Anadolu Agency – January 30, 2024

Israel starving Palestinians to force them out of Gaza

A Europe-based human rights monitor said Israel is starving Palestinians as a means of war to push them out of Gaza or even kill them, as Palestinians are also left with no access to clean water amid Israel's blockade and incessant attacks, which have destroyed civilian infrastructure in the blockaded enclave.

The chairperson of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor Ramy Abdu told Anadolu Agency (AA) about the famine in Gaza, which is under relentless Israeli attacks and blockade, and the difficult conditions faced by Gazans.

He said that people could not cook due to the large-scale food shortage in the Gaza Strip, noting that while an average of 500 truckloads of aid entered the region daily before the start of the ongoing Israeli war, this number is currently at 100 trucks or less.

Abdu said: "We can speak about maybe 50 to 100 trucks that arrived in northern Gaza during the last 100 days at least and a severe hunger in this area (northern Gaza).” He said there is "severe hunger” and a "shortage in everything” in the region. "The people are starving, really starving in this area.”

"More than half a million Palestinians here are suffering very harsh conditions of winter, and a very harsh condition of the shortage of food supplies,” Abdu added.

Recalling the statement of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that aid organizations cannot supply food to the whole of Gaza, he stressed that they have confirmed that there are no aid organizations in northern Gaza.


Children 'most-affected' group

Abdu said that more than half of Gaza residents are facing "critical levels of hunger.” "All of North area residents are suffering from severe and harsh conditions of famine,” he said, adding: "In general, we are talking about more than 75% of Palestinians in Gaza who are suffering from severe levels of hunger.”

"There is no increase in the food supplies and the trucks that are allowed to get into Gaza,” he stated. Abdu said that Israeli soldiers opened fire on those trying to reach food trucks that entered from the south to northern Gaza in small numbers, adding that they had documented that dozens of people lost their lives because of this. "We are talking about 'intentional starvation', particularly in the north area,” he warned.

Children are the "most affected” population by this condition "because they don't have the needed food,” said the head of the rights monitor. He said: "Most of the infants need milk. There is no milk getting inside Gaza, there is no medicine, there are no medical supplies at all, and even the nutrition supplies.” "Women can barely cope with this situation,” he said, adding that they don't eat themselves and give the food to their children.

‘Genocide’

Abdu stressed that Israel has committed "genocide” in the Strip.
 "Israel is using starvation as a means of war to expel Gazans out of Gaza and even to kill them,” he warned. "The other element is the mass killing and we see now the human cost,” the official emphasized. "This is the highest human cost ever in any war.”

"We are talking about 4.5% of Gaza people either were killed or injured or lost,” he stated. "The third element is the explosions and displacing the people of Gaza,” Abdu said. Abdu expressed hope that last week’s International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) decision "will deter the Israeli plans to expel the people but unfortunately during the last 72 hours, we followed up the situation on the ground closely and we found that Israel keeps the same level of killing.”

Stressing that Israel also continues to destroy dozens of residential areas, Abdu said, adding that the country even minimizes the entry of food trucks into Gaza and continues to systematically massacre people by moving them away from the north of Gaza. The official further underscored that the U.N. and international organizations should not comply with Israel's directives and put pressure on Tel Aviv.

He called on the international community to act together, pointing out the importance of speaking with "one voice" so that they can create real pressure on the Israeli side. Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army has been waging a destructive war on Gaza, leaving until Tuesday 26,751 dead and 65,636 wounded, most of them children and women, according to Palestinian authorities.


Gazans forced to drink dirty water as Israel's onslaught continues

Palestinians from the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip queue by a water tanker, plastic containers in hand. For many of them, the wait will be futile. The water tanker has limited capacity and cannot provide water for the hundreds of Palestinians who spend long hours waiting every day. The Gaza Strip suffers from a severe water crisis due to the destruction of infrastructure in the ongoing war.

The situation is particularly dire in the northern governorates of the enclave. Following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Israel has cut off water, food, medicine, electricity, and fuel supplies for the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. Desalination facilities and sewage networks in Gaza have been disrupted due to fuel and electricity shortages since mid-October last year, according to the Palestinian Water Authority.

The U.N. has repeatedly warned of the spread of diseases due to the water crisis, coupled with a lack of hygiene supplies. Christian Lindmeier, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, told AA: "People in Gaza are living a catastrophe, exposed to death from hunger, malnutrition, thirst, or from bullets, injuries, and buildings collapsing over their heads."

Polluted Water

At another area of the camp, Palestinians crowd around one of the water lines destroyed by the Israeli army, trying to fill directly from there.

Karam Abu Nada, a Palestinian in his 30s waiting his turn to fill water from the destroyed line, says that camp residents "gather to get water despite its contamination." He told AA that they usually use polluted water for washing, cleaning, and cooking. Sometimes they wait up to 10 days to procure this water, he said.

Gazans are forced to ration water consumption as it is only available every few days. They minimize the amounts used for bathing, washing dishes, and cleaning. Abu Nada says polluted water is affecting them, especially children, causing intestinal and skin diseases amid a lack of medicines to treat them.

Widespread disease

Raed Radwan, a 50-year-old Palestinian from Gaza City, says his family has been facing a continuous water crisis. "We obtain water by filling a few plastic gallons from one of the clubs in the area where we reside, which pumps water from a private well once every 3-4 days due to a shortage of fuel," he said.

He said the quantity they receive is not enough to meet his family's needs even for a single day, forcing them to reduce their consumption. "Before the war, this water was used only for washing dishes and cleaning, but today we use it for drinking, which has caused us several diseases ranging from gastrointestinal infections to kidney diseases and dehydration," he said. He condemned the world's silence over what the Palestinians are facing.

Yusuf Hamad, 25, who fled from northeastern Beit Hanoun town to one of the shelter centers in Jabalia, said that thousands of displaced people are suffering from health conditions due to water scarcity. He told Anadolu: "We have been suffering from a severe water crisis for more than three months, as we receive small portions every few days due to the shortage of fuel." He said the lack of water has led to the majority of displaced people, especially children, contracting gastrointestinal and skin diseases due to a lack of hygiene.

Local and international health institutions have repeatedly warned of the spread of diseases and epidemics among the displaced due to the lack of water necessary for their protection from diseases. Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army has been waging a destructive war on Gaza, leaving 26,637 killed and 65,387 wounded, most of them children and women, according to Palestinian authorities.

https://www.dailysabah.com/world/mid-east/israel-starving-palestinians-to-force-them-out-of-gaza-monitor

Countercurrent – January 30, 2024

The Horrors of Gaza

By Raqif Makhdoomi

It has been more than 100 days since Israel has unleashed a history of horror. Killing thousands of Palestinians especially Children & making millions homeless, making them refugees in their own land . In past 100 days At least 23,700 people in Gaza have lost their lives. Which means  1 in every 100 has lost his Or her life. 60 thousand people in Gaza have been injured in these 100 days. These include at least 8,663 children and 6327 women , which means 3 out of every hundred people in Gaza. More than 1000 children have lost their one or both legs. 2.2 million people in Gaza are suffering from crisis level food insecurity. 9 out of every 10 goes without food for 24 hours or more. 359000 Houses have been damaged or destroyed. Which means 6 out of every 10 houses in Gaza are damaged or destroyed. 1.9 million people have been internally displaced . Which means more than 8 out of every 10 people in Gaza. Nearly 1.72 million are sheltering in 155 UNRWA facilities. 100 journalists and media workers have been killed. Which means nearly one journalist everyday. This war on Gaza is proving to be deadliest for journalists. 625000 students are out of school. With 7 out of every 10 schools have been damaged in Israeli attack. 15 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza function partially. Israel’s bombardment have destroyed most of the hospitals. The hospitals face a dire shortage of Doctors ,  medical supplies , medicines and urgently needs fuel for life saving equipment. 5,500 women are due to give birth. More than 180 babies are born every day. Both mother and new born doesn’t receive proper care.

While as Israel is writing the history of worst genocide the US, UK, Canada, Germany & many other countries are party to this genocide. We as humans must push for Ceasefire In Gaza as much as we can . Ceasefire isn’t the solution but surely the only way ,that should help people of Palestinian from loosing their loved ones.

Thousands of children in Palestine don’t have families left now. They’ve no one to look after. They are orphans. They’ll have to live a life without any support. We can’t imagine what’s coming for the children of Palestine. The children had dreams but now they only have memories of horror and loosing of their loved ones. Surely and sadly these kids will grow depressed and traumatized.

The memories of losing their loved ones will never let them smile the way they used to. Some have lost their parents, their kids, their brothers, their homes, their wives, their cafes & but all Palestinians are loosing their happy lives. They will have to live their lives without their lived ones around. Just thinking about this is giving me trauma. Just imagine the situation of the people going through all this. We all must have lost our loved ones. Loosing them is the worst form of pain. Just can’t imagine the pain of the father taking his son out of rubble. The saying “Smallest coffins are the heaviest” Is being witnessed

A son witness his father’s, mother’s body being taken out of rubble. Just imagine the trauma, the pain, the agony, the sorrow, the guilt, the humiliation & especially the sense that they are no more with them . Writing this is getting me to tears. Just imagine the son’s position.

A father see his son’s or daughter’s being taken out the rubble. Imagine the father’s dreams being scattered seeing his son Or daughter dead. Every father has dreams for his son Or daughter. The pain, the sense of separation. We can’t even imagine.

A mother, who carries  her son Or daughter in her womb for 9 month witnessing her son Or daughter being taken out of rubble. Just imagine the tragedy that she experiences. We can’t imagine her pain, her sorrow or her sense of separation. Nothing but tears.

A best friend seeing his best friend dead. The same friends who used to meet daily , will now have to live without his friend. He has lost his unpaid therapist, Walking secret dairy, his favorite time pass, his soft corner. He has lost his everything.

This goes for teacher, student, boss, classmate, senior, junior & so on. People in Palestine have lost everything and everyone. All they want is their own home land taken away forcibly from them. These 100 days have been so tough. & it hasn’t stopped. Let’s pray for them.

The Genocide is continuing, the figures mentioned are going up each passing second and while you read a word of this article a Palestinian dies and the figures go up with each word you read. Gaza is experiencing food shortage, housing problems, health infrastructure is crashing and remember Gaza is suffering with each and every problem that comes and doesn’t come in your mind. It’s the worst form of Genocide that’s happening. The world shall never forget what Biden, Justin Trudeau, Rishi sunak and many others did to the Children of Gaza by supporting Israel’s war crimes and apposing cease fire that could have saved millions of lives. The world shall Never Forget and Never Forgive

Raqif Makhdoomi is a law student and a Rights activist.

https://countercurrents.org/2024/01/the-horrors-of-gaza/

World Socialist Web Site January 29, 2023

Israel seeks destruction of Palestinian refugee agency
and establishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza

Chris Marsden, Thomas Scripps

Israel responded to the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling last Friday, requesting it to “take all measures within its power” to avoid acts of genocide, by redoubling its efforts to starve the Palestinians and planning for the repopulation of Gaza with Jewish settlements.

The same day that the ICJ’s preliminary findings were issued, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said that Israel had provided the organisation with information alleging that 12 of its employees had taken part in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led incursion and participated in massacres.

One was accused of kidnapping a woman, another of handing out ammunition and a third of taking part in the massacre at a kibbutz where 97 people died. Seven were said to be teachers at UNRWA schools and two worked at the schools in other capacities.

Israel initially said that its “information” on the 12 was the result of its interrogation, i.e. torture, of captured “militants”. It then changed its story, stating that intelligence services had monitored their cell phones.

The move was a carefully planned counterblast to the ICJ.

Israel had in fact handed its information to UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini last Sunday, January 21. He flew to New York for discussions with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres before informing donors midweek and then making his announcement on Friday just as the ICJ was delivering its verdict.

UNRWA announced it would fire the employees in question and refer them for criminal investigation. Nine were fired and two are reported dead.

In sharp contrast to the months of polite appeals for Israel to abide by international law while it has murdered 30,000 Palestinians and reduced Gaza to rubble, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken immediately suspended funds to UNRWA. The was followed in quick succession by the UK, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Romania, Finland, Canada, Australia and Switzerland. The European Union called on UNRWA to investigate all its staff to “confirm that they did not participate in the attacks.”

Israel’s accusations and attempts to permanently delegitimise UNRWA have escalated since then. The Wall Street Journal and the Jerusalem Post reported that Israel had presented American officials with intelligence estimates that around 1,200 of the 12,000 people UNRWA employs in Gaza (other estimates of UNRWA’s employees range up to 30,000) “have links to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, enough to warrant the suspension of funding to UNRWA. And about half have close relatives who belong to the Islamist militant groups.”

A senior Israeli government official commented, “UNRWA’s problem is not just ‘a few bad apples’ involved in the October 7th massacre… The institution as a whole is a haven for Hamas radical ideology.”

This is the answer of Israel and its backers to the meaningless appeal by the ICJ for it to “take immediate and effective measures immediately to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance”.

UNRWA handles most of the humanitarian aid to 2 million displaced people in Gaza, part of its providing of services to six million men, women and children in 58 refugee camps spread over Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Gaza.

Lazzarini pleaded, “I am shocked such decisions are taken based on alleged behaviour of a few individuals and as the war continues, needs are deepening and famine looms.”

A US statement accepted that “UNRWA plays a critical role in providing lifesaving assistance to Palestinians, including essential food, medicine, shelter, and other vital humanitarian support,” and that “Their work has saved lives.” This only confirms that the imperialist powers are working with Israel to starve the Palestinians, kill thousands more and force them into exile.

The destruction of UNRWA is a declared goal of Israel and enjoyed the full support of the Trump administration before now being adopted also by Biden. During the Gaza conflict, there have been hundreds of attacks on its facilities, with over 150 UNRWA staff killed and hundreds more civilians sheltering in its facilities.

In December, a classified Israeli foreign ministry report was leaked proposing the elimination of UNRWA from Gaza in three steps. The plan began with alleging cooperation of UNRWA staff members with Hamas, followed by a reduction of UNRWA services in Gaza and then the transfer of its duties to whatever entity was left governing Gaza after the end of the war—in effect giving Israel a chokehold on the supply of all essentials to the Palestinians.

Government officials could not hide their glee. Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who earlier declared that his aims include “promoting a policy ensuring that UNRWA will not be a part of the day after”, wrote on Twitter/X, “We have been warning for years: UNRWA perpetuates the refugee issue, obstructs peace, and serves as a civilian arm of Hamas in Gaza.”

Ending UNRWA’s “perpetuating the refugee issue” effectively means ending its ability to stop Israel from killing them.

The second stage of Israel’s strategy is to replace the Palestinians starved and bombed out of Gaza. These plans were discussed at a “Victory of Israel Conference” of fascists on Sunday, subtitled “Settlement Brings Security”.

Organised by the Nachala settler activist group, the event presented maps of six proposed Jewish settlements inside the Gaza Strip, including deep within (the remains of) Gaza City and Khan Younis.

Chairwoman Daniella Weiss declared, “Millions of war refugees go from country to country around the world,” asking rhetorically why “only the monsters who grew in Gaza… only they should be connected to it? They, specifically, can’t move from a land they turned into hell and from where they threaten to destroy Israel?

“Only the people of Israel will settle the entire Gaza Strip and will rule the entire Gaza Strip.”

Reporters described a “carnival-like atmosphere”, with many of the roughly 1,000 participants, some of them visibly armed, literally dancing for joy amid speeches from the likes of Uzi Sharbag, former leader of the far-right terror group Jewish Underground.

Among them were 11 cabinet ministers, including five members of Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, three members of Jewish Power, two members of Religious Zionism and one of United Torah Judaism. Fifteen more non-cabinet members of the Israeli parliament also participated.

Six of them, plus Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, signed a Covenant of Victory and Renewal of Settlement pledging to “grow Jewish settlements full of life” in Gaza.

Smotrich told the conference, “Without settlement, there is no security. And without security on Israel’s borders, there is no security in any part of Israel… God willing, together we will be victorious.”

Ben Gvir denounced the abandonment of Israeli settlements in Gaza in 2005 as a “mistake” and part of “the sin of the conception that brought upon us October 7.” calling for a return “to Gush Katif [an evacuated Israeli settlement in the Strip]”. Making clear that the genocide in Gaza is conceived of as only the first stage of a war of annihilation against the Palestinians everywhere, he also referenced “Samaria”, the name used by the Israeli right to refer to the West Bank.

The fascist minister demanded a “moral and logical solution to the humanitarian problem [the Palestinians still living in Gaza]: encourage emigration and [pass a] death penalty law [for terror convicts].”

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud argued similarly, “We have an obligation to act, for our sakes and even for the sake of those purported uninvolved civilians, to [bring about] voluntary emigration—even if this war, which was imposed on us, turns this voluntary migration into a situation of: coerce him until he says, ‘I want to do so’.”

In an implicit appeal to Netanyahu, Ben Gvir declared in his speech that it was “the task of brave leadership to take brave decisions.”

Netanyahu did not attend the conference but indicated his agreement without openly stating it, saying that his ministers were “entitled to their opinions”.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/01/29/biil-j29.html?pk_kwd=wsws
 

 

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 The Journal of America Team:

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