Sunday, June 23, 2024

More War Crimes

Friday, the Israeli government attacked the International Red Cross and Red Crescent.  Today, it attacked the UN aid center.  ALJAZEERA reports:

At least eight people have been killed in an Israeli air attack near an aid centre that was the main headquarters of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip.

The air strike on Sunday hit the main gate of the organisation’s compound in Gaza City in the north of the enclave, injuring multiple Palestinians. The facility is used to distribute the little humanitarian aid that gets into Gaza.


DAWN notes that the civilians killed over the weekend include a professional athlete: 

Palestinian soccer player Ahmad Abu al-Atta and his family were killed in their home by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said.

Abu al-Atta, 34, who played as a defender for the Gaza Strip team Al-Ahly Gaza, died along with his wife Ruba Esmael Abu al-Atta, a medical professional, and their two children after the airstrike hit their home in Gaza City, the PFA said in a statement released on Saturday.

Local media reported that the airstrike took place on Friday, but the PFA did not give a date.


On the topic of the dead, in Thursday's "Iraq snapshot," we noted Jonathan S. Tobin's lie that children were not starving in Gaza -- a lie that THE NEW YORK POST attempted to multiply.  Today, ALJAZEERA notes, "Two more babies have died from malnutrition at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, bringing the known death toll from hunger and thirst to 31, health officials say."  In other War Crimes, there's the matter of Israeli forces using Mujahid Abbadeh as a human shield.  We noted that Saturday night.  Peter Beaumont (GUARDIAN) reports today:

The Israel Defense Forces have said they are investigating an incident in which soldiers strapped a wounded Palestinian man to the bonnet of a military vehicle during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday.

A video circulating on social media showed a man, variously identified as Mujahid Azmi or Fayyad, from the Jabriyat neighbourhood between the towns of Burqin and Jenin, tied to the front of an off-road vehicle that is seen passing two ambulances.


ALJAZEERA spoke with Mujahid and notes, "He says Israeli forces continued to beat him while he was injured."  Willy Lowry and Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) report:

Mujahed Abbadeh grimaced as he shifted in his hospital bed, his right arm held by metal rods, as he told The National how he was arrested by Israeli troops, tied to the front of a military vehicle and driven through the streets of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

The incident on Saturday was captured in a video that caused global outrage and an admission from the Israeli military that Mr Abbadeh's treatment was “in violation of orders and standard operating procedures”.

“I can’t move my leg,” Mr Abbadeh said. “My arm hurts tremendously. I feel very bad about what happened.”

The vegetable seller, 23, said the soldiers beat and abused him as they arrested him, despite finding nothing incriminating when they raided his family home.

“They were hitting me on my head, they were hitting me on my leg before even putting me on the jeep,” said Mr Abbadeh, who in earlier reports was misnamed as Mujahed Azmi.


War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu continues to carry out genocide.  Barak Ravid (AXIOS) notes:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said he is interested in a "partial deal" with Hamas that will free "some of the hostages" held in Gaza and allow Israel to continue fighting in the enclave.

Why it matters: Netanyahu's remarks walk back an Israeli proposal for a three-phase deal that would lead to the release of all remaining 120 hostages and to "sustainable calm" in Gaza.

  • More than 37,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials.
  • Netanyahu's comments contradicted statements by Biden administration officials who in recent days said Netanyahu and his aides had reiterated their support for the proposal.
  • In recent weeks, Netanyahu's radical right-wing coalition partners, ultranationalist ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, threatened to leave the coalition and topple the government if the proposal turns into an agreement.

Flashback: The proposal was approved by the Israeli war cabinet in late May and was presented publicly by President Biden in a speech on May 31.


This is Netanyahu's latest attempt to embarass Joe Biden.  Netanyahu can expect an embarrassment next month when he addresses the US Congress.  Senator Bernie Sanders and AOC are among those all ready on record about not attending.  Today, AP reports that other members are attempting to decide whether to attend or not:

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., attended the 2015 speech and described it as “among the most painful hours” he has spent while in Congress. He plans to boycott unless Netanyahu became a “champion for a cease-fire.”

A large portion of the Congressional Progressive Caucus — lawmakers who are among the most critical of Israel’s handling of the war — is expected to skip. Among them is Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the caucus, who told The Associated Press that it was a “bad idea,” to invite Netanyahu.

“We should be putting pressure on him by withholding offensive military assistance so that he sticks to the deal that the president has laid out,” she said.


 

Gaza remains under assault. Day 261 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, "The Gaza Health Ministry on Sunday reported that 37,598 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7.  The number of injured has reached 86,032, the ministry said."    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."

Terry e-mailed asking if I'd note the THIRD status.  I have no idea.  Ava and I are covering a documentary.  In many ways, it's a good documentary.  This isn't on Gaza, by the way.  However, it tries to make the spine built on claims by one person -- claims presented as fact.  They are lies.  That's from people on the side of they-wronged-me per the person.  We verified that with multiple calls.  But could the person be telling the truth or maybe telling what they think is the truth?  We read 72 news articles based on interviews the wronged person gave over the years.  Never before, not in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s or 20s has the person made the claim before -- even in one article where it would have made sense to.  So we find the person a liar and we think it harms the documentary.  Other than that?  Dona says a short feature was done and I know an idea that Betty, Stan, Ava and I had was completed.  It'll go up Monday where there's more or not.



The following sites updated:




sfda
Posted by at