RIP, True Heroes 
John Chapman, James Henderson and James Kirby were among the seven aid workers killed in an Israeli air strike on Monday.
Full story: Named: Three British aid workers among victims of Israeli air strike on food convoy - LBC
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Ms Goldsmith said while safety was a top priority other constraints also hampered the delivery of aid.
This includes the difficulty in moving around on account of the number of roads being destroyed and âarbitrary decisionsâ being made on the type of aid that can cross the border into Gaza.
âAid agencies are experiencing significant restrictions on visas and work permits that are not being issued to international staff, which further limits our ability to bring in international personnel to support our colleagues,â she said.
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But even without foreign reporters on the scene, evidence is piling up that Israel is not, as it claims, respecting its obligations under the laws of war to respect civilian lives, or allowing the free movement of aid in a famine created by Israelâs own actions. After the World Kitchen team was killed in Gaza, President Biden used his strongest language yet in public statements to condemn Israelâs actions.
The president and his aides have now to decide whether words are enough. So far, they have resisted calls to put conditions on the use of American weapons in Gaza, or even to turn off the supply line.
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Well done Richard for spelling it out for anyone who is still in denial:
Heâs paying tribute to his friend James Henderson (in the middle in this photo)
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Theyâve been murdering Palestinians in cold blood for months though.Now a Western white person is killed everyone takes notice.
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It hasnât gone unnoticed eitherâŠ
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April 4 (Reuters) - McDonaldâs, is buying its 30-year-old Israel franchise from Alonyal Ltd, taking back ownership of 225 restaurants in the country that employs more than 5,000 people, the companies said on Thursday.
The U.S. fast-food chain has been subject to boycotts and protests since Alonyal announced shortly after the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that it would be donating free meals to Israeli military.
McDonaldâs is a global chain but its franchises are often owned locally and operate autonomously.
Its CEO Chris Kempczinski had said in January the company has seen âmeaningful impactâ in several markets in the Middle East and some outside the region due to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
So if loss of lives doesnât bother you,loss of profits certainly does.
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âIn an unprecedented move, according to two of the sources, the army also decided during the first weeks of the war that, for every junior Hamas operative that Lavender marked, it was permissible to kill up to 15 or 20 civilians; in the past, the military did not authorize any âcollateral damageâ during assassinations of low-ranking militants. The sources added that, in the event that the target was a senior Hamas official with the rank of battalion or brigade commander, the army on several occasions authorized the killing of more than 100 civilians in the assassination of a single commander.â
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âLetâs be very clear. This is tragic, but it is not an anomaly,â Scott Paul, of the humanitarian group Oxfam, said on Thursday local time in a briefing with other relief organisations before the results of Israelâs investigation were released.
âThe killing of aid workers in Gaza has been systemic.â
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A reservist who has served in Gaza told Haaretz that âin practice, a terrorist is anyone the IDF has killed in the areas in which its forces operateâ.
The Times newspaper spoke to Chris Lincoln-Jones, a former British Army major who has worked with the IDF, who said of the World Central Kitchens incident that even if Hamas fighters had been in the cars, there were questions about why the attack had been authorised.
âThe British Army would under no circumstances have fired on that convoy, even if we could positively identify a Hamas gunman getting into one of the cars. You would know that every single person in the car would die. It would be inconceivable that the British or Americans would do that. The fact the Israelis destroyed all three cars is unforgivable,â Lincoln-Jones said
âHamas is a terrorist organisation completely beyond the pale. What Hamas doesnât do is claim to be anything else than what it is. The Israelis claim to be a civilised, western-facing armed force. They are plainly not.â
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No one is talking about it but Israel is eviscerating the natural ecosystems in Gaza. This could make the land uninhabitable not just for years but for generations. Up to 48% of tree cover and farmland has been torched. This is a war crime. This is ecocide. Nothing less. (1/13)
https://twitter.com/ClimateDefiance/status/1776092686438605241
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Some truth and from a Tory!
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Lauren Kent, CNN
Sun, 7 April 2024 at 12:58 am AEDT·4-min read
A doctor at a field hospital for detained Palestinians at Israelâs Sde Teiman army base has described âdeplorable conditionsâ and âroutineâ amputations due to handcuff injuries, according to an exclusive report from the newspaper Haaretz.
In a letter to Israelâs attorney general and defense and health ministers, obtained by Haaretz, the doctor said the conditions at Sde Teiman field hospital compromise inmatesâ health and violate medical ethics.
âJust this week, two prisoners had their legs amputated due to handcuff injuries, which unfortunately is a routine event,â the doctor said in the letter, according to the Haaretz report on Thursday. He wrote that inappropriate care at the detention facility has led to âcomplications and sometimes even in the patientâs death,â adding that âthis makes all of us â the medical teams and you, those in charge of us in the health and defense ministries, complicit in the violation of Israeli law.â
Haaretz reported that the doctor said âinmates are fed through straws, defecate in diapers and are held [in] constant restraints, which violate medical ethics and the law.
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Who supplies the most arms to Israel?
Italy 4.7 %
Germany 29.7 %
USA 65.6 %
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been a vocal supporter of Israelâs right to self-defence, but he has faced increasing domestic hostility to the continuation of arms sales to the country.
On Sunday, a group of civil servants wrote to the German leader calling on the government to âcease arms deliveries to the Israeli government with immediate effectâ.
âIsrael is committing crimes in Gaza that are in clear contradiction to international law,â the statement said, citing Januaryâs ICJ ruling.
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UN says no actual increase in aid entering Gaza
The UNâs agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, is disputing claims by Israel and the US that aid into Gaza has been significantly increased.
âThere has been no significant change in the volume of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza or improved access to the north,â UNRWA says in its daily situation report.
UNRWA, the main UN agency in Gaza, says 223 trucks had entered on Monday, fewer than half the 500 trucks it says are required daily.
Israel says 468 aid trucks moved into Gaza on Tuesday and 419 on Monday . Some trucks went into Gaza via land crossings with Israel.
But the UN claims many of the trucks are only half full, inflating the Israeli count .
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https://thehill.com/policy/international/4587968-fbiden-official-famine-gaza-israel-hamas/
A senior Biden official said Wednesday that famine is underway in the Gaza Strip as Israel presses forward with its war against militant group Hamas.
Humanitarian aid groups have been warning for weeks that a famine is looming in Gaza amid a lack of food, water and other necessary goods. Samantha Power, the director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said during a congressional testimony Wednesday that a famine has already begun.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) asked Power about news reports that said members of her agency sent a cable to the National Security Council that warned a famine was ongoing in Gaza. He asked her whether it was âplausible or likely that parts of Gaza and particularly northern Gaza are already experiencing famine.â
Power pointed to an assessment from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative in her response, noting that the agency believes that their assessment is âcredible.â
âSo famine is already occurring there?â Castro asked.
âThat is â yes,â Power told him.
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UK prime minister Rishi Sunak condemns Iranâs âreckless attackâ on Israel
Rishi Sunak, the British prime minister, has condemned Iranâs attack on X and reiterated the UKâs continued support for Israelâs security.
I condemn in the strongest terms the Iranian regimeâs reckless attack against Israel.
Iran has once again demonstrated that it is intent on sowing chaos in its own back yard.
Did he condemn Israel bombing an embassy, killing 16 people?
And is Israel the only country allowed to defend itself ???
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Germany involved in another genocide.
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A recent United Nations report noted that the policies of Israelâs government, which is the most right wing in the countryâs history and includes religious nationalists with close ties to settlers, appeared aligned with the goals of the Israeli settler movement to an âunprecedented extentâ.
Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories had expanded by a record amount and risked eliminating any practical possibility of a Palestinian state, the UN report said.
About 40% of Jerusalemâs population of roughly 1 million are Palestinian. Maintaining a Jewish majority in the city has been an aim of successive Israeli government
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Israel showing they can be just as barbaric as Hamas.
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