UN: Israel committed crime of “extermination”; US defense commander was in Israel during Nuseirat massacre – Day 249

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UN: Israel committed crime of “extermination”; US defense commander was in Israel during Nuseirat massacre – Day 249
“The immense numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza and widespread destruction of civilian objects and infrastructure were the inevitable result of a strategy undertaken with intent to cause maximum damage, disregarding the principles of distinction, proportionality and adequate precautions" UN Commission of Inquiry. (source)

On top of genocide and famine, Israel is accused of the crime of extermination; US presence in Israel during Nuseirat attack; Blinken un-ironically calls on nations to donate for Gaza aid; 3,000 at-risk children could die “before their families’ eyes” without aid; 6 killed in West Bank for second day in a row; House proposes millions more to Israel; US experts say “policies should be America first, not Israel first”; US Congress members have an “AIPAC guy”…

By IAK staff, from reports.

Israel committed crimes against humanity in Gaza, including extermination, UN probe finds:

AFP and Reuters report: An independent United Nations investigation concluded Wednesday that Israel had committed crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza, including the crime of “extermination”.

“The crimes against humanity of extermination; murder; gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys; forcible transfer; and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were committed,” the Commission of Inquiry (COI) said in a report, due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next week.

Two reports, which cover the conflict through to end-December, found that both Israel and Palestinian armed group committed war crimes including torture; murder or willful killing; outrages upon personal dignity; and inhuman or cruel treatment.

Israel also committed additional war crimes including starvation as a method of warfare, it said, saying Israel not only failed to provide essential supplies like food, water, shelter and medicine to Palestinians but “acted to prevent the supply of those necessities by anyone else”.

Some of the war crimes such as murder also constituted crimes against humanity by Israel, the COI statement said, using a term reserved for the most serious international crimes knowingly committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians.

“The immense numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza and widespread destruction of civilian objects and infrastructure were the inevitable result of a strategy undertaken with intent to cause maximum damage, disregarding the principles of distinction, proportionality and adequate precautions,” the COI statement said.

Israel does not cooperate with the commission, which it says has an anti-Israel bias. The COI says Israel obstructs its work and prevented investigators from accessing both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israel condemned the report and accused the commission of “systematic anti-Israeli discrimination”.

Hamas did not immediately comment.

Nuseirat refugee camp. (source)

US CENTCOM Commander was in Israel during Nuseirat camp massacre:

Middle East Monitor reports: The commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), General Erik Kurilla, visited Israel over the weekend at the invitation of Israeli Chief of Staff General Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military announced on Tuesday.

The visit coincided with Israel’s gruesome massacre of at least 275 Palestinians  and the wounding of 689 others (mostly women, children, and elderly) in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday during an operation to rescue four hostages.

“Kurilla and Halevi held an operational situation assessment, discussed recent regional challenges and the strengthening of the strategic partnership against the Iranian threat,” said Israeli occupation army spokesman Avichai Adraee said on X on Tuesday. “They also discussed developments in the war against Hamas [sic] in the Gaza Strip and ongoing Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon.”

The occupation army did not elaborate on the program of Kurilla’s visit.

CENTCOM Commander General Michael Erik Kurilla met with IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in Israel, the IDF said on June 11, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

“Absolute devastation – Homes, hospitals, schools, universities, agriculture”

Unicef spokesperson James Elder says “so much suffering is being inflicted on Gaza”.

“The intentions must now be clear. The absolute devastation of Gaza, indeed, it’s already happened,” Elder, who is currently in the coastal enclave, added in video post on X.

“Homes, hospitals, schools, universities, agriculture, the economy … devastated. And still the bombs fall”.

EU Commissioner for Crisis Management calls for ceasefire and humanitarian access in Gaza

Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, has issued the following statement:

The vast majority of the population of the Gaza strip is fully dependent on humanitarian aid. A ceasefire is desperately needed to deliver life-saving aid to those in need and to secure the release of the hostages.

The humanitarian situation and severe food insecurity are likely to deteriorate further, at a time when rising temperatures are aggravating the health and sanitation crisis inside Gaza owing to damaged sewage and waste treatment systems, making living conditions even worse.

Aid is piling up at Gaza’s borders when children are dying of hunger just a few kilometers away. We can and we must stop this catastrophe.

The crucial Rafah crossing point must be re-opened, and Kerem Shalom, crossing points in the North of Gaza as well as the Jordan corridor and any other available option for access must be used to the fullest possible extent.

Ensuring the safety of humanitarian personnel assisting the most vulnerable is also crucial. As I stressed to our Jordanian partners, the EU stands ready to further step up its support for the Jordan corridor as a vital route for channelling assistance to Gaza.

The EU calls on Israel and all parties involved to abide by International Humanitarian Law to avoid further bloodshed among innocent civilians. The time for action is now.”

For many in Gaza, the only meal they eat each day is from a food kitchen.
For many in Gaza, the only meal they eat each day is from a food kitchen. (screenshot)

Almost 3,000 malnourished children at risk of “dying before their families’ eyes” as Rafah offensive disconnects them from treatment

Statement from UNICEF: Almost 3,000 children have been cut off from treatment for moderate and severe acute malnutrition in southern Gaza, putting them at risk of death as harrowing violence and displacement continue to impact access to healthcare facilities and services for desperate families.

This number, based on reporting from UNICEF’s nutrition partners, equates to approximately three-quarters of the 3,800 children who were estimated to be receiving life-saving care in the south ahead of the escalating conflict in Rafah.

“Horrific images continue to emerge from Gaza of children dying before their families’ eyes due to the continued lack of food, nutrition supplies, and the destruction of healthcare services,” said UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Adele Khodr.  “Unless treatment can be quickly resumed for these 3,000 children, they are at immediate and serious risk of becoming critically ill, acquiring life-threatening complications, and joining the growing list of boys and girls who have been killed by this senseless, man-made deprivation.”

“UNICEF has more nutrition supplies prepositioned to arrive in the Gaza Strip, if access allows,” said Khodr. “United Nations agencies are seeking assurances that humanitarian operations can safely collect and distribute aid to children and their families without interruption. We need better operating conditions on the ground, with more safety and less restrictions. But ultimately, it is a ceasefire that children need most.”

Israeli forces say military operation in central Gaza ends

Israeli forces have announced the end of their military operation in the central Gaza Strip, about six days after its launch.

During the operation, Israeli forces rescued four captives on Saturday in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Hamas said three captives were also killed in the operation.

‘Trail of destruction’ after Israeli operation in Nuseirat
‘Trail of destruction’ after Israeli operation in Nuseirat (screenshot)

Blinken’s spin on Gaza is “surreal”

From Al Jazeera: Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended the summit in Jordan, bringing with him strong US opinions. Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara offers commentary on what Blinken had to say:

There’s something surrealistic about listening to a US secretary of state recounting the disaster that Gaza has become, the destruction of hospitals and schools, the deaths of people, of entire families, as if they were not killed by American ammunition, as if the United States did not block every attempt at an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the past three months.

US Sec'y of State Antony Blinken
US Sec’y of State Antony Blinken (screenshot)

But be that as it may, now we all learned the lesson once again that when it comes to America, it’s either America’s way or the highway – that in as far as America is concerned, American might is right and everything else is wrong and hence, until America passed its own resolution taking into consideration a good number of points by other countries, including the Algerians and apparently the Russians and the Chinese.

The resolution has passed and Hamas has welcomed it, and yet the secretary of state continues to emphasize that now it’s only up to Hamas and everyone needs to pressure Hamas to accept a ceasefire when in fact Hamas and others in Gaza have died for a ceasefire. They have always been, for the past eight months, dying for a ceasefire taking place.

So, if anything, the people in Gaza, including Hamas, want a ceasefire more than anyone else, including the United States and Israel.

NOTE: the United States at the Tuesday summit promised more than $400 million in new aid for the Palestinians, and had strong words for countries that have held back:
“Some who have expressed great concern over the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza, including countries with the capacity to give a lot, have provided very little or nothing at all. It is time for everyone – every one – to step up. And for those who have already given and given generously, give more,” he said.
The US has cut off funding for the largest humanitarian organization working in Gaza, UNRWA, and has provided billions in military aid to Israel, while turning a blind eye to Israel’s active withholding of humanitarian aid.

Ambassador Chas Freeman and Lt. Col. Daniel say US policies should be America first, not Israel first:

US received and is evaluating Hamas response to ceasefire deal, says White House

The US has received Hamas’s formal reply to a UN-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal sent to Qatari and Egyptian mediators, White House spokesperson John Kirby says.

Kirby told reporters that it was helpful to have a response from Hamas and that US officials are currently evaluating it.

Earlier today, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the UN Security Council’s vote in favor of the Gaza ceasefire plan made it “as clear as it possibly could be” that the world supports the proposal.

Thousands in Israeli detention being tortured, abused: Prisoner rights group

Al Jazeera reports: Testimonies from several prisoners who were forcibly disappeared by the Israeli army from Gaza and were just released have revealed that detainees are being subject to torture, a rights group says.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said that thousands of Gaza detainees are still subject to enforced disappearance. Israeli authorities refuse to disclose their identities and places of detention, and is preventing the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting them.

“With the release of some Gaza, accounts of torture crimes and harsh detention conditions are emerging, in addition to the state of the released prisoners, which reflects the level of torture and humiliation to which they were subjected,” the group said.

The group also said that Israeli authorities are refusing to disclose the number of prisoners who have died in prison.

“The Prisoners’ Club renews its demand for the necessity of an international investigation into the crimes and grave violations committed against detainees and prisoners in Israeli prisons and camps.”

RECOMMENDED READING (Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor): Hostages of Israeli revenge in the Gaza Strip: Testimonies of 100 released Palestinian detainees reveal crimes of torture, cruel treatment

West Bank: occupation forces kill six Palestinians in raid

WAFA reports: Israeli occupation forces Tuesday evening killed six Palestinians and injured another in a raid in the Kafr Dan village, west of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, according to the Health Ministry.

The Ministry confirmed that occupation forces gunned down Saqr Aref Abed, 28, Ahmad Mohammad Samoudi, 24, Ayman Abdul-Karim Abu Fadaleh, 24, Mohammad Hazza Meri, 32,  Mustafa Allam Meri, 21, and Ahmad Mohammad Abu Obeid, 21.

Local sources said that Israeli special forces sneaked their way into the village.

A video shared online showed an Israeli army helicopter opening fire over the town.

Sources added that the soldiers prevented ambulances from reaching the scene and opened fire at them.

More detail on the incident can be found here.

US: Congress aims to provide millions more to Israel

The AIPAC-endorsed bill amends the current authorization for U.S.-Israel anti-tunneling cooperation to increase the funding from $50 million to $80 million a year.

Middle East Eye reports: Congress is eyeing deepening cooperation between the US and Israeli militaries on tunnel fighting, as a result of the Hamas-led 7 October attacks on southern Israel. (sponsors)

In a proposed amendment to the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a bipartisan group of lawmakers aim to improve cooperation between the United States and Israel on anti-tunnel defense capabilities.

The legislation has been proposed by Republican Congressmen Joe Wilson, Don Bacon and Doug Lamborn, alongside Democrats Ruben Gallego, Brad Schneider and Seth Moulton.

In addition to enhancing cooperation, the lawmakers are calling on the US to provide an additional $30m to Israel to detect, map and fight in underground tunnels. Last year the US provided $47.5m for the efforts.

(Read the full article here.)

Massie: US Congress members have an “AIPAC guy” who guides their actions

Breaking Points co-hosts Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti discuss Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie:

German court refuses request to block arms exports to Israel

Reuters reports: A Berlin court has rejected an urgent request by Palestinian residents to halt the German government’s export of weapons to Israel on the grounds that they might be used in violation of humanitarian law, Reuters news agency reported.

The court said that the Palestinian plaintiffs had not shown that decisions on arms exports to Israel were actually pending, as Germany had abstained from issuing any this year, or that Germany was likely to permit exports in violation of international humanitarian law.

Legal teams representing the Palestinians argued there were reasons to believe such violations are taking place.

They called the ruling incomprehensible, adding that the government kept pending arms export applications secret.

Lawyer Ahmed Abed said the government’s suppression of information about weapons and war crimes “puts the lives of our clients at risk”.

Last year, Germany approved arms exports to Israel worth 326 million euros ($354 million), 10 times more than in 2022.

UK approved more than 100 arms export licenses to Israel since Gaza war

Middle East Monitor reports: The UK has issued more than 100 arms export licenses to Israel between October and May, according to government figures.

Of the 108 licenses, 37 were categorized as military and 63 as non-military, which may include telecommunications equipment for use by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In total, there are currently 345 licenses for arms sales to Israel, including those issued before 7 October.

The Department for Business and Trade released these figures today in response to what it described as “exceptional circumstances, and the significant Parliamentary and public interest”.

No license was revoked since Israel launched its brutal bombing campaign in Gaza, which experts have said is genocidal, nor have any been refused, with 185 applications still pending.

RECOMMENDED READING: New report shows Biden is going to extraordinary lengths to continue arming Israel.

Jordan to host summit on Gaza situation

Jordan announced an emergency international conference on the situation in Gaza. Organizers said the agenda will include:

    • Accelerate the process of delivering and providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza in an immediate, sufficient and sustainable manner.
    • Identify ways to strengthen the international community’s response to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
    • Identify the operational, logistical and supply needs to urgently deliver all vital aid to Gaza.
    • Bring commitment for a collective coordinated response to address the current humanitarian situation in Gaza.
    • Ensure sustainable aid pipelines and create conditions conducive to the safe delivery of aid and protection of civilians in Gaza.

MORE NEWS:

Mondoweiss: Gaza resistance sources say fear is rising U.S. pier will be used for forced displacement of Palestinians

IMEMC Reports.

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – JUNE 11:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – June 11: at least 37,704* (37,164 in Gaza* – 4,959 women (20%), 7,797 children (32%). This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 545 in the West Bank (~134 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 43,640 Palestinian deaths. (Ralph Nader has estimated 200,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.)
At least 42 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 14 from West Bank).
At least 37 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition**.
About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
About 1.1 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are facing Catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – June 11: at least 89,872 (including at least 84,832 in Gaza and 5,040 in the West Bank).
It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – June 11: ~1,449 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 295 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.
Times of Israel reports: The IDF listed 41 soldiers killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents – nearly 16%.
NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel 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. 
Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

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

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