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

SvennoJ on 12 May 2024

US report on Israeli weapons cannot rule out violations

A US State Department report on US weapons sales to Israel has found Israel may be violating international law.

The report includes a long list of incidents, including Israel targeting humanitarian convoys and attacks on people trying to get humanitarian aid, says Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, DC.

But the report argues that “the law does not have to be invoked because Israel is investigating”, Culhane adds.


US report on Israeli violations not in ‘good faith’: MSF

A State Department report on how Israel is using weapons supplied by the US provides “excuses” to “deflect responsibility” says Avril Benoit, the executive director of the US branch of MSF, also known as Doctors without Borders.

Benoit said that the analysis from the Biden administration was not a “good faith effort to uphold US law”. The US Leahy Law prohibits military assistance to forces engaged in gross violations of human rights.

“The horrific reality we witness on the ground in Gaza is that Israeli military operations continue to maim and kill civilians and block the provision of lifesaving humanitarian aid,” said Benoit.

UN agencies in southern Gaza running out of food aid

Georgios Petropoulous, the head of the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) in Gaza, said the World Food Programme and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) will run out of food to distribute by Sunday.

“That means people will only be left with what has been distributed in their shelters, in their homes,” he told Al Jazeera.

As of Saturday, “we have 12 bakeries supported by humanitarian partners here in Gaza. Eight have ceased to operate due to lack of fuel and stock. Four that are still operating have reduced capacity and will be out of that stock by Monday”, he said.



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SvennoJ on 12 May 2024

Arrests, water cannon as Israeli protest blocks highway

Israeli police arrested three people as protesters blocked Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway on Saturday night, the Times of Israel reported.

Family members of Israeli captives held in Gaza have held regular protests in Tel Aviv for months, calling on Netanyahu’s government to do more to bring them home. A group opposed to Netanyahu’s government and its war on Gaza have also held their own protests, with the two protest groups joining to block the highway on Saturday night.




Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian home in West Bank

Al Jazeera Arabic has obtained footage showing the aftermath of an arson attack carried out by Israeli settlers in the village of Duma in the occupied West Bank. The footage showed Palestinians trying to put the fire out with buckets of water as flames from the blaze turned the night sky orange.

Translation: Settlers set fire to a house in the village of Duma, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

 

Israeli forces arrest 13 Palestinians in West Bank raids

Israeli forces have arrested 13 Palestinians in pre-dawn raids across the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

The arrests included:

  • Two young men from Habla, south of Qalqilya
  • Six Palestinians from the town of Marah Rabah, south of Bethlehem
  • Three young men from the town of Arrabeh, southwest of Jenin.
  • Two Palestinians from the village of Qibya, west of Ramallah

Wafa said Israeli forces “severely beat” at least one of the men arrested in Arrabeh and deployed snipers on the roofs of buildings.

Israeli raids in the West Bank have intensified since the war on Gaza started on October 7. More than 8,600 Palestinians have been arrested over the past seven months.



SvennoJ on 12 May 2024

Resistance captures drone footage of Israeli war crimes, with Jon Elmer



SvennoJ on 12 May 2024

Netanyahu will go down in history as a genocidaire, says Colombia’s president

Gustavo Petro and the Israeli prime minister are continuing to trade insults over the war in Gaza.

The Colombian president, posting on X, said: “Mr Netanyahu, you will go down in history as a genocidaire. Dropping bombs on thousands of innocent children, women and elderly people does not make you a hero.”

He compared Netanyahu with the Nazis who killed millions of Jews in Europe and said that “a genocide is a genocide”, regardless of the religion of those killed.

Earlier, Netanyahu had called Petro “an anti-Semitic supporter of Hamas” after the Colombian leader called for the Israeli prime minister’s arrest over the killing of Palestinians in Gaza.

Biden administration’s changing rhetoric on Israel

Mohamad Elmasry, a political analyst and professor of media studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, spoke to Al Jazeera on subtle changes in the Biden administration’s language on Israel’s war on Gaza and the response of the Netanyahu government.

“It appears to me Israel is pretty much doing what it wants to do. It’s exerting pressure on the United States, not the other way around. We expect that it’s the US that’s going to exert pressure but it seems to be working backwards.”

“In terms of rhetoric, it had been interesting to follow [the] Biden administration’s rhetoric. [Earlier] the US said it did not want any kind of military operations in Rafah. You heard [Vice President] Kamala Harris say, to give one example, it was Israel that forced all those Gazans into Rafah in the first place. Therefore, the US opposes a military operation. But I think what happened [was] that in meetings and phone calls, Israel made it clear to the US that they were going to invade Rafah regardless of whether the US gave its blessings or not. So the US is now shifting its rhetoric. Instead of saying they oppose [the] Rafah operation they are saying they are opposed to a ‘major’ Rafah operation. We see that Israel that’s forcing the US hand.”

“The [US] rhetoric might become even more harsh towards Israel but the question that I have is: Is it too little too late? The opinion polling data we have, the encampments [at US universities] and man-on-the-street interviews suggest that people are really angry, especially young people. So, I am not sure ramping up the rhetoric against Israel is going to make a real difference. Donald Trump is ahead, according to FiveThirtyEight, a data collection and opinion polling site. He is ahead in all swing states. So, it’s looking disastrous for Biden, as one analyst said, Biden may have committed political suicide long ago.”


A man, woman, and children ride in the back of a tricycle loaded with belongings and other items as they flee Rafah bound for Khan Younis, as the Israeli ground and air offensive on the southern city continues


Rafah offensive cannot be ‘reconciled’ with international law: UN rights chief

Volker Turk says a full-scale Israeli assault on the city of Rafah “cannot take place”.

“I can see no way that the latest evacuation orders, much less a full assault, in an area with an extremely dense presence of civilians, can be reconciled with the binding requirements of international humanitarian law and with the two sets of binding provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice,” the UN high commissioner for human rights said in a statement.

It is taking place... Israel and the US have declared international humanitarian law dead and buried.



SvennoJ on 12 May 2024

‘No oxygen for patients’, says Palestinian doctor from Jabalia

Al Jazeera spoke to Imad Abu Zayda, an emergency doctor in Jabalia. He told us about the dire situation there. “No light due to the lack of fuel and there’s no medical supplement available as Israel has expanded their operation in the area. We have no oxygen to give to patients.”

“Most of the injured are children and women. We are operating with minimum facilities.”

 

Israeli attacks intensify across the Gaza Strip

In the course of the past 24 hours, there is clear pressure being exerted by the Israeli military on three fronts inside the Gaza Strip. They have been maximising pressure on Rafah, the middle area as well as the north of the territory.

Remember that the Israeli military has passed an evacuation order for residents of the Jabalia refugee camp and in the central areas of Rafah.

The Israeli military has started to intensify the bombardment of the Jabalia camp in the past couple of hours, destroying residential houses and attacking evacuation centres.

They say they are trying to completely eliminate Hamas battalions there despite a previous announcement that said they had managed to take military control in the north of this Strip.

 

Israeli tanks enter Jabalia refugee camp

There are more serious developments now as Israeli military tanks have started to go deeper into the Jabalia refugee camp. They have crossed Salah al-Din Street into the camp as battles are raging between Hamas fighters and the Israeli military.

We have been hearing from eyewitnesses on the ground, in that very densely populated area, that military tanks are surrounding evacuation centres and residential buildings.

They have been describing the situation as critically dire as they witness mass evacuations and displacement to the western part of Gaza City. Those residents had been moved from one place to another during the previous military incursion to the refugee camp, and now, again, they are leaving.


A man drives a horse-drawn cart with children and belongings as they evacuate from the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, Saturday


A dozen Palestinians killed in northern Gaza amid Israeli strikes: Report

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that dozens of civilians have been killed over the last few hours in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip.

In the town of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, 12 bodies arrived at Kamal Adwan Hospital, according to Wafa.


Palestinians flee Jabalia, Rafah as Israeli offensive continues



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SvennoJ on 12 May 2024

‘We’ve lost 80 percent of our capabilities’: Palestinian Civil Defence

Mahmoud Basal of the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza says there are no medical services or humanitarian aid being provided to displaced people in the northern Gaza Strip.

“We have lost 80 percent of our capabilities, and no one is responding to the appeals we make to international institutions,” the spokesman said.

Palestinians in northern Gaza forced to flee by foot

Shazia Arshad, the head of communications at Islamic Relief, spoke to Al Jazeera about what the charity’s teams are reporting from northern Gaza. She said that, despite having nowhere safe to go, Palestinians are being forced to evacuate by foot from the north of the Strip as there are severe fuel shortages.

She said the charity is able to distribute some aid in central and southern Gaza but is unable to replenish the dwindling stockpiles due to the block on aid coming through the borders. She said Palestinians all over the Strip have been struggling with food shortages for more than six months.

“Every day, there are families there who are struggling to not only feed their children but also to feed themselves,” Arshad said. “We’re talking about sick, wounded people.”


Displaced Palestinians evacuate from the Tall al-Zaatar camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday

 

Israeli forces order Palestinians to evacuate Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, central Rafah

Thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee from across Gaza, including Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Rafah, after Israeli military ramped up offensive in the Palestinian enclave. “It was a very difficult night,” said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old Palestinian from Jabaliya. He said they could hear intense and constant bombing since midday on Saturday. “This is madness.”

First responders with the Palestinian Civil Defense said they were unable to respond to multiple calls for help from both areas, as well as from Rafah.

Last week Israel issued evacuation orders for people in eastern Rafah, ordering them to move west towards the “humanitarian zone” of al-Mawasi, a crowded tent camp on the coast. Over the past seven months, Israel has repeatedly issued evacuation orders for Palestinians in the besieged enclave including critically ill patients from hospitals, often with unclear instructions.

On October 13 the Israeli army ordered all civilians in Gaza City and in the north to evacuate south of Wadi Gaza within 24 hours. In December Israel issued evacuation orders again for residents of the Bureij refugee camp and other central Gaza areas and ordered them to move to Deir el-Balah.

The United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid in Gaza, said 300,000 people have fled Rafah since the operation began there. Most are heading to the heavily damaged nearby city of Khan Younis or al-Mawasi, where some 450,000 people are already living in squalid conditions.

Some families have been displaced as many as five times.


Rescuers unable to reach 16 family members trapped under rubble in Zeitoun: Civil defence

Gaza’s civil defence says its teams are unable to access the Jabalia refugee camp and Gaza City in northern Gaza, which Israel has hit with a new round of air attacks.

“The direct and deliberate Israeli targeting of civil defence crews prevents us from reaching some of the targeted places in the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City,” spokesman Mahmoud Basal told the Anadolu news agency.

He said the teams were unable to reach 16 members of a family still trapped under the rubble of a house in Zeitoun. “The Israeli army is targeting innocent civilians in the neighbourhoods of Gaza and the northern Gaza Strip, most of whom are women and children,” he said, adding that rescue workers are not spared from the attacks.



SvennoJ on 12 May 2024

More War crimes incoming

Internet disruption in southern Gaza amid Israeli attacks

The Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel) reports that there is disruption to the fixed wireless internet network in areas south of the Gaza Strip due to Israeli military operations.

The company stated that its crews are working hard to restore services as soon as possible.

More than 35,000 people killed in Israel’s war on Gaza: Health Ministry

The toll from the seventh month of the Israeli military offensive in Gaza has topped 35,000, according to the Health Ministry in the Palestinian enclave. At least 35,034 people have been killed, including 15,000 children, and up to 78,755 people injured since Israel launched its offensive on October 7, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

At least 45 bodies arrive at Al-Aqsa Hospital

There’s ongoing bombardment not only of Deir el-Balah but in other parts of central Gaza. At least 45 Palestinians have arrived at Al-Aqsa Hospital as dead bodies; this number is shocking.

The Israeli military is trying to exert more pressure not only on the Rafah and Jabalia refugee camps but at the same time on Deir el-Balah. We have been recording an advancement of Israeli military attacks in the eastern portion of Deir el-Balah.

The medical situation in Deir el-Balah is critically dire. Only Al-Aqsa Hospital is operating and responsible for providing medical treatment for the population. They are facing problems in terms of shortages of fuel, medical equipment and necessities.

Only 8,000 litres (2,113 gallons) of fuel have arrived at Al-Aqsa Hospital, which will be barely enough for two days of operations.

Israeli forces invading Jabalia for second time, Zeitoun for third time: Columnist

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari says in addition to Jabalia and Zeitoun in Gaza City, Israeli forces are also operating in Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon.

The two towns near Gaza’s northern boundary with Israel were heavily bombed in the opening days of the war. “[The military] is now going into Jabalia for the second time and into Zeitoun for the third time, and it will continue to go in and out,” columnist Ben Caspit wrote in the Israeli daily Maariv, channelling the growing frustration felt by many Israelis more than seven months into the war.

The war cabinet has no exit strategy, permanent war is the only thing that keeps them going.


A displaced Palestinian woman and her child, who fled Jabalia after the Israeli military called on residents to evacuate, make their way towards Gaza City



SvennoJ on 12 May 2024

Pro-Palestine rallies, street art, flags fill Malmo’s streets during Eurovision week


Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters march through the streets of Malmo, Sweden, May 11


The Gaza roundabout just outside the Eurovision village in Malmo


Protesters asked why Israel was permitted to take part when Russia was banned over its war in Ukraine

Funeral of Samer Rummaneh, killed in an Israeli raid on Balata refugee camp


Palestinians carry the body of Samer Rummaneh, killed in an Israeli raid on the Balata refugee camp, in Balata, occupied West Bank


He was a member of the Lions Den Terror Group (according to the IDF), or Lions Den militant group (depending on who reports it).

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/gunman-from-lions-den-terror-group-said-killed-in-idf-raid-near-nablus-in-west-bank/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions%27_Den_(militant_group)

The group emerged in August 2022, a year of increased violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and takes its moniker from Ibrahim al-Nablusi, a prominent militant from Nablus, nicknamed The Lion of Nablus, who was killed in an Israeli raid.[6][7] It comprises members of other Palestinian militant organizations,[8] traditionally opposed by Fatah, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and disaffected members of Fatah, mainly young and secular.[5] The group is reportedly based in the Old City of Nablus.[9]

The group was on decline before Oct 7, now part of the resistance against the ongoing raids.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/13-lions-den-fighters-turn-themselves-in-to-pa-security-forces/ May 2023

Palestinian official says the Nablus-based terror group members surrendered ‘to protect themselves… and end their case with the Israelis’


He was killed early Sunday

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--raids-several-west-bank-cities--launches-arrests-ca

Local sources identified the martyr as Samer Nasser Mohammad Remmaneh (27), who was killed during armed confrontations with occupation forces, as the Resistance defended the camp from the incursion.

The Lions' Den mourned Remanna as one of its own.

"We pledge to remain on the path of the martyrs and we will avenge their pure blood and all the martyrs of Palestine," the Resistance group vowed in a statement.



Resistance fighter or terrorist? Or just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

 

Israel pushed another country against it at the ICJ

Egypt says it will intervene in support of South Africa’s ICJ genocide case against Israel

Egypt says it will formally join the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice which accuses Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egypt said the move comes due to the escalating Israeli aggression against Palestinian civilians.

“[It] comes in light of the worsening severity and scope of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, and the continued perpetration of systematic practices against the Palestinian people, including direct targeting of civilians and the destruction of infrastructure in the Strip, and pushing Palestinians to flee,” the ministry said.

Egypt said it is calling on Israel to comply with its obligations as the occupying power and to implement the provisional measures issued by the ICJ, which require ensuring access to humanitarian and relief aid in a manner that meets the needs of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

It also demands that Israeli forces not commit any violations against the Palestinian people. In the statement, Egypt renewed its call to the UN Security Council and international parties to immediately take action to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and to stop military operations in Rafah, as well as to provide the necessary protection for Palestinian civilians.



SvennoJ on 12 May 2024

Journalists detained in Tel Aviv on suspicion of working for Al Jazeera

Journalists from London-based news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed were detained last night by Israeli authorities during protests calling for a deal to release captives last night, The Times of Israel reports.

Citing social media posts, the Israeli news outlet said the journalists were held on suspicion that they may be working for Al Jazeera, which was recently banned in Israel.

Israeli photojournalist Oren Ziv shared video and photos on X, which showed the journalists from the Qatari-owned outlet being questioned after authorities reportedly saw live footage of the Tel Aviv protests being broadcast on Al Jazeera.


 

Protesters march in Sydney, Australia for a ‘free Palestine’

Hundreds of demonstrators have marched through the streets of Sydney, Australia protesting against the Israeli military assault on Gaza.

Local sources said the demonstrators went to the camp set up by students of The University of Sydney in solidarity with Gaza to express their support for the protesting students. The students are demanding their university divest from Israeli companies.

Students walk out of university ceremony in protest at Jerry Seinfeld’s support for Israel

Dozens of students walked out of Duke University’s commencement ceremony as some chanted “free Palestine” to protest against the guest speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, for supporting Israel throughout its war on Gaza, Reuters reports, citing videos of the event on social media.

The American actor visited Israel and has vocally supported it since October 7.

The walkout was the latest manifestation of pro-Palestine protests that have roiled US campuses as students call for universities to divest from arms suppliers and other companies profiting from the war and amnesty for students and faculty members who have been disciplined or fired for protesting.

Seinfeld used to be one of my favorite shows, how the idols have fallen.

Banning UK arms exports to Israel would strengthen Hamas: Cameron

Stopping British arms sales to Israel if it launches a ground assault on Rafah in the Gaza Strip would strengthen Hamas, United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Cameron argues.

Israel ordered Palestinians to evacuate more of the southern city on Saturday in an indication it is pressing ahead with its plans for a full ground invasion.

Cameron said he did not support an operation in Rafah in the absence of a plan to protect hundreds of thousands of civilians sheltering in the southern city on the Egyptian border.

However, the UK is in a “completely different position” to the United States in terms of providing arms to Israel, he said, noting that less than 1 percent of Israel’s weapons come from the UK and they are controlled by a strict licensing system.

If it's less than 1%, how would it strengthen Hamas... It's more the surveillance flights the UK carries out above Gaza to help the IDF that confirms the UK's complicity in the genocide.
https://www.declassifieduk.org/revealed-uk-military-has-flown-200-spy-missions-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/

Pro-Palestinian protesters at the US consulate in Istanbul



SvennoJ on 12 May 2024

Egypt deals ‘unbelievable diplomatic blow to Israel’: Analyst

With Egypt joining South Africa’s ICJ genocide case against Israel, Alon Liel, former director of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, tells Al Jazeera the move is an “unbelievable diplomatic blow to Israel”.

“Egypt is the cornerstone of our standing in the Middle East,” he said. The connections that Israel has in the Middle East and North Africa today, including with Jordan, the UAE and Morocco, is all “a result of what Egypt did 40 years ago”.

“With Egypt joining South Africa now in The Hague, it’s a real diplomatic punch. Israel would have to take it very seriously. “This is what I have been warning about. It’s coming from several directions. Israel has to … listen to the world – not only to the Israeli public opinion asking now for revenge.

“We have to look overall in the wider picture, in the long-term security of Israel, not only in the next few weeks in Gaza.”


Delusional

Israel thanks Orban, Milei for ‘standing on right side of history’ in UN vote

The Israeli government has expressed appreciation towards the minority of UN member states that voted against giving more privileges to Palestine as a member state during the vote earlier this week.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz named a number of right-wing leaders, including Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Argentina’s Javier Milei and Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala for “standing on the right side of history” and voting against the UN General Assembly resolution that was backed by 143 countries.

They can stand side by side at the ICC as well. The only way for Israel to stand on the right side of history is in their own falsified history books.


Egypt FM says ‘political will’ needed to reach ceasefire in Gaza

Sameh Shoukry has said that “political will” is needed to reach a ceasefire during the ongoing negotiations between Israel and Hamas – with Egypt and Qatar acting as mediators.

“There are moderate proposals that meet the purposes for both parties that should be approved so that there would be a truce, a hostages-prisoners swap deal, to handle the difficult humanitarian situation, and prevent any continuation of the displacement,” the Egyptian foreign minister said during a news conference with visiting Slovenian counterpart, Tanja Fajon.

Fajon said that every effort should be made to prevent further escalation in Rafah and to reopen border crossings.

On Thursday, the Slovenian government initiated the procedure for the recognition of a Palestinian state as a form of leverage to end the war on Gaza, a move it announced in March, Prime Minister Robert Golob said.

Golob said he would like his country’s recognition to be “an incentive for these negotiations to proceed more quickly”.