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

SvennoJ on 07 June 2024

Hamas’s confidence in surviving war has ‘solidified’: Monitors

Hamas “remains confident” that it can survive the current war being waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip, US-based defence think tanks report, adding that the Palestinian group’s confidence in surviving has “solidified” since Israel scaled back military units deployed to Gaza in December.

Noting that the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar said in February that “his military forces are in good condition”, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said Israeli raids on Gaza are being complicated by Hamas’s tactic of fighting and then withdrawing to areas absent of Israeli forces to “rest and reconstitute”.

The latest ISW/CTP joint report also addresses a Reuters report in which US and Israeli officials say that Hamas has shifted to “insurgent” tactics, which the US officials said the Palestinian armed group can sustain “for months”.

Hamas continues to have access to weapons either smuggled into Gaza or captured from Israeli forces, the officials told Reuters.



Biden says that he believes Netanyahu is listening to his concerns

US President Joe Biden has said that he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is listening to his concerns about his handling of the war in Gaza.

“I think he’s listening to me,” Biden said in an interview with ABC News aired on Thursday.

“They were going to go into Russia — into Rafah — full bore, invade all of Rafah, go into the city, take it out, move, move with full force. They haven’t done that. And what they’ve done is they’ve agreed to a significant agreement,” he said.

Biden’s comments come amid signs of growing divisions between the leaders and as the US tries to balance supporting Israel and pressuring Netanyahu to end the war.

US, global allies release joint statement on Gaza ceasefire deal

Seventeen countries including the United States have released a joint statement calling on Israel and Hamas to do whatever is necessary to agree on a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

The signatories to the joint statement said they “fully support the movement towards a ceasefire and hostage release deal now on the table and as outlined by President Biden”.

The statement adds: “We call on Hamas to close this agreement, that Israel is ready to move forward with.”

Israel is only ready to move forward with phase 1, if at all.



Israeli media says Gantz expected to resign from war cabinet

Israel’s war cabinet member Benny Gantz is expected to resign from the emergency government on Saturday following the expiration of a deadline he set last month for developing a clear plan “to achieve victory” in Gaza.

According to Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, Gantz intends to submit his resignation due to the failure to formulate the specified plan. The families of Israeli captives in Gaza have urged Gantz not to resign until a prisoner exchange agreement is reached with Hamas.

Netanyahu’s office has scheduled an expanded ministerial discussion for Sunday, just after Gantz’s self-imposed deadline, KAN reported.


Ben-Gvir says humanitarian aid that enters Gaza must be reduced

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has urged the prevention of fuel entry and reduction of humanitarian aid reaching the Gaza Strip.

“Israel should withhold fuel from Gaza and reduce the humanitarian aid that enters the strip,” the Israeli minister said on X.

“Israel should only declare humanity in exchange for humanity, but we will not agree to a deal that would jeopardize the future of the State of Israel,” he said.


US, Egypt, Israel fail to agree on PA role on Rafah crossing

US, Egyptian and Israeli officials failed to make progress about reopening the Rafah crossing after Israel rejected the Palestinian Authority (PA) as having a role in operating the Gaza side, Axios reported citing four US and Israeli officials.

The crossing has remained closed since Israel expanded its military operations into Rafah, near the crossing with Egypt.

Egypt has refused to open the crossing on its side until the Gaza side is back under Palestinian control.

During a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet, Netanyahu said, according to two sources, he doesn’t agree with the PA taking up any role at the crossing.

However, one of the sources told Axios that Netanyahu’s comments had come in contradiction to a policy that the war cabinet had approved days earlier, that Israel would agree to any government entity other than Hamas to run the crossing.



Around the Network
SvennoJ on 07 June 2024

Israel's Widespread Use of White Phosphorus in Lebanon, Gaza Violates Int'l Law: Human Rights Watch



Meet the Pro-Israel Group That's Trying to Rewrite Palestinian History in Public Schools

 

"Death to Arabs" Israeli Settlers RAMPAGE Through Jerusalem

 

What UK did in Gaza is SHOCKING & no one’s allowed to talk about it





SvennoJ on 07 June 2024

Student protests haven't stopped

Canadian police use tear gas to disperse protesters

Canadian riot police have been filmed using tear gas and pepper spray to disperse anti-Gaza war protesters gathered at McGill University in Montreal.




Attacks on UNRWA facilities ‘psychological warfare’

There are more renewed attacks in the northern part (of Gaza) that we’re looking at.

One more UNRWA school that being attacked, three people reported killed. This is not the first time we’re seeing honourable facilities, whether they are the evacuation centres or other facilities are being deliberately targeted and attacked.

And the Israeli military made it clear through these ongoing attacks that UNRWA facilities are becoming legitimate targets. And this is part of delegitimising the work and operations of honourable across the Gaza Strip.

There are now the vast majority of people are concentrated in the central area.

And to intensify these attacks – this is part of a psychological warfare that there’s nowhere safe across Gaza.

 

Al-Aqsa Hospital overwhelmed with problems

This is the second day now that we’re trying to do a report from inside Al-Aqsa Hospital, and just logistically, it’s impossible.

We have people at the entrance of the emergency department on the floor of the hospital getting treated and just waiting for doctors to pay attention to them.

The problem at the hospital here is represented by something above emergency. There are exhausted medical staff inside the hospital – for the past eight months, non-stop work, as well as the huge influx of injuries coming to the hospital.

We have two other factors, important factors that are affecting the work of the hospital. One of which is the lack of fuel to keep it sustainable. The hospital is resorting to its solar panel systems on the rooftop, but this is not sufficient enough to run the operating rooms, to run the ICU or incubators for babies. It’s only sufficient to keep on the lighting.

The other important factor that is crippling the hospital’s ability to intervene properly is the acute shortage of medical supplies. We’re talking about almost a month now of no medical supplies.

US military re-establishes temporary Gaza pier

The US military’s Central Command says it has re-established the temporary pier in Gaza to allow crucial aid into the besieged enclave.

“At approximately 2:15 pm (local Gaza time) on June 7, US Central Command (CENTCOM) successfully reestablished the temporary pier in Gaza, enabling the continued delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” CENTCOM said in a statement on X.

“In coming days, CENTCOM will facilitate the movement of vital food and other emergency supplies, in support of the US Agency for International Development.”

It's temporary all right...


SvennoJ on 07 June 2024

Protesters in Tel Aviv call on Germany to cease arms exports

Demonstrators have gathered in front of Germany’s embassy in Tel Aviv to demand the German government halt arms exports to Israel.

At the entrance of the embassy, protesters held signs reading slogans such as, “Stop arming Israel”, “Don’t you have enough blood on your hands?” and “For once, be on the right side of history.” They also chanted, “Germany, you can’t hide, you’re complicit in genocide.”

Israeli police removed the protesters by force and detained five individuals.

 

UN chief to call out Israel for violations against children

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will add Israel to a global list of offenders for committing violations against children.

Israel’s envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said he was “utterly shocked and disgusted by this shameful decision”. He added that Israel’s military is the “most moral army in the world”.

The global list is included in a report on children and armed conflict that is due to be submitted to the UN Security Council on June 14.



I don't think Israel knows what morals are.


Here come the Temper Tantrums

UN on ‘blacklist of history’, Netanyahu says

Netanyahu says the UN has put itself on the “blacklist of history” after the organisation added Israel to its list of global offenders for violations against children.

“The UN put itself on the blacklist of history today when it joined the supporters of the Hamas murderers,” Netanyahu wrote on X. “The [Israeli army] is the most moral army in the world, and no delusional decision by the UN will change that.”

38 children died on Oct 7 (horrifying) Estimated 14,000 children have been bombed and burned to death in Gaza, the rest suffering from trauma, malnutrition and starvation. Estimated 17,000 orphans walking around trying to survive. Compared to the IDF, Hamas are saints... But that's a really really really low bar to set.

No, the IDF is the most despicable, barbarian, cruel, racist, cowardly army in the world. Other armies act just as bad but don't go around touting their 'morality' to hide the truth.

Several dead, wounded in Israeli attacks on southern Gaza

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report that several Palestinians in Gaza have been killed north of Rafah. Our colleagues are also reporting more casualties in an Israeli bombing on the town of Abasan, east of Khan Younis.

Three Palestinians wounded after Israeli settlers set fire to West Bank village

Hani Odeh, head of the municipality council of Qusra in the occupied West Bank, says three people were wounded after settlers set fire to the village.

Odeh told The Associated Press that Israeli settlers had set fire to the area last night, attacking houses, burning warehouses and destroying trees. Three people were injured, including two by live bullets, Odeh added.

The Israeli army told The AP that Israeli civilians lit Palestinian property on fire Thursday evening. The army said there was a violent confrontation between Israeli civilians and Palestinians with mutual rock-throwing, and the army dispersed them by firing shots in the air.



SvennoJ on 07 June 2024

HRW says will welcome UN decision to add Israeli army to child-harm blacklist

UN Director for Human Rights Watch Louis Charbonneau says if the UN decision to add Israel to a blacklist of countries that harm children was true, it was a “thoroughly justified” step.

The annual Children and Armed Conflict report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is not due to be published until June 18.

However, Israel’s UN ambassador Gilad Erdan went public after receiving notification of Israel’s inclusion on the list of countries that do not take adequate measures to shield children from conflict.



Lol @gilad, capital letters don't make your lies any less shameful.

Palestinian children enduring unprecedented harm, but show resilience: Psychiatrist

Ahmed Darwish, a child psychiatrist, says Palestinian children in Gaza face the reality of growing up without loved ones killed in Israel’s bombardment, as well as with lasting physical and psychological scars.

Darwish told Al Jazeera that in the short term, a sense of fear and anxiety is shared by children across the Gaza Strip. “People are going through a massive, massive trauma,” he said.

But Darwish said children and other Palestinians in Gaza have shown tremendous resilience.

“They [the children] need to be made aware of the strength within them,” he said.


Palestinian children wounded in an Israeli attack in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, June 4

If you think about it in terms of 'natural selection', Israel is breeding the most resilient people on Earth through their 76 years of brutal treatment of Palestinians. Over four generations already that have lived with regular wars and brutal treatment all their lives.

‘Finally’: Amnesty International chief welcomes UN’s ‘blacklist’ decision

Agnes Callamard says rights groups “have long been documenting” Israeli violations against children.

“It should not have taken 15,000 children killed in Gaza for Israel to be on this shameful list,” the secretary-general of Amnesty International said. 

UN ‘shocked’ at Israel’s behaviour in recording and release of phone call

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, has confirmed to reporters that Israel has been informed it will be included in the Children in Armed Conflict report this year.

Earlier today, Courtenay Rattray, the secretary-general’s chef de cabinet, gave Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan a courtesy call to inform Israel that it will be added. Although the report itself is due to be shared with Security Council members on June 14, it is tradition that the UN gives courtesy calls to notify newly added countries in advance and avoid leaks.

Erdan recorded that phone call and shared part of it on a social media account, prompting a rebuke from the secretary-general’s spokesperson.

“Ambassador Erdan’s video recording of that phone call and the partial release of that recording on Twitter [X] is shocking and unacceptable and frankly something I’ve never seen in my 24 years serving this organisation.”

Shocked? Have you not been paying attention to Israeli tactics?



Around the Network
SvennoJ on 07 June 2024

Israeli foreign minister says inclusion on UN ‘blacklist’ will harm ties

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has also hit out against the UN, saying Secretary-General Guterres made a “shameful” decision.

Katz warned in a social media post that including Israel on a so-called “blacklist” of countries accused of committing rights abuses against children in conflict zones “will have consequences for Israel’s relations with the UN”.


What relations? You're fucking trying to declare UNWRA a terrorist organization while continuously attacking and killing UN personnel, bombing their missions and using their schools as military bases before burning them down.

The only shameful thing from the UN is that it took this long. Israel has put children under military detention without recourse for decades next to routinely killing children in the West Bank.

UNRWA chief calls for investigations into attacks on UN, humanitarian convoys

Philippe Lazzarini has said “no one is being held accountable” for deadly attacks on UN personnel, as well as the destruction of UN premises and attacks on humanitarian convoys seeking to enter Gaza.

“It is time for independent investigations + accountability,” the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on X.

Lazzarini also warned that a “disinformation war” being waged against UNRWA “puts the lives of my own colleagues in #Gaza and elsewhere at risk.

Pakistan’s UN envoy says Israeli army’s blacklisting was expected

Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN, Munir Akram, has spoken to Al Jazeera about the UN adding Israel’s military to a global list of offenders who have committed violations against children.

  • Israel’s classification on the UN blacklist is expected and overdue.
  • Freezing Israel’s UN membership has been discussed among Muslim countries.
  • Pakistan condemns all countries that supply Israel with weapons.

Israel’s war on Gaza taking dire toll on Palestinian children

Rights groups have condemned the dire toll Israel’s bombardment and siege of Gaza has had on Palestinian children across the enclave:

  • More than 15,500 children have been killed, according to the Gaza government media office.
  • UNICEF says nine in 10 Palestinian children in Gaza are living in “severe child food poverty, surviving on diets comprising two or fewer food groups per day – one of the highest percentages ever recorded”.
  • The World Health Organization says more than four in five Palestinian children in Gaza “did not eat for a whole day at least once in the three days” in advance of a recent food insecurity survey.
  • Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) says thousands of Palestinian children have been critically injured and face “a lifetime of recovery to heal from the physical and psychological trauma” of the war.

Another Israeli army attack in Rafah

Earlier, we reported that several people have been killed in the northern part of the southern Gaza city.

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic now report that Israeli forces have targeted a house in the Oraiba area, also in the north of Rafah. They said homes and agricultural facilities caught fire after the Israeli army fired incendiary bombs in the area.



Palestine Red Crescent ambulance team treats injured children

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has shared a video showing one of its ambulance team members treating two injured Palestinian children.

The children were hurt in attacks in Deir el-Balah and Maghazi in central Gaza, PRCS said.

The medic can be seen wrapping the children’s injuries – to their leg and head, respectively – with bandages in the back of an ambulance as the children writhe and cry in pain.



SvennoJ on 07 June 2024

Adding Israel to UN’s ‘list of shame’ a step in right direction: Palestinian UN envoy

Riyad Mansour says “Israel has evaded accountability for its crimes against Palestinian children for decades now”.

This lack of accountability, the Palestinian envoy to the UN said in a social media post, allowed Israel to “intensify its crimes against them in a violation of all norms and of the principles of legality, morality and humanity”.

“The United Nations decision to add Israel on the list of violators of children’s rights, often referred to as the ‘list of shame’, will not bring back tens of thousands of our children who were killed by Israel over decades and will not restore normal life for the children who were permanently disabled by its actions,” Mansour said.

“But it is an important step in the right direction towards ending the double standards and the culture of impunity Israel has enjoyed for far too long and that left our children vulnerable to its consequences.”

 

UN faced years of pressure by Israel and its allies over child rights report: Ex-official

Craig Mokhiber, a former UN human rights official who resigned last year over the organisation’s response to the Gaza war, says the world body deleted Israel from its so-called blacklist for years due to the pressure campaign.

The push by Israel and its allies resulted in an annual report on human rights violations against children in armed conflict that “had been broadly discredited”, Mokhiber wrote on X.

The UN report compiles “a list of parties engaging in violations against children”, including killing and maiming, sexual violence, and attacks on schools and hospitals.

“It took a new world record for child slaughter to compel the UN to include Israel this time,” Mokhiber said.


‘Miserable’ life for children in Gaza for years to come

The vast majority of casualties brought to the hospitals are either children or women.

We have had children across the Gaza Strip for the past eight months murdered at a record number, given the intense bombing campaign. They’re targeting entire families inside residential homes or evacuation zones or even when they are trying to evacuate from one place to another.

[Gaza officials] are documenting the cases of many children inside the evacuation zones who have been separated from their parents. In fact, there’s one case here at the hospital who has not been with his parents for the past six months. Nobody knows anything about his parents or where they are.

Now add to this trauma the lack of basic supplies – food and medical supplies – and the proper environment for children to grow socially, economically and intellectually. It does not exist for them.

This intense bombing campaign has created conditions for a miserable life for years to come.



SvennoJ on 07 June 2024

MSF shares images of devastation in southern Gaza

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, has shared images from Khan Younis and Rafah taken by one of its staff members in April and May.

They show destroyed buildings and rubble-filled streets across the two southern Gaza cities, which like other parts of the enclave have faced heavy Israeli bombardment.

The images “offer a glimpse into the campaign of annihilation waged by the Israeli army in Gaza since the start of the war”, MSF wrote on social media. “We continue to call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire.”

Workshops on infectious diseases for displaced people ongoing: Red Crescent

The Palestine Red Crescent Society says it is conducting “awareness and guidance” workshops on infectious diseases for displaced people in shelters and schools, with a focus on Hepatitis A.

According to the Gaza Government Media Office on Friday, 1,477,748 displaced people in the coastal enclave have contracted an infectious disease.




At least 3,000 children have lost their limbs in Israel’s war

Doctors in Gaza say as many as 3,000 Palestinian children have lost their limbs in Israel’s war.



SvennoJ on 07 June 2024

Children advocacy group welcomes UN adding Israel to child harm blacklist

Alexandra Saieh from Save the Children says it is “absolutely shameful” that the international community and its members have not done enough to bring the war to an end.

“We welcome this decision … it’s one step [putting Israel on the blacklist] in holding the perpetrators to account … and alongside Israel, we’re also calling on the Qassam Brigades and Islamic Jihad to be listed for the great violations that they have committed against children. No one should be above the law,” she told Al Jazeera.

Saieh said the eight-month-long war in Gaza had been “absolutely catastrophic” for children.

“What we’ve seen is children being killed at an unprecedented rate. We’ve seen children maimed. We’ve also seen denial of humanitarian assistance, which has led to starvation and deaths due to extreme malnutrition, dehydration and disease,” she added.

“Remember, there are still thousands of children who are also trapped under the rubble, many of whom you know have not been able to be recovered.”

 

Key stats: More than 3,000 children at risk of dying due to malnutrition

The Gaza Media Office has published a comprehensive list of statistics highlighting the devastation in Gaza amid the ongoing war.

Here is a summary of numbers related to the healthcare situation in the coastal enclave:

  • 3,500 children are at risk of death due to malnutrition and lack of food.
  • 11,000 people injured need to travel for treatment abroad.
  • 1,477,748 people are infected with infectious diseases due to displacement.
  • 71,338 cases of viral hepatitis infection as a result of being displaced.
  • 60,000 pregnant women are at risk due to lack of access to healthcare.
  • 350,000 chronic patients are at risk due to preventing the introduction of medications.

Here is another list of numbers, provided by the Gaza Media Office, related to infrastructure damage in Gaza since Israel’s war on the coastal enclave began eight months ago:

  • 110 schools and universities completely destroyed.
  • 604 mosques completely destroyed.
  • 3 churches targeted and destroyed.
  • 138,300 housing units were completely destroyed.
  • 453,000 housing units partially destroyed.
  • 33 hospitals taken out of service.


And there are still genocide deniers? What else does it take to show intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

Not listed in the stats above is the destruction of agricultural land, fishing boats, tree groves, water wells
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2024/gaza-israel-agriculture-food-fisheries/

As well as other infrastructure, historical buildings, archeological sites, archives, libraries, civic registries.
https://jacobin.com/2024/03/israel-gaza-war-cultural-heritage



SvennoJ on 07 June 2024

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