Hamas officials say an Israeli airstrike hit the hospital. Israel blames an errant Islamic Jihad missile for the explosion. New York Times October 17, 2023 By Patrick Kingsley, Aaron Boxerman and Hiba Yazbek Reporting from Jerusalem Palestinian civilians at the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday. They were taken there after they were wounded in what Gaza officials said was an airstrike on the Ahli Arab Hospital. Credit...Abed Khaled/Associated Press With President Biden about to arrive in Israel, Palestinians and Israelis blamed each other for the explosion that devastated the hospital, where people had sought shelter from Israeli bombing. An explosion killed hundreds of people on Tuesday at a hospital in Gaza City that was packed with people sheltering there, Gazan officials said, as Palestinians and Israelis blamed each other for a tragedy that inflamed the region just as President Biden was expected to arrive in Israel. Hamas, the group that controls Gaza, said an Israeli airstrike had caused the blast at the Ahli Arab Hospital. Hours later, Israeli officials said that one of the rockets fired at Israel by Palestinian militants had failed shortly after launch, causing what could be the deadliest single incident of the 10-day-old war. Photos and videos posted online and verified by The New York Times showed bloodied and battered bodies, flames, grieving witnesses and the blankets, backpacks and mattresses of the dead and wounded littering the area around them. Ali Jadallah, a Palestinian photojournalist in Gaza City, said he watched as victims arrived at another hospital, ferried there in any available vehicle, most of them dead. Many of the bodies were not intact, he said. Bodies in hospital. To view video click on image. The images, as well as Hamas’s immediate statements blaming Israel and the delay in Israeli denials, combined to fuel angry reactions across the East, with large protests in Beirut and a crowd in Amman, Jordan, lighting a fire outside the Israeli embassy there. Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Palestinian Authority, which has limited authority over the West Bank, cut short a trip to Jordan, where he was scheduled to meet with Mr. Biden. The foreign ministry of Saudi Arabia, which had been exploring establishing formal relations with Israel, blamed the massacre on “the forces of the Israeli occupation.” The Israeli military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday night that the blast at the hospital had resulted from a failed rocket launch by Islamic Jihad, a group allied with Hamas. Islamic Jihad denied the allegation. In the past, rockets fired by Palestinian armed groups, including Islamic Jihad, have occasionally malfunctioned and hit civilian neighborhoods. A spokeswoman for the Gazan health ministry put the toll at 500 or more dead, which the ministry later changed to “hundreds.” No figure could be confirmed independently, but images from the hospital, which is run by the Anglican Church, and witness accounts made clear that it was high. The disaster immediately raised the stakes for Mr. Biden, who is expected to arrive on Wednesday in Israel on a trip to meet with regional leaders in an attempt to de-escalate the crisis. He was scheduled to continue on to Amman to meet with the leaders of Jordan and Egypt, as well as Mr. Abbas, but that meeting was called off late Tuesday. Shortly before taking off for Israel on Air Force One, Mr. Biden said he was “outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life that resulted.” He said he had directed his national security team to look into what had happened. Israeli planes have been pummeling Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre and kidnapping of Israelis. The bombing campaign and Israel’s directive to evacuate northern Gaza, including Gaza City, have displaced hundreds of thousands of people, killed or wounded thousands, and left people throughout the territory perilously low on water, food, fuel and medicine. People who fled their homes were sleeping in streets, fights were breaking out over food, and hospitals were increasingly unable to care for a flood of wounded patients. More than a week of international talks have yielded no agreement to allow vital supplies into the territory, to let some people exit, or to create safe zones for civilians within Gaza, where more than 2 million people are trapped in worsening conditions. Aid and human rights groups have stepped up criticism of the Israeli bombing and the instruction to evacuate. Israeli officials do not deny striking residential buildings and mosques, or killing and injuring noncombatants, but they insist that they are targeting Hamas’s officials, weapons caches, tunnels and safe houses, all deeply intertwined with Gazan civilian infrastructure. Before the hospital explosion in Gaza City, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’s office in a statement on Tuesday cited “daily indications of violations of the laws of war and international human rights law” in Israel’s campaign in Gaza, and said telling people to evacuate northern Gaza may be considered a forcible transfer of a population, itself a violation of international law. More than 600,000 people have fled northern Gaza — over half the area’s population — the United Nations said on Tuesday, after Israel told Gazans to go south for their safety as it bombed and prepared for a possible ground invasion. But evacuation has been no guarantee of safety, with airstrikes killing people in the south and on the roads heading to it. Mohammad Ayoub, 57, and his family fled northern Gaza with only a few personal items, arriving in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, only to find it under attack, too. “There’s constant bombing, even in these areas they say are safe,” Mr. Ayoub said. “But there are no more safe places in Gaza.” The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had stepped up bombing in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, in strikes that Gaza officials said killed 80 people overnight. Maj. Nir Dinar, a spokesman for the military, said Israel sought to avoid civilian casualties but that Hamas fighters were hiding among Palestinian civilians, and that southern Gaza — while not entirely safe — remained safer than the north. Destroyed buildings in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Tuesday, where many had fled after news of an impending ground invasion in the north of the territory.Credit...Yousef Masoud for The New York Times Hamas and Israel have gone to war several times before but never on this scale, and the conflict is a growing focus of international attention. Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany went to Israel on Tuesday in a show of support for the country, and António Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, is expected to go to the region on Thursday for meetings on the Israel-Gaza war. Mr. Biden has called the Hamas attack “pure evil” and said repeatedly that Israel has a right to respond in its defense, while also signaling concern about the human toll. Hamas’s assault made Oct. 7 the deadliest single day in Israel’s history, and it was the worst breach of the nation’s security since the 1973 Yom Kippur war began with a surprise attack by Egypt, Syria and several other states. In a highly planned assault, thousands of Hamas militants broke through the border fence in multiple locations and poured into Israel, overrunning towns, military bases and a music festival, killing about 1,400 people — mostly civilians, and a number of them visiting foreigners — and taking about 200 hostages back to Gaza. Israel has retaliated for the attack with the most intense bombing campaign it has ever waged against Hamas, determined to wipe out the fighting ability of an organization dedicated to destroying Israel. Mr. Netanyahu declared last week that “every Hamas member is a dead man.” The bombing had killed more than 2,800 people in Gaza, officials there said on Monday. The U.N. human rights commissioner’s office said the dead have included at least 14 U.N. workers, 28 medical workers and 11 journalists. Gaza officials said that as many as 1,200 other people may still be under the rubble, as rescue workers struggle to find them. Late on Monday, Hamas released a video of a 21-year-old Israeli woman it was holding, and the video became a source of hope and anguish for her family and those of other hostages. The group has claimed that the Israeli bombing has killed a number of the hostages, along with the Hamas fighters holding them. A Hamas official said last week that the group would kill a hostage each time Israel bombed a home in Gaza, but there has been no sign that it has followed through on that threat. In southern Gaza, people are spending their days scrounging for food and water, and spending nights crammed with other families into small apartments, or sleeping in cars or on the pavement. Some of them say conditions are so dire they are considering returning to their homes in the north, despite the lethal risks. With internet and cellphone service breaking down under the bombing, they are finding it steadily harder to get information about where to go, or how to get there. “Today is worse than all the previous bad days,” Dr. Mohamed Zaqout, the general manager of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, said Tuesday. “With many displaced from the north, more people share the same homes and thus there are more casualties in each strike.” Doctors treating an injured child at a hospital in Khan Younis on Tuesday.Credit...Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times The bombing has cut off most electricity, and emergency generators have run out of fuel at hospitals, shelters, water pumping stations and desalination plants. Hospitals “have entered the stage of actual collapse due to power outages and fuel scarcity,” the Gazan health ministry said in a statement. The World Health Organization warned that the water shortage and crowding would lead to unsanitary conditions, inviting outbreaks of disease. Gaza’s only borders are with Israel and Egypt, which have imposed a partial blockade on the territory since Hamas took power there in 2007. Israel declared a “complete siege” after the Hamas incursion, sealing its border with Gaza and amassing troops and tanks along the boundary. That leaves the Rafah crossing into Egypt the only potential portal for people to escape — including some 500 to 600 U.S. citizens and permanent residents — and supplies to enter. But reports of imminent deals to open that door and let aid through have all proved unfounded. Reporting was contributed by Edward Wong, Nicholas Casey, Aric Toler, Riley Mellen, John Ismay, Yousur Al-Hlou, Nadav Gavrielov, Matthew Rosenberg, Monika Pronczuk, Raja Abdulrahim, Farnaz Fassihi, Abu Bakr Bashir, Talya Minsberg, Christopher F. Schuetze, Jeffrey Gettleman, Adam Sella, Peter Baker and Eric Schmitt. Patrick Kingsley is the Jerusalem bureau chief, covering Israel and the occupied territories. He has reported from more than 40 countries, written two books and previously covered migration and the Middle East for The Guardian. More about Patrick Kingsley Hiba Yazbek reports for The Times from Jerusalem, covering Israel and the occupied West Bank. More about Hiba Yazbek A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 18, 2023, Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Blast Kills Hundreds at Gaza Hospital Copyright 2023 The New York Times Company

Hamas actions are war crimes, could constitute genocide – international law experts Times of Israel 15 October 2023 Over 100 authorities from Israel and abroad say terror group’s massive attack was intended to destroy part of a national group, hostage-taking involved multiple crimes By STUART WINER Israeli soldiers remove bodies of Israeli civilians in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, October 10, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90) Over 100 experts on international law issued a statement Sunday assessing that the Hamas terror group committed multiple war crimes in its massive assault on Israel last week and that its actions in slaughtering 1,300 people likely amounted to genocide. “These acts constitute gross violation of international law, and, in particular, of international criminal law,” declared the document, signed by academic figures and legal authorities in Israel and abroad. “Videos, released mostly by Hamas, posted on social media, document acts of torture, sexual violence, violence towards children and molestation of bodies,” the document specified. “As these widespread, horrendous acts appear to have been carried out with an ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part’ a national group – Israelis – a goal explicitly declared by Hamas, they most probably constitute an international crime of genocide, proscribed by the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” it added. Among those who signed the document was Prof. Irwin Cotler, the former justice minister and attorney general of Canada. [comment: Prof. Cotler is on the Board of Advisors of Genocide Watch.] Dan Eldad, who served as Israel’s acting state attorney from February to May 2020 and who helped put the letter together, told The Times of Israel that it may have key diplomatic value should Israel seek to persuade other countries or international organizations that remain on the fence to come down on its side, and in confronting those who express support for the Palestinian position. “They can go to them and say, ‘Look, it was genocide,'” he said. On October 7, over 1,500 Hamas terrorists stormed Israel’s border around the Gaza Strip and murderously rampaged through southern areas, taking over communities and killing the men, women and children they found, as well as overrunning military sites with similar deadly results. The toll from the bloody assault, which came alongside a widespread barrage of 5,000 rockets fired indiscriminately at towns and cities across Israel, has swelled to more than 1,300, the vast majority of them civilians. Thousands more were injured, hundreds of them seriously. Among the dead were dozens of babies. Some of the victims, including entire families who were butchered, were reportedly beheaded. At an outdoor music festival, surrounded by the attackers, 260 people were systematically mowed down. In addition, the terrorists abducted around 150 people of all ages, including children and elderly women, dragging them to Gaza as captives. Hamas has continued to indiscriminately rain rockets on civilian areas of southern and central issues since the attack started. Palestinians take a kidnapped Israeli civilian, center, from the Kfar Aza kibbutz into the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. (Hatem Ali/AP) The legal opinion released Sunday was organized by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, a volunteer-based organization that was formed after the attack and is striving to secure the return of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip. Eldad said the document was composed by a number of professors in Israel who then distributed it to their peers across the world. “The taking of hostages is defined as a war crime,” the statement said, clarifying that laws regarding the right to hold prisoners of war do not apply to terrorist organizations. “Thus, holding both civilian and soldier hostages constitutes a war crime,” the document continued. “The circumstances surrounding the kidnapping of all hostages, civilian and soldiers, reveals that they were taken with the purpose of holding them hostage. Hamas must release all hostages immediately.” Further, “the abduction of people without provision of information regarding their whereabouts constitutes the [war] crime of enforced disappearances.” Available information indicates that “many abductees were tortured by their captors” and as those acts were committed as part of Hamas’s policy to attack civilians they “constitute crimes against humanity, for which perpetrators must bear full accountability,” the experts said. Until the hostages are released, Hamas is obliged under international law to provide information about the captives including their medical condition, as well as providing medical care, they stressed. They called for the International Committee of the Red Cross and “all relevant UN agencies” to demand Hamas grant access to the abductees. “These organizations must also do their utmost to ensure that essential foodstuff and appropriate medical treatment are provided,” they said. A child’s bed in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in the aftermath of the Hamas assault on Israel on Oct. 7. photo shared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Oct. 11, 2023 . (X/Netanyahu) The international community and organizations have a duty to use all means to pressure Hamas to give precedence to the immediate release of protected groups, such as “children, women, older persons, people with disabilities and those in need of medical treatment,” the document urged. Israel has retaliated to the attacks with artillery and airstrikes, and officials from the Hamas-controlled health ministry estimated more than 2,000 Palestinians dead. Israel says it is targeting terrorist infrastructure and all areas where Hamas operates or hides out while issuing evacuation warnings to civilians in regions it plans to attack. A coded document found in a vehicle used by Hamas terrorists in their shock assault on Israel showed they were instructed to massacre civilians and take captives, according to a television report Saturday. The Kan public broadcaster reported that the document was recovered at Kibbutz Re’im, outside of which at least 260 people were killed and an unknown number taken hostage at a music festival. The report came a day after Kan revealed a different document left behind by a Hamas terrorist in southern Israel that ordered terrorists to kill as many civilians as possible in their takeover of Kibbutz Alumim. On Saturday, NBC News reported on additional documents recovered from terrorists showed extensive Hamas plans to target an elementary school and a youth center, kill “as many people as possible” and take hostages quickly into Gaza from Kibbutz Sa’ad. Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. Copyright 2023 Times of Israel

Foreign Policy Africa Brief October 18, 2023 Aid convoy trucks are seen waiting to cross at Gaza’s Rafah border on Oct. 17, 2023 in North Sinai, Egypt. Mahmoud Khaled/Getty Images In an attempt to wipe out Hamas after the group killed at least 1,300 people in attacks on Oct. 7, Israeli airstrikes have destroyed more than 22,000 Palestinian residential units in Gaza, and almost 3,000 people have been killed there in the past ten days. The Israeli military last week ordered 1.1 million civilians to flee south toward the Egyptian border—ostensibly for their own safety but in effect encouraging the displacement of half of the territory’s population. Meanwhile, Egypt has deployed hundreds of security forces to the Rafah border crossing, according to Egyptian media, and is resisting pressure from Israel and the United States to let Palestinians flee, fearing an exodus of Gaza’s 2.3 million people into its Sinai Peninsula—where Egypt is already fighting insurgents. It fears assuming responsibility for a massive refugee population and the risks of fleeing militants using its territory to attack or plot against Israel, which could prompt Israel to target them on Egyptian soil. As the Financial Times noted, “Cairo would not want to police an exiled community that could include militants who want to fight Israel from its territory.” Following a rapid diplomatic tour across the Middle East by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Egypt has said it will allow foreign nationals and dual-citizen Palestinians safe passage through Rafah if humanitarian aid is allowed to enter Gaza. At the time of writing, the border was still closed. Together with Israel, Egypt has upheld a 16-year blockade on Gaza from the Rafah crossing, the only non-Israeli exit point. Arab countries including Jordan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates have rallied humanitarian assistance, as well as a blood donation campaign initiated by the Egyptian government, with around 100 aid trucks stuck on the Egyptian side of the border. Egypt said the Rafah crossing has become inoperable due to Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza side and won’t open the border unless there is assurance its aid convoys will not be bombarded. From Israel’s perspective, it rejects a temporary cease-fire for aid unless hostages held by Hamas are released. Hospitals in Gaza are on the brink of collapse. Israel has cut off supplies of food, water, and fuel. There is also a political element. Many Egyptians fear opening up the border to all Palestinians instead of sending aid into Gaza would allow Israel to permanently reoccupy an ethnically cleansed Gaza Strip and push the burden of a refugee crisis onto Cairo. The fears are not without merit. Israelis have previously suggested that Egypt cede part of its territory to form a Palestinian state. Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak denied reports in 2017 that he had reached a deal with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1983 to resettle Palestinians exiled in Lebanon in Sinai, adding that he rejected a similar proposal in 2010 by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to create a Palestinian state there—which Israel seized in 1967 and then handed back in the wake of the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty that followed the Camp David Accords. Amira Oron, Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, sought last week to dispel revived concerns about the expulsion of Palestinians to Sinai, stating, “Sinai is Egyptian territory.” Still, Palestinians have reason to be fearful: Displacements into Arab states in previous Israel-Palestine conflicts have been permanent. Many of the descendants of those who fled their homes during the 1948 war that led to Israel’s creation still live in refugee camps in neighboring countries as well as in Gaza, which was ruled by Egypt for most of the period between 1949 and 1967. Following an emergency meeting of the Arab League in Cairo last Wednesday, the 22-member bloc agreed to reject any attempt to displace Palestinians once again onto their neighbors. Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit urgently appealed to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to condemn “this insane Israeli effort to transfer the population.” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi described the Palestinian struggle as “the cause of all Arabs,” saying that “it is important that the [Palestinian] people remain steadfast and present on their land.” The sentiment is echoed by Egyptian religious institutions and the public. On Sunday, Egyptian members of the House of Representatives collectively rejected the displacement of Palestinians into Sinai. Egyptian news outlet Al-Ahram Online quoted one representative calling for the Egyptian government to expel Israel’s ambassador to Cairo and withdraw the Egyptian ambassador. However, a recent directive from North Sinai’s governor, Maj. Gen. Mohamed Abdel-Fadil Shousha, for local authorities “to list schools, housing units and vacant land to be used as shelters if required” suggests the country could receive some refugees, although Egypt’s House speaker, Hanafy El-Gebaly, said the country would “defend its national security in all circumstances.” Analysts believe Egypt is also worried about security threats from Hamas infiltration and the links between Islamic State insurgents that Egypt has been battling for more than a decade in north Sinai. According to the Egyptian news outlet Mada Masr, designated shelters are to be cordoned off to prevent Palestinians from being able to enter the walled city of Arish, Sinai’s largest city. A major refugee influx is a red line for a president fighting for reelection in December. Egyptian lawmakers view it not only as a security risk but an impossible squeeze on an economy near bankruptcy and facing reforms through a $3 billion International Monetary Fund bailout (Cairo is now asking the IMF for more). Egypt’s inflation reached almost 40 percent in August, while its borrowing costs shot up following the Israel-Hamas war as investors weighed a possible Egyptian liability for refugees, almost half of whom are children. Egyptian officials said the country is already hosting 300,000 Sudanese refugees. Sisi has called for an international summit to take place Saturday to discuss the future of Palestine. U.S. lawmakers only weeks ago decided to withhold U.S. aid money because of Egypt’s human rights record under Sisi, as well as due to the indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez on charges of taking bribes from Egyptians linked to the government. Although Cairo is currently economically weakened, the Israel-Hamas war is a reminder of Egypt’s outsized role as a mediating power. The U.S. government’s need to work with Egypt on opening the border, aiding Palestinians within Gaza, or hosting potential refugees fleeing the strip will necessitate more aid, closer ties, and the likely continuation of policies that overlook Egypt’s own rights abuses. Copyright 2023 Foreign Policy Africa Brief, © 2023 Graham Digital Holding Company LLC.

By Robin Wright I landed in the Middle East for the first time on October 6, 1973. In the Beirut airport terminal, a woman turned to me and whispered in an anxious panic, “The Egyptians have just crossed the Suez Canal!” In a surprise offensive, code-named Operation Badr, after the Prophet Muhammad’s first military victory in the seventh century, Syria and Egypt had invaded Israel on two opposite fronts. The Yom Kippur War lasted almost three weeks. The Arabs lost militarily, but believed they had won psychologically and politically—forcing Israel to recognize that it was vulnerable and eventually would have to make peace with its enemies. Fifty years later, Hamas is a third-rate militia compared with Syrian and Egyptian forces, let alone Israel’s sophisticated Army and arsenal. Yet the conflict that erupted this weekend feels more ominous. “Powerful, centrifugal forces have been unleashed that have rewritten the rules for the entire region,” Bruce Hoffman, the senior fellow for counterterrorism at the Council on Foreign Relations, told me. Unlike confrontations in previous decades which followed a pattern of death, destruction, and negotiated ceasefires, this war is “completely unpredictable,” Hoffman said. Even a decisive Israeli military victory is unlikely to end the country’s increasingly perilous security challenges. It’s not even clear what “winning” means. “There’s no question Israel can inflict tremendous damage on Gaza—on its infrastructure and on its people—and can also target Hamas leaders,” Dan Kurtzer, a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, told me. But movements regenerate, and “sometimes the next leadership turns out to be more radical, more extreme, than the one that was beheaded,” Kurtzer said. Al Qaeda of Iraq, for example, evolved into the Islamic State of Iraq and then, after a U.S. air strike killed its founder in 2006, into isis in 2013. Hamas has already achieved some of its objectives in terrorizing Israelis and stunning a country that long seemed almost invincible in the region. “If the war stopped today, or even after Gaza looks like another war zone, Hamas has effectively won,” Kurtzer told me. Their immediate goals “have been achieved or are achievable.” The conflict has also, at least for now, almost certainly scuttled U.S. diplomacy to broker formal rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a pivotal step for Israel to gain recognition from a long-standing adversary. Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia condemned the “continued occupation, the deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, and the repetition of systematic provocations against its sanctities.” Hamas’s brazen operation—missiles fired as far as Tel Aviv; murder, mayhem, and hostage-taking on the ground; fighters infiltrating Israel on paragliders—has generated fears of a wider conflagration involving other militias and potentially other nations, including Iran and the United States, directly or indirectly. “We suspect Iranian hands behind the scenes,” the Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog said on “Face the Nation,” on Sunday. The U.S. pushed back. On “Meet the Press,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “We don’t have anything that shows us that Iran was directly involved in this attack, in planning it or in carrying it out, but that’s something we’re looking at very carefully.” But he acknowledged that “Hamas wouldn’t be Hamas without the support it’s had for many years from Iran.” Later on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had green-lighted the attack. Tehran has long been the primary source of arms, financial aid, and military training for Hamas, which makes no secret of the alliance. In remarks following the last major war between Israel and Hamas, in 2021, Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, said, “All the thanks goes to the Islamic Republic in Iran that hasn’t been stingy with us over the years.” The U.S. has sanctioned more than four hundred Iranian individuals and companies for providing support to Hamas. The potential for a wider war could be “seismic” in the Middle East, Hoffman said. The tension is now tangible. On Saturday, as Hamas fighters rampaged across southern Israel, President Joe Biden issued a warning: “This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage.” Over the weekend, the Administration reinforced that message in conversations with allies, surely hoping that they would emphasize the point to Iran and its well-armed proxies in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. On Sunday, the Pentagon ordered a carrier group of warships to the region. It also announced plans to “augment” U.S. warplane squadrons “to address the risks of any party seeking to expand the conflict,” General Michael Kurilla, the Central Command chief, said. Iran has expressed voluble support for Hamas since the war began. Over the weekend, President Ebrahim Raisi spoke with leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to Iranian media. In a public message, he called on Muslim governments worldwide to support the Palestinian people. Since the nineteen-eighties, Iran has created an unofficial alliance of militias in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen—known as the Axis of Resistance—under the tutelage of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. They all now have missiles, rockets, and drones capable of hitting Israel. Hezbollah’s arsenal, which is estimated to include at least a hundred and fifty thousand missiles and rockets, is far larger than the Hamas armory. Since the Yom Kippur War, Israel’s wars have all been with militias. It fought the Palestine Liberation Organization, in Lebanon, in 1982; Hezbollah in 2006; and Hamas in 2008, 2014, and 2021. Defeating non-state actors is a lot more complicated than warring or making peace with a state. As Blinken noted on “Meet the Press,” unlike the 1973 war, the new Hamas offensive is a “massive terrorist attack targeting Israeli civilians.” The United States learned the challenges of engaging with non-state actors in long wars against the poorly armed Taliban in Afghanistan and the abysmally trained isis fighters in Iraq—at great expense. The prospects of a temporary ceasefire, as has happened in the past, appear remote. Hamas now seems all-in on its covenant to obliterate Israel, Hoffman said. Hamas, however, is also fragmented, politically and physically, Kurtzer noted. It has a diehard military wing inside Gaza, a diaspora leadership in Palestinian-refugee camps in Lebanon, and political leaders based in Qatar. “I don’t know what Hamas is,” he told me. Its representatives in Doha engage with the outside world, he added, but “what about these guys who spent their lives digging tunnels, crafting weapons out of telephone poles and then integrating them with whatever they could smuggle in from Iran and other places? Those guys, they want to fight.” Ironically, Israel bears responsibility for the early growth of Hamas. In the mid-eighties, it supported the coalescence of nascent Islamist groups as an alternative to the P.L.O. “because they were religious and not nationalistic,” Kurtzer said. Looking back, Israel has also ignored the regional trend of rag-tag militias challenging powerful states. Kurtzer noted that the mujahideen confronted the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and Hezbollah took on Israel in Lebanon. (Both militias prevailed.) The U.S. contributed to the political rise of Hamas in 2006 by insisting on democratic elections to solidify a Palestinian government willing to back a peace agreement with Israel. Hamas won a majority of the seats in the parliament. It eventually wrested control of Gaza away from Fatah, which was willing to engage diplomatically with Israel. That split the Palestinian government into two parts—in the West Bank and Gaza—and effectively doomed the peace process. After the election, then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice mused, “Certainly, I’ve asked why nobody saw it coming, and I hope that we will take a hard look, because it does say something about perhaps not having had a good enough pulse on the Palestinian population.” The words are haunting, once again, today. © 2023 New Yorker

By Karl Badohal and Anna Koper Donald Tusk, leader of the largest opposition grouping Civic Coalition (KO), speaks after the exit poll results are announced in Warsaw, Poland, October 15, 2023. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel WARSAW, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Poland's liberal, pro-EU opposition on Monday looked on track to form the next government after official partial results and exit polls showed the ruling nationalists losing their parliamentary majority in the nation's most pivotal election in decades. The incumbent Law and Justice (PiS) party has repeatedly clashed with the European Union over the rule of law, media freedom, migration, and LGBT rights since it swept to power in 2015. Opposition parties have vowed to mend ties with Brussels and scrap reforms they say have eroded Polish democracy. A late exit poll by Ipsos published on Monday afternoon gave PiS 36.1% of the vote, which would translate into 196 lawmakers in the 460-seat lower house of parliament. Opposition parties, led by the former European Council President Donald Tusk's liberal grouping Civic Coalition (KO), were projected to win a combined 249 seats, with the KO seen winning 31.0% of ballots cast. Official results after 90% of voting districts had been counted put PiS on 36.4%, KO on 29.7% and its ally the centre-right Third Way on 14.5%. Generally more conservative rural areas and small towns report their results faster than large cities where liberal parties are strongest. Victory for the opposition in a vote seen by analysts as the most significant election for Europe in years could potentially redefine the relationship between Brussels and the largest EU member state in central and eastern Europe. Polish financial markets surged on the prospect of a government led by Tusk. The blue-chip WIG 20 (.WIG20) share index was up 6.2% at 1320 GMT, while the zloty currency was 1.3% firmer. "The ousting of the nationalists will help to restore damaged relations with the EU," said Lee Hardman, a senior currency analyst at MUFG bank. "The zloty should continue to strengthen further in the near-term in anticipation of improving relations with the EU that will help to support growth and attract capital inflows." Tusk has said he would seek to unblock some 110 billion euros of EU funds earmarked for Poland but frozen over rule-of-law concerns. 'WAITING CALMLY' President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, has said he would give the first shot to the winning party. On Monday, Duda urged patience until the full election results were known. "We are waiting calmly, democracy in Poland is stable," he said. However, with the far-right Confederation seen winning just 6.8%, below expectations, according to the late exit poll, PiS will struggle to forge a new government. Even though they likely will have a wait before their turn to form a government, Third Way leader Szymon Holownia said late on Monday the opposition parties will begin coalition talks this week, and Tusk is a natural candidate to become a new prime minister, The leader of the Polish Peasants' Party (PSL), part of Third Way, ruled out joining a PiS-led coalition. "People who voted for us wanted change, they wanted PiS removed from power," Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told private radio RMF FM. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a rights watchdog, said Poland's election had not been entirely free and fair. "... The ruling party enjoyed clear advantage through its undue influence over the use of state resources and public media," said Pia Kauma, head of the OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly. Poland's electoral commission put turnout in Sunday's vote at 74%, based on 96% of polling stations, the highest since the fall of communism in 1989, underlining the high stakes of this election. Turnout in the last parliamentary election was 62%. In an aggressive campaign, PiS had cast the election as a choice between uncontrolled illegal migration under the rule of leaders it said were beholden to foreign interests and a government that would protect Poland's borders and traditions. However, PiS faced accusations of democratic backsliding and undermining women's rights after the government enforced a near-total abortion ban in 2021. PiS was also accused of using lucrative positions in state-controlled firms to reward supporters. "I expect that women will now have more rights, that they will feel safer," said Iga Frackiewicz, 43, a banking administrator. "I also hope that the nepotism will end, for example in state companies and in other places." © 2023 Reuters.

By Monika Pronczuk Election posters on an abandoned building last week in Nowy Sacz, Poland. Credit...Maciek Nabrdalik for The New Centrist and progressive parties appear best placed to form a new coalition government in Poland, according to exit polls following elections on Sunday, despite the governing nationalist Law and Justice party winning the most votes for any single party. Exit polling on Sunday showed a strong second-place finish by the main opposition group, Civic Coalition, and better than expected results for two smaller centrist and progressive parties — a dramatic upset. If confirmed, the result would frustrate the governing party’s hope of a third consecutive term. Official results are expected on Tuesday. If the early forecasts hold, Civic Coalition and its potential partners will have won 248 seats in the 460-member Sejm, the more powerful lower house of Parliament, compared with 200 won by Law and Justice. Civic Coalition and Law and Justice had offered Polish voters drastically different interpretations of the country’s recent history — and different visions for its future. The parliamentary election had been depicted by all political sides as pivotal for Poland, a NATO and European Union frontline nation, and for Europe. Each side had sought to rally their supporters by presenting the other as an existential threat to the country. Law and Justice portrayed itself as the defender of Polish sovereignty and of “ordinary” Poles against the “elites” and the European Union. Civic Coalition, favored by pro-European urbanites, vowed to “bring Poland back to Europe,” and to reverse what it has described as the country’s illiberal course. What was at stake? By casting their votes on Sunday, Poles were making a judgment on the legacy of Poland’s post-1989 transition from Communism to capitalism and democracy. The election’s final results will have ramifications well beyond the country’s borders: Poland has the largest economy in Europe’s formerly Communist eastern fringe, and it has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters in its fight against Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022. Poland hosts more than 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees and it serves as the main hub for transferring weapons and aid to Kyiv. But in recent months, leaders in Warsaw became embroiled in a bitter public dispute with Ukraine over grain and hinted at cutting back on new military aid and subsidies for Ukrainian refugees, exacerbating concerns about Europe’s fatigue with long-term aid to Kyiv. What were the main themes? The campaign was particularly vicious, with Poland’s public broadcasting system — a network of television and radio stations controlled by Law and Justice — pumping out nonstop vitriol against the opposition. In a bid to drum up support, the governing party was willing to damage Poland’s relationship with important allies, like Germany and Ukraine, undermining Warsaw’s efforts to present itself as a stable pillar of Western solidarity against Russia’s aggression. In the prelude to the vote, Law and Justice painted a picture of a country under attack. It often invoked both the war in Ukraine raging next door and the issue of migration, the latter in the context of a continuing crisis at the border with Belarus, where migrants from the Middle East and Europe seek to cross into the European Union. Law and Justice also repeatedly declared it was the only guarantee for keeping Poland safe. In a pre-election debate aired by the public broadcaster, the country’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said, “As long as the Law and Justice government is in power, Poland is like an unconquered fortress.” But in a significant U-turn, two top military commanders resigned only days before the vote, undermining the national security pledge. The opposition fired back, highlighting Law and Justice’s involvement with a visa-selling scheme, in which work visas were sold to hundreds of thousands of African and Asian migrants in exchange for cash, despite that party’s combative anti-migration messaging. Alongside the parliamentary election, the government also held a referendum to ask Poles their views on “admitting thousands of illegal migrants from the Middle East and Africa,” and on “selling out national wealth to foreign entities.” Human Rights Watch, a rights groups, said these questions were “loaded” and spread misinformation. For the referendum results to be valid, at least 50 percent of citizens must take part in it. Results of the referendum are also expected on Tuesday. What was the governing party’s message? The governing Law and Justice party positioned itself as a promoter of traditional, conservative values, which it said have been under attack by liberal elites in Warsaw and Brussels, the headquarters of the European Union. The party had promised further purges of “post-Communist” elements from the state, in particular the judiciary, and more generous social handouts to make up for what it says was an unjust transition to capitalism. Under Law and Justice’s rule, Poland has experienced a decrease in poverty, but also soaring inflation and a housing crisis. The party is also involved in a yearslong conflict with the European Union over the rule of law, which has resulted in the freezing of billions of euros in subsidies. And it further tightened an already strict abortion ban and has targeted the L.G.B.T.Q. community. In April 2019, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the chairman of Law and Justice and still Poland’s de facto leader, called homosexuality a “threat to Polish identity, to our nation, to its existence, and thus to the Polish state.” Mr. Kaczynski has also promoted a theory that Donald Tusk, the opposition’s leader, is responsible for the 2010 death of Mr. Kaczynski’s twin brother, Lech Kaczynski. A government plane carrying Lech Kaczynski, then Poland’s president, and other officials crashed while en route to Russia on an official visit. Mr. Tusk was the prime minister at the time. Who are the other players? The main opposition party, Civic Coalition, ran on a pro-European, liberal platform, with a pledge to reverse what it described as undemocratic changes in the news media and the judiciary, as well as the now near-total abortion ban. Much of the party’s popularity relies on its leader, Mr. Tusk, a former president of the European Council, who embodies aspirations for Poland to reconcile with the European Union and to reclaim its place as Europe’s post-Communist poster child. Confederation, a far-right alliance that barely made it into Parliament in the last election, in 2019, had been seen as a possible kingmaker in the postelection effort to form a government. It is calling for lower taxes and no social benefits, and it opposes Poland’s aid to Ukraine. According to the exit polls, Confederation won only 6.2 percent of the vote, giving it 12 seats. The centrist Third Way alliance, which consists of the agrarian Polish People’s Party and the center-right Poland 2050 party, has a platform similar to that of Civic Coalition and is expected to join as a coalition partner. The exit polls on Sunday showed that Third Way had reached the necessary threshold to enter the Sejm. © 2023 The New York Times Company

Former Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido speaks during an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, on May 5. Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg/Getty Images By Karol Suarez and Stefano Pozzebon October 6, 2023 Bogota (CNN) — Venezuelan authorities on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader and former interim president Juan Guaido, who dismissed the move as politically motivated. During a press conference in the capital Caracas, Attorney General Tarek William Saab alleged that Guaido had used the state-owned oil company PDVSA’s resources to finance himself and pay his legal expenses. “Juan Guaido used PDVSA resources to finance himself, pay his legal expenses, and forced PDVSA to accept his financing terms. These decisions caused losses to the nation of $19 billion, resulting in the almost definitive loss of Citgo,” Saab said, adding that Venezuela will request a red notice from Interpol. “For this reason, we have opened a new investigation against former deputy Juan Guaido, and we have requested an arrest warrant against him,” he said. Guaido served as the interim president of Venezuela’s transitional government from 2019 until late 2022 – when he was ousted from his leadership role after struggling to make significant gains against the authoritarian regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. This spring, Guaido traveled to Miami, where he has remained. Speaking to CNN on Friday, he said, “Of course, I want to be back in Venezuela, but at least here I am alive and free, which is not the same for many Venezuelans who are behind bars or have been murdered by the dictatorship.” The allegations Saab said the arrest warrant against Guaido will be for the alleged crimes of treason; usurpation of functions; profit or extraction of money, securities and public goods; money laundering; and association. He also said that least 28 investigations are ongoing in the country against Guaido for a raft of alleged crimes including usurpation of functions, money laundering, terrorism, arms trafficking, and treason. “Those who at some point believed in this guy and went out to march; they see that they found it to be a vulgar criminal of the worst caliber, robbing and kidnapping,” Saab said. Guaido’s spokesperson declined to comment on the allegations, but during a live transmission on his Instagram account, Guaido described them as “false” and challenged President Maduro to submit to justice himself. “This message goes to you, Maduro, tomorrow let’s meet at any prosecutor’s office in the US or, if you prefer, another jurisdiction, The Hague. We can then go directly to the jurisdiction that also points (to) you directly,” Guaido said. In June, the International Criminal Court ruled that prosecutors should resume investigating alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela by security forces under President Maduro. “The question is, why now? Why did the dictatorship not do it before?” he said of the arrest warrant. “So no, Maduro, I did not allow you to kidnap me, I will not allow you to take away my voice, and I will continue to denounce you in all places where possible, as a criminal.” An upcoming vote Venezuela is due to hold a presidential vote in 2024, though critics have cast doubt on whether elections can be free and fair in the country’s repressive political climate. Guaido called on his followers to vote in the upcoming opposition primary election on October 22, saying, “today the vote is kidnapped in Venezuela, but we have an opportunity to mobilize again to confront Nicolas Maduro.” The US, which had long been a supporter of Guaido, has somewhat softened its stance toward Caracas as the region struggles with rising energy costs and hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants. On Thursday, senior officials in the Biden administration said the US will restart deporting Venezuelans directly to Venezuela in an attempt to curb the record influx of crossings at the US-Mexico border, marking a major shift in policy. Venezuelans who cross the US-Mexico border unlawfully and lack a legal basis to remain in the US will be eligible for removal, the senior administration officials said, adding that Venezuela had agreed to accept back its nationals. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the new policy “a key piece” of the administration’s approach to migration. Advocacy groups however have slammed the shift as dangerous for deportees; the policy will “likely lead to unsafe returns,” Refugees International warned in a statement. In his interview with CNN on Friday, Guaido said he didn’t believe that the deportation deal was connected to his arrest. However, he did say that it underlined Maduro’s interest in gaining international recognition as Venezuela’s head of state. “They are not going to stop the migration situation just by stopping migration or connect flights. We need to put a stop to the regime and recover rights in Venezuela,” Guaidó said. “The only thing Maduro is looking for is recognition, and even with these deportation flights, he’s going to spin them as de facto recognition for his regime. That’s what he gets from this,” he continued. “We never expected that Venezuelan migrants would reach the US directly, on foot, from Venezuela. Those are thousands of miles of desperation through the jungle. But we need to change the situation in Venezuela, bringing the country back to democracy, if we want to solve the migration crisis.” © 2023 Cable News Network (CNN)

Australia rejects Indigenous referendum in setback for reconciliation By Praveen Menon, Lewis Jackson, Wayne Cole Video: Australia rejects Indigenous referendum. Posted October 14, 2023. REUTERS SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia on Saturday decisively rejected a proposal to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution, in a major setback to the country’s efforts for reconciliation with its First Peoples. Australians had to vote “Yes” or “No” in the referendum, the first in almost a quarter of a century, on the question of whether to alter the constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people through the creation of an Indigenous advisory body, the “Voice to Parliament”. Nationwide, with almost 70% of the vote counted, the “No” vote led “Yes” 60% to 40%. Australian broadcaster ABC and other TV networks have projected that a majority of voters in all six of Australia’s states would vote against altering the 122-year-old constitution. A successful referendum requires at least four of the six to vote in favour, along with a national majority. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged it was not the outcome he had hoped for but said the country would have to seek a new way forward for reconciliation. “Our nation’s road to reconciliation has often been hard going,” Albanese said in a televised news conference. “Tonight is not the end of the road and is certainly not the end of our efforts to bring people together.” Academics and human rights advocates fear the win by the “No” camp could set back reconciliation efforts by years. The Voice to Parliament was proposed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a 2017 document crafted by Indigenous leaders that set out a roadmap for reconciliation with wider Australia. Australians cast their vote at a polling booth during The Voice referendum in Queanbeyan, Australia, October 14, 2023. REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy Australia’s Indigenous citizens, who make up 3.8% of the country’s 26 million population, have inhabited the land for about 60,000 years but are not mentioned in the constitution and are, by most socio-economic measures, the most disadvantaged people in the country. Supporters of the proposal believed entrenching an Indigenous Voice into the constitution would unite Australia and usher in a new era with its Indigenous people. Many Indigenous people favoured the change, but some said it was a distraction from achieving practical and positive outcomes. The political opposition has criticised the measure, saying it is divisive, would be ineffective, and would slow government decision-making. “I’m devastated,” Indigenous leader and prominent “Yes” campaigner Thomas Mayo said on ABC News. “We need a Voice. We need that structural change.” SETBACK FOR ALBANESE Referendums are difficult to pass in Australia, with only eight of 44 succeeding since the country’s founding in 1901. This is the first referendum in Australia since voters rejected a proposal to become a republic almost a quarter of a century ago. Barbara McGrady, an indegenous photographer, sits with Karleen Green as local Indigenous community members gather at St John's church in Glebe to await the outcome of a referedum, in Sydney, Australia October 14, 2023. REUTERS/Kristy Needham In 1967, a referendum to count Indigenous people as part of the Australian population was a resounding success with bipartisan political support. This year’s referendum, however, has not garnered unified support, with leaders of the major conservative parties campaigning for a “No” vote. No referendum has passed in Australia without bipartisan backing. The Voice has been a key feature of Prime Minister Albanese’s term in office, and a referendum loss would stand out, political analysts say, as his biggest setback since coming to power in May last year. Opposition leader Peter Dutton criticised Albanese for holding a referendum “that Australia did not need to have”. “The proposal and the process should have been designed to unite Australians, not to divide us,” he told a news conference after the result was known on Saturday. A misinformation campaign that spread through social media also sparked fear that the Voice - a purely advisory body - would become a third chamber of parliament, resulting in more federal aid to Aboriginal people, and more disputes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Albanese also criticised some sections of the media that he said had steered the referendum debate away from the core issues. “We have had, including in outlets represented in this room, discussions about a range of things that were nothing to do with what was on the ballot paper tonight,” Albanese said. Additional reporting by Kirsty Needham, Alasdair Pal and John Mair in Sydney; Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by William Mallard, Clarence Fernandez and Edmund Klamann © 2023 Reuters. All rights reserved

Be Consistent to Our Moral Ground By Imam Shamsi Ali DutaIndonesia 17 October 2023 AS a man of faith, I do believe in humanity in the first place. I believe that our common humanity deserves dignity, freedom, justice and equality. I don’t care where I belong in terms of my racial, ethnic, and religious affiliation. I am a human being and would forever consistently put humanity in the first place. When I say putting humanity in the first place, it means I would treat every single human being with dignity, respect their basic rights including freedom, and deal with all with justice and genuine equality. For this fundamental reason let me make it clear to the world that I do condemn “the killings of innocent civilians, whoever the perpetrators and the victims are. And I am deeply sympathetic to all victims, without distinction between those who have been victimized by the barbaric inhumane actions and the barbaric inhumane response. Human lives, regardless of who they are, are equally sacred and must be honored. These days we are witnessing again the cycles of violence going on in the Middle East. Last Saturday the military wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam, entered Israel and killed hundreds of Jews, many of those are civilians. Based on my stand on humanity and my commitment and consistency to my moral ground, I do condemn such evil acts. On the other hand, I must also say that the disproportionate response of the Israelis in Gaza by the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and even residential compounds, and the killings of thousands of civilians including over 700 children are also condemned. Some people have always tried to justify these cycles of violence by each side as “fighting for rights” by the Palestinians, and “the right for self-defense” by the Israelis. Whatever the justification may be, I still don’t accept it and I will always reject any justification used to kill innocent civilians, particularly children and women. What Hamas did on Saturday, the 7th of October, is condemned. But what the Israelis have done in the West Bank, Janine, or even in Jerusalem and Masjid Al-Aqsa prior to the tragedy is also condemned. In the last year alone, it’s reported that more than 600 Palestinians, many of those are children who have been killed by the Israelis. In a nutshell, I condemn the cycles of violence that’s been and continue to be perpetrated by both sides. We can debate about who is right and wrong in this conflict. We can even go back as far as to the 1948 conflict and debate it. But for me, it’s just a waste of energy and resources. Both sides can claim to be right and that the other is wrong, but it will only bring us to continuous cycles of anger and animosity. What I would like to see is advancing our common humanity, based on human dignity, freedom, and justice (fair and equal treatment) as proclaimed by the Geneva Universal Human Rights Declaration in 1948. And for sure, guided by our religious teachings and values below. “Whoever destroys a single life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed the whole world, and whoever saves a single life is considered by Scripture to have saved the whole world”. (Mishna) ” That is why We ordained for the Children of Israel that whoever takes a life—unless as a punishment for murder or mischief in the land—it will be as if they killed all of humanity; and whoever saves a life, it will be as if they saved all of humanity. ˹Although˺ Our messengers already came to them with clear proofs, many of them still transgressed afterwards through the land”. (Qur’an 5:32) We must be able and need to learn to put our feet in another’s shoes. May we imagine for a moment and learn to feel the pain of those Israelis who lost their lives and loved ones last Saturday. But may we also learn to feel the pain and sufferings of the Palestinians who have for a long time and continue to suffer every day. In conclusion, I just wanted to say that as we all want peace, harmony, and friendship between people, we must be consistent on our “moral ground” and uphold highly our shared “universal values” of human dignity, freedom, and justice. May God intervene and may peace and justice prevail in the world. Amen! Copyright 2023 Imam Shamsi Ali

Statement by Genocide Watch on Forced Displacement and Hazara Land Confiscation by the Taliban The Taliban have committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Hazaras in Afghanistan. The Hazara ethnic minority have suffered serious violations of international law under the Taliban’s government. The systematic discrimination against Shias in Afghanistan indicates that the Taliban want to force them to leave the country. Taliban believe that Sunnis have rightful ownership over all of the country, including all property of Shias. The Taliban tell their victims that they have come back into power by Allah's command until the Taliban can fulfill their wishes and take revenge on Shia infidels. Therefore, they have forcibly confiscated land and properties of Hazaras. The Taliban displace Hazaras and move their own families into Hazara homes. According to article 7 (d) of Rome Statute of the ICC, the Taliban are committing crimes against humanity against Hazaras through forced deportation and forcible transfer of population. According to witnesses, the Taliban believe Afghanistan is their ancestral land and they are the only heirs. The Taliban have displaced more than 2000 inhabitants from Daikundi and Urozgan provinces of Afghanistan. According to an eyewitness woman from Daikundi: “Taliban have no mercy over us. They broke the door of our house and invaded our privacy. They broke all the windows and were searching for money. One of their soldiers asked us, "Where do you keep your money and gold?" My husband told them I am farmer not a rich man. Then the soldiers started beating my husband. I was begging them to stop beating us. We are also Muslims. Then the soldiers asked me, "What kind of Muslims are you?" He added that Shias are not Muslims and then started to beat me, too. Then they kicked us out of the house and said that this is Taliban property from now on. You have no right to live here.” Another family who was displaced and arrived at Kabul said, “The Taliban were threatening me if I do not leave home, they will rape my daughters. I was so shocked because they do not understand the language of humanity. They are too violent. I had no other option except to leave our home. I still couldn’t believe losing all the efforts I made so far to make a life for my family, and everything was destroyed in a day.” He added that his daughters are scared and have nightmares because of sad incidents in Balkhab province where Taliban raped and killed girls and women of Hazara families. “We don’t have any living supplies to support our families. We get most of our food from farming. But now we remain empty handed and suffer hunger, especially in the cold winters.” One of displaced children said, “I asked one of their soldiers why he was doing this to us. What had we done wrong? The soldier slapped his face and told him you are nothing and you are not worthy of living in a house because you are not Muslim. You should ask God to forgive you until your soul becomes clean.” Taliban soldiers kill entire families who resist them. Eyewitnesses shared news from Urozgan province that proved the Taliban behave inhumanely with Hazaras people. They have made fake documents of ownership of Hazaras lands in this province. The minister of Interior Affairs of the Taliban, Anas Haqqani, has announced his opposition to allowing Shias to join in political, social, economic and other aspects of the Afghan society. On behalf of the Hazaras, Genocide Watch requests that the United Nations Human Rights Council and other International organizations that defend human rights to adopt a resolution opposing discrimination against the Hazara. The United Nations should take urgent action to stop the Taliban from implementing their discriminatory policies against Hazaras in Afghanistan. Genocide Watch Alliance Against Genocide

© UNICEF/Donaig Le Du| Refugees from Sudan wait to collect aid items in a border village in Chad. “The past six months have caused untold suffering in Sudan” and forced more than 5.4 million people from their homes, said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan. Speaking to journalists in Geneva, the UN official noted that approximately 30,000 a day have fled fighting, “some fleeing with nothing but the clothes on their backs”. Ms. Nkweta-Salami continued: “I’ve met mothers in Sudan who’ve told me they don’t know where to find the next meal for their children. I’ve met families sleeping in makeshift shelters, struggling to find food and water and unable to access healthcare; their children out of school and the family breadwinners out of work.” Conflict ‘could consume entire country’ Half of Sudan’s population – 24.7 million people - now require humanitarian assistance and protection, the UN official continued, before warning that conflict, displacement and disease outbreaks now “threaten to consume the entire country”. Last month, the UN and partners delivered 3,000 tonnes of lifesaving aid supplies using 66 trucks across six states. “But we need to be able to deliver much more, safely, repeatedly and fast,” Ms. Nkweta-Salami insisted. “We need to reach 18 million people and we will not give up on that target.” Harvests under threat Clashes involving heavy weaponry and airstrikes broke out on 15 April between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Fighting initially focused in and around the capital, Khartoum, along with the Darfur region, but Ms. Nkweta-Salami expressed concerns that the conflict could spread to Gezira state, Sudan's breadbasket. “This would have great consequences for food security,” she said, noting that the violence “has already crippled Sudan's health sector, with 70 per cent of all hospitals no longer functional”. Humanitarians are equally concerned about reports of increasing cases of sexual and gender-based violence, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and grave violations of human and children's rights. Cholera ‘near impossible to control’ In addition to the destruction of war which is believed likely to have claimed thousands of lives including 19 aid workers to date, Sudan’s people have also faced further shocks in recent weeks as heavy rains and floods have affected more than 70,000 people across seven states, prompting concerns of a spike in waterborne diseases. A cholera outbreak has been declared in the eastern state of Gedaref and humanitarians are already investigating whether it has spread to Khartoum and South Kordofan. “With fighting escalating, it may be near impossible to control,” Ms. Nkweta-Salami said, as she called on the warring parties to recommit to previous pledges to “de-escalate fighting, minimize civilian harm and refrain from any disproportionate attacks”. Humanitarians ‘pushing the limits’ Delivering aid in a warzone is extremely complicated, dangerous and time-consuming, often involving negotiations with various armed groups for access to remote communities, the UN official explained. Despite these challenges, she insisted that relief teams were stepping up efforts to reach Sudan’s most vulnerable communities. “We have a very committed humanitarian team on the ground, we are trying to push the limits of our ability to reach some of these hard-to-reach areas. And I think if we get a strong not only commitment, but a commitment that is translated today into positive action by all the parties to this conflict, then hopefully we will have no longer deaths amongst humanitarian workers.” Copyright © United Nations. All rights reserved.

All Parties to Conflict Must Abide by Laws of War By Sari Bashi A view of destroyed vehicles near the grounds of the Supernova electronic music festival in southern Israel.© 2023 Ilia Yefimovich/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images Early Saturday morning, members of armed groups from Gaza, primarily the military wing of Hamas, crossed into southern Israel. After overcoming Israeli soldiers on the border, they massacred Israeli civilians. Some gunmen attacked an outdoor, all-night dance party and sprayed partygoers with gunfire, leaving at least 260 dead according to the BBC. Others invaded homes in towns near the border with Gaza, killing some family members and taking others hostage. Social media videos showed men kidnapping families – men, women, children, older people – and parading them through the streets of Gaza. According to media reports, more than a hundred bodies were recovered from the farming community of Be’eri, where survivors have told reporters that Hamas gunmen set fire to homes to drive families out of locked shelters. As cover for the attack, armed groups fired thousands of rockets at Israeli towns and cities, damaging homes and killing and injuring civilians. The military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad say they are now holding 130 Israeli hostages. Yesterday, in a recorded message, Hamas’ armed wing threatened to execute hostages – this would be a flagrant war crime. Searing images of grief and trauma have circulated widely on social media: of an Israeli woman, surrounded by gunmen, clutching her baby and toddler in her arms as fighters kidnapped her and reportedly took her into Gaza; of another mother who lost her grip on her 13-year old daughter and the girl, who has autism, was reportedly kidnapped to Gaza with her grandmother. The Israeli government says 900 Israelis have been killed. Hundreds are civilians. Following the assault, the Israeli military launched a massive bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip. Nearly 700 Palestinians have been killed, including 140 children, as of October 9, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The Israeli authorities have also unlawfully cut electricity to Gaza’s 2.2 million residents and reduced water supply, exacerbating the impact of Israel’s more than 16-year illegal closure of Gaza and its crimes of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians. Deliberately killing civilians is a war crime, as is hostage-taking. All parties to the conflict are obliged to respect the laws of war. No matter what the other side does, no one has the right to target civilians. © 2023 Human Rights Watch