HRW and MSF accuse Israel of ‘acts of genocide’ and ‘ethnic cleansing'. Israel denies.

By Nathan Morley and Linda Bordoni

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch said Israel's actions included deliberately damaging water and sanitation infrastructure.

The group asserted this had probably caused thousands of deaths, which it said is also equal to "committing the crime against humanity of extermination".

In response, Israel’s foreign ministry's spokesman said the group was "once more spreading its blood libels... The truth is the complete opposite of HRW's lies".

On Wednesday, at least 24 Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids across the Gaza Strip.

Israeli jets hit a house in Beit Hanoun town in Gaza, according to Palestinian security sources. Elsewhere, in northern Gaza, two more were killed when a drone targeted a gathering of Palestinians in Jabalia.

Israel has been conducting a large-scale onslaught against Hamas in Gaza to strike back against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border last year, during which about 1,200 people were killed and many others taken hostage.

In a separate development, the Israel National Cyber Directorate says 517 cyberattacks have targeted universities and colleges in Israel since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict last year.

The INCD said while some attacks were effectively thwarted, others caused substantial damage.

Doctors Without Borders

In a separate report, the charity “Médecins Sans Frontières” says Israel’s apocalyptic campaign in Gaza shows clear signs of ethnic cleansing as Palestinians are forcibly displaced, trapped, and bombed.

The report, entitled “Gaza: Life in a Death Trap” documents how repeated Israeli military attacks on Palestinian civilians over the last 14 months, the dismantling of the health care system and other essential infrastructure, the suffocating siege, and the systematic denial of humanitarian assistance are destroying the conditions of life in Gaza, Palestine.

Thus, MSF is urgently calling on all parties, once again, for an immediate ceasefire to save lives and enable the flow of humanitarian aid. Israel must stop its targeted and indiscriminate attacks against civilians, and its allies must act without delay to protect the lives of Palestinians and uphold the rules of war.