Saturday, June 22, 2024

The government of Israel attacks designated safe zones

 

The Israeli government continues it's slaughter in Gaza.  Nidal Al-Mughrabi (REUTERS) notes the death toll for today is at least 42 people.   Hani Mahmoud (ALJAZEERA) adds, "Israeli warplanes have targeted buildings in the Shati refugee camp, killing dozens and injuring many more.  Shati is one of eight historic camps established in Gaza after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced by the creation of Israel in 1948."




Amr Mostafa and Nagham Mohanna (THE NATIONAL) observe, "The latest attacks come a day after at least 25 Palestinians were killed and 50 others wounded in Al Mawasi humanitarian zone in western Rafah. Palestinians said a tank shell hit a tent housing displaced families."  



On the  Friday attacks, CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, Lauren Izso, Eyad Kourdi and Kareem Khadder report:

             

The strike hit the tents of displaced people in the Palestinian town of Mawasi, parts of which have been identified by the Israeli military as a humanitarian zone.

Israel has been intensifying its operation in nearby Rafah, where it launched an offensive last month as part of its campaign to dismantle Hamas in Gaza.

Following the strike, a nearby Red Cross field hospital received 22 bodies and 45 injured, the ICRC said.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) blamed Israel for the strike, saying it was dealing with extensive casualties.


The attack took place in an area "identified by the Israeli military as a humanitarian zone"?  CBS NEWS notes that "the United Nations says no place in Gaza is safe and humanitarian conditions are dire as families shelter in tents and cramped apartments without adequate food, water or medical supplies."  Robert Plummer (BBC News) notes that the attacks also left the "the office and residences of the International Committee of the Red Cross" damaged and Plummer quotes the European Union's "foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the EU condemned the attack and called for an independent investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable." Wednesday strike on Al-Mawasi began.   Aurora Almendral (NBC NEWS) notes, "An investigation by NBC News into seven deadly airstrikes found Palestinians were killed in areas of southern Gaza that the Israeli military had explicitly designated as safe zones, including Al-Mawasi."

 

Where's the red line, Joe?


While Joe Biden seems unsure where his previously declared red line went, others have found their own.  Katherine Doyle and Courtney Kube (NBC NEWS) report:

The death of 6-year-old Hind Rajab in February after she was trapped under Israeli fire in Gaza sparked international condemnation — and for Larry Hebert Jr., an active duty U.S. airman, the incident accelerated his decision to seek conscientious objector status from the U.S. military.

“She looks almost just like my daughter, and that was something that was extremely hard to grasp, is that all these children that have aspirations and dreams and lives that many of us are living and want, and it’s wholly unjustified to support what’s happening,” said Hebert, who told NBC News in an interview that he worked directly on a U.S. operation to provide weapons sales to Israel.

After witnessing footage of death and destruction in Gaza, senior U.S. Airman Juan Bettancourt said he could no longer ignore the U.S. government’s role in the war, including its supply of weapons, diplomatic coverage and intelligence.

“I see the slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians,” Bettancourt said during an interview in San Antonio, Texas, “all while the world watches through their smartphones.”


They have a red line.  Joe?  As the War Crimes continue, Joe can't find it.  But REUTERS notes, "Israeli army forces strapped a wounded Palestinian man to the hood of a military Jeep during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday.  A video circulating on social media and verified by Reuters showed a Palestinian resident of Jenin, Mujahed Azmi, on the Jeep that passes two ambulances."  THE NATIONAL identifies the man as Mujahed Azmi and that "Mr Azmi’s family said there was an arrest raid and that he was injured, but when the family asked for an ambulance, the army strapped him onto the bonnet and drove off."  In news of other War Crimes, ALJAZEERA reports:


Palestinian man Badr Dahlan, has described being tortured by Israeli forces while being imprisoned for a month without charges, in Khan Younis, Gaza.

“It was a nightmare,” said Dahlan, “I was beaten and battered inside the prison. I was frightened to death, I begged them to let go.”

Mansour Shouman, a humanitarian worker and activist who was in Gaza until March told Al Jazeera, that Dahlan’s experiences are “heartbreaking, but not surprising”.

“They are masters of psychological torture,” said Shouman.

“We need [the] Red Cross to go into Israel right now and check on the 1000+ prisoners that have been taken by this administration,” he added.


In other news, ALJAZEERA notes, "An estimated 150,000 people joined antigovernment protests calling for the release of Israeli captives in Tel Aviv on Saturday."  BBC adds, "Tens of thousands of Israelis have protested in Tel Aviv demanding a Gaza ceasefire deal and the return of hostages held by Hamas. Organisers said it was the largest anti-government protest since the Gaza war began. Video shows scuffles and people being arrested as police – some on horseback – tried to move protesters off the city’s main highway."  ALJAZEERA also notes, "Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 has published video from the mass antigovernment demonstrations taking place in the streets of Tel Aviv, Israel, showing police assaulting a member of the media."


 

Gaza remains under assault. Day 260 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's Health Ministry said on Saturday that at least 37,551 Palestinians have been killed and 85,911 were injured in Israel's war in Gaza.  In the 24 hours to noon on Saturday, 101 people were killed and 169 injured, 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."


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