Continuing US support allows Netanyahu to pursue ‘war crimes strategy’ in Gaza: Rights expert
More from Al Jazeera’s interview earlier with Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and a visiting professor at Princeton University:
International pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war on Gaza “clearly is good, it’s just insufficient”, Roth told Al Jazeera
“If you look at President Joe Biden, he says the right things. He says take more care to spare Palestinian civilian life. Let in more food and humanitarian aid. But he doesn’t back that up with action,” Roth said. “He continues supplying the arms and the military aid that is used to bomb and starve Palestinian civilians.
“When the International Criminal Court prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, Biden said it was, basically, an outrage. “So he is not providing real backing to his appropriate words of caution. And Biden is the most important backer of Netanyahu.
“Until that changes, I fear that Netanyahu is going to feel that he still has a green light to keep going with the war crimes strategy that he has been pursuing.”
Palestinians inspect the damage and debris a day after after an Israeli raid killed 274 people
Witnesses: Israeli soldiers disguised as displaced Palestinians in Nuseirat attack
Two witnesses have told Al Jazeera how a unit of Israeli soldiers arrived in a truck carrying furniture to apparently appear as if they were displaced Palestinians moving into a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
“They arrived in an undercover truck, pretending to be moving furniture as if they were displaced individuals,” one witness said. “They bombed my house, as well as my brother’s and the neighbours’.”
Another witness told Al Jazeera that Israeli soldiers used a ladder to climb into his home as he was preparing breakfast for his wife and baby.
“I caught sight of a specialised forces unit. It had furniture in the vehicle to make it look like it belonged to displaced people. Suddenly the operative got out two ladders and came into our home fully armed. Chaos erupted with gunfire and explosions,” he said.
“My 18-month baby boy cried out in fear,” he said. “My wife was screaming.”
A Palestinian girl climbs over debris while navigating a street in Nuseirat
How did Israel’s military carry out the Nuseirat operation?
Omar Ashour, professor of security and military studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, has spoken to Al Jazeera about the Israeli military tactics that went into its operation to free four captives in Nuseirat on Saturday.
Ashour noted that a day before the operation, Israel re-dispatched several brigades, including one specialised in urban warfare, into Gaza. These brigades began “heavy operations’ to the east of Deir el-Balah and Bureij to draw out Hamas fighters and “obscure” their upcoming raid on Nuseirat, he said.
Then, Israel’s military launched an intense assault on Nuseirat, which is highly densely populated, he said, as they went in to get the captives. It was far from a surgical operation and closer to a breaching operation, Ashour said.
“The success part was the rescuing of the four hostages. The disastrous part was the killing of over 200 people,” said Ashour.
Palestinians look at the aftermath of the Israeli bombing in Nuseirat refugee camp, Saturday
