Israel’s war on Gaza live: UN says Israel humiliated men detained in Gaza

The emergency government in Israel that is managing affairs amid the ongoing war on Gaza may be “close to collapse”, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.

The Israeli outlet said “the question is no longer whether an election will take place in 2024, but rather when in 2024” as Netanyahu’s position falters amid Israel’s failures in achieving objectives in Gaza.

However, it said an election is unlikely to take place imminently as most coalition members have received their budgets and are reluctant to shake things up despite demands by the population.

The Jerusalem Post had also reported last week, quoting unnamed Likud members, that they believe Netanyahu’s time as the leader of the party are numbered as the party continues to perform poorly in opinion polls.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory says Israel has violated international law with its violent bombing of the Gaza Strip, which led to the razing of entire neighbourhoods and the killing of more than 23,000 Palestinians.

“Israel has done a number of things that are largely illegal,” Francesca Albanese said at a press conference in Madrid. “International humanitarian law must be respected to protect people not participating in combat: Civilians, prisoners of war, the sick and the wounded.

“This means distinguishing between combatants and civilians, and ensuring that military attacks are proportionate to avoid excessive harm to civilians. Instead, what happened was more than 100 days of heavy bombing. In the first two weeks, 6,000 bombs were used weekly, bombs each weighing 2,000 pounds [about a ton], in very crowded areas.”

The continuing difficulty in getting humanitarian relief into the Gaza Strip, particularly in the north, which continues to be under constant Israeli bombardment, is raising risks of malnutrition.

“Less than a trickle amount [of aid] has been delivered to the northern part in which people are suffering [from] an actual famine,” says Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah in southern Gaza.

In December, the UN warned that Gaza’s entire population of 2.3 million people risks “imminent famine” as war rages on.

Um Odai Salem, wife of a Palestinian man who was among at least 11 shot dead by Israeli forces on December 19, told Al Jazeera of abuse she says she and her daughters endured before her husband’s “execution”.

“They [Israeli forces] beat me and my daughters,” she said. “They put us women in one place and threatened us with guns and knives. They made us strip. They searched us, insulting us with the most terrible words. They took our names and filmed us.”

She said the Israeli soldiers did not listen to their pleas that they were all civilians, and proceeded to “execute” all the men they rounded up outside.

After the men were killed, Israeli fire hit the apartment Um Odai and her daughters were sheltering in, one of her daughters told Al Jazeera, killing her three-year-old sister, Nada.

According to UNICEF, nearly 20,000 babies have been born during the continuing war in Gaza, while 135,000 children in the Gaza Strip under the age of two are at “severe risk” of malnutrition.

“The situation of pregnant women and newborns in the Gaza Strip is beyond belief, and it demands intensified and immediate actions,” Tess Ingram, a UNICEF spokesperson, said.

“The already precarious situation of infant and maternal mortality has worsened as the healthcare system collapses.”

Ingram stressed that mothers face unimaginable challenges in accessing adequate medical care, nutrition and protection before, during and after birth. Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and their babies are living in “inhumane conditions, makeshift shelters (with) poor nutrition and unsafe water”.

Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/1/19/israels-war-on-gaza-live-us-support-for-israel-ironclad-despite-rebuff