Above photo: The body of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was killed by Israeli forces on September 6, wrapped in the Palestinian flag with her head covered by the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh as she is carried on the shoulders of Palestinians during a ceremonial funeral procession in Nablus, September 9, 2024. Mohammed Nasser/APA Images.
Continues Blockade.
Palestinians in Nablus held a funeral procession for a Turkish-American activist killed by Israeli forces in Beita. Meanwhile, Israel continued to close its borders with Jordan for the second day in a row following a shooting at Allenby bridge.
Casualties
- 40,988 + killed* and at least 94,825 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.*
- 692+ Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This includes 146 children.**
- Israel revised its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,140.
- The Israeli army recognizes the death of 706 Israeli soldiers and the injury of 4,096 others 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 September 9, 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 September 6, 2024.
*** 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 that the number of wounded Israeli soldiers exceeds 20,000, including at least 8,000 who have been 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 and as of June 18.
Key Developments
- Gaza branch of Palestinian Health Ministry says the death toll surpasses 40,988, with 94,825 wounded since October 7, including 33% children, 18.4% women, and 8.6% elderly; at least 115 Palestinian children born and killed by Israeli forces since October 7.
- Israel continues to close border crossings with Jordan after a shooting attack that killed three Israeli security members at Allenby Bridge border crossing on Sunday.
- Jordan says primary investigations show that the shooting at Allenby was an individual attack.
- Israeli forces kill Turkish-American solidarity activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in Beita on Friday; Nablus residents hold a funeral procession for the slain activist before transferring her body to Turkey.
- Israeli forces renew raids into Tulkarem after withdrawal from Jenin following “Operation Summer Camps.”
- Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in central Gaza says Israel intends to put the hospital out of service by preventing entry of fuel for power generators.
- The Palestinian Civil Defense says that Israel has killed 83 of its crew members since last October in Gaza.
- UN announces upcoming Polio vaccination drive for children in northern Gaza, set to start Thursday, September 12.
- UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese warns Israeli assault in Gaza “could end up exterminating almost the entire population” over next several years, cautioning against extension of “genocidal violence” to the West Bank.
- Israeli forces demolish a two-floor house east of Jerusalem without notice, leaving a family of six homeless.
- Israel instructed diplomats in Washington to ask Congress members to pressure South Africa into dropping genocide case against Israel at International Court of Justice, according to Axios.
- Hezbollah targets Israeli military positions across the border, launches drones at Nahariya. Israeli strikes kill three Lebanese Civil Defense members in southern Lebanon.
Israel Winds Down ‘Operation Summer Camps,’ Continues Blockade
Israeli forces withdrew from Jenin and Tulkarem after almost two weeks of raids as part of “Operation Summer Camps,” targeting the cities of Tubas, Jenin, and Tulkarem in the northern West Bank. The Israeli army maintained its blockade of both cities by shutting down roads leading in and out of them. On Monday, Israeli forces raided Tulkarem again after several days of relative calm, only to withdraw later in the day.
Israel’s latest military assault concentrated on the refugee camps adjacent to the three northern West Bank cities. For almost two weeks, Israeli troops destroyed large parts of camp and city infrastructure, bulldozing storefronts, tearing up streets, and unearthing electricity and water lines. Israeli forces also killed 39 Palestinians, including 11 people below the age of 18, two of whom were girls. Israeli forces also wounded 150 people and arrested dozens since the beginning of the Operation Summer Camps on August 28.
The Israeli campaign, which, according to the Israeli army, aimed at dismantling local Palestinian resistance groups, is the latest in a series of operations targeting the West Bank since 2021, especially its northern cities.
This time, Israel’s war minister Yoav Gallant lifted all restrictions on the Israeli army’s use of airstrikes, while Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz called for the “temporary” expulsion of the Palestinian population from areas of operations. On Sunday, Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said that Israel’s war in Gaza and on the Lebanese border also includes the West Bank, in reference to the latest assault. The operation has been described as the largest Israeli attack on the West Bank since 2002.
Despite Israel’s withdrawal from some northern West Bank cities, the Israeli army hasn’t officially declared the end of the operation, as its troops continue to raid other West Bank cities such as Nablus and Hebron, arresting dozens of Palestinians over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in Nablus marched in a symbolic funeral on Sunday, mourning Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, the Turkish-American solidarity activist killed by Israeli forces on Friday in the village of Beita, south of the city. Aysenur’s body was later transported to Turkey, according to Palestinian media.
Palestinians in Beita have been peacefully protesting Israeli settlement efforts on the village’s lands on Mount Sabih, since 2021. Israeli forces killed 14 Palestinians in Beita during anti-settlement protests last Friday. Eygi was the fifteenth person to be killed by Israeli forces in Beita’s protests since 2021.
Shooting Attack At Allenby Crossing Forces Shutdown Of Border
On Sunday, September 8, a Jordanian man later identified as Maher al-Jazi, 39, carried out a shooting attack at the Allenby border crossing (also known as the King Hussein Bridge by Jordanians, and as the “Karama Crossing” for Palestinians), fatally wounding three Israeli border personnel and security officers at the crossing.
The attack has prompted the shutdown of the border crossing for two consecutive days.
Israel had announced that it would reopen the bridge the day following the attack, before reversing its decision and announcing that the closure would continue into Monday. Israeli authorities have since announced that the crossing would reopen on Tuesday as thousands of travelers remain stuck in uncertainty on both sides of the border.
The Allenby bridge connects the occupied West Bank to Jordan. It is the only way for West Bank Palestinians to leave the country and access Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport, as Israel doesn’t allow West Bank Palestinians to use the Ben-Gurion airport outside of Tel Aviv. The bridge has been the scene of several deadly events in the past, the last of which, before Sunday’s attack, was the shooting and killing of the 38-year-old Palestinian-Jordanian judge, Raed Zueiter, by Israeli soldiers at the bridge in 2014.
Jordan announced that it will continue to close its side of the bridge until Israel reopens it from the occupied Palestinian side. Jordanian authorities also announced that its primary investigation showed that the shooting attack was “an individual action” carried out by al-Jazi.
Al-Jazi’s family said in a statement on Monday that Maher al-Jazi, who had served previously in Jordan’s armed forces, had no links to any political party or organization, and that he carried out the shooting attack on Sunday as a reaction to Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip.