#un commission of inquiry on israel

[eretzyisrael]

Legislation seeking to disband the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry investigating Israel has gained support in recent weeks, amassing 34 cosponsors since its introduction this spring.

The COI Elimination Act was introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) in late March. It would designate that it is U.S. policy to “seek the abolition” of the COI and “combat systemic anti-Israel bias at the United Nations Human Rights Council and other international fora.”

The legislation would also trim the U.S.’s annual contributions to the U.N., following a model used in existing U.S. law primarily to oppose other U.N. bodies and projects accused of attacking Israel. The COI was established following the May 2021 conflict between Israel and terrorist groups in Gaza, and is an open-ended inquiry into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

When the bill was first introduced, it had only two co-sponsors — Reps. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) and Joe Wilson (R-SC) — but has picked up support over the past month, with 27 Republican co-sponsors and seven Democrats now having signed on.

Current Democratic co-sponsors include pro-Israel stalwarts, Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Dean Phillips (D-MN), Elaine Luria (D-VA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY).

“The ongoing anti-Israel commission formed by the U.N’s discredited Human Rights Council directly obstructs peace in the Middle East and intentionally targets the only democracy in the region,” Steube said in a statement when he first introduced the legislation. “Our U.S. tax dollars have no place funding an anti-Israel commission.”

Steube also claimed that his legislation “will abolish the commission” — something the U.S. does not have the ability to do unilaterally.

The legislation is also a top priority for AIPAC. As part of its first in-person National Council meeting in Washington, D.C., since the start of the pandemic, AIPAC-affiliated activists are on Capitol Hill this week to lobby more than 300 congressional offices on several measures, including the COI Elimination Act, an individual familiar with the matter told JI.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a House Appropriations Subcommittee earlier this month that the U.S. likely would not have been able to block the establishment of the COI, which is housed in the Human Rights Council, even if it had been a member of the council at the time. (The Trump administration withdrew the U.S. from the Human Rights Council in 2018; the Biden administration rejoined the U.N. body in October 2021.)

Thomas-Greenfield added that the U.S. worked to cut the investigation’s budget by 25%.

AIPAC’s meeting this week also included speeches from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD); House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA); Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Todd Young (R-IN); Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Michael McCaul (R-TX); National Security Council Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk; Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog and United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba.

In addition to the COI bill, AIPAC activists will urge lawmakers to support security assistance to Israel and the Stop Iranian Drones Act.

[immaculatasknight]

Laying out the facts

[thebrightestwitchofherage]

The UN's Official Mission report on Hamas' Sexual Violence in Israel was published

Please take your time to read this. Israeli \ Jewish victims deserve the same protection as any other women.

The brief version can be read here.

----

***I am not going to include any graphic detailing.

The pattern of Sexual Violence used by Hamas is very clear:

It was one of their key goals and tactics on October 7th.

You cannot say "Female Hostages are treated well. you're lying by saying they're raped" anymore!

Notice how they also said **Children**

Civilians were in fact burned inside their homes

This is also clearly a pattern used by Hamas, as this is just one of many examples they detail. -Hamas has also burned soldiers alive in their dorms and offices. That is also further detailed in the report.

This is not fake or propaganda

I can't believe I have to write this but this report is an official report (finally) made by the UN's Sexual Violence Office, as part of their yearly report.

They had a 2-week delegation that toured the actual Kibbutzim (turned crime scenes), interviewed eyewitnesses, spoke to families of victims, etc...

___

I do have to say I was mistaken in my earlier post, besides their conclusion, they have also written their recommendations:

...." V. Conclusions

Overall, based on the totality of information gathered from multiple and independent sources at the different locations, there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred at several locations across the Gaza periphery, including in the form of rape and gang rape, during the 7 October 2023 attacks. Credible circumstantial information, which may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence, including genital mutilation, sexualized torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, was also gathered. 22

With regards to the hostages, the mission team found clear and convincing information that some hostages taken to Gaza have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence and has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing.

The mission team was unable to establish the prevalence of sexual violence and concludes that the overall magnitude, scope, and specific attribution of these violations would require a fully-fledged investigation. A comprehensive investigation would enable the information base to be expanded in locations which the mission team was not able to visit and to build the required trust with survivors/victims of conflict-related sexual violence who may be reluctant to come forward at this point.

Regarding the occupied Palestinian Territory, while its scope did not extend to verification, the mission team received information from institutional and civil society sources as well as through direct interviews, about some forms of sexual violence against Palestinian men and women in detention settings, during house raids and at checkpoints. Though the mission team did not visit Gaza, the Office of the SRSG-SVC will continue to monitor the situation for any relevant allegations of CRSV in the context of the ongoing hostilities. The relevant UN entities present in the occupied Palestinian Territory will provide UN-verified information for reporting to the Security Council on allegations of CRSV, which will be complemented by the information obtained by the mission team.

VI. Recommendations

The mission team makes the following recommendations: a) Continue to encourage the Government of Israeli to grant, without further delay, access to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, to carry-out fully-fledged investigations into all alleged violations that would deepen the preliminary findings contained in the present report. b) Urge Hamas and other armed groups to immediately and unconditionally release all individuals held in captivity and to ensure their protection including from sexual violence, in line with international law. c) Call on all relevant and competent bodies, national and international, to bring all perpetrators, regardless of rank or affiliation, to justice based on individual, superior and command responsibility, in accordance with due process of law and fair trial standards. d) Encourage the Government of Israel to consider signing a Framework of Cooperation with the Office of the SRSG-SVC to strengthen capacity on justice and accountability for CRSV crimes as well as security sector engagement, training, and oversight to prevent and address CRSV. 23 e) Strengthen the capacity of the United Nations to monitor and report on incidents, patterns and trends of CRSV in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territory through the establishment of the Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Arrangements on CRSV (MARA), convened by dedicated technical specialists, namely Women’s Protection Advisors (WPAs), deployed to the region to ensure prevention, protection and coordinated multi-sectoral assistance to survivors/victims. f) Encourage relevant actors to uphold information integrity and ethical, trauma-informed representations of conflict-related sexual violence, including by respecting and safeguarding the dignity and identity of survivors/victims and witnesses of sexual violence, as sensationalizing headlines, media pressure and scrutiny, exposure of identity, political instrumentalization and pressure, and/or fear of reprisal can result in the suppression, silencing and discrediting of survivors/victims and witnesses, further compound trauma and increase the risk of social stigmatization. g) Urge all parties to the conflict to adopt a humanitarian ceasefire, and to ensure that expertise on addressing conflict-related sexual violence informs the design and implementation of all ceasefire and political agreements and that the voices of women and affected communities are heard in all conflict resolution and peacebuilding processes....."

Israelis have been repeatedly saying all of this for months now, while you deny it. I've personally had people tell me it's all "fake propaganda". You should all be ashamed.

I am infuriated at the fact that for 5 months, our evidence and word isn't enough for Anti-Zionists. Here is some undeniable proof for you.

Believe Jewish Women.

[probablyasocialecologist]

An independent United Nations investigation concluded Wednesday that Israel had committed crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza, including the crime of "extermination". "The crimes against humanity of extermination; murder; gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys; forcible transfer; and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were committed," the Commission of Inquiry (COI) said in a report, due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next week. The findings were from two parallel reports, one focusing on the 7 October Hamas-led attack and another on Israel's war on Gaza, published by the COI, which has an unusually broad mandate to collect evidence and identify perpetrators of international crimes committed in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. The reports, which cover the conflict through to end-December, found that both Israel and Palestinian armed group committed war crimes including torture; murder or wilful killing; outrages upon personal dignity; and inhuman or cruel treatment. Israel also committed additional war crimes including starvation as a method of warfare, it said, saying Israel not only failed to provide essential supplies like food, water, shelter and medicine to Palestinians but "acted to prevent the supply of those necessities by anyone else". Some of the war crimes such as murder also constituted crimes against humanity by Israel, the COI statement said, using a term reserved for the most serious international crimes knowingly committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians. "The immense numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza and widespread destruction of civilian objects and infrastructure were the inevitable result of a strategy undertaken with intent to cause maximum damage, disregarding the principles of distinction, proportionality and adequate precautions," the COI statement said. Israel does not cooperate with the commission, which it says has an anti-Israel bias. The COI says Israel obstructs its work and prevented investigators from accessing both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

12 June 2024

[taviamoth]

Updates from @letstalkpalestine:

-

Day 169

‼️ Eyewitness Jamila al-Hisi who escaped besieged Shifa Hospital recounts Israeli soldiers raping, torturing and executing women in the hospital (see video 👇 for details). Israel also executed Dr. Muhammad al-Nono when he refused to abandon his patients

•⁠ 72 Palestinians killed, 114 injured in Gaza in past 24 hours

🏥 5 patients in Shifa killed in ongoing 6-day siege, without water, food & healthcare. Israeli forces used Palestinians as human shields, forcing them to form barriers behind soldiers & military vehicles. Also set fire to homes near Shifa with people inside

•⁠ ⁠Israel massacred 19 aid seekers in north Gaza

•⁠ Israel blocks 2nd UNRWA aid convoy to north Gaza this week. Only 35 aid trucks let into Gaza yesterday

•⁠ ⁠Hamas: Israeli hostage died from “lack of medicine & food” as Israel maintains aid blockade & delays hostage swap

🇺🇸⁠ Biden signs bill into law, cutting funding to UNRWA until March 2025 + to UN Commission of Inquiry which investigates war crimes in Palestine

[astraystayyh]

“The Israeli authority is responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and violation of international humanitarian and humans rights law, extermination, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, murder or willful killing, using starvation as a method of war, forcible transfer, gender persecution targeting palestinian men and boys, sexual and gender based violence amounting to torture and cruel or inhuman treatment”

according to a new report by a United Nations-backed independent commission (Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory) presented to the UN humans rights council on 19/06/2024.

if you still believe in Israel’s right of existence, if you remain neutral during this genocide then you are supporting the extermination of an entire population.

Here is the link to a video made by Samer Attar, an American doctor who was part of an international convoy operating in Gaza. It is graphic, gruesome, heartbreaking, it only covers a fraction of what’s going on in Gaza, but you need to watch it to grasp the horrible inhumane conditions in which Palestinians are living right now.

[allthegeopolitics]

A United Nations commission has accused Israel of conducting “a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s health system” and of committing “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in the Palestinian enclave.  The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Israel and the Palestinian Territories released a report Thursday on the treatment of detainees in Israel and hostages in Gaza since the outbreak of Israel’s war against the militant Hamas group last October.  The U.N. inquiry accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing and torturing medical personnel, of targeting medical vehicles and of limiting permits for patients to leave the besieged Gaza Strip.

Continue Reading

[acti-veg]

how do we know Israel are trying to target civilians? I’m sure you are right but some people will say the civilians are killed by accident trying to kill Hamas

New evidence of unlawful Israeli attacks in Gaza causing mass civilian casualties amid real risk of genocide - amnesty international

Detailed investigation into two Israeli attacks - amnesty international

Unlawful Israeli air strikes - human rights watch

The targeted killings case - international committee of the red cross

Operation protective edge - amnesty international

West Bank strike - BBC

Doctors say children targeted by snipers - guardian

Israeli military accused of targeting journalists and their families - guardian

The high risks of reporting the Israel-Gaza war - committee to protect journalists

Israeli strikes killing 106 civilians apparent war crime - human rights watch

Civilians are the primary victims of increased violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory - UN Commission of Inquiry

This isn’t even the end of it, I stopped here solely because I felt my point was made. This information is easily accessible and the evidence is widespread and overwhelming.

An Israeli study found that 61% of all deaths in air strikes in Gaza are civilians, the civilian proportion of deaths is higher than the average in all world conflicts in the second half of 20th century. That is despite the IOF using modern, highly advanced weapons and accurate targeting systems that are supplied by western powers. Does that sound like an ‘accident’ to you?

[troythecatfish]

UN-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry has uncovered evidence that Israel killed its own civilians on October 7

Sparking outrage, a UN report released on June 12 has revealed evidence that the Israeli army may have employed its infamous "Hannibal Directive", which is an order to kill both Israelis and enemy combatants in order to prevent kidnappings. The same report had also concluded that Israeli forces had carried out systematic sexual abuse against Palestinians.

Source: Mintpress

[good-old-gossip]

I could have told you that back in October 2023 when Israeli Terrorists were and are still posting their warcrimes online for the world to see

A UN commission has found Israeli authorities responsible for carrying out war crimes in Gaza.

The report says Israel is responsible for murder, torture, sexual violence, and forcibly transferring and starving Palestinians.

It says its actions are an intentional and direct attack, on the civilian population in the strip.

Navi Pillay, the chair of the UN's commission of inquiry presented the report's findings to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. 

[notyourtoday]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Middle East Eye (@middleeasteye)

Caption on post -

UN investigator Chris Sidoti lambasted the Israeli army as "one of the most criminal armies in the world" during a press conference discussing a report on abuses that have taken place since the 7 0ctober Hamas attacks and Israel's subsequent war on Gaza. Sidoti sat alongside Navi Pillay, the lead investigator on the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, who added that the report represented the UN's "first in-depth investigation" of those events and the findings would be relied upon as evidence by the Interrnational Criminal Court.

By @middleeasteye on Instagram.

Link to post.

[workersolidarity]

🇵🇸 🚨

HEAD OF UNRWA, PHILIPPE LAZZARINI, ISSUES STATEMENT ON CALLS TO DISMANTLE UNRWA

In statement to the international media, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, called statements from Israel calling for the dismantling of UNRWA "short-sighted" and "deeply concerning".

During a two hour-long briefing with relevant United Nations member-states, Lazzarini discussed the situation in the city of Rafah where Israeli occupation forces plan an immenent invasion of the southern Gaza city.

"Basically, we were talking about the situation in Rafah, which is deeply, deeply concerning and, as you know, people are anxious and in fear of a possible large-scale military operation," Lazzarini said in his statement.

"If this military operation takes place, the question is, 'where will the civilians go?'" Lazzarini asked, adding that there is "no safe place in Rafah anymore."

The largest concern, according to Lazzarini, is that the number of civilians killed and wounded as a result of an Israeli invasion of Rafah could increase significantly, once again, in a conflict where more than 100'000 casualties have been reported and thousands more civilians remain trapped under the rubble of their homes.

Lazzarini pointed to the massive civilian population that's been packed into Rafah city, where a sea of hundreds of thousands of tents have been set up to house nearly 1.3 million displaced Palestinians.

Turning to Israeli and Western countries' demands to dismantle and defund UNRWA, Lazzarini said he discussed the allegations that 12 members of UNRWA staff directly or indirectly participated in the events of October 7th, 2023, when the Palestinian resistance broke free from the outdoor prison that is Gaza to assault Israeli military outposts and illegal settlements.

Lazzarini said he reminded member-states of the actions UNRWA has taken since the accusations surfaced, including the termination of the accused contractors and the initiating of an investigation.

Lazzarini said he called for cooperation in the investigation and reminded members of the utmost importance that the Israeli entity also cooperates "so that we do have more than the allegations which have been shared with me."

Additionally, the UNRWA chief commissioned a review of risk management systems, in particular when dealing with "neutrality issues".

"All these allegations about use of social media, about the tunnel, about weapons, about political affiliation - all this needs to be reviewed to see how proactive the agency is in preventing, first, but [also] once an allegation happens, how do we respond to this?"

The UNRWA Secretary-general said he expects the investigation and review to take place over the next couple of months, adding that it will begin "tomorrow and as an agency, we remain committed to implement[ing] its recommendations."

Lazzarini also brought up Israel's recent allegations that Hamas tunnels were found 20-meters under UNRWA headquarters, pointing to his conversations with member-states in which he called for a board of inquiry.

"We need to look at all the situations where UN premises have been blatantly disrespected," Lazzarini said, adding that "since the beginning of the war, more than 150 of our installations have been hit."

"We know that some installations have been completely destroyed. Hundreds of people have been killed, thousands have been injured, and all this needs to be investigated independently, together with the allegation of a tunnel."

Lazzarini went on to warn about the severe impact of defunding and dismantling the UNRWA, calling the idea "short-sighted" and said the impact would not be only in the short-term.

It's not just weakening our collective ability to respond to the humanitarian crisis at a time, I want to remind, when the ICJ has asked [for] this response to be scaled up. At the same time, calls are here to weaken it," Lazzarini cautioned.

The UNRWA chief warned that the real impact is not only in the now, but is also during what he described as the “transition phase” – the "long in-between days before the end of active military hostilities and the day after, when there is, on the table, a solid political package."

"And we all know that this period can be extremely painful; can be a period of misery. It's a period during which no one really invests in the Gaza Strip," the UNRWA Secretary-general added.

At the same time, Lazzarini warns, nearly half a million girls and boys remain "deeply traumatized" and urgently need to be brought back into the education system.

Lazzarini emphasized UNRWA's role in the Palestinian education system in the Gaza Strip, pointing out that no other administration, NGO's or other UN agency is capable of providing the necessary services like education to hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza.

The UNRWA chief added that if member-states want to give a chance for any future transition to succeed, then it needs to be ensured that the International community has the tools it needs to succeed, and one of the most important tools in existence at this time is UNRWA.

"We [are] a temporary agency which unfortunately has lasted for 75 years because there hasn't been any political solution," Lazzarini told reporters.

"Maybe after this cataclysm which has hit the region in Gaza, it might be time now to generally find a political solution, and it would be a disaster if just before it, we get rid of the mandate and an agency like UNRWA."

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[immaculatasknight]

The slow progress of justice

[girlactionfigure]

🟤 Thu morning - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

▪️NO FAMINE IN GAZA.. there is currently no famine in Gaza, a new report by the key Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) organization has found.  The study found no evidence of deaths from starvation.  (( Now to google “famine in Gaza” and see the hundreds of primary sources and articles repeating the lie - even CNN yesterday. )) https://www.timesofisrael.com/key-food-security-org-finds-no-famine-in-gaza-says-previous-assumptions-wrong/

▪️DESTROYED BUILDINGS IN GAZA.. UN and MSM say 70% of buildings in Gaza destroyed.  Official IDF data: 16% of permanent buildings destroyed, 36% of temporary buildings (like sheds) destroyed.  

▪️LIES ALL THE WAY DOWN.. The 70% figures above on buildings, together with the fake famine, all of which are touted by the mainstream media and the UN on the basis of complete LIES from Hamas - - are also the basis for international outrage, UN condemnations, and the International Court of Justice’s rulings.  It’s LIES all the way down.

▪️NO, YOU CAN’T HAVE BOMBS, YOU MIGHT DEFEND YOURSELF WITH THEM.. The Biden administration made it clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that the shipment of heavy bombs from the United States that was stopped, will not be transferred in full to Israel even after the operation in Rafah is over.

The American concern is that additional arms shipments to Israel will be used to open a front in the north. In an attempt to calm the American administration, an Israeli commitment to diplomatic exhaustion. Accordingly, Israel's commitments to the Americans, in order to receive additional arms shipments, is a negotiation for a political solution in Lebanon at the end of the operation in Rafah and the use of weapons in a "measured" manner in accordance with the US requirement. (N12)

▪️SOCIETY.. as expected, charedi institutions and senior leaders start coming out with statements against conscription following the High Court ruling and Attorney General’s demand the IDF immediately recruit: “the Hasidim of Belz inform you - the Torah students will not be drafted and if, God forbid, they force them to be drafted into the army, all the Rebbe’s and rabbis here will go to jail in their place.”

▪️HOUTHIS STEAL PLANES.. the Houthis have stolen 4 Airbus A330 planes from the Yemen national airline, as well as stealing the maintenance fund for planes from the airline (over $100 million).  Yemen pilgrims are stuck in Saudi Arabia after the Hajj… and what are the Houthis planning with 4 commercial passenger planes?

▪️US ANTI-SEMITISM.. pro-Hamas rioter boardesthe subway in New York and demanded that all Zionists get off, getting in everyones face and demanding to know if they are a Jew.

▪️VICTIMS DEMAND.. Victims of October 7 petition the High Court: "Demand a State Commission of Inquiry”.

▪️PROTEST - ANTI-GOVT.. blocked Highway 2 to traffic on both sides, in the area of ​​Gesher HaBonim.

♦️IDF AIRSTRIKES LEBANON.. once was a 3-story building in Nabatia in southern Lebanon, 2nd strike in the same town.

♦️IDF AIRSTRIKES DAMASCUS AREA, SYRIA.. Sayda Zeinab area (which Iran operates as a shrine and a military post), a building belonging to the "Jhad al-Banaa" institution - (a real estate entity belonging to Iran and Hezbollah) was attacked near the town of Hajira in southern Damascus, and a military radar station was attacked in Tel Tzahan in the al-Savida area in southern Syria. 

♦️COUNTER-TERROR - JENIN.. overnight large security operation.  Firefights, explosives, IED’s (multiple) detonated - INJURIES - multiple helicopter evacs.  17 warriors injured!

[eretzyisrael]

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐲:

Today, #HRW published a long report on the atrocities carried out by the genocidal Gazan terrorists in the #October7masacre.

Under the leadership of the evil Ken Roth, HRW was transformed from a potentially great organization, in to a mouth piece for terror, that promoted the destruction of Israel.

In an attempt to feign neutrality, once in a while, when the reality was already clear to all & could no longer be denied, HRW wrote sporadic reports about the evil terrorists.

They have no honest desire to truly expose the terrorists or to support human rights, their goal is to have a fig leaf they can wave to show their false "bona fides".

So if you do read the report, note the recommendations, such as those supporting the anti-Israel biased UN Commissions of Inquiry, or those supporting the #ICC which had to invent a state and (without jurisdiction) demarcate its borders in order to attack Israel, or those calling on Israel to allow unimpeded access to all the sundry Jew haters.... and the list goes on and on and on.

Notice also the deliberate attempt to draw moral equivalence between Israel and the genocidal terrorists - like including recommendations for the genocidal Hamas terrorists... alongside the recommendations for Israel.

There is nothing innocent in that. It's designed to showcase the HRW promulgated fraud, as if Israel is no less to blame for the situation than the genocidal terrorists.

Early in the morning of October 7, 2023, Sagi Shifroni, 41, like many Israelis living near the Gaza Strip that day, was awakened by sirens. When the attack on Kibbutz Be’eri began, he dashed in his sleepwear with his 5-year-old daughter to his home’s “safe room” or mamad. His wife years earlier had persuaded him to remove the door’s outside handle, so when Palestinian fighters broke into his house at about 11 a.m., they were unable to open the safe room door. Shifroni told Human Rights Watch:

I heard glass breaking and a few seconds later I heard shots fired at the door of the safe room. The door was not bulletproof, so the bullets came through. The whole room filled with the smell of gunpowder and broken cement. … My daughter asked me if they were trying to kill us and I told her, ‘Yes, but they won’t manage.’ They tried to knock the door down for a few minutes but couldn’t. They tried to shoot the hinges.

Shifroni said smoke started seeping through the door:

It was pretty clear that we couldn’t stay here. If we stayed, we would be dead. At this point I decided to get out, it was more like an instinct. I opened the door of the safe room a bit and saw the whole house was on fire, so I turned to the window and opened it. I saw that the whole patio area outside was also on fire.

Shifroni smashed the window glass and pushed the metal shutters open. He wrapped his daughter in a blanket and told her to hold a pillow to her nose and mouth and breathe through it. Then he jumped out, holding her in his arms. His arms, shoulders, back, and face got severely burned. Only at midnight was he able to get to a hospital to treat his burns.

Overview of the October 7 Assault

On the morning of October 7, Palestinian armed groups carried out numerous coordinated attacks including on civilian residences and gatherings and on Israeli military bases in the so-called “Gaza Envelope,” the populated area of southern Israel bordering the Gaza Strip. The armed groups attacked at least 19 kibbutzim and five moshavim (cooperative communities), the cities of Sderot and Ofakim, two music festivals, and a beach party. Community security called kitot konenut, or rapid response teams, and local police tried to resist the attackers until Israeli military forces arrived, often several hours after the assault had begun. The fighting lasted much of that day and, in some cases, longer.

The assault took place on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, when many soldiers were on leave. Palestinian armed groups began the assault with barrages of indiscriminate rockets and projectiles toward Israel. Fighters breached the physical barrier separating Gaza and Israel and then attacked nearby communities. Early in the attacks, the fighters disrupted and destroyed communications and surveillance equipment, leaving Israeli forces unable to develop an accurate picture of the situation.

The largest number of deaths occurred during the attack on the Supernova Music Festival, where at least 364 civilians were killed. Across many attack sites, fighters fired directly at civilians, often at close range, as they tried to flee, and at people who happened to be driving vehicles in the area. They hurled grenades and shot into safe rooms and other shelters and fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at homes. They set some houses on fire, burning and suffocating people to death, and forcing out others who they then captured or killed. They took hundreds hostage for transfer to Gaza or summarily killed them.

Agence France-Presse (AFP), which cross-referenced numerous data sources to verify the number of people killed, has assessed that 815 of a total of 1,195 people killed were civilians, including 79 foreign nationals. Among them were at least 282 women and 36 children. The Palestinian armed groups took hostage 251 civilians and Israeli security forces personnel and brought them back to Gaza following the attack.[1] Those abducted either remain as hostages in Gaza, have been released, or have been killed or died in the ensuing fighting. These are included in the overall death toll.

National and international media outlets detailed many of the atrocities that took place on October 7. Some reports minimized the extent of the abuses, while others included allegations of abuses that were later proven incorrect.

Hamas, the Palestinian movement that has governed the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007, stated that its armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the “Qassam Brigades”), led the assault on October 7. Survivor accounts and publicly available digital material from that day show that many of the fighters wore a combination of black or green uniforms or camouflage, some of which resembled Israeli military uniforms. Some wore distinctive headbands or insignia that identified them as members of Hamas or another armed group. Other armed group members wore civilian attire, although some may have been civilians from Gaza who joined the assault.

Most of the victims of the attacks were Jewish Israelis. However, fighters also killed, wounded, or took hostage Israeli dual nationals, Palestinian citizens of Israel, Palestinians from Gaza, and foreign workers, including Chinese, Filipino, Nepali, Sri Lankan and Thai nationals, and at least one national each from Cambodia, Canada, Eritrea, Germany, Mexico, Sudan, Tanzania, and the United Kingdom.

This report aims to capture the nature and extent of violations of international humanitarian law, known as the laws of war, and serious international crimes committed by Palestinian armed groups across numerous attack sites on October 7. The report also examines the role of different Palestinian armed groups involved, and their coordination before and during the attacks.

Human Rights Watch has extensively reported elsewhere on violations of the laws of war by Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza and on grave human rights abuses and conditions in Gaza, including since October 7.[2]

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Emma Graham-Harrison and Peter Beaumont at The Guardian:

A UN investigation has accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity on and since 7 October, the date of Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel. The allegations were contained in two parallel reports prepared by a commission of inquiry formed in 2021 by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, chaired by the former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay. The first report focused on crimes committed by Palestinian armed groups during the 7 October attack, while the second examined Israel’s culpability in the large-scale deaths of civilians in the subsequent Israeli offensive against Hamas in Gaza. Pillay, a South African legal expert, is viewed with hostility by Israel for her previous criticism of Israel’s human rights record. The reports constitute the first in-depth investigation into the events since 7 October by a UN body. The commission, which has no power to impose any penalties, described serious crimes committed by both sides in the conflict, including by Palestinian armed groups during the attack on Israeli communities near the border with Gaza on 7 October. It accuses Hamas’s military wing and six other Palestinian armed groups – aided in some instances by Palestinian civilians – of killings, torture, sexual violence and systematic kidnapping. “Many abductions were carried out with significant physical, mental and sexual violence and degrading and humiliating treatment, including in some cases parading the abductees,” the report said. “Women and women’s bodies were used as victory trophies by male perpetrators.”

In a statement, the panel said it had identified a pattern of sexual violence by Hamas and concluded that these were not isolated incidents, but similar events occurring in different locations. The report also described the desecration of bodies, including in a sexualised way, as well as decapitations and burning. The commission was equally damning about Israel’s conduct in the war, accusing it of using disproportionate force that amounted to a direct attack on civilians, resulting in a casualty rate “unparalleled across conflicts in recent decades”.

The commission found Israeli authorities “responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity”. The alleged sexual violence by Israeli forces related to the stripping of Palestinian men and boys, pictures of which were made public by Israeli troops, which the report said was “intended to inflict severe humiliation”. The report also accused Israel of the war crime of starvation, saying Israel not only failed to provide essential supplies such as food, water, shelter and medicine to Palestinians, but also “acted to prevent the supply of those necessities by anyone else”.

A pair of UN investigations reveal that BOTH Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during the current iteration of the Israel/Hamas war that began on October 7th, 2023.