Here are the latest updates on the ongoing escalation in violence in Gaza as the Israeli bombardment of the strip enters its second week.

• Israel’s air force launched its heaviest bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Monday morning, destroying a factory and government buildings, according to local news agencies.
• Gaza’s electricity board confirmed on Facebook that Monday’s air strikes destroyed the strip’s power lines and left parts of the besieged territory without any power.
• Israel said its bombs were targeting underground tunnels used by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups.
• Gaza’s health ministry on Sunday said that Israeli air strikes had killed at least 197 Palestinians, including 58 children and 34 women.
• Ten people have been killed in Israel, Israeli medical officials said.
• The US blocked a UN Security Council statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for the third time this week after a meeting with the international body on Sunday.

“Today [Saturday, May 15th], as the Palestinian people commemorate the Nakba day, Palestinians continue to raise their voices against Israel’s settler-colonial and apartheid regime…As we commemorate the 73^rd anniversary of the Nakba, every Palestinian remains at risk of forcible transfer…Still, the international community has failed, over the last 73 years, to command respect for United Nations Resolution 194, Palestinian refugees’ right of return, property restitution and compensation. While repression has attained an unprecedented level, the international community cannot remain silent and continue to provide legitimacy and impunity to Israel’s apartheid regime.”

“Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel have declared a general strike for Tuesday to protest Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which has killed almost 200 people, including 58 children, since last Monday. Shops, factories, schools and offices in the occupied East Jerusalem will close as local unions called on global supporters to take to the streets in protest of Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip and Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Fatah issued a statement on Monday backing the strike action, adding that “the Palestinian people are fighting a fateful battle that requires unprecedented unity among all internal factions, so we can unite against the enemy”.”

“Israeli air strikes hammered the Gaza Strip pre-dawn Monday, after a week of violence between the Jewish state and Islamist militants left more than 200 people dead as international calls for de-escalation went unheeded. Overnight Sunday to Monday, Israel launched dozens of strikes in the space of a few minutes across the crowded coastal Palestinian enclave controlled by Islamist group Hamas, according to AFP journalists at the scene. The strikes caused widespread power cuts and damaged hundreds of buildings, local authorities said. No casualties were immediately reported. ”

More on Israel’s Aerial Bombardment of Gaza

• “Israel air strikes kill 42 Palestinians, rockets fired from Gaza” (Reuters)
• “Israeli air raid flattens Gaza building housing Al Jazeera” (Al Jazeera)
• “Israel strikes Gaza home of Hamas leader, destroys AP office” (AP)”Israeli strikes hit Gaza tunnels as diplomats work for truce” (Washington Post)
• “‘Huge loss’: Experienced Gaza doctors killed in Israeli attacks” (Al Jazeera)

More on Hamas Rockets Aimed at Israel

• “3 lightly hurt as rocket hits Ashdod” (The Times of Israel)
• “Hamas attempting to hit Tamar offshore gas rig with rockets” (The Times of Israel)
• “Southern communities pounded by Gaza rockets; PM: Fighting will take more time” (The Times if Israel)

“The Israel Defense Forces believes it has achieved its major goals in this round of fighting against the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups as of Sunday, indicating Jerusalem may soon accept a ceasefire offer, The Times of Israel has learned.”

“Doctors and medical staff have been among the many killed in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza over the past week. A number of international rights organisations and doctors on the ground have called for a halt in the bombardment of Gaza, particularly near hospitals and medical facilities. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, two doctors have been killed as a result of the air strikes which have targeted Gaza over the past week. Doctor Ayman Abu al-Auf and Doctor Moean Alalol were among the casualties. In a statement, the Ministry of Health commemorated the work of the doctors and called for the protection of civilians and medical staff…Doctor Yusuf Abu al-Reesh, the secretary of Gaza’s Ministry of Health, said that days of aggression have resulted in the death of 197 people, including 58 children and 34 women.”

Voices & Stories from Gaza Under Attack

• “Here in Gaza, people are sending farewell messages to their loved ones” (+972 Magazine)
• “Gaza under fire, testimonies from under the shelling (Al-Monitor)
• “You are completely helpless in the face of your child’s terror’” (+972 Magazine)
• “Four Palestinians killed, others wounded Israeli airstrikes on Gaza” (WAFA)
• “Six-year-old girl trapped 7 hours under debris was pulled alive in Gaza” (Anadolu Agency)
• “The roar of an Israeli airstrike, buildings collapsed and a family buried under rubble” (New York Times)
• “‘No safe place’: Associated Press reporter describes Gaza office attack” (The Guardian)
• “Ten Family Members Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Gaza” (Haaretz)
• “The young victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” (CNN)
• “Gaza girl survives Israeli strike that shattered her family and home” (Reuters)

“Around 34,000 Palestinians have sought refuge in 40 UNRWA-run schools across the Gaza Strip amid Israeli attacks on the seaside territory, the UN refugee agency UNRWA said on Monday. Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s Commissioner General, said that 34,000 Palestinians have fled to UNRWA schools “with limited access to water, no food or health care.” “Nowhere to flee in Gaza. Before the relentless bombing had been unleashed the choice was between COVID & hunger. That was bleak enough,” Lazzarini said on Twitter. “Living through the night is what most parents are hoping for,” he said, going on to call for providing support to UNRWA “to help displaced and affected” Palestinians.”

“Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture Ministry said on Sunday that the losses of the agriculture sector due to the ongoing Israeli offensive on Gaza reached $17 million. In a statement, the ministry said that the losses are increasing day by day due to the retention of the Israeli offensive, which is likely targeting hundreds of dunams of farmlands intentionally. The ministry also noted that the Israeli strikes directly targeted tens of agriculture facilities and storehouses for agricultural inputs.”

“The humanitarian conditions which prevail in the Gaza Strip are deteriorating due to attacks perpetrated by Israeli forces since Monday, 10 May 2021, in which civilians and public and private properties are being targeted. As a result, electricity networks supplying private homes, businesses and health and other public institutions have been damaged. Israel continues to implement a policy of collective punishment on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip which exceeds two million…On a related note, the Israeli authorities closed the Kerem Shalom crossing, the only crossing through which goods and commodities can enter the Gaza Strip from Israel, including fuel for the international power station. Available information indicates that fuel supplies are about to run out; the internal plant is likely to stop operating in the coming hours unless fuel supplies to the Strip are re-instated. Furthermore, commercially-sourced electrical generators that are used by private homes, businesses and services, such as hospitals, have been affected by the closure of the crossing and the lack of fuel needed to operate them, which has led to a decrease in their working hours and consequently a decrease in the supplemental electricity that they can provide. Not all citizens are able to afford to buy such generators (and the fuel needed to run them) in any event due to the high rates of poverty and unemployment in the Strip. The closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing and the consequent lack of fuel have a severe effect on the functioning of generators and this affects all aspects of life, including hospitals and clinics, which were already under great pressure from the Covid-19 pandemic prior to the commencement of the current attacks. Water treatment facilities have also been affected. The power shortages deprive residents of the Gaza Strip of adequate water supplies. Further, due to the fact that elevators in multi-story buildings cannot work during power cuts some vulnerable people, including the disabled and elderly, are unable to make essential trips to hospitals or leave for other emergency reasons, including fleeing buildings under attack. The ongoing crisis of power cuts and fuel shortages threatens to jeopardize waste water treatment services, as well as the transportation of food and supplies. Food in shops is in danger of being spoiled if refrigerators cannot function.”

“The Israeli airstrikes are targeting one of the most densely populated places in the world, already gripped by a humanitarian crisis caused, in part, by 14 years of Israeli blockade imposed on its roughly two million residents. Most of Gaza’s residents live in abject poverty and inhuman conditions. The crisis has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to rage in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank while Israel refuses to provide residents with vaccines. Gaza’s besieged civilians have nowhere to run to hide from the strikes. Tens of thousands of families cannot protect themselves. Israel repeatedly boasts that it takes care to safeguard civilians’ lives and claims all its actions are lawful. For instance, regarding the bombing of residential high-rises, Israel has claimed they were empty as it had warned the occupants prior to the strike. This claim ignores the fact that the buildings in question cannot be considered legitimate military targets, both because they are inhabited by civilians and because their destruction provides Israel with no military advantage. Targeting civilian objects is prohibited and constitutes a war crime.”

“Protesters also carried the bodies of 11 Palestinians who were killed on Friday in the West Bank in an intense crackdown from Israeli forces. Later on Saturday, the Israeli military fatally shot a Palestinian near al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said. Many villages in the West Bank have declared a state of mourning, with shops closing to honour the victims of the attacks.  Under the slogan “Friday of Anger,” protesters expressed their fury at the use of violence against Palestinians.  According to a local journalist, Sami Shami, attendees refused to start the funerals with the typical military parade that the Palestinian Authority usually performs, out of anger at the security coordination role the authority plays with Israeli authorities. ”

More on Palestinian Protests & Israel’s Violent Response

• “Gantz warns West Bank Palestinians against increased violence” (Ynet)
• “Mother, three children among eight Palestinians detained from West Bank” (WAFA)
• “Hundreds suffocate as Israeli forces crackdown on West Bank rallies” (WAFA)
• “West Bank rises up to face occupation, two martyrs and dozens wounded by live ammunition” (MEMO)

“Israeli paramedics said that at least two worshipers had been killed and at least 213 were injured in a bleacher collapse incident at a synagogue in the West Bank Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev on Sunday. The prayer gathering was held to mark the beginning of the Shavuot holiday. “Hundreds” of haredi Orthodox Jews were congregated at the synagogue in the Israeli settlement northwest of Jerusalem, which was still under construction, a Magen David Adom spokesperson told Israeli media. The two dead were reported as a 12-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man; the incident was deemed a “mass casualty event.””

“Two Palestinians were injured as Israeli extremists, with the backing of Israeli police forces, attacked Palestinian residents in Beit Hanina neighborhood and Shufa’at refugee camp, to the north of occupied Jerusalem, according to a local official. Palestinian residents in Beit Hanina neighborhood and Shufa’at refugee camp confronted Israeli settlers who came to vandalize their village and attack them and clashes broke out.”

“Two Palestinian youth were shot and injured with live ammunition fired by Israeli extremists in the al-Ashqariyeh neighborhood near Shufa’at refugee camp in occupied Jerusalem, according to witnesses. Witnesses told WAFA Israeli extremists opened live fire towards a group of Palestinians, shooting and injuring two youth aged 23 and 28. They were transferred to hospital for medical treatment.”

“Israeli forces on Sunday shot dead a Palestinian man after a suspected car-ramming attack in occupied East Jerusalem. The driver, who is a Jerusalem resident, was shot by officers after he allegedly drove into Israeli officers near a police roadblock at the entrance to the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The officers sustained light injuries, although one was shot after being mistakenly hit by his colleague at the scene, police reported.”

“Dozens of settlers stormed this morning the Bab al-Rahma cemetery, adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Al-Ghazali Square near Bab Al-Asbat, and performed Talmudic rituals…The settlers’ dances and raid of the  cemetery and the vicinity of the Bab al-Asbat came after they failed to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Bab al-Maghariba for the second day in a row.”

“Amidst continuous violence against demonstrators, the Israeli occupation police on Sunday arrested 17 Palestinians in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighbourhoods, Arab48.com reported. Israeli occupation police carried out the detention campaign in Jerusalem’s neighbourhoods at dawn, Wadi Hilweh Information Centre reported. On Saturday night, tens of Palestinian youths gathering in solidarity were threatened with expulsion from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah.”

“In light of the recent Israeli Police and settlers’ attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, Jerusalemite women have been remarkably present, taking part in the demonstrations and using social media to share the suffering of Jerusalemites.”

In this episode of “Occupied Thoughts,” FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin talks with Sawsan Zaher, the Deputy General Director of Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. In this conversation, she describes what the last week has been like for Palestinian citizens of Israel, who have faced enormous violence from Israeli Jews and been incited against by Israeli politicians, misrepresented by Israeli media, and unprotected and targeted by the Israeli police. The High Follow-Up Committee – the highest political body representing Palestinian citizens of Israel – is now urgently calling for international protection for Palestinian citizens.

“During the past week, Israeli incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and raids on the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood Sheikh Jarrah continued, while a brutal Israeli military offensive on the blockaded Gaza Strip has left many Palestinians dead. But an extraordinary phenomenon has also taken root inside Israel, where thousands of Palestinian citizens in towns, villages and so-called “mixed” cities have taken to the streets to assert their identity while living in a self-defined Jewish state.”

“Israeli law enforcement is turning a blind eye as armed, racist Jewish militia groups are marching through the streets attacking Palestinians, but Netanyahu has tonight nevertheless pointed an accusatory finger at Palestinian citizens of Israel. The Israeli prime minister continues to emphasize that Israeli police, employing brutal violence against Palestinian citizens, will receive full political backing for their actions. Netanyahu is once again demonstrating that the rule of law has no value as far as Palestinians are concerned – whether they live in Israel, in the West Bank, in East Jerusalem, or in the Gaza Strip. The recent killing of Palestinian civilians – including 30 children – in their homes in Gaza, has now been added to the list of war crimes that must be investigated by the International Criminal Court. Netanyahu has insisted, by virtue of tonight’s statement, that he most certainly must be one of the ICC’s primary suspects.” Also See – “Adalah takes urgent action against organized far-right Jewish mob violence targeting Palestinian citizens, and Israeli police brutality & inaction” (Adalah)

“A wave of violent attacks that spread across the country over the past weeks hit both Jews and Arabs, but all of the charges Israel has pressed so far are against Arab citizens. Most of the 116 indictments served by state prosecutors up until Sunday afternoon are for assaulting police officers. Sources at the State Prosecutor’s Office said they plan to press more charges “soon,” including against Jewish citizens involved in anti-Arab violence.” Also See – “Adalah defends rights of Palestinian protesters in East Jerusalem and across Israel” (Adalah)

“Yigal Yehoshua, a 56-year-old father of two, dies after his car was attacked by stone throwers in what Arab youth call ‘blood revenge’ for shooting of Arab man in the city during riots”

“An Arab man in his twenties has been arrested by Israel Police and the Shin Bet, over his alleged involvement in hurling a Molotov cocktail into a home in a Jaffa neighborhood, seriousy injuring a 12-year-old boy named Mohammad Gintazi.”

“Palestine today recorded 247 new Covid-19 cases and nine deaths in the last 24 hours, according to Health Minister Mai Alkaila. Among the new 247 cases, 175 cases were recorded in the West Bank, and 72 others in the Gaza Strip. She added in her daily report on the disease that 1285 Covid-19 patients recovered; 575 recovery cases in the West Bank and 710 others in the Gaza Strip.”

“The number of people in Gaza sickened from Covid-19 had been “just leveling off, and then this hit,” said the U.N. relief agency official, Matthias Schmale. “It is a grim situation.” He said that unvaccinated Gazans were crowding into the schools run by his agency, known as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, because the Israelis did not intentionally target those buildings — in effect making them bomb shelters. Now, Mr. Schmale said, those schools “could turn into mass spreaders.””

“For the third time in a week, the US is blocking a joint statement from the UN Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, two diplomats involved in the matter said Sunday. The statement was introduced by Norway, Tunisia and China following an emergency session earlier in the day on the fighting in Gaza and generally criticizes both sides for the ongoing violence but makes no mention of Hamas rocket fire. The US mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter. Member states have until Monday at noon to mull over a statement and negotiations over the matter were ongoing, two Security Council diplomats told The Times of Israel…Fourteen of the 15 Security Council members sought to issue a joint statement, which requires unanimous approval, after closed emergency meetings on Monday and Wednesday. They were rebuffed by the US, which said it wanted more time for its own diplomatic efforts to play out, according to several Security Council diplomats. That statement too would have called for an immediate ceasefire, while condemning both sides for the violence. When council members moved to hold another meeting last week, the US mission pushed back on the effort for the same reason, saying it preferred to wait until Tuesday. After pressure from multiple missions, the US agreed to move up the meeting to Sunday.”

“The Biden administration has approved the sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel, raising red flags for some House Democrats who are part of the shifting debate over the U.S. government’s support for the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Congress was officially notified of the proposed sale on May 5, three people based on Capitol Hill familiar with the notification told my colleague Karoun Demirjian and me. That was nearly a week before Hamas, the terrorism-designated organization that controls the Gaza strip began intense rocket attacks against Israel that have reportedly killed at least 10 Israelis. The rockets have been answered with ongoing Israeli airstrikes that have left nearly 200 Palestinians dead and sparked worldwide calls for diplomatic action. The crisis is the worst since a 2014 Hamas-Israeli war that lasted nearly two months. While calling for an immediate cease-fire, the administration has said that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas — a position that a majority in Congress has previously supported.But a new generation of House Democrats more open to questioning Washington’s support of Netanyahu is raising some concerns. Some lawmakers want to know more about the new proposed sale, and its timing, suggesting it be used as leverage.”

“The Palestinian Authority on Monday demanded that the US administration make all efforts and exert pressure on the Israeli government to stop its military strikes on the Gaza Strip. The demand was made during separate meetings between US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel and the Palestinians, Hady Amr, and PA President Mahmoud Abbas and three senior Palestinian officials: Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the General Authority for Civil Affairs, Majed Faraj, head of the General Intelligence Service and Majdi Khaldi, diplomatic affairs adviser to Abbas.”

“President Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday and raised concerns about civilian casualties in Gaza and the bombing of the building that housed AP and other media offices, according to Israeli officials.

More from President Biden

• “Biden Speaks to Both Netanyahu and Abbas in Attempt to Deescalate Gaza Tensions” (Haaretz)

“U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken signaled Monday the U.S. still would not press for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers as fighting entered its second week, with more than 200 people dead, most of them Palestinians in Gaza….“In all of these engagements we have made clear that we are prepared to lend our support and good offices to the parties should they seek a cease-fire,” Blinken said.””

More from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken

• “Blinken hasn’t seen any evidence on AP Gaza building strike” (AP)

“Pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and other U.S. cities on Saturday to demand an end to Israeli airstrikes over the Gaza Strip.”

“Democratic lawmakers on Sunday widely demanded an immediate cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians amid the latest round of violence. Twenty-eight Democratic senators, led by Sen. Jon Ossoff, and eight House Democrats issued joint statements calling for a swift end to the flare-up in order to prevent a further loss of life.”

“…we have seen Benjamin Netanyahu’s government work to marginalize and demonize Palestinian citizens of Israel, pursue settlement policies designed to foreclose the possibility of a two-state solution and pass laws that entrench systemic inequality between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel. None of this excuses the attacks by Hamas, which were an attempt to exploit the unrest in Jerusalem, or the failures of the corrupt and ineffective Palestinian Authority, which recently postponed long-overdue elections. But the fact of the matter is that Israel remains the one sovereign authority in the land of Israel and Palestine, and rather than preparing for peace and justice, it has been entrenching its unequal and undemocratic control. Over more than a decade of his right-wing rule in Israel, Mr. Netanyahu has cultivated an increasingly intolerant and authoritarian type of racist nationalism… In the Middle East, where we provide nearly $4 billion a year in aid to Israel, we can no longer be apologists for the right-wing Netanyahu government and its undemocratic and racist behavior. We must change course and adopt an evenhanded approach, one that upholds and strengthens international law regarding the protection of civilians, as well as existing U.S. law holding that the provision of U.S. military aid must not enable human rights abuses. This approach must recognize that Israel has the absolute right to live in peace and security, but so do the Palestinians. I strongly believe that the United States has a major role to play in helping Israelis and Palestinians to build that future. But if the United States is going to be a credible voice on human rights on the global stage, we must uphold international standards of human rights consistently, even when it’s politically difficult. We must recognize that Palestinian rights matter. Palestinian lives matter.”

“Rep. Betty McCollum is a Minnesota Democrat who has emerged as one of the handful of elected officials in Washington taking meaningful steps to hold Israel accountable for the occupation. Rep. McCollum has introduced a bill, H.R. 2590, that would prevent US military aid from funding detention of Palestinian children, seizure or destruction of Palestinian property, or annexation of Palestinian territory. While there is virtually no chance the bill itself will become law, it is reflective of a wider shift in the debate on Capitol Hill. This week, I [Alex Kane] spoke to Rep. McCollum about the ongoing violence in Israel/Palestine and how her bill could help address it. Our conversation has been condensed and edited.”

“President Biden is drawing fire from all fronts for his handling of the resurgent Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His administration appeared flat-footed and unprepared as violence flared. Critics pointed to the White House’s inattention as it focuses on foreign policy priorities away from the Middle East. From the right, figures like former secretary of state Mike Pompeo accused Biden of not “unequivocally” standing with Israel in the face of terrorist rocket attacks. Meanwhile, a burgeoning rift within the Democratic party is emerging, with lawmakers further to the left frustrated at Biden’s unwillingness to be both more openly critical of Israel’s policies and actions and more aware of the United States’ own role in bringing the crisis to this point. On Sunday, a number of leading Muslim-American advocacy organizations boycotted Biden’s virtual Eid event on grounds that the administration was “complicit” in Palestinian suffering.”

Also See

• “US Muslim groups call for boycotting Biden’s Eid celebration” (Middle East Eye)

“Jordan’s King Abdullah said on Sunday that his kingdom was involved in intensive diplomacy to halt what he characterized as an Israeli military escalation in the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence in years. The monarch, whose ruling family has custodianship of Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem, did not elaborate on the diplomacy, which was communicated via a news flash on state media.”

“UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday pleaded for an immediate end to horrific violence as Israel continued with a deadly assault on Gaza, warning a Security Council meeting that the fighting could plunge the region into an “uncontainable” crisis. “Fighting must stop. It must stop immediately,” Guterres said as he opened a Security Council session delayed by Israel’s ally the United States, calling the violence that has killed nearly 200 people – most of them Palestinians – over the past week “utterly appalling.” “It has the potential to unleash an uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis and to further foster extremism, not only in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, but in the region as a whole,” he said.”

More on the United Nations

• “China FM ‘regrets’ US blocking UN statement on Mideast” (The New Arab)
• “Open Letter to UN Security Council: Palestinians call for concrete and immediate actions to address root causes of prolonged denial of Palestinian rights, words of condemnation are not enough” (Al-Haq)

“Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in cities around the world, from New York and London to Cape Town and Auckland, demanding an end to deadly Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip. The Israeli bombings on Gaza come after weeks of mounting tensions over the looming forced expulsion of Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem that Jewish settlers have been trying to expel them from for decades.”

More on Protests Around the World

• “Mass pro-Palestinian marches held in Poland, Italy , Canada, Cyprus, and Chicago” (WAFA)
• “Pro-Palestine protests break out in 46 Moroccan cities following Israel’s deadly assaults on Gaza”  (The New Arab)
• “Pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters clash in Montreal” (The New Arab)
• “Pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Iran” (Anadolu Agency)
• “London: Tens of thousands march in solidarity with Palestinian people” (MEMO)
• “Bella Hadid joined pro-Palestinian protests” (CNN)
• “Pro-Palestinian protests held around the world” (Jerusalem Post)

“The Associated Press’ top editor on Sunday called for an independent investigation into the Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the AP, broadcaster Al-Jazeera, and other media, saying the public deserves to know the facts. Sally Buzbee, AP’s executive editor, said the Israeli government has yet to provide clear evidence supporting its attack, which leveled the 12-story al-Jalaa tower.” Also See – “Netanyahu Says Attack on Gaza Media Tower Was ‘Perfectly Legitimate'” (Haaretz)

“Without an American policy, which will dictate or even direct the mediation efforts, what remains is the regional communication channel. This consists mainly of Egyptian officials’ contacts with Hamas leaders and with their Israeli counterparts, followed by briefings from Cairo to Saudi Arabia and the UAE of their respective positions. The format is basically the same as in previous IDF operations in Gaza. It includes a demand for a cease-fire and a return to the understanding reached after the clashes along the border fence about two years ago. This time, however, Cairo has not closed its own border with the Strip at Rafah, and seems unlikely to do so. Israel, for its part, has not blocked the monthly cash transfer from Qatar to Gaza.”

“Facebook is engaging with both Israel and Palestinian officials on the spread of hate speech and incitements to violence on the platform amid the region’s escalating conflict. Top Facebook lobbyists Nick Clegg and Joel Kaplan and several TikTok executives met over Zoom with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Thursday evening to discuss the spread of misinformation and violent threats on the social network. Facebook’s Clegg and Kaplan are expected to meet with the Palestinian Authority next week, the company said…Facebook has already faced fury this week over numerous instances in which the company took down posts from Palestinian activists and citizens, including content about Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites.”

“On Sunday night, John Oliver dedicated the opening portion of his late-night program Last Week Tonight to the ongoing crisis in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.”

“On the 73^rd anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, another round of dispossession of Palestinians continues, this time in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Palestinian families are being forcibly expelled to make room for Jewish settlers who claim possession of homes in the area. The situation has sparked widespread Palestinian protests in the city and across the green line in Israel that are being met with brutal force. The Israeli police has repeatedly attacked worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, causing hundreds of injuries among Palestinians. In Israel, Palestinian citizens organized their own protests against the expulsions. One Palestinian in Lydda was killed and many were injured in clashes with Jewish extremists and the police. In solidarity with Jerusalem Palestinians, and especially in response to Israeli actions, Hamas and armed factions in the Gaza Strip launched rockets on southern Israel, killing and injuring civilians. Israel mobilized reserve forces and retaliated with air strikes, killing scores of Palestinians, including children. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a state of emergency. To shed light on the issue, Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) asked some of its fellows and affiliates to contribute their reflections on different aspects of the Jerusalem events. Their responses are below.”

“However the current situation ends, two lessons have emerged. First, the quiescence of the Palestinian people – accused, often most forcefully from within their own communities, of apathy and indifference – never amounted to acceptance of defeat. They have shown that Israel cannot persist in its policies without paying a price. Second, regardless of whether a broader movement emerges out of the current moment, the collective eruption across historical Palestine shows that the Palestinians remain a people, despite the false hope of partition, the all-too-real separation of their territories, and the deep fragmentation of their political and social life. They may argue about Hamas’s armed resistance or peaceful protest in Sheikh Jarrah. But tactical disagreements ought not to obscure their clear understanding that they are fighting for their freedom against a single regime of domination.”

“That moment of inception (to which Palestinians refer as the Nakba) is what we have been reliving this week, coincidentally on the anniversary of its commemoration: an inception that was never really—and will never be—completed, but that has continued in fits and starts ever since 1948. It is no coincidence that survivors of the Nakba have been saying that the sight of anti-Palestinian pogroms in the major cities this week has brought back all the trauma they experienced in 1948: The terror of such pogroms is exactly what drove them into the sea in Jaffa or Haifa, or on the bitter march to exile in Lebanon or Jordan. But the spectacle of racial violence that has swept across cities from Acre to Jerusalem does not just look uncannily like Israel’s primal scene: It reminds us that we are still living that same moment of origin—and that we have been all along. The Nakba is now. It always has been.”

“On the eve of the Third Intifada, it is clear what got us here: an ideology of Jewish supremacy pervading the entirety of Israeli society.

“For decades, Israel managed to fence itself off from its supposedly separate and temporary occupation project. Many Palestinians have long seen right through it and called this regime of ethnic domination by its proper name. This diagnosis of apartheid is accurate not only because the occupation is inseparable from Israel (who, exactly, is running the military regime in the occupied territories?) but because policies of domination and supremacy of one group (Jews) over the other (Palestinians) are at the core of shaping reality between the river and the sea. In this context, eruptions of violence — especially those, like this month’s, sufficiently horrific to break into the global news cycle — are not a bug but a feature of this system. State violence is a permanent tool for dispossession and control, demographic re-engineering and “deterrence.” The specific amount of violence applied is always changing, the fear it dictates never absent.”

“Palestinians are forcibly displaced and isolated in enclaves where they are governed by rules that ensure their continuous dispossession and subjugation. The oppressive rules that govern Palestinian lives do not apply to the settlers who live on the hills above them, or in the confiscated houses next to them. This is apartheid in real time. Humanitarian organisations like MSF have difficulties addressing the root causes of humanitarian crises. We are an emergency organisation, the ambulance of NGOs. This makes us ill-suited to treat the socioeconomic and political conditions designed to enrich a ruling class. But it is from this ambulance that we see how settler colonialism and apartheid affect the health of our patients and necessitate our work.”

“No strategy means there is no political impetus entering a conflict, and no defined and desirable political outcome exiting it. Furthermore, tactical accomplishments often turn out to be less impactful than how they are marketed. Celebrating a tactical triumph as if it was some strategic stroke of genius is part and parcel of the “tacticalization of strategy.”  If this actually worked, the current Gaza confrontation would not be the fourth in the last nine years. If this worked, we would know by now what Israel’s political objectives are vis-à-vis Hamas, and from there we could have inferred the endgame. Yet there is no endgame because there was never a “Start Game,” just circumstances, miscalculations, political provocations, and the inevitable and justifiable necessity to retaliate forcefully.