• It is the 84th day of the war: “More than 21,500 Palestinians dead”, including around 8 thousand children, according to Hamas. In Israel 1,200 died in the attack on October 7.
• Erdogan: «Netanyhau is like Hitler». The reply: «We don’t accept his sermons»
• For Israel the war “will last many more months”
• WHO: «Concerned by the threat of infectious diseases in Gaza»
• Israel: «One of Sinwar’s hideouts discovered and destroyed»
10.52 am – «While they raped her she screamed without a voice», the first testimonies on the rapes of October 7
(by Francesco Battistini, sent to Jerusalem) Who can find the words to say it? In a small white house in Haifa overlooking the sea, at the Center for victims of sexual violence, the phone rang the other day. «Shalom. I would like to know what kind of help you can offer…”. They were waiting for that voice. Of a girl. She didn’t leave her name, but she said she would call back: «It took almost three months – says Mali Orgad, who directs the trauma treatment service -, but we are receiving the first requests. They are mostly girls. On October 7, they were at the rave in the desert.” Raped, broken, swept away. «To come out they need time», explains Naama Tamari-Lapid, of the team of psychotherapists: «The shock was enormous. I already know that we will follow them for years, and that’s not necessarily enough. I have always dealt with sexual violence: what happened that day was unprecedented.”
Here is the full article.
10.48 am – New York Times: «The Israeli army had no plans to deal with the October 7 attack»
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had no plan to deal with a large-scale attack like the one launched by Hamas on October 7. The New York Times writes this, citing Israeli officials and former officials. “There was no defense plan for a surprise attack,” explained Amir Avivi, former deputy head of the Gaza Division. “The army doesn’t prepare for things it thinks are impossible,” added former Israeli national security advisor Yaakov Amidror. For long hours, the American newspaper says, the Israeli army was unable to understand the scale of the ongoing attack, responding slowly and inefficiently, sending teams too small and unprepared to face a mass assault. In the absence of clear directives or orders, many units have resorted to using apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram to gather information on targets and people in need of assistance.
08.26 am – Israeli army: «Fierce battles in Gaza, dozens of terrorists killed»
There are dozens of Hamas terrorists that the Israeli armed forces have killed in the last few hours in the Gaza Strip, where “fierce battles” continue to take place: the IDF themselves report this on their Telegram profile. The air forces, coordinated by troops on the ground, «are hitting terrorist cells and infrastructure; the Israeli Navy is supporting the ground troops with fire assistance from the sea.” In particular, we read in the army’s morning report, «during IDF activity in Shejaiya, ground troops located a terrorist cell operating in the vicinity of the armed forces and a terrorist armed with an RPG. The troops directed an IDF plane which hit and eliminated the cell”, while in another episode in Gaza City the military, “in coordination with the planes, killed dozens of terrorists. In a span of three hours, four terrorist identification incidents took place and the IAF targeted over 15 armed terrorists. Furthermore, fighting took place in which other terrorists were killed.” In Beit Lahia, “two Hamas military compounds were dismantled by troops, who had identified numerous weapons, explosive devices, guns, military equipment and communication devices before the attack.” Finally, «in further activity in the area, two hostile observation officers were identified in a compound adjacent to the troops remaining in the area. After confirming the identification of the terrorists, IDF tanks hit the compound where the observers had been identified and killed them.”
08.25 am – UN: «81 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza yesterday»
Eighty-one trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza yesterday through the Israeli Kerem Shalom and Egyptian Rafah crossings. This was stated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as reported by the Times of Israel. Kerem Shalom had been closed for three days due to what OCHA said were security incidents, including an IDF drone attack, the seizure of aid supplies by desperate locals, and transfers of prisoners and casualties. unannounced and uncoordinated by Israel. “The volume of aid remains woefully inadequate,” OCHA said in a statement. «The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator stated that this is an impossible situation for the people of Gaza and those trying to help them. The fighting must stop.”
07.58 am – Al Jazeera: «14 arrests in Israeli raid on refugee camp north of Ramallah»
The Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera reports that at dawn today Israeli forces carried out a raid in the West Bank, arresting 14 Palestinians from the Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah.
06:04 – Gaza: Griffiths (UN), strongly condemns attack on UNRWA convoy
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations, Martin Griffiths, expressed his “strong condemnation” of the incident in which “a humanitarian convoy was fired upon while traveling from northern Gaza to Rafah ». The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said yesterday that its vehicles carrying aid were hit by Israeli soldiers, without causing casualties. «The convoy was clearly marked and his movements were coordinated with the parties», underlined Griffiths on his X account, recalling that «attacks against humanitarian workers are illegal».
02.34 am – Gaza: UN, 81 trucks of humanitarian aid entered yesterday
Eighty-one trucks of humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip yesterday through the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing and the Egyptian Rafah crossing, reported the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) of the United Nations (UN). “The volume of aid remains woefully inadequate,” OCHA commented in a statement.
00:47 – South Africa files genocide case against Israel at the United Nations International Court of Justice
South Africa has launched a case against Israel at the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing the state of committing genocide in its military campaign in Gaza. Israel responded to the allegations “with disgust,” urging the ICJ to reject it. Any case at the UN’s International Court of Justice is likely to take years to resolve, but South Africa has called for the court to convene in the next few days to issue “interim measures”, urging a ceasefire. In March 2022, the ICJ ordered Russia to halt its offensive in Ukraine — an order that should have been legally binding — but Moscow still ignored it. Any such decision, however, risks significantly influencing international public opinion.
“The acts and omissions of Israel complained of by South Africa are genocidal in nature because they are intended to cause the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group,” reads the South African request to open the proceedings. “Provisional measures are necessary in this case to protect against further, serious and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention, which continue to be violated with impunity.” Article IX of the Genocide Convention allows any state party to the convention to bring a case against another before the ICJ, even if it has no direct connection to the conflict in question.
Last year, the court ruled that Gambia could bring a genocide charge against Myanmar. The court also ruled in a case between Croatia and Serbia that depriving a people of food, shelter, medical care and other means of subsistence constituted a genocidal act. «Genocidal intent is believed to be the most difficult element to prove, but the Israelis charged with prosecuting this conflict have issued a series of statements that easily demonstrate the necessary intent to “destroy in whole or in part” the population Palestinian in Gaza,” said Susan Akram, director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Boston University.
As examples, Akram cited Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s reference to Palestinians in Gaza as “human animals” and Israeli Army Major General Ghassan Alian’s subsequent statement that: “Human animals must be treated as such. There will be no electricity or water [a Gaza]there will only be destruction. You wanted hell, you will get hell.”
Lior Haiat, spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, immediately rejected South Africa’s accusations on social media. “Israel rejects with disgust the defamation spread by South Africa in its appeal to the International Court of Justice,” Haiat said on X, formerly Twitter. “South Africa’s claim lacks both factual and legal basis, and constitutes a despicable and contemptuous exploitation of the court.” “South Africa collaborates with a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of the State of Israel,” she added, referring to Hamas, whose massacre of hundreds of Israeli civilians on October 7 sparked the war in Gaza.
2023-12-30 09:54:55
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