The United Nations on Dec. 20 raised alarms over the worsening humanitarian situation in El Fasher, capital of Sudan's North Darfur state, where a months-long siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated lives and infrastructure. According to the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) report, more than 782 civilians have been killed and 1,143 injured since May 2024, with thousands more trapped in the city. Testimonies gathered by the OHCHR reveal the indiscriminate nature of the attacks, including the deliberate targeting of civilian areas and healthcare facilities. Accounts from survivors depict a city under constant bombardment, with residents forced to abandon their homes amid extensive looting and violence by RSF forces.

Human Rights Watch released a report Dec. 19 accusing Israeli authorities of intentionally depriving Palestinian civilians in Gaza of adequate access to water since October 2023. This systematic obstruction is said to have caused or contributed to "thousands of deaths," and is part of a policy aimed at "inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population," thereby legally constituting an "act of genocide."

The US government unsealed an indictment Dec. 9 charging two former high-ranking officials of Syrian Air Force Intelligence with war crimes. The indictment accuses Jamil Hassan and Abdul Salam Mahmoud of cruel and inhuman treatment, including the torture of detainees, some of whom were US citizens, at the Mezzeh military airbase prison in Damascus. If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The charges brought against Hassan and Mahmoud in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois are based on 18 USC §§ 2441(a) and (d)(1)(B), which prohibit war crimes, including acts of torture and cruel treatment of detainees.

In a landmark 300-page report released Dec. 5, Amnesty International has accused Israeli authorities of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The report outlines three specific violations of the Genocide Convention: the killing of Palestinians, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions intended to bring about their physical destruction.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry said Dec. 1 that the Israeli armed forces killed four Palestinians in an air-strike on the village of Siir, in Jenin district of the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that day that Israeli forces were "preventing our teams from reaching the bombing site," declaring it a "closed military zone." (TNA) Two days later, an Israel Defense Forces drone strike near the village of Aqaba in the Jordan Valley left two dead. The IDF again reportedly prevented ambulances from reaching the site. (JNS)

The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) filed an application Nov. 27 for an arrest warrant against Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, ruling military chief of Myanmar (Burma), on charges of crimes against humanity. ICC Prosecutor Karim AA Khan KC announced the move, citing "reasonable grounds to believe" that Min Aung Hlaing bears criminal responsibility for the deportation and persecution of Rohingya Muslims beginning in 2017. "The crimes were committed by the armed forces of Myanmar, the Tatmadaw, supported by the national police, the border guard police, as well as non-Rohingya civilians," Khan said in a statement.

As the Trump team's plans fall into place for mass detention of millions of undocumented immigrants—perhaps even naturalized citizens—and establishment of a concentration camp system, invocation of the Insurrection Act to mobilize the army for the round-ups has been broached. Sending National Guard troops from red states into blue states to carry out round-ups and put down protests—over the objections of governors who have refused to cooperate—could portend civil war. And despite the absurd fiction that Trump is an isolationist peacenik, the latest ominous appointment to his cabinet is Islamophobe GWOT ultra-hawk Sebastian Gorka as senior director for counterterrorism. There is still time to invoke the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from the presidency—just as Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, indicted for leading a Trump-style attempted auto-golpe in 2022, has been barred from office. And just as the Congressional Black Caucus sought to bar Dubya Bush from office over considerably lesser matters on Jan. 6, 2001.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Nov. 21 issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and possibly-deceased Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court charged Netanyahu and Gallant with using starvation as a method of warfare and accused them of criminal responsibility for murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts in Gaza. Prosecutors said both Israeli officials intentionally deprived Gaza's civilian population of essential supplies and were responsible for attacks against civilians.