11/01/23 11/01/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> a large number of injured have come to us. hundreds of injuries. hundreds of martyrs. they were just sitting in their homes. they were targeted while they were in their homes. amy: israel has bob gaza's

largest refugee camp -- bob gaza's largest refugee camp again, killing at least 50 palestinians and wounding over 150, sparking new outrage over israel's 26-day bombardment of the besieged territory. we will speak with a humanitarian advocate who grew up in jabalia. >> the bombing took place in the center of the refugee camp, one of the most sensitive places in gaza. amy: then we will speak to longtime human rights attorney craig mokhiber, a top united nations official in new york who has resigned, saying the u.n. is failing to stop what he calls a genocide unfolding in gaza. all that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

in gaza, israel struck the densely populated jabalia refugee camp again today day , one after an israeli air attack killed at least 50 people and injured another 150. this is a doctor who treated victims of the attack at the indonesian hospital, where surgeons had to operate in the hallways as the facility was overrun with patients. >> a large number of injured have come to us after the large explosion that shook the entire jabalia refugee camp. hundreds of injuries. hundreds of martyrs. they were just sitting in their arms. children, all martyrs. children, women, elderly. we have no idea what to do. there are injured everywhere. amy: the world health organization is warning of an imminent public health catastrophe in gaza, with some surgeries performed without

anesthesia due to the dire shortage of medical supplies. mohamed abu al-qumsan, an engineer with al jazeera's gaza bureau, lost 19 members of his family, including his father and two sisters, in israeli air raids on the jabalia camp. meanwhile, the first evacuations from gaza through the rafah border crossing with egypt have begun. officials are expected to let people with foreign passports and dozens of critically injured residents leave gaza. the temporary border opening is part of a deal brokered by qatar. in washington, d.c., protesters on tuesday repeatedly disrupted a senate panel hearing for secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin. their testimony was in support of president biden's request for $106 billion to fund fighting in -- the militaries of ukraine,

israel, taiwan, and to militarize the u.s.-mexico border. this is ann wright, former u.s. army colonel and codepink member. >> i am an army colonel, former diplomat. that was a terrible -- [indiscernible] amy: this comes as house republicans are proposing stripping $14 billion in irs funding to fulfill biden's request for for israeli military $14 million aid. senate finance committee chair ron wyden said in response -- "house republicans are using aid for israel as a political pawn in order to slash taxes for their wealthy donors. making it easier for rich people to cheat on their taxes isn't an offset, it adds to the deficit."

newly elected house speaker mike johnson has also said he wants to sever funding for ukraine from funding for israel, setting up a likely showdown with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. on tuesday, senators confirmed former treasury secretary jack lew as the u.s. ambassador to israel. at his confirmation hearing, he said israel security is paramount. meanwhile, the white house evoked the white supremacists who marched in charlottesville in 2017 when answering questions about palestinian rights protesters. this is white house press secretary karine jean-pierre responding to fox reporter peter doocy. >> you talked about extremists all the time and is usually about -- >> i have been very, very clear.

we are calling out any form of hate. amy: the head of the king center , dr. bernice king, lawyer and daughter of martin luther king, jr., responded to post by comedian amy schumer, who shared a video of dr. king condemning anti-semitism and defending israel's right to exist. bernice king wrote -- "certainly, my father was against anti-semitism. he also believed militarism to be among the interconnected triple evils. i am certain he would call for israel's bombing of palestinians to cease." here in new york on the longtime human rights attorney craig mokhiber, the director of the new york office of u.n. high commissioner of human rights, stepped down in protest over the u.n.'s failure to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in gaza, which he called a textbook

case of genocide. he blamed the u.s., the u.k., and much of europe for its complicity. we'll be joined by craig mokhiber later in the broadcast. meanwhile, chile and colombia have recalled their ambassadors to israel, while bolivia has cur -- cut diplomatic ties with israel, citing crimes against humanity. >> based on its principal stance of respect toward life, bolivia has decided to break in condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate israeli military offensive taking place in the gaza strip which threatens international peace and security. amy: in belgium, transportation unions have called on their over 3 million members to refuse to aid in the delivery of weapons to israel citing its genocide against palestinians. the unions called for a ceasefire and asked the belgian government to not allow arms to travel through belgian ports. yemen's houthi militia said it launched air attacks in southern

israel tuesday in response to the "brutal israeli-american aggression in gaza." separately, israel said it thwarted air attacks but did not disclose the source. this comes after saudi arabia said four of its soldiers died last week while fighting houthi rebels on its border with yemen. the u.s. announced this week it is sending an addition 300 troops to the middle east to "support regional deterrence efforts." in iran, authorities have detained prominent human rights lawyer nasrin sotoudeh. she was arrested and severely beaten by police sunday while she attended the funeral of 16-year-old armita geravand, who died of brain injuries last week after she was reportedly assaulted by iran's morality police at a tehran subway station in early october. police also attacked and arrested other activists and mourners at the funeral who demanded justice for geravand. sotoudeh has been arrested and

imprisoned several times before. burma is formalizing efforts to repatriate rohingya refugees who have fled genocide and persecution since 2017. burmese officials met with rohingya refugee families in bangladesh tuesday to discuss the repatriation plan, which was negotiated by burma, bangladesh, and china back in april. burma has said it's ready to accept the return of some 3000 rohingya refugees by december. but refugees have refused to go back fearing further violence. rohingya leaders said certain demands should be met, including resettlement to their own land and being granted citizenship. rohingya community members have also said they've been threatened with accepting repatriation while burmese officials claim the move would be voluntary. about a million rohingya refugees live in bangladesh. pakistani police have started arresting afghans as part of a nationwide crackdown on immigrants. over 4 million afghans live in pakistan. islamabad says nearly 2 million of them are undocumented.

tens of thousands were forced to return in the last month's pakistani authorities threatened them with mass deportation if they did not lead by november 1, today. many afghans, who've called pakistan home for decades, fear having to live under taliban rule and say they have nothing to go back to in afghanistan. >> we are helpless. we have nothing. nowhere to go. for the past two days we have been waiting here but no one is doing anything about our crossing over. what should we do know that we have come here? we should at least be allowed to cross over. in in kenya, king charles acknowledged britain's deepest regret for its "abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence" committed against the former colony. but king charles stopped short of an apology as he delivered his speech during a banquet as part of his four-day trip to kenya. the kenya human rights commission had called on charles to offer an unequivocal public apology.

the group estimates the revolt in central kenya between 1952 and 1960 killed or maimed some 90,000 kenyans. another 160,000 were detained. the u.k. agreed in 2013 to a 20 million pounds settlement to the atrocities they committed. this is the grandson of koitalei samoei, a nandi chief who fought to end british colonial rule. >> we have to demand a public apology from the government a british because of the atrocities they made on our people. we also expect reparations. amy: and the michigan attorney general's office is closing its criminal pursuit of public officials responsible for the flint water crisis, including former governor rick snyder.

it has been nearly a decade since michigan leaders switched flint's drinking water source to the flint river to save money. the water corroded the city's agent pipes, causing poisonous levels of lead to leach into the drinking water causing many residents in the majority black city, particularly children, to develop health problems. an outbreak of legionnaires' disease killed at least 12 people. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, israel has bought gaza's largest pg cap again, a day after its massive airstrikes killed at least 50 palestinians and wounded over 150, sparking new outrage over israel's 26 day bombardment of the besieged territory. we will speak with humanitarian advocate who grew up in jabalia. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. massive israeli airstrikes on gaza's largest refugee camp jabalia killed at least 50 palestinians tuesday and wounded over 150 others, sparking new outrage over israel's 26 day bombardment of the besieged territory. israel bombed the refugee camp again today. numerous residential buildings collapsed in tuesday's blast, trapping families under rubble. one engineer from al jazeera, mohammed abulqamsa, reportedly lost at least 18 members of his family, including his father and two of his sisters. a long line of dead bodies wrapped in white sheets were placed outside the indonesian hospital in the refugee camp where doctors scrambled to treat survivors. >> and large number of injured have come to us after the large

explosion that shook the entire jabalia camp. hundreds of injuries. hundreds of martyrs. they were just sitting in their homes. children come all martyrs. children, women, elderly. we have no idea what to do. there are injured everywhere. all of the volunteers went hand-in-hand just to help people. amy: israeli officials acknowledged carrying out the airstrike on the refugee camp describing as a "wide-scale strike" targeting a hamas commander accused of helping to orchestrate hamas' october 7 attack inside israel that resulted in the deaths of about 1400 people in israel and the capture of over 220 hostages. the attack on jabalia came as the united nations and aid groups issued new dire warnings about the humanitarian crisis in gaza. james elder of unicef said gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. >> the numbers are appalling.

reportedly now more than 3450 children have been killed. staggeringly, this number rises significantly every single day. gaza has become a graveyard for children. it is a living hell for everyone else. and yet the threats to children go beyond bombs and mortars. i want to spring -- to speak briefly on two of those, trauma. the more than one million children of gaza have a critical water crisis. gaza's water production now,'s capacity is at 5% of its daily output. so child deaths, particularly infant deaths come to dehydration are growing threat. amy: earlier today, the rafah border crossing with gaza was opened to allow dozens of egyptian ambulances in to evacuate injured patients. we go now to gaza where we are

joined by yousef hammash, advocacy officer in gaza for the norwegian refugee council. he lives in the gaza strip with his wife and two children. he is from the jabalia refugee camp. he is joining us today from khan younis. yousef hammash, thank you so much for joining as they. you grew up and you were born in the jabalia refugee camp. can you talk about the significance of what took place yesterday? >> yes, i am born and raised in jabalia cap as a refugee. jabalia camp is not a place for us to consider -- it is more than a place. the attack was at the heart of the camp. gaza is one of -- jabalia camp is the most densely populated

place in gaza. it is a block of concrete. the whitest space is half a meter -- widest space is half a meter. it is one of the most crowded places on earth. the attack yesterday, the massive amount of casualties, first of all an apartment and because it is very populated. [indiscernible] they want to target someone. if you look to the images, what is going on -- amy: can you respond to the israeli military saying they

aimed for the alleyways, not the buildings and that they were going for one of the commanders of hamas and that people should have left, that they warned palestinians to leave northern gaza and go south? >> first of all, where should people go? thousands of people are in the streets. there is no place anyone in the south. there is no safe passage to move from the north to the south. people cannot leave their houses without knowing where they're going. if you live in jabalia, it means you cannot handle your situation -- if you're going to a new place without nowhere to go and don't know where to go, how will people keep up when they are displaced?

this is completely legal, first of all. you cannot force more than one million people to move in a few days. they split gaza in two parts. how people go from jabalia and gaza city to the south is the first thing. the other thing, i think the images in the amount of casualties -- counter what the israeli forces are saying. amy: i want to play a clip of the idf spokesperson who appeared on cnn where he was interviewed by wolf blitzer. >> you know there are a lot of refugees, citizen civilians, men, women, and children in the refugee camp as well, right? >> this is a tragedy of war. as you know, we have been saying for days, civilians not involved with hamas, please move --

>> we're just trying to get more information. you knew there were civilians and refugees, but you decided to still drop a bomb on that refugee camp to kill a hamas commander. by the way, was he killed? >> i can't confirm. there will be more updates. about the civilians, we're doing everything we can to minimize. amy: if you can respond to the idf lt. col.? >> i just need to understand -- the loss of civilians -- asking people to leave is not a justification. this is not a justification to use the massive amounts -- [indiscernible]

how there try to justify the killing of civilians. this is unacceptable. the killing of that amount of civilians. first, it is illegal to forcibly leave and there's no place that people can go to. people like me, we're facing tragedy to provide our daily needs like water and bread. everything is challenging here because there's not enough space in the septa hold the people from the north. people don't have any other options. there is nothing on this planet can justify killing civilians. amy: you are in khan younis, yousef hammash. were you living in jabalia? >> i am born and raised in jabalia.

amy: talk about who lives there. talk about the refugee camp, the largest refugee camp, how it was established. >> there are refugee camps all across gaza established in the nakba in 1948 and expanded. [indiscernible] it is a small city within the city, the refugee camp. it is very densely populated. i know the people who live there are refugees. this is generations of refugees who are living in this refugee camp who expended day by day because the amount of people are getting more and more and there's no solution for refugees. so it became a small city within a city.

it is different than other camps. amy: so you moved with your family or your other family to khan younis. after the israeli military told people to move south, dropped thousands of pamphlets and said they would consider you terrorists if you didn't, they bombed khan younis. is that right? they bombed places in the south where they said you should go. >> even in khan younis, it is not safe. [indiscernible] there is no safe place all over gaza. another reason why people are not leaving. it is not safe in them north, in the middle, not safe in the south. the bombardment did not stop since the first day. this is another reason why people are not moving from the

north because it is not different. there is no difference wherever you are, you are always thinking when you're going to be the next target. amy: you are in khan younis. in an interview you did with channel 4, you said it took you five hours to look for one liter of fuel in khan younis. if you can talk about why fuel is important and respond to what the israeli military assange, why they're not letting any coe in, saving lives, debaters with premature babies, etc., what this fuel shortage looks like for you? not only for use, palestinian in gaza, but advocacy officer in gaza for the norwegian refugee council, where you're responsible for so many refugees.

>> there's no difference between anyone here. everyone is under the same circumstances. fuel is very important because there is no electricity. even when we have one week -- we have water -- we need the fuel to push the water up to the houses. that is why everything is challenging. it is a matter of complicity. you need to find water. it is a must impossible. three days, we're trying to find another leader and i could not make it. i was lucky because i found someone with a friend of mine and his car had some fuel. unfortunately, it has been three days and we don't have fuel.

today we have water again that is from the municipality lines. it cannot be pushed to the house. [indiscernible] everything is challenging. day by day, it becomes more impossible. we don't have electricity, fuel, water. we are lacking everything. we don't have things for our basic needs. unfortunately, we don't see to allow for basic needs. the maximum amount of trucks -- before the war started, gaza was having more than 500 trucks a day. without that amount of need from

the war. so it is really unacceptable. it is not a victory they succeeded to manage to get these trucks. this is not a victory for anyone. this is a drop in the ocean of need. amy: yousef hammash, that cut off communication again. we did not know if we would even be able to talk to you. but now the other for city -- electricity where you are is back on. can he talk about the significance of the cutting off of cell phone and electricity that also happened over the weekend, what it means for you? also, what is happening at rafah today? >> this is the second time -- this is the second time they isolated us from the rest of the planet. we did not have access to cell phones, internet, so literally we did not know what was happening. we were completely isolated

inside our housing. [indiscernible] they had generators so i can have access to internet to have this interview with you. everything is challenging. being isolated from the rest, we did not know what was happening in north or gaza city or anywhere else in gaza. we were completely in a blackout. i don't know how it is acceptable to do this to us. we are very good people. we cannot cope with this. this is very dangerous. you cannot call an ambulance. people were trying to get an ambulance after an attack or if they have a medical situation,

they have to go to the hospital -- it is an impossible situation . this is the second time, around 14 hours. let's hope they're not going to keep doing that. this is affecting the medical teams. it is really dangerous. amy: how old are your children? you are frozen. how old are your children? >> i have two children, five years old and 2.5. hopefully, we will manage to stay alive during this