The following is from the news roundup on 29 August. Watch the entire report here.

Israel has killed at least 475 Palestinians and injured nearly 2,200 between 20 August and 27 August, according to official records from the health ministry in Gaza.

The Israeli army has continued to destroy entire blocks in Gaza City and other areas in northern Gaza in relentless bombing and demolition operations across the south, east, and north of the city, advancing from three axes towards the city’s center in a campaign of comprehensive destruction and systematic erasure, according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.

This escalation “marks a new phase of the genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, ongoing for 23 months,” Euro-Med says.

“Over one million people are now trapped in less than 30 percent of Gaza City, all facing the threat of forced displacement to the south under a plan designed to erase the city, inflict systematic destruction, and establish full military control.”

Israel has been using bomb-carrying drones, as well as remote-controlled armored vehicles packed with tons of explosives, to obliterate residential buildings and homes.

Footage of a lethal quadcopter drone was recorded by civil defense worker Mahmoud Salem, east of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City.

Euro-Med added, “The continued excessive intensity of Israeli attacks, combined with the limited capacity and accessibility of the few functioning hospitals and the absence of basic civil defense capabilities and field coverage, makes accurate documentation of casualties impossible.”

Alam Hijazy filmed footage of the complete destruction of al-Istijaba Mosque in al-Sabra neighborhood, one of the most crowded areas in southern Gaza City.

Attacks this week were carried out on the tents of displaced Palestinian families, including in the al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza.

An attack on Tuesday, 26 August, on tent shelters in al-Mawasi killed a young girl, Jouri Lafi.

Rescuers and reporters targeted in bombing of Nasser Medical Complex

On Monday, 25 August, at about 10am, Israel bombed the Nasser Medical Complex in a so-called double-tap strike, killing at least 22 people, including rescue workers and five journalists.

The first strike targeted the fourth floor of the emergency building, killing Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri and at least one other civilian.

As rescue workers searched for survivors and as journalists documented the aftermath of al-Masri’s assassination, Israel targeted the area again, killing and wounding the civil defense workers and four other journalists.

The attack was captured live on video by journalists filming across the street.

Civil defense firefighter Abdullah al-Shaer and other civilians were also killed. At least 10 others, including journalists and civil defense workers, were injured.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor’s field team reported “seeing an Israeli surveillance drone flying at low altitude over Nasser Medical Complex before the attack, providing further evidence that it was deliberate and intelligence-guided, with precise information collected about the site and the victims.”

The Palestinian civil defense stated after the attack that “this Israeli targeting of our crews was not the first during the ongoing war of extermination. Today marks the 26th time our crews have been targeted in the field of humanitarian work, and the 11th time our crews have been targeted inside their centers and workplaces.”

“By committing this crime,” the civil defense added, “the occupation forces have rendered the only two rescue and ambulance vehicles in Khan Younis governorate out of service after they were damaged in this bombing. Only the sole fire engine remains in service.”

Israel’s prime minister and war crimes suspect Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in English on social media that the attack was a “mishap” and that “Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff and all civilians.”

But in Hebrew-language media, Israeli soldiers who carried out the attack admitted that the strikes were “approved and coordinated with senior command.”

Soldiers from the Golani unit of the Israeli army demanded an apology from Netanyahu, saying that his apology was insulting and dangerous to their unit commander.

The Gaza government media office repudiated the claim, saying on 26 August that “this camera was clearly visible. It belonged to Reuters photojournalist Hussam al-Masri, who was killed by the occupation in the first raid while he was broadcasting live to the media.”

Israel’s narrative, the media office added, “is merely an extension of an old approach followed in every crime, fabricating pretexts and evidence to evade international prosecution. Its repeated accusations of military activities against hospitals and civilian infrastructure are intended to legitimize their bombing, a complete violation of all international laws.”

Middle East Eye reported that US contractors at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site had detained and interrogated a source of Mohammed Salama, seeking information about the reporter’s identity and whereabouts before he was killed. The US mercenaries reportedly asked about a specific story that Middle East Eye says Salama worked on anonymously for security reasons.

Colleagues of the murdered journalists condemned the way that the Associated Press and Reuters reported on the attacks that killed them, once again giving Israel’s claims the benefit of the doubt and not standing behind their employees.

Another journalist was killed in Khan Younis, just hours after the attack on Nasser Medical Complex, bringing the total number of reporters assassinated by Israel on 25 August to six.

Israeli forces killed Hassan Douhan, a journalist and academic who worked as a correspondent for the publication Al-Hayat al-Jadida. The Gaza government media office said that he was shot by Israeli forces in al-Mawasi.

A total of 246 journalists and media workers have now been killed by Israel since October 2023.

Maryam Abu Daqqa, the photojournalist who was killed at Nasser Medical Complex, wrote a letter to her son, Ghaith, to be published on the occasion of her death.

Forced displacement of northern Gaza

As Israel’s mass destruction of Gaza City accelerates, so does its policy of forced expulsion.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said that Israeli forces have been intensifying their airstrikes and quadcopter attacks on Jabaliya, north of Gaza City, forcing Palestinians to move.

This week, Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes in al-Saftawi, a neighborhood of northern Gaza City, following repeated threats and attacks by Israeli forces.

The United Nations’ humanitarian office warned on 27 August that there are simply not enough shelter materials for people who are being displaced.

“Multiple organizations’ attempts to bring shelters into the Strip are being rejected by the Israeli authorities, even before the supplies are brought into Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the UN said.

“Partners stress that many tents and tarpaulins have worn out and must urgently be replaced. In addition, high tides overnight have submerged tents on the beach, affecting at least 200 families.”

The Gaza government media office stated on 24 August that the shelter deficit exceeds 96 percent – leading it to determine that the southern governorates of the Gaza Strip are unable to accommodate 1.3 million forcibly displaced people as Israel exacerbates the humanitarian catastrophe.

At the same time, the media office added that “there are no safe spaces for displacement in the southern Gaza Strip, as the Israeli occupation army imposes military control over approximately 77 percent of the Strip’s area, making any new displacement nearly impossible and threatening the lives of the displaced.”

Famine formally declared

Meanwhile, children and adults are continuing to die of starvation.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC – the international body that monitors malnutrition and starvation – formally determined that Phase Five famine, the final and most catastrophic stage, is currently unfolding in Gaza.

“As this famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed,” the IPC stated.

“The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed. Any further delay – even by days – will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of famine-related mortality.”

According to the Famine Review Committee, all three criteria for declaring famine have been met: at least 20 percent of households face extreme lack of food; at least 30 percent of children suffer from acute malnutrition; and at least two out of every 10,000 people die daily from starvation.

The Palestinian human rights group Al Mezan stated, “The current state of starvation and famine was driven by the consistent destruction of food sources, including farmland, agricultural production sites, and the fishing industry, as well as water sources and infrastructure.”

“They lie there, emaciated, quite literally wasting away – their tiny bodies overcome by hunger and disease, the medical and specialised nutrition supplies they need all but used up,” she said.

“A few kilometres away stand ready a sea of supplies, thousands upon thousands of truckloads of lifesaving items, all blocked,” she said.

“These past few weeks, more and more children have shared that they wish to be dead. One child wrote, ‘I wish I were in heaven, where my mother is. In heaven, there is love. There is food and water.’”

According to official records from the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, as of 27 August, 313 deaths by starvation, including 119 children, were documented since October 2023.

This includes 248 deaths since 1 July 2025, of whom 58 were children, and 10 people who died within a 24 hour period this week.

Mass invasions, olive tree destruction in West Bank

Turning to the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces launched two massive incursions into Nablus and Ramallah this week as settlers continue to destroy and seize Palestinian agricultural land.

On Wednesday, 27 August, nearly 80 Palestinians were injured by live ammunition and tear gas during an Israeli raid into the old city of Nablus.

A child was blindfolded and abducted by Israeli soldiers.

According to local and security sources, dozens of military vehicles raided the city and deployed their troops in its center, placing the Old City under siege and conducting a wide-scale invasion campaign.

Nearby, in Sebastia, also in the northern West Bank, Israeli forces swarmed the village on Tuesday, raiding Palestinian homes and destroying their contents. Israeli soldiers also assaulted residents, ransacked shops and stole money and goods from them.

Sebastia’s mayor, Mohammad Azem, told The New Arab that the invasion operation began at the ancient town’s archaeological site, “where troops expelled shopkeepers and closed tourism kiosks before expanding” into the Old City.

Snipers were deployed on rooftops, dozens of homes were raided, and residents were interrogated in the streets.

In the last five months, Azem said, Israel has been engaged in intense excavations and digging, and antiquities have been stolen.

In May, Israel began implementing a multi-million dollar proposal to turn Sebastia into a Zionist tourist destination – using pseudo-archeological pretexts and biblical mythology in an attempt to seize the land – with plans to place the site under its so-called Antiquities Authority and build a military watchtower.

Israeli forces launched a raid on Ramallah and nearby al-Bireh on 26 August, wounding nearly 60 Palestinians including a child who was shot in the abdomen.

Al Jazeera reported that Israeli snipers positioned themselves on rooftops and soldiers stormed the central vegetable market area, while others fired stun grenades into busy shops.

The army said that the trees posed a “security threat” to a main road to an Israeli settlement colony that runs through the village’s lands.

The deputy head of the village council, Marzouq Abu Naim, told the Wafa news agency that Israeli soldiers had stormed more than 30 homes since dawn on 23 August, destroying residents’ property and vehicles.

Israeli settlers also attacked olive tree groves this week.

Palestinian farmers in the Ramallah area, including in al-Mughayyir village, re-planted trees that had been uprooted and destroyed by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

Last week, Israeli forces closed the two main entrances to the village, preventing entry or exit, including ambulances, while forcing shop owners to shut down and restricting the movement of residents inside the village. Settlers also threatened residents by calling their mobile phones, vowing to kill them and destroy their property.

Last year, extremist Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gvir set up his tent at the eastern entrance to al-Mughayyir, inciting against the village and demanding the displacement of its residents, and the demolition and bulldozing of all houses and lands, Wafa added.

Highlighting resilience

Finally, as we always do, we wanted to highlight people expressing joy, determination and resilience across Palestine.

Journalist Mohammad al-Shaer filmed a group of kids playing on the beach, jumping into the waves and cheering each other on, he says, just a few meters away from the Israeli army’s position on the shores of Rafah.

“In the place closest to danger, they carve out a space of peace, and in the face of death, they carry nothing but hearts beating with life and innocence,” he says.

Tags

• starvation
• Nasser Medical Complex
• attacks on journalists
• attacks on medical workers
• attacks on paramedics
• Ramallah
• Sebastia
• Nablus

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