Gaza strip

Being bombed, starved to death, or killed while seeking food: Israel’s options for Palestinians in Gaza

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

A 4-year-old Palestinian girl, lost her life due to malnutrition and lack of treatment due to the war on Gaza, August 2024. Photo: wiki commons

The death toll of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7, 2023, exceeded 59,100, including over 100 starved to death, and more than 1000 assassinated at aid distribution centers.

Almost 22 months into its genocidal aggression on the Gaza Strip, Israel has carried out all types of massacres on the population of the besieged enclave, including deadly airstrikes, starvation, and the targeted killing of aid seekers.

Every civilian space in Gaza is a target for Israeli warplanes, even kindergartens

Since October 7, 2023, non-stop deadly airstrikes have been carried out by Israel across war-torn Gaza, targeting densely populated residential areas, places of worship, areas already designated as “safe zones“, hospitals, schools sheltering displaced people, and, most recently, a kindergarten.

On Monday, July 21, Israeli fighter jets struck a kindergarten in Gaza city. Several people were reported injured in the horrific assault. Footage circulated via several media outlets, showing terrorized children being evacuated from the building.

Multiple other Israeli airstrikes were launched that same day on other civilian sites in Gaza city. The central areas of Deir Al-Balah, Nuseirat Refugee camp, and Wadi Gaza were also subjected to aerial raids.

The southern city of Khan Younis, and the northern city of Jabalia were also among the areas hit by Israeli warplanes and drones. The series of strikes carried out on Monday resulted in the death of dozens of Palestinian people.

Scores of other people were also killed in a new wave of Israeli strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, July 22.

IOF continues to shoot and abduct civilians in Gaza

A number of Palestinians were killed on Monday by Israeli gunfire in two separate offensives in Gaza. The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) shot dead a Palestinian woman in her home in Deir al-Balah.

Meanwhile, a number of civilians were shot dead by Israeli special forces during a raid near the Red Cross Hospital in the southern city of Rafah.

Journalist Tamer Al-Zaanin was killed, while his fellow colleague Ibrahim Abu Ashiba sustained injuries in the lethal attack that resulted in the abduction of senior Palestinian health official Dr. Marwan Al-Hams.

Dr. Al-Hams is the director of field hospitals in the Gaza Strip, and the head of Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza denounced the abduction of Al-Hams as “a grave violation” of international humanitarian law. 

For its part, Gaza’s Government Media Office described the operation as “a full-fledged war crime”.

Israel has used starvation as a weapon of genocide

The last few days saw a drastic increase in the number of people who died in Gaza due to malnutrition and starvation, which resulted from Israel’s aid blockade.

At least 101 people have been starved to death, including 80 children, throughout nearly 22 months of Israel’s brutal war. Most of these fatalities were reported in recent weeks, according to Palestinian health officials.

The humanitarian disaster sharply escalated in early March 2025, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a total blockade on the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged strip. However, Israel has used starvation as a weapon against civilians from the beginning of the genocide.

In a report published on May 28, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that Israel has “deliberately engineered and implemented a systematic starvation policy” since it started its genocidal aggression on the Gaza strip on October 7, 2023.

The Geneva-based human rights organization accused Israel of “using hunger as a weapon of genocide against civilians”, and designing starvation tactics to “collectively degrade and completely subjugate” the Palestinian people in Gaza.

As a result of mounting international pressure against the expansion of the military operation and the aid blockade on Gaza, Netanyahu decided to allow a limited quantity of food into the enclave in late May.

However, the distribution of that minimal aid was controlled by the infamous US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has turned food distribution sites into death traps, where at least 1000 people have been massacred.

Local militias of mercenaries were also recruited by Israel, to loot UN aid under IOF protection and sell some on the illicit market. These militias are even accused of being complicit in massacring hundreds of starved people at GHF’s aid delivery points.

Widespread international condemnation of the catastrophic situation in Gaza

United Nations

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the mass shootings and killings of aid seekers in Gaza as “an atrocious and inhumane act”. 

Guterres deplored the growing reports about children and adults suffering from malnutrition, and “the accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing.”

28 countries call for an immediate end to Gaza war 

A joint statement was signed on Monday by the foreign ministers of 28 nations, calling for an immediate end to the aggression on Gaza.

The signatory countries, which include Israeli allies, are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus, Greece, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

“We, the signatories listed below, come together with a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now,” the statement reads. 

“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food. It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid,” the statement continues.

“The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law,” the ministers of the signatory countries warned.

Death toll of people killed in Gaza since October 2023 exceeds 59,100

Gaza’s Health Ministry announced on Tuesday that at least 59,106 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since it began its genocidal aggression on the besieged strip in October 2023.

The tally includes those starved to death, and aid seekers who were assassinated at food delivery centers.

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

Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
UK Labour Party government Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are participants and complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide providing Israel with army and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are participants and complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide providing Israel with army and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Continue ReadingBeing bombed, starved to death, or killed while seeking food: Israel’s options for Palestinians in Gaza

Speech ban ruled unlawful: Palestinian doctor wins in German court

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

Ghassan Abu-Sittah and other health workers hold press conference after Israeli attacks on Gaza’s hospitals, October 2023. Source: Ghassan Abu-Sittah/X

A judge in a German court ruled that the ban on activity imposed on renowned Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah was unlawful.

The Palestine Congress in Berlin, which was organized in mid-April of last year, was violently shut down by the police on its first day, just minutes after it began. The pretext for this action, which was deemed unlawful by attorneys, was a live-stream of Palestinian historian Dr. Salman Abu Sitta.

His nephew, the doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah, was banned from entering Germany on the morning of April 12, 2024. He had arrived on a flight from the UK, was detained and questioned for hours at Berlin airport, and then deported. He was also told that he was banned from practicing any political activities in Germany for the month of April, even from abroad. The organizers of the conference are taking legal action against the dissolution of the event, the trial of which is ongoing.

Witness to the genocide wins in Berlin

But Ghassan Abu-Sittah won a victory on Tuesday, July 15, at Berlin’s Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgericht). From the UK, the doctor had filed a lawsuit against the actions of the German authorities. The surgeon and rector of the University of Glasgow has worked as a doctor in a dozen war and crisis zones over the course of his life, including the Gaza Strip. Shortly after the genocide began in October 2023, he went there again as part of a “Doctors Without Borders” mission to provide aid at Al-Shifa Hospital. The hospital was repeatedly attacked and ultimately destroyed by the Israeli army in November 2023 and again in March/April 2024. Israeli forces massacred hundreds of doctors, patients, and refugees.

The court’s judge ruled that the ban on activity imposed on Abu-Sittah was unlawful. According to a spokeswoman for the court, there was no sufficient evidence that Abu-Sittah’s statements posed a threat to Germany’s constitutional order or public safety. In particular, the authorities were unable to produce any statements by the renowned doctor that referred positively to the Palestinian resistance’s “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation or even to possible war crimes committed by the Palestinian resistance. Even if such a danger had existed, a preventive ban on the doctor’s activities would have been disproportionate.

The spokesperson also pointed out that Abu-Sittah was heard as an eyewitness to the genocide in the International Criminal Court proceedings against Israeli government politicians, and was also announced as such at the Palestine Congress.

Racist repression

His lawyer, Alexander Gorki, explained on request: “The hearing showed that the ban on activities was unlawful from start to finish. What was to be sanctioned via the residency rights were opinions expressed by my client, who knew the situation on the ground in Gaza very well as a Palestinian and a doctor.” The court “put a stop to the abuse of immigration law”. However, the ruling will not prevent the immigration authorities from abusing their power in the future, warns the migration law expert. To counter this, “political pressure is needed”.

In fact, the repressive authorities in Germany have been using all kinds of tricks and legal means for years to bypass the courts and exert pressure on the Palestinian solidarity movement and Palestinians in Germany: from expulsions and deportations, to bans on organizing, employment bans and the cancellation of welfare benefits. Migrants and refugees with a precarious status are particularly affected. Just two weeks ago, on the orders of a court, Musaab Abu Atta, a Palestinian refugee and political activist, was released from four months of custody. The public prosecutor’s office is trying to lock him up again because of an alleged “flight risk”, even though he has a fiancée and a job in Berlin. At the same time, there are indications that they want to deport him to Syria.

Leon Wystrychowski is a former member of the Palästina Solidarität Duisburg (Palestine Solidarity Duisburg, PSDU).

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

Continue ReadingSpeech ban ruled unlawful: Palestinian doctor wins in German court

Israeli soldiers file petition questioning legality of ‘Operation Gideon Chariots’ in Gaza

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Israeli army with large number of tanks, armored personnel carriers, military bulldozers and helicopters continue to attack from air and ground in Khan Yunis, Gaza on March 7, 2024. [Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images]

Three Israeli reserve soldiers have filed a legal petition with the Supreme Court, arguing that the army’s “Operation Gideon Chariots” in Gaza may breach international law, as it appears to aim at the forced transfer and expulsion of the population of the Gaza Strip.

According to Haaretz on Monday, Supreme Court Judge Khaled Kabub has urged the Israeli army to provide a response to the petitioners in hopes of sparing the court from needing to deliberate the matter further.

In a letter sent to the soldiers by an officer from the office of the Israeli Chief of Staff, the military claimed it was “operating broadly throughout the Gaza Strip against terror targets through fire and ground incursions.” He stated that the evacuation of residents was carried out “to reduce the risk to civilians,” adding that “the Israeli army advises and permits civilians in combat zones to evacuate themselves for their protection, as long as military operations continue in the area.”

However, the petitioning soldiers stressed that the forced and permanent displacement of Palestinians in Gaza – which the Israeli government has publicly identified as one of the war’s objectives – is an illegal military act and stands in direct violation of international law and “the values and spirit of the Israeli army.”

READ: Ya’alon: Gaza war is false, Netanyahu sacrificing hostages for political gain 

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Continue ReadingIsraeli soldiers file petition questioning legality of ‘Operation Gideon Chariots’ in Gaza

Israel turns Jabalia into ‘ghost town’ amid massive destruction: Report

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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241222-israel-turns-jabalia-into-ghost-town-amid-massive-destruction-report

Palestinians living in makeshift tents and ruined buildings in Jabalia Camp try to continue their daily lives under Israeli attacks in Gaza Strip on December 18, 2024. [Dawoud Abo Alkas – Anadolu Agency]

The Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip has become a “ghost town” with around 70% of homes and buildings completely destroyed in Israel’s deadly onslaught in the area, Israeli media said on Sunday, Anadolu Agency reports.

“As far as the eye can see lie miles and miles of destroyed homes. It’s hard to look away from the devastated remains of Jabalia’s refugee camp in northern Gaza,” Amos Harel, a military affairs analyst, writes in Haaretz newspaper.

The Israeli army estimates that 70% of the refugee camp’s buildings were completely destroyed.

“I could see that even the few buildings that are still standing were badly damaged,” Harel said.

Israel has launched a large-scale ground operation in northern Gaza since Oct. 5 to allegedly prevent the Palestinian group Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.

READ: US diplomat resigns from State Department over Gaza genocide

Since then, no sufficient humanitarian aid including food, medicine, and fuel has been allowed into the area, leaving the remaining population on the verge of imminent famine.

“The IDF (army) operated here twice before, in December 2023 and May 2024. But this time, the camp was taken apart,” Amos said.

“Jabalia has become a ghost town. Outside, you mainly see pack after pack of stray dogs roaming around and hunting for scraps of food.”

The Israeli onslaught in northern Gaza was the latest episode in a brutal Israeli war on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 45,200 people, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.

Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.

WATCH: Gazan family finds warmth, unity around a fire

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Continue ReadingIsrael turns Jabalia into ‘ghost town’ amid massive destruction: Report

Ireland to join genocide case against Israel, ask Court to ‘broaden its interpretation’

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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241211-ireland-to-join-genocide-case-against-israel-ask-court-to-broaden-its-interpretation

Overview of the courtroom at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands on 22 April, 2024 [Selman Aksünger/Anadolu Agency]

Ireland will formally join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel following government approval and will be asking the Court to “broaden its interpretation” of what constitutes genocide, the nation’s Foreign Minister said Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Ireland will join the case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague this month, Micheal Martin said in a statement.

“There has been a collective punishment of the Palestinian people through the intent and impact of military actions of Israel in Gaza, leaving 44,000 dead and millions of civilians displaced,” Martin said following Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

He stressed that, by legally intervening in South Africa’s case, Dublin will also be asking the ICJ to “broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide by a State”.

“We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimised,” underlined Martin.

He went on to say that Ireland’s view of the Convention is broader and prioritises the protection of civilian life as the government will promote that interpretation in its intervention in this case.

Martin added that the government has also approved joining Gambia’s case against Myanmar under the same convention.

In October 2023, Israel launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has so far killed over 44,800 people, mostly women and children, and now faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.

Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

READ: Algeria, South Africa insist on holding Israel accountable before ICJ

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Continue ReadingIreland to join genocide case against Israel, ask Court to ‘broaden its interpretation’