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Jewish-American Journalist Max Blumenthal Visits Gaza and Tweets Images of a Devastated City

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Palestine, Humanitarian Response, Photography, War & Conflict
This was Beit Hanoun, Gaza, today - tweets @MaxBlumenthal in the first of a series of photographs he posts on Twitter showing the extent of the damage he witnessed [1]

This was Beit Hanoun, Gaza, today – tweets @MaxBlumenthal in the first of a series of photographs he posts on Twitter showing the extent of the damage he witnessed

Jewish-American journalist, author and blogger Max Blumenthal [2] visited Gaza's Beit Hanoun on the north-eastern border with Israel on August 15. He was accompanied by Palestine-based journalist Dan Cohen [3].

Gazans were taking advantage of a much-anticipated ceasefire between Hamas and Israel to try and salvage what they can from the rubble. Prior to the ceasefire, the offensive in Gaza had claimed [4] the lives of 1,951 people, including over 70 families and 467 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israeli NGO B'TSelem has confirmed [5] the death of at least 1,767 Gazans and 431 children while the percentage of civilians killed ranges from 73 to 80 per cent according to the United Nations [6].

What Blumenthal and Cohen saw, however, was a town “completely flattened” by Israeli aerial and tank attacks. Beit Hanoun made worldwide headlines when an Israeli strike on a UN school [7] killed 15 civilians on the 24th of July despite the UN asking the IDF for time to evacuate. Unfortunately, the devastation was not limited to a single school as you will see below.

The following is the timeline of their visit:

Follow our in-depth coverage: #Gaza: Civilian Death Toll Mounts in Israeli Offensive [73]