22 January: Palestinian Man in Gaza Killed by Israeli Airstrike

Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed Mahmoud al-Abed Nabbahin, 24, was killed on Tuesday by Israeli mortar shells, injuring four others. The attack reportedly shelled eastern al-Breij near the return camps.

23 January: World Health Organisation Calls Emergency in Gaza Fuel Crisis

Gerald Rockenschaub, Head of the WHO Office for the West Bank and Gaza, said, ‘acute fuel shortages are rapidly exhausting the last coping capacities of the health system in Gaza, which is struggling with chronic shortages of pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and electricity’.

All 14 of Gaza’s hospitals are in crisis from electricity shortages caused by Israel’s restriction on fuel and energy supply to the besieged enclave.
Whilst elective surgeries have been postponed, doctors and nurses are warning of ‘imminent drastic service cuts’ that would close wards and hospitals. According to Al-Rai News Agency some 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of losing their eyesight due to the crisis facing the hospitals.

23 January: Activists Block Newly Opened ‘Apartheid Road’ in West Bank

Palestinian activists managed to temporarily block the newly opened ‘apartheid road’, the eastern ring road around Jerusalem. It is reported two were arrested and four suffered injuries from Israeli forces.

Where the road connects Jewish settlers to Jerusalem, it diverts Palestinians away to an underpass avoiding Jerusalem, heading towards Ramallah and Bethlehem. Palestinians are required to get travel permits to visit Jerusalem which are notoriously difficult to obtain. Around 700,000 Jewish-Israeli settlers have colonised the occupied territories in contravention of international law.

23 January: Israeli Government Attacks the Guardian

The Guardian’s editorial piece titled ‘The Guardian view on Israel’s democracy: killing with impunity, lying without consequence?’ criticised Israel’s regime of violence over Palestinians.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon responded to the piece saying ‘The Guardian has decided to engage in an exercise of cheap moralizing, deliberately ignoring Palestinian terror and violence.’ Over 150 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces since the beginning of the Great Return March which began March 2018, protesting the illegal siege of Gaza.

Read more: The Canary

24 January: Ireland’s Lower House Passes Bill Banning Settlement Goods

Having passed the upper house of Irish parliament in December, the bill which bans selling goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements in Ireland passed the Dail (lower house) on Thursday. With a clear majority of 78-45, the bill still is still due to be reviewed and amended further before officially ratified into Irish law. This would make Ireland the first EU country to criminalise commercial activity in the settlements.

Read more: Al Jazeera

24 January: Israeli Student Charged with Manslaughter for Killing Palestinian with Stone

An unnamed 16-year-old student from the Pri Haaretz religious seminary in the Rechelim settlement of the occupied West Bank was charged with man slaughter this week. Aisha al-Rawbi, 47 was killed after being struck by a 2kg stone whilst travelling in a car with her husband and daughter on October 12.

Al-Rawbi’s husband Yacoub told AFP news agency ‘The Israeli police and intelligence both know who hit us leading to my wife’s death but they charged one person only…when they hit our car with stones they were more than four people’.

Read more: Al Jazeera

24 January: Jewish Settlers and Israeli Security Storm Dome of Rock

A video shows Jewish settlers accompanied by Israeli security storming through the Dome of the Rock, disrupting women’s prayers. According to the Islamic Endowment Department, Firas al-Dibs, 41 settlers and 85 Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by entering the Moroccan Gate.

Read more: Palestine Chronicle 

25 January: Palestinian Film ‘Gaza’ Premiers This Year’s Sundance Festival

The festival, which showcases new works of filmmakers from all over the world, will this year feature Andrew McConnell’s first film ‘Gaza’. Set through the eyes of 17-year-old Karma Khaial, this work is set to make global attention.

Read more: Harper’s Bazaar

25 January: Angela Davis Re-invited to Accept Human Rights Award

Award winning author and activist Angela Davis has had her invitation reinstated to receive the 2018 Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI).

The institution said it had ‘learned from its mistakes’ after previously claiming Davis did not comply with all the requirements of the award. Davis had suspected the retracting of the prize was associated with her longstanding commitments towards the Palestinian cause and pro-BDS stance.

Read more: Middle East Eye

25 January: UK Band the Tuts Turn Down Eurovision Offer Refusing to Play in Israel

The London-born pop-punk band Tweeted ‘So, we got asked to enter EUROVISION 2019 to represent the UK but it’s being held in ISRAEL so that’s a NO from us!’

This year’s Eurovision is to be held in Israel but the competition faces an international call to boycott the show in defiance of normalising Israeli colonisation and apartheid.

Read more: The Metro