Hamas rockets fired at Israel a war crime, rights group asserts
JERUSALEM — An international human rights group Thursday accused Hamas of committing war crimes during a recent 11-day conflict with Israel by indiscriminately firing thousands of rockets toward Israeli population centers.
In its report, Human Rights Watch also said it had concluded that a misfired rocket launched by Hamas killed seven Palestinians when it fell short in the Gaza Strip. In a separate development, a U.N. agency said it had uncovered militant tunnels near one of its facilities and that Hamas had taken over one of its schools, undermining the agency’s neutrality.
The New York-based rights group has repeatedly come under fire by Israel and its supporters over reports accusing Israel of war crimes against the Palestinians as well as apartheid and persecution. But in this report it agreed with most legal experts and Israel that indiscriminate rocket fire from Palestinian population centers directed at Israeli civilian areas is a violation of international law.
It based its conclusions on an investigation into Hamas rocket attacks that killed 12 civilians in Israel.
Last month the group issued a report that accused the Israeli military of carrying out attacks during the conflict that “apparently amount to war crimes” after investigating three Israeli airstrikes that it said killed 62 Palestinian civilians. The group said there were no clear military targets in the airstrikes and said Israel had not taken sufficient precautions to avoid civilian casualties.
The war erupted May 10 after Hamas fired a barrage of rockets toward Jerusalem in support of Palestinian protests against Israel’s heavy-handed policing at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families from their homes by Jewish settlers in a nearby neighborhood.
In all, some 254 people were killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Hamas has acknowledged the deaths of 80 militants, while Israel has claimed the number is much higher. Twelve civilians were killed in Israel, along with one soldier. Britney Spears case: Britney Spears’ father said in a court filing Thursday that he is planning to step down from the conservatorship that has controlled her life and money for 13 years, but his departure is not imminent.
James Spears filed legal documents saying that while there are no grounds for his removal, he will step down after several lingering issues are resolved.
“Mr. Spears is willing to step down when the time is right, but the transition needs to be orderly and include a resolution of matters pending before the Court,” the filing said.
Those matters include the next judicial review of the pop singer’s finances, which has been delayed by months of public and legal wrangling over James’ Spears role and the legitimacy of the conservatorship by Britney Spears and, in recent weeks, her new attorney.
The filing says James Spears will fight the petition to force him out, but will work with the court and Britney Spears’ attorney Matthew Rosengart on the next phases.
For most of the existence of the conservatorship,
which was established in 2008, James Spears oversaw his daughter’s personal affairs and money. In 2019, he stepped down as the so-called conservator of her person, and maintained control of her finances.
He was nevertheless the target of much of his daughter’s ire in a pair of speeches before the court in June and July, in which she called the conservatorship “abusive.”
Spears in her June remarks said she had been required to use an intrauterine device for birth control, take medications against her will and prevented from getting married, having another child or even riding in her boyfriend’s car unsupervised.
Sudan agreement: Sudan signed an agreement with the International Criminal Court on Thursday to move forward in the cases against those accused of atrocities in the Darfur region, including the country’s former President Omar al-Bashir, a top ICC prosecutor said.
Prosecutor Karim Khan said at a news conference
that he would also be deploying a full-time team to Sudan. The developments come as Sudan’s government continues to hold al-Bashir in prison. The ICC issued a warrant for al-Bashir on war crimes charges more than a decade ago, while he was in office.
The agreement further raises the possibility of al-Bashir being tried in The Hague, where the ICC is based, an issue that remains controversial in Sudan.
Al-Bashir has been in jail in Khartoum since his ouster in April 2019 amid a public uprising against his nearly three-decade autocratic rule.
European heat wave: Stifling heat kept its grip on much of Southern Europe, driving people indoors at midday Thursday, spoiling crops, triggering drinking water restrictions, turning public libraries into cooling “climate shelters” and complicating the already difficult challenge firefighters faced battling wildfires.
Forecasters said the worse was expected to come.
In Italy, 15 cities received warnings from the health ministry about high temperatures and humidity with peaks predicted for Friday. The cities included Rome, Florence and Palermo.
The Italian air force, which oversees the national weather service, said the interior parts of the islands of Sardinia and Sicily could expect to see temperatures upward of 104 degrees by Friday. On Wednesday, Sicily may have set a modern record for the hottest day ever recorded in Europe, with a monitoring station near the ancient city of Syracuse in the southeast recording 119.84 degrees.
San Francisco mandate: Worried that the highly contagious delta variant could derail San Francisco’s economic rebound, Mayor London Breed announced Thursday that the city will require proof of full vaccination at indoor restaurants, bars, gyms and entertainment venues to help keep businesses open.
San Francisco will require
proof of full COVID-19 vaccination for all customers and staff. It will take effect Aug. 20, but businesses will have two more months to verify employees’ vaccination status “to preserve jobs while giving time for compliance.”
The mandate does not apply to people ineligible for vaccines.
Sen. Rand Paul’s wife: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul waited more than a year to disclose that his wife purchased stock in a company that makes a COVID-19 treatment, an investment made after Congress was briefed on the threat of the virus but before the public was largely aware of its danger.
The Republican filed a mandatory disclosure Wednesday revealing on Feb. 26, 2020, that Kelley Paul purchased $1,001 to $15,000 worth of stock in Gilead, which makes the antiviral drug remdesivir. Under a 2012 law called the Stock Act, any such sale should have been reported within 45 days.