Chicago alderpeople have tried to postpone a city council vote on a Gaza ceasefire by citing proximity to International Holocaust Remembrance Day and even the upcoming Democratic National Convention. A vote is finally scheduled for this week.
At least five countries have pulled their funding from the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees over Israeli claims that staff members participated in the October 7 attack. Israel keeps killing Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Service Employees International Union, which represents almost 2 million workers, has become the largest U.S. union to back a ceasefire in Gaza.
Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abudaqa was killed after being hit by an Israeli airstrike. He was left to bleed out for hours after being targeted, with medics unable to reach him due to Israeli fire.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders refuses to even meet with constituents demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, and many have given up on him. “How many thousands of more lives lost will it require for you to take a stand?”
A window of respite opens on Friday with a hostage swap due to take place in the afternoon, after Israeli forces hit Indonesian hospital and an UNRWA school. Israeli forces kill a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in the occupied West Bank, and settlers continue to harass Palestinian communities.
“Humanitarian pauses” are being used as a pretext for ethnic cleansing, while previous Gaza ceasefires have allowed Israel to intensify the blockade to an unbearable degree, but just short of violating a ceasefire.
UN agencies report that fuel shortages will force Gaza hospitals, desalination plants, and bakeries to close, indirectly killing many. “The situation is catastrophic. Civilians, especially children, continue to pay the heaviest price,” says Save the Children.
500 people, including two dozen Rabbis, were arrested in Washington, DC on Wednesday as thousands of Jewish activists and allies demanded a Gaza ceasefire.
After every ceasefire, Rana Shubair tries to imagine leading a normal life. In Gaza, the bar is set low and means not living under raining bombs. “Mama, who broke our house?” the neighbor’s three-year-old asked. His mother ignored his question. The following day the toddler announced, pleased that he had figured it out, “The Israelis broke our house.”