CrossFireArabia
Former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman:
“This government is illegitimate and must be toppled as soon as possible. Netanyahu has been in power for too long, which negatively impacts the country. We have all seen or heard how things are managed within the ruling family, their priorities, and the mess they are in.”
CrossFireArabia
Hunger, dire living conditions made worse by heavy winter rains and ongoing hostilities continue to endanger people’s lives in Gaza, which has become “a graveyard”, UN humanitarians warned Friday.
“The world is not seeing what’s going on with these people, it’s impossible for families to shelter in these conditions,” said Louise Wateridge, from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
Speaking from Nuseirat in central Gaza after heavy winter rains overnight and into Friday morning, the UNRWA Senior Emergency Officer insisted that “an entire society here is now a graveyard…Over two million people are trapped. They cannot escape. And people continue to have basic needs deprived and it just feels like every path here that you could possibly take is leading to death.”
Echoing that warning, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) highlighted widespread and dangerous malnutrition levels in the enclave, where more than 96 per cent of women and children in Gaza “cannot meet their basic nutritional needs,” said Rosalia Bollen, Children’s Fund (UNICEF) communication specialist.
Speaking from Amman, Ms. Bollen noted that the most northerly part of Gaza has been under a near total siege for 75 days. This has largely prevented humanitarian assistance from reaching youngsters in need there “for more than 10 weeks”, she said.
“The suffering is not just physical, it is also psychological…Children are cold, they’re wet, they’re barefoot; I see many children who still wear summer clothes and with cooking gas gone, there’s also lots of children I see scavenging through piles of garbage looking for plastic they can burn.”
With more heavy rain expected on Friday evening, UNRWA’s Ms. Wateridge emphasized the critical need to get aid into the enclave to support Gazans who have been uprooted multiple times by Israeli bombardment and who have little to protect themselves from the elements.
“It’s impossible for families to shelter in these conditions,” Ms. Wateridge insisted. “Most people are living under fabric, they don’t even have waterproof structures and 69 per cent of the buildings here have been damaged or destroyed. There’s absolutely nowhere for people to shelter from these elements.”
Multiple and continuing aid obstacles imposed by the Israeli authorities have meant that humanitarians have had to prioritize food over shelter, leaving Gazans desperate and at risk from food stampedes.
“The certainty of winter has been the only thing that the United Nations has been able to plan for,” Ms. Wateridge maintained. “And yet we have still not yet been facilitated to bring in enough shelter supplies for people, because we have had to prioritize food. Women have been crushed to death waiting for a piece of bread.”
On Thursday, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported that the Israeli authorities had “denied another UN request to reach besieged areas of North Gaza governorate with food and water. As a result, Palestinians in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and parts of Jabalya remain cut off from the essential assistance they need to survive.”
CrossFireArabia
Testimonies released from Palestinian detainees at Ofar Camp show the dire conditions and turtor that they have been subjected to in the camp. Ofer Camp has no difference from Sde Teiman in its brutality against Palestinians, except that it has on coverage from the international media like Sde Teiman.
CrossFireArabia
Gaza’s Civil Defense reported, Saturday, Israeli forces are killing Palestinians and leaving their bodies in the streets where stray dogs are feeding on them as a clear violation of international law.
In a statement, the Civil Defense explained Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted rescue teams and ambulances, specifically when they attempt to approach the bodies of those killed.
It emphasized that Israel has also obstructed efforts to recover the bodies of thousands of Palestinians who have died under the rubble of homes destroyed in Israeli airstrikes.
It added that it had found several Palestinian bodies that had been reduced to skeletons according to Anadolu.
In other instances, it described seeing stray dogs feeding on the bodies in several neighborhoods, including Zeitoun, Shujaiya, Tel al-Hawa, the Jabalia area, Tal al-Zaatar, Beit Hanoun, and parts of the eastern areas of Khan Younis and Rafah.
Stressing that these actions by Israel constitute violations of the Geneva Conventions, it called on the signatory countries to “take immediate action to ensure Israel’s compliance with international law.”
They urged the international community, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), to “pressure Israel to follow proper protocols for handling the bodies of the deceased during wartime.”
Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed more than 45,200 people, mostly women and children, since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last month for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.
CrossFireArabia
Israeli soldiers revealed Friday that the army killed Palestinian civilians who entered previously targeted buildings in the Gaza Strip, according to a media report.
The Haaretz newspaper in Israel said the army “does not routinely update its list of targets in Gaza, nor does it indicate to forces on the ground which structures are no longer being used” by fighters.
“As a result, anyone – including noncombatants – who enters such a building risks being attacked,” it said.
The army claimed that its reported death toll of militants only includes individuals confirmed as such. However, “testimonies from soldiers who served in Gaza suggest a different reality.”
A targeting officer from an Israeli combat brigade told Haaretz that, according to the guidelines, “an active building will always remain an active building, even if the ‘terrorist’ there was killed six months ago.”
A senior officer corroborated those claims, stating that “there were targets that suddenly came back to life,”
“So if someone decides to go into a building in search of a hiding place, the building will be struck,” said the officer.
In some areas, such as the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, instructions were reportedly given to target “anyone who entered a building regardless of who they are, even if they were just looking for shelter from the rain,” according to soldiers’ testimonies.
Another discharged officer from the 252nd Division said snipers were authorized to consider civilians entering specific areas as fighters. “We’re killing civilians there who are then counted as ‘terrorists,’” he said.
The army spokesperson’s “announcements about casualty numbers have turned this into a competition between units. If Division 99 killed 150 [people], the next unit aims for 200,” he added according to Anadolu.
The daily noted that “earlier this week, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry announced that the death toll in Gaza since the beginning of the war has exceeded 45,000 people.”
“Information published by the ministry has previously been verified by international organizations and governments and found to be credible,” it added.
The Haaretz report emphasized that “Israel disputes the figures. However, Israel is not itself counting or publishing the number of civilian Palestinian deaths in the current conflict, unlike in previous wars.”
According to the Israeli military, of those killed, the army “believes with a high degree of certainty” that 14,000 are fighters, and “a somewhat lesser degree of certainty” that 3,000 are fighters.
The Israeli military has not responded to the Haaretz report.
Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed more than 45,200 people, mostly women and children, since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, on Oct. 7, 2023.
On Nov. 21, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.
