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SvennoJ on 20 July 2024

Far right in Netanyahu gov’t believe Israel can ‘live without the world’: Ex-minister

Al Jazeera spoke to former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin on the International Court of Justice ruling that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end.

Here’s more from Beilin:

“The government is the most rightist one ever and many of the ministers – especially from the very extreme right – believe that Israel can live without the world. And anything which is said about us, about conquering, about occupying, whatever, is biased, and they can never accept it,” Beilin told Al Jazeera.

“I must admit that I did not identify with all the parts of the [ICJ] adjudication today. There were some things that I can accept, others that I don’t,” Beilin said.

“I would say no, we don’t need to be there. We should not be there. I mean, if we remain in the territories – in the West Bank and Gaza – it means that Israel will never be a Jewish state,” he said.

“I’m an Israeli patriot. I’m a Zionist, and it’s against Zionism and any idea of Israel as a Jewish, democratic state to stay in the territories.”

Occupation is not Israel’s ‘internal issue’, says Israeli rights group

Yesh Din, which works on rights issues in the occupied territories, said the abuse of Palestinians and occupation of their land is “not an internal Israeli issue”.

In a series of posts on social media following the world court’s ruling that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is unlawful and must end, the rights group said those in Israel should not be surprised to “find themselves on the defendants’ bench”.

“Those who impose military, forceful, and oppressive rule on millions of people for over 57 years, rob them of their rights, seek to annex their lands, and implement apartheid policies should not be surprised,” the group said.

“The occupation of the West Bank is illegal, and it is the occupier’s duty to end it immediately. The occupation is not an internal Israeli issue,” it added.

‘Regime of oppression’ hiding behind shout of ‘anti-Semitism’, say Israeli veterans

Breaking the Silence, an advocacy group of Israeli military veterans, has issued a blistering critique of Israel’s policy towards Palestinians following the ICJ ruling on the unlawfulness of the West Bank’s occupation.

Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land was “always immoral” as well as being illegal, the veterans’ advocacy group said.

“We would know. We were amongst those sent to maintain a military dictatorship over millions,” the group said.

“We were the ones sent to uphold apartheid in the West Bank and a suffocating siege on Gaza, while the establishment claimed ‘we left Gaza’,” it added.

“We guarded settlements and outposts while also demolishing houses in the nearby Palestinian villages.”

“The occupation must end. Not because of the ICJ. Because decades of tyranny are a moral disgrace which corrupts and distorts us all. Because ultimately, the occupation takes the lives of so many innocent souls.”



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SvennoJ on 20 July 2024

Gaza ceasefire ‘essential’ for tackling threat of poliovirus: WHO

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Ghebreyesus has said a ceasefire in Gaza is “essential to allow an effective response” to the threat posed by the presence of poliovirus in the Palestinian territory.

Hamid Jafari, the World Health Organization’s director of polio eradication, said detection of the polio virus in sewage means infections are already taking place and the virus is spreading. “The risk of transmission is intensifying in Gaza, and the risk of an international spread is consequently also high,” Jafari said.

Following the discovery of virus samples in wastewater and sewage in Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah areas, the WHO, Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the UN’s children’s agency (UNICEF) and the agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) have started a “risk assessment”, Tedros said in a post on social media.

The assessment aims to identify “the scope of poliovirus spread and the necessary response to stop any further spread, including prompt vaccination campaigns”, he said.

War-torn Gaza’s decimated health system, displaced population, and lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation “poses a risk for children and creates the perfect environment for diseases like polio to spread”, Tedros added.


Palestinians walk near tents used for shelter along a street covered with stagnant wastewater in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Friday

MSF shows glimpse into last maternity care provider in Khan Younis

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has shared a video on X, providing a glimpse into Nasser Hospital, the last hospital providing maternity care in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

MSF says it’s seeing an increase in pre-term deliveries and malnutrition of children in southern Gaza.



SvennoJ on 20 July 2024

Drone attack on Tel Aviv may indicate Houthis can evade Israeli defences: Monitors

Palestinian fighters conducted at least six indirect fire attacks targeting Israeli forces deployed on the Netzarim Corridor south of Gaza City on Friday, while a rocket attack on southern Israel was also carried out from Palestinian territory, war monitors report.

US-based think tanks The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) also report that the Houthi drone that detonated in Israel’s Tel Aviv city on Friday morning was reported to have carried about 10kg (22lbs) of explosives.

According to the ISW/CTP joint report, the drone that evaded Israel’s sophisticated air defences appeared to be a modified variant of the Iranian-model Samad-3 drone.

Yemen’s Houthis have conducted extensive reconnaissance and testing of Israeli air defences in recent months, firing missiles and sending drones regularly towards Israel since the start of the war on Gaza on October 7, the ISW/CTP reported.

“These attacks could have provided the Houthis with information needed to evade Israeli air defences and strike targets in Tel Aviv,” the monitors said.


Vessel sustains minor damage after 2 attacks in Red Sea: UKMTO

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which provides warnings to sailors in the Middle East, says that a vessel has sustained minor damage after it was targeted in two attacks in the Red Sea.

It said in the alert on X that the site of the attack was 64 nautical miles (119km) northwest of al-Makha (Mocha) in Yemen. “Both the vessel and the crew are safe,” the alert said.

Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah exchange attacks near border

The Israeli military has launched an air strike on the town of Hula in southern Lebanon, claiming it targeted “military buildings” belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group.

In a statement on X, the military also said earlier today, its forces successfully intercepted “a suspicious aerial target in the skies of Lebanon”. “The target did not cross into the country and no alerts were activated according to policy,” the brief statement added.

Earlier, Hezbollah announced it targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of Manara in northern Israel with artillery shells, achieving a direct hit.



SvennoJ on 20 July 2024

After mother killed in Israeli strike, doctors say unborn baby’s survival is a miracle

Yesterday Ola al-Kurd (a pregnant Palestinian woman) was killed as Israeli forces targeted a house in Nuseirat refugee camp.

She was transferred to al-Awda Hospital where doctors said it is a miracle that her baby is alive. The baby boy was in stable condition on Friday but had suffered oxygen shortages and was placed in an incubator at al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, Dr Khalil Dajran told the AP.

The mother, Ola al-Kurd, 25, had previously survived an Israeli air strike four months ago that killed her parents and some of her siblings. She was nine months pregnant when she was killed on Friday, along with six others, in an Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Her husband, Anas Yassin, was wounded in the same strike and was being treated at the same hospital as his newborn son, AP reports.

Unfortunately, there is no name for this baby because there is no one to name him after he lost his mother, and his father is critically injured. The same type of incident happened a few months ago in al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and in Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah.

The past couple of days have been deadly for the middle area of Gaza, especially Nuseirat where Israeli forces targeted dozens of houses. Since the early hours of the morning, civil defence teams have been trying to rescue people from under the rubble.


Smoke rises from a building hit by an Israeli strike in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday

In Al-Aqsa Hospital, Palestinians said their last goodbyes, prayed and held funerals for at least 20 Palestinians who have been killed in the past couple of hours.

In Deir el-Balah, we did not stop hearing endless explosions all night long and here today we have seen body after body.


Israeli quadcopter shoots and kills Palestinian in Rafah

An Israeli quadcopter has shot and killed a Palestinian in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to local media reports.

The death, which occurred in the Hashshashin area in Rafah’s west, is the latest following a series of Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in recent hours, which have seen more than two dozen Palestinians killed.


Israeli artillery targeting central Gaza

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report that areas around the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza are under Israeli artillery attack.

Dozens of people were reported killed in Israeli attacks on residential buildings across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Saturday morning.


Death toll rises from Israeli strike on home in Nuseirat

A Gaza civil defence rescue crew has confirmed that it has recovered five bodies from the rubble of a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, local media reports.

Earlier, we reported that at least four people had been killed following an Israeli strike on the al-Sharihi family home in the early hours of this morning.

At least 27 people have been killed in a series of deadly Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in recent hours.


Israeli forces kill journalist in Jabalia along with his wife and children

We earlier reported on the Israeli attack that targeted the Abu Jasser family home in the al-Alami area of the Jabalia refugee camp.

Our colleagues on the ground now report that journalist Muhammad Jasser was killed in the attack in northern Gaza along with his wife and two children.


At least 2 people killed in Israeli bombing of house in Gaza City

At least two people have been killed in an Israeli bombing that targeted a house of the al-Sabbagh family in the az-Zarqa area, northern Gaza City, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.

A number of others have also been injured, they said.

Our teams on the ground also reported that intense Israeli air and artillery bombardment targeted the ad-Dawa area, north of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.


Number of people killed in Israeli attacks rises to 38,919

The number of people killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the start of the war has risen to at least 38,919, according to the latest update by the Health Ministry in the besieged and bombarded territory.

Another 89,622 have been wounded, with thousands also missing under the rubble of destroyed buildings.



SvennoJ on 20 July 2024

Israel’s new deadly air raid targets a gathering in Gaza City

An Israeli air attack on a gathering of people on al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City has killed and injured a number of people, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.

They also reported that Israeli bombing targeted a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, injuring a number of people.


At least 3 killed in Israeli attack on northern Gaza home

At least three people have been killed in an Israeli air attack on the Siyam family house in as-Saftawi neighbourhood in the North Gaza governorate, according to Palestinian media outlets.

There were also reports of the Israeli military blowing up residential squares west of the University College in the Tal al-Hawa area, southwest of Gaza City.


New Israeli attack on apartment building in Nuseirat kills 3 people

At least three bodies and eight injured people have been retrieved from a building targeted in a new Israeli air attack on central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence.

The rescue service said on Telegram that its crews recovered the victims from two apartments in the Nemat Allah building.

Caption translation – Gaza civil defence: We recovered three martyrs and eight injuries from two inhabited apartments bombed by the occupation in the Niamat Allah Building in the Nuseirat Camp in the central Gaza Strip.

New Israeli attack on apartment building in Nuseirat kills 3 people

At least three bodies and eight injured people have been retrieved from a building targeted in a new Israeli air attack on central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence.

The rescue service said on Telegram that its crews recovered the victims from two apartments in the Nemat Allah building.

Freelance photographer Omar Ashtawy later shared a video on Instagram, showing the moment Israeli forces bombed the residential tower. The video has been verified by Sanad, Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9pD6YINVVz




Gaza ministry warns residents against moving from north to south

Gaza’s Interior Ministry has told residents in northern Gaza the following:

  • Israeli forces have used psychological pressure on citizens by broadcasting hundreds of thousands of voice messages via phones, asking them to evacuate their homes and head to the south of the Gaza Strip.
  • The (Israeli) occupation is trying to deceive citizens by broadcasting pictures and scenes of displaced people passing through checkpoints, using an illusion that there is no inspection.
  • We warn citizens against the lies and deceit of the occupation. We salute the citizens’ steadfastness in their homes.
  • The occupation practises the most horrific forms of torture and abuse against the displaced, away from the cameras, executing dozens of them and leaving the injured to bleed to death.
  • There are no safe areas in the Gaza Strip, and the occupation is killing citizens, even in the tents of the displaced.
  • We call on the international community to intervene urgently and put pressure on the occupation in order to stop the displacement policy it has been practising since the beginning of the war.
Last edited by SvennoJ - on 20 July 2024

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SvennoJ on 20 July 2024

Israeli military carries out raids, arrests across the occupied West Bank

The Israeli military has arrested two men after storming their homes in the town of Jaba, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, according to local media reports.

Israeli troops destroyed a vehicle belonging to one of the detained men during the raids, while clashes with Palestinian groups in the town have also been reported.

Israeli forces have also detained a “number of young men” at the al-Mukhtar roundabout, south of Hebron, according to local media. It is not clear if they have been taken into custody.

Military raids have been reported in other locations in the occupied West Bank, including:

  • The Dhnaba and Ezbet al-Tayah neighbourhoods, east of the city of Tulkarem.
  • The town of al-Fandouqmiya in Jenin.

A memorial was also held in the town of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin, on Friday night for 10 Palestinians from various towns in Jenin governorate killed recently by Israeli forces.

Translation: The occupation forces detain a number of young men at Al-Mukhtar Roundabout, south of Hebron.


Israel more than triples raids in occupied West Bank

There is an ongoing Israeli raid in Nablus where at least two Palestinians have been detained and we have seen an escalation in those military raids in the past nine months.

The number of daily raids, whether at night or in the morning, has more than tripled in these past months. We’ve also seen an escalation in attacks by illegal Israeli settlers.

Yesterday, as that ruling at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was being read against the Israeli occupation, settlers attacked Palestinians in the Nablus area in Huwara; they burned businesses and fields.

Also in the South Hebron Hills, there was an attack by a group of Israeli settlers against a family. A woman, who was severely beaten, is now being treated in hospital.

In all those attacks of Israeli settlers, the Israeli soldiers were close by defending the settlers and protecting them and barring the Palestinians from defending themselves, which is something again referenced by the judges at the ICJ in The Hague.




Palestinian family forced to demolish home in occupied East Jerusalem

Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad shows a family from occupied East Jerusalem demolishing their own home in the town of Jabal Mukaber in occupied East Jerusalem, following the orders of the Israeli forces.

Ahmad al-Qunbar told local media that he was born in Jerusalem and that he and his family, including his grandparents, had lived there since 1967. The demolition orders came after he refused to sell the house built decades ago to the Israeli settler associations.

The footage showed the children of the family watching with sadness the self-demolition of their home.


Palestinians given ‘draconian choice’ of demolishing own homes

Jeff Halper, the director of the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, says the Israeli practice of getting Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to demolish their own homes happens mainly in Jerusalem.

“Palestinians, when they get a demolition order, which is approved by the court, they can go to the court but they lose 100 percent of the time,” Halper told Al Jazeera.

“[But] their houses will be demolished and so they have a draconian choice: either the Israelis will demolish their house which means bringing out police, bringing out bulldozers and so on which costs a lot of money, or the court will make a deal of so called self-demolition with the family and they’ll say look, if we don’t have this expenditure your house is going to be demolished, you’re going to get a fine,” he said.

Halper added that the fine can be about $20,000, but the courts argue that if the family demolishes their house, the fine will be reduced by half.

“There are thousands of cases like these. It’s routine oppression,” he added.



SvennoJ on 20 July 2024

ICJ ruling on Israeli occupation should be ‘wake-up’ call for US: HRW

Tirana Hassan, the executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), said the International Court of Justice ruling had, for the first time, also found Israel responsible for instituting “apartheid” against Palestinians.

The ruling should prompt a reassessment of the US defending Israel’s “oppression of Palestinians”, Hassan said.

“In a historic ruling, the International Court of Justice has found multiple and serious international law violations by Israel towards Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian Territory, including, for the first time, finding Israel responsible for apartheid,” Hassan said in a statement.

“The court has placed responsibility with all states and the United Nations to end these violations of international law,” she said.

“The ruling should be yet another wake-up call for the United States to end its egregious policy of defending Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and prompt a thorough reassessment in other countries as well,” she added.

Rights group calls for ‘concrete action’ against Israel after ICJ ruling

Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq said the ICJ ruling on Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestine is the “first step” towards undoing the “generational harm” of Israel’s illegal presence, apartheid, aggressive settlement expansion, and the ongoing mass displacement of Palestinians.

In a series of posts on social media, Al-Haq said the ICJ ruling was also a “stark reminder” to states and business corporations that they must now “take concrete action against Israel’s crimes” and push for an end to the Israeli military and settler presence in Palestine.

“Al-Haq welcomes the findings that settlers be removed from the settlements, Palestinians returned to their properties and for full restitution of land and properties. The opinion endorses the decades long calls by Palestinians, the UN, & legal experts,” the rights group said.


Two states way to end ‘cycle of violence’: New Zealand

New Zealand says it is “deeply concerned” by the recent vote in Israel’s Knesset opposing Palestinian statehood.

In brief post on social media, New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry said “only a political solution, where two states can live side by side in peace and security, will end the cycle of violence”.

“We must not lose sight of this objective,” the ministry added.



SvennoJ on 20 July 2024

EU Middle East envoy promises to push for two-state solution

Sven Koopmans has told AFP that with the Gaza war ongoing and Israel needing international support, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government cannot indefinitely disregard European views on resolving the conflict.

“I think that recently he was very explicit about rejecting the two-state solution,” Koopmans said. “Now, that means that he has a different point of view from much of the rest of the world.”

The Dutch diplomat said one side’s rejection of “the outcome that we believe is necessary” does not mean efforts to seek a solution should cease.

The European Union is also a major backer of the Palestinian Authority which many countries say Israel seeks to undermine. “We want to see the PA thrive. We want it to have an ability to govern in an effective and legitimate manner,” said Koopmans.



PLO is sole legitimate representative of Palestinians: Presidency

The official spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, has said the Palestinian people and their leadership represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) were the sole legitimate representatives, according to the Wafa news agency.

“There will be no legitimacy for anyone in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, or Jerusalem, neither the occupation nor anyone else, nor any legitimacy for any step on Palestinian land that was not accepted by our people and its leadership,” Abu Rudeineh said.

He added that leaked news about Washington discussing plans for the future of the Gaza Strip with some parties would not have legitimacy and be accepted by Palestinians.

Abu Rudeineh also stressed that the occupation of the Gaza Strip is illegal, as is the West Bank, and reiterated that the State of Palestine has jurisdiction over the entire occupied territory in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem.



Differences between PLO and the PA

The 1993–1995 Oslo Accords deliberately detached the Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories from the PLO and the Palestinians in exile by creating a Palestinian Authority (PA) for the Territories. A separate parliament and government were established.

Since January 2013, the Palestinian Authority has used the name "State of Palestine" on official documents, although the United Nations continues to recognize the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as the "representative of the Palestinian people".

http://passia.org/media/filer_public/8a/e7/8ae7c030-ac1d-4688-b3f4-606fbd50cd41/pa-plo2.pdf

In 1999, a report on PA institutions concluded that, albeit the PLO-PA relationship was of a temporary nature, “the difficulty of distinguishing the mandates of PLO and Palestinian Authority institutions has impeded the promotion of key elements of good governance, especially the exercise of constitutional power, transparency and accountability, and the rule of law.” Moreover, whereas the “internal” leadership of the PA has been legitimized by two presidential and parliamentary elections, plus a round of municipal elections, the “external” leadership of the PLO has never been elected and is increasingly considered as an unrepresentative circle pursuing its own goals, which have little or nothing to do with the daily lives of Palestinians in the territories. (governed by the PA) The PLO is disempowered by the paralysis of its main organs (the PNC and the EC), but it remains, for the time being, the representative of all Palestinians and holds the authority to negotiate with Israel and conduct foreign relations with third parties. In this duality lies the raison d’être for the existence of the two entities.



SvennoJ on 20 July 2024

Oman welcomes ICJ opinion on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land

Oman’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement on X, welcoming the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land is in violation of international law and must end.

The sultanate called on “the international community to implement international resolutions and conventions calling for an immediate end to the illegal occupation of the occupied territories and an end to settlement and the cycle of violence in the Palestinian territories”.

“The Sultanate of Oman also renews its position calling for granting the Palestinian people their inalienable right to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” the statement concluded.


Slovenia welcomes ICJ decision on Israeli occupation

Slovenia has welcomed the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is “unlawful”.

In a statement, the Slovenian Foreign Ministry called on the UN and member states to take adequate steps to implement the ICJ’s interpretation of international law.

Yesterday, the ICJ said in its advisory opinion that the Israeli occupation of occupied Palestinian territory was “illegal” and that Israel must end its presence in occupied Palestinian territory as soon as possible.

The court also found that Israel must compensate for the material and moral losses of individuals in occupied Palestinian territory.


Iceland calls on Israel to stop violating international law

Iceland’s Foreign Ministry has backed the ICJ’s advisory opinion that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal.

“The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion is clear. Continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is unlawful, and so are its settlement activities Iceland calls on Israel to cease all activity that violates international law,” the ministry said on X.



SvennoJ on 20 July 2024

Israeli official implies call for Olympics ban for athletes is ‘unsportsmanlike’

An official with Israel’s Foreign Ministry has suggested that calls from the Palestine Olympic Committee (POC) for a ban on Israeli athletes participating in the Paris Olympics over the war on Gaza is unfair.

“Siri: define unsportsmanlike conduct,” Tammy Rahamimoff-Honig, the deputy head of the ministry’s division for strategic affairs, wrote on X.

Rahamimoff-Honig’s post came in response to a last-minute bid from the POC calling for a ban on Israeli athletes at the games in Paris, which start on July 26, as they say some have failed to uphold the Olympic spirit.

The POC cited examples including Israeli Olympians visiting troops and posting pictures of signed missiles used by Israel in its war on Gaza, in which about 39,000 people have been killed.

“The reason why we’re doing this – for the human rights violations happening in Gaza, and the killings and murders of every single person,” said Nader Jayousi, the deputy secretary-general of the POC, The Telegraph reports.




Jewish senator to skip Netanyahu speech to US Congress

Senator Brian Schatz has said he will not attend a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a joint session of the US Congress in Washington DC on July 24.

The Jewish Democrat from Hawaii criticised what he said was a “partisan address to Congress just months ahead” of the US presidential elections.

“Nine months after the atrocities of October 7 and the ensuing conflict, negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of all hostages are ongoing – and that should be the focus,” he said.

“As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I welcome a substantive discussion about the future, not political rhetoric that will do nothing to bring peace in the region. I therefore will not attend Wednesday’s address,” he added.

Schatz joins several high-profile Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, and independent Senator Bernie Sanders in boycotting Netanyahu’s speech.