In late December, 77 groups — representing tens of thousands of lawyers, civil society leaders, and activists from six continents — filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit that Palestinian human rights organizations, residents of Gaza, and U.S. citizens with family members impacted by Israel’s ongoing assault brought against the Biden administration.
According to Law for Palestine, a human rights and legal advocacy organization, there have been at least 500 instances of Israeli lawmakers, officials, and officers inciting genocide.
Sourani said that the statements by Israeli officials, along with the actual blockade, the indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian buildings, the basic lack of safe space, and the mass displacement of millions of Palestinians makes it clear: “All of this is tantamount to genocide.”
The plaintiffs responded to the administration’s motion to dismiss on December 22, arguing that there is precedent for U.S. courts to adjudicate questions surrounding genocide and that their legal challenge is about more than the actions of a foreign state. Rather, the plaintiffs argued, their injuries are “fairly traceable” to the actions of the U.S. government. “The suggestion that the U.S. does not or cannot influence Israel borders on the absurd, not least because the Israeli government acknowledges its actions could not happen without U.S. license and support, and Defendants have boasted about their coordination with and influence over Israel,” the plaintiffs wrote.
A 12-year-old girl has died in an apparent strike at a Gaza hospital weeks after she said in an interview that she only wanted “the war to end.”
A tank shell struck a children’s ward at the Nasser Hospital Complex in Khan Younis on Sunday night, killing Dounia, a 12-year-old who had lost her leg in an airstrike that killed her mother, father, brother and sister.
Dounia recently told Defense for Children International she hoped someone would take her abroad so she could receive a prosthetic leg.
Dounia said in the organization’s video that she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up so she could treat other children such as herself.
“I only want one thing: for the war to end,” she said.
Dounia’s interview was filmed between Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, during the recent temporary cease-fire amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Many people have sought shelter at the Nasser Hospital Complex, and there are now fears the facility may be subject to more attacks. The Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said the targeting of the complex could bring down the health system in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
The IDF has said it is only targeting Hamas and other militants in Gaza and alleges that Hamas deliberately shelters behind civilians, which the group denies.
Doctors Without Borders and the World Health Organization have said hospitals in central and southern Gaza are at a “breaking point” and struggling to care for the influx of patients. Nasser Hospital, where many patients with trauma and burn injuries go, is facing a never-ending flow of patients and is “now at breaking point,” Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said earlier this month.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/12-year-girl-killed-gaza-hospital-weeks-after-interview/story?id=105750059