Israeli rescue operations are ‘not efficient’

The captive was rescued from a tunnel in Rafah, which is kind of unusual because Rafah is nearer to the Egyptian side. This operation was going to be politically sensitive because the [ceasefire] negotiations are currently under way in Cairo.

We don’t know many of the details of what this operation has actually meant. I think we are going to see that there would have been Palestinians killed, as we’ve seen this in other operations that took place.

There are 108 Israelis still in captivity in Gaza. Now, that’s of the initial 251 who were captured on October 7. Thirty-six of them are already believed to be dead, according to the Israeli army.

So they know that this is going to be a very difficult operation to try to get these people back alive. It is Israeli targeting that has killed most of those captives. Israelis have also died in those operations. They’re not efficient operations to get people out. The Hostage Families Forum, the umbrella organization that actually looks after the families and advocates for them, says a ceasefire is the only way forward, and that ceasefire isn’t happening.

‘Small-scale success’ of rescue operation underscores Israeli military’s failure

Mohamad Elmasry, a professor in the media studies programme at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, says the rescue of an Israeli captive in southern Gaza may embolden Netanyahu to pursue more military operations to appease far-right ministers in his coalition.

He told Al Jazeera that the rescue would not placate the families of the captives, pointing to a statement “suggesting that they are still adamant that Netanyahu pursue a ceasefire”.

He said the rescue could be considered a “small-scale” success for Israel but it also underscores the extent of the Israeli military’s failure because it has killed far more of the captives than it has been able to rescue through these operations.

“We also have to remember that Netanyahu has consistently shunned a possible ceasefire or temporary truce even though that has proven far more successful for Israel,” he said, noting, “They got back about 100 captives back in November” through diplomacy.

‘We won’t return 108 captives in special operations’: Lapid

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has congratulated military forces on a “complex and successful operation” to return captive al-Qadi from the Gaza Strip but says military operations are not a solution.

“We won’t be able to return 108 abductees in special operations. They don’t have time,” he wrote in a post on X. “We must make a deal and return them home, now.”

About 70 captives in the besieged enclave are still believed to be alive.

Israeli military has ‘lost complete confidence’ in chief of staff: Retired general

Retired Israeli General Itzhak Brik has lashed out at Israel’s military leadership and questioned its competency, saying he has heard firsthand reports that Israeli soldiers are being disproportionately killed by booby traps, projectiles and friendly fire.

He also said Israeli soldiers had told him the military is inflating its reports of Hamas casualties and Israeli soldiers rarely engage in close-quarters combat.

Speaking to the Maariv news site, Brik singled out Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, saying he has “fragmented the Israeli army”, which has “lost complete confidence in him”. He accused Halevi of failing to keep in check Israeli commanders who lack operational discipline and are negligent, causing many soldiers to be killed and injured.

Halevi “is much more at fault than anyone else”, said Brik, who previously headed the military’s educational unit. “Therefore, he is afraid to take legal action against the commanders who have erred, lest he be asked why he is not punishing himself and resigning.”

Brik added: “If a deal for the return of the hostages and a ceasefire is not reached, the situation could deteriorate, and we might face even greater danger.”

Israeli government finances storming of Al-Aqsa: Palestine ministry

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry says the Israeli Ministry of Heritage has allocated 2 million shekels (about $543,000) to support far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound.

This reflects “an official Israeli policy aimed at intensifying the Judaisation of Al-Aqsa and altering its status quo, which threatens to ignite tensions in the West Bank”, it said in a statement.

Ben-Gvir, who has personally stormed the compound with armed security and extremist settlers on multiple occasions, expressed his support for building a synagogue in the Holy Muslim site yesterday.

_{Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at Al-Aqsa compound on August 13}

Displaced Palestinians shelter in schools and tents on the beach

_{Displaced Palestinians shelter in a United Nations-run school in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, August 27}

_{Displaced Palestinians shelter on a beach in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip}

Displaced Palestinian grandmother who was older than Israel dies in Gaza

An 89-year-old woman, who survived the mass displacement and killing of Palestinians by Israel in the 1948 Nakba and was older than the state of Israel, has died in a tent in Gaza after numerous displacements since last October.

Gaza photojournalist @walidmahmodrouk speaks about his grandmother’s story – she was forced out of her home by Israel and died in a tent in Gaza after multiple displacements.

Fatima, who was 89 years old, survived the first Nakba and was older than the state of Israel. pic.twitter.com/uFr6FlhAJg

— AJ+ (@ajplus) August 27, 2024

Palestinians search for survivors after Israeli strike in Khan Younis

_{Emergency services rescue survivors from the rubble after an Israeli air strike destroyed several homes in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip}

Palestinian medics continue to transport wounded across Khan Younis

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says its first responders continue to assist Palestinians who have been wounded as a result of multiple Israeli attacks on southern Gaza.

لحظة قصف الاحتلال منزلًا بمخيم النصيرات #فيديو #حرب_غزة pic.twitter.com/YwrKHeFDbz

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) August 27, 2024

Translation: The moment the occupation bombed a house in Nuseirat camp.

Four Palestinians, including three children, killed in north Gaza air raid

The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza reports that its emergency responders have found four bodies after an Israeli bombing of an apartment in northern Gaza. It said the home of a family was hit in the Tal al-Hawa area west of Gaza City.

‘A few hours’ notice’ to evacuate 200 UN staff out of Deir el-Balah offices

Gilles Michaud, undersecretary-general for safety and security, says UN staff in Gaza “are operating at the upper-most peripheries of tolerable risk”. “Mass evacuation orders are the latest in a long list of unbearable threats to UN and humanitarian personnel,” he said about the dire situation in the enclave.

Over the weekend, the Israeli military “gave just a few hours’ notice to move more than 200 UN personnel out of their offices and living places in Deir el-Balah, a crucial humanitarian hub”, according to Michaud.

The timing could hardly be worse, with the start of a massive polio vaccination campaign scheduled for next week, for which large numbers of staff will need to enter the Strip. He added that the evacuation orders only compound existing security threats of operating in an active warzone.

Israeli settlers assault Palestinian farmers in occupied West Bank

Israeli settlers assaulted Palestinian farmers in the al-Maniya village, southeast of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to a report by the Palestinian Wafa news agency.

The report quoted Zayed Kawazba, head of al-Maniya Village Council, as saying that approximately 150 armed settlers attacked the farmers while opening fire.

Hezbollah launches border attacks on Israeli positions

The armed Lebanese group said it targeted intelligence gathering equipment that was recently installed on a crane along the border with Israel using an explosive-laden drone, achieving a direct hit.

Hezbollah also claimed an attack on an illegal Israeli settlement near the border to hit soldiers.

The group has released the video below to show multiple attacks in the past few days, including using antitank guided missiles.

Palestinian Healthcare Workers Chained, Starved, Sexually Abused: New HRW Report on Israeli Prisons

We speak with Human Rights Watch researcher Milena Ansari about the organization's new report detailing the torture of Palestinian medical workers in Israeli prisons. HRW spoke with eight doctors, paramedics and nurses who were picked up in Gaza before being transferred to the notorious Sde Teiman camp and other facilities, where they say they suffered beatings, starvation, humiliation, electric shocks and other forms of abuse.

The men also describe threats of sexual violence during brutal interrogations and seeing another prisoner bleeding after being gang-raped with an M16 rifle by three soldiers. The findings track with other reports from researchers and survivors, and HRW has called on the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for its attacks on healthcare workers. "We're really ringing the alarm about the situation inside the Israeli custody and detention facilities," says Ansari, who says evidence is mounting of a "systematic pattern of ill-treatment and abuse."

BBC presenter caught pushing Israeli ‘version’ ignoring victims during interview

BBC presenter Martine Croxall, who was under sharp scrutiny last week for her conduct during an interview with a Palestinian journalism, is facing more criticism today for pushing more Israeli versions while ignoring the rights guaranteed for Palestinians under international laws.

Rifat Jawaid recalls his own association with Martine and schools her on impartial journalism.

Palestinian child says was tortured when held in Israeli detention

A Palestinian child, among a large number held under administrative detention in the occupied West Bank, says Israeli forces tortured him after arresting him on the day he was scheduled to undergo surgery for a wound caused by live ammunition.

“The soldiers exploited my injury, forcing me to sit and kneel on my wounded knee for five hours. I was severely beaten if I moved due to the pain,” the 16-year-old told the Geneva-based Defense for Children International.

“The soldiers transferred me to the Gush Etzion interrogation centre and forced me once again to sit on my injured knee for six to seven hours, which caused the wound to reopen and bleed. The torture and beating did not stop during this time and I was deprived of food, water and sanitation.”

Defense for Children spoke with several children who had been tortured by Israeli soldiers and interrogators in detention. It said one in three children detained by Israel in the occupied West Bank are held without charge or trial.

1 in 3 Palestinian child detainees in the occupied West Bank are held by Israeli forces without charge or trial. We spoke to several children who survived torture at the hands of Israeli soldiers and interrogators. https://t.co/eMeNF1BDty

— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) August 27, 2024

For captives’ families, the only serious option ahead is a ceasefire

The Israeli army shared a video that shows the moment Qaid Farhan al-Kadi was rescued, calling it a complex operation.

However, reports suggest that he was alone and there were no captors or any other captives present, which seems to contradict the military statement and suggests he had been released or escaped.

Netanyahu was quick to call it a success.

According to the Israeli army, 33 of the remaining captives are dead. With ceasefire talks bogged down and Israel insisting on changing the structure of a deal, an immediate ceasefire seems unlikely.

So, while this release is being celebrated, for captives’ families, the only serious option ahead is a ceasefire similar to the one last November which led to 105 captives being exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.

Well at least they didn't shoot the hostage, that's definitely a complex operation for the IDF.

HRW warns Israeli obstruction could cause polio to spread

The Israeli military is contributing to a potentially catastrophic polio outbreak in Gaza by obstructing aid, attacking healthcare infrastructure and damaging water supplies, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned.

The New York-based rights group called for immediate humanitarian access to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children in Gaza, noting that polio is entirely preventable but also spreads quickly, particularly among young children.

“If the Israeli government continues to block urgent aid and destroy water and waste management infrastructure, it will facilitate the spread of a disease that has been nearly eradicated globally,” said Julia Bleckner, a senior health and human rights researcher at HRW.

“Israel’s partners should press the government to lift the blockade immediately and ensure unfettered humanitarian access in Gaza to enable the timely distribution of vaccines to contain the unfolding polio outbreak,” she added.

_{Palestinian families line up with their children to receive polio vaccines from the Palestine Red Crescent Society at al-Amal Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis city on August 22}

Health Ministry says two killed, multiple wounded in Jenin

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the occupied West Bank says two people have been killed and two wounded “as a result of the occupation’s aggression on Jenin”. It said the killed Palestinians were 25 and 39 years old, without providing further information.

Israeli military forces are carrying out another night of violent raids into the occupied areas, with fighting also reported in the Balata refugee camp in the city of Nablus. The Israeli military said its forces “have now begun an operation to counter terrorism in Jenin and Tulkarm”.

Israeli forces besiege hospitals in West Bank’s Tulkarem

Israeli military vehicles have surrounded the Al-Israa Specialised Hospital and the Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarem, in the occupied West Bank, and are blocking ambulances as part of a major military operation in the area, the Wafa news agency is reporting.

Israeli military vehicles were also stationed on several streets across Tulkarem as well as the entrance to the Nur Shams refugee camp, where five Palestinians were killed earlier this week in an Israeli air attack.

Jordan urges UN to act on Al-Aqsa Mosque ‘before it is too late’

In a post on X, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, has urged the UN Security Council to “take immediate effective action” to stop Israel from violating holy sites in occupied East Jerusalem, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Safadi said Israeli plans to change the mosque’s identity were fueled by “hate-driven ideology” and urged the international community to respond, “before it is too late”.

“The situation is already explosive”, Safadi added.

As we reported earlier, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have condemned the Israeli government for allocating funds for far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

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