PARIS: Amnesty International Thursday urged a war crimes probe into Israel razing homes and farms in eastern Gaza to expand a so-called buffer zone between it and the Palestinian territory.
“Using bulldozers and manually laid explosives, the Israeli military has unlawfully destroyed agricultural land and civilian buildings, razing entire neighborhoods, including homes, schools and mosques,” it said.
The London-based rights group said the levelling since the start of the war on October 7 “should be investigated as war crimes of wanton destruction and of collective punishment.”
Israel has in several cases said it was destroying “terror” infrastructure to protect Israeli communities living on the other side of the fence. It did not reply to a request from Amnesty for comment.
An Amnesty investigation, which examined satellite imagery and videos posted by Israeli soldiers between October and May, showed “newly cleared land along Gaza’s eastern boundary, ranging from approximately 1 to 1.8 km (0.6 to 1.1 miles) wide,” the group said.
The expanded buffer zone covers around 58 square kilometers (22 square miles), or about 16 percent of the Gaza Strip, it said.
More than 90 percent of buildings within that zone appeared to have been destroyed or severely damaged, it said.
More than half of the agricultural land in the area showed “a decline in health and intensity of crops due to the ongoing conflict,” it added.
“Our analysis reveals a pattern along the eastern perimeter of Gaza that is consistent with the systematic destruction of the entire area,” said Amnesty’s Erika Guevara-Rosas.
“The homes were not destroyed as the result of intense fighting. Rather, the Israeli military deliberately razed the land after they had taken control of the area,” she added.
“Israeli measures to protect Israelis from attacks from Gaza must be carried out in conformity with its obligations under international law including the prohibition of wanton destruction and of collective punishment.”
Palestinian armed group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians and including hostages killed in captivity, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the attack, 97 remain in Gaza including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed more than 40,800 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
Amnesty urges war crimes probe over Israel levelling east Gaza
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Amnesty urges war crimes probe over Israel levelling east Gaza
- The London-based rights group said the levelling since the start of the war on October 7 “should be investigated as war crimes of wanton destruction and of collective punishment”
Palestinian poll finds big drop in support for Oct 7 attack
Poll suggests 57 percent of Gazans think Oct 7 was incorrect decision
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In previous poll, 57 percent in Gaza saw Oct 7 attack as correct
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Slight dip in Hamas support, but group still most popular
RAMALLAH: A majority of Gazans believe Hamas’ decision to launch the Oct. 7 attack on Israel was incorrect, according to a poll published on Tuesday pointing to a big drop in backing for the assault that prompted Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive.
The poll, conducted in early September by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), found that 57 percent of people surveyed in the Gaza Strip said the decision to launch the offensive was incorrect, while 39 percent said it was correct.
It marked the first time since Oct. 7 that a PSR poll found a majority of Gazan respondents judging the decision as incorrect. It was accompanied by a drop in support for the attack in the West Bank, though a majority of 64 percent of respondents there still thought it was the correct decision, the poll found. PSR’s previous poll, conducted in June, showed that 57 percent of respondents in Gaza thought the decision to be correct.
More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military offensive that has laid waste to the Gaza Strip since last October, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Israel launched its assault after the unprecedented Hamas raid which killed 1,200 people and resulted in another 250 being abducted, according to Israeli tallies.
PSR said it surveyed 1,200 people face-to-face, 790 of them in the West Bank and 410 in Gaza, with a 3.5 percent margin of error.
PSR polls since the Oct. 7 attack have consistently shown a majority of respondents in both Gaza and the West Bank to believe the attack was a correct decision, with support generally greater in the West Bank than Gaza.
PSR said the poll released on Tuesday marked the first time since Oct 7. that its findings had shown simultaneously in the West Bank and Gaza a significant drop in the favorability of the attack and in expectations that Hamas will win the current war.
Overall, the poll found a majority of 54 percent of respondents in Gaza and the West Bank thought the decision was correct.
In August, the Israeli military accused Hamas of mounting an effort to falsify the results of PSR polls to falsely show support for Hamas and Oct. 7, though the military said there was no evidence of PSR cooperating with Hamas.
PSR said it had taken the allegation seriously and investigated it. PSR said on Tuesday its analysis of the data did not flag any inconsistencies that would arise when data is arbitrarily altered, and that a review of quality control measures “convinced us that no data manipulation took place.”
Support for Oct. 7 did not necessarily mean support for Hamas or killings or atrocities against civilians, PSR said, adding that “almost 90 percent of the public believes Hamas men did not commit the atrocities depicted in videos taken on that day.”
The poll showed a drop in the number of respondents in Gaza who said they support Hamas to 35 percent from 38 percent. But the Islamist movement remained more popular than Fatah, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, in both in Gaza and the West Bank.
Jordan, Egypt urge end of Israeli hostilities in West Bank
CAIRO: Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi expressed their concerns over the continued Israeli attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, warning of their dangerous consequences.
The two leaders stressed, during a phone call on Tuesday, the necessity of reaching an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as an immediate step that must be taken to protect the security of the region and prevent the expansion of the conflict, according to state-run Petra news agency.
The two leaders reaffirmed their rejection of any attempts to displace Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
King Abdullah also expressed his appreciation for the efforts made by Egypt to reach a comprehensive truce to end the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
The two leaders stressed the need to continue supporting the Palestinian people in achieving their full legitimate rights and establishing their independent state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Meanwhile, Jordan will host a coordination meeting on Wednesday for an Arab-Islamic ministerial committee.
The committee is focused on international efforts to halt the ongoing war on Gaza.
Israel says it thwarted Hezbollah plot to kill former defense official
- The Shin Bet agency did not name the official
- The attempted attack was similar to a Hezbollah plot foiled in Tel Aviv a year ago
JERUSALEM: Israel’s domestic security agency said on Tuesday that it had foiled a plot by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior defense official in the coming days.
The Shin Bet agency did not name the official. It said in a statement that it had seized an explosive device attached to a remote detonation system, using a mobile phone and a camera, that Hezbollah had planned to operate from Lebanon.
Shin Bet said the attempted attack was similar to a Hezbollah plot foiled in Tel Aviv a year ago, without giving further details.
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire across the Lebanese border since October, in the worst escalation of violence there in two decades.
UN General Assembly to debate call for end to Israeli occupation
- The text, which has faced fierce criticism from Israel, is based around an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice
NEW YORK: UN member states will debate Tuesday a push by the Palestinians to formally demand an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories within 12 months.
The text, which has faced fierce criticism from Israel, is based around an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice calling Israel’s occupation since 1967 “unlawful.”
“Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible,” read the opinion, requested by the General Assembly.
In response, Arab countries have called for a special session of the assembly just days before dozens of heads of state and government descend on the UN headquarters this month to address the kick off of this year’s General Assembly session.
“The idea is you want to use the pressure of the international community in the General Assembly and the pressure of the historic ruling by the ICJ to force Israel to change its behavior,” said Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, who acknowledged the draft resolution had “shocked many countries.”
The resolution
The draft resolution, due to be voted on late Tuesday or Wednesday, “demands that Israel brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” and that this be done “no later than 12 months from the adoption.”
The first draft text gave only six months.
The draft resolution also “demands” the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territories, a halt to new settlements, the return of seized land and property, and the possibility of return for displaced Palestinians.
A paragraph calling on member states to halt arms exports to Israel disappeared from the draft text during negotiations, however.
“I hope that we will have good numbers,” Mansour said, underlining the “tremendous amount of sympathy and solidarity” with the Palestinians.
While the Security Council is largely paralyzed on the Gaza issue — with the United States repeatedly vetoing censures of its ally Israel — the General Assembly has adopted several texts in support of Palestinian civilians amid the current war.
In May the assembly overwhelmingly supported a largely symbolic resolution on full Palestinian membership of the UN, garnering 143 votes in favor, nine against with 25 abstentions.
The push had previously been vetoed by Washington at the Security Council.
Although General Assembly resolutions are not binding, Israel has already denounced the new text as “disgraceful.”
The resolution’s adoption would be “a reward for terrorism and a message to the world that the barbaric slaughter of children, the rape of women and the kidnapping of innocent civilians is a worthwhile tactic,” said Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 41,226 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
10 killed in Iran bus crash: state media
TEHRAN: At least 10 people were killed and dozens injured when bus crashed in central Iran, official media reported on Tuesday.
The bus overturned in Yazd province while traveling between the cities of Bushehr in southwestern Iran and Mashhad in the northeast, state television said.
“The accident left 10 people dead and 41 injured, according to initial figures,” it said, without specifying the total number of passengers on board.
Iran has a poor road safety record, with more than 20,000 deaths in accidents recorded in the year to March, according to the judiciary’s Legal Medicine Organization cited by local media.
Last month, a bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims crashed in central Iran, killing 28 people en route to Iraq for Arbaeen, one of the most significant events in the Shiite Muslim calendar.
Days later, another bus crash killed three people and injured 48 others.
