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HRW says Israel depriving Palestinians of water, in an ‘act of genocide’

HRW says Israel depriving Palestinians of water, in an ‘act of genocide’
By Lyndal Rowlands, Zaheena Rasheed, Virginia Pietromarchi, Edna Mohamed and Nils Adler
Published On 19 Dec 2024

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19 Dec 2024 - 23:59
 (23:59 GMT)

Thank you for joining us

This live page is now closed.

For more on the clashes between the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian fighters in Jenin, you can read our report here.

If you want to see how EU research money flows to Israel amid its ongoing war on Gaza, then watch our exclusive report here.

And you can read about how the insiders at Deutsche Welle have accused the German media outlet of pro-Israel bias, here.

19 Dec 2024 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of today’s major developments:

  • At least 15 Palestinians have been killed and 30 wounded in Israeli air attacks on two schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza City.
  • Our colleagues on the ground report that four Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the Sabra neighbourhood, south of Gaza City.
  • At least three people have been killed by an Israeli air strike targeting a tuk-tuk in Rafah, in southern Gaza.
  • In Tulkarem, in the north of the occupied West Bank, four Palestinians have been killed in an air strike that targeted a vehicle.
  • Two Palestinians, including an 80-year-old woman, have been killed by Israeli troops carrying out a raid in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
  • The UN General Assembly has voted on asking the ICJ for an opinion over Israel’s obligation to facilitate aid to Palestinians, which is being delivered by aid organisations, the UN and member states.
19 Dec 2024 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

Palestinian Authority refuses to back down in fight with Jenin fighters

By Aziza Nofal

Jenin, occupied West Bank

Nahida al-Sabbagh has endured the battles in the Jenin refugee camp, where she lives, since Saturday. The fighting between local Palestinian armed fighters from the Jenin Brigades and security forces continues near her home around the clock.

But it is the identity of the security forces clashing with those fighters that is most shocking to Nahida. They’re not Israeli. They’re Palestinian and represent the Palestinian Authority (PA).

“We never imagined that the security forces would treat the camp like this,” the 52-year-old Palestinian woman said.

The clashes around the al-Sabbagh family’s home in the camp’s al-Mahyoub neighbourhood are the result of an ongoing campaign launched by the PA’s security apparatus under the name “Protecting the Homeland”.

Read more here.

19 Dec 2024 - 23:15
 (23:15 GMT)

Photos: Funerals held in Nablus for Palestinians killed in Israeli raid

Women react during a funeral of Palestinians killed during an Israeli raid, in the Balata camp in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank [Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]
[Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]
[Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]

19 Dec 2024 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)

Blinken hopes Trump will push Israel-Saudi Arabia normalisation

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he hopes Donald Trump will continue the Biden administration’s work to normalise ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

“The work that we’ve done on putting in place the elements of that deal, including what we and Saudi Arabia would do together, what they would do with Israel, all of that is now there,” Blinken said in an interview with MSNBC.

“My hope is we’ll move as far as we can, but it won’t be complete,” he said.

“But we’ll be able to hand it over, and then the next administration can decide how it wants to proceed.”

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has repeatedly ruled out normalising ties with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state.

19 Dec 2024 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

Spain’s political parties urge PM to sanction Israel

Several political parties in Spain, including coalition partner Sumar and four other parties backing the minority left-wing government, have called on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to take decisive action against Israel.

The parties – Sumar, Podemos, the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), the Basque EH Bildu and the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) – made their appeal through a written statement submitted to the Spanish parliament’s records.

The letter demanded the enforcement of “a full military embargo, along with political and economic sanctions” against Israel.

It urged Sanchez to minimise diplomatic relations with Israel and suspend trade agreements until the illegal occupation of Palestine ends.

Additionally, the letter called on Spain’s Teresa Ribera Rodriguez, the European Commission’s vice president and the commissioner for competition, to push for the cancellation of the EU’s agreement with Israel, which currently grants the country preferential trade treatment.

A man carries a Palestinian flag as he attends a protest with the Freedom for Palestine Platform in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza in Madrid, Spain, June 15, 2024 [Ana Beltran/Reuters]
19 Dec 2024 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

Amnesty demands EU leaders take action against genocide in Gaza

Amnesty International has projected the message “End Gaza genocide” in 24 languages spoken in the European Union onto the European Commission headquarters in Brussels before a meeting of the bloc’s leaders.

In a damning report released earlier this month, Amnesty concluded that Israel’s devastating war on Gaza meets the legal threshold for genocide.

Amnesty has called on EU leaders meeting on Thursday to halt all arms transfers to Israel, ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements, and ensure justice and accountability for Israeli crimes.

19 Dec 2024 - 22:15
 (22:15 GMT)

Editor’s Choice: What to read and watch right now

Here are a few highlights of the pieces we’ve published about the war over the past day:

  • Deadly attacks: Israel pounds Gaza as UN denounces lack of aid access
  • Exclusive: As Gaza war rages, Deutsche Welle insiders accuse outlet of pro-Israel bias
  • Scathing report: Israel committing ‘acts of genocide’ by cutting off water in Gaza, HRW says
  • Video: Palestinian man builds below-ground home for his family in Gaza

And there’s plenty more here.

19 Dec 2024 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)
Explainer

Who are some of the US officials to quit over Biden’s Gaza policy?

Joe Biden’s unwavering support for Israel during its more than 14-month war on Gaza has spurred some US administration officials to quit, with some accusing the government of turning a blind eye to Israeli atrocities.

Here are a few of them:

  • Mike Casey left his role as the State Department’s deputy political counsellor on Gaza in July. In an interview following his resignation, he said: “I got so tired of writing about dead kids. Just constantly having to prove to Washington that these children actually died and then watching nothing happen.”
  • Maryam Hassanein, a special assistant at the Department of Interior, quit her job in July. She slammed Biden’s foreign policy, describing it as “genocide-enabling” and dehumanising toward Arabs and Muslims.
  • Lily Greenberg Call, a political appointee, resigned in May, having served as a special assistant to the chief of staff in the Interior Department. “As a Jew, I cannot endorse the Gaza catastrophe,” she wrote in a newspaper column.
  • Stacy Gilbert, who served in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, left in late May. She said she resigned over an administration report to Congress that she said falsely stated Israel was not blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza.
19 Dec 2024 - 21:45
 (21:45 GMT)

Photos: Aftermath of Israeli strike on Tuffah neighbourhood

Fire brigades try to extinguish the fire that broke out in the building targeted by the Israeli army in Tuffah neighbourhood [Hasan Alzaanin/Anadolu]
[Hasan Alzaanin/Anadolu]
[Hasan Alzaanin/Anadolu]

19 Dec 2024 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)
EXCLUSIVE

Deutsche Welle insiders accuse outlet of pro-Israel bias

By Jad Salfiti

Senior newsroom figures at Germany’s media outlet Deutsche Welle (DW) are cultivating a culture of fear among journalists who are tasked with reporting on Israel’s war on Gaza, 13 staff members and freelancers currently working for the network and a former long-term correspondent told Al Jazeera.

They accuse DW of pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian bias, allege that they have heard colleagues make Islamophobic and dehumanising remarks about Palestinians and protesters in the Berlin office with impunity. They have shared with Al Jazeera several internal documents – one of which lists “possible comebacks” for anchors to use during live interviews with “pro-Palestinian voices” who make “controversial statements” – such as accusing Israel of war crimes.

Read more here.

19 Dec 2024 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)

WATCH: From Gaza to the Arctic, a Palestinian filmmaker caught between two worlds

19 Dec 2024 - 21:05
 (21:05 GMT)
Developing

Death toll rises in Israeli attack south of Gaza City

We reported earlier that two Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the Sabra neighbourhood, south of Gaza City.

Our colleagues on the ground say that the death toll from that attack has now risen to four.

We will bring you more information as we get it.

19 Dec 2024 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

Palestinians in Gaza have to survive on ‘less than five litres of water’ a day

Water in Gaza has become a “tool of war” amid Israeli attacks on the enclave since October 2023.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum says the search for water is a “daily undertaking” for Palestinians.

“The systematic and deliberate destruction of Gaza’s water infrastructure by Israel has left more than two million people in a state of constant struggle,” he explained.

Shadi Yassin, a displaced Palestinian in central Gaza, said: “We need water for showers, dishes and cleaning. We also need drinking water and we can’t easily afford that. The amount of water here is not enough.”

As the war continued, access to clean water has become more difficult, with an individual now having to survive on “less than five litres a day”, Abu Azzoum added.

A displaced Palestinian woman, Makram Hamdouna, washes a plate outside her shelter, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Thursday [Hatem Khaled/Reuters]
19 Dec 2024 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)

Houthi group says ready for a long war with Israel

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree says the Yemeni group is ready for a long war with the “Israeli enemy” in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree speaks during a rally in solidarity with Palestinians in Sanaa. [Mohammed Huwais/AFP]
19 Dec 2024 - 20:40
 (20:40 GMT)
Houthi

Two killed in Israeli strike south of Gaza City

Our colleagues on the ground are reporting that two Palestinians have been killed and several wounded in an Israeli strike on the Sabra neighbourhood, south of Gaza City.

Wafa news agency says the strike hit a house near Sultan Bakery.

19 Dec 2024 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

The Israeli military supports a stronger PA as Jenin raid continues: Report

The Times of Israel is reporting that the Israeli army is considering strengthening the Palestinian Authority (PA) after its security forces began carrying out operations against Palestinian fighters in the Jenin refugee camp on December 14, following a 10-day siege.

The Israeli media outlet said the army’s efforts to strengthen the PA were “not a rogue move, but a directive from the Israeli government”.

The Jenin Brigades, the main target of the PA, has ties to the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), but also has members affiliated with other Palestinian groups.

Palestinian security forces stand as Palestinian demonstrators call for an end to clashes between Palestinian security forces and fighters in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, December 16, 2024 [Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]
19 Dec 2024 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)

UN to ask ICJ for opinion on Israeli obligation to facilitate aid to Palestinians

The UN General Assembly has voted on asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an opinion over Israel’s obligation to facilitate aid to Palestinians that is being delivered by aid organisations, the UN and member states.

The Norway-drafted resolution was adopted with 137 votes in favour. Israel, the US and 10 other countries voted “no”, while 22 countries abstained.

In July, the ICJ ruled that Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories was unlawful and should end “as rapidly as possible”.

19 Dec 2024 - 20:00
 (20:00 GMT)

Israeli settlers, right-wing politicians attend a tour overlooking Gaza

Israeli media outlet The Times of Israel is reporting that politicians and settlers visited a lookout in the city of Sderot that provides views of the northern Gaza Strip to discuss potential locations for future illegal settlements in the enclave.

Haaretz reported that Limor Son Har-Malech of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party and Zvi Sukkot, a member of the Religious Zionist party, led the event called “A tour overlooking Gaza”.

Daniella Weiss, the founder of Nachala, a hardline Israeli settler organisation, is reported to have taken part in the event.

Any Israeli attempt to occupy Gaza would violate international law but some Israeli officials have pushed for building settlements in Gaza since Israel began its war on the enclave in October 2023.

Israeli settlements are Jewish communities illegally built on Palestinian land. Roughly 700,000 Israeli settlers are living in at least 250 illegal settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Daniella Weis speaks during a conference on the resettlement of the Gaza Strip in Be’eri, southern Israel, October 21, 2024 [File: Janis Laizans/Reuters]
19 Dec 2024 - 19:50
 (19:50 GMT)
Houthi

Three Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on Rafah

At least three people have been killed by an Israeli air strike targeting a tuk-tuk in Rafah, southern Gaza, the Palestinian Wafa news agency is reporting.

The report said that Israeli forces struck the vehicle, which was operating on the Saddam Street area of the al-Jenena neighbourhood in the east of the city.

We will bring you more information as we get it.

An open letter from mathematicians against the genocide in Gaza

The 1,078 signatories denounce the genocide and call for cutting ties with Israeli institutions that fail to condemn it.