19th Consecutive Bloody Friday in Gaza

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Palestinian lives and welfare don't matter - not to Israel, Washington, or world community leaders, letting Israel get away with countless high crimes of war and against humanity for 70 years unaccountably, the latest ones on Friday.

According to Gaza's health ministry, Israeli soldiers lethally shot 15-year-old Moath Ziad Soori during peaceful August 3 Great March of Return demonstrations.

Shot in the abdomen, likely with an exploding dum dum bullet used to destroy internal organs, he died shortly after being hospitalized in critical condition.

On the same day, 25-year-old Ahmad Yahia Atallah Yaghi was murdered by Israeli forces in cold blood.

On Friday, 220 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli snipers, 90 from live fire. The Gazan death toll since March 30 rose to 157.

Another 17,259 were injured, including 3,279 children and 1,553 women. Most required hospitalization.

Hundreds remain in critical condition. Palestinian paramedics and journalists were killed, many others wounded. Five dozen ambulances were damaged.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said Israeli forces once again used "excessive lethal force against the peaceful protesters in eastern Gaza Strip for the 19th Friday in a row" - ordered by the apartheid Netanyahu regime.

Individuals targeted "posed no threat to" Israeli soldiers or civilians. "(D)emonstrations were as always fully peaceful and  PCHR's fieldworkers did not witness weapons or armed persons whereas Israeli forces' snipers continued to position on the hills, behind the sand barriers and in military jeeps along the border fence."

Thousands of Palestinians participated in Friday demonstrations, including entire families.

"They raised flags, and chanted slogans and national songs in addition to flying kites and firing balloons, while hundreds of them, including children and women, approached the border fence, set fire to tires and attempted to throw stones at the Israeli forces around 300 meters away from the main border fence."

Despite its high crimes, Israel enjoys world community immunity to continue committing them. Throughout its history, no Israeli government or military official was ever held accountable for the highest of high crimes.

A Final Comment

On August 4, a Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) statement said the following:

"At 20:06 CEST (Central European Summer Time), we lost contact with the yacht Freedom, sailing under a Swedish flag…on a mission to break the illegal Israeli blockade of the Palestinian people of Gaza." 

"We have reason to presume that the Israeli Occupation Forces have now begun to attack it, and that it has been surrounded in international waters. The latest reported position was approximately 40 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza."

Israel cuts off communications of humanitarian vessels it attacks to conduct undocumented piracy and brutality on its activists.

Ten on board are carrying vitally needed medical supplies. "Freedom is a gift for the Palestinian fishers of Gaza," said the FFC.

Last Sunday, Israeli forces lawlessly assaulted the humanitarian vessel Al Awda in international waters.

Testimonies received so far showed 22 activists on board were beaten, tasered, arrested and detained.

Humanitarian missions to Gaza will continue as long as Israel's illegal blockade remains in force - despite huge risks to activists supporting Palestinian liberation.

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