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Doctors Without Borders Says Israel’s Assault on Gaza Bears ‘Clear Signs of Ethnic Cleansing’

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

Palestinian children gather to receive bread in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, Gaza on December 19, 2024. (Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“People in Gaza are struggling to survive apocalyptic conditions, but nowhere is safe, no one is spared, and there is no exit from this shattered enclave,” said the humanitarian group’s secretary-general.

The international humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontières published a report Thursday detailing how the Israeli military has systematically destroyed conditions of life in the Gaza Strip over the past 14 months by dismantling the enclave’s healthcare system, forcibly displacing most of the population, choking off humanitarian aid, and reducing much of the territory to rubble.

MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, noted in its 34-page report that its staffers have witnessed and in some cases been the victims of large-scale “violence unleashed by Israeli forces,” which has “caused physical and mental damage on a scale that would overwhelm any functioning health system, let alone one already decimated by a crushing offensive and a 17-year-long blockade.”

While MSF secretary-general Christopher Lockyear stressed that the group doesn’t “have legal authority to establish intentionality” on the part of the Israeli military, “the signs of ethnic cleansing and the ongoing devastation—including mass killings, severe physical and mental health injuries, forced displacement, and impossible conditions of life for Palestinians under siege and bombardment—are undeniable.”

“People in Gaza are struggling to survive apocalyptic conditions, but nowhere is safe, no one is spared, and there is no exit from this shattered enclave,” said Lockyear, who visited Gaza earlier this year. “The recent military offensive in the north is a stark illustration of the brutal war the Israeli forces are waging on Gaza, and we are seeing clear signs of ethnic cleansing as Palestinians are forcibly displaced, trapped, and bombed.”

“What our medical teams have witnessed on the ground throughout this conflict,” he added, “is consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organizations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza.”

Even if Israel’s assault ended today, MSF said, “its long-term impacts would be unprecedented, given the scale of the destruction and the extraordinary challenges of providing healthcare across the strip.”

“The cumulative physical toll and mental trauma caused by the extreme violence, loss of family members and homes, repeated forced displacement, and inhumane living conditions will scar generations,” the group added.

Medics care for patients at a clinic set up by Doctors Without Borders in Rafah, Gaza on April 24, 2024. (Photo: Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)

MSF’s report, titled Gaza: Life in a Death Trap, finds that Israel’s response to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack “provoked the collapse of Gaza’s already-vulnerable healthcare system” and compromised its ability to provide humanitarian assistance with attacks on aid workers.

Since October 2023, at least eight MSF workers and “many of their family members” have been killed in Gaza, the group said Thursday.

“The pattern of attacks outlined above coupled with its foreseeable consequences and the denial of access to medical care and humanitarian assistance… effectively demonstrate Israeli forces waging a ‘war on the health of Gazans’ that has left the healthcare system in shreds,” the new report states.

The report quotes MSF staffers relaying their horrifying experiences working in Gaza’s barely functional hospitals and clinics without adequate supplies to treat the massive influx of Israeli airstrike victims.

“There are wounded lying everywhere,” Karin Huster, medical referent for MSF in Gaza, said in June. “Bodies are being carried out in plastic bags, the smell of blood is unbearable. Hundreds of people are in the hospital waiting for news of their loved ones injured in the bombardments.”

“Nothing justifies what I saw today,” Huster added. “These children, the three-month-old baby, the 7-year-old, the 12-year-old who died, the 25-year-old man, the 78-year-old woman, all with horrific injuries: Why did they deserve this?”

MSF’s report contributes to a rapidly growing body of research and analysis accusing the Israeli government of perpetrating genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.

Human Rights Watch said Thursday that “Israeli authorities have deliberately inflicted conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the population in Gaza by intentionally depriving Palestinian civilians there of adequate access to water, most likely resulting in thousands of deaths.”

“In doing so,” HRW added, “Israeli authorities are responsible for the crime against humanity of extermination and for acts of genocide.”

Doctors Without Borders said Thursday that “an immediate and sustained cease-fire must be implemented” and the “complete destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza and all things that make up the very fabric of society must stop.”

Additionally, the group urged Israel’s allies to end their unconditional support for the assault on Gaza and demanded an independent investigation into attacks on humanitarian workers.

“Israeli authorities continue to actively block MSF and other humanitarian organizations from providing lifesaving assistance to people trapped under siege and bombardment,” the group said. “States must leverage their influence to alleviate the suffering of people and enable a massive scale-up of humanitarian assistance across the Gaza Strip.”

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

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides. — Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA

UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE

Post author:dizzy
Post published:20 December 2024
Post category:Fascism genocide human rights violations Israel Palestine politics Zionism
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Children in Gaza face health crisis and hunger amid continued Israeli attacks

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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.

Photo: AWDA Health & Community Association

Children in Gaza are becoming increasingly hungry and unhealthy as the destruction of healthcare infrastructure exacerbates the spread of infectious diseases

The health of children in Gaza is deteriorating rapidly. Between June and October 2024, Nasser Medical Complex treated 300 children daily for infectious diseases like diarrhea, respiratory issues, and skin infections. These numbers are compounded by Israeli attacks on hospitals, obstruction of humanitarian aid, and the dire living conditions faced by more than one million forcibly displaced Palestinians preparing for winter in makeshift shelters.

The situation is equally critical regarding hunger and related conditions among children. Since the beginning of the year, nearly 33,000 children have been admitted for acute malnutrition. Health workers have also reported a rise in cases of nutritional edema, a condition that causes swelling due to a lack of protein intake. For over a year, children in the Gaza Strip have struggled to access adequate nutrition because of Israel’s blockades.

Child health experts have repeatedly warned about the long-term consequences of hunger for generations growing up in Palestine. Now, they caution that “there are clear signs of a rapidly worsening nutritional situation across Gaza, with two-thirds of the children admitted for outpatient treatment of acute malnutrition since the beginning of 2024 recorded in the past five months alone.”

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.

Right to Asylum Must Be Protected in EU, Says Human Rights Coalition

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

The Doctors Without Borders vessel Geo Barents intercepted two small boats full of migrants navigating toward Europe
in the Central Mediterranean on March 16, 2024. (Photo by Simone Boccaccio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“As this legislative cycle starts, the E.U. can and must do better than abandon its commitment to the global refugee protection regime,” said an Amnesty campaigner.

Nearly 100 human rights organizations came together Tuesday to emphasize that members of the European Union “must guarantee the right to seek and enjoy asylum and uphold their commitments to the international refugee protection system.”

The joint statement from groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Oxfam came as members of the European Parliament prepare for the July 16 plenary sitting, the first meeting scheduled since the bloc’s June elections, which resulted in the far-right “Patriots for Europe” becoming the third-largest alliance in the legislative body.

The human rights coalition underscored obligations under Article 18 of the E.U. Charter of Fundamental Rights and expressed concern about “the recent and increasing attempts by the E.U. and its member states to evade their asylum responsibilities by outsourcing asylum processing and refugee protection risk undermining the international protection system.”

As the groups detailed:

Italy, for instance, is currently seeking to process asylum applications of certain groups of asylum-seekers outside of its territory, from detention in Albania—which risks leading to prolonged, automatic detention, a denial of access to fair asylum procedures with necessary procedural guarantees, and delayed disembarkation for people rescued or intercepted at sea. Others, such as Denmark and Germany, are assessing the feasibility of this type of arrangement. Fifteen E.U. member states and some political groups have endorsed similar shortsighted measures to shift asylum processing outside E.U. territory and encouraged the European Commission to explore ways to facilitate this through further legislative reform, including through a watered-down ‘safe third country’ concept.
These attempts must be seen in the context of parallel containment efforts that seek to stem departures and prevent the arrival of asylum-seekers to E.U. territory through partnership agreements with third countries, with little to no attention to the human rights records of those authorities.

The coalition stressed that “as the extensive track record of human rights violations in partner countries such as Libya demonstrates, the E.U. and Member States have no adequate tools and competencies to effectively monitor or enforce human rights standards outside of E.U. territory.”

A report published in November by Doctors Without Borders features stories of violence that migrants endured in nations including Libya and Tunisia while trying to get to the E.U. That publication also points out that 2023 was the deadliest year for migration in the Central Mediterranean since 2017, due in part to E.U. countries failing to assist those at risk of drowning.

On Friday, our aircrew witnessed 1 of 3 rescues by @soshumanity_de that day. While 111 people were evacuated to Lampedusa, the other ~180 survivors had to stay on board the Humanity 1, assigned the port of Bari, over 1100km & a 4-day crossing away—pure political harassment by 🇮🇹. pic.twitter.com/DXwVFzNq0X
— Sea-Watch International (@seawatch_intl) July 8, 2024

In addition to sounding the alarm about current E.U. policies and practices, the coalition on Tuesday cited examples including Australia’s offshore detention scheme, which “demonstrates how these models have created prolonged confinement and restricted freedom of movement, deeply harming both the mental and physical health of people seeking protection.”

The organizations also pointed to an asylum scheme attempted by the United Kingdom—which left the E.U. in 2020 following the 2016 Brexit vote—and Rwanda, which the statement notes “is not yet in effect following the U.K. Supreme Court declaring it unlawful and in any event is unlikely to be operationalized at any significant scale.”

The U.K.’s failed attempt to forcibly remove people to the African country was “projec ted to cost a staggering £1.8 million per asylum-seeker returned,” which is equal to €2.13 million or $2.3 million. The coalition called such schemes “not only an unjustifiable waste of public money, but also a lost opportunity to spend it in ways that would truly aid people seeking asylum by investing in fair and humane asylum systems and the communities that welcome them.”

Olivia Sundberg Diez, Amnesty’s E.U. advocate on migration and asylum, said in a statement Tuesday that “attempts by states to outsource their asylum responsibilities to other countries are not new—but have long been criticized, condemned, and rejected for good reason.”

“Just as the U.K.-Rwanda scheme is, rightly, collapsing, the E.U. and its member states should pay attention, stop making false promises, and wasting time and money on expensive, inhumane, and unworkable proposals,” she continued. “As this legislative cycle starts, the E.U. can and must do better than abandon its commitment to the global refugee protection regime.”

The EU and its member states have had some truly terrible policies toward asylum seekers in recent years.

There is now a moment of possible change for Europe, says @astroehlein in his Daily Brief: pic.twitter.com/yB3uOCXj0s
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) July 9, 2024

The meeting scheduled for next week will follow the Pact on Migration and Asylum that the European Parliament passed in April and the Council of the E.U. adopted in May. The coalition highlighted that “civil society organizations have been clear about their serious concerns” regarding the reforms while also explaining that “the transfer of asylum-seekers outside of E.U. territory for asylum processing and refugee protection is not provided for in the pact, nor within current E.U. law.”

“After the E.U. and member states have spent close to a decade attempting to reform the E.U.’s asylum system, they should now focus on implementing it with a human rights-centered approach that prioritizes the right to asylum per E.U. law and fundamental principles of international refugee law to which they remain bound,” the coalition concluded. “They should not, mere weeks after the reform has passed, waste further time and resources on proposals that are incompatible with European and international law.”

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

Post author:dizzy
Post published:10 July 2024
Post category:human rights violations politics
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‘Horrific Massacre’: IDF Kills 200+ Palestinians Rescuing 4 Hostages

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

A man holds a Palestinian, injured during Israeli attacks on refugee camps, as patients and bodies are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on June 8, 2024. (Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“It’s a nightmare at Al-Aqsa,” said Samuel Johann, MSF coordinator in Gaza. “How many more men, women, and children have to be killed before world leaders decide to put an end to this massacre?”

Palestinian officials said at least 210 people were killed and more than 400 injured as the Israel Defense Forces conducted an operation in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday to rescue four of over 240 hostages taken by Hamas militants last year.

Israeli forces rescued Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv—all attendees or security guards at a music festival that Palestinian militants attacked on October 7—from two locations in Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the IDF. There are 116 hostages still being held in the Hamas-governed enclave, and at least 41 are believed to be dead.

Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing, said Saturday that “the enemy succeeded in releasing some of its hostages by committing horrific massacres, but at the same time, killed some of them during the operation.”

CNNreported that spokespeople for Israel’s police and military said an Israeli policeman from a counterterrorism unit was killed and estimated casualties from the operation at “under 100.” The outlet also noted the higher death toll cited by Gaza officials and spoke with witnesses—including Abu Abdallah, who said that “dogs were eating people’s remains. We pulled out six martyrs, all torn-up children and women, we risked our lives to get them to the hospital.”

As The Associated Pressdetailed:

The bodies of 109 Palestinians including 23 children and 11 women were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where spokesperson Khalil Degran told The Associated Press more than 100 wounded also arrived. He said that overall, 210 dead had been taken there and to Al-Awda Hospital, saying he had spoken to the director there. Al-Awda’s numbers couldn’t immediately be confirmed.
AP reporters saw dozens of bodies brought from the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah areas, as smoke rose in the distance and armored vehicles rolled by.
A baby was among the dead. Small children wailed, covered in blood. Bodies were placed on the ground outside, their feet bare, as more wounded were rushed in.

“It’s a nightmare at Al-Aqsa,” said Samuel Johann, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) coordinator in Gaza, in a statement. “There have been back-to-back mass casualties as densely populated areas are bombed. It’s way beyond what anyone could deal with in a functional hospital, let alone with the scarce resources we have here.”

In addition to killing more than 36,800 Palestinians and wounding over 83,600—according to Gaza officials—the IDF’s eight-month retaliation for the October 7 attack has devastated civilian infrastructure across the besieged coastal enclave, including hospitals.

“How many more men, women, and children have to be killed before world leaders decide to put an end to this massacre?” Johann asked amid cease-fire and hostage negotiations mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States—which has provided weapons and diplomatic support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war, despite nationwide protests, including on Saturday.

Karin Huster, an MSF medical referent, shared an audio recording about her experience at Al-Aqsa’s emergency department Saturday afternoon: “Total chaos inside; the entire emergency room… was completely packed with patients on the floor coming from the bombings in Nuseirat. There were hundreds of patients, and we did whatever we could to stabilize them… And, thank God we were able to refer a bunch of patients to Nasser Hospital as well as IMC Field Hospital that is not far away from here.”

“Despite the fact that the place was completely overwhelmed, it did an amazing job,” Huster continued. “There is nothing, nothing at all that justifies what I saw today. Nothing. These children—the 3-month-old, the 7-year-old, the 12-year-old that died—the 25-year-old man, the 78-year-old woman, who all have horrendous injuries. Why did they deserve this? And why is the world looking on in silence? …To what level of horror do we need to go before we finally do something, before we finally tell Israel that this is not acceptable?”

Following intense bombings by Israeli forces this Saturday morning in the Middle Area of #Gaza, our teams are working along medical staff at Al-Aqsa and Nasser hospitals to treat an overwhelming number of severely injured patients, many of whom are women and children. pic.twitter.com/JCcPVAfxuE
— MSF International (@MSF) June 8, 2024

Chris Hook, MSF medical referent at Nasser Hospital, shared an audio update from there, saying that “we’ve received, coming close now to about 50 badly injured patients. There’s people with multiple major open fractures of their limbs. We’ve got several unconscious children who are trying to be escorted through CT scan and on to intensive care.”

“A few very bad burns have come through, and already four or five people who’ve required chest tube insertion, and things like this, for major injuries to the chest,” he said, explaining that the hospital has a limited ability to perform CT scans, a shortage of pain killers, and a full intensive care unit. “More patients are arriving. It’s a serious mass casualty incident that is occurring right now.”

Council on American–Islamic Relations national executive director Nihad Awad said in a statement Saturday that “we strongly condemn the Israeli government’s horrific massacre at Nuseirat refugee camp, where Israeli forces, some hidden in a humanitarian aid truck, reportedly slaughtered at least 200 Palestinian civilians while freeing four Israeli hostages who could have and should have been safely released months ago as part of a cease-fire agreement that Benjamin Netanyahu keeps torpedoing so that he can continue the genocide and stay in office.”

“The Biden administration must be transparent about any U.S. involvement in this massacre and whether any Americans were in the units that carried it out,” Awad added. “The administration also must stop funding these daily incidents of mass slaughter and instead use American leverage to stop the genocide, free all hostages and political prisoners, and end the illegal occupation of Palestine that lies at the root of the violence.”

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

Post author:dizzy
Post published:9 June 2024
Post category:Fascism genocide human rights violations Israel Palestine politics Zionism
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Doctors Without Borders Says Israel’s Assault on Gaza Bears ‘Clear Signs of Ethnic Cleansing’

“People in Gaza are struggling to survive apocalyptic conditions, but nowhere is safe, no one is spared, and there is no exit from this shattered enclave,” said the humanitarian group’s secretary-general.

Children in Gaza face health crisis and hunger amid continued Israeli attacks

Children in Gaza are becoming increasingly hungry and unhealthy as the destruction of healthcare infrastructure exacerbates the spread of infectious diseases

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

Read more: Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh’s death by torture underscores brutal targeting of Palestinian health workers by Israel

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

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

Read more: Israel continues its efforts to undermine UNRWA

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

Right to Asylum Must Be Protected in EU, Says Human Rights Coalition

“As this legislative cycle starts, the E.U. can and must do better than abandon its commitment to the global refugee protection regime,” said an Amnesty campaigner.

‘Horrific Massacre’: IDF Kills 200+ Palestinians Rescuing 4 Hostages

“It’s a nightmare at Al-Aqsa,” said Samuel Johann, MSF coordinator in Gaza. “How many more men, women, and children have to be killed before world leaders decide to put an end to this massacre?”