Paris, 12 March 2024. Respect for human rights is an essential element of the EU’s association agreements with partner countries. Article 2 states that „relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement“. Violation of the so-called „essential elements“ clauses allows the EU to denounce or suspend the agreements in whole or in part under Article 60 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. In the light of the deaths and suffering endured by the Palestinian people, the European Union has the duty and the means to act to prevent Israel’s crimes in Gaza and to reduce the extent of human suffering.
Archiv: Vertreibungen / ethnische Säuberungen / „displacement“ / expulsions / ethnic cleansing
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese calls David Lammy a ‚genocide denier‘
)November 14, 2024)
The United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories has accused British Foreign Secretary David Lammy of being a „genocide denier“ and said the UK has done „nothing“ to prevent atrocities in Gaza.
In an interview with Middle East Eye in London on Wednesday, Francesca Albanese took aim at Lammy in response to comments he made in late October denying that Israel is committing genocide.
„I hadn‘t realised that Mr Lammy was a lawyer,“ she said, referring to Lammy‘s legal background.
„As a politician, you might say that for political convenience,“ she suggested, adding that would still make someone „a genocide denier“.
Arab-Bedouin Village in Negev Razed to Make Way for New Jewish Community
Amid war in Gaza and Lebanon, Umm al-Hiran, an “unrecognized” Arab-Bedouin village in the Negev Desert, southern Israel, was demolished early Thursday, November 14, to make way for a planned new Orthodox Jewish community called Dror. Earlier, cops arrested three members of Umm al-Hiran’s leadership at their home.
According the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Bedouin Villages in the Negev, which represents the impoverished southern communities, some 9,000 Arab-Bedouins are at risk of losing their homes as 14 of the villages will be replaced with a similar number of Jewish ones.
Gaza death toll rises to 43,764
Gaza‘s health ministry said that 28 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 43,764 since 7 October, 2023.
Additionally, 103,490 people have been wounded since the start of the war.
‘Unacceptable’ – British PM, Foreign Secretary Claim Israel Not Committing Genocide
Lammy recently alleged that the term genocide referred to “when millions of people lost their lives in crises like Rwanda, the Second World War in the Holocaust” and that using it to describe Gaza “now undermines (its) seriousness”.
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“Will the Prime Minister share (Lammy’s) definition of genocide with this House?” the lawmaker asked Starmer.
The prime minister answered by saying that “it would be wise to start a question like that by reference to what happened in October of last year”.
“I’m well aware of the definition of genocide, and that is why I’ve never described this as and referred to it as genocide,” he added.
Nearly two percent of Gaza’s population killed by US-Israel war machine
(August 12, 2024)
The bureau said in a statement that Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians. “This constitutes around 1.8 percent of the total population in the territory,” PCBS said.
According to the data, approximately 24 percent of those killed by Israel in Gaza are youths.
UK urged to share Gaza spy planes footage with ICC war crimes probe
(October 30, 2024)
The defence ministry told Middle East Eye: “As a matter of principle, we only provide intelligence to our allies where we are satisfied that it will be used in accordance with International Humanitarian Law, and in this instance, only information relating to hostage rescue is passed to the Israeli authorities.”
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Brendan O’Hara, the Scottish National Party’s spokesperson for the Middle East, told MEE it was “inconceivable”, given the scale of the destruction and death in Gaza, that the flights “do not contain footage which would be of significant interest to the investigators from the International Criminal Court”.
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Labour MP Rachael Maskell told MEE: “It is crucial that any intelligence of breaches of international law are shared with the courts so they can assess the evidence and secure justice.”
“I trust that the UK government is working with the international courts to aid them in their work.”
Revealed: UK military has flown 200 spy missions over Gaza in support of Israel
(May 8, 2024)
British spy planes have recorded up to 1,000 hours of footage over Gaza, including from the day Israel assassinated three UK aid workers.
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.
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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.
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.“
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.“
“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.
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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.
Israel is committing ‘ethnic cleansing’ amid mass forced displacements in Gaza, HRW report says
Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including pursuing a deliberate policy of forcibly displacing people and denying them the right to return home, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Thursday. The report also labelled the likely permanent dispossession of Gazans in areas cleared by Israel to serve as buffer zones and security corridors as “ethnic cleansing”.
43736 dead in Gaza strip since beginning the extermination war
Palestinian Health Ministry stated the Israeli enemy has perpetrated three massacres over the past 24 hours in Gaza strip, claiming lives of 24 Palestinians and injuring 112 others.
“Number of victims from the continuous Israeli aggression for the 405th consecutive day has risen to 43,736 martyrs, and 103,360 wounded.” the Ministry said in a statement on Thursday adding that there are numbers of bodies are still stuck under the rubble where Occupation forces prevent the ambulance and civil staff from reaching them.
At least 16 people killed by Israel strikes across Lebanon
At least 16 people were killed and 18 wounded on Wednesday by Israeli strikes on Lebanon, the country‘s health ministry said.
The total casualty toll since 8 October 2023 now stands at 3,386 killed and 14,417 injured.
The ministry said 220 children were among the casualties.
Sudan: Allies of warring generals ‘enabling the slaughter,’ Security Council hears
Ms. DiCarlo condemned not only the RSF attacks but also the indiscriminate airstrikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in civilian-populated areas such as the capital Khartoum and El Fasher, a major city in North Darfur hosting thousands of internally displaced which has been besieged for months by the RSF.
“Both warring parties bear responsibility for this violence,” she stressed.
She added that as the rainy season nears its end, both sides continue to escalate their military operations, recruit new fighters and intensify their attacks, fuelled by “considerable” external support and a steady flow of arms.
“To put it bluntly, certain purported allies of the parties are enabling the slaughter in Sudan. This is unconscionable, it is illegal, and it must end.”
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The situation in Sudan has been in a freefall since the war erupted last April.
It is now the world’s worst displacement crisis, with more than 11 million people driven from their homes – nearly three million among them into neighbouring countries as refugees, according to the UN relief coordinating office, OCHA.
The war has also unleashed a severe hunger crisis, affecting millions.
Gaza death toll tops 43,700, with 47 killed in past day
Israeli forces have killed at least 47 Palestinians and wounded 182 in the last 24 hours across Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
This brings the death toll in the besieged enclave since 7 October 2023 to 43,712, with more than 103,258 wounded. At least 10,000 people are still missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.
Video: Massive Israeli strike hits makeshift tents in ‚humanitarian zone‘
An Israeli air strike hit makeshift camps for displaced Palestinians in the so-called Israeli-designated „humanitarian zone“ in al-Mawasi near Khan Younis on Wednesday.
Footage posted on local media showed a massive explosion after the air strike.
Israeli forces strike tents of displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah
No description has been added to this video.
Israeli drones shooting children in Gaza deliberately ‚day after day‘, UK surgeon tells MPs
A retired NHS surgeon who recently returned from working at a hospital in Gaza said he treated children „day after day after day“ who had been deliberately targeted by Israeli drones following bomb attacks.
In harrowing testimony to British MPs on Tuesday, Nizam Mamode said of all the conflicts he had worked in, including the genocide in Rwanda, he and other experienced colleagues in Gaza had „never seen anything on this scale ever“.
He said at least once or twice daily, there were „mass casualty incidents,“ meaning that 10 to 20 people were killed and up to 40 seriously injured. He estimated that at least 60 percent of the people treated at these times were women and children.
Death toll in Lebanon rises to 3,287
The ministry said 44 people were killed and 88 wounded on Monday.
Death toll in Gaza rises to 43,665
At least 103,076 Palestinians have been wounded since the war began, the ministry added.
A total of 62 Palestinians were killed and 147 wounded over the past 24 hours.
Israeli air strike kills at least 11 Palestinian civilians in Rafah
Several bodies are pictured after an Israeli air strike killed at least 11 Palestinians in Rafah, southern Gaza (MEE)
Israeli forces kill Palestinian camper near Egypt border ‚without threat‘
The body of Yassin Abu Ruwais, 18, from the village of Bir Haddaj in the Negev region, was found by travellers passing through the area of the Halutza Sands southwest of Beersheba, according to Haaretz.
His father, Suleiman Abu Ruwais told news outlet Arab48 his son had gone on an overnight camping trip with his friends at a desert tourist spot, not far from his village.
„On Friday evening, news and rumours spread that the Israeli army had shot a young man from the village. A few minutes later, I received the news that he was my son Yassin and that he had been transferred by helicopter to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba,“ Suleiman said.
„I went to the hospital immediately and there I learnt that he had died.“
Gaza death toll reaches 43,603
The Palestinian health ministry is reporting that at least 43,603 Palestinians have been killed and another 102,929 wounded in Gaza by Israeli forces since 7 October 2023.
It added that the latest figure includes 51 Palestinians who were killed and 164 who were wounded in the last 24 hours.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill 19 more, taking death toll to 3,136
(November 9, 2024)
The attacks have forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes, and they are in need of humanitarian aid.
Gaza death toll reaches 43,603
The Palestinian health ministry is reporting that at least 43,603 Palestinians have been killed and another 102,929 wounded in Gaza by Israeli forces since 7 October 2023.
It added that the latest figure includes 51 Palestinians who were killed and 164 who were wounded in the last 24 hours.
Six-month update report on the human rights situation in Gaza: 1 November 2023 to 30 April 2024
I. INTRODUCTION
1. This report presents grave concerns regarding the human rights situation in occupied Gaza since the last report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to the UN Human Rights Council, and covers a period of six months, from 1 November 2023, when the last Human Rights Council report covered the events on the ground,1 up to 30 April 2024.2 The report is based on monitoring and documentation by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The High Commissioner has asked Israel for access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) in order to investigate human rights violations on and since 7 October 2023, pursuant to its mandate, which so far has not been granted.
Nearly 70 percent of people killed in Gaza women and children, UN finds
The majority of civilians killed in the Gaza Strip have been women and children, a UN report found Friday. The UN also found that 80 percent of all verified deaths in Gaza had occurred in Israeli attacks on residential buildings or similar housing, and that children aged five to nine made up the largest group of victims.
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The report also tackled the contentious issue of the proportion of civilians among the nearly 43,500 people killed in Gaza so far, according to the health ministry in the Palestinian territory.
Death toll across Gaza Strip surges to 43,469, over 102,561 injured
Israeli occupation forces committed six massacres against families in the Gaza Strip over the last 48 hours, resulting in the killing of at least 78 Palestinians and the injury of 214 others, according to medical reports.
Local health authorities confirmed that the Palestinian death toll from the Israeli onslaught since October 7, 2023 has risen to 43,469 reported fatalities, with an additional 102,561 individuals sustaining injuries. The majority of the victims are women and children.
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.
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.“
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.”
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.
Gaza death toll rises to 43,391 since start of Israeli aggression
(November 5, 2024)
It was noted that many victims remain buried in rubble and inaccessible on roads to ambulance and civil defense teams, as the casualties count does not account for hospitals in northern Gaza due to the occupation‘s blockade and communication challenges.
Israel’s Generals‘ Plan in north Gaza is ‚genocidal‘ and ‚perversion of law‘, say experts
Israeli media, analysts and military officials – as well as Palestinians in Gaza – say that the current campaign corresponds to the so-called „Generals‘ Plan“, also known as the Eiland Plan.
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„Imposing a siege, preventing all access to food, water, medicine and shelter, all with an intention to force a population to leave, is textbook ethnic cleansing and is a grave crime under international law. It is both a war crime and a crime against humanity,“ Balakrishnan Rajagopal, a law professor at MIT and UN special rapporteur on the right to housing, told MEE.
„Forcible displacement in northern Gaza under conditions of siege with an intent to eliminate their presence is genocidal, as it aims at the destruction of a people,“ he added. „Israel also bears responsibilities as a state for all of these grave breaches of international law.“
Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 43,391
The toll includes 17 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 102,347 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Gaza death toll tops 43,300, with 27 killed in past day
Health officials report that over 60 percent of the victims are women and children.
Mindestens 52 Todesopfer nach israelischen Angriffen auf Osten Libanons
Bei israelischen Angriffen auf den Osten des Libanons sind nach offiziellen Angaben mindestens 52 Menschen getötet worden. Das libanesische Gesundheitsministerium teilte am späten Abend mit, weitere mindestens 72 Personen seien verletzt worden. Zunächst war von zehn Toten die Rede gewesen. Aus libanesischen Sicherheitskreisen hatte es geheißen, es habe rund 16 israelische Luftangriffe auf mehrere Orte im Gouvernement Baalbek-Hermel im Nordosten gegeben. Laut der Mitteilung des Ministeriums gab es in 14 Ortschaften von Baalbek-Hermel Verletzte und Tote.