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

SvennoJ on 08 July 2024

Babies at Nasser Hospital could die due to fuel crisis: Report

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic say sources at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis are warning that babies in the facility’s neonatal department could die if generators have to be switched off due to a lack of fuel.

The warning came as figures from the UN show Israeli authorities only allowed an average of 80 trucks carrying supplies into the Gaza Strip per day in the period from June 26 to July 2.

The UN noted that the pre-conflict average per working day in 2023 was 500 truckloads, including fuel.


More than 10,000 Palestinians missing under rubble in Gaza Strip

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has called for global action to help Palestinians recover the bodies of more than 10,000 people who are missing under the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

The rights group also has accused Israel’s military of preventing and obstructing the recovery of victims and missing people, including by targeting Civil Defence crews, rescue teams and families trying to find the bodies of their relatives.

Israel’s military has also prevented the entry of equipment needed for rescue operations as well as the entry of fuel necessary to operate heavy machinery in Gaza, it said.

The group said Israel’s obstruction of the recovery of Palestinian victims from under the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza constitutes a “flagrant and compound breach” of international law, including the rights to “investigations, redress, and reparations, as well as the final right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect when their bodies are buried”.

It added that “the fact that thousands of Palestinians are still missing is a further crime against their families, who endure terrible psychological injury”.

The group also called for international pressure to “compel Israel to fulfil its legal obligations and bring in trucks, special equipment, and sufficient fuel, given the urgent need to clear the debris, locate bodies, and recover them with special procedures to identify and bury them in marked graves, and ensure the victims’ and their families’ rights to a respectful and appropriate burial in accordance with their religious rituals.”


One Samouni brother comes home in Gaza, recalls months of Israeli torture

Faraj al-Samouni, 39, sits in a tent in a makeshift camp in Deir el-Balah, surrounded by his family who can hardly believe he is alive after months of Israeli captivity.

“My brothers didn’t recognise me when I was released,” he says. He is diminished – he lost 30kg (66 pounds) or 30 percent of his body weight after spending more than six months in Israeli custody. He and his two brothers were arrested while walking down the so-called “safe corridor” on November 16 on their way to the south of Gaza.

They were taken to a military barracks, where they were tortured severely, he says. “The beatings focused on sensitive body parts. Female soldiers stomped on our heads with their metal-toed boots,” he says.

One day, he says, three young men returned from interrogations bleeding from their bottoms, unable to move. They had been beaten and raped with sticks. “We tried to support them as much as we could, demanding treatment. The only response was to give them half a paracetamol pill.”


Faraj al-Samouni in Deir el-Balah, Gaza


Lack of treatment killed 436 cancer patients in Gaza since October 7: Source

A medical source has told Al Jazeera that 436 cancer patients have died due to the lack of treatment since October 7.



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SvennoJ on 08 July 2024

Stranded aid trucks in Egypt deepen Gaza’s humanitarian crisis

Hundreds of trucks loaded with food, water and aid have been stranded on a scorching Egyptian road, some for nearly two months, awaiting permission to deliver humanitarian supplies into Gaza.

The truck drivers, parked on the outskirts of the Egyptian city of El Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, said they have been unable to deliver humanitarian supplies ever since Israel expanded its offensive on the Gaza-Egypt border in May. Some food has had to be discarded, they said.

“I swear to God, before this load, we came here and stood for more than 50 days, and eventually the load was returned because it had expired,” truck driver Elsayed el-Nabawi told the Reuters news agency. “We had to turn around and return it. We loaded another batch, and here we are standing again, and only God knows if this load will make it before it expires or what will happen to it.”

Aid groups have warned for months that there is a high risk of famine across Gaza.


NRC says it has not received any aid since May 3

Thousands of trucks containing shelter and other essential aid remain stuck in El Arish, Egypt, and at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

“Due to Israeli restrictions and breakdown of law and order, NRC has not received any aid at its sites since 3 May. A severe cash shortage has compounded the hardship faced by people in Gaza,” the organisation said in a statement.

Following the Israeli military’s relocation orders on July 1, some 250,000 people are reported to have fled Khan Younis, mainly to overcrowded western areas and Deir el-Balah.

“The closure of the Rafah border crossing has damaged people’s ability to survive. This is causing daily stress among people. The first question every morning is the same: ‘What are we going to eat today?’ It is getting harder to provide any meaningful support,” said Maysa Saleh, the NRC’s education officer in Deir el-Balah.

“In my time here, I have not seen anything that can be described as sufficient aid. It is almost non-existent,” she said.


Lines of aid trucks for Gaza stand on an Egyptian road waiting to be deployed, in Al Arish, Egypt


UNRWA reopens health facility in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says it has reopened a health centre in southern Gaza’s ravaged city of Khan Younis after it was “severely damaged”.

The facility sustained damage in January, UNRWA said in a post on X. It added that there are no other health facilities in the area, and that the clinic is “crucial to support the displaced families that moved back in the area looking for shelter”.

Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital was forced to shut services down as generators ran out of fuel days ago. There is currently only one hospital that is partially functioning in southern Gaza.


Gaza’s media office warns Palestinians of evacuation orders and ‘field executions’

Gaza’s government media office has warned families in Gaza City not to follow Israeli evacuation orders and flee to the south of the enclave, saying it would jeopardise their safety.

In a statement, it said the evacuation orders were “false” and their objective was to lead them towards “death traps, killings, and field executions”.

It said “dozens of field executions” previously took place to those who attempted to flee via the al-Rashid Street, as well as via Salah al-Din Street – a road stretching across the length of Gaza.

During previous evacuation orders, Israeli forces called on Palestinians to flee towards the centre and the south of the enclave, then “executed citizens in cold blood as soon as they arrived at the military checkpoints, and put them in prison”, the statement read.



SvennoJ on 08 July 2024

Heavy gunfire, clashes as Israeli soldiers raid Nablus

Heavy gunfire has been heard as clashes broke out during an Israeli raid on the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported.

The Israeli soldiers carried out the raid to make preparations to escort settlers to the shrine known as Joseph’s Tomb on the outskirts of Nablus, Wafa reported. The shrine, which is also known as Yusuf’s Tomb, is a significant site for followers of the Abrahamic faiths, including Christians, Jews, Muslims and Samaritans.


Israeli forces arrest 9 Palestinians in overnight West Bank raids

Israeli soldiers have arrested at least nine Palestinians and searched their homes during raids across the occupied West Bank, Wafa reports.

The arrests included:
  • six young men from the village of Faqqua, northeast of Jenin;
  • a young man from the city of Qalqilya; and
  • two men from Nahalin, west of Bethlehem.

The arrests come as negotiations continue over the exchange of captives held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israel as part of a potential deal to end the war in Gaza.

More than 9,700 Palestinians were being imprisoned by Israel as of the beginning of July, including 3,380 people held in administrative detention, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said on Sunday.


Irregular entry of 40,000 job seekers from West Bank worries Israel: Report

About 40,000 undocumented Palestinians from the occupied West Bank have entered Israel through gaps in the separation wall, most of them seeking to earn a living after Israel stopped issuing work permits for them after last year’s Hamas attack, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

It represents “an alarming phenomenon that has returned on a large scale”, according to the report.

The suspension of work permits for Palestinians is damaging both sides of the barrier, as Israel’s construction and agricultural industries find it difficult to operate as unemployment rates in the occupied West Bank have exceeded 30 percent – a figure not seen in recent years.

Yedioth Ahronoth said more than 100,000 Palestinian workers who used to work in Israel have found themselves without a source of livelihood. “Unemployment and hunger serve extremists and not moderates … and that despair drives them to carry out operations,” it said.


Israeli settlers bulldoze entrance to West Bank city of Salfit

Illegal Israeli settlers have bulldozed the northern entrance to the Palestinian city of Salfit in the occupied West Bank and blocked it with concrete blocks, according to Wafa.

The settlers have destroyed the entrance several times in recent days, blocking the main road connecting Palestinian towns and villages within the governorate, Wafa added. The settlers were from Ariel, one of the largest settlements in the West Bank, which is so close to Salfit that its sewage has been known to pollute the Palestinian town’s water.


Israelis from the Ariel settlement, pictured, have reportedly been repeatedly destroying the northern entrance to the neighbouring Palestinian town of Salfit in the occupied West Bank.



SvennoJ on 08 July 2024

Children among 30 Palestinians arrested in occupied West Bank: Prisoners group

Israeli forces have arrested at least 30 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, including children and former prisoners, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.

“It is noteworthy that the number of arrests after October 7 has reached more than 9,580, and this number includes those who were arrested from their homes, through military checkpoints, those who were forced to surrender themselves under pressure, and those who were held hostage,” it said in a statement.


More than 20 people arrested in occupied West Bank: Israeli army

The Israeli military says it has confiscated weapons in Palestinian villages and cities across the West Bank. Raids and mass arrests have become a near-daily occurrence in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war in Gaza.

While the Israeli army says it has arrested more than 4,100 Palestinians, including 1,750 affiliated with Hamas, a Palestinian prisoners group says more than 9,500 have been detained since October 7.


Rights group warns of ‘deteriorating health conditions’ of detainees in Ofer prison

According to the Center for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat”, the worsening situation is due to a “severe lack of nutritional food” inside the prison located outside of Ramallah.

Following a visit to the prison by one of its lawyers, the group said that many detainees have lost a considerable amount of weight in short periods of time. The prisoners said they were met with violence by Israeli prison authorities when they asked for more food.

The organisation accused authorities of subjecting detainees to “starvation tactics”. On June 26, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he ordered a further reduction in the amount of food offered to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, advancing a policy that rights groups have compared to forced starvation. The Israeli government denies prisoners are being starved.


Israeli army demolishes school in occupied West Bank

We’re getting reports that Israeli forces have demolished Amira School in the Masafer Yatta region in the southern West Bank. The school serves 70 students from first to fifth grade.

Demolition of schools by the Israeli army is not something new. According to the UN, Israel carried out 36 “demolition incidents” affecting 20 schools in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem from 2010 to 2022.


SvennoJ on 08 July 2024

Israeli military says it stopped air attack from Lebanon

The Israeli military has said it stopped a “suspicious aerial target in the skies of Lebanon” before it crossed into Israel, in a post on X. The update comes about three hours after the Israeli military said one of its fighter jets stopped another air attack on Israel from the direction of the Red Sea.

Earlier on Sunday, Hezbollah claimed to have hit Israel’s Mount Meron military base, as Israeli army radio reported a barrage of about 60 rocket attacks on northern Israel from southern Lebanon.



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SvennoJ on 08 July 2024

Netanyahu ‘is doing everything to avoid a deal’

Some in Israel’s political establishment have accused Netanyahu of trying to sabotage Gaza ceasefire negotiations by publishing a list of non-negotiable conditions even before a cabinet meeting was scheduled to convene to discuss the matter.

One of his demands said Israeli troops must be allowed to return to Gaza “and fight until all war’s objectives are achieved”.

“What is it good for? We are at a critical moment in the negotiations, the lives of the abductees depend on it, why issue such provocative messages? How does it contribute to the process?” opposition leader Yair Lapid said on X.

“It is quite clear that the prime minister is doing everything in his power to avoid a deal,” Israel Ziv, former head of the Israeli army’s operations, told the Maariv newspaper. “Whoever wants a deal does not publish his terms in the media, adds new conditions and publishes them,” he added.

Critics have long accused Netanyahu of trying to extend the conflict for his political survival.

Israel has not learned any lessons from October 7: Lieberman

Israeli MP Avigdor Lieberman, who earlier served as deputy prime minister and finance minister, has reportedly said the country’s system is stuck on October 6.

Israeli Army Radio quoted him as saying he trusted only the Defense Ministry team in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations and demanded the removal of David Barnea, head of the Mossad intelligence service, from the case.

“We have to use all the possibilities available to us because we have exhausted our deterrence to zero,” Lieberman said, referring to the release of Israeli captives from Gaza through the ceasefire talks.


Israel must continue Gaza war ‘until victory’: Smotrich

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says Israel must continue fighting until victory, a likely hint to the prime minister to refuse any ceasefire deal as negotiations with Hamas have regained momentum this week.

“Hamas is collapsing and begging for a ceasefire. This is the time to squeeze the neck until we crush and break the enemy,” Smotrich said on X.

“To stop now, just before the end, and let them recover to fight us again is a senseless folly that will take the achievements of the war bought with much blood down the drain. We must continue until victory!” he added.


Ceasefire deal would be ‘humiliation’ for Israel: Far-right minister

During a session of his party’s bloc in the Knesset, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said any deal with Hamas would be a “defeat and humiliation” for Israel.

“We will not be part of a deal to surrender to Hamas. This deal is a defeat and humiliation for Israel and a victory for [Yahya] Sinwar,” the minister said, referring to the leader of Hamas in Gaza.

“It will sentence to death 90 abductees who are not part of the deal and will result in thousands of murdered people who will die in the next massacre,” he added.


Israeli police remove captive’s brother from Knesset

Family members of captives held in Gaza have entered the Israeli parliament to increase pressure on the government to reach a ceasefire agreement.

A video on Israeli media shows six security members forcefully removing Dani Elgarat, brother of Itzik Elgarat, a captive in Gaza, from a session of the Knesset Law and Constitution Committee.



SvennoJ on 08 July 2024

Hamas blames Netanyahu for placing more ‘obstacles’ on negotiations

Hamas says that while it is trying to showcase “flexibility and positivity” in its position to reach a ceasefire agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to place “obstacles” to hinder the process, the group said in a statement.

It said Netanyahu is also escalating Israel’s “aggression” against Palestinians and is continuing to forcibly displace families in Gaza. Hamas called on mediators and the international community to intervene to put an end to Netanyahu’s “crimes … and the genocide”.

The group added that it will continue with its “resistance” in the face of Israel’s “fascist forces”.


Israeli ‘killings, displacement’ could put ceasefire talks back at square one

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh says that Israel’s military attacks in Gaza could push mediated ceasefire talks back to square one, according to a statement on the group’s Telegram channel.

“In light of the massacres, killings and displacement it is carrying out, Ismail Haniyeh made urgent contacts with the mediators, warning of disastrous repercussions, noting that this would return the negotiation process to square one,” it said.

In a call with mediators, Haniyeh said he held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s army fully responsible for the potential collapse of negotiations, the statement said.



White House says gaps remain between Israel and Hamas on ceasefire deal

Senior US officials are in Cairo for talks to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but gaps still remain between the two sides, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

Kirby said CIA Director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk were in Egypt, meeting with their Egyptian, Israeli and Jordanian counterparts, adding that there will be “follow-on discussions” in the next few days.

The comments come as Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh warned that ongoing Israeli military attacks in Gaza could push talks back to square one. In a call with mediators, Haniyeh said he held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s army fully responsible for the potential collapse of negotiations, a statement by the group said.


US says Israel not doing enough to protect Palestinian civilians

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says Israel can do more to protect civilians in Gaza amid its continued bombardment of the enclave.

“[The] Israelis have taken some steps to be more precise, more discriminate and more careful in their operations. Is it enough? No. So we’re going to keep at it, we’re going to keep working on this,” Kirby said.

Pressed on what concrete steps the administration of US President Joe Biden is taking to pressure Israel to do more, Kirby responded: “It’s never right to be conducting indiscriminate bombing of a civilian population.”

“That’s why we continue to work with the Israelis to be more precise, to be more careful.”



SvennoJ on 08 July 2024

Lapid assures Netanyahu ‘safety net’ should he sign ceasefire deal

Opposition leader Yair Lapid has reiterated that Netanyahu would not be left without a “safety net” should he accept a ceasefire and lose the support of government coalition members Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“There’s a hostage deal on the table. It is not true that Netanyahu has to choose between the kidnapping deal and his continued tenure as prime minister,” Lapid said on X. “I promised him a safety net, and I will keep that promise.”

Netanyahu’s government depends on the support of the two far-right ministers, whose parties give the prime minister a majority in parliament. But the two have repeatedly threatened to resign and bring down the governing coalition should Netanyahu sign a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

The ministers’ parties have a combined 13 seats in the Israeli parliament while Lapid’s party has 24 seats.


Families of captives urge Netanyahu to delay US Congress speech

A group representing the families of Israeli captives held in the Gaza Strip has urged the Israeli prime minister to postpone his speech to the US Congress until a deal to release their relatives is signed.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu is to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress on July 24.

Israel and Hamas are currently engaged in some of the most serious talks in months on an agreement that would halt the war in exchange for the release of captives as well as hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

The captives’ families called on Netanyahu to prioritise a deal before he travels abroad.

“A speech without concrete action to seal the deal and bring our loved ones home is premature and misses the mark of this war’s top priority – the return of all the hostages,” it said in a statement.


A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel marking nine months since the start of the war and calling for the release of captives in Gaza



We should all be ashamed of Palestinians’ sacrifice: UN special rapporteur

Francesca Albanese has described Palestinians in Gaza – people from all walks of life – as “heroic”.

“We should all be ashamed of the sacrifice that has been imposed on them, largely because of the culture of impunity that has enveloped the multilateral system, ultimately enabling their genocide,” the UN special tapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories said in a post on X.

She made her comments in response to a statement by the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, who said his staff has been working non-stop despite being displaced and facing death and destruction.



SvennoJ on 08 July 2024

Iran’s president-elect reaffirms Israel position

Masoud Pezeshkian has sent a message to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, saying resistance movements across the region will not allow Israel’s “criminal policies” towards the Palestinians to continue.

“The Islamic Republic has always supported the resistance of the people of the region against the illegitimate Zionist regime,” Iranian media quoted the president-elect as saying.

“I am certain that the resistance movements in the region will not allow this regime to continue its warmongering and criminal policies against the oppressed people of Palestine and other nations of the region,” he added.

Pezeshkian, who had the backing of senior figures in Iran’s reformist camp, beat hardline conservative Saeed Jalili in Friday’s run-off election.

Canada calls on Israel to reverse decision to approve new West Bank settlements

Canada has urged the Israeli government to reverse a decision to approve new settlement outposts in the West Bank, saying the move was in contravention of international law.

“Canada firmly opposes the government of Israel’s decision to approve new settlements in the West Bank. Unilateral actions, such as financially weakening the Palestinian Authority and expanding settlements is in contravention of international law,” the Canadian foreign ministry said in a statement posted on X.

France condemns Israeli decision to expand settlements in West Bank

France’s Foreign Ministry condemned Israel’s recent decision to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The ministry particularly condemned, in an official statement, “the official recognition of five new settlements and the approval of plans to build 5,000 extra residential units in several settlements in the West Bank, as well as the seizure of 1,200 hectares [2,965 acres]” in the Jordan Valley.

The Israeli government’s decisions are “of a deep gravity due to their scales and their consequences on peace and stability in the West Bank and the region”, the ministry added.



SvennoJ on 08 July 2024

‘No safe corner’ in Gaza as two more hospitals go out of service, WHO chief says

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that the al-Ahli Arab Hospital and the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society Hospital in Gaza City are now out of service.

“Patients either self-evacuated, were given early discharge or referred to Kamal Adwan and Indonesian hospitals, which are suffering shortage[s] of fuel, beds and trauma medical supplies,” Tedros said in a post on X.

He said reports on new evacuation orders in Gaza City will further impede the delivery of “very limited life-saving care”.

Other health facilities in the area remain functional but could “quickly become non-functional due to hostilities in their vicinity or obstruction to access”, he warned.

https://x.com/DrTedros/status/1810409198900883474

UN details impact on civilians, hospitals from Israel’s latest Gaza City offensive

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Israel’s latest evacuation orders for parts of Gaza City impact more than 60 schools where displaced Palestinians are sheltering, as well as two hospitals, six medical points and two primary healthcare centres.

Dujarric said that humanitarian officials report that staff and patients have left the hospitals located in and around the areas ordered evacuated by Israeli forces, and people who were already displaced by earlier evacuation orders and fighting are being forced to flee again, the Associated Press news agency (AP) reports.

He also said that “active hostilities, damaged roads, access limitations and the lack of public order and safety” are hampering the transport of aid along the main humanitarian cargo route from the Karem Abu Salem crossing, which Israel calls the Kerem Shalom crossing, to Khan Younis city in Gaza’s south, and then on to Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

Critical food shortages and reduced food rations in central and southern Gaza have been the result, he said.

“Just three of the 18 bakeries that our humanitarian colleagues support in Gaza are still operational, all of them in Deir el-Balah,” Dujarric said. “Meanwhile, lack of fuel has forced nine bakeries that were working at partial capacity to completely cease their operations.”


A woman sits with her children on the ground outside their displacement tent in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on July 8