Israel's Bigotry
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UN expert in Israel genocide accusation says she has been threatened
A United Nations expert who published a report saying there were reasonable grounds to believe Israel has committed genocide in Gaza during its military campaign against Hamas said she had received threats throughout her mandate, Reuters reports.
Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza, presented a report entitled “Anatomy of a Genocide” to the UN Human Rights Council, which Israel said it “utterly rejects”.
Asked whether her work on the report had caused her to receive threats, Albanese said: “Yes, I do receive threats. Nothing that so far I considered needing extra precautions. Pressure? Yes, and it doesn’t change either my commitment or the results of my work.” Albanese, who has held the position since 2022, did not elaborate on the nature of the threats, nor did she say who had issued them.
“It’s been a difficult time,” she said.
“I’ve always been attacked since the very beginning of my mandate.”
Spain air drops 26 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza
Spanish military planes have dropped 26 tonnes of humanitarian aid into Gaza as Spain’s government called on Israel to open land border crossings to prevent a famine, Al Jazeera reports.
“Spain insists on the opening of the land crossings as an indispensable measure to avoid a famine situation,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The operation, carried out in coordination with Jordan and co-financed by the European Union, dropped more than 11,000 food rations.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry also reaffirmed its commitment to supporting UNRWA, the United Nations humanitarian agency for Palestinians, and to its continued existence.
Two aid seekers shot in Gaza City: report
Two people waiting for aid at Gaza City’s Kuwait Roundabout have been severely wounded after being shot by Israeli snipers, Al Jazeera quotes Wafa news agency as reporting.
Palestinian aid seekers in northern Gaza have repeatedly come under fire by Israeli forces, with the most recent attack on March 23 killing 19 people and injuring 23 at the same roundabout, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Trauma of Israeli offensive will have long-term impact on Gaza: Save the Children
Soraya Ali from Save the Children tells Al Jazeera that the psychological impact of Israel’s offensive she observed on a visit to Gaza was “tragic”.
“Yesterday, I spoke to a woman who said more than food, she needs mental support, and that really shows you the long-term consequences this war will have on children and families,” Ali said.
“People have been displaced time and time again. Now in the south they have nowhere left to go and you can visibly see the impact this has on them.”
’Declared intent to forcibly transfer Palestinians from their land: UN rights official
United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif has highlighted Israeli settler violence in occupied Palestinian territories and a “declared intent to forcibly transfer Palestinians from their land”.
“The line between settler violence and State violence has further blurred, including violence with the declared intent to forcibly transfer Palestinians from their land,” she said while addressing the 55th session of the Human Rights Council.
“Israeli authorities continued to implement eviction and demolition orders against Palestinians based on discriminatory planning policies, laws and practices, including on the grounds that properties lacked building permits,” the UN official said.
Jordanian police baton charge protesters near Israeli embassy
Jordanian anti-riot police beat and arrested dozens of demonstrators trying to march towards the heavily guarded Israeli embassy in the capital Amman, witnesses and residents said on Wednesday.
More than two thousand protesters gathered late on Tuesday, the third day of demonstrations which have been marred with clashes, after baton wielding police pushed back hundreds of angry crowds seeking to storm the embassy compound in the affluent Rabae district of Amman.
Little change in Gaza aid volume: UNRWA
The UNRWA says there has been no significant change in the influx of supplies to Gaza or improvement in access to the north, where famine is the worst.
It said over the first 25 days of March, an average of 155 aid trucks reached Gaza daily via land crossings, far below the crossings’ capacity of 500.
The UNRWA added that the number of displaced people in Gaza has now climbed to 1.7 million – 75 percent of the enclave’s population – with the majority of them forcibly displaced multiple times.
Starvation: Anatomy of ‘a very cruel, slow death’
In Gaza, 27 people – 23 of them children – have starved to death as a result of what international bodies say is Israel’s use of hunger as a weapon of war.
Starvation is when the human body is deprived of food for so long that it suffers and, in many cases, stops functioning.
“It’s a very cruel, slow death,” said Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan, a British-Egyptian paediatrician and neurologist who has volunteered in Gaza. “You basically just waste away.”
Palestinian killed, 9 injured by Israeli drone strike in Jenin
Local media is reporting that one Palestinian was killed and nine were wounded after the Israeli military carried out a drone strike in the Jenin refugee camp.
We reported earlier that a 19-year-old Palestinian died after being shot by Israeli forces as locals resisted the military incursion into Jenin, occupied West Bank.
Four Palestinian youths were also wounded by Israeli gunfire in the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin.
Hezbollah threatens to respond to Israeli attack on ’emergency centre’
Hezbollah has promised to retaliate to an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon that killed at least seven people.
“We affirm categorically and inevitably that this aggression will not pass without response and punishment,” said Hezbollah, according to Lebanon’s an-Nahar media.
The Israeli attack in southern Lebanon’s al-Habbariyeh area killed seven rescuers in an “emergency centre”, according to an official with Lebanese political and armed group al-Jamaa al-Islamiya.
Israel claimed the strike killed a “central terrorist” associated with al-Jamaa al-Islamiya who was in the building.
Israeli military confirms attack on al-Jamaa al-Islamiya target in southern Lebanon
Israel said its warplanes attacked a site in southern Lebanon where a “central terrorist” associated with the Lebanese political and armed group al-Jamaa al-Islamiya was located, along with “other terrorists” who were in the building.
The target of the Israeli air strike had “promoted plots towards Israeli territory” and was “eliminated”, the military said in a post on social media.
News agencies reported earlier on Wednesday that seven people were killed in an Israeli attack on an emergency response centre run by al-Jamaa al-Islamiya in southern Lebanon’s al-Habbariyeh area. The emergency responder group described the attack as a “heinous crime”, the AFP news agency reports.
Twelve rescue workers were in the emergency response centre when it was attacked, AFP said.
Horrific accounts as Israel continues attacks from north to south
Israel is ramping up its military attacks, in particular here in Rafah. Over the past couple of hours, we have been recording multiple air strikes that targeted three residential houses.
This shows that Rafah is no longer safe for more than 1.5 million Palestinians displaced here.
Attacks continued elsewhere in Gaza as well, including Jabalia refugee camp.
There have been horrific eyewitness accounts of Palestinians trying to flee Israel’s ongoing siege of al-Shifa Hospital, reporting that the forces destroyed much of the area, turning it into a graveyard. Some families are still trapped there after more than a week, living in unbearable conditions.
Calls for Jordan to cut ties with Israel at pro-Palestinian rally in Amman
A demonstrator holds a placard during a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza outside the Al-Kalouti Mosque near the Israeli Embassy, in Amman, Jordan, on March 27, 2024 [Alaa Al-Sukhni/Reuters]
UN expert accuses Israel of ‘genocide’ in Gaza
There are “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to a report issued on Monday by UN-appointed expert Francesca Albanese.
Albanese said evidence – gathered from organisations on the ground, investigative reports and consultations with affected people – suggests that Israel has committed at least three of five acts that fall under the UN Genocide Convention.
Israeli captive recounts sexual assault in Gaza to NYT
An Israeli released from captivity in Gaza has said that she was assaulted by one of her captors, providing the first personal account of sexual violence perpetrated by Palestinian fighters during or after October 7, according to an interview with The New York Times.
Amit Soussana, who was abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza and taken to Gaza during the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel, told the Times that she was assaulted on October 24 by a man guarding her.
Soussana said that he pointed a gun at her head, beat her, pulled her into a bedroom and forced her to “commit a sexual act”. The Times said Soussana’s account was consistent with testimony she provided to doctors and a social worker after she was freed on November 30.
The Times has been embroiled in controversy over its December article, “‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponised Sexual Violence on Oct. 7”. The report drew criticism, with journalists – including from within the paper’s own audio division – arguing that key anecdotes in the article were unsubstantiated.
On Tuesday, video footage contradicting an account by an Israeli military paramedic featured in the Times article cast further doubt over the article’s accuracy.
A team of UN experts reported earlier this month that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” sexual violence had occurred at several locations during the October 7 attacks, while also acknowledging the “challenges and limitations” of investigating the issue.
Pentagon chief says civilian death toll in Gaza ‘far too high’
US Defence Secretary Austin told Israel’s Defence Minister Gallant during a meeting on Tuesday that the civilian death toll in Gaza was “far too high” and the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Palestinian civilians was “far too low”.
Yet, despite Washington’s increased criticism of Israel, US officials stress that they will continue to provide Israel with the weapons it needs to continue its war on Gaza.
Israeli, US defence chiefs convey different messages after meeting
Israeli Defence Minister Gallant said he discussed maintaining Israel’s “QME” [qualitative military edge] in the region with US Defence Secretary Austin during their meeting at the Pentagon on Tuesday.
In a post on social media, Gallant said he also discussed “operations required to destroy Hamas’ governing and terror capabilities”, the release of captives in Gaza and cooperation required “to ensure regional stability in the face of threats on multiple fronts”.
Austin, in a post on social media after the meeting, said the bilateral meeting with Gallant was to “discuss the importance of an approach to military operations in Rafah that prioritize the protection of civilians, the dire humanitarian situation across Gaza, and threats to regional security”.
The difference in emphasis by both defence chiefs appeared to underscore the growing schism between the US and Israel on how Israeli forces are conducting their war on Gaza.
Israel was infuriated by Washington’s decision to not block a UN Security Council resolution on Monday calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Senior Hamas official doesn’t confirm or deny killing of commander
Hamas senior official Osama Hamdan has told Al Jazeera that the group’s political bureau has not yet received evidence regarding the death of commander Marwan Issa in an Israeli air strike earlier this month.
“Everyone knows since day one, the Israelis have been saying they want to target [the] Qassam Brigades and other commanders. However, in the absence of an official statement confirming the martyrdom, one cannot confirm such information,” Hamdan said from Beirut, Lebanon.
Riot police push back protesters at Israeli Embassy in Jordan
Riot police have beaten and arrested dozens of protesters attempting to march towards the Israeli Embassy in the Jordanian capital Amman.
More than two thousand protestors gathered on Tuesday evening, on the third day of demonstrations demanding that Jordan end its peace agreement with Israel.
Police have used violent methods, including tear gas and batons, to push back the crowds attempting to storm the embassy.
As Israel's politicians squabble, soldiers voice their anger
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Standing in front of a tank on the edge of the Gaza Strip, an Israeli general interrupted his speech on the war against Hamas to deliver a televised rebuke to Israel's political leaders.
Brigadier General Dan Goldfus urged politicians "on all sides" to reject extremism and unite, avoiding a return to status quo before the outbreak of the conflict in October - when political divisions and months of protests had left Israel deeply polarized.
US assessments on Israel's war conduct still ongoing, says State Dept
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration has so far not reached a conclusion that Israel has violated the international laws of war but the processes to assess that continue and are yet to produce a definitive assessment, the State Department said on Tuesday.
Speaking in a news briefing, Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the administration was due to submit a report to the US Congress by May 8 as part of a February national security memorandum that reminds countries that receive US weapons to stick to international law and not block humanitarian aid.
Dozens killed in Israeli strikes on north and south of Gaza
CAIRO/RAFAH (Reuters) – Israeli air strikes killed dozens of Palestinians at both ends of the Gaza Strip overnight, hitting the area around Al Shifa hospital in the north and Rafah on the southern edge where more than a million people have sought shelter.
In the north, where intense fighting has raged for more than a week around Al Shifa, members of the Haseera family told Reuters dozens had been killed in a strike that wiped out a family compound near Gaza's biggest hospital.
Israeli forces kill teenager during raid in occupied West Bank
A 19-year-old Palestinian has died after being shot by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin City, the Wafa news agency reports.
The director of the Jenin Governmental Hospital identified the deceased as Ayman Yousef Hassan Azouqa, the news agency reports.
The victim died of serious gunshot wounds to his chest and thigh, which were sustained during clashes between Israeli forces and locals resisting the military incursion in Jenin.
Wafa reported earlier that four Palestinian youths were wounded by Israeli gunfire in the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin.
We will bring you more on the shootings in Jenin as information is made available.
At least 7 killed in Israeli strike on southern Lebanon: Report
The Israeli military has bombed the Nabatieh area in southern Lebanon, killing at least seven people, two anonymous security sources have told the Reuters news agency.
We will bring you further updates on this story when we have them.
Desperation grows with aid supplies blocked in northern Gaza
With Israel blocking aid supply convoys to northern Gaza, the region is largely cut off from food and the situation is growing increasingly desperate for Palestinians trapped there.
Food, water and medical supplies are running low for northern Gaza’s few remaining semi-functional hospitals. At the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, many of the patients are children and babies.
