International
Israeli strikes on Gaza may have violated laws of war – UN report
Israeli strikes on Gaza may have violated laws of war – UN report
The UN Human Rights Office says Israeli air strikes in Gaza may have systematically violated the laws of war requiring that civilians and civilian infrastructure be protected.
It is the conclusion of a report on what it calls six “emblematic attacks” on residential buildings, a school, refugee camps and a market between 9 October and 2 December last year.
The UN says it has verified that at least 218 people were killed in the incidents and that civilian objects were destroyed.
Israel’s mission in Geneva rejected the UN’s findings as “factually, legally, and methodologically flawed”.
It insisted that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was operating in Gaza in accordance with international law and accused Hamas of unlawfully embedding itself among civilians.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy the Palestinian armed group in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 37,390 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it had reportedly identified 14,680 children, women and elderly people among the dead by the end of April.
The report published by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) on Wednesday examined six strikes where it said Israel might have violated fundamental principles of the laws of war.
READ ALSO:
- Judge, prosecuting lawyer distance selves from Nnamdi Kanu reconciliation plan
- PDP expels former Edo deputy governor, Philip Shaibu
- 48 of 103 kids my dad raised were not his – MKO Abiola’s son
The strikes allegedly involved the use of 2,000lb (907kg), 1,000lb (453kg), and 250lb (110kg) air-dropped munitions, known respectively as GBU-31, GBU-32 and GBU-39s.
- Jabalia market, 9 October 2023 – Explosions destroyed two buildings. The UN said it verified at least 42 people were killed, including 14 children, and received information about an additional 18 deaths. The IDF said it struck several military targets, including an underground “terror tunnel” and Hamas fighters.
- Taj3 Tower, Gaza City, 25 October – The seven-floor residential building and six nearby structures were destroyed. The UN verified at least 105 people were killed, among them 47 children. Another seven fatalities were reported. The IDF said strikes that day hit “several unique and high value Hamas military assets and infrastructure”.
- Jabalia camp, 31 October – Ten structures in the densely-populated refugee camp were destroyed. The UN verified at least 56 people were killed, including 23 children, and received reports of another 43 fatalities. The IDF said the strike killed the commander of a Hamas battalion and a “large number of terrorists” hiding in tunnels.
- Bureij camp, 2 November – At least 12 buildings in the refugee camp were destroyed. The UN verified 15 people were killed, including nine children, and received information about an additional seven fatalities. The IDF said it struck “several Hamas infrastructures”.
- Al-Buraq school, Gaza City, 10 November – A two-storey section of the school was destroyed. At least 34 people were reported killed. The IDF said it struck a Hamas company commander hiding there, other operatives and military infrastructure.
- Shujaiya neighbourhood, Gaza City, 2 December – Fifteen buildings were destroyed. The UN received reports that 60 people were killed. The IDF said the strike killed a Hamas battalion commander, other fighters and military infrastructure.
“Given how densely populated the areas targeted were, the use of such a wide-area effect weapon would have in all likelihood resulted in an indiscriminate attack,” it adds.
READ ALSO:
- Musiala shines as Germany beat Hungary 2-0
- Lagos ranks 2nd in cheapest cities to live in Africa [See full list]
- Employment letters of 1,618 federal workers fake – HoS
“Explosive weapons with such wide-area effects cannot be directed at a specific military object in densely populated areas of Gaza, and the effects cannot be limited, resulting in military objects, civilians and civilian objects being struck without distinction.”
The report says no specific warning was issued before five of the strikes, and that the presence of one commander, several combatants, or several military objectives in one area “does not render an entire neighbourhood a military objective”.
“The requirement to select means and methods of warfare that avoid or at the very least minimise to every extent civilian harm appears to have been consistently violated in Israel’s bombing campaign,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.
He called on Israel to make public the detailed findings of the IDF’s investigations into the six incidents “with a view to identifying those responsible for violations, holding them to account and to ensuring all victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparations”.
Israel’s mission to the UN in Geneva condemned the report, saying it “suffers from hindsight and methodological biases which cast a shadow on the credibility of its legal assessment”.
“The only objective of this thematic report is to lambast and single-out Israel, while further shielding Hamas terrorists in Gaza,” it added.
It also asserted that the conclusions were based on public information and data published by Hamas, overlooked operational considerations, and did not address Hamas’s tactics.
“Hamas systematically and unlawfully embeds its military assets within populated areas, and carries out its military activities amongst, behind, and under its own civilians in a deliberate and strategic attempt to maximize civilian harm,” it said. “It also cynically manipulates the statistics surrounding casualties.”
It added: “Israel is committed to its obligations under national and international law, and in particular, the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions.”
BBC
International
Israel ejects Gaza hospital, detains medical personnel
Israel ejects Gaza hospital, detains medical personnel
The last major functioning hospital in northern Gaza was forcibly evacuated by the Israeli military on Friday after dozens of people were reportedly killed in Israeli strikes targeting the area.
Medical staff, including the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, have also been detained, Gaza health officials said on Saturday.
The hospital director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, was among the first to report that about 50 people had been killed in Israeli air strikes targeting the vicinity of the hospital on Friday.
The IDF had said it was carrying out an operation in the area, alleging the hospital was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold”.
On Friday, patients at the hospital were forcibly moved to the nearby Indonesian Hospital which doctors warn is damaged and unsuitable due to a lack of power generators and water.
Eid Sabbah, head of the nursing department at Kamal Adwan, told the BBC the military had ordered the evacuation around 07:00 on Friday, giving the hospital about 15 minutes to move patients and staff into the courtyard.
Israeli troops then entered the hospital and removed the remaining patients, he said.
READ ALSO:
- We’re not aware of VeryDarkMan’s missing N180m — Police
- Trump asks Supreme Court to suspend law for TikTok ban
- Romeo and Juliet actress Olivia Hussey dies at 73
The IDF said it had “facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients and medical personnel” before beginning the operation.
Seriously ill patients were moved to the nearby Indonesian Hospital, itself evacuated earlier in the week, which medics have described as non-functional.
“You can’t call it a hospital, it’s more of a shelter. It’s not equipped for patients,” Gaza’s deputy minister of health, Dr Abu-Al Rish, told the BBC on Friday.
Dr Sabbah, from Kamal Adwan Hospital, said: “It’s dangerous because there are patients in the ICU department in a coma and in need of ventilation machines and moving them will put them in danger.”
He had said critically ill patients needed to be moved in specialised vehicles.
The World Health Organization said the raid “has put this last major health facility in north Gaza out of service”.
“Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid,” it posted on X on Friday.
Nadav Shoshani, international spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said in a post on Friday evening on X that a “small fire broke out in an empty building inside the hospital that is under control”.
This was when IDF troops were not inside the hospital, he said, adding that “after preliminary examination, no connection was found between IDF activity to the fire”.
The director of Kamal Adwan hospital had said on Friday that approximately 50 people had been killed, including five medical staff, in a series of Israeli air strikes targeting the vicinity of the hospital.
READ ALSO:
- Niger’s president faces fire at home over attack on Nigeria
- Israel attacks: UN warns humanitarian disaster in Yemen may get worse
- Wike: My fallout with Secondus was his opposition to Fubara
The statement from Dr Hussam Abu Safiya said a building opposite the hospital was targeted by Israeli warplanes, leading to the death of a paediatrician and a lab technician, as well as their families.
He said a third staff member who worked as a maintenance technician was targeted and killed as he rushed to the scene of the first strike.
Two of the hospital’s paramedics were 500m (1,640ft) away from the hospital when they were targeted and killed by another strike, the statement continued, with their bodies remaining in the street with no-one able to reach them.
The Israeli military said on Friday morning that it was “unaware of strikes in the area of Kamal Adwan hospital” and was looking into the reports that staff had been killed.
Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia has been under a tightening Israeli blockade imposed on parts of northern Gaza since October, when the military said it had launched an offensive to stop Hamas from regrouping there.
The UN has said the area is under a “near-total siege” as the Israeli military heavily restricts access of aid deliveries to an area where an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people remain.
In recent days, the hospital’s administrators have issued desperate pleas appealing to be protected, as they say the facility has become a regular target for Israeli shelling and explosives.
Oxfam said that attempts by aid agencies to deliver supplies to the area since October had been unsuccessful because of “deliberate delays and systematic obstructions” by the Israeli military.
Additional reporting by Shaimaa Khalil
Israel ejects Gaza hospital, detains medical personnel
BBC
International
Trump asks Supreme Court to suspend law for TikTok ban
Trump asks Supreme Court to suspend law for TikTok ban
US President-elect Donald Trump filed a brief Friday urging the Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban TikTok the day before his January 20 inauguration if it is not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance.
“In light of the novelty and difficulty of this case, the court should consider staying the statutory deadline to grant more breathing space to address these issues,” Trump’s legal team wrote, to give him “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution.”
Trump was fiercely opposed to TikTok during his 2017-21 first term, and tried in vain to ban the video app on national security grounds.
The Republican voiced concerns — echoed by political rivals — that the Chinese government might tap into US TikTok users’ data or manipulate what they see on the platform.
US officials had also voiced alarm over the popularity of the video-sharing app with young people, alleging that its parent company is subservient to Beijing and that the app is used to spread propaganda, claims denied by the company and the Chinese government.
Trump called for a US company to buy TikTok, with the government sharing in the sale price, and his successor Joe Biden went one stage further — signing a law to ban the app for the same reasons.
– Reversing course –
Trump has now, however, reversed course.
At a press conference last week, Trump said he has “a warm spot” for TikTok and that his administration would take a look at the app and the potential ban.
READ ALSO:
- Romeo and Juliet actress Olivia Hussey dies at 73
- Niger’s president faces fire at home over attack on Nigeria
- Israel attacks: UN warns humanitarian disaster in Yemen may get worse
Earlier this month, the president-elect met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Recently, Trump told Bloomberg he had changed his mind about the app: “Now (that) I’m thinking about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition.”
“If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram — and that’s, you know, that’s Zuckerberg.”
International
Romeo and Juliet actress Olivia Hussey dies at 73
Romeo and Juliet actress Olivia Hussey dies at 73
Actress Olivia Hussey, who shot to international prominence as a teenager for her role in the acclaimed 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet, has died aged 73.
The Argentinian-born actress, who grew up in London, died on Friday surrounded by her loved ones, a statement posted on her Instagram said.
Hussey won the best new actress Golden Globe for her part as Juliet, but decades later she sued Paramount Pictures for sexual abuse as she was aged just 15 when she filmed the movie’s nude scene.
Her other most notable screen role was as Mary, mother of Jesus, in 1977 TV miniseries Jesus of Nazareth.
“As we grieve this immense loss, we also celebrate Olivia’s enduring impact on our lives and the industry,” the statement said.
Hussey was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1951, before moving to London aged seven and studying at the Italia Conti Academy drama school.
1968’s Romeo and Juliet was nominated for best picture and director Oscars
She was 15 when Romeo and Juliet director Franco Zeffirelli discovered her onstage, playing opposite Vanessa Redgrave in the play The Prime of Miss Joan Brodie
READ ALSO:
- Niger’s president faces fire at home over attack on Nigeria
- Israel attacks: UN warns humanitarian disaster in Yemen may get worse
- Wike: My fallout with Secondus was his opposition to Fubara
Zeffirelli was looking for someone who was young enough to be a convincing Juliet in what he intended to be the definitive cinematic version of the Shakespeare play.
He cast Hussey alongisde British 16-year-old Leonard Whiting as Romeo in the film.
The film was nominated for an Oscar for best picture and director. Hussey missed out on an Oscar nomination herself in a strong year in which Barbra Streisand won the main award for Funny Girl.
But at that year’s Golden Globes Hussey won the award for best new star.
Decades later, she and Whiting sued Paramount Pictures alleging Zeffirelli – who died in 2019 – had encouraged them to film nude scenes despite previous assurances they would not have to.
The pair sought damages of more than $500m (£417m), based on suffering they said they had experienced and the revenue brought in by the film since its release.
But last year a judge dismissed the case, finding the scene was not “sufficiently sexually suggestive”.
In 1977, Hussey had reunited with Zeffirelli for Jesus of Nazareth to play the Virgin Mary, before appearing in Death on the Nile a year later based on Agatha Christie’s novel.
Her roles in early slasher film Black Christmas (1974) and TV film Psycho IV: The Beginning earned her recognition as a scream queen. In the latter, she p[layed Norman Bates’s mother in a prequel storyline.
In later years she also took on work as a voice actress, appearing frequently in video games.
But she did have one final reunion with her former Romeo – as she and Whiting appeared together in the 2015 British film Social Suicide, which was loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, albeit set in the social media era.
Romeo and Juliet actress Olivia Hussey dies at 73
BBC
-
Business3 days agoBe creative, monarch, others challenge Muslim professionals on economic revival
-
Auto2 days agoLSM MD extols founder’s qualities after latter posthumous industry award
-
Entertainment2 days agoMultiChoice announces free access to all DSTV channels for 3 days
-
metro2 days agoJigawa State governor loses son 24 hours after mother’s death
-
News1 day agoNigeria Customs Service begins 2025 recruitment [How to apply]
-
metro2 days agoHeavy security in Ilesa as ex-Osun deputy gov emerges new Owa-Obokun
-
metro1 day agoLagos Imam to Tinubu: You haven’t disappointed us
-
metro2 days agoDangote, Tinubu, Lookman named among 100 most influential Africans in 2024 (Full list)