crimes against humanity

Israel’s latest massacres have exacerbated the crisis in Gaza’s healthcare facilities

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

Al Shifa Hospital after a two-week Israeli siege, April 2024.

Gaza’s hospitals, already overwhelmed, are struggling with an influx of casualties following brutal attacks on refugee camps. Sugary drinks have become the most affordable food as aid delivery obstructions persist

Brutal attacks by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have, yet again, intensified pressure on the few functional hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Health workers at Nasser Medical Complex reported harrowing scenes following attacks on Khan Younis on July 13, where they received over 100 new casualties despite the hospital already operating over capacity.

“At one point, you had people in the hallway moaning in pain,” said Amy Kit-Mei Low, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) project medical referent. “Even though they had [wound] dressings, the dressings were oozing blood. […] the hospital was trying to cope, but it can barely cope with normal cases.”

UNRWA representative Scott Anderson described the scene at the hospital, stressing the lack of beds, disinfectants, and electricity to run ventilation at Nasser. “I saw toddlers who are double amputees, children paralyzed and unable to receive treatment, and others separated from their parents. I also saw mothers and fathers who were unsure if their children were alive,” Anderson said.

In addition to the relentless IOF attacks, including those targeting healthcare facilities that have killed 2.5% of Gaza’s health workforce since October 7, hospitals are also struggling with aid delivery restrictions imposed by Israel. Since the beginning of the war on Gaza, and especially since the beginning of May, the flow of essential goods to hospitals has been drastically reduced. Hospitals are particularly burdened by the ban on certain medications, including anesthetics, strong painkillers, and even diabetes drugs. Recently, a consortium of organizations providing health care in Gaza warned of a shortage of antibiotics safe for pregnant and breastfeeding women due to the blockade.

Read more: Israel continues its efforts to undermine UNRWA

Despite having hundreds of kilos of aid ready for dispatch, supplies are blocked from reaching hospitals and health centers. The blockade is reinforcing severe food shortages, exacerbating the health crisis. Reports indicate that Israel prioritizes commercial trucks over humanitarian ones at crossings, leaving people with limited and extremely expensive food options. The same consortium of organizations reported that sugary drinks are currently the most affordable food in Gaza.

Famine is spreading rapidly across all regions of Gaza. Nearly 10,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are on the verge of famine, and 7,000 are already living in famine conditions, according to the United Nations. As a result, more babies are being born preterm and underweight.

Read more: UN experts say, there is already famine in Gaza

For older children, mental health persists as a critical issue. The Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP) recently estimated that half a million children in Gaza require mental health support. Displaced families report that children are struggling with bedwetting, continuous shaking, violent outbursts, and likely PTSD due to living under constant attack.

GCMHP warns that mental health is also deteriorating among adults, as needs in Gaza far exceed available services. Many people are becoming emotionally numb as a consequence of not being able to receive any mental health support, and are disillusioned by the international community’s failure to halt the genocide perpetrated by Israel. GCMHP teams have encountered people in a state of emotional stagnation, recounting the loss of entire families as if it were a routine event. While scaling up mental health services is crucial for addressing this, GCMHP and other organizations insist that this will not be enough without a ceasefire.

​​People’s Health Dispatch is a fortnightly bulletin published by the People’s Health Movement and Peoples Dispatch. For more articles and to subscribe to People’s Health Dispatch, click here.

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

Continue ReadingIsrael’s latest massacres have exacerbated the crisis in Gaza’s healthcare facilities

Israel using water as weapon of war as Gaza supply plummets by 94%, creating deadly health catastrophe: Oxfam 

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Israel damaged or destroyed five water and sanitation sites every three days since the start of this war

A new Oxfam report reveals how Israel has been systematically weaponizing water against Palestinians in Gaza, showing disregard for human life and international law.  

The report, Water War Crimes, finds that Israel’s cutting of external water supply, systematic destruction of water facilities and deliberate aid obstruction have reduced the amount of water available in Gaza by 94% to 4.74 litres a day per person – just under a third of the recommended minimum in emergencies and less than a single toilet flush.   

 Oxfam analysis also found:  

  • Israeli military attacks have damaged or destroyed five water and sanitation infrastructure sites every three days since the start of the war.  
  • The destruction of water and electricity infrastructure and restrictions on entry of spare parts and fuel (on average a fifth of the required amount is allowed in) saw water production drop by 84% in Gaza. External supply from Israel’s national water company Mekorot fell by 78%.  
  • Israel has destroyed 70% of all sewage pumps and 100% of all wastewater treatment plants, as well as the main water quality testing laboratories in Gaza, and restricted the entry of Oxfam water testing equipment.  
  • Gaza City has lost nearly all its water production capacity, with 88% of its water wells and 100% of its desalination plants damaged or destroyed.  

The report also highlighted the dire impact of this extreme lack of clean water and sanitation on Palestinians’ health, with more than a quarter (26%) of Gaza’s population falling severely ill from easily preventable diseases.  

In January, the International Court of Justice demanded that Israel immediately improve humanitarian access in light of a plausible genocide in Gaza. Since then, Oxfam has witnessed firsthand Israel’s obstruction of a meaningful humanitarian response, which is killing Palestinian civilians.  

“We’ve already seen Israel’s use of collective punishment and its use of starvation as a weapon of war. Now we are witnessing its weaponizing of water, which is already having deadly consequences.”  

Oxfam Water and Sanitation Specialist Lama Abdul Samad said it was clear that Israel had created a devastating humanitarian emergency resulting in Palestinian civilian deaths.  

“We’ve already seen Israel’s use of collective punishment and its use of starvation as a weapon of war. Now we are witnessing its weaponizing of water, which is already having deadly consequences.  

“But the deliberate restriction of access to water is not a new tactic. The Israeli Government has been depriving Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza of safe and sufficient water for many years,” she said.   

“The widespread destruction and significant restrictions on aid delivery in Gaza impacting access to water and other essentials for survival, underscores the urgent need for the international community to take decisive action to prevent further suffering by upholding justice and human rights, including those enshrined in the Geneva and Genocide Conventions.”  

 Monther Shoblak, General Manager of the Gaza Strip’s water utility CMWU, said:   

“My colleagues and I have been living through a nightmare these past nine months, but we still feel it’s our responsibility and duty to ensure everybody in Gaza is getting their minimum right of clean drinking water. It’s been very difficult, but we are determined to keep trying – even when we witness our colleagues being targeted and killed by Israel while undertaking their work.”   

Oxfam is calling for urgent action including an immediate and permanent ceasefire; for Israel to allow a full and unfettered humanitarian response; and for Israel to foot the reconstruction bill for water and sanitation infrastructure.  

Read Oxfam’s “Water War Crimes” full report.

Continue ReadingIsrael using water as weapon of war as Gaza supply plummets by 94%, creating deadly health catastrophe: Oxfam 

Zarah Sultana: I call on Keir Starmer to suspend arms sales to Israel and end Britain’s complicity in the killing

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/17/keir-starmer-suspend-arms-sales-israel-kings-speech-amendment

Destruction caused by an Israeli airstrike in Al-Maghazi refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 15 July 2024. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

International law is clear: we have an obligation to prevent genocide. That is why I have tabled an amendment to the king’s speech

Whenever I see the heart-wrenching aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Gaza – a Palestinian mother cradling the lifeless body of her child; a refugee camp engulfed by fire – I ask myself the same question. Were British-made weapons used to inflict this horror?

Almost certainly, the answer at times is “yes”. Raining down hell on Gaza is Israel’s fleet of F-35 fighter jets, described by their manufacturer as the “most lethal fighter jet in the world”. Each jet is made, in part, in Britain, in a deal the Campaign Against the Arms Trade estimates to be worth £368m.

This is just one example of Israel’s use of British-made arms in its assault on Gaza. But after almost 10 months and 38,000 Palestinians killed, to their eternal shame the Conservatives left office refusing to suspend arms sales. This responsibility now falls to Labour.

Our new government must do the right thing and stop enabling Israeli war crimes. That is why today, as a backbench Labour MP, I am tabling an amendment to the king’s speech calling on colleagues to uphold international law and suspend arms sales to Israel.

There is no time to waste. This past week has been “one of the deadliest” since Israel’s assault began, according to Unrwa, the UN aid agency for Palestinians. We must urgently pull every lever and strain every sinew to pressure the Israeli government to abide by international law and end this assault. This is not simply a moral duty, but a legal one too.

Consider again the F-35. The Israeli military has armed these jets with 2,000lb bombs, explosives with a lethal radius up to 365m – an area the equivalent of 58 football pitches. A recent UN report identified these bombs as having been used in “emblematic” cases of indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on Gaza that “led to high numbers of civilian fatalities and widespread destruction of civilian objects”. In lawyerly understatement, the UN said this raises “serious concerns under the laws of war”.

And this is where our arms export laws come in. As our new foreign secretary, David Lammy, himself said a few months ago: “The law is clear. British arms licences cannot be granted if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.” Without doubt this threshold has been met, hence why UN experts have called for arms exports to Israel to immediately stop.

…

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/17/keir-starmer-suspend-arms-sales-israel-kings-speech-amendment

Continue ReadingZarah Sultana: I call on Keir Starmer to suspend arms sales to Israel and end Britain’s complicity in the killing

Activists arrested in draconian crackdown ahead of planned march to parliament

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/activists-preemptively-arrested-draconian-crackdown-ahead-march-parliament

Police carry off a Youth Demand protester during a demonstration against the state opening of parliament, July 17, 2024 Photo: Youth Demand

POLICE stormed a cafe and arrested activists before they had even begun marching today in the latest crackdown on the right to protest.

The Youth Demand activists were sipping their morning coffees in a branch of Leon in central London, ahead of a peaceful pro-Palestine demonstration planned by the group.

The activists were due to march towards Parliament, where the state opening was taking place, to urge the new government to suspend arms to Israel and halt all oil and gas licences granted since 2021.

Ten activists were arrested in the cafe for “conspiracy to commit public nuisance.”

“How is this more harmful than the people arming Israel?” one of the activists shouted as they were dragged away by police.

Shortly after, in Victoria Embankment, another group of activists were kettled in by police before the march commenced. Dozens more were arrested on the same charge.

Among those arrested was Violet Powell, a 23-year-old student.

She said: “Our leaders hide behind pomp and ceremony while a genocide is going on, and our new government are refusing to take action beyond making meaningless platitudes.

“Young people will not allow yet another government to continue ‘business as usual,’ when that business is killing countless people.”

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/activists-preemptively-arrested-draconian-crackdown-ahead-march-parliament

Continue ReadingActivists arrested in draconian crackdown ahead of planned march to parliament

‘Stunning Abdication’: Appeals Court Dismisses Biden Genocide Complicity Case

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

Protesters displayed the message, “Biden complicit in genocide” outside a courtroom in Oakland, California on January 26, 2024. (Photo: @ashoswai/Twitter)

“We turned to the law to help stop the horror, and the court chose to do nothing,” said one plaintiff in the case. “We are beyond disappointed.”

Palestine defenders on Tuesday decried a U.S. federal appellate panel’s dismissal of a case brought by Palestinians accusing senior Biden administration officials of failing to prevent and complicity in Israeli genocide in Gaza.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of the lawsuit against President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, which was led by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of several Palestinian groups and individuals.

During a Tuesday interview on Democracy Now!, CCR attorney Katherine Gallagher—who represented plaintiffs in the case—said its dismissal “essentially gives the blank check to carry out any kind of conduct that the executive wants in times of genocide, in times of war.”

Gallagher’s interview followed a Monday statement in which she referred to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling granting the president “absolute immunity” for “official acts.”

“On the heels of Trump v. United States, this stunning abdication of the court’s role to serve as a check on the executive even in the face of its support for genocide should set off alarm bells for all,” she said.

The lawsuit—originally filed in November in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland—sought to stop the Biden administration from aiding Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. U.S. weapons have played a critical role in Israel’s war, which Palestinian and international agencies say has killed, wounded, or left missing more than 137,500 Gazans.

While the court found that “the current treatment of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military may plausibly constitute a genocide in violation of international law,” it dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds in late January. The 9th Circuit subsequently granted an expedited appeal in the case, which was heard in June.

“This decision is mind-boggling and, frankly, scary,” plaintiff Waeil Elbhassi said in a statement Monday. “It is just unfathomable, while we count our dead, witness the total obliteration of Gaza—aided by our own government.”

“As the death toll keeps rising and we see nonstop images of carnage during this livestreamed genocide, the court washes its hands of our case,” Elbhassi added. “We turned to the law to help stop the horror, and the court chose to do nothing. We are beyond disappointed. We have no choice but to continue to fight for our people. Our very existence is at stake.”

Israel’s conduct in Gaza—including alleged forced starvation that has fueled deadly famine in parts of the besieged strip—is under investigation by the International Court of Justice in a genocide case brought by South Africa.

Additionally, International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan has applied for warrants to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders for crimes including extermination allegedly committed on and after October 7.

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

Continue Reading‘Stunning Abdication’: Appeals Court Dismisses Biden Genocide Complicity Case