All Out for Palestine!
Palestine in the News
Destruction of an entire neighbourhood in Gaza, December 21,
2023
UN Security Council Finally Passes Watered-down Resolution to
Increase Aid to Gaza
On December 22, the United Nations Security Council, after a week of being held hostage by the U.S., passed a watered-down resolution on the ongoing crisis in Gaza, with 13 votes in favour, and the U.S. and Russia abstaining. The resolution, among other points, demands that the parties “allow, facilitate and enable” the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip.
The resolution, reaffirmed the obligations of the
parties to the conflict under international humanitarian law,
especially regarding the protection of civilians and civilian
objects,
safety of humanitarian personnel, and the provision of
humanitarian
assistance.
It also requested the UN Secretary-General appoint a
Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator with
responsibility
for “facilitating, coordinating, monitoring, and verifying”
in Gaza, as appropriate, the humanitarian nature of all relief
consignments to the enclave provided through States that are not
party
to the conflict.
It also called for the
“expeditious” establishment of a UN mechanism to accelerate
aid consignments to Gaza through States that are not party to
the
conflict, to expedite, streamline and accelerate assistance
while
continuing to help ensure that aid reaches its civilian
destination.
Addressing the delaying of the resolution by the United States
and
the extent to which it was watered down, Ambassador Vassily
Nebenzia of
the Russian Federation condemned "the gross unprincipled
blackmail and
open scorn on part of the United States for the suffering
of
Palestinians and the hopes of the global community.” He noted
that if the draft resolution had not been supported by a number
of Arab
States, Russia would certainly have vetoed it. Ambassador
Nebenzia also
emphasized that the Security Council’s clear demand for a full
ceasefire remains an imperative, and that without it, the
implementation of Council decisions in Gaza is simply
impossible. No
matter how the U.S. resists, shielding their main ally in the
Middle
East region, the Security Council will be back to clearly and
unequivocally demand a cessation of hostilities, he said.
Ambassador
and Deputy Permanent Representative of China, Dai Bing, said
that given
the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the resolution offers “at
least a glimmer of hope” for more and faster delivery of aid to
the enclave, he said, adding “whether this glimmer of hope can
be
truly felt by the people of Gaza in the midst of this disaster
also
depends on whether the resolution can be effectively
implemented.”
He
said China expects action to expand humanitarian assistance in
Gaza,
including by the full use of the Karem Shalom border
crossing
from Jordan and the opening of other crossing points. He urged
Israel
to stop its collective punishment of the population of Gaza and
reiterated that realization of a cease fire remains the
overriding
goal.
China voted for the Russian amendment for these reasons, he
added, and expressed regret that it failed due to a veto.
Ambassador
Linda Thomas-Greenfield of the United States was the first to
speak
after the resolution was adopted to repeat the U.S. lie that
"since the
start of the conflict, the U.S. has worked tirelessly to
alleviate the
humanitarian crisis, to get lifesaving assistance into Gaza, to
get
hostages out of the enclave, and to push for the protection of
innocent
civilians and humanitarian workers, and to work towards a
lasting
peace." The U.S. attributes its abstention to the fact that
it
is “appalled” that the Security Council "was
again unable to condemn the horrific terrorist attacks committed
by
Hamas on October 7."
The initial resolution, sponsored by the
United Arab Emirates, included a call for an immediate
ceasefire, as
well as urgent humanitarian assistance to Gaza. The U.S. again
said it
would veto any resolution calling for a ceasefire. The UAE
redrafted the resolution to eliminate the word "ceasefire," and
to call
instead for an "urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe
and
unhindered humanitarian access, and for urgent steps toward a
sustainable cessation of hostilities." Even that much the U.S.
was not
prepared to agree to.
After more than a week of negotiations and
several days of vote delays, diplomats said the U.S. was unhappy
that
the draft asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to
establish a UN mechanism in Gaza "to exclusively monitor all
humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza provided through land,
sea and
air routes. The U.S. ambassador to the UN raised the
absurd concerns
that the aid monitoring proposal could slow deliveries. The real
objection is that as the occupier, Israel controls and inspects
all
deliveries, humanitarian or otherwise to Gaza while the Security
Council resolution would dilute Israel's control by having the
UN
oversee and inspect humanitarian aid deliveries.
The objective
of the majority of the countries in the world remains an
immediate
ceasefire, humanitarian assistance at scale and no forced
displacement.
Desperate Plight of Palestinian People
The Ministry of Health in Gaza says 390 Palestinians have been
killed and 734 injured in the past two days as a result of
brutal Israeli attacks at a time Israel also cut off
all communications within Gaza. More than 576,000
Palestinians in Gaza -- about a quarter of the population --
face “catastrophic hunger and starvation,” a UN-backed report
informed.
As of December 22, more than 20,000 Palestinians have been
killed by the indiscriminate Israeli bombardments and attacks on
civilians, almost half of them children and 60,000 have been
wounded, and two million Palestinians have been forcefully
displaced. Homes, shelters, schools and hospitals have been
destroyed. Hunger and disease are spreading like wildfire.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger said on December 19 that civilians in Gaza were being forced to endure tremendous suffering and loss. "There is a lack of operational space for the humanitarian actors, but most importantly, there is an acute lack of safety and security for people anywhere in Gaza," she said."There is some aid getting in. There are some trucks coming in but this is by far not enough given the suffering and the level of the needs of the people."
The UN agency that sees to the needs of Palestinian refugees says that more than 60 per cent of the infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed or damaged. "This is a staggering and unprecedented level of destruction and forced displacement, taking place in front of our eyes," it added. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians in the Near East (UNRWA) also said that more than 90 per cent of the population in Gaza has been displaced.
UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said on December 19, "Without sufficient safe water, food, and sanitation that only a humanitarian ceasefire can bring -- child deaths due to disease could surpass those killed in bombardments."
Threat of Famine
Responding to the Integrated Food Security Phase
Classification (IPC) report issued December 21, the World Food
Program stated:
More than one in four households in Gaza currently face extreme
hunger, and there is a risk of famine unless access to adequate
food, clean water, health and sanitation services is restored,
according to a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification
(IPC) report released [December 21]. IPC is a
multi-stakeholder platform that analyzes data to determine the
severity and magnitude of hunger crises, according to
internationally-recognized scientific standards.
This latest food security analysis for Gaza, which
includes data from the World Food Program (WFP), other UN
agencies and non-governmental organizations, confirmed that the
entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are
in crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity. The IPC
report further highlighted that 26 per cent of Gazans (576,600
people) have exhausted their food supplies and coping capacities
and face catastrophic hunger (IPC Phase 5) and starvation.
‘WFP has warned of this coming catastrophe for weeks.
Tragically, without the safe, consistent access we have been
calling for, the situation is desperate, and no one in Gaza is
safe from starvation.’ said WFP’s Executive Director Cindy
McCain.
According to the IPC, there is a risk of famine occurring within
the next six months if the current situation of intense conflict
and restricted humanitarian access persists. From earlier
assessments, WFP food security experts had already established
that Gazans have used up all their resources, livelihoods have
collapsed, bakeries are destroyed, shops are empty, and families
can’t find food. People told WFP staff that they often go entire
days without eating and that many adults go hungry so that
children can eat.
"These are not just numbers -- there are individual children,
women and men behind these alarming statistics,” said WFP Chief
Economist Arif Husain. “The complexity, magnitude and speed that
this crisis has unfolded is unprecedented.”
More emergency food and multi-sectoral assistance is essential
to prevent wide-spread deaths. The recent seven-day pause
highlighted that WFP and partners can provide assistance when
the conditions allow, and the re-opening of the Kerem Shalom
border crossing sets the stage for more food and other relief
supplies to flow into Gaza, which needs to continue and
accelerate with additional border crossings and operating
conditions inside Gaza that allow for safe and orderly
deliveries to all people in need.
"We cannot stand by and watch people starve. Humanitarian access
is needed now for supplies to flow into and throughout Gaza and
for civilians to safely receive life-saving aid,” said
McCain. “More than anything, what is needed now is peace.
WFP reiterates the call for a humanitarian ceasefire -- the
world must come together now to save lives.”
U.S. Reiterates Pledge to Support Israel No Matter What
While the U.S. was obstructing the UN Security Council from adopting a resolution demanding a ceasefire, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was in Israel on December 18 where he again reiterated U.S. support for the genocidal war against the Palestinians. "I'm here with a clear message: America's support for Israel's security is unshakable," Austin said. According to Austin, speaking on behalf of the U.S., the war on the Palestinians is a war of democracy (Israel) against terrorism (the Palestinians). "Israel has every right to defend itself against a fanatical terrorist group whose stated purpose is to murder Jews and eradicate the Jewish state," he said, adding that, of course, "we will also continue to urge the protection of civilians during conflict and to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. ... That's important, as Israel fights to dismantle the Hamas terror infrastructure in Gaza. And it will also be crucial for our work with our allies and partners after the fighting stops," Austen said. "Now, we know that the past 72 days have been some of the most painful days in Israel's history," but the war must go on! "[It] would compound this tragedy," he said, if all that was waiting for the Israeli people and your Palestinian neighbours is at the end of this awful war, was more insecurity, fury and despair.... [O]ngoing instability and insecurity only play into the hands of Hamas. So, we must think together about what lies beyond this terrible season of terror and war."
Austin justified the deaths of thousands upon thousands of Palestinians in the Israeli bombing and ground offensive by repeating the pitiful U.S. and Zionist excuses for Israel's murderous campaign saying, "[W]e see that Hamas routinely uses civilians as shields."
Palestinian Resistance
December 23 marks Day 78 of resistance to Israeli occupation forces' ground war in Gaza since October 7. On December 19, the Israeli army acknowledged the killing of three more of its members, bringing the Israeli reckoning to nine and wounded to 29 in the previous 24 hours. Israeli media announced that four of the nine officers and soldiers who were killed are from the army's elite forces. The military affairs correspondent of the official Israeli radio revealed that the dead belonged to the elite commando units Dovdovan and Yahlom, adding that they were killed in battles with the Qassam Brigades and other Palestinian Resistance groups in the south and north of the Strip.
Israeli Rabbi Baruch Rosenblum, recalled a story from a senior officer in the army from the second week of the Gaza ground campaign. The officer explained that most of the fighting takes place at night, and that in just one operation, Hamas had killed 36 soldiers. The rabbi explained that Hamas had attacked a convoy of three Namer armoured vehicles, each carrying 12 soldiers, setting them ablaze. The army command watched via drone live feed as the soldiers abandoned the vehicles and Hamas eliminated them all with anti-tank weapons. Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth similarly reported on December 9 that, "Every day, about 60 new wounded are received by the rehabilitation department" and that "the cumulative numbers since October 7 are astronomical: More than 2,000 soldiers, policemen and other members of the security forces have been officially recognized as disabled." "We have never been through anything even similar to this," explained Limor Luria, head of the rehabilitation department at the Ministry of Defense.
An Israeli woman who was a captive recently released from Gaza said that her mother was killed by Israeli army gunfire when soldiers shot at the car that was transporting them to Gaza, as they were being taken as captives on October 7. "Al-Qassam Brigades fighters put the hostages in a truck on October 7, and Israeli forces opened fire on the vehicle," the woman said in an interview broadcast on Israel's Channel 12. "My mother, whom I loved very much, died. I was injured in my back, and my brother was injured in his leg," she added.
Israel Hires Mercenaries
"Europe 1, a leading radio broadcasting station in France, revealed that a total of 4,185 French or Franco-Israeli individuals were fighting alongside the Israeli army on the front in Gaza. This is the largest contingent after that of the U.S.," he told Anadolu Agency on December 18. Several other organizations, including the Association France Palestine Solidarite, issued a statement that urged accountability for French nationals involved in war crimes. In a recent interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Pedro Diaz Flores, known as a notorious Spanish mercenary who fought alongside neo-Nazis in Ukraine, revealed that the Israeli regime is recruiting Private Military Companies to achieve its interests in Gaza. He revealed that "many" mercenary groups have joined Israel's army, which pays them "very well." Flores said, "So I came for the economy, for money. They pay very well, they offer good equipment and the work is calm." It is 3,900 euros ($4,187) per week, "complementary missions aside." The presence of Ukrainian mercenaries has also been confirmed.
On their social media accounts, the Private Military Company Forward Observations Group (FOG), posted numerous images and stories showing its recruits in Palestine, surrounded by a large cache of weapons and sporting combat gear. Wearing the American flag on their uniforms, the mercenaries' social media accounts show that they are stationed alongside the Gaza border in the occupied territories. The founder of FOG is U.S. mercenary and ex-U.S. paratrooper, Derrick Bales, known also for his association with the far-right Azov Battalion in Ukraine.
Apart from unconventional forces, the U.S. has deployed more than 15,000 military troops to the occupied territories since October 7, including two U.S. aircraft carriers and their associated escort ships. It has repositioned an amphibious task force made up of about 4,000 U.S. Marines and sailors. The task force of sailors and Marines embarked aboard the USS Bataan and two other warships, includes an infantry battalion of about 900 combat personnel, F-35B fighter jets, armoured vehicles and other weapons, and billions of dollars of military aid to the Israeli regime. The U.S. military still continues to ship weapons and has pledged to provide more missile interceptors for Israel's Iron Dome military system, small-diameter bombs and other GPS-guided weapons, Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman confirmed recently.
This article was published in
Volume 53
Number 33 - December 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS53331.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca