International
Hamas committed crimes against humanity in the October 7 assault, according to HRW
Human Rights Watch (HRW) determined that the Islamist organization Hamas committed “numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity” in the attacks in Israel on October 7, in which almost 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
“The Human Rights Watch investigation concluded that the assault led by Hamas on October 7 was designed to kill civilians and take as many people as possible hostages,” said the group’s director of crisis and conflict, Ida Sawyer, in her latest report.
In the report ‘I can’t erase all the blood from my mind: the assault on Palestinian armed groups on October 7 in Israel’, HRW concludes that the Islamists committed several crimes against humanity: targeting civilians, deliberate murder of detainees, cruel and inhumane treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, hostage-taking, mutilation and looting of corpses, use of human shields and looting and looting.
The basic principle of humanitarian law is that all parties to a conflict must distinguish at all times between fighters and civilians, “who should never be the target of an attack,” HRW recalls.
In this sense, HRW stressed that 815 of the 1,195 people killed that day were civilians. And of the 251 kidnapped in the assault – of which 116 are still in Gaza, 42 of them dead – most are civilians.
These actions were not “a late occurrence, a failed plan or isolated acts,” says the organization, which has studied to prepare the report the testimonies of victims, relatives, assistance teams and medical experts, as well as more than 280 photographs and videos of the assault.
“The Hamas authorities responded to HRW’s questions by assuring that they ordered their forces not to attack civilians and not to deviate from human rights and humanitarian law,” says HRW, who claims “to have found evidence to the contrary.”
In the videos of the assault, the militiamen are seen actively looking for civilians and killing them, being proven the intentionality of the attacks and hostage-taking, which was “planned and highly coordinated.”
HRW said it requires further investigation to prove other crimes, such as the prosecution of identifiable groups on racial, ethnic or religious grounds or the commission of rape or other acts of sexual violence.
In this regard, the organization identified crimes on the part of the militiamen such as subjecting the hostages to forced nudity or the dissemination of sexualized images without their consent, but found no verifiable information when talking with the kidnapped, their relatives or witnesses about rapes.
HRW requested access to information about sexual violence from the Government of Israel, which did not attend to it.
HRW highlighted the commission of crimes against humanity by Israel by carrying out a collective punishment against the Gaza population after the attacks, defined by the cut of essential services and the limitation of the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip, where from October 7 until today more than 38,700 Palestinians have been killed by the military offensive.
This punishment “aggravates the impact of the more than 17 years of illegal closure of Gaza by Israel,” a country that he accused of also committing “crimes of apartheid and persecution against the Palestinians.”
HRW called on all parties to respect humanitarian law, as well as the Palestinian militias in Gaza to “immediately and unconditionally release the civilians they hold hostage.”
“They must take disciplinary measures against members responsible for war crimes and hand over for prosecution anyone who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC),” he said.
On May 20, the ICC’s chief prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohamed Deif.
Deif was the target of an Israeli attack on Saturday in Mawasi, southern Gaza, without his death being confirmed.
International
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Japanese police arrested a man on Thursday after he rammed his car into a group of seven schoolchildren in an apparent deliberate attack in the city of Osaka.
The children, who were on their way home from school, sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital. All seven remained conscious, according to local authorities.
An Osaka police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect is a 28-year-old man from Tokyo. The officer shared statements the man made after his arrest: “I was fed up with everything, so I decided to kill people by driving into several elementary school children,” the suspect reportedly said.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
The injured children, aged between seven and eight, included a seven-year-old girl who suffered a fractured jaw. The six other children—all boys—suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scratches and were undergoing medical evaluation.
Witnesses described the car as “zigzagging” before hitting the children. One witness told Nippon TV that a girl was “covered in blood” and the others appeared to have scratches.
Another witness said the driver, who was wearing a face mask, looked to be in shock when school staff pulled him from the vehicle.
Violent crimes are rare in Japan, though serious incidents do occur from time to time. In 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a two-ton truck into pedestrians in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, then fatally stabbed several victims. Seven people were killed in that attack.
Internacionales
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
May Day protests in France were marked by a heavy police presence and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement in several cities.
In Paris, Lyon, and Nantes, thousands took to the streets to demand better wages, fairer working conditions, and to voice their dissatisfaction with President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
While the majority of the demonstrations remained peaceful, isolated confrontations broke out in some areas. Protesters threw objects at the police, prompting the use of tear gas and resulting in several arrests.
Videos showing police crackdowns circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism from labor unions and human rights advocates, who denounced the authorities’ response to the protests.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
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