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Forums - Politics Discussion - Israel-Hamas war, Gaza genocide

SvennoJ on 16 January 2024
zeldaring said:

Let's hope ICJ will do something but something tells me all them are in US and and isreal pocket. Hoping for peace but it seems isreal goal is erasing palestine and it's people with us backing.

The ICJ can unfortunately dismiss the case on technical details. The biggest defense Israel has is getting the case dismissed saying South Africa didn't exhaust all the steps to first try to settle its dispute with Israel outside the court. Which is of course nothing but a delay tactic.

If the case doesn't get thrown out, it is expected that provisional measures will be granted. That's what is first asked of the court, for an injunction to freeze hostilities to then investigate and get to the bottom of the situation. An actual verdict will take many years.

However with a lot of political pressure, it is also possible that those provisional measures again get downgraded to "must allow more humanitarian access" and "reduce the bombing", same as the finally approved resolution that went through at the UNSC on Dec 22nd:

In the resolution, the Security Council reaffirmed the obligations of the parties to the conflict under international humanitarian law, especially regarding the protection of civilians and civilian objects, safety of humanitarian personnel, and the provision of humanitarian assistance.

That led to nothing and the ICJ repeating that won't lead to anything either. Cease hostilities is what is needed and what South Africa is asking for.

South Africa is specifically requesting Israel to “halt all military attacks that constitute or give rise to violations of the Genocide Convention,” according to their court application. They also ask that Israel “cease killing and causing serious mental and bodily harm to Palestinian people in Gaza” and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. The court has the power to order Israel to comply with all of South Africa’s requests, or it may only issue some orders.

The ICJ must also be thinking about its own reputation. Coming off too weak or dismissing the case with the live evidence playing out will expose the court to just being there as a tool for 'West'. The validity of international law is also on trial. And they must also know how close the Middle East is to a full scale war breaking out over the atrocities playing out in Gaza. Dismissing the case or repeating the weak UNSC resolution will bring regional escalation closer again.

I hope the ICJ gives a strong signal as that's the only thing that will make countries reconsider standing behind Israel (for complicity in genocide) and will reduce tensions a bit in the Middle East, seeing that the ICJ is not just there to protect Israel and the US.

Yet it's fully possible the ICJ repeats the weak sauce of the UNSC, which will lead to nowhere good. The point of the genocide conventions is to prevent genocide. If the court doesn't classify this as genocidal acts than its basically saying that the genocide conventions are pointless.

https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf

Article II

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

a. Killing members of the group;
b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
d. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
e. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article III

The following acts shall be punishable:
a. Genocide;
b. Conspiracy to commit genocide;
c. Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
d. Attempt to commit genocide;
e. Complicity in genocide.

2a, 2b, 2c are all in the news daily, as well as 3c. 2d is indirectly implied from the attacks on healthcare and deliberate starvation, as well as 3d based on the situation on the ground.

2e is what Putin got convicted on in the ICC
https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and
The ICJ also ordered Russia to cease hostilities while the case is ongoing https://www.icj-cij.org/case/182
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/16/un-international-court-of-justice-orders-russia-to-halt-invasion-of-ukraine

But we all know nothing changed on the ground. Russia can keep going on its own and nobody dares to actually stop them. Israel won't stop either, but does rely on US and German weapon sales to keep going. The only way out is sanctions on weapon sales which will lead Israel to stop using their bombs and ammunition on Gaza as they know full well they have actual dangerous enemies to defend against.

3a will take years to actually get a conviction on, however with a strong signal that the ICJ will take this case seriously, 3e is what will make other countries rethink their support of Israel. Which mostly comes down to lawsuits as who will pay the bill, reparations for the destruction of Gaza. Which was already estimated at 50 billion at the end of November https://www.newarab.com/analysis/rebuilding-gaza-huge-cost-israels-devastating-war


Meanwhile hopefully more people in Israel get to know and realize what's actually happening in Gaza and put pressure on the government to stop the war.

The ICJ condemning Israel is too big to cover up



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SvennoJ on 16 January 2024

As for point 2c, which is not covered at all in Israel, it's multiple cries for help every single day now


Hundreds of thousands are starving in Gaza as famine arrives at "incredible speed," UN aid chief says

Israel's war in Gaza has brought famine with "such incredible speed," the United Nations’ relief chief told CNN on Monday, as he warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are starving in the besieged enclave. The "great majority" of 400,000 Gazans characterized by UN agencies as at risk of starving "are actually in famine, not just at risk of famine," UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

"It's been an extraordinary and holy unwelcome aspect of the Gazan war," he said. "It has brought famine with such incredible speed to the front of the lines."

Aid has been trickling into Gaza slowly from two border crossings in the south. Last week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israel had denied critical supplies from entering northern Gaza. But Israel has accused the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency of not doing enough and “stalling” the progress. Griffiths told CNN Monday that work to provide humanitarian aid to 300,000 Gazans who remain in the north of the strip continues to be a challenge.

"If you cannot rely on deconfliction of access routes of people in need, If you cannot rely on hospitals not being attacked ... if you cannot rely on people having to move from one place of insecurity to another place of insecurity, those are the issues that make humanitarian aid deliveries," he said. "It's not a matter of the number of trucks that can get in."

More than 24,000 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 60,000 others injured since October 7, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health said Monday. Meanwhile, nearly 90% of Gaza's pre-war population has been displaced, according to the UN. Griffiths warned Monday that the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave could create "generational hatred." "We worry for the security of Israel as much as the security of Gaza," he said.

In Gaza, ‘children are dying first. Adults will follow’: UN expert

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, has said she “never thought we would witness mass starvation of these proportions used in the 21st century. Yet here it is in Gaza, after 100 days of bombing, with insufficient food, fuel and water allowed in.”

In a post on X, she said children “are dying fast” before warning that “adults will follow” before the world’s eyes.

Albanese also sent a plea to Israeli citizens, saying: “We cannot stop this without you. I fully acknowledge your enduring pain, including for the hostages still in Gaza. Please do not overlook the devastation inflicted on Gaza, especially its children, half of the population trapped in this horror. This makes no one safer.”



WHO reports rise in hepatitis A cases in Gaza

The UN’s health agency says the increase in cases is mainly in the central areas and Rafah governorate in the south, “with the current water and sanitation conditions being prime for further spread”. The hepatitis virus is mainly spread when an uninfected and unvaccinated person ingests food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person.

According to the UN, flooding has been reported across different parts of the Strip due to extensive infrastructure damage, destruction and huge clogging of sewage system and wastewater. Rainwater lagoons have been contaminated with wastewater and several lagoons are at risk of flooding if the rainfall intensifies.

2.2 million people in Gaza at imminent risk of famine: UN

Of the 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip, the UN agency OCHA says 378,000 are at what it classifies as phase 5, or catastrophic levels of hunger. Phase 5 refers to extreme lack of food, starvation and exhaustion of coping capacities.

It added that 939,000 people face phase 4 “emergency” levels of hunger. According to OCHA, nutrition-focused NGOs and other UN agencies can only meet 25 percent of the nutritional needs for malnourished children and vulnerable mothers in the next two months.

Footage shows conditions inside makeshift camps in Gaza’s Rafah

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released a video showing conditions inside a makeshift camp for displaced Palestinians in Gaza’s southern Rafah city.

“Some people have not eaten in days, the children have no winter clothes, there’s no medical care. Most products are not available on the market and when they are available, they are very expensive,” said Olga Cherevko from the OCHA team. “Shelter is a huge need and of course food, and most of all peace.”



Health Ministry: 350,000 patients deprived of medication in Gaza

At least 350,000 chronically ill patients are not receiving their medications because of the ongoing Israeli war. The spokesperson for Gaza’s Health Ministry, Ashraf al-Qudra, called on international aid organisations to urgently provide medications.

Al-Qudra previously announced the depletion of the anaesthesia nitrous oxide gas in operating rooms, along with severe shortages of other crucial medical supplies. Palestinian and international health and human rights organisations warn of the total collapse of the faltering healthcare system in Gaza because of the ongoing war.



Israel putting ‘big impediments’ to Gaza aid: Jordan

Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, says Israel is placing many hurdles to the entry of aid into Gaza that were worsening the dire situation of its residents.

In comments made during a news conference with his Australian counterpart, Safadi said these obstacles resulted in covering only 10 percent of the total needs of more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza under siege.

 

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 16 January 2024

SvennoJ on 16 January 2024

This could be helpful

Saudi Arabia could recognize Israel if Palestinian issue is resolved, foreign minister says

Saudi Arabia is willing to recognize Israel if the Palestinian issue is resolved, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said Tuesday.  Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the foreign minister said that the first step to resolving the Palestinian issue is through a ceasefire "on all sides."

“We agree that regional peace includes peace for Israel but that could only happen through peace for the Palestinians through a Palestinian state,” bin Farhan said. Asked at a panel at the WEF whether Saudi Arabia could, within that context, agree to recognize Israel as part of a wider agreement, the Saudi foreign minister said “certainly.”

Some context: In 2020, four Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, recognized Israel under a set of treaties known as the Abraham Accords, sidestepping the longstanding Arab demand for a Palestinian state. Since then, the Biden administration has been working to bring Saudi Arabia, widely regarded as the leader of the Muslim world, to follow suit, a move that could have opened the door to other Muslim countries to recognize Israel.



This isn't

UK continues weapons exports to Israel despite legal action

The UK government has responded to legal action taken by two rights organisations – groups that are aiming to halt arms exports – by accepting Israel’s claim that it is committed to complying with international law. Global Legal Action Network and ‎‎Al-Haq in October filed a legal action to halt the United Kingdom’s weapons sales to Israel, after requests for the government to suspend exports were refused.

“Israel declined to respond to specific incidents in the government’s letter and gave no reasons for restricting food, water & medical supplies to Gaza. The government has shockingly accepted this response despite evidence of extensive violations of international law presented,” the two groups said.

The groups added that they would continue pursuing the case in legal avenues to ensure UK arms exports to Israel ended.






SvennoJ on 16 January 2024

‘Similar tactics, similar atrocities’: Bosnian genocide researcher on Gaza

Arnesa Kustura, a researcher on genocide, says Bosnian genocide survivors “have seen sentiments expressed by the Israeli leadership in a very similar manner expressed by Serb leadership back in the 1990s”.

Kustura, who is signatory to an open letter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by Bosnian genocide and war survivors, told Al Jazeera, “We know better than anyone the importance of this case [submitted by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza]. The closest the ICJ has ever gotten to passing a conviction of genocide was in the case of Bosnia versus Serbia.”

Kustura said Israel utilised the Bosnia case as a precedent in its defence to the genocide charges levelled against it by South Africa, saying the ICJ never convicted Serbia with those charges. “There is an opportunity here to right some historical wrongs and to change the precedent that the ICJ has set when it comes to genocide.”

Legal centre brings war crimes complaint against UK officials, citizens fighting for Israel

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has lodged a war crimes complaint against 13 unnamed UK individuals, including officials and those believed to be fighting for the Israeli army.

“True to our word, we have taken the first step in holding those alleged to support war crimes in the UK to account,” said the ICJP’s director, Tayab Ali. “We have referred a complaint to Scotland Yard. The complaint names nine UK citizens who are allegedly fighting with the IDF [Israeli military] and four UK government officials,” he said.

The organisation said it turned over more than 70 pages of evidence, which include details on UK arms exports. The centre describes itself as an independent organisation of lawyers, politicians and academics who support the rights of Palestinians and aim to protect their rights through the law. ​




‘Ready tonight’: Israeli soldiers train amid tensions on Lebanon border

Israeli soldiers are holding military exercises with the stated goal of increasing readiness for a potential ground assault on Lebanon. The Israeli army has published a video that shows Ori Gordin, the head of the army’s northern command, talking to soldiers and overseeing the training.

“We are more prepared than before, ready to act even tonight if necessary” to attack Lebanon, he said. “We will continue to strengthen our readiness and preparedness in the future”.

The general said tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers are now deployed to the northern command towards the border with Lebanon, where fighting with Hezbollah is ongoing. He said it is still too soon to bring back the Israeli citizens who have had to evacuate the area.



Hamas fires ‘massive salvo’ of projectiles into Israel

Local officials say more than 50 rockets were fired at the same time from Gaza into the Israeli city of Netivot. There are videos posted on social media of the attack from people who are there. The Iron Dome intercepted about 20 rockets. It only intercepts rockets headed towards populated areas.

It is interesting Israel’s active air-and-ground campaign to take out Hamas’s military capabilities, after 102 days into this war the Palestinian group still can fire such a massive salvo. This does feed into the lines from Israel’s leadership that it’s not the time to stop this war. They’re saying they haven’t achieved their objectives, and if they do halt the war it will only play into Hamas’s hands.


This isn't helping either as it will only keep public support for the war in Israel going.

Hamas ‘far from being defeated’: War minister

Hamas’s enduring control in Gaza, despite Israeli assaults, suggests there is currently no viable alternative to its governance over the enclave, an Israeli minister says. “Hamas is far from being defeated, and if anyone thinks that there will be an alternative to its rule in the Gaza Strip, it simply won’t happen,” Gideon Sa’ar told Israel’s Army Radio.

Ben-Gvir says army withdrawal from northern Gaza ‘grave mistake’

Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has sharply criticised a military decision to withdraw an army division from the northern Gaza Strip.

The army withdrew its 36th Division from the Gaza Strip on Monday for rest and training while three other divisions remain in the bombarded and besieged Palestinian territory. The move was seen as part of the Israeli army’s plans for a long war in the Gaza Strip. “The decision to withdraw the Israeli army from Hamas strongholds in Gaza is a grave and dangerous mistake that will cost human lives,” Ben-Gvir said on X





rapsuperstar31 on 16 January 2024
zeldaring said:
SvennoJ said:

The ICJ can undermine America's support, isolate the US in its support for the ongoing genocide. Canada, Europe, Australia will have to rethink their stance on supporting Israel and hopefully actually come with sanctions, at least stopping trading arms with Israel. The ICJ can also undermine support in Israel and amplify voices for reform from within.

A regional war however will amplify America's support, especially with elections coming up. Instead of genocide Joe it would be Biden defending the USA and its interests against the axis of evil, defending the world economy (in his words of course). Europe has plenty interests in the Middle East as well. It's still all about the oil. Waning off Russian gas exports is still going to take until 2027...

The calculations, based on data from the European gas transmission group Entsog and Gazprom's daily reports on gas transit via Ukraine, showed that average daily pipeline exports of Russian gas to Europe declined to 77.6 million cubic metres (mcm) in 2023 from 174.8 mcm in 2022.Jan 2, 2024

In April 2022, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said "the era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe will come to an end". On 18 May 2022, the European Union published plans to end its reliance on Russian oil, natural gas and coal by 2027.

And to offset waning off Russian oil and gas, imports shifted more to the Middle East... Weakening Israel with sanctions goes against Europe's interest in keeping the status quo in the Middle East. As much as Israel is disrupting regional stability, they're still one of the biggest military force there to keep Iran and its proxies in check. (and most willing to do so)



It's a cynical take, but Israel is not listening to the US and the US isn't willing to draw any lines in the sand against Israel. In that situation a regional war will only make things worse for the Palestinians in Gaza as they will become background noise next to a much wider conflict.

In fact all actors in the Middle East are digging in to their failed policies that led to Oct 7

https://tcf.org/content/commentary/time-to-discard-the-bad-policy-that-enabled-the-gaza-war/

If the United States were interested and able to make long-term policy, pursuing its core values and national interests beyond four-year presidential election cycles, then American leadership could pursue a major course correction in the Middle East. A subsequent Century International commentary will outline the elements of a useful, and viable, policy course correction in more detail. But a serious fundamental policy shift would mean a reevaluation of misguided strategic priorities, and an embrace of a rights-based framework for regional policy.

So far, no such rethink is taking place. To the contrary, all the major powers, from the United States to Israel, and Saudi Arabia to Iran, are committing to existing stratagems. This is bad news for ordinary people across the region; for the long-term peace and security of the Middle East; and for the United States’ tenure as the region’s indispensable power.

The risk of regional conflict is high and should be taken seriously— even in the event of a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, the underlying tensions create incentives for future violent escalations. Iran and its allies could all too easily cross an American red line that they assume Washington will not uphold. Equally, Israel could do something so egregious in Gaza that the Axis of Resistance feels compelled to escalate beyond its current, already serious pace of attacks and responses.

It’s increasingly clear that Middle Eastern powers and the United States are at risk of learning the wrong lessons from October 7 and its aftermath. In the region, Israel and the Gulf monarchies might try to pursue the same general strategy as before. The Axis of Resistance and even Hamas might conclude that even military disasters consolidate their power bases. In the United States, unless America is embroiled in a regional war, the issues of Gaza and the entire U.S. approach to the Middle East could be distant memories once the 2024 presidential campaign gets underway.


I think a full scale regional war breaking out will only make things worse, not only for Gaza but for people across the region. Reform is desperately needed, yet full scale war isn't going to bring it.


Let's hope ICJ will do something but something tells me all them are in US and and isreal pocket. Hoping for peace but it seems isreal goal is erasing palestine and it's people with us backing.

The ICJ put out an arrest warrant for Putin and ordered Russia to immediately stop the war in Ukraine, and that didn't even phase Russia.  I'm not sure how much power the ICJ has to enforce anything.  I don't see Israel extraditing Netanyahu, if an arrest warrant we're issued.



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SvennoJ on 16 January 2024
rapsuperstar31 said:
zeldaring said:

Let's hope ICJ will do something but something tells me all them are in US and and isreal pocket. Hoping for peace but it seems isreal goal is erasing palestine and it's people with us backing.

The ICJ put out an arrest warrant for Putin and ordered Russia to immediately stop the war in Ukraine, and that didn't even phase Russia.  I'm not sure how much power the ICJ has to enforce anything.  I don't see Israel extraditing Netanyahu, if an arrest warrant we're issued.

It's actually the ICC that put out the arrest warrant for war crimes, ICJ is for disputes between countries and has ordered Russia to halt the invasion of the Ukraine while it investigates Ukraine's claim of genocide against Russia.

ICJ has no power to enforce anything, yet it gives the UNSC the mandate to enforce the ruling of the ICJ. Which will likely also lead nowhere as long as the USA has veto power.

Two things that can happen with the ICJ ruling. Hopefully the Israeli media and public wakes up and moves on from Oct 7, and gets to see what 3 months of vengeance has led to. And secondly, it will make it a lot harder for countries supplying weapons to Israel to continue to do so, as now they face being complicit in genocide which can not only damage their public and diplomatic relations, it also opens the door to many costly law suits.

But no, Netanyahu isn't going to stop. He has already said so.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/netanyahu-declares-no-one-can-halt-israels-war-to-crush-hamas-including-international-court

Sanctions and pressure from within Israel are the only options as I doubt any countries will be willing to send peace keeping forces to Gaza. But perhaps a ruling from the ICJ can spur the UNSC on to at least get more involved in humanitarian aid delivery and protection, taking Israel out of the loop. (Israel controls everything that goes into Gaza)



SvennoJ on 16 January 2024

It seems the US is fine this time with the communications blackout.

Gaza experiences near-total internet blackout for more than 96 hours, monitoring site reports

A near-total internet blackout in the Gaza Strip has now passed 96 hours, according to the internet monitoring site Netblocks.  It is the longest sustained telecoms internet disruption on record in Gaza since the onset of the conflict, Netblocks reports, with most residents unable to contact the outside world since January 12.

The Hamas-run government office in Gaza said the communications disruption makes it harder for the emergency services still functioning to reach people wounded in airstrikes. At least 80% of the communications sector has been destroyed already and technical crews who carry out reparation work are constantly targeted “despite prior coordination through international institutions,” the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Monday.

On Friday, mobile network Ooredoo Palestine said its main telecommunication and internet lines had sustained damage in Israeli attacks, leading to the complete shutdown of services in the southern and central areas of Gaza. Another large Palestinian telecommunications company, Paltel, also announced Friday that all telecom services in Gaza Strip were cut off due to the “ongoing aggression.”

Israel did not respond to CNN’s multiple requests for comment on the communications blackout.

Earlier times when communications were cut off, the US was still putting pressure on Israel to restore them
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-gaza-war-news/card/u-s-convinced-israel-to-restore-communications-TUJFudrCC2iUVCNJIsgx

As well as getting fuel in to keep communication nodes working
https://www.voanews.com/a/under-us-pressure-israel-agrees-to-allow-limited-fuel-into-gaza-strip/7360075.html



Is the US now further abandoning Gaza?
A ploy to stop further self incriminating videos from IDF soldiers to come out?
Distracted with their war on the Houthis?

US launches additional strikes against Houthis in Yemen

The US military launched new strikes against Houthi targets inside Yemen on Tuesday, targeting anti-ship ballistic missiles controlled by the Iran-backed rebel group, a defense official told CNN on Tuesday. US forces struck and destroyed four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles that were preparing to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the official said, and presented an imminent threat to merchant and US Navy vessels in the area.





There are still some eyes that get information out

Israel levelling homes in Khan Younis

Reporting from Rafah, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum says the Israeli military has bombed several residential homes in Khan Younis, where it is expanding its ground operation. He said that the attacks have killed several Palestinians. He added that medics and civil defence crews are having a difficult time reaching injured people in the city amid continuing Israeli bombardment.

“[Another] bloody night is awaiting Palestinians, as Israel is scaling up its military attacks on the south, especially in Khan Younis.” Abu Azzoum also reported Israeli bombardment in central Gaza.

‘She needed to express her pain’: MSF recounts difficulties facing women giving birth in Gaza

The aid organisation’s emergency coordinator in Gaza, Pascale Coissard Rogeret, has regularly met women receiving postpartum care at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah. Coissard Rogeret recounts the story of Maha, who was pregnant when she was displaced from northern Gaza.

“[Maha] went to a hospital when she felt labour was starting, but she couldn’t be treated. All the delivery rooms were full,” she said. “With no other option, she had to go back to her tent. Her son died. She gave birth to him in the latrines closest to her tent.” “[Maha] needed to express her deep pain to all of us; she needed to cry out to us about the injustice she experienced,” Coissard Rogeret added. “Without this war, she would not have lost her son.”

PRCS: Israeli shelling damages al-Amal Hospital

The Palestine Red Crescent says via X that Israeli army attacks near the hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, have damaged the building and caused “a state of panic” among medical staff, patients and displaced Palestinians sheltering there.


Israel targets UN refugee agency warehouse

Israeli forces have targeted and damaged a supplies warehouse belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) near Salah al-Din Street in the city of Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip.

The building, which is a critical part of UNRWA’s efforts to provide essential supplies in Gaza, suffered significant damage due to artillery shelling, intense gunfire, and the impacts of surrounding air attacks. Alongside the pockmarked walls, at least one UN vehicle also appears to be destroyed.

Civil defence recovers 13 bodies in Maghazi camp

Gaza’s civil defence and ambulance crews have recovered the bodies of 13 Palestinians from under the rubble in the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The victims were killed over the past several days by the Israeli bombardment of the camp.

Palestinian death toll rises to 24,285: Gaza Health Ministry

A ministry statement says children, women and the elderly make up more than 75 percent of those killed in Israel’s bombardment of the besieged coastal enclave. It said at least 10,600 children, 7,200 women and 1,049 elderly people had been killed in the war. It added that about 61,154 people have been wounded. The ministry has said thousands of people remain trapped under rubble.

 



SvennoJ on 16 January 2024

Some slightly positive news


Qatar: Deal reached with Israel and Hamas to bring aid into Gaza

The Qatari Foreign Ministry said the deal, arranged in cooperation with France, will see medicine and other humanitarian aid delivered to civilians in “the most affected and vulnerable areas” of Gaza in exchange for the delivery of medication to Israeli captives held in Gaza. The ministry’s spokesperson, Majed al-Ansari, said that the medication and aid would leave Doha on Wednesday to Egypt, before being transported into Gaza.

“Dr. Al-Ansari stressed the continuation of efforts with regional and international partners … particularly in humanitarian issues and medical evacuation, within the framework of Qatari efforts to bring about an end to the war in Gaza,” a statement published by the foreign ministry said.


US Senator Sanders pushes for report on potential rights violations in Gaza

US Senator Bernie Sanders has said that he will force a vote on a resolution calling for the State Department to provide a report exploring whether US-provided weapons have been used in human rights violations during Israel’s assault on Gaza.

“We should all want this information,” Sanders said in a social media post on Tuesday. “If you believe the war has been indiscriminate, as I do, then we must ask this question. If you believe Israel has done nothing wrong, then this information should support that belief.”

‘A bilateral ceasefire is needed,’ says US congressman

Democratic US lawmaker Lloyd Doggett has called for an end to the war in Gaza.

“A bilateral ceasefire is needed now to release all hostages and prevent further death, starvation & disease of innocent Gazans,” Doggett, a member of the House of Representatives, wrote in a social media post.




Ben & Jerry’s calls for ceasefire in Gaza

This makes it one of the first multinational companies to do so since Israel began bombing Gaza more than 100 days ago.

“Peace is a core value of Ben & Jerry’s’,” the company’s board chair Anuradha Mittal told the Financial Times. “From Iraq to Ukraine, [the company] has consistently stood up for these principles. Today is no different as we call for peace and a permanent and immediate ceasefire.”

The decision follows a long-running dispute between the board of Ben & Jerry’s and parent company Unilever over the ice cream brand’s attempt in 2021 to stop selling its products in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.




SvennoJ on 16 January 2024

Israeli media: Government renews order barring Gaza detainees from seeing a lawyer

The Israeli government has renewed an emergency order preventing Palestinians detained in Gaza from accessing a lawyer, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “The regulation will be valid for an additional three months, and will allow the state to prevent prisoners from meeting with a lawyer for up to 180 days,” the outlet reported on Tuesday.

The article states that the Knesset also approved the first reading of an extension of another order from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir that seeks to “degrade the conditions” of Palestinian prisoners.

Israel forbids medical staff from talking to UN group investigating October 7 attack

Israel’s Ministry of Health instructed doctors and medics not to cooperate with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, The Times of Israel reports.

Israeli authorities say the commission of inquiry formed by UN Human Rights Council in 2021 is biased. The findings of the commission’s probe will be presented to the council in June and to the UN General Assembly in October.



At least 8,800 Palestinians in Israeli prisons: Rights group

The Palestinian Prisoners Society says that there is scant information about the numbers of people detained in Gaza, which means that the number is probably higher. Amany Sarahneh, a spokesperson for the group, said that in Israeli prisons there are 90 women, 53 of whom are from Gaza, and 166 children.

Approximately 3,290 are under administrative detention without trial or evidence, with the possibility of being held indefinitely, and 559 have been sentenced to life in prison, Sarahneh said.

“In 2023, more than 11,000 people were detained, making it the highest number recorded since the second Intifada of 2000, where an average of 15,000 were detained per year,” she told Al Jazeera.

Another 35 Palestinians detained in latest West Bank raids

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli forces arrested:

  • 16 people in Hebron
  • Six, including two former prisoners, in Jenin
  • Two in Qalqilya
  • 11, including one minor, in Ramallah

In total, Israel has detained more than 5,800 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 7.



Palestinian Foreign Ministry calls for placing Israeli settler organisations on ‘terror’ lists

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has called for Israeli settler organisations to be placed on “international terrorism lists” to prevent them from expanding the occupation of Palestinian lands. “The aim is to link the international and American stance rejecting the terrorism of settler militias with sanctions to compel Israel to dismantle and disarm them,” it said in a statement.

Settler violence against Palestinians was intensifying even before the war, but has significantly expanded since October 7. The ministry previously blamed ultranationalist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar “Ben-Gvir’s terrorist elements” as the main reason behind this.

Settlers using fog of Gaza war to take over Jordan Valley: Expert

Aref Daraghmeh, who specialises in Israeli violations in the Jordan Valley, says there are more than 42 settlements and outposts as well as 26 military training camps peppering the area. “Since October 7, settler attempts at landgrab have intensified with the help of Israeli authorities and the army, leading to the displacement of 30 Palestinian families,” he told Al Jazeera.

“In the last two months, 60 settler attacks have been documented, mainly against herders. Settlers have also been fencing off private Palestinian land to take over and preventing farmers from tending to their land,” Daraghmeh said.



SvennoJ on 16 January 2024
Cobretti2 said:

wtf 15bn approved for gaza war?

The place is so small, what are they planning to do? bomb the rubble again to turn it into atoms? or napalm the whole place to turn the dead bodies into ash?

Yer I think you are right, middle east about to be destabilised further or another 50 to 100 years.

Some more details for the amended budget:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/16/israels-new-15bn-war-budget-whats-it-for-and-what-gets-cut

Three months into its war on Gaza, it was clear the funds assigned to the war efforts were not enough despite an emergency injection in December of nearly 30 billion shekels ($7.85bn), mostly funded through increased borrowing. On Monday, Netanyahu’s cabinet approved an increased budget for 2024, which allocates an additional 55 billion shekels ($15bn) for the war as well as increased funding for other departments.

The additional money will buy military hardware for starters as well as pay Israel’s 360,000 army reservists. Also included are funds to support the more than 100,000 Israelis evacuated from communities bordering Gaza and neighbouring Lebanon, where Israeli forces are clashing with Hezbollah, the Lebanese resistance group.

“We changed the priorities so that every reservist and every fighter and his family knows that there is a government that stands behind him and fully takes care of him,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said after the budget was approved.

As a country at war, safeguarding Israel’s internal security was a crucial consideration too. The far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who himself lives in an illegal settlement in Hebron in the occupied West Bank, had previously threatened to withdraw his support from any budget that stripped money away from his ministry. Ben-Gvir is leader of the Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, party, which espouses anti-Palestinian policies. His department duly received an extra $534m in the new budget.




Israel’s war on Gaza has cost the country about $269m each day since it began on October 7.
The Bank of Israel estimated that war-related costs for 2023 to 2025 could amount to $55.6bn.


Funds probably will not dry up in the short term. Whatever the pressures on Israel’s finances as a result of its war on Gaza and raids on the West Bank, the Israeli state can likely rely on unwavering United States military and financial support.

In November, the US House of Representatives greenlit legislation to provide $14.5bn of military aid to Israel in addition to the $3.8bn given to the country each year. It has yet to pass the Senate.

Israel’s new budget also faces legislative scrutiny. It will now be referred to the Knesset, where three votes are required for it to become law.


The American tax payer will likely end up paying for the ongoing war on Gaza...

Then another $50 Billion or more to rebuild Gaza...

It's already going to be well over $100 billion wasted on this tragedy.



In comparison, what could solve the energy crisis (instead of making it worse)
The Fusion Energy Sciences program within the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which funds most of the U.S. government’s fusion research, would receive $763 million for the coming year, $50 million (about 7%) above 2022 funding levels, and $40 million above what the Biden Administration requested.

The planet-warming emissions generated during the first two months of the war in Gaza were greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, new research reveals.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/emissions-gaza-israel-hamas-war-climate-change