News Highlights:
- Israel wages large-scale incursion into southern Gaza, killing at least 4 Palestinians, including a 70-year-old woman who was trying to help her injured son.
- Human rights groups in Gaza call on the international community to provide protection for the Palestinian people in Gaza from the Israeli army.
- U.N. official says Gaza risks becoming 100% aid dependent due to isolation from Israeli border closings.
- Governor of Bethlehem, Salah Tamari said Israel is increasing the number of checkpoints around Bethlehem and destroying Palestinians’ daily lives.
- Hamas’ Executive Force in Gaza bans any form of demonstrations or celebrations without prior permission; the move is criticized by many human rights groups and Palestinian leaders, including some Hamas legislators.
Feature:
An Eyewitness Palestine, Eyewitness Gaza with three different reports on the rapidly deteriorating situation for Palestinians in Gaza. The first was part of a press release entitled Gaza is Starving, issued by several progressive Gazan groups, highlighting the cruelty of the siege, especially in the hot summer months living without access to proper water and electricity services. The second was highlights of a BBC report from one of their reporters who had just travelled through Gaza and concluded it was a jail for its people. The last was a more personal account by Leila al Haddad, a Palestinian freelance journalist, who told of her harrowing attempts to leave Gaza just before the gates slammed shut. She questioned how these horrific events could be happening with so little protest.
Focus on Zionism:
Highlights of a Palestine Red Crescent report about a 75-year-old Palestinian woman who suffered a heart attack and later died after Israeli guards refused to allow the ambulance access to her village.
Here is an audio file of this show: