Daily Archives: 18. Dezember 2023


18.12.2023 - 19:57 [ World Beyond War ]

Urge Governments to Invoke the Genocide Convention to Stop the War on Gaza

Several countries‘ governments have accused the Israeli government of genocide and asked the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israeli officials, but that court effectively answers to the U.S. government and has refused for years to prosecute crimes by Israel or anyone else outside of Africa.

But the International Court of Justice has ruled against Israel in the past, and if any one nation invokes the Genocide Convention, the court will be obliged to rule on the matter.

If the ICJ determines that genocide is happening, then the ICC will not need to make that determination but only consider who is responsible

18.12.2023 - 19:50 [ Rami Ayari / Twitter ]

Diplomatic Sources are now saying there is talk of postponing the #UNSC vote on the #Gaza aid/monitoring draft resolution until tmrw (Dec 19) to allow more time for negotiations on the text.

18.12.2023 - 19:38 [ Times of Israel ]

UN Security Council to vote on new resolution demanding ceasefire, aid access to Gaza

The resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates, demands access to the Hamas-ruled enclave via land, sea and air routes.

The draft text, Reuters reports, currently “calls for an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access.”

The US is looking to amend the language on the cessation of hostilities, diplomats tells Reuters.

18.12.2023 - 19:31 [ Change.org ]

Declaration of Conscience and Concern of Global Intellectuals on Gaza Genocide

Under these circumstances, this Declaration calls not only for the denunciation of Israel’s genocidal assault but also for taking effective action to permanently prevent its repetition. We come together due to the urgency of the moment, which obliges global intellectuals to stand against the ongoing horrific ordeal of the Palestinian people and, most of all, to implore action by those who have the power, and hence the responsibility, to do so. Israel’s continuing rejection of a permanent ceasefire intensifies our concerns.

Many weeks of cruel devastation caused by Israel’s grossly disproportionate response to the October 7 attack, continues to exhibit Israel’s vengeful fury. That fury can in no way be excused by the horrendous violence of Hamas against civilians in Israel or inapplicable claims of self-defense against an occupied population.

(…)

In addition, Israel has been greenlighting settler-led violence and escalating ethnic cleansing efforts in the West Bank. Given these developments we urge national governments to embargo and halt all shipments of weapons to Israel, especially the United States and the United Kingdom, which should also withdraw their provocative naval presences from the Eastern Mediterranean; we urge the UN Security Council and General Assembly to so decree without delay.

18.12.2023 - 19:15 [ Middle East Eye ]

Ben Gvir says he will leave the coalition if military offensive doesn’t ‘continue at full strength’

Gvir criticised the government‘s handling of the war and added that Hamas remains undeterred after 73 days of war.

“You don’t make pauses and don’t allow our enemies to set shocking conditions for the release of the hostages,” he said.

18.12.2023 - 19:11 [ The Spectator Index / Twitter ]

BREAKING: Health ministry in Gaza says death toll has risen to 19,453, including 7,729 children.

18.12.2023 - 18:59 [ Middle East Eye ]

Over 1,500 theatre workers call for the release of theatre staff in Jenin

The two theatre staff were detained by Israeli forces from the occupied West Bank city of Jenin during a raid on 13 December.

The open letter, circulated by Culture Workers Against Genocide, condemns the violent assault on Jenin’s Freedom Theatre, where Israeli soldeirs attacked the facility, shot at the building, destroyed offices and assaulted staff members.

The letter states that approximately 100 other Palestinians taken hostage from Jenin remain in detention.

18.12.2023 - 18:52 [ Middle East Eye ]

Hamas and Israel float Marwan Barghouti’s release in future deal: Report

The proposal is under discussion as part of US, Qatari and Egyptian efforts to revive a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas like the one that brought a short-lived truce to the enclave, according to the Wall Street Journal.

CIA Director William Burns traveled to Warsaw, Poland on Monday for talks with Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea, and the Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani as part of the talks.

18.12.2023 - 18:15 [ Le Monde ]

„Operation Condor“ – neue Erkenntnisse über einen schmutzigen Krieg

(11.05.2001)

Erst die zufällige Entdeckung von zwei Tonnen Aktenmaterial aus der Stroessner-Diktatur hat eine erste Rekonstruktion der kriminellen Machenschaften dieses internationalen Netzwerks ermöglicht. Ende Dezember 1992 wurden sie in einer Polizeistation von Lambaré gefunden, einem Vorort der paraguayischen Hauptstadt Asunción. Auf Grund der Freigabe bis dahin als geheim eingestufter CIA-Dokumente über Chile am 13. November 2000 konnte der Inhalt dieser „Akten des Terrors“ überprüft und präzisiert werden.

Seit der panamerikanischen Konferenz von Chapultepec, die im Februar 1945 in Mexiko stattfand, schwören die USA die südamerikanischen Militärs auf den Kampf gegen den Kommunismus ein. In Chapultepec war beschlossen worden, dass das 1942 geschaffene Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) seine Tätigkeiten weiterführen sollte.

DAS aus Offizieren der Unterzeichnerstaaten zusammengesetzte Gremium sollte nach Möglichkeiten suchen, die im Krieg begonnene militärische Zusammenarbeit weiterzuentwickeln. In seinem Rahmen wurden im Jahr 1951 bilaterale Militärhilfeabkommen unterzeichnet: ….

18.12.2023 - 18:02 [ UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) ]

Chile: Operation Condor judgment major win for accountability – Türk

GENEVA (15 December 2023) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk today hailed Chile’s Supreme Court judgement on Operation Condor – a notorious campaign coordinated among South America’s dictatorships in the 70s and 80s to persecute political opponents and dissidents – as a major step towards accountability for thousands of victims.

The former dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay implemented Operation Condor to search for, persecute, torture, summarily kill and forcibly disappear people perceived as dissidents across the region. They used a myriad of tactics to eliminate them, including throwing people out of aeroplanes and helicopters.

On 14 December, in a unanimous ruling, Chile’s Supreme Court confirmed the convictions of 22 agents of the dissolved Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA) for the kidnappings and qualified homicides of some victims of the Operation Condor, and ordered reparation measures.

18.12.2023 - 17:27 [ World Health Organization ]

WHO delivers health supplies to Al-Shifa Hospital, appeals for continued access to address urgent needs in north Gaza

(17.12.2023)

Once the most important and largest referral hospital in Gaza, Al-Shifa now houses only a handful of doctors and a few nurses, together with 70 volunteers, working under what WHO staff described as “unbelievably challenging circumstances,” and calling it a “hospital in need of resuscitation.” The operating theatres and other major services remain nonfunctional due to lack of fuel, oxygen, specialized medical staff, and supplies. The hospital is only able to provide basic trauma stabilization, has no blood for transfusion, and hardly any staff to care for the constant flow of patients. Dialysis is being provided to approximately 30 patients a day, with the dialysis machines operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, using a small generator.

The team described the emergency department as a “bloodbath”, with hundreds of injured patients inside, and new patients arriving every minute. Patients with trauma injuries were being sutured on the floor, and limited to no pain management is available at the hospital. WHO staff said that the emergency department is so full that care must be exercised to not step on patients on the floor.

18.12.2023 - 16:59 [ United Nations ]

UN workers delivering aid to Gaza hospital describe ‘bloodbath’ in overflowing emergency department

(16.12.2023)

UN workers delivering medical supplies to the Al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza on 16 December have described the emergency department as a “bloodbath”, with hundreds of injured people inside, and a constant flow of new patients.

18.12.2023 - 16:45 [ Amnesty International ]

Israel/OPT: Horrifying cases of torture and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees amid spike in arbitrary arrests

Israeli authorities have dramatically increased their use of administrative detention, a form of arbitrary detention, of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank; extended emergency measures that facilitate inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners; and failed to investigate incidents of torture and death in custody over the past four weeks, Amnesty International said today.

Since 7 October, Israeli forces have detained more than 2,200 Palestinian men and women, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club. According to Israeli human rights organization HaMoked between 1 October and 1 November, the total number of Palestinians held in administrative detention, without charge or trial, rose from 1,319 to 2,070.

18.12.2023 - 16:32 [ Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization / Twitter ]

.@WHO is appalled by the effective destruction of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern #Gaza over the last several days, rendering it non-functional and resulting in the death of at least 8 patients. Many health workers were reportedly detained, and WHO and partners are urgently seeking information on their status.

We learned that many patients had to self-evacuate at great risk to their health and safety, with ambulances unable to reach the facility. Of the deceased patients, several died due to lack of adequate health care, including a 9-year-old child.

We are extremely concerned for the well-being of the internally displaced people who are reportedly sheltering in the hospital building.

Gaza’s health system was already on its knees, and the loss of another even minimally functioning hospital is a severe blow.

Attacks on hospitals, health personnel and patients must end. Ceasefire NOW.

18.12.2023 - 16:21 [ Saul Staniforth / Twitter ]

„Palestines health minister has called for an investigation after 20 people were killed on the grounds of Kamal Adwan hospital… Doctors and witnesses say the victims were crushed to death by Israeli forces using bulldozers to destroy tents housing displaced Palestinians“

18.12.2023 - 12:30 [ Vatican News ]

Pope condemns attacks on civilians in Gaza: ‘It is war; it is terrorism’

“Some say, ‘This is terrorism. This is war.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism,” he said. “That is why the Scripture affirms that ‘God stops wars… breaks the bow, splinters the spear’ (Psalm 46:10). Let us pray to the Lord for peace.”

Pope Francis also recalled people in various parts of the world who are suffering due to war.

“Let us not forget our brothers and sisters suffering from war, in Ukraine, in Palestine and Israel, and in other conflict zones,” he said. “May the approach of Christmas strengthen the commitment to open paths of peace.”

18.12.2023 - 12:26 [ CNN ]

Pope speaks out after IDF sniper kills two women inside Gaza church, per Catholic authorities

Seven others were also shot and wounded in the attack at the complex, where most Gaza’s Christian families have taken refuge since the start of the war, according to the patriarchate, which oversees Catholic Churches across Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

“No warning was given, no notification was provided,” the statement continued. “They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish, where there are no belligerents.”

18.12.2023 - 12:10 [ Lord (Tariq)Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State Foreign Commonwealth & Development Affairs (South Asia, MEastNAfrica, UN, Human Rights) / Twitter ]

Shocked that civilians taking refuge in a church in northern Gaza have been killed & others injured. A further tragedy in Gaza. Israel must abide by IHL. Civilians must be protected. A sustainable ceasefire, leading to sustainable peace, is urgently needed. #ParhwayToPeace

18.12.2023 - 11:55 [ APnews.com ]

In Israel’s killing of 3 hostages, some see the same excessive force directed at Palestinians

Israelis were left stunned and speechless when three hostages held by Hamas were killed by Israeli forces in the middle of an active war zone after they waved a white flag and screamed out in Hebrew to show they did not pose a threat.

For some, the incident was a shocking example of the ugliness of war, where a complex and dangerous battlefield is safe for no one. But for critics, the incident underscores what they say is the excessively violent conduct of Israel’s security apparatus against Palestinians.

18.12.2023 - 11:39 [ New York Times ]

Hostage Deaths Fuel Israelis’ Doubts About Netanyahu

n the face of increasing pressure from the United States, Britain and Germany, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down on his opposition to what these allies see as the future of Gaza: an interim government overseen by the Palestinian Authority and an eventual Palestinian state existing alongside Israel.

Speaking only hours after the army admitted to shooting three Israeli hostages as they held up a white flag in Gaza, fueling consternation and anger among Israelis, Mr. Netanyahu appeared to be trying to change the subject, boasting that he had prevented the creation of a Palestinian state in the past and would continue to do so.