I have had a difficult time keeping up with these updates since July, as there is so much happening every day at this point. Also, I have the general sense that no one here really cares all that much so I am kinda just talking into the void but now there's two days in a row of coordinated attacks by Israel in it's neighboring country of Lebanon, where they targeted and blew up electronic devices.
Pagers on this Tuesday, killing 9 and injuring thousands of civilians leading to overwhelmed hospitals
https://apnews.com/article/lebanon-hezbollah-israel-exploding-pagers-8893a09816410959b6fe94aec124461band now
radios* on Wednesday, leading to more deaths including those currently attending funerals for the previous day's attacks.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-planted-explosives-hezbollahs-taiwan-made-pagers-say-sources-2024-09-18/(
*Sorry for the misinformation here. It wasn't only radios but phones, laptops, and other electronic devices were also turned into improvised explosives. I should have done more research before I posted.
https://itc.ua/en/news/not-just-pagers-iphones-laptops-electronic-locks-and-other-devices-exploded-in-lebanon-today/)
A clear breach of international law and the Geneva convention:
https://lieber.westpoint.edu/exploding-pagers-law/(particularly the addendum on booby-trapped objects made to look like every-day devices that even Israel had signed, and the clause on preventative measures to limit civilian casualties, which Israel hadn't ever signed anyways so who cares, right?).
I will try my best to summarize the last month and half in a short page.
Week of 8/4-8/10Israel bombed more schools killing 80 in Al-Tabaeen, 30 in Gaza City,
https://www.npr.org/2024/08/10/nx-s1-5070489/israeli-airstrike-gaza-school9 members of UNRWA were found to have been involved in the October 7th Hamas Attack and were fired from the aid organization
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1152841The EU calls for Israel to stop destroying infrastructure such as water treatment plants in Gaza (which Israel ignores)
https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/gazastatement-high-representative-destruction-critical-civilian-infrastructure-and-worsening_enYemeni rebel group, Houthis takes down 2 US drones
https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebels-american-mq9-reaper-drones-2ca2dc1c5316ca5473c3843d97780b2bAnd a rocket attack at US base in Iraq injures 7
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/05/politics/personnel-injured-iraq-al-asad-airbase/index.htmlIsrael launches a major offensive into Khan Younis (a previously designated safe zone)
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/families-flee-new-israeli-assault-gazas-khan-younis-2024-08-09/UN is called to investigate the rape and torture of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/08/israels-escalating-use-torture-against-palestinians-custody-preventableA temporary 3 Day ceasefire was agreed to after the largest string of casualties so far in the war
https://www.voanews.com/a/fragile-gaza-truce-between-israel-and-islamic-jihad-holds-/6691465.htmlIt lasted 3 minutes
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2022/08/08/Israel-says-striking-Gaza-militants-after-start-of-ceasefire-Israel launches more airstrikes into Lebanon
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-strike-kills-senior-hamas-figure-south-lebanon-2024-08-09/Future President Kamala Harris says ceasefire is necessary after protestors appear at rally on the day that an airstrike at a UN School kills 100 sheltering civilians
https://www.yahoo.com/news/harris-urges-hostage-deal-ceasefire-053744610.html
Week of 8/11-8/17Hamas agrees to ceasefire deal laid out by the United States, with the support of Egypt and Qatar. Netanyahu still refuses to agree to it (even after Hamas dropped several of their key demands including the ceasefire being permanent)
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/11/middleeast/hamas-sinwar-ceasefire-netanyahu-intl/index.htmlWestern leaders have asked Iran to hold off on their retaliatory strike in response to the Israeli bombing during the inauguration of Iran's new president. Iran has said they will not retaliate if a ceasefire is reached.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/only-gaza-ceasefire-can-delay-irans-israel-response-sources-say-2024-08-13/As of today, September 19th, Iran has not yet launched the major offensive it has planned, and is waiting to see how the ceasefire deals play out.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/12/world/middleeast/iran-israel-retaliation-attack-explained.htmlMore evacuation orders were announced for the Gaza city of Khan Younis
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/08/11/world/israel-iran-hamas-gaza-warCeasefire and hostage deal talks resume in Doha, Qatar
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjw32jj4973oAt this point, at least 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240815-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-qatar-set-to-host-high-stakes-gaza-ceasefire-talksIsrael enters these talks with a new demand, that they keep control of all the territory through Gaza's southern border
https://www.npr.org/2024/08/14/g-s1-16958/gaza-ceasefire-talks-israel-hamasPolio, a highly infectious virus spreads in Gaza due to the breakdown of all medical services, and supplies of clean water
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/16/gaza-sees-first-polio-case-in-25-years-as-un-calls-for-mass-vaccinationsNetanyahu continues to prevent his negotiators from agreeing to the ceasefire deal
https://www.axios.com/2024/08/19/netanyahu-ceasefire-hostage-deal-demands
Week of 8/18-8/24US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrives in Israel and claims that it is Hamas who is holding up the ceasefire deal
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/blinken-says-netanyahu-supports-gaza-ceasefire-bridging-proposal-2024-08-19/Hamas leader counters that they have already agreed to several of the US-endorsed ceasefire deals, but Israel keeps adding new demands and moving the goalpost
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/senior-hamas-official-criticizes-blinkens-gaza-proposal-claim-2024-08-19/Israeli tanks enter the Deir el-Balah region forcing more evacuations
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-tanks-push-deeper-into-gaza-biden-urges-peace-2024-08-22/Israel launches more attacks on Lebanese soil
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-815681At the Democratic National Convention, parents of Israeli hostage in Gaza give emotional speech asking for an end to ceasefire and emphasizing that we must listen to the voices of those effected by the ongoing conflict.
https://apnews.com/article/hamas-hostages-dnc-democratic-convention-8beec50f25edfef0c2430655291254dfThe DNC apparently doesn't seem to think this includes families of the Palestinians experiencing genocide.
https://www.axios.com/2024/08/22/dnc-palestinian-american-speech-deniedThe continued war is proving detrimental to Israel's economy
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68884729
Week of 8/25-8/31Hamas rejects new demands added by Israel, but has said it would agree to the previous plan suggested by the United States
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-says-it-rejects-new-israeli-conditions-gaza-ceasefire-talks-2024-08-25/Israel and Hezbollah have a major exchange of fire pulling Lebanon further into the current conflict
https://www.axios.com/2024/08/25/israel-hezbollah-lebanon-attackThe UN is forced to halt aid operations as further evacuation orders are announced by Israel
https://dailyprogress.com/news/nation-world/un-aid-operations-paused-amid-evacuation-orders/video_0dfbc2a7-8718-59ef-8816-bb98250c94a8.htmlIsrael abducts and tortures Palestinian doctors and healthcare workers
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/26/israel-palestinian-healthcare-workers-torturedIsrael launches major ground offensive into the West Bank
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-hamas-war-idf-west-bank-operation-palestinians-killed/Note this is not Gaza where most of the war has been occurring so far, which means I have to update the title to "the war on Palestine" rather than just Gaza.
Well I would, but as I have posted this, as mentioned before, with the two electronic warfare based mass casualty events in Lebanon, this is now officially a war on not just Palestine but Lebanon as well, but we are getting ahead of ourselves here. Back to the week of 8/25:Large scale missile attacks are conducted against the west bank. Israeli foreign minister says the plan is to conduct a Gaza-style operation in this occupied territory as well.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/28/middleeast/israel-operation-west-bank-intl-hnk/index.htmlWorld Food Programme is forced to suspend activities after being the frequent target of Israeli attacks
https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-temporarily-suspend-staff-movement-across-gaza-following-security-incident-targeted-wfp
That's it for august.
It should be emphasized that with now numerous attacks occurring against civilians and refugee camps daily, I have stopped including them in these updates. On every single day you look up in august, however, you can find a home, school, hospital, or United Nations-run refugee center that has been the target of an Israeli airstrike or ground assault.
I am going to have to post whats been happening in September in a second post below, maybe later today. I need a bit of a break to process all of this again.
I will end, however with this:
On the 2nd of September, in an extremely rare criticism of Netanyahu, President Joe Biden, a staunch Zionist, criticized the Israeli Prime Minister for consistently and intentionally loving up these ceasefire deals
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-netanyahu-secure-hostage-deal-amid-protests-israel/story?id=113322446If you can get even Genocide Joe to say, look man enough is enough, how loving off base are you?