Euro-Med Monitor documented the Israeli army’s killing of a Palestinian man who was deliberately run over in Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighborhood on 29 February after he was arrested. The man was subjected to harsh interrogation by members of the Israeli army, who bound his hands with plastic zip-tie handcuffs before running him over with a military vehicle.
Israeli soldiers restrained the victim’s hands before they crushed him, and tramped on his body from the legs up, confirming that he was alive during the incident. To guarantee thorough and complete crushing, the victim was placed on asphalt rather than in an adjacent sandy area.
It appears that the victim was purposefully stripped of his clothes, as he was seen wearing only his underpants at the time of his death.
RECOMMENDED READING (If Americans Knew) Israeli rapes of Palestinian women and children, past & present
ON ISRAEL’S CRIMINAL BLOCKAGE OF AID – CNN reports: CNN interviewed over two dozen humanitarian and government officials, and reviewed documents that show what items Israel most frequently rejects at the Gaza border, including anesthetics and anesthesia machines, oxygen cylinders, ventilators and water filtration systems.
One CNN source, a high level aid coordinator, said that over 15,000 tons of their relief supplies await Israeli approval to enter Gaza. More than half consists of food items.
A top executive at Save the Children told CNN that toys were rejected because they were in a wooden box rather than a cardboard box, sleeping bags were denied because they had zippers, and sanitary pads were turned back because a nail clipper was included in the hygiene kit.
US Senators Chris Van Hollen, who visited the Rafah crossing in January, said, “We learned that when a truck with just one [unacceptable item] is turned down, the entire truck gets turned around and has to go back to the beginning of the process, which can take weeks.”
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, which manages the flow of aid into Gaza, stated, “Israel assists, encourages and facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid for the residents of the Gaza Strip and for medical and other critical infrastructures in the strip,” and described the testimony given to CNN as “false accusations.”
NOTE: Israel has not proven itself trustworthy in its dealings. Among Israel’s recent lies are numerous atrocity stories about the October 7th attack that have since been proven untrue (additional examples here). Previously, Israel has been caught in many lies – for example, this and this and this.
NOTE: Israeli sources, including the government itself, have a long track record of lying (for example, this and this and this.)
UNSC STATEMENT ON “FLOUR MASSACRE’ – Al Jazeera reports: The UN Security Council (UNSC) has issued a joint statement – excessively watered-down by US demand – expressing “deep concern” that more than “100 individuals lost their lives” in “an incident involving Israeli forces at a large gathering surrounding a humanitarian assistance convoy southwest of Gaza City”.
The statement notes that several hundred people were also injured, including with “gunshot wounds as observed by [the UN humanitarian agency] UN-OCHA” but does not specify who was responsible for the gunfire.
The statement does specifically mention Israel’s role in keeping “border crossings open for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza” and calls on Israel “to support the rapid and safe delivery of relief items to people in all of the Gaza Strip”.
The joint statement comes after the US on Thursday blocked a statement from the council which would have assigned blame to Israel for the so-called “flour massacre“.
WAFA reports: Sunday, eight Palestinians were martyred and others were injured in a bombing by Israeli occupation aircraft on a small truck carrying humanitarian aid in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
WAFA also reports: Israeli occupation forces committed a new massacre against Palestinian citizens at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City, medical sources said on Sunday evening, opening fire on citizens at the Kuwait roundabout while they were waiting for aid trucks loaded with flour, killing and injuring dozens.
UN OHCHR has stated: Between mid-January and the end of February, the UN office said it had “recorded at least 14 incidents involving shooting and shelling of people gathered to receive desperately needed supplies” at the Kuwait Roundabout on Salah al-Din Street and Al Nabulsi Roundabout.
HEALTH RISKS IN GAZA – Palestine Chronicle reports: Health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said, “15 children died as a result of malnutrition and dehydration in Kamal Adwan Hospital.”
The New Arab reports: Gaza’s health ministry has said it has detected around one million cases of infectious diseases and does not have the facilities to treat them, describing the situation as “extremely catastrophic” in a statement on Monday.
The ministry added that Israel has killed 364 health workers and arrested 269 others, including hospital directors.
Al Jazeera reports: The Israeli military, in the last hours, targeted a cemetery in the Jabalia refugee camp that was recently built by the residents of the repeatedly bombed area in northern Gaza, causing a large crater, and leaving shrouded bodies of the dead scattered.
Residents have been trying to bury them again at another site.
Ha’aretz reports (because Ha’aretz uses a paywall, IAK has reposted this article since we feel all Americans should read it – read it in full here): In an effort to avoid harming soldiers and dogs, the IDF has been experimenting with the use of robots and remote-controlled dogs in the Gaza War.
Most of the tests have been with a “robot dog,” which is also equipped with a drone and can replace or reinforce the Oketz Unit’s dogs in certain situations. Unmanned remote-control D9 bulldozers are also being used.
It is nothing new for the IDF to use robots and unmanned ground vehicles, especially by elite units and the Yahalom Unit operating in the tunnels.
But defense establishment officials confirm that there has been a leap in the use and sophistication of robots on the battlefield.
A prominent example is the procurement of Vision 60 units, a dog-shaped walking robot made by Philadelphia-based Ghost Robotics. The first four units entered military service during the war, financed by donors. The defense establishment subsequently procured more units.
Another robot, called the Rooster, is installed on the robot’s back, creating a kind of ground robot and drone, jointly developed by Israeli startup Robotican and the Defense Research & Development Directorate. (Read the full article here.)
WEST BANK – WAFA reports: A Palestinian spokesperson said Israeli officials imposed fines on three Palestinians amounting to NIS1050 (about $300) each, under the pretext that they were walking in an Israeli nature reserve, and were not following the ‘tourist route’ – although the lands they were walking on belong to Palestinian citizens.
WAFA reports: A Palestinian minor, Mustafa Abu Shalbak, age 16, was killed Monday by Israeli forces during a military raid in al-Amari camp in the city of Ramallah. He was shot with live bullets in the neck and chest.
OTHER NEWS:
– Al Jazeera: US vice president calls for ‘immediate’ six-week ceasefire
Won’t name Israel as the perpetrator of the Flour Massacre.
– Al Jazeera: Security Council statement on ‘flour massacre’
Does not attribute blame to Israel.
– Al Jazeera: Israel says it wants UNSC resolution telling Hamas to surrender
Israel’s desired resolution includes no clauses on protecting civilians or facilitating humanitarian aid for besieged Palestinians.
– Al Jazeera: Israeli embassy in US told not to facilitate Gantz’s planned visit: Report
Our @UNRWA colleague & photojournalist Abdallah was severely injured in bombardments in northern #Gaza. He lost his legs.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) March 3, 2024
Over the past weeks, he’s been sending very powerful footage about the scale of destruction & misery. In this war of “superlatives”, we are recording the… https://t.co/WPHYViFiXC
Israel has been intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza since October 8. Now famine may very well be already occurring. The only way to end/prevent this famine is an immediate ceasefire. And the only way to get a ceasefire is to sanction Israel. https://t.co/MXchFFWYkh
— Michael Fakhri (@MichaelFakhri) March 3, 2024
Hundreds of thousands of children are facing starvation. Stop this war right now – no more money for Netanyahu’s government. pic.twitter.com/3fwvbiuAhd
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 2, 2024
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