‘Genocide Alert!’ Israel Slammed for Cutting Off Power to Gaza Water Plant

Spread the love

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

A water treatment plant in Deir al-Balah, Gaza is on the verge of shutting down due to Israel’s order to cut electricity flow on March 10, 2025. (Photo: Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Images)

One expert noted that “this collective punishment of civilians” violates the Geneva Convention as well as a preliminary injunction from the International Court of Justice.

Outrage over the Israeli government’s decision to cut off electricity to a water treatment plant in the decimated Gaza Strip mounted on Monday.

As Common Dreams reported Sunday, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said that he “signed an order for the immediate halt of electricity to the Gaza Strip” as part of a policy to use “all of the tools that are at our disposal to ensure the return of all the hostages” taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

The Times of Israel noted that the new move by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “was mainly expected to affect a single desalination plant, the only facility in the strip still running on a power line supplied from Israel.”

Responding on social media Monday, the Peace & Justice Project—founded by Jeremy Corbyn, an Independent member of the U.K. Parliament—condemned the cutoff as Israel’s “latest act of genocidal collective punishment against the Palestinian people.”

“This latest despicable act must be condemned by all governments and Israel must be sanctioned,” the group added.

Also speaking out on social media, Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, declared, “GENOCIDE ALERT!”

“Israel cutting off electricity supplies to Gaza means, among others, no functioning desalination stations, ergo: no clean water,” Albanese said. “STILL NO SANCTION/NO ARMS EMBARGO against Israel means, among others, AIDING AND ASSISTING Israel in the commission of one of the most preventable genocides of our history.”

Unconscionable, and immoral:Israel stops electricity supply to Gaza to ratchet up pressure on Hamas | The Times of Israel www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent…

Timothy McBride (@mcbridetd.bsky.social) 2025-03-09T15:53:43.709Z

Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, called the move “a desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance through cheap and unacceptable blackmail tactics,” according to The Times of Israel.

He tied the decision to Israel halting all humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave last week, saying that “we strongly condemn the occupation’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza, after depriving it of food, medicine, and water.”

Clean water has been a key issue in Gaza since October 2023. Oxfam said last July that Israel had systematically reduced the water available by 94%, with just 4.74 liters per resident obtainable each day—less than a third of the recommended minimum amount in emergencies.

A Human Rights Watch report from December accuses Israel of “extermination and acts of genocide” in Gaza “by intentionally depriving Palestinian civilians there of adequate access to water, most likely resulting in thousands of deaths.”

Netanyahu said that last week’s block on aid was done “in full coordination” with U.S. President Donald Trump, who proposed an American takeover of Gaza—a plan that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Sunday “is taking shape.”

Israel and Hamas reached a fragile three-part cease-fire and hostage-release deal in January. Stage one expired on March 1, and negotiators have not yet agreed to terms for the second phase, but talks are being held in Qatar this week.

“Food cut off, almost all electricity cut off, with the remaining energy now cut off too, in order to cut off water supply. This is a ‘cease-fire’ Israel-style,” said Nick Dearden, director of the U.K.-based group Global Justice Now. “Barbaric collective punishment. Stop all weapons, suspend trade deals, economic sanctions now.”

Since we made this statement Israel has announced it is cutting off electricity to Gaza. We say again: the threat of starvation and denial of vital humanitarian aid and services should never be used as a tool of war or a bargaining chip in negotiations. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve…

Quakers in Britain (@quaker.org.uk) 2025-03-10T15:51:44.465Z

University of Michigan professor Juan Cole wrote Monday on his website, Informed Comment, that “the Israeli government is cutting Palestinian civilians in Gaza off from staples as a means of pressuring Hamas to release all Israeli hostages with no quid pro quo so that Netanyahu can start bombing again.”

“This collective punishment of civilians violates the Geneva Convention and other elements of internationally agreed on laws of war to which Israel is signatory,” noted Cole. “It also violates the preliminary injunction of the International Court of Justice, in which Israel also has membership.”

Israel faces an ongoing genocide case at the Hague-based court over its deadly blockade and assault of Gaza—assisted by billions of dollars in U.S. weapons. Like his predecessor, Trump’s administration is working to send even more arms to Israel.

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

Zionist Keir Starmer is quoted "I support Zionism without qualification." He's asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
Zionist Keir Starmer is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.

Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.

Continue Reading‘Genocide Alert!’ Israel Slammed for Cutting Off Power to Gaza Water Plant

Jeremy Corbyn: Keir Starmer says there’s no money – I don’t believe him

Spread the love

https://metro.co.uk/2025/03/05/jeremy-corbyn-keir-starmer-says-no-money-dont-believe-22673792/

I said that I would praise Keir Starmer when I thought he was performing well (Picture: Getty Images)

‘There’s no money’. 


That always seems to be the current government’s response when asked to tackle the enormous crises affecting the UK. 

But as Keir Starmer announces he will ramp up military spending, and as Rachel Reeves plans to slash welfare budgets, we must never forget what impact government funding choices have on the most vulnerable people in society. 

As we speak, 4.3 million children in the UK are living in relative poverty. Over 350,000 people are homeless in England. 

Millions are worried about the cost of heating their home, braced for yet another hike in energy bills. Meanwhile, billionaires are richer than ever. 

So what is the government doing? 

They could lift children out of poverty, if they wanted to, by scrapping the two-child benefit cap. 

STEADFAST DART 25 (STDT25), the principal NATO exercise for 2025, will be the first large-scale deployment of NATO?s Allied Reaction Force (ARF) exercise conducted across various geographical locations within SACEUR?s area of responsibility. It is the largest NATO exercise in 2025, with approximately 10.000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines from 9 Allies, and it will be based on NATO?s new defence plans. NARRATIVE In response to an evolving and unpredictable security environment, NATO has implemented the biggest increase in collective defence since the Cold War. NATO has a new generation of defence plans, and is integrated with national military planning like never before. These defence plans make the Alliance stronger and better able to deter and, if necessary, defend against any potential adversary in any domain, and at any time. A critical component of NATO?s plans, which are designed to safeguard the Euro-Atlantic?s one billion inhabitants, is having high-readiness forces across all domains able to rapidly respond to any emerging or known threat. NATO?s new robust and agile Allied Reaction Force is central to this. Throughout January and February 2025, NATO will conduct Exercise Steadfast Dart in order to test and train the operational deployment of the Allied Reaction Force and rapid reinforcement of NATO assets located along its eastern flank. Steadfast Dart 25 is an alert and deployment exercise, and the first time the Allied Reaction Force will exercise an operational deployment since the Force?s establishment on July 1, 2024. The exercise will demonstrate NATO?s ability to activate the Allied Reaction Force, and coordinate its swift transit to where it can deliver strategic deterrence effects by bolstering forces already situated in location. Steadfast Dart 25 will showcase the Allied Reaction Force as a strategic, high-readiness, multi-domain and multinational capability that can be deployed and employed rapidly to strengthen deterrence in peacetime and crisis, and support the Alliance?s defence in conflict. NATO exercises such as this are defensive, transparent and proportionate, and conducted in full respect of our international obligations. Exercise aim: Exercise Steadfast Dart 2025 is the first large-scale deployment of NATO?s Allied Reaction Force (ARF). The aim is to test the deployable capabilities and procedures as well as the interoperability among the troop contributors and host nations. The NATO Allied Reaction Force (ARF) is a strategic, high-readiness, multi-domain capable force. It provides multi-domain forces from across the Alliance to produce effects at shorter notice than has previously been possible. STDT25 will demonstrate NATO's ability to rapidly deploy forces to reinforce NATO assets located along its eastern flank. This reinforcement will occur during a simulated emerging conflict scenario with a near-peer adversary. It will show that NATO Allied Reaction Force (ARF) can conduct and sustain complex operations across thousands of kilometers in the Eastern Europe, and in any condition. STDT25 will be a clear demonstration of NATO?s unity, strength and determination to continue to do all that is necessary to protect each other, our common values and the rules-based international order. NATO exercises are defensive, transparent, proportionate, and conducted in full respect of our international obligations.
Keir Starmer says that a changing world means we have to increase defence spending (Picture: Ministry of Defence)

They could help pensioners with energy bills, if they wanted to, by restoring universal winter fuel allowance. 

They could ensure nobody had to sleep rough on the streets, if they wanted to, by launching a massive council-house-building programme.  

Instead, they have signed off on a 13.4 billion increase in military spending. With that money, the government could scrap the two-child benefit cap 10 times over. 

Now, today, we’re told the government is preparing to cut billions from welfare budgets. 

GAZA CITY, GAZA - FEBRUARY 25: Palestinian Ismail Barud, whose house in Bureij Refugee Camp was completely destroyed in the Israeli attacks, tries to rebuild a house as his daily life, taking care of the 3 children of his brother who lost his life in the attack, and his family, continues in Gaza City, Gaza on February 25, 2025. Barud struggles to live under extremely difficult conditions in the midst of destruction. (Photo by Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Even David Lammy admits Gaza is in ‘rubble’ (Picture: Getty Images)

Put simply: there is never any money for the poor, but always enough money for war. I just wish the government was honest about that. 

Original article at https://metro.co.uk/2025/03/05/jeremy-corbyn-keir-starmer-says-no-money-dont-believe-22673792/

Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer justifies why he has to travel abroad so much
Keir Starmer justifies why he has to travel abroad so much

Continue ReadingJeremy Corbyn: Keir Starmer says there’s no money – I don’t believe him

Corbyn urges enquiry into Britain’s complicity in Gaza genocide

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/corbyn-urges-enquiry-into-britains-complicity-in-gaza-genocide

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians is set up amid destroyed buildings in the west of Al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City, March 3, 2025

LAUNCH a full public inquiry into Britain’s complicity in the Gaza genocide, left MP Jeremy Corbyn has told the government.

The former Labour leader has written to Keir Starmer warning that he will be working with colleagues to “pursue all avenues to establish a public, independent inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Israel’s military assault in Gaza.”

This probe should “establish exactly what decisions have been taken, how these decisions have been made, and what consequences they have had,” he said.

Mr Corbyn’s move comes as pro-Palestine campaigners face a growing police clampdown, with several summoned for police interview over purported offences at January’s Gaza demonstration.

The letter to the Prime Minister cites the precedent of the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war which, though protracted, eventually laid bare the sheer extent of deception undertaken by the Blair government regarding the 2003 aggression.

“Britain has played a highly influential role in Israel’s military operations,” Mr Corbyn writes, “including the sale of weapons, the supply of intelligence and the use of RAF bases” in Cyprus.

“Many of us have repeatedly raised objections over the continued sale of F-35 components. We have repeatedly asked for the truth regarding the role of British military bases.

“And we have repeatedly requested the publication of legal advice behind the government’s currently unknown definition of genocide. Our requests have been met evasion, obstruction and silence, leaving the public in the dark,” he added.

The original article is at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/corbyn-urges-enquiry-into-britains-complicity-in-gaza-genocide

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
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
Continue ReadingCorbyn urges enquiry into Britain’s complicity in Gaza genocide

‘War-Crime Starvation Strategy’: Israel Blocks All Humanitarian Aid into Gaza

Spread the love

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

Trucks carrying aid wait in front of the Rafah border crossing on March 2, 2025 in Rafah, Egypt. The flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza has been blocked, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Hamas had not accepted a US-proposed temporary extension to the ceasefire deal, following the expiration of the first phase on Saturday. Photo by Ali Moustafa/Getty Images

“There will be famine and chaos”

Israel has reneged on the existing ceasefire agreement they had agreed to with Hamas. The first phase of the ceasefire expired Saturday and Israel announced on Sunday it is halting all humanitarian aid and fuel deliveries to Gaza and closing the border between Israel and Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he made the decision “in full coordination with President Trump and his people.”

In a statement Hamas called the suspension of aid a “war crime” and a violation of the ceasefire agreement. It said Netanyahu’s “decision to suspend humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the [ceasefire] agreement”.

Stephen Zunes, the director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of San Francisco, says the US’s apparent proposal favoring Israel follows a well-established pattern seen since the beginning of the war.

“This is typical,” he told Al Jazeera. “Hamas and Israel will agree to something. Then Israel will try to revise it in its favor. Then the US will put forward a new proposal that is in Israel’s favor and then the US will blame Hamas for not accepting that proposal.”

Israel’s decision to block all aid going into the Gaza Strip is a war crime under international law, a human rights expert says.

Kenneth Roth – former head of Human Rights Watch who is now a visiting professor at Princeton University – said Israel as an occupying power has an “absolute duty” to facilitate humanitarian aid under the Geneva Conventions.

“Israel’s latest threat to cut off all aid is a resumption of the war-crime starvation strategy” that led to the arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court, he said.

Doctors Without Borders said Israel’s decision is “outrageous and will have devastating consequences”, said the group’s emergency coordinator Caroline Seguin.

“Humanitarian aid should never be used as a tool of war,” added the charity, known by its French acronym MSF, in a statement. “Regardless of negotiations between warring parties, people in Gaza still need an immediate and massive scale-up of humanitarian supplies.”

Jeremy Corbyn, who once led the UK Labour Party, said that Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid was a “resumption of genocide”, before adding that the current British government – led by Labour – was “complicit.”

AP reports:

Fayza Nassar, a woman living in the heavily destroyed urban Jabaliya refugee camp, said the closure would exacerbate already dire living conditions.

“There will be famine and chaos,” she said. “Closing the crossings is a heinous crime.”

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 48,388 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It says more than half of those killed were women and children.

Original article by Common Dreams Staff 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
Continue Reading‘War-Crime Starvation Strategy’: Israel Blocks All Humanitarian Aid into Gaza

Official Gaza Death Toll Soars to Nearly 62,000 as Thousands of Missing Now Presumed Dead

Spread the love

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

Destruction is seen in a cemetery resulting from Israeli attacks as Palestinians try to locate the graves of their relatives in Beit Lahia, Gaza on February 3, 2025. 
(Photo: Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut/Anadolu via Getty Images)

British lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn called for Israeli officials, and countries that have funded the bombardment of Gaza, to “face justice for every single life lost.”

Authorities in Gaza and human rights advocates have warned for months that because of the decimation of the enclave’s healthcare system and civil services, the official death toll was likely a significant undercount—and on Monday, officials said thousands more Palestinians had been confirmed killed by Israel’s U.S.-backed onslaught since October 2023.

Salama Maarouf, head of Gaza’s government media office, told the press gathered at the mostly destroyed al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City that the death toll currently stands at 61,709, with thousands of Palestinians who had previously been listed as missing now presumed dead.

The death toll was previously reported to be 47,487 on Saturday. Journalist Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News said Monday that the number is rapidly going up as “people returning to their neighborhoods discover mass graves and people buried under the rubble or killed and their bodies left at the scene.”

Maarouf said officials now believe the bodies of about 76% of those killed have been recovered, but noted that 14,222 people are still believed to be trapped under rubble or inaccessible to rescue and recovery crews.

https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1886333915050418657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1886333915050418657%7Ctwgr%5E376057fb7673d8bd15c0f6dc74f723f22479fb29%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fcivilian-deaths-in-gaza

Sorry, this content could not be embedded.

X

Those confirmed to have been killed include 17,881 children, including 214 newborn babies. More than 200 journalists were also killed by Israeli forces before a cease-fire deal was reached in mid-January.

Days after the cease-fire agreement, journalist Prem Thakker of Zeteo News noted that the death toll was expected to explode due to the bodies “recovered.”

“The horrors we are about to discover if a cease-fire actually holds will underscore why Israel didn’t want international journalists inside—and why they kept targeting Palestinian journalists,” said Thakker.

The updated death toll was publicized as mediators from the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt began talks on the second phase of the three-part cease-fire agreement. In the first phase, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners are set to be freed from Israeli prisons by March, and 33 Israeli hostages are scheduled to be released by Hamas as Palestinians return to their neighborhoods—many of which have been reduced to rubble—and hundreds of aid trucks are allowed into the enclave.

The talks that began Monday aim to establish a permanent cease-fire, with Israeli forces making a complete exit from Gaza.

Fighting could begin again in March if a long-term deal isn’t reached in the coming weeks.

British Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn said that as the “true scale of Israel’s atrocities” emerges, “officials must face justice for every single life lost.”

“So should those who continued to send weapons,” said Corbyn, “knowing full well they were enabling genocide.”

As humanitarian and medical workers continued recovery missions in Gaza, the death toll in the West Bank on Monday rose to 70 since the beginning of 2025, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Israeli forces and settlers have waged attacks in several West Bank towns and refugee camps in recent weeks, and the Trump administration said late last month that it would continue providing military aid to Israel as it froze nearly all foreign assistance.

Original article by Julia Conley 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
Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government's support for Israel's Gaza genocide and the UK government and military's active participation in genocide.
Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
Continue ReadingOfficial Gaza Death Toll Soars to Nearly 62,000 as Thousands of Missing Now Presumed Dead