West Bank & Jerusalem: Violence / Incursions / Illegal arrests
Twilight Zone: A bullet through the heart of a Palestinian man – and entire community
Haaretz 15 Aug by Gideon Levy & Alex Levac — A social worker and father of three, Hashem Abu Maria was killed by an IDF sharpshooter during a protest against the Gaza war. Two others were also shot to death — Ayham awoke and phoned his father, Hashem, who told his son that he would be home soon to finish building a new cage for the ducks in the garden. About 10 minutes later, an Israel Defense Forces sharpshooter fired a bullet into Hashem’s heart, killing him on the spot. The sharpshooter then took his rifle and left the balcony of the house from which he had shot Hashem, according to the family who own the apartment which the soldiers had taken over. “The soldier completed his mission and got out,” says the family of the deceased. Afterward, soldiers fired two more live rounds of ammunition, killing two more demonstrators who had assembled on the street below, in the center of Beit Ummar, a town between Bethlehem and Hebron. This happened three weeks ago, in the midst of the war in the Gaza Strip. Hashem Abu Maria, 45 years old and the father of three, worked for the Geneva-based NGO Defense for Children International. He was a social worker who devoted his life to the protection of Palestinian children. On the day of his death, eyewitnesses and family members say, Abu Maria joined a solidarity march with the victims of the Gaza fighting, which set out from the main mosque in Beit Ummar. His aim was to protect the local children and prevent them from following their usual custom of throwing stones at the Israeli troops who raided the town. He stood at the back of the group of protestors, not in front, shooing the children away. Some people heard him tell them, “Go home, this is dangerous. It’s not for you. You are children – demonstrations are for adults. Go home and play with your computers.”
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/twilight-zone/.premium-1.610619
Palestinian killed near Salfit
IMEMC/Agencies 14 Aug by Saed Bannoura — Palestinian medical sources have reported, on Thursday morning, that a young Palestinian man was killed after being rammed by a settler’s vehicle near an illegal Israeli settlement, in the central West Bank district of Salfit. The sources said that Mohammad Abdul-Karim Abu Salim, 23, from Hares village, near Salfit, was struck by the settler’s vehicle as he was trying to cross the road, close to the Borkan illegal settlement. Israeli police officers and an Israeli ambulance arrived at the scene, but the Palestinian was already dead; a Palestinian ambulance moved the slain youngster to the Salfit governmental hospital. The Palestinian police said it is investigating the issue, in an attempt to determine whether the incident was a deliberate attack. The Palestinian TV said Mohammad was preparing for his wedding. Unlike dozens of similar incidents that led to deaths and injuries of scores of Palestinians, including children and elderly in different parts of the occupied West Bank, the settler actually did not flee the scene.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68845
Wounded Palestinian kidnapped in Bethlehem
IMEMC/Agencies 15 Aug by Saed Bannoura — Undercover forces of the Israeli military kidnapped, on Thursday at night, a young Palestinian man, after shooting him in the ‘Aida refugee camp, north of the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Local sources said undercover soldiers of the Israeli military infiltrated into the camp using a vehicle carrying Palestinian license plates, and shot Arafa Abu Srour, age 25, in his leg before kidnapping him. Following the attack, dozens of soldiers invaded the camp firing round of live ammunition, gas bombs and concussion grenades, causing several injuries. The army and its undercover forces then left the camp, taking the kidnapped wounded Palestinian to an unknown destination, local sources said.
Also in Bethlehem, detained legislator Mahmoud al-Khatib has been released by Israel after a month in prison, without charges, and was ordered to a 10.000 NIS fine. Israel is currently holding captive 35 democratically elected Palestinian legislators from the West Bank.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68850
Two Palestinians injured in Jerusalem
IMEMC/Agencies 15 Aug by Saed Bannoura — Palestinian medical sources in occupied Jerusalem have reported that two Palestinians have been injured during clashes with Israeli soldiers near an illegitimate Israeli settlement outpost. The sources said resident Mahmoud Khalil Abu al-Hawa was shot by a rubber-coated metal bullet to the abdomen from a close range, while resident Ali Mahmoud Abu al-Hawa suffered a broken arm after several soldiers assaulted him. Eyewitnesses said the soldiers also fired gas bombs and rounds of live ammunition, while a number of settlement guards also fired rounds of live ammunition into the air. Clashes have also been reported in the Shu’fat refugee camp, and Ras al-‘Amoud neighborhood, in addition to a number of neighborhoods.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68855
Football fan slain by Israel predicted he would be the next martyr
Electronic Intifada 15 Aug by Budour Youssef Hassan — “If you call his number now, no one will answer. The friend you used to call so frequently is gone,” said Muhammad Qattri’s mother, Um Muhammad. She held her slain son’s phone and was speaking to one of his friends. Just a few hours prior to his killing on Friday, 8 August, 19-year-old Qattri had eaten his lunch at home. And as he so often did, he ate quickly and left the house to take part in a protest without telling his mother. For the last two years, Qattri — or Abu Hassan as they called him at his home in al-‘Amari refugee camp, south of Ramallah — regularly participated in protests across the occupied West Bank, including outside Ofer military prison and the Beit El settlement. But protests became an even bigger part of his life since the start of the most recent Israeli aggression on Gaza. “I want to do something for Gaza. I wish I were there. I hate that all we can do is throw rocks,” he had told his friend, also named Muhammad. Muhammad, whose last name is withheld for his safety, was with Abu Hassan at the protest when he was shot. The latest bloodbath in Gaza is transforming the lives and shaping the consciousness of an entire Palestinian generation, and Abu Hassan and his friends were no different.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/football-fan-slain-israel-predicted-he-would-be-next-martyr/13755
Undercover Israeli forces detain Hamas leader in Beit Ummar
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — Undercover Israeli forces detained a Hamas leader in the town of Beit Ummar on Thursday, a local community leader said. The spokesperson of Beit Ummar’s popular committee said Israeli forces from an undercover unit who disguise themselves as Palestinians, known in Hebrew as Mistaravim, kidnapped Ahmad Khader Abed Abu Maria, 47, from his house at 10 a.m. His relative, Hashem Khader Abu Maria, 45, was shot and killed during a Gaza solidarity protest in the town on July 25. Locals in the town said they noticed 15 masked men hiding in an ice-cream truck in the town and began throwing stones at the vehicle. The masked men, who were undercover Israeli forces, fired live ammunition at the villagers, with no injuries reported. Israeli soldiers then fired tear gas canisters at locals who had attempted to push back the undercover unit, who retreated to the nearby illegal Karmi Tsur settlement.
Israeli forces also raided the home of Muhammad Munir Radwan Qawqas, 36, and pointed a gun at his mother. He was blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to Etzion military base. Muhammad is an ex-prisoner who spent 10 years in Israeli prisons. He is a married father of two girls and teaches Hebrew in a school in Bethlehem. Israeli forces also detained Usama Mahmoud Awad Kamil, 26, and Ahmad Khaled Mahmoud Kamil, 26, in the Jenin village of Qabatiya.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720577
8 Palestinians injured in Gaza solidarity march in Bethlehem
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — Eight Palestinians were injured on Friday during clashes with Israeli soldiers in northern Bethlehem, locals said. Clashes broke out as Israeli soldiers dispersed a march of more than 150 Palestinians in solidarity with Gaza heading to an Israeli military watchtower near Rachel’s Tomb. Soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas canisters and stun grenades at youths, injuring an unidentified man in the hand. Eight people were injured by the rubber-coated steel bullets, seven of whom were treated at the scene. One individual, who was hit in the head, was taken to Beit Jala Governmental Hospital for treatment. 20 others suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation during the clashes. Israeli forces also sprayed foul-smelling water toward protesters as well as local buildings, hitting the nearby Intercontinental Hotel directly … The areas around Rachel’s Tomb are a frequent site of clashes because the holy site is surrounded on three sides by the Israeli separation wall despite being in the middle of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Israeli forces have killed 17 Palestinians in protests across the West Bank over the last five weeks as tens of thousands rallied in solidarity with the besieged Gaza Strip.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720810
Explosive device defused near Tubas
IMEMC/Agencies 14 Aug — Explosives experts of the Palestinian police in Jenin, defused on Thursday an explosive object, dropped by the Israeli army during training, in Tammoun town, in the central West Bank district of Tubas … The Public Relations department of the police called on Palestinians to remain alert in areas frequently used by the Israeli army, to stay away from unknown objects and inform the police. There have been many Palestinian casualties, including children and shepherds, resulting from explosive objects and materials left behind by the Israeli military during training, especially since the army uses various areas in the West Bank, mainly near Hebron and the Jordan valley, for conducting training using live ammunition and explosives.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68847
Over 600 detained in Jerusalem since Abu Khdeir murder
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — Israeli forces detained dozens of Palestinians in East Jerusalem overnight Wednesday for the second night in a row as the number of Palestinians detained since the murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir in early July surpassed 600. Israeli forces carried out pre-dawn raids in Silwan, Shu‘fat and the Old City, transferring detainees to the Russian Compound in West Jerusalem. Some detainees had to be transferred to Lod interrogation center as cells reached full capacity. Most of those detained were arrested following large demonstrations protesting the murder of Abu Khdeir by Jewish extremists.
During the overnight arrests, Israeli soldiers assaulted Hajj Khalil Abd ar-Rahim al-Abbasi and his son Imad in Silwan. Imad was taken to al-Maqasid Hospital in the Mount of Olives.
The mother and sister of Ziad Ahmad al-Qaq were also assaulted by Israeli officers when they raided his home and detained him, according to family members. They said Israeli officers punched the two before pushing them to the ground.
A spokesman of East Jerusalem committee of prisoners’ families, Amjad Abu Asab, told Ma‘an that as least 174 of those detained since July are children.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720610
Israeli forces arrest AP photographer in Hebron
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 15 Aug– Israeli forces on Friday afternoon arrested Associated Press photographer Iyad Hamad during clashes in Hebron. Hamad was beaten, cuffed and led to an unknown destination, locals said. Clashes had started in Hebron after a march in protest of the Israeli assault on Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate criticized the arrest and accused the Israeli army of targeting journalists on duty, especially photographers. An army spokeswoman said Hamad was released shortly after being detained.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720840
Israel releases 96 Palestinians arrested in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — Israeli Police released 96 Palestinians and extended the detention of two others from Jerusalem who were arrested in the last few months. They were released from Ofek and Ashkelon prisons as well as al-Maskobiyeh detention center on 5,000-shekel bail, and on house arrest, a Palestinian prisoners’ society lawyer said. Mufeed al-Hajj said 17 were released from Ashkelon, four minors from Ofek, and the rest from al-Maskobiyeh in Jerusalem after they were bailed out.
The detention of Yahiya Abu Khdeir and Moussa Abu Khdeir who are at Hadarim and Nitsan prisons was extended until Sunday Aug. 15.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720838
46 Palestinian detainees from Jerusalem released on bail
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — Israeli authorities will release 46 Palestinian detainees from Jerusalem on Friday, a prisoner rights group said. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said that the detainees, three of whom are children, will be released on bail … The detainees form part of nearly 600 Palestinians arrested in Jerusalem since the murder of teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720787
Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Restriction on movement
Settlers set up mobile homes on land belonging to Palestinian Bethlehem village
BETHLEHEM (WAFA) 13 Aug — Israeli settlers Wednesday set up mobile homes on lands belonging to the village Fureidis to the east of Bethlehem, according to a security source. Sources told WAFA that a group of settlers set up mobile homes or ‘caravans’ on lands belonging to Fureidis as prelude to take over the land and establish a settlement outpost there. The setting up of the two caravans came following an Israeli court’s ruling, two months ago, to remove two caravans that had been set up on the same spot, according to Coordinator of the Popular Anti-wall and Settlement Committee Hasan Breijah.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=26242
Palestinian refugees mark one year of return to destroyed village
KUFR BIR‘IM (Electronic Intifada) 15 Aug by Patrick O. Strickland – Kufr Bir‘im is one of the hundreds of Palestinian villages depopulated by Zionist militas during the Nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe”) — the ethnic cleansing which led to Israel’s foundation in 1948. Earlier this month, activists held a week-long youth camp in this village. More than seventy young Palestinians living in present-day Israel attended. The camp featured lectures and tours that teach the village’s Palestinian history, as well as arts and crafts activities and musical and theater performances. “For 66 years we have been trying to return,” George Ghantous, an organizer of the camp, told The Electronic Intifada. Harsh winter Though this is the 25th annual camp, Ghantous said that this year was special. It is the one-year anniversary of when more than a dozen Palestinian youths — descendants of the village’s refugees — returned to the remains of the village. Despite a harsh winter, which included a heavy snowstorm, and harassment by Israeli authorities, they set up camp and stayed on their ancestral lands.
http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinian-refugees-mark-one-year-return-destroyed-village/13757
Israeli police prevent women from entering Aqsa for second day
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — Palestinian women were forced to pray at the doors of the holy Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem’s Old City for the second day running after Israeli police denied Muslim Palestinian women entry on Thursday. Witnessess told Ma’an that Israeli police restricted women of all ages as well as men under 30 from entering the compound since dawn, as police barricades around the compound remained up for a second day. All gates into the compound were reportedly closed except for three. Dozens of people denied entry gathered near the gates and protested visits by Jewish worshipers with heavily-armed police escorts to the compound. Israeli police allowed Palestinians to enter the compound after 3:00 p.m, after a large Jewish group completed its tour.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720740
Gaza
Gaza death toll hits 1,980 as dozens succumb to war wounds
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — A Ministry of Health official warned Friday that the death toll in Gaza was expected to continue to rise as dozens succumbed to wounds sustained during the offensive and more bodies were recovered under the rubble of homes. Healthy ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said that the death toll had hit 1,980 on Friday with at least 10,181 injured. Dozens have been added to the death count despite a fragile calm maintained through back-to-back ceasefires in recent weeks. Al-Qidra said that many of those injured are still in a critical condition, and are not expected to survive their wounds. The low survival rate is also due in part to the continued lack of appropriate medical supplies and facilities for injured patients, while 18-hour daily power cuts and a lack of fuel for generators aggravate the condition of those hospitals still functioning. The PLO estimates that that 17 hospitals and seven clinics were damaged during the assault, 10 hospitals and 44 primary health clinics were closed, 22 ambulances were damaged, and 83 health personnel injured, along with 19 health personnel who died in Israeli airstrikes. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report on Thursday that supplies of medicine had managed to return to their June levels, when medicines were running at about 70 percent of their required volume due to the Israeli siege and Egyptian limitations on imports into Gaza … Despite the improvements, the inability of medical authorities to properly administer to the injured during the bombardment has had lasting effects being felt as the death toll rises rapidly in the days since. The massive scale of the destruction of residential neighborhoods — at least 16,800 homes were obliterated or severely damaged — means that it could also take weeks to find all of the dead beneath the rubble. Al-Qidra said that civil defense and ambulance crews were currently working around the clock to search for the many who are still reported missing in Gaza. As the days pass, however, the possibility of finding survivors under the rubble was fading and the focus was on recovering bodies. He added that the ministry’s toll also kept increasing as many families had buried their dead without taking them first to the hospital, as these families had feared being targeted amid intense Israeli bombardment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720796
just an example of three who didn’t make it
3 elderly Palestinians succumb to wounds from Israeli assault on Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — Three Palestinians died on Thursday evening as a result of injuries they sustained earlier during the Israeli assault, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra named two of the dead as Jihad Ali Abu Zeid, 61, and Mahdheyah al-Mebayyed, 91, both of whom died as a result of injuries sustained during the Israeli offensive on the Shujaiyya neighborhood of Gaza City, which left more than 100 dead in less then 48 hours. The third deceased Palestinian man was identified as Ibrahim Ismail Abu Odeh, 64, from Beit Hanoun.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720720
Palestinian killed in Khan Younis
IMEMC/Agencies 14 Aug by Saed Bannoura — Palestinian medical sources have reported that a man was killed on Wednesday evening, when an explosive object — likely to have been fired by Israel, previously — detonated close to him in the Rabwat area, west of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Medical sources said resident Kamal ad-Daly, 26, died of his wounds at the Nasser Medical Center in Khan Younis.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68842
Head of Gaza bomb squad killed as 1,000 tons of Israeli munitions remain
Electronic Intifada 13 Aug by Nora Barrows-Friedman — Six people were killed and six others seriously injured on Wednesday when an unexploded 500 kilogram Israeli missile blew up in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, as weapons disposal experts were attempting to make it safe. Bilal Muhammad al-Sultan, Rahed Taysir Ali al-Hom, Hazem Ahmad Abu Murad and Saeed Talal Salman were killed in the explosion. They were part of a small team of experts who defuse unexploded munitions and were working constantly around the Gaza Strip in the last month since Israel began its attacks on 7 July … The Guardian reports that “One day last week, while the last tenuous ceasefire held in Gaza, al-Hom received seventy calls. In this conflict alone, he had dealt with 400 ‘objects.’” “My duty” An Al Jazeera English video report recently featured Hazem Abu Murad, head of field operations for Gaza’s police bomb squad, at work attempting to defuse missiles fired from US-made Israeli F-16 jets. “Of course my job is very dangerous, but I’m doing my duty for my people,” Abu Murad explained to Al Jazeera. (If you cannot view the video on Al Jazeera’s website due to content geoblocking, you can view it here) … Because of the Israeli-Egyptian siege and blockade on Gaza, these munitions experts have been prevented from accessing necessary protective gear and robotic equipment that their counterparts in other countries rely on to do this critical but dangerous work.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/head-gaza-bomb-squad-killed-1000-tons-israeli-munitions-remain
AP video journalist, translator killed in Gaza
[with video] GAZA CITY (AP) 13 Aug by Ibrahim Barzak & Josef Federman — Six people — including an Associated Press video journalist — were killed Wednesday when leftover ordnance believed to have been dropped in an Israeli airstrike blew up in the Gaza Strip. Simone Camilli and his Palestinian translator, Ali Shehda Abu Afash, were covering the aftermath of the war between Israel and Islamic militants in Gaza when they were killed. The blast occurred as Gaza police engineers were trying to defuse unexploded ordnance fired by Israel. Four police engineers also were killed, police said. Three people, including AP photographer Hatem Moussa, were badly injured. Moussa told a colleague that they were filming the scene when an initial explosion went off. He said he was hit by shrapnel and began to run when there was a second blast, which knocked him out. He woke up in a hospital and later underwent surgery before he was transferred to a hospital in Israel for more advanced care. Police officials in Gaza said the blast took place at a special site set up in the northern town of Beit Lahiya where authorities have collected unexploded ordnance to be defused. The cause of the blast was not immediately known. Hamas police spokesman Ayman al-Batniji said there had clearly been a ‘mistake’ and there would be an investigation. He said the Palestinians collect unexploded munitions but usually get help from international experts in disposing of them. “We never deal with these things alone,” he said, adding that police believe only a small fraction of unexploded bombs from the recent fighting have been recovered. An official said an Israeli tank shell caused the first explosion, triggering the more powerful secondary blast that included several bombs, including unexploded missiles dropped in Israeli airstrikes. The Israeli military carried out nearly 5,000 airstrikes in a month of fighting … Iyad al-Bouzm, a spokesman for Gaza’s Interior Ministry, estimated that Israel dropped about 10,000 tons of explosives on Gaza, including shells fired by tanks, artillery batteries and gunboats, as well as more powerful missiles delivered in airstrikes. He said there was no estimate on how many unexploded shells remained.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ap-video-journalist-killed-gaza-24957942
Day of prayer and truce in Gaza
GAZA CITY (AFP) 15 Aug by Laurent Lozano — Palestinian worshipers attended weekly prayers, relatively confident of their safety Friday as a fragile ceasefire held for a second day and tough talks loomed on a more lasting peace. For the first time since fighting began between Israel and Hamas on July 8, residents in Gaza City were able to attend the main weekly Friday prayers without fear of being killed. In the Shati refugee camp, a few hundred men prayed in the rubble of one mosque, lining up their prayer mats directly under the teetering remains of the minaret that looked as if it could collapse at any moment, after around two thirds of the mosque was pulverised …. Egyptian mediators won a new five-day ceasefire late Wednesday to give Israeli and Palestinian negotiators more time to thrash out a longer-term truce. The ceasefire got off to a rocky start in its first few hours, but Israeli officials said it had held into a second day Friday. Negotiations are expected to resume in Cairo on Saturday evening, as Palestinian and Israeli negotiators consult with their political leaderships about the parameters for an eventual long-term truce.
http://news.yahoo.com/day-prayer-truce-gaza-174719206.html
Palestinians accuse Israel of violating Gaza truce
GAZA (Reuters) 15 Aug – The Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza accused Israel on Friday of a cross-border shooting in violation of a truce that has largely held since getting off to a shaky start on Thursday. An Israeli military spokeswoman said: “We have no knowledge of such an incident.” The Palestinian ministry in the coastal territory dominated by Hamas Islamists said Israeli troops shot at houses east of the town of Khan Younis. The ceasefire, renewed on Thursday for five days after a previous truce expired, has largely halted more than a month of fighting in which 1,945 Palestinians, many of them civilians, 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians in Israel were killed. The truce got off to a rocky start with Israel launching an air raid early on Thursday in response to rocket fire from Gaza in violation of the earlier truce. There were no reported casualties in any of these incidents.
http://news.yahoo.com/hamas-accuses-israel-border-shooting-violation-truce-151244265.html
3 Gaza detainees assaulted during arrest by Israeli soldiers
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 13 Aug — Three Palestinians who were detained during Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip were assaulted, injured, and denied medical treatment, a lawyer told Ma‘an on Wednesday. Youssef al-Nasasrah, a lawyer with the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, said that Ahmad Taymur Abu Rida was detained from his home in Khan Younis and “brutally beaten” by Israeli soldiers. Khalid Kamel Ibrahim al-Najjar from Khuza‘a, a neighborhood of Khan Younis, was injured in an Israeli airstrike and arrested while still bleeding from his injuries.He was not given medical treatment following his arrest.Momen Khalid al-Najjar, also from Khuza‘a, was assaulted while being detained. Al-Nasasrah visited the detainees in Israel’s Ashkelon prison, where rights groups say 26 Palestinians are being held. Over 250 Palestinians were detained during Israel’s ground operation and uncertainty remains over the exact number still being held in Israeli prisons.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720396
Israel releases 3 Gazans captured during ground assault
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 16 Aug — Israeli authorities on Friday night released three Palestinian men captured by Israeli forces during the ground invasion of Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoner Affairs said. The release of the three comes amid Palestinian concern and Israeli silence over the fate of at least 250 individuals Palestinian groups allege were captured by Israeli forces during the assault. Director of statistics at the Ministry of Prisoner Affairs Abd al-Nasser Farawana named the three released men as Ahmad Muhammad Hmeidan Abu Lihya from Khan Younis, Abd al-Qadir Freih Salim Shalouf from Rafah, and Nafith Hussein Muhammad Shalouf, also from Rafah. Two of the men appear in a list of 26 people given by Israeli authorities to the Palestinian prisoner ministry last week that they said were the names of those detained during the fighting. Israeli authorities at the time said that those who had been captured in Gaza had been transferred out of the coastal territory and were being held in Ashkelon prison, just north of Gaza inside Israel. The third individual released on Friday night, however, does not appear on the list, re-igniting concerns that Israeli authorities have not been forthcoming about hundreds of Gazan men being secretly held inside Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720898
Handful of Gaza children evacuated to Jerusalem for treatment
[Video, case studies] Those receiving treatment outside of Gaza are not unique because of the severity of their wounds and trauma, but because they were allowed out, write Olivia Watson* and Ellis Garey* in their multimedia feature for DCI-Palestine. Ramallah, August 14, 2014 — Shaima al-Masri, 5, came to Saint Joseph’s Hospital in East Jerusalem from Beit Hanoun, in the north of the Gaza Strip. It has been five weeks since she was first injured in an Israeli airstrike, but Shaima is still recovering from serious injuries that led to extensive internal bleeding. After two surgeries in Gaza to remove the shrapnel lodged in her stomach, liver, and kidney, doctors urged human rights groups to intervene and facilitate her transfer to Jerusalem … “The situation in Gaza hospitals is very bad now,” said Samah. “In Shifa, Shaima shared a single hospital bed with four children. They don’t have enough resources, there isn’t medicine.” … In Saint Joseph’s, Shaima has a bed to herself, and only one roommate. A stream of Palestinians from East Jerusalem visit the hospital, bearing small gifts for the patients from Gaza. Shaima is quiet and seems dazed, but willingly shows visitors her toys. Yazan, the five-year-old boy from Gaza with whom she shares a room, doesn’t engage with the crowd of people. His mother says he hasn’t talked much since he was injured …
“We got here with the help of a human rights group. It wasn’t easy. On the way to Erez crossing, the ambulance was shot at with Shaima inside.” Though the children allowed out of Gaza for specialized care are often in particularly critical conditions, the exit process can delay their access to treatment. Mohammad, 14, another Gazan patient at Saint Joseph’s, was made to wait for hours while Israeli border officials searched him and his mother. Lifting his shirt to reveal a foot-long incision held together with metal sutures, Mohammad’s mother said, “They searched his whole body and all of our possessions, it took us a long time to get through.” The end of their treatment at Saint Joseph’s won’t mark the end of the recovery for the children from Gaza: they are among the 373,000 Gazan children in need of immediate psycho-social support for their trauma. How – or whether – their needs will be addressed is unclear.
http://www.dci-palestine.org/documents/handful-gaza-children-evacuated-jerusalem-treatment
344 children born in UNRWA shelters during Israeli assault
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — UNRWA vehicles generally tend to carry aid or supplies, but this time the car belonging to the UN’s Palestine refugee agency was crowded with women and new-born babies. The women and their children were being taken to attend a ceremony where they would be given a hygiene kit of milk and diapers to take care of the newborns. Among the attendees were just some of the 344 Palestinian babies who have begun their lives as internally displaced persons in UNRWA schools across Gaza, according to the agency. A Ma‘an reporter at the ceremony said that many of the attendees came dressed in their Muslim prayer dress, unable to find other clothes to wear, and some of the mothers had not been able to find any baby clothes for their newborn children amid the devastation across Gaza. A mother from the Abu Adwan family told Ma‘n that her house was bombed only hours before she gave birth to her baby daughter Ghadir….
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720619
Israeli warships open fire at Palestinian fishermen near Rafah
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 13 Aug — Israeli warships on Wednesday opened fire at Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the southern Gaza Strip, in the second such incident since an agreed-upon 72-hour truce came into effect, witnesses told Ma‘an.Witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire “heavily” at a Palestinian fishing boat near Rafah, but that there were no injuries.An Israeli army spokeswoman said a motor boat had “breached the military closure,” and that Israeli forces opened fire into the air. The motorboat then “returned to Gaza,” with “no injuries or damages.”A similar incident occurred the day before, when a Palestinian fishing boat came under fire by Israeli forces in the same area, a fishermen union official said at the time. Israeli naval forces regularly open fire at fishermen in Gaza if they venture further than three nautical miles from shore, a policy that has had a crippling impact on the fishing industry. As a part of any lasting ceasefire, Palestinian negotiators have demanded that Israeli forces extend the “designated fishing zone” by several nautical miles.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720294
Despite devastation, Gaza school year to begin in September
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — The Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education has begun planning for the the upcoming school year in the Gaza Strip as normalcy slowly returns to the besieged coastal enclave devastated by five weeks of Israeli bombardment. Even with 277 schools damaged in the assault — including a large number which took direct hits — Minister Khawla al-Shakhshir said on Friday that the ministry is hoping to begin classes within three weeks. She said that the ministry is also focused on improving psychological services for students and families in the wake of the assault … The ministry’s plans include individual and group activities focusing on psychological counseling and awareness with specific attention paid toward the mental well-being of children.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720789
Amid destruction, ordinary Gazans open homes, churches to displaced
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 13 Aug by Alex Shams — The first day the bombs began to fall on Gaza, Refqa al-Hamallawy called a meeting in her office at the al-Najd Developmental Forum where she is president to formulate a plan of action. As the windows of the Gaza City office were rocked by thuds both near and far from the explosions of Israeli airstrikes, the employees and volunteers of the community organization made a decision that they would stay at their posts for as long as the Israeli assault continued. Whatever happened, they promised, the organization would keep its doors open to all affected by the crisis. Thirty-eight days later, al-Hamallawy and the workers at al-Najd are still working overtime, like thousands of others in the Gaza Strip who have dropped everything to help their fellow Palestinians in their time of need … The St. Porphyrios Orthodox Church in Gaza’s Old City was another crucial place of refuge for thousands of Gazans. The church provided refuge for more than 3,000 people during the worst days of the Israeli bombardment, hosting 800 in the church itself and 2,500 in shops and homes in the surrounding community. The director of religious relations at the church said that hundreds of families streamed toward the church fleeing intense shelling in the nearby neighborhood of Shujaiyya as well as Beit Hanoun. “When we began to feel that people were in danger and the people started coming, we opened or doors to them to allow them to stay in this safe place,” the director, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Ma‘an via telephone … Despite the fear, however, there were moments of joy, the director recalled. “When Eid al-Fitr came,” he said, “we celebrated together and brought toys and sweets for the children,” noting that during the Ramadan month of fasting, church officials served the evening iftar meal and the displaced said their prayers in the church’s outer sanctuary.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=719655
Authority: $34.4 million worth of damages to Gaza water sector
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 14 Aug — The Palestinian Water Authority said on Thursday that the water distribution network in Gaza had suffered $34.4 million worth of damage as a result of the Israeli offensive over the last five weeks, including dozens of destroyed facilities. The immense scale of the destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure has only become increasingly apparent over the last two weeks, as a relative calm due to back-to-back temporary ceasefire has allowed authorities to survey the damage. The water authority said in a statement that 11 water wells had been completely destroyed and 15 partially destroyed in the assault, while 17 kilometers of water supply networks were completely destroyed and another 29 partially destroyed. The authority also said that 5 water containers were completely destroyed while 11 water containers were partially or severely damaged, while two desalination units were completely destroyed, and four were partially damaged. In addition, more than seven kilometers of sewage networks were completely destroyed and more than 10 kilometers partially destroyed, while 12 pumping sewage stations were severely damaged and four waste-water treatment stations were partially destroyed. $9 million worth of damages, meanwhile, were caused to water services vehicles and machinery. The water network would also require some $32.6 million worth of emergency supplies to cover the Strip’s water needs for the next six months, the authority added, highlighting that because of the damage sustained by an Israeli airstrike on the territory’s sole power plant, fuel for the water network was an urgent concern.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720672
Damages on Gaza agriculture to have long-term effects on the region
IMEMC/Agencies 16 Aug — The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that the Israeli assault on Gaza caused extensive damage to the region’s agricultural sector and will have long-term consequences. In a statement, the FAO said that the five-week assault has “forced farmers and herders to abandon their lands and has paralyzed fishing activities, bringing local food production to a halt and severely affecting livelihoods.” “The recent fighting has resulted in substantial direct damage to Gaza’s 17,000 hectares of croplands as well as much of its agricultural infrastructure, including greenhouses, irrigation systems, animal farms, fodder stocks and fishing boats,” the statement continued. The report noted, according to Ma‘an, that Gaza has lost half of its poultry in the attack, “either due to direct hits on their shelters or lack of water, feed or care resulting from access restrictions.”
Losses among Gaza’s fishing sector were estimated at 234.6 tons — about 9.3 percent of the yearly catch. According to the FAO, although Gaza imports most of its food, around 28,600 people in Gaza rely on farming (19,000 people), livestock raising (6,000) and fishing (3,600) for their livelihoods.
http://www.imemc.org/article/68860
Deputy PM: Unity government to rebuild Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — The Palestinian unity government will take responsibility for the reconstruction of Gaza following Israel’s devastating month-long assault, deputy prime minister Ziad Abu Amr said Friday. “The Palestinian government will take responsibility for the Gaza Strip and its needs,” the deputy prime minister said during a visit to Gaza’s Shifa hospital … The official praised the “heroic” actions of medical staff in Gaza while health minister Yoused Abu al-Rish said the visit was a boost amid the suffering of medics who were injured or killed during Israel’s offensive. Medics and nurses had not been paid for months before Israel’s offensive began, Abu al-Rish added. Abu Amr arrived in Gaza on Tuesday in his first visit since the formation of a new unity government. The visit marks the first time Israel has allowed officials from the Palestinian unity government to enter Gaza through Erez since its formation.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720784
Gazans displaced by war to be housed in ‘mobile homes’
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 13 Aug — Thousands of Gazans displaced in Israel’s recent assault on the besieged enclave will be housed in mobile homes until a permanent solution can be found, a Palestinian official said Wednesday. Mufid al-Hasaynah, minister for public works and housing, says the ministry is trying to arrange the entry of 3,500 mobile homes donated to Gaza by Turkey.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720281
Dutch man returns Israeli WWII honour after family killed in Gaza
The Hague (AFP) 16 Aug — A 91-year-old Dutch man honoured by Israel for shielding a Jew from the Nazis has handed back his medal after six of his relatives were killed in a Gaza air strike. Henk Zanoli returned his Righteous Among the Nations award to the Israeli ambassador in The Hague this week after an Israeli F-16 destroyed his great-niece’s Gaza home, killing all inside. “It is with great sorrow that I am herewith returning the medal I received as an honour and a token of appreciation from the State of Israel for the efforts and risks taken by my mother and her family in saving the life of a Jewish boy during the German occupation,” Zanoli said in a letter dated Monday. According to Zanoli’s letter addressed to the Israeli ambassador, the bomb dropped by the Israeli military on July 20 during its massive Gaza offensive flattened a four-storey building at the Bureij Refugee Camp, killing all inside. “The great-great grandchildren of my mother have lost their grandmother, three uncles, an aunt and a cousin at the hands of the Israeli military,” Zanoli said in the letter, published by liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz and widely circulated in the Dutch media. “It is particularly shocking and tragic that today, four generations on, our family is faced with the murder of our kin in Gaza. Murder carried out by the State of Israel,” Zanoli said.
http://news.yahoo.com/dutch-man-returns-israeli-wwii-honour-family-killed-205337171.html
French consul to sue Israel for destruction of Gaza home
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 13 Aug — French consul in Gaza Majdi Shaqqura says he is planning to take legal action against Israel after his home was destroyed by Israeli bombardment during a month-long assault on the besieged territory. “This wasn’t the first time Israeli forces bombarded my house,” Shaqqura told reporters Wednesday. His children broke down in tears when they saw the destruction caused to their family home. “All houses in Gaza have been targets for Israeli warplanes as part of a policy of collective punishment against all Gaza residents,” Shaqqura said. By targeting the house of a diplomat representing an EU country, “Israel is telling the whole world that it’s superior to everybody and to international law,” added Shaqqura. The diplomat said he will file a complaint against Israel and is in consultations with human rights groups over the best legal procedures to guarantee success.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720262
Dr Clown brings joy to traumatized children of Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 15 Aug — Despite the drawings on their faces and the attempts to help them forget the horrible scenes they witnessed during the offensive on Gaza, the children at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City are fragile, many still unable to speak. Sondos Hassunah, one of the many children at the hospital, inhaled poisonous gas after Israeli forces shelled fuel containers near her home, and has been silent and traumatized ever since. Like most of the 3,083 other Gazan children wounded in the war — on top of the 489 who were killed — Sondos’ smiles and laughter were stolen by the Israeli shells and bombs. That all changed, however, the day she met Dr. Clown. Her father Ashraf told Ma’an that she had refused to communicate with any of the people around her until she saw Haitham, or Dr. Clown as he is more popularly known, who has quickly become a favorite among the children at the hospital … Dr. Clown and his clown colleagues at al-Shifa carry bags almost identical to those doctors carry, except that their content is quite different. They wear white coats on top of their clown clothes and move between children’s beds in the hospital, juggling red balls and holding plastic needles, even performing magic tricks in an attempt to lessen the children’s pains and take their mind away from the horrible scenes they have survived … Muhammad al-Halabiya, projects manager for World Vision in Gaza, said that the organization had opened 20 “child-friendly spaces” which focus on providing psychological support for almost 2,000 children, especially those from the hardest hit areas like eastern Shujaiyya, Rafah, Beit Hanoun, and the border areas.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=720812
Animals caught in crossfire, trapped in Gaza zoo
GAZA CITY (AFP) 16 Aug by Tom Little — The lions sit dazed in the shade of their damaged pen, while nearby the decayed carcases of two vervet monkeys lie contorted on the grass of a Gaza zoo. The animals were caught in the crossfire in over a month of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants … In one enclosure at the zoo a fly-covered pelican huddles in the corner with a duck. Opposite, a small crocodile sits motionless in an inch of stagnant water, next to the rotting corpse of a stork. A gazelle shares another pen with a goose. Around the corner, a baboon picks listlessly at the ground of the tiny pen it shares with the dried-out remains of another monkey. Everywhere, there is a sickly stench from the animals’ cages, which have not been cleaned for weeks. Shadi Hamad, the park’s director, said the zoo was damaged and that the animals died as a result of Israeli air strikes. An Israeli army spokesman told AFP that the military was looking into allegations that it fired missiles in the Al-Bisan park area …
The zoo — part of Al-Bisan City — was built by the Hamas government in 2008 as a tourist village to give Gazans some relief from the hardships of life in the Strip, and had a cafeteria and tables where families could sit and relax. The animals were all smuggled through tunnels that connected Egypt to Gaza
http://news.yahoo.com/animals-caught-crossfire-trapped-gaza-zoo-031222490.html
Why it’s hard to believe Israel’s claim that it did its best to minimize civilian deaths
Huffington Post 13 Aug by Idan Barir, former Crew Commander, Israeli Artillery Corps — …The images, evidence and army reports from recent operations in Gaza — of more than 1,900 deaths (a number which will likely increase by the time you read this) and a large amount of the population left without shelter — show that Israel has deployed massive artillery firepower. Such firepower is impossible to target precisely. Artillery fire is a statistical means of warfare. It is the complete opposite of sniper fire. While the power of sharpshooting lies in its accuracy, the power of artillery comes from the quantity of shells fired and the massive impact of each one. In using artillery against Gaza, Israel therefore cannot sincerely argue that it is doing everything in its power to spare the innocent. The truth is artillery shells cannot be aimed precisely and are not meant to hit specific targets. A standard 40 kilogram shell is nothing but a large fragmentation grenade. When it explodes, it is meant to kill anyone within a 50-meter radius and to wound anyone within a further 100 meters.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/idan-barir/israel-gaza-civilian-deaths_b_5673023.html
Photo: Israel’s ‘pinpoint’ bombing of Gaza
Jewish Voice for Peace 14 Aug — Image via @Abuzein11 (Mohammed Mansour)
https://www.facebook.com/JewishVoiceforPeace/photos/a.10150125586109992.332923.186525784991/10153079512704992/?type=1&theater
Deep underground, Mohammed Deif shapes Hamas war with Israel
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) 14 Aug by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell — Israeli assassination attempts may have left him badly hurt and driven him deep underground, but Mohammed Deif, the shadowy leader of Hamas’ armed wing in the Gaza Strip, has emerged as a mastermind of the war with Israel. As chief strategist behind a network of tunnels under Israel’s border, Deif caught his powerful enemy off guard with surprise attacks that caused heavy casualties. Despite punishing Israeli strikes in the month-old conflict, Hamas kept up its rocket fire, even against business capital Tel Aviv. Deif’s command position also gives him a voice among the Islamist movement’s leaders in steering it toward war or truce – a five-day ceasefire went into effect on Thursday. But he is said to prefer his military role to internal politics. Few people know what Deif, believed to be in his 50s, looks like today, after at least four Israeli attempts to kill him. Past images are scarce. Rare video footage from 2002 caught Deif covered in blood, sitting upright, dazed as a man tries to drag him away from the mangled wreckage of a car that had been hit by a missile from an Israeli helicopter. Hamas does not comment on Deif’s health and says he has been in full command of its military wing since the 1990s. Some Israeli reports say he is missing an eye, limbs and is confined to a wheelchair. His whereabouts are also a mystery; an Israeli minister said last month that Deif had been in hiding in his own tunnels for years. Nonetheless, a senior Israeli intelligence officer told Reuters, Israel believes Deif is playing a major operational role in the Gaza war.
http://news.yahoo.com/deep-underground-mohammed-deif-shapes-hamas-war-israel-161620628.html
Subtle voices of dissent surface in war-torn Gaza
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip (AP) 14 Aug by Hamza Hendawi — The group of neighbors surveyed the destruction wreaked on their residential complex by Israeli bombardment, with building after building flattened or punctured by shells. The men then began to voice something almost never heard out loud in Gaza: criticism of its Hamas rulers. Exhausted by a month of pounding by Israel’s military — on top of seven years of stifling closure of the tiny Mediterranean coastal strip — they questioned Hamas’ handling of the crisis and the wisdom of repeatedly going to war with Israel. “We do not want to be bombarded every two or three years. We want to lead a good life: Sleep well, drink well and eat well,” said Ziad Rizk, a 37-year-old father of two, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He stared at the damaged apartment building where he lived. His sofa and a blue baby carriage were perched precariously on a tilting concrete slab that was his floor. It is impossible to say how widespread such discontent is among Gaza’s 1.8 million residents. Under Hamas rule, it’s rare and dangerous to share even as much as a hint of criticism of the government with outsiders.Still, the men’s boldness in voicing their opinions could be a telling sign that some Gazans see Hamas as weakened.
http://news.yahoo.com/subtle-voices-dissent-surface-war-torn-gaza-175238594.html
US president stalls shipment of hellfire missiles to Israel
IMEMC 15 Aug by Celine Hagbard — After officials in the Obama administration say they were ‘blindsided’ by the shipment of ammunition from the Pentagon to Israel, the administration decided to put a temporary halt on the transfer of a number of hellfire missiles. The move appears to be a ‘tit for tat’ response to the Israeli purchase of ammunition directly from the Pentagon, according to analysts familiar with U.S.-Israel relations. President Obama recently gave a speech assuring his administration’s full support for the Israeli offensive in Gaza, and authorized an additional $225 million approved by the U.S. Congress for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system – a system whose effectiveness has been called into question by military experts, in recent weeks. But, the decision on Thursday to delay the shipment of Hellfire missiles indicates that the Obama administration is, for the first time, hesitating in its previously unrestricted, blanket support for Israel. An unnamed official within the Obama administration told reporters from the Wall Street Journal that the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza has “persuaded them that Mr. Netanyahu and his national security team are both reckless and untrustworthy.”
http://www.imemc.org/article/68849
Gaza border crossings
<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/hamas-negotiators-qatar-discuss-israel-truce-1351