14 july 2014
Israel's military says it has downed an unmanned drone along its southern coastline, the first time it has encountered such a weapon since its assault on the Gaza Strip began last week.The military says the drone came from Gaza and that it was shot down Monday by a Patriot missile near the southern city of Ashdod.
Since the conflict began, militants have fired nearly 1,000 rockets at Israel, causing some injuries and damage to property, but no fatalities among Israelis.
By contrast, 172 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel's air attacks.
Since the conflict began, militants have fired nearly 1,000 rockets at Israel, causing some injuries and damage to property, but no fatalities among Israelis.
By contrast, 172 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel's air attacks.
Israel appeared to hold off on a threatened escalation of its week-old Gaza Strip barrage on Monday despite having balked at Western calls for a ceasefire with an equally defiant Hamas, informs Reuters.On Sunday, the Israeli military warned residents of the northern border town of Beit Lahiya to leave or risk their lives when, after nightfall, it planned to intensify air strikes against suspected Palestinian rocket launchers among civilian homes.
A UN aid agency said around a quarter of Beit Lahiya's 70,000 residents fled, fearing Israeli attacks which, according to Gaza officials, have killed more than 166 people, most of them non-combatants, since the cross-border shelling war began.
But other than a lone air strike on farmland outside the town, which the Palestinians said caused no casualties; Beit Lahiya was largely quiet in the early hours of Monday. Israel said one rocket was fired from Gaza, without inflicting damage.
Asked about the delay in the Israeli escalation, a military officer declined comment other than to cite "situational assessments" - a term that could potentially refer to the scope of Beit Lahiya's evacuation or broader strategic deliberations.
Israel's Army Radio said there had been "definite signals" that Gaza's dominant Hamas Islamists sought to tamp down the violence, though the report did not elaborate nor cite sources.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, whose bid to broker a wider peace deal collapsed in April when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called off negotiations with Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over his surprise power-share with Hamas, offered on Sunday to help secure a Gaza truce.
The call was echoed by France and by Germany, which will send its foreign minister to the region on Monday. But with the United States and European Union, like Israel, shunning Hamas as a terrorist group, Middle Eastern intermediaries were mooted.
A US official said that Kerry, in a phone conversation with Netanyahu, "described his engagement with leaders in the region to help to stop the rocket fire so calm can be restored and civilian casualties prevented, and underscored the United States' readiness to facilitate a cessation of hostilities, including a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement".
That referred to an Egyptian-mediated accord that doused the last big Gaza flare-up. Cairo is now again seeking calm. Hamas, said it also received US overtures through Abbas and Qatar. Turkey has sought to intercede as well, Israeli media said.
Netanyahu's spokesman declined to discuss the conversation with Kerry. Another Israeli official played down the truce talk.
"We are not considering this-or-that proposal," the official, who declined to be named, said late on Sunday.
While allowing that a diplomatic solution could eventually be found, the official said Israel would, for now, pursue its military offensive "to restore quiet over a protracted period by inflicting significant damage to Hamas and the other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip".
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the second-most potent Gaza faction, made clear they would not accept a mere "calm for calm" where both Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces stand down.
"Netanyahu began this crazy war and he must end his war first," Hamas leader Izzat Al-Reshiq told Al-Arabiya television.
"There can be no ceasefire unless the conditions of the Resistance are met," he added, saying Israel had to stop blockading Gaza and free hundreds of Palestinians it rounded up in the occupied West Bank last month while searching for three Jewish seminary students who it said were kidnapped by Hamas.
Hamas neither confirmed nor denied responsibility. Rocket fire from Gaza increased during the West Bank dragnet. Tensions were further inflamed when the three teens' bodies were discovered, after which suspected Israeli avengers abducted and killed a Palestinian youth from East Jerusalem.
There have been more than 940 rocket launches by Hamas and other factions from Gaza over the past week, Israel says.
It has not suffered fatalities, due in part to the success of its Iron Dome rocket interceptors, but the salvoes have disrupted life in major cities, paralysed vulnerable southern towns and triggered Israeli mobilization of troops for a possible Gaza invasion if the Palestinian rockets persisted.
The Gaza crisis came as Hamas struggles to parlay the unity deal with Abbas into economic relief for the coastal enclave, whose border with Egypt has been sealed by a Cairo government that deems the Palestinian Islamists a security threat.
Islamic Jihad welcomed Egypt's intercession.
"There can be no settlement or mediation without an esteemed Egyptian role in compelling the (Israeli) enemy to cease fire," the group's leader, Ramadan Shallah, told Al Jazeera. He added that "the battle will not end unless the (Gaza) siege is ended".
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 166 Palestinians - among them about 138 civilians, including 30 children - have died during six days of warfare, and more than 1,000 wounded.
A UN aid agency said around a quarter of Beit Lahiya's 70,000 residents fled, fearing Israeli attacks which, according to Gaza officials, have killed more than 166 people, most of them non-combatants, since the cross-border shelling war began.
But other than a lone air strike on farmland outside the town, which the Palestinians said caused no casualties; Beit Lahiya was largely quiet in the early hours of Monday. Israel said one rocket was fired from Gaza, without inflicting damage.
Asked about the delay in the Israeli escalation, a military officer declined comment other than to cite "situational assessments" - a term that could potentially refer to the scope of Beit Lahiya's evacuation or broader strategic deliberations.
Israel's Army Radio said there had been "definite signals" that Gaza's dominant Hamas Islamists sought to tamp down the violence, though the report did not elaborate nor cite sources.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, whose bid to broker a wider peace deal collapsed in April when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called off negotiations with Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over his surprise power-share with Hamas, offered on Sunday to help secure a Gaza truce.
The call was echoed by France and by Germany, which will send its foreign minister to the region on Monday. But with the United States and European Union, like Israel, shunning Hamas as a terrorist group, Middle Eastern intermediaries were mooted.
A US official said that Kerry, in a phone conversation with Netanyahu, "described his engagement with leaders in the region to help to stop the rocket fire so calm can be restored and civilian casualties prevented, and underscored the United States' readiness to facilitate a cessation of hostilities, including a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement".
That referred to an Egyptian-mediated accord that doused the last big Gaza flare-up. Cairo is now again seeking calm. Hamas, said it also received US overtures through Abbas and Qatar. Turkey has sought to intercede as well, Israeli media said.
Netanyahu's spokesman declined to discuss the conversation with Kerry. Another Israeli official played down the truce talk.
"We are not considering this-or-that proposal," the official, who declined to be named, said late on Sunday.
While allowing that a diplomatic solution could eventually be found, the official said Israel would, for now, pursue its military offensive "to restore quiet over a protracted period by inflicting significant damage to Hamas and the other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip".
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the second-most potent Gaza faction, made clear they would not accept a mere "calm for calm" where both Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces stand down.
"Netanyahu began this crazy war and he must end his war first," Hamas leader Izzat Al-Reshiq told Al-Arabiya television.
"There can be no ceasefire unless the conditions of the Resistance are met," he added, saying Israel had to stop blockading Gaza and free hundreds of Palestinians it rounded up in the occupied West Bank last month while searching for three Jewish seminary students who it said were kidnapped by Hamas.
Hamas neither confirmed nor denied responsibility. Rocket fire from Gaza increased during the West Bank dragnet. Tensions were further inflamed when the three teens' bodies were discovered, after which suspected Israeli avengers abducted and killed a Palestinian youth from East Jerusalem.
There have been more than 940 rocket launches by Hamas and other factions from Gaza over the past week, Israel says.
It has not suffered fatalities, due in part to the success of its Iron Dome rocket interceptors, but the salvoes have disrupted life in major cities, paralysed vulnerable southern towns and triggered Israeli mobilization of troops for a possible Gaza invasion if the Palestinian rockets persisted.
The Gaza crisis came as Hamas struggles to parlay the unity deal with Abbas into economic relief for the coastal enclave, whose border with Egypt has been sealed by a Cairo government that deems the Palestinian Islamists a security threat.
Islamic Jihad welcomed Egypt's intercession.
"There can be no settlement or mediation without an esteemed Egyptian role in compelling the (Israeli) enemy to cease fire," the group's leader, Ramadan Shallah, told Al Jazeera. He added that "the battle will not end unless the (Gaza) siege is ended".
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 166 Palestinians - among them about 138 civilians, including 30 children - have died during six days of warfare, and more than 1,000 wounded.
Israeli warplanes launched a series of airstrikes against government buildings, a mosque and farmlands across the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Monday.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that Israeli aircraft bombed Al-Nour mosque in the central Gaza Strip city of Deir el-Balah, razing it to the ground and damaging nearby houses.
Israeli war jets also flattened a government building in western Gaza City, wounding five Palestinians.
They also completely destroyed a house in southern Gaza City, injuring two Palestinians.
Israeli aircraft, meanwhile, fired at Palestinian farmlands in the southern Gaza Strip cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis.
At least 172 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since late Monday.
Some 1183 people have also been wounded in the Israeli aerial attacks.
Since then, Israeli warplanes have staged hundreds of airstrikes on the besieged enclave – home to around 1.8 million Palestinians - while ground troops remain amassed on the borders in advance of a possible ground assault.
Gaza-based resistance factions, for their part, have continued to fire hundreds of rockets into Israel, some of which have reached Tel Aviv, in response to the ongoing offensive.
No Israeli fatalities have been reported thus far.
Israeli airstrikes flattened 560 Gaza house: Minister
The Palestinian Health Ministry has accused Israel of using the Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) in striking the Gaza Strip.
"Medical teams have registered injuries consistent with those caused by DIME and other banned weapons," health undersecretary Youssef Abul Resh told a press conference in Gaza City's Shifa medical complex Sunday.
"Israel has mercilessly targeted Palestinian civilians leaving many of them with life-threatening injuries and future handicaps," he said.
Israeli authorities were not immediately available to comment on the accusation.
Renounced Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert has also accused the Israeli army of using internationally banned weapons in its ongoing offensive against the Gaza Strip.
He told a press conference in Gaza City that examinations of the bodies of the victims had shown that they had been subjected to internationally banned weapons.
Gilbert added that these weapons cause major damage to the bodies, especially the limbs.
Israel has launched a military offensive – dubbed "Operation Protective Edge" – against the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of ending rocket fire from the enclave.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that Israeli aircraft bombed Al-Nour mosque in the central Gaza Strip city of Deir el-Balah, razing it to the ground and damaging nearby houses.
Israeli war jets also flattened a government building in western Gaza City, wounding five Palestinians.
They also completely destroyed a house in southern Gaza City, injuring two Palestinians.
Israeli aircraft, meanwhile, fired at Palestinian farmlands in the southern Gaza Strip cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis.
At least 172 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since late Monday.
Some 1183 people have also been wounded in the Israeli aerial attacks.
Since then, Israeli warplanes have staged hundreds of airstrikes on the besieged enclave – home to around 1.8 million Palestinians - while ground troops remain amassed on the borders in advance of a possible ground assault.
Gaza-based resistance factions, for their part, have continued to fire hundreds of rockets into Israel, some of which have reached Tel Aviv, in response to the ongoing offensive.
No Israeli fatalities have been reported thus far.
Israeli airstrikes flattened 560 Gaza house: Minister
The Palestinian Health Ministry has accused Israel of using the Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) in striking the Gaza Strip.
"Medical teams have registered injuries consistent with those caused by DIME and other banned weapons," health undersecretary Youssef Abul Resh told a press conference in Gaza City's Shifa medical complex Sunday.
"Israel has mercilessly targeted Palestinian civilians leaving many of them with life-threatening injuries and future handicaps," he said.
Israeli authorities were not immediately available to comment on the accusation.
Renounced Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert has also accused the Israeli army of using internationally banned weapons in its ongoing offensive against the Gaza Strip.
He told a press conference in Gaza City that examinations of the bodies of the victims had shown that they had been subjected to internationally banned weapons.
Gilbert added that these weapons cause major damage to the bodies, especially the limbs.
Israel has launched a military offensive – dubbed "Operation Protective Edge" – against the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of ending rocket fire from the enclave.
Israeli warplanes bombed Farouq mosque in Nuseirat camp in Gaza Strip before dawn prayers on Saturday, which led to its complete destruction in addition to significant damage to the neighboring homes. Few days ago, 4 Palestinians were killed and 5 others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on the martyr Anwar Aziz mosque in Jabaliya
According to the Awqaf Ministry, at least 10 mosques were directly bombed during the past five days including two mosques in Khan Younis and two mosques in northern Gaza.
On Friday, Israeli warplanes targeted Dar al-Salam mosque’s surrounding areas, which led to the killing of one citizen and the injury of eight others while on their way back home after performing Tarawih prayers.
Three other Palestinians, including an elderly man, were killed while heading to Rahman mosque to perform Magrib prayers.
In this regard, Undersecretary of Awqaf Ministry Dr. Hassan Sifi said that targeting mosques by Israeli warplanes exposed Israel’s spiteful, barbaric image.
Everybody can see now the evidently racist essence of such Israeli terrorism against Gazan civilians, which comes out into view quite observably in the droves of jets, gunboats, and artillery rocking the Strip, he elaborated.
“Israeli hatred culminated in the bombing of cemeteries, mosques and places of worship, most notably al-Farouq mosque in Nusairat and Anwar Aziz in the northern province”.
He said that bombing places of worship is a flagrant violation of divine laws and international conventions. He held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the continuing crimes, calling for providing urgent protection for the Palestinian people and places of worship.
Dozens of mosques were totally or partially destroyed during Israeli wars against Gaza in 2008 and 2012.
According to the Awqaf Ministry, at least 10 mosques were directly bombed during the past five days including two mosques in Khan Younis and two mosques in northern Gaza.
On Friday, Israeli warplanes targeted Dar al-Salam mosque’s surrounding areas, which led to the killing of one citizen and the injury of eight others while on their way back home after performing Tarawih prayers.
Three other Palestinians, including an elderly man, were killed while heading to Rahman mosque to perform Magrib prayers.
In this regard, Undersecretary of Awqaf Ministry Dr. Hassan Sifi said that targeting mosques by Israeli warplanes exposed Israel’s spiteful, barbaric image.
Everybody can see now the evidently racist essence of such Israeli terrorism against Gazan civilians, which comes out into view quite observably in the droves of jets, gunboats, and artillery rocking the Strip, he elaborated.
“Israeli hatred culminated in the bombing of cemeteries, mosques and places of worship, most notably al-Farouq mosque in Nusairat and Anwar Aziz in the northern province”.
He said that bombing places of worship is a flagrant violation of divine laws and international conventions. He held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the continuing crimes, calling for providing urgent protection for the Palestinian people and places of worship.
Dozens of mosques were totally or partially destroyed during Israeli wars against Gaza in 2008 and 2012.
More Palestinian children have been taken to hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip as the Israeli regime continues its offensive in the enclave, Press TV reports.
According to the report on Sunday, many Gazan children and teenagers, injured by Israeli attacks, were transferred to al-Shifa hospital in the blockaded territory.
The report also said that many children have been killed during the Israeli aggression in the besieged coastal sliver.
Medical sources in the hospital told Press TV that bombs used against Palestinians are internationally banned.
Dr. Erik Fosse, a Norwegian doctor in the besieged Gaza Strip, has told Press TV that about thirty percent of patients hospitalized in Gaza are children, adding that some Palestinian in the besieged enclave have been wounded by a new type of weapon that even doctors with previous experience in war zones do not recognize.
Israel continued on Sunday to pound the Gaza Strip for the sixth straight day. At least 170 people have lost their lives in the Gaza Strip since Tuesday when the Israeli attacks began.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the Tel Aviv regime will not stop its attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has warned that it is prepared to hit back at Israeli forces, should the Tel Aviv regime launch a ground attack against Gaza.
Gaza has been blockaded since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.
According to the report on Sunday, many Gazan children and teenagers, injured by Israeli attacks, were transferred to al-Shifa hospital in the blockaded territory.
The report also said that many children have been killed during the Israeli aggression in the besieged coastal sliver.
Medical sources in the hospital told Press TV that bombs used against Palestinians are internationally banned.
Dr. Erik Fosse, a Norwegian doctor in the besieged Gaza Strip, has told Press TV that about thirty percent of patients hospitalized in Gaza are children, adding that some Palestinian in the besieged enclave have been wounded by a new type of weapon that even doctors with previous experience in war zones do not recognize.
Israel continued on Sunday to pound the Gaza Strip for the sixth straight day. At least 170 people have lost their lives in the Gaza Strip since Tuesday when the Israeli attacks began.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the Tel Aviv regime will not stop its attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has warned that it is prepared to hit back at Israeli forces, should the Tel Aviv regime launch a ground attack against Gaza.
Gaza has been blockaded since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.
The Israeli artillery pounded Palestinian areas along the borders of the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Monday, with no causalities reported.
"Israeli artillery units stationed along the borders with the Gaza Strip fired tens of mortar shells as well as smoke and stun bombs at Palestinian farmlands," one witness told Anadolu Agency.
Witnesses said the Israeli shelling inflicted major damages on tens of Palestinian houses in the area while Palestinian crops took direct hits.
The artillery shelling coincided with Israeli airstrikes against several targets in the besieged coastal enclave.
At least 172 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since late Monday.
Some 1183 people have also been wounded in the Israeli aerial attacks.
Around 208 Israelis, meanwhile, were injured in rocket attacks from Gaza, according to Israel's national emergency response service.
Israel has launched a military operation – dubbed Operation Protective Edge - with the stated goal of ending rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Since then, Israeli warplanes have staged hundreds of airstrikes on the besieged enclave – home to around 1.8 million Palestinians - while ground troops remain amassed on the borders in advance of a possible ground assault.
Gaza-based resistance factions, for their part, have continued to fire hundreds of rockets into Israel, some of which have reached Tel Aviv, in response to the ongoing offensive.
No Israeli fatalities have been reported thus far.
"Israeli artillery units stationed along the borders with the Gaza Strip fired tens of mortar shells as well as smoke and stun bombs at Palestinian farmlands," one witness told Anadolu Agency.
Witnesses said the Israeli shelling inflicted major damages on tens of Palestinian houses in the area while Palestinian crops took direct hits.
The artillery shelling coincided with Israeli airstrikes against several targets in the besieged coastal enclave.
At least 172 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since late Monday.
Some 1183 people have also been wounded in the Israeli aerial attacks.
Around 208 Israelis, meanwhile, were injured in rocket attacks from Gaza, according to Israel's national emergency response service.
Israel has launched a military operation – dubbed Operation Protective Edge - with the stated goal of ending rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Since then, Israeli warplanes have staged hundreds of airstrikes on the besieged enclave – home to around 1.8 million Palestinians - while ground troops remain amassed on the borders in advance of a possible ground assault.
Gaza-based resistance factions, for their part, have continued to fire hundreds of rockets into Israel, some of which have reached Tel Aviv, in response to the ongoing offensive.
No Israeli fatalities have been reported thus far.
Hamas’ War Crimes
Hamas’ actions are in clear violation of the most fundamental principles of the laws of armed conflict, including the principle of distinction. This principle requires parties to an armed conflict to refrain from deliberately targeting civilian population …14 July 2014
Hamas’ War Crimes
Hamas’ actions are in clear violation of the most fundamental principles of the laws of armed conflict, including the principle of distinction. This principle requires parties to an armed conflict to refrain from deliberately targeting civilian population or civilian objects. Likewise, it requires parties to distinguish its military operations and the civilian population, and to refrain from using the presence of the civilian population to shield military objectives.
Hamas violates this fundamental principle in two main ways –
• By deliberately attacking Israel’s civilian population, including by conducting suicide, rocket and mortar attacks.
• By deliberately and systematically employing tactics which put the Palestinian civilian population in danger, including the launching of attacks from within densely populated areas, the use of human shields, deploying weapons storage sites and command centers in residential homes and in densely populated areas and commandeering sensitive sites (such as hospitals, private homes, schools and mosques) for terrorist use.
These actions clearly constitute war crimes, as defined by international law and may also amount to crimes against humanity.
The principle of distinction is anchored in customary international law. It has been reflected in treaties and other sources of international law, including in several articles of the Additional Protocol to Geneva Conventions, 1979. [1] For example:
• Article 48: “In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.”
• Article 51(2): “The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited”
• Article 58: ” The Parties to the conflict shall, to the maximum extent feasible: (a)…endeavor to remove the civilian population, individual civilians and civilian objects under their control from the vicinity of military objectives;
(b) Avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas;”
• Article 51(7): “… The Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.”
• Article 12(4): “Under no circumstances shall medical units be used in an attempt to shield military objectives from attack. Whenever possible, the Parties to the conflict shall ensure that medical units are so sited that attacks against military objectives do not imperil their safety.”
• Article 53: “It is prohibited (a) to commit any acts of hostility directed against the historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples; (b) to use such objects in support of the military effort;
[1] It should be noted that Israel is not a Party to the Additional Protocols. Nevertheless, it is Israel’s position that a number of Articles in the Protocol reflect customary international law.
Hamas’ actions are in clear violation of the most fundamental principles of the laws of armed conflict, including the principle of distinction. This principle requires parties to an armed conflict to refrain from deliberately targeting civilian population …14 July 2014
Hamas’ War Crimes
Hamas’ actions are in clear violation of the most fundamental principles of the laws of armed conflict, including the principle of distinction. This principle requires parties to an armed conflict to refrain from deliberately targeting civilian population or civilian objects. Likewise, it requires parties to distinguish its military operations and the civilian population, and to refrain from using the presence of the civilian population to shield military objectives.
Hamas violates this fundamental principle in two main ways –
• By deliberately attacking Israel’s civilian population, including by conducting suicide, rocket and mortar attacks.
• By deliberately and systematically employing tactics which put the Palestinian civilian population in danger, including the launching of attacks from within densely populated areas, the use of human shields, deploying weapons storage sites and command centers in residential homes and in densely populated areas and commandeering sensitive sites (such as hospitals, private homes, schools and mosques) for terrorist use.
These actions clearly constitute war crimes, as defined by international law and may also amount to crimes against humanity.
The principle of distinction is anchored in customary international law. It has been reflected in treaties and other sources of international law, including in several articles of the Additional Protocol to Geneva Conventions, 1979. [1] For example:
• Article 48: “In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.”
• Article 51(2): “The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited”
• Article 58: ” The Parties to the conflict shall, to the maximum extent feasible: (a)…endeavor to remove the civilian population, individual civilians and civilian objects under their control from the vicinity of military objectives;
(b) Avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas;”
• Article 51(7): “… The Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.”
• Article 12(4): “Under no circumstances shall medical units be used in an attempt to shield military objectives from attack. Whenever possible, the Parties to the conflict shall ensure that medical units are so sited that attacks against military objectives do not imperil their safety.”
• Article 53: “It is prohibited (a) to commit any acts of hostility directed against the historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples; (b) to use such objects in support of the military effort;
[1] It should be noted that Israel is not a Party to the Additional Protocols. Nevertheless, it is Israel’s position that a number of Articles in the Protocol reflect customary international law.
NZ Govt needs to call for Israel to halt air strikes
The New Zealand Government must push for Israel to stop its campaign of terror in Gaza, the Green Party said today. Thousands of civilians in Gaza have fled their homes as Israel has continued an offensive to destroy Hamas rocket sites located …14 July 2014
NZ Govt needs to call for Israel to halt air strikes
The New Zealand Government must push for Israel to stop its campaign of terror in Gaza, the Green Party said today.
Thousands of civilians in Gaza have fled their homes as Israel has continued an offensive to destroy Hamas rocket sites located in Gaza. The Israeli offensive has killed at least 160 people according to Palestinian officials.
“Israel has ignored calls from the United Nations for restraint leading to huge numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza,” Green Party MP Dr Kennedy Graham said today.
“Both Israel and Hamas have violated international law with their targeting of civilians and both deserve condemnation.
“However Israel’s vastly superior firepower and rocket defence systems mean Israel has been able to inflict devastation in the Gaza strip while protecting its own citizens.
“The New Zealand Government can’t just ignore the situation in Gaza,” Dr Graham said.
“As every day goes by more innocent civilians will become collateral damage.
“Israel needs to recognise that it is part of the international community and must begin to abide by United Nations’ resolutions that it continues to flout.
The New Zealand Government must push for Israel to stop its campaign of terror in Gaza, the Green Party said today. Thousands of civilians in Gaza have fled their homes as Israel has continued an offensive to destroy Hamas rocket sites located …14 July 2014
NZ Govt needs to call for Israel to halt air strikes
The New Zealand Government must push for Israel to stop its campaign of terror in Gaza, the Green Party said today.
Thousands of civilians in Gaza have fled their homes as Israel has continued an offensive to destroy Hamas rocket sites located in Gaza. The Israeli offensive has killed at least 160 people according to Palestinian officials.
“Israel has ignored calls from the United Nations for restraint leading to huge numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza,” Green Party MP Dr Kennedy Graham said today.
“Both Israel and Hamas have violated international law with their targeting of civilians and both deserve condemnation.
“However Israel’s vastly superior firepower and rocket defence systems mean Israel has been able to inflict devastation in the Gaza strip while protecting its own citizens.
“The New Zealand Government can’t just ignore the situation in Gaza,” Dr Graham said.
“As every day goes by more innocent civilians will become collateral damage.
“Israel needs to recognise that it is part of the international community and must begin to abide by United Nations’ resolutions that it continues to flout.
Right-wing nationalists attack a central Tel Aviv protest against Israel’s bombing of Gaza on Saturday, 12 July
Israel’s latest assault on the besieged Gaza Strip has been accompanied by yet another sharp increase in incitement against Palestinians and solidarity activists on social media outlets, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook groups have been set up to call for the collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Others host incitement against Palestinian students at Israeli universities, including posting pictures of and personal information about individual students.
The radical and violent anti-Palestinian climate in Israel is not divorced from reality.
After more than a week of Israeli government threats to do so, commandos launched the first ground incursion into the northern Gaza Strip early Sunday morning, reported Ma’an News Agency.
At the time of writing, there have been no Israeli deaths as a result of rockets fired by armed Palestinian groups in Gaza, though much of the mainstream media have focused on the impact of rocket fire on Israel rather than the staggering death toll in the Gaza Strip.
As Israel’s latest military offensive enters its sixth day, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that 170 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,000 injured.
Thousands displaced “Four thousand people and rising are fleeing this heavy bombardment in the north; they are in eight different UNRWA schools,” said Chris Gunness, spokesperson for UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees.
“We call on all parties to respect obligations under international humanitarian law, and to respect the sanctity of civilian life and the inviolability of United Nations buildings,” he told The Electronic Intifada by telephone.
Gunness explained that during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead (December 2008-January 2009), more than 50,000 Palestinians took shelter in UNRWA installations across the Gaza Strip as Israel’s bombs destroyed buildings and homes. “They believed in the sanctity and safety of UN properties,” he said of those Palestinians who took shelter in UNRWA’s facilities.
“As a result of military operations, the main office of UNRWA was directly struck and the main warehouse was burned to the ground after [Israeli military forces] fired white phosphorous” during Cast Lead, Gunness said.
Approximately 1,400 Palestinians were killed by Israel’s military during the three-week long military assault.
“Gaza, Gaza a graveyard!”
Israel’s latest assault on the besieged Gaza Strip has been accompanied by yet another sharp increase in incitement against Palestinians and solidarity activists on social media outlets, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook groups have been set up to call for the collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Others host incitement against Palestinian students at Israeli universities, including posting pictures of and personal information about individual students.
The radical and violent anti-Palestinian climate in Israel is not divorced from reality.
After more than a week of Israeli government threats to do so, commandos launched the first ground incursion into the northern Gaza Strip early Sunday morning, reported Ma’an News Agency.
At the time of writing, there have been no Israeli deaths as a result of rockets fired by armed Palestinian groups in Gaza, though much of the mainstream media have focused on the impact of rocket fire on Israel rather than the staggering death toll in the Gaza Strip.
As Israel’s latest military offensive enters its sixth day, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that 170 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,000 injured.
Thousands displaced “Four thousand people and rising are fleeing this heavy bombardment in the north; they are in eight different UNRWA schools,” said Chris Gunness, spokesperson for UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees.
“We call on all parties to respect obligations under international humanitarian law, and to respect the sanctity of civilian life and the inviolability of United Nations buildings,” he told The Electronic Intifada by telephone.
Gunness explained that during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead (December 2008-January 2009), more than 50,000 Palestinians took shelter in UNRWA installations across the Gaza Strip as Israel’s bombs destroyed buildings and homes. “They believed in the sanctity and safety of UN properties,” he said of those Palestinians who took shelter in UNRWA’s facilities.
“As a result of military operations, the main office of UNRWA was directly struck and the main warehouse was burned to the ground after [Israeli military forces] fired white phosphorous” during Cast Lead, Gunness said.
Approximately 1,400 Palestinians were killed by Israel’s military during the three-week long military assault.
“Gaza, Gaza a graveyard!”
Meanwhile, Israelis are taking to social media to call for a yet higher body count in Gaza.
A Facebook page for the group LEAVA — “Preventing Assimilation in the Holy Land” — is dedicated to preventing romantic relationships between Palestinian men and Jewish women and has more than 37,000 followers. The page regularly posts pictures of its “activists” patrolling parts of Jerusalem and other cities.
On 11 June, a picture was posted on LEAVA’s page of a young man standing next to an Israeli flag at a protest and wearing a shirt with the group’s emblem. Written above the photo is the following: “Citizens of Ashdod are also standing with LEAVA. Waiting for Gaza to be turned into a big blaze!” It received more than 2,300 “likes” in just two days:
A post published later that the same day gives what it said were words for a protest chant: “Gaza, Gaza a graveyard! Very soon!” It received more than six hundred “likes.”
With more than 5,300 Facebook followers, a Jerusalem-based house moving company, though ostensibly non-political, posted the following “status” in poorly-written Hebrew on 7 July, the first day of Israel’s latest attack on Gaza:
A Facebook page for the group LEAVA — “Preventing Assimilation in the Holy Land” — is dedicated to preventing romantic relationships between Palestinian men and Jewish women and has more than 37,000 followers. The page regularly posts pictures of its “activists” patrolling parts of Jerusalem and other cities.
On 11 June, a picture was posted on LEAVA’s page of a young man standing next to an Israeli flag at a protest and wearing a shirt with the group’s emblem. Written above the photo is the following: “Citizens of Ashdod are also standing with LEAVA. Waiting for Gaza to be turned into a big blaze!” It received more than 2,300 “likes” in just two days:
A post published later that the same day gives what it said were words for a protest chant: “Gaza, Gaza a graveyard! Very soon!” It received more than six hundred “likes.”
With more than 5,300 Facebook followers, a Jerusalem-based house moving company, though ostensibly non-political, posted the following “status” in poorly-written Hebrew on 7 July, the first day of Israel’s latest attack on Gaza:
One of our advantages: we don’t observe Ramadan!!! We look after our clients and we don’t abandon them […] we keep our word and go to every delivery. If you already closed a deal for a delivery with a company that employs our cousins [commonly used in Hebrew to refer to Arabs], it’s time to cancel and move to us. 0525530344. Why provide for those who kidnap our children? Have a good and peaceful day!
Many Israeli Facebook users have posted violent and disturbing content on their personal accounts. Talya Shilok Edry, who has more than one thousand followers, posted the following “status”: “What an orgasm to see the Israeli Defense Forces bomb buildings in Gaza with children and families at the same time. Boom boom.”
Edry’s Facebook timeline shows a pattern of calls for bloodshed against Palestinians.
Edry’s Facebook timeline shows a pattern of calls for bloodshed against Palestinians.
Writing about the murdered sixteen-year-old Muhammad Abu Khudair, who was kidnapped and burned alive by Israeli youth, she stated: “Sweet settlers, next time you kidnap an Arab boy, call me and let me torture him!! Why do you get to have all the fun?”
Edry deleted the statuses on Sunday after screenshots of them went viral on Twitter and Facebook.
Journalist David Sheen reported for Mondoweiss last week about the “terrifying tweets of pre-army Israeli teens.” After searching on Twitter using the Hebrew word for “Arabs,” Sheen found dozens upon dozens of Israeli youths “proclaiming their desire for all Arabs to die and in some cases be tortured to death.”
“Feels like Kristallnacht”
Edry deleted the statuses on Sunday after screenshots of them went viral on Twitter and Facebook.
Journalist David Sheen reported for Mondoweiss last week about the “terrifying tweets of pre-army Israeli teens.” After searching on Twitter using the Hebrew word for “Arabs,” Sheen found dozens upon dozens of Israeli youths “proclaiming their desire for all Arabs to die and in some cases be tortured to death.”
“Feels like Kristallnacht”
Another Israeli Facebook page, “Dismiss Abu Hussein from Netanya Academic College,” was created for the purpose of incitement against a Palestinian student at Netanya Academic College.
More than five hundred Israeli students have “liked” the page, which was created on 11 July after Palestinian student Tamer Abu Hussein arrived on campus wearing a t-shirt with the word “Palestine” and a kuffiyeh (traditional Palestinian scarf):
After a confrontation with a campus security guard, a post on the page claims that “many students panicked and fled for fear of a hostile act of terrorism.”
It adds that police detained and interrogated Abu Hussein, though there is no proof whatsoever that he did anything wrong. Ostensibly referring to Palestinians under bombardment in Gaza, the post added: “Abu Hussein and every other student who identifies with the enemy should be removed from the college.”
Netanya Academic College students also started a petition demanding Abu Hussein’s expulsion from the school, claiming without proof that he “glorifies terrorism.”
Muhammad Abu Toameh, a friend of Abu Hussein and a student at Tel Aviv University, said he and many others have also been harassed by rightwing Israeli groups on Facebook throughout the past week. A group of students posted photos of him and other friends on a Facebook page for students at Tel Aviv University which he said mocked the safety concerns of Arab students on campus.
“The madness and winds of racism in the air, along with the pogrom-like actions taking place in Jerusalem and other places, feels like Kristallnacht,” Abu Toameh told The Electronic Intifada.
Deep-seated racism This hate speech and incitement is not limited to fringe groups and individuals.
As Electronic Intifada contributor and award-winning author Max Blumenthal demonstrates in his recent book Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, deep-seated racism is pervasive throughout Israeli institutions and society.
Writing for the +972 Magazine website, Israeli journalist Haggai Mattar reported that leftwing demonstrators were attacked on Saturday night by a mob of Israelis chanting “Death to Arabs!” in Tel Aviv. Mattar recalls:
By the end of the protest (and a little after it, when they chased us through the streets) one person who had a chair broken over his head was injured and evacuated to hospital, another got punched hard in the head, and one came out with a black eye, someone else had their expensive video camera stolen, and dozens of others hit, pushed, or eggs thrown at them. Some also said that the fascists attacked them with pepper spray.
Leading Israeli politicians and public figures play an integral role in spreading anti-Palestinian incitement.
Ali Abunimah reported on Friday that Moshe Feiglin, the deputy speaker of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, called for Israel to cut off all electricity to the Gaza Strip. “The blood of a dialysis patient in Gaza is not redder than the blood of our IDF soldiers who will, God forbid, need to enter [Gaza],” he said last Wednesday during a speech in the Knesset.
And just one day before the kidnapping and murder of Muhammad Abu Khudair by Israeli youth, lawmaker Ayelet Shaked, a senior figure in the Habeyit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) political party, posted a Facebook “status” calling for genocide against “the entire Palestinian people.”
In a public letter written in Hebrew, an Israeli military commander declared a “holy war” on Palestinians, who he referred to as “the enemy who defames” God.
The racist calls for violence are not limited to “times of war,” either. As I reported for The Electronic Intifada last month, an Israeli Facebook page called for killing “a terrorist every hour” until three Israeli youths who were then missing were returned (the teens were found dead in the West Bank on 30 June).
Although the content of that page made it clear that the Facebook users consider all Palestinians as legitimate targets, Facebook has refused to remove the page, despite dozens and dozens of requests to do. Nearly 21,000 Facebook users “like” the page.
As the vast majority of the Facebook pages and posts mentioned in this article and others about pervasive Israeli racism on social media have not been removed, it appears Facebook has no problem with anti-Palestinian incitement, even though it poses no idle threat.
To read more about phenomenon of Israeli racism on social media, see The Electronic Intifada’s past coverage:
More than five hundred Israeli students have “liked” the page, which was created on 11 July after Palestinian student Tamer Abu Hussein arrived on campus wearing a t-shirt with the word “Palestine” and a kuffiyeh (traditional Palestinian scarf):
After a confrontation with a campus security guard, a post on the page claims that “many students panicked and fled for fear of a hostile act of terrorism.”
It adds that police detained and interrogated Abu Hussein, though there is no proof whatsoever that he did anything wrong. Ostensibly referring to Palestinians under bombardment in Gaza, the post added: “Abu Hussein and every other student who identifies with the enemy should be removed from the college.”
Netanya Academic College students also started a petition demanding Abu Hussein’s expulsion from the school, claiming without proof that he “glorifies terrorism.”
Muhammad Abu Toameh, a friend of Abu Hussein and a student at Tel Aviv University, said he and many others have also been harassed by rightwing Israeli groups on Facebook throughout the past week. A group of students posted photos of him and other friends on a Facebook page for students at Tel Aviv University which he said mocked the safety concerns of Arab students on campus.
“The madness and winds of racism in the air, along with the pogrom-like actions taking place in Jerusalem and other places, feels like Kristallnacht,” Abu Toameh told The Electronic Intifada.
Deep-seated racism This hate speech and incitement is not limited to fringe groups and individuals.
As Electronic Intifada contributor and award-winning author Max Blumenthal demonstrates in his recent book Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, deep-seated racism is pervasive throughout Israeli institutions and society.
Writing for the +972 Magazine website, Israeli journalist Haggai Mattar reported that leftwing demonstrators were attacked on Saturday night by a mob of Israelis chanting “Death to Arabs!” in Tel Aviv. Mattar recalls:
By the end of the protest (and a little after it, when they chased us through the streets) one person who had a chair broken over his head was injured and evacuated to hospital, another got punched hard in the head, and one came out with a black eye, someone else had their expensive video camera stolen, and dozens of others hit, pushed, or eggs thrown at them. Some also said that the fascists attacked them with pepper spray.
Leading Israeli politicians and public figures play an integral role in spreading anti-Palestinian incitement.
Ali Abunimah reported on Friday that Moshe Feiglin, the deputy speaker of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, called for Israel to cut off all electricity to the Gaza Strip. “The blood of a dialysis patient in Gaza is not redder than the blood of our IDF soldiers who will, God forbid, need to enter [Gaza],” he said last Wednesday during a speech in the Knesset.
And just one day before the kidnapping and murder of Muhammad Abu Khudair by Israeli youth, lawmaker Ayelet Shaked, a senior figure in the Habeyit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) political party, posted a Facebook “status” calling for genocide against “the entire Palestinian people.”
In a public letter written in Hebrew, an Israeli military commander declared a “holy war” on Palestinians, who he referred to as “the enemy who defames” God.
The racist calls for violence are not limited to “times of war,” either. As I reported for The Electronic Intifada last month, an Israeli Facebook page called for killing “a terrorist every hour” until three Israeli youths who were then missing were returned (the teens were found dead in the West Bank on 30 June).
Although the content of that page made it clear that the Facebook users consider all Palestinians as legitimate targets, Facebook has refused to remove the page, despite dozens and dozens of requests to do. Nearly 21,000 Facebook users “like” the page.
As the vast majority of the Facebook pages and posts mentioned in this article and others about pervasive Israeli racism on social media have not been removed, it appears Facebook has no problem with anti-Palestinian incitement, even though it poses no idle threat.
To read more about phenomenon of Israeli racism on social media, see The Electronic Intifada’s past coverage:
- Kill a Palestinian “every hour,” says new Israeli Facebook page
- Israeli soldier becomes overnight hero after pointing loaded gun at Palestinian youths
- Israel soldiers have depraved ‘fun’ making “Rachel Corrie pancakes”
- “Reprimanded” Israeli soldier still posting violent, racist material on Instagram
- Stoned, naked, armed and dangerous: more disturbing images from an Israeli soldier’s Instagram
- “Castrate them!” “Burn them!” “Bullet in the head!”: Facebook Israelis react to photo of Palestinian kids
- “Oops… one less Arab”: even more disturbing Instragram images from the Israeli army
You find the photo's/video's disturbing? Remember, this is what Palestinian children see almost every day
|
|
|
