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Group Seeks Chilean Prosecution of IDF Sniper Rom Kovtun Over Gaza Hospital Siege

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

Israel Defense Forces soldier Rom Kovtun looks away from the scope of his sniper rifle in this undated photo.(Photo by Hind Rajab Foundation)

The Hind Rajab Foundation filed the complaint, citing universal jurisdiction and Chile’s law against genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

A Brussels-based human rights group on Monday filed a criminal complaint in Chile seeking the prosecution of an Israel Defense Forces sniper accused of taking part in the deadly 2024 siege and destruction of Gaza’s largest hospital.

The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF)—named after the young Palestinian girl who was killed in January 2024 along with six relatives and two rescue workers by IDF troops in Gaza City—said it filed the complaint in the 8th Guarantee Court in Santiago, the Chilean capital, requesting investigation and prosecution of Rom Kovtun, an Israeli Ukrainian sniper in the 424th “Shaked” Battalion of the Givati Brigade, under Chilean Law 20.357.

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The law criminalizes genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes under the Rome Statute, the 1998 treaty establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC), which in 2024 issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged murder and forced starvation in Gaza.

HRF’s complaint was formally submitted by Chilean lawyer Pablo Andrés Araya Zacarías, a partner at Silva-Riesco Abogados. The filing invokes universal jurisdiction—the legal principle empowering states to investigate and prosecute individuals for heinous crimes regardless of where they occurred—based on Kovtun’s presence in Chile and Israel’s refusal to prosecute him.

According to the complaint, Kovtun took part in the March-April 2024 siege and attack on al-Shifa Hospital in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City. The World Health Organization said at least 21 patients were killed during attacks on the facility, while Gaza officials claimed the toll was much higher.

Survivors and witnesses said IDF troops executed civilians during the raid on al-Shifa, including 13 children. The IDF denied the allegations. Doctors, nurses, and other hospital workers were also abducted and allegedly tortured by their IDF captors. Israeli claims that Hamas fighters were using al-Shifa as a command center were subsequently debunked as lies.

Hundreds of Palestinian bodies—some with bound limbs and signs of torture and execution—were found outside the hospital after IDF troops withdrew from the area, although it is not known if they were all killed there.

“The targeting and destruction of a functioning hospital during a military siege strike at the core of international humanitarian law,” HRF general director Dyab Abou Jahjah said on Monday. “When evidence indicates that a sniper participated in such an operation, domestic courts cannot look away. Universal jurisdiction exists to ensure that the most serious crimes do not go unexamined simply because they were committed abroad.”

The @hindrajabfoundation.be has filed a complaint in 🇨🇱 #Chile, seeking investigation and prosecution of sniper Rom Kovtun for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The filing details his alleged participation in the siege and destruction of Al-Shifa Hospital.→ https://bit.ly/4tF1EJt

— The Hind Rajab Foundation (@hindrajabfoundation.be) 2026-02-16T20:27:28.387883Z

HRF head of litigation Natacha Bracq said that “international humanitarian law grants special protection to hospitals, medical personnel, and the wounded.”

“The encirclement and destruction of a functioning medical complex, combined with the deprivation of food, water, and medical care, are not collateral damage—they constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide,” she added.

Israel is facing a genocide case filed by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has issued multiple provisional orders for Israel to avoid genocidal acts in Gaza. Critics say Israel has ignored the orders.

Chile embraced universal jurisdiction in the decades following the fall of the US-backed military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, whose 1998 arrest in London for crimes against humanity stemmed from an international warrant issued by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón based on universal jurisdiction.

HRF, which was founded in the Belgian capital in September 2024, has filed numerous legal complaints targeting alleged IDF war criminals. In one case, Israel helped an IDF soldier targeted by the group while vacationing in Brazil to flee the country in order to avoid arrest.

In October 2024, HRF filed what it called an “unprecedented” complaint at the ICC—which, like the ICJ, is located in The Hague, Netherlands—against 1,000 IDF troops accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza. One year later, HRF filed another ICC complaint against 24 IDF members allegedly involved in the killing of Hind Rajab, her relatives, and two paramedics.

While there have been no known prosecutions of any individuals targeted by HRF, last May Peru formally opened a probe into “an Israeli national accused of participating in the genocide in Gaza.”

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

Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object 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 object 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 Foreign Secretary David Lammy repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party's support for and complicity in Israel's genocide of Gaza.
UK Labour Party Foreign Secretary David Lammy repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party’s support for and complicity in Israel’s genocide of Gaza.

Continue ReadingGroup Seeks Chilean Prosecution of IDF Sniper Rom Kovtun Over Gaza Hospital Siege

Palestinian Authority security forces kill female journalist in Jenin

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

Shatha al-Sabbagh. Photo: Social media

Shatha al-Sabbagh was shot in the head by a sniper a day after interviewing victims of the Palestinian Authority’s security campaign in the Jenin refugee camp.

A sniper from the Palestinian Authority’s security forces killed female journalist Shatha al-Sabbagh in Jenin refugee camp on Saturday, December 28. Shatha (22) was on her way to a grocery shop close to her house along with her two little nephews, her mother, and a sister-in-law, when the sniper shot her in the head, according to Shatha’s mother, who witnessed the incident.

The bereaved mother held the Palestinian Authority’s security forces fully accountable for murdering her daughter. She also considered the incident a targeted assassination as a barrage of bullets was fired by the security forces at people in the street, who tried to rescue Shatha, including her mother.

Shatha’s mother believes that her daughter was killed deliberately because the day before her death, she had interviewed families in Jenin refugee camp as part of a report. Among the people she interviewed was the family of a child who was killed by the PA’s security forces, and a family whose house was set on fire by the forces during its ongoing campaign against the camp.

Shatha’s father also said during an interview with the local news platform Falasteen Post that the street where they live and where Shatha was killed, has been under full control of the PA’s security forces for over 26 days, and that no resistance fighters have been present there during that entire period. Her father’s testimony refuted the claims of the PA’s security forces, who claimed that Shatha was killed by one of the fighters affiliated with Jenin Brigade.

Shatha’s brother-in-law, Suhaib Merei, whose two little children, his sister, and his mother-in-law (Shatha’s mother) were with Shatha when she was shot, reiterated the same circumstances about the killing incident. Merei added that the sniper was only 20 meters away from where Shatha and the rest of family were standing.

He added that unlike the rest of the camp, where the electricity has been cut off by the PA for around one month, the street lights were working because the street has remained under the control of the PA’s security forces since the campaign began. Therefore, the sniper was able to distinguish that those walking were three women with two babies.

For his part, the spokesperson of the PA security forces, Anwar Rajab, condemned the killing of Shatha and accused “outlaws” of being responsible for the crime, a claim which has been refuted by Shatha’s family.

On Monday, December 30, Rajab refused to have a discussion with Shatha’s mother on Al Jazeera Mubasher. Once he saw her on the air, he withdrew from the interview. Rajab justified his withdrawal and refusal to confront Shatha’s mother by saying that he was not informed that she would be part of the interview. The Palestinian security official accused Al Jazeera of being unprofessional, and further explained that he was unwilling to discuss anything about the incident with Shatha’s mother considering her current emotional condition.

PA’s siege of Jenin refugee camp

The PA began a large-scale security campaign in Jenin refugee camp in early December, which explicitly aims at prosecuting what the PA calls “outlaws”. Though, according to analysts and Palestinian grassroots, the campaign seeks to crush resistance groups within the camp in collaboration with the United States and Israel.

Residents of Jenin refugee camp have accused the PA’s security forces of killing six Palestinian citizens in the camp since the beginning of their campaign. The murdered citizens include Mohammad al-Amer (12), Majd Zeidan (16), Ribhi Shalabi (19), Shatha Sbaagh (22), Mohammad Abu Libdeh (25), and Yazeed Jaysah (28).

Residents have also reported that as part of their campaign PA’s security forces have shut off water and electricity in several areas. Some have reported that houses have been targeted by rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and set on fire by the forces. People in the camp labeled the stifling siege imposed on them as a “collective punishment”.

It is worth mentioning that the PA has reportedly prohibited foreign media outlets from entering the camp and that all reports coming out from there are being posted online by activists, journalists, and residents, including the families of the victims, or via local media outlets.

Meanwhile, the PA mourned five personnel of its security forces stating that they were killed in clashes with “outlaws” during the campaign carried out in Jenin refugee camp.

In an attempt to cover up the crimes committed in the camp, the PA’s government institutions have allegedly called their staff to participate in demonstrations to show support for the security campaign against Jenin refugee camp. In addition, videos attributed to some Palestinian security personnel were posted online, showing them bragging about verbally and physically abusing Palestinian citizens, who reportedly criticized the PA’s campaign in Jenin on social media networks.

Despite the fact that Israel has violated all peace treaties signed with the PA, including the Oslo Accords for decades, the PA has continued to submit to Israel’s endeavors in the West Bank. The ongoing campaign in the Jenin camp, seemingly on behalf of the Israeli Occupation Forces which are simultaneously carrying out the genocide in Gaza, has further eroded the PA’s legitimacy among the Palestinian people as a body advocating for the Palestinian people and their liberation.

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

Continue ReadingPalestinian Authority security forces kill female journalist in Jenin

Another Somber Christmas in Palestine as Gaza Genocide Continues

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

Palestinian Catholics attend Christmas mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine on December 24, 2024. (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“I wish the war would end and we could return to our homes in peace,” said one little girl whose grandmother was killed by an Israeli sniper.


Palestinian Catholics attend Christmas mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine on December 24, 2024.

 (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Another Somber Christmas in Palestine as Gaza Genocide Continues

“I wish the war would end and we could return to our homes in peace,” said one little girl whose grandmother was killed by an Israeli sniper.

Brett Wilkins

From the illegally occupied “little town of Bethlehem” in the West Bank to a pair of churches in Gaza where Israel’s bombs and bullets have killed clerics and congregants alike, Palestinian Christians marked another somber Christmas amid a relentless Israeli assault whose victims on Wednesday included refugees sheltering in tents and medical staff and patients at a besieged hospital.

For the second year in a row, public Christmas celebrations were canceled at the Nativity Church in Bethlehem, which is built over the spot where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born.

“This should be a time of joy and celebration. But Bethlehem is a sad town in solidarity with our siblings in Gaza,” Lutheran Pastor Munther Isaac said during his Christmas sermon at a church whose nativity display again had baby Jesus lying in a pile of rubble.

“It’s hard to believe that another Christmas has come upon us and the genocide has not stopped,” Isaac added. “Decision-makers are content to let this continue. To them, Palestinians are dispensable.”

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In Gaza, hundreds of Palestinian Christians huddled in two churches amid ongoing attacks by Israeli forces.

“This year, we will conduct our religious rites and that’s it,” Ramez Souri told The New York Times at the St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City. “We’re still in mourning and far too sad to celebrate, or do anything except to pray for peace.”

Hundreds of Palestinians were sheltering on the grounds of the 12th century church—Gaza’s oldest—when Israeli forces bombed it in October 2023, killing 18 people including Souri’s three children and relatives of former Republican U.S. Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan.

In a pre-Christmas homily at Holy Family Church in Gaza City—Gaza’s only Catholic church— Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, told congregants, “You have become the light of our church in the entire world.”

“At Christmas, we celebrate the light and ask: Where is this light?” Pizzaballa continued. “The light is here, in this church.”

“I don’t know when or how this war will end, and every time we approach the end, it seems like we start anew,” he added. “But sooner or later, the war will end, and we must not lose hope. When the war ends, we will rebuild everything: our schools, our hospitals, and our homes. We must remain resilient and full of strength.”

Like St. Porphyrius, Holy Family has suffered a deadly Israeli attack. Last December, an Israeli sniper shot Nahida Khalil Anton, the elderly matriarch of the largest Catholic family in Gaza, as she crossed a courtyard in the church compound on her way to the bathroom. Her daughter Samar was shot in the head when she rushed out to try and help her mother.

Both women died. Seven other people were shot and wounded. Israeli soldiers and veterans have said that they were given permission and even orders to shoot anyone who moves in parts of Gaza.

"I wish the war would end and we could return to our homes in peace." A Christian Palestinian girl in Gaza wishes for peace on Christmas Day amid Israel's war, at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City.

— (@aljazeera.com) 2024-12-25T13:52:21.908Z

On Sunday, Pope Francis—who in a new book called for a genocide investigation of Israel’s war on Gaza—said: “Yesterday, children have been bombed. This is cruelty; this is not war.”

The cruelty continued on Christmas as Israeli attacks throughout Gaza killed at least 13 people, according to officials. The dead include people sheltering in a tent northwest of Khan Younis, Palestine Red Crescent Society volunteer Alaa al-Derawi—who was shot in the chest while at work transporting patients—and Walaa al-Faranji, a well-known fashion designer, author, and photographer who was killed along with her husband Ahmed Salama in an airstrike on their home in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Local media also reported continued Israeli shelling and attacks on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, where staff and scores of patients including premature babies have endured weeks of siege conditions.

All told, Gaza and international agencies say that at least 45,361 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and more than 107,800 others wounded by Israeli forces since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. At least 11,000 other Gazans are missing and believed to be dead and buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed buildings. Millions more Palestinians have been forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened.

Thousands more people have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Last month, the International Criminal Court, also based in The Hague, issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, as well as for Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Back at St. Porphyrius, parishioners pooled what little food they could find to prepare a communal Christmas Eve meal. Although many Gazan Christians have expressed fears that their community—one of the oldest Christian communities in the world—could be wiped out by Israel’s genocidal onslaught, the holiday meal represented a faint glimmer of hope.

“We wanted to do something to show that we’re still here,” Souri explained, “despite it all.”

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

Continue ReadingAnother Somber Christmas in Palestine as Gaza Genocide Continues

US activist shot by Israeli forces in West Bank

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

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot dead by Israeli forces (Photo via Wafa)

The shooting occurred while Israeli forces were violently suppressing a weekly protest against an Israeli settlement

26-year-old US activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi succumbed to her wounds on Friday after being shot by Israeli forces at a protest in Beita, to the south of Nablus. Headlines from Western mainstream media sources have already attempted to obscure who killed the solidarity activist, with CNN stating “American activist shot dead during protest in West Bank, Palestinian officials say,” CBS News writing, “American woman Aysenur Eygi killed in Israeli-occupied West Bank, US confirms,” and BBC writing. “American activist shot dead in occupied West Bank.”

The shooting occurred while Israeli forces were violently suppressing a weekly protest against an Israeli settlement. Israeli forces employed live ammunition, stun grenades, and tear gas, and also resulted in the injury of an 18-year-old Palestinian man via shrapnel. Eygi was reportedly part of the Faz’a campaign, which aims to mobilize international solidarity activists on the ground in Palestine to protect Palestinian farmers from Israeli settlers and military forces. Eygi was also an activist with the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led organization committed to resisting the occupation. 

ISM released a statement condemning Eygi’s killing, quoting multiple ISM members. ISM volunteer Mariam Dag (a pseudonymn) witnessed the shooting, and said ““We were peacefully demonstrating alongside Palestinians against the colonization of their land, and the illegal settlement of Evyatar. The situation escalated when the Israeli army began to fire tear gas and live ammunition, forcing us to retreat. We were standing on the road, about 200 meters from the soldiers, with a sniper clearly visible on the roof. Our fellow volunteer was standing a bit further back, near an olive tree with some other activists. Despite this, the army intentionally shot her in the head.”

Dag continued, “This is just another example of the decades of impunity granted to the Israeli government and army, bolstered by the support of the US and European governments, who are complicit in enabling genocide in Gaza. Palestinians have suffered far too long under the weight of colonization. We will continue to stand in solidarity and honor the martyrs until Palestine is free.”

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the “brutal execution committed today by Israeli occupation forces,” stating that “the ministry views this act as part of the ongoing crimes perpetrated by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people, including genocide, forced displacement, and the targeting of individuals who show solidarity with the Palestinian cause.”

The Ministry “calls on the international community, human rights organizations, and global institutions to take urgent action to provide international protection for Palestinians. The Ministry urges these entities to fulfill their legal and moral responsibilities by addressing violations, including genocide, forced displacement, illegal settlements, and extrajudicial killings, and to hold Israeli war criminals accountable.”

It is unclear how the United States will respond, beyond offering their “deepest condolences.” Israel has killed several US citizens, including two Palestinian-American teenagers earlier this year, Mohammad Khdour and Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, both 17 years old, also shot by Israeli forces. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken again offered condolences for the teenagers “who reportedly were killed,” but did nothing more than call for an investigation. 

“We’ve made clear that with regard to the incidents you’ve alluded to, there needs to be an investigation. We need to get the facts. And if appropriate, there needs to be accountability,” Blinken said at the time. 

The families were unsatisfied with the US’s response. “We don’t need talking, man,” said Adnan Khdour, uncle to Mohammad Khdour, killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank. “We need something. We want to see something.” The US has never conditioned aid to Israel based on the killing of a US citizen. 

Eygi’s killing recalls the high-profile case of Israel’s murder of US activist Rachel Corrie in 2003, who was run over by a bulldozer trying to demolish a Palestinian home in Rafah. The United States did nothing to punish Israel, despite US officials themselves claiming that the Israeli investigation into Corrie’s death was not “credible.” In fact, the US itself is complicit in the killing as the Caterpillar bulldozer which killed Corrie was supplied by the US as part of its aid to Israel.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation, a US-based socialist political party active in the Palestine solidarity movement, said of Eygi’s killing: “This killing, like so many others, was carried out thanks to weaponry provided by the United States. We demand the Biden administration end all aid to this genocidal regime. The killers of Aysenur should be brought to justice, alongside the killers of thousands of Palestinians.”

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

Continue ReadingUS activist shot by Israeli forces in West Bank

Israeli snipers accused of killing fleeing Palestinian civilians in Gaza City

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israeli-snipers-accused-killing-fleeing-palestinian-civilians-gaza-city. Many articles from the Morning Star today.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip, July 10, 2024

ISRAELI snipers were accused of killing fleeing Palestinian civilians in Gaza City today.

This comes as the United States announced the resumption of 500-pound bomb shipments to Israel.

Palestinians who fled Gaza City after the latest Israeli evacuation order say snipers shot dead civilians near Yarmouk stadium.

Exact numbers of the dead are as yet unclear but the shooting comes after Palestinians were ordered by the Israelis to evacuate to the south as it steps up its offensive across the enclave.

…

Multiple people said they saw a man walking in the street shot in the head by a sniper in a tower. Several people later managed to retrieve the body.

Israeli authorities have repeatedly ordered hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to leave areas they had previously declared were safe to return to — in both northern and southern Gaza.

This is not the first time Israeli forces have been accused of sniper fire against civilians.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israeli-snipers-accused-killing-fleeing-palestinian-civilians-gaza-city. Many articles from the Morning Star today.

Continue ReadingIsraeli snipers accused of killing fleeing Palestinian civilians in Gaza City