Broken heart

Palestine, Gaza, the West Bank, Israel

It is with a broken heart that I watch what is happening in the Middle East, the latest iteration of a seemingly endless cycle of violence and destruction that has been occurring for longer than I've been alive. For me, the saddest aspect of this is the huge number of civilians on all sides that have been caught up in these cycles of violence for decades, killed, maimed, displaced.

I absolutely condemn the atrocious act of terrorism perpetrated by Hamas primarily against innocent Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, killing 1,164 and wounding more than 5,000, and by holding more than 250 of them hostage, 100 of whom are still held hostage as I write this. I also condemn that Hamas continues to espouse the goal of destroying Israel.

However, after October 7, 2023 and over the subsequent weeks, months, and now more than a year, I have grown increasingly horrified by Israel's retaliatory war and the way it so blatantly disregards the lives and welfare of Palestinian civilians in attacks that killed more than 40,000 in the first year alone, likely many more, and that have displaced as much as 90% of the more than two million people living in Gaza.

Most civilians in Gaza are without adequate clean water, food, sanitation, and medical care. Israel continuously directs them to leave certain areas into other areas that are supposed to be safe zones, but then has bombed those areas, killing displaced civilians. In one year, more than 60% of Gaza's buildings have been damaged or destroyed, including most of its hospitals, universities, and schools.

I also am appalled by the way the Israeli so-called "settlers" are killing and displacing Palestinians in the West Bank, and the way the Israeli government is forcibly displacing Palestinians from East Jerusalem.

Of course, the roots of this current war go back more than a century. For details, jump down to Alternative timeline ∨.

This must end. We must find a path forward towards peaceful coexistence.

My heart is with the ordinary civilians who all deserve dignified and safe lives.

Jump to:

• Ongoing reflections: Year 1 ∨
• Ongoing reflections: Year 2 > · Year 3 >
• Related Wikipedia articles, historical perspective, books, additional notes ∨

Ongoing reflections - Year 1

A note about the timeline

Each entry in these ongoing reflections is introduced with the date the item was published, followed by the number of days since Hamas carried out its act of terrorism on October 7, 2023 and Israel retaliated with its full-scale war on Gaza. However, it would be reasonable to list alternate dates for the start of this ongoing war that, counting from October 7, 2023, would add between 16 and 141 years (adapted from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict⩘  article in Wikipedia).

For details, jump down to: Alternative timeline ∨ 

See also: Before October 7th: Understanding the Long History of Israel's Assault on Gaza⩘  by Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV), Sep 27, 2024. IJV is "a grassroots organization grounded in Jewish tradition that opposes all forms of racism and advocates for justice and peace for all in Israel-Palestine".

Ongoing reflections

• Oct 6, 2024 (day 366): Letter to President Biden and Vice President Harris: Open Letter from American Medical Professionals Who Served in Gaza⩘ , Gaza Healthcare Letters, Oct 2, 2024.
  
  • "We are 99 American physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners, nurses, and midwives who have volunteered in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. Combined, we spent 254 weeks volunteering in Gaza's hospitals and clinics. We worked with various nongovernmental organizations and the World Health Organization in hospitals and clinics throughout the Strip. In addition to our medical and surgical expertise, many of us have a public health background, as well as experience working in humanitarian and conflict zones, including Ukraine during the brutal Russian invasion. Some of us are veterans and reservists. We are a multifaith and multiethnic group. None of us support the horrors committed on October 7 by Palestinian armed groups and individuals in Israel.
  • "The Constitution of the World Health Organization states: 'The health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security and is dependent on the fullest cooperation of individuals and States.' It is in this spirit that we write to you in this open letter.…
  • "This letter and the appendix show probative evidence that the human toll in Gaza since October is far higher than is understood in the United States. It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza's population.
  • "Our government must act immediately to prevent an even worse catastrophe than what has already befallen the people of Gaza and Israel. A ceasefire must be imposed on the warring parties by withholding military support for Israel and supporting an international arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. We believe our government is obligated to do this, both under American law and International Humanitarian Law. We also believe it is the right thing to do.
  • "I've never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources. Our bombs are cutting down women and children by the thousands. Their mutilated bodies are a monument to cruelty.
    – Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, trauma and critical care surgeon, Veterans Affairs general surgeon
  • …
  • " President Biden and Vice President Harris, we wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them. We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget. We cannot fathom why you continue arming the country that is deliberately killing these children en masse.…
  • "Israel has destroyed more than half of Gaza's healthcare resources and has killed nearly one thousand Palestinian healthcare workers, more than one out of every 20 healthcare workers in Gaza. At the same time healthcare needs have increased massively from the lethal combination of military violence, malnutrition, disease, and displacement.…
  • "These observations and the publicly available material detailed in the appendix lead us to believe that the death toll from this conflict is many times higher than what is reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health. We also believe this is probative evidence of widespread violations of American laws governing the use of American weapons abroad, and of International Humanitarian Law. We cannot forget scenes of unbearable cruelty directed at women and children that our government is a direct participant in."
• Oct 5, 2024 (day 365): Nearly 60% of Gaza damaged or destroyed in one year of war⩘  by Alison Snyder, Erin Davis, Axios.
  
• Oct 4, 2024 (day 364): Special Report: Emails show early US concerns over Gaza offensive, risk of Israeli war crimes⩘  by Humeyra Pamuk, Reuters.
  
  • "As Israel pounded northern Gaza with air strikes last October and ordered the evacuation of more than a million Palestinians from the area, a senior Pentagon official delivered a blunt warning to the White House.
  • "The mass evacuation would be a humanitarian disaster and could violate international law, leading to war crime charges against Israel, Dana Stroul, then the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, wrote in an Oct. 13 email to senior aides to President Joe Biden. Stroul was relaying an assessment by the International Committee of the Red Cross that had left her 'chilled to the bone,' she wrote.…
  • "Much of Gaza is now a wasteland."
• Oct 4, 2024 (day 364): In Gaza, we have one question for the rest of the world: aren't we human, just like you?⩘ , as told to Sara Halawani and Sharon Goulds by a writer, a 24-year-old woman who has lived in Gaza all her life, and who has worked with Plan International⩘  as a youth ambassador. She is writing anonymously to protect her identity. The Guardian.
  
  • " It's essential for the world to advocate for political solutions and peace negotiations to address the root causes of the conflict. It's also crucial for our immediate survival that we receive humanitarian aid such as food, medical care and psychological support. And we need safe spaces for education and personal development, to provide a refuge and help young people prepare for a better future.
  • "We need to believe that there is hope, but right now that's getting harder. In Gaza we don't feel anyone is looking out for us. The young feel abandoned by the outside world – the conflict has gone on and on and people are no longer shocked by what is happening to us."
• Oct 3, 2024 (day 363): Opinion – 'This would become hell': 8 people on the impact of the war in Gaza: A year after Hamas's Oct. 7 attack, despair and hope reign along with a yearning for peace⩘ , Washington Post Opinions.
  
  • "The biggest impact of Oct. 7 on my life was understanding that I was fooled to believe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be manageable. Those who believe that bombs will bring quiet, walls will defend and war will bring security are naive followers of false leaders. The voice of peace is the voice of reason. In the past 12 months, I have been inspired by so many people from all over the world. Israeli and Palestinian peace activists are working on the ground. We are much more determined than before – but we need an international coalition, one that ends the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and neotiates peace between both sides." – Maoz Inon is an Israeli peace entrepreneur who founded several peace-focused tourism initiatives.
  • "At some point, we came to terms with death. However, I find hope in the resolve and creativity of the young people around me, who constitute the majority of Gaza's population and are testaments to our collective strength and tenacity. We've learned to deal with the unexpected and to always make something out of nothing. Despite being deprived of our freedoms for decades, our people have accomplished so much with so little. Gaza is our home, and it is everything to us." – Shaimaa Ahmed is a computer engineering student from Gaza City.
• Oct 3, 2024 (day 363): The illegal party⩘  by @PBruce⩘ , Mastodon.social, Oct 3, 2024.
  
  • "You cannot brutally occupy a country for over half a century and legitimately plead self defense, or victimization, as you have blood of innocents on your hands, are the aggressor, the criminal, the illegal party."
• Sep 19, 2024 (day 349): Lebanon is rocked again by exploding devices as Israel declares a new phase of war⩘  by Johnson Lai and Bassem Mroue, Associated Press.
  
  • "While the pagers were used by Hezbollah members, there was no guarantee who was holding the device at the time it was detonated. Also, many of the casualties were not Hezbollah fighters, but members of the group's extensive civilian operations mainly serving Lebanon's Shiite community.
  • "At least two health workers were among those killed Tuesday. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, charity workers, teachers and office administrators work for Hezbollah-linked organizations, and an unknown number had pagers.
  • "Mary Ellen O'Connell, a professor of law and international peace studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, said booby-traps are banned under international law. 'Weaponizing an object used by civilians is strictly prohibited,' she said."
• Sep 10, 2024 (day 340): Israeli military says it likely killed American in West Bank⩘  by Chantal Da Silva, NBC News.
  
  • "The Israeli military said Tuesday it was 'highly likely' that its forces killed an American woman during a protest in the occupied West Bank last week. The United States said the shooting was 'unprovoked and unjustified' and called for 'fundamental changes' to Israel's conduct, a rare direct rebuke of its close ally.
  • "Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, a recent graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle, was shot and killed Friday during a demonstration against the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, the International Solidarity Movement said at the time."
• Sep 9, 2024 (day 339): At least 19 killed and more feared buried in Israeli airstrike on Gaza humanitarian zone targeting Hamas militants⩘  by Mohammed Tawfeeq, Kareem Khadder and Irene Nasser, CNN.
  
  • "An overnight Israeli airstrike on an area that Israel itself had designated as a humanitarian zone for displaced people in southern Gaza has killed and injured dozens of Palestinians, according to local officials in the besieged enclave. Israel said the operation targeted Hamas fighters there.
  • "At least 19 bodies arrived at hospitals from the humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. More than 60 people were also wounded, it said, as rescuers raced to recover victims buried under sand and debris.
  • " 'People thought they were asleep safely. Suddenly we woke up to the sounds of explosions, and fires were surrounding us from every side. We didn't know where the strike hit, where the remains are, or where the blood is. Everything was scattered,' Mahmoud Al Nims, a resident, told CNN."/li>
• Sep 2, 20224 (day 332): Extremist settlers rapidly seizing West Bank land⩘  by Jake Tacchi, Ziad Al-Qattan, Emir Nader & Matthew Cassel, BBC Eye Investigations.
  
  • "The number of these outposts has risen rapidly in recent years, new BBC analysis shows. There are currently at least 196 across the West Bank, and 29 were set up last year – more than in any previous year.
  • "The outposts – which can be farms, clusters of houses, or even groups of caravans – often lack defined boundaries and are illegal under both Israeli and international law.
  • "But the BBC World Service has seen documents showing that organisations with close ties to the Israeli government have provided money and land used to establish new illegal outposts."
• Aug 29, 2024 (day 328): UN calls for de-escalation as Israeli West Bank raids continue⩘  by Alex Smith, BBC News.
• Aug 28, 2024 (day 327): When Hollywood Tries To Cancel Palestinians⩘  by Qasim Rashid, Let's Address This.
  
  • "Bisan Atef Owda is a Palestinian journalist and filmmaker. She has so far survived Netanyahu's siege on Gaza and documented her experience through a heroic film titled, 'It's Bisan From Gaza and I'm Still Alive.'' This courageous documentary 'chronicles her family's plight as they flee the bombardment of their home in Beit Hanoun for the supposed safe zone of Al-Shifa Hospital.'' Accordingly, Owda has received an Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Hard News Feature Story Short Form category.…
  • "In conclusion
  • "Demanding better begins with honesty about the history of Israel and Palestine. But it doesn't stop there. It requires us to also contemporarily uphold international human rights law to ensure an immediate and permanent ceasefire, a release of all hostages on both sides, a prosecution of war crimes, an end to the illegal military occupation and illegal settlements in Palestine, and the right for Palestine to be an independent sovereign nation with self-determination.
  • "Such a path forward will uphold justice and safety for Palestinians, justice and safety for Israelis, and a meaningful consistent standard of accountability going forward. Such a path would truly revive the long history of mutual co-existence that Muslims and Jews initiated with the landmark Constitution of Medina in 622 C.E. And that is a unity on the tenets of justice and humanity worth fighting for."
  • See also:
    
    • 'It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive'⩘  by Bisan Atef Owda, AJ+, Nov 3, 2024.
    • 'It's Bisan From Gaza, I'm Still Alive After Six Months Of Bombing'⩘  by Bisan Atef Owda, AJ+, Apr 7, 2024.
    • It's Bisan From Gaza, And There's Over 17,000 Orphans⩘  by Bisan Atef Owda, AJ+, Jul 8, 2024.
    • It's Bisan From Gaza: Skin Infections Rise As Heat Inside Tents Soars ⩘  by Bisan Atef Owda, AJ+, Aug 22, 2024.
• Aug 27, 2024 (day 326): Israeli settlers are seizing Palestinian land under cover of war – they hope permanently⩘  by Yolande Knell, Middle East correspondent & Toby Luckhurst, In Jerusalem, BBC.
  
  • "Last week, Israel's domestic intelligence chief Ronen Bar wrote to ministers warning that Jewish extremists in the West Bank were carrying out acts of 'terror' against Palestinians and causing 'indescribable damage' to the country.
  • "Since the start of the war in Gaza, there has been an acceleration in settlement growth in the occupied West Bank.
  • "Extremists in Israel's government boast that these changes will prevent an independent Palestinian state from ever being created.
  • "There are fears, too, that they seek to prolong the war in Gaza to suit their goals."
• Aug 26, 2024 (day 325): Israel Is Buying Google Ads to Discredit the UN's Top Gaza Aid Agency⩘  by Paresh Dave, Wired.
  
  • Back In mid-January, Mara Kronenfeld was googling the name of the nonprofit she runs, which raises money in the US on behalf of the leading humanitarian aid provider in Gaza. Atop the search results for her organization—UNRWA USA, partner to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)—she saw a surprising ad. It read like a promo from the UN agency, but the link directed to an Israeli government website. Kronenfeld says she had found the beginnings of a months-long online advertising campaign by Israel to discredit and defund UNRWA.…
  • " 'There is an incredibly powerful campaign to dismantle UNRWA,' Kronenfeld says. 'I want the public to know what's happening and the insidious nature of it, especially at a time when civilian lives are under attack in Gaza.'…
  • "UNRWA supporters say Israel doesn't like that the agency preserves Palestinians' refugee status, which arguably gives them a better shot at reclaiming occupied land someday.…
  • "The Google employees WIRED spoke with say they are concerned about the company profiting off what they view as Israel's efforts to pin blame on organizations such as UNRWA and draw attention away from its own role in the Gaza crisis."
• Aug 26, 2024 (day 325): Diseases spread in Gaza as sewage contaminates camps and coast⩘  by Ahmed Nour, Abdirahim Saeed, Lamees Altalebi & Paul Cusiac, BBC Arabic.
• Aug 26, 2024 (day 325): Israel Tortures Healthcare Workers⩘  by Andrew Stroehlein, Human Rights Watch.
  
  • "The accounts of released detainees in the new HRW report are consistent with other independent reports, including by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights⩘ , the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees⩘ , other rights⩘  groups⩘ , and the Israeli news media⩘ ."
• Aug 11, 2024 (day 310): Kamala Harris says 'too many' civilian deaths in Gaza⩘  by Sofia Ferreira Santos, BBC News.
• Aug 9, 2024 (day 308): Confronting violent settlers in the occupied West Bank, together⩘  by special correspondent Fergal Keane and Alice Doyard Reporting from Al Farasiya, Jordan Valley, BBC News.
  
  • "According to OCHA – the UN office for Humanitarian Affairs – there have been more than 1,000 attacks [in the West Bank] by settlers against Palestinians since October, with at least 1,390 people – including 660 children – displaced.
  • "Lethal violence has frequently accompanied the attacks. OCHA recorded 107 that led to Palestinian fatalities and injuries, 859 causing damage to Palestinian property.
  • "Thousands of trees and saplings belonging to Palestinians have been destroyed. Farmers like Ahmad describe how access to water for families, crops and herds is regularly blocked or limited.
  • "International attention has been focused on Gaza, but the scale of settler violence prompted the US, the EU and Britain to impose sanctions on some settler leaders and, for the first time, against entire settler outposts."
• Aug 6, 2024 (day 305): 'Going to a very bad place': Israeli reservists who refuse to return to Gaza cite military's destructive approach⩘  by Zeena Saifi and Jeremy Diamond, CNN.
• Aug 5, 2024 (day 304): Blindfolded, bound and beaten: Palestinians tell of Israeli jail abuse⩘  by Paul Adams, Diplomatic correspondent, Jerusalem, BBC.
  
  • "Israel's leading human rights organisation says conditions inside Israeli prisons holding Palestinian detainees amount to torture."
• Aug 2, 2024 (day 301): 'Still alive' – graduate Asmaa's texts to BBC from the ruins of Gaza⩘  by Paul Adams, BBC diplomatic correspondent.
  
  • "For six years the BBC's Paul Adams has been in contact with a young graduate in Gaza. Her text messages give a unique insight into the terrors and small triumphs she has experienced during the current conflict, and her fears for the future."
• Aug 1, 2024 (day 300): The West Bank⩘ , Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
• Jul 31, 2024 (day 299): Lice, scabies, rashes plague Palestinian children as skin disease runs rampant in Gaza's tent camps⩘  by Wafaa Shurafa and Mohammed Jahjouh, AP News.
  
  • "Skin diseases are running rampant in Gaza, health officials say. The cause, they say, is the appalling conditions in overcrowded tent camps housing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes, along with the summer heat and the collapse of sanitation that has left pools of open sewage amid 10 months of Israel's bombardment and offensives in the territory."
• Jul 29, 2024 (day 297): Bella Hadid Responds to Adidas Campaign Controversy: "Antisemitism Has No Place in the Liberation of the Palestinian People"⩘  by Zoe G. Phillips, The Hollywood Reporter.
  
  • " 'I am a proud Palestinian woman and there is so much more to our culture than the things that have been equated over the past week,' she wrote. 'I will forever stand by my people of Palestine while continuing to advocate for a world free of antisemitism. Antisemitism has no place in the liberation of the Palestinian people. I will always stand for peace over violence, any day. Hate has no place here, and I will forever advocate for not only my people, but every person worldwide.' "
• Jul 24, 2024 (day 292): Rabbis join protest against Netanyahu in DC⩘  by Brandon Drenon, BBC News.
  
  • "A group of a few dozen Jewish Rabbis have gathered here in solidarity with the pro-Palestinian protesters. Among them is Yehoshua Mensch.
  • "Mensch believes Netanyahu's speech is the Israeli prime minister 'trying to show he speaks for all Jewish people, and he's here to fight against antisemitism'.
  • " 'We're here to say the opposite,' Mench says.
  • " 'He does not speak for us, and it's because of Israel's occupation (of Palestinian territories) that is causing a rise in antisemitism – not because of what Netanyahu says.'
• Jul 20, 2024 (day 288): US Senator Tim Kaine calls for US recognition of Palestine, following Knesset vote⩘ , Jerusalem Post.
  
  • "US Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) called for the US to recognize Palestine on Friday due to the Knesset vote on Wednesday to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River.
  • "In a statement posted to his webpage, Senator Kaine said that due to the Knesset's decision to deny the establishment of a Palestinian state, 'the US should no longer condition recognition on Israeli assent, but instead upon Palestinian willingness to peacefully coexist with its neighbors.' "
• Jul 19, 2024 (day 287): UN top court says Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal⩘  by Raffi Berg, BBC News.
  
  • "Delivering the court's findings, ICJ President Nawaf Salam said it had found that 'Israel's… continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal.'
  • " 'The State of Israel is under the obligation to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible,' he said.
  • "He said Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 did not bring Israel's occupation of that area to an end because it still exercises effective control over it.
  • "The court also said Israel should evacuate all of its settlers from the West Bank and East Jerusalem and pay reparations to Palestinians for damages caused by the occupation."
• Jul 17, 2024 (day 285): Israel using water as weapon of war as Gaza supply plummets by 94%, creating deadly health catastrophe⩘ , press release by Oxfam International.
  
  • "A new Oxfam report reveals how Israel has been systematically weaponizing water against Palestinians in Gaza, showing disregard for human life and international law.
  • "The report, Water War Crimes⩘ , finds that Israel's cutting of external water supply, systematic destruction of water facilities and deliberate aid obstruction have reduced the amount of water available in Gaza by 94% to 4.74 litres a day per person – just under a third of the recommended minimum in emergencies and less than a single toilet flush.  
• Jul 4, 2024 (day 272): Hamas faces growing public dissent as Gaza war erodes support⩘  by Lucy Williamson & Rushdi Aboualouf, BBC Middle East correspondent & Gaza correspondent, BBC News.
  
  • "Open criticism of Hamas has been growing in Gaza, both on the streets and online. Some have publicly criticised Hamas for hiding the hostages in apartments near a busy marketplace, or for firing rockets from civilian areas.…
  • " 'People say things like, 'Hamas has destroyed us' or even call on God to take their lives,' one man said. 'They ask what the 7 October attacks were for – some say they were a gift to Israel.'…
  • "Desperation and war are eroding social structures in Gaza, and Hamas control is not what it was.
  • "Four-fifths of Gaza's population is displaced, often moving between temporary shelters."
• Jun 29, 2024 (day 267): U.S. proposed new language in effort to reach Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal⩘  by Barak Ravid, Axios. "The Biden administration is still pushing for a three-phase deal that would lead to the release of the remaining 120 hostages being held by Hamas and to 'sustainable calm' in Gaza, where more than 37,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israel, according to local health authorities."
• Jun 19, 2024 (day 257): 'I don't believe in peace now,' released Gaza hostage tells BBC⩘  by Hafsa Khalil, BBC News.
  
  • "Ms Sagi lived for decades in the Nir Oz kibbutz near the Israel-Gaza border, trying to help reconciliation efforts by teaching Israelis Arabic to speak to their neighbours.
  • "In the autumn of 2023, she was planning to come to London to visit her son Noam and celebrate her birthday.
  • "But all that changed when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza, Ms Sagi among them.
  • "Ada, who turned 75 while held hostage by those she describes as 'Hamas terrorists', was finally freed 53 days later."
• Jun 5, 2024 (day 243): Opinion: Do you condemn Hamas?⩘  by James Ray, Mondoweiss. "The question we have to ask ourselves is not whether we condemn Hamas, but whether we condemn a settler colonial regime that makes armed struggle necessary for survival."
• Jun 1, 2024 (day 239): A former Israeli hostage recalls the brutality of Hamas captivity⩘  by Shira Rubin, The Washington Post. "Moran Stella Yanai was abducted on Oct. 7 and was sure that her life 'would end,' she said."
• May 31, 2024 (day 238): Netanyahu won't agree to hostage release deal unless it polls well for him, Israeli families say they were told⩘  by Raf Sanchez, NBC News.
• May 28, 2024 (day 235): Revealed: Israeli spy chief 'threatened' ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry⩘  by Harry Davies, The Guardian.
  
  • "According to accounts shared with ICC officials, [former head of the Mossad, Yossi Cohen] is alleged to have told [ICC's then prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda]: 'You should help us and let us take care of you. You don't want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.' "
• May 26, 2024 (day 233): Israeli airstrike kills dozens after hitting tent camp for displaced, Gaza officials say⩘  by Doha Madani and Chantal Da Silva, NBC News.
  
  • "The strike drew condemnation from world leaders just days after the United Nations' top court ordered Israel to halt its offensive on the southern Gaza city where more than a million had sought refuge."
• May 22, 2024 (day 229): Spain, Ireland and Norway say they will recognize a Palestinian state. Why does that matter?⩘  by The Associated Press.
  
  • "Spain, Ireland and Norway said Wednesday that they would recognize a Palestinian state on May 28, a step toward a long-held Palestinian aspiration that came amid international outrage over the civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip following Israel's offensive."
• May 19, 2024 (day 226): Biden tells Morehouse graduates that scenes in Gaza from the Israel-Hamas war break his heart, too⩘  by Darlene Superville, Bill Barrow, and Matt Brown, AP News.
• May 17, 2024 (day 224): US confirms first aid trucks arrive via Gaza pier⩘  by Vicky Wong, BBC News.
  
  • "The US military has confirmed that the first aid shipment via a temporary pier off Gaza has gone ashore.… 'This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature,' the post read, adding that no US troops went ashore."
• May 15, 2024 (day 222): The Right of Return to Free Palestine⩘  by Salman Abu Sitta, Mondoweiss. "76 years later, Palestinian return to the homes and lands we were expelled from in 1948 is feasible and, of course, legal. To Palestinians, it is also sacred and inevitable."
• May 8, 2024 (day 215): Student protestors are portrayed as anywhere between naive and brainwashed. Now listen to this. Nothing naive here.⩘ , posted by Ralph (@ralph@social.coop⩘ ), Mastodon.
• May 5, 2024 (day 212): The mainstream media distorted our anti-Vietnam War protests 50 years ago. They're following the same strategy today⩘  by James North, Mondoweiss.
  
  • "Fifty years ago, I was one of the many thousands of students and others who joined in regular nationwide protests against the Vietnam War. I was arrested twice; the second time, in August 1972, we disrupted Richard Nixon's renomination at the Republican Convention in Miami, and I was one of the more than a thousand demonstrators who spent several days afterwards locked up in the Dade County Stockade.
  • "What is striking is that today's mainstream media efforts to smear the pro-Palestine student protests are so eerily similar to how we were slandered back then. Here is the current strategy, evident on TV news and in more highbrow outlets like the New York Times and the Atlantic magazine.
    
    1. Top priority: Ignore the actual events that are prompting the demonstrations. Today, say little or nothing about Israel's murderous and ongoing attack on Gaza.
    2. Ignore the substance of the student demands. Don't mention 'divestment.' (Never cite the call for nonviolent Boycott Divestment Sanctions.)
    3. Distort protester behavior; portray them as violent, in word and deed. The new twist now is to also smear them as antisemitic.
    4. And spend most of your time maligning the students' character. Today, as back then, call them 'privileged' or 'naive,' or worse. Blame 'outside agitators.' "
• May 2, 2024 (day 209): Terror and counter-terror: A reflection on Hamas and Israel⩘  by Timothy Snyder, Thinking about….
  
  • Snyder's post was written on Oct 10, 2023, just days after the Hamas terror attack that sparked the current war in Gaza and intensified the conflict in the West Bank. However, I just came across his post today, after finishing his excellent book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century; Expanded Audio Edition: Updated with Twenty New Lessons from Russia's War on Ukraine⩘ . After finishing the book, I wanted to know more about Snyder, which led me to his Substack, Thinking about…⩘  and this post. Though the post is short, it addresses with keen insight some significant questions I've been thinking about these past nearly seven months.
  • "In evaluating what Hamas has done, it is important to remember that the atrocious crimes are not (or are not only) ends in themselves. They are utterly horrible and deserving of every condemnation, but they are not mindless. Unlike Israelis, who are shocked and feel they must urgently act, Hamas has been working out this scenario for years. The people carrying out the bestial crimes follow a plan that anticipates an Israeli reaction."
• Apr 28, 2024 (day 205): World Central Kitchen to resume aid in Gaza following fatal airstrike⩘  by Andre Rhoden-Paul, BBC News.
  
  • "World Central Kitchen is to resume distributing food in Gaza, nearly a month after seven of its aid workers were killed in an Israeli air strike. The aid organisation said it has 276 trucks with eight million meals ready to enter through the Rafah crossing. 'Ultimately, we decided we must keep feeding,' the charity said on Sunday."
• Apr 27, 2024 (day 204): Sanders hits back at Netanyahu: 'It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable'⩘  by Robert Tait, The Guardian.
  
  • "Bernie Sanders has hit back fiercely at Benjamin Netanyahu over the Israeli prime minister's claim that US universities were being overrun by antisemitism on a scale comparable to the rise of Nazism in Germany.
  • "In a video posted on X, the progressive senator from Vermont – who is Jewish – accused Netanyahu of 'insult[ing] the intelligence of the American people' by using antisemitism to distract attention from the policies of his 'extremist and racist government' in the military offensive in Gaza.
  • " 'No Mr Netanyahu, it is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that, in a little over six months, your extremist government has killed over 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 78,000, 70% of whom are women and children,' Sanders said. …
  • "In a blistering conclusion, he said: 'Mr Netanyahu, antisemitism is a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to many millions of people. But please, do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal policies of your extremist and racist government. … It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable for your actions.' "
• Apr 24, 2024 (day 201): We need an exodus from Zionism⩘  by Naomi Klein, The Guardian. "This Passover, we don't need or want the false idol of Zionism. We want freedom from the project that commits genocide in our name.… This is a transcript of a speech delivered at the Emergency Seder in the Streets in New York City."
• Apr 21, 2024 (day 198): Israeli strikes on southern Gaza city of Rafah kill 22, mostly children, as US advances aid package⩘  by Mohammad Jahjouh and Samy Magdy, The Associated Press.
  
  • "The first Israeli strike in Rafah killed a man, his wife and their 3-year-old child, according to the nearby Kuwaiti Hospital, which received the bodies. The woman was pregnant and the doctors saved the baby, the hospital said. The second strike killed 17 children and two women from an extended family."
• Apr 20, 2024 (day 197): U.S. expected to sanction IDF unit for human rights violations in West Bank⩘  by Barak Ravid, Axios.
• Apr 17, 2024 (day 194): 'I'm in pieces' – Israeli hostage's agony over husband held in Gaza by Hamas⩘  by Lucy Manning, special correspondent, in Tel Aviv, BBC News.
  
  • "A released Israeli hostage whose husband is still being held by Hamas in Gaza has told the BBC she is 'screaming' for him to be freed and has called on international mediators to do more."
• Apr 13, 2024 (day 190): Hamas rejects Israel's ceasefire response, sticks to main demands⩘  by Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Reuters.
• Apr 11, 2024 (day 188): As Surgeons, We Have Never Seen Cruelty Like Israel's Genocide in Gaza: We urge anyone who reads this to publicly oppose sending weapons to Israel as long as this onslaught continues⩘  by , Common Dreams.
  
  • "The United States has heavily funded and overwhelmingly armed what is called 'the occupation' of Palestine, but the term is misleading. Israel's first president, Chaim Weizmann, declared that the existence of the Palestinians was simply 'a matter of no consequence.' Thirty years later, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan told the Israeli cabinet that the Palestinians 'would continue to live like dogs…and we will see where this process leads.'
  • "Now we know: This is where it leads. It leads to Gaza European Hospital, and to two surgeons realizing that the blood on the floor of the trauma bay and the operating room is dripping from our own hands. We Americans provide the crucial funding, weapons, and diplomatic support for a genocidal assault on a helpless population.
  • "The two of us continue to hope against hope that American politicians, and especially President Joe Biden, will abandon their support for Israel's war on the Palestinians. If they do not, then we have learned nothing from the history of the past hundred years. Polish poet Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quipped that 'no snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible,' but we as Americans must acknowledge that we are responsible for this crime against humanity, now in its seventh month and unfolding in full view of the entire world.
• Apr 11, 2024 (day 188): Israel's student soldiers haunted by Hamas attack⩘  by Jeremy Bowen, BBC News.
• Apr 10, 2024 (day 187): Delay 'not credible any longer': Recognition of state of Palestine expected in coming weeks⩘  by Pat Leahy, Cormac McQuinn, Marie O'Halloran, The Irish Times. "Ireland and some EU states set to announce formal recognition once peace initiative with Israel – expected within weeks – is under way."
• Apr 9, 2024 (day 186): I'm Jewish, and I've covered wars. I know war crimes when I see them.⩘ , opinion by Peter Maass, The Washington Post
  
  • "Israel and its supporters contend that what's happening in Gaza is a legal and righteous response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters. It's evident that war crimes were committed by Hamas: Israelis were shot in their homes at kibbutzim, and concertgoers at the Nova music festival were massacred. We've seen the pictures and videos, and while some allegations have turned out to be false, the evidence of brutal crimes is solid. Hamas is still holding more than 100 hostages.
  • "That does not give Israel a pass to respond as it pleases. An eye for an eye – or a hundred eyes for one eye – is not a thing in international law. A key tenet of the laws of warfare is that an attack that endangers civilians must be militarily necessary, and any civilian casualties that occur must be proportional to the military gain. What that means, in plainer language, is that you cannot slaughter a lot of civilians for a minor battlefield gain, and you certainly cannot target civilians, as appears to have happened in the killing of Hala Khreis and many other Palestinians. So far, more than 30,000 people have been reported killed in Gaza, most of them civilians, including more than 13,000 children.
  • "The victims of genocide – which Jews were in the Holocaust – are not gifted with the right to perpetrate one. Of course, a war-crimes court should be the arbiter of whether Israel's actions in Gaza qualify as genocide, but sufficient evidence for indictments appears to exist because the legal definition of genocide is 'acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.' The key words are 'in part.' Holocaust levels of killing are not required to reach the legal standard.
  • "This puts all Americans, not just American Jews, on the spot. The U.S. government is Israel's principal supporter, by virtue of the bombs and other weapons that continue to be provided to the extremist government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We are all implicated.
• Apr 9, 2024 (day 186): Israel Blocking More Food Than Other Aid In Hunger-stalked Gaza: UN⩘  by Agence France Presse, Barrons.
• Apr 7, 2024 (day 184): Chef José Andrés says Israel's 'unforgivable' strike on his aid workers must force 'real reckoning'⩘ , by Meghan Mistry and Julia Cherner, ABC News.
  
  • " 'It's been six months of targeting anything that seems—moves. This doesn't seem a war against terror. This doesn't seem anymore a war about defending Israel,' [chef José Andrés of World Central Kitchen] said. 'This really, at this point, seems it's a war against humanity itself.'…
  • "Addressing Biden directly, Andrés said that 'you can—and America will stand behind you—support the right of Israel to defend themselves on this massive attack.'
  • " 'But at the same time, I would say that President Biden also can be defending and supporting the right of Palestinians not to die, just trying to be getting a piece of bread,' he said.
  • " 'I think both truths can live in the same place. You can be a friend of Israel and at the same time you can be telling your partner in the Middle East, 'You cannot be conducting war in such a way,'' he added.…
  • " 'The best future we can be providing for our children is when we provide for the children of the people we don't know the same future and the same hope we are trying to provide for our own. What is so difficult to understand about that?' "
• Apr 4, 2024 (day 181): After six months of war, Israel's isolation grows with no end in sight⩘  by Josef Federman, Jerusalem, The Associated Press.
  
  • "When Israel declared war against Hamas last October, it stood unified at home and enjoyed broad backing from around the world following an unprecedented attack by the Islamic militant group.
  • "Six months later, Israel finds itself in a far different place: bogged down in Gaza, divided domestically, isolated internationally and increasingly at odds with its closest ally. The risk of a broader regional war remains real.
  • "Despite Israel's fierce military onslaught, Hamas is still standing, if significantly weakened. The offensive has pushed Gaza into a humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 80% of the population and leaving over 1 million people on the brink of starvation. Yet Israel hasn't presented a postwar vision acceptable to its partners, and cease-fire talks remain at a standstill.
• Apr 4, 2024 (day 181): Jacob Flickinger: Parents condemn son's death in Gaza as a 'crime'⩘  by Tom Bateman & Madeline Halpert, Washington DC, BBC News.
  
  • "His parents called on the US to stop sending military aid to Israel while the country was using 'food as a weapon' – a reference to the lack of aid getting into Gaza.
  • " 'The US has great leverage over Israel,' Mr Flickinger said.
  • "Jacob's parents also called for a ceasefire, a return of all Israeli hostages held by Hamas and for more aid to war-torn Gaza.
• Apr 4, 2024 (day 181): It's time to stop⩘ , editorial by The Independent. (Links to the online editorial that was published Apr 3, 2024).
  
  • 
    Photo credit: Front page of the print edition of The Independent, Apr 4, 2024.
    Via TomorrowsPapers.co.uk⩘ .
  • "Enough.
  • "It may seem wrong that, after more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza have perished, it took the deaths of just seven international aid workers to stir Western governments into a sense of outrage, but that is the reality.…
  • "Where once the world stood with Israel in its moment of anguish, it now stands more in opposition to it, and to the war. The Israeli government has abused the sympathy, support and military backing freely offered after Hamas committed, on 7 October last year, the worst antisemitic atrocities since the Holocaust, murdering 1,200 innocents.
  • "Israel has an inalienable right to defend itself; it does not have the right to do whatever it likes, or to ignore international law. That has been done too often, and too many civilians have been killed; too many families have been uprooted time and again, too many children have been orphaned, and too many babies have starved to death. As the occupying power, and as a nation that sees itself as a civilised democracy, Israel has a duty of care to protect the innocent. It has failed to do so.…
  • "Support for Israel will always be there, but it cannot be completely and automatically unconditional. The least that can be asked is that Israel, as a member of the United Nations, complies with the resolutions of the security council and the instructions of the International Court of Justice. That means no more massacres of innocent civilians or aid workers; a ceasefire now; no ground or aerial assault on Rafah; and full assistance afforded to the shipments of humanitarian aid.…
  • "The moment has come, therefore, to do whatever it takes to force the government of Israel to end its war of destruction and consider what the best, most secure, most internationally guaranteed future for the state of Israel actually looks like. Israel's prime minister might usefully consider that the best way forward for his country is for someone else to give Israel fresh leadership, and the region new hope."
• Apr 3, 2024 (day 180): 'The machine did it coldly': Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets⩘  by Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem and Harry Davies, The Guardian.
  
  • "Israeli intelligence sources reveal use of 'Lavender' system in Gaza war and claim permission given to kill civilians in pursuit of low-ranking militants.…
  • "Two sources said that during the early weeks of the war they were permitted to kill 15 or 20 civilians during airstrikes on low-ranking militants. Attacks on such targets were typically carried out using unguided munitions known as 'dumb bombs', the sources said, destroying entire homes and killing all their occupants.…
  • "According to conflict experts, if Israel has been using dumb bombs to flatten the homes of thousands of Palestinians who were linked, with the assistance of AI, to militant groups in Gaza, that could help explain the shockingly high death toll in the war.…
  • "The moment has come, therefore, to do whatever it takes to force the government of Israel to end its war of destruction and consider what the best, most secure, most internationally guaranteed future for the state of Israel actually looks like. Israel's prime minister might usefully consider that the best way forward for his country is for someone else to give Israel fresh leadership, and the region new hope."
• Apr 3, 2024 (day 180): World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés says Israel targeted staff in Gaza 'car by car'⩘ , BBC News.
  
  • "World Central Kitchen (WCK) founder José Andrés has accused Israeli forces in Gaza of targeting his aid workers 'systematically, car by car'.
  • "Monday's strike which killed seven members of his staff was not a mistake, he said, repeating that Israeli forces had been told of their movements."
• Apr 1, 2024 (day 178): 7 World Central Kitchen team members killed in Gaza⩘ , WCK Team Update.
  
  • "World Central Kitchen is devastated to confirm seven members of our team have been killed in an IDF strike in Gaza.
  • "The WCK team was traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle.
  • "Despite coordinating movements with the IDF, the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route.
  • " 'This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,' said World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore.
  • "The seven killed are from Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, and Palestine."
• Mar 28, 2024 (day 174): I Could Not Stay Silent: Annelle Sheline Resigns from State Dept. over U.S. Gaza Policy ⩘  by Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now!
  
  • "A State Department official working on human rights issues in the Middle East resigned Wednesday in protest against U.S. support for Israel's assault on Gaza. Annelle Sheline worked as a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor for a year, before publicly resigning.
  • "In an op-ed published in CNN, she wrote, quote, 'For the past year, I worked for the office devoted to promoting human rights in the Middle East. I believe strongly in the mission and in the important work of that office. However, as a representative of a government that is directly enabling what the International Court of Justice has said could plausibly be a genocide in Gaza, such work has become almost impossible. Unable to serve an administration that enables such atrocities, I have decided to resign from my position at the Department of State,' she wrote."
• Mar 27, 2024 (day 173): Hamas 'dismantled' but not destroyed, IDF says, as Gaza war enters new phase⩘  by William Booth and Hazem Balousha, The Washington Post.
• Mar 22, 2024 (day 168): Unicef official tells of 'utter annihilation' after travelling length of Gaza⩘  by Jason Burke, The Guardian.
  
  • " 'The depth of the horror surpasses our ability to describe it,' said James Elder, a spokesperson with the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef).
  • " 'As soon as you drive through the north, you get that universal gesture of hunger of people putting their hands to their mouths. A lot of children, women with very gaunt faces. In [the city of] Khan Younis, there is utter annihilation.'
  • " 'I've not seen that level of devastation in 20 years with the UN. People's coping capacity in the north has been smashed and in the south it is hanging by a thread,' Elder said in an interview on Friday."
• Mar 21, 2024 (day 167): U.S. FINALLY Pressures Israel by Submitting 'Immediate' Gaza Ceasefire Resolution at U.N.⩘  by Dan Ladden-Hall, Daily Beast.
• Mar 19, 2024 (day 165): Gaza's entire population facing acute food insecurity, Blinken warns⩘  by Tom Bateman, traveling with Antony Blinken, BBC News.
• Mar 19, 2024 (day 165): Israel's restrictions to Gaza aid may be war crime, says UN rights office⩘  by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Reuters.
• Mar 16, 2024 (day 162): 'He will come back' – Israeli hostage families cling to hope, and demand a deal⩘  by Orla Guerin in Tel Aviv, BBC News.
  
  • "Rachel Goldberg-Polin now lives by a new calendar – not weeks, or months, but days of absence and anguish.
  • "Every morning when she wakes, she writes a number on a piece of tape and sticks it to her clothing. It's the number of days since her son Hersh was taken hostage – she says stolen – by Hamas.…
  • "Rachel says she is always worried, scared, and doubtful – 'You know the saying, don't count your chickens before they hatch? I feel like don't count your hostage until you're hugging them.'
  • "But hope, she says, 'is mandatory'.
  • " 'I believe it and I have to believe it, that he will come back to us.'
  • "In the midst of her torment, she is quick to acknowledge the pain of families in Gaza.
  • "She says the agony must end, and not only for Israelis.
  • " 'There are thousands and thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza who are suffering,' she says. 'There is so much suffering to go around. And I would love for our leaders, all of them, to say, 'we're going to do what we have to do so that just the normal people can stop suffering'.' "
• Mar 13, 2024 (day 159): 68 orphans were evacuated from Gaza to the West Bank, enraging Israel's far right⩘  by D. Parvaz, NPR News.
• Mar 8, 2024 (day 154): UNRWA report says Israel coerced some agency employees to falsely admit Hamas links⩘ , Reuters.
  
  • "The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said some employees released into Gaza from Israeli detention reported having been pressured by Israeli authorities into falsely stating that the agency has Hamas links and that staff took part in the Oct. 7 attacks."
• Mar 7, 2024 (day 153): Zionism and Jewish identity⩘ , opinion by Philip Weiss, Mondoweiss.
  
  • "American Zionists are not deluded about Zionism. They know exactly what Israel is, and they are actively supporting blatant supremacy, racism, and apartheid. But that is changing, because Zionism is finally being challenged in the left/liberal press.…
  • "The organized Jewish community always whitewashed Palestinian persecution and built the modern Israel lobby in the form of countless powerful organizations, including the Jewish Federations, AIPAC, the AJC, the Conference of Presidents, and the ADL. Those five horsemen are reassembled now as the 10/7 Project, with millions to propagandize the U.S. media against the humanity of the tens of thousands of massacred and maimed Palestinian civilians."
• Mar 6, 2024 (day 152): Father's plea for starving children in north Gaza after son dies of malnutrition⩘  by David Gritten, BBC News.
  
  • "Salah Samara, a four-month-old boy, is one of the seriously ill children who Dr Abdel Jalil and her colleagues are trying to treat with the limited resources at their disposal.
  • "His mother said he was born prematurely and became severely dehydrated, and that he was now suffering from chronic kidney disease and urinary retention, which is extremely painful and causes abdominal bloating.
  • " 'My heart hurts a lot because of what is happening with him. It is a very difficult thing that you see your child crying every day for being unable to urinate… and the doctors are unable to give assistance to him.'
  • " 'He has the right to receive treatment and has the right to everything else, by virtue of being a child at the beginning of his life,' she added.
  • " '[His] condition is getting worse every day. He needs treatment abroad immediately and urgently. I hope that anyone who listens to my voice will help treat my child.' "
• Mar 1, 2024 (day 147): Press release: 9,000 women have been killed in Gaza since early October⩘ , UN Women:
  
  • New York, 1 March 2024 – As the war on Gaza approaches its five-month mark, Gazan women continue to suffer its devastating impact. While this war spares no one, UN Women data shows that it kills and injures women in unprecedented ways. As the UN warns of a looming famine, here are seven facts as to why the war on Gaza is also a war on women [1].
    • An estimated 9,000 women have been reportedly killed by Israeli forces in Gaza to date. This figure is likely an underestimate, as many more women are reported to be dead under the rubble[2].
    • Every day the war in Gaza continues, at the current rate, an average of 63 women will continue to be killed.
    • An estimated 37 mothers are killed every day, leaving their families devastated and their children with diminished protection.
    • More than 4 out of 5 women (84 per cent) report that their family eats half or less of the food they used to before the war began, with mothers and adult women being those tasked with sourcing food, yet eating last, less, and least than everyone else[3].
    • 4 in 5 women (84 per cent) in Gaza indicate that at least one of their family members had to skip meals during the past week. In 95 per cent of those cases, mothers are the ones going without food, skipping at least one meal to feed their children[4]. Gaza's entire population of 2.3 million people will be facing acute levels of food insecurity within weeks – the highest ever recorded[5] as Gaza is on the verge of starvation.
    • Nearly 9 in 10 women (87 per cent) report finding it harder to access food than men[6]. Some women are now resorting to extreme coping mechanisms, such as scavenging for food under rubble or in dumpsters.
    • 10 out of 12 women's organizations surveyed in Gaza reported being partly operational, providing essential emergency response services[7]. Despite their extraordinary efforts, less than 1 per cent of funding raised through the 2023 Flash Appeal has gone to national or local women's rights organizations. Channelling funding to these organizations is crucial to meet the overwhelming needs of women and their families and communities, and to ensure that the voices of Gazan women do not go unheard.
    • Unless there is an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, many more will die in the coming days and weeks. The killing, bombing, and destruction of essential infrastructure in Gaza must stop. Humanitarian aid must get into and across Gaza immediately.
• Feb 26, 2024 (day 143): Part of a larger plan for the Palestinian territories after the war⩘  by Professor Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American. A significant overview of the current diplomatic efforts related to the war in Gaza.
  
  • "This morning, the Palestinian Authority's prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and cabinet offered to resign in order to clear the way for a new government. Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas accepted the resignations but asked the government to stay in place as a caretaker until a new government can be formed.
  • "This is a big deal because it's part of a larger plan for the Palestinian territories after the war."
• Feb 25, 2024 (day 142): Gaza children searching for food to keep families alive⩘  by Fergal Keane, Jerusalem, BBC News.
  
  • "In certain places at certain times, just staying alive is something for a boy to be proud of – let alone going out every day to find the food that keeps your family from starving."
• Feb 24, 2024 (day 141): 'Our bodies know the pain': Why Norway's reindeer herders support Gaza⩘  by Shafi Musaddique, Al Jazeera.
  
  • "Europe's oldest and last remaining Indigenous people are under grave threat as a result of borders, land seizures, construction projects dedicated to the extraction of natural resources and systematic discrimination.
  • "Yet, that creeping sense of suffocation has made the Sami reach out to another set of Indigenous people nearly 4,000km (2,500 miles) away, whose fight for survival they identify with: the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.
  • "Their own struggle for Indigenous rights and self-determination has turned the Sami into vocal advocates for the Palestinian cause.
  • " 'There is an instant urge to stand up for people who are being displaced from their homes,' Ella Marie Haetta Isaksen, a Sami activist and artist widely known for her singing, tells Al Jazeera.
  • …
  • " 'Without trying to compare situations, Indigenous peoples all over the world have stood up for the Palestinian people because our bodies know the pain of being displaced from our homes and forced out of our own lands,' Isaksen says."
• Feb 21, 2024 (day 138): MSF strongly condemns Israeli attack on MSF shelter in Al-Mawasi which kills two and injures six⩘ , Press Release, Médecins Sans Frontières, Feb 21, 2024.
  
  • "Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) condemns in the strongest possible terms the killing of two MSF staff family members during an Israeli offensive on Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, Gaza, Palestine. Six other people were injured in the attack.…
  • "At the time of the attack, 64 people were sheltering in the house. All parties to the war, including Israeli forces, are regularly informed of the whereabouts, and have acknowledged the presence, of MSF teams in specific locations. Israeli forces have been clearly informed of the precise location of this MSF shelter in Al-Mawasi. In addition to this, a two-by-three metre MSF flag was draped on the outside of the building. No evacuation orders were issued by the Israeli forces before the strike. MSF has since contacted Israeli authorities and is seeking further explanation."
• Feb 21, 2024 (day 138): Israeli forces fired on food convoy in Gaza, UN documents and satellite analysis reveals⩘  by Katie Polglase and Muhammad Darwish, CNN.
  
  • "Israeli forces fired on a United Nations convoy carrying vital food supplies in central Gaza on February 5, before ultimately blocking the trucks from progressing to the northern part of the territory, where Palestinians are on the verge of famine, according to documents shared exclusively by the UN and CNN's own analysis.
  • "CNN has seen correspondence between the UN and the Israeli military that show the convoy's route was agreed upon by both parties prior to the strike. According to an internal incident report compiled by UNRWA, the main UN relief agency in Gaza, which was also seen by CNN, the truck was one of 10 in a convoy sitting stationary at an IDF holding point when it was fired upon."
• Feb 13, 2024 (day 130): Children in Gaza: Why aren't we stopping the deaths?⩘  by Robert Reich.
  
  • "I'm Jewish. I detest Hamas and what it stands for. I know what it's like to have members of one's family brazenly murdered because of their beliefs and ethnicity.
  • "Which is one reason why I take social justice and human rights so seriously. And why I, like tens of millions of others in America and around the world, am committed to a ceasefire in – and humanitarian aid to – Gaza.
  • "And why I'm also in favor of a Palestinian state.
• Feb 12, 2024 (day 129): Debunking the conquest narrative⩘  by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, Life as a Sacred Text. "Facing one of the hardest narrative arcs in the Bible armed with the truth of what really happened."
• Feb 10, 2024 (day 127): Gaza residents surviving off animal feed and rice as food dwindles⩘  by Lucy Williamson, Jerusalem, BBC News.
• Feb 5, 2024 (day 122): Unknown fate of six-year-old Hind Rajab trapped under fire⩘  by Lucy Williamson, Jerusalem, BBC News.
  
  • 
    Photo credit: Rajab Family
  • "The voice on the other end of the line was small and faint; a six-year-old's voice, crackling on a mobile phone from Gaza.…
  • " 'Will you come and get me? I'm so scared.'…
  • "Six-year-old Hind Rajab was trapped under fire in Gaza City and begging for help, hiding inside her uncle's car, surrounded by the bodies of her relatives.…
  • "It was after dark when the ambulance crew – Yousef and Ahmad – notified operators that they were nearing the location, and were about to be checked for entry by Israeli forces.
  • "It was the last operators heard from their colleagues – or from Hind. The line to both paramedics, and to the six-year-old girl they came to rescue, disconnected for good.
  • What kind of military does this to civilians, to six-year-old children, to ambulance crews? "Where is the empathy, the humanity, the discipline? I am appalled that the U.S. continues to support this travesty.
  • Update: Feb 10, 2024 (day 127): Hind Rajab, 6, found dead in Gaza days after phone calls for help⩘  by Lucy Williamson, Jerusalem, BBC News.
• Feb 2, 2024 (day 119): Western officials in protest over Israel Gaza policy⩘  by Tom Bateman, BBC News..
  
  • "More than 800 serving officials in the US and Europe have signed a statement warning that their own governments' policies on the Israel-Gaza war could amount to 'grave violations of international law'.
  • "The 'transatlantic statement', a copy of which was passed to the BBC, says their administrations risk being complicit in 'one of the worst human catastrophes of this century' but that their expert advice has been sidelined."
• Feb 1, 2024 (day 118): Biden issues executive order targeting Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians⩘  by Barak Ravid, Axios.
  
  • "President Biden on Thursday signed an executive order allowing the U.S. to impose new sanctions on Israeli settlers – and potentially Israeli politicians and government officials – involved in violent attacks against Palestinians."
• Feb 1, 2024 (day 118): Group of Jewish leaders defends Israel criticism⩘  by Russell Contreras, Axios.
  
  • "A group of Jewish leaders has sent a letter to Harvard defending criticism of Israel from scholars and supporting the embattled co-chair of the school's task force on antisemitism, Axios has learned."
• Jan 30, 2024 (day 116): At least half of Gaza's buildings damaged or destroyed, new analysis shows⩘  by Daniele Palumbo, Abdelrahman Abutaleb, Paul Cusiac & Erwan Rivault, BBC Verify & BBC Arabic.
  
  • 
• Jan 28, 2024 (day 114): UN chief in aid plea after staff accused of helping Hamas in Israel attack⩘  by BBC News.
  
  • "In his statement on Saturday, the UN secretary general said that Israel had made allegations against 12 UNRWA employees – nine had been sacked, one had died and the identity of the remaining two was being 'clarified'.
  • "Mr Guterres said that he understood the concerns of the governments which have suspended funding. 'I was myself horrified by these accusations,' he said, adding that 'the abhorrent alleged acts of these staff members must have consequences'.
  • "But this should not mean that the many thousands who work for the agency should be penalised, the UN chief said."
• Jan 21, 2024 (day 107): Our Narrative… Operation Al-Aqsa Flood⩘  by Hamas.
  
  • This is the first time I've seen a statement by Hamas addressing Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and its historical context. In many respects, it is a powerful statement; however, I think its overall impact is severely degraded by their failure to acknowledge any responsibility for the heinous terrorist crimes committed against Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. I have seen too many photographs and videos of that day, and have read too many firsthand accounts by Israeli civilians to accept the legitimacy of their total whitewashing of the events of that day.
  • At the same time, the historical context is clear, as well as the unacceptable brutality of the resulting war. The destruction of Gaza, especially its civilian infrastructure—its hospitals, schools and universities, its religious and heritage sites, and its civilian homes and farms—and the killing and maiming of so many innocent Palestinian civilians as well as the immense suffering and depravation being imposed on the remaining population must end. In the longer term, the Palestinian people deserve justice, freedom, and a state of their own.
• Jan 21, 2024 (day 107): Biden's Middle East moonshot⩘  by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, Axios.
  
  • "President Biden plans to keep pushing a grand bargain in the Middle East for the days after the war in Gaza – with the hope it could happen before the election, despite Israel's opposition, U.S. officials tell us.
  • "The plan: Israel gets normalized relations with Saudi Arabia, in exchange for agreeing to an irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state — and allowing the Palestinian Authority to have a role in post-Hamas Gaza.
  • "Why it matters: The Israelis aren't ready to accept a deal like this anytime soon. But they might eventually take it as U.S., international and internal pressure mounts in coming months, U.S. officials tell us.
• Jan 21, 2024 (day 107): Israel-Gaza: Netanyahu defies Biden over Palestinian state⩘  by Mark Lowen, in Jerusalem, and Sean Seddon, BBC News. "Mr Netanyahu's remarks appeared to deepen a public divide with the US."
• Jan 19, 2024 (day 105): "She was the soul of my soul", grandfather Khaled mourning the death of his granddaughter Reem, who was killed in her bed in an Israeli airstrike on Palestine just a month before her fourth birthday. From a video posted on TikTok by NoorrAbas⩘ , Nov 20, 2023.
  
  • 
• Jan 19, 2024 (day 105): Eisenkot: Key Israeli war leader challenges Netanyahu over Gaza strategy⩘  by Mark Lowen, BBC News.
  
  • "Gadi Eisenkot – whose son was killed fighting in Gaza – said those advocating 'absolute defeat' of Hamas were not 'speaking the truth'.…
  • "[White House national security adviser John] Kirby said that there was no way to solve Israel's security challenges without a Palestinian state."
• Jan 16, 2024 (day 102): Bernie Sanders to force vote on Israel's human rights practices in Gaza⩘  by Liz Goodwin, The Washington Post.
• Jan 15, 2024 (day 101): UN: More Aid Entry Points Needed to Gaza to Prevent Famine⩘  by Margaret Besheer, VOA.
  
  • "The U.N. secretary-general renewed his appeal Monday for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, as the chiefs of his aid agencies called for more entry points for relief supplies to avert famine and the spread of disease.
  • " 'Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,' Antonio Guterres told reporters at the United Nations. 'The humanitarian situation in Gaza is beyond words. Nowhere and no one is safe.'
  • "Guterres said he is 'deeply troubled' by the 'clear violations' of international humanitarian law."
• Jan 14, 2024 (day 100): Drone video shows Gaza destruction after 100 days of war⩘ , Drone shots captured in Khan Younis, Maghazi and Rafah show the scale of the damage, BBC News.
  
  • 
  • "Israel says it has used more than 10,000 bombs and missiles, and launched hundreds of airstrikes across Gaza, since the 7 October Hamas attack triggered the war.
  • "Gazan officials say more than 50% of housing units in Gaza have been destroyed, left uninhabitable or damaged since the start of the conflict.
  • "Almost two million people in the enclave – 85% of the population – are reported to have fled their homes.
• Jan 14, 2024 (day 100): What a bereaved father, a historian of Israel, believes after 100 days of war⩘  by Daniel Estrin, NPR.
  
  • "There's something else Troen has thought about more deeply since the October 7th attack: Israel's control over Palestinian lives. His city, Omer, is close to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and less than 30 miles from the Gaza Strip.
  • " 'The capacity of one nation, however powerful it is, to totally suppress a movement of popular resistance that is deeply rooted in the population is not a very good record,' Troen says. 'Palestinians are going to need to obtain what they so desperately want, which is what we so desperately want, which is a state of our own.'
• Jan 14, 2024 (day 100): The catastrophe in Gaza after 100 days of Israel-Hamas war, by the numbers⩘  by Becky Sullivan, NPR News. "The numbers that capture the state of Gaza after 100 days of war are staggering: Nearly 2 million displaced, thousands of homes destroyed and nearly 24,000 dead – 10,000 of them children."
• Jan 14, 2024 (day 100), Axios:
  Palestinians in Gaza "living a disastrous life" after 100 days of war⩘  by Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath.
  Over 50% of Gaza buildings damaged or destroyed in Israel's bombardment⩘  by Will Chase.
  Biden "running out" of patience with Bibi as Gaza war hits 100 days⩘  by Barak Ravid.
• Jan 14, 2024 (day 100): 100 days since Hamas attacked Israel, triggering war in Gaza⩘  by Wyre Davies, BBC News.
  
  • "Gideon Levy is a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and a frequent critic of Mr Netanyahu. I asked him if this war – already Israel's longest since 1948 – would soon come to a conclusion.
  • " 'The war in its current shape will last as long as Americans will allow Israel (to do it),' says Levy."
• Jan 13, 2024 (day 99): The brutality and inhumanity of Israel's assault on Gaza is no surprise. It's just what was promised⩘  by Owen Jones, The Guardian.
  
  • "It always starts with words. Genocide is largely remembered for its depraved acts, but it is incubated in language. Words can cast dark spells on a population, stirring hatred in those who otherwise see themselves as moderate, humane, normal.…
  • "As the British lawyer Daniel Machover tells me, Israel has a legal obligation to prosecute those who incite genocide. But instead, since the grave war crimes committed against Israeli civilians by Hamas and other armed groups on 7 October, government ministers, parliamentarians, army officers and journalists have indulged in the language of extermination. This chilling phenomenon has few historical precedents, because usually instigators of genocide go to great lengths to cover up their crimes. As Raz Segal – an Israeli-American associate professor of genocide and Holocaust studies – tells me, Israel's onslaught on Gaza is unique 'in the sense of discussing it as what I think it is – that is, genocide – because the intent is so clearly articulated. And it's articulated throughout Israeli media and society and politics.' "
• Jan 12, 2024 (day 98): During 100 days of war, a Gaza doctor pushes through horror and loss in his struggle to save lives⩘  by Isabel Debre, Najib Jobain, The Independent
  
  • On Oct 7, 2023, I felt incredible sympathy for the people of Israel. Over the course of the following nearly 100 days as I have watched Israel's brutal and unconscionable actions towards innocent Palestinian civilians in its war against Hamas, I have lost any remnants of that sympathy. While I understand Israel's need to fight Hamas, I simply cannot understand why they can't simultaneously show at least the tiniest shred of empathy towards the civilians struggling to stay alive in Gaza. Could they not ensure that desperately needed humanitarian and medical aid reaches innocent civilians while they conduct their war? Could they not be more careful about bombing areas where there are large concentrations of innocent civilians? Could they not show at least a tiny bit of basic humanity for their fellow human beings? The only thing that will make this right is for the rest of the world to step up and pressure Israel to end its destruction of Gaza, and then to work with Palestinians to rebuild Gaza. For the minimum of justice to be achieved, the illegal settlements must be removed from the West Bank, and a Palestinian state must be established in Gaza and the West Bank. I believe this is the only way that a lasting peace can be achieved in the region, and to ensure that nothing like Oct 7, 2023 and the war that followed ever happens again.
• Jan 10, 2024 (day 96): We have a tool to stop Israel's war crimes: BDS⩘  by Naomi Klein, The Guardian.
  
  • BDS⩘ : Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.
• Jan 10, 2024 (day 96): Only outside pressure can stop Israel's war crimes⩘  by Naomi Klein, The Guardian.
  
  • "The responsibility is particularly acute for those of us whose governments continue to actively aid Israel with deadly weapons, lucrative trade deals and vetoes at the United Nations. As BDS reminds us, we do not have to let those bankrupt agreements speak for us unchallenged.…
  • "Since the original call for BDS was made in July 2005, the number of settlers living illegally in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has exploded, reaching an estimated 700,000 – close to the number of Palestinians expelled in the 1948 Nakba. As settler outposts have expanded, so has the violence of settler attacks on Palestinians, all while the ideology of Jewish supremacy and even overt fascism have moved to the centre of the political culture in Israel.…
  • "We know how the next chapters of this story go. Hamas's horrific 7 October attack. Israel's furious determination to exploit those crimes to do what some of the government's senior leaders had long wanted to do anyway: depopulate Gaza of Palestinians, which they currently appear to be attempting through the combination of direct killing; mass home demolition ('domicide'); the spread of starvation, thirst and infectious disease; and eventually mass expulsion.…
  • "It will also be critical, as momentum for BDS continues to pick up steam, to be acutely aware that we are in the midst of an alarming and real surge of hate crimes, many of them directed at Palestinians and Muslims, but also at Jewish businesses and institutions simply because they are Jewish. That is antisemitism, not political activism.…
  • "The BNC is also very clear that it is not calling for individual Israelis to be boycotted because they are Israeli, stating that it 'rejects, on principle, boycotts of individuals based on their opinion or identity (such as citizenship, race, gender or religion)'. The targets, in other words, are institutions complicit in systems of oppression, not people.
  • Note: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity. BDS website⩘ 
• Jan 9, 2024 (day 95): Settlers killed a Palestinian teen. Israeli forces didn't stop it.⩘  by Nilo Tabrizy, Joyce Sohyun Lee, Meg Kelly, Hafez Abu Sabra and Shakked Auerbach, The Washington Post.
  
  • "In the month after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, more than 800 Palestinians were displaced from their West Bank homes amid increased violence by the radical Israeli settler movement, which has long held the aim of expelling Palestinians and expanding the Jewish footprint in the occupied territories. Between Oct. 7 and Jan. 4, more than 300 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers, a dramatic increase in the rate of killing in the last months of 2023, the deadliest year since the United Nations began recording casualties in 2005."
  • See also: Palestinian Walks by Raja Shehadeh⩘ 
• Jan 7, 2024 (day 93): Israel-Palestinian bitterness deepened by Hamas attack and war⩘  by Yolande Knell, BBC News, Jerusalem.
  
  • " 'People who want to see what is happening in Gaza can see it via the internet,' says leading IDI pollster, Professor Tamar Hermann, referring to the human suffering. 'But the media is not bringing to our living rooms the same images as people see in Europe or other states in the world.'
  • "She adds that scenes of Gazan civilians celebrating the 7th of October assault undermined public sympathy in Israel.
  • " 'Unlike in previous military operations, the civilians are not perceived here as innocent bystanders. The sympathy is quite low,' Prof Hermann says.…
  • "Most notably, in the survey, 72% of the Palestinian public believed that Hamas's decision to launch its offensive on 7th October was correct.
  • "A Palestinian shop owner who does not want to give his name tries to explain the reasoning. He accuses foreign media of ignoring the broader context of the long years of blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas took over in 2007 and the tough living conditions it created.
  • " '"'People in Gaza have been living in a big prison,' he tells me.…
  • "In Jerusalem, there is a lot that divides the Israelis and Palestinians I have been speaking to.
  • "However, most now share a deeper mutual mistrust and a common fear about what the months ahead have in store. There is also a strong feeling on both sides that people around the globe do not understand their pain and suffering.
• Jan 6, 2024 (day 92): "LA Times bans 38 of its journalists from reporting on Gaza after they sign open letter critical of coverage⩘  by Natalie Dressed, Boing Boing. "At the Los Angeles Times, 38 journalists were banned from covering Gaza for a minimum of three months after signing an open letter about biased coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. The letter, We condemn Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza and urge integrity in Western media coverage of Israel's atrocities against Palestinians⩘  was signed by 1,265 media workers and called upon newsrooms to refrain from 'dehumanising rhetoric that has served to justify the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.' The letter states that as journalists, 'This is [their] job: to hold power to account', and that partiality in recent coverage has not allowed them to do their jobs."
• Jan 5, 2024 (day 91): Anti-Defamation League staff decry 'dishonest' campaign against Israel critics⩘  by Jonathan Guyer, The Guardian.
  
  • "A current employee of ADL, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Guardian that the organization's conflation of antisemitism and anti-Zionism is damaging its efforts to counter hate. 'The ADL has a pro-Israel bias and an agenda to suppress pro-Palestinian activism.' "
• Dec 31, 2023 (day 86): My resignation⩘  by Anne Boyer, Nov 16, 2023:
  
  • I have resigned as poetry editor of The New York Times Magazine.
  • The Israeli state's U.S-backed war against the people of Gaza is not a war for anyone. There is no safety in it or from it, not for Israel, not for the United States or Europe, and especially not for the many Jewish people slandered by those who claim falsely to fight in their names. Its only profit is the deadly profit of oil interests and weapon manufacturers.
  • The world, the future, our hearts—everything grows smaller and harder from from this war. It is not only a war of missiles and land invasions. It is an ongoing war against the people of Palestine, people who have resisted through decades of occupation, forced dislocation, deprivation, surveillance, siege, imprisonment, and torture.
  • Because our status quo is self-expression, sometimes the most effective mode of protest for artists is to refuse.
  • I can't write about poetry amidst the "reasonable" tones of those who aim to acclimatize us to this unreasonable suffering. No more ghoulish euphemisms. No more verbally sanitized hellscapes. No more warmongering lies.
  • If this resignation leaves a hole in the news the size of poetry, then that is the true shape of the present.
• Dec 29, 2023 (day 84): There's a water crisis in Gaza that the end of fighting might not solve⩘  by Anas Baba, Scott Neuman, NPR News.
• Dec 27, 2023 (day 82): How a Leading Definition of Antisemitism Has Been Weaponized Against Israel's Critics⩘  by Jonathan Hafetz and Sahar Aziz, The Nation.
  
  • "The weaponization of the IHRA definition has not gone uncontested. In April, more than 100 organizations asked the United Nations to reject the definition because it 'has often been used to wrongly label criticism of Israel as antisemitic, and thus [to] chill and sometimes suppress, non-violent protest, activism and speech critical of Israel and/or Zionism.' As an expert for the American Jewish Committee wrote, the contemporary examples attached to the IHRA definition may be used as 'a blunt instrument to label anyone an antisemite.'
  • "Two alternative definitions—the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, proposed by a broad collation of scholars, and the Nexus Document, advanced by a task force associated with Barnard College and the University of Southern California—more clearly define what constitutes antisemitism and provide guidance on the contours of legitimate speech about Israel and Palestine.
  • "For instance, the Jerusalem Declaration defines antisemitism as 'discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish),' rather than the IHRA's vague notion of 'perceptions of Jews.' Similarly, the Nexus Document clearly targets 'negative beliefs and feelings about Jews, hostile behavior directed against Jews (because they are Jews), and conditions that discriminate against Jews and significantly impede their ability to participate as equals in political, religious, cultural, economic, or social life.'
  • "These definitions allow for robust political debate, because, as the Nexus Document states, 'even contentious, strident, or harsh criticism of Israel for its policies and actions, including those that led to the creation of Israel, is not per se illegitimate or antisemitic.' "
• Dec 25, 2023 (day 80): Israeli airstrikes kill more than 100 as assault on Gaza widens⩘  by Bethan McKernan, The Guardian.
  
  • "The Gaza Strip is facing some of the deadliest fighting to date in the present war as Israel expands its offensive just days after the UN security council passed a resolution calling for more aid and urgent steps for a sustainable ceasefire.
  • "More than 100 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes late on Sunday in the centre of the besieged Palestinian territory, including at least 70 in bombings that hit a residential block in the Maghazi refugee camp near Deir al-Balah, health officials in the Hamas-controlled exclave said.
  • "Deir al-Balah was also hit overnight despite previously being identified by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as an 'evacuation zone' for Palestinians fleeing the fighting."
• Dec 24, 2023 (day 79): The pieces are falling into place to conclude the Gaza war⩘  by Jennifer Rubin, The Washington Post.
• Dec 23, 2023 (day 78): Israel has waged one of this century's most destructive wars in Gaza⩘  by Evan Hill, Imogen Piper, Meg Kelly and Jarrett Ley, The Washington Post. "The damage in Gaza has outpaced other recent conflicts, evidence shows. Israel has dropped some of the largest bombs commonly used today near hospitals."
• Dec 23, 2023 (day 78): Israel 'creating massive obstacles' to Gaza aid, UN chief says⩘  by Gregorio Sorgi, Politico.
  
  • "U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the way Israel is conducting its offensive against Hamas is 'creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza,' in a post on X Friday night.
  • "The Portuguese diplomat issued his statement shortly after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling for increased aid deliveries to Gaza.
  • "He added that 136 U.N. aid workers in Gaza have been killed in 75 days of combat – something he described as unprecedented in the body's history.
  • " 'An effective aid operation in Gaza requires security; staff who can work in safety; logistical capacity; and the resumption of commercial activity,' wrote in his Friday night statement."
• Dec 23, 2023 (day 78): Israeli strike kills 76 members of one Gaza family, rescue officials say as combat expands in south ⩘  by Associated Press.
  
  • "RAFAH, Gaza Strip – An Israeli airstrike killed 76 members of an extended family, rescue officials said Saturday, a day after the U.N. chief warned again that nowhere is safe in Gaza and that Israel's ongoing offensive is creating 'massive obstacles' to the distribution of humanitarian aid.
  • "Friday's strike on a building in Gaza City was among the deadliest of the Israel-Hamas war, now in its 12th week, said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for Gaza's Civil Defense department. He provided a partial list of the names of those killed – heads of households from the al-Mughrabi family – and said the dead included women and children.
  • "Among the dead were Issam al-Mughrabi, a veteran employee of U.N. Development Program, his wife, and their five children.
  • " 'The loss of Issam and his family has deeply affected us all. The U.N. and civilians in Gaza are not a target,' said Achim Steiner, the head of the agency. 'This war must end.' "
• Dec 21, 2023 (day 76): UN says more than 1 in 4 people in Gaza are starving because of war⩘  by Najib Jobain, Jack Jeffery, and Colleen Barry, Associated Press.
  
  • "RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) – More than half a million people in Gaza – a quarter of the population – are starving, according to a report Thursday by the U.N. and other agencies that highlights the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's bombardment and siege on the territory in response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.…
  • " 'It doesn't get any worse,' said Arif Husain, chief economist for the U.N.'s World Food Program. 'I have never seen something at the scale that is happening in Gaza. And at this speed.' "
• Dec 21, 2023 (day 76): Israel-Gaza war takes record toll on journalists⩘ , Committee to Protect Journalists.
  
  • "More journalists⩘  have been killed in the first 10 weeks of the Israel-Gaza war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year, according to CPJ data. By December 20, 2023, at least 68 journalists⩘  and media workers had been killed since the October 7 start of the conflict. Of those 68, 61 were Palestinian, four Israeli, and three Lebanese.
  • "CPJ is particularly concerned about an apparent pattern of targeting⩘  of journalists and their families by the Israeli military. In at least one case⩘ , a journalist was killed while clearly wearing press insignia in a location where no fighting was taking place. In at least two other cases, journalists reported receiving threats from Israeli officials⩘  and IDF officers before their family members were killed⩘ .
• Dec 21, 2023 (day 76): Israel is losing the war against Hamas – but Netanyahu and his government will never admit it⩘  by Paul Rogers, The Guardian.
• Dec 20, 2023 (day 75): 'I walked my kids past explosions and rotting corpses'⩘  by Jehad El-Mashhrawi,cameraman in Gaza, The BBC Arabic. "We left in such a hurry. We were in the middle of baking some bread and realised the houses opposite us were being bombed, one by one. I knew it would soon be our turn. We had packed some bags in case this happened but everything was so rushed we forgot to take them. We didn't even shut the front door."
• Dec 20, 2023 (day 75): Israel is struggling to destroy Hamas, but it's destroying Gaza⩘ , analysis by Ishaan Tharoorby, The Washington Post.
  
  • "Hamas is entrenched and difficult to defeat. Even after waging one of the most intense, heavy military campaigns in recent history, Israel has only neutralized a fraction of the militant group's armed strength. And, in the process, it has ravaged the embattled territory where Hamas has held sway, displaced close to 90 percent of the population, flattened whole neighborhoods, triggered a sprawling humanitarian disaster and found itself flailing in a losing battle for global public opinion.
  • "Gaza's hospitals are in a state of collapse, with only a few capable of operating. Disease and hunger stalk the territory. Sanitation systems have failed. There's little electricity, and almost no cooking gas."
• Dec 18, 2023 (day 73): What does it mean to erase a people – a nation, culture, identity? In Gaza, we are beginning to find out⩘  by Nesrine Malik, The Guardian.
• Dec 17, 2023 (day 72): Netanyahu's tactics are weakening Israel⩘  by Ben Wallace, UK's just-retired defense minister, The Telegraph.
  
  • I don't often find myself agreeing with conservative politicians, but Ben Wallace makes what I think are some spot-on observations in the commentary of his. Here's an extract. It's worth reading the entire piece⩘ .
  • "Let me start by saying I am unequivocal in my condemnation of Hamas, not only for what it did on October 7, but also for what came before. Its charter reads like the constitution of a jihadist Salafi organisation. It is anti-Semitic and anti-democratic. It isn't interested in peaceful co-existence with Israel, or Egypt, for that matter.
  • "Hamas is not interested in a two-state solution either. No – it is interested in a religious war with Jews, using Palestinians as cannon fodder. So, I absolutely defend Israel's right to defend itself.
  • "But I also believe strongly in our obligations under the Geneva Conventions and expect all signatories to uphold them. Going after Hamas is legitimate; obliterating vast swathes of Gaza is not. Using proportionate force is legal, but collective punishment and forced movement of civilians is not.
  • "We are entering a dangerous period now where Israel's original legal authority of self-defence is being undermined by its own actions. It is making the mistake of losing its moral authority alongside its legal one.
  • "I am sure that the shame Benjamin Netanyahu feels for not foreseeing the October 7 attacks is deep, especially for someone who presented himself as a security hawk and tough guy. But perhaps that shame is driving him to lose sight of the long term.
  • "Netanyahu's mistake was to miss the attack in the first place. But if he thinks a killing rage will rectify matters, then he is very wrong. His methods will not solve this problem. In fact, I believe his tactics will fuel the conflict for another 50 years. His actions are radicalising Muslim youth across the globe.
  • "When all this is over, and the IDF withdraws from what is left of Gaza, there will still be Hamas. All the action will have achieved is the extinction, not of the extremists, but the voice of the moderate Palestinians who do want a two-state solution."
• Dec 16, 2023 (day 71): IDF says Israeli hostages it killed in Gaza were bare chested and waving white flag⩘  by Peter Beaumont, The Guardian.
  
  • "Three Israeli hostages killed by the Israel Defence Forces in Gaza were bare chested and carrying a white flag when they were shot, according to an initial military investigation.…
  • "According to reports of the IDF probe in the Israeli media, the three men Yotam Haim, Samer El-Talalka and Alon Shamriz – all in their 20s – had somehow escaped their captors and were approaching an IDF position in the Shejaiya area of Gaza City where there has been heavy fighting.
  • "One of the men was carrying a stick with a white cloth tied to it and all had removed their shirts. Spotting the three, an Israeli soldier on a rooftop, however, opened fire on the men, shouting 'Terrorists!'.
  • "While two of the hostages fell to the ground immediately, the third fled into a nearby building. When a commander arrived on the scene, the unit was ordered into the building where it killed the third hostage despite his pleas for help in Hebrew."
• Dec 15, 2023 (day 70): Israel-Gaza war: UN aid worker describes nightmare journey to al-Ahli Hospital⩘  by Frank Gardner, Jerusalem, BBC News.
• Dec 15, 2023 (day 70): Videos show Israeli soldiers in Gaza burning food, vandalizing a shop and ransacking private homes⩘  by Ivana Kottasová and Celine Alkhaldi, CNN.
  
  • "The Israeli soldier looks directly into the camera, then turns around and sets a pile of food supplies on fire.
  • " 'We turn on the light against this dark place and burn it until there is no trace of this whole place,' he says as another soldier fuels the flame.
  • "The soldiers say they are in Shejaiya, a neighborhood in Gaza City, deep in the besieged enclave. They are filming themselves burning food in a place where the humanitarian situation is now so bad that international organizations are warning people are at risk of dying of starvation.
  • "This video is only one of several circulating online and reviewed by CNN that show Israeli soldiers in Gaza behaving in offensive and disrespectful ways toward the civilian population. Other videos show soldiers ransacking private homes, destroying civilian property and using racist and hateful language."
• Dec 15, 2023 (day 70): Israeli soldiers mistakenly killed 3 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, Israel says⩘  by Becky Sullivan, NPR News.
  
  • "Israeli soldiers shot and killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza City after mistakenly identifying them as a threat, Israel's military announced Friday./
  • "The incident took place Friday in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of eastern Gaza City, an area that has seen intense ground fighting between Israeli forces and the militant group Hamas since Israel launched its invasion in response to the Oct. 7 attacks.
  • " 'During the fighting in Shijaiyah, the IDF inadvertently identified three kidnapped Israelis as a threat. As a result, the IDF fired at them and they were killed,' said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israeli military, also known as the Israel Defense Forces."
• Dec 14, 2023 (day 69): How Israel jails hundreds of Palestinians without charge⩘  by Joel Gunter, West Bank, BBC News.
  
  • "Yazen had been held under 'administrative detention' – a longstanding security policy, inherited from the British, that allows the Israeli state to imprison people indefinitely without charge, and without presenting any evidence against them. 'They have a secret file,' Yazen said. 'They don't tell you what's in it.'
  • "He was back at home because he was among the 180 Palestinian children and women released from prison by Israel in the recent exchange for hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. But at the same time the Palestinian prisoners were being released, Israel was detaining people at its highest rate in years. In the weeks since 7 October, the number of people in administrative detention – already at a 30-year high of 1,300 – has shot up to more than 2,800."
• Dec 12, 2023 (day 67): Israel losing global support over Gaza bombing, Biden says⩘  by Mike Wendling & Barbara Plett Usher, BBC News.
• Dec 11, 2023 (day 66): 'Where is mum? Where is grandma? Where did they go?'⩘  by David Gritten, BBC News.
  • "Moein Abu Rezk is the only surviving relative of his four-year-old nephew, Omar, who is in a critical condition at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.
  • "Omar had to have his left hand amputated and was left with a large, open wound on his right leg, smaller wounds on his chest and face, and a dislocated jaw following an Israeli air strike that Moein says killed 35 members of his family, including his mother, father and grandmother.…
  • "Moein told BBC Arabic that Omar and his family had been visiting his grandmother's house in Nuseirat camp, just to the north of Deir al-Balah, when it was bombed without any prior warning from the Israeli military.
  • " 'We have never seen missiles like that before. The missile falls and destroys the whole residential area around it,' he recalled.
  • " 'Luckily, the house had an opening through which [Omar] fell. But his left arm was [so badly] injured that it had to be amputated immediately.
  • " '[On Saturday], he lost about three units of blood and his haemoglobin [concentration] fell from 9.5 to 7.4, so he had to be transferred to surgery for a blood transfer.'
  • "Moein said the situation at the hospital was so bad that doctors could not find a bed for Omar despite the severity of his injuries, forcing him to wait in a corridor while doctors and nurses treated him as best as they could.
  • 
    Photo credit: Moein Abu Rezk
  • " 'All medical equipment and tools are so limited to the extent that the we have to deal with the situation in a more practical rather than a healthy way.
  • " 'There are no painkillers so we have to joke around and try to make him laugh in order to calm him.'
  • "Moein conceded that this method only worked some of the time but added: 'We don't have any other option.' "
• Dec 11, 2023 (day 66): Eyal Waldman: Israeli tech billionaire hopes for peace despite daughter's killing⩘  by Orla Guerin, Tel Aviv, BBC News. "Despite the brutal killing of his youngest daughter, Eyal Waldman still believes that the Palestinians should have a state – and soon. 'We need to change leadership on both sides. And then I hope in two to four years we'll be able to do peace and build two states for the two people and be able to live together next to each other,' he says."
• Dec 11, 2023 (day 66): "That Was the Pilot's Mission, to Destroy My Home": Gaza War Diaries⩘ , Pt. 3 of Atef Abu Saif's dispatches from the epicenter of the assault, The Nation.
  
  • "The news is full of the prisoners and hostages, along with statements being made by leaders around the world. Everyone seems happy that they've been released, but no one mentions the infinite price that has been paid for it by the innocent people of Gaza. Thousands still lie under the rubble, denied a decent burial. Hatim and Huda, my brother- and sister-in-law, and their son Mohammed have now been under the ruins of their house for 43 days. No one thinks of them. World leaders congratulate themselves, as my in-laws rot in the rubble."
• Dec 9, 2023 (day 64): Israel-Gaza war: Half of Gaza's population is starving, warns UN⩘  by Fiona Nimoni, BBC News. "Carl Skau, deputy director of the UN World Food Programme, said only a fraction of supplies needed have been able to enter the Strip – and nine out of 10 people cannot eat everyday.…
  Speaking on Saturday, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, accused the United States of being complicit in war crimes, after it vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza."
• Dec 8, 2023 (day 63): A protest against a top Israel-born chef was called antisemitic. Staff tell a different story⩘  by Wilfred Chan, The Guardian.
• Dec 8, 2023 (day 63): Israel increases Gaza strikes, UN decries 'humanitarian nightmare'⩘  by Bassam Masoud and Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Reuters.
  
  • "Israel sharply increased strikes on the Gaza Strip, pounding the length of the Palestinian enclave and killing hundreds in a new, expanded phase of the war, as the U.S. on Friday again signalled that Israel could do more to protect civilians in the enclave.
  • "The Israeli military said it had struck more than 450 targets in Gaza from land, sea and air over the past 24 hours – the most since a truce with Hamas collapsed last week and about double the daily figures typically reported since.
  • "Decrying a 'spiralling humanitarian nightmare', U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared that nowhere in Gaza was safe for civilians, hours before the U.S. vetoed a Security Council demand for a humanitarian ceasefire. The vote, including 13 members in favor and one abstaining, diplomatically isolated Washington as it shielded ally Israel."
• Dec 8, 2023 (day 63): Gaza diary, part 32: 'The weakness and helplessness is unbearable. There is no energy left to hope'⩘  by Ziad in Gaza, The Guardian.
  
  • "Thursday 7 December, 2am – Wide awake, I am trying to understand the feeling or state I am in. One thing I know for sure is that it's not the first time I have had this feeling; I know I have had it once before. One time only. But I cannot tell when.…
  • "I am trying to figure out the feeling I have got. I know I have had it before. Suddenly I remember. It was years ago when I saw a photo. A photo of a Sudanese child during a famine. He or she was on the ground, unable to walk due to exhaustion, and a vulture was waiting, very close, for death so it could eat.
  • "That is how I feel. On the ground, unable to move, my face down. The emptiness inside me; the weakness and helplessness. All unbearable. There is no energy left to hope. Despite all the chaos around me, there is horrible silence inside my heart and soul. It feels like a desert; nothing visible; waiting for death, silently.
• Dec 8, 2023 (day 63): Al-Mawasi: Gaza humanitarian zone not humane, evacuees say⩘  by Merlyn Thomas and Ethar Shalaby, BBC News. "WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: 'Attempting to cram so many people into such a small area with such little infrastructure or services will significantly increase risks to health for people who are already on the brink.' "
• Dec 7, 2023 (day 62): 'We can't stop' – the Israeli woman still helping sick Palestinians⩘  by Caroline Hawley, BBC News.
  • "Yael Noy doesn't wear military fatigues, but she describes herself as being in battle right now, after the Hamas assault on 7 October.
  • " 'I'm fighting to be good,' she tells me. 'I'm fighting to stay moral when both sides are in such terrible pain. I'm fighting to be the same person I was before.'
  • "Yael heads a charity called Road to Recovery, a group of Israeli volunteers who drive sick Palestinians – mostly children – from checkpoints in the occupied West Bank and Gaza to hospital appointments in Israel.
  • " 'I really don't know what will happen in the future. But I know that both of us will still live here, so we must find a solution.' "
• Dec 6, 2023 (day 61): My first shower in six days was like an old friend. But now the war in Gaza is back⩘  by Atef Abu Saif in southern Gaza, The Guardian. "Sunday 3 December (day 58) – My family home was destroyed last night, along with six other houses, when an airstrike hit that part of Jabalia. Luckily, no one was in. The house is located near the Jaffa Road, where refugees from Jaffa first set up camp in 1948. The house that I was born in and where I grew up has been flattened. The place where I took my first step, where I learned my first letter, where I wrote my first line of fiction. The house where Hanna and I started a family and had our first four kids."
• Dec 5, 2023 (day 60): Israeli settler violence brings destruction and fear to West Bank as war rages⩘  by Jeremy Bowen, BBC News.
  
  • "Nadav Weiman came with the BBC to the village. He is a former Israeli special forces soldier who is now an activist with Breaking the Silence, a group of former combatants who campaign against Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. Nadav believes that Jewish settlers, the most militant of whom are known by name to local Palestinians, were once again flouting the law with the police and army.
  • " 'They're demolishing Palestinian villages, beating up Palestinian farmers, stealing their olives, trying to open a third front, an eastern front against the Palestinians in the West Bank. Why? Because they want the land without Palestinians.' "
• Dec 5, 2023 (day 60): We won't stop speaking out about Gaza's suffering – there is no climate justice without human rights⩘  by Greta Thunberg, The Guardian.
  
  • "More than 15,000 people⩘ , of whom at least 6,000 were children. That's how many people Israel has reportedly killed in the Gaza Strip in a matter of weeks – and those numbers are still rising. Israel has bombed basic societal infrastructure and civilian targets such as hospitals, schools, shelters and refugee camps⩘ . Israel has imposed a siege, preventing food, medicine, water and fuel from reaching the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped in the occupied Gaza Strip, leading Oxfam to accuse Israel of employing 'starvation as a weapon of war⩘ '.
  • "Dozens of United Nations experts⩘ United Nations experts have described the situation as 'a genocide in the making', hundreds of international scholars⩘  have warned of an unfolding genocide and prominent Israeli genocide expert Raz Segal⩘  has called it 'a textbook case of genocide'. But most of the world, particularly the so-called global north, is looking the other way.…
  • "We unreservedly condemn all forms of discrimination, including antisemitism and Islamophobia. Everyone speaking out on this crisis has a responsibility to distinguish between Hamas, Muslims and Palestinians; and between the state of Israel, Jewish people and Israelis."
• Dec 5, 2023 (day 60): 'Apocalyptic' conditions in southern Gaza blocking aid, top UN official says⩘  by Julian Borger, The Guardian.
  • "The UN's top aid official has said the Israeli military campaign in southern Gaza has been just as devastating as in the north, creating 'apocalyptic' conditions and ending any possibility of meaningful humanitarian operations.
  • "Martin Griffiths, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said he was speaking on behalf of the entire international aid community in saying the continuing offensive had robbed aid workers of any significant means of helping the 2.3 million people of Gaza, other than to call for an immediate end to the fighting."
• Dec 5, 2023 (day 60): Hamas raped and mutilated women on 7 October, BBC hears⩘  by Lucy Williamson, Middle East correspondent, Jerusalem, BBC News.
  
  • "The BBC has seen and heard evidence of rape, sexual violence and mutilation of women during the 7 October Hamas attacks.
  • "Several people involved in collecting and identifying the bodies of those killed in the attack told us they had seen multiple signs of sexual assault, including broken pelvises, bruises, cuts and tears, and that the victims ranged from children and teenagers to pensioners.
  • "Video testimony of an eyewitness at the Nova music festival, shown to journalists by Israeli police, detailed the gang rape, mutilation and execution of one victim.
  • "Videos of naked and bloodied women filmed by Hamas on the day of the attack, and photographs of bodies taken at the sites afterwards, suggest that women were sexually targeted by their attackers.
  • "Few victims are thought to have survived to tell their own stories.
  • "Their last moments are being pieced together from survivors, body-collectors, morgue staff and footage from the attack sites."
• Dec 4, 2023 (day 59): Israel orders more Gazans to flee, bombs areas where it sends them⩘  by Arafat Barbakh and Mohammed Salem, Reuters.
  
  • "Israel ordered people out of swathes of the main southern city in the Gaza Strip on Monday as it pressed its ground campaign deep into the south, sending desperate residents fleeing even as it dropped bombs on areas where it told them to go.…
  • "In Rafah, bombing at one site overnight had torn a crater the size of a basketball court out of the earth. A dead toddler's bare feet and black trousers poked out from under a pile of rubble. Men struggled with their bare hands to move a chunk of the concrete that had crushed the child.…
  • "As many as 80 percent of Gaza's 2.3 million people have fled their homes in an Israeli bombing campaign that has reduced much of the crowded coastal strip to a desolate wasteland. Medical officials in the enclave say bombing has killed more than 15,500 people, with thousands more missing and feared buried in rubble."
• Dec 3, 2023 (day 58): Israel-Gaza war: Israeli forces pushing into south Gaza⩘ , BBC News.
  
  • "Speaking to the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's senior adviser Mark Regev said civilians are not targets and protecting them is made more difficult by Hamas 'embedding its military terror machine' in civilian neighbourhoods.
  • "He says the IDF are trying to be 'as surgical as we can in a very difficult combat situation', and has given advance warning of attacks.
  • "Separately, the IDF say they have destroyed 500 'terror tunnel' shafts used by Hamas in Gaza, out of the 800 they say have been found so far."
• Dec 3, 2023 (day 58): Solidarity with Palestinians is not hate speech, whatever would-be censors say⩘  by Kenan Malik, The Guardian.
  
  • "The reasons behind the suppression of pro-Palestinian voices in America are different, but here, too, many have been taken aback. 'The scale has surprised me and the intensity of it,' observes Genevieve Lakier, a professor of law at the University of Chicago, and a leading expert on freedom of speech and American constitutional law. She adds that 'It feels like a new McCarthyism… a repression of speech that we haven't seen for a while.' People are being sacked and cancelled not for 'promoting violence' but 'calling for a ceasefire' and being 'critical of Israel'. The meaning of 'hate speech', Lakier argues, has become expanded 'to include speech that in my view is totally legitimate, often pro-peace speech'. It is an attempt to redraw the moral lines around what is judged acceptable to invalidate Palestinian perspectives.…
  • "Sections of the left have revealed a warped judgment since the 7 October attacks, some celebrating Hamas savagery as 'resistance', questioning the veracity of rape allegations, crossing the line between supporting Palestinian rights and stoking anti-Jewish hatred. It is essential to contest such arguments, to challenge antisemitism and to oppose Hamas, who constitute a menace not just to Jews but to Palestinians, too.
  • "On can, though, neither challenge antisemitism nor counter Hamas by deeming illegitimate expressions of solidarity for the Palestinian people, or by curtailing debate over what constitutes a just future for both Israelis and Palestinians."
• Dec 3, 2023 (day 58): Israel-Hamas war live: reports of fresh strike on Jabaliya refugee camp; '75% of Gaza's population' internally displaced⩘  by Maya Yang, The Guardian. "Estimate from UN humanitarian agency says around 1.8 million people have been forced to leave their homes."
• Dec 2, 2023 (day 57): My First Day in Southern Gaza Was Like Nothing I've Ever Seen⩘  by Atef Abu Saif, Slate. "Khan Younis is a city that normally hosts 150,000, but today contains a million. There is barely enough room to walk. People have flocked here, not just from Gaza City and the north, but from the villages to the east."
• Dec 2, 2023 (day 57): Muslim Americans in swing states launch anti-Biden campaign⩘  by Russell Contreras, Axios. "Muslim Americans in several swing states are scheduled to gather in Michigan on Saturday to start a campaign they're calling #AbandonBiden, a reflection of their outrage over President Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war."
• Dec 1, 2023 (day 56): Israel's military strategy threatens to make a desperate situation utterly dire⩘  by Dan Sabbagh, The Guardian.
  
  • "Israel's military remains determined to target Khan Younis because it believes Hamas's leadership, led by Yahya Sinwar, is based in tunnels underneath the city. 'The aim of the phase we are currently in is the destruction of the military capability of Hamas,'' said Tamir Hayman, a former IDF major general, who has returned to provide advice to former colleagues. At some point, after a certain level of bombing, a ground operation is anticipated.
  • "However, the new military approach threatens to turn an already desperate humanitarian situation in the crowded south into an utterly dire one. An estimated 2 million people now live in the south, half of whom were evacuated from the north. Jason Lee, Palestine country director for Save the Children, said he visited a shelter in Khan Younis two days ago: 'It was designed for 1,000 people, but has 35,000 in it. There are 600 people for every toilet.' "
• Dec 1, 2023 (day 56): US to impose visa bans on Israeli extremist settlers for violence against Palestinians⩘  by Reuters in Dubai, The Guardian. "The United States has repeatedly expressed its concern over the rising violence in the West Bank, saying it must stop. Joe Biden, in an 18 November Washington Post opinion piece threatened to take action against the perpetrators."
• Nov 30, 2023 (day 55): Israel Knew Hamas's Attack Plan Over a Year Ago⩘  by Ronen Bergman, Adam Goldman, The New York Times. "Israeli officials obtained Hamas's battle plan for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack more than a year before it happened, documents, emails and interviews show. But Israeli military and intelligence officials dismissed the plan as aspirational, considering it too difficult for Hamas to carry out.
• Nov 30, 2023 (day 55): Gazans mourn loss of their libraries: Cultural beacons and communal spaces⩘  by Mohamad El Chamaa, The Guardian. "Amid the bombed-out buildings and thousands of dead in Gaza City, there is another often overlooked casualty: the embattled enclave's shattered cultural institutions, particularly its few libraries.… Both the Gaza Municipal Library and the Rashad al-Shawa Cultural Center – which hosted a meeting between President Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat 25 years ago – have been shelled into rubble during the nearly two months of war as Israel attempts to destroy the militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip."
• Nov 30, 2023 (day 55): Hamas claims responsibility for deadly Jerusalem bus stop shooting⩘  by Dan Sabbagh, The Guardian. "Two women, aged 24 and 65, and a man, 72, were shot and killed on Thursday morning when two gunmen, brothers from East Jerusalem, opened fire at about 7.40 with an assault rifle and a handgun, shooting at a crowd of people waiting on the western edge of the city. Thirteen others were injured, police said.… A few hours later, Hamas's armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility."
• Nov 30, 2023 (day 55): Satellite images show extent of Gaza damage⩘  by Dominic Bailey, Erwan Rivault & Daniele Palumbo, BBC News.
• Nov 29, 2023 (day 54): Anger and despair as Palestinians queue for supplies during truce⩘  by Adnan El-Bursh in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, BBC News. "The Gaza Strip is home to 2.3 million people and the UN says 80% have been displaced by the conflict, with Israel ordering everyone living in the north to evacuate south of the Wadi Gaza river."
• Nov 29, 2023 (day 54): The Long, Bloody History of the Israel-Gaza "Border"⩘  by Anne Irfan, The Nation. "The current conflict has its roots in the 75-year struggle over the constantly shifting physical boundaries between Israel and the Palestinians whose land it has occupied."
• Nov 28, 2023 (day 53): Untreated diseases could kill more than bombings in Gaza, WHO warns⩘  by David Gritten, BBC News. "Untreated diseases could eventually kill more people in Gaza than bombings if the health system is not restored, the World Health Organization says. Diarrhoea and respiratory infections are widespread among children in overcrowded UN facilities where almost 1.1 million people are sheltering. Patients with chronic illnesses like cancer are also receiving no treatment."
• Nov 27, 2023 (day 52): "We Just Sit Here Waiting to Die": Diary Entries From Another Week in Gaza⩘  by Atef Abu Saif, The Nation. "No one can guess where this is all headed, but of all the scenarios we fear, the most terrifying, the most dystopian is a fully evacuated 'North Gaza Strip.' A new Nakba, in short. This is exactly what happened in 1948. My grandmother was forced to leave her beautiful house in Jaffa, thinking she would return just a few days later. That was 75 years ago. Our hearts ache when we remember this collective loss. We all know what it looks like. It looks like this."
• Nov 27, 2023 (day 52): Letters from an American⩘  by Professor Heather Cox Richardson.
  
  • "In that November 8 address, Blinken outlined the U.S. administration's policy for the future of Gaza. '[K]ey elements,' he said, are 'no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza—not now, not after the war. No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks. No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza. We must also ensure no terrorist threats can emanate from the West Bank.'
  • "Blinken said that 'the Palestinian people's voices and aspirations' must be 'at the center of post-crisis governance in Gaza' and that 'Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority' are U.S. requirements.
  • "Gaza will need a 'sustained mechanism for reconstruction,' Blinken said on November 8, 'and a pathway to Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in states of their own, with equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity, and dignity.' "
• Nov 27, 2023 (day 52): Gaza civilian deaths outpacing those of other conflict zones⩘  by Ivana Saric, Axios. "Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children,' UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned earlier this month."
• Nov 27, 2023 (day 52): Biden's bear hug worked with Israel⩘  by Jennifer Rubin, The Washington Post. "After the Oct. 7 pogrom, Biden immediately rose to Israels defense. He rightly condemned the atrocities and defended Israels right and obligation to root out Hamas while cautioning that Israel must observe the laws of war. He emphasized that Palestinians were victims too and made clear a solution to the underlying Palestinian-Israeli conflict would be necessary to prevent further attacks. He also went to Israel in wartime (the only president to do so)."
• Nov 26, 2023 (day 51): Israel told us to move to south Gaza. Then it said it would bomb the south too. So where do we go now?⩘  by Rozan, a resident of Khan Younis, The Guardian. "Throughout Israel's invasion, people in northern Gaza have been told to move to the 'safety' of the south. But our day-to-day lives here are testament to the fact that in Gaza, nowhere is safe. As missiles fall, our house is filled with relatives, including lots of children – some of whom lost their homes nearby to Israeli airstrikes, others who have fled the bombardment in northern Gaza for the 'safety' of the south. It was here in the south that I lost my closest relatives on my father's side. Three brothers and their wives and children were struck by Israeli missiles, and their entire building was reduced to rubble. Only a few of them survived, mainly those who had gone out to buy supplies. They had no warning whatsoever, and no leaflets had been dropped in the area telling people to evacuate."
• Nov 26, 2023 (day 51): 'Soldiers started shooting at my feet': Palestinians describe fleeing northern Gaza⩘  by Aseel Mousa in Gaza, The Guardian. " 'What we experienced cannot be seen in horror movies,' said Nahla from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza."
• Nov 25, 2023 (day 50): Video: Gazans take stock of their damaged neighbourhoods during temporary truce⩘ , BBC News
• Nov 25, 2023 (day 50): 'Operation Al-Aqsa Flood' Day 50: First Israeli and Palestinian hostages released as Gaza takes stock of devastation⩘  by Mondoweiss Palestine Bureau. "UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron met with a number of Palestinian Authority officials on Friday, before telling the BBC he had warned Israeli officials that 'there won't be long-term safety and security and stability for Israel unless there is long term safety, security, and stability for the Palestinian people.' "
• Nov 24, 2023 (day 49): On Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism: A "non-Jewish" Jewish perspective⩘  by Lewis Siegelbaum, The Nation.
• Nov 22, 2023 (day 47): As They Mourn Their Loved Ones, These Families Are Pleading for Peace⩘  by Oren Ziv and Yotam Ronen, The Nation
  
  • "Amid overwhelming calls for revenge in Israel after Hamas's assault, relatives of victims are among the loudest advocates for a full cease-fire and a new approach with the Palestinians.…
  • "Even in the most difficult moments of their lives, these relatives insist on reminding their society and their leaders that there are human beings on the other side of the fence. This may seem obvious, but in the political climate in Israel today, it is a message that is difficult for many to accept, and can even lead to arrest or accusations of treason. When this war eventually ends, there is no doubt that these family members will be a significant part of trying to build something new here—a land in which all Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and equality."
• Nov 21, 2023 (day 46): The Harvard Law Review Refused to Run This Piece About Genocide in Gaza⩘  by Rabea Eghbariah, The Nation.
  
  • "We must consider Palestine through the iterations of Palestinians. If the Holocaust is the paradigmatic case for the crime of genocide and South Africa for that of apartheid, then the crime against the Palestinian people must be called the Nakba.
  • "The term Nakba, meaning 'Catastrophe,' is often used to refer to the making of the State of Israel in Palestine, a process that entailed the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and destroying 531 Palestinian villages between 1947 to 1949. But the Nakba has never ceased; it is a structure not an event. Put shortly, the Nakba is ongoing.
• Nov 19, 2023 (day 44): Joe Biden: The U.S. won't back down from the challenge of Putin and Hamas⩘ , The Washington Post.
• Nov 19, 2023 (day 44): Inside West Bank district under harsh Israeli lockdown since Hamas attack⩘  by Joel Gunter, reporting from Hebron, BBC News.
  
  • "For more than 40 days now, since the Hamas attack on Israel, 11 Palestinian neighbourhoods within H2 – comprising about 750 families – have been under one of the harshest lockdowns imposed on the area for more than 20 years. H2's population is almost entirely Palestinian, but the district is under the total control of the Israeli military, which has for the past few weeks been forcing Palestinian residents back inside their homes at gunpoint.
  • "Qafisha and his family of nine had barely left the house, he said. He did not want to take any risks. 'You saw what happened when you arrived,' he said. 'We have a door we cannot open and windows we cannot look out from. We do not have any freedom. We are living in fear.' …
  • "The lockdown in H2 was a 'blatant example of how Israel is implementing collective punishment in the West Bank,' said Dror Sadot, a spokeswoman for the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem.
  • " 'The Palestinians in Hebron are paying a price for something they didn't do,' she said. 'People cannot go to work, children cannot go to school, they are having trouble getting water and food. It is collective punishment, and it is illegal under international law.' …
  • "According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since 7 October, by settlers or in clashes with the military."
• Nov 17, 2023 (day 42): Letters from an American⩘  by Professor Heather Cox Richardson. Good high-level perspective.
• Nov 17, 2023 (day 42): Biden facing growing internal dissent over Israel's Gaza campaign⩘ , BBC News. "US President Joe Biden is under growing pressure to rein in Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. The growing civilian casualties and desperate humanitarian conditions have alarmed Arab allies, but also stirred an extraordinary level of criticism from within his own administration."
• Nov 16, 2023 (day 41): France calls West Bank Israeli settler violence 'policy of terror'⩘ , Reuters.
  
  • "France on Thursday condemned violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, calling it a "policy of terror" aimed at displacing Palestinians and urging Israeli authorities to protect Palestinians from the violence.
  • "U.N. figures show that daily settler attacks have more than doubled, since the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 and the ensuing assault on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
  • " 'Concerning the West Bank, I'd like to express the strongest condemnation by France of the violence carried out by the settlers against the Palestinians,' foreign ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre told a press conference.
  • " 'Violence which has the clear objective of forced displacement of the Palestinians and a policy of terror.'
  • "She said the Israeli authorities needed to take the necessary measures to protect the Palestinian population and warned that the settlement policy harmed the two-state solution.
  • "United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk echoed her words. Speaking in Geneva on Thursday, Turk said he was deeply concerned about the intensification of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. He said it was clear the Israeli occupation must end."
• Nov 16, 2023 (day 41): "A Wall of Fire Smashed Into Me": Dispatches From a Month in Gaza⩘ , excerpts from the diary of Atef Abu Saif, who has been in Gaza since October 7, The Nation. Some excerpts:
  
  • Wednesday, October 25
    "I go down onto the street and try, like the other men of the neighborhood, to help in the rescue efforts. It is hard to touch the pieces of mutilated bodies and to gather them on a blanket. Even harder is to try to identify the bodies, first by determining their gender, then their age, then to make the most difficult guess: who was this person."
  • Friday, October 27
    "I have no idea what I will eat today. I have to ask Yasser if he will queue at the little Saj Bakery on Wihda Street. There's a queue of around 50 outside it. I tell him, 'You'll see, an hour and a half, maximum.' While he waits, I go to a supermarket and buy anything in it we can eat without cooking."
  • Sunday, October 29
    "When we get to the Civil Defense station, they tell us that since the signal has come back they've been inundated with calls. For the last 36 hours, their teams could only guess where they were needed. Ambulance drivers and police officers were astonished to find dead bodies lying in the middle of the streets in front of them on their patrols. Hundreds are still alive under the rubble right now, they tell me, struggling to survive under the ruins. Some have even sent text messages from under the rubble that were only now being received."
• Nov 15, 2023 (day 40): Al-Shifa Hospital raid comes as tone shifts on Israel⩘  by Jeremy Bowen, BBC News. "[We] have seen a hardening of the international position around the Israeli offensive in the last few days with the US, the UK and France using language that is shifting the tone – perhaps summed up best by what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last weekend: 'Far too many" Palestinian civilians have been killed.' "
• Nov 13, 2023 (day 38): Israel-Hamas War⩘ , Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
  
  • "It has to be possible to feel the pain in one community without denying it in another." – John Oliver
  • "You know, we are in a circle of blood for the last seventy-five years. And this is just another round. Nobody expected the viciousness and the cruelty of this round, but it was expected. You cannot put two million people in a box, close the cover, and expect nothing will happen. It will not stop unless we talk. You cannot annihilate Hamas. You cannot ignore six million people, Palestinians, living here in the holy land. And you cannot expect them to go away. They will not go away. We will not go away. We are doomed to live here together, and we have to choose whether to share this land or to share the graveyard under it."
    – Rami Elhanan, an Israeli graphic designer and peace activist
• Nov 13, 2023 (day 38): We were interviewing a Palestinian farmer. Then the drone and soldiers appeared ⩘  by Mary Louise Kelly, Erika Ryan, Kat Lonsdorf, NPR.
  
  • "It's morning as our NPR team is traveling from Tel Aviv to the West Bank to see a small town called Deir Istiya, and to meet a 54-year-old farmer named Ayoub Abuhejleh. When we arrive at his home, he invites us inside and makes us Arabic coffee.
  • "Like many Palestinians in the West Bank, he tells us he hasn't been able to access his land and harvest his olives.
  • " 'I planted around 370 olive trees [and] grapes, figs, almonds,' he tells us.
  • "It's harvest season, and while his plants are groaning with fruit, he says he hasn't been able to harvest a single olive.…
  • "He explains that soldiers with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and West Bank settlers have blocked him from his land since the war started on Oct. 7, when Hamas fighters attacked Israel.
  • "While the world has focused on Israel's response in Gaza, violence in the West Bank is also spiking. Attacks on Palestinians by the Israeli military and settlers are up, according to the UNOCHA, which estimates more than 170 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2,600 injured in the West Bank since the war began.
  • "The IDF says it is conducting raids on militants. Abuhejleh says that when he tries to get to his olive trees, the war is the reason Israeli soldiers point to for stopping him. He is convinced they are using the war as an excuse to seize Palestinian land.
• Nov 12, 2023 (day 37): International outcry grows over 'unbearably desperate' situation in Gaza hospitals⩘  by Lauren Frayer, Aya Batrawy, Peter Kenyon, Greg Myre, NPR News. "International outcry continues to grow over conditions at Gaza's biggest hospital around which Israel's military says it's been battling Hamas fighters. Doctors Without Borders released a voice memo from Dr. Mohammed Obeid from inside Al-Shifa Hospital saying the lives of dozens of babies are in peril after their incubators shut down because fuel to power generators ran out."
• Nov 10, 2023 (day 35): Israeli Holocaust Scholar Omer Bartov Warns of Genocide in Gaza⩘ . "Israeli American scholar Omer Bartov, one of the worlds leading experts on the Holocaust, says Israels brutal assault on the Gaza Strip is at risk of becoming a genocide. The monthlong air and ground war has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians in the besieged enclave, a majority of them women and children. Israel has also severely limited the movement of food, water, fuel, medicine and other essentials into Gaza. Bartov says the disproportionate killing of civilians by Israel, as well as dehumanizing statements by Israeli leaders and suggestions of mass expulsion, are of grave concern. He recently joined hundreds of lawyers and academics in signing an open letter warning about Israels violations of international law in Gaza. 'There is an indication that there are war crimes happening in Gaza, potentially also crimes against humanity,'' says Bartov. 'If this so-called operation continues, that may become ethnic cleansing … and that may become genocide.'
• Nov 3, 2023 (day 28): Five new realities after four weeks of Israel-Gaza war⩘  by Jeremy Bowen, International editor, in southern Israel, BBC News. "One of the first things to understand about the reportage, analysis and commentary that has poured out since the Hamas attacks of 7 October is that no-one has the full story." It's worth it to read the whole article, but here are key extracts:
  
  1. One certainty is that Israelis support the military campaign to break the power in Gaza of Hamas and its junior partner, Islamic Jihad. Their anger is driven by the shock of the Hamas attacks, the killing of more than 1,400 people and the fact that around 240 hostages are still being held in Gaza.
  2. It is also clear that Israel's assault on Hamas is causing terrible bloodshed. The latest figure for Palestinian deaths from Gaza's health ministry, run by Hamas, has exceeded 9,000 – of whom around 65% are children and women.
  3. Something else we know for certain is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under great pressure. Unlike Israel's security and military chiefs, he has not accepted any personal responsibility for the catastrophic series of failures that left Israeli border communities virtually undefended on 7 October.
  4. It is also clear that the old status quo has been smashed. It was unpleasant and dangerous, but it seemed to have a certain grimly-familiar stability. Since the end of the last Palestinian uprising around 2005 a pattern has emerged that Mr Netanyahu believed could be sustained indefinitely. That was a dangerous illusion, for all concerned – Palestinians as well as Israelis.
  5. It is also clear that Israel, backed by the Americans, will not tolerate a deal that allows Hamas to stay in power. That guarantees a lot more bloodshed. It also raises big questions about what or who replaces them, which so far have not been answered.
  6. I think these "five new realities miss one additional very important new reality: it's clear that there is tremendous worldwide anger at the harm being perpetrated upon Palestinian civilians, at the enormous numbers of people who are trapped, many of whom in refugee camps, being killed and wounded, with a the tremendous number of children and women among them. This is changing the narrative globally.
• Nov 1, 2023 (day 26): When Peace is the Biggest Enemy⩘  by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Lucid. "Before the war started, most Gazans did not identify with Hamas's fundamentalist ideology. Hamas' ultimate goal, as expressed in its original 1988 charter, is "the complete destruction of Israel," whereas the majority of Gazans surveyed by Arab Barometer just before Oct. 7 supported a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Just weeks later, that seems like a mirage. On social media and in the streets, Israel has lost the information war, and the grave humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza due to Israeli bombings and sieges has created fervent global support for the Palestinian cause and Hamas as its privileged defender."
• Oct 31, 2023 (day 25): 'I'm still alive. Gaza is no longer Gaza.'⩘  by Atef Abu Saif in Gaza, The Washington Post. A diary describing what it is like to be living in Gaza. "This is my second night in Jabalya Camp, where I should've been from the beginning, where my family – father, sisters, brothers – have gathered. There's no internet. No social media. We're back in the radio age. Explosions continue, each one feeling closer than the last, each one inspiring me to reach for my own body to see whether I've been hit. Why do I even want to survive? What is survival good for, if I live only to spend another day fearing my death?" Three days after the last entry, the Jabalya refugee camp was hit by an airstrike. Israel strikes dense Gaza camp, says it kills Hamas commander⩘  by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Emily Rose, Reuters, Oct 31, 2023.
• Oct 31, 2023 (day 25): Israel Gaza: Father loses 11 family members in one blast⩘  by Fergal Keane, Jerusalem, BBC News. "My neighbours were coming to the hospital. So I asked, 'Where was the bombing?' And they told me, 'It was around your house.' I had to run to the location to check on the family. I tried calling but no one was answering. And as you can see… the whole house was bombed. Eleven members of his family were killed. They included his four children, his two sisters, his 70-year-old father, his brother and his sister-in-law, and their two daughters. They were wrapped in white shrouds in a courtyard of the hospital."
  
  • 
    Courtesy of Khalil Khader
• Oct 30, 2023 (day 24): Israel presses into Gaza as pro-Palestinian protests spread worldwide⩘  by Becky Sullivan, NPR.
• Oct 27, 2023 (day 21): We are Westminster MPs of Palestinian and Israeli descent – this is our call for peace⩘  by Layla Moran and Alex Sobel, The Guardian. "We put these narratives side by side not to compare, or excuse, but so people understand the raw pain that both Israelis and Palestinians are experiencing, rather than choosing one side and ignoring the other. One dead child killed in war is one too many. Showing sympathy for what Israelis have experienced does not equal supporting Israels government, and standing in solidarity with Palestinians does not signal support of Hamas. It must be possible to show empathy with both peoples, so that we can find a way through this darkness."
• Oct 22, 2023 (day 16): I'm a Palestinian citizen of Israel. Right now, that's as complex as you could possibly imagine⩘ , opinion by Maria Rashed The Guardian. "Taking a stand as a Palestinian may seem complicated, but Hamas doesn't speak for me. Hamas fails to represent Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and around the world. While the world often frames this 'conflict' as Israel versus Palestine or Judaism versus Islam, the reality is much more complicated. This is about the people, not leaders who show no concern for civilians. Let's be clear: one can support Palestinians' right to resist and end the occupation without supporting Hamas."
• Oct 21, 2023 (day 15): Rushdi Abualouf: My daughters beg for Gaza City return - but our old lives are over⩘  by Rushdi Abualouf in Khan Younis, Gaza, BBC News. "Death and life have become equal in Gaza. Bombardment from above is constant. It's all too much for many adults, let alone a child: no nine-year-old on Earth should have to go through this."
• Oct 21, 2023 (day 15): I just finished Love Israel Support Palestine, an Israeli Story⩘  by Nir Avishai Cohen, 2023. Cohen has served for decades as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, both in the regular and reserve army. He loves his country, Israel, but opposes Israel's occupation of the Territories and, as a citizen, fights for human rights and the rights of his Palestinian neighbors.
  
  • The following excerpt is from a guest essay by Nir Avishai Cohen in The New York Times, Oct 13, 2023, I'm Going to War for Israel. Palestinians Are Not My Enemy.⩘ 
  •    "Israelis must realize that there is no greater security asset than peace. The strongest army cannot protect the country the way peace does. This current war proves it once again. Israel has followed the path of war for too long.
  •    "At the end, after all of the dead Israelis and Palestinians are buried, after we have finished washing away the rivers of blood, the people who share a home in this land will have to understand that there is no other choice but to follow the path of peace. That is where true victory lies."
• Oct 20, 2023 (day 14): As a British Jew, I Say: Not in My Name⩘  by Francesca Newton, Tribune. "There are lines that need to be drawn. Opposing the actions of the Israeli government is not the same as supporting the atrocities of Hamas. Neither is providing the relevant history against which all this violence is taking place – history which most recently includes a 17-year-long blockade on Gaza that has limited the movement of food, building materials, and people throughout the area, and which itself flows on from years of occupation and the Nakba. Acknowledging such context is not apologism. Historical context is a precondition for progress toward any kind of just peace.… As Gideon Levy wrote in Haaretz, 'it's impossible to imprison two million people forever without paying a cruel price.' To state this, too, is not to excuse Hamas's attacks on civilians or to belittle the fear, grief and rage so many are feeling. It is to acknowledge that understanding how and why violence happens is the only way to bring it to an end."
• Oct 19, 2023 (day 13): Gaza Strip in maps: What it's like for the people who live there⩘ , BBC News. "Home to 2.2 million people, the Gaza Strip is a densely-populated enclave, 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on one side and fenced off from Israel and Egypt at its borders.… With 2.2 million people in a relatively small strip of land, Gaza has one of the highest population densities in the world."
• Oct 19, 2023 (day 13): Israeli community frozen as Hamas atrocities continue to emerge⩘  by Lucy Williamson in Nir Oz, Israel, BBC News. "The families of Israel's hostages and missing are still frozen in the hours after the attack, left without answers, and caught between two different traumas: their nation's and their own."
• Oct 18, 2023 (day 12): Letters from an American⩘  by Professor Heather Cox Richardson. Good coverage of President Biden's trip to Israel. "… we believe in the fundamental dignity of every human life—Israeli, Palestinian, Arab, Jew, Muslim, Christian—everyone."
• Oct 17, 2023 (day 11): Behind Israel's high-risk push to eliminate Hamas⩘  by Barak Ravid, Axios. "As Israel's military prepares for a massive, unprecedented ground war in Gaza that carries huge risks for the Middle East and beyond, it's important to understand why: Israelis haven't felt this threatened since their war of independence in 1948. Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel killed more Jews in one day – more than 1,300 – than any other day since the Holocaust. For a country that vowed 'never again,' the brutal killings and video-documented kidnappings were a shock to the national psyche – and a stunning breach of a trusted security system. Israelis have seen horrific images of dead soldiers and babies who were shot and their bodies burned, as well as video of elderly Holocaust survivors, young women and entire families kidnapped."
• Oct 15, 2023 (day 9): Letters from an American⩘  by Professor Heather Cox Richardson. " 'We came here with four key objectives,' Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Egypt: 'to make clear that the United States stands with Israel; to prevent the conflict from spreading to other places; to work on securing the release of hostages, including American citizens; and to address the humanitarian crisis that exists in Gaza.' "
• Oct 15, 2023 (day 9): MSF calls on Israel to 'show humanity'⩘ . "Here at Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontiàres (MSF), we are grieving the widespread suffering and death stemming from the eruption of full-scale war in Israel and Gaza. We are calling for all parties to the conflict to ensure the safety of civilians and medical facilities."
• Oct 15, 2023 (day 9): What is Hamas, and what's happening in Israel and Gaza? A really simple guide⩘ , BBC News.
• Oct 7, 2023: How the Hamas attack on Israel unfolded⩘  by Dan Williams, Reuters. "A surprise attack by Hamas on Israel, which combined gunmen breaching security barriers with a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza, was launched at dawn on Saturday during the Jewish high holiday of Simchat Torah."
  
  • Wikipedia: Casualties of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war⩘ . "On 7 October 2023 more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, mostly civilians were killed and approximately 240 taken hostage during the initial attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip."

A note about the timeline

Each entry in these ongoing reflections is introduced with the date the item was published, followed by the number of days since Hamas carried out its act of terrorism on October 7, 2023 and Israel retaliated with its full-scale war on Gaza. However, it would be reasonable to list alternate dates for the start of this ongoing war that, counting from October 7, 2023, would add between 16 and 141 years (adapted from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict⩘  article in Wikipedia).

Alternative timeline

• 2007 (add 16 years to the start of the war on Oct 7, 2023) - Israel tightened its blockade of the Gaza Strip and made official its policy of isolating it from the West Bank. Since then, Israel has framed its relationship with Gaza in terms of the laws of war rather than in terms of its status as an occupying power. In a July 2024 ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rebuffed Israel's stance, determining that the Palestinian territories constitute one political unit and that Israel continues to illegally occupy the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The ICJ also determined that Israeli policies violate the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Since 2006, Hamas and Israel have fought several wars. Attacks by Hamas-led armed groups in October 2023 in Israel were followed by another war.[41] Israel's actions in Gaza since the start of the war have been described by international law experts, genocide scholars and human rights organizations as genocidal.
• 1967 (add 56 years) - Since the Six-Day War, Israel has been occupying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, known collectively as the Palestinian territories. Two Palestinian uprisings against Israel and its occupation erupted in 1987 and 2000, the first and second intifadas respectively. Israel's occupation, which is now considered to be the longest military occupation in modern history, has seen it constructing illegal settlements there, creating a system of institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians under its occupation called Israeli apartheid. This discrimination includes Israel's denial of Palestinian refugees from their right of return and right to their lost properties. Israel has also drawn international condemnation for violating the human rights of the Palestinians.
• 1948 (add 75 years) - Eventually tensions led to the United Nations adopting a partition plan, triggering a civil war. During the ensuing 1948 Palestine war, more than half of the mandate's predominantly Palestinian Arab population fled or were expelled by Israeli forces. By the end of the war, Israel was established on most of the former mandate's territory, and the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were controlled by Egypt and Jordan respectively.
• 1936 (add 87 years) - An Arab revolt erupted demanding independence and an end to British support for Zionism, which was suppressed by the British.
• 1918 (add 104 years) - Following British occupation of the formerly Ottoman region during World War I, Mandatory Palestine was established as a British mandate. Increasing Jewish immigration led to tensions between Jews and Arabs which grew into intercommunal conflict.
• 1917 (add 105 years) - The Zionist movement garnered the support of an imperial power in the 1917 Balfour Declaration issued by Britain, which promised to support the creation of a "Jewish homeland" in Palestine.
• 1882 (add 141 years) - The first arrival of Jewish settlers to Ottoman Palestine in 1882. The local Arab population increasingly began to oppose Zionism, primarily out of the fear of territorial displacement and dispossession.

See also: Before October 7th: Understanding the Long History of Israel's Assault on Gaza⩘  by Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV), Sep 27, 2024. IJV is "a grassroots organization grounded in Jewish tradition that opposes all forms of racism and advocates for justice and peace for all in Israel-Palestine".