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SvennoJ on 21 July 2024

1,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews to receive draft orders today: Report

About 1,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews will receive draft orders today after a recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling which found they were not exempt from military service, The Times of Israel is reporting.

The court found the longstanding exemption had created a “burden of inequality” that was even more acutely felt “at the height of a difficult war” as Israel’s military has sought to find replacements for soldiers injured and killed in fighting, as well as weary reserves.

The ruling has drawn protests from ultra-Orthodox Jewish teens and men, who have vehemently opposed conscription even though many support Israel’s war on Gaza.

 

Israeli troops must retain control of Gaza-Egypt border area: Minister

Energy Minister Eli Cohen has objected to the potential withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Philadelphi Corridor, the border area between Gaza and Egypt.

Israeli media quoted him as saying the Israeli control of the corridor “cut the important artery of arms smuggling from Egypt to Gaza”.

The remarks came after a report by Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying Netanyahu was due to meet the Israeli negotiating team today before travelling to Washington, DC.

He will decide whether to agree to the broad outlines of the Philadelphi and Rafah axis and the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza, the report said.

Smotrich slams potential US sanctions as ‘fatal injury to Israeli sovereignty’: Report

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has reacted to reports that the White House had discussed sanctioning him and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, saying it is “politically motivated”, according to The Times of Israel.

“This is an unfortunate decision that stems from the internal political needs of those who claim to lead the largest democracy in the world and operate with distinctly anti-democratic tools against a brave partner who is the only democracy in the Middle East,” he said in a statement cited by the daily.

Boasting his activities on behalf of the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Smotrich said he was proud of his efforts “to prevent the establishment of a terrorist state that would endanger the existence of the State of Israel, and I am ready to pay any price for that”, the report said.

He was also quoted as saying that imposing sanctions on a minister in the Israeli government “constitutes a fatal injury to Israeli sovereignty and relations between the countries and this will have serious consequences in many areas”.

“I discussed this with the prime minister and things will be clarified in a way that is not ambiguous,” he warned, according to the report.


Netanyahu is coming to lecture US congress.... Apparently 14 billion in military support, blanket political cover and actively taking part in the wars Israel has instigated is not enough.



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SvennoJ on 21 July 2024

Israel’s Eilat port to dismiss half of its workforce

The port of Eilat in southern Israel plans to lay off half of its workers this week due to Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, its chief executive officer has said.

“Eilat Port is Israel’s southern gateway to the Far East, Australia and Africa,” Gideon Golber told Israeli daily Maariv.

“All activity stopped because ships could no longer pass in any direction to reach Eilat Port or travel towards Europe through the Suez Canal. Therefore, the port halted its operations and income stopped,” he added.

Golber said the port would lay off 50 percent of its workers this week due to economic losses. Currently, approximately 120 people are employed at the port.

The Houthis have repeatedly launched drones and missiles towards Israel and at Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in a show of support for Palestinians amid Israel’s war on Gaza.

Saudi Arabia calls for ‘maximum restraint’ after Israeli attacks in Yemen

Reacting to the Israeli attacks on Hodeidah, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry has said in a statement it is following developments “with great concern”.

It called on “all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to distance the region and its people from the dangers of war”.

Its statement also called on the “international community and influential parties to fulfill their responsibilities to end conflicts in the region”.



SvennoJ on 21 July 2024

‘Arrest Netanyahu!’: Thousands to Surround the Capitol When He Visits Congress


Despite the request for a warrant to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the International Criminal Court, the US Congress has invited him to Washington to address a joint session on July 24. Activists with the Shut It Down for Palestine Coalition will be mobilizing against his visit, which they say is a bold-faced betrayal of the will of the majority of Americans who demand a ceasefire. Layan Fuleihan, Education Director at The People’s Forum and part of the coalition, joins the show to explain why supporters of Palestine must take action.

 

Hostage Negotiator Reveals How Israel Is Sabotaging Ceasefire Talks



Did you know that Dr. Anas Altikriti has nearly twenty years of experience as a hostage negotiator? In this video, he exposes what really happens behind the scenes, often unreported in the media. He examines the various factors heavily influencing the Hamas-Israel negotiations, including the starkly different terms and goals pursued by each party, and the deceptive tactics Israel uses to sabotage the ceasefire talks.



SvennoJ on 21 July 2024

Satellite images show flames, smoke rising from Yemen’s Hodeidah port

Satellite images taken this morning show the extent of extensive damage to oil warehouses and refineries in the Yemeni port of Hodeidah after the Israeli raids.



Houthis promise to keep attacking Israel with ‘no red lines’

Houthis will continue to attack Israel and will not abide by any rules of engagement, the group’s spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam has told Al Jazeera.

Abdulsalam said there would be “no red lines” in the Houthis’ response to Israel.

“All sensitive institutions with all its levels will be a target for us,” he said.


Houthi official says group coordinating with others

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior political official for the Houthis, has told Al Jazeera the group’s attacks against Israel are in solidarity with Palestinians.

Here are some of his translated comments:

  • Before we talk about the results and consequences, we need to confirm that our support to our brothers in Palestine is a duty – humanitarian duty, ethical duty and religious duty, whatever the sacrifices are.
  • These attacks from Israel will never affect our stand, which is in support always of our brothers in Palestine. This will increase the determination to work hard to stop the genocide in Gaza.
  • At the end of the day, when we took part in this war, we understood that there might be sacrifices and losses. But our stand is just and ethical and we will never stop until the Zionist entity stops its crimes in Gaza, whatever the sacrifices are.

Asked whether the Houthis are in direct communication with groups such as Hezbollah about coordinating attacks against Israel, al-Bukhaiti responded:

  • Yes, of course, for sure there is coordination between us – Yemen, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran.
  • There are also joint operations between us and our brothers in Iraq; also our military operations [striking] deep [into] the enemy or in the sea is in coordination with our brothers in Hamas.
  • Coordination is there, coordination is developing between us and we might reach a point of unification in fighting this battle against the Zionist enemy.


Houthi leader gives televised speech

Here are some of Abdel-Malik al-Houthi’s translated comments:

  • The Israeli enemy found itself in a problem and faced with a new equation and failed miserably.
  • The enemy is no longer safe, even in what is called Tel Aviv, and the threat will continue.
  • Penetrating the enemy’s capital with a drone upset him and is considered a new stage in our armed operations.
  • The longer the aggression on the Gaza Strip continues, we will move toward a new phase, and the Battle of Jaffa came within this framework.
  • The enemy was unable to stop or weaken our operations, which escalated and developed.
  • The enemy’s direct entry into the aggression against our country will not restore deterrence, but rather will contribute to escalation and challenge.


Gulf states condemn Israel’s attack on Yemen

The foreign ministries of Kuwait and Oman have issued separate statements denouncing Israel’s bombing of the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah yesterday, which has killed at least six people. The attack, Israel said, was in response to an infiltration of Tel Aviv by a drone launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Kuwait said that Israel’s actions contribute to the “undermining of international efforts aimed at ending the cycle of violence” in the region, and run counter to the shared goal of de-escalating tensions.

For its part, Oman said that the attack on Yemen “represents a new escalation of tension in the region that would further complicate the regional situation and hinder efforts to calm the situation”.



SvennoJ on 21 July 2024

Israeli army says it detected drones from Lebanon

In its latest update, the army said the unmanned aircraft struck areas in northern Israel.

Firefighters were working to extinguish a fire caused by one of the two aircraft, it said, adding that no casualties were reported.

The military also said it was attacking a number of areas in southern Lebanon.


Two Lebanese soldiers injured by Israeli fire

Two Lebanese soldiers have been injured as Israel shelled an army position on the outskirts of Alma ash-Shaab in southern Lebanon, the country’s state-run National News Agency has reported.

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic said an Israeli tank fired at a watchtower within the Lebanese army site.


Israel claims more attacks on southern Lebanon

The Israeli military has said that its fighter jets struck a missile launcher belonging to Hezbollah, as well as an observation post and other infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

The targets were in Ayta ash-Shab, Khiam and Yarine, it said.



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SvennoJ on 21 July 2024

Israel vaccinates troops fighting in Gaza against polio

The Israeli military says it has begun vaccinating its soldiers in Gaza against polio after health agencies said the virus was detected in the besieged and bombarded densely populated territory.

Army authorities have started “a broad vaccination operation for all ground troops, both regular and reserves,” it said in a statement, without providing a figure.

The statement said the order was given after the army carried out sample tests in Gaza where most of the population is displaced and health and sanitary infrastructure has been decimated by the war.

UN agencies said this week that the Global Polio Laboratory Network found type-2 poliovirus in six environmental samples collected on June 23. Israel’s health ministry said it had made similar findings. No human cases have been reported.

The Israeli army, whose attacks on Gaza have killed nearly 39,000 people and wounded about 90,000, said it was also working with other organisations to take vaccines for the population in the territoty.

The highly contagious virus is caught by drinking contaminated water or through oral contact. It can cause paralysis and in extreme cases death.

Waste water now runs in between tents in many camps for the displaced and fresh water is increasingly scarce. With fuel limited, aid agencies rarely send out trucks with water and pumps at wells cannot be used. Many people walk long distances to get safe water from points set up by volunteers.

 

Water ‘not suitable for drinking or cooking’

Health officials in recent days have warned of a looming disaster for displaced Palestinians across Gaza living in tent camps, where sewage flows freely, contaminating water.

Northern Gaza is suffering particularly badly from food and water shortages after major Israeli offensives.

Ahmed Al-Shanbari, a father living in a camp in Jabalia said the water his family has “is not suitable for drinking or cooking”. “My children suffer from kidney disease, jaundice, itching and coughing. There is no treatment in northern Gaza,” he told AFP.

Shanbari said the family spends four hours each day searching for a source of water.

 

‘Entire Gaza Strip under fire and we are being hunted like deer in a forest’

As we previously reported, Israeli strikes on Gaza over the last 24-hour reporting period killed at least 64 people and wounded more than 100 others, the local health ministry said.

At least 22 were killed by strikes on Sunday, according to the Government Media Office.

Israeli attacks on areas of central Gaza in the past week have been focused on the Nuseirat refugee camp, where dozens of people have been killed.

“We hear the sounds of explosions in Nuseirat and we see the smoke rising from here in Deir el-Balah, the last refuge you can say and we are being terrorised by the feeling tanks may roll here,” Tamer Aburakan, a resident of Gaza City, now displaced in the central area of Deir el-Balah, told Reuters.

“Where should we go next? The entire Gaza Strip is under fire and we are being hunted like deer in a forest. When is enough? When the war will ever end?” he asked via a chat app.



SvennoJ on 21 July 2024

Gaza hospitals ‘incredibly overwhelmed’

The front-line hospitals that are barely functioning keep providing treatment and the medical teams are doing everything within their reach in order to keep working and give medical care to wounded Palestinians.

But it is clear to understand the level of pressure they’re under.

The corridors are crowded and the staff are experiencing a great shortage of fuel, as well as of medical supplies. And at the same time, the Israeli military is attacking emergency workers who are trying to rescue Palestinians.

Medics are asking for an immediate international intervention in order to rescue the fragile healthcare sector, which is deteriorating by the day.

 
Loud explosion heard in Bureij refugee camp

We’ve been hearing loud explosions; a huge one took place in the Bureij refugee camp.

Medical sources say they are struggling to recover dozens of injured people from the eastern side of the camp, which has been the focus of the Israeli bombardments. Eyewitnesses have told us that the Israeli military have been advancing [towards] there and increasing military pressure.

There have also been strikes on residential towers in the Nuseirat refugee camp. At least 91 Palestinians have been killed in just one week, which is unprecedented.


Israeli military struck Nuseirat camp 63 times in a week: Government Media Office

The office has said that the Israeli army has been focused on “savagely attacking” Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip “in an unprecedented way”.

The attacks in one week have killed at least 91 Palestinians, and injured more than 251, the office said in a statement.

“More than 75 percent of the victims have been brought to hospitals and many had severe burns on their bodies,” it added.

“Nuseirat camp, which is home to 250,000 people and IDPs, is being subject to shelling and air strikes despite how densely populated it is. The occupation is purposefully targeting neighbourhoods and occupied homes to kill has many people as possible,” the office said.

The most heinous of these crimes, it said, was the “massacre of al-Razi school, which left 23 dead, and 73 injured”.


Qassam, al-Quds Brigades claim series of attacks on Israeli military targets

The military wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have said their fighters:

  • Targeted with a rocket Israeli soldiers inside a building in Yabna refugee camp in Rafah, and shelled a group of military vehicles.
  • Targeted soldiers with mortar shells in the the Netzarim Corridor, which was named after a Jewish settlement in Gaza that was dismantled in 2005, and set up during the war by the army to separate northern Gaza from the south.
  • Carried out a series of unspecified operations against Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem.


SvennoJ on 21 July 2024

Protesters gather at Tel Aviv airport to demand ceasefire deal

Israeli protesters have gathered at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport to demand a ceasefire deal before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s departure for the United States on Monday morning.

They have urged Netanyahu not to travel to Washington before a deal to free the captives held in Gaza is signed with Hamas.

The prime minister’s office earlier announced that a negotiating team would be dispatched on Thursday. (after)

Palestinians announce August 3 national day for supporting prisoners

Qaddura Fares, who heads the Commission for Detainees’ Affairs, said August 3 will feature local and international protests to shed light on the plight of prisoners inside Israeli jails.

“Detainees in Israeli prisoners are being subject to a war of vengeance similar to the one being waged on the Gaza Strip,” Fares said in a press conference in el-Bireh, near Ramallah.

Fares said he believes that grass-roots action in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, can make a difference for detainees, who are being subject to “assault and torture”.

More than 9,750 Palestinians have been detained since October 7, he said.



SvennoJ on 21 July 2024

Israeli president to attend opening of Paris Olympic Games, visit Italy and France

Israeli President Isaac Herzog will be attending the opening of the Paris Olympic Games next week, the Jerusalem Post has reported, despite calls to ban Israel from the Games.

Herzog is expected to travel alongside Sport and Culture Minister Miki Zohar and meet Israel’s Olympic team, the newspaper reported.

The president is also scheduled to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron in their respective countries.


French lawmaker says Israelis ‘not welcome’ at Olympics

A French member of parliament has sparked a political row by saying Israeli athletes were not welcome at the Paris Olympics because of the Israeli war on Gaza.

France Unbowed (LFI) lawmaker Thomas Portes was “putting a target on the backs of Israeli athletes”, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told broadcaster France 2, echoing criticisms made by a major Jewish group earlier Sunday.

Portes had said at a rally in support of Palestinians that “the Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris. Israeli sportspeople are not welcome at the Paris Olympic Games” and called for “mobilisation” around the event.

He later told the Parisien newspaper that “France’s diplomats should pressure the International Olympic Committee to bar the Israeli flag and anthem, as is done for Russia”.

“It’s time to end the double standard,” Portes added.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a limited number of Russian athletes will be allowed to compete in Paris as individuals and not under their country’s colours, and only after being vetted to ensure they have not expressed support for the war.


Lebanese photojournalist wounded in Israeli strike carries Olympic torch

A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli strike on south Lebanon has carried the Olympic torch in Paris to honour journalists wounded and killed in the field.

The torch relay is part of celebrations in which about 10,000 people from various walks of life were chosen to carry the flame across France before the Games opening ceremony on July 26.

Christina Assi, of Agence France-Presse, was among six journalists struck by Israeli shelling on October 13 while reporting on the conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli military. She was severely wounded and had part of her right leg amputated.

AFP, Reuters and Al Jazeera accused Israel of targeting their journalists who maintained they were positioned far from where the clashes with vehicles clearly marked as press.

International human rights organisations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said the attack was a deliberate one on civilians and should be investigated as a war crime.


AFP’s Christina Assi arrives for the Olympic torch relay at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 21, 2024, in Vincennes, outside Paris, France. Assi was struck by an Israeli tank shell on October 13 while reporting in southern Lebanon



SvennoJ on 21 July 2024

Two foreign activists, one Palestinian injured in settler attack in occupied West Bank

We reported earlier about a settler attack in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.

The organisation Staring the Occupation in the Face said two foreign activists and a Palestinian were injured as settlers from Esh Kodesh attacked farmers trying to reach their lands.

Video footage posted online shows a group of men, some of them masked, attacking the activists and beating them with wooden sticks.


‘Violent settlers must be held accountable’ after ICJ ruling, says UN expert

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, says on X that under the International Court of Justice’s new ruling, which said that Israel’s presence in Palestinian territory is unlawful, UN member states may now be required to disclose a list of their nationals who have settled there.

They may be especially true “as they commit crimes against the illegally occupied population,” Albanese added.

The ICJ judges pointed to a wide list of policies – including the building and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, use of the area’s natural resources, the annexation and imposition of permanent control over lands and discriminatory policies against Palestinians – all of which it said violated international law.

Israeli settlers burn olive grove in West Bank

Wafa news agency reports that a group of settlers have attacked the Palestinian community of Madama, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

Local sources told Wafa that settlers set fire to land north of the village, causing dozens of olive trees to burn before the residents were able to put out the fire.