Category Archives: HUMAN RIGHTS

UN Asked to Submit its Call for “An Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza” for Signature by the Peoples of the World

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A letter from Mouvement de la Paix

Dear Mr. Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations,

As an NGO member of the United Nations ECOSOC Commission, we took part in the meeting organized by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Mr Ryder, in Geneva at the beginning of November. We expressed our support for the UN’s efforts to bring about a political solution to current conflicts, and for the preparation of the UN’s Avenir 2024 plan.

At this meeting, we suggested that the UN, in the name of the United Nations and in the name of “We the Peoples”, take an initiative enabling the peoples of the world, outraged both by the massacres committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023 and by the carnage currently being committed by the Israeli government in Gaza, to demand that the Israeli government immediately cease bombing civilian populations.


If we have condemned the massacres committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, it is not to accept that the government of Israel is currently committing, with the means of a State, a carnage that strikes civilian populations.

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(click here for the article in French or click here for the article in Spanish.).)

Question related to this article:

How can war crimes be documented, stopped, punished and prevented?

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We have lent our support to the families of all the victims, whether Israeli or Palestinian, and it is in the name of our common humanity that we take the liberty of formulating a proposal to the UN and its Secretary-General.

Faced with a situation that is as unprecedented as it is monstrous and dangerous, we need to take decisions that will enable public opinion, “We the Peoples”, to support the UN’s demand for an immediate halt to the bombing of Gaza, and for emergency humanitarian aid.

We propose that the UN submit its call for “an immediate ceasefire in Gaza”, with the appropriate means and forms, for signature by the peoples of the world: an end to the bombardments which are affecting thousands of women and children, and the immediate implementation of permanent humanitarian aid to respond to the intolerable suffering of the population, and to deal with a catastrophic food and humanitarian crisis.

This appeal for support could be launched by the appropriate means and with the appropriate words, in all possible languages. Just a few days before International Human Rights Day, it would be a way of “proclaiming once again our faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person”, as proclaimed in the preamble to the United Nations Charter.

At the same time, we express our support for the work of the United Nations in building a world of peace.

Yours respectfully for Le Mouvement de la Paix

Roland Nivet, National Spokesman for Le Mouvement de la Paix

Paris, Friday, December 8, 2023

Israel-Palestine: The Role of International Justice

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An article from the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe

In the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, international justice is being summoned, with several complaints lodged at the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the 7 October attack by Hamas in Israel and the response by Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza.

Public hearings have also been set for February 2024 by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the “legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,” within the framework of a request for an advisory opinion prior to the current conflict, emanating from the United Nations General Assembly.


Complaints filed so far include:

° Reporters Without Borders (RSF) submitted a complaint on 31 October to the ICC for “war crimes committed against journalists in Israel and Palestine,” citing the death of nine journalists, an Israeli killed during the attack on his kibbutz on 7 October, and eight Palestinians. The document mentions the destruction of 50 premises belonging to press organizations in Gaza. This is the third complaint since 2018 filed by RSF with the ICC following the death of journalists in Gaza. The most recent complaint, in 2022, was filed in conjunction with one by the Qatari channel Al Jazeera regarding the shooting death of its Palestinian journalist Shirin Abu Akleh in the West Bank.

° Nine Israeli families impacted by the Hamas attack on 7 October filed a complaint on 2 November at the ICC for “war crime, crimes against humanity, and genocide,” with their lawyer requesting the ICC consider issuing international arrest warrants against Hamas leaders.

° A third complaint for “genocide” in Gaza was filed on 8 November by a collective composed of a hundred jurists from several countries, including members of the bar in Algeria, private individuals, and representatives of associations, represented by the French lawyer Gilles Devers.

° Three Palestinian human rights organizations (Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights) filed a complaint on 8 November with the ICC for “war crimes,” “apartheid,” “genocide,” and “incitement to genocide,” requesting the issuance of arrest warrants against three Israeli leaders. The complaint cites “bombings on a densely populated area, the siege of Gaza, the forced displacement of the population of Gaza, the use of toxic gas, and the deprivation of necessities such as food, water, gasoline, and electricity.”

The ICC to investigate possible war crimes

The ICC has announced its intention to investigate possible war crimes committed in both Israel and Gaza, through its prosecutor, the British Karim Kahn.

During his visit to the Rafah crossing point on 29 October, located between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Karim Kahn stated  in his declaration that “hostage-taking is a serious violation of the Geneva Conventions,” and called for the release of the 239 individuals held by Hamas.

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Question related to this article:

How can war crimes be documented, stopped, punished and prevented?

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He also reminded Israel of its “obligation to comply with the laws of armed conflict,” stating that “impeding relief supplies may constitute a crime“. Referring to the presence of military advocate generals within the Israeli army, he declared: “They will need to demonstrate that any attack, any attack that impacts innocent civilians or protected objects, must be conducted in accordance with the laws and customs of war, in accordance with the laws of armed conflict.

And I want to be quite clear so there’s no misunderstanding: In relation to every dwelling house, in relation to any school, any hospital, any church, any mosque – those places are protected, unless the protective status has been lost. And I want to be equally clear that the burden of proving that the protective status is lost rests with those who fire the gun, the missile, or the rocket in question.”

In 2021 the ICC had already opened an investigation  into crimes committed within what it calls the “situation in Palestine,” starting from 13 June, 2014 (Gaza War, operation “Protective Edge”).

However, Israel is not among the 139 States that have signed the Rome Statute and disputes the ICC’s competence. On its part, the State of Palestine ratified the Rome Statute in 2015  and seized the ICC. It ruled in 2021 that its “territorial jurisdiction extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.”

An advisory opinion on “Israel’s policies and practices” requested from the ICJ

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), competent to deal with disputes between states, released a statement  on 23 October regarding a request for an advisory opinion submitted on 30 December 2022 by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly prior to the outbreak of the current conflict.

This resolution, adopted by 87 states, with 53 abstentions and 26 votes against, concerns the “legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”

The ICJ has scheduled public hearings for 19 February 2024 in The Hague, following the receipt of written reports  from numerous states. The two specific questions  posed by the UN General Assembly to the ICJ are as follows:

“What are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures?”

“How do the policies and practices of Israel affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations from this status?”

Israel disputes the ICJ’s jurisdiction over this matter. The request for an advisory opinion stems from a report published in October 2022 by a commission of inquiry mandated by the UN Human Rights Council  and led by South African judge Navanethem Pillay. The report concluded that “There are reasonable grounds to conclude that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is now unlawful under international law due to its permanence and the Israeli Government’s de-facto annexation policies”. The document was described as “partial and biased, disqualified by its hatred for the State of Israel” by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ICJ, based in The Hague, serves as the principal judicial organ of the UN, with jurisdiction to settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and to give advisory opinions. Also located in The Hague, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is an independent judicial body competent to try individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. It is governed by the Rome Statute, one of the United Nations treaties, which came into force in 2002. The UN Security Council may refer certain situations to the ICC’s prosecutor, and the relationship between the ICC and the UN is governed by a specific agreement.
 

BRICS Countries Call to End Israel’s Aggression in Gaza

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

An article from Telesur

A month and a half after the start of the Israeli offensive against the Palestinian people, the BRICS countries called for an immediate end to Israel’s aggression in the Gaza Strip.


The bloc made this request in a statement issued at the end of its summit to analyze the Gaza crisis, convened by Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, the country that will preside over the BRICS this year.

“Israel’s actions clearly violate international law, including the United Nations Charter and the Geneva Convention,” Ramaphosa said, calling for an “immediate and complete ceasefire” to the Israeli occupation army’s siege of Gaza.

“The collective punishment of Palestinian civilians through the illegal use of force by Israel is a war crime. The deliberate denial of medicine, fuel, food and water to Gaza residents amounts to genocide,” he added.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called on countries to declare Israel a terrorist regime and adopt a binding resolution at the United Nations against the Zionist State.

“The Zionist regime’s continued attacks on hospitals and medical centers, and religious sites, as well as the murder of women, children, doctors, and nurses, are all terrorist acts,” he said.

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Question related to this article:

How can war crimes be documented, stopped, punished and prevented?

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“It is necessary to declare this false regime as a terrorist regime and its Army as a terrorist organization,” added the Iranian president.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a “diplomatic solution” to Israel’s escalation against the Gaza Strip: “Russia’s position on the situation in Gaza is coherent and not opportunistic. Moscow insists on a diplomatic solution to the problem.”

The Russian leader indicated that the “efforts of the United Nations to guarantee the peaceful coexistence of the two States, Israel and Palestine, have been sabotaged, so that more than one generation of Palestinians has grown up in an atmosphere of injustice.”

Putin also blamed the United States for “monopolizing peace efforts in the Middle East”, blocking positive interventions from other international actors.

During his speech, Brazilian President Lula da Silva asked for action to prevent the Zionist escalation from spreading to other countries:

“The contribution of the BRICS, in its new configuration, together with all the actors in favor of self-control and de-escalation of war, is valuable and essential. Brazil does not believe that peace is achieved only with the force of arms,” he stressed.

“The high number of deaths, over 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, causes us great consternation. As the Secretary of the United Nations said, Gaza is becoming a children’s cemetery,” Lula said and once again defended the creation of the Palestinian State as a solution to the conflict.

“We cannot forget that the current war is also the result of decades of frustration and injustice, represented by the absence of a safe home for the Palestinian people,” he stressed.

Finally, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an end to Israel’s “collective punishment” against Gaza, including forced displacement and deprivation of water and electricity.

“China believes that the conflict must end to prevent the death of more people. The international community must act with practical measures to prevent the conflict from spreading and endangering the stability of the region,” he said and called for the opening of humanitarian corridors.

Gaza: Unlawful Israeli Hospital Strikes Worsen Health Crisis and should be Investigated as War Crimes.

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An article from Human Rights Watch (Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND/3.0/us/)

° The Israeli military’s repeated, apparently unlawful attacks on medical facilities, personnel, and transport are further destroying Gaza’s healthcare system and should be investigated as war crimes.

° Concerns about disproportionate attacks are magnified for hospitals. Even the threat of an attack or minor damage can have massive life-or-death implications for patients and caregivers.

° The Israeli government should end attacks on hospitals. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the ICC should investigate.


Medical workers treat a Palestinian injured in an Israeli strike, using flashlights due to the lack of electricity at the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, November 10, 2023. © 2023 Anas al-Shareef/Reuters

(Jerusalem) – The Israeli military’s repeated, apparently unlawful attacks on medical facilities, personnel, and transport are further destroying the Gaza Strip’s healthcare system and should be investigated as war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. Despite the Israeli military’s claims on November 5, 2023, of “Hamas’s cynical use of hospitals,” no evidence put forward would justify depriving hospitals and ambulances of their protected status under international humanitarian law.

(Note by the editor: There is no doubt that there are tunnels and bunkers underneath Al Shifa hospital, because they were constructed not by Hamas but by the Israelis, according to a recent CNN interview with a former Israeli prime minister.)

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that at least 521 people, including 16 medical workers, have been killed in 137 “attacks on health care” in Gaza as of November 12. These attacks, alongside Israel’s decisions to cut off electricity and water and block humanitarian aid to Gaza, have severely impeded health care access. The United Nations found as of November 10 that two-thirds of primary care facilities and half of all hospitals in Gaza are not functioning at a time when medical personnel are dealing with unprecedented numbers of severely injured patients. Hospitals have run out of medicine and basic equipment, and doctors told Human Rights Watch that they were forced to operate without anesthesia and to use vinegar as an antiseptic.

“Israel’s repeated attacks damaging hospitals and harming healthcare workers, already hard hit by an unlawful blockade, have devastated Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure,” said  A. Kayum Ahmed, special adviser on the right to health at Human Rights Watch. “The strikes on hospitals have killed hundreds of people and put many patients at grave risk because they’re unable to receive proper medical care.”

Human Rights Watch investigated attacks on or near the Indonesian Hospital, al-Ahli Hospital, the International Eye Care Center, the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, and the al-Quds Hospital between October 7 and November 7. Human Rights Watch spoke by phone with two displaced people sheltering in hospitals and 16 healthcare workers and hospital officials in Gaza and analyzed and verified open-source data, including videos posted to social media and satellite imagery, as well as WHO databases.

Israeli forces struck the Indonesian Hospital multiple times between October 7 and October 28, killing at least two civilians. The International Eye Care Center was struck repeatedly and completely destroyed after a strike on October 10 or 11. Strikes hit the compound and vicinity of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital on October 30 and 31. Damage to the hospital as well as a lack of fuel for hospital generators resulted in its closure on November 1. Repeated Israeli strikes damaged the al-Quds Hospital and injured a man and child out front. Israeli forces on several occasions struck well-marked ambulances, killing and wounding at least a dozen people in one incident on November 3, including children, outside al-Shifa hospital.

These ongoing attacks are not isolated. Israeli forces have also carried out scores of strikes damaging several other hospitals  across Gaza.

WHO reported  that as of November 10, 18 out of 36 hospitals and 46 out of 72 primary care clinics were forced to shut down. The forced closure of these facilities stems from damage caused by attacks as well as the lack of electricity and fuel.

Health workers at Gaza’s hospitals told Human Rights Watch they are dealing with unprecedented numbers of injured patients. Additionally, thousands of internally displaced people sheltering at hospitals have been put at risk, facing shortages of food and medicine. Gaza’s hospitals have been forced to address these issues with shortages of medical staff, some of whom have been killed or injured outside their work.

A doctor at Nasser Medical Center said: “At 3 a.m. I dealt with a 60-year-old woman with a cut wound in her head. I can’t make a suture to heal her wound—no gloves, no equipment—so we have to use unsterile techniques.”

Hospitals and other medical facilities are civilian objects that have special protections under international humanitarian law, or the laws of war. Hospitals only lose their protection from attack if they are being used to commit “acts harmful to the enemy,” and after a required warning. Even if military forces unlawfully use a hospital to store weapons or encamp able-bodied combatants, the attacking force must issue a warning to cease this misuse, set a reasonable time limit for it to end, and lawfully attack only after such a warning has gone unheeded. Ordering patients, medical staff, and others to evacuate a hospital should only be used as a last resort. Medical personnel need to be protected and permitted to do their work.

All warring parties must take constant care to minimize harm to civilians. Attacks on hospitals being used to commit “acts harmful to the enemy” are still unlawful if indiscriminate or disproportionate. The use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas heightens the risk of indiscriminate attacks. Attacks in which the anticipated loss of civilian life and property are excessive compared with the concrete and direct military gain are disproportionate. Concerns about disproportionate attacks are magnified with respect to hospitals, since even the threat of an attack or minor damage can have massive life-or-death implications for patients and their caregivers.

The Israeli military on October 27 claimed that “Hamas uses hospitals as terror infrastructures,” publishing footage alleging that Hamas was operating from Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa. Israel also alleged that Hamas was using the Indonesian Hospital to hide an underground command and control center and that they had deployed a rocket launchpad 75 meters from the hospital.

These claims are contested. Human Rights Watch has not been able to corroborate them, nor seen any information that would justify attacks on Gaza hospitals. When a journalist at a news conference showing video footage of damage to the Qatar Hospital sought additional information to verify voice recordings and images presented, the Israeli spokesperson said, “our strikes are based on intelligence.” Even if accurate, Israel has not demonstrated that the ensuing hospital attacks were proportionate.

Israel’s general evacuation order on October 13 to 22 hospitals  in northern Gaza was not an effective warning because it did not take into account the specific requirements for hospitals, including providing for the safety of patients and medical personnel. The sweeping nature of the order and the impossibility of safe compliance, given that there is no reliably secure way to flee or safe place to go in Gaza, also raised concerns that the purpose was not to protect civilians, but to terrify them into leaving. The WHO director general has said that “it’s impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives.”

The Israeli government should immediately end unlawful attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and other civilian objects, as well as its total blockade of the Gaza Strip, which amounts to the war crime of collective punishment, Human Rights Watch said. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups need to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians under their control from the effects of attacks and not use civilians as “human shields.”

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel should investigate apparently unlawful Israeli attacks on healthcare infrastructure in Gaza.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor has jurisdiction over the current hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups that covers unlawful conduct by all parties. The ICC’s Rome Statute  prohibits as a war crime “[i]ntentionally directing attacks against … medical units and transport.” Israeli and Palestinian officials should cooperate with the commission and the ICC in their work, Human Rights Watch said.

The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and other countries should suspend military assistance and arms sales  to Israel as long as its forces continue to commit widespread, serious abuses amounting to war crimes against Palestinian civilians with impunity. All governments should demand that Israel restore the flow of electricity and water to Gaza and allow in fuel and humanitarian aid, ensuring that water, food, and medication reach Gaza’s civilian population.

“Israel’s broad-based attack on Gaza’s healthcare system is an attack on the sick and the injured, on babies in incubators, on pregnant people, on cancer patients,” Ahmed said. “These actions need to be investigated as war crimes.”

Blockade’s Effect on Hospitals

Israel’s blockade  has severely constrained hospitals, which have run out of essential medicines and basic equipment. While Israeli authorities have allowed minimal humanitarian aid into Gaza, they have continued to block  the entry of fuel, which hospitals need for their generators. WHO  reported that “hospitals are on the brink of collapse due to the shortage of electricity, medicine, equipment and specialized personnel.”

On October 22, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expressed grave concern about the impact of the blockade. They noted that 120 newborn children were in incubators, 70 of whom required mechanical ventilation. The incubators and ventilators cannot operate without a stable electricity supply. “The death toll will increase exponentially if incubators start to fail, if hospitals go dark, if children continue to drink unsafe water and have no access to medicine when they get sick,” UNICEF  said. Between November 11 and 13, three premature babies and 29 other patients reportedly died at al-Shifa hospital amid the power outage and lack of medical supplies, according to UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Emerging reports show that unsanitary conditions at hospitals are further affecting access to health care. Tanya Haj Hassan, a doctor who runs a support network  for Gaza healthcare workers, told The Guardian that “hundreds of people are sharing one toilet and living in the hospital corridors, and that obviously has significant concerns for hygiene, sanitation and the functioning of the hospitals.” Doctors are also reporting that more and more patients are showing signs of disease  associated with overcrowding and a lack of sanitation.

A doctor at al-Aqsa Hospital told Human Rights Watch on October 23: “There is a huge shortage of medicines, no electricity, no diesel, no solar, no water to drink or to use. And the electricity company shut electricity to all civilians. … There is a chronic triage and restrictions on medication; we have had to make referrals to Egypt, but there is no way to get there.”

Israeli Evacuation Orders

Israeli authorities have ordered  the evacuation of all 22 hospitals in Gaza city and northern Gaza. “These [evacuation orders] are impossible to carry out, risking the lives of inpatients and internally displaced persons (IDPs), and particularly the most vulnerable requiring life support,” WHO said, adding that there is “insufficient ambulance capacity for transfer and insufficient bed capacity to care for these patients in the south.” WHO described the order as “a death sentence for the sick and injured.”

OCHA  expressed concern that “thousands of patients and medical staff, as well as about 117,000 IDPs, are staying in these facilities.” Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders or MSF) general director Meinie Nicolai said: “Israel’s 24-hour notice that people in Northern Gaza must leave their land, homes and hospitals is outrageous—this represents an attack on medical care and on humanity.”

As of November 13, all but one of the hospitals in Gaza city and northern Gaza are reportedly out of service, according to OCHA.

Human Rights Watch interviewed two people with disabilities sheltering in hospitals who said they could not evacuate. “If they bomb the hospital, I will be dead. I know I cannot move,” said Samih al-Masri, a 50-year-old man who said he lost both legs in an Israeli drone strike in 2008 and was sheltering at al-Quds hospital.

Indonesian Hospital


The Israeli military repeatedly struck the compound and vicinity of the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, one  of two major hospitals in northern Gaza.

On October 7, an airstrike hit an area behind the Indonesian Hospital, which OCHA reported  killed two men, including a staff member, and injured five others. Hosni Salha, a security guard, was killed while sitting in one of the hospital’s vehicles along with the driver and a paramedic, a doctor from the hospital said. After the attack, the doctor took a photo at the scene that shows a destroyed vehicle. The second civilian was a man passing by the hospital when the attack occurred, the doctor said.

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Question related to this article:

How can war crimes be documented, stopped, punished and prevented?

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The doctor said that the hospital was treating patients injured in the hostilities, including families wounded in airstrikes that hit their homes. He said that following airstrikes that hit his apartment building, he searched for his daughter, a second-year engineering student. The strikes killed her and four other civilians, including a child: “I started digging with my hands with all my strength; civil defense members haven’t arrived yet. I kept digging with my hands until I saw part of her t-shirt, I kept digging, when I saw her, she was already martyred.”

The doctor said the Israeli military provided no order to evacuate or advance warning before the first attack on the hospital. He said that on October 13, a week after the first strike, the hospital received an Israeli evacuation order.

Even those who finish their treatment can’t leave. They have no place to go after losing their houses and families and there is no safe place. We have a girl at the hospital who lost her entire family. She currently has no one to stay with, no place to go to. There’s also a boy staying at the hospital. We are waiting for him to be identified by a family member or relative. 

On October 16, another airstrike hit five meters away from the hospital, partially damaging the building, which the doctor said terrified patients and staff.

He said that on the night of October 27, after the Israeli government apparently deliberately disrupted telecommunications in Gaza, the hospital was struck again, causing additional damage to the building. Human Rights Watch geolocated a video and three photographs released on October 28 showing a crater inside the hospital’s courtyard.

On October 30, OCHA reported  that this attack came after a renewed order by the Israeli military to immediately evacuate the hospital.

CCTV footage published by Al Jazeera on October 29 shows the moments the hospital ceiling collapsed due to strikes near the hospital. The hospital published photos of the collapsed ceiling to its Facebook page, which it said were the result of strikes in the vicinity of the hospital. Another strike on October 30 targeted an area near the hospital, causing dust and smoke to spread to its entrance. Footage from November 4 and November 6 show additional strikes in the hospital’s vicinity.

In a November 5 news conference, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson alleged that “the Indonesian Hospital is being used by Hamas to hide an underground command and control center,” that Hamas had a rocket launchpad 75 meters from the hospital, and that it was stealing fuel from the hospital.

In a news conference  the next day, the Indonesia-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C), a volunteer group that funds the hospital, disputed the allegations, stating that the only tunnel connected to the hospital was used to send fuel to the hospital’s fuel tank to power its generators. Human Rights Watch is not in a position to corroborate the claims by Israel or the committee.

A MER-C volunteer told the media on October 30 that 2,530 people had been treated at the hospital for injuries and that 164 patients remained hospitalized. He said that more than 1,500 displaced residents were also sheltering in empty hospital rooms and in courtyards. On October 31, an influx  of patients were sent to the hospital following an Israeli airstrike on Jabalia refugee camp that Gaza’s Health Ministry reported  killed more than 50 people and injured 150. On November 2, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported  that the hospital’s main generator stopped operating due to a lack of fuel.

International Eye Hospital

Human Rights Watch reviewed and verified photos and video footage of the International Eye Hospital in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City showing large structural damage to the main building. In the published material and in satellite imagery from October 10 and 11, damage signatures are consistent with an airstrike using a large air-dropped munition. Two strikes appear to have taken place: one on October 8 and another on October 10 or 11, which destroyed the facility. On October 21, the hospital wrote in a post  on its Facebook page that the “hospital no longer exists” with a photo showing its complete destruction. 

Human Rights Watch was unable to find any published information from Israeli authorities in English, Arabic, or Hebrew reflecting that any advance warning was given or providing any legal basis for the attacks on the medical facility.

Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital


Beginning the night of October 30-31, the Israeli military repeatedly struck the compound and vicinity of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, south of Gaza City on the campus of the Islamic University of Gaza’s Faculty of Medicine. The hospital served as the only specialized cancer treatment center in the Gaza Strip.

In satellite imagery collected on the morning of October 30, three impact craters are visible, one measuring 10 meters in diameter, less than 100 meters from the main hospital complex. On the morning after, an additional crater is visible within the hospital complex in the courtyard, measuring at least 15 meters in diameter.

OCHA reported  on October 31 that the hospital had been “hit for the second night in a row,” that there was damage to the third floor, and that staff and people sheltering in the hospital were exposed to smoke, causing suffocation and panic.

The hospital director, Sobhi Skaik, told Human Rights Watch on November 3 that the October 31 attack struck the third floor of the hospital, affecting both the east and west wings, as well as the approximately 100 to 150 cancer patients there, their families, and hospital staff.

Human Rights Watch verified several videos posted on social media that show the effects of the attacks. A video  posted to social media early on October 30 shows damage to the hospital’s interior. A video  taken from inside the hospital and published on social media early in the evening on October 30 shows a strike near the hospital complex. A loud blast is heard in the video followed by billowing smoke.

Photos and video published by the media and on social media on October 31 show damage inside the hospital’s east wing, where there is a large circular hole in the southeastern-facing exterior wall, blown out windows, and a destroyed interior wall.

Human Rights Watch determined that the damage was most likely caused by a shell from a direct fire weapon, such as a tank’s main gun. A video  posted on social media on October 30 shows an Israeli tank along Salah al-Din Road, 1.7 kilometers east of the hospital. Multiple clusters of armored military vehicles, including tanks and bulldozers, are also visible on satellite imagery from October 31 southeast of the hospital following the Israeli offensive inside the Gaza Strip. On that day, the closest armored vehicles were less than 500 meters from the hospital.

The hospital shut down  on November 1 because of the airstrikes and lack of fuel. Skaik said hospital staff were forced to evacuate patients to the Dar al-Salam hospital in Khan Younis in unsafe conditions. “We evacuated under fire,” he said. “We had no protection.” He said an international agency told him that all they could do was “convey the message” to the Israelis.

According  to Skaik and the Gaza Health Ministry, on November 2, four cancer patients died following the hospital evacuation. Skaik said that Dar al-Salam hospital was trying to provide services but that it was unable to provide the cancer patients the treatment they needed without the medical devices at the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which cannot be transferred, and that medications were running out. The Health Ministry warned that the condition of 70 of the hospital’s cancer patients was critical.

Human Rights Watch was unable to find any published information from Israeli authorities in English, Arabic, or Hebrew providing any advance warning to the hospital or a legal basis for the attacks on the medical facility. Turkish  officials have condemned the Israeli military’s attack on the hospital as a violation of international law.

Al-Quds Hospital


Multiple Israeli strikes had hit the vicinity of the al-Quds hospital in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City by October 16, as shown in videos and photos posted to social media that Human Rights Watch collected and reviewed. The strikes followed Israeli evacuation orders, despite visual evidence  that the hospital was being used to treat patients and shelter displaced families. Several high-rise buildings were completely destroyed in the streets adjacent to the hospital, as is evident in November 6 satellite imagery.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) issued a statement  that the hospital, which is under its auspices, had received an Israeli order to evacuate by 4 p.m. (initially 6 a.m.) on October 14. By October 16, strikes had hit the vicinity of the hospital five times, the PRCS said. A video it published  on October 18 shows a strike hitting less than 200 meters from the hospital’s entrance.

On October 20, the PRCS reported that the Israeli authorities warned about a strike on the hospital by phone and ordered an evacuation. On October 22, Israeli authorities reportedly ordered the hospital to evacuate twice within the span of half an hour. The PRCS posted a video from inside the hospital showing people standing at its entrance following what the hospital said were intense Israeli strikes 20 meters away. The hospital said the strikes occurred during a meeting of hospital staff with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

On October 29, the PRCS said that Israeli authorities warned it about a strike on the hospital and ordered an immediate evacuation, which was preceded by strikes that destroyed buildings as close as 50 meters from the hospital. Footage published on October 29 shows a strike next to the hospital building, just in front of another PRCS site, and damages to the hospital. Videos published on October 30 show the aftermath of the strike and damage to the PRCS site.

Strikes hitting the vicinity of the hospital continued on October 31, according to posts by the PRCS. Footage published on November 2 by the PRCS and other social media accounts show additional strikes in the vicinity the hospital. The PRCS announced on November 2 that fire from Israeli vehicles one kilometer south injured a man and child in front of the hospital and hit the sixth floor of the hospital where many displaced women and children were sheltering, damaging the hospital’s central air conditioning units and a water tank.

Video footage shows shattered windows, smoke, and dust as a result of what appears to be an explosion roughly 35 meters northwest of the main hospital entrance on November 3. The PRCS reported that the attack, whose effects are shown in video footage posted on social media, shattered internal glass panels and collapsed parts of the hospital’s plaster ceiling. There were 21 injuries reported, mostly to women and children. Further strikes were reported near the hospital throughout the day.

On November 5, footage shows medical personnel moving an injured man into the hospital while an explosion is audible in the background after a hit nearby. The PRCS stated that the strikes then increased in intensity, duration, and proximity to the hospital, and have led to 12 injuries among people sheltering inside, in addition to injuries to two patients, one of whom was in the intensive care unit.

OCHA reported that 14,000 displaced people were in al-Quds hospital along with hospital staff and patients as of October 29. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warned that hundreds of injured, bed-ridden, and long-term patients, including those in intensive care, on life-support, and babies in incubators, were being endangered by strikes in the vicinity of the hospital along with displaced people and medical staff, and that it “is close to, if not impossible” to evacuate patients in the current situation.

Strikes on Ambulances

Israeli forces have on several occasions struck ambulances marked with the Red Cross or Red Crescent emblem, often near hospitals. Ambulances, like medical facilities, have special protections under the laws of war such that they may not be attacked unless being used to commit “acts harmful to the enemy” and after due warning. In at least one case, the Israeli military claimed that armed groups were unlawfully using the ambulance that had been attacked, but did not provide more information or a warning.

On November 3, the Israeli military struck a marked ambulance just outside of Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital. Video footage and photographs taken shortly after the strike and verified by Human Rights Watch show a woman on a stretcher in the ambulance and at least 21 dead or injured people in the area surrounding the ambulance, including at least 5 children. Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that 15 people were killed and 60 injured in the strike. An IDF spokesperson said in a televised interview that day: “Our forces saw terrorists using ambulances as a vehicle to move around. They perceived a threat and accordingly we struck that ambulance.” Human Rights Watch did not find  evidence that the ambulance was being used for military purposes.

On October 7, WHO reported  that an ambulance in front of the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis was struck around 2 p.m., injuring several paramedics. A verified video  posted to social media and an Anadolu Agency photograph showed the destroyed ambulance outside the complex.

WHO reported  that a separate attack on October 7, which hit two ambulances in Jabalia, killed two paramedics and injured others.

Gaza’s Health Ministry also reported that on October 13, Israeli strikes hit three ambulances, injuring 10 paramedics.

Hostilities and Blockade

The Israeli military’s current operations in Gaza began following an October 7 Hamas-led attack in southern Israel that resulted in the killing of about 1,200 people, hundreds of them civilians, according to the Israeli government. Hamas and Islamic Jihad took hostage 240 people, including children, people with disabilities, and older people. Palestinian armed groups in Gaza have also launched thousands of rockets indiscriminately towards Israeli population centers.

Mercosur without Racism: Brazil will propose a campaign at a meeting of ministers from the bloc

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article from the Government of Brazil

The Ministry of Culture (MinC), in the exercise of Pro Tempore presidency of Mercosul Cultural, will propose the campaign “Mercosul without Racism, with Diversity and Inclusion”, to create common strategies to combat prejudice in the countries that make up the economic bloc. The action will be presented on November 9th, in Belém, Pará, during the meeting of Mercosur Ministers of Culture. The meeting will begin at 9:30 am, in the Oval Room of the Government Palace of the State of Pará. 

The expectation is that, with approval of the campaign by the participants, the bloc’s ministers and authorities will sign the joint declaration of adherence to the agenda, expressing the commitment of all Mercosur member countries to adopt actions that guarantee the promotion of ethnic-racial equality in their territories, in an intersectoral and continuous manner.
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Led by Minister Margareth Menezes, the meeting will be attended by the Minister of Culture of Argentina, Tristán Bauer, the Minister of Culture and Heritage of Ecuador, Maria Elena Machuca, the Executive Secretary of the National Secretariat of Culture of Paraguay, Adriana Ortiz, the Vice Minister of Heritage, Memories and Cultural Governance of Colombia, Adriana Molano and the director of the Office of International Cooperation of Peru, Wilyam Abelardo Lúcar Aliaga. The Minister of Cultures, Decolonization and Depatriarchalization of Bolivia, Sabina Orellana Cruz, the National Director of Culture of Uruguay, Mariana Wainstein, and the representative of the Chilean Embassy in Brazil, Alejandro Guzmán, will be present by video.

During the 54th Meeting of Ministers of Culture of Mercosur, which took place in June this year, in Buenos Aires, minister Margareth Menezes received the Pro Tempore Presidency of Mercosur Cultural. At the time, the head of the Ministry of Culture had already announced that one of the main actions of Brazil’s mandate would be Mercosur without Racism.

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(Click here for the original Portuguese version of this article)

Question(s) related to this article:

Are we making progress against racism?

Latin America, has it taken the lead in the struggle for a culture of peace?

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Officially, the Campaign is an invitation to the governments of Mercosur member countries, as well as organizations and society. “A Democratic State is only possible by guaranteeing equal rights, social equality, ethnic-racial equality and freedom for all people. At this meeting, we will reaffirm our commitment to adopting social development policies for discriminated and vulnerable populations in the countries. These guarantees are fundamental to improving the region’s economic development conditions”, highlights the minister.

The Secretary of Citizenship and Cultural Diversity in the Ministry of Culture, Márcia Rollemberg, reinforces the need for Mercosur countries to adopt measures that will guarantee the population’s equal rights. She states that the Mercosur Without Racism Campaign aims to recognize the contribution of indigenous and Afro-descendant populations to the social formation and cultural identity of member countries.

“Racism encourages the maintenance of a social structure of great inequalities in access and opportunities, in which skin color and other bodily characteristics establish boundaries and limitations in access to social and cultural rights”, he highlights. “The goal is for countries to value and promote diversity, anti-racist education and good living, strengthening the culture of peace and interculturality in our region”, concludes secretary Márcia Rollemberg.

Mercosur Cultural works in an expanded manner, with the participation of member states Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela (despite the suspension of the latter since August 2017), as well as associated states such as Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Bolivia also participates as an associated state and is in the accession process. This collaboration has strengthened public cultural policies in the region, providing a valuable exchange of information and experiences from successful cultural programs and projects.

Declaration

The Declaration, which will be presented by Brazil, highlights the importance of adopting and enhancing specific cultural policies for the black population, indigenous peoples and traditional peoples and communities, in confronting inequalities and combating racism. The measures adopted will strengthen cooperation at national, regional and international levels to ensure the full exercise of the economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights of people who are discriminated against.

The text points out that racism consists of a derogatory and discriminatory attitude based on the race, color, descent, national or ethnic origin of a person or group. The consequence is racial inequality as a structural problem to be faced throughout the region. It also argues that racial discrimination encourages the maintenance of a social structure based on inequalities in access and opportunities, and affects both economic inequalities and influences social, cultural and political dynamics. 

Letter to the world from Mazin Qumsiyeh in Palestine

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION . .

A blog from Popular Resistance the blog of Mazin Qumsiyeh

My first open letter was addressed to the people of Gaza. It had hundreds of responses mostly asking us not to give up and asking for list of actions to do (these are available at ongaza.org and my blog . )

My second open letter was addressed to Jews and Israelis who support the Israeli government. It had 13 sets of questions. Only two real committed Zionists had the courage to answer. A third person told me after answering that he is now abandoning Zionism and wishes to join the ranks of post-Zionist (though not anti-Zionist) Jews. Other reactions were from honest Jews, Christians, Muslims, atheists etc, around the world were predictable and supportive. 

As promised this third open letter is addressed to other fellow human beings.

I will start by saying THANK YOU on behalf of all Palestinians. Thank you for keeping your humanity. Thank you for not succumbing to the lies and distortions you heard from corrupt politicians and from corrupt media (yes corrupt is anyone who supports a 75 year apartheid and racist regime – see ongaza.org Q#6 to 9).  Do not underestimate your individual power to act. Millions went to the streets in the last few days in this global uprising(see examples at ongaza.org Question #21 ) . If each of them took time to write to a few others (family, friends, politicians, media), we can stop this genocide. Israel cannot be above the law and cannot get away with state terrorism and with committing a holocaust (yes it is, again see ongaza.org).  We in Palestine are really afraid and not merely for the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza being eliminated but for ourselves in the West Bank and 1948 Palestine ignored for decades by the world and with increasing apartheid laws and settler rampage. We are also afraid for the potential lives to be lost by Israelis and Americans in the rage/calls for vengeance growing from the holocaust of Gaza. It is not a coincidence that the young Palestinian men who attacked areas near Gaza had relatives and friends killed earlier or had been themselves targeted in indiscriminate attacks in 2014. Further their families were expelled from those same areas now dubbed “south Israel”.  So the spiral of violence escalates, We are afraid of eroding humanity. 

Today the situation in Gaza is catastrophic as it shifts to a higher stage of carnage: from sudden death and injury of civilians by bombing them without warning to ADD death by thirst, starvation, lack of hygiene, and collapse of health care services (Israeli policies of mass murder by denial of basics of life). This is not incidental death during war: this is genocide of a captive population.  Relentless bombing of residential buildings and of even people on the streets meant hundreds of civilians die daily. Now the official number is 8010 civilians murdered and over 21,000 injured (75% women and children) and if we add those reported missing and are buried under the rubble would make this over 10,000 murdered civilians in three weeks. Compared to populations, that would be equivalent to over one million US citizens killed.  These are not numbers, as noted, the list of names and ages are available and are being translated to English now. Half the population in Gaza are Children and 42% of those killed are children.. But this pales compared to denial of even medicines and fuel (babies and patients on dialysis die with lack of fuel for generators for the remaining devastated hospitals). Health care system completely collapsed and Israel refuses even to pause or to allow humanitarian aid. 

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Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

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Two days ago we commemorated the anniversary of the 1956 Kufr Kasem Massacre, but the intentional massacres in Palestine have a 75 year history. Here are some examples.

and of course all of that is now eclipsed by the hundreds of massacres committed in the last three weeks in Gaza .Einstein and others were prophetic about the early rise of fascism when they condemned the party that committed the Deir Yassin Massacre of 1948 (my late mother’s best friend was killed with her students in Deir Yassin). Their letter is a must read. ≈Note that the perpetrators of this and many other massacres in 1948 became the Likud that now runs Israel. The language used by Netanyahu like Begin before him is genocidal. See:
Juan Cole;
Mondoweiss;
Chris Hedges.

I urge you to disseminate information like those now available on ongaza.org and hundreds of other website. Our messaging should be clear and our actions should be BOLD:

-There is an ongoing genocide/holocaust in Gaza and it is part of a 75 year program to eliminate Palestinians and transform Palestine to become Israel (an ethnocentric chauvinistic fascist and apartheid state). Like all colonizers, they never accepted the rights of the indigenous people.

-This is not about the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas (founded in 1988) or the dozen other resistance movements, secular or religious. This is about Palestine and Palestinians denied their rights for decades by a western supported regime. Their rights include the rights of refugees to return to their homes and lands and to be treated equally (no more and no less)

-We are not fooled by the endless talk about “two state solution” (Ben Gurion said this was merely a Public Relations Campaign intended to give more time to strengthen colonization). It is intended to distract us from seeking basic human rights so please insist on recognizing Palestinian rights to their lands and to be treated equally “from the river to the sea”  (see my book that centralizes these basic human rights ).

-We always need to put things in historical context but we also need to demand accountability of Israeli and western leaders that support this current unprecedented ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing (war crimes and crimes against humanity). Those leaders have blood on their hands.

-We must insist on expelling apartheid “diplomats” and businesses from all countries (remember all Israelis serve in the army and Israel is not a normal country, it is a terrorist army with fig-leaf of statehood).

-We must accelerate the boycott, divestments, and sanctions campaign (see bdsmovement.net) which helps; just like in South Africa under apartheid. 

-Arab governments like Egypt, Jordan, UAE, and Saudi Arabia should be shamed for ignoring the will of their own people. Same for subservient Western Countries

-We MUST highlight who profits from wars and from attempts at shaping the Middle East to be suppressed and subjugated people (see ongaza.org Q # 14)

-We need to liberate not just Gaza and Palestine from the Zionist occupation but also their occupation of Washington DC and other Western Capitals and their attempt through the media to colonize western minds

There are 15 million Palestinians in the world. 7.3 million are under the direct boots of Israeli occupation and apartheid. The rest are in forced exile. Palestinians have paid heavily with their blood for the imperial interests of Israeli colonialism (see Nur Masalha’s book “Imperial Israel and the Palestinians”). Our resistance and resilience (even during this holocaust in Gaza) is now what keeps Israel from expanding its empire as originally planned. PLEASE we implore you to educate yourself on reality, expose the lies, push to defend human rights, fight oppression and injustice with everything you have. For ideas of specific actions, please see What you can do and Question #19. Action is the best antidote to despair.

Stay human and ACT more

Only Israel, the United States, and Ukraine refuse to stand with Cuba

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

An article from the Peoples Dispatch (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 CC BY-SA)

On Thursday, November 2, 187 nations voted for a UN General Assembly resolution to end the cruel and illegal 60 plus year US blockade on Cuba. The only states to vote against the resolution were the US and Israel. Ukraine was the only state to abstain.


(Photo: Bruno Rodríguez Padilla via X)

In their comments about the resolution, international diplomats expressed contempt at the US-imposed blockade, which causes vast suffering on the Cuba people through shortages of goods such as food and medicine. “Let us no longer allow the violations committed thus far to be tolerated with total impunity by a regime that, with its contemptuous attitude toward world opinion, has become the most isolated state in the world,” said Joaquín A. Pérez Ayestarán, the Alternate Ambassador of Venezuela to the UN, at the UNGA debate prior to the vote.

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Question related to this article:

Are economic sanctions a violation of human rights?

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“The scale of its impact is more and more harmful to the Cuban people,” said the Representative of Gabon, Ambassador Aurélie Flore Koumba Pambo. She added that the blockade is “clearly a hostile act to region and continental cohesion.”

Bruno Rodriguez, the Cuban Foreign Minister, announced this victory of the resolution, saying that it “confirms full isolation of [the] US due to its illegal, abusive & morally unsustainable policy.”

In addition to the illegal US blockade of Cuba, there is the added backdrop of the US’s funding of Israel’s genocidal policy in Gaza. Israel has been carrying out a genocidal bombardment campaign against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, largely with United States funding. On October 31, Israel dropped six tons of US-made bombs on the Jabalya refugee camp. Israel then struck the camp for a second time the subsequent day. The number of casualties from the first and second strike has reached 195, with 120 missing and 777 injured.

The United States funds Israel to the tune of USD 4 billion each year, and is set to pass a USD 14 billion funding bill for the state in the wake of the Palestinian resistance offensive of October 7.

The US has also provided billions of dollars in funding to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on February 24, 2022.

Damning evidence of war crimes as Israeli attacks wipe out entire families in Gaza

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

An article from Amnesty International

As Israeli forces continue to intensify their cataclysmic assault on the occupied Gaza Strip, Amnesty International has documented unlawful Israeli attacks, including indiscriminate attacks, which caused mass civilian casualties and must be investigated as war crimes.


© Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images

The organization spoke to survivors and eyewitnesses, analysed satellite imagery, and verified photos and videos to investigate air bombardments carried out by Israeli forces between 7 and 12 October, which caused horrific destruction, and in some cases wiped out entire families. Here the organization presents an in-depth analysis of its findings in five of these unlawful attacks. In each of these cases, Israeli attacks violated international humanitarian law, including by failing to take feasible precautions to spare civilians, or by carrying out indiscriminate attacks that failed to distinguish between civilians and military objectives, or by carrying out attacks that may have been directed against civilian objects.

“In their stated intent to use all means to destroy Hamas, Israeli forces have shown a shocking disregard for civilian lives. They have pulverized street after street of residential buildings killing civilians on a mass scale and destroying essential infrastructure, while new restrictions mean Gaza is fast running out of water, medicine, fuel and electricity. Testimonies from eyewitness and survivors highlighted, again and again, how Israeli attacks decimated Palestinian families, causing such destruction that surviving relatives have little but rubble to remember their loved ones by,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“The five cases presented barely scratch the surface of the horror that Amnesty has documented and illustrate the devastating impact that Israel’s aerial bombardments are having on people in Gaza. For 16 years, Israel’s illegal blockade has made Gaza the world’s biggest open-air prison – the international community must act now to prevent it becoming a giant graveyard. We are calling on Israeli forces to immediately end unlawful attacks in Gaza and ensure that they take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians and damage to civilian objects. Israel’s allies must immediately impose a comprehensive arms embargo given that serious violations under international law are being committed.”

Since 7 October Israeli forces have launched thousands of air bombardments in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 3,793 people, mostly civilians, including more than 1,500 children, according  to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. Approximately 12,500 have been injured and more than 1,000 bodies are still trapped beneath the rubble.

In Israel, more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, have been killed and some 3,300 others were injured, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health after armed groups from the Gaza Strip launched an unprecedented attack against Israel on 7 October. They fired indiscriminate rockets and sent fighters into southern Israel who committed war crimes including deliberately killing civilians and hostage-taking. The Israeli military says that fighters also took more than 200 civilian hostages and military captives back to the Gaza Strip.

“Amnesty International is calling on Hamas and other armed groups to urgently release all civilian hostages, and to immediately stop firing indiscriminate rockets. There can be no justification for the deliberate killing of civilians under any circumstances,” said Agnès Callamard.

Hours after the attacks began, Israeli forces started their massive bombardment of Gaza. Since then, Hamas and other armed groups have also continued to fire indiscriminate rockets into civilian areas in Israel in attacks that must also be investigated as war crimes. Meanwhile in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, at least 79 Palestinians, including 20 children, have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers amid a spike in excessive use of force by the Israeli army and an escalation in state-backed settler violence, which Amnesty International is also investigating.

Amnesty International is continuing to investigate dozens of attacks in Gaza. This output focuses on five unlawful attacks which struck residential buildings, a refugee camp, a family home and a public market. The Israeli army claims it only attacks military targets, but in a number of cases Amnesty International found no evidence of the presence of fighters or other military objectives in the vicinity at the time of the attacks. Amnesty International also found that the Israeli military failed to take all feasible precautions ahead of attacks including by not giving Palestinian civilians effective prior warnings – in some cases they did not warn civilians at all and in others they issued inadequate warnings.

“Our research points to damning evidence of war crimes in Israel’s bombing campaign that must be urgently investigated. Decades of impunity and injustice and the unprecedented level of death and destruction of the current offensive will only result in further violence and instability in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” said Agnès Callamard.

“It is vital that the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court urgently expedites its ongoing investigation into evidence of war crimes and other crimes under international law by all parties. Without justice and the dismantlement of Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians, there can be no end to the horrifying civilian suffering we are witnessing.”

The relentless bombardment of Gaza has brought unimaginable suffering to people who are already facing a dire humanitarian crisis. After 16 years under Israel’s illegal blockade, Gaza’s healthcare system is already close to ruin, and its economy is in tatters. Hospitals are collapsing, unable to cope with the sheer number of wounded people and desperately lacking in life-saving medication and equipment.

Amnesty International is calling on the international community to urge Israel to end its total siege, which has cut Gazans off from food, water, electricity and fuel and urgently allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. They must also press Israel to lift  its longstanding blockade on Gaza which amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population, is a war crime and is a key aspect of Israel’s system of apartheid. Finally, the Israeli authorities must rescind  their “evacuation order” which may amount to forced displacement of the population.

Gaza’s civilians pay the price

Amnesty International investigated five Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, which took place between 7 and 12 October. Between 2012 and 2022, the Israeli authorities have denied, or failed to respond to, all of Amnesty International’s requests to gain access to Gaza. For this reason, the organization worked with a Gaza-based fieldworker who visited attack sites and collected testimony and other evidence. Amnesty International researchers interviewed 17 survivors and other eyewitnesses, as well as six relatives of victims over the phone, for the five cases included in this report. The organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab analysed satellite imagery and verified photos and videos of attack sites.

In the five cases described below Amnesty International found that Israeli forces carried out attacks that violated international humanitarian law, including by failing to take feasible precautions to spare civilians, or by carrying out indiscriminate attacks that failed to distinguish between civilians and military objectives, or by carrying out attacks that may have been directed against civilian objects.

Under international humanitarian law, all parties to the conflict must, at all times, distinguish between civilians and civilian objects and fighters and military objectives and direct their attacks only at fighters and military objectives. Direct attacks on civilians or civilian objects are prohibited and are war crimes. Indiscriminate attacks – those which fail to distinguish as required – are also prohibited. Where an indiscriminate attack kills or injuries civilians, it amounts to a war crime.

Disproportionate attacks, those where the expected harm to civilians and civilian objects is excessive in comparison with the “concrete and direct military advantage anticipated,” also are prohibited. Knowingly launching a disproportionate attack is a war crime. 

Whole families wiped out

At around 8:20pm on 7 October, Israeli forces struck a three-storey residential building in the al-Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, where three generations of the al-Dos family were staying. Fifteen family members were killed in the attack, seven of them children. The victims include Awni and Ibtissam al-Dos, and their grandchildren and namesakes Awni, 12, and Ibtissam, 17; and Adel and Ilham al-Dos and all five of their children. Baby Adam, just 18 months old, was the youngest victim.

Mohammad al-Dos, whose five-year-old son Rakan was killed in the attack, told Amnesty International:

“Two bombs fell suddenly on top of the building and destroyed it. My wife and I were lucky to survive because we were staying on the top floor. She was nine-months pregnant and gave birth at al-Shifa hospital a day after the attack. Our entire family has been destroyed.”

Amnesty International interviewed a neighbour whose home had been damaged in the attack. Like Mohammad al-Dos, he said that he had not received warning from Israeli forces, and nor had anyone in his family.

“It was sudden, boom, nobody told us anything,” he said.

The fact that the building was full of civilians at the time of the air strike further supports the testimony of survivors who said Israeli forces did not issue any warnings. It took relatives, neighbours and rescue teams more than six hours to remove the bodies from beneath the rubble.

Amnesty International’s research has found no evidence of military targets in the area at the time of the attack. If Israeli forces attacked this residential building knowing that there were only civilians present at the time of the attack, this would be a direct attack on a civilian object or on civilians, which are prohibited and constitute war crimes. Israel offered no explanation on the incident. It is incumbent on the attacker to prove the legitimacy of their military conduct. Even if Israeli forces targeted what they considered a military objective, attacking a residential building, at a time when it was full of civilians, in the heart of a densely populated civilian neighbourhood, in a manner that caused this number of civilian casualties and degree of destruction would be indiscriminate. Indiscriminate attacks that kill and injure civilians are war crimes.

On 10 October, an Israeli air strike on a family home killed 12 members of the Hijazi family and four of their neighbours, in Gaza City’s al-Sahaba Street. Three children were among those killed. The Israeli military stated that they struck Hamas targets in the area but gave no further information and did not provide any evidence of the presence of military targets.

Amnesty International’s research has found no evidence of military targets in the area at the time of the attack.

Amnesty International spoke to Kamal Hijazi, who lost his sister, his two brothers and their wives, five nieces and nephews, and two cousins in the attack. He said:

“Our family home, a three-storey house, was bombed at 5:15 pm. It was sudden, without any warning; that is why everyone was at home.”

Ahmad Khalid Al-Sik, one of the Hijazi family’s neighbours, was also killed. He was 37 years old and had three young children, who were all injured in the attack. Ahmad’s father described what happened:

“I was at home in our apartment and Ahmad was downstairs when the house opposite [belonging to the Hijazi family] was bombed, and he was killed. He was going to have his hair cut at the barber, which is next to the entrance of our building. When Ahmad left to go get a haircut, I could not imagine that I would not see him again. The bombing was sudden, unexpected. There was no warning; people were busy with their daily tasks.”

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Question related to this article:

How can war crimes be documented, stopped, punished and prevented?

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The barber who was going to cut Ahmad’s hair was also killed.

According to Amnesty International’s findings there were no military objectives in the house or its immediate vicinity, this indicates that this may be a direct attack on civilians or on a civilian object which is prohibited and a war crime.

Inadequate warnings

In the cases documented by Amnesty International, the organization repeatedly found that the Israeli military had either not warned civilians at all, or issued warnings which were inadequate. In some instances, they informed a single person about a strike which affected whole buildings or streets full of people or issued unclear “evacuation” orders which left residents confused about the timeframe. In no cases did Israeli forces ensure civilians had a safe place to evacuate to. In one attack on Jabalia market attack, people had left their homes in response to an “evacuation” order, only to be killed in the place to which they had fled. 

On 8 October, an Israeli air strike struck the Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip, killing Mohammed and Shuruq al-Naqla, and two of their children, Omar, three, and Yousef, five, and injuring their two-year-old daughter Mariam and their three-year-old nephew Abdel Karim. Around 20 other people were also injured in the strike.

Ismail al-Naqla, Mohammed’s brother and the father of Abdel Karim, told Amnesty International that their next-door neighbour received a call from the Israeli military at around 10:30am, warning that his building was about to be bombed. Ismail and Mohammed and their families left the building immediately, as did their neighbours. By 3:30pm, there had been no attack, so the al-Naqlas and others went home to collect necessities. Ismail explained that they had thought it would be safe to do so as five hours had elapsed since the warning, though they planned to leave again very quickly.

But as they were returning to their apartments, a bomb struck the building next door, destroying the al-Naqlas’ home and damaging others nearby. Mohammed and his family were still in the courtyard of their building when they were killed. Ismail described seeing part of his five-year-old nephew Yousef’s brain “outside of his head” and said that three-year-old Omar’s body could not be recovered from under the rubble until the next day. He told Amnesty International that Mariam and Abdel Karim, the two surviving children, were released from hospital quickly as Gaza’s hospitals are overwhelmed with the volume of casualties.

Giving a warning does not free armed forces from their other obligations under international humanitarian law. Particularly given the time that had elapsed since the warning was issued, those carrying out the attack should have checked whether civilians were present before proceeding with the attack. Furthermore, if, as appears, this was a direct attack on a civilian object, this would constitute a war crime.

‘Everyone was looking for their children’

At around 10:30am on 9 October, Israeli air strikes hit a market in Jabalia refugee camp, located a few kilometres north of Gaza City, killing at least 69 people. The market street is known to be one of the busiest commercial areas in northern Gaza. That day it was even more crowded than usual, as it was filled with thousands of people from nearby areas who had fled their homes empty-handed earlier that morning after receiving text messages from the Israeli army.

Amnesty’s Crisis Evidence Lab reviewed six videos showing the aftermath of the airstrike on Jabalia camp market. The images show a densely populated area with multi-storey buildings. Videos of the aftermath and satellite imagery show at least three multi-storey buildings completely destroyed and several structures in the surroundings heavily damaged. Numerous deceased bodies are also seen under the rubble in the graphic footage.

According to the Israeli military, they were targeting “a mosque in which Hamas members had been present” when they struck Jabalia market, but they have provided no evidence to substantiate their claim. Regardless, membership in a political group does not in itself make an individual targetable. Satellite imagery analysed by Amnesty International showed no mosque in the immediate vicinity of the market street.

Based on witness testimony, satellite imagery, and verified videos, the attack, which resulted in high civilian casualties was indiscriminate and must be investigated as a war crime.

Imad Hamad, aged 19, was killed in the strike on the Jabalia market while he was on his way to buy bread and mattresses for the family. His father, Ziyad Hamad, described to Amnesty International how a day earlier their family had left their home in Beit Hanoun after receiving a warning message from the Israeli army, and had walked almost five kilometres to a UNRWA-run school, which was operating as a shelter, in Jabalia camp.

On the walk, his son, Imad, had carried his toddler brother on his shoulders. The next day, Ziyad told Amnesty International, he was carrying Imad’s dead body on his own shoulders, taking his son to be buried.

Ziyad described the hellish scenes he encountered at the morgue where he found his son’s body, along with many others.

“The bodies were burned, I was scared of looking. I didn’t want to look, I was scared of looking at Imad’s face. The bodies were scattered on the floor. Everyone was looking for their children in these piles. I recognized my son only by his trousers. I wanted to bury him immediately, so I carried my son and got him out. I carried him.”

When Amnesty International spoke to Ziyad and his displaced family, they were at a UNRWA-run school which was sheltering displaced people. He said there were no basic services or sanitation, and that they had no mattresses.

Ziyad’s despair at the injustices he has suffered is palpable.

“What did I do to deserve this?” he asked.

“To lose my son, to lose my house, to sleep on the floor of a classroom? My children are wetting themselves, of panic, of fear, of cold. We have nothing to do with this. What fault did we commit? I raised my child, my entire life, for what? To see him die while buying bread.”

While Amnesty’s researcher was talking to Ziyad over the phone, another air strike hit
nearby.

Since Amnesty researchers interviewed Ziyad on 10 October, conditions for internally displaced people have deteriorated further, due to the scale of the displacement and the extent of the destruction and the devastating effects of the total blockade imposed since 9 October. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the number of internally displaced people in Gaza had reached 1 million by 19 October, including over 527,500 people who are staying in UNRWA emergency shelters in central and southern Gaza.

‘We cannot even count our dead’

On 10 October an Israeli air strike hit a six-storey building in Sheikh Radwan, a district of Gaza City, at 4:30pm. The strike completely destroyed the building and killed at least 40 civilians.

Satellite imagery suggests damage to buildings on this street sometime between 12:11UTC on 10 October and 7:30UTC on 11 October. The Crisis Evidence Lab geolocated two videos posted to social media that corroborate the destruction of homes in Sheikh Radwan. One of the videos, which was posted online on 10 October, shows people pulling the body of a dead infant from the rubble.

Amnesty International spoke to Mahmoud Ashour whose daughter, Iman, and her four children, Hamza, six months, Ahmad, two years, Abdelhamid six, and Rihab, eight, were all killed in the attack.  

He said:

“My daughter and her children came here to seek safety because this area was relatively safe in previous attacks. But I couldn’t protect them, I have no trace left of my daughter.” 
Mahmoud described the extent of the devastation:

“I’m talking to you now as I’m trying to remove the rubble with my hands. We cannot even count our dead.”

Fawzi Naffar, 61, said that 19 of his family members, including his wife, children and grandchildren, were all killed in the air strike. When Amnesty International spoke to Fawzi five days after the air strike, he had only been able to retrieve the remains of his daughter-in-law and his “son’s shoulder.”  

Amnesty International’s research found that a Hamas member had been residing on one of the floors of the building, but he was not there at the time of the air strike. Membership in a political group does not itself make an individual a military target.

Even if that individual was a fighter, the presence of a fighter in a civilian building does not transform that building or any of the civilians therein into a military objective. International humanitarian law requires Israeli forces to take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians and civilian property, including by cancelling or postponing the attack if it becomes apparent that it would be indiscriminate or otherwise unlawful.

These precautions were not taken ahead of the air strike in Sheikh Radwan. The building was known to be full of civilian residents, including many children, and the danger to them could have been anticipated. This is an indiscriminate attack which killed and injured civilians and must be investigated as a war crime.

Amnesty International is calling on; 

The Israeli authorities to:

° Immediately end unlawful attacks and abide by international humanitarian law; including by ensuring they take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians and damage to civilian objects and refraining from direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks.
° Immediately allow unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza’s civilians.
° Urgently lift its illegal blockade on Gaza, which amounts to collective punishment and is a war crime, in the face of the current devastation and humanitarian imperatives.
° Rescind their appalling “evacuation” order, which has left more than one million people displaced.
° Grant immediate access to the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory to carry out investigations, including collecting time sensitive evidence and testimonies.

The international community and particularly Israel’s allies, including EU member states, the US and the UK, to:

° Take concrete measures to protect Gaza’s civilian population from unlawful attacks.
° Impose a comprehensive arms embargo on all parties to the conflict given _ that serious violations amounting to crimes under international law are being committed. States must refrain from supplying Israel with arms and military materiel, including related technologies, parts and components, technical assistance, training, financial or other assistance. They should also call on states supplying arms to Palestinian armed groups to refrain from doing so. 
° Refrain from any statement or action that would, even indirectly, legitimize Israel’s crimes and violations in Gaza.
° Pressure Israel to lift its illegal 16-year blockade of the Gaza strip which amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s population, is a war crime and is a key aspect of Israel’s apartheid system.
° Ensure the International Criminal Court’s ongoing investigation into the situation of Palestine receives full support and all necessary resources.

The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to:

Urgently expedite its ongoing investigation in the situation of Palestine, examining alleged crimes by all parties, and including the crime against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians.

Hamas and other armed groups to:

Immediately end deliberate attacks on civilians, the firing of indiscriminate rockets, and hostage-taking. They must release civilian hostages unconditionally and immediately.

Around the world, people take to the streets for Palestine

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

Here are some of the photos of demonstrations in support of Palestine in recent weeks.


Protestors took to the streets in London and other parts of the UK to make clear that the fight must continue until Israel’s brutal occupation comes to an end. Around 180,000 people attended in London, making it the biggest pro-Palestine demonstrations in British history.


This protest in Ramallah is the biggest since the Israel-Hamas war started. [Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP]


More than 1,000 demonstrators rallied in Harvard Yard on Saturday, condemning the University for a lack of support of Palestinian students and complicity in what they described as “genocide.” Photo by Joey Huang


People protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, in Sanaa, Yemen October 18. Reuters/Khaled Abdullah


Protesters gather for an anti-Israel demonstration outside the French embassy headquarters along the Avenue Habib Bourguiba in the centre of Tunis on October 18, 2023. AFP


A boy passes under a giant Palestinian flag during a protest to show solidarity with Palestinians in Istanbul, Turkey. Friday Oct. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)


Members of the Palestinian community participate in a protest to support the Palestinian people amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, in front of the Israeli embassy in Santiago, Chile, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)


Thousands gathered for a pro-Palestinian protest in Paris on Thursday after authorities lifted a ban imposed after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel.


Malaysia. Photo: Socialist Party of Malaysia


Gadi/Sydney, Australia. Photo: Isaac Nellist


Brazil. Photo: Leo Diniz/União Nacional dos Estudantes


Iraqis hold a mass rally supporting the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in Baghdad. (AP)


Palestine supporters with the Palestinian and Jordanian flags during a demonstration in Amman. (AFP)


Palestine supporters holding a rally in Helsinki, Finland. (Reuters)


Members of the Friends of Free Palestine group shout slogans and wave Palestinian flags during an anti-Israel protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Oct.13, 2023. Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP via Getty Images


Several hundred Japanese and foreign residents gathered in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on Sunday, calling for peace in the Middle East as Israel prepares to move on Gaza in its war against Hamas. (ANJ)


The demonstration in Madrid brought together 60,000 people on Sunday. Called by different solidarity associations with Palestine, the protest in Madrid occupied the entire center of the capital and exceeded the expectations of even its organisers


Hundreds of people took part in a demonstration in Kraków, Poland’s second-largest city, on Friday evening expressing support for Palestine and opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza.


Kathmandu, Oct 20: A large number of people staged protest against the killing of civilians in Gaza region on Friday. The protest was staged in front of the Embassy of Israel


Protesters wave Palestinian and Syrian opposition flags as the rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in the rebel-held town of Atme in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province on October 18, 2023. AFP


In a demonstration not among those approved by the government, scores of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square, where they were cordoned off by security forces. The downtown Cairo square was the focal point of the 2011 uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak.

Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

(continued from left column)


Protestors shout slogans as they hold a banner during an anti-Israel demonstration in Quetta, Pakistan. Photo: AFP


A participant in a pro-Palestine rally in front of the Israeli embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, on October 21, 2023. Reuters


India: protesters, most of them students and teachers from Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, took to Jantar Mantar and started raising slogans ‘Justice for Palestine,’ and ‘Gaza we are with you.’ (Photo: @pherozevincent) Photograph:(Twitter)


People of different nationalities gathered after Friday prayers at Imam Muhammad bin AbdulWahhab Mosque in Doha, Qatar to rally in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, and against Israel’s relentless attacks on the besieged enclave. [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]

People protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Beirut, Lebanon, October 20, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky

People demonstrate in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza in Beirut, Lebanon. [Amr Alfiky/Reuters]


https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/10/20/photos-palestine-solidarity-rallies-around-the-world”>Pro-Palestinian supporters carrying placards shout slogans while taking part in a protest outside the US embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. [Willy Kurniawan/Reuters]


Hundreds of people marched through the streets of downtown Montreal on Sunday in solidarity with the people of Palestine, one day after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel.


People wave Palestinian and Hezbollah flags as they protest in Tehran, Iran, on October 18, 2023.


People take part in a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on October 14, 2023. Rob Engelaar/ANP/AFP via Getty Images


Pro-Palestinian protesters take part in a rally in Copenhagen, Denmark on October 14, 2023. Rasmus Flindt Pedersen/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images


Protester wave Palestinian flags during a rally in support of Palestinians in Genova, Italy, on October 14, 2023. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images


Pro-Palestine suppers protest in South Africa


New Zealand: Protesters gather near the Palmerston North City Council building. Warwick Smith/Stuff


Demonstrators march in Rabat, Morocco, to express support for Palestinians, on October 15, 2023. Fadel Senna / AFP / Getty


Demonstrators rally during a ‘Stand with Palestine’ march in solidarity with Gaza, in Dublin, Ireland, on October 15, 2023. [Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters]


Thousands of Greeks marched in Athens on Wednesday evening (October 11) in support of Palestine, carrying banners with anti-US and anti-Israel slogans


Koreans, Palestinians living in Korea, and others rally for Palestine and against a ground invasion of Gaza by Israel in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood on Oct. 15. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)


In Dhaka, Bangladesh, activists protested against Israel’s actions after Friday prayers at the main mosque. (AP Photo)


Demonstrators gather to show their solidarity with Palestine despite Austrian Police prohibiting the gathering on October 11, 2023 in Vienna, Austria.


Photo of a protest held in Algiers yesterday in support of Palestinians in Gaza, as the Israeli bombardment of the besieged enclave continues.


A woman holds a banner that says ‘Free Gaza’ in a pro-Palestinian demonstration held in front of the embassy of Israel in Mexico City, Mexico. [Daniel Cardenas/Anadolu]

Statement from the Oldest Peace Group in the U.S. on the Outbreak of Another Gaza War

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

An article from Common Dreams ( reprinted according to Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

The Fellowship of Reconciliation is horrified at the new war that has just broken out in Israel/Palestine. FOR, a pacifist organization since its conception in 1914 in Europe and 1915 in the United States, condemns the initiation of this latest stage of violent conflict. In condemning Hamas’s attack launched on Shabbat and Simchat Torah, we are also led to condemn Israel for its decades of occupation, siege, and human rights violations and abuses that have led up to this moment.


Smoke and flames billow after Israeli forces struck a high-rise tower in Gaza City. Photo from Ashraf Amra/Reuters published by Al Jazeera

At least 100 Israelis have been killed, over 900 wounded. Dozens of Israeli soldiers and civilians are missing and Hamas is reporting that they have been taken hostage.. The Health Ministry in Gaza is reporting around 200 Palestinians killed so far by Israeli air strikes and over 1,600 injured and we expect this number to climb exponentially in the coming days. Among the strikes that Israel has already conducted, was the bombing of the tall Palestine Tower in Gaza City, which houses media institutions, offices, as well as apartments. According to Palestinian sources, the Department of Charitable Institutions building in Gaza City has been completely destroyed by airstrikes.

(continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

Israel/Palestine, is the situation like South Africa?

(continued from left column)

FOR unequivocally condemns actions of violence that avoid the harder battles of justice. The killing and maiming of civilians, whether by Hamas rockets or Israeli airstrikes are unjustifiable, a war crime under international law. Also, unjustifiable are the actions of Israel that led to this current war: decades of military occupation with no end in sight, apartheid policies, recurrent massacres, and a siege so brutal that has turned Gaza into the largest open-air prison on earth.

FOR recognizes and condemns the failure of the Biden administration to pursue a peaceful solution to this entrenched conflict while providing Israel with almost $3.8 billion annually in unconditional military aid. Even while pursuing normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries, the U.S. has not worked to bring an end to the occupation or demanded an improvement in the rights and status of Palestinians. To call Hamas’s actions “unprovoked,” as the White House initially did in a statement today, is to put one’s head in the sand, ignoring decades of settlement building, land confiscation, child arrests, home demolitions, and the like, as well as recent of settler and military violence against Palestinians. Just one day before the initiation of this current conflict the Israeli military protected an extremist Israeli pogrom in the West Bank village of Huwara, resulting in the death of a 16-year-old Palestinian child.

Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler offered words from Hosea 8:7 that say, “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” “The ignoring of grave injustices against Palestinians, and an Israeli society that begins to resemble the segregation and injustices pre and post-civil war in the US makes for no small wonder that the frustration and pain will result in violence and war,” Rev. Hagler said.

“While horrified by Hamas’s actions and praying for all those, both Israeli and Palestinian, who have been killed, injured, and kidnapped, I am also deeply fearful of the death toll that is yet to come in Gaza,” said FOR Executive Director Ariel Gold. “Past Israeli military actions in Gaza have taken the lives of countless children, women, men, and the elderly and traumatized an entire generation. Whether this current war results in another status quo in Gaza, as past wars have, or a reoccupation of Gaza by Israel, this violence will not aid the aims of safety, equality, freedom, and peace for all people between the river and the sea. In the words of renowned theologian, political analyst, and former FOR executive director, A.J. Muste, ‘There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.”

(Editor’s note: For the Palestinian point of view, see the video interview with Mustafa Barghouti or the blog of Mazin Qumsiyeh.