Israel says strikes near Baalbek in response to Hezbollah’s downing of drone
Israel’s army confirms its fighter jets have struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. The strikes targeted sites used by Hezbollah for its aerial defence system, the army said.
It added that they came “in response to the launch of a surface-to-air missile” that downed an Israeli drone earlier in the day in southern Lebanon.
Israeli air strikes kill two people in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley
At least two people have been killed and three wounded as a result of two Israeli air strikes on the town of Budai near Baalbek in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, a Lebanese security source tells Al Jazeera.
Israeli air attacks carried out on southern Lebanon town
Three Israeli strikes have targeted the town of Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, according to Al Jazeera’s team on the ground.
The civil defence in southern Lebanon says two people have been killed in an Israeli raid that targeted a car in the town of Majadil in the Tyre district.
السيارة التي استهدفها الطيران المسير الإسرائيلي بصاروخ في بلدة المجادل جنوب لبنان. pic.twitter.com/ELpFdF3FR0
— bintjbeil.org (@bintjbeilnews) February 26, 2024
Hezbollah claims retaliation against Israel with dozens of rockets
The Lebanese group says it has fired 60 Katyusha rockets at an Israeli military headquarters in response to the Israeli air attack on Lebanon’s Baalbek region. At least two Hezbollah members were reported killed in that attack.
Shelling reported in southern Lebanese town of Al-Sarira
Israel has become a little yappy dog, bitching at everyone that doesn't follow its narrative. Israel is no different from North Korea, self delusional keeping tight control of the narrative backed up by brutal force. The only difference is, the west fully backs Israel while completely ignoring what goes on inside North Korea.
Israel slams China for telling ICJ Palestinians have right to armed struggle
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson says Israel “laments the unfortunate statement of the Chinese legal adviser” at the ICJ, “according to which the armed struggle is part of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and a legitimate tool for achieving independence”.
“The laws of war do not allow a systematic and targeted attack against civilians and the use of civilians as human shields – two war crimes that Hamas commits under the title of ‘armed struggle’,” Lior Haiat said.
“At the current time, the Chinese statement could be interpreted as support for the murderous terrorist attack by Hamas on the 7th of October,” he added. Haiat went on to say that “China should ask itself why the terrorist organisation Hamas was quick to welcome the words of its legal adviser at the ICJ”.
Germany concerned about not having enough censorship?
Germany probes denunciation of Gaza war at Berlin film festival
German officials will investigate how Berlin International Film Festival winners were able to make “one-sided” comments condemning Israel’s war on Gaza at the event’s finale, a government spokeswoman has said. At Saturday’s awards ceremony, several winners made comments about the war which pro-Israel groups slammed as “anti-Semitic”.
US filmmaker Ben Russell, wearing a Palestinian scarf, said Israel was committing “genocide” with its bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip.
Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra said people in Gaza were being “massacred” by Israel, to applause from the audience.
Please do not upset Israel
‘Gentlest kid’: Tributes pour in for US serviceman who self-immolated to protest Gaza war
People have paid homage to Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old US Air Force member who set himself on fire outside of the Israeli embassy in protest of what he called a US-backed “genocide” in Gaza. Bushnell yelled “free Palestine” as he burned. He later succumbed to his injuries.
Talia Jane, a reporter who has covered the act of protest and obtained video footage of it, said in a social media post that a friend of Bushnell’s described him as “the kindest, gentlest, silliest little kid in the Air Force”. Jane cited another associate of Bushnell, who called him one of the “most principled” people they knew.
Tributes poured out over social media, with “RIP Aaron” trending on X. Some have criticised US media coverage that failed to mention Bushnell’s stated purpose for the act, or gave it little attention.
“How would American media cover a Russian soldier self-immolating in Moscow to protest Putin?” progressive organiser Waleed Shahid asked in a social media post. “It would probably mention a reason for the tragic act of defiance in the headline."
Aaron Bushnell didn’t take his own life; he gave it—courageously, lucidly—for a cause. May the fire of his beautiful heart light the way for the whole world
— Lina Mounzer (@warghetti) February 26, 2024
‘Unless we invade them’: Biden administration pressed on lax approach to Israel
When asked about Israel’s rejection of a Palestinian state, the Biden administration has been arguing that Washington cannot dictate its allies’ policies.
But critics say Biden is not merely letting Israel pursue its own plans. He is enabling and funding them. Washington has vetoed three Gaza ceasefire proposals at the UN Security Council and the White House is working with Congress to secure $14bn in additional aid to Israel.
Today, reporters at the State Department pressed spokesperson Matthew Miller on the issue. “You can use all the leverage you want, including weapons that you sell to Israel, so this plan [the two-state solution] is at least on the right path for implementation,” one journalist said.
Miller appeared to reject the notion that the US could influence Israeli policy. "People often tend to forget that Israel – like other countries in the region – is a sovereign country that makes its own decisions. The United States does not dictate to Israel what it must do, just as we don’t dictate to any country what it must do,” he said.
Another journalist interrupted saying, “Unless we invade them.”
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says the US does not ‘dictate to any country what it must do’
His Pinocchio nose betrays him.
Hind Rajab: Were Israeli troops around where the six-year-old was killed?
An Al Jazeera investigation has shown that three Israeli tanks were around the car where a six-year-old girl was killed after hours of pleading for help.
However, Israel’s army denied this on Saturday, saying its troops were not in the area on January 29, the day Hind Rajab and her family were killed.
According to a report by the Times of Israel, Israeli officials said an initial investigation showed that troops were not present in the Tal al-Hawa suburb of Gaza City on January 29 when Hind and five other family members were killed.
The statement directly contradicts the evidence as recorded in the circulating phone call between the PRCS and Hind.
“Also, given the lack of forces in the area, there was no need for individual coordination of the movement of the ambulance or another vehicle to pick up the girl,” the statement said, which goes counter to PRCS’s statement that it had been working to coordinate with the Israeli army.
The statement went on to claim that medics are moving without restriction throughout the Gaza Strip, which goes against multiple accounts out of Gaza.
What did Al Jazeera find?
Sanad, Al Jazeera’s investigations unit, analysed phone records and satellite imagery to prove that there were Israeli troops near the car belonging to Hind’s family that day. The vehicle, the investigation found, had been stopped by the Israeli military near a petrol station in Tal al-Hawa around early afternoon on January 29.
A phone call from Hind’s uncle to a relative in Germany triggered the PRCS intervention. Al Jazeera obtained messages between the relatives, time-stamping the last few hours of the deadly ordeal when Hind and one of her cousins, 15-year-old Layan, were still alive.
Layan, who was the first on the call with the PRCS, identified Israeli tanks near the car, saying: “They are firing at us; the tank is beside me.” Within minutes, a round of what sounded like gunfire went off and a screaming Layan went quiet.
When Hind picked up the phone and spoke to the PRCS, she also identified Israeli military vehicles near the family car. “The tank is next to me. [It’s] coming from the front of the car,” she said. Around three hours later, the connection with Hind was cut off.
Al Jazeera’s analysis of satellite images taken at midday on January 29 corroborated Hind and Layan’s accounts, and put at least three Israeli tanks just 270m (886 feet) from the family’s car, with their guns pointed at it.
When rescuers found the remains of Hind and her family on February 10, the car was riddled with bullet holes likely coming from more than one direction.
What happened to the ambulance?
Medics Yusuf Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun arrived at the scene around 6pm on January 29, after hours of the PRCS trying to get permission from the Israeli army. “I’m nearly there,” Zeino told his colleagues as the ambulance edged closer to Hind. But the two rescue workers never got to her.
“We heard gunfire, we couldn’t imagine [they] would fire at them,” Rana Faqih, the PRCS official who held the line with Hind, told Al Jazeera. After the gunfire, there was complete silence.
It was only 12 days later on February 10 that the remains of the two men were found, following the Israeli military’s withdrawal. The ambulance was destroyed and appeared to have been run over by a tank, according to Sanad’s analysis.
