03/21/24 03/21/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i saw things at the hospital which i still wake up at night thinking about. appalling injuries, in particularly women and children. the most devastating burns in small children.

when chuck had burned so badly, you can see her facial bones. we knew there was no chance of her surviving that. there was no morphine to give her. not only was she absolutely going to die, but she would die in agony. amy: as israel's deadly assault on al-shifa, the largest hospital in gaza, enters a fourth day, we will speak to the british surgeon dr. nick maynard. gaza's medical system is on the verge of collapse as famine looms. then we will speak to the british israeli architect eyal weizman, the founder of forensic architecture. the group's new report documents how israel's attacks on so-called safe zones in gaza are part of a "genocidal military campaign." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

israel's assault on al-shifa, the largest hospital in gaza, has entered a fourth day. al jazeera is reporting israel has blown up the entire specialist surgery center at the hospital. israel has now ordered everyone to evacuate where thousands had sought refuge and medical care. this comes as israel continues to attack areas across the gaza strip, including the al nuseirat refugee camp in central gaza. >> we saw a frightening sight, body parts. we found the whole area destroyed. it was hit with a belt of fire. a mother and her children, her husband is wounded inside. her husband is an employee. he has nothing to do with the resistance or anything. the whole area was hit with a belt of fire. the children have been dismembered. we are collecting the limbs from under the rubble.

we will bury them and then search for others. amy: as the death toll in gaza approaches 32,000, aid groups continue to warn of catastrophic hunger across the gaza strip. umm mohammed sleem is a palestinian mother in gaza city who said her son was killed while trying to get aid. >> i went what i'm saying to reach the whole world so they can see what israel is doing to the poor palestinian people. we have been six months. they are children. what have they done to deserve this? we are tired. the children in the south and north are dying of hunger. what has a baby done to die of hunger? amy: on the diplomatic front, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken is in egypt today after a stop in saudi arabia . at the united nations, the u.s. has submitted a draft resolution to the u.n. security council for an immediate temporary ceasefire in gaza tied to the release of hostages. meanwhile, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu told

republican senators in a closed-door video conference that israel would continue its assault on gaza. netanyahu reportedly blasted democratic senate majority leader chuck schumer who has called for new elections in israel and turned down netanyahu's request to address democrats. this comes as over 100 democratic donors and activists have written to president biden's campaign warning the president's support for israel's assault could cost him the election, saying -- "because of the disillusionment of a critical portion of the democratic coalition, the gaza war is increasing the chances of a trump victory." u.s. lawmakers are moving toward cutting off funds for the next year to unrwa, the u.n. palestinian relief agency despite the looming famine in gaza. a massive new spending bill being considered by congress would extend a suspension on u.s. funding for the agency until at least march 2025.

last year, the u.s. gave the agency $370 million. australia recently became the latest country to resume funding the agency following a temporary pause after israel claimed, without providing evidence, that unrwa staff were involved in the october 7 attacks. meanwhile, internal u.n. documents obtained by "the guardian" reveal israeli forces have systematically harassed u.n. workers in the occupied west bank. some have been blindfolded at checkpoints. israel has also reportedly used u.n. facilities to fire on palestinians living in refugee camps. mexican president andrés manuel lópez obrador blasted texas's anti-immigrant sb4 law on wednesday as u.s. courts continue to wrangle over its legality. the law grants texas authorities broad powers to arrest and deport anyone they suspect of crossing the border without authorization.

this is amlo. >> we are against this draconian law, which is completely contrary to human rights. if they intend to do deportations, which is not up to them, we won't accept deportations from the texas government and we will not stand idly by. amy: amy: the law is currently blocked after the 5th circuit court of appeals moved to halt the measure tuesday, just hours after the u.s. supreme court ruled the law could go into effect. immigrant justice advocates warn sb4 would also have devastating effects for immigrant communities throughout the state of texas. this is fernando garcia, director of the border network for human rights. >> if allowed to proceed, it would have a terrible impact on communities. not only migrants crossing the border would be impacted by the

state immigration policy of governor abbott, but in general, texans would be subject to a policy of persecution by local and state police where they will be asking them for immigration papers, detaining them, and also deporting them to mexico. amy: in georgia, prison officials executed willie james pye in the state's first execution in over four years. 59-year-old willie pye was put to death with an injection of pentobarbital after the u.s. supreme court denied a clemency appeal despite his lawyers arguing he was "intellectually disabled" and that the state of georgia was not ready to resume executions after halting the practice during the pandemic. pye's supporters and anti-death penalty advocates gathered for a vigil ahead of his execution. wednesday cathy harmon-christian, executive director of georgians for alternatives to the death penalty. >> on the death certificate, it will say homicide. the state is committing homicide.

and that is on what is on his death certificate. the drug itself, for this particular little injection, to my knowledge, is a single dose drug. my understanding is what it will do is it will -- willie pye will experience boiling in his own blood. amy: in mississippi, two more former sheriff's deputies were sentenced wednesday for torturing and sexually abusing two black men in january 2023. christian dedmon, was sentenced to 40 years in prison and daniel opdyke to 17.5 years. the men were part of a group of officers that called themselves the goon squad. a total of six officers have admitted to beating, handcuffing, waterboarding, and tasering michael corey jenkins and eddie terrell parker inside a home in a majority white county outside of jackson , mississippi. two other members of the goon squad were sentenced on tuesday. "the wall street journal" is reporting the u.s. justice department and lawyers for

julian assange have had preliminary discussions about a possible plea deal. however, assange's legal team says they have been given no indication that the justice department intends to resolve the case. julian assange has been held in london's belmarsh prison since 2019 awaiting possible extradition to the united states where he faces up to 175 years in prison for publishing classified documents exposing u.s. war crimes. in a surprise move, ireland's leader prime minister leo varadkar announced wednesday he is resigning, stating simply "the time has come to pass on the baton." >> speculation as to the "real reason" for my decision, these are the real reasons. that's it. i have nothing else lined up. i have nothing -- i have no personal or political plans. i'm looking forward to have time.

at 45, varadkar is ireland's youngest ever prime minister, or taoiseach. he's also ireland's first openly gay leader and first indian and mixed race leader. on sunday, he called for a gaza cease fire as he joined president biden at the white house for a st. patrick's day celebration. in hong kong, lawmakers unanimously passed a national security law that further cracks down on dissent and free speech. article 23 expands the definition of certain offenses and targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, theft of state secrets, and espionage. it also allows for closed-door trials and imposes harsher penalties, including life imprisonment in some cases. the bill's passage marks a major defeat for pro-democracy activists and critics of beijing's tightening grip on hong kong. in related news, a hong kong court on saturday sentenced 12 people to prison terms of six-to-seven years after they were convicted of rioting when they stormed the city's legislature during the 2019 pro-democracy uprising.

hundreds of protesters breached and vandalized the government building on july 1, 2019, the 22nd anniversary of britain's handover of hong kong to china. indonesia's election committee officially declared prabowo subianto the winner of the february 14 presidential polls, securing over 58% of the vote. it was prabowo's third attempt after losing twice to outgoing president joko widodo. he will assume office alongside vice president elect gibran - rakabuming raka, who is joko widodo's son. prabowo, the son-in-law of former indonesian dictator suharto, is a u.s.-backed former general who has been implicated in mass killings in east timor, papua and aceh, as well as the kidnapping and torture of activists in jakarta. in environmental news, the biden administration announced new rules curbing tailpipe emissions for passenger cars and light-duty trucks. the new standards call for a 56% reduction in average carbon emissions by 2032.

the environmental protection agency hopes the rule will help propel the sale of electric vehicles, or ev's, which last year made up less than 8% of all new car sales. while it's the greatest ever limits imposed on tailpipe emissions, climate groups criticized the epa for slowing down the transition to ev's after the agency's initial proposal was met with backlash from the auto and fossil fuel industries. the biden administration has announced another $6 billion in federal student loan cancellation for 78,000 public service workers. borrowers who will benefit include teachers, nurses, and firefighters who have been repaying their loans for at least a decade. and republican efforts to impeach president biden could soon peter out after a second hearing failed to deliver any evidence pointing to president biden's involvement in his son hunter biden's business dealings. with republican support for the impeachment eroding, congressmember james comer, who is leading the impeachment inquiry, said he is weighing possible criminal referrals to

the justice department instead of a lawmaker vote. new york democrat alexandria ocasio-cortez blasted the impeachment attempt during wednesday's hearing. >> clearly what we are seeing here today is a continuation of the 15 month saga of the republican majority lost in the desert. this resolution does not outline a high crime or misdemeanor. it is not here. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, gaza's medical system on the verge of collapse as famine looms. we will speak with the british surgeon nick maynard, part of a group of doctors who volunteered in gaza, just left the united nations and are in washington, d.c., expressing alarm over the humanitarian crisis. back in 20 seconds.

♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. israel's assault on al-shifa,

the largest hospital in gaza, has entered a fourth day. al jazeera is reporting israel has blown up the entire specialist surgery center at the hospital where thousands of palestinians had sought refuge and medical care. israel has now ordered everyone to evacuate as it threatens to blow up the entire medical complex. the world health organization says it has documented 410 attacks on healthcare facilities since israel began its assault on october 7. we begin today's show looking at the collapse of gaza's medical system. a group of international doctors who recently spent time in gaza traveled to the united nations and washington this week to express alarm over the humanitarian crisis. this is amber alayyan with médecins sans frontières, or doctors without borders, speaking at the united nations on tuesday. >> two populations are particularly vulnerable, pregnant and lactating women who are already facing iron

deficiency and anemia before the war which puts them at risk for hemorrhage during birth, with the war it puts them with malnutrition which means they cannot breast-feed their children properly. the other population is children under two years, which is breast-feeding age. there is not enough space for us to work closely with the mothers to help them start lactating again. we cannot even access them. to do be able to do that, had to be able to have activities with those women and that is not something possible for us right now. those children need to be breast-fed. if they can't, they need formula. dan formula, need clean water. none of these things are possible. we're talking about women squeezing fruit into tissues and drip feeding their children for nourishment. nermeen: dr. amber alayyan of .

dr. zaher sahloulalso spoke at the united nations on tuesday. >> she is seven years old. she is one of the victims. a bomb hit her family home so her father and brother were killed. she sustained third-degree burns on 40% of her body. she was treated by one of our critical care specialist from new york. the doctor took some videos of her and you can see her face. also in this picture, if you want to define poster strap -- post-traumatic stress disorder, this is what it looks like in the face of a child who is seven years old. she was supposed to be evacuated to egypt and she waited for weeks before she was eventually evacuated and she died two days

after evacuation because it was too late. amy: professor nick maynard also spoke, surgeon who led an emergency medical team and central gaza at al-aqsa hospital in december and january. former director for cancer services at oxford university. >> i saw things at the hospital which i still wake up at night thinking about. appalling injuries, and particularly women and children. the most devastating burns in small children. one child i will never forget had burned so badly you could see her facial bones. we knew there was no chance of her surviving that but there was no morphine to give her. so not only was she going to die, but she would die in agony. micco professor nick maynard joins us now, surgeon who led an

emergency medical team in central gaza at al-aqsa hospital in december and january. again, former director for cancer services at oxford university. thank you for joining us. you are in new york yesterday addressing members of the united nations. talk further about what you found and talk about how it compares -- you have been going to gaza for the last 15 years. >> thank you very much for asking me on this morning. as you said, i have been going to gaza since 2010 and have worked extensively in various hospitals in gaza. it is always very challenging. but there are circumstances -- what i described as normal gaza for people who have been there, it of course is not normal by anyone else's standards because there's always a lack of resources. you're always wondering whether things are going to be running out. the operating theaters. you always have to work with

equipment you are given. it is never quite enough. but of course, you manage that very well. what we have seen since october 7 in the visits we have had to gaza have been worse than that and working under extremely challenging conditions with a huge lack of resources. and working in the health care system, which has been systematically dismantled by the attacks on it. nermeen: dr. maynard, since you have returned, the situation has gotten immeasurably worse. if you could comment on the latest news about the sustained attacks on shifa hospital. he said earlier after your trip in january to gaza, israeli forces of "appalling atrocities" as a systematically targeted hospitals and health care infrastructure in gaza. if you could elaborate on that and what you hear of what has been happening in the last few

months since you left? >> i have witnessed myself attacks on hospitals when i was in al-aqsa hospital. we were forced to withdraw two days early because there was a missile attack on the intensive care unit. what is happening at shifa hospital is a replica of what happened in the earlier part of this war when shifa hospital was attacked and a must clearly disabled. i have been in contact with a close friend who is a senior surgeon at shifa to hear what is happening in the last 48 to 72 hours. the same thing is happening again. the hospital, which had been largely disabled, had been beginning to function again in recent weeks. lower level than originally capable of, but nevertheless, the staff heroically treating their patients with limited resources. but again, they have been forced

to leave. i have heard horrific testimonies of the medical staff being stripped naked. some of them being abducted again. we are seeing the horrors we witnessed several weeks ago. shifa hospital, the largest hospital in gaza, the major trauma center, now again will be almost completely disabled. and there will be no health care services for those patients in gaza city and north gaza. nermeen: as you know, the u.n. has that none of gaza's 36 hospitals are at this point fully functional. you described your own time working inal-aqsa in january is possibly the worst experience in your medical career. we heard you speak a little bit about this earlier but if you could describe the conditions under which you worked and what you saw, the patients you were

seeing, their injuries, if you could just talk about that. lot about fully functioning and partly functioning hospitals in gaza. i would argue there have been no fully functioning hospitals at all since october 7. the quality of care i have witnessed over the 15 years i've been going has been quite fantastic. extremely talented doctors and nurses and other health care workers providing a remarkably high level of health care provision despite the really challenging lack of resources. but even though there is talk about fully functioning and partly functioning, i would argue even al-aqsa which i was working there, the european hospital before they were attacked by the israeli forces, they were not fully functioning. they were barely -- they could

not cope with the number of severe trauma is coming in. and really since october 7, no hospital facility has been managing to treat patients without trauma. i don't think any hospital is functioning properly at all and won't do so until there is a cessation of the military activity. when i was in al-aqsa hospital, we had very limited resources. i am a surgeon so i was operating on major blast injuries to the abdomen and the chest. i saw appalling injuries, mostly in women and children, but also in some men as well. we operated under very challenging circumstances. some days, there were no sterile drapes to use to cover patients. we had to make our own out of downs. sundays there was no running water so we cannot scrub up properly. we had to try and sterilize our hands with alcoholic jell-o.

equipment was limited. very limited numbers of sutures and needles to use. and very few instrument sometimes. amy: can you tell us more about that little girl you described at the news conference you held at the united nations with the other doctors? >> yes. this was a little girl who was managed by one of my close colleagues from oxford, dr. harrington. a little girl severe burns, whose birds were so severe that you could see her facial bones through the burns. there was no prospect of her surviving these burns. and we knew she was going to die but there was no morphine available in the emergency room that day. that was a frequent occurrence during our stay. we knew she was going to die, but she had to die in agony. there was no way of relieving

her pain. what made it even worse, if it could be worse than that, was the fact there was nowhere for her to die in privacy. she was lying on the floor of the emergency room at al-aqsa hospital. there was nowhere else for her to go, so she died in public and in agony. we witnessed many other examples like that. i could spend a lot of time talking about the horrible things we saw, people dying without dignity, without pain relief. i bore witness to things i would never, ever would have expected to see. amy: can you talk about the condition of the doctors? if humans ago we interviewed a doctor at shifa and he would later die in a bombing. i asked him why doesn't he leave and he said, think that is why would to medical school, to dessert my patients? but can you talk about right now the number of doctors who have

been arrested, who have died, who are hungry as they try to work? i have been profoundly humbled by health care workers that i have met in gaza. some of whom i have known for many years, some of whom i met during my stay at al-aqsa hospital. they have been working nonstop under the most appalling condition since october 7. i go out to gaza with medical aid for palestinians. they have some heroic staff on the ground there, again, working under appalling circumstances. one of them who lives in northern gaza could not move south because of his elderly parents. they have been living on birdseed. they have run out of animal feed so they are now eating birdseed. i've met doctors and nurses who have been physically and mentally broken by what they're going through but still carry on working, refusing to leave their

patients because that is what their job is. none of these people are being paid at all. many of them have not been paid for many months up to october 7. but they stay with their patients because that is their job, their duty, and they will not leave despite the full knowledge they may die as a result of that. i am truly humbled by the people i have met there, doctors and nurses and very close friends i've made in medical aid for palestinians who work on the ground. nermeen: i want to ask about another -- a related issue. he said most of the people you treated were women and children. now gaza is on the rica famine and at least 27 children have already died of malnutrition as israel continues to block humanitarian aid supplies. if you could talk about whether you already signed -- saw signs

in january of the effects of insufficient food on the children you were treating? >> you played earlier in eloquent description by amber about the problems of malnutrition in women and children. we saw this when we were there in december and january. we saw at al-aqsa hospital, the pediatricians were saying two or three cases a week in december of the most severe form of protein deficient malnutrition. you may remember pictures of the various famines over the years we have seen in africa with potbellied children. this is the most severe form of malnutrition. the pediatricians were saying this in al-aqsa back in december. we saw evidence, clear evidence come malnutrition and some of our surgical patients in al-aqsa hospital. virtually all of the patients get severe invective complications -- infective

complications. when people get these infections, when they develop sepsis, that is -- that rapidly accelerates the malnutrition. these people who were already on the brink of malnutrition then become rapidly malnourished. we saw that a lot. when we called this out -- when my colleagues and i returned from gaza, we were very vocal about the worrying development of malnutrition. of course, all of our fears have been realized. now it has reached the ipc in a category 5 malnutrition. there is a famine. these are people now, patients, children, who don't just need food, they need medical treatment for their malnutrition. even if there were a ceasefire today, there would be many hundreds if not thousands of

ongoing deaths from the severe now nutrition as a result of this man-made famine we are seeing. amy: dr. nick maynard, what is the prescription you are recommending right now as you come to this country? you were at the u.n. and now in washington speaking to lawmakers. what are you telling them? what do you say that president biden should do? >> we have had a terrific reception in new york and washington. we really do believe people are listening to us. we're telling them as it is on the ground. we're not politicians, not lawmakers. we are humanitarians who are just describing the appalling things we have seen. it is very, very clear to all of us who have been on the ground in gaza that the only way to try and stop this humanitarian catastrophe is for an immediate ceasefire. there is a lot of talkback in

the u.k. and u.s. about how to get aid to gaza. we can talk about the fact undoubtedly the best way to get aid is overland rather than by airdrops or by sea corridors. it even if they open up the land crossings to get the aid in, the distribution of aid within gaza is virtually impossible with the ongoing military activity. what is crucial is that aid gets not only to gaza, but within gaza easily to get -- particularly to northern gaza where we know there is now a famine. my message, our message is that there has to be pressure on the israelis and hamas to have a ceasefire so that aid can be delivered throughout the whole of gaza and humanitarian care and aid can start to work. amy: we know you have to get out

your first meeting in washington, d.c. professor nick maynard is a surgeon who led an emergency medical team in central gaza at al-aqsa hospital in december and january. former director for cancer services at oxford university. thank you so much for being with us. when we come back, we go to the british-israeli architect eyal weizman, the founder of forensic architecture. the new report documents how israel's attacks on so-called safe zones in gaza are part of a "genocidal military campaign." back in 20 seconds. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we look now at a new report published by the research group forensic architecture which countries israel's argument that the international court of justice that followed humanitarian policies to save survey laughing gaza. south africa argued before the icj israel was guilty of genocide. it argues what israel says our mentoring evacuations and onto the forced displacement of palestinians which is a war crime. amy: from where we're joined in london by eyal weizman, are

british-israeli architect born in haifa, founder and director of forensic architecture, and professor of spatial and visual cultures at goldsmiths college at the university of london. eyal is the author of several books, including "hollow land: israel's architecture of occupation" and "the least of all possible evils: a short history of humanitarian violence." he is also a member of the technology advisory board of the international criminal court and of the center for investigative journalism. welcome to democracy now! as we come to air right now, the united states has presented a resolution to the u.n. security council for tipperary cease fire. i am wondering if you could respond to that and netanyahu only speaking with republicans behind closed doors, now he might be addressing a joint session of congress at the house speaker speaker decides to invite him saying rafah invasion

will happen? >> if a rafah invasion will happen, we will see a humanitarian disaster. to levels we have not yet experienced. in rafah, we have a huge part of the palestinian people evacuated to living in inhumane conditions where there are famine and lack of basic humanitarian provisions. in something that is called a safe so. and i think it is important to understand there is no safe ways in gaza. although, israel is designating part of the trip as so-called safe areas and ordering the population to evacuate to them imposes on the conditions that amount to unlivable conditions

and continuation of its genocidal policies. what we need -- my comment that is rather than allowing or entertaining any specific plans and provisions u.s. is discussing with israelis about allowing them to attack rafah under certain conditions, we need to seek and immediate cease fire all places of gaza in order to allow for the rebuilding of the strip, to allow for miniature provisions to reach each and every palestinian in the north and south. nermeen: the proposal the uss put forth, before we return to your report, the proposal u.s. has put forth for a temporary ceasefire is reportedly for the release of israeli hostages and

allowing more humanitarian aid into gaza. you wrote in a piece -- i want to ask about a piece you wrote in november in which you document the piece's headlined -- you document the change israel policy with respect to its hostages. if you could talk about the way that has played out. you wrote the piece in november. if you could talk high think that might affect now going forward with respect to the 100 or so hostages who remain who are reportedly still alive? >> what you see in all negotiations around the captives and the palestinian prisoners sitting in israeli prisons, some on ministry to detentions without charge, thousands of them, is that israel has been

creating and enlarging its bank of prisoners in order to create -- in order to allow it to change the exchange rate. the title of the piece was "exchange-rate" and it was looking at the history of palestinian resistance to israel i occupation to the capture of captives. really from the famous airplane hijacks but the 1970's to the present, the way palestinians forced israel -- the only way they could affect and release their prisoners is through capturing israeli captives. over the years, the exchange rate has changed favorably to the palestinians. what you're saying is israel is now arresting people in order --

palestinians and holding them in administrative detention in order to beef up its bank of captives. more than that, you could see in the reports on negotiations, the fate of those people that have been purportedly evacuated to safe areas has been brought into the equation. one way of thinking about it is to say hamas or palestinian factions in gaza, the israel captives. bargaining for their return home in exchange for its prisoners. and that is obviously illegal according to international law. even that being brought into the negotiation testifies that was the intent of holding them away

from their home as a bargaining chip toward that. so you have the exchange-rate now that is 200 million palestinians displaced -- sorry, 2 million palestinians displaced, 100 israeli captives, and this is really where the negotiations are going. nermeen: eyal weizman, let's turn to your report which is headlined "humanitarian violence in gaza." if you could explain humanitarian and violence, if you could explain what you mean by that? you have also written a book by that. then lay out the three faces that mass display met -- displacement you document in the report. >> we think about humanitarian principles. the so-called laws of war. being there to protect civilians.

certain manipulation of international humanitarian law allows you to have operational advantage or in this case advantage in negotiation over the captives in this particular way. there is a principle and humanitarianism that if you want to evacuate a population into a safe zone, that safe so needs to have several conditions. there needs to be proper medical care, proper food and housing in these areas. israel has evacuated -- order the evacuation of palestinians from within gaza on the north to the south into areas that were repeatedly under attack into areas with no housing, no medical care, and now we see no food being provided in it or very little or insufficient

levels of aid within it. so that is firstly, you know, the principle of using a humanitarian principal that is purportedly using -- saying it is safe in order to treat civilians and take them out of harm's way in order to achieve israel's operational objectives in this attack on gaza, and that is to exercise pain on the civilian population to generate levels of destruction and harm to tear palestinians from ongoing resistance to the israel i occupation. it is becoming more clear the harm, that the levels of destruction we are seeing, the level of displacement we are saying are not the byproduct come and not the collateral effects of this conflict but really the only thing that

israel has achieved during that war. it hasn't achieved any of its tactical aims in terms of hamas as an operated force. it hasn't captured the hamas leadership. it hasn't freed except in rare situations. it has created an equation in which the civilian population is being put in harm's way in order to bargain against their return back to the north -- the north of gaza in order to effectively achieve what tactically israel has not achieved. in relation to the stages, a week or so after the october 7 attack, israel has given the entirety the north of gaza an evacuation order. they were ordered to leave the north of gaza, a home to more than a million palestinians. the center of the palestinian

political, cultural life was actually ordered to cross, according to them, gaza from north to south. that was the first stage. after the ceasefire, the temporary ceasefire in which some prisoner exchange was happening at the beginning of december, israel has released an interactive map online dividing gaza into kind of a gerrymandered 23 zones. it was very difficult to understand whether they are in zone number 546 or 547. the map was extremely confusing. it was released online at the time of very frequent internet and power cuts or it was

communicated via leaflets that were unequally distributive. it was an incredibly confusing system that led to the ongoing displacement of palestinians from one zone to the other. so when they were ordered to move into southern gaza from different parts in the southern part of gaza, they were ordered to go into different places. what the report is showing is a systematic and ongoing use of these evacuation orders were meant to achieve that population displacement and people were continuously being put in harm's way. the roots, the so-called safe routes along which palestinians were ordered to evacuate were attacked. areas where they went to had no provisions and very often were

attacked themselves. so we cannot see that humanitarian policies, so-called humanitarian policies come of the israeli forces. and the argument the israelis put four in the hague that they are not in violation of the genocide convention because they applied humanitarian principal, but we cannot see it as anything else but part of the genocidal campaign that is inflicted on palestinians in gaza. amy: and now, of course, if netanyahu does succeed in a full-scale ground invasion of rafah, they will go back to all of these places they were forced to flee. they talk about no worries, palestinian civilians will be protected in these humanitarian zones. if you could respond to that and also just for people to understand, your organization is

so unusual and it also operates in several different countries. you yourself born in haifa. if you could explain how you do what you do? we are showing a series of maps were here you should zones. so many investigations such as shireen abu akleh reported when israel was saying cut and crossfire, you proved the opposite post of she was killed by an israeli sniper, among other things. can you talk about what friends of architecture does and what you as an israeli-british architect or doing in this kind of analysis? an architect? >> thank you for asking. of course, the nature of the israeli occupation in gaza and throughout palestine complete makes use of architecture as part of the violence apply on

palestinians. so starting from the location of settlements, hilltops in a way that divides the occupied territories by sect, the design of roads, provisional infrastructure -- you could say seven colonialism is architecturally inactive. in gaza, with settlements in 2005 when they were evacuated, but after that, the gaza envelope is a system of civilian and military infrastructure that included a number of fences and military facilities as well as other settlements, part of what israel called it's regional -- of course, that system was attacked on october 7. so you could see how architecture is mobilized as part of the system of control

and occupation of palestinians. you can see why palestinians would attack that system of infrastructure. this is without -- not supporting the killing of civilians. i think the architecture is a key part of understanding the conflict, the long history of settler colonization, and also understand what is happening in gaza now. it has happened in urban environment. one has to understand what this urban environment that has been created over the years, since really the gaza strip was created, as historical anomaly in 1948 when it was carved out as a kind of concentration area for refugees, becoming one of the densest part of the world,

most densely inhabited part of the world. how do you control population centers? and a lot of thinking was done from the israeli side in terms of thinking about the control of palestinian as an urban problem. what we see now happening in gaza is the shaping of gaza for the day after, will come now or weeks and months? we do not know. but what we see is israel actually shaping the fabric, destroying all homes and agricultural areas in huge battle zone along the border, creating east-west routes, not only the famous when we know, but all throughout this very long and thin strip of territory, the gaza strip. we see it being truncated almost, cut like salami, with routes and military

infrastructure that will be there in order to isolate and defy different parts of the gaza strip if resistance continues from the palestinian parts. and so architecture -- if architecture is really the means by which israel exercises control, we architects and the organization further architectures as many architects working with us of but also journalists, lawyers, etc., we are monitoring things from an architectural perspective. we work closely. we have a partner organization because we understand that working and palestine but working anywhere else in the world -- we also have offices in mexico and now starting one in

istanbul and many other places in the world. but understanding the lived reality and understanding the way architecture is used as a mechanism requires also lived experience, understanding the lived experience of the people there. and therefore, when we did that report you mentioned, it really touched -- we have been in touch with people on the ground, medical professionals, doctors uncle understanding the conditions in the so-called safe zones -- as i say, there is no say very and gaza. we tried to understand the spatial logic of that campaign. we could see one of the main strategic tools for israel to control and flip that pain on gaza is through the evacuation orders. and then they have been spatially designed -- initially, dividing north gaza from south

gaza and the dividing it into 600 technique parts, if you like, in which you would get very confusing order and what you're number would come of age he would be told to go from that numbers down into another number zone. do you get this message? and also on the way he would be attacked. and the zone you're being evacuated to is itself unsafe and unlivable. here what we see is the appeal of humanitarian principles to further israeli genocide. this is why we call the report "humanitarian violence." we need to be very, very wary when we are speaking about humanitarian principles in war, because very often -- not only the israeli military's, but western, northern, global militaries from the global north when they engage in urban warfare and parts of the global

south, they are applying humanitarian principles, playing international law in a particular way that does not contain violence, that is actually amplified. i will give you another example for that. warnings. you could think to warrant a population is actually something that could be very helpful. it could save lives. but actually, the aims of these warnings, or what is implied in them -- sometimes explicitly mentioned -- is if you do not heed the warning, you will be considered potentially part of the armed resistance in a particular area. that means you get redesignated from protected civilian to a nonprotected either voluntary human shield if you do not heed

the warning. with one tool, created the redesignation of a big part of the population and basically -- humanitarianism, when they're using those missiles in such a brutal campaign, it can actually be part of the problem rather than something that is moderating and defending civilians. nermeen: if we could talk a little bit more about that? the scale, just of give us a sense of this scale of the crisis, of mass expulsion at the moment almost 70% of the total area of the gaza strip has been given evacuation orders. if you can say quickly in terms of the international court of justice ruling, what does your report suggest about the defense that israel presented?

>> we will show how -- and we have shown -- how israeli military, the occupation forces -- if you look at things in relation to each other. if you look at military maneuver, you look at areas that have involved as we have, through analyzing videos, speaking to people, looking at satellite imagery, we have a good understanding, a good map of what the areas that have been bombed. overlay that with the so-called safe zones. overlay them with israeli military maneuver. and what you see is civilians are being evacuated into areas that have involved -- have involved and are continuously bombing, still being bombed as israel has ordered civilians

into them. you see in some cases, israeli military maneuver, itself designated as safe zones. so in this sense you see those categories operating in relation to each other as part of an overall strategy rather than you seeing humanitarian principles pushing against military violence and moderating it. you see has become one of the tools in the israeli campaign toolbox to generate that level of destruction in gaza. about 70% of the area being displaced. amy: 10 seconds. >> people displaced is much higher as the proportion of civilian infrastructure destroyed is almost complete. look at those things together and understand the military

sanction of humanitarian principle. amy: eyal weizman, we would like to ask you to stay and will post part two online at democracynow.org. eyal weizman is a british-israeli architect, founder and director of forensic architecture. we will link to the