ceasefire

US Doctors Tell Biden, Harris They ‘Witnessed Crimes Beyond Comprehension’ in Gaza

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

Razan Arafat Barbah, a 14-year-old Palestinian girl who lost both of her legs in an Israeli attack on her home in Rafah in southern Gaza, is treated at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on October 1, 2024.  (Photo: Hani Alshaer/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“A cease-fire must be imposed on the warring parties by withholding military support for Israel and supporting an international arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups.”

Nearly 100 U.S. healthcare providers who have volunteered in the Gaza Strip over the past year sent President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris a Wednesday letter detailing “the massive human toll from Israel’s attack” and urging the administration to “end this madness now!”

Israel has been waging war on Gaza since the Hamas-led attack that killed over 1,100 people last year. During that time, the physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners, nurses, and midwives who signed the letter have collectively spent 254 weeks volunteering in hospitals and clinics throughout the besieged enclave.

As of Wednesday, Israeli forces have killed at least 41,689 Palestinians in Gaza and injured another 96,625, according to local officials. Thousands more remain missing in the rubble of civilian infrastructure. Israel—which also launched a ground invasion of Lebanon this week—faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.

“This letter and the appendix show probative evidence that the human toll in Gaza since October is far higher than is understood in the United States. It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza’s population,” the health workers wrote to Biden and Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee for the November election.

“Our government must act immediately to prevent an even worse catastrophe than what has already befallen the people of Gaza and Israel,” they argued. “A cease-fire must be imposed on the warring parties by withholding military support for Israel and supporting an international arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. We believe our government is obligated to do this, both under American law and international humanitarian law. We also believe it is the right thing to do.”

“Gaza was the first time I held a baby’s brains in my hand. The first of many.”

Even before the October 7, 2023 attack, the United States had given Israel billions of dollars in annual military aid. Throughout Israel’s assault on Gaza—and now Lebanon—the Biden administration has continued to provide weapons and diplomatic support.

The American medical volunteers’ new letter—published on a website that also features a July missive along with similar ones that Canadian and U.K. health workers sent to their governments—shares accounts from individual signatories. Dr. Thalia Pachiyannakis, an OB-GYN, said that “I saw so many stillbirths and maternal deaths that could have been easily prevented if the hospitals had been functioning normally.”

Those who survived birth faced a warzone where thousands of children have died. Last month, Gaza’s Ministry of Health released a 649-page document with names and ages of Palestinians killed in the past year—and the first 14 pages are babies.

“Every day I saw babies die,” said Asma Taha, pediatric nurse practitioner. “They had been born healthy. Their mothers were so malnourished that they could not breastfeed, and we lacked formula or clean water to feed them, so they starved.”

Israeli bombings in the past year have claimed thousands of lives. Dr. Mark Perlmutter, an orthopedic and hand surgeon, said that “Gaza was the first time I held a baby’s brains in my hand. The first of many.”

The letter to Biden and Harris states:

Children are universally considered innocents in armed conflict. However, every single signatory to this letter saw children in Gaza who suffered violence that must have been deliberately directed at them. Specifically, every one of us who worked in an emergency, intensive care, or surgical setting treated pre-teen children who were shot in the head or chest on a regular or even a daily basis. It is impossible that such widespread shooting of young children throughout Gaza, sustained over the course of an entire year is accidental or unknown to the highest Israeli civilian and military authorities.

President Biden and Vice President Harris, we wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them. We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget. We cannot fathom why you continue arming the country that is deliberately killing these children en masse.

“I’ve never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources,” said Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma and critical care surgeon and the letter’s organizer. “Our bombs are cutting down women and children by the thousands. Their mutilated bodies are a monument to cruelty.”

The letter notes that “Israel has destroyed more than half of Gaza’s healthcare resources and has killed nearly 1,000 Palestinian healthcare workers, more than 1 out of every 20 healthcare workers in Gaza. At the same time, healthcare needs have increased massively from the lethal combination of military violence, malnutrition, disease, and displacement.”

It also challenges Israeli forces’ attempts to justify attacking the enclave’s medical infrastructure, stressing that “not once did any of us see any type of Palestinian militant activity in any of Gaza’s hospitals or other healthcare facilities.”

“We urge you to see that Israel has systematically and deliberately devastated Gaza’s entire healthcare system, and that Israel has targeted our colleagues in Gaza for torture, disappearance, and murder,” the American volunteers wrote, describing Palestinian healthcare workers as “among the most traumatized people in Gaza, and perhaps in the entire world.”

While welcoming the administration’s efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting, they emphasized that “the United States can impose a cease-fire on the warring parties by simply stopping arms shipments to Israel, and announcing that we will participate in an international arms embargo on both Israel and all Palestinian armed groups.”

“President Biden and Vice President Harris, we are 99 American physicians and nurses who have witnessed crimes beyond comprehension,” they added. “Crimes that we cannot believe you wish to continue supporting. Please meet with us to discuss what we saw, and why we feel American policy in the Middle East must change immediately.”

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

Continue ReadingUS Doctors Tell Biden, Harris They ‘Witnessed Crimes Beyond Comprehension’ in Gaza

With Green Light From Biden White House, Israel Invades Lebanon

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

Israeli tanks are pictured near the Israel-Lebanon border on September 30, 2024. 
(Photo: Erik Marmor/Getty Images

“The Biden administration has acted recklessly in giving Israel a blank check to light the entire region on fire.”

Israeli forces invaded southern Lebanon early Tuesday with the open support of the United States, which endorsed what it called “limited operations to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure” despite warnings that a ground assault could spark a wider conflict and intensify the humanitarian disaster facing Lebanese civilians.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) described its ground invasion with the same terms it has used to characterize its bombing campaigns in Lebanon and Gaza, which—despite being called “targeted” at Hezbollah and Hamas—have frequently killed scores of civilians and obliterated schools, hospitals, shops, and residential buildings. Since mid-September, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than a thousand people and displaced roughly a million.

The IDF launched its ground invasion with the backing of the Biden administration. In a statement, the White House said that the invasion of Lebanon is “in line with Israel’s right to defend its citizens and safely return civilians to their homes.”

A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council acknowledged the risk of “mission creep” only to effectively wave it away, saying that “we will keep discussing that with the Israelis.”

Analysts likened Israel’s movement of troops into Lebanon to its invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah earlier this year—an operation that was initially described as limited but ultimately left the area in ruins.

“Gaza was a testing ground for Israel to see what they could get away with and, it turns out, the answer is absolutely anything it wants,” said historian and analyst Assal Rad. “It did not stop at Gaza or the West Bank and it may not stop at Lebanon, because war was [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s objective all along and his prize is Iran.”

“Make no mistake: The Biden administration is providing cover for Israel as it invades a neighboring, sovereign nation.”

The invasion comes after the Netanyahu government rejected a three-week cease-fire proposal put forth by the U.S., France, and other nations and intensified its bombing of Lebanon, hammering Beirut with airstrikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and many civilians. The attack that killed Nasrallah was reportedly carried out with 2,000-pound bombs supplied by the U.S.

Coverage of the invasion in the Western corporate media painted the U.S. as “increasingly powerless,” with “limited” influence to forestall a massive ground assault on Lebanon. But the Biden administration has yet to seriously leverage American military aid to prevent a war that could envelop the entire region.

On the contrary, billions of dollars of aid and American weapons have continued to flow to Israel, enabling its war on Gaza and Lebanon. The Washington Post observed that “the events of recent weeks appear to fit a pattern in which the administration urges against specific Israeli actions only to later backtrack so it can avoid imposing conditions on military aid.”

The U.S. has also engaged in what’s been described as “unprecedented” intelligence-sharing with Israel, further deepening its complicity in the devastating wars.

Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), said in a statement late Monday that “Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, following its devastating attacks on Lebanon over the past two weeks, is the entirely predictable consequence of the Biden administration’s ceaseless coddling and resupply of weapons to Israel, whatever public bleats for cease-fires the administration has otherwise made.”

“The Biden administration has acted recklessly in giving Israel a blank check to light the entire region on fire, all while disregarding our own legal obligations under both U.S. and international law to halt the weapons flow to them,” Whitson added.

The U.S.-based anti-war group CodePink said that “Israel claims its operation in Lebanon is ‘targeted,’ but like in Gaza, civilians are the real victims.”

“Make no mistake: The Biden administration is providing cover for Israel as it invades a neighboring, sovereign nation,” the group said. “U.S. taxpayers fund Israel’s military, providing billions annually and supplying weapons used to kill innocent people.”

“The Biden administration and Congress could halt this escalation by cutting military aid, demanding a cease-fire, and holding Israel accountable,” CodePink continued, “but instead, they allow continued aggression across the Middle East.”

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

Continue ReadingWith Green Light From Biden White House, Israel Invades Lebanon

Netanyahu accused of trying to drag wider world into Israel’s murderous wars

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/netanyahu-accused-of-trying-to-drag-wider-world-into-israels-murderous-wars

Palestinian supporters protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Times Square during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, September 26, 2024, in New York

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU was accused today of trying to drag Britain and the wider world into Israel’s murderous wars in Lebanon and Gaza.

Large numbers of diplomats from multiple nations walked out as Israel’s prime minister headed to the podium for his speech at the United Nations general assembly meeting in New York.

Mr Netanyahu opened his speech by saying he wanted to “set the record straight” against the “lies” that other nations were telling the meeting of the bloc.

He said that Israel has the right to defend itself from “savage murderers” and claimed that supporting Israel was in the “interest of all of us.”

…

A Stop the War spokesperson said: “Netanyahu is trying to drag the wider world, including Britain, into the murderous wars he is waging in Lebanon and Gaza.

“The British government must use all possible pressure to force Israel to stop the killing and agree a ceasefire in both wars.”

…

In response to Mr Netanyahu’s speech, Green Party co-leader and Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer said: “No-one is winning while Israel turns down ceasefire proposals, more die in Gaza and Lebanon, and hostages are not released.

“The UK government must revoke all arms licences and use all diplomatic power to bring an end to the killing.”

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/netanyahu-accused-of-trying-to-drag-wider-world-into-israels-murderous-wars

Continue ReadingNetanyahu accused of trying to drag wider world into Israel’s murderous wars

Israel’s siege now blocks 83% of food aid reaching Gaza, new data reveals

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Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal aera in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Israel continued to battle Hamas fighters on October 10 and massed tens of thousands of troops and heavy armour around the Gaza Strip after vowing a massive blow over the Palestinian militants' surprise attack. Photo by Naaman Omar apaimages. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal aera in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Israel continued to battle Hamas fighters on October 10 and massed tens of thousands of troops and heavy armour around the Gaza Strip after vowing a massive blow over the Palestinian militants’ surprise attack. Photo by Naaman Omar apaimages. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

15 aid organisations demand international pressure for an immediate ceasefire, arms embargo, and end to Israel’s systematic aid obstruction

New data has revealed the scale of aid obstruction, and the consequential drastic fall in aid entering Gaza. This is driving a humanitarian disaster, with the entire population of Gaza facing hunger and disease, and almost half a million at risk of starvation. 

While Israeli military attacks on Gaza intensify, lifesaving food, medicine, medical supplies, fuel, and tents have been systematically blocked from entering for almost a year. 

Data analysis by organisations working in Gaza has found that as a consequence of the Israeli government’s obstruction of aid: 

  • 83% of required food aid does not make it into Gaza, up from 34% in 2023.This reduction means people in Gaza have gone from having an average of two meals a day to just one meal every other day. An estimated 50,000 children aged between 6-59 months urgently require treatment for malnutrition by the end of the year.
  • 65% of the insulin required and half of the required blood supply are not available in Gaza. 
  • Availability of hygiene items has dropped to 15% of the amount available in September 2023. One million women are now going without the hygiene supplies they need. 
  • Only around 1,500 hospital beds in Gaza remain operational, compared to around 3,500 beds in 2023 which was already well below sufficient to meet the needs of a population of more than 2 million people. By comparison, cities of similar size, such as Chicago and Paris average 5 to 8 times more beds than in Gaza. 
  • 1.87 million people are in need of shelter with at least 60% of homes destroyed or damaged (January 2024). Yet tents for around just 25,000 people have entered Gaza since May 2024.

A record low average of 69 aid trucks per day entered Gaza in August 2024, compared to 500 per working day last year; which was already not enough to meet people’s needs. In August more than 1 million people did not receive any food rations in southern and central Gaza. 

Now, only 17 out of 36 hospitals remain partially functional. Critical infrastructure such as water networks, sanitation facilities and bread mills have been razed to the ground. 

While humanitarian needs are ever increasing, agencies have detailed six main ways their life-saving aid is systematically obstructed on a daily basis.

These include the denial of safety, with more than 40,000 Palestinians and nearly 300 aid workers killed since last October; the sharp tightening of a 17-year blockade to a full siege, which prevents aid from entering Gaza; delays and denials which restrict the movement of aid around Gaza; tightly restrictive and unpredictable control of imports; the destruction of public infrastructure such as schools and hospitals; and the displacement of civilians and humanitarian workers (witnessed again in recent displacement orders from the so-called “humanitarian zone” in Deir el-Balah.)

Ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York this week, aid agencies are calling on governments to demand Israel end aid obstruction and to:

  • Secure an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. 
  • Implement an arms embargo and end the export of weapons and military equipment that risk being used in violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law. 
  • Demand compliance with the International Court of Justice’s findings and recommendations, an end to the Israeli government’s siege of Gaza, and heed the call of the ICJ in its advisory opinion to end the occupation of Palestinian territory. 

Jolien Veldwijik, CARE Country Director in the West Bank and Gaza, said:

“The situation was intolerable long before last October’s escalation and is beyond catastrophic now. Over 11 months, we have reached shocking levels of conflict, displacement, disease and hunger. Yet, aid is still not getting in, and humanitarian workers are risking their lives to do their jobs while attacks and violations of international law intensify. Aid, which is urgently required for 2.2 million people at risk of dying in the coming weeks and months, should never be politicised. We demand an immediate and sustained ceasefire, and the free flow of humanitarian aid into and throughout Gaza.” 

Amjad Al Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO), an umbrella organisation of 30 Palestinian NGOs and a partner of ActionAid, said:

 “There is a shortage of all humanitarian items. We are overwhelmed [with] these needs and [these] urgent requirements…People [are] starving due to the shortage of aid…100% of the population depend on humanitarian aid…It’s the worst situation that we [witnessed] during …. the Israel war in Gaza.”

  1. CARE International
  2. Save the Children
  3. ActionAid
  4. Christian Aid
  5. War Child
  6. Islamic Relief
  7. HelpAge International 
  8. American Friends Service Committee
  9. Oxfam
  10. DanChurchAid
  11. Norwegian Church Aid
  12. Mennonite Central Committee
  13. Danish Refugee Council
  14. Norwegian Refugee Council
  15. KinderUSA

Continue ReadingIsrael’s siege now blocks 83% of food aid reaching Gaza, new data reveals

Death toll of Gaza’s health workers crosses 1,000

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Original article by Peoples Health Dispatch republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Palestinian Red Crescent crews mourn fellow paramedics Haitham Tubasi and Suhail Hassouna, killed by Israeli forced (Photo via PRCS)

A new report from the Palestinian Ministry of Health warns that over 1,000 health workers in Gaza have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023. Meanwhile, a severe shortage of essential hygiene supplies continues to exacerbate the health crisis

Israel has killed 1,151 workers in Gaza’s healthcare system since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Among the dead are 260 nurses, 184 health associates, 165 physicians, and 76 pharmacists, along with hundreds of management and support staff. While most of the victims’ names have been confirmed by health authorities, over 150 confirmations are still pending due to Israel’s refusal to release the martyrs’ bodies.

In addition to those killed, hundreds of health workers remain imprisoned, where they face abuse and torture, as documented by international organizations. Ziad Muhammad Al-Dalu, a physician from Al-Shifa Hospital, was among those who died in Israeli custody, as reported by the Ministry of Health. His death serves as yet another example of Israel’s deliberate targeting of Gaza’s healthcare workers and infrastructure, actions that violate international humanitarian law.

Read more: Palestinian health workers in Gaza describe torture and abuse in Israeli detention

The ongoing attacks on healthcare have left tens of thousands of people with life-altering injuries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 25% of those injured between October 2023 and July 2024 have suffered burns, severe limb injuries, or amputations, with no access to rehabilitation services. Dozens of physiotherapists were killed in the attacks, and inpatient rehabilitation services have been shut down for months. “Even the most essential assistive devices, like wheelchairs and crutches, are lacking due to the restricted flow of aid,” the WHO said.

Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid continues to choke Gaza’s healthcare system. At the moment, one of the most urgent problems is the shortage of soap and detergents. With the cost of a small bar of soap reaching USD 10—a price that could buy approximately 2 kilograms of soap in Germany—many families in Gaza are unable to afford basic hygiene supplies. “A family relying on cash-for-work income would spend 60% of the unskilled income on consumable hygiene products,” warned organizations monitoring water and sanitation in Gaza.

With soap being an omnipresent product, it might be difficult to imagine how severe the effects of a shortage might be, particularly for children. Health and hygiene officials estimate that adequate access to soap in the Gaza Strip could reduce respiratory infections by 20% and diarrheal diseases by up to 40%. This would potentially prevent illness in at least one in three children currently suffering from diarrhea. However, humanitarian organizations estimate that delivering the 5 million soap bars needed each month to meet demand in Gaza is basically impossible under the existing restrictions.

Read more: Israel targets health workers in the West Bank, obstructs polio campaign in Gaza

Despite this situation, Gaza recently completed the first phase of its polio vaccination campaign, with an 87% coverage rate among children—just below the 90% benchmark. The campaign is set to resume in the coming weeks, but incidents of Israeli forces obstructing access to those taking part in it persist, jeopardizing future public health efforts.

As winter approaches, the need for essential medicines, hygiene supplies, and nutritious food in Gaza becomes even more urgent. Concerns about potential floods and worsening living conditions highlight once again the critical need for an immediate ceasefire and rebuilding of the health system.

Original article by Peoples Health Dispatch republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingDeath toll of Gaza’s health workers crosses 1,000