[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Saif]

Hamas, Fatah agree on joint committee to run post-war Gaza

Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party have agreed to create a committee to jointly administer post-war Gaza, negotiators from both sides said on Tuesday...

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Hamas, Fatah agree on joint committee to run post-war Gaza
Agence France-Presse . Cairo 03 December, 2024, 23:13

Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party have agreed to create a committee to jointly administer post-war Gaza, negotiators from both sides said on Tuesday.

Under the plan, which needs Abbas’s approval, the committee would be composed of 10 to 15 non-partisan figures with authority on matters related to the economy, education, health, humanitarian aid and reconstruction, according to a draft of the proposal seen by AFP.

Following talks in Cairo brokered by Egypt, the two rival Palestinian movements agreed the committee would administer the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the territory’s only one not shared with Israel.

Fatah’s delegation, led by central party committee member Azzam al-Ahmad, will return to Ramallah Tuesday to seek Abbas’s final approval, the negotiators said.

Wassil Abu Yussef, member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation which includes Fatah, will convene later Tuesday to decide whether to approve the committee arrangement or not.

Hamas’s delegation was led by politburo member Khalil al-Hayya.

However, Jibril Rajoub, Fatah’s number three and secretary-general of its central committee, expressed doubts the deal would ever get over the line.

‘What committee is this? It is wrong to even discuss this issue,’ Rajoub told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah Tuesday, adding it would bring ‘division’.

Rajoub said that he did not favour any deal that would lead to separate political systems in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank, which Fatah rules under the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority.

‘We want one government, one security apparatus, and one unified policy. Any discussion or effort outside of this framework is a mistake,’ he said.

‘We will not be part of any step that entrenches division or aligns with the path Netanyahu desires,’ he added.

Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian political analyst and former minister and diplomat, also expressed doubts.

‘Gaza is now under complete Israeli control, and there is little significance for any arrangement that does not take into consideration the Israeli presence there,’ he said.

Should the agreement actually be implemented, he said its value would depend on whether Israel maintains a military presence in the Gaza Strip.

If the deal is applied while Israel retains control of Gaza, Khatib said, ‘then I don’t think this agreement is good, because this will release Israel from its duties as an occupier.’

The agreement’s announcement comes at a time of renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war between Hamas and Israel, which has devastated the Gaza Strip.

According to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, the situation in the territory is ‘horrific and apocalyptic’.

The truce efforts, led by the United States in coordination with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, come in the wake of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

As the administration of US president Joe Biden prepares to hand over power in January to president-elect Donald Trump, Palestinians face intense US pressure to ensure that Hamas will have no role in Gaza once the war ends.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, one of the most right-wing in Israel’s history, made Hamas’s destruction in Gaza one of its main war objectives.

It has repeatedly expressed strong opposition to the Palestinian Authority playing a major role in the Gaza Strip after the war.

It has also categorically refused any semblance of a return to the status quo ante, where Hamas ruled Gaza.

The war began on October 7, 2023, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in the Gaza Strip has resulted in at least 44,466 deaths, mostly civilians, according to data from Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which the UN considers reliable.​

 

[Saif]

Israel treating Palestinians ‘as a subhuman group'

Says Amnesty Int'l, accuses Israel of 'committing genocide' in Gaza

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Israel treating Palestinians ‘as a subhuman group'
Says Amnesty Int'l, accuses Israel of 'committing genocide' in Gaza

Amnesty International yesterday accused Israel 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 rights organisation said its findings were based on satellite images documenting devastation, fieldwork and ground reports from Gazans as well as "dehumanising 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".

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.

The Palestinian group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering a deadly Israeli military offensive on Gaza as Israeli officials vowed to crush the militant group.

The Hamas attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.

Since then at least 44,580 people have been killed in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.

Independent UN rights experts have accused Israel several times of genocide, and South Africa dragged the country to the UN's top court in December 2023 accusing Israel of "violating the genocide convention by promoting the destruction of Palestinians living in Gaza" in a case which 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 organisation Amnesty International has once again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies," Israel's foreign ministry said.

"Israel is defending itself... acting fully in accordance with international law", it added.

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 claims "fail to account for the operational realities faced by the IDF.

"The IDF 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."

Amnesty's 300-page report points to "direct deliberate attacks on civilian 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 behaviour".

"Governments must stop pretending that they are powerless to terminate Israel's occupation, to end apartheid and to stop the genocide in Gaza," said Callamard.

"States that transfer arms to Israel violate their obligations to prevent genocide under the convention and are at risk of becoming complicit," she added.​

 

[Saif]

Qatar resumes Gaza mediation

Qatar has resumed its role as a mediator in efforts to secure a truce in the Israel-Hamas war following a brief suspension, a source with knowledge of the talks said on Thursday...

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Qatar resumes Gaza mediation
Agence France-Presse . Doha, Qatar 06 December, 2024, 00:02

Qatar has resumed its role as a mediator in efforts to secure a truce in the Israel-Hamas war following a brief suspension, a source with knowledge of the talks said on Thursday.

The Gulf emirate, along with the United States and Egypt, had been involved in months of unsuccessful negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release after nearly 14 months of war.

In November, Doha announced it had put its mediation on hold, saying it would resume when Hamas and Israel showed ‘willingness and seriousness’.

The source, speaking to AFP on Thursday on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of talks, said that Qatar has now ‘returned to mediation’, without elaborating on any recent meetings between officials.

The war has raged since Palestinian militant group Hamas staged the deadliest ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The attack on southern Israel resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 44,580 people in the Gaza Strip, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

During the October 7 attack, Palestinian militants also seized 251 hostages, 96 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Scores of hostages were released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails during a one-week pause in fighting brokered by Qatar last year.

Since then, successive rounds of negotiations have made no headway.

US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday warned on social media of unspecified massive repercussions if hostages are not released by the time he takes office next month.

Trump has vowed staunch support for Israel and promised to reign back on occasional criticism voiced by outgoing president Joe Biden’s administration.

The president-elect has also indicated desire to secure deals on the world stage.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump on Tuesday for his ‘strong statement’ on social media.​

 

[Saif]

Israel accused of genocide in Gaza

Amnesty International on Thursday accused Israel 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 international community.

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Israel accused of genocide in Gaza
Agence France-Presse . The Hague 05 December, 2024, 22:38

A boy cries as he holds the shoes of a toddler who was killed from shrapnel following an Israeli strike in Gaza City, at Al-Ahli Arab hospital, also known as the Baptist hospital on Thursday, as the war between Israel and Hamas continues. | AFP photo

Amnesty International on Thursday accused Israel 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 international community.

The London-based rights organisation said its findings were based on ‘dehumanising and genocidal statements by Israeli government and military officials’, satellite images documenting devastation, fieldwork and ground reports from Gazans.

‘Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,’ Amnesty chief Agnes Callamard said in a statement.

‘Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now,’ she added.

The Palestinian group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack inside southern Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering a deadly Israeli military offensive on Gaza as Israeli officials vowed to crush the militant group.

A total of 1,208 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, were killed during the Hamas attack, according to an AFP tally based on official data.

Since then at least 44,532 people have been killed in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.

‘There is absolutely no doubt that Israel has military objectives. But the existence of military objectives does not negate the possibility of a genocidal intent,’ Callamard said at a press conference in The Hague.

She said the organisation had based its findings on the criteria set out in the UN Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.

Israel has repeatedly and forcefully denied allegations of genocide, accusing Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

But Amnesty’s 300-page report points to ‘direct deliberate attacks on civilian and civilian infrastructures where there was no Hamas presence or any other military objectives, the use of heavy explosive weapons with a wide radius of destruction in densely populated residential areas,’ the blocking of aid deliveries, and the displacement of 90 per cent of Gaza’s 2.4 million people.

In the days after the October 7 attack, Israel imposed a ‘total siege’ on Gaza, with the slogan: ‘No electricity, no water, no gas’. Limited supplies have been allowed in since then.

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 ‘not only systemic impunity but also the creation of an environment that emboldens such behaviour.’

‘Governments must stop pretending that they are powerless to terminate Israel’s occupation, to end apartheid and to stop the genocide in Gaza,’ said Callamard.

‘States that transfer arms to Israel violate their obligations to prevent genocide under the convention and are at risk of becoming complicit,’ she added.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli strike kills 17 people in central Gaza

Gaza's civil defence agency said that 17 people were killed in an Israeli strike on Friday on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza

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Israeli strike kills 17 people in central Gaza

Reuters file photo

Gaza's civil defence agency said that 17 people were killed in an Israeli strike on Friday on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP 17 people were killed in the strike, which occurred in the early evening.

Medical sources at Al-Awda hospital told AFP that 14 bodies had arrived at the facility from the camp.

The Israeli military did not reply to a request for comment.

Bassal added that nearby hospitals had received 39 wounded with rescue work ongoing at the scene of the strike, which "damaged multiple neighbouring houses".​

 

[Saif]

Israel accused of genocide in Gaza

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.

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Israel accused of genocide in Gaza
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 07 December, 2024, 01:18

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 ‘dehumanising and genocidal statements by Israeli government and military officials’.

Israel dismissed the findings as ‘entirely false’, denouncing the report as ‘fabricated’ and ‘based on lies’.

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.

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’.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 44,580 people in Gaza.

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.

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.

Amnesty International said it ‘deeply regrets that some members’ of its Israel branch ‘have chosen to distance themselves’ from the report.

‘Amnesty International stands by its rigorous research and conclusions,’ a spokesperson said.

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 behaviour’.

‘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.’​

 

[Saif]

Saudi slams genocidal Israel

A senior Saudi royal termed Israel ‘genocidal’ and an ‘apartheid’ state on Saturday, as he called on incoming US President-elect Donald Trump to bring peace to the Middle East.

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Saudi slams genocidal Israel
Agence France-Presse . Manama 07 December, 2024, 22:16

A senior Saudi royal termed Israel ‘genocidal’ and an ‘apartheid’ state on Saturday, as he called on incoming US President-elect Donald Trump to bring peace to the Middle East.

Prince Turki Al Faisal, who was Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief for more than two decades, also said he hoped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be brought before the International Criminal Court.

‘Israel today, according to international human rights groups, is not only an apartheid colonial state, but it is also a genocidal one,’ Prince Turki said.

‘It is committing genocide on the people of Gaza.’

He added: ‘It’s about time for the world to... take the necessary steps to bring those who are charged by the International Criminal Court to justice.’

The ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant last month on suspicion of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Saudi’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also accused Israel of genocide at a joint Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit in Riyadh last month.

Amnesty International levelled the same charge this week in a new report that was dismissed by Israel as ‘fabricated’ and ‘based on lies’.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 44,612 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

Prince Turki, also a former Saudi ambassador to the US, said Trump’s ‘strong mandate’ from American voters ‘can enable him to provide the statesmanship that is highly needed in the world.

‘Friendly countries in the region are hoping that Mr. Trump pursues what he started before, to bring peace with capital letters to the Middle East,’ he said.

‘It is time for America, under your presidency, to change the course of this troubled region,’ he added.

During Trump’s first administration, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco signed the Abraham Accords recognising Israel, a break with the long-held Arab consensus that there should be no ties without the creation of a Palestinian state.​

 

[Saif]

Observing the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people

On November 29, the world observed the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People-- a day established by the UN in 1977 to emphasise global support for Palestinian rights, including self-determination, independence and a just resolution to the issue of Palestinian refugees. The int

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Observing the international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people
Muhammad Zamir
Published :
Dec 09, 2024 00:38
Updated :
Dec 09, 2024 00:38

On November 29, the world observed the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People-- a day established by the UN in 1977 to emphasise global support for Palestinian rights, including self-determination, independence and a just resolution to the issue of Palestinian refugees. The interesting thing is that the date was chosen as it marked the anniversary of the UN General Assembly's adoption of Resolution 181 in 1947, which proposed the partition of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.

This year, amidst Israel's continuing war on Gaza, fifteen countries - Armenia, Slovenia, Ireland, Norway, Spain, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Colombia, Saint Lucia, Holy See, Sweden and Haiti - have formally recognised the State of Palestine, reflecting growing international support for this entity.

This means that now, at least 146 UN member states recognise the State of Palestine, as does the Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City, which holds UN observer status.

Recognising Palestine strengthens its global standing, improves its capacity to hold Israeli authorities accountable for the occupation, and pressures Western powers to act on the two-state solution. This represents the fact that the State of Palestine is recognised as a sovereign nation by 146 countries, representing 75 per cent of United Nations Member States.

At this point one needs to recall the brief history of Palestinian recognition.

On November 15, 1988, in the early years of the first Intifada, Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, proclaimed Palestine as an independent State with Jerusalem as its capital. Following the announcement, more than 80 countries recognised Palestine as an independent State, with strong support from the Global South, including nations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Arab world. Most of the European countries that recognised Palestine during this time, also did so as part of the former Soviet bloc.

A few years later, on September 13, 1993, the first direct talks between Palestinians and Israelis led to the signing of the Oslo Accords, which were supposed to bring about Palestinian self-determination in the form of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. This was never achieved.

It would be useful at this point to recall the Oslo Accords. This was the first direct Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement. This measure was meant to initiate future peace talks with the desired goal of a two-State solution, which has unfortunately never been achieved.

The agreement was negotiated in Oslo, Norway, and signed at the White House in Washington, USA on September 13, 1993 between Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel and Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO in the presence of US President Bill Clinton.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, nearly 20 countries recognised Palestine, followed by 12 more between 2000 and 2010 - mostly from across Africa and South America. By 2011, all African countries, except for Eritrea and Cameroon, recognised Palestine.

In 2012, the General Assembly voted by an overwhelming majority (138 in favour, 9 against, 41 abstentions) agreed to change Palestine's status to "Nonmember Observer State", and in 2014, Sweden became the first country in Western Europe to recognise Palestine.

On May 22, 2024, in a positive gesture - against what was taking place in Gaza- Norway, Ireland and Spain, in succession, announced that they were recognising Palestine according to the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. In response, Israel recalled its Ambassadors from the three European countries and promised to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank as punishment.

On June 4, Slovenia became the latest European country to recognise a Palestinian State. Other European nations, Malta and Belgium, are also discussing whether and when to recognise Palestinian statehood.

Unfortunately, however, none of the G7 countries - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom or the United States - have recognised Palestine.

Analyst Sumaya Mashrufa has correctly observed that the war that is currently being carried out by Israel with the support of some of its Western allies has spiraled, and appears to have seemingly merged into genocide. In this context, lands, as Edward Said once described, "lived on and owned by others," are stripped away under the guise of right, erasing histories etched into the soil. The denial from the West has also not unfortunately been accidental. It has been deliberate, woven into the fabric of imperial complicity. What is unfolding over more than two years is not chaos, but a design-a slow, systematic unmaking of a people.

Geo-strategists have noted that since October 7, 2023, nearly17,000 children have been killed, including 700 infants under the age of one, as reported by the UN. Such a scenario can only be described as an example of extermination. When 700 babies, still learning to crawl are killed before they can -how do you process that? Human rights activists have also referred to the pain being suffered by 17,000 childless mothers. One can imagine the suffering and grief they are going through being given the connotation by Israeli activists that all those killed (apparently including crawling babies), were deemed dangerous to an Israeli existence. Nothing demonstrates gross human rights violations more unambiguously than the reality of Palestinian women, stripped of their dignity and subjected to unimaginable horrors.

At this juncture question arises about what happened with the expected Western indignation over such decimation of human rights. Analyst Sumaya Mashrufa has correctly observed that these same Western voices, are however, swift to condemn and paint Muslim men as oppressors who apparently all cover their women in burqas. One can only note that when the perpetrators of violence do not fit the convenient Western narrative of barbarism, it is difficult for them to express their anger.

At this point, however, one also needs to condemn the manner in which Hamas carried out the initial attack on Israeli citizens that started this unfortunate war. Those guilty of these crimes need also to be taken to task through a legal process.

Sumaya Mashrufa has also observed that "I shouldn't have to seek the West's condemnation, nor wait for permission to call the deaths what they are-genocide! I shouldn't need anyone's approval to count my own loss. I can see with my own eyes that my mothers and brothers are gone. Yet this is the world we live in, where the veto-wielding powers must grant me the right to mourn my unbloomed sisters, my brothers who will never fulfill their potential".

Such an evolving scenario in Gaza leads one to also refer to the fourth report presented in March 2024 by Francesca Albanese, an international lawyer and expert in Middle Eastern human rights serving as the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights since 2022, to the United Nations, titled, "Anatomy of a Genocide." Supported by three prominent Israeli scholars of genocide and the Holocaust-Professors Raz Segal, Amos Goldberg, and Omar Bartov-the report concluded that Israel is committing genocide. The existing challenge today lies not merely in acknowledging that genocide is taking place in Gaza and Lebanon but in proving it to a world that demands evidence while turning a blind eye to the unfolding atrocities.

Geo-strategists have correctly observed that simply cataloguing these acts as "crimes against humanity" is insufficient. Most of us have seen how such a description has now become more or less ineffective since 1949, long before the recent surge in violence. The current paradigm also includes what has been happening since 2017 in Myanmar with regard to more than 700,000 Rohingyas who had to flee across the border from the Rakhine Province and seek shelter in Bangladesh because they were Muslims. Their number has now grown to over 1.2 million.

Analyst Sumaya Mashrufa has also correctly described genocide as being "systemic, calculated, a machine of annihilation". It is also unfortunate that the names of leadership might change in some G7 countries but policies remain the same. Such a scenario urges one to point out that in the contemporary world national interest overrides any responsibility associated with human rights.

In this context, it has been touching how students from Jahangirnagar University and in different parts of Bangladesh have expressed their concern about what is happening not only in Gaza but in other parts forcibly occupied by Israel. The Palestinian flag has become a symbol of what needs to be respected.

One also has to understand that the United Nations with the principle of Veto power also continues to cast a long shadow over offences created through discrimination and contravention of international law. It is difficult to accept that in the contemporary world genocide and atrocities have become only statistics and nothing more.

Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador, is an analyst specialised in foreign affairs, right to information and good governance.​

 

[Saif]

1m displaced Palestinians face extreme cold: UN

Nearly one million displaced Palestinians in Gaza are at risk from extreme cold and rain this winter, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has warned.

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1m displaced Palestinians face extreme cold: UN

Nearly one million displaced Palestinians in Gaza are at risk from extreme cold and rain this winter, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has warned.

"Displaced people in Gaza need protection from the rain and cold. Only around 23 percent of this need has been met, leaving 945,000 people at risk of exposure this winter," the UN agency said in a statement on Sunday. "Aid is urgently required to address the overwhelming needs as the crisis deepens."

The United Nations also renewed its call for a ceasefire in Gaza as Israeli airstrikes demolished homes and casualties increased.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 44,758 people have been killed in more than 14 months of Israeli offensive in the enclave.

"In Deir Al Balah and across Gaza, people search through the rubble of their destroyed homes, trying to salvage what little remains after an Israeli airstrike," the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees said in a post on X.

"As strikes continue, civilian casualties rise, and homes and vital infrastructure are reduced to ruins. The human cost of this war is unbearable. We need a ceasefire now."

In a separate development, more than 4,000 amputations and 2,000 cases of spinal and brain injuries have been recorded in Gaza since the start of the Israeli offensive last year, a news agency reports.​