In response to threats by the United States National Security Adviser John Bolton, the International Criminal Court in Hague said, on Tuesday, that it is an independent and impartial institution with the backing of 123 countries. The statement added that “the ICC, as a court of law, will continue to do its work undeterred, in accordance with those principles and the overarching idea of the rule of law.”
On Friday, Israeli soldiers killed 17-year-old Bilal Mustafa Khaffaja and injured at least 210 others, during the Great Return March protests in several parts of the besieged Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The head of UNRWA pens an open letter to Palestinian refugees and UN staff, condemning the U.S. decision to defund the agency by stating “5.4 million men, women and children who cannot simply be wished away.”
A video taken by Breaking the Silence activist Achiya Schats shows a Palestinian child forced to climb an Israeli military fence to be able to access her home in the West Bank city of Hebron. Schatz shared the video on Twitter with the caption, “a girl tries to go home, just like yours, except that she was born in Hebron.”
On 24 August, using excessive force against peaceful protesters in Gaza for the 22nd Friday in a row, Israeli forces wounded 89 civilians, including 17 children, 2 women and 3 paramedics. Five sustained serious wounds.
The illegal West Bank settlement of Ariel is marking is marking its 40th birthday. In the span of a few decades it has grown into one of the largest Israeli communities in the West Bank with a theater, a university and plans to increase its population to the size of a formidable city of 100,000.
Al Jazeera reports that Israel has closed an investigation into an assault on August 1, 2014, in which 135 Palestinians were killed in southern Gaza: “In a report on Wednesday, the Israeli army cleared itself of wrongdoing and said it would not prosecute commanders who were involved, claiming its investigation found no reason to suspect criminal misconduct.”
Palestinians held funerals for three killed by Israel in recent day, including pregnant mother Enas Mohammad Abu Khammash, buried along with her 18-month-old daughter Bayan. Meantime, Israelis reported that a “huge” 13-foot long incendiary kite from Gaza landed on a kibbutz’s electrical wires, causing great concern.
Amira Hass reports: “The state is willing to allow six women cancer patients to leave the Gaza Strip for the West Bank for treatment that is not available in the West Bank, or to go abroad for treatment they cannot afford. However, it will not allow the women, who are severely ill, to go to either of two Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem which can treat them.”
During the Great March of Return yesterday, an Israeli army sharpshooter killed Ahmad Yahia Atallah Yaghi, 25, east of Gaza city. In a previous protest, the soldiers shot Yaghi with live fire, wounding him in his leg.