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

SvennoJ on 10 September 2024

Israel’s defence minister says Gaza truce deal a ‘strategic opportunity’

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has backed an agreement to release captives in the first phase of a Gaza truce deal, saying it would give Israel a “strategic opportunity” to address other security challenges.

Bringing the captives home is “the right thing to do,” Gallant told foreign journalists. “Achieving an agreement is also a strategic opportunity that gives us a high chance to change the security situation on all fronts,” he said.

Gallant recently issued harsh criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying his decision to prioritise remaining in the Philadelphi Corridor over striking a deal was coming at the cost of the captives’ lives.

Doesn't sound like Gallant wants an end to the genocide either, just phase 1 of the ceasefire proposal.


Gallant says Hamas as ‘military formation no longer exists’

Here is more from Israel’s defence minister, who has been speaking to foreign journalists. Gallant said Hamas’s military capabilities had been severely damaged after more than 11 months of war and that it no longer existed as a military formation in Gaza.

“Hamas as a military formation no longer exists. Hamas is engaged in guerrilla warfare and we are still fighting Hamas terrorists and pursuing Hamas leadership,” he said.

Israel says American-Turkish activist killed in West Bank likely shot ‘unintentionally’ by army

The Israeli military has said American-Turkish activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was killed in the West Bank last week, was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces while aiming at someone else.

The 26-year-old activist from Seattle died from a bullet wound to the head on Friday, during a demonstration against Israeli settlements in the town of Beita.

The military said its inquiry “found that it is highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by [Israeli army] fire which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot”.

Other protesters said there had been clashes between Israeli forces firing tear gas and live rounds and Palestinians throwing rocks but that the violence had subsided before Eygi was shot.

American-Turkish activist killed ‘to curb and suppress’ protests

Every witness we’ve been speaking to from beta or from the international activists who attended that protest negates this vision that has been published in a statement by the Israeli army.

They say that at the time of the shooting, there were no confrontations happening between the Palestinian protesters and the Israeli forces who were there. This is a site that Palestinians often go to to protest Israeli settlers taking over Palestinian lands.

As far as Palestinians are concerned, they say that this is done intentionally to curb and suppress these Palestinian protests that aim to regain and reclaim back the land that has been taken by Israeli settlers.


Blinken says death of American woman in occupied West Bank ‘unjustified’

Israeli forces fatally shot American-Turkish activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi last week at a demonstration in the occupied West Bank, leading world-wide condemnation.

“No one should be shot and killed for attending a protest,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a news conference in London, adding that Eygi’s death was “unprovoked and unjustified”.

“In our judgment, Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way that they operate in the [occupied] West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement,” he said.

You say the words, but you don't believe them yourself... Nothing will come from this as usual.



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SvennoJ on 10 September 2024

UK foreign secretary says ‘shocking’ strike in Gaza shows need for truce

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has expressed concern over the missile strike in Gaza’s al-Mawasi humanitarian zone as he held a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London.

“We’re meeting at a critical moment – a critical moment for securing a ceasefire in Gaza, with the shocking deaths in Khan Younis this morning only reinforcing how desperately needed that ceasefire is,” he said.

How many more 'critical moments' before you stop backing Israel.

Blinken says ceasefire ‘best way’ to bring home captives

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says efforts are continuing to “prevent the crisis in the Middle East from escalating further”.

Blinken, speaking in London beside UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, said their two countries were prepared to act together “to help Israel defend itself in the future”, while “equally determined” to end the war in Gaza.

“The quickest way to do so remains bringing the ceasefire agreement over the finish line. It’s the best way to get the hostages home, the best way to get a massive infusion of assistance for people who so desperately need it in Gaza,” he said.

It has been proven to be the slowest and most deadliest way. You're only stalling, it's been the same ceasefire negotiation since December. Only more people will die as long as you keep pretending to press for a ceasefire. It's time for actions, stop sending more bombs.



Blinken says efforts ongoing to seal Gaza deal, blasts Israel for activist’s death

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking alongside British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during a visit to London, told the press that there are ongoing efforts to seal a deal for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

Blinken said 90 percent of the items had been agreed upon but that the last 10 percent is often the most difficult, while Lammy said what was needed now were partners for peace.

The US Secretary of State was also asked whether he accepted Israel’s explanation that it had unintentionally shot American-Turkish activist Aysenur Ezgi Eyg. Blinken was quite strong on that, saying Israeli forces need to make changes in the way they operate.

There are serious issues to be dealt with, he said, and we expect them to take those issues seriously.

Take me seriously, but regardless of what you do, have more bombs and more cash to do what you want. The ICC needs to issue an arrest warrant for Blinken as well, next to Biden.



SvennoJ on 10 September 2024

Israels' FORGED Documents Exposed - The Lies Never End



This underlines why nothing the Israeli authorities claim should be ever trusted.


Blinken launches rare attack on Israel; David Lammy dodges question on Netanyahu



US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday finally adopted a tough stand, or at least he pretended to do so, on Israel on the death of an American national by an Israeli sniper. Meanwhile, Blinken’s British counterpart David Lammy evaded a question of an arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court in days to come.


'Bibi Files': Banned In Israel, Film On Netanyahu's Corruption ‘Scandal’ Premieres In Toronto


The Highly anticipated ‘The Bibi Files’ premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The unfinished documentary includes never-seen-before footage of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

The footage in the film was captured during police interrogations of Prime Minister Netanyahu, his wife Sarah, son Yair, close friends, confidantes, and former household staff, conducted between 2016 and 2018. According to a recent Variety report, these recordings were leaked to producer Alex Gibney in 2023.

The film shows many instances in which PM answered: ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I don’t remember’. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested a Jerusalem court on September 9 to prevent the release of footage showing him being questioned for an upcoming documentary. However, just a few hours later, a judge denied his petition.

Netanyahu contended that journalist Raviv Drucker, one of the film's producers, planned to release footage from a police interrogation without court authorization, which is a criminal offense in Israel punishable by up to a year in prison.



SvennoJ on 10 September 2024

Probe confirms Israeli military used US-made bombs in al-Mawasi attack

A new investigation by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency has shown that the Israeli air raid targeting civilians in Gaza’s humanitarian zone was carried out using MK-84 bombs, which weigh 2,000 pounds.

At 12:34am local time (09:34 GMT), several Israeli missiles struck a refugee camp in the al-Mawasi area, located within the humanitarian zone designated by the Israeli army for displaced civilians – west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The Israeli bombing caused widespread damage to the tents, homes, and facilities in the area. Photos from the bombing site reveal widespread devastation, with craters 10 to 15 metres (33 – 49 feet) deep, burying dozens of tents.

Civil defence teams faced immense challenges retrieving the bodies of the dead and injured, with rescue operations continuing into the next morning.


Bombs ‘completely melted and evaporated’ bodies

The Israeli army has targeted the al-Mawasi area during a predawn attack in which they killed 40 Palestinians and wounded 60 others.

Gaza’s media office has confirmed that of 19 of those who were killed, their bodies were managed to be transferred to hospitals in Khan Younis. But the 22 others, their bodies were completely melted and evaporated due to the size of the bombs used in that attack.

The crater that resulted from the raid is a clear indication of how massive the bombs being used are.



But Khan Younis has also been under intense attacks in the past couple of hours, where a residential building was completely destroyed, and six Palestinians were confirmed killed in that attack. Here in the central area, the situation is incredibly chaotic, because the army has been targeting the Bureij refugee camp.

The Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that they managed to militarily defeat Hamas and now there are continuing attacks on very densely populated areas. So the question is, who is Israel attacking?


UN criticises deadly Israeli military attacks on southern Gaza

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) slammed Israel’s overnight attacks on al-Mawasi – an area it unilaterally designated a humanitarian zone and is filled with tents inhabited by internally displaced people in southern Gaza.

The Israeli military “continues to choose to use weapons with wide area effects in these increasingly densely populated areas despite the overwhelming evidence that these means and methods have led to disproportionate harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure, suggesting a complete disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians”, OHCHR said.

This latest attack occurred in the same part of the alleged “humanitarian” zone, where at least 71 were killed in similar circumstances on July 13. “This is despite the Israeli military continuing to order Palestinian civilians to evacuate there, including most recently on August 24.”



SvennoJ on 10 September 2024

‘Children in Gaza deserve lasting peace, not just polio vaccines’

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, has announced the launch of the polio vaccine campaign in north Gaza, saying it would last until September 12.

“Vaccines, finger markers and cold chain equipment were delivered to the north yesterday. Our team is trying to deliver more fuel to ensure vehicles used by vaccinators to reach the children remain functional, and hospitals can be resupplied to maintain essential services,” he said in a post on X.

He also called for maintaining humanitarian pauses and respecting the safety of health workers.

“The children in Gaza deserve lasting peace, not just polio vaccines,” he said.


Right groups, UN face obstruction in efforts to provide relief to Gaza

The Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Muhannad Hadi has said the United Nations and humanitarian organisations face “continuous obstruction and insecurity in their efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the devastated population in Gaza”.

Hadi cited an incident yesterday in which a team of twelve UN staff members, whose movement was coordinated with the Israeli military, was stopped on its way to North Gaza to support the third phase of the Gaza Strip-wide polio vaccination campaign.

According to Hadi, soldiers pointed their weapons towards the convoy personnel. Then, they fired live shots, and tanks and bulldozers damaged UN vehicles, “endangering the lives of UN staff inside the vehicles”.

After seven and a half hours at the checkpoint, the convoy returned to base without being able to fulfil its humanitarian mission to support the polio campaign, Hadi added.

“This incident highlights the ongoing dangers and obstacles humanitarian personnel face in Gaza. Despite daily coordination of humanitarian movements with the Israeli [military], our staff and assets were not provided with sufficient protection, hindering our work. Under international humanitarian law, such protection is mandatory,” he said.


Denied requests doubled for aid trucks to reach northern Gaza: WHO

The number of requests for aid trucks to reach northern Gaza denied by the Israeli army doubled in August compared with previous months, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesperson for the WHO, told reporters in Geneva it was not an isolated incident.

“We have been trying to get to al-Shifa Hospital between September 7-10 for four times, and we were unable to. And we will try again today. So we really [are doing] our best, but this is a pattern,” he said.

Speaking at the same briefing, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said only 74 out of 208 attempts to reach the north in August were facilitated.

On Monday, Israeli forces stopped a convoy that included vehicles and fuel for the vaccination campaign, as well as a WHO team trying to get to al-Shifa Hospital and the mission had to be aborted, Jasarevic said.


UNRWA chief: Polio vaccination campaign continues ‘against all odds’

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, has given an update on today’s progress in the UN’s efforts to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of Gaza’s children against polio.

“Against all odds & despite the serious incident last night our UNRWA teams in Northern Gaza vaccinated 77,000 children against polio. We are inching closer towards the target of vaccinating every child under the age of 10”, he wrote on X.

The “serious incident” he referred to is yesterday’s detention of a UN convoy for hours by Israeli troops in northern Gaza. The convoy contained UN staff members involved in carrying out the vaccination dive.

“While this is good progress, civilians across Gaza continue to be killed on a daily basis including overnight in al-Mawassi which the Israeli authorities refer to as a ‘safe zone'”, Lazzarini added.



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SvennoJ on 10 September 2024

Israeli strike on central Gaza kills child

Our colleagues on the ground are reporting that an Israeli bombardment of Bureij refugee camp has killed at least one girl and wounded a number of other people. The wounded are currently arriving at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah.


Nine killed in Israeli attack on Jabalia

The Wafa news agency reports that nine people were killed and others wounded when Israeli bombs hit the home of the al-Najjar family on Gaza Street in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip. Wafa added that others are still missing after the attack.


Israeli warship kills Palestinian fisherman in southern Gaza: Reports

An Israeli warship has attacked and killed a Palestinian fisherman off the coast of al-Mawasi near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to local media reports.



SvennoJ on 10 September 2024

‘The Israeli army has lost control of its snipers’

Menachem Klein, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, says the Israeli government is trying to “manage the crisis of” the killing of US activist Aysenur Eygi better than it did with the murder of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh – both at the hands of Israeli forces.

“I doubt if this will help Israel vis-a-vis the United States. It seems the Israeli army has lost control of its snipers. The command is very weak,” Klein told Al Jazeera, speaking from West Jerusalem.

Klein said that it is clear that the army is applying the same methods used in Gaza in the West Bank, as well. “Unfortunately, US Secretary of State Blinken did not condemn the Israeli army operations and the methods used in Gaza,” he said.

“The US must impose on Israel changes in the operational mode that the [Israeli army] uses. Without that, Israel will fool the Americans and mislead them. There is in the Israeli army a culture of covering up war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza,” Klein added.


US says closely watching Israel’s ‘criminal’ probe of killing of US activist

The White House says it will be closely watching what it called a “criminal” investigation by Israel into the killing of American-Turkish activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the occupied West Bank last week.

Israel’s military said it was highly likely its troops fired the shot that killed the woman at a protest in the West Bank, but said her death was unintentional and expressed deep regret.

As closely as they're watching the criminal probe into Hind Rijab and the WCK killings? ...


State Department not investigating killing of US citizen Aysenur Eygi

US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said yesterday that the department is not conducting its own investigation into the killing of US citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the occupied West Bank, who was shot and killed last Friday by Israeli forces.

Instead, US officials expect Israel to investigate the matter.

Biden says Israeli killing of US-Turkish activist appears an ‘accident’

President Joe Biden says Israel’s killing of a US-Turkish activist during a protest in the occupied West Bank last week appears to be an accident.

“Apparently, it was an accident – it ricocheted off the ground and she got hit by accident,” Biden told reporters, hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was “unprovoked and unjustified”.

Blinken condemned the fatal shooting, saying the US would make clear to its ally that such actions are “not acceptable”.

“No one – no one – should be shot and killed for attending a protest. Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way they operate in the West Bank.”

A sniper accidentally shot her in the head from 200 meters away? The angle of the bullet entry would clarify, yet shooting at a crowd from far away with a sniper rifle, that's no accident. That's not a defense, intentionally targeting a crowd with lethal ammunition.


Fatally shot Turkish-American activist hid her travel from family

The uncle of the Turkish-American activist killed in the occupied West Bank last week says his niece hid the fact she was travelling to the Palestinian territory to avoid worrying family members.

In an interview with Turkey’s HaberTurk television, Yilmaz Eygi also said that based on information from witnesses, he believes his niece was “deliberately” killed by Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli military said Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26 – a volunteer with the activist group International Solidarity Movement – was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces.

Yilmaz Eygi said: “From what we watched on the news and according to eyewitnesses, it was a murder committed deliberately.”

He said his niece, who was in Didim, Turkey, two weeks earlier, told family members she was travelling to Jordan.

“As her family, as her elders, we didn’t want her to come to any harm. We were opposed to her going to Jordan even. She hid the fact she was going to Palestine. She blocked us from her social media posts so that we would not see them,” Yilmaz Eygi said.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_vDY75IDw_



SvennoJ on 10 September 2024

Without international action, ‘West Bank will become a new Gaza,’: EU’s Borrell

The European Union foreign policy chief has said that a new front was being opened with a clear objective of turning the West Bank into a new Gaza. Addressing the Arab League in Cairo, Joseph Borrell argued “without action of the international community, the West Bank will become a new Gaza.”

He added that Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is working to make it impossible to create a future Palestinian state and that a ceasefire agreement initiated by US President Joe Biden is unlikely to be signed because “those waging the war have no interest in putting an end to it.”

UN Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator to Gaza Sigrid Kaag also addressed the Arab body asserting that an immediate ceasefire must take place for the necessary humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.


Israeli forces kill two Palestinians in West Bank’s Tulkarem: Ministry

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health has said that two Palestinians – a man and a woman – were killed in the northern occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem. The ministry said the man was brought to Tulkarem Governmental Hospital and the woman to al-Isra Hospital, both located in the city.

Neither has been identified yet, and the ministry added that eight others were wounded when Israeli forces opened fire as they raided Tulkarem.


Israeli forces raid Red Crescent centre in Tulkarem

Israeli forces have raided the Palestine Red Crescent Society emergency centre in Tulkarem after surrounding it and ordering paramedics and other crew members to leave, the PRCS said on X.


Israeli forces arrest two paramedics in Tulkarem

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said two of its personnel were arrested by Israeli forces inside its emergency centre in the northern occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem


Red Crescent slams Israeli attack on staff in Tulkarem

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) condemned the Israeli military’s assault on one of its crews earlier today in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank.

It said Israeli forces fired live rounds at a volunteer paramedic as he provided first aid to an injured person in Tulkarem refugee camp. The paramedic was not wounded.

Israeli forces also arrested two other paramedics from inside the Tulkarem emergency medical services centre after raiding it. They were later released.

“Since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip, the PRCS has documented more than 750 violations against its medical missions, patients, and injured individuals in the PRCS’s ambulances in the West Bank.”


Israeli raids on Palestinian communities continue

The Wafa news agency is reporting several Israeli military actions in the occupied West Bank this evening.

Its correspondents said that Israeli forces have bulldozed Nablus Street near the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem and that the army continues to destroy infrastructure elsewhere in the camp, specifically near the Martyr Saif Abu Labda roundabout at the entrance to the camp, and the streets of the al-Ayada neighbourhood.

Israeli forces also blew up a warehouse, without causing any reported injuries or deaths, in Aktaba, a suburb east of Tulkarem.

Israeli has also begun raids on Anabta, Kafr al-Labad and Qaffin in the north. Clashes have broken out and the sound of heavy gunfire can be heard. Elsewhere, Wafa reported that Israeli forces stormed the town of Silwan, close to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.


Israeli forces storm Tubas, declare curfew

The Israeli military has stormed the occupied West Bank city of Tubas and declared a curfew, the Wafa news agency reports.

Reconnaissance drones and helicopters have been seen in the skies above Tubas, according to Wafa, while Israeli forces have also besieged the Turkish Government Hospital and closed the area surrounding the facility.

Israeli military raids have been reported elsewhere in the occupied West Bank. They include:

  • The city of Nablus
  • The Nur Shams camp in Tulkarem


SvennoJ on 10 September 2024

UC Berkeley launches rare Palestinian-Arab studies programme amid Gaza war: Report

UC Berkeley will launch a new endowed chair and programme in Palestinian and Arab Studies, as the Israeli war on Gaza has fuelled high demand for learning about the history, culture and politics of the people of the region, the LA Times reports.

Ussama Makdisi, a UC Berkeley history professor and leading scholar of modern Arab history for nearly three decades, was named the inaugural chair.

“He said the program represents a groundbreaking effort to build understanding about the Palestinian people, who are often portrayed through the lens of the conflict with Israel, yet have a long, rich ethical and ecumenical history of their own,” the Times reported.

According to the Times, Makdisi said interest in Palestinian studies is the highest it has ever been since he began teaching it as part of Arab studies 27 years ago. Interest is growing not only about Palestinian history but also literature, poetry, politics, sociology and areas “across the board,” he said.

US court urged to review claim that Biden is enabling Israeli genocide in Gaza

Legal, civil and human rights groups are voicing their support for an effort by Palestinians to secure a court review of their claims that Biden is enabling genocide in Gaza, the Center for Constitutional Rights says.

Last month, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the decision of a lower court that dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds even as it said Israel’s assault “plausibly” constituted genocide.

The plaintiffs argue that courts have a constitutional duty to assess the legality of the Biden administration’s actions.

The lawsuit, filed in November, claims Biden, Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are violating international and federal law for failing to prevent and being complicit in an Israeli genocide. It asks the court to order the administration to stop supporting the assault on Gaza with weapons or other means.

Law scholars said the panel, like the district court, “badly misinterpreted the political question doctrine” by claiming courts cannot review allegations of international law violations where US “foreign policy decisions are strongly implicated”.

Human rights organisations asserted that domestic courts are supposed to be the primary enforcement mechanism of international law and, in the context of the US, are the only meaningful forums.


‘Our policy is clear’: Canada halts more arms sales to Israel

Canada has suspended some 30 permits for arms shipments to Israel, including a US company’s Canadian subsidiary’s deal with the US government – a rare move.

“Our policy is clear: We will not have any form of arms or parts of arms be sent to Gaza. Period,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said.

“How they’re being sent and where they’re being sent is irrelevant,” she continued, alluding to ammunition that was meant to have been produced by a Canadian division of US defence contractor General Dynamics for Israel’s army.

Canada drew the ire of Israeli leaders when it initially announced it would halt new arms shipments to Israel as of January 8. Pro-Palestinian protests across Canada – at universities, political events and even the Toronto International Film Festival last week – have continued to put pressure on the government to go further.

Out of how many permits though. 210 apparently. And does this include sales to the US which go on to Israel...

https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/1.7319112

...

The Palestinian ambassador to Canada, Mona Abuamara, said she's asked Global Affairs Canada how many military exports are reaching Israel, but hasn't received clear answers on what is being exported under months-old permits or through other countries.

"These things are not as clear as they should be, because they happen secretively," she said in a recent interview.

"I take what the Canadian government tells me, I wait for these reports to be confirmed and I hope they are not confirmed," she said of the proposed U.S. sale of Quebec ammunition.

Global Affairs Canada did not answer when asked whether Abuamara has accurately conveyed her discussions with the department.

"As part of a recent proposed arms sale to Israel, the U.S. State Department has approved the purchase of 50,000 high-explosive mortar cartridges with fuses made in Quebec. It pegs the sale at a maximum cost of US$61.1 million, roughly C$83 million, with deliveries estimated to begin in 2026. A notice posted by the U.S. on Aug. 13 lists the "principal contractor" as General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc., based in the town of Repentigny, east of Montreal. The company would not specify what role it has in the sale, nor respond to the claim that this goes against the government's aim to restrict new arms sales to Israel. The firm has instead referred questions to the U.S. military, which acknowledged a request but did not respond by deadline"

Liberal MP Salma Zahid wrote on social media that her own party "must block this transparent attempt to circumvent the arms embargo our government committed to" and have "a real arms embargo" on Israel.



SvennoJ on 10 September 2024

Israeli defence minister: Close to completing Gaza missions, focus on north

Israeli forces are close to completing their mission in Gaza, and their focus will be turning to the northern border with Lebanon, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says.

“The centre of gravity is moving northward. We are near to completing our tasks in the south, but our mission here is not yet done,” Gallant told soldiers on Israel’s northern border, according to a video sent by his office.

Israeli officials have upped their threats for full-scale military action against Lebanon and Hezbollah, the armed group that calls the country home.Hezbollah has been waging limited strikes against Israel and its military since the outbreak of the Gaza war nearly a year ago.




Jordan, Turkey discuss efforts to stop Gaza war

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan held talks on the sidelines of the 162nd regular session of the Council of the League of Arab States at the ministerial level in Cairo, a statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry has said.

A readout from the ministry said talks focused on the war in Gaza and developments in the occupied West Bank, specifically “efforts aimed at stopping the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, ensuring the protection of civilians, and delivering sufficient and sustainable aid to all parts of the Strip”.

The two ministers, the statement added, stressed the need for a “real political horizon to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution, and to stop all measures that undermine it”.


Turkey urges Arab League to band together to end war on Gaza

Turkey has called on Arab and Muslim states to work together to try to end Israel’s devastating war.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is the first to attend the gathering of Arab states since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended in 2011. Turkey later fell out with many member countries.

“We cannot accept that Palestinian lives, Arab lives and Muslim lives matter less than others,” Fidan said. “Our ranks must be watertight.”

More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza – mostly women and children – since Israel’s war began in October. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.