The Latest:
- Gaza death toll reaches 65, including 16 children; seven Israeli casualties, including one child
- Israel deploys border police reinforcements to Palestinian cities in Israel
- ICC prosecutor says escalation of violence includes possible war crimes
– updated at 9:17 pm GMT
Live Updates:
UNICEF warns of ‘full-scale war’ after 15 children killed
UNICEF’s Executive Director Henrietta Fore warned today of escalations between Israel and Gaza reaching a “full-scale war,” in a statement that noted already 15 children have been killed and 95 injured over the past few days.
“At least 14 children in the State of Palestine and 1 child in Israel have been reported killed since Monday.
Another 95 children in Gaza and the West Bank – including East Jerusalem – and 3 children in Israel have reportedly been injured in the past five days.
The situation is at a dangerous tipping point. The level of violence and its impact on children is devastating. We are on the brink of a full-scale war. In any war, children – all children – suffer first and suffer most.
I call on all sides to end all violence and de-escalate tensions. I urge all sides to protect all civilians, especially children, to spare essential civilian infrastructure from attacks, and to end violations against children. I remind all sides of their obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law.”
–updated at 7:10 pm GMT
James North on Thomas Friedman:
The explosive news from Israel/Palestine gave Thomas Friedman, the New York Times foreign affairs columnist who portrays himself as a Middle East expert, a chance to start explaining why Palestinian resistance and Israeli repression have reached the highest level in years. In his column yesterday, he failed.
He nowhere wrote the words “Israel apartheid,” or mentioned the landmark Human Rights Watch report that appeared on April 27 and that provides the best framework for understanding not only the Palestinian resistance to ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem, but also to the uprisings among Palestinian citizens of pre-1967 Israel. Instead, he flails about, making several silly, sometimes offensive points that explain little.
– updated at 3:53 pm GMT
The ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, issues a statement on developments in Palestine
I note with great concern the escalation of violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as in and around Gaza, and the possible commission of crimes under the Rome Statute.
I echo the call from the international community for calm, restraint & a stop to the violence.
I recall that my Office’s investigations will cover all sides and all the facts and evidence relevant to an assessment of whether there is individual criminal responsibility under the Statute.
My Office will continue to monitor developments on the ground and will factor any matter that falls within its jurisdiction.
– updated at 3:45 pm GMT
Israeli forces deployed to al-Lidd as city braces for more violence
Hundreds of Israeli forces descended upon the city of al-Lidd (Lod) in central Israel on Wednesday evening, as Israeli Border Police units were transferred from the West Bank to the city following days of violence in the city after the killing of a Palestinian man.
Tensions have steadily escalated in Lidda since the killing of 33-year-old Musa Hassouna, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau declaring a state of emergency in the city for the first time in 66 years.
According to reports, the deputy mayor of al-Lidd said on Wednesday that hundreds of armed Israeli settlers from the West Bank are on their way to the city, warning “I suggest to every Arab resident not to leave their homes.”
Videos coming out of al-Lidd on social media over the past 24 hours have shown groups of Israeli Jews targeting and attacking Palestinians in different parts of the city, and Palestinian protestors setting vehicles on fire in response, and throwing stones at Israeli police.
A synagogue was also torched on Tuesday night.
Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have taken a hardline stance on the Palestinian protests in al-Lidd, with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin calling Tuesday evening’s events in the city a “pogrom” carried out by “a bloodthirsty Arab mob”.
Reports from Arabic-language media sites indicated that Israeli security forces began imposing a lockdown on the city around 6pm on Wednesday evening. Israeli security officials had reassigned 16 border police battalions from the occupied West Bank to al-Lidd.
– updated at 3:25 pm GMT
Protest in Bethlehem
Yumna Patel reports from a protest against Israeli agression in Jerusalem and Gaza that was held last night in occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem:
–updated 1:03 pm GMT
Two Palestinians killed in overnight West Bank raids
Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, one of them a teenager, in West Bank night raids overnight on Wednesday, Palestinian media reported.
16-year-old Rashid Muhammad Abu Arreh was shot and killed by Israeli forces during a raid in the city of Tubas in the northern occupied West Bank, Wafa, the official news site of the Palestinian Authority reported.
Meanwhile, during raids on the Fawwar refugee camp in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, Israeli forces shot and killed 28-year-old Hussein Atiyyeh al-Titi.
Locals from Fawwar told Mondoweiss that Israeli forces raided the camp before dawn prayers, arresting three people, causing confrontations between local youth. Israeli forces fired live ammunition at the protesters, injuring 4 people in the legs, before killing al-Titi.
Palestinian media reported that Israeli forces conducted widespread raids across the West Bank overnight, arresting more than 40 Palestinians from their homes.
– updated at 11:58 am GMT
Israeli airstrikes pound Gaza, death toll continues to rise
Israel conducted heavy airstrikes on the Gaza Strip early Wednesday morning, bringing the death toll in the besieged coastal enclave to 43, including 13 children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The ministry added that 296 Palestinians have been wounded as a result of Israeli airstrikes on the territory over the past 48 hours.
MOH spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra condemned Israel for what he said was the “deliberate targeting of citizens’ secure homes and crowded residential neighborhoods.”
Conducting airstrikes in these areas, al-Qidra said, is putting the population “in a state of panic and dangerous psychological repercussions due to the frightening and successive sounds of explosions, in addition to the scenes of destruction and victims of the ongoing Israeli aggression.
Palestinians in Gaza posted videos on social media of the onslaught of airstrikes on Wednesday morning, with clouds of smoke rising in rapid succession.
https://twitter.com/Almeqdad/status/1392333144808951808
One Twitter user from Gaza wrote “We have lives through three wars! But this is an hour that is more difficult than all [that]. This is pure madness and terror.”
– updated at 10:09 am GMT
Previous Reports:
- Live blog: Israel levels apartment buildings, dozens dead in Gaza as Netanyahu government vows to step up strikes (May 11, 2021)
- Israel kills 20 Palestinians in Gaza, injures hundreds in Jerusalem as Al-Aqsa tensions flare (May 10, 2021)
- Hundreds injured as Israeli forces attack Palestinian worshipers in Jerusalem (May 8, 2021)
End Brutal Repression of Palestinians Protesting Forced Displacement in Occupied East Jerusalem – Amnesty International USA (amnestyusa.org)
Amnesty International, May 11/21
“END BRUTAL REPRESSION OF PALESTINIANS PROTESTING FORCED DISPLACEMENT IN OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM”
EXCERPT:
“’Evidence gathered by Amnesty International reveals a chilling pattern of Israeli forces using abusive and wanton force against largely peaceful Palestinian protesters in recent days. Some of those injured in the violence in East Jerusalem include bystanders or worshippers making Ramadan prayers,” said Saleh Higazi, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
“’The latest violence brings into sharp focus Israel’s sustained campaign to expand illegal Israeli settlements and step up forced evictions of Palestinian residents- such as those in Sheikh Jarrah – to make way for Israeli settlers. These forced evictions are part of a continuing pattern in Sheikh Jarrah, they flagrantly violate international law and would amount to war crimes.”
“‘Eyewitness testimonies – as well as videos and photographs taken by Amnesty International’s researchers on the ground in East Jerusalem –show how Israeli forces have repeatedly deployed disproportionate and unlawful force to disperse protesters during violent raids on al-Aqsa mosque and carried out unprovoked attacks on peaceful demonstrators in Sheikh Jarrah.
“‘Since the beginning of Ramadan on April 13, tensions have been steadily rising as Palestinians protested against Israeli restrictions limiting their access to Damascus Gate, a main entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. On April 26, Israeli authorities removed the restrictions in response to the continuous demonstrations. Anger has also been rising over the imminent plans to forcibly evict four Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah to make way for Israeli settlers.'”
So the number of casualties is once again rising in Gaza. 74 dead among them 19 children.Looks like it may be like 2014 again, when Israel bombed Gaza unmercifully and resulted in 2500 dead MOSTLY WOMAN AND CHILDREN. The IDF must be either incompetent because they keep killing civilians in large numbers, or basically indifferent to who the targets are. Maybe both.
All this killing because Israel decided to evict poor people who have lived in their homes for decades, because of sheer greed for land, and because Netanyahu decided to send his uniformed goons to desecrate a Holy place, attack the worshippers and those protesting within the compound.
Hundred were seriously injured.
And it is all the fault of the Palestinians for retaliating? Really?
Here in Israel we’ve been under murderous rocket attacks on our civilian population from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists. . We’ve suffered tragic losses: 5 civilians and one soldier.