Committee highlights allegations including dog attacks and sexual violence, raising concern about impunity for war crimes Israel has “a de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture”, according to a new UN report covering the past two years, which also raised concerns about the impunity of Israeli security forces for war crimes. The UN committee on torture expressed “deep concern over allegations of repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, waterboarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence”. Continue reading...

Account of visit to Gaza by French professor describes Israeli military attacks on security personnel protecting convoys A historian who spent more than a month in Gaza at the turn of the year says he saw “utterly convincing” evidence that Israel supported looters who attacked aid convoys during the conflict. Jean-Pierre Filiu, a professor of Middle East studies at France’s prestigious Sciences Po university, entered Gaza in December where he was hosted by an international humanitarian organisation in the southern coastal zone of al-Mawasi. Continue reading...

Far-right minister defends killing of two men in Jenin, saying ‘terrorists must die’ Video of an Israeli military raid in Jenin shows soldiers summarily executing two Palestinians they had detained seconds earlier. The shooting on Thursday evening, which was also witnessed by journalists close to the scene, is under justice ministry review, but has already been defended by Israel’s far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who declared: “terrorists must die”. Continue reading...

The NGO’s chief says last month’s ceasefire ‘risks creating a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal’ Amnesty International has said Israel is “still committing genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, despite the ceasefire agreed last month. The fragile, US-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 10 October, after two years of war. Continue reading...

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