‘This is an execution’: Palestinians decry Israel’s blockade
We have more from Palestinians in Gaza on Israel’s continuing blockade on all supplies into the Strip.
“What is this decision? It is an execution. What more do they want to do to us?” said Umm Akram Shalhoub, a displaced woman from Rafah.
“This is an execution. When they prevent everything from people, what is left? They destroyed our homes and they also prevent food and drink from reaching us. Who would accept this?”
Ahmed Abu Shabab, another displaced Palestinian from Rafah, said he feared the return of famine.
“We’ve experienced hunger and a lack of food, and the truth is that we were in a real famine, this is not a lie,” he said. “We could not find anything to eat for a week. Because of this, we wonder if famine could return again. The biggest surprise is that we are in the 21st century and the world allows this famine.”
Mohammed Abu Shalhoub called on the world to pressure Israel.
“This is a decision of genocide. Human rights organisations are standing and looking at us. Our children are starving. Before, we lived through a stage when we were hungry. We ate vegetables, grass and dry bread,” he said.
“There were days when we slept without food. We hope we will not return to this stage, and we hope the entire world will pressure the fascist state of Israel to give us our most basic rights.”
Dr Khaled Mohammed Abu Jari, 57, the head of the critical care department at Beit Hanoon Hospital, has his fast-breaking iftar meal with his family outside their tent in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip during Ramadan
Amnesty calls for war crimes probe into Israel’s attacks on Lebanon
The prominent rights group says the Israeli military’s repeated and unlawful attacks on Lebanon’s healthcare facilities, ambulances and health workers during the war last year must be investigated as war crimes.
In findings released a short while ago, Amnesty said it investigated four Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities and vehicles in Beirut and south Lebanon between October 3 and October 9, 2024.
The attacks killed 19 healthcare workers, wounded 11 more and damaged or destroyed multiple ambulances and two medical facilities, it said.
Amnesty said its investigation – which included interviews with witnesses and family members of victims, as well as analyses of videos and images – did not find evidence that the facilities or vehicles were being used for military purposes at the time of the attacks.
“Israel’s unlawful attacks on medical facilities and personnel are not only serious violations of international humanitarian law and likely war crimes but also have devastating consequences for civilians more broadly,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director for research, policy, advocacy and campaigns.
“We call for the government of Lebanon, with the support of the international community, to step up and act to ensure that suspected perpetrators of war crimes can be held accountable. The new Lebanese government must grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over all Rome Statue crimes committed on or perpetrated from its territory,” she said.
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