TRT World – July 19, 2024

ICJ's landmark ruling declares Israeli occupation of Palestine illegal

The International Court of Justice has ruled that the occupied Palestinian territories form a single unit and that Israel’s actions, including settlement expansion and resource exploitation, breach international law and human rights conventions.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday ruled that the occupied Palestinian territories constitute a "single territorial unity," which will be protected and respected.

Stressing that The Hague regulations have become part of customary international law, and are thus binding on Israel, the court said, “Protection offered by the Human Rights Convention does not cease in case of armed conflict or occupation.”

In reference to Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, the court noted that Israel's “exploitation of natural resources” in occupied Palestinian territory is "inconsistent with its obligation” to respect Palestinians' right to sovereignty.

More particularly on the forcible evictions in Eastern Jerusalem and West Bank, the court stressed that Israel's policies and practices violate the 4th Geneva Convention's prohibition on forcible transfer of protected populations.

“Israel's settlement policy is in breach of the 4th Geneva Convention,” it said.

The court said Israel's policies and practices amount to the annexation of large parts of occupied Palestinian territory, and that it is "not convinced" that extending Israeli law to the West Bank and East Jerusalem is justified.

ICJ also maintained that Israel has been able to exercise key authority over Gaza despite the withdrawal of its military presence in 2005.

'Israel must end the occupation'

Israel's decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal and needs to end "as rapidly as possible", the UN's top court said Friday.

"The court has found that Israel's continued presence in the Palestinian Territories is illegal," ICJ presiding judge Nawaf Salam said Friday, adding: "Israel must end the occupation as rapidly as possible."

"The Court has found that Israel's... continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal," Salam said.

ICJ ordered Israel to pay “full reparations”, restitution and compensation to all Palestinians for all “wrongful acts” under the occupation since 1967.

Palestine hails ICJ ruling

Palestinian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Varsen Aghabekian Shahin hailed "a great day for Palestine" after the UN's top court ruled Israel's decades-long occupation illegal.

"This is a great day for Palestine, historically and legally," she told AFP, speaking on behalf of the Palestinian foreign ministry.

"This is the highest judicial body in the world and it has presented a very detailed analysis of what is going on through Israel's prolonged occupation and colonisation of the Palestinian territory in violation of international law."

https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/icjs-landmark-ruling-declares-israeli-occupation-of-palestine-illegal-18185670

Al Mayadeen – July 19, 2024

Hezbollah strikes Israeli bases, introduces new IRAM

Hezbollah responded to the Israeli aggression on civilians in southern Lebanon with four operations targeting multiple new Israeli settlements as pledged by Sayyed Nasrallah earlier.

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah announced a series of operations on Friday, targeting Israeli military sites and forces in northern occupied Palestine in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza and their Resistance.

The Resistance group also introduced the Wabel IRAM (improvised rocket-assisted munition), which was used to target an Israeli military base near the Lebanese-Palestinian border.

Following repeated Israeli killings of civilians in southern Lebanon, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced on Wednesday that for every attack on civilians, Hezbollah would strike new Israeli settlements not yet attacked.

One day after Sayyed Nasrallah's pledge, the occupation bombed three villages in southern Lebanon: Safad al-Batikh, Majdal Selm, and Shaqra, resulting in over a dozen civilian casualties.

In response to the aggression, the Resistance announced shortly after midnight striking the Abirim settlement in northern occupied Palestine for the first time with a salvo of Katyusha rockets.

At 9:30 AM, Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the Ruweisat al-Qarn military base in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms. Using the locally-produced Wabel heavy rocket for the first time, the strike resulted in a direct hit, causing partial destruction and igniting a fire at the site.

Islamic Resistance fighters also targeted Israeli soldiers stationed around the Ramim barracks with a Burkan rocket and the Metula site with artillery shells at noon, achieving a direct hit in both.

At 12:13 PM, the Islamic Resistance targeted Israeli artillery positions in Khirbet Ma'ar and nearby Israeli soldiers with dozens of Katyusha and Falaq heavy rockets, achieving direct hits.

In two other operations in response to the civilian casualties in Safad al-Batikh, Majdal Selm, and Shaqra, Hezbollah announced striking the Neveh Ziv and Manot settlements for the first time with a Katyusha barrage, in addition to targeting Abirim again.

The Resistance also announced today targeting buildings used by Israeli soldiers in the al-Manara settlement with appropriate weapons, achieving a direct hit.

The al-Marj military base was struck with artillery shells at 4:10 pm, Hezbollah stated, confirming direct hits achieved.

Using a one-way drone, the Resistance said it targeted and destroyed technical equipment installed at the Al-Abad site.

At 5:23 PM, Hezbollah announced targeting for the second time today striking the Ruweisat al-Qarn site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with rocket weapons. The Resistance confirmed direct hits to the base.

Separately, the Resistance said its fighters attacked and hit at nearly 6:00 pm the al-Samaqa site in the occupied Kfar Chouba hills with rocket weapons.

In a qualitative operation, Hezbollah's field artillery units targeted Israeli artillery positions north of the Ein Yaakov settlement in northern occupied Palestine.

The Israeli al-Malikiya military site was then struck with artillery shells at 6:50 pm, achieving a direct hit.

In response to the Israeli aggression on Safad al-Batikh, the Islamic Resistance announced carrying out two operations.

The first operation targeted the Yiftah barracks with the newly-introduced Jihad heavy rocket, achieving a direct hit.

The second consisted of attacking using one-way drones the positions of Israeli officers and soldiers in the newly established 91st Division Command in Ayelet. Hezbollah confirmed strikes were accurate.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/hezbollah-strikes-israeli-bases--introduces-new-iram

Yeni Safak – July 19, 2024

Israeli army claims drone striking Tel Aviv Iranian-made

The Israeli army on Friday claimed that the Houthi drone that struck Tel Aviv was Iranian-made of the type Samad-3

.In a press conference, the Israeli army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said that the Houthi drone that struck Tel Aviv was an Iranian-made of the type Samad-3.

The drone was however launched from Yemen, he said.

.“Since the beginning of the war, Israel and the American forces have intercepted dozens of drones that were launched from Yemen,” said the army spokesman.

There was no immediate comment from the Iranian side on the Israeli claims.Earlier on Friday, a Houthi-claimed drone attack struck Tel Aviv killing at least one Israeli and injuring 10 others.

This is the first Houthi attack targeting Tel Aviv. The majority of their previous attacks targeted the coastal cities of Eilat and Haifa.

The Houthis have been targeting ships that are Israeli-owned, flagged, operated, or headed to Israeli ports in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones in solidarity with Gaza, which has been under a devastating Israeli onslaught since Oct. 7 last year.

https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/israeli-army-claims-drone-striking-tel-aviv-iranian-made-3687725

Mondoweiss – July 18, 2024

‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 286:
Netanyahu accused of obstructing prisoner talks while Israel
and PA negotiate future of Rafah crossing

UNRWA reports Israel has bombed eight schools in 10 days. The Red Cross warns of “total collapse” of health care in Gaza.

By Qassam Muaddi

Casualties 

• 38,848 + killed* and at least 89,459 wounded in the Gaza Strip. Among the dead, 28,428 have been fully identified. These include 7,779 children, 5466 women, and 2418 elderly people as of May 1. In addition, around 10,000 more are estimated to be under the rubble.*
• 576+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank including eastern Jerusalem. These include 138 children.**
• Israel revised its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,140.
• 682 Israeli soldiers have been recognized as killed, and 4096 as wounded by the Israeli army since October 7.***

• * Gaza’s branch of the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed this figure in its daily report, published through its WhatsApp channel on July 18, 2024. Some rights groups estimate the death toll to be much higher when accounting for those presumed dead.

** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health on July 17, this is the latest figure.

*** These figures are released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” The number of Israeli soldiers wounded according to declarations by the head of the Israeli army’s wounded association to Israel’s Channel 12 exceeds 20,000 including at least 8,000 permanently handicapped as of June 1. Israel’s Channel 7 reported that according to the Israeli war ministry’s rehabilitation service numbers, 8,663 new wounded joined the army’s handicap rehabilitation system since October 7, as of June 18.

Key Developments 

• Israel has killed 285 Palestinians, and wounded 614 across Gaza since Thursday, July 11, raising the death toll since October 7 to 38,848 and the number of wounded to 89,459, according to the Gaza health ministry.
• Axios reports that a secret meeting earlier this week took place between representatives of the U.S., the PA, and Israel, to discuss arrangements for the Rafah border crossing.
• Axios: Israel asked for a PA non-official security presence at Rafah border crossing but the PA refused.
• The International Red Cross says that all health facilities in the southern Gaza Strip are on the verge of total collapse.
• Doctors Without Borders: For nine months we have been witnessing death and trauma without end, with each strike unbearable pressure is put on medical teams, and Gaza’s hospitals lack the essential requirements.
• UN says that hospitals in Gaza must not be part of the war.
• Israeli religious party ‘Shas’ urges Netanyahu to accept a prisoners’ exchange deal with Hamas.
• Israel’s finance minister Smotrich says that he wants a deal in which Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar surrenders, and that he will not accept a ceasefire.
• Israeli public broadcasting says that the government refrained from drafting a bill that bans suspects of terrorism from running for office to avoid affecting Itamar Ben-Gvir.
• Israel’s security minister Ben-Gvir storms al-Aqsa mosque accompanied by groups of Israeli settlers.
• The head of Israeli Mossad says that Netanyahu insists in deal talks on having a mechanism to vet returnees to the north of the Gaza Strip, which would take weeks to build.
• Thousands of Israelis protested on Tuesday and Wednesday in Tel Aviv demanding a prisoner exchange deal before Netanyahu’s trip to Washington.
• Iran’s representative at the UN Security Council says that any Israeli attack on Lebanon will be met with a stiff response by countries of the region and the world and that the Security Council’s complacency encouraged Israel to increase its crimes against the Palestinian people.
• UK’s representative at the UN Security Council says that the UK condemns Israel’s settlement expansion in the West Bank as it undermines the two-state solution and that there is no military solution to the crisis in the Gaza Strip.
• U.S. representative at the UN Security Council says that there are still gaps to breach in the Gaza ceasefire talks and that the U.S. hopes that a deal in Gaza will help lower the tension on the Lebanese front.
• Russia’s representative at the UN Security Council says that Russia supports full UN membership for Palestine, that bloodshed in the Middle East is the result of U.S.’s failed policies, and that Russia rejects Israeli collective punishment in Gaza.
• The New York Times quotes U.S. officials as saying that a Gaza deal will most probably not be reached before Netanyahu’s trip to Washington.
• Families of Israeli captives in Gaza reject Netanyahu’s statements that captives in Gaza “suffer but don’t die,” saying that many have indeed died and demanding him to apologize.
• UNRWA says that Israel has bombed eight of its schools in the past 10 days.
• Lebanon: Israel assassinates a Hamas operative in a strike in the Bekaa valley, in eastern Lebanon.
• Lebanon: Israel bombs the surroundings of the towns of Balida and Yatir in southern Lebanon.
• Lebanon: Hezbollah launches 80 rockets on the northern Galilee in 24 hours, pushing 60,000 Israelis into shelters.
• Nasrallah says that the Lebanese front will remain open until the war on Gaza ends, and that if Israel continues to bomb civilians in Lebanon, Hezbollah will target new Israeli cities.
• West Bank: Israel raids Hebron, Qalqilya and al-Bireh, kills a teenager.

• Israel asks for a secret PA presence in Rafah crossing, Netanyahu drags out deal talks ahead of Washington visit

Representatives of the U.S., Israel, and the Palestinian Authority held a secret meeting this week, in which they discussed the management of the Rafah border crossing in the aftermath of the current war on Gaza, Axios reported.

According to reports, Israeli representatives requested that the PA discreetly send security members to take part in the running of the border crossing, to be presented as a non-official local aid committee, which the PA rejected.

Israel reportedly made the same suggestion back in May, which angered PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who, according to Axios, refused the idea of a secret PA presence.

The Israeli army’s radio reported earlier that the Rafah border crossing, the only connection between the Gaza Strip and the outside world which doesn’t go through Israel, was completely unusable after the Palestinian side of it was completely destroyed by the Israeli army, in early May. Meanwhile, Israel’s Channel 12 said that the Israeli army intends to rebuild the Rafah crossing point in a different location further to the south, where the borders of Egypt, the Gaza Strip, and Israel meet.

Meanwhile, as the ceasefire talks were announced to continue in Cairo, support for reaching a deal increased in Israel. The Sephardic religious Israeli political party ‘Shas’ urged Netanyahu to reach a deal, while Israel’s war minister Gallant said that the conditions for a deal “have matured.” Throughout the week, thousands of Israelis marched in Tel Aviv demanding a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal.

Simultaneously, the head of the Israeli Mossad said that Netanyahu was obstructing the reaching of a deal by insisting on having a mechanism to vet Palestinians who would return to the north of the strip. The head of the Mossad added that such a mechanism would take weeks to establish, delaying the reaching of a deal.

Israel bombs eight schools in 10 days, says UNRWA chief

The commissioner general of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a post on ‘X’ that Israel has bombed eight schools in the past 10 days, including six belonging to the agency. UNRWA schools have been used as shelters by displaced Palestinian families since the beginning of the war.

On Wednesday, Israel bombed the al-Razi school in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, which housed at least 8,000 displaced Palestinians. The strike happened while a recreational activity for children was taking place, according to primary testimonies to local journalists. öAccording to the Palestinian health ministry, 25 people were killed in the bombing. On Tuesday Israel bombed the Abu Areiban school, also in Nuseirat, killing 22 people according to the ministry.

Since the beginning of the Israeli assault on Gaza, Israel has bombed at least 162 schools. Israel has also bombed displaced Palestinians in tent cities in Rafah and Khan Younis. Last weekend, Israel dropped 8 tons of explosives on a displaced tent city in al-Mawasi, east of Khan Younis, killing at least 90 Palestinians. Israel claimed it killed the commander of Hamas’ armed wing in the attack. Hamas denied the claim.

https://mondoweiss.net/2024/07/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-286-netanyahu-accused-of-obstructing-prisoner-talks-while-israel-and-pa-negotiate-future-of-rafah-crossing/?ml_recipient=127287148642567548&ml_link=127287143140689793&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2024-07-20&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation

Countercurrent – July 19, 2024

Living in Tents: Gazans Pour Out Their Woes

Across vast agricultural lands and along the coast in central and southern Gaza, tens of thousands of tents have become shelters for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the ongoing, bloody Israeli war for the 10th consecutive month.

Once a symbol of the Nakba (catastrophe) and displacement for more than seven decades, the tent has now become a dream for thousands of displaced families in Gaza, despite the harsh living conditions it imposes.

What is it like to live in a tent? This question might seem devoid of emotions and disconnected from the harsh realities of Gaza amid the Israeli genocide that has taken many Palestinian lives but failed to break their will and determination to cling to their land. However, the  question is crucial to understand the extent of the Palestinian tragedy and resilience.

The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) interviewed some of those that were displaced and are now living in tents to see the harsh situation they are now under.

Quest for a tent

Whilst all those interviewed speak of the difficulty of living in a tent – suffering the harsh hot summers and cold winters – for many of the displaced the tent has become a dream come true as it is easily hoisted and dismantled quickly. This is important for those displaced who needed to move more than once because of the Israeli army gunfire, tanks, drones and warplanes.

Mohammed Said said he bought a tent for 1,200 shekels ($330) after he could no longer bear living in a “khas,” a makeshift shelter made of wooden sticks covered with nylon or any other available material.

He explained a khas provides no privacy because of the mostly nylon material its made of and its impossible to move when forced to relocate. Thus, he went for a tent, having relocated at least twice already.

Various NGOs provide tents for free, but with demand shooting up some of the tents have started to be sold, forcing people to buy them due to the lack of alternatives. Today tents vary in shape and size, according to how much you want to pay.

Finding a place to set up the tent

After getting a tent, the second challenge is to find a place to set it up. Such areas are currently limited to around Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah.

Khaled Al-Masri said he had to move his tent several times to be close to water sources and/or the scarce aid.

“Today, there are camps made up of a group of tents overseen by an association or individuals’ initiatives to provide some aid, ensure water access, and establish shared bathrooms. Other tents are set up randomly on agricultural land and near destroyed homes,” he said.

Life in the tents

Living in tents are tales of pain and suffering, varying according to the family’s resources, number size, tent location and the supervising entity.

A small family with a tent in an area receiving aid can adapt better and suffer less compared to an extended family with a small tent in an area lacking in services.

With the scorching summer heat, living in a tent among hundreds of others in Gaza feels like a living hell, said  Amani Hamdan.

Hamdan told PIC she was forced to live in a tent on a land of a friend of her husband.  She is joined by her mother-in-law, disabled sister-in-law and her four children.

 “We relocated at least seven times from Khan Yunis since our house was bombed. Initially, we had no tent and suffered much until we managed to obtain one, and it’s only advantage is it can be unhooked easily if we need to move again.

Living in a tent is harsh and difficult, a  primitive life. And with no walls, and privacy, our voices reach the people in the tent next door and theirs reach us,” she added.

Suffering in tents

“We can hardly move around inside the tent, some  sleep on mattresses, some without, part of the tent holds food supplies. The temperature is scorching, forcing us out of the canvas. In winter, we were drenched by rain; now, the heat is unbearable, but we thank God for what we have,” Hamdan added.

“We cook on fire outside the tent, bake bread in a shared oven, share a bathroom, and bathe rarely, needing prior coordination with the other tent partners. The children start their morning search for wood, while my husband travels long distances for water that is sometimes brought by volunteers. Life has become primitive with no kitchen, bathroom, or water faucets.”

What is a tent?

After enduring the harsh tent life for months, engineer Mohammed Munir wrote about its meaning, “To burn while sitting inside, to suffocate with no air or cooling. It’s like a greenhouse during the day.”

 “A tent means living on the ground, separated only by fabric, coexisting with all the insects of the earth as if you are now their guest,” He wrote on Facebook.

“Normal activities become complicated, like taking a nap or a bath, walking comfortably, sitting peacefully, feeling safe, or sleeping without back pain from the hard ground, all of our dreams are now out of reach.

A tent means no privacy, speaking in whispers inside your tent while your neighbor hears you. With tents set up on sand and agricultural land, it means living with all types of insects and with no hygiene,” Munir concluded.

The meaning of a tent

“A tent means having no wall to lean on, no private life,” Sama Hassan wrote.

 “Displacement means not to live in safety or stability. We first moved from Gaza City to the north in search of ‘fake’ safety until the missiles to land on us. We then fled to southern Gaza in the first Friday of the war and stayed in Khan Yunis for two months, then moved to Rafah when the city was invaded in early December 2023.

 With each relocation, I lost a thread of my privacy, becoming more displaced and homeless like thousands in Gaza. A tent is harsher than a shared room in a stranger’s house as the bathroom is either within the tent, set up primitively, or shared, half a kilometer away, established by a charity. If a woman needs to use it at night, she must wake a man to escort her,” she ended by saying.

Life in a tent is hard for women, who must fully dress as they usually do when they go out of the house. She maintains dressed at all time despite the heat, lack the freedom of movement. In the tent, fires are lit, cooking is made, washing dishes, with large water containers placed in the corner.

Bathing in a tent involves women surrounding the one washing with thick blankets, like forming a small tent within the main tent, with the woman hurrying before the others tire of holding the blankets.

If living in a tent is already insufferable, doing so amid the ongoing Israeli genocide and bombings is even more so, because the strikes continue targeting as what happened to us in Rafah and Khan Yunis. This is beyond words.

In recent months, Israeli bombs have burned tents and killed dozens, leaving survivors to search for the remains of their loved ones before finding a new place to set up another tent if one is available, continuing their struggle.

This article was translated and edited from the Palestine Information Center’s website by Dr Marwan Asmar who writes in https://crossfirearabia.com.

https://countercurrents.org/2024/07/living-in-tents-gazans-pour-out-their-woes/
 

 

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