Urgent Health Update: Consequences of war on Gaza, West Bank/East Jerusalem - August 16, 2025
ACTION ITEMS
1. Congresspeople are hard of hearing. They need to hear from you again and again. Use this JVPAction page to phone your recalcitrant genocide enabler: here
In particular: Block the bombs. here
2. Attend the 2025 People’s Conference for Palestine: Gaza is the compass, 8/29-31, in Detroit, MI. Plenaries, workshops, cultural events, and organizing sessions to deepen strategy, strengthen unity, and build a mass movement. Find out more and register: here
3. Are you a family doctor? The World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) meets in Lisbon 9/17-21/25. Sign a letter calling on the WONCA Executive Committee to:
1) Condemn the siege and starvation, the destruction of Gaza’s health service and the murder, abduction and torture of our colleagues. Release all detained health workers immediately!
2) Demand immediate distribution by UN agencies of humanitarian aid and medical supplies.
3) Don’t prescribe drugs made by the Israeli drug company TEVA unless there is no alternative.
4) Support Palestinian doctors and medical students to continue their Family Medicine training in WONCA member countries and in Gaza.
5) Suspend the Israel Association of Family Physicians (IAFP) from WONCA.
Sign the letter here:
6) SAVE THE DATE: JVP HAC webinar September 7, Fast and Slow Genocide: Gaza and the West Bank, 1 pm eastern, the Drs. Sara Aly and Mark Perlmutter, available in English and Spanish, registration coming soon.
Journals & Reports
Mental Health & Prevention: A qualitative analysis of personal communications with 20 individuals in Gaza between October 2023-April 2025 identified the diverse coping strategies employed in the context of an ongoing genocide. Coping strategies included “community solidarity, religious and spiritual resilience, creative express, informal psychosocial care for children, and peer support among healthcare workers.” Further, “healthcare workers, despite profound personal losses, continued to deliver critical medical and emotional support, embodying the Palestinian ethos of sumud (steadfastness).” The author emphasizes that “supporting healthcare providers in war zones requires acknowledging their dual roles as caregivers and victims and offering targeted psychosocial interventions to address moral injury and burnout.” here
Children and Youth Services Review: Semi-structured interviews conducted with 30 healthcare providers, humanitarian workers, parents, and other service providers between November 2024-January 2025, examined the impact of the ongoing genocide on children’s play in Gaza. Thematic analysis identified seven key themes: Old Games Reimagined with Violence; Emotional Avoidance and Loss of Interest in Play; War-Themed and Aggressive Play; Play Reflecting Daily Struggles; Play as a Coping Mechanism Amid Violence; The Loss of Childhood Through Responsibility; Community Efforts to Restore Childhood. The authors conclude that “the Israeli genocidal assault on Gaza has transformed the essence of childhood in Gaza: where there used to be laughter, exploration, and social connection, there is now a focus on vigilance, grief, and measured endurance” and emphasize the need for interventions that “progress from merely alleviating clinical symptoms to establishing a comprehensive care framework: de-escalated safe areas, culturally relevant recreational initiatives, trauma-informed educator training, and continuous mental health support for families.” here
Nursing Research and Practice: In a survey of 1,148 Palestinian children and adolescents from the North and Middle West Bank conducted in February-March 2024, the prevalence of moderate to very severe PTSD was 70%. Nearly all participants reported exposure to traumatic events. The most common events were watching homes and people bombed on TV (93%), watching dismembered bodies on TV (93%), inhaling tear gas (65%), witnessing a relative being shot (32%), witnessing a friend being shot (25%), and witnessing neighbors’ homes being demolished (21%). The authors conclude that there is “a severe mental health crisis among conflict-exposed children in the West Bank” and that “immediate interventions are needed, including trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy delivered with substantial modifications for ongoing conflict settings and school-based mental health programs.” here
Journal of Population Ageing: A commentary discusses the acute and often overlooked vulnerabilities of older adults in Gaza who, as of mid-2023, made up approximately 5% of Gaza’s population. The author describes how, amidst ongoing violence, older adults have often been unable to evacuate due to mobility issues, reliance on caregivers, and emotional connections to their homes. Further, despite their vulnerabilities, older adults are rarely prioritized in humanitarian responses. The author concludes that: “research evidence, data and the qualitative lived experiences of older people living under conflict are needed to ensure that the long-term needs of the worlds older population following conflict are addressed.” here
medRxiv (pre-print): “Current Gaza mortality estimates systematically undercount deaths by failing to account for zero-survivor households. We argue that adjusting for this factor and multi-family cohabitation yields significantly higher figures than previously reported. If we assume 3% zero-survivor households with 75% multi-family cohabitation, mortality estimates increase to 152,395-179,555 direct and indirect deaths (6.92-8.16% of pre-war population).” here
Research Square (pre-print): This article explores how political occupation and economic marginalization increase the risk of human trafficking in occupied Palestinian territory. Through an analysis of human rights reports, national legislation, and international conventions on trafficking and counterterrorism, the authors find that state fragility, fragmented governance, extreme poverty, and the impacts of occupation and blockade create the conditions for labor exploitation, which particularly impacts women, children, and unregistered workers. The authors emphasize that “anti-trafficking activity in Palestine is necessarily bound to fail without confrontation of the structural violence, economic marginalization, and fragmentation of law inherent in the occupation context.” here
Gaza is facing a new threat as diseases resistant to antibiotics spread across the devastated territory, research has revealed. Medical supplies are desperately scarce and tens of thousands of people have been injured in the 22-month war, while many others have been weakened by malnutrition, so the high levels of drug-resistant bacteria will mean longer and more serious illnesses, a more rapid transmission of infectious diseases more amputations, and more deaths, experts said.
The findings published in a peer-reviewed research comment in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, are the first since the conflict began in October 2023 to suggest a prevalence of multi-drug-resistant bacteria in Gaza. The study is based on more than 1,300 samples from al-Ahli hospital, where one of the few microbiology laboratories that is still functional in Gaza is based. Two-thirds of the samples, taken from patients over a 10-month period last year, showed the presence of multi-drug-resistant bacteria. (The Palestine Chronicle 8/13) here, here
This is not aid. This is orchestrated killing. MSF’s frontline medical testimony on systematic mass casualties from GHF sites in Gaza. here
The Trauma of Childhood in Gaza. Over the past two years, tens of thousands of children in the territory have been killed, wounded or orphaned. Childhood as they once knew it has ceased to exist. here
Video
Aerial footage filmed by ITV News shows the scale of Gaza's destruction | ITV News. here
United Nations
· 8/11 briefing to the UN Security Council, OCHA’s Ramesh Rajasingham voiced concern over the unending conflict and its atrocities. He condemned Israel’s decision to expand military operations: “Gaza lies in ruins. Almost everyone in Gaza has been forcibly displaced at some point over the past 2 years and at least once. Palestinians in Gaza have been forced into an area that amounts to less than 14% of the territory, in areas that are not safe and are lacking basic services or shelter. Further expansion of military operations will make these conditions even worse.” As starvation increases, he noted: this is “no longer a looming hunger crisis – this is starvation, pure and simple,” and that horrendous conditions remain largely unchanged by Israeli “tactical pauses” and reported approval of the entry of commercial goods.
· “Israel must agree to and facilitate humanitarian relief operations, both into and within the Gaza Strip, to reach the population in need. The International Court of Justice’s provisional measures in the case on the application of the Genocide Convention in Gaza remain in place, including the demand that Israel take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.” Read the full text here
· 8/14, according to a UNOCHA report, nearly 13,000 children in Gaza were treated for malnutrition in the month of July. Of these children, 22% were suffering from severe acute malnutrition. UN officials also emphasized that there is enough food waiting in the West Bank, Jordan, Egypt, and the Ashdod Port to feed every person in Gaza for 3 months, but that Israel’s imposition of bureaucratic and physical obstacles makes it impossible to distribute. here
GAZA
Israeli forces continue air, land and sea bombardment, expanded ground attacks and since 5/27, the targeting (with US mercenary support) of Palestinians seeking food: 1,859 killed and 13,594 injured. As of 8/12, the Israeli starvation strategy has caused 227 malnutrition deaths, over 100 of them children.
· This week: 564 Palestinians killed, 3,083 injured
· Since 10/07/2023: 61,722+ killed, 154,525+ injured.
· Israeli soldiers in Gaza: 454 killed (0 this week), 2,872 injured (2 this week)
· Hostages in Gaza: 50
· For more information: here
Israeli attacks
· 8/10, Israeli military hit a journalists’ tent at Al Shifa Hospital (Gaza City), killing 6 media workers, including 4 Al Jazeera staff. Condemning the incident the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) noted the total number of media workers killed has risen to 238. In July, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had called for the protection of one of the journalists killed, citing he was being targeted by an Israeli military smear campaign. CPJ Regional Director, Sara Qudah, said: “Israel has killed more journalists in the 22 months since the start of the war than were killed worldwide in the preceding 3 years.”
· Democracy Now spoke with Al Jazeera managing editor Mohamed Moawad after Israel assassinated 5 of the network’s journalists in Gaza, including veteran correspondent Anas al-Sharif, in an airstrike 8/10 outside Al-Shifa Hospital. Al Jazeera has condemned the attack as an attempt to silence reporting on Israel’s planned seizure and occupation of Gaza. The strike also killed Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed Noufal, and came just weeks after the UN and press freedom advocates warned al-Sharif’s life was at risk following Israeli accusations linking him to Hamas. (Democracy Now 8/11)
· Israeli attacks on starving people seeking food include: 8/7, 5 killed and 30 at the militarized distribution point in Ash Shakoush, Rafah; 8/8, 9 injured (3 children) by air-dropped aid in Gaza City; 8/9, a boy killed by air-dropped aid in Deir al Balah; 8/11, 8 killed and others injured waiting aid convoys in in Beit Lahiya.
· 8/7 & 11, 26 killed (11 children) and 3+ injured in 5 attacks on IDP tents, homes and schools, Gaza City.
· 8/8 & 12,14 killed (6 children) in 2 attacks on IDP tents and shelters near Khan Younis.
· 8/11, 6 killed (2 children, 1 elderly woman) while charging cell phones in Deir al Balah.
· 8/10, Sources in Gaza hospitals reported at least 48 Palestinians were killed by Israeli occupation forces in various parts of the Gaza Strip over the previous 24 hours. A medical source at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said that starvation caused by the ongoing Israeli blockade has resulted in 212 deaths so far, including 98 children. The Gaza Ministry of Health said that 9 Palestinians were killed and 180 others, including children, were wounded when Israeli forces targeted civilians seeking aid near the Zikim area in northern Gaza. Doctors at the hospital reported that several victims had sustained gunshot wounds to the chest and head, arriving in critical condition. (Palestine Chronicle 8/10)
· 8/12, Democracy Now cited Palestinian health officials statement that Israeli attacks had killed at least 89 people across Gaza over the past day, including 31 people killed while seeking food. Among the dead are five Palestinians bombed in a tent sheltering displaced civilians in al-Mawasi, which Israel has designated a “safe zone” despite consistently attacking the area. More than 500 others were wounded by Israel’s latest attacks. Israel’s blockade of Gaza led to five more deaths from famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, including two children. Palestinian health officials say at least 227 people have starved to death due to the siege.
· 8/12, UK surgeon says Israeli forces using Gaza children as ‘target practice’ as starvation crisis deepens. A British doctor and major humanitarian groups accuse Israeli soldiers of intentionally targeting children near aid sites, as reports show more than 100 children have died from hunger during Israel’s siege of Gaza. here
· Aerial footage of Israel’s 22-month rampage of destruction of nearly every square inch of Gaza was released to Western audiences this week, as several foreign reporters accompanied airdrops of scant parcels of aid. Some images were released before Israeli officials threatened journalists that these aid drops could be canceled if media workers shared the footage any further. (Electronic Intifada 8/9)
· Anadolu news agency, citing local sources and eyewitnesses, reported that the Israeli army demolished homes and residential buildings in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza, alongside heavy artillery shelling over a period of three days following Israel’s approval of a plan to occupy the entire Gaza Strip.
Starvation & Malnutrition
· 8/11, You have a situation in which it’s impossible to know the true numbers, but there are an increasing number of children—probably in the thousands—that need to be in the hospital because they can’t eat food. They have got to that stage of severe acute malnutrition where their bodies just can’t digest food. And so those kids need to be in intensive care. I was just trying to figure out how many hospital beds there are in Gaza. It looks like there are about eighteen hundred total surviving hospital beds in Gaza, but the number fluctuates daily. So on top of flooding Gaza with food, which remains essential, there needs to be a massive emergency infusion of intensive-care capability. (Isaac Chotiner in The New Yorker 8/11)
· As of 8/13, the MoH has registered 235 malnutrition-related deaths (106 children). This includes 170 deaths (45 children) since 7/1.
· 13,000 new cases of child acute malnutrition were recorded in July of which 22% were severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Children with SAM plus complications, who need to be hospitalized and treated in stabilization centers, also increased to 129 in July, compared to 215 cases for the entire 6 months prior. Israeli attacks on the medical system have left a capacity of only 43 beds.
· Save the Children noted that 100 children starving to death since October 2023 is a “devastating milestone that shames the world and demands long overdue urgent action,” and highlighted the devastating, long-term health repercussions of acute malnutrition on children. Child malnutrition “can lead to lifelong health issues like stunting, weakened immune systems and organ failure. The effects of malnutrition can span generations, with its impacts on children making learning and development harder, creating a cycle of poverty for the entire population… [N]early 2 years of war and a chokehold on lifesaving aid have condemned children to mass deaths, suffering, and shattered futures – all of which are entirely preventable.”
· The quantity and quality of food entering Gaza remains insufficient to reach the minimum daily caloric and nutritional needs of the population. People continue to suffer from extremely imbalanced diets that lack essential nutrients, increasing acute malnutrition and severely impacting pregnant and breastfeeding women and newborns.
· Prior to October 2023, Gaza was largely self-sufficient in nutritious food, including eggs, fresh milk, fish, poultry, olive oil and red meat. Israel has destroyed 96% of Gaza's cattle, 61% of goats, 64% of sheep, and 98% of chicken. 86% of fields are damaged and only 1.5% of cropland is accessible and undamaged. In this context of collapsed food systems, entry of commercial food is critical but its trickle into markets still leaves prices inaccessible to most, especially as gas remains unavailable and firewood becomes even more unaffordable.
· According to the WFP, 1 of only 8 organizations allowed by Israeli to dispatch humanitarian aid to Gaza, routes into Gaza remain risky. Desperate crowds often offload trucks to feed their families. This looting prevents aid from reaching its intended destinations. In July, WFP collected 1,012 trucks (13,000 Metric Tons) of food from Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings, but only 10 trucks reached warehouses -- the rest were offloaded en route. The WFP and other NGOs have enough food in the region or en route to feed the entire population of 2.1 million people for 3 months, but Israeli limits to entry has stranded supplies and many are now nearing expiration dates. To end increasing starvation, the immediate resumption of large-scale humanitarian assistance with guaranteed safe, unimpeded and sustained access is necessary.
· Physicians and other experts have stated that the information presented in an IDF investigation refuting claims of starvation in Gaza actually prove that wide swaths of the populations are suffering from malnutrition-related illnesses and death. For example, while the IDF claims that the most widely publicized deaths are the result of preexisting medical conditions, physicians and food security experts emphasize that “when there is starvation, the vulnerable groups are the first to be affected.” Aseel Aburass, with Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, stated that "the claim that if a child who died of hunger had a 'preexisting condition,' his death is therefore unrelated to starvation, has nothing to do with medical logic. Malnutrition weakens the body, exacerbates existing illnesses and leads to faster death. This is the classic mechanism of death in times of famine, and the fact that the defense establishment ignores it shows an unwillingness to confront the facts." here
Health & Hospitals
· 5/27-8/8, the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah treated more than 4,500 weapon-wounded patients, most attempting to reach food distribution sites when injured in 30+ mass casualty incidents.
· 6/7-7/24, MSF reported 28 killed and 1,352 wounded received at its Al-Mawasi and Al-Attar clinics, near militarized distribution points. They treated 71 children with gunshot wounds, 25 of them under 15 years old: “Children shot in the chest while reaching for food. People crushed or suffocated in stampedes… In MSF’s nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians.”
· 8/13, Over 100 Doctors Who Worked in Gaza Demand Global Action as 'Colleagues Are Starved and Shot by Israel' here
· 8/13, WHO supported the medical evacuation of 38 patients (32 children) and 99 companions. More than 14,800 patients urgently await evacuation.
· 8/10, Palestine Civil Defense stated that of 300 requests submitted to access and treat or remove injured people, only 10% were facilitated by Israeli authorities. These denials killed over 2,500 people. PCD called on Israel to stop blocking their lifesaving work.
· WHO has brought in 80 trucks of medical supplies since 6/25 (after 3 ½ months of complete Israeli blockade), but access to essential medical supplies remains difficult, reported WHO’s Dr. Rik Peeperkorn: “Staff members’ inspection activities at [crossing] points had been delayed by restrictions. Many items, such as assistive devices, intensive care unit beds, freezers, cold chain medicines, anesthesia machines, had been denied entry. Some 282 pallets of supplies had entered via Ben Gurion Airport, but the clearance process was far too slow” and are only a fraction of what is needed. Health facilities struggle to provide required treatment to patients facing ongoing mass casualty incidents and suffering from infectious diseases. Fuel shortages for generators are a problem for 230 health points that remain partially functional, compounded by the lack of spare parts and engine oil needed to repair and maintain the generators.
· Since the 3/2 banning of UNWRA by the Israeli Knesset, their services have been severely disrupted due to the inability to access medicines, supplies, fuel, or to move safely, affecting 100,000 patients in UNWRA health facilities which provide antenatal, post-natal and family planning care, physiotherapy rehabilitation services, and vaccinations. At present, 59% of essential medicines (56 of 95 items) are out of stock while fuel shortages have forced many to operate 1 shift instead of 2.
· Israeli strikes in Khan Younis damaged sewage systems, flooding the Nasser Medical Complex and creating hazardous conditions in hospital corridors. With generators down, doctors and nurses must navigate contaminated water, compounding the ongoing humanitarian crisis. (Drop Site 8/15)
· Gaza’s doctors are foregoing their sole daily meal, often just 200 grams of rice, to feed their families with it, according to the Health Ministry’s Director-General. (Drop Site 8/15)
· 8/14, Israel Committing “Medicide” in Gaza as Health Care Workers Starve, Experts Say. Israel’s medicide is an “intentional creation of conditions calculated to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. here
Aid
· 8/6-12, of 81 movements coordinated with Israeli authorities, 35 were facilitated (43%), 29 impeded (36%), 12 denied (15%), and 5 withdrawn (6%).
· Palestinians report some food aid packages parachuted into Gaza as covered in black mold. Others showed bags of flour from Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites contaminated with plastic waste and other rubbish, rendering the food inedible. (Al Jazeera English)
· Al-Awda Hospital reported that a child, Muhannad Zakaria Eid, was killed when an airdropped aid box fell on him west of the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza. According to the Gaza Government Media Office, the number of fatalities caused by airdropped aid since the start of the war has reached a death toll of 23. (Palestine Chronicle 8/10)
· World Food Program reported that 99% of the 1,012 trucks it was able to bring into the Gaza Strip were looted on their way to warehouses. The WFP emphasized that the overwhelming majority of these trucks were looted by unarmed, starving residents desperate to feed themselves and their families. here
· Doctors Without Borders is demanding the closure of Israeli- and US-backed food distribution centers in Gaza run by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. About 1,400 Palestinians have been killed trying to get food at GHF sites since May. A new report from Doctors Without Borders gathers testimony from its medics and others about the apparently deliberate targeting of Palestinians seeking food. (Democracy Now 8/11)
· In Haaretz interview, the International Rescue Committee’s Bob Kitchen described Gaza as “by far, the most intense crisis I've seen in my 25 years of humanitarian work.” Describe Israel’s forced starvation of Gazans, he stated “I have never seen a famine, or a famine-level hunger emergency, happening in a location that's surrounded by so much food. All the neighboring countries, including Israel, have plentiful food. There are abundant resources and aid infrastructures right on the borders. Tens of thousands of tons of food are ready to go. They could solve this problem tomorrow.” Kitchen also emphasized that due to Israel’s restrictions, the IRC has not been able to get “anything meaningful into Gaza for four months” and has even had its requests to bring in food solely for its local staff rejected. here
· Joint letter from more than 100 international NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, criticizes Israel for weaponizing aid through its restrictive process for registering humanitarian organizations that went into effect in March. The letter states that “despite claims by Israeli authorities that there is no limit on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, most major international NGOs have been unable to deliver a single truck of lifesaving supplies since 3/2.” The letter also describes the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as part of a broader Israeli strategy to “block impartial aid, exclude Palestinian actors, and replace trusted humanitarian organizations with mechanisms that serve political and military objectives.” here
WEST BANK, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM
· In the past week, 1 Palestinian was killed and 31 (6 children) injured.
· 171 West Bank Palestinians have been killed so far in 2025.
· As of August 2025, according to Israel Prison Service data, there are 10,741 Palestinians in Israeli custody, including: 1,459 sentenced, 3,291 remand detainees, 3,613 administrative detainees (held without charge or trial), and 2,378 “unlawful combatants.”
· For more West Bank information: here, here
Israeli attacks
· 8/9, as Israeli forces raided Jericho and fired at Palestinian houses and shops, they shot and killed an Israeli Palestinian. Video footage shows him walking in the street and being shot, after which Israeli forces denied medical teams access for 20 minutes. Palestinian medics finally transported him to a Jericho hospital; transferred from there to a hospital in Israel, where he was pronounced dead. Israeli military claim they fired at a suspect moving in their direction.
Demolitions, displacement & movement restrictions
This week, Israeli authorities demolished 33 Palestinian-owned structures for lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 41 people (18 children) and 240 were affected.
· In East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities demolished 2 structures while Palestinians were forced to demolish 7 others for lacking building permits. So far this year, over 130 structures (80 homes) were demolished in East Jerusalem, displacing 400 people, half of them children. 60% were demolished by owners.
· 8/5, Israeli authorities sealed 7 artesian wells (280-300 meters deep) in Area A of Adh Dhairiya, south of Hebron, the only source of water & income for 2 families who used them for agricultural purposes. The Oslo Agreement stipulates that any water‐related project, including in Areas A and B, needs approval of the Israeli‐Palestinian Joint Water Committee.
· 8/5, Israeli authorities demolished a donor-funded water reservoir in Area C near Al 'Aqaba village (Tubas), used by 2 families for irrigation. They also demolished a donor-funded under-construction school intended to serve 90 Al ‘Aqaba students. 6/24/24, Israeli forces issued a stop-work order and confiscated and held a cement mixer and bulldozer for about a month. 8/2024, the Al ‘Aqaba village council submitted project plans and permit requests, receiving a response that the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) demolition would await a court decision. Nonetheless, the ICA demolished the school a year later.
· Education cluster reports 84 West Bank schools face demolition orders: 10 in East Jerusalem, 74 in Area C. The schools serve 12,855 students (6,557 girls) supported by 1,076 teachers. Schools have also been attacked by settlers, most recently (7/29) in Hebron, near the closed H2 military zone. Settlers connected the sewage pipes of their newly installed mobile houses into the school’s sewage network, and disrupted the school’s landline and internet network. So far this year, settlers attacked 8 schools in Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron and Salfit.
· 8/6, Israeli authorities demolished 14 structures, including a swimming pool, in Area C of Dar Salah village (Bethlehem), purportedly for being along a bypass road, considered a security buffer zone. A new 5-story residential building and water cistern were also demolished.
· 8/7, Israeli authorities punitively exploded 3 residential apartments in a 4-story building in Hebron, rendering the entire building uninhabitable and displacing 3 families (7 people, 1 child). The demolished apartments belonged to the family of a Palestinian detainee accused of a shooting attack in Jaffa on 10/1/24. So far this year, Israeli authorities demolished 27 structures on punitive grounds, displacing 140 people (57 children). This is the highest number of structures demolished/ people displaced of any year since documentation began in 2009.
· Many Palestinian communities across the West Bank are facing extreme water shortages, especially in Hebron and the northern Jordan Valley. 2025 analysis by the WASH Cluster showed that 52 communities face water access obstacles and trips to collect water take on average 1 hour. 73 communities lack a water network and rely on water trucking. Current shortages are due to heatwaves, low rainfall, lack of Israeli permission to build water lines in Palestinian Area C communities, and settler violence. So far this year, Israeli authorities demolished 128 WASH structures in West Bank Area C -- 42 in Hebron, 39 in the Jordan Valley.
· 8/5 August, settlers bulldozed and destroyed the main water connection to Umm al Kheir Bedouin community (Hebron), leaving residents (200 people, 108 children) without access to running water. Community members tried to reconnect, but the settlers repeatedly disconnected the water line, forcing the community to rely on water trucking. Settlers shot and killed a Palestinian man filming their 7/28 attack. Since May and June, a 50% reduction in water supply has affected nearly 800,000 people.
· World Health Organization reports that so far this year, 32% of 43,800 West Bank patient applications to access East Jerusalem and Israeli healthcare services unavailable in the West Bank were denied or remain pending. This drop in approvals leaves thousands of people without treatment options.
Intensification of Settler Attacks and Settlement Activities
Last week, 27 settler attacks caused casualties, property damage, or both, in 24 communities, displacing 18 households (102 people, 65 children), and injuring 10 Palestinians (1 child, 1 elder). 900 fruit trees were vandalized. Settlers are injuring over 100 people monthly, up from 30/ month last year.
· Israeli settlers, accompanied by military, carried out a series of attacks on Ein Ayoub Bedouin community (Ramallah), displacing 18 families (100 people, 60 children). Settlers set fire to a residential caravan, destroying it and all its contents, and threatened to expel the community. Israeli forces raided the community, surrounded residential structures, and ordered residents to leave. They detained residents in 2 tents and interrogated them for 4 hours before ordering them to evacuate the following day. The Ein Ayoub Bedouin community has been in this location for over four decades. Settlers have been building roads near the community’s homes and grazing areas, narrowing access routes and tightening physical control. One week ago, a new outpost was established next to the community, from daily incursions and harassment intensified. The displaced families relocated to nearby villages, many without their belongings. This is the 9th community forcibly displaced in Ramallah this year.
· Armed settlers from an outpost established last year attacked and injured a 65-year-old man from Ar Rakeez herding community, Masafer Yatta (Hebron). He was previously shot by settlers in April, leading to an amputation. Since 2020, OCHA has documented a steadily increasing number of settler-related incidents in Ar Rakeez resulting in casualties or property damage.
· 8/11, soldiers and armed settlers from a newly established outpost attacked a family harvesting their grapes in Halhul village (Hebron), forcing them to leave the area, destroying their harvest, and injuring a 13-year-old child. Israeli soldiers prevented treatment, detaining both parents and 2 children before releasing them; the injured child was later transported by relatives to medical care. In a separate attack, 8/7, settlers from the same outpost broke into Palestinian land and destroyed 80 grapevines.
· In Al Mas'udiya village (Nablus) settlers destroyed 500 almond and olive saplings on 8/10. 8/11, in Deir Sharaf village (Nablus), settlers cut down 100 fruit and olive trees and vandalized an irrigation network.
· In Farkha village (Salfit), 3 separate settler attacks, 8/8 & 9: stole a 100-m fence, 8 poles, and agricultural equipment; grazed their sheep on Palestinian agricultural land; attacked 10 farmers, 3 of whom were later detained by Israeli forces; and vandalized 3 olive trees.
· 8/10, settlers from Elkana attacked Az Zawiya village (Salfit) and burned a barn, destroyed trees and threatened the herder-farmer who uses the land. A week earlier, the same herder and his family were threatened and ordered to leave, forcing them to relocate.
· Israeli settlers attacked an aid convoy for the second time in days, delaying 30 trucks from Jordan on their way to Gaza. Video shows settlers chanting “May Palestine’s name be wiped out”. Jordan condemned the assault, accusing Israel of failing to stop repeated settler attacks. here
· With Arson and Land Grabs, Israeli Settler Attacks in West Bank Hit Record High. Extremists are carrying out one of the most violent campaigns against Palestinian villages since the UN began keeping records. here
ISRAEL
· 8/9, as many as 100,000 people rallied in Tel Aviv to oppose Netanyahu’s plan to escalate the Gaza war. This comes as families of hostages held in Gaza have called for a general strike to oppose Netanyahu’s plan, for the protection of the remaining hostages and IOF soldiers. (Democracy Now 8/11)
· Leaks reveal Netanyahu deliberately imposed starvation in Gaza to 'force Hamas surrender'. Transcripts from Israeli war cabinet meeting show Netanyahu ignored calls from defence officials to advance ceasefire talks. here
· “The reason you see the flattened buildings is because Hamas booby traps every single building,” Netanyahu said. “After we move in…we put in an APC with a lot of explosives. Detonate it. It sets off all the booby traps and the buildings begin to collapse.” The claim—which comes as the Israeli Security Cabinet approved a complete takeover of Gaza City—is directly contradicted by commanders in charge of razing Gaza, who we report below have spoken openly about their destruction and the genocidal intent behind it. here
· Israel's arms and surveillance industries are thriving because of its violence in Gaza, the West Bank and beyond. It is a major selling point. Occupation is big business. The latest available figures, from 2024, show record sales of $14.8bn. Numbers for 2025 are likely to be even higher, fuelled by huge global demand for the arms, drones, surveillance and AI tools that Israel has deployed in Gaza. Genocide is no impediment to Israel promoting itself as the ultimate "battle-tested" entity. Far too many democratic and autocratic states are listening, learning and buying. Big Tech is up to its neck with the Israeli army - looking at you, Microsoft, Amazon and Google, among many others. …
Europe was the biggest purchaser of Israeli arms in 2024, accounting for 54% of total exports. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 pushed many European nations towards Israeli weapons and missile defence systems. This reliance partly explains the European Union's reluctance to even partially cut ties with Israel nearly two years into its onslaught in Gaza. …
The only way to truly stop the Israeli arms juggernaut is for nations to stop buying. Furthermore, as the recently established Hague Group urges, countries must also stop selling weapons to Israel. The defence industry is inherently corrupt and dirty, and many states partake in it. With Israel the eighth-biggest weapons seller in the world and global military spending reaching a record $2.72 trillion in 2024, rejecting militarism and automated killing machines is the least a civilised country can do. here
· Two Israeli human rights practitioners used to have hope that Israel could be reformed, but no longer. "Today it is one solid mass of distilled evil," writes human rights lawyer Michael Sfard. here
Israeli detention
· The family of imprisoned 16-year-old Palestinian American Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim says they spend hours daily searching for news from Israel’s Megiddo prison, where two young men from his block recently died—one from illness and another allegedly beaten to death during questioning. Relatives fear for his safety, citing reports that one detainee “was being questioned, and while he was questioned he was killed.” (Drop Site 8/15)
· Israeli forces arbitrarily detained and tortured a Palestinian child from Gaza for 26 days in a military prison camp in southern Israel. Omar was hung upside down from a rooftop, dropped nearly five stories before being left dangling just inches above the ground, held in stress positions, severely beaten with batons and stun guns, denied food, water, medical care, and sleep, and confined to a cage so small he could not stretch his legs. here
UNITED STATES
· 8/12, US State Department’s 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Israel, West Bank, and Gaza deliberately omits any reference to serious violations of human rights by Israeli forces in Gaza and undermines the value and credibility of the annual report, said DAWN in a statement issued today. “Secretary Rubio has revamped the State Department reports for one principal purpose: to whitewash Israeli crimes, including its horrific genocide and starvation in Gaza. The report shockingly includes not a word about the overwhelming evidence of extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary imprisonment, much less the genocide, mass starvation and deliberate bombardment of civilians in Gaza,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of DAWN. (DAWN 8/12)
· Hundreds of Former Israeli Spies Are Working in US Big Tech, Database Shows, A $25 billion deal is the latest acquisition to strengthen the link between the US tech sector and Israeli intelligence. here
· Mount Sinai Hospital Fired Social Worker Over “Gaza Must Live” Postcard. Hospital employees say the termination is an example of the anti-Palestinian climate at the institution. here
US universities
· More than 115 scholars have condemned the cancellation of an entire issue of a prestigious academic journal dedicated to Palestine by a Harvard University publisher as “censorship.” In an open letter, they condemned the sudden cancellation of a special issue of the Harvard Educational Review – which was first revealed by the Guardian in July – as an “attempt to silence the academic examination of the genocide, starvation and dehumanization of Palestinian people by the state of Israel and its allies. The journal’s publisher acknowledged to editors that it was seeking legal reviews out of concern that the publication would trigger antisemitism claims, according to an editor.
INTERNATIONAL
· Israel has barred international press from Gaza so it can carry out genocide, and the media has complied. Israel's policy of blocking international reporters from entering Gaza is cruel and aims to prevent the world from learning about the unfolding genocide. Tragically, the mainstream press has rarely mentioned the restriction, let alone condemned it. (Mondoweiss 8/11)
· 8/10, In response to the formal request of Minister Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, during the Emergency UN Security Council Meeting on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestine Question, for "an immediate international protection force to save the Palestinian people from certain death," DAWN issues the following statement: "Now that Palestine has formally requested protection forces, the UN General Assembly should move urgently to mandate such a force under a Uniting for Peace resolution," said Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN's executive director. "Israel has made clear for the past two years that no amount of pleading, pressure or negotiation will end its atrocities and deliberate starvation in Gaza; only international peacekeeping forces can achieve that."
· Previous attempts to deliver life-saving humanitarian aid by sea this year were thwarted by Israeli occupation forces. Climate activist Greta Thunberg and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela, are among the activists from over 44 countries who are preparing for the “largest civilian maritime mission to Gaza” to break the siege on Gaza. “We are sailing again to break the siege,” Thunberg said in a video produced by the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) organizers. “And this time we’re sailing with dozens of boats,” Brazilian activist Thiago Avila added. On 8/31 dozens of boats will launch from Spain; on 9/4 dozens more boats will join sailing from Tunisia and other ports. (Palestine Chronicle 8/12)
· Foreign ministers of 25 countries including the UK, Australia, France, Spain and Japan as well as two signatories from the EU have released a joint statement saying that “humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels” and calling for the government of Israel to let in aid shipments and allow essential humanitarian actors to operate in Gaza. Protests and vigils continue worldwide demanding accountability and justice following Israel’s targeted assassination of Al Jazeera journalists outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. In New York, hundreds of protesters gathered outside The New York Times offices decrying what advocates say is the Western media’s complicity with Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and the relentless killing of Palestinian journalists. In Texas, protesters mobilized outside The Dallas Morning News headquarters, demanding U.S. reporters to speak out against Israel’s attacks on the media. Similar actions took place in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., where demonstrators rallied outside the offices of NBC, Fox News, ITN and The Guardian. Protesters gathered in Mexico City Tuesday in solidarity with Gaza journalists. Meanwhile, the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights have filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court al-Sharif’s killers. (Democracy Now 8/13)
· The film “Gaza: Doctors Under Attack,” produced by the award-winning Basement Films team includes harrowing on-camera testimony from Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, who was arrested by the Israeli military 12/2023 and, according to a UN report, “subjected to sexual violence in an Israeli prison prior to his death in Israeli custody.” It also features shocking accounts of torture at the Israeli prison Sde Teiman from an anonymous Israeli doctor there, who accuses his fellow Israeli medics of being complicit in the abuse of Palestinians held in detention.
This was a film that the BBC had originally commissioned. However, after several delays, they decided not to publish it, issuing a statement saying they had “come to the conclusion that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality.” In a response, Basement Films, in a statement posted on Twitter/X, said, “The truth must be told… It’s a damning indictment that it is not possible under the national broadcaster’s current leadership.”
Mehdi Hassan’s platform Zeteo now possesses the film, which can be viewed at the following link: here
· 8/13, a massive banner with the message “Stop Children. Stop Killing Civilians” was displayed on the pitch before the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Super Cup match in Udine, Italy. On 8/6, Palestinian football icon Suleiman al-Obeid was shot and killed by Israeli forces in Gaza while waiting for humanitarian aid alongside other civilians, according to the Palestine Football Association. He is survived by his wife and five children. (Palestine Chronicle 8/14)
· 8/12 Brussels civil servants are locked in an escalating standoff with the European Commission over their right to protest the EU’s stance on Israel. A growing number of staff argue that the bloc’s failure to exert pressure on Israel while it’s accused of committing war crimes in Gaza makes it impossible for them to perform their duties without breaching EU and international law. here
SOURCES
OCHAOPT, JVP Action, Electronic Intifada, Al Jazeera English, Palestine Chronicle, New Yorker, Democracy Now, Mondoweiss, DAWN, Zeteo, Anadolu, Drop Site, Haaretz, Research Square, Medrxiv, Springer, Science Direct, Middle East Eye, Youtube, MSF, Truthout, Drop Site News, Defense of Children International, Zeteo, Nation of Change, The Guardian, The Lancet, Politico