12/19/23 12/19/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> what we found was half the population are starving. the grim reality is nine out of 10 people are not eating enough, are not eating every take, and don't know where the next meal is going to come from.

amy: as the death toll in gaza grows closer to 20,000, human rights watch has accused the israeli government of using starvation as a weapon of war in gaza. we will speak to the israel and palestine director at human rights watch omar shakir. then we look at how the biden administration is facing accusations it has been too slow to help palestinian-americans in gaza. we will speak with a woman in detroit whose mother died while waiting for medical care. we will talk to the head of the general union of cultural centers. he left gaza a month ago and i desperately trying to get his family out and to the united states. this comes as calls grow for the u.s. to grant temporary protected status, tps, to palestinians already in the united states. all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. at least 13 palestinians have been killed and 75 wounded in an israeli strike on the jabalia refugee camp in northern gaza on . today's deadly assault came after at least 110 palestinians reportedly killed in and around jabal yes and sunday. and rough up, at least 29 were killed after three residential buildings were bombed. with the latest attacks, the number of palestinians killed since october 7 is rapidly approaching 20,000. on monday, israeli officials allowed a few dozen trucks carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid to the border crossing from israel into gaza, the first time since early october israel allowed aid

through the crossing, adding to a trickle of aid israel's military is allowed through gaza's border with egypt. truckdriver said the aid convoy was a tiny fraction of what is needed. >> the aid coming through does not come in every day and time is short. trucks wait 17 to 18 days at the crossing. we hope the world would allow the aid reach these people. they have no life. amy: after headlines, we will speak with the israel-palestine director of human rights watch, which has just reported -- written report called "israel: starvation used as weapon of war in gaza." israeli strikes on gaza killed three more palestinian journalists. adel zorob was killed as israel bombed rafah city overnight. he was reportedly known for his efforts to help wounded children. his death came a few hours after abdullah alwan was killed in an israeli airstrike on his home in jabalia, northern gaza. he was a commentator for a

number of al jazeera arabic programs. a third journalist, haneen al-qashtan, was also killed in an israeli strike on the nuseirat refugee camp, along with her family. at least 97 palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by israel since the hamas attacks october 7. u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin has reaffirmed the biden administration's support for israel's assault on the gaza strip, calling u.s.-israeli ties "unshakable." austin made the remarks in tel aviv monday where he met with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, israel's minister of defense yoav gallant, and other members of israel's war cabinet. their meeting came as houthi fighters in yemen launched drone attacks on two cargo vessels in the red sea, the latest in a series of assaults that austin blamed on iran. >> america's commitment to israel is unwavering and no individual, group, or state

should test our resolve. iran's support for the attacks must stop. we will continue to provide israel with the equipment you need to defend your country, mr. prime minister, including critical munitions, tactical vehicles, defense systems. amy: the united nations security council postponed a vote monday on a gaza ceasefire resolution after u.s. diplomats objected to language calling for the "urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities." the u.s. delegation is demanding the language be changed to a suspension of hostilities. the security council has planned a vote on a resolution reflecting the watered-down language today. the u.s. previously vetoed a resolution calling for a humanitarian pause on october 18 and another calling for an urgent humanitarian ceasefire on december 9. in texas, republican governor greg abbott has signed a bill into law allowing local law enforcement to arrest immigrants and asylum seekers and charge them with a state crime for crossing the u.s.-mexico border

outside ports of entry. the new crime would be punishable by up to six months in jail, while texas judges would have the authority to drop the charges if a migrant agrees to be returned to mexico. governor abbott spoke from a section of border wall in the rio grande valley monday where he also signed two other bills further militarizing the u.s.-mexico border. >> the goal of senate bill 4 is to stop the title way that illegal entry into texas. it creates a criminal offense. send a bill 3 adds $1.54 billion more to build more border barriers and walls like what we have here. it includes also $40 million for the texas department of public safety for border security operations and increase law enforcement. amy: texas democrats and members of the congressional hispanic caucus are urging the justice

department to block senate bill 4. on monday, they wrote in a letter to attorney general merrick garland -- "this bill is set to be the most extreme anti-immigrant state bill in the united states. it is clearly preempted by federal law and when it goes into effect will likely result in racial profiling, significant due process violations, and unlawful arrests of citizens, lawful permanent residents, and others." on saturday, the white house hosted an online meeting with the congressional hispanic caucus after members warned president biden against agreeing to republican demands to further crackdown on emigrants of asylum seekers as part of a military aid package for ukraine, taiwan, and israel. egypt's authoritarian president abdel fattah el-sisi has declared victory after a non-competitive election. human rights watch reports this month's poll followed a campaign of arrests, intimidation, and onerous requirements for candidates that effectively prevented any meaningful competition.

in 2019, egypt's constitution was amended to allow sisi to run for a third term, while lengthening presidential terms to six years. he's now set to remain in office until 2030. sisi came to power in 2013 when he led the coup that removed egypt's first democratically elected president mohamed morsi, opening a crackdown on dissent that's been described as the end of the arab spring. in september, the biden administration approved $1.3 billion in military aid to egypt, withholding just a small fraction of the aid, $85 million, even though the aid was contingent on sisi's government releasing some of egypt's tens of thousands of political prisoners, which it failed to do. pope francis has formally approved a document from the vatican's doctrinal office that for the first time allows priests to bless same-sex couples so long as the blessing does not resemble a wedding. advocates hailed the move as a major step toward ending the catholic church's discrimination

toward lgbtq+ people but warned the church still holds the official position that marriage is between a man and woman and that same-sex couples are living in sin. marianne duddy-burke is director of dignity usa, which focuses on lgbtq+ rights and the catholic church. >> obviously, for same-sex couples, sacramental equality is what would put us on the same footing as any other catholic seeking recognition of the relationships. we are not there yet. this is an important step, but it is yet another step on a journey that still has probably miles and miles to go. amy: in china, at least 118 people have died after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck a mountainous region of the northwestern gansu province. more than 500 people were injured as the quake collapsed buildings and severed roads and power lines. rescue workers say freezing temperatures and rough terrain are hampering efforts to find survivors.

here in the united states, the environmental protection agency has launched a formal safety review of various chemicals, including vinyl chloride, one of the substances released into the air in eastern ohio after a norfolk southern train derailed and triggered a massive fire earlier this year. vinyl chloride has been linked to heightened cancer risk. it can be found in commonly used plastic products, and is found in polyvinyl chloride plastic, or pvc. following the february crash in east palestine, ohio, residents reported respiratory and other health problems. the incident brought scrutiny to so-called bomb trains that transporting crude oil and other dangerous chemicals through communities across the united states. the epa review will take at least three years. here in new york, the judge overseeing donald trump's civil fraud trial has rejected trump's request to have the case against him thrown out. on monday, judge arthur engoron blasted an expert witness called by the defense, noting that new york university accounting

professor eli bartov spent 650 hours on the case at a rate of $1350 per hour. the judge ruled bartov had lost all credibility, writing -- "all that his testimony proves is that for a million or so dollars, some experts will say whatever you want them to say." in georgia, the former election workers african-americans ruby freeman and her daughter shaye moss have sued trump's former attorney rudy giuliani for a second time. on friday, a federal jury ordered giuliani to pay freeman and moss $148 million in damages after he falsely accused them of tampering with ballots during the 2020 election, leading to harassment and death threats from trump supporters. their new lawsuit seeks a court order permanently barring giuliani from defaming them again. meanwhile, a federal appeals court panel has rejected a bid

by trump's former chief of staff mark meadows to have an election interference case against him in georgia moved to federal court. and the famed italian marxist and political activist antonio negri has died at the age of 90. he inspired generations of leftist scholars and activists with his writings about the human desire for liberation and the self organizational capacity of ordinary people to make change. he co-authored the seminal book "empire." democracy now! interviewed antonio negri in venice, italy in 2015. i concluded our conversation by asking negri what gives him hope. >> let me just answer that. the fact of the new generations not only them have understood they can fight, they can move in the terrain of new capacities for action.

i believe these two generations out of communicative and labor are much freer than our parents or my generation of factory workers. these are social generations, generations who build their future with language, with intelligence, and this is hope. hope lies wholly within people and their ability to determine their own destinies. amy: we will post the whole interview later in the week. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. coming up, we go to jordan to talk about the human rights watch report on israel using starvation as a weapon of war. we will also be talking to palestinians and palestinian-americans who are accusing the biden administration it has been too slow to help them and their families trapped in gaza. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "homeland security" by clarissa bitar. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, with democracy now!'s juan gonzález in chicago. as the humanitarian crisis in gaza deepens, we turn now to palestinians and palestinian americans who are trying to evacuate their family members to the united states. at least two palestinian americans have now filed a lawsuit against biden

administration saying its failure to help them violates the constitutional rights. this woman says she lost at least 100 relatives in gaza, including two american citizens. >> the only thing i am being told is there's nothing further that government can do, which i don't believe that all. amy: the lawsuit notes after the october 7 attack by hamas, the u.s. government organized charter flights from tel aviv for americans to leave israel. so far, they say the united states has not organized any flights to secure the exit of at least 900 u.s. citizens, residents, and family members still in gaza. al jazeera reports more than a -- more than staff members at 100 the department of homeland security signed an open letter to secretary alejandro mayorkas denouncing the response to humanitarian crisis in gaza so far, saying it should be "commensurate with past responses to humanitarian

tragedies" and offer a humanitarian parole program to palestinians like it did after conflicts in afghanistan and ukraine. more than 100 democrats, led by michigan senator dick durbin have called on biden to make palestinians who are already in the u.s. eligible for temporary protected status, or tps. today we will hear two stories, one a palestinian-american woman in detroit whose mother died in gaza. she was approved to evacuate but was still but waiting to get out and the daughter is desperately seeking the government's help to evacuate the rest of her family. we'll also be joined by her attorney sophia akbar. but first, we go to cairo, egypt, with another one of sophia's clients, fadi abu shammalah. he is just vision's outreach associate in gaza and the executive director of gaza's general union of cultural

centers. we spoke to him last month about his "new york times" op-ed "what more must the children of gaza suffer?" he was able to leave gaza and he joins us now as he works to be reunited with his wife and three children who are still in gaza -- ali, karam, and adam. fadi, welcome back. in a moment, we're going to talk about the legal case here. but if you can talk about what is happening in gaza right now, what is happening in rafah and jabalia and talk about why you left gaza and what you think needs to happen. >> thank you so much for having me for the second time. i would not do the same for me. but thank you for having me and this interview.

i will start by telling the situation on the ground in every city in the gaza strip is beyond our imagination. not all of the news comes out to us here. i'm talking to you from cairo. the situation on the ground is more horrible than what you can see by your screens and tv's. i would say also a horrific number -- i would say 1.9 million are displaced from their homes. most of them were bussed into the far south of the gaza strip in a city called rafah. in the last 36 hours of the 170 palestinians were killed.

this war i would call it is a war against the palestinian civilians. this is the main goal. i was say there are two goals. the first one is to kill the civilians as much as they can and the second goal is to destroy as much as they can. gaza city itself is erased. you would be shocked if you were to send your cameras after hopefully this time there and war will end. you would be shocked. the neighborhoods are completely damage. the north of the gaza strip, no one knows about the north of gaza strip. journalists are trying to cover the situation. they are killing people in

tents. that is what i hear. also -- sorry. witnesses say the israeli bulldozers buried the injured people in the hospital while they were still alive. we should find a word that could express more than the word of genocide. that is what is going on. the humanitarian situation is horrible. the war itself, the food, electricity, the number of killed people, the number of -- over -- no one knows when this war is going to end, but i know for sure, we are all devastated. our hearts are broken for the

destruction. juan: i wanted to ask you about leaving gaza and what is the situation with your wife and three children? can you talk about the obstacles of them not being able to get out? could you hear me? amy: i'm going to put juan's question to you. he is talking about your family and trying to get your family out. >> i don't hear you. amy: i think his sound has dropped. we are going to go right now to your lawyer and we will try to

fix the sound system to cairo. sophia akbar, can you talk about the situation that fadi and a number of other people are in? talk about what is happening in the united states and how palestinian-americans in the united states trying to get the families out and palestinians who are trying to come into the united states from gaza -- talk about with your experience as a civil rights attorney who has been working with other attorneys and advocates to grant tps to palestinians here already and what is happening, for example, to your client fadi. >> thank you for having me. my clients' family members did to escape near certain death due to israel's router war on

palestine. we need the u.s. government to demand an immediate cease-fire from israel and to stop u.s. taxpayer dollars to facilitate the genocide of the palestinian people. we need u.s. government to create emigration pathways for palestinians to come to the u.s. to escape deadly and inhumane conditions. we know last week unicef declared palestine to be the deadliest place for children in the entire world. in the last 10 weeks, israel has killed over 10,000 palestinian children. that does not include the numbers trapped under the rubble. has injured over 18,000 palestinian children while they are walking to school, playing outside, receiving medical treatments in the hospital, staying quietly in their homes, or waving a white flag. both of my clients have children that have been affected by children -- children and their families have been affected by

this war. fadi has three children and we just found out this morning that they were able to evacuate from egypt. amy: to egypt? able to evacuate to egypt? >> that's correct. they were able to evacuate just this morning. prior to this, they were in a refugee camp that was bombed. there were 20 people that died in that bombing. fadi was frantically looking through pictures to make sure his family members were not in the did in the dead -- not included in the debt. hopefully they will be reuniting in the next few hours. fadi still has 20 family members in gaza. my other client that we'll hear from as well, she has 20 nephews and nieces under the age of 21 who are in gaza.

some are in the northern part of gaza where they rarely hear from them. regarding efforts to grant temporary protected status, as you mentioned, senator durbin and senator jaya paul wrote letters to the biden administration demanding tps be extended to palestinians. i am part of a collective of attorneys and advocates are cross the country. we along with the arab american discrimination many wrote a letter as well to the biden administration demanding tps be extended to palestinians. we had over 100 signatories. tps is typically granted to countries that are undergoing armed conflict or an environmental disaster. in palestine, there are no more buildings where people can work. there are no more schools for children to attend. even if we have a cease-fire

tomorrow, the amount of destruction that israel has unleashed in gaza has made life impossible. temporary protected status would allow palestinians who are already here in the u.s. extended status so they do not have to return to a death sentence. but tps is not enough. that only applies to palestinians who are here. what we really need is a humanitarian immigration pathway to allow palestinians who are in gaza a pathway to come to the united states and find refuge here. juan: could you talk about the difference between how the administration has been dealing with those fleeing the war in ukraine versus the palestinians? >> absolutely. that is an extremely stark difference. under the uniting for ukraine program, all requirements of

having connections to green card holders and u.s. citizens were waived. over 270,000 ukrainians were allowed to come to the united states under this program. as advocates on the ground right now, serving our clients who have families in gaza, we cannot even get u.s. citizens out. our advocates had to sue the biden administration just to get u.s. citizens evacuated. that did not even prioritize the issue. we had -- my colleagues had to sue -- two more lawsuits last week to evacuate u.s. citizens. that is not to say how the family members of u.s. citizens and the green card holders are treated. the uniting for ukraine program applies to people beyond that

category as well. what we really need is a similar program like uniting for ukraine where palestinians can have immigration humanitarian pathway to come here and seek refuge. juan: what are the obstacles posed by the fact the u.s. does not recognize palestine as a foreign state when it comes to immigration issues? >> that is absolutely a challenge and something that we had to address in our efforts to request tps. we have seen the united states has offered temporary protected status to territories so that is something we included in our letter, in our request. but absolutely it is a challenge. ultimately, without a solution that grants palestinians freedom

, there is no immigration solution that will properly address this problem. even if we allow palestinians to come here, to over to them, we have no way of assuring them when they want to go back that they will be allowed to return. palestinians and native americans are the only groups of people in the entire world where there return to their land and their property is not governed by them. that has to change. amy: i want to bring narmin abushaban into this conversation, another of your clients. thank you so much for being with us. you are a palestinian-american attempting to expedite your request to rescue her siblings and their families from gaza. first, our deep condolences on the loss of your mother.

can you talk about what happened to her and what your situation is? >> good morning. i want to thank you for having me. to share my story about my mother, even though there are no words that can describe what happened. my mother was an old lady who was living safely in her home. she was displaced many times. every time they get displaced, they moved to another house, they are threatened -- the israeli forces are threatening to bomb the house. so my brothers had to displace her. she is on medications. they were threatened to be displaced many times. they were in the northcom had to go to the south. even in the south in khan younis, they were threatened in the middle of the night to leave

their house. they had to displace her again until they reached rafah. there her health was getting worse and worse until she did not have the write indications due to the israeli forces preventing the medical supplies getting into gaza. so she had to switch to another medication that did not help her at all. she passed away. juan: how has it been possible for you to even communicate with family members in gaza, to assess their situation and their stage? >> it is really hard for me to communicate with them. i had to have my phone international calls to be able to call them. now it is not working. it was working before but now it is not working at all. they have to go to the hospital to get some internet connection

so they can talk to me. they send me specific times of the day, like in the middle of the night have to keep my eyes open so i can see when they can text to be or when they can send me a whatsapp message to see if they are ok or not. my siblings in the north, i have no communication at all. i have not been hearing for my brother for two weeks now. he is in the health care and the israeli forces are targeting all the all caps professionals. all i know is they are shooting on people and surrounding the houses. i don't know anything about my brother and his family. more than 10 kids and grandkids. amy: have you been speaking with your senator, with dick durbin? what has been the response? >> actually, i did send emails but i did not get any reply. i filed a crisis intake -- i got

all my siblings, my mother, and ivan emailing them telling them about her situation. i did not getting answer. they keep saying they do not follow in the category, only the immediate family. they are immediate family. what do they consider immediate family? after my mother's death, two days after, i got notification they put my mother's name on the list to be evacuated. i had to tell them it is too late, she is dead. they told me they're going to put my sibling stains on the rafah crossing. they even send me the name they will put them -- but still, it has been three weeks and i have not heard anything. i don't want to lose my siblings as i lost my uncle, as you know, his entire family was bombed by the israeli airstruck. my uncle was an old man in his

home playing with his grandchildren. his wife was feeding her grandchild. they bombed the house on top of them. they were under the rubble for one week. nobody could get in to help them until the israeli soldiers left. they would not allow anybody to get in there. i don't want to lose my brothers and sisters. every day i hear bombing and striking people and targeting hospitals, civilians. i want to reunite with my siblings. i don't want to lose them the way i lost my mother. i just want them to evacuate. they don't stop the genocide so they can even sleep. there are children, women. there are always kids scared. they can't sleep. if they don't stop the genocide, this is the only thing i can do. i can ask for your help, for the

department of state to help me evacuate my siblings. amy: we are speaking to narmin abushaban, palestinian-american, talking to us from detroit. she has lost her mother, uncle, attempting to have her request expedited to rescue her siblings and their families from gaza. and we are rejoined by fadi abu shammalah from cairo. fadi, we understand your three kids and wife just got through rafah into egypt just before this broadcast as you were attempting to get them out. can you talk about their situation and how you're trying to get into the united states at this point? you are just vision's outreach associate in gaza and the executive director of gaza's general union of cultural centers. >> i will start answering the

question by saying the trip, the journey my kids have to go through started october 9 when we decided to evacuate our homes from gaza city into my parents home in khan younis. working in journalism, speaking up for the palestinian people, it has gone on the ground by the israeli commission. we reached a point that i had to evacuate -- sorry, i had to leave gaza strip because there was really a risk of my family. until that day -- i'm talking about november 14. around 61 have been killed.

my family felt they were in danger and might be bombed any time. that made me have to sleep in my car the night before i left gaza strip. i thought it by traveling to cairo, i would be able to help my family to evacuate. my name was only on the list. the u.s. list of november 2. it did not happen. that is what i want to say. then on december 5, the israeli commission throughout leaflets asking the people of khan younis to evacuate to rafah city. the next day -- before the next day that had to evacuate like after seven hours i figured out they arrived safe to rafah city.

it was not easy for me to be waiting because i knew the news they were bombing the streets come the same streets they're using to evacuate to rafah city. on december 6 when i don't have connection with my wife and kids, i knew that from the news the israeli commission bombed refugee camps exactly where my family are evacuating. it is a very small neighborhood. it consists of -- high risk that these buildings will be demolished because of the bombing. for 2.5 hours, i was waiting to find out if my family were alive. i had to go through the news of

whatsapp to look for my kids. i had to look into the photos of the killed children because i knew there were 20 women and kids killed in this bombing. if one of these photos is that my kids, it was not easy for me at all to have these 2.5 hours waiting to find out of my family were alive. but even so, the next night, they have daily bombing in rafah city. this is what the area said they have to evacuate and then they ask us to evacuate to rafah. my kids have to go through all of this -- by the way, you are

right, my kids are coming to me to cairo but the three of them, they are sick. i will move them immediately once i have them, i will move them to the hospital because they are very sick. there's no clean water. they don't have healthy food. it is horrible. i'm happy that my kids are coming, that i'm going to hold them, but am so devastated about the hundreds of thousands of kids in gaza city that have to go through all the circumstances and the international community are silent. and a lot of them are supporting it. saying biden is a partner in making the biggest human disaster that the world is

witnessing since 500 years ago. this is the situation at the kids and the women have to go through. they don't have food to eat, clean water to drink. my kids have infection and their mouth and stomach. they are very sick. my wife has to send me photos of them -- i was shocked. they are not my kids at all. i left them for one month and they are completely changed. i will do my best to get them recovered and get better health and get better food. but what about the other people in gaza strip? the other kids? the women who don't find milk for their kids? my wife could not find antibiotic for my kids. i mean, this is the most basic

medicine you should have any place in the world. even in the jungle you will find antibiotics and painkillers. i will do my best for my kids for sure, but i'm very devastated, very sad about 2.3 million palestinians who are pushed into the south of the gaza strip. i would say my kids, we made it. they're coming to cairo like in 5, 6, 7 hours, whatever, i don't care, there coming to my heart again. all of us are going to travel for five months starting from january until the end of may. i was so lucky to get the fellowship from american organizations. but the majority of the people do not have this chance, do not

have this privilege to do the same. this is injustice. it is insane what is happening. it cannot be explained or discussed in normal conversation. we need millions of cameras. i always keep saying that every palestinian family has its own story and every member of every palestinian family has his or her own story because everyone has a story that is full of tears, full of fear, full of young scared, full of hunger. israel is fighting this by food. they are preventing us to get food. the number of trucks of humanitarian aid to be allowed

gaza is nothing. we need much -- we need thousands of trucks to enter gaza 24 hours until three months until we get -- for food only. we will need at least 10 years to rebuild the destroyed gaza strip. that is the real face of the israeli occupation and the palestinian people will never forget. the nakba happened when there were no cameras. but now the international community is silent. i appreciate the solidarity with the palestinian people. we need from you more pressure against the international community, against your leaders, especially the u.s.

administration. they have to stop supporting israel by providing them the military that we are being killed by. they have to stop financially supporting israel or at least asking israel -- i mean, preventing issuing veto in the security council when the palestinian people need all the humanitarian cease-fire. amy: fadi abu shammalah, thank you for being with us. our next segment we are going to look at that human rights watch report with its author, yes, the report called "israel: starvation used as weapon of war in gaza." i want to thank you for being with us. fadi abu shammalah is just vision's outreach associate in -- usually in gaza, now in cairo. the executive director of gaza's general union of cultural centers. he will be reuniting with his wife and three children and a few hours and then coming to the united states. we want to thank civil rights

attorney sophia akbar and narmin abushaban, posting-american who is attempting to expedite her request to rescue her siblings and their families from gaza. her mother died there while waiting to get out as did her uncle. coming up, human rights watch. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "riot in lagos" by ryuichi sakamoto. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as the death toll in gaza nears 20,000, human rights watch has accused the israeli government of using starvation as a weapon of war in gaza. human rights watch says israel has deliberately blocked the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance. the group said israel has also apparently razed agricultural areas inside gaza as many palestinians face starvation. we are joined now by omar shakir. israel and palestine director at

human rights watch which has just published a report headlined "israel: starvation used as weapon of war in gaza." he is joining us from amman, jordan. omar, why don't you lay out your finding. folks we found five very disturbing trends coming together that lead us to this conclusion. the first of which has been more than two months the israeli government has been blocking all but a trickle of aid, food, and water entering the gaza strip. secondly, the israeli government has in essence cut off the entry and exit of goods from its own crossings with gaza despite being occupying power that is obligated to provide for the civilian population. third, satellite imagery we have been carefully studying shows the apparent deliberate razing

of agricultural land. you can see entire farms turned into barren wasteland in different parts of the gaza strip. fourth, we look at the destruction of the kinds of objects necessary for human survival. bakeries, wheat meals, sanitation and water facilities, hospitals. in northern gaza, cannot find many of these facilities that are functioning. fifth, statements from israeli government officials that led out in plain terms, including the defense minister of the national security minister, members of the israeli army that state clearly they will continue to prevent these basic supplies -- food, water, a -- from entering until they accomplish the objectives they set, which is return of hostages and destruction of hamas. this collectively amounts to starvation used as weapon of war which is a war crime adding to

the israeli government's many other war crimes like collective punishment that have been taken over the last few weeks. juan: specifically in terms of the deprivation of clean water to drink and fuel, can you talk about the impacts of this policy and terms of the spread of disease and access to food? >> absolutely. i think water is a basic thing that is needed for health services, for everyday life, for cleaning. the first thing is to note 97% of the groundwater in gaza is unfit for human consumption as a result of over extraction should of the ground all go for that comes in from israel. israel has long relied on -- israel cut the water supply after october 7. a resumed piping to parts of southern gaza. in northern gaza, that is not

the case. we have seen significant destruction of the water infrastructure. we have also seen destruction of the water facilities, pipelines. and yet the lack of fuel that has led to the shutdown of desalinization water pumping facilities. so you have some water coming in on trucks, but bottled water is not enough to allow the population to drink, for hospitals to function, percentage asian to take place. the results are quite deadly. we are already seeing thousands of cases of contagious diseases and we're seeing hospitals trying to make do and i majority of hospitals in gaza are not functioning. the israeli government has been systematically attacking hospitals, especially in northern gaza. those operating are trained to do so without adequate medical supplies and water. the consequences are stark. they will get worse unless we

see the taps switched on and fuel to enter so those pumping stations and desalinization plants can operate. juan: what actions do you see necessary by the international community at this point, especially given the fact the u.s. continues to veto any resolutions with the security council? >> i think today's u.n. security council vote is quite essential. there is an opportunity to take concrete action to perfect -- protect civilians. it is important u.s. not exercise its veto. lives quite literally hang in the balance. there is absolutely a need for states to unequivocally condemn this war crime. we have seen far too often, especially the u.s. and its allies in europe, that are

condemning abuses being carried out but not using the same language for the war crimes committed by the israeli government. there needs to be a call for an immediate resumption of full age, not the trickle that is being allowed in. the aid alone is not enough. there needs to be a restoration of electricity, water, and other basic services. ultimately, that won't matter if unlawful attacks and incessant bombardment continue to wreak havoc on the lives of people. obviously, more long-term, beyond the immediate needs of the civilian population, there are a couple of essential things needed. one, there must be accountability for unlawful attacks and other violations, including at the international criminal or. secondly, there must be an addressing of root causes such as israel's apartheid against palestinians. finally, all states must evaluate all forms of potential

complicity in these grave abuses. in the case of the u.s., that means imposing an arms embargo, ending the provision of military y assistance. amy: if you can talk, omar shakir, about the biden administration's to say the least mixed message, bypassing congress, sending tank artillery that is being used against palestinians, saying they are staunchly behind israel and at the same time saying they're putting out a private message that they have to reduce the casualties. and at the same time, vetoing u.n. security council resolutions, though it is not clear what they're going -- what is going to happen today. we will find out soon. can you talk about what exactly the u.s. is doing versus france calling for a cease-fire versus germany, britain, and what it

would mean if the u.s. were on the front of calling for permanent cease-fire? >> i think the united states and israel are isolated in the international community. there's a growing consensus as reflected in u.n. votes another was about the and already of the catastrophe we're singing taking place in gaza, the urgent need for action to end that. there's been a shift in the u.s. rhetoric. president biden spoke of israel's indiscriminate bombing in gaza. indiscriminate bombing is of elation of the laws of war. -- violation of the laws of war. how they going to justify providing military support? that complicity in what they themselves have acknowledged to be war crimes. the reality is the israeli government has a long track record of unlawful attacks. u.s. weapons, as has been

documented previously by human rights watch and amnesty international, has itself been used in the commission of grave abuses over years. the reality is the u.s. by continuing to provide arms and diplomatic cover to the israeli government as it commits atrocity risks complicity in these underlying abuses. that not only sends the wrong message, that not only undermines the protection of israeli and palestinian civilians, but undermines the very international human rights and humanitarian law that the united states mobilizes and cites when it comes to places like ukraine and elsewhere in the world. undermining the protection of civilians, use of double standards in israel-palestine harms people everywhere. the biden administration as a chance to make the right choice here to begin to match some of its recent words with action. we hope the u.s. will not veto

today's resolution. doing so will be incredibly damaging to civilians on the ground and to the united state'' position globally. amy: this issue of starvation as not only being raised by human rights watch, world food program warned of the possibility of starvation november 6. you have this high risk of famine right through to now. as we wrap up, what this means? we just heard our previous guests talking about what happened to his children from disease to hunger. your final comment. >> nine out of 10 households in north gaza -- you have a reality were night at 10 households according to the world food program in north gaza have been without food for whole day and

night. imagine families that have to spin hours or more a day just to be able to get a couple of pieces of bread to feed their family. we're seeing hundreds of bodies piled up a day in airstrikes. we risk seeing that or more in the days ahead if there is not urgent action by world leaders to end these atrocities.