Sunday, June 09, 2024

Death toll from Saturday's War Crimes climbs

Let's start with this from MIDDLE EAST MONITOR:


A hospital in northern Gaza recorded 50 Palestinian children suffering from malnutrition in just one week, Anadolu Agency reports.

Hossam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, reported the figure in a statement issued on Sunday.

“The health system in Gaza is a target of the (Israeli) occupation, but we are trying to resume medical services at a minimum despite fuel shortages,” he said.

He noted that “the situation is catastrophic in the Strip,” stressing that “the specter of famine looms over the Gaza Strip.”


Malnutrition was a topic on today's FACE THE NATION (CBS).


MARGARET BRENNAN: We're joined now by the executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, good to have you here in person. 

U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CINDY MCCAIN: Thank you. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Now overnight, we learned that that U.S. pier off of Gaza that was set up by the military has reopened. It had stopped functioning for a bit. How is it going? Because I know you are helping to oversee distribution.

MCCAIN: Well, right now we're paused because I'm concerned about the safety of our people after the incidents yesterday. We also- two of our warehouses- warehouse complex, were rocketed yesterday, so we've stepped back just for the moment to make sure that we're in- on safe terms and on safe ground before, before we'll restart. But the rest of the country is operational. We're doing- we're doing everything we can in the north and the south.

MARGARET BRENNAN: How did your locations get rocketed? I imagine you do de-conflict and share your locations with the Israeli military. 

MCCAIN: We are de conflicted. I don't know. That's a- it's a good question. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Did you lose any of your– 

MCCAIN: We had one man injured, but everything else is fine. Nobody else is hurt. But indeed, it's- it's the kind of thing that's why a ceasefire is necessary. That's why we need to stop this so that we can get in at scale with our aid and other and other aid from other organizations as well. We can't continue this in a way, because what almost happened in the north with famine  could happen in the south. And so that's what we're trying to avoid right now. And it's been very difficult, just because of the- of what's going on. You know, we've had looting inside the country, we've had, you know, various problems around with it. You know, there's always something going on. It's very difficult to operate there. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: You mentioned just now the full blown famine in the north. When you said that [on FACE THE NATION's May 3rd broadcast], it got a lot of attention. Prime Minister Netanyahu was asked about your comments by NBC and said quote "Cindy McCain, unfortunately, is misinformed." The Israeli government's been putting out pictures of food being brought into Gaza. They dispute there is famine. How does that square with what you are seeing on the ground?

MCCAIN: When I made that comment, my people had seen it on the ground, not only evidence of it, but the actual impact of it. Since then, they've allowed us to get more trucks into the north, and so we're getting much more food in- in up there, and that will stave it off, but- but listen, the bottom line here is- is I make choices every day to take food from the hungry to give to the starving. We need a ceasefire, we need it now so we can feed and this doesn't happen in the south. We're right on the edge in the south of the same thing occurring. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: You're on the edge of famine in the south of Gaza? 

MCCAIN: Yes. There's- there's people that are very hungry and can't- don't have access because of the danger, because of- because they've been pushed, you know, into the center again. So we want to make sure that we can- can not just get in and feed, but do it at scale. They need more than food, too. It's water, it's sanitation, it's medicine, so it's all of the above, because famine is not just about starving, it's about all the other things too.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And I know how difficult I've heard it is to help a child with stunted growth. You just said you're- you're taking from the hungry to feed the starving. 


So yesterday's attack on a refugee camp -- carried out by the Israeli government -- left one US aid worker injured.  And yet the White House praised the mass killing.  "Praised" -- past tense.  Ben Samuels (HAARETZ) observes, "After the Biden administration's initial full-throated praise of Israel's dramatic hostage-rescue operation in a Gaza refugee camp, rhetoric from senior U.S. officials has slightly shifted to acknowledge the reportedly significant Palestinian death toll." And the death toll has risen.


AP notes, "At least 274 Palestinians, including dozens of children, were killed, and hundreds more were wounded, in the Israeli raid that rescued four hostages held by Hamas, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday."  Malak A Tantesh,  Aseel Mousa and Emma Graham-Harrison (GUARDIAN) quote some of the survivors:


“The Nuseirat market is always crowded, but now more than usual because of the many displaced people,” said Haroun, 29, who is now staying with an uncle. She was looking at outfits for the girls when the first Israeli airstrikes hit, and almost without thinking raced out of the door to go to them.

Outside, she found a scene “like the horrors of judgment day”, as panicked crowds tried to escape the coming onslaught. Helicopters and quadcopter drones would soon join the assault that left hundreds dead, and shattered bodies scattered along the streets, images from the area show.

“Everyone was screaming, terrified,” she said. “The street I was on was only 50 metres long, but it was packed with hundreds of people, all running. A woman next to me fainted from terror, and I saw vendors abandoning their goods on the roadside to flee.”

Survivors provide eye witness testimony to CNN here.  The deaths pushed the death toll since October to over 37,000. Thomas Mackintosh (BBC NEWS) observes Saturday was "one of the deadliest days of the conflict so far."  Pope Francis spoke today on the issue of Gaza. 



Pope Francis noted the upcoming conference ("the day after tomorrow") on Tuesday that Jordan is hosting calling for humanitarian solutions to end the assault on Gaza.  The Pope declared, "I encourage the international community to act urgently, with all means, to come to the aid of the people of Gaza, worn out by the war."

Following Saturday's massacre, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu resigned.  Thomas Helm (THE NATIONAL) reports:


High-profile Israeli politician Benny Gantz has withdrawn his party from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wartime unity government, saying he made the decision "with a heavy heart, yet wholeheartedly".

One of three war cabinet ministers, Mr Gantz, who has become increasingly critical of Mr Netanyahu’s war strategy in recent months, said “Netanyahu is preventing [Israel] from progressing towards a true victory”.

In particular, he and his allies, along with a growing segment of Israeli society, accuse Mr Netanyahu of not prioritising the release of Israeli hostages.

"I want to ask the hostages' families for forgiveness," Mr Gantz said in his address. "We did a lot but we failed.

 

Claire Gilbody Dickerson (SKY NEWS) notes, "The popular former military chief's resignation had been expected after he gave Mr Netanyahu an 8 June deadline to present a clear day-after plan for the conflict in Gaza."  ALJAZEERA explains, "Gantz last month threatened to leave the emergency government – formed last year to oversee the war on Gaza -- if Netanyahu failed to present a post-war plan for the besieged and bombarded Palestinian territory, where Israel is continuing a ground and aerial bombardment campaign that has killed more than 37,000 people since October 7, according to Gaza health officials."  Gantz is calling for early elections.  

Does that mean change is about to happen?  No.  Last week on DEMOCRACY NOW!, Amy Goodman spoke with Daniel Levy ("president of the U.S./Middle East Project, former Israeli peace negotiator under Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Yitzhak Rabin") and the issue of whether resignations could toppled Netanyahu's government was raised:



AMY GOODMAN: And also, even if Smotrich and Ben-Gvir — Ben-Gvir, who was not only charged with, but convicted of terrorism and supporting a terrorist group and inciting anti-Palestinian hatred — even if they were to leave the government, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the survivor, Netanyahu, would fall, which has often been said — right? — if the other parties came to his support.


DANIEL LEVY: Right. So, that’s a lot to unpack. [. . .]  On the Netanyahu side, he now has an equation to deal with. As you say, he could conceivably have a majority in parliament, because Gantz’s party and Lapid’s party have both said they will provide a safety net for Netanyahu if he takes the deal, and that gives him the numbers. However, and let’s be clear, Gantz and Lapid have supported this war throughout. They’ve had no qualms about any of the violations of international law that it’s committed — just so we correctly characterize those folks. But they have said they will offer a safety net for this deal, and that’s important. However, that makes Netanyahu dependent on people who want to bring him down, who want him out of power, as well they should as the leaders, putatively, of the opposition. Therefore, if he wants governmental stability, he needs to stick with the original coalition that he formed, that was in power until October 7th, that continues to be in power, which includes his own party, many of whom have opposed this deal, and which includes these characters from the extreme right, alongside his own extremists, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. And Netanyahu, therefore — this is the crucial thing, Amy — he, therefore, looks at the proposal and says, “Is it more risky politically for me to say no to Biden or to say no to Ben-Gvir and Smotrich?” 


Jake Lapham (BBC NEWS) observes today of the resignation, "The move will not topple the Israeli government, since Mr Netanyahu will still hold a comfortable majority of 64 in the 120-seat Knesset."


Gaza remains under assault. Day 247 of  the assault in the wave that began in October.  Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion.  The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction.  But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets:  How to justify it?  Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence."   CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund."  ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them."  NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza."  The slaughter continues.  It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service.  Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide."   The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher.  United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse."  THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll reaches 37,084, with 84,494 wounded."   Months ago,  AP  noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing."  February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home."  February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

  



April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into Israeli prisons.  In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."
 

As for the area itself?  Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are still standing, but most are battered shells."  Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second World War."


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