NEW YORK: An independent UN human rights expert has condemned the “unlawful and heartless” actions of Israeli authorities in repeatedly demolishing homes belonging to the Palestinian Bedouin community of Humsa Al-Baqai’a, in the occupied West Bank.
Michael Lynk, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, called on the Jewish state to “immediately halt its property demolitions” there, return to full compliance with international humanitarian and human-rights obligations, and “provide protection for, rather than displacement of, the protected population.”
He urged the international community “to take meaningful accountability measures to ensure that Israel complies with its legal obligations.”
Noting that “criticism without consequences has rarely reversed illegal Israeli conduct in the past,” he added that “accountability has to rise to the top of the international community’s agenda. Only by imposing an escalating cost to Israel’s illegal occupation will there be the prospect that these injustices will end.”
Special rapporteurs are independent experts who serve in individual capacities, and on a voluntary basis, at the UN’s Human Rights Council. They are not members of UN staff and are not paid for their work.
Israeli forces demolished properties in the Palestinian Bedouin community of Humsa Al-Baqai’a in the Jordan Valley on July 7. The destroyed buildings included makeshift homes and farming facilities provided by the international community, including the EU, which has helped residents rebuild after previous demolitions.
It was the seventh time the village has been demolished since November 2020, when it was razed by the Israeli military. In addition to more than 70 shelters and farming structures — rebuilt by the international community after the first demolition — the latest round of demolitions also targeted 11 households. About 70 residents, including 35 children, were left without shelter in the sweltering heat, and their belongings, including food, water and clothing, were confiscated.
Under the Oslo Accords, the Jordan Valley, which makes up about 60 percent of the occupied West Bank, is classified as “Area C,” which means it is completely under Israeli military and civil control. Humsa Al-Baqai’a is mostly in an area designated as a “firing zone” for Israeli military training, and residency or access by Palestinians is prohibited.
Lynk warned of a high risk of forcible relocation of the Bedouin community from the area, which he said would be “a grave breach and a potential war crime.”
“These (herding) communities are extremely vulnerable, both because they have limited access to water, sanitation, education and electrical power, and because the Israeli military has seized large swaths of their traditional lands for military firing zones,” he added.
He contrasted the plight of this Palestinian community with “the illegal Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley (which) are left undisturbed by the military.
“This progressive seizure of Palestinian lands, together with the protection of the settlements, is a further consolidation of Israel’s de facto annexation of the West Bank,” Lynk said.
Since the start of this year, according to UN figures, Israel has destroyed at least 421 Palestinian-owned properties across the West Bank, displacing 592 people, including 320 children.
Israeli demolition of Bedouin homes in West Bank ‘unlawful and heartless,’ says UN expert
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Israeli demolition of Bedouin homes in West Bank ‘unlawful and heartless,’ says UN expert
- Special rapporteur Michael Lynk also warned that a forcible relocation of the Palestinian Bedouins from Humsa Al-Baqai’a would be a ‘war crime’
- He urged the international community ‘to take meaningful accountability measures to ensure that Israel complies with its legal obligations’
Generation of Gazan children could bear famine scars for years
- The world’s biggest academic association of genocide scholars has said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
- More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military in the last 23 months, according to local health officials
LONDON: Famine has left its mark on the bodies of Gaza’s children: sunken eyes in wasted faces, sparse hair, prominent ribs, dry skin and a joyless apathy. It has also taken scores of lives.
For those who survive, the physical and mental burden of hunger and nearly two years of relentless war and displacement will likely scar their bodies and brains, affecting their future health and potential, experts say.
Marina Adrianopoli, the World Health Organization’s technical lead for nutrition for the Gaza response, said global studies showed a range of “long-term effects and irreversible damages” if a child does not get enough food in the first year of life — especially if combined with trauma and stress.
Memory, language, learning and productive capacity could all be affected.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Global hunger monitor says Gaza City suffering famine
• Children risk long-term physical, mental effects
• More than 20,000 children killed in Gaza so far
“If the percentage of children affected by acute malnutrition or chronic malnutrition is high, there is the risk of an entire generation being permanently affected with long- lasting impacts on physical growth and socio-economic potential, not to mention the trauma and stress, which may last forever,” she said in an interview from Geneva.
Marko Kerac, clinical associate professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said children were vulnerable to the worst long-term effects because their organs are still developing.
“There are epigenetic switches, (or) changes to our genes, which are either switched off or on in those critical early years, and that’s why the very youngest, especially in the first 1,000 days, are affected,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“In many studies of survivors of famine or early malnutrition, we see increased risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol (and) paradoxically a greater risk of overweight or obesity, and there are also mental health effects.”
Health officials in Gaza say 370 people, including 131 children, have died of malnutrition and starvation caused by acute food shortages, mostly in recent weeks.
COGAT, the Israeli defense agency that deals with humanitarian issues, said on Sunday that over the past week aid from more than 1,900 trucks, most supplying food, was distributed.
Aid agencies and foreign officials say more is needed.
On Sunday, a top UN official said there is a “narrow window” to prevent famine from spreading further and called on Israel to allow unimpeded aid delivery.
According to a global hunger monitor, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are already experiencing or at risk of famine in areas including Gaza City, where Israel has launched a new offensive against the militant group Hamas.
Acute malnutrition weakens the immune system, leading to more infections like diarrhea and pneumonia, which can be fatal, especially without access to safe drinking water and functioning health systems.
Malnutrition also affects the body’s ability to recover from injuries, like those inflicted by Israel’s attacks on people queuing at aid distribution points.
“We have something called an infection-malnutrition vicious cycle, and people who are even mildly malnourished, especially over longer periods, will become more vulnerable,” said Kerac.
“Even when children recover to the normal weight, they are still at a much greater risk of mortality and infections and also poor development ... so they carry that risk into the months and even a year or two after malnutrition.”
Kerac cited studies into the Dutch Winter Hunger at the end of World War Two that found a link between pre-natal micronutrient deficiencies and neurodevelopmental schizophrenia or related personality disorders.
’CRUEL, DEPRAVED’ WAR
More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military in the last 23 months, according to local health officials.
Israel began its assault on Gaza after Oct. 7, 2023, when gunmen led by Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
On Saturday, Save the Children said more than 20,000 children had been killed in the conflict, the equivalent of one child killed every hour on average.
It cited data released by the government media office in Gaza, which said about 2 percent of Gaza’s child population had now been killed, including at least 1,009 children under the age of 1. Thousands more are missing or presumed buried under rubble.
“This war is a cruel, depraved and deliberate war on the children of Gaza and their future, a generation stolen,” Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe said in a statement.
“If the international community does not step up, we are facing the very real risk of the total annihilation of future Palestinian communities,” he added.
The world’s biggest academic association of genocide scholars has said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Adrianopoli said nearly a third of the population in Gaza is “facing catastrophic conditions.”
The rate of deterioration in Gaza has been particularly shocking, when compared to other cases of famine in Sudan, South Sudan and Yemen, Adrianopoli said.
In those cases, rates of acute malnutrition were often already high before a crisis. However in Gaza, the rate of acute malnutrition was below 1 percent before the Israeli assault, she said, making the situation there “unprecedented.”
Gaza’s malnourished children need ready-to-use therapeutic and supplementary food, and babies may need therapeutic formula. Those with severe acute malnutrition need medical treatment in hospital — but all of this is lacking.
Adrianopoli said that after nearly two years of war, “people are exhausted, their physical reserves are depleted and this is confirmed by the increasing number of reported nutrition-related mortality and reports from medical doctors of the inability of trauma patients to heal from their wounds.”
‘No drones’ detected after Gaza aid flotilla says hit: Tunisia national guard
- Tunisia’s National Guard spokesman told Mosaique FM radio that reports of a drone attack on the flotilla “have no basis in truth,” adding that an initial inspection indicated the explosion originated inside the vessel
- The United Nations declared a state of famine in parts of Gaza, warning that 500,000 people face “catastrophic” conditions
- The flotilla is an international initiative seeking to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza via civilian boats supported by delegations from 44 countries
SIDI BOU SAID, Tunisia: The organizers of a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and pro-Palestinian activists said late Monday that one of their boats was hit by a suspected UAV but Tunisian authorities said “no drones” had been detected.
The flotilla, which aims to deliver aid to Gazans in defiance of Israel’s blockade, arrived in Tunisia over the weekend and was anchored 50 miles from the port of Sidi Bou Said when it reported the incident.
“The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) confirms that one of the main boats... was struck by what is suspected to be a drone,” the organizers said on social media, adding no one had been hurt.
The boat was in Tunisian waters when a fire broke out onboard and was quickly extinguished, according to an AFP journalist who arrived shortly after the flames had been doused.
Houcem Eddine Jebabli, a spokesman for Tunisia’s national guard, said their investigation was “ongoing” but “no drones have been detected.”
“According to preliminary findings, a fire broke out in the life jackets on board a ship anchored 50 miles from the port of Sidi Bou Said,” he said.
Reports of a drone are “completely unfounded,” the national guard said in a statement on its official Facebook page, suggesting that the fire may have been caused by a cigarette.
The Global Sumud Flotilla describes itself as an independent group not linked to any government or political party. Sumud means “resilience” in Arabic.
Among its high-profile participants is Greta Thunberg, who addressed pro-Palestinian campaigners in Tunisia on Sunday.
Israel has already blocked two attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza, in June and July.
The United Nations declared a state of famine in parts of Gaza, warning that 500,000 people face “catastrophic” conditions.
Israel strikes in vicinity of three Syrian cities, Syrian media say
- Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli airstrikes as “a blatant infringement” of its sovereignty and regional stability, saying in a statement on Tuesday they were part of an ongoing series of escalations pursued by Israel against Syrian territory
DAMASCUS: Israel struck in the vicinity of Syria’s central Homs city, the coastal city of Latakia, and the historic city of Palmyra, Syrian state-affiliated media said on Monday.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli airstrikes as “a blatant infringement” of its sovereignty and regional stability, saying in a statement on Tuesday they were part of an ongoing series of escalations pursued by Israel against Syrian territory.
Syrian media did not elaborate on the size or the impact of the reported strikes.
Israel has for years waged a campaign of aerial bombardment that destroyed much of the country’s military infrastructure, and this has ramped up since the Israeli war in Gaza. Israel and Syria have recently engaged in US-mediated talks on de-escalating the conflict in southern Syria.
Survivors tell of terrifying escape from Sudanese city
TAWILA, Sudan: Amid the intensifying siege of El-Fasher, Sudan’s last army-held city in Darfur, thousands are fleeing a 70-km treacherous trail to Tawila, littered with the bodies of those who perished from hunger, thirst, and violence.
The Rapid Support Forces have encircled the city since May 2024, launching their deadliest assault yet and trapping 260,000 civilians inside.
Nazer Muhana Ali, 20, and his family escaped after an RSF drone strike killed his father.
Ali drank rainwater to stay alive. For four days, Ali trudged through the scrubland west of El-Fasher, his family at his side, beaten and robbed along the way.
“It was extremely tough because of hunger and thirst,” he said. “We had nothing but ombaz to eat.”
Ombaz, a bitter peanut husk meant for animals, was all that kept them going as they fled Sudan’s last army-held city in Darfur.
El-Fasher has been under siege for more than 500 days. The only escape is a 70-km trail west to Tawila, a path littered with the bodies of those who did not make it.
Another survivor Adel Ismail Ahmed, 24, said he was in Abu Shouk camp, a few kilometers north of El-Fasher, when “a shell fell directly on our house.”
“My brother and I were inside. My hand was broken, and it still has shrapnel in it. My brother was hit in the neck and chest.”
With fighting intensifying, Ahmed decided to flee.
Mohammed Siddig, 28, also fled Abu Shouk after weeks of bombardment and hunger. “The pressure became too much,” he said. “Life was so tough.”
Police use pepper spray at opposition’s Istanbul offices as court-appointed leadership arrives
- The CHP has strongly denied allegations of corruption, saying the accusations are politically motivated and part of a broader effort to undermine the party’s growing influence
ISTANBUL: Police used pepper spray inside the Istanbul headquarters of Turkiye’s main opposition party to disperse dozens of party officials Monday, clearing the way for a court-appointed interim chairman to enter the building amid fierce protests over his appointment, party officials said.
Riot police also scuffled with supporters of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, who had assembled at locations close to the offies in defiance of a temporary ban on public gatherings and a police blockade of its local branch.
The police raid came amid an intensifying crackdown on the CHP, including municipalities run by the party, over alleged corruption, which has led to several arrests, including that of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. The deposed mayor is widely regarded as the leading challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s two-decade rule, and his arrest in March sparked the largest protests Turkiye has seen in over a decade.
Last week, an Istanbul court suspended the CHP’s provincial leadership, citing alleged irregularities in the party’s 2023 congress. The court also appointed Gursel Tekin, a former CHP lawmaker aligned with the party’s old guard, as interim chair. Critics have condemned the move as being politically motivated and aimed at weakening the party.
In response, CHP leadership called on supporters to gather at the party’s Istanbul headquarters ahead of Tekin’s scheduled arrival Monday. That prompted the governor’s office to announce a three-day ban on public gatherings late Sunday. Police quickly surrounded the building, erected barricades and restricted access.
Despite the restrictions, supporters began rallying outside the headquarters on Sunday night. Meanwhile, the Internet watchdog NetBlocks said several social media platforms, including X, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp, were restricted in Turkiye following the CHP’s call for rallies.
On Monday, Tekin arrived at the party headquarters under heavy police protection. His arrival was met with loud protests from gathered supporters and party members angered that he accepted the position following the court ruling the party had denounced as unjust.
Speaking to journalists outside the building, Tekin said his intent was to help resolve the party’s legal challenges, not escalate tensions.
“We will do everything in our power to put an end to the legal troubles our party has been subjected to in the court corridors,” he said.
Police later used pepper spray inside the building and pushed back party officials opposed to his arrival, senior CHP legislator Gokhan Gunaydin and other officials told the opposition-aligned Halk TV television. Witnesses saw dozens of people exiting the building, visibly affected by the pepper gas.
Tekin was later seen entering the building, where he was filmed taking a phone call in a room reserved for journalists.
In a symbolic rejection of Tekin’s court-appointed leadership, the CHP later announced that it had officially closed its Istanbul provincial headquarters and reassigned another building as its new operational base.
The CHP has strongly denied allegations of corruption, saying the accusations are politically motivated and part of a broader effort to undermine the party’s growing influence. Erdogan’s government maintains that the judiciary operates independently and denies any political interference.
On Monday, Erdogan accused the CHP of defying the rule of law and of threatening public order in Istanbul by calling for street protests.
“We will never allow our streets to be thrown into chaos, nor will we permit the peace of our people — especially our fellow citizens in Istanbul — to be disturbed,” Erdogan said.
He also blamed the standoff on an internal power struggle within the CHP.
“We are against the government (which is) stealing our right to vote and arresting the people we voted for,” said Tulay Ozbay, who took part in Monday’s demonstrations. “We reject this injustice.”
Later this month, a separate court in Ankara is expected to rule on a similar case targeting the CHP’s 2023 main congress, which elected Ozgur Ozel as party leader. A ruling against the party could potentially reinstate its former leader, Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, a figure whose tenure drew widespread criticism.
