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Israel support wanes with settlements, starvation and human shields [1]

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Date: 2025-06-08

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu already has an International Criminal Court arrest warrant out for him with charges of genocide. All of Israel is facing the same charge at the International Court of Justice.

It is nearly impossible to get accurate news out of Gaza. Israel is not allowing international news media into Gaza. At least 181 journalists and media workers have been killed, almost all Palestinians, since the war began.

Widespread belief is that Netanyahu is prolonging the war in order to stay in power by preserving his ultra-nationalist coalition. He has already prevented investigations into how Hamas was able to carry out the October 7th attack. He has been able to grind the legal case against him for corruption, that would put him in jail, to a halt. Netanyahu has many personal reasons to continue the war. He rarely gives interviews or news conferences, instead he posts prepared video on social media.

There are protests against the war by Israelis on a regular basis as well as marches in support of it.

Israel just announced 22 new settlements in the West Bank, which are called illegal internationally, along with all the ones already there, occupied by 700,000 Israelis.

The hostages. Until Hamas returns them all, this alone is seen as justification for the continuing war.

Israeli opposition politicians call out Netanyahu for directing war crimes and turning Israel into a pariah.

International aid to Gaza is blocked while a sham operation called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by the US and Israel, tries to give the cover story that aid is being delivered. US private companies providing security for food deliveries are firing into crowds waiting for aid, even with tanks. The GHF organizers are a mystery as well as their funding.

Hamas has accused Israel of setting death traps by getting civilians to crowd at GHF aid sites just to be able to kill them, saying that there was looting and violence as an excuse. Even attacking Palestinians just on their way to the aid sites. Shooting at those who deviated "designated access routes." Israel is being accused of using starvation as a weapon of war.

The world calls for a ceasefire and unencumbered access to Gaza to deliver aid, but it isn't happening.

The Israeli Defense Force is being accused of exactly what the IDF has claimed about Hamas, using civilians as human shields. Israeli soldiers and those used as shields claim it is true.

Dressed in fatigues with a camera fixed to his head, Ayman Abu Hamadan was forced onto houses in the Gaza strip to make sure they were clear of bombs and gunmen, he said. When one unit was finished with him, he was passed on to the next. "They beat me and told me , 'You have no other option; do this or we'll kill you.'"

Several soldiers and Palestinians told the AP that Israeli troops are systematically forcing Palestinians to act as human shields in Gaza, sending them into buildings and tunnels to check for explosives and militants. The dangerous practice has become ubiquitous in the 19 months of war, they said.

The IDF says the claims are false and blames the 40 thousand deaths in Gaza on Hamas, as always.

"These are not isolated accounts; they point to a systemic failure and a horrifying moral collapse," said Nadav Weiman, executive director of Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers. "Israel rightly condemns Hamas for using civilians as human shields, but our own soldiers describe doing the very same."

Rights groups say Israel has used Palestinians as shields in Gaza and the West Bank for decades. The Supreme Court outlawed the practice in 2005. But the groups continue to document violations.

Soldiers say their commanders were not only aware of the practice but many times ordered it.

The whole story of the Gaza war has not been told. The international agreement that Israel could fight back after October 7th was almost universal. Slowly, over time, because the violence is never ending, thousands of children being killed, hospitals destroyed, and starvation, the support has waned. Now it is almost universal condemnation.

Netanyahu's government isn't stopping any of the practices that are being condemned. The new settlements have actually been described by the Israeli right as a precursor to annexing the West Bank and make it part of Israel. It will never be recognized by the world, except for Trump. The far right wants there never to be a Palestinian state, seeing it as a threat to Israel's security. Gaza will be annexed as well. Palestinians will have nowhere to go. Surrounding countries have already said they can't or won't allow Palestinian refugees. They may not have to with a death toll starting to rise just because of starvation.

No matter your viewpoint, it is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It has been one even before the war began, with a complete dependence on food and fuel coming through checkpoints with Israel. Electricity from Israel has been turned off since the start of the war. People rely on private generators and solar panels when electricity is unavailable. Gaza's sole power plant is no longer in operation due to lack of fuel. Israel won't let any get through to Gaza with the excuse of it being used for Hamas military operations.

The South Sea desalination plant was briefly reconnected to the Israeli grid in November, 2024, but then disconnected in March 2025. Lack of drinking water has created another crisis along with sanitation caused by no running water.

The impasse on aid is why Biden tried to set up the floating port on the sea side of Gaza. It just didn't work. Trump won't try a different design. He doesn't care. He looks at the Gaza coast as real estate for resorts that Gazans will never be able to use, because Netanyahu wants to force them out. As short ago as March, Netanyahu wanted for Israel to rule over Gaza. Now he wants it all.

What Netanyahu and Trump talked about at their early April meeting at the White House about Gaza and the West Bank and the Palestinians is unknown. All that was reported was just about Hamas. The news conference with Trump and Netanyahu was abruptly canceled without any explanation.

Trump continues to support Israel as part of his anti-anti-semitism crusade to attack Palestinian support everywhere, but specifically at universities. He will play this card as long as he can.

Israel has lost worldwide support for not even agreeing to a ceasefire, saying it would give Hamas time to regroup and re-arm. How Israel fights this war matters. Their use of human shields, starvation, and indiscriminate bombing and shelling shows a disregard of life. "Even Wars Have Rules." Israel isn't following them.

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