Urgent Health Update: Consequences of war on Gaza, West Bank/East Jerusalem - August 2, 2025
ACTION ITEMS
1. Call your representatives to demand the immediate opening of all border crossings for unrestricted humanitarian aid, and to stop arming Israel. Click here:
2. Tell the Department of State, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, and your Members of Congress: Free 15-year-old US citizen Mohammed Ibrahim from Israeli detention. Kidnapped from his family’s home near Ramallah, he’s been locked up without trial since February and has lost 22 pounds. Click here:
3. California’s Assembly Bill 715 was introduced on 5/14 and passed the assembly despite deep reservations from teachers, students, school boards, and community members. AB 715 is designed to dismantle pro-Palestinian advocacy and activism, seeking to censor any criticism of Israel and any education about Palestine and Palestinian stories and perspectives. Despite the bill being shelved in July because of overwhelming public opposition, its authors are still trying to revive it. Raise your voice! here
4. Boost your spirits: Watch and share this short video of JVP actions across the country that are rapidly changing public opinion but unfortunately only slowly changing Congressional votes. here
JOURNAL ARTICLES & REPORTS
British Medical Journal: Alex de Waal discusses the urgent need for immediate action to end the forced starvation of Palestinians in Gaza. Describing various historical famines, de Waal notes that “Israel stands out among contemporary cases of wartime starvation in that it is in a position to facilitate near instant humanitarian action, and has chosen not to do so.” He also discusses the long-term consequences of forced starvation, particularly for children, emphasizing that “Starvation is a lifelong sentence for its youngest survivors….Under any formulation of natural justice, they are entitled to reparations from those who inflicted the harm.” here
Lancet: Roberto De Vogli, Jonathan Montomoli, Ghassan Abu-Sittah, and Ilan Pappé condemn the “selective silence on the genocide in Gaza” from professional and academic associations across health care, public health, and the social sciences. They highlight Israel’s use of forced starvation as a weapon of war, the systematic dismantling of Gaza’s health care infrastructure, and the staggering decline in life expectancy among Palestinians in Gaza where more child deaths have been recorded than any other conflict zone in the world. Authors also describe their open letter to professional and academic associations—which has garnered more than 3,300 signatures—to publicly recognize the genocide and revise their official positions accordingly. here
Lancet: Davidi Tawfiles and Mohamed Reyad Zughbur discuss the “invisible health crisis” of the more than 115,000 Palestinians from Gaza who have fled to Egypt. Because the Egyptian Government has not formally granted them refugee status, these individuals often do not have valid residency or work permits and are unable to access health care and medication. The authors emphasize that “Commitment to the health and wellbeing of the Palestinian population until their safe return is possible is essential. Coordinated efforts between international agencies, health organizations, and local authorities in host countries have become a humanitarian and moral necessity to prevent displacement from turning into a long-term health catastrophe.” here
Report by Physicians for Human Rights Israel documents the Israeli assault for what it is: a deliberate, cumulative, and ongoing dismantling of Gaza’s healthcare system - and of the population’s ability to survive. Its meaning: genocide. here
B’Tselem, Israel’s preeminent human rights NGO, has just issued an 88-page report titled Our Genocide.) B’Tselem’s homepage contains this statement: For nearly two years, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza, acting in a systematic, deliberate way to destroy Palestinian society there through mass killing, causing serious bodily and mental harm and creating catastrophic conditions that prevent its continued existence in Gaza. Israel is openly promoting ethnic cleansing and the destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure for individuals and the group, with 2 million people starved, displaced, bombed and left by the world to die. The genocide must be stopped.
New report: Our Genocide (this is a link to the full report) here
Israeli Human Rights Group Says Israel Is Committing Genocide. Why Did It Take 22 Months? There’s a lot B'Tselem gets right in its report, but some other parts deserve closer scrutiny, Diana Buttu writes. here
Integrated food security phase classification: The worst-case scenario of Famine is currently playing out in the Gaza. Conflict and displacement have intensified, and access to food and other essential items and services has plummeted to unprecedented levels. Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths. Latest data indicates that Famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City. Immediate action must be taken to end the hostilities and allow for unimpeded, large-scale, life-saving humanitarian response. This is the only path to stopping further deaths and catastrophic human suffering. here
Israel’s Food Points Are Not Just Death Traps – They’re an Alibi for the Starvation of Gaza. We saw famine in Biafra and Ethiopia. In the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s ‘aid distribution system’ we see an attempt to destroy a whole society. here
VIDEO
His name is Mohammad Al-Motawaq. He is 18 months old. And he is starving in Gaza. here
7/26/25 interview on Aljazeera English, The Listening Post here. The Israeli blockade of aid has caused a hunger crisis in Gaza and is condemning a growing number of its people to death by starvation. Nonetheless, Palestinian journalists are risking their lives to expose what Western media often softens or obscures: the use of starvation as a tool of genocide.
Contributors: Diana Buttu - human rights lawyer
Alice Rothchild - Health Advisory Council, Jewish Voice for Peace
Anas al-Sharif - correspondent,
Al Jazeera Alex de Waal - author, Mass Starvation
Israel’s genocide has entered a new and apocalyptic phase which puts at risk the whole population of Gaza. Barely any aid has been allowed in since March, and now the UN says at least half a million Palestinians will imminently be in IPC Stage 5 malnutrition which means starvation, destitution and death. There is no stage 6. This is an international emergency and nearly all Western countries are complicit. here
United Nations
Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, acknowledged “Israel’s decision for a 1-week scale-up of aid, including lifting customs barriers on food, medicine and fuel from Egypt and the reported designation of secure routes for UN humanitarian convoys… This is progress, but vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis.” UN and humanitarian agencies are prepared to do what is necessary, where this change in policy will not.
“International humanitarian law must be respected. Aid must not be blocked, delayed or come under fire. Hostages must be released, immediately and unconditionally. Ultimately of course we don’t just need a pause – we need a permanent ceasefire.”
Read the complete statement: here
New Gaza Aid Plans
Two days before making the above statement, Fletcher released an update to UN members, “Considerations for the delivery of humanitarian aid during a ceasefire in Gaza,” a comprehensive plan for the scale-up of humanitarian assistance needed to meet the urgent lifesaving needs of the population in Gaza. The document identifies challenges to aid delivery, solutions that must be implemented by Israeli authorities, and the planned response for an initial 30 days, including measurable indicators for implementation. Read the document here:
Medical experts are emphasizing the critical need for long-term medical support—not only food—for people, particularly young children, who are suffering from acute malnutrition. One pediatrician stated “everyone thinks that the solution is to bring in the food and to stuff them, but that's dangerous. You must do it in an orderly way and monitor potassium disorders and kidney function. Children have brain development and growth damage, for example, which are irreversible. If you have a baby on the verge of death, it's not enough to bring him a few boxes of infant formula. He must be hospitalized, where he can be monitored.” here
GAZA
“Gaza is on the brink of famine. The facts are in – and they are undeniable… Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. This is not a warning. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes. The trickle of aid must become an ocean. Food, water, medicine and fuel must flow in waves and without obstruction. This nightmare must end.” -- UN Secretary-General António Guterres, statement 7/29
Israeli forces continue air, land and sea bombardment, expanded ground attacks, and use of famine as a weapon. While no new displacement orders have been issued (88% of Gaza is now “off-limits”), the number IDPs has risen to 767,800. As of 7/30, the Israeli starvation strategy has caused 154 malnutrition deaths (89 children) and killed 1,239 and injured 8,152 people seeking food.
· This week: 640 Palestinians killed, 3,224 injured
· Since Israel broke the ceasefire: 8,970 Palestinians killed, 34,228 injured
· Since 10/07/2023: 60,138+ killed, 146,269+ injured
· Israeli soldiers in Gaza: 454 killed (3 this week), 2,864 injured (43 this week)
· Hostages in Gaza: 50
For more information, here
Famine and starvation indicators
· The FAO, (UN Food and Agriculture Organization), WFP and UNICEF warned that time is running out to mount a full-scale humanitarian response, with more than 500,000 people enduring famine, 1.5 million facing emergency levels of hunger, and <15% of nutrition treatment services functional. As of 7/2025, 320,000 children--the entire population under 5 years old--are at risk of acute malnutrition, with thousands already suffering from severe acute malnutrition. “Gaza is now on the brink of a full-scale famine. People are starving not because food is unavailable, but because access is blocked.”
· For the first time, the UN Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said famine is underway in Gaza. Ross Smith, emergency director of the UN World Food Program: “This is unlike anything we have seen in this century. It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra in the last century. We need urgent action now.” (The Guardian 7/29)
· Professor and expert in famine, Alex de Waal, discusses the intentional starvation of Palestinians in Gaza noting that “all the evidence points us to being at a threshold where this is going to get exponentially worse. Every day that it goes unremedied, it's going to be harder to pull it back.” de Waal also discusses the long-term impacts of this forced starvation explaining that “for a very large number of Gazans, in particular children, they will have the biological imprint of starvation for their lifetimes. In the case of girls, they will hand it on to their children.” here
· 7/1-15, 5,550 children under 5 have been admitted for the treatment of acute malnutrition, of whom 998 were severely malnourished.
· UN Women’s Sima Bahous noted: 1 million “women and girls in Gaza are facing mass starvation, violence and abuse. Malnutrition is soaring and essential services have long collapsed, forcing women and girls to … face the impossible choice of starving to death at their shelters or venturing out in search of food and water at the extreme risk of being killed. Their children are starving to death before their eyes. This is horrific, unconscionable and unacceptable. It is inhumane.”
· 7/28, Medical Aid for Palestinians warned of the deepening emergency, noting that a partner’s Deir al Balah medical point reported severe malnutrition among 44% of pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, in urgent need of treatment. Their medical point, which served 200 malnourished women and children, was shut down by a 7/20 Israeli displacement order. Parents of 2 severely malnourished children told one of their CHWs that “on their luckiest day, they survive on just dry bread and tea.”
· MSF reported 25% of children 6 months to 5 years old and pregnant or breastfeeding women were malnourished. In Gaza City, treatment for malnutrition quadrupled since 5/18; severe malnutrition rates for children <5 tripled in the last 2 weeks. “We are now enrolling 25 new patients every single day [to receive] malnutrition [treatment]. We see the exhaustion and the hunger in our own colleagues.” MSF also recently treated 122 people with gunshot wounds who had been fired on while waiting for flour. 46 more people were dead on arrival.
· Save the Children reported numbers of children <5 with acute malnutrition surged 10-fold in 4 months. 43% of P&B women were found to be malnourished in July, compared to 16% in March.
· The road to famine in Gaza: For decades Israel has damaged the capacity of the Gaza Strip’s capacity to produce its own foodstuffs, decreasing its access to foodstuffs and drinkable water. (NY Review of Books 7/27)
· “Food Has Become a Memory”: My Hunger Diary in Gaza, A 21-year-old writer living in Gaza documents her daily life under the U.S.–Israeli program of mass starvation. here
· No Meals, Fainting Nurses, Dwindling Baby Formula: Starvation Haunts Gaza Hospitals. After Israeli restrictions on aid, hunger has risen across Gaza. Doctors and nurses, struggling to find food themselves, lack the resources to stem the surge. here
Responses to famine
· Israeli military announced 7/27 “a local tactical pause in military activity will take place for humanitarian purposes from 10:00 to 20:00” in Al Mawasi, Deir al Balah and Gaza City “to increase the scale of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.” Announced steps include multiple daily airdrops of 7 pallets of flour, sugar and canned food, reconnecting electricity to the southern Gaza desalination plant, lifting customs barriers on food, medicine and fuel from Egypt, and the designation of secure routes for UN humanitarian convoys.
· Israel Says It Has Paused Some Military Activity in Gaza as Anger Grows Over Hunger. Operations in parts of the enclave were put on hold to allow more aid. It was unclear if the move would relieve the hunger crisis, amid rising deaths from starvation. here
· The WFP called for immediate action, noting that tactical pauses are welcome, but the volume of humanitarian assistance remains insufficient, including food, nutrition and health supplies, water and sanitation support.
· Israel's humanitarian pause in Gaza is a deadly lie. here
· 43 killed in Gaza despite Israel announcement of ‘pauses’ in fighting. here
· Gaza air drops 'a grotesque distraction', aid agencies warn. here
· The Protection Cluster welcomed the establishment of humanitarian corridors and tactical pauses, but noted that airdrops can harm civilians (airdropped aid the night of 7/27 landed on tents, injuring people, and on damaged buildings still uncleared of explosive ordnance). Airdrops “result in inequitable distribution and exclusion of vulnerable groups most in need…include high risk of diversion, undermine humanitarian principles, compromise dignity of the affected population, are insufficient in scale to meet the extensive needs inside Gaza, and risk deflecting from legal obligations of Israel to facilitate meaningful humanitarian access.”
· Joe English, emergency communications specialist for UNICEF, explained that while UNICEF can treat malnutrition, children who are malnourished require a course of treatments over an extended period of time in order to fully recover, something only truly possible with a cease-fire, which would allow the U.N. to reestablish the 400 aid distribution points it had set up across Gaza before the last cease-fire ended in March. (Common Dreams 7/28)
· 7/23-29, of 92 aid movements coordinated with Israeli authorities, 16% were denied, 26% were impeded, 47% were facilitated, and 11% were withdrawn.
· Leaked video footage of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distributions illustrates the cruelty, dehumanization, and danger that Palestinians face when simply trying to feed their families. GHF staff person who took the videos described his experiences: "When I was there, I called it the Gaza Olympics because when the IDF released the secure line, the security hold for the people to come to the site, it's just a giant rush and the survival of the fittest, the people that get there first to get the aid. And most of the time, women and children get nothing." here
· In a series of interviews, former GHF employee and Green Beret Anthony Aguilar alleged that he saw Israeli soldiers use “indiscriminate” force consistent with war crimes. here, here, here
· Human Rights Watch: Gaza: Israeli Killings of Palestinians Seeking Food Are War Crimes, Abandon US-Backed ‘Death Trap’ Scheme, Press Israel to End Mass Starvation here
Israeli attacks
· 7/23-27, 2 journalists were among 25 killed (8 children) and others injured in attacks on residential buildings, schools, and IDP tents in and around Gaza City.
· 7/26-29, 55 (7 children) killed and 25 injured in attacks on IDP tents and buildings in Khan Younis.
· 7/27, first day of the supposed pause, Israeli attacks killed a total of 62 people, Al Jazeera reported, including 34 who were seeking humanitarian relief. Another six people died of hunger, bringing the total death toll from starvation and malnutrition to 133, including 87 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. (Common Dreams 7/28)
· During the night of 7/28-29, 29 killed (12 children and 2 pregnant women) in residential buildings in the New Camp, Deir al Balah.
· Casualties among people trying to access food include: 14 shot and killed at the militarized distribution point in SW Khan Younis, 7/24; 2 shot and killed, 17 wounded (taken to the Red Cross Field Hospital) at the militarized distribution point for women only in Rafah, 7/25; 20 shot and killed and 300+ injured while awaiting an aid convoy near the Zikim crossing, 7/25; 28 shot and killed and hundreds injured while awaiting 3 aid convoys in North Gaza, 7/26, 28 & 29; 40 shot and killed while awaiting 2 aid convoys in Khan Younis, 7/26 & 28; 7 shot and killed, 22 wounded (taken to Al Awda hospital) at the militarized distribution point near Wadi Gaza, 7/29.
· 8/1, Palestinian officials in Gaza reported at least 17 Palestinians killed that day, including 7 people seeking aid at a distribution center south of Khan Younis. The attacks came as at least two more Palestinians died of starvation over the past 24 hours. (Democracy Now 8/1)
· More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid at militarized aid distribution sites run by U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. (Democracy Now 7/29)
Health Care
· Palestinian medical organization reports that Israeli forces are increasingly abducting doctors across Gaza, with some 28 Palestinian doctors now detained in Israeli prisons. Among them is Dr. Marwan al-Hams, head of Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital. He was last seen 10 days ago when an Israel undercover unit seized him in a field hospital of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Rafah. (Democracy Now 7/31)
Water & Sanitation
· 7/26, Israel reconnected the Southern Gaza Desalination Plant to the electricity grid, boosting the production of safe drinking water. This could potentially serve 1 million people with drinking water, but that is dependent on fuel and spare parts availability for water trucks, the re-establishment and operation of water stations and distribution points.
· WASH Cluster survey found 96% of households experienced moderate to high levels of water insecurity in early July, up from 93% in June. Hygiene access is similarly deteriorating, with 40% of households lacking soap and 97% reporting barriers to accessing hygiene items due to cost and distribution. 50% reported worsened access to toilets, with 75% reporting cleanliness and functionality as access barriers.
WEST BANK, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM
· In the past week, 9 Palestinians (5 children) were killed and 17 (6 children) injured.
· 168 West Bank Palestinians have been killed so far in 2025.
For more West Bank information: here
Israeli attacks
· 7/22 & 23, Israeli forces shot and killed a 15-year-old boy and injured another during a raid in Qabatiya, and killed a 14-year-old in Arraba (both in Jenin). On both occasions, Israeli forces shot at children throwing stones. In Qabatiya, they obstructed ambulance access.
· 7/24, Israeli forces shot, killed and withheld the bodies of 2 boys (aged 15 and 17) in Al Khadr village (Bethlehem). The Israeli military claimed the boys were throwing Molotov cocktails at a main road. Israeli forces prevented an ambulance from approaching.
· 7/25, Israeli forces shot, killed and withheld the body of a man near Shim’a settlement (Hebron), who they said was attempting a stabbing attack.
· 7/25, an Israeli security guard shot, killed, and withheld the body of a man near Migdal Oz settlement (Bethlehem). Military claimed he was throwing stones at the settlement’s gate.
· 7/28, Israeli forces shot, killed and withheld the body of a man outside Hebron city. Israeli military claimed he threw a brick at them. Soldiers prevented medics from providing 1st aid.
· 7/30, UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) statement denouncing “a pattern of the use of unnecessary and disproportionate force that resulted in the unlawful killing and injury of Palestinians" and warning of escalating settler violence “with the acquiescence, support, and in some cases participation” of Israeli forces. “State policy and legislative actions appear aimed at emptying certain areas of the West Bank of the Palestinian population, advancing the settlement enterprise, and consolidating the annexation.”
· Uprooted doors, broken cupboards, overturned shelves with their contents scattered across the floor, filthy toilets, broken cisterns, heaps of clothing and mattresses in disarray, and blankets smeared with feces – scenes that greeted the Amouri family when they returned to their home in Balata, the largest refugee camp in the West Bank. They had been forced to leave after Israeli soldiers turned their house into a temporary base. Their house was not the only one. In the last 2 weeks of June, during Israel's war with Iran, the military occupied over 250 homes and apartments in refugee camps, villages, and some urban neighborhoods throughout the West Bank. At least 1,350 residents reside in these homes. Most were evicted – usually in the middle of the night. Military remained in the homes for a few hours to 11 days. here
Demolitions, displacement & movement restrictions
This week, Israeli authorities demolished 41 Palestinian-owned structures for lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 58 people (20 children) and affecting the livelihoods of 69+ people.
· 7/23, 20 herding families’ structures outside Al Mughayyir village (Ramallah) were demolished, displacing 5 households (22 people, 10 children). Most of the displaced families had previously been displaced from Ras al Tin Bedouin community in 2023 after multiple settler attacks. Furniture, personal belongings, fodder, and water tanks were also damaged.
· 7/24, also in Area C, Israeli authorities demolished 11 structures in 2 herding communities in the northern Jordan Valley (Tubas), displacing 1 household and affecting 3 others. In Ein al Hilwa herding community, 7 structures were demolished, displacing 1 household (5 people, 3 children) and affecting an elderly woman with a disability. In Ein al Beida village, 4 structures were demolished, affecting 3 households (12 people, 3 children).
· So far in 2025, there has been a sharp increase in demolitions and displacement across Area C: 840 structures destroyed (compared to 581 the previous year), resulting in 807 people displaced (546 the previous year). In 2023, 414 structures were demolished, displacing 308 people.
· East Jerusalem, 3 homes were demolished due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 8 households (31 people, 10 children). The families had received demolition orders years ago and appointed legal representation, but Israeli courts consistently rejected their petitions and imposed cumulative fines; the impossibility of justice leads East Jerusalem families to demolish their own homes to avoid further fines. So far this year, 118 East Jerusalem structures were demolished for lacking permits, displacing 355 (178 children), 63% demolished by their owners. This is a displacement of 51 people monthly since January 2023, up from 29/month between 2019-2022, and 15/month between 2009-2018.
Intensification of Settler Attacks and Settlement Activities
Last week, 24 settler attacks caused casualties, property damage, or both, displacing 17 households (101 people, 53 children) and killing 1 and injuring 7 Palestinians (2 children). 180 fruit and olive trees, 11 vehicles, 20 homes, and 19 animal shelters were vandalized.
· 7/28, settlers from Carmel settlement began bulldozing the Umm al Kheir (Hebron) community’s land, destroying fences and olive trees. As residents gathered around the bulldozer, the settler Yinon Levi, previously sanctioned by the US and EU, shot and killed Awdah Hathaleen (documentary filmmaker of No Other Land) and injured another with the bulldozer. Israeli media quoted Levi saying the residents were throwing stones. Israeli forces arrived and detained 3 Palestinians, 2 foreign nationals, and the murderer; they are withholding Hathaleen’s body unless his family commits to not holding a funeral. 7/29, Israeli forces declared a “closed military zone” and detained 9 Palestinians and 2 foreign nationals who had set up a tent for mourning. Despite video evidence of his culpability, Levi was released. This murder is the 16th documented incident in Umm al Kheir resulting in casualties or damage since 2020.
· 7/29 Israeli Settler Arrested Over Killing of Palestinian Activist in West Bank. Awdah Hathaleen.The suspect had been subject to US sanctions, but President Trump lifted them. [ed: he has since been released] here
· Israeli authorities had not yet released the body of Adwah Hathaleen, 31-year old Palestinian human rights activist, teacher, and father of three, four days after he was killed by an Israeli settler in the village of Umm al-Kheir. More than 70 local women ranging from teenagers to the elderly launched an open-ended hunger strike until his body is returned by Israeli police and as a protest against the detention of several residents of the village, including Hathaleen’s brothers and cousins. (Drop Site 8/1)
· Barriyyet Kisan (Bethlehem): settler attacks have forcibly displaced 17 families (101 people, 53 children) and damaged or destroyed 17 residential and 17 animal shelters. 7/23, armed settlers from a nearby outpost raided the Deir Alla area, took over an uninhabited Palestinian house, and established a new outpost. They have repeatedly harassed and intimidated residents. 7/24, they destroyed the community’s water network and blocked an access road, leaving 17 families without access to water or basic services. Settlers threatened to burn the entire area unless residents left, which they did, with their livestock. Settlers then destroyed the community structures, personal belongings and shelters.
· 7/24, armed settlers injured 6 Palestinians (2 children and an elderly woman) and damaged property in 3 Masafer Yatta communities (Hebron). They cut a fence, threw stones, and assaulted and injured a 75-year-old Palestinian woman. When she tried to flee, they pursued and beat her. They also damaged her home’s windows and doors, stole belongings, and destroyed 2 solar lamps and 2 solar water heaters. The next day, accompanied by Israeli forces, they attacked residents with stones and sticks, injuring 3, including the Head of the Village Council and a mother and her son, damaged 3 homes, destroyed 3 water tanks, and stole 12 sheep. The following day, armed settlers stopped a Palestinian man and his 14-year-old son driving home at night, forced them out of their vehicle, assaulted and injured them, and damaged belongings.
· Khirbet Ibziq herding community (Tubas): settlers damaged the infrastructure and resources of 10 families. The near-daily settler harassment includes breaking into storage structures, theft of animal feed, and destruction of the community’s main water supply pipe. The settlers made an earthmound to block the road connecting them with Tubas, leaving them without access to water and basic services.
· 7/24, also in Tubas, settlers destroyed 12 solar panels In Hammamat al Maleh – Al Meiteh herding community, where families were displaced the previous week by repeated settler violence. This follows a 7/17 attack of assaults, livestock theft, and property damage, which displaced of 2 families (10 people, 5 children).
· 7/28, settlers from a new outpost raided At Tayba village (Ramallah) and set fire to 2 vehicles and vandalized a home. This incident follows a series of settler attacks earlier in July involving arson, vandalism, and damage to agricultural and communal property.
Northern West Bank Operations
· 7/27, Israeli authorities declared an area adjacent to Nur Shams Camp a “closed military zone” until 10/31/2025. The area contains no buildings, but people used it to observe the camp (their homes) from a distance. The order prohibits Palestinian entry without a special permit.
· 7/28, Israeli forces informed the Palestinian DCL that several displaced families from a neighborhood near the SE edge of Nur Shams Camp would be allowed to return to their homes. 15 families returned on 7/29 but were forced out on 7/30 after Israeli forces fired on them.
· 7/26, Israeli forces searched homes in Jenin for 3 hours, driving 8 Palestinian families from their homes. After the military withdrew, they returned.
· Municipal infrastructure rehabilitation and paving continues in Jenin city; no work has been allowed within or in the vicinity of the refugee camp.
· Six months since Israel’s expanded assault on the refugee camps of Jenin and Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, over 42,000 Palestinian refugees remain forcibly displaced and have no stable access to food, water, or shelter. here
· Water shortages are helping push the West Bank into severe water shortages and contributing to the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967. (The Intercept 7/31)
ISRAEL
· Israel is brutally detaining Gaza hospital director Dr. Abu Hussam Safiya as a ‘bargaining chip,’ says his lawyer. Held without charges for seven months, he has been beaten, starved, isolated, and cut off from his family. His freedom is nowhere in sight. Kamal Adwan hospital was not just a workplace for Dr. Abu Safiya, but a vital lifeline for an entire population under siege. Its closure marked the final blow to the medical system in Gaza’s northern districts. (+972 Magazine 7/27)
· Israeli forces intercepted the Gaza Aid Flotilla ship Handala just before midnight on 7/26 and took the 20 passengers captive. The humanitarians and journalists on board, including Amazon union founder Christian Smalls, French-Swiss politician and European Parliament member Emma Fourreau, and Jewish-American actor Jacob Berger sought to deliver aid to Gaza after two other recent efforts were stopped by Israeli attacks. (Zeteo 7/26)
· US labor activist Chris Smalls has been released from jail after being assaulted, kicked, choked, and abducted by Israeli forces as part of a Gaza aid ship. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said Smalls had been abducted by seven uniformed Israeli soldiers. (Mondoweiss 8/1, AAUP 8/1)
· Israeli authorities arrested one of the most senior journalists in Palestine, Nasser Laham, editor-in-chief of Ma’an News Agency. He was held for nine days on suspicion of “assisting a terrorist organization through media,” then quietly released without charge. (+972 7/20)
· Israel closes 88% of cases of alleged war crimes or abuse without charges. here
· Since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, the Israeli government has repeatedly acted against experts who warned of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, including mass starvation, in Gaza. 12/2023, a UN panel warned that one-quarter of Gaza’s population was already struggling to access food and clean water, and by 2/2024, UNICEF reported that 90% of children in Gaza lacked food. Despite these warnings, the Israeli government blocked the entry of all goods and supplies into Gaza for 78 days and then outsourced food distribution to the disastrous US-funded Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. here
· Israeli outlet Haaretz reported that Netanyahu is expected to propose a plan to his cabinet soon. The plan would entail giving Hamas a few days to accept a ceasefire deal — likely one designed for Hamas to reject, given Netanyahu’s history — and beginning annexation if Hamas rejects the deal. The Israeli military would first annex parts of the “buffer zone,” an area spanning all of Gaza’s border created by the military amid its genocide. The zone encompasses over half of Gaza’s land area, and Israeli forces have bulldozed everything inside it, including homes, schools, farming sites, and more. Israeli sources say the plan has already been presented to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and has the approval of the White House. here
· Latest instance of New York Times bias in covering Israel’s war on Gaza, parroting Israeli propaganda. NYT: Israel isn’t starving healthy children to death. Just the ones with preexisting conditions. – here
· How the Israeli right explains the aid disaster it created. The fiercest defenders of Netanyahu's war in Gaza continue to insist that Palestinians aren't starving. here
· ‘Revenge Is Not a Policy’: Israelis Voice Dissent Against the War in Gaza. After a long silence, prominent Israelis and activists are increasingly raising alarms about potential war crimes being carried out by the government. A survey conducted in May by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University found that 64.5% of the Israeli public was not at all, or not very, concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Those numbers are starting to slowly change. here
· Antiwar Israelis held a protest outside a military recruitment center in Ramat Gann in support of two 18-year-old draft resisters who announced they would refuse to enlist in Israel’s army. Ayanna Gerstmann was sentenced to 30 days in a military prison and Yuval Peleg received a 20-day sentence. (Democracy Now 8/1)
· Palestinian citizens of Israel have held daily protests banging pots and pans to protest Israel’s starvation campaign in Gaza. (Democracy Now 8/1)
· Thirty-one prominent Israelis have signed a letter expressing “grave shame, rage, and agony” and asking the international community to impose crippling sanctions on Israel until it ends its brutal campaign of starvation and removal and implements a permanent ceasefire. (Portside 8/1)
· Heads of five leading Israeli universities sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to instruct the Israeli military to act—regardless of Hamas—to address the “horrific hunger spreading through Gaza,” which they said is severely impacting innocent civilians, including children. here
US
· Dr. Asfia Kaddir is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist (CAP) in Minnesota who trains providers in trauma-informed care of Palestinian and other patients experiencing complex trauma. After a well-received training webinar she presented, she was accused of anti-semitism by her local Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and her employer apologized and denounced her presentation. The JCRC also advocated against a ceasefire. (Mondoweiss 7/26)
· Writers Against the War on Gaza recently released a “dossier” listing high-ranking editors, journalists, and executive officers at the New York Times who the group alleges have “material and ideological ties to occupation and apartheid.” (Mondoweiss 7/28)
· Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) endorses the petition from Psychologists for Justice in Palestine (PJP) calling on the APA to revise or replace its 2007 Resolution on Anti-Semitic and Anti-Jewish Prejudice. That 2007 resolution follows the IHRA “working definition” of antisemitism that, by design, wrongly and harmfully fosters and supports the branding of criticisms of Israel and Zionism as antisemitism; this in turn grants impunity to the Israeli state for its daily oppression of Palestinians, including–at this moment–the ongoing genocide in Gaza. here
· New York Times repeated Israeli claims of Hamas stealing aid without evidence. Israel’s main justification for its deadly blockade on Gaza was built on a lie repeated by the NYT for months before its own sources contradicted the falsehood. (The Intercept 7/31)
· As the world watches Gaza starve, Republicans in Congress quietly approved a new ban on UNRWA, a UN agency that distributes food to Palestinians. Last week the GOP-dominated House Appropriations Committee voted to bar financial support to UNRWA, long the main hub of food distribution in Gaza. (The Intercept 7/31)
· Twenty-six Democrats joined Bernie Sanders in his effort to end certain weapons sales to Israel - but were blocked by 70 pro-war senators, including every Republican present. For the first time, the majority of Democratic Senators bucked AIPAC. (Zeteo 8/1)
· At a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, the US is building infrastructure to accommodate the Israel Air Force's new refueling aircraft and helicopters, as well as a new headquarters for the Israeli army's Shayetet 13 naval commando unit, and numerous other projects costing billions of shekels, according to official documents from the US Army Corps of Engineers published online. All these projects are funded by US military aid to Israel. here
· “It was evident to me, in my firsthand experience, that what I was seeing was malnourishment in my patients,” Dr. Ambereen Sleemi, a urogynecologist and the director of the International Medical Response Foundation based in New York. “We also saw it in our hospital staff. …Everybody would sit and talk about how hungry they were.” (Democracy Now. 8/1)
· The Farce of Ceasefire: How the US and Israel Are Starving Gaza While Negotiating in Bad Faith. Gaza is now a landscape of engineered famine, daily killings—ranging from 50 to 100 Palestinians—and systematic forced displacement, as the Israeli military orders civilians to move from one devastated area to another within the besieged Strip. The collapse of ceasefire negotiations in Doha should come as no surprise. When the principal parties at the table—the US and Israel—are also the principal architects of the very suffering they claim to resolve, diplomacy becomes little more than political theatre. Gaza has laid bare the moral bankruptcy of regional regimes that for years stoked sectarian divisions only to fall silent as their Sunni brethren are slaughtered in broad daylight. here
· 'Stop Starving Gaza': 50 Arrested for Jewish-Led Protest at Schumer and Gillibrand's Offices, here
US Universities
· A federal appeals court has rejected the Trump administrations’s bid to rearrest Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil while the government appeals his release on bail. (Democracy Now 7/31)
· Not content to torment the Ivy League, Republicans are seeking authoritarian control over working-class public universities like the City University of New York. The latest salvo: allegedly firing four adjuncts for their support of Palestine. (Jacobin)
· 3/2024, Documenting Jew Hatred on Campus (DJHC) emerged on Instagram and X as another node in a network of organizations decrying pro-Palestine faculty and students at Columbia University. The group slowly grew to focus on what it called other “participating schools”—such as CUNY, which it called a “hotbed of antisemitism.” Like its fellow Zionist doxxing outfits Betar and Canary Mission, its preferred solution was student deportation. here
· A prominent Columbia genocide scholar, Marianne Hirsch, says she may leave over university’s new definition of antisemitism. here
· Harvard Is Said to Be Open to Spending Up to $500 Million to Resolve Trump Dispute. The sum sought by the government is more than twice as much as the $200 million fine that Columbia University said it would pay when it settled its clash with the White House last week. here
INTERNATIONAL
· Who Says Israel Is Committing a Genocide in Gaza? Everyone on This List. After almost two years, more and more politicians, experts, and human rights groups are finally using the G-word to describe Israel's violence in Gaza, but the list is still relatively short. here
· Anger Over Starvation in Gaza Leaves Israel Increasingly Isolated. Global outrage at the Netanyahu government’s actions has grown since the war began, and the suffering of children in the enclave has accelerated the disdain. here
· Thousands of Palestinian evacuees are living in limbo on Cairo’s peripheries, neither able to return to Gaza nor allowed to build lives in Egypt. here
SOURCES
OCHAOPT, +972, Mondoweiss, Zeteo, NY Review of Books. Palestine Chronicle, Common Dreams, The Guardian, Democracy Now, The Intercept, Drop Site News, AAUP, Jacobin, Portside, JVP, Palestine News Network, EJ Magnier, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, Jewish Currents, BBC, New Arab, Human Rights Watch