…the evidence for this is overwhelming. Start with “Expressions of Genocidal Intent against the Palestinian People by Israeli State Officials and Others”, from page 59 of the South African submission to the International Court of Justice. They literally said they were going to starve Gaza. And that’s where we are now.
Unless there was a ransom note we weren’t told about, instructing Netanyahu to put a gym bag stuffed with cash into a culvert at midnight, it’s pretty obvious the hostages are to keep the IDF killing civilians. Not keep from killing but rather to ensure killing. Usually that’s the opposite of hostage-taking, as was practiced by those gentle Vikings, Mongols and Mafia: even the word “host” is inserted right there. But that’s not how either side sees this game as playable.
Again - I expect most of the Israeli hostages are dead now. Because the Israelis are killing everyone in Gaza without regard. There is a documented case of the IDF killing three of them despite the white flag.. It’s about slaughter, not about “rescue” of their own.
Not just his opinion - many, many opinions. Largely because of the systematic starvation of the population, indiscriminate bombing, and that apparently the IDF can kill anyone and everyone in Gaza BUT Hamas.
I’m surprised this hasn’t been posted yet:
In comments since, Walberg has said he was using a metaphor. That’s a very particular choice of metaphor if you ask me. End the war with the quickness of nuclear bombs except don’t take it as a suggestion that that is what you should actually do. No, do the other thing that works like nuclear bombs to end wars but doesn’t require nuclear bombs. You know, the other thing. You know what I mean, don’t you? It’s a metaphor.
Also, it seems to me that Netanyahu doesn’t want the war to be over quickly. He needs there to be a perpetual enemy because he’s “the only one who can keep Israel safe” (and in doing so, keep himself safe from going to jail). I would bet if Hamas surrendered unconditionally tomorrow, returned all of the hostages and renounced violence, he’d reject the offer and continue the war. I don’t think there is any future for Gaza other than war so long as Netanyahu is in charge.
(And in anticipation of the objection that the future for Gaza isn’t any brighter under anyone else who might take Bibi’s place, I will accept that at face value. But his successors weren’t the ones trying to rewrite the laws of the country to get out of trouble before this happened. Netanyahu needs the war; others can take it or leave it.)
…reports that the IDF have finally withdrawn from Al Shifa, burning the buildings just before they left.
Just burned? What, no salt to finish the job properly?
…footage and the evidence of atrocities at Al Shifa are starting to filter out. Don’t go looking it up. But there were stories of field executions over the last week or so, now that the IDF have withdrawn from the hospital, they are finding evidence of field executions.
From a reporter that visited today:
Some footage of the now destroyed hospital.
A tribute to one of those killed at the hospital:
What happened at Al Shifa is the biggest atrocity of the war in a literal sea of atrocities. This was the third raid of the hospital. And now it is out of action for good.
…the IDF have just killed several aid workers from the World Central Kitchen. Here is video of them from a week ago.
A news story.
It’s become clear to me that anyone in Gaza is considered to either be Hamas or working with Hamas and thus an enemy to be killed by the IDF.
Truly appalling.
…some clarity on the attack on the World Central Kitchen workers.
A statement from World Central Kitchen:
Here is video of one of the vehicles. You can clearly see the WCK logo on the roof. There is a hole right through it.
One of the other vehicles is here:
More details:
Original source (paywalled) :
They were hunted.
And its had an immediate effect. World Central Kitchen have suspended operations. As I mentioned earlier, over the last few weeks the IDF have been targeting people waiting for aid, committees organizing logistics, the police, warehouses, a deliberate strategy targeting food distribution. This makes the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians through famine even more likely.
From Euro Med Monitor, regarding Al Shifa:
“Gaza: Shifa Medical Complex witnesses one of the largest massacres in Palestinian history.”
Edited to add:
“Aid ships are turning back from Gaza with around 240 tons of undelivered aid after the killing of 7 World Central Kitchen aid workers.”
It’s funny how we haven’t heard anything more about the very big and totally not imaginary tunnel network that the IDF just knew was there and even had artist renditions of before they overran the place. You think we’ll ever see a picture of that Hamas command center?
…the IDF raided, occupied and expelled everyone from Al Shifa three times. They didn’t find the thousands of terrorists and large caches of weapons the first couple of times, but somehow this time?
When I said “I’m done” earlier on in this thread, it was because I had resigned myself to the fact that its over. Israel aren’t going to suddenly back down. They will let hundreds of thousands of people starve, keep everyone else trapped in a concentration camp in Rafah, and the international community will just let it happen.
And here we have extensive eyewitness accounts from trauma surgeons suggesting that IDF snipers routinely target children and elderly people. Such a light unto the fucking nations we are.
Not to mention targeting press, doctors, and aid workers. That world central kitchen vehicle was targeted.
The Jerusalem Post has a couple of articles with their POV on this.
…I read it.
Hospitals are protected under the Geneva Conventions and International Humanitarian Law. The claims made in those articles are outlandish, not supported by any evidence produced by Israel to the international community at all. The IDF literally set fire to the hospital as they left. They’ve destroyed the healthcare system all over Gaza.
This isn’t defensible. This was a massacre. War crimes on a massive scale. It was never a “compound.” It was a hospital.
One of those articles is about two Hamas leaders allegedly killed in the attack, and has very little to say about the attack itself. The other cites literally no sources except for official IDF spokespeople. Compare this to the article I posted, which is based on extensive interviews with civilian international volunteer doctors.
…after UNRWA, apparently Anera is the second-biggest distributor of aid in Gaza. Today, prompted in part by the attack on the World Central Kitchen, have suspended operations in Gaza:
This has all been part of deliberate policy to stop the flow of aid to Gaza. From the continual allowance of protests that have effectively shut down Kerem Shalom border crossing, to the screening process that rejects dual-use truckloads of aid that include anything from scissors to green tents, to the targeted killings of committees, police, and people involved in the supply chain, destruction of warehouses, the campaign to discredit UNRWA, its all part of the same thing.
This latest incident with the WCT has bought it to global attention. But at least 200 aid workers have been killed so far since the start of this “war.” The last three flash updates talked about attacks on groups that were merely waiting for aid.
Netanyahu said the strike on the aid van was unintentional but if it was an accident, it was a pretty precise one. There are pictures of the van’s roof showing the hole and how the munition that made that hole would have landed basically right behind the driver and passenger seats.
I know from reading Never Mind, We’ll Do It Ourselves that about twenty years ago drone strikes quickly went from “we’re not sure we can launch a missile from a drone at all” to “which window do you want this Hellfire missile to go through?”
But this one was an accident, so says Bibi. Landed the weapon in the coffee cup holder by accident.
…an update on Al Shifa: an improvised press conference outside the remains of the hospital.
In summary:
- the building and medical equipment have basically been destroyed
- the surgical complex has been destroyed
- they talk about a number of the medical team found dead, and a number that are now missing
- the dialysis unit, which served 450 patients, is destroyed
- the hospital can no longer receive patients, perform operations or offer intensive care
- the central laboratory for Gaza has been destroyed
- there is no other hospital in Gaza that could fulfil the role that Al Shifa did
- the only operational hospital in Northern Gaza now is Kamal Edwan, which is low capacity
- they are desperately calling for a field hospital to be set up of at least 180 bed capacity
More at the link (a video, about seven minutes long)