Saturday, July 06, 2024

Protests in London and Jordan as more are slaughtered in Gaza

 

As noted in the video above, a large protest against genocide took place in London today.  lliam Mata and John Dunne (LONDON EVENING STANDARD) report:


Hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators braved the rain in central London on Saturday, calling on the newly elected Labour government to take action over the situation in Gaza.

Photos show supporters of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) gathering at Russel Square before embarking on their march to Porticullis House. 









UK SOCIALIST WORKER reports on the protest:


On the demonstration, Tom, an NHS worker from Nottingham, said, “The Tories are out but we need to keep going, get bigger and get stronger. That’s the only way to pressure the Starmer government to act.

“Just because there’s a change in government the Palestine movement isn’t going away,” he said.

And Tom slammed trade union leaders, saying, “When trade union leaders say we need to give Starmer time I think it’s a load of rubbish.”

Marcher Liam said, “There’s no way I wouldn’t be here, regardless of the election outcome. For me this is the most important issue of our generation.

“It wasn’t voting that made me feel like I could impact what’s happening in Gaza,” he added. 

“We can’t leave it to people in parliament to raise the question of Palestine. We have to do that.”

Protester Lily said, “There are some good people in the Labour Party but the majority doesn’t care about what we want.

“Even if the Greens had won, I’d still be out protesting. Nothing has changed in Gaza, so why should anyone stop protesting? How else can we try to change things?”


ALJAZEERA reports, "There have been large demonstrations in the Jordanian capital, with several local activists publishing videos on X showing large crowds of people waving Jordanian and Palestinian flags and holding up banners showing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza."

And the slaughter in Gaza continues, the death tolls increases.  ALJAZEERA notes, "At least five journalists were killed in attacks by Israeli forces in the last 24 hours in Gaza as bombings and air strikes across the besieged enclave intensified.  On Saturday, Gaza’s Government Media Office said separate Israeli strikes killed three journalists in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of the territory and two in Gaza City, raising to at least 158 the number of media workers killed since the current war erupted on October 7."


The five were 'terrorists.'  Remember that.  Everyone who dies is a 'terrorist.'  The Israeli government is only targeting 'terrorists,' or that's the lie it insists upon.  Even the baby buried today -- noted in this AP video with this slug line "Mourners prayed over the bodies of 12 Palestinians, including a baby, outside a central Gaza hospital on Saturday after they were killed in the latest Israeli airstrikes on the besieged enclave" -- was a 'terrorist.'


If they aren't terrorists that would mean the Israeli government was committing War Crimes and they insist that's not happening.  One of the many lies the Israeli government tells each day and has continuously for the last 274 days.


The big attack today was on  Al-Jaouni School.  Australia's ABC explains, "Al-Nuseirat, one of Gaza Strip's eight historic refugee camps, was the site of stepped-up Israeli bombardment on Saturday."

Rushdi Aboualouf and Tom McArthur (BBC NEWS) report, "Video from the scene of the Nuseirat school strike shows adults and children screaming in a smoke-filled street covered in dust and rubble, as they run to help the wounded. Eyewitnesses told the BBC that the attack targeted the upper floors of the school, which is located near a busy market."  CNN quotes an unnamed "displaced man" stating, "There was a swing here, swings were here, (children) were playing. What was their fault? We barely found this place in the school, but even the school is not safe."

At least sixteen are dead from the attack (that number may increase as some of the injured do not survive) as noted in this ALJAZEERA video.




ALJAZEERA quotes Al-Aqsa Hospital's Dr Mohmmed Tahir:


I entered the ER, and there was absolute chaos. The first thing I saw was the three or four children on the floor, one of whom had horrific injuries to the lower back, a flesh wound that went all the way down to the spine.  He had trouble moving his legs. So, I can only imagine that he had a severe spinal cord injury. Bear in mind, we don’t have a CT scanner at Al-Aqsa Hospital. It’s not set up as a trauma centre, so this hospital, which should normally run with a capacity of 200, has 600 patients. You have children lying on the floors, men lying on a floor, injured people everywhere. It’s chaos, and you’re dealing with an already broken system.


THE IRISH TIMES quotes Mahmoud Basal (Gaza Civil Emergency Service) stating, "The attack on the school meant no place in the enclave was safe for families who leave their houses to seek shelter," 


Gaza remains under assault. Day 274 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 38,098 Palestinians have been killed and 87,705 injured in Israel's war on Gaza since October 7. The latest toll includes 29 people killed and 100 others injured in the 24 hours to noon that day, the ministry said."   This number has not yet been updated on Friday.  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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