Late in the afternoon of July 15, Mike Waltz, Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to the United Nations, held a hearing. Waltz pledged to exercise his veto power against UN resolutions against Israel and added that UNRWA should be “dismantled.” Meanwhile, members of the UN Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Territories have resigned en masse. The three members of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry, charged with monitoring human rights violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, have announced their resignations, calling for a new committee, according to a UN spokesperson on Monday. They fear US retaliation.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reports: “865 deaths near relief centers in Gaza in the past six weeks. 674 of the fatalities occurred near the sites of the Humanitarian Foundation for Gaza.” According to UNRWA: The humanitarian city in southern Gaza will serve as a detention camp for Palestinians. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has denounced Israeli plans to establish what it calls a “humanitarian city” in the southern Gaza Strip, saying it will serve as a mass detention camp for Palestinians.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who told the Guardian that the so-called “humanitarian city” proposed by the “Israeli” Security Minister on the ruins of Rafah would effectively function as a concentration camp, is of the same opinion. He warned that forcing Palestinians to live in such a space would amount to ethnic cleansing.
Olmert claimed that “Israel” is already committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank and that the construction of this facility would represent a further escalation. “It’s a concentration camp. I’m sorry,” he said, responding to plans outlined by Security Minister Israel Katz, who stated that Palestinians would not be allowed to leave the area except to emigrate abroad. Katz reportedly ordered the army to begin drawing up plans for the project, which aims to initially accommodate 600,000 people and then the entire Palestinian population of southern Gaza.
The French Foreign Minister: “We call for an unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and an end to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”
The head of the Democratic Party in Israel, Yair Golan, said: “The three soldiers killed in Gaza are victims of an endless political war. Those who sent the soldiers into battle, knowing they would die, are meeting with the leaders of the religious parties to ensure that their political allies are exempt from compulsory military service.” He strongly criticized the government’s actions.
In a video shared on social media, shots were fired at Palestinians seeking aid at one of the aid centers controlled by the Palestinian Liberation Forces (GHF). The video does not show whether the shots came from IDF soldiers or US contractors working for the GHF.
Since the GHF began operations in the Gaza Strip, more than 500 starving Palestinians have been killed trying to receive promised aid. Palestinians cross Gaza every day, some even walking kilometers to reach the aid center.
The director general of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, warned on July 15 that several hospitals in the Gaza Strip will close in the coming hours due to the fuel shortage needed to power their generators.
And now a look at the military scenarios updated at 5:30 PM on July 15. A drone violated Israeli airspace and reached the skies of Eilat. According to Israeli media, air defenses were activated in Eilat without setting off air raid sirens. A Houthi launch is likely.
In Iran, an explosion was reported in Tabriz near the IRGC’s “Ashura” base; air defenses have been activated.
The Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister said they had ordered the army to attack Syrian government forces deployed in the southern Syrian town of As-Suwayda. During the Syrian army’s intervention in the Bedouin conflict, The Israeli Air Force reportedly struck several tanks in southern Syria, targeting Druze in As-Suwayda Governorate, southwestern Syria.
Syrian security forces have launched an operation to seize heavy weapons from armed groups in As-Suwayda province. According to the Syrian Ministry of Defense’s Information and Communications Department: Syrian Arab Army forces are beginning to enter the city of Suwayda. Israeli Druze are blocking the Shfaram intersection in the north to protest violence against Syrian Druze in As-Suwayda.
The Israel Defense Forces continue to intervene in Syria on behalf of the Druze. A Syrian vehicle was recently attacked after entering a Druze area in southern Syria, despite Israeli warnings. By the evening of the 15th, clashes were still ongoing, but Jawlani’s forces had taken control of the city, driving out the Druze.
Informed Lebanese sources told Al-Diyar: “Security agencies are on high alert to address potential terrorist threats within the country, amid the chaos prevailing in Syria, considering the presence of approximately two million displaced Syrians on Lebanese soil.” On July 15, Israeli strikes targeted the eastern Bekaa Valley, hitting the outskirts of the towns of Bodai and Brital. The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported six injuries following Israeli strikes in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Three missiles were fired.
On the evening of July 15, the governor of Baalbek-Hermel issued a bulletin on the toll of the Israeli attacks in Baalbek-Hermel on July 15: seven Syrian dead in Wadi Fara, including a family of five; three Lebanese dead in Wadi Fara; two dead in Shamshtar; 8 injured in airstrikes between Wadi Faara / Shmishtar / Brital / Boudai
Gaza hospital sources reported the deaths of 54 Palestinians in Israeli airstrikes on the Strip on July 15th until 5:30 PM, 42 of them in Gaza City. A field commander of the Al-Quds Brigades explained that kidnapping ambushes by Israeli soldiers will become increasingly frequent. He also reported that in the kidnapping attempt on Tuesday, July 8th, the soldier was killed while trying to prevent the kidnapping. Abasan al-Kabira area, in Khan Yunis.
The Al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for attacking the “Be’eri” settlement in the Gaza area with numerous rockets. On July 15th, the IAF attacked the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. An Israeli airstrike against a home in the Zarqa area, in the Tuffah neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City, killed and injured. Israel has ordered residents of the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate in preparation for the expansion of its attacks. The Israeli army blew up several civilian homes east of the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City. A series of Israeli airstrikes targeted eastern Gaza City and Jabalia. The IAF struck the Al-Awda 2 tower in Tel al-Hawa, behind Al-Quds Hospital in the Gaza Strip. Artillery shelling and raids in the Zeitoun neighborhood, and a robot exploded. A car bomb exploded in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood.
In southern Gaza, two women were killed near an aid center north of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Two killed in an IDF bombing in the town of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis.
According to Palestinian sources: “IDF forces stormed the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus. A Palestinian was injured after being attacked by settlers in the village of Susiya, in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron.
The Jerusalem Governorate is witnessing a systematic escalation of demolitions in support of plans to cede Palestinian settlements to settlers. The Jerusalem Governorate reported that “the Israeli authorities continue their systematic escalation of demolitions and policies of forced displacement against the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, as part of a comprehensive settlement plan aimed at Judaizing the city and changing its Arab, Islamic, and Christian character.”
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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