Documentation of the Israeli abuse of power, mistreatment of humanity, and perpetration of the genocidal war on the Palestinian people in the  Gaza Strip.

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As the Arab States Continue Diplomatic Relations with Israel,

 109 Palestinians Killed, 216 Injured, Which Brings the Death Toll of the Israeli Genocidal War on the Gaza Strip to 53,119 and the Injuries to 120,214

May 16, 2025

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Editor's Notes:  

Here are some initial (not final) statistics, which show the Israeli war crimes against humanity, during the current Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, based on the reliable data reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza:

By May 16, 2025, the initial death toll of Palestinians who have been killed by the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza Strip is 66,598+.   

This includes the accounted for deaths (53,119), those who are still missing under the rubble (an estimate of at least 13,479+). 

By May 16, 2025, the documented injuries exceeded 120,214.

By May 16, 2025, according to news report, 967 Palestinians who were killed, 6,752 who were injured, and 12,077*, who were abducted by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank, since October 7, 2023.  

 

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(The Palestine Information Center reported that there were 925 deaths and 14,500 kidnappings but without mentioning how many were released, by February 27, 2025).  

Note About the Missing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip:

On February 26, 2025, the Palestinian Center for Political and Development Studies announced that the number of the missing in the Gaza Strip has exceeded 14,000 people, including 2,000-3,000 held in Israeli occupation prisons, without releasing any information on their fate.

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109 Palestinians were killed, 216 were injured, mostly children, women, and elderly, by the Israeli genocidal air strikes on the Gaza Strip, which brings the death toll to 53,119 and the injuries to 120,214, by May 15, 2025.	The Israeli occupation forces continue their genocidal war on Gaza, now 588 days since the start of the aggression, with the killing of 109 and the injury of Palestinians, on May 16, 2025.
The UN has said it will not take part in a US-backed humanitarian operation in Gaza, because it is not impartial, neutral, or independent, as the Israeli occupation regime is involved in aid deliveries, May 16, 2025.	Site of an Israeli genocidal air strike on Khan Younus, in southern Gaza Strip, May 16, 2025.
The Israeli occupation forces continue their massacres in the Gaza Strip, through fire belts, airstrikes, and artillery shelling, targeting residential neighborhoods, shelters, tents, and hospitals, May 16, 2025.	The Israeli occupation forces destroyed 38 hospitals and continued to practice the policy of forcibly evacuating hospitals and medical centers, in the Gaza Strip, May 16, 2025.
Carrying the martyred and injured Palestinians, who were massacred by the Israeli genocidal air strikes and bombardment, to Nasir hospital in Khan Younus, May 16, 2025.	Grieving the martyred Palestinians, who were massacred by the Israeli genocidal air strikes and bombardment on Khan Younus, May 17, 2025.
Ten Palestinian political prisoners were released, out of tens of thousands of the Palestinians who were kidnapped from the streets of Gaza by the Israeli occupation forces, showing extreme medical problems due to torture, mistreatment, and malnutrition, May 16, 2025.	Site of an Israeli genocidal air strike on the tents of displaced Palestinian families, in the vicinity of Shuhada Al-Aqsa hospital, in Dair El-Bala'h, in central Gaza Strip, May 17, 2025.

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بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

"مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَىٰ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ أَنَّهُ مَنْ قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا"  (الْمَائِدَةُ ، 5: 32).

"وَمَنْ يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُّتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَابًا عَظِيمًا" (النِّسَاءُ ، 4: 93).

"إِنْ أَحْسَنتُمْ أَحْسَنتُمْ لِأَنفُسِكُمْ ۖ وَإِنْ أَسَأْتُمْ فَلَهَا ۚ فَإِذَا جَاءَ وَعْدُ الْآخِرَةِ لِيَسُوءُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَلِيَدْخُلُوا الْمَسْجِدَ كَمَا دَخَلُوهُ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ وَلِيُتَبِّرُوا مَا عَلَوْا تَتْبِيراً ‎(الإسْرَاءُ ، 17: 7). 

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

"Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul, unless for a soul, or for corruption in the land, it is as if he had killed humankind entirely" (The Holy Quran, Al-Ma-ida, 5: 32).

"And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, wherein he will abide eternally, and Allah has become angry with him, and has cursed him, and has prepared for him a great torment" (Al-Nisa, 4: 93).

"If you do good, you do good for yourselves; and if you do evil, (you do it) to yourselves. Then, when the latter (final) promise came, they (your enemies) will sadden your faces, and to enter the Masjid (in Jerusalem), as they entered it the first time, and will destroy what they had taken over with (total) destruction (Al-Isra, 17: 7). 

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While brutal force has been used to create Zionist Israel and sustain it thus far, Zionist claims to Palestine are false. Actually, from the five thousand years of known written human history, there has been a continuous Palestinian-Canaanite presence in the Holy Land. Despite the Zionist false claims, the ancient Israelites ruled part of the land for only 85 years (during the reign of Prophets David and Solomon , peace be upon them, and Solomon's son).

 After that, the Egyptians conquered Palestine-Canaan in 925 BC, followed by Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, before the Arab Muslim rule, starting from 636 AD.

By the Time Jesus, peace be upon him, started his mission, the three population groups of Canaanites, Palestinians, and Israelites were melted together in religion and language. Most of them became Christians when Constantine converted in 313 AD. Then, most of them became Muslims in the 7th and 8th centuries AD.

So, Palestinian Muslims, Christians, and Jews are the ones who have the right to claim descent from ancient Israelites, Palestinians, and Canaanites, not Zionists from other continents.

No matter what the Zionists and their supporters do, they cannot change the will of God, Who promised the Holy Land to Abraham and his descendants, basically the Palestinian Muslims and Christians.

No matter how much persecution and aggression the Zionists and their supporters inflict upon the Palestinian people, they will never be able to force them out of the Holy Land, which Allah, praise to Him, promised for them, and kept His promise ever since.

This is a necessary brief background to understand the US-Backed Zionist Israeli continuous wars against the Arab nation generally, and the Palestinian people in particular, which included the wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, 1978, 1982, the brutal crushing of the two Uprisings (1987-1993 and 2000-2004), 2009, 2012, 2014, 2021, and the current genocidal war on Gaza (Since October 7, 2023), which has culminated a blockade of Gaza since 2007. In addition, the Israeli occupation and apartheid regime launched so many covert operations, raids, and air strikes on many Arab states since 1948.

The following news stories are just examples, not a systematic record, of the Israeli occupation government abuse, mistreatment, and violations of Palestinian human rights, on daily basis.

Killing and Injuring of Palestinians in Ghazza (Gaza) by Israeli Occupation Regime Forces

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109 Palestinians martyred, 216 injured in Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours

Friday 16-May-2025

GAZA, (WAFA, PIC)

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has announced that 109 Palestinians were martyred and 216 others injured due to the escalating Israeli genocide over the past 24 hours.

It added in a statement on Friday that the number of martyrs since Israel resumed its genocidal war on the besieged enclave on March 18 had thus risen to 2,985 while the number of injured had reached 8,173.

The Ministry pointed out that the total number of martyrs since the Israeli occupation apartheid regime started its genocide on October 7, 2023 had climbed to 53,119 and the number of injured surged to 120,214.

Other victims are still under the rubble of destroyed buildings and could not be retrieved, the Ministry reported.

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On day 588: Key developments in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza

Friday 16-May-2025

GAZA, (PIC)

The Israeli occupation forces continue their genocidal war on Gaza, now 588 days since the start of the aggression. It has been 60 days since Israel resumed its full-scale assault, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s withdrawal from a ceasefire agreement, with direct military and political backing from the United States, amid unprecedented international silence and failure to act.

According to PIC field correspondents, Israel has launched dozens of airstrikes across the Strip. At the same time, the continued ban on basic food supplies since March paints a grim picture of worsening famine among Gaza’s population.

Key developments on the ground

Medical sources confirmed the deaths of dozens of civilians in Israeli airstrikes since early Thursday morning.

An ambulance belonging to the Red Crescent was directly targeted near Zammo roundabout, east of Jabalya in northern Gaza.

'Alaa Mu'hammed Zu'rub was martyred; his body was recovered in fragments after his family’s home was bombed in Al-Mawasi, Rafa'h. His remains were transferred to Nasir Medical Complex in Khan Younus.

Journalist Anas Al-Sharif reported a massacre at the western roundabout in Bait Lahya, where displaced people were targeted. At least 10 were killed and over 20 injured, according to initial reports.

Medical sources reported over 100 dead or missing in airstrikes on homes in Bait Lahya and Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Al-Awda Hospital in Tel Al-Za'tar confirmed the arrival of 5 martyrs, including 3 children, and 75 injured civilians after strikes on homes in the north.

Israeli warplanes bombed eastern Dair El-Bala'h and the eastern parts of Tel Al-Za'tar in Jabalya in pre-dawn raids.

Artillery shelling and gunfire were reported early this morning in Al-Qarara, northeast of Khan Younus. The town has been under heavy bombardment for two days, prompting mass displacement westward to Al-Mawasi.

Pre-dawn raids also targeted the towns of Al-Qarara and Khuza’a, east of Khan Younus, and multiple strikes were launched across northern Gaza.

Israeli forces surrounded a shelter in western Bait Lahya, arrested civilians, and ordered displaced women and children to evacuate using loudspeakers.

Warplanes bombed a residential building belonging to the Al-Kilani family on Al-Hattabiyah Street in Bait Lahya, causing casualties and injuries.

Civil Defense crews reported retrieving two martyrs from the Al-Ghandour family home near Abu Ubayda School using a firefighting vehicle, as ambulances were overwhelmed.

Another two martyrs and four injuries were recovered from the Al-Taha family home near Al-Fakhoura School on Al-Zawari Street.

Four successive airstrikes hit Tel Al-Za'tar in northern Gaza.

Overnight, heavy bombing on northern areas caused numerous deaths, injuries, and missing persons under the rubble.

Medical teams managed to retrieve 15 martyrs from the Bait Lahya and Jabalya areas, amid extreme difficulty reaching others due to ongoing attacks on ambulance crews and emergency responders.

In western Khan Younus, warplanes struck a tent sheltering displaced families on Al-Madrasah Street in Al-Mashrou’.

Six civilians were killed, and others were injured in a strike on a home on Al-'Ajarmah Street, Jabalya refugee camp.

Three more civilians were killed and others wounded in a strike on a home in the Al-Salateen neighborhood of Bait Lahya.

A series of raids targeted Bait Lahya, coinciding with a ground incursion into the area.

Sources confirmed that warplanes bombed the home of A'hmed Al-Yazouri in Al-Qarara, Khan Younus. Ambulances could not reach the site, and there are fears of a massacre.

Warplanes also bombed areas around Al-'Ajarmah Street in Jabalia.

Civilians were injured in an airstrike on a displacement tent in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younus.

Medical services reported casualties and injuries in a strike on Al-'Amoudi area, northern Gaza.

A home in 'Izbat 'Abd Rabbo, northern Gaza, was also bombed.

Five civilians were injured in a midnight strike on Al-'Amoudi.

Medical teams reported one martyr and 13 injured in an initial toll from an airstrike on a home in the Al-Salateen neighborhood, western Bait Lahya.

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 Israeli genocidal airstrike kills seven civilians in Khan Younus

GAZA, May 16, 2025 (WAFA) –

An Israeli airstrike on Friday killed seven civilians in Khan Younus City in the southern Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed since dawn to 103, according to WAFA correspondent.

He reported that Israeli fighter jets targeted a house and a civilian vehicle between the towns of Bani Suhayla and Al-Fukhari, east of the city, claiming the lives of seven civilians, including four children.

Medical crews said that they managed to retrieve the bodies of two fatalities from the rubble; one from the vicinity of the Abu Holi junction, south of Dair El-Bala'h, and the other from the site of the targeted house of the Abu Ammuneh family, east of the European Hospital, east of Khan Younus.

Meanwhile, a combatant drone opened fire at media personnel at the Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Dair El-Bala'h, at a time when Israeli artillery shelled the area to the north of Abasan al-Kabira town, east of Khan Younes, as well as the area to the north of Al-Nusayrat refugee camp.

This came as a combatant drone targeted tents sheltering displaced people in Al-Sikka area in the Jabalya refugee camp, setting them on fire.

Israel unilaterally ended the Gaza ceasefire agreement and resumed its aggression on the Strip on Tuesday, March 18, carrying out a wave of bloody airstrikes across the Strip and killing hundreds of Palestinians, including over 100 children.

The death toll reached at least 2,985 with 8,173 others wounded, according to medical sources. Emergency teams are attempting to recover victims still trapped beneath the rubble.

The aggression was resumed amidst concerns over the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Strip given the ongoing siege and ban on the entry of medical and humanitarian aid.

Israel has waged a military onslaught on the Strip since October 2023, killing at least 53,119 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 120,214 others.

Moreover, at least 10,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

K.F.

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 Israeli genocidal strikes kill 11 Palestinians, injure others in Khan Younus and Gaza

GAZA, May 16, 2025 (WAFA) –

Israeli strikes on Friday evening killed 11 Palestinians and injured others in the cities of Khan Younus and Gaza, according to WAFA correspondent.

He said that a combat drone targeted a group of civilians on the Abu Surour Street in the Bani Suhayla town, east of Khan Younus, killing six civilians and injuring others.

Israeli drones also targeted civilians in the vicinity of Al-Andalus Tower, northwest of Gaza, killing four.

Meanwhile, another civilian succumbed to critical wounds sustained in Israeli bombardment that targeted a tent sheltering displaced people in the Al-Mashrou‘ area, west of the city.

Israel unilaterally ended the Gaza ceasefire agreement and resumed its aggression on the Strip on Tuesday, March 18, carrying out a wave of bloody airstrikes across the Strip and killing hundreds of Palestinians, including over 100 children.

The death toll reached at least 2,985 with 8,173 others wounded, according to medical sources. Emergency teams are attempting to recover victims still trapped beneath the rubble.

The aggression was resumed amidst concerns over the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Strip given the ongoing siege and ban on the entry of medical and humanitarian aid.

Israel has waged a military onslaught on the Strip since October 2023, killing at least 53,119 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 120,214 others.

Moreover, at least 10,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

K.F.

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Killing, Injuring, and Abduction of Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli Occupation Regime Forces 

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Palestinian sustains injury from Israeli gunfire in Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem)

Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem), May 16, 2025 (WAFA) –

A Palestinian on Friday evening sustained an injury from Israeli army gunfire in the occupied Old City of Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem), according to local sources.

They said that the occupying forces opened fire at a young man at the Bab Al-Silsila (Chain Gate), wounding him.

A viral video shows the young man, whose identity was not identified, lying bleeding on the ground without receiving prompt medical assistance.

The occupation forces shot him allegedly after carrying out a stabbing attack, which left a soldier moderately injured.

In the aftermath, additional reinforcements of occupation forces arrived at the scene. They sealed off the gate, set up checkpoints in several neighborhoods, and tightly restricted the movement of Palestinians.

Jerusalem Governorate said that the occupation forces blocked all the gates to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and assaulted several worshippers as the latter attempted to exit the holy site via Bab Al-Asbat.

K.F.

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Large-scale raids and kidnappings reported in the West Bank

Friday 16-May-2025

WEST BANK, (PIC)

Israeli occupation forces (IOFs) rounded up a number of citizens from various areas of the West Bank and Jerusalem early Friday morning amid large-scale raids and incursions.

The Asra Media Office reported that the IOFs kidnapped 'Abdul Ra'hman Abahra from the town of Yamoun and Uday Nabil 'Abd from Kufr Dan in the Jineen governorate, in addition to Mu'hammed Abu Khadeeja and Waleed Damati from the Kufr Saba neighborhood in Qalqilya.

The IOFs also kidnapped Mu'hammed Sha'hrour from the town of Bal’a in Toulkarm, Tayseer Samara from Broqeen in Salfeet, Ameen A-Zahir from the Al-Makhfiya neighborhood in Nablus, and Ibraheem Nasif from Kafr 'Iqab in Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem).

These kidnappings came amid the ongoing Israeli aggression and attacks by the illegal Israeli settlers in towns and villages in the Salfeet governorate, as part of a dangerous escalation which focused on the area.

The IOFs sent large military reinforcements to the vicinity of the home of citizen Yasir Abu Zaid on the outskirts of the town of Dair Istya, near Salfeet, after the illegal settlers threw a Molotov cocktail at his house, in an attempt to burn it down.

Settlers burned more than 14 Palestinian vehicles near the Ariel Industrial settlement, as part of repeated attacks targeting citizens’ property in the area.

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Israeli occupation forces storm village and town near Jineen

Jineen, May 16, 2025 (WAFA) –

Israeli occupation forces on Friday evening stormed Dair Ghazala town and Dair Abu Dha'if village, east of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, according to local sources.

They said that the occupation forces barged their way into Dair Ghazala town, deploying in the streets, obstructing the movement of a vehicle, and interrogating the driver.

They also forced raided Dair Abu Dha'if village, sealing off the School Street, and firing barrages of live ammunition.

The soldiers briefly held and interrogated a young man, and obstructed traffic in the village.

This came in the wake of a shooting attack on Wednesday that killed one settler and seriously wounded another near Salfeet.

The occupation forces frequently raid Palestinian houses almost daily across the West Bank on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians, triggering clashes with residents.

These raids are conducted without a search warrant, whenever and wherever the military chooses, in keeping with its sweeping arbitrary powers.

Under Israeli military law, army commanders have full executive, legislative, and judicial authority over 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. Palestinians have no say in how this authority is exercised.

K.F.

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Aggression and Attacks by Illegal Israeli Settlers and Soldiers

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Note: Despite the Trump administration support for the Israeli occupation apartheid regime, the U.S. official policy is still considering the Israeli settlement activities in the Palestinian territories as illegal.

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Illegal Israeli settlers assault shepherd in northern Jordan Valley

JORDAN VALLEY, May 16, 2025 (WAFA) –

Israeli colonists on Friday evening assaulted a Palestinian shepherd in Al-Farisiya in the northern Jordan Valley, according to local sources.

They said that colonists attacked a shepherd while grazing his sheep near his dwellings in the village, spraying pepper in his face.

The Jordan Valley, a fertile strip of land running west along the Jordan River, is home to about 65,000 Palestinians and makes up approximately 30% of the West Bank.

Since 1967, when the Israeli army occupied the West Bank, Israel has transferred at least 11,000 of its Jewish citizens to the Jordan Valley. Some of the colonies in which they live were built almost entirely on private Palestinian land.

The Israel occupation military has also designated about 46 percent of the Jordan Valley as a closed military zone since the beginning of the occupation in June 1967, and has been utilizing the pretext of military drills to forcefully displace Palestinian families living there as part of a policy of ethnic cleansing and stifling Palestinian development in the area.

Approximately 6,200 Palestinians live in 38 communities in places earmarked for military use and have had to obtain permission from the Israeli authorities to enter and live in their communities.

In violation of international law, the Israeli military not only temporarily displaces the communities regularly, but also confiscates their farmlands, and demolishes their homes and infrastructure from time to time.

Besides undergoing temporary displacement, the Palestinian families living there face a myriad of restrictions on access to resources and services. Meanwhile, Israel exploits the resources of the area and generates profit by allocating generous tracts of land and water resources for the benefit of the colonists.

Israeli politicians have made it clear on several occasions that the highly strategic Jordan Valley would remain under their control in any eventuality.

K.F.

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IOFs demolish house where four Palestinians were martyred in Toubas

Friday 16-May-2025

TOUBAS, (PIC)

Israeli occupation forces (IOFs) demolished on Thursday the house where four young men were martyred earlier on Thursday morning in Tammoun, south of Tubas, in the northern West Bank, and another house in occupied Jerusalem.

Local sources reported that an Israeli D10 bulldozer began demolishing the house while IOF soldiers continued to surround the area.

A photo circulated on social media showed an Israeli military bulldozer carrying the body of one of the martyrs who was killed in the besieged house.

Special forces of the occupation army had infiltrated the town of Tammoun and encircled a house before dispatching military reinforcements to the town and opening fire with live ammunition and Energa shells at the besieged young men, who were later martyred and their bodies kidnapped.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation authorities have stepped up their demolition of homes in villages and towns in the West Bank and Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem) governorates.

The Wall and Settlement Resistance Authority monitored 73 demolitions carried out by the occupation authorities during April, affecting 152 structures, including 96 inhabited homes, 10 uninhabited homes, and 34 agricultural structures, distributed to the governorates of Toubas (59), Al-Khaleel (Hebron) (39), and Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem) (17).

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The Israeli occupation apartheid regime unlawfully seizes Palestinian-owned land near Salfeet

SALFIT, May 16, 2025 (WAFA) –

 The Israeli occupation apartheid regime on Friday unlawfully seized land belonging to Palestinian landowners in the Bruqeen town, west of the occupied West Bank city of Salfit, according to a local official.

Mayor of Bruqin, Faed Sabra, said that the occupation authorities handed over an order unlawfully expropriating 13 dunums and 117 square meters of land in Al-Fakhakheer and al-Balata areas, and another unlawfully uprooting olive trees from and razing an area of 232 dunums and 503 square meters of land in the same areas.

He added that allowed the landowners only 24 hours to challenge the decision at Israeli military courts, starting from the date of conducting the tour to the land to be unlawfully expropriated.

He pointed out that Bruqeen has been the target of ongoing Israeli assaults since Wednesday evening, as the occupation forces completely sealed off the town’s four entrances, conducted house-to-house raids, assaulted occupants, and threatened to bring in bulldozers and tanks to destroy all the houses.

This came in the wake of a shooting attack on Wednesday that killed one settler and seriously wounded another near Salfeet.

In response to the shooting, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the destruction of the Palestinian villages of Bruqeen and Kafr Al-Deek, located near Salfit in the northern West Bank.

The extremist Israeli Minister wrote on the X platform: "Just as we destroyed Rafa'h, Khan Younus, and Gaza, we must destroy the terrorist nests in Judea and Samaria," using the Jewish term for the Palestinian occupied territory of the "West Bank."

"Bruqeen and Kafr Al-Deek should look like Al-Shuja'iyya and Tel Al-Sultan," he added.

K.F.

***

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News Related to the Israeli Genocidal War on the Palestinian People

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WHO: Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege

GENEVA, May 16, 2025 (WAFA) –

Gazans are ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

It said that amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza into Friday killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas and pleaded for the blockade to end.

Updating journalists in Geneva, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Margaret Harris described another night of terror in the war-torn enclave.

She said that some of those injured in the attacks had sought help from the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, even though it was now “just a shell” after 19 months of war.

“We've done our best to bring it back together and they are doing their best to treat everyone, but [medical teams] lack everything needed,” she insisted.

Rejecting accusations that relief supplies have been handed over to Hamas, the WHO spokesperson said that “in the health sector, we've not seen that. All we see is a desperate need at all times.”

Echoing that message, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, explained that a stringent system of checks and reports to donors meant that all relief supplies were closely tracked in real time, making diversion highly unlikely.

Even if it were happening, “it's not at a scale that justifies closing down an entire life-saving aid operation”, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said. “If you had been in a coma for the last three years and you woke up and saw this for the first time, anyone with common sense would say this is insane.”

The development comes more than 10 weeks since the Israeli occupation authorities stopped all food, fuel, medicines and more from reaching Gaza. To date, their proposal for an alternative aid distribution platform – widely criticized by the humanitarian community - has not been implemented.

The result has been rising malnutrition - unknown in Gaza before the war – and looming famine, while thousands of truckloads of essential supplies have had to be stored in Jordan and Egypt, according to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees and the largest aid operation in Gaza.

In its latest update, OCHA said that the UN and its partners have 9,000 truckloads of vital supplies ready to move into Gaza. More than half contain food assistance which could provide months of food for the enclave’s 2.1 million people.

An inventory of the relief supplies “waiting just outside the borders to get in” illustrates their humanitarian purpose, Laerke said.

“It includes educational supplies, children's bags, shoes, size three to four years old and up to 10 years old; stationery and toys, rice, wheat flour and beans, eggs, pasta, various sweets, tents, water tanks, cold storage boxes, breastfeeding kits, breastmilk substitutes, energy biscuits, shampoo and hand soap, floor cleaner. I ask you, how much war can you wage with this?”

Laerke said that UN officials have held 14 meetings with the Israeli authorities about their proposed aid scheme, which if implemented would restrict aid “to only part of Gaza” and exclude the most vulnerable. “It makes starvation a bargaining chip,” he maintained.

More than 53,000 people have been killed in Gaza since war erupted on 7 October 2023 in response to Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, according to the health authorities. WHO said that only 255 patients needing specialist care outside the Strip have been evacuated since 18 March leaving more than 10,000 patients - including approximately 4,500 children – who also need urgent medical attention outside Gaza.

In response to this week’s attack on the European General Hospital in Khan Younus, WHO’s Harris noted that it had been used as a meeting point for an evacuation. “That first bombing, as you probably know, destroyed two of the buses that we'd assembled to take children,” she added.

On Tuesday, the Security Council heard the UN’s top aid official Tom Fletcher call for immediate international pressure to stop Gaza’s “21st century atrocity” – a message amplified by OCHA’s Laerke:

“The situation as it has developed now is so grotesquely abnormal that some popular pressure on leaders around the world needs to happen,” he said. “We know it is happening, I’m not saying that people are silent, because they are not. But it doesn’t appear that their leaders are listening to them.”

K.F.

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UN rights chief warns of ethnic cleansing in Gaza

GENEVA, May 16, 2025 (WAFA) –

The UN human rights chief warned on Friday that the sharp escalation of Israeli attacks and the denial of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip were amounting to ethnic cleansing.

“This latest barrage of bombs, forcing people to move amid the threat of intensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighborhoods, and the denial of humanitarian assistance underline that there appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in Gaza that is in defiance of international law and is tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk.

The High Commissioner said this week’s intensification raises fears of the start of an even wider Israeli offensive and urged all parties, including third States with direct influence, to stop the assault. “We must stop the clock on this madness,” he said.

He pointed out that “already, medical services are in a state of collapse, shelters continue to shrink under displacement orders and destruction, and families are forced to live in tents under conditions far below standards keeping their human dignity, and extreme hunger is deepening due to the Israeli blockade.”

On 13 May, the Israeli military struck two of the largest hospitals in Khan Younus in southern Gaza, Nasser Medical Complex and the European Hospital, leaving the latest out of service, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. 

“Hospitals are protected at all times - and are even more indispensable during war,” he said. “The killing of patients or of people visiting their wounded or sick loved ones, or of emergency workers or other civilians just seeking shelter, is as tragic as it is abhorrent. These attacks must cease.

“Even if, as Israel says, it was targeting Hamas command centers underground, and even if destroying these structures offered a definite military advantage at the time of the attack, it is bound by international law to ensure that constant care is taken to spare the lives of civilians, and that’s clearly not the case.”

CCTV footage broadcast by international news outlets and taken immediately prior to at least one of the strikes at the European Hospital shows children, women and men walking around seemingly oblivious to the impending attack. Their presence is very likely to have been known given the constant aerial surveillance over the Gaza Strip, in particular areas being targeted.

International humanitarian law requires that an attack be suspended when it becomes apparent that it would be unlawful. Using a hospital for harmful military purposes is forbidden under international humanitarian law. However, even when hospitals are being used outside their humanitarian functions, for acts harmful to the enemy, there are strict protection rules in place. This includes issuing a time-bound warning to stop its hostile use before any attack. If not heeded, protection may cease but forces still must ensure any attack complies with principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack.

“The laws of war, built on the Geneva Conventions, are sacrosanct, as are the rules requiring all States, without exceptions to protect human rights, including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” the Human Rights Chief said. “All actors are bound to strictly respect these rules. Those who do not must be held to account.”

K.F.

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European leaders vow not to remain silent in face of humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza

BRUSSELS, May 16, 2025 (WAFA) –

 A group of European leaders vowed on Friday that they would not remain silent in the face of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

“We will not be silent in front of the man-made humanitarian catastrophe that is taking place before our eyes in Gaza. More than 50,000 men, women, and children have lost their lives. Many more could starve to death in the coming days and weeks unless immediate action is taken,” the leaders of Spain, Norway, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, and Slovenia said in a statement reported by the Irish Examiner.

They called on the Israeli government to “immediately reverse its current policy, refrain from further military operations, and fully lift the blockade, ensuring safe, rapid, and unimpeded humanitarian aid to be distributed throughout the Gaza strip by international humanitarian actors and according to humanitarian principles.”

"We must assume the responsibility to stop this devastation," they added, while calling for the immediate engagement in negotiations on a ceasefire.

They pledged to “continue to support the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, and work within the framework of the United Nations and with other actors, like the Arab League and Arab and Islamic States, to move forward to achieve a peaceful and sustainable solution.”

They stressed that “Only peace can bring security for Palestinians, Israelis and the region, and only respect for international law can secure lasting peace.”

They condemned “the further escalation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with increased settler violence, the expansion of illegal settlements and intensified Israel military operations.”

They reiterated that the "forced displacement or the expulsion of the Palestinian people, by any means, is unacceptable and would constitute a breach of international law,” and affirmed their rejection of “any such plans or attempts at demographic change."

K.F.

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UNICEF says Israel killed 45 children in Gaza in last two days

NEW YORK, May 16, 2025 (WAFA) –

Israeli occupation forces killed at least 45 children in the Gaza Strip in the last two days, according to the United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF).

“The reported killing of at least 45 children in the Gaza Strip in the last two days is yet another devastating reminder that children in Gaza are suffering first and foremost, having to starve day after day only to be victims of indiscriminate attacks,” UNICEF said in a statement.

It called for the daily suffering and killing of children in the war-torn enclave to be ended immediately.

“Children in the Gaza Strip are facing relentless bombardments while being deprived of essential goods, services and lifesaving care” since the onset of the Israeli genocidal aggression, it said.

“For the past two months, the situation has further deteriorated, due to the imposed blockade of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The threats to children’s lives go beyond bombs and bullets. The living conditions too, threaten their survival. With each passing day of the aid blockade, they face the growing risk of famine, illness, and death,” it added.

It recalled that “children's rights in Gaza are being gravely violated every day” and called for an urgent action to “protect children from widespread grave violations of their rights and threats to their survival.”

“Nineteen months into this conflict, children have suffered violence without relent, including indiscriminate attacks. They have suffered multiple months-long blockades, denying them of essential food, water, and health supplies. They have suffered repeated displacements – being forced to relocate again and again, in search of safety and shelter. They have suffered in ways unimaginable. Their scars will endure a lifetime,” it elaborated.

It renewed the call for an immediate ceasefire, respecting international humanitarian law, allowing the immediate unimpeded provision of humanitarian aid to all parts of the Strip, and the protection of civilians from attacks.

“The daily suffering and killing of children must end immediately,” it concluded.

K.F.

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Euro-Med: Israel escalates its genocide to annihilate Palestinians in Gaza

Friday 16-May-2025

GAZA, (PIC)

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor stated that Israel is escalating its genocide in the Gaza Strip through one of the most extensive and deadly attacks since the beginning of the aggression. This includes committing massacres, adopting a scorched-earth policy, and systematically destroying the remaining neighborhoods and infrastructure. This ongoing campaign for over 19 months has been characterized by mass killings, starvation, the systematic destruction of life-sustaining resources, and the deliberate targeting of Palestinian civilians in their homes, shelters, and vital facilities — with the objective of annihilating Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip and erasing any possibility of its return or reconstruction.

In a statement on Friday, Euro-Med explained that Israeli occupation forces have intensified their assault on various areas of the Gaza Strip in recent days through systematic destruction of remaining homes and civilian facilities and committing mass massacres against the population. This comes within a policy aimed at eliminating the essentials of life, exterminating the population, and preventing their continued existence, in preparation for forcibly imposing a colonial reality based on the erasure of the indigenous population and paving the way for de facto annexation of the territory to Israel — a grave violation of international law, including the prohibition of annexation by force.

Euro-Med reported that its field team documented the killing of more than 115 Palestinians in North Gaza governorate alone within less than 12 hours since the early hours of Friday. This was the result of Israeli bombing targeting no fewer than 10 homes in Tel Al-Za'tar in Jabalya and Al-Salateen neighborhood in Bait Lahya, which were completely destroyed over the heads of their residents, resulting in the death of dozens of civilians, including children and women, in collective massacres that confirm the escalation of the systematic mass killing pattern against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Euro-Med pointed out that more than half of the victims remain under the rubble due to the inability of rescue and civil defense teams to reach them amid a lack of resources. Meanwhile, dozens of bodies and wounded individuals are piling up in the corridors of the Indonesian and Al-Awda hospitals — a scene reflecting the total collapse of the healthcare system.

The organization also noted a limited incursion by Israeli forces from two axes: north of Bait Lahya and east of Jabalya, under heavy bombardment, raising fears of expanded ground operations that threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians already living in tents under constant bombing, starvation, and daily killings.

Euro-Med added that Israeli artillery targeted Palestinian civilians as they attempted to flee and seek shelter after successive waves of bombing, killing 10 people in the Al-Dawwar Al-Gharbi area in Bait Lahya and 8 others in 'Izbet 'Abd Rabbo, in Jabalya.

The organization noted that in the past two days, Israeli occupation forces have systematically destroyed a large number of residential buildings that were previously partially damaged in North Gaza, appearing as a continuation of the mass eradication of cities targeting entire residential communities.

It further pointed out that the Israeli army has implemented a total destruction policy of buildings east of Khan Younus in recent days, in parallel with its ongoing destruction of entire neighborhoods in Rafa'h, with the participation of Israeli civilian companies — a clear indication of a deliberate effort to wipe the city off the map.

Euro-Med stressed that what is happening now is a practical implementation of statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said: “We will continue to destroy Gaza’s homes until the Palestinians have no shelter left, and the only thing left for them is to leave,” and claimed that the only problem lies in “finding countries to receive them.”

The Monitor affirmed that this statement constitutes an additional official admission from the highest political authority of the intent to uproot an entire society, and this intent is being translated on the ground through the systematic destruction of all the foundations of its survival.

Euro-Med emphasized that the recent massacres — especially in Khan Yunis and North Gaza — represent a dangerous escalation in the targeting of civilians, as Israel uses massive firepower indiscriminately and disproportionately, and in the absence of any military justification or combat activity. This confirms that civilian populations themselves are the direct targets of the attacks, in flagrant violation of the rules of international law.

The Monitor affirmed that Israel’s policy of total destruction does not fall under legitimate military objectives, but rather forms part of a systematic approach to genocide, aimed at physically and demographically dismantling Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, depriving it of the means of survival, and seeking to exterminate it and prevent any chance of continuity or return.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor called on the international community to act urgently to stop the ongoing genocide, launch serious investigations into the committed crimes, take effective measures to ensure the protection of civilians, and end the culture of impunity that has encouraged Israel to proceed with grave violations without accountability.

The Monitor also called on the international community to impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel due to its systematic and grave violation of international law. This includes: • Banning arms exports to and from Israel; • Prohibiting the trade of dual-use goods; • Halting all forms of political, financial, and military support and cooperation; • Freezing the financial assets of officials involved in crimes against Palestinians; • Imposing travel bans on them; • Suspending trade privileges and bilateral agreements that grant Israel economic advantages enabling it to continue committing crimes against Palestinians.

Euro-Med further urged countries to open criminal investigations against Israeli and international companies involved in supplying the occupation army with weapons and heavy equipment used in acts of genocide, including bulldozers, surveillance systems, and spyware that enables the tracking and targeting of civilians. The organization called for the withdrawal of public and private investments from these companies and their inclusion on national and international blacklists.

It also urged countries that possess universal jurisdiction laws to issue arrest warrants against Israeli political and military officials involved in the crime of genocide and to begin their prosecution, even in absentia, in fulfillment of their international legal obligations to punish crimes, violations, and combat impunity.

Euro-Med also demanded the establishment of an independent international mechanism to preserve evidence related to the genocide in Gaza, to document digital evidence, satellite imagery, and testimonies of victims and survivors, and preserve them for use in international judicial bodies, primarily the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The organization urged the ICC to expedite its investigations and issue arrest warrants against Israeli officials involved in crimes committed in the Gaza Strip, to officially recognize and address Israel’s actions as genocide without evasion, and reminded states parties to the Rome Statute of their legal obligations to fully cooperate with the court, enforce arrest warrants issued against Israeli officials, bring them to international justice, and ensure they do not continue to escape accountability.

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Editorial Notes about terms & names of people and places:

1. Names of people and places have been standardized to match standard Arabic grammatical rules.

2. Underlined letters and letters preceded by an apostrophe are references to Arabic letter sounds, which does not exist in the English alphabet.

3. The English letter i is equivalent to the Arabic short vowel known as kasra, as in Ibraheem and Qasim as well as in the English words sit and bit. So, it is incorrect to use it as a long vowel for such Arabic names as Jameel and Jibreel.

4. The English letter e is equivalent to the Arabi short vowel known as fat'ha, as in A'hmed and Mu'hammed.

5. It is more accurate to refer to the land-grabbing Israelis, who establish illegal settlements in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, as illegal Israeli settlers, than referring to them as colonists.

The term colony is a reference to a large entity or a country, such as American states before independence. It was also a reference to Egypt, and India, when they were British colonies.

In addition, the term "colony" represents a positive nostalgic theme, in the minds of native speakers of English, particularly in America and Britain.

6. It is more accurate to use the verbs "abduct" and "kidnap" than the verbs "detain" and "arrest," in reference to taking Palestinian citizens by force to prisons and interrogation centers, by Israeli occupation regime soldiers. This is because the presence of the Israeli occupation regime forces is illegal in the Palestinian territories, and they have no jurisdiction over the Palestinian people.

Click here for more about using the apostrophe and the underlining of letters in the transliteration of Arabic names. 

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Names of some of the Palestinian cities, as pronounced in standard Arabic, and their foreign names in parentheses: 

Al-Khaleel (Hebron)

Al-Nusayrat

Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem)

Aree'ha (Jericho)

Al-Zaytoun (al-Zeitoun)

Bait (Beit)

Bait La'hm (Bethlehem)

Dair El-Bala'h

Jineen (Jenin)

Khan Younus (Khan Younis)

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Person's names as pronounced in standard Arabic:

A'hmed, 'Hasan, Mu'hammed, Younus, Yousuf,  

'Hasan Mulai'hat,

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Conflict terminology

The Israeli occupation apartheid regime (the Israeli government)

Illegal Israeli settlers (instead of settlers, colonists)

A group of the illegal Israeli settlers

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