“No [é possível] successively hit a caravan of three non-militarized vehicles along a kilometer of road by accident”, said this Tuesday Jeremy Konyndyk, president of the organization Refugees International, reacting to today’s Israeli attack against employees of a human rights organization, in central Gaza: seven civilians distributing food to World Central Kitchen were killed.
“This is only possible by promoting a military culture that treats Gaza as a free fire place, and offering total impunity in cases of attacks on civilians”, added the expert, who was an employee of the Agency for International Development during the Barack Obama administrations. Obama and Joe Biden.
“This is only possible by promoting a military culture that treats Gaza as a free fire place, and offering total impunity in cases of attacks on civilians”, added the expert, who was an employee of the Agency for International Development during the Barack Obama administrations. Obama and Joe Biden.
In fact, Konyndyk criticized his former boss and White House tenant: “President Biden and his advisors know [que Israel não protege vidas civis], but continue to send weapons to Israeli forces. This is the inevitable result of this.”
The victims were from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, a citizen with dual US and Canadian citizenship, and a Palestinian person.
“Nothing can justify these attacks. But nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people in Gaza”, stressed António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, recalling that the invasion of Tel Aviv has killed 196 volunteers since October, including 175 United Nations employees . The Portuguese reinforced the request for a ceasefire.
Hours earlier, the White House spokeswoman lamented the attack and stressed that she will send a “strong message to Israel” calling for the protection of humanitarian workers. However, Washington highlighted the lack of evidence to reject that the attack was intentional – thus supporting Netanyahu’s words.
“Unfortunately, on the last day there was a tragic case in which our forces unintentionally targeted innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” said Israel’s prime minister, promising a thorough investigation – something that countries like the United Kingdom and Canada have already demanded , but conducted independently and not by the Israeli authorities.
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Israel has already destroyed 97% of Palestinian GDP
The Gaza Strip and the remaining occupied Palestinian territories have lost around 97% of the wealth they produced annually since the start of the Israeli attacks in October. The conclusion is from a report published today by the World Bank together with the European Union and the United Nations.
The estimated damage to critical infrastructure in the enclave already amounts to 17.1 billion euros, points out the report, which is the first attempt to account for the consequences of the bombings and fighting carried out in the first three and a half months of the war.
The destruction of housing represents the majority of critical infrastructure destroyed (72%), ahead of health, education, water and electricity equipment (19%), with the remainder relating to commercial and industrial establishments.
Of the 2.2 million people registered in the Gaza Strip before the conflict began, more than one million were left homeless. This number is double the last known estimate, published in December.
As for health equipment, 84% were destroyed or damaged, compared to 60% at the end of 2023. Those that still work have almost no water or electricity to treat the sick or injured – and malnutrition is a problem that affects the entire population.
The running water and sanitation system has been operating at just 5% of its capacity since the beginning of October, and Gaza’s education system has completely collapsed, with all of the territory’s children out of school.
Although half of the road network was destroyed in mid-December, the figure has now risen to 92% of the primary road network, while the telecommunications network is “seriously affected”.
Other news
> According to the Palestinian Minister of Education, Israel has killed more than 6,000 students since the start of the conflict. More than 10,000 were injured, and another 105 were and remain detained.
> The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah announced that it launched several rockets against the Israeli city of Gesher Haziv, about six kilometers from the border with Lebanon. According to the statement from the group close to Hamas, the attack was a response to Israeli actions against villages in southern Lebanon. It is Hezbollah’s fifth attack against Israel in the last 24 hours, and one of the largest since October.
> After the Israeli government promised to end Al Jazeera broadcasting in the country, the television channel defended itself: “Slanders and accusations will not prevent us from continuing our coverage in a bold and professional manner, and we reserve all our rights legal”, said an official source from the Qatari channel, one day after the Knesset approved a law that provides for the censorship of media outlets that are considered “enemies of the state”.
> The European Union criticized censorship: freedom of the press “must be guaranteed everywhere, including in contexts of war”, noted today in a statement the European External Action Service, headed by the EU High Representative for Foreign and of Security, Josep Borrell. At the beginning of the war against Ukraine, Brussels banned the broadcast of Russian channels linked to the Kremlin (Al Jazeera is owned by the state of Qatar, but is an independent body).
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