Updates

6 December 2023

Republican Congressman Max Miller, who recently made a genocidal call to turn Gaza into a “parking lot,” joined with Republican Congressman David Kustoff to push through a resolution in the US House of Representatives that “clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.”

Israel designated a human rights group as a terrorist organization shortly after the US State Department inquired about a report detailing the rape of a Palestinian child by Israeli prison authorities, a former official revealed.

Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, concluded an unannounced visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank on Sunday. Instead of boosting hopes for justice for Palestinians at the world’s court of last resort, the ICC prosecutor’s trip gives more cause for alarm over his failure to prevent the genocide unfolding in Gaza.

“Entire families are being annihilated, leaving us questioning whether we are to have any hope for the future,” writes Ghada Abed from Gaza. “The world has failed us in our darkest hour.”

As it boasts of compassion toward Palestinians, the European Commission has approved an unprecedented funding package for Israel. With a total budget of over $19 million, the package aims to “reinforce EU-Israel bilateral relations.”

Residents search the rubble of destroyed buildings after Israeli attacks in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, on 6 December.

Naaman Omar APA images

More than 100 people were killed and many others injured during heavy Israeli bombardments on multiple residential buildings in the Jabaliya refugee camp early on Wednesday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported. The Israeli army on Wednesday expanded its attacks in southern and central Gaza, with journalist Hind Khoudary reporting for Al Jazeera that there were “non-stop explosions, non-stop artillery shelling and non-stop clashes. Multiple homes were bombed” in the central Gaza Strip overnight.

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza evacuated “most patients and staff” in the Kamal Adwan hospital in Jabaliya refugee camp “and the hospital largely stopped functioning and ceased admitting new patients,” OCHA said. The agency added that “20 patients who, due to their situation, could not be evacuated, have remained in the facility.” OCHA warned that out of 24 hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, only two small hospitals are still able to admit patients. Ashraf al-Qedra, the spokesperson for the health ministry in Gaza, said that the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City “has lost its capacity [to treat patients] in the face of the large number of injuries, and the wounded are bleeding to death.”

Five UN schools serving as shelters for internally displaced people in the Khan Younis area, in the southern Gaza Strip, “were entirely evacuated, following direct orders given by Israeli forces to the managers of these facilities,” OCHA reported. The Israeli military ordered the “immediate evacuation” of an additional area in Khan Younis city and instructed residents to move to other areas in the south, the UN added.

There is no effective protection of civilians,” stated António Guterres, the UN Secretary General, in his announcement that he has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter. This invocation mandates a convening of the Security Council to address Israel’s attacks on Gaza. “Amid constant bombardment by the [Israeli army], and without shelter or the essentials to survive, I expect public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible,” Guterres stated. He also reiterated his call for a “humanitarian ceasefire.”