ISRAELI forces carried out a series of demolitions and violent raids across occupied Palestinian territories yesterday, further escalating the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
On Thursday morning, Israeli authorities bulldozed a family home in Jaba, north east of Jerusalem, under the pretext of lacking construction permits – a justification routinely used to target Palestinian residents.
Witnesses reported that police forces surrounded the al-Obaidi family home before proceeding with the demolition.
During the raid, officers opened fire on local residents, injuring a member of the al-Obaidi family in the thigh with live ammunition.
The previous evening, Israeli troops stormed al-Deheisha refugee camp, south of Bethlehem.
During the two-hour assault, Israeli soldiers violently targeted journalists reporting on the operation.
Khaled Abu Aisha, Muaad Amarneh and Aya Ramadan were detained and assaulted. According to the Asra Media Office, soldiers stole Abu Aisha’s wallet and smashed Amarneh’s mobile phone.
The targeting of media workers appears to be part of a broader strategy to silence documentation of Israeli war crimes.
New figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) point to the scale of Israel’s lethal crackdown on press freedom.
The group reported that 2024 was the deadliest year for journalists since its records began over thirty years ago, with Israel responsible for nearly 70 per cent of the global death toll.
At least 124 journalists were killed worldwide last year, including 85 in Gaza alone at the hands of Israeli forces.
The CPJ accused Israel of systematically obstructing investigations into these killings, blaming the victims, and evading accountability.
Meanwhile, the Costs of War Project at Brown University reported that Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza has killed more journalists than the US Civil War, both World Wars, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Yugoslav wars, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan combined.
As of 26 March, the project confirmed at least 232 journalists and media personnel had been killed in Gaza.
Israel intentionally killed paramedics
A FORENSIC doctor has revealed chilling evidence that Israeli forces executed Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers in cold blood during a humanitarian mission in southern Gaza.
The victims, fifteen in total, were found with close-range bullet wounds targeting precise areas of their bodies, indicating deliberate execution rather than collateral damage.
The victims included personnel from the Palestinian Red Crescent, Civil Defence, and the United Nations, who had been operating in Rafah on the morning of 23 March.
According to findings shared by the doctor, the condition of the corpses confirmed that the workers were systematically shot.
Some were killed while restrained, and at least one was reportedly beheaded.
One victim’s body had been so ravaged it had been reduced to skeletal remains after exposure to the elements and animals.
After the killings, Israeli forces reportedly used a bulldozer to dump the victims’ bodies and their damaged ambulances into the sand, creating a mass grave.
Eyewitnesses described scenes of horror, stating that some of the workers appeared to have had their hands bound before being executed.
‘The precision of the gunshot wounds, the restraint marks, and the brutal condition of the corpses all point to intentional killings,’ the forensic examiner concluded.
Despite the documented humanitarian status of the convoy, Israel has attempted to justify the attack by claiming the ambulances approached military positions in a ‘suspicious’ manner and without flashing emergency lights.
However, these assertions have been categorically rejected by local organisations and witnesses.
The report, originally circulated by the Gaza-based Quds News Network, has fuelled international condemnation.
Since 7th October 2023, the start of the genocide, over 1,000 medical workers have been killed in Gaza.
