Friendly reminder: when commenting about a news event, especially something that just happened, please provide a source of some kind. While ideally this would be on nitter or archived, any source is preferable to none at all given.
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
The Country of the Week is still Palestine, though we will switch next week to a new country.
Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.
The weekly (biweekly?) update is here.
Links and Stuff
The bulletins site is down.
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can.
Resources For Understanding The War
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Telegram Channels
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
Pro-Russian
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
Last week's discussion post.
https://www.unrwa.org/resources/reports/unrwa-situation-report-12-gaza-strip-and-west-bank-including-east-jerusalem
UNRWA SITUATION REPORT #12 ON THE GAZA STRIP AND THE WEST BANK, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM
Monday, October 23, 2023
spoiler
All information valid as of 22 October 2023 at 22.00 (Local time)Day 16 of the war
Key Points
The Gaza Strip
Another six UNRWA staff have been confirmed killed, bringing the total to 35 staff killed since 7 October. Across the Gaza Strip, nearly 600,000 internally displaced people are sheltering in 150 UNRWA facilities[1]. Nearly 420,000 IDPs are sheltering in 93 UNRWA shelters in Middle, Khan Younis and Rafah areas. This represents an increase of 14,000 (3.5 per cent) IDPs in the past 24 hours. A total of 40 UNRWA installations have been damaged since 7 October, including two in the last 24 hours. West Bank
On 22 October 2023, an Israeli Forces airstrike hit al-Ansar Mosque in Jenin Refugee Camp. The mosque is located within the boundaries of the camp. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that two Palestinians were killed in the airstrike, and another three injured. UNRWA staff reported that many families left the Jenin camp, seeking shelter with friends and relatives. UNRWA sanitation services in Jenin Camp were more limited on 22 October. The four UNRWA schools in Jenin (1,700 students) shifted to online learning modality.
Overall Situation
The Gaza Strip
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 4,651 people have been killed since 7 October of those 40 per cent are children, 22 per cent are women and 4 per cent are elderly. Another 14,245 Palestinians were injured. Overall, nearly 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed in Israel, according to the Israeli authorities, the vast majority on 7 October (OCHA). On average, the shelters are hosting about 2.57 times their designed capacity. The most crowded shelter, at its most severe level of overcrowding, was hosting 11 times more people than its designed capacity. The West Bank, including East Jerusalem
According to OCHA 91 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and 1,734 injured since 7 October. Of these, 31 are Palestine Refugees according to UNRWA.
Humanitarian Access and Protection of Civilians
Gaza
Among those killed are 35 UNRWA colleagues, while another 18 have been injured since 7 October. Shrapnel was found in two UNRWA facilities, including one in the Bureij camp and another in Nuseirat in the Middle area. These fragments resulted from bombardments on areas in close proximity to UNRWA installations on 22 October. In total, 40 UNRWA installations have been damaged since 7 October.
West Bank, including East Jerusalem
Movements of Palestinians in the West Bank, including Palestine Refugees and UNRWA staff, continue to be significantly limited, due to movement restrictions imposed by the Israeli Authorities. Access routes to major cities have been obstructed for vehicles. UNRWA continues to provide services, supported by staff living in close proximity to UNRWA premises and installations.
UNRWA Response
Gaza
UNRWA Shelters
An assessment of the specific needs of persons with disabilities and other vulnerable people in UNRWA shelters is ongoing in cooperation with the INGO Humanity and Inclusion. Since the beginning of the hostilities, about 900 persons with disabilities and other persons with specific needs have been provided with specialized support including dignity kits and assistance devices. To support displaced families and address the problem of bread shortages, UNRWA is supplying local bakeries with flour, to give bread to families at a subsidized rate. UNRWA continues to provide bread provided to the displaced across the UNRWA shelters.
Health
Out of the 22 UNRWA health centres, eight are operational, offering primary healthcare services to refugees. These centres recorded a total of 4,062 visits on 22 October, for refugees and non-refugees. This is around one-third of average daily patient visits before 7 October. Telemedicine services remain unavailable due to communication network issues across the Gaza Strip. Healthcare services were maintained within the shelters, with the support of 89 mobile medical units and medical teams, which attended a total of 9,068 cases at shelters. According to initial health assessments that the UNRWA mobile medical teams conducted with the IDPs in UNRWA shelter, there are over 18,000 persons with non-communicable diseases (NCDs), nearly 3,200 pregnant women and around 320 post-natal cases requiring medical attention. The UNRWA stocks of medicines are critically decreasing with different medicines available for between five to fifteen days.
Sanitation Services/WASH
Some solid waste collection from the camps and emergency shelters and transfer to landfills continues in Middle, Khan Younis and Rafah areas. The scarcity of fuel and staff is impacting solid waste management activities. Water wells in Jabalia, Khan Younis and Rafah are functional, with about 11,000 cubic metres pumped from nine water wells daily. Water trucking operations to the shelters in Rafah and Khan Younis areas continue, but the availability is not enough to meet the needs of the displaced in UNRWA shelters. UNRWA teams are conducting maintenance and rehabilitation at dozens of shelters. These include plumbing, electrical, metal, carpentry works to repair damages and upgrades to support increasing numbers of IDPs. -Ends
[1] Nearly 160,000 IDPs were sheltering in 57 UNRWA schools in the North and Gaza areas as of 12 October 2023, before the evacuation order. UNRWA is no longer able to provide services to the IDPs in those areas due to the ongoing hostilities and does not have accurate information on their needs and conditions.