The Genocidal Slaughter in Gaza Reaches New Peaks of Suffering

From Pacifica Radio in San Francisco, this is Flashpoints. Today on the show, the genocidal slaughter in Gaza reaches new peaks of suffering. We will feature a powerful new extended edition of the Electronic and Tifada with Nora Barras Friedman. That's coming up later on in the broadcast. And we will have our weekly segment paint notes. Our collaboration with Code Pink will feature a special report from Code Pink founder, Jody Evans, under attack. by the Secretary of State Marco Rubio. What is Marco up to? All this and more coming up straight ahead on flashpoints. Stay tuned. And you're listening to FlashPoint on Pacifica Radio. This is KPFA in the Bay Area, founded in 1949 by folks who understood how important it is to have a free speech, no holds board, non-corporate radio network speaking truth to power. We're still going strong thanks to the people who listen every day. Again, Pacifica Radio is here for you. We begin, well, with a look at what the Secretary of State is up to. On July 20th, Secretary of State Marco Rubio's State Department released a specious 100-page report. Cuba, the capital of the 21st century. Communism. Presented as a national security assessment, it is in fact a political manifesto that resurrects the rhetoric and logic of McCarthyism for the 21st century, while ignoring the devastating humanitarian consequences of Washington's escalating economic war against the Cuba. people and they are suffering. Cuba is in trouble. The United States is doing everything its power to, short of a full-out, full-scale war to destabilize that country. And, well, the administration apparently has got the number of code pink. Jody Evans, welcome to FlashPoint. It's good to have you with us. The government has got an eye on you. And let's begin, though. We also have with us, Cynthia Papermaster. This is our weekly segment. We call it Pink Notes, and we love to share the air with Code Pink. Cynthia, why don't you begin? I think you have a few notices. And then I'd love to bring Jody in full scale to talk about what the State Department is up to. Well, hello, Dennis. Hello, Jody.

Yeah, I just have a couple quick announcements to make. We're real excited this weekend. Code Pink Sonoma County is hosting a peace camp. This is the summer of peace and love. And our focus for this peace camp and all the peace camps that are happening around the country with Code Pink is to defeat the National Defense Authorization Act, the war budget that Pete Hegseth has presented to Congress. It's a $1.5 trillion war budget, trillion with a T. We're going to do everything we can until the Senate brings it up for a vote to defeat it. So the peace camp this weekend. If people, I know that's happening just starting on Saturday, but if people are interested in coming, go to codepink.org, click on events. And under August 1, you will see our Northern California Peace Camp. RSVP form. So we'd love to have anybody who's interested. We have workshops, presentations, we're going to have meals together, we're going to have music. It's a Code Pink event. So in other words, it's a very exciting and welcoming event for people to attend. I think that's the only announcement I'm going to make right now. I think we should get into the Marco Rubio. Let's jump into what's going on here with Marco Rubio. Jody Evans, welcome back to FlashPoint. Always honored to have you with us, co-founder of Code Pink, in the middle of all of it. But why don't you talk a little bit about how you see this 100-page report? on Cuba, and then talk about what it means for Code Pink to be sort of signaled out in the context of this kind of move extreme right-wing expression and a restatement of McCarthyism. Thank you, Dennis, so much for always having us on and raising up these very serious issues. So, you know, this is super serious. This is, like you said, a bringing back of McCarthyism. And even though, you know, we could pink can look at all of it and see its insanity, see its lies, see the desperation, you know, they're continuing to try to find ways to be more violent to Cuba. Like you said, the scary thing is, you know, they're just panting to be able to drop bombs on it. And they just, you know, keep escalating. But this is serious. And I, you know, we look back at McCarthyism and I think we forget how devastating it was and how it literally changed the country. It decimated a movement for the people. Because it ruined lives. It ruined life. Literally ruined lives. People lost their jobs, lost their occupations, lost, you know, professors, doctors. It wasn't, didn't just happen in Hollywood. It happened in universities and in cities across the country. And it quieted people. Now, you know, a code pink, we will not be quiet. And this does not intimidate us.

But we're up close and personal to this. We know why they're doing it. We are watching them starve to death Cubans. We are watching them literally murder babies because a thousand babies have been either still born or miscarried recently, you know, that happened because the women are malnourished because they don't get the support they need in the hospitals. You know, Cuba used to have a better... uh number of you know casualties of infant mortality than the united states it is now double it's now doubled because of what we're doing we are killing people uh they can't get the medical care they need the lights are off so what the united states is doing is horrific and to say that the peace activists who are trying to say lives are the people that are bad is insane we can see that At the same time, this is serious. But you're talking about Marco Rubio. I want to talk about Stephen Miller. You know, at the same time as this Cuba report came out just days before, Stephen Miller had a gathering of, I forgot, like some 50 countries came. And he said that, you know, left-wing people in America are enemies of civilization. He said that the... left-wing groups are a form of political terrorism that is a direct threat to national security. And he mentioned a memorandum that Trump has signed. I think it's called something, you know, SP, something memorandum seven. And it directs for the first time in United States history, all the United States intelligence and, support agencies, they're directed to disrupt, defund, debunk, arrest, and prosecute these political terrorists operating in our country. That's, by the way, probably you, Dennis, and for sure, Cynthia. who by the way happy birthday happy 80th Cynthia so i mean yes it's it's what's happening to cuba because cuba serves the people god forbid there should be a country that not only serves its own people where they have education and health care and can live vibrant and thriving lives without the united states you know boot on their neck but also go around the world and take care of other people by educating doctors and having them show up in poor countries around the world you know, God forbid that that should be allowed or that we should be allowed to speak out against the violence of our own country. Instead, we're called terrorists. Well, speaking of being called terrorist, or is, is Code Pink, Jody? signal down, are they actually named in the context of Marco Rubio's current document? Or what's the connection? Have you been directly contacted by the government? So in that report, there's a bunch of people named. Like, I think there's 147 mentions of different groups and different people.

Did you see my name in there? Amy Goodman's in there, democracy now is in there. Oh, damn, God. You just wait. Yeah, I'm sure I don't have to. By the way, the report is just a naming, and obviously it's a report to try to drum up support to go to war on Cuba. So that report is just a report. But that report was used by the Ways and Means Committee to subpoena Breakthrough News. Tri-Continental and the People's Forum, so they have been subpoenaed. The Code Pink and all the other people mentioned, nothing's happened to us, but I want to say, nothing's happened to us. Except in right-wing media, we are seen as terrorists, and we get death threats, we get hate mail. So when I say nothing is happening to us, we are under investigation by OFAC from our last trip to Cuba, where we took lots of aid, and they are arguing with us that. We didn't do it properly, but we are answering all their questions, showing that we did do it properly, showing that we were just American citizens, traveling with aid to help the people of Cuba, which is allowed under the United States laws, but it takes up our time, it takes up our attention, and it does have a chilling effect on others who want to help Cuba but don't want to have the United States government breathing down their neck or their phone taken when they come home from Cuba to the United States. It's a chilling effect. It is a very, very real chilling effect. Even though it doesn't chill us at Code Pink, it chills those people that are like, do I really want to get, you know, caught up in this? So it's serious, very serious. All right, let me jump in here, let people know that you are listening to FlashPoints on Pacifica Radio. That's the voice of Jody Evans, co-founder of Code Pink. Also with us is Cynthia Papermaster. Cynthia helps us. She prepares a segment every Thursday. We call it Pink Notes. And it's in conjunction with the various activities and actions that Code Pink is up to with Cynthia and the rest of the crew here in the Bay Area and across the country, Code Pink. is a national and international organization. And that's where we're always delighted to get with us, Jody Evans, who is in the middle of so much of what's going on. Do you suppose that this kind of threat or attack or investigation, Jody, will undermine the work that Code Pink does? Do you feel restrained in any way by the government? We don't. That's what I'm saying. We don't. This does not silence us at all. We are not afraid. This doesn't get in the way of our work. It's a very familiar playbook that we know well, and we will not let it get in the way of our work.

But what I'm trying to say is there are other people that aren't Coop Pink, where, you know, they look at us and what we do and disrupting Congress and think, wow, that's a little extreme. But when you know the playbook, when you know McCarthyism and how serious it is, you know, I just want your readers to know this is not a time to be silent. When you watch this happening, this is when you speak up even louder. Because this is an attempted oppression that's very scary. And I want to bring up two other things that probably that your listeners don't know about. There's another activist, Fergie Chambers, who is in jail in Spain by the United States saying that he is a terrorist because he supports Hamas. What Fergie did was he. took aid to Palestinians in Gaza. So as we take aid to Cubans in Cuba, he took aid to Palestinians in Gaza, food, medicine, etc. And so now he's in jail in a maximum security prison in Spain with a threat of being brought back to the United States extradition, which is now being fought, which is so you know he's in jail. for helping Gazans who are starving. And there's another person, Kala, Walsh, who today, a letter from six members of Congress went to Marco Rubio suggestion she should be arrested because she went to the funeral in Iran, where 40 million other people went, and saying that she... should also be subject to the death penalty so when i say now is the time to speak out and on code pink website codpink.org we have a letter to Marco Rubio to talk about please write to him and say this is not a joke your lies are not a joke these are threats to life livelihood and peace and shame on you you're the secretary of state your job is diplomacy your job is peace and you are stoking more violence more war and the disruption of lives and life we you know with all it's so distorted i mean the fact that his cuba report basically says the cuba is the whole the whole intention of Cuba is to take down the United States government. Wait a sec. That's backwards. The United States government is going to take them to Cuba. You know, it's just like the insanity of these people and the duplicity and lies, this is the time to not be silent. And I call on every listener, please. Right now when you watch this insanity, it is not the time to worry about yourself. It is the time to worry about the collective and be loud and be visible and be, you know, show up with Cynthia at these, you know, this summer of peace and love locally. And don't, you know, say something to Marco Rubio. No, you cannot get away with these lies. You cannot get away with this violence to the Cuban people. It is violence, literally.

Killing people. Like what we're watching, what are we watching in Iran, in Gaza, in the, oh, the things we were watching in the West Bank with nothing in its way. We the people have to continue to speak out right now because this, it cannot continue. You're listening to Flash Points on Pacifica Radio. Jody Evans, Dennis Burns, seen here every Thursday. We celebrate the great activist work that Code Pink does. And helping us to do that every Thursday is Cynthia Papermaster. She is Code Pink here in the San Francisco Bay area. And Cynthia, do you want to follow up? Do you make some commentary? You want to jump in here? Yes, I would like to. You know, it wasn't just Code Pink who was named by the Department of State, the National Lawyers Guild, Democratic Socialists of America, Pastors for Peace. These are groups that I think have reacted by putting out statements. And are we doing that or have we done that? I saw Medea's piece today. We have a statement on Code Pink. You can get it on the Code Pink website. Yeah, okay. This is really what Medea wrote here, the State Department's Cuba report revives McCarthyism while ignoring the human cost of sanctions. It's just so excellent. And I like very much her conclusion, if I could just say, the State Department's Cuba report belongs in the dustbin of history beside the loyalty oaths, blacklists. and witch hunts it so closely resembles. The economic war on Cuba should also be trashed, and the ghost of McCarthyism should be buried once and for all. I just love the way she put that, and that is our call to action. We can't let them get away with this. This is ridiculous. I mean, it's dangerous. I like what you pointed out, Jody, that some of these groups that listen to people like Stephen Miller, and, you know, take what he's saying is the truth. They are dangerous. And I'm not afraid, but I just feel like there's some nut cases. I'm sorry, I'm just going to say that, out there who are very extreme. So I hope we can counter that. Calm things down. Thank you.

I'm done. She's done. We're not done. This is flashpoints. We're on every day from 5 to 6 on the Pacifica Radio Network. You're listening to us at probably listening to us at KPFA. Maybe not. Many other places you can find us, but we're happy to have you along. Free Speech Radio, again, from the Pacifica Radio Network. We've got wonderful guests today. Jody Evans, co-founder of Code Pink. We love Code Pink. collaborate with them every Thursday. Also joining us is Cynthia Papermaster, a good friend of this show, this radio station. And of those of us who love peace and are willing to put their money where they're bullet, I don't know, stand for what they believe in. It's time to use our voice. And I, you know, I encourage people to go to Code Pink because we have an opportunity for you to tell. Marco Rubio that this report does belong in the, you know, the garbage bin of history. And we have to speak out. I mean, we can't just let these things happen. Look at them and be afraid or worried. We have to act. And I think that's the moment we live in right now. And we see that in so many ways, Dennis, is now is the moment to be in action. to be engaged together. And we cannot allow these guys to continue to lie, which does create violence in our streets because people don't understand these are lies. And they're fueled by them. And we have to, we have to back them down. Sounds like. Sounds like a plan. And what about if people want to do more? Are there actions coming up now? How do people make sure that they don't miss the next big action or? the information bundle that can now make a difference in their lives. Yeah, we have more information on Could Pink about our summer of peace. And that whole reason for that is here we are the summer. We get together in camps. There are all kinds of things we do together in the summer. And we're hoping that people can remind each other the values of peace and love because come the fall. We have got to really fight this $1.5 trillion war bill that Pete Hegseth has put forward. Now, we've disrupted Pete Hegseth every time he's come to Congress. He lies to Congress. They don't stop him. Some Democratic members try. But he continues to lie. He continues to be outrageous in his remarks. This 1.5.

trillion dollar war budget one half of it goes to make the billionaires richer one half and again it's double the Biden bill which already was creating our wars were the greatest contributor to climate change That was already with half of the budget. Imagine what can happen with double. And it's most of it going to AI billionaires, taking your tax dollars, putting it in the pocket of AI billionaires to continue to disrupt our lives and disrupt our lives they are. You know, I was out after the World Cup with a, I made a big sign that said red card wars. Do you know the people came up to me because they wanted to say, yes, we need to red card wars. We need food. We need housing. They know the cost of these wars. They know they're destroying the planet. The people know. And what we know we have to act on, we have to engage with. So if you know, then take advantage of this summer, whatever event you're engaged in, whatever you're doing, bring the message of peace and love, ask people what they want to fund instead of wars, and remind them there's a war budget that's going to go through Congress and we all need to be engaged to stop it. This needs to be our red line. No, we will no longer fund the war budget. And by the way, just for good news, we are winning. For the first time, since I've been an anti-war activist since 1968, 12 senators. ganged up against the NDAA. So not just the people, but those in power understand this has gone too far. And we all need to, this is the place where everyone can get together because no matter what you need, what your values are, war is stealing from it. This war bill is stealing from anything you need and from life on the planet. You know, it's always, it's always inspiring. to take action. You get depressed if you're standing still, if you're hiding under your desk. But if you're out there locking arms with the people making a difference in the world, the way in which Code Pink does, exemplary actions that are meant to focus and to help us change history a little bit, this makes all the difference in how you feel in this world. Isn't that true? We need to build on that kind of strength of people taking action. And that's why I love Code Pink.

Well, it's how you stay sane in this mad world is engaging because it makes you ground. It makes you be related to what is real and what is real is us, the people. We are the power. And when you get lost in the story and the lies, it's very destabilizing. And we also live in a, I would say, a time of limbo. And that limbo is created by, you know, ceasefire, no ceasefire. War on, no war in Iran. An ongoing war in Iran. Ukraine that is happening but not happening. You know, like there's a lot of limbo. Whenever you engage, you take yourself out of that space and limbo is a psychological term where one doesn't feel like they have agency. That's very destabilizing. So to be in the streets with your friends, to engage with your friends, you know, we have a group that was just getting together to write letters to Congress, writing letters, writing letters locally to your newspaper to say, why are you not talking about the devastation that is happening with our tax dollars? Where is your voice about what's really happening? Don't distort our thinking. Tell us the truth. Demand the truth. I mean, the fact that you're not finding out in the mainstream media what's happening in the West Bank, that level of violence. I mean, last week you had people on the streets of Jerusalem saying that we won't be happy until every Palestinian is dead. And that we're, that's being broadcast on mainstream media as okay. that we're you know what we're doing to babies with our our practices both supporting the israeli regime and what we're doing in cuba and what we're doing in iran that to stop this it takes our engagement our voice it in our hearts where's the love beautiful Well, again, we love Code Pink, speaking of which, that's the voice of Jody Evans, co-founder of Code Pink. Are you facing, or is Medea facing legal charges at this point, given the current actions of the State Department? What is the legal status? Are you concerned about that? So, Dennis, it's a really good question because this helps your listener understand what's happening. So there are, there's nothing legal happening against Code Pink or the other 147 groups listed, except for the three I said that have subpoenas from a congressional committee. So where this is happening is in the distortion of people's minds in the media. No, there is, there's no legal action because there's legally nothing to go at us for. What did you do? There can't be a legal action because what we are doing is just speaking the truth and calling out the violence. So what are they going to do? Now, I just mentioned that new presidential memo that Stephen Miller has pushed forward that says all these.

organizations that are, you know, policing organizations of the United States are being called to police leftists that are the, you know, the threat to national security. And these agencies are instructed to disrupt, defund, debunk, arrest, and prosecute us. That they've been called to do that. There is a legal memo calling them to do that. So, yes, we have a sword hanging over our heads. Yes, it is there. Are we being silent? No. Are we shutting up? No. We are continuing to do our work because that is what we must do. And since we started thinking, they have threatened us to shut up because peace, they do not want the word peace in the room. They do not want us to stop their violence and their wars. They don't want us to disrupt the march to global inequality, the march that is causing climate catastrophe and the march to owned our minds by AI. They don't want us in the way. But we won't be silent, but yes, there's something hanging over our heads. Has it touched us yet? No. Well, we're here. Always ready for a shout-out. Help to get the word out. Code Pink is welcome on FlashPoints on Pacifica Radio. We thank you, Jody Evans, and our good friend Cynthia Papermaster. We do this segment every Thursday. We call it Pink Notes, and it's a collaboration between FlashPoint, Pacifica Radio, and Code Pink. Both of you, please be careful and keep us posted. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all you do, Dennis. Thank you. Thank you, Dennis. Thanks so much. You're absolutely welcome. And you are listening to Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio. We're going to take a musical break when we come back. We're going to introduce you to another edition of the electronic Antifada newscast, take the top of your head off. Stay with us.

Such a carpet bombing, nowhere has ever borne. In the land where everyone is some version of forlorn, we watch the skies light up again. And if the one with the camera falls, another takes their place when duty calls for the apocalypse will be televised. I'm watching it on this screen live on camera. The Holocaust of Palestine. Hunger sweeps the enclave cut off from every side, besieged from each direction, nowhere safe to hide, as the last drops of liquid trickle from a broken mane, and waterborne diseases come as surely as the rain. The apocalypse will be televised. I'm watching it on this screen live on camera. All right, let's do it. Bring it down. And you are listening to Flashpoint on Pacifica Radio, as we do every Thursday. Almost every Thursday, we bring you the very powerful newscast from the Electronic Intifana with Nora Marrows Friedman. Listen to this.

a news agency. In a separate strike, Israel killed a child and wounded several others in an attack on a residential apartment in central Gaza. The victims were also transferred to Al-Aksa Martyrs Hospital in Derebalah. Sources said that six Palestinians were wounded, one critically, when Israeli warplanes targeted an apartment building near Al-Mamunia School in the Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza City. On Wednesday evening in Gaza, Israel killed two Palestinians in separate drone strikes, according to the local Wafa News Agency. An Israeli drone targeted an intersection in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, killing one and injuring several others. And medical sources at Nasser Medical Complex in Han Yunus confirmed that one person was killed and others were injured in an Israeli drone strike in the Mawasi area. Israel also carried out a strike on the Shati or beach refugee camp west of Gaza city, destroying residential buildings. The cradle posted a video of an enormous explosion on a family's home. At least one Palestinian was killed and 22 were wounded in an Israeli attack on a phone charging point in the middle of the Balata market in the Nuserat refugee camp in central Gaza on Tuesday. also israeli soldiers shot a man in the back in the northern city of beitlachia in an area close to the so-called yellow line reporter mahmoud sobe filmed paramedics attending to the victim and loading him into the ambulance The Anadolu news agency reported that Israeli military vehicles opened fire on a camp for displaced people east of Darabalah in central Gaza, injuring three Palestinians, and five were injured by Israeli military gunfire, targeting a separate displacement camp west of Hanyunas. Also on Tuesday, Israel targeted the Dar al-Mukotakhin Mosque in Gaza City. A correspondent for Anadolu reported that Israeli fighter jets struck the mosque, which is located near the YMCA in central Gaza City, completely destroying the building. The strike also destroyed tents, housing displaced families, and caused extensive damage to nearby homes and civilian property. According to Anadolu, hundreds of Palestinians were left without shelter following the attack amid widespread destruction in the area. Gaza's Ministry of Endowments stated that almost all of Gaza's 1,275 mosques have been either completely destroyed or damaged in the last nearly three years of Israel's genocide.

On Monday, Israel killed a Palestinian in a drone strike near the Hira Mosque in the northern city of Jabilia, and another person identified as Muhammad Isleam, was killed south of Derbalah in central Gaza in a separate strike. Israel assassinated high-ranking civil police and security personnel over the weekend. On Sunday, in a so-called double-tap airstrike, Israel targeted the director of the Internal Security Service in Gaza's central governorate, 44-year-old Colonel Waal Musa Al-Ladawi, along with Major Ramez Tauphique Abu Zurek, 49, while they were driving in a car in Derebalah. This came just a day after Israel assassinated the police chief in the North Gaza Governorate. 54-year-old Brigadier General Abdul Nasr Muhammad al-Mukadma was killed in a targeted airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday. Gaza's Interior Ministry said that these assassinations represent, quote, a deliberate continuation by the occupation. to target key components of police operations with the aim of spreading chaos in the Gaza Strip. Since the so-called ceasefire agreement came into effect in October 2025, 55 police commanders, officers, and personnel have been killed in direct attacks by the Israeli occupation army, targeting police headquarters, patrols, vehicles, and personnel. Also, on Saturday, local reports set an Israeli attack in the Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza City, killed a man, Suhail Haji, and two Palestinians Amr Manar Abu al-Rish and Najla al-Sharif were killed in an Israeli drone strike on the roof of a house in Hanyunas. One Palestinian was killed and others were wounded in an Israeli drone attack on a tent for displaced persons in the Moasi area of Kanunas. Reports of Israeli shelling and shooting, resulting in injuries in areas in and around the Nuserat refugee camp were also recorded by local media on Saturday. The Israeli army used drones to bomb an area just outside the Bill Gates of Al-Axa Martyrs Hospital in Darbalah. Close Circuit TV footage shows the moment when a nearby journalist's tent was rocked by the explosion. Al Jazeera's Tarek Abu Azum was there and described the scene. The Israeli military struck a target nearby Al-Aksa hospital. We were in journalist tents and it seems that there is another explosion now. The Israeli military struck the... The gate of Alaksa Hospital right now. We are trying to bridge closer to see what is happening there. It's the gate of the Laksa Hospital that has been struck at the moment. People are really wounded now. This is an elderly man who has been injured. And here we can see that a group of civilians have been hit in this small shop here.

drones are still hovering at the sky over the sky right now and on the ground we can see that a group of Palestinians have been wounded and now they are waiting to be evacuated by civilians to al-aqsa hospital this has been one of the bloodiest days here in central and northern Gaza the Israeli military has been raising up and scaling up the scale of attack and civilians are trying to evacuate the casualties from this side. This is the gate of Al-Axar Hospital and here these are shops where people usually buy their needs and journalists gather. So it's another chapter of agony, misery and relentless attacks of entrances and casualties are now evacuated to inside the hospital here. It's very chaotic at the moment as the Israeli military. as is still scaling up the attacks with no sort of respite across the territory. That was reporter Tarak Abou Azoum in Darabala on Saturday. Israel is continuing to expand its extermination zone in Gaza as reporters and field researchers documented the so-called yellow line moving further westward yet again this week. The United Nations Humanitarian Office stated on Tuesday that its partners received reports of more than a dozen families who were newly displaced in eastern Gaza City. Palestinians in Darabala, Khan Yunus, and the Gaza city neighborhoods of Zetun, Tufa, and Shujaya, as well as northern Rafah, told Reuters that Israeli forces have advanced the yellow block markers during the past 10 days. triggering new waves of forced displacement. At least seven people interviewed by Reuters said residents in some affected areas, quote, received warnings via text messages or drone-mounted loudspeakers before leaving once again. Turning to the occupied West Bank, four Palestinians were killed on Friday, July 24th, in a rampage by Jewish Israeli settlers and soldiers in the village of Tel, near Nablus, in the north. Dozens of Israeli settlers from the nearby colony of Havat Gilad carried out a pogrom in the village, trying to break into homes and opening live fire on Palestinians who amassed to defend themselves. and their properties from the invading lynch mob. A joint statement by Palestinian human rights groups says that as villagers rushed to assist in the defense of their community, quote, an armed settler wearing military apparel opened live fire on civilians, injuring several. Incensed by the attack, a villager confronted the armed settler and disarmed him. A subsequent exchange of gunfire resulted in the deaths of a soldier and an officer from the occupation forces, both residents of nearby settlement outposts. The exact source of the gunfire remains unverified and no presence of Palestinian firearms was reported or proven in the area. The resident of the village who disarmed the settler and was shot dead was later identified as Faruk Ramadan.

Uniformed Israeli soldiers then arrived at the scene, the joint statement adds, and immediately opened live fire directly at Palestinians. As a result, four Palestinian residents of the village of Tell were killed, and four others sustained live ammunition injuries. The injured were subsequently evacuated to local hospitals for medical treatment. Israeli forces later that afternoon infiltrated the city of Nablus, raiding the hospital where Palestinians injured in the settler attack were receiving treatment and arrested them in the emergency department. The Palestinian rights groups add that later that night, Israeli forces again raided the village, arrested approximately 30 residents, and raided the home of Faruk Ramadan, who had been killed earlier that day, in preparation for its punitive demolition. Drop site news reports that, quote, armed settlers accompanied by the Israeli military, established a new illegal outpost on the site of the attack. installing caravans after uprooting hundreds of Palestinian-owned olive trees in the area. It is one of at least six new colonial outposts reported on occupied Palestinian land as Israeli settlers take advantage of the mass crackdown they incited, in addition to the expansion of existing outposts over the past few days alone with the support of the Israeli army, drop site added. Other outposts established by Israeli settlers over the weekend in Palestinian villages include those in Umsafa and Sinjil in the Ramallah Governorate, in Der Istia and Derbalut in the Salfite Governorate, and Asira al-Shammalia in the Nablis Governorate. Multiple other outposts are being expanded, drop-site reports. Following the pogrom intel, Israeli settlers engaged in other attacks in nearby Palestinian villages and set fire to homes and cars. The Palestinian rights groups said in their joint statement that on Friday evening, heavily armed settler militias under the direct protection of the occupation army, launched coordinated attacks against the villages of Sara, Urif, Jit, and Farahata. Settlers set fire to homes, vehicles, and agricultural fields and severely assaulted local residents inflicting serious injuries. Simultaneously, they continued an unprecedented campaign of violence and intimidation against the town of Bait-Furik. Settlers also set fire to a mosque in the village of Kourn on Sunday. spray painting its walls with racist graffiti, and damaging the interior of the building before local residents managed to extinguish the fire. Another mosque, which was under construction in the village of Kusra, was attacked by settlers also on Sunday. The Israeli mob burned wooden materials and construction equipment at the site, local reports say.

Following the settler pogrom intel, Israeli soldiers attacked journalists with tear gas while they were working in the village and covering the developing story. Israeli forces also imposed collective punishment measures on Palestinians across the West Bank, including closing major checkpoints and the entrances of towns and villages. The Israeli army closed a checkpoint south of Nablus, preventing an ambulance from passing through. which was carrying a pregnant woman in emergency condition. The Anadolu news agency says that the ambulance crew was held for more than 30 minutes, while the woman, who was six months pregnant and suffering from severe bleeding, was forced to undergo a search despite her critical condition. The ambulance officer said that Israeli soldiers ordered the crew to switch off the ambulance's engine, causing its onboard medical support equipment to stop operating. The ambulance was eventually allowed to continue to the hospital, where doctors managed to save the woman's life but were unable to save her fetus. In the Jim Jordan Valley village of Ainal Helway on Tuesday, July 28th, the Israeli civil administration, backed by occupation forces and settlers, carried out demolitions of homes belonging to the Daragma family in violation of a Supreme Court injunction order, according to the Jim Jordan Valley activists collective. In a video posted by the activists, Israeli bulldozers are seen tearing down structures and destroying property while Israeli soldiers look on. This past week, Israeli forces ordered the demolition of at least 10 Palestinian homes in the town of Bait Dajan, east of Nablus. The Wafa News Agency reported that the demolition orders are targeting homes and agricultural structures in the central and eastern part of the town, including a poultry facility. In Lebanon, our contributor Rokaya Shamsidine reports on continued Israeli attacks on the south, where she says the reality on the ground clashes with the Lebanese state's PR campaign. She filed this report for the electronic intifada today. This is Rukai Shamsindin reporting for the electronic intifada. The so-called ceasefire framework backed by the United States in southern Lebanon. has been thoroughly exposed as a hollow diplomatic fiction, collapsing entirely under the weight of relentless Israeli violations as Israel continues its relentless campaign of destruction. That reality was driven home recently when an explosive-laden drone in an operation attributed by the Israeli military to Hezbollah directly targeted and struck an Israeli D-9 armored engineering bulldozer. The heavy machinery was actively operating along a self-declared military zone on the Al-Tahar Ridge. According to the occupation's military, the overnight precision strike set the heavy engineering vehicle ablaze and caused significant material damage. As of publication, Hezbollah has not confirmed or denied.

that they took part in any resistance operations. While Israeli occupation forces routinely violate every principle of sovereignty by maintaining a permanent military footprint and carrying out daily attacks inside southern Lebanese territory, Israeli officials have labeled the drone strike a so-called blatant violation of the ceasefire. invoking pretext of underground infrastructure and mobilizing forces around the Al-Talha Ridge, occupation authorities immediately began weighing a wide-scale military retaliation. This escalation is part of a broader, ongoing campaign of violence targeting southern Lebanon. Israeli occupation forces have launched intense and concentrated artillery shelling against Tamati al-Faoua, firing from occupation positions near Kfarquilla. Then there is heavy artillery and explosive demolitions, which have targeted residential neighborhoods, and outskirts in places like Marqaba and the Marjjayun district, which have sparked fires and reduced homes to revel. Meanwhile, other attacks and provocations have continued to plague towns across the south, including sound bombs dropped over on Mansoor and Soar, alongside unceasing reconnaissance flights over Beirut and its southern suburb. The flashpoint on Daed Tahr Hills and the relentless shelling of towns from Kvarkana to Marqaba underscores a stark reality here on the ground, revealing that Israel refuses to halt its aggression or withdraw from Lebanese territory. As southern Lebanese... communities face persistent bombardment and encroachments into their land, the latest developments demonstrate that the occupation's ongoing incursions are actively driving the region toward renewed confrontation. That was Rokai Hashem Siddine reporting for the Electronic Intifada from Lebanon. We've published many features in the last week, but today we're highlighting excerpts from Danger is Never Distant in Gaza's Orange Zone by Donya Ahmed Abu Sita writing from Gaza. Since the genocide began, Donya writes, I have kept a diary of my countless displacements, but after the first ten moves, the entries all seemed pointless and repetitive. October 11, 2023. Move to a UN school after Israeli explosions shook our home. December 5th, 2023. Move to Raffa. Sniper was meters away from the UN school. June 13th, 2025. moved to al-Mawasi after Israeli forces launched another ground invasion of Hanyunas. Weather was hot, transportation unavailable due to lack of fuel. In those previous displacements, we've been forced to leave rented homes and apartments after following evacuation orders, sometimes leaving everything behind.

Then I thought about the time a special forces unit entered the Al-Shabura camp in Rafah at the beginning of 2024, and the quadcopters hovered low and targeted anyone who moved. My mind considered all these scenarios, as if helping me plan for them. How would I respond if anything like that happened tonight? I messaged my close friend Barra. I feel like there are people under the rubbles surrounding me from all sides. She replied that I wasn't just feeling that, and that certainly people were under the rubble. I fell asleep wondering about the people under the rubble. Did they live for a long time under the rubble? Did they suffer? Had their calls to rescuers gone unheard? I hoped that one day they could be buried. We have now been in the house for over a month. The water truck comes twice a week. People line up and wait for its arrival. From there, hoses extend from the tanks on the truck and we fill our containers. Obtaining drinking water is a separate ordeal. We pump water from our 1,000-liter rooftop tank, which lasts us for about three or four days. For bread, we have to go to the city center to buy it because there is no bakery in the area. Adjusting to the new home hasn't been easy. There is no stable internet connection in the area and we are still making repairs to the house as it has no proper water or sewage system. Our most recent improvement involved partitioning office space with a nylon curtain for my brothers from the main living area. Quadcopters approach the neighborhood daily, morning and evening to film and survey the area. Yet I have grown to feel more comfortable in the house now, since, safety-wise, there is no truly safe place in Gaza. Those are excerpts from Danger is Never Distant in Gaza's Orange Zone by Donya Ahmed Abousitta, writing from Gaza. Read more on electronic intifada.net. And now, as we always do, we wanted to highlight people expressing joy, determination, and reclamation across Palestine and around the world. Our contributor and dear friend Abu Bakr Abed posted two videos a few days ago of Palestinians in Bethlehem and Gaza, celebrating the achievements of high schoolers who have passed their graduation exams called Taushihi. The first one is of a group of youth celebrating on top of an 18-wheeler truck in Bethlehem, and the second is from Gaza, where people are playing music and celebrating in a displacement shelter.

Mabruk for all the Tajjee exam passers in Palestine. And that's it for the news roundup. As always, go to electronic and taffata.net for much more, especially to read our new features by our brave writers in Gaza. You've been listening to the Electronic Intifada's newscast. I'm Nora Barrow's Friedman. Want to hear more? Check out our live stream with interviews, reports, and analysis, along with print articles, podcasts, and more at electronic intifada.net. Produced by Nora Barrow's Friedman, Tamara Nasar, and Pierre Loazel. And that does it for another episode of FlashPoint. Our executive producer is Dennis Bernstein. Senior producers, Miguel Gabelon Malina and Kevin Pina. Technical producer, Rod Akil. Our theme music written and produced by Charlie Lang. For questions and comments, email Dennis Bernstein at Dennis at KPFA.org. Thank you for listening.

That's Hamadashu on Instagram. And that's it for the news. Roundup, as always, go to electronic intifada.net for much more, especially to read our new features by our brave writers in Gaza. And that does it for another episode of FlashPoints. Our executive producer is Dennis Bernstein. Senior producers, Miguel Gavalon Malina and Kevin Pina. Technical producer, Rod Akil. Our theme music written and produced by Charlie Lang. For questions and comments, email Dennis Bernstein at Dennis at kpFA.org. Thank you for listening. The stakes are high as the U.S. speeds toward midterm elections. KPFA brings you the latest on election suppression. Insurgent and pro-Palestine candidates challenging the democratic establishment. Ballot measures to tax billionaires, regulate dark money, and more. Join KPFA's Election Watch program, The Stakes, airing every Thursday at 10 a.m. and online anytime at kpFA.org and wherever you get your podcasts.

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