Press Release: Veritas Press C.I.C.
Author: Kamran Faqir
Article Date Published: 04 Sept 2025 at 13:47 GMT
Category: Middle East | Palestine-Gaza | US-Israel At War
Source(s): Veritas Press C.I.C. | Multi News Agencies
Gaza City / Jabalia /Al-Zeitoun: – Hospital and civil-defence medics in Gaza say dozens were killed since dawn amid concentrated strikes on Gaza City neighbourhoods, including Al-Zeitoun, Sheikh Radwan, al-Nasr, Tel al-Hawa and al-Sabra. One hospital coordinator described “a conveyor belt of shrouds.” A running tally from local hospital sources put today’s deaths at 70+, with the largest cluster in Gaza City; separate live updates earlier this week recorded 105 killed since dawn on 2 September as bombardment intensified.
Meanwhile, al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’s armed wing) publicised new footage of anti-armour ambushes in Jabalia tied to a rolling campaign it calls “Moses’ Staff”, which the group frames as a rebuttal to Israel’s “Gideon’s Chariots 2” push into Gaza City.
Israel’s military confirms it has entered the second phase of its Gaza City operation and is mobilising up to 60,000 reservists for extended urban combat. Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir:“We have entered the second stage of Operation Gideon’s Chariots… The return of our hostages is a moral and national mission.”
What’s New (And Why It Matters):
A Battlefield Built For Attrition:
On-the-ground accounts & video indicate al-Qassam teams using RPGs, guided missiles and IEDsagainst Israeli armour in Jabalia and Zeitoun, consistent with past Hamas urban warfare patterns. Palestinian outlets say at least one D-9 bulldozer was hit near Salah al-Din Mosque, and mortar fire targeted troop concentrations around Haj Fadel. (These battlefield claims come primarily from Palestinian media and should be treated as contested; the IDF has not verified the specific incidents.)
Israeli intent and force posture are clearer: the IDF’s second-phase order, publicpress statements, and mobilization timelines are now on record, along with plans to surge medical facilities in the south to handle casualties from a Gaza City “conquest”.
Israeli official line — Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (IDF Chief of Staff), 3 Sept:
“We will continue operating against Hamas’ main strongholds until its defeat… we are instilling in them a sense of being constantly pursued everywhere.”
Military Analyst View — Financial Times, 2 Sept:
“Despite opposition from Israel’s own military chief, Prime Minister Netanyahu is moving forward with a potentially devastating urban battle in a city where over 80% of homes are already damaged.”
- Civilians Trapped Between Evacuation Orders And Nowhere Safe:
AP reporters describesmall groupsleaving Gaza City after it was again declared a “dangerous combat zone,” but no mass exodus; many residents have endured serial displacements andsay there is nowhere safe to go. UN trackers report thousands still fled east and south as shelling spread.
Gaza City resident, Sheikh Radwan, quoted in an international live blog, 3 Sept:
“Every street is a front line. Yesterday it was the clinic; today it’s the school shelter. We carry our children from one ruin to the next.”
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned this week that Gaza is becoming “the graveyard of international humanitarian law.”
Famine Is Now Official And Expanding:
On 22 August, OCHA, OHCHR, WFP and WHO endorsed an IPC analysis confirming famine in Gaza (Gaza Governorate), with spreadprojected to Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis by September. WHO: “More than half a million people are trapped in famine.” OCHA’s 4 Sept update reiterates the expansion risk under current access restrictions.
Cindy McCain (WFP Executive Director) after meeting Israeli officials last week:
“Women and children are starving… access and security for deliveries are critical.”
MSF project coordinator Caroline Willemen, Gaza City clinic, 24–25 July:
“We are now enrolling 25 new patients every single day for malnutrition. We see the exhaustion and the hunger in our own colleagues.”
The Guardian relayed a UN committee figure of 21,000 children left disabled since Oct 2023 and fatal malnutrition deaths in overnight updates.
Death Tolls & Contested Figures:
- Gaza Ministry of Health reports >100,000 killed and >377,000 injured or maimed since Oct 2023 (Sept 1–3 reporting). Israel disputes some MoH totals; independent verification is constrained by access restrictions.
- Last 24 hours: 84 killed, 338 wounded, including aid seekers shot or shelled near distribution points, according to MoH daily line-lists; many dead remain under rubble.
- Today (Day 699): Local hospital sources cited by Palestinian outlets reported ~73 killed since dawn, 43 in Gaza City. Treat as preliminary pending consolidated MoH update.
ER nurse, al-Shifa field annex, via a coordinator’s phone on 4 Sept:
“Three of the children who arrived today died before triage. We have no paediatric TPN, and the generator is down to four hours of fuel.” (Account relayed to international press pool; names withheld for security.)
Patterns Suggesting Unlawful Conduct (And What Israel Says):
Strikes on shelters & medical points: Over the last 48–72 hours, multiple hits on homes and tent encampmentsin west Gaza City and a clinic in Sheikh Radwan were reported, with children among the dead. Israel typically frames dense-area strikes as targeting combatants or launch sites embedded in civilian zones. Independent verification remains difficult; however, cumulative strike patterns on aid queues, shelters and clinicshave drawn escalating warnings from UN agencies and major NGOs.
UN Humanitarian Brief (22 Aug & 4 Sept):
“Famine… irrefutably confirmed”; expansion likely without unimpeded aid and cessation of hostilities, warning of preventable deaths if siege tactics persist.
- NRC Spokesperson (context from this week’s coverage):
“People are dying from airstrikes and we will keep seeing deaths from hunger and disease unless all crossings open and parties are held to account.” (Statement carried in regional press updates.)
Israel’s Position: The IDF insists operations target Hamas strongholds, with hostage return and dismantling of militant capacity as overriding aims. It highlightswarnings/evacuation notices, contends Hamas embeds in civilian infrastructure, and says aid is entering, though UN/WFP argue it is far below needing given famine and collapsed markets.
Regional And Political Tremors:
- UAE warned that West Bank annexation is a “red line,” linking Gaza war conduct to the viability of normalization frameworks.
- Inside Israel, discontent over prolonged call-ups and the hostages impasse is growing; reservist mobilisation faces strain, and protests call for a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.
Investigative Takeaway:
- Operational Design Vs. Humanitarian Collapse: The shift to Gideon’s Chariots 2 compounds already severe famine-confirmed conditions. Urban razing tactics and bulldozer corridors reported in late August now coincide with clinic/shelter hitsand aid-line killings, deepening the legal risk profilearound starvation as a method of warfare and indiscriminate attacks.
- Evidence Threshold: There are now converging signals from IPC/UN, WFP, MSF, OCHA updates and international media showing systematic civilian harm and aid obstruction effects. Israel disputes elements of the data, but has not disproved the IPC famine confirmation, which rests on multi-agency technical standards.
- Strategic Futility Warnings: Senior Israeli and international voices caution the Gaza City assault may prove militarily costly with limited strategic payoff and extreme civilian tolls in a city where most housing stock is already damaged.
Quotes:
- ER doctor, Gaza City (to international media stringers, Sept 3-4):
“We can’t stabilise blast children when they arrive already in organ failure from hunger.” - Mother at al-Nasr tent cluster (3 Sept):
“We move at night when the drones are loudest, holding white cloths. There is no safe corridor, only guesses.” - WFP’s Cindy McCain (29 Aug):
“Women and children are starving… access and security are critical.” - UNRWA’s Lazzarini (3 Sept):
“Gaza is becoming the graveyard of international humanitarian law.” - IDF Chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (3 Sept):
“Second stage… we will continue operating against Hamas’ main strongholds until its defeat.” - Financial Times assessment (2 Sept):
“A potentially devastating and futile campaign,” with 80% of Gaza City homes damaged.
Numbers At A Glance:
- Since Oct 7, 2023: >100,000,700 killed, approx. >377,000 injured or maimed (Gaza MoH, 1–3 Sept). Israel contests MoH totals; independent auditing is hampered by access.
- Famine: Confirmed(IPC/UN) in Gaza Governorate; spread projected south by September.
- Children Disabled: >~21,000(UN committee; 3 Sept).
- Reservists: ~60,000 called up in waves for the Gaza City offensive.
What To Watch Next:
- Starvation As A Method Of Warfare: IPC confirmation plus recurring strikes on aid seekers could sharpen legal scrutiny (Rome Statute Art. 8(2)(b)(xxv)). Track UN investigative mechanisms, ICJ/ICC filings, and state responsibility debates.
- Operational Sustainability: Reservist fatigue and domestic protests versus political directives to “finish the job.” Watch mobilisation compliance and hostage-deal politics.
- Cross-Border Flashpoints: UAE’s “red line” on West Bank annexation; Lebanon and Yemen escalations affecting aid corridors and rules of engagement.
In Conclusion:
Day 699 in Gaza lays bare the reality that Israel’s war is not only against armed factions but against the very fabric of civilian life. In the ruins of Jabalia, Zeitoun, and Sheikh Radwan, survivors speak of mass graves, children buried in rubble, and food lines turned into target zones. Doctors describe operating without anaesthesia, aid workers document starvation deaths, and journalists capture footage of families obliterated in their homes.
The launch of the Palestinian resistance’s “Moses’ Staff” operations against Israel’s “Gideon’s Chariots 2” underscores the duality of this war: tanks and bulldozers on one side, improvised rockets and anti-armour fire on the other. Yet the asymmetry is staggering. With tens of thousands of dead, the majority women and children, Israel’s campaign appears less a military offensive than what locals increasingly call the “Squid Games directive” a systematic forcing of civilians into deadly traps where survival itself is weaponised.
Humanitarian agencies warn that famine, disease, and bombardment are converging into a mass-death zone. International courts have already issued orders to prevent genocide. Whether governments act, or remain complicit in silence, will determine not just Gaza’s fate but the credibility of international law itself.
The evidence from Day 699 and preceding months demonstrates a pattern of conduct by Israeli forces that falls within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court under the Rome Statute:
- Starvation as a method of warfare (Article 8(2)(b)(xxv)): Documented blocking of food and medicine, deliberate strikes on aid seekers, and engineered famine conditions.
- Collective punishment and targeting of civilians (Geneva Convention IV, Article 33): Repeated bombardment of shelters, hospitals, and residential homes.
- Extermination and persecution (Rome Statute, Articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(h)): The scale of death, coupled with the targeting of an identifiable national group, supports findings of crimes against humanity.
- Genocide (Article 6): The ICJ’s January 2024 ruling that a “plausible risk of genocide” exists remains unmet by compliance, with evidence suggesting intensification.
Eyewitness accounts, NGO documentation, and medical testimony corroborate the civilian toll. The deliberate transformation of food lines, shelters, and hospitals into kill zones, what survivors describe as a “Squid Games directive”, constitutes not military necessity buta systematic attack on the civilian population itself.
“This is no longer war, it’s a Squid Games directive. Civilians are forced into kill zones where food lines, shelters, and hospitals become arenas of death. Survival itself is weaponised.”— Eyewitness testimony from Gaza
Accordingly, the situation in Gaza demands urgent referral and accountability. Failure to act will not only entrench impunity for war crimes and genocide but also dismantle the very legal order designed to prevent humanity from descending into cycles of annihilation.
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