The Israeli military’s attacks on Gaza City intensified over the weekend of August 16-17 ahead of its full-scale ground force invasion. Nearly 60 people were killed by air strikes on August 18, including nearly 40 who were seeking food.
Amnesty International’s new statement, which includes chilling new testimonies of starved and displaced civilians said Israel is carrying out “a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip, systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life”.
It said these “designed and implemented” policies are “calculated to bring about their physical destruction … part and parcel of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza”.
Amnesty International’s Erika Guevara Rosas said the testimonies “are a searing indictment of an international system that has granted Israel a license to torment Palestinians with near-total impunity for decades”.
Meanwhile, protesters across Israel took to the streets on August 17, in the largest show of opposition to Benjamin Netanyuhu’s war on Gaza. Demonstrators blocked highways, rallied outside politicians’ homes and military headquarters and lit bonfires. Organisers said the protests were the largest in 22 months with Haartez, on August 17, estimating that hundreds of thousands took to the streets.
Across Australia, protests continued over August 16-17 in several cities, with many smaller actions to promote the nationwide march for Palestine on August 24, which is growing by the day as regional cities and towns decide to join in alongside capital cities.
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The weekly protest in Naarm/Melbourne on August 17 marched to the ABC to protest the complicity of the corporate media (including the ABC) in Israel’s genocide. Thousands chanted “every time the media lies, a neighbourhood in Gaza dies”.
They also expressed solidarity with Palestinian journalists being killed by Israeli forces, including Anas Al-Sharif who was targeted on August 10 along with four colleagues.
Nour Salman told the rally that “journalists are being targeted because Israel knows they are being the voices of truth”.
“Israel knows, once the truth comes out, there's no going back.”
Salman highlighted that more than 230 Palestinian journalists have been killed and that “every one of them has been slaughtered because of this Israeli genocidal entity”.
“But we will not cower, we will continue to speak truth to power,” she said.
Author Clementine Ford also addressed the rally as did Gaza Freedom Flotilla (GFF) participant Robert Martin. Martin was recently detained by the Israeli military after boarding the GFF vessel Handala to break the siege of Gaza.
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Protests and other actions were organised in Canberra and other towns and cities.
Justice for Palestine Magan-djin organised a well attended “upskilling” and activist organising event on August 17 to prepare for the Story Bridge march on August 24. In Boorloo/Perth, a “flood the city” event also helped promote the August 24 national day of action.
Members of the Druze community in Gadigal Country/Sydney rallied to call for solidarity for Suweida in Syria.
More than 150 people, mostly rank-and file-unionists, attended a meeting in person on August 14 at the Victorian Trades Hall in Naarm/Melbourne, while more than 1000 watched online. Organised by Free Palestine Melbourne, the meeting discussed how the labour movement can best stand with Palestine, including by sanctioning Israel.
The meeting passed a motion affirming that the Victorian Labor movement stands in solidarity with Palestine. It endorsed the Australian Council of Trade Unions's (ACTU) demands, in May, and called for the Victorian trade union movement to actively inform and mobilise members to achieve the ACTU's demands.
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