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SvennoJ on 18 May 2024

’14th major march in London since October’

The demonstration is taking place in White Hall, the heart of the British government, very close to Downing Street, the home and office of the prime minister.

It’s really seizable. There’s a real crush here. The organisers are claiming some 250,000 people [are attending]. It’s hard to corroborate those figures, but certainly, it’s a very sizable turnout. It’s associated with the Nakba, or the “catastrophe”, as Palestinians call it.

We’ve seen people carrying keys symbolising the right of return to their homes, and we’ve also heard those calls for an end to arms sales from Britain to Israel as this war continues, and repeated calls for an end to the war.

This has been a very diverse crowd by age, race and parts of the UK.


Pro-Palestinian supporters march through central London, on Saturday, at a demonstration to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the Nakba and call for an end to arms sales to Israel

Activist says pro-Palestine protests in London ‘wonderfully diverse’

Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi says there is a considerable amount of “unjustified fear being whipped up among Jews”. “I find that tragic because Jewish people genuinely do have a long history of terrible persecution,” the London-based activist, a member of the Jewish Voice for Labour, told Al Jazeera at a pro-Palestine protest in London.

“I’m in this country because my grandparents had to flee pogroms … killings, and the elimination of whole communities in Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Germany at the end of the 19th century.” “So it’s very easy to awaken deep-seated trauma in Jewish people. And I’m afraid, apologists … for Israel really play on that. They whip this up quite deliberately,” she added.

“The idea that we’ve been told here in London, that these are hate marches, and that London is sort of a no-go zone for Jews because there are lots of people waving Palestinian flags, is simply untrue and it’s very unhelpful.” “What they’ve tended to do is to portray the marches as predominantly Muslim, and predominantly anti-Semitic. And neither of these things is true.”

Wimborne-Idrissi also said the protest was “wonderfully diverse”. “It’s people who do not wish to see a continuing slaughter of innocents.”



Thousands expected to rally in Washington, DC, for Palestinian rights

Thousands of protesters are expected to turn out for a rally at the National Mall in the nation’s capital in support of Palestinian rights and an immediate end to the Israeli war on Gaza. The event also commemorates the 76th anniversary of the Nakba.

Rally organisers didn’t apply for any permits from the National Park Service, which oversees the National Mall. In January, pro-Palestine activists flooded the National Mall in one of the larger protests in recent memory in the District of Columbia.

 

Demonstrators take to the streets in Israel

Videos shared online show thousands of people marching in the city of Haifa to demand an end to the attack on Gaza and early elections. Protesters held banners reading, “We want to stop the war” and “We want to have elections now”.



Israeli police fire water cannon to disperse anti-government protesters

Israeli police blasted water cannon to disperse a demonstration on Tel Aviv’s Begin Street by hundreds of people. The protesters demanded the release of all captives held in Gaza, new elections, and for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign.


Demonstrators hold Israeli flags as police fire water cannon during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Saturday



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SvennoJ on 18 May 2024

UN warns of health hazards as waste piles up


Displaced Palestinians living next to a makeshift toilet near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip


A woman carries water among waste accumulated near southern Khan Younis city


More than 1.7 million Palestinians are currently living in makeshift shelters amid ‘heaps of uncollected waste’, the UN says

Qassam Brigades claims attacks on Israeli troops

Hamas’s armed wing says on its Telegram channel that its fighters:

  • shot an Israeli soldier with sniper fire east of Jabalia
  • attacked a group of 15 soldiers with anti-personnel devices and then used light weapons and hand grenades while they were inside a house in al-Tanour neighbourhood, east of Rafah
  • targeted a Merkava tank with a Yassin-105 rocket in the same neighbourhood
  • shelled Rafah crossing
  • targeted an “Apache” Israeli military helicopter with an anti-aircraft surface-to-air missile (SAM-7)
  • blew up an Israeli military bulldozer east of Rafah


Israeli military claims over 130 Palestinian fighters killed in east Rafah

The Israeli military has provided a combat report from its 162nd Division that is currently invading eastern Rafah in southern Gaza. It claims soldiers with the Givati Infantry Brigade killed “more than 80 terror operatives”, located dozens of rifles, grenades and ammunition, and located tunnel networks.

The Israeli military said its 401st Armored Brigade has also been raiding sites in the area and engaging in gun battles with Palestinian fighters. It claimed its tank forces have killed more than 50 fighters and demolished dozens of sites, including rocket launchers and tunnel shafts.

Body of another captive found Gaza, Israeli army says

The Israeli army says troops retrieved the body of hostage Ron Benjamin after he was “murdered” during the October 7 offensive by Hamas.

Military spokesperson Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari said Benjamin’s body was found during the same operation that saw troops recover the remains of three other hostages, which was announced on Friday.

The bodies of the other captives were also recovered in a tunnel in Gaza, according to the Israeli military.

Israeli army orders more evacuations in northern Gaza

Israel’s military ordered the immediate evacuation of additional neighbourhoods in northern Gaza. Army spokesman for Arab media Avichay Adraee said the areas include the al-Atatra and al-Karama areas on the coast.

At least 900,000 people – most displaced several times since the October start of the war – have now been on the move over the past week as Israel steps up its ground incursions in Gaza.



SvennoJ on 18 May 2024

Israeli army claims aid trucks getting into Gaza through two land crossings

The Israeli military says it is “increasing” humanitarian aid to Gaza even as the UN and the international community decry the lacklustre efforts as intense fighting rages across the enclave.

More than 1,050 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza through the new “Western Erez” and the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossings.

Meanwhile, 160,000 litres (26,417 gallons) of fuel and other goods came in through the US-built floating pier, it said.

The military also claimed that flour from 204 World Food Programme trucks and 120 Jordanian aid trucks was delivered inside Gaza.

Amid its ground invasion in eastern Rafah, the Israeli military has closed the Rafah land crossing, along with multiple others.



Are they just flat out lying or where does the aid go?


This doesn't track the Erez crossing nor the pier, but reports a big fat 0 from Kerem Shalom

Fatah critical of US aid pier while Israel occupies key land crossing

A senior Fatah official says the US announcement that the newly built pier is now functional, “in light of Israel’s control over Rafah on the Palestinian side, strengthens the occupation and isolates the coastal enclave completely”.

Abdel Fatah Doleh, a Fatah spokesman, said this move also “allows Israel to continue its attack on Rafah, and to completely control the enclave”.

Doleh said efforts should be made to reach a ceasefire, stop the war permanently and allow aid to go through all the land crossings, “which is something the US is capable of doing but instead, it is giving Netanyahu free rein to allow his army to carry out massacres against Palestinians”.



‘Accused of genocide’: Israel and Turkey spar again over Gaza war

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz released a video of the October 7 attacks showing the body of Shani Louk – believed killed while fleeing the Supernova music festival – being transported on the back of a truck to Gaza.

“These are your Hamas partners whom you call ‘freedom fighters’,” he said, noting Louk’s body was recovered from Gaza on Friday. “You should be silent and ashamed.”.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry presented a response to Katz and Israel – “accused of genocide” – by publishing photos of children killed in Gaza, mass graves found at hospitals and medical workers holding a news conference among bodies of Palestinians killed by Israel.

Israel says it will end its trade agreements with Turkey after Ankara halted Israeli imports and exports until a ceasefire is achieved in Gaza and aid is delivered to Palestinians.



SvennoJ on 18 May 2024

Israeli demonstrations against government policies gaining momentum

It’s of note [that] Yair Lapid, the opposition leader in Israel, attended the demonstration in Tel Aviv this evening. He had also called on Benny Gantz to resign from the war cabinet if Prime Minister Netanyahu [didn’t] start doing more to secure the release of captives being held in Gaza.

Beyond that, you have these demonstrations gathering momentum. I was at one just two weeks ago in Tel Aviv – when we could still report out of Israel. I saw thousands of people coming out.

Antigovernment demonstrators are calling on Netanyahu to resign, saying he’s trying to prolong the war so he can stay in office longer. However, Netanyahu is feeling the most amount of pressure from the far-right flank of his governing coalition.

I’m talking about far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who have for months now said [that] if Netanyahu doesn’t go full force into Rafah, they will walk away from the government.


Thousands of people have been attending weekly protests organised by family members and supporters of Israeli captives held in Gaza

Water cannon, arrests as Israeli police disperse protests in Tel Aviv









Families of Israeli captives urge government to dispatch negotiators

The families renewed their appeal for negotiations following the Israeli military’s announcement of the recovery of a body of a fourth captive from Gaza.

Some “128 hostages have been waiting to be released and return to Israel for 225 long days and nights already. The Israeli government must focus on the only mission that matters – to dispatch negotiation teams this very evening and fight for their return home”, the Families Forum said in a post on X.

“Those alive should be returned for rehabilitation, and those murdered should be brought back for a dignified burial, as was made possible for Ron Benjamin this evening.”





SvennoJ on 18 May 2024

Hundreds attend pro-Palestine rally in Washington, DC against Gaza war

About 400 pro-Palestine supporters rallied on the National Mall. There were calls in support of Palestinian rights and an immediate end to Israeli military operations in Gaza.

“No peace on stolen land” and “End the killings, stop the crime/Israel out of Palestine” echoed through the crowd.

Protesters also focused their anger on US President Biden, whom they accused of feigning concern over the death toll in Gaza. “Biden Biden, you will see, genocide’s your legacy,” they said.


Antiwar demonstrators at the National Mall in Washington, DC on Saturday


Police beat and arrest pro-Palestinian protesters in New York

New York police have beaten and arrested several protesters at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Brooklyn, according to witnesses.

Freelance journalist Katie Smith, who filmed the protest, told Al Jazeera that the crackdown came as protesters gathered in Bay Ridge, a predominantly Palestinian- and Yemeni-American neighbourhood in Brooklyn.

“NYPD came in from a side street and started grabbing people at random,” said Smith. “Officers were beating them, punching them in their upper body around their head.” The New York Post said at least 12 people were arrested.




Pro-Palestinian protesters take to streets in Germany, Italy

The videos below shows large numbers of protesters shouting “Free, free Palestine” and “Down with the occupation” in the streets of Dusseldorf in western Germany.

In Italy’s Milan, demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and shouted slogans against the war on Gaza.


Demonstrations commemorating Nakba in Germany, France


People attend a solidarity rally marking 76 years of the Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’, which led to the founding of Israel in 1948 in Berlin


A protester in Paris marks the Nakba, which led to the long-term displacement of a majority of the Palestinian people from their homeland


Police arrest antiwar protesters in Berlin





Germany, which has increased arms exports to Israel since October, has also repressed some pro-Palestinian voices.



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SvennoJ on 18 May 2024

Rescuers recover 10 dead after homes hit near Kamal Adwan Hospital

The Civil Defence agency in Gaza released a video showing medical workers trying to rescue Palestinians from under the rubble with their hands following an air attack near Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

It says 10 bodies were recovered and an unspecified number of others injured after multiple homes were hit.

Another attack can be seen hitting an area nearby as rescue teams keep digging.

Palestinian wounded and sick dying from Rafah closure: Monitor

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor says the closure of the Rafah land crossing – after its seizure by the Israeli military – has killed many wounded or sick Palestinians.

“The closure of the Rafah crossing has made it impossible for more than 11,000 wounded people to get the urgent medical care they need outside the Gaza Strip, while over 10,000 cancer patients and at least 2,000 patients with other diseases – of whom about 750 are children – require treatment outside the Gaza Strip,” said the Geneva-based human rights organisation.

“Fewer than 4,000 cancer patients have been granted permission to leave Gaza to receive treatment abroad since October 2023, according to officials at the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza and medical relief organisations.

“However, in practice, only about 600 patients have done so and the remaining patients currently face an uncertain future due to the closure of the Rafah crossing, knowing that the majority of cancer treatments are not available inside Gaza.”

Israeli army reports fighting ‘in the heart of Jabalia’

The Israeli military says its latest ground invasion of Jabalia, in northern Gaza, is intensifying with its paratroopers brigade pushing towards neighbourhoods where they have not fought before.

Soldiers engaged in dozens of firefights with armed Palestinians, some of whom were killed, with troops finding weapons and explosive devices, it said.

It released a video showing two Palestinian fighters being gunned down on the rooftop of a building after a gun battle started inside. The first Palestinian is shot dead with the second immediately picking up his weapon and shooting before being killed.


Israeli tanks plough through the narrow streets of Jabalia in northern Gaza on Saturday [Israeli Army via AFP]


Three killed in Israeli attack on Rafah residential building

The Wafa news agency is reporting that rescue crews recovered the remains of three people from the “Abu Hashem” building in the Jabalia al-Balad area in central Rafah, after Israeli forces bombed the structure on Saturday evening.

More than 1.4 million people were sheltering in Rafah before Israel launched its ground invasion on the city, forcing nearly 800,000 people to flee so far.


Israeli attacks killed at least 64 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday

Israeli forces have intensified attacks across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 64 Palestinians on Saturday, according to our correspondents on the ground.

Here’s a breakdown of the toll:

  • 28 people killed and dozens more wounded in an attack on a residential building near Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza
  • 12 people killed and 25 wounded in shelling that hit a group of Palestinians gathering at the gate of a shelter in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza
  • Eight people killed and 10 wounded in an artillery attack on a group of people queueing for water in Falujah, west of the Jabalia refugee camp
  • At least five people killed in an attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza
  • Four people killed in an attack on a home in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza
  • At least three killed in an attack on the Al-Farahin area in the town of Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis
  • Three people killed in a raid on a home in central Rafah in southern Gaza
  • One person killed in a drone attack on a car in northwest Rafah


Palestinians carry the body of a person killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, May 18

Israeli attack on Nuseirat kills at least 20 Palestinians

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that the Israeli attack on a home in Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least 20 and wounded dozens more.

Many are missing under the rubble.

The bodies of the victims are being taken to the Al-Aqsa Hospital in nearby Deir el-Balah. It’s important to note that five others were killed in an attack on the same camp earlier on Saturday.


Nine Palestinians killed in two Israeli attacks on Gaza City

More deaths in Gaza as Israeli forces step up attacks on the Palestinian enclave overnight.

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that:

  • Six people were killed and others wounded in the bombing of a house in the Daraj neighbourhood, in eastern Gaza City.
  • Three people were killed and others wounded in the bombing of a school where people were sheltering in the same neighbourhood.




Israeli forces fire tear gas, arrest family near Hebron, West Bank

Israeli forces have fired live bullets, stun grenades and tear gas, injuring dozens of Palestinians, during confrontations in the Hebron governorate, in the south of the West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting.

The clashes in the town of Idhna and the village of Tabqa on Saturday night came after Israeli forces arrested and abused a Palestinian family and their children, as they tried to return to their home east of the city of Hebron, Wafa reported.

The Israeli soldiers released some of the family members but continued to detain a young man and his sister, Wafa added.

The family’s home is in the Jaber neighbourhood near Kiryat Arba, which is one of the most hardline illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, with far-right Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir among its residents.


An Israeli soldier fires tear gas at Palestinians during a military operation in the occupied West Bank



SvennoJ on 18 May 2024

Israel's Cheerleaders Admit It Has LOST




Biden is Only ‘Frustrated’ With Netanyahu Because Israel is Losing




Student Protest Outside Agitators Revealed To Be Corrupt Billionaires

 



SvennoJ on 19 May 2024

Two Israeli soldiers killed in south Gaza

The Israeli military says two soldiers have been killed and three others seriously wounded during the ongoing fighting in southern Gaza. The military said the dead soldiers were both aged 20 and were from the Givati Infantry Brigade, which it said had killed “more than 80 terror operatives” in Rafah.

 

More Israeli attacks reported across Gaza

Israeli forces are continuing attacks across the Gaza Strip after a night of bombings that killed and wounded dozens of Palestinians. In the past few hours alone, Al Jazeera Arabic’s reporters on the ground have reported more Israeli raids on the centre of Rafah city in the south, and in the Sheikh Zayed and Zeitoun neighbourhoods in the north, as well as in the vicinity of the Kamal Adwan hospital in the north.

Al Jazeera Arabic reporters also said there were fierce clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north. The violence comes hours after Israeli attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp and Gaza City that killed at least 29 people.


Smoke rises following an Israeli attack in the Jabalia refugee camp, May 18


Israeli attack in Gaza’s north kills 26 members of family

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/5/17/as-israel-attacked-gazas-north-26-members-of-his-family-were-wiped-out

In Gaza’s north, two roads run between the city of Jabalia to the Jabalia refugee camp. Running parallel to as-Sikka Street is the smaller Assalia Street, named after the large family that inhabits the neighbourhood.

Late last week, 26 members of the Assalia family were killed and six houses on that street were reduced to rubble by an Israeli attack, according to witness testimony. The street is now barely a dirt track, as seen from images following the event’s aftermath, which Al Jazeera reviewed.

Ibrahim Assalia, 46, a media lecturer originally from Gaza who has been living in the United Kingdom since 2006, was on the phone with his brother as the attack on Jabalia and his family took place.

“Pray for me, they are heavily shelling the area,” Assalia recalled his brother as saying on May 11.


The destroyed neighbourhood where the Assalia clan lived


Al-Quds Brigades says it engaged Israeli forces in Jabalia

Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group, has said its fighters bombed an Israeli military site in the east of Jabalia in northern Gaza.

In a statement on Telegram, the group said it carried out the mortar attack in collaboration with al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

Al-Quds Brigades also said its fighters clashed with Israeli troops using machine guns on al-Ternis Street in the Jabalia refugee camp. The group added that Israeli soldiers were “killed or wounded” in the encounter.

Al-Quds Brigades says it conducted rocket attack on Sderot

Al-Quds Brigades said its fighters detonated an explosive device as they targeted a Merkava 4 tank near the Tamraz station in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The group added that it bombed the Sderot settlement in southern Israel with a rocket barrage. Earlier, Israel reported aerial warning sirens in Sderot.


Girl aged 10 lone survivor as Israel kills 20 in refugee camp

It’s another bloody day, with at least 20 Palestinians killed in an attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp.

A 10-year-old girl is now getting treatment at Al-Aqsa Hospital [in central Gaza]. She is the only survivor of the attack on her family home. She has been shouting, calling for her mum, and she clearly doesn’t know that her mother, along with all her family members, had been killed in that strike.

The attack was not carried out in Nuseirat only. In the north of the Strip, there were two strikes. One targeted an evacuation centre. Three Palestinians have been reported killed in that attack. Six people were killed when the Israeli army targeted a residential building.

We are talking about more than 60 Palestinians who have been killed since yesterday in the entire north of this Strip. There is no letup [in Israeli attacks] either in the north or the south of the territory.

‘Al-Aqsa Hospital overwhelmed with patients’

The hospital is overwhelmed with patients and injured people. It’s operating at more than three times its original capacity. We can see tents being set up in the hospital, which has become a refuge for people struggling to find a safe space.

The situation is getting desperate as more casualties arrive at the hospital located in central Gaza.


The bodies of the Palestinians who lost their lives are brought to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah after Israeli army killed several Palestinians, including children, in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, Sunday

Israel’s army destroyed 300 homes in Jabalia: Gaza’s civil defence

The Israeli forces have destroyed 300 homes in Jabalia in northern Gaza since the beginning of its operation in the city earlier this month.

A statement on Telegram said dozens of people have been killed in Israeli attacks and many others are still under the rubble. “The occupation fires shells towards al-Awda Hospital in the Tel al-Zaatar area in Jabalia,” it said. “Kamal Adwan Hospital will be out of service in light of the occupation’s threats and targets,” the statement added.


Palestinians carry the body of a person killed in an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, Saturday


Death toll from Israeli strike on Nuseirat rises to 31: Civil defence

The death toll from the Israeli strike targeting a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp has risen to 31.

“The civil defence crew were able to recover 31 martyrs and 20 wounded from a house belonging to the Hassan family, which was targeted by the Israeli occupation forces in the Nuseirat camp,” Palestinian Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told journalists.

He said rescue workers were continuing to search for missing people under the rubble. Earlier on Sunday Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said it had received the bodies of 20 people killed in the strike which witnesses said occurred about 3am local time.

Kamal Adwan Hospital receives dozens of bodies after Jabalia bombing: Director

The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza has told Al Jazeera Arabic that since yesterday, they have received about 60 bodies, most of them women and children, due to the Israeli bombing of a crowded residential area in Jabalia.

Palestinian relatives wailed as victims including an infant were rushed to the hospital, following Israeli strikes and heavy clashes in Jabalia. Abu Nabil, a Jabalia resident, said “tanks and bulldozers approached our homes, forcing us to leave, after they struck a neighbouring house, injuring us”.

“I call upon all free people in the world, to anyone with a shred of humanity … there are massacres happening here. Children are being torn to pieces. What’s the fault of these children and women?” he added.


Israel has killed at least 35,456 Palestinians since October 7: Gaza ministry

At least 35,456 Palestinians have been killed and 79,476 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, its Health Ministry says. The ministry added that 70 people were killed and 110 injured in the latest 24-hour reporting period.



SvennoJ on 19 May 2024

Israeli minister says full control of Gaza will enable Israel to achieve its goals

Israel’s Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter says it is not possible for Israel to realise its goals without taking control of the Gaza Strip. In an interview with Israeli Army Radio Dichter said Israeli control over the enclave “will allow Israel to conduct negotiations from a position of strength”.


Israeli leadership in a war of all against all

Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of Jadaliyya and non-resident fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, says Gantz’s ultimatum calling for a post-war plan for Gaza shows there’s now open warfare in the Israeli war cabinet.

“It’s interesting to watch Israeli leadership during wartime turning into a circular firing squad. You essentially have two wars. On the one hand, Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip and, on the other, a war of all against all in the Israeli leadership, seeking to evade responsibility,” Rabbani told Al Jazeera.

“What Gantz has done, and Gallant previously, is they have insisted that Netanyahu put forward a comprehensive political vision for the administration and governance of the Gaza Strip after the war. The problem is that there’s nothing that Gantz, Gallant and Netanyahu can propose that will actually take root, unless Israel first defeats and eliminates Hamas as a significant force in the Gaza Strip. And what we’ve seen eight months in, there’s virtually no prospect of that being achieved,” he said from Montreal.

“Additionally, if you look at the list of six demands that Gantz has put forward, it’s really all pie in the sky – a conscription law that includes the ultraorthodox who refuse it, normalisation with Saudi Arabia, an American-European-Arab-Palestinian administration that excludes both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority … so, I think he’s seeking to establish a position for whatever political battles are coming next.”


Israeli PM should dissolve war cabinet: Ben-Gvir

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir says he hopes Netanyahu will have the courage to dissolve the war cabinet and dismiss Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot, and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Army Radio reported.

In recent days, divisions within Israel’s war cabinet over the lack of post-war plans for the Gaza Strip have played out in public. On Wednesday, Gallant said he was opposed to the Israeli military control or taking responsibility for the governance of Gaza. On Saturday, Gantz said he would withdraw support from Netanyahu’s government if his demands for a post-war plan for Gaza were not met by June 8.


Smotrich calls for permanent Israeli military presence in Gaza Strip: Report

Israel’s Channel 12 reports that far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for a permanent presence of Israeli forces in the entire Gaza Strip.

He also called for an ultimatum to Hezbollah asking the Lebanese armed group to either cease to attack Israel and withdraw its forces as far as beyond the Litani River or face Israeli military action and occupation of southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah and the Israeli military have frequently traded fire since October 8 after the group launched attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The cross-border attacks have reawakened memories of historic tensions between the two forces that had been relatively dormant since 2006 and have led to fears of a greater regional conflagration.


Fourth Israeli military brigade to fight in Rafah: Report

Israeli Channel 12 has quoted army sources saying that a fourth military brigade has joined the operation in Rafah, bringing the number of brigades operating in Gaza to nine.



SvennoJ on 19 May 2024

Israel has prevented entry of 3,000 aid trucks into Gaza: Media office

The Israeli forces have prevented 3,000 aid trucks from entering Gaza in the past two weeks, according to a statement by the Government Media Office in Gaza.

The office said in a statement on Telegram that the army has also prevented 690 sick and wounded people from travelling abroad for treatment as the Rafah and Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossings stay closed for the 13th day in a row.

“This constitutes a clear danger in light of the collapse of the health system [in Gaza],” the statement said.

“The American administration, the European Union and the international community did not do their duty and did not exercise the role required of them to prevent genocide,” it added. “Rather, they gave the occupation the green light to continue the crime of genocide,” the office also said, calling on the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop “the genocidal war”.


A drone view shows a trail of trucks lining up on a road near Mitzpe Ramon southern Israel


Palestinians forced to use Israeli missile parts to erect tents in displacement camp




Gaza child’s appeal to Jordan’s king over aid airdrops

A Palestinian child from northern Gaza has sent a message to Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Queen Rania as well as to all Arab officials after the cessation of aid airdrops in Gaza.

“You used to send us aeroplanes with aids, but now there are no more planes. You cut off all the supplies [that you used to send] to us. You cut off food and drinks and everything,” he said in a video address posted on Instagram by a Palestinian activist. “Why do you do this to us? What have we done to you? Speak, for the sake of God!”

Israel ‘regularly and blatantly’ disregards UN in Gaza: Lazzarini

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of UNRWA, says “almost nothing” in terms of aid is getting into the Gaza Strip after Israel closed the Rafah crossing and Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis.

Speaking at a news conference with Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, he said the UN has been “regularly and blatantly disregarded in Gaza”.

“Look at the number of staff who have been killed, more than 200, among them 189 staff from UNRWA,” he said.

He added that there have been more than 160 UN premises that have been damaged or fully destroyed. A number of UN staff have been rounded up, arrested, mistreated, tortured and forced into confessions during Israel’s war on Gaza, Lazzarini added.