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

SvennoJ 3 days ago

China tells UNSC: Gaza an ‘open-air prison’, US floating pier no alternative to roads

More than 2 million people are “living in an open-air prison” in Gaza with “water, electricity, food, medication, and fuel” supplies cut off, China’s Ambassador Fu Cong has told the UN Security Council.

Gaza “has been under blockade for nine months” while the “most important Rafah crossing has been forced to close for two months because of Israeli military operations”, Fu said.

The Chinese ambassador pointedly criticised a temporary pier built as an alternative route for humanitarian deliveries, referring indirectly to the US, whose military built the pier, as “some country”, in an English translation provided by China’s UN mission.

“The huge investment in the floating dock by some country and the many twists and turns in its use once again show that land transport routes are the key to the expansion of humanitarian access at scale and their role is irreplaceable,” he said.

Saudi Arabia urges end to Gaza aggression: Local media

Saudi Arabia has reiterated it is making “vigorous efforts” on the political and humanitarian fronts to end the Israeli aggression against the Palestinians in Gaza, local media reports say.

According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the statement was made following a council of ministers meeting, headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the western city of Jeddah.

The meeting also reviewed “the Kingdom’s international efforts to support initiatives aimed at gaining further global recognition of the State of Palestine”.

It also stressed Saudi Arabia’s “ongoing provision of relief aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip” amid international warnings of growing famine risks as the entry of humanitarian aid trucks fell significantly after the Israeli army attacked Rafah and seized control of the Rafah crossing on May 6.

Far-right Israeli minister retweets post promoting Sinai occupation

Israel’s far-right Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu has retweeted a post promoting merchandise that calls for the occupation of Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.

Israel returned the region following a peace agreement signed with Egypt in 1979.

The tweet calls for the purchasing of a shirt showing a map of Israel which includes the occupied West Bank, Gaza and Sinai. “Take it on trips, dress all the children in it [soon there will also be sizes for little ones], put it on the car, let’s create awareness: The people demand an occupation! Occupation now!” read the original tweet promoted by Eliyahu.



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SvennoJ 3 days ago

Clear one to pretend to comply with international law?

Israeli forces clearing illegal Oz Zion outpost: Army Radio

Israeli settlers have climbed on top of an Israeli bulldozer and burned tyres as they tried to stop Israeli forces from clearing the illegal Oz Zion outpost near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank this morning, Israeli Army Radio reports.

Oz Zion, or “Zion’s might”, has been repeatedly demolished, and repeatedly rebuilt, since young Israeli settlers first constructed makeshift buildings there on privately owned Palestinian land about 13 years ago.

The latest developments in Oz Zion come as Israel’s Higher Planning Committee meets today and tomorrow to discuss approving or advancing the construction of more than 6,000 new housing units in dozens of illegal settlements and outposts across the occupied West Bank.

According to Israeli monitoring organisation Peace Now, there are 191 Israeli outposts, mostly resembling camps, and 146 settlements in the occupied West Bank.


Israeli settlers throw Molotov cocktails at security, civil administration at illegal outpost

We have been reporting on developments from the illegal Oz Zion outpost near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank where Israeli settlers are trying to stop security forces from clearing it.

Israeli Army Radio now reports that settlers are throwing Molotov cocktails at the security forces and the civil administration officials.

It also said on X that they are throwing stones at cars near an intersection near the illegal outpost.



Demolishing the homes of Palestinians suspected of attacks or their relatives is a long-held practice of Israel. Thousands of Palestinian people have lost their homes to demolitions in what human rights groups say is a policy by Israel of “collective punishment” that may amount to war crimes.


Authorities announce strike in Tulkarem, occupied West Bank

Local authorities have announced a strike in the Tulkarem governorate in the occupied West Bank to mourn the Palestinians killed in an Israeli raid.

As we have previously reported, the Israeli army conducted an air strike in the Nur Shams camp, bringing to six the number of Palestinians killed in the area in the past 24 hours, including a woman and a child.

Israeli raids and mass arrests have become a near daily occurrence across the Palestinian territories since the start of the war in Gaza. Prisoners’ watchdog groups say the Israeli army has arrested more than 9,500 Palestinians since October 7, 20 in the last two days. According to the UN, at least 513 people have been killed since the war started.


Israel arrests 20 in occupied West Bank: Palestinian Prisoner’s Society

Since Tuesday evening, Israeli forces have arrested at least 20 people in the occupied West Bank, including former prisoners, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says in a statement.

The arrests were mostly in the Hebron governorate, while the rest were in the governorates of Jenin, Qalqilya, Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho and Jerusalem, it said. The arrests were accompanied by widespread raids, abuse, severe beatings, as well as the destruction of homes.

The total number of arrests since October 7 has climbed to about 9,510. The total includes those who were arrested from homes and military checkpoints, those who were forced to surrender themselves under pressure, and those who were held hostage.


Israeli forces kill man in raid on Jenin

A short while ago, soldiers began a raid on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, where gunfire was reported. Wafa news agency reports, citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health, that Israeli special forces have shot and killed one man during the raid, 23-year-old Nidal Ziyad al-Amer.

Medical and security sources told Wafa said that a unit of the army, in a civilian car with a Palestinian licence plate, entered the industrial zone of the city, where they opened fire towards al-Amer, killing him.



SvennoJ 3 days ago

Two injured in attack in Israeli mall: Police

Two people have been wounded in a stabbing attack in a shopping mall in northern Israel’s Karmiel area, Israeli police said. Police called it a suspected terror attack and said the attacker was “neutralised”.

Israeli medics said they were treating two men in their 20s, one in a serious condition and the other fully conscious.




‘Impossible to separate attack in Israel from occupation’

It’s impossible to separate what happens inside Israel with regard to the stabbing attack from the dynamics of occupation in the West Bank or the war in Gaza.

Tensions have been rising and they have been reaching boiling point. The Israeli security establishment has been warning that the continued raids, settlers’ attacks, the appropriation of land – just today 13,000 square kilometres of Palestinian land was expropriated by Israel to make way for more settlers.

All this pushes Palestinians in despair and anger towards Israeli policies that push them out of their land and make their life unbearable, no matter where they are.


Israeli police arrest alleged mall attacker’s family members

Israeli police say they have identified the attacker, who they earlier reported was “neutralised”, as an Arab citizen of Israel from the town of Nahf.

Israeli media quoted the Karmiel police chief Yitzhak Abuhatzira as saying the members of the accused’s family have been arrested, including his mother, brother and sister.

The family members arrived at the scene of the attack and were blindfolded and arrested.



SvennoJ 3 days ago

Palestinians do not trust Israeli evacuation orders any more

People do not trust this Israeli narrative about evacuation zones and moving to other safe areas across the Gaza Strip.

There’s no safe place across Gaza. What’s going on right now in Khan Younis is nothing short of enforced displacement, it’s been going on for months.

The Israeli military is talking about sending people to safety or giving evacuation orders so people are protected, but this is not accurate on the ground. In fact, it has been misleading, contradictory and vague for the most part.

We have cases where people move to these evacuation zones or safe areas as the Israeli military ordered them, and within hours of their arrival, they’ve been killed inside the area they were told to move to.

People are now hesitant, they end up in the streets because they don’t want to move inside residential buildings that are going to be bombed.


Israeli military kills Palestinian doctor in air strike: Reports

The Israeli military has carried out an air strike on a home in the city of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, killing a Palestinian doctor, according to local media reports.

Hassan Hamdan, who was the head of the Burns and Plastic Surgery Department at Nasser Hospital, was reported killed along with his family. The final death toll has not been confirmed.


Thermobaric rockets used in complex ambush of Israeli soldiers in Shujayea, monitors report

Palestinian fighters in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood conducted a “complex and multi-stage attack” on Israeli forces on Tuesday, which involved an ambush and the use of “thermobaric rockets”, war monitors report.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) forces first targeted a unit of Israeli soldiers in a building in Shujayea with a powerful thermobaric rocket but then redirected their attack at an Israeli rapid reaction force that was deployed to the firefight.

Palestinian fighters used “an explosively formed penetrator, rocket-propelled grenades, and additional thermobaric rockets” against the reaction force, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said in their latest Gaza field report.

The combined ambush and attack by Hamas and PIJ was one of at least 10 attacks on Tuesday against Israeli forces currently operating in Shujayea, and indicates that Hamas has “at least partially reconstituted” its forces since Israeli ground troops were last in the area in April, the US-based defence think tanks report.

Israeli bombing kills two in Maghazi refugee camp

At least two people have been killed in an Israeli bombardment that hit a group of Palestinians in eastern Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, an Al Jazeera correspondent reports.

They added that the northwest part of Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza was also subjected to Israeli artillery shelling.

An Al Jazeera correspondent now reports that three bodies have arrived at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah following the Israeli bombing of a car in eastern Maghazi.


Israeli bombing kills four, injures 17 in Shujayea

At least four people have been killed and 17 injured in an Israeli bombardment in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood, an Al Jazeera correspondent reports. They added that the attack happened as people at a gathering tried to return to their homes in the neighbourhood.


People run for cover as smoke billows over Shujayea following an Israeli bombardment

The Israeli army says it has destroyed 50 sites belonging to Hamas in the Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood. The eastern neighbourhood has seen intense attacks after the Israeli army last week issued an evacuation order requiring the residents to move southwards.

The offensive has forced at last 85,000 residents to flee, but many have remained behind, Sam Rose, the UNRWA’s director of planning, told Al Jazeera. “The expectation when it [the military operation] started is that it would have been over quite quickly but it’s carrying on – we are now, I believe, in day six,” Rose said.

“As it’s always the case in these operations – there are people who stay behind, or are unable to move because they are elderly or sick or unwilling to move because they had enough and prefer to die where they are rather than facing another round of uncertainty,” he added.


Israeli bombing kills two in Rafah

Two people have been killed in an Israeli bombing of the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah, an Al Jazeera correspondent reports.


Many injured in bombing of residential apartment in central Gaza City

Many people have been injured in the Israeli bombing of a residential apartment near the Tabaeen Mosque on al-Sahaba Street in central Gaza City, an Al Jazeera correspondent reports.


Two women killed in Israeli attack on Nuseirat

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that two women were killed after the Israeli army bombed the central Gaza Strip refugee camp. Local sources told Wafa that the killings occurred after army warplanes attacked a residential apartment in the camp.


37,953 Palestinians killed in Gaza since October 7: Health Ministry

The Strip’s Health Ministry says at least 37,953 Palestinians have been killed and 87,266 injured in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7.

The ministry added that 28 Palestinians have been killed and 125 injured by Israeli forces in the past 24 hours, and that a number of victims are still trapped under rubble or are located on roads where ambulance and civil defence crews cannot reach them.



SvennoJ 3 days ago

Israel claims several strikes on villages in southern Lebanon

Israeli fighter jets bombed several villages in southern Lebanon overnight, including Yaroun, Tayr Harfa and Aitaroun, the Israeli military said in a post on X.

The strikes targeted sites belonging to Hezbollah, the post added.

Since October 7, Israel has launched at least 6,142 attacks on Lebanon, about 83 percent of the total of 7,400 attacks launched from either side of the Israel-Lebanon border, by Israel, Hezbollah and others, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

At least 543 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, while at least 21 Israelis have been killed by strikes by Hezbollah and others, during that same period.


Israeli attack targets car in Lebanese city

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reports the Israeli army attacked a car in south Lebanon’s largest city, Tyre. It said ambulances rushed two people injured in the attack, which took place in the al-Hawsh area of Tyre, to hospital.

Social media video, verified by Al Jazeera, shows the scene of the attack:

Translation: The enemy drones raided a short while ago, targeting a car in al-Hawsh area, southeast of the city of Tyre, and ambulances immediately moved towards the location.


Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli raid in Tyre, sources say

An Al Jazeera correspondent has quoted a security source as saying that a Hezbollah military commander has been killed in the Israeli raid on the Hosh area in Tyre, southern Lebanon.

Reuters and AFP news agencies have also quoted sources saying that a senior commander from Hezbollah had been killed.

“A Hezbollah commander responsible for one of three sectors in south Lebanon was killed” in an “Israeli strike on a car in Tyre”, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.


Hezbollah confirms death of commander

On its official Telegram channel, the group says that Commander Muhammad Nimah Nasser, also known as “Hajj Abu Nimah,” had been killed. It said that he was born in 1965 and was from the town of Hadada in southern Lebanon.


Lebanon calls for ending Israeli ‘genocide’ in Gaza

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has called for ending Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.

“We are concerned with the ongoing genocide against the Palestinians, namely in Gaza, based on our Arab identity and national and humanitarian considerations,” Mikati said at an event in the capital, Beirut.

The Lebanese premier said the key to peace is resolving the Palestinian cause. “The essence of peace is that the Palestinian people live on its land under a free and independent state,” he said. “It is in Palestine that the history of this region begins.”



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SvennoJ 3 days ago

Soldiers exhausted after nine months of war, Israeli commanders say

Quoting commanders of four military brigades operating in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority has reported the following:

  • Exhaustion persists among Israeli soldiers due to continuous service for nine months.
  • Destroying tunnels and infrastructure takes time.
  • The inequality in shouldering the burden of military service with the Haredim (ultra-Orthodox men) affects the army’s performance.


If we have to we’re ready to fight Hezbollah: Israeli Defence Minister

Israeli forces will be ready to take any action necessary against Lebanon’s Hezbollah, though the preference is to reach a negotiated arrangement, says Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

“We are striking Hezbollah very hard every day and we will also reach a state of full readiness to take any action required in Lebanon, or to reach an arrangement from a position of strength,” the minister was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his office.

“We prefer an arrangement, but if reality forces us we will know how to fight,” he added.




Israeli president: Majority in favor of captive deal

Isaac Herzog says on X that it is the government’s duty to return the Israeli captives held in Gaza by Hamas and other groups.

“The entire nation wants their return, and a clear majority supports a hostage deal”, he wrote. “Our leaders must realize that they are being tested in the effort to return the abductees”.

Talks between Israel and Hamas over a deal to end the war in Gaza and return the captives have stalled for weeks after US President Joe Biden announced at the end of May that Israel had agreed to an “enduring ceasefire”.


Israeli captives attempted suicide, al-Quds Brigades says

Abu Hamza, spokesperson for the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, says a number of Israeli captives have attempted suicide.

He said in a statement this is due to frustration over the Israeli government’s neglect of their situation, and due to treatment by units in the brigades who are “depriving them of some of the privileges that were provided to them prior to the heinous Nuseirat crime committed by the criminal Nazi enemy army [Israel]”.

Last month Israeli forces killed more than 270 Palestinians in Nuseirat refugee camp during an operation to free four Israeli captives. Some 700 others were injured.

He said the decision to treat Israeli captives the same way that Palestinian prisoners are treated in Israeli prisons will remain in effect “as long as the [Israeli] government continues its unjust measures towards our people and our prisoners”.



SvennoJ 3 days ago

Reporter Grills State Dept Spokesperson: ‘Do You Have Any Evidence That The Israelis Listen To’ You?




Journalist confronts German gov. over foreign minister's claim she saw nonexistent 7 Oct. rape video


 



Darc Requiem 3 days ago
SvennoJ said:

Israeli prosecutor seeking criminal investigation of Ben-Gvir seen as show for ICJ: Report

Israel’s state prosecutor Amit Aisman is reportedly seeking to open a criminal investigation into National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over his alleged incitement of violence against Palestinians in Gaza, The Times of Israel is reporting.

The investigation is reportedly symbolic, in part to demonstrate to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israeli courts are taking action over alleged crimes since the World Court is required to step in only where national justice systems have not.

However, the newspaper points out that “none of the officials involved believe an investigation would result in an indictment, much less a conviction” of Ben-Gvir, who has parliamentary immunity

Before becoming one of the most powerful people in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Ben-Gvir had already been convicted of incitement to racism, supporting a “terror” organisation (the Kach group), possessing a “terror” organisation’s propaganda material and destroying property.

More recently he has overseen the deterioration of conditions for thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, with widespread allegations of torture and degrading treatment as well as a complete ban on outside visits, including from family and the Red Cross.


Israeli far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was already convicted of eight charges by Israeli courts, including racism towards Palestinians, before rising to become the security minister

The Israeli lobby has no shame

UN rapporteur says monitoring group’s allegation ‘beyond the pale’

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, has accused a monitoring group of going “beyond the pale” for falsely claiming the UN has opened an investigation into her conduct.

UN Watch is an NGO with the stated purpose of monitoring the performance of the UN, and has accused the world body of having an anti-Israel bias.

“They use an email from the UN which simply acknowledged the receipt of their complaint to falsely claim that the UN ‘has opened an investigation’ against me,” Albanese said of the organisation’s claims.

The special rapporteur was responding to a post by Canadian lawyer and UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer, in which he alleged that she “improperly took external funds from pro-Hamas groups to pay for her $20,000 lobbying trip to Australia”.

Neuer added that his organisation had filed papers to the UN to “terminate her mandate”.

Albanese said she welcomed a review of her mandate as she “never had, and will never have, anything to hide”.



UN watch describes itself as "a nongovernmental organization that monitors the performance of the United Nations according to the yardstick of its char­ter and promotes human rights for all."

However it's a pro Israel lobbying group according to the Times of Israel

https://www.timesofisrael.com/pro-israel-watchdog-group-accuses-senior-un-official-of-trying-to-block-their-work/

US calls again on Israel to investigate use of Palestinians as ‘human shields’

US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel has described reports and video of Israel using Palestinians as human shields as “disturbing” and “a clear violation” of Israel’s “orders and procedures”.

“We call again Israel to swiftly investigate and ensure accountability for any abuses and violations,” Patel added, in response to a question from a reporter about recently reported videos showing Israeli forces using Palestinians as human shields in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.


Israeli soldiers tied an innocent Palestinian man, Mujahid Abadi, 24, to the front of their moving vehicle while he bled from gunshot wounds in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on June 22

Israel: "We're sorry, our voicemail inbox is full. Try again at our next war crime"

Seriously, none of these "investigations" have led to anything.

That's because they aren't any investigations. They just announce investigations to pacify the press and proceed to do little if anything unless they are pressed further on the issue.



SvennoJ 3 days ago
Darc Requiem said:

That's because they aren't any investigations. They just announce investigations to pacify the press and proceed to do little if anything unless they are pressed further on the issue.

Exactly, hence I put Investigations in quotes. However they still do nothing when pressed further on the issue.

Investigation into the murder of Hind Rajab (Jan 29th) is still being pressed by The Intercept



Red Crescent Says Israel Never Reached Out About Hind Rajab’s Death, Despite State Department Claim That Israel Said Otherwise

https://theintercept.com/2024/06/25/israel-hind-rajab-child-killing/


It's the standard reply from the US when asked about any war crime, wait for the Israeli "investigation". And thus Israeli impunity is maintained.



Darc Requiem 3 days ago

Hind's case is going to be a repeat of Shireen Abu Akleh. They are going to release some tacit admission a couple of years from now when the firestorm has completely died down.