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SvennoJ on 07 August 2024

Turkey says international community ‘must do its part to stop genocide’

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said the international community “must do its part to stop genocide” in Gaza, after Ankara submitted a formal request to partake in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

“Encouraged by the impunity for its crimes, Israel is killing more and more innocent Palestinians every day,” Fidan said on X.

“The international community must do its part to stop genocide; It must put the necessary pressure on Israel and its supporters.” He added that Turkey would “make every effort in this regard.”



Meanwhile the US does everything to support genocide

Biden administration sued over sanctions for Israeli settlers

Pro-Israel advocacy groups and dual US-Israeli citizens have filed a lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden’s order subjecting individuals involved in settler violence in the West Bank to financial and immigration sanctions.

The complaint filed in Amarillo, Texas, says the executive order that Biden issued in February violates the plaintiffs’ free-speech rights under the US Constitution and illegally interferes with the exercise of their religious beliefs.

The organisations behind the lawsuit include Texans for Israel, a Christian nonprofit, Israeli nonprofit Regavim, the groups’ leaders, and two dual US-Israeli citizens who live in the West Bank and say they oppose the “two-state solution” favoured by the Biden administration. The wife of one of the US-Israeli citizens was sanctioned by the US.

Biden’s executive order allows federal agencies to impose financial sanctions and visa restrictions against individuals who attack or intimidate Palestinians or seize their property.

Haniyeh’s killing risks ‘wider conflict’, OIC chair warns

The “heinous” killing of Ismail Haniyeh risks tipping the Middle East into “wider conflict”, the chair of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said.

Iranian and Palestinian officials called for Wednesday’s gathering of the 57-member OIC in Jeddah, saying the body needed to respond to the killing of the Hamas leader.

“This heinous act serves only to escalate the existing tensions potentially leading to a wider conflict that could involve the entire region,” said the Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara, whose country currently chairs the OIC.

Haniyeh’s killing “will not quell the Palestinian cause but rather it amplifies it, underscoring the urgency for justice and human rights for the Palestinian people”.

“The sovereignty and territorial integrity of nation states are fundamental principles underpinning the international order. Respecting these principles has profound implications and their violation equally carries significant consequences.”

OIC says Israel ‘fully responsible’ for Haniyeh’s killing

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has blamed Israel for the attack that killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh last week in Iran, which has vowed to retaliate.

A statement issued after an extraordinary meeting of the 57-member bloc in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah said it “holds Israel, the illegal occupying power, fully responsible for this heinous attack”, which it described as “a serious infringement” of Iran’s sovereignty.


Saudi Arabia calls Haniyeh’s killing ‘flagrant violation’ of Iran’s sovereignty

Saudi Arabia has condemned last week’s killing in Tehran of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh as a “flagrant violation” of Iran’s sovereignty, in its first comment on the attack.

Haniyeh’s killing “is a flagrant violation of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran… and constitutes a threat to regional peace and security,” Saudi Vice Foreign Minister Waleed bin Abdulkarim El-Khereiji told a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, a statement said.



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SvennoJ on 07 August 2024

Israeli forces detained 690 Palestinian children since October 7, prisoners’ group says

The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs says Israeli forces have arrested some 690 Palestinian children since October 7.

It said in a statement that Israeli soldiers have been arresting Palestinian children “systematically, as part of a punitive mass arrest campaign”, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

At least 250 of those who have been arrested remain in detention.

 

EU, France slam Israeli minister for Gaza starvation comment

The EU and France condemned a far-right Israeli minister for suggesting it would be “justified and moral” to starve two million Gazans to free scores of captives held in the besieged enclave.

“No one in the world will allow us to starve two million people, even though it might be justified and moral in order to free the hostages,” Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said at a conference earlier this week.

Smotrich’s remarks sparked outrage in the international community, with the EU saying the deliberate starvation of civilians was a “war crime”.

“It demonstrates, once again, his contempt for international law and for basic principles of humanity,” the EU said in a statement. “We expect the Israeli government to unequivocally distance itself from the words of Minister Smotrich.”

France also criticised Smotrich, expressing its “deep dismay at the scandalous remarks”.

 

Israeli society sinks into ‘moral abyss’ as lawmakers discuss abuse of Palestinian prisoners

Members of the Knesset have been debating the merits of institutionalising the abuse of detainees held in Israeli prisons and detention facilities.

It comes as Israeli rights group B’Tselem released a report revealing that 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 assault on Gaza.

B’Tselem spokesperson Sarit Michaeli said that in Israeli society, these kinds of shocking statements would usually come from “the very far … most extremist elements of society”. “The fact that these are coming from very mainstream, central sources – from lawmakers, from journalists that have a lot of reach – is one of the most shocking examples of the moral abyss that … Israeli society has sunk to after October 7,” Michaeli told Al Jazeera.

The Israeli government, she said, has promoted a reality where Palestinians are effectively held in detention “with no rights whatsoever, with no capacity to receive any sort of protection”.

“Some of the actions detailed and some of the violations detailed in our report are not even denied” by members of the Israeli government, Michaeli added. “What has been happening since October 7  is above and beyond anything we’ve experienced in the past.”



SvennoJ on 07 August 2024

Israeli forces raid several Palestinian towns across occupied West Bank

The Israeli military, using armoured vehicles, have stormed Qalqilya as well as towns near Bethlehem and Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

At least three Palestinians, including children, suffered injuries after being shot with live bullets when Israeli soldiers raided the Askar refugee camp east of Nablus, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams dealt with the injuries. It added those wounded were aged 13, 15 and 22, and have been taken to a nearby hospital.

  • Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, has also been raided. Confrontations erupted while sounds of live fire were also reported, according to Wafa.
  • Israeli soldiers also stormed the village of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem. Wafa news agency said Israeli army vehicles were stationed near the al-Balou area, on a street leading to the village’s old town.
  • In Husan, confrontations broke out between Palestinians and armed Israeli soldiers. Several Palestinians were wounded after tear gas inhalation. At least one Palestinian has been detained.


Two Palestinians injured by Israeli fire in Qalqilya

We earlier reported that Israeli forces have raided Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank. Wafa news agency is reporting that at least two Palestinians have been shot. It cited the Palestinian Health Ministry as saying one of those wounded was shot in the back and is in critical condition, while the other was shot in the leg and is in moderate condition.

Israeli forces also fired tear gas and sound bombs towards residents in the area, Wafa said. Several other Palestinian towns and villages have also been raided, including in and around the cities of Bethlehem, Nablus and Tulkarem.


Intense gun battles in occupied West Bank’s Balata refugee camp

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic have obtained and verified video clips capturing the sounds of fierce automatic gunfire in the Palestinian refugee camp located east of Nablus. The Wafa news agency reports that Israeli forces stormed the camp on Wednesday evening and came under fire from local Palestinian resistance fighters.

Translation: Armed clashes between occupation forces and resistance fighters in the Balata camp in the West Bank.



SvennoJ on 07 August 2024

Israeli army orders evacuations of northern Gaza areas

Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for Palestinians in northern Gaza via its army spokesperson Avichay Adraee.

He posted the evacuation orders for several districts in Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya, areas that were among the most affected by Israel’s ground invasion at the onset of the assault 10 months ago. “For your own safety, evacuate immediately to the known shelters in the centre of Gaza City,” the army spokesman said, directing people towards Salah al-Din Street.

In previous evacuation orders, Israeli soldiers shot, killed and detained Palestinians who used the so-called “safe corridor” to evacuate.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the army was preparing for a “large-scale” ground operation in Gaza City, where an Israeli air raid on a house killed at least three Palestinians.


World Central Kitchen says Palestinian staff killed in Gaza

The US-based aid group said a Palestinian staff member has been killed in Gaza, four months after Israel killed seven of its employees in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.

WCK identified the staff member as Nadi Sallout, saying in a post on X that he was “an integral member of our warehouse team from the early days of our response in Rafah and a humanitarian at his very core”.

The organisation said it is still learning the details of Sallout’s death but believes he was off duty at the time he was killed near Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.


Many killed in Khan Younis as Israeli forces bomb tents, apartments

There have been multiple Israeli attacks here in Khan Younis.

Israeli forces targeted a tent in Khan Younis, killing at least six Palestinians. They were displaced people who had set up their tents in Abasan in the eastern parts of Khan Younis. It was only a couple of days ago that Israeli forces withdrew from that area.

The Palestinians do not have any other option than setting up their tents on or beside the rubble of their houses.

Israeli forces also targeted the western parts of Khan Younis, and hit an apartment in a very busy area of the city, killing at least four Palestinians. There was also another air strike in the city’s Hamad area that hit an apartment there.

This is not the first time that Israeli forces have targeted tents, but Palestinians believe that wherever they go, nowhere is safe. Despite the fact that Israel’s military designated this area as a safe zone, Israeli forces continue to target them.

Palestinians in Khan Younis have been literally scattered around the streets, made homeless over and over again. They do not know where to go. Destruction is everywhere. The infrastructure has been completely destroyed. Especially given the fact that Deir el-Balah to the north is very crowded, people are setting up their tents on agricultural land or in open sandy areas.



SvennoJ on 07 August 2024

US official says Israel to investigate own crimes; bans unfriendly reporter

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Wednesday once again defended Israel, but not the action in Gaza. This time, Miller defended Israel for violence in the West Bank.

Another highlight of today’s press conference was Miller’s angry reaction to a reporter’s repeated attempt to ask a question. Frustrated, Miller later announced that the reporter in question may be banned for the foreseeable future.

Miller also said that Israel will defend own crimes after several Israeli media reported gross abuse by the IDF.

State Dept calls for Israel to investigate allegations of ‘horrific’ sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/07/middleeast/us-israel-sexual-abuse-palestinian-detainees-intl-latam/index.html

The US State Department called allegations of sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees by Israeli soldiers “horrific” and said Israel must investigate “swiftly” and “fully,” according to a State Department spokesperson.

In other words, find some scapegoats, make some excuses like it's an isolated incident, get it out of the news quick



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SvennoJ on 08 August 2024

Israeli jets, artillery pound southern Lebanon; missile defence destroys incoming attack: Military

Israeli fighter jets have attacked sites in southern Lebanon’s Soujod area where the military claimed it destroyed a launcher used to deploy aerial drones that targeted the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Earlier, the Israeli military said warplanes had carried out strikes on Hezbollah “infrastructure” in the villages of Halta and Kfar Kila, and jet fighters had hit the Kunin municipality of southern Lebanon while artillery fire “removed a threat” in the Leyda area.

Israeli missile defences also detected and destroyed “suspicious aerial targets” launched from Lebanon towards Israel’s northern Upper Galilee region and the occupied Golan Heights. There were no casualties, the military said.


Hezbollah fighter, Amin Badreddine, killed in southern Lebanon

Assed Baig, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Marjayoun, in southern Lebanon, reports that considerable military activity is taking place along the border with northern Israel, and an Israeli drone strike is believed to have killed Hezbollah’s Amin Badreddine and a civilian.

Several other people were also injured in the attack, local officials report.

According to Baig, Israel appears to be targeting individual Hezbollah fighters deeper into Lebanese territory because it is unable to stop the launch of the armed group’s rockets from southern Lebanon.


Israeli warplanes strike Hezbollah targets overnight, says military

Israel’s military claims its air force carried out strikes on numerous Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon overnight. It said air strikes hit sites in the Lebanese towns of Bint Jbeil, Doueir and Majdal Zoun, without reporting casualties.


Injuries in Israeli strike on southern Lebanon

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reports that an Israeli army drone targeted a car on the road linking the southern Lebanese towns of Yarin and al-Jebbayn. The agency said that 3 injuries resulted from this attack, but did not specify their severity.


Hezbollah claims its drone attacked Israeli soldiers in Marj

The Lebanese armed group says its drone has attacked Israeli soldiers in a military position in Marj near the Lebanon-Israel border. The assault carried out at 01:20 pm (10:20 GMT) injured an unidentified number of troops, the group’s statement said on Telegram.



SvennoJ on 08 August 2024

Iran responds to reports it may hold off on Israel attack

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic asked the Iranian mission to the UN about reports Iran may hold off on a retaliatory attack over Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination if Israel agrees to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Here’s their full response:

“We have pursued two priorities simultaneously: first, establishing a durable ceasefire in Gaza and the withdrawal of the occupiers from this territory; second, punishing the aggressor for the assassination of the martyr, Haniyeh, preventing the recurrence of the Israeli regime’s terrorist aggressions, and making the Zionists regret embarking on such a trajectory.”

Ryanair cancels all flights to Israel until August 23: Report

That’s according to local newspaper Israel Hayom. The Irish low-cost airline had already notified Israeli passengers about the flight cancellations but there was no information about the duration of the measure.



Macron urges Netanyahu to ‘avoid cycle of reprisals’

French President Emmanuel Macron has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “avoid a cycle of reprisals” in the Middle East, according to his office.

The French leader said every effort must be made to prevent a “regional conflagration” as tensions soar on the Israel-Lebanon border and stressed that a war between the two countries “would have destructive consequences for the entire region”.

Macron also reminded Netanyahu that “the absolute priority” for France remained “the immediate achievement of a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages … and the massive and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to the people there”.



SvennoJ on 08 August 2024

Another night of Israeli military, settler violence in the occupied West Bank

Two Palestinians were shot by Israeli forces following a raid on Qalqilya, including one who was shot in the back and seriously injured, the Wafa news agency reports. The second injured person was hit in the legs and sustained moderate wounds, the news agency said.

Five people, including two children, were also injured by Israeli gunfire during clashes in the Askar refugee camp, located to the east of Nablus. The injured included a 15-year-old a 13-year-old, Wafa reports.

Israeli settlers attacked and injured a young Palestinian woman who was hit in the head with stones north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency also reports. The victim, identified as Tasneem Faraj, was set upon by settlers while travelling on a road near the illegal Beit El settlement. Wafa reports that she was taken to hospital for treatment.

The Israeli military also stormed the following towns and cities:

  • Surif town, northwest of Hebron.
  • Tulkarem city and the Shuweika suburb.
  • Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus.
  • Al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem.
  • Clashes and arrests were also reported in Husan village, west of Bethlehem.
  • Israeli soldiers stormed the Yabous Cultural Centre in occupied East Jerusalem to prevent the screening of short films about Israel’s war on Gaza. The centre, in cooperation with Filmlab Palestine, was slated to screen 22 films titled, Gaza’s Untold Stories, from Ground Zero.


Number of Palestinians displaced in West Bank doubles: UN

The UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA) said the number of Palestinians displaced in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has more than doubled since October 7 compared with the preceding 10 months.

Some 3,070 Palestinians have been forced from their homes due to demolitions, Israeli settler violence and land confiscations in the past 10 months, compared with 1,252 in the previous period, OCHA said.

The agency added that some 181,000 people in the West Bank have been impacted at least once by demolitions, destruction of roads, water and sanitation facilities, and other public infrastructure since October 7, mainly during Israeli military raids in Tulkarem and Jenin.


Israeli rights group releases video clips of settler attacks in occupied West Bank

Yesh Din, which works on rights issues in the occupied territory, said the footage shows Israeli settlers attacking a Palestinian home with rocks and setting fire to a seating area in front of a Palestinian home. In a second clip, cars are set alight in a car park in the Palestinian village of Yatma, located south of Nablus.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in the seven days up to Monday this week, Israeli settlers carried out 27 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied territory resulting in 17 people injured, including two children, and damage to property.

Since October 7 and this week, the UN has recorded 1,143 settler attacks on Palestinians, including 114 that led to death and injuries, and 964 cases of property damage. Settler violence has also displaced about 1,500 Palestinians, including 720 children, the UN said.


Israeli forces blow up home of slain Palestinian in occupied West Bank

Soldiers stormed the town of Dura at dawn, located south of Hebron, and surrounded the home of the late Moamen Fayez al-Masalma, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in April, the Wafa news agency reports.

Forcing those inside the house to leave, the Israelis planted explosives on the building’s interior walls and the detonation destroyed the house. A vehicle owned by a local Palestinian was also destroyed during the raid on the town, Wafa said.

Demolishing the homes of Palestinians suspected of carrying out attacks on Israelis is a long-held practice of the military, which human rights groups say is a policy of “collective punishment” that may amount to war crimes.

According to the UN, Israel’s policy of demolishing Palestinian homes, basic infrastructure and sources of livelihood has had devastating consequences for Palestinian families and communities.


Israeli raids continue on occupied West Bank villages

Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting a number of operations by Israeli security forces around the West Bank.

Here is an overview of the recent Israeli army raids:

  • Israeli forces arrested a young man from the Sateh Marhaba neighbourhood in el-Bireh, near Ramallah.
  • Also near Ramallah, soldiers stormed the town of Turmus Aya, but no arrests were reported.
  • Near the Jenin refugee camp, Israeli forces stormed the villages of Silat al-Harithiya, Rummanah, Zabuba, Ti’innik, Taybeh, and Anin and Jalbun.
  • Wafa reported that in the Jenin governorate raids, soldiers carried out extensive search operations, driving their vehicles through the streets of the villages and deploying soldiers. No arrests were reported, however.


SvennoJ on 08 August 2024

Casualties reported from predawn Israeli strikes on north, south Gaza

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report that Israel’s military has bombed the east of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, and there are casualties from an Israeli attack targeting a house in the town of Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.


‘My children cry all day from the heat’: Life in Gaza’s tent camps

It is around 7:30pm and the sun is setting when Nimah Elyan and her four youngest children return home – a beige-coloured tent in a temporary camp in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza – after trying to escape the heat by going to the beach.

“The tent in the summer is hell,” says 45-year-old Nimah as she uses a sponge and a bucket of water to wash her children, who are under the age of seven. “We cannot stay inside the tent for even five minutes during the day. The heat is absolutely unbearable.”

To escape the sweltering conditions during the day, Nimah takes her children to swim in the sea, which lies a few kilometres away. “My children cry all day from the heat,” she says, explaining how their skin suffers from constant exposure to the sun, a lack of hygiene products and water scarcity.


Nimah Elyan and three of her children in the Deir el-Balah tent camp where they have lived since March


Dead and missing following Israeli strike on Gaza City house

One person has been killed and an unknown number are wounded and missing under the rubble following an Israeli strike on a house in the Yarmouk market area in central Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent on the ground.


Continuing rocket attacks on Israel prompts latest evacuation order for North Gaza: Monitors

The latest Israeli military evacuation orders for northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoon followed just hours after Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters fired three rockets from the area towards Israel’s cities of Ashkelon and Sderot, war monitors report.

Israel’s military said it would respond “forcefully and immediately” to Tuesday’s rocket barrage by PIJ, which also targeted Israel’s Nir Am area, according to US-based think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP).

While Israeli forces have conducted regular “low intensity clearing operations” over recent months in Beit Hanoon, there have been indications since March that Palestinian fighters had re-entered the area, according to the latest joint report from the ISW-CTP.

The Israeli Air Force also said on Wednesday that it had carried out dozens of strikes on targets across Gaza, including locations in the south that were used to fire at least 18 rockets into Israel over the past week.


Death toll from northern Gaza attacks rises to 7

As we’ve been reporting, Israeli forces bombed a home in Gaza City as well as the Jabalia camp early this morning. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, the number of people killed in the Gaza City home attack now stands at five.

Further north in Jabalia camp, an attack on a separate home killed another person, it added. Wafa also noted that Palestinian rescuers recovered the body of a Palestinian killed in an attack last night on a third home in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood.

Elsewhere in the north, Israeli warplanes targeted homes near Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood and the town of Beit Lahiya, Wafa said, without reporting casualties there.


Water infrastructure in Khan Younis heavily damaged: Municipality

Israeli attacks have destroyed more than 70 percent of water pipes and more than 25 water wells in Gaza’s southern region of Khan Younis, according to the municipal authority as cited by Palestinian media.

It also said that more than 1.2 million displaced people were stranded on agricultural land without access to water and that the municipality was trying to deliver water to them.


Palestinian rescuers bring Deir el-Balah victims to hospital

Footage posted by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) shows its medics rushing 14 injured people in Deir el-Balah to receive medical care.

The victims, some with severe injuries, were first taken to Deir el-Balah’s Al-Aqsa Hospital, but several had to move to a smaller, field hospital due to overcrowding, the organisation said.

As we reported yesterday, Israeli forces carried out an attack on homes and tents in Deir el-Balah that killed at least three people and injured dozens, ripping apart people’s bodies, according to witnesses.


Six killed in central Gaza by Israeli attack

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the Gaza Strip and the Wafa news agency report that three people have been killed and others injured in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in the Bureij refugee camp.

Attacks on the central Gaza Strip have been constant for the past day, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported earlier.

Death toll in Bureij strike rises to 15

The death toll from the attack now stands at 15, according to Wafa, up from 6 reported earlier. In addition, separate Israeli strikes on homes in the nearby Nuseirat camp killed four people, according to medics cited by AFP news agency.


Deadly drone strike near Khan Younis

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting an Israeli drone strike east of Khan Younis has killed one person.

As we’ve been reporting, Khan Younis has been hammered by Israeli attacks over the past day with earlier strikes killing and injuring dozens of people in the southern Gaza city, including children sheltering in tents.


Israel’s military tells Palestinians to evacuate Khan Younis neighbourhoods

Israel’s military has urged Palestinians to flee from numerous areas in and around Khan Younis, claiming Hamas fighters are firing rockets from there and that Israel will respond “forcefully”.

In a statement on X, Israel’s Arabic language spokesperson listed numerous towns and neighbourhoods near Khan Younis that residents should leave, including Bani Suheila, Abasan, Khuza’a and Sheikh Nasser.

He called on civilians there to immediately head to the designated humanitarian zone, located in the al-Mawasi area near the coast, western Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah.

Israel’s military has repeatedly attacked areas it has designated as humanitarian zones in recent months, killing at least 110 people in eight air strikes, according to an ABC News investigation that cites Palestinian Health Ministry figures.



SvennoJ on 08 August 2024

EU foreign policy chief warns Israel ‘deliberate starvation’ of Palestinians a war crime

Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, has issued a stern warning that deliberately starving civilians is a war crime and Israel’s government must “distance itself” from comments by far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich.

In a post on social media and in a statement, Borrell described as “beyond ignominious” a recent public statement by Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich in which he said causing “2 million civilians to die of hunger” could be “justified and moral” until Israeli captives held in Gaza are released.

“It demonstrates, once again, his contempt for international law and for basic principles of humanity,” Borrell said of the ultra-nationalist Smotrich.

“We expect the Israeli government to unequivocally distance itself from the words of Minister Smotrich, as well as to establish transparency on the reported acts of torture in the Sde Teiman prison,” he said.

Germany and France also condemned the minister’s comments separately, and the UN and US have called for Israel to fully investigate allegations of abuse and torture of Palestinian detainees by Israeli soldiers at its prisons, including sexual abuse.


US ‘appalled’ by Smotrich’s remarks on starving entire population of Gaza: Report

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s comments earlier this week suggesting that starving the entire population of Gaza could be justified in order to secure the release of the Israeli captives has “appalled” the US administration, according to The Times of Israel.

“We are appalled by these comments and reiterate that this rhetoric is harmful and disturbing,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement to the Israeli newspaper.

The statement added that US President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have repeatedly stressed “the need to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, remove any obstacles to the flow of aid and restore basic services for those in need”.


Iran condemns ‘heinous’ remarks by Israel’s Smotrich on starving Palestinians

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has said the “heinous and horrific” statements of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich about the killing of two million Palestinians by starvation “deserve international prosecution”.

“The statements of this member of the Zionist criminal gang are only a kind of public declaration and confession,” the ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on X.

Kanaani also called on the European Union to “fulfill its international, moral and humanitarian responsibilities” against Israel and end political support instead of limiting itself by verbal condemnation of Smotrich’s statements.

UK’s top diplomat calls on Israeli government to condemn Smotrich’s remarks

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has called on the Israeli government to retract and condemn Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s remarks on starving the entire population of Gaza. He said “there can be no justification” for the statements.

“International law could not be more clear – the deliberate starvation of civilians is a war crime,” Lammy added.


Palestinian Foreign Ministry demands ICC arrest warrant for Israel’s Smotrich

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has released a statement demanding punitive action against Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister.

Smotrich suggested earlier this week that Israel should allow the starvation of two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and that it would be justified, but that the international community would not allow it.

“Smotrich’s statements are an explicit admission of adopting and bragging about the policy of genocide,” the ministry’s statement said, adding that the comments are a “direct expression of the ugliest forms of fascism.”

The ministry said that Smotrich issued a direct challenge to international law and the International Criminal Court in his statements, and that the court should respond with an arrest warrant.