Latest news with #YounisTirawi
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First Post
08-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Israeli military's use of Palestinians as human shields in Gaza is systematic, says Osint report
Open source intelligence based on video clips posted online adds weight to previous reports that the Israeli military is systematically using Palestinians as human shields in Gaza and West Bank read more Israeli military has been found to systematically use Palestinians as human shields in Gaza and West Bank. AI-generated image via DALL-E A growing body of visual evidence from both Gaza and the West Bank shows Palestinian civilians being used as human shields during ongoing Israeli military operations, finds an open source intelligence (Osint) report. It has cited multiple videos circulating online, showing blindfolded and restrained individuals, who are placed in close proximity to soldiers, or even tied to the front of military vehicles during active missions. The clips, which span several locations across Palestinian territories under Israeli control, depict a troubling consistency: unarmed individuals are bound, hooded, or made to wear military-style vests while positioned at the forefront of advancing units, the report says. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD These images have sparked outrage on social media, with many describing them as a flagrant violation of the laws of war. The Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), an independent investigative group, has confirmed the authenticity of several of these videos. CIR's open-source intelligence (Osint) team employed geolocation, drone footage analysis, and cross-platform video comparisons to confirm where and when these incidents occurred. Shocking documentation obtained by [@AJENews] originating from an Israeli drone showing the use of a Palestinian civilian as a human shield in Shujjaia Neighborhood, East Gaza city last December to search after militants, the man is being monitored by drones the whole time — Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) May 2, 2024 Patterns across territories One clip shows a man strapped to the bonnet of an armoured vehicle as it drives through a residential street. Another features several bound men flanked by soldiers, some of whom appear to be directing or shielding fire. In a separate sequence, drone footage captures a blindfolded man in a combat zone while Israeli troops take cover behind him. Stills taken from footage posted on 22 June 2024 show an individual being driven on the bonnet of an Israeli military vehicle. Image courtesy: CIR One particularly graphic video clip showed a stripped, injured man with his hands bound behind his back man with at least six armed IDF soldiers standing beside an armoured vehicle. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The man had red circular lesions throughout his body, including on his neck, torso, and right thigh, which were assessed as consistent with wounds caused by airsoft and pellet guns. READ MORE: Body as battlefield: How Israel and Hamas top brass 'authorised' use of rape, sexual violence The detained individual is seen entering a damaged residential building and is followed up a stairwell by a soldier holding a flashlight. In each of these cases, CIR was able to match specific architectural features, road layouts, and environmental conditions to verify the location. This mapping confirmed that the events occurred not only in Gaza, but also in areas of the West Bank such as Jenin and Nablus, pointing to a broader operational trend rather than isolated misconduct. Digital verification and online traces CIR's analysts relied on real-time social media posts, often made within minutes or hours of the actual incidents. Metadata, shadow analysis, and satellite imagery were used to corroborate these posts. The circulation of these videos on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) provided both a distribution channel and a timestamped archive for investigators to assess. CIR's findings add weight to previous reports, including one by _The Associated Press_ that presented accounts of seven Palestinians who had been used as human shields to make sure areas were clear of bombs and gunmen. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Under international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, the use of human shields is explicitly prohibited and considered a war crime. As fighting continues and civilian protections appear increasingly eroded, these visuals, combined with geospatial data, provide a chilling look into the tactics employed on the ground. (With inputs from agencies)
The National
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Lawsuit seeks prosecution of French-Israeli 'Ghost Unit' snipers in Gaza
Human rights activists on Tuesday filed a lawsuit at a Paris court alleging that two French-Israeli snipers committed war crimes in Gaza between November 2023 and March last year. The two men, identified as Sasha A. and Gabriel P., are known to be members of a 20-strong sniper group in the Israeli army's paratroopers brigade known as the Ghost Unit, half of which is composed of dual nationals. It stands accused of shooting at unarmed civilians in Gaza, which would constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, activists said. The complaint, lodged at the war crimes unit of the Paris tribunal, is based on an investigation by Palestinian journalist Younis Tirawi that he published on X in October last year. It includes an interview with a US-born sergeant who led the Ghost Unit. 'The fact that they are members of this elite unit under the orders of this sergeant indicates that they are authors, or co-authors, or at least accomplices of crimes under international law,' vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Alexis Deswaef, told The National. 'They can be prosecuted and judged even if they are physically absent,' Mr Deswaef said. 'It's important that the judiciary does its work because impunity breeds further impunity.' In Mr Tirawi's investigation, the sergeant, speaking Hebrew, identifies killings executed by members of his team in a video shown to him by an unnamed interviewer. The context of the interview, in which the sergeant openly discusses his unit's operations, remains unclear. The sergeant claims all of the snipers' victims were 'terrorists'. According to translated captions, he says: 'They want to exploit our humaneness. They think, 'oh I don't think they'll shoot us because we're in civilian clothes, because we don't lift up our weapons' and all that, but they were wrong and that's what snipers are for.' The FIDH filed the lawsuit along with its Palestinian and French member organisations – Al-Haq, Al Mezan, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, and France's Human Rights League (LDH) – as well as the Association France Palestine Solidarite (AFPS). It includes testimonies compiled by Al Mezan of Gazans who describe being shot by snipers as they attempted to retrieve the bodies of their relatives. One witness, who lost his 17-year old daughter, said that she was shot in the head as she was fetching water. Another described the death of his three sons at the hands of Israeli snipers. 'The convergence of witness accounts and the visual documentation presented by Tirawi strongly points to the involvement of the same snipers in a co-ordinated campaign of extrajudicial killings across various locations in Gaza,' said Issam Younes, general director of Al Mezan. ' France must ensure that these crimes do not go unpunished and guarantee the prosecution of those responsible, especially when they are its own nationals,' said Emmanuel Daoud, lawyer for LDH and AFPS. The Israeli army is believed to include 4,000 French citizens. The lawsuit comes six months after the FIDH and other NGOs filed a lawsuit at the crimes against humanity division of the Paris judicial court against another French-Israeli soldier, Yoel O., who published a video in which he appears to insult Palestinian detainees presenting signs of torture. A first lawsuit filed by the same human rights groups in April last year was dismissed by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office, which mentioned an 'insufficiently characterised offence'. Investigations were also launched last year into members of the 'Ghost Unit' in Belgium and South Africa. Its members include three US nationals, two French, one Belgian, one South African, one Italian and other Israelis with unknown dual nationality, according to Mr Tirawi.
Al-Ahram Weekly
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Israeli army kills, wounds dozens of Palestinians seeking food assistance in Gaza - War on Gaza
The Israeli army intensified attacks across the Gaza Strip early Monday, killing and injuring dozens of Palestinians, including children, in renewed assaults by land, air, and sea. Gaza's civil defence agency said that Israeli gunfire killed 20 people waiting for aid in the south of the Palestinian territory on Monday. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that "20 martyrs and more than 200 wounded by occupation gunfire... were transferred to the Red Cross field hospital in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, then to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis". He added that the people had been waiting to reach an aid centre in Rafah "when the occupation forces opened fire" near the Al-Alam roundabout. When asked by AFP, the Israeli military said it was checking the reports. Rafah | It's aid—only, an aid to death. Israeli troops execute at least 20 Palestinians including children and injure more than 200 this morning in Rafah, Eyewitness: 'They ordered us to gather at 9 AM. We stood crowded behind a fence—right at 9, they opened fire.' — Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) June 16, 2025 In southern Gaza, three Palestinians were killed and at least 20 others injured after Israeli forces opened fire on crowds waiting for humanitarian aid near the Al-'Alam area west of Rafah. Meanwhile, ten Palestinians were wounded as Israeli forces opened fire on crowds waiting for aid distribution west of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza. In tandem, medical sources confirmed the killing of two Palestinian fishermen and the disappearance of a third after Israeli naval forces opened fire on their boat off the coast of Gaza City, according to WAFA. Since the launch of Israel's military offensive on 7 October 2023, over 55,362 Palestinians—the majority of them children and women—have been killed, and 128,741 others injured, according to the latest figures. Over 150 Palestinians have been killed since 27 May 2025 at distribution points established by the Israeli-American "Gaza Relief Foundation", which has been rejected by the United Nations. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
