Interview with Dr. Swee Ang Chai, co-Founder and Patron of British Charity Medical Aid for Palestinians
Why was the Lancet letter which has 24 signatories of doctors and scientists published?
Dr. Swee Ang Chai: All the authors and signatories fear the worse at the beginning of this crisis which erupted in early July based on their previous experience. However the situation has got much worse since the publication of the letter. Gaza has already been declared a disaster area by the UK government. Despite the destruction of infrastructure, doctors and healthcare workers in Gaza continued to work despite severe conditions and their personal circumstances. Their own homes are being destroyed and families killed, and to be landed with more than 12,000 wounded is simply overwhelming for any medical system. That this is why Swee and her surgical colleagues wanted to assist by volunteering to go to Gaza. As of yesterday (22 August 2014) the death toll reached 2083, with 50% women and children. Eighty five families were annihilated, and 12,656 injured. Forty five clinics and fifteen hospital were destroyed (two of the hospitals completely flattened), 8 fire stations, 1 ambulance station. Health institutions should be protected as sanctuaries under international law for the wounded and sick people, but they were targeted.
You and your consultant surgical colleague have just been deported as you entered Israel to get to Gaza… elaborate.
They first gave me a three month Israeli visa of the B2 type when they thought I was a tourist. Then when they realized I was going to Gaza, my colleague and I were taken aside and interrogated in a very humiliating way for three hours, following that we were detained, and deported after around 16-17 hours. But the personal humiliation, detention and deportation is not the worst part. It is the realisation that this is part of the siege imposed on Gaza. The siege does not only apply to medical equipment and supplies for Gaza but also to people who want to get to Gaza to assist. They can stop me from getting to Gaza but they cannot stop me from caring for and supporting the Palestinians, and they cannot stop the world from knowing about what they do to Palestinians. These crimes committed against Palestinians cannot be covered up. I will raise my voice and say what happened in Gaza. Gaza was shelled with tons of ammunition and depleted uranium which not only kill immediately but leave residues which emit radioactive rays causing malformations in utero and miscarriages. And this will continue despite repeated ceasefires. Gazans want to rebuild their broken homes but building materials are blockaded. People have no choice but to rebuild their broken homes with rubble contaminated with radioactive uranium as the siege continues. What do you want them to do? They have no choice but to rebuild their homes over mounds of destruction and ‘nuclear’ waste. Even if the war stops, these rays will have an impact on people’s lives.
Is Britain and the USA complicit in this?
I will not say that all of Britain and the US are complicit. Some in high positions are. But I can tell you that within a week of having published the Lancet letter, we got 20,000 signatures endorsing the letter. But there are others who are protesting against the letter at the same time. And there are people who have been subjected to threats via email saying that if you continue to support Palestinians you will be killed. But we must say what we have to say, this is the truth. This is what is happening, massacres, and if we are silent in the face of massacres we would not be fit to be doctors and scientists. We have to be witnesses. 32 years ago, I was a doctor supporting Israel, and my family and I used to support Israel. But when Israel invaded and occupied Lebanon in 1982, and bombed Lebanon for ten weeks, I could not tolerate it anymore. I decided not to support Israel and volunteered to help the wounded in Lebanon. Later I went to Gaza. My life changed, when I went to Lebanon, I went to Sabra and Shatilla, and I did not find terrorists. I found a people who are patient, gentle and generous and they welcomed me, amidst their enormous suffering. But they were labeled as terrorists. After the evacuation of the PLO, when they were defenceless, they were massacred. I went back after the attack (1982), and I found that some of the patients I treated were killed. I went back to London, and continued with my work and it is impossible to say nothing. For 32 years, I decided not to be silent , and will speak up for Palestinians as a witness to what happened to them. I am also a friend of the Palestinians. So wherever I go I will talk about what happened to Palestinians and the injustice which they have been enduring, and I will do this until I die.
Interviewer: You have written a book: From Beirut to Jerusalem, but since that time, there has been no change for the Palestinians. You were very angry. Let me read a section of the Gaza letter (published by Lancet):
“We register with dismay that only 5% of our Israeli academic colleagues signed an appeal to their government to stop the military operation against Gaza. We are tempted to conclude that with the exception of this 5%, the rest of the Israeli academics are complicit in the massacre and destruction of Gaza. We also see the complicity of our countries in Europe and North America in this massacre and the impotence once again of the international institutions and organisations to stop this massacre” the letter is directed to Who?
Dr. Swee Ang Chai: This paragraph refers to all people who are guilty of knowing that the massacre is going on and yet say nothing. They are complicit in the crime. There are also the people who deliberately cover it up. It is our duty and that of Mayadeen to inform the world of what is happening. But when we speak up, many attacked us because they were complicit in this crime , and tried to cover up what is happening by intimidating and silencing us. For example deporting doctors so that we do not see and witness what is happening. But they forget that the Palestinian doctors are still there, and they can tell the world what is going on because they are there. For the rest of the world, some do not take a stand because of lack of knowledge and it is our role to inform them. Others are worried about speaking up through fear, but we must support them to take a stand.
What do you think of Israel’s attack on people, children etc., why do you think they are killing them?
I am very sad because only 10% of Israel want the massacre to stop and the rest want it to continue. In other words the other 90% of Israelis want Palestinians chucked out or killed, and this is compatible with ethnic cleansing and mass extermination, a strong word, but what is happening in Gaza is an attempted or incremental genocide..
Why do you decide to publish the letter in the Lancet?
As you know this is a strong letter. many editors have difficulty with it. But we know the Lancet is a prestigious journal, and Richard Horton took the risk in publishing this. He knows Palestine well, since several years. His conscience made him publish this letter. He is paying a high price for publishing the letter. There is a nasty campaign to get him fired.
Thank you Dr. Swee Ang Chai, founder of Medical Aid for Palestinians and for your voice as a medical doctor and humanitarian.
by Paola Manduca, Iain Chalmers, Derek Summerfield, Mads Gilbert, Swee Ange, on behalf of 24 signatories
We are doctors and scientists, who spend our lives developing means to care and protect health and lives. We are also informed people; we teach the ethics of our professions, together with the knowledge and practice of it. We all have worked in and known the situation of Gaza for years.
On the basis of our ethics and practice, we are denouncing what we witness in the aggression of Gaza by Israel.
We ask our colleagues, old and young professionals, to denounce this Israeli aggression. We challenge the perversity of a propaganda that justifies the creation of an emergency to masquerade a massacre, a so-called “defensive aggression”. In reality it is a ruthless assault of unlimited duration, extent, and intensity. We wish to report the facts as we see them and their implications on the lives of the people.
We are appalled by the military onslaught on civilians in Gaza under the guise of punishing terrorists. This is the third large scale military assault on Gaza since 2008. Each time the death toll is borne mainly by innocent people in Gaza, especially women and children under the unacceptable pretext of Israel eradicating political parties and resistance to the occupation and siege they impose.
This action also terrifies those who are not directly hit, and wounds the soul, mind, and resilience of the young generation. Our condemnation and disgust are further compounded by the denial and prohibition for Gaza to receive external help and supplies to alleviate the dire circumstances.
The blockade on Gaza has tightened further since last year and this has worsened the toll on Gaza’s population. In Gaza, people suffer from hunger, thirst, pollution, shortage of medicines, electricity, and any means to get an income, not only by being bombed and shelled. Power crisis, gasoline shortage, water and food scarcity, sewage outflow and ever decreasing resources are disasters caused directly and indirectly by the siege.1
People in Gaza are resisting this aggression because they want a better and normal life and, even while crying in sorrow, pain, and terror, they reject a temporary truce that does not provide a real chance for a better future. A voice under the attacks in Gaza is that of Um Al Ramlawi who speaks for all in Gaza: “They are killing us all anyway—either a slow death by the siege, or a fast one by military attacks. We have nothing left to lose—we must fight for our rights, or die trying.”2
Gaza has been blockaded by sea and land since 2006. Any individual of Gaza, including fishermen venturing beyond 3 nautical miles of the coast of Gaza, face being shot by the Israeli Navy. No one from Gaza can leave from the only two checkpoints, Erez or Rafah, without special permission from the Israelis and the Egyptians, which is hard to come by for many, if not impossible. People in Gaza are unable to go abroad to study, work, visit families, or do business. Wounded and sick people cannot leave easily to get specialised treatment outside Gaza. Entries of food and medicines into Gaza have been restricted and many essential items for survival are prohibited.3 Before the present assault, medical stock items in Gaza were already at an all time low because of the blockade.3 They have run out now. Likewise, Gaza is unable to export its produce. Agriculture has been severely impaired by the imposition of a buffer zone, and agricultural products cannot be exported due to the blockade. 80% of Gaza’s population is dependent on food rations from the UN.
Much of Gaza’s buildings and infrastructure had been destroyed during Operation Cast Lead, 2008—09, and building materials have been blockaded so that schools, homes, and institutions cannot be properly rebuilt. Factories destroyed by bombardment have rarely been rebuilt adding unemployment to destitution.
Despite the difficult conditions, the people of Gaza and their political leaders have recently moved to resolve their conflicts “without arms and harm” through the process of reconciliation between factions, their leadership renouncing titles and positions, so that a unity government can be formed abolishing the divisive factional politics operating since 2007. This reconciliation, although accepted by many in the international community, was rejected by Israel. The present Israeli attacks stop this chance of political unity between Gaza and the West Bank and single out a part of the Palestinian society by destroying the lives of people of Gaza. Under the pretext of eliminating terrorism, Israel is trying to destroy the growing Palestinian unity. Among other lies, it is stated that civilians in Gaza are hostages of Hamas whereas the truth is that the Gaza Strip is sealed by the Israelis and Egyptians.
Gaza has been bombed continuously for the past 14 days followed now by invasion on land by tanks and thousands of Israeli troops. More than 60 000 civilians from Northern Gaza were ordered to leave their homes. These internally displaced people have nowhere to go since Central and Southern Gaza are also subjected to heavy artillery bombardment. The whole of Gaza is under attack. The only shelters in Gaza are the schools of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), uncertain shelters already targeted during Cast Lead, killing many.
According to Gaza Ministry of Health and UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),1 as of July 21, 149 of the 558 killed in Gaza and 1100 of the 3504 wounded are children. Those buried under the rubble are not counted yet. As we write, the BBC reports of the bombing of another hospital, hitting the intensive care unit and operating theatres, with deaths of patients and staff. There are now fears for the main hospital Al Shifa. Moreover, most people are psychologically traumatised in Gaza. Anyone older than 6 years has already lived through their third military assault by Israel.
The massacre in Gaza spares no one, and includes the disabled and sick in hospitals, children playing on the beach or on the roof top, with a large majority of non-combatants. Hospitals, clinics, ambulances, mosques, schools, and press buildings have all been attacked, with thousands of private homes bombed, clearly directing fire to target whole families killing them within their homes, depriving families of their homes by chasing them out a few minutes before destruction. An entire area was destroyed on July 20, leaving thousands of displaced people homeless, beside wounding hundreds and killing at least 70—this is way beyond the purpose of finding tunnels. None of these are military objectives. These attacks aim to terrorise, wound the soul and the body of the people, and make their life impossible in the future, as well as also demolishing their homes and prohibiting the means to rebuild.
Weaponry known to cause long-term damages on health of the whole population are used; particularly non fragmentation weaponry and hard-head bombs.4, 5 We witnessed targeted weaponry used indiscriminately and on children and we constantly see that so-called intelligent weapons fail to be precise, unless they are deliberately used to destroy innocent lives.
We denounce the myth propagated by Israel that the aggression is done caring about saving civilian lives and children’s wellbeing.
Israel’s behaviour has insulted our humanity, intelligence, and dignity as well as our professional ethics and efforts. Even those of us who want to go and help are unable to reach Gaza due to the blockade.
This “defensive aggression” of unlimited duration, extent, and intensity must be stopped.
Additionally, should the use of gas be further confirmed, this is unequivocally a war crime for which, before anything else, high sanctions will have to be taken immediately on Israel with cessation of any trade and collaborative agreements with Europe.
As we write, other massacres and threats to the medical personnel in emergency services and denial of entry for international humanitarian convoys are reported.6 We as scientists and doctors cannot keep silent while this crime against humanity continues. We urge readers not to be silent too. Gaza trapped under siege, is being killed by one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated modern military machines. The land is poisoned by weapon debris, with consequences for future generations. If those of us capable of speaking up fail to do so and take a stand against this war crime, we are also complicit in the destruction of the lives and homes of 1·8 million people in Gaza.
We register with dismay that only 5% of our Israeli academic colleagues signed an appeal to their government to stop the military operation against Gaza. We are tempted to conclude that with the exception of this 5%, the rest of the Israeli academics are complicit in the massacre and destruction of Gaza. We also see the complicity of our countries in Europe and North America in this massacre and the impotence once again of the international institutions and organisations to stop this massacre.
This list is constantly updated due to the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza since July 8th. The following 1596 names have been confirmed – the actual death is at least at 2137.
We realize the number of slain Palestinians is higher than this. The Ministry of Health has stated that a total of 2137, been killed. We are still awaiting confirmation of some names.
The number includes 577 children, 263 women, and 102 elderly, since July 8, while more than 11100, including 3374 children, 2088 women and 410 elderly, have been injured.
This site, ‘Beyond Numbers,’ has pictures of many of these victims.
Killed Tuesday, August 26
Mohammad Mo’in Abu ‘Ajwa, Gaza City.
Hasan Omar as-Awwad, Gaza City.
Shadi ‘Oleiwa, 26, Gaza City.
Salem Mohammaden, 26, Gaza City.
Mohammad Abdul-Rahman Thaher, 49, Gaza City.
Samer Midhat Hamad, 24, Gaza City.
Mohammad Majdi Za’anin, Beit Hanoun.
Yousef Ghannam, Rafah.
Mohammad Saleh ar-Ribaty, 18, Rafah.
Ahmad Kamel Jarboa’, 26, Rafah.
Omar Husam al-Breem (Child, Rafah.
Mohammad Husam al-Breem (Child), Rafah
Killed Monday, August 25
Yassin Ibrahim al-Biltaji, 23, Gaza.
Farhana Ibrahim al-‘Attrar, 48, Beit Lahia.
Osama Mohammad Shbeir, 25, Jabalia.
Hani Mohammad Yassin, 20, Gaza City.
Raddad Ahmad Tanboura, 78, Beit Lahia.
Saad Bassem aj-Jour, 21, east of Gaza City
Abdullah Murtaja, journalist, Sheja’eyya
Bassem Hassan Hijazi, 36, Gaza City
Ahmad Taysir Fahmi al-Daali, 28, Gaza City
Killed Sunday, August 24
Yahia Saber Abu al-‘Omarein, Gaza.
Bader Hashem Abu Mnei’, 18, Gaza.
Mohammad Tal’at al-Ghoul, 30, Gaza City.
Zeinab Bilal Abu Taqiyya, 18 months, Gaza City.
Mohammad Wa’el al-Khodary, 17, Gaza City.
Mohammad Ibrahim al-Louqa, 21, Beit Lahia.
Mo’ayyad al-A’raj, 3, Khan Younis.
Adam Ahmad Khattab, 26, Deir al-Balah.
Mahmoud Ahmad al-‘Attar, 30, Deir Al-Balah.
Tasneem Essam Juda’,Tal al-Zatar.
Rawiya Juda’, son of Tasneem,Tal al-Zatar.
Raghad Juda’, son of Tasneem,Tal al-Zatar.
Osama Juda’, son of Tasneem,Tal al-Zatar.
Mohammad Juda’, son of Tasneem,Tal al-Zatar.
Yahia Abu Daqen, 27, Northern Gaza
Killed Saturday, August 23
Hadi Hayel Abu Dahrouj, 3, Central Gaza.
Abdullah Hayel Abu Dahrouj, 4, Central Gaza.
Hayat Abed-Rabbo Abu Dahrouj, 49, Central Gaza.
Hoda Mohammad Abu Dahrouj, 27, Central Gaza.
Hayel Shihda Abu Dahrouj, 26, Central Gaza.
Abdel-Rahman Hadayed, 25, Khan Younis, died of earlier wounds.
Hussein Khaled Ahmad, 8, Deir al-Balah, Central Gaza
Nisreen Ahmad, Deir al-Balah (Hussein’s mother)
Suheir Abu Mdein, Deir al-Balah (body pulled from rubble)
Salah Isleim, died of earlier wounds.
Mahmoud Osama Mahmoud Abbas Abu al-Omarain, 28, Sheikh Radwan, Gaza City
Mohammad Sabr al-‘Ejla, 64, central Gaza
Killed Friday, August 22
Mahmoud Nasser Qashlan, 24, Nusseirat, Central Gaza.
Yassin Hamed Abu Hamad, 22, Nusseirat, Central Gaza.
Ismael Mosallam Abu Bteihan, 75, Nusseirat – Central Gaza
Ahmad Qassem Al-‘Abadla, 59, Khan Younis
Mousa Ahmad Al-‘Abadla, 23, Khan Younis
Killed Thursday, August 21
Mohammad Abu Shammala, commander of Al-Qassam in southern Gaza region.
Raed al-‘Attar, commander of Al-Qassam in Rafah.
Mohammad Barhoum, a senior leader of al-Qassam.
Hasan Hussein Younis, 75, Rafah.
Amal Ibrahim Younis, (his wife), Rafah.
Saba Rami Younis, 4, Rafah.
Ahmad Nasser Kallab, 17.
Natheera Kallab.
Aisha Atiyya.
Jom’a Matar, 27.
Omar Abu Naddi, 22.
Abdullah Tareq ar-Reefy, (Child) Gaza.
Omar Nasr ar-Reefy, (Child) Gaza.
Mohammad Ziad ar-Reefy, (Child) Gaza.
Nassr Ziad ar-Reefy, 35, Gaza.
Srour Mohammad Tamboura, 36. Beit Lahia.
Hasan Tamboura, 13, Beit Lahia (son of Srour).
Mohammad Talal Abu Nahl, Gaza.
Rami Abu Nahl, Gaza.
Haitham Tafesh, Gaza.
Abed Talal Shiokh, Gaza.
Hamdan Salem Hadayed, 40, Khan Younis.
Mohammad Ahmad Abbas Abu al-Omarain, 45, Gaza City.
Issam Mohammad al-Hosni, 26, Gaza City.
Marwan Mohammad Abu Shallouf, 29, Rafah.
Ibrahim Essam Hammad, 22, Rafah.
Abdul Rahman Saad Abu Shallouf, 31, Rafah.
Mahmoud Talaat Shreiteh, 14, central Gaza.
Bashir Ahmad Shreiteh, 35, central Gaza.
Sarah Mohammad Deif, child, Gaza City (killed on Wednesday in same attack that killed her mother and brother – body found Thursday)
Iman al-Louah, Dir al-Balah (killed Wednesday, body found Wednesday)
Mohammad Ramiz Bakr, 11, Gaza beach.related article
Ismail Mahmoud Bakr, 9, Gaza beach. related article
Mohammad Kamel Abdul-Rahman, 30, Sheikh Ejleen, Gaza City
Husam Shamlakh, 23, Sheikh Ejleen, Gaza City
Usama Mahmoud Al-Astal, 6, Khan Younis (died of wounds sustained earlier in attack on mosque)
Hussein Abdul-Nasser al-Astal, 23, Khan Younis
Kawthar al-Astal, 70, Khan Younis
Yasmin al-Astal, 4, Khan Younis
Kamal Mohammad Abu Amer, 38, Khan Younis
Akram Mohammad Abu Amer, 34, Khan Younis (brother of Kamal, injured in same incident, then later same day died of his injuries)
Hamza Raed Thary, 6, Jabalia (was injured a few days ago in the incident in which many, including children, were killed while playing in the sand at the beach in Jabalia)
Abdul-Rahman Ibrahim Khalil as-Sarhi, 37, Gaza City
Killed Tuesday, July 15
Abdullah Mohammad al-Arjani, 19, Khan Younis
Suleiman Abu Louly, 33, Rafah
Saleh Said Dahleez, 20, Rafah
Yasser Eid al-Mahmoum, 18, Rafah
Ismael Fattouh Ismael, 24, Gaza City
Khalil Sh’aafy, Juhr Ed-Deek – Gaza
Sobhi Abdul-hamid Mousa, 77, Khan Younis
Killed Monday, July 14
Adham Abdul-Fattah Abdul-Aal, 27
Hamid Suleiman Abu al-Araj, 60, Deir al-Balah
Abdullah Mahmoud Baraka, 24, Khan Younis
Tamer Salem Qdeih, 37, Khan Younis
Ziad Maher an-Najjar, 17, Khan Younis
Ziad Salem ash-Shawy, 25, Rafah
Mohammad Yasser Hamdan, 24, Gaza
Mohammad Shakib al-Agha, 22, Khan Younis
Ahmed Younis Abu Yousef, 22, Khan Younis
Sara Omar Sheikh al-Eid, 4, Rafah
Omar Ahmad Sheikh al-Eid, 24, Rafah
Jihad Ahmad Sheikh al-Eid, 48, Rafah
Kamal Atef Yousef Abu Taha, 16, Khan Younis
Ismael Nabil Ahmad Abu Hatab, 21, Khan Younis
Boshra Khalil Zorob, 53, Rafah
Atwa Amira al-Amour, 63, Khan Younis
Killed Sunday, July 13
Ezzeddin Bolbol, 25, Rafah
Rami Abu Shanab, 25, Deir al-Balah
Fawziyya Abdul-al, 73, Gaza City
Moayyad al-Araj, 3, Khan Younis*
Husam Ibrahim Najjar, 14, Jabalia
Hijaziyya Hamed al-Hilo, 80, Gaza City
Ruwaida abu Harb Zawayda, 30, central Gaza
Haitham Ashraf Zorob, 21, Rafah
Laila Hassan al-Odaat, 41, al-Maghazi
Hussein Abdul-Qader Mheisin, 19, Gaza
Qassem Talal Hamdan, 23, Beit Hanoun
Maher Thabet abu Mour, 23, Khan Younis – related article
Mohammad Salem Abu Breis, 65, Deir al-Balah
Moussa Shehda Moammer, 60, Khan Younis
Hanadi Hamdi Moammer, 27, Khan Younis
Saddam Mousa Moammer, 23, Khan Younis
Killed Saturday, July 12
Anas Yousef Qandil, 17, Jabalia
Islam Yousef Mohammad Qandil, 27, Jabalia
Mohammad Edrees Abu Sneina, 20, Jabalia
Abdul-Rahim Saleh al-Khatib, 38, Jabalia
Husam Thieb ar-Razayna, 39, Jabalia
Ibrahim Nabil Hamada, 30, at-Tuffah – Gaza City
Hasan Ahmad Abu Ghush, 24, at-Tuffah – Gaza City
Ahmad Mahmoud al-Bal’awy, 26, at-Tuffah – Gaza City
Ali Nabil Basal, 32, at-Tuffah – Gaza City
Mohammad Bassem al-Halaby, 28, western Gaza City
Mohammad Sweity (Abu Askar), 20, western Gaza City
Khawla al-Hawajri, 25, Nuseirat refugee camp
Ola Wishahi, 31, Mabarra association for the disabled in Jabalia
Suha Abu Saade, 38, Mabarra association for the disabled in Jabalia
Mohammad Edrees Abu Sweilem, 20, Jabalia
Rateb Subhi al-Saifi, 22, Sheikh Radwan – Gaza City
Azmi Mahmoud Obeid, 51, Sheikh Radwan – Gaza City
Nidal Mahmoud Abu al-Malsh, 22, Sheikh Radwan – Gaza City
Suleiman Said Obeid, 56, Sheikh Radwan – Gaza City
Mustafa Muhammad Inaya, 58, Sheikh Radwan – Gaza City
Ghassan Ahmad al-Masri, 25, Sheikh Radwan – Gaza City
Rifat Youssef Amer, 36, al-Saftawi
Rifat Syouti, western Gaza City*
Nahedh Naim al-Batsh, 41, Khan Younis
Baha Majed al-Batsh, 28, Khan Younis
Qusai Issam al-Batsh, 12, Khan Younis
Aziza Yousef al-Batsh, 59, Khan Younis
Ahmad Noman al-Batsh, 27, Khan Younis
Mohammad Issam al-Batsh, 17, Khan Younis
Yahia Ala Al-Batsh, 18, Khan Younis
Jalal Majed al-Batsh, 26, Khan Younis
Mahmoud Majed al-Batsh, 22, Khan Younis
Majed Sobhi al-Batsh, Khan Younis
Marwa Majed al-Batsh, 25, Khan Younis
Khaled Majed al-Batsh, 20, Khan Younis
Ibrahim Majed al-Batsh, 18, Khan Younis
Manar Majed al-Batsh, 13, Khan Younis
Amal Hussein al-Batsh, 49, Khan Younis
Anas Ala al-Batsh, 10, Khan Younis
Qusai Ala al-Batsh, 20, Khan Younis
Mohannad Yousef Dheir, 23, Rafah
Shadi Mohammad Zorob, 21, Rafah
Imad Bassam Zorob, 21, Rafah
Mohannad Yousef Dheir, 23, Rafah
Mohammad Arif, 13, eastern Gaza City
Mohammad Ghazi Arif, 35, eastern Gaza City
Ghazi Mustafa Arif, 62, eastern Gaza City
Ahmad Yousef Dalloul, 47, Gaza
Fadi Ya’coub Sukkar, 25, Gaza
Qassem Jaber Odah, 16, Khan Younis
Mohammad Abdullah Sharatha, 53, Jabalia
Mohammad Ahmed Basal, 19, Gaza City
Killed Friday, July 11
Wisam Abdul-Razeq Hasan Ghannam, 31, Rafah
Mahmoud Abdul-Razeq Hasan Ghannam, 28, Rafah
Kifah Shaker Ghannam, 33, Rafah
Ghalia Thieb Ghannam, 57, Rafah
Mohammad Munir Ashour, 26, Rafah
Nour Marwan an-Ajdi, 10, Rafah
Anas Rezeq abu al-Kas, 33, Gaza City (doctor)
Abdullah Mustafa abu Mahrouq, 22, Deir al-Balah
Mahmoud Waloud, 26, Jabalia
Hazem Ba’lousha, Jabalia
Ala Abdul Nabi, Beit Lahia.*
Ahmed Zaher Hamdan, 24, Beit Hanoun
Mohammad Kamel al-Kahlout, 25, Jabalia
Sami Adnan Shaldan, 25, Gaza City
Salem al-Ashhab, 40, Gaza City
Raed Hani Abu Hani, 31, Rafah
Mohammad Rabea Abu- Hmeedan, 65, Jabalia
Shahrman Ismail Abu al-Kas, 42, Al-Bureij
Mazin Mustafa Aslan, 63, Al Bureij
Mohammad Samiri, 24, Deir al-Balah
Rami Abu Mosaed, 23, Deir al-Balah
Saber Sokkar, 80, Gaza City
Hussein Mohammad al-Mamlouk, 47, Gaza City
Nasser Rabah Mohammad Sammama, 49, Gaza City
Abdul-Halim Abdul-Moty Ashra, 54, Deir al-Balah
Sahar Salman Abu Namous, 3, Beit Hanoun
Odai Rafiq Sultan, 27, Jabalia
Joma Atiyya Shallouf, 25, Rafah
Bassam Abul-Rahman Khattab, 6, Deir al-Balah
Killed Thursday, July 10
Mahmoud Lutfi al-Hajj, 58, Khan Younis (father of six killed)
Bassema Abdul-fatteh Mohammad al-Hajj, 48, Khan Younis (mother of six killed)
Asma Mahmoud al-Hajj, 22, Khan Younis
Fatima Mahmoud al-Hajj, 12, Khan Younis
Saad Mahmoud al-Hajj, 17, Khan Younis
Najla Mahmoud al-Hajj, 29, Khan Younis
Tareq Mahmoud al-Hajj, 18, Khan Younis
Omar Mahmoud al-Hajj, 20, Khan Younis
Ayman Adham Yusef al-Hajj,16, northern Gaza.
Baha Abu al-Leil, 35, Gaza City
Suleiman Saleem Mousa al-Astal, 17, Khan Younis
Ahmed Saleem Mousa al-Astal, 24, Khan Younis (Suleiman’s brother)
Mousa Mohammed Taher al-Astal, 50, Khan Younis
Ibrahim Khalil Qanan, 24, Khan Younis
Mohammad Khalil Qanan, 26, Khan Younis (Ibrahim’s brother)
Ibrahim Sawali, 28, Khan Younis
Hamdi Badea Sawali, 33, Khan Younis
Mohammad al-Aqqad, 24, Khan Younis
Ismael Hassan Abu Jame, 19, Khan Younis
Hussein Odeh Abu Jame, 75, Khan Younis
Abdullah Ramadan Abu Ghazal, 5, Beit Hanoun
Mohammad Ehsan Ferwana, 27, Khan Younis
Salem Qandil, 27, Gaza City
Amer al-Fayyoumi, 30, Gaza City
Raed az-Zourah, 32, Khan Younis
Killed Wednesday, July 9
Hamed Shihab, Journalist – Gaza
Salima al-Arja, 53, Rafah
Miriam Atiya al-Arja, 9, Rafah
Rafiq al-Kafarna, 30
Abdul-Nasser Abu Kweik, 60
Khaled Abu Kweik, 31
Mohammad Mustafa Malika, 18 months
Hana Mohammed Fuad Malaka, 28 (Mohammad’s Mother), 27
Hatem Abu Salem, Gaza City
Mohammad Khaled an-Nimra, 22
Sahar Hamdan (al-Masry), 40, Beit Hanoun
Mohammad Ibrahim al-Masry, 14, Beit Hanoun
Amjad Hamdan, 23, Beit Hanoun
Hani Saleh Hamad, 57, Beit Hanoun
Ibrahim Hani Saleh Hamad, 20, Beit Hanoun
Mohammad Khalaf Nawasra, 4, al-Maghazi
Nidal Khalaf Nawasra, 5, al-Maghazi
Salah Awad Nawasra, 24, al-Maghazi. (father of Mohammad and Nidal)
Aesha Najm al-Nawasra, 23, al-Maghazi (mother of Mohammad and Nidal, pregnant in the fourth month)
Israel has agreed to open Gaza crossings to allow the flow of humanitarian aid and construction material, senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouq said Tuesday.
Speaking to Ma’an, Abu Marzouq added that three more Gaza crossings will be operated in addition the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings, which are already operating.
Asked about the fishing zone, he said that Gaza fishermen would be allowed to reach as far as 6 nautical miles and the zone would be increased gradually until it is 12 nautical miles by the end of 2014.
Reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip will be discussed during a conference in Egypt next month, added Abu Marzouq. The Palestinian national consensus government will be in charge of implementation.
The Hamas official added that the ceasefire agreement was sponsored and would be monitored by Egypt only.
Another round of negotiations will start a month from now to discuss unresolved issues, Abu Marzouq said.
Furthermore, Israeli, European and American restrictions and opposition to money transfers to Gaza for salaries for employees of the former Hamas-led government in Gaza have been cancelled. The national consensus government is supposedly working on proceedings to arrange payment of salaries.
Abu Marzouq pointed out that Israel agreed to stop targeted assassinations of resistance activists and said that a ceasefire agreement could have been reached earlier if Israel agreed to this demand sooner.
As for the Rafah crossing, Abu Marzouq said Egyptian and Palestinian officials would meet soon to discuss what is needed to open the crossing permanently.
The Gaza buffer zone has also been removed, he added.
Still from the music video for the song, Somos Sur. The song is a collaboration between Chilean MC, Ana Tijoux (pictured in the back), and Palestinian MC, Shadia Mansour (pictured in front of Tijoux). Somos Sur is a powerful track establishing solidarity between Latin America and Palestine for their independence from imperialist and colonizing forces.
BETHLEHEM – Six Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, witnesses said.
In the latest airstrikes, two employees from a local electricity company were killed when Israel targeted their car.
The victims were identified as Tamer Hamad and Muhammad Thaher.
Another two unidentified Palestinians were killed when an airstrike targeted a group of people in the al-Shujaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City.
A fire broke out in the area following the attack.
Earlier, Muhammad Muin Abu Ajwa and Hasan Omar al-Sawwaf were killed in airstrikes targeting central Gaza City.
Israel also targeted a 16-storey mixed-use complex known as “Little Italy”, causing its complete collapse, witnesses said.
Warplanes also fired on the 14-storey al-Basha building in the western Rimal neighborhood, causing massive damage and wounding another 15 people, witnesses and medics said.
Part of the building was used by Sawt Al-Shaab radio, or “Voice of the People”, run by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
GAZA – Abdullah Mortaja, a Palestinian journalist working for al-Aqsa TV Channel, died on Monday evening of wounds he sustained in an Israeli artillery attack on al-Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza city.
Palestinian medics said Mortaja breathed his last after his health status went downhill and he kept bleeding non-stop due to the injuries incurred in the attack.
Mortaja is a graduate of the Journalism and Media Department at the Islamic University of Gaza. He worked as a correspondent for al-Aqsa TV Channel and a youth activist in Gaza.
Mortaja is the son-in-law of Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum. His murder brings the death toll of journalists killed during the Israeli offensive, rocking besieged Gaza since July 7, to at least 17.
Scores of human rights and humanitarian organizations have called for the need to immediately launch an international investigation into Israel’s premeditated slaughter of journalists covering Gaza war.
The Palestinian Information Ministry said in a statement on Monday that 102 Israeli violations, targeting journalists and news reporters working for local and foreign news agencies have been registered.
The casualties’ list includes: Ali Shahta Abu Afsh, working for the American Agency, Italian journalist Simone Camili, working for the Associated Press, driver of Media 24 agency, Hamed Abdullah Shihab, and female media activist, Najla al-Haj among others.
According to the ministry, at least 16 Palestinian journalists and an Italian journalist were killed while 18 others sustained severe wounds. 29 journalists’ family homes and 17 media offices came under Israeli shelling, including the headquarters of al-Jazeera, al-Aqsa, Associated Press, and Doha Media Center.
More than 15 media sites, radios and TV channels have been jammed, the ministry further documented.
The report outlined a detailed account of journalists who have turned homeless as barrages of Israeli strikes rocked their family homes. Journalist Mahmoud Ahmad al-Athamna and his wife, along with their little child, sustained deadly wounds after Israeli fighter jets hit their home, razing it entirely to the ground.
Homes of journalists Rami al-Ajala, Shahda Naim, and al-Jazeera reporter Ahmad Fayadh, along with brothers Youssef and Atiya Abu Sharia’ were all subject to the same fate.
The Israeli occupation has stepped up its belligerent aggression on Palestinian and foreign pro-Gaza journalists since the launch of the Gaza offensive on July 7, denying local and international news agencies the right to broadcast an authentic coverage of Israel’s mass-murder of Gaza people.
Palestinian medical sources in Gaza have confirmed that 90 Palestinian families were completely exterminated by Israeli forces in their ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, the number of fatalities on the 49th day of the war was 20 with more than 60 wounded.
On Sunday, the total deaths since the beginning of the war had climbed to 2,120, including 577 children, 260 women and 101 elderly. The number of wounded also became 10,854, including 3,307 children, 2,042 women and 401 elderly.
Spokesman of the ministry of health, Dr Ashraf al-Qudra, said: “The Israeli occupation took the Joudeh family out of the civil record. This massacre is added to 89 similar others.”
Al-Qudra noted that the 90 massacred families consisted of 530 members.
In recent days the Israeli occupation stepped up its attacks on residential areas. During the last 48 hours they destroyed a 14-story building in Gaza city, an entire neighbourhood in Khan Younis, a shopping centre in Rafah and three mosques in Rafah, Gaza and Beit Hanoun.
“We killed your brother and destroyed your family home.” The words hit the prisoner, Said Abu Shaluf, like a slap to the face. A few hours after bombing his home, Said was summoned by the Israeli prison administrators. They informed him that they killed his 31-year-old brother Abdel Rahman and destroyed their family home. This is Israel’s latest attempt to break the spirit of Palestinian prisoners, who dared to challenge the Israeli authorities through hunger strikes in more than one struggle, in a long line of struggles, for dignity. But who can hear the prisoners’ added pain now in light of the ongoing war on Gaza?
Abu Shaluf’s family tried to avoid informing their imprisoned son about the death of his brother Abdel Rahman or the destruction of their home by Israeli bombs, especially out of concern for his psychological state inside prison. But the Israelis beat the family and the media, where news is usually muddled yet moves quickly, delivering the devastating news in an insensitive manner. Since that day, the family learned that Said is in a very difficult psychological state, and he is refusing to eat even though his prison mates are trying to comfort and console him. This has naturally compounded his mother’s pain.
Abu Shaluf’s story is not unique. Before him, a 31-year-old prisoner called Basel Arif, who was serving two life sentences, was informed that Israeli forces killed four of his cousins in the massacre in al-Shujayeh neighborhood, east of Gaza City.
Other [Israeli] prison administrations have used a similar tactic. And so the story was repeated with a 24-year-old prisoner called Ahmed al-Soufi, who lost his brother Abdel Hadi and the homes of his family and relatives suffered major damage after an Israeli strike. The families of the two prisoners, Alaa Sheikh al-Eid (detained since December 2002) and Raafat Abu Snaimeh (detained since April 2009) said the Israelis also told their sons that their homes were destroyed. The same thing happened with prisoner Saleh Abu Shusheh (sentenced for 14 years) and all of them are residents of Rafah in southern Gaza.
The Fatah representative of the prisoners’ committee in Gaza, Nashaat al-Wahidi, stressed that the prisoners’ living and health conditions are deteriorating in light of Israel’s vengeful policies that are escalating as the assault on Gaza rages on. “The prisons’ administrations exploited the fact that people are preoccupied with the war and distracted from the plight of the prisoners to impose on them extra punishment, such as reducing the time they can be outside from four to two hours daily and allowing only 15 prisoners out at one time,” he added.
Some of the other penalties, according to Wahidi, include reducing each prisoner’s stipend from 1,200 shekel to 400 ($300 to $110), reducing family visits to half an hour every month, and disconnecting seven satellite channels out of 10. Two channels of the three that are left are in Hebrew.
Despite these penalties, Wahidi told Al-Akhbar that what weighs down on the prisoners the most is the psychological state that accompanies the war.
“Those whose homes are not destroyed or whose families are not hurt spend their time consoling their colleagues, worrying for their families and following the news,” he said.
Wahidi pointed out that prisoners have been deprived of the ability to follow the news of what their families are subjected to in Gaza after the prison administration decided to cancel Palestine TV and “prevented them from communicating with their families to check on them, not to mention the provocative searches and messing with their personal belongings as they look for cell phones.”
According to sources close to the prisoners, the Israeli Prison Service imposed strict penalties at the Megiddo Prison in north of occupied Palestine after the administration heard cries of “God is Great” emanating from prison cells when prisoners heard that the Resistance captured an Israeli soldier. The administration closed certain prison sections, prevented the prisoners from going out and buying stuff from the prison shop and suspended the broadcast of TV stations.
But the war did not only affect prisoners inside Israeli jails, it also affected those who have been liberated, especially those who were released during the 2011 Loyalty to the Free prisoner exchange deal. They are living through the second war since their release, compounded by the fact some of them had their homes bombed by the Israeli forces. One of the liberated prisoners exiled to Gaza is Hilal Jaradat, his apartment in one of the towers in al-Zahraa City in central Gaza which was recently bombed and badly damaged.
The house of another liberated prisoner, 54-year-old Mohammed Nashbat, in al-Nusairat refugee camp in central Gaza was hit and Nashbat is being treated overseas, especially since he came out of prison suffering from a heart disease. Another prisoner, liberated with the first group of prisoners prior to Oslo, 41-year-old Ayman Abu Sitta, lives in the al-Zawayda area in central Gaza. His home was completely destroyed.
According to an unofficial count, the Israeli occupation targeted seven other homes belonging to liberated prisoners during the course of this recent war. The Ministry of Prisoner Affairs said there are extensive and comprehensive punitive measures exercised against the prisoners linked to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad since before the war began, specifically after the Israeli authorities announced the disappearance of three settlers in Hebron. These measures intensified during the current war.
A US court has scrapped an order to seize one million barrels of oil, disputed between the Iraqi government and the autonomous Kurdistan region.
“Kurdistan’s unauthorized export of oil over land -– and later overseas –- may violate Iraqi law, but it does not violate US maritime law,” US District Judge Gray Miller said on Monday.
A tanker carrying crude oil from Iraq’s Kurdistan region has been waiting in international waters off the coast of Texas for a month now.
The ruling follows a long-running dispute between Erbil and Baghdad over the ownership of the cargo. With the new ruling, the Kurdish government will be able to sell $100 million worth of crude oil.
Judge Miller said “he lacked authority under federal laws governing property stolen at sea to decide the dispute.”
Miller threw out a seizure order issued July 28 by a Houston magistrate judge, who questioned US jurisdiction in the matter while agreeing to store the cargo onshore at Iraq’s expense as the debate continued in that nation’s Supreme Court.
Iraq had failed to convince the district judge that “the oil was misappropriated when it was loaded into a tanker in the Mediterranean Sea after being pumped across Turkey in an Iraq-owned pipeline.”
A confidential report by a senior nuclear expert calls on regulators to close California’s last nuclear plant until it can be established the facility can survive a powerful earthquake, according to an exclusive AP report.
The Diablo Canyon Power Plant, which was built near three geographical fault lines, provides electricity needs for more than 2.2 million people in America’s largest state. However, a confidential report by the plant’s former inspector, Michael Peck, is calling on federal regulators to pull the plug on the facility.
Following the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in 2013, 30-year-old Diablo Canyon is the sole remaining nuclear energy supplier in California.
Peck warned in his 2013 report, which was obtained and verified by the Associated Press, that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is failing to maintain safety standards previously put in place for the facility’s operation.
The primary issue, as described by AP, is that “no one knows whether the facility’s equipment can withstand strong shaking from those faults – the potential for which was realized decades after the facility was built.”
Continuing to operate Diablo Canyon plant “challenges the presumption of nuclear safety,” the nuclear expert, who is employed as an instructor by the NRC, warned.
The surfacing of the confidential report comes after a magnitude-6 earthquake hit northern California on Sunday, injuring dozens of people and causing over $1 billion dollars in property losses. Fears that Sunday’s earthquake was just a precursor to the much-feared ‘Big One’ have once again sparked debate on the ability of California’s aging infrastructure to withstand an earthquake.
Meanwhile, nuclear experts continue to be haunted by the nuclear accident at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, which suffered severe damage following a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011. To this day, Japanese authorities, amid a very concerned public, are attempting to halt the leak of radiation from the damaged structure.
In a report put out in July entitled, “Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for Improving Safety of US Nuclear Plants,” it is advised that the nuclear industry should “access their preparedness for severe nuclear accidents associated with offsite-scale disasters.”
It adds that the current approach to nuclear safety is “clearly inadequate for preventing core-melt accidents and mitigating their consequences.”
After the Fukushima disaster, the NRC ordered US nuclear plants to reevaluate the risks posed by earthquakes, with studies due by March 2015.
Much of the current debate over the viability of California’s last nuclear facility originates from the 2008 discovery of the Shoreline fault, which, together with a number of other potentially active regions, including the large Hosgri fault, arguably places Diablo Canyon in a vulnerable geographical position.
Peck says Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the company that owns the nuclear facility, failed to prove that the plant would withstand the vibrations of a powerful earthquake, thereby violating its operating license. PG&E has challenged those claims, saying the structure is sound.
Blair Jones, a spokesman for PG&E, the company that owns the nuclear facility, said the NRC has conducted extensive analysis to prove the plant is “seismically safe.”
Jones told AP that concerns regarding earthquake-generated movements of the nuclear plant, which could potentially lead to a disaster, were put to rest in the 1970s following “seismic retrofitting” of the facility.
In 2012, the NRC supported preliminary studies that said vibrations and aftershocks coming from the Shoreline fault would not jeopardize the structural integrity of the reactors.
Meanwhile, the release of the confidential report has sent shockwaves through California’s political circles.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, expressed alarm that Peck’s report has only surfaced now.
“The NRC’s failure to act constitutes an abdication of its responsibility to protect public health and safety,” she said.
The committee announced it would hold hearings into how the NRC has responded to Peck’s suggestions.
Peck, currently an instructor at the NRC’s Technical Training Center, declined to comment on the AP report.
The Guardian on Monday made public a CIA document allowing the agency’s director to “approve, modify, or disapprove all proposals pertaining to human subject research.”
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