International
Israeli strikes on Gaza may have violated laws of war – UN report
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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.
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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.
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“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
Kuwait flight hostages sue British Airways, UK govt
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Kuwait flight hostages sue British Airways, UK govt
Passengers and crew held hostage after a 1990 British Airways flight landed are suing the airline and the UK government for “deliberately endangering” them.
They claim BA and the government knew Iraq had invaded Kuwait before the plane they were travelling on landed in the country.
The 367 passengers and crew of BA Flight 149 were taken hostage, and some were mistreated, seriously sexually assaulted and kept in near-starvation conditions.
The claimants believe those on board were put at risk so an intelligence-gathering mission could take place, an allegation which has been denied for 30 years.
Ninety-four people, either passengers or crew on board Flight 149 or BA crew already in Kuwait awaiting deployment, are behind the civil action alleging the UK government and BA were guilty of negligence and joint misfeasance in public office.
It is the latest step in a long battle to get answers as to what happened during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
On the evening of 1 August 1990, BA Flight 149 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport with a planned stop in Kuwait on its way to Malaysia.
Iraqi troops were already massing on the border with Kuwait ahead of an invasion of the country that night. But the flight was not diverted from stopping in Kuwait.
The claimants say no other airline allowed its planes to land after the invasion began. By the time Flight 149 landed on the morning of 2 August, there was rocket fire near the airport as Iraqi forces took control.
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The plane was evacuated and unable to take off. Those on board were taken hostage.
Some were released quickly, but others suffered mistreatment and were used by Iraq as human shields at key facilities to try to prevent Western forces bombing them.
Passengers and crew held hostage after a 1990 British Airways flight landed are suing the airline and the UK government for “deliberately endangering” them.
They claim BA and the government knew Iraq had invaded Kuwait before the plane they were travelling on landed in the country.
The 367 passengers and crew of BA Flight 149 were taken hostage, and some were mistreated, seriously sexually assaulted and kept in near-starvation conditions.
The claimants believe those on board were put at risk so an intelligence-gathering mission could take place, an allegation which has been denied for 30 years.
Ninety-four people, either passengers or crew on board Flight 149 or BA crew already in Kuwait awaiting deployment, are behind the civil action alleging the UK government and BA were guilty of negligence and joint misfeasance in public office.
It is the latest step in a long battle to get answers as to what happened during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
On the evening of 1 August 1990, BA Flight 149 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport with a planned stop in Kuwait on its way to Malaysia.
Iraqi troops were already massing on the border with Kuwait ahead of an invasion of the country that night. But the flight was not diverted from stopping in Kuwait.
The claimants say no other airline allowed its planes to land after the invasion began. By the time Flight 149 landed on the morning of 2 August, there was rocket fire near the airport as Iraqi forces took control.
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- Six Palestinians killed as Israeli forces pound southern, northern Gaza
The plane was evacuated and unable to take off. Those on board were taken hostage.
Some were released quickly, but others suffered mistreatment and were used by Iraq as human shields at key facilities to try to prevent Western forces bombing them.
At the centre of the claim is the allegation the UK government and BA received a series of warnings during the night but did not act on them.
It is alleged that one reason for this was the desire of the government to insert a special forces team who could carry out reconnaissance within the country.
Stephen Davis wrote a book about the incident and says he has interviewed members of the team anonymously.
He believes the authorities did not expect the airport to fall to invading Iraqi forces so quickly and the intention was for the men to disembark before the plane went on to its next destination.
The BA cabin services director on the flight previously told the BBC that a British man in military uniform greeted him at the plane’s door on arrival in Kuwait.
The man said he had come to meet 10 men on the flight who had boarded at Heathrow. They were brought to the front, disembarked and were never seen again. But by then, it was too late for the plane to leave.
A UK official serving in the Kuwait embassy at the time previously said he believed there had been a “deniable” operation to hastily put boots on the ground without the full knowledge of the embassy.
Anthony Paice was responsible for political intelligence, a role widely assumed to be cover for MI6.
“I am convinced that the military intelligence exploitation of British Airways Flight 149 did take place, despite repeated official denials,” he told the BBC in his first interview in 2021.
In November 2021, the Foreign Office admitted that Parliament and the public were misled for decades about Flight 149.
Newly released files revealed the British ambassador in Kuwait did warn the Foreign Office about the invasion, but BA was not told.
However, then-Foreign Secretary Liz Truss reiterated earlier denials that the flight was being used for a secret intelligence mission.
“There must be closure and accountability to erase this shameful stain on the UK’s conscience,” said Matthew Jury, from the law firm behind the claim, McCue Jury and Partners.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said the government did not comment on ongoing legal matters. BA did not respond to a request for comment.
Kuwait flight hostages sue British Airways, UK govt
BBC
International
Six Palestinians killed as Israeli forces pound southern, northern Gaza
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Six Palestinians killed as Israeli forces pound southern, northern Gaza
At least six Palestinians have been killed in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), and several homes have been destroyed as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the city and pressed further into Shujayea in northern Gaza.
Israeli tanks, which re-entered Shujayea four days ago, fired shells towards several houses, leaving families trapped inside and unable to leave, residents said.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that “60,000 to 80,000 people were displaced” from Shujayea in recent days.
For those who remain, “our lives have become hell”, said 50-year-old resident Siham al-Shawa.
She told the AFP news agency that people were trapped as strikes could happen “anywhere” and “it is difficult to get out of the neighbourhood under fire”.
“We do not know where to go to protect ourselves,” she said.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said residents who managed to flee the neighbourhood say the scale of destruction is “massive”.
International
One killed, five injured in France wedding attack
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One killed, five injured in France wedding attack
One person was killed and five others sustained gunshot wounds in northeastern France when several masked gunmen opened fire at a wedding ceremony, police sources said on Sunday.
According to sources, the incident in the northeastern city of Thionville was the result of a drug trafficking dispute.
According to an AFP report, the shooting took place overnight, from Saturday to Sunday, in a reception hall with approximately 100 individuals present.
Two people were gravely injured, and one was in critical condition.
The perpetrators of the shooting, however, fled the scene.
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“It was during a wedding,” a police source said.
“At a quarter past one in the morning, a group of people went outside to smoke in front of the hall, and then three heavily armed men arrived and opened fire in their direction.”
According to the informant, the intruders arrived in a 4×4 vehicle, “probably a BMW.” It was unclear where the vehicle had come from.
Thionville is located near the borders of Luxembourg and Germany. Law enforcement officials suspect that the violence was motivated by a desire to settle scores related to narcotics trafficking.
“The wedding was not targeted as such; it was people who were at the wedding,” a source told me.
On Sunday morning, a bullet-pierced glass door was seen at the scene. In the nearby village of Villerupt, five individuals were injured in May 2023 during shootings between rival gangs at a drug distribution site.
One killed, five injured in France wedding attack
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