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Forums - Politics Discussion - Israel-Hamas war, Gaza genocide

SvennoJ on 16 January 2024

Eye wide shut

US Senate rejects resolution requesting information on Israel’s human rights practices

The US Senate has voted not to proceed with a resolution proposed by US Senator Bernie Sanders that would have required the US State Department to report on Israel’s human rights record.

72 senators voted for a motion to set the resolution aside, meaning the resolution won’t proceed to a vote.

Only 11 senators voted in support of Sanders’ proposed resolution proceeding. They were:

Laphonza Butler, Democrat, California
Martin Heinrich, Democrat, New Mexico
Mazie Hirono, Democrat, Hawaii
Ben Ray Lujan, Democrat, New Mexico
Ed Markey, Democrat, Massachusetts
Jeff Merkley, Democrat, Oregon
Rand Paul, Republican, Kentucky
Bernie Sanders, Independent, Vermont
Chris Van Hollen, Democrat, Maryland
Elizabeth Warren, Democrat, Massachusetts
Peter Welch, Democrat, Vermont.


Israeli PM tells US aid envoy ‘no humanitarian disaster’ in Gaza

Another meeting that happened was between the Biden administration’s envoy for the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the Israeli prime minister. For weeks and weeks, the Americans have been pushing the Israelis for more humanitarian aid to go into Gaza given the catastrophic humanitarian situation that has unfolded as a result of Israel’s war on the Palestinian territory.

In this meeting, as reported by Israeli media, the Israeli prime minister told this Biden administration official that, quote, “there is no humanitarian disaster in Gaza”. This is something we’ve been hearing repeatedly from Israeli officials.

It is a sentiment that is completely disconnected from the reality on the ground when you speak to aid agencies, when you look at the pictures that are coming out of Gaza, when you see the UN statistics that famine is just around the corner. More than a million people are hungry, 2 million people displaced, and the Israelis still not acknowledging the catastrophic and dire humanitarian situation that has unfolded in Gaza as a result of this war.


Destruction at the Maghazi refugee camp after Israeli forces withdrew from the area in Deir el-Balah, Gaza on January 16, 2024




As another major hospital gets disabled by the IDF

People flee largest hospital in Khan Younis as Israeli forces approach, doctors and journalists say

Israeli forces are moving toward the largest hospital in Khan Younis, prompting patients and people taking shelter there to flee, according to international doctors working there and local journalists capturing events on camera.

Multiple videos show dozens of people carrying blankets, mattresses and other personal belongings leaving the Al Nasser Hospital compound in the southern Gaza Strip. Women can be seen carrying children in their arms, while one man carries a boy on his shoulders. The sounds of bombardment and small arms fire can be heard in the background. Several videos show nearly explosions from likely air strikes.

An American doctor, Thaer Ahmad, one of a team of US and British doctors from the medical humanitarian non-governmental organization MedGlobal working at the hospital, told CNN the Israeli military was getting closer. "The hospital is shaking and there is panic," said Ahmad, an emergency medicine physician based in Chicago, in a voice note sent to CNN on which the sound of gunfire could be heard in the background. "So many of the (internally displaced people) around the hospital have begun walking on foot away from the hospital," he added.


Displaced Palestinians flee vicinity of Nasser Hospital after Israeli shelling

Videos verified by Al Jazeera show Palestinians in a state of panic as they attempt to find safe areas to escape to, with Israeli forces approaching the hospital in Khan Younis. The sound of shelling and gunfire can be heard in the videos, with people rushing to leave.

A man living in Khan Younis’s al-Nimsawi neighbourhood described an Israeli attack on his home, saying his house was hit while he was at home with his family. While he was able to escape, he said his home had been destroyed. “We escaped safely and we checked on everyone,” the man tells local journalist Rami Saleim. “I asked my son, ‘Go look at the house and see what condition it’s in’. He said it wasn’t there any more.”



Around the Network
SvennoJ on 17 January 2024

Unexpected but some hope

After sparking panic, Israeli forces appear to have withdrawn from area around Khan Younis’ largest hospital

Israeli forces appear to have withdrawn from the area around the largest hospital [Nassar hospital] in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, after their approach towards the medical compound late on Tuesday prompted panic among the thousands of people sheltering there.

People on the scene told CNN that there were no more military vehicles in the area around the Al Nasser Hospital compound as of Wednesday morning. Around 7,000 people are sheltering at the compound, according to the World Health Organization.  Late on Tuesday, Israeli forces began moving towards the hospital, prompting crowds of people to flee. Multiple videos from the scenes showed people carrying blankets, mattresses and other personal belongings making their way out of the compound. 


Palestinians check damaged graves at a cemetery following an Israeli raid in Khan Younis, Gaza, on January 17. Ahmed Zakot/Reuters

Jordan says its field hospital in Gaza damaged by Israeli shelling

The Jordanian army said its military field hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis was badly damaged as a result of Israeli shelling in the vicinity. In a statement, it held Israel responsible for a “flagrant breach of international law”. An unnamed military source stated that a Palestinian citizen, who was receiving treatment in the ICU, was injured by shrapnel and a bullet during the Israeli attack.

The source added that the hospital, which was subjected to severe material damage as a result of the continuous Israeli bombing in its surroundings from yesterday until this morning, will continue to operate.

(The field hospital is a few hundred meters from Nassar hospital and next to the cemetery)






Terrorist label is just a political tool, on/off when convenient

Biden administration re-designates Houthis as specially designated global terrorists

US President Joe Biden's administration on Wednesday re-designated the Houthis as a specially designated global terrorist (SDGT) entity amid continued attacks by the Yemen-based militia.

Administration officials said the designation is aimed at deterring the Houthis from their ongoing aggression in the Red Sea. It is the latest in a series of US actions targeting the Iranian-backed group, and comes as the specter of a wider regional war in the Middle East looms large amid Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

The administration removed the Houthis’ SDGT designation and de-listed it as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in February 2021, after it was designated by the Trump administration in its final weeks. At the time, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the decision to remove the group’s designations was driven by concerns that it could imperil the ability to deliver crucial assistance to the people of Yemen. He said it was “a recognition of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen.”

“We believe that the SDGT designation is the appropriate tool at the moment to pressure the Houthis,” said the senior administration official. The official said that the SDGT designation allows “better flexibility” to target the Houthis while minimizing the risk to humanitarian aid.



Israel’s far-right wants to move Palestinians out of Gaza. Its ideas are gaining attention


Two soldiers in Gaza hold an Israeli flag, altered to include an orange stripe and the words, in Hebrew: “Coming home!”

As Israel’s war against Hamas enters its fourth month, the Israeli government has said little of substance, at least in any official way, on its plans for post-war Gaza. Into that void has stepped a group — once fringe, but now in the governing coalition — that hopes for full Israeli control, to resettle Gaza and even expel Palestinians. And its ideas are permeating mainstream debate.

"We must promote a solution to encourage the emigration of the residents of Gaza,” far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on January 1."

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a position in the defense ministry, says that Israel “will rule there. And in order to rule there securely for a long time, we must have a civilian presence.”



Israeli army cracks down on Jerusalem, Ramallah, Nablus

Israeli soldiers have been carrying out raids throughout the West Bank, including on Tulkarem refugee camp, where they killed four Palestinians, as we reported earlier. (The death toll from the Israeli drone strike on Tulkarem has gone up to four. The Palestinian Red Crescent says it has recovered the bodies of four people killed inside the camp. The aid group also reported that Israeli forces initially blocked its ambulances from reaching those targeted)

In occupied East Jerusalem, forces added new military checkpoints, and in al-Eizariya nearby, they continue to engage in night raids and house searches.

In Ramallah, the closure of certain checkpoints and the establishment of others disrupted movement. Israeli forces conducted several raids in Beitin, the Jazalone camp and nearby towns, resulting in multiple arrests and the confiscation of property.

In Nablus, Israeli forces also killed three Palestinians in a drone attack. The city faced similar disruptions as in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, with tightened security at various checkpoints. Additionally, Israeli settlers attacked the outskirts of Burin village, targeting a civilian’s home and vehicle.


Israeli security forces raid Tulkarem refugee camp

 

‘Censorship, surveillance and arrests’

7amleh, The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, says that since the war on Gaza began, Israeli authorities have been cracking down on Palestinians “for simply expressing their views or opinions on various online platforms, through a variety of measures including censorship, surveillance and arrests”.

The Palestinian digital rights group also said in a report that since October 7, Israel has introduced a “draconian legislation” to restrict freedom of expression and criticism of its actions in Gaza. Social media platforms played a key role in facilitating what it called Israel’s oppressive measures, 7amleh said.

“The most notable measures included mass content removals and extensive ‘shadowbanning’ of users criticising Israel or posting in support of Palestinians. During Israel’s war on Gaza, these content restrictions and removals soared to unprecedented levels,” it noted.

“Users of Meta’s platforms, including journalists, activists, media pages and those simply documenting reality on the ground or posting in support of Palestinian rights were subject to account banning, content removal and other restrictive measures.”


Israel to indict lawmaker Cassif for 2022 assault on police officer: Report

Ofer Cassif, a member of the Knesset for the Hadash-Ta’al party who recently declared his backing for South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has been informed that he will be indicted on charges of aggravated assault, The Times of Israel reports.

Cassif may request immunity from prosecution from the Knesset if he wishes.

In May 2022, Cassif was trying to reach a protest against the displacement of Palestinians from their homes in Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills, but was blocked from doing so by a police officer. A physical altercation occurred between the politician and the officer. The State Attorney’s Office and the police recommended indicting Cassif in 2022.

It is unclear why the indictment is proceeding now. But Cassif has recently been in the spotlight for his comments against members of the government, saying they are “calling for ethnic cleansing and even actual genocide” against Palestinians.


Israeli lawmaker Ofer Cassif, centre, during a protest against the eviction of Palestinian families by a Jewish settler organisation in the Old City of Jerusalem on June 16, 2023

Hamas condemns Germany for considering Israeli request for tank shells

Hamas has denounced Germany as its government considers sending about 10,000 tank shells to the Israeli military.

In a statement, Hamas said the move “makes Germany a direct partner in the war against our people in Gaza”. Germany “bears full political and moral responsibility for the war crimes committed by the Nazi Zionist government and the genocidal war against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip”, the statement continued.

On Tuesday, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that the German government was considering an Israeli request for about 10,000 precision-guided 120mm tank shells. All the agencies involved have approved the request, Der Spiegel said.

 

Gaza will be ‘the grave of the Western-led world order’
Saul J Takahashi Professor of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Osaka Jogakuin University

The unabashed Western support for Israel’s genocidal rampage in Gaza has truly exposed the double standards of the West with regard to human rights and international law.

South Africa’s lawsuit in the International Court of Justice alleging Israel is committing genocide will either be remembered as the first step towards finally holding a rogue state accountable for repeated, longstanding violations of international law or as the last, dying breath of a dysfunctional, Western-led international system.

Thus, the hypocrisy of Western governments (and the Western political elite as a whole) has finally brought the so-called “rules-based world order” they purport to lead to the point of no return.



SvennoJ on 17 January 2024

The Houthis are having an effect

Insurers shun US, UK and Israeli vessels transiting the Red Sea as security situation worsens

A growing number of insurers are refusing to cover American, British, and Israeli vessels against war risks in the Red Sea as attacks from Houthi rebels continue. (Houthis say they will continue their attacks on vessels in the Red Sea despite US terror designation)

The hesitation from insurers comes as US officials have warned American merchant ships to steer clear of the vital waterway until further notice. “Some insurers are no longer willing to underwrite war-risk insurance for vessels with ownership or involvement with the US, UK or Israel traveling through the Red Sea,” said Marcus Baker, the global head of marine, cargo and logistics at Marsh, the insurance brokerage and risk advisory unit of Marsh McLennan. 

A US-owned and operated cargo ship was hit by a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile on Monday, according to US Central Command. A Houthi official vowed on Wednesday that attacks on “Israeli-linked” vessels in the Red Sea as well as the Arabian Sea will continue.  Although not all insurers are imposing restrictions, Baker said the insurance market is clearly “tightening” and rates could continue to surge.

War-risk rates have spiked from just 0.01% of vessel value in early December to 0.7% today, Baker said. That means the cost to insure a $100 million container ship has spiked from $10,000 per voyage to $700,000 today. 




Israel says captives not killed in air raid, after mother claims military poisoned her son

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-01-17/ty-article/.premium/idf-says-not-clear-how-three-hostages-died-but-they-may-have-been-poisoned-or-suffocated/0000018d-17f5-dd75-addd-f7f5e2e10000

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-says-remains-of-recovered-hostages-show-they-were-not-killed-in-airstrike/

The Israeli military has said that the bodies of two captives recovered from Gaza prove that they were not killed in an Israeli air raid, countering an initial statement by Hamas. Israeli media outlets reported on Wednesday that the Israeli military presented the families of Ron Sherman and Nik Beizer with a report stating that their bodies showed no signs of trauma or gunfire.

However, the military did not offer an explanation for their cause of death, which has aroused debate within Israel.

Sherman’s mother, Maayan, has accused the Israeli military of killing her son by filling the tunnel he was in with poisonous gas. “Ron was kidnapped because of the criminal negligence of all the senior officials of the army and the damned government who gave the order to eliminate him in order to settle a score with some terrorist from Jabalia,” she said in a social media post, adding that her son had been buried by the Israeli military in a “poison grave”.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221011-historians-reveal-israels-use-of-poison-against-palestinians/


Israeli newspapers also accused Hamas of using poison gas on Oct 7
https://www.jns.org/hamas-used-toxic-gas-to-kill-idf-observers/




SvennoJ on 17 January 2024

Israel’s Ben-Gvir calls for occupation of Gaza, ‘encouraging’ Palestinians to leave

Israel’s ultra-nationalist, far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has called for Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and said that Palestinians should be “encouraged” to leave the territory. In an interview with Israel’s Channel 13 news on Wednesday night, Ben-Gvir said: “There is no other way to restore security to the State of Israel” other than a full occupation of the Palestinian territory.

“Voluntary immigration of the residents of Gaza should be encouraged,” he told the channel in a studio interview.

He also criticised how Israel was fighting its war on Gaza, saying Israeli soldiers were doing an “excellent job”, but the Israeli government cabinet was not supporting them properly, according to reports. “I hope that Likud elements do not set us back in terms of achievements,” he said of the war.

UN experts warned this week that the entire population of Gaza is experiencing hunger, the territory faces a devastating famine that will kill many, and at least 24,448 people have been killed so far and 61,504 wounded in Israel’s war on the besieged enclave since October 7.



Humanitarian aid and medicine enter Gaza as part of Hamas-Israel deal

The Qatari government, with the support of the French government, has brokered a deal that will see medicine and other humanitarian relief delivered to civilians in Gaza’s “most affected and vulnerable areas”.

In exchange, medication will be delivered to 45 Israeli captives held in the besieged enclave.

Qatari officials say the medication and aid left Doha for Egypt yesterday and has been transported into Gaza by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

IDF will work with Qatar, but can't guarantee medicine reaches Israeli hostages, military spokesperson says

The Israeli military said it does "not have the ability to guarantee" medicine will reach hostages being held in Gaza, said Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces.

When asked about how the medicine would reach the hostages, Hagari said Israel would work with Qatar to ensure the medicine reaches those being held captive. “What is important is that this effort happens, and currently the trucks are being checked. They will finish the checks, they will get in (to Gaza) and we need to do everything we can to ensure that the medications will indeed reach where they need to go,” Hagari explained.  

Qatar announced on Tuesday it brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas to allow medication into Gaza for Palestinians and Israeli hostages. Earlier Wednesday, the Hamas terms of the agreement included a stipulation that for every one box of medication given to Israeli hostages, 1,000 boxes of medication are also provided for Palestinians in Gaza.



Heavy bombardment in Khan Younis targeted homes, hospitals, cemetery: UN

An ongoing telecommunications blackout has limited the latest update from the UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA), with information from northern Gaza even further limited by highly restricted access. The report says that a missile reportedly struck the UNRWA health clinic in Daraj, in Gaza City in central Gaza on Wednesday, but that “further details on the impact of the projectile are yet to be established”.

In Southern Gaza, OCHA reported heavy bombardment in the Khan Younis area for the last two days targeting residential buildings, a cemetery and hospitals. “Initial reports and video footage show that much of the al-Namsawi cemetery was destroyed and graves empty with some corpses reportedly missing,” the OCHA update said.

16 Palestinians, including children, killed in Israeli shelling in Rafah

We’re hearing reports that the death toll from Israeli shelling in Rafah overnight has risen to 16 people killed, including small children. As we reported earlier, footage verified by Al Jazeera showed the bodies of three children killed in Israeli shelling of a house east of Rafah arriving at Abu Youssef Al Najjar Hospital.

Previously designated as a “safe zone” by Israel, Israeli attacks on the city in Southern Gaza come as Palestinians there struggle to survive in extremely overcrowded conditions.


Displaced Palestinian children take shelter inside a building damaged by Israeli bombardment in Rafah in southern Gaza on Wednesday



SvennoJ on 17 January 2024

Israel conducts raids and arrests across the occupied West Bank

Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues and local media are reporting widespread raids and arrests across the occupied West Bank tonight. The most intense of these are in the Tulkarem camp, with reports of dozens of Palestinians being arrested since an Israeli raid there began 23 hours ago.

Israeli forces have also raided the city of Qalqilya, resulting in clashes with Palestinians.

Raids and arrests have also been reported in the following locations:

  • 46 people were arrested from one family in Tkoo’ village in Bethlehem
  • Several villages were raided in the Nablus Governorate
  • A man has been arrested in the town of Balaa, east of Tulkarem
  • Two men were shot during raids in the Ramallah, el-Bireh and al-Amari camp areas
  • Israeli forces arrested a man in the town of Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah
  • A former prisoner was arrested in the town of Kafr ad-Dik, west of the city of Salfit
  • Two men were arrested from al-Jalama, northeast of Jenin
  • Israeli police summoned eight men from the town of Qatana, northwest of occupied Jerusalem, for questioning

Australian foreign minister ‘concerned’ by settler violence in West Bank

Penny Wong has visited the occupied West Bank, meeting with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and Palestinians affected by settler violence. “Australia is deeply concerned by ongoing settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank,” Wong said in a post on X.

The UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA says that it has recorded 431 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians since October 7. “In nearly half of all recorded incidents after 7 October, Israeli forces were either accompanying or reported to be supporting the attackers,” OCHA said.



UN calls for independent probe of Israel’s killings of Palestinians in occupied West Bank

The Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that a spate of killings of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has raised concerns of “unlawful” lethal attacks by the Israeli military.

In a post on social media, OHCHR said Israeli forces are escalating operations in the occupied territory and that they had killed nine people on Wednesday, three of them children, in an air strike on a vehicle near Balata refugee camp in Nablus, and a second air strike in the Tulkarem refugee camp.

“Unlawful killings of Palestinians must end,” the OHCHR’s Palestine office said on social media. “Israel must ensure a prompt, independent and effective investigation” of the killings, as “according to initial information, both cases raise concerns of unlawful killings”, it said.



Lack of conditions on US aid to Israel ‘exceptionally concerning’: Advocate

Annie Shiel, US advocacy director at the Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) organisation, says Congress should step in to ensure the implementation of policies and laws that prohibit arms transfers to human rights abusers.

But the US Senate blocked a resolution on Tuesday that would have required the State Department to produce a report on possible rights violations by Israel in Gaza. “It’s exceptionally concerning that US officials have repeatedly said there are ‘no conditions’ and ‘no red lines’ on US assistance to Israel, and that the US is not assessing Israeli compliance with international humanitarian law,” Shiel told Al Jazeera.

“The Biden administration’s own Conventional Arms Transfer policy prohibits the transfer of arms where the United States assesses it is ‘more likely than not’ that the arms will be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international law.”



Around the Network
SvennoJ on 17 January 2024

Houthi drone strikes US-owned and operated vessel, US Central Command says

A Houthi drone struck a US-owned and operated vessel in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, according to US Central Command, marking the second time this week the Iran-backed rebel group has succeeded in targeting a US vessel.

No one was injured aboard the vessel, CENTCOM said, which suffered “some” damage. The ship, which is flagged in the Marshall Islands, remains seaworthy and continued on its way, the statement said. Earlier Wednesday, a spokesman for the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they had launched a series of direct missiles at the American ship.  

US carries out another round of strikes against Houthis in Yemen, 2 US officials say

The United States carried out another round of strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, according to two US officials, marking the fourth time the US has struck the Iran-backed rebel group in less than a week.

The US used Tomahawk missiles to target approximately 14 Houthi missile launchers used to attack international shipping lanes, one of the officials said. The Tomahawk missiles were launched from US Navy surface vessels and the USS Florida, a guided missile submarine, another official said.

Meantime at Lebanon border

Israel's Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said the likelihood of war on Israel's northern front is now "much higher" than in recent times. He said his country is increasing its readiness for "fighting in Lebanon." At the same time, the United Nations secretary-general warned "we cannot have in Lebanon another Gaza," saying it is crucial to avoid a confrontation there.



zeldaring on 17 January 2024

It's over for palestine and Palestinians it seems.



SvennoJ on 18 January 2024

Another round of "We break it, you fix it" (on our terms)

Israel's President Isaac Herzog outlines vision for region after Gaza war

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog Thursday outlined a broad vision for the region after the Gaza war, including rebuilding the enclave, a dialogue between Israel and Palestinians, and normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

“We should see on the horizon a coalition of nations who are willing to commit to rebuilding Gaza in a way that, number one, enables the safety and well-being of Israel. Number two, enables the safety and well-being of the Palestinians and brings a future - a different future - to Gaza,” he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

He also said he believed normalization with Saudi Arabia was key to exiting the war into a new geopolitical environment. “It’s delicate, it’s fragile, it will take a long time, but I think it will provide the opportunity to move forward in the region towards a better future,” Herzog said. “It is a game-changer.”



These stories would be more believable if the timing wasn't so suspicious. But it's likely just CNN that thinks now is a good time with Nassar in the news.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/17/middleeast/freed-israeli-hostage-says-held-in-gaza-hospital-intl/index.html

Freed Israeli hostage says she was held in Gaza hospital with dozens of others

From CNN's Tara John and Jennifer Griffiths

It has been more than 50 days since Hamas militants released Sharon Aloni Cunio and her twin 3-year-old daughters, but she remains haunted by her time as a hostage — most of which she says was spent in a Gaza hospital — and longs for her husband who remains captive in the Palestinian enclave.

“I’m both mother and a father right now,” she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday. Though when her children are out of sight, she watches videos and listens to voicemails of her husband, David Cunio, “to feel connected to him — but I’m pretty much depressed.”

She told Cooper that while her family had become separated in the chaos of the attacks, the four of them had been reunited in captivity when militants hid them alongside dozens of other hostages being held at Nasser hospital in southern Gaza.

In an account that potentially backs up US and Israeli assessments that hospitals were used to shelter hostages, Aloni Cunio said there were three rooms at Nasser hospital each holding between 10 and 12 captives and that they were tended to by a male nurse every other day.


The IDF was about to storm Nassar Hospital, retreats for some reason and now CNN launches a story that hostages were inside Nassar Hospital. (50+ days ago) Does that mean the IDF is going to go back to the hospital.

Is the story confirmed by the other hostages she was with:

Aloni Cunio said there were three rooms at Nasser hospital each holding between 10 and 12 captives and that they were tended to by a male nurse every other day. “He knew who we are, he went along with it,” she said.

CNN cannot independently verify Aloni Cunio’s account.

Does CNN ever try...

every report of a hostage death in captivity makes her only more determined to secure the release of David and the other 104 hostages Israel believes to still be in alive in Gaza. “Everything needs to be done in order to make a deal and bring them home,” she said, adding that she wants David to know that she is fighting for him.

Hopefully Israel will cease hostilities and make a deal soon before more hostages die.


Death toll in Gaza Strip rises to 24,620

The Palestinian Ministry of Health says that the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7 has increased to at least 24,620 with 61,830 wounded. “The Israeli occupation committed 15 massacres, killing 172 and wounding 326 during the past 24 hours,” the ministry said.

Recent updates

  • Israeli bombing on Gaza City kills Wael Fanouneh, news director of al-Quds TV.
  • Hepatitis C is spreading among children, adults and the elderly for the first time in overcrowded Rafah, according to doctors.
  • Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says the southern city’s pre-war population of 300,000 has now jumped to about 1.2 million as displaced Palestinians seek shelter in overcrowded camps and tents.
  • The Israeli army bombards Meiss el-Jabal, a town in southern Lebanon, with internationally banned white phosphorus shells, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
  • More than 300 Palestinian sports clubs and dozens of major Palestinian civil society organisations are calling for a ban on Israel from the Olympic Games in Paris this year.


Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, outside a morgue in Rafah, southern Gaza

More from the most moral army in the world

‘Worst nightmare’: Giving birth in Gaza

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/1/17/trauma-replaces-joy-for-mother-giving-birth-during-israels-war-on-gaza

Natalia Kanem, executive director of the UN Population Fund, has told Al Jazeera in Davos that women are often giving birth in the streets of Gaza with no proper medical attention amid the Israeli bombardment. “My representative in Palestine has told us this is the worst nightmare that he’s ever experienced. The situation where we have over 180 women struggling to deliver and give birth each and every day with the health system collapsing,” she said.

Kanem said that there were “only a couple of places left where you can do an emergency Cesarean section”. “How are we to provide for women during labor and childbirth under circumstances where humanitarian aid is not coming into Gaza?” she asked.

Birzeit University condemns bombing of Israa University in Gaza

Birzeit University, one of the top universities in the occupied West Bank, has condemned the Israeli blowing up of Israa University in Gaza. Israa is the latest higher education institution to be completely destroyed by Israel during its war on the Palestinian territory.

Birzeit University also accused Israel of stealing more than 3,000 rare artefacts from the national museum on Israa’s campus. In a post on X, it also said it reaffirmed “the fact that this crime is part of the Israeli occupation’s onslaught against the Palestinians”. “It’s all a part of the Israeli occupation’s goal to make Gaza uninhabitable; a continuation of the genocide being carried out in Gaza Strip,” it added.





SvennoJ on 18 January 2024

Is the tide starting to change in Europe?

European Parliament votes on ceasefire resolution in Gaza

The European Parliament has voted for a ceasefire resolution in the Gaza Strip and to accelerate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the territory. The resolution, which is purely symbolic and carries no legal weight, was approved with 312 votes in favour, 131 against and 72 abstentions.

The bloc’s 27 leaders have not yet unanimously agreed to call for a ceasefire, despite pleas from member countries such as Belgium, Ireland and Spain. So far, their official line remains focused on “humanitarian pauses and corridors”.

Arab states stepping up the diplomatic efforts

Arab leaders plan to end war and create state of Palestine: Report

Arab states have consulted US and European governments on a plan to halt Israel’s attack on Gaza and achieve lasting peace, suggesting the creation of an independent Palestinian state in exchange for the normalisation of relations. The Financial Times, quoting an unnamed “senior Arab official”, reports the proposal includes Saudi Arabia normalising ties with Israel, and Palestine being given full membership at the United Nations. The Arab states will present the plan internationally in a few weeks.

“The real issue is you need hope for Palestinians, it can’t just be economic benefits or removal of symbols of occupation,” the FT quoted the official as saying. “Given the Israeli body politic today, normalisation is maybe what can bring Israelis off the cliff.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be a stumbling block to the proposal, the report noted, as he recently said he is “proud” of not bowing to international pressure for Palestinian statehood.




Not looking good for Yemen

US actions against Yemen threaten Houthi-Saudi peace agreement

Nothing says empire like controlling the seas. And nothing says demise of empire more than losing control over the seas. We’ve known that since the British and now the Americans. Clearly, the United States wants to send a very strong message to the Houthis that it really doesn’t want disruption of the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.

Four attacks in a week against Yemen – that’s going to create a lot of problems between Yemen and Saudi Arabia who have been trying to reach a peace agreement. Between 2015 and 2022, this war was one of the worst disasters of the 21st century. Some 200,000 to 300,000 Yemenis died in that US-backed war. Now the US is bombing Yemen and designating it a terrorist organisation just when the Saudis want to make a peace deal.

Nor Lebanon

Israel attacks Lebanon’s Meiss el-Jabal with white phosphorus: Report

The Israeli army bombarded Meiss el-Jabal town in southern Lebanon with white phosphorus shells, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. White phosphorus bombs are internationally banned under the 1980 Geneva Convention, which explicitly forbids their use as incendiary weapons against both humans and the environment.

Elsewhere, an Israeli drone struck a house in the border town of Kawkaba causing damage but no injuries were reported, the NNA said. Artillery shelling was also reported on the outskirts of al-Dahaira and Yarin towns.

Blackouts mustn’t be used as ‘weapons of war’: Rights group

The weeklong telecommunications blackout in Gaza has become a “matter of life and death” and should end immediately, says digital civil rights group Access Now. Gaza’s ongoing internet shutdown has hampered critical aid coordination and made it “increasingly difficult, if not outright impossible”, to document and share events on the ground, it said.

“It is unconscionable to toy with connectivity amidst unprecedented violence and unfathomable human suffering,” said Marwa Fatafta, the group’s policy and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa, in a statement. “Internet shutdowns must not be used as weapons of war. Access Now continues to call for an immediate physical and digital ceasefire and for the full restoration of telecommunications services in the Gaza Strip.”

‘Endless chaos and growing despair’: UNRWA chief

After making his fourth trip to Gaza since the war broke out, the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees says the enclave has sunk even “further into despair” and renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire.

“Everyone I met had a personal story of fear, death, loss, trauma to share,” said UNRWA Commissioner Philippe Lazzarini. “The people of Gaza have moved from the sheer shock of losing everything – in some cases every member of their family – to a debilitating struggle to stay alive and protect their loved ones. “This has gone on for far too long. There are no winners in these wars. There is endless chaos and growing despair. I call once again for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to bring some respite.”



‘Children dying on the floor’: Gaza hospitals can’t keep up with the injured

With more than 61,000 people wounded from the Israeli attacks on Gaza, healthcare workers and humanitarian staff at the enclave’s overwhelmed and undersupplied hospitals are witnessing people die in front of them every day.

“I’ve seen children full of shrapnel dying on the floor because there are not the supplies in the emergency department, and the healthcare workers … to care for them,” Sean Casey, of the World Health Organization, said after a visit to several Gaza hospitals.

‘Critical point’: Doctors putting salt in wounds without antiseptic

As a trickle of medical supplies is distributed among Gaza’s desperate hospitals, with more than 61,500 people wounded it’s clear its far from what is needed. Hospital shelves have been bare for weeks with some with patients undergoing amputations without anaesthetic.

“Doctors can’t find anything to treat their patients, now they just use salt. Even salt is $13 per kilogramme. Can you imagine putting salt on people’s wounds to disinfect them?” displaced Palestinian Ibrahim Baraikat told Al Jazeera. “We’ve reached a critical point. People are dying and they don’t even have painkillers.”




Bosnia’s Srebrenica genocide survivors urge UN court to protect Gaza

Bosnian genocide and war survivors have written an open letter to the International Court of Justice urging it to “implement necessary provisional measures swiftly to protect Palestinians in Gaza”. The international community failed in the past to protect the Bosniak population during the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, and the court should not repeat “this grievous mistake today”, the letter said.

More than 100,000 people were killed during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, 8,000 of them Bosniak men and boys in a massacre in what was pronounced a “safe zone” in Srebrenica. More than 2.2 million people were forcibly displaced.



S.Peelman on 18 January 2024

I wonder if Hamas anticipated Israel's rage in the aftermath, underestimated how severe it would be, or if they just didn't care.