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

SvennoJ on 30 January 2024

Just one of many horror stories, but maybe this story will break through into some of the cold-hearted anti ceasefire politicians.

Palestinian aid group loses contact with team attempting to rescue 6-year-old girl trapped in car after attack

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said they have lost contact with a team in central Gaza that was dispatched to rescue a six-year-old girl, for more than 18 hours.  The girl, Hind, was trapped in a car after it was fired upon Monday. She was in the car with six of her family members, all of whom were killed in the attack, PRCS said. 

“We are deeply concerned about the safety of the ambulance team that has set out yesterday evening on a mission to rescue the 6-year-old girl Hind Rajab from Gaza City,” PRCS said. “We still remain unaware of their fate, uncertain whether they succeeded in evacuating her or not." PRCS released an audio clip purporting to be the moment gunfire was directed at the car. In the clip, 15-year-old Layan Hamadeh, who is related to Hind, is heard speaking to a PRCS paramedic, crying for help.

“They are shooting at us. The tank is right next to me. We’re in the car, the tank is right next to us,” Layan screams, amid intense gunfire in the background. Layan then goes quiet, after the rounds of fire stop. The paramedic on the phone tries to speak to her, repeatedly saying, “Hello? Hello?” but he hears no response, before hanging up.  

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on the audio clip released by PRCS, and allegations made that six people were killed after a car was shot at in Gaza City. 



And yeah that pause is not coming without outside intervention, sanctions on weapon transfers instead of sanctions on aid.

Netanyahu vows Israel will not release "thousands of terrorists" in Hamas deal 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel “will not release thousands of terrorists,” as part of a deal with Hamas, vowing to press on until Israel’s original war aims are achieved. And he pushed back at Hamas’s main stated aim in any deal, saying Israel would not pull troops out of Gaza.

“I hear statements about all kinds of deals,” he said in an address to Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. “So I want to make it clear, we will not end this war with less than the achievement of all its goals. This means, the elimination of Hamas, the return of all our hostages, and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.”

Netanyahu said he was committed to “total victory …. And the majority of our nation and we are not going to compromise for less than that.” The prime minister's comments came as Hamas has said it is studying a proposal for a potential hostage deal and ceasefire but that it wants the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.  



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SvennoJ on 30 January 2024

Just unbelievable, justice is shooting people in the head while sleeping in recovery?

US says Israel has right to ‘bring terrorists to justice’ after raid on Jenin hospital

The US State Department has said that it it cannot offer an assessment of Israel’s controversial raid on a hospital in Jenin, where Israeli soldiers disguised as civilians and medical staff entered the hospital and killed three alleged Palestinian fighters, one of whom was receiving medical treatment. Palestinian authorities in the occupied West Bank denounced the raids as an “assassination”.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday that the US wants to see hospitals protected but that Israel has the right to “bring terrorists to justice”.

According to the Red Cross, international law says that combatants receiving medical attention cannot be targeted if “not, or no longer, taking part in hostilities”.

Following deadly hospital raid, Israel says ‘will go after terrorists wherever they are hiding’

Israeli army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi claims Israel is not seeking to fight in medical centres, but will go after “terrorists wherever they are hiding”.

“We do not want to turn hospitals into battlefields… but we are even more determined not to allow hospitals in Gaza, Judea and Samaria [occupied West Bank], Lebanon — above ground or in shafts and tunnels under hospitals — to become a place that is a cover for terrorism,” he tells a group of reserve soldiers, according to a statement from the military posted on Telegram.

Halevi adds that Israeli forces will “also enter the most complex places to eliminate terrorism.”

Assassination in Jenin hospital a ‘war crime’: Palestinian rights group

Ammar Dweik, director-general of the Independent Commission for Human Rights in Palestine, has said that the attack by Israeli forces dressed as doctors and nurses, who killed three Palestinian men, is “an assault on an institution protected by international law”. Dweik told Al Jazeera that the men did not pose any threat to the raiding forces at the time of the attack, and that they could have been apprehended if they were wanted for alleged crimes.

“This is not the first time that the occupation has carried out an assassination inside a hospital. In 2015, Israeli forces assassinated Azzam al-Shalaldeh in the Al-Ahli Hospital in the city of Hebron in a similar manner,” he said. “This is a major escalation in the targeting of civilians in the West Bank. Therefore, we call on relevant international organisations such as the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross to denounce these crimes and help protect health institutions.”

Israeli military confirms it has been pumping "large volumes of water" into suspected Hamas tunnels

The Israeli military provided official confirmation Tuesday that it has been pumping "large volumes of water" into suspected Hamas tunnels in Gaza, following weeks of speculation. Back in December, a US official told CNN that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were "carefully testing" out the method of pumping seawater into tunnels "on a limited basis." The IDF failed to respond to CNN's request for comment at the time.

However, in a statement released Tuesday, the IDF said it has been implementing "new capabilities" to target Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip by "channeling large volumes of water into the tunnels." The IDF said tools like pumps and pipes were being used.

Experts highlighted concerns about the potential to contaminate freshwater supply and damage infrastructure at the surface level, as well as the viability of agricultural land.

What does it take to actually do something, UNSC is 'worried'

UN Security Council expresses concern over deteriorating conditions in Gaza

The UN Security Council has said that it is worried about “dire” conditions inside Gaza, urging all parties to the conflict to work with the UN humanitarian coordinator for Gaza. In a statement on Tuesday, the body expressed concern over the “rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation” in Gaza, where Israel has continued to carry out heavy bombardment and prevent access to humanitarian assistance.

The statement urging all involved in the conflict to work with Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag comes as numerous Western states freeze assistance for UNRWA, the main provider of assistance in Gaza.



zeldaring on 30 January 2024

Is anything unbelievable anymore. Israel is above the law and  really shows the truth about most governments they are evil and all about money, but there has never been such a obvious case in the last 50 year at least.  

Last edited by zeldaring - on 30 January 2024

SvennoJ on 30 January 2024

BBC finds more than 50 percent of Gaza buildings damaged, destroyed

An analysis by the BBC has found that at least half of the buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged as Israel continues its assault on the strip, one of the most destructive in modern history. “Satellite data analysis obtained by the BBC shows the true extent of the destruction,” the story reads.

“The analysis suggests between 144,000 and 175,000 buildings across the whole Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed. That’s between 50 percent and 61 percent of Gaza’s buildings.” The analysis also shows widespread destruction of farmland and a proliferation of tent cities near the border with Egypt. “We’ve done work over Ukraine, we’ve also looked at Aleppo and other cities, but the extent and the pace of damage is remarkable,” said Corey Scher of City University of New York, who helped put together the analysis.

“I’ve never seen this much damage appear so quickly.”

Palestinians suffocating to death during clamour for food: Mercy Corps member

Waleed*, a team member of the NGO in Gaza, says the situation in the north is “very difficult” and some people haven’t had a piece of bread for more than a month. Here’s his update regarding the scarcity of food:

  • “Many are limited to just one meal a day, typically consisting of rice. There are no vegetables available; I haven’t seen tomatoes, cucumbers, or potatoes for about 90 days.
  • “If something is available, you cannot afford to buy it. A bag of flour, previously priced at 35 shekels ($9.56) is now 600 shekels ($164). The cost of rice, once 6 shekels ($1.64) per kilo, is now 17 shekels ($4.64). This is the same for all items.
  • “Instead, you must wait for aid trucks in a place near the tanks to find something to eat. Every day people go hoping to get some assistance and tanks shoot at them, resulting in casualties. Personally, from the beginning of the war until today, my family hasn’t received any kind of assistance. We now eat only once a day and say it’s enough.
  • “The aid trucks reaching the north are very few and because there is no one responsible for the distribution process, it’s extremely chaotic. People often intercept these trucks and directly take items from them because they know they won’t get anything otherwise.
  • “Recently, I went to observe the aid distribution and it was very distressing. Thousands of people were waiting by the seaside in the hope that aid trucks would enter and after waiting for hours, only two trucks entered – for thousands of hungry people. People crowded around them so intensely that I witnessed two people suffocating to death from the overcrowding.
  • “Most people are not getting any assistance either because they are not willing to risk going to places where there’s a high chance of being targeted or because they cannot compete with so many people trying to get aid.”

Waleed is a pseudonym being used to protect the safety of the individual and his family. He is located in Gaza City.


Palestinians carry bags of flour they grabbed from an aid truck near an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza City, January 27

Food unable to reach Nasser Hospital due to starving crowds: WHO director

Director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the WHO and its partners had planned to deliver food to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, as there is a “serious shortage” there. However, “due to delays around the checkpoint, the crowds took food being delivered, and once again it did not reach Nasser”, he said.

“This underscores the utter desperation of people in Gaza, who live in hellish conditions, including severe hunger,” Tedros noted on X. “We continue to seek permission to deliver the fuel to the hospital.”

Remains of dozens of Palestinians released for burial by Israel

After being released by Israel, the bodies of dozens of Palestinians are being buried in Rafah. Largely decomposed and unidentifiable, the bodies were held by Israel for weeks. Omar Abu Taha, a Palestinian doctor, told Al Jazeera that Israel sometimes receives only body parts.

“We don’t know where they were injured or even their names,” he said.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 30 January 2024

SvennoJ on 30 January 2024

Unraveling the lies about Oct 7

NYT Pulls HAMAS RAPE Story from Podcast Over INTERNAL TURMOIL Over SHODDY Reporting: Max Blumenthal



More and more the Israeli propaganda gets exposed and those that have been selling it as fact



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zeldaring on 30 January 2024

Not surprised these people are compulsive liars.



SvennoJ on 30 January 2024

Netanyahu Accuses Israeli Hostage Families Of Aiding Hamas

Israeli Forces STRUGGLE To Justify Destruction Of Gaza Graveyard To CNN



Israeli commander indicates IDF were behind Gaza white flag shooting | ITV News



The ICJ better have a big team working on this case as the amount of war crimes is almost impossible to keep up with.



SvennoJ on 30 January 2024

Next set of lies starts to unravel

US seeking ‘more information’ from Israel on UNRWA allegations

The US has “reached out to the Government of Israel to seek more information” about allegations Israel made against 12 staff members of UNRWA, Washington’s ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has told reporters. While Thomas-Greenfield said, “I’m not going to get ahead” of an investigation launched by the UN, she also said the US would not restore funding until UNRWA made “fundamental changes”.

Thomas-Greenfield’s comments on Tuesday come after questions have arisen over whether Israel changed details about how it obtained information about the 12 UNRWA employees it says were involved in the October 7 attacks on Israel.

On Saturday, the US news outlet Axios quoted an Israeli official who said that “a lot of the intelligence is a result of interrogations of militants who were arrested during the October 7 attack”. However, on Sunday, The New York Times – which says it obtained a “dossier” on the Israeli allegations – reported that the information had been obtained through surveillance.

Israeli forces have detained an unknown number of people in Gaza – including UN workers – since October 7. Palestinians released from detention say they were beaten, verbally abused, undressed and deprived of sleep during Israeli interrogations.


UN has been degraded into stating the obvious, hands tied

UN envoy calls out ‘double standard’ in suspending UNRWA funds

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has said that governments suspending funds to the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) represents “double standards” when they continue to support Israel, whose actions “plausibly constitute” genocide.

About a dozen mostly Western countries have suspended funding to UNRWA while they await the outcome of an investigation into allegations that 12 former staff members participated in the October 7 attacks on Israel.

UN aid chief warns of ‘collapse’ in Gaza humanitarian relief over UNRWA

Martin Griffiths, the UN’s undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, has warned that the defunding of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency “would result in the collapse” of the aid system in the Gaza Strip.

The withdrawal of funds from UNRWA – which several mostly Western countries have announced – was “perilous”, Griffith said, and would have “far-reaching consequences” in the occupied Palestinian territories and the region. “The world cannot abandon the people of Gaza”, Griffiths said in a joint statement with other humanitarian organisation leaders on Tuesday.

‘Extrajudicial execution’ of 3 Palestinians in hospital ‘unlawful’: UN

The “unlawful killing of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank” by Israeli forces must “immediately end”, the UN’s human rights office said. Documenting an increasing number of unlawful killings in the occupied West Bank since October 7, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said Israel must also “provide accountability for all unlawful use of force” perpetrated by its forces.

The UN issued its strongly-worded statement in the aftermath of what it described as the “planned extrajudicial execution” of three Palestinian men inside Ibn Sina Hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday. According to the UN, undercover Israelis “killed an 18-year-old as he lay in his hospital bed”, where he was “half-paralysed” and receiving treatment following an Israeli air strike in October. The Israelis also killed the patient’s brother, aged 23, and a 27-year-old man.

The UN reminded Israel in the statement that under international law, “firearms may only be used when strictly necessary and to prevent an imminent threat to life or serious injury”. Otherwise, it is unlawful.

Another night of raids in the West Bank is underway

Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues and local media are reporting raids in the city of Nablus and in the Askar refugee camp east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces accompanied by bulldozers have entered the city sparking confrontations with Palestinian resistance groups, the Wafa news agency reports. Raids and arrests have been reported elsewhere in the occupied West Bank in the following locations:

  • The city of Qalqilya
  • The town of Anata, the Al-Salam suburb, and the Qalandiya camp near occupied East Jerusalem
  • The town of Jaba, south of Jenin
  • The village of Sinjil, north of Ramallah
  • A man and his two sons have been arrested in the village of Ain Arik, west of Ramallah
  • A man has been arrested in the town of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem
  • A man has been arrested in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem

More people told to evacuate

Israel orders 88,000 displaced Palestinians to evacuate Gaza City: UN

Israel has repeated new evacuation orders for neighbourhoods in western Gaza City where 88,000 Palestinians had been living in shelters, the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) has said. The area, which included the Ash Shati Refugee camp, was home to almost 300,000 Palestinians before October 7, OCHA added in its daily update for Monday.

“The new order covered an area of 12.43 sq km, which amounts to 3.4 percent of the total area of the Gaza Strip,” OCHA added. Some “41 per cent of the Gaza Strip have been placed under such orders” since Israel began issuing evacuation deadlines on December 1, OCHA added.

The residents of Gaza City’s west were told to flee south, despite large numbers of Palestinians leaving Khan Younis in recent days and dangerously overcrowded conditions in Rafah.


An Israeli tank looks over displaced Palestinians as they flee Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday




hellobion2 on 31 January 2024

Surprised that after the UN trial and now it will be interesting if Isreal is able to show what changes that they make into how they are handling there war with hamas.



BiON!@ 

SvennoJ on 31 January 2024

So far they restricted aid more, further increased the amount of raids and resumed fighting in the North. The changes are telling politicians to not state their intentions out loud and denying war crimes instead of boasting about them :/

Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital is "barely functional" and is sheltering about 50,000 people

Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza is “still standing,” but “barely functional,” the head of medical activities in Gaza for Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors without Borders, Aurélie Godard said Wednesday. Godard visited Al-Shifa — the largest health facility in Gaza — on January 22 for the first time since MSF evacuated its staff from the hospital in November. Since November, Al Shifa has gradually “transformed into a camp for displaced people,” accommodating around 50,000 people seeking safety, according to MSF. 

It said the lack of fuel for generators has made it “impossible to properly treat people in desperate need of medical care.” Godard visited the hospital with a UN convoy to deliver 19,000 liters (5,000 gallons) of fuel. “This fuel is essential because it is used to run the generators that supply the hospital with electricity,” she said. Around 3,000 liters (793 gallons) of fuel per day are required for Al Shifa to be functional, meaning the convoy's 19,000 liters (5,000 gallons) of fuel will supply the hospital for "barely a week," according to Godard.

Aid group says Israeli forces still on Khan Younis hospital grounds, preventing occupants from leaving

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PCRS) said that Israeli forces are still stationed in the south- eastern part of the ​​Al-Amal Hospital complex in Khan Younis, a day after saying that Israeli units had entered the compound. The PRCS also said that Israeli “snipers are on the roofs of the houses surrounding the hospital.” In an update Wednesday afternoon local time, the PRCS said that from time to time, the sounds of explosions could be heard in the immediate area.

Where things stand: The aid group said Israeli forces were prohibiting everyone inside the association’s headquarters nearby and the hospital from going out to the street. One of seven people killed Wednesday, according to PRCS, was a Red Crescent employee who was targeted at the southern door of the hospital. Crews had been unable to retrieve his body. The PRCS said the hospital's stock of fuel and medical equipment was dangerously low.

CNN has asked the IDF for an update on its operations in the vicinity of Al Amal and whether it is prohibiting people from leaving the PRCS headquarters.

What Israel is saying: IDF said Wednesday that “during the operation in Khan Younis, the forces searched a house connected to terror activity and located explosives planted with the intention of harming the ground forces. In another incident, the soldiers identified an armed terrorist near IDF soldiers, and successfully directed the Israeli Air Force to eliminate the terrorist.”

More than 180,000 people were forced to move amid heavy fighting in Khan Younis. Here's how it changed an area

As the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis is engulfed in intense fighting, 184,000 people have registered for humanitarian assistance after being forced to leave the area in recent days, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). “UNRWA along with the people of Khan Younis have fled to the outskirts down closer to the coast,” Tom White, director of UNRWA affairs, said in a video posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Satellite images taken by Planet Labs over the last 10 days show that a large cluster of tents set up by displaced people to the west of Khan Younis have now disappeared. Take a look at this area around the Aqsa Khan University west of Khan Younis. This is where many people had fled after heavy fighting erupted in Khan Younis as Israeli forces extended their ground operations in southern Gaza.

Januari 19th

Januari 29th

What is it with this eternal 'may have' violated. It's a direct violation, nothing ambiguous about it.

Legal expert warns IDF may have violated international law during West Bank hospital raid

Experts have warned that the IDF may have violated international law by the means it used to infiltrate the hospital during a raid on Tuesday.

During the raid, Israeli special forces, dressed as civilians and medical staff infiltrated the Ibn Sina hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and killed three Palestinian men, both Israeli and Palestinian officials said. Israel said one of the men was a Hamas fighter, while the other two brothers who were killed were linked to Islamic Jihad.

In disguising themselves as civilians and medical staff, both of whom have protected status, Israeli troops may have resorted to perfidy, or deception. “The Israeli forces involved in the operation were dressed in civilian clothing and at least some were dressed as medical personnel, who enjoy protection under the law of armed conflict,” Aurel Sari, a law professor at the University of Exeter in the UK, told CNN. As part of a single attack it "violates the prohibition of resort to perfidy," he added.

International humanitarian law also prohibits the killing of the wounded and sick who, like medical staff and civilians, enjoy protected status. “Provided they abstained from any acts of hostilities, killing them was a violation of the law of armed conflict,” Sari added.

Asked whether planning an attack against Israel constituted an act of hostility, Sari said if the three men were members of organized armed groups, they were “liable to status-based targeting.” But Israel’s disguising of its soldiers and killing of a reportedly wounded person means the attack could nonetheless have violated international law.

It's terrorism plain and simple.

Assasination is a war crime during war times as well and Israel isn't even 'formally' at war with the West Bank PA. They're occupying the West Bank and performing illegal raids.

https://lieber.westpoint.edu/assassination-law-of-war/

The ICRC’s Commentary to Article 37 emphasizes that Article 23(b) of the Hague Regulations “has survived in its entirety” and that replacement of the reference to treachery with perfidy occurred because the term “trahison” in the French text was “too restricted in its meaning.” Therefore, the drafters preferred the term “perfidie” as more reflective of their intent. Rule 65 of the ICRC’s Customary International Humanitarian Law study characterizes the perfidy prohibition as customary in character, and therefore binding on all States irrespective of Additional Protocol I Party status. In doing so, it is on firm ground.

Finally, the Statute of the International Criminal Court includes “[k]illing or wounding treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army” in international armed conflict, as well as “[k]illing or wounding treacherously a combatant adversary” in non-international armed conflict, a war crime [Articles 8(2)(b)(xi) and 8(2)(e)(ix), respectively]. Thus, the Statute’s drafters reverted to the language of the 1907 Hague IV Regulations and concluded that the prohibition applied in all armed conflicts.

Yet it's already getting 'justified' in American media. They just took out some terrorists, it's better than bombing the hospital.