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‘We Must Halt This’: US Progressives, Humanitarians Decry Israel’s Evacuation Order

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Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Palestinians walk through debris along a street in the aftermath of Israeli bombardment in al-Karama district in Gaza City on October 11, 2023. (Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“The mass expulsion of over 1 million people in a day is ethnic cleansing,” said U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. “We must use all diplomatic tools to stop this.”

Progressive members of the U.S. Congress joined humanitarian groups and the United Nations on Friday in condemning Israel’s 24-hour evacuation order for the entire population of the northern Gaza Strip, a directive that will be impossible for many in the region to meet—particularly the thousands wounded by Israeli airstrikes.

“Any person can see that ordering 1+ million people to move in under 24 hours is not possible. It is unacceptable,” U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wrote on social media. “Humanity is at stake. Nearly half are children. We must halt this.”

More than 400,000 Palestinians have been displaced since Israel began its latest bombing campaign in Gaza following a deadly Hamas attack on October 7.

In the wake of Israel’s order—which came hours before the nation launched ground raids in Gaza—many panicked residents fled their homes in the northern part of the enclave, with some fearing another permanent displacement on the scale of the 1948 Nakba.

“As I am packing my things I am wondering, is this really another Nakba?” 56-year-old Arwa El-Rayes, an internal medicine doctor, told The New York Times shortly before fleeing her home in Gaza City. “I am taking my house key and thinking, will I ever return to my home, will I ever see my home again?”

Reuters reported that “several thousand residents could be seen on roads heading out of the northern part of the Gaza Strip, but it was impossible to tell their numbers. Many others said they would not go.”

A 33-year-old woman in Gaza City toldThe Washington Post that she’s staying along with dozens of family members, including her elderly parents.

“There are no cars to take us anywhere,” she said. “There is no gas in cars. Cab companies don’t have cars anymore. The streets are so, so, so, so crowded, it’s like it’s the Day of Judgement.”

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) argued that “the mass expulsion of over 1 million people in a day is ethnic cleansing.”

“We have to stop ignoring the thousands of Palestinian lives lost and millions at stake!” Omar added. “We must use all diplomatic tools to stop this.”

Echoing aid groups, the Minnesota lawmaker emphasized that many in northern Gaza—including people with disabilities and those wounded by Israeli bombs—”can’t simply pick up and leave” in compliance with Israel’s evacuation directive, which the U.N. said is untenable and should be rescinded.

“With communications and electricity shut down by Israel, the order cannot be communicated,” Omar wrote. “Roads are bombed and many cars are out of fuel, making fleeing impossible for many. Plus there has been no announcement of a pause in hostilities to allow for safe civilian evacuation, so people are afraid to leave and risk bombardment. Even if it were successful, there is no infrastructure in southern Gaza to receive an additional 1.1 million people.”

The Palestine Red Crescent Society underscored those warnings in a statement Friday, saying it doesn’t have “the means to evacuate the sick and the wounded in our hospitals, or the elderly and the disabled.”

“There are no safe areas in the whole of the Gaza Strip,” the group said. “The world must intervene to stop this catastrophe.”

Israeli forces have already been accused of targeting Gazans attempting to flee to the south with airstrikes.

Despite urgent appeals from lawmakers and aid organizations, officials in the U.S.—Israel’s top ally and leading supplier of weaponry—have provided no public indication that they will pressure Israel to reverse course.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told people in Gaza City on Friday to “evacuate south for your own safety and the safety of your families” as it amasses tanks and troops for an apparently imminent full-scale ground invasion. Hamas has reportedly told Gazans to defy the IDF’s instructions.

Asked about Israel’s evacuation order during a CNN appearance on Friday, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said he doesn’t want to get involved in “armchair quarterbacking” the situation, adding, “We understand what they’re trying to do.”

“Now it’s a tall order,” Kirby admitted. “It’s a million people, and it’s a very urban, dense environment. It’s already a combat zone. So I don’t think anybody’s underestimating the challenge here of effecting that evacuation.”

The White House’s soft-pedaling of Israel’s directive contrasts sharply with the assessments of human rights organizations, which argued the order amounts to a war crime that will worsen an already calamitous situation.

“The instructions issued by the Israeli authorities for the population of Gaza City to immediately leave their homes, coupled with the complete siege explicitly denying them food, water, and electricity, are not compatible with international humanitarian law,” the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Friday. “When military powers order people to leave their homes, all possible measures must be taken to ensure the population has access to basic necessities like food and water and that members of the same family are not separated.”

“Gaza is a closed area of limited size and resources,” the ICRC added. “People have nowhere safe to go and many, including the disabled, elderly, and sick, will not be able to leave their homes. International humanitarian law protects all civilians, including those who remain. Today, it is impossible for Gazans to know which areas will next face attack.”

“There are no extra beds in any hospitals anywhere for people to move to. Most of the wounded are unstable, they’ll die en route.

Gaza’s health ministry toldThe Independent that it would be “impossible” to move the wounded in its care to southern Gaza, given that the entire territory’s healthcare system is overwhelmed and teetering on the brink of total collapse due to the rapid influx of airstrike victims and Israel’s blockade, which has cut off the enclave’s supply of electricity, fuel, and critical supplies.

More than 6,600 people in Gaza have been injured by Israel’s relentless aerial campaign, which dropped roughly 6,000 bombs on the occupied enclave over just a six-day period, leveling entire neighborhoods and damaging medical facilities, schools, and other civilian infrastructure.

“There are no extra beds in any hospitals anywhere for people to move to,” Gaza’s health ministry said. “Most of the wounded are unstable, they’ll die en route. All hospitals in Gaza, even after they’ve been expanded, are full.”

Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization, noted that “there are severely ill people whose injuries mean their only chances of survival is being on life support, such as mechanical ventilators.”

“So moving those people is a death sentence,” said Jasarevic. “Asking health workers to do so is beyond cruel.”

Meinie Nicolai, general director of Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement Friday that the Israeli military’s evacuation order is “outrageous.” The group said Israel has given Al Awda Hospital—where Doctors Without Borders staff are treating patients—just two hours to evacuate.

“This represents an attack on medical care and on humanity. We are talking about more than a million human beings,” said Nicolai. “‘Unprecedented’ doesn’t even cover the medical humanitarian impact of this. Gaza is being flattened, thousands of people are dying. This must stop now. We condemn Israel’s demand in the strongest possible terms.”

Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue Reading‘We Must Halt This’: US Progressives, Humanitarians Decry Israel’s Evacuation Order

‘This Is Not What Fighting Hamas Looks Like’: Israel Orders All of Northern Gaza to Evacuate

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“That’s obviously impossible. Israel is preparing for mass atrocities.”

Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

People in Gaza City begin moving to the south following an Israeli military evacuation order on October 13, 2023. 
(Photo: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Israeli military on Friday ordered the entire population of northern Gaza—roughly 1.1 million people—to evacuate to the southern half of the occupied territory within 24 hours, prompting fears of an even worse humanitarian catastrophe as Israel readies a ground invasion and continues its disastrous bombing campaign.

The order, initially issued to the United Nations, impacts nearly half of Gaza’s population and comes after hundreds of thousands of the enclave’s residents were already displaced by Israeli airstrikes, which have killed more than 1,500 people.

U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement that the organization “considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences.”

Dujarric added that the order must be “rescinded” to avert “a calamitous situation.”

News of Israel’s directive sparked alarm and confusion on the ground in northern Gaza, which includes densely populated Gaza City—home to the territory’s primary hospital.

Al Jazeera reported that one of its journalists in Gaza City “saw residents packing up whatever belongings they could as they began evacuating towards the south in cars, vans, and any other vehicle that was available.”

“In northern Gaza, residents early in the morning of Friday said the streets were empty as people stayed inside their homes trying to decide what to do next following Israel’s evacuation orders,” the outlet noted. “There were no cars on the road except for ambulances. Because of the internet outages and collapse of phone networks, Palestinians said information was scant and most still had not heard direct orders from the army to evacuate.”

“We fear that Israel may claim that Palestinians who could not flee northern Gaza can be erroneously held as directly participating in hostilities, and targeted.”

Aid groups and human rights organizations expressed horror in response to the Israeli military’s evacuation order, which observers warned is a prelude to “mass atrocities.”

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said that without “any guarantees of safety or return,” the order “would amount to the war crime of forcible transfer.”

“The collective punishment of countless civilians, among them children, women, and the elderly, in retaliation for acts of horrible terror undertaken by armed men is illegal under international law,” said Egeland. “My colleagues inside Gaza confirm that there are countless people in the northern parts who have no means to safely relocate under the constant barrage of fire.”

“We fear that Israel may claim that Palestinians who could not flee northern Gaza can be erroneously held as directly participating in hostilities, and targeted,” Egeland continued. “The United States, the U.K., the European Union, and other Western and Arab nations who have influence over the Israeli political and military leadership must demand that the illegal and impossible order to relocate is immediately rescinded.”

B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, said in response to the order that “a million people in northern Gaza are not guilty.”

“They have nowhere else to go,” the group added. “This is not what fighting Hamas looks like. This is revenge. And innocent people are being hurt.”

The order was delivered amid warnings that Gaza’s healthcare system is on the verge of total collapse, overwhelmed by the influx of thousands of airstrike victims and hampered by Israel’s total blockade, which has cut off the enclave’s supply of electricity, food, fuel, and other necessary supplies.

Gaza’s lone power plant has stopped operating due to a lack of fuel, forcing already-strained hospitals to operate on generators. The International Planned Parenthood Federation said Friday that “over 37,000 pregnant women will be forced to give birth with no electricity or medical supplies in Gaza in the coming months, risking life-threatening complications without access to delivery and emergency obstetric care services.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that “time is running out to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe if fuel and lifesaving health and humanitarian supplies cannot be urgently delivered to the Gaza Strip amidst the complete blockade.”

“Hospitals have only a few hours of electricity each day as they are forced to ration depleting fuel reserves and rely on generators to sustain the most critical functions,” the WHO said. “Even these functions will have to cease in a few days, when fuel stocks are due to run out. The impact would be devastating for the most vulnerable patients, including the injured who need lifesaving surgery, patients in intensive care units, and newborns depending on care in incubators.”

Despite such dire warnings, the U.S.—Israel’s largest supplier of weaponry and military aid—has thus far not called for a cease-fire or an end to the siege.

As The Associated Press reported Friday, “A visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with shipments of U.S. weapons, offered a powerful green light to Israel to drive ahead with its retaliation in Gaza after Hamas’ deadly attack on civilians and soldiers, even as international aid groups warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis.”

Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue Reading‘This Is Not What Fighting Hamas Looks Like’: Israel Orders All of Northern Gaza to Evacuate

What You Are Seeing in Gaza Is Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing

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Original article by YUMNA PATEL republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A man carries a wounded child into Al Shifa hospital following Israeli strikes in Gaza City on October 10, 2023.
 (Photo: Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)

Seventy-five years of global inaction and Israeli impunity have led to this moment in which one of the most vulnerable populations on earth is pummeled by one of the world’s strongest military powers on a genocidal warpath.

Israel is planning on carrying out a genocide in Gaza.

The motions have been underway for days, as Israel has relentlessly bombed the Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated places on earth.

In six days, Israel has dropped 6,000 bombs on the besieged coastal enclave, which is home to 2.3 million Palestinians. Half of them are children. This falls just short of the highest number of bombs dropped by the US in a year in the war on Afghanistan.

Over the past week, Israel has dropped internationally-prohibited white phosphorus on civilians in Gaza. It’s leveled entire residential neighborhoods. Wiped out families off the population registry, and killed more than 1,500 Palestinians. A third of the death toll are children.

Palestinians have been screaming at the top of their lungs for days that Israel is carrying out a genocide on them. Israeli leaders have only supported those fears, calling Gazans “human animals” and pledging to “wipe Hamas off the face of the earth.”

Today, everyone’s worst fears were confirmed.

On Friday, October 13, Palestinians in Gaza woke up to the news that the Israeli army was demanding that the more than 1.1 million Palestinians who live in the northern Gaza Strip “evacuate” to the southern part of the strip in the span of 24 hours.

Palestinians have been screaming at the top of their lungs for days that Israel is carrying out a genocide on them. Israeli leaders have only supported those fears, calling Gazans “human animals” and pledging to “wipe Hamas off the face of the earth.” Today, everyone’s worst fears were confirmed.

Let that sink in. This is half of Gaza’s population. The northern part of Gaza includes Gaza City – the most densely populated area within the Gaza Strip. It also includes two of Gaza’s eight refugee camps, the Jabalia and al-Shati refugee camps. Both have been bombed over the past few days. Both are home to hundreds of thousands of refugees. They were made refugees by Israel, 75 years ago.

The Israeli military reportedly sent a direct warning to residents of Gaza City, who number around 750,000, ordering them to leave the city, as it plans to destroy what it claims is an “extensive infrastructure” of underground tunnels used by Hamas beneath the city.

But the United Nations said it received a different, much broader order, saying Israel was given 1.1 million civilians in northern Gaza 24 hours to flee south. A UN spokesman called the order “impossible” to achieve “without devastating humanitarian consequences.”

The Israeli army reportedly ordered Gazans not to return to the north until the army says they are allowed to go back.

But will they ever be allowed to go back? And will there even be a Gaza left to go back to?

No one knows what Israel’s plans are when the 24-hour deadline expires. Will they launch a ground invasion? Or will they simply pummel Gaza from the skies, as they have been doing for the past 16 years?

Israel, with the support of the United States, is committing genocide right before our eyes. It has been ongoing, a slow genocide and ethnic cleansing, for 75 years.

Whichever way Israel decides to go about it does not matter.

What matters is that Israel, with the support of the United States, is committing genocide right before our eyes. It has been ongoing, a slow genocide and ethnic cleansing, for 75 years.

75 years of global inaction and Israeli impunity have led to this moment. The moment where we see one of the most vulnerable populations on earth, 77% of whom are already refugees, being displaced as one of the world’s strongest military powers goes on a genocidal warpath.

Many Gazans are vowing to remain, saying they refuse to be displaced yet again. Many Palestinians are saying it’s psychological warfare, akin to the Zionist radio broadcasts of 75 years ago, that spread fear amongst the population and caused many to flee their homes out of fear of the Zionist atrocities that would await them if they stayed.

But the images are already flooding in as people in Gaza begin to flee their homes in fear of what comes.

Men, women, and children, walking through the rubble of their destroyed land, holding onto whatever bags and belongings they can carry. A march to the south, not knowing if tomorrow, the south will be next.

A death march.

Palestinians have said for 75 years, that the Nakba of 1948 never ended. It has continued for 75 years, every single day. In the crowded refugee camps of Gaza, the alleyways of Jerusalem, the hills of Haifa, and the corners of Jenin.

But today feels different. As millions of Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem, ‘48, and across the diaspora watch their people in Gaza be expelled en masse while Israel destroys their homes and slaughters those who remain, the only words that people can muster, is “it’s happening again.”

A second Nakba.

Original article by YUMNA PATEL republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingWhat You Are Seeing in Gaza Is Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing

Israel Accused of ‘Blatant War Crime’ as HRW Confirms White Phosphorus Used in Gaza

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An Israeli white phosphorus round (right) airbursts over densely populated Gaza City, Palestine on October 11, 2023. 
(Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

“Any time that white phosphorus is used in crowded civilian areas, it poses a high risk of excruciating burns and lifelong suffering,” said one Human Rights Watch official.

Human Rights Watch on Thursday said it has confirmed reports that Israeli military forces unleashed white phosphorus munitions during artillery attacks on targets in Lebanon and Gaza this week, including over a heavily populated civilian area of the besieged Palestinian strip—an apparent war crime.

HRW said it has interviewed witnesses and verified video footage shot in Lebanon and Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday “showing multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border.”

The HRW announcement came as Israeli forces continue to bombard Gaza from air, land, and sea in an assault that has killed more than 1,500 Palestinians, including at least 500 children, in retaliation for Hamas’ surprise infiltration of Israel and killing of over 1,300 Israeli soldiers and civilians.

As HRW explained Thursday:

Upon contact, white phosphorus can burn people, thermally and chemically, down to the bone as it is highly soluble in fat and therefore in human flesh. White phosphorus fragments can exacerbate wounds even after treatment and can enter the bloodstream and cause multiple organ failure. Already dressed wounds can reignite when dressings are removed and the wounds are reexposed to oxygen. Even relatively minor burns are often fatal. For survivors, extensive scarring tightens muscle tissue and creates physical disabilities.

WP burns as hot as 1,500°F. Water does not extinguish it.

“Any time that white phosphorus is used in crowded civilian areas, it poses a high risk of excruciating burns and lifelong suffering,” HRW Middle East and North Africa director Lama Fakih said in a statement. “White phosphorous is unlawfully indiscriminate when airburst in populated urban areas, where it can burn down houses and cause egregious harm to civilians.”

“To avoid civilian harm, Israel should stop using white phosphorus in populated areas,” Fakih added. “Parties to the conflict should be doing everything they can to spare civilians from further suffering.”

HRW previously accused Israel of war crimes for using WP munitions in densely populated areas—including over a United Nations school—during the 2008-09 Operation Cast Lead invasion of Gaza. In response to a 2013 petition to Israel’s High Court of Justice filed by human rights groups including HRW, the Israel Defense Forces said it would no longer use WP in populated areas, with “very narrow exceptions” that it would not disclose.

Other countries’ militaries also use WP, most notably the United States, which fired the incendiary rounds during the 2004 battle for Fallujah and elsewhere in the so-called War on Terror.

In 2016, Saudi Arabia was condemned for allegedly firing U.S.-supplied WP munitions against Houthi rebels in Yemen. WP and other incendiary weapons have also been used by Syrian government and Russian forces fighting Islamic State and other militants during the Syrian civil war. Turkey has also been accused of firing WP rounds at Kurdish civilians in Syria.

Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingIsrael Accused of ‘Blatant War Crime’ as HRW Confirms White Phosphorus Used in Gaza