Media review, CNN: "Israel’s military tells Gaza residents to go home but they find only rubble"

Media review, CNN: "Israel’s military tells Gaza residents to go home but they find only rubble"

    Sunday, September 01, 2024   No comments

For the first time since the Israeli military began ground operations in Gaza in October, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has sent out messages to people’s phones and on social media saying that the residents of some areas can return to their neighborhoods.

The IDF posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday that people who had been ordered to leave three neighborhoods of Deir Al Balah in central Gaza could go home.

CNN interviewed a number of families who had returned to find scenes of destruction.

One man, Abdulfattah Al Bourdaini, said: “We came home and found nothing, no power, no gas, no house, and we cannot change our clothes.”

All he had been able to salvage was a teddy bear for the son he hoped one day to have.

“I am penniless like the day I was born,” Al Bourdaini said. “I have nothing. I came to check on my house, didn’t find a house or anything, nothing is left… There is nothing left to cry about.”

‘Nothing is left’: Israel’s military tells Gaza residents to go home but they find only rubble.

US Air Force engineer resigns: “Absolutely appalled by Biden and Pentagon’s complicity in genocide”

US Air Force engineer resigns: “Absolutely appalled by Biden and Pentagon’s complicity in genocide”

    Sunday, August 18, 2024   No comments

The news website, "The Intercept", reported about the resignation of an engineer in the US Air Force, in protest of the complicity of US President Joe Biden and the Department of Defense with the genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The website said that the engineer Riley Livermore joined the Air Force 16 years ago, and his subsequent career as a flight test engineer took him to "Israel", where he spent two years conducting missile guidance research, but, shortly after October 7, he decided that he "could not continue anymore."

The website quoted Livermore as saying that he was "absolutely horrified" by the way Biden and the Department of Defense were complicit in the genocide, revealing that since late October he had begun the process of separating from the Air Force, as this path is now in its final steps, stressing that once he officially leaves the army, he will never work again in what he describes as the "military-industrial complex."

Livermore's resignation comes in the wake of a long series of resignations within the Biden administration and the US military, in protest of the US role in the genocide. This protest took its most intense form when 25-year-old US pilot Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington last February.

   

Al-Azhar, Sistani, world condemn the "massacre of worshippers" in Gaza

Al-Azhar, Sistani, world condemn the "massacre of worshippers" in Gaza

    Saturday, August 10, 2024   No comments

Al-Azhar condemned the "massacre of worshipers" that claimed the lives of more than 100 martyrs who had taken refuge in a school building in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City. The highest Shiite authority in Iraq, Ali al-Sistani, also condemned the massacre, saying that it is added to the series of crimes of the Israeli occupation.

Al-Azhar said in a statement published today, Saturday, on its official account on the social networking platform "X" that it confirms "that this treacherous criminal act that targeted innocent civilians who were standing before God in performing the dawn prayer, along with their women, children and elderly; is a crime that all human languages ​​are unable to express its cruelty, heinousness and barbarism."

Al-Azhar added that this massacre "is devoid of all meanings of mercy and humanity," as "this enemy has gone too far in killing the weak and innocent, starving them to death, and has become adept at blowing up their homes and bombing their shelters, in full view of the international community that has been paralyzed and unable to stand up to the terrorism of this brutal entity and its supporters."

After expressing his condolences for the martyrs of the massacre, Al-Azhar called on "all free people of the world to continue to pressure this terrorist entity by all means, to stop its crimes and the acts of genocide that it practices daily against the owners of the land in Palestine." He added: "Let everyone know that history will not have mercy on those who are complacent and silent about these heinous crimes."

In the same context, the highest Shiite authority in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, condemned today, Saturday, the major massacre committed by the occupation in the Tabi'in School, and said in a statement issued by his office: "Once again, the Israeli occupation army committed a major massacre in the proud Gaza Strip by targeting those sheltered by (the Tabi'in School) of displaced and homeless people... in a horrific crime that is added to its series of crimes that have been ongoing for more than 10 months."

Al-Sistani called on "the world - once again - to stand up to this terrible savagery," and especially "the Islamic peoples... to unite and unite to pressure to stop the war of extermination in Gaza."

By targeting the "Tabi'in School," the number of schools sheltering displaced people that the Israeli army bombed in Gaza City alone in one week has risen to 6, which has left a large number of martyrs and wounded.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described Israel's "fatal strike" on Saturday at dawn on a school housing displaced people in Gaza as "horrific," saying he was "horrified" by the images of the massacre.

"Images coming from a school housing displaced people in Gaza that was hit by a horrific Israeli airstrike, with dozens of Palestinian casualties reported," Borrell wrote on the X platform.

"At least 10 schools have been targeted in recent weeks. There is no justification for these massacres," he added, stressing that "a ceasefire in Gaza is the only way to stop the killing of civilians and secure the release of hostages."

For her part, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, said that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in one school after another in the Gaza Strip, with American and European weapons, amidst the indifference of all "civilized nations."

Arab and international condemnations of the "Fajr Massacre" against worshippers in Gaza

Arab and international reactions condemned the Israeli aggression that targeted worshipers at dawn today, Saturday, in the "Al-Tabi'een" school that houses displaced people in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City, which resulted in the death of more than 100 martyrs and dozens of injuries.

Syria: "Israel's" crimes will increase the determination of the people of this region to resist it

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the horrific massacre in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in the middle of the Gaza Strip, stressing that "the entity's persistence in shedding the blood of innocents in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria will increase the determination of the people of this region to resist the occupation and respond to its crimes, despite all the Western support it enjoys."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry saluted this legendary steadfastness of the Palestinian people in the face of their occupiers over the decades, while affirming its firm and strong support for them in their just struggle.

Lebanon: "Israel" intentionally prolongs and expands the war

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry condemned in the "strongest terms" the occupation forces' targeting of the "Tabi'een" school, which houses defenseless displaced Palestinians in Gaza City.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry confirmed that the deliberate killing of these huge numbers of civilians provides conclusive evidence of "Israel's" intention to prolong and expand the war.

For its part, the Beirut Scholars Association said that the crime of the "Tabi'een" school is a described crime that requires the global conscience to put an end to the genocide that the "Nero of the age" is determined to carry out.

The association stressed that "the cost of confrontation, despite the enormity of the brutality, remains less than the humiliating submission that the Israeli occupation seeks to impose on us by force," stressing that "we have no choice but to confront and resist, no matter how high the price and how great the sacrifices."

She also held all supporters of this "criminal Israeli entity that thirsts for murder and is insatiable for bloodshed" responsible for the massacres, saying: "What kind of world do we live in that falsely, hypocritically claims civilization and human rights?"

Yemen: For a strong, deterrent, and earth-shattering response to the occupation

The head of the Sana'a negotiating delegation, Mohammed Abdul Salam, condemned the massacre at the "Al-Tabi'in" school prayer hall in the Al-Daraj neighborhood in the center of Gaza City, saying: "We strongly condemn this Zionist fascism and denounce the United States' continued provision of full support to Israel to continue committing crimes of genocide against the people of Gaza."

The head of the Sana'a negotiating delegation pointed out that this brutal massacre committed by the criminal entity is with full American support.

He stressed that Arabs and Muslims bear a great responsibility towards Gaza, while stressing that "shame and fire will befall anyone who neglects his religious and humanitarian duty, and that this neglect encourages the Israeli enemy to continue its unprecedented crimes of genocide."

The Ansar Allah Political Bureau also condemned the new Israeli massacre against worshipers, pointing out that "Arab and Islamic governments are resorting to silence and helplessness as if they do not see, hear or speak in the face of the massacres of the Zionist entity."

The Ansar Allah Political Bureau confirmed that the Israeli occupation entity is persisting in committing bloody massacres, one massacre after another, in an unprecedented violation of Palestinian blood.

He renewed the covenant with Palestine and its people, and stressed that "Yemen continues to provide popular support and military escalation" and will not stop until the aggression on Gaza stops.

For its part, the Yemeni Scholars Association expressed its condemnation of the massacre, and stressed that the occupation's perpetration of a massacre against worshipers at the "Al-Tabi'een" school imposes on all Arab regimes, peoples and armies to carry out the duty of support and declare general mobilization.

It added in a statement, "We mobilize the human conscience and Islamic affiliation in the face of thousands of bloody massacres committed by the Israeli enemy for 10 months against the people of Gaza."

It called on the Jerusalem, Jihad and Resistance Axis to respond with a strong, deterrent and devastating response to the occupation.

Iraq: The world must stand up to the brutality of the occupation

The Iraqi presidency condemned the "Al-Tabi'een" massacre, noting that after a series of crimes committed by the occupying entity that usurped the occupied Palestinian territories, the usurping entity returns to commit a new massacre, exploiting the silence of the international community and the major countries concerned with maintaining international balance and influencing the United Nations resolution.

The Iraqi presidency also stressed that the blood of the Palestinian people will continue to be shed as long as the occupying entity's hand remains free from accountability and questioning by the international community.

In turn, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani condemned the massacre, as did the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, which stressed that these repeated attacks against civilians constitute a flagrant violation of international norms and conventions and demonstrate the Israeli entity's disregard for international initiatives aimed at stopping the aggression on Gaza.

It renewed Iraq's full solidarity with the Palestinian people, stressing the need for the international community and Islamic countries in particular to take a firm and unified position to stop these crimes.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia condemn targeting of Al-Tabi'een School

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the Israeli occupation forces' targeting of Al-Tabi'een School, expressing its denunciation of the international community's failure to hold "Israel" accountable for these violations.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry stressed the need to stop the mass massacres in the Gaza Strip, which is experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian disaster due to the violations of the Israeli occupation.

The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned in the strongest terms the occupation's bombing of a school housing displaced persons east of Gaza City, which led to the martyrdom and injury of dozens, stressing that this bombing is a horrific massacre and a brutal crime against defenseless civilians.

It called for an urgent international investigation after the Israeli bombing of the school in Gaza.

Egypt: "Israel" lacks political will to end the war

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry, in turn, indicated that "the deliberate killing of defenseless Palestinians is conclusive evidence of the lack of political will on the Israeli side to end the war in Gaza."

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry condemned, in a statement, "Israel's" bombing of the "Al-Tabi'in" school, which houses displaced persons in the Al-Daraj neighborhood east of Gaza City, and also denounced "the continued Israeli attacks against civilians in the Strip, in an unprecedented disregard for the provisions of international law and international humanitarian law."

It called for "a unified and effective international position that provides protection for the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and puts an end to the series of targeting defenseless civilians."

Jordan: Massacre is a violation of international laws

The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned in the "strongest terms" the Israeli bombing of the school, and considered it "a flagrant violation of the rules of international law, and a systematic targeting of civilians and shelters for the displaced."

The official spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sufian Qudah, said that this targeting, which comes at a time when mediators are seeking to resume negotiations, is an indication of the Israeli government's efforts to obstruct ceasefire efforts.

He stressed "the need for the international community to assume its responsibilities, especially the Security Council, to immediately stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza, stop the ongoing and continuous Israeli violations of international law, and hold those responsible accountable."

Iran: The occupation aims to continue the war and thwart the negotiations

The advisor to the leader of the Islamic Revolution for political affairs in Iran, Ali Shamkhani, considered that the sole goal of the occupation entity in killing the worshipers in the "Tabi'in" school in Gaza, and assassinating the martyr Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, is to continue the war and thwart the ceasefire negotiations.

For his part, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, expressed his condemnation of the Israeli aggression on the "Tabi'in" school in Gaza, describing it as "brutal" and a clear example of the crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity that are being committed simultaneously.

The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry also stressed that "the continuation of these Zionist attacks proves once again that the occupation is not committed to any international resolutions and moral and humanitarian principles."

Kanaani stressed that the only way to confront this murderous entity is "taking firm and decisive action by Islamic countries and the free people of the world in practical support for the Palestinian people and their resistance struggle."

Turkey said, "Israel committed a massacre" Turkey, for its part, condemned the massacre, stressing that "Israel committed a new crime against humanity by slaughtering more than 100 civilians who took refuge in a school."

Dehumanizing Opponents as an Instrument of Supremacism: "human animals"

Dehumanizing Opponents as an Instrument of Supremacism: "human animals"

    Monday, July 15, 2024   No comments

We have not forgotten the descriptions and expressions that Yoav Galant, the occupation's Minister of War, made at the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, when he said, "Israel is fighting human animals and is acting accordingly," until he returned, after more than nine months of the war of extermination that "Israel" is practicing in the Strip, to repeat the same descriptions about the resistance and its people. Is it a coincidence that Galant, followed by Netanyahu, returned two or three days later to the same speech, or is the matter related to considerations and a general context that governs Israeli colonial behavior. The expressions that Minister Galant used at the time, or those he uses today, were not born of the moment of the shock of the flood or the "outburst of anger" that was generated in Israeli society immediately after October 7, as some like to describe it, and this behavior of "Israel" is not a new policy that it is practicing today, but rather an extension of a colonial policy that it has been practicing for many years, the title of which is death, destruction, pain and terror, and what it produced in this war is nothing but a double mixture of the same horrors.

Looking at "others" with inferiority, from a position of superiority, as something "different", as "goyim", primitives, or "human animals" living in this universe that is harnessed to serve the "chosen Jew" and is fed by a huge store of hatred and arrogance.

This superior, “Western in origin” view of the “backward” world has not disappeared since the time of colonial Europe, just as racism has not disappeared today in the Zionist racial mentality, even after 9 months of massacres, and even after these racist, supremacist descriptions were used against “Israel” and its leaders by the South African representative and by judges in the International Court of Justice.

Although it was met with strong international human rights rejection, as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch considered the statements of the occupation’s minister of war “disgusting and an explicit call to commit war massacres,” Netanyahu and his Zionist minister of war still see Gaza as a “human animal cage,” slaughtering whoever he wants, whenever he wants, and however he wants, then razing it to the ground, and torturing its “primitive” people, who are cut off from electricity, water, and food, just as the Minister’s European ancestors did with the “human animals” they brought from Senegal and the Congo until they died of thirst, cold, and disease outside the walls of the Roman Catholic Church in Brussels, because they are “human animals, nothing more.” This description, which Galant deliberately and provocatively uses, is enough to indicate Israel's intention, coupled with action, to do everything and anything to take revenge on the Palestinians, even if this revenge results in killing children and the elderly and demolishing hospitals, shelters, schools and mosques on the heads of the displaced. As long as these are just "human animals", any harm that Israel inflicts on them, no matter how heinous, is "permissible and legitimate because they deserve it".

More importantly, in addition to what we have indicated about the deep-rootedness of this approach in the Israeli consciousness and behavior since the inception of this usurping entity, understanding the Israeli reaction, which adopts a policy of complete destruction without restrictions and without any regard for the rules of international humanitarian law, requires understanding the backgrounds and motives that specifically drive it today and push its leaders to return and insist on repeating its ABCs, especially describing the Palestinians as "human animals".

The first of these motives is to reproduce the narrative of the war and its spirit within Israeli society as if it were its first day, so that Israeli society remains led by its government and its agenda, thus silencing all voices and protests calling for an end to the war and demanding a negotiating path that leads to political arrangements, allowing Netanyahu and his partners to evade the societal accountability that will end the rule of this extremist right-wing coalition if the war stops, as if the charge of anger that is being fueled by the continued evocation of the narrative of “human animals” will, over time, reduce the extent of what many of them described as the massive military and security failure on October 7 and what followed. Because this narrative needs support to remain present in the consciousness of Israelis and the world, it must continue to be reminded and broadcast through media platforms from time to time. The second is the fierce competition in which the leaders of "Israel" compete to incite against the Palestinians and the people of Gaza in particular, as Israeli politicians, military personnel and religious men excel in inciting against the Palestinians, to the point that repeatedly describing the Palestinians as "animals" has become an essential part of their political discourse.

In this race of incitement, "Israel", its leadership and its army are using everything they have at their disposal without limits, crushing all of Gaza and leveling it to the ground without mercy. For the people of Gaza and Palestine in general, mercy has always been outside the dictionary of Israeli aggression, which means that the repeated mention of "human animals" in Galant and Netanyahu's speech was nothing more than a "natural" description in the context of the spirit of war and fighting that has inhabited Israeli society since its inception.

The third is that "peaceful" and "civilized" "Israel" must weave its vision of the other "barbaric and backward" party, as the Palestinians are not human beings, and it is determined to give the world a new narrative that moves it from the position of self-defense to the position of "exterminating animals", while preserving its "humanity".

In order to ensure that it "whitens its image and behavior", Israel must continue to criminalize and dehumanize the "other", to ensure that the world does not turn against it while it exterminates "these animals", accusing it of confronting what it calls "atrocities" with greater atrocities, and what it calls "terrorism" with more horrific terrorism. This is what was expressed by the position of the Chief of Staff of the occupation army, Herzi Halevi, a few months after the beginning of the war, when he said: "We fight with determination and remain human, unlike the other side that fights like animals."

The fourth motive is the contempt for international law and its institutions, as "Israel" has a superior ability to destroy, and its history is littered with the rubble of cities and villages and human remains, and its record also has a long history of destroying international law, kicking it and turning its back on it, as Netanyahu stood proudly a few days ago, saying: "We have proven that no force in the world can stop us."

Because international law, when it comes to "Israel", is very theoretical, very timid, very weak, and far removed from reality, all its prohibitions are violated and violated to the point of insane chaos as long as the victim is a "Palestinian Arab" and the killer is an "Israeli Jew." Perhaps this is also a message to those who rely on the rules of international law and the Geneva Conventions, and bet on "rationalizing" "Israel's" behavior and preventing it from targeting unarmed civilians, as the Israeli army, according to Galant, does not see itself bound by these agreements, as it kills "human" animals, and these rules and agreements do not include them. It seems that stripping opponents of their humanity has become a basic method in racist wars, and "Israel" is the protégé of the colonial West and its creation and image, imitating today, as it used to do in the past, what its early Western European colonial ancestors did, and it is inhabited by narratives of violence that shape the public conscience in "Israel", and in which religion, culture, and art intertwine by pressing the trigger of the fire that Gaza is burning with Today, the earth is uprooted and its "human animals" are burned alive.

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Muhammad Halsa, Writer and researcher; content of byline articles express the opinion of author(s).

Why the US and West are losing the Rest?

Why the US and West are losing the Rest?

    Thursday, July 11, 2024   No comments

Citing international law and invoking the claim of self-defense against occupation forces, US and the West stood by Ukraine providing it with military, political and economic support to defend itself from what the West describes as an act of aggression by Russian occupation forces.  Just this week it was reported that the first batch of United States-built F-16 fighter jets are being transferred to Ukraine; that is according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who revealed the development as world leaders pledge continued support for Kyiv at a NATO summit in Washington DC.

❝Those jets will be flying in the skies of Ukraine this summer to make sure that Ukraine continue to effectively defend itself.❞ US Secretary of State announcing that F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and the Netherlands are on their way to Ukraine 

With total lack of awareness of how hypocritical that position is, during the same time, it was reported that the Biden administration has resumed shipping 500-pound bombs to Israel, according to unnamed US official quoted by media outlets on Wednesday. Given the level of destruction and death that these weapons are causing, this makes the US administration complicit in the Israeli war crimes against Palestinian civilians in Gaza by providing the Israeli military with heavy bombs which are being used against residential areas in Gaza.

Israel has committed heinous atrocities against civilians during its ongoing genocide in Gaza for over nine months. These accusations of war crimes and illegal acts in occupied territories are not just the findings of human rights organization, independent investigators, the ICC investigators, UN experts, and even members of the US military, including some in the US Defense Intelligence service;  the criminal acts are documented and reported by Israeli soldiers themselves, as reported by Israeli media reports and as posted on social media by Israeli troops who are committing these atrocities.

Some in the West started to see the hypocrisy of Western leaders, they categorize it as "double-standard" instead of willful disregard to the rights of non-Western peoples. For instance, the Spanish PM seems to realize the problem of seeing the West applying a 'double standards' over Gaza war. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called on Western countries not to adopt a policy of “double standards” regarding the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. “If we tell our people that we support Ukraine because we defend international law, we must do the same with regard to Gaza,” Sanchez said at a NATO summit in Washington. He called for a consistent political position on the issue, without adopting a policy of double standards, noting the need to create conditions for an immediate and urgent ceasefire.

The West lost the moral high ground to invoke respect for human right, self-defense, and moral and legal imperatives. If Ukrainians are entitled to resisting occupation, so are the Palestinians. Therefore, if the West wants to be consistent and invoke the obligation to protect human rights, the West must provide Palestinians with military, political, and economic support the same way they are providing it to Ukrainians. Without this consistency, they West will be seen for what it is: a club of supremacists who put their interests above and beyond the basic needs of non-whites for life with dignity.

12 US officials who resigned denounce Biden's policy towards Gaza

12 US officials who resigned denounce Biden's policy towards Gaza

    Tuesday, July 02, 2024   No comments

Twelve US government officials who resigned over the Biden administration’s stance on the war in Gaza have issued a joint statement denouncing Biden’s Gaza policy, which they said has failed and poses a threat to US national security.

The statement added that the current crisis illustrates the damage that the current US policy in Gaza is causing to the Palestinians, Israel, and US national security.

The statement considered that the US diplomatic cover for Israel and the ongoing flow of weapons are undeniable complicity in the killing and starvation of the besieged Palestinian population in Gaza.

The statement also said that this stubborn policy threatens the United States and the lives of its soldiers and diplomats, as was evident in the killing of 3 US service members in Jordan last January.

The statement stressed that this policy severely undermines the credibility of the United States around the world.

The officials who signed the statement are:

Maryam Hassanein, who was a special assistant at the Department of Interior, quit her job on Tuesday. She slammed Biden's foreign policy, describing it as "genocide-enabling" and dehumanizing toward Arabs and Muslims. Israel denies genocide allegations.

Mohammed Abu Hashem, a Palestinian American, said last month he ended a 22-year career in the U.S. Air Force. He said he lost relatives in Gaza in the ongoing war, including an aunt killed in an Israeli air strike in October.

Riley Livermore, who was a U.S. Air Force engineer, said in mid-June that he was leaving his role. "I don't want to be working on something that can turn around and be used to slaughter innocent people," he told the Intercept news website.

Stacy Gilbert, who served in the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, left in late May. She said she resigned over an administration report to Congress that she said falsely stated Israel was not blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Alexander Smith, a contractor for USAID, quit in late May, opens new tab, alleging censorship after the U.S. foreign aid agency canceled publication of his presentation on maternal and child mortality among Palestinians. The agency said it had not gone through proper review and approval.

Lily Greenberg Call, a Jewish political appointee, resigned in May, having served as a special assistant to the chief of staff in the Interior Department. "As a Jew, I cannot endorse the Gaza catastrophe," she wrote in the Guardian, opens new tab.

Anna Del Castillo, a deputy director at the White House's Office of Management and Budget, departed in April and became the first known White House official to leave the administration over policy toward Gaza.

Hala Rharrit, an Arabic language spokesperson for the State Department, departed her post in April in opposition to the United States' Gaza policy, she wrote on her LinkedIn page.

Annelle Sheline resigned from the State Department's human rights bureau in late March, writing in a CNN article, opens new tab that she was unable to serve a government that "enables such atrocities."

Tariq Habash, a Palestinian American, quit as special assistant in the Education Department's office of planning in January. He said the Biden administration was turning a "blind eye" to atrocities in Gaza.

Harrison Mann, a U.S. Army major and Defense Intelligence Agency official, resigned in November over Gaza policy and went public with his reasons in May.

Josh Paul, director of the State Department's bureau of political military affairs, left in October in the first publicly known resignation, citing what he described as Washington's "blind support" for Israel.

Background: Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed settlements on the other side of the security fence built by Israel to blockade the Strip on 7 October. The attack resulted in the killing of about 1,200 people and detaining of 250 soldiers and civilians.

However, over time, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance factions.

Meanwhile, the US officials finally acknowledged that Israel has been using Palestinians as human shield; yet, they refuse to call for independent investigation.

US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel tells reporters that they have seen disturbing reports about the Israeli military using civilians as human shields.

He said the US calls Israel again to quickly investigate and ensure accountability for any violations.

He added that the Israeli army had said that it is investigating the video and that it does not reflect its values because it is a violation of its orders and procedures.