war crimes

‘No End to Hell’: Disaster Spirals as Israeli Assault Traps 400,000 in Northern Gaza

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

A Palestinian child who was wounded in an Israeli attack on Jabalia, Gaza receives treatment on October 9, 2024. (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“The latest move to forcefully and violently push thousands of people from northern Gaza to the south is turning the north into a lifeless desert,” warned one aid worker.

The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said Wednesday that at least 400,000 people are trapped in northern Gaza as Israeli forces ramp up their bombardment of the area, killing dozens and intensifying an already nightmarish humanitarian emergency.

“Northern Gaza: no end to hell,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), wrote on social media. “Recent evacuation orders from the Israeli authorities are forcing people to flee again and again, especially from Jabalia Camp. Many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere in Gaza is safe.”

Lazzarini said some UNRWA shelters and services in northern Gaza have been forced to shut down amid the Israeli assault “for the first time since the war began” over a year ago.

“With almost no basic supplies available, hunger is spreading and deepening again,” said Lazzarini. “This recent military operation also threatens the implementation of the second phase of the polio vaccination campaign for children. Children are as ever, the first and most to suffer. They deserve so much better, they deserve a cease-fire now, they deserve a future.”

Zero humanitarian aid has entered besieged northern Gaza in over a week, according to aid groups and the U.N., and incessant Israeli attacks have rendered the area’s hospitals largely inaccessible. Israeli forces have ordered the area’s hospitals to evacuate, endangering patients and healthcare workers.

The director of northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital told Drop Site on Wednesday that he is refusing to comply with Israel’s evacuation order.

“As long as there are patients, I won’t leave,” said Dr. Hossam Abu Safia. “I’ve been here since the genocide started, and I am determined to continue helping my people.”

At least dozens of people have reportedly been killed in the Israeli military’s latest assault on northern Gaza, but emergency workers on the ground have said it’s impossible to determine the true toll given Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign, which has targeted the Jabalia refugee camp and other areas in the region.

Citing Gaza’s Civil Defense, The Associated Press reported Wednesday that an Israeli airstrike “hit a family home” in the Jabalia camp, “killing at least nine people”—including two women and two children.

“Footage shared by the Civil Defense showed first responders recovering dead bodies and body parts from under the rubble,” the outlet noted.

On Monday—the one-year anniversary of the Hamas-led October 7 attack and the beginning of Israel’s devastating response—Israeli forces ordered swaths of famine-stricken northern Gaza to evacuate, instructing residents to move south to Deir Al-Balah and Al-Mawasi, badly overcrowded so-called “humanitarian zones” that the Israeli military has repeatedly bombed.

After ordering most of northern Gaza to evacuate, Israeli forces fired on Palestinians desperately trying to flee.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, said Tuesday that Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians is “turning the north of Gaza into an unlivable wasteland, effectively emptying out the whole north of the strip of Palestinian life.”

“The latest move to forcefully and violently push thousands of people from northern Gaza to the south is turning the north into a lifeless desert, while aggravating the situation in the south, where more than one million people have already been squeezed into a small portion of the Gaza Strip and live in deplorable conditions,” said Sarah Vuylsteke, an MSF project coordinator in Gaza.

“Access to water, healthcare, and safety is already almost nonexistent, and the thought of more people fitting into this space is impossible to imagine,” Vuylsteke added. “People have been subjected to endless displacement and relentless bombing for the past 12 months. Enough is enough, this must stop now.”

In a joint statement on Wednesday, a coalition of 18 aid groups warned that the ongoing Israeli assault “will worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in the north” and has already “prevented international and national humanitarian organizations from carrying out already very limited lifesaving aid operations.”

“The new orders have obstructed humanitarian actors from providing necessities such as health services, clean water, food, and nutrition services, taking away the remaining lifelines for the civilian population,” reads the statement signed by Oxfam, ActionAid, Islamic Relief, and more than a dozen other groups.

“Nowhere in Gaza is safe for civilians,” the coalition said. “Given the severity of the needs, humanitarian actors must be able to distribute aid and continue their work, without threat of displacement or military operations. The undersigned aid organizations urge all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations to protect civilians and facilitate unhindered humanitarian access at all times.”

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

Continue Reading‘No End to Hell’: Disaster Spirals as Israeli Assault Traps 400,000 in Northern Gaza

Historic ICC War Crimes Complaint Names 1,000 Israeli Soldiers

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

The bodies of victims of the October 31, 2023 Israeli bombing of the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip are lined up outside the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza City. (Photo: Fadi Alwhidi/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“This complaint is not only the largest ever submitted to the ICC, but it is also a milestone in documenting Israeli war crimes for future generations.”

A Belgium-based advocacy group on Tuesday announced it “filed an unprecedented and historic complaint with the International Criminal Court against 1,000 Israeli occupation forces soldiers for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza,” where more than 150,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded and millions more displaced, starved, and sickened by Israel’s yearlong onslaught.

The Hind Rajab Foundation—named after the 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in January along with half a dozen relatives and rescue workers by Israeli troops invading Gaza in retaliation for the October 2023 Hamas-led attack—said that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel identified by name in the International Criminal Court (ICC) complaint “are accused of participating in systematic attacks against civilians during the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

“This complaint, supported by over 8,000 pieces of verifiable evidence—including videos, audio recordings, forensic reports, and social media documentation—demonstrates the soldiers’ direct involvement in these atrocities,” the group explained. “All of the named soldiers were located in Gaza during the genocidal assault, and the evidence reveals their participation in violations of international law.”

The foundation accuses Israeli forces of:

  • Destruction of civilian infrastructure: Targeted attacks on homes, hospitals, schools, markets, mosques, and other civilian infrastructure.
  • Illegal occupation and looting: Soldiers were documented occupying civilian homes, looting personal belongings, and exploiting occupied properties.
  • Participation in the Gaza blockade: The soldiers played an active role in enforcing a blockade that deprived civilians of essential goods such as food, water, and medical supplies.
  • Targeting civilians: Audio and video evidence show soldiers deliberately attacking noncombatant individuals, including medical personnel and journalists.
  • Use of inhumane warfare tactics: Indiscriminate bombing campaigns, starvation, and the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure were all part of their actions.

The IDF soldiers identified in the complaint include at least 12 American, 12 French, four Canadian, three British, and two Dutch nationals.

“This complaint is not only the largest ever submitted to the ICC, but it is also a milestone in documenting Israeli war crimes for future generations,” the Hind Rajab Foundation said. “By meticulously identifying the perpetrators and detailing their crimes, we are establishing a historical record that will ensure the individuals responsible are remembered and held accountable.”

“The submission of this complaint represents a significant moment in the fight for justice,” the group continued. “We honor the memory of Hind Rajab and the countless victims who have perished in the ongoing genocide. Their stories will not be forgotten, and their voices will be heard through our persistent legal action.”

The foundation added that the complaint “supports the efforts” of International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan—who is seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders—and “pushes for immediate action, including the issuance of arrest warrants for those responsible.”

“We believe this complaint marks a turning point in the global fight to bring justice to Palestine,” the group asserted.

The complaint’s filing came amid Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, for which the U.S.-backed ally is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice. In recent weeks, Israel has escalated attacks on Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere, killing and injuring thousands of people and threatening to plunge the Middle East into a wider war.

The filing also came on the same day that Sky News published an investigation confirming that IDF officials lied when repeatedly claiming there were no Israeli troops near the site of Rajab’s killing at the time of the attack. The British network published satellite images showing numerous IDF vehicles nearby and interviewed military experts who identified damage done by bullets and tank rounds to the vehicle in which the family was traveling.

The car was hit multiple times. Hind Rajab and her 15-year-old cousin Layan were the last survivors. In one recorded phone conversation with Rajab’s mother before the two children were killed Layan said, “The tanks are next to us.”

Hamas has no tanks.

The Sky News investigation was at least the second journalistic probe that concluded Israeli officials are not telling the truth about the attack.

In June, the U.K. research agency Forensic Architecture collaborated with Al Jazeera journalists and the advocacy group Earshot to publish an analysis that found Israeli tank fire likely fired the bullets that killed Rajab, her relatives, and two paramedics trying to rescue them in an ambulance that was blown to pieces despite receiving IDF permission to proceed with the rescue shortly before being attacked.

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

Continue ReadingHistoric ICC War Crimes Complaint Names 1,000 Israeli Soldiers

Israel subjects northern Gaza to one of its most violent genocide campaigns, says Euro-Med

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Original article republished from MEMO under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Relatives of Palestinians, who lost their life following the Israeli attack on Nuseirat Refugee Camp, mourn after the bodies are brought to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for burial process in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on October 1, 2024 [Ashraf Amra – Anadolu Agency]

An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is imminent as the Israeli occupation regime tightens its siege on the Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahia project in the northern Gaza Strip for the fourth consecutive day, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor warned in a statement issued late on Tuesday. “Israel is accelerating the pace of its genocide against the Palestinians there by carrying out mass and planned killings, as well as widespread forced displacements,” said the rights group.

“The international community, led by the United Nations, must act swiftly and decisively to save tens of thousands of residents who are being subjected to one of the most violent campaigns of genocide that the Gaza Strip has ever witnessed,” Euro-Med insisted.

Israeli occupation forces have intensified their siege of the Jabalia camp and the surrounding neighbourhoods, including Tal Al-Zaatar, Al-Sikka, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia. The Israeli forces have also taken up positions in the west of the Gaza Strip, advancing as far as the Jaffa Cemetery and the Tawam Junction.

With air strikes, fire belts and artillery shelling — bombing homes over the heads of their residents — the Israeli occupation forces have been in large parts of northern Gaza since Saturday evening.

Dozens of people have been killed and injured as a result of this ongoing invasion.

“Initial reports confirmed that five Palestinian citizens — including a woman, a man and his son — were killed by the occupation forces for trying to escape the Jabalia camp while waving white flags,” said Euro-Med. “They were executed.”

In an extremely dangerous development, Israeli troops ordered the complete evacuation of Kamal Adwan Hospital, located in the Beit Lahia project, north of Gaza. The director of the hospital, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, reported that he received a call from the occupation forces telling him that if he did not get the patients and medical staff out of the hospital within a day, they would be in danger.

Along with two other hospitals in northern Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital and the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia, Kamal Adwan Hospital is only partially operational after being raided and destroyed in the Israeli military’s first invasion of northern Gaza last December. On that occasion, the hospital’s medical staff, patients and displaced persons sheltering inside were mistreated severely by the occupation forces.

“Kamal Adwan Hospital is currently being besieged by Israeli quadcopter aircraft for the second day in a row, with smoke bombs being detonated at its gate and dozens of raids on nearby buildings,” the rights group pointed out.

The sole road that ambulances used to move dozens of seriously injured patients from Kamal Adwan Hospital to the Baptist Hospital has been cut off, following the Israeli bombing of a building in the vicinity. This was followed by the occupation forces’ tightening of the siege on the hospital, and the blocking of ambulances and any other methods of victim transport. Earlier on Tuesday, the occupation forces arrested a paramedic who was transporting patients from the Kamal Adwan Hospital to the Baptist Hospital, despite prior coordination with the Israeli authorities.

The Euro-Med Monitor field team received testimonies from citizens who were able to reach Gaza City about witnessing dead bodies lying in the streets. “They told us that they saw victims trapped beneath the debris of bombed-out houses, and that ambulance and civil defence crews were unable to reach the area as at least 20 houses were targeted by Israeli forces in a four-day period,” reported the NGO’s field staff.

Thousands of people trapped in the Jabalia and Beit Lahia camps are suffering from a near-total absence of food supplies, which were already scarce due to Israel’s closure of the border crossings. The limited amount of goods and other aid that had previously been allowed to enter the area was blocked by Israel for more than a week prior to the new invasion.

“Numerous families remain stuck in their homes, enduring harsh living conditions under the intensified and brutal Israeli bombing. Citizens are not even able to leave their homes in order to obtain water, and municipal crews and local committees are unable to assist them. As a result, thousands of residents face the threat of starvation, dehydration or death, knowing full well that they are all victims of the catastrophic effects of malnutrition brought on by Israel’s year-long starvation policy.”

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor called on the UN and international community to shoulder their legal and moral obligations to put an end to the horrific crime of genocide being committed by the Israeli occupation, which has just entered its second year.

READ: Israel bombs the only flour store in northern Gaza

Original article republished from MEMO under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Continue ReadingIsrael subjects northern Gaza to one of its most violent genocide campaigns, says Euro-Med

Israeli attacks in northern Gaza kills dozens as death toll surpasses 42,000

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israel-attacks-northern-gaza-kills-dozens-death-toll-surpasses-42000

Mourners gather around bodies of Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah on October 9, 2024

ISRAEL’S latest operations in northern Gaza have killed dozens and threaten to shut down hospitals, Palestinian officials and residents said today.

The Gaza Health Ministry revealed that the death toll from one year of attacks has risen over 42,000, with women and children making up over half the dead.

Israel has issued an evacuation order to people in northern Gaza, but Philippe Lazzarini from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that 400,000 people are trapped there where there is “no end to hell.”

“Hunger is spreading,” he warned.

An air strike in Jabaliya refugee camp early today killed at least nine people, including two women and two children, according to Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City which received the bodies.

Strikes in central Gaza killed another nine people, including three children, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israel-attacks-northern-gaza-kills-dozens-death-toll-surpasses-42000

Continue ReadingIsraeli attacks in northern Gaza kills dozens as death toll surpasses 42,000

Youth Demand supporters paste bloodied Gazan parent and child onto Picasso’s ‘Motherhood’

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Youth Demand cover Picasso's 'Motherhood' at the National Gallery 9 September 2024. They are demanding an arms embargo of Israel by UK government.
Youth Demand cover Picasso’s ‘Motherhood’ at the National Gallery 9 September 2024. They are demanding an arms embargo of Israel by UK government.

Two supporters of Youth Demand have pasted a photo of a Gazan mother and child over a Picasso masterpiece at the National Gallery today to demand a two-way arms embargo on Israel.

At noon today the pair covered the protective glass cover of Pablo Picasso’s 1901 painting ‘Motherhood (La Maternité) with a photograph of a Gazan mother clutching her child. They then poured red paint on the gallery floor. Youth Demand is calling for a two-way arms embargo on Israel and for the new UK government to halt all new oil and gas licences granted since 2021.

The image used was taken by Palestinian journalist Ali Jadallah and shows a distressed and bloodied pair, coated in debris. His caption for it reads: “A mom holds [her] injured child after an Israeli attack, as Israeli airstrikes continue on twelfth day, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City”. Israeli bombing raids in Palestine have killed at least 41,870 people, including 16,765 children, in the last year and since the photograph was taken in 2023, Al-Shifa hospital has been completely destroyed by the IDF.

One of those taking action today was Jai Halai, 23, an NHS worker from London who said

“I’m taking action with Youth Demand because at this point it’s been over one year of seeing my colleagues in the healthcare field decimated. Decimated by bombs, by bullets and by having to operate, with no medical equipment, on starved children. 

“We need a two way arms embargo on Israel now; 87% of the British public want this and never before have they been more disillusioned with our Government and political class who do not represent us. We need a revolution in our democracy.

“Direct action is what gave us our rights and is the only way to move us towards proper justice. Civil resistance is our duty as young people: to defend those without a voice today and to defend our futures. It’s time to take to the streets; bring on the revolution!”

Also taking action today was Monday-Malachi Rosenfeld, 21, a Politics and International Relations student at Greenwich, London who said:

“I’m taking action because as a jew, I feel like it’s my duty to call out the genocide being committed in Gaza. I want the world to know this isn’t in the jewish name and I want to see a free Palestine. When Keir Starmer says Britain stands with Israel he’s wrong. We know very well that this is a genocide, not “self defense” and we as the people of Britain say enough is enough.”

Around 2,000 people in Lebanon of all ages have also been killed by Israeli airstrikes in the last year, on top of the death toll in Gaza and the West Bank. Missiles have also been launched at Iran on numerous occasions. 

A Youth Demand spokesperson today said

“Our government is arming Israel to carry out a genocide against Palestinians and killing without restrain in Lebanon. It can’t be all carrots and no sticks: a two-way arms embargo is the least Britain can do to stop displacement, destruction and death! Young people will continue to resist genocide-as-usual“

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.
Continue ReadingYouth Demand supporters paste bloodied Gazan parent and child onto Picasso’s ‘Motherhood’