emergency basis. Primary solid waste collection in south Gaza is currently sustained by UNICEF with approximately 500 cubic metres collected daily. In North Gaza, collection is severely limited due to fuel restrictions, with approximately 7,000 cubic metres of uncollected waste in streets, shelters and hospitals. Temporary dump sites that are accessible are full and WASH partners are advocating for the decongestion of these sites. Medical waste management also remains severely constrained, with no available final treatment locations. The recent securing of 11 freezers for storing medical waste (placentas mainly) is helping reduce the burden and recent approvals for the entry of tipper trucks and medical waste vehicles is expected to facilitate the separation of medical and domestic waste.

Risks Facing Children

• Children in Gaza, who comprise about half of the population, continue to face heightened protection risks amid the ongoing escalation of hostilities. Between early July and mid-August, child protection partners observed a noticeable rise in child labour, with more children engaged in hazardous activities such as rubble collection, street vending, and informal work in markets. Additionally, there has been an increase in visible begging among children and women in urban areas. Psychosocial distress is also widespread, particularly among children who have been repeatedly displaced, with growing reports of children experiencing nightmares, social withdrawal, aggression, and anxiety. Yet, the ability of child protection partners to address these needs has been limited due to fuel shortages, staff displacement and burnout, access constraints, and the lack of supplies, with negative impacts on service delivery and children's well-being. Essential child-focused supplies, including mental health and psycho-social support (MHPSS) kits, tents for group activities, and assistive devices are largely unavailable in the Gaza Strip, and none have been permitted to enter since 2 March, severely limiting the scope and quality of child protection activities, including the development of services that are more inclusive of children with disabilities. These challenges also continue to limit the ability of partners to provide case management and psychosocial support to children; according to the Child Protection Area of Responsibility (AoR), between 1 and 13 August, partners provided only 687 children across the Gaza Strip with case management services and 6,850 children attended psychosocial support sessions. This reflects a reduction in outreach compared with July, when 2,383 children received case management services and 50,070 participated in psychosocial support sessions. Distributions of identity bracelets to address the heightened risk of family separation during displacement have likewise decreased, as stocks that were last replenished during the ceasefire have become nearly depleted.

Funding

• As of 16 August 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately $912 million out of the $4 billion (22 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the OPT. Nearly 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during July 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 111 ongoing projects, totalling $65.2 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 54 are being implemented by INGOs, 43 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 39 out of the 68 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.

1703.

This week, our investigation agency, Sanad, investigated how Israel is trying to force Palestinians to leave Gaza City by escalating attacks on displacement shelters; this comes after it said it wants to invade northern Gaza and expel Palestinians.

1703A.

20 augustus 2025

Israel is murdering journalists, starving people, bombing shelters, and forcibly displacing Palestinians - Congress has the power to stop it

While members of Congress are on break from the Capitol, Palestinians in Gaza are continuing to be starved, bombed, and displaced.

In just 24 hours, three Palestinians have starved to death, and at least 56 Palestinians, including 22 people seeking aid, were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza. Israel is still weaponizing starvation, targeting displacement shelters in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, and assassinating journalists.

On top of that, the U.S. State Department has halted visas for wounded Palestinians (including children) who have been severely injured by Israel’s attacks carried out with U.S. support. These people were hurt with the material support and political backing of our government. At the very least, the U.S. can allow them entry for treatment.

This is ethnic persecution, and it’s aiding and abetting genocide. Congress has the power, and the responsibility, to stop it. But we have to make it clear that we won’t back down from demanding it.

We’re calling on you to take action today. Tell your representative and senators to:

1. Suspend ALL U.S. aid to Israel in line with U.S. and international law, and support H.R. 3565, the “Block the Bombs” legislation in the House. Demand that senators introduce and advance a Senate companion.
2. Demand immediate humanitarian access—food, shelter, and medical supplies must be allowed into Gaza without obstruction.
3. Push the State Department to reverse its visa ban on wounded Palestinians. The least we can do is allow them medical treatment.
    

In solidarity,
Americans for Justice in Palestine Action

1702.

20 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

After years on hold, Israel revives settlement project that will split the West Bank in two

Majd Jawad

Israel is reviving a settlement plan that would annex a strategic tract of land east of Jerusalem, and effectively split the West Bank in two, "burying" the possibility any future Palestinian state in the territory.

Hamas accepts Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal to end war on Gaza

Tareq S. Hajjaj

Hamas accepted the ceasefire proposal presented by Egypt and Qatar that would pave the way for negotiations on permanently ending the war on Gaza. The ball is now in Israel's court.

1701.

20 augustus 2025

Gaza Humanitarian Response Update

3 - 16 August 2025

Powdered baby formula delivered to hospitals in Gaza. Photo: World Central Kitchen

Food Security

Response

• Between 3 and 16 August, more than 12,000 metric tons (MT) of wheat flour, food parcels and bulk food supplies for community kitchens were brought into Gaza through the UN-coordinated aid mechanism, but over 95 per cent of this aid was offloaded by hungry crowds or looted by armed gangs along aid convoy routes. No household-level distributions could thus be conducted by partners to reach the most vulnerable.
• As of 17 August, 86 kitchens supported by 19 partners were preparing and distributing 404,000 meals daily across the Strip - 132,000 in the north and 272,000 in southern and central Gaza. Compared with the second half of July, the number of daily meals distributed by partner-supported kitchens has more than doubled but remains far below the over one million meals produced in April 2025 thanks to stocks entered during the ceasefire.

Challenges

• While Food Security Sector (FSS) partners have enough food in or en route to the region to feed the entire Gaza population for at least three months, since 20 July, when regular food cargo uplifts from Gaza’s crossings could resume, only 47 per cent of the 2,000 MT of food supplies required daily to meet basic humanitarian food assistance needs could enter the Strip. What has entered is insufficient to meet even the minimum caloric intake needs.
• Limited commercial truck entries resumed on 4 August, mainly dry food items - canned food, pasta, flour, sugar. There are reports that very small amounts of fresh produce may have also entered. To improve diet diversity, scaled entry of fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, dairy, and fortified food items with added micronutrients through the private sector are required, alongside the increased entry of food aid at large scale by humanitarian partners. Just 1.5 per cent (232 ha) of the total cropland in Gaza remains both accessible and not damaged.
• The risk of spoilage and infestation of food supplies stranded in the region for months has drastically increased due to the heat and impending expiration dates.
• Cooking gas has not entered Gaza for more than five months and is no longer available in markets; firewood has also become increasingly unaffordable. Many people are reduced to using waste and scrap wood as alternative cooking sources, exacerbating health and environmental risks.

Nutrition

Response

• During the reporting period, UNICEF collected and partially distributed the following to partners in Gaza:
  • 30,000 cartons of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) for the treatment of 30,000 acutely malnourished children for one month;
  • nearly 150,000 bottles of Ready-to-Use Infant Formula (RUIF) to support for one month 1,250 children under six months of age, who cannot be breastfed; and
  • 3,671 cartons of High-Energy Biscuits (HEBs) in the south and 895 cartons in the north. Current plans are to distribute them at transit points during the potential imminent population displacement from northern Gaza.
• Cluster partners continue to carry out malnutrition screenings across the Gaza Strip. While data for the first two weeks of August is not yet available, in July, partners identified and admitted for treatment more than 13,000 acutely malnourished children, an over six-fold increase compared to the 2,000 admissions recorded in February.
• During the month of July, partners reached 46,184 caregivers with group counselling on Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices, as well as 6,129 mothers with one-to-one counselling and 2,927 women for one-to-one lactating support.

Challenges

• Malnutrition prevention stocks are almost completely depleted after months of total blockade and only limited entry since 19 May. Both WFP’s Blanket and Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programmes for children and pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW) are now on hold due to the lack of Lipid-based Nutrient Supplements. While these supplies are available outside Gaza, acute levels of hunger and the complete breakdown of law and order in the Strip have thus far prevented WFP from collecting these items safely and ensuring the intended beneficiaries are reached. UNICEF has been able to collect some nutrition supplies, but part of the cargo was looted.
• Recurrent displacement orders continue to disrupt nutrition service delivery, with health facilities and nutrition sites often forced to suspend or shut down operations, and children and PBW left to walk long distances to reach nutrition services.

Health

Response

• WHO collected 31 WHO and partner trucks with lifesaving health supplies, including medicines, blood units, trauma and surgical materials, into Gaza; of those, 17 were dispatched from Egypt and 14 from the West Bank.
• The 36-unit hemodialysis center at the Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Younis was rehabilitated and will become operational next week. It is expected to support 205 kidney patients currently in Khan Younis, and 291 patients at risk of displacement from Gaza city.
• In northern Gaza, partners revised the trauma referral pathway and are upgrading the Trauma Stabilization Point at the Sheikh Hamad Hospital in Gaza city.
• In the south, WHO and UNICEF are providing tents and toilets to the Nasser Medical Complex to support capacity expansion. The International Medical Corps (IMC) is also provisionally starting a new field hospital, while MSF-France and MSF-Belgium are both expanding bed capacity at their field hospitals in Deir al Balah city and Zawayda to 100 and 120 beds, respectively.
• On 16 August, WHO, UNICEF, OCHA and UNMAS conducted a joint mission to the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis to assess conditions and gauge its potential re-activation. Initial findings suggest it may take up to three months to resume secondary care services.
• UNFPA distributed to partners reproductive health supplies and medications, including oxytocin, sufficient to support an estimated 5,400 pregnant women, newborns, and women and girls of reproductive age.
• The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) operationalized an Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at the Al-Mawasi Field Hospital in western Khan Younis, bringing to 13 the Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) facilities currently functional across the Strip.
• Jointly with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the local NGO Juzoor, UNFPA launched the first cycle of the 2025 Help Mothers Survive and Help Babies Breathe training, focused on emergency deliveries outside hospitals. Twelve midwives were trained and are being deployed to primary healthcare centres (PHCs) to scale up outpatient Sexual and Reproductive Health services.
• As of 16 August, 81 Health Cluster partners were active in Gaza, with 53 directly supporting 223 of the 231 still partially functioning health facilities across the Strip, including 18 hospitals, 10 field hospitals, 66 PHCs and 112 medical points.
• During the reporting period, 53 critical patients, including 47 children, were medically evacuated for treatment to Italy, Belgium, Jordan, and Türkiye, accompanied by 141 companions.

Challenges

• The Israeli plan to intensify military operations in Gaza city risks having catastrophic consequences for the already shuttered healthcare system in Gaza. Presently, 12 (43 per cent) of all 28 still partially functioning hospitals and field hospitals in the Strip are located within Gaza city, accounting for 623 (33 per cent) of the total 1,913 inpatient bed capacity and nearly 40 (48 per cent) of the 83 intensive care beds across the Strip.
• In southern Gaza, six of the 10 field hospitals are operated by INGOs that face the risk of imminent de-registration by 9 September for not complying with the new Israeli requirement obliging INGOs to share sensitive personal information about their Palestinian employees.
• Bed occupancy rates at hospitals far exceed capacity, reaching 240 per cent at Al-Shifa, 210 per cent at Al Rantisi, 180 per cent at Nasser and 300 per cent at Al-Ahli Arab, amid staff burnout, and critical gaps in medicines and supplies. As of early August, 52 per cent of essential drugs and 68 per cent of essential disposables were at zero stock.
• Laboratory supplies, including virus screening kits, transfusion sets, complete blood count reagents, electrolytes, and blood gases, are critically low.
• Over 4,500 new limb amputation cases were recorded since October 2023, a 225 per cent increase. Partners lack essential prosthetic supplies and stock for their fabrication. Poor nutrition is also slowing residuum (stump) healing and weight loss means prosthesis are not fitting.
• Eighty-five cases of suspected Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) have been diagnosed, with eight associated deaths reported. Plasmapheresis filters and intravenous fluid remain out of stock, severely hampering treatment.
• About 700,000 women and girls continue to lack menstrual health items.
• Partners report that healthcare providers are fainting during service due to lack of food, water, and extreme heat.
• More than 14,800 critical patients require life-saving medical treatment not available in Gaza. The Cluster continues to appeal for the 1) medical corridor to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, to be urgently restored, as the most cost-effective medical evacuation route, 2) for more countries to accept patients as long as that corridor is not restored, and 3) for increased use of corridors for medical evacuation through Egypt and Jordan. More information available at this link.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

Response

• As of 16 August, 30 WASH Cluster partners continued to deliver approximately 13,439 cubic metres of drinking water per day through 1,193 water collection points across the Gaza Strip. The UNICEF led Subsidized Water Scheme is facilitating partners to access drinking water through private sector desalination plants, especially in Gaza city. Although operational and security challenges persist, this coordinated response remains essential for maintaining access to safe drinking water.
• During the reporting period, 600 household-level hygiene kits were distributed in five neighbourhoods of Gaza city, Khan Younis and Deir al Balah and 31 communal latrines were installed in shelters, schools and other sites hosting displaced households in the same governorates.
• The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) repaired the sewage network at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis after a sewage spill in the facility directly affected the emergency and inpatient wards and other key departments.
• Limited solid waste management operations continued across the Gaza, Deir al Balah and Khan Younis governorates, with primary waste collection ongoing in 35 neighbourhoods, and secondary collection taking place in seven municipalities. As access to official landfills remains restricted, partners are utilizing nine temporary dumping sites, seven of which are in Deir al Balah.
• In partnership with the UAE, CMWU continues the construction of a 6.7-kilometre water pipeline connecting the UAE-funded seawater desalination plant on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to southern Gaza; completion is planned in 10 days.

Challenges

• Two out of three Mekorot water lines from Israel are currently not functional: the Bani Saeed line in Deir al Balah has been out of service since 22 January, while the Bani Suhaila line in Khan Younis was damaged during the reporting period. Seawater and brackish desalination plants, along with groundwater wells, remain operational but at significantly reduced capacity due to critical fuel shortages.
• Due to lack of fuel, infrastructural damage and restricted access, all wastewater treatment plants in Gaza have been out of service since October 2023, forcing partners to divert sewage into stormwater basins and the sea. Over 130,000 metres of pipelines are damaged, most pumping stations are non-functional, and untreated sewage continues to flow into streets, shelters, and residential areas, posing significant public health risks.
• Restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities on the entry of reverse osmosis membranes and spare parts – including generators, pipes, fittings, and other essential components – continue to severely hinder WASH partners’ ability to repair and maintain critical WASH services.

Protection

Response

• Mine Action: Mine Action partners participated in six inter-agency missions and conducted two explosive hazard assessments to enhance the safety of humanitarian operations and reduce explosive-ordnance (EO) related risks for communities. Partners also reached 33,885 people, including 2,920 children, through 1,221 Explosive Ordnance Risk Education & Conflict Preparedness and Protection (EORE-CPP) sessions, and conducted four targeted EORE sessions for 141 humanitarian workers. Since October 2023, 113 EO-related incidents have been documented, resulting in 17 fatalities and 132 injuries, of whom 73 children both injured and killed.
• Child Protection: Working across more than 35 locations in North Gaza, Gaza city, Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, Child Protection actors:
  • provided case management services for 687 highly vulnerable children, including unaccompanied and separated ones, children without parental care, child survivors of violence, children with acute conflict-related injuries, disabilities or mental health needs, or at heightened risk of harm or death.
  • delivered structured psychosocial support (PSS) to over 6,850 children and caregivers -- an average of 457 per day -- through individual counselling, group sessions and recreational activities.
• To strengthen inter-agency child protection programming amid growing access constraints, the Child Protection Area of Responsibility (AoR) trained 57 case workers from international and local NGOs on Remote Child Protection Case Management and oriented key focal points on the CP AoR-led child protection monitoring system, a programmatic tool aimed at tracking child protection risks, caseloads, service functionality, and access constraints and feed results into real-time response decisions. Partners are cascading skills to field teams with a focus on identification and referral.
• Gender-based violence (GBV): GBV partners continued to support women, girls, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups across Gaza, Deir al Balah, Khan Younis and the Mawasi area of Rafah through Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS), mobile outreach, and the GBV helpline.
• A total of 142 women and girls, of whom ten with disabilities, received targeted psychosocial support. Of these, 31 cases were referred through the GBV helpline, while the remainder were walk-ins.
• Partners also delivered 283 individual counseling and consultation sessions on psychosocial, marital, family, mental health, and legal issues, and reached 909 people, including 668 women and girls, with mental health and psychosocial support awareness sessions to reduce stigma, promote mental well-being and encourage help-seeking behaviors within the communities.
• Jointly with the PSEA Network, Child Protection actors and WHO, the GBV AoR initiated a series of trainings for health service providers aimed at strengthening inter-agency GBV referral pathways and survivor-centered care at health facilities after a recent assessment of 60 health centres highlighted significant gaps.
• Legal Task Force: With the support of the task force, four human rights organizations and legal partners submitted a petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice calling for the opening of crossings to Gaza and for the Israeli government to take all measures to ensure full and effective humanitarian aid to the population in the Gaza Strip.

Challenges

• Active hostilities and displacement restricted movements; areas such as Az Zaytoun and Tal al-Hawa in Gaza city were inaccessible for days, interrupting monitoring and service delivery.
• Internet outages and logistic constraints hampered coordination, reporting and remote case management; transport limitations delayed outreach and referrals.
• Partners report that frontline staff face burnout and secondary trauma; shortages of trauma-informed counsellors and social workers limited the depth and coverage of PSS.
• Lack of assistive devices increased barriers for persons with disabilities.

Shelter

Response

• Partners continued to refine targeting and prioritization frameworks to enable rapid response as soon as the entry of shelter materials into Gaza resumes. A joint information management operational cell is also being activated with the Site Management Cluster to better coordinate distribution as soon as long-awaited shelter and NFI stocks are allowed to enter the Strip.
• Distribution of clothing vouchers continued to reach 7,300 newly displaced households in Gaza city. This has enabled families to purchase adult and children's clothing from local markets.

Challenges

• As of 6 August, an estimated 1.4 million people required emergency shelter items and 1.45 million needed essential household items in Gaza. This represents an increase of about 7 and 10 per cent respectively, compared with June (see dashboard). Since 2 March, no shelter items have been allowed to enter Gaza through crossing points, leaving partners with no means to replenish depleted stocks and address even the most urgent needs amid growing displacement.

Multi-purpose Cash Assistance

Response

• Between 3 and 16 August, partners distributed Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) to a total of 5,090 households - 470 in North Gaza, 980 in Gaza city, 2,265 in Deir al-Balah, and 1,375 in Khan Younis - including 780 female-headed ones. Priority was afforded to newly displaced families or those identified as being highly vulnerable through existing programme databases. Each household received 1,000 NIS (approximately US$295), delivered via payment codes or direct transfers to their digital wallets. This brings to 221,363 the number of households in Gaza that received at least one MPCA installment, and up to five installments, thus far in 2025, and to around 400,000 the households reached with MPCA since October 2023, representing approximately 95 per cent of Gaza’s population.

Challenges

• Persistent liquidity shortages, coupled with lack of transportation due to exorbitant fuel prices and movement restrictions, continued to hinder MPCA recipients’ access to the scant goods available within the Gaza Strip.
• Low acceptance of digital payments across the supply chain, with retailers often declining digital transfers because wholesalers require cash for restocking, which breaks the digital loop. The result is sustained demand for physical cash and limited effectiveness of digital assistance until upstream merchant acceptance and liquidity improve.

Site Management

Response

• Site management partners continue to support 254 displacement sites across the Gaza Strip by providing technical advice on minimal site care and maintenance activities amidst scarcity of site improvement toolkits, assisting site focal points in updating the self-reporting platform through which household numbers in each facility are tracked, and ensuring that publicly available humanitarian messaging is widely disseminated to displaced communities.
• Since April, the Cluster is also overseeing a pilot community self-help project to improve living conditions at existing displacement sites. Thus far, communities sheltering in 12 displacement sites in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis received funding, with 80 per cent of necessary infrastructural repairs and maintenance activities they had identified in April already completed despite challenges in accessing materials. Work is now underway to expand the project to four additional sites.
• In the last three weeks, Cluster partners conducted a site-to-site monitoring exercise in south-central Gaza to assess displacement patterns and promptly scale up the humanitarian response where most urgently needed based on observed population flows. The exercise covered 74 displacement sites, including 63 makeshift shelters, 10 collective centers and one scattered site, located in Khan Younis (77 per cent), Deir al Balah (14 per cent), and Gaza city (9 per cent).

Challenges

• Without sufficient fuel, community mobilizers and site monitors cannot be deployed for site assessments, supervision of infrastructure repairs, or coordination with community leaders. This has led to delays in responding to urgent needs, reduced monitoring of site conditions, and weakened engagement with affected populations, ultimately compromising the quality and timeliness of site management response.
• Living conditions in all displacement sites have further deteriorated due to increased overcrowding, and limited systems in place to manage solid waste, which force many residents to resort to unsafe disposal practices, including open dumping. This creates environmental and health risks and contributes to blocked drainage systems and increased vector presence.

Education

Response

• As of 16 August, 287 out of 626 Temporary Learning Spaces (TLSs) were operational, serving 107,508 school-aged children with the support of 3,421 teachers. Twenty-five TLSs have been set up within UNRWA school buildings repurposed as shelters, benefiting 24,832 children currently and running multiple shifts to maximize reach.
• Partners scaled up summer educational and recreational activities following the end of the academic year on 17 July; in Gaza city alone, at least 5,900 children benefited from these activities during the reporting period.
• Following the successful first phase of the Tawjihi exams in July, which were passed by 1,613 of the 1,719 enrolled students, the Ministry of Education opened registration for the 2023/24 cohort in early August. The Cluster has identified 77 TLSs as potential hubs for the upcoming exam phase; approximately 6,000 tablets intended for exam administration remain in the West Bank pending shipment to Gaza.

Challenges

• Continued displacement orders severely disrupted TLS operations and hampered the resumption of information learning in affected areas.
• Restrictions on the entry of educational supplies persisted, with the lack of tents, furniture, teaching and learning materials all undermining the establishment of new TLSs and the scale and quality of interventions. Supplies equivalent to 100 truckloads remain outside Gaza, pending the lifting of restrictions.
• At least five Israeli forces’ attacks affecting education facilities were recorded during the reporting period, three in Gaza city and two in Khan Younis, resulting in damage and loss of life. According to the latest satellite-based damage assessment, 97 per cent of education facilities have sustained some level of damage, with 91 per cent requiring major rehabilitation or reconstruction to be functional again.

Logistics

Response

• The Logistics Cluster continues to coordinate daily truck manifests for submission to, and approval by the Israeli authorities. As of 17 August, the Israeli authorities will reportedly start authorizing the entry of shelter items, animal fodder, and limited fresh food on case-to-case basis to southern Gaza.
• In Gaza, the Cluster collected 5,105 pallets of aid from the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem and Erez West (Zikim) platforms on behalf of two partners, with other organizations collecting independently.
• During the reporting period, the Logistics Cluster facilitated access to four Government-to-Government (G2G) convoys from Jordan for 22 trucks of aid to Gaza; of the 22 trucks, 15 offloaded food items at the Erez West (Zikim) crossing.

Challenges

• Since the limited resumption of aid entry on 19 May, only nine organizations have been authorized by the Israeli authorities to manifest cargo, severely constraining the humanitarian response.
• The ongoing deterioration of security conditions inside Gaza continues to heavily impact humanitarian logistics operations. All WFP/Logistics Cluster convoys continued to face looting and security incidents.
• During the reporting period, a significant number of trucks dispatched from Egypt were returned, reportedly with no clear justification or rationale provided, and due to trucks congestion at the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem platform.
• The requirement by the Israeli authorities to physically inspect all aid cargo containers in Ashdod is significantly impacting the daily clearance process capacity.
• Since the beginning of August, the Israeli authorities have extended the requirement for Israeli security escorts also to trucks dispatched from Jordan via the Back-to-Back (B2B) convoy modality as well as from Ashdod to both the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem and Erez West (Zikim) crossings. Due to limited Israeli escort capacity, B2B convoys from Jordan have been suspended until further notice.
• Delays in the inspection and customs process at Allenby/King Hussein Bridge are preventing G2G convoys from crossing from Jordan in one batch on the allocated day. Currently, trucks more frequently stay at the crossing overnight before being able to cross, causing tracking limitations and a backlog that impacts planning.

Emergency Telecommunications (ETC)

Response

• The ETC’s US$1.2 million fuel support for the telecommunications sector in Gaza is estimated to last through July until mid-August. Resource mobilization efforts remain underway to sustain support beyond this timeframe.

Challenges

• Continued hostilities have caused significant damage to telecommunications infrastructure in Gaza, resulting in severe disruption of connectivity services. Access impediments and restrictions on importing vital ICT equipment further impede recovery efforts, limiting the ETC's capacity to implement its planned services in support of humanitarian operations.

Protection against sexual abuse and exploitation (PSEA) remains a cross-cutting priority for all clusters. Aid distribution must be delivered with dignity and respect. Any wrongdoing can be reported through SAWA’s toll-free number 164. SAWA will assist and provide services free of charge and with the utmost confidentiality.

To promote accountability to affected people, the online Humanitarian Service Directory provides information on aid services, helplines, and key messages, and is available via hyperlink and QR code.

1700.

19 augustus 2025

This summer, I met a young man from Gaza who changed my life.

Just a year ago, he was sitting in a café in his hometown of Deir al-Balah, laughing with his friends over a phone game, when an Israeli missile, bought and paid for by U.S. tax dollars, tore through the building. His friends around him were killed or severely wounded. He lost both of his arms.

After weeks in a collapsing hospital, he was finally brought to the U.S. through the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund last November. Here, he is receiving treatment that Gaza’s bombed hospitals can no longer provide. Our community has taken him in, along with five other children. They’ve lost their limbs, their homes, and in many cases, their families—but at least here they have a chance at life.

Now even that chance is under attack.

On Saturday, the Trump administration, at the urging of far-right extremist and Zionist Laura Loomer, suddenly cut off all visitor visas from Gaza, including medical and humanitarian visas for children. Loomer bragged about this on social media, gloating: “It’s amazing how fast we can get results from the Trump administration.”

Let me be clear: this is cruel, anti-Palestinian, and dangerous. Palestinian children would not be in this position at all if not for the U.S.-funded weapons fueling Israel’s genocide. Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world, and with its healthcare system bombed to rubble, children have nowhere to turn.

That’s why the U.S. must not only keep these humanitarian visas open, it must also protect the children already here. It is despicable for the U.S. government to take its marching orders from bigots like Loomer and Congressman Randy Fine, targeting the most vulnerable kids who have lost nearly everything and are just beginning to find a renewed sense of hope.

We cannot allow this cruelty to stand.
 

➜ Call your members of Congress today. Tell them to pressure Marco Rubio and the Trump administration to:
 

1. Continue allowing Palestinian children from Gaza to receive medical treatment in the U.S.
    

2. Protect the children who are already here under humanitarian visas.

These children will never get back what has been taken from them by U.S.-supplied bombs—but their lives depend on us speaking out now.

For my friend, and for every Palestinian child struggling to survive the consequences of the U.S.-funded genocide, thank you for raising your voice.

Call Your Congress Member Now

With determination,

Izzy M.
Adalah Justice Project

Adalah Justice Project is a Palestinian-led advocacy organization based in the U.S. that builds cross-movement coalitions to achieve collective liberation. Our work is rooted in the conviction that drawing the linkages between US policy abroad and repressive state practices at home is crucial to shifting the balance of power.

Donate to support Palestinian-led organizing 

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up here to get updates from AJP.

Our mailing address is:
Adalah Justice Project

19 augustus 2025

1699.

19 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

United Methodist Church divests from Israel bonds

Michael Arria

The United Methodist Church (UMC) will divest from Israel bonds and from other governments maintaining illegal military occupations, making it the first church in the world to make such a pledge.

The Trump administration’s halt on medical evacuations from Gaza is a death sentence for Palestinian children

Bilal Irfan and Alyssa Seliga

The Trump administration’s decision to halt all visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza, which came after pressure from right-wing activists, will be a death sentence for children who require life-saving medical treatment.

1698.

18 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

‘Until the last child is fed’: Gazans go on hunger strike in the midst of famine

Tareq S. Hajjaj

A growing number of journalists and first responders in Gaza are going on hunger strike amidst the famine. “If you want to eat, you have to run after aid trucks. I refuse to do it,” says Mahmoud Basal, the spokesperson for the Gaza Civil Defense.

Book Review: Sarah Schulman tackles the urgency, and pitfalls, of solidarity

Marcy Newman

Author Sarah Schulman’s "The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity" combines reflections on historical movements, figures, and texts to present a timely discussion on how to act in solidarity, a pressing question amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

1697.

18 augustus 2025

Just last month, 18-year-olds Ayana Gertsmann and Yuval Peleg publicly refused mandatory military service in the Israeli occupation forces. By refusing service, they are refusing the genocide, occupation and extermination of the Palestinian people. At such a young age, they are now part of a much longer lineage of resistance to colonial wars by refusing to sacrifice herself on the altar of ethnic supremacy. We stand in solidarity with Ayana and Yuval who are setting an example for us all on how to stubbornly refuse in the darkest of times, and call on our supporters all over the world to let your communities know about Ayana and Yuval. As they sit in a military prison for their brave decision, we need all of our friends abroad to forward Ayana's public letter below to everyone you know, and more importantly, send Ayana and Yuval a letter of support at this link. Below are Ayana’s words to the world:

My name is Ayana Gerstmann, I’m 18 years old, and Israeli law dictates that I must enlist. I have decided to refuse to enlist, as my morals have obligated me to do so, and I choose to act accordingly.

I was raised in a family that often mentioned the moral failure that is in the military service. And yet, at a young age, I did not fully understand what that moral failure of the military service, that my mom would often talk about, actually was. I had no idea what was happening around me:  what were the territories and what was the occupation. I remember that in 4th grade I participated in my school’s Jerusalem Day ceremony. I danced, sang and recited nationalistic texts without even imagining that there is a problem with the joyful celebration of what was displayed to us as the “Unification of Jerusalem - The Eternal Capital”.

A year later, in 5th grade, my political ignorance had been shattered. In the days before Jerusalem Day, we were given a research assignment about important places in Jerusalem. It is clear to me today that the goal of that assignment was to strengthen my nationalistic tendencies, but its outcome was the opposite. I read about East Jerusalem, and for the first time was exposed to it as it was depicted in the B'Tselem website. Suddenly my eyes were opened to what hid behind the national pride celebrations I had participated in a year earlier - occupation and oppression. Suddenly, and at once, I had been made aware of the deep suffering of millions of people, that prior I hadn’t even known existed, whose freedom is crushed day by day, hour by hour, by the occupation regime.

From that moment, the realization that I absolutely cannot be a bolt in the military system that is enforcing the occupation regime, and making the lives of the Palestinians miserable as a policy, had been growing. I will not be part of a system that is routinely expelling communities, killing innocents, and allowing settlers to take over their lands. Since October 7th this realization had come to its peak due to the army’s actions in Gaza. Since the start of the war tens of thousands of women and children had been killed, and hundreds of thousands had been displaced from their homes, living today in refugee camps, deprived of their dignity and starving. This humanitarian catastrophe is a result of the army’s actions, the result of the war that has been going on for nearly two years, and has lost its goals long ago. For two years I see bloodshed as a result of a hopeless war of revenge. I see tens of thousands of Gazan children that are born and raised with endless despair, into death and destruction that make up a neverending circle of hate, revenge and murder. I see hundreds of youths my age getting killed as they are sent by the state to eternalize this circle. I see a war that is only endangering the lives of the hostages. And I cannot be silent in the face of these things.

I cannot be silent in a society silence took over. I do not have the privilege to be silent, when I know that everyone around me has long been silent. Israeli society has been seeing the occupation for six decades and is closing its eyes. Israeli society has been seeing Gazan children killed in bombins and is closing its eyes. Israeli society sees the army committing the worst of moral atrocities, and decides to be silent. Israeli society is not ready to acknowledge the atrocities its army is committing against innocents, because people know that once they do, they will be unable to deal with the guilt. And instead of invoking its morality and opposing the atrocities, Israeli society silences every hint of its immorality, justifies whatever cannot be silenced, and labels any opposition of the war as evil, out of a fear that it will label itself as such, if it will dare to look at the truth. Throughout the war I hear the phrase “there are no innocents in Gaza” countless times, and am outraged. I hear this phrase normalized more and more. I see people that wholeheartedly believe that even the youngest of Gaza’s children isn’t innocent, and therefore will be given no mercy. On this I want to say: a child is always innocent! For it is obvious to me that I too as a child was innocent, when I took part in the Jerusalem Day ceremonies. I couldn’t choose otherwise when I read out the nationalistic texts I was told to read, while completely ignoring the Palestinian suffering of which I was unaware. An unknowing child cannot make his own choices, and therefore is innocent.

But now, having matured, my innocence is not unconditional. That is why I know that if I decide to stay silent now that I’m aware of the suffering inflicted upon millions by the army, I will be complicit in the crime. Today I know that I cannot be silent in the face of suffering. I cannot be silent in the face of killing and destruction. And today I know that enlisting in the army is worse than silence: it is cooperation with a system that is hurting millions. That is why I refuse, and do so loudly. I will not cooperate, and I will not be part of the silence that enables the worst of atrocities to be committed in my name. As a citizen of the country I say clearly: the destruction of Gaza - not in my name! The occupation - not in my name! I refuse to be silent, in hope that my voice will open the eyes of others in society, and make them aware of what’s being done in their name, until they stay silent no more.

Please forward Ayana's public letter below to everyone you know, and more importantly, send Ayana and Yuval a letter of support at this link. You are their voice.

In solidarity,

Tal Marom
Solidarity Coordinator
Refuser Solidarity Network
 

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up here to receive these updates regularly

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1696.

17 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Marwan Barghouti, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the Israeli need to humiliate

Abdaljawad Omar

Itamar Ben-Gvir’s staged attempt at humiliating Marwan Barghouti exposed the impotence of the Palestinian political order — but it also laid bare the insecurities and anxieties that fuel Israel’s need to publicly subjugate Palestinians.

Democrats torn between voters and donors on Palestine

Mitchell Plitnick

Democrats, including those eyeing a 2028 presidential run, are flailing as it becomes clear that supporting Israel is now a political loser. While politicians navigate this new terrain, pro-Israel groups are scrambling to rebuild liberal support.

How Zionism is leading the reactionary wave worldwide

Angel Leonardo Peña

Zionism is no longer hiding in the shadows, as it once did, supporting global reactionaries with training and support. It has now taken center stage as the vanguard of the global right, and all reactionaries are following.

1695.

16 augustus 2025

U.S. protection keeps Israel’s genocide alive

Israel’s destruction of Gaza grinds on without pause or limit. The army has confirmed plans to invade Gaza City and occupy it, forcing Palestinians to choose between yet another round of displacement or staying to face certain attack. In neighborhoods like Shuja’iyya — once home to 120,000 people — there is nothing left to return to.

This is not a temporary escalation or a breakdown in diplomacy. As Qassam Muaddi reports, Netanyahu’s government is openly preparing for the permanent occupation of Gaza, dangling the prospect of ceasefire talks only to stall criticism and buy time. The U.S. political establishment still treats these theatrics as if they were genuine steps toward peace. They are not; they are covering for more killing.

Even Donald Trump has been forced to acknowledge the Israeli-created famine killing thousands in Gaza. But famine here is not an accident of war; it is a weapon, wielded with intent. As Ahmad Ibsais writes, genocide depends on silencing its witnesses, and Western governments and media have not only ignored it, but they have enabled it.

The international community has failed once again to stop a genocide. By the time European governments move toward recognizing a Palestinian state next month, Gaza will have endured nearly two years of siege, bombardment, and starvation. In the West Bank, Israel is accelerating forced displacement and expanding settlement construction without meaningful pushback. It is also stepping up its campaign to silence Palestinian journalists, most recently by assassinating Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif. As Phil Weiss details, even Israel’s total ban on international reporters entering Gaza has been met with little more than a shrug from world powers.

Israel’s impunity rests on one foundation: the United States’ power over any international response. Washington uses its political, economic, and military dominance to shield Israel from consequences — vetoing resolutions, blocking sanctions, and pressuring allies to stay in line. This is not passive protection; it is active, deliberate, and relentless. The U.S. is not a bystander but a partner, fully complicit in these crimes. With that cover guaranteed, Israel can wage a war without end, making famine, displacement, and destruction permanent features of Palestinian life.

Until U.S. political protection for Israeli apartheid and the genocide in Gaza is dismantled, the rest of the world will do little more than issue belated statements and symbolic gestures. And every delay comes at the cost of more Palestinian lives.

David Reed, Publisher

Articles / Donate today

Must read: ‘They want us homeless and hungry’: residents of Gaza City brace for Israeli invasion

Tareq Hajjaj: As the Israeli army confirms plans to invade Gaza City and occupy it, Palestinians have to decide whether to endure another cycle of displacement or stay and risk being killed. While some plan to evacuate, others are done following orders.

Displaced Palestinians in a tent encampment at Gaza City’s seaport, May 27, 2025. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)

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Why does Israel keep getting away with killing Palestinian journalists?

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Genocide in Gaza

 Qassam Muaddi: As the Israeli army announced it was preparing plans for the occupation of Gaza City, initial reports indicate the ceasefire negotiations may resume, leaving open the question of whether Netanyahu’s occupation plan is a negotiating tactic.

 Ahmad Ibsais: Israel murdered Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues because genocide can only proceed without witnesses. Western media outlets have failed to condemn the systematic murder of Palestinian journalists, and in the process have become accomplices.

 Qassam Muaddi: “I’m mostly tired of expecting the world to end this,” Malek texts me from his tent encampment in Khan Younis. “I need to sleep. I have to wake up early to go look for food.”

 Tareq Hajjaj: The neighborhood of Shuja’iyya was once home to 120,000 people. It has now been erased.

Catch-up

 Phil Weiss: Israel’s policy of blocking international reporters from entering Gaza is cruel and aims to prevent the world from learning about the unfolding genocide. Tragically, the mainstream press has rarely mentioned the restriction, let alone condemned it.

 Michael Arria: The Center for Constitutional Rights is joining local organizations in calling on Delaware’s Attorney General to investigate the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for its complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza.

 Daphna Baram and Michael Sfard: Two human rights practitioners used to have hope that Israel could be reformed, but no longer. “Today it is one solid mass of distilled evil,” writes human rights lawyer Michael Sfard.

 Shannon Smythe: More Presbyterians and other Christians must bravely speak truth to power with our voices and bodies to end the Gaza genocide. This begins with challenging Christian Zionism and the leaders of our churches who remain complicit.

 Michael Arria: After a New York Magazine article exposed a crisis within the Anti-Defamation League, CEO Jonathan Greenblatt is finally being asked tough questions about the organization’s attacks on Palestine activists and its embrace of Israel.

 James Ray: As support for Israel drops in polls, Democrats are increasingly trying to distance themselves from the Gaza genocide. A common tactic is to place the blame on “the Netanyahu government,” but this ignores Israel’s long history of ethnic cleansing.

1694.

16 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Groups calls on Delaware to revoke Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s corporate charter over complicity in genocide

Michael Arria

The Center for Constitutional Rights is joining local organizations in calling on Delaware’s Attorney General to investigate the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for its complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza.

‘They want us homeless and hungry’: residents of Gaza City brace for Israeli invasion

Tareq S. Hajjaj

As the Israeli army confirms plans to invade Gaza City and occupy it, Palestinians have to decide whether to endure another cycle of displacement or stay and risk being killed. While some plan to evacuate, others are done following orders.

1693.

16 augustus 2025

A Major Legal Victory

In a stunning 48-page order, a judge in the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed all claims against all defendants, including AMP, its board of directors, and staff, in a frivolous lawsuit alleging that AMP was responsible for events overseas.

The judge's order stated, “the Court cautions that some of Plaintiffs’ allegations … raise issues regarding the constitutional protections applicable to such statements.”

AMP, represented by the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA), won a decisive legal victory in a case that, hopefully, sets precedents for other pending lawsuits.

“We welcome the acknowledgment by yet another court that our clients follow the law. Differing viewpoints make America strong, and the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ attempts to label opinions they don’t like as cause for liability should really be cause for alarm. The Court got this one right,” said Christina Jump, MLFA's Head of Civil Litigation.

AMP's work in education, advocacy, and grassroots mobilization made it a target for bad actors in the aftermath of the events of October 7th, 2023. However, today the judge made it very clear that advocating for Palestine is not up for debate.

“The Court today recognized that advocacy for Palestinians cannot create liability. AMP deserves this vindication of its hard work,” said Samira Elhosary, MLFA's Civil Litigation Staff Attorney.

“This incredible victory is owed to Allah first and to the extraordinary litigation team at the MLFA who effectively dismantled the plaintiff's argument and achieved a decisive victory,” said Dr. Osama Abu Irshaid, AMP's Executive Director.

“The decision today is yet another affirmation that our work for the just and noble cause of Palestine is blessed, and we will continue to unapologetically and relentlessly pursue freedom and justice for the Palestinian people. We also affirm that we will never succumb to any bullying, intimidation, or repression aimed at preventing us from standing with the Palestinian people in Gaza, who are facing a brutal campaign of extermination at the hands of Israel, fully backed by the United States."

This was the second major legal victory for AMP in the last few months.
 

In solidarity,
American Muslims for Palestine

1692.

15 augustus 2025

Nederland doet sinds een week mee aan het droppen van voedsel en humanitaire goederen boven de Gazastrook. Veelgehoorde kritiek op deze droppings is dat ze zowel te duur als inefficiënt zijn, en bovendien gevaarlijk, en dat ze daarmee geen echte oplossing zijn voor de hongersnood in Gaza. Maar er is een ander, nog fundamenteler, probleem: de droppings vormen een afleiding van Israëls genocide op de Palestijnen en de blokkade van de landstrook.

Hoe zit dat?
De droppings reduceren de genocide in Gaza – de doelbewuste campagne van Israël om Palestijns bestaan in Gaza uit te roeien – tot een humanitair probleem. Westerse politieke spreken over een ‘humanitaire catastrofe’ of ‘noodsituatie’ in Gaza, alsof het een natuurramp is in plaats van een vernietigingscampagne. In die context gelden de droppings als een methode om een crisissituatie te verlichten.

Palestijnen in de Gazastrook rennen op 9 augustus naar uit een vliegtuig gedropte voedselpakketten. © Imago / Belal Abu Amer / apaimages / Alamy

Maar daarbij wordt voorbijgegaan aan het feit dat Israël, met zijn genadeloze blokkade van de Gazastrook, de aanstichter is van de hongersnood onder de Palestijnse bevolking. En dat het land dit bewust doet, als onderdeel van zijn genocidale campagne. ‘Als Netanyahu zou willen dat elk kind in Gaza morgen gevoed is, kan hij simpelweg die instructie geven en gebeurt het’, zei hongersnoodexpert Alex de Waal vorige week in een interview met The New Yorker.

Kortom: terwijl de voedseldroppings nooit zullen volstaan om de honger in Gaza te stillen, bieden ze Israël tevens een excuus om de blokkade te handhaven en zijn genocide op de Palestijnen voort te zetten.

Symboolpolitiek
De huidige uithongering van Gaza is geen verrassing, geen onvoorziene ramp of crisis, maar een van te voren aangekondigd en gepland beleid. Dat maakt de ontkenning daarvan door onze politieke leiders des te kwaadaardiger.

Het debat moet niet gaan over symbolische humanitaire hulp in de vorm van voedseldroppings. Het moet gaan over Israëls systematische vernietigingscampagne en uithongering. Dáár moeten maatregelen tegen worden genomen. De rest is ruis en zorgt er alleen maar voor dat Israël steeds verder kan gaan.De droppings passen in een lange lijst van handelingen door Israëls bondgenoten die worden gepresenteerd als steun aan de Palestijnen, maar uiteindelijk vooral voor de bühne zijn en Israël afschermen van verantwoordelijkheid. In het volledige artikel beschrijven we een aantal voorbeelden van die praktijk.

Onze berichtgeving over Gaza:

Medeplichtige media | Hoe de NOS genocide normaliseert

‘Ik kijk uit naar de dag dat er een onderzoek komt naar de rol van westerse media in deze genocide. Want dit is geen genocide die over het hoofd is gezien. Dit is een genocide die is gerechtvaardigd.’

Dat zei Francesca Albanese, speciale VN-rapporteur voor Palestina, in gesprek met presentator Natasja Gibbs in februari dit jaar.

Ze is niet de enige die stelt dat westerse media medeplichtig zijn aan de genocide in Gaza. Talloze journalisten, onderzoekers, hulpverleners en activisten zeggen hetzelfde – ook over de Nederlandse media, en in het bijzonder de publieke omroep NOS.

Demonstranten van Extinction Rebellion (XR) tijdens een demonstratie voor het NOS-gebouw op het Mediapark. De demonstranten eisen dat de NOS verantwoordelijkheid neemt met eerlijke verslaggeving zonder misleidende frames, nepneutraliteit en valse balans. © ANP / Sem van der Wal

Hoe luidt de kritiek op de NOS?
Een concreet, treffend en helaas typerend voorbeeld van de wijze waarop westerse media berichten over de genocide in Gaza verscheen vorige week vrijdag in de vorm van een artikel op de NOS-website. Door woordkeuzes en taalgebruik, door het kritiekloos overnemen van Israëlische staatspropaganda en het weglaten van context en duiding, verhult en normaliseert het artikel Israëlische oorlogsmisdaden, misdaden tegen de menselijkheid en genocide. Het verpakt een grove misdaad als iets acceptabels en beleidsmatigs.

Waar Dilan Yesilgöz nog meer sorry voor moet zeggen

In een nieuw artikel op onze website zetten we de belangrijkste voorbeelden op een rijtje.

Vervolg op Tweede Kamerdebat over Gaza

Vorige week berichtten wij over het Gaza-debat van de Tweede Kamercommissie voor Buitenlandse Zaken van 7 augustus. Sindsdien publiceerden wij de onderstaande verslagen van het debat, waarin we vooral de rol van de VVD en minister van Buitenlandse zaken Caspar Veldkamp (NSC) belichten.

Op donderdag 21 augustus zal in navolging van het commissiedebat een zogenaamd twee-minuten debat worden gehouden. Daarin wordt het debat afgerond, dienen partijen moties in en wordt daarover gestemd. De bijeenkomst begint om 16.00 uur en kan worden gevolgd via de livestream van de Tweede Kamer en Debat Direct. 

Uit onze agenda
zaterdag 15 augustus t/m zaterdag 22 augustus

Demonstraties en wakes
• Doorlopende 24-uurs stiltewake in Den Haag, bij het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Rijnstraat 8, Den Haag
• 'The People for Gaza' – dagelijks protest in Amsterdam, Stationsplein, Centraal Station (20.00 uur)
• Wake voor Palestina op zaterdag 16 augustus in Den Bosch, Burgemeester Loeffplein (12.00 uur)
• Wake voor Palestina op zaterdag 16 augustus in Groningen, Waagplein (13.00 uur)
• Steun werven voor petitie aan gemeente Haarlem om Palestina te erkennen op zaterdag 16 augustus in Haarlem, Hortusplein (15.00 uur)
• Landelijke demonstratie 'Stop uithongering, Stop de genocide' op zaterdag 16 augustus in Amsterdam, De Dam (14.00 uur)
• Stilteprotest voor Palestina op maandag 18 augustus in Utrecht, Neude, langs het fietspad (08.30 uur)
• Demonstratie tegen de banden van de TU Eindhoven, ASML en Brainport met de Israëlische wapenindustrie op maandag 18 augustus in Eindhoven, 18 septemberplein (11.15 uur)
• Sit-in rijksambtenaren op donderdag 21 augustus in Den Haag, Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Rijnstraat 8 (12.00 uur)
• Wekelijkse lawaaidemonstraties op stations in heel Nederland, op donderdag 21 augustus. Houd de pagina van Plant een Olijfboom in de gaten voor meer informatie.
• Demonstratie voor Palestina op donderdag 21 augustus in Zaandam, Stationsplein (17.00 uur)
• Wekelijks protest tegen genocide, voor menselijkheid op vrijdag 22 augustus in Doetinchem, voor het gemeentehuis (10.00 uur)

Bekijk hier de hele agenda

1691.

15 augustus 2025

Your Activist Scoop

READ THE REJECT AIPAC STATEMENT 

TELL YOUR REPS TO BLOCK THE BOMBS 

PRESSURE ELECTED OFFICIALS 

1690.

15 augustus 2025

Gaza Will Not Be Ignored

Over 100 people are being killed every day in Gaza. Instead of holding Israel accountable, U.S. officials are mocking the forced starvation and genocide. Enough is enough, we’re taking to the streets for Gaza.

On Saturday, August 16, American Muslims for Palestine and a national coalition of more than 200 organizations will be marching in New York City to demand an immediate end to the U.S.-Israeli starvation campaign and genocide.

We demand:

• An immediate end to the blockade
• An end to the manufactured famine
• An end to U.S. complicity in genocide

We will not be silent.
We will not back down.

March with us and stand with Gaza.
 

In solidarity,
American Muslims for Palestine

1689.

15 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Israel swings between plans to occupy Gaza and resuming ceasefire talks

Qassam Muaddi

As the Israeli army announced it was preparing plans for the occupation of Gaza City, initial reports indicate the ceasefire negotiations may resume, leaving open the question of whether Netanyahu's occupation plan is a negotiating tactic.

1688.

14 augustus 2025

Humanitarian Situation Update #314
West Bank

14 August 2025

Palestinian children in the West Bank village of Az Zawiya in Salfit governorate following an arson attack carried out by Israeli settlers. Photo by OCHA

Key Highlights

• Israeli forces forcibly displaced the Ein Ayoub Bedouin community following a series of attacks by Israeli settlers. This is the ninth community to be fully displaced in the Ramallah governorate since January 2023, following recurrent attacks by Israeli settlers.
• The monthly number of Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers more than doubled in June and July 2025 (about 100) compared with an average of 49 per month between January and May 2025 and 30 per month in 2024.
• As the summer heat wave persists, many Palestinian communities across the West Bank are facing extreme water shortages, driven mainly by a substantial reduction in the water supply from Israeli pipelines in some areas, insufficient rainfall, lack of permits to build water infrastructure or demolitions thereof, and settler violence.
• Between 1 January and 11 August 2025, Israeli authorities punitively demolished or sealed 23 homes and four other structures, displacing approximately 140 people, including 57 children – the highest level of displacement within this context compared with any similar period since 2019.

Humanitarian Developments

• Between 5 and 11 August, one Palestinian with Israeli citizenship was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank. During the same period, at least 31 Palestinians, including six children, were injured, the majority (29) by Israeli forces and two by Israeli settlers.
  • On 9 August, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man holding Israeli citizenship during an operation in Jericho city and its two refugee camps (Aqbat Jaber and Ein As Sultan). According to official Palestinian sources, Israeli forces raided the city and fired live ammunition at Palestinian houses and shops. Video footage shows a man walking in the street and being shot, after which Israeli forces pass by. Israeli forces reportedly denied medical teams access for 20 minutes, after which the man was transported by Palestinian medics to a hospital in Jericho and then he was transferred to a hospital in Israel, where he was pronounced dead. According to the Israeli military, as cited in the Israeli media, their forces had fired at a suspect moving in their direction.
• In a briefing to the UN Security Council on Gaza, OCHA’s Director of the Coordination Division, Mr. Ramesh Rajasingham, expressed deep concerns regarding how the expansion of military operations in Gaza are affecting the West Bank. Recalling that a year ago “the International Court of Justice determined that Israel must bring its unlawful presence, policies and practices to an end as rapidly as possible,” he expressed concern that developments in the West Bank “worsen an existing humanitarian situation that sadly remains less visible – not because it is less severe, but because global attention has been drawn elsewhere.”
• Between 5 and 11 August, OCHA documented the demolition of 33 Palestinian-owned structures, including 10 homes, due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain. The demolitions included 16 structures in Area C, 10 in East Jerusalem, and seven artesian wells in Area A. Consequently, 41 Palestinians, including 18 children and 11 women, were displaced (all in East Jerusalem), and over 240 were affected. Key incidents include the following:
  • In East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities demolished two structures and Palestinian owners were forced to demolish seven other structures for lacking building permits. In total, 41 people were displaced, including 13 in Silwan, nine in Ras al ‘Amud, eight in Beit Iksa, three in Sur Bahir, and two in Ath Thuri. So far this year, over 130 structures, including about 80 homes, were demolished in East Jerusalem due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, resulting in the displacement of more than 400 people, half of them children. Over 60 per cent of those were demolished by their owners (83 structures).
  • On 5 August, Israeli authorities sealed off with concrete seven artesian wells (280-300 metres deep) in Area A of Adh Dhairiya town, south of Hebron city. The wells were the only source of income for at least two families who used them for agricultural purposes. Under the Oslo Agreement, any water‐related project, including in Areas A and B, needs the approval of the Israeli‐Palestinian Joint Water Committee. On the same day, Israeli authorities demolished a donor-funded ground-level cylindrical water reservoir located in Area C near Al 'Aqaba village, in Tubas governorate, which was used by two families to irrigate crops.
  • On 5 August, Israeli authorities demolished a donor-funded under-construction school intended to serve approximately 90 students in Al ‘Aqaba village, in Tubas governorate. Previously on 24 June 2024, a stop-work order was issued against the project, and a cement mixer and bulldozer were confiscated and held for about a month by Israeli forces. In late August 2024, the Al ‘Aqaba village council submitted the project plans and requests for permits to the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) and received a response stating that the demolition would not proceed until a decision is made by the court. Nonetheless, the ICA proceeded with the demolition on 5 August 2025. The planned school was intended to replace the existing governmental village school, which operates under poor conditions, lacking adequate infrastructure and essential facilities.
• According to the Education cluster, some 84 schools across the West Bank face pending demolition orders, 54 of which are under the threat of full demolition, while 30 are subject to partial demolition orders. Ten of the affected schools are located within the Israeli-defined municipal boundaries of East Jerusalem, and the remaining 74 are in Area C. These schools serve 12,855 students, including 6,557 girls, who are supported by 1,076 teachers. In addition to demolitions, schools have also been attacked by Israeli settlers, with the most recent example recorded on 29 July, when settlers forcibly entered the Yasir Amro school in the Jabal Ar Rahmeh neighbourhood of Hebron city, near the closed military zone of the H2 area. According to local sources, the settlers connected their sewage pipes from newly-installed mobile houses directly into the school’s sewage network, and disrupted the school’s landline and internet network. Between 1 January and 11 August 2025, at least eight schools have been attacked by settlers in the governorates of Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron and Salfit.
• On 6 August, Israeli authorities demolished 14 structures, including ten livelihood structures, three latrines and a swimming pool in Area C of Dar Salah village, in Bethlehem governorate. The demolition took place reportedly for banning construction near Road 398 under a military order issued in 1996 that designated areas along bypass roads as security buffer zones. All the structures were built over the past few years. In a nearby area that falls within Area B of Dar Salah village, a newly-built five-storey residential building and a water cistern were also demolished in the same context.

• On 7 August, Israeli authorities punitively demolished with explosives three residential apartments in a four-storey building in the H1 area of Hebron city, rendering the whole building uninhabitable. The demolished apartments were located on the first and second floors and belonged to the family of a detained Palestinian accused of assisting two other Palestinians to perpetrate a shooting attack in Jaffa city in Israel on 1 October 2024. This attack resulted in the killing of six Israelis, a foreigner, and one of the Palestinians; another 16 Israelis were injured, as well as the second Palestinian, who remains detained. Both Palestinian perpetrators were from Hebron and their houses had been punitively demolished. As a result of the demolition on 7 August, three families comprising seven people, including a child, were displaced. Between 1 January and 11 August 2025, Israeli authorities demolished 27 structures on punitive grounds, including 23 homes, resulting in the displacement of approximately 140 people, among them 57 children, these figures represent the highest number of structures demolished and people displaced compared with the equivalent period of any given year since OCHA started documenting demolitions in 2009.
• As the summer heat wave persists, many Palestinian communities across the West Bank, are facing extreme water shortages, especially in the Hebron governorate and northern Jordan Valley, according to the Water Sanitation and Hygiene Cluster (WASH). Analysis carried out by the Cluster at the beginning of 2025 showed that 52 communities across the West Bank faced access obstacles to reach water resources and that long-distance trips to collect water take on average just under an hour. In addition, 73 communities do not have an official water network and are forced to rely on water trucking as a main source of water. These shortages are due to heatwaves and low rainfall, a lack of permission by Israeli authorities to build water lines for Palestinian communities in Area C, access obstacles and settler violence. Since 1 January 2025, OCHA has documented the demolition by Israeli authorities of 128 WASH structures in Area C of the West Bank, including 42 in Hebron governorate and 39 in the Jordan Valley.
• On 5 August, in Umm al Kheir Bedouin community, in Hebron governorate, Israeli settlers bulldozed and destroyed the main water connection to the community, leaving the residents (200 people including 108 children) without access to running water. The community members tried to reconnect the water network, but the settlers repeatedly disconnected it. As a result, the community now relies solely on water trucking. The settlers initially attempted to destroy the water line on 28 July, where they shot and killed a Palestinian man who was filming the attack. Since May and June 2025, there has been a substantial reduction in the water supply by an Israeli water company through two main Israeli pipeline connection points to Hebron governorate, which had reduced the public water supply in Hebron by more than 50 per cent and affected nearly 800,000 people. According to the WASH Cluster, the Palestinian Water Authority and WASH partners have addressed these issues through a series of interventions and measures (such as water trucking, provision of mobile water tanks and maintenance and repair kits), which have partly alleviated the dire situation. However, partners continue to receive pleas from several communities to provide water as they are suffering from an insufficient water supply.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), citing data reported by the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs (GACA), between 1 January and 31 July 2025, 32 per cent of over 43,800 patient applications to access healthcare services in East Jerusalem and Israel from other parts of the West Bank were either denied or remain pending. These services are not available in the West Bank. In addition, 38 per cent of over 42,400 companion applications) were denied or have their permits remain pending to accompany and assist those travelling to receive care. In 2025, the overall patient approval rate (68 per cent) is gradually improving but remains significantly lower than it was before October 2023; in 2021 and 2022, the approval rate exceeded 80 per cent and dropped to 74 and 56 per cent in 2023 and 2024, respectively. This drop in approvals leaves thousands of people without an option of treatment or remedy to serious health needs.

Intensification of Israeli Settler Attacks

• Between 5 and 11 August, OCHA documented at least 27 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in casualties, property damage, or both in about 24 communities. These attacks led to the displacement of 18 Palestinian households, comprising 102 people, including 65 children, and the injury of 10 Palestinians, including an elderly man and a child, of whom three were injured by settlers and seven by Israeli forces during or following settler-related incidents. Settlers also vandalized or destroyed more than 900 trees, mostly saplings. Between January and May of 2025, an average of 49 Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers, compared with a monthly average of 30 in 2024. In June and July, the number of Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers more than doubled to 100 and 106, respectively. Key incidents resulting in displacement and casualties included the following:
  • In Ein Ayoub Bedouin community, south of Deir Ammar village in Ramallah governorate, Israeli settlers carried out a series of attacks, along with Israeli forces, that have resulted in the forced displacement of 18 Palestinian families, comprising more than 100 people, including at least 60 children. On 9 August, at midnight, Israeli settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, raided the community. Palestinian families gathered in two tents to protect the women and children; while they were inside, settlers set fire to a residential caravan, destroying it and all its contents, and threatened to expel the community within 24 hours. At midnight on 10 August, Israeli forces raided the community, surrounded residential structures, and ordered residents to leave to the nearby Deir Ammar village within 15 minutes. The forces detained residents in two tents, separating men from women and children, and interrogated them for about four hours before ordering them to evacuate by the following afternoon. The Ein Ayoub Bedouin community has been residing in this location for over four decades and relies on nearby lands for grazing and livelihoods. For the past month, settlers have been carrying out road work construction near the community’s homes and grazing areas, narrowing access routes and tightening physical control. One week ago, a new settlement outpost was established adjacent to the community, after which settlers intensified daily incursions and harassment. The displaced families relocated to nearby villages, many without their belongings, and face shortages of space to accommodate livestock. This is the ninth community to be forcibly displaced in the Ramallah governorate since January 2023 following recurrent settler attacks.
  • In Ar Rakeez herding community in Masafer Yatta, in the southern Hebron governorate, a newly established settlement outpost set up in mid-2024 has been linked to repeated settler attacks recorded in the community this year. On 8 and 9 August, a group of armed settlers believed to be from this outpost physically assaulted and injured a 65-year-old Palestinian man on two consecutive days while he was working on his land near his home along with his son. The man had previously been shot in the leg by settlers in April this year while on his land, leading to an amputation. Since 2020, OCHA has documented 20 settler-related incidents in Ar Rakeez that resulted in casualties or property damage. The number of incidents has steadily increased, from none in 2020, to three in 2022, eight in 2024, and six so far in 2025, resulting in the injury of four Palestinians and damage to agricultural and animal-related structures.
  • In Halhul village in Hebron governorate, a newly established settlement outpost, set up in early July 2025, has been the source of repeated settler attacks against Palestinians in the area. On 11 August, armed settlers believed to be from this newly established outpost, accompanied by Israeli forces, attacked a Palestinian family harvesting grapes on their land. Settlers harassed the family, forcing them to leave the area while taking the harvested grapes with them. They then followed the family, destroyed approximately 40 kilograms of grapes, and physically assaulted a family member, injuring a 13-year-old child. A mobile medical service provider arrived, but Israeli soldiers prevented treatment from being provided on site. Israeli forces detained both parents and their two children for about one hour before releasing them; the injured child was later transported by relatives to receive medical care. In a separate attack, on 7 August, settlers believed to be from the same outpost broke into Palestinian land planted with grapevines and destroyed 80 vines. According to the landowner, settlers physically assaulted him when he tried to access his land. He reported that while he regularly visits the land, incidents of harassment have increased since the outpost was established about a month ago.
• Out of the 29 documented settler-related attacks, at least 24 incidents involved damage to Palestinian-owned property, the majority of which specifically targeted agricultural lands and related structures across Hebron, Bethlehem, Salfit, Nablus and Ramallah governorates. These attacks resulted in the destruction of nearly 900 trees and vines, mostly olive and grape, along with the burning of an animal barracks and the vandalism of a water network. Key incidents resulting in property damage included the following:
  • In Al Mas'udiya village in Nablus governorate, on 10 August, when Israeli settlers destroyed approximately 500 young almond and olive saplings, the third largest number of saplings damaged in a single settler attack since the beginning of the year. In a separate incident on 11 August in Nablus governorate, settlers cut down about 100 fruit and olive trees and vandalized a water network serving 3.5 dunums of land in Deir Sharaf village.
  • In Farkha village in Salfit governorate, three separate settler attacks were recorded over two consecutive days, between 8 and 9 August; Israeli settlers, believed to be from a newly established settlement outpost, took over a 100-metre metal fence, eight poles, and agricultural equipment covering one dunum (0.25 acres) of land. They also grazed their sheep on Palestinian agricultural land; when 10 Palestinian farmers attempted to push them out, armed settlers physically attacked them. Israeli forces later arrived and detained three of the Palestinian farmers for about nine hours before releasing them. During the incident, settlers vandalized three olive trees on land belonging to four Palestinian families.
  • In Az Zawiya village in Salfit governorate, on 10 August, settlers believed to be from Elkana settlement burned a 40 square-metre animal barracks containing agricultural tools, destroyed two olive trees and a cactus, and left a threatening letter for a Palestinian herder-farmer whose family uses the area for grazing and farming livestock. This attack followed an earlier attack, a week prior, when the same herder and his family were threatened late at night and ordered to leave the area, ultimately forcing them to relocate their livestock to a safer area.
• For key figures and additional breakdowns of casualties, displacement and settler violence between January 2005 and June 2025, please refer to the OCHA West Bank June 2025 Snapshot.

Funding

• As of 14 August 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$914 million out of the $4 billion (22 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the OPT. Nearly 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during July 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 111 ongoing projects, totalling $65.2 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 54 are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 43 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 39 out of the 68 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.

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14 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Starvation chronicles in Gaza

Qassam Muaddi

“I’m mostly tired of expecting the world to end this,” Malek texts me from his tent encampment in Khan Younis. “I need to sleep. I have to wake up early to go look for food.”

The mainstream media is finally asking some tough questions about the Anti-Defamation League

Michael Arria

After a New York Magazine article exposed a crisis within the Anti-Defamation League, CEO Jonathan Greenblatt is finally being asked tough questions about the organization's attacks on Palestine activists and its embrace of Israel.

1686.

14 augustus 2025

Humanitarian Situation Update #313
Gaza Strip

13 August 2025

Janah, a Palestinian girl, was recently admitted to Al Rantisi Hospital in Gaza city and diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition. Doctors initially suspected celiac disease, but she did not improve on a gluten-free diet. Photo by OCHA/Olga Cherevko

Key Highlights

• The UN Secretary-General called for an independent and impartial investigation into the killing of six Palestinian journalists in an Israeli strike in Gaza city on 10 August, which highlights the extreme risks that journalists and media workers covering the war continue to face.
• Hunger-related deaths are rising, and the Gaza Strip continues to face starvation. Eight people have reportedly died in the past 24 hours.
• Child malnutrition can lead to lifelong harm and generational poverty, says Save the Children.
• To push back escalating starvation, the Food Security Sector calls for the immediate resumption of large-scale humanitarian assistance with guaranteed safe, unimpeded and sustained access, and for scaling up the entry of nutritious food through the commercial sector.
• Primary health-care response in Gaza is undermined by the lack of adequate medical supplies, leaving thousands of chronic disease patients and those suffering from communicable illnesses without life-saving support, and heightening the risk of a large-scale public health crisis, UNRWA warns.

Humanitarian Developments

• Over the past week, Israeli forces have continued to carry out heavy bombardment from the air, land and sea across the Gaza Strip, alongside continued ground operations. Rocket fire by Palestinian armed groups into Israel and fighting with Israeli forces have taken place. There are continued reports of casualties due to strikes on schools, tents and residential buildings and among people trying to access food supplies at militarized distribution points or waiting for humanitarian aid convoys, detonation and demolition of residential buildings, destruction of civilian infrastructure, and large-scale displacement. According to the Site Management Cluster (SMC), more than 780,000 Palestinians in Gaza were displaced between 18 March and 12 August, including over 12,500 displacement movements reported between 29 July and 12 August, 68 per cent of which originated from Gaza governorate, mostly between 10 and 11 August.
• In a briefing to the UN Security Council on Gaza, OCHA’s Director of the Coordination Division, Mr. Ramesh Rajasingham, expressed concern over the prolonged conflict and reports of atrocities and signalled worry of further human toll following the Government of Israel’s decision to expand military operations: “Gaza lies in ruins. Almost everyone in Gaza has been forcibly displaced at some point over the past two years and at least once. Palestinians in Gaza have been forced into an area that amounts to less than 14 per cent of the territory, in areas that are not safe and are lacking basic services or shelter. Further expansion of military operations will make these conditions even worse.” He highlighted that hunger-related deaths are rising, noting that this is “no longer a looming hunger crisis – this is starvation, pure and simple,” and that humanitarian conditions remain largely unchanged despite some improvements in operations enabled by the Israeli military’s “tactical pauses” and the Israeli authorities’ recent approval of a mechanism for the gradual resumption of controlled commercial goods into Gaza.
• According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, between 6 and 13 August, 564 Palestinians were killed, and 3,083 were injured. This brings the casualty toll among Palestinians since 7 October 2023, as reported by MoH, to 61,722 fatalities and 154,525 injuries. MoH further noted that the number of casualties among people trying to access food supplies has increased to 1,859 fatalities and more than 13,594 injuries since 27 May 2025.
• According to the Israeli military, between 6 and 13 August, no Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza. The casualty toll among Israeli soldiers since the beginning of the ground operation in October 2023 stands at 454 fatalities and 2,872 injuries, according to the Israeli military. According to Israeli forces and official Israeli sources cited in the media, more than 1,654 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed, the majority on 7 October 2023 and its immediate aftermath. As of 13 August, it is estimated that 50 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including hostages who have been declared dead and whose bodies are being withheld.
• On 10 August, the Israeli military hit a tent used by journalists outside the main gate of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city, killing six journalists and media workers, including four staff (two correspondents and two cameramen) of Al Jazeera Media Network in Gaza city. The UN Secretary-General called for an independent and impartial investigation into these latest killings, which highlight the extreme risks that journalists in Gaza continue to face when covering the ongoing war. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) strongly condemned the incident and stated that with the killing of the six journalists, the total number of journalists and media workers killed since the start of the escalation has risen to 238. In July 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had called for the protection of one of the journalists killed, citing concerns that he was being targeted by an Israeli military smear campaign. CPJ Regional Director, Sara Qudah, said that “Israel has killed more journalists in the 22 months since the start of the war than were killed worldwide in the preceding three years.”
• Other key incidents resulting in casualties over the past week include the following:

• • On 7 August at about 10:00, at least five Palestinians, including at least one woman, were reportedly killed and more than 30 others injured when fire was opened towards Palestinians seeking food near the militarized distribution point in Ash Shakoush, in northern Rafah.
  • On 7 August, at about 16:15, six Palestinians, including a couple and three of their children, were reportedly killed and others injured when a tent for internally displaced people (IDP) was hit in Ash Sheikh Radwan, northwest of Gaza city.
  • On 7 August, at about 21:00, five Palestinians were reportedly injured when a school sheltering IDPs was hit in Ad Daraj, in eastern Gaza city.
  • On 8 August, at about 16:00, nine Palestinians, including a couple and their five children and another female, were reportedly killed when a residential building sheltering IDPs was hit in Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis.
  • On 8 August, in the afternoon, nine Palestinians, including three children, were reportedly injured by air-dropped aid on Al Jalal Street, in northern Gaza city.
  • On 9 August, at about 12:30, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was reportedly killed when hit by a crater of air-dropped aid in An Nuseirat Camp, in Deir al Balah.
  • On 11 August, at about 10:00, at least three Palestinians were reportedly injured when a school was hit in Az Zaytoun, in Gaza city.
  • On 11 August, in the early morning, nine Palestinians, including six children (siblings), were reportedly killed when a residential building was shelled in Az Zaytoun, in Gaza city.
  • On 11 August, at about 14:45, seven Palestinians, including a couple and at least of two of their daughters, were reportedly killed when a house was hit in Az Zaytoun, in Gaza city.
  • On 11 August, at about 19:15, eight Palestinian who were seeking aid were reportedly killed and others injured while waiting for aid convoys in As Sudaniya area, in western Beit Lahiya, in North Gaza.
  • On 11 August, at about 18:16, six Palestinians, including two boys and an elderly woman, were reportedly killed when a mobile charging point was hit in southern Deir al Balah.
  • On 12 August, at about 1:30, at least five Palestinians, including a man, his seven-month-old son, a couple and their son, who is a fire fighter with the Palestinian Civil Defense (PCD), were reportedly killed when an IDP tent was hit in Al Mawasi, in western Khan Younis. PCD stated that the killing of the fire fighter increased the number of PCD personnel killed since October 2023 to 137.
• Between 27 May and 8 August, the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah treated more than 4,500 weapon-wounded patients, most of whom reported that they were attempting to reach food distribution sites when they were injured. Since the opening of these distribution sites, there have been more than 30 mass casualty incidents received at the field hospital. Also in southern Gaza, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that 1,380 casualties, including 28 fatalities, were received at its Al-Mawasi and Al-Attar clinics, located near the militarized distribution points, between 7 June and 24 July 2025. During those seven weeks, MSF teams treated 71 children for gunshot wounds, 25 of whom were under the age of 15. “Children shot in the chest while reaching for food. People crushed or suffocated in stampedes,” said the General Director of MSF Spain, adding: “In MSF’s nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians.” MSF also received tens of patients that were injured either in the crush of the crowd or by being beaten and robbed of their supplies immediately after receiving them. MSF teams treated 196 patients with injuries following chaotic scrambles at the distribution sites, including a five-year-old boy with severe head injuries and a woman who died of asphyxiation, likely caused by the suffocating crush of a crowd.
• On 13 August, the World Health Organization (WHO) supported the medical evacuation of 38 Palestinian patients from Gaza, including 32 children and six adults, alongside 99 companions. Patients were evacuated to Italy, Belgium and Türkiye. According to WHO, more than 14,800 patients still need lifesaving medical care that is not available in Gaza.
• Delays and impediments of humanitarian movements continue to be reported. Recently, while fewer humanitarian movements have been denied outright, missions that are approved still take hours to complete and teams have been compelled to wait on roads that are often dangerous, congested or impassable. Between 6 and 12 August, out of 81 attempts to coordinate planned aid movements with Israeli authorities across the Gaza Strip, 35 were facilitated (43 per cent), 29 were initially approved but then impeded on the ground (36 per cent), 12 (15 per cent) were denied and five (six per cent) had to be withdrawn by the organizers. Facilitated movements included missions to transfer fuel, staff movements and rotations. Denied movements included missions for essential road repairs along Salah ad Din Road. Among the 29 impeded missions, 14 were fully accomplished despite the impediments, including missions to collect fuel and supplies from Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings and staff movements between southern and northern Gaza. Six of the impeded missions were not accomplished, including two road repair missions and two missions to collect supplies from Kerem Shalom crossing. The remaining nine missions were partially accomplished. Overall, 33 out of 81 movements were planned to collect fuel and other supplies from Gaza’s crossings, 21 were staff movements and rotations, and 27 aimed to support other ongoing humanitarian operations.
• On 10 August, PCD stated that most of the coordination requests it submitted through humanitarian agencies since 18 March 2025 have been denied, with only 10 per cent of 300 submitted requests facilitated by Israeli authorities. PCD said that over 2,500 people who were initially injured and to whom PCD was denied access lost their lives. PCD called on the international community to put pressure on Israeli authorities to positively respond to coordination requests related to PCD’s lifesaving work.

The Hunger and Malnutrition Crisis

• Starvation in Gaza is at the worst level since October 2023 and the amount of aid entering the Strip is insufficient to meet the scale of needs. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), one of only eight organizations able to dispatch humanitarian aid to Gaza through the UN-coordinated manifest, aid convoys are limited each day and routes inside Gaza remain risky. Additionally, desperate crowds often offload food supplies from trucks to feed their families – while looting also prevents aid from reaching its intended destinations. In July 2025, WFP collected 1,012 trucks carrying nearly 13,000 metric tons (MT) of food supplies from Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings, but only 10 trucks reached warehouses and the rest were offloaded en route. As of 4 August, WFP has about 167,000 MT of food destined for Gaza currently stored, under procurement, or in transit in the region. Overall, the Food Security Sector (FSS) reports that WFP and other partners have enough food in or en route to the region to feed the entire population of 2.1 million people for at least three months, but the risk of spoilage and infestation of the stranded food supplies has significantly increased, and some of them are nearing their expiry dates. To push back escalating starvation, FSS calls for the immediate resumption of large-scale humanitarian assistance with guaranteed safe, unimpeded and sustained access, complemented by scaling up the entry of nutritious food through the commercial sector.
• According to FSS, while more food is entering Gaza, the quantity and quality remains insufficient to reach the minimum daily caloric and nutritional needs of the population. As of 10 August, 324,000 individual meals are being prepared daily at 81 community kitchens supported by 16 FSS partners. This includes about 99,000 meals delivered in the north and around 225,000 meals delivered in the south and central Gaza. This reflects a noticeable increase compared with the 259,000 daily meals prepared two weeks ago but remains far below the over one million daily meals that partners were able to distribute in April. People continue to suffer from extremely imbalanced diets that lack essential nutrients, increasing the risk of acute malnutrition, with an especially severe impact on pregnant and breastfeeding women and newborns who are more likely to be born with health complications.
• Prior to October 2023, Gaza was largely self-sufficient in nutritious food, including eggs, fresh milk, fish, poultry, olive oil and red meat – a context that has drastically changed in the past 22 months. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about 96 per cent (approximately 15,000) of Gaza's cattle, 61 per cent of goats, 64 per cent of sheep, and 98 per cent of layers and broilers have died and nearly all calves were slaughtered. Likewise, agricultural land sustained severe damage, with 86 per cent of permanent crop fields damaged and only 1.5 per cent of Gaza’s cropland currently accessible and not damaged as of July 2025. According to the World Bank’s Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (IRDNA), issued in February 2025, economic losses in the agricultural sector are estimated at US$1.3 billion, and US$1.06 billion is required to address agricultural and food systems needs in the immediate and short terms (up to three years), with a focus on stabilizing infrastructure and basic needs to achieve 70 per cent functionality of critical assets in the first year and increase local food production by 40 per cent.
• Within this context of collapsed food systems, the large-scale entry of commercial food into Gaza is critical to improve dietary diversity and ensure the population has access to a wide range of nutritious food, such as fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and dairy products, FSS emphasizes. Following the Israeli authorities’ approval on 5 August of a mechanism for the gradual and controlled entry of commercial goods into Gaza, different types of food have started to trickle into the markets. While humanitarian partners have observed some level of price decrease in some items, the prices keep fluctuating based on speculations rather than actual availability. For example, the price of sugar, which reached NIS 600 ($177) per kilogram at one point during the past three weeks, has dropped to NIS 30-40 ($9-12) per kilogram on 10 August. On the other hand, energy prices have skyrocketed, with cooking gas disappearing from the market already five months ago and firewood becoming further unaffordable. More people have been forced to use waste and scrap wood as alternative cooking sources, which hinders proper food preparation and intake, exacerbates health and protection risks, and causes environmental hazards.
• The nutritional status of children in Gaza continues to deteriorate. According to the Nutrition Cluster, almost 13,000 new admissions of children for acute malnutrition treatment were recorded in July. Moreover, the severity of cases continues to grow; in July, over 2,800 cases were found to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) out of approximately 13,000 acute malnutrition cases (22 per cent). There are currently 106 outpatient sites providing treatment of malnutrition in the Gaza Strip. The most severe cases of children suffering from SAM with complications, who need to be hospitalized and treated in stabilization centres, have also increased, with 129 cases in July alone compared with 215 cases between January and June. Despite the growing caseload, there are only five SAM stabilization centres across the Gaza Strip, including two in Gaza city, one in Deir al Balah, and two in Khan Younis, with a combined bed capacity of 43 that is insufficient to cope with the high number of cases.
• According to MoH in Gaza, as of 13 August, 235 malnutrition-related deaths, including 106 children, were documented since October 2023. This includes 170 deaths since 1 July 2025, of whom 45 were children, and eight people who died in the past 24 hours.
• On 10 August, Save the Children stated that the reported death of 100 children due to starvation in Gaza since October 2023 is a “devastating milestone that shames the world and demands long overdue urgent action,” and highlighted the devastating, long-term health repercussions of acute malnutrition on children. Save the Children’s Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, Ahmad Alhendawi, said that “these figures are just the tip of the iceberg,” adding that malnutrition among children “can lead to lifelong health issues like stunting, weakened immune systems and organ failure. The effects of malnutrition can span generations, with its impacts on children making learning and development harder, creating a cycle of poverty for the entire population.” He emphasized that “nearly two years of war and a chokehold on lifesaving aid have condemned children to mass deaths, suffering, and shattered futures – all of which are entirely preventable.”

Challenges Facing the Health System

• Since 25 June 2025, when medical supplies were allowed into Gaza following over three and a half months of suspension, WHO has brought into Gaza 80 trucks with medical supplies. Yet, entry processes remain difficult and ever changing, reported Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the OPT, who called for the opening of multiple crossings to allow the delivery of humanitarian supplies and for access to deliver all the essential medicines needed in Gaza. He explained: “Staff members’ inspection activities at [crossing] points had been delayed by restrictions. Many items, such as assistive devices, intensive care unit beds, freezers, cold chain medicines, anaesthesia machines, had been denied entry. Some 282 pallets of supplies had entered via Ben Gurion Airport, but the clearance process was far too slow.” Among the supplies that were brought into Gaza, WHO delivered 6,000 blood units to Al Shifa and Nasser hospitals. These amounts, however, are only a fraction of what is needed to meet the scale of needs, underlined WHO’s Director General. Health facilities continue to struggle to provide the required treatment to patients while facing ongoing mass casualty incidents and growing numbers of patients suffering from infectious diseases. Shortages of fuel needed to operate generators are also one of the key challenges facing about 230 health points that remain partially functional across the Gaza Strip – including 18 hospitals, 10 field hospitals, 66 primary health-care clinics, 112 medical points or mobile clinics and 25 ambulance centres – in addition to the lack of spare parts and engine oils needed to repair and maintain the generators. WHO said it is seeking to stock up hospitals and build its own reserves in the context of a potential military operation in Gaza city but has not been able to do so sufficiently.
• UNRWA plays a critical role in providing primary health-care services in Gaza, serving over 100,000 registered patients suffering from non-communicable diseases (NCD), providing antenatal, post-natal and family planning care, physiotherapy rehabilitation services, and administering routine vaccinations. However, for over five months since 2 March, these services have been severely disrupted due to UNRWA’s inability to bring in lifesaving medicines and medical supplies, critical shortages of fuel, and obstacles to safe movements. This has left health facilities currently managed by UNRWA across the Gaza Strip – including four primary health-care centres, two temporary clinics and many medical points (21 as of 10 August) – with dwindling stocks to provide the needed care and treatment for tens of thousands of patients. At present, 59 per cent of essential medicines (56 out of 95 items) are out of stock at these health facilities, including antihypertensive drugs, oral antibiotics for adults, antiparasitic products, and iron supplements for children, while 12 per cent (11 items) are only available to cover one month of needs. Moreover, over the past week, limited fuel supplies have forced some UNRWA health centres to operate one shift instead of two.
• Shortages of medicines, fuel and basic infection control materials are having devastating consequences for patient care; according to UNRWA, NCD patients, including those with diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, are increasingly unable to access their prescribed treatment due to depleted stocks, which will have serious repercussions on their health. At the same time, the lack of antibiotics, antiparasitic and antifungal medications is hampering treatment of infectious diseases, which are on the rise due to overcrowding, poor sanitation conditions, and limited access to clean water. UNRWA reports that on average, 10,300 cases of patients suffering from infectious diseases are received at its health centres and medical points per week, with acute respiratory infections and watery diarrhoea being the most reported diseases across all areas and a growing number of cases of acute bloody diarrhoea being observed, particularly in Al Mawasi area of Khan Younis. UNRWA warns that without adequate medical supplies, primary health-care response is undermined, leaving thousands of chronic disease patients and those suffering from communicable illnesses without life-saving support and heightening the risk of a large-scale public health crisis.
• Widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease are having particularly catastrophic consequences for pregnant and breastfeeding women and newborns, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). New mothers are often too malnourished to breastfeed, and both safe water and milk formula are scarce. Over 100 frontline midwives are working to reach women in health facilities in overcrowded shelters that lack electricity and water, often travelling long distances on foot. Amid insecurity and movement restrictions, since 1 July, midwives deployed by MoH and 10 national and international partners, with support from UNFPA, have assisted in the delivery of approximately 3,500 babies across 13 comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care facilities that are still partially functioning in Gaza. Emergency deliveries outside hospitals have also been reported, taking place at home, in unequipped health centres, or during transport to hospitals. These situations highlight severe access barriers caused by insecurity and fuel shortages.
• The ability of partners to provide essential maternal and neonatal care is further constrained by shortages of supplies, services, food and water, affecting both patients and sexual and reproductive health providers, UNFPA reports. Exhaustion among health workers has forced maternity service providers to shorten shifts, reducing the availability of lifesaving care. Since July 2025, UNFPA has only been able to deliver six types of Reproductive Health Kits prepositioned during the ceasefire to partners across Gaza, serving about 5,400 people. Since 2 March, UNFPA has not been able to deliver any other supplies to the Gaza Strip, while more than 170 truckloads of lifesaving items remain in Al Arish, in Egypt, and the West Bank. These include reproductive health kits, midwifery kits, postpartum kits, maternal health medicines and consumables, medical equipment, family planning commodities, hygiene kits, and shelter materials sufficient to serve an estimated 470,000 women and girls over the next three months.

Funding

• As of 13 August 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately $914 million out of the $4 billion (22 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the OPT. Nearly 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during July 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 111 ongoing projects, totalling $65.2 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 54 are being implemented by INGOs, 43 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 39 out of the 68 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.

1685.

13 augustus 2025

"Israel has succeeded in killing me"

Take Action: Block the Bombs.

What we’re doing: Occupying Schumer and Gillibrand’s offices in NYC…

…and shutting down Fetterman’s office in Philly.

Power Half-Hours for Gaza.

1684.

13 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

‘Weimar is over’

Daphna Baram and Michael Sfard

Two human rights practitioners used to have hope that Israel could be reformed, but no longer. "Today it is one solid mass of distilled evil," writes human rights lawyer Michael Sfard.

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13 augustus 2025

The settlers are on the move—building new illegal settlements in Hebron. We bring you here an update about the new wave of illegal settlement activity, settler violence and harassment in Hebron, and what we should do to stop it.

New Illegal Settlement Units

While Palestinians fear expulsion and are struggling to remain in their homes, Israeli trucks came moving through the city's streets with new mobile homes for Israeli settlers. These were placed on stolen Palestinian private land in the Jabal Al-Rahma neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, slightly outside of the Israeli-controlled boundary of "Hebron 2." The addition of new settlements violates Palestinian sovereignty, encroaches on Palestinian ancestral land and contributes to further restrictions, segregation and violence.

Israeli settlements are illegal under international law in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The beginning of the settlement movement in Hebron consisted of a few Israeli caravan mobile homes placed on private Palestinian land, protected by the Israeli army. The Israeli state facilitated the settling of Hebron by connecting the homes to water and electricity and formally recognizing the settlements.

Help our work to support the Palestinian community in the face of closures and settlement expansion!

Settlements divide and fragment Palestinian lands through gradual closures. All settlements are considered closed military zones to Palestinians, preventing entry and disconnecting Palestinian areas. Settlement facilities and Airbnb or Booking.com listings are all outside reach for Palestinians who are excluded from these space entirely. In Hebron, the closures and segregation advance street by street, yard by yard, leading to an absurd and dehumanizing reality.

Harassment & Invading Palestinian Streets

For the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av, the Israeli army entered the Palestinian-controlled area of the city and forced business owners to shut down their stores while soldiers patrolled the streets, interfering with ordinary Palestinian life. Additionally, in Hebron's old city, Israeli soldiers continue to provide military protection to Israeli settlers invading Palestinian streets, often intimidating and harassing local shopkeepers and preventing them from walking their own streets. Such "tours" are displays of power and the threat of further expansion into Hebron city.

Meanwhile, an Israeli soldier was caught on camera throwing rocks at Palestinian windows, an easy example of Israeli soldiers participating in harassment against Palestinians.

Stopping the Wave of Violence

We at Friends of Hebron are dedicated to supporting the local Palestinian community to withstand the occupation of their lives and land and to give them the tools to peacefully fight for their rights.

We distribute cameras to local Palestinians to help them document the human rights violations they face in their daily lives. This footage is shared with lawyers and journalists to show the world and the courts what is really going on.

"The camera is the most trustworthy witness"

Receiving international visitors and delegations

Our team in Hebron was visited by both the German consular representative and the British consulate and Foreign Ministry. We informed them about the situation in Hebron and called on them to act to end European complicity and inaction in Israeli war crimes and human rights violations.

In Memory

We want to take a moment to express our deepest condolences to the friends and family of Awdah Hathaleen of the South Hebron Hills who was murdered in cold blood by Israeli settler Yinon Levy two weeks ago. Awdah was an English teacher, activist and spokesperson for the village Um al-Kheir, and consultant for the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.

Call on your representative to demand justice for Awdah!

Awdah's murder came after the U.S. administration lifted the sanctions on Levy who had also been sanctioned by the European Union. We call for his murderer to be held accountable and for sanctions on Israeli settler individuals and organizations to be upheld.

With peace,

Friends of Hebron

Working for Peace and Justice

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13 augustus 2025

Israel assassinated five journalists in a strike on Sunday, including Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, among Gaza’s most recognisable faces, for their reporting on the war over the past 22 months. We look at what they meant to others trying to cover the conflict.

We also turn to the United States, where President Donald Trump has announced the deployment of 800 National Guard troops to Washington, DC.

Finally, we look ahead to the upcoming Alaska summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Ukrainian experts largely pessimistic about its potential outcomes.

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12 augustus 2025

The Hind Rajab Foundation, together with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, has filed a powerful case at the International Criminal Court naming the Israeli military and political figures behind the assassination of Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif and his colleagues. This unprecedented complaint identifies top commanders—Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar, Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asor, Brig.-Gen. Yossi Sariel, the Palmachim Airbase Commander, the “Black Snake” Squadron Commander, and Col. Avichay Adraee—and demands their immediate arrest. It also calls for expanding Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest warrant to include crimes against journalists, framing these killings as part of a systematic effort to erase witnesses and silence the truth from Gaza.

Read the full press release below.

By any measure, Anas Al-Sharif should still be alive.

On the morning of 10 August 2025, the 28-year-old Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent was doing what he had done since the first days of the Gaza onslaught—reporting from the frontlines, armed only with a camera and a press vest. Outside the main gate of Al Shifa Hospital, in one of the last corners of northern Gaza where journalists could still work, Al-Sharif was filing footage of bombardments that shook the streets around him. Moments later, a missile struck the tent where he and his colleagues were sheltering.

Seven people died instantly. Among them: Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa—four Al Jazeera journalists who, like Al-Sharif, had refused to stop documenting the Genocide. Mohammed Al-Khaldi, also a journalist who worked for Sahat Media Platform, and Saad Jundiya, a Palestinian civilian who happened to be present in the scene at the time of attack were also killed.

The Israeli military would later admit the strike was deliberate. Their justification? The same recycled accusation used in killing over 220 journalists since October 2023: that the victims were “terrorists in press vests.”

For the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), this was not just another tragedy in a long war on the press. This was a clear-cut criminal act—a war crime and part of a broader genocidal campaign—and it demanded a direct, targeted legal response.

A Joint Case to The Hague

The new Article 15 Communication to the International Criminal Court was filed jointly by HRF and PCHR. While HRF focused its investigation on the chain of command and operational decisions that led to Al-Sharif’s killing, PCHR brought to the case its meticulous documentation of the other Al Jazeera journalists killed in Gaza—cases that fit the same pattern of premeditation and deliberate targeting.

PCHR’s files cover the assassinations of Hussam Shabat, Ismail Al-Ghoul, Ahmed Al-Louh, Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh, and Samer Abu Daqa, among others—all journalists marked by Israel as “terrorists” before being eliminated in targeted strikes. These cases show that Al-Sharif’s killing was not an isolated event but part of an established policy.

Following the Chain of Command

When HRF investigators began reconstructing the strike, they followed the trail from the moment a drone camera locked onto Al-Sharif’s position to the instant the missile hit.

Using operational patterns, signals intelligence reports, and expert military analysis, the foundation identified the chain of command behind the killing:

Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir – IDF Chief of the General Staff

Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar – Commander of the Israeli Air Force

Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asor – Southern Command Commander

Brig.-Gen. Yossi Sariel – Former Commander of Unit 8200 (Israel’s signals intelligence branch)

General A. : Current Commander of Unit 8200

Palmachim Airbase Commander – Name undisclosed

“Black Snake” Squadron Commander – Name undisclosed  

Col. Avichay Adraee – IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, Arab Media Division, responsible for a sustained smear campaign against Al-Sharif

At the political summit stands Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister who presided over—and encouraged—a strategy to eliminate journalists as part of Israel’s assault on Gaza.

The Smear Before the Strike

If the missile was the killing blow, the campaign to delegitimize Anas Al-Sharif had begun long before. For nearly two years, Avichay Adraee, Israel’s Arabic-language military spokesperson, used social media to accuse Al-Sharif of being a Hamas operative. He mocked the journalist’s emotional reporting, called his on-camera tears “crocodile tears,” and framed his work as propaganda.

This smear playbook is familiar. Before being killed, journalists such as Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh, Ismail Al-Ghoul, and Hussam Shabat—whose cases PCHR has fully documented—were branded “terrorists” by Israeli officials. Days or weeks later, they were dead—killed in precision strikes on clearly marked press vehicles or while wearing “PRESS” vests.

A War on Witnesses

The killings of Anas Al-Sharif and his colleagues are not isolated incidents. Together, HRF and PCHR’s investigations reveal a systematic policy targeting Al Jazeera journalists:

Label them terrorists without any plausible proof.

Smear them publicly to dehumanize and justify their killing.

Eliminate them in targeted strikes.

In the Gaza war, local journalists are not just chroniclers—they are the last line of independent witness to a conflict foreign reporters are barred from entering. Silencing them is not collateral damage; it is strategic.

From Evidence to Action

The joint submission to the ICC does not mince words. It accuses the identified military and political figures of:

War crimes under Article 8(2)(a)(i) of the Rome Statute (willful killing)

Genocide under Article 6(a) of the Rome Statute (as part of the broader campaign to destroy the Palestinian people and erase those documenting their suffering)

And it makes three urgent demands to the ICC Prosecutor:

Issue arrest warrants for the military officials named in the submission.

Expand Netanyahu’s arrest warrant to include crimes against journalists.

Formally include all 220+ journalist killings in the ICC’s Palestine investigation.

Hunting the Perpetrators

This is not symbolic litigation. HRF is tracking these individuals, identifying their roles, and preparing to pursue them in any jurisdiction willing to act. The case is being built not only for The Hague, but also for prosecution in national courts that recognize universal jurisdiction for war crimes and genocide.

​“The assassination of Anas Al-Sharif was so blunt, so arrogant, and so drenched in contempt for human life, truth, the legal order, and humanity itself, that it cannot and will not be allowed to pass into silence.” says  HRF Chairman Dyab Abou Jahjah.

The Message to The ICC

The evidence is there. The legal foundation is unshakable. The jurisdiction is established beyond question. What remains is for the International Criminal Court to move past statements of “grave concern” and take the decisive step that justice demands: act.

The killing of journalists in Gaza is not a footnote to the story—it is the method by which every other war crime is hidden from the world. It is the deliberate blinding of humanity’s eyes, the extinguishing of the witnesses who stand between atrocity and oblivion. To ignore this is not neutrality—it is complicity. It is to give the perpetrators the silence they seek.

Anas Al-Sharif knew this better than anyone. His last words, prepared in anticipation of his own assassination, still echo across the digital world:

“If these words of mine reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.”

But voices like his are not so easily buried. The joint HRF–PCHR case ensures that his words will rise again—in the courtroom of the ICC, in the ink of arrest warrants, and in the unyielding memory of history. They will stand as testimony not only to his courage but to the moral imperative that binds us all: that truth must be defended, justice must be pursued, and those who kill to hide their crimes must one day answer for them.

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12 augustus 2025

The BDS movement just launched an organizing toolkit to support businesses and civil society groups as they expand and strengthen the No Room for Genocide campaign.
 

This toolkit offers a menu of steps that ethical hospitality and tourism-affiliated businesses can take to support the Palestinian call for global pressure on states to ensure war criminals are not allowed into their territory and/or to prosecute them for their crimes and ensure accountability for Israel’s genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.
 

These efforts are also important to defend these businesses’ commitment to human rights, peace, justice, openness, inclusivity, safety, and social responsibility. Our toolkit  provides a brief legal background and aims to connect business owners, organizations and ethical tourism focused movements so that we can be stronger together!

­

Read and share the No Room for Genocide Organizing Toolkit!

“War criminals are not welcome!”
 

Endorsing the call from Palestinian civil society and countering the failure of states to hold Israel accountable for its genocide, small business owners and civil society organizations are taking courageous steps to challenge the impunity of Israeli genocidaires and war criminals. They are turning their businesses into Apartheid Free Zones, demanding guests sign a pledge of non-involvement in war crimes and declaring that “war criminals are not welcome.” These courageous actions are defending the pillars of the international law system, even as Israel with US and European support dismantles it.

The BDS movement calls on supporters across the world to escalate the No Room for Genocide campaign now! Pressure your government to amend immigration and visa policies to align with international legal standards and obligations.

Read and adapt our policy briefing to lobby your government.

The nonviolent BDS movement for freedom, justice and equality is supported by the absolute majority in Palestinian society. BDS rejects all forms of racism and racial discrimination.

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12 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

The Western media is complicit in Israel’s murder of Palestinian journalist Anas al-Sharif

Ahmad Ibsais

Israel murdered Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues because genocide can only proceed without witnesses. Western media outlets have failed to condemn the systematic murder of Palestinian journalists, and in the process have become accomplices.

Gaza City’s iconic Shuja’iyya neighborhood no longer exists

Tareq S. Hajjaj

The neighborhood of Shuja'iyya was once home to 120,000 people. It has now been erased.

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11 augustus 2025

After nearly two years of relentless bombardment and a near-total blockade on food and life-saving aid since March 2025 by Israel, over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are facing the threat of death—by starvation or by bombs.

These are war crimes, funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars. We cannot remain silent.

Over the past few weeks, we have seen an unprecedented wave of people speak out against U.S. complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocidal campaign and forced famine in Gaza – including elected officials who haven’t done so before. It’s critical that we build on this momentum to finally turn the tide and bring an end to the genocide.

Join us next week for the Stop Starving Gaza Power Hour, featuring special guests and the stars of HBO's The Gilded Age: Cynthia Nixon, Denée Benton, and Morgan Spector. Together, we'll take collective action to make our demands heard, get updates on the situation on the ground in Gaza, and learn about more ways you can make a difference:

Stop Starving Gaza Power Hour
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
10am ET / 7am PT

RSVP NOW

Hosted by Adalah Justice Project, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, and the Arab Resource and Organizing Center Action.

Join us to call your members of Congress and ask them to:

• Demand an end to the blockade of food and aid into Gaza
• Stop the flow of U.S. weapons and military funding to Israel
• End the genocide in Gaza

Let's flood congressional phone lines and make it impossible for elected officials to ignore our calls for justice. RSVP now and be part of this powerful moment of resistance.

RSVP

In solidarity,

Sandra Tamari
Executive Director
Adalah Justice Project

1676.

11 augustus 2025

Last week, in partnership with the Palestinian Youth Movement and published by the Arms Embargo Now campaign, we launched a ground breaking report exposing the deception of the Canadian government in continuing to supply Israel with weapons in support of the assault on Gaza — despite its continued insistence that it was not.

The first-of-its-kind report relies on tax and commercial documents to expose the damning data of hundreds of shipments of weapons and hundreds of thousands of bullets that have been sent to Israel secretly - so secretly that some of these were sent via commercial flights.

Since last Tuesday, media sources across the world have highlighted the expansiveness of the report and World BEYOND War’s co-researched and authored work to compile a significant amount of damning data that makes the case for Canada's on-going complicity in genocide and to track the length to which the Canadian government has gone to cover it up.

1675.

11 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Israel assassinates ‘voice of Gaza,’ Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif

Tareq S. Hajjaj

The Israeli army killed Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif and five of his colleagues in a targeted strike on a journalists' tent outside al-Shifa Hospital. The attack has effectively wiped out all of Al Jazeera's staff in Gaza City.

Israel has barred international press from Gaza so it can carry out genocide, and the media has complied

Philip Weiss

Israel's policy of blocking international reporters from entering Gaza is cruel and aims to prevent the world from learning about the unfolding genocide. Tragically, the mainstream press has rarely mentioned the restriction, let alone condemned it.

Seeking a Presbyterian witness amid the genocide in Gaza

Shannon Smythe

More Presbyterians and other Christians must bravely speak truth to power with our voices and bodies to end the Gaza genocide. This begins with challenging Christian Zionism and the leaders of our churches who remain complicit.

Open Letter to Occidental College: Student expulsions over Palestine protest are extreme and unjustified

Open Letter

Parents of students involved in the movement for justice in Palestine at Occidental College write an open letter to school leadership protesting the harsh punishment given for protesting the school's complicity in the Gaza genocide.

1674.

10 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Democrats seek to blame only the ‘Netanyahu government’ for the Gaza genocide, but the true responsibility rests with Zionism

James Ray

As support for Israel drops in polls, Democrats are increasingly trying to distance themselves from the Gaza genocide. A common tactic is to place the blame on "the Netanyahu government," but this ignores Israel's long history of ethnic cleansing.

Canada must boycott Davis Cup match with Israel

Nathan Kalman-Lamb, Daniel Sailofsky and Derek Silva

Given the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Canada's upcoming Davis Cup tennis match with Israel is an unjustifiable violation of Canada’s obligations under international law and basic human rights. Canada must boycott the match immediately.

Trump has finally been forced to acknowledge starvation in Gaza, but is too tied to Israel to end it

Mitchell Plitnick

Donald Trump's new focus on starvation and aid in Gaza is solely driven by political convenience. Trump never expected that Israel’s actions would damage its standing so badly in the U.S. Now he’s rushing to support an ally he has bet his future on.

1673.

9 augustus 2025

A tipping point for Israel’s legitimacy

Israel’s war on Gaza has never been solely about “defeating” Hamas. This week’s reporting makes that clearer than ever. If you read just one article this week, Tareq Hajjaj documents how Israel is engineering chaos in Gaza’s aid system, shooting at desperate civilians, and allowing looters to operate freely so that food does not reach starving people. Qassam Muaddi reports on leaked Israeli cabinet minutes that confirm they deliberately chose starvation as a weapon of war, rejecting a ceasefire in favor of forcing Gaza’s surrender through hunger.

This policy is not hidden. It was discussed from the very beginning, nearly two years ago, and is still openly embraced by senior Israeli figures and the majority of the Israeli population. That brazenness is finally eroding Israel’s legitimacy around the world. The International Sociological Association’s suspension of the Israeli Sociological Society is the latest sign of an expanding academic boycott. In United States politics, Bernie Sanders’s recent resolutions to block weapons sales did not pass, but they showed something important: Palestine is becoming a litmus test inside the Democratic Party, and electeds are starting to respond to the shift in the party’s base on these issues.

At the same time, the rot inside Israel’s political culture is on full display. A new poll shows that seventy-nine percent of Jewish Israelis are not troubled by the famine in Gaza. This normalization of atrocity makes it easier for Israeli leaders to escalate the suffering of the Palestinians there. Netanyahu is now ordering the army to expand the war and reoccupy the entire Strip. There are few defences of this genocidal behavior available to the pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian crowd.

Governments and institutions desperate to protect Israel’s impunity are cracking down even harder on dissent. In the United States, Columbia University’s mass suspensions of Palestine activists and PEN America’s firing of Kori Davis show how institutions are bending to political pressure. Trump’s looming overhaul of the federal workforce threatens to hardwire this repression into the government itself. These are not separate battles. They are part of the same effort to shield Israel and complicit institutions from accountability.

We are witnessing the tipping point that the movement for Palestinian liberation has labored on for decades. Israel’s legitimacy is being contested in more places and by more voices than ever. But breaking its genocide, apartheid, and occupation will depend on escalating the movement across civil society around the world.

In addition to my Weekly Briefing email, I encourage you to subscribe to both of Michael Arria’s newsletters. The Shift tracks United States politics around Palestine, and Power & Pushback covers the Palestine movement and the growing efforts to suppress it. These are essential resources for understanding how the political ground is changing and how you can help shift it further.

David Reed, Publisher

Articles / Donate today

Must Read: Israel claims it’s allowing aid into Gaza, but its ‘engineering of chaos’ ensures the aid doesn’t reach starving Palestinians

Tareq Hajjaj: As limited aid trickles into Gaza, Israel’s strategy of ‘engineering chaos’ by shooting at aid-seekers and permitting looters to steal aid ensures that food doesn’t get to starving Palestinians.

Palestinians bring back aid from the distribution center near the Zikim border crossing, August 4, 2025. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)

New Videos

This is what happens to your body when you’re starving.

This is what happens to your body when you’re starving.

Let’s debunk another Zionist myth. “There’s plenty of aid in Gaza"

Let’s debunk another Zionist myth. “There’s plenty of aid in Gaza- the UN just refuses to distribute it.”

Israeli settler violence in Masafer Yatta

A notoriously violent Israeli settler shot and killed a well-known Palestinian activist in Masafer Yatta, the village that was the focus of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.

Genocide in Gaza

 Qassam Muaddi: Netanyahu chose to blow up the ceasefire and starve Gaza’s population in order to force a surrender from Hamas, while top military and security officials favored moving to the second phase of a ceasefire, leaked cabinet meeting minutes reveal.

 Sonia Boulos: B’Tselem’s report on the Gaza genocide missed an opportunity to advance a clear and unequivocal legal argument that Israel’s actions constitute a textbook case of genocide.

 Qassam Muaddi: Israeli media is reporting that Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli army to expand its offensive in Gaza and reoccupy the entire Strip.

 Jonathan Ofir: A new poll by the Israel Democracy Institute shows that 4 out of 5 Jewish Israelis – 79% – are not troubled by reports of Palestinian famine and suffering in Gaza.

Catch-up

 Mohammad Hesham Huraini: Awdah Hathaleen was killed by Israeli settler Yinon Levy in broad daylight. The perpetrator walks free, while Awdah’s body has been held hostage by the Israeli army. The village of Umm al-Khair is going on a hunger strike to recover his body.

 Tamara Turki: Columbia University’s recent suspension and expulsion of more than 70 students for a Palestine demonstration is the latest sign that the school’s crackdown on activism is not simply about campus conduct, but appeasing political pressure from Washington.

 Michael Arria: Bernie Sanders’s recent resolutions blocking weapons to Israel failed, but analysts say they suggest that Palestine will serve as a litmus test in the Democratic Party going forward.

 Jennifer Ruth: By September 30, the White House plans to reclassify 50,000 federal workers and assign allies to key roles. This widespread expansion of Trump’s de facto political army will have brutal effects on the crackdown against Palestine in higher education.

 Global Sociologists for Palestine: The suspension of the Israeli Sociological Society by the International Sociological Association marks a significant milestone in the international academic boycott of Israel.

 Kori Davis: The free speech organization PEN America fired me three days after I published an article about how they investigated me for sharing an article critical of Zionism. My termination is a sad reflection of PEN’s censorious approach to Palestine.

1672.

9 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

The war without end in Gaza

Abdaljawad Omar

Israel’s latest plan to occupy Gaza City reveals that the assault on Gaza is more than just a war over territory. It is a war to extend, suspend, and dictate the tempo of killing and destruction - to exhaust Gaza into submission.

How HonestReporting Canada wages a silent war on Canadian newsrooms

Arfa Rana

Canadian journalists are finally speaking out about how the Israel lobby group HonestReporting targets newsrooms to silence Palestinian voices and perspectives.

Poll: 4 out of 5 Jewish Israelis are not troubled by the famine in Gaza

Jonathan Ofir

A new poll by the Israel Democracy Institute shows that 4 out of 5 Jewish Israelis – 79% - are not troubled by reports of Palestinian famine and suffering in Gaza.

1671.

9 augustus 2025

All Out for Gaza!

Palestinians in Gaza are being deliberately starved.

The Israeli government, with full support from the United States, has imposed a criminal, artificially engineered famine on more than 2 million people. This is not a natural disaster. It is a policy choice, executed with intent, a genocidal act, and one of the worst crimes against humanity of the 21st century.

Children are dying of starvation and thirst. Parents are forced to watch their kids wither in front of them. And while Gaza starves, the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is being used to weaponize food and to advance occupation.

Enough.
We are mobilizing.

On August 16th, AMP is joining a broad coalition from across the country, and we are gathering in New York City to demand an immediate end to the U.S.-Israeli starvation campaign.

• Mass March for Humanity: STOP STARVING GAZA!
• Where: Bryant Park, NYPL Steps, NYC
• When: Saturday, August 16 at 2PM

We demand an immediate end to the blockade, the man-made famine, and U.S. complicity in genocide. We will not allow this to be done in our name. We will not be silent. We will not be complicit. We will not back down.

Join us. March with us.
Stand with Gaza.

In solidarity,
American Muslims for Palestine

1670.

8 augustus 2025

Gisteren trokken talloze Nederlanders, veelal in rode kleding gehuld, naar Den Haag. Als deelnemers aan verschillende protesten spraken zij zich uit tegen het uitblijven van concrete, effectieve sancties van Nederland tegen Israël vanwege de genocide op de Palestijnen.

Onder de protestacties waren de goed bezochte ambtenaren sit-in bij het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, een wake bij het Tweede Kamergebouw en lawaaidemonstraties in Den Haag en op stations in de rest van het land. Ook namen veel mensen deel aan de inmiddels twee weken durende 24-uurs wake bij het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, waar de namen van de in Gaza vermoorde Palestijnen worden voorgelezen. De organisatoren van deze indrukwekkende actie, die steeds meer aandacht krijgt, zijn nog steeds op zoek vrijwilligers voor het voorlezen van namen. Geïnteresseerden kunnen zich via deze link aanmelden. 

Eén van de demonstraties bij het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken. 

VVD en NSC blokkeren sancties tegen Israël
De directe aanleiding voor (een deel) van de demonstraties was het debat van de Tweede Kamercommissie voor Buitenlandse Zaken over Gaza, dat ook gisteren plaatsvond. De uitkomst van dit debat was, zoals van te voren werd verwacht, ronduit teleurstellend.

Opvallend waren met name de zwakke bijdragen van minister voor Buitenlandse Zaken Caspar Veldkamp (NSC) en VVD-Kamerlid Eric van der Burg. Keer op keer weigerden zij extra nationale maatregelen te nemen tegen Israël om de genocide in Gaza te stoppen, zich verschuilend achter een inzet voor sancties op Europees niveau. En dat terwijl lang en breed duidelijk is dat die sancties er niet binnen afzienbare tijd zullen komen.

Nederland heeft plicht in te grijpen
Daarmee negeren de VVD en de demissionair minister niet alleen het Genocideverdrag, een recent advies van de Commissie van Advies voor Volkenrechtelijke Vraagstukken (zie hieronder), een advies van het College voor de Rechten van de Mens en uitspraken van het Internationaal Gerechtshof, maar ook de oproep van de Nederlandse bevolking om alles uit de kast te halen om de hongersnood en genocide in Gaza te stoppen. Nederland is onder het internationaal recht verplicht zich daarvoor in te spannen. Lukt dit niet in EU-verband, dan mogen Nederlandse maatregelen niet langer uitblijven.

Die zijn tijdens het debat echter opnieuw op de lange baan geschoven. De Palestijnen in Gaza hebben die tijd niet. De genocide gaat door.

De komende dagen zullen wij een uitgebreide analyse van het debat publiceren. Houd daarvoor onze website in de gaten.

Nederland had al in januari 2024 in actie moeten komen om Israël in Gaza een halt toe te roepen

Eén van de onderwerpen die tijdens het Kamerdebat uitgebreid ter sprake kwamen is een nieuw advies van de gezaghebbende Commissie van advies inzake volkenrechtelijke vraagstukken (CAVV). Dat stelt dat Nederland de verplichting heeft om alles in het werk stellen om genocide in Gaza te voorkomen.

De CAVV is een onafhankelijk adviesorgaan voor de regering en het parlement. Het heeft op eigen gezag besloten te adviseren over de plichten van Nederland onder het Genocideverdrag. Dit vanwege de ‘juridische onduidelijkheid’ die er in het publieke debat over bestaat. Met die onduidelijkheid maakt het CAVV in het advies korte metten: Nederland heeft een plicht, verzaakt die, en kan daardoor aansprakelijk worden gesteld voor genocide.

Een demonstratie tegen de genocide in Gaza. [c] Avpics via Alamy

Nederland mag zich niet verschuilen achter passieve EU
Zoals tijdens het debat van gisteren opnieuw duidelijk werd, verschuilt de regering zich achter de voorspelbaar passieve Europese Unie. Ook daar rekent de CAVV mee af. Wanneer samenwerkingsverbanden zoals de EU en de VN er niet in slagen maatregelen te nemen, ontslaat dit individuele landen niet van de plicht zelf stappen te zetten, stelt de commissie.

De plicht om genocide te voorkomen of beëindigen ontstaat op het moment dat er een ernstig risico op genocide wordt vastgesteld. Het CAVV-advies is wederom glashelder: dit ernstige risico is in januari 2024 al vastgesteld door het Internationaal Gerechtshof. Met andere woorden: Nederland verzaakt al ruim anderhalf jaar zijn plicht om maatregelen te nemen ter voorkoming van genocide. Zo ziet medeplichtigheid eruit.

Lees hier meer over het advies van de CAVV >

Waarom Palestijnen bar weinig hebben aan de Nederlandse ‘sancties’ tegen Israël

In de vorige editie van deze nieuwsbrief schreven wij over de sancties tegen Israël die Nederland wél bereid is om in te stellen. Die werden een week geleden aangekondigd in een brief van minister Veldkamp aan de Tweede Kamer. Over de sancties velden wij een hard oordeel: ze schieten ernstig tekort én komen veel te laat.

Deze week publiceerden we een uitgebreide analyse van de sancties. Daarin zetten we per maatregel uiteen waarom ze niet voldoende zijn, en bepleiten we wat de regering wél moet doen om Israël onder druk te zetten.

De volledige analyse is hier te lezen >

Als onderdeel van de aangekondigde sancties zal Nederland zal twee ‘extremistische Israëlische ministers’ tot persona non grata verklaren. The Rights Forum bepleit dat het kabinet de toegang tot Nederland ontzegt aan alle Israëlische bestuurders en politici die oproepen tot genocide en etnische zuivering, of daar uitvoering aan geven. Die sanctie dient ook te worden opgelegd aan de Israëlische president Yitzhak Herzog, hier (rechts) afgebeeld naast minister Veldkamp tijdens zijn bezoek aan Israël in september 2024. 

Vrijheid van meningsuiting | De cel in voor het zwaaien met een Palestijnse vlag? Deze wet maakt het mogelijk

Door een watermeloensymbool te dragen of vreedzaam te demonstreren tegen genocide, zou je straks zomaar een gevangenisstraf kunnen krijgen voor ‘verheerlijking van terrorisme’. Althans, als het aan het demissionair kabinet ligt.

Dat werkt momenteel aan een wetsvoorstel dat drie zaken strafbaar stelt: het verheerlijken van terrorisme, het verspreiden van een afbeelding of geschrift waarin een terroristisch misdrijf wordt verheerlijkt, en openlijke steunbetuiging aan terroristische organisaties.

Hoewel dit op het eerste gezicht vanzelfsprekend lijkt, ligt er een groot gevaar op de loer. Juristen, mensenrechtenorganisaties en activisten waarschuwen dat het wetsvoorstel ertoe kan leiden dat opkomen voor de rechten van de Palestijnen straks bestraft kan worden. Hierdoor wordt de vrijheid van meningsuiting in Nederland ernstig beknot, en lopen met name pro-Palestijnse activisten grote risico's.

Lees hier meer over het wetsvoorstel >Kom in actie tegen de wet!
Het zou rampzalig zijn als deze wet wordt aangenomen. Maar zover is het nog niet, en er is nog actie mogelijk die het voorkomt.

Het demissionaire kabinet heeft namelijk een zogenoemde internetconsultatie opgestart. Daar kunnen alle burgers reageren op het wetsvoorstel, en hun bezwaren, verbeterpunten of zorgen delen. Momenteel hebben 2700 mensen dat al gedaan, en de teller loopt rap op.

Wil je zelf ook reageren op het wetsvoorstel? Ga dan naar de site van de internetconsultatie en reageer voor 16 augustus. Op de website vind je ook het volledige wetsvoorstel, en een samenvatting ervan. Formuleer zelf je bezwaren zo concreet mogelijk, en zet het erbij als je specifieke deskundigheid of ervaring hebt. Knip en plak geen reacties van anderen, want gelijksoortige reacties worden niet apart gelezen.

Petitie | Amsterdam, laat Gaza niet in de steek!

Een nieuwe petitie, ondersteund door een grote groep maatschappelijke organisaties waaronder The Rights Forum, roept de Gemeente Amsterdam op om concrete acties te ondernemen tegen de Israëlische genocide op de Palestijnen in Gaza. In de Tweede Kamer maken GroenLinks-PvdA en D66 zich hard voor sancties, maar moeten zij opboksen tegen een rechtse meerderheid. In de Amsterdamse Gemeenteraad vormen zij juist de coalitie.

Daarom roepen de opstellers van de petitie de Gemeenteraad op om direct terug te komen van reces en moreel leiderschap te tonen in deze humanitaire crisis. Ze eisen:

• een einde aan alle gemeentelijke samenwerking met organisaties die medeplichtig zijn aan mensenrechtenschendingen van Palestijnen, inclusief economische, culturele en academische banden;
• een stop op het inkopen van producten of diensten van organisaties die medeplichtig zijn aan mensenrechtenschendingen van Palestijnen;
• en een publiekscampagne om Amsterdammers informatie te geven over de mensenrechtenschendingen van Palestijnen en wat Amsterdammers daartegen kunnen doen.

Teken de petitie >

Uit onze agenda
zaterdag 9 augustus t/m zaterdag 16 augustus
Demonstraties en wakes
• Doorlopende 24-uurs stiltewake in Den Haag, bij het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Rijnstraat 8, Den Haag
• Sit-in rijksambtenaren op donderdag 14 augustus in Den Haag, Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Rijnstraat 8 (12.00 uur)
• Wekelijks lawaaiprotest tegen uithongering en genocide op Palestijnen in Gaza op donderdag 14 augustus op stations in heel Nederland (18.00 uur). Bekijk onze agenda en de Instagram-pagina van de Palestijnse gemeenschap in Nederland voor de precieze locaties een aanvangstijden.
• Wekelijks protest tegen genocide, voor menselijkheid op vrijdag 15 augustus in Doetinchem, voor het gemeentehuis (10.00 uur)
• Wake voor Palestina op zaterdag 16 augustus in Den Bosch, Burgemeester Loeffplein (12.00 uur)
• Wake voor Palestina op zaterdag 16 augustus in Groningen, Waagplein (13.00 uur)

1669.

8 augustus 2025

After nearly two years of relentless bombardment and a near-total blockade on food and life-saving aid since March 2025 by Israel, over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are facing the threat of death—by starvation or by bombs.

These are war crimes, funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars. We cannot remain silent.

Over the past few weeks, we have seen an unprecedented wave of people speak out against U.S. complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocidal campaign and forced famine in Gaza – including elected officials who haven’t done so before. It’s critical that we build on this momentum to finally turn the tide and bring an end to the genocide.

Join us next week for the Stop Starving Gaza Power Hour, featuring special guests and the stars of HBO's The Gilded Age: Cynthia Nixon, Denée Benton, and Morgan Spector. Together, we'll take collective action to make our demands heard, get updates on the situation on the ground in Gaza, and learn about more ways you can make a difference:

Stop Starving Gaza Power Hour
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
10am ET / 7am PT

RSVP NOW

Hosted by Adalah Justice Project, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, and the Arab Resource and Organizing Center Action.

Join us to call your members of Congress and ask them to:

• Demand an end to the blockade of food and aid into Gaza
• Stop the flow of U.S. weapons and military funding to Israel
• End the genocide in Gaza

Let's flood congressional phone lines and make it impossible for elected officials to ignore our calls for justice. RSVP now and be part of this powerful moment of resistance.

RSVP

In solidarity,

Sandra Tamari
Executive Director
Adalah Justice Project

P.S. Forward this email to five friends and ask them to join you in making calls on Tuesday. It's vital that we show a critial mass of support for Gaza to demand our legislators take action.

1668.

8 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Israel claims it’s allowing aid into Gaza, but its ‘engineering of chaos’ ensures the aid doesn’t reach starving Palestinians

Tareq S. Hajjaj

As limited aid trickles into Gaza, Israel’s strategy of ‘engineering chaos’ by shooting at aid-seekers and permitting looters to steal aid ensures that food doesn’t get to starving Palestinians.

Communications Workers of America must stand with Palestine

CWA for Palestine

This weekend, thousands of Communications Workers of America members will have a chance to vote on two urgent resolutions to end the union's complicity with Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Leaked Cabinet transcript reveals Israel chose to starve Gaza as a strategy of war

Qassam Muaddi

Netanyahu chose to blow up the ceasefire and starve Gaza’s population in order to force a surrender from Hamas, while top military and security officials favored moving to the second phase of a ceasefire, leaked cabinet meeting minutes reveal.

Read more

Impending federal overhaul means Trump will soon have de facto political army to attack Palestine activism

Jennifer Ruth

By September 30, the White House plans to reclassify 50,000 federal workers and assign allies to key roles. This widespread expansion of Trump’s de facto political army will have brutal effects on the crackdown against Palestine in higher education.

1667.

8 augustus 2025

Introducing "Know The Facts" – Your go-to hub for staying informed and ready to act on all things Palestine-related

With the current administration wreaking all kinds of havoc here at home and Israel carrying out an unrelenting marathon of war crimes, keeping up with the news can feel impossible. What can be even harder is cutting through the noise – separating fact from propaganda, and truth from the flood of misinformation.

That’s why we’re launching Know The Facts, a new resource hub on our website dedicated to breaking down the most pressing developments impacting Palestinian rights, from court cases to policy changes, so you have the tools to fight back with confidence.

Our first feature is a case that should alarm every single American who values our constitutional rights and cares about free speech, academic freedom, and immigrant rights: ICE Admits Collusion with Far-Right Blacklists to Target Pro-Palestinian Voices. 

Read the full resource here!

We break down:

• The case: AAUP v. Rubio and what’s at stake
• The players: Who Canary Mission and Betar are, how they operate, and where their funding comes from
• The danger: Why this goes far beyond Palestine advocacy and threatens the right to dissent for everyone
• What’s next: How this case could set a precedent and what we can do about it

The fight for Palestinian rights has always been a fight for our shared freedoms. If political belief and opinion become grounds for deportation, or even citizenship revocation, we’re all at risk, no matter what it is that we’re advocating for.

AJP Action is committed to fiercely and unapologetically advocating for Palestinian rights — and that means making sure our movement has the facts, the context, and the tools to act. Know The Facts will be your trusted space for exactly that.

Stay informed, be ready, and make your voice impossible to ignore.

In solidarity,
Americans for Justice in Palestine Action

Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization advocating for legislation supporting the human rights of the Palestinian people and endorsing candidates for office who support those rights.

1666.

7 augustus 2025

Your members of Congress are on recess these next few weeks. They’re back in the comfort of their homes, eating lavish dinners with their families, while they arm Israel’s forced starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.

They’re also holding town halls and visiting events in your local community, pretending to care about funding essential services, while they give away billions in deadly weapons to Israel.

Some members are starting to realize how horribly they’ve messed up by ignoring their constituents’ opposition of U.S.-funded genocide for nearly two years.

For the first time, a majority of Senate Democrats voted to block weapons to Israel last week, signaling an unstoppable shift in the halls of power. It’s time to ramp up the pressure on Congress to take real action for an arms embargo now.

If your House representative hasn’t signed on to the Block the Bombs Act yet, pull out all the stops to pressure them to sign on.

For your senators, demand they support an arms embargo now and introduce a companion bill to the Block the Bombs Act in the Senate.

Stop the world for Gaza now. Hold your elected officials accountable using our Pressure Elected Officials toolkit.

PRESSURE YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS

PRESSURE YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS

1665.

7 augustus 2025

Humanitarian Situation Update #312
West Bank

7 August 2025

This two-storey residential building is one of 12 structures demolished by Israeli authorities in Area C of Al Judeira village, in Jerusalem governorate, citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain. Photo by the community

Key Highlights

• More than 80 per cent of 168 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank so far in 2025 were killed in the northern West Bank, including 60 in Jenin governorate.
• Israeli settlers shot and killed a Palestinian man in Nablus and carried out about 40 attacks against 27 communities across the West Bank, some involving arson, which resulted in widespread damage to homes and other property.
• Some 27 Palestinians, including 13 children, were forcibly displaced from the Barriyyet Kisan area of Bethlehem due to escalating Israeli settler violence; more than 120 people have been displaced from the same area within less than two weeks.
• The risk of demolition of two multi-story buildings in East Jerusalem is placing 29 Palestinian families at imminent risk of displacement.
• OCHA documented the demolition of 43 Palestinian-owned structures across the West Bank due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits.
• Nearly 13,000 students across the West Bank are affected by outstanding orders that threaten more than 80 schools with full or partial demolition, according to the Education Cluster.

Humanitarian Developments

• Between 29 July and 4 August, two Palestinians (both adults), were killed in the West Bank, one by Israeli forces and one by an armed settler (see section on settler attacks below). During the same period, at least 57 Palestinians, including 11 children, were injured, the majority (43) by Israeli forces and 14 by Israeli settlers.
  • On 4 August, Israeli forces shot a shoulder-fired projectile during an exchange of fire with Palestinians near an agricultural structure in Qabatiya, in Jenin governorate, killing a Palestinian man and injuring another. Israeli forces demolished the structure with a bulldozer and detained the injured man, while the body of the Palestinian fatality was later retrieved by Palestinian medics. Between 1 January and 4 August 2025, Israeli forces have killed 168 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 37 children. Of those killed, over 80 per cent (139) were in the northern West Bank governorates and over a third (60) took place in Jenin governorate.
• On 3 August, according to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, a Palestinian man from Jenin who had been under administrative detention since 6 May 2025 died in Israeli custody in unclear circumstances. Between 7 October 2023 and 4 August 2025, at least 76 Palestinians, including 46 from the Gaza Strip, 28 from the West Bank and two Palestinian citizens of Israel, died in Israeli custody, according to Palestinian prisoners’ organizations. As of August 2025, according to data provided by the Israel Prison Service (IPS) to Hamoked, an Israeli human rights NGO, there are 10,741 Palestinians in Israeli custody, including 1,459 sentenced prisoners, 3,291 remand detainees, 3,613 administrative detainees held without charge or trial, and 2,378 people held as “unlawful combatants.”
• Between 29 July and 4 August, OCHA documented the demolition of 43 Palestinian-owned structures due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain. The demolitions included 38 structures in Area C, two homes demolished by their owners in East Jerusalem, and three structures in Area B. As a result, 47 Palestinians, including 21 children and 13 women, were displaced, and hundreds more were affected. Key incidents include the following:
  • On 4 August, four Bedouin families comprising 25 people, including 15 children, were displaced following the demolition of their structures in Area C of Jericho city, close to Road 90 in Jericho governorate. Five residential structures, a common kitchen, two animal shelters and a mobile latrine were demolished, and the families’ personal belongings and three water tanks were destroyed. On the same day, in Area C of Al Judeira village in Jerusalem governorate, one family of three people, including a child, was displaced, and two other families of 11 people, including four children, were otherwise affected by the demolition of 12 structures, including a two-story residential building. These incidents followed two earlier demolitions in Area C on 30 and 31 July, which displaced six Palestinians in Al Jiftlik - Abu al ‘Ajaj, in Jericho governorate, and six in Wadi Rahhal village, in Bethlehem governorate.
  • On 31 July, Israeli authorities sealed off two artesian water wells located in Area B, east of Nablus city, which serve Beit Dajan and Beit Furik towns, reportedly without prior notice. Although Israeli forces and Civil Administration officials had visited the sites several times to photograph and inspect the wells, no formal notification was reportedly given ahead of the closure. The first well, nearly 400 metres deep, had been fully operational between 2022 and 2025, supplying water for drinking and irrigation for both towns. The second, approximately 370 metres deep, was in its trial phase and intended to support agricultural irrigation and the local water network. According to Beit Furik municipality, the closure of the wells reduced water availability by 20 per cent, impacting nearly 23,000 residents in both towns. Between January 2023 and 4 August 2025, OCHA documented the sealing off 12 artesian wells by Israeli authorities across the West Bank, including six in 2023, four in 2024, and two so far in 2025.
• During the reporting period, Israeli authorities issued final demolition notices for two multi-storey Palestinian residential buildings in As Suwwana and Wadi Qaddum area of Silwan, in East Jerusalem, placing 29 Palestinian families at imminent risk of displacement. The buildings have long-standing demolition orders issued against them due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain. While legal proceedings had temporarily delayed enforcement in both cases, recent developments reflect a renewed push by Israeli authorities to implement the demolition orders. According to the Israeli NGO Ir Amim, in As Suwwana, 17 Palestinian families – comprising approximately 140 people – are affected after the National Enforcement Unit (NEU), operating under the Israeli Ministry of National Security, signalled its intent to imminently carry out the demolition of the five-storey building. The families appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court, which issued a temporary freeze and gave the government until 7 August to respond.
• Israeli forces continue to operate in Jenin city and Jenin Camp. On 30 July, according to the local community, Israeli forces detained 18 Palestinians for half an hour in Jenin Camp when they returned to retrieve their belongings from their homes following coordination through the Palestinian District Coordination and Liaison Office (DCL). On 1 August, a family of three people, including a child, who were attempting to reach their home in Jenin camp to collect personal belongings had their car hit by an Israeli military vehicle reportedly driving against traffic; all of them were injured and could not reach their home. On 3 August, two Palestinian girls (12 and 16 years old) were shot and injured by Israeli forces during a search operation in the Al Jabariyat neighbourhood of Jenin, near Jenin Camp. The context of the incident is unclear.
• On 3 August, the Protection Cluster reported that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is facing a sharp rise in child protection risks, driven by settler violence, Israeli forces’ operations, detention, and forced displacement. The forced displacement of more than 32,000 people has significantly escalated risks for children, particularly in the northern governorates like Jenin and Tulkarm, where they are increasingly affected by psychological distress and an inability to access education. In these areas, families are resorting to harmful coping mechanisms such as child labour, early marriage, and school dropout. Children are increasingly affected by psychological distress, including symptoms of anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, and withdrawal, especially among boys aged 7–12 years. Protection partners have attempted to respond to these needs by providing group or individual mental health and psycho-social support (MHPSS) services to more than 45,600 children, and at least 9,650 caregivers were supported through psychosocial services and positive parenting sessions.

• Attacks on students, educators, and school infrastructure in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, sharply increased in 2023 and reached alarming levels throughout 2024 and into 2025, according to a report by the Education Cluster issued on 4 August. In the 2024–2025 academic year, the Education Cluster documented over 2,000 education-related incidents, half of which took place in Area C. In total, over 540 schools and over 84,000 students were affected by these incidents. Most of the incidents took place in the northern West Bank, where repeated operations by Israeli forces forced many schools to close for short periods or shift to online learning, disrupting education for thousands and impacting its continuity and quality. Nablus stands out as the most affected governorate, with a total of 849 recorded incidents, far surpassing all others. As of June 2025, 84 schools face pending demolition orders, 54 of which are under the threat of full demolition, while 30 are subject to partial demolition orders. Ten of the affected schools are located within the Israeli-defined municipal boundaries of East Jerusalem, and the remaining 74 are in Area C. These schools serve 12,855 students, including 6,557 girls, who are supported by 1,076 teachers.

Intensification of Israeli Settler Attacks

• Between 29 July and 4 August, OCHA documented at least 41 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in casualties, property damage, or both in about 27 communities. These attacks led to the displacement of six Palestinian households, comprising 27 people including 13 children, the killing of one Palestinian man by settlers, and the death of another due to smoke inhalation during a settler arson attack. In total, 29 Palestinians were injured, including at least six children – 14 by settlers and 15 by Israeli forces intervening during or following settler-related incidents. Settlers also vandalized or destroyed more than 600 trees, mostly saplings, more than 20 homes, 11 vehicles, 19 animal shelters, and critical livelihood infrastructure. Key incidents involving displacement and casualties included the following:
  • In Aqraba town, southeast of Nablus governorate, Israeli settlers shot and killed a 24-year-old Palestinian man and injured eight others on 2 August. According to local sources and community-recorded video footage, the incident took place when six armed settlers, believed to be from a newly established outpost nearby, prevented Palestinian farmers from working on their agricultural land and were subsequently joined by a dozen more armed settlers, after which a stone was thrown toward the settlers and the settlers opened fire towards Palestinians. Israeli forces who arrived at the scene, used tear gas to disperse Palestinians. No injuries were reported among Israeli settlers.
  • In Deir Jarir village in Ramallah governorate, Israeli settlers carried out two consecutive attacks on 31 July and 1 August, resulting in the injury of 15 Palestinians – four by settlers and 11 by forces. In both attacks, settlers raided the western outskirts of the village, where verbal altercations and mutual stone-throwing were reported between settlers and Palestinian residents. Israeli forces intervened and fired live ammunition and tear gas cannisters. Two Palestinians were injured with live ammunition and eight, including four children, suffered from tear gas inhalation. Stone throwing by settlers caused damage to at least six Palestinian-owned vehicles at passing vehicles, injured three Palestinians by glass and stone shrapnel, and partially damaged a residential house and a kiosk.
  • On 30 July, six Palestinian families, comprising 27 people, including 13 children were forcibly displaced from the Muda’an community in the Barriyyet Kisan area, east of Kisan village in Bethlehem governorate. The displacement followed repeated intimidation, harassment, and attacks by Israeli settlers from a newly established outpost in the nearby Deir Alla community. The families were only able to take their livestock, leaving behind residential structures, including six homes and four mobile latrines, all of which were subsequently destroyed by the settlers. This incident follows the earlier forcible displacement of 17 Palestinian families, comprising 101 people, including 53 children, from the Deir Alla area, also in Barriyyet Kisan, between 23 and 28 July. In total, between 23 and 30 July, 23 families (128 people) have been forcibly displaced from Barriyyet Kisan due to escalating settler violence and intimidation. In both incidents, settlers reportedly vandalized and destroyed at least 23 residential shelters and 21 additional structures, including animal shelters and latrines, following the families’ departure. All displaced families have relocated to Kisan village, where they face urgent humanitarian needs, particularly in terms of shelter and access to basic services.
• Out of the 41 settler attacks documented during the reporting period, at least eight incidents involved arson in Palestinian villages and communities across Qalqiliya, Ramallah, Nablus, and Hebron governorates. In these attacks, Israeli settlers reportedly used fire, Molotov cocktails, sound canisters, and stones, resulting in the death of one Palestinian man, the injury of another, damage to at least six homes, and the torching or vandalism of 20 vehicles. Additionally, critical livelihood infrastructure was destroyed. Four of these attacks were reported on 31 July and 1 August, as follows:

• • In Silwad in Ramallah governorate, settlers set fire to eight Palestinian-owned vehicles parked near homes, damaging the façade and windows of a building; one Palestinian man died from smoke inhalation while attempting to extinguish the flames.
  • In Susiya in Hebron governorate, settlers torched a vehicle belonging to international activists, sprayed pepper gas into the home where the activists were staying with a Palestinian family, and vandalized a water tank, a surveillance camera and a solar-powered lamp.
  • In Rammun in Ramallah governorate, a group of settlers threw sound canisters, Molotov cocktails, and flammable materials at Palestinian houses, sprayed racist graffiti on walls, and set fire to several vehicles, damaging at least six, but the flames were extinguished by residents before reaching the homes.
  • In Jalud in Nablus governorate, settlers from Adei Ad settlement outpost threw Molotov cocktails onto the balcony of a Palestinian house, igniting a fire that damaged household items before residents extinguished it.
• Six out of the 41 documented incidents specifically targeted agricultural lands in four Palestinian villages across Hebron, Ramallah, Salfit, and Nablus governorates. These attacks resulted in the destruction of nearly 600 trees, mostly saplings, damage to crops cultivated on more than 31 dunums (about 7.7 acres) of land, and the injury of one Palestinian man due to tear gas inhalation fired by Israeli forces. The majority of this damage occurred in Burqa village in Nablus governorate, where settlers, reportedly from the re-established Homesh settlement, carried out three separate attacks on 29 July. These incidents resulted in the destruction of over 550 trees and saplings, damage to crops on approximately 24.5 dunums (about six acres), and extensive harm to livelihood infrastructure. Settlers broke into privately owned land, grazed livestock on seven dunums (about 1.7 acres) of sesame crops, and set fire to a home garden. As family members attempted to extinguish the fire, Israeli forces intervened and fired tear gas, injuring one Palestinian man. Additionally, settlers damaged irrigation systems and seized a water tank and at least 50 metal sheets, leading to significant livelihood losses for three Palestinian families. Homesh, one of four northern West Bank settlements evacuated in 2005, was re-established in 2020 as a religious school. In May 2023, the Israeli military lifted the ban on Israeli entry and allocated the land to a settlement council. Settlers soon began erecting new structures on privately owned Palestinian land. Since then, landowners particularly from Burqa have been denied access, severely impacting their livelihoods.
• On 29 July, the Israeli High Court of Justice issued a ruling, instructing Israeli authorities to provide a formal response to the situation in Al Mu’arrajat East by 1 September to and consider declaring the area closed to Israeli civilians. The decision followed a petition filed by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on 3 July, requesting protection measures following the 2 July mass settler attack that forcibly displaced the entire Bedouin community, and resulted in the theft of livestock, damage to property, and the takeover of structures. While the Court reaffirmed the duty of Israeli forces to maintain public order and protect residents, it denied a request for an interim injunction. On 30 July, Israeli settlers, reportedly from the nearby Mevo’ot Jericho and other surrounding outposts, broke into the now-empty community, demolished dozens of residential and animal structures, and ransacked the interiors of shelters left behind by displaced families. The following day, a few displaced residents, together with activists, went to the site to carry out repairs on damaged structures. However, Israeli settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, gathered along the adjacent road, reportedly intimidating residents. At dawn, settlers broke into the community again and set fire to several of the recently repaired structures, causing extensive damage and making it even more difficult for families to return and re-establish themselves in the community.
• For key figures and additional breakdowns of casualties, displacement and settler violence between January 2005 and June 2025, please refer to the OCHA West Bank June 2025 Snapshot.

Funding

• As of 6 August 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$882 million out of the $4 billion (22 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the OPT. Nearly 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during July 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 111 ongoing projects, totalling $65.2 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 54 are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 43 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 39 out of the 68 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.

1664.

7 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Democrats attempt to navigate Israel’s declining support among base, as midterms loom

Michael Arria

Bernie Sanders's recent resolutions blocking weapons to Israel failed, but analysts say they suggest that Palestine will serve as a

How U.S. imperialism blackmails the world with nuclear weapons, from Hiroshima to today

Rhonda Ramiro and Sarah Raymundo

Since the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, US imperialism has driven nuclear proliferation worldwide. Current nuclear flashpoints, such as Iran, show how the US continues to use nuclear blackmail to reinforce its dominance.

1663.

7 augustus 2025

Humanitarian Situation Update #311
Gaza Strip

6 August 2025

Palestinians struggling to survive in Gaza city amid displacement, widespread destruction, lack of fuel and extreme heat. Photo by OCHA/Olga Cherevko, August 2025.

Key Highlights

• Following 22 months of hostilities, UN agencies urge immediate action to flood Gaza with aid and commercial cargo to address catastrophic humanitarian conditions, including starvation and deaths from malnutrition.
• Nearly 12,000 children under five years in Gaza were identified to be suffering from acute malnutrition in July, the highest monthly figure recorded to date, according to the Nutrition Cluster.
• The latest satellite imagery shows that 86 per cent of cropland in the Gaza Strip has been damaged while most of the remaining cropland is inaccessible, leaving only 1.5 per cent of Gaza’s cropland currently accessible and not damaged.
• The World Health Organization facilitated the evacuation of 62 patients for medical treatment abroad over the past week while over 14,800 are estimated to be in urgent need of medical evacuation.
• Mass casualty incidents and the spread of disease continue to overwhelm Gaza’s healthcare system, resulting in extremely high bed occupancy rates.

Humanitarian Developments

Impact of Military Activity

• Over the past week, Israeli forces have continued to carry out heavy bombardment from the air, land and sea across the Gaza Strip, alongside continued ground operations. Detonation and demolition of residential buildings also continued to be reported, particularly in Gaza and Khan Younis governorates. Rocket fire by Palestinian armed groups into Israel and fighting with Israeli forces have also taken place. On 6 August, the Israeli military issued two displacement orders for parts of Gaza and Khan Younis governorates, covering 3.7 square kilometres. Across the Gaza Strip, there are continued reports of casualties due to strikes on schools, tents and residential buildings and among people trying to access food supplies at militarized distribution points or waiting for humanitarian aid convoys.
• On 31 July, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said that shooting and shelling of Palestinians seeking food continued despite the Israeli army’s announcement on 27 July that it would pause military activity in western areas from Gaza city to Al Mawasi. Calling for prompt and independent investigations and accountability, OHCHR reported that as starvation deepens across Gaza, at least 1,373 Palestinians were killed between 27 May and 31 July 2025 while seeking food, including 859 near the militarized distribution points and 514 along routes of humanitarian food convoys . OHCHR stated that most of the killings were committed by the Israeli military and most of the fatalities appear to be young men and boys who were seeking to survive along with their families and dependents, adding that the Office has no information that they were directly participating in hostilities or posed any threat to Israeli forces or other people.
• According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, between 30 July and 6 August, 730 Palestinians were killed, and 4,479 were injured. This brings the casualty toll among Palestinians since 7 October 2023 to 61,158 fatalities and 151,442 injuries, according to MoH; the total number includes 290 fatalities who were retroactively added on 3 August 2025 after their identification details were approved by a ministerial committee . MoH further noted that the number of casualties among people trying to access food supplies has increased to 1,655 fatalities and more than 11,800 injuries since 27 May 2025 .
• On 4 August, the MoH in Gaza published a list of its records of 60,199 Palestinian fatalities in the Gaza Strip between 7 October 2023 and 31 July 2025, out of the total number of reported fatalities (see above). According to the list, 18,430 children (31 per cent), 9,735 women (16 per cent), 27,605 men (46 per cent) and 4,429 elderly persons (seven per cent) have been killed. (also available on the Health Cluster’s Unified Dashboard).
• According to the Israeli military, between 30 July and 6 August, no Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza. The casualty toll among Israeli soldiers since the beginning of the ground operation in October 2023 stands at 454 fatalities and 2,870 injuries, according to the Israeli military. According to Israeli forces and official Israeli sources cited in the media, more than 1,654 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed, the majority on 7 October 2023 and its immediate aftermath. As of 6 August, it is estimated that 50 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including hostages who have been declared dead and whose bodies are being withheld.
• Since 7 October 2023, at least 508 aid workers have been killed in Gaza, including 346 UN staff, 51 staff and volunteers of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), four staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and 107 other staff of humanitarian organizations. Over the past week, one PRCS staff member was killed by artillery shelling at the PRCS headquarters in Khan Younis and a PRCS volunteer was killed while searching for food at the militarized distribution point west of Rafah. On the attack on their headquarters, PRCS said that “repeated strikes [at the building] during evacuation and rescue operations clearly demonstrate that the shelling was deliberate and systematic.” Expressing outrage that many staff and volunteers of PRCS and other first responders have been killed or injured, ICRC stated that it is “unacceptable that first responders in Gaza…go to work every day fearing they may not return to their families.”
• Other key incidents resulting in fatalities over the past week include the following:
  • On 30 July, between 16:30 and 19:00, at least 60 Palestinians were reportedly killed and 700 others injured when heavy fire was opened toward people waiting for humanitarian food convoys in Zikim area, in North Gaza.
  • On the morning of 31 July, at least 15 Palestinians were killed and 65 injured when fire was opened toward Palestinians seeking food near the militarized distribution point on Salah ad Deen Road, in Deir al Balah.
  • On 1 August, the PRCS’s Al-Quds hospital in Gaza city received 12 fatalities and 90 injured people due to strikes on people waiting for aid trucks in An Nabulsi area southwest of Gaza city.
  • On 1 August, at about 08:41, five Palestinians, a married couple and their three children, were reportedly killed when a tent was hit west of Deir al Balah.
  • On 2 August, at about 01:00, a couple and their three children were reportedly killed when a residential building was hit in At Ta’abeen area in Deir al Balah.
  • On 3 August at about 00:45, two Palestinian males were reportedly killed and others injured when a school sheltering internally displaced people (IDPs) was hit in Al Amal neighbourhood, in western Khan Younis. Three children (two girls and their brother) reportedly sustained injuries and later succumbed to their wounds, including a 10-year-old girl who suffered from burn injuries.
  • On 3 August, during the afternoon and evening hours, at least 16 Palestinians were reportedly killed and 270 injured while seeking aid in the Zikim area, in North Gaza.
  • On 4 August, a male nurse was reportedly hit and killed by airdropped aid in Az Zawayda, in Deir al Balah.
  • On 4 August, at least nine Palestinians were reportedly killed and 50 others injured while seeking aid in the Zikim and As Sudaniya areas, in North Gaza.
  • On 5 August, at least nine Palestinians were reportedly killed and nine others injured near the militarized distribution point around Wadi Gaza, in Deir al Balah.

• According to the latest satellite imagery-based agricultural damage assessment conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT), approximately 86 per cent of Gaza’s permanent crop fields (about 130 out of 150 square kilometres) exhibited a significant decline in health and density in July 2025, representing a three per cent increase compared with April 2025. The analysis covered orchards and other trees, field crops and vegetables, for which the decline can be observed “due to the impact of activities such as razing, heavy vehicle activity, bombing, shelling, and other conflict-related dynamics.” North Gaza currently has the highest proportion of damage among all governorates (94 per cent), followed by Gaza (91 per cent), Deir al Balah (84 per cent), Khan Younis (81 per cent) and Rafah (79 per cent). The analysis indicates a notable rise in damaged cropland over the past three months in Khan Younis governorate, increasing from 77 to 81 per cent, and in North Gaza Governorate, increasing from 91 to 94 per cent. FAO and UNOSAT additionally reported that only 1.5 per cent of Gaza’s cropland is currently accessible and not damaged.
• The latest satellite imagery-based Gaza Comprehensive Building Damage Assessment by UNOSAT indicates a significant increase in the destruction of buildings throughout the Gaza Strip as of 8 July 2025, with more than 20,000 buildings newly assessed as destroyed, severely damaged or moderately damaged compared with the April 2025 analysis. According to the satellite imagery analysis, UNOSAT identified a total of 192,812 affected structures, comprising about 78 per cent of the total structures in the Gaza Strip; these include 102,067 destroyed structures, 17,421 severely damaged structures, 41,895 moderately damaged structures, and 31,429 possibly damaged structures. The governorates of Khan Yunis and Rafah have experienced the highest rise in damage compared to the 4 April 2025 analysis, with around 8,681 new structures damaged in Khan Yunis and around 7,112 in Rafah. Overall, the highest number of damaged buildings (all types) are in Gaza, Rafah and Khan Younis cities, Jabalya and Beit Lahiya – these five localities together account for about 60 per cent of all damaged structures.
• According to a new assessment by the Education Cluster, which relies on satellite imagery collected on 8 July 2025, nearly 91.8 per cent of school buildings in the Gaza Strip (518 out of 564) were directly hit or damaged and are estimated to require either full reconstruction or major rehabilitation work to be functional again. These include 95 school buildings in North Gaza governorate, 194 in Gaza, 40 in Deir al Balah, 123 in Khan Younis and 66 in Rafah. Most school buildings (432) have been directly hit, an increase of 26 school buildings compared with the last assessment – which was based on satellite imagery collected on 4 April – and include schools that were previously classified as damaged. Of the 26 newly hit schools, 11 are government-run schools, eight are UNRWA schools, and seven are private schools. Roughly two-thirds of school buildings that have served as shelters for IDPs have been directly hit.
• The impact of ongoing hostilities and rapidly deteriorating survival conditions continues to disproportionately affect children, who comprise about half of Gaza’s population. For example, on 28 July, a joint inter-cluster field visit to displacement sites in Deir al Balah revealed severe child protection concerns, including a distressing rise in child neglect, forced child begging, and increased exposure to harm. Child protection partners are receiving a high volume of complex cases involving children affected by a range of vulnerabilities, including violence, family separation, disabilities, and conflict-related injuries. Yet, since the end of the ceasefire in March 2025, 134 safe spaces have been forced to shut down, rendered non-operational or became inaccessible, leaving only 88 safe spaces currently functional for partners to offer case management, mental health and psychosocial support and group activities, serving 50,000-60,000 children and approximately 10,000-15,000 caregivers. These include 16 in North Gaza, 52 in Gaza city, 10 in Deir al Balah and 10 in Khan Younis. This has led to severe overcrowding in the remaining functional spaces, reducing privacy, duration and effectiveness. Recently, to expand support for injured children, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and partners, in coordination with health actors, have begun deploying dedicated teams of social workers to major paediatric trauma hospitals to facilitate referrals to child protection services before discharge from hospitals.

Access Developments

• Since 20 July, the main food assistance partners have resumed regular cargo collection from Zikim crossing in northern Gaza and Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza. Between 20 July and 3 August, according to the UN2720 Monitoring and Tracking Dashboard, at least 12,000 metric tons (MT) of food items procured through the UN-coordinated aid mechanism, including wheat flour, food parcels and bulk food items for community kitchens, have been brought into Gaza, but most of the collected supplies were offloaded by hungry crowds or looted along aid convoy routes . On 29 July, following prolonged denials, a team from the Logistics Cluster was authorized by Israeli authorities to reach the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem platform to carry out an inventory of humanitarian aid. However, the team could not complete the inventory due to the very restricted time window allotted to the mission.
• For a week between 27 July and 3 August, Israeli authorities exempted UN agencies from the newly imposed customs clearance for cargo moving through the Egypt corridor. International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) could also be granted customs exemptions for health items only, but on a case-by-case basis. According to the Logistics Cluster, while the customs exemption mechanism for cargo transported from Egypt has not been officially extended, it appears to be still in place.
• While limited quantities of fuel have been entering Gaza over the past week, fuel supplies remain critically limited and unpredictable, significantly undermining the ability of humanitarian partners to deliver and sustain lifesaving services, particularly those related to water production and distribution. According to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster, in July, approximately 852,000 litres of diesel were available for WASH partners – covering only 62 per cent of the 1.36 million litres required for critical interventions and just 41 per cent of the 2.10 million litres needed to maintain all emergency WASH operations. This severe shortfall has had a direct and widespread impact on water availability across Gaza, restricting both production and delivery capacity. For example, production from groundwater wells has dropped by 70 per cent compared with the ceasefire period when fuel was more readily available. Moreover, the situation has been especially acute in northern Gaza , where additional fuel has been urgently required to operate water wells and compensate for the disruption caused by damage to the Al Muntar water pipeline from Israel, which remained out of service from 20 July to 4 August, causing a loss of 20,000 cubic metres per day. This interruption has had a significant impact on water availability in the area, further straining already limited resources. Overall, according to the Cluster’s latest monthly Light-Touch Monitoring (LTM) survey, 90 per cent of key informants reported worsened drinking water availability between 7 and 12 July.
• Since 1 August, several thousand hygiene kits have successfully entered Gaza for the first time since 2 March but have been looted or offloaded by people in urgent need of basic necessities before reaching partners’ warehouses for planned distribution, reflecting the deep desperation among people awaiting humanitarian assistance. According to the WASH Cluster, more than 100,000 hygiene kits, enough to support at least one-third of the population, are currently stuck outside Gaza due to delays in registration and a lack of approval for INGOs. The latest Cluster’s LTM survey found that more than 40 per cent of households lack soap at home, and hygiene-related expenses are rising. Large quantities of soap and water containers are critically needed to support basic hygiene practices and to prevent further deterioration of public health conditions.
• While more than one million shelter items, including tents, tarps and sealing-off materials, and 2.3 million non-food items (NFIs) have been procured and are now stranded in Jordan and Egypt, Israeli authorities have not allowed the entry of any shelter materials since 2 March 2025 and previous shelter stocks have been fully depleted. As a result, the shelter crisis in Gaza continues to deteriorate, with most families living in severely overcrowded, unsafe, and undignified conditions and some living without any form of shelter. A recent phone-based assessment carried out in July across 44 displacement sites in Gaza city found that 43 sites had families without any shelter, and 11 per cent of over 6,500 surveyed households were living out in the open. Overall, according to the most recent assessment carried out by the Shelter Cluster on 7 July, an estimated 1.35 million people require emergency shelter items and 1.4 million need essential household items. This dire situation is compounded by ongoing bombardment, displacement orders and growing insecurity, which not only continue to displace families but have also forced many humanitarian workers to relocate and reduced operational capacity. Also driving the rapid expansion of the gap in coverage of shelter needs is the repeated disassembly and reassembly of shelters and the associated loss or abandonment of shelter items and weather conditions that accelerate the deterioration of shelter materials.
• Israeli authorities also continue to impose restrictions that prevent the entry into Gaza of about 100 truckloads of educational supplies that have been procured and stranded in Egypt and Jordan, and severe fuel shortages continue to hinder the mobility of partners running learning programmes, impede the organization of group sessions that require electricity and the printing of learning materials, and disrupt children’s access to e-learning platforms that require power and internet. While more than 658,000 students remain without access to formal, classroom-based education amid ongoing hostilities and widespread destruction of school infrastructure (see above), displacement orders issued by Israeli authorities since 18 March have disrupted learning activities, leaving only about half (299 out of 626) of the temporary learning spaces (TLS) serving 113,000 students currently functional, according to the Education Cluster. Compounding these operational and access challenges are shortfalls in funding needed to support alternative learning modalities and the need to re-engage displaced and unemployed teachers, including through cash-for-work programming, mental health support and capacity strengthening in emergency pedagogy, as teachers who have been contributing to learning activities have been doing so on a voluntary basis, the Cluster added. Currently, less than 10 per cent of the US$230.3 million requested by the Education Cluster under the 2025 Flash Appeal has been received.

• On 5 August, following the Israeli Cabinet’s decision to expand the scope of humanitarian aid for Gaza, Israeli authorities announced that private sector trade will partially resume, subject to thorough inspections, to increase the volume of aid while reducing reliance on humanitarian aid. Moreover, Israeli authorities reported that 785 humanitarian aid packages had been airdropped over Gaza as of 5 August, with the participation of eight countries.
• Delays and impediments of humanitarian movements continue to be reported. While fewer humanitarian movements have been denied outright, missions that are approved still take hours to complete. Some missions have taken more than 18 hours to be completed and teams have been compelled to wait on roads that are often dangerous, congested or impassable. Between 30 July and 5 August, out of 72 attempts to coordinate planned aid movements with Israeli authorities across the Gaza Strip, two (three per cent) were denied and five (seven per cent) were withdrawn by the organizers. More than half of movements were facilitated (37 or 51 per cent), including missions to collect fuel, food and medical supplies and staff rotations. The 28 impeded missions (39 per cent) entailed extensive delays, including at the ad-hoc checkpoint that has been set up by Israeli forces along the Morag route on 29 July where missions have experienced delays of more than two hours. Among the impeded missions, seven were fully accomplished, including a mission to collect medical supplies from Kerem Shalom crossing. Three of the impeded missions were not accomplished, including a mission to clear rubble along Salah ad Deen Road, while the remaining 18 missions were partially accomplished, including a UN mission to collect fuel from Kerem Shalom crossing. Of the total 72 movements, 33 movements were planned to collect supplies from Gaza’s crossings while the remaining movements aimed to support other ongoing humanitarian operations.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) facilitated on 30 July the medical evacuation of 47 Palestinians from Gaza, along with 129 companions, and on 6 August the medical evacuation of 15 child critical patients, along with 47 companions. Between 7 October and 31 July, more than 7,500 Palestinians, including roughly 5,200 children, were medically evacuated abroad, of whom about 2,100 patients were medically evacuated since 1 February, while more than 14,800 are estimated to be in need of urgent medical treatment outside Gaza. According to WHO, an average of 50 to 100 patients were exiting Gaza daily for medical treatment before 7 October 2023, a rate that has since dropped to an average of 11 patients per day.

Hunger and Malnutrition-related Deaths

• As the death toll from malnutrition continues to rise, there is a humanitarian imperative to immediately flood Gaza with large-scale aid, including food aid and nutrition supplies to prevent mass starvation and address acute malnutrition and all other types of assistance to sustain lifesaving services. As stated by the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Executive Director, “[w]aiting for official confirmation of famine to provide life-saving food aid… is unconscionable." UNRWA similarly urged urgent action, otherwise people will continue to die from starvation and bombardment in a “completely man-made situation,” and noted: “When you are in a situation where even the caregiver starts to faint, that means the entire humanitarian structure is collapsing. And this is exactly what we are observing today in Gaza.” Speaking from the Friends of the Patients Society Hospital in Gaza city, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, Ted Chaiban, also stressed that while humanitarian partners continue to provide as much support as possible, the resumption of humanitarian aid at scale and the entry of commercial cargo are critical to address hunger and acute malnutrition, which are the culmination of more than 20 months of war and over two months of a full blockade.
• According to MoH in Gaza, as of 6 August, 193 malnutrition-related deaths were documented, including 96 children. This includes five people who died in hospitals in the preceding 24 hours.
• Nutrition Cluster partners continue to carry out malnutrition screenings across the Gaza Strip, but individual screening data remains limited in North Gaza and Rafah due to access constraints and limited operational presence. Based on available data as of 6 August for the month of July, out of 136,000 children between six and 59 months screened, 11,877 children were identified to be suffering from acute malnutrition, the highest monthly figure recorded to date. These comprise 2,562 children who suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), of whom 40 were hospitalized at stabilization centres. In June and July, 18 per cent of all acutely malnourished children were of severe form (SAM), compared with 12 per cent of children between March and May 2025. Amid this critical situation, in July, partners were only able to reach three per cent (8,169 out of 290,000) of children under five who require feeding and micronutrient supplements due to the limited entry into Gaza of lipid-based nutrient supplements - medium quantity (LNS - MQ). Compared with the average of about 76,000 children reached per month between April and June (26 per cent of the target population), July figures reflect a collapse in the malnutrition prevention programme. The distribution of other prevention supplies to children and pregnant and breastfeeding women and the number of children reached with complementary food have also declined. Overall, the volume of nutrition supplies entering Gaza remains insufficient to prevent further deterioration in the nutritional situation.
• According to WFP’s Gaza Market Monitor, the situation of Gaza’s market deteriorated sharply during the second half of July, reaching its worst point since the start of the escalation; prices soared to unprecedented levels, and almost all essential food items disappeared from the markets. Wheat flour prices decreased with the entry of aid trucks, stabilizing at 45-55 NIS per kilogramme during the fourth week of July. However, prices remain highly volatile, with fluctuations occurring even within a single day, reflecting unstable availability and dysfunctional markets. Sugar remains one of the most expensive items, with prices reaching up to 600 NIS per kilogramme, forcing many to buy only small amounts. Dietary diversity deteriorated further in July to the worst level since the escalation started, highlighting a severe breakdown in access to diverse and nutritious foods and worsening acute food insecurity. The proportion of households relying on humanitarian aid as their main food source has declined due to limited aid entry, while markets remain unreliable due to shortages and soaring prices. Cash withdrawal fees remain very high at 45 per cent of the transferred amount during second half of July. Limited cash supply and market liquidity, along with scarce commodities, increase reliance on physical cash often accessed with liquidity fees, as suppliers are increasingly reluctant to accept digital payments.

Spread of Disease and Challenges Facing the Health System

• WHO and MoH in Gaza reported that, across the Gaza Strip, there is a concerning rise in Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) cases – a rare and potentially life-threatening condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system. According to the epidemiology department, 64 cases, including 27 cases of children under 15 years of age, have been reported as of 31 July 2025 compared with only five cases per year before the escalation of hostilities. These include 32 cases in Khan Younis governorate (50 per cent), 28 cases in Gaza governorate (44 per cent), and four cases in Deir al Balah governorate (six per cent). Although numerous cases have been reported in highly concentrated and populated areas, especially Khan Younis and Gaza governorates, no cluster of cases has been reported within defined geographical locations. According to WHO, there is currently no available stock of Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG), the primary medication for the treatment for GBS. On 4 August, MoH confirmed three GBS-related deaths, including two children, and warned that the lack of necessary treatment threatens to worsen the situation. According to WHO, 30 per cent of GBS patients require Intensive Care Unit admission.
• Between 1 and 31 July, a total of 420 suspected meningitis cases were reported across the Gaza Strip, the highest number recorded since the beginning of the escalation. These include 197 cases in Khan Younis governorate, 150 cases in Gaza governorate, and 73 cases in Deir al Balah. The destruction of WHO’s main medical warehouse in Deir al Balah has led to a critical shortage of antibiotics, which are essential for the treatment of meningitis. Isolation measures have been implemented, including the separation of the external department at Al Khair Hospital from the Nasser Medical Complex and the establishment of isolation tents at Al Aqsa Hospital to safely manage suspected cases.
• Hospitals in Gaza are overwhelmed by a surge in casualties that has exceeded their capacity, MoH in Gaza stated on 2 August. Bed occupancy rates at trauma hospitals have risen significantly: Al-Ahli Arab Hospital at 300 per cent, Al-Shifa Hospital at 240 per cent, Al Rantisi Hospital at 210 per cent, and Nasser Hospital at 180 per cent. MoH added that this has forced hospitals to place patients on floors and in hallways due to the lack of available bed space. The Health Cluster also reported that specialized rehabilitation facilities, including Hamad Hospital, Al Amal Hospital, and Al Wafaa Hospital, are overwhelmed with trauma injuries (complex polytrauma) and GBS cases. Waiting lists have reached up to one year, despite reduced admission durations. Furthermore, patients with non-escalation-related disabilities are being neglected and are not receiving the necessary care. The Health Cluster also reported that hospitals are overwhelmed by mass casualty incidents, with an average of eight incidents per day.
• On 31 July, Al Aqsa Hospital stated that it is facing an increasingly critical humanitarian and health crisis amid the growing number of casualties and urgent medical needs. Hundreds of injured people are arriving at the hospital, overwhelming the facility’s capacity. The emergency department is unable to accommodate the rising number of critical injuries, and all inpatient wards are fully occupied. Operating rooms have ceased functioning due to the lack of available inpatient beds, with some patients left inside operating theatres because there is no space to move them. Similarly, the head of the Kuwaiti Specialized Field Hospital in Al Mawasi, in Khan Younis, reported that the hospital receives hundreds of critical injuries of people seeking food daily, adding immense pressure on overstretched medical teams amid the near-total collapse of the health system. The wound care unit has halted operations due to a complete lack of essential medical supplies. The operational capacity of the hospital has been exceeded, and it can no longer absorb the rising number of casualties amid the lack of supplies. The head of the hospital urgently called on people to avoid going to the militarized distribution points to preserve life.
• An analysis of medical data by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), covering more than 200,000 medical consultations in six MSF-supported health facilities in the Gaza Strip in 2024, found that explosive weapons, such as bombs and grenades, were responsible for 83 per cent of wound-care consultations for victims of violence. According to a former MSF emergency coordinator, "explosive weapons are indiscriminate, causing complex injuries due to blast, fragmentation, and heat." He added: "In two hospitals, we observed that nearly 60 percent of the injuries were related to explosive weapons. The makeshift shelters in which the population is forced to live offer little to no protection against these weapons." MSF analysis flagged a very high wound infection rate of more than 18 per cent among patients seeking care for the first time. This is a result of unhygienic living conditions for people who have been forcibly displaced multiple times. Highlighting the lack of protection of civilians, MSF said that 29.6 per cent of all medical consultations for wounds were for children under 15 years of age, and 32 per cent of the consultations were for women.

Funding

• As of 6 August 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately $882 million out of the $4 billion (22 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the OPT. Nearly 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during July 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 111 ongoing projects, totalling $65.2 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 54 are being implemented by INGOs, 43 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 39 out of the 68 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.

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6 augustus 2025

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6 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

B’Tselem’s flawed report on Gaza names genocide but evades the law

Sonia Boulos

B’Tselem’s report on the Gaza genocide missed an opportunity to advance a clear and unequivocal legal argument that Israel’s actions constitute a textbook case of genocide.

As Columbia capitulates to Trump over Palestine protest, student activists are regrouping

Tamara Turki

Columbia University's recent suspension and expulsion of more than 70 students for a Palestine demonstration is the latest sign the school's crackdown on activism is not simply about campus conduct, but appeasing political pressure from Washington.

1660.

6 augustus 2025

Gaza Humanitarian Response Update

20 July - 2 August 2025

Palestinian children and families gather around a water distribution point amid the rubble in Gaza City. Photo by OCHA/Olga Cherevko

Food Security

Response

• As of 4 August, 259,000 meals were prepared and delivered by 16 partners through 76 kitchens – 98,000 meals in northern Gaza and 161,000 meals in central and southern Gaza. Compared with over one million meals per day that were prepared in community kitchens operated by partners in April, this represents a 74 per cent reduction.
• Since 20 July, the main food assistance partners have resumed regular cargo collection from Zikim crossing in northern Gaza and Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza. Between 20 July and 3 August, at least 12,000 metric tons (MT) of food items procured through the UN-coordinated aid mechanism, including wheat flour, food parcels and bulk food items for community kitchens, have been brought into Gaza – according to the UN2720 Monitoring and Tracking Dashboard – but more than 90 per cent were offloaded by hungry crowds or looted by armed gangs along aid convoy routes. Casualties among people approaching aid convoys near checkpoints staffed by Israeli forces also continue to be reported. According to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, between 27 May and 4 August, the casualty toll among people trying to reach food supplies at militarized distribution sites or along humanitarian aid convoy routes increased to 1,516 fatalities and more than 10,000 injuries.
• FSS partners continue to disseminate messages through community leaders, influencers and journalists to emphasize the importance of allowing truck access to warehouses to enable safe and secure aid deliveries that can reach all people in need, including vulnerable groups such as older persons, women, and persons with disability or illness. Additionally, the sector continues to advocate for no armed presence near humanitarian convoy routes or civilian aid distribution points.
• On 29 July, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Global Initiative issued an alert warning that the worst-case scenario of Famine is currently playing out in Gaza Strip. Based on the latest evidence available as of 25 July, the IPC alert highlights mounting evidence of widespread starvation, malnutrition, disease, mass displacement, severely restricted humanitarian access, and the collapse of essential services, including health care, contributing to an increase in hunger-related deaths. The latest data indicate that Famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza city:
  • Food consumption across the Gaza Strip has reached its lowest level since the onset of the conflict. The situation has worsened dramatically, with 81 per cent of households reporting poor food consumption (up from 33 per cent in April) and 24 per cent of households are experiencing very severe hunger in July compared with four per cent in April, crossing the Famine threshold for food consumption. Nearly nine out of ten households resorted to extremely severe coping mechanisms to feed themselves, such as taking significant safety risks to obtain food, and scavenging from the garbage.
  • Severe food poverty among children (consumption of two or fewer food groups by infants and young children) deteriorated from 58.3 per cent in February to 94 per cent in June. Moreover, acute malnutrition rates doubled in Khan Younis and increased by 70 per cent in Deir al Balah between May and July and, in Gaza city, the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate soared from 4.4 per cent in May to an alarming 16.5 per cent in the first half of July, thereby reaching the Famine threshold for acute malnutrition. The situation in North Gaza governorate, which faces similar challenges, cannot be verified due to the lack of data.
• According to IPC protocols, an Alert does not classify areas or provide population estimates and does not constitute a Famine classification. Prompted by this alert, and using the most recent information and data available, a new IPC analysis took place between 30 July and 4 August, with findings expected to be released soon.

Challenges

• While FSS partners have enough food in the region or en route to feed the entire Gaza population of 2.1 million people for at least three months, access constraints have meant that at least 14,000 MT of food aid procured through the UN-coordinated aid mechanism were collected from crossings in the month of July – according to the UN2720 Monitoring and Tracking Dashboard – most of which was offloaded by hungry crowds or looted by armed gangs before reaching warehouses. More than 62,000 MT is required each month to cover basic humanitarian food assistance needs.
• As humanitarian food assistance, which serves as the main source of food for households in the Gaza Strip, continues to dwindle, people have run out of ways to cope, food systems have collapsed, and the likelihood of famine occurring is imminent and substantial. Hunger and malnutrition have devastating impacts, including a heightened risk of illness and death. They weaken the immune system, especially among women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities or chronic diseases, and lead to risks of excess morbidity and mortality. The impact of food scarcity on pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW) is especially severe as their babies are more likely to be born with health complications, and it becomes harder for mothers to breastfeed, putting children at increased risk of infectious diseases. To avert this looming catastrophic situation, all parties to the conflict and those with influence on their conduct must take immediate action to facilitate the at-scale resumption of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and ensure that there is a secure and enabling environment for aid delivery. The previous IPC analyses for Gaza show that food security and malnutrition can deteriorate and also recover swiftly in response to the amount of food supplies that are permitted to enter and be distributed across the Gaza Strip.

Nutrition

Response

• Cluster partners continue to carry out malnutrition screenings across the Gaza Strip, but individual screening data remains limited in North Gaza and Rafah due to access constraints and limited operational presence. Since March, when 3,264 acute malnutrition cases were identified, figures show a steady monthly increase in the number of identified acute malnutrition cases, which are especially catastrophic in Gaza city. Based on hitherto available data for the monthly of July, including data from 12 out of 24 partners for the second half of July, out of 117,366 children between six and 59 months screened in July, 9,205 children were identified to be suffering from acute malnutrition, the highest monthly figure recorded to date (the highest figure recorded in 2024 was 5,436 cases in December 2024). These comprise 1,732 children who suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), of whom 40 were hospitalized at stabilization centres. Overall, identified cases included: 4,280 children in Gaza city (including 725 SAM cases); 1,470 in Khan Younis (including 369 SAM cases); 3,407 in Deir al Balah (including 675 SAM cases); 36 in Rafah; and 52 in North Gaza. In June and July, 18 per cent of all acutely malnourished children were of severe form (SAM), compared with 12 per cent of children between March and May 2025.
• In July, partners were only able to reach three per cent (8,169 out of 290,000) of children under five who require feeding and micronutrient supplements due to the limited entry into Gaza of lipid-based nutrient supplements - medium quantity (LNS - MQ). Compared with the average of about 76,000 children reached per month between April and June (26 per cent of the target population), July figures reflect a collapse in the malnutrition prevention programme. Additionally, the distribution of other prevention supplies, such as small-quantity LNS with less calories (LNS – SQ) or high energy biscuits, has dropped; while data remains incomplete, partners reached 37,320 children with LNS – SQ in July compared with 164,000 in June, when partners increased their distributions to try to counteract the impact of food deprivation, and 80,000 in May. The number of children reached with complementary food also declined; compared with June when 28,400 children were reached, about 10,000 children benefited from complementary food in July, including less than 1,500 during the second half of July. Moreover, among 150,000 PBW who require feeding and micronutrient supplements, partners were only able to provide LNS – MQ to less than three per cent (3,658) in July, compared with 32,200 in June (21 per cent).

Challenges

• Supply shortages are among the main challenges to sustaining nutrition programmes. As of 2 August, blanket supplementary feeding programme supplies have been completely depleted inside Gaza, and current insecurity does not allow for the collection of prevention supplies from crossings and their distribution across Gaza to the scale that would be needed to cover all the children under five and PBW.
• Recurrent displacement orders continue to disrupt sustained and continuous nutrition service delivery and result in fluctuating functionality of health facilities and nutrition sites, which are often forced to suspend or shut down services. Children and PBW are then forced to walk long distances to reach nutrition services elsewhere. Furthermore, while hospitals have not been required to evacuate, services therein have been rendered inaccessible as people become displaced from areas placed under displacement orders.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

Response

• As of 3 August, 30 WASH Cluster partners delivered approximately 13,966 cubic metres of drinking water per day through 1,158 water collection points across the Gaza Strip. This is below the late June daily average of 17,045 cubic metres distributed across 1,357 water collection points. Despite ongoing operational and security challenges, this coordinated response remains vital to ensuring continued access to safe drinking water.
• Since 1 August, several thousand hygiene kits have successfully entered Gaza for the first time since 2 March, which have been looted or offloaded by people in urgent need of basic necessities, reflecting the deep desperation among people awaiting humanitarian assistance.
• One WASH partner has successfully established a new public water well in Deir al Balah, which is now supplying an additional 60 cubic metres per hour, significantly increasing access to safe water in the area. The well could serve up to 53,000 people. However, due to the lack of pipes to repair the largely dilapidated network and limited fuel availability, the increase in water supply can serve about 16,000 people.
• Solid waste management operations, including waste collection, continue across the Gaza Strip, helping to mitigate public health risks albeit on a limited scale. Currently, seven temporary dumping sites are operational and accessible.

Challenges

• Frequent damage to water supply systems and ongoing fuel shortages continue to hinder the availability of water at the household level. As a result, access to water services remains a significant challenge, with 96 per cent of households surveyed between 7 and 12 July reporting water insecurity (up from 93 per cent in June) and 90 per cent of key informants reporting worsened drinking water availability, according to the Cluster’s latest monthly Light-Touch Monitoring (LTM) survey.
• Insecurity along convoy routes, driven by the absence of public order and safety and the presence of large crowds, continues to disrupt the delivery of supplies. Essential items, such as hygiene kits, have been offloaded by people in need of basic supplies or looted by armed groups.
• Fuel supplies remain limited; in July, only 41 per cent of the 2.10 million litres needed to maintain all emergency WASH services were available to partners, significantly constraining the scale and continuity of operations. For example, production from groundwater wells has dropped by 70 per cent compared with the ceasefire period when fuel was more readily available.
• The majority of WASH facilities inside Gaza remain largely inaccessible; as of 1 August, 81 per cent of public WASH facilities and assets (567 out of 696) are within the Israeli-militarized zone or under displacement orders since 18 March. These include water wells, desalination plants, reservoirs, stormwater basins, wastewater pumping stations, treatment plants, dumpsites, and both official landfills.
• Continued supply shortages of reverse osmosis membranes and spare parts – including generators, pipes, fittings, and other essential components – are severely hindering partners’ ability to repair and maintain critical WASH infrastructure.

Protection

Response

• The Global Protection Cluster released an alert in response to the rapid deterioration in the protection environment in the Gaza Strip that further jeopardizes the possibility of survival, including the expansion of the ground offensive in Deir al Balah city, strikes all over the Gaza Strip, and widespread starvation. The OPT Protection Cluster also released a Call To Action directed to Member States, warning that airdrops pose a risk of harm to civilians, are an inadequate and ineffective alternative to principled and coordinated humanitarian delivery, and risk deflecting from legal obligations of Israel to facilitate meaningful humanitarian access.
• Partners carried out individual and group psychological sessions, reaching over 1,500 people during the reporting period through a combination of direct service delivery, mobile outreach, and remote modalities.
• Mine Action – During the reporting period, Mine Action (MA) partners only carried out activities critical to programing. To support humanitarian efforts and reduce safety risks in affected communities, MA partners participated in 21 inter-agency missions and conducted 36 explosive hazard assessments during the reporting period, offering technical expertise to ensure safer humanitarian operations. Furthermore, MA partners conducted 493 Explosive Ordnance Risk Education – Conflict Preparedness and Protection (EORE – CPP) sessions, reaching 10,143 people (4,794 women, 3,628 men, 911 girls, and 810 boys) in Gaza, Deir al Balah, and Khan Younis governorates. Since October 2023, 112 EO-related incidents have been documented, resulting in 17 fatalities and 130 injuries, of whom 73 (both killed and injured) were children.
• Gender-based violence (GBV)
  • GBV partners reached 5,112 women and girls with essential GBV services through 17 Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSSs), which offered multisectoral support including recreational activities, peer-to-peer support, and awareness sessions on GBV, sexual and reproductive health (SRH), and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA).
  • About 3,000 women received individual psychosocial counseling, and 312 women at risk, including GBV survivors, were provided with emergency cash assistance to enhance their safety and ability to meet basic needs.
  • Legal support services reached 80 women across various governorates, offering consultations on family law, custody, inheritance, and civil documentation.
  • Community awareness efforts reached approximately 8,792 people (including 3,851 men and 4,941 women) through sessions aimed at increasing knowledge on GBV types, available services, survivor rights, and referral pathways.
  • To further strengthen the health sector response, the first round of training sessions on the Clinical Management of Rape (CMR) was conducted for 20 health providers’ focal points, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and the Ministry of Health.
  • On 28 July, an inter-agency assessment in Ard Abu Saleem, Al Fajir, and Atfaluna displacement sites revealed a complete absence of psychosocial support services or safe spaces for women and girls, with inadequate WASH facilities and a lack of hygiene supplies exacerbating protection risks. In response, GBV Area of Responsibility (AoR) partners scaled up mobile service delivery, deploying teams to provide psychosocial support, Psychological First Aid (PFA), and case management in displacement sites. Survivors were referred to functioning WGSSs in safer areas for continued care where appropriate.
  • Efforts to expand adolescent and youth outreach were also implemented. UNFPA, through one partner, established two specialized girls’ tents in northern Gaza – one focused on GBV and reproductive health awareness, and the other on psychosocial support and resilience – reaching 100 female participants. A total of three girls’ tents delivered 12 sessions of comprehensive GBV and sexuality education (CSE), each lasting 40 minutes.
• Housing, Land and Property – The Housing, Land and Property Technical Working Group (HLP TWG) convened a meeting with partners and stakeholders on 23 July to discuss the ongoing HLP challenges in Gaza and explore potential areas of support and collaboration under the HLP TWG. The HLP TWG is coordinating with the Shelter and Site Management clusters to align priorities and ensure a joint response to HLP issues. The unified HLP assessment tool has been shared in both Arabic and English via the HLP TWG ReliefWeb page.
• Child Protection – Child protection partners are operating across Gaza, delivering essential services in Gaza City, Khan Younis, Deir al Balah, and major displacement camps. Partners have resumed critical case management and mental health and psycho-social support (MHPSS) service delivery in Deir al-Balah after the 20 July order was rescinded. Field-level interventions including child protection service points, mobile teams, and community-based activities are gradually restarting, though access and resource constraints persist.
  • During the reporting period, between 20 July and 1 August, partners reached nearly 6,500 children with MHPSS services. On average, more than 540 children and caregivers received group or individual psychosocial support each day. Key activities included specialized one-on-one psychological counselling for over 100 children each day in Gaza city, Khan Younis, and Deir al Balah. Group counselling sessions reached 120 to 140 mothers and children daily, providing a safe environment for collective healing and resilience, particularly in Gaza city and Khan Younis. Recreational activities engaged more than 310 children per day across Gaza city, Khan Younis, Deir al Balah, and displacement camps. In addition, children with disabilities and their caregivers benefited from structured, inclusive psychosocial support.
  • UNICEF and child protection partners in close collaboration with MOH are deploying dedicated child protection social work teams to Gaza’s four main paediatric trauma hospitals to assess and register every injured child, provide on-site PFA and counselling, and activate child protection case management referrals before discharge, aiming to close the current 95 per cent referral gap. During the reporting period, 21 additional unaccompanied and separated children were identified and placed in alternative care across two centres while family-based options are pursued.
  • Case management services continue for separated and unaccompanied children, children without parental care, children with disabilities, child survivors of violence including gender-based violence, children with significant MHPSS needs, children with acute conflict-related injuries and disabilities (both in and out of hospital), and children at high risk of harm or death. In July, more than 500 children received individual one-on-one case management services, while 96 children were reunified with their families and caregivers.
  • On 28 July, an inter-cluster assessment mission at displacement sites in Deir al Balah revealed severe child protection concerns, with a distressing rise in child neglect, forced child begging, and increased exposure to harm.
  • On 30 July, the Child Protection AoR recently held a Disability Inclusion Orientation for 63 partners, focusing on identifying children with functional disabilities. The session aimed to strengthen partners’ capacity to deliver inclusive, disability-sensitive child protection services.

Challenges

• Repeated and prolonged displacement continues to affect tens of thousands of Palestinians, including protection staff and service providers who are themselves now living within displacement zones, mainly in densely populated and underserved locations. The impact on staff safety and well-being is particularly acute, with reports of displacement, injury, and personal property loss.
• GBV partners continue to adapt by leveraging mobile safe spaces, hotlines, and PFA to reach affected people. However, access constraints, insufficient fuel, and constant displacement continue to threaten the continuity of services and the safety of survivors and staff alike. For example, after the 20 July displacement order in Deir al Balah was rescinded, four GBV partners who had to temporarily suspend operations have resumed services. One UNFPA-supported safe shelter in the area, which was first relocated to Gaza city, has now moved to Khan Younis due to insecurity. Some survivors were relocated, while others returned to unsafe conditions.
• Access constraints and severe fuel shortages are severely limiting the mobility of child protection case workers and psychosocial support (PSS) facilitators, restricting their ability to reach children and families in need. As a result, many cases remain unmonitored and unreported, placing children in even more life-threatening situations.
• Food insecurity is affecting everyone in Gaza; staff exhaustion and hunger are acute, with frontline staff and service providers reporting being dizzy from not eating enough, directly impacting their capacity to provide quality care. Both staff and community members are experiencing rising psychological distress, and there are urgent requests for additional support for service providers.
• Essential child-focused supplies, including MHPSS kits, tents for group activities, and assistive devices, are not available in the Gaza Strip, severely limiting the scope and quality of child protection activities.

Shelter

Response

• Preparedness work is ongoing on targeting and prioritization frameworks for different potential scenarios to enable rapid response once the entry of shelter materials is approved.
• The Shelter Cluster developed a reporting tool and an inter-sectoral referral tool with the Protection Cluster to support vulnerable cases. Moreover, coordination is ongoing with the Site Management Cluster (SMC) to identify displacement sites in Gaza city where partners will conduct assessments in preparation for immediate distributions once shelter materials are allowed to enter.
• Distribution of clothing vouchers by cluster partners is ongoing, reaching thus far 5,550 newly displaced families in Gaza city, out of the planned target of 7,200 families. This has enabled families to purchase adult and children's clothing from local markets.
• The Shelter Cluster has published a lessons learned document on the winter clothing distribution response in Gaza, summarizing key challenges, operational insights, and recommendations to inform future programming.

Challenges

• There are no shelter items available in stock across the Gaza Strip, preventing partners from addressing needs and growing requests for assistance. Since 2 March, no shelter materials or non-food items have been allowed to enter Gaza through the crossing points, leaving partners with no means to replenish depleted stocks. The few shelter materials that are available on the local market are prohibitively expensive and limited in quantity, placing them out of reach for most families. At the same time, overcrowded displacement sites and restricted physical access to affected areas have further hindered the ability of shelter cluster partners to deliver aid.
• The situation is compounded by ongoing airstrikes, displacement orders, and growing insecurity, which have not only displaced families repeatedly but have also forced many humanitarian workers to relocate, reducing operational capacity at a time of rising needs.
• Several factors are driving a rapid expansion of the gap in coverage of shelter needs, including: the short lifespan of previously distributed shelter items (3-6 months); growing displacement, the repeated disassembly and reassembly of shelters, and the associated loss or abandonment of shelter items; overcrowding in already fragile shelters; and harsh weather conditions and humidity that accelerate the deterioration of shelter materials. According to the most recent assessment carried out by the Shelter Cluster on 7 July, an estimated 1.35 million people require emergency shelter items and 1.4 million need essential household items. This is compared with 1.3 million estimated to require emergency shelter items and 1.3 million who needed essential household items in the last week of June (see dashboard).

Education

Response

• Education Cluster partners have been carrying out summer educational and recreational activities at temporary learning spaces (TLS) to mitigate the psychological and emotional impact of ongoing hostilities, bombardment and displacement on children. At present, 31 partners are operating 299 out of 626 TLS, serving 113,000 children across the Gaza Strip, except Rafah; these include eight TLS in North Gaza governorate, 106 in Gaza, 94 in Deir al Balah and 91 in Khan Younis. In contexts of extreme deprivation, partners emphasize that the presence of a supportive teacher – even amid emotional hardship – offers children a vital source of support.
• The Education Cluster has identified 77 TLS operated by 16 partners for holding the second phase of the General Secondary Education Examinations (Tawjihi) for the 2023-2024 cohort, with registration scheduled to take place from 2 to 5 August via the Ministry of Education’s (MoE’s) online platform. According to MoE, 1,613 out of 1,719 students who took the exams during the first phase in July passed.
• A Cluster partner operating a specialized workshop in Gaza city continues to repair and maintain assistive devices to support children with disabilities.

Challenges

• Strikes on educational infrastructure continue to cause damage and loss of life and instill fear among children, parents, and teachers, further discouraging participation in educational activities. At least nine strikes were documented during the reporting period, including four in Deir al Balah and five in Gaza city, of which eight were Israeli airstrikes and one involved Israeli tank shelling. According to the latest satellite-based damage assessment, which relies on imagery collected on 8 July, 97 per cent of education facilities in Gaza have sustained some level of damage, with 91 per cent requiring major rehabilitation or complete reconstruction to become functional again.
• The 20 July displacement order issued by Israeli authorities forced the temporary closure of 15 TLS serving approximately 6,325 learners supposed by 143 teachers in Deir al Balah. A ground Israeli military operation subsequently led to the destruction of two TLS that served nearly 2,000 learners and one TLS was later used as a shelter for IDPs. After Israeli authorities rescinded the 20 July order, partners have not been able to re-establish TLS in the area due to the lack of tents and supplies.
• Restrictions by Israeli authorities continue to limit the entry of educational supplies into Gaza, undermining the scale and quality of interventions. Supplies equivalent to 100 truckloads that have been procured have been stranded in Jordan and Egypt and about 6,000 tablets for administering the Tawjihi exams in Gaza remain in the West Bank. Students who took the Tawjihi exams during the first phase used personal or borrowed devices.
• Severe fuel shortages continue to hinder the mobility of partners running learning programmes, impede the organization of group sessions that require electricity and the printing of learning materials, and disrupt children’s access to e-learning platforms that require power and internet.
• Hostilities continue to claim the lives of students and teachers. According to the MoE, as of 5 August, 16,300 students and 721 education personnel have been killed, while 24,320 students and 3,070 personnel have sustained injuries, many of them life-altering amid serious challenges in accessing the care and support they need.
• Less than 10 per cent of the Education Cluster’s requirements under the 2025 Flash Appeal have been met, further limiting partners’ response capacity. One of the most impacted areas of intervention is the expansion of TLS amid a lack of tents and inflated black-market prices of salvageable steel and other essential materials. Additionally, most teachers continue to work on a voluntary basis, which negatively affects their sustained engagement.

Logistics

Response

• The Logistics Cluster facilitated the collection of cargo on behalf of one partner from Erez West (Zikim) crossing between 25 July and 2 August, and on 28 July from Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem crossing. Prior to this period and since 27 June, the Cluster was unable to carry out this role due to operational challenges related to extreme insecurity inside Gaza.
• For a week between 27 July and 3 August, Israeli authorities exempted UN agencies from the newly imposed customs clearance for cargo moving through the Egypt corridor. International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) could also be granted customs exemptions for health items only, but on a case-by-case basis. While the customs exemption mechanism for cargo transported from Egypt has not been officially extended, it appears to be still in place.
• During the reporting period, the Logistics Cluster facilitated access to five convoys comprising 65 trucks from Jordan to Gaza crossings; these included three Government-to-Government (G2G) convoys comprising 55 trucks and two Back-to Back (B2B) convoys comprising 10 trucks. The Logistics Cluster service facilitation of B2B convoys was extended at no-cost to the user until 31 August.
• Following the Israeli authorities’ re-authorization of G2G convoys from Jordan on 7 July, eight G2G convoys comprising 293 trucks transported cargo on this route to the Erez West (Zikim) crossing.
• After prolonged denials, the Cluster team was authorized by Israeli authorities to reach the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem platform on 29 July to carry out an inventory of humanitarian aid. However, the team could not complete the inventory due to the very restricted time window allotted to the mission.

Challenges

• Despite the announced tactical pause in military activity by Israeli authorities in three areas of Gaza (Al-Mawasi, Deir al Balah and Gaza city) since 27 July, there has been no effective improvement in security conditions. As a result, humanitarian transport operations across Gaza continue to face challenges and most convoys have been looted before reaching their intended destinations.
• While items such as food, nutrition, health, hygiene, and water treatment supplies are generally eligible for entry into Gaza by Israeli authorities, approval is not guaranteed. Pre-clearance through the UN2720 Mechanism and Israeli customs clearance are required, resulting in only eight organizations being able to dispatch humanitarian aid to Gaza through the UN-coordinated manifest.
• Limitations in Israeli crossing and scanning capacity at Allenby Bridge have resulted in a reduction of G2G convoys from three a week, each comprising 60 trucks, to 50 trucks for each of the three convoys per week. Meanwhile, since 3 August, the B2B convoy modality has been paused by Israeli authorities until further notice; this suspension follows the introduction of a new requirement by Israeli authorities that mandates the escort of B2B trucks between the Jordan River and Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem crossing, a condition that they cannot reportedly meet at present due to limited escorting capacity.
• ·    Since the very limited resumption of aid movement from Egypt on 13 July, Israeli authorities have introduced customs clearance for humanitarian cargo transported from Egypt. This has presented additional bureaucratic hurdles, delays, and costs for humanitarian organizations. The requirement was only lifted for one week (see above).
• Israeli authorities continue to impose severe limitations on the type of cargo permitted for entry and the number of organizations authorized to move cargo to Gaza. Only eight organizations have been able to manifest cargo. Thus, humanitarian partners have paused the internal cargo prioritization process, so that all cargo currently permitted for entry by Israeli authorities (health, nutrition, food, water treatment and hygiene supplies) can be manifested for Israeli authorities' approval.

Emergency Telecommunications (ETC)

Response

• On 24 July, the ETC assessed telecommunications coverage on the road between Deir al Balah and Kerem Shalom crossing, passing through Khan Younis and Morag corridor, to support safe humanitarian access in Gaza. The initiative aimed at ensuring partners remain connected throughout the corridor to facilitate the safe entry of humanitarian aid. Findings will guide future coordination and connectivity planning across the aid corridor.
• The ETC continues to advocate for the entry of sufficient fuel for the telecommunications sector in Gaza.
• For more information on ETC activities, please visit:Palestine: Conflict | Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) (etcluster.org).

Challenges

• Extensive damage to infrastructure and telecommunications equipment caused by intensified hostilities have severely limited telecommunications and internet services across Gaza. Repair efforts are hindered by access restrictions as well as supply shortages.
• The entry of telecommunications equipment, spare parts, and engine oil into Gaza has been blocked since 2 March 2025, rendering existing supplies limited and sporadic and restoration efforts extremely difficult. These constraints are significantly impeding the ETC’s ability to deploy planned services and support humanitarian coordination.
• Critical funding shortfalls continue to restrict the ETC’s ability to meet the immediate, life-saving communications needs of humanitarian responders in Gaza. None of the US$2.5 million required by the ETC under the 2025 Flash Appeal have been met.

Protection against sexual abuse and exploitation (PSEA) remains a cross-cutting priority for all clusters. Aid distribution must be delivered with dignity and respect. Any wrongdoing can be reported through SAWA’s toll-free number 164. SAWA will assist and provide services free of charge and with the utmost confidentiality.

To promote accountability to affected people, the online Humanitarian Service Directory provides information on aid services, helplines, and key messages, and is available via hyperlink and QR code.

1659.

6 augustus 2025

De Tweede Kamer debatteert morgen over de enkele héél voorzichtige, kleine en veelal symbolische maatregelen die de regering wil treffen tegen Israël.

Nederland had al in januari 2024 in actie moeten komen om Israël in Gaza een halt toe te roepen, zo oordeelde de Commissie van advies inzake volkenrechtelijke vraagstukken (CAVV) deze week. Donderdag moet blijken of politiek Den Haag luistert.

Landelijk zijn er nieuwe protestacties gepland, bij de Tweede Kamer en op tientallen stations, om de regering aan te zetten tot méér en échte maatregelen.

Zolang Den Haag wegkijkt, blijven wij herrie maken – voor sancties, voor een wapenembargo en voor echte maatregelen tegen Israël!

Hieronder een overzicht van acties die voor morgen gepland staan:

1. Besloten wake met prominenten bij Tweede Kamer

Bij de ingang van de Tweede Kamer vindt van 13:00 tot 15:00 een herdenking plaats van de slachtoffers van het genocidale geweld. Prominenten, onder wie oud-minister Jan Pronk en schrijver Yvonne Kroonenberg, zullen namen voorlezen. Wegens een politieverordening is de bijeenkomst besloten.

2. Permanente 24-uurs wake bij het ministerie

Bij het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken wordt een doorlopende 24-uurs wake gehouden. Ook hier worden namen van slachtoffers voorgelezen.

We nodigen jullie van harte uit hierbij aanwezig te zijn en de wake te ondersteunen!

 Locatie: Rijnstraat 8, Den Haag
 Tijdstip: dagelijks, 24 uur per dag
 Draag rode kleding

3. Lawaaidemonstratie bij Tweede Kamer

 Tijdstip: 17:00
 Locatie: Bezuidenhoutseweg 67, Den Haag
 Draag rode kleding
 Neem een pan en een lepel en oordoppen mee!

4. Lawaaidemonstraties op stations

Donderdagavond worden weer de wekelijkse lawaaiprotesten georganiseerd.

 Draag rode kleding
 Neem een pan en een lepel en oordoppen mee!Deze stations zijn tot nu toe bevestigd. Houdt onze agenda in de gaten voor updates.

18u Almelo
18u Almere CS
18u Assen
18u Arnhem
18u Apeldoorn, Marktplein
18u Bergen op Zoom
18u Culemborg
18u Deventer, Brink
18u Doetinchem
18u Dordrecht
18u Ede-Wageningen
18u Enschede
17.30 Groningen Grote Markt
18u Groningen CS
18u Haarlem
18u Hardenberg
18u Heerlen
18u Hilversum
18u Hoorn
18u Leeuwarden
18u Lelystad
18u Maastricht
18u Nijmegen
18u Sittard
18u Tilburg
18u Vlissingen, Stadhuisplein
18u Weesp
18u Woerden
17u Zaandam
18u ZutphenKom naar Den Haag of naar het station en laat van je horen!

Met strijdbare groet,

Gerard Jonkman
directeur The Rights Forum

1659A.

5 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Reports: Netanyahu orders Israeli army to conquer all of Gaza

Qassam Muaddi

Israeli media is reporting that Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli army to expand its offensive in Gaza and reoccupy the entire Strip.

Community members of slain Palestinian activist go on hunger strike demanding Israel release his body

Mohammad Hesham Huraini

Awdah Hathaleen was killed by Israeli settler Yinon Levy in broad daylight. The perpetrator walks free, while Awdah’s body has been held hostage by the Israeli army. The village of Umm al-Khair is going on hunger strike to recover his body.

PEN America claims to support free speech, but fired me for speaking about Palestine

Kori Davis

The free speech organization PEN America fired me three days after I published an article about how they investigated me for sharing an article critical of Zionism. My termination is a sad reflection of PEN's censorious approach to Palestine.

1658.

4 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

International Sociological Association suspends Israeli Sociological Society over refusal to condemn genocide

Global Sociologists for Palestine

International Sociological Association suspends Israeli Sociological Society over refusal to condemn genocide

Global Sociologists for Palestine

The suspension of the Israeli Sociological Society by the International Sociological Association marks a significant milestone in the international academic boycott of Israel.

1657.

3 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Nazis murdered my family in the Holocaust. Now Germany is punishing me for protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Rachael Shapiro

This week, I faced trial for opposing genocide, Zionism, and for challenging Germany’s unconditional support for Israel. The state prosecuting me may have legal authority, but its moral authority has collapsed as it again participates in a genocide.

In Gaza, we’ve resorted to drinking salty water just to keep ourselves from fainting

Hassan Herzallah

We drink salt and water to stay standing, to keep ourselves from going dizzy and collapsing. This is what we've come to in Gaza, where most people will go without food for three days at a time.

1656.

3 augustus 2025

Support Gaza War Refusers

"When a government acts out of foreign interests, harms its citizens, and leads to the killing of innocent people, the orders it issues are manifestly illegal, and it is our duty not to obey them. … This is a war intended to maintain the rule of Netanyahu, Smotrich, and Ben Gvir, and we refuse to take part in it. We can no longer serve Netanyahu’s war for political survival. Some of us will refuse publicly, through statements in the media and on social networks, and many others will do so in other, non-public ways–'gray refusal'.”

This letter marks a rupture in the military consensus. These are people who know the system from the inside: analysts, field researchers, linguists, tech experts, and cyber operatives. And they are saying what many understand but few dare to say: This war is not about rescuing hostages or defending Israeli civilians. It is about preserving a collapsing government.

Support Gaza War Refusers

They are exposing the truth. That the return to combat was a political decision to sabotage a hostage deal. That the hostages who have died were not killed by Hamas, but by Israeli bombs. That the war is not only unjust, but illegal. That refusing to follow orders is not only a right, it is a duty in the face of mass starvation and genocide of the Palestinian people.

Some of these refusers are going public. Others are refusing quietly, behind the scenes. All of them are entering dangerous terrain, legally, socially, and emotionally. This is where we come in. We know that public refusal is only the beginning. What happens afterward is just as important. We help refusers become organizers, provide legal defense, press strategy and capacity-building, connect new refusers with movement veterans, and turn them into a political force that lasts beyond the news cycle.

Support Gaza War Refusers

Your donation makes this work possible. These intelligence officers took a small risk. What comes next depends on what we build around them. Let’s meet this moment with everything we’ve got.

In solidarity,

Tal Marom
Solidarity Coordinator
Refuser Solidarity Network

1655.

2 augustus 2025

Starvation in Gaza and mass displacement in the West Bank

While the world’s attention is locked on the campaign of starvation Israel is carrying out in Gaza, this week’s reporting from the West Bank reminds us that Israel’s war on Palestinians is not confined to one place. It is a full-scale campaign of ethnic cleansing.

From Gaza, Malak Hijazi wrote a powerful reminder that the so-called “humanitarian” aid promoted by Israel and the U.S. is not a serious attempt to alleviate the manufactured famine. The GHF, the tiny air-drops, and the propaganda that go with them are meant to pacify the global public and quiet international outrage. Michael Arria reported on a U.S. security contractor who says he personally witnessed Israeli soldiers commit war crimes at the GHF “aid sites” in Gaza. The contractor’s account matches what Palestinians have been telling the world for months: these aid sites are not safe. They are death traps.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, 42,000 Palestinians remain displaced from their homes after Israel’s invasion of refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarem. They have no stable access to food, water, or shelter. Zena al-Tahhan’s reporting on the humanitarian crisis there makes clear that the goal is not just to remove people, but to prevent their return. Israel is destroying the foundations of civilian life in the West Bank, just as it is in Gaza. This is the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967.

But here’s what’s changing: support for Israel is collapsing across the U.S. electorate. A new Gallup poll shows that just 32% of Americans support Israel’s actions in Gaza, an all-time low. And a survey from Data for Progress, conducted with the IMEU Policy Project, found that a majority of likely Democratic voters in New York City oppose U.S. military aid to Israel, and that Zohran Mamdani’s landslide mayoral primary win was driven by anti-genocide voters. In Washington, the political establishment is still catching up. But even there, the ground is beginning to shift. As Michael Arria reported, one in four U.S. Senators just voted to block new weapons sales to Israel, including a majority of the Democratic caucus. This is the strongest showing ever for the conditioning aid to Israel. The bill didn’t pass because the Republicans were united against it, but the old consensus is cracking. Phil Weiss says Israel’s international isolation has begun. Even Ritchie Torres is suddenly concerned about the welfare of Palestinians.

Let me end with some Mondoweiss news. August is the last month of our fiscal year. To stay strong and independent, we need 15 more readers to become monthly donors today. If you value the eyewitness accounts from Gaza, the original investigations into U.S. complicity, and the critical analyses that we have provided for the past 19 years, please stand with us today. The stakes are high. Independent media is being threatened like never before. We depend on our readers to be our partners in this work. Please become a monthly donor today.

David Reed, Publisher

Must Read: The humanitarian crisis facing 42,000 forcibly displaced Palestinians in the West Bank

Zena al-Tahhan: Six months since Israel’s expanded military assault on the refugee camps of Jenin and Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, over 42,000 Palestinian refugees remain forcibly displaced and have no stable access to food, water, or shelter.

Israeli armored vehicles and bulldozers in Jenin refugee camp, February 25, 2025. (Photo: Mohammed Nasser/APA Images)

Genocide in Gaza

 Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau: Israel says it has a plan to build a “humanitarian city” for 600,000 Palestinians in Rafah. A look at recent reporting shows how Israel may be working with a local gang lord in Gaza and the United Arab Emirates to run the concentration camp.

 Michael Arria: A U.S. security contractor who worked for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) says he saw Israeli soldiers commit war crimes at aid distribution sites in Gaza, corroborating months-long reports by Palestinians that the aid sites are ‘death traps’.

 Malak Hijazi: Israel wants you to believe that airdrops and symbolic aid trucks will solve the famine in Gaza. Don’t believe them. These measures are not meant to end hunger, only to quell growing global outrage as the genocide continues unchecked.

 Qassam Muaddi: The U.S. has pulled out of the ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas as Trump says that Hamas “didn’t really want to make a deal,” despite reports that its latest proposal was “better” than the one it had presented earlier in the week.

Catch-up

 Phil Weiss: U.S. and global politics surrounding Israel are shifting rapidly as the world recoils in horror at Israel’s starvation of Gaza. Here are several lessons the left should take note of.

 Jeff Wright: “The fact that churches have not sufficiently taken up this moral responsibility is a damning indictment. To brazenly prefer their comfort, interests, connections, and desire to avoid embarrassment is moral bankruptcy,” says Jonathan Kuttab.

 James North: A few days after writing a story on starvation and malnutrition in Gaza, the New York Times issued a clarification that it felt readers must know: that the emaciated Palestinian boy it had profiled actually had a preexisting health condition.

 Michael Arria: Democratic lawmakers are pressuring Trump as a new Gallup poll shows that just 32% of Americans back Israel’s actions in Gaza, an all-time low.

 Qassam Muaddi: Israel just transferred the administrative authority over Hebron’s iconic Ibrahimi Mosque from Palestinian to Israeli hands. The move is the first step in Judaizing Muslim places of worship in Palestine.

 Michael Arria: U.S. labor activist Chris Smalls has been released from jail after being abducted by Israeli forces as part of a Gaza aid ship. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition says Smalls had been assaulted by seven uniformed Israeli soldiers.

1654.

2 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

Israel’s international isolation has begun

Philip Weiss

U.S. and global politics surrounding Israel are shifting rapidly as the world recoils in horror at Israel’s starvation of Gaza. Here are several lessons the left should take note of.

U.S. and Europe play games with a Palestinian state while Israel starves Gaza

Mitchell Plitnick

France, Great Britain, and Canada's recognition of a Palestinian state might matter someday. But, as usual, the Palestinians won't get any immediate help from Europe, much less from North America, in stopping the Gaza genocide now.

1653.

2 augustus 2025

The Palestine Chronicle Newsletter | August 1, 2025 - PalestineChronicle.com

For the last 24 hours, the Palestine Chronicle has been battling a cyberattack aimed at disrupting our work. Our dedicated team is doing everything in its power to keep our websites online, and we apologize that the site was inaccessible in various parts of the world for several hours.
Thank you for your patience and support. The Palestine Chronicle Team

Israel is Concerned of a Crisis in Its Global Standing, Especially with the US

LIVE BLOG: New Resistance Operations in Gaza as Hamas Declares Day of Global Solidarity - Day 664

The Milk that Never Came: How Famine in Gaza Shatters the First Bond and the Soul of a Nation

Dr. Mark Brauner, who volunteered at Al-Nasser Hospital in Gaza, writes in the Palestine Chronicle: "It is one thing to die of hunger. It is another to die never having been held with the fullness of safety and warmth that nature intended."

Our journalism is fueled by our community of supporters—people committed to the truth and the aspirations of the Palestinian people, not the interests of corporations or governments. Your support is what keeps us going every day, and it's more critical than ever. Please continue to support us.

Slovenia Imposes Arms Embargo, First EU State to Take Step

Child Starves to Death in Khan Yunis, Famine Toll in Gaza Rises to 159

EU Leaders ‘Complicit’ in Gaza Genocide, Says Borrell – Urges Sanctions

Israeli Forces Turn Gaza Aid Sites into ‘Regular Bloodbaths’ – HRW

Israel Faces Diplomatic Collapse as Pressure Mounts over Gaza Crisis

From Rome to Naples: The Unstoppable Tide of Palestinian Solidarity

US Envoy Tours Gaza Aid Site Fueling Starvation and Displacement

Settler Colonialism and Resistance: Why Kashmir and Palestine Are One Struggle w/ Masood Khan

SUPPORT THE PALESTINE CHRONICLE

Your Support Empowers Palestinian Voices

1652.

1 augustus 2025

 Your Activist Scoop

READ MORE 

SEE HOW YOUR SENATOR VOTED 

PRESSURE ELECTED OFFICIALS 

1651.

1 augustus 2025

Deze week stuurde het kabinet een brief over Gaza aan de Tweede Kamer, waarin eindelijk maatregelen tegen Israël worden aangekondigd. Deze maatregelen schieten ernstig tekort. Ze zouden in 2022, en eigenlijk nóg veel eerder, misschien passend zijn geweest – als reactie op de voortdurende annexatie van Palestijns land, grove mensenrechtenschendingen en de blokkade van Gaza. Nu er in 2025 sprake is van een genocide, zijn ze vooral beschamend: veel te weinig en veel te laat.

Geen doorgang voor hulp die klaarstaat
Het kabinet schrijft dat het wil ‘bekijken’ of bevoorrading via land of lucht mogelijk is. Bekijken? Terwijl er voor maanden aan voedsel bij de grens staat en mensen sterven van de honger. Waarom nadenken over peperdure voedseldroppings als er vrachtwagens klaarstaan die gewoon de grens over kunnen?

Demonstranten in Londen eisen dat vrachtwagens met voedsel, water en medische hulp Gaza worden binnen gelaten. [c] See Li/Picture Capital

Geen echte hulp maar kruimels
Nederland doneert 3 miljoen euro aan het Rode Kruis en 1,5 miljoen aan UNOPS. Samen 4,5 miljoen euro. Een fooitje! Terwijl Nederlandse bedrijven in 2023 voor 50 miljard euro in Israël investeerden, en terwijl wij miljarden uitgeven aan Israëlische wapensystemen en technologie. En waarom niet via de VN? Een miljoen uitgehongerde kinderen in Gaza – en Nederland komt met 4,50 euro per kind. Schaamteloos.

Geen wapenembargo
Over wapenexport schrijft het kabinet dat het ‘vrijwel uitgesloten’ is dat er nog vergunningen worden verleend. Vrijwel uitgesloten? Dit moet geen kwestie van ‘bijna niet’ zijn. Er moet een volledig wapenembargo komen. Alle militaire samenwerking met Israël moet worden beëindigd. Punt.

Onmiddellijke, daadkrachtige maatregelen zijn nodig
Dit is geen daadkrachtig beleid. Het is schaamlap-politiek. Te weinig, te slap, en moreel failliet.

Ieder uur dat we wachten, sterven er weer kinderen in Gaza.
Nederland kan en moet meer doen – en wel nú.

Lees onze volledige reactie op de brief van het kabinet >

Tweede Kamer vergadert over Gaza
Op donderdag 7 augustus komt de commissie Buitenlandse Zaken van de Tweede Kamer alsnog terug van reces om te debatteren over de situatie in Gaza. Een voorstel daartoe werd door de SP ingediend, en dinsdag aangenomen. Vorige week werd een voorstel van GroenLinks-PvdA en D66 voor een debat over Gaza nog verworpen. In tegenstelling tot vorige week stemden VVD, CDA en de ChristenUnie ditmaal wél voor.

Het debat vindt plaats om 14.00 uur in de Groen van Prinstererzaal in de Tweede Kamer, en is ook online te volgen.

Schade van uithongering is voor altijd

De honger grijpt om zich heen in de Gazastrook, waar Israël al maanden nauwelijks voedsel binnenlaat. Een op de drie mensen eet dagen achtereen niets. Inmiddels zijn er zeker 159 mensen, van wie ruim de helft kinderen, gestorven van de honger, als gevolg van Israëls opzettelijk gecreëerde hongersnood. Volgens het Wereldvoedselprogramma van de Verenigde Naties heeft de hele bevolking in Gaza een acuut tekort aan voedsel en hebben 70.000 kinderen dringend behandeling nodig wegens ondervoeding.

Terwijl eindeloze rijen trucks met humanitaire hulp staan te wachten aan de grens, doet Israël er nog een cynisch schepje bovenop: het staat nu ‘voedseldroppings’ toe.

Een Palestijnse jongen heeft een kleine zak met bloem weten te bemachtigen bij een uitdeelpunt voor voedselhulp in het noorden van de Gazastrook. (c) Ramez Habboub / Abaca Press / Alamy

Zondag werden de eerste spullen uit vliegtuigen gegooid. Professionele hulpverleners hebben er geen goed woord voor over en noemen het een ‘groteske afleiding’ van de bewust gecreëerde hongersnood. Droppings zijn inefficiënt, de hulp komt niet terecht bij de mensen die het het hardst nodig hebben, het is relatief duur, bij lange na niet genoeg, en het is onveilig. Inmiddels zijn er gewonden gevallen door neerkomende pakketten.

Wat doet uithongering met een lichaam? En stel dat er wel op korte termijn voedsel binnenkomt, valt er dan van te herstellen? The Rights Forum vroeg het aan twee artsen, en concludeert: vooral kinderen herstellen nooit meer helemaal.

Lees hier het interview >

Échte toewijding aan Palestijnse zelfbeschikking is op VN-conferentie nog ver te zoeken

Maar hoe groot is deze stap nou echt, en draagt het bij aan rechtvaardigheid voor het Palestijnse volk? The Rights Forum heeft de twee verklaringen, de zogenoemde New York-verklaring en New York-oproep, nader bekeken. De conclusie: échte toewijding aan het Palestijnse recht op zelfbeschikking is nog ver te zoeken.

Lees hier onze analyse >

Lees ook:

Uit onze agenda
zaterdag 2 augustus t/m zaterdag 9 augustus
Demonstraties en wakes
• Doorlopende 24-uurs stiltewake in Den Haag, bij het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Rijnstraat 8, Den Haag
• Wake op zaterdag 2 augustus in Groningen, Waagplein (13.00 uur)
• Wake op zaterdag 2 augustus in Maastricht, Markt, bij het standbeeld van J.P. Minckelers, aan de kant van de Boschstraat (16.00 uur)
• Wake op zondag 3 augustus in Haarlem, Grote Markt (14.00 uur)
• Demonstratie tegen uithongering & genocide in Gaza op zondag 3 augustus in Utrecht, Domplein (15.00 uur)
• Stilteprotest voor Palestina op maandag 4 augustus in Utrecht, Neude, langs het fietspad (08.30 uur)
Demonstratie voor Palestina op donderdag 7 agustus in Zaandam, Stationsplein (17.30 uur)
• Sit-in rijksambtenaren op donderdag 7 augustus in Den Haag, Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Rijnstraat 8 (12.00 uur)
• Wekelijks protest tegen genocide, voor menselijkheid op donderdag 7 augustus in Doetinchem, voor het gemeentehuis (10.00 uur)
• Wekelijks lawaaiprotest tegen uithongering en genocide op Palestijnen in Gaza op donderdag 7 augustus op stations in heel Nederland (18.00 uur)

Bekijk hier de hele agenda

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1 augustus 2025

Today's headlines

New York Times: Israel isn’t starving healthy children to death. Just the ones with preexisting conditions.

James North

A few days after writing a story on starvation and malnutrition in Gaza, the New York Times issued a clarification that it felt readers must know: that the emaciated Palestinian boy it had profiled actually had a preexisting health condition.

U.S. union leader Chris Smalls released by Israel after abduction from aid flotilla

Michael Arria

U.S. labor activist Chris Smalls has been released from jail after being abducted by Israeli forces as part of a Gaza aid ship. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition says Smalls had been assaulted by seven uniformed Israeli soldiers.

As Gaza starvation shocks the world, Witkoff is in Israel to push for a ceasefire deal

Qassam Muaddi

Israel just submitted its latest objections to Hamas’s revised ceasefire proposal amid unprecedented international outcry over hunger in Gaza, as 27 Palestinians have died of starvation in the last week alone.

Is the UAE involved in Israel’s Gaza ‘concentration camp’ scheme? Here’s what we know.

Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau

Israel says it has a plan to build a “humanitarian city” for 600,000 Palestinians in Rafah. A look at recent reporting shows how Israel may be working with a local gang lord in Gaza , and the United Arab Emirates, to run the concentration camp.

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