Amnesty says Israel carrying out ‘genocide’ in Gaza

Update A Palestinian woman, displaced from Beit Lahia, arrives in Jabalia in northern Gaza on December 4. Amnesty International accused Israel of “committing genocide.” (AFP)
A Palestinian woman, displaced from Beit Lahia, arrives in Jabalia in northern Gaza on December 4. Amnesty International accused Israel of “committing genocide.” (AFP)
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Updated 05 December 2024
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Amnesty says Israel carrying out ‘genocide’ in Gaza

A Palestinian woman, displaced from Beit Lahia, arrives in Jabalia in northern Gaza on December 4. Amnesty International accused
  • Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as subhuman group unworthy of human rights, says Amnesty 
  • Rights group releases 300-page report featuring satellite images showing devastation in Gaza, ground reports

THE HAGUE: Amnesty International accused Israel Thursday of “committing genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war last year, saying its new report was a “wake-up call” for the world
The London-based human rights group said its findings were based on satellite images documenting devastation, fieldwork and ground reports from Gazans as well as “dehumanizing and genocidal statements by Israeli government and military officials.”
Israel angrily dismissed the findings as “entirely false,” denouncing the report as “fabricated” and “based on lies.”

A State Department spokesman said the US disagreed with the report, saying "allegations of genocide are unfounded."
Amnesty’s Israel branch said it was not involved in the report and “does not accept” the allegation of genocide.
Amnesty chief Agnes Callamard accused Israel of treating the Palestinians in Gaza “as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them.”
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now,” she said in a statement.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been fighting Israel in Gaza, welcomed the report as a “message to the international community... on the need to act to bring an end to this genocide.”
The group’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack which triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,580 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.

Independent UN human rights experts have accused Israel of genocide several times, and South Africa brought a case against Israel to the UN’s top court in December 2023 accusing it of “violating the genocide convention by promoting the destruction of Palestinians living in Gaza.” The case is still ongoing.
But Israeli officials have repeatedly and forcefully denied all such allegations, accusing Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
“The deplorable and fanatical organization Amnesty International has once again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies,” the Israeli foreign ministry said.
“Israel is defending itself... acting fully in accordance with international law.”
But Callamard insisted at a press conference in The Hague that “the existence of military objectives does not negate the possibility of a genocidal intent.”
She said Amnesty had based its findings on the criteria set out in the UN Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.
But an Israeli army spokesperson said the report’s findings “fail to account for the operational realities” it has faced.
“The (military) takes all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians during operations. These include providing advance warnings to civilians in combat zones whenever feasible and facilitating safe movement to designated areas.”
While Amnesty Israel rejected the accusation of genocide, it said it was “concerned that serious crimes are being committed in Gaza” and called for an investigation and an immediate halt to the war.

Amnesty’s 300-page report points to “direct deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructures where there was no Hamas presence or any other military objectives” as well as the blocking of aid deliveries, and the displacement of 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.4 million people.
Palestinians have been subjected to “malnutrition, hunger and diseases” and exposed to a “slow, calculated death,” Amnesty said.
The rights group, which is also due to publish a report on the crimes committed by Hamas, cited 15 air strikes in Gaza between October 7, 2023 and April 20, which killed 334 civilians, including 141 children, for which the group found “no evidence that any of these strikes were directed at a military objective.”
The Amnesty report also referenced dozens of calls by Israeli officials and soldiers for the annihilation, destruction, burning or “erasure” of Gaza.
Such statements highlighted “systemic impunity” as well as “an environment that emboldens... such behavior.”
“Governments must stop pretending that they are powerless to terminate Israel’s occupation, to end apartheid and to stop the genocide in Gaza,” Callamard said.
“States that transfer arms to Israel violate their obligations to prevent genocide under the convention and are at risk of becoming complicit.”


Japan provides grant to Caritas Lebanon for mammography machine in Sin El Fil

Japan provides grant to Caritas Lebanon for mammography machine in Sin El Fil
Updated 17 January 2025
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Japan provides grant to Caritas Lebanon for mammography machine in Sin El Fil

Japan provides grant to Caritas Lebanon for mammography machine in Sin El Fil
  • Ambassador Magoshi Masayuki signed a grant contract with Father Michel Abboud, President of Caritas Lebanon
  • The center has faced significant challenges due to the economic crisis

BEIRUT: Japan, through the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Program (GGP), extended a helping hand to Caritas Lebanon by providing a mammography machine to its Sin El Fil Primary Healthcare Center (PHCC).
On Friday, Ambassador Magoshi Masayuki signed a grant contract with Father Michel Abboud, President of Caritas Lebanon.
The Sin El Fil PHCC, established by Caritas Lebanon in 1985, serves as the sole healthcare center in the town of Sin El Fil, providing essential low-cost primary medical services to approximately 300 patients daily, including Lebanese, Syrian refugees, and migrant workers.
Despite its vital role, the center has faced significant challenges due to the economic crisis, including the breakdown of its mammography machine two and a half years ago. This has left residents without affordable breast cancer screening services, forcing patients to rely on costly private facilities or forego testing altogether.
Recognizing the urgent need for early detection of breast cancer and other diseases, Japan has decided to support the Sin El Fil PHCC by providing a new mammography machine.
This project will enable the center to resume affordable breast cancer screening services and to benefit approximately 1,700 patients annually, aligning with the Lebanese government’s ‘National Cancer Plan (2023-2028)’ and the National Health Strategy, which emphasize early detection and primary healthcare.
At the signing ceremony, Ambassador Magoshi commended Caritas Lebanon’s commitment to supporting vulnerable communities through comprehensive medical services.
Caritas Lebanon, in turn, has expressed its gratitude for Japan’s support, highlighting the significance of this project amid the ongoing socio-economic challenges in Lebanon.


UK MPs urge Israel to reconsider UNRWA ban

UK MPs urge Israel to reconsider UNRWA ban
Updated 17 January 2025
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UK MPs urge Israel to reconsider UNRWA ban

UK MPs urge Israel to reconsider UNRWA ban
  • The chair of the UK parliament’s International Development Committee echoed his call on Friday
  • “While news of a ceasefire is encouraging, the situation on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank remains alarming,” said Sarah Champion

LONDON: British lawmakers warned Friday that an Israeli ban on the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency due to be implemented this month threatens to undermine efforts for peace in the Middle East.
A long-awaited ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the 15-month war in Gaza is due to take effect this weekend.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Thursday that legislation barring UNRWA from operating in Israel and east Jerusalem due to be implemented by the end of January threatened the agreement.
“What we don’t want is this peace, that begins on Sunday, undermined by that legislation just a few days into its passing,” he told parliament on Thursday.
The chair of the UK parliament’s International Development Committee echoed his call on Friday.
“While news of a ceasefire is encouraging, the situation on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank remains alarming,” said Sarah Champion, from the ruling Labour party.
“Israel’s proposed ban on UNRWA would prevent aid distribution in Gaza, devastate Palestinian livelihoods and send disruptive ripples throughout the Middle East.”
Her comments came as her committee published a report urging the British government to “do all it can” to ensure UNRWA is able to continue its work.
The report concluded that if UNRWA were banned it would almost certainly lead to further conflict and displacement.
UNRWA provides aid to some six million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
But the agency has faced criticism from Israeli officials that has escalated since the start of the war in Gaza, which was unleashed after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Israel claims that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the assault, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s ensuing campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,788 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
A series of probes, including one led by France’s former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its chief allegations.


Macron announces new Lebanon ‘reconstruction’ conference in Paris

Macron announces new Lebanon ‘reconstruction’ conference in Paris
Updated 17 January 2025
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Macron announces new Lebanon ‘reconstruction’ conference in Paris

Macron announces new Lebanon ‘reconstruction’ conference in Paris
  • “As soon as the president (Aoun) comes to Paris in a few weeks’ time, we will organize around him an international reconstruction conference to drum up funding,” Macron said
  • “The international community must prepare for massive support to the reconstruction of infrastructure“

BEIRUT: France’s President Emmanuel Macron Friday announced that Paris would in coming weeks host an international reconstruction conference after a war between militant group Hezbollah and Israel.
After more than two years of a political vacuum at the top of the small Mediterranean country, Joseph Aoun was elected president on January 9 and chose Nawaf Salam as prime minister designate.
“Since January 9, in the middle of winter, spring has sprung,” Macron said at a joint press conference with Aoun.
“You are this hope,” he said, referring to Aoun and Salam.
The new prime minister faces the monumental task of forming a government to oversee reconstruction after a November ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war, and enact reforms to lift the country out of its worst economic crisis in history.
“As soon as the president (Aoun) comes to Paris in a few weeks’ time, we will organize around him an international reconstruction conference to drum up funding,” Macron said.
“The international community must prepare for massive support to the reconstruction of infrastructure.”
Under the ceasefire deal, the Lebanese army must deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south of Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws by January 26.
At the same time, Hezbollah is required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the country’s south.
With just over a week to go until the cut-off date, Macron called for accelerated implementation of the truce.
“There have been results... but they must be accelerated and long-lasting. There needs to be complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the Lebanese army must hold total monopoly of any weapons” in south Lebanon, he said.
A committee composed of Israeli, Lebanese, French and US delegates, alongside a representative from UNIFIL, has been tasked with monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire deal.


EU’s Kallas says talks under way to revive Rafah border mission

EU’s Kallas says talks under way to revive Rafah border mission
Updated 17 January 2025
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EU’s Kallas says talks under way to revive Rafah border mission

EU’s Kallas says talks under way to revive Rafah border mission
  • The mission operated for only a year and a half before it was suspended when Hamas militants took control of the Gaza Strip
  • The EU is “in discussions about redeploying our monitoring mission to Rafah to ensure the stability at the border, so we have it ready,” Kallas told reporters

BRUSSELS: The European Union is in talks to revive a civilian mission to monitor the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah following the announcement of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
A civilian EU mission to help monitor the Rafah crossing was set up under agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 2005, part of international help with peace efforts at a time when Israel had pulled troops and settlers from Gaza.
But the mission operated for only a year and a half before it was suspended when Hamas militants took control of the Gaza Strip and drove out the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.
Kallas met with the Palestinian Authority’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in Brussels on Friday morning and spoke on the phone with Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.
The EU is “in discussions about redeploying our monitoring mission to Rafah to ensure the stability at the border, so we have it ready,” Kallas told reporters in Brussels.
Kallas said redeploying would require invitations from Israel and the Palestinian Authority as well as a cooperation agreement with Egypt. She said the mission now had ten international staff and eight locals on standby.
“We will also be ready to assist in reconstruction and recovery,” she said.
Kallas said the EU was committed to a two-state solution to the broader Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“Of course lasting peace means compromises on both sides,” she said. “I think there is a chance to prevent further loss of life with this ceasefire.”


Aid agencies ready Gaza push but warn of mammoth obstacles

Aid agencies ready Gaza push but warn of mammoth obstacles
Updated 17 January 2025
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Aid agencies ready Gaza push but warn of mammoth obstacles

Aid agencies ready Gaza push but warn of mammoth obstacles
  • On the ground in the territory, aid workers worry nothing will be enough to meet the need
  • World Food Programme has enough food for one million people ‘waiting outside Gaza or on its way’

CAIRO: An Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal expected to take effect on Sunday has sparked hope for life-saving aid to reach Palestinians, but aid agencies warn of obstacles from destroyed infrastructure, massive need and collapsed law and order.
Announcing the truce, United States President Joe Biden said on Wednesday it would “surge much needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians.”
The United Nations’ humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called it “a moment of hope and opportunity” but said “we should be under no illusions how tough it will still be to get support to survivors.”
On the ground in the territory, where nearly all 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once, aid workers worry nothing will be enough to meet the need.
“Everything has been destroyed. Children are on the streets. You can’t pinpoint just one priority,” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) coordinator Amande Bazerolle said by phone from Gaza.
Speaking from the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, Mohammed Al-Khatib, of Medical Aid for Palestinians, said local aid workers haven’t stopped for 15 months even though they themselves are displaced.
“Everyone is exhausted,” he said.
In the hunger-stricken makeshift shelters set up in former schools, bombed-out houses and cemeteries, hundreds of thousands lack even plastic sheeting to protect from winter rains and biting winds, Gavin Kelleher, of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said.
Even if the bombs stop, agencies like his have to focus on the basics of emergency response, including bringing in “tarpaulins, rope and fixtures to close gaping holes” in buildings.
“At least until we stop seeing children dying of hypothermia,” he said via text message from Gaza.
By last week, hypothermia had killed at least eight people – four newborns, three infants and one adult – according to a health ministry toll used by the World Health Organization.
On Wednesday, Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News reported coordination was underway to reopen the Rafah crossing on the Gaza border. It was one of the main humanitarian entry points but has been closed since Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side in May.
The truce is based on a plan Biden presented in mid-2024 that foresaw a surge in aid to 600 trucks per day, or more than eight times the December average reported by the United Nations.
The World Food Programme said Thursday it had enough food for one million people “waiting outside Gaza or on its way.”
On the Egyptian side of the border, a source in the Egyptian Red Crescent said up to 1,000 trucks are waiting “for their entry into Gaza.”
But with air strikes continuing to pound the territory, where aid groups and the UN have regularly accused Israel of impeding aid flows – which Israeli denies – aid workers were skeptical.
MSF’s Bazerolle said the promise of hundreds of trucks a day “is not even feasible technically.”
“Since Rafah has been destroyed, the infrastructure is not there to be able to cope with that level of logistics,” she explained, with bombs audible in the background.
Aid that does arrive is subject to looting by both armed gangs and desperate civilians.
“The Israelis have targeted the police, so there’s no one to protect the shipments” from looting, which Bazerolle said will continue “as long as there’s not enough aid entering.”
After more than a year of the “systematic dismantling of the rule of law” in Gaza, NRC’s Kelleher called for “the resumption of a Palestinian civilian police force.”
The situation is especially dire in northern Gaza.
Bazerolle, who says MSF missions in the area have been targeted by Israel, says the group hopes to send teams to the north “to at least treat patients where they are,” in the absence of hospitals.
According to the WHO, only one hospital, Al-Awda, is partially functioning in the north.
WHO’s Rik Peeperkorn said that, in addition to hospital capacity, his agency will focus on “the very basic things” including water, electricity and waste management systems in Gaza.
Still, the displaced will hope to head back – including Khatib himself – if the truce holds.
Many, he said, “will return to find their entire neighborhoods destroyed” and without food or shelter.
“People aren’t even talking about rebuilding their houses, but just the most basic essential needs,” he continued.
“We’re closing one chapter of suffering and opening a new one,” he predicted, before adding: “At least there is some hope of the bloodshed ending.”