Gaza, 7-18-24

For today, links to nine reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, Middle East Eye, Al Jazeera, the Anadolu Agency, and National Public Radio, to an interview from Middle East Monitor, and to related July 3 and March 6 reports from that publication and Yes! Magazine; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM

   

Israel bombards central Gaza as tanks advance deeper in Rafah, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi | Reuters  CAIRO — Israeli forces bombarded the Gaza Strip’s historic refugee camps in the centre of the enclave and struck Gaza City in the north on Thursday, killing at least 13 people, and tanks pushed deeper into Rafah in the south, health officials and residents said. READ MORE . . .

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FROM JULY 17  U.S. military pier for carrying aid to Gaza will be dismantled after weather and security problems, by Lolita C. Baldor and Tara Copp | AP  WASHINGTON — The U.S. military-built pier to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza will be dismantled and brought home, ending a mission that has been fraught with repeated weather and security problems that limited how much food and other supplies could get to starving Palestinians. READ MORE . . . Click HERE and HERE for reports from Reuters and Middle East Eye.

   

Israel’s parliament passes bill rejecting Palestinian statehood. From Middle East Eye. Israel‘s parliament today overwhelmingly passed a resolution that rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state, just days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to visit to the United States and address Congress. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from Al Jazeera.

   

Far-right Israeli minister visits sensitive Jerusalem holy site, a threat to Gaza cease-fire talks, by Melanie Lidman | AP  JERUSALEM — Israel’s far-right national security minister visited Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site today, a move that could disrupt the delicate Gaza cease-fire talks. Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist settler leader, said . . . READ MORE . . .

   

UNRWA says only 10 of its 26 health centers in Gaza are operational, by Merve Berker | Anadolu Agency  ANKARA — The UN agency for Palestinian refugees announced today that only 10 of its 26 health centers in the Gaza Strip are operational. “Over 1,000 attacks . . . READ MORE . . .

   

FROM JULY 17  Another Israeli attack hits a UN school in Gaza that was sheltering families. Reported by Jane Arraf | NPR  Israeli airstrikes have hit several UNRWA schools wherE people are sheltering, The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 23 people, many of them women and children, were killed and more than 70 wounded. Click HERE to listen and read.

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How rape sold a genocide: A conversation. Nasim Ahmed of Middle East Monitor speaks with Arun Gupta, an investigative journalist, about his latest article, titled “Israel has manufactured an industrial-scale version of Jim Crow rape hoaxes.” Click HERE to listen and watch, and to read an introduction to the interview.

   

FROM JULY 3  Israel has manufactured an industrial-scale version of Jim Crow rape hoaxes, by Arun Gupta | Middle East Monitor  Forget everything you have read about Israel’s claim that Hamas carried out a premediated campaign of mass rape on Oct. 7. So far, every act of rape or sexual violence alleged to have happened on that day is fabricated or completely unsubstantiated. The real story . . . READ MORE . . .

   

FROM MARCH 6  Claims of mass rape by Hamas unravel upon investigation, by Arun Gupta | Yes! Magazine  Following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks that resulted in at least 1,163 deaths, rumors began circulating that Israeli women were experiencing horrific mass rape and sexual violence. Months later. . .  READ MORE . . .