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

SvennoJ on 28 February 2024

Interview with a friend of Aaron Bushnell




And more details come out

https://nypost.com/2024/02/27/us-news/aaron-bushnell-claimed-secret-knowledge-of-us-forces-in-gaza/

“One of the things he told me is that coming across his desk … was the US military was involved in the genocides going on in Palestine,’’ the friend said, referring to Israel’s war against the Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza.

“He told me that we had troops on the ground, you know, that were there and were killing large numbers of Palestinians.

“There’s just too many things I don’t know, but I can tell you that the tone of his voice just had something in it that told me he was scared,’’ the buddy said.

“I’ve never heard that tone come out of him.”



It's all hearsay of course. Could just as well be a way to discredit him. (Why would he not leave any evidence of the claims or be a whistleblower instead). The Daily mail is already running with "Disturbed Air Force serviceman Aaron Bushnell told friends he had 'classified' knowledge of Gaza tunnels the night before he set himself on fire"



Around the Network
SvennoJ on 29 February 2024

When is enough finally enough

Another war crime so big CNN can't ignore it (CNN didn't report on babies and children dying from starvation)
(Yet still dares to just call it an 'incident')

More than 100 killed as Israeli forces open fire in chaos at Gaza food lines, Palestinian health ministry says

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/29/middleeast/gaza-city-deaths-food-israel-intl/index.html

At least 104 people were killed and 760 injured in a chaotic incident where Israeli troops opened fire as hungry Palestinian civilians were gathering around food aid trucks, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

People had swarmed around newly arrived aid trucks in the hope of getting food, when Israeli tanks and drones started shooting at the people in Haroun Al Rasheed Street in western Gaza City, in the Sheikh Ajleen area.

An Israeli official told CNN the Israel Defense Forces did use live fire on people surrounding aid trucks as “the crowd approached the forces in a manner that posed a threat to the troops, who responded to the threat with live fire. The incident is under review.”

The aid trucks tried to escape the area, accidentally ramming others and causing further deaths and injuries, eyewitnesses told CNN. The death toll and number of injured is expected to increase as many bodies and people are still out on the street, with ambulances struggling to reach those in need because rubble is blocking the way, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent, Ahmad Abu Al Foul, told CNN.

Responding to CNN, the IDF said “the incident is under review”. “Early this morning, during the entry of humanitarian aid trucks into the northern Gaza Strip, Gazan residents surrounded the trucks, and looted the supplies being delivered. During the incident, dozens of Gazans were injured as a result of pushing and trampling,” the IDF told CNN.

Hamas senior member Ezzat Al-Risheq warned that the killings on Thursday could lead to the failure of ongoing talks aiming at the release of hostages and a ceasefire. “Negotiations are not an open process,” he said in a statement published by Hamas on Telegram. “We will not allow for the pathway of the negotiations…[to become] a cover for the enemy’s continued crimes against our people in the Gaza Strip.”

Oxfam International has condemned the attack in a post on X, formerly Twitter, writing: “Oxfam is appalled by reports of killing people in #Gaza waiting for food aid. Israel deliberately targeting civilians after starving them is a gross violation of international humanitarian laws and our humanity.”

The incident comes as the death toll for those killed in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7 attacks passed 30,000.



Palestinian presidency condemns ‘ugly massacre’ in Gaza City

The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned what it described as an “ugly massacre conducted by the Israeli occupation army this morning” following the reports that the Israeli army opened fire on people receiving aid in Gaza City.

“The killing of this large number of innocent civilian victims who risked their livelihood is an integral part of the genocidal war committed by the occupation government against our people,” the presidential office was quoted by the Wafa news agency as saying.

“Israeli occupation authorities bear full responsibility and will be held accountable before international courts.”



Israeli military official says troops shot at aid seekers in Gaza

Israeli troops opened fire on a group of Palestinian aid seekers in Gaza City who “dangerously” approached them, according to an Israeli military official quoted by Israeli media. At least 104 Palestinians were killed and more than 700 injured when they were attacked at a roundabout south of Gaza City while waiting for food aid, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a post on X, the Israeli military said dozens of Palestinians were injured by “trampling” as the crowd grew “violent” and began “looting” the trucks.

The military official, quoted by the Times of Israel, said that some members of the crowd began heading towards Israeli forces who were in charge of overseeing the aid delivery in a way that “endangered” them, adding that the troops then “opened fire at the crowd”.

The military is conducting a review of the incident, it said on X.

Victims of Gaza City attack say they were ambushed

The more we talk to people about what happened during the attack near Gaza City this morning, the more it becomes clear they feel it was a trap, an ambush.

As soon as people approached incoming trucks carrying food aid, they were shot at. There were attack drones in the sky. There was also fire from naval forces and armoured vehicles in the vicinity.

All at once, these military forces fired at a group of people who were hungry, traumatised and displaced. People who were just trying to get their hands on whatever they could to feed their families and stay alive.

The number of dead from the attack has now risen to 104 and there are still, unfortunately, injured people left on the road. Paramedics, civil defence crew and volunteers are trying to help get these people to hospitals, but are finding it very difficult to get to the area. We are expecting the number of casualties to increase even more in the coming hours.

This is what is left for people in northern Gaza – face starvation or risk one’s life trying to get aid.


What we know about the Israeli attack on aid seekers in Gaza

At about 4:30am (02:30GMT), hundreds of Palestinians gathered at a major roundabout south of Gaza City were shot at. At least 100 people were killed and 760 injured. Here’s what we know about the attack:

  • This morning, hundreds had congregated at the Nabulsi Roundabout on al-Rashid Street, waiting for food delivery.
  • Witnesses and our correspondent on the ground say those people were fired on by “all sorts of military equipment”. The aid seekers were hit by direct artillery shelling, drone missiles and gunshots, according to hospital officials.
  • The truck, which had planned to deliver food aid, ended up piling in dozens of dead and wounded Palestinians and rushing them to the nearest health facilities.
  • Some of the dead and wounded had to be transported by donkey cart, while others lay in the streets for hours.
  • Most wounded Palestinians were brought to al-Shifa Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. Others were taken to Ahli and Jordanian hospitals.
  • None of these facilities has nearly enough medical supplies or staff to take on so many emergency cases.
  • Hamas has decried the attack as an “unprecedented war crime”.
  • Israel’s military spokesman says the military has no knowledge of “Israeli shelling” in the area.

Egypt condemns attack on Gaza aid seekers

“We condemn the inhumane Israeli targeting of… unarmed Palestinian civilians in the Nabulsi roundabout in the northern Gaza,” Egypt’s foreign ministry said. “We consider targeting peaceful citizens rushing to pick up their share of aid a shameful crime and a flagrant violation of international law,” the statement added, calling on international parties to end the war on Gaza.

Jordan condemns attack on Gaza aid seekers

“We condemn the Israeli occupation forces’ brutal targeting of the gathering of Palestinians who were waiting for aid on the Nabulsi roundabout near Al-Rashid Street in Gaza,” Jordan’s foreign ministry said in a statement. The death toll has risen to at least 104 Palestinians with 760 injured.

Kamal Adwan Hospital only able to deliver first aid to critical patients

Dr Hussam Abu Safia, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, says the situation at the medical facility is at breaking point as it struggles to cope with victims from the Israeli attack on Palestinians waiting for aid.

“This is exactly the situation we had been warning about, the hospital being out of service amid this massive influx of patients,” Abu Safia told Al Jazeera.

“We are operating on batteries. Most of our patients are in critical condition, which requires urgent surgical intervention, but we have no operating rooms. I stand helpless. We are simply administering first-aid treatment only.”



Al-Shifa Hospital unable to cope with number of victims

Faris Afana, head of the ambulance service at al-Shifa Hospital, says the hospital in Gaza City is no longer able to cope with the large number of victims coming in after the attack. 

“We have only three ambulances operational, as we ran out of fuel. We drove along al-Rashid road to find dozens of dead bodies lying on the way,” he said. “For more than four hours now, we have been transporting victims to the hospitals.” Donkey carts and private cars were also used to transport more than 200 wounded people. The ambulances later returned to recover more bodies.

“This is genocide against our people, those were innocent civilians waiting for days for the trucks carrying relief aid. It is a war crime, it is a genocide by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian people.”

‘We stand helpless amid this shortage of supplies, staff’

Jadallah al-Shafei, head of the nurses’ department at al-Shifa Hospital, says the “situation cannot be described in words” while referring to the aftermath of the Israeli attack on Palestinians waiting for food aid in Gaza. “It is reminiscent of the dark scenes from the Baptist Hospital four months ago where 500 people were killed in one Israeli air strike,” he said.

“Since the early hours of the morning, the hospital has been flooded with dozens of dead bodies and hundreds of injured. The majority of the victims suffered gunshot wounds and shrapnel in the head and upper parts of their bodies. They were hit by direct artillery shelling, drone missiles and gunshots.

“We are out of operating theatres, let alone medical staff. We ran out of medical supplies and fuel to run the hospital. We hope we will be able to provide life-saving assistance to those wounded. All of them are in critical condition, lying on the floor. We stand helpless amid this shortage of supplies and staff.”

Red Crescent says collapse of health system leaves injured with no options

Raed al-Nims, spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, says the aid seekers wounded in the Israeli attack do not have the option to get treatment amid the collapse of the healthcare system. “The Red Crescent immediately began transferring the wounded and the dead to the hospitals, but the numbers were beyond our capacity,” al-Nims told Al Jazeera. “As we speak, the entire health sector in Gaza is collapsing, it has run out of fuel.”

The spokesman said PRCS crews have repeatedly been “intentionally targeted” by the Israeli forces, which resulted in the killing of 20 staff members. He added that the international community must realise that Palestinians in Gaza do not have the option to get treatment amid the lack of resources and that it must do all in its power to stop the war.

“We have been under bombardment, starvation for months,” al-Nims said, adding that the Israeli military has been using aid as a weapon of war. “If this continues for more weeks or months, all Gazans will be dead as a result of disease and starvation.”

The truck that carried the aid turned into an ambulance

In the northern part, people have been grappling with famine and faced with starvation. People resorted to eating animal feed just to stay alive. So as these people were gathering in large groups, they were shot at by all kinds of military equipment, from the naval forces, tanks, drones, and also from armoured vehicles that were in the vicinity.

We’re looking at a very tragic scene. The very truck that carried the aid turned into an ambulance. It carried the bodies of those who were killed and transferred them to al-Shifa Hospital. According to a witness, there are more bodies on that road that haven’t been collected or identified.

Long hospital wait, lack of medical supplies could mean ‘death sentence’ for Gaza’s wounded

There are almost no medical supplies to treat the injured who are arriving at health facilities in northern Gaza. This could mean a death sentence for those who are severely injured. They have to stay in the hospitals and wait for medical supplies, wait for doctors or nurses to intervene.

Unfortunately, the wait time is long and by the time a doctor or a nurse is available, they may already be dead. There are so many documented cases of this happening at Kamal Adwan Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital, and more recently at al-Shifa Hospital.

This is one of the reasons the death toll from this morning’s attack near Gaza City is expected to rise.



‘A massacre’: Israeli tanks run over dead and wounded

Hospitals in northern Gaza are struggling to cope with the large influx of the dead and wounded coming in from the attack on a group waiting for food delivery, says our correspondent on the ground in Gaza, Ismail al-Ghoul. “The dead and wounded have been taken to al-Shifa Hospital as well as Kamal Adwan Hospital,” said al-Ghoul.

“Some of the others are being rushed to the Ahli and Jordanian hospitals. The numbers will rise. Hospitals are no longer able to accommodate the huge number of patients because they lack fuel, let alone medicine. Hospitals have also run out of blood.” Palestinians are still trying to recover more bodies of those killed in the attack, but ambulances cannot reach the area because the roads have been “totally destroyed”.

“As the Israeli military opened fire on the aid seekers, Israeli tanks advanced and ran over many of the dead and injured bodies in the southwestern parts of Gaza City. It is a massacre, on top of the starvation threatening citizens in Gaza.”

 

Attack on people waiting for food is state-sponsored terror

The attack on people waiting for aid near Gaza City is state-sponsored terror aimed at making military leaders, including Hamas, make concessions, so that Israel can capitalise on its war crimes for political needs. This is genocide unravelling and is coming to you on live television. This war has become a campaign of ethnic cleansing. At first, we counted the attacks on educational institutes, hospitals, and children. Now we have reached 30,000 people killed and this onslaught is ongoing.

We talk about genocide because clearly there is an existential war, this is an Israeli war against the people of Gaza that is a zero-sum game between Israeli presence and Palestinian presence.

International community ‘fully responsible’ for massacre of Palestinian civilians

Gaza’s Government Media Office has blamed the international community – specifically the Biden administration – for allowing the “mass killing” of Palestinian civilians after at least 100 people were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for food aid.

“We hold the US administration, the international community, the [Israeli] occupation, and international organisations responsible for the killing of civilians in light of their starvation by the [Israeli] occupation,” said a statement.

“We appeal to all the countries of the world, all the Arab and Islamic countries, the League of Arab States, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to intervene immediately and urgently in order to put pressure on the [Israeli] occupation to stop the genocidal war against our people in the Gaza Strip.”

Western governments ‘complicit with Israeli crimes’: Palestinian politician

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, has condemned the deadly attack on aid-seekers as another “horrible crime” committed by Israel. “We are dealing with a pariah state, a structure that has become fascist, run by fascists in a government that includes fascists,” he told Al Jazeera.

“These were civilians who are starving because Israel has been depriving them from food for months and does not allow any supplies to them for more than a month now,” said Barghouti. “And then they try to justify it by saying that Palestinians are responsible for being killed by the same Israeli soldiers? It’s unbelievable.”

Barghouti also decried “the silence” of Western countries and blaming their governments of being “complicit with these crimes and allow them to happen”. “This should stop immediately,” he said. “It cannot stop without an immediate, permanent, complete and total ceasefire, without the Israeli army withdrawing from Gaza after they have destroyed it so much and after they have driven so many people, milions of people, to the edge of starvation and death from starving.”

 

Hamas says attack on aid seekers in Gaza an ‘unprecedented war crime’

The Palestinian group has accused Israel of committing a “hideous massacre, unprecedented in the history of war crimes” by firing on hundreds of civilians waiting for food aid, resulting in the killing of at least 77. In a statement, Hamas said the attack is part of Israel’s efforts to fully displace Palestinians from their land and “obliterate” the Palestinian cause.

It called for:

  • the League of Arab States and the UN Security Council to urgently convene and act to stop Israel’s “mass killing and ethnic cleansing in Gaza”;
  • all Arab countries to “break their silence” regarding “the genocide against our people” and immediately mobilise to bring food and medical aid into Gaza;
  • all people in Arab and Islamic nations and the free world to protest the “massacre of Palestinian people” and put pressure on their governments to take a stand against Israeli war crimes, and;
  • the UN and the international community to fulfil their responsibilities to stop the “mass killing of our people” and to take measures to safely deliver emergency aid.

Negotiations no ‘cover for enemy’s crimes’: Hamas

Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq has been quoted by our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic as saying that the ongoing negotiations with Israel will not be a “cover for the enemy to continue its crimes”, In response to the attack on Palestinians waiting for aid in Gaza City, al-Rishq said Hamas would not allow the diplomatic path “through which we seek to end the human suffering of our people, caused by the occupation, to be a cover for the enemy’s crimes against our people in the Gaza Strip.”

 

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 29 February 2024

SvennoJ on 29 February 2024

Israel propaganda machine at work trying to control the narrative, changing tone, adding disinformation, claiming not to know what happened.

Gaza aid-distribution deaths a ‘tragedy’: Israeli official

An Israeli government spokesperson has described Palestinian casualties during aid distribution near Gaza City as a “tragedy” and said initial indications were that deaths were caused by delivery drivers ploughing into a crowd.

“At some point the trucks were overwhelmed and the people driving the trucks, which were Gazan civilian drivers, ploughed into the crowds of people, ultimately killing, my understanding is, tens of people,” spokesperson Avi Hyman told reporters.

“It’s obviously a tragedy but we’re not sure of the specifics quite yet.”

Separately, the Times of Israel reported that an initial IDF probe suggested Israeli gunfire caused only some 10 casualties out of the hundreds of people allegedly hurt and killed.

It's state terrorism, and now trying to blame it on the aid trucks? Unbelievable.

‘Unfortunately, our blood is very cheap’

Yusri al-Ghoul, a displaced Palestinian novelist, lecturer and doctor, was in the area during the attack by Israeli forces on Palestinians trying to get aid in Gaza.

“Every day we go to that place which is close to the Israeli tanks because we are starving; we don’t find food, even the food of animals for about two months, and our children are starving,” he told Al Jazeera.

“What happened today morning … I went to that area like thousands of Palestinians to get the aid but unfortunately we come back with martyrs, with innocents who were killed by the Israeli tanks and snipers,” al-Ghoul said. “They sniped in front of me tens of Palestinians … they targeted their heads, elbows and knees,” he added.

“Unfortunately, our blood is very cheap.”

Al-Shifa Hospital overwhelmed by number of patients

I’m inside al-Shifa Hospital and the entrance and corridors are packed with victims from the attack earlier on the crowd waiting for aid deliveries. The medical staff stand helpless amid the influx of victims. More are still being brought in even if the hospital is overwhelmed.

Eyewitnesses say that as soon as the trucks arrived, the Israeli tanks advanced and started shelling on the crowd. Israeli soldiers also opened fire. People say children have been starving and that much of the aid is now soaked in blood.


For Israel, violence is inherent in its colonial DNA: Marwan Bishara


 

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 29 February 2024

SvennoJ on 29 February 2024

Death toll from Israeli attack on aid seekers rises to 112

The Gaza Health Ministry says eight more people have been confirmed dead as bodies arrive at al-Shifa Hospital, adding that additional victims are still being recovered from the area in Gaza City where Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinians waiting to receive humanitarian assistance.

At least 760 people have been injured in the incident, according to the ministry.


UN Security Council to meet on Gaza aid shooting

The United Nations’ top body will meet today at 21:15 GMT to discuss the 112 people killed and 760 wounded in an Israeli attack in north Gaza. This meeting will be held at the request of Algeria, and will be a closed session.

UN chief condemns attack on ‘desperate’ Palestinian aid-seekers

Antonio Guterres has decried the shooting by Israeli forces of a crowd of hungry Palestinians in Gaza City, at least 112 of whom were killed and 760 injured.

“The secretary-general condemns the incident today in northern Gaza in which more than a hundred people were reportedly killed or injured while seeking life-saving aid. The desperate civilians in Gaza need urgent help, including those in the besieged north where the United Nations has not been able to deliver aid in more than a week,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

“The secretary-general is appalled by the tragic human toll of the conflict in Gaza, in which more than 30,000 people have now reportedly been killed and over 70,000 injured. Tragically, an unknown number of people lie under rubble,” he continued.


Saudi Arabia condemns Israeli attack on aid seekers in Gaza

The kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it strongly denounces the killings by Israeli forces of dozens of civilians awaiting aid convoys in northern Gaza. The ministry called for an “immediate ceasefire” to mitigate the humanitarian crisis and urged the international community to “take a strong position to compel Israel to respect international humanitarian law”.

Belgium deputy PM ‘horrified’ by shooting in Gaza

Petra De Sutter says she is “horrified” by the news of Palestinians in Gaza having been shot at while waiting to receive aid. “Murdering people queueing for essential humanitarian aid?”, she wrote on X. “This is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and fully goes against the [International Court of Justice’s] provisional measures.”

The ICJ issued a set of provisional measures last month that require Israel to comply with the 1948 Genocide Convention, allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza and act against those who issue genocidal statements.


UNRWA chief laments ‘another day from hell’ in Gaza

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini says Gaza has experienced “another day from hell” as the death toll in the Israeli war on Hamas has surpassed 30,000 and as Israeli forces opened fire on hungry Palestinians waiting for food aid. For weeks, aid groups have warned that severe Israeli restrictions on humanitarian assistance in northern Gaza were contributing to extreme hunger and a collapse of civil order.

“Another day from hell. Gaza reaches an unprecedented reported death toll of 30,000 Palestinians killed, while an additional 100 people are reportedly killed and 700 injured when they were desperately trying to get lifesaving humanitarian aid from a convoy,” Lazzarini said in a social media post.

“Neither UNRWA nor any other UN agency were involved in this distribution. When will this madness end?”


Life draining out of Gaza at terrifying speed: UN aid chief

Martin Griffiths says he’s “appalled” at the killing and wounding of hundreds of people during the transfer of aid earlier today.

“Life is draining out of Gaza at terrifying speed,” the UN undersecretary for humanitarian affairs wrote in a post on X, noting that even after almost five months of “brutal hostilities, Gaza still has the ability to shock us”.



Israel has crossed ‘all lines’

Commenting on the deadly Israeli attack on aid seekers in Gaza earlier today, Tamer Qarmout of the Doha Institute says Israel has been using starvation and aid as a “weapon” from day one against civilians in the besieged territory. “Israel has crossed all the lines when it comes to abiding by any moral conduct in any war,” he told Al Jazeera. “It can do what it wants because there it has impunity. So there’s no accountability … and the international community is totally paralysed. There’s nothing they can do.”

Moreover, Qarmout said its “outrageous” for Israeli forces to claim they feel threatened by aid-seekers. “They are the occupiers, they are the ones who invaded Gaza. They are the ones who have done all this killing and destruction,” he asserted.


Progressive US Jewish group says Gaza mass shooting ‘beyond reprehensible’

The youth-led organisation IfNotNow has decried the killings of more than 100 Palestinians when Israeli forces opened fire on aid seekers in northern Gaza. “It is beyond reprehensible that the Israeli military gunned down over 100 starving Palestinians as they waited for much-needed aid. There can be no justification for this atrocity,” IfNotNow spokesperson Eva Borgwardt said in a statement.

“It’s past time for President Biden to halt weapons transfers to an Israeli military that is slaughtering Palestinians.”


Biden's 'concern'

Biden reacts to Israeli attack on aid recipients

US President Joe Biden has said that an attack on Palestinians waiting for aid in northern Gaza, where humanitarian groups say Israel has severely restricted food assistance over the last several months, will complicate efforts to reach an agreement between Hamas and Israel.

“I know it will,” Biden told reporters when asked if the attack will make a ceasefire more difficult to reach. He added that a pause in the fighting would probably not come by next Monday, as he had predicted in remarks earlier this week.

Biden also said that there are “two competing versions of what happened” during the attack and that the US was “checking” on what had happened.Palestinian witnesses have said that the incident began when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd that was waiting for food.


No the pause won't come by next Monday cause you made that all up yourself. Both Israel and Hamas said it's just lies, no deal imminent at all. Fuck Biden, he's no different from Netanyahu, just trying to cover his own ass for the elections.

What competing versions are there? Between the lies from the IDF and thousands of witness statements with evidence of people shot and hit by shrapnel? Yet Biden wants to entertain the IDF's claims that the aid trucks plowed into the crowds, then later when the crowd threatened the Israeli tanks they had to shoot them? Biden needs to be in jail asap. Why is the ICC not doing its job.

White House says gunfire directed at civilians in Gaza a ‘serious incident’

The White House says it is looking into reports of Israeli gunfire on Palestinians waiting for aid near Gaza City, describing it as a “serious incident”. “We mourn the loss of innocent life and recognize the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where innocent Palestinians are just trying to feed their families,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.

“This underscores the importance of expanding and sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, including through a potential temporary ceasefire,” the spokesperson added.


It's a fucking massacre, war crime, atrocity. Serious incident... It's like calling the Oklahoma city bombing a 'serious incident'
Just trying to feed their families? Trying to survive deliberate starvation you mean. Trying to save their children dying from malnutrition like 9 did yesterday.


‘Intentional killing of civilians’

Bassam Zaqout, director of the Palestinian Relief Society, has said that aid-seekers have repeatedly come under attack by Israeli forces in Gaza. “This situation is happening every day, it’s not the first time,” he told Al Jazeera from Rafah, in southern Gaza.

“There is intention to increase the pressure towards Hamas by killing more civilians on the ground while the Israeli forces completely understand there is no operational health system in the Gaza Strip that can deal with such a massacre or with such a huge number of injured at this time,” he said.

“This is intentional killing of civilians who are not involved in this situation; they are just there waiting for humanitarian aid to come, they want to have food for their children, and this is the price that civilians have to pay.”



IDF' narrative already debunked

Footage captures first shots fired on Gaza aid seekers

Footage aired by Al Jazeera Arabic shows the moment in which the Israeli army opened fire on a crowd of people as aid was being delivered on al-Rashid Street. The first shots were fired at about 4:30am (02:30GMT), as hundreds of Palestinians gathered at a major roundabout south of Gaza City



The moment the occupation forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for aid to arrive on Al-Rashid Street.

IDF Spokesman: We didn't shoot the Gazans seeking aid

IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari commented on the death of around 100 Gazans Thursday morning in the northern Gaza Strip saying the army did not fire at them, but secured the humanitarian aid convoy.

Hagari explained that the aid trucks that made their way into the Gaza Strip "encountered a Palestinian mob that tried to loot the equipment on them." According to him, dozens of residents were killed by crowding and unintentional ramming of Palestinian trucks that tried to escape.

"We didn't fire at the aid seekers – neither from the air nor from the ground," he said.





I have no words

Israel’s Ben-Gvir says aid delivery to Gaza endangers soldiers, must stop

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir says the provision of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza endangers Israeli soldiers and must stop after more than 100 Palestinians were reported killed while trying to get aid in Gaza City.

“Today it was proven that the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza is not only madness while our hostages are held in the Strip … but also endangers IDF soldiers,” Ben-Gvir said, calling the deliveries “oxygen to Hamas”. The incident is “another clear reason why we must stop transferring this aid”, he wrote on X.

Ben-Gvir also said Israel must “provide complete support to our heroic fighters operating in Gaza, who acted excellently against a Gazan mob that tried to harm them”.

Palestinian officials have denounced the attack on starving civilians in the besieged and bombarded territory as a “cold-blooded massacre”.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 29 February 2024

SvennoJ on 29 February 2024

Aid to Gaza decreased by half since ICJ order: UNRWA

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel last month to ensure that adequate humanitarian aid reaches Gaza as part of a ruling on preventing genocide in the territory. But UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini says assistance to Palestinians in the besieged territory has drastically decreased since the top UN court issued its orders.

“In fact, in February, the average assistance has been halved compared to January,” Lazzarini told CNN, adding that the main Kerem Shalom border crossing has been regularly closed. “The flow of [humanitarian] convoys into the Gaza Strip has been absolutely uneven.”



US Pentagon chief says more than 25,000 women, children killed in Gaza

During a United States congressional hearing, Lloyd Austin was asked how many Palestinian women and children had been killed by Israeli forces since October 7. In his reply, Austin said: “It is over 25,000.”

US officials rarely reference civilian death toll numbers that have resulted from Israel’s war on Gaza. Austin’s boss, President Joe Biden, has previously cast doubt on the figures provided by the Gaza Health Ministry, saying that he had “no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using” – a number that now puts the death toll at more than 30,000.

Moreover, Austin added that about 21,000 precision-guided munitions had been provided to Israel since the start of its war.


At least 13,230 children killed in Gaza

Gaza’s government media office says 13,230 children have been killed in the besieged coastal enclave, including seven who died of starvation. The death toll also includes 8,860 women, 340 medical staff, 132 journalists, and 47 civil defence staff.

While 30,139 bodies have been registered at hospitals, the official death toll does not include the about 7,000 reported missing, the office said in its latest update.

 

Israeli protesters continue to block Gaza aid, demand settlement of the strip

As Palestinians count the dead after a reported Israeli attack on a crowd of people waiting for humanitarian assistance in northern Gaza, Israeli protesters are again trying to block aid from entering the strip, where humanitarian groups say the threat of famine continues to spread amid widespread Israeli restrictions on vital humanitarian assistance.

“Israeli protesters again blocked aid trucks en route to Gaza via [the Karem Abu Salem] Kerem Shalom crossing,” the Israeli rights group Gisha said in a social media post. Israeli soldiers have done little to dissuade the protesters, who have blocked the crossing during similar demonstrations over the past several weeks.

Israeli media: settlers breached Erez crossing, entered Gaza

Israeli journalists for the outlets Haaretz and Times of Israel have reported that Israeli protestors broke through the Erez crossing and entered Gaza, where some have demanded a restoration of Israeli settlements.

Haaretz reported that a crowd of protestors “broke through” a military checkpoint and entered Gaza, with the Israeli military stating that it is working with the Israeli police to arrest them. Crowds of right-wing Israelis have gathered at crossings to block aid into Gaza for weeks. Israeli soldiers have mostly taken few steps to disperse them.

“Some of the activists managed to reach some 500 meters deep into Gaza, according to a military source,” Emanuel Fabian, a reporter with TOI, said in a social media post.

Rights group says 17-year-old Palestinian boy killed near Nablus was shot in the back

The Palestine branch of the rights group Defense for Children International has said that a 17-year-old was killed by Israeli forces near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank this morning, noting that he was shot in the back.

“Bashar Nihad Abdulatif Hanani, 17, was shot in the back by Israeli forces around 1am this morning during a military incursion into the Palestinian town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank,” the group said in a report on the incident.

“Bashar was standing on a wall near the Friendship Medical Center, allegedly throwing stones towards Israeli soldiers located about 25 to 35 meters [82 to 115 feet] away. Israeli forces fired live ammunition toward Bashar, causing him to fall from the wall, which was about 1.5 meters [5 feet] tall. Palestinian paramedics carried Bashar into the medical center, then transferred him in an ambulance to Rafidia Governmental Hospital in Nablus. Doctors pronounced Bashar dead around 1:30am.”

Peace Now says Israeli government planning expansion of ‘state land’ in occupied West Bank

The Israeli anti-occupation group Peace Now has said that the Israeli government has declared a large swathe of land in the occupied West Bank as “state land”, a common pretext for taking Palestinian land that often precedes Israeli settlement expansion. The group says that three Palestinian communities are threatened by the declaration.

“The Government Declares 2,640 Dunams in Abu Dis and el-Azariya as State Land, Located in the Southern area of the E1 Plan, Threatening 3 Palestinian Communities,” Peace Now said in a social media post.

“The Israeli government continues to further the occupation and dispossession of Palestinians in the WB. These lands are located in the southern area of the E1 plan, designated for the construction of at least 1,500 housing units. The significance of this declaration is that these lands will be now under Israeli control, with Palestinians having no rights to them.”

The group states that 99.76 percent of all state land allocated in the occupied West Bank went to Israeli settlements, with only .24 percent for Palestinians.



Smotrich calls for settlement expansion following shooting

Israel’s finance minister has called for the expansion of checkpoints and road closures, along with a “massive” expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, following reports in Israeli media of an attack by a Palestinian gunman that killed two Israelis near the Eli settlement earlier today in the occupied West Bank.

“This requires the [Israeli army] to expand the countermeasures effort and not reduce it, closing roads, returning the checkpoints and massive development of the settlement as an appropriate Zionist answer,” Smotrich said in a social media post, offering his condolences to the families of those killed along with “all settlers”.

Houthis threaten to escalate attacks in Red Sea

Yemen’s Houthis have said that they will bring military “surprises” to the Red Sea, where the group has carried out attacks on commercial vessels and skirmished with US forces over the last several months.

“Our military operations will continue and advance and we have surprises that our enemies will not expect at all,” the group’s leader Malik al-Houthi said in televised remarks today.

While the US has accused the group of disrupting global shipping with its attacks, the Houthis have said that they are acting to exert pressure to end the war in Gaza. Raids on Yemeni territory by the US and the UK have thus far failed to halt the attacks.



Miracles still happen

Child in Gaza City pulled alive from rubble after nine days

Footage authenticated by Al Jazeera’s verification unit Sanad shows a child being pulled from under the rubble of a collapsed building targeted by an Israeli bombardment in Gaza City. The visibly emaciated child was rescued by a civil defence unit after surviving nine days amid the ruins of his collapsed home in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, where fighting has been raging for the last few weeks.



Around the Network
SvennoJ on 29 February 2024

Is this a 'you exceeded your daily dose of slaughter'

‘Too many Palestinians died today’: US on aid shooting

The administration of US President Joe Biden has said that “too many Palestinians died today” after Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of people waiting for food assistance in northern Gaza. Speaking to reporters, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the incident, in which more than 100 Palestinians were killed, demonstrates the desperation of Palestinians in northern Gaza amid extreme hunger and deprivation.

“Two things are clear. Just from the aerial footage, you can look at that and right away conclude that the situation is incredibly desperate. People are swarming these trucks because they’re hungry, because they need food, because they need medicine and other assistance. And that tells you that we need to do more to get humanitarian assistance in,” said Miller.

However, the US has consistently refused to consider more tangible steps to put pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the north, where aid groups have blamed Israel’s consistent blocking of aid deliveries for the growth of extreme hunger. Miller said that the US is “pressing for answers” and that the Israeli government is conducting a probe of the incident.

Four more children die of starvation in northern Gaza: Health Ministry

The ministry said the children died of dehydration and starvation at the Kamal Adwan hospital. Palestinian officials had warned earlier this week that thousands could die from famine in the coming days if adequate humanitarian aid does not reach all regions of Gaza.

Italian foreign minister calls for ‘immediate’ ceasefire

Minister Antonio Tajani has called on Israeli forces to protect Palestinian civilians, after Israeli soldiers opened fire on a crowd in north Gaza waiting for food assistance. “The tragic deaths in Gaza demand an immediate ceasefire to facilitate more humanitarian aid, the release of hostages and the protection of civilians. We strongly urge Israel to protect the people in Gaza and to rigorously ascertain facts and responsibilities,” Tajani said in a social media post.

Netanyahu says he will not accept ‘delusional’ demands from Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he will not accept Hamas’s demands in the continuing negotiations for a truce in Gaza, casting further doubt that a deal between Israel and the Palestinian group is imminent.

In remarks today, Netanyahu, who has insisted that the war will go on even in the event of a prolonged pause, said that he has “rejected the international pressures to end the war before the goals are reached”, despite increasing international political pressure.

Netanyahu also stated that Israel would move to eliminate Hamas fighters in Rafah, a move that humanitarian groups and countries from around the world would result in a humanitarian catastrophe, with more than one million displaced Palestinians packed into Rafah with nowhere to flee.

PFLP condemns Israeli attack on aid-seekers as ‘horrific’

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine group says it holds the US government and the international community responsible for “horrific massacres” of aid seekers in northern Gaza earlier today.

“The Front affirmed that the criminal Zionist enemy continues to commit war crimes and genocidal massacres that are the bloodiest and most brutal in contemporary history, and practices organised state terrorism in full view of the unjust and silent world,” it said in a statement.

The armed group said the international community must take a “clear decision to oblige the occupation to stop the aggression” including Israel’s bombing of the Strip and what it called the “war of starvation” against people in Gaza. “The international community is involved in these hideous massacres, and the Arab countries have failed the Palestinian people, and they must realise that these massacres … will not bring the Palestinian people to their knees,” it added.



RolStoppable on 29 February 2024

One has to wonder how long the "morally good" West thinks that they can cover up their complicity. You'd think we should be well past that point now, but maybe it's exactly that; there's no turning back now in their minds, so they'll have to endure.

I thought the Ukraine war is bad because it should be so easy to take a stand against fascism, yet the West still isn't doing it properly two years later. But Gaza is much worse, because the West is actively supporting fascism this time and trying to gaslight people with the buzzword antisemitism whenever somebody speaks out against Israel's fascists.



Legend11 correctly predicted that GTA IV will outsell Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I was wrong.

LurkerJ on 29 February 2024
SvennoJ said:

Is this a 'you exceeded your daily dose of slaughter'

‘Too many Palestinians died today’: US on aid shooting

As if seeing hungry humans rushing to aid trucks like this isn't humiliating enough, you turn it into a bait and shoot them dead? The constant insane stories coming out of Gaza makes me feel ashamed even though I don't think I have anything to do with supporting Isreal. 

Every few days, images of a Palestinian tragedy sticks with me and I have to actively block it out for days, as if seeing a child picking up spilled flour off the unsanitary ground and filling his pockets with wasn't heartbreaking enough! At the risk of sounding privileged AF, I feel traumatised just watching these images. I can't imagine what the innocent people there feel like witnessing this every day and how much anger they rightfully harbour against the rest of the world. 

Shame! 



SvennoJ on 29 February 2024
LurkerJ said:

As if seeing hungry humans rushing to aid trucks like this isn't humiliating enough, you turn it into a bait and shoot them dead? The constant insane stories coming out of Gaza makes me feel ashamed even though I don't think I have anything to do with supporting Isreal. 

Every few days, images of a Palestinian tragedy sticks with me and I have to actively block it out for days, as if seeing a child picking up spilled flour off the unsanitary ground and filling his pockets with wasn't heartbreaking enough! At the risk of sounding privileged AF, I feel traumatised just watching these images. I can't imagine what the innocent people there feel like witnessing this every day and how much anger they rightfully harbour against the rest of the world. 

Shame! 

I was struck with Covid last weekend (on the recovery now) and while barely able to stand being alive, hurting all over, hard to breath between the rasping coughs, I'm still blessed to have a roof over my head, soft bed, well nourished, pain medication at hand, peace, dark and quiet to heal in. Thinking how terrible it must be to get sick in Gaza.

I wish I had nothing to do with supporting Israel, yet I pay taxes and Canada sends weapons to Israel, as well defended Israel's occupation in their written statement to the ICJ. Ashamed to be Canadian. Don't want to go back to being Dutch either, worse there.


Again, if Biden was serious about stepping up aid, storm the beach with aid. The 'supposed' safe route is along the sea, the massacre today happened along the shore. Instead of trying to drive trucks over broken roads through crowds, bring aid in by sea.
This is the roundabout where it happened https://www.google.com/maps/place/Gaza/@31.5029145,34.414163,834m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x14fd7f054e542767:0x7ff98dc913046392!8m2!3d31.5016951!4d34.4668445!16zL20vMGZka2w?entry=ttu Set up an aid reception point on the beach.



SvennoJ on 29 February 2024

Another probe we'll never hear back from

White House calls for probe into Gaza mass shooting, reasserts support for Israel

White House spokeswoman Olivia Dalton says the mass shooting against aid seekers in Gaza “needs to be thoroughly investigated”, reiterating that “too many” civilians have been killed in the war.

The US often calls on Israel to investigate its own abuses, but Israeli authorities rarely ever prosecute violations by their soldiers and often exonerate them of wrongdoing despite publicly available evidence.

Dalton called on Israel to provide plans for how to maintain security in Gaza after military operations against Hamas have been concluded. “We have yet to see those plans, and we are deeply concerned about that,” she told reporters.

Asked whether Biden would consider withholding aid to Israel, Dalton dismissed the idea. “They are a close ally that will remain a close ally. They are in the throes of an existential battle – an existential threat to their existence from Hamas – and we’re going to continue to support them in that process,” she said.

Olivia Dalton, please turn yourself in at the ICC. The Palestinians are in the throes of an existential battle, have been since 1948, yet now their doomsday clock is pretty close to midnight. ( Not looking good for the world in general https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/ ) Palestinians have faced an existential threat from Zionism since its creation. "A land without a people, for a people without a land" (Early Zionist Slogan)



Israeli attack on aid seekers continuation of ‘extermination’ policy: Oman

Oman’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement says the deadly attack on aid seekers was a part of “systematic criminal acts by the occupation forces”. The incident was a clear violation of international law the ministry said, adding that it was “nothing but a continuation of the policy of extermination pursued by the Israeli occupation forces”.

“The Sultanate of Oman calls on the international community to intervene urgently and decisively to put an end to the tragic humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and to hold the occupying state fully responsible for its targeting of civilians and civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip,” the ministry said.




‘Slaughter and starvation of Gaza cannot continue’: US think-tank

The Center for International Policy (CIP) has called on US President Biden to suspend the transfer of weapons to Israel after the massacre of aid seekers in northern Gaza today.

“President Biden must say ‘enough is enough’ and finally end US support for and complicity in the ongoing carnage in Gaza,” CIP Executive Vice President Matt Duss said in a statement.

Duss also stressed the need for a ceasefire, citing the expansion of the war into Lebanon and the Red Sea, which he warned could turn into a “more devastating conflict”. “Nearly five months of slaughter and starvation of civilians in Gaza, and the continued holding and abuse of Israeli hostages, must not continue. It is time for President Biden and US partners to finally use their leverage to end this catastrophe,” he said.

US congressman says millions at ‘imminent risk’ of famine in Gaza

US Congressman Jim McGovern has said that the growth of extreme hunger in Gaza underscores the need for an “immediate ceasefire”.

“We need a ceasefire now. The US needs to get food & medical aid to people in Gaza — including sending a hospital ship & airdropping aid in, if that’s what it takes. Millions are at imminent risk of famine & starvation,” McGovern said in a social media post.  “Massive humanitarian support is needed to save innocent lives.”




Palestinian UK envoy calls on ICC to act following Israeli attack on aid seekers

Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom Husam Zomlot has called for action from the International Criminal Court (ICC) after Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for food assistance in northern Gaza. The attack killed at least 112 and wounded 760 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

“This is genocide: Shooting and killing dozens [of] starving people waiting for aid trucks to feed their children in the besieged north of Gaza,” Zomlot said in a social media post.

“This is Israel’s barbarism and savagery. Every state that enables this or stays silent is complicit, and [ICC prosecutor] @KarimKhanQC is still dragging his feet.”



Everyone calls on the "international community" to intervene. We are all the international community. I wish countries would stop calling on 'the international community' and actually live up to their obligations under the Geneva conventions. The political side of the UN is a joke, totally useless.


Colombia suspends Israeli arms purchases following attack on Palestinian crowd

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said that the world must “block” Netanyahu, after Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for food assistance in northern Gaza.

“Asking for food, more than 100 Palestinians were killed by Netanyahu. This is called genocide and is reminiscent of the Holocaust, even if the world powers don’t like to recognize it,” Petro, who has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, said in a social media post.

“The world must block Netanyahu. Colombia suspends all purchases of weapons from Israel.”




Kinda meaningless when Israel already suspended arm sales to Colombia in October...
https://apnews.com/article/colombia-israel-petro-suspend-defense-exports-a92effbb531ea4631d25a8c1d32ede28

Israel has suspended security exports to Colombia in an escalating diplomatic spat over online messages by Colombia’s president comparing Israel’s siege of Gaza to the actions of Nazi Germany.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has doubled down on his criticism of Israel and suggested that his country may need to suspend diplomatic relations with Israel, while his foreign minister has suggested Israel’s ambassador should leave the country.

Also this... https://mronline.org/2021/05/31/birds-of-a-fascist-feather-why-israel-is-aiding-colombias-crackdown-on-protesters/
(Tbf that was Columbia's former president, Ivan Duque's, doing. Gustavo Petro is the current president elected to clean up Ivan's mess)


But yes, it's long overdue to start boycotting trade with Israel.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 29 February 2024