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Cathy Wilcox  |
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| Pat Hudson |
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| David Rowe |
Donald Trump’s policy agenda could precipitate a global financial crisis and fuel inflation, one of the world’s leading analysts has warned, with fears Australians will suffer higher interest rates and a $36 billion hit to the domestic economy @theage pic.twitter.com/0VFn0oz7YY
— MattGolding Cartoons (@GoldingCartoons) November 7, 2024
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| First Dog On The Moon |
A brief look at some items of note during the last ten days.
I was in #Gaza in March+testified to @CIJ_ICJ as part of gen0side case against #Israel
— Ben Thomson 🇵🇸 (@BenNephrology) August 14, 2024
Today, #EyeWitnessGaza starts with video testimonies of horrors we saw. Campaign demands pinned2 @BenNephrology
This is my first testimony. More health workers2post soon@HA4Palestine@CIJ_ICJ pic.twitter.com/1WGSZjy925
“The entire unjust world does not care about this. That’s all I can say.” Heartbreaking testimony in the wake of the killing of newborn twins and their mother in Gaza -- leaving behind a father whose world is shattered. Correspondent @JDiamond1 reports. pic.twitter.com/CKUwLt23sn
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) August 14, 2024
⚠️ GRAPHIC ⚠️
— Amer Amayreh (@a_amayreh) August 14, 2024
Sorry for bothering you, but things are worst on ground.
Thanks for your tax money. 🥸
⚠️ GRAPHIC ⚠️ pic.twitter.com/mIjYPnSFX5
On 14 August 2024 the State of Israel's War on Gaza entered its 313th day and, the Palestinian population has suffered more war deaths than the Australian people did during the approx. 2,107 days of the last world war.
A sad comparison
In World War Two 34,000 Australian service personnel were killed along /w 700-1,000 civilians [ABS 1998, Parramatta History and Heritage 2020, Statistica 2024]. These numbers are estimated to be 5% of Australia's total population as of 30 June 1939.
In the War on Gaza from 7 Oct 2023 up to 14 Aug 2024 a total of 39,965 Palestinians are recorded as killed [UN OCHR August 2024] with est. 11,000 of those killed being children.
NOTE: These UN numbers do not include the thousands missing presumed dead or the as yet unidentified dead stored within the Gaza Strip.
However, the numbers do represent an estimated 2.0% of the Palestinian population residing in the Gaza Strip on 1 September 2023.
As of 20 August 2024 there is no negotiated ceasefire or any timetable for a declaration that the War on Gaza has ended.
Jewish Council Australia, media release, 14 August 2024:
Jewish Council condemns Peter Dutton and Dave Sharma for stoking racism in comments on Palestinians fleeing genocide
August 14, 2024
Today, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told Sky News that no Palestinians from Gaza should be entering Australia and that a visa scheme for Palestinians fleeing Gaza would put Australia’s national security at risk.
These comments were made days after Liberal Party Senator Dave Sharma criticised the government, suggesting that Palestinians entering Australia “might endanger” Australian citizens and “our own democracy.”
These comments cannot be taken in isolation. Only two weeks ago, neo-Nazis held a Trump inspired anti-immigration rally outside Federation Square in Melbourne calling for the mass deportation of immigrants. Rather than clearly distancing themselves from dangerous anti-immigrant sentiment, Peter Dutton and Dave Sharma are only fuelling division.
The Jewish Council rejects any assertion that Palestinians fleeing violence are a threat to the safety of Australians.
Palestinians in Gaza face extreme levels of violence. On Saturday morning, an Israeli attack at the Al-Tabeen School in Gaza City killed at least 100 people, making it one of the deadliest attacks in Israel’s 10 month assault on Gaza. The intensity of the bombing was such that many victims were dismembered beyond recognition. Doctors resorted to collecting body parts in plastic bags, giving families 70 kilos of remains when their loved ones could not be individually identified.
The horrific reality of violence faced by Palestinians in Gaza underlines the need for Australians to do all we can to support and welcome Gazans seeking to enter Australia.
Dr Max Kaiser, historian and Executive Officer
“The rhetoric directed against Palestinian refugees is reminiscent of the same rhetoric used to vilify Jewish refugees in the 1940s and 1950s who were frequently labeled ‘security risks’. This rhetoric is also part of a long history of racism and exclusion in Australia, from the White Australia Policy to panics about ‘boat people’.”
Sarah Schwartz, human rights lawyer and Executive Officer
“Peter Dutton and Dave Sharma should be ashamed of themselves for using anti-immigrant rhetoric to stoke fear and division. It is only weeks since anti-immigrant riots took place in the UK, and neo-Nazis held an anti-immigration rally in Melbourne’s CBD. Politicians should be distancing themselves from all forms of racism and xenophobia not fuelling division.
“The Australian Government should not be influenced by the Israel lobby’s false and racist depictions of Palestinians. Many Jewish people have family histories of fleeing persecution and understand the importance of Australia meeting its obligations under International Law to protect the human rights of refugees.”
Historical background
Rhetoric directed against Palestinian refugees is reminiscent of the same rhetoric used to vilify Jewish refugees in the 1940s and 1950s who were frequently labeled ‘security risks’. T.H. White, Australia’s delegate to the 1938 Evian Conference famously said with reference to German and Austrian Jewish refugees, Australia has "no real racial problem [and is] not desirous of importing one". This rhetoric is also part of a long history of racism and exclusion in Australia, from the White Australia Policy to the War on Terror’s exclusion of people from the Middle East.
Statements by Leader of the Opposition & LNP MP for Dickson, Peter Dutton:
The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 August 2024:
....Dutton on Wednesday decided to push beyond the Coalition’s previous demands for tougher scrutiny of Palestinian refugees, saying: “I don’t think people should be coming in from that war zone at all at the moment. It’s not prudent to do so and I think it puts our national security at risk.”
9 News, 15 August 2024:
"So (the government) said that they will bring people into Australia who are sympathisers with a listed terrorist organisation," Dutton said.
"Could you imagine if we were proposing to bring people in who were sympathetic to another listed terrorist organisation, like al-Qaeda or ISIL or ISIS? It's completely unacceptable.
"You bring 3000 people in, let's say 99 per cent are good.
"If one per cent, 30 people, are questionable or sympathisers with a listed terrorist organisation, how on earth is that in our country's best interests?"
ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess has previously said that "rhetorical" sympathy for Hamas would not be considered an automatic bar to entry.
Note: Using statistics drawn out of thin air to create hypothetical risk scenarios produces nothing but 'word salad' - especially as the number of Palestinian refugees who have entered Australia since October 2023 is far less than the 3,000 mentioned. A wider lens is required. As an example, between 2014 & 2020, a total of 3,360,650 people entered Australia on migrant visas [ABS, 2021]. If the total number of individuals actually charged with terrorism related offenses within this period had been in that 6 year migrant intake, it would still only have represented an estimated percentage point of 0.003273176320057132% of this statistical cohort.
A cartoonist's perspective
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Matt Golding |
An exchange in the Australian Parliament
House of Representatives, Hansard, 15 August 2024, excerpt:
Ms STEGGALL (Warringah) (09:16): It's extremely concerning to see the opposition turn up today with this suspension of standing orders and the words and the rhetoric that we're hearing here. It goes directly against the advice of ASIO and the concern around the polarisation in our communities—that whipping up of a sense of fear and that inference that, for example, our services and systems are not working. What I'd like to share is the human story, the real story, about some of the people we're talking about and the lives we're talking about.
Mr Conaghan interjecting—
Ms STEGGALL: And I would ask you to be silent! I have the floor!
The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Cowper will cease interjecting. The member for Warringah will be heard, just as other members were heard, in silence.
Ms STEGGALL: In 2020, I met a man called Mohammed at the North Steyne Surf Life Saving Club. He had come to Australia under a visa approved by the Morrison government under the same systems. He came to participate in a surf lifesaving skills program. He wanted to give the children of Gaza an opportunity to learn water safety, to not drown, to have something positive on weekends. They loved that program. They attended.
Unfortunately, after the horrendous events of October, that program, of course, ended. The bombing started. Many people that participated in that program have died. Many of the children have died. These are normal families. These are families that you are seeking to paint as all being terrorists, who should all be mistrusted and who are not worthy of humanitarian aid.
Mr Dutton: Complete rubbish! Stop repeating the governments lines.
The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting.
Ms STEGGALL: We heard you in silence; you can hear me in silence. Stop being racist.
The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition is seeking the call.
Mr Dutton: That was an offensive and unparliamentary remark and it should be withdrawn.
The SPEAKER: Order! There is far too much noise. As I previously asked for the chamber to be silent, I'm just going to ask the member for Warringah, if she made an unparliamentary remark, to withdraw it to assist the House.
Ms STEGGALL: Could I have a clarification: is a description of language as being racist an unparliamentary remark?
Mr Katter interjecting—
The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Kennedy will resume his seat. Just to assist the House so the debate can keep going, as has been previously ruled, I will just ask the member to withdraw and continue. [my yellow highlighting]
The War on Gaza continues
ABC News, 16 August 2024:
The death toll in Gaza from Israel's offensive has surpassed 40,000 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
It says a total of 40,005 people have been killed and 92,401 injured since October 7, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel....
The Leader of the Opposition & LNP MP for Dickson continues
The Daily Telegraph, 17 August 2024:
The Nazis tried to conceal their crime of murdering six million Jews. Hamas felt no guilt when they carried out their terrorist attack on October 7. They invaded Israel with body cams and phones to film their butchery of 1200 people – the greatest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Holocaust.
The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 August 2024:
“The advice that I have is that, out of the last 33 people who have been charged with terrorist-related offences in this country, 22 are from second- and third-generation Lebanese Muslim backgrounds,” he said in November 2016.
The comments were widely condemned at the time and last year, in an episode of the ABC’s Kitchen Cabinet, journalist Annabel Crabb put to Dutton that they were racist.
“They’re comments that I shouldn’t have made,” he replied. “I have apologised for that.”
But five leaders of Australia’s Lebanese Muslim community now say they have no recollection of Dutton ever making that apology.
The opposition leader’s office did not respond to multiple enquiries from this masthead about when, how and to whom he said sorry.
[my yellow highlighting]
The pushback by members of the Jewish community in Australia continues
A malnourished Palestinian baby is held while receiving treatment at the International Medical Corps field hospital, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip, June 22, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
PRESS RELEASES | SPECIAL PROCEDURES
UN experts declare famine has spread throughout Gaza strip
09 July 2024
GENEVA (9 July 2024) – The recent deaths of more Palestinian children due to hunger and malnutrition leaves no doubt that famine has spread across the entire Gaza strip, a group of independent experts* said today.
“Fayez Ataya, who was barely six months old, died on 30 May 2024 and 13-year-old Abdulqader Al-Serhi died on 1 June 2024 at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah. Nine-year-old Ahmad Abu Reida died on 3 June 2024 in the tent sheltering his displaced family in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis. All three children died from malnutrition and lack of access to adequate healthcare,” the experts said.
“With the death of these children from starvation despite medical treatment in central Gaza, there is no doubt that famine has spread from northern Gaza into central and southern Gaza.”
The experts said the death of a child from malnutrition and dehydration indicates that health and social structures have been attacked and are critically weakened. “When the first child dies from malnutrition and dehydration, it becomes irrefutable that famine has taken hold,” the experts said.
“We declare that Israel’s intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza. We call upon the international community to prioritise the delivery of humanitarian aid by land by any means necessary, end Israel’s siege, and establish a ceasefire.” [my yellow highlighting]
“When a 2-month-old baby and 10-year-old Yazan Al Kafarneh died of hunger on 24 February and 4 March respectively, this confirmed that famine had struck northern Gaza. The whole world should have intervened earlier to stop Israel’s genocidal starvation campaign and prevented these deaths,” the experts said. “Thirty-four Palestinians have died from malnutrition since 7 October, the majority being children. Inaction is complicity.”
The experts: Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the right to food; Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967; Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Paula Gaviria Betancur, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons; George Katrougalos, Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order; Barbara G. Reynolds (Chair), Bina D’Costa, Dominique Day and Catherine Namakula, Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Comprising the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, Special Procedures is the general name of the Council's independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
In a media landscape of competing claims from multiple sources this UN humanitarian situation update is the most reliable.
Please note the body of this document contains multiple links. To read the official text with all active links go to:
https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-update-174-gaza-strip
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UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS (OCHA)
Humanitarian Situation Update #174 | Gaza Strip
03 Jun 2024
The Humanitarian Situation Update is issued by OCHA Occupied Palestinian Territory three times per week. The Gaza Strip is covered on Mondays and Fridays, and the West Bank is covered on Wednesdays. The “Humanitarian Situation Update” is a rebranding of the “Flash Update”. The next Humanitarian Situation Update will be published on 5 June, and the next Humanitarian Response Update will be published on 12 June.
Key Highlights
Treatment of more than 3,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition is at risk of interruption if nutrition supplies are not distributed, UNICEF warns.
No bakeries are currently functional in Rafah and public health concerns are beyond crisis levels in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah, according to the World Food Programme.
The Emergency Committee for North Gaza municipalities declared Jabalya town, Jabalya Refugee Camp, Beit Lahya and Beit Hanoun as “disaster zones.”
Humanitarian space continues to further shrink, report UNRWA and the Protection Cluster.
Humanitarian Developments
* Israeli bombardment from the air, land, and sea continues to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of houses and other civilian infrastructure. Ground incursions and heavy fighting also continue to be reported, particularly in Rafah. Intensified hostilities following the issuance of evacuation orders and the Israeli military operation in Rafah have so far forced the displacement of about one million people, amid a decline in the entry of humanitarian aid.
* Between the afternoons of 31 May and 3 June, according to MoH in Gaza, 195 Palestinians were killed and 720 were injured, including 40 killed and 150 injured in the past 24 hours. Between 7 October 2023 and 3 June 2024, at least 36,479 Palestinians were killed and 82,777 were injured in Gaza, according to MoH in Gaza.
* The following are among the deadly incidents reported between 30 May and 3 June:
* On 30 May, at about 13:25, at least three Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when an UNRWA school was hit in Jabaliya Refugee Camp, in North Gaza.
* On 31 May, at about 1:05, eight Palestinians, including two children and three women, were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit in Bloc 9 in Al Bureij Refugee Camp, in Deir al Balah.
* On 31 May, at about 6:25, three Palestinian men were reportedly killed and others injured when a civilian car was hit in Al Helou Street in An Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in Deir al Balah.
* On 31 May, at about 20:00, three Palestinians including two women, one of whom was identified as a journalist, were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit in Al Jalaa Street in the central part of Gaza city.
* On 1 June, at about 15:00, two Palestinians were reportedly killed and four others injured when Ali Bin Abi Talib School sheltering internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Az Zaitoun neighbourhood of Gaza city was hit.
* On 2 June, at about 1:30, three Palestinians, including a man, a woman, and an infant, were reportedly killed when a house was hit in Ad Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza city.
* Between the afternoons of 31 May and 3 June, no Israeli soldiers were reported killed in Gaza. As of 3 June, 293 soldiers have been killed and 1,878 soldiers have been injured in Gaza or along the border in Israel since the beginning of the ground operation, according to the Israeli military. In addition, according to the Israeli media citing official Israeli sources, over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 33 children, have been killed in Israel, the vast majority on 7 October. As of 3 June, it is estimated that 125 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including fatalities whose bodies are withheld. On 3 June, the Israeli military stated that it has found, in Israel, the body of an Israeli killed in the attacks of 7 October 2023. According to media reports, he was thus far believed to be held hostage in Gaza.
* On 1 June, the Israeli military ordered residents of two blocs in Beit Hanoun, in North Gaza governorate, to evacuate to the area west of Gaza city. With an area of two square kilometres, the two blocs were home to 7,284 Palestinians before 7 October and encompass two UNRWA schools, one UNRWA distribution centre, and one health facility. To date, 285 square kilometres, or about 78 per cent of the Gaza Strip, have been placed under evacuation orders by the Israeli military; this encompasses all areas north of Wadi Gaza, whose residents were instructed to evacuate in late October, as well as specific areas south of Wadi Gaza designated for evacuation by the Israeli military since 1 December.
* On 2 June, the head of the Emergency Committee for North Gaza municipalities declared Jabalya town, Jabalya Refugee Camp, Beit Lahya and Beit Hanoun as “disaster zones,” following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area on 31 May. They appealed to the international community and UN aid agencies to provide immediate relief and shelter assistance as well as support the municipalities in repairing damaged water wells and other critical infrastructure. According to the same source, the most recent three-week ground operation in northern Gaza resulted in the destruction of 50,000 housing units, UNRWA shelters, and more than 15 water wells and other public infrastructure. The central market in Jabalya Refugee Camp, the fifth floor of Al Awda Hospital, and the main electricity generator at Kamal Adwan Hospital were also destroyed, reported the Palestinian Civil Defense (PCD) in a statement on 31 May. PCD teams have recovered tens of bodies, mostly women and children, from Jabalya Refugee Camp, including 30 people from the same family of whom 22 were women and children, and rescue operations are still ongoing. Highlighting the challenges facing PCD teams due to the lack of equipment, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Husam Abu Safiyeh, noted in a media interview that over 120 bodies had been recovered by medical teams from under rubble, and that work was underway to repair damages and restore services at the hospital despite limited capacities.
* The intensification of hostilities and evacuation orders in Rafah have forced Protection Cluster partners, like other humanitarian actors, to evacuate their premises, with many providers, themselves displaced, unable to re-establish services due to the lack of tents, exorbitant rent costs, fuel shortage and rising transportation costs. This has resulted in a limited number of frontline staff in Al Mawasi area in Khan Younis, reports the Protection Cluster, and negatively affected the availability and accessibility of protection services, including for the provision of psycho-social support, awareness raising activities, and the re-establishment of referrals for Gender-Based Violence (GBV) cases. It has also heightened the cost of accessing services, disproportionately affecting women and girls. The SOS Children’s village, the only currently functional shelter for children without parental care, had to relocate the children and their caregivers from Rafah to central Gaza but has a limited number of tents and no capacity to receive more children. According to UNRWA, the “humanitarian space continues to further shrink,” with all 36 UNRWA shelters in Rafah now empty and the agency having had to stop health and other critical services in the governorate.
* WFP is currently able to reach only 27,000 people with hot meals in Rafah, nowhere near what is required, noted the World Food Program (WFP) Country Director in Palestine, Matthew Hollingworth, in a press briefing on 31 May following a ten-day mission to Gaza. Six bakeries remain functional in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, while those in Rafah have ceased operations due to the lack of fuel, he added. Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, where almost a million people have fled, are highly congested; people face dire shortages of food, clean water, medical supplies and healthcare services and “public health concerns are beyond crisis levels,” WFP stressed. WFP and its partners are currently providing 400,000 hot meals per day in the area but lack supplies to scale up the delivery of ready-to-eat rations while commercial supplies are generally unaffordable. Hollingworth observed that many families were resorting to leaving their identification cards as collateral to pay for food supplies from the market, “putting their own safety and future in jeopardy because they need those identification cards to register for aid in the future.” In northern Gaza, about 12,000 tons of aid, primarily food, that has arrived via the northern crossings since 1 May has provided some relief, but lack of access to clean water, nutritious foods, health care and sanitation continue to devastate the area.
* In Deir al Balah, Al Aqsa Hospital announced on 30 May that one child had died in the facility due to malnutrition and lack of medical treatment, and another 13-year-old child also reportedly died of malnutrition on 1 June. “If nutrition supplies, especially ready-to-use therapeutic food, used to address malnutrition among children, cannot be distributed, the treatment of more than 3,000 children with acute malnutrition will be interrupted,” stated the UNICEF Chief of Communications in Palestine, Jonathan Crickx, underscoring that the “ongoing situation in Rafah is a disaster for children.”
* “With hostilities escalating due to the ongoing military operation, the lack of health care will lead to increased unnecessary deaths and suffering,” stressed the World Health Organization (WHO) on 1 June. The Health Cluster reports that, as of 3 June, there are 15 partially functional hospitals and five field hospitals, including two that are partially functional and three that are fully functional. In North Gaza, WHO informs, Kamal Adwan Hospital had resumed partial functionality and access to Al Awda Hospital has now been restored. In late May, Al Awda became inaccessible due to the intensification of hostilities while 14 health workers, 11 patients and two mothers accompanying their children remained inside the facility. The Indonesian Hospital in the same governorate is still out of service and the hospital has recently been impacted by shelling, according to MoH in Gaza. In Rafah, all three hospitals remain non-functional, WHO reports, and out of six field hospitals, only two are functional; the International Medical Corps (IMC) field hospital remains fully operational while the UAE Field Hospital is only partially functional, continuing to provide services to 37 patients inside the facility but is inaccessible to new patients.
* Access constraints continue to undermine the safe delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, exacerbating the needs of hundreds of thousands of people. With hostilities escalating in both northern and southern Gaza, particularly in Rafah, security and humanitarian access conditions have further deteriorated in May. Despite the presence of a system to notify and coordinate humanitarian movements, impediments, delays, and denials of missions continue to frequently restrict the movement of humanitarian personnel and the delivery of assistance. Between 1 and 31 May, out of the 78 coordinated humanitarian assistance missions to northern Gaza, 35 (45 per cent) were facilitated by Israeli authorities, 5 (6 per cent) were denied access, 27 (35 per cent) were impeded, and 11 (14 per cent) were cancelled due to operational or security reasons. In addition, out of 270 coordinated humanitarian assistance missions to areas in southern Gaza, 138 (51 per cent) were facilitated by Israeli authorities, 33 (12 per cent) were denied, 52 (19 per cent) were impeded, and 47 (17 per cent) were cancelled. Many missions classified as “impeded” have experienced extended delays imposed by Israeli authorities at holding points, with some lasting up to nine hours at sensitive locations, significantly increasing the security risks for humanitarian personnel.
Funding
* As of 3 June, Member States have disbursed about US$1 billion out of $3.4 billion (30 per cent) requested to meet the most critical needs of 2.3 million people in Gaza and 800,000 people in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between January and December 2024. For funding analysis, please see the Flash Appeal Financial Tracking dashboard.
* The oPt HF has 118 ongoing projects, for a total of $72.5 million, addressing urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (85 per cent) and West Bank (15 per cent). The HF has allocated an additional $22 million to bolster prioritized HF-funded projects in Gaza. Recently, 14 projects for a total of $5 million have been approved under the Third Reserve Allocation titled "Critical Humanitarian Aid for Gaza Amidst Escalating Conflict and Displacement (Phase 3)." Following a steep rise in displacement from Rafah to Khan Younis and Deir al Balah and to capitalize on the operational presence of national partners, these projects will be implemented by national NGOs (12 projects) or through a partnership between international and national NGOs (2 projects). Since 7 October, the oPt HF has mobilized over $100 million from Member States and private donors, designated for programmes throughout Gaza. A summary of the oPt HF activities and challenges in April 2024 is available through this link and the 2023 Annual Report of the oPt HF can be accessed here. Private donations are collected directly through the Humanitarian Fund.
For the most recent Gaza Humanitarian Response Update for the period between 20 and 26 May, please visit: GazaHumanitarian Response Update | 20–26 May 2024. As of 3 June, the Gaza Humanitarian Response Update will be issued every two weeks. The next update will be issued on 12 June, covering the two-week period between 27 May and 9 June.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An Australian Perspective
'Very demoralising': Australian Dr returns from Gaza. "He [12 year old child] suffered a horrible death of pain and agony". "I had to certify the deaths of 6 month-old children who had come in dying of starvation and dehydration" https://t.co/sSnrAJiTji via @ABCaustralia
— no_filter_Yamba (@no_filter_Yamba) June 4, 2024
According to the Gazan Ministry of Health, the predominately civilian Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023 is > 36,550 men, women & children killed and 82,959 wounded - with an untold number missing presumed dead.
According to the United Nations by Day 214 (08.05.24) there were 34,622 recorded Palestinian fatalities in Israel's War on Gaza, 24,686 of which have been fully identified and of those identified 7,797 were children, 4,959 women, 1,924 elderly, and 10,006 men.
Today is Day 223, there is still no ceasefire and est. 1.7 million Palestinian men, women and children have been internally displaced by Israel's ongoing punitive war.
Of these internally displaced persons tens of thousands have had to flee the Jabilia refugee camp in northern Gaza since 11 May 2024 due to an sustained IDF assault and another est. 600,000 people have been part of a forced evacuation from Rafah and it refugee camp since 6-8 May, as Israeli forces completely closed the border crossing bringing humanitarian aid to southern Gaza and continued to target the city.
Internally displaced Palestinians arrive to Khan Younis after leaving Rafah following an evacuation order issued by the Israeli army, southern Gaza Strip, 11 May 2024. EFE-EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
The Israeli Defence Force killing of civilians continues across the Gaza Strip.
On 13 May 2024 Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the country intends to file a declaration of intervention in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in light of Israel’s increasing aggression against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, as well as the systematic practices perpetrated against the Palestinian people, such as the targeting of civilians and the destruction of infrastructure. Egypt’s announcement follows Columbia and Libya's requests to intervene in the case.
On 15 May the bloc of 27 nations comprising the European Union issued a statement titled "Gaza: Statement by the High Representative on Israel’s operation in Rafah" calling on Israel to refrain from further exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and reopen the crossing point of Rafah and warning that should Israel continue its military operation in Rafah, it would inevitably put a heavy strain on the EU’s relationship with Israel.
Yesterday,16 May 2024 and again today 17 May the International Court of Justice scheduled public hearings in the matter of Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) having received an urgent request for the indication of additional provisional measures and the modification of previous provisional measures from the Republic of South Africa.
This is Now or Never. The whole World needs to shutdown. There are 1.7 Million+ people in Rafah & there's no where to go. It's a dead end and Israhell is deliberately bombing them. This is Genocide & monstrosity at it's fullest#PermanentCeasefireNow#EyesOnRafah #AllEyesOnRafah pic.twitter.com/7Lx32PyFYr
— سید ہمایوں (@Syed_HumayunAz3) May 7, 2024
Unconfirmed video
Click image lower right full view arrow
At present it is estimated that 1.5 million displaced Palestinian civilians - men, women & children - are sheltering in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and environs.
Financial Review, 7 May 2024:
Jerusalem | Hamas announced on Monday (Tuesday AEST) it has accepted a ceasefire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its “core demands” and it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
Al Jazeera, 7 May 2024:
Israeli tanks have taken over the Rafah crossing in Gaza’s border with Egypt after advancing during the night as their warplanes pounded residential homes, killing at least 12 people.
The Guardian, 7 May 2024: (approx. AEST 1:00am)
Thousands of people are evacuating from Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, hours after the Israeli military told residents and displaced people in eastern neighbourhoods to leave in advance of a long-threatened attack on the city and its environs. Witnesses described frightened families leaving the city on foot, riding donkeys or packed with their belongings into overloaded trucks on Monday. Overnight Israeli airstrikes had reinforced “panic and fear”, prompting more to heed the instructions to move.
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| al Mawasi camp in April 2024 Image: The Guardian |
It is reported that the IDF has ordered est. 100,000 of those displaced persons in an eastern section of Rafah to move to al Mawasi, where there is a makeshift camp on the coast. About 450,000 displaced Palestinians are said to already be sheltering there.
The al Mawsi area has been subject to IDF attack and what infrastructure there is damaged and the camp unable to support a further influx of people according to United Nations sources.
The Guardian, 8 May 2024 (AEST 3:49am):
An intensification of the operation should be unthinkable: it would vastly increase the disaster. Many of those now in Rafah were forced to flee from other parts of Gaza. Ordering evacuation is pointless when there is nowhere safe to go. Unicef says 600,000 children are in the city. According to Gaza’s health authorities, 14,000 minors have already been killed, along with 6,000 mothers: there are 19,000 new war orphans.
Media and other reports suggest that up to 1,000 Australian citizens have journeyed to the State of Israel since 7 October 2023 in order to serve in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) during its War on Gaza - as dual Australian-Israeli citizen IDF reservists or as non-dual citizens in the IDF Mahal volunteer force.
UPDATE:
ABC News, 9 May 2024:
Since the start of the seven-month Israel-Hamas conflict, powerful US-supplied 2,000-pound bombs have been used in bombardments on Gaza's heavily populated cities.
Now, for the first time, US President Joe Biden has acknowledged that the bombs, which military experts say turn "earth into liquid", have killed civilians in Gaza.
And the US will be delaying a shipment of thousands of bombs over concerns about Israel's invasion of the southern city of Rafah.
"Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centres," Mr Biden told CNN.
"I made it clear that if they go into Rafah ... we're not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used."
Analysts say it's a "powerful symbolic move" from the Biden administration.
But, it's unlikely to have an impact on the conflict overall, or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned assault on Rafah....
Washington has paused one shipment consisting of 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs, and 1,700 500-pound bombs, according to US officials. These are the 2,000-pound bombs the US is reportedly sending Israel The US has in recent days reportedly green-lit the transfer of billions of dollars' worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel.
Four sources said the shipment, which has been delayed for at least two weeks, involved Boeing-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which convert dumb bombs into precision-guided ones, as well as Small Diameter Bombs...
The blast of an MK84 bomb is so immense "it turns earth into liquid", Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon official and a war crimes investigator for the United Nations told the Associated Press last month.
"It pancakes entire buildings," he said.
He added an explosion in the open meant "instant death" for anyone within about 30 metres.
Lethal fragmentation can extend for up to 365m.
SBS News, 10 May 2024:
Highlights
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israelis will fight with only their fingernails, if they must ["But we have much more than our fingernails"].
Ceasefire talks make some headway, but no deal, Egyptian security sources said.
Israeli officials said operation in Rafah to proceed as planned.
