By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

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

Egypt agrees to deliver new Israeli proposal on Philadelphi Corridor: Report

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that Egypt and Qatar will transfer a new Israeli proposal to Hamas on the issue of the Philadelphi Corridor and Rafah border crossing, which was submitted in Cairo on Thursday by Mossad and Shin Bet. Shin Bet is Israel’s internal intelligence service, and Mossad is Israel’s national intelligence agency.

The Philadelphi Corridor, also known as the Philadelphi Route, is the 14km (8.7-mile) long strip of land that represents the entirety of the border area between Gaza and Egypt. The newspaper cited an Israeli source who is reported to have said the move signalled “relative progress”.

Haaretz also reports that an Israeli source said that “the meeting of the delegations in Cairo on Thursday were constructive and closed the gaps between Egypt and Israel on the issue of the Philadelphi Corridor. Now we are awaiting Hamas’s position.”


White House says latest truce talks ‘constructive’

The White House says talks in Cairo aimed at reaching a Gaza ceasefire have been “constructive” with some progress made. It added that all sides need to come together to work towards implementing a proposed deal.

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, told reporters that Hamas should participate in the talks, which included negotiators from Israel, the US, Egypt and Qatar on Thursday.


“We’re in Cairo. They’re in Cairo. We need Hamas to participate, and we need to get down to the brass tacks of locking in these details. And that’s what we’re focused on here in the next coming days here, over the course of the weekend,” Kirby said.

How can they be constructive is the opposing party isn't even there. Kirby is only negotiating with Israel and Egypt.

Stumbling block persists in Gaza ceasefire talks

John Kirby, the US National Security Council spokesperson, has stated that reports suggesting the talks were on the verge of collapse are inaccurate.

However, the Americans have been discussing the possibility of a deal since this proposal by US President Joe Biden was revealed in May.

We know where the stumbling block is—we saw it when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in the Middle East over the past few days. Blinken mentioned that a timeline has been agreed upon for the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from Gaza.

However, it was reported that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu told the families of the captives that Israeli soldiers would remain in the Netzarim Corridor—which stretches across the Gaza Strip from east to west—as well as in the Philadelphi Corridor, the buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt.

Hamas has stated that not only can this not happen, but that there cannot be any Israeli soldiers left in Gaza. The Egyptians are also not in favour of this idea. As a result, the suggestion that Benjamin Netanyahu is saying one thing to Antony Blinken and another to the families of the captives has upset the Americans.


Biden asked Netanyahu to withdraw from small part of Philadelphi corridor: Report

The Axios website has reported that the US president made the request during a call with the Israeli prime minister on Wednesday. Joe Biden asked for Israeli troops to withdraw from a 1-2km area along the Egypt-Gaza border, Axios reported, citing unnamed Israeli officials.

Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel must retain control of the entire strategic corridor, however, and his position has been a main impasse in efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire.

A Netanyahu aide told Axios that the Israeli leader agreed to change the location of one army position and move it by only a few hundred metres, “in a way that does not harm operational control” along the Philadelphi Corridor.



Around the Network

Defender of US arms transfers to Israel gets prominent State Dept role: Report

US news outlet HuffPost is reporting that Mira Resnick has been appointed to a special Israel-Palestine role at the US State Department, prompting rebuke from critics of the administration’s policy.

Resnick had previously worked in a bureau that oversaw billions in arms shipments to Israel, the report said. A source also told HuffPost that Resnick has more recently been privately defending new arms transfers to Israel to lawmakers and their staff.

The appointment “reflects a doubling down on the administration’s determination to continue to provide unconditional material support for Israel’s genocidal campaign against civilians in Gaza”, former State Department official Annelle Sheline, who quit over the Biden administration’s Israel policy, told the news outlet.

Resnick is set to replace Andrew Miller as deputy assistant secretary for Israeli-Palestinian affairs in the State Department’s Middle East office. Sheline said Miller was known to be wary of the Biden administration’s approach, and “did his best” to push back.

Parties and grief: A stark contrast at the Democratic National Convention

Two radically contrasting realities have emerged out of this week’s four-day Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

On one side, there was happiness and excitement as Kamala Harris formally accepted the party’s presidential nomination and set her sights on November’s election.

But for Palestinian rights supporters, the convention brought further pain and disappointment.

The convention’s “uncommitted” delegates, who had been calling for an arms embargo against Israel amid its devastating war on Gaza, were dealt a blow after Harris said – in no uncertain terms – that she would continue to provide weapons to the US ally.

“There are balloons raining down on the Democrats in our party, and there are bombs raining down on children and families and people I love,” Asma Mohammed, a delegate from Minnesota, told Al Jazeera as tears streamed down her cheeks.

ICC prosecutor calls on judges to rule on Netanyahu, Sinwar arrest warrants

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, has filed a brief urging a panel of pre-trial judges to “urgently render its decisions” on the requests he filed in May.

Citing possible war crimes and crimes against humanity, Khan had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Khan had also sought warrants for Hamas officials Mohammed Deif, who Israel said it killed in a Gaza strike, and Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran last month in an attack widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.

The chief prosecutor’s brief came in response to legal filings by several parties arguing both for and against the court’s jurisdiction in the matter. “It is settled law that the Court has jurisdiction in this situation,” he wrote.





Three fires seen on damaged oil tanker in Red Sea: UKMTO

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has reported that three fires have been observed on a severely damaged oil tanker stranded in the Red Sea. The Yemen-based Houthis attacked the Greek-flagged Sounion vessel on Wednesday. Several projectiles hit the ship off the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, causing a fire and cutting engine power. A European Union warship rescued the crew, made up of 23 Filipinos and two Russians.

On Friday, UKMTO said it had received reports of three blazes on the vessel and that it also “appears to be drifting”. The Houthis have also posted a video on social media purportedly showing them setting fire to the uncrewed tanker.

The vessel is anchored in the Red Sea between Yemen and Eritrea, the Reuters news agency reports, citing a maritime security source. An EU naval mission has warned that the Sounion now poses an “environmental hazard”.


Photos show Greek-owned oil tanker Sounion in flames after Red Sea attack

Hamas official accuses US of false positivity over Gaza ceasefire deal to boost Harris

The US is eager to spread a positive atmosphere around ongoing ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in order to support the presidential campaign of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan has reportedly told the Lebanese outlet, Al Mayadeen.

On Friday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said “there has been progress made” and that all that was required was for “both sides to come together and work towards implementation”.

But speaking to Al Mayadeen, Hamdan said Hamas still firmly rejects Israel’s continued control over the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors, as well as the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, and this remains a major sticking point.

He also emphasised that the Palestinian group demands “practical measures regarding what was previously agreed upon, not more negotiations”.

“Tomorrow we will have two options: If the entity [Israel] agrees to the initiative, we will discuss the execution phase, or if we hear otherwise, we will inform them then of our position,” he said.

Negotiations between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US, are ongoing in Cairo, and are expected to continue through the weekend.



Deaths mount as Israel orders displacement of people, destroys housing: UN

Immediate evacuation orders issued by Israel’s military in Gaza have so far affected some 250,000 people this month, while the amount of food aid entering the south of the war-battered and besieged enclave in July was the lowest in 10 months, the UN reports.

Acute child malnutrition more than doubled in southern Gaza last month and is now four times higher in the north of the Strip compared with rates of diagnosed child malnutrition cases in May.

Civilian casualties are also mounting – along with destruction of housing, key infrastructure, and population displacements – particularly in southern Khan Younis and central Deir el-Balah, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports.

Confirmed case of polio a ‘canary in the coal mine’ warning of more: Physician

Dr. Thaer Ahmad, an emergency medicine physician who worked at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza before services collapsed earlier this year, said the need for medical supplies in the territory has never been more urgent as it is now.

“The concern is how are we going to reach the vulnerable people if they keep being displaced by evacuation orders,” Ahmad told Al Jazeera. “In August alone, there were 12 evacuation orders. And these orders also affect UN agencies and NGOs, healthcare workers and people who are on the ground,” he said.

“The fact that we have a confirmed case [of polio] – with the limited capabilities and collapsing healthcare system. The fact that we have one case of polio means that there are several others. This is a canary in a coal mine,” he added.

Little chance of successful polio vaccine campaign unless days of peace in Gaza: Physician

“We know that there are others [cases of polio] out there. The next question is, how do we stop this?” Dr Ahmad told Al Jazeera. “It is with clean water. You know, we use chlorine tablets to help clean and disinfect the water. There have been no chlorine tablets that have entered Gaza since January. All of the water that people are using is contaminated. It’s not safe,” Ahmad told Al Jazeera.


“The second part is how can we get them to vaccines if we can’t even bring in medical supplies because of restrictions?” he said. “If the Rafah border is effectively shut down, then we are totally dependent on the Israeli military allowing humanitarian aid in,” he added.

“We know that we are in jeopardy of losing many people. Kids who will be paralysed for the rest of their lives. Elderly people who could have been saved. All of these people are at risk,” he continued.

“The WHO, the Health Ministry, all different NGOs, they are saying we need days of tranquillity so that we can at least deliver these vaccines and administer them. They want to plan to roll this out on August 31. But by the looks of it, we have no chance of a successful rollout vaccination campaign.”



Around the Network

Doctor says children at risk as hospital plunged into darkness due to fuel shortages

The AFP news agency reports that mobile phone torches are now as essential as stethoscopes for doctors doing rounds without functioning power generators at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.

Fuel shortages were already widespread in the besieged territory but now the severe lack of fuel is further restricting services at the hospitals that are still functioning after 10 months of Israel’s war on the territory and the targeting of medical centres for attack and siege.

A doctor at the hospital – Mahmoud Abu Amsha – told AFP that children are especially in danger of dying due to the lack of fuel to power generators.

“Children in the incubators are threatened with cardiac arrest and death, and there are also seven cases in the intensive care unit, and they will die due to the fuel shortage,” he said.


One million may miss food aid amid displacement, fighting in south, central Gaza: UN

More than a million people in southern and central Gaza may not receive humanitarian food aid rations for August, the UN reports, amid repeated evacuation orders by the Israeli military on top of dire shortages of cooking gas disrupting the operation of food aid kitchens and bakeries.

The dire warning comes as the UN reports that the amount of humanitarian food aid that successfully entered southern Gaza in July was among the lowest level recorded since the start of Israel’s war on the territory in October.

“Intense fighting, damaged roads, a breakdown of law and order, and access challenges along the main humanitarian route between the Kerem Shalom Crossing and Khan Younis and Deir al Balah have led to critical food shortages,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) says in its latest flash assessment.

In Gaza’s north, food insecurity and malnutrition are believed to be “even more alarming” as no commercial supplies of food have reached the area over the past three months, according to the UN report.


Gaza running out of vital medical supplies: Health Ministry

Hospitals and health centres in the enclave have a severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies as Israel’s army keep targeting them, the ministry says in a statement.

Sixty percent of the essential medicines and 83 percent of medical supplies have run out at the ministry’s warehouses, it said on Telegram.

The ministry stressed the situation will lead to a complete halt of medical services, most notably emergency services, operations, intensive care, kidney dialysis services, primary healthcare and mental health.

It appealed to the international community, UN institutions and concerned parties to intervene and provide the necessary medical supplies for Gaza.



New Israeli military attack in Khan Younis kills at least 11

The Israeli military has bombed the al-Katiba area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing at least 11 people. The victims include four women and four children killed when their home was shelled in the city.

Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military had also shelled a house belonging to the Kalakh family in the al-Amal neighbourhood of the city, also killing at least 11 people and injuring 15 more, according to Wafa.

The attack has pushed the total number of people killed by Israel across Gaza since dawn this morning to at least 37. Other incidents include:

  • One person was killed and three injured after Israeli forces opened fire on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians on Street 5 in Khan Younis.
  • One person was killed after an Israeli fighter jet bombed a group of people in the Abu Areef area, east of Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza.
  • Three others were killed and more wounded after another group of Palestinians was bombed in Abu Areef.
  • Three people were killed and several wounded after Israeli forces bombed a residential apartment in Ain Jalut in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.


Bodies pile into Nasser Hospital after Khan Younis attacks

Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency shows bodies being lined up outside Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, where most victims of today’s attacks have been taken.

In the footage, the deceased’s loved ones are seen lifting the sheets covering their bodies for a final farewell, while others gather to pray. As we’ve reported, at least 37 Palestinians, among them women and children, have been killed in early morning attacks in Gaza.


100,000 displaced from Deir el-Balah in two days

Israel’s latest evacuation orders for the central city of Deir el-Balah have pushed more than 100,000 people out in less than two days, according to the Deir el-Balah municipality.

The Israeli military’s renewed offensive in the area has also forced 20 shelters out of service, the municipality said. The newly displaced people are “exhausted” as they search for a place to stay to the west near al-Mawasi, according to Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abou Azzoum.


Rescuers find dead, wounded in Nuseirat

Medics with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) have recovered the bodies of five people killed and rescued one person wounded by an Israeli attack in northern Nuseirat camp. Footage posted by the group shows its medics picking up the dead and wounded and taking them to a nearby health facility, in what it called a “dangerous mission”.


Earlier, we reported that Israeli forces had struck an apartment in Nuseirat, killing at least three people.


Gaza’s Health Ministry updates number killed by Israel’s war

At least 40,334 people have been killed and 93,356 wounded in Israeli military attacks on Gaza since October 7, the enclave’s Health Ministry says. Of those, 69 Palestinians were killed and 212 wounded in the past 24-hour reporting period, the ministry added.


Four more killed near Khan Younis

An Israeli air raid has hit a house in the Ma’en area, southeast of Khan Younis, report our colleagues on the ground. The attack killed at least four people and injured others, they say.


Israel tells even more central Gaza neighbourhoods to evacuate

Israel’s military has ordered even more neighbourhoods in central Gaza to evacuate, telling their residents to move to an ever-shrinking “humanitarian zone” in the west.

The order, announced by Israel’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee, applies to four blocks in the areas of eastern Deir el-Balah and Maghazi. “For your own safety, evacuate the areas immediately and move to the humanitarian zone,” Adraee wrote in a post on X.

The order marks the third time Israel has issued an evacuation call in as many days, with 100,000 people displaced from Deir el-Balah alone in the last two days.


Children killed, injured in Bureij refugee camp

Israeli forces have bombed central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp, killing and injuring people, report our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic. The number of victims, most of whom are children, is not yet known, according to their reports.

The bombardment is the latest in a wave of deadly attacks to hammer central and southern Gaza today, even as Israeli officials sit with mediators in Cairo for ceasefire negotiations.

Young girl killed by Israeli strike on Bureij in central Gaza

A woman and a young girl are among those killed in Israel’s latest attack on the Bureij refugee camp, report our colleagues on the ground in Gaza. Their bodies, along with other children wounded by the assault, have been rushed to al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, they report.

Footage from the hospital, verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad, shows several bloodied children receiving treatment, while a man weeps over the body of a deceased child.


The aftermath of Israeli strikes on Hamad City development


Palestinians carry a body as they inspect damages on Hamad City development following an Israeli raid in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, August 24


‘They made us wear Israeli uniforms’: Palestinian used as human shield in Gaza

A young Palestinian man, who was arrested near the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing while trying to find food for his displaced family, was used as a human shield by Israeli forces multiple times before being left for dead.



Protests against Israel’s war on Gaza from Jordan to Ireland


Amman, Jordan


Tunis, Tunesia


Sanaa, Yemen


Dublin, Ireland



Three-quarters of Israelis think Netanyahu managing Hezbollah front ‘very badly’

A poll of Israeli public opinion conducted by local media outlet Mako indicated that 75 percent of Israelis are dissatisfied with the way the prime minister’s government is handling the situation in the country’s north, which has seen daily attacks by Lebanon’s Hezbollah since the outbreak of Israel’s war on Gaza last October.

Other statistics from Mako’s poll indicate:

  • Only 18 percent of Israelis believe that the government is managing the situation in the north well.
  • More than half (55 percent) of Israelis said they believed new elections should be held now, while only 36 percent said the current government should continue to function.
  • A total of 59 percent of respondents expressed support for a deal with Hamas to return Israeli captives, compared with 21 percent who said they were against the deal in its current form, and 20 percent who said they did not know.
  • Half of Israelis said they believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is motivated by political considerations regarding efforts to return the Israeli captives held in Gaza.


Israeli forces strike Lebanese town overnight: Report

Lebanon’s official National News Agency says the outskirts of the town of Ayta ash Shab have been subjected to intermittent artillery shelling as well as gunfire from the Israeli “Birkat Risha” military outpost position.

The agency added that “reconnaissance and drone aircraft have flown intensively” over the villages in southern Lebanon throughout the last night and in the morning, reaching the outskirts of the city of Tyre.


Israeli forces bombard outskirts of Lebanese towns: Report

Lebanon’s official National News Agency says the outskirts of the towns of Aitaroun and Maroun al-Ras have been subjected to intermittent artillery shelling from Israeli positions near the border.

Earlier, the agency reported shelling of the outskirts of the town of Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon.


Hezbollah claims attacks on army site in northern Israel

The Lebanese group says it conducted an artillery strike and a suicide drone attack on the “al-Raheb” military site near the border. It said the strikes were carried out at 12pm (09:00 GMT) and 12:15pm respectively, adding that both of them hit the target directly.


Israeli missile hits house in southern Lebanon: Report

Israeli forces have fired a guided missile at a house in the far southern Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab, reports Lebanon’s National News Agency. It is unclear if there are any casualties.


Hezbollah claims more attacks on northern Israel

The Lebanese group says it carried out a suicide drone strike on Israeli soldiers positioned near the village of Yaara, adding that it hit them “accurately”. The group said on Telegram it targeted the “Maskafam” military site in northern Israel in a separate attack, again achieving a direct hit.

Hezbollah claimed several other attacks on targets in northern Israel earlier in the day, some of which were confirmed by the Israeli military.



Is Israel sabotaging ceasefire negotiations?

According to Hassan Barari, professor of international relations at Qatar University, Israel’s escalation of attacks in Gaza amid ceasefire negotiations is part of a pattern of undermining talks whenever a deal appears close.

“Every time we seem close to a deal, Israel does something to undermine the talks, to push Hamas into a more extreme position,” Barari told Al Jazeera.

Barari also pointed to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s demand for continued security control over two key corridors in Gaza – the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors – conditions strongly opposed by both Hamas and Egypt.

Netanyahu’s insistence on these points “might be a tactic to undermine the peace talks”, said Barari.



Hamas sending delegation to Egypt today

Hamas will dispatch a delegation to Cairo today as talks over a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a deal to exchange Israeli captives held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners continue, Al Jazeera sources say.

According to an unnamed “senior official” of the group who spoke to AFP news agency, Hamas will not participate in this round of talks even though a delegation will be present in Cairo.

“The delegation will meet with senior Egyptian intelligence officials to be briefed on developments in the ongoing round of Gaza ceasefire talks … but this does not mean it will take part in the negotiations,” the unnamed Hamas official told AFP.

“Hamas has said from the beginning that it will not participate in this round of negotiations, which began last week in Doha,” the official said.

The expected arrival of the Hamas delegation follows what the US said was “progress” in long-stalled ceasefire negotiations. However, as we’ve reported, major obstacles to a deal remain, particularly Israel’s demand to retain security control over several key Gaza corridors.

Hamas’s Khalil al-Hayya to head Cairo delegation

In a statement by its media office, Hamas said the delegation will be headed by senior official Khalil al-Hayya. As the ceasefire talks continue, Hamas called on Israel to agree to the principles laid out in the US-backed proposal from May 31 and to stop “obstructing” a deal.

Hamas delegation in Cairo

US officials at the current talks are “discussing with mediators new proposals to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas”, according to an informed Egyptian source cited by AFP news agency.

One sided negotiations, Hamas just getting briefed on what the US and Israel are negotiating.



For ceasefire talks, ‘not a lot of reasons for optimism’

Gershon Baskin, a former Israeli negotiator, says Netanyahu is the reason Gaza peace talks in Cairo are not moving forward and that Hamas may need to find a new strategy.

“I understand from Egyptian sources that there’s a very small chance that Hamas will agree to the Israeli security plan, which is mostly focused on the Philadelphi Corridor, the 14-kiolmetre border road of Gaza and Egypt,” he told Al Jazeera from West Jerusalem.

“There needs to be an acceptable Palestinian control of the Rafah crossing with international supervision,” he said, adding that there “doesn’t seem like a whole lot of reasons for optimism.”

Baskin also said that the army and the intelligence say that Israel can withdraw from Gaza and end the war.

Even if a Gaza ceasefire is agreed, Israel has made clear it reserves the right to resume the war with Hamas

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/23/politics/gaza-ceasefire-israel-right-resume-fighting/index.html

Months of feverish negotiations, in different cities and at multiple levels, have gotten Israel and Hamas closer to striking a ceasefire deal. But even if an agreement is reached – still far from certain – it could end up lasting only weeks before it collapses and the war in Gaza resumes.

As senior negotiators prepare to meet this weekend in Cairo, there are still several sticking points in the talks over the potential three-phase agreement. But Israel has made it clear that following the initial six-week phase, a break in the fighting may be just that and it is not ready to agree to a permanent ceasefire.

....

“What we’re focused on right now is getting a ceasefire deal in place, getting those hostages home, getting six weeks of calm,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said last week. “That’s really what our goal is right now.”