 |
| This girl's mother and two brothers were recently killed |
22 September 2024
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel and Israel's ongoing counter-attack on all Gazans, I urge you to watch a recent documentary, The Night Won't End, an Al Jazeera production, now available online: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/live-now-screening-of-essential-gaza.
The film is a searing report on the destruction of Gaza since 7 October, structured around the targeted killings of multiple members of three families. It also documents the grossly inadequate response of the international community to what the Int. Court of Justice, only four months into the war, called a plausible genocide, and particularly U.S. complicity in the slaughter and other gross violations of international law.
The Night Won't End screening is hosted by Drop Site, a months-old substack news site co-founded by Jeremy Scahill, renowned correspondent, formerly of The Intercept. The link includes his post-screening discussion with the film's Executive Producer and principal on-screen correspondent. The panel pays special tribute to:
> the Gazan children killed in this war: 11,355 up to end August, including an average of 2 babies under age one killed every day (1)
> the Gazan journalists who are the core source of the film's content and the estimated 116 > 170 journalists killed to-date, several of whom the NY-based Committee to Protect Journalists calls "directly targeted by Israeli forces" (2) AND the colossal failure of international news media outlets to meaningfully highlight or protest this killing of their own.
Also record-breaking is the number of aid workers killed worldwide: 2023 is the deadliest year on record for aid workers (280 worldwide, 163 in occupied Palestine mostly Gaza in just the last three months of that year). It is a record on track to be broken in 2024 (by early August: 172 aid workers killed globally, 138 in occupied Palestine mostly Gaza). (3)
None of this excuses Hamas war crimes against Israeli civilians or its gross disregard for the safety of Gazan civilians.
As horrific as all the above is, the carnage in Gaza (and the West Bank (4)) is now being overshadowed by this week's escalation of the war into Lebanon (following Hezbollah/Israeli periodic rocket attacks on each other's territories since 7 October). This escalation began with the 17/18 September explosions of pagers then walk-talkies in different parts of Lebanon, killing at least 32 people, including two children, and injuring +3,000. A NYTimes investigation attributes the attacks to Israel which has not denied this. UN and other human rights orgs. decry this as yet another int. war violation (booby-trapping commonly used civilian objects) that risks extending lethal electronic warfare to devices used by almost all humanity.(5)
While the world attempts to digest this new escalation, the slaughter in Gaza goes on: 22 killed by an Israeli attack on a school compound yesterday. (6)
Against this insanity, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert warns that "with the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer." (7)
Sources:
1 > https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/lebanon-pager-hezbollah-israel-gaza-deaths?utm These numbers cover only people that Gaza's health ministry has been able to individually name. Other dead are not yet identified, including thousands beneath bombing rubble.
2 > https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/22/press-groups-condemn-israel-closing-al-jazeera-office-in-ramallah# + https://cpj.org/2024/09/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/#
3 > https://www.unocha.org/news/world-humanitarian-day-un-demands-action-aid-worker-deaths-hit-record-high#:~:text=Since%20October
4 > https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/09/apartheid-israel-targeting-gaza-and-west-bank-simultaneously-says-expert
5 > https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/world/europe/pager-explosions-lebanon-what-we-know.html + https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/09/exploding-pagers-and-radios-terrifying-violation-international-law-say-un
6 > https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/21/middleeast/israeli-strike-gaza-school-intl/index.html
7 > https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-09-22/ty-article/.premium/israel-at-war-day-352-half-of-hostages-held-in-gaza-are-alive-netanyahu-says/00000192-1a9f-dc44-affb-3b9fc3120001
The film is a searing report on the destruction of Gaza since 7 October, structured around the targeted killings of multiple members of three families. It also documents the grossly inadequate response of the international community to what the Int. Court of Justice, only four months into the war, called a plausible genocide, and particularly U.S. complicity in the slaughter and other gross violations of international law.
The Night Won't End screening is hosted by Drop Site, a months-old substack news site co-founded by Jeremy Scahill, renowned correspondent, formerly of The Intercept. The link includes his post-screening discussion with the film's Executive Producer and principal on-screen correspondent. The panel pays special tribute to:
> the Gazan children killed in this war: 11,355 up to end August, including an average of 2 babies under age one killed every day (1)
> the Gazan journalists who are the core source of the film's content and the estimated 116 > 170 journalists killed to-date, several of whom the NY-based Committee to Protect Journalists calls "directly targeted by Israeli forces" (2) AND the colossal failure of international news media outlets to meaningfully highlight or protest this killing of their own.
Also record-breaking is the number of aid workers killed worldwide: 2023 is the deadliest year on record for aid workers (280 worldwide, 163 in occupied Palestine mostly Gaza in just the last three months of that year). It is a record on track to be broken in 2024 (by early August: 172 aid workers killed globally, 138 in occupied Palestine mostly Gaza). (3)
None of this excuses Hamas war crimes against Israeli civilians or its gross disregard for the safety of Gazan civilians.
As horrific as all the above is, the carnage in Gaza (and the West Bank (4)) is now being overshadowed by this week's escalation of the war into Lebanon (following Hezbollah/Israeli periodic rocket attacks on each other's territories since 7 October). This escalation began with the 17/18 September explosions of pagers then walk-talkies in different parts of Lebanon, killing at least 32 people, including two children, and injuring +3,000. A NYTimes investigation attributes the attacks to Israel which has not denied this. UN and other human rights orgs. decry this as yet another int. war violation (booby-trapping commonly used civilian objects) that risks extending lethal electronic warfare to devices used by almost all humanity.(5)
While the world attempts to digest this new escalation, the slaughter in Gaza goes on: 22 killed by an Israeli attack on a school compound yesterday. (6)
Against this insanity, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert warns that "with the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer." (7)
Sources:
1 > https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/lebanon-pager-hezbollah-israel-gaza-deaths?utm These numbers cover only people that Gaza's health ministry has been able to individually name. Other dead are not yet identified, including thousands beneath bombing rubble.
2 > https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/22/press-groups-condemn-israel-closing-al-jazeera-office-in-ramallah# + https://cpj.org/2024/09/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/#
3 > https://www.unocha.org/news/world-humanitarian-day-un-demands-action-aid-worker-deaths-hit-record-high#:~:text=Since%20October
4 > https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/09/apartheid-israel-targeting-gaza-and-west-bank-simultaneously-says-expert
5 > https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/world/europe/pager-explosions-lebanon-what-we-know.html + https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/09/exploding-pagers-and-radios-terrifying-violation-international-law-say-un
6 > https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/21/middleeast/israeli-strike-gaza-school-intl/index.html
7 > https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-09-22/ty-article/.premium/israel-at-war-day-352-half-of-hostages-held-in-gaza-are-alive-netanyahu-says/00000192-1a9f-dc44-affb-3b9fc3120001
Comments
Post a Comment
If you are a member of XUNICEF, you can comment directly on a post. Or, send your comments to us at xunicef.news.views@gmail.com and we will publish them for you.