Above photo: Victims of the Fajr massacre in Gaza City August 10, 2024. Hadi Daoud/APA Images.
Pressure Grows On Netanyahu To Reach Ceasefire Deal.
Hamas demands a plan to implement the original ceasefire deal proposed by the U.S. last July ahead of a new round of negotiations set to start this week.
Casualties
- 39,897 + killed* and at least 92,152 wounded in the Gaza Strip. The identities of 32,280 of the slain have been identified, including 10,627 children and 5,956 women, representing 60% of the casualties, and 2,770 elderly, as of August 6, 2024. Some 10,000 more are estimated to be under the rubble*
- 622+ Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This includes 140 children.**
- Israel revised its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,140.
- 690 Israeli soldiers and officers have been recognized as killed, and 4096 as wounded by the Israeli army, since October 7.***
* Gaza’s branch of the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed this figure in its daily report, published through its WhatsApp channel on August 12, 2024. Rights groups and public health experts estimate the death toll to be much higher.
** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. This is the latest figure according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health as of August 12.
*** These figures are released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported on August 4, 2024 that some 10,000 Israeli soldiers and officers have been either killed or wounded since October 7. The head of the Israeli army’s wounded association told Israel’s Channel 12 the number of wounded Israeli soldiers exceeds 20,000 including at least 8,000 permanently handicapped as of June 1. Israel’s Channel 7 reported that according to the Israeli war ministry’s rehabilitation service numbers, 8,663 new wounded joined the army’s handicap rehabilitation system since October 7, as of June 18.
Key Developments
- Israel has killed 198 Palestinians and wounded 430 across Gaza since Thursday, August 1, raising the death toll since October 7 to 39,897 and the number of wounded to 92,152, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
- Israel kills at least 100 Palestinians in the bombing of the Tabi’in school in Gaza City during dawn prayer. Israeli army claims school used as Hamas command center, while Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor investigation reveals school did not contain any military presence.
- Palestinian Civil Defense says Tabi’in school massacre is “horrifying beyond imagination,” including “tragic scenes similar to the massacre of the Baptist Al-Ahli Hospital back in December, in which families continued to look for the remains of their beloved ones.”
- UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Palestine, Francesca Albanese, says no evidence Hamas fighters were at Tabi’in school, states that provide arms to Israel in breach of genocide convention.
- U.S. says it is “concerned” by reports of civilian casualties in the Tabi’in school massacre.
- Israeli war minister Yoav Gallant says Israel responsible for delaying ceasefire deal, Netanyahu’s talk about “absolute victory” is “nonsense.”
- Netanyahu’s office accuses Gallant of “adopting Hamas’s discourse.”
- One Israeli killed and one wounded in shooting attack in occupied Jordan Valley. Israeli forces kill Palestinian youth accused of the shooting. Al-Qassam Brigades in West Bank claim responsibility, saying it is response to Fajr massacre.
- U.S., Egypt, and Qatar call on both Hamas and Israel to engage in new round of ceasefire talks on August 15, stressing that time has come to conclude a ceasefire deal.
- Instead of starting new round of negotiations, Hamas insists to mediators on return to original ceasefire proposal presented by Biden and accepted by Hamas on July 2.
- Israeli media reports that Netanyahu will head cabinet meeting during the week to outline authorities of Israeli negotiating team.
- Netanyahu bans Israeli ministers from giving media statements on security issues amid expectations of Iranian strike in coming days.
- Hezbollah launches dozens of rockets on Nahariya, targets headquarters of Israeli army’s 146th division in the Galilee.
‘Beyond Imagination’: The Fajr Massacre In Gaza City
The death toll from Israel’s bombing of the Tabi’in school in the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City surpassed 100 victims according to the Palestinian health ministry. The bombing targeted two floors in the school, one of which was being used as a mosque, where civilians were holding the dawn (Fajr) prayer at the moment of the strike.
The Palestinian Civil Defense said that Israeli bombs killed and maimed everyone who was present on the mosque floor, describing the massacre as “beyond imagination” and comparable to the massacre at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City in December of last year, which killed 500 Palestinians.
The Civil Defense said that families continued to search for the remains of their loved ones among the ruins of the school for hours after the strike, while testimonies of survivors indicated that the remains of the victims were so unrecognizable that families were given bags at random containing unidentified body pieces for burial, counting every 70 kilos as a person.
Meanwhile, the Geneva-based human rights watchdog, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, said that its primary investigation shows that the school didn’t have any military presence of Palestinian fighters, contrary to Israeli claims.
For its part, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Palestine, Francesca Albanese, said there was no evidence of Israeli claims that Palestinian fighters were present at the school, remarking that no civilized country can tolerate the ongoing Israeli genocide. The chief of European diplomacy, Joseph Borrell, said on X that he was “horrified” by the bombing of the Tabi’in school, adding that “there is no justification for these massacres.”
Israel has been targeting shelter centers, especially schools in Gaza, in the past weeks. On Thursday, Israel bombed two schools in Gaza City, killing at least 15 Palestinians.
Hamas Demands Return To U.S. Ceasefire Proposal As Israel Braces For Expected Hezbollah, Iran Response
A new round of ceasefire talks is set to be held next Thursday, August 15, at the call of the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar that was issued in a joint statement last week.
For its part, Hamas instructed its mediators in a statement to adopt the U.S. ceasefire proposal that the group had accepted on July 2 instead of engaging in a new round of negotiations from scratch. Hamas, which doesn’t participate directly in negotiations, instead interacting directly with mediators, demanded the coming talks to present a plan to implement the deal offered to the group back in July, which it accepted at the time. In its statement, Hamas said that this position comes after Israel’s massacre at the Tabi’in school Farj massacre.
The attempt to renew the ceasefire talks coincides with rising tensions as Israel and the U.S. brace for Iranian and Hezbollah retaliation attacks against Israel. Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that Netanyahu will head a meeting later this week to define the authorities of the Israeli negotiating team. The Israeli team returned from Cairo ten days ago after having reported differences with Netanyahu.
On Monday, Israel’s war minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel is the party delaying the conclusion of a ceasefire deal, according to leaks reported by Israel’s Channel 12. Netanyahu’s office responded to Gallant’s statements, accusing him of adopting Hamas’s discourse.
On Sunday, U.S. President Biden said in an interview with CBS that a ceasefire deal is still attainable before the end of his presidency. Earlier this month, Axios reported that Biden had pressured Netanyahu in a phone call to reach a deal within two weeks.
Israeli families of captives in Gaza continued to protest over the weekend in Tel Aviv, demanding a ceasefire deal. The families said in a statement that this is Israel’s last chance to retrieve the captives.