complicity

International pressure increases on Israel as it continues committing genocide in Gaza

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

South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel has received widespread support as it faces increased criticism for its genocidal war on Gaza

Israel has come under fire over comments from a number of ultra right-wing ministers and politicians who have called for the complete and permanent transfer and expulsion of the Palestinian population of Gaza. The officials have suggested that Gazans should be forcibly transferred to other countries in the region, as well as to countries in Africa.

The United Nations, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, France, the European Union, as well as Israel’s primary backer, the United States, among others have condemned these statements and noted that such a move would constitute a grave violation of international law.

Israel’s far right Minister of Security Itamar Ben-Gvir responded to the criticism from the US stating: “Really appreciate the United States of America but with all due respect we are not another star on the American flag. The United States is our best friend, but first of all we will do what is best for the State of Israel: the migration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza will allow the residents of the enclave to return home and live in security and protect the IDF soldiers.”

Harsh criticisms have been lodged from progressives at the US and France who allege that their policies supporting Israel financially and politically throughout their genocidal war on Gaza have created the conditions for Israel to openly fantasize about this escalation of ethnic cleansing.

The growing international alarm and condemnation comes just a week before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is scheduled to hold public hearings over the genocide case that South Africa has filed against Israel over its war in Gaza. Turkey and Malaysia, have both endorsed the South African case against Israel.

Notably, the National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby rejected the case, an 84-page application, and called it “meritless”.

Worsening humanitarian crisis across Gaza

The United Nations has once again reiterated that the humanitarian situation in Gaza will continue to deteriorate if there is no ceasefire, emphasizing that a number of areas have been rendered completely inaccessible due to Israel’s shelling.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) wrote in an update: “The UN and other humanitarian partners have been unable to deliver urgently needed life-saving humanitarian assistance north of Wadi Gaza for three days due to access delays and denials, as well as active conflict. This includes medicines that would have provided vital support to more than 100,000 people for 30 days, as well as eight trucks of food for people who currently face catastrophic and life-threatening food insecurity.”

The office added, “Humanitarian organizations are calling for urgent, safe, sustained and unhindered humanitarian access to areas north of Wadi Gaza, which has been severed from the south for more than a month.”

The OCHA along with the World Health Organization also reported that “more than 400,000 cases of infectious diseases have been reported since 7 October, with some 180,000 people suffering from upper respiratory infections.  There also have been more than 136,000 cases of diarrhea reported — half among children under the age of 5.”

Humanitarian organizations have emphasized that there is an urgent, critical need for humanitarian assistance, including medical aid, to treat and save the lives of those suffering from diseases and illnesses and to alleviate the extreme suffering and hardships of the population of around 2.1 million, of which 1.9 million are currently internally displaced.

Day 90

Scores of Palestinians have been killed in fresh airstrikes and ground bombardment over the last 24 hours in Gaza.

The total death toll since October 7 has risen to at least 22,438 Palestinians killed, including more than 9,000 children and 4,000 women, along with more than 57,614 injured, more than 75% of whom are women and children. 7000 other Palestinians are reported missing, feared to be trapped under the rubble of the widespread destruction and rubble of damaged buildings.

Hospitals continue to be targeted by Israel. The al-Amal hospital and the surrounding areas in Khan Younis run by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has been under Israeli attack for the past two weeks according to a PRCS statement which has endangered the lives of thousands of IDPs who were taking refuge there. “The displaced persons are living in an atmosphere of horror and panic. This has forced dozens of them to leave again this morning and yesterday, fearing for their lives after they took refuge in the PRCS as a safe place protected by international humanitarian law.”

They reported that in addition to killing and injuring patients and displaced persons taking refuge at al-Amal, the Israeli bombing destroyed the transmitter station of the PRCS VHF communications which creates “a major obstacle to the response of ambulance crews to the wounded, the sick, and humanitarian cases.”

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

Continue ReadingInternational pressure increases on Israel as it continues committing genocide in Gaza

Israel is decimating Gaza’s health infrastructure as disease threatens the majority of its population

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The public health situation among people displaced by Israeli attacks worsens by the day, as targeting of health workers and infrastructure continues

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

Healthcare workers at Al-Awda hospital. Photo: Al-Awda

The number of people infected with contagious diseases in Gaza continues to rise. The latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that 180,000 people are currently suffering from respiratory infections. Additionally, the UN’s health agency reports that 55,000 people have lice and scabies, 42,000 are experiencing various forms of skin rashes, and 136,000, half of whom are children under 5 years old, have contracted diarrhea.

While these diseases would not be deadly under conditions with a functioning health system and adequate living conditions, in the current situation, they could be life-threatening. “Unless something changes, the world faces the prospect of almost a quarter of Gaza’s 2 million population – close to half a million human beings – dying within a year. These would be largely deaths from preventable health causes and the collapse of the health system,” estimated Devi Sridhar, Chair in Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, at the end of 2023.

If a permanent ceasefire does not take immediate effect, though, things are unlikely to change, as reiterated by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement. WHO teams, now participating in fairly regular missions on the ground, are sending reports about overcrowding in Gaza’s hospitals and shelters. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, on January 4, only 9 out of 36 hospitals were partially functioning in the Strip, resulting in an average bed occupancy of 351% and 261% occupancy in intensive care units.

Israel’s attacks on healthcare in Palestine are affecting everyone, especially the most vulnerable. Cancer and dialysis patients cannot access the specific care they need, and most have not yet been transferred to hospitals abroad as announced. The Ministry of Health estimates that 5,300 patients need to be transferred abroad for treatment, but until January 5, less than 1,000 were moved. This number includes 571 people injured in the attacks and 401 patients who required distinct forms of care, including cancer patients.

Children and pregnant women are also groups most at risk from the attacks and their consequences. Over 5,000 babies were born in Gaza just last month, all requiring adequate care and nutrition. With mothers and families going hungry, it is evident that some of them are also lacking proper food. Among the newborns are about 130 premature babies dependent on incubators, yet most incubators are located in northern Gaza, which, in terms used by the WHO, has become a medical disaster zone.

In addition to going hungry and sleeping in overcrowded tents, newborns and children are also not getting vaccinated. Recounting the experience of a woman who recently gave birth, Nareman, who was “taken from her tent in a temporary camp by horse-drawn carriage to a hospital to give birth to her daughter, before returning to her makeshift home straight after,” the WHO warned that the health system in Gaza is struggling to ensure standard immunization routines. Nareman’s baby is among those who are yet to receive planned vaccines, and she is staying with her sisters and brothers at the camp, who are reportedly in ill health themselves.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has managed to deliver 600,000 key vaccines into Gaza in the period between December 25-29, 2023, and is planning to deliver some 960,000 more together with WHO and UNICEF. Yet, this is no easy feat as Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) continue to target health infrastructure and health workers. Since the beginning of the attacks on October 7, 326 health workers in Palestine were killed by Israeli attacks, 764 were injured, and 65 were arrested, according to Ministry of Health data.

Many more experienced violence and intimidation by the IOF, including ambulances and partners of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS). On January 4, Israeli soldiers attacked a PRCS ambulance. Not long before that, the organization reported attacks targeting the house of Anwar Abu Holi, Director of the Central Gaza Ambulance Center, as well as multiple attacks on the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis.

As shelling in the proximity of the hospital began, Al-Amal offered shelter to approximately 14,000 forcibly displaced people. The attacks, said the PRCS, endangered the lives of thousands. “The displaced persons are living in an atmosphere of horror and panic.”

The attacks that have taken place since the beginning of January killed 7 people, including a days-old baby, injured 11 more, and were reported by the PRCS to be ongoing on January 5, without a meaningful indication they would stop anytime soon.

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

Continue ReadingIsrael is decimating Gaza’s health infrastructure as disease threatens the majority of its population

Turkey, Malaysia Back South Africa’s ICJ Genocide Case Against Israel

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

A man holds both Palestinian and Turkish flags at a rally in Istanbul on January 1, 2024.  (Photo: Ilker Eray/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

“Israel’s murder of more than 22,000 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom were women and children, in Gaza for nearly three months should not go unpunished in any way,” said a Turkish spokesperson.

South Africa is no longer alone in bringing its claim of genocide by the Israeli government to the International Court of Justice, following announcements from the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that they support the case.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said Wednesday that those responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza since October 7 “must be held accountable before international law.”

“Israel’s murder of more than 22,000 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom were women and children, in Gaza for nearly three months should not go unpunished in any way,” Keceli said. “We hope that the process will be completed as soon as possible.”

The ICJ is scheduled to hear the case on January 11-12. Israeli representatives are expected to appear at the hearing.

International rights groups issued a call on Wednesday for other countries to file Declarations of Intervention at the court, whose authority Israel recognizes, to bolster South Africa’s case.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said it expects “that within the framework of this application, the ICJ will decide on provisional measures involving those to stop Israel’s attacks on Gaza.”

The Malaysia Ministry of Foreign Affairs said late Tuesday that it “welcomes the application by South Africa instituting proceedings against Israel… concerning the violations by Israel of its obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

A spokesperson for the South African Foreign Ministry told The Jerusalem Post that it expects other countries to soon follow Turkey and Malaysia’s lead and back its case.

In its 84-page complaint, South Africa detailed the genocidal intent that’s been displayed in numerous public statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and other top officials, as well as Israel’s bombardment of civilian targets and forced displacement of civilians.

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

Continue ReadingTurkey, Malaysia Back South Africa’s ICJ Genocide Case Against Israel

Maine Protest Urges General Dynamics to ‘Stop Arming Israel’s Genocide’

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

Protesters gathered at a General Dynamics factory in Saco, Maine on January 3, 2024.  (Photo: Lisa Savage/X)

“Why do we tolerate this massive bomb factory here in Maine, exploiting the toils of local workers to aid with the intentional mass murder and displacement of innocent children and families in Palestine?”

Defenders of Palestinian rights on Wednesday organized a campout protest at a General Dynamics factory in the city of Saco, Maine to pressure the weapons giant to “stop arming Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”

The demonstrators, led by the Maine Coalition for Palestine, arrived at the roadway leading into the factory before dawn in an effort to prevent workers from entering the facility.

“Genocide in Gaza is currently supported by General Dynamics,” said organizer Lisa Savage of Solon in a statement. “It supplies Israel with the artillery ammunition and bombs used to kill and maim civilians and children in Gaza—which is illegal collective punishment.”

Since the Hamas-led attack that set off the war on October 7, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed more than 22,000 Palestinians in Gaza, injured over 57,000 more, and devastated civilian infrastructure including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques. A growing number of world leaders and legal scholars have accused Israel of genocide.

General Dynamics—which is headquartered in Virginia but has locations across the United States and around the world—is among a few dozen companies identified in an American Friends Service Committee database as aiding the U.S.-backed Israeli war effort with 155mm caliber artillery shells and the metal bodies of the MK-80 bomb series.

“Since October, more than 5,000 of the 500-lb MK-82 bombs—some made in Saco—have been given to Israel by the U.S.,” said Yusuf Ebrahim, an Iraqi American physician who participated in the protest. “These munitions play a particularly direct role in the ongoing criminal genocide of Palestinians by the IDF, targeting densely populated areas such as the Jabalia refugee camp.”

“Why do we tolerate this massive bomb factory here in Maine, exploiting the toils of local workers to aid with the intentional mass murder and displacement of innocent children and families in Palestine?” Ebrahim continued. “Meanwhile, many local community members suffer from hunger and housing insecurity and cannot afford medical care.”

Members of the Maine Coalition for Palestine include the groups Healthcare Workers for Palestine, the Maine Natural Guard, the Maine Party for Socialism & Liberation, Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights, Portland CONFRONT, and Students for Justice in Palestine from college campuses in the state.

The coalition’s Wednesday action came after a demonstration last month that drew more than 100 protesters to Bath Iron Works, a General Dynamics subsidiary that builds ships for the U.S. military.

The Bangor Daily News reported that Cecil Carey of Skowhegan, a teacher who spoke at the December event, said the group was protesting in Bath because the U.S. government has “got money for war but can’t feed the poor.”

“I do not want my tax dollars going to bomb people in the Middle East,” Carey said. “I want my tax dollars helping my students and their families.”

The United States gives Israel $3.8 billion in annual military aid each year and U.S. President Joe Biden has responded to the Israeli assault on Gaza by asking federal lawmakers for an additional $14.3 billion package that is still under consideration. Since the war began, the Biden administration has also twice bypassed Congress to enable arms sales to Israel.

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

Continue ReadingMaine Protest Urges General Dynamics to ‘Stop Arming Israel’s Genocide’

Welsh peace activists block BAE systems factory over its ‘complicity’ in Gaza massacre

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/welsh-peace-activists-block-bae-systems-factory-over-its-complicity-in-gaza-massacre

DOZENS of Welsh peace activists shut down one of Britain’s largest arms factories today.

Wales Peace Coalition campaigners held banners saying “stop arming genocide” and “UK weapons kill” as they blockaded BAE Systems’s factory in Glascoed, near Pontypool.

They said they wanted to highlight the company’s “complicity in the … unfolding genocide” against Palestinians by Israel, “including the suspected white phosphorous rounds” for the state.

A spokesman for Cardiff Stop the War, which supported the action, said: “We cannot rely on our local elected MPs or our unelected prime minister to take any action.

“Britain is an active collaborator and participant in the war crimes committed against Palestinians.

“We say no to selling arms and supporting atrocious war crimes, not in our name.”

Cardiff UCU said that it stood against the “use of British weapons in war crimes,” urging the British and Welsh governments “to act so that citizens do not have to feel the need to put themselves on the line to stop our country’s involvement in such crimes.”

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/welsh-peace-activists-block-bae-systems-factory-over-its-complicity-in-gaza-massacre

Continue ReadingWelsh peace activists block BAE systems factory over its ‘complicity’ in Gaza massacre