Frankly Speaking: Is Gaza facing a genocide?

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Updated 15 October 2023
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Frankly Speaking: Is Gaza facing a genocide?

  • Palestinian diplomat says own family and friends have lost their homes in Israeli bombardment of Gaza
  • Clarifies that the Palestinian Authority condemns the loss of all civilian lives, be it Palestinian or Israeli
  • Believes US, other Western countries have lost credibility as mediators, favors key role for Japan instead

DUBAI: If the international community does not step in to prevent a further escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas, Gaza will face “complete destruction” and “genocide,” a senior Palestinian diplomat has said.

Speaking to the Arab News program “Frankly Speaking,” Waleed Ali Siam, the Palestinian ambassador to Japan, related the story of his own family, which has been caught up in Israel’s siege and bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

“First and foremost, unfortunately, my house was destroyed this morning. But that is nothing compared to what my people have endured with hundreds of homes that have been destroyed,” Siam told the program’s host Katie Jensen.




Cars are seen on fire following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, southern Israel. (File/AFP)

“My family and friends are scattering around. Some of them have lost their homes there. One of them told me, one of the daughters — she is 7 years old — she said: ‘I lost my childhood today. I lost everything in my childhood.’”

Gaza has come under sustained Israeli missile and artillery fire since Oct. 8, when Israel responded to a cross-border assault the previous day by Hamas militants, who killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians, took scores of hostages, and launched a barrage of rockets at Israeli cities.

Hamas, a Sunni group that sprung from the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood but that draws support from Shiite Iran and its proxies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, has said its “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation came in retaliation for the killing of Palestinians and the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.




Burnt out vehicles in Ashkelon are pictured following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel. (File/AFP)

In addition to bombardment, Israel has amassed troops along Gaza’s border ahead of an expected ground invasion and ordered Palestinian civilians in the north of the territory to evacuate to the south, while also cutting off power, water, and deliveries of food and medicine.

Civilian infrastructure has not been spared as Israeli jets and artillery pound structures indiscriminately in densely populated areas.

UN officials have called on Israel to respect the rules of war, which demand the protection of civilian life and deplore acts of collective punishment. Since fleeing their home, Siam said his family has been unable to find a place of safety, as the rubble-strewn streets become impassable and the Israeli bombardment becomes ever more intense.




Palestinians look for survivors of a destroyed building hit during an Israeli air strike as an injured woman is helped in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. (File/AFP)

“They went to a hotel and then they were asked to leave the hotel because the Israelis said to get out of the hotel. Maybe the Israelis would hit it. Now they are running from one street to the other,” said Siam.

“And, unfortunately, the streets are full of rocks and stones (and rubble) from the buildings … They cannot even walk. There are not many streets in Gaza. So, I don’t know what they’re going to do. I really don’t know what they’re going to do.

“We lost some friends; we lost some families. But what can I say? I mean, this is not new for us.”




Waleed Ali Siam, the Palestinian ambassador to Japan. (AN photo)

Regardless of the long-running nature of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the mutual antipathy, Siam said the killing of civilians on either side cannot be justified. “We do condemn the loss of all civilian lives; be it Palestinians or Israelis. Today, tomorrow, or forever,” he said when asked whether the Palestinian Authority condemns the killing, kidnapping and deliberate targeting of civilians.

With regard to the outcome of the current crisis — the biggest and deadliest escalation in the Middle East conflict in decades — Siam’s assessment was grim. “Complete destruction of Gaza, genocide of civilians (in) Gaza. That’s it,” he said.

“Complete destruction. Unfortunately, that’s how we foresee it if the international community does not step in as soon as possible.”




Protesters wave Palestinian flags during a rally in support of Palestinians in Amsterdam on October 15, 2023. (AFP)

After years under effective embargo, the impoverished territory, ruled by Hamas since 2007 and routinely bombarded during armed exchanges with Israel, is in no condition to withstand the present siege.

The enclave’s only power station quickly went out of action and supermarket shelves were stripped bare as the population of 2.2 million people, hemmed in by Israel to the east, the Mediterranean to the west, and a closed border with Egypt to the south, prepared for the worst.

Hospitals are overwhelmed, with wounded civilians flooding in and stocks of medicines and equipment rapidly running out, as deliveries of aid from international agencies are blocked. Israel has reportedly even threatened to bomb aid trucks making their way from Egypt to Gaza via the Rafah crossing.




Israeli troops prepare weapons and armed vehicles near the southern city of Ashkelon on October 15, 2023. (AFP)

“We are in a humanitarian crisis right now,” said Siam. “There’s no electricity, no food, no water, no medicine … over 200,000 Palestinians displaced. We are in this (situation) now. I hope that we don’t continue it.”

Because Israel is purportedly fighting a non-state actor, Siam says the Israeli side has no justification under international humanitarian law or the established rules of war
to punish the civilian population of Gaza for the actions of Hamas.

“As Israel has declared war on a non-state actor, by international law that doesn’t give Israel the right to stop the entry of human aid and food and electricity and water to the civilians under daily bombardment,” he said.




Smoke billows after Israeli bombardment of an area in the Gaza Strip. (File/AFP)

“I do believe that the International (Committee of the) Red Cross and the international community, especially our Arab brothers, (need) to really (put) pressure on allowing all this aid to enter Gaza as soon as possible.”

Western countries were quick to condemn the Hamas attack and voice their solidarity with Israel, with the US deploying two warships to the Eastern Mediterranean and Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, paying a visit to Tel Aviv.

It has fallen to UN officials and aid agencies to call for restraint, urging Israel to observe the rules of war, to avoid causing civilian casualties, and to permit the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.




Children injured in an Israeli strike are rushed to the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on October 15, 2023. (AFP)

“The restraint should be on the part of the Israelis, not on the part of the Palestinians,” said Siam. “You know Israel is one of the 10 most powerful countries in the world. And the US is one of the most powerful countries in the world.

“Both of them are getting into a fight against 2.2 million civilians in Gaza or against the armed 30,000-40,000 so-called Islamic fighters or Hamas fighters. That’s really disproportionate — 50,000 against 1 million soldiers.”

Siam added: “Israel is destroying the livelihoods and homes of Palestinian civilians, punishing them for something they didn’t do. This is collective punishment. This is a war crime. You cannot punish a whole population for some (part) of the population that has done something wrong to Israel.”




People salvage belongings from the rubble of a building levelled in an Israeli strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on October 15, 2023. (AFP)

Although the targeting of Israeli civilians by Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US, EU, and other Western governments, has been widely condemned by supporters of the Palestinian cause, many have also pointed out that the attack did not come from a clear blue sky.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has remained unresolved for 75 years, defying repeated peace initiatives and proposals for a one- or two-state solution. Meanwhile, illegal Israeli settlements have continued to spread in the occupied West Bank, leading to almost daily violence. Another flashpoint of the conflict is Jerusalem, home of the holiest site in the Jewish faith and the third holiest site in Islam, Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Routine provocations and invasions of these sacred sites frequently lead to clashes. Some analysts say the split between Palestinian factions Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and Hamas, which controls Gaza, has hurt the Palestinian cause and made it a hostage of Iranian interests.




A Palestinian boy carries his bird in a cage as families leave their homes following an Israeli attack on the Rafah refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip. (AFP)

Siam believes the rise of Hamas, widely viewed as a proxy of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has benefited the Israeli narrative while undermining the Palestinian cause.

“(According to files published by) WikiLeaks in 2007, the Israeli Defense Intelligence, (its) chief Amos Yadlin, said that Israel will be happy if Hamas took over Gaza, then (it) will deal with Gaza as a hostile state,” he said. “You have to ask the Israelis, first of all, who is Hamas and who supports them?

“As for my job, I represent the Palestinian government and I represent the Palestinian people. I don’t have any problem in representing my people because we have a just cause. We are people that have been fighting for an independent state for the past 75 years. And we will continue on fighting in every form and color as in the charters of the UN and international law.




Waleed Ali Siam, the Palestinian ambassador to Japan, discusses the Israeli military onslaught on Gaza and the unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel with Katie Jensen. (AN photo)

“So as a representative, I have all the confidence in representing my people and its cause. As for what happened on Oct. 7, for me, that history date goes back to 1948 (the Arab-Israeli war). It does not start from Oct. 7.”

Asked if he thinks the Americans should continue to be involved as a mediator in the Middle East peace process, he said: “The US cannot be involved in any negotiation between us and the Israelis. It should be (merely one of the) countries that sit on the table. I believe that Japan should be the main player, not the US, not the Western countries either.”

Elaborating on the point, Siam said: “We have seen the French, the British and some other countries issue statements that suggest they have forgotten that Palestinians are human. We are not, as the Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, ‘human animals.’ We are humans and we have a cause. A just cause.”

 


Syria’s president to visit Turkiye and UAE next week

Updated 5 sec ago
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Syria’s president to visit Turkiye and UAE next week

  • Sharaa and other members of the new Syrian leadership have been working to strengthen ties with both Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive in December, led by Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham

BEIRUT: Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will make his first visit to the United Arab Emirates and is also scheduled to visit Turkiye next week, the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday, as he continues to garner support for the new administration.
Sharaa, who previously visited Turkiye in February, will make the UAE his second Gulf destination after traveling to
Saudi Arabia that same month on his first foreign trip since assuming the presidency in January.
He and other members of the new Syrian leadership have been working to strengthen ties with both Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive in December, led by Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.
Sharaa and his officials have also called for a full lifting of sanctions on Syria.
Syria is in desperate need of sanctions relief to kick start an economy collapsed by nearly 14 years of war, during which the United States, the UK and Europe placed tough sanctions on people, businesses and whole sectors of Syria’s economy in a bid to squeeze now-ousted leader Assad.

 


Moroccans protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza and take aim at Trump

Updated 10 min 10 sec ago
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Moroccans protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza and take aim at Trump

  • Moroccan authorities tolerate most protests, but have arrested some activists who have rallied in front of businesses or foreign embassies or implicated the monarchy in their complaints
  • More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants

RABAT, Morocco: Tens of thousands of Moroccans on Sunday protested Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza, putting fury toward US President Donald Trump near the center of their grievances.
In the largest protest Morocco has seen in months, demonstrators denounced Israel, the United States and their own government. Some stepped on Israeli flags, held banners showing slain Hamas leaders and waved posters juxtaposing Trump alongside displaced Palestinians fleeing their homes.
Organizers condemned Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since Israel renewed air and ground strikes last month, aimed at pressuring Hamas to release remaining hostages.

Women lift a banner during a national march in support of Palestinians and against Morocco's normalisation of ties with Israel, in the capital Rabat on April 6, 2025. (AFP)

Such protests have erupted across the Middle East and North Africa, where leaders typically worry about demonstrations undermining domestic stability. Pro-Palestinian rallies were also staged this weekend in the capitals of Tunisia and Yemen as well as in Morocco’s most populous city Casablanca.
In countries that have historically aligned with the US, anti-Trump backlash has emerged as a theme. Demonstrators in Rabat on Sunday condemned his proposal to displace millions of Palestinians to make way for the redevelopment of Gaza. as well as the US efforts to pursue pro-Palestinian activists.
Still, many Moroccans said they saw Trump’s policies as mostly consistent with his predecessor, Joe Biden’s.
“(Trump) has made the war worse,” said Mohammed Toussi, who traveled from Casablanca with his family to protest.
“Biden hid some things but Trump has shown it all,” he added, likening their positions but not their messaging.
Protesters, Toussi said, remain angry about Morocco’s 2020 decision to normalize ties with Israel.
Abdelhak El Arabi, an adviser to Morocco’s former Islamist prime minister, said the reasons Moroccans were protesting had grown throughout the war. He predicted popular anger would continue until the war ends.
“It’s not a war, Gaza is getting erased from the earth,” the 62-year-old Tamesna resident said.
Demonstrations have included a range of groups, including the Islamist association al Adl Wal Ihsan. Moroccan authorities tolerate most protests, but have arrested some activists who have rallied in front of businesses or foreign embassies or implicated the monarchy in their complaints.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have since been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. The war has left most of Gaza in ruins, and at its height displaced around 90 percent of the population.

 


Sudan activists sound alarm on ‘catastrophic’ situation in besieged Darfur city

Updated 06 April 2025
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Sudan activists sound alarm on ‘catastrophic’ situation in besieged Darfur city

  • According to UN estimates, around two million people face extreme food insecurity in North Darfur state, with 320,000 already suffering famine conditions

KHARTOUM: Civilians trapped in Sudan’s El-Fasher city are facing “catastrophic” conditions, activists warned on Sunday, with their situation rapidly deteriorating amid a months-long paramilitary siege.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have taken most of the vast Darfur region in their war against the regular army since April 2023, but El-Fasher in North Darfur remains the only regional state capital the RSF has not conquered.
A local advocacy group, the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees, said in a statement that residents “bear the brunt of artillery shelling” and live “with the sounds of aircraft and their terrifying and deadly missiles, in addition to the daily suffering of hunger, disease and drought.”
Life in El-Fasher and other areas of Darfur “has come to a complete standstill,” the group said, with no food at markets and a “complete halt” in humanitarian aid.
There was a sharp rise in prices of basic commodities and “a severe shortage in cash,” it added, warning of an “unprecedented and catastrophic deterioration” in already dire conditions in and around El-Fasher.
The RSF-aligned armed group Sudan Liberation Army called on Saturday for civilians in El-Fasher and the nearby displacement camps of Abu Shouk and Zamzan to leave, warning of an “escalation of military operations.”
Another RSF ally, the Gathering of Sudan Liberation Forces, said it was ready to “provide safe corridors” for residents to leave and head to “liberated areas” under paramilitary control.
In late March, the RSF announced its fighters had seized Al-Malha, which lies at the foot of a mountainous region 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of El-Fasher.
Al-Malha is one of the northernmost towns in the vast desert region between Sudan and Libya, where the RSF’s critical resupply lines have come under increasing attack in recent months by army-allied groups.
The war has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises. More than 12 million people have been uprooted, tens of thousands killed and a UN-backed assessment declared famine in parts of the country.
According to UN estimates, around two million people face extreme food insecurity in North Darfur state, with 320,000 already suffering famine conditions.
Zamzam is one of three displacement camps around El-Fasher hit by famine, which a UN-backed assessment says is expected to spread to five more areas including the state capital itself by May.


Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 32, mostly women and children

Updated 06 April 2025
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Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 32, mostly women and children

  • The latest Israeli strikes overnight into Sunday hit a tent and a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing five men, five women and five children, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 32 people, including over a dozen women and children, local health officials said Sunday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to the United States to meet with President Donald Trump about the war.
Israel last month ended its ceasefire with Hamas and renewed its air and ground offensive, carrying out waves of strikes and seizing territory to pressure the militant group to accept a new deal for a truce and release of remaining hostages. It has also blocked the import of food, fuel and humanitarian aid for over a month to the coastal territory heavily reliant on outside assistance.
“Stocks are getting low and the situation is becoming desperate,” the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said on social media.
The latest Israeli strikes overnight into Sunday hit a tent and a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing five men, five women and five children, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.
A female journalist was among those killed. “My daughter is innocent. She had no involvement, she loved journalism and adored it,” said her mother, Amal Kaskeen.
The body of one child, under 2 years old, took up just one end of an emergency stretcher.
“Trump wants to end the Gaza issue. He is in a hurry, and that is clear from this morning,” said Mohammad Abdel-Hadi, cousin of a woman killed.
Israeli shelling killed at least four people in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The bodies of seven people, including a child and three women, arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, according to an Associated Press journalist there.
And a strike in Gaza City hit people waiting outside a bakery and killed at least six, including three children, according to the civil defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government.
Israel’s military said about 10 projectiles were fired from Gaza and most were intercepted, in the largest barrage from the territory since Israel resumed the war. Hamas’ military arm claimed responsibility. Israeli police said some fragments fell in Ashkelon city. There were no reports of injuries.
Netanyahu visits Trump amid anti-war protests
Dozens of Palestinians took to the streets in Jabaliya for a new round of anti-war protests. Footage circulating on social media showed people marching and chanting against Hamas. Such protests, while rare, have occurred in recent weeks.
There is also anger inside Israel over the war’s resumption and its effects on remaining hostages in Gaza. Families of hostages along with some of those recently freed from Gaza and their supporters on Saturday urged Trump to help ensure the fighting ends.
Netanyahu on Monday will meet with Trump for the second time since Trump began his latest term in January. The prime minister said they would discuss the war and the new 17 percent tariff imposed on Israel, part of a sweeping global decision by the new US administration.
“There is a very large queue of leaders who want to do this with respect to their economies. I think it reflects the special personal connection and the special connection between the United States and Israel, which is so vital at this time,” Netanyahu said while wrapping up a visit to Hungary.
The US, a mediator in ceasefire efforts along with Egypt and Qatar, expressed support for Israel’s resumption of the war last month.
The toll of war
Hundreds of Palestinians since then have been killed, among them 15 medics whose bodies were recovered only a week later. Israel’s military this weekend backtracked on its account of what happened in the incident, captured in part on video, that caused anger by Red Cross and Red Crescent and UN officials.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Fifty-nine hostages are still held in Gaza — 24 believed to be alive — after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 50,695 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants but says more than half were women and children. It says another 115,338 people have been wounded. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.


UNICEF forced to shut down malnutrition centers in Gaza amid worsening humanitarian crisis

Updated 06 April 2025
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UNICEF forced to shut down malnutrition centers in Gaza amid worsening humanitarian crisis

  • The closures are directly linked to Israel’s renewed military actions and the increasingly volatile security situation
  • UNICEF is awaiting findings from a special body tasked with assessing the scale of food insecurity in Gaza, official says

GAZA: The UN Children’s Fund has closed 21 malnutrition treatment centers in the Gaza Strip, citing ongoing Israeli military operations and recent evacuation orders in the areas where these centers were operating.

Kazem Abu Khalaf, a spokesperson for the organization, said on Sunday that the closures were directly linked to Israel’s renewed military actions and the increasingly volatile security situation, Palestinian WAFA news agency reported.

Abu Khalaf added that UNICEF was currently awaiting findings from a special body tasked with assessing the scale of food insecurity in Gaza, with the aim of presenting a comprehensive picture of the deteriorating conditions.

The closures come as Gaza faces an unprecedented humanitarian emergency, exacerbated by Israel’s continued blockade of aid into the enclave.

According to UNICEF, Israeli authorities have blocked all crossings into Gaza for 35 consecutive days, preventing the entry of food, medical supplies, and nutritional supplements.

On Saturday, UNICEF issued a stark warning, stating that more than one million children in Gaza have been cut off from life-saving humanitarian assistance for over a month.

The organization condemned the blockade, calling it a violation of international humanitarian law with devastating consequences for children and other vulnerable groups.

UNICEF confirmed it has thousands of aid parcels ready for immediate delivery but has been unable to gain access. It also revealed that food supplies for infants in Gaza have been entirely depleted, while the remaining stock of ready-to-use infant milk is only sufficient to feed 400 children for one month.

The crisis in Gaza has intensified since the resumption of hostilities in March, which ended a temporary ceasefire which came into force earlier this year.

Israel’s war with Hamas, which started in October 2023, has left much of Gaza’s infrastructure in ruins and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned of the risk of famine and a collapse of basic health services unless humanitarian access is urgently restored.