Palestine

I miss Khan Younis. I feel a kinship with the city and its people. Its eastern areas are agricultural, and its western areas are densely populated, with houses tightly packed together. The southern areas are quieter, with houses surrounded by green spaces.

I have to say that I am anxious about what will come next. We are trying to find a place to stay that will give us more privacy. My emotions are never settled.

Sometimes, when people here hear the shelling in Khan Younis, they close their ears with their hands and can’t bear the sound. One time, I asked my aunt, “What would you do if you heard the sounds of tanks the way I did?”

Transportation for Palestinians in the Bethlehem and Hebron governorates to Jericho in the Jordan Valley would go through a new underground tunnel [that the régime] is planning to build to bypass the wilderness east of Jerusalem. What this means is that the entire space between Jerusalem and the edges of the Jordan Valley would become accessible to Israelis only.

The project, approved by the Israeli government earlier this month, will cost $90 billion, which Israel plans to cover from a special fund it feeds with pirated Palestinian customs money collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA). These funds are ostensibly meant for development projects for the Palestinian population in the West Bank, but the project isn’t about the improvement of Palestinian transportation — it’s about the consolidation of Israeli control over the geographic area of the West Bank east of Jerusalem. The Fabric of Life project would effectively ban any Palestinian circulation in this zone.

The larger context of the Fabric of Life is only one piece in Israel’s larger “Greater Jerusalem” development plans, which Israel first laid out in the early 2000s under then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The idea is simple; connect East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1981 and treats like a part of its territory, to a series of […] settlements which extend east of the city through the Jerusalem desert, reaching the very edge of the Jordan Valley. This would transform the some 12-square kilometers in the West Bank targeted by this project into an extension of the eastern limits of Jerusalem. On Israeli maps, this is known as the E-1 area, which stands for “East-1.”

This strip of land, which is 35 kilometers long and 25 kilometers wide, would become a part of Israel proper, cutting through the West Bank from West to East.

In 2007, Israel approved another similar project, dubbed the “Sovereignty Road,” which includes building another underground tunnel that runs under Israel’s Road-1 connecting the southern West Bank to the center, making it the only available route to Palestinians and clearing the road above ground for exclusive Israeli use.

As the Sovereignty Road bypasses the eastern periphery of Jerusalem, which represents Palestinian continuity between the center and the south, the Fabric of Life would bypass the wilderness to the east, which represents Palestinian continuity between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley. Together, both projects would drain the entire West Bank area east of Jerusalem of Palestinian circulation, isolating the Palestinian communities still living there.

(Spotted here.)

The killings are the latest in a wave of daily carnage, targeting hungry Palestinians who continue to make the perilous journey to the food distribution points. Critics have slammed the sites as “human slaughterhouses” amid a worsening hunger and looming famine crisis.

Israeli attacks on Palestinians near aid centres have killed more than 400 people and wounded about 1,000 since the GHF began distributions on May 27.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said Israel is engaged in its conflict with Iran while it also continues “the killing of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip with deadly air strikes on tents or residential homes”.

“Hungry crowds gather at food distribution centres in Rafah or the Netzarim Corridor. So far, 13 aid seekers have been shot dead today. They are among 30 people killed by Israel’s military since the early hours,” Mahmoud said.

Meanwhile, the Wafa news agency reported that at least four people were killed and several others wounded by an Israeli air attack on a residential building in northern Gaza’s Jabalia.

Three others, all brothers, were killed by Israeli forces while they were inspecting their damaged home in the al-Salateen area of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza.

In central Gaza, al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp announced it had received the bodies of two Palestinians and treated 35 others injured in Israeli strikes on crowds gathered along Salah al-Din Street.

Sixteen of the wounded were in critical condition and transferred to other hospitals in the central governorate, Wafa said.

Israeli artillery also shelled the Shujayea neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City.

The latest casualty figures bring the number of people [confirmed] killed in the territory since the start of Israel’s 20-month war more than 56,000, with at least 131,559 wounded.

ETA: The IOF just exterminated twenty-five more Gazans.

🔹Iran's powerful rocket attacks on Tel Aviv and Haifa in the Israel have caused a wave of panic and concern among Israeli, to the point that they are trying to leave the country by any means and reach other countries. This is happening despite the Israel authorities announcing last week that no one has the right to leave the Israel.

🔹Although Israeli authorities have strictly prohibited Israelis from leaving the occupied territories – except for traders, diplomats and foreign tourists – many israelis are trying to pose as foreign tourists and insist that they must return to their homes abroad

Mattan here. I am a refuser, I spent several months in an Israeli prison at the age of 20 for refusing to serve the […] occupation, and today I serve as the Executive Director of Refuser Solidarity Network. We are in the midst of an unprecedented refuser wave, with hundreds of soldiers refusing to carry out war crimes in Gaza.

The stakes are only rising: the […] régime has resorted to expanding its regional war of annihilation to Iran. Refusers are our best chance to end the assaults on Gaza and Iran — refusal waves have ended Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people at least twice in the past: the end of the first Lebanon war and the withdrawal in 2000, and the withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.

Refuser Solidarity Network is the only international group dedicated to supporting Israeli refuser movements, and has been for 20 years. We are financing legal aid, press and social media campaigns that amplify their refusal, training and mentorship, and urgently need your support to keep up with the momentum. We achieved 54% of our mid-year goal. Help us reach our goal of $30,000 so we can continue to expand the essential support we provide to refusers to end the genocide today.

In a militarized society like Israel, built on mandatory service, refusal has always been a powerful way to force the government to back down. There can be no occupation with no soldiers. Today, we at Refusal Solidarity Network are aggressively supporting those leading the latest wave of refusal and fighting to bring the genocide to an end.

Our ability to support emerging groups of refusers is expanding. We successfully backed several reservists in forming the group Soldiers for Hostages over the last year. However the need to support crucial anti-war initiatives grows even faster, especially as Israel expands its regional assault to include Iran, we need more support from our friends around the world.

Beyond funding for lawyers, for press and social media campaigns, we are helping them to build the necessary infrastructure to organize and build a community of resistance to the genocide in Gaza and imperialist war in Iran. Refusers numbers are currently growing exponentially, and if they continue to grow, they will end this war. Refuser movements have already done so in the past, and can do it again today, but they urgently need your support.

Israeli refusal movements were at the center of putting a stop to Israeli atrocities. This has happened at least twice: in 1982, helping to end the Israel–Lebanon war and in 2002–2005, helping to force Israel's pullout from Gaza in response to the Second Intifada. Reservists are the backbone of the Israeli military, from ensuring the army's day-to-day functioning to flying Israel's warplanes to bomb Gaza. The army cannot carry on with its daily operations without them, which is why refusal is such an effective form of resistance that we must support at all costs.

The most powerful kind of support that our global supporters can offer them right now is long-term, for the years and decades to come. Even small donations are what helps the Israeli refuser movement work towards the long-term, not just to end this genocide but to put a stop to all future wars and the occupation itself. This is our goal and we will achieve it.

Support our campaign to raise the money needed to continue our work. If you already donated, let your communities know about our campaign. We truly believe that this unprecedented stage in the struggle against the genocide has the power not only to end the assault on Gaza but open up a new political horizon here. It is a marathon, not a sprint, and Refuser Solidarity Network is increasing our support at unprecedented levels to meet the needs of the anti-war movement. […] we truly need your help to bring freedom, equality and justice to all.

In solidarity,

Mattan Helman
Executive Director
Refuser Solidarity Network

(Taken from an email sent to me by the Refuser Solidarity Network. Emphasis original.)

Every few days, the IDF Arabic Spokesman, Avichay Adraee, issues an evacuation order to Gaza residents. The wording is almost always identical: "The IDF is operating with great force to destroy terror organizations. For your safety’s sake, evacuate immediately." A map marking forbidden areas in red accompanies the announcement.

This is precisely where frequent changes are made: a darker shade of red marking the new forbidden area. It gets added to all the other, constantly expanding, red areas. The evacuation order has no expiration date. Areas that the army marked red never become clear again.

Even a quick peek at the maps reveals that the permitted area for two million residents is shrinking. The forbidden areas already constitute 82 percent of the Gaza Strip, stuffing them into the remaining 18 percent. Since Israel violated the cease-fire three months ago, 680,000 people have been forced to leave their homes, including 242,000 in just the past month.

The result is growing population density in the evacuee camps, a decline in living conditions, the spread of infectious diseases, loss of privacy and worsening mental stress — particularly among women and girls.

“It has become much more crowded since Operation Gideon’s Chariots began,” Gazan journalist Eman Hillis told Haaretz, “The entire north was evacuated to Gaza City. Even within the city, the dangerous areas expanded from Shujaiyeh to new areas, like Tufah, Zaytun and the Old City.”

"Even areas considered safe were evacuated, and residents are setting up tents anywhere they can," Hillis added. "There’s an open field in the city that the municipality used for months as a garbage dump. People couldn’t find free space, so they moved the garbage piles and set up tents between them. It’s a very, very sad place. People even put up tents in the middle of the street, but the municipality negotiated with them to move."

Territory is shrinking

The overcrowding is visible even from space. Tent encampments, like in Khan Yunis, Gaza City and other places, were destroyed and evacuated. Tents have popped up in every available space in the remaining areas outside the red zone, mainly in Muwasi in southern Gaza and in western Gaza City. There, tents were put up along the beach, on the piers stretching into the sea, between the ruins, on sidewalks and roads and within garbage dumps. Thousands of other displaced people are crowding within schools and public buildings amid worsening conditions.

The crowdedness is also palpable in the Damour camp for displaced persons, which the Damour for Community Development organization established with the support of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. The camp has 4,000 registered residents, but the people running services for the camp estimate that another 20,000 displaced people have arrived. They built tents in the alleys and around the compound.

The camp, which was also supposed to provide basic education for children and a community kitchen, is struggling to function. So, children there, like children elsewhere in Gaza, haven’t gone to school for nearly two years. "We’re currently in survival mode," said Barak Talmor, who managed the Arava Institute’s Jumpstarting Hope in Gaza program.

And there’s another difficulty. Anyone who manages to get their hands on food will have a hard time finding a place to assemble a meal. The tents don’t have enough space to cook, and most things are done at their entrances. The lucky ones cook on a fire they built from wood fragments or cardboard. Others are forced to burn plastic, causing foul and hazardous smells that pollute the atmosphere.

Victoria Rose, a British physician who volunteered until recently at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, said that many of the injured patients she treated included children who were injured in the displaced persons camps, many of them suffering burns from fire or boiling water.

One toilet per 200 people

The overcrowding makes daily life in Gaza insufferable, even regarding the most basic needs. Although several tent camps have proper public bathrooms, most residents are forced to rely on improvised toilets built over cesspools or jerry-rigged collection devices. Consequently, a pungent stench develops, and privacy is hard to maintain.

In some tent areas, there is only one toilet per 10 families. Most are separated only by a sheet of cloth or plastic that doesn’t offer sufficient privacy. There is approximately one toilet per 200 people in the displaced persons camp that the Arava Institute and Damour organization built. The World Health Organization recommends a ratio of no more than 20 people per toilet.

Women and girls suffer the most from the overcrowding. A UN report warned recently that many Gazan women avoid drinking water, so they won’t need to pee. Many women avoid walking to a bathroom or shower, lest strange men see them. Moreover, women are taking measures to stop their monthly period because they lack hygienic products. The UN also reported that nursing women have stopped breastfeeding because they have no privacy to do so. Hundreds of thousands of women in Gaza are dealing with emotional distress stemming from a lack of privacy and basic hygiene.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights collected accounts indicating that women fear going to the bathroom during the day due to feelings of shame. They also fear going at night because of the packs of dogs wandering among the tents. “Gaza is a conservative society,” Hillis said. “When you live in a tent and people see you, it’s challenging for women. They need to always wear a hijab.”

S., a 38-year-old Gazan, told the center: “I found myself cramped inside a tiny tent with my brother-in-law’s family. We’re on top of each other, with no space, no privacy, no sleep, not an ounce of dignity. I never remove my hijab and clothes, day or night, like I’m holding onto my last thread of modesty. Sometimes, I wait 10 days to shower. I’m suffering from lice and constantly feel disgusted with myself.”

Another woman, Riham, described how three families were living together in a classroom that measures 8 square meters. A cloth screen separates the families.

“I’m forced to sleep fully dressed, always on the edge, scared of any movement around me. I hold my blanket, looking for a shred of security among strangers,” Riham said. “The only thing separating us, the cloth, doesn’t afford privacy. I’m always worried I could be exposed.”

Tortuous nights

Fleas, mosquitoes, mice, rats and parasitic worms all thrive in the conditions created in the Gazan camps. If that weren’t enough, bombings destroyed the sewage system. The facilities that are still operating are partially shut down due to fuel shortages. The Israel Air Force also destroyed engineering equipment that the municipalities used in Gaza to clear away debris and garbage. Today, the authorities have limited capabilities to act — another factor contributing to the growth of pests. “Biologists could write entire research papers on the insects growing here,” the Arava Institute’s Talmor says.

Moreover, water is collecting amid the ruins and tens, providing ideal sites for mosquitoes. However, Israel doesn’t allow the introduction of chemicals that could treat the danger or sewage system equipment to prevent the creation of pools. Consequently, they cause residents constant suffering. “The nights are torturous. Everyone is scratching themselves and covering themselves up from head to toe,” one Gazan told the Palestinian Information Center. “But then it’s too hot and they remove something, and then the mosquitoes ambush them, and that’s how it is all night.”

“Pools are found everywhere possible near the tents because people use water, and these pools attract mosquitoes,” Hillis confirmed. “It’s become a serious problem in Gaza. The rodents also get in everywhere in the tent and can ruin the food. People often find worms crawling around the tent or ants crawling on the mattress. The sand is also very bothersome, especially when there’s wind. The displaced people eat bread with sand.”

Recent shooting incidents in the West Bank, in which one Palestinian was killed and two others seriously wounded by Israeli army fire, appear to contradict the IDF’s version of events and raise concerns over a possible reckless breach of the military’s rules of engagement.

On Tuesday, Israeli army soldiers shot and killed a 22-year-old Moataz Hajajla in the West Bank village of Al-Walaja, south of Jerusalem.

According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, Hajajla pulled a knife, attempted to stab the soldiers and tried to seize one of their weapons. However, his family and village residents claim the soldiers were not under any real threat and shot Hajajla only after assaulting him and his relatives.

The army also provided Haaretz with a photograph of the knife allegedly in Hajajla’s possession at the time of the incident.

Residents of Al-Walaja told Haaretz that for several weeks, soldiers have been entering the village each night, conducting patrols to assert their presence.

“They come between midnight and 5 A.M.,” said one resident. “They break down doors, destroy furniture and search homes — but never arrest anyone. What is this, [are we in] China? They just come in for no reason.”

According to Abed Hajajla, the victim’s uncle, soldiers entered the village early Tuesday morning, around 2 A.M. “They went to my brother’s house and asked him where his kids were,” he said.

“He told them they were next door. They then took him with them and said, ‘Show us.’ They didn’t hit him, but they forced his head down. When they got to the house, Moataz saw what was happening and said, ‘What are you doing? He’s an elderly and sick man.’ And without saying a word, they attacked and beat him.”

According to the family, the soldiers dragged Hajajla into an unfinished building nearby, where a group of young men were sitting and drinking coffee, and began beating him along with the others.

“Around 15 soldiers entered the house,” the uncle said. At some point, the soldiers separated Hajajla from the group and took him to the balcony. There, according to the army, he pulled out a knife and attempted to seize a soldier’s weapon. The soldiers shot him at least three times, killing him on the spot.

“Does it make any sense that someone would try to stab and disarm 15 soldiers inside a room?” Abed asked. “I’ve never seen a knife in his hand, and I’ve never seen the knife they’re talking about. He was just sitting at a neighbor’s house — why would he have a knife on him?”

Shortly afterward, the soldiers left the scene, taking Hajajla’s body with them. The army is still holding the body, and the family has not been informed when it will be returned for burial.

Also on Tuesday, in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of At-Tur, an Israel Police sniper seriously wounded a 12-year-old boy and a 21-year-old man.

Police claim that 12-year-old Iyass Raʻad Abu Mufreh and his 21-year-old cousin, Oudai Fadi Abu Jomaa, had been throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at officers. However, their families contend they were shot without provocation and have presented evidence to support their account.

According to family members and several Palestinian eyewitnesses, the two were standing on the street eating pizza, and there were no disturbances in the area. A video recording of the shooting, obtained by Haaretz, appears to support the family’s version of events.

“Their grandmother, my mother, had just returned from the Hajj pilgrimage, and we had all gathered at her place to welcome her,” their uncle Iyad said.

“The young guys went downstairs and ordered pizza. The street was quiet. They put the pizza box in the car and started eating. Suddenly, they saw something in the sky and thought it was a missile. Turns out it was a flare fired by the police, and then the shooting started.”

Lilana, a Jewish woman married to Abu Jomaa’s father and among the first to reach the scene, said, “I was cooking when I heard the shots and I ran outside. His father was next to him in shock. I told him to take off his shirt, and I started pressing on the wound in his back to stop the bleeding. The shooting was completely random as the neighborhood was absolutely quiet.”

The family presented a video recording that captures several of the sniper’s shots, fired from dozens of meters away. The area appears largely calm, and even if there had been some stone-throwing, the footage shows no immediate threat to police officers. In another clip, a pizza box is still visible on a car as family members attempt to evacuate the wounded.

Several hours after the incident, police officers arrived and confiscated all security cameras from the street.

Abu Jomaa sustained serious wounds to his abdomen and back and was taken to Al-Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem. He has undergone four surgeries so far, and doctors fear he may be left paralyzed from the waist down.

12-year-old Abu Mufreh was taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital and underwent surgery on his shoulder. Both remain hospitalized and face a lengthy rehabilitation process.

The Israel Police said in response, “During a recent operation by Border Police officers in the At-Tur neighborhood of East Jerusalem, several assailants were identified launching fireworks and throwing Molotov cocktails at the forces, endangering the lives of the officers. They returned fire to neutralize the threat. The incident is still under investigation.”

longer version https://peertube.mesnumeriques.fr/w/i8fzdv4orkVqA7G47JcDHm

Gaza's health ministry said that 202 Palestinians were killed, 1,037 were wounded in Gaza in the last 48 hours, while the United Nations' children's agency said the scarcity of drinking water was at a crisis point.

According to the […] ministry, 55,908 Palestinians were killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Since Israel one-sidedly terminated its cease-fire with Hamas on March 18, 5,599 Palestinians have been killed.

On Friday, Israeli fire killed at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza, many of whom were seeking food aid, local officials said. At least 25 people awaiting aid trucks were killed by Israeli action south of Netzarim in central Gaza, the […] local health authority said.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs a month-old U.S.-backed food distribution system, operates an aid site there, and aid trucks from other organizations, including the UN, also move through the area.

Commenting on the incident, the Israeli military said troops fired warning shots at suspected militants who advanced in a crowd towards them. Israeli aircraft then fired a missile and "eliminated the suspects," it said in a statement.

The military said it was aware that people other than the suspected militants were hurt and it was conducting a review. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said the incident did not occur at or near its distribution location.

Separately, Gaza medics said at least 19 other people were killed in Israeli military strikes across the enclave on Friday, including 12 people in a house in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the UN’s children’s agency UNICEF warned in Geneva that a shortage of fuel to operate wells and desalination plants in Gaza meant the enclave “is facing what would amount to a man-made drought.

“Children will begin to die of thirst […] Just 40 percent of drinking water production facilities remain functional,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters. “We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water.”

UNICEF also reported a 50% increase in children aged six months to 5 years admitted for treatment of malnutrition from April to May in Gaza, and half a million people going hungry.

In a statement, Hamas, which says Israel uses hunger as a weapon against Gaza's civilians, accused Israel of systematically targeting Palestinians seeking food. Israel denies this and contends Hamas steals aid, which the group denies.

In recent weeks, Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on Palestinians gathered at aid distribution points, resulting in dozens of civilian deaths and injuries. Humanitarian groups say [that] the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation system forces people to risk their lives by entering combat zones to access food.

Israel has said its actions were necessary to control crowds that posed a threat to its troops or to prevent breaches of restricted zones. But witnesses and human rights groups say many of the shootings appeared unprovoked and occurred without warning.

UNICEF said the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was "making a desperate situation worse". GHF said in a statement on Thursday that it had so far distributed nearly three million meals across three of its aid sites without incident.

The Red Cross said the "vast majority" of patients that arrived at its Gaza field hospital during mass casualty incidents since the American UN-circumventing aid system launched on May 27 had reported that they were wounded while trying to access aid at or around distribution points.

Michal Deutsch and her partner Matanel Ciechanowski are among the most determined and well-known activists in the protest movement demanding an end to the war and the release of hostages.

The couple, who live in Jerusalem, were founding members of the organization "Changing Direction" and dedicate their lives to various causes, paying a heavy price along the way: Both have been arrested dozens of times for their protest activities. "We refuse to accept the paralysis that gripped us after October 7 again," Ciechanowski says. "We must not fall asleep again."

They originally established "Changing Direction" to fight for climate justice and animal rights. When the judicial coup began in early 2023, the organization joined the student protests and other movements opposing the government's judicial reforms. When the war broke out on October 7, Deutsch and Ciechanowski were among the first to demonstrate for the return of the hostages, and among the first to link an overthrow of the governing coalition with their release.

"From a very early stage, we have said everyone must be returned and the government must be replaced. Families feared joining this message because they worried it might delay the deal," Ciechanowski explains. He adds, "The fight to bring back the hostages is part of the fight for life. It's a critical, urgent component and part of the same cause. To achieve this, we shouldn't narrow the messages but speak broadly: fight to return the hostages, change the government, and stop the war."

As part of their broader activism, the couple has recently protested against the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza.

"We wronged the hostages by not speaking out sooner about the horrors in Gaza," Deutsch says.

"Even those who care only about the hostages needed to speak up because every tool must be used to end the war." Ciechanowski agrees, adding, "We have to talk about what's happening in Gaza — both for the hostages, for the children who shouldn't be dying yet are dying by the thousands, and for the soldiers risking their lives to keep the coalition intact."

After the war with Iran erupted, the two were among the first to resume protests. In the past week, they demonstrated outside the homes of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who heads Israel's hostage negotiating team, and Industry and Economy Minister Nir Barkat, who both live in Jerusalem.

“People understand we cannot fall back into the post-October 7 discourse of ‘now is not the time,’” Deutsch says. “Regarding Iran, I try to come from a humble place, admitting I don’t know everything, but I have complete distrust in this government,” she adds. “It’s clear [that] this government doesn’t know how to end wars, and it’s not going to war to build a better future, but to serve its narrow interests.”

Deutsch called on the Israeli public to find a protected space near a minister or Knesset member's home and join protests. "The chance for the future is now — there's no reason to delay going out into the streets," she said.

Israel's communications and national security ministers announced on Friday that foreign journalists are now required to obtain prior written approval from the military censor for any broadcast from Israel during wartime, including its location, despite the fact that the censor holds no such authority.

The joint statement by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that broadcasting from combat zones or missile impact sites without the necessary authorization would constitute a criminal offense and a violation of censorship regulations.

Karhi and Ben-Gvir accused foreign media of endangering national security by "operating under the guise of journalism." Ben-Gvir added that "The media anarchy of the foreign media is over," making it clear that "anyone who does not respect the security rules will be dealt with by the Israel Police."

In response to a query from Haaretz, Karhi’s office said the authority for the ministers’ announcement stems from an order issued Wednesday by the chief military censor. However, that order, which has yet to be confirmed as signed or in effect, does not mention any such authority. The Justice Ministry declined to comment, and the IDF Spokesperson has yet to respond.

Israel’s chief military censor, Kobi Mandelblit, issued on Wednesday an emergency order requiring both Israeli and foreign media outlets, as well as social media operators, to submit for prior review any media reports revealing the location of missile impacts.

According to the order, anyone publishing printed or online material about the location of an enemy weapons’ impact, including missiles or drones, in the media or on the internet, including social media, blogs or chat groups, must submit it for prior review by the military censor. Violating the order, it states, could seriously harm state security.

In a post on Wednesday on X (formerly known as Twitter), Karhi said the order was the result of cooperation between himself and Ben-Gvir. "After shutting down [Qatari] Al Jazeera and [Lebanese] Al Mayadeen […] I approached the attorney general to examine how to enforce censorship rules on other foreign outlets that endanger state security during wartime," he wrote.

"I welcome the censor's decision to plug the holes with respect to other foreign broadcasts, and put an end to the lawlessness."

What does this practically mean?

Censorship rules have long applied to foreign journalists operating in Israel, even without this order, but not to their outlets, raising questions about what, if anything, has changed legally.

“The content of this order is reasonable under current circumstances in relation to [missile] impact site locations,” said Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. “What would be required is to physically block those photographing impact sites without a permit — but that’s not the job of the censor. Declaring an area off-limits is a job for the police.”

On Thursday, the police halted live broadcasts from international news agencies AP and Reuters, claiming their footage of impact sites had also been used by Al Jazeera — though it remains unclear why that would be illegal.

A press release from the police cited "Minister Ben-Gvir's policy" in coordination with Karhi, confirming that police were dispatched to halt transmissions by foreign media of "footage showing the precise locations of impacts — including footage used by Al Jazeera for illegal broadcasts."

A foreign journalist in contact with photographers whose work was halted told Haaretz there was no difference between footage captured by foreign news agencies and that of the Israeli photographers working alongside them, and that the censor had raised no objections to the latter. When asked by Haaretz to clarify the distinction, police declined to do so, issuing a vague statement that blurred the line between law enforcement and censorship.

"We are engaged in a campaign against an enemy state and must take strict measures against anyone broadcasting from impact sites in violation of the chief censor's instructions."

The police added that they stopped the foreign broadcast immediately "following a request from the Communications Ministry."

The Censorship Unit declined to respond to Haaretz's question about whether it had any role in the incident.

Shwartz Altshuler voiced skepticism about the order's ability to impact messaging on social platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, and questioned its enforceability. "In terms of the platforms, public information campaigns would be far more effective," she said. "For example, the Home Front Command's spokespersons could work intensively with the platforms to remove problematic content. That's a job for the Cyber Unit in the State Prosecutor's Office — not the censor."

"This order is a joke"

Prof. Adam Shinar, a legal scholar at Reichman University, added: “This order is completely unenforceable. Its definitions of ‘publication’ and ‘to publish’ explicitly refer to a clause in the 1945 Emergency Defense Regulations that doesn’t mention modern communications. So there’s a disconnect between the legal wording and today’s media landscape. I don’t think this applies to me or my neighbor on the seventh floor. No one seriously expects every resident of Petah Tikva who films something from their balcony and sends it to a friend on WhatsApp to first submit it to the censor.”

As for foreign media, Shinar said, “The censor doesn’t really have leverage over foreign news outlets. It relies on cooperation, so it asks them to submit materials voluntarily. But Israel isn’t going to jail Le Monde or BBC reporters who skip the censor. The chances of any consequences are slim. In my opinion, this order is a joke meant to ‘trap’ foreign media.”

In addition to Karhi’s post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the Government Press Office (GPO) issued a notice to journalists announcing the order, but included a glaring and puzzling error. The notice, titled “A State Under Threat,” included a summary that bore little relation to the actual order.

It details "a new emergency order" that "requires anyone planning to publish sensitive content — ideas, statements, information or opinions — that may be deemed offensive or threatening to national security, to submit them for prior review by the appropriate authorities."

The GPO called it "a dramatic step marking a new red line in enforcing the boundaries of free expression in sensitive times," adding that it applies to "even private posts intended for audiences in Israel or abroad."

Shwartz Altshuler responded: "This statement reflects a profound lack of understanding of the meaning of the right to freedom of expression, even and especially in times of war."

The GPO struggled to explain the discrepancy between its press release and the actual order. It told Haaretz: "The accompanying message to the censor's order was not meant to add any restrictions but merely to convey the legal language in more accessible, everyday Hebrew. If any discrepancy was created, it was an honest mistake, and we apologize for it."

A foreign journalist covering Israel for a foreign media outlet, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed on Friday that he had not been informed of any policy change.

“The censorship rules clearly do not include written permission for filming in Israel,” he said. “I spoke with the censorship office [on Thursday] and no one mentioned such permission. It seems like someone is trying to play games with us, I’m guessing Ben-Gvir’s people.”

(Emphasis original.)

On June 18, Israel’s Higher Planning Council approved a new military order allowing the army to conduct live-fire training in the 918 firing zone—an area that encompasses 12 Palestinian villages in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank. The villages were the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, chronicling the community’s decades-long fight to stay on their land.

➤ The decision paves the way for the complete destruction of all 12 villages, home to nearly 2,800 people, and marks a major escalation in what both residents and rights groups describe as the final stage of ethnic cleansing.

➤ The move was made without public notice, formalizing Israel’s annexation of the area and granting sweeping authority to the Israeli military to proceed with mass eviction and demolition.

➤ Lawyers say only two channels remain to stop the expulsions: on-the-ground solidarity and urgent diplomatic pressure.

Mattan here. I am the executive director of RSN, and in 2017, I refused to oppress Palestinians and subsequently spent 110 days in jail. I write to you in the middle of our mid-year campaign in order to address Israel's assault on Iran.

In the last couple of weeks, new signs appeared that signals Israel's inability to carry on the genocide on Gaza for long. More and more people started to refuse and resist the war. The Israeli army did not have enough soldiers to stay in Gaza for long, the majority of Israelis wanted a hostage deal and withdrawal from Gaza, and in politics, the coalition was at a breaking point and started to prepare for an election.

Then Israel attacked Iran... I want to be clear: The new war with Iran has nothing to do with the security and safety of the Israeli people. It is about remobilising Israelis to the army and helping the prime minister to stay in power by avoiding elections. It is about continuing the genocide without resistance from Israelis and the world. All eyes are on the war with Iran while people forget about Gaza.

Our partners on the ground know that. "The goal of the war is to help the government to continue eliminating our hostages and continue with war crimes in Gaza. I am calling to everyone who can to refuse," said Asaf Yakir, a reserve soldier who refuses to fight in Gaza or Iran and is part of Soldiers for the Hostages. Soldiers for the Hostages publicly declared that their position has not changed: "We refuse to take part in this war." Joining them are another 41 soldiers from intelligence and cyber units who recently published a refusal statement.

The goal of the war is to halt the resistance against the genocide in Gaza. We will not let the government stop us. We will not take part in this war, we refuse! We will resist until we end the genocide and the occupation, and all regional wars of aggression. The Israeli government has found a base of support among the general public for this new front, even among those that began to oppose the genocide in Gaza.

But the reality is more complicated: many people, especially those who oppose the prime minister, see the war as inevitable. This is an opp[or]tunity, [because] this new war can make [us] resist even more. Right now, we are working hard to shift the general public to resist the war. This war is not inevitable, it will not make anyone safer, and it is only an extension of the criminal genocide in Gaza. We need to stop the war, both in Gaza and in Iran, for the sake of the Palestinian people and our own futures.

We need you with us more than ever, […]. Help us put a stop to this endless war and genocide, help us to support the Israeli resistance to end the atrocities, the genocide and the occupation! We were already close to putting it to a stop, and we still can. Together we can end it!

In solidarity,

Mattan Helman
Executive Director
Refuser Solidarity Network

(Taken from an email sent to me by the Refuser Solidarity Network.)

This is the 24th year that the United Nations has released this report on grave violations against children.

The report, released annually, looks at the number of children globally who have been killed, maimed or recruited into armed conflict, among other things. The report only documents cases that the UN has been able to independently verify.

Now, despite ample evidence that Israel should have been included on this list for many years, it wasn’t – as the UN bowed to Israeli pressure not to be named in the report.

But that all changed last year when Israel was included for the first time. And now this year, marking two years in a row that Israel is named and shamed.

In the annexe of the report looking at 2024, it says Israeli forces remained on the list because they fulfilled the criteria of a “party that kills and maims children” and “a party that engages in attacks on schools and/or hospitals”.

Globally, the UN was able to verify 41,370 grave violations against children in 2024.

Roughly 20 percent of the total – more than 8,000 – were committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Report

Hello, my name is Ayah Mohammad. My family and I have been deeply affected by the war. If you’re able to help in any way, I would be truly grateful. You are our hope in this darkness. Here is our campaign link:

🔗 https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-mohameds-family-to-reach-safety-outside-gaza

The High Court of Justice has postponed and canceled hearings on petitions dealing with the rights of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the legality of Israeli warfare there, on the grounds of the state of emergency that was declared due to the war with Iran.

In this context, Justice Minister Yariv Levin placed the country's courts on emergency footing, instructing them to only handle urgent matters, such as hearings on criminal offenses related to the state of emergency and urgent petitions to the Supreme Court. It also includes detention hearings, including those on so-called administrative detention — detention without trials.

Human rights organizations warn that, in the wake of Levin's directive and under the cover of the war, Israel is continuing to violate international law in Gaza while precluding legal recourse.

This situation adds to the conduct of the Supreme Court since the beginning of the war in Gaza; as recently reported in Haaretz, it has validated most of Israel's actions in Gaza.

On Tuesday, a hearing was scheduled on a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, demanding that Palestinian security prisoners held in Israel be provided with adequate food. Many of these prisoners were detained during the war in Gaza. As early as April 2024, a petition was submitted concerning their feeding.

In December, the court issued a show-cause order to the state, instructing it to explain why it was not providing sufficient food to prisoners to meet their basic living standards. The court was presented with information indicating a significant decrease in the body weight of security prisoners and detainees.

The petition argued that a food reduction policy was in place that amounts to starvation and detention under torture-like conditions and violates Israeli and international law. In response, the state argued that the menu provided to security prisoners is based on professional standards and complies with the law.

On Sunday afternoon, the right-wing Movement for Governability and Democracy issued a statement condemning the slated hearing on the petition. "The High Court will deliberate on the incarceration conditions and diet of the members of the Nukhba unit (elite Hamas unit of whom many of the members participated in the October 7 attack)," they wrote.

"We checked again and again, and perhaps the Supreme Court will finally act responsibly in the war and the extreme emergency situation, but unfortunately, not, as of now, there is no change." A few hours later, the court announced the cancellation of the hearing; it has not yet been rescheduled.

ACRI legal adviser Oded Feller, who represents the organization in the petition, says they waited a long time for the hearing. According to him, since the start of the war in Gaza, there have been repeated reports of severe incidents in Israeli facilities, including torture, violence, humiliation and even preventable deaths. He adds that ACRI has evidence of the starvation of thousands of security prisoners and drastic weight loss.

"There has never been a decision by the security cabinet to act this way, and the reason is solely [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir's Kahanist obsession," he says.

Feller adds that the outgoing Shin Bet security service chief, Ronen Bar, also warned that the conduct in the prisons could be considered a crime under international law and a violation of the anti-torture convention. "He emphasized that there is no benefit to Ben-Gvir's actions, which the Israel Prison Service cooperates with, only drawbacks."

In a related matter, on Sunday, Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron extended the state's deadline for responding to petitions concerning humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The petitions, filed by four human rights organizations, demand that Israel take effective measures to ensure humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population.

Elron's decision followed a request from the State Prosecutor's Office that, he said, cited the war with Iran and the state of emergency.

ACRI, Gisha, HaMoked Center for the Defense of the Individual and Physicians for Human Rights — Israel say the hearing and granting of the petition are urgent. The petition notes that dozens of Gazans have been killed and hundreds injured recently while trying to obtain food at aid distribution sites and states that all residents of the Gaza Strip are at risk of starvation.

In a rare move, in May, Elron instructed the state to indicate in its response to the petition if the "factual situation" in Gaza had changed so as to justify its denial. The petitioners argue, however, that "even if certain details change, the situation on the ground indicates a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip due to Israel's policies, and the state, with the help of the Supreme Court, is evading the responsibility dictated by this."

According to the petition, "Thousands of children in the [Gaza] Strip suffer from severe malnutrition and the number of deaths resulting from this has recently increased." It further argues that "the vast majority of residents suffer from a lack of food and water and are struggling to survive" and that "the collapsing health care system is unable to attend to the hungry, the sick, the injured, children, pregnant women and new mothers."

Osnat Cohen-Lifshitz, the director of Gisha's legal department, says that particularly in wartime, "Ordinary people need the protection of the court against the state's monstrous power." She adds that "The courts, which even in peacetime are forgiving of the injustices committed by the state, as if they were the innocent pranks of kindergartners, find it appropriate to protect the state and not those who are harmed by its excessive power." She calls on "the courts to fulfill their role, to examine and critique the state's conduct tirelessly even now and compel it to comply with the rules of international and Israeli law."

Also delayed by the emergency-footing order is a petition from three reservists: Or Szneiberg and Avshalom Zohar Sal, who are serving in Gaza, and Aviad Houminer-Rosenblum, who is serving on the northern border. They are asking the Supreme Court to issue an order instructing Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to cancel the determination that "concentration and movement of the population" in Gaza is one of the objectives of the operation.

In the petition, submitted through lawyers Michael Sfard, Einat Gayer and Snir Klein, they argue at length that this is an improper goal that explicitly contradicts international law. The petition was filed on May 29, and though three weeks have passed, no hearing has been scheduled yet, and the court has not instructed the defense minister and the IDF chief to respond to it.

An urgent motion filed this week by Sfard on behalf of the petitioners requests an urgent hearing and a directive ordering the state to submit a preliminary response. Sfard emphasizes in the motion that the petitioners are currently in reserve duty and fear the operation in which they are participating is based on a manifestly illegal order.

"To the best of the petitioners' knowledge, at this moment, and with even greater intensity under the cover of the war in Iran, the Gazan population is being forcibly transferred to the southern [Gaza] Strip without any intention of allowing their return and with the aim of removing them to third countries," Sfard writes. "If this is indeed the case, it constitutes egregious violations of international law and the commission of serious criminal offenses."

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday condemned "Israel's" military strikes against Iran, warning the United States and European powers against "fanning up the flames of war," according to a Foreign ministry spokesperson.

President Donald Trump has fuelled speculation about the US joining its key ally "Israel" in military action against Iran, saying Wednesday that his patience had "run out" with Tehran, but that it was still not too late for talks.

He later said he had not yet made a decision on whether to join "Israel" in bombing Iran and warned that the country's current leadership could fall as a result of the war.

Related: ‘Over 80 Palestinians Reportedly Killed Thursday by Israeli Fire in Gaza as Global Focus Remains on Iran War’