This war should have ended a long time ago, and Israel continues and continues, really now without any purpose except of mass killing — killing and killing and killing for the sake of killing: Gideon Levy
In northern Gaza, the director of the besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital says five medical workers were among 50 people killed in Israeli strikes near the hospital. Israeli forces then stormed the hospital and forced hundreds, including patients, into the streets. This all comes as The New York Times has confirmed past reporting by +972 Magazine that on October 7, 2023, Israel loosened military rules meant to protect noncombatants in Gaza. Award-winning Israeli journalist Gideon Levy decries the moral decay of Israel, which has gone so far as to open a luxurious rest area for soldiers in northern Gaza: “It’s the same moral blindness to what’s going on around you.” Levy also discusses his latest piece, headlined “The IDF’s Own Sickening ‘Zone of Interest’ in the Heart of Gaza.”
GAZA casualties, live statistics
Transcript: This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show in Israel. The New York Times has confirmed past reporting by +972 Magazine that on October 7th, 2023, Israel loosened military rules meant to protect noncombatants and gave soldiers, quote, “the authority to strike thousands of militants and military sites that had never been a priority in previous wars in Gaza,” unquote. The Times reports the order meant, quote, “the military could target rank-and-file militants as they were at home surrounded by relatives and neighbors, instead of only when they were alone outside,” unquote.
This comes as the head of Gaza’s health agency says he’s lost contact with Kamal Adwan Hospital and at least 50 people have been killed, including five medical staff, in an Israeli airstrike on a building near the hospital in northern Gaza.
Meanwhile, in central Gaza, Palestinians attended the funeral of five journalists killed in an Israeli strike near Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat. They worked for the Al-Quds Today channel and were in a van clearly marked “press.”
MOURNER: [translated] These journalists, what’s their fault? You target them just because they report the news? Just because they document your crimes? Why do you attack and target them? God is my witness, and he is the best disposer of affairs. Ayman was waiting for his first child to be born. His wife was still in labor, hadn’t delivered yet. He was hoping to see his first born, but he didn’t make it. He was martyred before he ever got to see his son.
AMY GOODMAN: Also in Gaza, health officials report the fourth infant child in 72 hours has died due to the cold temperatures.
For more, we go to Tel Aviv, where we’re joined by Gideon Levy, award-winning Israeli journalist, author, columnist for the newspaper Haaretz, member of its editorial board. His new article is headlined “The IDF’s Own Sickening ‘Zone of Interest’ in the Heart of Gaza.” Levy’s latest book is titled The Killing of Gaza: Reports on a Catastrophe.
Gideon, welcome back to Democracy Now! Let’s begin with the killing of the five journalists in a clearly marked van that said “press.” They were outside of Al-Awda Hospital. One of the journalists was waiting for the birth of his first child, his wife inside in labor.
GIDEON LEVY: Nothing will make Israel to admit that they were journalists. The IDF already claims that they were all terrorists presenting themselves as journalists. You never know nothing. The fact is that this mass killing is going on even now when you understand there is no purpose whatsoever except of killing more Palestinians. This war should have ended a long time ago, and Israel continues and continues, really now without any purpose except of mass killing — killing and killing and killing for the sake of killing. And this car of those five journalists is just one example of so many.
AMY GOODMAN: And the death of another child of hypothermia, dying of the cold in Gaza during this cold snap, Gideon?
GIDEON LEVY: I am much more worried, Amy, about the cold wind which blows from Israel, because those stories are hardly published here, and if they are published, they don’t touch anyone. Look what happened to us. Really, frozen babies, even this doesn’t touch anybody. Nobody talks about it. Nobody really seems to care about it. You will hear all kind of justifications, except of one, that Israel is continuing to commit crimes.
AMY GOODMAN: Gideon, your last piece is about what you’re describing as a “zone of interest” in Gaza. I wanted to go to the original Oscar-winning film of Jonathan Glazer and play the trailer….
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