Palestine today
Don’t say you didn't know
A mother went to get food for her children and returned to find them killed and under the rubble due to an Israeli raid, Gaza 19.3.2024.
The ongoing Israeli massacre in Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Medical Complex and surrounding areas has left at least 100 Palestinians dead, many of whom were victims of extrajudicial executions after their arrest. The international community must intervene immediately to put an end to this atrocity. Newly-released detainees and eyewitnesses told Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor that Israeli army forces have carried out unlawful killings and executions against displaced Palestinian civilians inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex for three days in a row, and that the military operations there are ongoing.
Let us stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people who feel abandoned, forsaken, and face genocide alone. We demand that Western democracies (Australia, USA, United Kingdom, European Union countries) stop endorsing and supporting Israel in its criminal activity. We demand an end to the occupation of Palestine, which is the root of violence, and to stop illegal Israeli settlements. We demand that funding for UNRWA be reinstated. Luther Pastor in Bethlehem, Munther Isaac, condemns many when he said in February 2024, ‘When churches justify a genocide or are silent watching from a distance, making carefully crafted balanced statements – the credibility of the Gospel is at stake’.
Australia has made clear its disgust about Hamas’s actions. Should it not also publicly express disgust at Israel’s actions? Should it not sanction individual Israelis? Why does Australia doggedly support an Israeli government which includes avowed racists, whose views about Palestinians are a chilling reflection of Hamas extremist intolerance towards Israelis?
Is it not time for Australia, preferably in concert with countries such as NZ and Canada, to back up such a warning by recalling its ambassador to Israel “for consultations”? There is much to consult about: a ceasefire; relieving the nightmare in Gaza; the “day after” for Israel and Palestine. Recalling the ambassador would send a clear message that some of Israel’s friends have not signed a blank cheque for Netanyahu’s blood-lust, aimed in part at ensuring his own political survival. A working break for the ambassador in Canberra might help to develop ideas for a two-state solution, which Australia still champions. It would also signal to Israel and the US and, most importantly to Australians, that we are trying rediscover our moral compass.
Perhaps the most deeply disturbing of all are recent comments from UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, that “This war is a war on children”. His statement was not made lightly:
- More children have been reported killed in just over 4 months in Gaza (over 12,300) than the number killed in wars globally in the 4 years to 2022 (12,193) (UNRWA, here).
- “Today no child in Gaza is free from fear, pain and hunger…..All children living in the Gaza Strip have lost their childhood”. (UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, here).
- UNICEF estimates that at least 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip are unaccompanied or separated from their parents.
- Children are now dying of starvation, as its use as a weapon intensifies. Mass killings of those desperately seeking food occur (see for example here).
As Israel’s invasion of Gaza enters its sixth month, the impact on children has been devastating. It will only get worse in the coming months. UN agencies report that an estimated 17,000 children have been orphaned or separated from relatives, and 1 in 6 children under the age of 2 are acutely malnourished. The health ministry in Gaza reported that 23 children died from malnutrition and dehydration in recent weeks. Out of more than 31,000 killed in Gaza, over 13,000 are children. President Joe Biden’s proposed temporary port and the ongoing air drops are insufficient in the face of this unfolding humanitarian catastrophe. The UN has warned that nearly 580,000 Palestinians – a quarter of Gaza’s population – are “one step away from famine.”
Doctors who visited Gaza spoke of horrific atrocities and unbelievable suffering amid Israel's indiscriminate assault on the territory. The healthcare system in Gaza has essentially collapsed, Western doctors who visited the Palestinian enclave in recent months told an event at the United Nations on Monday, speaking of "appalling atrocities" from Israel's offensive. The four doctors from the United States, United Kingdom and France have been working with teams in Gaza to support its healthcare system, which has been almost destroyed since Israel began its indiscriminate assault on the territory last October. "If there's a grand invasion of Rafah, it will be apocalyptic, the number of deaths we're going to see".
In-depth: Israel's exceptional status in US arms policy and law ensures that unending military aid is shielded from scrutiny over human rights abuses. Unlike other countries, Israel has a stockpile of American weapons on its soil to which it has privileged access. When a US-made bomb slams into Gaza, there’s a real chance that it started the day in an American facility, managed by American soldiers and governed by American law. “It’s clear that it’s been a major source of arms for Israel,” said Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned in protest of US support for Israel’s war. Unfortunately, Paul added, “it’s an opaque process, so it’s hard to say exactly what weapons they’re getting” from the stockpile.
Christians for a Free Palestine coalition organises demonstrations at 20 congressional offices around the United States. A coalition of hundreds of Christian Americans is mobilising on Monday across local congressional offices in 20 US cities to call on their elected officials to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Washington's arms sales to Israel. The campaign is led by a group called Christians for a Free Palestine, and in addition to calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, organisers want to tell their representatives to reject Christian Zionism, an ideology that bases its political support for Israel on Biblical prophecies. "Christianity should not be used to prioritise weapons of war over the peace and safety of people in our own local communities and across the world," Cicia Lee, an organiser with Christians for a Free Palestine, said.
Israel has hit back at Canada's decision to halt all arms shipments to Israel as Tel Aviv comes under growing scrutiny in its war on Gaza. A Canadian government official told AFP on Tuesday that the country was halting sales, a decision that has drawn the ire of Israel as it faces growing international scrutiny over its war in the Gaza Strip. Canada, a key ally of the United States, which provides Israel with billions of dollars a year in military aid, had already reduced its weapons shipments to Israel to non-lethal equipment such as radios following the October 7 Hamas attack.
"The situation on the ground makes it so that we can't" export any kind of military equipment, the Canadian official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Canada's foreign minister Melanie Joly told the Toronto Star newspaper on Tuesday that Ottawa would stop future arms exports to Israel.
British MPs have called on the UK government to say whether it has updated its assessment of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law in light of a worsening situation in Gaza, which a UN-backed assessment has found as being in a state of imminent famine. During a heated parliamentary debate which unfolded over two hours on Tuesday, foreign office minister Andrew Mitchell was repeatedly asked by members of his own Conservative Party and opposition parties whether the government believed Israel was committing a war crime by starving Palestinians. The debate came a day after a UN-backed report found that 300,000 Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza are facing famine with another 1.1 million starving.
Nine women shaved their heads outside the UK's parliament on Tuesday, as an act of protest against Britain's role in the war on Gaza. The organisers said the action was inspired by a Middle East Eye story, in which we reported on Palestinian women in Gaza being forced to shave their heads due to a lack of water to wash their hair. According to a statement, the protest was "against the UK government’s refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, failure to demand an end to the unlawful blockade of food, water and humanitarian aid, and continued profiting from UK-based production and sale of arms to Israel".
Faiq Mabhouh's efforts were credited for recent coordination between local leaders and UNRWA to secure aid from the south. The Palestinian police general killed by Israeli forces on Monday morning was in charge of securing the entry of aid trucks into northern Gaza. His efforts resulted in the safe entry of aid trucks for two nights in a row, following weeks of Israel targeting convoys and aid seekers. Over two dozen aid trucks entered Gaza City over the weekend and reached isolated areas in the north for the first time in months.
The Gaza government's media office said that over 100 aid workers and seekers were killed by Israeli forces over the course of one week. The office accused Israel of perpetuating "the policy of starvation and deepening famine on a broader scale" by targeting aid workers and seekers, and condemned Israel and "some western countries" aligned with it for this "genocidal war". The media office called on the international community to stop "the massacre against our Palestinian people".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly suggested that the new US-built makeshift port off Gaza, which was installed to help ship aid to the besieged enclave, could be used to deport Palestinians. speaking at a private meeting of the Knessett's Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Netanyahu suggested the port could also facilitate the removal of Palestinians from Gaza. Netanyahu said there was "no obstacle" to the Palestinians leaving the Gaza Strip apart from the unwillingness of other countries to accept them, according to a Kan News journalist.
Some of the first images to appear following the Al Qassem brigades’ October 7th invasion of ‘Israel’ showed dozens of destroyed vehicles around the site of the Nova Sukkot festival, without any explanation of why they were crashed and abandoned or who was in them. It's not hard to conclude from the nature of the damage to these vehicles that they were hit by heavy weaponry of a type the mobile militants from Gaza didn't have - Kalashinkovs, grenades and RPGs could not have this effect. In addition some of the vehicles in the main photo appear to have been run over by tanks.