Kamala Harris to pro-Palestine protesters: ‘Now is the time for ceasefire’

US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris addressed her stance on a Gaza ceasefire last night, after pro-Palestine protesters broke into her speech with chants of “free, free Palestine”.

Speaking to the protesters in Arizona, Harris said: “I have been clear: now is the time to get a ceasefire deal and get the hostage deal done.”

She added: “The president and I are working around the clock every day to get that ceasefire deal done and bring the hostages home. So, I respect your voices, but we are here to now talk about this race in 2024.”

This was Harris’s second back-and-forth with pro-Palestine protesters during a campaign event in days. During a Wednesday rally in Michigan, Harris appeared to get frustrated after protesters repeatedly interrupted her speech, yelling “We won’t vote for genocide”.

Harris eventually responded: “You know what, if you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”

Is it the time for ceasefire or the time to shut up and campaign...

So far since trying to restart ceasefire negotiations, US moves more military to the ME, CENTCOM collaborates more closely with Israel, Biden admin scraps proposed sanctions against Settler war criminals, US expedites another 3.5 billion in military aid to Israel, Israel ramps up the bombing campaign systematically targeting schools.

All actions say, it is time for more genocidal massacres and atrocities.

Egypt denounces Gaza school attack, says Israel has ‘no will’ to end war

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry has fiercely condemned the Israeli military attack on Gaza City’s al-Tabin school, saying it shows Israel has no “political will” to end the war.

In a statement cited by the state-run Middle East News Agency, the Foreign Ministry accused Israel of repeatedly committing “large-scale crimes” against “unarmed civilians” whenever there is an international push for a ceasefire.

It said such attacks reflect “an unprecedented disregard” for international law.

Egypt, along with Qatar and the US, is helping to mediate planned ceasefire talks scheduled for August 15.

Israel’s massacres part of Netanyahu’s game to undermine ceasefire chances: Analyst

Hassan Barari, professor of international affairs at Qatar University, has told Al Jazeera that mass casualty attacks by the Israeli army, such as this morning’s killing of more than 100 people at al-Tabin School in Gaza City, must be looked at in the context of Israeli domestic politics and ceasefire talks.

“Just yesterday, [Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich said that going to Doha or Cairo is a kind of capitulation and that Israel should not go and conduct negotiations over a ceasefire”, Barari said. “So PM Netayhahu is trying to appease those right-wing people in his own government.”

This week, mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US released a joint statement urging strongly for the resumption of ceasefire talks, which put Israel and Netanyahu under pressure.

But, Barari continued, Netanyahu himself does not want a ceasefire, and takes every chance he can to undermine talks.

By killing so many Palestinians in incidents like the al-Tabin attack, Netanyahu is trying to push Hamas to be more stubborn to justify his statements that the Palestinian group is unwilling to negotiate, Barari explained.

“It is part of a game: Every time we have [hopes of a] ceasefire, the Israelis will commit some kind of atrocity and that will undermine the talks.

Israel committing genocide ‘one school at a time’: UN special rapporteur

Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has issued a statement condemning the world’s “indifference” to mass bloodshed in Gaza following this morning’s attack on the al-Tabin school.

“Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one ‘safe zone’ at the time”, Albanese wrote in a post on X.

“May the Palestinians forgive us for our collective inability to protect them, honouring the most basic meaning of international law.”

Save the Children: Israel commits ‘worst attack on school’ since Gaza war began

Tamer Kirolos, a regional director for Save the Children, calls Israel’s attack on al-Tabin school in Gaza City, which killed more than 100 people, the “deadliest attack on a school since last October”.

“It is devastating to see the toll this has taken, including so many children and people at the school for dawn prayers,” Kirolos said.

Many children were reported killed and injured in this morning’s attack on Gaza City, and Kirolos said “children make up around 40 percent of the population and of people killed and injured since October” in the Strip.

“Civilians, children, must be protected. An immediate definitive ceasefire is the only foreseeable way that will happen,” he added.

EU’s Borrell ‘horrified’ by images from bombed Gaza City school

Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, says he is “horrified” by the images coming out of Gaza City’s al-Tabin school, where over 100 people were killed in an Israeli attack.

Writing on X, Borrell noted the attack is the 10th to hit Gaza’s schools in recent weeks, causing “massacres” for which “there is no justification”.

Borrell also used his post to criticise Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for opposing a ceasefire deal, saying it is the only way to “stop the killing of civilians” and secure the release of Israeli captives.

Biden ‘could have stopped the genocide’: Leader of Israel’s Balad Party

In a post on X, Sami Abou Shehadeh, leader of the Balad Party in Israel, says that although US President Joe Biden “could have stopped the genocide, he instead just released 3.5 billion [dollars] for more weapons to kill civilians”.

He also stated that “there’s no opposition among Israeli Zionist parties to the genocide” and “the latest debate in Israeli Jewish society is about whether they have the right to rape prisoners.”

“The Palestinian people remain under attack on all fronts, including Palestinian citizens of Israel,” he said, adding, “Netanyahu, without any opposition, is destabilizing the region, preparing to destroy Lebanon and making sure that Egypt, Jordan (countries that signed bilateral agreements with Tel Aviv) and others are weakened.”

Shehadeh concluded the post by asking, “If the ICC [International Criminal Court] doesn’t take action now, then when?”

In May, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Arab, Islamic world must unite against Israel, top Hamas official urges

Hamas’s deputy head in Gaza, Khalil al-Haya, has spoken to Al Jazeera Arabic after Israel’s attack on Gaza City’s al-Tabin school, which has killed more than 100 people.

During the interview, al-Haya accused Israel’s military of “massacring” women and children in the bombardment, which he said was evidence of it trying to wipe Palestinians out of the enclave.

He said the attack merited an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and called on Arab and Muslim countries to unite against Israel, including by closing their embassies in the country.

Finally, al-Haya said Hamas would continue to fulfill its “duty” to defend Palestinian people, who he claimed were united around the group.

Israel’s military claimed it bombed al-Tabin school, which was housing displaced people, because it was being used as an “active compound” for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Hamas in a statement rejected the allegations as false and “excuses to target civilians”.

PA calls on US to end support for Israeli onslaught on Gaza

A spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, has urged Israel’s ally Washington to put an end to “blind support that leads to the killing of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, women, and the elderly”.

Abu Rudeineh’s statement released by the official Wafa news agency comes hours after Israeli forces bombed a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City, killing more than 100 people.

The spokesman said that “this heinous crime” comes on the heels of the Biden administration’s allocation of $3.5b to Israel for weapons, making Washington “directly responsible for this massacre, and for the continuation of the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip for the tenth month running”.

‘Lives are being sacrificed for nothing’

Gideon Levy, a columnist for Haaretz, says that an agreement to end the war in Gaza will not be “worth the paper it is written on”.

“The only game changer will be when the Americans wake up and start to act, not only to talk,” he told Al Jazeera from  Tel Aviv,

He also said that Netanyahu sending delegations to talks aimed at an agreement are merely tools for him to buy time and to pay a “lip service”.

“It convinced the Americans that Israel is doing its best to get to an agreement. It has gone like this now for months, while the life of the [Israeli] hostages is at risk, and we saw this morning what happens to the life of the people of Gaza,” Levy added.

“Every day that continues this bloodbath, there are more crimes being committed, and more lives are being sacrificed for nothing.”

Israeli military carries out new strikes in southern Lebanon

Israel’s military has carried out a series of air raids in southern Lebanon, hitting the towns of Houla and Tayr Harfa, Lebanon’s National News Agency reports. The attack in Tayr Harfa targeted multiple homes in the town’s centre, the agency said, while the attack in Houla struck the Tal al-Hanbal neighbourhood.

The agency did not report any casualties from the attacks.

Israel MASSACRES School - Because It Can

Israel thinks it can get away with anything, because as things stand, it can.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/10/middleeast/israeli-school-strike-gaza-intl-hnk/index.html

Videos seen by CNN of the aftermath of the strike show a large number of bodies strewn on the ground. Witnesses said there was no advance warning of the attack.

“All of these people who were targeted were civilians, unarmed children, the elderly, men and women,” said Fares Afana, director of ambulance and emergency in northern Gaza. “These were innocent people praying… where is the entire world?” said one man, who lost his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren in the strike.

Basal said many of the dead were yet to be identified and others transferred to hospital are seriously injured. “There are still large quantities of body parts and torn bodies inside Al-Ahli hospital,” he said. “Families are having a hard time identifying their children.”

One woman, known as Um Ahmed, told CNN that she could not find her husband in the aftermath of the strike. “I went to look for my husband and I didn’t see anybody, they were all in pieces,” she said.

Um Ahmed told CNN the mosque was full of young people who were “all in pieces and dismembered” in the aftermath of the strike. “The bodies here are not identifiable… they are all dismembered body parts,” said a man who came to check on the school after hearing of the strike during his morning prayer.

Videos obtained by CNN from the area of last Sunday’s strike – which the IDF also claimed targeted Hamas infrastructure – show extensive destruction and dead bodies in a schoolyard. In the videos, medics and rescuers carry injured children to waiting ambulances.

Palestinian officials told CNN that Israel did not give civilians any warning before the airstrikes occurred.

UNICEF faces challenges getting ‘simple materials’ into the Gaza Strip

UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram tells Al Jazeera the agency continues to face challenges in transporting materials into the Palestinian enclave and her colleagues have reported the UN children’s agency is still unable to provide recreational and stationary kits to children so they can resume learning after 10 months of no school.

She said UNICEF is trying to get in vaccinations to fight against polio after the virus was detected in sewage. It is also trying to bring in supplies like medicines, hygiene kits and construction equipment to help rebuild toilets.

Ingram explained that UNICEF had been able to access the central and northern Gaza Strip recently and the teams there had reported “increasing outbreaks” of various diseases, including scabies.

“Parents are trying to do whatever they can to treat rashes by boiling water with lemon and putting that on their children in the absence of having the proper medicine from health care centres,” she said.

UN condemns ‘increasing frequency’ of Israeli attacks on schools

The UN Human Rights Office has said that the Israeli attack on al-Tabin school in Gaza City earlier today was “conducted with apparent disregard for the high rate of civilian fatalities”.

“This is at least the 21st strike on a school, each serving as a shelter, that the UN Human Rights Office has recorded since July 4,” the OHCHR said in a statement.

“These strikes have resulted in at least 274 fatalities, including women and children.

“Despite [Israeli army] statements that all measures are taken to avoid civilian harm, the repeated strikes on IDP shelters in areas to which the populations have been forced to move, and the consistent and predictable impact on civilians, suggest a failure to strictly comply with obligations required by International Humanitarian Law.”

‘I feel sick’ after Israel’s continued assault on Gaza, says UN expert

Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territories, has said she “feel[s] sick” about the Israeli strike on a school earlier today, which killed more than 100 people.

“A journalist asked me how I ‘feel’ about Gaza today. How am I supposed to feel in the face of a Western-sponsored army relentlessly butchering people trapped in what resembles a circle of Dante’s Hell [Inferno]? I feel sick,” she wrote in a post on X.

British Foreign Secretary ‘appalled’ by Israeli strike on Gaza school

David Lammy says he is “appalled by the Israeli Military strike on al-Tabeen school and the tragic loss of life” in a post on X.

Earlier Lammy had taken to X to express his deep concern over Israel’s decision to revoke the status of eight Norwegian diplomats serving the occupied Palestinian territory.

Targeting civilian infrastructure is ‘unacceptable’: Belgium

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hadja Lahbib says Belgium “strongly condemns the attack on a school in Gaza, which has claimed the lives of at least one hundred displaced people”.

In a post on X, Lahbib wrote: “This war must stop immediately. Targeting civilian infrastructure violates international law and is unacceptable.”

In a separate statement on X, she also said she spoke with her Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, “on mediation efforts to avoid further escalation in the Middle East and to find a lasting political solution to the conflict in Gaza”.

“Together, we are committed to de-escalation and a ceasefire agreement in Gaza,” Lahbib said.

Then stop accepting it, sanctions now

France condemns Gaza school attack

France has condemned “in the firmest of terms” an Israeli attack on a school housing displaced people in Gaza that rescuers say has killed more than 100 people.

“For several weeks, school buildings have been repeatedly targeted with an intolerable number of civilian victims,” France’s Foreign Ministry said. “Israel must respect international humanitarian law.”

Yet you're fine hosting Israel at the Olympics...

‘War crimes’: GCC denounces Israel’s deadly school strike

Kuwait, Oman and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have denounced the Israeli strike on a school in Gaza City that killed more than 100 people.

In a statement, GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi slammed the Israeli attacks as “war crimes”. Separately, Oman said targeting civilian infrastructure, like schools, is a “gross violation of international humanitarian law”. Kuwait said the international community and the UN Security Council “must assume their responsibilities to stop such heinous crimes against civilians”.

Iraq’s top Shia Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, urged an end to the “genocidal war” in Gaza. “Once again, the Israeli occupation army has committed a huge massacre, … adding to its series of ongoing crimes” in Gaza, Sistani said. “We once again call on the world to stand against this terrible brutality,” Sistani said, urging Muslims “to unite in order to press for an end to the genocidal war” in Gaza.

Arab Parliament, OIC slam deadly attack on Gaza school

The Arab Parliament has condemned the Israeli attack on al-Tabin school, which housed thousands of internally displaced people, describing it as a “terrorist and inhumane act”.

Separately, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called the attack part of “the genocide committed by the occupation for more than ten months in the Gaza Strip, in flagrant violation of international law, the orders of the International Court of Justice and relevant UN Security Council resolutions”.

Algeria calls for urgent UNSC meeting on Israel’s school strike in Gaza

Algeria has requested an urgent and open UN Security Council meeting for Tuesday to discuss the Israeli attaks on al-Tabin school in Gaza City which killed more than 100 Palestinians, Algeria Press Service reported citing a diplomatic source.

The report added that the meeting was being called for “in light of the dangerous escalations in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially after the aerial attack launched by the Israeli occupation military on a school in Gaza”.

‘The US government is the guarantor of the axis of Zionist extremism’

Former Israeli government adviser Daniel Levy tells Al Jazeera that the $3.5bn US military finance package for Israel shows the “dishonesty and duplicity of the US administration”.

The US government “has been telling us that the only problem is Hamas” but now it is beginning to acknowledge “deceit” in the fact that Netanyahu does “not want the ceasefire”, Levy said.

He said the US government is showing “humiliating weakness” when it stated that Biden “got really angry” with Netanyahu but then handed him $3.5bn in arms.

“We have to see that it’s not just weakness. It’s also ideological alignment. The US government is the guarantor of the axis of Zionist extremism,” he said. “They may not like some of the details, but this is what they are backing.”

Levy said US support of Israel plays into geopolitical tensions when Washington warns Iran not to arm its proxies but at the same time continues to support Israel and, therefore, contributes to regional instability.

US ‘deeply concerned’ about deadly Israeli strike on Gaza school

The White House has said it was “deeply concerned” about an Israeli air strike on a Gaza City school compound that has killed around 100 people.

This comes after a US Department of State spokesperson announced on Friday that Washington would send an additional $3.5bn to Israel to spend on US-made weapons and military equipment.

President Biden has faced months of public pressure to cut off the supply of weapons to Israel amid its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 39,700 Palestinians since October last year.

Deeply concerned the news came out.

Biden must respond to Israel’s ‘act of state terrorism’: CAIR

The Council on American Islamic Relations says the Israeli attack on the Gaza City school was not only an attack on Palestinians but an attack on their religion – especially as it occurred during dawn prayers.

“If President Biden gives a damn about human life, he will respond to this act of state terrorism by immediately stopping the flow of weapons to the Israeli government and forcing Netanyahu to agree to the ceasefire deal that he keeps sabotaging,” the US-based civil rights group said.

Translation: Attempting to collect the remains of the victims of the massacre of the al-Tabin school.


Israeli military ‘falsely claimed’ school bombing victims were Hamas

A Palestinian national and chairman of the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor says the Israeli military is trying to frame innocent citizens as fighters to justify its latest massacre in Gaza.

Ramy Abdul wrote in a post on X that he and colleagues have identified at least nine Palestinians who were falsely alleged to be members of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad by the Israeli military.

One of the killed was an imam at the mosque that was bombed, another was a university professor and a third “had a serious dispute with Hamas”, he writes.