The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, Palestinians protest outside the UNRWA headquarters in Ramallah against the countries that have suspended funding to the agency. Israeli settlers assault Palestinians in Khillet al-Farra in the Masafer Yatta area. Israeli forces raid Nur Shams refugee camp, killing 3 Palestinians and injuring 1, uprooting streets, and destroying property. Israeli forces also shoot and injure a Palestinian during a raid in Wadi al-Fara’a. Elsewhere, Israeli forces demolish a home under construction in Bayt Jala. Israeli forces also arrest 25 Palestinians during raids in Jenin, Hebron, Qalqilya, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Tulkarm. In East Jerusalem, Israeli settlers tour the Haram al-Sharif compound. In Gaza, Israeli forces bomb Rafah, Khan Yunis, and Gaza City, killing at least 123 people, including 13 people collecting water from a truck distributing aid in Gaza City. Israeli forces also shoot and kill a paramedic and injure 2 others while they are evacuating injured people in Gaza City and open fire at al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, injuring 2. Elsewhere, Israeli forces shoot and kill a woman trying to collect water for the Nasser Hospital. Off the coast of Gaza, Israeli forces kill 2 Palestinian fishermen northwest of Rafah. In Lebanon, Israeli forces bomb Khiam, killing 1 civilian and wounding 2 others. Israeli forces also bomb Marwahin and Bani Haiyyan. In Iraq, U.S. forces kill at least 3 people, including a senior member of Kataib Hezbollah, in an airstrike on Baghdad. (AJ, AJ, AP, AX, HA, HA, NYT, REU, REU, UNOCHA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 2/7; AJ, UNOCHA 2/8)

More than 27,708 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, including at least 11,500 children and 7,200 women, and around 67,147 have been injured since 10/7. At least 8,000 people are missing in rubble, including 1,700 children. 379 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 10/7, including 96 children. More than 4,426 people have been injured. Israel reports that 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5,400 have been injured in Israel since 10/7, including Israeli soldiers. In addition, 225 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 1,304 injured in Gaza since the ground invasion began on 10/27. Over 1.93 million Palestinians, nearly 85% of the population of Gaza, have been displaced since 10/7. There has been a complete electricity blackout in Gaza since 10/12 due to the Israeli blockade. At least 70,000 housing units have been destroyed and 290,000 have been damaged in Israeli airstrikes since 10/7, constituting over 60% of all housing units. 169 trucks carrying aid enter Gaza. The Gaza Ministry of Health says 11,000 sick and wounded Palestinians need evacuation for treatment. The Gaza Media Office says Israeli has burned 3,000 housing units in Gaza during its ground invasion. The UN says Israel has prevented 51 out of 61 planned aid missions to northern Gaza. Israelis continue to block the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing for the second day in a row. (AJ, AP, UNOCHA, UNOCHA, WAFA 2/7; AJ, UNOCHA 2/8)

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says that there are 3,484 Palestinians held in administrative detention, including 40 children and 11 women. (WAFA 2/7)

An Israeli soldier dies of a fungal infection after being exposed 7 weeks ago in Gaza. (HA 2/7)

Details of Hamas’s counterproposal to the Israeli, U.S., Qatari, and Egyptian ceasefire proposal are unveiled. The Hamas proposal includes 3 stages of 45 days. In the first stage, Israel and Hamas would exchange the remaining female, child, and elderly Israeli captives for 1,500 Palestinian prisoners, see 500 trucks of aid enter Gaza daily, allow Palestinians to return to their homes in Gaza, allow the entry of 60,000 temporary homes and 200,000 tents, and stop Israeli settlers from entering the Haram al-Sharif compound. In the second stage, male captives would be exchanged for more Palestinian prisoners. In the third phase, the bodies of those killed would be exchanged. The proposal also calls for securing the reconstruction of Gaza and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces. Hamas political bureau member Mohammad Nazzal says the Hamas proposal has clear deadlines which the original proposal lacked, that Qatar, Egypt, Russia, Turkey, and the UN will be guarantors for maintaining the ceasefire, and that the proposal is final. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls the counterproposal “delusional,” saying Israel will not end its war on Gaza and will continue until “total victory.” (AJ, AJ, AP, AP, AP, AX, HA, HA, NYT, REU, REU, REU, REU 2/7; NYT, NYT 2/8)

U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken meets with PA president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, discussing negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza, Israel’s withholding of PA tax funds, and settler violence. Abbas also expresses the importance of the U.S. recognizing the state of Palestine. Blinken also meets with Prime Minister Netanyahu, military Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and President Issac Herzog. The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reports that Netanyahu promises Blinken that Israel will not invade Egypt at the Philadelphi Corridor without coordination with Egypt. Blinken says at a press conference that Hamas will not play a role in the future governance of Gaza, that the death toll in Gaza remains too high, and that Israel should open the Beit Hanun (Erez) crossing to allow more aid to enter Gaza. Blinken also says that the Hamas response to the ceasefire deal has “clear non-starters,” but that he thinks there is space for an agreement to be reached. Lastly, Blinken says that Israel cannot use the events of 10/7/2023 as a “license to dehumanize others.” Netanyahu says he complained to Blinken about the U.S. executive order allowing the U.S. sanction Israeli settlers, calling the order “inappropriate” and “highly problematic.”  (AJ, AJ, AJ, AP, AX, AX, HA, NYT, REU, WAFA 2/7; HA, HA, NYT, REU 2/8)

Hamas says a delegation led by political bureau deputy leader Khalil al-Hayya will travel to Egypt for continued ceasefire talks with officials from Egypt and Qatar. (AJ 2/7)

PA health minister Mai al-Kaila sends a letter to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, calling on him to ensure that medical personnel in Gaza are protected as 340 doctors and health workers have been killed by Israeli forces. Al-Mezan says in a letter to Guterres that the UN Office on Genocide Prevention has failed in its mandate, calling it “double standards.” (AJ, WAFA 2/7)

The Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry issues a statement saying “in light of what has been attributed to the U.S. National Security Spokesperson, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that the position of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has always been steadfast on the Palestinian issue . . . The Kingdom has communicated its formal position to the U.S. administration that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and that the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip stops and all Israeli occupation forces withdraw from the Gaza Strip.” In the statement, Saudi Arabia also calls on UN Security Council members to recognize the state of Palestine. The PLO and PA welcome the Saudi statement. (AJ, AP, HA, HA, REU, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 2/7)

Argentinian president Javier Milei meets with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Jerusalem, saying Argentina will designate Hamas as a terrorist organization. On 2/6, Milei said he would move the Argentinian embassy to East Jerusalem. The Arab League and OIC condemn Milei’s promise to move the embassy. (AJ, HA, HA, WAFA, WAFA 2/7)

The U.S. Senate rejects a $118 billion bill that would fund Israel’s war on Gaza, send military aid to Ukraine, and fund the U.S.-Mexico border. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VA) says he voted against the bill because the military aid to Israel is “unconscionable” given the Israel’s “horrific war against the Palestinian people,” and because of the provisions in the bill that would prevent UNRWA funding. (AJ, AJ, HA 2/7)

The American Civil Liberties Union writes a letter to U.S. secretary of education Miguel Cardona, calling on him to reject the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s working definition of anti-Semitism, saying it conflates anti-Semitism with political speech. (AJ 2/7)

Canadian immigration minister Marc Miller says Egyptian and Israeli authorities have not allowed 1,000 Palestinians who have been granted permission to come to Canada to be evacuated. (AJ 2/7)

Norway transfers $26 million to UNRWA, saying millions of people should not be collectively punished for the alleged wrongdoing of 12 staff members. (AJ 2/7)

Breaking the cease-fire brokered by Egypt on 5/30, unidentified Gazans launch a number of rockets and other projectiles into Israel late at night. Three are intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system; the others cause no major damage or injuries. The barrage is reportedly a response to the Israeli killing of a Gazan paramedic on 6/1. The IAF then conducts retaliatory air strikes on 15 Hamas weapons-production, storage, and other sites across Gaza, causing major damage. Earlier in the day, IDF troops open fire on a small group of Palestinian minors approaching the border fence near Khan Yunis; 1 Palestinian is injured. The IDF alleges that the group was attempting to sabotage Israeli security infrastructure. Meanwhile, unidentified Gazans fly incendiary kites across the border fence into Israel, sparking a number of fires in a nature reserve in southern Israel. In the West Bank, IDF troops shoot and kill a Palestinian after he allegedly attempts to run them over with a bulldozer in southern Hebron. The IDF says that the soldiers asked him to stop when he was 10 meters away, but he refused. Witnesses say that the soldiers killed him deliberately. Later, IDF troops arrest a Palestinian who filmed the shooting. They also violently disperse Palestinians protesting the Israeli occupation in Kafr Qaddum near Qalqilya (1 Palestinian is injured); arrest 3 Palestinians during late-night raids near Bethlehem and Hebron; and patrol in and around Tulkarm and Hebron. Israeli settlers assault a Palestinian farmer working outside Surayf village near Nablus, causing moderate injuries and sparking clashes between their IDF escort and Palestinian residents; 2 Palestinians are injured. Israeli forces deliver stop-work orders to a Palestinian school under construction near Jenin. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces arrest 2 Palestinians during raids in Hizma. (HA, MNA, TOI, WAFA, YA 6/2; HA, JP, WAFA 6/3; PCHR 6/7)

A Palestinian succumbs to injuries sustained when IDF troops opened fire on Palestinian protesters along Gaza’s border fence on 5/14. His death brings the death toll stemming from the Great March of Return to 116. (WAFA 6/3; PCHR 6/7)

An IDF spokesperson announces that the IDF has begun an investigation into the killing of a Palestinian paramedic on 6/1 (the IDF will announce, on 6/5, that the paramedic was not deliberately targeted). (AP, JP, REU, YA 6/2; NYT 6/5)

Thousands of Palestinians gather along Gaza’s border to continue the Great March of Return. IDF troops violently disperse them near al-Bureij refugee camp, Jabaliya refugee camp, Rafah, Gaza City, and Khan Yunis; 1 Palestinian is killed and at least 100 are injured. The Palestinian killed today was a paramedic named Razan al-Najjar. She was reportedly shot as she was treating wounded protesters. Her death brings the death toll stemming from the Great March of Return to 115. In East Jerusalem, approximately 250,000 Palestinians pray at Haram al-Sharif, marking the third Friday of Ramadan. In the West Bank, IDF troops issue arrest summons to 2 Palestinians during a raid in Hebron, and patrol near Tulkarm and Hebron. (EI, NYT, WAFA, YA 6/1; MNA 6/2; PCHR 6/7)

At the UNSC, the U.S. vetoes a Kuwait-backed draft resolution condemning Israel’s use of force against Palestinian civilians at recent protests along Gaza’s border fence. “The terrorist group Hamas bears primary responsibility for the awful living conditions in Gaza,” says U.S. ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, explaining the veto. (HA, JP, NYT, REU, TOI, YA 6/1)

Before dawn, the IDF sends undercover units into Nablus to arrest 6 Palestinians, including PA General Intelligence officer Amjad Mus‘ad; in the evening, fires 27 artillery rounds at n. Gaza in response to 3 mortars fired by Palestinians towards Israel, causing no damage or injuries on either side; late in the evening, undercover units return to Nablus, surround a PA security vehicle patrolling the area, order the7 PA security officers to lie on the ground, confiscate their weapons and phones, hold them for an hr., release them. The IDF also lifts the seal on the West Bank and Gaza imposed on 12/5, opens Qalandia crossing (closed since 12/8); raids and closes 10s of shops in Anabta, withdraws, later returns to conduct arrest raids and house searches; bulldozes a Palestinian home in East Jerusalem, sparking clashes with 10s of local Palestinians; conducts arrest raids, house searches in Nablus, nr. Tulkarm. IDF soldiers bar an ambulance fr. transporting a critically ill 10-yr.-old Palestinian boy to a hospital in Jerusalem, beating a female paramedic and driver, arresting the paramedic; a 2d ambulance arrives, takes the patient to a Ramallah hospital. In Dayr al-Balah, 10 AMB gunmen angry over the Fatah primaries raid a PA election office, force it to close. In Gaza City, unidentified gunmen fire on a PA police patrol, killing 1 PA policeman, wounding a 2d; the incident may be connected to the Bayt Hanun clan violence (see 12/7) as the dead policeman belongs to 1 of the families. (AP, HA, IMEMC, PCHR, PRCS, XIN, YA 12/12; AP, NYT 12/13; PCHR 12/15; PLO press release 12/21)