Zardnaar
Deity
Man I've seen weaker circus contortionist numbers compared to what I am reading from Hamas sympathizers to justify executing fellow humans in the street, Palestinian humans actually.
You expected anything else?
-
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[RD] War in Gaza News: Pas de Deux
- Thread starter Birdjaguar
- Start date
You expected anything else?
danjuno
Cole Phelps, Badge 1247
Gaza officials formally accuse Israel of organ theft, demand international probe
“We formally accuse the Israeli army of stealing organs from the martyrs,” stated Dr. Ismail al-Thawabta, Director General of the Media Office, while demanding an international investigation into Israel's “torture, mutilation, and organ theft.”
The 120 bodies “arrived in extremely poor and distressing condition,” …, and missing corneas, livers, and limbs, ...
Thawabta explained that Israeli authorities refused to provide the names of the victims, making it extremely difficult for authorities in Gaza to identify them.
“The health system in Gaza is almost completely collapsed. We lack the equipment for DNA testing and forensic analysis…
Authorities in Gaza have reported previous instances of organ theft during the genocide.
“We formally accuse the Israeli army of stealing organs from the martyrs,” stated Dr. Ismail al-Thawabta, Director General of the Media Office, while demanding an international investigation into Israel's “torture, mutilation, and organ theft.”
The 120 bodies “arrived in extremely poor and distressing condition,” …, and missing corneas, livers, and limbs, ...
Thawabta explained that Israeli authorities refused to provide the names of the victims, making it extremely difficult for authorities in Gaza to identify them.
“The health system in Gaza is almost completely collapsed. We lack the equipment for DNA testing and forensic analysis…
Authorities in Gaza have reported previous instances of organ theft during the genocide.
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Palestinian woman in hospital after being clubbed by masked Israeli settler
A 55-year-old Palestinian woman has been taken to hospital after being clubbed over the head by a masked Jewish settler as she was picking olives.The unprovoked attack, which took place on Sunday morning in the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya in the occupied West Bank, was captured on video by American journalist Jasper Nathaniel.
Mr Nathaniel said the settler knocked the woman unconscious with the first strike of his stick, before hitting her again as she lay on the ground. She has been named locally as Umm Saleh Abu Alia.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC the confrontation was dispersed after its forces arrived, and that it "strongly condemns any form of violence" by settlers.
However, Mr Nathaniel said Israeli soldiers were on site prior to the attack and had "lured" him and others into an "ambush". He said soldiers "sped off" just before the settlers launched the assault. The BBC has put this specific allegation to the IDF.
At least 80% of residents of Turmus Ayya hold US citizenship or residency, according to Israeli media. The BBC has reached out to the US State Department and US embassy for comment.
The young male attacker is seen wielding a large wooden stick with a knot at one end, reminiscent of a club, before he swings it overhead and strikes Mrs Abu Alia.
The mother of five is seen bleeding as she is carried into a vehicle to be taken to hospital. She was initially admitted to an intensive care unit but is now in a stable condition, doctors say.
Her cousin, Hamdi Abu Alia, told the BBC that medical staff found she had been struck twice in the head. Amin Abu Alia, the mayor of the adjacent village al-Mughayyir, confirmed details of the attack to the BBC.
The attack came amid a wider incident in which at least 15 masked settlers were seen hurling stones and attacking other Palestinians who were harvesting olives - as well as activists who had arrived to support them, including Mr Nathaniel.
At least one car was torched. Others had their windows smashed.
The assault comes amid a spate of attacks in recent weeks linked to the olive harvest, which officially began on 9 October.
The harvest is an age-old ritual that forms a major part of Palestinian culture. It is also an economic necessity for many, but is increasingly precarious.
Farmers across the West Bank - internationally regarded as Palestinian land occupied by Israel - face heightened risks during harvest season, including organised assaults and the use of force by Israeli security forces to block roads and Palestinians' access to their lands.
Of the 71 settler attacks documented by the UN's humanitarian office, Ocha, across the West Bank between 7 and 13 October, half were related to the ongoing harvest season. The attacks affected Palestinians in 27 villages.
In 2025, more than 3,200 Palestinians have been injured in settler attacks across the West Bank, according to Ocha.
Attacks are intended, monitors say, to intimidate Palestinians and eventually drive them from their land so settlers can seize it. The vast majority go unpunished, with just 3% of official investigations into settler violence between 2005 and 2023 ending in a conviction, according to Israeli civil rights group Yesh Din. Many incidents are not investigated.
Shortly after entering office, US President Donald Trump cancelled a range of sanctions imposed on Israeli settlers by his predecessor Joe Biden.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx20p0qx50no
The west bank is the next item on the list.
At least 135 mutilated bodies of Palestinians had been held at notorious Israeli jail, say Gaza officials
At least 135 mutilated bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel to Gaza had been held in a notorious detention centre already facing allegations of torture and unlawful deaths in custody, officials from Gaza’s health ministry have told the Guardian.
The director general of the health ministry, Dr Munir al-Bursh, and a spokesperson for Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where the bodies are being examined, said a document found inside each body bag indicated the bodies all came from Sde Teiman, a military base in the Negev desert where, according to photos and testimonies published by the Guardian last year, Palestinian detainees were held in cages, blindfolded and handcuffed, shackled to hospital beds and forced to wear nappies.
Some of the photographs of Palestinian bodies seen by the Guardian – which cannot be published due to their graphic nature – show several of the victims blindfolded, their hands tied behind their backs. One image shows a rope fastened around a man’s neck.
Doctors in Khan Younis said official examinations and field observations “clearly indicate that Israel carried out acts of murder, summary executions and systematic torture against many of the Palestinians”. Health officials said the documented findings included “clear signs of direct gunfire at point-blank range and bodies crushed beneath Israeli tank tracks”.
The body of Mahmoud Ismail Shabat, 34, from northern Gaza, bore marks of hanging around his neck, his legs crushed by tank tracks, which suggests he was killed or injured in Gaza and that his body was later taken to Sde Teiman. His brother Rami, who identified the body of his sibling by the scar from a previous head surgery, said: “What hurt us the most was that his hands were tied, and his body was covered with clear signs of torture.”
“Where is the world?” said Shabat’s mother. “All our hostages returned tortured and broken.”
Some Palestinian doctors say the fact that many of the bodies were blindfolded and bound suggests they were tortured and then killed during their detention at Sde Teiman – where, according to Israeli media reports and testimony from prison guard whistleblowers, Israel is holding nearly 1,500 bodies of Palestinians from Gaza.
A whistleblower who spoke to the Guardian and who witnessed the conditions of detention at Sde Teiman said: “I did witness a patient from Gaza being brought with a gunshot wound to the left chest. He was also blindfolded and handcuffed, naked as he arrived to the emergency department. Another patient, with a right-leg gunshot wound also arrived to my hospital in similar conditions.”
Another whistleblower has previously described how patients, all from Gaza, were handcuffed to the beds. They had all been dressed in nappies and were blindfolded.
He was told that some patients had come from hospitals in Gaza. “These were patients who had been captured by the Israeli army while being treated in Gaza hospitals and brought here. They had limbs and infected wounds. They were moaning in pain.”
He claimed the military had no proof that detainees were all members of Hamas, with some inmates repeatedly asking why they were there.
In one case, he said, he learned that a detainee’s hand had been amputated “because the wrists had become gangrenous due to handcuffing wounds”.
Shadi Abu Seido, a Palestinian journalist from Gaza who works for Palestine Today, who was released after 20 months’ detention at Sde Teiman and in another Israeli prison, said he had been seized by Israeli forces at al-Shifa hospital on 18 March 2024.
“They stripped me completely naked for 10 hours in the cold,” he said in a video interview published on Instagram by the Turkish public broadcaster TRT. “I was then transferred to Sde Teiman and held there for 100 days, during which I remained handcuffed and blindfolded. Many died in detention, others lost their minds. Some had limbs amputated. They suffered sexual and physical abuse. They brought dogs that urinated on us. When I asked why I had been arrested, they answered: ‘We have killed all the journalists. They died once. But we brought you here and you will die hundreds of times.’”
Naji Abbas, the director of the prisoners and detainees department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHR), said: “The signs of torture and abuse found on the bodies of Palestinians recently returned by Israel to Gaza are horrifying – yet, sadly, not surprising.
“These findings corroborate what Physicians for Human Rights Israel has exposed over the past two years about conditions inside Israeli detention facilities – particularly at the Sde Teiman camp – where Palestinians have been subjected to systematic torture and killings by soldiers and prison guards.”
PHR said: “The unprecedented number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody, together with verified evidence documented of deaths resulting from torture and medical neglect – and now the findings on the returned bodies – leave no doubt: an independent international investigation is urgently needed to hold those responsible in Israel accountable.”
The Guardian submitted photographs of the bodies to an Israeli doctor who also witnessed the treatment of prisoners at the field hospital in Sde Teiman.
On condition of anonymity, the physician said one of the pictures “shows the man had his hands tied likely with zip ties. There is a change in colour between the arms and the hands at the level of the zip ties, likely indicating ischemic changes due to excessive restraints.”
He added: “This might be someone who was either injured and captured (thus died under Israeli custody) or someone who died due to injuries inflicted after his capture.”
Dr Morris Tidball-Binz, a physician specialising in forensic science and a UN rapporteur, said: “A call should be made for independent and impartial forensic assistance to assist efforts to examine and identify the dead.”
At least 135 mutilated bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel to Gaza had been held in a notorious detention centre already facing allegations of torture and unlawful deaths in custody, officials from Gaza’s health ministry have told the Guardian.
The director general of the health ministry, Dr Munir al-Bursh, and a spokesperson for Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where the bodies are being examined, said a document found inside each body bag indicated the bodies all came from Sde Teiman, a military base in the Negev desert where, according to photos and testimonies published by the Guardian last year, Palestinian detainees were held in cages, blindfolded and handcuffed, shackled to hospital beds and forced to wear nappies.
Some of the photographs of Palestinian bodies seen by the Guardian – which cannot be published due to their graphic nature – show several of the victims blindfolded, their hands tied behind their backs. One image shows a rope fastened around a man’s neck.
Doctors in Khan Younis said official examinations and field observations “clearly indicate that Israel carried out acts of murder, summary executions and systematic torture against many of the Palestinians”. Health officials said the documented findings included “clear signs of direct gunfire at point-blank range and bodies crushed beneath Israeli tank tracks”.
The body of Mahmoud Ismail Shabat, 34, from northern Gaza, bore marks of hanging around his neck, his legs crushed by tank tracks, which suggests he was killed or injured in Gaza and that his body was later taken to Sde Teiman. His brother Rami, who identified the body of his sibling by the scar from a previous head surgery, said: “What hurt us the most was that his hands were tied, and his body was covered with clear signs of torture.”
“Where is the world?” said Shabat’s mother. “All our hostages returned tortured and broken.”
Some Palestinian doctors say the fact that many of the bodies were blindfolded and bound suggests they were tortured and then killed during their detention at Sde Teiman – where, according to Israeli media reports and testimony from prison guard whistleblowers, Israel is holding nearly 1,500 bodies of Palestinians from Gaza.
A whistleblower who spoke to the Guardian and who witnessed the conditions of detention at Sde Teiman said: “I did witness a patient from Gaza being brought with a gunshot wound to the left chest. He was also blindfolded and handcuffed, naked as he arrived to the emergency department. Another patient, with a right-leg gunshot wound also arrived to my hospital in similar conditions.”
Another whistleblower has previously described how patients, all from Gaza, were handcuffed to the beds. They had all been dressed in nappies and were blindfolded.
He was told that some patients had come from hospitals in Gaza. “These were patients who had been captured by the Israeli army while being treated in Gaza hospitals and brought here. They had limbs and infected wounds. They were moaning in pain.”
He claimed the military had no proof that detainees were all members of Hamas, with some inmates repeatedly asking why they were there.
In one case, he said, he learned that a detainee’s hand had been amputated “because the wrists had become gangrenous due to handcuffing wounds”.
Shadi Abu Seido, a Palestinian journalist from Gaza who works for Palestine Today, who was released after 20 months’ detention at Sde Teiman and in another Israeli prison, said he had been seized by Israeli forces at al-Shifa hospital on 18 March 2024.
“They stripped me completely naked for 10 hours in the cold,” he said in a video interview published on Instagram by the Turkish public broadcaster TRT. “I was then transferred to Sde Teiman and held there for 100 days, during which I remained handcuffed and blindfolded. Many died in detention, others lost their minds. Some had limbs amputated. They suffered sexual and physical abuse. They brought dogs that urinated on us. When I asked why I had been arrested, they answered: ‘We have killed all the journalists. They died once. But we brought you here and you will die hundreds of times.’”
Naji Abbas, the director of the prisoners and detainees department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHR), said: “The signs of torture and abuse found on the bodies of Palestinians recently returned by Israel to Gaza are horrifying – yet, sadly, not surprising.
“These findings corroborate what Physicians for Human Rights Israel has exposed over the past two years about conditions inside Israeli detention facilities – particularly at the Sde Teiman camp – where Palestinians have been subjected to systematic torture and killings by soldiers and prison guards.”
PHR said: “The unprecedented number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody, together with verified evidence documented of deaths resulting from torture and medical neglect – and now the findings on the returned bodies – leave no doubt: an independent international investigation is urgently needed to hold those responsible in Israel accountable.”
The Guardian submitted photographs of the bodies to an Israeli doctor who also witnessed the treatment of prisoners at the field hospital in Sde Teiman.
On condition of anonymity, the physician said one of the pictures “shows the man had his hands tied likely with zip ties. There is a change in colour between the arms and the hands at the level of the zip ties, likely indicating ischemic changes due to excessive restraints.”
He added: “This might be someone who was either injured and captured (thus died under Israeli custody) or someone who died due to injuries inflicted after his capture.”
Dr Morris Tidball-Binz, a physician specialising in forensic science and a UN rapporteur, said: “A call should be made for independent and impartial forensic assistance to assist efforts to examine and identify the dead.”
Ordnael
I'll be the roundabout
I perceive these vicious "settlers", more like bloody barbarians to me, are the force that drives and empowers the factions that want Gaza steam-rolled for further land grabs.
Jewish figures across the globe call on UN and world leaders to sanction Israel
Prominent Jewish figures around the world are calling on the United Nations and world leaders to impose sanctions on Israel over what they describe as “unconscionable” actions amounting to genocide in Gaza.
460 signatories, including former Israeli officials, Oscar winners, authors and intellectuals have signed an open letter demanding accountability over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The letter’s release comes as EU leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday amid reports they plan to shelve proposals for sanctions over human rights violations.
“We do not forget that so many of the laws, charters, and conventions established to safeguard and protect all human life were created in response to the Holocaust,” the signatories write. “Those safeguards have been relentlessly violated by Israel.”
Signatories include former speaker of the Israeli Knesset Avraham Burg, former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy, British author Michael Rosen, Canadian author Naomi Klein, Oscar-winning film-maker Jonathan Glazer, US actor Wallace Shawn, Emmy winners Ilana Glazer and Hannah Einbinder, and Pulitzer prize winner Benjamin Moser.
The signatories urge world leaders to uphold international court of justice (ICJ) and international criminal court rulings, avoid complicity in international law violations by halting arms transfers and imposing targeted sanctions, ensure adequate humanitarian aid to Gaza, and reject false claims of antisemitism against those advocating for peace and justice.
Prominent Jewish figures around the world are calling on the United Nations and world leaders to impose sanctions on Israel over what they describe as “unconscionable” actions amounting to genocide in Gaza.
460 signatories, including former Israeli officials, Oscar winners, authors and intellectuals have signed an open letter demanding accountability over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The letter’s release comes as EU leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday amid reports they plan to shelve proposals for sanctions over human rights violations.
“We do not forget that so many of the laws, charters, and conventions established to safeguard and protect all human life were created in response to the Holocaust,” the signatories write. “Those safeguards have been relentlessly violated by Israel.”
Signatories include former speaker of the Israeli Knesset Avraham Burg, former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy, British author Michael Rosen, Canadian author Naomi Klein, Oscar-winning film-maker Jonathan Glazer, US actor Wallace Shawn, Emmy winners Ilana Glazer and Hannah Einbinder, and Pulitzer prize winner Benjamin Moser.
The signatories urge world leaders to uphold international court of justice (ICJ) and international criminal court rulings, avoid complicity in international law violations by halting arms transfers and imposing targeted sanctions, ensure adequate humanitarian aid to Gaza, and reject false claims of antisemitism against those advocating for peace and justice.
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
UN's top court says Israel obliged to allow UN aid into Gaza
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has said Israel is obliged to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip by the United Nations and its entities to ensure the basic needs of the Palestinian civilians are met.An advisory opinion from the UN's top court also said Israel had not substantiated its allegations that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) lacked neutrality or that a significant number of its staff were members of Hamas or other armed groups. Unrwa has denied the claims.
Israel rejected the opinion as "political" and insisted it would not co-operate with Unrwa.
The opinion is non-binding, but it carries significant moral and diplomatic weight.
The UN General Assembly asked the ICJ in December for an opinion on Israel's legal obligations towards UN agencies and international organisations operating in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
It came after the Israeli parliament passed laws banning any activity by Unrwa on Israeli territory and contact with Israeli officials.
The ICJ was asked to also cover in its opinion Israel's duty to allow the unhindered delivery of essential supplies to Palestinian civilians.
Israel tightened its blockade on Gaza after the start of its war with Hamas two years ago and has since restricted - and at times completely stopped - the entry of food and other aid for the 2.1 million population.
Before this month's ceasefire deal took effect, UN-backed global experts had estimated that more than 640,000 people were facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity and that there was an "entirely man-made" famine in Gaza City.
Israel rejected the famine declaration, insisting it was allowing in sufficient food.
The ICJ's advisory opinion was "entirely predictable from the outset regarding Unrwa", the Israeli foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
"This is yet another political attempt to impose political measures against Israel under the guise of 'international law,'" it added.
Unrwa's acting Gaza director, Sam Rose, told the BBC that the agency welcomed the ICJ's opinion because it "underscores the obligations of Israel under international law".
"The ruling of today says that Israel's laws against Unrwa have gone against those obligations, as have its actions on the ground," he said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17pqxzl0yzo
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Rubio warns against West Bank annexation after Israel's parliament advances move
The US Secretary of State has said that a move by Israel's parliament towards annexation of the occupied West Bank would threaten Washington's plan to end the conflict in Gaza."That's not something we can be supportive of right now," Marco Rubio said before leaving for Israel as part of US efforts to shore up a fragile ceasefire deal.
In an apparent attempt to embarrass Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, far-right politicians took the symbolic step of giving preliminary approval to a bill granting Israel authority to annex the West Bank.
The Palestinians claim the West Bank - occupied by Israel since 1967 - as part of a hoped-for independent state.
Last year, the International Court of Justice - the UN's top court - said Israel's occupation was illegal.
Netanyahu has previously spoken in support of annexing West Bank land but has not advanced this due to the risk of alienating the US - Israel's most important ally - and Arab countries which have built relations with Israel after decades of enmity.
Ultra-nationalists in Netanyahu's governing coalition have repeatedly called for Israel to annex the West Bank outright, though the bill was put forward by MPs outside the government.
The bill passed in a 25-24 vote. It is unclear whether it has support to win a majority in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament), and there are ways the prime minister can delay or defeat it.
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the Knesset's move, saying Israel would have no sovereignty over Palestinian land.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews during its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.
The settlements are illegal under international law - a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice last year.
As he boarded the plane to Israel, Rubio said annexation would be "counterproductive" and "threatening" for the peace deal - reiterating US opposition to annexation.
His visit on Thursday comes hot on the heels of trips by US Vice-President JD Vance and two special envoys, as the Trump administration attempts to push for the start of talks on the second critical phase of his 20-point Gaza peace plan.
The first phase - which includes a ceasefire, the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces and an influx of aid - came into effect earlier this month.
Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of breaching the agreement over deadly incidents, but it has so far held.
Rubio voiced similar optimism to that of Vance for preserving the ceasefire.
"Every day there'll be threats to it, but I actually think we're ahead of schedule in terms of bringing it together, and the fact that we made it through this weekend is a good sign," he said.
The second phase of the peace plan would involve setting up an interim government in Gaza, deploying an international stabilisation force, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the disarmament of Hamas.
The war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
In the ensuing conflict, more than 68,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8xvj108z9o
Israel's genocide in Gaza impossible without global complicity, UN report says
Report shows how 63 states, largely European, sustained the genocide against Palestinians while Arab states failed to take ‘decisive action’
A new United Nations report reveals that more than 60 countries are complicit in the "collective crime" of enabling Israel's genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
An advanced version of the report by UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, was made available on Monday.
In her second report this year, Albanese called the genocide a “collective crime, sustained by the complicity of influential Third States that have enabled longstanding systemic violations of international law by Israel".
"Framed by colonial narratives that dehumanize the Palestinians, this livestreamed atrocity has been facilitated through Third States’ direct support, material aid, diplomatic protection and, in some cases, active participation."
The report shows that without the support of mostly European countries, Israel would not have been able to sustain its full-pronged assault on Gaza.
She categorised the support into four main categories: diplomatic, military, economic and humanitarian.
Albanese argues that diplomatic immunity for Israel and failure to hold it to account for violating international laws, particularly in the West, has allowed it to continue its genocide with impunity.
The report says this took place through western media and political discourse, which “parroted Israeli narratives” and failed to distinguish between Hamas and Palestinian civilians, and drew on colonial tropes of Israel’s right to defend itself as a "civilised" nation against "savages".
Albanese highlighted that the US used its UN Security Council veto power seven times to control ceasefire negotiations and provide diplomatic cover for the genocide. But she notes that the US did not act alone. It was helped by abstentions and delays, as well as watered-down draft resolutions from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands.
All of these actions helped stymy concrete actions while creating “an illusion of progress”.
While she noted that Arab and Muslim states support the Palestinian cause, they failed to take “decisive action” and some regional players “facilitated land routes to Israel, bypassing the Red Sea”. Egypt continued to maintain relations with Israel, including energy cooperation and closing the Rafah crossing.
She highlighted notable failures with regard to international courts, including the fact that most western countries failed to support South Africa or Nicaragua before the ICJ and continue to deny that Israel has committed genocide, as well as uphold the ICJ’s ruling on the illegality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
In addition, her report says that most western countries have undermined the arrest warrants the ICC issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the government. Instead, the US has imposed sanctions on the ICC, and the UK has threatened to pull its funding.
Despite UN resolutions calling for arms embargoes on Israel since 1976, the report notes that many countries supplied it with military support and arms transfers throughout its genocide, and described the US, Germany, and Italy as “among the largest suppliers”.
The US currently guarantees $3.3bn per year in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and, until 2028, an additional $500m per year for missile defence.
She highlighted the key role that the UK has played in military cooperation with Israel and reported on more than 600 surveillance flights over Israel and intelligence-sharing with its government, which she said suggests “cooperation in the destruction of Gaza”.
Albanese said 26 states sent at least 10 consignments of “arms and ammunition” - the most frequent being China (including Taiwan), India, Italy, Austria, Spain, Czechia, Romania, and France.
She said 19 countries, 17 of which have ratified the Arms Trade Treaty, were complicit in supplying components and parts for the “F-35 stealth strike fighter programme” that was key to the military assault in Gaza. These include Australia; Belgium; Canada; the Czech Republic; Denmark; Finland; Germany; Greece; Italy; Japan; the Netherlands; Norway; Poland; South Korea; Romania; Singapore; Switzerland; the UK; and the US. Some of these countries continue to supply parts.
While the Arms Trade Treaty does not recognise a distinction between “defensive” or “non-lethal” arms sales, some countries used these terms to justify arms trade to Israel.
Some countries, such as Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, France, and Morocco, permitted the transfer of weapons through their ports and airports.
She noted that Spain and Slovenia had cancelled contracts and imposed embargoes.
Other states continued to buy weapons and military technology produced by Israel, which the report says has been tested on Palestinians under occupation. Exports to the EU more than doubled during Israel’s war on Gaza and accounted for 54 percent of Israeli military exports in 2024. Exports to Asia and the Pacific and Arab countries under the Abraham Accords made up 23 and 12 percent of exports, respectively.
In addition, the report states that thousands of US, Russian, French, Ukrainian, and British citizens who have served in the Israeli military have enjoyed immunity and have failed to be investigated or prosecuted for war crimes in Gaza.
Economic ties and aid
The report says that states' maintenance of normal trade relations with Israel “legitimizes and sustains the Israeli apartheid regime”.
While Israel’s international trade in goods and services decreased from 61 percent of its GDP in 2022 to 54 percent in 2024, Albanese noted the European Union (Israel’s largest trading partner) continued to provide almost a third of total trade to Israel for the last two years.
Some European countries increased their trade with Israel during the genocide against the Palestinians, such as Germany, Poland, Greece, Italy, Denmark, France, and Serbia.
Arab countries, such as the UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, also increased their trade.
Only Turkey suspended trade with Israel in May 2024, although Albanese reported some trade continued indirectly.
Albanese said that before the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, most Palestinians were dependent on aid, with the United Nations relief and works agency for Palestine refugees (Unrwa) providing the bedrock of that aid.
Albanese pointed out that when Israel alleged Unrwa staff were involved in the Hamas-led attacks without citing evidence, 18 states immediately suspended funding without investigating Israel's claims.
Despite inconclusive investigations, most donors took months to resume contributions to Unwra. The US, its largest donor, passed a law prohibiting US funding to Unwra. When the Israeli Knesset outlawed Unrwa, only a few states took action by seeking an ICJ Advisory Opinion.
The report accuses countries like Canada, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, and Jordan of being distracted from the key issue by parachuting aid in, a move she says was both dangerous and ineffective.
Albanese, who has been one of the most vocal and forceful critics of Israel’s conduct in Gaza throughout its two-year genocide, said that complicit states perpetuate “colonial and racial-capitalist practices that should have long been consigned to history”.
“Even as the genocidal violence became visible, States, mostly Western ones, have provided, and continue to provide, Israel with military, diplomatic, economic and ideological support, even as it weaponized famine and humanitarian aid,” she said.
“The horrors of the past two years are not an aberration, but the culmination of a long history of complicity."
Report shows how 63 states, largely European, sustained the genocide against Palestinians while Arab states failed to take ‘decisive action’
A new United Nations report reveals that more than 60 countries are complicit in the "collective crime" of enabling Israel's genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
An advanced version of the report by UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, was made available on Monday.
In her second report this year, Albanese called the genocide a “collective crime, sustained by the complicity of influential Third States that have enabled longstanding systemic violations of international law by Israel".
"Framed by colonial narratives that dehumanize the Palestinians, this livestreamed atrocity has been facilitated through Third States’ direct support, material aid, diplomatic protection and, in some cases, active participation."
The report shows that without the support of mostly European countries, Israel would not have been able to sustain its full-pronged assault on Gaza.
She categorised the support into four main categories: diplomatic, military, economic and humanitarian.
Albanese argues that diplomatic immunity for Israel and failure to hold it to account for violating international laws, particularly in the West, has allowed it to continue its genocide with impunity.
The report says this took place through western media and political discourse, which “parroted Israeli narratives” and failed to distinguish between Hamas and Palestinian civilians, and drew on colonial tropes of Israel’s right to defend itself as a "civilised" nation against "savages".
Albanese highlighted that the US used its UN Security Council veto power seven times to control ceasefire negotiations and provide diplomatic cover for the genocide. But she notes that the US did not act alone. It was helped by abstentions and delays, as well as watered-down draft resolutions from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands.
All of these actions helped stymy concrete actions while creating “an illusion of progress”.
While she noted that Arab and Muslim states support the Palestinian cause, they failed to take “decisive action” and some regional players “facilitated land routes to Israel, bypassing the Red Sea”. Egypt continued to maintain relations with Israel, including energy cooperation and closing the Rafah crossing.
She highlighted notable failures with regard to international courts, including the fact that most western countries failed to support South Africa or Nicaragua before the ICJ and continue to deny that Israel has committed genocide, as well as uphold the ICJ’s ruling on the illegality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
In addition, her report says that most western countries have undermined the arrest warrants the ICC issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the government. Instead, the US has imposed sanctions on the ICC, and the UK has threatened to pull its funding.
Despite UN resolutions calling for arms embargoes on Israel since 1976, the report notes that many countries supplied it with military support and arms transfers throughout its genocide, and described the US, Germany, and Italy as “among the largest suppliers”.
The US currently guarantees $3.3bn per year in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and, until 2028, an additional $500m per year for missile defence.
She highlighted the key role that the UK has played in military cooperation with Israel and reported on more than 600 surveillance flights over Israel and intelligence-sharing with its government, which she said suggests “cooperation in the destruction of Gaza”.
Albanese said 26 states sent at least 10 consignments of “arms and ammunition” - the most frequent being China (including Taiwan), India, Italy, Austria, Spain, Czechia, Romania, and France.
She said 19 countries, 17 of which have ratified the Arms Trade Treaty, were complicit in supplying components and parts for the “F-35 stealth strike fighter programme” that was key to the military assault in Gaza. These include Australia; Belgium; Canada; the Czech Republic; Denmark; Finland; Germany; Greece; Italy; Japan; the Netherlands; Norway; Poland; South Korea; Romania; Singapore; Switzerland; the UK; and the US. Some of these countries continue to supply parts.
While the Arms Trade Treaty does not recognise a distinction between “defensive” or “non-lethal” arms sales, some countries used these terms to justify arms trade to Israel.
Some countries, such as Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, France, and Morocco, permitted the transfer of weapons through their ports and airports.
She noted that Spain and Slovenia had cancelled contracts and imposed embargoes.
Other states continued to buy weapons and military technology produced by Israel, which the report says has been tested on Palestinians under occupation. Exports to the EU more than doubled during Israel’s war on Gaza and accounted for 54 percent of Israeli military exports in 2024. Exports to Asia and the Pacific and Arab countries under the Abraham Accords made up 23 and 12 percent of exports, respectively.
In addition, the report states that thousands of US, Russian, French, Ukrainian, and British citizens who have served in the Israeli military have enjoyed immunity and have failed to be investigated or prosecuted for war crimes in Gaza.
Economic ties and aid
The report says that states' maintenance of normal trade relations with Israel “legitimizes and sustains the Israeli apartheid regime”.
While Israel’s international trade in goods and services decreased from 61 percent of its GDP in 2022 to 54 percent in 2024, Albanese noted the European Union (Israel’s largest trading partner) continued to provide almost a third of total trade to Israel for the last two years.
Some European countries increased their trade with Israel during the genocide against the Palestinians, such as Germany, Poland, Greece, Italy, Denmark, France, and Serbia.
Arab countries, such as the UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, also increased their trade.
Only Turkey suspended trade with Israel in May 2024, although Albanese reported some trade continued indirectly.
Albanese said that before the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, most Palestinians were dependent on aid, with the United Nations relief and works agency for Palestine refugees (Unrwa) providing the bedrock of that aid.
Albanese pointed out that when Israel alleged Unrwa staff were involved in the Hamas-led attacks without citing evidence, 18 states immediately suspended funding without investigating Israel's claims.
Despite inconclusive investigations, most donors took months to resume contributions to Unwra. The US, its largest donor, passed a law prohibiting US funding to Unwra. When the Israeli Knesset outlawed Unrwa, only a few states took action by seeking an ICJ Advisory Opinion.
The report accuses countries like Canada, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, and Jordan of being distracted from the key issue by parachuting aid in, a move she says was both dangerous and ineffective.
Albanese, who has been one of the most vocal and forceful critics of Israel’s conduct in Gaza throughout its two-year genocide, said that complicit states perpetuate “colonial and racial-capitalist practices that should have long been consigned to history”.
“Even as the genocidal violence became visible, States, mostly Western ones, have provided, and continue to provide, Israel with military, diplomatic, economic and ideological support, even as it weaponized famine and humanitarian aid,” she said.
“The horrors of the past two years are not an aberration, but the culmination of a long history of complicity."
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Brother of journalist killed in occupied West Bank says new report reveals cover-up
The brother of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh shot dead by the Israeli army three years ago alleges that new revelations from an American military officer who investigated her killing reveals a US cover-up.Tony Abu Akleh's comments come after the New York Times reported that a US colonel said he concluded in 2022 that Ms Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American Al Jazeera correspondent, was intentionally killed. Colonel Steve Gabavics claims that his superiors and the Biden administration softened findings to appease Israel.
Mr Abu Akleh told the BBC the new revelation confirmed what the family always knew - that his sister was deliberately shot, despite being clearly identified as a journalist.
Ms Abu Akleh died from a single shot to the head, and her colleague Ali al-Samoudi was wounded, after being fired on by the Israeli army during a raid on Jenin refugee camp in May 2022.
- Shireen Abu Aqla: Violence at Al Jazeera reporter's funeral in Jerusalem
- Al Jazeera files case at ICC over journalist's killing
- Palestinian report says Israel deliberately killed Al Jazeera's Shireen Abu Aqla
The Biden administration backed up this account saying it "found no reason to believe" the US citizen was intentionally targeted.
But now Col. Steve Gabavics, the senior US officer who went to the scene and examined the evidence, said he concluded at the time that she, despite clearly wearing a blue press vest, was deliberately shot. Col. Gabavics said he believes his findings were softened for political reasons, to avoid damaging US relations with Israel.
The BBC has approached the US Department of State for comment.
The New York Times quoted two unnamed US officials who said the most senior US military official overseeing the case at the time believed there was not adequate evidence to rule out the possibility the killing was accidental. It quoted Lt. Gen. Michael R. Fenzel, then-US security coordinator in the region, saying he was confident that the US reached the right conclusions.
The BBC also approached the Israeli embassy in Washington for comment.
Mr Abu Akleh, who is also a US citizen, described the Biden administration's position on the shooting at the time as a "whitewash".
It aided impunity for the IDF, he said, adding that if the US had held Israel to account in terms of demanding action against the soldiers involved, it could have helped deter the further killings of journalists in Gaza.
"It was from day one we knew everything. They were trying to cover it up... obviously for political gains," said Mr Abu Akleh. "We believe that the US government intentionally downplayed these findings and softened the language just to avoid holding Israel accountable, which is really disappointing. No government should compromise the truth and the safety of its citizens to protect political interests."
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2dnz5zvgxo
danjuno
Cole Phelps, Badge 1247
Netanyahu orders Israeli army to carry out "powerful strikes" in Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating ceasefire
Doesn't seem like much fire has been ceased.
danjuno
Cole Phelps, Badge 1247
Joij21
🔥It's Joever!🔥
The demon is getting stronger. It is being enabled.
Ordnael
I'll be the roundabout
I was actually not expecting a ceasefire to come into existence and I now realise the steam rolling of Gaza will continue under the veneer of a shaky ceasefire.
The world does let Israel do whatever it feels like, indeed!
Do not take this thought as approving of Hamas.
danjuno
Cole Phelps, Badge 1247
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 104, health ministry says, after Hamas accused of killing soldier
At least 104 Palestinians were killed in a wave of Israeli strikes in Gaza on Tuesday night, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry says.
The Israeli military said it struck "dozens of terror targets and terrorists" in response to violations by Hamas of the US-brokered ceasefire deal.
Israel's defence minister accused Hamas of an attack in Gaza that killed an Israeli soldier, and of breaching the terms on returning deceased hostages' bodies. Hamas said it had "no connection" to the attack and that Israel was trying to undermine the deal.
US President Donald Trump maintained "nothing" would jeopardise the ceasefire, but added that Israel should "hit back" when its soldiers were targeted.
Watch: Explosions seen in Gaza after Netanyahu orders strikes
The Israeli strikes hit homes, schools and residential blocks in Gaza City and Beit Lahia in the north of Gaza, Bureij and Nuseirat in the centre, and Khan Younis in the south.
Witnesses in Gaza City described seeing "pillars of fire and smoke" rising into the air as explosions shook several residential areas.
Gaza's health ministry said a total of 104 people were killed, including 46 children and 20 women, and that more than 250 others were injured.
Three women and a man who were pulled from the rubble of the al-Banna family's home in the southern Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.
In the urban Bureij refugee camp, five members of the Abu Sharar family were killed in a strike on their home in the Block 7 area, it said.
At Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, women gathered to mourn over the bodies of a mother, Bayan al-Shawaf, and her four children who were killed in a strike on a tent at a camp for displaced families in the al-Mawasi area.
"What kind of world is this? Is this the ceasefire?" asked Bayan's cousin, Umm Mohammed. "They [the children] were sleeping. They were wanting to learn."
Israel says coffin from Hamas did not contain another hostage's body
Egypt and Red Cross join search for hostage bodies in Gaza
Gaza children dying as they wait for Israel to enable evacuations
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday morning that it had "begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire" after carrying out a series of strikes on what it described as "dozens of terror targets and terrorists", including at least 30 commanders of armed groups.
"The IDF will continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and will respond firmly to any violation of it," it added.
A brief statement put out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Tuesday evening said he had ordered the IDF to carry out "forceful strikes" on Gaza but did not specify his reasons.
However, his defence minister said Hamas had crossed "a bright red line" by launching an attack on Israeli soldiers in Gaza on Tuesday.
"Hamas will pay many times over for attacking the soldiers and for violating the agreement to return the fallen hostages," Israel Katz warned.
On Wednesday morning, the IDF announced that a reservist soldier, Master Sergeant Yona Efraim Feldbaum, was killed.
A military source said the attack took place in the southern city of Rafah on the Israeli side of the so-called "Yellow Line", which demarcates IDF-controlled territory inside Gaza under the ceasefire deal.
Sgt Feldbaum was killed when one of the vehicles of an IDF engineering team that was dismantling an underground tunnel route in Rafah was hit by fire from "terrorists in the area", according to the source.
"A few minutes later, several anti-tank missiles were fired at another armoured vehicle belonging to the troops in the area. No injuries were reported," they added.
Hamas insisted on Tuesday that it had "no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah".
On Wednesday, the group stressed that it remained committed to the ceasefire agreement and accused the Israel of seeking to undermine it with the strikes.
The US played down concerns that all-out hostilities could resume.
On board Air Force One, President Trump told reporters: "As I understand it, they took out, they killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back."
"Nothing is going to jeopardise" the ceasefire, he said. "You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave."
UN human rights chief Volker Türk said the reports of so many people being killed were "appalling" and urged all sides not to let the opportunity for peace "slip from our grasp".
On Wednesday afternoon, hours after announcing it had resumed the ceasefire, the IDF said it had carried out a new air strike on a site in the northern town of Beit Lahia where weapons and "aerial means" intended for an imminent attack were stored.
Palestinian media reported that one person was killed in the al-Salateen area.
Anadolu via Getty Images
Palestinians try to clear the rubble of destroyed buildings in Khan Younis, southern Gaza
On Tuesday afternoon, Israel's prime minister had pledged to take unspecified "steps" against Hamas after the group handed over the previous day a coffin containing human remains that did not belong to one of the 13 deceased hostages still in Gaza.
Netanyahu's office said forensic tests showed they belonged to Ofir Tzarfati, an Israeli hostage whose body was recovered by Israeli forces in Gaza in late 2023, and that this constituted a "clear violation" of the ceasefire deal.
The IDF also released footage from a drone that it said showed Hamas operatives "removing body remains from a structure that had been prepared in advance and burying them nearby" in eastern Gaza City on Monday.
"Shortly afterwards," it added, the operatives "summoned representatives of the Red Cross and staged a false display of discovering a deceased hostage's body."
Hamas rejected what it called the "baseless allegations" and accused Israel of "seeking to fabricate false pretexts in preparation for taking new aggressive steps".
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) later condemned what it called the "fake recovery", saying it had attended the scene "at the request of Hamas" and "in good faith".
It went on: "The ICRC team at this location were not aware that a deceased person had been placed there prior to their arrival, as seen in the footage – in general, our role as neutral intermediary does not include unearthing of the bodies of the deceased.
"Our team only observed what appeared to be the recovery of remains without prior knowledge of the circumstances leading up to it.
"It is unacceptable that a fake recovery was staged, when so much depends on this agreement being upheld and when so many families are still anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones."
Reuters
The Red Cross has been transferring the deceased hostages returned by Hamas
The ceasefire agreement brokered by the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey is supposed to implement the first stage of Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan.
It said Hamas would return its 48 living and deceased hostages within 72 hours of the ceasefire taking effect on 10 October.
All 20 living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.
Israel has also handed over the bodies of 195 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the 13 Israeli hostages so far returned by Hamas, along with those of two foreign hostages - one of them Thai and the other Nepalese.
Eleven of the dead hostages still in Gaza are Israelis, one is Tanzanian, and one is Thai.
On Saturday, Hamas's chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said the group was facing challenges because Israeli forces had "altered the terrain of Gaza". He also said that "some of those who buried the bodies have been martyred or no longer remember where they buried them".
However, the Israeli government insists Hamas knows the locations of all the bodies.
Although the ceasefire deal appeared to acknowledge that Hamas might not be able to return all the deceased hostages within the original timeframe, Trump warned the group on Saturday that it had to hand over those remaining "quickly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will take action".
All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, during which about 1,200 other people were killed.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,600 people have been killed, including more than 200 since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory's health ministry.
Lexicus
Deity
Everyone should understand that the initial "attack" being blamed on Hamas was almost certainly an Israeli bulldozer running over unexploded Israeli ordnance, of which there is so much in Gaza that it has comprised the majority of the resistance's supply of 'new' munitions for some time now.
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Israeli troops kill municipal worker in south Lebanon raid
Israeli troops carried out an incursion into a south Lebanese town overnight, killing a municipal employee, state media report, amid an escalation of Israeli attacks in Lebanon.The troops, accompanied by drones and light armoured vehicles, entered Blida and stormed the town hall, where the employee - named as Ibrahim Salameh - was sleeping, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency.
The Israeli military said its troops were conducting an operation to "dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure", without providing evidence that the building was being used by the group.
Israel's operation drew a furious response in Lebanon, where a ceasefire ended a war between them last November.
Israel's military says troops encountered a "suspect" inside the building and opened fire when an "immediate threat" was identified, it added. It was not clear whether Salameh had been the target of the operation.
Israel has stepped up its attacks on people and targets it says are linked to Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim group backed by Iran.
The Lebanese President, Joseph Aoun, instructed the commander of the Lebanese army to confront any Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced the killing of Salameh and the incursion as a "flagrant violation of Lebanese institutions and sovereignty".
He said Lebanon would continue pressing the United Nations and ceasefire guarantors "to ensure a halt to the repeated violations and the implementation of a complete Israeli withdrawal from our lands".
Protests were held on Thursday morning in Blida and nearby towns, where residents blocked roads with burning tyres to denounce what they called a "blatant aggression" and the state's failure to protect civilians.
Over recent days, Israel intensified its strikes across Lebanon, saying it was targeting Hezbollah positions.
A second Israeli operation was reported overnight in the nearby village of Adaisseh, where residents say troops blew up a religious ceremonial hall.
Israeli warplanes also flew over parts of southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley on Thursday, while drones were again seen circling low above Beirut's southern suburbs.
During a meeting of ceasefire monitors on Wednesday, US envoy Morgan Ortagus said Washington welcomed Lebanon's "decision to bring all weapons under state control by the end of the year", adding that the Lebanese army "must now fully implement its plan".
Under the ceasefire agreement, Israeli troops were to withdraw from southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah was to move its fighters north of the Litani river and dismantle its military infrastructure there - a plan the group and its allies strongly oppose.
Only the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping force, Unifil, are authorised to deploy armed personnel in the area south of the Litani, but Israel has maintained positions at several strategic border sites.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrz6gkk5p3o
