Photo: Collected
Human rights group Amnesty International has bashed former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for writing "finish them" on an Israeli bomb during her visit to the region amid a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip caused by Israel's military operation that has harmed tens of thousands of civilians.
"Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley signed Israeli artillery shells with the message 'Finish Them!,'" the group said in a statement on X on Wednesday (29 May). "Conflict is no place for stunts. Conflict has rules. Civilians must be protected."
On Sunday, Israel struck a refugee camp northeast of the city of Rafah. The Palestinian civil defense service said that at least 40 people died and dozens were injured as a result. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the airstrike on the refugee camp a "tragic incident," adding that an investigation is underway. The Israel Defense Forces said that it used "precise munitions."
Israel sent troops into the city of Rafah on May 7, seven months after an attack by Palestinian movement Hamas on Israeli territory unleashed the worst escalation of conflict in the Gaza Strip in decades. Israel's war cabinet vowed to expand the operation in Rafah until it accomplished its declared goal of eliminating all Hamas fighters.
According to UN estimates, more than 945,000 people have been displaced from Rafah due to Israeli strikes since May 6.
On October 7, 2023, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel and breached the border, attacking both civilian neighborhoods and military bases. Nearly 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 240 others abducted during the attack. Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza, and started a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages. Over 36,000 people have been killed so far by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, according to local authorities. More than 100 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.
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