Israel denounces UN report on Gaza civilian deaths
Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva says it “categorically rejects” a damning UN report on Israel’s conduct during its war on Gaza and accused the UN of relying on “unverified information”.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report that found 70 percent of verified war deaths in the Gaza Strip were women and children. The youngest death was a one-day-old boy and the oldest a 97-year-old woman. The highest number of children killed in Israeli attacks were five to nine years old.
“If committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, further to a state or organizational policy, these violations may constitute crimes against humanity,” the UN report said
“And if committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, they may also constitute genocide.”
Palestine’s Foreign Ministry condemns anti-Arab violence in Amsterdam
Palestine’s Foreign Ministry has commented on the clashes involving hundreds of Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters in Amsterdam, saying it “strongly condemns the anti-Arab slogans and hostile actions carried out by supporters of an Israeli football club”.
Before the game on Thursday night, videos show crowds of Maccabi supporters chanting anti-Arab slogans during a rally in which they waved Israeli flags and took down Palestinian flags from several buildings.
The ministry condemned the “desecration and removal of the Palestinian flag from symbolic sites that signify solidarity with Palestinian rights and resistance against the ongoing occupation and the ongoing genocide in Gaza”.
“The Ministry calls on the Dutch government to conduct an immediate investigation into the instigators of these disturbances and to protect Palestinians and Arabs residing in the Netherlands.”
Palestine Football Association condemns ‘anti-Palestinian racism’ in Amsterdam
The Palestine Football Association (PFA) has issued a statement saying it was “gravely concerned by the sequence of violent events in Amsterdam”, after clashes involving Maccabi Tel Aviv fans broke out in the Dutch capital.
The PFA condemned the “deplorable incitement to violence, anti-Palestinian racism, and Islamophobia expressed by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, who also attacked homes and shops displaying the Palestinian flag in solidarity with the victims of the ongoing genocide”.
“The PFA had presented FIFA with extensive evidence of such hateful expressions, yet concrete action remains lacking,” it said. “The absence of accountability for such entrenched violence and normalised racism has only led to further unfortunate incidents, such as those in Amsterdam.”
Amsterdam bans protests after 'antisemitic squads' attack Israeli soccer fans
"We saw a lot of demonstrations, a lot of people running. It was really, really terrifying," said Joni Pogrebetsy, an Israeli soccer fan in Amsterdam for the match.
Antisemitic incidents have surged in the Netherlands since Israel launched its assault on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza after the attacks on Israel by Hamas militants in October last year, with many Jewish organisations and schools reporting threats and hate mail.
