Human Rights Watch calls for an arms embargo
Speaking Security Newsletter | Note n°222 | 7 November 2023
Situation
GOOD NEWS: Human Rights Watch called for an arms embargo on Israel yesterday.1 “Providing weapons that knowingly and significantly would contribute to unlawful attacks can make those providing them complicit in war crimes,” HRW’s statement said. “Israel’s key allies [namely, the US] should suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel so long as its forces commit widespread, serious abuses amounting to war crimes against Palestinian civilians with impunity.”
Thousands of reasons for a weapons embargo
According to the latest update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there have been 10,022 fatalities in Gaza since October 7. This includes 4,104 children (67% of reported fatalities are women and children).2 By comparison, there were 2,985 children killed in all armed conflicts worldwide last year. That figure was 2,515 in 2021, 2,674 in 2020, and 4,019 in 2019.3
^Alt text for screen readers: Israel’s military killed more kids in one month than were killed in all conflict zones last year. This column chart compares the 2,985 children killed in conflicts globally in 2022 and the 4,104 children killed in Gaza from October 7 through November 6, 2023. Data comes from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and United Nations report S/2023/363. Full analysis at stephensemler.substack.com
-Stephen (@stephensemler; stephen@securityreform.org)
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Undoubtedly inspired by my Oct 12 article in Jacobin.
Another 2,350 people — including 1,300 children — are reported missing.
According to Save the Children.