IsraelPalestineNews: Reports of ongoing acts of genocide, war crimes, and despair; end of UNRWA aid to northern Gaza; West Bank restriction of movement; Blinken is “disappointed” about new settlement plans; update on ICJ occupation case; more
By IAK staff, from reports
Middle East Monitor reports: Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, an independent organization based in Geneva, reported Friday that it documented: “The killing of more than 3,847 Palestinians by the Israeli army, including 1,306 children and 807 women, in addition to the injury of about 5,119 since the ICJ issued its ruling.”
The organization confirmed that it had observed six main indicators that Israel is continuing the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip within four weeks of the ruling issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which required it to take measures to prevent this.
These indicators include continued mass killings of civilians, intentionally inflicting severe physical and psychological harm, deliberately subjecting residents to miserable living conditions with the aim of actual destruction, starvation, blocking the entry of humanitarian aid, imposing measures aimed at preventing childbirth within Palestinian families, and official and public incitement by Israeli officials to escalate its genocide.
New OHCHR annual report: the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) noted a broad range of concerns, including unlawful killings, hostage-taking, destruction of civilian property, collective punishment, forced displacement, incitement to hatred and violence, sexual assault, and torture – these acts are all prohibited by international human rights and humanitarian laws.
“The entrenched impunity reported by our Office for decades cannot be permitted to continue. There must be accountability on all sides for violations seen over 56 years of occupation and the 16 years of blockade of Gaza, and up to today,” said Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“Justice is a pre-requisite for ending cycles of violence and for Palestinians and Israelis to be able to take meaningful steps towards peace.”
The New Arab reports: The head of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) spoke to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday. Among his statements was this: “[For children] there is a repeated displacement, constant fear and witnessing family members literally dismembered before their eyes. These psychological injuries have led children as young as five to tell us that they would prefer to die.”
UNICEF, the UN agency for the protection of children, estimated that at least 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip are unaccompanied or have been separated from their immediate family since the start of the conflict.
Children make up about half of the overall displaced population of 1.7 million people in Gaza.
Al Jazeera reports: A spokesperson for the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA has said that the organization is no longer able to provide assistance in northern Gaza, where it only has “a few staff”, and that civil order has collapsed amid Israel’s ongoing assault and severe restrictions on food access. This comes just days after the World Food Program (WFP) ceased deliveries to the north.
UNRWA says it is struggling to offer assistance to millions of Palestinians in Gaza and throughout the region after several key donor countries froze funding for the humanitarian group following unsubstantiated Israeli allegations that around a dozen of its employees took part in the October 7 attacks. Israel has not provided evidence for those claims nearly one month after first putting them forward.
“I believe we have some weeks, five or six, less than that. After that, we will not be able to continue providing services, not only in Gaza, but also in places like Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank and East Jerusalem,” UNRWA spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna told Al Jazeera.
Palestine Chronicle reports: This week, the Israeli army targeted the Gaza municipality warehouses once more, destroying the few remaining equipment used to provide services in northern Gaza.
The vehicles destroyed are reportedly ‘coded’, in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross so that the Israeli army knows in advance that the equipment belongs to a civilian institution. The vehicles reportedly include three bulldozers, an excavator, a water pump, and an administrative vehicle.
The total of vehicles destroyed in the Gaza municipality is reportedly 95. The facilities themselves sustained serious damage. The Gaza municipality confirmed that its staff are no longer able to provide even basic services to Gaza’s residents.
Osama Hamdan, an official for Hamas, gave a press conference Friday in Beirut, Lebanon. Among his comments were:
- Our people are waiting for the International community and the United Nations, with all its agencies, to take concrete steps immediately to bring aid into the Strip.
- An explosion is coming in response to any restrictions on Muslims entering Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan. We call our Palestinian people in the occupied territories, Jerusalem and the West Bank, to reject this criminal decision, and to escalate the confrontation of the occupation everywhere, and to mobilize and march and band together in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.
RECOMMENDED READING (Al Jazeera): ‘Beaten, stripped, used as human shield’: Gaza victim recalls Israel terror
WEST BANK – +972 Magazine reports: The Israeli army has constructed or permitted the construction of makeshift barriers and checkpoints to prevent dozens of Palestinian villages, towns, and cities from accessing major West Bank arteries. In some cases, villages have been blocked off from every direction.
Major roads are now virtually inaccessible to Palestinians, almost exclusively servicing settlers. In order to travel around the West Bank, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are now forced to drive along unpaved, narrow, and winding roads.
Israeli soldiers are stationed at many of these new roadblocks, and they sometimes shoot at unarmed Palestinians who try to cross. One such fatal incident at the end of December was captured on video.
We recommend visiting the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) for more regional news.
Al Jazeera reports: US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke Friday about Israel’s announcement on Thursday of building new settlements in the occupied West Bank:
- We are disappointed … it has been longstanding US policy under Republican and Democratic administrations alike, that new settlements are counterproductive to reaching an enduring peace.
- They are also inconsistent with international law.
- Our administration maintains a firm opposition to settlement expansion.
- In our judgment, it only weakens, doesn’t strengthen Israel’s security.
Blinken also referred to the issue of the buffer zone that Israel has been creating on the Gaza side of the border: “There should be no Israeli reoccupation of Gaza. The size of Gaza territory should not be reduced.”
Al Jazeera reports: A team of United Nations experts have said the transfer of weapons and ammunition to Israel for use in Gaza could violate international humanitarian law, raising the prospect that countries such as the US – that have enabled Israel’s campaign in Gaza through large weapons transfers – could be complicit in possible rights violations.
Summary of International Court of Justice proceedings, Friday
- Namibia said it still suffers from the effects of a long and unlawful occupation, but the ICJ “played a vital role in our liberation struggle”. In its 1971 opinion, the court confirmed the right to self-determination as a “legal imperative”, paving the way to Namibia’s independence in 1990.
- Norway stated that the legal consequences arising from a prolonged occupation violate the principle of self-determination and every state has the duty to refrain from any action that deprives people of this right.
- Oman told the court that the people of Palestine “have been living under occupation, oppression, injustice and daily humiliation, while the international community failed to assist them in realizing their aspirations to an independent state”.
- Pakistan said that while Israel has sought to make its occupation of Palestinian territories irreversible, history shows that reversibility is possible, such as when France withdrew more than a million settlers from Algeria in 1962.
- Indonesia said there is no ground for the court to decline giving an advisory opinion (as the US suggested). Some countries have argued that doing so would undermine the peace process, but this argument is invalid because there are no viable negotiations taking place at the moment and the court is not called on to decide on the conflict as a whole.
- Qatar said there is growing perception that some basic tenants of international law “apply to some but not to others, that some people are seen as deserving security, freedom and self-determination but others are not…Some children are deemed worthy of protection while others are killed in their thousands. Qatar rejects such double standards. International law must be upheld in all circumstances.”
- The UK said Israel’s occupation is illegal and called for a two-state negotiated solution, but argued against the court giving an advisory opinion on a number of grounds, including: the court’s advisory jurisdiction cannot be used to provide a form of judicial recourse for parties, nor should the court resolve disputes between the parties using its advisory jurisdiction.
- Slovenia said, the right to self-determination is not “some random right” but runs parallel to the equal rights of people. It is a “fundamental human right having a broad scope of application.” The people of Slovenia were able to establish their own sovereign and independent state and believe this right to be an “indispensable pillar of the international legal order”.
- Sudan said that the ICJ should issue an advisory opinion to “convey a definitive message to both Israel and Palestine that they need to redouble their efforts to achieve peace and security”.
- Norway said, “the injustice to which the Palestinians are subjected must stop” and “while the eyes of the world are focused on the horrific war in Gaza, the situation in the [occupied] West Bank, including [occupied] East Jerusalem, is also very serious”.
- Switzerland said that Israel has put in place in the occupied Palestinian territories a “coercive environment” that “cannot be justified under security requirements because it affects the well-being of the population and is discriminatory in nature”.
- Syria said that the “huge record of UN resolutions” that Israel continues to violate – 180 from the UN General Assembly and 227 of the Security Council – testify to its wrongdoings, that Palestinians must be able to exercise their right to self-determination, and that Israel must remove all settlement structures “without delay.”
Video footage authenticated by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit shows Palestinian worshippers being turned away or forcibly removed as they attempt to head to Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem:
قوات الاحتلال تعتدي على فلسطينيين وتعيق وصول المصلين للمسجد الأقصى#حرب_غزة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/Na8Ra6QUBB
— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) February 23, 2024
Translation: Occupation forces attack Palestinians and obstruct worshippers’ access to Al-Aqsa Mosque.
RECOMMENDED READING (Mondoweiss): Biden won’t let Israel’s rejection of a Palestinian state interfere with his delusions
Al Jazeera reports: The New York branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has said that Columbia University must reinstate two student groups who were suspended by the university for pro-Palestinian activism, or face a court challenge:
BREAKING: We've notified @Columbia that they must reverse the unlawful suspensions of two student groups (@ColumbiaSJP & @JVPColumbia) for engaging in peaceful protest and to reinstate both chapters by March 1.
If the university fails to respond by then, we're prepared to sue.
— NYCLU (@NYCLU) February 23, 2024
NYCLU added, “Universities should be havens for robust debate, discussion, and learning – not sites of censorship where administrators, donors, and politicians squash political discourse they don’t approve of.”
This morning, our colleague and volunteer, Fayez As'ad Mohammad Muammar, a paramedic at the Rafah ambulance center, was killed after his family's house was bombed in the eastern part of #Rafah governorate.
RIP Fayez 🙏 pic.twitter.com/jsOXr0URBy— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) February 23, 2024
Injured and ill patients, their families, and healthcare workers, still remain in #Gaza’s Nasser Hospital.
Medical supplies are limited. Food is insufficient. There is no electricity or water.
🔊 Our team member Sara on challenges encountered during the evacuation missions 👇
— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) February 22, 2024
Performing artists from the Free Gaza Circus group are busy entertaining refugee children at the Rafah displacement camps.
🎥 The Palestine Chronicle pic.twitter.com/XjS9KBGpIT
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) February 23, 2024
HAPPENING NOW: Thousands of Jews and allies are taking over the AIPAC headquarters in NYC to make it clear that elected officials who take money from AIPAC and oppose a ceasefire are answering to a far-Right lobby group instead of answering to the people who elected them. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/zPixdwlk77
— Jewish Voice for Peace NYC (@jvpliveNY) February 22, 2024
BREAKING: 18 Jewish New Yorkers were just arrested for shutting down @SenSchumer and @SenGillibrand’s offices and refusing to leave, calling on the Senators to #DumpAIPAC and support a ceasefire in Gaza. Down the street, thousands are taking over the AIPAC headquarters. pic.twitter.com/9Wo8LvIQsh
— Jewish Voice for Peace NYC (@jvpliveNY) February 22, 2024
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – FEBRUARY 23:
Palestinian death toll from October 7 – February 23: at least 29,811* (29,514 in Gaza* (over 12,660 children, 8,570 women), and at least 401 in the West Bank (100 children). This does not include an estimated 7,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 38,066 Palestinian deaths.
About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.
About 2.2 million are facing Crisis, Emergency, or Famine levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – February 23: at least 74,161** (including at least 69,616 in Gaza and 4,545 in the West Bank).
It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – February 23: ~1,387 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~574 were civilians, 373 or 337 were security and/or military forces, ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 236 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza;, 12 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.
NBC reports: “According to the latest available IDF data… nearly 1 in 5, or 17%, of all Israel’s losses have come not at the hands of Hamas but from mishaps on its own side.”
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.
Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.
For more news, go here and here. Broadcast news from the region is here.
- No Access, No Information: Thousands of Gazans “Forcibly Disappeared” by Israeli Forces
- “Anti-cancel-culture” Bari Weiss has a history of working to cancel voices she dislikes
- These Are the Jewish Megadonors Helping Fund Biden’s – and Republican Congress Members’ – Reelection Campaigns
- If you love babies, this is a must-read
- A wave of new post-Oct 7th “antisemitism” bills completely miss the point
- CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’
- Facts For Peace: the billionaire-backed campaign attacking the Palestinian cause
- Top military expert Col. Douglas MacGregor warns against attack on Iran (video)
- October 7th myths are still out there, killing Palestinians
- NYT: Where Is Hamas Getting Its Weapons? Increasingly, From Israel.
- 12 Essential Facts for Understanding the Current Israel-Gaza Violence
- Falk: Israel used Oct 7 attack as a pretext for its plan to expel Palestinians
- Synopsis of ICJ’s decision on Israeli genocide, reactions, and take-aways
- The West’s complete contempt for the lives of Palestinians will not be forgotten
- Israel has repeatedly rejected Hamas truce offers
- Why the Guardian’s ‘Hamas mass rape’ story doesn’t pass the sniff test
- Israel’s torture and humiliation of female and male Gazan prisoners
- Coverage of Gaza War in NYTimes & other major papers heavily favored Israel, analysis shows
- Two reports debunk New York Times ‘investigative report’ of mass rape on October 7th
- Israel’s Assault on Gaza Is Unlike Any War in Recent Memory
- US poised to give Israel $18 billion in aid this year
- Gaza Civilians, Under Israeli Barrage, Are Being Killed at Historic Pace
