484 Days of Genocide: February 2nd Newsletter
Israeli forces fatally shoot 2-year-old Palestinian girl in the head near Jenin
“Laila Mohammad Ayman Khatib, two, was shot and killed by Israeli forces around 8:30 p.m. on January 25 while she was in the living room in her family’s home in the Palestinian town of Muthallath Al-Shuhada, south of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Laila was having dinner with her mother, grandparents, and aunts when sudden Israeli gunfire erupted without warning. Israeli forces fired four bullets through the living room window, one of which struck Laila in the back of the head. Laila’s grandfather carried her out of the house and brought her to Al-Razi Hospital in Jenin, where she received emergency surgery. Laila was pronounced dead around 10 p.m.
“Israeli forces regularly and routinely carry out military operations with complete contempt for Palestinian life,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Little Laila was having dinner with her family when Israeli forces, unprompted, fired live ammunition into their living room, killing her. It is outrageous that the Israeli military has been permitted by world leaders to kill Palestinian children with impunity in flagrant violations of international law.”
Laila’s mother and aunt sustained injuries from shrapnel during the attack, according to information collected by DCIP.
When Laila’s grandfather exited the house carrying her, he saw Israeli snipers stationed in a Palestinian home across the street from their house. No residents of Muthallath Al-Shuhada were aware of an Israeli military presence at the time of the attack, and later learned that Israeli special forces had infiltrated the Palestinian home. Israeli forces remained in the town until about 11 p.m.
Jenin, its refugee camp, and the surrounding villages have been under an ongoing Israeli military attack dubbed “Operation Iron Wall” since January 21, 2025.
Since the beginning of Operation Iron Wall, 16 Palestinians have been killed, including Laila and 16-year-old Motaz Abu Tabeekh. This operation has also been accompanied by Israeli drone strikes, widespread destruction of infrastructure and homes in the Jenin refugee camp, and the bulldozing of roads. Additionally, hundreds of Palestinians families have been forcibly displaced from their homes due to the continued military assault.
Israeli forces have killed eight Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2025, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Five children were killed by Israeli drone strikes and three children were shot and killed with live ammunition.”
Via Defence for Children International Palestine.
ICJ president accused of plagiarism in dissenting opinion on Israeli occupation
Julia Sebutinde, the current president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has been accused of plaigarising parts of her dissenting views in the court's advisory opinion on the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
In July last year, the 15-judge panel found that Israel's decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories was "unlawful", and that its "near-complete separation" of people in the occupied West Bank breached international laws concerning "racial segregation" and "apartheid".
While the opinion was agreed upon by most of the judges, Sebutinde rejected the findings of the court, stating that the case should be settled through negotiations between the parties.
Zachary Foster, a researcher on Palestine, pointed out the alleged plaigarism in a thread on X on Sunday.
In one section of the dissenting opinion, Sebutinde writes: "Territorially, the name 'Palestine' applied vaguely to a region that for the 400 years before World War I was part of the Ottoman Empire.
"In 135 CE, after stamping out the second Jewish insurrection of the province of Judea or Judah, the Romans renamed that province 'Syria Palaestina' (or 'Palestinian Syria'). The Romans did this as a punishment, to spite the 'Y’hudim' (Jewish population) and to obliterate the link between them and their province (known in Hebrew as Y’hudah).
"The name 'Palaestina' was used in relation to the people known as the Philistines and found along the Mediterranean coast."
The three sentences appear to be lifted, almost word for word, from an article published in December 2021 by Douglas J Feith in the Hudson Institute.
Feith, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, was US under secretary of defence for policy in the President George W Bush administration from July 2001 until August 2005, devising American strategy for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
During that time, Feith was in charge of a key Pentagon office that produced "inappropriately written intelligence assessments before the March 2003 invasion alleging connections between al-Qaeda and Iraq that the US intelligence consensus disputed".
In 1996, Feith co-wrote a policy paper for then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that suggested Israel should consider removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq, and militarily engage Syria using proxy forces.
Feith's piece for the Hudson Institute is not cited in the bibliography of Sebutinde's dissenting opinion.”
More from Rayhan Uddin for Middle East Eye.
US President Donald Trump has proposed clearing Palestinians out of Gaza and moving them to Jordan and Egypt. It’s an idea that’s been pushed before, as Al Jazeera's Soraya Lennie explains.
‘Branded’: Satellite images show Star of David carved into Gaza
Zooming in on newly released satellite images of what used to be farmland in northern Gaza, the outline of what clearly appears to be a Star of David is carved into the ground.
The symbol of both the Jewish faith and the state of Israel can be seen in images of Beit Hanoon, an area of northern Gaza that has seen extensive fighting and losses for the Israeli military.
Next to the star appears the numbers 7979, a possible reference to the Israeli military’s 97th Netzah Yehuda Battalion.
More at Al Jazeera.
'Reversing the Nakba': Images of Palestinian homecoming in Gaza spark hope online
“As thousands of Palestinians return to their homes - or, for many, the rubble of what used to be their homes - many in the diaspora have taken to social media this week with their reactions to the images of the first mass Palestinian homecoming since the Nakba in 1948.
According to the Gaza health ministry, around 650,000 displaced people in the central and southern Gaza Strip will return to their homes in the north after 15 months of Israel's war on the enclave.
Videos of Palestinians flooding al-Rashid Street - which crosses the Netzarim corridor towards the north of the enclave - have been circulating on all social media platforms, with many people commenting on the historical meaning of the moment: "the first return in Palestinian history to the homeland," one person wrote on X.”
More from Maysa Mustafa for Middle East Eye.
Israel soldiers delete social media accounts ahead of travel for fear of arrest
“Israeli occupation soldiers who plan to travel are deleting their social media accounts for fear of prosecution on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and Lebanon.
Dozens of Israeli soldiers are reportedly deleting their social media accounts, including Facebook and Instagram, before travelling to Brazil in the coming weeks to participate in the Rio de Janeiro Carnival next month.
Pro- Palestinian rights groups led by the Hind Rajab Foundation, an NGO based in Brussels, have used the soldiers’ social media accounts in addition to other material to compile evidence of atrocities committed against the Palestinians in Gaza.
Earlier this month, the Hind Rajab Foundation filed lawsuits against Israeli soldiers in Sweden, Brazil and Italy on charges of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
“We are afraid the Brazilian authorities will arrest us following lawsuits filed by pro-Palestinian organisations and that our entire trip will be ruined. We saw what happened to the soldier who arrived in Brazil and had to flee in a complex operation to avoid arrest. We will not give ammunition (i.e. photos and videos) to these hostile organisations” Israel’s Channel 12 reported a soldier saying yesterday.”
When Peter Dutton and the Coalition use the Jewish community as political footballs it makes all of us less safe
Amid a very real and terrifying rise in antisemitism, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, and the Coalition – prior defenders of the “right to be bigots” – have now appointed themselves our nation’s anti-antisemitism warriors. But their concern for Jews appears to me to be confected and self-serving. Mirroring the global far right, they have created an imaginary caricature of Jewish people to push their own political agenda. They use us as political footballs to stoke division, spread Islamophobia, attack the Labor party and push anti-immigration policies. In doing so, they make Jews less safe.
This week I’ve faced a relentless smear campaign by the Murdoch press and pro-Israel lobby groups for making this point during a comedy debate, and ridiculing Dutton and the Coalition’s imaginary conception of Jewish people as “Dutton’s Jew”. The smear campaign against me, which deliberately misinterprets my presentation, concocting a fantasy of it that is completely divorced from reality, proves my point: the right will go to great lengths to silence any Jew who does not fit into their mould.
Peter Dutton has increasingly invoked the Jewish community and the fight against antisemitism to justify divisive political positions and his party’s increasingly indefensible support for Israel. Israel currently stands accused of a myriad of international crimes, including genocide, for its conduct in Gaza.
More from Sarah Schwartz for The Guardian.
How can pro-Palestine protests be intimidating to Jews when Jews attend them?
“Last week I was astonished to read Chip Le Grand’s opinion piece in The Age (23/1/25), claiming that these protests intimidate Jews. While I’m unsure of Le Grand’s background or religion, I am certain he cannot speak for all Australian Jews or define our collective “opinion.”
In our multicultural society, combating antisemitism and all forms of racism is essential. However, suggestions from Segal, Le Grand, or any external figures to limit democratic rights to peaceful protest risk setting a dangerous precedent.
Segal’s call for protests to be held “away from where the Jewish community might venture” and Le Grand’s push for them to be shifted from central Melbourne are particularly concerning. Such proposals not only imply creating segregation in Sydney and Melbourne — cities celebrated for their multiculturalism — but also mock the purpose of protests: to raise public awareness by being visible and impactful.
Those advocating for restrictions on pro-Palestine protests must acknowledge the diversity of Jewish perspectives. Many Jews, including members of anti-Zionist groups like Jews Against the Occupation ’48, Tzedek Collective, and the Loud Jew Collective, actively participate in these weekly rallies, standing in solidarity with Palestinians suffering atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank.
Globally, anti-Zionist Jewish groups echo this support. In the U.S., Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow have organised mass protests. Orthodox groups like Torah Jews for Justice have taken clear anti-Zionist stances. In London, the “Jewish Bloc” within pro-Palestine rallies numbers in the hundreds, including Holocaust survivors. Na’amod, a contributing group, emphasises that “Only when Palestinians live in freedom and dignity will Israel have security.”
These groups, like ours, reject the notion that Zionism represents all Jews. The atrocities committed by Israel are not done in our name.
I write from a unique standpoint — my name literally means “woman of Judea.” As a history graduate who specialised in the Holocaust, I’ve opposed all forms of racism, including antisemitism, throughout my life. Importantly, I am a regular participant in Sydney’s pro-Palestine protests, driven by a commitment to justice and human rights.
My heritage compels me. My great-grandparents fled pogroms in Eastern Europe, and relatives were lost in the Holocaust. Their memories demand that I oppose oppression in all its forms.
Each week at the protests for Palestine, we are not just attendees but active participants whose contributions are met with cheers and appreciation. Jewish speakers frequently address the crowd, articulating our shared anguish and hope for peace. We carry signs stating, “Never again meant for anybody,” or “Not in our name,” reminders of our commitment to universal human rights.”
More from Judith Treanor for Pearls and Irritations.
US Senate blocks bill sanctioning ICC over Israeli arrest warrants
Democrats in the United States Senate have blocked the passage of a bill that would sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
The vote on Tuesday saw the bill gain 54 votes in favour and 45 opposed, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance to a final vote.
United Nations experts, European officials, and the current and former presidents of the ICC’s management body have all come out against the bill, warning it would set a dangerous precedent at a time of increased importance for the international legal order.
More from Al Jazeera.
New Zealand requires Israelis to disclose IDF service details as condition for entry
Israelis of reserve service age who applied for tourist visas to New Zealand have been asked to report whether they had served in the Israel Defense Forces — as almost all Israeli citizens are required to do — and whether they are active reservists. Those who answered affirmatively were required to complete detailed questionnaires about their military service.
In the first questionnaire, visa applicants were asked about the dates of their military service, the location of their bases, the corps and units in which they served, the military camps where they were stationed, their rank, details of their roles, and their military ID number.
In the second questionnaire, they were asked:
“Have you been associated with any intelligence service or group, or law enforcement agency?”
“Have you been associated with any group or organization that has used or promoted violence or human rights abuses to further their aims?”
“Have you committed or been involved in war crimes, crimes against humanity, or human rights abuses?”
Those who can’t disclose details of their military service due to security concerns are not exempt from filling out the questionnaire; as a result, they are unable to complete it and obtain a visa.
More at Times of Israel.
The Military Machismo of Israeli Soldiers in Gaza Will Rear Its Ugly Head at Home
The event is already nauseatingly familiar: Israeli soldiers playing around with the underwear of Palestinian women. In the most recent video clip, which was posted Tuesday, seven soldiers are seen in a Palestinian home, one of them emerges from the bedroom wearing a uniform and under it a silk nightgown and a bra – probably belonging to the woman who lives there – and doing a comical striptease in front of his friends.
We've seen dozens of similar pictures and videos. Soldiers ridiculing the underwear of Gazan women who have become refugees or were killed. Some of the soldiers wear the items and wiggle with exaggerated femininity, others explain with a smile: "Arab women are the biggest sluts."
What's new about the latest video is that it takes place in the West Bank rather than Gaza. Like combat tactics, humiliation tactics are infiltrating from Gaza to the West Bank, and don't be surprised if later they also leak over the Green Line, directly or indirectly.
Hundreds of men who have learned in the past year that it's funny to use the sexuality and underwear of helpless women to humiliate them in public won't suddenly forget that when they take off their uniforms. And a society that remains silent in light of these sickening sights isn't a good society for women.
These war crimes aren't just "mischievous behavior," as some people call them. Throughout history, women's bodies have always been used in wars as a symbol of the domination and humiliation of the enemy. In such situations, desecrating the personal body represents the desecration of the entire nation, and gender violence thereby becomes a tactical weapon, designed to terrorize the population and steal its dignity and humanity.
More from Yoana Gonen for Haaretz.
Reclaiming the invisible lives of Palestinian men amid genocide
On 19 January, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect, bringing a temporary pause to the relentless violence that ravaged Palestine for over 15 months. The agreement came after an unprecedented bombing campaign that claimed the lives of more than 47,000 Palestinians and destroyed key civilian infrastructure since 7 October 2023. The violence in Gaza is the most documented genocide of our time, chronicled through both traditional and social media. The ceaseless display of horror often numbed our ability to morally engage with the terror depicted, reducing the victims to mere statistics, stripping them of their individuality. This dehumanisation is particularly stark for Palestinian men as the media, international forums and discussions on the condemnation of violence overwhelmingly focus on women and children, rendering men largely invisible.
Yet, amid the overwhelming numbness, certain images and stories break through, stirring deep emotional responses and evoking powerful reactions. One such story is that of Khaled Nabhan, a Palestinian grandfather whose heartfelt mourning for his granddaughter, Reem, became a powerful symbol of Palestinian suffering. Referring to her as the “soul of my soul”, his grief resonated deeply with people around the world. In December 2024, Nabhan himself became a victim of Israeli shelling in the Nuseirat refugee camp. His death reignited the public’s sorrow, with many sharing the image of him cradling Reem’s lifeless body on social media platforms like Instagram and X. This collective mourning over Nabhan’s death became a quiet resistance against the machinery of dehumanisation that often erased Palestinian men from narratives of empathy.
The dehumanisation of Palestinian men
For decades, Palestinian men have been subjected to systematic dehumanisation. In his groundbreaking work Orientalism, Edward Said, himself a Palestinian, exposed the deliberate “othering” of the Arab world, where distinctions between “us” and “them” were constructed through deeply gendered stereotypes. Arab men were portrayed as security threats, as principal agents of fundamentalism, violence and war. In contrast, Arab women were caricatured as submissive victims in need of rescue, often framed through the lens of Western feminist intervention.
This othering of Palestinian men plays a pivotal role in their dehumanisation, effectively stripping them of their claim to moral treatment and dignity. Judith Butler, author of Frames of War: When is Life Grievable?, argues that central to the ontological dehumanisation lies the issue of representation and how the subjects of war are framed in ways that foster desensitisation to their suffering and loss of life. Since 7 October 2023, the context and historical precedence of conflict in Palestine have been glaringly absent from mainstream Western media coverage. The Hamas attack was represented as a murderous rampage without referencing the historical backdrop of Israel’s occupation of Palestine or the systemic violence endured by Palestinians since the Nakba in 1948, thereby reducing it to an irrational act of terror.
Consequently, Israel’s ensuing violence was framed as rightful self-defence. Disinformation such as the debunked claim that Hamas had beheaded 40 Israeli babies portrayed them, and by extension Palestinian men, as bloodthirsty figures deserving of annihilation. The men have also been systematically denied recognition as victims, instead being caricatured as potential terrorists, allegedly responsible for the deaths of women and children in Palestine. A cartoon by Michael Ramirez titled Human Shields is a stark example of the racist and dehumanising tropes often employed against Palestinian men. This framing justifies the apathy and violence inflicted on Palestinians, whose deaths are often not even acknowledged as killings. Butler argues that for lives to be deemed expendable, they must first be portrayed as less-than-human or placed within a context that reduces them to a status already forfeited – a life deemed unworthy of being lived and therefore a death deemed not worthy to be grieved.
More from Alayka Aftab for Middle East Monitor.
300% spike in miscarriages: no safe pregnancies in Gaza as Israel’s assault continues, HRW report finds
A damning report released yesterday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) reveals the catastrophic impact of Israel’s military offensive on pregnant women and newborns in Gaza, documenting severe shortages in medical care, alarming increases in miscarriages and devastating conditions for childbirth.
The 50-page report, titled “Five Babies in One Incubator: Violations of Pregnant Women’s Rights Amid Israel’s Assault on Gaza”, exposes how Israel’s blockade and attacks on healthcare facilities have created life-threatening conditions for women during pregnancy and delivery.
“Since the start of the hostilities in Gaza, women and girls are going through pregnancy lacking basic health care, sanitation, water, and food,” said Belkis Wille, associate crisis, conflict and arms director at Human Rights Watch. “They and their newborns are at constant risk of preventable death.”
The report paints a stark picture of Gaza’s collapsing maternal healthcare system. Only seven out of 18 partially functioning hospitals can now provide emergency obstetric care, compared to 20 facilities before October 2023. In some cases, doctors are forced to put up to five premature babies in a single incubator due to severe shortages of medical equipment.
The situation has led to a dramatic rise in pregnancy complications. According to maternal health experts cited in the report, miscarriage rates have increased by 300 per cent since 7 October 2023. A UN Women survey found that 68 per cent of pregnant women experienced medical complications, with 92 per cent reporting urinary tract infections and 76 per cent suffering from anaemia.
More from Middle East Monitor.
Trump lays out blueprint to deport pro-Palestinian foreign nationals
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a new executive order that aims to deport any international students on university campuses who have expressed pro-Palestinian sentiments or participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
The order comes just a week after Trump instated a new travel ban that vaguely seeks to deport individuals "espousing hateful ideology".
Together with last week's executive order, the new executive action against students signals how the Trump administration is focusing its attention on eliminating the pro-Palestinian movement on university campuses in the US, which has grown exponentially in response to Israel's war on Gaza that has killed nearly 50,000 Palestinians since 7 October 2023.
"Taken together, these two executive orders essentially ban all non-citizens, including green card holders, from criticising the US government, its institutions, or the state of Israel on penalty of deportation," Eric Lee, an immigration attorney who represents several university students who have faced expulsion in cases related to Palestine activism, told Middle East Eye.
"The latest order goes even further, attempting to transform universities into a wing of the Department of Homeland Security by pressing them to 'monitor' what students say or write in class and what staff teach and 'report' them to authorities."
The executive order, which is labelled as a measure to combat antisemitism, requires federal agencies to provide guidance to universities on how to screen whether a foreign national is ineligible to enter the country. The law cited in the order says that any foreign national who "endorses or espouses terrorist activity" is not allowed in the country.
The executive order calls on universities to surveil international students and report them so the government can "remove such aliens".
"To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you," Trump said, according to a statement released by the White House.
More from Umar R Farooq for Middle East Eye.
Human rights body to consider complaint against Peter Dutton over Israel-Gaza commentary
“The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) will consider a complaint made against Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, which accuses him of discrimination and inciting racial hatred through public statements following the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023.
Sydney-based law firm Birchgrove legal is representing a group of complainants who allege Mr Dutton engaged in racial hatred citing 25 separate incidents.
The group of 10 complainants include prominent Palestinian-Australian Nasser Mashni and Jewish Professor Peter Slezak.”
More from ABC News.
Belize files to join South Africa’s genocide case at ICJ against Israel
Belize has filed a declaration that it will join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Court announced on Friday, Anadolu Agency reports.
“On 30 January 2025, Belize, referring to Articles 62 and 63 of the Statute, filed in the Registry of the Court a document containing an application for permission to intervene and a declaration of intervention in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip,” the Court said in a statement.
In December 2023, South Africa instituted proceedings against Israel, claiming violations of the Genocide Convention in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Several countries have since joined the case, including Nicaragua, Colombia, Cuba, Libya, Mexico, Palestine, Spain and Turkiye.
More at Middle East Monitor.
Palestinians released by Israel show signs of ‘torture, starvation’
Dozens of Palestinians released from Israeli jails show signs of torture and starvation, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said following the latest batch that was released on Saturday.
As part of ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, 183 Palestinians were released from Israeli jails. They emerged wearing stained grey prison jumpsuits and exhibiting signs of years of detention.
Several of them looked tired and frail as they made the short walk from the bus to the European Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, before being cheered through the crowd and reunited with their families.
“Every time prisoners are released, we find the prisoners’ bodies reflecting the level of crimes committed against them, including torture that is unprecedented in its level after October 7, starvation crimes, systematic medical crimes, and the infection of a number of them with scabies, in addition to the severe beatings that the prisoners were subjected to before their release, which continued for days according to many of their testimonies, and which in some cases led to rib fractures,” the organisation said in a statement.
“The Prisoner’s Society confirms again that the occupation practices organized terrorism against the released prisoners and their families, through several methods that have been monitored, the most prominent of which are the severe beatings that the released prisoners were subjected to, and the threats that reached the point of killing if any reception party was organized or if the family showed any sign of reception.”
More from Al Jazeera.
Freed Palestinian prisoners reunite with their families
183 Palestinians were released from Israeli jails earlier today in exchange for 3 Israeli captives held in Gaza. Buses carrying the freed Palestinians reached Ramallah and Gaza’s southern city of Khan Yunis where they reunited with their families. Via Middle East Monitor.