Archiv: scorched earth tactic / Taktik der Verbrannten Erde


04.01.2025 - 14:41 [ webtv.UN.org ]

The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question – Security Council, 9830th meeting

(January 3, 2024)

Summary
The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question – Security Council, 9830th meeting

Description

– Briefer: Mr. Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (via video-teleconference)
– Briefer: Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, Representative for the West Bank and Gaza, World Health Organization (via video-teleconference)
– Briefer: Dr. Tanya Haj Hassan, medical practitioner, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) Charity (via video-teleconference)
– Statements: All Council members
– Statement: Observer State of Palestine
– Statements: Israel, Egypt

04.01.2025 - 14:19 [ United Nations ]

‘Hospitals have become battlegrounds’: Gaza’s health system on brink of collapse

In a Security Council meeting on Friday, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) representative for the West Bank and Gaza, painted a grim picture of the situation, emphasising that over 25 per cent of the 105,000 injured civilians now face life-changing injuries.

“At the current rate, it would take five to 10 years to evacuate all these critically ill patients,” Dr. Peeperkorn warned, noting that over 12,000 people remain on waiting lists for urgent treatment abroad.

Only 16 of the region’s 36 hospitals remain partially operational, their collective capacity merely above 1,800 beds – entirely insufficient for the overwhelming medical needs.

“The health sector is being systematically dismantled,” Dr. Peeperkorn noted, citing shortages of medical supplies, equipment, and personnel.

01.01.2025 - 19:01 [ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) ]

Attacks on hospitals during the escalation of hostilities in Gaza (7 October 2023 – 30 June 2024)

INTRODUCTION

1. This report presents grave concerns regarding attacks on hospitals, as well as operations within them and in their vicinity, in Gaza covering the period 7 October 2023 to 30 June 2024. In the context of the ongoing escalation of hostilities in Gaza, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has since early October 2023 documented repeated attacks on hospitals and operations within and in the vicinity of hospitals, leading to sustained combat in and around many hospitals. This pattern has led to the destruction of most hospitals in Gaza, pushing the healthcare system to the point of almost complete collapse. Attacks on hospitals were reported in each of the areas in which the Israeli military conducted ground operations, starting in November 2023 with an attack on Al Shifa Medical Complex and other hospitals in Gaza City. At the end of June 2024, 22 out of 38 hospitals across Gaza had been rendered non-functional, according to the Ministry of Health of the State of Palestine (Palestinian MOH).

2. In gathering, assessing, and verifying the information contained in this report, and drawing conclusions based on international human rights law and international humanitarian law, OHCHR applied its standard methodology. The monitoring and verification of violations remained extremely challenging, including owing to access constraints, a high level of insecurity, and threats and direct attacks also on United Nations personnel, monitors and humanitarian actors. Nevertheless, verification work continued, and information was gathered from multiple independent sources, including victims and witnesses; military and weapons experts; open sources, including satellite imagery, videos and photos; credible organizations and individuals; official and other documentation. The analysis of the information involved legal and weapons expertise, including from independent experts. Findings are included in the report where the “reasonable grounds” standard of proof has been met, namely: based on a body of verified information, an objective and ordinarily prudent observer would have reasonable grounds to believe that the facts took place as described and, where legal conclusions are drawn, that these facts meet all the elements of a violation. On 16 December 2024, the report was shared with the Permanent Missions of Israel and the State of Palestine for factual comments. The State of Palestine and Israel responded with comments on 19 and 20 December, respectively. OHCHR welcomes receiving these comments, which can be read here.

01.01.2025 - 18:53 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

UN Human Rights Office Issues Damning Report on Israeli Attacks on Gaza hospitals

UN Human Rights Office report on Tuesday, December 31, condemned deadly Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza, saying they had devastated the Palestinian occupied territory health system and raised serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law.

The appalling destruction wrought by the Israeli military’s attacks on the Kamal Adwan hospital last Friday – leaving the population of North Gaza with almost no access to adequate health care – reflects the pattern of attacks documented in the report. Staff and patients were forced to flee or were taken into custody, with many reports of torture and ill-treatment. The director of the hospital was taken into custody and his fate and whereabouts are unknown.

29.12.2024 - 17:41 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

„Von Vancouver bis Wladiwostok…“

(June 28, 2008)

Durch das aggressiv-expansionistische Ausdehnen der Westblöcke EU und NATO bis an die eigenen Grenzen hat man offenbar gelernt in den Denkfabriken um den neuen Präsidenten Russlands. Man sieht die „globale Situation diktiert von rigiden Regeln“ und rechnet offenbar mit drei strategischen Entwicklungsmodellen:

1. Die Schaffung eines Eurasien Orwell´schen Ausmasses, in der Vision dreier totalitärer Blöcke aus „1984“ (siehe Grafik oben)
2. Einen Deal mit NATO und EU, vielleicht sogar mit dem gesamten Shanghai-Pakt, zur Schaffung eines Superimperiums auf der Nordhälfte des Planeten. Dies käme praktisch einer Weltregierung gleich.
3. Eine Konfrontation zwischen Shanghai-Pakt einerseits und USA, NATO und EU andererseits.

Die Völker, die Demokratien, die Republiken, die Öffentlichkeit, die Verfassungen, sie spielen auf diesem planetaren Schachbrett nicht die geringste Rolle, für keine der imperialen Plutokratien und Apparate, weder in Russland, noch in der EU und schon gar nicht in der NATO.

25.12.2024 - 16:19 [ Médecins Sans Frontières ]

Gaza death trap: MSF report exposes Israel’s campaign of total destruction

(December 19, 2024)

„What our medical teams have witnessed on the ground throughout this conflict is consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organizations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza,” Lockyear said. (…)

MSF calls on states, particularly Israel’s closest allies, to end their unconditional support for Israel and fulfill their obligation to prevent genocide in Gaza. Nearly a year ago, on January 26, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.” Israel has taken no meaningful action to comply with the court order. Instead, Israeli authorities continue to actively block MSF and other humanitarian organizations from providing lifesaving assistance to people trapped under siege and bombardment.

20.12.2024 - 00:25 [ Médecins Sans Frontières ]

Gaza death trap: MSF report exposes Israel’s campaign of total destruction

MSF calls on states, particularly Israel’s closest allies, to end their unconditional support for Israel and fulfill their obligation to prevent genocide in Gaza. Nearly a year ago, on January 26, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.” Israel has taken no meaningful action to comply with the court order. Instead, Israeli authorities continue to actively block MSF and other humanitarian organizations from providing lifesaving assistance to people trapped under siege and bombardment.

25.11.2024 - 13:50 [ Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht ]

Verantwortungslos!

(November 19, 2024)

Joe Biden genehmigt der Ukraine, mit amerikanischen Raketen Ziele in Russland zu beschießen. Damit riskiert er einen Weltkrieg.

Kurz vor der Amtsübergabe eskalieren die US-Demokraten nochmal. Ihnen scheint völlig egal zu sein, dass Kamala Harris auch wegen der Ukraine-Politik die Wahl verloren hat.

25.11.2024 - 13:36 [ Nachdenkseiten ]

Ach, das bisschen Atomkriegsrisiko …

(November 21, 2024)

Bereits Ende August hatte der Spiegel unter dem Titel „Wladimir Putin und seine Schauermärchen von den roten Linien“ Verniedlichung betrieben. Die Autorin Ann-Dorit Boy, die laut Spiegel auch „Public Information Officer bei UN OCHA in Kiew“ war, schreibt:

„Die Erkenntnis, dass Putins Drohungen leer sind, ist nicht neu. Der Kreml hat in seinem Krieg gegen die Ukraine schon viele angeblich rote Linien gezogen. Militärhilfe von Drittstaaten sollte tabu sein, später Angriffe auf die Brücke zur Halbinsel Krim, die Lieferung von weitreichenden Raketen und Marschflugkörpern und F-16-Kampfjets. Alle diese Linien sind überschritten worden. Passiert ist nichts.“

25.11.2024 - 02:15 [ Antiwar.com ]

Report: US and European Officials Discussed Giving Ukraine Nuclear Weapons

(November 22, 2024)

Desperate to bolster Ukraine’s standing in the war before the transition of power on January 20, the Biden administration is looking at a range of serious escalations. “US and European officials are discussing deterrence as a possible security guarantee for Ukraine, such as stockpiling a conventional arsenal sufficient to strike a punishing blow if Russia violates a cease-fire.” The article continues, “Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union.”

According to some officials who spoke with the Times, the administration believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t significantly escalate the war until Trump returns to the Oval Office.

25.11.2024 - 02:14 [ DebatePolitics.com ]

Trump’s Vow to End the War Could Leave Ukraine With Few Options

(November 24, 2024)

„Trump’s Vow to End the War Could Leave Ukraine With Few Options​

…
Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such a step would be complicated and have serious implications.“

14.11.2024 - 22:16 [ United Nations ]

Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories

The present report contains information regarding the efforts of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories to implement its mandate and documents human rights concerns in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan from October 2023 to July 2024. The Special Committee was not able to conduct visits to the occupied territories, but did conduct its annual consultations in Geneva and undertook a visit to Amman, and met with government officials, United Nations organizations and mechanisms, representatives of civil society organizations, youth representatives, human rights defenders, and Palestinian families.

The report raises serious concerns of breaches of international humanitarian and human rights laws in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including starvation as a weapon of war, the possibility of genocide in Gaza and an apartheid system in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It documents the impact of the conflict escalation since 7 October 2023 on Palestinians’ rights to food; to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment; to physical integrity, liberty and security of persons; as well as the disproportionate effects on the rights of women, children, and future generations more broadly. The report also highlights the ongoing attacks against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and refers to developments in the occupied Syrian Golan. The report provides recommendations to the General Assembly and Member States; to the State of Israel; and to businesses operating with Israel, that in any way contribute to maintaining Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied territories.

(…)

IX. Conclusions

69. The developments in this report lead the Special Committee to conclude that the policies and practices of Israel during the reporting period are consistent with the characteristics of genocide. The targeting of Palestinians as a group; the life-threatening conditions imposed on Palestinians in Gaza through warfare and restrictions on humanitarian aid – resulting in physical destruction, increased miscarriages and stillbirths – and the killing of and serious bodily or mental harm caused to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are violations under international law. Civilians have been indiscriminately and disproportionally killed en masse in Gaza, while in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli colonial settlers, military and security personnel have continued to violate human rights and humanitarian law with impunity. Senior Israeli government and military officials must be held accountable, including for using dehumanizing language and inciting violence.

14.11.2024 - 22:04 [ Common Dreams ]

As US Keeps Arms Flowing, UN Panel Says Israeli Assault on Gaza ‚Consistent With Genocide‘

Less than 48 hours after the Biden administration said it does not believe Israel is unlawfully obstructing humanitarian assistance in Gaza, a United Nations special committee issued a report Thursday arguing that the Israeli military‘s actions in the Palestinian enclave bear „the characteristics of genocide.“

14.11.2024 - 21:01 [ Common Dreams ]

Global Fury After State Dept Claims Israel Not Violating US Law by Blocking Gaza Aid

(November 12, 2024)

Last month, the Biden administration—which has approved tens of billions of dollars in military aid for Israel and provided nearly unconditional diplomatic support since October 2023—sent a letter to the Israeli government threatening to cut off U.S. arms transfers if it failed to take „urgent and sustained actions“ to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza within 30 days.

Asked during a Tuesday press conference if the Israeli government has met the letter‘s demands, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said that „we have not made an assessment that they are in violation of U.S. law.“

14.11.2024 - 19:55 [ Human Rights Watch ]

“Hopeless, Starving, and Besieged”: Israel’s Forced Displacement of Palestinians in Gaza

To All Governments

– Publicly condemn Israel’s forced displacement of the civilian population in Gaza as a war crime and crime against humanity, as well as other violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and international criminal law by Israeli authorities, and urge them to immediately halt those crimes and cooperate with international judicial bodies and investigative mechanisms.

– Increase public and private pressure on the Israeli government to stop violating international humanitarian law in the conduct of hostilities, to fully comply with its obligations and the binding orders and advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, and to ensure the entry and safe distribution throughout Gaza of adequate aid and provision of basic services. Consider, in that regard, the review and possible suspension of bilateral agreements with Israel, such as the EU-Israel Association Agreement, as proposed by the governments of Spain and Ireland, and the US-Israel Free Trade Agreement.

– Suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel so long as its forces commit violations of international humanitarian law with impunity.

– Enforce domestic legislation limiting the transfer of arms and military assistance for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

– Publicly support the International Criminal Court, uphold the court’s independence, and publicly condemn efforts to intimidate or interfere with its work, officials, and those cooperating with the institution.

– Urge the Government of Israel to grant access to independent, international monitors, including from the UN Special Procedures.

– Impose targeted sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against Israeli officials credibly implicated in ongoing serious violations, for the purpose of ending these violations.

– Address long-standing impunity by Israeli authorities and Palestinian armed groups for serious crimes under international law, and support reparations for all victims of gross human rights abuses.

– Support the creation of a register of damages, caused by unlawful Israeli action to persons in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, for the purposes of calculating reparations.

(…)

To the Prosecutor of the International Crimin19al Court

– Investigate Israeli authorities’ forced displacement and prevention of the right to return as a crime against humanity.

14.11.2024 - 19:22 [ LBCgroup.tv ]

Nearly 100,000 homes damaged in year of Hezbollah-Israel fighting in Lebanon: World Bank

More than a year of clashes that escalated into war in September have cost Lebanon more than $5 billion in economic losses and damaged nearly 100,000 housing units, the World Bank said Thursday.

The World Bank report provided estimates for damage between October 8, 2023, and October 27, 2024, saying „the conflict has caused $5.1 billion in economic losses“ and that it „damaged an estimated 99,209 housing units“ — mainly in Lebanon‘s war-torn south.

08.11.2024 - 21:44 [ ARTNews.com ]

UNESCO Calls Emergency Session for Lebanese Heritage Sites Imperiled by Israeli Bombing

UNESCO’s Special Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property will hold an emergency session on November 18 dedicated to heritage sites in Lebanon as Israel intensifies its bombing of Baalbek, a historic city in eastern Lebanon home to one of the world’s best-preserved Roman ruins.

07.11.2024 - 16:56 [ Tagesschau.de ]

Deutschland weitet Rüstungsexporte nach Israel aus

(October 24, 2024)

Laut Auswärtigem Amt wurden seit August Ausfuhren im Wert von 94,05 Millionen genehmigt. (…)

Die neue Zahl geht aus einer Antwort des Auswärtigen Amts auf eine Anfrage der BSW-Abgeordneten Sevim Dagdelen hervor, die der Nachrichtenagentur dpa vorliegt.

07.11.2024 - 16:25 [ Peter Beinart / New York Times ]

Democrats Ignored Gaza and Brought Down Their Party

Over the past year, Israel’s slaughter and starvation of Palestinians — funded by U.S. taxpayers and live-streamed on social media — has triggered one of the greatest surges in progressive activism in a generation. Many Americans roused to action by their government’s complicity in Gaza’s destruction have no personal connection to Palestine or Israel. Like many Americans who protested South African apartheid or the Vietnam War, their motive is not ethnic or religious. It is moral.

07.11.2024 - 15:51 [ Common Dreams ]

Israel Bombs Refugee Camps After Inking $5.2 Billion Deal for US F-15 Fighter Jets

The agreement, part of a broader military aid package approved by the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress earlier this year, was finalized hours after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election to Republican nominee Donald Trump following a campaign in which she resisted calls to support an arms embargo against Israel.

07.11.2024 - 15:15 [ AmmonNews.net ]

85 thousand tons of bombs dropped by Israel on the Gaza Strip

(November 6, 2024)

According to a statement by the Palestinian Environment Quality Authority today, Wednesday, over 85,000 tons of bombs have been deployed by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the conflict on October 7, 2023.

07.11.2024 - 15:10 [ Anadolu ]

Amount of Israeli bombs dropped on Gaza surpasses that of World War II

(June 4, 2024)

Israel dropped 70,000 tons of bombs on Gaza Strip since last October, exceeding World War II bombings in Dresden, Hamburg, London combined, according to rights monitor

06.11.2024 - 15:02 [ Common Dreams ]

Erasing ‚Any Sign of Life,‘ Israeli Demolition Teams Razing Entire Villages in Lebanon

Satellite photos examined by The Washington Post, Reuters, and the Financial Times showed vast destruction caused by Israeli bombing and controlled demolitions of towns and villages, many of whose residents are among the more than 1.2 million people forcibly displaced by the war. (…)

„We‘re a family of artists, my father is well-known, and our home was a known cultural home,“ Lebanon Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Lubnan Baalbaki told Reuters after viewing satellite images confirming the destruction of his family home.

„If you have such high-level intelligence that you can target specific military figures, then you know what‘s in that house,“ Baalbaki added. „It was an art house. We are all artists. The aim is to erase any sign of life.“

06.11.2024 - 13:31 [ United Nations ]

Strikes in Gaza, Lebanon, as aid teams support ‘overwhelmed’ burns centre

Victims from airstrikes in Lebanon “overwhelmed the hospital”, the WHO official explained, insisting that it was critical to continue supporting “the only burns centre that’s available in the country. Off the 40 burns patients treated so far “25 per cent of them are children”, he said.

Initially equipped with 10 beds, the Geitaoui Hospital burns centre has had to expand to 25 beds, providing critical care to severely injured patients.

There are enough new trauma kits to treat 50 patients twice; each kit has two modules, one containing medications and other supplies, the other specialist burns treatments and dressings.

Expressing solidarity with Lebanon’s health professionals, the top UN aid coordinator in the country condemned ongoing military targeting of medical personnel and infrastructure, including ambulances which are “very much under attack”.

“We need to be supporting them with supplies, we need to be supporting them also need with advocacy,” said Imran Riza, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon. “There have been great violations of international humanitarian law that we are seeing. So, we need to make sure these are not happening, that health care workers can do what they‘re there for, helping people and saving lives.”

06.11.2024 - 13:21 [ BBC / Youtube ]

Hospital remains open in evacuated Lebanese city amid Israeli attacks | BBC News

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 3,000 people since October last year.

As Israel continues its intense bombardment, one of Lebanon’s main cities in the south, Nabatieh, is now largely empty.

Israel ordered the entire city to evacuate in early October.

Despite this, the city’s main hospital remains open, and emergency services are still operating for the approximately 200 families who remain there.

05.11.2024 - 18:38 [ Yenisafak.com ]

Israel destroys 37 towns, over 40,000 houses in deadly onslaught on Lebanon

The Israeli army has erased 37 towns and destroyed more than 40,000 housing units since the start of its deadly offensive on Lebanon last year, local media said on Tuesday.

The state news agency NNA said the destruction is concentrated in an area extending three kilometers deep from Naqoura to the outskirts of Khiam in southern Lebanon.

05.11.2024 - 18:21 [ APNews.com ]

Israel’s path of destruction in southern Lebanon raises fears of an attempt to create a buffer zone

(November 1, 2024)

Israeli warplanes and ground forces have blasted a trail of destruction through southern Lebanon the past month. The aim, Israel says, is to debilitate the Hezbollah militant group, push it away from the border and end more than a year of Hezbollah fire into northern Israel.

Even United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanese troops in the south have come under fire from Israeli forces, raising questions over whether they can remain in place.

02.11.2024 - 19:25 [ Idan Landau ]

השמדה וטרנספר בצפון רצועת עזה: מעבר לתרמית תכנית האלופים

הביטו בשתי התמונות האלה. הן צולמו באותו יום, ה-21 באוקטובר 2024. מימין רואים שיירת עקורים, למעשה נשים וילדים, שצולמה במחנה ג‘בליה ההרוס. הגברים (מעל גיל 16) בנפרד, מרימים דגל לבן ואת תעודות הזהות שלהם. הם בדרך החוצה. משמאל רואים את מחנה הסוכות שהקימה תנועת „נחלה“ סמוך לקיבוץ בארי, כהכנה להתיישבות יהודית בעזה, אירוע שהתכבד ב-21 שרים וח“כים מן הימין. הם בדרך פנימה.

התמונות האלה מספרות חלק גדול מן הסיפור, בעיקר את סופו המסתמן והולך. סדרת אירועים מהירה מאד בשלושת השבועות האחרונים, שעדיין נמצאת בעיצומה ופרטיה מאיימים כבר להישכח, אם בכלל חדרו לתודעה, הובילה אל הנקודה המפחידה הזאת. את הסיפור אפשר להתחיל בכל נקודה לאורך ההיסטוריה, בנכבה, בנכסה, ב“אזור הסייג“ בנגב – הרי הן כל כך דומות. עקורים פלסטינים עם מיטלטליהם, רעבים ופצועים ותשושים, ולמולם – מתיישבים יהודים צוהלים, מתקדשים אל האדמה החדשה ששוטחה ופונתה עבורם. מתחטאים.

02.11.2024 - 19:20 [ Idan Landau / +972 Magazine ]

Exterminate, expel, resettle: Israel’s endgame in northern Gaza

The “Generals’ Plan,” published in early September, has a very simple goal: to empty the northern Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population. The plan itself estimated that about 300,000 people were still living north of the Netzarim Corridor — the Israeli-occupied zone that bisects Gaza — although the UN put the number closer to 400,000.

During the first phase of the plan, the Israeli army would inform all of those people that they have a week to evacuate to the south through two “humanitarian corridors.” In the second phase, at the end of that week, the army would declare the whole area a closed military zone. Anyone who remained would be considered an enemy combatant, and be killed if they didn’t surrender. A complete siege would be imposed on the territory, intensifying the hunger and health crisis — creating, as Prof. Uzi Rabi, a senior researcher at Tel Aviv University, put it, “a process of starvation or extermination.”

02.11.2024 - 19:04 [ Common Dreams ]

Israeli Scholar Lays Out ‚True Brutality‘ of Ethnic Cleansing Now Underway in Gaza

Much alarm has been raised over the so-called „Generals‘ Plan,“ an ethnic cleansing proposal for northern Gaza that has reportedly garnered attention in the highest reaches of the Israeli government.

But Israeli scholar Idan Landau argued in a column published in English by +972 Magazine on Friday that what the Israeli military is actually doing in northern Gaza „is even more appalling“ than the plan outlined by a group of retired generals. Landau argued that focus on the details of the Generals‘ Plan has served to obscure the „true brutality“ of Israel‘s deadly operations in northern Gaza, which has been rendered a hellscape of death and destruction by the military assault and siege.

Landau, a professor of linguistics at Tel Aviv University, opened his column—first published in Hebrew on his blog—by pointing to two photos: one showing a celebratory event at a camp built by an Israeli settler organization just outside of the Gaza Strip, and the other showing displaced Palestinians lined up at gunpoint amid the ruins of northern Gaza.

02.11.2024 - 18:48 [ Unicef ]

Stop the assault on Palestinians in Gaza and on those trying to help them

NEW YORK/GENEVA/ROME, 1 November 2024 – „We the leaders of 15 United Nations and humanitarian organizations urge, yet again, all parties fighting in Gaza to protect civilians, and call on the State of Israel to cease its assault on Gaza and on the humanitarians trying to help.

„The situation unfolding in North Gaza is apocalyptic. The area has been under siege for almost a month, denied basic aid and life-saving supplies while bombardment and other attacks continue. Just in the past few days, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and thousands have once again been forcibly displaced. ……….

(…)

Signatories:

• Ms. Joyce Msuya, Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

• Ms. Nimo Hassan, MBE, Chair, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)

• Mr. Jamie Munn, Executive Director, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)

• Ms. Amy E. Pope, Director General, International Organization for Migration (IOM)

• Mr. Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

• Ms. Abby Maxman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Oxfam 3

• Ms. Paula Gaviria Betancur, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (SR on HR of IDPs)

• Mr. Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

• Ms. Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director, United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat)

• Mr. Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

• Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

• Ms. Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UN Children‘s Fund (UNICEF)

• Ms. Sima Bahous, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Women

• Ms. Cindy McCain, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP)

• Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO)

02.11.2024 - 18:33 [ Washington Post ]

Israel strikes Beirut area; U.N. warns conditions in northern Gaza ‘apocalyptic’

The Israeli military on Friday carried out overnight strikes on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital for the first time in days, while U.N. leaders warned that the conditions in northern Gaza are “apocalyptic.”

01.11.2024 - 08:11 [ Washington Post ]

Israel has damaged or destroyed nearly a quarter of buildings in Lebanon’s south

Nearly a quarter of all buildings in 25 Lebanese municipalities near the Israeli border had been damaged or destroyed as of Saturday, according to an analysis of satellite data by The Washington Post — illustrating the far-reaching toll of Israel’s land and air war against Hezbollah.

Across the borderlands, at least 5,868 buildings have been damaged or destroyed, including nearly half of structures in the two hardest-hit areas, Ayta al-Shab and Kfar Kila. The vast majority of the damage — almost 80 percent — has occurred since Oct. 2, the day after Israel launched its ground invasion.

29.10.2024 - 23:55 [ webtv.UN.org ]

(Continued) The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question – Security Council, 9763rd meeting

Continuation of the Security Council Open Debate.

29.10.2024 - 23:44 [ United Nations General Secretary ]

Statement of the Secretary-General on Israeli legislation on UNRWA

28 October 2024
Statement of the Secretary-General on Israeli legislation on UNRWA

I am deeply concerned by the adoption today by the Knesset of Israel of two laws concerning the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which, if implemented, would likely prevent UNRWA from continuing its essential work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, as mandated by the UN General Assembly.

29.10.2024 - 23:15 [ CNN ]

Israel has banned the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. That could be devastating for millions

Israel’s parliament has voted to ban a nearly eight-decade-old United Nations agency that provides essential services for Palestinian refugees, a move that could have devastating consequences for millions of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.

On Monday, the Knesset passed two bills; one barring UNRWA from activity within Israel, and another banning Israeli authorities from any contact with UNRWA – revoking the 1967 treaty that allows UNRWA to provide services to Palestinian refugees in areas under Israel’s control.

28.10.2024 - 06:09 [ United Nations ]

‘Entire population of north Gaza at risk of dying,’ warns UN’s top humanitarian official

(October 27, 2024)

The UN’s top humanitarian official warned on Saturday that the entire population of northern Gaza is at risk of dying, calling for an immediate stop to “blatant disregard for basic humanity” by Israeli forces.

“What Israeli forces are doing in besieged north Gaza cannot be allowed to continue,” said Joyce Msuya, acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a statement posted on the social media platform X.

Hospitals have been hit, health workers detained and first responders prevented from rescuing people trapped under the rubble, she noted.

“Shelters have been emptied and burned down…families have been separated, and men and boys taken away by the truckload,” she added.

28.10.2024 - 06:04 [ Middle East Eye ]

Palestinian civilians forced out of Jabalia recall terror by Israeli army

Displaced residents of northern Gaza provide testimony on horrors along their ‚torturous journey‘ to the south as Israeli soldiers beat the wounded and quadcopters shot at everyone

27.10.2024 - 21:00 [ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) ]

Türk says world must act as darkest moment of Gaza conflict unfolds

(October 25, 2024)

“Under the Geneva Conventions, States have an obligation to act when a serious violation of international humanitarian law has been committed,” Türk said. “Under the Genocide Convention, State parties also have the responsibility to act to prevent such a crime, when risk becomes apparent.

“For months, I have pleaded with all parties to the conflict, as well as all States, particularly those with influence in the region, to act to stop the carnage and destruction, to ensure the prompt and unconditional release of all hostages, and to ensure international humanitarian and international human rights law are respected. But still this goes on and on and on.

“Now, the international rule of law is being progressively dismantled,” he added. “Either the world ashamedly fails those who so desperately need help, or we stand united and put a stop to this.

27.10.2024 - 20:44 [ TRTdeutsch.com ]

Gaza-Krieg: UN-Kommissar fordert Maßnahmen zur Verhinderung von Genozid

(October 25, 2024)

Türk erinnerte daran, dass Staaten nicht nur verpflichtet sind, gegen Kriegsverbrechen vorzugehen. „Nach der Völkermordkonvention sind die Vertragsstaaten auch dafür verantwortlich, Maßnahmen zu ergreifen, um ein solches Verbrechen zu verhindern, wenn eine Gefahr erkennbar wird“, sagte er. „Ich flehe Sie an, den Schutz der Zivilbevölkerung und die Menschenrechte an erste Stelle zu setzen und dieses Minimum an Menschlichkeit nicht aufzugeben“, appellierte er an Staats- und Regierungschefs.

27.10.2024 - 20:21 [ YeniSafak.com/ ]

At least 5 killed in new Israeli airstrike on UN-run school in Gaza City

At least five people were killed in another Israeli airstrike on a UN-run school sheltering displaced civilians west of Gaza City on Sunday, a medical source said.

Twenty other people were injured in the attack that targeted Asma School, run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Shati refugee camp, the source added.

The attack was the second to have targeted the same school within days.

27.10.2024 - 19:50 [ United Nations General Secretary ]

Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General – on North Gaza

In the name of humanity, the Secretary-General reiterates his calls for an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and accountability for crimes under international law.

27.10.2024 - 19:44 [ United Nations ]

UN chief ‘shocked’ at harrowing death and destruction in north Gaza

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed shock at the “harrowing levels of death, injury and destruction” in north Gaza amid an ongoing intense Israeli military operation, his Spokesperson said on Sunday.

25.10.2024 - 11:40 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel attacks north Gaza‘s only working hospital, killing children in ICU

Israeli forces stormed the last operational hospital in besieged northern Gaza on Friday after bombing it and killing children inside, according to doctors and media reports.

The attack on the Kamal Adwan hospital, located in Beit Lahia northwest of Jabalia, was launched around 2am local time, shortly after a World Health Organisation delegation left the hospital.