October 28: Israel/Palestine update

Israel’s heaviest bombardment yet; the communications blackout in Gaza; before-and-after satellite images of Gaza’s destruction; more unanswered questions about October 7.

Amidst the fog of war and propaganda, and the 24/7 non-stop information flow, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s actually happening. This is why I’ve decided to start providing these updates — every few days — on the Israel-Palestine war (or, more precisely, Israel’s war on Palestine), highlighting the most important stories relating to the conflict.

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In today’s post, I will be covering: Israel’s heaviest bombardment yet; the communications blackout in Gaza (and Musk’s decision to provide his Starlink services); before-and-after satellite images of Gaza’s destruction; more unanswered questions about October 7, and more.

Let’s start, as always, with the death toll. According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, at least 7,000 Palestinians, including more than 3,500 children, have been killed, and almost 20,000 have been wounded, in the Israeli assault on Gaza since October 7. Here’s an infographic detailing the scale of the death and destruction:

It’s honestly hard to see how Israel can ever recover from this. There’s a worrying level of detachment from reality — not just among the Israeli establishment, but among pro-Israelis in general — in not realising what the overwhelming majority of people on the planet think when they see the carnage going on in Gaza. It’s almost as if they don’t realise that most people actually view the Palestinians as human beings.

As you probably know, Biden has cast doubt on the accuracy of the Gazan Health Ministry number. In response, the ministry has published a report listing the names of more than 6,000 “documented deaths” in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the HuffPost has revealed that the Biden administration uses the numbers internally and that some US officials even privately believe that the real numbers “are likely much higher”. This is especially true given the high number of missing persons: 1,600 people, including 900 children, who are likely to be under the rubble.