Israel is already doing that for them...

The biggest pressure on the government in Isreal now is from demonstrations to get a hostage deal going. Hamas already wants a deal, so the pressure has to be on the Netanyahu government. Which the hostage families know.

Hamas regularly releases videos of hostages to stoke up these protests, as well as claiming hostages have died from Israeli bombardments. (And over 40 have been confirmed to have died already) As well as 3 claimed to have been killed during the Nuseirat massacre that freed 4 others.

After the rescue massacre Hamas has said they would be treating the remaining hostages the same as Israel treats Palestinian prisoners (hostages) in their prisons. Torture and starvation. Hamas has claimed hostages wanted to commit suicide after the change in treatment.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/islamic-jihad-armed-wing-says-will-treat-israeli-hostages-same-way-israel-treats-2024-07-03/


So they are already putting maximum pressure on the hostage families to put pressure on Netanyahu to accept a deal. Killing them won't do anything more, the opposite rather. Israel's Hannibal directive is exactly that, kill any hostages to avoid having to negotiate.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-07-07/ty-article-magazine/.premium/idf-ordered-hannibal-directive-on-october-7-to-prevent-hamas-taking-soldiers-captive/00000190-89a2-d776-a3b1-fdbe45520000

No it's in Hamas' best interest to keep the hostages alive.


Pressure from the hostage families is there, some articles from Januari to May

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/22/families-israeli-hostages-storm-knesset-meeting-netanyahu-rejects-hamas-offer-fighting-gaza
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/09/middleeast/israel-rejects-deal-hostage-families-anger-intl-cmd/index.html
https://www.barrons.com/news/israel-hostage-families-demand-deal-after-hamas-approves-gaza-truce-proposal-a9d2d730
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/families-hostages-call-israel-hamas-accept-cease-fire-proposal-pushed-biden/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/hostage-families-urge-us-other-countries-to-press-israel-to-reach-deal-with-hamas/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68754109

Main stream media kinda stopped reporting on the protests after May but they are still ongoing.

July 6 https://www.timesofisrael.com/anti-government-protesters-to-set-off-week-of-resistance-with-saturday-rallies/




However the protests are not enough as long as the USA keeps backing Netanyahu with billions of dollars and political cover:

US ‘pressuring UK to block ICC’s Netanyahu arrest warrant’

https://www.theguardian.com/law/article/2024/jul/10/america-is-pressuring-uk-to-block-iccs-netanyahu-arrest-warrant

Human rights barrister says US expects Labour government to continue UK challenge to proposed action against Israeli PM

The US has been accused of putting pressure on the new Labour government not to drop a legal challenge mounted by Rishi Sunak’s administration over the international criminal court’s right to seek an arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.

In May, under the previous Conservative government, the Foreign Office challenged whether the ICC had any jurisdiction over Israeli actions in Gaza. In 2021, the ICC ruled that it did have jurisdiction over Israeli activity in Palestine.

With the USA being distracted with Trump vs Biden it's looking quite grim for Gaza. The coverage of the student protests has died down, the US media is only interested in Biden's age atm and any ceasefire protests have fallen to the background.

Mass protests in the USA would be needed, yet the Biden administration has been clever enough to conceal any 'boots on the ground' involvement of the US military, while painting pro Palestine protests as anti-semitic.

The rest of the world doesn't want to take on the USA, reluctant already to berate Israel let alone impose sanctions. 



Maybe the Olympics will put more pressure on a ceasefire deal again. Starting July 26 in France I expect a lot of demonstrations. (With Russia being barred from participating under the Russian flag, but not Israel)

The participation of Israel prompted calls from twenty-six French lawmakers, Palestinian, and other global sports organizations for sanctions against Israel and to prevent its participation due to the impact of the Israel–Hamas war on Palestinian athletes and sports facilities, but IOC President Thomas Bach confirmed Israel faces no threat to its Olympic status ahead of the Games.

France has a large Muslim community and is not pulling punches when it comes to Israel.

It's too bad UK and Germany are staunch supporters of Israel blocking the EU from imposing sanctions on Israel. Well it's not just those 3
https://themedialine.org/by-region/europe/despite-spain-ireland-and-norway-most-of-europe-still-supports-israel-at-record-levels/

Europe started this whole mess in the first place.

The global south doesn't have the influence to accomplish much. Turkey's snactions on Israel have been the most effective so far
https://www.dw.com/en/israel-sanctions-who-has-imposed-curbs-over-gaza-war/a-68792324

while the BDS movement has hurt Western chains in ME
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/05/starbucks-mcdonalds-kfc-continue-feel-effects-gaza-war-boycotts

Yet with NA and Europe continuing to ignore the atrocities apart from the repeated condemnations (as effective as "thoughts and prayers") it's looking like Netanyahu will get to drag this on until Trump gets back in power and gives Israel the go ahead to finish Gaza off...

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240628-trump-let-israel-finish-the-job-in-gaza/

US provides $100m in aid to Palestinians; 227kg bombs to Israel

The United States announced it’s providing $100m in additional aid for Palestinians in the war-battered Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.

A statement from USAID said the funding would assist the UN World Food Programme. Through the funding, it will provide “logistics support for the safe and efficient delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid across Gaza”, it said without elaborating.

Aid agencies have complained that goods are not reaching people in Gaza because of Israeli restrictions, the dangerous security situation, and growing lawlessness that is complicating aid delivery.

A statement from the US aid agency said the additional funding brings US contributions to the Palestinians since the war began to more than $774m.

Earlier, the US agreed to resume shipping 500-pound (227kg) bombs to Israel, part of the $3.8bn worth of military aid it transfers annually.

And the 14.5 billion in extra military aid...


A start or merely a token gesture

US issues West Bank settlement-related sanctions

The US Treasury Department issued a notice on its website saying it will sanction five Israeli entities and three people in the occupied West Bank.

Those cited included the non-profit organisation Lehava, or Flame in Hebrew, an acronym for the Organisation for the Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land. Run by a far-right rabbi, Ben-Zion Gopstein, Lehava rejects any interaction between Jews and Palestinians, especially miscegenation and intermarriage between them.

Among the sanctioned are several sheep and goat farms as well as the three individuals – according to the Treasury notice – in places where settlers attack Palestinians regularly such as the South Hebron Hills.

The State Department issued a statement saying: “The United States remains deeply concerned about extremist violence and instability in the West Bank, which undermines Israel’s own security.”

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller added: “We strongly encourage the government of Israel to take immediate steps to hold these individuals and entities accountable. In the absence of such steps, we will continue to impose our own accountability measures.”

The US has also imposed sanctions on four unauthorised settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank that the State Department said were “weaponised” for violence to displace Palestinians, such as disrupting grazing lands, limiting access to water wells, and launching violent attacks on neighbouring Palestinians.

One of the outposts is a farm owned by Isaschar Manne, who has been sanctioned. The State Department said the outpost “was established on pastureland belonging to the Palestinian community, and settlers from this outpost regularly attack community shepherds and prevent their access to pastureland through acts of violence”.

Two other Israelis were sanctioned for being leaders of Tsav 9, a previously sanctioned group that attacked convoys carrying humanitarian aid bound for civilians in Gaza, it said.

The move bars Americans from dealing with the targeted individuals and entities, and freezes any US assets they hold. It was unclear if any of the targets hold such assets.

Israeli court rules to evict 66 Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem

The Jerusalem District Court has rejected appeals filed by 11 Palestinian families consisting of 66 people fighting eviction from their homes in the Batan al-Hawa neighbourhood in the Silwan district by the Ateret Cohanim settler group, the Israeli nonprofit Ir Amim says.

The Ghaith and Abu Nab families, numbering 22 individuals, were ordered to vacate their homes immediately and pay about $2,700 in legal expenses to the settler group. In a separate decision, the Nasser and Kaid Rajabi families, consisting of 44 members, were told to leave their home by January 12 and pay the same amount in legal expenses, Ir Amim said in a statement.

“These families are among some 85 Palestinian families, consisting of over 700 individuals, who face large-scale displacement and settler takeovers of their homes in Batan al-Hawa,” it said.

“These cases are part and parcel of a coordinated and systematic political campaign aimed at uprooting Palestinians and expanding Jewish settlement in the heart of Palestinian neighbourhoods. While the eviction claims themselves are initiated by settlers, they are aided and abetted on all levels of the state, which carry far-reaching implications on the future of Jerusalem and the conflict as a whole.”

Israeli forces kill teenager near Jenin in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces shot and killed Ali Hassan Ali Rabaia, 17, during a raid on the town of Meithalun, southeast of Jenin, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reports.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its teams transported the body to the Turkish Hospital in Tubas. Two other Palestinians were wounded in confrontations with Israeli soldiers, Wafa said.

This brings the total number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023, to 573. Among them are 138 children.

Israeli settlers torch Palestinian shop, attack homes near Nablus

Israeli settlers have set fire to a Palestinian shop and attacked homes in the town of Bazariya, northwest of Nablus, the Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported.

It added that the settlers pelted vehicles with stones and closed the road between Nablus and Jenin. The Israeli army set up checkpoints following the incident.

Israeli settler militias set fire to a shop and attack Palestinian homes in the town of Bazariya, northwest of Nablus. pic.twitter.com/VCJwPL0J0x

— WAFA News Agency - English (@WAFANewsEnglish) July 11, 2024

Media organisations urge Israel to allow access into Gaza

More than 60 media and civil society organisations have signed an open letter urging Israel to give journalists independent access to the besieged coastal enclave.

The organisations, which include The Associated Press, AFP, BBC, CNN, The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Washington Post – reiterated that no independent media access to Gaza has been permitted since October 7.

“More than 100 journalists have been killed since the start of the war and those who remain are working in conditions of extreme deprivation. The result is that information from Gaza is becoming harder and harder to obtain and that the reporting which does get through is subject to repeated questions over its veracity,” the organisations said in the letter, which was coordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists, a media watchdog.

“Netanyahu describes Israel as a democracy. His actions with regard to the media tell a different story. International, Israeli, and Palestinian journalists from outside Gaza should be given independent access to Gaza so they can judge for themselves what is happening in this war –  rather than being spoon-fed with a handful of organised tours by the Israeli military,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg.

In addition to news outlets, the signatories – who span more than 26 countries – include professional groups and organisations dedicated to defending press freedom.

‘Palestinian NGOs are the frontline protection responders’

The UN Human Rights Office says it’s supporting and engaging nongovernmental organisation partners in Gaza. “Palestinian NGOs are the frontline protection responders in the current crisis. The international community must support them,” it said in a post on X.

These organisations “have shared concerns about grave human rights and humanitarian law violations by Israel due to the ongoing escalations in Gaza. They also shared their deep disappointment with the international community for failing to end the war and protect civilians.”

US military to wind down Gaza pier operations

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says the US expects to wind down its operations of a pier designed to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as it faces technical issues.

Sullivan said the pier made a difference in helping bring in urgently needed food and other aid to Gaza, but there are now additional supplies coming into the Palestinian enclave via land routes. “The real issue right now is not about getting aid into Gaza. It’s about getting aid around Gaza effectively,” he told reporters.

Pentagon Press Secretary Major-General Pat Ryder said in a statement that the pier had “always been intended as a temporary solution” and “will soon cease operations, with more details on that process and timing available in the coming days”.

Military personnel attempted to re-anchor the temporary Gaza pier to the beach on Wednesday after technical and weather-related issues but were unable to do so.

What a huge waste of tax payer money. The reason you can't distribute it from the pier anymore is because it was used in the rescue massacre and now aid organizations find it to dangerous to go there. Anyway it was never going to be more than a drop in the bucket of need.

‘Huge needs’ of Gaza Palestinians are ‘beyond our capacity to respond’: ICRC

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Israel and the Occupied Territories has said that its hotline received hundreds of calls in recent days from people desperate for help.

“Entire families are trapped and desperately seek security. The huge needs are beyond our capacity to respond,” the organisation said in a statement on X. The ICRC said that communities are exhausted, having endured fighting and displacement, while also receiving unclear evacuation orders from the Israeli military.

It said that the struggle to survive is robbing people of their dignity, which is why international humanitarian law must be respected.

Palestinians develop makeshift prosthetics to help amputees

As Israel continues its intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip, the number of wounded Palestinians is increasing rapidly. Two Palestinian therapists are now making prosthetic limbs out of scrap wood to help amputees in the besieged enclave.

Bodies recovered from destroyed UNRWA building in Khan Younis

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says its teams have helped in recovering bodies from under an industrial building in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis previously destroyed by Israeli forces.

The PRCS said the building belonged to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The bodies found were of people who had been displaced and sought refuge in the building, which was besieged and attacked by Israeli forces.

“This mission is the first of its kind for the PRCS,” the group said in a post on X. “An ambulance designated for mortuary management was utilised, and participants wore special attire for the operation, adhered to the protocol for such interventions, and documented the recovery and transfer of seven bodies.”

_{Members of PRCS carry the bodies of two colleagues in Rafah}

Netanyahu ‘committed’ to ceasefire framework deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he remains committed to the Gaza ceasefire framework currently being negotiated but accused Hamas of making demands that contradict it.

“I am committed to the framework deal for freeing our hostages, but the Hamas murderers are sticking to demands that contradict the framework, that endanger Israel,” Netanyahu said in a speech.

Earlier, Hamas said Israel is using a “policy of procrastination to buy time with the aim of thwarting this round of negotiations, as it did in previous rounds”. The group also said mediators in Qatar had not yet provided the group with updates about the deal.

Ceasefire deal unlikely unless ‘extreme pressure’ applied on Netanyahu

Netanyahu is unlikely to sign a ceasefire deal “unless he is under extreme pressure”, Eran Etzion, former deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council, tells Al Jazeera as an Israeli negotiating team heads to Cairo to meet mediators.

“Everything Netanyahu does is geared towards his own political survival and nothing else matters,” Etzion said, adding that a “clear distinction” has emerged between Netanyahu’s personal interests and those of the Israeli people.

The prime minister is on trial on multiple counts of corruption, and some observers suggest he may be seeking to remain in office to avoid criminal proceedings.

Etzion added that while opinion polls suggest the Israeli public is in favour of a truce even if it means a complete cessation of hostilities, Netanyahu has resisted the idea of a ceasefire before the full destruction of Hamas’s capabilities.

A deal is unlikely to be signed unless the US and Israeli public – the two actors that have leverage on Netanyahu – assert their full weight, Etzion said.

Israeli defence minister calls for state inquiry into October 7 failures

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has called for a state inquiry into failings around the October 7 Hamas attack, saying it should investigate himself and his boss, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The state inquiry “must be objective, it needs to investigate all of us, those who make decisions and those who carry them out, the government, the military, and the security agencies”, he was quoted by Reuters as saying at a graduation ceremony for new military officers.

The event was also attended by Netanyahu, whose coalition government is already strained by infighting.

Netanyahu has dismissed past calls to form a state inquiry into the attack that sparked the war in Gaza, saying that examinations into what happened should be carried out once the conflict ends.

Microsoft is banning Palestinians in US for calling relatives in Gaza: Report

Palestinians living abroad have accused the tech company Microsoft of closing their email accounts without warning, cutting them off from crucial online services, the BBC reports.

They say the decision has also stopped them from using the video platform Skype, which Microsoft owns, to contact relatives in Gaza.

Microsoft said the users in question violated its terms of service. It also denied blocking users or calls based on region.

Skype remains an affordable tool to contact people in Gaza, where international calls are unreliable and expensive.

Earlier this week, Meta — the parent company of the platforms Facebook and Instagram — said it would start taking down posts that target “Zionists”, when the term is used to refer to Jewish people and Israelis rather than representing supporters of the political movement.

Meta’s policy update comes as tensions escalate in the Middle East amid Israel’s war in Gaza.

The social media company has been criticised for years for how it handles content involving the Middle East. Such criticism shot up further after the start of the war, with rights groups accusing it of suppressing content supportive of Palestinians on Facebook and Instagram.

Palestinians say Microsoft unfairly closing their accounts

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cger582weplo

Palestinians living abroad have accused Microsoft of closing their email accounts without warning - cutting them off from crucial online services.

They say it has left them unable to access bank accounts and job offers - and stopped them using Skype, which Microsoft owns, to contact relatives in war-torn Gaza.

Microsoft says they violated its terms of service - a claim they dispute.

"They killed my life online," said Eiad Hametto, who lives in Saudi Arabia. "They’ve suspended my email account that I’ve had for nearly 20 years - It was connected to all my work," he told the BBC.

He also said being cut off from Skype was a huge blow for his family. The internet is frequently disrupted or switched off there because of the Israeli military campaign - and standard international calls are very expensive.

With a paid Skype subscription, it is possible to call mobiles in Gaza cheaply - and while the internet is down - so it has become a lifeline to many Palestinians.

Some of the people the BBC spoke to said they suspected they were wrongly thought to have ties to Hamas, which Israel is fighting, and is designated a terrorist organisation by many countries.

But Mr Hametto denied he had any such links.“We are civilians with no political background who just wanted to check on our families," he said.

Microsoft did not respond directly when asked if suspected ties to Hamas were the reason for the accounts being shut. But a spokesperson said it did not block calls or ban users based on calling region or destination.

"Blocking in Skype can occur in response to suspected fraudulent activity," they said, without elaborating.

Gaza gets no mention in NATO chief’s final speech

Israel’s war in Gaza went without mention in NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s final speech at the NATO summit in Washington, despite some leaders warning that silence over the situation in Gaza could undermine the alliance’s commitment to human rights.

Earlier in the day, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that the perception of a “double standard” towards Ukraine and Gaza could weaken efforts to rally non-European nations to the defence of a “rules-based” international order.

US President Joe Biden also failed to mention the conflict and instead rekindled a debate over his candidacy for the November presidential election when he accidentally referred to his Ukrainian counterpart as Russia’s “President Putin” as he introduced Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

WHO says only five trucks allowed to enter Gaza last week

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said only five of the UN agency’s trucks carrying medical supplies were allowed into Gaza last week, while more than 34 were waiting in El Arish, the closest Egyptian city to the Rafah border crossing, and 40 in Ismailia, in northeastern Egypt.

The Israeli military earlier claimed that it had allowed 261 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Yet, the UN and other international organisations continue to report on Israeli restrictions on aid delivery to the besieged enclave, amid the spread of famine after more than nine months of war.

Only five @WHO trucks of medical supplies were allowed into #Gaza last week.

More than 34 of our trucks are waiting at the Al Arish crossing, and 850 pallets of medical supplies are awaiting collection.

A further 40 trucks are waiting at Ismailiya in Egypt.

WHO calls for the… pic.twitter.com/95MReUn1RI

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) July 11, 2024

Head of US aid agency says Israel vows to improve safety for humanitarian workers

Samantha Power, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) administrator, said she has received Israeli pledges to allow aid workers to move more quickly and safely throughout the Gaza Strip.

In an interview with The Associated Press news agency, Power said that Israel has also taken new steps to increase the flow of aid through its port of Ashdod, just north of Gaza. The move could give donors a new option for delivering aid as the US shutters its troubled maritime pier off Gaza’s coast.

“We have not seen the kind of humanitarian system to this point that has allowed humanitarians to move efficiently and safely to the degree that we need,” Power said. “This week and through this visit, we have secured an agreement.”

“My whole career has been working in and around conflict areas,” said Power. “I have never seen a more difficult conflict environment for humanitarians to work in.”

The UN says that since May, the amount of aid reaching it to distribute in Gaza has fallen to some of the lowest levels in the war. Israeli forces are continuing to seal shut vital border crossings in Gaza as famine looms. Tonnes of supplies have piled up on the Gaza side of Israeli-controlled border crossings because the UN says it is unable to collect them for distribution.

Both the US and Israel have been caught lying throughout the conflict, plus this was already pledged after the WCK murders at the start of April, 3 months ago.

It's been said over and over and over, a ceasefire is needed to get the flow of aid going. Every time aid agencies get anything together Israel orders new evacuations shutting everything down again. Next to bombing aid warehouses, aid convoys, distribution points and those protecting aid convoys.

Israeli media report positive steps on Gaza ceasefire talks despite disagreements