365 days into what the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has labeled as genocide, the Israeli government has killed over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, 16,500 of whom are children. In the occupied West Bank, Israel’s army has killed over 700 Palestinians, over 160 of which were children. AP News reported that approximately 90% of Gazan residents have been displaced by Israel’s military brigade. These figures are current as of Oct. 6, 2024 according to data gathered by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
According to Al Jazeera, every hour, “15 people are killed … 35 people [are] injured … 42 bombs are dropped … [and] 12 buildings are destroyed.” On Sept. 27, 2024, Israel targeted Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the only functioning medical facility in central Gaza that has been treating thousands of patients since Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel has repeatedly attacked medical facilities in Gaza, which the ICJ has identified as a violation of the Geneva Convention. The 1949 Geneva Convention is a set of rules that govern how civilians and soldiers should be treated during war, stating that “civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.” The Human Rights Watch reported, “The Israeli government should immediately end unlawful attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and other civilian objects, as well as its total blockade of the Gaza Strip, which amounts to the war crime of collective punishment”
On Oct. 6, 2024, according to an Al Jazeera correspondent on the ground in Gaza, Israeli forces bombed a mosque in central Gaza, killing at least 21 Palestinians and wounding dozens more; the final death and injury toll from this attack has yet to be determined.
After ICJ’s ruling that Israel must halt all military offensive operations, Israel’s military brigade has continued.
Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Yemen
Since Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, Israel has launched a series of attacks in Lebanon, killing over 1,400 people; these attacks. According to Reuters, Israel has rejected the United States (US) and France’s immediate 21-day ceasefire plan for Lebanon and has vowed to continue attacks on Lebanon and Palestine until, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “total victory.”
According to AP News, nearly 375,000 people have fled Lebanon to Syria; hundreds of refugees were seen crossing the Masnaa Border on foot, trudging over the rubble and craters left by Israeli airstrikes.
In response to the attacks against Palestine and Lebanon, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired missiles at three military bases in Tel Aviv, Israel. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed that these attacks were a “decisive response” to Israeli aggression. The US and Israel reported that together, they shot down a majority of the 180 ballistic missiles fired; only a few hits were reported, and two Israelis were injured from falling shrapnel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear that Iran “will pay” for these attacks, with Israel’s envoy to the United Nations (UN), Danny Danon, stating, “As we have previously made clear to the international community, any enemy that attacks Israel should expect a severe response.”
US President Joe Biden has pledged his “ironclad” support for Israel as they continue their attacks on Palestine, Lebanon and now Yemen. The BBC reported that the US and Israel are currently discussing responses to the Iranian attack and have threatened to attack Iran’s oil infrastructure and oil production facilities.
In Yemen, as reported by Al Jazeera the Israeli military has employed similar tactics, stating that they used dozens of military aircrafts to attack power plants and seaports, which Israel alleges are “used to import oil for military use by the Houthi terrorist regime.” Israel’s attacks in Yemen have killed at least four people: one port worker and three electrical engineers. Large scale power outages have also been reported by Al Jazeera as an aftermath of the attack; the full effects of these latest attacks have yet to be determined, they certainly will negatively impact civilians in the regions.
Over the past two weeks, Israel has attacked Lebanon, attacked Yemen and raided and ceased operations of Al Jazeera’s newsroom in Palestine.
The ICJ ruling that Israel violated the Geneva Convention:
The ICJ ruled on July 19, 2024 that Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is illegal, mandating Israel to end its unlawful “occupation [of Palestine], dismantle its settlements, provide full reparations to Palestinian victims and facilitate the return of displaced people.”
Following this ruling, on May 20, 2024, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan filed applications for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Dian Ibrahim Al-Masri and Ismail Haniyeh.
Netanyahu and Gallant, according to the application for arrest, “bear criminal responsibility … for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza Strip) from at least 8 Oct. 2024.”
Some of the crimes recounted in the arrest warrant include, “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare,” “willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health,” “willful killing,” “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime,” “extermination and/or murder,” “persecution as a crime against humanity” and “other inhumane acts are crimes against humanity.”
Israel illegally shut down Al Jazeera’s newsroom in the occupied West Bank:
Israeli soldiers, on Sept. 22, 2024, raided the Al Jazeera offices in Ramallah, Palestine, ordering them to cease operations for 45 days. The raid, broadcasted live by Al Jazeera, showed Israeli troops tearing down a banner of Shireen Abu Ahleh, a prominent Palestinian-American journalist who was killed while covering an Israeli raid of the occupied West Bank. Israeli military officials acknowledged the raid and, according to AP News, alleged that Al Jazeera was being used to “incite terror” and “support terrorist activities.”
Al Jazeera’s Ramallah offices are located in Palestinian territory, per the 1993 Oslo Accords, the order to shut down the newsroom came from the Israeli Military, who does not have legal jurisdiction in the area. Following the forced closure of their newsroom, Al Jazeera has continued their coverage of Gaza through the team of journalists reporting on the ground in Gaza. Since Oct. 7, 2023, Al Jazeera has maintained 24-hour coverage of the war on Gaza.
Amidst this coverage, as of Oct. 4, 2024, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Israeli military has killed over 128 journalists and media workers in Gaza. CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna stated, “Since the war in Gaza started, journalists have been paying the highest price – their lives – for their reporting. Without protection, equipment, international presence, communications, or food and water, they are still doing their crucial jobs to tell the world the truth … Every time a journalist is killed, injured, arrested, or forced to go to exile, we lose fragments of the truth. Those responsible for these casualties face dual trials: one under international law and another before history’s unforgiving gaze.”