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For months, Israel has been forcing Palestinians in northern Gaza to starve on a tiny fraction of their regular daily calorie needs, a report finds as experts warn of an unprecedented widespread famine across the region.

A new Oxfam analysis has found that, since January, people in northern Gaza have had access to less than 12 percent of the 2,100 calories they need per day on average. This is equivalent to an average of only 245 calories per day — fewer calories than are in a can of fava beans, or about a single cup of cooked rice.

“Before the war, we were in good health and had strong bodies,” one mother who is trapped in northern Gaza told Oxfam. “Now, looking at my children and myself, we have lost so much weight since we do not eat any proper food, we are trying to eat whatever we find — edible wild plants or herbs daily just to survive.”

The lack of food is being caused by Israel’s blockade of all forms of humanitarian aid into Gaza, which is only expected to get worse in coming weeks. Israel has informed the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) that it will no longer allow any food shipments into northern Gaza. Meanwhile, after Israel bombed a convoy of international food aid workers with World Central Kitchen earlier this week, killing seven of them, a number of other food aid groups have announced that they are stopping their efforts in Gaza because of the high risk of being killed by Israeli forces.

This downturn in food aid shipments comes as international food insecurity researchers have warned that half of the population of Gaza, or about 1.1 million people, are at imminent risk of famine, with the entire population already facing a food crisis. Israel’s famine campaign in Gaza has no precedent in modern times in terms of speed and severity, experts have repeatedly warned, and dozens of children have already starved to death as Israel’s genocide goes on.

read more: https://truthout.org/articles/palestinians-in-northern-gaza-only-have-access-to-245-calories-a-day/

The Israeli army is making heavy use of an artificial intelligence (AI) system that mass-generates assassination targets in Gaza in order to reach certain thresholds of killing of Palestinians every day, a new explosive report finds. This AI generated information is used by the military to kill targets as soon as they step into their homes, all but ensuring “collateral” deaths of non-targets and families.

According to a sprawling investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call, the AI system, called “Lavender,” has created as many as 37,000 Palestinian targets since October 7, using information like visual characteristics, cellular phone activity, social networks, and more, in order to mark Palestinians as supposed Hamas operatives.

Sources said that the goal of the technology isn’t accuracy, but to automatically generate as many targets as possible for the military to kill, with little to no oversight by humans to determine the legitimacy of the targets. Officers were under pressure by military higher-ups to approve as many targets as possible; if there were days where there were fewer targets, sources said higher-ups would press officers to produce more.

“In a day without targets [whose feature rating was sufficient to authorize a strike], we attacked at a lower threshold. We were constantly being pressured: ‘Bring us more targets.’ They really shouted at us. We finished [killing] our targets very quickly,” one source, identified only as B., told +972 and Local Call.

“One day, totally of my own accord, I added something like 1,200 new targets to the [tracking] system, because the number of attacks [we were conducting] decreased,” said another anonymized source. “That made sense to me. In retrospect, it seems like a serious decision I made. And such decisions were not made at high levels.”

read more: https://truthout.org/articles/report-israeli-army-uses-ai-to-produce-palestinian-targets-for-assassination/

Basicallly the only vialable nitter altnerative I'm aware of at the moment, biggest downsides being you need a twitter account and you can only access it through android, but it does offer the abillity to see your feed in an rss style, aka no recommendations, which is very useful if you only need to follow a few remaining twitter accounts and don't want to wade through a sea of Elon's spicy memes in between the accounts you actually follow.

read more: https://github.com/j-fbriere/squawker

State media says men were convicted by court which has been criticised for punishing activists and protesters under guise of terrorism

Seven Saudi men were executed on Tuesday, the highest number put to death in one day since 81 were killed in March 2022.

The Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) convicted the men on terrorism charges, accusing them of betraying "their homeland, threatening its stability and endangering its security", the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported, citing the Interior Ministry.

The men's names were listed in the SPA announcement, which is often the only information released about executions in the kingdom, but with little further detail.

Riyadh has now executed 31 people this year, after putting at least 172 people to death in 2023, rights groups monitoring executions in Saudi Arabia have said.

There were no public records or media reporting of any of the cases of the men executed on Tuesday, the European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) and UK-based Reprieve told Middle East Eye.

read more: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-puts-7-men-death-largest-execution-years

Bashar Murad said he wants to use his song to ‘illustrate’ the difficulties Palestinians face in order to be heard.

Palestinian pop singer Bashar Murad is hoping to represent Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest in May and bring “a Palestinian voice to the main stage”.

Iceland is expected to pick its contestant on Saturday for the annual song competition, which is being held in the Swedish city of Malmo.

Murad is competing in the national final with a song co-written by Einar Stefansson of the Icelandic band Hatari, known for raising a banner showing Palestinian flags during the 2019 Eurovision Contest.

While the competition bills itself as a non-political event and can disqualify those it considers to be in breach of the rule, the global political backdrop frequently weighs in on decisions.

In 2022, Russia was banned from participating in the contest after several countries called for its removal due to its invasion of Ukraine.

In light of the war in Gaza, some artists have called on the competition organisers to also exclude Israel from the competition.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises the competition, said last week that they were scrutinising the lyrics of Israel’s song submission for possible references to the October 7 Hamas attack, which would go against the rules of the competition.

Israel has threatened to drop out of the competition if its song, Eden Golan’s, October Rain, is rejected.

read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/27/palestinian-singer-running-to-represent-iceland-at-eurovision-contest

They couldn't resist breaking the rules lmao, but face no consequences, besides being mad about it

Israel has threatened to withdraw from this year’s Eurovision Song Contest if organizers decide to reject its entry amid wider calls for the country’s exclusion over its military campaign in Gaza.

The European Broadcasting Union is currently reviewing the lyrics of Israel’s entry, a song called “October Rain” by Russian-Israeli singer Eden Golan, which is thought to reference the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. If the EBU decides Israel has breached its rules by submitting content deemed political, the body will allow it to submit new lyrics or a new song.

Israel’s Public Broadcasting Corporation earlier said it has “no intention to replace the song” if it is not approved, warning that it will pull out of the contest scheduled for May in Malmö, Sweden. Israel’s culture minister has stated that while the song reflects “the current public sentiment in Israel these days,” that doesn’t make it “a political song.”

Israel became the first non-European nation to compete in Eurovision in 1973, and has since won the competition four times.

read more: https://www.semafor.com/article/02/27/2024/israels-controversial-eurovision-song-entry

The Tories want to stop public bodies engaging in ‘BDS’ campaigns – but that’s unlikely to stop grassroots organisers

When neighbours who had met at pro-Palestine marches learnt that a charity in their east London borough was raising cash for the Israeli military, they organised quickly.

Their goal was to pressure the local Chabad Lubavitch Centre to withdraw its fundraiser for a reserve unit in northern Israel. Horrific details about Israel’s siege of Gaza had by then been emerging for months, with reports of tens of thousands of deaths and scenes of devastation in civilian areas.

“We’re young, old, men, women, Muslim, non-Muslim,” one told us. “We protested outside their offices and wrote to the Charity Commission and our MP en masse. We also climbed ladders to wave our flags in protest… We were disgusted that the genocide had made its way to our doorstep.”

The neighbours’ group was hastily convened in December under the name of the Redbridge Palestine Solidarity Network; today, a spokesperson says the network has more than 350 members. Redbridge is a large, multicultural borough near Greater London’s boundary with Essex that has both Muslim and Jewish populations.

The charity, in the Gants Hill area of Redbridge, never responded to the campaign, and the donation link remains live on its website – though the wording has subtly changed from “donation of equipment needed by soldiers of Israel” to “donation in honour of our soldiers and the safe return of the hostages”. (The Chabad Lubavitch Centre did not respond to our requests for comment.) What’s more, Redbridge Council has spent more than £2,000 removing Palestinian flags from main roads after receiving a letter from the lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel.

But the group still considers its actions a success. Members typically replace the flags within 24 hours in a sort of cat-and-mouse game, and continue to picket the charity, part of a larger network across north-east London that supports local Jewish communities. Sooner or later, the Redbridge Palestine Solidarity Network hopes, the Chabad Lubavitch Centre will reconsider its backing for the Israeli military.

“The support for Palestine in our area is clear,” said the group member, who asked not to be named. “We won’t stand by while councils, companies and charities are complicit in genocide and politicians are failing to speak up or represent us as they should.”

Israel was accused of perpetrating genocide in Gaza last month at the International Court of Justice by South Africa, which Israel denies. The court stopped short of calling for a ceasefire, but ordered Israel to “prevent” acts that could amount to genocide. A ruling on whether Israel has actually been committing genocide could take far longer.

read more: https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/britain-wants-to-ban-boycotts-of-israel-does-that-mean-theyre-working/

Italy's appeal courts have deemed returning migrants to Libya illegal after an Italian captain after forcing over 100 people back to Libya.

Italy's top appeals court has established that sending sea migrants back to Libya is unlawful, a ruling hailed by charities and human rights groups.

The Court of Cassation upheld the conviction of the captain of an Italian towboat, Asso 28, who in 2018 rescued 101 migrants from a rubber dinghy and returned them to Libya.

The rescue took place in international waters about 105 km off Libya, the court said. Pregnant women and children were among the migrants, it added.

The captain - whose name was blacked out in the ruling for privacy reasons - was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for the crimes of abandoning minors or incapacitated persons, and arbitrary disembarkation and abandonment of persons.

He is unlikely to go to prison, however, as in the Italian system jail terms of under four years are not normally served behind bars.

The ruling is final, upholding earlier decisions by two lower courts. It was filed on February 1, but was publicised by Italian media over the weekend. Reuters obtained a copy of it on Sunday.

Italy and other European governments have taken an increasingly hard line on immigration in recent years, amid a swell in support for right-wing parties that want strict curbs on sea arrivals from North Africa.

The Libya to Italy crossing is one of the most-used sea migration routes.

read more: https://www.newarab.com/news/italy-returning-sea-migrants-libya-illegal

Far-right Israeli government minister Ben-Gvir believes that Israeli soldiers must shoot Palestinian women and children in Gaza to stop 'another October 7'.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded the army shoot Palestinian women and children in Gaza during a cabinet meeting, according to the Israeli media on Monday.

“We cannot have women and children getting close to the border... anyone who gets near must get a bullet [in the head],” Ben-Gvir said during a debate with Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi on the army’s “open-fire” rules at the cabinet meeting on Sunday.

Ben-Gvir, who heads the extreme right Jewish Power party, told Halevi that Israel’s rules of engagement in Gaza were too lenient and ought to be broadened out to encompass civilians.

“You know how our enemies operate... they will try us,” Ben-Gvir said according to The Jerusalem Post.

“They will send women and children as undercover terrorists. If we continue like this, we will reach another October 7.”

Halevi did not argue with Ben-Gvir over the ethics of shooting Palestinian women and children, but rather claimed that it might lead to more “friendly fire” incidents.

read more: https://www.newarab.com/news/ben-gvir-says-israeli-army-can-shoot-women-children-gaza

On January 5, a famous Kyrgyz politician and businessman, Arstan “Alai” Abdyldaev, was found dead at a penitentiary located in the Moldovanovka village near Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek. He was 55. According to the State Penitentiary Service, Abdyldaev committed suicide by hanging himself in the cafeteria of the special medical prison facility. He was transferred there last December 28, from pre-trial detention in Bishkek, where he had been detained since his arrest on December 15, on charges of inciting religious hatred.

The State Committee of National Security explained that the reason for Abdyldaev’s arrest was the need “to take urgent measures to improve the religious situation” in the country, stating that Abdyldaev “considers himself a ‘new God’, ‘savior’, and considers other religions, beliefs and views to be inferior, weak and invalid delusions.”

His death came as a shock to the public and raised suspicions that he was killed. This was because of the murky details provided by the authorities and the questionable circumstances of his detention. Abdyldaev was transferred to the penitentiary facility in Moldovanovka without prior notice to his lawyer Kaisyn Abirov, who blamed “illegal actions of the law enforcement agencies, investigators and the court” for Abdyldaev’s death.

While in pre-trial detention in Bishkek, Abdyldaev was diagnosed with an “unspecified mental personality disorder,” among other things and sent to Moldovanovka for treatment. In a bid to convince the public that it was indeed a suicide, the authorities released footage allegedly of his last moments, where he is seen wrapping a towel around a cable and walking towards the cafeteria, where there were no cameras.

read more: https://globalvoices.org/2024/01/13/kyrgyzstans-self-proclaimed-new-god-and-former-presidential-candidate-found-dead-in-prison/

Searching for information on the International Court of Justice hearings yielded an Israel-sponsored ad calling the ongoing genocide hearing against it “meaningless.”

Israel is defending itself against allegations that its siege of Gaza is a genocide with Google search ads, in what appears to be a world first.

A Google search for the ongoing hearing against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) yielded an ad calling South Africa’s genocide case against it “meaningless” and linking to an Israeli government website for some users on Thursday. Motherboard viewed the ad, which appears above news coverage of the hearing being held in the Hague in the Netherlands. Google told Motherboard it reviewed the ad against its policies and did not take any action.

The ad was first noted on X when a user posted a screenshot of their Google search for “icj” which yielded a sponsored ad titled “Israel response to Hague ICJ” above the Google information panel for the ICJ. The ad includes subheadings of “October 7th: The Invasion” and “The North Border,” as well as survivor testimonies and resources.

Motherboard was not able to replicate the search using only the term “ICJ,” but was able to find the ad when searching “ICJ Israel.” The ad’s descriptive text reads in full, “SA’s claim is meaningless—the malicious blood libel advanced by South Africa seeks to slander the State of israel. South Africa’s claim lacks any factual or legal basis and renders meaningless.”

The ad links to the Israeli government website govextra.gov.il. The page lists information about Hamas' Oct. 7 attack which killed 1,200 Israelis, and a video claims that “Israel is doing everything in its power to prevent harm to innocent civilians in Gaza and is acting according to international humanitarian law.”

read more: https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7b48q/israel-defends-itself-against-hague-genocide-allegations-with-google-ads

A lawsuit launched by far-right fanatic and mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik accusing the state of abusing his human rights has opened in Norway.

Breivik, who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in 2011, appeared in a court set up in the high-security jail in which he is serving his sentence on Monday. By accusing Norway’s Ministry of Justice of breaching his human rights, he hopes to force the authorities to end his years in isolation.

The 44-year-old killer’s lawyer laid out an argument that the conditions of his detention violated his human rights.

“He has been isolated for about 12 years,” Oeystein Storrvik told the hearing. “He is only in contact with professionals, not with other inmates.”

In earlier court filings, Storrvik had argued the isolation had left Breivik suicidal and dependent on the anti-depression medication Prozac.

Breivik claims the isolation he has faced since he started serving his prison sentence in 2012 amounts to inhumane punishment under the European Convention on Human Rights. He failed in a similar attempt in 2016 -17, when his appeal was denied by the European Court of Justice.

The extremist, who distributed copies of a manifesto before his attack, is suing the state and also asking the court to lift restrictions on his correspondence with the outside world.

He killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo then gunned down 69 others, most of them teenagers, at a Labour Party youth camp. It was Norway’s worst peacetime atrocity.

Breivik spends his time in a dedicated section of Ringerike prison, the third prison in which he has been held. His separated section includes a training room, a kitchen, a TV room and a bathroom, pictures from a visit last month by news agency NTB showed.

He is allowed to keep three budgerigars as pets and let them fly freely in the area, NTB reported.

read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/8/far-right-mass-killer-breivik-sues-norway-for-human-rights-abuse