October 15, 2024
A coalition of
Israeli human rights organizations issued a joint statement Monday imploring
governments and institutions worldwide to "use all tools at their
disposal—legal, diplomatic and economic—to prevent" Israel's far-right
government from carrying out a proposed ethnic cleansing plan in northern Gaza.
B'Tselem, Gisha,
Yesh Din, and Physicians for Human Rights Israel called on "the
international community to take action now to prevent Israel from forcibly
transferring hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have remained in the
Northern Gaza Strip outside of the area, including by denying entry of
essential humanitarian aid and fuel."
"There are
alarming signs that the Israeli military is beginning to quietly implement the
Generals' Plan, also referred to as the Eiland Plan, which calls for complete
forcible transfer of the civilians of the northern Gaza Strip through
tightening the siege on the area and starving the population," the groups
said. "States have an obligation to prevent the crimes of starvation and
forcible transfer, and that if the continuation of the 'wait and see' approach
will enable Israel to liquidate northern Gaza, they will be complicit."
The Israeli
groups' statement came as their nation's government, led by far-right Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, weighed a plan put forth by a group of retired
generals. The plan, according to The Associated Press, would give the hundreds
of thousands of Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza a week to leave the
region.
"Those who
remain would be considered combatants—meaning military regulations would allow
troops to kill them—and denied food, water, medicine, and fuel,"
APreported over the weekend. The Israeli newspaper Haaretzseparately reported
that Israel's "political leadership is pushing for the gradual annexation
of large parts of the Gaza Strip."
The Israeli
military is already effectively carrying out part of the retired generals'
proposal by cutting off northern Gaza from humanitarian aid. According to the
United Nations, no food has been able to enter the famine-stricken area since
October 1.
Israeli forces
have also killed dozens of people in attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp and
other nearby areas, including a food distribution center. Residents who have
attempted to flee have reported being fired on by Israeli soldiers and drones.
"Israeli
authorities have increasingly cut off northern Gaza from essential
supplies," Muhannad Hadi, the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for
the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement. "Erez and Erez
West crossings have been kept closed, and no essentials have been allowed from
the south."
On Monday, the
U.N. Human Rights Office said it is "appalled by Israel's continued
bombing and other attacks on parts of North Gaza, where its forces have trapped
tens of thousands of Palestinians, including civilians, in their homes and
shelters with no access to food or other life-sustaining necessities."
"In the
shadow of the escalation of hostilities across the Middle East, the Israeli
military appears to be cutting off North Gaza completely from the rest of the
Gaza Strip and conducting hostilities with absolute disregard for the lives and
security of Palestinian civilians," the office continued. "The
separation of North Gaza raises further concerns that Israel does not intend to
allow civilians to return to their homes, and the repeated calls for all
Palestinians to leave northern Gaza raise grave concerns of large-scale forced
transfer of the civilian population."
Forcible
transfer is a crime against humanity under international law.
Dave
DeCamp
Israel
is planning to launch its expected attack on Iran before the US presidential
elections are held on November 5, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
An
unnamed official told the Post that waiting any longer could be perceived as
weakness and that the planned strike “will be one in a series of responses” to
the Iranian ballistic missile barrage that was fired at Israel on October 1,
which came in response to a series of Israeli escalations.
A
source close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Post that
while Israel was coordinating with the US to some extent on its plans to attack
Iran, it wouldn’t wait for a green light from the US. “The person who will
decide on the Israeli response to Iran will be [Netanyahu],” the official said.
The
report said that when Netanyahu spoke with President Biden last week, he said
that Israel planned to hit military infrastructure inside Iran, not oil or
nuclear facilities. The conversation was a factor in Biden’s decision to deploy
a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile battery to Israel.
The
Pentagon announced Sunday that it was deploying the THAAD and about 100 troops
to operate it “to support the defense of Israel.” Iran has vowed that it would
respond to any Israeli attack on its territory, and the US deployment makes US
troops a potential target of Iranian missiles.
The
Post report noted how the Biden administration has been fully supportive of
Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and its dramatic escalation of airstrikes against
the country. A former Israeli official said the US was “giving Israel and the
Netanyahu government a bear hug, but for Hezbollah.”
“It
is sending THAAD and promising all kinds of weapons that we need to finish off
Hezbollah, saying that we can deal with Iran later,” the former official added.
US
military and diplomatic support for Israel over the past year has fueled the
genocidal slaughter in Gaza and emboldened Israeli escalations across the
Middle East, and has now brought the US and Iran to the brink of war. Brown
University’s Costs of War project recently released a report that supporting
Israel has cost the US $22.76 Billion in just one year.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas
Araghchi said Monday that Iran had halted indirect talks with the US via Omani
mediators amid anticipation of a US-supported Israeli attack on Iranian
territory.
“Currently, we do not see any ground
for these talks, until we can get past the current crisis,” Araghchi said
during a visit to Oman, according to Iran’s PressTV.
When asked if he had sent any
messages to the US while visiting Oman, Araghchi said, “During the trip, no
message has been sent to other countries.”
Earlier this year, Axios reported
that the US and Iran held indirect talks in Oman to avoid regional escalations.
“Oman has always contributed greatly to solving the regional problems, and
regarding Iran and the US, it has always tried to play a positive role in
conveying a message or preparing the ground for negotiations,” Araghchi said.
On October 3, Al Jazeera reported
that Iran did send one message to the US: that its phase of “self-restraint” is
over and that any Israeli attack on its territory would provoke a major
response.
Earlier in the year, Iran was
carefully working to avoid a direct clash with the US. In April, when Iran
responded to the Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, it gave
a 72-hour notice before it fired missiles and drones at Israel.
Iran did not provide any notice when
it fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1, which came in
retaliation for a string of Israeli escalations in the region, including the
assassination of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.
Israel’s attack on Iran could
provoke a major war that would involve the US, as the US is vowing to defend
Israel and is deploying a THAAD missile system and about 100 troops to Israel
for that purpose. The US may also support the expected Israeli attack, either
through direct military action or by providing intelligence.
October 14, 2024
Gaza’s Health
Ministry said Monday that Israeli forces killed 62 Palestinians in Gaza and
injured 220 over the previous 24-hour period, bringing its recorded death toll
since last October to 42,289 and the number of wounded to 98,684.
The ministry’s
numbers don’t account for Palestinians who are missing and presumed dead under
the rubble, and bodies have been difficult for rescuers to reach in northern
Gaza, where Israeli forces recently escalated attacks as part of an ethnic
cleansing campaign. “There are still a number of victims under the rubble and
on the streets, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the
ministry said.
Early Monday
morning, an Israeli strike targeted Palestinians sheltering in tents inside the
grounds of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza. The Israeli attack
ignited fires in the camp, burning Palestinians alive. Hospital records show
that at least four people were killed and 40 were injured, but many of the
wounded are not expected to survive the burns.
Mohammad Tahir,
a volunteer surgeon, told Al Jazeera that many of the victims had burns on 60%
to 80% of their body. “Patients with significant high percentage burns –
unfortunately, their fate is sealed. They won’t even make it to the ICU. They
will die,” Tahir said.
“It’s a horror
show here. Honestly, sometimes I feel like this is not real life, that this can
go on, and this degree of suffering is allowed to happen in this world,” Tahir
added.
Israel confirmed
that it targeted the hospital and claimed, as usual, that it hit a Hamas
“command and control center” but offered no evidence.
Just hours
before the strike on the tent camp, Israel targeted a school-turned-shelter in
the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 22 people,
including 15 children. Schools sheltering displaced Palestinians have become a
frequent target of the Israeli military, and many children are often killed in
the strikes.
The Biden
administration continues to support the genocidal slaughter in Gaza even as it
has become clear the Israeli government is not interested in ceasefire talks
and is looking to annex the Strip. A senior Israeli Air Force official
acknowledged last month that Israel’s slaughter in Gaza wouldn’t be possible
without US support, saying if not for US military aid, Israel couldn’t sustain
operations for more than a few months.
Jason
Ditz
On
Monday, Israeli warplanes carried out an attack on a small apartment building
in the northern Lebanese village of Aitou, in the Christian-majority Zgharta
District. At least 22 people have been killed in the attack, according to the
Lebanese Red Cross, which also wounded at least eight.
There
has been no official comment from the Israeli military on why they attacked the
Christian-majority village. That’s not unusual when the Israeli strike doesn’t
appear to have had any military target or purpose.
Speculation
is that the attack was primarily a revenge attack against Lebanon in general
after a Sunday drone strike by Hezbollah against a northern Israeli military
base killed four soldiers and wounded scores of others.
Alternatively,
Israeli media has been speculating that the attack, again on a Christian
village, “may have targeted a senior Hezbollah leader.” There has been no
official sign that was the case, nor indeed are those making such speculation
offering any name of the potential Hezbollah figure being targeted.
This
northern part of Lebanon has not been considered militarily significant
throughout the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah conflict, and there hadn’t been an
Israeli attack anywhere near this area since the 2006 war.
Israeli
attacks on explicitly Christian targets are not unheard of, at any rate. Just
last week, Israel launched a missile strike against a Catholic Church in the
southern area of Tyre. They destroyed the church, killing eight people, and
have still offered no military justification for doing so.
Already
facing growing international pariah status over their attacks on civilians in
the Gaza Strip, the escalation of attacks in Lebanon seems like Israel is
willing to risk even more backlash.
Despite an
incident Sunday in which Israeli tanks forced their way into a UNIFIL
peacekeeper base in southern Lebanon and ended up firing near the base,
wounding a number of personnel, the UN has rejected Israeli calls to withdraw
from the area.
The UN Security
Council issued a statement expressing support for the UNIFIL monitoring
mission, and affirmed that the troops will remain in the country, despite
multiple calls from Israel’s Netanyahu government to leave.
The statement
also called on all parties to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL
personnel and premises in Lebanon. They didn’t single Israel out in the
statement, though all the reported attacks on UNIFIL targets in recent weeks
have been from the Israeli side.
This has led to
high profile statements from some substantial nations saying Israeli attacks on
the UN peacekeepers has to cease at once. Despite reports of the incidents
leaving little doubt that Israel is not complying with UNSC Resolution 1701,
Israeli officials denied that they are deliberately attacking the UN troops.
Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, instead of commenting on the necessity to commit to not
attacking the UNIFIL, issued another statement demanding that get out of
“harm’s way” and arguing that the demand proves that they are not at war with
UNIFIL.
The UNIFIL
mission is meant to reduce violence in southern Lebanon and observe tensions on
the Israel-Lebanon border. The mission’s mandate was substantially enhanced
after the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, but seems to be little in the way
of an obstacle to the most recent invasion.
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