israeli warcrimes in Gaza reports 2024:
with special thanks to citizen-reporter 'Biba' (Algeria)
April week4 part3 --  April week4 part2 -- April week 4 --  April week 3 2024 --  April - March, 2024
 

 When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.

Sky News - April 25, 2024 - by Dominic Waghorn
<<'They're terrified of the possible results': US considers cutting funds to notorious Israeli army unit
Netzah Yehuda is expected to be singled out by the US government and cut off from American funding, in the first-ever such move against any part of the Israeli military.
US may cut funds to Israeli army unit
The drive into the village of Jiljiliya is not what you expect on the West Bank. Imposing mansions line the route, with grand gates and lavish decorations. That's because this is where Palestinian Americans return to build their dream homes after years of hard work in the land of opportunity.
Like Omar Assad who came back after 45 years in Milwaukee. But for him, retirement was neither long nor happy. It was cut brutally short one freezing night in January 2022.
Middle East latest: Israel to receive billions from massive US aid package
He was returning from a game of cards when he was stopped at a makeshift checkpoint set up by the notorious Israeli army unit, Netzah Yehuda.
The IDF says he did not cooperate so the 78-year-old was detained with force. Mraweh Mahmoud was with him. <They took us down from the car and pushed me by the head,> he told Sky News. <The soldier was standing there and put an M16 in my head and said now I'll shoot you.> Mr Assad was tied up, gagged and blindfolded, Mr Mahmoud said, and forced to lie next to him. When the soldiers eventually left Mr Mahmoud realised Mr Assad was dead.
<I took his jacket off his head, I checked there's no pulse, I shouted Omar, Omar,> he said. Palestinian doctors say Mr Assad died in freezing temperatures of a stress-induced heart attack. An Israeli military report condemned the soldiers' <moral failure and poor decision-making>.
No link between death and soldiers' errors, military prosecutors say. Netzah Yehuda's battalion commander was reprimanded and two officers were dismissed but Israeli military prosecutors decided against pursuing criminal charges because they said there was no link between the errors made by soldiers and Mr Assad's death.
What is the Netzah Yehuda battalion?
But now the unit the soldiers came from could be singled out by the US government and cut off from American funding, in the first-ever such move against any part of the Israeli military. The US State Department could apply the so-called Leahy Law against the unit, which prohibits US assistance to foreign military units guilty of gross human rights violations when their government fails to take sufficient action. However, reports in the Israeli media suggest the US is holding off any decision to sanction the unit while it reviews new information provided by Israel. NBC News reports that the Biden administration is reviewing whether to restrict aid to the battalion.
Why has Netzah Yehuda become infamous?
The Netzah Yehuda battalion was set up to help ultra-orthodox Jews serve in the army. It mixes religion and soldiering. But in its ranks are also elements of extremist settler groups. It has become infamous, implicated in one case of alleged abuse of Palestinians after another, many of which its soldiers have filmed on their own phones. Its soldiers have been prosecuted for human rights violations and accused of unlawful killings, electrocution, torture and sexual assault.
Israel's government has fought a rearguard action against the looming US action.
Its prime minister called the prospect absurd and its defence minister Yoav Galant showed solidarity with the battalion's soldiers this week saying <no one in the world can teach us about morals and values>. But one organisation of ex-soldiers opposed to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories says the Israeli government knows this could be just the beginning of action against its military.
'They're terrified of the possible results'
Ori Givati from the NGO Breaking the Silence told Sky News: <They understand that this might open the Pandora's box of what the occupation really is, and how it looks like to occupy millions with the military. <And if that Pandora's box will be opened and it is starting to open in recent months, I think they're terrified of the possible results because they want to continue to occupy.>
Nazmia, Mr Assad's widow
Back in Jilijilya, Mr Assad's family welcomes reports America will act against the soldiers they blame for his death but say that's not enough - they want them brought to justice too. Nazmia, Mr Assad's widow, said: <God willing it will be good if they do this, but also punish them like what they did with him, arrest them and fire them from their positions.> Update on 26 April: Reports in Israeli media suggest that the US is holding off any decision to sanction the Netzah Yehuda unit while it reviews new information provided by Israel. NBC News reports that the Biden administration is reviewing whether to restrict aid to the battalion.>>
Source:
https://news.sky.com/story/theyre-terrified-of-the-possible-results-us-considers-cutting-funds-to-notorious-israeli-army-unit-13122025

Sky News - April 25, 2024 - by Martha Kelner
<<Dozens arrested in US as student protests over Gaza spread across country
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations at some of the country's most prestigious educational establishments over Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza have intensified. Students are demanding the institutions cut any financial ties to Israel.
Arrests at pro-Palestinian protest
Chaos engulfed campuses across the United States as pro-Palestinian student protests spread to universities across the length and breadth of this country. A movement which started at Columbia University on the east coast has now spread to the north, south and west. At the University of Southern California in Los Angeles at least 93 people were arrested during a volatile three-hour standoff between protesters and the police.
One young woman, wearing an Arab scarf, threw a bottle of water at officers and was tackled to the ground before being handcuffed and taken to a waiting police van. Heavily armed officers were sent to disperse pro-Palestine student activists who are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Others, who had formed a protest circle after police issued a dispersal order, were handcuffed one by one and frogmarched off campus by Los Angeles police officers.
Dozens of people were detained by police
The day had started relatively peacefully as hundreds of students gathered on the main lawn on campus. Police did intervene to remove a number of tents that had been erected, but people holding signs which called for a ceasefire in Gaza soon filled the space. As classes finished for the day, police issued a dispersal order, telling protesters over a loudspeaker that they had 10 minutes to clear the area or they would be arrested. A group of at least 50 students remained, linking arms and chanting, <free, free, Palestine>. Some used a black marker pen to scribble on their arms the number of a helpline to call from prison. <Are you scared of being arrested?> I asked one young woman. <No,> she replied. <I think the children in Gaza are more scared than me.> I asked another why she feels so passionate about taking a stand on a war unfolding more than seven thousand miles away. <We know that we're on the right side of this right now,> she said, <and if we're not going to do this, then who is?>
Los Angeles Police said around 93 people were arrested
The students here say they have two core aims. They are demanding that their university cuts all financial ties with Israel and that their country stops sending them weapons. Amid the peaceful chants are potentially inflammatory songs about the state of Israel.
Campus protests have intensified in recent days
I asked one young man if he is concerned Jewish students may feel threatened and isolated on their own campus. <None of the chants or anything that we've said is inherently antisemitic,> he said, <nor is the call for the liberation of Palestine inherently antisemitic>. As night fell, police here concluded that the best way to end today's standoff was with more force. My team watched as an officer pushed one young man to the floor and another woman was pushed back with a police baton. They may have brought the protests to an end today but there is every chance they will erupt again in the days to come.>>
Source:
https://news.sky.com/story/dozens-arrested-in-us-as-student-protests-over-gaza-spread-across-country-13122497

France 24 - April 26, 2024
<<Egyptian delegation in Israel to reignite Gaza truce talks
A delegation from Egypt arrived in Israel Friday in a bid to reignite stalled negotiations for a ceasefire in the Gaza war including the potential release of hostages, Israeli and Egyptian media reported. The signs of fresh truce talks came alongside Israeli preparations for a military push in Gaza's southern city of Rafah. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
Summary:
Dozens of students at Sciences Po university in Paris gathered for a pro-Palestinian demonstration Friday after police broke up a protest earlier this week. Egypt sent a high-level delegation to Israel on Friday in the hope of reaching a ceasefire agreement. The US military has begun construction of a pier to boost deliveries of desperately needed aid to Gaza, the Pentagon said on Thursday. Between 80,000 and 100,000 Palestinians have crossed into Egypt from Gaza since the start of the war triggered by the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel, the Palestinian ambassador to Cairo said Thursday. A Palestinian civil defence team on Thursday called on the UN to investigate what it said were war crimes at a Gaza hospital, saying nearly 400 bodies were recovered from mass graves after Israeli soldiers departed the complex. At least 34,356 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 77,368 have been injured in Israel's military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that sparked the war and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.>>
Read all here:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240426-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-israel-launches-deadly-strikes-on-rafah

France 24 - April 25, 2024 - By: Vedika BAHL
<<Truth or fake:What we know about the mass graves found at Gaza hospitals
Palestinian authorities are calling for the UN to investigate what they call <war crimes>, after reporting hundreds of bodies found in mass graves around hospitals in Gaza after Israeli raids. Some bodies were reported to have their hands tied or be stripped naked - although Israel calls the claims <baseless>, saying it <examined> bodies buried by Palestinians in a bid to locate its hostages. Vedika Bahl explains what we know so far in this edition of Truth or Fake.>>
Watch the video here:
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/truth-or-fake/20240425-what-we-know-about-the-mass-graves-found-at-gaza-s-hospitals

France 24 - April 25, 2024 - By: NEWS WIRES - Video by: Fraser JACKSON
<<Pro-Palestinian protests spread at US universities as police crack down
Pro-Palestinian protests spread to more college campuses in the United States on Thursday as authorities appeared to be running out of patience and police began to push back forcefully. Pro-Palestinian students at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania march in Philadelphia on April 25, 2024.| Riot officers used chemical irritants and tasers at one university as administrators at some of the country's most prestigious institutions battled to prevent occupations taking hold. Staging sit-ins and mounting boisterous demonstrations, the activists are calling for a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas, as well as for colleges to sever ties with the country and with companies they say profit from the conflict. <For 201 days, the world has watched in silence as Israel has murdered over 30,000 Palestinians,> organisers of a protest at the University of California, Los Angeles said in an online message. <Today, UCLA joins students across the country in demanding that our universities divest from the companies which profit off of the occupation, apartheid and genocide in Palestine.> More than 200 protesters were arrested Wednesday and early Thursday at universities in Los Angeles, Boston and Austin, Texas, where around 2,000 people gathered again on Thursday. At Emory College in Atlanta, photographs showed police wielding tasers as they wrestled with protesters on neatly manicured lawns. The Atlanta Police Department said officers responding to the school's request for help were <met with violence> and used <chemical irritants> in their response. The spreading protests began at Columbia University in New York, where a midnight deadline was approaching for students to remove an encampment that has become the epicenter of the movement.
Free speech?
The protests pose a major challenge to university administrators who are trying to balance campus commitments to free expression with complaints that the rallies have crossed a line. Pro-Israel supporters and others worried about campus safety have pointed to anti-Semitic incidents and allege that campuses are encouraging intimidation and hate speech. <I've never felt more scared to be a Jew in America right now,> said Skyler Sieradsky, a 21-year-old student of philosophy and political science at George Washington University. <There are students and faculty standing by messages of hate, and standing by messages that call for violence.> Student protesters say they are expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where the death toll has topped 34,305, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. Ninety-three people were arrested at the University of Southern California's Los Angeles campus after pro-Palestinian protests erupted across US universities. Demonstrators, who include a number of Jewish students, have disavowed anti-Semitism and criticized officials equating it with opposition to Israel. <People are here in support of Palestinian people from all different backgrounds... (compelled by) their general sense of justice,> a 33-year-old graduate student at the University of Texas, Austin, who said he was Jewish and gave his name as Josh, told AFP. US ally Israel launched its war in Gaza after the Hamas attack on October 7 that left around 1,170 people dead, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Hamas militants also took roughly 250 people hostage. Israel estimates 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 presumed dead.
Coast to coast
At the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, 93 people were arrested for trespassing on Wednesday, and authorities said they were cancelling events at the May 10 graduation ceremony. The ceremony, which usually attracts 65,000 people, made headlines this month when administrators cancelled a planned speech by a top student after complaints from Jewish groups that she had links to anti-Semitic groups. She denied the charge. At Emerson College in Boston, local media reported classes were cancelled Thursday after police clashed with protesters overnight, tearing down a pro-Palestinian encampment and arresting 108 people. In Washington, students from Georgetown and George Washington University (GW) established a solidarity encampment on the GW campus Thursday. Protests and encampments have also sprung up at New York University and Yale -- both of which also saw dozens of students arrested earlier this week -- Harvard, Brown University, MIT, the University of Michigan and elsewhere. California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt said its campus could remain closed into next week due to protesters occupying buildings. On Sunday, US President Joe Biden denounced <blatant anti-Semitism> that has <no place on college campuses.>
(AFP)>>
Source:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240425-more-than-100-arrested-at-us-university-pro-palestinian-protests

France 24 - April 24, 2024 - Video by: Stuart Norval
<<PERSPECTIVE - Amnesty calls for 'unfettered access' to Gaza for human rights investigators
Amnesty International is accusing Israel of a flagrant disregard for international law during its offensive in Gaza. The organisation's annual report says the situation is being compounded by the failures of Israel's allies to stop the indescribable civilian bloodshed being seen in the Palestinian enclave. It is one of the main criticisms in the report, which says the world is seeing a near-breakdown of international law, amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and massive human rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar. In Perspective, we spoke to one of the researchers on the report who worked specifically on the Middle East. Palestinian writer Budour Hassan reiterated Amnesty's call for Israel to allow to human rights investigators and journalists <unfettered access> to Gaza.>>
Watch the video here:
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/perspective/20240424-amnesty-calls-for-unfettered-access-to-gaza-for-human-rights-investigators

France 24 - April 24, 2024 - by Jessica LE MASURIER
<<Pro-Palestinian protests sweep US universities, targeting financial ties with Israel
Students at an increasing number of US universities are gathering in protest camps to demand that their schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies that are enabling its months-long conflict in Gaza. FRANCE 24's New York correspondent Jessica Le Masurier reports from Columbia University, where students have resumed their protest just days after they were evicted by the police. Tensions that had simmered for months kicked into a higher gear last week after more than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia's upper Manhattan campus were briefly detained by police. They included 26-year-old Catherine Elias, who returned to the protest camp following her release. <We sit in the country that not only funds but also manufactures and creates a lot of the bombs that are dropping on Gaza,> said the masters student, referring to US support for Israel throughout the war that has raged in the Palestinian enclave since the October 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
<Every piece of the weaponry that allows this genocide to continue is being funded actively by universities like Columbia through their endowments,> Elias added.>>
Watch the video here:
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240424-pro-palestinian-protests-sweep-us-universities-targeting-financial-ties-with-israel

France 24 - April 24, 2024
<<White House wants 'answers' from Israel on 'disturbing' Gaza mass graves
The White House said Wednesday that it wanted <answers> from Israeli authorities about <deeply disturbing> reports of mass graves at the Gaza Strip's two main hospitals. The statement came as Israeli forces were carrying out <offensive action> across southern Lebanon, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said, without specifying whether ground troops had crossed the border. Read our blog to see how the day's events in the Middle East unfolded.
Summary:
The White House said Wednesday that it wanted <answers> from Israeli authorities about <deeply disturbing> reports of mass graves at the two main hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Gaza's civil defence agency said Tuesday that workers had uncovered hundreds of bodies allegedly killed and buried by Israeli forces. Israeli forces are carrying out <offensive action> across southern Lebanon, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday without specifying whether ground troops had crossed the border. US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed foreign aid legislation that includes $26 billion in wartime aid to Israel and humanitarian relief for Gaza. Israel thanked the US Senate for first approving the legislation, which includes $13 billion in military aid. The head of Amnesty International said the post-World War II order is on the <brink of collapse>, in particular due to US efforts to shield Israel from scrutiny for violations committed in Gaza. At least 34,183 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 77,143 have been injured in Israel's military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that sparked the war and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.>>
Read all here:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240424-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-us-senate-approves-bill-that-includes-26-billion-for-israel-and-gaza

France 24 - April 23, 2024 - By Catalina Marchant de Abreu
<<Truth or fake: No, Netanyahu did not unveil a plan to rebuild settlements in Gaza
Statements made by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on April 17 have been miscaptioned on a viral video circulating on X, in which some users claim that the Israeli premier announced a $5 billion plan to construct new settlements <in> Gaza. We explain what Netanyahu really said in this edition of Truth or Fake.>>
Watch the video here:
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/truth-or-fake/20240423-benjamin-netanyahu-unveils-plans-to-rebuild-settlements-surrounding-the-gaza-strip

France 24 - April 23, 2024 - By NEWS WIRES
<<Top French far-left MP Mathilde Panot summoned by police over Hamas comments
The leader of far-left MPs in the French parliament was on Tuesday summoned for questioning by police in an investigation into suspected justification of <terrorism> over comments on the October 7 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel. Mathilde Panot heads the lower house of the parliament faction of the France Unbowed (LFI) party, which has been repeatedly accused by opponents of failing to clearly condemn the attack by Hamas. The LFI - which is now France's strongest political force on the left – has in turn lashed out at what it sees as an erosion of free speech and accused Israel of committing <genocide> against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Panot said it was the first time in the history of modern France that a head of a parliamentary faction <was summoned on such serious grounds>. <I am warning about this serious exploitation of justice aimed at suppressing political expression,> she said. On October 7, the LFI group in parliament published a text which sparked controversy because it described the Hamas attack as <an armed offensive by Palestinian forces> that occurred <in a context of intensification of the Israeli occupation policy> in the Palestinian territories. The LFI's firebrand figurehead and former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon described the summons an <unprecedented event in the history of our democracy>, accusing the authorities of <protecting a genocide>. Last week, two conferences by Melenchon on the situation in the Middle East were cancelled in Lille, first at the university then in a private room. Hamas fighters and other Palestinian militants poured across the border with Israel on October 7 in an unprecedented attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. About 250 people were abducted to Gaza during the attack, of whom 129 remain in the Palestinian territory. Israel says 34 of them are dead. In retaliation for the Hamas attack, Israel launched a relentless military offensive that has so far killed at least 34,183 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the besieged Hamas-run territory.
(AFP)>>
Source:
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20240423-top-french-far-left-mp-mathilde-panot-summoned-by-police-over-hamas-comments

France 24 - April 23, 2024 - By Sebastian SEIBT
<<'An Israeli-style Wagner Group': The ultra-Orthodox military unit in Washington's crosshairs
For the first time, the United States is expected to impose sanctions on an Israeli military unit. The Netzah Yehuda Battalion, initially set up to accommodate Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews but which quickly expanded to become a popular unit for radical right-wing settlers, has over the years been accused of a series of human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank. The first word of the prospective sanctions emerged over the weekend when several Israeli and American news outlets reported that the Biden administration was gearing up to sanction Netzah Yehuda. Citing three unnamed US sources <with knowledge of the issue>, news website Axios said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was expected to announce the unprecedented move against the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) <within days>. The sanctions relate to human rights abuses committed by the unit in the West Bank prior to Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, it said.
'A unit every army should be ashamed of'
The news sparked angry reactions in Israel. <The IDF must not be sanctioned!> Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wrote in a post on X, describing the prospect of the sanctions as <the height of absurdity and a moral low> at a time when Israeli forces are fighting a war in Gaza against Hamas.
Benny Gantz, Netanyahu's political rival and a key centrist minister in Israel's war cabinet, responded in a similar manner: <We have great respect for our American friends, but imposing sanctions on the unit is a dangerous precedent and sends the wrong message to our shared enemies at a time of war.> One of the main reasons for the anger is that the US would need to invoke the 1997 Leahy Laws to sanction the battalion. Leahy has previously been used to blacklist Indonesian military units accused of kidnapping and murdering political activists, as well as members of the Pakistani army involved in assassination campaigns in Afghanistan. <Sanctions on an IDF unit is a terrible stain on the Israeli Defence Forces. If you look at the groups [previously targeted by] US sanctions you will see that it is not going to be good company for the IDF to be part of,> Ahron Bregman, a political scientist and an expert on the Israel-Palestinian conflict at King's College in London, said, adding <the Israelis will fight hard to try and prevent it>. He noted, however, that even though the Netzah Yehuda is an integral part of the IDF, it is <a unit every army should be ashamed of>. <My fellow Israelis will hate me saying it but Netzah Yehuda is a sort of an Israeli-style Wagner Group,> he said. Omri Brinner, an Israeli analyst and specialist in Middle East geopolitics at the International Team for the Study of Security Verona (ITSS), said it was a bold comparison. <It's not some private military group fighting for money. They are an integral part of IDF.> But the Netzah Yehuda is no ordinary unit. Created in 1999, it was initially set up to accommodate ultra-Orthodox Jews into the army by allowing them time to maintain their religious practices and limiting interactions with female soldiers. Israel's ultra-Orthodox community is normally exempt from the state’s strict military service. Over the years, the unit's special status and benefits - it has a dedicated rabbi and its members have time set aside for prayers - has generated heated debate in Israel, with some criticising the special treatment it has been accorded.
An explosive mix of ultra-Orthodox and radical settlers
Brinner noted that since Netzah Yehuda's creation, the unit has also morphed into <something different> from the ideal of the <army for all> it was intended to be. Especially after few ultra-Orthodox Jews, despite the perks, showed any willingness to join. To remedy this, the unit began recruiting beyond the ultra-Orthodox circles. <Some of them were hardcore settlers who found opportunity to serve in West Bank were they lived and be given legitimacy to exert their power over Palestinians,> Brinner explained. In a 2022 investigative report into the abuse claims against Netzah Yehuda, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) wrote that <one of the most controversial decisions surrounding the group was to limit service to the West Bank>.
Since then, the number of incidents involving the unit have piled up. <Netzah Yehuda, with just 500 soldiers in the battalion, has the highest conviction rate of any unit in the Israeli military for offences against Palestinians since 2010,> the WSJ wrote, citing the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din. Speaking to former members of the unit, Israeli daily Haaretz reported how radical settlers started to view the unit as <their own> battalion against Palestinians. <We would go out on routine operations in the villages and suddenly one of the guys would throw a stun grenade at a home or a passing car. It's usually just for laughs and because of stories they've heard about what battalion veterans have done,> a former Netzah Yehuda soldier told the newspaper. This explosive mix of ultra-Orthodox Jews and radical right-wing settlers meant that the unit for a long time was limited to the West Bank: Deploying it near the Lebanese border or the outskirts of Gaza was deemed too dangerous. But according to some Israeli media, the unit has been fighting inside Gaza since January 2024. <It was a risky bet. When you have people like that, it's better to have them with you and be able to control them to some degree,> Brinner said.
The US investigation
The Netzah Yehuda Battalion went too far on 12 January 2022, however, even by US standards. This is when 78-year-old Omar Assad was detained by Netzah Yehuda soldiers and died of a heart attack. His body was later found abandoned at a building site. The problem was that Assad had dual Palestinian-American citizenship - and the US State Department opened an investigation into the matter. Israel dismissed two officers over the incident and reprimanded the batallion commander but never opened a criminal investigation. According to prosecutors, there was no link between the errors made by the unit’s soldiers and Assad's death. At the end of 2022, the unit was redeployed to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in Syria, near the Lebanon border. <The decision was taken too late to move them out of the West Bank,> Brinner said.
The threatened US sanction would thus conclude the investigation into Assad’s death.
<The problem has been known for years. But it takes time for the US to investigate. They [the Americans] also looked for an opportunity to release the decision. So, on the one hand, [financial] support was offered to the Israelis by the Senate. And the other end of the stick is a forthcoming decision to impose sanctions on this unit probably,> Bregman said. And it's no tiny stick Israel is facing. If sanctioned, the Netzah Yehuda would no longer be allowed to use American equipment, including weapons and ammunition. This means IDF will either have to disband it or place it on standby until the sanctions are lifted. But mostly, it would be an enormous blow to the Israeli government. <It is a clear message from the Americans to the Israelis that the latter are not doing enough to investigate unlawful actions taken by troops, and when the Israelis do investigate, the punishment is too light,> Bregman said.
This article was adapted from the original in French.>>
Source:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240423-netzah-yehuda-the-israeli-ultra-orthodox-military-unit-in-washington-crosshairs

France 24 - April 22, 2024
<<UN calls for international probe into reports of mass graves at Gaza hospitals
The United Nations called Tuesday for an international investigation into reports of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals destroyed in Israeli sieges, saying war crimes may have been committed. Gaza's civil defence agency said Tuesday that health workers had uncovered nearly 340 bodies of Palestinians allegedly killed and buried by Israeli forces at the Nasser Medical Complex. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
Summary:
Hezbollah announced two of its members had been killed by Israeli fire Tuesday, with the Israeli army saying it eliminated <two significant> members of the Iran-backed group in south Lebanon. UN rights chief Volker Turk said on Tuesday that he was <horrified> by the destruction of the Nasser and Al Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and reports of mass graves discovered there. The head of Israeli military intelligence, Major General Aharon Haliva, has resigned and will leave once a successor is appointed, the military said in a statement on Monday. Haliva is the first senior figure to step down over Hamas's attack on October 7. At least 34,183 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 77,143 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that sparked the war and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.>>
Read all here:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240423-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-us-senate-to-vote-on-wartime-aid-package-for-israel-gaza-hamas-war

France 24 - April 22, 2024
<<Israel carries out new air strikes on Gaza after military intelligence chief resigns
Israel's military intelligence chief has resigned after taking responsibility for failures leading to the Hamas attack on October 7, the military said on Monday, as Israel carried out more shelling in war-battered Gaza. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
Summary:
The head of Israeli military intelligence, Major General Aharon Haliva, has resigned and will leave once a successor is appointed, the military said in a statement on Monday. Haliva is the first senior figure to step down over Hamas's attack on October 7. Israeli leaders on Sunday harshly criticised an expected decision by the US to impose sanctions on a unit of ultra-Orthodox soldiers in the Israeli military. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel will increase <military pressure> on the Palestinian militant group Hamas in a bid to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza.
Gaza's civil defence said Sunday dozens of bodies had been found buried at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis that was previously raided by Israel. At least 34,151 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 77,084 have been injured in Israel's military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that sparked the war and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.>>
Read all here:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240422-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-netanyahu-vows-to-reject-any-us-sanctions-on-army-battalions

France 24 - April 22, 2024 - by NEWS WIRES
<<Israel has yet to provide proof of terrorism at UNRWA despite 'neutrality' issues
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - An independent review group on the UN agency for Palestinians found some <neutrality-related issues,> its much-anticipated report said Monday, but noted Israel had yet to provide evidence for incendiary allegations that staff were members of terrorist organisations. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) remains <irreplaceable and indispensable to Palestinians' human and economic development> added the 54-page report, which was led by French diplomat Catherine Colonna. The review group was created following allegations made by Israel in January that some UNRWA staff may have participated in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks. In the weeks that followed, numerous donor states suspended or paused some $450 million in funding. Many have since resumed funding, including Sweden, Canada, Japan, the EU and France - while others, including the United States and Britain - have not. Congress passed a bill signed into law by President Joe Biden last month that blocks US funding until March 2025. The freezes to the main aid agency in Gaza come as months of Israeli military operations have turned the territory into a <humanitarian hellscape,> UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said recently, with its 2.3 million people in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medicine. Colonna's team was tasked with assessing whether UNRWA was <doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality,> while Guterres activated a second investigation to probe Israel's allegations. Despite a framework for ensuring it upheld the humanitarian principle of neutrality, the review found that <neutrality-related issues persist,> including staff sharing biased political posts on social media and the use of a small number of textbooks with <problematic content> in some UNRWA schools. But it added <Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence> for its claim that UNRWA employs more than 400 <terrorists.> Israel responded by saying that <the Colonna report ignores the severity of the problem, and offers cosmetic solutions that do not deal with the enormous scope of Hamas' infiltration of UNRWA.> UNRWA itself welcomed the findings and Guterres said he accepted its recommendations.
Social media posts
The review found that the majority of neutrality breaches related to social media posts, often following incidents of violence affecting colleagues or relatives. <One preventive action could be to ensure that personnel are given space to discuss these traumatic incidents,> said the report, which was co-authored with three Nordic rights groups. It praised the progress made by UNRWA in preventing biased texts from being used in its schools, which are critical to educating hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children. But it cited a recent assessment that found 3.85 percent of textbook pages contained content of concern. These included <the use of historical maps in a non-historical context, e.g. without labeling Israel> referring to Israel as the <Zionist occupation> and <naming Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.> The authors also identified concerns over the politicisation of staff unions, which have <resisted management disciplinary actions> including on neutrality, and are male-dominated, despite the agency itself being gender-balanced. They offered a number of recommendations including expanding the review of school texts, increasing meetings with donors to improve transparency, and increasing the number of senior international staff working in the field. But dismantling UNRWA, as sought by Israel, would accelerate Gaza's slide into famine and doom generations of children to despair, the organization's head Philippe Lazzarini warned last week.
UNRWA began operations in 1950 and provides services to nearly 6 million people across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
(AFP) >>
Source:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240422-neutrality-issues-found-at-un-agency-for-palestinians-but-no-terrorism-proof

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