By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
SvennoJ on 05 March 2024
Edit Thread

Jewish-Palestinian group organising Gaza aid convoy to border crossing

“Standing Together” is organising a convoy of cars from Tel Aviv, Yafa and Haifa to Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border crossing to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The Jewish-Palestinian social justice group says, “The Israeli government does not allow sufficient basic humanitarian aid to get to the hungry millions in Gaza, and when a little aid does enter, battalions of settlers block it. We are not standing by anymore.”

“This coming Thursday, we are all mobilising to demand an end to starvation in Gaza,” the group says.



Translation: “Withholding basic humanitarian aid from millions of people, children, the elderly and the sick in Gaza, serves no one. It does not bring security; it only increases hatred and calls for revenge and also starves the Israeli abductees who are dying in captivity.”

‘The ball is in the Israeli court’: Report

Three days of negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza held in the Egyptian capital Cairo have ended without a breakthrough, less than a week before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Jihad Taha, a Hamas spokesperson, said the negotiations were continuing, but “the ball is in the Israeli court.” He told The Associated Press news agency that Israel had refused Hamas’s demands for people who fled northern Gaza to be allowed to return and for guarantees of a ceasefire and full withdrawal.

“Hamas is open to proposals and initiatives that are consistent with its position calling for a ceasefire, withdrawal, the return of the displaced, the entry of relief convoys and reconstruction,” Taha said. Two Egyptian officials told the AP that Hamas presented a proposal that mediators would discuss with Israel in the coming days.

Hamas sources told Al Jazeera Arabic that the group is aiming to obtain a ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to enter without restrictions in exchange for the release of some Israeli and foreign captives held in Gaza.

Talks in Washington point to US frustration, post-war aims

The talks in Cairo between Hamas and the Israeli government represent the official negotiation, while the meeting between the US Vice President Kamala Harris and the Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz in Washington is of equal importance but is going in a different direction.

The US administration has become equally frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and we have seen this in the statement made by Harris in which she even used the word “immediate” ceasefire, which represents the most critical position taken by the US official.

One of the sticking points for the negotiations is that Hamas is spread in so many different places and it cannot give Israel the list of captives’ names that it has demanded. This has become logistically a nightmare because it takes Hamas weeks to confirm if captives have been killed or are still alive, and some are being kept by other groups including the Islamic Jihad.

It’s not clear whether Hamas is actually able to provide this list.

That's why Netamyahu is demanding it.... He doesn't want a ceasefire. The ongoing war is what's keeping him in power.




Not straight to the ICC like Australia, but it's a good start and worked in the Netherlands.

Rights lawyers, Palestinian Canadians to sue Canada’s foreign minister

Palestinian Canadians and human rights lawyers are suing Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly over exports of military equipment to Israel, which they argue violate Canada’s obligations under domestic and international law. The lawsuit, expected to be formally filed on Tuesday morning, asks a federal court to order the Canadian government to stop issuing export permits for military goods and technology destined for Israel.

It is also asking the court to deem the issuance of such permits unlawful.

“We are seeking to hold Canada to its own standards and to its international legal obligations,” Henry Off, board member of Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights, one of the groups involved in the case, told Al Jazeera. “We don’t want the Canadian government to be contributing to the mass starvation and bombardment of Gaza. One way of cutting off Canada’s contributions is by cutting off its military support [to Israel],” Off said.

Exchange of fire continues at Israel-Lebanon border

  • Rocket sirens sounded in Manara, northern Israel, the Times of Israel reported, in the fifth such incident in the past three hours.
  • Al Jazeera correspondents say Israel has bombed an area in proximity of the Wazzani village, southern Lebanon.
  • Residents of Khiam and Aita al-Shaab reported shelling in the outskirts of their towns, Lebanese media said.
  • The Israeli army targeted the vicinity of the road between Burj al-Muluk and Khaim, southern Lebanon.
  • A missile exploded midair above Lebanon’s southern town of Aita al-Shaab.
  • Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack on an Israeli military convoy at the Birket Riche site.
  • Sirens sounded in Snir, an Israeli town near the border with Lebanon.

The aftermath of Israeli attacks on the southern Lebanese village of Odaisseh

Hezbollah’s aggression brings us closer to military action: Israeli minister

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has told senior US official Amos Hochstein that his country is “committed to the political efforts to reach an agreement” with Lebanon, according to remarks reported by the Israeli army radio. Hochstein, an adviser to the US President Joe Biden, is visiting Israel to hold talks with senior politicians.

“Hezbollah’s aggression brings us closer to a decision point regarding military action in Lebanon,” Gallant said.

Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group have traded fire often since the beginning of the war in Gaza. Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, says it is targeting Israeli forces in the north to back the Palestinian group.


Jordan says 8 planes carried out air drops into Gaza

According to Petra, Jordan’s official news agency, this marks the largest such operation to date. The agency says that three Jordanian planes, three US planes, and one each from France and Egypt air-dropped aid to various locations around the besieged coastal enclave.

The planes also dropped relief supplies, including food provided by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), to areas in northern Gaza.

Jordan says that it has carried out 28 airdrop missions since the war on Gaza began – in addition to 15 others conducted in collaboration with allies.

Great supplemental help, yet 28 airdrops total is still far less than one avg day of trucks and that's still woefully inadequate. It would need to be 40-50 airdrops daily to compensate for the drop in avg truck entries in Februari.