Biden can’t say no to Israel, in spite of its flagrant violations of int’l law – Day 375
Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
Israeli attacks killed at least 65 more Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and injured 140, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Wednesday.
A Lebanese ministry statement said that 27 people were killed and 185 others injured in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours.
RECOMMENDED READING: Shaaban Al-Dalou, Burned Alive in Gaza, Would Have Been 20 Today
How Israel’s Army Uses Palestinians as Human Shields in Gaza
New York Times reports:
An investigation by The New York Times found that Israeli soldiers and intelligence agents, throughout the war in Gaza, have regularly forced captured Palestinians like Mr. Shubeir to conduct life-threatening reconnaissance missions to avoid putting Israeli soldiers at risk on the battlefield.
While the extent and scale of such operations are unknown, the practice, illegal under both Israeli and international law, has been used by at least 11 squads in five cities in Gaza, often with the involvement of officers from Israeli intelligence agencies.
Palestinian detainees have been coerced to explore places in Gaza where the Israeli military believes that Hamas militants have prepared an ambush or a booby trap. The practice has gradually become more widespread since the start of the war last October.
Detainees have been forced to scout and film inside tunnel networks where soldiers believed fighters were still hiding. They have entered buildings rigged with mines to find hidden explosives. They have been told to pick up or move objects like generators and water tanks that Israeli soldiers feared concealed tunnel entrances or booby traps.
The Times interviewed seven Israeli soldiers who observed or participated in the practice and presented it as routine, commonplace and organized, conducted with considerable logistical support and the knowledge of superiors on the battlefield.
The Times also spoke to eight soldiers and officials briefed on the practice who all spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss a military secret. Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman, a former chief of military intelligence who is routinely briefed by top military and defense officials on the conduct of the war, confirmed the use of one version of the practice.
And three Palestinians gave on-the-record accounts about being used as human shields…
(Read the full investigation here.)
ANADOLU AGENCY ADDS: State Department Matthew Miller told reporters that the report is “incredibly disturbing.”
“If the facts presented in that report are true, they’re completely unacceptable. There is no reason, there can be no justification ever for the use of civilians as human shields.”Miller said if the allegations are true, they would violate both international law and the Israeli army’s own code of conduct.
He said that it is “entirely appropriate” for Israelis to investigate the claims and called for accountability if the investigations confirm the violations.
Israel’s destruction of northern Gaza continues
Anadolu Agency reports:
The Israeli army on Wednesday set Palestinian homes on fire in the area west of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, part of a prolonged ethnic cleansing operation that has persisted for 12 days amid the ongoing genocide since Oct.7, 2023.
Israeli forces advancing into the Be’er al-Na’ja area continued to burn residential buildings belonging to Palestinians, witnesses told Anadolu.
They reported that many homes and properties were engulfed in flames, resulting in substantial material losses, although no injuries were immediately reported.
News from the Lebanon front
At least six people were killed, including the mayor of Nabatieh Ahmad Kahil, and 43 were injured during heavy Israeli airstrikes that hit the municipality building of the southern Lebanese city on 16 October. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati described it as a deliberate strike against “a municipal council meeting focused on addressing the city’s relief and service needs.”
Also in Lebanon, an Israeli tank on Wednesday fired at the UN peacekeeping watchtower in a “direct and apparently deliberate” strike in southern Lebanon. in Kafr Kila of southern Lebanon, according to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Two cameras were destroyed, and the tower was damaged, the peacekeeping force confirmed, describing it as a “direct and apparently deliberate” attack on the UNIFIL position.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said it was notified on Monday of a potential cholera case in the northern region of Akkar and verified the infection on Wednesday.
Israeli forces wiped out a historic southern Lebanese border village on Wednesday, the first operation of its kind, sparking outrage in the country.
Videos showed a series of massive explosions in Mhaibib, home to the 2,100-year-old shrine of Prophet Benjamin, were widely shared online, supposedly taken by Israeli soldiers from a distance.
Pillars of smoke filled the air amid the sounds of loud explosions, as Israeli soldiers were heard celebrating as the village was reduced to rubble, according to reports.
NOTE: Annexation of land – that is, the proclamation of sovereignty over the territory of another State – is a violation of international law.
Biden Deploys B-2 Stealth Bombers to Attack Yemen Without Congressional Approval
Common Dreams reports:
The Biden administration on Wednesday deployed B-2 stealth bombers to launch multiple airstrikes on Yemen, attacks that underscored the United States’ deep involvement in a deadly regional war that is threatening to engulf the entire Middle East.
CENTCOM said its assessment of the damage does not thus far “indicate civilian casualties.” The U.S. military has routinely refused to investigate, acknowledge, or apologize for killing civilians in Yemen and elsewhere in the world.
The Houthis have repeatedly attacked vessels in the Red Sea this year in what they say is an effort to stop Israel’s decimation of the Gaza Strip. The Biden administration has, in turn, bombed Yemen multiple times this year, strikes that progressive U.S. lawmakers have denounced as dangerous as well as illegal given that the White House did not seek congressional authorization, as required by the Constitution.
The strikes on one of the poorest nations in the world, Austin said, were “a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified”—a message that observers interpreted as a warning to Iran.
AL JAZEERA ADDS: Yemen’s Houthis have promised to retaliate after the US conducted multiple strikes on weapons storage facilities in areas controlled by the group.
Biden envoy: We will not hold back anything Israel wants
Politico reports:
The top U.S. official working on the humanitarian situation in Gaza told aid groups in August that the U.S. would not consider withholding weapons from Israel for blocking food and medicine from entering the enclave — a rare admission by someone in the administration.
At the Aug. 29 meeting in Washington, Lise Grande told the leaders of more than a dozen aid organizations that the U.S. could potentially consider other tactics to convince Israel to allow life-saving aid into Gaza — such as applying pressure through the United Nations, but stressed that the administration would continue to support Israel and would not delay or stop weapons shipments.
That account is based on conversations with three people in the meeting and two others who were briefed on it, along with a set of detailed notes from the encounter reviewed by POLITICO.
A humanitarian aid official who attended the meeting said Grande noted that Israel is one in a “tight circle of very few allies” that the U.S. will not oppose, nor will it “hold anything back that they want.”
While Grande’s statements were made more than a month ago, her candid assessment of the odds of the U.S. taking action on weapons for Israel raises questions about the seriousness of recent Biden administration threats to do just that.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter to Israel in which they threatened to withhold weapons to Israel if it does not drastically improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The administration is giving Israel 30 days to correct course.
Number of Palestinian children in administrative detention quadrupled since last year
Defense for Children Int’l – Palestine reports:
The number of Palestinian children in administrative detention as of the end of September has nearly quadrupled since the same time last year.
Israeli forces are holding 85 Palestinian children in administrative detention as of September 30, representing 35 percent of all Palestinian children held in Israeli military detention, according to the latest information shared by the Israel Prison Service. This is a record number since Defense for Children International – Palestine began monitoring child administrative detainees in 2008.
“Israeli forces are arbitrarily detaining Palestinian children without charge or trial at a rate we have never seen before,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Palestinian children held under administrative detention orders issued by Israeli military commanders have no idea when they will be released and reunite with their friends and family, which causes immense stress, anxiety, and depression for the children.”
Israeli forces were holding 23 Palestinian children in administrative detention as of September 30, 2023, representing 15 percent of all Palestinian children held in Israeli military detention at the time, according to data from the Israel Prison Service.
The number of child administrative detainees has rapidly climbed since October 7, 2023, when Israeli forces sharply escalated arrest operations throughout the occupied West Bank. Palestinian child detainees have consistently reported increased instances of ill-treatment and torture alongside deteriorating prison conditions since October 7, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
NOTE: Palestinian administrative detainees are prisoners held without charge, trial, or access to lawyers; administrative detention is intended to be used only in “exceptional” circumstances. Neither the administrative detainees, who include women and children, nor their lawyers are allowed to see the “secret evidence” that Israeli forces say form the basis for their arrests. Read more here.
These German politicians support Israeli genocide
The Cradle reports:
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on 16 October promised that Germany would “always” continue delivering arms to Israel for its war against Lebanon and the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
“There are [weapons] deliveries and there will always be further deliveries. Israel can rely on that,” Scholz said in remarks to parliament.
“Israel can rely on our solidarity – now and in the future,” he stressed.
A German Foreign Ministry official has also said that the EU country sees “no sign of genocide” in Gaza – although earlier this year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that it is “plausible” Israel violated the Genocide Convention during its brutal campaign in Gaza.
Last year, Germany approved arms exports to Israel worth $363.5 million, a 10-fold increase from 2022.
Addressing the German parliament, Germany’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, justified Israel’s targeting of civilians in Gaza. ‘Self-defense means not only attacking terrorists* but destroying them. When Hamas terrorists hide behind people, behind schools… civilian places lose their protected status because terrorists abuse it.’
Human rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber explains that this assumption is false. The former senior UN human rights official told MEMO that Israel’s claim to a right to ‘self-defense’ in Gaza has no standing in international law. WATCH:
*NOTE: The use of the word “terrorist” for a group that resists occupation and oppression is a political, not fact-based choice.
In reality, international law supports the efforts of resistance groups against an occupying power, the UN extending that right to the point of armed resistance.
Hamas has clearly and openly stated that itsenemy is not the Jewish people, but the supremacist ideology of Zionism – the ideology under which Israel dispossessed750,000 Palestinian people and exiled them to Gaza and other locations.
Israeli leaders to hold conference to encourage resettlement in Gaza: Report
Anadolu Agency reports:
Top leaders from Israel’s Likud Party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are set to hold a conference next week aimed at promoting the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Despite Netanyahu’s previous dismissals of returning to Gaza settlements, key ministers, lawmakers, and prominent activists from the right-wing party are backing the initiative.
The event, scheduled for next Monday near the Gaza border, carries the slogan of the Likud Party along with the “Gaza is Ours, Forever” slogan and is centered on preparing for settlement efforts in the territory under the title of “Preparing to Resettle Gaza,” which Israel evacuated in 2005.
Among the key organizers is Social Equality Minister May Golan, along with numerous Likud lawmakers and activists.
The US has consistently opposed the idea of returning Israeli settlements to Gaza, a stance reiterated throughout the ongoing war, particularly after Israel dismantled its Gaza settlements nearly two decades ago.
NOTE: Annexation of land – that is, the proclamation of sovereignty over the territory of another State – is a violation of international law.
MORE NEWS:
IMEMC Daily Reports.
Human Rights Watch: Israel Should End Campaign to Destroy Lifesaving UN Palestinian Aid Agency
Mondoweiss: I resigned from Canada’s largest broadcasting corporation over its complicity in Israel’s genocide
Palestine Chronicle: ‘Lies’ – A Poem for Gaza and Palestine
+972 Magazine: The ‘pact of silence’ between Israelis and their media
Al Jazeera: West Bank villagers return to shattered Zanuta with keys but no homes
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – OCTOBER 16, 2024:
Palestinian death toll from October 7, 2023 – October 16, 2024: at least 43,192* ( 42,438 in Gaza* – 69% are women and children, according to Gaza’s Media Office). [The Ministry’s figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services, the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry, which found claims of data fabrication implausible.]
This is expected to be a significant undercount since thousands of those killed have yet to be identified – and at least 754 in the West Bank (~165 children). This does not include an estimated 10,000 more in Gaza still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 49,032 Palestinian deaths.
Lancet: “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.
Ralph Nader earlier estimated 300,000 Palestinians may have been killed in Gaza.
- At least 45 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 25 from West Bank).
- At least 41 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition (at least 37 of them children)**.
- About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are currently displaced.
- Almost 500,000 Gazans are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
Palestinian injuries from October 7 – October 16, 2024: at least 105,446 (including at least 99,246 in Gaza and 6,200 in the West Bank, including 830 children). [It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.]
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – October 16, 2024: ~1,457 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 297*** military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza; 25 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel) and~10,000 injured.
The death toll in Lebanon since October 8, 2023 is at least 2,367 and 11,088 injuries. An estimated 1.34 million have been displaced.
NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.
*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.
**Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals.
***The figure does not include the reportedly 56 Israeli soldiers – nearly 16% of the total Israeli military deaths – killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents.
† For most of the conflict, women and children accounted for about 70% of deaths in Gaza, with children making up a little over 40% of those killed, according to official statistics.
Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.
Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org
