Observations about the ongoing discussions at the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, where Gaza and Palestine's application for UN membership are the focus. 👇🧵 Nearly 1/3 of UN members asked to intervene in the discussions, with many foreign ministers from around the world participating. The message is very clear: international concern & frustration over the persistent political failure to stop the genocide is at a boiling point.

Will post comments, analysis, and summaries on Germany's defense against charges of complicity in genocide and other violations of international humanitarian law on this 🧵. The hearing starts at 10am (now). You can watch the live feed here: webtv.un.org/en/asset/k11/k… 1st presentation: Germany has always been a proponent of int'l law; Nicaragua has a one-sided view of the 'conflict'; Germany has learned from its past: 🇮🇱 security is at the center of our foreign policy. We support Israel's right to exist & to defend itself per the law

I will post thoughts, comments, and context on ICJ hearing in the case against Germany for complicity in Genocide and other breaches of international humanitarian law in this 🧵 Nicaragua will present its case today while Germany will present its defense tomorrow. These hearings are about the urgent provisional measures Nicaragua has asked the Court to order, including stopping Germany's supply of weapons to Israel.

🧵The US draft resolution at the Security Council was not adopted & that is a good thing. It received 2 vetoes from China and Russia + negative vote from Algeria. Guayana abstained while rest of members voted in favor. This draft was marketed as a ceasefire resolution. It wasn’t. The text was disastrous. It lacked any mention of the continuing Israeli crimes, including deliberately starving 2.3 million Palestinians. It would gave legislated a total exoneration of Israel, closed the debate on Gaza & done nothing to get a ceasefire, which is what is needed.

🚨Tomorrow @CIJ_ICJ will hear interventions by Palestine & 52 other states + Arab League & OIC on the legality of the Israeli occupation. See schedule👇 & watch live on This is a landmark case & the # of interventions is unprecedented. My thoughts 🧵 webtv.un.org




Background: This case was initiated by the UN General Assembly a year ago. It’s not a out a specific Israeli policy or action like the case brought by South Africa on the Genocide in Gaza or the case brought by the UN about Israel’s annexation Wall 20 years ago.

Now that it's clear on the fact that Biden has no intention of stopping Israel's planned Rafah ground assault, which will be an absolutely horrific development of epic proportions, it's important to understand why a Rafah assault is the worst thing so far in this genocidal war 🧵 1. Rafah's population increased sixfold during the war. This didn't happen by chance. Israel designed the war that way: to push as much of the population as possible to the border with Egypt & at least aim for "thinning out" the population if not outright complete expulsion

🧵The US, Canada & Australia launched a coordinated assault against UNRWA on Friday timed to coincide with the ICJ order on preventive measure and designed to deflect from the significant implications of that order. It's a callous attack that targets Gaza's starving population The announcements of a funding freeze (almost identical) are based on unverified Israeli allegations that a handful of staffers (out of 1000s) were involved in 10/7 attacks. This compounds their complicity in the genocide, aiding Israel in starving the population in Gaza.

It's day 90 of Israel's war on life in Gaza (About 100,000 Palestinians killed, injured, & under the rubble). This is the most documented genocide in history. Still, I feel that there are some basic issues that need to be spelled out again, so here we go 🧵: 1. Palestinians are 1 people. There are no "people of Gaza". It's one nation (About 14 million strong living inside historic Palestine & exile). Painting 🇵🇸s as "communities" or tribes & clans is inaccurate & insulting, echoing a colonial mindset. Please don't use such language.

Nasrallah's speech had many messages that will resonate with youth in the region. Here's a 🧵about some of them: 1. International laws and resolutions are a joke: It's hard to find someone in the region who would disagree. Israel has never respected UN resolutions & US hijacking of the UN's ability to take action on Gaza has made the most ardent believers in the international system lose faith. This is very relevant to Lebanese politics where parties opposed to Hezbollah say it must adhere to international resolutions & disarm. The global system has lost

🧵on the ceasefire in Gaza: Day 1 of the ceasefire unveiled horrific images of massive destruction & revealed the fate of so many who were killed on the roads while trying to flee. People tried to know the fate of their loved ones. Will post here some of those images as they come The shock of how devastated Gaza is was overwhelming. In the north (L) in Gaza City (Center) and the South (R). People shared images of neighborhoods flattened, of Gaza City’s Rashad Shawa cultural center gone, of buildings caked over. The trauma is collective.

🚨🧵Director General of Ministry of Health in Gaza from Indonesia Hospital in N Gaza: Israeli army has given the hospital a final warning. We are hoping to evacuate the remaining 200 patients from the hospital. Yesterday we transported 450 patients & accompanying family members. People want to leave the hell that the hospital has turned into. Patients are desperate and afraid. We have not been able to help them or offer them medical assistance because we’ve run out of medicine to give them. Burn patients need specialized care that we cannot offer them.

🧵Some context and background on Palestinians detained & imprisoned by Israel: 1) A Palestinian "prisoner" does not refer to someone tried & convicted in a normal court of law that follows due process. Palestinians are detained by Israeli soldiers, addameer.org/israeli_milita… no arrest warrant, no right to a phone call, no lawyers present. 2) Palestinians are interrogated without lawyers present & widespread abuses amounting to torture, are documented by human rights orgs. This links to some testimonies. addameer.org/publications/s…

🧵Update on Gaza: The situation inside Al Shifa Hospital continues to deteriorate. The conditions are horrific. Director of the hospital told Aljazeera: Another preemie has died. ICU patients are dying. It's a matter of time before they all die. 50 in all have died. Army gave us food for 200, we are nearly 7000. They gave us 3 incubators. We already have 50. They're junk without electricity. The Director of Orthopedic Medicine broke down while talking to Aljazeera: Patients we fought to keep alive, amputees, their wounds are festering. We're helpless

🧵Update Director of Shifa to Aljazeera: Israeli soldiers blew up the water line while digging a trench. We don’t have a drop of water. 1 kidney patient patient has died due to lack of dialysis. 4 others are critical. 2 of the injured also died. We can’t even evacuate the bodies Israeli soldiers are in radiology, maternity, & burns unit. They took the bodies in the morgue & entrance we don’t know where. We asked the soldiers to give us electricity to conduct dialysis for the patients. There was no response. Soldiers’ claims they brought fuel are lies.

🧵Situation in Gaza City is catastrophic. Ambulances & first responders can’t move. People are dying on the streets & inside their homes. Some manage to send SOS messages to family & friends who post them online & call for help. I will share a sample of these pleas in this thread The only remaining functional hospital in Gaza City is AlAhli (Baptist) Church, where hundreds of civilians sheltering in the hospitals parking & halls lot were killed & injured in a strike on 17/10. The hospital is small but is treating those who can make it to the premises.

🧵Update on Gaza: Doctors & staff at Shifa Hospital are digging a makeshift mass grave inside the hospital premises to burry 100+ bodies that have been piling up at the hospital for days. Doctors there say they were not given permission but could allow this indignity to continue The grave that was dug is unlikely to fit all bodies. The number of patients who died in AlShifa because of the inability to provide healthcare has risen to 40. Garbage is piling up inside Shifa, further threatening the health of patients, many of them with open wounds.

🧵AlShifa Hospital is turning into a graveyard. Israeli army shot down the remaining small generator causing a complete power outage. 1 baby in the incubator + 1 gravely injured man have died. A doctor who tried to reach the incubators was shot. Babies in incubators cannot... regulate their temperature. Doctors are using blankets. Dozens of bodies are at the entrance of the hospital and the ER. Doctors are pleading to be allowed to bury them in the hospital's yard. The ICU unit is full of patients - It is without power. Oxygen & dialysis units are...

I don't like to do this but there is a lot to unpack here and it's very important so here we go 🧵. The number of casualties reported in Gaza has consistently proven reliable in this and previous Israeli assaults and there have been many. This time is no different. Here is why:

https://twitter.com/BakerLuke/status/1716806141806858513

1. Numbers are collected by doctors who go to great lengths to identify the names of each victim. During this war, doctors have waited days to identify victims who arrived in unrecognizable conditions or where the entire family was wiped out. They waited for relatives to claim..

🧵Palestinians do not view their plight for freedom as a Muslim vs. Jewish war. 1) If Israel defined itself as a Muslim state, Palestinians would still oppose its occupation & oppression. 2) The Israeli establishment, especially the right insists on fomenting religious fervor... by advancing a Messianic agenda that is openly hostile to the 'other' in a zero-sum approach. You will hear some 🇵🇸s refer to Israelis as Jews - that's where that comes from. 3) Hamas has a religious ideology. To them, liberating Palestine is a religious duty for Muslims...

🧵On humanitarian situation in Gaza: Israel bombed the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only gateway to the world, for the 2nd day in a row. The enclave is now sealed shut. Meanwhile, Israel has threatened Egypt it will bomb any humanitarian aid convoys Cairo sends to Gaza through Rafah. Because of the relentless Israeli bombardment, phone lines are down. cellular phone service is barely holding on, & internet access is out in large areas. That means people are in the dark - not just without electricity but also without info or ways to seek help

🧵On Gaza, Israel & the Ukraine from a Palestinian perspective: What is happening is epic no doubt. But for months, experts & analysts have told anyone who would listen that a complete meltdown was inevitable and that Palestinians will hold the West to the Ukraine standard In the past 2 years, UN agencies & HR orgs have documented record #s of Palestinian civilians killed & injured by Israeli forces and armed settler groups. Record #s of Palestinian homes demolished, Record #s of settler attacks & pogroms with complete backing from the Israeli gov