A famine has been declared in Gaza city

[SaltAirAndTheRust]

https://news.sky.com/story/gaza-latest-war-israel-city-ceasefire-hamas-13415481

Meanwhile, up to 80,000 troops are being prepared to start an offensive there. There are no longer any words

You not a fan of gay people/women’s rights/democracy?

Do you think there is evidence of aid being stolen?

Stolen by whom is perhaps irrelevant as it still has the same effect.

There is verified evidence of Israel blocking aid.

It was rather more mercenary than that, but obviously dressed up as idealism, and the money came from America.

The aid came from all over Europe, mainly from the allied powers.

Sorry, can I just confirm, you want Israel to fully occupy and control Gaza?

I had taken from your posts that you are on the pro-Palestine side but I must have been confused 🤔

Great. Please go and direct that at a cheerleader for the Israeli government, which I am not and never have been. I am a cheerleader for accuracy and reasonable discussion but that's pissing in the wind on here.

I do think ordinary Palestinians deserve better friends.

They are getting pregnant as in Yasser Arafat’s words ‘the womb of the Palestinian woman, is the strongest weapon’.

In a war like this, it is also helpful to have as many pregnant women and babies as possible to use for propaganda purposes, not great for the women and babies themselves though but I doubt the women have much of a say in it. There are no laws for marital rape or domestic violence in the State of Palestine which I assume includes Gaza and the West Bank.

https://www.newarab.com/features/how-palestinian-women-are-womb-national-project?amp

www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/arabstates/Palestine.Summary.19.Eng.pdf

Again, not the question.

Do you think that any of the aid that has made it in to Gaza has been stolen before it could be distributed as intended?

Another example of how the reality of the region is somewhat different to what its supporters in the west think it is…

Because its Israeli Hasbara and not true.

Despite the illegality of Zionist colonialism, the PLO accepted the two-state solution in 1988, as did all the Palestinian political parties, including Hamas.

This can help educate you about what happened with the Oslo Accords and other peace negotiations:

Ah, so since 1988 everything has been Israel’s fault and this is all justified? Which bit of the Zionist colonisation is illegal?

1. Acquisition of Territory by Force

Law: UN Charter (Article 2(4)) and Customary International Law
Why Illegal: States cannot acquire territory through war or force. The 1967 Six-Day War led to Israel occupying the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. The UN has repeatedly affirmed these are occupied territories.

2. Settlements in Occupied Territory

Law: Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), Article 49(6)
Why Illegal: An occupying power cannot transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.
Application: Israel’s settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is considered a direct violation of this article.
UN Stance: UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016) explicitly calls Israeli settlements “a flagrant violation under international law.”

3. Annexation of East Jerusalem and Other Lands

Law: UN Charter, UNSC Resolutions 242 (1967) & 478 (1980)
Why Illegal: Annexation of occupied territory is prohibited. Israel’s 1980 declaration of Jerusalem as its “eternal and undivided capital” was declared null and void by the UN Security Council.

4. Displacement of the Palestinian Population

Law: Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49(1)
Why Illegal: Forcible transfer or displacement of protected persons in occupied territory is prohibited.
Application: Evictions in East Jerusalem (e.g., Sheikh Jarrah) and demolitions of Palestinian homes have been widely condemned as unlawful.

5. Denial of Self-Determination

Law: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, Article 1), UNGA Resolution 1514 (1960)
Why Illegal: The Palestinian people have a recognized right to self-determination. Occupation and settlement policies are considered to obstruct this right.

6. Blockade and Collective Punishment (Gaza)

Law: Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 33), Customary IHL
Why Illegal: Collective punishment of a civilian population is prohibited. The UN and major human rights organizations argue that Israel’s blockade of Gaza amounts to unlawful collective punishment.

I think @PinkBobby is confused.

They are calling for Israel to "step in" to occupy and control Gaza after the war but would no doubt be joining in with the vocal criticisms of them if they did just that.

Netanyahu himself has explicitly stated that his goal is not to occupy Gaza but rather to hand over control of Gaza to unnamed “Arab forces.”

This plan seems to have widespread support, including from Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, the founder of Hamas.

“When I see the moral decay within the Muslim population, the slaughter of toddlers, kidnapping of Holocaust survivors, of innocent civilians who were actually mostly pro two-state solution, I feel we have betrayed them,” he continued.

In lieu of a Palestinian state, Yousef suggested an Arab federation and cooperation with the State of Israel.

www.jns.org/hamas-death-culture-beyond-comprehension-says-founders-son/

Oh absolutely not. My response, I suppose, is some dream situation where the Israeli gov genuinely has the Palestinian people’s interests at heart. All evidence suggest this is not the case. I think Israel should help rebuild Gaza after the harm they have done but any help Israel should or could provide would be, in my eyes, pointless if the aim isn’t to create a safe, independent Palestinian state that doesn’t rely on Israel for its economy or ongoing infrastructure.

Sadly, I think Israel (in its current form government wise) aim to take control of Gaza (and potentially the West Bank eventually) and to rebuild it for Israeli settlers not for Palestinians. I base this on things that the Israeli government have said and the renewed push for large settler development in the WB.

I think Israel (in its current form government wise) aim to take control of Gaza ... I base this on things that the Israeli government have said

Certain extremist elements within the Israel government have said this but not Netanyahu and he is the one in charge.

But his hands are tied by those very extremists. If they walk, he loses control. It is frustrating but they have such disproportionate power. It’s very worrying.

All of the settlements and the military blockade of Gaza.

Illegal according to who?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Remo_conference

It was effectively decolonisation, not colonisation, as the Jewish people returned to their ancestral land.

Netanyahu has clearly said Israel’s goal is not to occupy Gaza but to free Gaza from Hamas.

https://x.com/netanyahu/status/1954560505953042568

This has been addressed.

1. Acquisition of Territory by Force

Law: UN Charter (Article 2(4)) and Customary International Law Why Illegal: States cannot acquire territory through war or force. The 1967 Six-Day War led to Israel occupying the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. The UN has repeatedly affirmed these are occupied territories.

1. Settlements in Occupied Territory

Law: Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), Article 49(6) Why Illegal: An occupying power cannot transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies. Application: Israel’s settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is considered a direct violation of this article. UN Stance: UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016) explicitly calls Israeli settlements “a flagrant violation under international law.”

1. Annexation of East Jerusalem and Other Lands

Law: UN Charter, UNSC Resolutions 242 (1967) & 478 (1980) Why Illegal: Annexation of occupied territory is prohibited. Israel’s 1980 declaration of Jerusalem as its “eternal and undivided capital” was declared null and void by the UN Security Council.

1. Displacement of the Palestinian Population

Law: Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49(1) Why Illegal: Forcible transfer or displacement of protected persons in occupied territory is prohibited. Application: Evictions in East Jerusalem (e.g., Sheikh Jarrah) and demolitions of Palestinian homes have been widely condemned as unlawful.

1. Denial of Self-Determination

Law: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, Article 1), UNGA Resolution 1514 (1960) Why Illegal: The Palestinian people have a recognized right to self-determination. Occupation and settlement policies are considered to obstruct this right.

1. Blockade and Collective Punishment (Gaza)

Law: Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 33), Customary IHL Why Illegal: Collective punishment of a civilian population is prohibited. The UN and major human rights organizations argue that Israel’s blockade of Gaza amounts to unlawful collective punishment.

He also says there is no famine or starvation in Gaza.

They have a lot of licence to mouth off with their unpalatable opinions, it seems.

But Netanyahu presumably wants to win another election so he has to be more moderate. Even so he is likely to lose the next election in Israel in 2026.

Plus I think he would be relieved for other countries to have responsibility for running Gaza. It would just be an ongoing headache for him where realistically he would his leadership would never be accepted. Far easier for others to do it who are seen as more neutral.

Please see SaltandRusts 10.50 response above - sets the illegality out very clearly.

Even the early Zionists were clear about the nature of Zionism as settler colonialism, describing their project as such and engaging with other colonial powers for expansion.

Theodore Herzl explicitly viewed it as a colonial venture, writing to Cecil Rhodes about the need for colonial expansion and discreetly carrying out the "expropriation and removal of the poor". Other early Zionists, like Nordau and Jabatinsky also used the term "colonization" to describe their goals in Palestine.

Ilan Pappe, Israeli Historian, sets out clearly the interesting origin of Zionism in his book, Lobbying for Zionism.

Wow. You put that response together rather quickly. You drafted this post in less than 2 minutes.

impressive.

But it would be nice if people could at least try to engage with threads beyond copying and pasting, posting links, posting YouTube videos, calling others “genocide defenders/deniers” (what a joke that one is), engaging in conspiracy and outright lying to themselves and others about the meaning of words.