Israel Is Trying To Start A War With Iran
US embassy ‘heartbroken’ over killing of USAID employee
The US Embassy in Jerusalem has sent its “deepest condolences” to the family of Jacob Toukhy, a USAID staff member killed by an off-duty Israeli police officer in the city of Jaffa on Friday night.
Toukhy, was riding his motorcycle wearing his volunteer paramedic uniform when he was allegedly assaulted and shot by the off-duty police officer, the Times of Israel reported.
The officer has now been arrested.
Toukhy, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, worked for the USAID/West Bank and Gaza Mission.
Israeli forces arrest eight Palestinians in raids across West Bank
Israeli forces have arrested eight people in early morning raids across the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency. Six people were arrested in raids near the city of Tulkarem, while two were arrested from Kafr Nima, west of the city of Ramallah, Wafa reported. One of the men arrested in Kafr Ni’ma was beaten by Israeli soldiers, it added.
Israeli raids were also reported in the city of Qalqilya, the town of Yatma, south of the city of Nablus and in the town of Beit Ummar, north of the city of Hebron, according to local media.
Clashes were reported in Beit Ummar, with Israeli forces firing live bullets, sound bombs and tear gas.
Undercover Israeli forces shoot Palestinian man dead in occupied West Bank
A Palestinian man has been shot dead and two others have been wounded by Israeli forces during a raid into the city of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry said the man died after being shot in the chest, while another critically injured man was hit in the abdomen and chest. The third man was wounded in the foot.
The violence came after undercover Israeli special forces infiltrated al-Mraij neighbourhood of Nablus and raided a building belonging to the Joud Allah family.
Pro-Palestine activists protest against Boeing, Elbit in Australia
Pro-Palestinian activists held protests across Melbourne, including outside a Boeing factory and on the steps of state parliament, on Monday. Demonstrators outside the Victorian Parliament in the centre of Melbourne protested against the state government’s contract with Elbit systems.
“It was Elbit drones that killed Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and her colleagues,” said Greens Party MP Samantha Ratnam. “And it is Elbit weapons that are continuing to kill thousands of innocent Palestinians,” she added.
A separate protest was held outside a Boeing factory near Melbourne’s port.
According to a list of companies published by the American Friends Service Committee, Boeing supplies Israel with fighter jets, attack helicopters and bombs, among other weapons.
The Melbourne Activist Legal Centre said several people were arrested at the Boeing protest and that police used “disproportionate and excessive force”.
Victorian Greens representative Samantha Ratnam spoke at the protest against the government’s contract with Elbit
Nine Iranian missiles breached Israel’s air defence, airbases hit
At least nine Iranian ballistic missiles managed to elude Israel’s elaborate air defence system and the fire from allied militaries in the region.
Five projectiles hit the Nevatim airbase, damaging a C-130 transport aircraft, a runway and empty storage facilities. An additional four ballistic missiles hit the Negev airbase, but there were no reports of significant damage.
The Aero-3 is a very new system for the Israelis. It was the first time it was deployed. It’s designed to bring down ballistic missiles. The fact that nine actually got through is going to be a cause of concern for the Israelis. We’re hearing there is a post-mortem going on about the effectiveness of that Arrow-3 defence system. But the Israelis publicly are talking about the fact the systems were all successful.
And you’ve got two key divisions going on Israel’s war cabinet. The first one comes from the far right of the government coalition. They want to see a retaliatory strike. But then you have people who are looking to this as an opportunity to build a coalition against Iran. Israel doesn’t have the kind of support it needs internationally to be able to mount a key retaliatory strike.
West should ‘appreciate Iran’s restraint’ towards Israel
“Instead of making accusations against Iran, [Western] countries should blame themselves and answer to public opinion for the measures they have taken against the … war crimes committed by Israel” in its war in Gaza, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani says.
Kanani said Western countries “should appreciate Iran’s restraint in recent months”.
‘Maritime violations’: Iran says it seized vessel with links to Israel
The Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries vessel was seized on Saturday by Iran because of “maritime law violations”, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani says. There is no doubt the vessel is linked to Israel, he added.
“Iran strives to create a safe shipping environment in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf. The vessel was diverted into Iran’s territorial waters as a result of it violating maritime laws and not answering calls made by Iranian authorities,” Kanani said.
Israeli forces destroy mosque in Nuseirat camp
The Wafa news agency is reporting that Israeli forces bombed a mosque in the camp, levelling it to the ground. They also bombed a residential tower.
Israeli drone attack kills two Palestinians at mosque in Nuseirat
At least two Palestinians have been killed when a bombing carried out by Israeli drones targeted a group of people north of Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, according to sources cited by the Wafa news agency.
The attack came at the Hassan al-Banna Mosque in the Ard al-Mufti area north of Nuseirat.
‘One of the bloodiest days’ as Israeli forces again attack Nuseirat camp
There’s a state of chaos right now as the Israeli military expands its military bombardment and campaign across the entire Gaza Strip.
In the early hours, hundreds of Palestinians tried to return back to the north on the coastal Rashid Road. But they were confronted by Israeli tanks, which blocked the roads, opened fire, and forced the majority of Palestinians to return to their squalid shelters here in the south. A number of injuries have been recorded.
The situation is dire in every single part of Gaza, but the main focus of Israeli operations right now is in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
We have been reporting about this for a couple of days, but today has been one of the bloodiest days. At least four Palestinians have been reported killed and more than 32 others wounded in Israeli attacks.
Palestinians view the bodies of relatives killed in Israeli attacks on Nuseirat refugee camp
Israel releases 2 Red Crescent medics detained for 50 days
Israeli forces released two Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulance medics after detaining them for 50 days, the organisation said on social media. The medics were arrested at a military checkpoint in Khan Younis during a mission to evacuate patients from al-Amal Hospital, it said.
The fate of six other PRCS staff members detained by Israel is still unknown.
Israel activates 2 reserve brigades for Gaza war
The Israeli military says it’s activating two reserve brigades for “operational activities” in Gaza.
The announcement comes as Israel prepares for a ground invasion of Rafah – the southernmost Gaza city that Israel says is Hamas’s last stronghold. Israel last week withdrew most of its remaining ground forces from Gaza after six months of war, leaving its troop levels in the territory at the lowest level in months.
The Rafah invasion faces stiff international opposition, in large part because about 1.5 million people are now crowded into the city after fleeing Israel’s onslaught.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he’s determined to “complete” the Gaza war. He says Israel has set a date for the attack and claimed there’s a plan to evacuate hundreds of thousands of civilians from Rafah.
Young girl shot in the face as family attempts to return to north Gaza
A Palestinian mother has bid farewell to her young daughter after a bullet shot by Israeli forces hit her face, according to footage posted on social media by Palestinian photographer Atia Darwish. The girl’s mother can be seen crying and hugging her dead child.
The killing of the girl occurred as the family was among hundreds of displaced Palestinians attempting to return to northern Gaza. Israeli forces opened fire on those seeking to make the journey home.
Palestinians make their way towards their homes in northern Gaza
Palestinians risk attacks to go home over ‘completely terrible’ conditions
More than six months of war have led to desperate humanitarian conditions in the besieged Gaza Strip. Rumours of a reopened Israeli checkpoint on the coastal road from the south to northern Gaza City sent thousands of Palestinians on the move.
Video shows Israeli forces opening fire on civilians with reports of one child killed and an unknown number of wounded.
Attempting the journey back to northern Gaza, displaced resident Basma Salman said, “Even if it [my house] was destroyed, I want to go there. I couldn’t stay in the south. It’s overcrowded. We couldn’t even take a fresh breath of air there. It was completely terrible.”
Rights group condemns Israeli attack on displaced people returning home
The death toll from the incident remains unclear. But the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said dozens of people were killed and wounded. Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 68 were killed over the past 24 hours throughout the enclave.
The monitor condemned “the Israeli army’s targeting of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians as they attempted to return to their homes in Gaza City and its north, directly with artillery shells and live bullets, which led to dozens of deaths and injuries, including women and children”.
The Geneva-based rights group said in a statement that “the Israeli army committed on Sunday what may constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes by deliberately directing attacks against the civilian population”.
Israeli military warns Palestinians not to return to northern Gaza
The Israeli army renewed warnings for Palestinians not to return to Gaza’s north, a day after its forces opened fire on civilians.
The military said Palestinians should stay in southern Gaza where they have been told to shelter because the north is a “dangerous combat zone”, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on social platform X.
Hospital authorities in Gaza said at least five people were shot by Israeli forces while trying to head north. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on casualties.
The returnees said they were prompted to make the journey north because they were fed up with the unbearable conditions they were forced to live under while displaced.
Palestinians walk along al-Rashid Street as they attempt to return to northern Gaza
Gaza war death toll reaches 33,797, with 76,465 Palestinians wounded
The number of Palestinians killed since Israel launched its attack six months ago reached 33,797, Gaza’s Health Ministry says. Another 76,465 people have been wounded since October. In the past 24 hours, 68 Palestinians were killed and 94 injured, it said in a statement.
The casualty figures are likely much higher, with thousands feared buried in the debris of buildings collapsed by incessant Israeli strikes throughout the Gaza Strip.
More lies from Washington
Aid to Gaza increases ‘dramatically’: White House
Humanitarian aid getting into the Gaza Strip has increased by a significant amount recently, White House spokesman John Kirby says.
“The aid has increased and quite dramatically in just the last few days,” Kirby said in an interview with the MSNBC news channel. “That’s important, but it has to be sustained.”
The increase of humanitarian relief into Gaza came after the US warned Israel it must commit to protecting civilians and aid workers and delivering more aid or risk losing American support. This happened after Israeli forces killed seven members of the World Central Kitchen aid group.
Amid the pressure, Israel announced last week the entry of more than 300 aid trucks into Gaza in one day, the highest daily volume since the war began. But deliveries still fall far short of what the UN says is required to feed millions of people on the brink of starvation.
No change on the tracking site. The only change is Israel counting half filled truck for inspection.
In fact, aid entering has decreased in the last few days.
Lies from the UK
Britain denies Iran’s claim it provided advance notice of attack on Israel
“I would reject that chracterisation,” a spokesman for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tells reporters. “And more broadly we condemn in the strongest possible terms their direct attack against Israel.”
On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Iran gave neighbouring countries and Israel’s ally, the US, 72 hours notice before it launched the strikes.
Yet all neighboring countries closed their airspace right before the attacks... Of course the UK is not a neighboring country...
Hezbollah claims attack on Israeli troops who ‘crossed border’
Hezbollah fighters have “planted explosive devices in the Tal Ismail area” inside Lebanon, detonating them after Israeli soldiers “crossed the border”, the group says in a statement.
It was the first time Hezbollah claimed such an attack in six months of near daily cross-border clashes.
Israel’s army said earlier that four soldiers were wounded overnight in an explosion “in the area of the northern border” but did not specify on which side of the frontier. One of the soldiers was “severely injured”, it said.
War in Gaza doubled Israel’s debt last year
Israel’s war on Gaza led to a doubling of the country’s borrowing last year, its Finance Ministry says.
Israel added 160 billion shekels ($43bn) to its debt in 2023 – half of it after the outbreak of the conflict in October. By comparison, it took out 63 billion shekels ($17bn) of debt in 2022.
“Despite the many uncertainties and challenges, the ability to raise debt in local and global markets, even in times of war, in significant volumes and very high coverage ratios shows the high accessibility of the State of Israel to the markets and is evidence of the strength of the Israeli economy,” Accountant-General Yali Rotenberg said.
Or in other words, sanctions would be a very effective tool to reign in Israel.
Wtf does the USA want. Do they want war with Iran or not?
This is not helpful
Iran’s attack on Israel was ‘spectacular’ failure, White House says
Iran’s massive aerial attack on Israel was a “spectacular and embarrassing failure”, the White House said, after US forces helped shoot down most of the missiles and drones fired by Tehran.
“We’ve seen reporting that the Iranians meant to fail, and this spectacular and embarrassing failure was all by design,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told a briefing.
“All of this is categorically false.”
Iran’s attack was a response to the killing of seven Iranian officers in a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, Syria, on April 1.
Iran already stated they're happy with what they achieved, showing force but not further escalating tensions. They got applauded at home and by their proxies without killing anyone. The US keeps on provoking.
Same as Israel
Bombs and viruses: The shadowy history of Israel’s attacks on Iranian soil
From cyberattacks and assassinations to drone strikes, Israel-linked plots have targeted Iran and its nuclear programme for years.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/15/bombs-and-viruses-the-shadowy-history-of-israels-attacks-on-iranian-soil
Israeli military chief warns there will be a ‘response’ to Iranian missile attack
Herzi Halevi has told soldiers that Iran’s attack on the country “will be met with a response”.
“When we look ahead, we consider our steps. The launch of so many cruise missiles and drones into Israeli territory will be met with a response,” Halevi was quoted by local media as saying during a visit to a military base that was lightly damaged in the attack.
He made the comments as Israel’s war cabinet convened again to discuss how to respond to the attack, the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel. Iran carried out the attack two weeks after a deadly strike on its consulate in Syria’s capital, Damascus, which Tehran blames on Israel.
US talks of de-escalation but also says it will defend Israel no matter what
The US has been saying for some considerable time that they are claiming the credit for part of the operation that downed a great deal of the Iranian missiles. They’re defensive about the idea that there were sanctions, an embargo on some of the Iranian missile programmes, which lapsed in October.
They’re saying that they still have sanctions in place that have made it much more difficult for Iran to do business and much more difficult to get material to build ballistic missiles. They also say some of the Iranian missiles were of inferior quality, which, reading between the lines, the Americans are suggesting led to such a failure on Saturday with so many of the missiles being intercepted.
What is interesting is that the US is talking about de-escalation, but they also say they will defend Israel no matter what. Some people would consider that to be opening up avenues for Israel to do what it wants, knowing that the United States will also get involved.
The United States has said it will not participate in any action that leads to any sort of offensive action against Iran but it will play its part in defending Israel.
Since the lines between offense and defense have been completely erased by Israel, what is the US actually saying. The US is bombing Yemen to defend shipping containers. So bombing Iran to defend Israel is that not the same thing...
US commitment to Israel’s security ‘sacrosanct’, Miller says
Matthew Miller, the US State Department spokesperson, says that the United State’s “commitment to Israel’s security is sacrosanct”. Speaking at a press conference at the White House, Miller labelled Iran’s air attacks on Israel as “reckless escalatory acts”.
“Such behaviour threatens to destabilise the region,” he said. He added that Iran’s attack “violated the sovereignty of several states in the region”, but when asked by a reporter which states he was referring to, he declined to answer.
Pentagon to ‘take all necessary action to defend Israel and US personnel’
Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder says US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, three times over the weekend. During their most recent call, they reviewed “the successful combined operation by the United States, Israel and their partners to defend Israel from these unprecedented attacks by Iran and its proxies,” he said.
Ryder also said “that while the United States does not seek escalation, we will continue to take all necessary action to defend Israel and US personnel”. He later added that US aircraft were involved in intercepting more than 80 of Iran’s UAVs fired at Israel.
“We’re going to continue to stay in close consultation with our Israeli partners, as we have done throughout the weekend”, he said, adding, “We don’t seek wider regional conflict”.
Then stop provoking and end the ongoing genocide that led to all of this.
Of course beating the Iran drum is all to divert attention away from the ongoing war crimes
Mass graves discovered at al-Shifa Hospital and in Beit Lahiya
Two mass graves have been discovered by Gaza’s Health Ministry and the Civil Defence Forces in the north of the Gaza Strip. The first mass grave was discovered at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and the second was found in Beit Lahiya.
Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul, reporting from al-Shifa Hospital, said nine bodies were found before the health officials stopped digging, fearing that they could get targeted by the Israeli drones hovering in the skies above them. The uncovered bodies had not fully decomposed, which indicated that they had been killed recently.
Some of the people who had been killed and buried appear to have been patients at the hospital and had medical bandages and catheters attached to their bodies. Family members of the deceased who identified the bodies confirmed that some of those killed were patients. They include an elderly man, a woman, and a man in his 20s.
Doctors and staff from the hospital said that some people were killed outside the main gate (building number 80) of the hospital. Medical staff said they witnessed killings and burials.
In Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, another mass grave containing about 20 decomposed bodies was discovered. Residents said the bodies belong to the Al-Assaf family, and said they were killed during an incursion by the Israeli military forces in the area four months ago.
Hospital patients found in a mass grave with bandages, catheters still attached
Doctors were able to identify these bodies as patients. They still had medical bandages and catheters attached to their bodies. Medical staff inside the hospital confirmed that these people were, in fact, executed by the Israeli military very close to the main gate of al-Shifa Hospital when it was stormed in March.
When the Israeli military stormed it, they destroyed the vast majority of the hospital’s facilities and equipment as well as the buildings in its vicinity, the majority of them residential buildings, where people had been sheltering since the beginning of this war.
In the northern part of the Gaza Strip, 20 more bodies were discovered buried under the dirt and piles of sand. It is believed the killings occurred as people were going through a checkpoint that was set up by the Israeli military during its incursion of the northern part of the Strip.
This is the pattern that we’re seeing; this is not the first time mass graves have been discovered. People have been killed and buried under the dirt or run over by Israeli tanks or bulldozers for the past six months.
Hamas decries Israeli ‘war crimes’ at al-Shifa Hospital as mass grave found
The Palestinian group said the new mass grave discovered at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza is “horrifying”. The group said the mass grave includes “several decomposing bodies” that Israeli forces, using military bulldozers, hid under the rubble before withdrawing from the medical complex earlier this month.
Israeli forces have attacked and besieged the hospital several times since October 7, leaving it largely in ruins. Thousands of medical staff, patients, and displaced families were at the facility during the attacks, with witnesses saying hundreds lost their lives as a result.
The latest discovery indicates that there are “no limits” to what Israeli forces are willing to do, Hamas said. Their crimes are continuing because of the international community’s silence in the face of this “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza, the group added.
“The series of ongoing violations, including the discovery of mass graves in al-Shifa, cases of execution, and the hundreds of bodies that remain under the rubble … are clear and well-documented war crimes,” it said.
Hamas called on the international community to bring those responsible to justice.
Northern Gaza faces ‘unprecedented levels’ of contamination, media office says
Gaza’s media office says some 700,000 people in northern Gaza are facing a health crisis as environmental contamination in the area has reached “unprecedented levels”. With “mountains of waste and hundreds of mass graves”, as well as rubble and debris from the widespread destruction of residential homes and buildings, the office said infectious diseases are rapidly spreading.
The situation is only growing worse as municipal workers still have no access to adequate equipment and tools they need to deal with the “massive amounts of waste and destruction”, the office said.
At least 68 people killed in 24 hours in Israeli attacks across Gaza
Israeli air strikes and shelling have continued across Gaza since early this morning. In the past 24 hours, at least five atrocities were committed across the strip.
They were concentrated in the central area where the Israeli military is still operating aggressively in the northern part of the Nuseirat camp and the area in the southern part of Wadi Gaza – a particular area designated as safe for evacuees and displaced families to move to in order to avoid being bombed and killed.
In the northern part of the city, particularly the Jabalia refugee camp and Jabalia town since the early hours of this morning, we’re looking at constant, nonstop artillery shelling targeting more residential homes.
In the past 24 hours, at least 68 people have been killed, and close to 100 people with different injuries have been transferred, not only to remaining semi-functional hospitals but also to low-capacity operational field hospitals in the central areas and the city of Rafah.
‘We’re on the edge’: Palestinians terrified by Israeli settler violence
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/15/we-are-on-the-edge-palestinians-terrified-by-israeli-settler-violence
The recent settler attacks are part of a broader wave of violence that has soared during Israel’s devastating war on Gaza. The war – launched in response to Hamas’s attack on Israeli military outposts and communities on October 7, which killed 1,139 people – has killed nearly 34,000 Palestinians.
Armed settlers and the Israeli army have also killed 460 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 7 while displacing hundreds of people from their homes.
‘The entire region has reached the edge of the abyss’: Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry
Lebanon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants has expressed “great concern” about the ongoing developments in the Middle East, calling for an end to escalation. “We are following with great concern the events and developments in the Middle East after the entire region has reached the edge of the abyss,” it said in a statement published on its website.
“This comes as the war on Gaza continues for the seventh month, and amid the failure to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2728 to cease the war in Gaza, and to return to the political path based on the two-state solution and the relevant UN resolutions,” it added.
The ministry also urged an end to escalation and threats of war and retaliation, calling for respect of international law and resolutions “to avert the repercussions of the conflagration of the entire Middle East, which jeopardises regional peace and security”.
Mapping Israel’s, Lebanon’s cross-border attacks
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2024/4/15/mapping-israel-lebanon-cross-border-attacks
Al Jazeera’s interactive team has mapped Israel’s and Hezbollah’s cross-border attacks since the war on Gaza began. From October 7 to March 15, Israel, Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon engaged in at least 4,733 attacks.
In the past six months, Hezbollah and other armed groups averaged five attacks on Israel per day while Israel has conducted five times as many, about 25 strikes on Lebanon a day, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
Hypocrisy Over Iran Becomes Total Car crash
Netanyahu urges international community to ‘stand united’ against Iran
The Israeli prime minister says Iran threatens world peace and the international community must resist it together.
“The international community must continue to stand united in resisting this Iranian aggression, which threatens world peace,” he said in a statement released by his office on X.
Netanyahu also said US House of Representatives Majority Leader Steve Scalise called him on Monday evening to express support “for any decision that Israel makes in light of the Iranian attack” and to inform the prime minister of “his initiative to advance in Congress, in the coming days, a series of measures against Iran and for Israel”.
Israel’s military, political leadership determined to respond to Iran’s attack
The military leadership and the political leadership in Israel say that the scale of Iran’s attack on Israel needs and warrants a response. As we’ve been reporting, it’s the if and when, but I think it is going to happen.
You have the Israeli Defence Minister Gallant tell his US counterpart that Iran’s attack using ballistic missiles could not go without a response. This is despite the fact that there’s a lot of international pressure on Israel not to escalate.
This is an unprecedented and extremely fissile situation regarding the potential for a regional war or a wider war.
We did understand in Israeli media leaks from that second war cabinet meeting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tasked the army with coming up with potential targets inside Iran [which] could send a message but… avoid civilian casualties.
You have US President Joe Biden in a phone call to Netanyahu over the weekend saying the fact that more than 99 percent of the missiles and drones targeting Israel were intercepted is a win. “Take the win,” he told Netanyahu.
IAEA chief ‘always worried’ about potential attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi says Iran closed its nuclear facilities on Sunday over “security considerations” and that while they reopened on Monday, he has kept IAEA inspectors away “until we see that the situation is completely calm”.
“We are going to resume tomorrow [on Tuesday],” Grossi told reporters in New York. “This has not had an impact on our inspection activity.”
When asked about the possibility of an Israel strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, Grossi said, “We are always concerned about this possibility”, and urged “extreme restraint”.
Pro-Palestine protests outside New York Stock Exchange
The Video Netanyahu Doesn't Want You To See
Great segment summing up the current situation and the dreadful future implications.