Source: Mondoweiss.net
As Palestinians prepare for a catastrophic ground invasion of Rafah, the U.S. Senate votes to send an additional $14 billion to Israel. Amnesty International warns Palestinians in southern Gaza are “facing the real and imminent risk of genocide.”
Casualties:
- 28,473+ killed* and at least 68,146 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 380+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
- 569 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.**
*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number at more than 35,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.
** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”
Key Developments:
- Palestinian PM: Israel wants to reshape demographic balance by killing Palestinians.
- Israeli Ministers ban UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories from Israel and occupied Palestinian territories.
- Gaza Ministry of Health: Israeli forces killed 133 Palestinians and injured 162 in 24 hours.
- Hamas: Three more Israeli captives die of wounds from Israeli air raids on Rafah.
- Countries and international organizations express alarm over anticipated Israeli assault on Rafah, where Israeli forces previously told hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to seek shelter.
- After meeting Jordan’s King Abdullah, U.S. President Joe Biden acknowledges Palestinian suffering but says Washington shares Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas.
- Israeli settlers shoot two Palestinians, including child, burn car, and throw Molotov cocktails south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank,
- Palestinian man killed by Israeli soldiers after being shot in chest, shoulders, and head in the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya, according to Palestinian Health Ministry.
- U.S. Senate votes to send additional $14 billion to Israel as America continues bankrolling Israel’s genocidal war despite allegations of Israeli war crimes in Gaza
Panic and apprehension fill Rafah
Peace is a dream for Gaza’s population, who have been living under the constant threat of Israeli attacks for over four months, leaving over 28,000 dead and almost 70,000 wounded.
Rafah, bordering Egypt, is the last key city yet to be raided by Israeli troops. Its population, which has swelled to about 1.4 million as Palestinians have sought refuge there from across Gaza, is panicking as Israeli forces prepare a ground assault.
Amnesty International says Rafah’s population has grown five times the size since October 7, reaffirming the harm Israel’s offensive will cause if they go through with the ground invasion and further escalate the already dire situation.
“Most people in Rafah have already fled other areas of Gaza after being ordered by Israeli authorities to ‘evacuate,’” Amnesty said on X. “Civilians have nowhere to go to escape the bombardment and are facing the real and imminent risk of genocide.”
Israeli forces have already begun intensifying their bombing campaign in the city and its surrounding areas in preparation. …