Tag: Israel

As much as 21,000 children in Gaza are said to have gone missing since October 7, reports Save the Children, a leading humanitarian organisation for children.

Israel launched fierce military operations against Palestinians following October 7 attacks which have killed at least 37,598 people and injured 86,032 in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.

More than 15,000 children have been killed by Israel in the genocide.

Additionally, at least 3,000 children are reportedly amputated – the largest population of child amputees in the world.

An Israeli government spokesman on Monday said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had dissolved the war cabinet following the resignation earlier this month of centrist leader Benny Gantz.

David Mencer, spokesman at the prime minister’s office, told reporters the war cabinet was a “prerequisite” for former army chief and defence minister Gantz to join a unity government.

“So with Mr Gantz leaving government, there is no need for the cabinet. Its duties will be taken over by the security cabinet”, a pre-existing body, on matters regarding the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, he said.

Israeli media said the move, which was not expected to trigger any major policy shift, was meant to counter pressure from far-right politicians seeking a greater say in decision-making.

The war cabinet was formed after Gantz had left the opposition to join Netanyahu’s government following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

Another member of Gantz’ party, also a former military chief, Gadi Eisenkot, had also agreed to join the government on condition that a war cabinet be formed, according to Israeli officials.

Eisenkot left the war cabinet along with Gantz.

“It means that the security cabinet will meet more often. The security cabinet is the body responsible for making decisions (related to the war) anyway,” said an Israeli official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the issue.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who were all part of the war cabinet, also sit on the security cabinet — which ratifies decisions regarding the war including truce and hostage release negotiations.

Gantz announced his resignation on June 9 after failing to get Netanyahu to approve a post-war plan for Gaza.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu dissolved the war cabinet to avoid including far-right coalition members in the sensitive forum, fearing harm to relations with Western allies such as the United States.

Mencer declined to answer when asked if Netanyahu’s decision aimed to rebuff his far-right partners and tighten his grip over decision-making.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who are both security cabinet members and opposed to a truce before Hamas is “eliminated”, had put pressure on Netanyahu to add them to the war cabinet.

Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza has killed at least 37,347 people, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the territory.

A UN investigation concluded on Wednesday that Israel has committed crimes against humanity during the genocide in Gaza, including that of “extermination”, while saying Israeli and Palestinian armed groups have both committed war crimes.

The independent Commission of Inquiry’s report is the United Nations’ first in-depth investigation into the events following October 7.

It found that Israel had committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL).

The report noted “a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Gaza.”

“The commission found that the crimes against humanity of extermination; murder; gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys; forcible transfer; and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were committed,” it added.

Israel rejected the conclusions by accusing the UN commission of “systematic anti-Israeli discrimination”.

Israel intensified its attacks in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 attack.

The commission found that in that attack, members of the military wings of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups and Palestinian civilians committed war crimes, as well as violations and abuses of IHL and IHRL.

Militants seized 251 hostages, of which 116 remain in Gaza, though the Israeli army says 41 of them are dead.

The Israeli army launched a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip that has left more than 37,000 people dead, the majority of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.

The unprecedented Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged violations of IHL and IHRL in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Since October 7, the three-member commission has focused on Israeli geocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

“It is imperative that all those who have committed crimes be held accountable,” said the commission’s chair Navi Pillay, a former UN rights chief and an ex-International Criminal Court judge.

“Israel must immediately stop its military operations and attacks in Gaza.

“Hamas and Palestinian armed groups must immediately cease rocket attacks and release all hostages. The taking of hostages constitutes a war crime.”

‘War crimes’ in October attack

The commission concluded that members of Hamas, other Palestinian armed groups and civilians participating in the October 7 attack “deliberately killed, injured, mistreated, took hostages and committed sexual and gender-based violence”.

These acts were committed against civilians and members of the Israeli security forces.

“These actions constitute war crimes and violations and abuses of IHL and IHRL,” it said.

The commission further said it found “significant evidence on the desecration of corpses, including sexualised desecration, decapitations, lacerations, burning, severing of body parts and undressing”.

“Women were subjected to gender-based violence during the course of their execution or abduction. Women and women’s bodies were used as victory trophies by male perpetrators.”

Many children who witnessed their relatives being killed were “also filmed for propaganda purposes”, with the commission finding it “particularly egregious that children were targeted for abduction”.

The report said Israeli authorities “failed to protect civilians in southern Israel on almost every front”.

Israel’s ‘starvation’ of Gaza

In their actions in Gaza, the commission found the Israeli authorities “responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity”.

Starvation will affect the Gaza population, particularly children, “for decades to come”, the report said, while “the siege it imposed… constitutes collective punishment and reprisal against the civilian population, both of which are clear violations of IHL.”

In the West Bank, the commission found that Israeli forces committed acts of sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity, “all of which are war crimes”.

Israel’s government and forces “permitted, fostered and instigated a campaign of settler violence against Palestinian communities” in the territory, the commission added.

The report is based on interviews with victims and witnesses conducted remotely, and in Turkey and Egypt, and through studying thousands of verified open-source items, satellite imagery and forensic medical reports, the commission said.

“Israel obstructed the commission’s investigations and prevented its access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” it added.

The report is due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next week.

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© Agence France-Presse

The UN Security Council gave a green signal to a US-proposed ceasefire plan on Monday aimed at ending the Israeli attacks in Gaza.

The proposition consists of a three-stage ceasefire and captive-release proposal laid out on May 31 by President Biden, prompting the “parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition”.⁠
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As per the plan, Israel will withdraw its military forces from Gaza’s populated areas, Hamas will release the remaining captives and humanitarian aid would be allowed into Gaza “at scale”.⁠

A temporary ceasefire will be in effect for six weeks at first, with the possibility of extension as negotiators work towards a permanent cessation of hostilities.

As per the resolution, Israel has agreed to the plan and urged Hamas to also agree to it as well.

However, Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, have recently vowed to continue the operations until Hamas is completely eradicated, raising doubts about their commitment to the ceasefire agreement.

Hamas has expressed approval of the resolution and signalled readiness to engage in indirect talks regarding the implementation of the agreement’s principles.