What's new

[VIDEOS/PICTURES] Bloodshed in the land of Palestine - 2023 Edition

The global community is still numb on this barbaric oppression, when will they stop the apartheid mess regime

38,011 Palestinians killed in Gaza offensive since Oct 7: health ministry

The Gaza health ministry has said that more than 38,011 Palestinians have been killed and 87,445 have been injured in the Israeli military offensive in the besieged enclave since October 7, Reuters reports

Source: Reuters
 

‘Unprecedented’ number of journalists arrested in Palestine since Oct. 7​


An “unprecedented” total of 51 arrests of journalists in Palestine have been documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists since the start of Israel’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, the press rights NGO said on Wednesday.

CPJ said that the arrests took place in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with 48 journalists detained by Israel and three by the Palestinian authorities.

Fifteen of the journalists, including those held by the Palestinian authorities, have been released, while 36 remain in Israel’s custody.

Moreover, 15 of those arrested by Israel are being held under administrative detention without charges. This form of detention can last from six months to years.

However, the number of Palestinian journalists in Israeli prisons is likely higher than what CPJ has documented due to the increasing difficulty of acquiring and verifying data during wartime.

“Since October 7, Israel has been arresting Palestinian journalists in record numbers and using administrative detention to keep them behind bars, thus depriving the region not only of much-needed information, but also of Palestinian voices on the conflict,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York.

“If Israel wants to live up to its self-styled reputation of being the only democracy in the Middle East, it needs to release detained Palestinian journalists and stop using military courts to hold them without evidence.”

Currently imprisoned journalists include Rasha Hirzallah, a reporter for the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA; Mahmoud Fatafta, a columnist and political commentator; Bilal Hamid Al-Taweel, who contributes to multiple outlets such as Al-Jazeera; Mahmoud Adel Ma’atan Barakat, a radio producer for the Wattan Media Network; and freelance journalist Rula Hassanein.

Released journalists include Khalil Dweeb, a freelance camera operator; Ahmed Al-Bitawi, a reporter for Sanad News Agency; Maher Haroun, a freelance journalist and media student at Al-Quds Open University; and Ismail Al-Ghoul, an Al-Jazeera correspondent.

Neither Israel’s domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet nor the Palestinian General Intelligence Service have replied to CPJ’s requests for comment about those arrested.

CPJ documented in 2023 the imprisonment of 17 Palestinian journalists by Israeli authorities, saying that it was the highest number of media arrests in Israel and the Palestinian territories since CPJ began tracking jailed journalists in 1992.

www.arabnews.pk

‘Unprecedented’ number of journalists arrested in Palestine since Oct. 7

LONDON: An “unprecedented” total of 51 arrests of journalists in Palestine have been documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists since the start of Israel’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, the press rights NGO said on Wednesday. CPJ said that the arrests took place in Gaza, the...
www.arabnews.pk www.arabnews.pk
 
Israel tells Gaza ceasefire negotiators to resume work

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to send a team of negotiators to discuss a hostage release deal with Hamas.

US President Joe Biden welcomed the development, which comes a day after Hamas responded to a Gaza ceasefire plan he outlined in late May. The last indirect talks took place in Cairo earlier that month.

Details of Hamas's latest response have not been made public, but a Palestinian official told the BBC that the group was no longer demanding a full ceasefire at the outset of the plan presented by Mr Biden.

A senior US administration official said Hamas had agreed to "pretty significant adjustments" to its position.

"We've had a breakthrough on a critical impasse," the US official said, although he stressed that "this does not mean this deal is going to be closed in the period of days".

President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu held a phone call on Thursday, which focused on the hostages and ceasefire negotiations, the official said.

On Wednesday, Hamas's political leadership said it had contacted mediators from Egypt and Qatar about ideas it had been discussing with the aim of reaching an agreement.

Up to now Hamas has demanded an end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting, until it eliminates Hamas.

When he announced the plan on 31 May, President Biden said it was based on a more detailed Israeli proposal, and that it involved three phases.

The first would include a "full and complete ceasefire" lasting six weeks, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas of Gaza, and the exchange of some of the hostages - including women, the elderly and the sick or wounded - for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

The second phase would involve the release of all other living hostages and a "permanent end to hostilities". The third phase the start of a major reconstruction plan for Gaza and the return of dead hostages' remains.

After the two leaders' phone call on Thursday, the Israeli government said in a statement: "Prime Minister Netanyahu updated President Biden on his decision to send a delegation to continue the hostage negotiations and reiterated the principles that Israel is committed to, especially its commitment to end the war only after all of its goals have been achieved."

Mr Netanyahu has declared his objectives to be the return of all remaining hostages, the destruction of Hamas's military and governing capabilities, and ensuring Gaza no longer constitutes a threat to Israel.

The White House said Mr Biden "welcomed the prime minister's decision to authorise his negotiators to engage with US, Qatari, and Egyptian mediators in an effort to close out the deal".

A source in the Israeli negotiating team meanwhile told Reuters news agency that Hamas's response included "a very significant breakthrough" and that there was "a deal with a real chance of implementation".

A senior Palestinian official told the BBC earlier on Thursday that Hamas had given up the demand for a complete ceasefire. Its new conditions, the official said, related to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from a strip of land running along Gaza's southern border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi corridor, and from the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

The source, who was informed of the response Hamas submitted to the mediators, added that the atmosphere was positive. "We are going to a new round of negotiations soon,” the source said.

The US has accused Hamas of blocking progress towards a ceasefire.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the group was the “one exception” to international support for the ceasefire proposal. Hamas, he said, had created "gaps... in not saying yes to a proposal that everyone, including the Israelis, had said yes to”.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has said he is “committed to the Israeli proposal welcomed by President Biden”, although he has not publicly endorsed the outline as it was laid out.

The war was triggered by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

At least 38,010 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israel's offensive, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Hamas and allied armed groups are believed to still be holding 116 hostages who were taken on 7 October. At least 42 are presumed by Israeli authorities to be dead.

The others have been released, rescued or their bodies recovered.

Four other Israelis have been held hostage since 2014 and 2015, two of whom are presumed dead.

BBC
 

Saudi FM calls for sanctions on Israeli officials amid Gaza war​


Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has urged European nations to impose sanctions on Israeli officials violating international human rights laws as he warned that Israel’s war on Gaza was affecting the entire Middle East, including southern Lebanon.

“The situation in the Gaza Strip does not only affect the Palestinian issue but the entire region and contributes to further escalations, which is currently happening in southern Lebanon,” he said on Thursday.

He was speaking at a panel discussion titled “Wars and shadow wars: What are Europe’s options in the Middle East?” at the European Council on Foreign Relations meeting in Madrid.

Prince Faisal highlighted the international community’s silence on Israel’s continued expansion of settlements in the West Bank that undermine the peace process in Palestine.

He said the least that European countries can do is condemn Israel’s failure to abide by its commitments.

And they should take stricter steps such as imposing sanctions on those officials violating international human rights laws, the SPA reported.

He said the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination and deserve an independent state recognized internationally.

“The majority of the international community agrees that the permanent and just solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the two-state solution, yet they stand idle in the face of matters that could undermine the two-state solution, such as Israel’s continued expansion of settlement activities.”

He praised those European countries that have recognized Palestine as a state, including Spain. This was “a very important move” that supports the peace process and the push toward a two-state solution, he said.

Prince Faisal reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the delivery of urgent humanitarian aid to the besieged population.

 
Hamas said Friday that it rejects foreign intervention that seeks to flout Palestine’s will for the future of the Gaza Strip

In a statement, the movement declared its refusal of “any plans, projects, or proposals that aim to bypass the Palestinian will regarding the future of Gaza, and any statements or positions that support plans to bring foreign forces into the region under any pretext or justification.”

“Ruling Gaza after repelling the (Israeli) aggression is a purely Palestinian matter, to be agreed upon by all sectors of our people, who will not allow any guardianship or the imposition of external solutions that undermine our fundamental rights to freedom and self-determination,” the statement added.

In June, The Washington Post reported that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant discussed a “day after” plan for Gaza with US officials during his visit to Washington.

According to the plan, “a steering committee headed by the United States and moderate Arab partners. An international force – potentially including troops from Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco – would oversee security, with U.S. troops providing command and control and logistics from outside Gaza probably in Egypt.”

“Gradually, a Palestinian force would take responsibility for local security,” the Post added.

Indirect talks resuming

Hamas' statement came as indirect negotiations between Israel and the movement resumed, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the US, to reach a prisoner exchange agreement and a cease-fire in Gaza.

Additionally, Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea headed to Doha on Friday for meetings on a prisoner exchange agreement and the Gaza cease-fire.

Egypt, Qatar, and the US have been trying for months to secure a truce and the release of the 120 remaining hostages in Gaza, but to no avail.

Hamas says any deal must end the war and bring a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel, however, argues it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting and wants to end the governance capabilities of the resistance group.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 87,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nearly nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

Source: Anadolu Agency
 
Israel continues Gaza attacks, says ‘gaps’ remain in renewed truce talks

An Israeli delegation has travelled to Qatar after a new Hamas proposal earlier this week generated renewed hope for a truce agreement, as fighting continues to rage across Gaza.

The Israeli negotiators, led by spy chief David Barnea, met mediators in Doha on Friday, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The talks were set to resume next week, the office said, when another negotiating team would be deployed to Qatar.

The office added there were still “gaps between the parties” in their positions.

The latest development came after Hamas on Wednesday said it had presented new “ideas” to Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish mediators on how to reach a ceasefire and captive-exchange deal to halt the nine-month-long conflict.

At least 38,011 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, which began following a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7 that killed at least 1,139 people, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on Israeli statistics.

While details of Hamas’s latest proposal were not immediately clear, a US official said Thursday they contained a substantial shift in the group’s previous position. The official, in a call with reporters, described the update as a “breakthrough”, while cautioning that obstacles remained.

On Friday, Hamas spokesperson Jihad Taha said the group’s latest proposals “have been met with a positive response by the mediators”, while adding “the official Israeli position has not yet become clear”, according to The Associated Press news agency.


www.aljazeera.com

Israel continues Gaza attacks, says ‘gaps’ remain in renewed truce talks

Israeli attacks continue in Gaza City and Khan Younis as delegation travels to Doha for ceasefire talks.
www.aljazeera.com www.aljazeera.com
 

Air strike on Gaza school kills at least 15 people​

At least 15 people have been killed in an air strike on a school in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials have said.

Dozens more have been injured in the attack on the building which was sheltering displaced people at Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Video from the scene shows adults and children screaming in a smoke-filled street covered in dust and rubble, as they run to help the wounded.

The Israeli military told the BBC it was looking into the strike.

Eyewitnesses told the BBC that the attack targeted the upper floors of the school, which is located near a busy market.
A local source said the target was a room allegedly used by Hamas police. The BBC is unable to verify this claim.

www.bbc.com

Air strike on Gaza school kills at least 15 people

The school, located in the Nuseirat refugee camp, was sheltering displaced people, Palestinian officials say.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
Israeli protesters urging Gaza deal block roads

Protests aimed at pressuring the Israeli government to reach a hostage deal with Hamas began across the country on Sunday, with demonstrators blocking roads and picketing at the homes of government ministers.

Protests began at 6:29 am (0329 GMT), corresponding to the time of Hamas' Oct. 7 assault on Israel, according to Israeli media.

The demonstrators took to the streets, blocking rush hour traffic at major intersections across the country. They briefly set fire to tires on the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway before police cleared the way.

Efforts to secure a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza after nine months of war have gained momentum in recent days, with officials expressing optimism but saying gaps remain between the sides.

Gaza health authorities say more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive launched in response to Hamas' attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Small groups with megaphones and banners also protested outside the houses of a number of ministers and coalition lawmakers.

"Total failure! Total failure!" a small crowd yelled outside the house of cabinet minister Ron Dermer, a member of Netanyahu's inner circle.

At Kibbutz Or Haner, near the border with Gaza, protesters hung a black balloon for every person killed in the attack and a yellow balloon for every hostage still held in Gaza.

Some Israelis disagree with the protesters' aims, and are pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to spurn a deal and keep fighting until all the country's objectives have been met.

REUTERS
 

Hamas official tells AFP talks possible for deal without ‘permanent ceasefire’​


A top Hamas official tells AFP that the terror group is ready to discuss a hostage deal and an end to the Gaza war without a “complete and permanent ceasefire.”

Hamas has long insisted that Israel “agree to a complete and permanent ceasefire” to start talks on a hostage release deal, the official tells AFP, adding that “this step was bypassed, as the [Qatari] mediators pledged that as long as the prisoner negotiations continued, the ceasefire would continue.”

www.timesofisrael.com

Hamas official tells AFP talks possible for deal without ‘permanent ceasefire’

* * *
www.timesofisrael.com www.timesofisrael.com
 
Netanyahu: Gaza deal must let Israel resume fighting until war goals met

Any Gaza ceasefire deal must allow Israel to resume fighting until its objectives are met, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, as talks over a US plan aimed at ending the nine-month-old war were expected to restart.

Five days after Hamas accepted a key part of the plan, two officials from the Palestinian militant group said the group was awaiting Israel’s response to its latest proposal.

Netanyahu was scheduled to hold consultations late on Sunday on the next steps in negotiating the three-phase plan that was presented in May by US President Joe Biden and is being mediated by Qatar and Egypt.

It aims to end the war and free around 120 Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.

Hamas has dropped a key demand that Israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire before it would sign an agreement. Instead, it said it would allow negotiations to achieve that throughout the six-week first phase, a Hamas source told Reuters on Saturday on condition of anonymity.

But Netanyahu said he insisted the deal must not prevent Israel from resuming fighting until its war objectives are met. Those goals were defined at the start of the war as dismantling Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, as well as returning the hostages.


 
Hamas says it’s waiting for Israeli response on Gaza ceasefire proposal

Hamas is waiting for a response from Israel on its ceasefire proposal, two officials from the Palestinian group said on Sunday, five days after it accepted a key part of a U.S. plan aimed at ending the nine-month-old war in Gaza.

“We have left our response with the mediators and are waiting to hear the occupation’s response,” one of the two Hamas officials told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

The three-phase plan for the Palestinian enclave was put forward at the end of May by U.S. President Joe Biden and is being mediated by Qatar and Egypt. It aims to end the war and free around 120 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas.

Another Palestinian official, with knowledge of the ceasefire deliberations, said Israel was in talks with the Qataris.

“They have discussed with them Hamas’ response and they promised to give them Israel’s response within days,” the official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters on Sunday.


www.brecorder.com

Hamas says it’s waiting for Israeli response on Gaza ceasefire proposal

CAIRO: Hamas is waiting for a response from Israel on its ceasefire proposal, two officials from the Palestinian...
www.brecorder.com
 

Israeli forces bombard Gaza City as tanks re-enter central areas​


Palestinians in Gaza City say they have experienced one of the most intense Israeli bombardments since Israel launched its war on Hamas after the group's unprecedented 7 October attack.

Columns of Israeli tanks are reported to be closing in on the centre of the city from several different directions.

The Gaza Civil Emergency Service says it believes a number of people have been killed but has so far been unable to reach them because of fighting in several districts in the east and west of Gaza City.

The Al-Ahli Baptist hospital is reported to have been evacuated, with its patients being taken to one of the only medical facilities still functioning in the area - the already overcrowded Indonesian hospital.

Ahead of the assault, the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for several neighbourhoods in the centre of the city.

But one of the areas that has come under the most intense assault, Tel al-Hawa, was not included in an evacuation order that was posted online with a map by the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) Arabic spokesperson on Sunday evening.

One resident of Gaza City, Abdel Ghani asked: "The enemy is behind us and the sea is in front of us, where shall we go?"

Others have also told the BBC that they do not know where to go. They say that only one route remains - to go north towards the port area of Gaza City.

Some fled districts after receiving an evacuation order, only to find that the area they moved to was coming under Israeli bombardment.

In al-Rimal, which is just above Tel al-Hawa on the western side of Gaza City, a freelance cameraman working for the BBC says that he did not receive any evacuation orders, but later learnt that his neighbour did.

He left the area with his family and headed north. They are now in the port area but lack basic necessities. He says he is struggling to find water for his children.

In a statement, the IDF confirmed that it launched what it called a new operation in Tel al-Halwa overnight, following what it said was intelligence of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad infrastructure and fighters in the area.

The military also said that it was operating at the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, in the area.

The IDF said that at the start of the operation, it gave warnings to civilians - and it said that it would open up a humanitarian corridor for people to leave the area.

The latest Israeli offensive in Gaza comes as hopes have been rising that a ceasefire deal might finally be agreed.

Hamas sources have said they have dropped a key demand - that Israel must accept a permanent ceasefire as a precondition of any potential deal.

Talks have resumed and are expected to continue this week.

But a statement by the office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, may have somewhat dampened expectations by insisting that any deal must not stop Israel from resuming fighting in Gaza until its war objectives are met.

Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly defined those aims as being the eradication of Hamas, both militarily and politically.

www.bbc.com

Gaza war: Israel hits Gaza City as tanks re-enter central areas

Residents say they are seeing some of the heaviest strikes since the war began nine months ago.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
Latest Israeli attack to sabotage ceasefire talks, says Hamas chief

A new Israeli assault on Gaza on Monday threatened ceasefire talks at a crucial moment, the head of Hamas said, as Israeli tanks pressed into the heart of Gaza City and ordered residents out after a night of massive bombardment.

Residents said the airstrikes and artillery barrages were among the heaviest in nine months of conflict between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters in the enclave. Thousands fled.

The assault unfolded as senior US officials were in the region pushing for a ceasefire after Hamas made major concessions last week. The militant group said the new offensive appeared intended to derail the talks and called for mediators to rein in Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The assault "could bring the negotiation process back to square one. Netanyahu and his army will bear full responsibility for the collapse of this path," Hamas quoted leader Ismail Haniyeh as saying.

Gaza City, in the north of the Palestinian enclave, was one of Israel's first targets at the start of the war in October. But clashes with militants there have persisted and civilians have sought shelter elsewhere, adding to waves of displacement. Much of the city lies in ruins.

Residents said Gaza City neighbourhoods were bombed through the night into the early morning hours of Monday. Several multi-storey buildings were destroyed, they said.

The Gaza Civil Emergency Service said it believed dozens of people were killed but emergency teams were unable to reach them because of ongoing offensives.

Gaza residents said tanks advanced from at least three directions on Monday and reached the heart of Gaza City, backed by heavy Israeli fire from the air and ground.

That forced thousands of people out of their homes to look for safer shelter, which for many was impossible to find, and some slept on the roadside.


Express Tribune
 
US says ‘gaps’ remain between Israel and Hamas on ceasefire deal

The White House national security spokesperson John Kirby says gaps still remain between Israel and Hamas as ceasefire talks continue in Cairo, reports Reuters.

Speaking at a briefing, Kirby said CIA director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk were in Egypt, meeting with their Egyptian, Israeli and Jordanian counterparts on Monday. He added that there will be follow-on discussions in the next few days. Kirby said:

We’ve been working this very, very hard. And there are still some gaps that remain in the two sides in the positions, but we wouldn’t have sent a team over there if we didn’t think that we had a shot here

“We’re trying to close those gaps as best we can,” he added.

But Hamas has accused the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing negotiations for a truce and hostage release deal, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In a statement, Hamas said the Israeli prime minister “continues to place more obstacles in front of the negotiations”.

The group accused Netanyahu of escalating “his aggression and crimes against our people” in what it said were “attempts to forcibly displace them in order to thwart all efforts to reach an agreement”.

THE GUARDIAN
 
'Unimaginable' destruction after strike on Gaza camp

At least 29 Palestinians have been killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli air strike on a camp for displaced people outside a school in southern Gaza, hospital officials say.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said the strike had hit next to the gate of al-Awda school in the town of Abasan al-Kabira, east of the city of Khan Younis.

The Israeli military said it had used "precise munition" to target a "terrorist from Hamas' military wing" who, it said, had taken part in the 7 October attack on Israel.

It said it was "looking into the reports that civilians were harmed" adjacent to al-Awda school, which houses displaced people from the eastern villages of Khan Younis.

The incident comes a week after the Israeli military ordered civilians to evacuate Abasan al-Kabira and other areas of eastern Khan Younis, prompting tens of thousands to flee.

The BBC has spoken to witnesses who said the area was teeming with displaced people at the time, and who recounted the bloody aftermath in graphic detail.

The attack resulted in widespread destruction and the deaths of women and children, according to the witnesses.

Body parts were scattered across the site and many people staying in tents outside the school were also injured.

Ayman Al-Dahma, 21, told the BBC there had been as many as 3,000 people packed into the area at the time, which he said housed a market and residential buildings.

Describing the number of casualties as “unimaginable”, he said he had seen people whose limbs had been severed by the blast.

He continued: “They said it was a safe place - that there were water and food, there were schools and everything... Suddenly a rocket comes down on you and all the people around you.”

Mohamed Awadeh Anzeh told the BBC the area had been busy with people and market traders “going about their normal lives” when the strike hit.

He continued: “Suddenly, while we were sitting, there was a sound. It went dark... I was feeding my little child.

“I don't know what happened. Suddenly, I took him and started running... and while I was running, I saw blood coming down from my leg.”

He described a “terrifying” scene and said he had witnessed body parts strewn across the street.

Iqram Sallout said there had been no prior warning a strike could be imminent in the area, which he told the BBC had been filled with people forced from their homes by the conflict.

“There are many displaced people - you couldn’t even walk in the streets, there were many tents and people, including young people”.

He added: “The injuries we saw were severe, even among young children.”

One video showed more than a dozen dead and seriously wounded people, including several children, on the floor of a local hospital.

One source at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where the injured from Abasan al-Kabira were taken, said they expected the number of dead to increase.

This is the fourth attack on or near to schools sheltering displaced people in the past four days.

The Israeli military said it had carried out the first three strikes because Hamas politicians, police officers and fighters were using them as bases:

  • On Saturday, 16 people were killed in a strike on a UN-run school in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, which was home to about 2,000 displaced people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry
  • On Sunday, a strike on a church-run school in Gaza City killed a senior Hamas government official and three other people, local sources said
  • On Monday night, several people were reportedly wounded in a strike on another UN-run school in Nuseirat.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza to destroy the Hamas group in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 38,240 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

BBC
 

Israel defence minister says ‘60pc’ of Hamas dead or wounded​


Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that 60 per cent of Hamas fighters had been “eliminated or wounded” in the Gaza war since the militant group’s October 7 attacks.

In a statement to parliament on the first nine months of the conflict, Gallant said that the military was “determined” to meet its goals of eradicating Hamas and bringing all hostages back from Gaza, AFP reports.

The minister praised Israeli soldiers for “performing their work with dedication, sacrifice and success” and said “the achievements are many”.

“We have eliminated or wounded 60pc of the Hamas terrorists” and “dismantled” most the Palestinian group’s 24 battalions, Gallant said.

The minister did not give figures for the casualties and the Israeli military said it did not immediately have statistics.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said that “14,000 terrorists have been eliminated” since the beginning of the bombardment.

Gallant insisted Israel would stick to its aims. “We have returned half of the hostages and we are determined to return the rest,” he said.

“The security establishment, and myself heading it, are determined to achieve the goals of the war and complete them. “

Source: AFP
 
The Israeli army orders all Palestinian civilians to leave Gaza City as it strikes UNRWA’s headquarters there, a day after at least 27 people were killed and 53 injured in an Israeli attack on a school housing displaced civilians in Khan Younis.

Four schools have been hit in as many days as Israel has forced thousands of Palestinians to flee Khan Younis and Gaza City. At least three key hospitals have been forced to shutdown in northern Gaza.


Al Jazeera
 
US is 'cautiously optimistic' about Gaza ceasefire talks

The United States was "cautiously optimistic" about Gaza ceasefire talks, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told CNN on Wednesday, adding that gaps between the two sides could be narrowed.

KEY QUOTES

"We are cautiously optimistic that things are moving in a good direction," Kirby said when asked if a ceasefire deal was close.

"There are still gaps remaining between the two sides. We believe those gaps can be narrowed, and that's what Brett McGurk and CIA Director Bill Burns are trying to do right now," he added.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

President Joe Biden in late May detailed a proposal of three phases aimed at achieving a ceasefire, the release of hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and the rebuilding of the coastal enclave.

Burns and U.S. Middle East envoy McGurk are in the Middle East meeting with regional counterparts to discuss a ceasefire deal.

CONTEXT

Hamas has accepted a key part of a U.S. plan, dropping a demand that Israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire before signing the agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted the deal must not prevent Israel from resuming fighting until its war objectives are met. At the outset of the war, he pledged to annihilate Hamas.

Netanyahu told McGurk on Wednesday he was committed to securing a Gaza ceasefire deal provided Israel's red lines were respected, his office said.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when fighters led by Hamas, which controlled Gaza, attacked southern Israel. They killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

The Gaza health ministry says that since then over 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's assault on the coastal enclave, which has displaced nearly all its 2.3 million population, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations that Israel denies.

REUTERS
 

Netanyahu: Israel will continue war ‘until victory, even if it takes time’​


Amid talks on a hostage-for-ceasefire deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows Israel will continue the war against Hamas “until we achieve all its objectives.”

“We are determined to complete the victory,” he says at a graduation ceremony of the IDF’s officers school.

Netanyahu lists the goals of the war as “the elimination of Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip, the return of all our hostages home, thwarting any future threat to Israel from Gaza,” and the return of displaced Israelis to their homes in the south and north.

“There are those who ask how long the campaign will continue,” continues Netanyahu, months after claiming Israel was “a step away from victory” over Hamas. “I say two words: Until victory. Until victory, even if it takes time.”

www.timesofisrael.com

Netanyahu says war will continue ‘until victory, even if it takes time’; toughens terms

* * *
www.timesofisrael.com www.timesofisrael.com
 

Israel’s war on Gaza: 300,000 Palestinians flee Gaza City invasion​


Civilians fleeing Gaza City say people were shot dead during forced evacuations after the entire population of Gaza City – 300,000 people – was ordered to leave by Israel’s military.

A trail of destruction is left as Israeli forces partially pull out of Gaza City’s Shujayea district after a bloody two-week incursion, with bodies “filling the streets” of their next target, the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, residents say.

Source : Al Jazeera
 
Even western media realizing the ferociousness of this bloody war
=====

A letter signed by more than 60 broadcasters and news organisations from around the world calling for access to Gaza to report on the war has been published in full

Entry to the narrow strip for journalists has been all but impossible without the permission and supervision of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

The open letter has been co-ordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Sky News is among the signatories.

The Israeli government and IDF have been approached for comment.

Here is the letter in full:

We, the undersigned, request that Israeli authorities end immediately the restrictions on foreign media entering Gaza and grant independent access to international news organizations seeking to access the territory.

Nine months into the war, international reporters are still being denied access to Gaza except for rare and escorted trips arranged by the Israeli military. This effective ban on foreign reporting has placed an impossible and unreasonable burden on local reporters to document a war through which they are living. More than 100 journalists have been killed since the start of the war and those who remain are working in conditions of extreme deprivation. The result is that information from Gaza is becoming harder and harder to obtain and that the reporting which does get through is subject to repeated questions over its veracity.

We fully understand the inherent risks in reporting from war zones. These are risks that many of our organizations have taken over decades in order to investigate, document developments as they occur, and understand the impacts of wars the world over.

A free and independent press is the cornerstone of democracy. We ask that Israel uphold its commitments to press freedom by providing foreign media with immediate, independent access to Gaza, and that Israel abides by its international obligations to protect journalists as civilians.

Letter signatories:

ABC News, United States
Agence France-Presse, France
Alternative Press Syndicate, Lebanon
Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism
Asian American Journalists Association, United States
Associated Press, United States
Association for International Broadcasting, United Kingdom
Association of Foreign Press Correspondents, United States
Bangladeshi Journalists in International Media, Bangladesh
BBC News, United Kingdom
Bianet, Turkey
Bloomberg News, United States
CBS News, United States
CNN Worldwide, United States
Community Media Forum Europe, Belgium
CTV News, Canada
Daily Maverick, South Africa
Daraj, Lebanon
Denik Referendum, Czech Republic
European Broadcasting Union, Switzerland
European Federation of Journalists
Financial Times, United Kingdom
Forbidden Stories, France
fotosintesi.info, Italy
Global Investigative Journalism Network
Global Reporting Centre, Canada
International Association of Women in Radio and Television
International Centre for Journalists, United States
International Fund for Public Interest Media
International News Safety Institute, United Kingdom
ITN, United Kingdom
Le Mauricien, Mauritius
McLatchy, United States
Media Development Centre, Tunisia
Media Diversity Institute, United Kingdom
National Association of Hispanic Journalists, United States
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, The Philippines
NBC News, United States Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Harvard University, United States
NPR, United States
Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
Premium Times, Nigeria
Prospect Magazine, United Kingdom
Public Media Alliance
Pulitzer Centre on Crisis Reporting, United States
Rory Peck Trust, United Kingdom
RTÉ News & Current Affairs, Ireland
Rural Media Network, Pakistan
Sky News, United Kingdom
SMN24Media, Sri Lanka
Somali Media Women Association, Somalia
Sveriges Radio, Sweden
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, United Kingdom
The Guardian, United Kingdom
The Irish Times, Ireland
The New York Times, United States
The Washington Post, United States
Twala, Algeria
Vocento, Spain
VRT News, Belgium
Wattan Media
World Association for Christian Communication
World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), Germany
Yle News and Current Affairs, Finland

Source: Sky News
 
South Africa to continue advocating for Palestinian rights, says new Foreign Minister

South Africa’s newly appointed Foreign Minister, Ronald Lamola, said Thursday his country will continue to act within global institutions to protect the rights of Palestinian people and ensure the fair application of international law for all, Anadolu Agency reports.

Speaking at his first public discussion on foreign policy in Cape Town since his appointment earlier this month, Lamola said: “South Africa will continue to do everything within its power to preserve the existence of the Palestinian people as a group.”

He also said the country will work with global institutions to ensure the end of all acts of apartheid and genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people.

Lamola said South Africa will walk with Palestinians toward the realisation of their collective right to self-determination and this is informed by the country’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

The top diplomat, who previously served as the minister of justice and correctional services, said South Africa continues to raise the plight of the Palestinians through various multilateral platforms, including the UN, calling for access to humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza.

He said South Africa also led the referral by six states on the situation in Palestine to the International Criminal Court.

“As our foreign policy is anchored on our history of solidarity with those struggling against oppression and occupation, we will continue to support the people of Western Sahara in their quest for self-determination,” Lamola said.

The Minister also called on the UN to take urgent steps toward holding the long-promised referendum on the self-determination of the disputed Western Sahara region.

He said multilateralism is another key policy of South Africa which has capitalised on its membership in several international forums to advance the African agenda and work toward creating a more rules-based multilateral system and a more just and equitable world.

Lamola said South Africa has consistently advocated for reform of global governance institutions such as the UN Security Council which does not reflect current global political and economic realities and needs to be more representative and responsive to the needs of the Global South.


www.middleeastmonitor.com

South Africa to continue advocating for Palestinian rights, says new Foreign Minister

South Africa's newly appointed Foreign Minister, Ronald Lamola, said Thursday his country will continue to act within global institutions to protect the rights of Palestinian people and ensure the fair...
www.middleeastmonitor.com www.middleeastmonitor.com
 
FearlessRoar said:

Netanyahu: Israel will continue war ‘until victory, even if it takes time’​


Amid talks on a hostage-for-ceasefire deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows Israel will continue the war against Hamas “until we achieve all its objectives.”

“We are determined to complete the victory,” he says at a graduation ceremony of the IDF’s officers school.

Netanyahu lists the goals of the war as “the elimination of Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip, the return of all our hostages home, thwarting any future threat to Israel from Gaza,” and the return of displaced Israelis to their homes in the south and north.

“There are those who ask how long the campaign will continue,” continues Netanyahu, months after claiming Israel was “a step away from victory” over Hamas. “I say two words: Until victory. Until victory, even if it takes time.”

www.timesofisrael.com

Netanyahu says war will continue ‘until victory, even if it takes time’; toughens terms

* * *
www.timesofisrael.com www.timesofisrael.com
Click to expand...

This vicious monster need to be hung in the middle of Gaza witnessed by all the Gaza residents. Barbaric how these Terrorist have carried out their vicious terrorism for this long. The people who had no home for 3000 years are chest beating over fake victory where they put thousands of children under rubble to steal land. Disgusting regime, they are bound to go back to old ways of people without country for many more thousands of years or dump them in Texas or back to Europe
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Israeli army 'failed in mission' to protect kibbutz from Hamas attack

Israel's defence minister has called for a state inquiry into what led to the Hamas attacks on 7 October, as the military admitted it failed in its duty to protect a small community were 101 people were killed.

Yoav Gallant made his comments after the first in a series of official Israeli military reports laid bare how the army operated in Kibbutz Be’eri, which is near the Gaza perimeter fence.

More residents died at the kibbutz than any other Israeli community on 7 October, after gunmen crossed from Gaza and rampaged through their homes.

Mr Gallant said an independent national inquiry was needed to examine the actions of all those in power, including Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu, in relation to how Hamas had grown in strength and capability over the past decade.

Around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken back to Gaza as hostages in the unprecedented assault last autumn.

It led to the major Israeli military operation in Gaza which has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Members of the kibbutz said it was important the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) admitted it had failed to protect them and they too are demanding a national inquiry.

The report, carried out by a senior military officer, commended the bravery of security personal but said the IDF was not prepared for the extensive infiltration by Hamas and “for the first seven hours of combat, the kibbutz residents defended themselves”.

It said: “The inquiry team determined that the IDF failed in its mission to protect the residents of Kibbutz Be'eri.”

Other findings included:

  • The IDF “struggled to create a clear and accurate situational assessment” of what was happening in the kibbutz until the afternoon of the attacks, which began at dawn
  • There was a “lack of command and control, a lack of co-ordination, and a lack of order among the different forces and units”
  • Confusion meant security forces grouped at the entrance to the kibbutz but waited to enter while Hamas were killing people
  • That “heroism and supreme courage shown by the fighting forces, commanders, and security personnel” saved many residents
The report also focused on the command given to a tank to shell a house in which 13 hostages were being held.

No personal blame was attributed to Brigadier General Barak Hiram, commander of the 99th Infantry Division who was found to have acted professionally along with other senior officers in “complex and difficult circumstances.”

The report said: “The tank fire towards the area near the house was carried out professionally, with a joint decision made by commanders from all the security organisations after careful consideration and a situational assessment was made, with the intent to apply pressure to the terrorists and save the civilians held hostage inside.”

Brig-Gen Hiram is soon due to take command of the Gaza Division.

The report’s authors concluded that as far as they could assess, no civilians inside the house were harmed by tank-shell fire, except for what they called “an isolated incident outside the building where two civilians were injured by shrapnel”.

It said: “The team determined that most of the hostages were likely murdered by the terrorists, and further inquiries and reviews of additional findings are necessary.”

The IDF’s Chief of the General Staff accepted all the conclusions of the report and ordered they be integrated into future operational plans.

Hamas killed one in 10 of the 1,000 residents of Be’eri on 7 October in a rampage that started after dawn and lasted for hours.

Sharon Sharabi, whose two brothers Yossi and Eli were taken into Gaza as hostages, was briefed earlier on the report and said he had learned nothing new from the official findings.

“There was a command failure here. This is a difficult and bad picture,” he said.

Yossi, 53, has been declared dead [by Israeli authorities] and the fate of Eli, who would now be 52, is unknown.

Mr Sharabi said: “It cannot be beautified in any way. No investigation they may try to do can make it rosy. It’s impossible.”

A statement issued by Kibbutz Be’eri residents said it was of great importance to them that the IDF had asked for their forgiveness for not protecting them from what they called “an unparalleled attack of evil”.

“The failure of the army has been burned into our bodies and in our hearts for nine months,” their statement said.

Residents said they still had not received satisfactory answers to why the army did not enter the kibbutz, nor had any explanation been given yet for the intelligence failure that allowed Hamas to launch their mass assault undetected.

They also called for a national [state] inquiry, which prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been unwilling to initiate.

Thursday’s report is expected to be the first in a series of IDF probes into how the 7 October attacks were dealt with in various parts of southern Israel where Hamas attacked.

BBC
 
Thousands of Palestinians missing amid Gaza’s unrelenting warfare

About 6,400 Palestinians reported as missing to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) since the outbreak of the war in Gaza on 7 October are yet to have been found, the group has said.

Many are believed to be trapped under debris, buried without identification, or held in Israeli detention while others have been separated from their loved ones, who have been unable to contact them.

Approximately 1,100 new cases of missing people have been registered and remain unsolved since April, the ICRC said.

“Each week we can receive anywhere between 500 and 2,500 calls to our hotlines, and the majority of these are requests for missing family members,” said Sarah Davies, an ICRC spokesperson. “The level of requests fluctuates, sometimes depending on the situation in areas of Gaza – if there are hostilities close to large numbers of people, or evacuation instructions issued, our hotline operators receive more calls with tracing requests in the hours and days that follow.

“Unfortunately, in such chaotic situations, people can be separated easily. People are panicked, sometimes it is dark and difficult to see, if there are explosions nearby people flee and lose one another.”

Davies said that when people were injured and taken to hospital in an ambulance, their family members don’t always know which one they are at. “People can lose their phones, connections can be disrupted, sim cards are changed. There are untold reasons people get separated in a war zone.”

The persistent violence has severely disrupted communications, with hospitals coming under attack, complicating efforts for medical personnel to document casualties and identify the deceased. The unrelenting warfare, coupled with movement restrictions and communication breakdowns, has created significant challenges in monitoring and locating missing individuals. Moreover, access for forensic and human rights experts has been restricted, preventing the identification of victims.

In a recent report, Save the Children said: “Even if they had the equipment, the intensity of Israeli airstrikes and hostilities between the parties – as well as unexploded bombs and missiles in the debris – means it’s too dangerous for families, first responders, and humanitarian workers to search through the rubble.”

Since 7 October, the ICRC has reported more than 8,700 missing Palestinians in Gaza and has engaged with 7,429 Palestinian families to gather information. About 2,300 cases have been resolved, meaning families have found their relatives, either alive or dead.

Muhammad Naji, a resident of al-Falluja in the north of Gaza, said emergency response teams managed to rescue eight people from the rubble after a recent attack, but that 17 others were still buried beneath the debris, and that some of his cousins were missing.

“We don’t know anything about them,” Naji said. “The whole building collapsed on their heads. Are they dead? Are they alive? No one can tell us anything … If my cousins are dead we want to bury them. We can’t think or comprehend.

“I am not the only one who has missing family members. Many people here have the same problem.”

Davies said: “We know from our work in conflict zones all around the world that the most excruciating pain people experience is being separated from a loved one with no knowledge of where or how they are, or what has happened to them. People are fearful, they are anxious, and many of them feel helpless because there is very little they can do in this situation. It’s heartbreaking to hear the pain of people who are frantically trying to reconnect with their family members or hear some news about their fate and whereabouts.”

Abu Ali Zahir lost 23 family members when the three-storey residential building they lived in was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike. Sixteen bodies were pulled out from the rubble about 60 days after the attack, but another seven have not been found.

“I don’t think any of the seven members of the family still under the rubble are alive, but we live in hope,” he said. “We want to give them a proper burial. The pain that the family went through is unbearable.”

The actual number of missing Palestinians is believed to be considerably higher, in part because not all families are aware they can contact the ICRC but also because in some cases entire families have been killed, meaning there is no one to report them missing.

Gaza’s health ministry says the death toll from the war is more than 38,000, and that this figure doesn’t account for missing individuals – including those trapped under rubble, detained or buried in mass graves. The ministry estimates that as of 6 July about 10,000 people were missing.

Locating the missing is a complex process involving cross-referencing information on their status with data from various conflict parties and other sources, such as hospital patient lists or records of detainees returned to Gaza.

“A challenge in this situation is that the conditions for our search activities in the field – where, for example, teams would go door to door, or shelter to shelter and check or ask about the fate and whereabouts of the missing person – don’t exist right now in Gaza,” Davies said. “People are moving so often; they are living in tents and don’t have fixed addresses.”

Every day, Abu Ali Zahir ventures among the rubble of his destroyed home, holding out for miracle. “I go every day among the rubble and call their names, shouting, hoping that someone will reply,” he said.

SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/12/palestinians-missing-gaza-warfare-red-cross
 

Montreal police clash with pro-Palestinian protesters downtown, McGill campus partially open​


Montreal police (SPVM) had to intervene after several hundred protesters gathered downtown Thursday night – and one arrest was made.

This came a day after the pro-Palestinian camp was dismantled at McGill by the university and a private security team, citing health and safety reasons.

According to the SPVM, protesters gathered at Phillips Square around 8 p.m., before taking to the streets about an hour later.

“Some of them were masked and behaved in a hostile manner. Fireworks were thrown at police officers,” said SPVM spokesperson Véronique Dubuc.

Officers used pepper spray and tear gas to break up the crowd.

A window of a bank was reportedly smashed at the corner of Peel Stret and de Maisonneuve Blvd., while two “armed assaults” were allegedly committed against police officers.

“The police intervened and carried out dispersal maneuvers using irritant gas,” said Dubuc, adding that the protest ended around 10:30 p.m.

A 22-year-old man was arrested for obstructing police work and assaulting an officer. He was later released on a promise to appear in court.

McGill University’s pro-Palestinian encampment had been set up for more than two months on the downtown campus in Montreal.

McGill’s downtown campus partially open

Following the dismantlement of the McGill lower field encampment, the downtown campus is partially open on Friday.

“We are working toward a safe and gradual return to usual activities on the downtown campus. As this process will take some time, we thank you for your patience and understanding,” wrote the university on their website.

“To help ensure the continued safety of our community, buildings closed today will remain closed Friday, July 12.”

montreal.citynews.ca

Montreal police clash with pro-Palestinian protesters downtown, McGill campus partially open

Montreal police (SPVM) had to intervene after several hundred protesters gathered downtown Thursday night – and one arrest was made.
montreal.citynews.ca montreal.citynews.ca
 
Local official says Israeli forces deliberately targeted displaced Palestinians in Gaza City, adding that the bodies of 70 people have recovered from the attacks in the Tal al-Hawa area. Earlier, the Gaza civil defence said it found 60 bodies in the same neighbourhood.

Al Jazeera
 
Death and rubble fill streets of Tal Al-Sultan as rescuers dodge Israeli fire

The things they see. The dead girl lowered by a rope from a ruined building. She sways slightly, then comes to rest, legs folding beneath her on the rubble.

They see people and parts of people lying out in the open where the blast or the bullet caught them. Violent death in all of its contortions.

Bodies lying in the streets, in the blasted open sitting rooms of houses, under the rubble. Sometimes covered by so much concrete the men will never reach them, and only in the future when the war is over will somebody come and give them a decent burial.

The men of the Gaza Civil Defence cannot close their eyes to any of this. There is no shutting out the smell. Every sense is on alert. Death can come from the skies in an instant.

When the fighting in places like Shejaiya in eastern Gaza City, or Tal Al-Sultan, near Rafah, in the south, is as fierce as it has been in the last few days, the ambulances of the Civil Defence dare not venture out.

“Entering areas close to the Israeli occupation is dangerous, but we try to intervene to save lives and souls,” says Muhammed Al Mughayer, a local Civil Defence official.

He and his men seize any lull in the conflict to recover the dead and the wounded. Families constantly ask about missing relatives.

“It is very difficult to identify the bodies,” explains Mr Mughayer. “Some remain unidentified due to complete decomposition.”

Stray animals also prey on the corpses, tearing off clothes and scattering papers that might be used to identify them.

The ambulance crews are short of fuel. Two days ago one broke down in Tal Al-Sultan and had to be towed out, a nerve-wracking experience for the crews. The risk of being fired on by the Israeli forces, says Mr Mughayer, means seriously injured people often cannot be rescued.

“There is currently a report of an injured person near Al-Salihin Mosque from two days ago, but we can't reach them due to delays in coordination. It may result in their death.”

Refugees are continuing to flee from Gaza city and areas like Shejaiya. Many have been displaced multiple times.

For them it is a world without laws or rules. World leaders express concern. But nobody is coming to rescue them. Nothing is more acute for these people than the sense that they can die at any moment.

Sharif Abu Shanab stands outside the ruins of his family home in Shejaiya with an expression that is part bewilderment, part grief.

"My house had four floors, and I can't enter it,” he says. “I can't take anything out of it, not even a can of tuna. We have nothing, no food or drink. They bulldozed all the houses, and it is not our fault. Why do they hold us accountable for the fault of others? What did we do? We are citizens. Look at the destruction around you…

"Where do we go, and to whom? We are thrown in the streets now, we have no home or anything, where do we go? There is only one solution and that is to hit us with a nuclear bomb and relieve us of this life."

There are occasional glimpses of reprieve. The Al-Fayoumi family, arriving close to Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, were relieved to have escaped from Gaza City. This after a warning this week to evacuate from the Israel Defense Forces sent thousands of people onto the road south.

In the boiling heat of the asphalt road, without shade, family members were reunited with others who had gone ahead of them.

The new arrivals were given water and soft drinks. A boy sucked from a carton of juice, then squeezed it with all his strength to coax out a last few drops.

Nobody in the group took their survival for granted. So to see everyone alive, all in the one place, brought smiles and cries of happiness. An aunt reached into a car to hug her young niece. At first the child smiled. Then she turned her head and sobbed.

Where will they be tomorrow, next week, next month? They have no way of knowing. It depends on where the fighting moves next, on the next Israeli evacuation order, on the mediators and whether Hamas and Israel can agree a ceasefire.

These lines could have been written at any time in the last few months. Civilians dying. Taking to the roads. Hunger. Hospitals struggling. Talks about a ceasefire.

Since February, we have been following the story of Nawara al-Najjar whose husband Abed-Alrahman was among more than 70 people killed when Israeli forces launched an operation to rescue two hostages in Rafah.

They had fled Khan Younis 9km (6 miles) to the north, and took refuge closer to Rafah when bullets and shrapnel tore through the tented camp where they slept.

Nawara was six months pregnant when she was widowed, and taking care of six children, aged from four to 13. When a BBC colleague found her again today, Nawara was nursing her newborn baby, Rahma, just one month old.

She gave birth on a night of heavy airstrikes, rushed to the hospital by her in-laws.

“I kept saying: ‘Where are you Abed-Alrahman? This is your daughter coming into the world without a father.’" Baby Rahma has red hair like her dead father.

The Israeli advance into Rafah last month sent Nawara and her children fleeing again, back to their old home in Khan Younis. She struggled to settle there again.

“My husband's things were there, his laugh, his voice. I couldn’t open the house. I tried to be strong. Then I took my children and opened the door, and we wandered around the house, but it was hard. I cried for my husband…He was the one who cleaned the house, cooked for us, made sure I was comfortable.”

There has been fighting around Khan Younis again in the last week. An Israeli air strike close to a school killed 29 people, local hospital sources say, and wounded dozens more.

But Nawara is adamant she will not move again. Here she is close to the memory of the man she loves. She imagines her husband as a still living presence. She sends texts to his phone: “I complain to him, and I cry to him…I try to reassure myself, telling myself that I need to be patient. I imagine he’s the one telling me.”

BBC
 
At least 20 killed in air strike on Gaza humanitarian zone, Hamas says

At least 20 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike, that hit a densely populated area of displaced people in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

The Israeli military had designated this area as a safe zone, urging Palestinians to seek shelter there.

More than 90 people were injured in the strike, according to the health ministry's statement.

The Israeli military said it is looking into the incident, the Reuters news agency reports.

An Israeli army radio station said sources had described the target of the attack as ”very significant".

An eyewitness told the BBC that the site of the strike looked like an "earthquake" had hit, and videos from the area show smouldering wreckage and bloodied casualties being loaded onto stretchers. People can be seen trying desperately to pick through the rubble of a large crater with their hands.

Footage from the nearby Kuwait field hospital revealed chaos with patients being treated on the floor.

A Hamas official, cited by Reuters, called the attack a “grave escalation” that showed Israel was not interested in reaching a ceasefire agreement.

BBC
 

Israel targets Hamas military chief; Gaza officials say at least 71 killed​


An Israeli airstrike targeted Hamas’ military chief Mohammed Deif in Gaza on Saturday, a security official and Israel Army Radio said, in an attack that the enclave’s health ministry said had killed at least 71 Palestinians.

It was unclear whether Deif was killed, the security official said. Army Radio said Deif was hiding in a building in Israeli-designated humanitarian zone Al-Mawasi, west of the southern city of Khan Younis.

Deif was one of the masterminds of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. He has survived seven Israeli assassination attempts, the most recent in 2021 and has topped Israel’s most wanted list for decades.

The Gaza health ministry said at least 71 Palestinians had been killed in the strike and 289 injured.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was holding special consultations, his office said, in light of “developments in Gaza.” It was unclear how the strike would affect ceasefire talks underway in Doha and Cairo.

The Hamas-run media office said at least 100 people had been killed and wounded, including members of the Civil Emergency Service. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

A senior Hamas official did not confirm whether Deif had been present and called the Israeli allegations “nonsense.”

“All the martyrs are civilians and what happened was a grave escalation of the war of genocide, backed by the American support and world silence,” Abu Zuhri told Reuters, adding the strike showed Israel was not interested in reaching a ceasefire deal.

Attack ‘surprising,’ say witnesses

Reuters footage showed ambulances racing toward the area amid clouds of smoke and dust. Displaced people, including women and children, were fleeing in panic, some holding belongings in their hands.

Witnesses said the attack was a surprise as the area had been calm, adding more than one missile had been fired. Some of the wounded, who were being evacuated were rescue workers, they said.

“They’re all gone, my whole family’s gone.. where are my brothers? They’re all gone, they’re all gone. There’s no one left,” said one tearful woman, who did not give her name.

“Our children are in pieces, they are in pieces. Shame (on you),” she added.

Rising up the Hamas ranks over 30 years, Deif developed the group’s network of tunnels and its bomb-making expertise. He is held responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.

Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in a cross-border raid into southern Israel on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel has retaliated by military action in Gaza that has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, medical authorities in Gaza say.

 
Latest update on Israel madness and casualties for innocent Palestinians
  • At least 90 people have been killed and 300 wounded in an Israeli air attack on the al-Mawasi refugee camp, an Israeli-designated “safe zone”, the Health Ministry in Gaza says.

  • The Israeli army claims the target of the attack was senior Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif; Hamas immediately rejects the claim as “false”, saying “defenceless civilians” were killed in the attack.

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it is not certain that Deif was killed but hails the attempted assassination as a message to Hamas.

  • An Israeli attack on worshippers who gathered to pray near the ruins of a mosque at the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City kills at least 20.

  • At least 38,443 people have been killed and 88,481 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 is estimated at 1,139, and dozens of people are still held captive in Gaza.
Source: Al Jazeera
 
UN chief condemns Israeli airstrike on humanitarian zone for displaced Palestinians in Gaza

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, which was designated a "humanitarian zone" for displaced Palestinians.

"This (attack) underscores that nowhere is safe in Gaza," according to a statement that said Guterres is "shocked and saddened" by the strike that killed 90 victims in a densely populated humanitarian area where displaced persons are located.

"The UN Secretary-General condemns the killing of civilians, including children and women," it noted.

Referring to Israel’s claim of targeting "two Hamas members," the statement said: "The Secretary-General underlines that international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack, must be upheld at all times."

It reiterated Guterres's demand for an immediate cease-fire and the release of hostages in Gaza, stating that "the war must end."

At least 300 were also injured in the attack, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.

More than 38,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 88,300 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

SOURCE: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-eas...ne-for-displaced-palestinians-in-gaza/3274780
 

The madness of savages continue​

====

Israeli air raid targets Marwahin, southern Lebanon​

Israeli air strikes targeted the town of Marwahin in southern Lebanon, an Al Jazeera correspondent reports. Hezbollah subsequently announced it bombed Israeli spy equipment at the Raheb site with guided missiles.

In recent weeks, top Israeli officials have pledged to escalate the fighting with Hezbollah if a diplomatic solution isn’t reached and the armed group’s forces pull far back from the border.

At least 543 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon since October, while attacks from Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon have killed at least 21 people in Israel. Tens of thousands of Israeli and Lebanese civilians have been evacuated from border towns on both sides.

Source: Al Jazeera
 
Israeli strike on central Gaza school reportedly kills 22

At least 22 Palestinians were killed and 100 wounded in a strike on Sunday on a UN-run school in central Gaza being used as a shelter by displaced people, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

The Israeli military said it had targeted a number of Hamas “terrorists” operating from Abu Oraiban School in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp.

Witnesses told BBC Arabic there were no armed fighters there and that children were among the casualties.

It was the fifth attack on or near to schools in eight days.

Residents said there were fresh air and artillery strikes in central Gaza on Monday, with five people reportedly killed when a house in Maghazi refugee camp was hit. The Israeli military said its aircraft had struck dozens of “terror targets” across the territory over the past day.

Meanwhile, Hamas said indirect negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Israel were “ongoing” in the wake of an air strike in the southern al-Mawasi humanitarian area on Saturday that the health ministry said killed more than 90 people.

The Israeli military said it had targeted a compound where the head of Hamas’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif, was hiding with the commander of its Khan Younis Brigade, Rafa Salama.

The military has announced that Salama was killed, but said it is too early to conclude whether Deif also died. Hamas has said Deif is in good health.

A US State Department spokesman said Antony Blinken expressed serious concerns about the recent civilian casualties during a meeting with two key Israeli officials on Monday.

The US Secretary of State spoke with with national security advisor, Tzachi Hanegbi, and Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, who confirmed that Israel was still committed to reaching a ceasefire deal under terms laid out by Joe Biden in May.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 38,660 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry, whose figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

According to the UN, an estimated 1.9 million people - 90% of Gaza’s population - have been forced to flee their homes, including some who have been displaced up to 10 times.

Thousands were reportedly sheltering at Abu Oraiban School, which is run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), when it was it struck on Sunday afternoon.

A displaced woman told BBC Arabic that she had been lighting a fire to cook in a corridor when a nearby room was hit.

“As soon as the explosion occurred the walls of the room collapsed on us,” she said. “I saw a little boy whose leg was bleeding and a dismembered corpse which people covered with blankets. I also saw a little boy lying in a pool of blood, with his whole face bleeding.”

She added: “I quickly ran out of the school. I found my aunt at the school gate, hugging her burnt young son. When I left the school, I saw many injured people lying on the ground and bodies torn to pieces.”

Another resident said his family had been living at the school for six months because UN facilities were supposed to be safe.

“There are no armed men and no reason to strike schools this way,” he added. “The dead and injured people are mainly women and children staying at this school.”

Video footage filmed by a freelance cameraman working for BBC Arabic later on Sunday showed hundreds of people walking past the rubble of a destroyed structure in one corner of the school compound. A heavily damaged staircase could also be seen through two large holes in a wall of the adjoining three-storey school building.

“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken in order to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions and additional intelligence,” it added.

The IDF also accused Hamas of systematically violating international law by exploiting civilians and civilian structures as “human shields” - an accusation the group has denied.

A spokesman for Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence force, told AFP news agency on Sunday evening that 15 people were killed and that most were women and children.

On Monday, the health ministry said the death toll had risen to 22, but it did not provide any further details.

Hamas condemned the Israeli strike as what it called an “extension of the genocide” against displaced Palestinians.

The IDF has acknowledged carrying out five strikes on or near to schools sheltering displaced people since 6 July. It has said they targeted Hamas politicians, police officers and fighters using them as bases.

Last Tuesday, hospital officials said at least 29 people had been killed in an Israeli strike on a camp for displaced people outside a school in the town of Abasan al-Kabira, near the southern city of Khan Younis.

A total of 20 people, including a senior Hamas government official, were reportedly killed in three earlier strikes at two other Unrwa-run schools in Nuseirat and a church-run school in Gaza City.

BBC
 

This apartheid regime is even worse than blood hungry savages​

====

Eight Palestinians killed in Israeli air raid on school: Ministry​


At least eight Palestinians have been killed and several injured in an Israeli air attack on a school in central Gaza, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

The strike hit al-Awda school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the ministry said.

Source: Al Jazeera
 
Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 57, Palestinian health officials say

Israeli forces battled Hamas-led fighters in several parts of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and Palestinian health officials said at least 57 people were killed in Israeli bombardments of southern and central areas.

The Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas has accused Israel of stepping up attacks in Gaza to try to derail efforts by Arab mediators and the United States to reach a ceasefire deal. Israel says it is trying to root out Hamas fighters.

In Rafah, a southern border city where Israeli forces have been operating since May, five Palestinians were killed in an airstrike on a house, Gaza health officials said. In nearby Khan Younis, a man, his wife, and two children were killed, they said.

Later on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike on a car killed at least 17 Palestinians and wounded 26 others in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the officials said.

The airstrike hit near a tented area housing displaced families in Attar Street in the humanitarian-designated area of Al-Mawasi, the health ministry said.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted a senior militant of the Islamic Jihad group, an ally of Hamas.
"We are looking into the reports stating that several civilians were injured as a result of the strike," the military statement said.

Reuters footage showed residents carrying bodies of the dead and wounded on donkey carts and in rickshaws to hospitals.


Reuters
 
Israel’s PM rejects calls for official inquiry into October 7 attack

In a speech to Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset, Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed demands for the creation of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attacks saying “first, I want to defeat Hamas”.

There are increasing calls for an official probe into the deadly assault by Palestinian armed groups. The Israeli military last week released the results of its first internal investigation that admitted “severe mistakes and errors”.

Netanyahu has been accused of avoiding an inquiry to stay in power.

The prime minister said on Wednesday that Israel is “progressing methodically to achieve the goals of the war: the release of the abductees [and] the destruction of Hamas”, the Haaretz newspaper quoted him as saying.

Al Jazeera
 

Two children wounded in latest Israeli strike face amputations​


An attack just took place on the eastern part of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which has been repeatedly hit over the past few days.

Three children are among the wounded so far brought to the hospital where we’re reporting from. They came in crying in agony from the wounds they suffered. Two face amputations, a doctor told us.

There have been 25 Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours on Gaza, killing at least 81 people, the vast majority displaced Palestinians.

The Israeli military attacks have surged not only on residential buildings but also on public infrastructure. UN schools used as shelters have been major targets for the past 10 days now. It’s all a part of psychological warfare.

Gaza soon will be uninhabitable as all means of life have been destroyed. But there’s no escape.

Al Jazeera
 

1721230859401.png​

Israeli delegation arrives in Egypt to continue ceasefire talks: Report​


An Israeli negotiating team arrived in Cairo for truce discussions as Israel and Hamas consider the latest proposal. That’s according to three Egyptian airport officials who didn’t give details, The Associated Press reports.

International mediators continue to push Israel and Hamas towards a phased deal that would halt the fighting and free about 120 captives believed held in Gaza.

Talks stalled once again after Israel killed at least 90 people in a single attack on a “safe” zone for displaced Palestinians.

Al Jazeera
 
I don't know how true was holocaust but the genocide in Gaza is getting even worse then it before our own eyes
====
Gaza is ‘most documented genocide in history,’ says Palestinian UN representative

“What is happening in Gaza is going down as the most documented genocide in history,” Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour told a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East.

Source: Al Jazeera

www.aljazeera.com

Gaza is ‘most documented genocide in history,’ says Palestinian UN rep

“What is happening in Gaza is going down as the most documented genocide in history.”
www.aljazeera.com www.aljazeera.com
 
Israel bombards central Gaza as tanks advance deeper in Rafah

Israeli forces bombarded the Gaza Strip's historic refugee camps in the centre of the enclave and struck Gaza City in the north on Thursday, killing at least 13 people, and tanks pushed deeper into Rafah in the south, health officials and residents said.

One Israeli airstrike killed six people in Zawayda town in central Gaza and two other people were killed in a strike on a house in Bureij camp. An Israeli air strike killed three people in a car in Deir Al-Balah, a city packed with people displaced from elsewhere in Gaza, health officials said.

In Gaza City in the north, medics said two Palestinians were killed in another airstrike.

The Israeli military said in a statement its forces killed two senior Islamic Jihad commanders in two airstrikes in Gaza City, including one whom it said had taken part in the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that triggered the Gaza war.

In Rafah, residents said Israeli tanks advanced deeper in the western side of the city and took position on a hilltop there. The Israeli military said forces located several tunnels and killed several gunmen.

The armed wing of militant group Hamas and its allies said they fired mortar bombs at Israeli forces in southwest Rafah on Thursday.

More than a million people had sought shelter in Rafah from fighting further north, but most have scattered again since Israel launched an offensive in and around the city in May.

The fighting has pushed the 60-bed Red Cross field hospital in Rafah to the brink of capacity, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement on Thursday.

"The repeated mass casualty events resulting from the unrelenting hostilities have stretched to breaking point the response capacity of our hospital – and all health facilities in southern Gaza – to care for those with life-threatening injuries," said William Schomburg, head of the ICRC's subdelegation in Gaza.

CEASEFIRE EFFORTS STALLED

More than nine months into the war, Palestinian fighters led by Hamas are still able to attack Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs, occasionally firing rocket barrages into Israel.

Israel vowed to eradicate Hamas after its militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage in the Oct. 7 attack, according to Israeli tallies. More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive since then, Gaza health authorities say.

On Tuesday, Israel said it had eliminated half of the leadership of Hamas' military wing and killed or captured about 14,000 fighters since the start of the war. Israel says 326 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza.

Hamas doesn't release figures of casualties among its ranks and said Israel was exaggerating to portray a "fake victory".

Diplomatic efforts by Arab mediators to halt the hostilities, backed by the United States, appear on hold, though all sides say they are open to more talks, including Israel and Hamas.

A deal would aim to end the war and release Israeli hostages in Gaza in return for many Palestinians jailed by Israel.

Hamas was awaiting an Israeli response to a ceasefire offer drafted by the United States based on ideas announced by President Joe Biden, a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort said.

"The feeling in Hamas is that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is stalling and that he might not say anything before he goes to the United States next week," said the official, who asked not to be named.

REUTERS
 
Amnesty calls for end to Israel’s ‘incommunicado’ detention of Gazans

Amnesty International called on Israel to end the indefinite detention of Gaza Palestinians and what it called “rampant torture” in its prisons, AFP reports.

“Israeli authorities must end their indefinite incommunicado detention of Palestinians from the occupied Gaza Strip, without charge or trial […] (which is) in flagrant violation of international law,” the rights group said statement.

Amnesty called for the repeal of the Unlawful Combatants Law, amended following the beginning of the Gaza bombardment, which allows Israeli forces to hold people without charge or trial for months.

The law “enables rampant torture and, in some circumstances, institutionalises enforced disappearance,” Amnesty said.

It said the law allows Israeli troops to arrest security suspects “for indefinitely renewable periods without having to produce evidence to substantiate the claims.”

Amnesty said it had documented 27 cases of Palestinians, including five women and a 14-year-old boy, who were detained “for up to four and a half months” without being able to contact their families.

All 27 told of how “they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment”, the organisation said.

Source: AFP
 
France condemns Israel’s rejection of Palestinian statehood, Ben-Gvir visit

France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned a resolution by Israel’s parliament rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state on the grounds that it would pose “an existential danger”.

“We express our dismay at the Knesset’s adoption of a resolution yesterday that rejects the prospect of establishing a Palestinian state, contradicting the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council,” the ministry said in a statement, using the Hebrew term for the Israeli parliament.

It also condemned a provocative visit Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. “These irresponsible actions threaten to further destabilize the region,” it said.

The ministry reaffirmed “the urgent need” to work towards a two-state solution and the creation of a Palestinian state “living side by side in peace and security.”

Source: Al Jazeera
 
Israel’s Knesset votes to reject Palestinian statehood

Israel’s parliament has passed a resolution that overwhelmingly rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, Israeli media reported.

The resolution passed in the Knesset with 68 votes in favour and just nine against it early on Thursday.

It said that a Palestinian state would pose “an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition with far-right parties co-sponsored the resolution. Opposition leader Yair Lapid’s centre-left party left the session to avoid supporting the statement, despite previously saying he favoured a two-state solution, the Times of Israel newspaper reported.

Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, slammed the passing of the resolution.


www.aljazeera.com

Israel’s Knesset votes to reject Palestinian statehood

The resolution says the creation of a Palestinian state would pose an ‘existential danger’ to Israel.
www.aljazeera.com www.aljazeera.com
 
Netanyahu blocks minister’s order to build hospital for Gaza children

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday overruled an order by his defense minister to build a field hospital in Israel to treat sick Gaza children, officials said.

The decision was a new sign of divisions within Netanyahu’s ruling coalition over its handling of the war in Gaza in the face of persistent international criticism of the high civilian toll.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced this week that he had ordered the building of a “temporary hospital” in Israel to treat sick children from Gaza.

Gallant discussed the project in a call with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a government statement said Wednesday.

Reports said the hospital would be built close to Israel’s border with Gaza to help children suffering from cancer, diabetes and other illnesses who could not get treatment in the Palestinian territory.

But the prime minister’s office announced suddenly on Thursday that Netanyahu “does not approve the establishment of a hospital for Gazans within Israeli territory — therefore, it will not be established.”

An Israeli official told AFP the defense ministry first asked the prime minister’s office two weeks ago “to speed up the evacuation of patients, especially sick children,” from Gaza.

“No response was received, so the minister issued an order to the army to establish a field hospital within Israeli territory as an immediate solution for sick children.

“The prime minister canceled the order and, for political reasons, blocked a humanitarian solution,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Gallant and Netanyahu are longtime rivals. In March last year, the prime minister sacked his minister, a fomer general, after he spoke out against judicial reforms. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets and Netanyahu revoked his decision.


Arab News
 
Top UN court to deliver opinion on Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories

The United Nations' highest court is set to issue an advisory opinion Friday on the legal ramifications of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, weighing in on one of the world's most contentious issues at the request of the U.N. General Assembly.

While advisory opinions of judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are non-binding, they carry weight under international law and a clear finding that the occupation is illegal could weaken support for Israel.

The advisory opinion process predates the current Israel-Hamas conflict, and in a separate case brought by South Africa, the court in May issued a binding order for Israel to halt its Rafah offensive in the Gaza Strip. Israel strongly condemned the ruling.

In late 2022 the General Assembly asked the court to appraise Israel's "prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation" of Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and associated Israeli government policies.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem - areas of historic Palestine which the Palestinians want for a state - in the 1967 war and has since built settlements in the West Bank and steadily expanded them.

Israeli leaders have argued the territories are not occupied in legal terms because they are on disputed lands, but the United Nations and most of the international community regard it as Israeli-occupied territory.

In February, more than 50 states presented their views before the court, with Palestinian representatives asking the court to find that Israel must withdraw from all the occupied areas and dismantle illegal settlements.

Israel did not participate in the hearings but filed a written statement telling the court that issuing an advisory opinion would be "harmful" to attempts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The majority of states participating asked the court to find the occupation illegal, while a handful, including Canada and Britain, argued it should refuse to give an advisory opinion.

The United States, Israel's strongest backer, urged the court to limit any advisory opinion and not order the unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territories.

The 15-judge panel will start reading out their opinion at 3 p.m. local time (1300 GMT).

In 2004 the ICJ gave an advisory ruling that an Israeli separation barrier around most of the West Bank was "contrary to international law" and Israeli settlements were established in breach of international law. Israel dismissed the ruling.

REUTERS
 
Where was your Iron Dome ? Houthis striking Tel Aviv was unthinkable prior to the war.
 

At least 13 killed by Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza​


At least 13 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes that hit refugee camps in central Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health service.

Palestinian officials said homes in the Nuseirat and Bureij camps were hit on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Three children and one woman were reported to be among the dead.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: “Overnight, the IDF struck terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including terrorists and terrorist infrastructure sites in the area of Nuseirat.

“The IDF is making significant efforts to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians and is operating in accordance with international law against the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip that are systematically and cynically operating from within civilian infrastructure.”

Nuseirat residents described living in constant fear of being bombed and a deteriorating humanitarian situation.

“The situation is scary,” said Rahma Abu Hajjaj, a 39-year-old mother of five from Nuserirat.

“There are no warnings, there are no alarms when homes are bombed, we are hiding all the time and we do not know why they are targeting these homes.”

The attacks happened as international mediators, including the United States, continued to push Israel and Hamas towards a cease-fire deal.

The US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said a deal between Hamas and Isreal to release Israeli hostages and stop the war was "inside the 10-yard line".

He added: "We know that anything in the last 10 yards are the hardest”.

Stop-and-start negotiations between the warring sides have been underway since November and have so far proved fruitless.

In the latest attacks in Gaza, a medical team delivered a live baby from a Palestinian woman killed in an airstrike that hit her home in Nuseirat on Thursday evening.

The unnamed newborn is stable, but has suffered from a shortage of oxygen and has been placed in an incubator, said Dr. Khalil Dajran on Friday.

The war in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas’ attack on Isreal on 7 October, has killed more than 38,900 people, according to Hamas.

Hamas’ October attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and militants took about 250 hostage. About 120 remain in captivity, with about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.

 
Israeli settlers peform Talmudic rituals in Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

Illegal Israeli settlers have performed Talmudic rituals in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, under the protection of Israeli police, according to the Wafa news agency.

Witnesses said dozens of Israeli settlers entered the holy site and conducted provocative tours, while Israeli police imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshippers to the mosque, the report said.

Israeli police also increased restrictions at the gates to the Old City, turning the area into a military zone.

Under the status quo affirmed in 1967, only Muslims can pray within al-Haram al-Sharif, also known as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Non-Muslims can visit but cannot pray at the site; this includes partaking in Talmudic rituals.

Al Jazeera
 
Death toll in Khan Younis rises to 27: Medical sources

We earlier reported on the Israeli assault on eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza that killed 17 people.

Medical sources have told Al Jazeera Arabic that the death toll has risen to 27.

A graphic video footage shared online and verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad showed the arrival of a truck loaded with bodies and injured people at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.

The video that we are not using due to the distressing images showed bodies of children, including one who appeared to be just several months old.

Meanwhile, in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Israeli bombing of a family house killed at least two Palestinians and injured a number of others, according to the Wafa news agency.

Al Jazeera
 

Nasser hospital overwhelmed with casualties as Israeli bombardment continues​

Nasser hospital overwhelmed with casualties as Israeli bombardment continues. Health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis have urged residents to donate blood because of the large number of casualties being rushed into the medical facility.

“The situation in the Nasser medical complex is out of control. We have been receiving hundreds of casualties and mortalities within or during three hours. Our situation is very bad. We need to be supported by medical supplies and instruments,” said spokesman Mohammed Sakr.

“Tens of cases are on the floor; we don’t find beds to place patients on, we don’t find enough supplies to give healthcare services to our patients. The situation is very hard,” he added.

“We are swimming in a pool of blood.”

Sakr said that the hospital received more than more than 30 dead bodies and two 200 injuries.

“We ask all countries worldwide to force Israel to open the borders in order to transfer our patients who need urgent operations to neighbouring countries” to get treatment, he said.

Source : Al Jazeera
 
Israel orders evacuation of part of Gaza humanitarian zone

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says at least 70 people have been killed by Israeli strikes around the southern city of Khan Younis.

It comes after Israel ordered the evacuation of part of a designated humanitarian zone ahead of an operation against Palestinian fighters who have apparently regrouped there.

The Israeli military said on Monday morning that there had been “significant terrorist activity and rocket fire” from eastern neighbourhoods of Khan Younis and told residents to head to the “adjusted” al-Mawasi humanitarian area.

It was followed by heavy bombardment, which the military later said had “eliminated terrorists” and infrastructure.

Hundreds of people were seen fleeing on foot and by car.

Gaza's health ministry said 70 dead people and more than 200 injured, many of them in a serious condition, had been brought to the already overwhelmed Nasser hospital in the west of the city and appealed for blood donations.

The Palestinian Red Crescent meanwhile reported that nearby al-Amal hospital, which it runs, had received another five dead and 33 injured.

The medical organisation also said its clinics in the towns of Maan and Bani Suhaila, which are both located about 2km (1.25 miles) east of Khan Younis, had gone out of service because of the Israeli evacuation order. Israeli officials said the order did not apply to hospitals.

Medics and residents told Reuters news agency that many people had been killed by tank fire in Bani Suhaila, while Hamas’s military wing said it had targeted Israeli tanks there.

"It is like doomsday," said one resident, who one identified himself as Abu Khaled. "People are fleeing under fire, many are dead and wounded on the roads."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Monday evening that an operation above and below ground in Khan Younis had begun "due to intelligence indicating that terrorists were operating and firing rockets in these areas, as well as efforts by Hamas to reassemble its forces there".

Aircraft and artillery had “struck more than 30 terror infrastructure sites in Khan Younis, including in the area from which a projectile was launched toward Nirim in southern Israel" on Monday, as well as a weapons storage facility, observation posts and tunnel shafts, it added.

At the start of this month, they were displaced once again after the IDF issued a fresh evacuation order for other eastern neighbourhoods of Khan Younis as well as nearby towns and villages, including Bani Suhaila.

They were instructed to go to the humanitarian zone - which stretches along the coast from al-Mawasi to the central town of Deir al-Balah - despite warnings from the UN that it was already overcrowded with tents and lacking basic services and critical infrastructure.

Mahmoud Abu Saqr, 46, told the BBC that he and his family had fled Bani Suhaila on Monday and were now “sitting on the street” in the humanitarian zone.

“No-one can buy a tent. There is no way anywhere here to put up a new tent, even if we had money,” he said.

“The Israeli artillery stationed on the border has been shelling our town since the morning. We were displaced to Rafah in November and returned to the town after the army asked us to do so. Today, we received a text message on our phone.”

He added: “There is no such thing as a safe area. It is all a lie.”

The IDF said it had decided to temporarily evacuate the eastern part of the humanitarian zone "in order to mitigate harm to the civilian population and keep civilians away from areas of combat". It also accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields, which the group denies.

In response, Hamas called on the international community “to take urgent action to stop the series of systematic Zionist killing against our people”.

Israel has also carried out several deadly strikes in the humanitarian zone in the past two weeks, which it has said targeted Hamas and allied fighters operating there.

On 13 July, the Gaza health ministry said more than 90 people had been killed in an Israeli strike inside al-Mawasi that targeted the head of Hamas’s military wing.

The IDF's spokesman said on Friday that there were "increasing signs" that Mohammed Deif was among the dead, but that Hamas was hiding what had happened to him. He also confirmed again that the commander of Hamas's Khan Younis brigade was killed in the strike.

Israel launched a campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 39,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry, whose figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

In a separate development on Monday, the IDF confirmed the deaths in captivity of two more Israeli hostages, based on intelligence information.

A statement said an investigation was being carried out into the circumstances of the deaths of Yagev Buchshtab, 35, and Alex Dancyg, 76, who also had Polish citizenship. Israeli media reports cited military sources as saying there was a “high probability” that at least one of the men was killed by Israeli fire.

“Yagev and Alex were taken alive and should have returned alive to their families and to their country,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. “Their death in captivity is a tragic reflection of the consequences of foot-dragging in negotiations.”

The forum demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately approve a proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.

Mr Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday that he had held an in-depth discussion with Israel’s negotiating team and directed them to take part in the next round of indirect talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt later this week.

Israel says 116 hostages are still being held in Gaza, 44 of whom are presumed dead. There are another four hostages who were kidnapped before 7 October. Two of them are believed to be dead.

The IDF also said on Monday that it was looking into a report that Israeli forces had fired at a marked UN convoy that was heading to Gaza City.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), Philippe Lazzarini, said an armoured car had been hit by at least five bullets while waiting near an Israeli checkpoint south of the Wadi Gaza river valley on Sunday. The vehicle was severely damaged and UN staff had to take cover, but there were no casualties.

Mr Lazzarini said the convoy’s movement had been co-ordinated with Israeli authorities and demanded that “those responsible must be held accountable”.

BBC
 
China seeks to unite Palestinian factions with unity deal

Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have signed a declaration agreeing to form an interim "national reconciliation government" for the occupied West Bank and Gaza after the war with Israel, in a meeting brokered by China, China's foreign minister and Hamas officials have said.

Representatives from the groups, along with 12 other Palestinian factions, pledged to work for unity after three days of talks in Beijing.

It is the latest of several reconciliation deals Hamas and Fatah have agreed on in their long fractured relationship, none of which have yet led to the end of the schism.

Israel has also ruled out a role for Hamas or Fatah in governing Gaza after the end of hostilities there.

The deep split began in 2007 when Hamas became the sole ruler in Gaza after violently ejecting Fatah from the territory. This came after Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas dissolved the Hamas-led unity government formed when Hamas won national elections the year before.

Since then, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority has been left in charge of only parts of the West Bank.

Hamas has lost control in Gaza since the war with Israel began on 7 October with Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel, in which it killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others back to Gaza as hostages. More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as a result of the Israeli offensive, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

In a statement posted on Telegram, Hamas spokesman Hossam Badran said the declaration was an "additional positive step on the path to achieving Palestinian national unity".

He said the groups were in agreement on "Palestinian demands relating to ending the war... which are: a ceasefire, complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, relief and reconstruction."

He said "the most important" part of what was agreed was to form a Palestinian national consensus government "that would manage the affairs of our people in Gaza and the West Bank, supervise reconstruction, and prepare the conditions for elections".

The declaration is in effect an expression of intent as there are major obstacles to making such an agreement work. Fatah has yet to comment on it, though its representative Mahmoud al-Aloul thanked China for its support of the Palestinian cause following the announcement.

Israel, which has vowed to destroy Hamas before it will end the war, swiftly dismissed the Beijing declaration.

"Instead of rejecting terrorism, Mahmoud Abbas embraces the murderers and rapists of Hamas, revealing his true face," Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X.

"In reality, this won’t happen because Hamas's rule will be crushed, and Abbas will be watching Gaza from afar. Israel's security will remain solely in Israel's hands."

But the lack of success of past deals has not deterred China, which wants to broker peace in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict and sees Palestinian unity as key to that outcome. Beijing previously hosted talks between Hamas and Fatah in April.

"China and Palestine are trustworthy brothers and good partners," said foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Tuesday, adding that China would "work tirelessly with all relevant parties" towards unity and reconciliation.

"Reconciliation is an internal matter for the Palestinian factions, but at the same time, it cannot be achieved without the support of the international community," said foreign minister Wang Yi after the declaration was signed, in remarks reported by Reuters news agency.

He also outlined a three-step plan to address the Gaza war: promoting a lasting ceasefire; upholding the "principle of Palestinians governing Palestine"; and recognising the state of Palestine as part of a two-state solution and giving them full UN membership.

China's support of Palestinian causes stretches back to the era of Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong, who sent weapons to Palestinians in support for so-called "national liberation" movements around the world. Mao even compared Israel to Taiwan - both backed by the US - as bases of Western imperialism.

In their remarks on the latest conflict, Chinese officials and even President Xi Jinping have stressed the need for an independent Palestinian state. Mr Xi has also sent his top diplomats to the Middle East for talks and recently hosted Arab leaders for a conference in Beijing.

The conflict has also erupted at a time when China has ambitions to play a more direct role in international politics and has presented itself as a better suitor for the world than the US. Last year it brokered a deal between Middle East rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties for the first time since 2016.

Since then, it has promoted a vision of a Chinese-led world order while criticising what it sees as the failures of US "hegemonic" leadership.

BBC
 
WHO ‘extremely worried’ as poliovirus found in Gaza sewage

A top World Health Organization (WHO) official says he’s “extremely worried” over possible disease outbreaks in Gaza after poliovirus was detected in sewage.

“There is a high risk of spreading of the circulating vaccine-derived polio virus in Gaza, not only because of the detection but because of the very dire situation with the water sanitation,” said Ayadil Saparbekov, WHO’s head of health emergencies in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“It may also spill over internationally at a very high point.”

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. It mainly affects children under the age of 5

Source: Al Jazeera
 
150,000 have fled Gaza's Khan Younis since Monday, UN says

More than 150,000 people have fled the Gazan city of Khan Younis since Monday, two UN agencies have said.

Khan Younis, which is situated in the south of the Gaza Strip, has been the focus of a new Israeli military offensive which it says is aimed at combating “efforts by Hamas to reassemble its forces there".

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued an evacuation order for eastern parts of Khan Younis on Monday. It also reduced the size of the designated al-Mawasi humanitarian zone, which it claimed was being used by Hamas fighters to carry out "terrorist activity and rocket fire".

At least 80 Palestinians have been killed in the area since the Israeli operation began, according to figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

An official from UNRWA - the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees - told the BBC’s Today programme that an estimated 150,000 people had fled Khan Younis since Monday, when the latest evacuation order was announced.

"Over 80% of the Gaza Strip has been placed under evacuation orders or designated as no-go zones by the Israeli military," Louise Wateridge said.

On Tuesday, tanks were seen pushing deep into the Bani Suhaila district, with operations also taking place in the area of Al-Qarara.

Some residents attempted to flee to displacement camps in the eastern parts of Khan Younis, whilst others crammed into hospitals to seek refuge.

Rabah Abdul Ghafour, 37, a resident of Bani Suhaila, took shelter at Nasser Hospital.

“I have been displaced 12 times since 7 October,” he told the BBC. “We lived the hardest night of our lives. The sound of explosions and gunfire did not stop for a moment. It was as if the war had started yesterday.”

Rawan Al-Brim, 22, from Al-Qarara, arrived at Nasser Hospital with her husband and mother-in-law on Monday.

“We slept in the outer yard without a mattress or a blanket. My four-month-old daughter was born during the war. My breast milk has dried up and I can’t find any milk to satisfy her hunger. My baby screams from hunger all night,” she said.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it also assessed that 150,000 people had fled Khan Younis by monitoring population movements on the ground.

It said that many people were “trapped in the evacuation area,” including “people with reduced mobility and family members supporting them.”

“We’re seeing people moving to Deir al-Balah and western Khan Younis. Both of these areas are already extremely overcrowded,” Ms Wateridge told the BBC. “They’ve got limited shelters and limited services available. They can barely accommodate the people who are already in these areas.”

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had been operating "in the Khan Younis area over the past 24 hours" and had “eliminated several terrorists” whilst “dismantling terrorist infrastructure”.

Israel’s offensive comes as The World Health Organization said it was “extremely worried” about the possibility of an outbreak of the highly infectious polio virus in Gaza after traces were found in wastewater.

Israel launched a campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 39,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry, whose figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

BBC
 
Demonstrators stage mass protest against Netanyahu visit and US military aid to Israel

Protesters against the Gaza war staged a sit-in at a congressional office building Tuesday ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress, with Capitol Police making multiple arrests.

Netanyahu arrived in Washington Monday for a visit that includes meetings with President Joe Biden and a Wednesday speech before a joint session of Congress. Dozens of protesters rallied outside his hotel Monday evening, and on Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of demonstrators staged a flashmob-style protest in the Cannon Building, which houses offices of House of Representatives members.

Organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, protesters wearing red T-shirts that read “Not In Our Name” took over the building's rotunda, sitting on the floor, unfurling signs and chanting “Let Gaza Live!”

After about a half-hour of clapping and chanting, officers from the U.S. Capitol Police issued several warnings, then began arresting protesters — binding their hands with zip ties and leading them away one-by-one.

“I am the daughter of Holocaust survivors and I know what a Holocaust looks like,” said Jane Hirschmann, a native of Saugerties, New York, who drove down for the protest along with her two daughters — both of whom were arrested. “When we say ‘Never Again,’ we mean never for anybody.”

The demonstrators focused much of their ire on the Biden administration, demanding that the president immediately cease all arms shipments to Israel.

“We’re not focusing on Netanyahu. He’s just a symptom,” Hirschmann said. “But how can (Biden) be calling for a cease-fire when he’s sending them bombs and planes?”

As of 8 p.m. Tuesday night, the Capitol Police said they did not have a final tally of the number of people arrested. But JVP claimed in a statement that 400 people, "including over a dozen rabbis," had been arrested.

Mitchell Rivard, chief of staff for Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., said in a statement that his office called for Capitol Police intervention after the demonstrators “became disruptive, violently beating on the office doors, shouting loudly, and attempting to force entry into the office.”

Kildee later told The Associated Press that he was confused why his office was targeted, saying he had voted against a massive supplemental military aid package to Israel earlier this year.

Netanyahu's American visit has touched off a wave of protest activity, with some demonstrations condemning Israel and others expressing support but pressuring Netanyahu to strike a cease-fire deal and bring home the hostages still being held by Hamas.

Families of some of the remaining hostages held a protest vigil Tuesday evening on the National Mall, demanding that Netanyahu come to terms with Hamas and bring home the approximately 120 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza. About 150 people wearing yellow shirts that read “Seal the Deal NOW!” chanted “Bring Them Home” and listened to testimonials from relatives and former hostages. The demonstrators applauded when Biden's name was mentioned, but several criticized Netanyahu — known by his nickname “Bibi” — on the belief that he was dragging his feet or playing hardball on a proposed cease-fire deal that would return all of the hostages.

“I'm begging Bibi. There's a deal on the table and you have to take it,” said Aviva Siegel, 63, who spent 51 days in captivity and whose husband, Keith, remains a hostage. “I want Bibi to look in my eyes and tell me one thing: that Keith is coming home.”

Multiple protests are planned for Wednesday, when Netanyahu is slated to address Congress. In anticipation, police have significantly boosted security around the Capitol building and closed multiple roads for most of the week.

Biden and Netanyahu are expected to meet Thursday, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the White House announcement. Vice President Kamala Harris will also meet with Netanyahu separately that day.

Harris, as Senate president, would normally sit behind foreign leaders addressing Congress, but she’ll be away Wednesday, on an Indianapolis trip scheduled before Biden withdrew his reelection bid and she became the likely Democratic presidential candidate over the weekend.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he would meet with Netanyahu on Friday.

SOURCE: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory...protest-netanyahu-visit-us-military-112211416
 
Netanyahu seeks to bolster US support with Congress speech

Israel's prime minister will address the joint houses of the US Congress in a bid to bolster support for his war in the Gaza Strip.

Benjamin Netanyahu's invite was initiated by the Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, whose party is trying to show unflinching support for Israel.

But several Democratic lawmakers plan to boycott the address over the levels of US military assistance to Israel, given the huge numbers of Palestinians killed.

Mr Netanyahu arrived in the US on Monday. After addressing Congress on Wednesday, he will meet President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris - then have a separate meeting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

"Looking forward to welcoming Bibi Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida," the former US president said in a post on Truth Social.

Mr Netanyahu has said he would "present the truth about our just war" during his address to Congress, in what is his first trip to the US since the conflict with Hamas began.

Israel's PM continues to face both international and domestic pressure for his handling of the war, which started nearly 10 months ago.

His US trip also follows a ruling by the International Court of Justice that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories was "illegal".

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters are also expected to descend on Washington for a "day of rage".

Speaker Johnson has warned against protests inside the House chamber, saying there would be arrests "if we have to do it".

On Tuesday, about 200 Jewish American peace activists held a protest in the Capitol building complex against Mr Netanyahu's speech.

Police eventually removed the protesters, who all wore red T-shirts proclaiming "Not in our name" and "Jews say stop arming Israel".

Mr Netanyahu's Washington visit comes as his relationship with the US has grown tense, especially among leading Democrats.

President Biden has also grown more critical of Israel as the war continues and the death toll in Gaza climbs.

Mr Biden, who was running for re-election in November until he dropped out of the race on Sunday, has come under political pressure from his party's left flank to do more to convince Israel to limit its war in Gaza.

Vice-President Harris, who is now the presumptive Democratic nominee, will not preside in her constitutional role as president of the Senate during Mr Netanyahu’s address.

At least nine senators have announced plans to skip the event, according to the Washington Post.

Illinois Senator Dick Durban is among them. He said he stood by Israel, but would not stand and cheer its current leader.

Senator Bernie Sanders also said he would skip the speech in protest at the "total war" waged by Mr Netanyahu's government in the Gaza Strip.

"His policies in Gaza and the West Bank and his refusal to support a two-state solution should be roundly condemned,” Senator Sanders said in a social media post.

Israel launched a campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 39,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry, whose figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The offensive continues as the World Health Organization said it was “extremely worried” about the possibility of an outbreak of the highly infectious polio virus in Gaza after traces were found in wastewater.

BBC
 

Four killed as Israeli forces target vehicle in Khan Younis​


Local sources tell Al Jazeera that the four Palestinians were in a car belonging to the Khan Younis electric company when Israeli forces targeted it. Several other people were injured in this attack.

Exclusive video obtained by Al Jazeera shows the scene minutes after the bombing, as people rushed to recover the bodies of those killed and aid those injured, which include children.

The footage also shows the bodies of those killed inside the car, which sources told us was carrying equipment for the electric company.

Source: Al Jazeera
 
Hamas senior official: Netanyahu speech shows he doesn't want ceasefire deal

Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech addressing the U.S. Congress shows he does not want to conclude a ceasefire deal.

Netanyahu addressed the U.S. Congress in a record fourth speech by a foreign leader to a joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives. He talked about the necessity of forging a security alliance in the Middle East to counter Iran.

"Netanyahu's speech was full of lies and it will not succeed in covering up for the failure and defeat in the face of the resistance to cover up for the crimes of the war of genocide his army is committing against the people of Gaza," Abu Zuhri said in an interview.

He added that any alliance with Israel from any party would be a "treason to the blood of martyrs."

Netanyahu also said that Israel does not seek to resettle Gaza and that after the war with Hamas militants the enclave should be led by Palestinians who do not seek to destroy Israel.


 
Thousands protest as Netanyahu addresses US Congress

Thousands of people gathered in Washington DC to protest against Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who delivered a speech to the US Congress on Wednesday.

He said America and Israel "must stand together" and prompted several standing ovations in the chamber as he gave his address.

Mr Netanyahu also criticised the demonstrators gathered outside, who he called "Iran's useful idiots".

Dozens of lawmakers refused to attend his speech in protest.

BBC
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1816200931848950184

-------------------------------------------------------------

Rashida Tlaib's 'War Criminal' Sign Amid Netanyahu Address Raises Eyebrows​


Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib sent a clear message during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address on Wednesday.

Netanyahu arrived in Washington, D.C., and delivered a highly anticipated speech to Congress on Wednesday. Several Democrats had voiced their opposition to Netanyahu's arrival by declaring they wouldn't attend his address. Tlaib took a different approach to protest the Israeli leader.

The Michigan lawmaker drew attention during the address when she raised signs reading "war criminal" and "guilty of genocide" throughout the speech, Newsweek reporter Alex Rouhandeh noted on X, formerly Twitter.

"A man in a suit, who appears to be a Capitol staff [member], whispered something in @RepRashida's ear, and she put down her side and has not been raising it since," a follow-up post from Rouhandeh said.

"I will never back down in speaking truth to power," Tlaib posted on X with a picture of her holding the sign. "The apartheid government of Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. Palestinians will not be erased. Solidarity with all those outside of these walls in the streets protesting and exercising their right to dissent."

www.newsweek.com

Rashida Tlaib's "war criminal" sign amid Netanyahu address raises eyebrows

Tlaib displayed two signs during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress on Wednesday.
www.newsweek.com www.newsweek.com
 

Israeli military recovers five hostages' bodies in Gaza​


The Israeli military says it has recovered the bodies of five Israelis taken back to Gaza as hostages during Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October.

The bodies of kindergarten teacher Maya Goren as well as the soldiers Major Ravid Aryeh Katz, Master Sergeant Oren Goldin, Staff Sergeant Tomer Ahimas and Sergeant Kiril Brodski were found during an operation in the Khan Younis area.

The military said it had determined that Ms Goren was murdered in captivity, while the soldiers were killed in combat on 7 October and their bodies then abducted.

The announcement means 111 of the 251 people taken hostage are still being held in Gaza, including 39 who the military says are presumed dead.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred frequently to the fate of the hostages in his address to the US Congress, but he gave no clue as to whether a deal with Hamas to secure their release in return for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange was close.

“As we speak, we’re actively engaged in intensive efforts to secure their release,” he said.

His failure to give more hope to the families and friends of the missing did not go unnoticed.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the speech “a sham”, adding that Mr Netanyahu “spoke for an hour without saying: ‘There will be a hostage deal.’”

Hostages’ relatives who watched the speech on screens set up in what is known as Hostages Square in central Tel Aviv also reacted with anger and dismay.

Talya Dancyg, a granddaughter of Alex Dancyg, whose death in captivity was confirmed on Monday, cried: “My grandfather could still be alive with us, he was waiting for someone to come and save him. He was waiting, he was waiting for you to seal the deal!”

“Do you realise that you are becoming an accomplice to murder?” shouted Nissan Kalderon, brother of hostage Ofer Kalderon.

“You are killing our families, give up your political ambitions.”

Shortly afterwards, the kibbutzim of Nir Oz and Nir Yitzhak announced in separate statements that they had been informed of the recovery of Ms Goren and Sgt Goldin's bodies.

On Thursday, a joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency, also known as the Shin Bet, confirmed that commandos had recovered their bodies, along with those of Maj Katz, Sgt Ahimas and Sgt Brodski, during an operation in the Khan Younis area, in southern Gaza, on Wednesday.

“The IDF and ISA will continue to operate, using all intelligence and operational means to fulfil the supreme mission of rescuing all of the hostages,” it added.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum praised what it called the “crucial and decisive military action that provides their families with important closure and eternal rest for the murdered”.

“It is Israel's duty to return all the murdered for honourable burial and all living hostages for rehabilitation. The immediate return of the remaining 115 hostages can only be achieved through a deal!” it said, including among their number another four Israelis who were abducted before 7 October.

The forum called on Mr Netanyahu to send Israel’s negotiating team to Qatar “without delay”.

The Israeli prime minister’s office had said the negotiators would depart on Thursday, following what it called an in-depth discussion with Mr Netanyahu over the weekend. But on Wednesday, Israeli officials said the team would head to Doha only after Mr Netanyahu had met US President Joe Biden at the White House.

The IDF also said on Thursday that its troops were continuing operations against “terrorist infrastructure and operatives” in Khan Younis and claimed that they had killed dozens of Palestinian fighters over the past few days.

On Wednesday, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that four people had been killed in an Israeli air strike on a car in Jourat al-Loot, south of Khan Younis. Medics told Reuters news agency that another two people had been killed in a strike in Bani Suhaila, a town to the east where Hamas said it had targeted Israeli forces.

The UN estimates that more than 150,000 people have been displaced from Khan Younis since Monday, when Israel ordered the evacuation of eastern neighbourhoods that were part of its designated "humanitarian area".

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
More than 39,170 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

www.bbc.com

Gaza war: Israeli forces recover bodies of five hostages

The remains of a teacher and four soldiers were found in an operation in Khan Younis on Wednesday.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
Here are the latest developments in Israel’s war on Gaza:

An 17-year-old boy, freed from an Israeli jail, tells Al Jazeera he was tortured for information on Hamas and the whereabouts of captives held in Gaza.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group supporting Israeli abductees, alleges “sabotage” in efforts to free them as an exchange deal keeps being delayed.

The landmark ruling by the World Court that called Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory unlawful must lead to “drastic change” in EU policy, 21 members of the European Parliament say.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society says there is no more space, even for a single tent, in the so-called “humanitarian area” of al-Mawasi because of the overwhelming number of people displaced there.

The Israeli army says more than 60 attacks were launched by its jets, attack helicopters, and drones in Gaza over the past day.

Source: Al Jazeera
 
Harris tells Netanyahu 'it is time' to end war in Gaza

US Vice-President Kamala Harris - who's expected to be the Democratic nominee for November's presidential election - has held what she called "frank and constructive" talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden, Ms Harris said she made clear her "serious concerns" about casualties in Gaza, telling Mr Netanyahu how Israel defended itself mattered.

"It is time for this war to end," she said after their face-to-face talks at the White House.

Ms Harris also stressed the need for a path to a two-state solution, while calling on Americans to be aware of "nuance" on the conflict.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Netanyahu met Mr Biden, who stepped down from his re-election campaign on Sunday.

Mr Netanyahu's meetings at the White House came a day after he gave a fiery speech to Congress, vowing “total victory” against Hamas, as thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside.

The prime minister faces pressure both at home and abroad to bring an end to the Israel-Gaza war, now in its ninth month.

Mr Biden's staunch support of Israel has infuriated many left-wing activists, whose support the Democrats may need if they are to win November's presidential election.

Given that, there is also considerable interest in the position Ms Harris might take towards Israel should she replace Mr Biden in the White House.

After meeting Mr Netanyahu for about 40 minutes, Ms Harris said she had an "unwavering commitment" to Israel and its right to defend itself.

She noted the conflict began on 7 October when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 captives, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 39,000 people.

"Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters," Ms Harris said, expressing concern about the "dire humanitarian situation" in Gaza.

"We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering and I will not be silent," she said.

"Let's get the deal done so we can get a ceasefire to end the war," she added. "Let's bring the hostages home, and let's bring much-needed relief to the Palestinian people."

Mr Netanyahu is due to meet Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday.

As he met Mr Biden earlier, the prime minister said he had known him for 40 years - and that the US president had known every Israeli premier over the last half a century.

"From a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish-American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel," he said.

Mr Netanyahu also said he looked forward to working with Mr Biden "on the great issues before us" over the next several months.

The US president joked that Golda Meir was the first Israeli prime minister that he had met, and that Yitzhak Rabin, a successor, was there as an assistant.

At a news briefing, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu had discussed the urgent need for a hostage release deal, the potential of conflict spilling over into Lebanon, the threat of Iran and the need to reach "compromises" in peace talks.

While Mr Kirby added that "gaps remain" in the US-Israel relationship, it was still "healthy".

"By healthy, I mean they're not going to agree on everything," Mr Kirby said, adding that Mr Biden was "very comfortable with the relationship he has with the prime minister".

The US and Israeli leaders also held a closed-door meeting with the families of seven US citizens still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

Following the meeting, Jonathan Dekel-Chen - whose son Sagui was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October - told reporters that the meeting was "productive and honest". He did not provide further details.

"We feel probably more optimistic than we have since the first round of releases in late November, early December," he said.

BBC
 

UK will not oppose right of ICC to issue arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu, says No 10​


Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government will not pursue an objection to the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing an arrest warrant for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Prosecutor Karim Khan KC applied for arrest warrants to be issued for Israel's prime minister and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar over alleged war crimes earlier this year.

But under Rishi Sunak's Tory government, the UK had considered challenging the right of the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and Israel's defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

A Number 10 spokesperson has now said the government would not be pursuing the previous government's objection because it was a matter for the court to decide on.

They said the government's decision was neither an objection to or an endorsement of the ICC's case against Mr Netanyahu.

"The government believes strongly in the rule of law and separation of powers," they said, adding that the court should make independent decisions.

The arrest warrants were issued against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza following the 7 October attacks by Hamas, which killed around 1,200 people and saw roughly 240 people taken hostage. More than 100 remain unaccounted for.

The Hamas-run health ministry has said almost 40,000 Palestinians have died in the territory since 7 October, while Gazans cope with shortages of food, water, medicine and functioning hospitals.

The ICC prosecutor said he issued the arrest warrants because he believed "we must collectively demonstrate that international humanitarian law, the foundational baseline for human conduct during conflict, applies to all individuals and applies equally across the situations addressed by my office and the court".

"This is how we will prove, tangibly, that the lives of all human beings have equal value," he added.

The prosecutor said he also had reasonable grounds to believe the leaders of Hamas "bear criminal responsibility" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity".

He outlined a list of alleged crimes, including murder, taking hostages and rape and other acts of sexual violence.

Shortly after the arrest warrants were issued, Mr Netanyahu said he rejected "with disgust" the Hague prosecutor's "comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas".

The previous UK government under Mr Sunak said the ICC's action was "not helpful in relation to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or getting humanitarian aid in".

But it had not entered a formal challenge to the ICC before the general election was called, leaving a question mark over the status of the UK's case.

The ICC initially gave the government until 12 July to file its legal challenge, which was then extended to 26 July - which the new government has chosen not to act on.

The court's decision - which US president Joe Biden has denounced as "outrageous" - creates a dilemma for the new government.

As signatories to the ICC, the UK would be expected to follow its orders to execute the arrest warrant if Mr Netanyahu were to visit the UK.

However, there have been instances of members states applying for an exemption to carrying out an arrest warrant.

The sanction for a state failing to carry out an arrest warrant is referral back to the ICC's assembly of member states and ultimately a referral to the UN Security Council.. The court itself has no means to enforce an arrest.

news.sky.com

UK will not oppose right of ICC to issue arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu, says No 10

A Downing Street spokesperson says the matter is solely one for the court and that it believes "strongly in the rule of law and separation of powers".
news.sky.com news.sky.com
 
Netanyahu says Israel to attend Gaza ceasefire talks

Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will send a delegation to Rome for talks aimed at ending Israel's war with Hamas, but took aim at comments by Kamala Harris that she would "not be silent" about the "tragedy" in Gaza.

The Israeli prime minister's comments came on Friday during a visit to Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a day after he discussed ceasefire efforts with US President Joe Biden and Ms Harris, the vice-president, in Washington.

The Biden administration said Israel and the US were closing "gaps" on the issue. Ms Harris, the presumptive Democrat presidential candidate, however, said that she would "not be silent" on the "tragedy" and the "suffering" of Gazan civilians as she called for all parties to reach an agreement.

"It is time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination," Ms Harris said.

After his meeting with Trump, Mr Netanyahu said that Israel would send negotiators "probably at the beginning of the week" to talks in Rome.

He said that there was "some movement" on ceasefire efforts "because of the military pressure we exerted".

However, he said that "I think to the extent that Hamas understands that there's no daylight between Israel and the United States, that it expedites the deal," he said. "And I hope that those [Harris's] comments don't change that."


www.bbc.com

Netanyahu says Israel will attend latest push for Gaza ceasefire

Israeli PM says he hopes Hamas sees there is "no daylight" between his country and the US after meeting Trump, Biden and Harris.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
At least 30 killed in Israeli strike on school, Gaza health officials say

At least 30 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a school in Deir al Balah in central Gaza, Palestinian health officials said, and the Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas command centre.

The Gaza health ministry and the Hamas-run government media office gave the toll for those killed in the strike on the school in Deir Al-Balah, one of the areas most populated with displaced families, and said over 100 others were wounded.

The Israeli military said in a statement it had targeted a "Hamas command and control center inside the Khadija school compound in central Gaza".

The statement said the school was being used to launch attacks against troops and as a weapons cache and that it warned civilians before the strike.

At Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, ambulances raced wounded Palestinians into the medical facility. Some of the wounded also arrived on foot, with their clothes stained with blood.

In previous such strikes that have hit civilian infrastructure, Israel's military has blamed the militant Islamist group Hamas for putting civilians in harm's way, accusing it of operating within densely populated neighbourhoods, schools and hospitals as cover. Hamas denies this.

Earlier on Saturday, Palestinian official media said that at least 14 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks since dawn in the southern city of Khan Younis and that their bodies were brought to Nasser Medical Complex.

The Israeli military told Palestinians to temporarily evacuate southern neighborhoods of Khan Younis so it could "forcefully operate" there, telling them to relocate to a humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, a military statement said.

The military said its calls to evacuate were communicated to the population via several mediums in order to mitigate danger to civilians.

In Al-Bureij refugee camp, five Palestinians were killed earlier in an Israeli air strike on a house, while four others were killed in another strike on a house in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics said.

U.N. and humanitarian officials accuse Israel of using disproportionate force in the war and of failing to ensure civilians have safe places to go, which it denies.

On Friday the military said troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis, and destroyed tunnels and other infrastructure, as they sought to suppress small militant units that have continued to hit troops with mortar fire.

The fighting, more than nine months after the start of Israel's invasion of Gaza following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, underlined the difficulty the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has in eliminating fighters of the group amid continued resistance.

On Friday the military said troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis, and destroyed tunnels and other infrastructure, as they sought to suppress small militant units that have continued to hit troops with mortar fire.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes in the enclave, according to Gaza health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.

Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been killed or taken prisoner, out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.

Around 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage in the Oct. 7 raid on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies.

SOURCE: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2557556/middle-east
 
The Israeli military has called for Palestinians in parts of the Bureij refugee camp to evacuate "immediately for their safety" and go to a humanitarian zone in al-Mawasi, Reuters has reported.

Bureij is one of the smallest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps. It covers an area of 0.5 sq km (0.2 sq miles) and had 46,000 residents registered with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) before the war.
 
Almost 3,000 Palestinians killed in first weeks of war named by Airwars

Conflict monitor Airwars has identified 2,993 Palestinians killed in Gaza in almost 350 incidents during the first 17 days of Israel’s war on the besieged territory.

The investigation found a high correlation between the official Health Ministry data and what Palestinian civilians reported online, with three quarters of publicly reported names also appearing on the ministry’s list, Airwars said.

“This painstaking research provides strong validation for both the first Ministry of Health list of the dead and the reliability of social media posts from Palestinians collected by Airwars covering the same period,” said Mike Spagat, a professor specialised in casualty figures at Royal Holloway, University of London and chair of Every Casualty Counts.

“Neither list is complete but the 75% matching rate demonstrates convincingly that both capture a large fraction of the underlying reality.”

On November 1, Al Jazeera published a longform piece featuring the names, ages, gender and ID numbers of 6,747 victims, as identified by the Health Ministry on October 26. You can read it here.

Source: Al Jazeera
 
Israeli far-right protesters broke into an army base in a show of support for soldiers accused of severely mistreating a Palestinian prisoner there

Large crowds gathered outside the Sde Teiman compound after Israeli military police entered it to detain the reservists, who are now subject to an official investigation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement strongly condemning the incident and calling for “an immediate calming of passions”. Protesters also broke into a second military base, where the reservists were taken for questioning, but a police spokeswoman said officers were able to clear it.

Sde Teiman, near Beersheba in southern Israel, has for months been at the centre of reports of serious abuses against Gazan detainees.

According to local media reports, at least nine Israeli soldiers at the base are accused of abusing the Palestinian detainee, a suspected Hamas fighter who was captured in Gaza.

He is said to have been hospitalised after what Israeli media reports describe as serious sexual abuse and injuries to his anus that left him unable to walk.

The Israeli military said its advocate general had ordered an inquiry “following suspected substantial abuse of a detainee”. The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority's (PA) Commission of Detainees Affairs called on the international community to urgently intervene by carrying out an UN-mandated investigation. Gazans ‘shackled and blindfolded’ at Israel hospital

On Monday dozens of protesters, including far-right MPs from Israel's governing coalition, burst through the base's gate as others tried to scale the fence, chanting “we will not abandon our friends, certainly not for terrorists”.

Some soldiers at the base reportedly used pepper spray against the military police personnel who arrived to detain the reservists.

Israeli military Chief of Staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi said the break-in at Sde Tieman was "extremely serious and against the law". "We are in the midst of a war, and actions of this type endanger the security of the state," he said.

"I strongly condemn the incident, and we are working to restore order at the base."

Source: BBC
 
Death of Hamas military leader Deif in July confirmed, Israel says

The head of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza last month, the Israeli military said on Thursday, a day after the group's political leader was assassinated in Teheran.

"The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) announces that on July 13th, 2024, IDF fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Yunis, and following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike," the military said.

Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Israeli announcement, which came as crowds gathered in Teheran for the funeral procession of Hamas' leader Isamil Haniyeh.

Deif is believed to have been one of the masterminds of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, which triggered the Gaza war, now in its 300th day.

One of Hamas' most dominant figures, Deif rose through the group's ranks over 30 years, developing its network of tunnels and its bomb-making expertise.

He has topped Israel's most wanted list for decades, held personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.

REUTERS
 

Turkey blocks NATO-Israel cooperation over Gaza war, sources say​


Turkey has blocked cooperation between NATO and Israel since October because of the war in Gaza and said the alliance should not engage with Israel as a partner until there is an end to the conflict, sources familiar with the process said.

Israel carries the status of NATO partner and has fostered close relations with the military alliance and some of its members, notably its biggest ally the United States.

Prior to Israel's offensive in Gaza - prompted by Palestinian militant group Hamas' Oct. 7 rampage - NATO member Turkey had been working to mend its long-strained ties with Israel.

Since then, Ankara has been fiercely critical of Israel's operation in Gaza, which it says amounts to a genocide, and has halted all bilateral trade. It has also slammed many Western allies for their support of Israel.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the sources said Turkey had vetoed all NATO engagement with Israel since October, including joint meetings and exercises, viewing Israel's "massacre" of Palestinians in Gaza as a violation of NATO's founding principles.

A U.N. inquiry in June found that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes in the early stages of the Gaza war. It said Israel's actions constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses. Israel rejects this and says its operation in Gaza, which has killed nearly 40,000 people, aims to eradicate Hamas.

The sources said Turkey would maintain this block and not allow Israel to continue or advance its interaction with NATO until there was an end to the conflict, as it believes Israel's actions in Gaza violate international law and universal human rights.

After a NATO summit in Washington in July, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said it was not possible for NATO to continue its partnership with the Israeli administration.

Earlier this week, Israel's foreign minister urged the alliance to expel Turkey after Erdogan appeared to threaten to enter Israel, as it had Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh in the past.

 

At least 10 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school: Emergency services​


Israeli forces hit a school in Shejaia in Gaza City on Thursday, killing at least 10 people, Palestinian civil emergency services said.

The Hamas movement’s al-Aqsa television said as many as 15 people were killed in the strike, which came as Israeli forces have continued battling Palestinian fighters in various parts of the Gaza Strip.

The military said it had targeted fighters operating in a compound within the school that it said was used as a hideout for Hamas commanders and fighters.

“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, surveillance, and additional intelligence,” it said in a statement.

It gave no information on any casualties but accused Hamas of deliberately operating in civilian infrastructure. Hamas denies using civilian facilities such as hospitals and schools for military purposes.

 
Situation in West Bank ‘worsening daily’, says UNRWA

The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency says on X that the “Nur Shams and Tulkarm camps are suffering from water shortages and electricity outages”.

The agency added that constant raids by Israeli security forces “continue causing destruction & threatening the lives of people in the area”.

Today alone, we’ve been reporting on raids on the occupied West Bank cities of Nablus and Ramallah, in which Palestinians were injured and agricultural land was bulldozed by Israeli forces.

“This ‘silent war’ has to end”, said UNRWA

Source: Al Jazeera
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

nextover666666
Pakistan defeat Palestine 11-3 in the final of the West Asia Baseball Cup 2023
Replies
22
Views
2K
CherylFogle
C
L
Dawah, Islamic Law, Punishments & Limits in Islam
6 7 8
Replies
594
Views
40K
Justcrazy
Justcrazy
BouncerGuy
  • Poll
What will it take to start a revolution of the kind we have seen in Bangladesh?
Replies
38
Views
840
anikrc1
A
MenInG
[VIDEOS/ PICTURES] Shahnawaz Dahani could be in trouble for his social media outburst after being ignored for Asia Cup and Afghanistan series
2
Replies
125
Views
35K
FearlessRoar
FearlessRoar
C
ICC World Cup 2023: Netherland (245/8) beat in-form South Africa (207 all out) by 38 runs to win their first match of the tournament
5 6 7
Replies
551
Views
12K
Swing
S
Back
Top