9 may 2019
“As Israel celebrates Independence Day, the US and European Union are complicit in the whitewash of war crimes against Palestinian civilians,” according to a statement by ActionAid International, on Thursday.
The statement stated, “Today, 9 May, as Israel celebrates Independence Day, latest figures totaling damages incurred during airstrikes earlier this week show Israeli warplanes killed 27 Palestinians in two days and injured 154 more, including three women, two of them pregnant, and two babies.
130 houses were completely destroyed, with 700 more partially damaged. 780 Palestinians are now displaced as a result of this recent escalation of targeted attacks against civilians, 44% of whom are children. One mosque, four medical facilities, five media houses and ten civil institutions were also damaged or destroyed.”
“Deliberately targeting journalists, health workers, women, children and infants is a war crime. The recent UN Commission of Inquiry report has already established that the killing of unarmed civilians during weekly demonstrations at the border over the last year likely constitutes war crimes.”
“While Israel prepares numerous festivities for both today’s Independence Day and next week’s Eurovision Song Contest, world leaders continue to turn a blind eye to Israel’s unlawful occupation, protracted blockade and persistent breaches of international law.”
Both the US and EU have publicly supported Israel’s right to ‘defend itself’ this week, demonstrating dangerous bias and deliberate obfuscation in their positions on the war:
• Federica Mogherini, the EU’s Foreign Policy Chief, called for "indiscriminate rocket attacks" from Gaza to stop, but failed to call on Israel to stop its aggression towards civilians in Gaza.
• United States President Trump weighed in on Twitter, "Once again, Israel faces a barrage of deadly rocket attacks by terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. We support Israel 100% in its defense of its citizens” following the weekends’ response by Palestinian groups to the airstrikes, before the latest ceasefire kicked in on Monday.
The statement added, Ibrahim Ibraigheth, ActionAid Palestine’s Country Director, said, “Mr. Netanyahu is currently negotiating the formation of a new government following last month's election, so now is the time for world leaders to make sure the new Government of Israel respects international law. War crimes, including the targeted killing of women, children, journalists and health workers cannot continue in broad daylight, unremarked on by countries which claim to represent freedom and justice.”
“The catastrophic living conditions in the Gaza Strip are unbearable. The Israeli blockade of health and sanitation supplies constitutes punishment policy and also clearly violates international law. The UN must step up and hold Israel to account for its flagrant violation of global agreements, otherwise hopes for this latest truce to hold are probably naive.”
In the recent Commission of Inquiry by UN Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk in March 2019, on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt) , Israel was found to be in non-compliance with more than 40 resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and more than 100 resolutions of the General Assembly.
As an occupying power, Israel is accountable and must respect and uphold the rights of Palestinian people, including the right to freedom of movement, decent life, protection, education, work and self-determination.
Yet ActionAid has once again had to pause its programs in Gaza, because of the danger of airstrikes targeting civilian infrastructure. The charity enables life-saving services to reach the worst affected communities in Gaza, where 97% of water is undrinkable and tainted by raw sewage, unfit for humans. Israel controls the flow of fuel and supplies needed in Gaza to make the water safe.
Ibraigheth continued, “ActionAid supports partners, living and working in Gaza, by providing diesel to help pump clean water and ensure sewage can be treated. Being forced to stop this work is incredibly dangerous and could spell an outbreak of deadly diseases such as cholera.”
“While Israel celebrates Independence and the world tunes into Eurovision, we’ll continue assisting Palestinian communities, despite conditions being dire and unnecessarily dangerous,” Ibraigheth stressed.
Israel’s blockade policy and targeting of civilians destroys lives and prevents progress. Hence, ActionAid called on the European Union and all signatories of UN Geneva Convention to apply all possible diplomatic pressure on Israel to fulfill its commitments under international law.
The statement stated, “Today, 9 May, as Israel celebrates Independence Day, latest figures totaling damages incurred during airstrikes earlier this week show Israeli warplanes killed 27 Palestinians in two days and injured 154 more, including three women, two of them pregnant, and two babies.
130 houses were completely destroyed, with 700 more partially damaged. 780 Palestinians are now displaced as a result of this recent escalation of targeted attacks against civilians, 44% of whom are children. One mosque, four medical facilities, five media houses and ten civil institutions were also damaged or destroyed.”
“Deliberately targeting journalists, health workers, women, children and infants is a war crime. The recent UN Commission of Inquiry report has already established that the killing of unarmed civilians during weekly demonstrations at the border over the last year likely constitutes war crimes.”
“While Israel prepares numerous festivities for both today’s Independence Day and next week’s Eurovision Song Contest, world leaders continue to turn a blind eye to Israel’s unlawful occupation, protracted blockade and persistent breaches of international law.”
Both the US and EU have publicly supported Israel’s right to ‘defend itself’ this week, demonstrating dangerous bias and deliberate obfuscation in their positions on the war:
• Federica Mogherini, the EU’s Foreign Policy Chief, called for "indiscriminate rocket attacks" from Gaza to stop, but failed to call on Israel to stop its aggression towards civilians in Gaza.
• United States President Trump weighed in on Twitter, "Once again, Israel faces a barrage of deadly rocket attacks by terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. We support Israel 100% in its defense of its citizens” following the weekends’ response by Palestinian groups to the airstrikes, before the latest ceasefire kicked in on Monday.
The statement added, Ibrahim Ibraigheth, ActionAid Palestine’s Country Director, said, “Mr. Netanyahu is currently negotiating the formation of a new government following last month's election, so now is the time for world leaders to make sure the new Government of Israel respects international law. War crimes, including the targeted killing of women, children, journalists and health workers cannot continue in broad daylight, unremarked on by countries which claim to represent freedom and justice.”
“The catastrophic living conditions in the Gaza Strip are unbearable. The Israeli blockade of health and sanitation supplies constitutes punishment policy and also clearly violates international law. The UN must step up and hold Israel to account for its flagrant violation of global agreements, otherwise hopes for this latest truce to hold are probably naive.”
In the recent Commission of Inquiry by UN Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk in March 2019, on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt) , Israel was found to be in non-compliance with more than 40 resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and more than 100 resolutions of the General Assembly.
As an occupying power, Israel is accountable and must respect and uphold the rights of Palestinian people, including the right to freedom of movement, decent life, protection, education, work and self-determination.
Yet ActionAid has once again had to pause its programs in Gaza, because of the danger of airstrikes targeting civilian infrastructure. The charity enables life-saving services to reach the worst affected communities in Gaza, where 97% of water is undrinkable and tainted by raw sewage, unfit for humans. Israel controls the flow of fuel and supplies needed in Gaza to make the water safe.
Ibraigheth continued, “ActionAid supports partners, living and working in Gaza, by providing diesel to help pump clean water and ensure sewage can be treated. Being forced to stop this work is incredibly dangerous and could spell an outbreak of deadly diseases such as cholera.”
“While Israel celebrates Independence and the world tunes into Eurovision, we’ll continue assisting Palestinian communities, despite conditions being dire and unnecessarily dangerous,” Ibraigheth stressed.
Israel’s blockade policy and targeting of civilians destroys lives and prevents progress. Hence, ActionAid called on the European Union and all signatories of UN Geneva Convention to apply all possible diplomatic pressure on Israel to fulfill its commitments under international law.
By UN News: Millions of dollars in emergency funding is needed in Gaza to save the shattered limbs of some 1,700 people who have been seriously injured in demonstrations against Israel along the border fence, a top UN humanitarian official said on Wednesday.
In an appeal for $20 million to help victims hurt during protests dubbed the Great March of Return – weekly rallies on Fridays by Gazans that began a year ago, leaving 29,000 people injured, many by live ammunition – Jamie McGoldrick, Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), said that more resources were urgently required.
“The health structures really are in bad shape and that’s why we have put this appeal out for $20 million to address the needs of those 1,700 people, but also to support the health system”, he said.
“Of that 29,000, 7,000 have been shot with live ammunition and those are the ones who have been treated at facilities that are under very serious stress anyway”, Mr. McGoldrick added.
To date, some 120 amputations have taken place since the beginning of the demonstrations, according to the UN official, with 20 children among the amputees.
‘Running against the clock’
“We are running against the clock for some of these cases and osteomyelitis – bone infection – will be a crisis, and the need is to treat that, prevent that, otherwise we will have amputations,” he said. “The technical abilities of doctors on the ground to carry out treatment required for the 1,700 (injured demonstrators) just doesn’t exist.”
Speaking in Geneva following a lull in deadly violence over the weekend at the Israel-Gaza border between militant groups in Gaza – which is controlled by Hamas – and Israeli security forces, Mr. McGoldrick insisted on the need for dialogue to address the dire economic and humanitarian situation there.
He confirmed that UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, was in Cairo to reinforce the fragile Gaza ceasefire deal reportedly mediated by Egypt, adding that he hoped this would allow humanitarian deliveries to resume “because we were prevented from doing work, because of the insecurity and instability”.
Today, average household debt in Gaza is $4,000, the UN official explained, noting that average salaries are $400 a month. The situation has been made worse by chronically high youth unemployment and the fact that the UN’s $350 million humanitarian appeal for 2019 is funded at only 14 per cent.
“It’s not going to get any better, it’s getting worse,” he said. “If you look at the number of shops that have closed because of debt…people are using all sorts of means, selling assets, doctors going abroad leaving the family and sending remittances back, we’re hearing that the indebted nature of some of the poorest families is quite heavy.”
During the recent military activity, hundreds of rockets were launched from Gaza by Palestinian militants into southern Israel, and hundreds of airstrikes and tank rounds were fired in return, causing 29 fatalities in Gaza and four in Israel, along with some 200 casualties on each side.
“The situation is very precarious,” Mr. McGoldrick said. “And I think the need for a political solution is all the more highlighted because of how easy it is to slip into something very quickly.”
In an appeal for $20 million to help victims hurt during protests dubbed the Great March of Return – weekly rallies on Fridays by Gazans that began a year ago, leaving 29,000 people injured, many by live ammunition – Jamie McGoldrick, Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), said that more resources were urgently required.
“The health structures really are in bad shape and that’s why we have put this appeal out for $20 million to address the needs of those 1,700 people, but also to support the health system”, he said.
“Of that 29,000, 7,000 have been shot with live ammunition and those are the ones who have been treated at facilities that are under very serious stress anyway”, Mr. McGoldrick added.
To date, some 120 amputations have taken place since the beginning of the demonstrations, according to the UN official, with 20 children among the amputees.
‘Running against the clock’
“We are running against the clock for some of these cases and osteomyelitis – bone infection – will be a crisis, and the need is to treat that, prevent that, otherwise we will have amputations,” he said. “The technical abilities of doctors on the ground to carry out treatment required for the 1,700 (injured demonstrators) just doesn’t exist.”
Speaking in Geneva following a lull in deadly violence over the weekend at the Israel-Gaza border between militant groups in Gaza – which is controlled by Hamas – and Israeli security forces, Mr. McGoldrick insisted on the need for dialogue to address the dire economic and humanitarian situation there.
He confirmed that UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, was in Cairo to reinforce the fragile Gaza ceasefire deal reportedly mediated by Egypt, adding that he hoped this would allow humanitarian deliveries to resume “because we were prevented from doing work, because of the insecurity and instability”.
Today, average household debt in Gaza is $4,000, the UN official explained, noting that average salaries are $400 a month. The situation has been made worse by chronically high youth unemployment and the fact that the UN’s $350 million humanitarian appeal for 2019 is funded at only 14 per cent.
“It’s not going to get any better, it’s getting worse,” he said. “If you look at the number of shops that have closed because of debt…people are using all sorts of means, selling assets, doctors going abroad leaving the family and sending remittances back, we’re hearing that the indebted nature of some of the poorest families is quite heavy.”
During the recent military activity, hundreds of rockets were launched from Gaza by Palestinian militants into southern Israel, and hundreds of airstrikes and tank rounds were fired in return, causing 29 fatalities in Gaza and four in Israel, along with some 200 casualties on each side.
“The situation is very precarious,” Mr. McGoldrick said. “And I think the need for a political solution is all the more highlighted because of how easy it is to slip into something very quickly.”
7 may 2019
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Azmi Doghmush, a building owner in Gaza, says that he received a taunting phone call from an Israeli intelligence officer on Sunday: “Sheikh Doghmush! How are you doing?… Count down five minutes and watch my proficiency and accuracy in toppling your building, but keep 50 meters away.”
The seven-story al-Qamar residential building in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in the Gaza City was then leveled by six Israeli missiles. “He was honest, while my lifetime dream was turned into fallen dominoes,” Doghmush, 50, said. The anonymous officer gave all tenants in the building five minutes to evacuate, he said. “I was screaming hysterically, this is a joke, don’t do it, this is foolish! |
Five minutes is not enough to pick up even a pencil, but the officer insisted that the countdown is running.”
Despite the smoke still rising from the ruin Monday, former tenants of the building attempted to retrieve all they could find in the rubble of the high-rise.
The Al-Qamar building was home to more than 40 residents and commercial tenants including a beauty salon, mini market and tires service store. The bombings over the weekend caused damage to 310 residential buildings, fishing ports, and two universities across Gaza, and completely destroyed 18 residential buildings and family homes, a mosque, several schools, three media offices, and three ambulances.
“My son’s new mini market, equipped with food for the Holy Ramadan, is under rubble, but that seems no less horrible than when I saw a paranoid man with only his knickers on fleeing out after the call,” Doghmush said.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed that 25 Palestinians, including two infants, a toddler, and two pregnant women, were killed in the Israeli airstrikes, before an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian factions in the besieged enclave was declared.
For Azmi Doghmush, this military escalation is a “real war” and could be just one in a series of wars since the last conflict of July-August 2014, when 2,251 people, including 1,462 civilians, were killed over seven weeks, according to the UN.
“More conflicts will erupt till doomsday as long as the US wrestler Donald Trump is in office; exploiting the Arabian Gulf’s cash and it siding with Israel,” he added.
Trump said on Sunday the United States fully supported Israel’s response to a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza and called for an end to the Palestinian militant attacks, warning Gazans such actions would bring them “nothing but more misery.” He said on Twitter.
“Once again, Israel faces a barrage of deadly rocket attacks by terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. We support Israel 100% in its defense of its citizens…. To the Gazan people – these terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery. END the violence and work towards peace – it can happen!”
Among the victims were a family: Iman al-Ghazali, 30, and her husband Ahmad, 31, and their daughter Maria, 4 months. The family were reported killed as an Israeli warplane fired missiles into their apartment in Zayed Residential buildings, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday.
A neighbor of the slain al-Ghazali family, Abdul-Raheem Haidar, 62, said that he was praying in a nearby mosque when it was shaken as if by an earthquake. “At that second I felt my heart shrink, that a real thriller movie is playing outside,” Haidar said yesterday, as his daughters moved their belongings to a truck. The family must relocate due to massive damage to their home, which was next to the al-Ghazali’s apartment.
Muna Haidar, one of those daughters, held up her hands, still trembling since the strike took place. “In this Holy month? I have never imagined that we could be homeless one day, but it becomes an undeniable truth,” Muna, 27, told Mondoweiss. “They were a lovely family (al-Ghazali) with a cute infant, but the Paradise could be safer than Gaza’s endless wars and falling rockets.
“Where is Mr. Obama? I guess he was more equitable with the Palestinians. Today we would prefer the blue devil to Trump.”
She took a last look at the wrecked home and added, “The slain mother Iman and I were planning for three days to prepare beef ravioli for today’s breakfast.”
Despite the smoke still rising from the ruin Monday, former tenants of the building attempted to retrieve all they could find in the rubble of the high-rise.
The Al-Qamar building was home to more than 40 residents and commercial tenants including a beauty salon, mini market and tires service store. The bombings over the weekend caused damage to 310 residential buildings, fishing ports, and two universities across Gaza, and completely destroyed 18 residential buildings and family homes, a mosque, several schools, three media offices, and three ambulances.
“My son’s new mini market, equipped with food for the Holy Ramadan, is under rubble, but that seems no less horrible than when I saw a paranoid man with only his knickers on fleeing out after the call,” Doghmush said.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed that 25 Palestinians, including two infants, a toddler, and two pregnant women, were killed in the Israeli airstrikes, before an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian factions in the besieged enclave was declared.
For Azmi Doghmush, this military escalation is a “real war” and could be just one in a series of wars since the last conflict of July-August 2014, when 2,251 people, including 1,462 civilians, were killed over seven weeks, according to the UN.
“More conflicts will erupt till doomsday as long as the US wrestler Donald Trump is in office; exploiting the Arabian Gulf’s cash and it siding with Israel,” he added.
Trump said on Sunday the United States fully supported Israel’s response to a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza and called for an end to the Palestinian militant attacks, warning Gazans such actions would bring them “nothing but more misery.” He said on Twitter.
“Once again, Israel faces a barrage of deadly rocket attacks by terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. We support Israel 100% in its defense of its citizens…. To the Gazan people – these terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery. END the violence and work towards peace – it can happen!”
Among the victims were a family: Iman al-Ghazali, 30, and her husband Ahmad, 31, and their daughter Maria, 4 months. The family were reported killed as an Israeli warplane fired missiles into their apartment in Zayed Residential buildings, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday.
A neighbor of the slain al-Ghazali family, Abdul-Raheem Haidar, 62, said that he was praying in a nearby mosque when it was shaken as if by an earthquake. “At that second I felt my heart shrink, that a real thriller movie is playing outside,” Haidar said yesterday, as his daughters moved their belongings to a truck. The family must relocate due to massive damage to their home, which was next to the al-Ghazali’s apartment.
Muna Haidar, one of those daughters, held up her hands, still trembling since the strike took place. “In this Holy month? I have never imagined that we could be homeless one day, but it becomes an undeniable truth,” Muna, 27, told Mondoweiss. “They were a lovely family (al-Ghazali) with a cute infant, but the Paradise could be safer than Gaza’s endless wars and falling rockets.
“Where is Mr. Obama? I guess he was more equitable with the Palestinians. Today we would prefer the blue devil to Trump.”
She took a last look at the wrecked home and added, “The slain mother Iman and I were planning for three days to prepare beef ravioli for today’s breakfast.”
At least 830 housing units sustained damage or were completely destroyed during the last Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, according to an initial report by the ministry of public works and housing.
According to the report, 130 housing units were reduced to rubble and 700 others were partially damaged during the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza.
However, field crews from the ministry are still working on collecting information on more housing units that sustained destruction or damage before providing final statistics in this regard.
According to the report, 130 housing units were reduced to rubble and 700 others were partially damaged during the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza.
However, field crews from the ministry are still working on collecting information on more housing units that sustained destruction or damage before providing final statistics in this regard.
A Palestinian was shot and injured by Israeli forces, east of Beit Hanoun, in the northern besieged Gaza Strip.
According to local sources, Israeli forces opened fire at a group of Palestinians workers, near a waste collection site, east of Beit Hanoun.
Sources confirmed that one of the workers, whose identity remained unknown, was shot and injured in his foot.
Medical sources said that the Palestinian, in his twenties, was transferred to the Indonesian Hospital, in northern Gaza, to receive medical treatment.
The reason for the shooting remained unknown.
According to local sources, Israeli forces opened fire at a group of Palestinians workers, near a waste collection site, east of Beit Hanoun.
Sources confirmed that one of the workers, whose identity remained unknown, was shot and injured in his foot.
Medical sources said that the Palestinian, in his twenties, was transferred to the Indonesian Hospital, in northern Gaza, to receive medical treatment.
The reason for the shooting remained unknown.
Thirteen Palestinian schools in the besieged Gaza Strip were severely damaged in the Israeli escalation across the Strip, which claimed the lives of 27 Palestinians and injured at least 154 others, on Tuesday.
The Palestinian Ministry of Education in Gaza said in a statement that the windows and doors of 13 schools were completely damaged, as well as the walls cracked.
The ministry also said that the shrapnel of the Israeli missiles and debris of the targeted buildings directly hit the classrooms.
The ministry expressed its “strong condemnation” regarding the Israeli escalation on Gaza, which damaged basic infrastructure in all fields, and stressed that this is a violation of the international laws and conventions.
The ministry called for the international community to halt Israeli practices and hold Israel accountable for its violations.
The Palestinian Ministry of Education in Gaza said in a statement that the windows and doors of 13 schools were completely damaged, as well as the walls cracked.
The ministry also said that the shrapnel of the Israeli missiles and debris of the targeted buildings directly hit the classrooms.
The ministry expressed its “strong condemnation” regarding the Israeli escalation on Gaza, which damaged basic infrastructure in all fields, and stressed that this is a violation of the international laws and conventions.
The ministry called for the international community to halt Israeli practices and hold Israel accountable for its violations.
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