Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officers have admitted to the Israeli media outlet Haaretz they have been told to shoot at defenseless, starving Palestinians trying to secure basics at the controversial United States-Israel “aid” distribution points described as Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) centres.
Moath al-Kahlout said there were “catastrophic” scenes at the al-Ahli Hospital in the north as dozens of wounded civilians sought help following Israeli strikes on the Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods, as well as al-Zawiya market. He said the IDF dropped leaflets in eastern Gaza City ordering civilians to move south and then launch “intense and repeated attacks, resulting in the large number of casualties we are witnessing now”.
Since late May, according to the Gaza Government Media Office, the IDF has killed more than 580 people and wounded more than 4000 at these aid centres.
“We fired machine guns from tanks and threw grenades,” one soldier told Haaretz. “There was one incident where a group of civilians was hit while advancing under the cover of fog.”
Another soldier said that where they were stationed in Gaza, between “one and five people were killed every day”. “It’s a killing field,” they said.
Meanwhile, Iran is threatening to leave the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, after Israel and the US illegally bombed despite US intelligence and the United Nations nuclear watchdog saying Tehran was not building nuclear weapons.
This would help it reconstitute its bombed nuclear capabilities and allow it to develop nuclear weapons without having to accept international safeguards monitoring, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
Even with Israel’s assassination of 14 nuclear scientists and engineers, the scientists said “Iran surely retains the knowledge on how to build centrifuges and assemble them into cascades, plus the expertise acquired during the secret work to date on weapons development”.
Thousands of people took to the streets across Australia over June 27-29, again demanding that Labor sanction Israel and stop sending arms.
Peter Boyle reports that the thousands-strong protest in Gadigal Country/Sydney condemned the NSW Police bashing of former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas on June 27.
Thomas was taking part in a peaceful protest outside SEC Plating, in the south west of Sydney, which manufactures plating engineering coatings and finishes for F-35 fighter jets used by Israel in its genocide in Gaza. Others were attacked by police, allegedly because they did not have a “permit” and did not follow, potentially invalid, move on orders.
Home affairs minister Tony Burke defended the police, including their internal review, telling Sky News “no one is above the law”. Thomas has been charged with failing to comply with a direction to disperse. She may lose sight in one eye. Four others were also arrested.
The pro-Palestine rally in Tharawal/Wollongong on June 28 drew lots of NSW Police, including mounted police.
Protesters condemned the genocide in Gaza and the attempts by NSW Labor to repress the solidarity being shown to Palestine.
Alex Bainbridge reports that about 600 people rallied in Magan-djin/Brisbane on June 29. Speakers condemned the illegal military attacks on Iran and then, after a march to the ABC studios at Southbank, media complicity in the violations of international law.
In a victory for truth-tellers and the Palestine solidarity movement, journalist Antoinette Lattouf won her unfair dismissal case against the ABC in the Federal Court on June 25.
Lattouff had been sacked by the national broadcaster for posting on her social media a Human Rights Watch report that detailed Israel’s deliberate starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.
Justice Darryl Rangiah found that Lattouf had been sacked for her political opinions, given no opportunity to respond to misconduct allegations and that the ABC breached its Enterprise Agreement and section 772 of the Fair Work Act.
Green Left and Socialist Alliance held a screening of Palestinians Don’t Need Sidewalks, the latest documentary by Dare to Struggle Films and co-directed by Jill Hickson and John Reynolds at the Resistance Centre in Gadigal Country on June 27.
A question and answer session followed with with Reynolds and City of Sydney for Palestine activists Rachel Evans and Olivia lurincich.
Funds were raised for the Hebron Human Rights Defenders who worked closely with the filmmakers and provided critical interviews and footage for the film.
About 2000 people attended the weekly free Palestine rally in Naarm/Melbourne on June 29, demanding a permanent ceasefire and end to the genocide. It also demanded Australia cut military and economic ties with Israel and not support the war on Iran.
Speakers included Mohammad Sherab, Nour Salman, Hadeer and Ihab Al Azhari.
