Posted by Internationalist 360° on January 7, 2025
Bryce Greene

Palestinians struggling with hunger wait in line to receive meals distributed by charities in Khan Younis, on January 1 , 2025. (Photo: Abdullah Abu Al-Khair/APA Images)
On December 23rd, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSN), a project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) released a report warning of a “famine scenario” that “continues to unfold in Northern Gaza.”
Based on the lack of aid and the number of people reported to be in the area, FEWS NET concluded that “it is highly likely that the food consumption and acute malnutrition thresholds for Famine (IPC Phase 5) have now been surpassed.” The organization estimated that absent any change of Israeli policy, they predict that “non-trauma mortality levels will pass the Famine (IPC Phase 5) threshold between January and March 2025, with at least 2-15 people dying per day.” The accepted threshold for famine would be two or more deaths a day per 10,000 people.
FEWS Net has been monitoring the humanitarian situation in Gaza since Israel’s attack began.
False dispute
The day after the report was published, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, publicly denounced the report in a tweet. He claimed that FEWSNET’s report was “relying on inaccurate data” and that “it is irresponsible to issue a report like this.”
The basis of his objection was the number of civilians currently in northern Gaza. The FEWS NET report included November assessments that estimated the population was up to 75,000. In his complaint, Lew cited more recent figures, combining COGAT’s estimate of 5,000-9,000 and UNRWA’s estimate of 7,000-15,000. Lew wrote that “it is now apparent that the civilian population in that part of Gaza is in the range of 7,000-15,000, not 65,000 – 75,000 which is the basis of this report.” To Lew, the use of November figures in the report undermines the report’s conclusions about a current famine in northern Gaza.
However, this complaint would only resonate with someone who has not actually read the report, which totals just three pages. While the report did cite the higher, earlier figures, to say this was the “basis of this report” would be completely false. The sentence after FEWS NET cited OCHA’s November figures, and the report cited UNRWA’s smaller figures from December:
More recent satellite-derived imagery suggests thousands of people evacuated in early December, 1 and efforts are underway to update the estimated size of the remaining population; an update from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on December 22 suggests the population may be as low as 10,000-15,000
The citation is clear that it is including the lower end of the numbers in their assessment:
The range of the estimated daily number of deaths (2-15 deaths per day, applying the crude death rate threshold for Famine of 2 deaths/10,000/day) captures the lowest possible base population for a Famine (IPC Phase 5) classification on the low end (10,000 people), and the maximum estimated base population (75,000 people) on the high end.
The report acknowledges some ambiguity from UNRWA’s numbers: “Based on the language in UNRWA’s update, it is unclear if the UN is suggesting the total population of North Gaza is 10,000-15,000, or if 10,000-15,000 people remain in a sub-set of areas.”
The FEWS NET report was also clear about the limitations to data collection, writing: “Amid increasingly infeasible conditions for the collection of data that is desired to definitively confirm whether the criteria for Famine (IPC Phase 5) are being met, analysis of the likelihood of Famine (IPC Phase 5) must rely on extrapolation, inference, empirical evidence, logic, and expert judgment.”
Any cursory reading completely undermines Lew’s claim that “inaccurate and outdated” figures were the “basis of this report.”
Distorting reality
Despite the baselessness of the State Department’s attack, FEWS NET succumbed to the pressure. The New York Times reported that the organization plans on adjusting its projections based on updated numbers – a surprising statement given that their current assessments included numbers from the day prior to publication. The Times also reported that FEWS Net stands by its assessment, but the report has been removed from their website (still accessible via the Wayback machine). In fact, while older reports on Gaza are still available, the FEWSNET interactive dashboard shows no information on Gaza at all.

As of January 6th, the FEWS Net Interactive dashboarddoes not have the Gaza strip highlighted as an area of interest despite still having reports about Gaza on their website.
Aid and Advocacy groups responded to the U.S. attack and FEWS Net retraction with swift condemnation. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a statement condemning the report’s removal:
To reject a report on starvation in northern Gaza by appearing to boast about the fact that it has been successfully ethnically cleansed of its native population is just the latest example of Biden administration officials supporting, enabling and excusing Israel’s clear and open campaign of genocide in Gaza.
Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch denounced the dispute:
“This quibbling over the number of people desperate for food seems a politicized diversion from the fact that the Israeli government is blocking virtually all food from getting in.”
By quickly denouncing the report, the U.S. ambassador shifted the focus of media coverage from the report’s conclusions to the new story about the Dispute. To audiences, the report’s conclusions are put on the back burner, and the most important story is the dispute. FEWS Net’s removal of the report only fueled this misdirection.
On Christmas Day, The New York Times published an article recounting the saga, highlighting Ambassador Lew’s complaints and framing the story as a dispute of numbers. The Times appears to have not read the report as it makes no reference to the fact that FEWS Net does cite more recent figures from UNRWA.

(Screenshot, NYT)
The Times wrote that “the dispute highlights the difficulties with data collection in Gaza that have hampered humanitarian efforts since the war began.” The Times made no attempt to investigate or assess the facts that made up Lew’s objection. Instead, they uncritically printed Israel’s defense: “Israel has said that it works hard to facilitate supplies to Gaza but that aid groups have often failed to deliver assistance because of widespread looting and lawlessness.”
The Times refused to reference the enormous body of evidence that Israel is deliberately restricting aid as part of an official policy of depopulation.
Intent To Destroy
One of the core pillars of the case against Israel for genocide is its deliberate use of starvation and depravation as a tactic. Amnesty defines intent as Israeli actions aimed at “deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.” Among other things, the main method that Israel used was “the denial and obstruction of the delivery of essential services, humanitarian assistance and other life-saving supplies.”
In a report released the day before FEWS Net’s report, OXFAM raised alarms that between October 8 and December 16, the UN attempted 137 aid missions into Northern Gaza, with more than 90% of them being rejected by Israel. Of the 34 aid trucks officially allowed into Gaza, only 12 aid trucks have made it through Israel’s gauntlet of arbitrary delays and restrictions to actually deliver food or wat
USAID, FEWS NET’s primary patron, has released its own assessments about the situation in Gaza over the last year and a half of the genocide. Samantha Power, the “humanitarian superstar” head of USAID under Biden, acknowledged that Israel was the primary force preventing aid from getting into the strip. In the Spring, USAID assessed that Israel was deliberately blocking aid into Gaza, one of many Israeli actions that renders U.S. military aid to Israel illegal under U.S. and international law.
As Journalist Stephen Semler noted there are numerous ways – including their own published figures – that Israelis have confirmed their own policy of blocking aid into Gaza.

Israel’s starvation policy has been openly acknowledged both in Israel and in the US. Since at least October, the policy has been embodied by the so-called General’s Plan for clearing northern Gaza. The General’s Plan is the name given to the document from hawkish Israeli general Giora Eiland that urges the IDF to forcibly expel the population of the north, then seal off the area, treating anyone who remains as a military target.
In effect, this plan is the basis for a campaign of violent ethnic cleansing for the many who are unable or unwilling to comply with the IDF’s unlawful orders. Eiland, who has endorsed drastic measures, including allowing or encouraging epidemics in Gaza as part of Israel’s war efforts, has defended his plan in the Israeli press.
In Israel, this plan is openly discussed as a plan for northern Gaza. While Israel assured U.S counterparts in private that this wasn’t their plan, Israel refused to publicly disavow th.e plan.
The entirety of this plan is advanced by the famine conditions reported FEWS Net.
This phony dispute about the humanitarian reports in the North is designed to obscure these facts and pave the way for Israel’s continued assault on the people of Gaza. As Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and numerous reports have corroborated, Israel has demonstrated a clear intent to commit genocidal acts against the Palestinians. US officials and media have been instrumental in running cover for this crime.
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2025/01/ ... as-famine/
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Israel to produce munitions 'locally,' reduce reliance on US for heavy bombs
Israel's Defense Ministry signed two deals with Elbit Systems to produce munitions and the raw materials required to manufacture them
News Desk
JAN 7, 2025

(Photo credit: Alex Brandon/AP)
Israel’s Defense Ministry signed major new deals on 7 January with a domestic weapons manufacturer in hopes of achieving “independence” in producing the heavy munitions needed to continue its bombing campaigns in Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon.
The Defense Ministry announced it signed two deals worth $275 million with Israeli-based Elbit Systems to supply the military with thousands of heavy bombs and establish a new facility to manufacture raw materials.
The ministry said the agreements were “crucial for enhancing the IDF’s operational endurance and force build-up capabilities” and represented a “central lesson learned from the war.”
Under the first agreement, Elbit will supply the Israeli Air Force with thousands of heavy air munitions, reducing Israel’s dependence on US weapon shipments to keep waging its wars.
Under the second agreement, Elbit will establish a “national raw materials plant to produce raw materials that were sourced mainly from abroad before the war.”
“The new facility will feature advanced production lines for energetic materials that Israel’s defense industry uses,” the ministry said, in an effort to “strengthen domestic manufacturing independence and reduce reliance on imported raw materials.”
Defense Ministry Director General Eyal Zamir said the deals were “laying the foundations for expanding manufacturing independence in two critical areas for the IDF’s operational sustainability: domestic production of heavy air munitions and establishing a national raw materials plant.”
An American laser guided Bomb
Dropped from an American F16
Piloted by an American trained
Israeli Pilot
Slams into a refugee camp in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/mMXBkc4myN
— ADAM (@AdameMedia) October 5, 2024
“Both agreements will ensure sovereign capability in producing bombs and munitions of all types,” Zamir stated.
“We initiated this historic move before the war but accelerated it during it. Under both agreements, initial capabilities will soon gradually expand until we achieve full independence in both areas,” he added.
“This is a central lesson from the war that will enable the IDF to continue operating powerfully in all theaters,” he noted.
The Defense Ministry announced in August that Washington has sent over 50,000 tons of armaments and military equipment to Israel since its war on Gaza began in October 2023.
The military reports that the Israeli Air Force has carried out airstrikes using over 83,000 munitions in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.
Gaza’s Health Ministry estimates US and Israeli bombs have killed over 45,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children. Some estimates place the death toll between 200,000 and 300,000 Palestinians, in large part due to indirect deaths from Israel's destruction of Gaza's health, water, and electrical infrastructure.
Because Israel has used the bombs and equipment to carry out genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, segments of the US public have strongly criticized US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for providing them.
Many also withdrew their support for Vice President Kamala Harris in the US presidential election against Donald Trump.
https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-to ... eavy-bombs
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Medley report: Israel's rising threat, Ukraine revelations, and the 'Age of Anti-Westphalian DarkMaga'
Simplicius
Jan 08, 2025
<snip>
Israel
It appears even the Israelis have caught on to what we’ve been reporting here since the start of the “moderate rebel” takeover of Syria. Now it’s dawning on the world what truly comes next in this new great game—the Jerusalem Post article virtually quotes my previous analysis word for word:

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-836362
The committee, established by the government, warns that Turkey’s ambitions to restore its Ottoman-era influence could lead to heightened tensions with Israel, possibly escalating into conflict.
Recall I said that Israel thought it had ‘defeated’ Iran but instead inherited a far more dangerous foe, now they are starting to see it:
“The threat from Syria could evolve into something even more dangerous than the Iranian threat,” the report states, warning that Turkish-backed forces might act as proxies, fueling regional instability.
Netanyahu likewise validated the mentioned Nagel report’s findings:
Netanyahu addressed the report, stating, “We are witnessing fundamental changes in the Middle East. Iran has long been our greatest threat, but new forces are entering the arena, and we must be prepared for the unexpected. This report provides us with a roadmap to secure Israel’s future.”
Most interesting was an adjacent ‘news’ yesterday stating Iran had a secret new deal with Turkey to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah. Keep in mind this is completely uncorroborated and unsourced, and should therefore be taken with a huge grain of salt. But if there’s even a remote glint of truth to this, then Israel’s in deeper schmutz than it had imagined, and would also mean that Iran and Hezbollah have not been weakened at all:
Iran has found a new route to smuggle weapons for Hezbollah. Iranian planes are delivering weapons to Hezbollah via Turkey, Israel must decide whether to strike Iran or the Houthis first.
Recently, planes belonging to the Iranian airline Mahan Air were spotted in the skies of Turkey, indicating cooperation between the Turkish government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, the Middle East Forum writes. “From December 13, 2024 to the end of the year, Mahan Air operated 11 flights between Tehran and Beirut using a fleet of Airbus A340 and Airbus A300B4-622R aircraft. Flight tracking recorded a change in previous routes from Iran to Lebanon,” the report says.
That’s not to even mention the fact that there are claims both Hezbollah and Hamas have restored their strength:

https://www.frontpagemag.com/hezbollah- ... ceasefire/
Hamas report:
Is Hamas and their allied armed factions making a comeback in the Gaza strip? An analysis:
According to the Jerusalem Post, Hamas is indeed making a substantial comeback in Gaza by recruiting new forces. Israeli channel 12 states that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) combined have between 20,000 and 23,000 fighters left.
The Jerusalem post reported that the number was closer to around 12,000. The IDF last reported that it had killed between 17,000 and 20,000 Hamas and PIJ fighters during the war and wounded another 14,000-16,000. The fact that the IDF publicly stated in October 2023 that Hama's full forces were 25,000 means that the numbers simply don't add up, as if the IDF did indeed kill 20,000, that would leave just 5,000 still active, and that's not even including the 14,000-16,000 supposedly wounded. -Source
Still think Israel “won” a major victory with Assad’s ouster?
(Much more at link.)
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/med ... ing-threat
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Israel imposes sweeping restrictions to 'protect soldiers' from war crimes prosecution
Dozens of criminal complaints have been filed against Israeli soldiers by pro-Palestine groups in courts around the world
News Desk
JAN 9, 2025

(Photo credit: AFP)
The Israeli army has issued fresh restrictions against media coverage of active-duty soldiers due to legal risks they face over war crimes in Gaza while traveling abroad, coming after a swarm of criminal complaints filed by pro-Palestine groups in courts worldwide.
The new rules stipulate that any media outlets interviewing soldiers with the rank of colonel will not be permitted to display their faces or full names, similar to the already existing rules for air force pilots and members of special forces units, Israeli army spokesman Nadav Shoshani told reporters on 8 January.
“This is our new guideline to protect our soldiers and to make sure they are safe from these types of incidents hosted by anti-Israel activists around the world,” he said.
He also said soldiers were not supposed to upload videos of themselves in warzones in the first place, “even though that’s never perfect and we have a large army.”
According to recent reports in Hebrew media, at least 50 criminal complaints in courts around the world have targeted Israeli soldiers for their role in Tel Aviv's ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza.
Over the weekend, a Brazilian federal court ordered the police to open an immediate investigation into an Israeli soldier accused of committing war crimes in Gaza. The soldier was visiting Brazil for a vacation.
The soldier – who was seen in videos participating in the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza – arrived in Israel on Wednesday morning after fleeing Brazil with the help of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Upon arrival at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, the soldier told Channel 12 that he had learned from his error and would no longer upload videos from Gaza. “I won’t go back to Brazil again,” he added.
Last month, the Israeli army warned dozens of soldiers and officers who have served in Gaza not to travel to avoid legal action for their actions in the besieged strip.
“IDF reservists who fought in Gaza are being advised to first check with the [Israeli] Foreign Ministry regarding the level of danger in any country they wish to visit,” the Times of Israel reported on 4 December, adding that concerns have grown in Tel Aviv that senior officers could face prosecution abroad following the issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, the internet has been flooded with videos filmed and posted by Israeli soldiers – which document the Israeli army’s practices of forced mass displacement, kidnapping, and destruction of homes and buildings.
Many of these videos make up a crucial part of the evidence compiled for South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-im ... rosecution
Israel blocks UN probe on 'Hamas rape' claims fearing inquiry into sexual abuse of Palestinians
Elected Israeli officials and settler groups last year started riots in defense of prison guards who gang-raped a Palestinian detainee inside the notorious Sde Teiman prison camp
News Desk
JAN 8, 2025

(Photo Credit: Tsafrir Abayov/AP)
Israeli officials have obstructed a UN investigation into alleged sexual crimes committed by Hamas fighters during the 7 October 2023 Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, fearing this would open the door to a probe into the rampant allegations of sexual violence against Palestinians inside Israeli torture camps.
According to a report by Israeli daily Haaretz, Tel Aviv rejected a request from Pramila Patten, the UN special representative of the secretary-general on sexual violence in conflict, to investigate the allegations against Hamas after she established that a necessary condition would be access to Israeli detention centers to probe claims against Israeli soldiers.
“The clear concern is that Israel will be the one to be added to the blacklist of entities and countries that engage in sexual violence in conflicts, while the terrorist organization Hamas will actually remain off the list,” Mia Schocken, director of the international department of the Israeli Women's Lobby told Haaretz.
Patten’s office previously confirmed plans to explore a future mission to the region, following invitations from both the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli government.
Thursday's report comes mere days after Israeli prosecutor Moran Gaz confirmed during an interview with Yediot Ahronoth that no allegations of rape or sexual assault by Hamas on 7 October have been filed.
“In the end, we don’t have any complainants. What was presented in the media compared to what will eventually come together will be entirely different,” she said, adding that her office “approached women’s rights organizations and asked for cooperation. They told us that no one had approached them,” she stressed.
Multiple media outlets have debunked claims of “Hamas rape” on 7 October 2023.
Nevertheless, since the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, human rights organizations have documented dozens of accounts of the rampant sexual violence inflicted on Palestinians inside Israeli detention centers.
In August, Israeli NGO B’Tselem published a report titled “Welcome to Hell,” containing testimonies from 55 Palestinians detailing incidents of torture, rape, violence, humiliation, starvation, and denial of adequate medical treatment.
This report came days after the military police arrested eight Israeli prison guards on suspicion of raping a male Palestinian prisoner at the notorious Sde Teiman camp.
A doctor at the army detention facility at Sde Teiman, Professor Yoel Donchin, said that after seeing the Palestinian detainee who was gang raped, he “couldn’t believe an Israeli prison guard could do such a thing.”
“If they maintain a hospital only for the sake of defending ourselves at [the International Criminal Court at] the Hague, that’s no good,” the doctor said.
Following the guards' arrest, Israeli settlers, far-right activists, and Knesset members started riots, breaking into Sde Teiman and the nearby Beit Leid army base in “defense” of the soldiers.
Even after the rioters breached the entrances, no one was arrested or even identified by Israeli police.
On 27 August, Channel 14 hosted one of the Sde Teiman guards accused of raping Palestinians on one of its programs. The soldier stated, “The military police treated us really nice ... You see the support … With a hand on their heart, like, telling you ‘thank you!’”
Last July, the UN Human Rights office issued a report saying Palestinians detained in Israeli detention centers since 7 October face waterboarding, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, dog attacks, and other brutal acts of torture.
“The testimonies gathered by my office and other entities indicate a range of appalling acts, such as waterboarding and the release of dogs on detainees, amongst other acts, in flagrant violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk, said in a statement.
Sde Teiman itself has been referred to as Israel’s Guantanamo. Dozens of prisoners at the facility have been killed, the New York Times reported last year.
https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-bl ... lestinians