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Forums - Politics - Israel-Hamas war, Gaza genocide

SvennoJ on 24 July 2025

Starvation as a weapon: Scholar links Israeli practices to war crimes and genocide

Omer Bartov, professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, says Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war, a war crime and an act that is part of what constitutes the commission of genocide.

“There is now an attempt, as the genocide resolution from 1948 says, of deliberately inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction in whole or in part – this is section three of the genocide convention,” Bartov told Al Jazeera.

“So, clearly, this is part of an attempt to make life impossible for Palestinians either to force them out or simply to see them die where they are,” he said, highlighting that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant also for using starvation as a tool of war.

There have been several historical episodes where starvation has been used as a weapon of war, including during the German siege of what was then called Leningrad (today, Saint Petersburg), when about one million people died, mostly from hunger.

And because it is not new, starvation “was included in the definition of genocide in 1948 – it’s a war crime, it’s a crime against humanity and it is also part of the definition of genocide”.


Israel preventing UN from verifying Gaza aid awaiting distribution: OCHA

The United Nations says it does not know how many truckloads of aid are awaiting distribution inside the Gaza border because Israel has not granted it access.

“Despite our repeated requests, Israel has not allowed the UN to be present at the crossings, which are militarised areas,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told the AFP news agency. “We therefore cannot verify the amount of supplies currently at the crossing.”

Laerke explained that the UN needed multiple authorisations from the Israeli authorities: first to get aid across the border from Israel into the Gaza Strip, where it is dropped off, with the trucks returning to Israel – then to drive trucks from inside Gaza to the crossing point to pick up aid.

“It is very important to stress that it is not just about denials of requests to pick up the cargo,” he added. “Israel – as the occupying power and a party to the conflict – must facilitate humanitarian operations all the way till it reaches people who need it to survive.”

This means that, beyond simply authorisation, “they must provide the green light for trucks without unnecessary delays; allow teams to use multiple, safer routes; and order troops to stay away from the convoys, and never shoot at civilians along the allocated routes – or anywhere else”, Laerke explained.

“Without the full set of conditions in place, safe and principled delivery cannot take place at scale. So even when approved, those missions are often impeded on the ground.”


Palestinian mothers sit with their malnourished children as they await treatment at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 24



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SvennoJ on 24 July 2025

‘Families are breaking down, unable to survive’: UNRWA

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned that “when child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food & care disappears [and] famine silently begins to unfold”.

“Parents are too hungry to care for their children,” Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X. “Those who reach UNRWA clinics don’t have the energy, food or means to follow medical advice”.

He said the agency has 6,000 trucks loaded with humanitarian supplies in Jordan and Egypt, ready to enter Gaza.

“Allow humanitarian partners to bring unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza,” Lazzarini said.


Palestinian mothers devastated as children beg for food

We have more testimonials from Palestinian women in Gaza who are struggling to feed their starving families under Israel’s blockade.

“I went to get food, to support my children, and I fainted there. No one helped me,” said Sabreen Abu al-Kass, a mother of 10 from the Shati refugee camp, who tried but failed to get supplies from the GHF.

“I couldn’t bring back any aid at all. We returned home empty-handed, just like we came. Out of maybe 50 attempts, I was only able to get some food once. One time, among thousands of women,” she told Al Jazeera.

“There is no flour, no food, nothing. My husband, the one I relied on, is gone [killed]. Who will help me now? Only God.”

Hanan Fares also described the devastation of not being able to find any food to feed her children and grandchildren. “Even my youngest granddaughter is crying and begging, saying: ‘Grandma, I want some bread. I’m hungry.’ But I couldn’t bring her anything,” Fares told Al Jazeera.

“This is the third time I’ve gone out to try to get food aid, and every time, I’ve failed. I couldn’t get anything. God is my witness, and may He hold those responsible accountable.”

“Why are they doing this to the children? What did the children do wrong?” Fares asked.


Palestinian children wait to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City, July 24



SvennoJ on 24 July 2025

What happens when you don’t eat for days?

Ashraf Abou El-Ezz, a US-based physician with the advocacy group Doctors Against Genocide, warns that lack of food can be especially deadly for children.

Abou El-Ezz said if aid and medical supplies do not enter Gaza promptly, the Israeli-imposed hunger crisis may lead to mass casualties.

He said that with starvation, the body starts to use nutrients stored in the liver. “Once you start depleting this, you start going into electrolyte imbalances as well as organ failures, and you end up dying,” Abou El-Ezz told Al Jazeera. “And children are the most vulnerable group of patients that can be affected.”

The doctor said the hasty re-introduction of food into starved people’s systems without health supervision can also lead to health complications.

“I think the Israelis know that well, and that’s why they are trying to starve them.”


‘Tip of the iceberg’: Starvation deaths increasing in Gaza

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud says starvation deaths in Gaza are increasing at a “frightening pace”.

“This is the tip of the iceberg,” Mahmoud reported from Gaza City, noting that people of all ages, including children and the elderly, have been transferred to hospitals due to malnutrition.

He added that the now-infamous US- and Israeli-backed GHF aid distribution scheme has exacerbated the crisis.

As we’ve been reporting, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid since the GHF began operating in Gaza in May.

“People are trying to [buy] whatever they can get their hands on” to survive, Mahmoud said.


WHO chief says 2.1 million people face starvation in Gaza

The director-general of the World Health Organization has warned that more than two million people in Gaza are facing starvation, as deaths from malnutrition surge.

His comments come as Israel continues to prevent aid supplies, including baby formula, from reaching the enclave.



SvennoJ on 24 July 2025

US envoy Witkoff blames Hamas for failure to reach ceasefire deal

Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy for the Middle East, says the Trump administration has decided to bring its negotiating team home from Qatar after Hamas’s latest response to a ceasefire proposal.

As we’ve been reporting, Israel said earlier that it recalled its team of negotiators for “consultations” after Hamas submitted its response.

Witkoff said the Palestinian group’s position “clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza”, without elaborating.

“While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith. We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,” Witkoff said.

“It is a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way. We are resolute in seeking an end to this conflict and a permanent peace in Gaza.”

Hamas has yet to comment publicly on its response, or the criticism from the US envoy. The Palestinian group has been pushing for a deal that would ensure Israel agrees to a permanent end to its war on Gaza.


More projection, it's the US and Israel that lack the desire to end the genocide. Witkoff has done nothing but move the conditions further and further to the Israeli side since taking over negotiations where now nothing but a full surrender, end of any resistance and ongoing occupation with ethnic cleansing will suffice. Witkoff is not a negotiator, he's just another war criminal.

"Officials have said a main sticking point is the redeployment of Israeli troops after any ceasefire takes place."

How is that part of a ceasefire... Would Ukraine agree to a ceasefire that involves redeployment of Russian troops in Ukraine???



Israeli military strikes southern Lebanon

The Israeli army has just announced that it targeted southern Lebanon with air strikes, claiming it struck multiple Hezbollah-linked sites.

In a post on X, the Israeli army said fighter jets “attacked military sites”, including “weapons storage facilities and a rocket launcher”.

The military also claimed responsibility for another strike earlier on Thursday. Earlier we reported that one person was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a car in the southern Lebanese town of Aita al-Shaab.

Israel has launched near-daily attacks on Lebanon despite agreeing to a US-backed ceasefire in November.

Yeah that's the kind of 'ceasefire' the US wants. Israel hasn't left Lebanon yet since the ceasefire.



SvennoJ on 24 July 2025

What next after US says ceasefire negotiators coming home?

It was notable that the Israelis removed their negotiators a short time before this tweet [from US special envoy Steve Witkoff].

In an interview with Axios, they made it clear they were simply trying to shake up the negotiations, put more pressure on Hamas, but they weren’t leaving the negotiations.

We don’t know whether [Witkoff’s tweet] is part of a negotiating tactic. We know that one of the key sticking points for Hamas is Donald Trump perhaps giving some kind of personal guarantee that after 60 days, hostilities won’t resume. That’s something he could very easily do.

We also know that there was a suggestion that Israel probably wouldn’t sign onto any great breakthrough until Sunday, when the Knesset [parliament] in Israel dissolves, so that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government can’t be brought down by coalition partners.

Having said that though, this is a very sternly worded tweet.

For Witkoff to be talking about alternative options for a more stable environment for the people of Gaza, we know that Trump simply hasn’t ruled out ethnic cleansing, concentration camps, getting other countries [to take in Palestinians].

But right now, we simply don’t know.


State Dept refuses to say what ‘alternative options’ being considered for Gaza

A spokesperson for the US State Department has refused to answer repeated questions from reporters about special envoy Witkoff’s statement on the Trump administration’s withdrawal from Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar.

Notably, deputy spokesman Thomas Pigott was pressed about what Witkoff meant when he said that Washington “will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza”.

“Ultimately, the statement speaks for itself”, Pigott said during a briefing.

“At this point, I have nothing to preview,” he added when asked again about what “alternative options” are on the table.

Trump has previously said he wants the US to “own” Gaza as part of an effort to turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East” and supports initiatives to push Palestinians out of the enclave.

Rights advocates have said that would constitute ethnic cleansing, and Trump’s position has been firmly rejected by Palestinians.



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SvennoJ on 24 July 2025

Hamas says ‘bewildered’ by Witkoff’s remarks on ceasefire talks

The Palestinian group has responded to the US special envoy’s allegations that it lacked the will to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

In a statement shared on Telegram, Hamas said it made “a sincere commitment to the success of the mediators’ efforts” to reach a deal. Hamas also said the mediators welcomed its “constructive and positive” position.

“The movement affirms its commitment to completing the negotiations and engaging in them in a way that contributes to overcoming obstacles and reaching a permanent ceasefire agreement.”


US Muslim group condemns Trump negotiators for leaving ceasefire talks

The decision to leave Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar gives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “cover to continue starving, bombing and ethnically cleansing everyone in Gaza”, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says.

“Steve Witkoff knows that Netanyahu and his cabinet of openly racist, genocidal fascists do not want to permanently stop the genocide in Gaza, even if carrying on means leaving more hostages to die in Israel’s indiscriminate bombing campaign or to starve to death alongside the Palestinian people,” CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.

“Yet whenever push comes to shove in recent negotiations, Mr Witkoff has parroted the Israeli government’s line and given Netanyahu cover to continue the genocide.”

As we’ve been reporting, Witkoff announced earlier that US negotiators were heading home from the Qatari capital, Doha, after Hamas presented its response to the latest ceasefire proposal. The US special envoy blamed the Palestinian group for the failure to reach a deal.

But CAIR’s Mitchell said Washington – which provides Israel with at least $3.8bn in military aid annually – should be exerting pressure on Israel to end its war on Gaza.

“Until the Israeli government’s enablers in the United States, Europe and the Arab world use their military, economic, diplomatic and financial influence to force a ceasefire on the Netanyahu government, no one should expect its genocide to stop,” he said.



SvennoJ on 24 July 2025

Rashida Tlaib hits out at fellow US legislators for Israel support

The Palestinian American congresswoman has called on her colleagues to listen to their constituents and end unconditional aid to Israel.

Recent public opinion polls have shown growing US public discontent with Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, but Congress remains staunchly supportive of Israel on a bipartisan basis.

“Americans serving in Congress, wake up because the American people are telling you over and over again: ‘We’re not in support of this’,” Tlaib told reporters outside the US Capitol.

“So maybe for once, would you listen to your constituency? Poll them like you poll everything else. They will tell you they do not want one goddamn freaking dime going to starve a whole people.”

Tlaib appeared to criticise a vote by her progressive ally Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez against a measure to stop $500m in missile defence aid to Israel.

Ocasio-Cortez argued that cutting off “defensive” arms to Israel does not help end the bombardment of Palestinians.

But Tlaib suggested she is not swayed by that justification. “No matter what weapons – I don’t care if it’s offensive or defensive, whatever you call it – let’s stop enabling the genocide,” Tlaib said.

The US provides Israel with billions of dollars in military assistance annually despite allegations of rights violations that would make the country ineligible for security aid under US law. United Nations experts and leading rights groups have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.


US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib speaks alongside Palestinian rights advocates at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 24

‘Stop funding a genocide,’ army veteran tells US officials

Josephine Guilbeau, a US Army veteran, has delivered an impassioned rebuke of Israel’s starvation policy against Palestinians during a news conference outside the US Capitol.

“I have been screaming, as a conservative Christian, to my Republican leaders to stop funding a genocide,” she said.

“But what I am witnessing this week [is] the forced starvation of babies. They are not allowing baby formula to reach babies. The level of evil that it takes to make a decision to starve a baby as a means of war, as a weapon of war – what have we come to as a humanity? What have we come to as a country?”

Guilbeau told Al Jazeera separately that she is encouraged that more conservative figures in US politics are speaking out against Israeli atrocities.

She said the “tide is definitely turning” on the right to oppose unconditional support for Israel.


US Army veteran and Palestinian rights advocate Josephine Guilbeau outside the US Capitol, Washington, DC



SvennoJ on 24 July 2025

UK’s Starmer says will discuss steps to ‘stop the killing’ in Gaza with EU allies

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he will speak with his French, German and Italian partners on Friday to “discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need” in Gaza.

“The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible. While the situation has been grave for some time, it has reached new depths and continues to worsen. We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said in a statement.

Starmer has faced growing pressure to take concrete action to pressure Israel to end its war on Gaza and allow humanitarian aid into the enclave, as well as to recognise a Palestinian state.

“We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people,” the prime minister said in the statement, stressing that the UK supports efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal.

“A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis.”

Urgently? Do something you fucking twat, discussion time is long past.

UK government ‘deeply committed’ to recognising Palestinian statehood

A member of the United Kingdom’s government has reiterated its commitment to recognising a Palestinian state, emphasising the need for a “meaningful” step towards a two-state solution.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told LBC Radio that recognition must be part of “a genuine move towards a two-state solution and a long-term peace settlement” with Israel.

“We are deeply committed to the recognition of Palestine as a state, which was part of our manifesto, but obviously we want that to be meaningful,” Reynolds said.

The minister also pointed to recent measures taken by the UK in response to Gaza’s “intolerable situation,” including sanctions on Israeli ministers.

This comes as the UK government is under increasing pressure to recognise Palestine after London Mayor Sadiq Khan called for the prime minister to “immediately recognise Palestinian statehood” earlier this week.

Deeply committed to postponing any actions as long as possible to preferably never.

BCG says staff behind plans to remove Palestinians from Gaza ‘ignored company protocols’

An investigation by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has found that some of its US-based employees ignored the company’s risk controls to work on projects linked to the GHF and the displacement of Palestinians.

In a response published Thursday to a British parliamentary committee inquiry, BCG admitted that some staff helped set up GHF between late 2024 and early 2025. GHF, backed by the US and Israel, has been accused of putting Palestinians at risk by directing them to aid distribution points where Israeli forces have reportedly shot hundreds of Palestinians.

BCG also worked with the Tony Blair Institute on post-war Gaza planning. According to the Financial Times, BCG modelled the costs of relocating Palestinians, while the Tony Blair Institute helped develop the controversial plan.

BCG has decided not to release the full investigation.

UK says one thing, does the opposite.



SvennoJ on 24 July 2025

ICC issues statement after Hungary failed to arrest Netanyahu during visit

A court has ruled that Hungary violated international law by refusing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Budapest.

Despite the ICC issuing an arrest warrant issued in November 2024, Hungary allowed Netanyahu to enter the country on an official four-day visit, including meetings with Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The court said Hungary’s failure to provisionally arrest Netanyahu “prevented the Court from exercising its functions”, and referred the matter to the Assembly of States Parties for further action, the court’s governing body.

Hungary has announced plans to withdraw from the Rome Statute in June 2026.

That was early April... Yeah don't expect anything from the ICC if it takes them over 3 months to issue a statement on Hungary refusing to arrest Netanyahu.

Pakistan’s FM: ‘No question’ Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo has spoken to Ishaq Dar on the sidelines of the UN Security Council meeting in New York City, asking him about the state of global opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza.

The reason why these institutions were created, particularly the UN 80 years ago, was to deal with this sort of situation”, Dar said, when asked what the international community can do in the face of Israeli impunity.

“This certainly has become a graveyard of morality. The people are dying, the food has been made weaponised, and the children, almost dozens every week, are dying”, he continued.

“So, I think the united stand of the world community and the institutions’ responsibility is to make sure that this ends as soon as possible, because this is virtually unacceptable under international law as the UN Charter, humanitarian rights.”

“This is totally unacceptable.”


Macron says France will recognise Palestinian state

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will recognise the State of Palestine in September at the UN General Assembly.

“The urgent need today is for the war in Gaza to end and to rescue the civilian population,” Macron wrote in a post on X. “Peace is possible. We need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all the captives and massive humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza.”


Israel condemns France’s planned recognition of Palestinian state

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has slammed Macron’s announcement that France will recognise a Palestinian state, calling it “a disgrace and a surrender to terrorism”.

“Instead of standing with Israel in this time of trial, the French president is acting to weaken it,” Katz wrote on X. “We will not allow the establishment of a Palestinian entity that would harm our security, endanger our existence, and undermine our historical right to the Land of Israel.”



SvennoJ on 24 July 2025

Latest on Israeli army, settler attacks against Palestinians in West Bank

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has released its latest update on the situation in the occupied West Bank:

  • At least 159 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank between January 1 and July 21 of this year.
  • So far in 2025, about 320 Palestinians – more than half of them children – have been displaced by so-called “lack-of-permit demolitions” in occupied East Jerusalem; that amounts to an average of 49 demolitions per month.
  • Between July 15 and 21, OCHA documented at least 27 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in casualties and/or property damage.
  • “These attacks led to the displacement of two households comprising 10 people, including five children, and the injury of seven Palestinians, including one child – six by Israeli settlers and one by Israeli forces,” the agency said.


Activist group warns of ‘collusion’ between Israeli settlers and army in West Bank

A leading Israeli activist group has accused the army of colluding with settlers in an “organised attack” on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

“Especially after the 7th of October, the Israeli military recruited many, many settlers as reserve soldiers,” said Hagit Ofran, from Peace Now.

“Many of them are taking part in the attacks on Palestinians, but this time they’re doing it with the uniform and the weapon of the [Israeli army] and with the authorities of a soldier. That marks a big escalation in the central violence together with the army.”

She warned that the West Bank violence is not limited to settlers. “It’s a government organisation. They are supported by our government,” she said. “They get a budget from this government, and this is how it’s all organised.”


Israel ‘expanding war on Palestinian refugees in West Bank’: Researchers

Forensic Architecture, a research group in the UK, says its analysis shows the Israeli military is carving up the Tulkarem, Jenin and Nur Shams refugee camps “to establish new military routes, displace Palestinians, and dismantle historic centres of resistance”.

“By demolishing homes and repeatedly uprooting Palestinians, Israel is not only forcing them from place to place—itself a form of physical and psychological warfare—but attempting to erase the fact that these locations were ever refugee camps at all and weaken Palestinian demand for return,” the group said on X.

“Each wave of displacement seeks to dissolve the Palestinian refugee identity and undermine the population’s political, historical and legal claims.”


Israeli settler attacks show new level of violence, organization

Israeli settlers are becoming more brazen and heavily armed, attacking Palestinians with impunity as the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority stand by.