rattlesnake

False. From 18 March: Gaza hunger figures “worst on record” - says Oxfam “This new report shows that the catastrophic levels of hunger and starvation in Gaza are the highest ever recorded on the IPC scale, both in terms of number of people and percentage of the population. Never before have we seen such rapid deterioration into widespread starvation. [...] “Children are already dying of malnutrition and starvation under the gaze of the international community." https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/gaza-hunger-figures-worst-record-says-oxfam

Netanyahu will not respect his part of any deal on a ceasefire and openly says it. From 24 March: "It is impossible to defeat the sheer evil by leaving it intact in Rafah." [...] "We are fighting and will be victorious. We will enter Rafah and achieve total victory." https://allisrael.com/as-in-ancient-times-we-are-also-united-we-are-fighting-and-will-be-victorious-says-netanyahu

Spot on. It was hilarious to see Bill Maher comment on this latest development the other day, he and his Trump-deranged entourage unable to hide the look of utter shock and bewilderment on their faces: "he must have done a deal with the Devil…", "he has to be the luckiest guy in the world…", "how is it possible?". Priceless.

Because Bibi has made it clear he will not respect a ceasefire and will go into Rafah no matter what.

So have they finally got him, this time?

Speechless.

Muslim children are not being starved to death by Thais. Please spare me the "human shield" thing. Famine in northern Gaza is imminent as more than 1 million people face ‘catastrophic’ levels of hunger, new report warns The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell accused Israel of using “starvation as a weapon of war,” saying the famine was “not a natural disaster” but caused by Israel “preventing humanitarian support entering into Gaza.” Hundreds of trucks were waiting at the border and being prevented entry into Gaza by Israel, he said. [...] Aid delivery by sea and air was only necessary because the “natural” way of delivering aid by land was “artificially closed” by Israel, he added. https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/middleeast/famine-northern-gaza-starvation-ipc-report-intl-hnk/index.html

Friday 22 March: Unicef official tells of ‘utter annihilation’ after travelling length of Gaza “The depth of the horror surpasses our ability to describe it,” said James Elder, a spokesperson with the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). [...] “A military offensive in Rafah would be utterly catastrophic." [...] “Rafah is Gaza’s last hope and it is utterly bewildering that a conversation on a potential military operation is still continuing.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/22/unicef-official-utter-annihilation-gaza

Your position is intenable.

I will let Human Rights Watch do the explaining. Please read this attentively and pay special attention to section "Violations of International Humanitarian Law": Israeli Forces’ Conduct in Gaza Oxfam and Human Rights Watch have observed or documented that the Israeli authorities have carried out indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks in violation of international humanitarian law following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in Israel, imposed collective punishments on the civilian population, deprived the civilian population of objects indispensable to its survival, and used starvation of civilians as a weapon of war. These are all grave violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and customary international humanitarian law. The vast majority of Gaza’s population has also been forced to flee their homes, many as a result of Israeli actions that amount to war crimes. https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/03/19/israeli-forces-conduct-gaza#:~:text=International humanitarian law prohibits parties,population and ensure that the

Israel’s supporters mention the policy of not targeting civilians to draw a civilizational distinction between it and Hamas, which systematically targeted civilians, including children and infants, in its brutal war crimes on Oct. 7. But citing the policy is not a rebuttal as much as it is a diversion. To comply with international humanitarian law, a country is not only obligated to aim at military targets, but also to minimize civilian deaths. https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/israel-target-civilians-gaza-fetterman-rcna123890

Lots of qualified analysts have indicated that there was an element of vengeance in Israel's actions, with all the drawbacks it entails. In addition to being devastating to the image of Israel, these current actions are creating a new generation of Israel-hating combatants. From last November: A Meaningful Endgame in Gaza Will Separate Transformation from Revenge “The desire is understandable for revenge. But vengeance is not a strategy,” said former CIA Director and retired General David Petraeus of the current Israeli military actions in Gaza. [...] Petraeus likewise cautioned about the reality of the day after, asking, “Will this operation take more bad guys off the street than it creates by its conduct?’ https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/meaningful-endgame-gaza-will-separate-transformation-revenge

I agree with the substance of these two messages. I can't go into detail about the reasons as it would be off-topic, but what we are now witnessing is catastrophic to the image of Israel. Netanyahu and his entourage are too fanatical to realise that their current actions are destroying a century of hard work.

Is that supposed to be funny?

Valid point.

Just for context, about the Israeli population. According to this poll from last November, Netanyahu is unpopular, but there is strong support (over 90%) for the IDF and its actions: New opinion polls just released from Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University's Peace Index indicate that Israeli attitudes towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are more hawkish than at any point in recent memory. [...] Poll results were also hawkish when it came to the use of force in Gaza: 57.5% of Israeli Jews said that they believed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were using too little firepower in Gaza, 36.6% said the IDF was using an appropriate amount of firepower, while just 1.8% said they believed the IDF was using too much fire power, while 4.2% said they weren’t sure whether it was using too much or too little firepower. [...] Nevertheless, despite the distrust in Netanyahu, trust in the IDF remains high. In Israeli Voice Index Polls conducted between Oct. 24-26, 49.5% of respondents said that they trusted the IDF more than Prime Minister Netanyahu, while just 7.3% said they trusted Netanyahu more than the IDF. https://time.com/6333781/israel-hamas-poll-palestine/

Unfortunately, the reality is quite different, and lots of media outlets (which were traditionally rather Israel-friendly) have covered it, such as in this MSNBC article from last November: Immediately there were signs that Israel viewed its military operation as not just an operation for self-defense, but for inflicting excruciating pain on Gazans. As Netanyahu vowed “mighty vengeance” that would be felt for “generations,” Israel’s defense minister announced a siege, cutting off food, water, fuel, electricity and medicine to the entire Gaza Strip as part of its bid to fight those he called “human animals.” As Israel began aerial bombardment, an IDF spokesman said that “the emphasis is on damage, and not on accuracy,” and Israel’s president insinuated that no Gazan had the rights of a civilian as he bellowed that “it is an entire nation out there that is responsible.” https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/israel-target-civilians-gaza-fetterman-rcna123890

To answer properly, I would have to go way off topic so I will stop here. The links I posted earlier lead to resources which are quite unequivocal regarding how Israel sees and treats African ethnicities, which was what I was referring to initially.

Nonsensical question given Gaza is probably the worst place in the world. You do say some dubious things sometimes, Nick, such as here where you claimed that something drastic needed to happen to solve the problem (in response to my post on Daniella Weiss advocating for cleansing Gaza of Arabs):

They are refugees according to international law, which Israel is theoretically bound by.

The fact that the government implements policies to deport refugees back to where they came from, as well as the fact that watchdog organisations have repeatedly observed discriminatory practices by the authorities and population.

Agree this is not 100% on topic and I will not expand on it, but in these examples we are talking about discriminatory policies implemented by the government, as well as widespread racist behaviour by the auhorities and population.

Anti-Black Racism among Jewish Israelis [and Recent Asylum-Seekers] Over the past few decades, anti-Black racism in Israel has been primarily directed towards Ethiopian Israelis, part of the Jewish Beta Israel community, who number about 155,300 people in Israel (1.7% of Israel’s population), and non-Jewish asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan who constitute less than 1% of the population. Experiences of anti-Black racism are well documented, in both research journals and the media, and consist of police violence and racial profiling of males, overrepresentation in military and civilian prison, discrimination in employment and housing, and everyday interpersonal discrimination. https://www.theracialequityinitiative.org/anti-black-racism-in-israel/ Israel: Deportation of African asylum-seekers is a cruel and misguided abandonment of responsibility “How can the Israeli government possibly describe this as a way of deporting asylum-seekers ‘voluntarily’ when the alternatives are returning to persecution or indefinite detention? This is not a choice anyone should have to make,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “The forced – and illegal – deportation of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum-seekers is a reckless abandonment of responsibility.” [...] “The Israeli authorities need to know that the world is watching with outrage at their brazen disregard for human life, dignity and responsibility to the wider global community.” https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/israel-deportation-of-african-asylum-seekers-is-a-cruel-and-misguided-abandonment-of-responsibility/ Chief rabbi calls black people ‘monkeys’ In footage aired by the Ynet news site, Yosef could be seen referring to black people by the word “kushi,” which in modern Hebrew has pejorative connotations, and then going on to term a black person a “monkey.” His office told Ynet that the comparison was a quote from the Talmud. [...] Non-Jews, Yosef said, are in Israel only to serve Jews. https://www.timesofisrael.com/chief-rabbi-compares-african-americans-to-monkeys/

I was clarifying the issue as I see lots of arguing on this page about figures and it seems there is confusion between buildings and homes. So yes, in November, already 70% of Palestinian homes had been wiped out, it is sufficiently serious to be repeated once. "so why are you doing the same thing yet again?" What do you mean by that?

I posted a link yesterday from November, which says that 70% of Palestinian homes (not buildings) had been destroyed. Current estimates of buildings as a whole stand at 35%, which is massive in any case.