Thirty-nine Palestinians were released from Israeli prisons on Friday, as aid trickles back into Gaza amid calls for a full-fledged ceasefire to address the full scope of humanitarian devastation. Spain, Belgium, and the UK have strong words for Israel.
In the wake of the Hamas attack on October 7th, Palestinian Citizens of Israel and residents of occupied Jerusalem are being targeted over their social media activity. Any expressions of Palestinian identity, or support for Gaza, is getting people fired from their jobs, expelled from universities, arrested, and doxxed online by right-wing Israeli groups.
Steve Inskeep of NPR today described Neve Yaakov, the scene of an attack last week, as being in Israel. While Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street called it a Jerusalem “neighborhood.” It is in fact an exclusively Jewish settlement in occupied Jerusalem, built on confiscated Palestinian lands, and a source of affliction for Palestinians.
Mohammad al-Shaham, 21, was awoken to the commotion of Israeli forces breaking down the door of his family’s home in Kafr Aqab in the middle of the night on August 15th. He was shot and killed on the spot, and his family says Israel is trying to cover up the crime.
Israeli police forces in occupied East Jerusalem attacked the funeral of slain Palestinian Shireen Abu Akleh, 51, on Friday afternoon, beating funeral goers and firing sound grenades into the procession.
Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday and attacked Palestinian worshipers at the site in order to facilitate Jewish tours of the site for the Passover holiday. The raids on the compound on Sunday were the second in 48 hours, and featured heavily armed Israeli police officers beating Palestinians with batons, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds, and locking worshipers inside the prayer halls.
Tuesday, November 3rd, will be the 100th day of the hunger strike of Maher al-Akhras. That is, if he will still be alive. Israel’s High Court of Justice refuses to allow him to leave a Tel Aviv hospital for a hospital in East Jerusalem, and it cites a “get-together” with unnamed security “elements” that oppose the move. As if al-Akhras is a threat.
Eyad al-Halaq was on his way to a school for children and adults with disabilities where he was a student when Israeli police spotted a “suspicious object that looked like a pistol” and shot him. After killing him, officers found that al-Halaq was unarmed.
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and White House Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt helped inaugurate a tunnel in an Israeli settlers’ archaeological dig under a Palestinian neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem. Friedman said the tunnel confirms the Jewish presence in ancient times in Jerusalem, and Palestinians responded with outrage to the American officials’ participation.