Gaza Diary: They Bulldozed Mass Graves and Called It Peace |
Site where starving Palestinians were gunned down while trying to get flour by Israeli forces, their bodies later bulldozed into a mass grave. Still from footage posted to social media by the IDF.
A synecdoche is a figure of speech where an individual event is used to represent the whole story. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more exact and unnerving synecdoche for the Israeli genocide in Gaza than turning the strip’s largest hospital into an unmarked mass grave.
Palestinian Civil Defense teams in Gaza announced this week that they had recovered and transferred the bodies of 98 Palestinians from Al-Shifa Hospital, including 55 unidentified victims who had been buried inside the hospital grounds, in the shattered enclave’s courtyards and makeshift graves, during the height of the Israeli occupation’s genocide. Forensic authorities say dozens more bodies remain inside the Al-Shifa complex.
The bodies were deeply buried under dirt, debris and garbage. Some were elderly. Some young. Some showed signs of being shot at close range. The bodies from earlier mass grave sites at Al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals had evidence that the victims’ hands had been bound. Some showed signs of being shot at close range. Several had bullet holes in the skull. The bodies from earlier mass grave sites at Al-Shifa had evidence that the victims’ hands had been bound. The horrors of Gaza continue to unfold in ever more depraved chapters.
A CNN investigation found that the IDF gunned down starving Palestinians trying to collect flour in Gaza. Then they bulldozed the corpses into unmarked graves, where they were left to rot and be scavenged by ravenous dogs. Their deaths were never recorded, and the location of their bodies was never disclosed to their families.
Hossam Shaker: “How do you explain to the world that your army bulldozed a cemetery and uprooted the dead from their graves?”
The rubble in Gaza now exceeds 60 million tons, including 4 million tons of hazardous waste, according to the Environmental Quality Authority. This includes: 50,000 tons of asbestos, and around 100,000 tons of explosives and unexploded ordnance, posing severe long-term safety, environmental and public health risks. At least 700,000 tons of solid waste have accumulated in ad hoc dumps after official landfills and medical waste treatment sites were destroyed by Israeli bombs and bulldozers.
Palestinian Civil Defense teams warn that most of Gaza’s residential landscape has been rendered uninhabitable. The UN estimates that 320,622 housing units in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, including 92% of all residential buildings. The damage is so widespread that “every house we enter is not suitable for living and must be demolished.” The buildings lack water, electricity and sewage. Even so, thousands of Palestinian families have little choice but to camp in the ruins, living under tarps and making out as best they can.
Mohammad Mhawish:
Life in Gaza for the past two years has been a process of losing everything visible — our families, homes, streets means losing what cannot be seen: the ability to speak without fear of being monitored by a machine…Paramedics, families, journalists, and survivors who fled through the checkpoints and cameras I once faced in Gaza describe an intimacy with the systems that tracked and scored them in seconds, mapping their homes and lives from afar.
The bodies of Palestinians that had been held by Israel and returned after the ceasefire arrived frozen. Medical teams in Gaza must wait for them to melt before examining them. Yet the bodies are so maimed and disfigured that they remain unidentifiable without DNA analysis, which is unavailable in the shattered hospitals of Gaza. Of the 354 bodies returned, only 99 have been identified. Others show evidence of incisions, perhaps from autopsies, though the families of the dead fear their organs may have been harvested. Khalil Hamada, the director of forensic medicine in Gaza, said the Israelis also amputated body parts before sending them back: thumbs, fingers, and feet. “They may take just the tip of a finger or the first phalanx, but they often remove the entire thumb. In most cases, these fingers are amputated for DNA purposes before the body is handed over to us,” Hamada said.
In the nearly two months after the ceasefire went into effect, Israeli forces have committed 591 violations of the terms of the truce, resulting in the deaths of at least 379 Palestinians and 992 injuries. More than 627 bodies have been recovered from the rubble.
The violations include:
164 incidents of direct gunfire targeting civilians, homes, neighborhoods, and displaced tents
25 military incursions across the Yellow Line
280 land, air, and artillery bombardments
118 demolitions of homes and civilian facilities
38 civilians arbitrarily detained during raids
The official recorded death toll from the Israeli genocide in Gaza now stands at 70,369 and 171,069 injuries (The actual death count is likely at least three times higher than the official number.)
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, on post-ceasefire Gaza:
The ceasefire risks creating a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal. But while Israeli authorities and forces have reduced the scale of their attacks and allowed limited amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the world must not be fooled. Israel’s Genocide is not over.
Israel has inflicted devastating harm on Palestinians in Gaza through its Genocide, including two years of relentless bombardment and deliberate systematic starvation. So far, there is no indication that Israel is taking serious measures to reverse the deadly impact of its crimes and no evidence that its intent has changed. In fact, Israeli authorities are continuing their ruthless policies, restricting access to vital humanitarian aid and essential services, and deliberately imposing conditions calculated to physically destroy Palestinians in Gaza.
Palestinians remain held within less than half of the territory of Gaza, in the areas least capable of supporting life, with humanitarian aid still severely restricted. Still today, even after repeated warnings by international bodies, three sets of legally binding orders by the ICJ, and two ICJ advisory opinions, and despite Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, both as an occupying power and as a party to an armed conflict, Israel deliberately continues not to provide or allow necessary supplies to reach the civilian population in Gaza.
Israel must lift its inhumane blockade and ensure unfettered access to food, medicine, fuel, reconstruction and repair materials. Israel must also make concerted efforts to repair critical infrastructure, restore essential services, provide adequate shelter for the displaced and ensure they can return to their homes.
The Israeli officials responsible for orchestrating, overseeing and materially committing Genocide remain in power. Failing to demonstrate that they or their Government will be held accountable effectively gives them free rein to continue the Genocide and commit further human rights violations in Gaza and in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The ceasefire must not become a smokescreen for Israel’s ongoing Genocide. Israel’s pattern of conduct in Gaza, including the deliberate, unlawful denial of lifesaving aid to Palestinians, many of whom are injured, malnourished, and at risk of serious disease, continues to threaten their survival. The international community cannot afford to be complacent: States must keep up pressure on Israel to allow unfettered access to humanitarian aid, lift its unlawful blockade and end its ongoing genocide. Companies must immediately suspend any operations that contribute to or are directly linked to Israel’s genocide.
Trump on the Gaza ceasefire: “Phase two is moving along, it will happen pretty soon.”
That same day, Israel bombed a tent........