Following Amnesty report, Biden administration still can’t say “genocide” – Day 425

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Gaza’s Ministry of Health says Israeli attacks on the enclave killed 48 Palestinians and wounded 201 in the latest 24-hour reporting period.

Israel released 34 Palestinian detainees from the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday showing signs of torture as well as extreme weakness and exhaustion.

They were brought to the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip after being released via the Kerem Shalom border crossing, a medical source told Anadolu.

The source said that medical teams immediately began conducting necessary medical exams and providing health care to the detainees upon their arrival.

He noted that they appeared to be severely exhausted, weak and fatigued, with some showing signs of torture.

The source added that the detainees were arrested by the Israeli military from various areas of northern Gaza, particularly from the town of Beit Lahia and the Jabalia refugee camp, during Israel’s ongoing genocidal campaign that has been taking place for 62 days

According to the Gaza Media Office, Israel has detained more than 1,750 Palestinians from northern Gaza since Oct. 5, 2024.

Another Palestinian detainee dies in Israeli custody

A Palestinian detainee died in Israeli custody on Thursday, marking the second death in Israeli prisons within 24 hours, prisoners’ affairs groups said.

Alaa Marwan Hamza al-Mahlawi, 42, from Gaza, died one day after Mohammad Walid Hussein Ali, 45, from the West Bank.

Mahlawi was detained by Israel on Dec. 21, 2023. He had no chronic illnesses before his arrest, and was only suffering from a problem in one of his eyes, according to his family.

The two groups said that Mahlawi, a father of four, was arrested on the same day his father was killed in Gaza.

The new death brought the number of Palestinian detainees who died in Israeli prisons since last year to 49, including 30 from Gaza, according to Palestinian figures.

US, Israel reject allegation of “genocide,” opposing the conclusion of large number of orgs

FROM IAK: In spite of the large consensus around the word “genocide” to describe what is happening in Gaza – most recently augmented by Amnesty International – the United States remains in lockstep with Israel in rejecting the allegation.

The crime of genocide is clearly defined in the Genocide Convention, adopted in 1948, to which both Israel and the United States are signatories.

Notably, the law does not require a minimum number of victims. 

Dozens of humanitarian organizations – most recently, Amnesty International – have rigorously investigated and documented the situation, and declared that Israel is committing genocide or is failing to comply with the Genocide Convention.

Various United Nations agencies – not the least of which is the International Court of Justice – have also found that the term genocide is appropriate.

The Lemkin Institute For Genocide Prevention likewise uses the word genocide to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Others have described what is happening as “the crime against humanity of extermination.”

The United States’ and Israel’s rejection of the many meticulously researched reports only serves to further alienate the two states from the rest of the world.

On Wednesday, Israel bombed a camp of displaced people in the Al-Mawasi ‘safe zone’ near Gaza’s Khan Yunis. The strike happened shortly after the sunset prayer, according to an eyewitness, and resulted in at least 21 deaths with many more burnt in the resulting fire.

The sound signature of the strike and extent of the damage would indicate a type of US-made munition, which has typically been – throughout the assault on Gaza – 1000lb or 2000lb bombs guided by a device called a J-DAM.

Why is the world silent about Israel imprisoning its youngest Palestinian child yet?

On Sunday, 14-year-old Ayham Al-Salaymeh began serving a one-year prison sentence in Israel, becoming the youngest Palestinian ever imprisoned under Israel’s military law.

Before being forced to surrender himself at Al-Moskobiya prison in Jerusalem, Ayham’s father, Nawaf, took him on a final walk through the streets of their hometown, Jerusalem. In a moment captured on video, Nawaf told his son how to survive in prison: “Every prisoner inside is your brother. They were imprisoned because of the love they have for their country.”

Ayham’s case is not an isolated transgression imposed by Israel; it is a reflection of a deeply rooted system of apartheid and oppression. In this system, Palestinian children are criminalized, stripped of their childhoods and imprisoned under conditions that would spark global outrage if they were happening anywhere else. Yet the world remains silent, even as Ayham’s story highlights the brutal machinery of Israel’s military occupation and its impact on the most vulnerable.

Ayham was first arrested in January 2022, at the age of 12, along with four other boys. Accused of throwing stones at Israeli settlers, they were detained by Israeli occupation forces and subjected to humiliating treatment and physical violence during their interrogation, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. After posting bail, Ayham was placed under house arrest, confining him to his home and stripping away his ability to live as a child.

His incarceration comes after the Israeli government passed a law last month permitting the imprisonment of children as young as 12 for offenses categorized as “terrorism”. This controversial measure has become a weapon against Palestinian minors, who are treated as security threats rather than as children deserving of protection.

Ayham’s case is part of a much larger crisis. As of now, 270 Palestinian children are held in Israeli-run prisons, including notorious facilities like Ofer, Megiddo and Damon. These prisons are known for severe human rights abuses, including overcrowding, physical and psychological torture and medical neglect (continue reading here).

RELATED: Israeli soldiers film home invasion and beating of Palestinian in West Bank

Hamas accepts Egyptian proposal to form joint Palestinian committee to run post-war Gaza

Hamas said Thursday that it has accepted an Egyptian proposal to form a joint Palestinian committee to run the Gaza Strip after the ongoing Israeli war.

In a statement, Hamas said it held in-depth talks with the Fatah group in Cairo to form a committee to run Gaza through implementing previously agreed frameworks to achieve Palestinian unity.

“Hamas conveyed its approval of an Egyptian proposal for forming a community support committee that will function through inclusive national mechanisms,” it added.

Hamas said its delegation in Cairo also held talks with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), another Palestinian group, to discuss developments in Gaza and the West Bank.

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Israeli violations of Lebanon ceasefire continue

The Israeli army continues to violate the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon, with 12 new violations on Wednesday, bringing the total to 129 since the agreement began a week ago, according to data from the National News Agency.

Local sources reported today that occupation army bulldozers constructed earth barriers on the road between Shebaa and Birkat Al-Naqqar, protected by Merkava tanks, with the aim of preventing the Lebanese army from reaching a previously-occupied position. As part of its escalation, the Israeli army today blew up houses in the Al-Harsh area in the town of Yaroun, in Bint Jbeil District.

Moreover, Lebanese civil defense teams in Naqoura were subjected to Israeli artillery shelling this afternoon while they were working to remove the rubble and search for victims of earlier bombing, according to the official Lebanese News Agency.

In a new statement, the Israeli army announced today that it has imposed a ban on the residents of 62 villages in southern Lebanon returning to their homes or moving south from a line that passes around these villages, in a move that constitutes a clear violation of international law and the right of civilians to return to their homes.

US senator introduces bill to ban calling occupied West Bank by its name

Tom Cotton, a staunchly pro-Israel Republican, has put forward a measure that would ban the federal government from referring to the occupied West Bank by its name.

The bill, which is unlikely to pass in the final weeks of the outgoing Congress, would require the government to call the Palestinian territory by a biblical name that the Israelis use – Judea and Samaria.

“The US should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel,” Cotton said in a statement.

“The Israeli people have an undeniable and indisputable historical and legal claim over Judea and Samaria, and at this critical moment in history, the United States must reaffirm this.”

NOTE: There is near international consensus that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is an illegally occupied Palestinian territory. Earlier this year, the ICJ – the UN’s top tribunal – ruled that the Israeli occupation is unlawful and demanded its end.

RECOMMENDED READING: What does the Bible really say about modern Israel?

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