The war between Israel and Hamas has left 33,091 dead in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to a report released Friday April 5 by the Palestinian Islamist movement’s health ministry. On the Israeli side, around 1,170 people died – most of them also civilians – during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, according to a count by Agence France-Presse (AFP) based on official Israeli sources. Additionally, according to the Israeli army, 600 soldiers have been killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Additionally, more than 250 people were kidnapped during the October 7 attack and taken as hostages to the Palestinian territory, where 130 remain detained, including 34 presumed dead, according to the Israeli military.
The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on Friday April 5 mentioning the controversial term “genocide” and demanding an end to all arms sales to Israel. Please note that this text has no binding value.
This resolution calls on “all States to cease the sale, transfer and delivery of weapons, munitions and other military equipment to Israel in order to prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses and violations.” . Additionally, it “condemns” the use of artificial intelligence “to assist in military decision-making that could contribute to international crimes.”
The reference to the notion of genocide was removed from several passages of the initial draft. The text, however, continues to refer to it by evoking “the determination of the International Court of Justice that there is a plausible risk of genocide”.
Twenty-eight of the forty-seven members of the Council voted in favor of this resolution presented by Pakistan. Six countries voted against, including Germany and the United States. Thirteen countries abstained, including France, because the reference to genocide cannot “be included (…) without the qualification having been validated by a jurisdictional authority empowered to do so”, such as the International Court of Justice, explained the French ambassador, Jérôme Bonnafont.
“You must (…) put an end to this genocide broadcast live on television around the world,” urged the Palestinian representative to the UN, Ibrahim Khraishi, before the vote. “A “yes” vote is a vote for Hamas, a vote to legitimize Palestinian terrorism and encourage it,” charged Israeli Ambassador Meirav Shahar.
Last week, the UN Security Council in New York adopted a resolution calling for a ceasefire thanks to the abstention of Washington, Israel’s closest ally. However, for the moment, this has not had any consequences on the ground.
The Israeli army recognized on Friday a series of “serious errors” which caused the death of seven humanitarian workers, killed Monday in the Gaza Strip by three Israeli strikes launched in the space of four minutes on their convoy.
According to an internal Israeli army investigation, the team operating the drones behind the strikes made an “operational error in judgment of the situation” after spotting a “Hamas gunman” firing from roof of one of the aid trucks that members of the American NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) were escorting.
“Following a misidentification, the armed forces attacked the three WCK vehicles, wrongly believing that they contained Hamas members, thus resulting in the death of seven innocent humanitarian workers,” we read in this report.
Also citing “violations of normal operating procedures,” the army acknowledged that WCK had communicated its route plan, but the soldiers who carried out the strikes did not have it in hand. The tragedy “could have been avoided”, it is written in the conclusion of the investigation, which adds that two officers involved in this blunder will be dismissed.
WCK requested on Friday the creation of an independent commission of inquiry into this tragedy. “The Israeli army video shows no reason to fire on our convoy, which carried no weapons and posed no threat,” the humanitarian organization stressed in a statement. According to WCK, the Israeli military “cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza.”
“It is not enough to take scattered measures. We need a paradigm shift,” commented UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, calling on Israel to “genuinely and quickly” honor its promises to temporarily authorize the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip by new crossing points.
Pressed by the international community, notably by the United States, the Israeli security cabinet approved on Friday “immediate measures to increase humanitarian aid to the civilian population” of the Palestinian territory, reported the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement.
Israel will thus authorize the “temporary” delivery of aid through the Israeli port of Ashdod, approximately 40 kilometers north of the Palestinian territory, then through the Erez border crossing, in the north of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli authorities will also allow “the increase in Jordanian aid through Kerem Shalom”, the border post between Israel and the south of the Palestinian enclave.
On Thursday, during a telephone interview, United States President Joe Biden warned Israel for the first time about supporting the United States. Mr. Biden “affirmed that US policy towards Gaza will be determined by [the] assessment of the concrete measures taken by Israel” to protect civilians, according to a statement released by the White House. Asked on Friday whether he had threatened to stop the delivery of military aid to Israel during that call, Mr. Biden replied: “I asked them to do what they are doing. »
