Israel-Hamas war updates: Palestinians ‘going hungry’ as Israel pounds Gaza
A UN expert on food has made a dire warning about Palestinians in Gaza as Israel continues its deadly bombardment of the enclave. Warning: Graphic
A United Nations expert on food has made a dire warning about the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza as Israel continues its deadly bombardment of the enclave.
UN Special Rapporteur on Food Michael Fakhri says “every single Palestinian in Gaza is going hungry” and warns the world is witnessing a “genocide”.
Professor Fakhri, from the University of Oregon School of Law in the US, also said the health system in Gaza has collapsed and no one is safe from diseases in the besieged enclave.
He also said the UN Security Council has proven “ineffective” in ensuring international peace and security, given the situation in Gaza.
Overnight in Gaza, more Israeli air strikes targeted the biggest southern city of Khan Yunis, while deadly fighting and bombing were also reported in the centre and north of the narrow territory.
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The bloodiest ever war in Gaza has killed more than 18,200 Palestinians in the territory, mostly women and children, and 104 Israeli soldiers, according to the latest reported death tolls.
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REMAINING GAZA HOSPITALS UNDER ATTACK: UN
The UN’s relief agency in Palestinian territories has said that humanitarian agencies in Gaza are finding “many areas are off limits and access to others is unsafe.”
The UN agency’s latest daily update also said Al-Awda Hospital, in Jabalia in northern Gaza, remains surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks for the sixth consecutive day and only 13 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning.
Repeated bombardments are making it hard for people to access at least two of the hospitals that remain open – Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and El Amal City Hospital.
Two mothers were reportedly killed and several people were injured when the maternity department at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya was struck on Monday.
The humanitarian community keeps working hard to meet the basic needs of people in #Gaza, wherever support is needed. But many areas are off limits and access to others is unsafe. A humanitarian ceasefire is needed urgently.
— OCHA oPt (Palestine) (@ochaopt) December 12, 2023
More in Flash Update #66:
🔗https://t.co/FQEiu5umqKpic.twitter.com/Ea4cGTxpqX
‘IMPOSSIBLE FOR JOURNALISTS TO REPORT’
The Committee to Protect Journalists says it is “deeply saddened” by the killing of the father of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif in an Israeli attack in northern Gaza.
“CPJ is deeply alarmed by the pattern of journalists in Gaza reporting receiving threats, and subsequently, their family members being killed,” the group’s Middle East and North Africa program co-ordinator Sherif Mansour said in a statement.
“The killing of the family members of journalists in Gaza is making it almost impossible for the journalists to continue reporting, as the risk now extends beyond them also to include their beloved ones.”
Al Jazeera has condemned the killing, saying it came “after a series of threats received by (al-Sharif) last November in an attempt to deter him from carrying out his duty”.
US CONCERNED OVER REPORTS ISRAEL USED WHITE PHOSPHORUS
The White House expressed concern over reports that Israel used US-supplied white phosphorus in attacks on Lebanon, adding that it was seeking more details about the allegations.
Lebanon accused Israel of repeatedly using the incendiary weapon in October, while the Washington Post said analysis of shell fragments from one attack showed the rounds were US-made.
“We’ve seen the reports, we’re certainly concerned about that. We’ll be asking questions to try to learn a little bit more,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
The use of white phosphorus as a chemical weapon is prohibited under international law, but it is allowed for illuminating battlefields and can be used as a smokescreen.
“Obviously, any time that we provide items like white phosphorus to another military, it is with the full expectation that it will be used in keeping with those legitimate purposes and in keeping with the law of armed conflict,” said Kirby.
The Washington Post said nine civilians were injured in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon using what appeared to be US-supplied white phosphorus.
A journalist working for the newspaper found remnants of three artillery rounds with serial numbers showing they were made in the United States in 1989 and 1992, it said.
Lebanon said on October 31 that Israel’s use of the weapon in “repeated” attacks – amid tensions following the October 7 attacks on Israel by the Hamas movement in Gaza – had burned 40,000 olive trees.
The United States has strongly backed Israel but has been trying to keep the conflict from spreading throughout the region, especially to Lebanon where the Iran-backed Hezbollah group is based.
Kirby said it was “also in the context of that, that we’re concerned about these reports” on the use of white phosphorus.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller added that the United States was “looking for additional information.”
“Anytime that we saw white phosphorus being used in a way that would harm civilians, of course, it’s something that we would be concerned about,” Miller added.
PALESTINIANS STRIKE OVER GAZA ONSLAUGHT
Shops, schools and government offices shut across the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem as Palestinians staged a general strike protesting against Israel’s relentless onslaught in the Gaza Strip.
Local activists had called for a strike in solidarity with the besieged territory covering businesses, public workers and education.
Many Palestinians took part and rallies were staged in the West Bank, according to Essam Abu Baker who coordinates Palestinian factions in Ramallah.
He described the protest as part of a global effort to put pressure on Israel to stop the war, reporting strikes taking place in parts of Jordan and Lebanon.
In Lebanon, public institutions, banks, schools and universities closed after the government decided on a nationwide strike in solidarity with Gaza and with border areas in the south, which have seen intensifying exchanges of fire, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah.
The stoppage was also observed in Istanbul’s western Esenyurt district, where many businesses are owned by residents from the Palestinian territories, Syria, Yemen and Iran.
Footage on social media showed deserted streets and Palestinian flags billowing.
“The strike today is not only in solidarity with Gaza, but also against the USA which used its veto in the Security Council against a truce,” Abu Baker said in Ramallah, referring to the US rejection of a ceasefire resolution on Friday.
HOSTAGES WERE DRUGGED, ABUSED IN GAZA: DOCTOR
Hostages hauled into Gaza during Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel were drugged to keep them docile in captivity and subjected to psychological and sexual abuse, a specialist said.
“I’ve never seen anything like that” in 20 years of treating trauma victims, said Renana Eitan, director of the psychiatric division of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Centre-Ichilov.
“The physical, the sexual, the mental, the psychological abuse of these hostages that came back is just terrible,” she added.
“We have to rewrite the textbook.”
The centre has received 14 ex-hostages released by Hamas, some of whom reported being drugged, including with what doctors believe were benzodiazepines, a class of depressants with a sedative effect that includes drugs like Valium.
“They wanted to control the kids, and sometimes it’s difficult to control young children, adolescents. And they know that if they drug them they will be quiet,” she added.
“One of the girls was given ketamine for a few weeks,” she continued, referring to a powerful dissociative anaesthetic known for giving the recipient a sense of detachment from their environment.
“It’s unbelievable to do this to a child.”
Eitan said some former hostages had also described psychological torment at the hands of their captors.
One was told his wife was dead when in fact she was still alive back in Israel, while children were separated from their families and shown “brutal videos”.
One patient said she and others were held in total darkness for more than four days.
“They became psychotic, they had hallucinations,” Eitan said.
There were also reports of self-harm among hostages in captivity, she noted, while some returnees had since professed to having suicidal thoughts.
“But this is our mission, to make sure that such things will not happen,” she added.
Some former hostages continue to experience dissociative states, Eitan said: “One minute they know that they are here at Ichilov medical centre, and the next they think they are back with Hamas.”
There are plans to create a centre to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after the national shock of the October attack.
Eitan said the mental health toll was staggering, with around five per cent of Israel’s population – some 400,000 people – expected to suffer some symptoms of PTSD.
GAZA HAS BECOME VICTIM OF ‘CRAZY PEOPLE’
Gaza has been set back 200 years because of a group of “crazy people”, the former Hamas communications minister Yousef al-Mansi said of the militant arm of his own party.
In a 14-minute excerpt of an interrogation video released by Israeli domestic security agency Shin Bet, the former minister of the Gaza government bemoaned the destruction of his territory.
But he laid the blame squarely on Hamas militant leader Yahya Sinwar who he said was a walking dead man who had little support before the conflict and none now.
“People in the Gaza Strip say that Sinwar and his group destroyed us, we must get rid of them,” he said in the video.
“I have not seen anyone in the Gaza Strip who supports Sinwar, nobody likes Sinwar. There are people who, day and night, pray that God will free us from him.”
The release of his interrogation video coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sending a message telling Hamas fighters to surrender, it was “over” and they should not die for Sinwar.
Al-Mansi said Sinwar had “delusions of grandeur,” and that he “feels like he is above everyone else. Acts only as he thinks. He makes decisions without consulting anyone.”
He also described the October 7 assault as “opposite to Islam” and “heresy and madness”
“Those who are responsible for this are Sinwar and his group,” he said, according to the excerpts, adding that the entire Gaza Strip was paying the price for the onslaught.
He added: “They destroyed the Gaza Strip. Set it back 200 years. There is no opportunity to live”.
MORE THAN 100 ISRAELI SOLDIERS KILLED SO FAR
The IDF has said 104 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 600 wounded since the October 7 attack by Hamas.
Three soldiers were killed on Monday.
‘WE HAVE LEARNED NOTHING IN 75 YEARS’: UN
The United Nation’s Humanitarian Coordinator in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lynn Hastings, released a statement condemning the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists while also saying Israel’s continued assault in Gaza was disproportionate.
“Today could have been a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, born from the atrocities of two world wars. Instead, human rights are assaulted in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” she said.
“The violations perpetrated on both populations will bring neither peace nor security to either of these nations.
“The killings, sexual violence and kidnappings … traumatised an entire nation. Elderly, disabled, and children have not been spared.”
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Almost two million people have been displaced and have been forced to flee their homes, according to the UN.
“The air strikes against civilians and civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and UN facilities and the repeated displacement of the civilian population cannot be justified,” Hastings said.
“Nor can the siege, depriving the entire Gaza population of food, water, health care and hygiene.
“In 2023, I should not have to issue such a statement. It is as if we have learned nothing in the past 75 years.”
PALESTINIANS STRIPPED AND BLINDFOLDED
Israel’s social media published a series of photos of purporting to show Hamas fighters in Jabalia surrendering to Israel Defence Force soldiers, stripped down to their underwear while others had suspected fighter or Hamas supporters stripped and blindfolded.
A third series of videos posted online showed IDF members ransacking Palestinian shops.
They conceded that about 15 per cent of the men who had to be stripped to ensure they were not hiding bomb vests, were Hamas the other civilians but publishing the photos was “needless and humiliating”.
IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said troops acted at all times with professionalism and morals and anyone doing the wrong thing would be dealt with.
Israeli media have speculated their release aimed at demoralising remaining Hamas fighters.
Of the 18,000 Palestinians dead, the IDF confirmed up to 7000 were fighters, including half the Hamas commanders, and the rest civilians. About 49,500 civilians have been wounded.
More than 250 targets in Gaza were hit in the past 24 hours.
HAMAS HAS “LOST”
Prime Minister Netanyahu said Hamas had lost the fight.
“In the past few days, dozens of Hamas terrorists have surrendered before our forces. They put down their weapons and turn themselves over to our brave fighters,” he said in a video statement.
“It will take more time, the war is still in full force, but this is the beginning of the end of Hamas,” he adds. “I say to the terrorists of Hamas: It’s over. Don’t die for Sinwar. Surrender — now.”
– with AFP
Originally published as Israel-Hamas war updates: Palestinians ‘going hungry’ as Israel pounds Gaza
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