6 historical mysteries that scientists finally cracked in 2023 — and one they didn’t

Katie Hunt, CNN
Fri, December 22, 2023


Science is revolutionizing our understanding of the past.

Paleogenetics teases out astonishing secrets from DNA hidden in bones and dirt. Artificial intelligence decodes ancient texts written in forgotten scripts. Chemical analysis of molecular residues left on teeth, cooking pots, incense burners and building materials reveals details about past diets, smells and construction techniques.

Here are six mysteries about human history that scientists have cracked in 2023. Plus, one that still has researchers scratching their heads.

The true identity of a prehistoric leader

Buried with a spectacular crystal dagger and other precious artifacts, the 5,000-year-old skeleton discovered in 2008 in a tomb near Seville, Spain, was clearly once someone important.

The individual was initially thought to be a young man, based on analysis of the pelvis bone, the traditional way scientists determine the sex of human skeletal remains.

However, an analysis of tooth enamel, which contains a type of protein with a sex-specific peptide called amelogenin, determined that the remains were female rather than male.

In other studies, the technique has also dispelled the cliché of “man the hunter” that has informed much thinking about early humans.

“This technique, we think, is going to open up an entirely new era in the analysis of the social organization of prehistoric societies,” Leonardo García Sanjuán, a professor of prehistory at the University of Seville, told CNN in July when the discovery was made public.

The crystal dagger was found was buried with the body of a 5,000-year-old female prehistoric leader. - Research Group ATLAS from University of Sevilla

The ingredient behind Roman concrete’s legendary strength

Roman concrete has proven to be longer-lasting than its modern equivalent, which can deteriorate within decades. Take, for example, the Pantheon in Rome, which has the world’s largest unreinforced dome.

Scientists behind a study published in January said they had discovered the mystery ingredient that allowed the Romans to make their construction material so durable and to build elaborate structures in challenging places such as docks, sewers and earthquake zones.

The study team analyzed 2,000-year-old concrete samples that were taken from a city wall at the archaeological site of Privernum in central Italy and are similar in composition to other concrete found throughout the Roman Empire.

They found that white chunks in the concrete, referred to as lime clasts, gave the concrete the ability to heal cracks that formed over time. The white chunks previously had been overlooked as evidence of sloppy mixing or poor-quality raw material.

Rome's Pantheon was built under Roman Emperor Augustus between 27 and 25 BC to celebrate all gods worshipped in ancient Rome. It was rebuilt under Emperor Hadrian between 118 and 128 AD. - Domenico Stinellis/AP

The actual appearance of Ötzi the Iceman

Hikers found the mummified body of Ötzi in a gully high in the Italian Alps in 1991. His frozen remains are perhaps the world’s most closely studied archaeological find, revealing in unprecedented detail what life was like 5,300 years ago.

His stomach contents have yielded information on what his last meal was and where he came from, while his weapons showed he was right-handed, and his clothes provided a rare look at what ancient people actually wore.

But a new analysis of DNA extracted from Ötzi’s pelvis revealed in August that his physical appearance wasn’t what scientists first thought.

The study of his genetic makeup showed that Ötzi the Iceman had dark skin and dark eyes — and was likely bald. This revised appearance stands in stark contrast to the well-known reconstruction of Ötzi that depicts a pale-skinned man with a full head of hair and a beard.

A close-up of the head of the 5,300-year-old frozen corpse of Ötzi in the Archaeological Museum in Bolzano. - Südtiroler Museum/picture-alliance/dpa/AP

The wearer of 20,000-year-old pendant revealed

Archaeologists frequently unearth bone tools and other artifacts from ancient sites, but it’s been impossible to know for sure who once used or wore them.

Earlier this year, scientists recovered ancient human DNA from a pendant made from deer bone found in Denisova Cave in Siberia. With that clue, they were able to reveal that its wearer was a woman who lived between 19,000 and 25,000 years ago.

She belonged to a group known as Ancient North Eurasians, which have a genetic connection to the first Americans.

Human DNA was likely preserved in the deer bone pendant because it is porous and therefore more likely to retain genetic material present in skin cells, sweat and other body fluids.

It’s not known why the deer tooth pendant contained such a large amount of the ancient woman’s DNA (about the same amount as a human tooth). Perhaps it was well-loved and worn close to the skin for an exceptionally long period, said Elena Essel, a molecular biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who developed a new technique to extract the DNA.

The deer tooth pendant contained DNA left by its wearer. - Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

The ancient, damaged scroll decoded by AI

Some 1,100 scrolls were burned to a crisp during the famous eruption of Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago. In the 1700s, some enterprising diggers recovered the huge cache from volcanic mud.

The collection, known as the Herculaneum scrolls, is perhaps the largest known library from classical antiquity, but the contents of the fragile documents remained a mystery until a University of Nebraska computer science student won a scientific contest earlier this year.

With the help of artificial intelligence and imaging by computerized tomography, Luke Farritor was the first to decode a word written in ancient Greek on one of those blackened scrolls.

Farritor was awarded $40,000 for deciphering the word “πορφυρας” or “porphyras,” which is the Greek word for purple. Researchers are hopeful that it won’t be long until entire scrolls can be deciphered using the technique.

The scroll was one of hundreds retrieved from the remains of a lavish villa at Herculaneum, which along with Pompeii was one of several Roman towns that were destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. - Salvatore Laporta/AP

The materials necessary for making a mummy

From fragments of discarded pots in an embalming workshop, scientists have discovered some of the substances and concoctions ancient Egyptians used to mummify the dead.

By chemically analyzing organic residues left in the vessels, researchers determined that ancient Egyptians used a wide variety of substances to anoint the body after death, to reduce unpleasant smells and to protect it from fungi, bacteria and putrefaction. Materials identified include plant oils such as juniper, cypress and cedar, as well as resins from pistachio trees, animal fat and beeswax.

While scholars had previously learned the names of substances used to embalm the dead from Egyptian texts, they were — until recently — only able to guess at exactly what compounds and materials they referred to.

The ingredients used in the workshop were varied and sourced not just from Egypt, but much farther afield, suggesting the long-distance exchange of goods.

An artist's reconstruction of an embalming scene with a priest in an underground chamber. - Nikola Nevenov

Beethoven: A family secret revealed — but one mystery endures

Composer Ludwig van Beethoven died at the age of 56 in 1827 after a string of chronic health problems, including hearing loss, gastrointestinal issues and liver disease.

Beethoven wrote a letter to his brothers in 1802 asking that his doctor, Johann Adam Schmidt, investigate the nature of the composer’s illnesses once he died. The letter is known as the Heiligenstadt Testament.

Nearly 200 years after his death, scientists extracted DNA from preserved locks of hair in an attempt to honor this request.

The lock of hair from which Beethoven's whole genome was sequenced. - Kevin Brown

The team was not able to come up with a definitive diagnosis, but Beethoven’s genetic data helped the researchers rule out potential causes of his ailment such as the autoimmune condition celiac disease, lactose intolerance or irritable bowel syndrome.

The genetic information also suggested an extramarital affair had taken place in the composer’s family.

Ashley Strickland and Taylor Nicioli contributed to this report.

IEA working to cut renewable energy costs in developing world


Reuters
Fri, December 22, 2023

ISTANBUL, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The International Energy Agency will work to ensure the World Bank, regional development banks and others prioritise the cost of investing in clean energy in developing countries following the COP28 summit last week, its Executive Director said.

World governments agreed to triple renewable energy generation capacity by 2030 and transition away from fossil fuels at the COP28 United Nations climate conference in Dubai. But no mechanism was agreed to finance the transition to clean energy in developing countries.

Clean energy investments in emerging and developing countries have been flat since 2015, whereas globally it almost doubled, with most of the growth coming from China and advanced economies, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Friday on the sidelines of an energy conference in Istanbul.

"For the IEA, the main story between now and Baku, will be how we can find de-risking mechanisms to make sure there is a flow of capital to developing and emerging countries," Birol told Reuters. The next climate summit will be held in Baku next year.

Risks mean that the cost of capital for solar plant investments in the developing world could be up to four times higher compared with that in advanced economies, preventing flow of capital, Birol said.

"It will be our job to make sure that the financing of clean energy, de-risking those investments, providing concessional funding is a key priority for the World Bank, regional development banks and also the finance sector."

"We have more than enough capital in the world now. If the World Bank, regional development banks and financial institutions provide some guarantees, de-risking mechanisms, the money will flow very quickly as the potential is huge," he said. (Reporting by Can Sezer; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

THE NEW MCARTHYISM

Doctor resigns from CMA board amid response to backlash over pro-Palestinian posts

CBC
Fri, December 22, 2023

Dr. Yipeng Ge, who was suspended from his role as a medical resident at the University of Ottawa last month over pro-Palestinian posts related to the Israel-Hamas war, has now resigned from the Canadian Medical Association's board of directors.

 (Change.org - image credit)

A doctor and medical resident at the University of Ottawa who posted pro-Palestinian messages on social media, which were also critical of Israel, has resigned from the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) board of directors.

Dr. Yipeng Ge first faced backlash in November when a colleague shared his posts related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The posts supported the Palestinian cause and criticized what Ge called "apartheid upon Palestinian people" and "settler colonialism."

On Friday, Ge published a resignation letter accusing CMA leadership of "bullying, harassment, and intimidation" related to his posts.

"I have substantial concerns related to the actions of the CMA leadership that has created an unsafe environment for me on the board as the sole resident board director," Ge wrote in his letter.

"I believe what I have experienced is a failure of the CMA leadership to meaningfully reflect on the role that anti-Palestinian racism has played in its response to my social media posts."

CMA responds

In its own statement issued Friday in response to Ge, the CMA said he notified the board of his departure on Thursday, four months after he was appointed.

CMA said a "restorative process to repair relationships" was agreed upon in the wake of Ge's pro-Palestinian posts, and the organization accepts his decision to step down "following this process."

"The CMA remains firmly committed to denouncing and confronting antisemitism, anti-Palestinian racism, and Islamophobia, in all their forms," the statement read.

CMA declined to respond directly to Ge's allegations of bullying and intimidation.

Colleague drew attention to posts

Last month, Ge said he was suspended from his residency with the University of Ottawa's public health and preventative medicine program related to the same posts. The school told CBC there had been complaints about an alleged breach of professional standards by a medical resident.

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa, had drawn attention to a number of Ge's posts on his Substack page, which Freedhoff shared on social media.

Freedhoff also drafted an article that focused on Ge's posts and called them an example of "antisemitism."

Among Ge's posts were slogans including "Ottawa standing with Gaza" and a photo of a sign stating "from the rivers to the sea Palestine will be free," which Freedhoff called a "genocidal" chant that implies the elimination of the State of Israel.

Despite the suspension, Ge has continued to receive his full salary and benefits, the university said.

In June 2020, the University of Ottawa featured Ge in an article that celebrated him for turning "passion into action for health and social equity."

Sacramento Jewish and Muslim leaders: All Palestinian and all Jewish lives matter | Opinion

Darrell Steinberg , Shoab Siddique
Fri, December 22, 2023 

Opinion



Renée C. Byer/rbyer@sacbee.com

Nothing we say or do in Sacramento may change the course of the war for Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. But there are other compelling reasons for our Muslim and Jewish communities to speak out together.

Many things make Sacramento such a special place to live, but none are more important than the way we treat each other. In good times and in bad, through both times of celebration and in light of despicable hate crimes, the region’s diverse communities — including Jewish and Muslim individuals — have stood shoulder to shoulder. We are friends and have always sought to model love, inclusion and support as the world grows darker.

Opinion

That history is now threatened by obvious community divisions that have arisen since October 7.

Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia on the rise

Many in the Jewish community see the terrible rise in anti-Semitism, including on college campuses, and the refusal of leaders from diverse groups to condemn anti-Semitism without qualifications as a shocking reminder of historic reality. The Holocaust happened in the modern 20th Century, and the world’s oldest prejudice never goes away. Israel remains the hope that Jews can live safely and freely and never again face threats to our very existence.

Many in the Jewish community are rightfully offended by the spoken views of some Muslim American and progressive leaders who have said that while the deaths of innocent Israelis is unfortunate, the plight of Palestinians justifies the October 7th massacre. That implicit and sometimes explicit justification stokes the community’s central fear that Jewish lives are easily expendable. But there is no moral justification for Hamas’ terrorist attack on October 7.

The Muslim American community understandably fears the terrible rise of Islamophobia. Recent heinous acts of Islamophobia — including the murder of a six-year-old Muslim American boy in Illinois in October and the shooting of three Palestinian American college students speaking Arabic in Vermont just last month — shocked our collective conscience.

Divided opinions on Israel

Americans of diverse backgrounds look at the massive growth of West Bank settlements, Israel’s right-wing government and its clear policy to control and subjugate Palestinians in the West Bank and ask: “Where are the voices from the Jewish community and supporters of Israel to condemn and call out these policies?” There can never be a two-state solution so long as settlers guided by religious zealotry govern Israel.

And of course, many ask: “Why can’t Israel deal with Hamas without the massive loss of innocent lives, including children in Gaza?” It’s a right and fair question.

Some advocates in our country, Including in Sacramento, have attempted to put forth resolutions which call for a ceasefire and articulate basic human values — that the deaths of all innocents are not only tragic, but wrong. That universal sentiment is laudable, but not enough to reduce divisions as both sides have strong convictions about whose version of history is most correct and who is most responsible for the suffering of so many on both sides.

No matter one’s position, a candid sharing of views can be perilous. Reaching out and acknowledging the other side’s history can result in your own family, religious faith and political and community allies harshly criticizing you for not standing strong for your side.

There are multiple perspectives. No matter the cost, we must try harder to both educate and advocate for our own beliefs and acknowledge that there is also genuine truth on the other side.

What is wrong always is wrong. We can’t pick and choose when it is convenient for us to speak up.

Support a ceasefire and two-state solution

Our community can once again model a different way by intentionally working harder to see the complexity of the situation and saying out loud what many believe but are unwilling to say.

The conventional wisdom says the way to bridge the divide in our communities is to avoid complicated politics and, instead, focus only on our common humanity. If only it were that simple. In truth, we cannot avoid politics and questions of leadership when the failure of leadership leads to the very results that divide us.

This conflict will not be resolved militarily. It will be resolved politically when wise, courageous and visionary leaders on both sides replace backwards thinking leaders in charge today. May that happen sooner rather than later for the sake of many innocent civilian lives on both sides.

So long as Hamas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain in power, there is no chance for a real peace, a long-term mutual ceasefire and a two-state solution. Hamas has never represented the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians. Who builds underground tunnels to hide and protect themselves while exposing its people to poverty and a predictable response to the killing of 1,200 innocent people? Israel and its supporters have rightfully maintained that even if there were a possibility for peace, there has never been a willing partner on the Palestinian side.

Israel is a democracy, but Netanyahu and his extreme government have done everything to stand in the way of the possibility of peace. The intentional expansion of settlements in the name of religion, galling attempts to weaken Israel’s judiciary in order to enable more settlements and the usurpation of the rights of Arabs, Palestinians and even reform Jews is antithetical to both peace and religious and ethical values. The doom cycle only embitters new generations of Palestinians — the very generations Israel needs to make peace with.

Israel has no true future as a Jewish state unless it ultimately finds a peaceful resolution with its Palestinian neighbors.

All Palestinian and all Jewish lives matter. We have the chance to create a different conversation in our communities and our campuses, and we must promote a new set of principles that turns adversaries into allies.

Imagine a unified message in 2024 that asserts something different than the current divisive argument and points. Let us start with a universal call for new leadership on both sides dedicated to peace, security and justice for Israelis and Palestinians. Let us demand that the world help rebuild Gaza without Hamas and with an Israeli government that recommits to two states and an end to settlements.

Let us also insist on a new American compact — especially on college campuses — that both respects free speech and uses the same principles to strongly and consistently condemn anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Let’s uplift and seek to unify Jewish and Muslim students against threats posed by prejudice and hate.

A more united Sacramento

Here in our community, we must embrace one another. In 1999, when two white supremacists firebombed three Jewish synagogues in Sacramento and then murdered a prominent gay couple in their Redding home in a violent and despicable act of homophobia, the community stood together against hate. When our Muslim brothers and sisters were targeted after 9/11, the community stood together as well. Our community has never wavered from our fundamental belief that we far outnumber those who seek to spread hate and divide us. We will always defeat these divisive beliefs when we speak up, stand together and speak out.

“We are not enemies, but friends,” President Abraham Lincoln famously said. “We must not be enemies.”

Let’s do our part in California’s capital city to tell the truth, heal our wounds and change our own community conversation toward a lasting peace.

In the end, the only choice for Israelis and Palestinians is to wage peace, not war. That can only be done if both sides reeducate themselves to negotiating a two-state solution, in which Israel and Palestine live side by-side in peace and security.

Darrell Steinberg is the mayor of Sacramento. Shoab Siddique is a local physician and a current board member of the Sacramento Council of American Islamic Relations. His opinion is his own.

Starbucks’ CEO wants people to stop protesting its stores over Israel war in Gaza

Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN
Thu, December 21, 2023 

Cristina Matuozzi/Sipa USA

Starbucks chief executive Laxman Narasimhan on Tuesday said people protesting the company and disrupting its stores over the Israel-Hamas war were being misled by false information spread online about the company’s positions.

“We see protestors influenced by misrepresentation on social media of what we stand for,” Narasimhan said in a letter to Starbucks employees and customers.

“Cities around the world – including here in North America – have seen escalating protests. Many of our stores have experienced incidents of vandalism,” he said. “We have worked with local authorities to ensure our partners and customers are safe.”

The letter is a way of attempting to untangle Starbucks from controversies related to the war. Starbucks has also tried to distance itself from pro-Palestine positions taken by Starbucks Workers United, a union for Starbucks workers, that have angered some pro-Israel supporters.

At the same time, it is facing softer holiday sales, according to analyst estimates. Its stock suffered the longest drop in its history, a 12-day slide ending earlier this month. Starbucks is also fighting off union pressure over pay and working conditions and accusations of illegal anti-union tactics.

The coffee company said some of the protests related to the war in Gaza resulted directly from the union’s comments. More than 350 of the company’s roughly 9,300 corporate-owned stores in the United States are unionized.

Shortly after Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attacks against Israel, the union, Starbucks Workers United, posted “Solidarity with Palestine” on social media platform X. Below the image was an image of a bulldozer operated by Hamas tearing down a fence on the Gaza strip during the attacks against Israel, according to some news organizations that saw the post.

The tweet was not authorized by the union or its workers, and the union’s account quickly deleted the tweet — but it sparked some calls for a boycott of Starbucks on social media by pro-Israel supporters.

Starbucks said some of the protests related to the war in Gaza resulted directly from the union’s comments. More than 350 of the company’s roughly 9,300 corporate-owned stores in the United States are unionized.

Starbucks distanced itself from the tweet.

“We unequivocally condemn these acts of terrorism, hate and violence, and disagree with the statements and views expressed by Workers United and its members,” Starbucks said in a post. “Workers United’s words and actions belong to them, and them alone,” the company added.

Starbucks also filed a lawsuit against the union, alleging trademark infringement and demanding the union stop using its name and logos. The association with the union was damaging its reputation and putting its workers in harm’s way, Starbucks said.

The union filed a counter lawsuit in October, claiming Starbucks falsely attacked the union’s reputation.

“The company’s statements are a transparent effort to bolster its illegal anti-union campaign by falsely attacking the union’s reputation with workers and the public,” the suit alleged.

The union endorsed a statement from Jewish Voice for Peace in October condemning Hamas’ attacks on Israel and calling for “people of conscience to stop the imminent genocide of Palestinians.”

‘You no longer represent us’: New Jersey Muslims mobilize against longtime Congressman over Israel stance

Dustin Racioppi
Fri, December 22, 2023 


Last time Rep. Bill Pascrell faced a serious primary challenge, he ended up winning by a 20-point margin after the Arab American community rallied in support of the New Jersey Democrat. Now that same constituency is turning against him, posing a major threat to the 14-term House member over his stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

Arab Americans protested outside his district office in Paterson, home to Little Ramallah, the largest Palestinian American enclave in the country. They’ve held press conferences demanding a cease-fire and, last week, interrupted a fundraiser to confront him over his pro-Israel position. Most consequentially, some Arab Americans plan to mobilize against the 86-year-old when he seeks reelection next year.

Former supporters now call him a “charlatan” and a “mouthpiece for the dehumanization of Palestinian people.” They say Pascrell’s seeming indifference to their concerns over Israel’s offensive in Gaza and his refusal to back a cease-fire has led them to consider backing Democratic challengers in June — including a former aide.

“You can’t call yourself a friend of the community and then turn your back on them,” said Feras Awwad, a local school board member in the city of Clifton whose grandparents hail from Ein Karem, a village outside Jerusalem. “There’s not a chance in hell anybody’s going to be supporting him.”

The rising tension in Pascrell’s 9th congressional district is a striking reflection of the broader fault lines running through the national Democratic party following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Federal lawmakers have strongly backed Israel’s right to defend itself but, after two months of Israel pummeling Gaza, killing about 20,000 people, they’ve faced increasing pressure from the left to push for an end to the offensive.

One of the biggest names to join calls for a cease-fire is Rep. Katie Porter, a California Democrat running for that state’s open Senate seat in 2024. But the vast majority of Democrats in Washington take the same view Pascrell expressed at a fundraiser Monday in Paterson.

“I can’t control the politics of Israel,” he said, according to a video of his remarks obtained by POLITICO. “But they have every right to protect themselves and defend themselves. Case closed.”

While Arab Americans are an important constituency for Pascrell, they make up a relatively small bloc in a district that includes two dozen towns in heavily Jewish Bergen County. That’s made it impossible for the representative to please the entire Democratic base.

Pascrell has tried since the Oct. 7 attacks to tread a fine rhetorical line. He backed a “humanitarian pause” and pushed for more aid into Gaza, but, like most House members, did not sign onto a resolution calling for a cease-fire (his Democratic colleagues Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman and Donald Payne Jr. were the only lawmakers from New Jersey to do so).

In public statements and in letters to the White House, Pascrell has pushed for the release of hostages and advocated for “good faith efforts” between Palestinians and Israelis to reach a two-state solution. Until then, he said that “restraint to protect innocent civilian lives” is the most prudent path forward.

“I hear and feel powerfully the anguish of our community and like millions of Americans I desperately want a permanent end to the fighting as soon as possible and a major flow of humanitarian aid provided by America to protect Palestinians and begin the rebuilding of Gaza,” Pascrell said in a statement to POLITICO.

Some of his constituents don’t accept his public statements as enough. Since the start of the war, members of the Arab American community have met with Pascrell and other federal and state leaders, including Rep. Mikie Sherrill, Sen. Cory Booker and Gov. Phil Murphy, expressing their concerns and pressing them to support a cease-fire. But some residents and leaders said they don’t feel Pascrell has been receptive and have made it clear to him that he is no longer welcome in their mosques, businesses and homes given his unwavering support for Israel.

“He’s been somebody who in past years had been engaged in the community,” said Ahmet Akdag, a resident of Clifton who is both Turkish and Muslim. “We just don’t feel like he’s been reciprocating as we had hoped and what we had expected.”

A native of Paterson who served as its mayor and in the New Jersey Legislature before his 1996 election to the House, Pascrell is one of New Jersey’s more colorful political figures. He is well known for speaking passionately with a North Jersey accent — and at considerable length — when given the opportunity, whether it’s on the House floor or at a local press conference.

His style and stances have endeared him in the past to the Arab American community. Other Muslim leaders said Pascrell had been much more responsive to them in the past, particularly in 2012, when he was forced into a Democratic primary in the newly redrawn 9th district against incumbent Rep. Steve Rothman. Pascrell, who was then representing the 8th district, was seen within the Arab American community as a strong alternative to the Jewish, staunchly pro-Israel Rothman.

Salaheddin Mustafa, who helped lead the grassroots Muslim effort to make Pascrell the Democratic nominee in 2012, recalls inviting Pascrell to an office on nearby Route 46 to fill him in on their plans to organize support by going town by town in the new district.

“We led, he followed,” said Mustafa, who is also outreach director for the Islamic Center of Passaic County.

Pascrell trounced Rothman in the primary, capturing 61 percent of the vote. The Record newspaper reported that year that Pascrell won 90 percent of the vote in the new district’s six Passaic County towns — including Paterson, which has the second largest Arab American community in the country, according to the city.

But that level of support seems unattainable following Israel’s invasion of Gaza and a death toll that hits close to home. More than 1,000 Palestinians with relatives in North Jersey have been killed in the conflict, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ New Jersey chapter. The council’s vice chair, Ali Aljarrah, was one of the protesters at the fundraiser. He said Pascrell’s response since Oct. 7 contrasts with the person the Arab American community helped reelect.

“He was the guy. He was essentially like our T.E. Lawrence in Congress,” he said, referring to the British diplomat known as Lawrence of Arabia. “That’s why Arabs got involved. They saw Steve Rothman in 2012 as this pro-Zionist candidate, and you have a lot of Arabs who live in the district who just did not want someone who would toe the party line. …. That’s why they went out and got Pascrell elected.”

Now, he said, Pascrell is the one toeing the party line.

Muslim residents say they may have found someone more aligned with them in Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh, a former Pascrell communications assistant. Sayegh is of Syrian and Lebanese descent, speaks Arabic and has been among the few politicians in New Jersey to vocally back a cease-fire. He declined to comment on speculation he will run for Pascrell’s seat. But he told the Paterson Press, after it reported his recent political donations to organizations in Bergen and Hudson county towns that make up the 9th district, that "if you have ambition and ability, you shouldn't restrict your opportunities."

Any challenger would face difficulties against Pascrell. He has strong organizational support and, despite its large Arab population, the 9th district is also dominated by heavily Jewish towns in neighboring Bergen County. But the frustrations and disappointments with Pascrell extend beyond the Arab American community to younger, more liberal and even some Jewish voters in the district, Mustafa said. The goal is to build a political infrastructure for the long term “so that our community doesn’t have to deal with charlatans like Congressman Pascrell,” he said.

“It’s not the community that he knew on October 6,” Mustafa said. “It’s a much more unified community. It’s a much more demanding community. It's a community that’s not going to allow people like Pascrell to use us for his own personal gain and abandon us like he’s doing now.”

Opinion: Not far from Bethlehem, the plight of pregnant women in Gaza evokes a biblical story

Catherine Baker and Shahd Safi
Fri, December 22, 2023

In Bethlehem, Occupied West Bank, the Lutheran Church decided that its Christmas nativity scene this year would be different by placing the symbolic Baby Jesus in a manger of rubble and destruction to reflect the reality of Palestinian children living and being born today. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)


Sara, 24, is four months pregnant with her third child and living with at least 50 other people in a house in Gaza. This location is supposedly in a safe area — in Rafah, on the border with Egypt. But this city too is being bombed now.

This young woman’s plight, and that of the estimated 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, evokes the nativity story depicted in Christmas pageants at churches around the world this time of year. Some 5,500 Gazan women are expected to give birth during Advent.

Sara is from Al Shuja’iya, a neighborhood of Gaza City less than 50 miles southwest of Bethlehem. She and her family complied with Israeli orders to evacuate to the southern part of the Gaza Strip, traveling by car and foot, and also by donkey cart as if it were Biblical times. They had to pick their way over rubble-strewn roads congested with more than 1 million other exhausted and frightened travelers.


Read more: Opinion: I am nine months pregnant and living in Gaza. Will my baby first hear my voice or bombs?

When Sara’s family left their home, they first found refuge at her parents’ house, but were forced by the chaos to move another six times, several of them during intense bombardment. Their current location has no electricity, running water or heat and only an open fire for cooking. With the intensifying combat, the situation is extremely stressful, which increases risk for miscarriage, preterm labor and a low-birth-weight infant.

In the Gospel story, once Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem from Nazareth, they could find nowhere to stay until an innkeeper offered them the use of his stable. For many pregnant women in Gaza, there is literally “no room at the inn.” They are giving birth in cars and on the street.

For now, Sara is considered one of the lucky ones. She’s had a single maternal care visit so far, at the Al-Helal Emirati maternity hospital in Rafah. It was crowded with about 50 other women seeking attention, but she was able to meet with a doctor, who gave her a bottle of prescription vitamins. Her family has been able to find food for her to eat — oranges, cucumber, tomatoes, nuts and canned food — but the market shelves are increasingly depleted and prices have skyrocketed.

Read more: Opinion: Here's what the mass violence in Gaza looks like to a scholar of genocide

It’s unclear where Sara will be in May when her baby is due and whether bombs will still be falling. For women giving birth in Gaza this Advent, the odds are narrow that they can obtain a hospital bed, since so many healthcare facilities are in shambles. Many will give birth in Al-Mawasi, a narrow patch along the coast that Israel designated as a safe zone — barren land with a chaotically improvised tent camp and no infrastructure.

Regardless of where these women are, they are likely to give birth in an unsafe environment, putting them at risk for infection, uncontrolled hemorrhage and damage to their reproductive systems. Lack of postnatal care increases the risk of brain damage and death for the baby, while the hostile environment can interfere with the mother-infant bond.

In well-loved hymns passed down through the generations, the night of Jesus’ birth was silent, and the sky was filled with brightly shining stars, guiding shepherds and the three wise men to the manger in Bethlehem.

Read more: Opinion: Gaza's health system has collapsed, multiplying the war's toll on children

In Gaza, the night is not silent. The bombs and shelling continue unabated, underscored by the buzzing of drones. The sky is bright with explosions, but toxic smoke obscures the stars. Should wise people such as international human rights monitors wish to check on the conditions of new mothers, they cannot, because Israel has denied them entry. Journalists cannot conduct interviews with such women, either, because they’re forbidden to be in Gaza unless embedded with Israel’s army. Shepherds will not be anywhere near, as they have had to abandon their flocks.

Today, Gazan families are pressed against Egypt’s border. It’s possible Sara and her family could be forced into exile in the Sinai Desert. But she fervently hopes a cease-fire will be called before a mass exodus of Palestinians could happen.

For Sara, her faith in God’s will remains unshakable: “I trust he will always be there for me.”

In this moment of war, may heavenly peace come for the newborns of Gaza.

Catherine Baker is senior editor for We Are Not Numbers, a nonprofit project that trains young Palestinians to share their personal stories in English. Shahd Safi is a Gaza-based journalist who trained with WANN.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.


‘We are mourning’: This Christmas, Palestinian Christians pray for Gaza

Fatima Abdulkarim
Thu, December 21, 2023 



Mary and Marwan, a Palestinian Christian couple living in the West Bank, will not be attending Christmas festivities in Bethlehem next week. Like their co-religionists, they will focus their attention on Gaza.

They are consumed by the situation of brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, uncles and aunts and cousins, all currently trapped at the Roman Catholic Church in Gaza City.

The mood across the occupied territories is grim. In place of the towering evergreen that traditionally adorns Manger Square at the entrance of the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem residents have erected instead a monumental figure of the flight of Jesus and the Virgin Mary to Egypt, evoking the biblical escape from King Herod’s violence.

“We are mourning; we can’t celebrate while witnessing the killing and burning of children in our homeland,” says Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Hanania, “so we have decided to cancel all Christmas celebrations this year.”

In the Ramallah apartment where Marwan and Mary live, the usual hymns and carols go unsung. Instead, solemn prayers echo as they pray that their relatives and the rest of Gaza are delivered from danger. Poor communications mean that it has been several days since they last heard from them.

“I’m out of words. I can’t find it in myself to celebrate,” says Marwan, a 54-year-old computer engineer and musician. He and his wife preferred not to use their full names out of fear for their family’s safety in Gaza.

Gone are their traditional Christmas tree and decorations. Small sculptures of the Virgin Mary and a few red ribbons are scattered on side tables in their living room, alongside plastic green wreaths. But there are no new clothes, no gifts, and no colorful wrapped candies, which Mary says are “tasteless this year.”

She opens a photo album of the last Christmas she spent in Gaza years ago with a wistful gaze. The fear and helplessness, she says, is overwhelming.

“We are only turning to prayers; we pray for the war to end, for our people to be safe, to relive our glory days in Gaza, Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem and all of Palestine,” she says.

This Christmas season is one of particular uncertainty and anxiety for Palestinian Christians, especially in Gaza, where they number around 1,000.

Nearly all Gaza Christians are concentrated in Gaza City, the epicenter of Israel’s military offensive in northern Gaza, and have been holed up for over two months within the walls of the Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church for safety. Their relatives and fellow Christians across the West Bank remain anxious about their future, praying in somber church services for good news from Gaza.

Provisions are running low in the besieged Roman Catholic Church compound, and the plight intensifies as food, water, and medicine become scarce.

Last Saturday, according to reports confirmed by the Roman Catholic Patriarchate, two women sheltering in the Gaza City Catholic compound were shot dead by an Israeli sniper.

This incident only added to Mary and Marwan’s fears.

“Most of my family members are musicians. We used to love this season, which was a chance to visit Bethlehem, visit friends and family for long nights of playing music and being together,” says Marwan. “This year, I’m only with the memories of my besieged loved ones.”

Mary insists that their decision to abstain from festivities, like those of many Christians across the West Bank and Jerusalem, is not a renunciation of joy, but a testament to “seeking truth and justice in the most difficult war ever lived by Palestinians.”

“I believe in the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity,” she says. “So through simple gestures and the sincerity of our prayers, we might find the miracle that allows us to celebrate their survival and leave the war a distant memory.”

“Christians in Gaza are an integral part of the Palestinian community; there is no difference” among Muslims and Christians, Mayor Hanania said in a phone interview, noting that Israeli bombs have hit mosques and church compounds alike. “We are united in pain. We are united under the occupation.”

The Rev. Fadi Diab, rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ramallah, oversees Baptist churches in Palestine. Mr. Diab says his hope is that prayers this Christmas season will bring the war to an end.

“The once-revered sanctuaries, which stood as symbols of solace and communal strength, now bear the scars of conflict,” he says. “We pray they will return to being beacons of hope and peace.”

csmonitor.com

The UN says more than 1 in 4 people in Gaza are starving because of war

NAJIB JOBAIN, JACK JEFFERY and COLLEEN BARRY
Updated Thu, December 21, 2023 at 9:47 PM MST·7 min read
1.2k



1 / 17
APTOPIX Israel Palestinians
Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. International aid agencies say Gaza is suffering from shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies as a result of the two and a half month war between Israel and Hamas.

 (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — More than half a million people in Gaza — a quarter of the population — are starving, according to a report Thursday by the United Nations and other agencies, highlighting the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's bombardment and siege on the territory in response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.

The extent of the population's hunger eclipsed even the near-famines in Afghanistan and Yemen of recent years, according to figures in the report. The report warned that the risk of famine is “increasing each day,” blaming the hunger on insufficient aid entering Gaza.

“It doesn’t get any worse,’’ said Arif Husain, chief economist for the U.N.’s World Food Program. “I have never seen something at the scale that is happening in Gaza. And at this speed.”

Israel says it is in the final stages of clearing out Hamas militants from northern Gaza, but that months of fighting lie ahead in the south.

The war sparked by Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 rampage and hostage-taking in Israel has killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians. Some 1.9 million Gaza residents — more than 80% of the population — have been driven from their homes, and many of them are crammed into U.N. shelters.

The war has also pushed Gaza’s health sector into collapse. Only nine of its 36 health facilities are still partially functioning, all located in the south, according to the World Health Organization. On Thursday, WHO relief workers reported “unbearable” scenes in two hospitals they visited in northern Gaza: Bedridden patients with untreated wounds crying out for water, the few remaining doctors and nurses having no supplies, and bodies being lined up in the courtyard.

Bombardment and fighting continued Thursday, and internet and communications that had been knocked out for several days gradually began to return across the territory.

U.N. Security Council members again delayed a vote on a now-watered down Arab-sponsored resolution for a halt in combat to allow for increased aid deliveries. A vote, initially set for Monday, has been delayed each day since then. The United States now supports the resolution, but other council members said that because of the significant changes, they needed to consult their capitals before a vote, which is now expected on Friday.

Other countries support a stronger text in the resolution that would include the now-eliminated call for the urgent suspension of hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

Instead, the wording now calls “for urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.” The steps are not defined, but diplomats said, if adopted, this would mark the council’s first reference to a cessation of hostilities.

Thursday’s report from the U.N. on the hunger in Gaza underscored the failure of weeks of U.S. efforts to ensure greater aid reaches Palestinians.

At the start of the war, Israel stopped all deliveries of food, water, medicine and fuel into the territory. After U.S. pressure, it allowed a trickle of aid in through Egypt. But U.N. agencies say only 10% of Gaza's food needs has been entering for weeks.

This week, Israel began allowing aid to enter Gaza through its Kerem Shalom crossing, which boosted the number of trucks entering from around 100 a day to around 190 on Wednesday, according to the U.N. But an Israeli strike Thursday morning hit the Palestinian side of the crossing, forcing the U.N. to stop its pickups of aid there, according to Juliette Touma, spokesperson of UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.

At least four staff members at the crossing were killed, a nearby hospital reported. The Israeli military said it struck militants in the area.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Israel has been working to increase its inspection of aid trucks to 300 or 400 a day, and blamed the U.N. for failures in delivery. The amount of aid could triple “if the U.N., instead of complaining all day, would do its job,” he said, without elaborating on what more the U.N. should be doing.

Egypt's Rafah crossing has limited capacity for trucks to cross. U.N. officials say delivery of aid within much of Gaza has become difficult or impossible because of fighting, and more than 130 U.N. personnel have been killed.

The report released Thursday by 23 U.N. and nongovernmental agencies found that the entire population in Gaza is in food crisis, with 576,600 at catastrophic or starvation levels. “It is a situation where pretty much everybody in Gaza is hungry," Husain, the World Food Program economist, said.

“People are very, very close to large outbreaks of disease because their immune systems have become so weak because they don’t have enough nourishment,” he said.

Hundreds of people lined up Thursday at a soup kitchen in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, waving cups and pots as they waited for soup to be served from huge vats hanging over wood fires. Rafah, by the Egypt border, is one of the few places that receives regular aid deliveries.

Aya Barbakh, who's been displaced by the war, said she comes every day for food.

“Let us be in comfort like other people. We see people dying every day, and we want to die like them. We have been insulted and humiliated,” she said.

Mahmoud al-Qishawi, with the American charity Pious Projects that runs the kitchen, said there’s no fuel to cook with, so they have to search around the neighborhood for wood to burn. “There’s a huge number of families and we don’t have food that is enough for them.”

Israel has vowed to continue the offensive until it destroys Hamas’ military capabilities and returns scores of hostages captured by Palestinian militants during their Oct. 7 rampage. Hamas and other militants killed some 1,200 people that day, mostly civilians, and captured around 240 others.

Hamas fired a barrage of rockets at central Israel Thursday, showing its military capabilities remain formidable. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The United States has continued to support Israel’s campaign while also urging greater efforts to protect civilians. The U.S. wants Israel to shift to more targeted operations aimed at Hamas leaders and the group's tunnel network.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Tuesday the death toll since the start of the war had risen to more than 19,600. It does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.

On Wednesday, the WHO delivered supplies to Ahli and Shifa hospitals in northern Gaza, where Israeli troops have demolished vast swaths of the city while fighting Hamas militants.

Israeli forces raided a series of health facilities in the north in recent weeks, detaining men for interrogation and expelling others. On Thursday, troops stormed the Palestinian Red Crescent's ambulance center in the Jabaliya refugee camp, taking away paramedics and ambulance crews, the group said.

In some health facilities, patients who are unable to be moved remain, along with a skeleton staff who can do little beyond first aid, according to U.N. and health officials.

Ahli Hospital is “a place where people are waiting to die,” said Sean Casey, a member of the WHO team that visited the two hospitals Wednesday. Five remaining doctors and five nurses along with around 80 patients remain in Ahli, he said.

All of the hospital buildings are damaged except two, where patients are now kept: the orthopedics ward and a church on the grounds, he said, where “patients were crying out in pain, but were also crying out for us to give them water."

Israel’s military says 137 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza ground offensive. Israel says it has killed some 7,000 militants, without providing evidence. It blames the high number civilian deaths in Gaza on Hamas, saying it uses them as human shields when it fights in residential areas.

___

Jeffery reported from Cairo, Barry from Milan, Italy. Associated Press writers Lee Keath in Cairo, Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

___

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

‘Not seen since Vietnam’: Israel dropped hundreds of 2,000-pound bombs on Gaza, analysis shows

Tamara Qiblawi, Allegra Goodwin, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Nima Elbagir | Visuals by Renée Rigdon, Alex Newman and Ian Berry | Video by Barbara Arvanitidis, Mark Baron and Alex Platt

Fri, December 22, 2023 

In the first month of its war in Gaza, Israel dropped hundreds of massive bombs, many of them capable of killing or wounding people more than 1,000 feet away, analysis by CNN and artificial intelligence company Synthetaic suggests.

Satellite imagery from those early days of the war reveals more than 500 impact craters over 12 meters (40 feet) in diameter, consistent with those left behind by 2,000-pound bombs. Those are four times heavier than the largest bombs the United States dropped on ISIS in Mosul, Iraq, during the war against the extremist group there.

Weapons and warfare experts blame the extensive use of heavy munitions such as the 2,000-pound bomb for the soaring death toll. The population of Gaza is packed together much more tightly than almost anywhere else on earth, so the use of such heavy munitions has a profound effect.

“The use of 2,000-pound bombs in an area as densely populated as Gaza means it will take decades for communities to recover,” said John Chappell, advocacy and legal fellow at CIVIC, a DC-based group focused on minimizing civilian harm in conflict.

Israel has come under pressure internationally over the scale of the devastation in Gaza, with even staunch ally US President Joe Biden accusing Israel of “indiscriminate bombing” of the coastal strip.

Israeli officials have argued that its heavy munitions are necessary to eliminating Hamas, whose fighters killed more than 1,200 people and took more than 240 hostages on October 7. They also claim that Israel is doing all it can to minimize civilian casualties.

“In response to Hamas’ barbaric attacks, the IDF is operating to dismantle Hamas’ military and administrative capabilities,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement in response to CNN’s reporting. “In stark contrast to Hamas’ intentional attacks on Israeli men, women and children, the IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.”

Hamas relies on a sprawling tunnel network that is believed to crisscross the Gaza Strip. Proponents of Israel’s campaign in Gaza argue that the heavy munitions act as bunker busters, helping to destroy Hamas’ underground infrastructure.

But 2,000-pound bombs are normally used sparingly by Western militaries, experts say, because of their potential impact on densely populated areas like Gaza. International humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate bombing.

Marc Garlasco a former US defense intelligence analyst and former UN war crimes investigator, said the density of Israel’s first month of bombardment in Gaza had “not been seen since Vietnam.”

Garlasco, now a military adviser at PAX, a Dutch non-governmental organization that advocates for peace, reviewed all the incidents analyzed in this report for CNN.

“You’d have to go back to the Vietnam war to make a comparison,” said Garlasco. “Even in both Iraq wars it was never that dense.”

The heavy munitions, mostly manufactured by the US, can cause high casualty events and can have a lethal fragmentation radius – an area of exposure to injury or death around the target – of up to 365 meters (about 1,198 feet), or the equivalent of 58 soccer fields in area.

Weapons and warfare experts blame the extensive use of heavy weaponry, such as the 2,000-pound bomb for the soaring death toll. According to authorities in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, about 20,000 people have been killed since October 7.

Most of the dead are women and children, according to those figures.

CNN partnered with US AI company Synthetaic which used Rapid Automatic Image Categorization (RAIC) to detect craters, smoke plumes and damaged buildings in tasked satellite imagery over the Gaza Strip. The findings were manually reviewed by a member of Synthetaic, as well as by CNN journalists.

CNN and Synthetaic’s findings “reveal and emphasize the sheer intensity of the bombardment over a very short period of time,” according to Annie Shiel, US advocacy director at CIVIC.

A man sits on debris as Palestinians conduct a search and rescue operation in Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza City, on November 1. - Ali Jadallah/Anadolu/Getty Images
A high-intensity offensive

For over two months, Israel has conducted a high-intensity war in Gaza, combining heavy aerial bombardment with relentless rounds of artillery fire, as well as a ground invasion that began on October 27.

The operation has wrought devastation that stretches across swathes of the besieged enclave, satellite imagery and video show.

“In two months, we’ve had about the level of strikes in this tiny little area in Gaza as what we saw in Mosul and Raqqa combined,” said Larry Lewis, research director at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) and formerly the US State Department’s senior adviser on civilian harm, referring to US-led coalition operations against two ISIS strongholds. “It is an incredible amount of strikes, period-wise.”

The US dropped a 2,000-pound bomb only once during its fight against ISIS – the most recent Western war on a militant group in the Middle East. It fell on the so-called caliphate’s self-declared capital of Raqqa in Syria.

On November 6 – the final day of CNN and Synthetaic’s dataset – the death toll in Gaza surpassed 10,000 people, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah, citing authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Later that week, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf – the most senior American diplomat on the Middle East – said the death toll could be “even higher.”

“In this period of conflict and the conditions of war, it is very difficult for any of us to assess what the rate of casualties are,” said Leaf during a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “We think they’re very high, frankly. It could be even higher than are being cited.”

Last week, US intelligence sources told CNN that 40-45% of the 29,000 air-to-surface munitions dropped on Gaza by then were so-called dumb bombs, unguided munitions that can pose a greater threat to civilians, especially in densely populated territories like Gaza.

Some of these are likely to be the 2,000-pound bombs detected in the satellite imaging of the craters. Israel has a large arsenal of the big bombs, known as MK-84s. When a GPS-guided kit is attached to the MK-84, the bomb becomes known as a GBU-31.

According to two people familiar with the matter, the US has provided Israel with more than 5,400 MK-84s since October 7.

“The devastation that we’ve seen for communities in Gaza is unfortunately, co-signed by the United States,” said CIVIC’s Chappell. “Too much of it is carried out by bombs that were made in the United States.”

Extensive big bomb attacks around Gaza City

The 2,000-pound bombs feature prominently in attacks on the perimeter of Gaza City, the epicenter of the Israeli military operation in October and much of November.

Israel’s ground forces eventually laid siege to the city in early November. The bombing pattern seen in the satellite images suggests that the heavy bombardment around Gaza City may have paved a path to its encirclement by Israeli troops.

In northern Gaza’s Jabalya refugee camp, satellite images showed two large craters consistent with Israel’s October 31 bombing, decried by the UN as a “disproportionate attack that could amount to war crimes.” It claimed over 100 lives, according to civilian harm watchdog Airwars, and caused catastrophic damage in the densely populated area.

One Al Jazeera employee lost 19 members of his family in the bombing, which Israel claimed targeted Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari, killing him and destroying his base.

The two craters left behind by the attack, which experts described as “earthquake-like” in its impact, were 24 meters (nearly 79 feet) wide and 13 meters (nearly 43 feet) wide respectively, according to satellite imagery.

Former State Department adviser Lewis said the October 31 Jabalya strike was “something we would never see the US doing.”

“It certainly appears that (Israel’s) tolerance for civilian harm compared to expected operational benefits is significantly different than what we would accept as the US,” Lewis said.

A large crater consistent with a 2,000-pound bomb is seen on the coastal highway that runs through the Al Shati’, or Beach camp. In a neighborhood just north of the camp, 14 craters indicating 2,000-pound bombs appear in one square kilometer.

The Beach camp is one of the first areas in Gaza where Israeli ground troops established a firm foothold. Satellite images of the refugee camp from November 6 showed it to have been all but leveled by bombardment.

“Suddenly, we heard two airstrikes. It was loud. It felt like an earthquake. We saw stones flying everywhere,” said one man to a CNN stringer in the immediate aftermath of an apparent large bomb attack on the Beach camp on November 6. “We came here to see 10 houses struck.”

The lethal fragmentation zone

The 2,000-pound bomb’s large 365-meter (about 1,198-ft) lethal fragmentation radius is evident in many videos reviewed by CNN, where several buildings are seen to have been flattened in a single strike.

On October 24, Israel struck a location less than 100 meters (about 328 ft) away from Wafa Hospital. In an interview with al-Jazeera almost immediately after the strike, the hospital’s director, Fouad Najm, said the attack had “terrified the patients and medics.” The hospital has since gone out of service because of sustained nearby strikes and fuel outages.

It is unclear whether the October 24 blast caused significant damage to the hospital.

CNN geolocated video of the blast and matched it to 12-meter and 15-meter craters, consistent with 2,000-pound bombs, in satellite imagery.

“Clearly the hospital is within the lethal fragmentation range of a 2,000-pound bomb. It would likely have caused damage,” said PAX’s Garlasco.

In one area near Beach camp, seven schools were within the lethal fragmentation zone of at least five craters. Satellite imagery captured on November 6 showed wide-scale destruction in the area. Those satellite images also showed Israeli armored vehicles in and around the schools.

“When you use a weapon so close to a civilian building, it is impossible to remove the chance of damage from the weapon. It is going to get hit by something,” said Garlasco.

On the sixth day of its offensive, the Israeli Air Force said in a tweet that it had dropped 6,000 munitions since the start of the war, averaging 1,000 bombs a day. On December 10, Israel’s military said that it had attacked more than 22,000 targets in Gaza.

CNN’s Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman and Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.

Israel Dropped Bombs on Zones It Said Were Safe for Gazans: NYT

Alex Nguyen
Fri, December 22, 2023

Jack Guez/AFP via Getty

During the first six weeks of its war in Gaza, Israel dropped 2,000-pound explosives, including U.S.-made MK-84 bombs, “at least 200 times” on locations in southern Gaza it said were safe for civilians, according to a visual investigation by The New York Times. Weapons experts say these large bombs are no longer used by the U.S. military in densely populated areas, the Times reported. The study applied artificial intelligence technology to review satellite images of southern Gaza and look for impact craters. When the Times raised concerns about bombings in the region to an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson, they said the military wing was focused on eliminating Hamas and insisted that “questions of this kind will be looked into at a later stage.” They added that the IDF “takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.” Although the Pentagon has sent Israel more small bombs it deems as more fit for Israel’s war effort, the Times reported that the U.S. has sent over 5,000 MK-84 bombs to the country since October.

Read it at The New York Times


AI discovered satellite images of craters in Gaza, evidence that Israel is bombing civilian areas it said would be safe: New York Times

Paul Squire
Fri, December 22, 2023 


Israel warned Gazans to head south to safety when the war against Hamas broke out.


Israeli forces have since bombed civilian areas in south Gaza, a New York Times investigation found.


The Times' report used AI tools to identify satellite images of craters likely caused by bombs.

A New York Times investigation has revealed Israeli military forces have used massive 2,000-pound bombs to attack southern Gaza — the same area Israel assured Gazan civilians would be safe.

The report from the Times' Visual Investigations team used artificial intelligence tools to study satellite imagery of south Gaza.

The New York Times trained the AI to recognize signs of craters that could have been caused by bombs.

The tool found 1,600 possible bomb craters, according to the Times investigation. Times reporters then manually combed through each possible match, weeding out false positives like water towers or craters left from previous conflicts.

The investigation found evidence that Israel bombed the area it said would be safe for civilians with devastating 2,000-pound bombs at least 200 times.

Business Insider's Jake Epstein previously reported that the 2,000-pound bombs (which Israeli forces used on a "routine basis" at the beginning of the war, according to the Times) are accurate, but their explosive power creates an "extreme" area of effect that poses a risk to civilians.

"When you're talking about a densely populated area like Gaza, there's going to be certain concerns about collateral effects, particularly widespread collateral effects," Marc Garlasco, a former UN war-crimes investigator, told BI.

Garlasco said the pressure from the bomb's blast can kill people as far as 100 feet away, and lethal shards of shrapnel can be flung up to 1,200 feet.
Israel's allies are questioning its methods

Israel has defended its bombing campaign in Gaza, saying it is focused on wiping out Hamas and is taking steps to minimize civilian casualties.

Since ground forces have moved into Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces have shared videos and photos it claims are proof that Hamas is using civilian areas to hide armaments and mask its movements.

"Hamas exploited its own people as shields to conceal their terrorist activity," the IDF wrote on Thursday.

But even Israel's allies are expressing concern over the thousands of lives lost in Gaza since Hamas launched deadly terror attacks on Israel on October 7.

The Biden administration has continued sending bombs to Israel but is now pushing back on Israel's conduct.

During his visit to Israel this week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorism but urged Israel to make more "concerted efforts to protect civilians and ensure humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza."

The war — and the mounting civilian casualties in Gaza — have ripped open divisions among President Joe Biden's Democratic base. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll suggested that young voters are furious with Biden's response to the war and are even considering voting for GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, the UK's Foreign Secretary David Cameron pushed Israel to do more to minimize civilian deaths.

"We want to see a much more surgical, clinical, and targeted approach when it comes to dealing with Hamas," Cameron said.

Gaza death toll surpasses 20,000, health officials say

Lauren Irwin
Fri, December 22, 2023



More than 20,000 people have been killed in Hamas-run Gaza during Israel’s war against the militant group, health officials said Friday.

The death toll in Gaza amounts to nearly 1 percent of the prewar population and is just one measure of how the conflict has devastated the territory, The Associated Press noted. The conflict has displaced nearly 85 percent of Gaza’s population, and many buildings have been demolished.

The war in the Middle East began Oct. 7 after Hamas entered Israel in a surprise attack, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel has vowed to avenge the attack and has relented only slightly in the nearly three months since the onset of the war.

A senior Biden administration official said in early November the death toll was likely far higher than what was reported because of the difficulty in assessing the rate of casualties while the war was ongoing

Israel’s military is expanding its ground campaign, raiding one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza on Tuesday and launching more airstrikes in the south. Just a handful of employees at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City were left to treat wounded patients, without running water or electricity.

More than half a million people in Gaza, which is a quarter of the population, are starving, the AP recently reported. According to the World Food Program, 9 out of 10 Palestinians are eating less than one meal per day. The continued Israeli attacks, both by air and ground, are posing “major challenges” for humanitarian crews trying to deliver aid and for civilians who are searching for food.

Top U.S. officials have discussed with Israeli officials a transition to more targeted and “surgical operations” in Gaza, appearing to nudge the country to lessen the civilian casualties of its war against Hamas. There is no established timeframe for Israel to wind down its military campaign, but the Biden administration has pushed for efforts as early as January.


Key takeaways from AP report on US-funded projects in Gaza that were damaged or destroyed

The Associated Press
Thu, December 21, 2023 

This combination of satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies shows the Gaza Sports Club on Oct. 31, 2023 and on Nov. 1, after it was damaged. Less than a year before a Hamas attack out of Gaza sparked a war, one of the oldest and largest sports complexes in the Palestinian territories got a much-needed overhaul: Brand new basketball, volleyball and tennis courts, a soccer field, a running track and, for the first time, accessible bathrooms. It was a $519,000 upgrade, paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

 (Maxar Technologies via AP)More


Since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following a deadly Hamas attack on Oct. 7, tens of thousands of buildings have been destroyed. Although most major U.S.-funded infrastructure in Gaza has been spared, an AP analysis of satellite imagery has found at least five sites built or expanded with U.S. taxpayer funds appear to have been damaged. Meanwhile, the U.S. government is sending billions of dollars to bolster the Israeli military as it continues its bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

1. The U.S. shares coordinates of U.S.-funded infrastructure with Israeli officials.

According to past USAID mission directors for Gaza and the West Bank, USAID works closely with Israeli officials to ensure that U.S.-funded infrastructure is spared during conflicts. Dave Harden, who served as USAID mission director from 2013 to 2016, said he worked “extremely closely” with the Israeli officials. “I would give them the coordinates and tell them not to hit it,” he said.

2. Despite coordination, some U.S.-funded buildings in Gaza have been damaged in the Israel-Hamas war

The Associated Press examined Maxar satellite imagery from before and after the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7 and identified at least five sites built or expanded using taxpayer funds that appear to have been damaged. These sites include a sports complex, a school, a cultural center and two centers for children with disabilities. AP cannot determine the exact cause of the damage. The Israeli Defense Forces would not comment on damage to U.S.-supported structures or provide any information about its targets. Israel blames Hamas for the damage, saying the group uses Gaza’s civilian infrastructure as cover to stage attacks, hide its fighters and weapons and build tunnels underground. It also says that hundreds of misfired Hamas rockets aimed at Israel have instead landed inside Gaza. The AP was unable to reach Palestinian officials in Gaza due to repeated communications disruptions.

3. The U.S. has spent more than $7 billion in development and humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza since establishing a U.S. Agency for International Development Mission 30 years ago.

American taxpayers have funded clean drinking water, new roads, hospital and school improvements and much more since establishing a USAID mission in the Palestinian territories in 1994. Every project the U.S. builds in Gaza and the West Bank is approved by Israeli officials. Over the years, U.S.-supported projects are destroyed during conflicts and then rebuilt with U.S. funds, an effort that is considered both humanitarian and a political message.