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

SvennoJ on 11 February 2024

Israel's military says it will never "deliberately target journalists" following death of Palestine TV journalist

Responding to an inquiry from CNN on the killing of Palestine TV journalist Nafez Abdul Jawad, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it “takes all operationally feasible measures to mitigate harm civilians including journalists. The IDF has never, and will never, deliberately target journalists.”

Eyewitness and journalist Mohammad Al-Sawalhi told CNN on Thursday that Abdul Jawad was killed after an Israeli missile struck the Deir El-Balah house he was staying in. At least 14 people were killed, including 5 children, when the residential buildings were targeted, eyewitness, and journalist Tareq Al Hilou, who received information from health officials in Rafah, told CNN.

The IDF said it is not aware of any strikes at these coordinates. It said it will continue to counter threats and “remaining in an active combat zone has inherent risks”, given the ongoing exchanges of fire.

Some context: As of January 8, at least 79 journalists have been killed in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Monday. The deaths include 72 Palestinians, four Israelis, and three Lebanese, according to CPJ's data.

So what can explain the much higher death rate of journalist vs first responders for example, or soldiers in the most intense combat

https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/01/gaza-journalists-killed-rate-75-higher-us-soldiers-recent-wars-ifj

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has recorded the death of 75 journalists in Gaza since Oct. 7 out of an estimated 1,000 working there before the war began — a mortality rate of 7.5%, which the IFJ has assessed far exceeds the death rate of US soldiers in past wars.

The organization cited figures by the US Department of Veteran Affairs, according to which 1.8% of US soldiers died in World War II (1939-45), 1.4% in the Korean war (1950-53), 1.7% in Vietnam (1955-75) and 0.06% in the first Gulf war (1991), in Iraq and Kuwait.

Next to killing journalists, they also get illegally detained, intimidated, harassed and their families come under fire.

https://cpj.org/2024/02/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/

As of February 11:

(And why is CNN still not fact checking.... just regurgitating IDF statements)

And not just in Gaza

https://www.commondreams.org/news/reuters-journalist-targeted

A Reporters Without Borders investigation released Sunday concluded that Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah and a group of his colleagues were intentionally targeted in southern Lebanon earlier this month in a pair of strikes launched from the direction of the Israeli border.

IDF indiscriminately targets anything that moves

About 100 bodies recovered after Israeli army withdrawal from two Gaza City neighbourhoods

Al Jazeera’s correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul says that rescue teams have managed to retrieve the bodies of about 100 Palestinians from the Tal al-Hawa and Remal neighbourhoods in Gaza City, after Israeli forces withdrew from those areas. Most of the bodies were killed by sniper bullets, al-Ghoul said.

Netanyahu doesn’t “know exactly” what Biden’s over the top comment meant, he says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has addressed President Joe Biden’s comments on Israel’s response in Gaza as being “over the top."  “I appreciate Biden’s support for Israel since the beginning of the war, I don’t know exactly what he meant by that,” Netanyahu said in an interview with ABC News aired Sunday.

Netanyahu went on to say Israel has “responded in a way that goes after the terrorist and tries to minimize the civilian population.” ABC's Jonathan Karl then reminded Netanyahu of the death toll reported by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza that now tops 28,000. “I’d be cautious with the Hamas statistics, and I can tell you that according to warfare experts (…) we brought down the civilian to terrorist casualty ratio down below 1 to 1 which is considerably less than in any other theatre of similar warfare," Netanyahu said.

On Thursday, President Biden offered one of his sharpest rebukes to date on Israel’s military conduct in Gaza, saying the operation to go after Hamas had been “over the top.” Echoing some of his other comments to ABC, in a separate interview with Fox News on Sunday, Netanyahu said those who say the military can’t go into the southern Gaza city of Rafah essentially want Israel to lose. The Israeli prime minister claimed there is “plenty of room” for Gaza’s civilians to evacuate to ahead of a ground assault on Rafah.

Slip of the tongue, typo, but yes they are trying to minimize / decimate the civilian population.

Plenty of room to evacuate to?

There are currently more people in Rafah than the population of San Diego in California. (And 5x as many in Rafah as before the war started)
San Diego has an area size 2.7x greater than the whole of the Gaza strip...
Compared at the same scale



Imagine evacuating the entire population of San Diego and putting them err in the San Diego Zoo?

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 11 February 2024

Around the Network
zeldaring on 11 February 2024
SvennoJ said:
NyanNyanNekoChan said:

Ah yes, because clearly those of us that point out that previous ceasefires have sadly not been effective simply must be fans of genocide and ethnic cleansing! This includes you too buddy, given that you also stated that you don't think the ceasefire would work. Welcome to the genocide and ethnic cleansing club, by your own logic!

Instead of singling mud back and forth (yes you too Zeldaring) what is your suggestion to do?

A ceasefire is necessary to stop the current bloodshed, starvation and rampant outbreaks of disease in Gaza. It won't solve the 75 year old conflict, but it will save many lives in the short term and limit further damage to any possible solution to the conflict.

Ceasefires have not been successful in the long run because the US keeps vetoing every effort to solve the root cause of the conflict. The US has created the feeling of impunity in Israel and encouraged far right Zionists to take control of the government.
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/far-right-israel-zionism/
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-origins-of-netanyahus-all-systems-assault-on-israeli-democracy

Israel is long overdue a wake up call starting with sanctions. Hopefully it's not too late for the population to restore democracy before Netanyahu and the likes erode it further.
https://www.chathamhouse.org/2024/01/when-netanyahu-falls-israels-democracy-will-need-new-political-realignments

Ceasefires only work when work is done to solve the underlying conflict. Israel has never stopped the occupation nor continued stealing of land from Palestinians, treating them as second class citizens at best. All they have done is tighten the oppression and surveillance while building more checkpoints and walls. The IRA laid down their arms because that conflict was not solved with walls and apartheid.

Quoting Nelson Mandela

I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity. When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both.

"Choose peace rather than confrontation. Except in cases where we cannot get, where we cannot proceed, or we cannot move forward. Then if the only alternative is violence, we will use violence."

There is a way out

https://globalnews.ca/news/10100613/nelson-mandela-great-grandson-israel-hamas-conflict/

Mandela said that his great-grandfather, the first Black president of South Africa, was considered idealistic for thinking that there was a solution to apartheid in his country and people would consider it a miracle if it happened — and then it did.

“The world looked at us and marveled to see us as a miracle. It’s not a miracle, it’s two conflicting parties coming into a realization that the violence would never resolve the conflict. They ought to find alternative ways to deal with that conflict,” he said.

And as with Israel, it took the US to stop supporting apartheid in South Africa to get the momentum going to start solving that conflict.
https://www.salon.com/2011/02/05/ronald_reagan_apartheid_south_africa/
Yet it took the international community to apply pressure on the US to finally stop backing the apartheid regime.

Israel has Europe in its pocket as well though :/

 

Sorry but it's hard to take anyone seriously when they say will a ceasefire solve anything. If they are paying attention it's not a war, it's a genocide. something like 9000 children under 7 years old killed and isreal knows this every time they drop a bomb but they calculate it's worth it since Palestinians lives are worth nothing. The whole population homeless and starving, 70% of homes destroyed, and 70%-75% of civilians killed you really have to be heartless to say what would a cease fire accomplish.         



SvennoJ on 11 February 2024
zeldaring said:

Sorry but it's hard to take anyone seriously when they say will a ceasefire solve anything. If they are paying attention it's not a war, it's a genocide. something like 9000 children under 7 years old killed and isreal knows this every time they drop a bomb but they calculate it's worth it since Palestinians lives are worth nothing. The whole population homeless and starving, 70% of homes destroyed, and 70%-75% of civilians killed you really have to be heartless to say what would a cease fire accomplish.         

Yes, I feel the same way. But I don't watch Fox News and I assume neither do you. The narrative there and in other main stream is very different, always downplaying or ignoring what happens in Gaza, completely ignoring what happens in the West Bank, continuing to push the narrative that Oct 7 happened out of the blue because Hamas wants to kill all jews. (Why would they take hostages if they want to kill all jews?)

Israel has succeeded in painting themselves as the only democracy in the Middle East, surrounded by hate filled Arabs that want to wipe them off the planet. It's not that people are for genocide, it's that they don't or refuse to belief what's actually happening in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. Disinformation campaigns on all fronts plus social media in particular makes it easier than ever to fall prey of confirmation bias.

The 'Hamas-run' health ministry must be lying about the death toll, despite it being well under represented as stated by many respected international organizations. Hamas is going to wipe out Israel if we don't stop them now. Just listen to all the lies Eylon Levy spouts as gospel

Fox news regurgitates all that as truth.

The Western media is complicit in the long ongoing genocide, which did not start on Oct 7 either, started in 1948.
For example article from 2016
https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/10/Background%20on%20the%20term%20genocide%20in%20Israel%20Palestine%20Context.pdf

Genocide is a term that has both sociological and legal meaning. The term genocide was coined in 1944 by a Jewish Polish legal scholar, Raphael Lemkin. For Lemkin, “the term does not necessarily signify mass killings.” He explained:

More often [genocide] refers to a coordinated plan aimed at destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups so that these groups wither and die like plants that have suffered a blight. The end may be accomplished by the forced disintegration of political and social institutions, of the culture of the people, of their language, their national feelings and their religion. It may be accomplished by wiping out all basis of personal security, liberty, health and dignity. When these means fail the machine gun can always be utilized as a last resort. Genocide is directed against a national group as an entity and the attack on individuals is only secondary to the annihilation of the national group to which they belong.


Israel has been doing this to the Palestinian people for the past 75 years and hasn't been shy about it either

https://worldwithoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-conflicts/israel-palestine-conflict-history-causes-and-international-law

During the 2014 Gaza War, the U.N. Special Advisers on the Prevention of Genocide issued a statement that they were “disturbed by the flagrant use of hate speech in the social media, particularly against the Palestinian population,” and that “individuals have disseminated messages that could be dehumanising to the Palestinians and have called for the killing of members of this group,” while “remind[ing] all that incitement to commit atrocity crimes is prohibited under international law.”[31]

This sort of language is not isolated, either. Israeli lawmakers have publicly called for action against Palestinians that would clearly meet the definition under the 1948 Convention. In 2008, Matan Vilnai, the Deputy Defense Minister for Israel, declared that the increasing tensions in the Gaza Strip would bring on a “shoah” (or holocaust). He stated, “The more Qassam [rocket] fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves.”[32]

Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked posted a statement in June 2014 on Facebook stating that “the entire Palestinian people is the enemy” and he advocated for Palestine’s destruction “including its elderly and its women, its cities and its villages, its property and its infrastructure.” The post also called for the killing of Palestinian mothers who give birth to “little snakes.”[33] The language is shocking, and when combined with the policies enacted by the people saying things like this, it becomes clear that the actions of Israel could constitute genocide.

Yet their PR office in the form of Hasbara and Aipac have kept all this hidden from the casual audience of the world and pushed the narrative that it's always been Hamas that wants to wipe out Israel and Israel is merely defending itself from barbarians.

In 2022 Israel allocated another 30 million to spread propaganda
https://www.972mag.com/hasbara-funding-foreign-agents/

The Israeli cabinet approved on Sunday a project that could inject up to NIS 100 million [$30 million] toward covertly funding government propaganda in the United States and other Western countries. Led by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, the initiative is expected to revive a failed plan entrusted until recently to the now-defunct Strategic Affairs Ministry, which closed in 2021. The plan is to transfer money indirectly to foreign organizations that will spread Israeli propaganda in the countries in which they operate, all while hiding the fact that they are backed by the Israeli government.

Meanwhile Aipac spends 3 million a year lobbying politicians
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/american-israel-public-affairs-cmte/summary?id=D000046963


If you believe the Western media and Israeli propaganda, then statements like "what would a ceasefire accomplish" make sense. The one thing I hope will finally happen is that Israel has gone so far this time that they won't be able to cover up all the war crimes and ongoing genocide any longer. And maybe then a solution can finally start to happen.



SvennoJ on 11 February 2024

Western narcissism and support for genocidal Israel go hand in hand

Delusional beliefs of civilisational superiority help the West claim it is on the right side of history while supporting genocide in Gaza.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/2/11/western-narcissism-and-support-for-genocidal-israel-go-hand-in-hand

It takes a special kind of narcissism for a world leader to declare himself a 50-year-long adherent to a white supremacist ideology that excuses apartheid, settler-colonialism and genocide, and then to turn to the greatness of the US and all its “possibilities” as if the US has only been sprinkling pixie dust around the world and not intervening with brutal military and economic power over the past 130 years.

But the US president is not alone in his self-delusion. At the Conservative Friends of Israel gathering in London last month, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak showed unwavering support for Israeli attacks on Gaza and the West Bank. “There is a horrific irony in Israel, of all countries being accused of genocide,” Sunak said, labelling South Africa’s case against Israel “completely unjustified”.

The “horrific irony” is that Israel, as a Western ally, cannot be accused of genocide because it is one of “the good guys”. The “bad guys” can only be non-Western (really, non-white) nations, such as South Africa.



Meanwhile Egypt is inforcing the border




Netanyahu still pretending to care for the hostages while doing everything to get the rest of them killed

Netanyahu says he thinks enough hostages are alive to "warrant the kind of efforts" Israel is making


A photo taken from southern Israel, along the border with Gaza, shows an Israeli tank positioned behind a sand wall and damaged buildings in Gaza on January 18.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he thinks enough hostages are alive in Gaza to “warrant the kind of efforts” Israel is making to secure their release. “I’m committed to getting them out, make every effort. And it requires pressure, pressure has worked, and pressure will work again,” Netanyahu told ABC News in an interview aired Sunday. 

Netanyahu was asked about the Hostage and Missing Families Forum’s open letter that questioned Israel’s approach to ongoing negotiations with Hamas, and its commitment to securing the release of hostages. “I’m not sure anybody can put themselves in the position of the families, but neither can the families put themselves of the decisions makers,” Netanyahu said. “These are two separate things. They reach our heart, they reach my heart, but I’m also responsible for the safety and the security of the people of Israel,” he added.

What we know about the hostages: There are currently 136 hostages held in Gaza, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office. Of those, 132 are from the October 7 attack. It is believed 103 of those hostages are alive, with 29 reported dead. Hamas holds a majority of the hostages, but some are believed to be held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and possibly smaller groups or individuals in Gaza.

Call with Biden: During a call with US President Joe Biden on Sunday, Netanyahu discussed hostage negotiations at length, according to a senior US administration official. The official cautioned that, while a framework for a deal is in place, gaps remain.



SvennoJ on 11 February 2024

Two male Israeli hostages rescued in special operation in Rafah, IDF says

Two Israeli hostages were rescued overnight from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in a special operation between the Israel Defense Forces, Israel Security Agency Shin Bet, and the Israeli police. The two hostages have been identified as Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, who were taken by Hamas during the militant group's October 7 attack on Israel, according to the joint statement on Monday.

Their rescue comes 128 days after they were taken captive. The two men are in good medical condition and have been transferred to Sheba Medical Center in Israel, the IDF said. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hailed it as an "impressive release operation" by the IDF. "All appreciation to IDF forces, security forces and special police forces for the important operation and quality performance. We will keep our commitment to return the hostages in any way," he wrote on X.

More than 60 people killed in Israeli strikes on Rafah, Palestinian Red Crescent Society says 


A man walks past a destroyed building following Israeli bombardments on Rafah on Monday morning

More than 60 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the southern Gazan city of Rafah, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said early Monday. The city, where more than half of Gaza’s population is seeking refuge, experienced "intense targeting" by warplanes and airstrikes, the PRCS said. CNN cannot independently verify the numbers. 

At least two mosques and around a dozen homes were targeted in the strikes, the Rafah municipality said on Monday. Helicopters also fired machine guns along its border regions, according to the PRCS. Rafah lies near Gaza's border with Egypt. Director of Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital said medical facilities in Rafah "cannot handle the large number of injuries due to the Israeli occupation's bombardment." According to the PRCS, people are trapped under the rubble and there is still a heavy presence of warplanes in the skies over Rafah. 


A destroyed mosque is seen following Israeli bombardments of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday morning

Rafah attack ‘horrific and devastating’: Australian senator

Australian Senator David Shoebridge has decried the bombardment on Rafah and questioned the timing while viewers in the United States watch the Super Bowl. “The attack on Rafah happening at 2am Gaza time while the US is watching the Superbowl is utterly horrific and devastating,” said Shoebridge in a post on social media. “Our hearts are with the Palestinian people now more than ever,” he added.

Shoebridge is a member of the Australian Greens who have called for a ceasefire in Gaza and questioned Australia’s role in exporting weapons to Israel.

More details on Rafah bombardment tonight

The Wafa news agency has more details on the areas of Rafah targeted by bombardment from Israeli warplanes and navy ships tonight. They include:

  • The Al-Rahma mosque in Al-Shaboura and Al-Huda mosque in the Yabna camp where dozens of people were sheltering.
  • Central Gaza near the headquarters of the Palestinian Red Crescent.
  • Areas close to the border with Egypt.

As we reported earlier, there have also been reports of heavy shelling in the areas around the Kuwait Hospital. The Director of Kuwait Hospital, Suhaib Al-Hams, has said, “The hospital is full of wounded people in a very dangerous situation, and there is not enough medicine,” Wafa reports.

Injured people have been taken to the Kuwait Hospital in Rafah while hundreds of other people have reportedly also fled to the hospital grounds seeking shelter from the Israeli bombardments, according to Wafa and video footage verified by Al Jazeera.

(Painful scenes of injured people, including children, in the violent Israeli bombing of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip)

 



Around the Network
SvennoJ on 11 February 2024

Israel runs Super Bowl ad campaign to highlight captives in Gaza

The Israeli government has launched an advertising campaign in the US to highlight the plight of captives being held in Gaza. “To all the dads held in captivity by Hamas for over 120 days. We vow to bring you home,” says one advertisement played during the Super Bowl. The cost to run one Super Bowl advertisement is about $7m.

It’s one of several ads that have been released by Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate in recent days ahead of the Super Bowl. Another one says: “136 seats are still available for Sunday’s game. One for each Israeli hostage held captive by Hamas.”




Activist video shows alternative Gaza Super Bowl ad

The activist group Know Collective has produced an alternative Super Bowl advertisement showing the death and destruction that has occurred as a result of Israel’s war on Gaza. The video was produced in response to the Israeli government buying a primetime slot at the US Super Bowl on Sunday to highlight the plight of captives being held in Gaza.

"To all the dads that have been killed by the [Israeli military] for over 120 days, we vow to bring you justice,” the Know Collective advertisement says. Posting on X, Omar Suleiman, the president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research in the US, said: “Here is the #GazasuperBowlAd you should’ve seen”.



Netanyahu responsible for ‘unprecedented humanitarian disaster’: Bernie Sanders

US Senator Bernie Sanders has said “no one in Congress” should support the Biden administration sending military aid to Israel, in a post on X. He added that Netanyahu’s “war machine” is responsible for an “unprecedented humanitarian disaster”. His comments come as Israel is preparing to launch an assault on Rafah – a move the international community has warned will create a humanitarian catastrophe in the city in southern Gaza.

Palestinian paramedics protest in West Bank against Gaza killings

Paramedics from the Red Crescent in the occupied West Bank have held a protest after two more of their colleagues were killed in Gaza. The bodies of Ahmad al-Madhoun and Yusuf Zeino were found on Saturday, 12 days after they were dispatched to rescue six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was also found dead a few metres away.

The PRCS has renewed calls for the international community to help protect its staff in Gaza



A Palestinian paramedic is carried on a stretcher by his colleagues from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) during a protest to denounce the death of their colleagues, in Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Sunday.



The paramedics held signs saying, ‘No to killing ambulance crews’ ‘The direct targeting and deliberate killing of PRCS crews and volunteers is considered a war crime,” the PRCS said in a statement on Sunday.



SvennoJ on 11 February 2024

Coordinated with the Superbowl ad no doubt

Israeli military spokesperson describes details of captive rescue

The Israeli military has been working on the rescue of two captives from Rafah “for a long time”, according to spokesperson Daniel Hagari. Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military announced they had rescued two men, aged 60 and 70, from the city in southern Gaza. “Conditions were not ripe to carry it out until now, and we waited for them to ripen,” Hagari said. “Reaching the target in the heart of Rafah was very complex.”

Hagari said that the Israeli military arrived at the building located in Rafah’s Shabura neighbourhood at about 1am and broke in. Gunfire was exchanged with gunmen in adjacent buildings when the captives were extracted. “There was intense firepower from the air. Fire was opened from nearby buildings. The Air Force struck intensively there,” he said. “Many terrorists were eliminated tonight in this action.”

Many innocent people were eliminated as well. I'm glad the hostages got out alive, yet they could have been home a lot sooner through negotiations and a ceasefire without killing more people.



hellobion2 on 12 February 2024

I wonder when this group operation will be complete.



BiON!@ 

SvennoJ on 12 February 2024

More on the hostage rescue, death toll over 100 already

Israeli military says it conducted ground and air operation in Rafah to extract hostages


Palestinians inspect the damage to residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, Gaza, on February 12

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) coordinated a ground and air operation on Hamas targets in Rafah to extract two hostages, a spokesperson told reporters Monday. "In a retrieval joint operation of IDF, security forces and special police forces, the special police unit, we retrieved Louis Har and Fernando Marman who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 from Nir Ytzhak," said spokesman Daniel Hagari. "There was aerial coverage and a wave of strikes by the Israeli Air Force together with the Southern Command.”

Hagari said that special forces entered a building in the center of Rafah at 1:49 a.m. local time (6:49 p.m. ET). "At 1:50am, the air cover started the action by the Air Force and the southern command in order to allow the forces to detach and to hit Hamas terrorists in the area," he added. Within minutes, the two hostages were escorted out under fire from Hamas fighters and then taken to a "safe spot" in Rafah to get medical attention, Hagari added. They were then airlifted out of Gaza by helicopter to the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, Israel.

Hagari said the "complex" operation had been planned for a "long time." "It was a very tense and exciting night," he added. "They were intentionally held in the middle of a civilian neighborhood, inside a civilian building, to try and prevent us from rescuing them. But we did," Hagari said in a later statement released in English. "This rescue mission underscores the importance of our ground operation in Gaza, including Rafah, when conditions allow."

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Monday that more than 100 people had been killed by Israeli air strikes on Rafah overnight. More people are believed to remain trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings.

"Welcome back home," Netanyahu tells hostages rescued from Gaza 

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed home the two Israeli-Argentine hostages rescued overnight in joint operations with the Israel Defense Forces in Rafah.  "Fernando and Louis - Welcome back home," Netanyahu said in a statement on Monday.

Sixty-year-old Fernando Simon Marman and 70-year-old Louis Har were both taken during the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the IDF said. "I salute our brave warriors for the bold action that led to their release. Only the continuation of military pressure, until complete victory, will result in the release of all our hostages," Netanyahu said. "We will not miss any opportunity to bring them home."

Argentina's president thanks Israel for rescue of its nationals held hostage

The office of Argentina's President Javier Milei praised Israel for the rescue of its two citizens from Gaza on Monday. Milei's office said on X that it thanks the Israel Defense Forces, the Israel Security Agency and the Israel Police for "having successfully completed the rescue" of Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70.

Marman and Har are dual Israeli-Argentine nationals, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum told CNN. They were both captured during the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, according to the IDF. Milei said he had repeated a request to free the Argentine hostages to Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a recent state visit to Israel.


Argentina pledges to move their embassy to Jerusalem just 6 days ago, and the IDF rescues two Argentinian citizens. Call me cynical, yet together with the superbowl ad, it all smells like a huge PR stunt to legitimize further action in Rafah.


Hamas condemns Israel's "horrific massacre" of civilians in Rafah


Wounded Palestinians are brought to Kuwait Hospital for treatment following Israeli attacks on Rafah City, Gaza on February 12.

Hamas condemned what it called a "horrific massacre" by Israel against civilians in Rafah on Monday after the Israeli military confirmed it conducted airstrikes near the city. More than 100 people were killed in overnight strikes by Israeli forces in the southern city, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS). Hamas also said over 100 people were killed in the attacks.

Hamas said the Israeli military's attack on Rafah "and its horrific massacres against defenseless civilians and displaced children, women, and the elderly... is considered a continuation of the genocidal war and the forced displacement attempts it is waging against our Palestinian people." CNN cannot independently verify the number of casualties on the ground.

In its statement, Hamas accused US President Joe Biden and his administration of bearing "full responsibility" for the civilian deaths. Israel's strikes on Rafah come a day after Biden had a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reaffirmed his stance that the Israeli military should not proceed with a ground offensive in Rafah “without a credible and executable plan” to ensure the safety of civilians — estimated to be over one million people who had fled there amid Israeli bombardment.

Biden and Netanyahu had discussed a deal to secure the release of hostages in Gaza at length during the call, according to a senior administration official, but gaps remain in those discussions.



SvennoJ on 12 February 2024

The EU is "extremely concerned" about the situation in Rafah

The European Union is “extremely concerned” about the situation in Rafah, the bloc’s most senior diplomat, Josep Borrell, told reporters on Monday. “The situation with Egypt is very tense and we are extraordinarily concerned about what can happen there," he said.

His comments come as EU ministers meet to discuss the Israel-Hamas conflict, as well as accusations against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, the UN's main agency working with Palestinians.

Remember: In January, Israel accused some of UNRWA’s staff members of involvement in Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks, though few details to support these allegations have been released.

“Allegations [have] to be verified,” the diplomat said. “The presumption of innocence is valid for everyone, at any time, even for UNRWA.” “It is not a secret that the Israeli government wants to get rid of UNRWA,” Borrell continued. “Let’s wait for the investigation to take place.” Borrell said that “many” EU ministers have written to him, urging him to ask Israel to stop preventing humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza.

Israel urges UN agencies to help evacuate civilians from Gaza war zones

Israel has called on UN relief agencies to help with its efforts to evacuate civilians from Gaza war zones before its planned ground sweep of Rafah, a town on the enclave’s border with Egypt which is crowded with displaced Palestinians.

“We urge UN agencies to cooperate,” government spokesperson Eylon Levy said in a briefing. “Don’t say it can’t be done. Work with us to find a way.”

Dutch court orders government to ban export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel

The Netherlands must stop the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel within seven days, a Dutch court ruled on Monday, citing concerns that they could be used to violate international law as part of the Israeli campaign in Gaza. “The court finds that there is a clear risk that Israel’s F-35 fighter jets might be used in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law,” The Hague Court of Appeal said in a statement. “This means that the export of F-35 parts from the Netherlands to Israel has to be stopped.”

Three non-governmental organizations — Oxfam Novib, Pax for Peace, and The Rights Forum — appealed a previous Dutch court decision that allowed the continued export of F-35 parts to Israel. On Monday, The Hague Court of Appeal said that under several international regulations that the Netherlands is a party to, the country must prevent the export of military equipment if there is a “clear risk of serious violations of international humanitarian law.”

The court said that Israel does not take “take sufficient account of the consequences of its attacks for the civilian population,” adding that its attacks on Gaza have resulted in a “disproportionate number of civilian casualties.”

Israel should think before it takes further action in Rafah: UK foreign secretary


Palestinians walk at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 12

David Cameron has called on Israel to halt its current military strategy following its overnight attacks on Rafah as he re-iterated calls for a pause in the fighting that could lead to a permanent ceasefire. “We think it is impossible to see how you can fight a war amongst these people. There’s nowhere for them to go,” the British foreign secretary told reporters.

“We are very concerned about the situation, and we want Israel to stop and think very seriously before it takes any further action. But above all, what we want is an immediate pause in the fighting, and we want that pause to lead to a ceasefire,” he said.

Rescuing captives is a ‘moral obligation’: Israeli military spokesperson

Daniel Hagari has issued a statement in which he said the overnight rescue mission “underscores the importance of our ground operation in Gaza, including Rafah, when conditions allow”. He added that the Israeli military has a “moral obligation” to bring all the captives home, an obligation it will continue to do everything in its power to fulfil.

Israeli protesters block Gaza-bound humanitarian aid

Dozens of protesters are blocking trucks carrying vital humanitarian aid from entering Israel from Egypt at the Nitzana border crossing, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported. In recent weeks, there have been regular protests to block aid to the Gaza Strip, in particular at the Karam Abu Salem border crossing, known as Kerem Shalom in Israel. Protesters often include family members of captives being held by Hamas who demand that their release should come before any more humanitarian aid can cross.

Israeli snipers kill seven in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis: Ministry

The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza says Israeli snipers have killed seven people inside Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, where heavy fighting has been reported in recent days. “No one can move in the yards of Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis,” Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement on Telegram.

“Israeli snipers killed seven citizens and wounded 14 staff and displaced people inside the yard [of the hospital],” he added. He said that ceilings in the dormitory and operations departments collapsed as a result of the explosions around the hospital. “We need the protection of the technical staff to move in the yard of the hospital to repair the sewage network,” al-Qudra said.

Israeli military kills at least 15 in bombing in Deir el-Balah

Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues are reporting that an Israeli bomb has killed at least 15 people in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

Israeli forces arrest 35 Palestinians: Advocacy group

Israeli soldiers have carried out waves of raids and detentions of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem on Monday morning, injuring several people, according to the Wafa news agency.

Israeli security forces have arrested at least 35 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since Sunday night, including a wounded minor and a former prisoner, according to an advocacy group. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said on Telegram that the arrests were mostly in the city of Hebron, while others were made in the cities of Nablus, Ramallah, Jenin and Qalqilya, as well as in East Jerusalem.

Boy killed by Israeli forces in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem

A teenager has died after being shot by the Israeli forces in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem. Local sources speaking to the Wafa news agency said that the boy, 15-year-old Muhammad Tariq Abu Sneina from the town of al-Eizariya, died due to his wounds after being shot by Israeli troops.

He was targeted allegedly for “attempting to carry out a stabbing attack” on al-Wad Street in the Old City, according to Israeli media. Wafa quoted witnesses as saying that Israeli forces stationed on the street opened fire on Abu Sneina, wounding him and leaving him bleeding for a period of time. According to witness accounts, he was then arrested and taken away in an Israeli ambulance.

 

 

What we know about the Israeli strikes on Rafah

  • The Israeli bombing has killed 67 Palestinians and wounded dozens, according to Ashraf al-Qudra, Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesperson.
  • Shaboura’s ar-Rahma mosque and al-Huda mosque in the Yabna camp, where dozens of people were sheltering, were hit.
  • There have been reports of heavy shelling in the areas around the Kuwaiti Hospital.
  • Israel’s military says it rescued two captives from a house in Rafah’s Shaboura neighbourhood at about 1am on Monday (23:00 GMT on Sunday).
  • Hamas says the strikes are “a continuation of the genocidal war” waged by Israel on the Palestinian people.


Mourners react next to the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes at Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah

 

Palestinians recount Israeli operation that killed dozens in Rafah

As jubilation has taken over in Israel over the release of the two captives overnight, Palestinians in Rafah recount a night of horror and devastation.

Forty-day-old Majed al-Afifi is among about 100 people killed by Israeli forces overnight in Rafah, according to the health ministry in Gaza. His uncle recounts the devastating night. “We heard the bombing without warning,” Said al-Hams, 26, told the AFP news agency in Rafah refugee camp. His nephew, a twin, “was born exactly 40 days ago and was killed”, while their mother was wounded.

Dozens of Israeli strikes pounded Rafah, where some 1.4 million people have sought refuge during four months of Israel’s war on Gaza. “The situation was hell,” said Abu Suhaib, who was sleeping dozens of metres from where Israeli forces struck. “We heard the sound of explosions, like hell falling down on civilians,” he told AFP.

The 28-year-old said he heard warplanes firing, shooting and a helicopter landing. The aerial bombardment also left five vast craters, at least 10 metres wide and five metres deep, an AFP journalist said.

“I can’t tell you how we survived the night,” said Abu Abdullah al-Qadi, who was woken by the sound of shooting. “They killed my cousin, they killed a lot of people with strikes,” he told AFP, as dozens gathered by the destroyed buildings. “They stormed this building and it appears that they freed prisoners – and then they bombed it,” said Qadi. “They bombed all the houses next to it,” he added.



So their [IDF] idea of sparing civilians with more targeted operations turn out to be even more deadly...

Health Ministry: 28,340 killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza

Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed 28,340 Palestinians and wounded 67,984 since October 7, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. In the last 24 hours, Israeli forces killed 164 people and injured 200 in Gaza, a ministry statement on Telegram said.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 12 February 2024