Palestinian Armed Groups' War Crimes: Daily Brief
Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes; 91 Iraqi families evicted in family feud; Poland's parliament passes bill regulating independent media; Germany and Netherlands suspend deportations to Afghanistan; Qatar's sportswashing ambitions propel football's superstar Messi's move to Paris.
Palestinian armed groups’ rocket and mortar attacks during the May 2021 fighting in the Gaza Strip, which killed and injured civilians in Israel and Gaza, violated the laws of war and amount to war crimes, Human Rights Watch said in a new report. Human Rights Watch also reported on Israeli strikes in Gaza in May that accounted for 62 of the 129 or more Palestinian civilians who, according to the United Nations, were killed in Israeli strikes.
The Iraqi army has unlawfully evicted dozens of families from a village north of Baghdad since July 2021 in an apparent family feud involving a government minister. The 91 families from al-Aetha, a village in Salah al-Din governorate, were sent to a displacement camp without any of their possessions.
Poland's parliament passed a bill regulating ownership of private media. Observers note that it is targeted directly at the country's main independent broadcaster TVN which is owned by the US-based company Discovery.
Germany and the Netherlands have temporarily suspended deportations to Afghanistan due to the deteriorating security situation in the wake of the Taliban taking over large parts of the country.
Finally, governments use athletes to sportswash their human rights violations. Football superstar Lionel Messi's move to Qatar's flagship club in Paris is only the most recent example of the 2022 world cup host investing in its public image rather than tackling abuses.