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‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 279:
Casualties
Source: mondoweiss.net
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U.S. Parole Commission Denies Leonard Peltier’s Request for Freedom; President Biden Should Grant Clemency
In response to the U.S. Parole Commission denying Leonard Peltier’s request for parole after a hearing on June 10, Paul O’Brien, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, made the following statement:
“Continuing to keep Leonard Peltier locked behind bars is a human rights travesty. President Biden should grant him clemency and release him immediately. Not only are there ongoing, unresolved concerns about the fairness of his trial, he has spent nearly 50 years in prison, is approaching 80 years old, and suffers from several chronic health problems.
“Leonard Peltier has been incarcerated for far too long. The parole commission should have granted him the freedom to spend his remaining years in his community and surrounded by loved ones.
“No one should be imprisoned after a trial riddled with uncertainty about its fairness. We are now calling on President Biden, once again, to grant Leonard Peltier clemency on humanitarian grounds and as a matter of mercy and justice.”
Background
· Leonard Peltier, Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), was convicted of the murders of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975. He has always maintained his innocence. Amnesty International joins Tribal Nations, Tribal Leaders, Members of Congress, former FBI agents, Nobel Peace Prize winners and former U.S. Attorney James Reynolds, whose office handled Peltier’s prosecution and appeal, in urging his release.
· Parole was also rejected at Peltier’s last hearing in 2009. Due to his age, this was likely the last opportunity for parole.
· A clemency request is pending before President Joe Biden. President Biden has committed opens in a new tab to grant clemency/commutation of sentences on a rolling basis rather than at the end of his term, following a review of requests by the White House Counsel’s Office and the Department of Justice.
Amnesty International has examined Peltier’s case extensively for many years, sent observers to his trial in 1977, and long campaigned on his behalf. Most recently, Amnesty International USA sent a letter to the U.S. Parole Commission urging the commission to grant him parole.
https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/u-s-parole-commission-denies-leonard-peltiers-request-for-freedom-president-biden-should-grant-clemency/
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Leonard Peltier’s Bail Denied July 2, 2024
Leonard Peltier June 26, 2024 statement on pending bail decision
Greetings my Friends, Family, Loved Ones, and Supporters,
Hope is a hard thing here. But I always hold hope in you, My People. Pay attention. The parole decision on July 11th may show you what justice truly means to this nation and to whom it is meant for.
Living in lockdown, time has twisted into something that has nothing to do with minutes, hours, or years. They have taken what little freedom I have outside this box. Art—gone. Ceremony—gone.
Yet they will never take the Spirit of a Sundancer. I have never given them my integrity. I remain undestroyed.
I will not pretend my body is sound. The lockdowns have been tough on all of us, in ways I cannot begin to explain and those on the outside cannot begin to imagine.
I am counting on you if this decision does not go my way. I always need your prayers. I need you to demand that this country finally commit one act of Justice.
My attorney assures me the battle is not over until it is over—she will not back down. I am counting on you not to back down. My time is running out here, with no medical care. I do not fear death, returning to Mother Earth’s womb, but I do not want to die in lockdown.
In my solitude, my mind often returns to Raymond Yellow Thunder. The profound tragedy of Raymond’s murder sparked change in our people and showed them who the American Indian Movement is.
Raymond was a hard-working man. When he came into town to give money to his sisters, it was not enough for the Raye brothers to humiliate Raymond, strip him, and parade him around an American Legion Dance.
Raymond was shoved into the trunk of a car and died the next day. The Raye brothers were charged with 2nd- degree manslaughter and released with no bail.
Raymond’s sisters were distraught that even that small charge may not stick. The authorities would not release the autopsy report. They would not allow Raymand’s sisters to see his body. The sisters sought help from the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs), the Tribal government, and private attorneys. In desperation, they turned to the American Indian Movement.
AIM members are Spirit Warriors, not merciless savages. We organized 200 carloads of people and demanded justice.
With dignity, we demanded justice.
Sheriff’s deputies, state troopers, and FBI agents agreed that serious charges should be filed against the Hares and that the local police chief should be dismissed.
Indigenous people started holding their heads up after that victory. They started speaking out against abuses by the BIA and Tribal government, and white ranchers profiting off their land.
We must not allow Raymond’s fate to befall others. My mother used to ask with dismay, “Why is it so bad to be Indian?” I find myself wondering why they hate us so.
We will triumph over the misguided hate of others. Never, ever, forget who you are. We are the First People. Mother Earth herself fires the blood that runs through our veins.
Protect each other, protect Mother Earth for future generations, and stand with oppressed peoples everywhere.
Remember that true strength does not reside in holding power over others. Strength comes from living out of a place of humility and integrity, inspiring others to find their unique strengths.
Oppression is rising, running like black mold through every facet of society. We must stand together and let society know that Indigenous lives are not cheap. The lives of our oppressed brothers and sisters are not cheap. All people are worthy of basic human dignity.
Colonialism has all but destroyed us. We must do nothing less than transform society into a place where human beings are not disposable.
Do not weep if I am not granted parole. Cry freedom. Coalesce yourselves, galvanize your relationships, establish alliances. In the power of our people, we find strength. Hold your head up high. It is not over, until it is over.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. Doksha,
Leonard Peltier
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Beneath The Mountain: An Anti-Prison Reader (City Lights, 2024) is a collection of revolutionary essays, written by those who have been detained inside prison walls. Composed by the most structurally dispossessed people on earth, the prisoner class, these words illuminate the steps towards freedom.
Beneath the Mountain documents the struggle — beginning with slavery, genocide, and colonization up to our present day — and imagines a collective, anti-carceral future. These essays were handwritten first on scraps of paper, magazine covers, envelopes, toilet paper, or pages of bibles, scratched down with contraband pencils or the stubby cartridge of a ball-point pen; kites, careworn, copied and shared across tiers and now preserved in this collection for this and future generations. If they were dropped in the prison-controlled mail they were cloaked in prayers, navigating censorship and dustbins. They were very often smuggled out. These words mark resistance, fierce clarity, and speak to the hope of building the world we all deserve to live in.
"Beneath the Mountain reminds us that ancestors and rebels have resisted conquest and enslavement, building marronage against colonialism and genocide."
—Joy James, author of New Bones Abolition: Captive Maternal Agency
Who stands beneath the mountain but prisoners of war? Mumia Abu-Jamal and Jennifer Black have assembled a book of fire, each voice a flame in captivity...Whether writing from a place of fugivity, the prison camp, the city jail, the modern gulag or death row, these are our revolutionary thinkers, our critics and dreamers, our people. The people who move mountains. —Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
Filled with insight and energy, this extraordinary book gifts us the opportunity to encounter people’s understanding of the fight for freedom from the inside out. —Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of Golden Gulag and Abolition Geography
These are the words each writer dreamed as they sought freedom and they need to be studied by people inside and read in every control unit/hole in every prison in America. We can send this book for you to anyone who you know who is currently living, struggling, and fighting
Who better to tell these stories than those who have lived them? Don’t be surprised with what you find within these pages: hope, solidarity, full faith towards the future, and most importantly, love.
Excerpt from the book:
"Revolutionary love speaks to the ways we protect, respect, and empower each other while standing up to state terror. Its presence is affirmed through these texts as a necessary component to help chase away fear and to encourage the solidarity and unity essential for organizing in dangerous times and places. Its absence portends tragedy. Revolutionary love does not stop the state from wanting to kill us, nor is it effective without strategy and tactics, but it is the might that fuels us to stand shoulder to shoulder with others regardless. Perhaps it can move mountains." —Jennifer Black & Mumia Abu-Jamal from the introduction to Beneath The Mountain: An Anti Prison Reader
Get the book at:
https://www.prisonradiostore.com/shop-2/beneath-the-mountain-an-anti-prison-reader-edited-by-mumia-abu-jamal-jennifer-black-city-lights-2024
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Boris Kagarlitsky is in Prison!
On February 13, the court overturned the previous decision on release and sent Boris Kagarlitsky to prison for five years.
Petition in Support of Boris Kagarlitsky
We, the undersigned, were deeply shocked to learn that on February 13 the leading Russian socialist intellectual and antiwar activist Dr. Boris Kagarlitsky (65) was sentenced to five years in prison.
Dr. Kagarlitsky was arrested on the absurd charge of 'justifying terrorism' in July last year. After a global campaign reflecting his worldwide reputation as a writer and critic of capitalism and imperialism, his trial ended on December 12 with a guilty verdict and a fine of 609,000 roubles.
The prosecution then appealed against the fine as 'unjust due to its excessive leniency' and claimed falsely that Dr. Kagarlitsky was unable to pay the fine and had failed to cooperate with the court. In fact, he had paid the fine in full and provided the court with everything it requested.
On February 13 a military court of appeal sent him to prison for five years and banned him from running a website for two years after his release.
The reversal of the original court decision is a deliberate insult to the many thousands of activists, academics, and artists around the world who respect Dr. Kagarlitsky and took part in the global campaign for his release. The section of Russian law used against Dr. Kagarlitsky effectively prohibits free expression. The decision to replace the fine with imprisonment was made under a completely trumped-up pretext. Undoubtedly, the court's action represents an attempt to silence criticism in the Russian Federation of the government's war in Ukraine, which is turning the country into a prison.
The sham trial of Dr. Kagarlitsky is the latest in a wave of brutal repression against the left-wing movements in Russia. Organizations that have consistently criticized imperialism, Western and otherwise, are now under direct attack, many of them banned. Dozens of activists are already serving long terms simply because they disagree with the policies of the Russian government and have the courage to speak up. Many of them are tortured and subjected to life-threatening conditions in Russian penal colonies, deprived of basic medical care. Left-wing politicians are forced to flee Russia, facing criminal charges. International trade unions such as IndustriALL and the International Transport Federation are banned and any contact with them will result in long prison sentences.
There is a clear reason for this crackdown on the Russian left. The heavy toll of the war gives rise to growing discontent among the mass of working people. The poor pay for this massacre with their lives and wellbeing, and opposition to war is consistently highest among the poorest. The left has the message and resolve to expose the connection between imperialist war and human suffering.
Dr. Kagarlitsky has responded to the court's outrageous decision with calm and dignity: “We just need to live a little longer and survive this dark period for our country,” he said. Russia is nearing a period of radical change and upheaval, and freedom for Dr. Kagarlitsky and other activists is a condition for these changes to take a progressive course.
We demand that Boris Kagarlitsky and all other antiwar prisoners be released immediately and unconditionally.
We also call on the authorities of the Russian Federation to reverse their growing repression of dissent and respect their citizens' freedom of speech and right to protest.
Sign to Demand the Release of Boris Kagarlitsky
https://freeboris.info
The petition is also available on Change.org
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*Major Announcement*
Claudia De la Cruz wins
Peace and Freedom Party primary in California!
We have an exciting announcement. The votes are still being counted in California, but the Claudia-Karina “Vote Socialist” campaign has achieved a clear and irreversible lead in the Peace and Freedom Party primary. Based on the current count, Claudia has 46% of the vote compared to 40% for Cornel West. A significant majority of PFP’s newly elected Central Committee, which will formally choose the nominee at its August convention, have also pledged their support to the Claudia-Karina campaign.
We are excited to campaign in California now and expect Claudia De la Cruz to be the candidate on the ballot of the Peace and Freedom Party in November.
We achieved another big accomplishment this week - we’re officially on the ballot in Hawai’i! This comes after also petitioning to successfully gain ballot access in Utah. We are already petitioning in many other states. Each of these achievements is powered by the tremendous effort of our volunteers and grassroots organizers across the country. When we’re organized, people power can move mountains!
We need your help to keep the momentum going. Building a campaign like this takes time, energy, and money. We know that our class enemies — the billionaires, bankers, and CEO’s — put huge sums toward loyal politicians and other henchmen who defend their interests. They will use all the money and power at their disposal to stop movements like ours. As an independent, socialist party, our campaign is relying on contributions from the working class and people like you.
We call on each and every one of our supporters to set up a monthly or one-time donation to support this campaign to help it keep growing and reaching more people. A new socialist movement, independent of the Democrats and Republicans, is being built but it will only happen when we all pitch in.
The Claudia-Karina campaign calls to end all U.S. aid to Israel. End this government’s endless wars. We want jobs for all, with union representation and wages that let us live with dignity. Housing, healthcare, and education for all - without the lifelong debt. End the ruthless attacks on women, Black people, immigrants, and LGBTQ people. These are just some of the demands that are resonating across the country. Help us take the next step:
Volunteer: https://votesocialist2024.com/volunteer
Donate: https://votesocialist2024.com/donate
See you in the streets,
Claudia & Karina
Don't Forget! Join our telegram channel for regular updates: https://t.me/+KtYBAKgX51JhNjMx
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Mumia Abu-Jamal is Innocent!
FREE HIM NOW!
Write to Mumia at:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335
SCI Mahanoy
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Join the Fight for Mumia's Life
Since September, Mumia Abu-Jamal's health has been declining at a concerning rate. He has lost weight, is anemic, has high blood pressure and an extreme flair up of his psoriasis, and his hair has fallen out. In April 2021 Mumia underwent open heart surgery. Since then, he has been denied cardiac rehabilitation care including a healthy diet and exercise.
Donate to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Emergency Legal and Medical Defense Fund, Official 2024
Mumia has instructed PrisonRadio to set up this fund. Gifts donated here are designated for the Mumia Abu-Jamal Medical and Legal Defense Fund. If you are writing a check or making a donation in another way, note this in the memo line.
Send to:
Mumia Medical and Legal Fund c/o Prison Radio
P.O. Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94103
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Write to:
Leonard Peltier 89637-132
USP Coleman 1
P.O. Box 1033
Coleman, FL 33521
Note: Letters, address and return address must be in writing—no stickers—and on plain white paper.
Sign our petition urging President Biden to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier:
https://www.freeleonardpeltier.com/petition
Email: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
Address: 116 W. Osborne Ave. Tampa, Florida 33603
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Updates From Kevin Cooper
A Never-ending Constitutional Violation
A summary of the current status of Kevin Cooper’s case by the Kevin Cooper Defense Committee
On October 26, 2023, the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP wrote a rebuttal in response to the Special Counsel's January 13, 2023 report upholding the conviction of their client Kevin Cooper. A focus of the rebuttal was that all law enforcement files were not turned over to the Special Counsel during their investigation, despite a request for them to the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office.
On October 29, 2023, Law Professors Lara Bazelon and Charlie Nelson Keever, who run the six member panel that reviews wrongful convictions for the San Francisco County District Attorney's office, published an OpEd in the San Francisco Chronicle calling the "Innocence Investigation” done by the Special Counsel in the Cooper case a “Sham Investigation” largely because Cooper has unsuccessfully fought for years to obtain the police and prosecutor files in his case. This is a Brady claim, named for the U.S. Supreme court’s 1963 case establishing the Constitutional rule that defendants are entitled to any information in police and prosecutor's possession that could weaken the state's case or point to innocence. Brady violations are a leading cause of wrongful convictions. The Special Counsel's report faults Cooper for not offering up evidence of his own despite the fact that the best evidence to prove or disprove Brady violations or other misconduct claims are in those files that the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office will not turn over to the Special Counsel or to Cooper's attorneys.
On December 14, 2023, the president of the American Bar Association (ABA), Mary Smith, sent Governor Gavin Newsom a three page letter on behalf of the ABA stating in part that Mr.Cooper's counsel objected to the state's failure to provide Special Counsel all documents in their possession relating to Mr.Cooper's conviction, and that concerns about missing information are not new. For nearly 40 years Mr.Cooper's attorneys have sought this same information from the state.
On December 19, 2023, Bob Egelko, a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article about the ABA letter to the Governor that the prosecutors apparently withheld evidence from the Governor's legal team in the Cooper case.
These are just a few recent examples concerning the ongoing failure of the San Bernardino County District Attorney to turn over to Cooper's attorney's the files that have been requested, even though under the law and especially the U.S. Constitution, the District Attorney of San Bernardino county is required to turn over to the defendant any and all material and or exculpatory evidence that they have in their files. Apparently, they must have something in their files because they refuse to turn them over to anyone.
The last time Cooper's attorney's received files from the state, in 2004, it wasn't from the D.A. but a Deputy Attorney General named Holly Wilkens in Judge Huff's courtroom. Cooper's attorneys discovered a never before revealed police report showing that a shirt was discovered that had blood on it and was connected to the murders for which Cooper was convicted, and that the shirt had disappeared. It had never been tested for blood. It was never turned over to Cooper's trial attorney, and no one knows where it is or what happened to it. Cooper's attorneys located the woman who found that shirt on the side of the road and reported it to the Sheriff's Department. She was called to Judge Huff's court to testify about finding and reporting that shirt to law enforcement. That shirt was the second shirt found that had blood on it that was not the victims’ blood. This was in 2004, 19 years after Cooper's conviction.
It appears that this ongoing constitutional violation that everyone—from the Special Counsel to the Governor's legal team to the Governor himself—seems to know about, but won't do anything about, is acceptable in order to uphold Cooper's conviction.
But this type of thing is supposed to be unacceptable in the United States of America where the Constitution is supposed to stand for something other than a piece of paper with writing on it. How can a Governor, his legal team, people who support and believe in him ignore a United States citizen’s Constitutional Rights being violated for 40 years in order to uphold a conviction?
This silence is betrayal of the Constitution. This permission and complicity by the Governor and his team is against everything that he and they claim to stand for as progressive politicians. They have accepted the Special Counsel's report even though the Special Counsel did not receive the files from the district attorney that may not only prove that Cooper is innocent, but that he was indeed framed by the Sheriff’s Department; and that evidence was purposely destroyed and tampered with, that certain witnesses were tampered with, or ignored if they had information that would have helped Cooper at trial, that evidence that the missing shirt was withheld from Cooper's trial attorney, and so much more.
Is the Governor going to get away with turning a blind eye to this injustice under his watch?
Are progressive people going to stay silent and turn their eyes blind in order to hopefully get him to end the death penalty for some while using Cooper as a sacrificial lamb?
An immediate act of solidarity we can all do right now is to write to Kevin and assure him of our continuing support in his fight for justice. Here’s his address:
Kevin Cooper #C65304
Cell 107, Unit E1C
California Health Care Facility, Stockton (CHCF)
P.O. Box 213040
Stockton, CA 95213
www.freekevincooper.org
Call California Governor Newsom:
1-(916) 445-2841
Press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish,
press 6 to speak with a representative and
wait for someone to answer
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST—12:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. EST)
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The writers' organization PEN America is circulating this petition on behalf of Jason Renard Walker, a Texas prisoner whose life is being threatened because of his exposés of the Texas prison system.
See his book, Reports from within the Belly of the Beast; available on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/Reports-Within-Belly-Beast-Department-ebook/dp/B084656JDZ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
Petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/protect-whistleblowers-in-carceral-settings
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Daniel Hale UPDATE:
In February Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale was transferred from the oppressive maximum-security prison in Marion, Illinois to house confinement. We celebrate his release from Marion. He is laying low right now, recovering from nearly 3 years in prison. Thank goodness he is now being held under much more humane conditions and expected to complete his sentence in July of this year. www.StandWithDaniel Hale.org
More Info about Daniel:
“Drone Whistleblower Subjected To Harsh Confinement Finally Released From Prison”
https://thedissenter.org/drone-whistleblower-cmu-finally-released-from-prison/
“I was punished under the Espionage Act. Why wasn’t Joe Biden?” by Daniel Hale
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Resources for Resisting Federal Repression
https://www.nlg.org/federalrepressionresources/
Since June of 2020, activists have been subjected to an increasingly aggressive crackdown on protests by federal law enforcement. The federal response to the movement for Black Lives has included federal criminal charges for activists, door knocks by federal law enforcement agents, and increased use of federal troops to violently police protests.
The NLG National Office is releasing this resource page for activists who are resisting federal repression. It includes a link to our emergency hotline numbers, as well as our library of Know-Your-Rights materials, our recent federal repression webinar, and a list of some of our recommended resources for activists. We will continue to update this page.
Please visit the NLG Mass Defense Program page for general protest-related legal support hotlines run by NLG chapters.
Emergency Hotlines
If you are contacted by federal law enforcement, you should exercise all of your rights. It is always advisable to speak to an attorney before responding to federal authorities.
State and Local Hotlines
If you have been contacted by the FBI or other federal law enforcement, in one of the following areas, you may be able to get help or information from one of these local NLG hotlines for:
Portland, Oregon: (833) 680-1312
San Francisco, California: (415) 285-1041 or fbi_hotline@nlgsf.org
Seattle, Washington: (206) 658-7963
National Hotline
If you are located in an area with no hotline, you can call the following number:
National NLG Federal Defense Hotline: (212) 679-2811
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1) Israel Targets Top Hamas Commander in Airstrike; Mass Casualties Reported
The commander, Muhammad Deif, is considered an architect of the Oct. 7 attacks. Palestinian authorities said more than 70 people had been killed in southern Gaza.
By Ronen Bergman and Patrick Kingsley, July 13, 2024
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/13/world/israel-gaza-war-hamas
46 minutes ago
![[object Object]](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/07/13/multimedia/13mideast-crisis-carousel-05-bjft/13mideast-crisis-carousel-05-bjft-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp)
Palestinians gathering, at a hospital morgue in Deir al Balah, near the bodies of their relatives killed in airstrikes.
Israel attempted to kill a top Hamas military commander believed to be an architect of the Oct. 7 attack in an airstrike Saturday morning, according to seven senior Israeli officials. The Gaza authorities said that more than 70 people had been killed in the strike, which hit an area Israel had designated as a humanitarian zone.
It was not immediately clear whether the commander, Muhammad Deif, the leader of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, survived or was even in the area. A mysterious figure who has long been one of Israel’s most wanted men and has escaped multiple assassination attempts, Mr. Deif is considered the most senior Hamas figure in Gaza after its leader there, Yahya Sinwar.
The Israeli military and the domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet, issued a joint statement saying that they had struck “senior Hamas terrorists and additional terrorists,” but did not name them or say whether they had been killed.
Hamas said in a statement that Israel’s “allegations about targeting leaders are false,” and are “merely to cover up the scale of the horrific massacre.”
The strike hit inside a strip of coastal land on the Mediterranean Sea known as Mawasi that is roughly half a mile wide and nine miles long. Israel began urging Gazans to seek safety there early in the war, and thousands of displaced Palestinians live there in tents.
The military statement said that the strike had hit “an open area surrounded by trees, several buildings and sheds,” and it posted an aerial photograph of a plot of land filled with palm trees and a few buildings. Four Israeli officials said the military had targeted Mr. Deif while he was inside a fenced Hamas-run compound that was not used as a camp for displaced people.
Video from the scene of the strike appeared to corroborate parts of the military’s statement but not others.
Footage taken by Mustafa Abutaha, a professor of English, showed a large crater in a tree-lined plot of land near a four-story residential building. A high wall separated part of the plot from the road, suggesting that it was an enclosed compound. But as he filmed the video, Mr. Abutaha said the plot had housed displaced people. Shortly afterward, a second man passed in front of the camera, holding a motionless child.
Two Israeli officials said that Mr. Deif had been targeted while he was above ground, after leaving Hamas’s tunnel network under Gaza. All of the Israeli officials spoke on the condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Here’s what else to know:
The Israeli officials said the strikes had also targeted Rafah Salameh, the top Hamas commander in Khan Younis, who was with Mr. Deif at the time of the attack.
The Gazan authorities said that a second, smaller strike hit the center of Khan Younis, a nearby city to the east of Mawasi.
A senior American official said that Israel had told Washington that it targeted Mr. Deif, but the official said that neither Israel nor the United States could yet confirm his status.
On Saturday, relatives of hostages held in Gaza were nearing the end of a four-day march between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The marchers aimed to heighten pressure on the Israeli government to agree to a deal with Hamas that would stop the fighting in Gaza and release their relatives.
Hiba Yazbek, Aaron Boxerman and Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.
29 minutes ago
By Patrick Kingsley
Louise Wateridge, a U.N. official, spent the afternoon at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where doctors treated some of the civilians wounded by the strike. Ms. Wateridge said in a phone interview that she saw roughly five wounded children, one of whom was paralyzed from the waist down, according to doctors at the hospital.
Ms. Wateridge said that a shortage of disinfectant in Gaza meant that doctors were cleaning wounds with water alone. A fuel shortage had prevented hospital staff from powering the hospital’s washing machines and air conditioning units, Ms. Wateridge added. As a result, patients lay in the stifling heat on bloodstained mattresses without sheets, she said. “You associate hospitals with hygiene and cleanliness,” she said. “It was very far from that.”
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2) Gaza’s collapsing hospitals struggle to deal with the numbers of wounded in the latest strike.
By Hiba Yazbek and Ameera Harouda, July 13, 2024
A Palestinian man carrying the body of his son, who was killed in a tent camp in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, on Saturday. Credit...Haitham Imad/EPA, via Shutterstock
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Saturday that its rescue and emergency crews had evacuated more than 100 wounded people along with 23 bodies from the site of the strikes in Khan Younis. The Gaza health ministry said earlier that in total, more than 70 people were killed in the attacks.
The rescue group said that many of the wounded had been taken to nearby hospitals run by the Red Crescent.
“All the hospitals in the area are full of the wounded,” said Dr. Wahid Qudaih, the medical director of the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, adding that there were not enough beds to accommodate all of the patients.
“A large number of patients are lying on the floor while staff are dealing with critical cases and all of the medical staff and equipment and field hospitals are exhausted,” Dr. Qudaih said in a telephone interview.
The medical system in Gaza has collapsed under the weight of the war, without enough electricity, fuel or medical supplies to treat the large numbers of wounded people, which mount daily.
“It was an unusual event regarding the number of cases and the nature of injuries,” Dr. Qudaih said of Saturday’s assault. “We have some seriously wounded people who might lose their lives at any moment,” he said, adding that children were among those hurt.
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3) Questions Swirl After Deadly Strike Targeting Hamas Commander
By Isabel Kershner, July 14, 2024
Palestinians inspecting the scene of the strike in the Mawasi area on Saturday. Credit...Haitham Imad/EPA, via Shutterstock
The fate of Hamas’s top military commander remained shrouded in uncertainty on Sunday, a day after Israel targeted him in a large airstrike in Gaza, as was the impact of the attack on talks for a tentative cease-fire deal.
At least 90 people were killed in the strike, about half of them women and children, and 300 wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Reports from Gaza described hospitals overwhelmed by injured Palestinians.
But it remained unclear on Sunday if the primary target, Muhammad Deif, the leader of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, was among the dead.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a televised news conference on Saturday night that there was still no “absolute certainty” on whether Mr. Deif or another target, Rafa Salameh, the leader of Hamas forces in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, had been killed.
A Hamas official, Khalil al-Hayya, who lives in exile, said in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic television that Mr. Deif had not been killed and was listening to Mr. Netanyahu’s words and “mocking” them. Hamas has not offered evidence that Mr. Deif survived.
Mr. Deif is the second most senior Hamas figure in Gaza, after its leader in the territory, Yahya Sinwar. He is considered one of the architects of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which prompted the war in Gaza, now in its tenth month.
After weeks of an impasse over a cease-fire deal, talks had resumed in recent days, via American and Arab mediators, for an agreement that would see the roughly 120 hostages remaining in Gaza, some alive and some dead, exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.
It was not immediately clear how the strike Saturday might affect those talks, which were already fragile and halting.
But in a sign that the negotiations might continue, Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, rejected a news report citing an unnamed Hamas official saying the group had decided to halt the talks. Mr. Al-Rishq said in an official statement on Sunday that the report was “not true and baseless.”
In another statement on Sunday, Hamas described the Israeli strike as a “massacre” that targeted an area packed with tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians. But it made no mention of the fate of Mr. Deif and Mr. Salameh.
Scott Anderson, a senior United Nations official in Gaza, said that on Saturday he had visited the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, where more than 100 Palestinians with severe injuries had been admitted, and that “the air was filled with the smell of blood.”
“I witnessed some of the most horrific scenes I have seen in my nine months in Gaza,” Mr. Anderson said in a statement on Sunday.
“With not enough beds, hygiene equipment, sheeting, or scrubs, many patients were treated on the ground without disinfectants,” he added.
Mr. Netanyahu said on Saturday that before he gave the go-ahead for Saturday’s strike, he had been assured by Israeli security officials that there were no indications of any hostages in the vicinity of where they believed Mr. Deif to be.
Israeli analysts said that while some interruption might be expected in the negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage deal, Hamas’s fundamental interest in such a deal would remain, and that it was the growing Israeli military pressure on the group that had brought it to the table in the first place.
“The reasons that prompted Hamas to show flexibility have not changed,” wrote Tamir Hayman, a former military intelligence chief and now director of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, on N12, a Hebrew news site.
Hamas has no option but to go back to the negotiating table, said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University, which is affiliated with Fatah, the main Palestinian political rival of Hamas.
“Hamas is in a very bad position — it has been pushed into a corner militarily, and there is no question that it has been weakened after nine months,” Professor Abusada said from Cairo.
The organization has come under mounting criticism, including from the office of the president of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and from the mediators, for the continued fighting and its devastating toll on civilians in Gaza. More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and uninvolved civilians.
Professor Abusada said Hamas was aware that if it pulled out of the cease-fire negotiations it would be blamed for the collapse and relieve Mr. Netanyahu of any responsibility for their failure, despite what many Palestinian and Israeli critics view as his obstructionist approach.
Mr. Netanyahu’s critics have accused him of impeding the negotiations, noting that some hard-line partners in his governing coalition have threatened to bring down his government if he agrees to a deal that falls short of achieving a total victory over Hamas in Gaza.
Professor Abusada, like some Israeli analysts, said that a confirmation of the death of Mr. Deif, a potent symbol of Hamas’s militancy in the eyes of many Israelis, could provide Mr. Netanyahu with a much-needed boost to his image and help pave an exit from the war.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Israel’s military strikes sites in Syria, and other news.
· Israel struck a Syrian military command center and infrastructure sites overnight after two drones approached southern Israel from the country’s territory, the Israeli military said on Sunday. The drones were intercepted as they approached an area north of Eilat, Israel’s Red Sea resort town, the military said, adding that it held the Syrian regime accountable “for all terror activities” emanating from its territory. There was no immediate comment from the Syrian authorities.
· Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, will be in Washington this week for meetings at the White House, according to a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office. It said he will be joined by “senior officials from the two countries’ security and diplomatic establishments.” The meeting follows a call on Saturday between Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant. The Pentagon said that the two men discussed Israel’s operations in Gaza and that Mr. Austin “emphasized the importance of taking all necessary steps to minimize civilian harm.”
· Relatives of hostages held in Gaza completed a four-day march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Saturday. The marchers aimed to heighten pressure on the Israeli government to agree to a deal with Hamas that would stop the fighting in Gaza and release their relatives.
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4) What is Mawasi, the ‘humanitarian zone’ where a Hamas commander was targeted?
By Adam Rasgon, July 14, 2024
Destroyed tents and makeshift housing structures after an Israeli strike on the Mawasi “humanitarian zone” on Saturday. Credit...Bashar Taleb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The Israeli airstrike targeting the commander of Hamas’s military wing on Saturday hit Mawasi, a narrow strip of coastal land in southern Gaza that Israel has designated as a “humanitarian zone.”
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge in the area, according to U.N. officials. They have set up tents and makeshift shelters in the hopes of evading airstrikes and street battles between the Israeli military and Hamas fighters. Despite the area’s designation as a “safer zone,” Israel has dropped bombs there and accused Palestinian militants of operating amid the civilian population to fire rockets.
Israeli officials said the military had targeted the commander, Muhammad Deif, while he was inside a fenced Hamas-run compound that was not used as a camp for displaced people.
Israel first designated the area a “humanitarian zone” in October after it began encouraging residents of Gaza City to move southward ahead of its ground invasion into northern Gaza. It initially encompassed an area roughly a half-mile wide and about three miles long, according to a military map.
By December, it had been expanded to an area roughly 1.5 miles wide and five miles long, according to a military map. In May, when Israel launched its invasion into the southern city of Rafah, it expanded the zone to encompass much of central and southern Gaza, up to roughly four miles wide and nine miles long, according to a military map.
Many of the roughly million people who left Rafah as Israel pressed further into the town squeezed into the expanded Mawasi “humanitarian zone.”
Palestinians in the area have described harrowing conditions, including overcrowding, a lack of clean water, long lines for bathrooms, and rivers of sewage. For much of the population, finding food has also been a daily struggle, especially for those who cannot readily afford goods in markets.
“The situation is catastrophic,” said Ali Jebril, 27, a wheelchair-bound basketball player staying in a tent in Mawasi. “We’re living through a nightmare.”
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5) After Homelessness Ruling, Cities Weigh Whether to Clear Encampments
The Supreme Court decided last month that cities could cite homeless campers. Some say ‘clear them all.’ Others are ramping up outreach.
By Shawn Hubler and Mike Baker, July 13, 2024
Shawn Hubler reported from Folsom, Calif., and Mike Baker from Burien, Wash.
K.C. Alvey treads carefully when she and her dog, Stuart, walk the dappled trail behind their apartment in Folsom, Calif. Since the pandemic, her neighbors have included homeless campers along a brook known as Humbug Creek.
There’s the man who periodically emerges from the brush, yelling in fear and tearing at tree limbs. There’s the hoarder who fled last week with his dog as a cleanup crew again cleared his massive campsite — shopping carts, three beds, throw pillows, art, books, mirrors on trees, rugs, torch fuel. Rogue campfires have been frequent.
Until recently, federal appellate courts limited how far cities could go to clear encampments. But late last month, the Supreme Court ruled that they could remove homeless residents sleeping outdoors, a decision that has already begun to reshape how they deal with homelessness.
Three days after the decision, the Folsom police announced they would start citing recalcitrant illegal campers, though they also would team up with nonprofits to provide more homeless outreach.
Ms. Alvey, 57, a marketing manager, is waiting to see what happens. There have been times when the homeless campers “really creep me out,” she said. But she also wants “to be sure they have somewhere they can go where they feel safe.”
In the two weeks since the Supreme Court decided that the city of Grants Pass, Ore., could penalize sleeping and camping in public places, city leaders across the country have responded by revising local ordinances and preparing to take a harder line on homeless encampments. Nowhere has the homelessness crisis been more severe than in Western states, where tent communities have proliferated since the pandemic.
Some cities are particularly eager to get moving.
“I’m warming up the bulldozer,” said Mayor R. Rex Parris, a Republican, of Lancaster, Calif., an exurb 62 miles north of Los Angeles. “I want the tents away from the residential areas and the shopping centers and the freeways.”
Shelter populations increased last year in the Antelope Valley, which includes Lancaster, but unsheltered homelessness rose more, according to the area’s latest point-in-time count, with more than 5,500 people sleeping unhoused in a stretch of high desert prone to extreme cold and heat.
“I get that some of these people have fallen on hard times,” the mayor said, “and we have a state-of-the-art shelter with beds available. But the population we’re talking about doesn’t want a bed.”
That sentiment is not limited to Republican leaders. In San Francisco, where Mayor London Breed has faced a tough fight for re-election, businesses have waged a furious campaign to eliminate homeless encampments even as civil liberties groups have sued the city over enforcement.
“My hope is that we can clear them all,” the staunch Democrat said at a news conference after the ruling. She has said that homeless people who refuse services are partly to blame for the city’s economic struggles downtown.
In the Seattle suburb of Burien, Wash., city leaders are battling with the county sheriff, who runs the police force, over the enforcement of public camping bans. Citing concerns about constitutionality, the sheriff’s department has declined to take action, even after the Supreme Court ruling.
On a recent afternoon, homeless residents were milling around tents and tarps and pallets that comprised about two dozen makeshift structures on a patch of land across the street from the county courthouse. Some said they hoped the city would let them be until they could find more permanent housing.
Mayor Kevin Schilling wanted more immediate action. He said he believes that enforcement, combined with outreach, would nudge those in need of drug treatment, mental health services or temporary shelter to choose those options. “If you don’t have that nudge, at the end of that day, people are not going to choose to do that on their own,” he said.
Some communities, like Grants Pass itself, have hit legal snags as city leaders formulate their next steps. Homeless people in Grants Pass continue to seek refuge in dozens of tents spread across a variety of the city’s parks. A court injunction remains in place there for the time being, although officials in the community of 40,000 people expect it to lift soon.
Recently, city leaders called a meeting to seek feedback from the community on how to enforce and manage homeless camping, but for some residents, that was insufficient. On Wednesday night, many lined up at a microphone to express outrage that officials were not immediately clearing parks of homeless people.
“Get them out!” one man shouted. “Give us our town back,” a woman told officials.
“I am hoping and praying that we can make the city of Grants Pass a homeless-free zone,” Kim Hector, a resident, said. “You know they have gun-free zones. Well, the citizens of Grants Pass deserve a homeless-free zone.”
The Supreme Court ruling left many civil protections intact, including prohibitions on excessive fines and violations of due process. Local governments can still be sued, civil liberties groups note, and still must grapple with vast numbers of vulnerable, poor and unsheltered people.
In a recent webinar on the ruling, legal advisers in California recommended that municipalities provide ample notice of enforcement, set fines at an affordable level and frame anti-camping laws as a tool to persuade homeless people to accept services.
Eve Garrow, a senior policy analyst and advocate with the A.C.L.U. of Southern California, dismissed the “carrot and stick approach” as “deeply disingenuous” in a state with yearslong waiting lists for subsidized housing.
“A playbook is developing,” she said. “But the clear aim is a race to the bottom where each local government tries to drive unhoused people out.”
In 2018, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that it was unconstitutional to punish people for sleeping outside when they had no other legal option. That decision and subsequent rulings limited the ability of cities throughout the circuit’s nine Western states to address homelessness with arrests and citations. Politicians blamed the courts for an onslaught of highly visible encampments. But governments, forced to confront the crisis with less enforcement, also approved a torrent of spending on homeless services and affordable housing.
Conservative policymakers say that has not worked. Model legislation drawn up by the Cicero Institute, a Texas think tank, has underpinned new laws in Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and other Republican-led states that cracked down on encampments and reversed a mostly government-funded approach that prioritizes housing individuals.
In Democratic-led areas, however, strategies such as rousting or arresting are viewed as less effective than determining why individuals are homeless and then offering appropriate remedies such as housing, jobs, substance abuse treatment or mental health care.
Los Angeles has struggled to reduce homelessness for years, its Skid Row an often-cited illustration of the problem in California. But under Mayor Karen Bass, the city has made progress in moving people off the streets and into motels and shelters, and the city had its first decline in years in unsheltered individuals. Ms. Bass, a Democrat, swiftly criticized the Supreme Court decision.
“This ruling must not be used as an excuse for cities across the country to attempt to arrest their way out of this problem or hide the homelessness crisis in neighboring cities or in jail,” Ms. Bass said. “The only way to address this crisis is to bring people indoors with housing and supportive services.”
Not everyone in Los Angeles agrees. Traci Park, a City Council member from the affluent Westside, coauthored a motion within hours of the ruling that demanded an examination of the existing anti-camping restrictions, along with a comparison of regulations in Los Angeles County’s 87 other cities.
The balance between enforcement and providing services remains a challenge. In Folsom, a community of about 80,000 known for its hiking trails and its nearby prison, the ruling has revived a debate over compassion and order. The city’s homeless census has leaped from fewer than 20 before the pandemic to more than 130 this year.
Folsom has long had restrictions on camping in public spaces and fire zones, punishable by citations. But since the Ninth Circuit ruling in 2018, the community has largely relied on other ordinances to control encampments, such as public nuisance laws.
A special task force to address tent camps in neighborhoods like Ms. Alvey’s began work this month, just after the Supreme Court decision was released. “We’re here to help,” said Lt. Chris Emery of the Folsom Police Department, who was overseeing the removal of a sprawling camp from a ravine full of tinder-dry foliage on Thursday. “We’re not the hammer of justice and not everyone is a nail.”
As waste removal crews arrived, his team tried to persuade the homeless camp proprietor to speak to an outreach worker. They were unsuccessful, but Jeanne Shuman, founder of Jake’s Journey Home, a local nonprofit, said Folsom’s homeless people have begun to understand that the ruling has narrowed their options.
At the public library during a searing heat wave, Paul Hebbe, 58, said that officers with flashlights awakened him at 3 a.m. on July 4 as he slept in his usual spot just outside the reading room window. Three other homeless men separately offered similar accounts; the police said they had no record of the encounter.
“They said, ‘You can’t be here, there’s a new law,’” Mr. Hebbe said, recounting how he had refused to move to a shelter and instead trundled into the dark with his sheet, sleeping bags and assorted backpacks. He was not cited, he said, but “it’s not right — I’ve had probably 10 hours of sleep in the last four days.”
Rick Hillman, the police chief in Folsom, said the Grants Pass decision gives his department an additional tool, restoring teeth to the city’s camping restrictions. But “the last few years have been a big education,” and only the most egregious repeat offenders will be cited, the chief said. No citations have yet been issued, he added.
“I don’t want to bog down our justice system with tickets for people experiencing homelessness,” he said. “To me, that just puts them in a worse situation. We’re trying to get them to take advantage of services.”
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6) Delta Changes Uniform Policy After Employees Seen With Palestinian Flag Pins
A social media post showing two flight attendants wearing the pins drew criticism and prompted Delta to say that only U.S. flag pins would be permitted.
By Emmett Lindner, July 13, 2024
A previous Delta Air Lines uniform policy allowed pins representing countries and nationalities from around the world. Credit...Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Two Delta Air Lines flight attendants seen in a social media post wearing pins depicting the Palestinian flag caused an online uproar, a rogue response from a Delta employee and a change to the company’s uniform policy.
The image, reposted on Wednesday, showed the flight attendants in a plane aisle with small Palestinian flag pins affixed to their uniforms. The post characterized the pins as “Hamas badges.”
The post prompted a wave of criticism on social media aimed at the airline.
Soon after the images were published, the official Delta account on X responded in solidarity. “I hear you as I’d be terrified as well, personally,” read the comment.
Soon after, Delta’s reply was gone.
“On Wednesday, we removed a reply that was not in line with our values,” Delta said on social media. “We strive for an environment of inclusivity & respect for all, in our communities & our planes. The employee responsible no longer supports Delta’s social channels. We apologize for this hurtful post.”
Delta said that, beginning on Monday, it would change its uniform policies so that only U.S. flag pins would be permitted to be worn on uniforms. Previously, pins representing countries and nationalities from around the world had been allowed.
“The photographed flight attendants were compliant with Delta uniform guidelines and we’ve been in touch with them to offer support,” a Delta spokeswoman said on Saturday.
The spokeswoman went on to address rumors that the airline had taken disciplinary action against the employees. “Contrary to further chatter on social media platforms, neither has been terminated,” she said.
In a letter dated July 11 to Ed Bastian, the company’s chief executive, a steering committee from the Delta Association of Flight Attendants, a union, asked for an apology and a ban on unauthorized photography of crew members.
“Under current rules, Delta management leaves flight attendants vulnerable to harassment,” the letter said.
The letter went on to say that “targeting any individuals on the basis of their nationality violates anti-discrimination laws, is antithetical to Delta’s stated commitment to inclusivity and respect, and encourages a hostile work environment.”
The company spokeswoman did not address the letter, which comes as videos and images of passenger disturbances aboard planes across all airlines circulate online.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, reports of unruly passengers have declined since 2021, when there were nearly 6,000 cases reported, compared with just over 1,000 in 2020.
So far this year, there have been nearly 900 reports of unruly passengers.
Delta’s change in its uniform policy aims to reduce these episodes and protect employee safety, the spokeswoman said, adding that the airline is “taking this step to help ensure a safe, comfortable and welcoming environment for all.”
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7) Something Big Just Happened in Kenya
By Carey Baraka, July 14, 2024
Mr. Baraka is a writer based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Patrick Meinhardt/Getty Images
President William Ruto knows he’s in trouble. A few weeks ago Mr. Ruto was barricaded inside his official compound in Nairobi, Kenya, while thousands of young Kenyans marched on the streets. Since then, nationwide protests that started over a potential tax hike on basic goods and services have evolved into something much bigger: a demand for Mr. Ruto’s ouster — and an end to a culture in which Kenya’s political class enriches itself at the expense of the social and economic needs of its citizens.
From the start, this movement felt different from other protests. Most of the demonstrators were part of the country’s young majority, spreading information about where and when to show up on TikTok, Instagram and WhatsApp. No central political figure or unifying political party stood behind the crowds, and no common ideology united them beyond anger at the government’s plan to increase taxes while social services collapsed, public university fees soared and an unemployment crisis deepened. Even as the street action has faded, more Kenyans are now openly following graft cases on social media, circulating excerpts from the constitution and calling and texting legislators.
This marks a seismic shift in a nation where young people have been accused of political apathy. During general elections in 2022, most young Kenyans didn’t even register to vote. Now, for the first time since the country adopted a new constitution in 2010, the country’s youth are a critical part of a movement in which people are risking their lives to fight for the democratic gains they have been promised. It is clear Mr. Ruto senses his tenure is in danger; on Thursday he sacked all but one of his cabinet secretaries, bowing to public pressure.
Mr. Ruto is a protégé of Daniel arap Moi, the dictator who ruled Kenya between 1978 and 2002. From the beginning of his political career, Mr. Ruto appeared to share his mentor’s disregard for democracy. Some of his early political work involved organizing teams of university students to work for Mr. Moi during their school holidays; he later helped disrupt opposition rallies during the 1992 elections, Kenya’s first multiparty voting in decades.
When Mr. Moi left office, Mr. Ruto became a key member of the opposition, slowly building up his reputation for a presidential run. In 2007 he sought his party’s nomination for the presidency but lost in the primaries. Waves of violence erupted in Kenya after those polls, killing more than 1,200 people and displacing 600,000 from their homes. Mr. Ruto was one of six Kenyans indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2011, on charges that he had a role in the violence, which he has denied. He was accused of “murder, deportation or forcible transfer of population and persecution.”
Since then, Mr. Ruto has fought the democratic reforms that millions of Kenyans support. In 2010 he opposed the country’s new constitution, which sought to reform the political structure that enabled Mr. Moi’s dictatorship, give rights to people who had previously been disenfranchised, introduce new laws to prevent graft by government officials and prevent those with criminal convictions from assuming political office.
In 2013 Uhuru Kenyatta, who was also indicted by the I.C.C., added Mr. Ruto to his presidential ticket as his deputy. Together they won, and soon after the I.C.C. charges against them were dropped. Mr. Ruto was elected president in 2022. In both jobs, he has undermined the constitution by blatantly disregarding court orders, ignoring constitutional requirements for appointing people to state office, appointing members of his family to government jobs and using his party’s numerical superiority in Parliament to try to weaken integrity laws for state officials.
He has also failed to deliver on his core 2022 campaign promises: to fight income inequality and create jobs for Kenya’s youth. Instead, he has cut social welfare programs and increased taxes he said were needed to pay Kenya’s debt burden. In this, there is truth: The International Monetary Fund, as part of its conditions in helping alleviate Kenya’s massive debt, has urged the Ruto government to increase revenue collection. But the I.M.F. has also pointed out that a big part of Kenya’s fiscal predicament comes from graft. Last month, when Mr. Ruto announced his plan to boost revenue by introducing new taxes on essential goods like bread, sanitary pads, diapers, vegetable oil and fuel, a significant part of the public’s anger was fueled by their belief that much of the money collected would be used to line the pockets of Mr. Ruto’s allies.
Though he has been at the center of Kenyan politics for decades, in the latest wave of protests Mr. Ruto is confronting something entirely new. During previous periods of unrest over unpopular taxes, the president was accused of bribing opposition members of Parliament and setting up meetings with politicians planning anti-tax rallies in order to cajole them into stopping the action. But the young people on the streets today don’t speak that political language. There is no central leadership to bribe, threaten or push into endless “peace dialogues.”
The state has nevertheless tried its best. Since the protests began on June 18, at least 41 protesters were killed and hundreds more have been injured in clashes with the police. Others have said they were abducted from their houses in the middle of the night or picked off the street by plainclothes police officers and held incommunicado for days without charge. Mr. Ruto, for his part, thanked the police for their work. When confronted with information about the dead protesters, he claimed that they were criminals and that he had no blood on his hands.
The violence has turned anger about the taxes into fury over the killings — and Mr. Ruto’s government in general. At the height of the demonstrations, protesters stormed Parliament and declared their intentions to march to the State House, the president’s official residence. In response, the globe-trotting president took refuge inside it, closing off several roads nearby and issuing statements referring to the young protesters as treasonous criminals. Weeks later, Kenyans continue to demand Mr. Ruto’s resignation. They have also called for an end to corruption in his government, the revocation of unconstitutional offices that he has created and the prosecution of his allies accused of the grand theft of government funds.
Mr. Ruto says he’s listening. In addition to the cabinet overhaul, he has withdrawn the finance bill that included the tax hike. Unusually, he has engaged with critics on social media and encouraged members of his government to do the same, and condemned some of his allies for their arrogant statements toward protesters. Several high-profile politicians have also addressed the protesters’ complaints by offering public disavowals of their own recent salary bumps or demanding public audits of state funds.
This is a profound shift from two years ago, when young Kenyans were written off as indifferent — and unimportant — to the entire political process. The new movement is accomplishing something big in Kenya, and people sense it. Yes, they’re going to the streets to fight for this country’s democracy. But they are also going to see history in the making. When their children and grandchildren someday ask where they were during the Kenyan protests in 2024, they don’t want to say they weren’t there.
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8) China Will Host Senior Officials From Hamas and Fatah, Longtime Rivals
By Adam Rasgon and Vivian Wang Adam Rasgon reported from Doha and Jerusalem, and Vivian Wang from Beijing, July 15, 2024
A damaged home in Maghazi in the central Gaza Strip on Monday. Credit...Eyad Baba/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
China will host senior officials from Hamas and Fatah for a meeting next week in an effort to bridge gaps between the rival Palestinian factions that have long competed for power in Gaza and the West Bank, according to officials in both parties.
With Israel and Hamas seemingly making progress on a cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip, discussions of plans for the enclave’s future have taken on greater urgency. Having Hamas and Fatah open to working together is seen by many experts as crucial to rebuilding Gaza after the war.
Previous attempts to mediate between the two groups — including a meeting in Beijing in April — have failed to produce tangible results. Plans for the meeting next week, however, signaled that China was not giving up on its longstanding attempts to present itself as a peace broker.
Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, will lead the group’s delegation to Beijing, according to Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official. Fatah will dispatch three officials, including Mahmoud al-Aloul, the deputy chairman of the party, to the Chinese capital, according to Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of the Fatah Central Committee.
He said that China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, would meet with the Palestinian factions on July 21 and again on July 23 — though the two groups will meet on their own in between. China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We’re always optimistic, but we say that with caution,” Mr. Ahmad said in a phone call.
Hamas and Fatah have a fraught history and have been at loggerheads for years, each trying to present itself as the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people and wary that the other will undermine its power.
Those differences were on display over the weekend after Israel launched an airstrike on southern Gaza that targeted Muhammad Deif, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, and killed dozens of people.
The office of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, said Israel and the United States bore full responsibility for “the terrible massacre,” but suggested that Hamas militants had provided Israel with a pretext to attack Palestinian civilians by embedding among them. Hamas later responded by accusing Mr. Abbas's office of “exempting” Israel from responsibility for its actions.
U.S. officials have suggested that the Palestinian Authority should play a central role in governing a postwar Gaza — though that would most likely require approval from Hamas. And a growing number of Palestinians have argued that Fatah and Hamas need to find common ground in order to advance the reconstruction of Gaza when the current war ends — even though many are pessimistic about the prospect.
“There’s still a major divide between Hamas and Fatah, but there's an absolute necessity that they achieve a national consensus for the administration of Gaza,” said Ibrahim Dalalsha, director of the Horizon Center, a Palestinian political research group. “In the absence of that, there will be a huge tragedy.”
Hamas officials have expressed willingness to give up civilian control of Gaza, handing responsibility for rebuilding the enclave to a government of independents — although it has ruled out dismantling its military wing.
United Nations officials have estimated that rebuilding Gaza will cost tens of billions of dollars. Many countries have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization, restricting their ability to work with any institutions linked to the group in Gaza. The establishment of an independent government in Gaza without formal ties to Hamas could make it easier for the United States, European nations and international organizations to participate in rebuilding the territory.
For China, hosting the meeting between Hamas and Fatah will serve as yet another opportunity to cast itself as a mediator on the global stage.
China has worked to expand its ties and influence in the Middle East in recent years, most notably helping to broker the diplomatic rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran last year. It has also deepened its investments in the region, and pledged to expand cooperation with countries there in areas such as artificial intelligence, where the United States has sought to isolate China.
On Israeli and Palestinian affairs, in particular, Beijing has tried to portray itself as a peace broker, albeit more in rhetoric than in reality.
China has long had friendly ties with Palestinian leaders. Mr. Abbas has visited China five times during his nearly two decades as president of the authority, most recently last June, before Hamas’s surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Chinese state media was especially vocal then about Beijing’s potential role as a mediator, highlighting a proposal for a two-state solution by Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader.
For Hamas, the coming meeting could serve as another chance to deepen relations with a country that has been far less critical of its actions than Western nations have.
“China is a powerful country and we want to strengthen our ties with it,” Mr. Abu Marzouk said in an interview in Doha. “We’re a people under occupation and we strive for relations with everyone.”
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
A ship in the Red Sea comes under attack, and other news.
· A merchant ship came under attack in the Red Sea around 70 nautical miles, or 80 miles, southwest of the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah on Monday, the British government maritime agency said. A sea drone twice collided with the ship, and it came under fire from two small vessels, the agency said. The attack lasted 15 minutes and the vessel is safe, the agency said. It did not say who was behind the attack. Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen have repeatedly attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea in recent months.
· More than 100,000 people in Gaza are believed to have contracted hepatitis A since last Oct. 7, the World Health Organization said on Monday. The virus is often transmitted through person-to-person contact or contaminated food — and the United Nations has warned of the risks in Gaza, where many people have fled their homes and lack access to clean water or working toilets. The W.H.O. said that “the entire population of Gaza is at risk” because of violence, lack of food and the spread of disease.
· Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, will be in Washington this week for meetings at the White House, according to a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office. Mr. Hanegbi will be joined by “senior officials from the two countries’ security and diplomatic establishments,” the statement said. The meeting follows a call on Saturday between Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant. The Pentagon said that the two men discussed Israel’s operations in Gaza and that Mr. Austin “emphasized the importance of taking all necessary steps to minimize civilian harm.”
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9) Israel is privately discussing withdrawing from the Gaza-Egypt border, officials say.
By Patrick Kingsley Reporting from Jerusalem, July 15, 2024
The border area between Egypt and Gaza, as seen from Rafah, Egypt, this month. Credit...Giuseppe Cacace/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Israel and Egypt have privately discussed a possible withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from Gaza’s border with Egypt as part of a cease-fire deal with Hamas, according to two Israeli officials and a senior Western diplomat.
Israel’s willingness to do so could remove one of the main obstacles to a truce with Hamas, which has said that Israel’s withdrawal from areas including the border is a prerequisite for a cease-fire. Negotiations for a truce appear to have gained momentum in recent days, but several points of contention remain. One involves the length of a truce: Hamas wants a permanent cease-fire, while Israel wants it to be temporary.
The Israeli military took control of Gaza’s southern border over the course of May and June. The operation forced Hamas away from a strategically important axis through which the group has long smuggled arms and supplies into Gaza. It also strained ties with Egypt, which had warned that the operation would cause considerable harm and could threaten Egypt’s national security.
Israel is reluctant to withdraw because it says that would make it easier for Hamas to restock its arsenal and reestablish authority over Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Friday that he “insists that Israel remain on the Philadelphi Corridor,” as some call the border area.
But in private discussions last week with the Egyptian government, senior Israeli envoys indicated that Israel might be willing to withdraw if Egypt agreed to measures that would prevent arms smuggling along the border, according to the three officials.
Measures that were proposed included installing electronic sensors along the border that could detect future efforts to dig tunnels, as well as constructing underground barriers to block tunnel construction, the officials said. All three requested anonymity in order to speak more freely about an idea that Israel has not publicly endorsed.
In public, both Israel and Egypt have been reluctant to confirm the existence of the talks. Mr. Netanyahu’s ruling coalition needs the support of lawmakers opposed to any truce that would leave Hamas in power, and his government could collapse if he acknowledges what his envoys are discussing in private.
The talks were first reported by Israeli news media and Reuters last week; Mr. Netanyahu swiftly dismissed the reports as “absolute fake news.”
But Mr. Netanyahu’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, had suggested in a separate statement earlier in the week that Israel could withdraw under certain circumstances. “A solution is required that will stop smuggling attempts and will cut off potential supply for Hamas, and will enable the withdrawal of I.D.F. troops from the corridor, as part of a framework for the release of hostages,” the statement said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
When asked for comment on Monday, Mr. Netanyahu’s office referred The New York Times to the prime minister’s previous statement. The Egyptian government declined to comment.
A state-run Egyptian television channel, citing an unnamed Egyptian official, said on Friday that no agreement had been reached about the border — but stopped short of denying that Israeli and Egyptian officials had discussed the matter.
Aaron Boxerman and Emad Mekay contributed reporting.
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10) Images appeared to show a separate strike by Israel’s military near emergency vehicles.
By Riley Mellen, July 15, 2024
“Both experts also said the Civil Defense vehicles would have been clearly visible to the soldiers launching the strikes. Mr. Bryant said that, in the Israeli military’s calculus, ‘any Hamas targets carry enough military necessity that any civilian loss is considered proportional.’ In the aftermath of the two blasts, videos captured people carrying dozens of dead and injured away from the scene, some of them in bright orange Gaza Civil Defense vests. An aerial image of the first strike published by the Israeli military and analyzed by The Times indicates the resulting crater was close to 60 feet in diameter, indicative of a 2,000-pound bomb.”
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/15/world/israel-gaza-war-hamas
A Gaza Civil Defense vehicle with shrapnel damage after an Israeli airstrike on Saturday. Credit...The New York Times
The Israeli military launched an additional airstrike near emergency responders during a deadly barrage on a villa in Gaza this weekend aimed at the top Hamas military commander in the territory, videos and photographs reviewed by The New York Times show.
After several Israeli munitions hit the grounds of the villa in the Al-Mawasi area Saturday morning, at least one additional, smaller missile hit a busy street outside the compound as emergency service workers were responding. It exploded directly in front of two vehicles clearly marked as belonging to Gaza Civil Defense, an emergency services agency, spraying them with shrapnel and apparently killing and injuring first responders.
The Israeli military said that it had “struck military targets of the utmost significance” but that the strike “will be examined.”
Israeli officials said the initial strike, which targeted the Hamas commander Muhammad Deif, hit the compound with at least five precision-guided missiles. The blast near the rescue workers was nearly 100 yards away from the entrance to the compound, suggesting a separate strike.
In comparison with the first strike, which destroyed a building and buried Palestinians inside an enormous crater, the second was significantly smaller. Videos show the strike and its immediate aftermath from three different angles. All the videos show a plume of white smoke rising from a street crowded with rescuers, bystanders and people injured in the first strike.
In two of the videos, a loud whooshing sound can be heard before the explosion, indicating an airstrike, rather than an artillery blast or an explosion on the ground, said Wes Bryant, a retired U.S. Air Force master sergeant who was responsible for choosing targets and assessing civilian casualties during the campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Mr. Bryant and Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal technician, said that shrapnel damage seen on one of the Civil Defense vehicles and two cars near the blast was consistent with a Spike or Mikholit missile, two munitions used by the Israeli military.
Both experts also said the Civil Defense vehicles would have been clearly visible to the soldiers launching the strikes. Mr. Bryant said that, in the Israeli military’s calculus, “any Hamas targets carry enough military necessity that any civilian loss is considered proportional.”
In the aftermath of the two blasts, videos captured people carrying dozens of dead and injured away from the scene, some of them in bright orange Gaza Civil Defense vests.
An aerial image of the first strike published by the Israeli military and analyzed by The Times indicates the resulting crater was close to 60 feet in diameter, indicative of a 2,000-pound bomb. President Biden has paused the delivery of these weapons to Israel since May over concerns about the civilian casualties they might cause.
Axel Boada contributed video production. Neil Collier contributed reporting.
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11) They Were Told They Were in a Safe Area. Then Came the Missiles.
Survivors of a strike in Gaza on Saturday that Israel said had targeted Hamas’s top military leader described a scene of carnage, with fire, smoke, blood and bodies everywhere.
By Vivian Yee and Ameera Harouda, July 15, 2024
Vivian Yee reported from Cairo, and Ameera Harouda from Doha, Qatar.
Gaza health officials said that more than 90 people were killed in the strike on Saturday and more than 300 injured. Credit...Hatem Khaled/Reuters
When the explosions began on Saturday, many Gazans were sitting down to meager breakfasts, or drinking tea. They were waking up their children, or walking down the road.
Suddenly, the sound of destruction was booming through Al-Mawasi, the once sparsely populated part of southern Gaza where tens of thousands of Palestinians had fled to after the Israeli military declared it safe for civilians.
Despite that designation, Israel struck the area with a barrage of airstrikes on Saturday morning, saying that it had targeted Hamas’s top military commander and another military leader. While it remained unclear on Sunday whether the main target had been killed, Gaza health officials said more than 90 people were killed in the attack, about half of them women and children, and more than 300 wounded.
During the attack, sand flew high up in the air and came down “like winter rain,” said Ahmed Youssef Khadra, 38, who was having breakfast with his family in their shared tent.
Their tent collapsed on them. Mr. Khadra could see bodies hurled this way and that, landing only to be buried in sand, he said. Smothered in sand himself, he said he could barely process what was happening.
“What was that? What happened? What will happen? We didn’t understand,” he said, describing his panic over his four children, who had been in the tent with him. “At a moment like this, you think of one thing — what happened to you, and what might have happened to the people you were with? Have they died?”
For more than five minutes, he said, he could hear explosions, each following the previous one with less than a minute’s pause in between; then fire, smoke, sand, dead people. He said the strikes had hit two encampments with at least 100 tents in each, each tent with a family of seven or eight people, as well as the road running through it and a three-story building nearby.
He said he saw people decapitated by the strikes and others cut in half. When rescuers arrived to help, he said, they, too, were struck by missiles.
Fawzia Al Shaikh, 82, had just gone to wash her hands after having some tea with her son and daughter when half her family’s tent collapsed in the first strike. Her daughter fled in terror; Ms. Al Shaikh’s two granddaughters ran toward her, crying, “Where’s Mom?” she recalled.
Ms. Al Shaikh was trying to run with them, urging them along since she could not carry them, when another missile hit, blocking their path with flames, she said. She was praying and trying to calm her granddaughters at the same time. Then, she said, another missile fell in front of her, and the smoke made it hard to see where to go.
Somehow they made it a little farther, she said, when a young man found them and helped her move the girls along to an area where ambulances were taking the wounded away. The whole way, she said, “I was praying, repeating the shahada” — the Muslim declaration of faith — “crying, and wishing for death until I fell to the ground.”
Eventually Ms. Al Shaikh saw her daughter, whose hand and leg later had to be amputated, she said. There were many others missing limbs, she said, and many people half-buried in the sand.
“I saw death with my own eyes,” she said. “I had never seen such scenes in my life.”
Many of the wounded were taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Nasser Hospital, where staff members told Scott Anderson, a senior United Nations humanitarian official in Gaza, that they had admitted more than 130 people from the strikes in Al-Mawasi on Saturday.
Already over capacity before the attack, the emergency room soon was treating people on the floor, on benches, on bed frames without mattresses or on mattresses, Mr. Anderson said in an interview after visiting the hospital on Saturday.
Lacking enough cleaning supplies, the hospital staff members could not disinfect the floor between patients, so they simply washed it down with water, he said.
“You could smell the blood when you walked in,” Mr. Anderson said of the hospital. He called it “one of the most horrific things I’ve seen in the nine months I’ve been there.”
Many of the injured appeared to be children, he said, while other people at the hospital were searching — without much luck — for relatives they had lost track of during the strikes. One 18-year-old woman he met still bore the scars of a war injury she had suffered in October, he said. She had survived that, only to be paralyzed from the waist down during Saturday’s strike.
More than 38,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7, according to the Gazan authorities, whose figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The Israeli invasion began after Hamas led a cross-border attack on Israel in which, the Israelis say, some 1,200 people were killed.
Israel has placed some blame for civilian casualties during the war on Hamas, which embeds fighters among civilian buildings, as the military argues happened on Saturday. The Israeli military said its two targets were hiding in a walled compound within the designated humanitarian zone.
On Sunday, Israel said it had succeeded in assassinating a senior Hamas commander in the Al-Mawasi strike, though it could not confirm whether Muhammad Deif, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, had been killed, as intended. Both were believed to have been architects of the Oct. 7 attack.
The bloody aftermath of the strike was still playing out on Sunday, Mr. Khadra said. A huge crater had replaced the encampments, and people were searching for family members among the dead. His four children, ages 3 through 13, were uninjured but still traumatized.
With their tents collapsed, people were trying to salvage whatever they could. Dozens of families had no idea where they would now go or, without access to new building materials, how they would find shelter from the punishing summer sun.
Many families at the hospital told Mr. Anderson they were in despair because they had thought Al-Mawasi was relatively safe. Now that illusion was shattered, he said, yet he expected people to stay in the area — there being almost nowhere else to go in Gaza.
“It’s very hard when you have no answers to give a mother who says, ‘Why can’t we have anywhere safe?’” he said.
Emad Mekay contributed reporting from Cairo.
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