First Posted 31st May 2024, Last Updated 4th August 2024
Current Figures, sourced from Al Jazeera: 1
In Gaza: At least 39,583 killed – including 15,000 children and 10,000 missing – and at least 91,398 injured. In Occupied West Bank: At least 605 killed, including 144 children, and more than 5,350 injured. In Israel: At least 1,139 killed, and at least 8,730 injured. Damaged infrastructure includes: More than half of Gaza’s homes have been destroyed or damaged, 80% of commercial facilities, 85.8% of school buildings, 16 out of 35 hospitals are partially functioning, 83% of groundwater wells not operational, and 267 places of worship.
Link to Operation Olive Branch, a grassroots movement to support and amplify aid requests of Palestinian families: https://linktr.ee/opolivebranch
To read further on the history, and current devastation (as of March 6th 2024): https://www.fintalkshistory.com/?p=88
Notes: A number of these sources have been sourced from social media – in part because news outlets continue to report neglectfully, and hide the true horrors of the situation. Typically, such sources may be looked down upon, and seen as less reputable or inauthentic; but not only is this the main, uncensored resource that we have, but these reports are coming raw out of Palestine, and should not be ignored. In every case, I have included citations and links to transcribed testimonies, and would urge you to watch them yourself. Additionally, a warning that this collation also includes photographic sources which are incredibly disturbing.
EURO-MED HUMAN RIGHTS MONITOR REPORT – ‘Hostages of Israeli revenge in the Gaza Strip: Testimonies of 100 released Palestinian detainees reveal crimes of torture, cruel treatment’
“After being stripped of our clothes and placed in handcuffs, [one in five people] were told to line up in front of cameras, get down on their knees, and bow their head. I was among these people … [O]ne of the soldiers blindfolded me, put a sticker with a number on my shoulder, and made me run for about 500 metres before throwing me to the ground … He also hit me with his shoe, which made the pain worse, and [specifically] at the site [of a recent operation], which made me pass out multiple times. I asked them to bring a doctor or take me to a doctor, but they refused … “I was approached by a soldier who asked, ‘Do you want to die?’ He lifted his own weapon, removed its components, and fired close to my head.”
Abdul Qader Jamal Tafesh, 33, who spoke with the Euro-Med Monitor team after being taken into custody by the Israeli army from the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, where he had been sheltering as a displaced person.2
“They severely beat me for more than half an hour continuously, then forced me to sit on a bathroom chair next to the room. One of the soldiers asked me to recite the Shahada (a Muslim prayer said when one believes he is about to die) and after I did, he shot straight into the wall beside me … After that, I was handcuffed and tied in place while the soldiers threw stones at me. About fifteen minutes later, they took me out [of the bathroom] and threw me on the floor of the room. They also stepped on my head, and four of them peed on me while insulting me.”
M.Q., a Gaza City resident and engineer employed by a local company, requested that his full name be withheld due to safety concerns.3
UN REPORT – ‘Testimonies from the Occupied Palestinian Territory show new depths of Israel’s atrocities: UN expert’
“The pace and intensity with which this violence has spread to the rest of the occupied territory confirms that no Palestinian is safe under Israel’s unfettered control.”
UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese 5
“Israeli policies spanning the occupied Palestinian territory are unquestionably endangering Palestinian existence on their land … The focus of the international community must zero-in on the most likely implication – the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians – and States must do everything in their power to prevent it.”
UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese6
MISC TESTIMONIES & PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTARY
“[I’m crying] because of my siblings: my brother was martyred during the war and my brother Ismail is with the occupation, and dad- dad, and dad died … I am nine years old … We [have] had to flee from one place to the next, and our home was bombed as well as my aunt’s, and my grandfather’s, and all of them- all my uncles’ houses.”
@EyeonPalestine – https://x.com/EyeonPalestine/status/1796571032456966406
“These past days, we’ve had no rest. We barely slept through the night, and the kids in our family don’t know what to do. They don’t know what to expect. They barely understand what’s going on. We had to evacuate — leave from house to house — three times. My neighboorhood was bombed with white phosphorus, and it is known to be illegal, but apparently nothing is too illegal for it to be used on us. On Oct. 13, [Israel] asked 1.1 million of us, people from Gaza, to go South. But the question is, where should [we] go? They’re asking [us] to leave [our] houses, [our] homes, [our] neighboorhood, the people that [we] love, and [our] friends to go evacuate to the South. We don’t have anywhere to go. They told us to go South because it’s [going to be] be safer, then they started bombing us [in the] South. I don’t know what you guys want, or expect me to do, but we have faced — [Israel has] been [committing] war crimes. They cut off electricity, water, and all life resources that a human being needs to live. They’re breaking international law again and again. But who cares? It’s just some kids in Palestine, right? No one cares about us! How are we supposed to get our voice out? What we’re asking for is peace. We want this to stop. What is our fault of being civilians? Was it my only fault that I have been born in this city, or in this country? Is that the only fault of those kids that have been killed? Most of the people that have been bombed and killed were civilians, babies, children, they don’t understand what’s going on. I can tell you, half of the people right here with me, half of those kids don’t understand why this is happening to them. They’re asking why. Could you tell us why this is happening?”
Sara Besasio, a 16-years-old Palestinian from Gaza. October 22 2023.7
- AJLabs, ‘Israel-Hamas War in Maps and Charts: Live Tracker’ (Al Jazeera 9 October 2023) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker. ↩︎
- Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, ‘Hostages of Israeli Revenge in the Gaza Strip: Testimonies of 100 Released Palestinian Detainees Reveal Crimes of Torture, Cruel Treatment’ (Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor 21 May 2024) https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6342/Hostages-of-Israeli-revenge-in-the-Gaza-Strip:-Testimonies-of-100-released-Palestinian-detainees-reveal-crimes-of-torture. ↩︎
- Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, ‘Hostages of Israeli Revenge in the Gaza Strip: Testimonies of 100 Released Palestinian Detainees Reveal Crimes of Torture, Cruel Treatment’ (Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor 21 May 2024) https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6342/Hostages-of-Israeli-revenge-in-the-Gaza-Strip:-Testimonies-of-100-released-Palestinian-detainees-reveal-crimes-of-torture. ↩︎
- Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, ‘Hostages of Israeli Revenge in the Gaza Strip: Testimonies of 100 Released Palestinian Detainees Reveal Crimes of Torture, Cruel Treatment’ (Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor 21 May 2024) https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6342/Hostages-of-Israeli-revenge-in-the-Gaza-Strip:-Testimonies-of-100-released-Palestinian-detainees-reveal-crimes-of-torture. ↩︎
- United Nations Human Rights, ‘Testimonies from the Occupied Palestinian Territory Show New Depths of Israel’s Atrocities: UN Expert’ (United Nations Human Rights Office Of The High Commissioner 25 April 2024) https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/testimonies-occupied-palestinian-territory-show-new-depths-israels. ↩︎
- United Nations Human Rights, ‘Testimonies from the Occupied Palestinian Territory Show New Depths of Israel’s Atrocities: UN Expert’ (United Nations Human Rights Office Of The High Commissioner 25 April 2024) <https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/testimonies-occupied-palestinian-territory-show-new-depths-israels>. ↩︎
- Institute for Palestine Studies, ‘Testimonies from Gaza Youth: Dunia Aburahma and Sara Besaiso’ (Institute for Palestine Studies22 October 2023) https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1654465. ↩︎
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