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Katz tells Baerbock Israel will ‘respond forcefully’ to killing of captives
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has told his German counterpart during a meeting in Tel Aviv that Israel will “respond forcefully to the execution of our hostages by Hamas”.
“No country in the world wants a deal for the release of the hostages more than Israel, and as the US has made clear, Hamas is the obstacle to the deal,” Katz told Baerbock, according to Israeli media.
The US secretary of state has urged both Israel and Hamas to agree on remaining issues so a ceasefire in Gaza can be reached.
Katz also stated that “the root of terror in Israel lies in Iran” and accused Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei of wanting to arm the occupied West Bank “just as he armed Gaza”.
Megiddo Prison guards humiliate detainees, Haaretz reports
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz is reporting that personnel at the Megiddo Prison’s security wing have handcuffed and humiliated detainees.
Photos and videos obtained by the daily show dozens of detainees lying on their stomachs in handcuffs, some without shirts, while a guard dog barks above them.
Last month, a report by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities have been converted into a network of camps “dedicated to the abuse of inmates” since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Prisoners group says abuse of jailed Palestinians ‘exceeds imagination’
Gaza’s Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs says what’s been revealed by rights groups and testimony of released prisoners about the harsh conditions faced by detainees held in Israeli prisons is only a “small part of the ugly and bleak” reality.
Palestinians held in Israeli jails are “consistently and continuously” being killed, tortured, and suffer brutal intimidation tactics that “exceeds imagination”, it said.
The commission accused the Israeli government of turning these facilities into torture and killing chambers, using the “most heinous and most humiliating means in a manner that violates all the rules of international and humanitarian law”.
It called on the international community to put an end to these practices.
ICC drops case against Haniyeh
The International Criminal Court says it has dropped its case against former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh following his assassination on July 31 in Iran’s capital, Tehran, blamed on Israel.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan previously sought arrest warrants for Haniyeh, other senior Hamas leaders, as well as Israeli PM Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
ICC prosecutors have said there are reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and military chief Mohammed al-Masri, bear criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
