Day 257 roundtable: Gaza's deepening agony

Despite talk of a ceasefire and a humanitarian truce, Israeli airstrikes and artillery targeted Gaza City in the north, Rafah in the south and in the central Gaza Strip areas of Deir al-Balah and Maghazi, Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps over the last several days.

On Sunday, as people in Gaza began to celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday, Israeli forces struck the Bureij refugee camp, killing at least nine Palestinians including six children.

Thousands of Palestinian children in Gaza have been diagnosed with malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization, as Israel continues to severely restrict the entry of food, water, medicine and fuel.

“A significant proportion of Gaza’s population is now facing catastrophic hunger and famine-like conditions,” WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week.

Our contributor Abubaker Abed joined us live from Gaza to talk about the ongoing attacks in the central areas of Gaza.

Jump to Abubaker Abed’s segment here.

We were also joined by Aseel Mousa, a long-time contributor to The Electronic Intifada, who survived the first six months of the genocide in Gaza and spoke to us from Cairo.

She talked about her cousins who were killed during the Nuseirat massacre on 9 June.

Israel killed my two cousins, Jaber Jouda, 40, and Mohammed Abu-Ghazza, 32, in an attack on their home in the Al-Nuseirat camp in the middle of the #Gaza Strip this morning. Jaber was a father of four children, and Mohammed was supposed to celebrate his marriage in December. pic.twitter.com/XGiGMXL7aD
— Aseel Mousa (@aselmousa) June 9, 2024

Her most recent article tells the story of Nabil Kuhail, a 5-year-old boy diagnosed with leukemia in April.

He received a potentially life-saving medical referral to leave Gaza for Egypt. But hours before he was due to depart on 7 May, Israeli forces seized the Rafah crossing, closing it ever since.

At the end of May, Nabil was evacuated to Jerusalem, but died shortly after his first chemotherapy session.

Jump to Aseel Mousa’s segment here.

Jon Elmer covered the latest from the fierce resistance in defense of Rafah, the complex ambush in the Netzarim corridor and Hizballah’s continued escalation on the Lebanon front.

Jump to Jon Elmer’s segment here.

During our group discussion, Ali Abunimah, Asa Winstanley and I analyzed the latest saber-rattling by Israeli leaders over a war on Hizballah in Lebanon and the further collapse of Israel’s government and economy.

Jump to the group discussion here.

And I delivered a news roundup, focusing on Israel’s attacks on Gaza and the West Bank over the last week.

Jump to the news report here.

These are just some of the many topics we cover on The Electronic Intifada livestream. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

With Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer, Tamara Nassar and Asa Winstanley