Afp, Ap, Sputnik, Europa Press and Reuters
La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, December 6, 2024, p. 23
Doha. Amnesty International (AI) yesterday accused Israel of perpetrating genocide in Gaza and pointed to its arms suppliers – of which Washington is the main one – as possible accompliceswhile almost fifty Palestinians were murdered yesterday in the strip.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar mentioned that a possible agreement is approaching to release the hostages held in the strip by Hamas, an organization that confirmed the resumption of negotiations and the return of Qatar as a mediator.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Naim Qasem denounced that Tel Aviv committed more than 60 violations of the ceasefire agreement reached last week.
The general secretary of AI, Agnes Callamard, denounced: month after month, Israel has treated the Palestinians of Gaza as a subhuman groupand emphasized: This is genocide. This must stop.
AI points out in a report that 334 civilians, 141 children among them, were killed in 15 bombings in which no evidence was found that they were directed against military targets.
The human rights defense organization claims to have reached that conclusion based on genocidal and dehumanizing statements by the Israeli governmentin satellite images that document the destruction of the Palestinian territory, as well as in investigations carried out on the ground between October 7, 2023 and July 2024, in which residents of the strip collaborated.
Israel stated that the report is totally false and described Amnesty International as deplorable and fanatical organization. AI’s Israeli section also refuted accusations of genocide.
The United States maintained: We do not agree with the conclusions of said report. We have previously said and continue to believe that accusations of genocide are baseless.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel added that the White House remains concerned about civilian victims and the demand for Israel to comply with international humanitarian law.
The Palestinian National Authority highlighted that AI is a credible global organization that bases its reporting on evidence.
Hamas indicated that the document constitutes a new message for the international community […] about the need to act to end this genocide.
Bombings leave 48 dead in the strip
On the ground, at least 48 Palestinians were killed in the strip by Israeli fire in 24 hours, the enclave’s Health Ministry reported yesterday. Since Israel began the current war against the coastal enclave, 44,580 Palestinians have been killed.
Meanwhile, Qatar resumed its mediation role to achieve a truce in Gaza, according to sources from the AFP news agency, after the emirate withdrew from the talks in November, accusing the warring parties of lack of will and seriousness.
Hope for hostages and prisoners
Bassem Naim, a Hamas official, said there have been reactivated the efforts that would also allow the release of the hostages in Gaza and the Palestinian prisoners in Israel; while Gideon Saar declared: Maybe now we have an agreement on the hostages.
Naim assures that the incoming US administration could be a positive boost to the situationas the next president, Donald Trump, promised to end wars in the region.
Likewise, the US ambassador to Israel, Jacob Lew, called on Tel Aviv not to overstate the small ceasefire violations by Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel has to act in a way that does not turn small things into big thingshe noted after the 60 Israeli violations reported by the Lebanese armed group.