Weekly Gaza Update, August 2

Israeli forces have withdrawn from the east of Khan Younis, after forcing 400,000 Palestinians to evacuate for eight days, killing 300 Palestinians, and leaving 350 others injured. 31 Palestinians are still missing.  

Among the victims was Ahmed Saeed Al-Abadleh, a young man with Down syndrome, who was shot by Israeli Quadcopter drone near his home in Al-Qarara. 

Israeli forces have also bulldozed a historical graveyard in Khan Younis, destroying thousands of graves and pushing Palestinians to look for the remains of their loved ones after Israeli forces left to bury them again, if they could find them. 

In Deir Al-Balah, Israeli forces killed 31 Palestinians and injured 100 others in two airstrikes that targeted Khadijah and Ahmad Al-Kurd schools, where thousands of Palestinians sought shelter.  

In Al-Bureij, an Israeli airstrike killed 7 Palestinians, and when family members took their bodies to Al-Aawda hospital in the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp, another airstrike targeted the donkey cart that carried the bodies, killing 12 more Palestinians. 

Israeli forces have ordered 39,000 Palestinians who live in Al-Bureij refugee camp and to the east of Nuseirat refugee camp to evacuate, in yet another evacuation order. Palestinians, who have no place to go to, were scattered across the streets in the open air. 

In Gaza city, Israeli forces targeted a building close to the destroyed home of Hamas political bureau, who was killed by an alleged Israeli airstrike in Tehran. Two Aljazeera journalists who were covering the event nearby were asked to evacuate the area, on their way out, an Israeli drone targeted their car. Both were killed and their heads were separated from their bodies. 

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said it detected “component poliovirus type 2” in coordination with UNICEF. The virus could be found in sewage “that collects and flows between the tents of the displaced”, said the ministry. 

In Gaza city, on Thursday an Israeli airstrike in Al-Shujayia against a school killed 15 Palestinians and injured 30 others.