[News] Israel kills at least 90 Palestinians in Gaza "safe zone”

[Anti-Imperialist News]

electronicintifada.net
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-kills-least-90-palestinians-gaza-safe-zone>
Israel kills at least 90 Palestinians in Gaza "safe zone”

Maureen Clare Murphy
<https://electronicintifada.net/people/maureen-clare-murphy> Rights and
Accountability
<https://electronicintifada.net/blog/rights-and-accountability> 14 July 2024
------------------------------

Bodies of Palestinians who were killed in Israel’s attack on al-Mawasi are
brought to a hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, 13 July.
APA images

Israel massacred dozens of Palestinians in airstrikes in al-Mawasi, the
supposed “safe zone” along the coast in southern Gaza, and in Beach refugee
camp near Gaza City on Saturday.

At least 90 Palestinians were killed and 300 injured in the attack on
al-Mawasi, according to the health ministry in Gaza, and at least 20
Palestinians were killed <https://aje.io/cc08zy?update=3044445> after
Israel bombed worshippers gathered for noon prayers
<https://aje.io/cc08zy?update=3044238> outside the ruins of a mosque in
Beach refugee camp.
On Friday, the Israeli military killed four workers at an aid warehouse in
Gaza, claiming <https://x.com/IDF/status/1811873230967165078> that it had
targeted Husam Mansour. Israel alleged that Mansour was a militant who
worked at an aid organization to raise money for Hamas – an unsubstantiated
claim similar to those made by Israel against other humanitarians in Gaza
working for international charities who were killed
<https://www.msf.org/msf-response-israeli-allegations-linked-staff-killing>
and jailed
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-sentences-gaza-aid-worker-12-years-after-sham-trial>
with impunity.

The Al-Khair Foundation, a UK-based charity, stated
<https://alkhair.org/announcement-in-memoriam-husam-mansour/> that Mansour
was a “cornerstone” of its team in Gaza and that his death “is not just a
loss to our organization but a devastating blow to the humanitarian efforts
in the region.”

The deaths of the aid workers came one day after Samantha Power, the head
of the State Department agency USAID, said that Israel promised to improve
safety for humanitarian workers in Gaza, where famine has taken hold as a
result of Israel’s blockade.
At least 38,345 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 7 October,
though the actual tally is likely substantially higher. Thousands remain
missing in the rubble or their deaths as a result of secondary mortality
such as hunger, thirst and disease resulting from Israel’s military
campaign are not reflected in the fatality count.

Saturday’s deadly attacks came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
appeared to be sabotaging what may be a final push to reach a deal with
Hamas that would see an exchange of captives and lead the way for a
permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Hamas condemned the “horrific massacre” in densely populated al-Mawasi, the
open area where Israel ordered Palestinians to move after declaring
one-third of Gaza a combat zone
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/gaza-hospital-directors-release-exposes-israeli-torture>
last week.

Israel reportedly dropped five 2,000-pound bombs
<https://www.axios.com/2024/07/13/israel-airstike-mohammed-deif-khan-younis>
in al-Mawasi, resulting in one of the deadliest attacks – if not the
deadliest – since nearly 300 people were killed in a raid
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/palestinians-massacred-rescue-operation-lauded-us>
in Nuseirat refugee camp
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/nuseirat-refugee-camp> on 8 June.

Four Israeli captives were freed by the military in the Nuseirat raid,
during which Israeli forces posed as civilians and gunned down Palestinians
in the camp’s crowded market and streets. The office of the UN human rights
chief said
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/us-blames-hamas-while-israel-prolongs-gaza-war>
it was “profoundly shocked” by that operation in which the basic principles
of the laws of war were blatantly disregarded.
“False victory”

Israel attempted to justify the massacre in al-Mawasi on Saturday by
claiming
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-strike-targets-hamas-military-chief-muhammad-deif-hamas-claims-at-least-70-killed/>
that it targeted Muhammad Deif, the elusive head of the Qassam Brigades,
the armed wing of Hamas, and the commander of Qassam’s Khan Younis Brigade.

One of Israel’s most wanted figures, Deif survived several previous
attempts on his life, including a 2014 attack that killed the military
leader’s wife and their two young children.
Netanyahu acknowledged
<https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/israeli-pm-netanyahu-says-not-certain-that-hamas-leader-killed-strike-2024-07-13/>
during a press conference on Saturday evening that it was unclear whether
Deif and the Qassam Brigades commander were killed, which Hamas denied.

Khalil al-Hayya, deputy chair of Hamas, said in response that Netanyahu had
hoped to “announce a false victory” and said that the blood of Deif is no
more precious than that of the youngest Palestinian child.
Al-Hayya suggested that Israel was killing more people in Gaza to undermine
negotiations with Hamas and that Netanyahu was grasping for an illusion of
victory before his address to US Congress later this month.

Earlier in the day, following the al-Mawasi attack, Hamas said that this
was “not the first time the occupation has claimed to target Palestinian
leaders, and later it is proven to be a lie.”

“These false claims are merely a cover-up for the scale of the horrific
massacre,” the resistance group added in a statement published on Telegram.
“Justification always the same”

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, observed <https://x.com/FranceskAlbs/status/1812159253865545927>
that “the justification is always the same: ‘targeting Palestinian
militants.’”

Hamdah Salhut, an Al Jazeera correspondent, said
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/13/at-least-50-killed-in-israeli-strike-on-al-mawasi-safe-zone-in-south-gaza>
that the Israeli military repeatedly employs such claims, “saying civilians
are being used as ‘human shields’ for Hamas figures, using that as
justification for killing dozens of civilians.”

Assal Rad, an academic who closely observes the Western media’s framing of
the genocide in Gaza, said that the Israeli justification is used by media
outlets to treat the massacre of civilians in a “safe zone” as “an
afterthought in their headlines,” if they are even mentioned at all:
Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network, told Al Jazeera
<https://aje.io/cc08zy?update=3044193> that the al-Mawasi massacre was “the
message from Israel to the world that again and again and again they are
targeting Palestinian civilians wherever they are.” “Massive attack on the
north”

Following the massacre in al-Mawasi, the UN human rights office condemned
<https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/un-human-rights-office-opt-ramallah-13-july-2024-un-human-rights-office-condemns-idfs-strikes-gaza-humanitarian-zones>
Israel’s continued use of “weapons with area effects in populated areas of
Gaza.”

A statement from the office noted that the deadly strikes on Saturday came
“right after another massive attack on the north, which lasted for a week,
resulting in further destruction and casualties.”

Israel laid waste to Shujaiya, on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City, in a
two-week raid during which it claimed
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-says-it-killed-shejaiya-battalion-deputy-chief-found-hamas-command-room-at-unrwa-site/>
to have killed a Hamas battalion deputy chief and commander in the area and
uncovered a command center in a facility belonging to UNRWA, the UN agency
for Palestine refugees.

Following the military’s withdrawal, residents returned to find that troops
had destroyed the majority of buildings in the area, including residences,
schools and medical clinics.
A spokesperson for the civil defense in Gaza said
<https://aje.io/dv2b8f?update=3040920> that the bodies of more than 60
people had been recovered in Shujaiya, and that many more were missing
under the rubble of destroyed homes.

Dozens of people were also killed in Tal al-Hawa in southern Gaza City, the
civil defense spokesperson said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Israel once again ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate.
Many Palestinians vowed to stay in Gaza City, no matter the cost.
Itay Epshtain, an international law expert, said
<https://x.com/EpshtainItay/status/1810968126537789823> that “this is not a
permissible evacuation but an act of forcible transfer” that “shows the
open-ended nature of hostilities in Gaza.” Epshtain noted that “Israel
appears interested as ever in a protracted conflict.”

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said
<https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6407/> that its field workers “are
investigating reports that the Israeli army forces committed extrajudicial
killings and unlawful executions of numerous residents, the majority of
whom were women” during its incursion into areas of western Gaza City
between Monday and Friday.
Quadcopters fired on rescue workers

The UN office said
<https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/un-human-rights-office-opt-ramallah-13-july-2024-un-human-rights-office-condemns-idfs-strikes-gaza-humanitarian-zones>
that the strikes on al-Mawasi on Saturday allegedly hit tents housing
displaced people, a food kitchen and a desalination plant where people had
gathered to collect water, “leading to tens of fatalities.”

Israeli military “quadcopters reportedly targeted emergency rescue workers,
killing at least one civil defense worker and injuring several others,” the
human rights office added.

The UN office once again pointed to “a pattern of willful violation of the
disregard of [international humanitarian law] principles of distinction,
proportionality and precaution” and “a rampant disregard for the safety of
civilians.”

Even if Palestinians belonging to armed groups were present among
civilians, “this would not remove [the Israeli military’s] obligations” to
comply with the fundamental principles of the laws of war, the UN office
said.

Video of the immediate aftermath of the Israeli attack in al-Mawasi shows
injured and dead people who appear to be civilians, including someone
wearing a civil defense vest, lying in the streets as a black plume of
smoke rises from an area adjacent to a tent encampment:
Another video shows people attempting to dig victims out of a massive
crater with their bare hands. A man’s left arm and shoulder is seen
protruding from the sandy soil as a child says, “that’s my father, has he
been martyred?” A witness says in the same video that “all of Gaza is
wanted” by the occupation.

The man adds that there was a fire belt – a series of heavy bombs dropped
in the same place – without warning on the tent encampment. When rescuers
arrived, F-16 jets “bombed the paramedics and civil defense team,” he says.
The head of the World Health Organization said
<https://x.com/DrTedros/status/1812171427656712564> that Nasser Medical
Complex in Khan Younis, which received 134 people severely injured in the
al-Mawasi attack, “is extremely overwhelmed by the influx of
patients.” Netanyahu
stalls negotiations

After the deadly attack in al-Mawasi, Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British
Palestinian surgeon who was working in Gaza during the first weeks of the
genocide, said <https://x.com/GhassanAbuSitt1/status/1812072873139335583>
that “Israel committed this massacre to foil the ceasefire negotiations.”
Egypt officials told Reuters
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-talks-halted-until-israel-shows-its-serious-about-negotiations-say-egyptian-2024-07-13/>
on Saturday that the indirect talks between Hamas and Israel “have been
halted after three days of intense negotiations failed to produce a viable
outcome … blaming Israel for lacking a genuine intent to reach an
agreement.”

Earlier in the week, an unnamed “former senior Egyptian official with
knowledge of the negotiations” told *The Washington Post*
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/07/12/gaza-cease-fire-israel-hamas/>
that “Netanyahu does not want peace. That is all.”

The official added that Netanyahu “will find excuses … to prolong this war”
until the US elections, in which Republican candidate and former president
Donald Trump, who was lightly injured
<https://apnews.com/live/election-biden-trump-campaign-updates-07-13-2024>
after gunshots rang out during a campaign event on Saturday, may be voted
into a second term.

Whatever Netanyahu’s motivation, Israeli defense officials have told the
*Haaretz* newspaper
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-07-10/ty-article-timeline/.premium/how-netanyahu-has-systematically-foiled-talks-to-release-hostages-from-hamas-captivity/00000190-9b91-d591-a7ff-fff341120000?lts=1720739621868>
that the prime minister has “repeatedly torpedoed” progress towards a deal
with Hamas to free the remaining captives held in Gaza since 7 October.

The officials said that “in his attempt to derail negotiations, Netanyahu
relied on classified intelligence and manipulated the sensitive
information.”

In recent days, an unnamed senior official told Hebrew-language media
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/senior-official-says-netanyahu-holding-up-hostage-truce-deal-with-new-demands/>
that Netanyahu’s new demand to build “a mechanism to prevent the movement
of armed operatives” within Gaza threatened to derail a deal.

“This is the moment of truth for the hostages,” the official told Channel
12 news. “We can reach an agreement within two weeks and bring the hostages
home.”

But Netanyahu’s new demand “will stall the talks for weeks and then there
may not be anyone to bring home,” the official said.
US resumes weapons shipments

While US President Joe Biden said
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/biden-says-israel-gaza-war-should-end-now-2024-07-11/>
on Thursday that he was “determined to get this deal done and bring an end
to this war, which should end now,” his national security adviser Jake
Sullivan told reporters
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2024/07/11/on-the-record-press-gaggle-by-apnsa-jake-sullivan/>
that “there’s still miles to go before we close, if we are able to close”
on an agreement.

With the US putting no real pressure on Israel, and continuing to supply
weapons, more massacres of Palestinians in Gaza are all but guaranteed.

The US said in recent days that it will resume the shipments
<https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckkg6x62z6wo> of 500-pound bombs to
Israel after pausing a transfer of those weapons and 2,000-pound munitions
in May to deter a major Israeli offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza, which
went ahead anyway.
The Washington-based human rights watchdog DAWN said
<https://dawnmena.org/biden-administration-dont-reverse-suspension-on-500-pound-bombs-to-israel/>
that the “partial lifting of the one solitary pause on munitions to the
[Israeli military] in the face of overwhelming evidence of war crimes is a
criminal offense under international law.”

The group’s advocacy director called on the International Criminal Court to
investigate US officials for their complicity in “genocidal atrocities in
Gaza.”

Karim Khan, International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, announced in
May
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/icc-warrants-both-historic-and-cynical>
that he was pursuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli defense
minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leaders Muhammad Deif, Yahya Sinwar
and Ismail Haniyeh.
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