Gaza City: Palestinians flee IDF attacks as Israelis protest occupation plan
The stoppage was demanded by the families of hostages and others who say the expansion of the war puts the lives of Israelis being held by Hamas at greater risk.It comes a week after Israel's war cabinet voted to occupy Gaza City, the territory's largest city, and displace its population, in a move condemned by the UN Security Council."As part of the preparations to move the population from combat zones to the southern Gaza Strip for their protection, the supply of tents and shelter equipment to Gaza will resume," the Israeli military body Cogat said.A spokesperson for the Gaza City municipality said mass displacement was already taking place in Zeitoun after six days of relentless Israeli air strikes, shelling and demolition operations.The Zeitoun neighbourhood is home to about 50,000 people, most of whom have little to no access to food and water, according to the civil defence agency. Ghassan Kashko, 40, who is sheltering with his family at a school building in the neighbourhood, told news agency AFP that air strikes and tank shelling were causing "explosions... that don't stop"."We don't know the taste of sleep," he said.Hamas said in a statement that Israeli forces had been carrying out a "sustained offensive in the eastern and southern neighbourhoods of Gaza City, particularly in Zeitoun".The Israeli government has not provided an exact timetable of when its forces would enter Gaza City. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to want the entire city under Israeli occupation from 7 October.
The municipality spokesperson said that 80% of Gaza City's infrastructure had been damaged over nearly two years of Israeli attacks, while the four remaining hospitals there were operating at less than 20% of their capacity due to severe shortages of medicines and supplies.At least 1.9 million people in Gaza – or about 90 per cent of the population – have been displaced, according to the UN.The international body has indicated there is widespread malnutrition in Gaza, with experts backed by the organisation warning last month in a report that the "worst-case scenario" of famine is playing out in Gaza.On Saturday, Gaza's hospitals reported 11 more deaths from malnutrition, including a child, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition to 251, including 108 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.Meanwhile, a Gazan woman who was evacuated to Italy for treatment while severely emaciated has died in hospital. The 20-year-old, who was identified as Marah Abu Zuhri, flew to Pisa with her mother on an overnight flight on Wednesday under a scheme established by the Italian government.The University Hospital of Pisa said that she suffered a cardiac arrest and died on Friday, less than 48 hours after arriving. The hospital said she had suffered severe loss of weight and muscle, while Italian news agencies reported she was suffering from severe malnutrition.Earlier this week, the UK, EU, Australia, Canada and Japan issued a statement saying "famine is unfolding in front of our eyes" and urged action to "reverse starvation".Last week, more than 100 organisations signed a letter that said they had been unable to to deliver a single truck of humanitarian supplies to Gaza since 2 March.Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of aid it allows into Gaza and continues to insist there is no starvation there. It accuses UN agencies of not picking up aid at the borders and delivering it.The civil defence agency said at least 13 of the Palestinians killed on Saturday were shot by Israeli troops as they waited for food near distribution sites in the territory. The latest figures from the UN, released on Friday, indicate that at least 1,760 Palestinians have been killed seeking food since late May, mostly by Israeli forces.The war was triggered by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage.Israel's offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to figures from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
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The Israeli military says it will begin allowing tents and other shelter equipment into Gaza – ahead of a plan that could see around a million Palestinians forcibly displaced from the north of the Strip. Israeli airstrikes have ramped up in the last week – as the army prepares to seize control of Gaza City on the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At least 37 people were killed in Israeli attacks today, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. Meanwhile, the decision to expand the conflict has sparked large demonstrations within Israel. Today, hundreds of thousands took to the streets as part of a general strike – demanding a deal to end the war and return all remaining hostages.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
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Andy Beckett is right that 'the legally safe space for protest in Britain is shrinking again' (Anger, fear and a total rejection of politics: the Palestine Action protest was a snapshot of Britain today, 11 August). Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, might consider this as she ponders why so many ordinary people, not previously political activists, are volunteering for arrest as terrorist sympathisers. The proscription of Palestine Action sits among egregious violations of international law. People outraged by atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank are dismayed at the continued prevarications of our government. This is one motivation for those seated terrorists. However, there is another – the relentless attack on our civil liberties. This did not begin with Keir Starmer's government, but it has doubled down on suppressing freedoms with renewed zeal. When the Terrorism Act (under which Palestine Action was proscribed) was debated in 1999, it was acknowledged: 'We will have handed the terrorists the victory that they seek if … we descend to their level and undermine the essential freedoms and rule of law that are the bedrock of our democracy.' This was the then home secretary, Jack Straw. He reassured the Commons that the bill was 'not intended to threaten in any way the right to demonstrate peacefully – nor will it do so'. Never would a British government misuse the huge power it was being given. More than 700 arrests for supporting Palestine Action testify to his error. Not-so-ordinary people are risking jail sentences, travel restrictions, asset confiscation and ruined employment prospects. They are outraged at Gaza, but also outraged to see counter-terror legislation pressed into supporting a morally moribund government. Dr David KillickKendal, Cumbria Andy Beckett's account of his sortie into the recent London demonstration in support of Palestine, and reports of the rightwing protest groups gathering outside hotels housing asylum seekers, are both indicators that few people now have a sense that Keir Starmer's Britain reflects their views or priorities. As well as in London, people here in Derbyshire and other towns around the country gathered to express their frustration with our politicians' response to some of their deepest concerns. We have become a country without a shared agreement on what constitutes right or wrong, on what is an acceptable form of dissent, or on what constitutes the real threats to the survival of our democratic freedoms. This government thrashes about desperately trying to make sense of the events happening all around it and making ill-judged knee-jerk responses that provoke even more hostility. It seems unable to articulate a narrative that will help people feel heard, or which can help foster a sense of social cohesion. The UK has become a country devoid of spiritual, moral and political leadership. The threats from without and within are beginning to fray the very fabric that once held everything together. The critical task for this government now is how it is going to heal and unite this fractured, divided country before it heads into yet further chaos and conflict and everything begins to fall RiddleWirksworth, Derbyshire Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
