Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-07-21 Monday

Episode Date: July 21, 2025

Headlines for July 21, 2025; “Precisely Designed Mass Starvation”: Aid Access as Weapon in Israel’s War on Gaza, Researchers Find; “Like a Video Game”: How Israel Deploys Grenade-Firing Drones in Gaza to Kill, Threaten and Displace; Former EPA Official on Trump Gutting Science Research Office: “People Are Not Going to Be Protected”; “I Do Solemnly Swear”: Audio Series Highlights Federal Workers’ Voices on Trump’s Unraveling of Gov’t

They go out just trying to stave off their hunger and their hunger of their children, but they come back wrapped in shrouds. We ask God Almighty and we appeal to the international community that these death traps be shut down and that humanitarian corridors be opened. Out of mercy for our children, our women and our elderly. In one of the deadliest days yet for Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza, 79 people massacred by Israeli forces yesterday. Why has the search for humanitarian aid in Gaza become so deadly?

We'll look at a new report from Forensic Architecture about the controversial humanitarian aid system and starvation in Gaza. 19 Palestinians died of starvation Sunday. We are dying of hunger. We cannot find food or drink, not even water. We drink from the sea, and we can't find any food at all. That's reduction in force. Federal workers speak out. Every day at my office is like an eight-hour funeral. I really think that people are going to die. If hurricane tracking isn't being done, you're setting this nation up for just disaster, really.

DOJ is meeting with our information technology team to share data across government agencies that has not been done before, and that is really terrifying. A new audio series called I Do Solemnly Swear will speak with the journalists behind the project as the Trump administration shudders the research arm of the EPA. We'll speak with one of its former top administrators. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report.

I'm Amy Goodman. Israeli forces killed at least 115 Palestinians Sunday, including 92 people who died while seeking aid. In the deadliest attack, Israeli troops massacred at least 79 people at the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza, where Palestinians gathered to wait for 25 aid trucks from the U.N. World Food Program. In a statement, the UN agency said, quote, as the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire, unquote. The head of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said the facility was overwhelmed with victims

shot by Israel. Now Al-Shifa hospital is full of martyrs and wounded. The situation is catastrophic. We can no longer handle the influx of injuries, so we have started directing patients to other field hospitals. The situation is extremely bad and disastrous. There are so many dead and wounded, and we simply cannot treat them all. The Israeli army is targeting anyone heading to get food in the Zakeem area. People are starving.

Signs of malnutrition are starting to appear. Dr. Hassan Al-Shahr is head of Shifa Hospital. The attack came as the World Food Program warned Gaza's hunger crisis had reached new levels of desperation. Gaza's health ministry says at least 19 people have starved to death over the past day, including a 35-day-old infant and a three-month-old baby named Yahya al-Najjar. This is Yahya's uncle Anan. YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR,

YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, YAHYA AL-NAJAR, stand with the children, just to let baby formula get into the Gaza Strip. In other news from Gaza, Israel's launched a ground-and-air assault on the city of Dara Balakh, where thousands of displaced Palestinians have been sheltering.

On Sunday, Pope Leo called for an end to what he called the barbarity of war, after Israel bombed the only Catholic church in Gaza last week, killing at least three people and injuring several others, including the parish priest. Pope Leo spoke at the Vatican. POPE LEO, PEOPLE OF THE PAST This act sadly adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza. Once again I call for an immediate end to the barbarity of war. I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation

to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, of indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement of the population. In Britain, the police have arrested another 100 people for expressing support for the group Palestine Action, which was recently banned under Britain's Terrorism Act. Across Britain, demonstrators held signs reading, quote, I oppose genocide. I support Palestine action, unquote. Meanwhile, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship, the Handala, has begun its final leg to Gaza.

The ship set sail from southern Italy Sunday with the aim of breaking the Israeli blockade on Gaza. The Syrian government announced another ceasefire deal on Saturday between Bedouin and Druze groups in the southern province of Sweda. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says over 1,000 people have died in recent fighting in Sweda. Israel backed the Druze by launching multiple attacks on Syria last week. In a surprising prisoner swap, more than 250 Venezuelan immigrants were released from El Salvador's mega-prison Secat in exchange for 10 Americans and U.S. permanent residents

who were in Venezuelan custody. The three-country deal comes over three months after the Trump administration rounded up the Venezuelan immigrants and sent them to El Salvador without due process, even though many of them had open asylum cases in the U.S. Among those freed in the exchange is Andrea Nández Romero, a 33-year-old gay makeup artist who was wrongfully accused of being a gang member by the Trump administration over two crown tattoos he has on each arm with the words mom and dad. The freed Americans include 37-year-old Lucas Hunter, who'd been in Venezuelan custody

since late last year. This comes as advocates in El Salvador continue to demand the release of tens of thousands of Salvadorans detained at Zaycada and other prisons without access to due process under President Naib Buckele's so-called state of emergency. Many have been tortured in police custody. People held in a Miami immigration jail describe being shackled with their hands tied behind their backs and forced to kneel to eat from styrofoam plates on the floor like dogs. That's according to testimonies in a new Human Rights Watch report published today detailing

abusive conditions at the Crome Jail and two other detention facilities in Florida, operated by ICE. The report also says officers have denied detainees critical medication and held some of them in comunicado and solitary confinement as an apparent punishment for seeking mental health care. Detained immigrants were also routinely denied access to legal counsel. In more immigration news, an 82-year-old grandfather from Pennsylvania was quietly deported to Guatemala after he was apprehended during a visit to an ICE office to replace his lost

green card. Luis Leon lived in the U.S. for nearly 40 years. He was granted political asylum in the U.S. in 1987, after surviving torture under the military regime of the Chilean U.S.-backed dictator, Augusto Pinochet. His family says they were initially told he was dead, then learned he was in a hospital in Guatemala, a country he has no connection to. Guatemala is one of nearly a dozen countries that has an agreement with the Trump administration

to receive deported immigrants of other nationalities. Related news here in New York. A 19-year-old high school student has reunited with his family after ICE agents arrested him in June at his asylum hearing. Dairlees Chusen is from Ecuador and has been living with his relatives in Queens. This is a member of the legal team, Melissa Chua of New York Legal Assistance Group. We are so excited to welcome Dairlees home. He was taken a month ago in immigration detention, violently taken from his family, held at 26

Federal Plaza for many days in horrible conditions, and then transported to Texas, far away from his family, community, friends and school. And we—you can see how much they've missed him, because we have a number of supporters from his home, from his community, from his school here with him, waiting for him today. Another New York high school student, only identified as Dylan, remains in ICE custody. Since being taken by federal agents at a routine immigration hearing in May, Dylan's a 20-year-old asylum seeker from Venezuela. In Georgia, prosecutors have dropped all charges against the prominent Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara, but he still faces deportation and remains jailed at an ICE detention center

in Folkestone. Guevara was arrested while covering no King's demonstrations in June. He's lived in the United States for some 20 years and has built a large following for his reporting on anti-ICE protests. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lashed out at journalists during a press briefing in Nashville, Tennessee, Friday, denying widespread evidence that ICE agents are racially profiling people. The reporter has heard saying, quote, "'ICE' operations are taking place predominantly

in Latino communities before being interrupted by Nome. My audience is predominantly Latino. They kind of every day say they're fearful, because a lot of people have been targeted based on their skin color, not necessarily people's skin. That is not true. And so, that has been another false narrative that has been put out there in the media that I absolutely want to throw back at you and say that is absolutely

false and don't you dare ever say that again. The Democratic Republic of Congo and rebel forces have agreed to a declaration of principles aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo. A final peace deal with the Rwanda-backed M23 is set to be signed in August. Negotiations have been brokered by the U.S. and Qatar. Rwanda has been accused of supporting M23, which has seized major portions of the eastern DRC, including the cities of Goma and Bukavu, killing thousands of people and displacing hundreds of thousands more since January.

Police in Brazil raided the home and political headquarters of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro Friday. Brazil's Supreme Court also ordered Bolsonaro to wear an electronic ankle monitor, citing fears he may flee the country amidst his trial for plotting a coup to stay in power. Brazilian authorities also accused Bolsonaro of working with the United States to impose sanctions on Brazil after President Trump threatened to slap a 50 percent tariff on Brazil over the prosecution of Bolsonaro. On Friday, the Trump administration escalated its attacks on Brazil by revoking visas for

aid of Brazil's 11 Supreme Court justices. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced it will shut down its scientific research arm. The move has sparked widespread backlash from public health experts and climate advocates who warned this could lead to the dismantling of protections that shield communities from hazardous chemicals, water contaminants and toxic pollution. Gretchen Goldman, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement, quote, "...the nation enjoys a cleaner environment thanks to the decades of high-quality research

coming out of this office. Our nation cannot let this stand." Unquote. This comes as the EPA is also seeking to delay monitoring and cleanup requirements for toxic coal ash, allowing coal plants to stall cleanup beyond the year 2030. President Trump's threatening to block a new stadium deal for the Washington commander's football team, unless the team restores its old name, the Washington Redskins.

Trump also called for the Cleveland Guardians baseball team to resume using its old name, the Cleveland Indians. Both teams had changed their names following years of protests by Native American groups and their allies. In a major victory for cryptocurrency industry, President Trump signed the first federal legislation to regulate stablecoins. The Group Consumer Reports criticized the legislation, saying it fails to protect consumers and the economy from the risks posed by these digital assets.

President Trump has filed the $10 billion libel lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, The Wall Street Journal's parent company Dow Jones, and two reporters. After The Wall Street Journal reported, Trump had contributed a sketch drawing of a naked woman to a birthday album for serial sex trafficker and rapist Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday. CNN's described the lawsuit as a, quote, extraordinary escalation of Trump's ongoing legal campaign against the media companies he views as opponents, unquote of Trump's ongoing legal campaign against the media companies he views as opponents." Unquote.

Trump's close ties to Jeffrey Epstein are coming under increasing scrutiny as demands grow for the Trump administration to release files on Epstein, who died in prison in 2019. Especially strong are the demands by the MAGA base. Over the weekend, The New York Times revealed a former Epstein employee told the FBI in 1996 about a troubling encounter with Trump in Epstein's New York office. In other media news, the Writers Guild of America is urging New York officials to investigate Paramount's decision to cancel Stephen Colbert's late-night show on CBS. Colbert's show was canceled just days after he called out Paramount for agreeing to pay

President Trump $16 million to settle Trump's lawsuit against CBS's 60 Minutes. In a statement, the Writers Guild said, quote, given Paramount's recent capitulation to President Trump in the CBS News lawsuit, the Writers Guild of America has significant concerns that the late show's cancellation is a bribe, sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump administration as the company looks for merger approval, unquote. And in news from Minnesota, the Minneapolis Democratic-Farmer Labor Party has endorsed Democratic Socialist State Senator Omar Fattah for mayor over two-term incumbent Mayor Jacob Frye, who plans to run for reelection.

Fattah is the first Somali American and the first Muslim to serve in the Minnesota Senate. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. In one of the deadliest days yet for aid seekers in Gaza, Israeli forces killed at least 115 people on Sunday, including 92 who were killed while seeking aid. In the deadliest attack, at least 79 people at the Zikim crossing in north Gaza were massacred as they gathered near an aid convoy sent by the U.N. World Food Program in northern Gaza

in the hopes of getting flour. In a statement, the U.N. agency said, quote, "...as the convoy approached, the surrounded crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire, unquote. These latest killings come as the starvation crisis in Gaza continues to deepen. UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, has accused Israel of starving civilians, including a million children. The entire population, more than 2 million people, lack access to sufficient food, putting their lives at immediate risk.

Health authorities in Gaza say 19 people died of starvation over the last day, including at least one infant. This is the uncle of three-month-old Yahya Al-Najjar. He died due to malnutrition and the unavailability of baby formula at the Gaza Strip. We urge the entire world, all Arab countries and everyone with a living consciousness, humanity and dignity, to just stand with the children, just to let baby formula get into the Gaza Strip. Since late May, when militarized aid sites run by the U.S. and Israeli-backed so-called

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation were established, nearly 900 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to access aid, and more than 5,700 have been injured. This is the brother of Raed Sindhi, who was killed by Israeli fire while attempting to access aid yesterday at a site run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Aid Foundation. They go out just trying to stave off their hunger and their hunger of their children, but they come back wrapped in shrouds. We ask God Almighty, and we appeal to the international community, that these death traps be shut down and that humanitarian corridors be opened, out of mercy for our children,

our women and our elderly. For more, we're joined by two guests. In London, Davide Piscitelli is with us, an advanced researcher at Forensic Architecture at Goldsmiths University of London, where he co-directs Gaza research and is working on a forthcoming report tentatively titled The Architecture of Genocidal Starvation in Gaza. And in Somerville, Massachusetts, Alex DeWall is with us, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University, author of the book Mass Starvation, the History and

Future of Famine. He's working with Forensic Architecture on their report on starvation in Gaza. Welcome you both to Democracy Now! David Piscitelli, let's begin with you. You are coming out with this final report in the next few weeks, but you felt it was critical to get out something faster than that. Talk about why and what you found. Yeah, thank you.

What we saw yesterday, with over 90 people being killed while seeking aid, is something that we have been seeing daily since the end of May, especially with the introduction of the new Gaza-Manitoba Foundation aid system and also the dismantling of the U.N. system already in place, forcing civilians waiting aid at the crossing like yesterday, the Zikin crossing in the north. In our forthcoming report, we are analyzing how the militarized aid system, the GHF, is replacing the UN system in Gaza. The GHF is where we see most of the violence right now, especially in the proximity of

the GHF, but also inside the GHF and along the path. And there is a reason for this. The GHF system has only four stations. As we know, three are in Rafa, south of Gaza. One is in central, close to the Wadi Gaza. And this is only for the population that are in the south. So the population in the north,

they are completely cut out of this system. We are comparing four stations to the four other sides of the UN model. We've been collecting and verifying visual evidence of attacks against civilians and infrastructure, again, both in the proximity of the GHF or inside them. We also analyze the temporal and spatial architecture of the GHF system, which is a system that is designed to be lethal.

So what we saw yesterday and the day before and the past month is just the result of this new introduced militarized system. I can speak a bit more about the spatial and temporal architecture of the system if you'd like. Go ahead. So the GHF system, we are analyzing two elements, like the spatial element. We call it a militarized system because over the past 21 months we were analyzing satellite images and we saw a lot of destruction, as we all know, virtually all Gaza has been destroyed. But in the meantime, there is a military infrastructure that is growing inside Gaza, starting from the margin, especially over the

month of April and May 2025. We saw the complete destruction of Raafa and the construction of the corridor, the Morag Corridor. So between the Morag Corridor and the Philadelphia Corridor, we start to see pop up new military stations. And a few days after, we start to see what is today the aid distribution center of the GHF started to grow out of this infrastructure. So the GHF aid system is an extension of the military infrastructure that Israelis put in place in Gaza.

And then there is a temporal element of it. We analyzed over 160 announcements of the GHF. And by putting them on a timeline, we started to see that on average, the site is only open for 23 minutes. And after the 19 of June, the site is only open for 10 minutes. That means that the civilians is only 10 minutes

to enter and collect food when it's possible. Another important date on the time is the time between the announcement and the opening. And this shrinks down to 70 minutes. Having only 70 minutes means two things. One, the Palestinians cannot access to the site because they have to walk between 2.5 to 10 kilometers by walk on the hot temperature, hot surfaces like sand, between rumbles. But also, it means that the ephors further displaces them towards the south. And we are seeing from satellite images that new tents are getting closer and closer to

the GHF. But the GHF stations are inside the military zone. And this is where the shootings are happening right now. Alex DeWalt, I'd like to bring you into this conversation. You're executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University, author of Mass Starvation, The History and Future of Fam, and you're working with Forensic Architecture on their report. We have just heard that in the last day, 19 people, including at least one infant, have died of starvation in Gaza.

Can you talk about why this is happening? So, let me say that I've been working on this field of famine, food crisis and humanitarian action for more than 40 years. And there is no case over those four decades of such minutely engineered, closely monitored, precisely designed mass starvation of a population as is happening in Gaza today. So we have known from expert reports by the United Nations, by the Independent Famine Review Committee, by many others, exactly how this situation would unfold. And in May there were some authoritative reports that indicated

two trajectories that starvation might take in Gaza. There was then a complete siege and if that siege were to be continued, Gaza would completely run out of food within weeks and it takes about 60 to 80 days for an adult to die of starvation. It's entirely predictable, foreseeable. A child will die much more quickly and particularly a young child without an infant formula, without clean water, without maternal care, etc. We knew this was going to happen. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has humanitarian in the name, but it is not anything that a humanitarian professional would ever design. There are decades of experience of how you design these operations to work in war zones.

And the UN had a system, 400 feeding stations as David mentioned, all embedded within the community so that you could use the support of the community or families to make sure there was minimal disruption. It wasn't enough, but it was still something. Now what is happening with the Gaza humanitarian foundation is that not enough food is being provided. It's simply the rations are not enough. The essential food that children

need is not there. The essential services like clean water, like sanitation, like shelter, like fuel for cooking, none of those are there. And then as this report documents, the only way in which people can get access to those centres is by putting themselves in harm's way, by risking death, by shooting in order to get, to try and get food to feed their children. So it is entirely unsurprising, exactly as was predicted. And the only surmise that one, the only conclusion that one can come to is that Israel is doing this deliberately. They know exactly what they are doing, and this is intended.

Alex, you've referred to the ICJ—that's the International Court of Justice—provisional order more than a year ago, in March of 2024, that instructed Israel to provide a full spectrum of humanitarian relief and essential services through the U.N. Even the Israeli judge voted for it on the panel. It was unanimous. What happened as a result?" So, that was a very, very important decision.

It was an instruction, and order by the highest court in the world, the world court, if you like, to Israel. And it had that humanitarian provision. It also had a vote of 16 to one to say that this was a requirement if Israel were to fulfill its obligations to prevent genocide. Now that is very important. The Genocide Convention is not a convention just for punishing genocide, it's a convention for preventing it. So by definition you can't wait until after a genocide has happened or

after a famine has happened. We shouldn't wait and then count the graves of the children who have died and then say, it wasn't that terrible? Never again. When we have an authoritative warning, we need to act. And not just Israel. All states that are signatory to the Genocide Convention, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, everyone is required to act to prevent genocide. And that decision, that instruction, that order by the International Court of Justice, and as you say, the Israeli former chair of the High Court, Aharon Barak, voted for it, was the most authoritative order that one can have, and it has not been acted upon and what is happening today with this Gaza humanitarian foundation is an utter travesty of that and and I think we can all draw the logical conclusion from from from this shameful failure to prevent an utterly foreseeable disaster and crime.

Well, I want to thank you both for being with us. And we'll link to your reports, your preliminary findings, at democracynow.org. And also, again, Alex, your London Review of Books article that we interviewed you for in May called Starvation and Gaza. Alex DeWall, executive director of World Peace Foundation at Tufts University, author of Mass Starvation, the History and Future of Famine, he's working with Forensic Architecture on their forthcoming report on starvation of Gaza. And David Piscitelli, speaking to you in London, advanced researcher for forensic architecture. When we come back, we'll look at a new 972 report on Israeli soldiers saying they're

dropping grenades from drones in Gaza like a video game, that the goal is for Palestinians to learn through blood. We'll speak with Miron Rapaport, editor at Local Call, columnist with 972 Magazine. Stay with us. Today I feel weak, but tomorrow I'll feel a queen. I was raised by the street. Do you know what that really means? All this hurt I've suffered It just begins again In a baby girl Or a full grown man

Tomorrow will come Like the turning of the sun over tall buildings and the beating of a drum it lives in my heart but buried in the past The Navigator by Linda Sagada of Hooray for the Wrath, performing in our Democracy Now! studio. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I am Amy Goodman. The independent news outlets, 972 Magazine and Local Call, run by Palestinian and Israeli journalists, have revealed Israel is increasingly using grenade-firing drones to enforce evacuation orders. Israeli soldiers admitted to 972

they deliberately targeted civilians so others will quote learn not to return to their homes. One soldier said using drones to target Palestinians was quote like a video game. For more we go to Tel Aviv where we're joined by Miron Rappaport, editor and writer at the independent Israeli news site Local Call, a columnist at 972 magazine, which published the new report, headlined Like a Video Game, Israel Enforcing Gaza Evacuations with Grenade-Firing Drones. The piece has already elicited a response from the Chinese firm Altel, which says,

"...it never knowingly sold and authorized its drones for use by Israeli's army." 972 Magazine's new piece has headlined, "...Altel denies selling drones to Israel." So why are they roaming Gaza skies. Miron Rapoport, welcome back to Democracy Now! Lay out what your report reveals. The report reveals that from the beginning at the beginning, even by donation from Amazon or whatever. Eventually, the army turned these drones that are basically for photographing for surveillance, they turned them into an attacking machines by adding some kind of a tool that enables these drones to throw grenades from the air and using a remote control in order to throw them in Gaza. This is quite

widespread. It exists in almost all the combatting units in Gaza, as far as we know, as it was not by the beginning, at the beginning, distributed by the army itself, but both by the soldiers themselves, by the units. It's less organized, but still it's quite widespread. So, 972 and local hall spoke to seven Israeli soldiers and officers who served in Gaza for the investigation. A soldier they identify as S was deployed in the Rafah area for nearly 100 days, whereas battalion conducted dozens of drone strikes.

S said the intention of the strikes was to kill, despite the majority of victims being located at a distance where they couldn't have been threat to soldiers. He said, quote, it was clear that they were trying to return to their homes. There's no question. None of them were armed. Nothing was ever found near their bodies. We never fired warning shots, not at any point, the soldier said. He went on to describe the aftermath visible in the drone footage—dogs eating the bodies

that weren't collected. Quote, I couldn't bring myself to watch a dog eating a body, but others around me watched it. The dogs have learned to run toward areas where there's shooting or explosions. They understand it probably means there's a body there, unquote. Another soldier, identified as H, who served in central Gaza, said, quote, "'Were they aimed at our militants? Definitely not. Once a commander defines an imaginary red line that no one is allowed to cross, anyone

who does is marked for death,' unquote. In your report, you note, quote, the Palestinian journalist Yunus Tarawi published footage he had obtained of one of those drones dropping a grenade, which, according to him, targeted civilians in the Netsarim corridor in northern Gaza. On the drone controller screen, the text, Iron Ball Drop Device, appears. Based on the interface design and additional images reviewed by 972 and Local Call, there's strong evidence that the drone was an Auteuil model.

Respond to all of this and the significance of Auteuil. Yes, I think we have learned from these testimonies, and there were others also published by Yaniv Kubowich in the arts a few months ago, that the Israeli army draws some kind of imaginary lines in Gaza where Palestinians are not supposed to cross. And the way they learn that they cannot cross it is by practically shooting them. So then the other Palestinian will understand that this is a line that cannot be crossed. Now in this what we have described is connected also to the evacuation orders that grew in numbers and in magnitude in the last few months, in which Israel ordered the Palestinians to

leave whole neighborhoods in Rafah, then in Chanyounes, also in the north. And the way these drones were used is to sort of force this evacuation order by targeting those who were found in these areas. Either they didn't leave yet or they tried to return to their homes. So, and using the drones enables the soldiers to target from afar. They don't need to be quite close to the Palestinians. It could be in two kilometers, three kilometers away because they're using drones and of course a TV screen that enables them to see what they're using drones and of course a TV screen that enables them to see what they are targeting. Now, outer and there are other drones, I must say, that are being used, civilian drones that are used in Gaza by other companies, Chinese companies, outer are saying that they never authorize this, that this is against their

policy, completely against their policy, that their drones should not be used in combat areas and not target civilians. It is really not very clear how these drones arrived there, but it is quite—but distributors in Israel told us that Hautele is more or less aware. We don't know what's the truth there. Hautele, as I said, denies that completely, categorically, and say that the distributors are not saying the truth. But the fact of the matter is that these drones are there, that they are by Chinese manufacturers,

either Aoteo or others, and that they are used to attack civilians. This is the fact of the matter. And finally, talk to us about that quote of an Israeli soldier who talked about the goal is for Palestinians to learn through blood. Yes. This unfortunately is not new. As I said before, there was also a report by Yaniv Kubo, it's about four or five months ago, and again on the Nasserim corridor, where he also had the testimonies quite similar of soldiers saying that the army draws some line, and the way to implement this line is just to shoot

anyone who crosses this line. And many, he said that this report also, that the great, great majority of them were just civilians. Now, with the drones, it is more effective, because it could be, as I said, on a wider range, two or three kilometers away from where the soldiers are stationed. But the idea is the same. There is a line, and the line—the Palestinians know where the line is just by being shot at. We're going to have to leave it there. I want to thank you so much, Miron Rapaport, editor and writer at the Independent Israeli

News Site Local Call, columnist at 972 Magazine. We'll link to the new report, like a video game, Israel enforcing Gaza evacuations with grenade-firing drones. It was written by Yuval Abraham, who is the Oscar-winning co-director of the film No Other Land. Next up, as the Trump administration shutters the EPA's research arm, will speak with a former EPA top administrator and with the journalist behind a project featuring federal workers who are speaking out called Well, I'm the first to say We're all gonna be alright Been feeling that way We're all gonna be alright It's always been this way We've always have been all right

very dark golden days we've always have been all right and kuru shi taman kuru shi taman kuru shi taman we're all gonna be alright. And kulu shi tamam, kulu shi tamam. By Sincane, performed in our Democracy Now! studio. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.

We look now at the impact of major cuts by the Trump administration to key federal agencies. Last week began with a Supreme Court order that cleared the way for the mass layoffs at the Education Department, and ended Friday with the Environmental Protection Agency announcing it'll eliminate its scientific research arm and begin firing hundreds of chemists, biologists and toxicologists and other scientists after denying for months it intended to do so. The move has sparked widespread backlash from public health experts and climate advocates who've warned this could lead to the dismantling of protections that shield communities from hazardous chemicals, water contaminants and toxic pollution.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has aggressively gutted the EPA staff and other regulations President Trump at President Trump's behest. For more, we go to Durham, North Carolina, where we're joined by Jennifer Orms-Avaletta, a former principal deputy assistant administrator for science at the EPA Office of Research and Development. We welcome you to Democracy Now! Can you talk about the significance of wiping out your agency, your office within the EPA. Yeah, thank you for having me.

So the Office of Research and Development was part of EPA upon its creation. And the main purpose for the office is to provide science to help inform agency decisions and help to solve environmental problems. It provides essential information on air quality, water quality, the communities where we live and helping to ensure that they're safe, and more importantly, protecting public health. By eliminating this office, the administration has also proposed creation of a different

science office that would be under the administrator's office, and moving some staff to the agency's program offices, the Air, Water, Chemicals Office, and the Land and Emergency Management Office. But it's also been encouraging a number of staff to leave through these deferred resignation programs or early retirements. And by doing so, we are losing a treasure trove of historical knowledge, of scientific expertise, and really, it's going to limit what information, what science would be available for the agency to consider in protecting our health and our environment. Doge talks about the restructuring, saving the country money, I think something like

$748 million. Are they really saving the government money here, or just using this as an excuse to wipe out regulations that have been put in place to protect Americans? Yeah, no, it's not going to be saving money. And first off, the $700 million budget exceeds what ORD's budget is. And if anything, it's going to be shifting the economic burden, sending it more to communities, to hospitals, to families, in helping to address their healthy needs. It's really—the cost-saving is just a guise.

It's misleading. And it's going to have consequences for the American taxpayer. People are not going to be protected. So, I'll be prepared. Let me ask you something. The EPA says it will create a new office called the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions to replace your office's functions. Could you talk about the significance of this?

Sure. So, right now, the Office of Research and Development is a national program office, and it's to be led by a Senate-confirmed leader, assistant administrator. And those assistant administrators have usually been very well-respected, renowned scientists. By moving this office, by eliminating ORD and moving it to the administrator's office, it will not be led by a Senate-confirmed leader. It will be under the Administrator's Office, which

opens the door for perhaps greater political oversight. And it's unclear really what the function of this office is going to be, what kind of research, if any, they'll be conducting, or are they going to be really an in-house contract laboratory that will only do work as requested by the programs within the agency. Jennifer Orms, Avalot, I want to thank you for being with us, former principal deputy assistant administrator for science at the EPA Office of Research Development, Research and Development. The EPA has announced it's shuttering this scientific research arm, with hundreds of

scientists expected to be impacted, not to mention the number of people across this country. To talk more about the impact of cuts by the Trump administration that are dismantling essential services provided by the federal government. We turn to some of the voices featured in a new series made by members of Federal Workers Against Doge, which now has about 2,000 current and former federal workers. The project is called I Do Solemnly Swear and features a dozen current federal workers across agencies like FAA, CDC, EPA and the IRS. They shared their testimonials anonymously. This is an employee of the Internal Revenue Service speaking about tech companies collecting

data from the IRS. You've got contractors like Palantir coming in, and you've got Microsoft and all of these tech guys who were standing at the inauguration together, working together with federal agencies on your data, on your information. And I have not read enough sci-fi novels to see or to understand what's coming or what's happening. I'm trying to piece together how the IRS is going to shift away from tax compliance and the fairness aspect into using the IRS criminal investigation officers as police officers. We don't think that the people that were elected are now the people that they

warned us about. We can't comprehend that our data is going to be used in malicious ways by the federal government. So now who's the bad guys? And we just don't know. But what we're seeing is this this administration is testing everything, including laws. Hey, can we get away with this? I would bet that in the long term what we will see is that government will have to repair the damage that is being done by Doge. So, that was an internal revenue service worker featured in the new series, I do solemnly swear.

This is another testimonial featuring a FAA, a federal aviation administration worker, describing the FAA regulations being removed. You know, we say at the FAA that our rules are written in blood. And what that means is every rule that we have to regulate air traffic control and pilots. Every single one of those was created because there was a disaster and people died. We have people coming in to FAA now saying they know a better way to do it when they don't even know why FAA does things the way it does. The rules are not written in crayon for people to come in

and try to haphazardly change things without recognizing that when things were done a different way, people died. It's so difficult to see people who really do want to do the job well put into these awful situations where they're forced to choose between protecting the public or protecting their jobs. That's not something we should have to choose between.

When you see leadership cutting corners instead of doing their due diligence, firing people indiscriminately no matter how mission-critical they are. You know I think if you asked me today if I would feel safe getting on a plane in this country I would say yes. You know maybe I'm an optimist but I believe in our frontline staff and they work so hard to make this one of the safest places in the world to fly on an airplane. But you know, ask me that question again in six months, and I might give you a different

answer. So, that's a federal aviation administration worker, a worker at the FAA. Featured in the new series, I do solemnly swear. For more, we're joined by the series director and co-producer, Laura Nix, a Peabody Award-winning, Oscar- and Emmy-nominated filmmaker. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Laura. Congratulations on this audio series. Talk about the significance of it now.

I mean, even as you come out with this series, a number of the people that you spoke to who were still working, so wanted to protect their identities, have been fired or laid off or, what, riffed, reduction in force. Thanks for having me. The series is speaking to people who are— I'd say almost everyone in the series is still working inside the government, and that's why they remained anonymous. They spoke to us at great risk, because right now if they were able to reveal themselves, they would probably be fired or they could face the risk of criminal prosecution.

But what we learned from them is how essential services that Americans have thought that we could depend upon for decades are being dismantled across almost every agency in the government. Can you talk about what happened to the EPA workers who signed—I think it was about 150 of them who signed a declaration of dissent? Weren't most of them immediately escorted off—out of their offices? By signing that dissent, they were all immediately put on administrative leave. And that includes one of the people that we interviewed in the series, who was not the

woman who spoke earlier, but another person. And the risk of people being able to speak out right now is highly dangerous for them. And that in and of itself should be an alarm bell for all of us, that people just can't even talk about what's going on inside their workplaces. That's why we did these interviews. This is an EPA worker discussing his fears about the future, as Doge continues to slash funding and fire workers. They're slashing government funding, firing career employees.

Why are we cutting all these employees? No one can give us answers. Our water, our air, our land are protected by people. It doesn't magically happen that these programs exist and people are healthy. The environmental justice employees are the ones that are protecting our most vulnerable populations and they're going to be let go because of Trump's DEI agenda. Environmental justice isn't a buzzword. That's meant for political advantage. In wealthy affluent neighborhoods, you don't find garbage dumps, you don't find factories,

you don't find cancer alleys. The environmental justice is a science. We're making sure that these polluting industries don't get away with it scot-free. You create this exodus of knowledge. There's not going to be these scientists to protect the people from deadly contaminants. People forget that federal workers are also taxpayers, and I can assure you and everyone else that as taxpayers, we don't want what they're doing.

Doge is harming the public. It's harming the taxpayers. The real profound impacts aren't going to be within his presidency. It's going to be everything that happens in the future. And we might not even realize it's happening when it does. That's what's keeping me up at night. That's an environmental work—EPA worker, part of Laura Nix's remarkable series, I do solemnly swear. One of the veteran health administration, VA employee, warned that suicide prevention

lines for veterans are understaffed and overwhelmed, raising alarm for life or death consequences. I think that population, veterans, is one of the largest suicide rates. Can you talk about that? Yeah, I was really struck by the VHA worker that I spoke to. They're incredibly dedicated to their veteran clients. And they spoke very emotionally about how worried they are about their welfare in the future. The series is directed, my co-creator Mark Weiss and I felt it was very important to focus on not just the illegality of the firings, but the impact on Americans of the hollowing out of these services and benefits. And we've depended for a very long time thinking that these benefits and the safety

of our highways, our water, our airspace is safe, but we're learning that these are all being taken away. In the instance of VHA— We have 10 seconds. OK. This is a population that needs help, and they're very dedicated. These public servants are dedicated and committed to providing services. We have to leave it there.

I think 18 veterans die by suicide each day. That does it for our show. I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.