1y ago

UN Human Rights Office - OPT: Unlawful killings in Gaza City

reliefweb.int United Nations reports Israeli forces are carrying out mass summary executions in Gaza

On Wednesday, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published a report alleging that Israeli forces carried out a mass execution of civilians in Northern Gaza, separating 11 men from their families and summarily shooting them.

Note:

I swapped the original article at the request of a mod to from a source deemed more reliable, but to avoid confusion when reading the comment section prior to this edit, here is the link to the original article. I chose the Relief Web source listed by some who commented. Cheers!

279 comments

WSWS isn't a great source because it's based on a cause.
However, here's the report.
It's uh... Not good.
At what point does the Foreign Assistance Act's ban on sending aid to countries in violation of human rights standards come into play? It seems like we're getting a report on a new war crime every few days, which is a breathtaking rate for a professional Army.
- At what point does the Foreign Assistance Act’s ban on sending aid to countries in violation of human rights standards come into play?
  when it's politically convenient and not a moment before
  
  Too true.
- I just saw a report that the US is going to agree to a UN resolution to let more aid into Gaza. I wonder if this is why.
  
  It's looking like Biden is trying to score brownie points for Christmas season so people stop talking about him committing genocide in the birth land of Jesus during family diners.
- It won’t be popular here - but that report is just a report of allegations and is also not substantiated by anything?
- If the UN says it, it's always true.
  
  The report includes the sources.
- Genocide Joe removed any restriction of human rights violations on the aid for israel so until you vote him out
  
  Oh yes because Trump would use our forces to do it instead.
  Look, don't counter with 3rd party. That's literally throwing your vote away.
  Biden is the only way to beat Trump. There are backwards racists in the Democrats too. You're not going to get support for anything than an old white guy until at least 2028....
  
  What you should have said was nothing.

If anyone is still wondering why Hamas and other resistance factions are fighting, this is what happens when the IDF wins.
- Fuck Hamas. They are not "resisting", they killed innocent civilians, women and children, and don't give a flying fuck about the Palestinian civilians either (cf Moussa Abu Marzouk's declaration that they are not responsible for defending the civilians in Gaza). They are a creation of the Israeli apartheid regime's own making when they were hoping to destroy the credibility of the PA, to perpetuate their colonialist narrative. Hamas and the Israeli apartheid are two sides of the same brutal, inhuman coin. Fuck Hamas as much as the Likud and the ultranationalist Israeli right to the seventh pit of hell.
  
  on the radio I heard two scholars discussing recent polls that reveal a surprisingly strong level of support for Hamas among gazans even now, despite the level of backlash that has resulted. when asked why, they said that Palestinians have long given up any hope that negotiations could achieve their goal of freedom and independence. they said that since negotiating has clearly failed for decades, Palestinians feel that the only remaining option Israel has left them is aggression and violence. and Hamas is the leadership that is willing to resort to violence.
  while I certainly feel awful about any innocent Israelis getting caught up in the original attack, I can't help but feel like Israel has done this to themselves. they have caged an entire group like wild animals for decades and somehow have the audacity to blame them for lashing out.
  but let's be honest here. we have all heard these points and most of us have already made up our minds about it.
  
  It's hard to not let your emotions take over, but Hamas only exists because of the hatred of Israel.
  Hamas exists because Israel doesn't want Palestines to exist.
  Terrorist organisation typically don't continue to exist for extended periods of time without external assistance.
- Bastards killing civilians one direction. Bastards killing civilians in the other direction.
  If the bastards could fucking kill the other bastards and not involve civilians, that'd be pretty swell. If the IDF and Hamas actually fight each other and no civilians are hurt, everyone wins.
- For fucks sake, Hamas is not a "resistance faction" and pretty much nothing was happening until they decided to poke the bear. They're a bunch of worthless shitstains who don't give two shits about the welfare of Palestinians.
- When IDF wins? They could have done this years ago with Hamas started their raine of terror over Israel following Israel trying to do a good will gesture in Gaza. Instead Israel agreed to ceasefire after ceasfire that Hamas continously broke with thousands of rockets fired at civilians. This last massacre by Hamas was simply the straw that broke the camel's back.
  You know why Hamas are fighting? Because their goal is to murder every jew they can. They don't want peace, they want blood.
- No, this is what happens when you give them an excuse.
  
  There is never an excuse for blatant warcrimes.

Israel is worse than Russia, at least going by the numbers.
Israel has killed more civilians in 2 months than Russia has killed in 2 years.
- To be fair though, the Russian army is a joke, and say what you want about the IDF, they're good at their job. Their job is to mostly murder innocent civilians, and they're quite good at that, much more efficient than the Russian army
  
  Well they've been trained well
- Yeah, but that's what we know of. It's suspected that there's a record breaking (for modern Europe) mass grave outside Mariupol. I doubt the numbers will get as high as the IDFs, but we can't get any independent journalists or investigators past Russia's front line from my understanding.
  Also, like the other guy said, that fight is a bad professional army vs a better smaller professional army.
  The IDF vs Hamas is an okay but cruel professional army against a relatively bad terrorist organization.
  
  "Okay but cruel" seems like a weird way to say bad
  
  The IDF vs Hamas is an okay but cruel professional army against a relatively bad terrorist organization.
  IDF was literally created by combining terrorist organizations, Haganah and Irgun being the big ones. So, unless the militant wing of Hamas is the cruel, professional Army, it's terrorists vs. terrorists.
- Mariupol
  
  https://www.statista.com/statistics/1293492/ukraine-war-casualties/
  9000 killed 17000 injured in Ukraine in total. Sources are usually ~1000 above or below this number.
  Israel killed more civilian in one month than Russia did since the start of their invasion.
  Israel has already killed twice as many civilians now as Russia has in Ukraine.
  Israel is wayyyy worse than Russia. The israelis are actual Nazis but Jewish.
  Russia says "special military operation" instead of "war".
  Israel says "war" instead of "Genocide".

A witness told the Euro-Med monitor, “Thirteen persons were shot dead and several more were critically injured. The Israeli soldiers later threw shells at the women, who were being held in one of the rooms.” Euro-Med Monitor also recorded a rise in field executions following reports of attacks on Israeli military vehicles by Palestinian factions. This suggests that the crimes being reported are part of Israel’s unlawful retaliatory policy against Palestinian civilians, which is in violation of international humanitarian law.
- Last month when Hamas terrorists were alleged to be doing the same, according to IDF, American diplomats were pressuring other countries to stop crying fro human rights and just condemn Hamas.
  Can we start condemning IDF as a terrorist and genocider organization under control of a rogue government lead by a tyrant now? Just a little bit, please? We will condemn Hamas again, too, if it matters.
  
  We will condemn Hamas again, too, if it matters.
  Spoiler: it never mattered.

"Those are Self defence mass executions you fucking antisemite" - Israel probably.
- And subsequently the US
  
  Coward yanks

When the culture and the legal system that is supposed to punish illegal activity like this, fails to do its job, the message to each individual is clear if not codified.
Behave as you want, because your leadership controls the information coming out to the wider world. Journalists are intimidated and killed.
If you are discovered, you will be quietly reassigned but not actually disciplined. Protests from the UN or other nations are dismissed using various tired phrases or tactics.
If you actually go to trial, the state will bow to pressure from the public and government officials and not sufficiently punish you for even crimes like murder. 18 months for a summary execution that was clearly premeditated and filmed. It doesn’t matter if the prosecution proves mens rea or that you were filmed loading a weapon first before slow walking over to your victim. You will get a downgraded charge to manslaughter and the broad public will push for your immediate release.

The UN added, “While in control of the building and the civilians sheltering there, the IDF allegedly separated the men from the women and children, and then shot and killed at least 11 of the men, mostly aged in their late 20’s and early 30’s, in front of their family members.” The UN continued, “The IDF then allegedly ordered the women and children into a room, and either shot at them or threw a grenade into the room, reportedly seriously injuring some of them, including an infant and a child. OHCHR has confirmed the killings at Al Awda building.”
- Funny, how you alter the source to make it seem more clear than it is. So here is the part you altered, as reported by the OHCHR:
  'OHCHR has confirmed the killings at Al Awdabuilding, although the details and circumstances of the killings are still under verification.'
  
  Just so you're clear, the person you replied to directly quoted the article word for word
  
  although the details and circumstances of the killings
  Sorry but please read this again. The killings are confirmed, the exact details are under investigation. We have several witnesses attesting to the crimes and a pile of bodies riddled with IDF bullets. The killings are confirmed.
  Also when you write articles, you can't include every detail for brevity. They provided the direct link to the report so you are able to read it yourself.

My first reaction was just "what the fuck". I still can't believe what I'm reading, although I probably should have. I thought the IDF was better than a mass execution of civilians, but apparently not. They really want that Nazi comparison.
- They genocide because they know any criticism can be shut down immediately and unequivocally with screeches of antisemitism.
  "You think wiping Palestinians off the planet is bad? Clearly you want to wipe out the Jews!"
  
  It really is that simple.

https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/un-human-rights-office-opt-unlawful-killings-gaza-city
The actual report from the United Nations.
It just says allegations, and it calls on the IDF to investigate.
- Of course the IDF should investigate itself. I'm sure they are completely unbiased.
  
  Clearly you're right. But the UN report did not say what the article said it said. Which means it's biased reporting.
- We investigated ourselves and found we did nothing wrong
- When OHCHR drops a report like this it means they consider the allegations to be credible. It's the same level as the news calling someone an alleged murderer after the guy killed someone on national TV. The report in this case is based on witness statements and an investigation done by a human rights NGO out of Europe.
- Thanks for sharing

Does not surprise me. A military force that stoops so low that they kill white flag wielding civilians in cold blood has already reached rock bottom.

Hamas is shit for putting terror and attacking Israel above taking care of their own civilians. Israel is shit for mass-execution of innocent civilians.
They're both shit, but we all know this will only end with Israel exterminating an entire population, which is even shittier.
- The reason Hamas is in existence is because their peoples' homes being taken and the Palestinians being killed constantly, for years. What would you do if your nation has lived in their land for ages, and a people came and took your family homeland and killed your family, and took neighborhoods and whole swaths of areas, then penned you up so that you couldn't exit or enter your country without their permission...don't you think you'd rise up with some other warriors to do something, anything? That's what Hamas is. It is not a terrorist organization to go out and cause terror and trouble. It is the fighting representative of a beaten people.
  
  It is not a terrorist organization to go out and cause terror and trouble.
  Did you not notice the events that started this recent shit? Hamas certainly engages in terrorism, as does the IDF.
- but we all know this will only end with Israel exterminating an entire population,
  It's so goddamn hilarious that because of history and The Holocaust we aren't allowed to bring up how deliciously ironic it is that a group of people that were rounded up for extermination are summarily rounding up a group of people for extermination.
  I can't wait to see how this plays out in history.
  
  Who's not allowed to bring it up? I'll say it all day. I give no fucks that Israel doesn't like it, fuck them.
  
  Keep in mind the Holocaust was all Jews, and Israel here in no way represents all Jews, as much as they'd like to.
  It fits in perfectly with history unfortunately. Members of group A inflict horror on members of group B. Some time passes, and some members of group B choose to inflict horror on group C and/or group A.
  It's all just radical subsets of the population, who would love nothing more than to represent their whole group.
- Technically, Hamas aren't Palestinian in origin to begin with, they're from a group that once controlled Egypt and their power over Gaza Strip was maintained by the Israeli Government via various means including directly being funded by them and neighboring nations. So, it isn't their people. The don't give a fuck if Palestine faces genocide, never have.
  
  [citation needed]
- The only solution I see is to build a wall around the whole area and just waiting for the shooting to stop eventually.

OHCHR has confirmed the killings at Al Awda building, although the details and circumstances of the killings are still under verification.
From the UN report cited.

Are organizations keeping track of those responsible for war crime trials? I would love to see a list of those responsible, from the lowest ranks to the highest.
- I know of this one: https://www.commondreams.org/news/icc-israel

That's to the unwavering diplomatic cover and military help of the US, it's no surprise the far-right racists who are the elected government of Israel are turning the Gaza ghetto into a concentration camp, complete with mass executions.
I mean, even those who dispute them being actual Fascists, can hardly claim to be surprised that a racist ultra-nationalist government whose leader already tried to take over the Judiciary, engaged in an anti-insurgency operation in an occupied territory populated by people from a different etnicity who they call "human animals" and were they've already killed tens of thousands - more than 40% of which children - would end up doing mass executions. I mean, these are people who have more than once said they need a Final Solution for Gaza. The only surprising thing here is that they're still using bullets for it rather than cheaper methods of bulk killing.
The entirelly predictable consequence of the US veto at the UN was exactly to embolden their favorite Fascists to be ever more Fascist, since it made clear to them that the US would always have their back no matter what and any "words of condemnation" by the US Administration were nothing more than hot air.
- Make All Gaza Auschwitz hats still available.
  
  "Make Auschwitz Happen Again"

I think that there is more than enough justification for the Arab League to launch a retaliation at this point. I for my part would support it.
- The Arab League is as divided as ever
  
  Yep. The Arab league is a joke at this point, it has lost relevancy.
- Instead of more slaughter, I'd like to see them provide land and assistance for a new Palestine in a safe place. Instead they won't even take in refugees.
  
  It would probably be safer for everyone involved for the Israelis to move away instead.
  
  Palestinians should get to keep their land.
  If someone broke into my house, I wouldn't entertain moving out so as to reduce the risk of further violence.
- Against a country with nukes?
  
  If they’re afraid of attacking a country with nukes, they’ve already lost.
- They're mostly American puppet states such as Saudi and Egypt. Their government doesn't care about anything but pocketing money. American puppet Sisi was just reelected in Egypt by arresting everyone running against him.
  Insurgency groups are growing though since their governments doing nothing really pisses off the civilians. They're not directly attacking israel but instead attack israeli or American targets close to them
  
  Saudi has America, not the other way around. They knocked America's towers and they sold them weapons and shook their hands.
  
  Only group doing that are iran proxies or Hamas affiliated terrorists.

Please provide corroborating story link from a credible source. I will have to remove if the story link can't be updated to a more reputable source.
- It was already removed by a mod and then restored. But yeah, no problem, I will find a better link and switch it now.
  Edit: done
  
  Thank you. We were getting reports on it, and I didn't want to remove it if it was a credible story.

That's eleven men.
https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/un-human-rights-office-opt-unlawful-killings-gaza-city
This is bad and I don't want to justify or defend it. But this does not indicate mass executions of civilians as policy. It could well be a platoon leader who overstepped authority.
As the report states, the UN is calling for a formal investigation. As well they should.
- What is the definition of a mass execution or massacre to you?
  
  When I responded, the submission went to the World Socialist Web Site. I linked above to the actual report. If you read the actual report, you see that eleven civilians were murdered. And that's terrible. The report rightly calls for an investigation.
  You ask, what is a mass execution or massacre? Well, what happened here is unlawful killings. It's a massacre. But my point was that an investigation was needed to determine if these killings were the result of Israeli policy or an event on the ground out of the hands of actual policymakers. Which would look something a whole lot more like the Katyn Massacre, where Soviet troops murdered 22,000 people in Poland during WWII.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre
  This doesn't diminish those eleven lives. But that's the difference between state policy and a military commander gone rogue.
- Yes, just a completely consistent series of platoon leaders who systemically "overstep authority". These are fully and totally autonomous actions... that are culturally mandated. Why everyone is so upsets?
  
  I assume some people think MASS KILLING and EXECUTION are just shocking words being used, when instead they just describe the ugly reality.

On one hand I can't tell Russia or Israel apart in the headlines anymore. On the other hand polls state that Palestinians want this to happen by their support of their Government causing this?
- Do you think the Gaza government caused this mass killing of Palestinians?

Good.

279 comments