TempestOfTempo
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Palestinian Resistance Launch Major Attack on Israel: What Happened? – LIVE BLOG
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Stucky
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Wounded Palestinians shot dead after West Bank drone attack: Rights group
Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) has accused the Israeli military of shooting dead three Palestinians who were seriously wounded and lying on the ground after a drone attack in Tammun village in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
Based on documentation collected after the killings, the child rights group said the three young Palestinian men, including 17-year-old Mohammad Bashar Hasan Bani Odeh, were seriously injured but still alive when a military vehicle arrived at the scene of the attack.
When the Israeli soldiers realised that Mohammad and the other two injured men were alive, “they ordered a nearby ambulance driver to leave at gunpoint….and proceeded to fatally shoot each of them at point-blank range”, the organisation said in a statement on their website.
The bodies of the three slain men were then “confiscated”, DCIP said.
Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP, said foreign governments need to act now and place sanctions on “Israeli forces who have been allowed to brutally kill Palestinian children with impunity for decades”.
Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) has accused the Israeli military of shooting dead three Palestinians who were seriously wounded and lying on the ground after a drone attack in Tammun village in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
Based on documentation collected after the killings, the child rights group said the three young Palestinian men, including 17-year-old Mohammad Bashar Hasan Bani Odeh, were seriously injured but still alive when a military vehicle arrived at the scene of the attack.
When the Israeli soldiers realised that Mohammad and the other two injured men were alive, “they ordered a nearby ambulance driver to leave at gunpoint….and proceeded to fatally shoot each of them at point-blank range”, the organisation said in a statement on their website.
The bodies of the three slain men were then “confiscated”, DCIP said.
Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP, said foreign governments need to act now and place sanctions on “Israeli forces who have been allowed to brutally kill Palestinian children with impunity for decades”.
Stucky
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West Bank
Key Highlights
www.ochaopt.org
Key Highlights
- The number of Palestinian children killed by live ammunition fired by Israeli forces has almost tripled since 7 October compared with the preceding 10 months (115 compared to 39).
- The number of Palestinian children injured by live ammunition fired by Israeli forces has more than doubled since 7 October compared with the preceding 10 months (1,411 compared to 615).
- Israeli settlers assault two Palestinian children by handcuffing them, breaking their legs, and urinating on them in a settler outpost near Bethlehem.
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - occupied Palestinian territory | Humanitarian Situation Update #204 | West Bank
The number of Palestinian children killed by live ammunition fired by Israeli forces has almost tripled since 7 October compared with the preceding 10 months (115 compared to 39).
Haich
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Stucky
Superstar
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Haaretz Investigation: Israeli Army Uses Palestinian Civilians to Inspect Potentially Booby-trapped Tunnels in Gaza
'Our lives are more important than their lives': Gazans not suspected of terrorism are detained and sent as human shields to search tunnels and houses before IDF soldiers enter, with the full knowledge of senior Israeli officers, several sources say; IDF claims this practice is forbidden
At first it's hard to recognize them. They're usually wearing Israeli army uniforms, many of them are in their 20s, and they're always with Israeli soldiers of various ranks.
But if you look more closely, you see that most of them are wearing sneakers, not army boots. And their hands are cuffed behind their backs and their faces are full of fear. The soldiers call each of them a shawish, an obscure Arabic word of Turkish origin meaning sergeant.
Random Palestinians have been used by Israeli army units in the Gaza Strip for one purpose: to serve as human shields for soldiers during operations.
"Our lives are more important than their lives," soldiers were told. The thinking is that it's better for the Israeli soldiers to remain alive and for the shawishim to be the ones blown up by an explosive device.
This description is one of many obtained by Haaretz, some from combat soldiers, others from commanders. The picture that emerges: In recent months, Israeli soldiers have used human shields in this way all over Gaza; even the chief of staff's office knows.
Soldiers choose Gazans for the missions and bring them to the brigades and battalions operating in the Strip. "There is pride in it," said a source who took part in some of the "locating" work.
"The senior ranks know about it," the source said. The army has played innocent despite footage shown on Al Jazeera about two months ago. Israeli soldiers can be seen dressing Palestinian detainees in uniforms and flak jackets, putting cameras on them and sending them into badly damaged houses and tunnel entrances with their hands bound by plastic ties.
The Americans are furious, though Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesman, has said that the Israel Defense Forces is investigating the incidents and that the evidence in the videos does not reflect the IDF's values and violates rules and regulations.
"When I saw the report from Al Jazeera, I said: 'Ah, yes, it's true,'" a combat soldier in a conscript IDF brigade who took part in the use of Gazans as human shields told Haaretz. "And then I saw the IDF's response, which totally doesn't reflect reality. It's done with the knowledge of the brigade commander, at the least."
The soldier said that in the IDF, "they know that it's not a one-time incident of a young and stupid company commander who decides on his own to take somebody."
There is also evidence that in some cases, minors or the elderly are used. "There were times when really old people were made to go into houses," one combat soldier said. If the Palestinian knows Hebrew, that's an advantage for the IDF; when Gazans are used in buildings and tunnels, they need to report to the forces outside.
As one soldier put it, Palestinians are told: "Do one mission of ... a [tunnel] shaft and you're free."
Still, even though some Palestinians are required to remain with a unit "only" for 24 hours, others wind up staying for two days or even a week. "When you're inside this thing, you don't know how to say what's okay," the soldier said. "What's certain is that it's a horrible feeling."
For its part, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said: "IDF instructions and orders prohibit the use of Gazan civilians caught in the field for military missions that pose a deliberate risk to their lives. The IDF's instructions and orders on the subject have been made clear to the forces. Upon receipt of the request, the allegations were forwarded to the relevant authorities for review."
The incidents described to Haaretz occurred in different parts of Gaza, but they are all very similar – as the story of a combat soldier who spent months there reveals. One day, he and his comrades arrived at the brigade commander's building.
The soldier saw someone he didn't recognize walking back and forth, accompanied by soldiers who were guarding him. "He was wearing a uniform without a [flak jacket] and with sports shoes … They asked us to accompany him if he needed to go to the bathroom, and to make sure he had food."
The soldier said he didn't understand what was going on at this stage; he and his fellow soldiers wondered if the Palestinian was a prisoner now collaborating with the IDF.
But the next day, the troops needed to inspect a tunnel, and, viewing a screen, soldiers realized that the Palestinian had been sent inside the tunnel wearing an IDF uniform. His hands were tied behind his back and a camera was attached to his body.
"We heard very deep breaths; it sounded like he was a little afraid," said a soldier who viewed footage of this incident. "They simply sent him in and he mapped it out for the commanders, with the brigade commander watching on the outside."
One soldier said that when soldiers there expressed concerns, they were told that "the idea in general was that if the house was booby-trapped, or if there was an ambush or terrorists were in the area, they would kill [the Palestinian who was sent in] and not the soldiers. That was also the first time the commanders said the word 'shawish.'"
Another soldier in that unit said that this happened time after time; he said that in every operation, a human shield would be sent out 10 minutes before everyone else; then came the wait for the brigade commander.
"People began to ask questions, very quickly a mess began about this procedure," one soldier said. "Some argued that they weren't willing to carry out operations if it included a Gazan who was forced to sacrifice himself. Of course, there were those who supported it, but at least with us there were just a few of them, mostly the commanders who were afraid to deal with the more senior commanders."
In one case, an Israeli soldier who took part in a raid on a building said one of the units had a Gazan dressed in white overalls. As part of an attempt to make armed Palestinians inside the building come out, the Gazan was sent there as a kind of mediator. But the attempt failed and the armed men shot the man.
When no doubt exists
Palestinians were already used as human shields in 2002's Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank during the second intifada. This was often known as "the neighbor procedure" – soldiers fearing booby traps sent Palestinians into buildings; this was also done in the search for wanted men.
Rights groups then petitioned the Supreme Court, serving as the High Court of Justice, which ruled in 2005 that the procedure was illegal and violated international law. The IDF chief of staff at the time, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, ordered the military to thoroughly enforce the court's ruling.
But in recent months the IDF has preferred not to comment officially on the matter, even though it was reportedly discussed by the most senior officers. Sources say that IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi is among the senior officers aware of the use of Gazans as human shields.
"The head of Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, knows too," a source at Southern Command says. "In every meeting where this issue was raised, there were commanders who warned about the ethical and legal implications if the matter was exposed publicly. There were officers who asked that the meeting be halted so that they would be allowed to leave."
A soldier in a conscript army brigade added: "About five months ago, two Palestinians were brought to us. One was 20 and the other was 16. We were told: 'Use them, they're Gazans, use them as human shields.'"
According to this soldier, that day, soldiers in the unit began to ask questions about this use of civilians as human shields; they also wanted to know who gave the order.
According to the soldier, "They tried to say something about October 7, not something concrete. One person said: 'Don't beat them too much because we need them to open the locations'" where troops need to enter, such as buildings and tunnels.
This order was just one that the soldiers received. For example, they were also required to keep the Gazans handcuffed, and to ensure that the Gazans didn't escape or enter the rooms and floors where the commanders were. The Gazans were given combat rations and water.
Many soldiers felt uncomfortable about this, demanded answers and even shouted, said a person who was near one of the Gazans. "Most of them realized there was a problematic incident here, and it was hard for them to process," he said.
He added: "One of the commanders turned to one of the combat soldiers who tried to receive answers and told him: 'You don't agree that the lives of your friends are much more important than their lives? And isn't it better that our friends will live and not be blown up by an explosive device, and that they get blown up by an explosive device?"
This soldier said that the commander's comment was made with such aggressiveness that it was clear that there was little room for the troops to express doubts.
One soldier said that when he and his colleagues asked "why," they were told about the dogs of the Oketz canine unit. Dogs were getting killed or wounded when they were sent in to locate explosives or attack the enemy. Or after their experience, the dogs had to be discharged because their operational senses had deteriorated.
A more senior official confirmed this claim, though some soldiers said they thought this was just an excuse to soothe consciences.
An irrelevant law
Either way, many soldiers still have harsh feelings. "You keep quiet and try to convince yourself, 'Yalla, okay, let's use them.' They tried to explain it rationally, but in the end a 16-year-old kid is sitting there handcuffed inside the house with his eyes covered," a person who was there said.
"The soldiers needed to help him go to the bathroom or feed him. It wasn't an incident that begins and ends with his entering the houses and tunnels or the blowing up of buildings. There's the time you spent with these same people in the house for a few days."
After two or three days in which a teenager was used as a human shield by soldiers, they asked to speak with the battalion commander and told him they no longer wished to take part. Some also raised doubts about another issue – the need for the order to burn buildings after the buildings were searched.
The term "international law" came up a number of times, but the battalion commander reportedly had one response to all the soldiers' questions: "A soldier doesn't need to take an interest in the laws of war. You need to think about the IDF's values and act according to the IDF's values, not the laws of war."
The next day the teenager was released. He was taken to a checkpoint and told to walk south. "Then we finally realized that these weren't really terrorists but civilians who were taken especially for these operations," the soldier said.
source
'Our lives are more important than their lives': Gazans not suspected of terrorism are detained and sent as human shields to search tunnels and houses before IDF soldiers enter, with the full knowledge of senior Israeli officers, several sources say; IDF claims this practice is forbidden
At first it's hard to recognize them. They're usually wearing Israeli army uniforms, many of them are in their 20s, and they're always with Israeli soldiers of various ranks.
But if you look more closely, you see that most of them are wearing sneakers, not army boots. And their hands are cuffed behind their backs and their faces are full of fear. The soldiers call each of them a shawish, an obscure Arabic word of Turkish origin meaning sergeant.
Random Palestinians have been used by Israeli army units in the Gaza Strip for one purpose: to serve as human shields for soldiers during operations.
"Our lives are more important than their lives," soldiers were told. The thinking is that it's better for the Israeli soldiers to remain alive and for the shawishim to be the ones blown up by an explosive device.
This description is one of many obtained by Haaretz, some from combat soldiers, others from commanders. The picture that emerges: In recent months, Israeli soldiers have used human shields in this way all over Gaza; even the chief of staff's office knows.
Soldiers choose Gazans for the missions and bring them to the brigades and battalions operating in the Strip. "There is pride in it," said a source who took part in some of the "locating" work.
"The senior ranks know about it," the source said. The army has played innocent despite footage shown on Al Jazeera about two months ago. Israeli soldiers can be seen dressing Palestinian detainees in uniforms and flak jackets, putting cameras on them and sending them into badly damaged houses and tunnel entrances with their hands bound by plastic ties.
The Americans are furious, though Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesman, has said that the Israel Defense Forces is investigating the incidents and that the evidence in the videos does not reflect the IDF's values and violates rules and regulations.
"When I saw the report from Al Jazeera, I said: 'Ah, yes, it's true,'" a combat soldier in a conscript IDF brigade who took part in the use of Gazans as human shields told Haaretz. "And then I saw the IDF's response, which totally doesn't reflect reality. It's done with the knowledge of the brigade commander, at the least."
(Some of the soldiers' comments in this article have also been told to the nongovernmental organization Breaking the Silence.)
The soldier said that in the IDF, "they know that it's not a one-time incident of a young and stupid company commander who decides on his own to take somebody."
There is also evidence that in some cases, minors or the elderly are used. "There were times when really old people were made to go into houses," one combat soldier said. If the Palestinian knows Hebrew, that's an advantage for the IDF; when Gazans are used in buildings and tunnels, they need to report to the forces outside.
As one soldier put it, Palestinians are told: "Do one mission of ... a [tunnel] shaft and you're free."
Still, even though some Palestinians are required to remain with a unit "only" for 24 hours, others wind up staying for two days or even a week. "When you're inside this thing, you don't know how to say what's okay," the soldier said. "What's certain is that it's a horrible feeling."
For its part, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said: "IDF instructions and orders prohibit the use of Gazan civilians caught in the field for military missions that pose a deliberate risk to their lives. The IDF's instructions and orders on the subject have been made clear to the forces. Upon receipt of the request, the allegations were forwarded to the relevant authorities for review."
The incidents described to Haaretz occurred in different parts of Gaza, but they are all very similar – as the story of a combat soldier who spent months there reveals. One day, he and his comrades arrived at the brigade commander's building.
The soldier saw someone he didn't recognize walking back and forth, accompanied by soldiers who were guarding him. "He was wearing a uniform without a [flak jacket] and with sports shoes … They asked us to accompany him if he needed to go to the bathroom, and to make sure he had food."
The soldier said he didn't understand what was going on at this stage; he and his fellow soldiers wondered if the Palestinian was a prisoner now collaborating with the IDF.
But the next day, the troops needed to inspect a tunnel, and, viewing a screen, soldiers realized that the Palestinian had been sent inside the tunnel wearing an IDF uniform. His hands were tied behind his back and a camera was attached to his body.
"We heard very deep breaths; it sounded like he was a little afraid," said a soldier who viewed footage of this incident. "They simply sent him in and he mapped it out for the commanders, with the brigade commander watching on the outside."
One soldier said that when soldiers there expressed concerns, they were told that "the idea in general was that if the house was booby-trapped, or if there was an ambush or terrorists were in the area, they would kill [the Palestinian who was sent in] and not the soldiers. That was also the first time the commanders said the word 'shawish.'"
Another soldier in that unit said that this happened time after time; he said that in every operation, a human shield would be sent out 10 minutes before everyone else; then came the wait for the brigade commander.
"People began to ask questions, very quickly a mess began about this procedure," one soldier said. "Some argued that they weren't willing to carry out operations if it included a Gazan who was forced to sacrifice himself. Of course, there were those who supported it, but at least with us there were just a few of them, mostly the commanders who were afraid to deal with the more senior commanders."
In one case, an Israeli soldier who took part in a raid on a building said one of the units had a Gazan dressed in white overalls. As part of an attempt to make armed Palestinians inside the building come out, the Gazan was sent there as a kind of mediator. But the attempt failed and the armed men shot the man.
When no doubt exists
Palestinians were already used as human shields in 2002's Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank during the second intifada. This was often known as "the neighbor procedure" – soldiers fearing booby traps sent Palestinians into buildings; this was also done in the search for wanted men.
Rights groups then petitioned the Supreme Court, serving as the High Court of Justice, which ruled in 2005 that the procedure was illegal and violated international law. The IDF chief of staff at the time, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, ordered the military to thoroughly enforce the court's ruling.
But in recent months the IDF has preferred not to comment officially on the matter, even though it was reportedly discussed by the most senior officers. Sources say that IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi is among the senior officers aware of the use of Gazans as human shields.
"The head of Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, knows too," a source at Southern Command says. "In every meeting where this issue was raised, there were commanders who warned about the ethical and legal implications if the matter was exposed publicly. There were officers who asked that the meeting be halted so that they would be allowed to leave."
A soldier in a conscript army brigade added: "About five months ago, two Palestinians were brought to us. One was 20 and the other was 16. We were told: 'Use them, they're Gazans, use them as human shields.'"
According to this soldier, that day, soldiers in the unit began to ask questions about this use of civilians as human shields; they also wanted to know who gave the order.
According to the soldier, "They tried to say something about October 7, not something concrete. One person said: 'Don't beat them too much because we need them to open the locations'" where troops need to enter, such as buildings and tunnels.
This order was just one that the soldiers received. For example, they were also required to keep the Gazans handcuffed, and to ensure that the Gazans didn't escape or enter the rooms and floors where the commanders were. The Gazans were given combat rations and water.
Many soldiers felt uncomfortable about this, demanded answers and even shouted, said a person who was near one of the Gazans. "Most of them realized there was a problematic incident here, and it was hard for them to process," he said.
He added: "One of the commanders turned to one of the combat soldiers who tried to receive answers and told him: 'You don't agree that the lives of your friends are much more important than their lives? And isn't it better that our friends will live and not be blown up by an explosive device, and that they get blown up by an explosive device?"
This soldier said that the commander's comment was made with such aggressiveness that it was clear that there was little room for the troops to express doubts.
One soldier said that when he and his colleagues asked "why," they were told about the dogs of the Oketz canine unit. Dogs were getting killed or wounded when they were sent in to locate explosives or attack the enemy. Or after their experience, the dogs had to be discharged because their operational senses had deteriorated.
A more senior official confirmed this claim, though some soldiers said they thought this was just an excuse to soothe consciences.
An irrelevant law
Either way, many soldiers still have harsh feelings. "You keep quiet and try to convince yourself, 'Yalla, okay, let's use them.' They tried to explain it rationally, but in the end a 16-year-old kid is sitting there handcuffed inside the house with his eyes covered," a person who was there said.
"The soldiers needed to help him go to the bathroom or feed him. It wasn't an incident that begins and ends with his entering the houses and tunnels or the blowing up of buildings. There's the time you spent with these same people in the house for a few days."
After two or three days in which a teenager was used as a human shield by soldiers, they asked to speak with the battalion commander and told him they no longer wished to take part. Some also raised doubts about another issue – the need for the order to burn buildings after the buildings were searched.
The term "international law" came up a number of times, but the battalion commander reportedly had one response to all the soldiers' questions: "A soldier doesn't need to take an interest in the laws of war. You need to think about the IDF's values and act according to the IDF's values, not the laws of war."
The next day the teenager was released. He was taken to a checkpoint and told to walk south. "Then we finally realized that these weren't really terrorists but civilians who were taken especially for these operations," the soldier said.
source
Stucky
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- May 17, 2020
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Columbia President Resigns After Violent Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Student Protests | Common Dreams
The president of Columbia University announced her resignation late Wednesday, months after she authorized a violent police crackdown on student demonstrators urging the school to divest from Israel over the country's devastating assault on the Gaza Strip.
www.commondreams.org
Stucky
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- May 17, 2020
- Messages
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AJ,
‘Blood is on our hands,’ US peace group says as Gaza marks 40,000 deaths
The US-based peace organisation Fellowship of Reconciliation has criticised the Biden administration for paying “lip service” to ceasefire talks days after approving an additional $20bn in weapons sales to Israel as Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory.
“The blood is on all our hands around the world, but especially on ours here in the US, where we are supplying the tools of destruction and death,” Executive Director Ariel Gold told Al Jazeera from New Jersey.
“As much as this is Israel’s war and tragedy, this is America’s war and tragedy,” she added.
Gold expressed hope that a new US administration led by Vice President Kamala Harris after November’s election would break from Biden’s policy of unconditional support for Israel.
“We are seeing very large shifts in public opinion towards Palestinian rights. The question is whether those shifts are large enough and will come soon enough to save lives,” she said.
‘We rarely hear that there has been an attack without child casualties’: UNICEF
Salim Oweis, communication officer for the regional office of UNICEF who travelled across Gaza last week, says the horrific conditions there are challenging to describe.
“What I saw is beyond describing – even TV screens don’t do it justice,” he told Al Jazeera. “Not only are buildings destroyed, but whole neighbourhoods and streets in places like Khan Younis or Gaza City.”
He said living conditions in displacement camps and shelters are unbearable, and even spending a short time there was a struggle due to the heat, sand and the crowded nature.
“In Deir el-Balah, the amount of displaced people is horrific; it feels like everyone has been displaced. We’re talking about 90 percent of the population which has been displaced at least once,” Oweis said.
He added that during many of Israel’s attacks, children are among the victims.
“We rarely hear that there has been an attack without child casualties,” Oweis said. “Children are almost half the population of Gaza, which was densely crowded even before this war.”
Gaza deaths are ‘vastly underestimated’: Intensive care doctor
Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a paediatric intensive care doctor working with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) who had been to Gaza both before and during the war, believes the death toll in the Gaza Strip is much higher than the 40,000 confirmed so far.
She told Al Jazeera that she personally knows Palestinians who have missing family members, who they hope are somewhere in the north or have been detained by Israeli forces. There are others who are under the rubble but cannot yet be recovered.
“The census mechanism for the Gaza Strip has been destroyed, so I’m not even sure how you could be able to estimate the number of true deaths under current circumstances. I know historically that the estimates from the Ministry of Health have been accurate, and if anything, they are underestimates,” Haj-Hassan said.
11-year-old boy succumbs to fourth-degree burns sustained in al-Tabin School bombing
Omar al-Jaabari, an 11-year-old boy who sustained grave burn injuries all over his body after multiple Israeli bombs hit al-Tabin School over the weekend, where displaced Palestinians were sheltering, has succumbed to his wounds.
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, which spoke to family members, reports that the child has joined the more than 100 Palestinians who were killed as a result of the attack.
The Israeli military claimed it was attacking “terrorists”.
MEE,
Guard killed captive against instructions after children died in Israeli strikes
The armed wing of Hamas said its internal investigation found that a guard killed an Israeli captive after his two children were killed in Israeli air strikes, acting against instructions.
Abu Obeida, Hamas's military spokesman, said the "incident does not represent our ethics and the teachings of our religion in dealing with prisoners" and that instructions will be "tightened" around the guarding of captives.
"After investigating the killing of an enemy prisoner by his guard, it was found that the guard acted in a vengeful manner contrary to instructions after receiving news of the martyrdom of his two children in one of the enemy's massacres," Abu Obeida said.
"We hold the enemy fully responsible for all the suffering and danger that its prisoners are exposed to as a result of violating all norms of humanitarian treatment and its brutal genocide against our people."
‘Blood is on our hands,’ US peace group says as Gaza marks 40,000 deaths
The US-based peace organisation Fellowship of Reconciliation has criticised the Biden administration for paying “lip service” to ceasefire talks days after approving an additional $20bn in weapons sales to Israel as Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory.
“The blood is on all our hands around the world, but especially on ours here in the US, where we are supplying the tools of destruction and death,” Executive Director Ariel Gold told Al Jazeera from New Jersey.
“As much as this is Israel’s war and tragedy, this is America’s war and tragedy,” she added.
Gold expressed hope that a new US administration led by Vice President Kamala Harris after November’s election would break from Biden’s policy of unconditional support for Israel.
“We are seeing very large shifts in public opinion towards Palestinian rights. The question is whether those shifts are large enough and will come soon enough to save lives,” she said.
‘We rarely hear that there has been an attack without child casualties’: UNICEF
Salim Oweis, communication officer for the regional office of UNICEF who travelled across Gaza last week, says the horrific conditions there are challenging to describe.
“What I saw is beyond describing – even TV screens don’t do it justice,” he told Al Jazeera. “Not only are buildings destroyed, but whole neighbourhoods and streets in places like Khan Younis or Gaza City.”
He said living conditions in displacement camps and shelters are unbearable, and even spending a short time there was a struggle due to the heat, sand and the crowded nature.
“In Deir el-Balah, the amount of displaced people is horrific; it feels like everyone has been displaced. We’re talking about 90 percent of the population which has been displaced at least once,” Oweis said.
He added that during many of Israel’s attacks, children are among the victims.
“We rarely hear that there has been an attack without child casualties,” Oweis said. “Children are almost half the population of Gaza, which was densely crowded even before this war.”
Gaza deaths are ‘vastly underestimated’: Intensive care doctor
Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a paediatric intensive care doctor working with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) who had been to Gaza both before and during the war, believes the death toll in the Gaza Strip is much higher than the 40,000 confirmed so far.
She told Al Jazeera that she personally knows Palestinians who have missing family members, who they hope are somewhere in the north or have been detained by Israeli forces. There are others who are under the rubble but cannot yet be recovered.
“The census mechanism for the Gaza Strip has been destroyed, so I’m not even sure how you could be able to estimate the number of true deaths under current circumstances. I know historically that the estimates from the Ministry of Health have been accurate, and if anything, they are underestimates,” Haj-Hassan said.
11-year-old boy succumbs to fourth-degree burns sustained in al-Tabin School bombing
Omar al-Jaabari, an 11-year-old boy who sustained grave burn injuries all over his body after multiple Israeli bombs hit al-Tabin School over the weekend, where displaced Palestinians were sheltering, has succumbed to his wounds.
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, which spoke to family members, reports that the child has joined the more than 100 Palestinians who were killed as a result of the attack.
The Israeli military claimed it was attacking “terrorists”.
MEE,
Guard killed captive against instructions after children died in Israeli strikes
The armed wing of Hamas said its internal investigation found that a guard killed an Israeli captive after his two children were killed in Israeli air strikes, acting against instructions.
Abu Obeida, Hamas's military spokesman, said the "incident does not represent our ethics and the teachings of our religion in dealing with prisoners" and that instructions will be "tightened" around the guarding of captives.
"After investigating the killing of an enemy prisoner by his guard, it was found that the guard acted in a vengeful manner contrary to instructions after receiving news of the martyrdom of his two children in one of the enemy's massacres," Abu Obeida said.
"We hold the enemy fully responsible for all the suffering and danger that its prisoners are exposed to as a result of violating all norms of humanitarian treatment and its brutal genocide against our people."
Stucky
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- May 17, 2020
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- 6,102
Hamas confirms Mohammed Deif survived assassination attempt
Israel claimed that the Hamas military leader was killed in the strike on southern Gaza's Al-Mawasi last month, which massacred dozens of civilians
thecradle.co
How a BRICS trio is staring down Israel
While Israel increasingly isolates itself on the international stage, BRICS members Iran, Russia, and China are quietly coordinating a full-spectrum effort to support Palestine diplomatically and militarily.
thecradle.co
Stucky
Superstar
- Joined
- May 17, 2020
- Messages
- 6,102
40,000 killed in Gaza a ‘source of eternal global shame’: Islamic Relief
The killing of 40,000 people in Gaza should be “a source of eternal global shame,” Islamic Relief has said, adding that behind every number was a person.
“They include babies, children, mothers, fathers, farmers, shopkeepers, students, teachers, journalists, doctors, aid workers, artists, entrepreneurs, grandparents and much more,” it said in a statement.
“Gaza’s entire society is being killed as the world watches.”
It added that the deaths were “the inevitable consequence of allowing international law to be violated with impunity” and called on governments to suspend their support to Israel, including halting arms sales and trade agreements.
Loss of life in Gaza ‘unimaginable’, aid group says
US-based humanitarian organisation Mercy Corps CEO says it is hard to “fully comprehend” the death toll from Israel’s war in Gaza, which has now crossed 40,000.
“These are not just numbers – each person killed was someone’s son, daughter, mother, father, or grandparent,” Tjada D’Oyen McKenna said in a statement.
“The scale of loss is unimaginable yet shows no sign of stopping while conflict, preventable hunger, malnutrition, disease, and illness continue to claim lives in Gaza every day. It is time for those with the power to end this carnage to take action.”
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UN rapporteur says ‘shocking’ 40,000 deaths in Gaza were preventable
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese says the “shocking” death toll in Gaza, which has reached a landmark 40,000 people, was predictable and avoidable as United Nations experts have long issued warnings and called for international action to stop the violence.
Albanese issued a report saying there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel has been committing genocide and the ICJ declared the accusation to be “plausible”. In spite of this, the UN Security Council and other international bodies have failed to stop the conflict.
“The moral abyss in which [Israel has] fallen is hard to comprehend,” Albanese told Al Jazeera, adding that the war in Gaza points to “an epic failure of the system of international law that was built after World War II to prevent and punish crimes such as this”.
The conflict also shed light on the “hypocrisy” in the legal system, where “a few countries have the power to determine to whom international law can be applied and to whom it cannot”.
The killing of 40,000 people in Gaza should be “a source of eternal global shame,” Islamic Relief has said, adding that behind every number was a person.
“They include babies, children, mothers, fathers, farmers, shopkeepers, students, teachers, journalists, doctors, aid workers, artists, entrepreneurs, grandparents and much more,” it said in a statement.
“Gaza’s entire society is being killed as the world watches.”
It added that the deaths were “the inevitable consequence of allowing international law to be violated with impunity” and called on governments to suspend their support to Israel, including halting arms sales and trade agreements.
Loss of life in Gaza ‘unimaginable’, aid group says
US-based humanitarian organisation Mercy Corps CEO says it is hard to “fully comprehend” the death toll from Israel’s war in Gaza, which has now crossed 40,000.
“These are not just numbers – each person killed was someone’s son, daughter, mother, father, or grandparent,” Tjada D’Oyen McKenna said in a statement.
“The scale of loss is unimaginable yet shows no sign of stopping while conflict, preventable hunger, malnutrition, disease, and illness continue to claim lives in Gaza every day. It is time for those with the power to end this carnage to take action.”
x.com
x.com
UN rapporteur says ‘shocking’ 40,000 deaths in Gaza were preventable
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese says the “shocking” death toll in Gaza, which has reached a landmark 40,000 people, was predictable and avoidable as United Nations experts have long issued warnings and called for international action to stop the violence.
Albanese issued a report saying there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel has been committing genocide and the ICJ declared the accusation to be “plausible”. In spite of this, the UN Security Council and other international bodies have failed to stop the conflict.
“The moral abyss in which [Israel has] fallen is hard to comprehend,” Albanese told Al Jazeera, adding that the war in Gaza points to “an epic failure of the system of international law that was built after World War II to prevent and punish crimes such as this”.
The conflict also shed light on the “hypocrisy” in the legal system, where “a few countries have the power to determine to whom international law can be applied and to whom it cannot”.
Lizard King
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That Enoch guy is a hard worker. Is he getting paid to post all the Tiny Hat propaganda? Just curious.
Daze
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For what it's worth, these are not accurate numbers. We've been hearing 40,000 for months, and Israel kills about 100 a day that we know of with bombings.Latest Palestinian casualty figures in Gaza Strip
With forced starvation and poor sanitation, disease is spreading, pushing up the numbers.
With those missing and buried under rubble, sadly it is closer to 200,000. Far beyond the 40k they've been saying.
I know it says "at least", but It's not even close.
Stucky
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Back in March Ralph Nader estimated the dead as between 2-300,000. Then about a month or so ago the Lancet estimated around 186,000 dead. Until this is over we can't say with any certainty what the real number of dead is, and we will probably never know the true number anyway. What we can say with certainty is that at least 40,000 people have been murdered by the Israeli Genocide Force. I think, personally, that's the most honest number we should report.
Daze
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Fair enough.
Stucky
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Stucky
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Guardian,
Settler riot in the village of Jit, near the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, killed one Palestinian and badly injured others late Thursday, Palestinian health officials said.
Residents interviewed by The Associated Press news agency said at least a hundred masked settlers entered the village, shot live ammunition at Palestinians, burned homes and cars and damaged water tankers.
The video below shows flames engulfing the small village, which residents said was left to defend itself without military help for two hours.
1 min video
Settler riot in the village of Jit, near the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, killed one Palestinian and badly injured others late Thursday, Palestinian health officials said.
Residents interviewed by The Associated Press news agency said at least a hundred masked settlers entered the village, shot live ammunition at Palestinians, burned homes and cars and damaged water tankers.
The video below shows flames engulfing the small village, which residents said was left to defend itself without military help for two hours.
1 min video