Sunday, August 10, 2025

Oslo’s Promise Was Always a Lie, Its Legacy Is Starving Palestinians

The blueprint for Gaza’s starvation was laid in the 1993 Oslo Accords and operationalized in 2007, when Israel calculated the minimum number of calories needed to keep Palestinians in Gaza alive. That slow violence has now reached its lethal apex.


A Palestinian woman holds her severely malnourished 1.5-year-old son, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, inside a tent shelter in Deirl Al-Balah, Gaza on July 29, 2025.
(Photo: Anas Zeyad Fteha/Anadolu via Getty Images)


Saleema Gul
Aug 10, 2025
Common Dreams

In 2012, Gisha, an Israeli human rights organization, won a legal battle forcing the Israeli government to release documents revealing that it had calculated calorie intake for Gaza’s population. The goal was to engineer a crisis just short of famine. And it worked. By 2021, the World Health Organization found that nearly 90% of Gaza’s preschoolers were consuming less than 75% of their daily caloric requirements.

Back in 2005, Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) signed an agreement intended to ensure the flow of goods and people between Gaza and the West Bank. But instead of improving access, the policy became a tool of restriction. Before 2006, 400 trucks entered Gaza daily. Israel then imposed a limit of 107 trucks, and by 2007, only 67 trucks per day were actually allowed in.

The manufactured scarcity forced Palestinians to dig tunnels underground to smuggle in food and essential supplies. In 2012, The Guardian reported on a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable quoting Israeli officials who described their objective: to “keep Gaza’s economy on the brink of collapse.” Gisha called the policy what it was: economic warfare.

What’s unfolding in Gaza today is the result of a strategy decades in the making. The Oslo Accords appeared to offer Palestinian self-rule but, in reality, denied any true sovereignty. Israel maintained full control over borders, security, and the movement of people and goods, while delegating limited responsibilities—like health and education—to the PA. What seemed like a step toward statehood instead institutionalized forced dependency. As the late Palestinian-American intellectual Edward Said put it, Oslo was “an instrument of Palestinian surrender—a Palestinian Versailles.”

Starvation is the final phase of Oslo.

When Starvation Becomes Too Visible to Spin

For years, Gaza’s starvation was engineered quietly—camouflaged behind border policy, calorie math, and diplomatic doublespeak. But hunger at its peak is harder to justify than bombs. Even the institutions once trusted to manage the narrative are starting to shift.

Ross Douthat, a columnist for The New York Times, published a piece on July 26, 2025, titled “How Israel’s War Became Unjust.” This admission is particularly notable given the Times’ long-standing role in amplifying Israeli military narratives—a pattern thoroughly documented by the activist collective Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG).

Even so, on July 30, 2025, the Times updated an earlier front-page story under pressure from pro-Israel groups. The piece had shown a haunting image of Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, a starving child in Gaza. The correction read: “Had the Times known the information before publication, it would have been included in the article and the picture caption.”

At face value, it’s a standard correction. But in practice, it functions as narrative damage control to cast doubt on the visual evidence of starvation. By adding ambiguity the correction served to blunt the emotional and political impact of the Times’ own reporting.

This fits a long-standing pattern. For decades, the Times has repeatedly framed Israeli violence as security, while treating Palestinian suffering as either self-inflicted or incidental. It amplifies the Israeli military’s talking points, dilutes Palestinian testimony with qualifiers, and routinely fails to name the occupation as a root cause.



So why, after months of justification and denial, has the Western press—especially the Times—begun to acknowledge the scale of atrocity in Gaza?

Because starvation resists spin in ways bombs do not.



Mass casualties can be reframed as “collateral damage.” But starvation speaks a deeper, more primal language. It exposes horror that cannot be softened by euphemism or hidden behind military jargon. It leaves behind emaciated bodies and hollow eyes—images that no narrative of necessity can justify. At some point, the brutality becomes so undeniable, so unspinnable, that even the monster flinches at its own reflection.

But not always.

While the American Jewish Committee feigned condemnation of Rep. Randy Fine’s (R-Fla.) genocidal incitements, the New York Post dug in. Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) became the first Republican to explicitly call Israel’s assault on Gaza a genocide. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has also broken ranks, consistently opposing U.S. military funding to Israel.



More Than a Crime: Gaza and the Case for Societal Torture

The images that finally forced even reluctant Western media and political elites to confront Gaza’s reality were never ambiguous to legal scholars. For years, they’ve argued that starvation is not collateral damage but a deliberate weapon of war that demands its own category of prosecution.

Tom Dannenbaum, a legal scholar, in his 2021 article “Siege Starvation: A War Crime of Societal Torture,” argues that siege starvation must be treated as a distinct war crime—not merely a form of inhumane treatment, but a method of torture at the societal level.

To bomb people—to sever limbs, level large swaths of infrastructure, or extinguish entire bloodlines—is one kind of horror. But to starve a mother until her breasts run dry, and then shoot her as she walks toward aid, is another. It is an assault not only on her body, but on her capacity to mother, to love, to decide, to hope.

Dannenbaum warns that starvation is uniquely insidious because it does not only destroy the individual—it unravels the social bonds that hold a people together. It targets not just “political commitments, but also at the human capacity for friendship and love.” Writing for Just Security, Dannenbaum, and Alex de Waal who is the foremost expert on famine, deepen this point: “Human existence is based upon sharing food. The etymology of the word ‘companion’—someone with whom one shares bread—is just one indicator of how deep this goes. When people can no longer share bread but must instead fight one another for scraps, human society is severely impacted in its ability to function. This is what we see unfolding in Gaza today.”

This is what Israel’s starvation of Palestinians aims to break: the human capacity to hope, to care, to endure.

This is why he calls siege starvation “a crime of societal torture”: because it is designed to dismantle human agency and break political will.

Starvation is already illegal, prosecutable as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and—when used with the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group”—prosecutable as genocide under the Genocide Convention. The law is clear; what’s missing is prosecuting siege starvation.

At Nuremberg, prosecutors presented compelling evidence of how the Nazis used starvation as a weapon of war. Defendants were convicted under charges like “crimes against humanity” or “extermination.” However, the courts didn’t call the starvation of civilians during the siege of Leningrad illegal, only abhorrent. Why? Because the Allied powers had also used siege starvation during the war. Prosecuting it would have meant putting themselves on trial too. Prosecutors cited Lieber Code (Art. 17), drafted for the Union Army during the American Civil War, as permitting the use of starvation to hasten military victory.

In other words, the legal precedent for ignoring siege starvation came from the United States.

As de Waal notes, in his article “Nazis used it, We use it,” the Allies’ own tactics included Britain’s blockade of Germany in World War I, which killed an estimated 750,000 civilians, and the U.S. Air Force’s 1945 “Operation Starvation,” which mined Japanese harbors, killing civilians as well as soldiers.

So why does it matter if siege starvation has its own category of prosecution? As Dannenbaum explains, when it’s folded into other charges, the most devastating part of the harm—the dismantling of a community’s ability to live and function together—vanishes from view. It slips into the background of “military strategy” or “counterterrorism,” protected by the political power of those who use it. This silence masks the crime, allowing siege starvation to persist not only as a weapon of war, but as a long-term strategy of domination.

History, tragically, has seen starvation as a tactic of domination before.

The Arc of History Bends Back on Itself: From the Holocaust to Gaza, Starvation as Policy

To fully grasp the gravity of siege starvation, we have to place it within the broader historical and legal arc. Legal scholars like Dannenbaum aren’t alone in urging us to recognize starvation as a distinct crime and prosecute it as such. De Waal also echoes this view. He also notes that modern starvation is almost never due to weather—it’s political.

Yet, as de Waal notes, modern genocide scholars have largely neglected starvation in their analyses—although Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term “genocide,” studied such tactics in great detail. Lemkin focused specifically on what he called “racial discrimination in feeding,” citing Nazi policies that rationed food based on ethnicity: 100% of carbohydrates for Germans and only 27% for Jews. He also documented how the Nazis intensified suffering through overcrowding, denial of medicine, and calculated neglect. Starvation was not a byproduct of war—it was policy.

These mechanisms are chillingly mirrored in Gaza today. Israel has imposed the longest siege in modern history, enclosing over 2 million Palestinians within a narrow strip of land, restricting access to food, water, fuel, and medical supplies. Palestinians have been herded into ever-tighter spaces as bombs fall around them. The conditions are not dissimilar from those Lemkin once described.

What’s different with Gaza is not the tactic—it’s the visibility. This time, the evidence isn’t buried in archives. It is live-streamed. And yet, even in the face of such clarity, much of the West continues to equivocate.

The Unmaking of Palestinians

What happens when a tactic left unprosecuted becomes a tactic perfected? The absence of legal accountability has allowed the practice of siege starvation to evolve—methodically, devastatingly—into a centerpiece of modern warfare. And nowhere is that clearer than Gaza.

In an interview with DemocracyNow! on July 21, 2025, de Waal offered a chilling assessment: “I’ve been working on this field of famine, food crisis, and humanitarian action for more than 40 years, and there is no case, over those four decades, of such minutely engineered, closely monitored, precisely designed mass starvation of a population as is happening in Gaza today.”

He elaborated further in a separate conversation with Michael Young, senior editor of Diwan, emphasizing that what sets Gaza apart is not only the precision of its deprivation but its reversibility: “The starvation of Gaza is unique, however, in that the situation can be remedied overnight if Israel chooses to do so.” He added, “If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were to decide that every child in Gaza should have breakfast tomorrow, it could be done.”

Put plainly: Israel’s starvation of Gaza is strategic.

The punishment of Gaza is a message to the world: If you fight for freedom, you will be starved and erased.


However, the effects of starvation in Gaza—biological, psychological, and generational—began decades before the headlines reached Western front pages. In July 2025, NPR reported growing concern about how starvation may shape future Palestinian generations—not just through deprivation, but through genetic alteration. Professor Marko Kerac of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine warned: “It’s a lifelong thing. It’s even across generations.”

A February 2025 study on genetic changes in Syrians who endured siege violence offers insight into the intergenerational harms and lasting effects of such conditions. In 1982, the Syrian regime besieged the city of Hama, killing tens of thousands. Decades later, scientists studying descendants of women pregnant during the siege discovered lasting genetic imprints of that trauma—even in grandchildren who never experienced it directly. The Hama siege lasted less than a month. Gaza has been besieged for nearly two decades. If a siege lasting less than a month left genetic scars across generations, what then of Gaza?

In truth, Palestinian children and adults in Gaza have faced long-term nutritional deprivation for decades. Between 2000 and 2010, stunting rates—a clinical sign of chronic malnutrition starting in the womb—rose from 7.5% to over 10%. (By 2007, Israel had already implemented a policy of putting Palestinians “on a diet.”) By 2010, Gaza’s stunting rate had climbed to 13%, compared with just 8% in the West Bank. A 2018 public health study revealed that 1 in 5 children in Gaza were stunted by age two—double the national average just years earlier. By 2013, 85% of Gaza’s population was food insecure.

UNICEF and public health experts have consistently identified the political and economic blockade as the driving cause.




However, one doesn’t need charts or spreadsheets to recognize the toll of calorie restriction. As Dr. Ahmad Yousaf, an American physician volunteering in Gaza, put it at a press conference on July 31, 2025: “It doesn’t take a doctor to recognize the signs of starvation—and the starvation didn’t start this week. It takes months of deprivation for a body to show temporal wasting, for cachexia to set in, for every single rib to become visible. You don’t need a medical degree to understand what these people have been through. I stand in front of news crews, I stand on the streets, and every person I see looks malnourished. In the hospitals we work at in Arkansas, we would diagnose every single one of them with severe protein malnutrition.”



To fully grasp the cruelty of this strategy, we must zoom out. In 2004, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon—widely condemned for his role in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre—announced Israel’s “disengagement” from Gaza. His chief of staff, Dov Weisglass, described the real intent: “The disengagement is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians.”

After Hamas’ 2006 election victory, siege logic became more brutal. That March, amid growing food scarcity, Weisglass said: “It’s like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won’t die.”

Fast forward to 2025: up to 20% of Gaza’s population has been annihilated. And those who remain face not just airstrikes, but the slow violence of state-engineered starvation.

Palestinian reporter Anas al-Sharif, speaking from Gaza, warns of mass hunger he witnesses daily. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), roughly 470,000 people in Gaza are now in Phase 5—classified as “catastrophe”—the most critical and dangerous stage of food insecurity, often irreversible if food becomes available later.


Starvation as Resistance Management

Having reduced the body to hunger, siege warfare turns next to the spirit.

What’s at stake in Gaza is more than politics, sovereignty, or borders. To raise a family under siege while both parent and child are hungry; to remember your history, to share food with your neighbor when survival would suggest turning inward—this is love as resistance.

This is what Israel’s starvation of Palestinians aims to break: the human capacity to hope, to care, to endure. Israel seeks to reduce every person to a creature of need, unable to give or choose, to have aspirations for freedom.

This is the logic of what scholars call “social death”—the deliberate collapse of social fabric and human interdependence. Starvation, then, is not just biological warfare. It is the violent unraveling of community. As the late philosopher Claudia Card argued, “Groups themselves have a collective ‘life,’ and that ‘life’ can ‘die.’”

In Gaza, starvation is a strategy of erasure that has become a spectacle—watched by a world that rarely intervenes.
The New Global Order: Starvation and Spectacle

While Western governments and legacy media have downplayed—or deliberately obscured—the genocide and mass starvation unfolding in Gaza, much of Israeli society displays little ambiguity about its intent. Some religious figures have gone so far as to demand that every child in Gaza be denied food. For those with the stomach to confront this depravity, the human rights organization Al-Haq has catalogued a damning archive of genocidal statements by Israeli officials and public figures.

Meanwhile, according to a late July poll, 79% of Israeli Jews said they were “not so troubled” or “not troubled at all” by reports of famine and mass suffering among Palestinians in Gaza. Crowds gather on hilltops to watch the bombing of Gaza—“the best show in town.” As they barbecue, they gleefully watch with binoculars Gaza’s theater of suffering.

The image of brown, emaciated bodies has long been a familiar spectacle in the Western imagination: A conquest. The unspoken echo of a modern-day crusade.

To be clear, not all in the West share this worldview. Public opinion, especially among younger generations and marginalized communities in the U.S., has shifted. And yet, a deeper cultural conditioning remains—one that renders Palestinian suffering invisible. At best, it is seen as regrettable collateral. At worst, it is framed as punishment.

What sets this moment apart is the unapologetic display of horror. The Nazis, at the height of their crimes, still tried to hide the evidence. Israel does not bother. It carries out genocide in full view—as if daring the world to intervene. The world, instead, averts its gaze.
What Gaza Tells Us About Our Own Future

What we’re witnessing in Gaza today is the culmination of Oslo's final form. It’s now time to lay the corpse of the two-state solution beside the corpse of Oslo. Anyone still invoking that phrase is either deluding themselves or seeking to erase Palestine forever.

This is not only a political failure; it is a moral one. At its core, Israel is at war with the very idea of humanity—with the possibility of justice, dignity, and moral order in a world governed by power.

There are only two mechanisms capable of halting this genocide. If Washington told Israel to stop, it would. American financial, military, and diplomatic support is the lifeblood of this genocide. But the U.S. will not act until it’s too late—because this violence reflects its own imperial posture: Israel is the West’s avatar—a lonely democracy fighting barbarism. Zion becomes Christendom’s vanguard. Gaza becomes a proving ground for empire.

Short of a miracle, resistance from the Arab and Muslim world is no more promising. They are fractured, subdued, or complicit.They issue statements, but take no actions that carry real cost.

Which brings us to the truth. The punishment of Gaza is a message to the world: If you fight for freedom, you will be starved and erased. And no one will come for you, your children, or your city. Gaza shows us those who love too deeply, resist too firmly, and care too radically are most at risk of being erased.

Some of us have surrendered our claim to a moral existence. We cling to the illusion that if we are quiet enough and careful enough, we will be spared.

Yet, others stubbornly persist, the best they can, because the cries of the helpless leave no choice. As a blind 79-year-old Palestinian man implored: “All my children have died... and this Nakba is harder than the Nakba of 1948. First God... then you. We need someone to stand with us.”


Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.



Saleema Gul is a Houston-based activist, who has organized for over two decades on social justice and human rights issues locally and globally.
Full Bio >
Hundreds of thousands rally across Europe in support of Gaza

‘Our government must take action to end Israel’s genocide,’ Palestine Solidarity Campaign writes on X before London demonstration

Burak Bir |10.08.2025 - TRT/AA




LONDON

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in European countries held rallies and marches Saturday in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, demanding an end to Israeli attacks on the enclave.

Brits took to the streets in London to protest the attacks and demand an immediate ceasefire as part of the 30th National March for Palestine.

Hundreds of thousands marched towards the Prime Minister's Office from central Russell Square under the theme: "Stop Starving Gaza."

Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), one of the organizers of nationwide pro-Palestine rallies, wrote on X before the protest that Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza to death. "Our government must take action to end Israel’s genocide," it noted.

Carrying Palestinian flags, the crowd shouted slogans including one that criticized the British government "for being complicit" in the genocide.

Hundreds in Stockholm protested Israeli plans to occupy Gaza City.

The protesters gathered in the Odenplan area with various signs that denounced Israeli attacks and US support for Israel.

The demonstrators later marched toward the Foreign Ministry.

Israel’s Security Cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s widely opposed occupation plans early Friday.

Many also took to the streets in Amsterdam to protest the plan and Western support for Israel.

The demonstration demanded immediate unrestricted aid delivery into Gaza.

The Health Ministry in Gaza said Friday that 21 Palestinians have been killed and more than 341 injured while trying to get humanitarian aid in the last 24 hours, bringing the number of Palestinians killed while seeking aid to 1,743, with over 12,590 wounded since May 27.

It reported that 11 people, including children, have died in the past 24 hours due to famine and malnutrition. That took the death toll from starvation to 212, among them 98 children, as the humanitarian crisis in the enclave deepens.

Several pro-Palestine rallies were held in Spain, including Madrid, to protest Israeli attacks and starvation in Gaza.

Carrying Palestinian flags, protesters shouted "End to genocide" during the rally in Madrid.

Some banged pots and pans to protest the starvation in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Thousands gathered at Jardin Anglais in Geneva to protest famine- and malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza from the Israeli blockade.

The crowd staged a sit-in during the demonstration while protesting Israeli attacks by shouting in English, French and Arabic.

Carrying Palestinian flags, protesters banged pots and pans to raise awareness about the starvation in Gaza.

The crowd also demanded an end to international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians.

The Israeli army resumed attacks on Gaza on March 18, and has since killed 9,862 victims and injured 40,809, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

London Police arrest over 460 in protest against UK's ban on Palestine Action group


London's Metropolitan Police arrested 466 people at a protest against the UK's ban on Palestine Action, designated a "terror organisation," amid a crackdown and mounting global academic criticism of the law.



Police officers detain a demonstrator, as people hold placards that read "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action". (Reuters Photo)


India Today World Desk
 Aug 10, 2025 

In Short

UK banned Palestine Action as a terror group under anti-terror laws

Protesters gathered at Parliament Square with Palestinian flags

Ban criminalises group membership with up to 14 years jail



London’s Metropolitan Police arrested over 466 people during a protest on Saturday against the UK government’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, the force confirmed.

The British government banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws in July, labeling the group a "terror organisation" after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged aircraft during a series of protests. Palestine Action accuses the UK government of complicity in what it describes as Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
advertisement


According to news agency Reuters, demonstrators, wearing black and white Palestinian scarves and waving Palestinian flags, gathered in Parliament Square by the Houses of Parliament. They chanted slogans such as “hands off Gaza” and held placards reading “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” according to Reuters footage from the scene.

Israel has been accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice and by human rights organizations due to its intense military operations in Gaza. Israel denies these allegations, framing its actions as self-defense following a deadly Hamas attack in October 2023.

The police were seen carrying away protesters as the crowd chanted “shame on you” at officers. The Metropolitan Police stated on X (formerly Twitter) that 466 people were arrested for supporting a proscribed organization, while an additional eight people were detained for other offenses, including five for assaults on police officers. Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported.

The ban criminalizes membership in Palestine Action and carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. Last week, the group’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, won permission to legally challenge the ban.

Al Jazeera reported that this crackdown is part of ongoing enforcement since the ban came into effect in July. Earlier protests across the UK have seen more than 200 people detained. The Terrorism Act 2000 makes supporting or being a member of Palestine Action a criminal offense.

In response, over 350 academics worldwide signed an open letter criticizing the ban and its impact, describing it as a “growing campaign of collective defiance” and warning of negative consequences for academic freedom and civil liberties.

- Ends

Survey shows majority in Germany favours recognising Palestinian state

Support was slightly higher in eastern Germany (59 per cent) than in the west (53 per cent).




Germany map


by Agency Report
August 10, 2025

A majority of people in Germany support recognising a Palestinian state, according to a new poll, a move the federal government currently rejects.

In the survey by the Forsa Institute for the foreign policy journal Internationale Politik, 54 per cent of respondents answered “Yes” to the question: “Should Germany now recognise Palestine as its own state?”

No fewer than 31 per cent opposed the idea.

The poll of 1,001 people in Germany was conducted in late July.

Support was slightly higher in eastern Germany (59 per cent) than in the west (53 per cent).

It was also particularly high among those aged 18 to 29 (60 per cent) and among people aged 60 and over (58 per cent).

Among supporters of The Left party, 85 per cent favoured recognition.

Backing was also high among Green (66 per cent) and Social Democrat (52 per cent) voters.

Support was lower among supporters of the conservative CDU/CSU alliance (48 per cent) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (45 per cent).

The German government says it supports a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians live peacefully side by side.

However, it sees recognition of Palestine as the final step at the end of a negotiated peace process.

Nearly 150 of the United Nations’ 193 member states already recognise Palestine.

In light of Israel’s ongoing military operations in the Gaza Strip, which have left tens of thousands dead, more countries are preparing to follow suit.

President Emmanuel Macron has announced France will take the step in September.

Canada and Britain have also pledged recognition, with certain conditions.

(dpa/NAN)



Belgian court rules Flanders government should stop transit of military equipment to Israel


Copyright AP Photo

By Amandine Hess
 08/08/2025 

Associations lodged a complaint against the Flemish government in June after military equipment bound for Israel was discovered in the port of Antwerp.

A court in Belgium has ordered the Flemish government to stop the transit of military equipment to Israel, following the discovery of hardware in the port of Antwerp earlier this year.

The Court of First Instance in Brussels ordered the regional government to block the Antwerp shipment and prohibit any future transit of military equipment to Israel, which faces growing criticism in the West for its handling of the war in Gaza.

The judge also imposed a fine of €50,000 for any arms shipment sent to Israel.

The judgement came in response to a complaint lodged in June by four Flemish associations.

Israeli soldiers drive on their armoured personnel carrier back from inside the northern Gaza Strip into southern Israel, 29 July, 2025 AP Photo

Speaking to Euronews, Lichen Ullmann, the coordinator of the Vredesactie movement, which was involved in the complaint, explained that the containers found in Antwerp "included pallets of tapered roller bearings, which are something used in tanks and armoured vehicles."

"They are shipped specifically to a company called Ashot Ashkelon in Ashdod in Israel, which is an exclusive supplier to the Israeli army of Merkava tanks, which are used in Gaza in the genocide," Ullmann added.

Belgium has banned arms exports to Israel since 2009, with the country's regions responsible for controlling the transit of weapons and their components.

However, the hearing in Brussels revealed that the Flemish government only controlled arms when transport companies requested it.

The judge concluded in July that Flanders was in breach of its obligations.

Ullmann said the judge cited the Geneva Convention and the Arms Trade Treaty, which prevent countries from exporting military equipment that could be used to commit war crimes or genocide.

"So there is a very broad basis for this case and it has been confirmed on all sides, including the ban on the specific container, but also on all other shipments of military equipment to Israel that could potentially be used in genocide," Ullmann noted.

Contacted by Euronews, the Flemish government, which can still appeal the decision, did not respond to questions.

The Brussels court judgement comes as an increasing number of Israel's allies, including the UK, have expressed concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza after almost two years of Israeli military action.

Tents sheltering displaced Palestinians are seen amid war-damaged infrastructure in Gaza City, 17 July, 2025 AP Photo

Experts have said that the enclave is experiencing famine, with dozens of people known to have died from malnutrition.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians.

Hamas took 251 people as hostages, and is currently holding 50, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.

A subsequent Israeli offensive has to date killed 61,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry whose figures do not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
GAZA UPDATE
Israel's Smotrich says he has 'lost faith' in Netanyahu and calls for Gaza annexation

Comments come as condemnation of plans to expand the war grows domestically


The National
August 10, 2025



Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Saturday said he no longer had faith Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was able to lead the army to a “decisive victory” in Gaza, calling for the annexation of large parts of the enclave.

A day earlier, the prime minister's office said the security cabinet had voted on seizing Gaza city and expanding operations in the enclave.

An invasion of Gaza city would be the beginning of reoccupying the entire strip, sources told The National, 20 years after Israel's “disengagement” from the Palestinian territory.

But Mr Smotrich said this was a half measure and called on Mr Netanyahu to aim at a complete victory in which Hamas would either surrender and release all hostages or be defeated. This would include the “annexation of large parts of the Gaza Strip and opening its gates to voluntary migration”, he said.

“We were striving for decisive victory,” he said, adding that he has “lost faith that the prime minister is able and wants to lead the [military] to decisive victory”.

The Israeli army already controls about 75 per cent of Gaza, displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians whose towns and homes have been reduced to ruins.

Under the latest plan, half the population of Gaza would be pushed forcibly to the south of the territory, an Israeli source confirmed. Israel plans to “gradually” send four to five divisions to carry out the campaign, the source added.

They did not elaborate on how long the operation is expected to take, but Israeli media reports say about five months.

Mr Netanyahu told Fox News in an as that aired on Thursday that the military intended to take control of all of Gaza but that Israel did not want to keep the territory.

Hamas on Saturday expressed willingness to reach an agreement with Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying it had offered “all possible flexibility” through the Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

Sources told The National that the blueprint for a comprehensive deal was being discussed between Israel and the US on one hand and the US and mediators from Qatar and Egypt on the other.

Mr Smotrich urged Mr Netanyahu to convene the cabinet and announce “there will be no more partial deals”. The far-right minister has openly called for the annexation of Palestinian land in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank but Saturday's statement was the strongest he made against the Israeli prime minister. However, he stopped short of announcing his resignation as he has repeatedly threatened to do so.

Israeli media reported that he had threatened to bring down the Israeli government and force a new election during Thursday night's cabinet meeting.

The ruling coalition holds 60 seats in the 120-seat Knesset after the United Torah Judaism faction and far-right Knesset member Avi Maoz quit. An election can be called if the parties agree to vote in the Knesset to bring down the government.

Religious Zionism Kensset Member Zvi Sukkot appeared to also threaten to bring down the government in a video message unless it adopts a more aggressive strategy in Gaza.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, also of the far right, told Kan radio on Sunday: "It is possible to achieve victory. I want all of Gaza, transfer and colonisation. This plan will not endanger the troops."

But while the far-right may view the plan as not being strong enough, it has led to widespread condemnation both at home and abroad.

On Sunday, the UN security council is set to meet to discuss the latest development.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday night to oppose the decision to escalate the war in Gaza, demanding an immediate end and for the release of the hostages.

“This isn't just a military decision. It could be a death sentence for the people we love most,” Lishay Miran Lavi, the wife of hostage Omri Miran told the rally, pleading to US President Donald Trump to intervene and end the war.

Public opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of Israelis favour an immediate end to the war to secure the release of the remaining 50 hostages held by militants in Gaza. Israeli officials believe about 20 hostages are still alive.

Protesters waved Israeli flags and carried placards bearing the images of hostages. Others held signs directing anger at the government or urging Mr Trump to take action to stop Mr Netanyahu from moving forward with plans to escalate the war. A small number of protesters held images of Gazan children killed by the military.


Five foreign ministers condemn Israel's Gaza City takeover plans in joint statement


Copyright AP Photo/Leo Correa

By Emma De Ruiter
Published on 09/08/2025 - 


The foreign ministers of Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia wrote that "any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law."

Five foreign ministers have issued a joint statement condemning Israel's plans to further escalate the ongoing war in Gaza and take control of Gaza City.

Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand said in the statement that the plan, announced by the Israeli Security Cabinet on Friday, "will aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians."

"Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law," the statement added.

The foreign ministers called for an immediate end to the war, emphasising that a "worst-case scenario of a famine is unfolding". They also called on Hamas to release the remaining hostages it holds "without precondition" and ensure they are "humanely treated and not subject to cruelty and humiliation."


Dissent in Israel has also steadily grown as hostages have languished in captivity. Some families of the hostages and their supporters have staged large protests calling for a ceasefire with Hamas that would bring their loved ones home.

“All of Israel wants a comprehensive deal and an end to the war,” Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, said in a statement on Friday. “For the State of Israel to guarantee the security of its citizens, we must end this injustice that has been done to our loved ones for 22 months.”

Israeli activists protest against the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel's measures regarding food distribution and the forced displacement, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 7, 2025. AP Photo/Ariel Schalit

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Security Cabinet went forward with the plan against the advice of military leaders, including Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, who warned on Thursday that the plan would endanger the lives of the hostages and further stretch the military.

The announcement came after Netanyahu also suggested more sweeping plans on Thursday for Israel to take control of all of Gaza. Israel already controls around three-quarters of the territory.

Hamas rejected Israel’s plans. “Expanding of aggression against our Palestinian people will not be a walk in the park,” the group said in a statement.

Stephanie Tremblay, the associate spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, told the press on Friday that "the Secretary General is gravely alarmed by the decision of the Israeli government to take control of Gaza City."

The UN Security Council announced an emergency meeting on Israel's plans was rescheduled to Sunday after originally being scheduled to take place on Saturday.
International aid drops continue

International powers, including Israeli allies France, Britain and Canada, have stepped up criticism of the war amid mounting shock over media reports showing starvation.

Germany said Friday it would not authorise the export of military equipment that could be used in Gaza until further notice.

Several countries have led coordinated efforts to carry out aid drops over Gaza, a last resort as Israel's blockade and military offensive have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver aid, contributing to the territory's slide toward famine.

A new load of air dropped aid sent by Italy landed in Gaza on Saturday.

Palestinians collect humanitarian aid packages from the United Arab Emirates after they were airdropped into Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana

The UN and aid groups call such drops costly and dangerous for residents, and say they deliver far less aid than trucks.

Many food parcels dropped by air have splashed into the Mediterranean Sea or landed in so-called red zones from which Israel's military has ordered people to evacuate. In either case, Palestinians risk their lives to get flour and other basic goods.

Palestinians also continue to be killed while seeking aid at four locations run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Witnesses and UN agencies have called the sites "death traps", as hundreds of people have been reported killed while seeking aid, although the GHF continues to maintain that no violence has occurred.

GHF said a new UN route runs near two of its sites in the south and has drawn large crowds of people who unload the convoys.

Palestinians ride on a truck loaded with food and humanitarian aid as it moves along the Morag corridor near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Aug. 4, 2025. AP Photo/Mariam Dagga

But the United Nations, partners, and Palestinians say far too little aid is coming in, with months of supplies piled up outside Gaza waiting for Israeli approval.

And although the UN estimates that 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed daily, the trucks entering are mostly stripped of supplies by desperate people and criminal groups before reaching warehouses for distribution.

Additional sources


Gaza journalist reacts to Israel’s military expansion plan


Issued on: 09/08/2025 -  FRANCE24


International condemnation grew on Saturday over Israel’s decision to carry out a military takeover of Gaza City, while little appeared to change immediately on the ground in the territory shattered by 22 months of war. We discussed this with journalist Shrouq Al-Aila, who joined us from Gaza City.



As Netanyahu moves toward full takeover of Gaza, Israel faces crisis of international credibility

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israel’s former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity

PTI Published 10.08.25



An aerial view from a Jordanian military aircraft shows the Gaza Strip, before humanitarian aid is airdropped over it, in Gaza, August 9, 2025.Reuters picture.

For all its claims of being a democracy that adheres to international law and the rules of war, Israel’s global reputation is in tatters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest plan for a full military takeover of Gaza, along with the expanding starvation crisis in the strip and Israel’s repressive measures in the West Bank, underline the country’s predicament.

Notwithstanding US support, the Jewish state faces a crisis of international credibility, from which it may not be able to recover for a long time.

According to a recent Pew poll, the international view of Israel is now more negative than positive. The majority of those polled in early 2025 in countries such as the Netherlands (78 per cent), Japan (79 per cent), Spain (75 per cent), Australia (74 per cent), Turkiye (93 per cent) and Sweden (75 per cent) said they have an unfavourable view of Israel.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israel’s former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Many international law experts, genocide scholars and human rights groups have also accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

Israel’s traditional supporters have also harshly criticised the Netanyahu government’s actions, from both inside and outside the country. These include former prime ministers Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, the Israeli literary giant David Grossman, and Masorti Judaism Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg and Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur.

In addition, hundreds of retired Israeli security officials have appealed to US President Donald Trump to push Netanyahu to end the war.

Israel’s global partners distancing themselves With images of starving children in Gaza dominating the news in recent weeks, many of Israel’s friends in the Western alliance have similarly reached the point at which they can no longer tolerate its policy actions.

In a major shift in global opinion, France announced it would recognise Palestinian statehood in September. The United Kingdom and Canada vowed to follow suit. Even Germany has now begun the process for recognition. And Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has indicated his country’s recognition of Palestine was only a matter of time.

Spain and Sweden have called for the suspension of the European Union’s trade agreement with Israel, while the Netherlands has officially labelled Israel a “security threat”, citing attempts to influence Dutch public opinion.

Israel and the US have rejected all these accusations and moves. The momentum against Israel in the international community, however, has left it with the US as its only major global supporter.

Israel’s sovereignty, security and prosperity now ride on the back of America’s continued support. Without US assistance, in particular its billions of dollars worth of arms exports, Israel would have struggled to maintain its devastating Gaza campaign or repressive occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Yet, despite Trump’s deep commitment to Israel, many in the US electorate are seriously questioning the depth of Netanyahu’s influence in Washington and the value of US aid to Israel.

According to a Gallup poll in March, fewer than half of Americans are sympathetic toward Israel.

This discontent has also been voiced by some of Trump’s MAGA ideologues and devotees, such as political strategist Steve Bannon and congressional hardliner Marjorie Taylor Greene. Even Trump publicly questioned Netanyahu on his claim there was no starvation in Gaza.

Israelis have dim view of two-state solution Many Israelis would like to see the back of Netanyahu and his extremist right-wing ruling cohort, especially given his failure to secure the release of all the hostages from Hamas.

Many want the war to end, too. Recent polling by Israel’s Channel 12 found that 74 per cent of Israelis back a deal to end the war in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

However, a majority of Israelis maintain a dim view of a future Palestinian state.

One poll commissioned by a US academic showed 82 per cent of Jewish Israeli respondents backed the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. And a Pew poll in early 2025 showed that just 16 per cent of Jewish Israelis believe peaceful coexistence with a Palestinian state is possible, the lowest percentage since the pollsters began asking the question in 2013.

This indicates that not only the Israeli state, but also its electorate, has moved to the extreme of the political spectrum in relation to acknowledging the right of the Palestinians to an independent state of their own.

Under international pressure, Netanyahu has expediently allowed a little more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza. However, his new plan for a full military takeover of Gaza indicates he is not prepared to change course in the war, as long as US support remains steady.

His government is bent on eliminating Hamas and potentially depopulating and annexing Gaza, followed possibly by the West Bank. Such a move would render the idea of a two-state solution totally defunct.

To stop this happening, Washington needs to align with the rest of the global community. Otherwise, an unrestrained and isolated Israel will only widen the rift between the US and its traditional allies in a highly polarised world.


The Conversation

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.

 

Intergenerational Hunger: Effects of Israel’s Starvation of Gaza


As more children die from malnutrition under Israel’s genocide, the health impacts of Gaza’s deepening hunger crisis are increasingly devastating.

Source: Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)

The extent of hunger and malnutrition in the Gaza Strip is worsening daily, with the United Nations warning that the entire under-five population – over 320,000 children – is now at risk of acute malnutrition due to Israel’s genocide. The hunger-related death toll continues to rise, as does the likelihood that famine is already present. “The fact that people continue to risk being shot or caught in stampedes at distribution sites indicates the extremely desperate level of hunger that the population is experiencing,” the Famine Review Committee stated in July.

Hunger is affecting all segments of the population: the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor recently warned of at least 1,200 malnutrition-related deaths among the elderly. The most harrowing accounts, however, concern children. International NGOs like Save the Children have described this stage as the “starvation of children by design.” Gastrointestinal surgeon Nick Maynard stated: “I have had so many patients die because they can’t get enough food to recover. It’s distressing to see that and know that it’s preventable and treatable.”

“I saw a seven-month-old who looked like a newborn,” he added. “The expression ‘skin and bone’ doesn’t do it justice.”

The compounding effects of malnutrition in Gaza

The effects of hunger on children in Gaza are both immediate and long-lasting, says pediatrician Claudio Schuftan, a founding member of the People’s Health Movement (PHM). Different forms of malnutrition are widespread: chronic, acute, and micronutrient-related. Chronic malnutrition, especially among children under two, leads to stunted growth. “Because there aren’t enough calories, the body, being very wise, uses what little energy it has to maintain vital functions like breathing and regulating temperature. It diverts energy from growth, so children stop growing in length,” Schuftan explains.

If nutrition improves, the child resumes growing, but a permanent height deficit will likely persist. This form of malnutrition also impairs critical periods of brain development, meaning many children can miss key developmental milestones.

Acute malnutrition, another cause of the images of emaciated children circulating on social media, results in rapid weight loss or wasting. “You lose weight and become underweight for your age,” Schuftan says.

In Gaza, this is compounded by widespread micronutrient deficiencies. With shortages of fruits, vegetables, and supplements, iron deficiency is rampant, causing anemia and lethargy. “You see these children who are malnourished on TV, flies on their eyes and mouths,” he adds. “They don’t have the energy to brush them away.”

While many of these conditions can be treated if hunger is eliminated, others will persist throughout life. “A child malnourished and stunted at two years doesn’t remain that size forever. They will grow, but they will grow slower if the condition continues, or they will grow never making up for what they didn’t gain in that period,” Schuftan adds.

If, on the other hand, conditions continue to deteriorate, more children will die – not necessarily from hunger itself, but from its effects. “The episode that ultimately takes a child’s life is most often diarrhea, which is very difficult to treat unless there’s an opportunity to rehydrate the child urgently, or pneumonia, depending on the season,” Schuftan says. “In winter, it’s likely to be pneumonia, and given the lack of antibiotics in Gaza, we’re talking about pneumonia as it was before penicillin.”

A vicious cycle of intergenerational hunger

Malnutrition in Gaza begins before birth, as pregnant women themselves are undernourished. Unable to gain adequate weight during pregnancy, they give birth to underweight infants who cannot recover in famine conditions. “After delivery, the mother starts to produce milk. But no food means less milk,” Schuftan says. “The child begins to breastfeed, but very little comes out. Mothers would usually supplement with formula, but there is none. And when you mix formula with breastfeeding, it generally ends breastfeeding altogether.”

Israel’s blockade of Gaza thus creates a vicious cycle of intergenerational hunger. Even if food was made widely available overnight, recovery would have to be gradual. “If you suddenly feed a severely malnourished child, let’s say under two or three years old, they can get severe diarrhea and even die from it,” Schuftan warns. But convincing parents to go slowly when the child is crying and food is finally available is very hard, he points out.

Proper refeeding also requires functioning health facilities with staff who can rehydrate and monitor children over time. “These situations will happen, we will see these diarrhea cases,” Schuftan warns. “What that means is that at the same time that you bring food, you have to create health facilities with experienced staff.” Yet after nearly two years of Israeli attacks, Gaza’s health system lies in ruins. Hospitals have been bombarded, ambulances attacked, and health workers kidnapped, making it nearly impossible to guarantee even basic services.

“So many things have happened that you cannot separate nutrition from psychological damage or from the absence of schooling,” Schuftan says. “It’s a generation growing up with many injuries, including psychological ones. These children have been tremendously harmed.”

Still, PHM and other health organizations stress that they have the necessary expertise to rebuild if there is a ceasefire and justice for Palestine. “We will be dealing with the consequences of this catastrophe for a long time,” Schuftan says. “But we do have a chance, if this stops once and for all.”

People’s Health Dispatch is a fortnightly bulletin published by the People’s Health Movement and Peoples Dispatch. For more articles and to subscribe to People’s Health Dispatch, click here.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch


Alaska summit boon for Bibi?

Abbas Nasir 
August 10, 2025 
 Dawn.

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s announcement of a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday may rekindle hopes of a possible peace deal over Ukraine, but at the same time it is stoking fears that as the world media focus shifts to the summit, an opportunity will be provided to Israel to start its military occupation of Gaza.

Simultaneously with Trump’s announcement of the summit came the approval of the Israeli security cabinet of war crimes-accused Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu’s plan to physically occupy Gaza. Netanyahu’s handpicked military chief earlier had reservations, but eventually consented and complied.

The military chief has been quoted as saying any expansion of the military operation would jeopardise the lives of the remaining 20 hostages held in captivity since being seized by Hamas on Oct 7, 2023. The group broke through the fence, walls and other obstacles around Gaza to attack Israel and kill some 1,200 Israelis, including nearly 400 civilians that day.

The Times of Israel quoted IDF chief of staff Lt-Gen Eyal Zamir’s assessment offered to his senior colleagues ahead of the security cabinet meeting. According to Hebrew media reports, he warned that “occupying the Strip would drag Israel into a black hole — taking responsibility for two million Palestinians, requiring a years-long clearing operation, exposing soldiers to guerrilla warfare and, most dangerously, jeopardising the hostages”.

Netanyahu’s plan looks like an attempt to grab all or most Palestinian land in Gaza

“We are not dealing with theory; we are dealing with matters of life and death, with the defence of the state, and we do so while looking directly into the eyes of our soldiers and the citizens of the country,” Zamir maintained during Thursday’s assessment, the army said. Then, under threat of a forced resignation, he said he’d comply.

It is clear that the starvation policy pursued by Israel for months, with the backing of the US through the murderous Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which so far has killed hundreds of starving Palestinians queuing for food in Gaza, does not seem to have broken the Palestinians’ iron will.

In fact, the images of starving people being slaughtered by IDF and GHF contractors have evoked outrage around the globe, with even the duplicitous EU and UK making disapproving noises and some European nations, led by France, saying they might recognise the Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly session next month as a first step towards a two-state solution.

Netanyahu’s plan looks like an attempt to grab all or most Palestinian land in Gaza to mirror what has been happening in the West Bank, ahead of any recognition, so as to deny the creation or existence of a viable Palestinian state. The psychopathic Israeli leader has received US approval, with Trump saying: “It is pretty much up to Israel” to do what it wants in Gaza.

There have been laughable leaks in the US media, probably originating in the White House where spin doctors have sold stories like Trump shouted down Netanyahu when the latter was claiming that there was no starvation in Gaza and all such stories were Hamas propaganda.

Who does not know that it was Trump who first mentioned his planned Gaza Riviera that would follow the (forced) displacement, again, of Gaza’s 2m Palestinians whose earlier generations were first displaced to the Strip in the Nakba in 1948?

It would be important to see the Trump-Putin summit against this backdrop. It is unlikely Putin will have changed his stance on key issues to which he ties any ceasefire in Ukraine, after one visit to Moscow by US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff (he is a US presidential envoy, despite often sounding like an Israeli spokesman on Gaza).

Putin has clearly stated that he will offer no territorial concessions in eastern Ukraine where his military has slowly but surely started to make gains and wants recognition of his Crimean annexation of 2014 and Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts in 2022.

He has sought explicit guarantees that the Nato alliance would not be expanded to Ukraine because that would be too close for comfort and take away the buffer Ukraine has provided between Russia and Nato since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In the past, Trump has indicated that concessions (not by Russia) will have to be made in some of these areas for a peace deal to be realised. Ahead of the summit, it wasn’t clear if the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government, or even the European members of Nato, was willing to make any such concessions.

And without such concessions, a peace deal cannot be realised. Perhaps, Putin agreed to the summit to give Trump a small win to boast about for weeks in the media and, at the same time, give himself more time and space to continue with his military campaign where he believes his forces are making good progress.

Inevitably now, the global media attention will shift from the Gaza forced starvation story to looking ahead at the Alaska summit. And this shift in focus will enable Israel to push ahead with the occupation of northern Gaza to start with, going on to the rest of the Strip, as only that will enable it to complete ethnic cleansing — even annexation — if that too is an unsaid part of the agenda.

All this is happening with the complicity of Western democracies, despite the unease of sections of their populations over the images of starving children and malnourished babies. It seems these images are more powerful or somehow affect the Western media sensibilities more than the slaughter of some 15,500 children and the amputation of the limbs of thousands more.

The less said the better about the Arab neighbours and the larger Muslim world, many of whose despotic rulers are too fearful of the consequences of defying the US to do anything other than being complicit in, or at least acquiescent to, genocide in Gaza. This is where we stand today in helpless despair and despondency.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.
abbas.nasir@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2025


Georgian Dream accuses former-ruling UNM of starting 2008 Russo-Georgian war

RUSSIAN APOLOGISTS DREAM FOR GEORGIA

THE COUNTRY NOT THE STATE

Georgian Dream accuses former-ruling UNM of starting 2008 Russo-Georgian war
Top Georgian Dream members including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze paid tribute to the Georgian soldiers who died fighting in the war, which they insisted started as a result of former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s actions. / Georgian Dream via Facebook
By bne IntelliNews August 10, 2025

In comments to mark 17 years since the start of the August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, officials of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party reiterated long-standing accusations that Georgia’s former-ruling United National Movement government under ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili provoked the conflict.

In remarks to journalists on August 8, top GD members including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and the GD-elected Georgian president, Mikheil Kavelashvili, paid tribute to the Georgian soldiers who died fighting in the war, which they insisted started as a result of Saakashvili’s actions.

The brief but bloody 2008 conflict resulted in Russia expanding its military presence in Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia separatist regions and officially recognising the two territories as independent states, a position challenged by the majority of the world’s countries.

Most of Georgian society, along with the entire Georgian pro-Western opposition and Georgia’s Western allies, blame Russia for starting the war and occupying over 20% of Georgia in a violation of international law and Georgia’s territorial integrity.

During a visit to Tbilisi’s Mukhatgverdi cemetery to lay wreaths on the graves of Georgian soldiers, Kobakhidze described the August 8 anniversary as a “tragic date” and the 2008 conflict as “a betrayal committed by the government at the time”, as cited by Civil.ge.

Similarly, GD Defence Minister Irakli Chikovani blamed the then government for starting the war, describing the former-ruling UNM as “treacherous and adventurist”, as cited by Netgazeti.

Further, Kobakhidze doubled down on GD’s prior accusations that Saakashvili’s UNM government was acting under external influence – the so called “deep state” – during its time in power from 2003-12, and it was these shadowy forces who “ordered” the start of the 2008 war with Russia.

“This day [August 8] reminds us of the necessity for the country to be governed by a sovereign government — one that acts based on its own national interests, not under the direction of foreign powers,” Kobakhidze continued.

Recent months have seen mounting allegations from GD that Georgia’s pro-Western opposition – which includes many former UNM MPs – are today continuing to act under subversive foreign influence to initiate revolution in the Caucasus country and topple the GD government.

GD’s downplaying of Moscow’s responsibility for the 2008 war and its placing of the full blame on the previous government has sparked furious backlash from government critics in Georgia, particularly those whose family members died fighting Russian soldiers.

The party’s rhetoric has grown harsher and more critical of UNM over time, as shown by two videos published by opposition aligned media outlet Netgazeti which contrast comments Kobakhidze made on the war in 2018 and in 2025.

While his remarks on the war’s 10-year anniversary were still critical of the former government, Kobakhidze did acknowledge that “in 2008, the one who started the war, the aggressor, was the Russian Federation”, though he did add that the conflict scenario “could not have unfolded without … mistakes and reckless actions on the part of the then-president and government”.

International partners comment on war anniversary

While many in Georgia and the West mark the anniversary of the conflict on August 7, GD officials tend to commemorate the event on August 8, as they did this year, reflecting the contrasting narratives over when war phase of the conflict officially started and which side was to blame for triggering it.

On August 7, the EU released a statement to mark the event, in which it reiterated both its “unwavering commitment to a peaceful resolution of the conflicts in Georgia” and “condemnation of Russia’s ongoing military presence in the occupied breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia”.

Multiple EU member states issued individual statements, many of them condemning Russia’s “invasion” and “aggression” against Georgia.

“This was yet another stage in Russia’s imperial wars that began in the early 1990s, which ended successfully for the Kremlin and laid the groundwork for the attack on Ukraine,” stated Marko Mihkelson, chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee of Estonian parliament.

The US embassy in Tbilisi, also on August 7, noted its “solidarity with the Georgian people” and reaffirmed its “unwavering support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

Comments from Moscow

The Kremlin, meanwhile, pounced on the GD government’s allegations that Saakashvili’s government was to blame for the war.

In comments on the anniversary, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova noted that GD officials’ “public acknowledgement of Mikheil Saakashvili’s aggression against South Ossetia”, and their “calls for reconciliation with the Abkhaz and Ossetians” offered “hope for progress in negotiations”.

The spokeswoman stressed the importance of GD’s statements leading to “real, practical steps” for Tbilisi to “restore ties” with the two separatist regions.

Specifically, Zakharova stated that a “priority task” would be for the government in Tbilisi to sign a “legally binding agreement on the non-use of force” with the authorities in occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

“Such a deal would not only help prevent a repeat of the tragic events of August 2008, but also serve as a starting point for normalising relations between Tbilisi, Sukhumi and Tskhinvali,” she added.

Zakharova further suggested the initiation of the delimitation and demarcation process of the Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-South Ossetia borders, highlighting that this would facilitate “stabilisation of the situation in the border areas”.

Russia would “fully support these processes” as a “neighbour of Abkhazia, Georgia and South Ossetia”, the spokeswoman concluded.

Kobakhidze rejected Zakharova’s suggestions, stating that “neither direct nor indirect recognition of the so-called independence [of South Ossetia and Abkhazia]” would be possible from the Georgian side.

Further, Georgia’s foreign ministry condemned Russia’s occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, again calling on Moscow to reverse its recognition of the two territories, withdraw troops from Georgian territory and respect Georgia’s territorial integrity.

The ministry’s official statement noted how Russia “continues to take steps aimed at integrating Georgia’s regions into Russia’s political, economic, military and social systems in violation of international norms”.