These are the latest child victims of Israel's genocide in Gaza
These are the latest child victims of Israel's genocide in Gaza
NewsFeed These are the latest child victims of Israel's genocide in Gaza
Children are bearing the brunt of Israel's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Here are some of the tragic stories of the most recent victims.
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Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Pattern of defiance: Israel expands settlements in face of Western pressure
Israel's international allies are growing louder in their condemnation of its war on Gaza and its continued construction of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. United Nations experts, human rights groups and legal scholars have all previously told Al Jazeera that Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza and committing abuses that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity in the West Bank. And yet less than two weeks after receiving a stern warning from its Western allies, Israel approved 22 illegal settlements in the West Bank, amounting to what has been described as the largest land grab since Israeli and Palestinian leaders inked the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993. 'Israel is all about showing [the world] who calls the shots. They are saying … you can condemn us all you want, but in the end, you will bow down to us and not the other way around,' said Diana Buttu, a legal scholar and political analyst focused on Israel and Palestine. The Oslo Accords were ostensibly aimed at creating a Palestinian state, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital. However, in practice, Israel has continued to expand illegal settlements and render the two-state solution impossible, analysts told Al Jazeera. Israel has often announced the building of new illegal settlements in response to signals of support for Palestinian statehood from the UN or its allies. In 2012, Israel went so far as to approve 3,000 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank after the Palestinian Authority (PA) – the entity created out of the Oslo Accords to govern swaths of the West Bank – was granted non-member observer status in the UN General Assembly. Last year, Israel's far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, warned that a new illegal settlement would be built for every country that recognises a Palestinian state. The announcement came after Spain, Norway, and Ireland took the symbolic step in May 2024. 'I certainly think there is a pattern where Israel responds to pressure regarding its occupation – or anything else – by announcing settler expansion,' said Omar Rahman, an expert focused on Israel and Palestine for the Middle East Council for Global Affairs. 'We see that pattern repeated over and over again,' he told Al Jazeera. As global pressure mounts against Israel's war on Gaza, Israel has continued to test the patience of its allies. On May 21, Israeli troops fired warning shots at a group of European, Asian and Arab diplomats who were on an official mission to assess the humanitarian crisis in Jenin refugee camp, which has been subjected to a months-long attack and siege by the Israeli army since the start of the year. 'I don't know where the red line is. It is clear that there is no red line,' said Buttu. After Zionist militias ethnically cleansed some 750,000 Palestinians to make way for the state of Israel in 1948 – an event referred to as the 'Nakba' or catastrophe – Israel has increasingly annexed and occupied the little that remains of Palestinian land. Annexation of the occupied West Bank has accelerated in recent years thanks to far-right settlers who occupy positions in the Israeli government, said Khaled Elgindy, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. He believes Israel was always planning to approve the 22 illegal settlements irrespective of the joint statement issued by France, the UK and Canada, as it fit in with the state's ultimate goal of expanding Jewish settlement of the occupied West Bank. 'Nobody can really think that if those countries didn't issue an announcement that [further] annexation wasn't going to happen. Of course, it was going to happen,' he told Al Jazeera. Rahman, from the Middle East Council, believes Israel's tactic of announcing pre-planned settlement expansion in the face of Western pressure simply aims to dissuade its allies from taking concrete action. He suspects Canada, the UK and France will likely not slap on targeted sanctions against Israeli officials, as they have threatened to do, instead using the argument that any moves against Israel will lead to a backlash against Palestinians. '[Canada, UK and France] may say they are acting for the preservation of the two-state solution by not doing anything to save the two-state solution,' Rahman told Al Jazeera. Analysts believe that sanctions on Israel would be the only way to rescue the two-state solution and end Israel's war on Gaza, but accept that comprehensive sanctions against the Israeli state would still be unlikely at this stage. Instead, Western countries like Canada, France and the UK may target sanctions at the far-right ministers most associated with pro-settler policies, Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. 'These men … are trying to jam in everything they can do now because they know there is no guarantee they will maintain their positions of power indefinitely,' Elgindy told Al Jazeera. Buttu fears that European countries will merely resort to more symbolic measures such as 'recognising Palestine', which will have little impact on the ground. 'By the time everyone gets around to recognising Palestine, there won't be any land [for Palestinians] left,' she told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Netherlands still backs Israeli F-35 ‘supply chain of death': Report
The Netherlands is still supporting the supply chain of Israel's version of the F-35 fighter jet, more than a year after a court banned direct Dutch exports of F-35 parts to Israel, a report claims. Research by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) shared with Al Jazeera shows that the port of Rotterdam is regularly frequented by ships carrying F-35 parts for maintenance and assembly. The ships belong to the Danish shipping giant Maersk. By examining import data and shipping receipts of Maersk and Lockheed Martin – the United States weapons manufacturer that designed the F-35 – the group found that more than a dozen shipments from Israel travelled through the port of Rotterdam on their way to the US. The F-35 fighter jet has been used by Israel to bomb Gaza from the air with devastating effect. Much of the Strip, where more than 50,000 people have been killed since October 2023, is in ruins. 'Maersk now operates a recurring shipping cycle between Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth facility in Texas and Israel Aerospace Industries in Israel, routed through Rotterdam,' the report stated. 'In this cycle, Maersk transports pairs of empty F-35 wing containers from Houston to Ashdod, Israel, where they are loaded with completed F-35 wings. The filled containers are then shipped back to the US for final assembly or repair.' The researchers noted that Rotterdam is a 'key stopover point in this process, and shipments for this cycle have occurred beyond February of 2024'. Then, a judge at a Dutch appeals court ordered the Netherlands to stop exporting and transiting F-35 parts to Israel, saying there was a 'clear risk' they were being used in 'serious violations of international humanitarian law'. The Dutch state immediately lodged an appeal at the Supreme Court, but until a decision is made, it is still bound by the lower court's ruling. 'The findings in the report show that the port of Rotterdam plays an important role in sustaining the operational capacities of Israel's F-35 fighter jets. This way, the port of Rotterdam is complicit to international law violations in Gaza,' Gerard Jonkman, director of a Dutch NGO, The Rights Forum, told Al Jazeera. The Dutch Foreign Ministry told Al Jazeera that the court had subsequently confirmed that the judgement in February 2024 applied only to the export or transit of F-35 parts from the Netherlands to Israel and that the Dutch state had implemented the judgement accordingly. A spokesperson for the port of Rotterdam told Al Jazeera that the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs was responsible for issuing permits for the transhipment of military goods. Port officials check vessel compliance with environmental and safety regulations for shipping on behalf of the government and municipality of Rotterdam, they said. 'The harbour master receives only limited information regarding vessel cargo. The information received mainly pertains to whether the vessel is carrying hazardous substances. Other aspects of vessel cargo are monitored by various other public authorities, such as customs.' They said they were 'aware' of the February 2024 court ruling. 'All activities in the port must comply with international laws and regulations and the permits issued by the government. If we see any indication that this is not the case, the Port of Rotterdam Authority alerts the competent authority.' The Rights Forum was one of three parties, together with the Dutch affiliate of Oxfam and PAX for Peace, the largest peace organisation in the Netherlands, that sued the Dutch state over its export of F-35 parts to Israel. 'In this case, there is no direct export from the Netherlands to Israel, but the Netherlands is still part of the supply chain for the Israeli F-35 programme,' Gerard Jonkman, head of the Rights Forum, said of the Palestinian Youth Movement's findings. 'This way the Netherlands facilitates the Israeli F-35 programme and might breach its obligations under international law.' PAX for Peace project leader Frank Slijper told Al Jazeera: 'This indeed shows that the Netherlands is part of the F-35 supply chain.' A grassroots organisation, the Palestinian Youth Movement believes that targeting Maersk directly disrupts the flow of weapons in the 'supply chain of death used to genocide Palestinians'. According to the group, Maersk has shipped the wings for every Israeli F-35 since March 2022. In November 2024, following a decision by Spain to deny docking permission to two ships carrying weapons bound for Israel, Maersk adjusted its routes. The company's fleet now avoids Spain in favour of Rotterdam and the port of Tangier in Morocco 'Maersk has, for years, knowingly supplied the Israeli military with key weapons components used to carry out genocide in Gaza,' Aisha Nizar of the Palestinian Youth Movement told Al Jazeera. 'The company has done so without hesitation, potentially violating multiple arms embargo policies across Europe.' The F-35 is considered a top-of-the-line fighter jet. The aircraft designed by Lockheed Martin costs at least $80m in its most basic configuration. Currently, 12 countries operate the jet. F-35 parts are made in the United States and several participating partner countries, giving the project the moniker Joint Strike Fighter. 'It is very sad to see that Maersk is not distancing itself from Israel's crimes against humanity in Gaza and more broadly continues lending itself to the crucial replenishment of Israel's armed forces,' Slijper said. 'Shipping military supplies for the benefit of Israel's arms industry and the [Israeli army] risks Maersk being complicit in Israel's crimes.' The use of the jet by Israel, the only country with its unique version of the F-35, has been scrutinised since the start of the onslaught in Gaza. Recently, campaign groups took the United Kingdom government to court in a bid to halt the exports of British-made F-35 parts to Israel. In a statement to Al Jazeera, Lockheed Martin said: 'Foreign military sales are government-to-government transactions, and we closely adhere to US government policy with regard to conducting business with international partners.' Regarding F-35 shipments, Maersk told Al Jazeera that it upholds a strict policy of not shipping weapons or ammunition to active conflict zones and that it conducted due diligence, particularly in regions affected by active conflicts, including Israel and Gaza, and adapts this due diligence to the changing context. It confirmed, however, that its US subsidiary Maersk Line Limited was one of 'many companies supporting the global F-35 supply chain' with transport services. The F-35 programme includes several coalition countries, including Israel. 'As part of the coalition-building of the F-35, Maersk Line Limited regularly transports parts between participating countries, including Israel, where F-35 wings are manufactured,' it said.
Al Jazeera
15 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
US-backed GHF group extends closure of Gaza aid sites for second day
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – a shadowy organisation backed by the United States and Israel – will not immediately resume distributing aid in the war-torn territory after a full-day closure on Wednesday, saying that operations will restart when maintenance and repair work on its distribution sites is complete. In a statement posted on Facebook, the GHF said its 'distribution sites will not open as early as' Thursday morning and that it would 'share information on opening times as soon as work is complete'. The GHF also strongly urged aid seekers travelling to its locations to 'follow the routes' set by the Israeli military to 'ensure safe passage'. The Israeli military warned Palestinians on Wednesday not to approach GHF aid distribution sites while 'reorganisation work' was under way, saying that access roads to those locations would be 'considered combat zones'. Israel's military has not apparently issued any new directive regarding the safety of the GHF distribution sites as they remain closed for a second day. The suspension of GHF's distribution of food supplies in Gaza comes after Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians seeking aid for a fourth time near a GHF distribution site in Rafah, southern Gaza, early on Tuesday. The Israeli attack killed at least 27 people and injured about 90 more, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. On Sunday, Israeli forces opened fire on thousands of aid seekers near the same site in Rafah, killing at least 31 people and wounding more than 150, according to Gaza's Civil Defence agency. One person was also shot dead at another aid distribution site, south of the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, on the same day. Then, on Monday, three more people were killed and about 30 injured when Israeli forces again opened fire near the GHF's Rafah distribution site. The Israeli military had denied reports its troops shot at civilians near or within the GHF aid distribution site on Sunday, saying its forces only fired warning shots at people who were not using 'designated access routes'. Israeli army spokesperson Effie Defrin then claimed that soldiers only fired towards people who 'were approaching in a way that endangered' the troops. The GHF, which began chaotic aid distribution operations on May 26, has also labelled reports of aid seekers being killed in large numbers 'outright fabrications', claiming it has yet to see evidence of an attack at or near its facilities. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has confirmed that it received a 'mass casualty influx of 179 cases' after Sunday's attack, including 21 patients who were 'declared dead upon arrival'. Women and children were among the casualties, the group said, with the majority suffering 'gunshot or shrapnel wounds'. The ICRC has also warned that Palestinians in Gaza are facing an 'unprecedented scale and frequency of recent mass casualty incidents'. Reports of aid seekers being killed by Israeli forces over recent days have led to international outrage, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanding an independent inquiry into the deaths and for 'perpetrators to be held accountable'. The United Kingdom on Wednesday called for an 'immediate and independent investigation' into the deadly incidents. UK Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer said the deaths were 'deeply disturbing', and called Israel's new aid delivery measures 'inhumane'. Israel continues to push ahead with its wider assault on Gaza, with at least 48 people killed in attacks across the Strip on Wednesday, according to Gaza's Civil Defence. Among the casualties were at least 18 people killed in a strike on a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in southern Khan Younis. At least 54,418 Palestinians have been killed and 124,190 wounded since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, according to statistics from the enclave's Health Ministry. On Wednesday, the United States once again vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution demanding unhindered humanitarian aid access across Gaza and an 'immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire'.
