Report from Gaza: Israel Kills Dozens More, Increases Forced Evacuations, Attacks Aid Truck
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
August 29, 2024
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/8/29/ ... transcript
We get an update from Gaza, where at least 68 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours as Israel continues its relentless assault on the territory. After nearly 11 months of war, the official Gaza death toll now stands at over 40,600, although the true figure is estimated to be much higher. The World Food Programme announced it is pausing the movement of all staff in Gaza until further notice after Israeli forces shot at one of its clearly marked vehicles despite receiving multiple clearances by Israeli authorities. This comes just two days after U.N. humanitarian efforts in Gaza virtually ground to a halt due to new Israeli evacuation orders that disrupted operations again. Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza over the past week, displacing a quarter of a million people in Deir al-Balah alone, including from the Al-Aqsa Hospital, where tens of thousands of residents and wounded were seeking shelter. Journalist Akram al-Satarri, speaking from just outside the hospital, describes “continuous military operations, continuous devastation, continuous targeting and [an] increased number of Palestinians affected by those ongoing operations either by being killed or being injured or by becoming displaced because of the new evacuation orders.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: In Gaza, at least 68 Palestinians have been killed and 77 wounded in the last 24 hours, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Nearly 11 months into Israel’s war on Gaza, the toll now stands at more than 40,600 Palestinians killed and nearly 94,000 wounded, though the true casualty figures are expected to be much higher with thousands unaccounted for.
As Israel’s daily bombardment continues, the humanitarian crisis is only deepening. The World Food Programme has announced it’s pausing the movement of all staff in Gaza until further notice after Israeli forces shot at one of its clearly marked vehicles as it was moving toward an Israeli military checkpoint. The U.N. food agency said the vehicle was shot despite receiving multiple clearances by Israeli authorities to approach. The U.N. food agency said the incident was a, quote, “stark reminder of the rapidly and ever shrinking humanitarian space in the Gaza Strip.”
This comes just two days after the U.N.'s humanitarian efforts in Gaza virtually ground to a halt due to new Israeli evacuation orders that forced the shutdown of the main U.N. operations center in Deir al-Balah. The U.N.'s main humanitarian aid hub, with warehouses and accommodation for staff, had already been relocated once before in early May following Israel’s ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza. The new hub was set up in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, but an evacuation order by the Israeli military on Sunday also included the new headquarters.
Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza over the past week, displacing a quarter of a million people in Deir al-Balah alone. The new orders also forced many families and patients to leave Al-Aqsa Hospital, the main medical facility in Deir al-Balah, where tens of thousands of residents and wounded were seeking shelter.
AMY GOODMAN: We go now to Gaza to just outside the Al-Aqsa Hospital, where we’re joined by journalist Akram al-Satarri.
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Akram. If you can explain the situation right now? The attention now is on the West Bank, but in the last 24 hours alone, 68 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza alone, with more than that injured.
AKRAM AL-SATARRI: Good morning to you, Amy, and to all viewers.
Indeed, the situation in Gaza is ever escalating. The situation in the West Bank is marking a new beginning, where Israeli occupation forces are using the very same tactics of destruction and devastation and also besieging the hospitals and the other infrastructure for the sake of just — as they said, for the sake of preventing the movement of the armed people, but, indeed, that brings more devastation to the infrastructure and more devastation to the civilian population.
In the Gaza Strip, 68 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours. Around 21 Palestinians are killed since the morning as of today. And the number of Palestinians who are injured is also increasing. The number of military operations that have an aim of destroying residential blocks is increasing. The bombardment that is resulting from the ongoing operation destroying residential blocks in Rafah area, in Khan Younis area, in Deir al-Balah in Gaza central area, al-Bureij and also in al-Zeitoun area is also hit from all different parts of the Gaza Strip, continuous military operations, continuous devastation, continuous targeting and increased number of Palestinians affected by those ongoing operations either by being killed or being injured or by becoming displaced because of the new evacuation orders that were given to the Palestinians to move them from the humanitarian zone, to move them to the humanitarian zone that is also ever shrinking.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Akram, if you could describe the scale of these evacuation orders? Over 88.5% of Gaza is under evacuation orders. What’s the impact of these evacuation orders on people who are in Gaza?
AKRAM AL-SATARRI: For you to better understand the situation, people are asked to move to areas that have no infrastructure whatsoever, that have no regular water supplies, that have no regular even garbage collection services, with the municipal services coming to a full halt. So, you would be walking down the streets seeing tents erected on the sides of the road, seeing tents erected on the open areas, no infrastructure, no even sewage, no water supplies, no electricity, no hygiene, and the people are living there.
And all of the sudden, they are asked to move from the very same area, that is very lacking, to another area to start removing the tents and building the tents in some other area. People are asked to move to an area of around 11% of the Gaza Strip, to be more precise. And in those areas, that are called the humanitarian zone, there is nothing that have to do or has to do with the humanitarian need. The humanitarian needs are not met.
And people are exposed and vulnerable to extremely increasing risk of the bombardment. In those areas, people were erecting their tents, and they ended up being targeted and killed in those tents. In al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, around 100 Palestinians were killed when the Israeli occupation forces targeted the whole area and then claimed to have managed to assassinate Mohammed al-Deif, who is the commander general of Hamas military wing. People are — even when they are moved into a humanitarian zone, they are not receiving humanitarian services.
The U.N. agencies and the other international agencies are also facing increasingly difficult situation because of the movement restrictions that have been taking place, because of the fact that they have always to redefine and replan for the sake of making sure that they can access the people and they can also make sure that their teams are safe. Their teams are not safe. The journalists are not safe. The medical teams are not safe. The international teams are not safe. And about every category, there is a list of incidents and of deaths and of injuries and of the destruction of the properties and the vehicles also when they were targeted by the Israeli occupation forces.
So, the bottom line, that the situation is overall unsafe. And the Israeli ongoing ground operations and aerial operations and the continuous targeting, including quadcopters and artillery fire and the F-16s and all the other kind or other kinds of the weapons in their arsenal is making things more difficult for the Palestinians and making life in Gaza more unlivable.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Akram, under these conditions, if you could talk about the diseases that are so rapidly spreading in Gaza, including, most recently, polio?
AKRAM AL-SATARRI: Yes, some statements were made, and at least one case of poliovirus was already confirmed in Gaza for a child who’s 11 months old, and the risk of the outbreak of that disease, given the very severe limitations on the movement of the international staff and also of the local staff and also the impact of the ongoing operations on the primary healthcare centers, that most of them are not functional anymore because of the bombardment.
There were some also alarming percentages about the hepatitis A, that has been widespread in the Gaza Strip, and around 1 million Gazans have already been infected with this hepatitis A, that is extremely contagious. And that can be transmitted also through touching.
The water is polluted. The food is polluted, no hygienic conditions. And the result of that is very big risks for the public health of the people in Gaza. And the concerns have already voiced by the UNRWA, by other U.N. agencies, such as the UNFPA, the U.N. women program, where women, children and elderly people are bearing the brunt of that very lacking situation and of that ongoing bombardment. So, people at large are affected by that. They’re affected also by some digestive issues because of the quality of the water and the quality of the food and lacking to hygienic situation for also cooking the food.
So, overall, the situation is extremely risky and dangerous for all different categories of the Palestinian population. And if you need a soap in Gaza, if you need washing soap, or if you need even bleach to wash the clothes, you will not find it in Gaza. You will not find it in Gaza central area, in Khan Younis, in Rafah, or even in Gaza City. People are suffering, and people are denied the access to the very, very basic things that have to do with their life. They cannot clean themselves. They cannot clean their clothes. They cannot clean their houses or their tents. And they are left to face the exacerbating humanitarian crisis, and they’re left to face those increasingly acute humanitarian needs without any help extended to them, because, according to some of the international organizations, the Israeli occupation is not allowing the hygienic stuff into the Gaza Strip. and that exacerbates the problem of the Gazans.
AMY GOODMAN: Akram, we only have a minute to go. We do not take for granted that we’re even able to speak to you in Deir al-Balah, in Gaza. Deir al-Balah itself has been under attack. Ninety percent of Palestinians have been displaced at least once. How do you keep yourself and your own family safe?
AKRAM AL-SATARRI: Well, I’m one of the Palestinians who have been displaced. Our family — I’ve been displaced for around 12 times. It is something that makes you feel unsafe. This is something that makes you feel detached from your original habitat. This is something that makes you feel vulnerable. This is something that makes you fear an imminent death that is coming to you, something that I have seen with my eyes. I saw the bombardment. I saw the people getting injured. I saw the destruction of the homes of the people. And I saw people frantically trying to grab anything and run for the sake of just starting a new life anywhere else, where they are in a situation that is extremely lacking. No one is promised tomorrow in Gaza.
And I will conclude by quoting the UNRWA commissioner-general, who said, “No one safe, no place safe.” And that will still continue and remain like that if no solution reached, if no agreement concluded between all the parties. The situation is extremely catastrophic. I think sometimes I had the chance of being in Western countries. I had the chance of being in African countries, in China. I tell you, what we are living is inconceivable in the sense of everything that has to do with a normal life. We are extremely sure that we might not live for the next second, not for the next minute. But we still have to endure that, and we still have to chase life, despite death, uncertainty and destruction.
AMY GOODMAN: Akram al-Satarri, be safe. Thank you so much for being with us, Gaza-based journalist, joining us from outside the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. We usually break at this point, but because we’re going to the occupied West Bank, to Jenin, which is under siege, we don’t want to risk losing our next guest.
**************
“They Want Palestine Empty”: Artist in Jenin Blasts U.S. Support for Israel Amid West Bank Assault
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
August 29, 2024
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/8/29/ ... transcript
At least 18 Palestinians have been killed and 30 more wounded in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has launched its largest military operation in two decades. Israeli forces have simultaneously raided four cities and refugee camps in the north, with hundreds of soldiers backed by armored vehicles, bulldozers, fighter jets and drones. Much of the violence has been centered on Jenin, a frequent target of raids by Israeli forces, but this latest military operation is the largest since the Second Intifada. Ahmed Tobasi, artistic director at the Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp, says Israel’s tactics are about “punishing the people, punishing the civilians,” with an ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing. “They want Palestine empty from Palestinians.” He also calls on the U.S. public to speak out against continued military support for Israel, saying the killings in both Gaza and the West Bank are only possible because Israel has “the green light from the U.S. government.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now from Gaza to the occupied West Bank, where Israel has launched its largest military operation in over two decades, raiding four cities and refugee camps in the north simultaneously with hundreds of soldiers backed by armored vehicles, bulldozers, fighter jets and drones. At least 18 Palestinians have been killed and 30 wounded.
On Wednesday, the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called on Israel to immediately end its military operation and strongly condemned the loss of lives, including that of children.
Meanwhile, three leading Palestinian human rights groups issued a joint statement warning, quote, “of even more escalated violence in the West Bank, with the employment of tactics that mirror those used in Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, particularly attacks on hospitals and healthcare facilities, and the use of excessive and indiscriminate force.”
AMY GOODMAN: In Jenin, Israeli forces have surrounded the city, blocking exit and entry points and access to hospitals and ripping up infrastructure in the Jenin refugee camp. Jenin has been the target of frequent raids by Israeli forces, but this latest military operation is the largest since the Second Intifada two decades ago, when Jenin witnessed some of the worst violence of that period after Israeli forces invaded it in 2002, laid siege to the refugee camp, killing dozens of civilians, destroying hundreds of homes, leaving a quarter of the population homeless.
We go now to Jenin, where we’re joined by Ahmed Tobasi, artistic director at the Freedom Theatre in the Jenin refugee camp.
Welcome to Democracy Now! Ahmed, describe the scene in Jenin right now.
AHMED TOBASI: Thank you, Amy, for having me.
I mean, the scene, it’s the same again and again. But as I said before, the Israelis keeping surprising us even the way they do the invasions. To be honest, I am calling my sisters around, some friends, and they are very scared. We, all of us, very scared. We know there is something different in this invasion. The way they start the invasion, the way they’re doing it now, it’s really scary. People don’t know what’s going to happen.
It looked like it’s going to be a bit more longer invasion than others. We are surprised of the number of the soldiers, the vehicles that keep coming to the city. The camp now having sometimes electricity, sometimes not. For sure, the internet is not there. We try to use the 3Gs, and not totally always good. But yeah, it’s a fear atmosphere where everybody is waiting.
And, you know, the scenes from Gaza, what happened to Gaza, the people in the camp are really afraid that’s going to happen to them, because it’s obvious that Israel is punishing the people, punishing the civilians. In the camp, all camp is surrounded with army. All of the entrances are closed. They already bulldozed all the streets, all the alleyways in the camp. And even the bulldozing is really deep. That mean no cars, no ambulances can go inside.
And many people tried to evacuate the camp. But, for sure, it’s very dangerous, because if you are a man above 15 or 14, you could be shot if you are moving or try to sneaking out from the camp. Only maybe kids or some women, if they are courage enough to leave, to know what’s going on outside the house, to leave the camp. But no one allowed to move.
People are afraid of having no food now for one week, because, you know, they didn’t prepare themselves for the invasion. They didn’t know which kind of the invasion is this. And, you know, the Israelis do not announce what they’re going to do exactly. So, many people are really afraid for the kids having no food.
So, yes, you hear the drones very close, the vehicles all around, the bombing by time to time. It’s, again, the scene repeating itself again and again. And we don’t know, like, what is the end, how long, what we should do. And it’s, obviously, the Israelis want to tell the communities, the civilians of these areas, “You have only two choices: You die here, or you leave, are displaced to other country.” And that’s what is — we’re still waiting what’s going to happen in the next days.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, Ahmed, if you could put this latest military operation in the context of the ongoing assault on Gaza, on the one hand, and also the situation that’s been developing in the West Bank, both with the increasing violence over the last 10 months since the Israeli assault on Gaza, as well as the exponential increase in the number of Israeli settlements there?
AHMED TOBASI: Yes, I mean, also, at the same time, I hope American language and American, let’s say, journalism starts using the definition in a right way. It is not violence. It’s a genocide from the Israeli army against the Palestinian people. It’s not a conflict. It’s a genocide, a war, ethnic cleansing, from the Israeli military to the Palestinian civilians.
And yes, it’s, to be honest, from 100,000 of settlers to 850,000 in West Bank. West Bank is not anymore West Bank. It’s a little fragment, from Palestinian communities living there and there, and all the connection, all the network, the streets, all controlled by the settlers.
I promise you, I experienced a death threat. One time, I went out trying to go back from Ramallah to Jenin. It’s not even late. It’s the evening. And suddenly we find ourselves surrounded by settlers who really clearly want to kill you. And the last second, we just run with the car. And if we just stopped, they are ready to kill you. They are attacking everywhere. They are putting fire in the houses of the people. They’re shooting. Now they have guns, officially permitted guns from the Israeli government being given to the settlers to shoot Palestinians in very easy cold blood.
So, we’re not facing only army. We’re facing crazy settlers, groups of crazy people who just want to kill more and more. And the idea is clear. They want to empty West Bank from Palestinians. Guys, what is happening in Gaza, what is happening in West Bank, we say it again and again, this was planned from 80 years, and the Israelis have the time to work on it slowly to displace Palestinians in Palestine. They want Palestine empty from Palestinians, and that’s the only plan. And they will not relax. They will not stop until this happens, or, inshallah, it would be a victory for Palestinians, and they will get defeated.
AMY GOODMAN: Ahmed Tobasi, there have been more than 10,000 Palestinians on the West Bank arrested since October 7th. We have brought out reports from CNN to Human Rights Watch to Haaretz to Addameer of prisoners who haven’t been charged being sexually abused, being tortured. I’m wondering if you can talk about the effect of this level of imprisonment. And particularly this past December, the Israeli forces raided the offices of your theater, of the Jenin Freedom Theatre. Producer Mustafa Sheta was detained and sentenced to six months. Have you heard from him? Has he seen a lawyer? Has he been accused?
AHMED TOBASI: Exactly that’s what I’m talking about, Amy. I had an interview with your program in December, last December, and it’s the same and even more crazy, Mustafa still in prison, no information, not allowed even for lawyers to visit or have any information. As we said before, even kids in the Freedom Theatre have been shot where they were playing.
So, for me, it’s like: Is really American people, American government know what is going on? Are they really following? We have been saying this years and years, again and again, tons, tons of reports, United Nations, tons of reports. And what? What is next? We still — I mean, that’s why Israelis going on in there. That’s why they’re getting — and I’m sure the Israelis could not do this if they do not have the green light from the U.S. government.
I am saying, from your window, from your program, I’m calling to the American people, to the American artists, to the American activists, to the American people, please, you are the one who have to move now and stop this craziness. You have to stop supporting sending bombs to Israel. Enough military support. This military support goes for killing artists, children, destroying theaters, killing people, killing women. They do nothing more than this.
And the peace that Israel looking for is not to have a peace in Palestine. It’s to control all the world. It’s to occupy the whole Middle East and use it for the political situation that U.S. should try to fight China and Iran and Russia and Palestine.
I mean, we need to do something. It’s not only Palestinian, left alone, to deal with the Israeli occupation that is defending West and Europe, U.S. It’s really in a very difficult situation. If the U.S. do not follow the time and do something before this will be out of time, I think American people have to explain to the next generation. American people have to explain to the new generation in America what they did to the Palestinians, what they did to save and to finish this genocide and war. Guys, you will have a big responsibility in the future to define what happened to the Palestinians from the American support to the Israeli military terrorism people.
AMY GOODMAN: Ahmed Tobasi, we want to thank you for being with us, artistic director at the Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp, speaking to us from Jenin.
Next up, in Afghanistan, the Taliban approves a law banning women from speaking in public. Stay with us.