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. 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.
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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.
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
⛪ 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.
