GAZA RELIEF #131 July 3, 2025
Gaza bombings so powerful that they damage homes... in Israel; assassinating doctors
BOMBING OUR FRIENDS
Haytham reports that the IDF struck the multi-story home of our friend Moataz and other family members the night of July 2. Moataz and his family were unharmed, but other family members were injured. His aunt subsequently died of her injuries and two children are hospitalized — or at least being treated in what passes for a hospital.
Moataz and his family have finally left the Al Zaytoun neighborhood, the seat of their extended family for centuries, for an area near the sea that they hope will be less dangerous.
HOW BAD IS IT?
The intensity of the new Israeli assault is eclipsing all earlier bombardment, which is amazing given the estimated one hundred thousand tons of munitions fired into the tiny Gaza Strip during the past 21 months.
Meanwhile, the IDF is forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from northern Gaza into the rapidly shrinking seaside enclave in the middle of the Strip, where Haytham is located. Once again, those forced to evacuate will have to leave behind anything that they and their children cannot hand carry to the next site, leaving behind shelters, cooking implements, clothing, bedding and other cumbersome or heavy goods.
THINK ABOUT THIS
From Haytham: Reports from Israel say that IDF air and artillery strikes on Gaza were so heavy the night of July 1, that windows and glass-top patio tables were being shattered by the concussive force in the Israeli settlements OUTSIDE the Gaza border.
Can you imagine what it is like inside Gaza? Traumatic brain injury for hundreds of thousands of civilian men, women and children.
Netanyahu is conducting what Goebbels called Total War, a genocidal assault heightened in the days ahead of his Washington visit, where he anticipates pressure from Trump to negotiate a ceasefire, and Trump is already claiming that it’s about to start. (Think “obliterate,” “no cuts to Medicaid,” and Sharpie storm tracks.)
So, Netanyahu is pounding Gaza now, and will probably succumb to pressure for an easing of bombardment, but then, in the time-tested Israeli tactic, he will resume heavy strikes as soon as he can generate — or fabricate — a Hamas provocation, and again break a negotiated ceasefire, as in March.
BUT WHAT’S THE PLAN?
As you will read in Haaretz and other media, the pundits are constantly asking, “what’s Netanyahu’s end game,” or saying that Netanyahu has no end game. The truth is simple. The end game is total ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the West Bank. Just ask Finance Minister Smotrich or National Security Minister Ben Gvir who, notably, remain in the governing coalition and fully vocal about their aims.
But Netanyahu can’t SAY that — at least in English — without admitting that he is committing genocide, murder of civilians, and other war crimes of exactly the type that prompted the U.S. to TWICE go to war in the Balkans and to drag Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic and Radko Miladic into the dock at The Hague — where they were CONVICTED.
Even Netanyahu, no slouch at political survival, may recognize that some future American president might not be so tolerant of his war crimes, hence no mention of the end state.
So, don’t be fooled. Netanyahu has a plan and a desired end state — the same end state that he has sought for more than 30 years -- and he will achieve it while the United States stands by, constantly re-filling his arsenal (see article at and of this message) and protecting him from international sanctions and prosecution.
A missile right through his apartment window. Not a mistake, not an errant missile, not a misidentification. A targeted assassination of a physician and his family of eight, the same type of targeted attack that the United Stated labeled a war crime when the Serbians did it.
Gaza hospital director killed in Israeli strike, Hamas-run health ministry says
AND HERE’S WHAT THAT MEANS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights is a world-renowned organization founded and headed by Raji Sourani, an internationally lauded — except by the U.S. and Israel — human rights activist.
The articles in the highlighted attachment explain clearly the legal implications of the actions that Israel is taking every hour of every day in Gaza and the West Bank.
THAT GAZA BEACH CAFE THAT WAS BOMBED?
Evidence collected at the scene shows that it was hit by an IDF 500-pound bomb of the type manufactured in the United States. As you read the article below, and the cited IDF statements about precision strikes, and about minimizing civilian casualties, please ponder the use of a 500-pound bomb on a seaside cafe filled with women and children.
Israeli military used 500 lb bomb in strike on Gaza cafe, fragments reveal
Exclusive: Experts say use of heavy munition in Monday’s strike that killed dozens may constitute a war crime
The Israeli military used a 500lb (230kg) bomb – a powerful and indiscriminate weapon that generates a massive blast wave and scatters shrapnel over a wide area – when it attacked a target in a crowded beachfront cafe in Gaza on Monday, evidence seen by the Guardian has revealed.
Experts in international law said the use of such a munition despite the known presence of many unprotected civilians, including children, women and elderly people, was almost certainly unlawful and may constitute a war crime.
Fragments of the weapon from the ruins of al-Baqa cafe photographed by the Guardian have been identified by ordnance experts as parts of an MK-82 general purpose 230kg bomb, a US-made staple of many bombing campaigns in recent decades.
The large crater left by the explosion was further evidence of the use of a large and powerful bomb such as the MK-82, two ordnance experts said.
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson said the attack on the cafe was under review and that “prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians using aerial surveillance”.
Medical and other officials said between 24 and 36 Palestinians were killed in the attack on the cafe and dozens more were injured. The dead included a well-known film-maker and an artist, a 35-year-old housewife and a four-year-old child. Among the injured were a 14-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl.
Under international law based on the Geneva conventions, a military force is forbidden to launch attacks that cause “incidental loss of civilian life” that is “excessive or disproportionate” to the military advantage to be gained.
What is considered acceptable is open to interpretation but experts said only a target whose elimination might have a very significant impact on the course of a conflict could justify the death of dozens of civilians.
The cafe had two storeys – an open upper deck and a lower floor with wide windows on to the beach and sea – and approaches that were clearly visible from above.
Gerry Simpson, of Human Rights Watch, said: “The Israeli military hasn’t said exactly whom it was targeting but it said it used aerial surveillance to minimise civilian casualties, which means it knew the cafe was teeming with customers at the time.
“The military would also have known that using a large guided air-dropped bomb would kill and maim many of the civilians there. The use of such a large weapon in an obviously crowded cafe risks that this was an unlawful disproportionate or indiscriminate attack and should be investigated as a war crime.”
Dr Andrew Forde, an assistant professor of human rights law at Dublin City University, said the strike was shocking. “When you see a situation where there are heavy munitions being used, particularly [in a] crowded civilian space, even with the best targeting in the world … that will necessarily create an indiscriminate outcome that is not in compliance with … the Geneva conventions,” he said.
The family-run al-Baqa cafe was founded almost 40 years ago and was well known as a recreation spot for young people and families in Gaza City. It served a small selection of soft drinks, tea and biscuits.
Though the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million population suffer acutely with growing malnutrition and a continuing threat of famine, some have savings or salaries that allow them to patronise the few remaining cafes.
The port area where al-Baqa cafe was located was not covered by any of the evacuation orders issued by the IDF to warn of impending military operations.
Marc Schack, an associate professor of international law at the University of Copenhagen, said: “It is almost impossible to see how this use of that kind of munition can be justified. If you are talking about 20, 30, 40 or more civilian casualties, usually that would have to be a target of very great importance … For coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, the accepted number for a very high-level target was less than 30 civilians getting killed, and only then in exceptional circumstances.”
Trevor Ball, a weapons researcher and former US army explosive ordnance disposal technician, identified a Jdam tail section and thermal battery which he said suggested either an MPR500 or an MK-82 bomb was dropped.
Another expert with extensive experience of recent conflicts identified the bomb similarly. A third said they could not make a reliable assessment from the pictures presented to them.
Israel has a wide range of munitions and has frequently used much smaller weapons for precision strikes against individuals in Gaza, Lebanon and in its recent air offensive in Iran.
The IDF said in a lengthy statement earlier this year that even the most sophisticated measures employed to assess civilian harm were hardly ever perfect and that its choice of munitions was “a professional matter contingent on the nature of the strike’s objective”.
The statement said: “While some targets are suitable for smaller payloads, others may require heavier munitions to achieve mission success – for example, when intending to destroy structures that are built with certain hard materials, large structures, or underground tunnel.”
On Tuesday, an Israeli government spokesperson said the IDF “never, ever targets civilians”.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields, a charge that the militant Islamist group denies.
End Text of Article
REMEMBER THE OSCAR-WINNING MOVIE “NO OTHER LAND?”
As we told friends who asked our opinion of the movie, it was hopelessly optimistic. Those villagers managed to stave off forced displacement and destruction of their village; only one man was arrested, but not even tortured. The more frequent case is that described below.
Israelis Set a Palestinian Village Ablaze in West Bank Attack - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/world/middleeast/israel-west-bank-palestinians-attack.html?unlocked_article_code=1.TE8.Svb8.Qa2hp5HT1DCp&smid=url-share
FOR THOSE WHO HARBORED DOUBTS ABOUT REPORTS OF IDF TROOPERS SHOOTING INNOCENTS AT THE SO-CALLED AID DISTRIBUTION SITES
We so quickly lose track of each horrific act as it is superseded by the next horrific act. As we noted in earlier reports, this was the practice during our time in Tel Aviv. We would receive reports of some horrific act by the IDF or the Border Police. The Israeli authorities would deny, deny, deny, and the U.S. would accept the denial. Palestinian rebuttals were treated as propaganda or exaggeration. Only if an NGO or other independent group investigated, and sometimes such investigations took years, might the Israelis eventually admit to the act.
POLITICO: US contractors say their colleagues are firing live ammo as Palestinians seek food in Gaza
AS ALWAYS, FOLLOW THE MONEY
'Lucrative' business deals help sustain Israel's Gaza campaign, UN expert says | Reuters
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