In Gaza
Thu, 23 Jan 2025 07:31:02 +0000
1. Where is Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya? Don’t let Israel torture to death another Palestinian doctor
January 22, 2025, RT.com
-by Eva Karene Bartlett
*Blog version slightly updated*
As you read this, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian doctor from Gaza, is likely still in Israeli detention – and, according to mounting evidence, being tortured.
Despite the recent hostage swap with Hamas, multiple health professionals are still being held captive, with abundant reports of mistreatment, neglect and torture. One of these is Dr. Abu Safiya, arrested on December 27 and transferred to the notorious Sde Teyman prison camp (dubbed Israel's version of Guantanamo Bay).
As each day passes, and with reports from released prisoners who attest Dr. Abu Safiya was being tortured while they were in the same prison, fears of his death grow. At least three Palestinian doctors abducted from Gaza have died in Israeli prisons since October 2023.
Dr. Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was abducted after the Israeli army had repeatedly attacked the hospital over the course of over three months, ultimately invading it, burning and severely damaging essential buildings, and detaining dozens of medical staff. By now the chilling scene of Dr. Hussam walking toward the Israeli tank has gone viral, as people around the world demand his release.
When Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya chose to confront an Israeli
— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) January 4, 2025tank bombing (his) Kamal Adwan Hospital
he was standing for all humanity
History will celebrate his bravery
He is now kidnapped by Israel
Not a word from Starmer
History will condemn Starmeras complicit. pic.twitter.com/M1tjDCXY5m
According to Medical Aid for Palestinians, a British charity working in Palestine, when the Israeli army invaded the hospital, "an estimated 350 people, including patients, were forced to leave the hospital. Some patients arrived at the Indonesian Hospital, which was not able to provide any care after being forced out of service by the Israeli military on 24 December. The last remaining partially operational hospital in the North Gaza Governorate, al-Awda Hospital, is on the brink of collapse, struggling to function amid relentless attacks and resource shortages."
The non-profit Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports that after abducting him, "the Israeli army subsequently transferred Dr. Abu Safiya to a field interrogation site in the Al-Fakhura area of Jabalia Refugee Camp: where he was stripped and whipped with a thick wire commonly used for street electrical wiring."
The torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons has been widely reported. Methods include electric shocks to genitals, stress positions, psychological torture, near-starvation, and rape resulting in serious internal damage, sometimes leading to death.
Following a request by the non-profit organization Physicians for Humans Rights-Israel (PHRI) for a legal visit to Abu Safiya, the Israeli military claimed that it had "found no indication of the arrest or detention of the individual in question."
https://twitter.com/PHRIsrael/status/1875906201206300999However, one report cites Palestinians released from Sde Teiman detention camp on December 29th 2024 saying Dr. Abu Safiya was being held at Sde Teiman. One of the released Palestinians said the doctor had given him the phone numbers of his sons, and requested that The Red Cross and media look into his situation.
On January 5, PHRI posted on X, "The Israeli military also continues to withhold information about Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya's detention location, despite retracting their earlier claim that he isn't being held in Israel."
A more recently-released detainee, Hazem Alwan, said he had been abducted from Jabalia by the Israeli army and used as a human shield before ultimately being taken to an Israeli prison, where he says he spent two days with Dr. Abu Safiya.
"It was clear the brutal methods of torture used by the occupation on him. Dr. Hussam is in danger, nobody is looking after him. His mental state is completely shattered, completely…"
https://twitter.com/EvaKBartlett/status/1877970695558189344In October 2024, when the Israeli army invaded Kamal Adwan Hospital, they killed Dr. Abu Safiya's son, Ibrahim. But Dr. Abu Safiya continued to work to help injured Palestinians in the dire conditions of northern Gaza.
In November 2024, he was injured in an Israeli quad-copter drone attack, believed to be, "an assassination attempt by Israel due to his unwavering commitment to providing medical care to patients in northern Gaza."
He continued his updates from the besieged hospital, on December 6, 2024, noting, "The situation inside and around the hospital is catastrophic. There are a large number of martyrs and wounded, including 4 martyrs from the hospital's medical staff, and there are no surgeons left."
He spoke of the series of Israeli airstrikes, just outside the hospital, and of being forced by Israeli soldiers to evacuate all patients, displaced persons and medical staff to the hospital yard and forcibly take them out to the checkpoint.
"In the morning, we were shocked to see hundreds of dead bodies and wounded people in the streets surrounding the hospital."
On January 9, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, , an NGO based in the Gaza Strip, noted that, Dr. Abu Safiya's detention was extended until February 13, 2025 by an Israeli Court" and that his legal counsel – which has been prevented from seeing him – will remain banned from visiting the doctor until January 22.
BREAKING: Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya's detention was extended until 13 February 2025 by an Israeli Court.
— Al-Mezan الميزان (@AlMezanCenter) January 9, 2025
Israeli authorities have also extended the ban on his access to legal counsel until 22 January 2025, marking the second such extension since his abduction.
Still another doctor, Dr. Akram Abu Ouda, head of Orthopedics at the Indonesian Hospital (also in northern Gaza) is missing. Ramy Abdu (of Euro-Med) noted, "He has been detained by Israel for over a year, and it is our duty to remind the world he is wrongfully imprisoned, suffering under torture, with his health deteriorating."
Israel tortured Palestinian doctors to death
In September 2024, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, stated, "Dr. Ziad Eldalou is the third doctor confirmed to have died while being detained by Israel since 7 October 2023."
Eldalou was, the OHCHR notes, was an internal medicine physician at Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital, detained with other healthcare workers by invading Israeli soldiers on March 18, 2024, who died just three days later, while in detention.
In its report on Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, Euro-Med recalls the murders of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, head of the orthopedics department at Al-Shifa Hospital, who was "killed under torture at Ofer Detention Centre on April 19, 2024," and Dr. Iyad Al-Rantisi, head of the obstetrics department at Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was "killed due to torture at an Israeli Shin Bet interrogation center in Ashkelon, one week after his detention in November 2023. Israeli authorities concealed his death for more than seven months."
Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh was "likely raped to death," wrote United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese.
These murders, and the imprisonment and torture of numerous Palestinian doctors from Gaza, and the killing of over 1,000 Palestinian health and medical professionals, are part of Israel's systematic attack on every aspect of Gaza's health care system, as well as on the Palestinians' morale: seeing doctors who didn't abandon their patients be imprisoned, tortured and killed is a crushing blow.
Both Mofokeng and Albanese at the beginning of January, 2025, issued an urgent warning: "We are horrified and concerned by reports from northern Gaza and especially the attack on the healthcare workers including the last remaining of 22 now destroyed hospitals: Kamal Adwan Hospital."
https://twitter.com/drtlaleng/status/1872212664946250184"We are gravely concerned with the fate of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, yet another doctor to be harassed, kidnapped and arbitrarily detained by the occupation forces, in his case for defying evacuation orders to leave his patients and colleagues behind. This is part of a pattern by Israel to continuously bombard, destroy and fully annihilate the realisation of the right to health in Gaza."
The lack of information on Dr. Abu Safiya's well-being, the testimonies from released abductees that he was being tortured, and the prohibition on him accessing his lawyer have heightened fears that he could die in Israeli detention.
This must not be allowed to happen. As Euro-Med stated, immediate international intervention is needed for his release. What's even more tragic is that were he being held by one of the West's proclaimed 'adversaries', rather than its allies, such intervention would not be long in coming.
Wed, 08 Jan 2025 09:08:54 +0000
2. Under the new “freedom-bringing” “diverse” Syrian “government”, minorities are being hunted down, tortured and killed
*Warning: this post contains disturbing, violent, videos: the violence & terrorism of US/Turkish-backed terrorists against Syrian civilians.
The following is on the hell of the "new Syria" ruled by al-Qaeda/ISIS terrorist Joolani, where his co-terrorist thugs run around hunting down minorities, torturing & killing them.
There are countless such videos, and worse, being shared on Telegram & social media, from Syrians who film these terrorists' attacking civilians (because media in Syria is now under control of HTS/al-Qaeda, you won't see reports there…nor from the influencers chirping about how great & free Syria is now, and hey, ISIS are very helpful people…)
Following are just some examples of the lawlessness and pure terrorism that has been unleashed on Syria, on Syrian civilians. This is what the idiots who cheered the toppling of the former Syrian government have endorsed.
Read the rest on my Substack, along with numerous (disturbing) videos.
Wed, 04 Dec 2024 03:30:43 +0000
3. What are terrorists in Syria trying to achieve?
*Note: This was written on November 30 and published evening December 1. Since then, I've been on the road & unable to post here, much has changed, so the intro is less important that the rest, which remains an important reminder of the Western-backed & fomented terrorism in Syria.
December 1, 2024, RT.com
For the past few days, foreign-backed terrorists in Syria's northwest have been attacking Syrian army positions in the Aleppo and Idlib countryside, and shelling civilian districts of Aleppo.
While regional media have been giving updates on these attacks and counterattacks by Syria and Russia, what is less clear is what is happening in Aleppo itself. Terrorist-aligned media claim Tahrir al-Sham (al-Qaeda re-branded) and allied terrorists have taken numerous western districts and even the city center.
But their proof – short videos showing terrorists in various areas they claim to control – was countered by videos of Syrians walking in key districts, saying things are calm. More on this later.
The following is what is known in summary about the attacks.
On Wednesday, November 27, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Turkish-backed National Army factions launched attacks in the Idlib and Aleppo countryside, in what they dubbed "Operation Deterrence of Aggression."
According to Al-Mayadeen, as related by Syrian journalist Wassim Issa, convoys of militants, equipment and ammunition entered from the Bab al-Salam crossing with Türkiye and headed to the fighting fronts in the western Aleppo and southern Idlib countryside.
Al Mayadeen reported Tahrir al-Sham used new weapons and equipment, including Ukrainian drones, "reportedly acquired from Kiev's intelligence services."
Since Thursday evening, terrorists have been shelling Aleppo University dormitories, as well as districts of western Aleppo. On Friday, terrorist shelling killed four students and injured dozens.
By Friday, the Syrian Arab Army had re-taken many points breached by terrorists, Al Mayadeen reported, noting that intense fighting continues on two fronts in rural Aleppo, and that on the Idlib front, "armed groups are attempting to open a new axis after their failure to advance further toward the M5 international highway for all traffic from the south to Aleppo, through Hama and SE Idlib."
The General Command of the Army and Armed Forces issued the following statement:
"Our armed forces were able to inflict heavy losses on the attacking organizations, inflicting hundreds of dead and wounded among their ranks, destroying dozens of vehicles and armored vehicles, and were able to shoot down and destroy seventeen drones.
…In a related context, terrorist organizations, through their platforms, publish misleading information, news and video clips aimed at terrorizing citizens. The General Command of the Army and Armed Forces warns our fellow citizens not to accept this news and misinformation, and to receive what is issued by the national media and its official platforms."
As of late Friday, citing the Russian Coordination Center in Syria, Al Mayadeen reported that more than 600 terrorists had been killed. This update went on to detail Syrian and Russian airstrikes on terrorists in the northern Aleppo and Idlib countryside.
These attacks, apparently supported by Türkiye, the US, and Israel, mark the latest effort to destabilize Syria and weaken the 'Axis of Resistance' against Israel. It is of course notable that these attacks commenced just after the so-called ceasefire between the Lebanese Resistance, Hezbollah, and Israel (which began violating the ceasefire almost immediately, as Israel has done with virtually every ceasefire in the past).
One possible reason for Türkiye's involvement could be to pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad into reconsidering his stance on normalization talks with Ankara. Assad previously rejected any such talks while Turkish forces remain in Syria, and according to some analysts. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could have helped escalate military action to coerce Assad to change his mind.
Another motivation for the attack could be to cut Lebanese Hezbollah off from supply lines during the ceasefire with Israel. From Damascus, British journalist Vanessa Beeley wrote: "This attack has been spoken about and planned for since the beginning of the Israeli aggression against Lebanon… Now Syria will be the target to destroy weapons supply lines and manufacturing facilities that would rearm Hezbollah during the ceasefire. There will be attempts to destroy the land bridge infrastructure that brings materials from Iran, through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. This includes essential humanitarian relief supply lines. Syria is the beating heart of the Resistance and must be protected at all costs."
Attempts to resuscitate the Syrian 'revolution'Unsurprisingly, there are calls on social media for President Assad to be removed; the same calls heard during the Western-orchestrated media psyop which saw ignorant people around the world supporting a very bloody "revolution" in 2011.
It was never a revolution, and it was never (for Syrians) about Assad (who is overwhelmingly supported). What kind of revolution destroys its own culture, heritage and civilians, and partners with the US and Israel, among others?
On one of my four trips to Aleppo in 2016 alone, in November, before Aleppo was liberated from terrorist forces, the head of forensic medicine at a local hospital, Dr. Zaher Hajo, told me that since the occupation of Aleppo in 2012, 10,750 civilians had been killed by terrorists, 40% of whom were women and children.
On that same visit, I met three prominent Sunni leaders who, according to the priest who introduced us, were considered 'infidels' by al-Nusra and company because they didn't follow their distorted terrorist ideology. One of them, Dr. Kukeh said: "Those who are killing the Sunnis are the same who claim that they are defending the Sunnis. The shells that hit us daily are sent by them."
Dr. Kukeh, who said he named his oldest son after Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, "because I love that man," explained that in 2012 he was living in eastern Aleppo when terrorists began to occupy districts there. He was targeted for assassination because he did not agree with the terrorists' ideology.
The Aleppo university dorms which were targeted recently were likewise routinely targeted in 2016. At the time, they had for four years been housing well over 10,000 internally displaced Syrians from areas of Aleppo and its countryside, including from areas occupied by the terrorists.
In subsequent visits in 2017 and years after, I saw the remnants of the terrorists' occupation of eastern regions of Aleppo (underground prisons with solitary confinement cells), took testimonies of Syrian civilians on life under terrorist rule, and later, saw the city begin to rebuild and flourish, with businesses reopening, ancient markets being restored, life bustling around the famous citadel (during the reign of the terrorists, walking near it meant almost certainly being sniped dead) and atop the citadel.
The city that Western and Gulf corporate media claimed "fell" when it was liberated from al-Qaeda, ISIS and their co-terrorists came back to life under the rule of the Syrian government.
Current chaos: Aleppo occupied?Throughout the fighting, there have been conflicting reports of terrorists taking parts of Aleppo. As I wrote at the beginning, photos and videos which appeared to show a terrorist presence in western Aleppo neighborhoods and even the city center aren't proof of terrorists having taken districts.
It isn't difficult for sleeper cell terrorists to pop up, take these photos and videos, and leave. Time will show which of their claims are true and which are part of psychological warfare to demoralize Syrians and turn them against their army and even against Russia.
Recall the General Command of the Army's warning regarding misinformation. Making definitive declarations about the condition of Aleppo and surrounding region, without proof, is irresponsible and unhelpful. In a clickbait age where everyone wants to be the first to post "BREAKING" followed by some unverified soundbite, discerning the truth is complicated.
If the unthinkable happens and parts of Aleppo are re-occupied by terrorists no different from and even including ISIS, they will ultimately be defeated by Syria, Russia, and their allies, just as they were before.
My Related:
–Overview of latest month-long visit to Syria (Aleppo and Damascus) (2016)
–Aleppo: How US & Saudi-Backed Rebels Target 'Every Syrian' (2016)
–Western corporate media 'disappears' over 1.5 million Syrians and 4,000 doctors in Aleppo (2016)
–What Life Is Like Under 'Moderate Rebel' Rule, Aleppo (2017)
-Life in Old Aleppo, around the historic Citadel (2018) [VIDEO]
-Tour of Aleppo Citadel, Where Peace Reigns… to Silence of Western Corporate Media (2019) [VIDEO]
–Deconstructing the NATO Narrative on Syria (2015)
–Syrians Flock to Vote in Lebanon (2014)
Fri, 29 Nov 2024 15:19:49 +0000
4. Lebanese journalist Marwa Osman on the ceasefire, Resistance achievements, and more
I spoke on November 27 night with courageous Marwa, who had just returned from visiting her village in southern Lebanon.
If you aren't familiar with Marwa, I highly recommend following her:
*We were going to do video, but the connection was weak & visual skippy, so I've made it audio only.
Listen HERE
Related Links:
-nature of missiles being used
The missiles deployed in the Israeli enemy airstrikes on Fathallah street in the heart of the capital #Beirut were advanced bunker-buster (seismic) bombs, highly toxic, generating an enormous blast that resonated as far as Sidon and the surrounding mountain regions.
— Marwa Osman || مروة عثمان (@Marwa__Osman) November 23, 2024
Notably,… pic.twitter.com/5hbA2BcywJ
-Statement from the Islamic Resistance Operations Room: The Islamic Resistance Operations Room announces that one of the sensitive military targets struck on November 18, 2024, in the city of Tel Aviv was the residence of the Israeli Air Force Commander, Major General Tomer Bar. The operation, carried out with a swarm of advanced attack drones, achieved its objectives with precision. The incident has been met with strict censorship by the Israeli military authorities.
#BREAKING:
— Marwa Osman || مروة عثمان (@Marwa__Osman) November 26, 2024
Statement from the Islamic Resistance Operations Room:
The Islamic Resistance Operations Room announces that one of the sensitive military targets struck on November 18, 2024, in the city of Tel Aviv was the residence of the Israeli Air Force Commander, Major General… pic.twitter.com/7ElCCG0x9s
Zionist Israeli Occupation soldiers from the Golani Brigade have desecrated a church in the southern Lebanese village of Deirmimas. Ironically, this comes after the mayor of Deirmimas refused to allow Hezbollah resistance to operate in his village to confront such aggressors. Perhaps now he understands the cost of that decision. Only the resistance has proven capable of standing against these vile creatures—ask the people of Maaloula and Sqailabyeh in Syria who protected their churches against ISIS, and they will gladly tell you.
https://twitter.com/Marwa__Osman/status/1861168164245017072A group of fellow journalists were exposed to gunfire while covering the return of the residents and the withdrawal, and some of them were injured in the town of Khiam by the enemy army that is still present in the town, and they were transferred to Hasbaya Hospital to receive treatment. Thank God you are safe.
https://twitter.com/BilaRakaba/status/1861753041801662663 https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/iof-strike-killing-al-mayadeen–al-manar-press-crew-possiblethe Khiam prison is now open
A massacre within a massacre: Israel is exterminating Palestinians in northern Gaza and killing Palestinian journalists reporting on it
Neglect, abuse, torture: The West is ignoring the fate of Palestinians stuck in Israeli jails
Ukraine's murder of 30 Russian journalists met with Western indifference…or grotesque gloating
Media Black-Out on Arab Journalists and Civilians Beheaded in Syria by Western-Backed Terrorists
Thu, 28 Nov 2024 06:58:20 +0000
5. American mines sent to Ukraine will kill and maim civilians. That’s exactly what the West wants
*Russian sappers preparing to demine orphanage in Makeevka, August 6, 2022. Photo @Eva Karene Bartlett
November 27, 2024, RT.com
-Eva Karene Bartlett
A former British army general, now the CEO of the largest Western NGO focused on demining efforts, has decided it is a good idea for the United States to send deadly anti-personnel mines to Ukraine (which will almost certainly use them against Russian civilians). This is absolutely insane logic.
https://twitter.com/EvaKBartlett/status/1861293410335727668The US government recently confirmed rumors that it intends to send such land mines to Ukraine. So-called "non-persistent" mines. More on these later.
On November 21, James Cowan, CEO of landmine clearance charity the HALO Trust, published an article in the London Standard titled 'Don't blame the US decision to supply anti-personnel mines to Ukraine', in which he wrote that "the deployment of landmines is a grim necessity."
Just one day prior, HALO issued a press release regarding an upcoming "critical international landmine ban meeting that will see some 164 states gather in Cambodia." In the press release, Cowan said: "It is appalling that so many children in conflict and post-conflict zones around the world continue to be maimed or killed by indiscriminate weapons that lay waiting in the ground, often for decades."
"This report must surely be a reminder of the need for states to hold firm on achieving the aims of the Landmine Ban Treaty."
Are we seriously meant to believe Cowan thinks Ukraine will not use the mines against civilians, including children? Because there are already countless cases of Ukraine using a variety of mines in Donbass, including dropping them onto civilian areas in Donbass cities.
On November 2, TASS reported that "Ukrainian troops mined everything they could while fleeing Selidovo in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), including private homes and apartment buildings," noting that demining the city may take several months.
In March 2022, I went to Volnovakha (about halfway between Donetsk and Mariupol). The chief physician of the main hospital there said definitively that the Ukrainian army had occupied the hospital and before leaving they mined the entrance to the intensive care unit.
In June 2022, in Mariupol I saw Russian sappers demonstrate how they cleared buildings of mines left as booby traps by Ukrainian forces to maim or kill whoever first entered, be they military or civilian. This was a tactic that terrorists in Syria also used, as I heard in the town of Madaya after it was liberated in 2017, as well as when visiting the old city of Homs shortly after it was liberated in 2014.
The Ukrainian army has already used a variety of mines to deliberately kill or maim civilians. So to imagine that the next batch of mines shipped to Ukraine won't be used against civilians is either hypocritical, delusional, or just plain stupid.
War correspondent Andrey Rudenko on November 20 wrote of how in addition to Ukraine's bombing of Donbass civilians for the eight years before Russia began its special military operation, they were constantly in danger from mines: "Mined roadsides, fields, forests, cemetery areas. For the entire eight years, citizens were asked not to visit such areas, and sappers regularly demined agricultural lands, buildings and residential areas."
He noted that "the use of anti-personnel mines on the combat line is out of the question, because the Ukrainian Armed Forces would then expose themselves to attack" since on the front line, many areas "often change hands during fighting."
The US knows this, yet it is sending more landmines to Ukraine.
Petal mines continue to maim civiliansAs one of the more insidious uses of mines, Ukraine has fired rockets containing hundreds of "petal" (PFM-1) mines onto heavily populated areas of Donbass cities. In 2022 they were fired onto central Donetsk. I saw them the next morning, scattered in the streets and parks of Donetsk, and later in nearby Makeevka.
https://twitter.com/EvaKBartlett/status/1553972823399583745I've written extensively about these internationally prohibited mines. They are tiny, but powerful, and extremely difficult to see if not actively looking for them. Children and the elderly suffer the most, generally not recognizing them as a severe danger, but ordinary citizens thinking their region is clear of the mines have fallen victim as well.
As I wrote in 2022, according to Konstantin Zhukov, chief medical officer of Donetsk Ambulance Service, a weight of just 2 kg is enough to activate one of the mines. Sometimes, however, they explode spontaneously. An unspoken tragedy on top of the already tragic targeting of civilians is that dogs, cats, birds and other animals are also victims of these dirty mines.
As of now, 169 civilians have been wounded by the nasty little mines, three of whom died of their injuries. Those who don't die usually have a foot or hand blasted off, as was the case of (then) 14-year-old Nikita, who I met in late 2022. The teen, who formerly did breakdancing and Mixed Martial Arts, lost his foot after stepping on a petal mine in a playground in Western Donetsk.
A point that bears repeating: Ukraine is party to and in violation of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (or Ottawa Treaty), which it signed in 1999.
Defending the indefensibleIn his explanation on why he supports sending landmines to Ukraine (to be used against Russian civilians), Cowan waffles on about principles of the laws of war, including:
1) "Distinction" between combatants and civilians: In other words, trying to convince readers that Ukraine would not use these against civilians. Recall we heard this dishonest argument last year when the US sent cluster munitions to Ukraine, after which, to nobody's surprise, there were new reports of Ukraine firing cluster munitions onto Donbass civilians.
The disingenuous last part to his first point is that the mines the US would send are "non-persistent" that "can be deactivated" to mitigate harm to civilians. That doesn't help civilians who come across them before they are "deactivated," does it?
2) "Proportionality," minimal collateral damage, "placement away from populated areas." Well, given the evidence outlined above, it is clear that it was never a question of "collateral damage" but Ukraine directly inflicting death and injuries on the civilian population of Donbass. Ukrainian forces have already laid and drone-dropped so many mines in populated areas that the notion that they would suddenly stop doing so is nonsensical.
3) "Humanity," respecting fundamental rights of all people… no comment, see above.
4) "Military Necessity." I'm no military expert, but I highly doubt Cowan and the US think sending Kiev more landmines will be the game changer enabling Ukraine to triumph over Russia. The reality is they know these dirty mines will not help Ukraine "win" but will certainly kill and maim more Russian civilians. And they're not only fine with that, they want that.
The Mines Advisory Group released a condemnation of the decision to send Ukraine anti-personnel mines, noting:
"While the types of AP mines which would be used in Ukraine are described as non-persistent, that does not mean they are harmless. All landmines are indiscriminate and have the potential to cause civilian harm."
Decision-makers in the West should be made to see first-hand the bloody consequences of their actions. This is yet another example of the US and its allies prolonging civilian suffering while pretending to try to "save Ukraine" from a conflict created by NATO in the first place.
My Related:
-The West is silent as Ukraine targets civilians in Donetsk using banned 'Petal' mines, Aug 7, 2022, RT.com (In Gaza)
-In Just Under Three Weeks, Ukrainian-Fired Prohibited "Petal" Mines Maim At Least 44 Civilians, Kill 2, in Donetsk Region, August 23, 2022, Covert Action Magazine (In Gaza)
-Ukraine turns Donetsk into a minefield using banned 'Petal' mines (2022) (VIDEO)
-Donetsk Emergency Services & Sappers Clear Residential Areas of Ukraine's Mines (2022) (VIDEO)
-Ukrainian Terrorism: Firing Munitions Containing Petal Mines On Donbass Orphanage, Another War Crime (2022) (VIDEO)
-14 Year Old Is One of 169 Donbass Civilians Maimed By Petal Mines Fired By Ukraine (2022) (VIDEO)
-Volnovakha Physician: Ukrainian forces occupied the hospital, mined the ICU entrance (2022) (VIDEO)
-Here's why Human Rights Watch deliberately only scratched the surface in exploring Ukraine's use of banned 'petal' mines, March 28, 2023, RT.com (In Gaza)
-US cluster munitions will bring more pain and death to Donbass civilians, and Washington doesn't care, August 1, 2023, RT.com (In Gaza)
–What I've seen of Ukraine's war crimes against civilians in the Donbass over the years
Sun, 03 Nov 2024 13:51:35 +0000
6. A massacre within a massacre: Israel is exterminating Palestinians in northern Gaza and killing Palestinian journalists reporting on it
November 2, 2024, RT.com
-Eva K Bartlett
*Article published here is updated & slightly longer than original article.
Over 180 media workers have been killed and 60 detained as Israel's methodical destruction of the brutalized Gaza Strip continues
The US and UN have given Israel free reign to methodically kill the population of northern Gaza Palestinians. This is a genocide within a genocide.
In spite of experiencing two Israeli wars on Gaza, I never imagined the horrific scenes coming out of northern Gaza now: Israel is exterminating the population in broad daylight, broadcast for all the world to see.
And no one is doing a damn thing to stop it.
As of October 21, Israel has besieged northern Gaza for 17 consecutive days, preventing humanitarian aid from entering, putting the population of 400,000 already starved Palestinian civilians in the north at severe risk of full starvation.
More recently, the Israeli parliament has voted to ban UNRWA, the United Nations agency for humanitarian aid, which has been the sole lifeline for many Palestinians.
Israeli forces have also bombarded water stations and wells, depriving Palestinians there of water, and cut off communications with the outside world, leaving the civilians trapped, isolated, and unable to communicate to the outside world what terrorism Israel is unleashing on them.
According to Euro-Med Monitor, as of November 2,
"For nearly a month, a full-scale invasion of northern Gaza has been unfolding openly, aiming to eradicate the Palestinian population and forcibly displace residents through terror. In addition to a crippling siege that blocks aid, prevents ambulance services, and shuts down hospitals, the Israeli army has conducted numerous massacres, killing over 1,300 people and injuring around 2,000 more."
As they did elsewhere throughout the Gaza Strip during the past over one year of genocide, Israeli forces are targeting hospitals in Gaza's north. Euro-Med reported that, "Israeli army forces surrounded the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. They fired two artillery shells at the hospital, cut off its electricity, and targeted anyone moving in the area."
The army is firing on medics and other rescuers, as they've done throughout 2023-2024, as they did in 2009 when medics I was with came under Israeli sniper fire, another medic I knew killed by Israeli shelling with a flechette (dart) bomb. By killing the rescuers and destroying the hospitals, Israel ensures maimed Palestinians will go without medical care, and probably die.
This is, of course, illegal under international law. But as Israel's genocidal actions have shown the world, the Israeli government (and army and illegal colonists) believe laws don't apply to them.
Take the horrific video of an Israeli drone precision-targeting a Palestinian child, killing it, and then bombing the civilians who ran to try to rescue the child. Par for the course for the Israeli army. Were the perpetrator one of the United States' enemies, there would be calls for No Fly Zones, sanctions and corporate media howling 24/7.
Important updates from besieged north Gaza :
— حسام شبات (@HossamShabat) October 18, 2024
Israel has rigged residential zones from the Al-Tawam area to the Al-Faluja area with explosives. The Israeli occupation forces are setting explosive barrels at night and detonating them during the day , resulting in devastating…
Not content to merely murder Palestinian civilians by bombing, sniping and starvation, the Israeli army has been deploying robots with explosives and leaving booby trapped barrels to remotely detonate.
The scenes which journalists have been able to publish are surreal, like science fiction, with quadcopters policing the streets. A few weeks ago, a friend messaged me that he had to choose between starving or risking being shot dead by Israel soldiers or quadcopters if he tried to get bread.
Some days later he messaged me at 4 in the morning: Israeli tanks were outside his home, the audio he sent was terrifying. He chose to stay in his home, not endure another Nakba.
I don't know if he is alive now.
What is happening in Jabalia is a forced displacement under the threat of weapons, documented live by Israeli drone cameras.
— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) October 21, 2024
This is the second displacement of the camp's residents, most of whom have been refugees since the Nakba of 1948.
Today, the cycle of displacement and… pic.twitter.com/Nhplrl5PqW
Israel's war on journalists
In early October, Palestinian cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi was shot in his neck by an Israeli quadcopter, leaving him paralyzed.
Aside from al Jazeera, for which Fadi worked, most Western media and journalist projection organizations are unsurprisingly not reporting on Fadi being targeted by Israel.
Reporters Without Borders, which I previously wrote about for its downplaying the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel, has no entry on Fadi.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, at least, does. Its entry notes:
"Al Wahidi was critically injured in the neck by a bullet fired from an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft while Al Wahidi and correspondent Anas Al-Sharif were covering an Israeli siege on northern Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp. Both men were wearing "Press" vests and clearly identifiable as journalists."
Anas al-Sharif—who continues to courageously report from northern Gaza—told CJP they'd been in an area "completely far from the areas of operations of the Israeli occupation forces," and full of residents when, "an Israeli reconnaissance drone fired at us. After the shooting, we tried to move to another safer place and hide from any danger, but a bullet from the plane hit our colleague Fadi Al-Wahidi in the neck, which led to his complete paralysis."
Wahidi has since fallen into a coma. His colleagues and friends are pleading for some sort of international intervention to allow him to be taken abroad for medical care, to save his life.
In central Gaza, Ali Al-Attar is likewise in critical condition after an Israeli airstrike. He, too, needs lifesaving medical care unavailable in Gaza (because Israel destroyed Gaza's health care system).
Two critically wounded @AJEnglish journalists, Ali Al-Attar and Fadi Al Wahidi, are in need of immediate, lifesaving medical treatment. Al Wahidi was in a coma as of Thursday morning.
— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) October 17, 2024
In a letter to COGAT, the Israeli military office responsible for humanitarian coordination,… pic.twitter.com/FS5U0cPyt0
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported, citing the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), that (between 7 October 2023 and 10 October 2024) 168 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in the Gaza Strip, including 17 women, 360 were injured, and 60 were detained (taken hostage).
Al Mayadeen updated on November 2 that the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza is now 183.
Israel's mass extermination campaign continues
The current US government oversees the Israeli government's plan to annex and starve North Gaza. The current US government has funded the killing of 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza. The current US government is complicit in our genocide and doesn't care about our lives. We will not…
— حسام شبات (@HossamShabat) November 2, 2024
It's absolutely devastating to watch every day pass with alarming new updates from or on northern Gaza. Like Anas al-Sharif, Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat courageously reports apocalyptic scenes of Israeli bombarding in northern Gaza.
In a live update on X recently, he said:
"We are witnessing genocide and ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, specifically in Jabalia, which is under siege from all directions. Israeli occupation forces are bombing displaced civilians, detaining them, and attempting to ethnically cleanse them. They are targeting shelters for displaced civilians, and bodies are scattered everywhere in the north, along the roads. Thousands of civilians are being forcefully displaced (ethnically cleansed) from the north."
Meanwhile, in a bout of meaningless theatrics, US Secretary of State and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin have, "demanded Tel Aviv improves the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days or risk losing US military aid and face possible legal action."
But clearly Israel's biggest backer is spouting nonsense: there will be no cut to military aid, there will be no legal action, the US will never take a position to cease the Israeli genocide of Gaza. In fact, giving Israel one month before any supposed repercussion is, in my opinion, giving Israel a green light to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza as quickly as possible.
Israel seems hell-bent on implementing former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's 'Five Fingers' project, which envisioned carving Gaza into segments, all under Israeli security control.
If this is Israel's intent, we will see block by block Israel repeating its extermination campaign of northern Gaza all over the rest of the already brutalized Strip.
My Related:
–The uncounted hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza being killed by Israel
–Neglect, abuse, torture: The West is ignoring the fate of Palestinians stuck in Israeli jails
–I documented two Israeli wars on Gaza. This current one is the worst: it's genocide
