By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

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

SvennoJ on 22 February 2024

Despite Netanyahu's efforts to keep the war going and keep the focus on Hamas' alleged 'systematic rape campaign', more damning truth slowly trickles through

Israeli forces mistook partygoer for Hamas fighter, killed him on Oct 7: Report

An investigation by Israeli newspaper Haaretz says 24-year-old Ofek Atun had escaped the Nova music festival, held near the Gaza Strip, with his girlfriend, Tamar, to a nearby Israeli community during the attack. After going to a bomb shelter, they took refuge at an elderly couple’s home in Kibbutz Alumim, but the homeowners thought they were Palestinian fighters and called the town’s “volunteer security squad for help”, the report said.

“How events transpired from this point is not fully clear,” the Haaretz investigation reads. “According to a member of the community security squad, Atun and the soldier got into a fight, and the soldier shot Atun many times, mistaking him for a terrorist. According to Tamar, Ofek was shot dead without any prior struggle.” Tamar was also shot in the stomach by Israeli forces but survived, the report says.

How many civilians were actually killed by 'friendly fire' will probably never be known since a lot of evidence has already been disposed of. All the cars are getting buried out of respect?

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-774511

In order to save space and be as environment-friendly as possible, Hasid explained that the cars may be shredded before being buried. “The underlying rationale behind this initiative is to maximize space efficiency by compacting the existing vehicles.”

https://therealnews.com/did-israels-military-kill-its-own-civilians-on-oct-7


Just claim you have new evidence and the Western media will report all the debunked claims again (without any evidence)

Israeli report says Hamas sexual violence 'systematic and intentional'

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68365284

Then way down in the article:

Asked about these reports at a recent briefing, a senior Israeli official declined to give details, saying simply: "Believe me. We know."

And at the bottom the reason for these 'new' reports comes out

On Monday, several independent UN experts put out a statement expressing concern about reports of violence by Israeli forces against Palestinian women and girls in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. They said the "credible allegations" included that women and girls had been killed extrajudicially in Gaza, and that others detained in Gaza and the West Bank had been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault.


It was a terrorist attack plain and simple and the perpetrators need to stand trial. Yet abusing Oct 7 and fabricating testimonies to further dehumanize Palestinians to support genocide, is a war crime in itself.



Israeli forces arrest Birzeit University student leaders

Nardeen al-Mimi, spokesperson for the university in the occupied West Bank, tells Al Jazeera that a special undercover unit of the Israeli military, dressed in civilian outfits, “abducted” student council president Saleh Hasan and Omar Zalloum, the secretary of the sports committee. Al-Mimi said the two were taken into Israeli custody at one of the university’s gates. She added that Hasan is the third student council president to be arrested this term.

“More than 120 Birzeit University students are currently detained in the Israeli occupation’s prisons, half of them after October 7,” al-Mimi said. “The university campus and its vicinity have also been raided several times.” Earlier, al-Mimi warned in a statement that arresting students is part of Israel’s systemic targeting of Palestinian academic institutions.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 22 February 2024

Around the Network
SvennoJ on 22 February 2024

Long term effects are starting to become more and more urgent


UNRWA chief says agency has reached ‘breaking point’

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini has informed the United Nations that the Palestinian refugee agency has reached its “breaking point”. Several key donor countries, including the United States, suspended aid to the agency, following Israeli claims that a small handful of its employees took part in the October 7 attacks.

Israel has not provided evidence for those claims, but the funding cuts have taken a severe toll on the organisation as it works to address a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions in Gaza. Lazzarini says that UNRWA’s ability to carry out its duties is now “severely threatened”.

“In just over four months in Gaza, there have been more children, more journalists, more medical personnel, and more UN staff killed than anywhere in the world during a conflict,” Lazzarini said. “It is with profound regret that I must now inform you that UNRWA has reached a breaking point, with Israel’s repeated calls to dismantle it and the freezing of funding by donors at a time of unprecedented humanitarian needs in Gaza.”

West Bank economy ‘bleeding’ during war: Expert

While it is apparent that the conflict has decimated the economy in Gaza, the West Bank is also suffering under “collective punishment” from the conflict, says Palestinian economist Nasser Abdel Karim. He told Al Jazeera that unemployment has been rising in the occupied territory, especially with the 200,000 Palestinians who worked inside Israel banned from their jobs after the outbreak of the war.

Abdel Karim said the revenues earned by these workers were spent in the West Bank, so the territory has lost that income. Moreover, the withholding of Palestinian Authority taxes by Israel has only deepened the problem. “If Palestinian groups and Israel reach a deal to end the war, the economy in the West Bank needs between one and two years to return to its pre-October 7 levels. But Gaza will need years, as many as 20, to recover,” he added.

‘Total absence’ of education in Gaza as parents struggle to feed children

With large swathes of Gaza’s population displaced and facing severe food insecurity amid Israel’s ongoing assault, education has become an afterthought as parents struggle to protect their children from hunger, displacement, and bombardment.

“There’s a total absence of education in Gaza right now. Almost no child is going to school, and instead, parents are focusing on their children’s survival. They want to make sure that they live another day,” Alexandra Saieh, head of humanitarian policy at Save the Children International, told Al Jazeera.

“Even if the war were to end tomorrow, education can’t just resume. More than half of Gaza’s schools have either been destroyed or are too damaged to even function,” she added.

Palestinians walk past destroyed houses in the northern Gaza Strip on February 22

Local official says Israel targets Jenin because it inspires Palestinians

Nidal Naghnaghiyeh says the Israeli air raid earlier is a continuation of the Israeli targeting of the Jenin refugee camp and its residents as part of a systemic policy of killing young men there. “What is happening in the northern West Bank, and especially in the city of Jenin and its refugee camp, aims to liquidate the Palestinian resistance,” Naghnaghiyeh said. He added that occupation forces are trying to bend the will of young Palestinians and tame their alertness to convey a message that “there is no point to resistance”.

“But the occupation is facing persistence from various sectors of Palestinian society,” Naghnaghiyeh told Al Jazeera. “We expect that before and during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Israel’s attacks will increase on cities and refugee camps – especially Jenin because Israel considers the Jenin camp to be the inspiration for young Palestinians and the core of resistance in the West Bank.”

Teenager killed by Israeli attack on car in Jenin

A 17-year-old has succumbed to his injuries sustained in an Israeli air attack on a vehicle in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports. The Israeli military bombed the car last night, killing one other person and injuring at least 15 people, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The bombing occurred after clashes erupted between Palestinian fighters and Israeli troops in Jenin yesterday.



zeldaring on 22 February 2024

I haven't posted nothing on this cause it makes my blood pressure go high the injustice is insane.



SvennoJ on 22 February 2024

Hamas Rape Narrative COLLAPSES, Israeli Forces Accused of SEXUAL VIOLENCE in Gaza


Israeli Narrative FALLS APART as US Report Shows UNRWA Not OVERUN with HAMAS OPERATIVES


Gaza's Women: Abandoned By So-Called 'Feminists' w/. Maryam Aldossari



Palestinians recount details of torture and abuse by Israeli forces



Doctors Without Borders urgent update on #Gaza to UN Security Council



SvennoJ on 22 February 2024
zeldaring said:

I haven't posted nothing on this cause it makes my blood pressure go high the injustice is insane.

Posting about it has become sort of a coping mechanism for me :/ The urge to do something otherwise indeed makes my blood boil.

At least it's good to see many people do care about the injustice.
50 countries showing up at the ICJ to condemn the ongoing occupation is a sign there is still some humanity left in the world.





Around the Network
SvennoJ on 22 February 2024

Israeli Minister Celebrates Gaza Genocide During Knesset Hearing



Pelosi STRUGGLES Defending Israel’s Atrocities







SvennoJ on 23 February 2024

Daily (or nightly) West bank raids and clashes

Israeli forces demolish homes in the occupied West Bank while settlers attack village

Israel forces have demolished two homes, a water well and an electricity network in the Khallet al-Farra community, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports. Israeli settlers have also opened fire on a shop and an electricity network in the village of Naqoura, northwest of Nablus, Wafa also reports.

Meanwhile, Palestinian fighters have shot at Israeli forces at the Dotan checkpoint near Jenin. Raids and arrests have been reported elsewhere in the occupied West Bank in the following locations:

  • The village of al-Ramadin and the towns of as-Samu and Idhna in the Hebron governorate
  • The villages of al-Jalama, Jalboun, Arana, Arbouna, Faqoua, and Deir Ghazala northeast of Jenin
  • The town of Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem
  • The village of Kafr Nima, west of Ramallah
  • The al-Arroub camp, north of Hebron
  • A man has been arrested in the town of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem
  • A man has been arrested east of the city of Hebron
  • Israeli forces have shot a man in the Jalazoun camp, north of Ramallah

I guess it has to be stated since Israeli politicians and some US congressmen all state the opposite...

Joe Biden: ‘The overwhelming majority of Palestinians are not Hamas’

US President Joe Biden has said that he won’t “mince words” by declaring that the “overwhelming majority of Palestinians are not Hamas”. “Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. In fact, they’re also suffering as a result of Hamas’ terrorism. We need to be clear-eyed about that reality,” he wrote on X.

There are reports of growing friction between the US president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over mounting civilian casualties in Gaza, Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the besieged enclave, and Netanyahu’s public opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state. Despite these apparent policy differences, US weapons have continued to flow to the Israeli military, while Biden is also pushing to secure $14bn in additional aid for Tel Aviv.

Israeli defence minister meets with Biden’s top Middle East adviser

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant meeting with Brett McGurk, Biden’s top Middle East adviser, and after that, Gallant released a statement saying that Israel will now expand the negotiators for the captives and what they are allowed to do.

All the while, Israel and the military will be planning for more intense ground operations in Gaza.

The Israelis have been under a lot of pressure from the Biden administration for how they’ve been conducting themselves throughout this war. And it is actually the Israelis, specifically Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who declined to send an Israeli delegation for a second day of meetings in Cairo just about a week ago. This is something that did not bode well with the Israeli public and the families of the captives.

It’s yet to be seen what exactly is going to come of these talks – if there are any sort of advancements in these negotiations. But the Israeli delegation will now be present at them to argue their case and perhaps what concessions they are willing to give up in order to secure a deal.

I doubt anything will come from that, just more pretense of helping / covering on the US side. The bottleneck are the far right ministers in the war cabinet threatening to sack the government if any ceasefire happens...



Bombing continues

At least six killed by Israeli air attack on home in Rafah

At least six people have been killed and more injured by an Israeli air strike on a home in Rafah in southern Gaza, the Palestinian state news agency Wafa reports. The strike happened in the Zalata area east of Rafah, and the injured have been transferred to the Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital. Wafa also reports that Israeli forces have bombed a house in the Yabna camp in central Rafah, but there have been no fatalities.

MSF says Gaza medical teams have created new term: ‘Wounded child, no surviving family’

Speaking before the United Nations Security Council, Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) director Chris Lockyear said that medical teams in Gaza have come up with a new acronym to reflect the dire situation on the ground: WCNSF – “wounded child, no surviving family”.

“There is a repeated displacement, constant fear and witnessing family members literally dismembered before their eyes,” he said of children in Gaza. “These psychological injuries have led children as young as five to tell us that they would prefer to die.”

We previously reported that Lockyear had described Israel’s war on Gaza as a “war of collective punishment” to the 15-member council, also accusing Israel of dismantling “hospital after hospital” as it destroyed the besieged enclave’s healthcare infrastructure.

Pro-Palestine protesters rally at New York offices of pro-Israeli lobby group, US senators

Thousands of protesters have marched to the New York City office of the pro-Israel lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. The Jewish Voice for Peace activist group said thousands participated in the rally at the AIPAC offices while 18 Jewish activists were arrested for “shutting down” the New York offices of Democratic Party senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

Unfurling a banner with the words “Stop funding genocide”, the protesters called on the senators to support a ceasefire in Gaza and “dump” the AIPAC lobby, which is a major force in US politics. The antiwar, pro-Palestine activists marched through downtown New York chanting, “Free Palestine”, “Let Gaza live”, “Stop the genocide” and “Ceasefire now”. Participants held a banner declaring “AIPAC funds genocide”.

Report warns that deaths could spiral by tens of thousands if Gaza war continues

Almost 100 more Palestinians were killed and 132 injured by Israeli attacks on Gaza between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday night, according to the Palestinian territory’s Health Ministry. The daily death toll, reported by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in its latest assessment, comes as a new report warned of mounting civilian deaths if the war on Gaza continues.

Even if a ceasefire were declared immediately, a further 6,550 deaths could result due to the time required to “improve water, sanitation and shelter conditions, reduce malnutrition, and restore functioning healthcare services”, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Johns Hopkins Centre for Humanitarian Health said in the report.

“Under the ‘current status quo’ and ‘escalation of the conflict’ scenarios, the projections rise sharply to 58,260 and 74,290 excess deaths, with traumatic injuries followed by infectious diseases being the main causes of additional fatalities in both cases,” their report warns.



SvennoJ on 23 February 2024

Finally

Israel agrees to allow US flour shipment into Gaza

Israel will allow a large US shipment of flour intended for civilians in Gaza to move ahead, the Times of Israel reports, citing an unnamed US official. The new arrangement will see a shipment of flour – capable of feeding 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza for five months – enter the enclave, and it will be distributed by the UN’s World Food Programme.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had blocked the transfer of the flour for more than a month. A lack of food and supplies entering Gaza, combined with restrictions on the ability of aid agencies to distribute what is available due to safety concerns, has caused a dire humanitarian situation to develop across Gaza.

This week, Palestinians protested outside UNRWA headquarters in Jabalia in northern Gaza calling for more food. “We want flour, we want flour”, one video posted on social media shows protesters shouting.





Israeli military lays waste to Gaza’s southern Khan Younis, Rafah, central Deir el-Balah

A general view shows destroyed buildings and the rubble of the al-Farouq Mosque on February 22, 2024, following an overnight Israeli air strike in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.



Palestinian children walk past the rubble of the al-Farouq Mosque in Rafah



Palestinians recover a body from the rubble of a destroyed house following Israeli air strikes, in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on February 22, 2024

Palestinians search for missing people under the rubble of a destroyed house following Israeli air strikes, in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip


Netanyahu unveils plan for Israel’s control of post-war Gaza: Report

The Times of Israel reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented a plan for the future of Gaza after Israel’s war on the Palestinian territory has concluded. The plan envisions the installation of “local officials” with no links to countries or entities who support “terrorism” to administer the Palestinian enclave.

According to the newspaper, the Israeli military “will maintain an indefinite freedom to operate throughout the entire” Gaza Strip – a presence that is described as “an intermediate-term principle”. Israel will also continue with its plan to establish a “buffer zone” on the Palestinian side of the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel, which will remain in place “as long as there is a security need for it”, the Times reports.

Netanyahu’s plan also describes the “complete demilitarisation” of Gaza “beyond what is required for the needs of maintaining public order”. The plan makes no mention of involvement from the Palestinian Authority, whom Netanyahu has previously said will not be part of a future post-war Gaza.

Netanyahu unveils plan for Gaza’s future post-Hamas

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/23/middleeast/netanyahu-unveils-future-post-hamas-gaza-plan-mime-intl/index.html

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a plan for the Gaza’s future post-Hamas, which includes the “complete demilitarization” of the enclave, closing off the territory’s southern border with Egypt, as well as the overhaul of Gaza’s civil administration and education systems.

The envisioned plan includes Israel closing off Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, giving Israel complete control of entry and exit from the enclave. At present, Egypt controls access to and from Gaza’s southern border via the Rafah crossing.

Netanyahu’s plan says Israel will cooperate “as much as possible” with Egypt, in coordination with the United States. It is not clear whether Israel has obtained Egypt’s sign-off on that element of the plan, or any part of it. But an Israeli official told CNN that the plan was “aligned” with the US.

The plan asserts, as Netanyahu has said before, that “Israel will have security control over the entire area west of Jordan,” which includes all of the West Bank and Israel, as well as Gaza. Israel will be responsible for “realizing and overseeing” the demilitarization of the Strip, the plan says, except for what is required to maintain public order. 


So turning Gaza into the West Bank basically with even more control

On the civil level, Netanyahu details an overhaul of Gaza’s civil administration and education systems, including an apparent cut-off of funding from Qatar to Gaza – which a previous Netanyahu government approved and facilitated. The local entities running the civil service “will not be identified with countries or entities that support terrorism and will not receive payment from them,” the plan says.

While it is likely a reference to Qatar, it is not clear if it would also apply to the Palestinian Authority, a revitalized version of which the US has said should run Gaza in the future.

The Netanyahu plan also calls for “de-radicalization” in the education system, which Israel and its allies have long accused of promoting antisemitism and hatred of Israel. The plan repeats that Israel will work to shut down UNRWA, the main United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees, and work to replace it “with responsible international aid agencies.”


Finally, the plan reiterates Israel’s insistence that it will not be forced by the international community to recognize a Palestinian state, a possibility the United Kingdom and US President Joe Biden have begun to float.

“Israel outright rejects international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians,” the Netanyahu outline says, asserting that recognition of a Palestinian state now would be “a huge reward to unprecedented terrorism.”


While the ICJ hearings about the long ongoing occupation are ongoing, Netanyahu presents a plan to dial the oppression up even further.



Many of the proposals are opposed by key parties. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has already rejected the idea of a buffer zone. Egypt has rejected the suggestion that Israel could control its border with Gaza. And the United Arab Emirates has said that without a clear roadmap towards an independent Palestinian State – ruled out by Netanyahu – it won’t help foot the bill for Gaza’s reconstruction.



SvennoJ on 23 February 2024

Follow the money....

IMF says Egypt needs ‘support package’ amid Gaza pressures, fears of refugee flight

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that talks with Egyptian officials over a loan programme to support the country through its current economic challenges, not least pressures from the war in Gaza, are making good progress. The IMF and Egyptian authorities are currently carrying out a review of Cairo’s existing $3bn loan.

IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said there is a need for a “very comprehensive support package” for Egypt due to the challenges posed by the expected entry of refugees into Egypt from Gaza.

“We’re working very closely with both the Egyptian authorities and their partners to ensure that Egypt does not have any residual financing needs and also to ensure that the programme is able to ensure macroeconomic and financial stability in Egypt,” she said.

Is the permanent transfer of Palestinians Israel’s ultimate goal?

Israel’s war on Gaza had displaced close to two million Palestinians. The majority of the displaced are sheltering from Israel’s bombardments in the southern city of Rafah. Now, with a threatened Israeli ground attack on Rafah and calls by Israeli politicians to expel Gaza’s population, fears are growing that another forced transfer of the Palestinian people will unfold.





UNRWA chief reveals efforts by Israeli officials to ‘dismantle’ refugee agency

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini has told the president of the UN General Assembly that his organisation has come under a “concerted effort” by Israeli officials who want to see “the dismantling” of the refugee agency for Palestinians.

In a letter in which he describes UNRWA reaching a “breaking point”, Lazzarini reveals that Israel’s land authority has ordered UNRWA to vacate a vocational training centre in occupied East Jerusalem and pay a fee of more than $4.5m for its use. The UNRWA chief points out that the centre was “assigned to UNRWA by Jordan in 1952”.

There has also been an attempt by an Israeli deputy mayor of Jerusalem to “evict UNRWA from its HQ of 75 years in East Jerusalem”, Lazzarini said.

Among other forms of harassment: Entry visas for international staff have been limited to spans of just one or two months; Israel’s finance minister has threatened to revoke UNRWA’s tax exemption privileges, an Israeli bank has blocked an UNRWA account, and Israeli customs officials have suspended shipments of the agency’s goods, among other actions.

Witnesses reject Israeli forces’ claim they pulled out of Nasser Hospital

More deadly air strikes have taken place in central Gaza and so far, it’s a pattern we’ve been seeing in the past weeks: If it’s less intense in one area, it’s very aggressive in the other.

In Rafah, it was another deadly night for people sheltering inside residential homes. Eight people have been reported killed, all displaced Palestinians from the northern part.

In Khan Younis, where the Israeli military last night announced that its forces completed what it described as its precise and limited operation inside Nasser Hospital. But what’s visible is the sheer level of destruction caused to the vicinity of the hospital and the different buildings inside the hospital. But right now what we’re getting it from witnesses in Khan Younis is that the Israeli military has not pulled out of the hospital. It is still surrounding it, and is repeatedly targeting its facilities with tanks, shells and attack. The hospital is 100 percent out of service right now.

MSF slams US for repeated veto of ceasefire resolutions

The Secretary General of medical charity MSF has warned the UN Security Council that children as young as five in Gaza say they would prefer to die than to witness the horrors of Israel’s war. Christopher Lockyear also criticised repeated vetoes by the US of resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza where more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks since October 7.

“For 138 days, we have watched the systematic obliteration of a health system we have supported for decades. We have watched our patients and our colleagues be killed and maimed. This situation is the culmination of a war Israel is waging on the entire population of the Gaza Strip, a war of collective punishments, a war without rules, a war at all costs,” said Lockyear.

“We are appalled by the willingness of the United States to use its powers as a permanent council member to obstruct efforts to adopt the most evident of resolutions, one demanding an immediate and sustained ceasefire.”

‘Humanitarian response in Gaza today is an illusion’: Doctors Without Borders

“Children who do survive this war will not only bear the visible wounds of traumatic injuries, but the invisible ones too: Those of repeated displacements, constant fear and witnessing family members literally dismembered before their eyes. These psychological injuries have led children as young as five to tell us that they would prefer to die.

“The humanitarian response in Gaza today is an illusion. A convenient illusion that perpetuates a narrative that this war is being waged in line with international laws.”

‘Beaten, stripped, used as human shield’: Gaza victim recalls terror

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/2/23/beaten-stripped-used-as-a-human-shield-gaza-man-recounts-israel-terror

Blood all over his face, eyes swollen, Ramadan Shamlakh arrived at a hospital after passersby found him struggling to walk southwards from northern Gaza. The 21-year-old man said he had endured beatings, a stripping and a war crime – he was used as a human shield – by Israeli soldiers when they raided his family home in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood.

“We were telling them that we are civilians and it is not our fault, but to no avail,” the young man said, while receiving treatment at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. After a period of torture and interrogation, the soldiers who had raided his home ordered Shamlakh to take off his clothes, remain in his underwear, and head south.

“I was walking with great difficulty, my body bleeding and my face coated in blood. The cold chilled me to the bone, and I shivered uncontrollably.”

Israeli strike kills two paramedics in southern Lebanon

Lebanon’s civil defence says two of its paramedics have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a healthcare centre in Lebanon’s southern town of Bint Jbeil. Lebanon’s Health Ministry strongly condemned Thursday’s deadly attack, which also resulted in the complete destruction of the civil defence facility, along with damage to a number of ambulances belonging to the centre.

Israeli army conducts drills ‘preparing for war in Lebanon’

Army Radio has reported on military exercises conducted by the Israeli military, saying it “is preparing for war in Lebanon”. “The fleet of missile ships conducted a training exercise that practices wide-scale combat in the naval arena in coordination with the air force,” it added.

“Among the scenarios that were practiced: thwarting unmanned aircraft, the ability to conduct air rescues from vessels and refuelling a missile ship in the middle of the sea.”

Arms exports to Israel must stop immediately: UN experts

Any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately, a team of UN experts has warned. “All States must ensure respect for international humanitarian law by parties to an armed conflict, as required by 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary international law,” the experts said.

“States must accordingly refrain from transferring any weapon or ammunition – or parts for them – if it is expected, given the facts or past patterns of behaviour, that they would be used to violate international law.” The team of experts welcomed the decision of a Dutch appeals court ordering the Netherlands to halt the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel.

The court found that there was a “clear risk” that the parts would be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law, as “there are many indications that Israel has violated the humanitarian law of war in a not insignificant number of cases”.



SvennoJ on 23 February 2024

Day 5 of the ICJ hearings




Namibia remembers painful colonial history in ICJ remarks on Israel’s occupation

Namibia’s Justice Minister Yvonne Dausab has taken the floor at the ICJ, demanding the court recognises Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories as illegal. She made the following points:

  • “Namibia considers it a moral duty and a sacred responsibility to appear before this court” and address the question of the “indefensible occupation of Palestine by Israel.”
  • The parallels between Palestine and Namibia are “striking and painful”. Instead of exerting their right to govern themselves, “Palestinians and Namibians suffered the loss of human dignity … and the outright theft of their land and natural resources”.
  • Namibia still suffers from the effects of a long and unlawful occupation. The ICJ “played a vital role in our liberation struggle”. In its 1971 opinion, the court confirmed the right to self-determination as a “legal imperative”, paving the way to Namibia’s independence in 1990.
  • Because of Namibia’s experience with apartheid, “we cannot look the other way in the face of the brutal atrocities committed against the Palestinian people”. We ask the court “not to look away either”, she added.

Norway at ICJ: Israel’s occupation is ‘de facto annexation’

Norway has presented its arguments on the fifth day of the ICJ hearings on the lawfulness of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Here are the main points:

  • Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem constitute a chief obstacle to any prospects for a lasting peace in the region.
  • In its advisory opinion in 2004, the ICJ found that the construction of a wall in and around occupied East Jerusalem violates international law.
  • Numerous UN resolutions assessed that settlements are in flagrant breach of international law and stressed the need to reverse the “negative trends on the ground that are steadily eroding the possibility of a two-state solution”.
  • Developments on the ground “give reason to ask whether the occupation is turning into a de-facto annexation.”
  • Annexation is a unilateral act and is prohibited under customary international law.
  • The legal consequences arising from such a prolonged occupation violate the principle of self-determination and every state has the duty to refrain from any action that deprives people of this right.

Palestinians living in ‘injustice, daily humiliation’, Oman tells ICJ

Abdullah bin Salem bin Hamad Alharthy, representing Oman at the ICJ, tells the court that the people of Palestine “have been living under occupation, oppression, injustice and daily humiliation, while the international community failed to assist them in realising their aspirations to an independent state”. He also made the following points:

  • The transfer of settlers by Israel over the decades is “designed to perpetuate the occupation and make it permanent”.
  • The forcible displacement of Palestinians and the transfer of citizens of the occupying power is prohibited under article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
  • “The 75-year occupation and settlement policy of the State of Israel preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state is an affront to international law.”
  • The court should find that the legal consequences for the government of Israel include the immediate cessation of all illegal acts including settlements and “associated illegal administrative frameworks”.
  • Third states are under a clear obligation not to recognise or facilitate the illegal situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and ensure Israel’s compliance to international humanitarian law.

Pakistan tells ICJ Israeli occupation ‘not irreversible’

Taking the floor on behalf of Pakistan, Minister for Law and Justice Ahmed Irfan Aslam says that while Israel has sought to make its occupation of Palestinian territories irreversible, history shows that reversibility is possible. Aslam made the following points:

  • “Annexation” now applies to the entire Palestinian territories and this “might have been the intention all along”.
  • Israel has sought to create irreversible facts on the ground that make it impossible to end Israel’s occupation.
  • But it is not impossible to reverse the facts on the ground, and it has been done before, such as when France withdrew more than a million settlers from Algeria in 1962.
  • French settlers were not only more numerous than Israel’s in occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank but also better established.
  • The two-state solution “must be the basis for peace”.
  • The court’s advisory opinion will assist negotiation efforts “by making it possible for the parties to make process on the sound basis of international law”.

Indonesia’s foreign minister at ICJ: ‘Blatant violation of humanitarian law committed by Israel’

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi tells the ICJ that she had left the G20 meeting in Brazil to personally address the court in The Hague and “express the solidarity of the Indonesian people on a matter of supreme importance”.

“I stand before you to defend justice against a blatant violation of international humanitarian law that is being committed by Israel,” she said while also making the following remarks:

  • “Israel’s unlawful occupation and its atrocities must stop and should not be normalised or recognised. It is clear that Israel has zero intention to abide by international legal obligations.”
  • No state should be granted “free rein to do anything it wants against weaker states. This is why we have international law.”
  • There is no ground for the court to decline giving an advisory opinion. Some countries have argued that doing so would undermine the peace process, but this argument is invalid because there are no viable negotiations taking place at the moment and the court is not called on to decide on the conflict as a whole.
  • All actions that preclude the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination “shall be unlawful”. It is clear that the continuation of Israel’s “apartheid regime” is in breach of international law.

Qatar says ‘credibility of international legal order’ depends on ICJ opinion

Senior Qatari diplomat Mutlaq al-Qahtani has told the ICJ there is growing perception that some basic tenants of international law “apply to some but not to others, that some people are seen as deserving security, freedom and self-determination but others are not”. “Some children are deemed worthy of protection while others are killed in their thousands,” he said.

“Qatar rejects such double standards. International law must be upheld in all circumstances. It must be applied to all and there must be accountability,” al-Qahtani said as he made the following points:

  • Israel has “ethnically cleansed and colonised” the Palestinian territories and implemented an “apartheid regime” with the intent of “maintaining the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians”.
  • Israel’s illegal discriminatory practices are the “tools of a longstanding settler colonial project.” Settler policies are designed for the “permanent colonisation of the [occupied Palestinian territories] for the exclusive benefit of Jewish settlers … and are the root cause of the cycle of violence there”.
  • Statements by Israeli government members suggest the besieged Gaza Strip may be the next part of the Palestinian territories to be subject to Israeli settlements.
  • Israel’s occupation is illegal as it violates the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people; the prohibition of apartheid; the prohibition of the use of force; the prohibition of annexation; the obligation for it to be temporary, carried out in good faith and in the best interest of the occupied population.
  • The court has the “clear mandate and indeed the responsibility to remedy to this unacceptable situation. The credibility of the international legal order depends on your opinion and the stakes cannot be higher.”




The UK joins the US, Canada and Hungary in trying to get the court to dismiss the case

UK calls on ICJ to decline issuing an advisory opinion

Speaking at the ICJ, UK representatives said Israel’s occupation is illegal and called for a two-state negotiated solution, but argued against the court giving an advisory opinion on a number of grounds:

  • The court would be inappropriately ruling on a bilateral dispute. Where a request is directly related to the main point of a dispute, the court should refrain from giving an opinion.
  • The court’s advisory jurisdiction cannot be used to provide a form of judicial recourse for parties, nor should the court resolve disputes between the parties using its advisory jurisdiction.
  • Issuing an opinion would undermine the current security framework led by the UN Security Council.
  • Israel has not agreed to the ICJ giving its opinion on the matter and the so-called non-circumvention principle compels the court to decline giving an opinion when there is a lack of consent.
  • The scope of a fact-finding mission would be too broad in the context of an ongoing and active conflict where the situation on the ground is rapidly shifting. The court “may draw legal conclusions on an incorrect factual basis”.