“An era of unchecked barbarity” – Day 408

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“An era of unchecked barbarity” – Day 408
Palestinian residents of northern Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp flee to other areas with the belongings they could carry, as Israel continues a ground assault in the area (Mahmoud İssa/Anadolu)

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Israeli attacks killed 76 Palestinians and wounded 158 in Gaza on Monday. Among the dead were at least 17 killed in one house in an Israeli air strike near Kamal Adwan Hospital.

UN Special Committee pleads on behalf of Gaza

Peter Mohan Maithri Pieris made the following remarks as he formally presented a report by the UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices in Palestine, which likened Israel’s policy in Gaza to genocide.

Before we delve into our report’s findings, let us take a moment, I say, to take a step back and reflect on the broader picture: Under our watch, we have been permitting the clock to turn back to an era of unchecked barbarity.

The very persecution we once vowed would never happen again, now permitted under the guise of technological precision, the manipulation of international law, the insidious disinformation.

Our inaction is not only failing to protect innocent lives from the ravages of war, it is unraveling the international legal system itself, a framework painstakingly built to protect peace and security for all.

So I ask the question, to what end does our silence ultimately serve? Surely it is serving to tear lives apart, fuel endless cycles of violence, set an entire region ablaze, and dismantle the very protections we established to safeguard humanity. All for the short term geopolitical interest of a few.

As I present this report, I urge each and every one of you: Do not turn a deaf ear. History will not forgive or forget our inaction and complicity.

Madam Chair, this year’s report examines the mass civilian casualties and life threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians in Gaza. Our findings conclude that Israel‘s methods of war align with the characteristics of genocide.

Field executions, starvation, and forced displacement by Israeli army in northern Gaza

For the past 43 days, the Israeli army has been conducting its third incursion and military offensive against northern Gaza and its residents, committing heinous atrocities.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor documented dozens of deliberate killings and new field executions carried out by Israeli occupation forces against numerous civilians in northern Gaza.

Among the numerous atrocities committed by Israeli forces—ranging from bombing homes with residents inside, to mass killings of displaced civilians in shelters, and the targeting of gatherings and vehicles—Euro-Med Monitor’s field team documented harrowing incidents of direct killings and extrajudicial executions of civilians by Israeli soldiers, carried out with no justification whatsoever.

Euro-Med Monitor’s field team documented the killing of Khaled Mustafa Ismail Al-Shafai (58) and his eldest son Ibrahim (21) by Israeli forces. They were shot inside their home in Beit Lahia in front of their family on Wednesday, 13 November 2024.

Tamam Abdel Maqadmeh (61), a resident of Beit Lahia, shared the harrowing details of the crime with the Euro-Med Monitor team…(continue reading here).

Families bid farewell to loved ones killed in Israeli attacks
Families bid farewell to loved ones killed in Israeli attacks (Getty)

70,000 civilians in northern Gaza are at risk of starvation and deadly thirst

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirmed that more than 65,000 Palestinians are suffering inhumane conditions in the northern Gaza Strip due to the continued Israeli bombardment and deprivation of basic necessities for living.

The statement referred to the “the scale of death, destruction and deprivation”, stressing that “civilians must be able to receive the humanitarian assistance they need, wherever they are. All of this is required by international humanitarian law.”

Palestinians, including children, wait to receive food distributed by an aid organisation in, Gaza on November 18, 2024
Palestinians, including children, wait to receive food distributed by an aid organisation in, Gaza on November 18, 2024 (Hassan Jedi/Anadolu Agency)

Israel denies child’s medical evacuation

A girl in Gaza has been left with life-changing injuries to her face after an Israeli air strike.

Nongovernment organizations, doctors and activists are calling on Israel to allow Mazyouna to leave the Strip so she can get reconstructive treatment. Israel has so far refused.

Large food convoy looted in Gaza; 20 looters killed in crackdown

A convoy of 109 trucks was violently looted on Saturday after entering Gaza, resulting in the loss of 98 trucks, an official from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has said.

The looting is one of the worst such incidents in the more than 13-month Israeli assault on the besieged and bombarded enclave, Louise Wateridge, senior emergency officer for UNRWA, said on Monday.

Gaza’s Interior Ministry says at least 20 people were killed in an operation targeting “gangs” that looted United Nations trucks bringing aid into the war-torn territory threatened with famine.

“More than 20 members of gangs involved in stealing aid trucks were killed in a security operation carried out by security forces in cooperation with tribal committees,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Today’s security operation will not be the last. The phenomenon of truck thefts … has severely impacted society and led to signs of famine in southern Gaza.”

The statement called the operation “the beginning of a broad security campaign that has been long planned and will expand to include everyone involved in the theft of aid trucks”.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing in New York Monday that only 11 of the convoy’s 109 trucks made it to the warehouse where they were expected.

NOTE: Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported last week on Israel’s part in the starvation of Gaza:

The Israeli military is allowing armed Palestinians to loot aid convoys entering Gaza and to extort protection money from them, say sources in international aid organizations working in the enclave.

The sources told Haaretz that the armed groups are systematically looting a large portion of the aid shipments entering Gaza through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing – yet the IDF has turned a blind eye. And since some of the aid groups refuse to pay protection money, the aid often ends up sitting in warehouses that are under Israeli army control.

Sources working in Gaza say the armed attacks take place just a few hundred meters away from Israeli troops. Some aid groups say attacked truck drivers have even sought help from the IDF, but the army has refused to intervene. Moreover, they say, the army bars them from taking alternate roads that are considered safer.

Truck drivers and officials from international aid organizations charge that the soldiers can see the attacks on the convoys, yet do nothing (read more here).

Palestinian truck drivers and United Nations vehicles wait near the Rafah border gate after the Israeli army took control of the Rafah Border Gate, Gaza on May 14, 2024.
Palestinian truck drivers and United Nations vehicles wait near the Rafah border gate after the Israeli army took control of the Rafah Border Gate, Gaza on May 14, 2024. (Hani Alshaer – Anadolu Agency)
Nour Ahmad Mustafa Arafat
Nour Ahmad Mustafa Arafat (IMEMC)

West Bank: Israeli Soldiers Execute a Palestinian Teen in Nablus

Israeli forces executed a Palestinian teen, on Monday, after shooting him with three live rounds, during a military incursion into the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

The Palestinian Health Ministry announced that Nour Ahmad Mustafa Arafat, 18, succumbed to critical gunshot wounds, inflicted on him by occupation forces in Nablus city.

The Ministry added that Israeli soldiers shot the teen in the chest, abdomen, and shoulder with live ammunition; he was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead from his critical wounds.

Since the beginning of the Israeli military onslaught against the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have killed 785 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 167 children, and injured 6,300.

Netanyahu: Attacks on Hezbollah will continue even with truce

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will continue to operate militarily against Hezbollah even if a ceasefire deal is reached in Lebanon.

“The most important thing is not [the deal that] will be laid on paper,” Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament. “We will be forced to ensure our security in the north and to systematically carry out operations against Hezbollah’s attacks … even after a ceasefire.”

Israeli forces have killed over 3,500 Lebanese and destroyed large swaths of land.

People inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of al-Ain near Baalbek in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, on 7 November 2024.
People inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of al-Ain near Baalbek in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, on 7 November 2024. (Getty)

War Crimes Allegations – Vacationing Israeli Officer Forced to Flee Cyprus

The Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported on Monday that an officer in the Israeli occupation army was forced to flee Cyprus, where he was on a tourist trip with his wife, to avoid potential legal action.

Elisha Livman During The Gaza Genocide
Elisha Livman During The Gaza Genocide (social media)

“On the advice of Israel’s Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice, a reserve officer who served in Gaza was compelled to leave Cyprus over the weekend due to concerns that pro-Palestinian organizations might seek his arrest on charges of war crimes,” the report said.

The officer, identified as Elisha Livman (just E.L. in Yedioth Ahronoth), reportedly fled after the Belgian Hind Rajab Foundation released video footage showing him participating in criminal operations in the Gaza Strip.

“During his reserve service in Gaza, the officer (…) uploaded multiple videos of himself to social media,” Yedioth Ahronoth said, adding that Livman also announced that he was traveling to Cyprus along with his wife.

In one clip, Livman is heard saying, “We will not stop until we burn all of Gaza.”

According to the report, Livman received an urgent call from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which had coordinated with the Ministry of Justice.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the Ministry of Justice and the Israeli Embassy in Cyprus, contacted the officer to warn him of the growing risk,” according to Yedioth Ahronoth.

The ministries advised him to leave Cyprus immediately to avoid prosecution on charges of war crimes and genocide (read more from the Hind Rajab Foundation here).

Amsterdam mayor retracts ‘pogrom’ comments, Israeli foreign minister calls it ‘outrageous and unacceptable’

The mayor of Amsterdam has taken back comments describing violence that took place following a football match between Israeli and Dutch teams earlier this month as a “pogrom”, and has said Israel “bypassed” Dutch authorities regarding the details of the events. Mayor Femke Halsema was speaking on Sunday evening on Dutch state broadcaster NPO’s News Hour program.

On 6 and 7 November, travelling Maccabi Tel Aviv fans stirred trouble in different parts of the Dutch capital by chanting racist anti-Arab slogans ahead of their Uefa Europa League match against Amsterdam club Ajax.

“But I have to say that in the days after, I saw how the word ‘pogrom’ became very political and turned into propaganda.”

Halsema said that the Israeli government spoke of a “Palestinian pogrom in the streets of Amsterdam”, adding that the term pogrom was later being used by Dutch politicians “to discriminate against Moroccan Amsterdammers and Muslims” (read more about Halsema’s retraction here).

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has slammed Amsterdam’s Mayor Femke Halsema after she told a panel that she regrets using the word “pogrom” when referring to recent violent clashes between Israeli football fans and pro-Palestinian protesters in the Dutch capital city.

On X, Saar said that Halsema’s statement was “outrageous and unacceptable”, adding that Israelis who were watching the football match in question were “chased and brutally attacked by a violent mob”.

“The most appropriate word for what happened is therefore: pogrom. Contrary to what the mayor said, the use of the word ‘pogrom’ regarding the events of that night does not amount to ‘Israeli propaganda’,” Sa’ar said.

“It was also used by senior Dutch politicians, who recognized the seriousness and anti-Semitic nature of the incident, including Geert Wilders, Caroline van der Plas and Chris Stopper. We will never again accept the persecution of Jews on European soil or anywhere else!”

For details on the post-game riots, go here.

Tension had been simmering for days in Amsterdam and was instigated by the provocative acts of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans
Tension had been simmering for days in Amsterdam and was instigated by the provocative acts of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans (Getty)

US hits Israel settler group with sanctions over West Bank violence

The United States imposed sanctions on Monday on Israeli settler group, Amana, accusing the organization of helping perpetrate violence in the Occupied West Bank, which has seen a rise in settler attacks on Palestinians.

Amana provides support to unauthorized settler outposts that are used to expand Jewish settlements and seize Palestinian land, the Treasury Department said in a statement announcing the sanctions, calling the group “a key part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement”.

The sanctions block Americans from any transactions with Amana and freeze its US-held assets. The United Kingdom and Canada have also imposed sanctions on Amana.

The latest measures taken against Israeli settlers by the Biden administration could be quickly reversed under President-elect, Donald Trump, whose incoming administration is expected to be pro-settler.

Settler violence had been on the rise prior to the eruption of the Gaza war, and has worsened since the conflict began over a year ago.

Most countries deem the settlements illegal under international law, a position disputed by Israel.

Last week, nearly 90 US lawmakers urged Biden to impose sanctions on Amana, as well as on two ministers in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. The ministers have not been sanctioned.

Jewish settlers Israeli security forces amid raid in Hebron, West Bank
Jewish settlers Israeli security forces amid raid in Hebron, West Bank (Anadolu/Getty Images)
RECOMMENDED READING: ‘Hilltop Youth’: Israeli model of settler ideology rooted in violence, terror against Palestinians

MORE NEWS:

IMEMC Daily Reports.
The Cradle: Netanyahu aide jailed over leaks linked to ‘sabotage’ of captives rescue placed on suicide watch

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – NOVEMBER 18, 2024:

Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – November 18, 2024: at least 44,757* ( 43,972 in Gaza* – 69% are women and children, according to Gaza’s Media Office). [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]

This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified. This does not include an estimated 10,000 more in Gaza still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children).

In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers and/or settlers have killed at least 785 Palestinians (~167 of them children).

In July 2024, the Lancet said: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.

Ralph Nader earlier estimated 300,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.

  • At least 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons.
  • At least 43 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition (at least 37 of them children)**.
  • About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
  • About 345,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – November 18, 2024: at least 110,308 (including at least 104,008 in Gaza and 6,300 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – November 18, 2024: ~1,582 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 404*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza (updated: Nov 19); 39 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.

The death toll in Lebanon since October 8, 2023 is at least 3,516, with 14,929 injuries.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.

**Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals. 

***The figure does not include the reportedly 56 Israeli soldiers – nearly 16% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents. 

† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

Hover over each bar for exact numbers.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
 

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