#Deadly Gaza Assault

[xtruss]

The Five War Criminal Bastards (🇺🇸, 🇬🇧, 🇩🇪, 🇫🇷 and 🇮🇹) Who Supplies Lethal Weapons To Their Terrorist Illegal Child, The Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐖 Cunt, Isra-hell

“The War Criminal United States’ Senate” Approved a $14B Military Support Bill to “Illegal Regime of Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐖 Cunts, Terrorist and Apartheid Isra-hell” this Week as Civilians Casualties Continue to Mount in Palestine’s 🇵🇸 Gaza. Here are the “War Criminal Genocidal Complicit Countries” that Continue to Provide Arms to “War Criminal Terrorist Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐖 Cunts, Illegal, and Apartheid Regime Isra-hell” amid Its Deadliest Gaza Assault. Which Countries Are Tel Aviv’s Biggest Arms Supplier.

[boreal-sea]

Who is Kamala Harris?

These are all from her Wikipedia page. I have picked the top 5 for each of these sections. Maybe you think other things are more important, these are just the things that stood out to me:

Highlights as District Attorney of San Francisco:

was tough on gun crime: created a gun crime unit, set 90-day minimum sentences, raised bail for gun-related crimes, and prosecuted all assault weapon possession cases as felonies.

created a hate crimes unit specifically focused on LGBTQ hate crimes against children and teens in school.

was (and is) against the death penalty; during her time as DA did not cave to pressure in several cases to seek the death penalty.

helped create the San Francisco Reentry Division, aimed at helping prisoners reintegrate after their sentences are through; the program became a national model.

refused to enforce prop 8, which was at the time California's ban on gay marriage.

Highlights as Attorney General of California

introduced the Homeowner Bill of Rights and fought against banks, mortgage companies, and credit card companies.

fought for financial reimbursement for public employee and teacher pensions.

fought for environmental protections and secured settlements and indictments against several oil companies for oil spills.

conducted a review of implicit bias in policing and the use of deadly force and introduced implicit bias training.

declared a law that California law enforcement had to collect and report police violence.

Highlights as a California Senator:

condemned Trump's Muslim ban.

opposed Trump's appointments of Betsy DeVos and Jeff Sessions, his nomination of Neil Gorsuch, and voted against confirming Kavanaugh.

tried to make lynching a federal hate crime.

urged the Trump administration to investigate the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China.

voted to convict Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Highlights as Vice president:

as President of the Senate, cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate that ensured the passing of the American Rescue Act.

has cast more tie-breaking votes than any other Vice president in US history - she is responsible for many of the achievements of the Biden administration actually passing the Senate.

created task forces on corruption and human trafficking.

created a women's empowerment program.

has criticized Israel's actions during the current conflict in Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire.

[silicacid]

"A child is not supposed to witness his family being killed." Palestinian humanitarian worker Awni Farhat returned home to occupied Gaza to support children through their trauma amid Israel's deadly assault. — AJ+ (@/ajplus) December 24, 2023

[heritageposts]

A week ago, US President Joe Biden claimed that a “ceasefire” deal in Gaza was imminent and could take effect as soon as March 4. “My national security adviser tells me we are close,” he told reporters while eating ice cream in New York City. But ice cream or not, Biden’s actual position was not nearly that sweet. A subsequent statement by a senior Biden administration official claimed Israel had “basically accepted” a proposal for a temporary pause in fighting. But as of March 4, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Mossad director were still refusing to send a delegation to Cairo, where talks with Hamas were under way. The Biden administration’s eagerness to claim victory in its search for some kind of temporary truce indicates how much it is feeling the heat of the rising global and domestic pressure demanding an immediate ceasefire, an end to the Israeli genocide, an end to the threat of a new escalation against refugee-packed Rafah, and an end to the siege of Gaza and immediate unhindered provision of massive levels of humanitarian aid. Despite Washington’s vain hopes for March 4 and the unofficial goal of a ceasefire by the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on March 10, the deal remains elusive. Media reports indicate Biden is telling the Qatari and Egyptian leaders that he is putting pressure on Israel to agree to a truce and a captives swap. But his claim of pressuring Israel is undermined by the continuing US vetoes of ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations Security Council, most recently on February 20, as well as the continuing flow of United States weapons and money to Israel to enable its assault.

And, on the alternative resolution the Biden admin has put forth after vetoing Algeria's resolution (which called for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire," "forced displacement of the Palestinian civilian population," and "unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza."):

[...] Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Biden’s ambassador to the UN, cast the sole veto against the Algerian resolution, and instead put forward an alternative US text, claiming it also supported a ceasefire. But the proposed US language does not call for an immediate or permanent ceasefire or an end to Israeli genocide; it does not prevent an attack on Rafah or end the Israeli siege. The proposed US resolution is not designed to end the murderous Israeli war against Gaza – nor is the deal that is currently being negotiated in Cairo. To the contrary, the provisions of the US draft resolution reflect the true intentions of the Biden administration vis-a-vis its continuing support of Israel, and reveal the limitations of the truce it is trying to orchestrate. While the US draft resolution does use the dreaded word “ceasefire” – which had been prohibited in the White House for months – it does not call for an immediate halt in the bombing, only “as soon as practicable”, with no indication of when that might be. It does not call for a permanent ceasefire either, leaving Israel free to resume its genocidal bombing – presumably with continuing US support. Virtually everything the US draft calls for is undercut by what is left out. The demand for “lifting all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale” in Gaza certainly sounds appropriately robust. But that’s only until you realise that the text’s failure to challenge or even name the principal barrier to aid getting in – Israel’s bombardment – means that this is not a serious plan to end Israel’s deadly siege. It should not surprise anyone that “the Biden administration is not planning to punish Israel if it launches a military campaign in Rafah without ensuring civilian safety” – as Politico reported – despite claiming it wants a credible plan to ensure Palestinian safety. No one in the Biden administration has even hinted at imposing consequences for Israel’s constant rejection of the insipid appeals for restraint – such as conditioning aid on human rights standards (as required by US law) or cutting US military aid altogether. That’s what real pressure would look like. A more accurate picture of Washington’s approach to Israel’s war against Gaza is the continuing US pipeline of weapons to make Israel’s murderous assault on Gaza more effective, more efficient, and more deadly. According to the Wall Street Journal, the “Biden administration is preparing to send bombs and other weapons to Israel that would add to its military arsenal even as the US pushes for a ceasefire in Gaza.” The arms the US intends to hand over to the Israeli army include MK-82 bombs, KMU-572 Joint Direct Attack Munitions and FMU-139 bomb fuses, worth tens of millions of dollars. It is more than likely that the administration will do another end run around US Congress to send the weapons without relying on congressional approval, as it did on at least two occasions last December.

. . . full article on Al Jazeera (4 Mar 2024)

[northgazaupdates]

Ibtisam Al-Habil is a single mother of 6 children who is facing multiple crises. In 2014, her husband was killed by the occupation during its assault. She and her oldest son Omar found work to support their family.

They were doing well until the occupation’s 2023 invasion. Their home was destroyed, along with their entire neighborhood. Ibtisam lost her job and her children lost their education. They were displaced to multiple shelters, at one point narrowly surviving an IOF bomb attack on a school.

Ibtisam’s daughter Nour suffers from Congenital Heart Disease, a serious medical condition which has left her immunocompromised, and she requires frequent hospital visits. Receiving the care Nour needs to survive has become ever more difficult, dangerous, and expensive. Further, centers are overcrowded, and the IOF’s sabotage of Gaza’s water and waste treatment systems have made them into centers of disease transmission. For Nour, this could be deadly. She is frequently sick now, compounding her prior condition.

Ibtisam’s oldest son Omar, a nurse who recently married and was expecting a baby with his wife Bashaer, was helping support the family however he could. Tragically, Omar was martyred by occupation bombing several months ago while looking for firewood. His younger brother was seriously injured in the same attack. Omar never got to meet his baby girl.

Ibtisam’s family is now completely without income, displaced, and constantly running for their lives. Nour remains ill, and finding the medical care she needs gets harder every day.

Originally Ibtisam was raising funds to evacuate her family to Egypt. This is probably still the plan for the future, but for right now, Ibtisam and her family desperately need funds to survive. Donations will be used to procure food, water, medical care, and shelter for the foreseeable future.

This family has suffered so terribly already. Please help give them a little hope for the future. Please reblog this post, boost Ibtisam’s posts on her blog, and repost the campaign link across all your social media.

Thank you

Verified by el-shab-Hussein and nabulsi as #240 on their list of verified fundraisers

[zvaigzdelasas]

[BBC is UK State Media]

The BBC is the first British media to visit the USS Dwight D Eisenhower since it began this mission in November.

"This is deadly stuff," says Captain Dave Wroe, who commands the four US Navy destroyers which provide the extra protection for the carrier.

It arrived soon after Yemen's Houthi's began to target merchant vessels - they say in response to Israel's assault on Gaza.

Captain Wroe lists the threats they've been facing over the past four months: anti-ship ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned surface vessels, and now unmanned underwater vessels, or UUVs, all loaded with explosives.

UUVs are the latest threat. He says the F-18 jets on board the carrier have recently destroyed UUVs, before they could be launched.

Captain Wroe says the Houthis have posed the greatest challenge to the US Navy in recent history.

"This is the most since World War Two," he says [sic]. That was the last time the US operated in an area where they could be fired upon every day.

The tempo of operations on the aircraft carrier itself has also been unrelenting - with dozens of sorties being flown round the clock.[...]

Up in the carrier's flight control tower, Commander George Zintac, known as the Air Boss, is having to choreograph their movements - with a jet either launching or landing in just over a minute.

He's been in the US Navy for more than 30 years, but says "this is probably the most flying I've done on a deployment - everyday we're flying a tonne".[...]

Unlike the Houthis, they're away from home with few creature comforts. Every meal on board is literally feeding the five thousand. The food bill on the carrier alone is $2m (£1.6m) a month.

Captain Chris Hill, the commanding officer of Ike, says "people need breaks, they need to go home".

But he says they don't yet have dates for when that'll happen. So one of his tasks is to maintain the crews morale and resilience.[...]

Captain Hill says: "It's difficult to define winning and losing in this kind of conflict."

18 Mar 24

[determinate-negation]

An Israeli hostage released by Hamas has described her ordeal after she was kidnapped by gunmen and taken into a tunnel system in Gaza during the Palestinian militant group’s deadly assault in Israel on October 7, saying “I went through hell.”

Yocheved Lifshitz, a frail 85-year-old grandmother who was one of two hostages released by Hamas on Monday, recounted the moment that militants snatched her from her home in the kibbutz of Nir Oz and drove her away on a motorbike towards Gaza, a “painful act” during which she said she was beaten and sustained bruises.

Lifshitz said she was forced to walk on wet ground and descended into an underground tunnel system she likened to a spiderweb, where she was greeted by “people who told us we believe in the Quran” and promised “not to harm” her and her fellow hostages.

Lifshitz’s daughter Sharone, who helped convey her mother’s comments to reporters outside a hospital in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, called it a “huge network” of tunnels.

Lifshitz said she was initially grouped together with 25 other people before her captors separated her into a smaller group with four other individuals from her kibbutz. She said they slept on mattresses on the floor of the tunnels, ate the same food as Hamas fighters and received regular treatment from doctors during her incarceration.

“They really took care of the sanitary side of things so that we didn’t get sick,” Lifshitz added. Each of the five hostages in her group received their own doctor and there was a paramedic present who supervised medication, she said.

“They were very generous to us, very kind. They kept us clean,” Lifshitz said. “They took care of every detail. There are a lot of women and they know about feminine hygiene and they took care of everything there.”

Lifshitz also accused the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet intelligence service of not taking threats from Hamas “seriously” and said the costly Gaza border fence erected by Israel had done nothing to protect her community from Hamas’ attack.

“The lack of awareness by Shin Bet and the IDF hurt us a lot,” she stressed. “They warned us three weeks beforehand, they burned fields, they sent fire balloons and the IDF did not treat it seriously,” she continued.

[decolonize-the-everything]

In response to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, Operation Enduring Freedom officially began 7 October 2001 with American and British bombing strikes against al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan. Initially, the Taliban was removed from power and al-Qaeda was seriously crippled, but forces continually dealt with a stubborn Taliban insurgency, infrastructure rebuilding, and corruption among the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, and Afghan Border Police.

On 2 May 2011, U.S. Navy SEALS (Sea, Air, Land) launched a raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, during Operation Neptune Spear, killing the al-Qaeda leader and mastermind of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Operation Enduring Freedom officially ended on 28 December 2014, although coalition forces remained on the ground to assist with training Afghan security forces. The United States Armed Forces completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan on 30 August 2021, marking the end of the 2001-2021 war.

Walz and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul said Saturday morning that the vast majority of those who were arrested Friday night were outside agitators who were not from the Twin Cities region. Walz called those people a group "bent on adapting their tactics to make it as difficult as possible" to maintain order. "Let's be very clear: The situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd. It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities," Walz said. He said he had mobilized more than 700 National Guard soldiers on Friday night, and that after television cameras found large gatherings of protesters with no police presence at all, he was authorizing the head of the state's National Guard to fully mobilize on Saturday.

Contrary to activists’ calls to defund the police, the bill provides over $3 million in new funding for these initiatives and extends an existing $6 million in annual training funds until 2024.

[...]Dropped from the bill were DFL provisions that would have turned over prosecutions involving deadly force to the attorney general’s office and restored voting rights to some felons.

[...]Civil rights lawyer, activist and former Minneapolis mayoral candidate Nekima Levy Armstrong called the bill “watered-down legislation” and “a slap in the face, especially to Black residents in the state of Minnesota.” Activists weren’t the only ones disheartened. Andy Skoogman, executive director of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he wanted to see greater changes to arbitration as well. And Julia Decker, police director for the ACLU of Minnesota, told the Star Tribune that she was disappointed the bill didn’t require an independent prosecutor like the attorney general to handle cases like Floyd’s.

Did you know that the Minnesota State Board of Investments holds around 10,000 shares, worth a whopping $1.2 million, in Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems — the world’s largest exporter of drones?

Elbit has been involved in all of the major Israeli assaults in Gaza, contracts with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for, among other things, a virtual surveillance wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, and markets its equipment to governments around the world as “battle-tested” (on the Palestinian civilians). Elbit drones constantly fly over Gaza, providing surveillance targeting for military assaults and Israeli snipers that hit peaceful protestors.

What are the odds that the drones over Minneapolis were Elbit drones, especially given that Metropolitan State University, located in the Minneapolis–St. Paul, metropolitan area, partners with Elbit on a state of the art cybersecurity training facility? A number of Democrats in Congress have written to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf expressing “grave concern” over the use of drones over Minneapolis on May 29th to “surveil and intimidate” protestors.

Pro-Palestine protesters have been demanding that the state of Minnesota divest its financial stakes in Israeli companies and bonds, which they say are worth around $119m. Activists have also for years been urging the state to repeal its anti-boycott legislation, which forces state contractors to sign a pledge that they will not engage in a boycott of Israel. The law was first passed in 2017, prior to Walz becoming governor. However, he has made no moves to try to repeal the law. In December, a group of 1,000 Palestinian solidarity activists in Minnesota disrupted Walz's Christmas party, demanding the governor commit to divesting from Israel. “Governor Walz has ignored our calls for the divestment of taxpayer dollars and public pension funds from Israeli apartheid. But he will never stop hearing from us or seeing us until he finally ends Minnesota's complacency in genocide,” Christine Hauschildt of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee said back in December.

"I don't know of a single educator who wants our money invested in weapons companies, and in bombing school buildings in racist wars,” Drake Myers, a member of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee who is also active in the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, told the panel. Max Vash, who has a Palestinian son, spoke out against the state’s holdings in Elbit Systems, an international defense and aerospace contractor based in Israel. “You have the power and the responsibility to ensure that neither my son, nor any other Palestinian person experiences these horrors,” Vash said. Lucia Wilkes Smith, a longtime member of Mothers Against Military Madness, said the BDS movement — Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions — shouldn’t be written off as antisemitic. Mike McDonald of Veterans for Peace didn’t address Israel directly but said the Board of Investment shouldn’t have money in defense contractors that are arming nations across the planet. He asserted the state has $800 million in holdings in companies that make weapons of warfare. It’s not the first time the investment board has heard from people calling for divestment from Israel. In 2015, activists unsuccessfully pressed the board to sell off its Israeli government bonds. This time around, activists look to build support based on outrage over thousands of Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza in the war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. That fighting was sparked by a series of coordinated surprise attacks by Hamas on Israel Oct. 7, in which 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were slain and 250 others were taken hostage. Since the war began, the Gaza Health Ministry has reported more than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors. The board members — Walz, Simon, and Blaha — listened and took notes, but didn’t take any action in response to the request.

.....gonna wait to hear more but I'm not super impressed thus far.

I don't give a shit what your domestic policy is when you're actively making money off of a genocide started by the "war on terror" you personally helped start.

[odinsblog]

When US Senator Bernie Sanders argued two months ago that it was time for the United States to halt new military aid to Israel, the Biden administration and most members of Congress refused to take him seriously. They didn’t listen when the Vermont independent urged them to “block unfettered offensive military aid to the extremist Israeli government—a government led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is continuing his unprecedented assault against the Palestinian people.” They dismissed Sanders’s warning that “Netanyahu and his extremist government are clearly in violation of US and international law and, because of that, should no longer receive US military aid.”

They cannot ignore the compelling case for a suspension of aid—based on both international standards and US law—any longer.

With the decision of the International Criminal Court’s prosecution team to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant—along with Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza; Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, who is better known as Mohammed Deif, the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades; and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader—it is time, once and for all, to stop making excuses. The five named individuals face charges that they have engaged in war crimes and crimes against humanity: the Hamas leaders for the role in plotting and implementing the October 7 attack that left at least 1,200 dead, and the Israeli leaders for launching an assault on Gaza that has left more than 35,500 Palestinians dead, a substantial portion of them women and children, and wounded almost 80,000.

The prosecutor’s decision to apply for the warrants should tip the balance, even for those who have been cautious about pressuring Israel, against the allocation and distribution of any additional US military aid.

It is true that the legal process is just beginning. ICC judges must decide which warrants, if any, will be issued. But the seriousness of the charges against the Israelis ought to cause the president and Congress to press the pause button—for practical, political, and moral reasons.

According to Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.” The charges against the Hamas leaders are equally grave. But as Khan explains, the Israeli response to the October 7 attack has had a disproportionately deadly impact on civilians in Gaza.

“The fact that Hamas fighters need water doesn’t justify denying water from all the civilian population of Gaza,” said the prosecutor.

(continue reading)

[opencommunion]

Zuhdi al-Adawi, “Day of the Prisoner” (1984)

Prisoners' Day is next week, April 17th. Since the genocidal assault on Gaza began, Palestinians detained by the occupation have reported unprecedented deadly conditions in already horrific torture camps.

In the west, more light has recently been shed on the prisoners' struggle by a whistleblowing IOF prison "doctor" who confessed to the occupation press that he and his colleagues "routinely" amputate Palestinian prisoners' limbs after injuring them with 24/7 shackling.

In recognition of Prisoners' Day take some time to learn more about the Palestinian prisoners' struggle—from Palestinians. Along with the articles linked here, RNN Prisoners and Samidoun's resources are a good place to start

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 A man screams for his mother and other family members after the Zionist occupation army bombed their home in Gaza, destroying several levels of the building and burying his family under the rubble. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

279 DAYS OF GENOCIDE IN THE GAZA STRIP: UNRWA BUILDINGS HIT BY ISRAELI OCCUPATION FORCES IN 453 ATTACKS, U.S. TO SHIP 500LB BOMBS TO ZIONIST ARMY EVEN AS NEW MASSACRES TAKE DOZENS OF LIVES EVERY DAY, NASSER MEDICAL COMPLEX CLOSES AMID ISRAELI BOMBARDMENT, ANOTHER DAY OF MASS MURDER AS CIVILIANS TARGETED

On 279th day of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 2 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 50 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, while another 54 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

It should be noted that as a result of the constant Israeli bombardment of Gaza's healthcare system, infrastructure, residential and commercial buildings, local paramedic and civil defense crews are unable to recover countless hundreds, even thousands, of victims who remain trapped under the rubble, or who's bodies remain strewn across the streets of Gaza.

This leaves the official death toll vastly undercounted as Gaza's healthcare officials are unable to accurately tally those killed and maimed in this genocide, which must be kept in mind when considering the scale of the mass murder.

The United States, under the direction of the Biden administration and American Democrats, will resume shipments of 500-pound bombs to the Zionist entity, even as new massacres continue to take dozens of civilian lives on a daily basis.

Previously, the Biden administration suspended a delivery of two types of American armaments, including 500lb (227kg) and 2'000lb (907kg) bombs as student protests exploded across college campuses in the United States.

The shipment was suspended in the context of the protests and a rapidly rising civilian death count amid the occupation's ongoing genocidal operations in the Gaza Strip.

In a piece published in the Jeff Bezos-owned American newspaper, the Washington Post, the news outlet says the decision to reverse the pause of these deadly bombs came as the Zionist Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, along with occupation Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, and the Israeli lobby, including AIPAC, demanded the resumption of deliveries of American munitions regardless of their lethality.

According to the Post:

Despite the pressure campaign and initial hold, the U.S. officials said the 500-pound bombs were never a serious concern for the Biden administration.

Speaking with the Post, an anonymous US official said that "because of how these shipments are put together, other munitions may sometimes be co-mingled. That’s what happened here with the 500-lb bombs, since our main concern had been and remains the potential use of 2,000-lb bombs in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza."

The Post admits that, while the tempo of the Zionist entity's attacks on the Gaza Strip has slowed in recent days, occupation strikes that result in mass casualty events continue to occur on a weekly basis, sometimes accelerating to a near daily basis, including a recent assault on a UN-run school housing displaced Palestinian families in Abasan Al-Kabira, east of the city of Khan Yunis, killing 29 and wounding another 53 others.

The Washington Post goes on to say that the suspended arms shipment was a "shot across the bow" by the Biden administration in a warning to the Netanyahu regime as he planned at the time to invade the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, where more than 1 million Palestinians had gathered in tent cities to find shelter from occupation's bombing and shelling, with President Biden going so far as to describe such an operation as a "red line".

Despite this, the Israeli occupation army invaded Rafah anyway, systematically destroying civilian housing in nearly the entire city, then taking control over, and burning to the ground, the border crossings south of Rafah City, all while committing several massacres. Including an attack on a grouping of Palestinian tents that resulted in a conflagration responsible for killing nearly 50 civilians and wounding dozens of others.

The Zionist army recently allowed Western journalists to visit Rafah to witness the destruction themselves, during which reporters described the city as "decimated" and largely empty.

The Post also interviewed Janet Abou-Elias, a research fellow at the Center for International Policy, a Washington-based think-tank, who described the destructive power of 500lb bombs as something that should not be taken lightly.

“In Gaza’s densely populated areas, the difference in the destructive impact between a 500-pound and a 2,000-pound bomb is negligible, both causing immense destruction and civilian casualties,” Abou-Elias is quoted as saying to the Post.

In more news on Thursday, July 11th, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees, also known as UNRWA, stated in a post to the social media platform X that the Israeli occupation forces have attacked their premises in Gaza on 453 occasions since the start of the war.

"453 attacks impacting UNRWA premises and the people inside them have been reported since the war began," the post stated, adding that, "two thirds of our schools in Gaza have been hit, with 524 people sheltering in our facilities killed."

UNRWA concluded the post by declaring that "UN structures, schools and shelters are not a target," adding a call for a "CeasefireNow."

In other news, the international humanitarian healthcare organization, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), issued a warning on Wednesday that the healthcare center at Nasser medical complex, in the city of Khan Yunis, south of Gaza, has ceased functioning due to a severe shortage of medical supplies and fuel.

In a statement, MSF lamented that "after the closure of the Gaza European Hospital in the Gaza Strip due to Israeli evacuation orders (early July ), we warned that Nasser Hospital is at risk of being overcrowded with mass casualties and wounded."

The humanitarian organization went on to explain that "MSF teams are witnessing a severe shortage of medical supplies, which threatens to stop basic health care [services] available to patients," going on to warn that the Nasser complex was "the last advanced hospital still operating in southern Gaza."

"Nasser Hospital receives an increase in the number of patients every day, which places a burden on all departments beyond their capacity, and our teams have no choice but to resort to the medical stock allocated for emergency cases," the MSF statement reads.

The statement concludes by stating that "while Nasser Hospital is dealing with the influx of new patients, it is also suffering from a fuel shortage, and if the power goes out due to a fuel shortage, care provided in many of the nearby field hospitals will [also] stop."

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) slowed but continued its attacks on civilian homes and residential buildings in various axis of the Gaza Strip, slaughtering dozens of Palestinians and leaving others severely wounded in the bombing and shelling of the occupation army, with a particular focus of attacks targeting the city of Gaza.

According to Gaza's Civil Defense, more than 30 decomposing bodies of murdered Palestinians are lying in the streets of the Al-Rimal neighborhood, as well as the Al-Sina'a and Al-Katiba areas, of Gaza City, where Zionist armored vehicles have launched a violent incursion over the last several days.

Local medical sources are reporting that on Thursday, more than 34 Palestinians were killed as a result of the Israeli occupation's raids on Gaza City and Rafah, resulting in dozens of bodies laying scattered in the streets, particularly in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, as well as in the Industrial Al-Sina'a area, and the Al-Katiba areas of Gaza City.

Another occupation raid on the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, west of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, resulted in the deaths of four Palestinian civilians, including a child.

The occupation's atrocities continued when Zionist warplanes bombed a residential house in the Zafran area of the Al-Maghazi Camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

At the same time, an occupation drone fired a missile at a civilian residence in the Nuseirat Camp, also in central Gaza, while IOF artillery detatchments shelled the Al-Mughraqa area of the camp.

In the meantime, occupation fighter jets conducted airstrikes on neighborhoods east of Khan Yunis, while additionally, Zionist soldiers detonated with explosives several residential buildings in the center of Rafah City, amid occupation artillery shelling that hammered the Al-Shaboura neighborhood in central Rafah.

Israeli quadcopter drones also fired on civilian homes in the Al-Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City.

The suffering of the Palestinian population of Gaza continued when the water desalinization stations that provide potable water to northern Gaza and Gaza City have ceased to function due to the continued closure of Gaza's border crossings, resulting in a severe shortage of fuel to operate electricity generators.

As a result of the Israeli occupation's ongoing war of extermination in the Gaza Strip, the endlessly rising death toll now exceeds 38'345 Palestinians killed, including at least 10'000 women and well over 15'000 children, while another 88'295 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

July 11th, 2024.

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@WorkerSolidarityNews

[alwaysbewoke]

A mass grave was discovered at al-Shifa Medical Complex after a deadly Israeli assault last month left the Gaza City hospital in ruins. Several bodies were found Monday in the hospital’s courtyard, including at least one person wearing underwear who appeared to have been “executed recently” according to an Al Jazeera Arabic reporter at the scene. After Israeli forces withdrew from the hospital on 1 April, teams from several government ministries were deployed to al-Shifa to remove and identify bodies. The searches were initiated after survivors said they witnessed the summary execution of Palestinians by Israeli forces during the two-week raid that started in mid-March.

x

[capybaracorn]

Gaza’s mass graves: Is the truth being uncovered?

Calls for an independent inquiry are mounting as more burial sites are found across Gaza, but experts say bringing the truth to light will take time.

At least 392 bodies were recovered at the Nasser Medical Complex in the southern Gaza Strip [AFP]

(11th of May 2024)

Palestinian emergency workers continue to uncover mass graves in and around three hospitals in the Gaza Strip, months after Israeli forces laid siege to them, claiming they were being used as Hamas command centres.

More than 500 bodies have been recovered with Palestinian officials saying several of them showed signs of mutilation and torture amounting to war crimes. Israel’s military has rejected the allegations as “baseless”, saying the bodies were buried by Palestinians during the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas in the area.

The United Nations, the United States and the European Union have called for an independent investigation to determine the truth and ensure accountability. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said: “It’s important that all forensic evidence be well preserved.”

But as Israel intensifies its assault on the southern city of Rafah, having closed the crossing into Egypt and preventing any possible deployment of forensic teams or equipment into Gaza, burial sites are being dug up and evidence haphazardly collected.

Experts said the disturbance of sites where proof of war crimes might lie will make the search for truth harder – yet not all hopes for justice are lost.

How is evidence being collected from the mass graves?

Three mass graves have been found at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, three at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and one at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya.

Mohammad Zaanin, a member of the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that a fourth gravesite containing 42 bodies had been found at al-Shifa Hospital. The bodies were decomposed and unrecognisable, but some had IDs on them or were identified by relatives from clothing remnants.

Civil Defence teams have been documenting the remains through photos and videos, working with little protective gear and no forensic equipment. “We have some body bags and a little equipment to protect our hands and noses, but in reality, this is a local effort, and it puts a lot of pressure on our team,” Zaanin said.

Thani Nimr Abdel Rahman, who works with the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp and has visited the burial sites at al-Shifa Hospital, said she witnessed the ground being excavated using bulldozers.

Before the dead are reburied at a new site, relatives of the missing search for pieces of clothing around the remains for a sign of their loved ones. At times, the corpses have been left unattended. “The dogs came to devour the bodies, and the smell was deadly,” Abdel Rahman told Al Jazeera. “[This work] requires more capabilities and forensic experts, none of which are available in Gaza.”

Has evidence of war crimes been found?

Several Civil Defence members have claimed to have found evidence of ill treatment, including torture, extrajudicial executions and unlawful killings of noncombatants that could amount to war crimes.

Rami Dababesh, a member of the Civil Defence team who took part in the exhumation work at al-Shifa Hospital, told Al Jazeera that his team had found “headless corpses”. Paramedic Adel al-Mashharawi said he saw bodies of children and women dressed in hospital garments.

Civil Defence member Mohammed Mughier said at least 10 of the bodies had been found with bound hands while others still had medical tubes attached to them. He added that additional forensic examination was needed on about 20 bodies of people who they suspect had been “buried alive”.

Yamen Abu Sulaiman, the head of the Civil Defence in Khan Younis, said some of the bodies found at the Nasser Medical Complex had been “stacked together” and showed indications of field executions having taken place. At least 392 bodies were recovered at this site alone.

Is the evidence gathered reliable?

Mass grave investigations are typically a highly complex, lengthy and expensive process, requiring significant expertise and resources. The overarching operating principle underpinning the forensic scientific approach is “do no harm” because interference with the site may prejudice the evidence.

“The first reaction from pretty much everyone is to dig the bodies up because it’s a very emotional thing,” Stefan Schmitt, a forensic scientist at Florida International University who has investigated mass graves in multiple conflicts, told Al Jazeera.

“But bodies are safer underground when it comes to identifying them and determining what happened. Particularly in this case, where the truth is so incredibly important and where all sides are propagating their own version of the events, it’s especially important to be able to determine what really took place.”

[See article for embedded video]

Digging up bodies, especially using invasive methods such as bulldozers, wipes out clues that could help determine responsibility and archaeological evidence that could reveal when a grave was dug and with what tools, Schmitt said.

Every exhumation also scatters evidence as decomposing body parts are left behind in the original burial site. Once a corpse is moved and reburied, information on where it came from can be lost.

Inaccurate information may also be added as part of the documentation process. Schmitt said misidentification by grieving relatives who are psychologically inclined to want closure is frequent in the context of war. Claims of bodies having been decapitated or buried alive were also hard to back up without autopsies being carried out.

Photographic and video evidence alone may not be sufficient to remedy confusion. For visual evidence to be viewed as reliable, a chain of custody must be ensured, Schmitt said.

The process of documentation must give a clear sense of the exhumation process both spatially and in regards to timing with pictures containing information including metadata and geolocation taken in a sequence. Shots must be framed to feature landmarks before zooming in on the details. The information is then methodically collected in a spreadsheet, from which each entry is hyperlinked to the relevant visual data.

“I have been shown pictures that came from Gaza, but I couldn’t see the chain of custody. I don’t know where they’re coming from,” Schmitt said, adding that this means he has consequently unable to give an expert opinion on what they show.

“What is happening right now is destroying evidence. I know that that’s not deliberate, but it plays into the hands of those that don’t want the truth to be told.”

Can international organisations help?

The UN has called for “a clear, transparent and credible investigation” of mass graves in Gaza. The EU backed the call, saying the discovery of bodies at the hospitals “creates the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights” while the US said it wanted the matter to be “thoroughly and transparently investigated”.

It is unclear which organisation would heed the call, or who in the future might take up the hefty task of investigating.

UN human rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told Al Jazeera the international body was not providing support in evidence gathering at burial sites in Gaza “because it requires specific expertise that does not exist on the ground”.

[See article for embedded video]

Is there any hope of justice for victims?

As the Rafah border crossing with Egypt remains closed, the prospects of foreign investigators being sent in to investigate allegations of war crimes appear slim.

However, not all hope for justice is lost. “What you have got, as opposed to what you haven’t got, might itself be extremely revealing,” said Geoffrey Nice, a British barrister who led the prosecution in the trial of Serbian politician Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

“Because you haven’t got it all doesn’t mean you haven’t got enough,” Nice told Al Jazeera about forensic scientific evidence.

In the former Yugoslavia, remains were dug up for decades, and DNA testing ensured identification even many years after the events. “Efforts on identification never end, and there is a huge body of evidence. Never worry about what you haven’t got. Use what you have got,” the barrister added.

Evidence gathered at the mass graves could point to specific offences or be merged into a broader inquiry into war crimes. An unbiased judiciary and investigatory organisation may be set up, but this will take decades of work and cost a large sum of money, requiring the support of wealthy countries.

According to Nice, should a tribunal for Gaza be set up, “it would not be sensible to have participating members from any countries that supported Israel with weapons.”

“The Israel-Gaza conflict is hopelessly sensitive. The funding body, be it the EU or someone else, has got to be prepared after having funded it to have absolutely no further engagement except when asked,” he added.

Is justice being pursued elsewhere?

Legal proceedings are also already ongoing at top courts. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is overseeing an active investigation into the atrocities on October 7 by Hamas and the response by the Israeli military. The office of the prosecutor has jurisdiction in the Palestinian territories but has not made any public comments about the discovery of mass graves.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), a separate court, is considering a case brought by South Africa in which Israel stands accused of committing genocide in Gaza. It will take several years to reach a verdict, during which time, the court is expected to investigate a litany of alleged offences.

Among key provisional measures issued to prevent the crime of genocide, the ICJ ordered Israeli authorities to “take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence” related to the allegations. It also ordered unimpeded access to humanitarian aid, which humanitarian organisations said has been blocked since the offensive in Rafah began.

“If the general conclusion of any court is that what is going on in Gaza is beyond the limits of warfare, then it is not difficult to track the chain of command back to the top,” Nice said.

Then, the barrister added, “you can start to see if there is individual responsibility.”

[See article for embedded video]

[good-old-gossip]

More than two dozen Palestinian journalists working inside and outside of Gaza published a letter on Tuesday calling on American journalists to boycott the annual White House correspondents' dinner, citing the US military support for Israel's war in Gaza that has killed scores of Palestinian journalists.

“As Palestinian journalists, we urgently appeal to you, our colleagues globally, with a demand for immediate and unwavering action against the Biden administration's ongoing complicity in the systematic slaughter and persecution of journalists in Gaza," the letter said.

“For Palestinian journalists in Gaza, the blue press vest does not offer us protection, but rather functions as a red target,” the signatories write in their letter. Many of the letter's signatories chose to remain anonymous, out of fear their public signing of the letter could lead them to be targeted or killed by Israel's military. However, it includes several prominent journalists who have been covering Israel's assault on Gaza from inside the enclave.

Those names include Bisan Owda; Ali Jadallah; Hosam Salem; Mohammed Zaanoun; Ahmed El-Madhoun; and Mohamed Almasri. The letter also includes signatures from renowned journalists working outside of Gaza, such as Mariam Barghouti, Mohammed El Kurd, and Said Arikat, the Washington bureau chief for Al-Quds newspaper. Israel's war on Gaza began in October, after Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups launched an attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 people hostage.

Israel responded with a declaration of war and launched a devastating and indiscriminate bombing campaign followed by a ground invasion of Gaza that has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians. During this time, Israeli forces have also killed at least 125 journalists, which the letter says makes up 10 percent of Gaza's community of journalists. The letter points to the lack of coverage and attention paid to the killing of Gaza's journalists during Israel's war. CNN's Christine Amanpour recently stated that the problem with the coverage of the Gaza war was that "journalists are not on the ground in Gaza". The comment was met with outrage from Palestinian journalists who said the remark equated to an erasure of their work in Gaza. Amanpour quickly clarified that what she meant was there were no "independent, western journalists" in the enclave reporting on the war, but those comments were further criticised as asserting that Palestinian journalists are unable to accurately tell their stories.

“We cannot overlook the White House Correspondents' Dinner’s role in legitimizing and whitewashing the same deadly propaganda and policies coming out of the Biden administration during its daily press briefings by bringing journalists together to sit and laugh with the President, while ignoring his complicity in the assassinations and targeting of Palestinian journalists in Gaza,” Nasser Abu Baker, president of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, said in a statement.

“For our members and colleagues in Gaza, we, the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate, call upon our fellow journalists to boycott the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Let absence speak louder than any words we might utter at that table.”

[tieflingkisser]

Top US Newspapers Show 'Consistent Bias' Against Palestinians: Analysis

The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times have regularly "used emotive language to describe the killings of Israelis, but not Palestinians."

An analysis published Tuesday shows that three of the most influential newspapers in the United States—The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times—have reliably shown a bias against Palestinians in their coverage of Israel's assault on Gaza and its reverberating consequences. Writer Adam Johnson and researcher Othman Ali examined the three outlets' coverage of Israel-Gaza between October 7—the day of the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel—and November 24, which marked the start of a negotiated pause that ended just a week later. The Israeli bombardment has continued relentlessly since. The pair's analysis, published in The Intercept, found that across more than 1,000 articles, the three newspapers showed a "consistent bias" against Palestinians. Specifically, the outlets "disproportionately emphasized Israeli deaths in the conflict; used emotive language to describe the killings of Israelis, but not Palestinians; and offered lopsided coverage of antisemitic acts in the U.S., while largely ignoring anti-Muslim racism in the wake of October 7." As the Gaza death toll surged during the first month and a half of Israel's assault, the three newspapers' mentions of Palestinians in their coverage declined, Johnson and Ali found. In the period between October 7 and November 24, the outlets used the words "slaughter" and "massacre" a combined 180 times when describing the toll of the Hamas-led attack on Israel. The newspapers used those terms just five times when describing Gazans killed by the Israeli military. "The Washington Post employed 'massacre' several times in its reporting to describe October 7," Johnson and Ali wrote. "'President Biden faces growing pressure from lawmakers in both parties to punish Iran after Hamas' massacre,' one report from the Post says. A November 13 story from the paper about how Israel's siege and bombing had killed 1 in 200 Palestinians does not use the word 'massacre' or 'slaughter' once. The Palestinian dead have simply been 'killed' or 'died'—often in the passive voice." Johnson and Ali previously found similar bias against Palestinians in the coverage of CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC.

[zvaigzdelasas]

Regrettably history for some media and politicians start when Israelis are killed. Our people have endured one deadly year after another, we came to the security council month after month warning of the consequences of Israeli impunity and international inaction. Last october, about a year ago, we stated before the security council the Palestinian people will be free one day or another - one way or another. We chose the peaceful way, the one the international community advocates for. Do not let Israel prove us wrong - for our sake and theirs. This is not a time to let Israel double down on its terrible choices; this is a time to tell Israel it needs to change course - that there is a path to peace where neither Palestinians nor Israelis are killed - and it is the one diametrically opposed to the one Israel is embarked on.

Israel keeps saying the blockade and repeated assaults on gaza are to destroy Hamas military capabilities and ensure security - clearly and expectedly its blockade and assaults accomplished neither. The only thing they did accomplish was inflicting terrible suffering on an entire civilian population. It is time for an immediate end to the violence and the bloodshed, and it is time to end this blockade and to open a political horizon. When Israel now tries to justify yet another assault by the same faulty premise, no one should say or do anything to encourage it down this path - we know only too well that the messages about Israel's right to defend itself will be interpreted by Israel as licensed to kill - to pursue on the very path that led us here: 370 and the number is rising by the moment of Palestinians that have been killed already in one day - including children, some barely a few months old - entire families were killed in their sleep. Will this bring security? will this advance peace?

Where is the international protection the Palestinian people is entitled to when the occupying power violates international law and harms those it is obliged to protect? are Palestinians lives worth saving? the Palestinian civilians killed - the Palestinian children killed - in occupied Palestine could have been spared. Isnt` that a moral and legal obligation and a contribution to peace? why nothing is done when those killed are Palestinians? we need to think hard of what logic we want to see prevail here. If this is about vengeance then many Palestinians will feel they have much to avenge. If this is about peace then the way to it is not through further entrenching oppression and occupation but by ending it. You cannot say nothing justifies killing Israelis and then provide justification for killing Palestinians. We are not subhumans. Let me repeat: we are not subhumans. We will never accept a rhetoric that denigrates our humanity and reneges our rights. A rhetoric that ignores the occupation of our land and oppression of our people. There is no right to security that trumps the right of a nation to self-determination. The fulfillment of our right to self-determination is the only path towards shared peace and security. We chose the peaceful path to achieve our rights, but Israel continued using blunt force against Palestinian lives and Palestinian rights. Israel cannot wage a full scale war on a nation - its people, its land, its holy sites - and expect peace in exchange. One needs to address the root causes of the conflict and by doing so we will be addressing its consequences. We have been calling for a different rationale, a different approach - justice not vengeance, freedom not occupation, peace not war. Our calls should be heeded. The alternative is playing out under our very eyes.

Israel has announced dozens of times that it had handled the Palestinian problem by war against our people, or peace with others - since 1948 till a few days ago in the statement of netanyahu in front of the general assembly. Netanyahu held during that speech in these United Nations a map denying the existence of Palestine - a map of aggression and annexation. To all the peacemakers to all those who believe in the un charter and international law: one cannot lose sight of the bigger picture. We need to stand up for the vision enshrined in the resolution of the security council and the general assembly, and to take the necessary measures to ensure compliance with their provisions. We need to uphold international law not abandon it.

Everybody in the room behind me who will be meeting in few minutes agree on the end end game. Israel expects and demands political and military support while advancing goals that are fundamentally at odds with international legitimacy and consensus. Its policies are an assault on our humanity, on international law, on peace, and are a threat for its own people. Can those supporting Israel ignore its colonialist and racist agenda? that would be self-defeating.

A different path is possible - I repeat, a different path is possible - but it cannot ignore the lives and rights of the Palestinian people. It must guarantee them equal measures of freedom and security. You cannot stand for peace if you do not stand up to occupation. Do it because it is the right thing to do - morally, legally, politically, and because it will save lives. Peace will save lives because it is the only way forward. I thank you very much.