THE fascist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has renewed his calls for collective punishment against all Palestinians in the occupied West Bank yesterday and for the execution of prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Ben-Gvir urged for an increase in military checkpoints across the West Bank and a ban on the movement of Palestinians in its streets. They are to be imprisoned in their own homes, to be bombed at leisure by the Israeli army and airforce.
Ben-Gvir once again called for the execution of Palestinian detainees, stating: ‘Palestinian prisoners should be shot in the head and a law should be enacted to execute them, rather than freeing them.’
In fact, Ben-Gvir has repeatedly advocated the death penalty for detainees in Israeli prisons.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MFS), also known as Doctors Without Borders, said yesterday that the ‘scale and intensity of Israel’s four-day incursion in Jenin is very alarming. Israeli forces keep obstructing access to health facilities, blocking and even targeting ambulances, delaying people’s access to care.’
It added: ‘In the MSF-supported Khalil Suleiman Hospital, which has been surrounded by Israeli forces since the start of the incursion, electricity and water supplies are compromised. The medical team has been forced to halt dialysis operations, key for the treatment of kidney failure.
‘In Tulkarm, after the withdrawal of Israeli forces, our teams saw the destruction in the camps and heard disturbing reports from an MSF-trained volunteer who was beaten and interrogated by Israeli authorities,’ it added.
Israeli occupation forces detained at least 36 Palestinians from the West Bank during the last 24 hours, including a journalist, four female students from Hebron, and several former prisoners, according to prisoner advocacy organisations.
In a joint statement, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) and the Authority of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs reported that the majority of the detentions over the past 24 hours were reported in the Hebron governorate.
The Mayor of Jenin, Nidal Abo Eid, described the destruction caused by the Israeli occupation army in the city, its eastern neighbourhood, and the refugee camp as resembling an earthquake, estimating the damage at about 500 million shekels (approximately $135.2 million).
Abo Eid said that the biggest loss is the loss of lives, adding that there is extensive destruction inflicted by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on the infrastructure, including the breaking and damaging of water and communication lines, as well as firing at electrical transformers.
He told Anadolu Agency that the destruction exceeds that caused by the IOF in previous operations, estimating it at about 500 million shekels ($135.2 million). In describing the ongoing destruction, particularly in the eastern neighbourhood and the camp, the Mayor of Jenin said, ‘It is as if an earthquake has struck the city; there is massive destruction, streets have been destroyed while homes have been demolished and others have been blown up.’
Abo Eid accused the IOF of deliberately causing vast destruction, stating, ‘The operation is still ongoing for the fifth consecutive day, and every day brings new damage and destruction.’ He noted that the military operation ‘has paralysed public and economic life. The situation for residents is extremely difficult, and there is a severe shortage of essential materials in the eastern neighbourhood and the camp due to the blockade.’
In a joint statement, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) and the Authority of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs reported that the number of Palestinians detained since the beginning of the wide-scale Israeli military offensive in the northern West Bank has risen to approximately 110.
With the Israeli ruling class readying itself for a massacre of the Palestinians, the time has come when the UK trade unions must call a general strike to bring down the UK government, and recognise the State of Palestine, including arming it and providing it with the economic assistance as required.
Unions must now put down a motion for the TUC Congress on Monday September 9th to call the general strike to go forward to a Workers Government in the UK and to the State of Palestine!
