For the 77th day in a row, Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip continue, leaving tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, destruction of infrastructure, and a huge humanitarian catastrophe, while clashes continue between Palestinian factions and the Israeli army in various areas in the center and north of the Strip.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Friday that the death toll from the Israeli “aggression” on the Strip had risen to “20,57 martyrs and 53,320 wounded” since last October 7.
The ministry reported in a statement that “the toll of the Israeli aggression has risen to 20,057 martyrs and 53,320 injuries since the seventh of last October” as a result of the devastating war waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip.
She added, "The past 48 hours witnessed the death of 390 Palestinians and the injury of 734 others in Israeli army bombing on various areas of the Gaza Strip."
The previous toll announced by the Ministry of Health in Gaza on Wednesday was 20,000 Palestinian martyrs and 52,600 wounded, most of them children and women.
98 journalists
In the same context, the government media office in Gaza announced that the total number of journalists martyred at the hands of the Israeli army since the beginning of the war reached 98 journalists.
The office said in a statement, “Israel assassinated these journalists during its brutal war on Gaza in an attempt to distort the Palestinian narrative and obscure the truth, but the occupation failed miserably in that.”
In addition to the massive human losses, the devastating Israeli war on Gaza left huge infrastructure destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to official Palestinian sources.
Martyrs and wounded amid continuing raids
Israeli raids continued on several neighborhoods and residential areas in the Gaza Strip during the past hours, and the bombing led to the fall of 7 martyrs in the city of Nuseirat in the center of the Strip, in addition to 6 martyrs in the Al-Aqqad area, east of Khan Yunis.
A drone targeted a motorcycle driver, leading to his death in Khan Yunis, while a number of Palestinians were martyred and others were injured as a result of intense Israeli artillery shelling that targeted Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli occupation forces burned entire homes in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in the center of Gaza City, as well as in the Abu Iskandar area, while those areas were targeted with missiles, according to what was reported by a TRT Arab correspondent from the Gaza Strip.
Intense raids and concentrated artillery shelling took place targeting various areas of the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli occupation forces targeted several homes, leading to the death of a number of civilians and the occurrence of dozens of injuries.
The Israeli army asked the residents of the Bureij camp and other areas in the central Gaza Strip to evacuate their homes immediately and head south to the city of Deir al-Balah.
Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adraee said, through his account on the
There is no shelter in the city of Deir al-Balah, which is subjected daily to heavy bombardment by Israeli artillery and warplanes. It also suffers from severe overcrowding due to the displacement of hundreds of thousands from its eastern regions near the border, in addition to the residents of Gaza City and the North Governorate who have been displaced there since the beginning of the second week of the Israeli war.
Clashes continue from time to time between Palestinian factions and the Israeli army in various areas of the central and northern Gaza Strip, especially in the areas of Khan Yunis, Bani Suhaila, and Abasan.
The Palestinian Wafa Agency reported that the occupation aircraft launched several raids on Block 1 and 2 of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, while the occupation artillery bombed the eastern areas of the Bureij camp in the central Strip.
Rescue and ambulance crews recovered the bodies of 9 martyrs, including a mother and her five daughters, as a result of the bombing of their house in the town of Jabalia, bringing the death toll in the town and its camp during the past 24 hours to about 30 martyrs and dozens of wounded.
Extreme hunger
On the humanitarian level, the international relief organization Oxfam said that 90 percent of Gaza's population, numbering about 2.3 million people, face extreme hunger and the risk of famine increases day by day unless a ceasefire is reached.
This came in a statement on her social media account, in response to data shared by the United Nations World Food Program regarding hunger rates in Gaza, which stated that at least 25 percent of Gaza’s population faces extreme hunger.
Oxfam confirmed that more than 90 percent of the population suffers from extreme hunger.
She explained: "Almost all of Gaza's population, approximately 2.3 million people, face extreme hunger, and the risk of famine increases day by day unless a ceasefire is reached."
The statement noted that almost all families in Gaza miss meals every day, and questioned the assessment in the World Food Programme's Integrated Food Security Phase Classification that a quarter of Gaza's population faces catastrophic hunger.
Oxfam confirmed: “This (WFP) report presents a bleak picture of the food insecurity that Gaza is currently suffering from and reveals the urgent need for a ceasefire to allow adequate humanitarian access.”
Since last October 7, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, which, as of Friday morning, has left “20,57 martyrs and 53,320 wounded, most of them children and women,” massive destruction to infrastructure, and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.
“A banner offensive to Muslims.” How did the Gaza war spark a wave of Islamophobia in Germany?
As the Israeli aggression on Gaza continues, political discourse in Germany continues to link Islam with anti-Semitism, which, according to experts, threatens to raise the threat of Islamophobic crimes, which have begun to appear in several regions of the country.
In the latest development in the growing Islamophobic discourse in Germany, a theater in the city of Tübingen (northwest), on Monday, hung a banner on its facade declaring solidarity with Israel and linking Islam with anti-Semitism, which angered a large sector of the Muslim community in the city and a number of activists.
This comes at a time when experts are warning of an increase in the level of hate crimes against Muslims, with the continuation of the war in Gaza and the political restrictions it causes for supporters of the Palestinian cause in Germany.
Incitement and accusations on the Tubingen banner
The banner that the Tubingen Theater hung on one of its facades read: “Muslim communities must stop hostility and hatred of Israel.” It describes the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation as “the killing of Jews” and that it is “not a struggle for freedom.”
These words angered many members of the city's Muslim communities, who shared the image of the banner on social media, accompanied by comments refusing to link them and Islam with anti-Semitism.
According to a German activist of Arab origin who lives in the city of Tubingen - who refused to reveal his name - the position of the Arab and Muslim communities “is clear and appeared from posts on social media,” noting that they have made clear, in more than one event, their complete rejection of these accusations.
The anti-racism activist added to TRT Arabic: “These accusations are generalized to include the entire community, when the city mayor uses his pages on social networking sites, such as Facebook, in order to incite these strife and question the integration policies.”
The mayor of Tubingen, Boris Palmer, had posted on his Facebook page a photo of the banner that was later vandalized by unknown persons, confirming his support for the theater initiative.
In his statements to TRT Arabic, the mayor of Tubingen commented on the issue, reiterating his support for the content of the banner, saying: “I strongly support the message (that the banner carried) Killing Jews is not a struggle for freedom.”
Boris Palmer answered a question from TRT Arabic about whether linking the banner between Islam and anti-Semitism represents an insult to Muslims, saying: “Given that the banner addresses Muslims, leftists and rightists alike, this interpretation is ridiculous.”
He added: "There is absolutely no offense to talk about this, unless those who are offended are anti-Semites themselves. This is how these people deserve to be abused in order to rethink their position."
Mayor Palmer defended the association of anti-Semitism with Muslims, saying: “Many polls show that anti-Semitism finds greater support in Muslim communities than among non-Muslim populations. This connection is real, and therefore must be discussed.”
The speaker did not indicate any source for these polls, nor did TRT Arabic, through its research, obtain an independent source to support this claim.
Inciting speech and Islamophobic threats
With the continuation of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, along with the restrictions imposed on advocates of a ceasefire and supporters of the Palestinian cause in Germany, and the rhetoric of German politicians and the media linking Muslims with anti-Semitism, fears of an increase in the level of Islamophobia and hate crimes against the Muslim community in the country are increasing. This is confirmed by Moein Zahab, the German activist and member of the Jewish anti-fascist organization “Jewish Bund,” in her interview with TRT Arabic.
Zahab says that associating hostility with Muslims “is a deliberate strategy to justify the escalating racial discrimination against Muslims, Arabs and all people who stand in solidarity with the Palestinian cause.”
The German activist adds: "In fact, they (German politicians) are not fighting anti-Semitism, but rather they are protecting white racial supremacy and imperialism."
According to the German activist of Arab origin, “Violence has been noticeably increasing within German society for years, due to racist political polarization, We are noticing that, and therefore I call on journalists and researchers to help us monitor these problems in an impartial manner, because German society does not react.” "Adequately with her."
It is noteworthy that the activist preferred to speak to TRT Arabi without mentioning his name, due to his fear of retaliatory actions that extremist right-wing groups might carry out against him. He says: "They threatened me one time, and they also beat up a friend of mine."
For his part, Moatasem Al-Rifai, a member of the Immigration and Integration Council in the city of Nuremberg and a human rights activist, explained during his statements to TRT Arabi, that “currently there is a problem in Germany, which is that racism and anti-Arabs and anti-Muslims are being justified by fighting anti-Semitism which is what groups are trying to do.” Right-wing extremists in Germany are exploiting it, taking advantage of the general anti-Arab and anti-Muslim atmosphere caused by the war in Gaza.”
On the ground, and in terms of numbers, about 81 mosques in Germany have been subjected to various attacks since the beginning of the current year 2023, as half of these attacks occurred since October 7 with the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza, according to what the Secretary General of the Turkish Islamic Union for Religious Affairs reported in Germany (DITIB), Eyup Kalyon.
This percentage is very high compared to last year, as 35 mosques throughout Germany were threatened or attacked in various ways, according to a report issued by the same federation, entitled “2022 Attacks on Mosques. ”
German Interior Minister Nancy Weiser previously admitted , in her statements, that Germany suffers from the problem of Islamophobia, as “almost everyone (in Germany) agrees with anti-Islamic statements.”
German experts also warned that Islamophobia is a serious problem in the country. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Matthias Ruhe, a researcher who co-authored one of the most comprehensive reports on Islamophobia in Germany, said, “Due to the spread of Islamophobia, Muslims in Germany face great discrimination in their daily lives.”
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