Knesset member: Marwan Barghouti’s life in danger in Israeli prison
Palestinian-Israeli politician and Israeli parliament member Ahmad Tibi says the life of prominent Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti is in danger inside the country’s prison system.
He told a press briefing that Barghouti has been beaten at least twice this month in solitary confinement, once on March 6 and again on March 12. He also said several Palestinian prisoners have died behind bars recently, with families and judges saying their bodies bore marks of torture.
“If Marwan Barghouti and all the prisoners are harmed, the responsibility will be on the Israeli government,” Tibi said. “The responsibility will be on the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The prison manager is also responsible for everything that happens to him, as is [Israeli Prison Service] Shabak.”
Marwan Barghouti's life is in danger inside prison due to assaults on him and other detainees. I hold Netanyahu responsible for any harm to him, his life, and the lives of the prisoners. pic.twitter.com/PlsOIGbiUq
— Ahmad Tibi (@Ahmad_tibi) March 18, 2024
‘History will never forget this’
Tamer Qarmout, reacting to the new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, says famine was imminent in Gaza and is “more embarrassment for Israel on the international stage”.
We’ve been reporting on a UN-backed report by the IPC, which found that hunger has reached “catastrophic” levels for 1.1 million people in Gaza with the most dire conditions in the Strip’s north.
“History will never forget this. We take records of all these actions for humanity to know and not forget or forgive,” Qarmout, a professor of Public Policy at the Doha Institute of Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera. “Israel is acting like a pariah state. It’s above international law and it can afford doing this because there is no punishment. It’s not accountable to anyone, thanks to the United States.”
WHO reports aid deliveries to Gaza ‘often blocked or refused’
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report about famine in Gaza, which we reported on earlier, shows in detail what the organisation and other aid groups have been witnessing and reporting for months.
The “WHO and partners have been carrying out high-risk missions to deliver medicines, fuel and food for health workers and their patients, but our requests to deliver supplies are often blocked or refused”, it says in a statement.
“Damaged roads and continuous fighting, including in and close to hospitals, mean deliveries are few and slow,” the statement continues. “When our missions reach hospitals, we meet exhausted and hungry health workers who ask us for food and water.”
Famine in Gaza is imminent, with immediate and long-term health consequences
The latest analysis from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) partnership released today warns that the situation in #Gaza is catastrophic, with northern Gaza facing imminent famine… pic.twitter.com/ZTQL4aIilj
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 18, 2024
Aid trucks still backed up behind Gaza border as children die of starvation
James Elder, spokesperson for UNICEF, the UN’s agency for children, explains in this clip how a large number of trucks carrying food, water and other life-saving supplies are stuck behind the Gaza border and unable to get in, even as infants are dying of starvation.
“Outrages. How many lifesaving supplies are so desperately close to those who need them?” he says.
“These are the supplies that so urgently need to get across to the civilians of Gaza and the most efficient way, the only way we are going to save the lives of the numbers of children who are so desperately in need, is by these roads.”
A handful of aid trucks began reaching northern Gaza over the weekend without coming under Israeli attack in what is the first time that humanitarian convoys have reached the area without incident since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Famine is so terrifyingly close to #Gaza. Infuriatingly, lifesaving supplies are even closer. pic.twitter.com/wk8KoIsYi8
— James Elder (@1james_elder) March 18, 2024
US ‘complicit in starvation of Palestinians,’ says UN expert
Michael Fakri, the UN special rapporteur for the right to food, has urged the US to do more to end the ongoing hunger and starvation crisis in Gaza. “If the US was very serious about preventing famine, it would pressure Israel for a ceasefire. It would no longer supply weapons and financial support to Israel,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The United States is complicit in this starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza.” Fakhri said the US airdrops and plans to build a temporary pier on the coast of Gaza were largely a political move.
“It might alleviate hunger for a small number of people and for a very short amount of time but in the grand scheme of things, these are political performances done for political purposes,” he added.
