Sputnik – July 28, 2024
Erdogan Says Turkiye Could 'Enter' Israel To Help Gazans
ISTANBUL (Sputnik) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkiye could "enter" Israel just as it once did in Libya and Karabakh.
Speaking at a meeting of the ruling party branch in the president's native province of Rize, Erdogan noted the success of the country's defense industry, but urged not to be deceived by them. According to the president, if the successes had been even greater, Israel "would not have done to Palestine what it did."
"We must be strong. As we entered Karabakh, as we entered Libya, so we will do to them [Israel]. There is nothing we cannot do. We must be strong to take such steps," Erdogan said in a speech broadcast by the national television.
Erdogan also once again recalled the refusal of the leader of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to speak in the Turkish parliament. Earlier, the Turkish president urged Abbas to apologize.
The Turkish parliament approved the extension of the mandate for the deployment of the Turkish military contingent in Libya for two years from January 2024. Turkiye supported Azerbaijan during the Second Karabakh War in the fall of 2020, and Turkish drones actively participated in the operations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in the US Congress on Wednesday, sparking protests by anti-war activists at the Capitol. Turkish politicians, including Erdogan, harshly criticized the speech of "war criminal" Netanyahu in the Congress and those senators who gave him a standing ovation.
On October 7, 2023, Israel was subjected to an unprecedented rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. After that, fighters of Palestinian movement Hamas penetrated the border areas, opened fire on the military and civilians, and took more than 200 hostages. According to the authorities, about 1,200 people were killed.
The Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Iron Swords in the Gaza Strip, which included strikes on civilian targets. Israel announced a complete blockade of the enclave: supplies of water, electricity, fuel, food and medicine were stopped. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the death toll from Israeli strikes on the enclave since October 7 has exceeded 39,000, with more than 89,800 people injured. The Russian Foreign Ministry called on the parties to cease hostilities. According to Moscow's position, a settlement is only possible on the basis of the UN Security Council-approved formula with the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem.
Israel hits Hezbollah targets after rocket strike from Lebanon kills 12
Israel struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday in the immediate aftermath of a rocket strike from Lebanon that killed 12 people at a football field in the Golan Heights, even as Western diplomats sought to curb further fighting that could broaden conflict in the Middle East.
Sunday's strikes aimed at what the Israeli military said were Hezbollah weapons caches and infrastructure. But the strikes seemed to fall short of an overwhelming response threatened after the Saturday attack that mostly killed teenagers and young children.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew back early from a trip to the United States to meet with his security Cabinet and assess the situation.
In a Sunday morning comment on social media, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant mourned the victims of the Majdal Shams attack, saying, "We will ensure Hezbollah, the proxy of Iran, pays a price for this loss." Earlier, Netanyahu warned, "Hezbollah will pay a heavy price for this that it has not paid so far."
In Japan, at a news conference, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said, "We are deeply saddened by the loss of life. Every indication is that indeed ... the rocket was from Hezbollah."
One senior U.S. official said that while the United States believes Hezbollah carried out the attack, it also believes it may have been an accident and has not yet reached a conclusion about any intention behind the attack.
Diplomatic entreaties were underway Sunday to curb a further Israeli response, including from Lebanon's government that the U.S. urge restraint from Israel, Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Reuters. The news agency said the Lebanese foreign minister also said the United States had asked the Lebanese government to pass on a message of restraint to Hezbollah, too.
In a statement, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on all parties "to exercise maximum restraint and reiterates once again his consistent call on all concerned to avoid any further escalation."
The diplomacy, however, came as both Israel and Iran threatened an escalation. The Iranian foreign ministry warned Israel of "unforeseen consequences" of any further Israeli attacks, while Israel's education minister, Yoav Kisch, called for a strong response "even if it means entering into an all-out war."
Israel blamed Hezbollah for the attack, although the Iranian-backed militants denied any connection to it.
An Israeli military spokesperson had earlier told reporters that forensics showed the rocket was an Iranian-made Falaq-1. Hezbollah had announced firing a Falaq-1 missile Saturday, saying it had aimed at an Israeli military headquarters.
In response, Israel's military said it targeted Hezbollah weapons caches and militant infrastructure in Lebanon overnight, including in the areas of Chabriha, Borj El Chmali, Beqaa, Kfarkela, Rab El Thalathine, Khiam and Tayr Harfa.
Lebanon's state-run news agency reported extensive damage and some casualties from the overnight Israeli strikes that began shortly after midnight and lasted until dawn.
Despite the belligerent rhetoric, Israel is wary of opening a second major war along its Lebanese border while the war in Gaza against Hamas militants rages on in its 10th month with no end in sight and talks on a cease-fire are at a stalemate.
Roughly 100,000 people in Lebanon and 60,000 in Israel have been displaced, with scores of schools and health centers shuttered in both countries.
More than 460 people in Lebanon have been killed, most of them militants. More than 100 were civilians, including 12 children and 21 health workers, according to the United Nations and Lebanon's health ministry. The fighting has killed 22 Israeli soldiers and 24 civilians, according to the Israeli government.
Thousands of Druze Arabs observed a day of mourning Sunday in the Golan Heights, shutting shops and other workplaces. Thousands went by bus to Majdal Shams to attend the funerals of those killed.
World Socialist Web Site – July 28, 2024
Backed by US, Israel threatens wider war after Golan Heights blast
By Mike Head
Fresh from receiving assurances of continued backing from the Biden-Harris administration in Washington, the Israeli regime immediately seized upon an alleged rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 Arab Druze children to threaten an offensive into Lebanon that could trigger a wider US-backed war against Iran.
The circumstances surrounding the strike that hit a tiny soccer field in the occupied enclave remain unclear. Twelve boys and girls ranging in age from 10 to 16, were killed by Saturday’s blast in the Druze village of Majdal Shams, and dozens more were injured and taken to hospitals.
Some residents blamed the Israeli regime for the atrocity. They questioned whether Israel’s early warning system was working properly, because the strike came less than five seconds after the sirens sounded, giving the children no chance to escape into shelters.
Some residents shouted at the far-right Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who arrived to seek to exploit the deaths. In the hours after the strike, he had declared: “Lebanon as a whole has to pay the price.” Residents yelled: “[National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are the culprits here,” accusing them of stoking further tensions.
Even while escalating their genocidal onslaught on the people of Gaza, Israeli leaders blamed Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon, for the Golan Heights blast, despite Hezbollah “categorically” denying it was behind the strike.
Hezbollah said a falling anti-rocket interceptor projectile from Israel’s Iron Dome missile system was responsible for the deaths after Hezbollah had launched a number of attacks on Israeli military targets.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dramatically cut short his US visit to travel to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) headquarters in Tel Aviv. He then convened a meeting with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and military and intelligence chiefs, vowing that Hezbollah would “pay a heavy price for it, a price it has not paid before.”
After the meeting, Netanyahu’s office said the security cabinet had authorised the prime minister and defence minister to determine the “type” and “timing” of Israel’s response.
In an initial attack, before that meeting, Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah targets “deep inside Lebanese territory” and along the border, according to a statement from the IDF on Sunday morning.
Netanyahu, a war criminal responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of children in Gaza, claimed to be “shocked” by the “murderous attack” in the Golan Heights. The hypocrisy was obscene. Netanyahu is responsible for the deaths of as many as 186,000 Palestinians in the last nine months, according to an estimate by the highly-respected Lancet medical journal.
On the same day as the Golan Heights blast, this bloodbath continued in another previous “safe zone” in Gaza. The IDF attacked a school and field hospital in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, killing about 30 people, claiming, as always, that Hamas had fired rockets from inside the area.
Just as quickly as Netanyahu, US Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democrat presidential candidate, also blamed Hezbollah. So did the White House National Security Council and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Tokyo.
Harris’s national security adviser, Phil Gordon, stated: “Israel continues to face severe threats to its security, and [Harris’s] support for Israel’s security is ironclad.” He continued to insist that the US was working on a “diplomatic solution” to the Gaza conflict. But that claim has been made for months, while the genocide has intensified.
Gordon’s remarks echoed what Harris said last week after her private meeting with Netanyahu at the White House, reiterating her lifelong support for the Zionist state and its continued ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza. She specifically linked that support to a wider agenda against Iran.
“So I just had a frank and constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu,” Harris said. “I told him that I will always ensure that Israel is able to defend itself, including from Iran and Iran-backed militias, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.”
Harris also condemned as “unpatriotic,” the thousands of protesters opposed to Netanyahu being hailed as he addressed a joint sitting of the US Congress. Her remarks could only be interpreted as a political green light to the Israeli regime to widen the conflict.
Smotrich was not alone in his bellicose declaration after the Golan Heights blast. Foreign Minister Israel Katz told The Times of Israel that Hezbollah had “crossed all red lines.”
Katz said Israel was “approaching the moment of an all-out war against Hezbollah and Lebanon,” pledging that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah would be destroyed along with his organisation, and that Lebanon would be severely damaged.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani warned that any new Israeli military “adventures” in Lebanon could lead to “unforeseen consequences,” including “the broadening of the scope of instability, insecurity, and war in the region.”
Some 20,000 Druze Arabs live in the Golan Heights, an area Israel seized from Syria in 1967 during the Six-Day War and annexed in 1981. Considered occupied territory under international law and UN Security Council resolutions, the area is also occupied by about 25,000 Israeli Jewish settlers.
Most Druze in the area identify as Syrian and have rejected offers of Israeli citizenship. The Regional Council of Majdal Shams said on Sunday that none of the 12 children killed had Israeli citizenship.
Notably, the second half of Netanyahu’s fascistic address to the US Congress was devoted to presenting the genocide in Gaza as a component part of a broader US-led war throughout the Middle East.
Declaring America “the guardian of Western civilization and the world’s greatest power,” Netanyahu stated: “Iran understands that to truly challenge America, it must first conquer the Middle East… Yet in the heart of the Middle East, standing in Iran’s way, is … the State of Israel.”
This stands reality on its head. American imperialism sees the “final solution to the Palestinian problem” as a first step in a war against Iran, which itself is part of the escalating war against Russia and the confrontation with China.
A full-scale Israeli offensive against Hezbollah would dovetail with the Biden-Harris administration’s strategic aim in the Middle East to overturn the Iranian regime, which has long been regarded as an obstacle to US domination of the region. That is critical for the subordination of Russia and China, and control over the entire Eurasian landmass.
Since Israel launched its genocide in Gaza last October, it has been engaged in a relatively low-level conflict with Hezbollah, which has repeatedly edged closer to an all-out war. More than 350 people, including about 100 civilians, have been killed in repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon, according to the UN.
Over 90,000 people have been displaced, forced to leave around 100 southern Lebanon towns and villages under threat of bombardment.
Any US-backed full Israeli offensive inside Lebanon would not simply be a repeat of Israel’s previous illegal and brutal invasions of the country, which date back to the 1980s. Just as it is doing in Gaza, Israel would not only seek to destroy Hezbollah’s military arm but also its social base among the impoverished Shiite population of Lebanon, laying waste to whole areas of the country.
Harris’s public statements are just the latest confirmation that a Democratic administration under her leadership would be no less aggressive than Biden’s in the genocide in Gaza or imperialist war against Iran in the Middle East, Russia in Ukraine or China in the Asia-Pacific.
As Netanyahu was delivering his diatribe to rapturous cheers in the US Congress, the World Socialist Web Site and the Socialist Equality Party were holding a rally outside the Capitol, which advanced a program and perspective to oppose the genocide and imperialism.
In his remarks at the rally, David North drew the necessary conclusions that must flow from Netanyahu’s address, the genocide in Gaza and the support of the entire political establishment for it:
“The building of an antiwar movement requires the mobilization of the working class as an international force. It requires the establishment of the political independence of the working class. And it requires a perspective that has as its aim not protesting to the capitalists, appealing to them to adopt a peaceful policy, but explaining to the working class that if they want to put an end to these horrors, if they want to secure the future, they have to conquer power.”
Informed Comment – July 29, 2024
The Same White Nationalism that Genocided the American Indians is at Work in Eradicating Palestinians
ASMIR ALIHOJICH
Sarajevo (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – In his seminal work “Animal Farm,” George Orwell astutely observed, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” This aphorism resonates powerfully in the contemporary international order, where the preeminence of power frequently overrides human rights, international regimes, conventions, the United Nations Charter, and even the consensus of non-aligned nations. This manifestation of force not only disregards international norms but also endeavors to suspend them, positioning itself as the legislator and enforcer of a new order imposed upon other global actors. This phenomenon is increasingly intertwined with U.S. influence, resulting in proxy wars, territorial expansions, or targeted genocide and legalized apartheid devoid of any sense of shame or constraint.
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East exemplifies the emergence of a stark double standard. In this scenario, any actor allied with the White House is “more equal” than others, even presuming that other independent and non-aligned actors are treated equally within a Global South coalition—a rather optimistic assumption. Israel, a state forged from clandestine agreements over the spoils of World War II among major powers, has acquired a substantial portion of its territory through occupation beyond the 1967 borders. Currently, it seeks to expand both horizontally and vertically through the ethnic-cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
The geopolitics of shame involves institutional-legal discrimination or neglect of an actor due to specific geopolitical factors. This means that military assaults or unconditional support for an actor can be part of the geopolitical discrimination agenda. Israel failed to protect civilians during its prolonged bombardment and killed around 40 thousand people, most of whom are women and children, according to Hamas’s Ministry of Health.
However, if one assumes that this situation has prompted Americans to pressure Israel to prevent genocide or to endorse a two-state solution or the return of nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees to their homeland in any practical, concrete manner, one would be mistaken. De facto, Israel’s modern apartheid in the occupied territories for Palestinian residents enjoys multifaceted American support. Currently, the U.S. provides nearly $3 billion annually in military aid to Israel. Since 1970, the U.S. has exercised its veto power at least 42 times in favor of Israel, blocking UN Security Council draft resolutions on Israel. During the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation into Israel’s alleged genocide of Palestinians, 12 Republican senators in Congress threatened the ICC and its staff with “severe sanctions” and “travel bans.” Additionally, Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, urged the Biden administration to immediately and without delay demand the ICC halt and withdraw its investigation. Since 2021, Israel has denied ICC officials access to the West Bank and Gaza.
The issue, however, is not that international law has changed, but that different actors are in question. Russia is the West’s adversary, while Israel is a friend and ally. The U.S. has abandoned a rule of law that applies to all for a personalistic policy where international law is applied to enemies but not to friends. Today, these friends comprise a coalition of Israeli far-right and ultra-nationalist-religious groups aiming to eradicate Palestinians in Gaza and to deploy scorched earth tactics. For the Israeli Right, the debate is not about the right to exist for Palestinians and a Palestinian state but about how to eliminate them to rid the nuisance called Palestine.
For the West, particularly Americans, the issue is neither Israel’s apartheid regime over Palestinians, the intensification of a comprehensive regional war, nor even the genocide of Palestinians. The U.S.-Israel collaboration is not merely due to the influence of Israeli lobbies in America, but an expression of white nationalism — the same white nationalism that had driven the annihilation of Native Americans, which was only partly physical. The main issue was to vacate the space as if Native Americans had never existed, except in the ghettos built for them, like internal migrants who once owned the land. In many ways, Palestinians are the new Native Americans, or rather Israel’s Native Americans.
In this geography of shame, it is felt essential that Palestine must be eliminated, denied the right of return to their land, and its territory increasingly occupied each year. The more significant issue is the ideological considerations in the White House and the geopolitical discrimination in the Middle East, which preclude any serious criticism of Israel by Americans within the White House and Congress. Yet, if the same actions were taken by Russia, China, or another actor outside the American order, they would be severely punished. This is the iron curtain that the American world and its partners have wrapped themselves in to avoid seeing outside. As the French psychiatrist and philosopher Jacques Lacan said, “The eye through which you look out at the world is the same eye through which the world looks back at you,” leaving no place to hide.
Now, it remains to be seen whether the international community is willing to distance itself from this geopolitics of shame and end the war with a specific strategy for the existence of two equal countries in terms of rights, security, economy, and welfare: Israel and Palestine, ensuring peace and peaceful coexistence. Shouldn’t the world once and for all stand against the violation of the concept of humanity by Israelis and grant Palestinians the right to an identity free from aggression? This is the test facing the non-American and even American world today. A test that, if ignored and without pressure on the violator of human rights and international security, may one day come back to haunt them, with no one left to defend them.
Asmir Alihojich is pursuing a major in International Relations at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia. He is part of the @beyondwarsﾠcollective.
https://www.juancole.com/2024/07/nationalism-eradicating-palestinians.html
Israel Destroys Gaza and Palestine and Arab Leaders Lost the Future
by Dr Mahboob A Khawaja
Monsters of Histroy Defy Truth, Justice, Sanctity of Life and Earth
Horrors of insanity and Israeli war continued to plague the entire Arab region and people of Gaza and Palestine are being subjected to planned crimes against humanity and genocide without any global challenge to the catastrophic atrocities. Since May, the bogus Three-Phase so called Israeli formula for a ceasefire remains a puzzle to rational understanding. The US and Israel are forging it to ensure killing of people of Gaza and allowing new settlements by settlers to strengthen Israeli command over the West Bank and to put a finished answer to Palestine freedom movement. All monsters of history claimed good intentions and righteous ambitions but inflicted horrors, deaths and destruction on fellow human beings to achieve individualistic ambitions of power and glory. PM Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress (July 24, 24) was no big surprise to global viewers as he acts like a despotic king for his own political survival whereas masses of Israelis view him as a liability – a PM wanted by the ICC-ICJ for alleged “genocide”, morally and intellectually absurd person who should resign to make ways for an immediate ceasefire, return of 120 hostages and peace with Palestine.
Philip Giraldi (“War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu Addresses the US Congress” Global Research: 7/26/24), Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest explains: Lies proliferate and Congress cheers genocide in Gaza and restates Nancy Plocy (former Speaker): “Benjamin Netanyahu’s presentation in the House Chamber today was by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States…….Netanyahu cliams ‘Hamas raped women and burnt babies alive’ but Dr. Giraldi views it a false propaganda stunt to win the US support for continued war against Palestinian people and clarifies:
The reality is, of course, it is the Jews who are killing Palestinians in large numbers using American supplied weapons. The highly respectable British medical journal The Lancet estimates that Israel has already killed more than 186,000 Palestinians since last October most of whom are still buried under the rubble of their homes, but for Netanyahu only Jewish lives matter. And the unrelenting savagery of the Israeli soldiers has also been confirmed by multiple independent sources. Bibi would also do well to read the new Knesset law passed last week that completely rejects the idea of a unilaterally declared sovereign Palestinian state side-by-side with Israel, confirming that Israel’s intentions do not include living at peace with its neighbors. https://www.globalresearch.ca/war-criminal-netanyahu-us-congress/5863708
Recently, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) put the State of Israel on notice for its illegal occupation of Palestine and settlements in West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal and must be stopped. Jake Johnson (“ICJ Says Israelﾒs Occupation of Palestinian Territory Is Illegal and Must End “: Common Dreams: 7/19/24),
The United Nations’ highest court issued an advisory opinion arguing that Israel’s large-scale expansion of settlements amounts to annexation, a crime under international law.The International Court of Justice said Friday that Israel’s decadeslong occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful and must end “as rapidly as possible.” The Court in a 11-3 vote decided:
“Israel is not entitled to sovereignty in any part of the occupied Palestinian territory on account of its occupation, nor can security concerns override the prohibition on acquisition of territory by force,” said the Chief Justice. The ICJ said that all nations “are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the state of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the state of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory.The United States was among the countries that warned the ICJ against advising that Israel must swiftly end its occupation
Israel will not Stop at Gaza While the Arab Leaders are Just Silent Spectators
Gaza and West Bank are obliterated by Israeli insanity over ten months of continued war and bombardments of civilian infrastructures. The Arab-Muslim leaders had no mind, wisdom and courage to challenge Israel for its planned onslaught of Palestinian masses.They profess friendship with Netanyahu against Israeli animosity. The Arab leaders appear morally, intellectually and politically bankrupt as a scum floating on a torrent of naive puppets and discredited leaders. The American-Israeli collaborative war on Gaza and its immediate consequences made the Western world and all of its institutions shamefully redundant and void in the 21st century global norms of civility, human rights, freedom, justice and safety of civilians – whereas crimes against humanity are captured in obscure impulses and indecision and deliberate inaction by the UN Security Council. If Israel is not stopped, soon the leading oil exporting Arab states could fly Israeli-American flags for a change. Please see: “Israel Lost the War and America Betrayed Humanity in Gaza.”
Those Bombing the Earth are the Enemies of Life, Peace and Humanity
The Earth is not a property of the US, West Europeans or Israel but a Divine hub of human Life, Survival and a Trust, Those Bombing and Destroying it are mentally sick and defy the Divine Truth. It looks as if the US and Israeli leaders do not believe in life and death and accountability. The earth is living and spins at 1670 km per hour and orbits the Sun at 107,000 km per hour. Imagine, if this spinning fails, what consequences could occur to the living beings on Earth. Think again, about the average distance of earth from moon is 93 million miles -the distance of Moon from Earth is currently 384,821 km equivalent to 0.002572 Astronomical Units. Earth is a “trust” to mankind for its existence, sustenance of life, survival, progress and future-making. The Earth exists and floats without any pillars in a capsule by the Will of God, so, ”Fear God Who created life and death.” Is human intelligence still intact to understand this reality? Wherever there is a trust, there is accountability. All human beings are accountable for their actions. The Divine warning (Chapter 7: 56: The Quran), warns: Do no mischief on the Earth after it hath been set in order, but call on God with fear and longing in hearts; For the Mercy of God is always near to those who do good. (44:38-39.The Divine Message (Quran:40:64),clarifies:
It is God Who made for you the Earth as a resting place and the sky as a canopy; And has given you shape and made your shapes beautiful, And has provided for your Sustenance, of things pure and good; Such is God your Lord. So Glory to God, The Lord of the Worlds.
And killing of innocent people is prohibited in the Ten Commandments (Torah):
‘Thou shalt not kill’ (Exod. 20:13; also Deut. 5:17). Jewish law views the shedding of innocent blood very seriously, and lists murder as one of three sins (along with idolatry and sexual immorality), that fall under the category of yehareg ve’al ya’avor – meaning “One should let himself be killed rather than violate it.
“Phase One of Israel’s genocidal campaign on Gaza has ended. Phase Two has begun. It will result in even higher levels of death and destruction” reports Chris Hedges.
Chris Hedges “Israel Reopens the Gaza Slaughterhouse.” Chris Hedges Report: 12/05/23
This is not a war against Hamas. It is a war against Palestinians.
Israeli strikes are generated at a dizzying rate, many of them from a system called “Habsora” — The Gospel — which is built on artificial intelligence that selects 100 targets a day. The AI-system is described by seven current and former Israeli intelligence officials in an article by Yuval Abraham on the Israeli sites +972 Magazine and Local Call, as facilitating a “mass assassination factory.” Israel, once it locates what it assumes to be a Hamas operative from a cell phone, for example, bombs and shells a wide area around the target, killing and wounding tens, and at times hundreds of Palestinians, the article states.
Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs-global security, peace and conflict resolution and has spent several academic years across the Russian-Ukrainian and Central Asian regions knowing the people, diverse cultures of thinking and political governance and a keen interest in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including: One Humanity and the Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution, and a forthcoming book: Global Humanity and the Remaking of Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution beyond the Lens of Human Consciousness.
About 10 percent of the Gaza Strip’s population killed, injured, or missing due to the Israeli genocide
- Occupied Palestinian Territory - About 10% of the Gaza Strip’s population has been killed, injured, or is missing due to the 293-day genocide carried out by Israel in the Strip, ongoing since 7 October 2023.
Euro-Med Monitor’s preliminary statistics indicate that about 50,000 Palestinians have been killed. This number includes those reportedly trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings, or whose bodies are either stuck on roads or in border areas that have been completely destroyed, and thus cannot be recovered. More than about 100,000 others, meanwhile, have been injured. The majority of these victims were civilians, mostly women and children, while about 3,000 additional Palestinians have simply disappeared after being arrested from the Gaza Strip, with their fate remaining unknown.
The estimates provided by Euro-Med Monitor are based on data and statistics gathered by its field teams in neighbourhoods and camps located within the Gaza Strip, as well as from information received from relevant authorities and institutions, including several hospitals and medical teams. These indicate that at least 51,000 people have died as a result of the Israeli blockade of the entire Strip; denial of medical care; collapse of the health sector due to Israel’s targeting and blockade; insufficient ambulance services due to said targeting and blockade, as well as a severe shortage of basic medicines, particularly for patients with chronic illnesses and cancer; prevention of the ability to travel abroad for treatment; and the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics. Accordingly, the natural death rate increased from an estimated 3.5 per 1,000 people prior to the start of the genocide to 22 per 1,000 people during the genocide.
The number of beds available in operating hospitals and field hospitals across the Gaza Strip is down to less than 1,500, which is insufficient to accommodate the needs of over two million people. This is in contrast to the 3,500 beds that were available prior to 7 October. The scarcity of medical supplies and equipment is making the bed shortage worse, as is the Israeli army’s ongoing, systematic, and widespread destruction of hospitals and health facilities. Additionally, there has been a notable rise in the number of wounded and sick, which has resulted in a weak medical response and serious health complications for these individuals, as well as avoidable deaths among the elderly.
The lack of clean water, extreme overcrowding, breakdown of sanitation infrastructure, build-up of waste, scarcity of cleaning and sterilisation supplies, and the frequent forced evacuations all contribute to the rapid spread of infectious diseases.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO) data, 990,000 cases of acute respiratory infections—574,000 of acute watery diarrhoea, 107,000 of jaundice syndrome, and 12,000 of bloody diarrhoea—were recorded as of 7 July 2024, with the actual number of infections likely much higher. Rashes and skin infections, particularly among children, are also on the rise. This trend correlates with a drop in routine vaccination rates and a higher chance of vaccine-preventable illnesses like the poliovirus, which was recently found to be present in the Gaza Strip’s wastewater.
Since Israel started its genocide more than 10 months ago, the people living in the Gaza Strip have endured constant bombardment; shooting; tank shelling; methodical and extensive destruction of houses and other civilian property, as well as essential infrastructure; and frequent attacks on makeshift shelters and tents for the displaced.
Israel is continuing to commit genocide against civilians in Palestine, with the intention of eradicating and destroying them by all possible means, including starvation, denial of medical attention and humanitarian aid, systematic evacuation, torture, and the imposition of living conditions that will eventually cause their destruction.
Israel’s fierce military assaults have caused over 70% of the Gaza Strip’s buildings to be destroyed or severely damaged, forcing over two million Palestinians (out of roughly 2.3 million) to evacuate. The majority of these people have been forced to relocate multiple times, leaving them to live in filthy, uncomfortable temporary tents that are susceptible to the elements, and rendering them especially vulnerable to infectious diseases that spread quickly in crowded areas.
The hardship faced by hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced people across the Gaza Strip is extreme. This is particularly true inside United Nations shelter centres, where there is severe overcrowding—up to five or six families crammed into a single classroom—and exceptional danger due to the Israeli military’s frequent attacks on these facilities, the damage they cause, and the potential for contamination from explosive ordnance.
This is coupled with a lack of supplies for making adequate shelters, a shortage of drinkable water, and storage issues, plus deteriorating sanitation conditions which have resulted in sewage seeping into the streets in many displacement sites. Additionally, families are frequently forced to rely on extremely salted water for drinking, and deal with a lack of personal hygiene due to the absence of privacy, personal space, water, and hygiene supplies.
The intense heat and accumulation of solid waste also attract insects such as mosquitoes. Communities often burn waste piles in an effort to stop the spread of insects and diseases, but the release of toxic fumes poses additional health risks.
Furthermore, a great deal of food insecurity exists as a result of Israel’s persistent efforts to obstruct the entry of aid supplies. In addition to a lack of infant formulae, few tests available to identify malnutrition, and uneven distribution of nutritional supplements, women struggle to breastfeed their babies as a result of psychological trauma, stress, and malnourishment.
As a form of retaliation and collective punishment against the people of the Gaza Strip, Israel has steadily targeted civilians, civilan objects, and UN-flagged shelter centres in an effort to cause as many casualties as possible. This constitutes full-fledged war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute, which governs the International Criminal Court, as well as violations of international humanitarian law and the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
Ensuring the health and dignity of the populace through access to water and sanitation is a fundamental human right that has gained international recognition. However, granting this right to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip will require ending Israel’s genocide, lifting the siege, and salvaging what remains in the enclave, which is not currently viable for life. Delays will either cause all sectors in the Strip to completely collapse, or incur further significant costs in terms of civilian lives and health.
The international community is responsible for ensuring that humanitarian aid reaches the Gaza Strip, including the northern part of the Strip, in a timely, safe, and efficient manner. This aid must include all of the basic food and non-food items needed to address the dire circumstances that the entire Strip’s population is experiencing.
Pressure must be applied to Israel to reopen the main pipelines that typically supply water to the Gaza Strip, particularly those that enter the north of the Strip, as well as to guarantee the safety of technicians who need to repair and restore the water lines and their various sources while also maintaining sanitation facilities and services. Pressure should also be applied to Israel to ensure that enough fuel is imported to run the Strip’s water and sanitation infrastructure, which includes stations, water desalination plants, water wells, and mobile water cycles, and to facilitate the entry of the necessary supplies for repair and rehabilitation work on such infrastructure. These services are essential to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, and protect them from the risk of health disasters.
An immediate and urgent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is necessary and critical, and must be accompanied by measures designed to enable the distribution of medical supplies, food, clean water, and other resources to meet people’s basic humanitarian needs. All nations must fulfil their international obligations by ensuring Israel’s compliance with the rules of international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice, enacting strong sanctions against Israel, and severing all political, financial, and military support and cooperation with it. This should include immediately halting arms transfers to Israel, including export permits and military aid.
Nations that provide Israel with weapons, military technology, and other forms of support, despite the presumed knowledge that this support is being used to commit international crimes against the Palestinians, must be held accountable for the crimes that have been committed in the Gaza Strip, including genocide.
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Published since July 2008 |
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The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
