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

SvennoJ on 15 February 2024

Any Canadians seeing this thread, this petition can still use some more signatures to get it the top 10 ePetitions. (14th place atm)

It has until Februari 19th, close to 70K signatures so far.

https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Sign/e-4745

e-4745 Petition to the Government of Canada

1. Impose a two-way embargo on arms between Canada and Israel;
2. Investigate whether Canadian weapons or weapons components have been used against Palestinian civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories, including during the current war on Gaza;
3. Review all military and security cooperation between Canada and Israel; and
4. Close loopholes that allow the unregulated and unreported transfer of military goods to Israel through the United States.



Around the Network
SvennoJ on 15 February 2024

Situation at Nasser Hospital ‘unbearable’: Norwegian doctor

Humanitarian advocate and physician Mads Gilbert says according to his contacts at Nasser Hospital, hundreds of patients and medical staff have been forcibly displaced by Israeli forces.

“Altogether, 600 people were forced by the occupation soldiers to move … to one of the three buildings, which is the oldest. There is only one elevator working. They had to carry patients by hand, carrying them on their backs. And now they are crammed in the narrow corridors of this building,” Gilbert, who has previously worked in Gaza, told Al Jazeera from Oslo.

“They say that the situation in the hospital for the patients and the staff … is unbearable. There are constant attacks.” Gilbert shared a text message he received from the ground reporting “shooting and bombing everywhere” around the hospital.

“Please stop this madness, stop this war,” the message read. “This is a hospital facility, not a battlefield.”



True heroes

Meet Gaza’s fearless journalist and mother Noor Harazeen

Noor Harazeen has balanced reporting from Gaza and motherhood, making impossible choices as Israel unleashed its assault on the Strip after October 7. Watch our video to see how she tells the world what’s happening on the ground in Gaza, and plans the best birthday party she can for her child.

WHO chief says health situation in Gaza ‘beyond words’

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that the health situation in Gaza has deteriorated “beyond words”. In an interview with the news outlet CNN, Ghebreyesus reiterated his call for a permanent ceasefire and said that conditions in Gaza are “hellish”.

“I reiterated our grave concern about a potential full-scale assault on Rafah, which would cause unimaginable suffering,” Ghebreyesus said in a social media post. “I repeated our call for all parties to work for peace.”

Aid distribution in Gaza’s north ‘nonexistent’: UNICEF official

Spokesperson Tess Ingram says while the agency has some access to southern Gaza to deliver aid, it is close to impossible to distribute aid in the north.

“Aid access to the north has basically been nonexistent since the beginning of this year. We haven’t received the safety assurances that we need to get into the north and provide aid there,” she told Al Jazeera. “What we’re hearing from families on the ground in the north is that hunger is catastrophic and people are resorting to non-human foods to try and survive.”

Some of the most intense fighting since October 7 has taken place in the north, where more than 1.1 million people were ordered in mid-October to evacuate and move southwards as Israeli troops were advancing their ground offensive.

Pro-Palestine protesters lay amid roses in Capitol Hill protest

Pro-Palestine activists laid down in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Thursday in a show of support for Gaza. The 13 protesters, from the group United We Dream, lay next to a sign saying “Ceasefire Now” covered in roses.



Police arrived and arrested members of the group.

Footage shows protesters blocking Golden Gate Bridge calling for protection of Rafah

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was shut down for a short period on Wednesday by pro-Palestine protesters calling on Israel to halt its military campaign in Rafah in southern Gaza. About 50 protesters unrolled banners across the bridge saying “Hands off Rafah” and “Stop arming Israel”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated plans for an assault on the city, where some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering, waiting in fear for the start of the Israeli military’s ground offensive. “We will fight until complete victory and this includes a powerful action also in Rafah,” he wrote on X on Wednesday.

Here is the CBS news reporting, completely focused on the hostages of course.



Disgusting reporting. Rafah the place where the IDF rescued hostages in a daring raid, downplaying the deaths of Palestinians, labeling Rafah as the last stronghold of Hamas and where all the hostages supposedly are. No mention of the humanitarian crisis, the people crammed together and starving in Rafah.



SvennoJ on 15 February 2024

UNRWA shares video of destruction in Gaza City

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has shared footage showing the destruction in Gaza City caused by Israel’s war against Hamas. UNRWA said in a social media post featuring the video that more than 70 percent of civilian infrastructure has been destroyed or severely damaged in the city.

“Nowhere is safe,” the UN agency said on X.




Israeli forces fire at vehicles during raid of Qalqilya

Israeli forces have stormed the city of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank and fired at vehicles, the Wafa news agency reports. Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues also report that Israeli forces have prevented an ambulance from reaching an injured person in the city.

Raids have been reported elsewhere in the occupied West Bank in the following locations:

  • The town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya
  • The city of Bethlehem
  • The Haret al-Sheikh neighbourhood in Hebron’s city centre
  • The town of Silat ad-Dhahr, southwest of Jenin

Israeli occupation forces intercept an ambulance in the city of Qalqilya in the West Bank.

Dozens of men arrested in Silat ad-Dhahr in West Bank

The Israeli military has carried out an “arrest campaign” in the town of Silat ad-Dhahr, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports. Israeli forces raided more than 15 homes and “arrested dozens of young men” in the town, reports Wafa. Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces have arrested a man from the town of Anabta, east of Tulkarem, while a man has also been arrested in the city of Qalqilya.

Raids have also been reported in the following locations:

  • The Jalazoun camp, north of Ramallah
  • The town of Aqaba, north of Tubas
  • The town of Silat ad-Dhahr, south of Jenin camp



Israeli forces storm besieged Nasser Hospital in Gaza

Israeli forces stormed the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Thursday, forcing everyone inside to evacuate and flee for their lives. Israel has said it was searching for captives and fighters, while Hamas and medical groups have denied that armed groups utilise the facility for military functions.




Amnesty director says international law in ‘death throes’

Agnes Callamard, secretary general of the human rights watchdog Amnesty International, has penned an article in the magazine Foreign Affairs stating that Israel’s war in Gaza represents the “culmination of years of erosion of the international rule of law and global human rights system”.

In the article, Callamard condemned the “horrific crimes” committed by Palestinian armed groups on October 7, but said that Israel’s response has been characterised by “a pattern of war crimes and violations of international law”. “Today’s diplomatic complicity in the catastrophic human rights and humanitarian crisis in Gaza is the culmination of years of erosion of the international rule of law and global human rights system,” the article reads.

“Such disintegration began in earnest after 9/11, when the United States embarked on its ‘war on terror,’ a campaign that normalized the idea that everything is permissible in the pursuit of ‘terrorists.’ To prosecute its war in Gaza, Israel borrows ethos, strategy, and tactics from that framework, doing so with the support of the United States.”

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/gaza-and-end-rules-based-order

Netanyahu: Israel ‘rejects international dictates’ on peace deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that a peace deal between Israel and Hamas will only be reached “through direct negotiations between the parties”. “Israel outright rejects international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians,” he wrote on X.

He added that Israel will “continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state”. “Such recognition in the wake of the October 7 massacre would give a huge reward to unprecedented terrorism and prevent any future peace settlement,” he wrote.



SvennoJ on 16 February 2024

More details on Israel rejecting a 2 state solution

Netanyahu rejects "international dictates" on creation of Palestinian state

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed "international dictates" on the creation of a Palestinian state in a social media post.

“⁠Israel outright rejects international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. Such an arrangement will be reached only through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions,” he said in the post on X, formerly Twitter, in the early hours of Friday morning local time (around 6 p.m. ET Thursday).

Netanyahu said that his government would oppose any “unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” adding that any such move would constitute a “huge reward to unprecedented terrorism” in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attacks and prevent a future peace agreement. The prime minister’s statement was posted after a phone call with US President Joe Biden on Thursday afternoon.

Last month, Netanyahu also publicly rejected calls for Palestinian sovereignty following talks with Biden about Gaza’s future, suggesting Israel’s security needs would be incompatible with Palestinian statehood.

According to a report by the Washington Post on Wednesday, the Biden administration and Middle East partners are working to formulate a “comprehensive plan” for peace, which would include a “firm timeline” for the establishment of a Palestinian state. But many Israeli politicians, including far-right ministers in the government, have publicly rejected that idea.

The only 'solution' acceptable to Israel is to ethnically cleanse 'their' territory. The Netanyahu government needs to go, will only continue to make things worse for everyone in the region.

And direct the blame to Hamas again for the stall in ceasefire negotiations

Talks on a hostage and ceasefire deal are at an impasse. Here’s what we know

Talks on a hostage and ceasefire deal for Gaza appear to be at an impasse. Israel’s top-level delegation has returned from Cairo, and there has been no word from Hamas on its position in recent days.

Hamas made a detailed proposal this month for a four-and-a-half-month ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed it as “delusional” at the time, but indirect talks in Cairo continued as Israel faced pressure from its allies to negotiate, and Hamas faced the prospect of a major Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians are sheltering.

It's irrelevant at this point. A ceasefire is essential to implement the stipulations of the ICJ. Plus Israel is never going to agree to any deal with Hamas.

Why is Netanyahu holding out? Netanyahu leads the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, including some that are strongly opposed to any compromise that involves releasing Palestinian prisoners or withdrawing from Gaza.



5 dead after power loss at Nasser Hospital, Hamas-run health ministry says

Five patients have died at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis because of failure in the power generators and the oxygen supply system amid an Israeli military raid on the facility, the Ministry of Health in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Friday. The ministry accused Israeli forces of forcing male patients to relocate without their belongings to the maternity building, "which has been converted into a military barracks."

The ministry had also said two pregnant women delivered children in the hospital “under extremely challenging and inhumane conditions.” In an earlier statement, the ministry said that six intensive care patients and three in nursery incubators could die "at any moment as a result of the cessation of their oxygen" after electrical generators had stopped. “We hold the Israeli occupation responsible for the lives of patients and staff, considering that the complex is now under its full control,” the ministry said.

Hospital raid: Israeli special forces raided Nasser Hospital, Gaza’s largest functioning medical facility, on Thursday after laying siege to the facility for days. The Israel Defense Forces took control of the complex after saying it had “credible intelligence” that Hamas had held hostages at the hospital, and that the bodies of dead hostages may be on the property. The military did not publicly release evidence to support this.

Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces had not found any hostages at Nasser Hospital so far, but were continuing to scan the facility. The IDF said earlier it was continuing its operation inside the hospital, but claimed it would continue to operate in accordance with international law against Hamas.

No evidence, no results, apart from destroying another hospital complex.



And CNN gladly keeps re-iterating IDF lies. I'm sure it's all over Fox news as well

IDF claims it detained more than 20 suspects from October 7 attack amid Nasser Hospital raid

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they’ve detained over 20 suspects from the October 7 attack, as they continue their raid of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. “IDF special forces are continuing to operate against the Hamas terrorist organization in the Nasser Hospital; the troops located weapons inside the hospital and apprehended dozens of terror suspects,” the Israeli military alleged in a statement on Friday. 

The IDF did not provide any additional details on the people detained and the nature of their involvement in the October 7 attack by Hamas.

More on the hospital raid: The Israeli military also said it had found weapons inside the facility, including mortar shells and grenades, releasing a low-resolution photograph of the alleged weapons stash. CNN could not independently verify where and when the photograph had been taken.

“The use of hospitals for terrorist activities, firing mortar shells from civilian areas, and for holding hostages are against the international law,” IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said of the findings, according to the statement.  The IDF went on to say their operation inside the hospital was still ongoing. CNN has reached out to the Ministry of Health in Hamas-controlled Gaza for comment on the IDF’s allegations.

84% of health facilities in Gaza affected by attacks, UNRWA says


Palestinians inspect Al Shifa Hospital, which was raided by Israeli forces during its ground operation in Gaza City, on November 25.

Eighty-four percent of health facilities in Gaza have been affected by attacks since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said on Friday. In a post on X, the agency released footage showing the destruction of civilian infrastructure in the territory, including one of its health centers.

UNRWA said that in addition to the damage to health facilities, over 70% of civilian infrastructure had been “destroyed or severely damaged,” On Thursday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs detailed the impact of the war on schools and water infrastructure in the strip.

“Some 392 schools (79 per cent of the total school buildings in Gaza) have sustained damage, including 141 schools that sustained major damage or were destroyed,” according to the update. The agency said that 92% of all school buildings in Gaza were being used as shelters for displaced Palestinians.

The update also noted that only 17% of Gaza’s 284 groundwater wells were operational, with 39 wells destroyed and 93 moderately to severely damaged.



"We’re all going to be wiped out," displaced Palestinian woman in Rafah tells CNN


A view of the heavily damaged Al-Huda Mosque after Israeli attacks on Rafah on February 14.

Displaced Palestinian woman Daiana Al-Bukhari told CNN’s Michael Holmes on Friday that people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah were living in dire conditions and she feared they were "all going to be wiped out." Rafah is the last major population center in Gaza that is not controlled by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The city is now the enclave's most populated, with more than a million people sheltering in tents and UN facilities facing severe shortages of essentials.

“The first thing I do, I think [whether] I'll get water today or not … Then I think about food. Will we eat food today or not,” Al-Bukhari said, adding she typically has to queue “for hours” to get bread, a shower, or even to use the toilet.

Al-Bukhari told Holmes she feared for the future of Palestinians in Rafah. “I think we’re all going to be wiped out. Can you imagine 1.5 million refugees in such a small area like Rafah? ... I don't know what's gonna happen. I hope [this] does not happen," 22-year-old Al-Bukhari said. Al-Bukhari’s regular updates on life in Gaza have attracted a large following on social media, including over 70,000 followers on Instagram.

When asked what she would like to tell people across the world, she said to “trust the stories and evidence of Palestinians in Gaza.”
“It’s beyond the politics right now. Palestinians are being murdered. Palestine is being demolished.”


An Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza has killed at least 12 people (2 elderly men, 10 women and children) according to a spokesperson for Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.



SvennoJ on 16 February 2024

Former Nato chief doesn't know history

Former NATO chief says ‘time has come’ for pause in fighting in Gaza

Speaking with Al Jazeera at the Munich Security Conference, former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says “the time has come for a humanitarian pause” in Gaza but such an agreement must not mean that Hamas is allowed to renew its strength.

“We should never forget what started all this: namely the horrific Hamas attack on innocent civilians on October 7. And we should never forget the cruelty of the Hamas movement,” he said. “But provided that the right conditions are there and are fulfilled, I think the time has come.”

Everything was going fine before Oct 7.... But good to know Anders Fogh Rasmussen thinks the time has come to slow down the genocide for a bit. I won't forget the cruelty of the IDF, ISF, Settler movement, military courts, prison abuses, apartheid system, Gaza blockade and the oppression with frequent murders and destruction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. That's what started all this.


Palestinians routinely experience ‘collective punishment’

Cities across the territory are no stranger to these kinds of retaliatory raids (in Shuafat refugee camp after the shooting in Israel) carried out on a suspicion of an attack. They are carried out after attackers have been identified against their families and against their homes. It is a kind of collective punishment that Palestinians routinely criticise and experience and is a violation of international law.

However, there is really no enforcement mechanism to stop these things from happening. Palestinians exist in a parallel reality in the occupied territories. Palestinians live under effectively a military rule that runs in parallel to Israel’s own government. What we’ve heard from the Israeli government since the attack earlier today, we are expecting the intensity of that raid at Shuafat refugee camp to increase.

US, UK carry out more attacks in Yemen’s Hodeidah region: Reports

Houthi-affiliated media channel Al Masirah says that attacks took place in the Taif area in the al-Durayhimi District of Yemen, and blamed the US and UK.

Terrorism at its finest

Israeli defence minister says Rafah assault being planned ‘thoroughly’

Yoav Gallant says the military is “thoroughly planning” its anticipated assault on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population has heeded Israeli instructions to seek shelter. The UN has warned that an Israeli incursion into the packed area, from which Palestinian civilians have nowhere else to flee, could quickly become a humanitarian “nightmare”.

“We are thoroughly planning future operations in Rafah, which is a significant Hamas stronghold,” Gallant said without saying when such an incursion would take place.


Can you imagine... I've seen a c-section twice when my kids were born. Even with all the equipment, staff and anesthesia, it's not a simple procedure and has a long road to recovery.

PRCS celebrates successful C-section during attacks on al-Amal Hospital

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) is celebrating medical staff who performed the successful Caesarean section during what the group describes as an “ongoing attack and siege” by Israeli forces on the facility in Khan Younis. The episode highlights the extraordinary challenges faced by pregnant women in Gaza, who are often giving birth during bombardments and without access to proper medical assistance.

“Despite facing challenges such as insufficient blood units, the absence of an available anesthesia technician (who was arrested), and the lack of a neonatologist, the team successfully completed the operation, ensuring the safety of both the baby and the mother, who are currently in good condition,” the group said in a social media post.

Gaza carnage underscores ‘fragmented’ world order: UN chief


UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the war on Gaza highlights how divided world geopolitics is with a global order that’s “not working for anyone”. “The situation in Gaza is an appalling indictment of the deadlock in global relations. The level of death and destruction is shocking in itself, and the war is also spilling over borders across the region and affecting global trade,” Guterres said at the Munich Security Conference.

The UN chief said the humanitarian aid operation is no longer on life support in Gaza but is barely functioning. “Humanitarians are working under unimaginable conditions including live-fire, multiple physical obstacles … as well as the breakdown of public order.”



Around the Network
SvennoJ on 16 February 2024

Hezbollah has no plans of backing down. Escalating tensions.

Hezbollah says it hit Israeli army site in Shebaa Farms

Hezbollah says it targeted an Israeli army facility in Shebaa Farms in the occupied Golan Heights with missiles. Casualties were inflicted, it said without elaborating. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech earlier his armed group would respond to Israeli attacks overnight and in the early morning that killed three people. “The enemy will pay the price of spilling their blood in blood,” he said.

Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in near-daily exchanges of fire since the outbreak of the war on Gaza. The violence has intensified this week amid fears of an all-out war between the two sides.

Israel could have avoided killing civilians: Hezbollah chief

The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah says Israel’s “aggression” that has killed several civilians in southern Lebanon was intentional. Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech that his group’s response to Israel’s attacks would be an “increase in resistance”.

“The enemy could have avoided killing civilians in southern Lebanon,” Nasrallah said. Five children were among 10 civilians killed in the Israeli attacks on Wednesday, the deadliest day for Lebanese civilians in four months of hostilities across the Lebanon-Israel border.

“The enemy will pay with blood” for every woman and child killed by cross-border fire, Nasrallah warned. Hezbollah’s “precision-guided missiles can reach … Eilat”, a resort town on Israel’s Red Sea coast, he added.

Charges of hate and war crime denial brought against German politician


Volker Beck

Pro-Palestinian activists have filed criminal charges against a German politician for suspected incitement of hate and denial of war crimes in Israel’s war in Gaza. The charges against Volker Beck, a former member of parliament and head of the German-Israeli Society, were brought by Palestinian solidarity groups Palestine Speaks and Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East.

“This is the first step in holding public figures who publicly make genocidal statements legally accountable,” a statement on Instagram said. The groups cited Beck’s statements on social media, in opinion pieces and media interviews in which he expressed support for Israel’s war on Gaza. Beck rejected the claims as “nonsense”.

“There is no genocide in Gaza, and I do not advocate genocide. These people have a disturbed relationship with the rule of law,” he said.




3 killed, 4 wounded in shooting attack in southern Israel

The death toll from the attack has risen. Tension has surged in the region as Israel continues to pound the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s police commissioner Kobi Shabtai declined to respond to questions on the identity of the shooter, who was also killed, saying an investigation of the incident was still in preliminary stages. “This attack reminds us the entire country is a front and the murderers, who come not only from Gaza, want to kill us all,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We will continue to fight until total victory."

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the incident “proves again that weapons save lives”. He pledged to increase the distribution of firearms to civilians.

“This was a predictable development of the situation on the ground. The tension has been brewing in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, since October 7. More than 7,000 Palestinians have been detained, almost 400 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers,” said Nour Odeh, a Palestinian political analyst based in Ramallah.

“The situation was being described as a pressure cooker, and now we’ve seen just how that pressure would explode in a very deadly and tragic manner. The writing was on the wall, and anyone who didn’t see it just didn’t want to.”




More double standards, those 400 Palestinians killed by the ISF and Settlers don't get any of this

US envoy to Israel ‘appalled’ by deadly attack at bus stop

Jack Lew, US ambassador to Israel, says he’s “appalled” by the “terror attack” that targeted civilians at a bus stop in southern Israel. “I offer my sincere condolences to the families affected by this tragedy. Such senseless terrorism is absolutely abhorrent,” he said.

Palestinian Authority calls for binding sanctions on Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken more than two million Palestinians hostage without providing the necessities for them to survive, the foreign ministry says. “International demands and appeals to protect civilians will not work unless they are accompanied by deterrent international measures and sanctions,” it said in a statement.

“Netanyahu continues to disregard international demands and resolutions, and continues to kill our people, starve them, thirst them and destroy their homeland to push them to emigrate.” It also called on the international community to adopt binding UN resolutions that will force the Israeli aggression to stop.



SvennoJ on 16 February 2024

Egyptian official denies refugee camp being built in Sinai

North Sinai Governor Mohamed Shousha denies Egypt is preparing “an isolated area in Sinai” to receive Palestinian refugees as Israeli readies a ground invasion of Rafah. The construction work highlighted in satellite imagery is being done to assess the value of houses destroyed in recent years to “properly compensate” owners, Shousha said.

But the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights said two contractors told it that construction firms were tasked with building a gated area “surrounded by 7-metre-high [23ft-high] walls”. The site lies on the “rubble” of Egyptian homes “demolished” during the government’s war against fighters in northern Sinai over the past decade, the foundation said.

Unnamed sources in Sinai told the Agence France-Presse news agency the area is being prepared in case of a breach of the Gaza border, which Egypt has fortified with additional walls and buffer areas since Israel’s war on Gaza began. “The area will be readied with tents” and humanitarian assistance would be delivered inside, said one source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Israel’s ‘veto’ of Palestinian state needs to be revoked

Gershon Baskin, a former Israeli negotiator with years of experience dealing with Hamas, says Benjamin Netanyahu often gives the message in Hebrew to the Israeli public that as long as he’s prime minister, there won’t be an independent Palestinian state next to Israel.

“I would put the emphasis on ‘as long as I’m prime minister’ – which won’t be too long,” Baskin told Al Jazeera. “Netanyahu will be facing his day of reckoning with the Israeli people who are very angry with him. He’s lost more than 50 percent of his base. His period as leader is coming to an end.”

As the Gaza conflict spreads through the Middle East, now’s the time for the international community to take over efforts to create the state of Palestine, he said.

“I think it’s very important the veto that Israel’s held for over 30 years on Palestinian statehood needs to be taken from Israel. This conflict has spilled beyond the borders of Palestine, it concerns regional and global security, and there are presidential electoral concerns to take into account,” added Baskin, highlighting US President Biden’s re-election campaign.

“Let’s face it, 139 countries have already recognised Palestine. But the rich countries have not, and it’s time they do it.”

‘Enough is enough’: Time for world leaders to impose Palestinian statehood

Gideon Levy, an Israeli columnist and political commentator, says there’s a great opportunity for the international community to step in and finally end Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. “Israel refused for decades, even before Netanyahu, to go for a real settlement for the Palestinian problem. Therefore, it is time for the international community to say, ‘Enough is enough,'” Levy told Al Jazeera.

Israel launches wars every few years and destroys Gaza, and then the international community must fund its rehabilitation, he said. “It puts risk over the whole world as all kinds of other tensions rise because of the conflict in Gaza. The international community should say enough leaving it to Israel. It is time for the international community to impose a solution. Otherwise, it will go on like this forever."



WHO demands access to Nasser Hospital to provide ‘life-saving services’



The World Health Organization (WHO) is trying to get access to Nasser Hospital as Israeli troops continue to raid the facility, where hundreds of civilians are trapped. “There are still critically injured and sick patients that are inside the hospital,” WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said. “There is an urgent need to deliver fuel to ensure the continuation of the provision of life-saving services. … We are trying to get access because people who are still in Nasser Medical Complex need assistance.”

Israel’s military has called the raid on the hospital “precise and limited” and said it has detained dozens of “terrorists”.

Israeli attacks on central, south Gaza kill Palestinians

“There’s been a very notable surge in military strikes in the last hour, specifically on the central part alongside the southern parts of Gaza,” reports Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum from Rafah, in the south Gaza Strip.

Abu Azzoum said that two Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli strike on Dier el-Balah, after Israeli artillery destroyed a residential building. In addition, two more people were killed in the southern city of Khan Younis when “an Israeli military drone targeted a group of residents,” he said. Central Gaza, Abu Azzoum added, has recently witnessed waves of evacuations from the south, specifically from Rafah, as Israel prepares to carry out its military ground operation in the city.

Israeli war cabinet minister says fighting could continue during Ramadan

Israeli war cabinet minister and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel “won’t stop” until all hostages in Gaza are returned, even if that means continuing hostilities during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. “I would like to convey a message to all citizens of Israel and to the families of the hostages: We don't stop — until they are returned,” Gantz said in a video on Friday. “There will not be a ceasefire even for one day until our hostages are returned.”

Gantz said the fighting would continue, regardless of the time of the year. “⁠Even in the approaching month of Ramadan, the fire can continue," he said. "Either our hostages will be returned, or we will expand the fighting to Rafah.” Gantz added Israel is preparing for a ground offensive into Rafah and will act “in dialogue” with its partners, including Egypt, and “direct the population to protected areas.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the operation in Rafah must be completed by the start of Ramadan on March 10, an Israeli official told CNN on Saturday.



SvennoJ on 16 February 2024

Why Gaza May Be The End Of The West




Hind Rajab: Israel Kills Medics Trying to Save Dying 6-Year-Old Girl in Gaza




Israel’s Industrial-Scale Cruelty in Gaza is Made in USA & UK, w/ Lowkey

 

“It's not complex, it's genocide” Former top UN official on Gaza | UpFront

Egypt 'prepares to receive Palestinian refugees' along Gaza border | DW News



SvennoJ on 16 February 2024

ICJ declines to order additional provisional measures against Israel

In a statement released on its website, the International Court of Justice says that the humanitarian situation in Rafah and Israel’s impending military operation there do “not demand the indication of additional provisional measures.” According to the statement, South Africa requested additional provisional measures in light of the situation in Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are currently sheltering as they await a full-scale assault promised by Israel, earlier this week.

“The Court notes that the most recent developments in the Gaza Strip, and in Rafah, in particular, ‘would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences’,” the statement reads. “This perilous situation demands immediate and effective implementation of the provisional measures indicated by the Court in its Order of 26 January 2024, which are applicable throughout the Gaza Strip, including in Rafah,” it continues.

Last month, the court ordered that “Israel must take all possible measures to prevent acts as outlined in Article 2 of the 1948 Genocide Convention,” during its ongoing war in Gaza.

South Africa says court decision affirms view that situation in Rafah exceptionally perilous

The office of the President of South Africa has released a statement welcoming a response from the ICJ to a request from South Africa for additional provisional measures against Israel. The court stated that an Israeli assault on Rafah would “would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences” and demand adherence to current orders to prevent genocide.

However, the court rejected South Africa’s request for additional measures, the central point of South Africa’s request. Nonetheless, South Africa said in a statement that the court has accepted:

1. That Israel’s planned incursions in Rafah would render what is already a humanitarian disaster even more perilous.

2. The situation requires compliance with the existing provisional measures.

3. Compliance with the existing provisional measures requires the protection of civilians in Gaza including Rafah.



ICJ places ball back in US, UN’s court with latest decision

Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch and a current visiting professor at Princeton University in the US, tells Al Jazeera that even though the International Court of Justice declined to grant South Africa’s emergency application to stop Israel’s assault on Rafah, it did use very strong language condemning the planned operation.

“South Africa brought this emergency application because it feared the consequences of the threatened invasion of Rafah,” Roth said, and was hopeful that the court would halt this invasion. Though the ICJ did not grant South Africa’s request, “It did … use very strong language. It said if the invasion were to occur, it would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare,” Roth continued.

“What the court just did though, it said, ‘We already ordered all this to stop. Rather than repeating ourselves, it’s up to the governments of the world, the UN Security Council, and foremost the US government, to stop this killing.”

UN shares photos of devastated civilian infrastructure in Gaza

The United Nations has reiterated that civilian infrastructure must be protected, as more than four months of heavy Israeli bombardment and assault have decimated vital infrastructure in Gaza. In a social media post, the UN shared photos of burned-out humanitarian centres. “The devastating toll of four months of conflict in Gaza,” the UN said. “Civilians [and] critical infrastructure are #NotATarget [and] must always be protected.”





Palestinian surgeon inside Nasser Hospital warns "all the ICU patients will die" as Israeli raid continues

A doctor trapped inside Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza said the wards and corridors “are still flooded with beds” as Israeli forces continued to raid what was the largest remaining functioning hospital in the enclave.

“The situation is still the same. All of the medical staff and patients are still trapped in the medical department," he said in a voice note late Thursday. His testimony was shared with CNN by his colleague. “Most of the patients do not have the chance to get the medicine and their health care ... We cannot make rounds on patients. We cannot move between beds,” added the surgeon, who asked not to be named for security reasons. “No one can reach the ICU ... the army is inside it,” he wrote in a message. “All the ICU patients will die.”

On Friday, details emerged of the grim conditions faced by those left inside the facility. At least five patients died after Israel’s attack caused the complex to lose power, the ministry said, adding that Nasser Hospital was “without electricity, water, food, and heating.”

Surgeon says medical workers in Gaza reduced to practising ’18th-century medicine’

Amid a brutal Israeli assault that has severely restricted access to basic medical supplies, medical workers in Gaza say they are attempting to assist many Palestinians in conditions and with resources reminiscent of the days before modern medicine. “The situation here is indescribable, to say the least,” said Dr Mohamed Elfar, an American member of a team of foreign medical workers offering assistance at hospitals in Gaza.

“This morning I had to do surgery without any gowns, I had to do it in my scrubs. I’ve seen patients with minor burns that end up dying just because there’s no care, nothing is available to provide them with care,” he said, adding that medical workers in Gaza are exhausted after working non-stop for four months. “You walk into the ward and we are practising 18th-century medicine here,” he added.

WHO convoy detained for seven hours: Health ministry

Israeli forces have detained the convoy some 50 meters (164ft) away from Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, the Gaza Health Ministry says. “The convoy consists of two trucks, one with fuel and the other with water and food, and has been detained for 7 hours,” the ministry said on its Telegram page.

“The Israeli occupation set up holes in front and behind the UN aid convoy to prevent it from reaching the Nasser Medical Complex.” The Israeli army has besieged the facility for weeks, isolating thousands of patients, medical staff and displaced families


A woman rests next to a damaged building, as Palestinians arrive in Rafah after being evacuated from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis

Al Jazeera’s Ismail Abu Omar’s condition ‘very critical’: Doctor

Abu Omar, together with his cameraman, was wounded in an Israeli attack earlier this week north of Rafah in southern Gaza. The head of a US medical delegation in Gaza, Muhammad al-Far, has given an update on Abu Omar’s health. Here are his translated comments:

  • Abu Omar’s condition is very critical.
  • We appeal for help to transfer Abu Omar out of the Gaza Strip so that we can save his life.
  • There are potentially serious complications that could affect his wellbeing.

People eating animal feed for survival

People in Gaza are suffering from acute food insecurity amid a very limited number of humanitarian aid trucks being allowed to enter Gaza. This is especially difficult for the most affected areas of the Strip, such as those in the north. There, you have no source of food, and people are forced to grind animal feed just to get enough food to survive. Others are relying on herbs, weeds and grass in order to stay alive.

Why is nobody else calling him out

Biden’s call for ‘temporary ceasefire’ in Gaza don’t go far enough

Ali Abunimah, Palestinian American author and director of the Palestine news website Electronic Intifada, tells Al Jazeera that Biden’s earlier comments on a “temporary ceasefire” in Gaza are part of a “duplicitous double game”. “I’ve had extensive conversations with the prime minister of Israel over the last several days, one hour each. And I made the case, that I feel very strongly about, that there has to be a temporary ceasefire to get the hostages out,” Biden told reporters today, as we reported earlier.

If a pause in the fighting in Gaza is what the US desires, Abunimah said, “They would have accepted the proposal from the Palestinian resistance,” which called for a 135-day temporary ceasefire that would lead to a permanent end to the war. “Joe Biden is playing a double game, a very duplicitous double game, because he is facing growing opposition to his support for this genocide at home in an election year,” Abunimah continued. “He is posing as if he is opposed to what Israel is doing, but is powerless to stop it.”

“The reality is, Joe Biden can stop this with one phone call, if not to Netanyahu then to the Pentagon, and all he has to say is stop the 24-hour airlift of bombs that Israel is using” against the population of Gaza, he said.

PRCS rejects Israeli claim that medical workers assisted Hamas fighters on October 7

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has denied Israeli allegations that a PRCS ambulance and staff provided treatment to injured Hamas fighters during their incursion into Israel on October 7. Israel released a photo purporting to show a PRCS ambulance in use, but the group has said that the ambulance is not a PRCS vehicle.

“Once again, the occupation deliberately creates false narratives about the work of the Palestinian Red Crescent by publishing a video of an ambulance and paramedics providing treatment to an injured fighter,” the group said in a social media post.

“The vehicle that appears in the video is not a Palestinian Red Crescent vehicle, and the two paramedics who appear in the video are clearly not wearing the uniform of Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance crews.”

Israel increases security levels, carries out West Bank raids following shooting

Israeli forces have stormed Shuafat refugee camp after a gunman, said to be from the camp, opened fire on a group of Israelis at a bus stop in southern Israel. “The state of Israel has now increased the security level to its highest alert,” Al Jazeera correspondent Hamdah Salhut reported from occupied East Jerusalem.

“The Israeli occupation forces have stormed the Shuafat refugee camp, going to the home of the alleged attacker,” she added. “There were scenes of masses of Israeli police, border police and army alike, going through the refugee camp and attacking some residents there. One of the neighbours ended up getting shot in the head with a rubber bullet by Israeli forces. This, Palestinians say, is a form of collective punishment they are often subjected to when there’s an attack.”



SvennoJ on 16 February 2024

Wtf is wrong with these people

New York governor defends Israel, saying there ‘would be no Canada’ if it attacked US

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has defended Israel’s war in Gaza, saying that Canada would be destroyed if it attacked the United States.

In a speech to the UJA Federation of New York, Hochul, a Democrat, said that Hamas is a “terrorist organisation” that must be stopped and people in her state should understand the dynamic between the group and Israel.

“If Canada someday ever attacked Buffalo, I’m sorry my friends, there would be no Canada the next day,” Hochul said. “Think about that. That’s a natural reaction,” she added. “You have a right to defend yourself and to make sure it never happens again. And that is Israel’s right.”





People in Rafah are ‘desperate, hungry, and terrified’: UN

People in Rafah are in “such dire need that they stop aid trucks to take food and eat it immediately”, the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) has said in its latest daily update. OCHA said that this showed “the severity of their desperation and hunger” amid the “alarming” humanitarian crisis in the overcrowded city in southern Gaza.

Makeshift shelters in Gaza have become congested and people are “desperate, hungry, and terrified”, OCHA added. OCHA added that there is “an urgent need” for more delivery trucks to enter Gaza “to ensure the entire population’s nutritional requirements are met”.

Aid can only enter the Gaza Strip via the Rafah and Kerem Shalom (Karem Abu Salem) crossings, meaning that food deliveries to central and northern Gaza must first pass through Rafah. Meanwhile, Israeli authorities are continuing to block a large shipment of flour for the Gaza Strip at the port of Ashdod.

Hunger crisis in Gaza at ‘unprecedented levels, as people run out of even animal feed to eat’

Hunger in Gaza has become so serious that people have even run out of animal feed to eat, development charity ActionAid has said. “Every single person in the territory” is now experiencing extreme levels of hunger, the charity said in a statement on Friday.

Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator at ActionAid Palestine, said the situation will get worse if Israel goes ahead with its planned assault on Rafah. “Aid operations will grind to a complete halt, denying a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of people,” Jafari said.

“The consequences are unimaginable. Governments around the world must do everything in their power to prevent a further onslaught in Rafah and push for a permanent and immediate ceasefire. It’s the only way to stop the indiscriminate killing of civilians, allow aid to enter Gaza and be distributed safely at scale to prevent famine and deadly disease outbreaks.”

Satellite photos show construction on Egypt’s border with Gaza

These satellite images taken near Egypt’s border with Gaza show the construction of what appears to be a fortified buffer zone near Rafah. The construction suggests Egypt is preparing for a possible influx of displaced Palestinians, amid fears that Israel’s planned ground invasion of Rafah could push thousands across the line.

Life on the border between Gaza and Egypt



An estimated 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah in southern Gaza near the border with Egypt