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

Archbishop of Canterbury calls for supporting Palestinian Christian family in West Bank



The Church of England’s spiritual head has called for supporting the Kisiya family, a Palestinian Christian family whose land in the al-Makhrour valley outside Bethlehem was taken over by Israeli settlers.

Justin Welby – who also heads the worldwide Anglican Communion – said in a statement “the oppression, violence and discrimination against Palestinians in the West Bank, including Christians, must cease”.

He added: “The Israeli government is not above the law and must stop acting otherwise. Steadfast Christian families such as the Kisiya family, whose ancestral land has been forcibly stolen from them, remain especially in my prayers. We continue to stand in prayerful solidarity with our Palestinian Christian sisters and brothers as they resist the injustice of occupation.”


Israeli forces raid Balata refugee camp in occupied West Bank: Report

Israeli forces have raided Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, Wafa news agency is reporting. The soldiers entered the camp using gunfire and sound bombs, Wafa added.



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‘Israel does not want world to see’

Al Jazeera is reporting from Amman because it has been banned by Israel.
Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, released a post on X saying that as promised and after much pressure, the Israeli government and the military alike closed the Al Jazeera office, saying that they were mouthpieces for both Hamas and Hezbollah.


The claims that the Israeli government has brought against Al Jazeera, of course, are all false with no basis or backing to them whatsoever. The Israeli military, when releasing a statement, said that the office was used to incite and support “terror”.

I mean, imagine that is coming from the Israeli military, who conducted this raid with guns drawn, weapons and assault rifles into our office in Ramallah, saying that the network was supporting armed groups and fighters, which, of course, is false.

Israel has made it difficult for Al Jazeera to report as a whole across the entirety of Israel and the occupied territories. There are checkpoints all across the occupied West Bank. There is no freedom of movement, so it’s incredibly difficult to try and get the story out there.

But when the teams are on the ground, they do an incredible job of showing the viewer the picture. And Israel, of course, does not want the world to see the crimes that are being committed against the Palestinian people.


US media watchdog calls on Israel to ‘stop harassing’ Al Jazeera

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Israeli authorities to stop harassing and obstructing Al Jazeera after armed Israeli forces raided the Qatari broadcaster’s office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

“CPJ is deeply alarmed by Israel’s closure of Al Jazeera’s office in the occupied West Bank, just months after it shuttered Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel after deeming it a threat to national security,” said CPJ’s program director, Carlos Martínez de la Serna, in New York.

“Israel’s efforts to censor Al Jazeera severely undermine the public’s right to information on a war that has upended so many lives in the region. Al Jazeera’s journalists must be allowed to report at this critical time, and always.”

 
Al Jazeera office closure part of Israeli ‘policy to try and stop free reporting’: International Federation of Journalists

Tim Dawson, deputy general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, has said that the Israeli military closure of Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah in the West Bank is “utterly shocking and “comes as part of a long drawn-out policy to try and stop free reporting”.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from London, Dawson said: “There have been journalists who have been locked out of the Gaza Strip. There’s been the targeting of journalists in Gaza. There’s been suppression of critical media within Israel, and the attempt to stop Al Jazeera from reporting is atrocious on so many levels.”

“It’s atrocious that they sent combat troops to deal with journalists who had nothing but microphones and notebooks. That’s clearly designed to terrify people. Why it was done at three in the morning, I suspect because they thought it would terrify people even more,” he said.

“This is the worst possible behaviour from a country that claims to be a defender of free speech. It’s clear evidence of a determined policy to quell any kind of criticism.”


Israeli raid of Al Jazeera Bureau ‘disgraceful’

Israeli analyst Ori Goldberg says the raid and closure of Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, by his country’s government is a sign of “desperation” and “utterly disgraceful”.

“Israel did the same in Gaza. It is afraid of showing the world the situation in the territories it claims to control,” he told Al Jazeera.

According to Goldberg, there are two major reasons for this – the scope of the devastation that Israel “sows” in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and its lack of control in both.

“The Israeli apparatus for the control of the Palestinian territories is disintegrating,” he said. “The lack of control is very much felt constantly in the West Bank, it’s certainly felt in Gaza, and I think the constant presence of critical journalists would no doubt show this to the world.”


Israel’s ‘most moral army’ claim now an international punchline

In response to a question about whether Israel’s actions at Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah are counterproductive, journalist Ryan Grim says Israel does not have much “credibility on the international stage left to lose”.

“Going into their calculations, they are already saying we have lost this mantle of the ‘most moral army’ and ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’. Those have become punchlines internationally, rather than talking points anyone takes seriously,” Grim, co-founder of the news outlet Drop Site, told Al Jazeera.

Grim described the raid in Ramallah as a “gloves off” situation.

“Sending in armed troops to drag journalists out of their headquarters creates the kind of images that would make any country calling itself a democracy ashamed. “The fact that not only were they willing to do this, but it appears did so partly for the production of those images, suggests they are beyond the realm of worrying about the PR of how it looks,” he said.


Irish president condemns Israel’s closure of Al Jazeera’s office

The Republic of Ireland’s President Michael Higgins says Israel’s shutting down of Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah was an “outrageous” move, our correspondent Gabriel Elizondo reports.

“I strongly condemn it. I think it’s outrageous. And I would like to say … it tells you a very, very great thing, their refusal to have Al Jazeera operate in Israel,” Higgins said during a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.



Lebanon orders school closures in conflict areas: State media

The media office of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education of Lebanon has announced that all educational institution directors in areas affected by fighting which is preventing safe attendance must shut down their schools, the National News Agency (NNA) is reporting.

They are also directed to inform students and relevant educational districts of the closures, the NNA added.

Earlier, the Lebanese University announced the closure of its branches in the southern cities of Sidon, Nabatieh, and Tyre tomorrow.

These disruptions to Lebanon’s education system came after Isreal launched massive strikes against the south last night, targeting 400 sites by its own account.



Army chief vows to ‘hit anyone’ who threatens Israelis

Israel’s army chief says the military’s attacks on the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group were a “message” to the country’s foes in the region and beyond.

“This operation against Hezbollah’s chain of command is a clear message to Hezbollah, but it is also a message to the Middle East and beyond: We will hit anyone who threatens the citizens of the state of Israel,” Herzi Halevi said in a video statement.



IRGC says Israeli collaborators arrested in Iran

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says in a statement carried by Reuters news agency that 12 people had been arrested for being operatives collaborating with Israel and planning acts against Iran’s security.

“As the Zionist regime and their Western backers, most notably the United States, have not succeeded in their sinister goals against the people of Gaza and Lebanon, they are now seeking to spread the crisis to Iran with a series of actions planned against our country’s security,” the statement reads.

The IRGC added that members of the network of 12 operatives were arrested in six different Iranian provinces, but did not say when.

In late July, the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran in an assassination blamed on Israel by Iranian authorities.



‘We must stand together against this occupier’: Hamas

Walid Kilani, a Hamas media official in Lebanon, has said that the group has been “extremely flexible in the negotiations” for a ceasefire in Gaza and for a prisoner-captive exchange.

He also said that some members of Israel’s coalition have made it clear that Israel has “ambitions in Jordan”, and that “this Zionist enemy is an expansionist enemy and will not be satisfied with occupying Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, or Lebanon”.

“We must stand together against this occupier [Israel],” he said.

Kilani also said that Hamas has not used its weapons in Lebanon “and has not and will not participate in any internal dispute in Lebanon”. “Hezbollah’s decision to continue the war or stop is up to the group, and Hamas has nothing to do with it,” he said.



Air raid sirens sound in occupied Golan Heights

The Israeli army says that the country’s warning system was activated “in the Beit Shan valley and in the south of the Golan”, and that this incident is under investigation.

Meanwhile, reports from Iraqi media say that a drone attack was launched from the country towards the area of the occupied Golan Heights.

In the early hours of this morning, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said in a statement that it hit a “vital target” in “using drones”. It is unclear if the group is responsible for this reported drone attack.


Islamic Resistance in Iraq claims attack on Israel

The Iraqi group, which is aligned with Iran, says in a statement that it carried out an attack on “a target in the Jordan Valley in our occupied territories [Israel]”.

This attack was carried out with a squadron of “al-Arfad” drones and follows our earlier reporting on the activation of air raid sirens in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

This is the group’s fifth attack today, according to its statement. “The Islamic resistance confirms that operations continue to destroy enemy strongholds at an increasing rate”, the group said.



Hezbollah claims more attacks on Israeli positions

The Lebanese armed group said it carried out three assaults on Israeli positions late on Sunday.

These are:

  • an artillery attack on an Israeli radar in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms
  • amissile attack on an Israeli Merkava tank in an area called al-Marj in northern Israel which caused casualties
  • an artillery attack on Israeli soldiers in Jal al-Allam.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

The attacks came after Israel’s military and Hezbollah traded intense fire, with Israeli jets carrying out hundreds of air raids on southern Lebanon and the armed group claiming missile and rocket attacks on the Ramat David Airbase and the site of an Israeli defence tech company.


Emergency personnel work at a site of houses damaged following a rocket attack from Lebanon in Kiryat Bialik, Israel, September 22


Israeli minister shares plan to ‘remove population’ from southern Lebanon

Amichai Chikli, the Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs, has shared a plan to create a “buffer zone, free of enemy population” in southern Lebanon, including a map showing several southern Lebanese towns.

Chikli outlined his plan in a lengthy post on his personal account on X, describing it as the “most just thing to do” including from a “moral point of view”.

Chikli, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, also claimed Israel would be justified in “taking over” the areas because Lebanon had “failed to exercise its sovereignty” in southern Lebanon.

The southern Lebanese towns and villages that appeared to be included within the area outlined by Chikli on the map included: Kfarchouba, Khiam, Marjayoun, Taybeh and Wazzani.

Last week, the Israeli military claimed that leaflets dropped on Wazzani urging residents to leave were unsanctioned.

 



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Israeli forces raid towns and villages across occupied West Bank

The Wafa news agency is reporting Israeli raids in the following locations:

  • the Qalandiya refugee camp, near Jerusalem, where Israeli forces fired tear gas and seized surveillance camera footage
  • the city of Hebron and the nearby town of Dura, from where soldiers arrested a Palestinian man after searching his home
  • the towns of Idhna and Yatta and the Fawwar refugee camp in the Hebron governorate.


Israeli forces detain dozens in raid on West Bank village

Israeli forces have detained dozens of Palestinians, including children, during a raid on the village of Haris, near Salfit, in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.

According to the latest figures from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, 9,900 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank are currently being held in Israeli prisons, including 3,323 held in administrative detention.


Palestinians raise their hands as they walk past Israeli forces during an Israeli raid in Qabatiya near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Thursday



Three killed in Israel’s latest attack on school-turned-shelter in Gaza

We’ve been covering an Israeli attack on the Khaled bin al-Walid school in the Nuseirat refugee camp where displaced Palestinians are sheltering. Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are now reporting that three people were killed in the attack and several others wounded.

The bombing comes less than 24 hours after at least seven Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on the Kafr Qasim School in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City.


Palestinians carry a lifeless body after the Israeli army’s attack on the Kafr Qasim School in the Shati refugee camp on Sunday


Israel claims Nuseirat school was a Hamas command centre

The Israeli military claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on the Khalid bin al-Walid school in Nuseirat, saying it had struck a Hamas control and command centre. It did not provide any evidence for the claim.

As we’ve been reporting, at least three Palestinians were killed in the attack.

Israel regularly attacks schools-turned-shelters in Gaza claiming they are Hamas command and control centres. In the month of August alone, Israel attacked at least 16 schools, killing dozens of displaced Palestinians, in assaults the UN human rights office said could amount to war crimes because of the disproportionate nature of the bombings as well as the high civilian death toll.


Israeli attack kills five in Deir el-Balah

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that five Palestinians, including four children, have been killed in an Israeli bombing of a house near the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.

Several people were also wounded in the attack.

Mother, four children killed in Israeli attack on central Gaza

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that an Israeli attack on a house near Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza has killed a mother and four of her children, aged between four and eight years old.

The mother was identified as 29-year-old Israa Abu Samak. The slain children were Abdullah Mohammed Abu Samak, aged eight; Ahmed, aged seven; Zeina, aged five; and Mazen, aged four.

The Wafa news agency is reporting that several others were also wounded in the attack.


Al Jazeera obtains video of Israeli drone killing in Gaza

The footage shows an Israeli military drone killing a wounded and immobile Palestinian man in Gaza by dropping an explosive on him.





Palestinians flee Israeli attacks on Jabalia refugee camp

Palestinians flee after an Israeli attack on a house near the school where they were sheltering, in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Sunday. Residents of northern Gaza have suffered heavy Israeli bombardment and forcible displacement orders.


Families were seen helping their elderly relatives and young children as they left the area

 

Palestinians in Gaza struggle to cope as heavy rains flood makeshift shelters

As we’ve been reporting, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has sounded the alarm as autumn arrives in Gaza, saying the plastic and fabric tents that displaced Palestinians are sheltering in are not enough to protect them against the rain and cold.

In Deir el-Balah, the first heavy rain of the season has flooded a tent camp, adding to the plight of hundreds of thousands of people sheltering there.




‘This is genocidal targeting’, say survivors of Israeli school attack

We’ve been covering a deadly Israeli attack on the Kafr Qasim School in the Shati refugee camp housing hundreds of displaced people in northern Gaza. Survivors of the attack, which killed at least seven people, said they did not know where to seek refuge.

“We got displaced and came to this school. I left from my house after it was targeted and my husband and my two children were killed. We came here thinking it was safe but then then they target us,” said Umm Mahmoud, a displaced Palestinian woman.

“Where are we supposed to go if at a school we are not safe? We got displaced seven or eight times, and I’m all alone with my two remaining children.”

Abu Mohammed Mahmoud said the Israelis were deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians. “These places are supposed to be classified safe by the Israelis, and safe places for people to stay in, but then suddenly, while we’re sitting, we found the whole school being destroyed from around us and the classes we are staying in are collapsing over our heads,” he said.

“As you can see, these classes got destroyed and it’s not like it was by mistake, no, this is genocidal targeting, aimed to destroy the people of Gaza,” he said, pointing to blown-out walls and ceilings at the school-turned-shelter.


Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people at the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, September 22


Most victims of Saturday’s school attack were women and children: Rights group

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said the overwhelming majority of the Palestinians who were killed in Israel’s attack on the Zeitoun school in Gaza City on Saturday were women and children.

It said 13 children and six women were among the 21 Palestinians killed in the assault. Health officials said earlier that 22 people had been killed.

Euro-Med, which sent a field and legal team to the site of the attack, said the victims included a woman who was three months pregnant. At least 30 others were wounded, including nine children who had to have their legs amputated.

As we’ve been reporting, Israel has struck two more schools-turned-shelters in Gaza since Saturday’s attack, killing at least 10 more Palestinians.

No sign of fighters, weapons at Gaza City school: Rights group

More from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor:


The group, which sent a field team to the Zeitoun school that Israeli forces bombed on Saturday, said its staff “did not witness any sign of armed personnel or equipment there”.

It added: “A review of the victims’ names revealed that they were all civilians, and were mostly women and children, which refutes the Israeli army’s claim that it had targeted a school being used as a military command and control centre by armed groups.”

At least 21 Palestinians were killed in the attack, including 13 children and six women, according to Euro-Med.

The group said Israel has bombed 21 schools-turned-shelters since August, killing at least 267 Palestinians and wounding hundreds more.

“The Israeli army is deliberately destroying the remaining shelter centres in the Gaza Strip, including schools and public facilities, with the aim of creating a coercive environment that forces civilians to evacuate their areas of residence towards the central and southern sections of the Strip,” it said.


Palestinians inspect a school, which was sheltering displaced people, after it was hit in an Israeli attack in Gaza City, September 21



Family of 3 killed in Israel’s attack on Nuseirat school

We have more on the Israeli attack on Khalid bin al-Walid school in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that the three Palestinians killed in the attack were a man, his wife and their child.

Israel’s army claimed the target of its attack was a Hamas command and control centre, but did not provide any proof. As we’ve been reporting, the attack was the third deadly bombing of a school-turned-shelter in two days.


Israeli drone attack wounds Palestinians in Khan Younis

Our colleagues on the ground are reporting that many Palestinians, including children, were wounded in an Israeli drone attack on the town of Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis.


Disturbing scenes at the morgue after Deir el-Balah attack

Gaza is still very much an active warzone. The entire Strip has been under relentless Israeli attacks since dawn. We went to the scene of one of the attacks this morning, a house that was attacked in Deir el-Balah where at least five people – a woman and four of her children – were killed.

The neighbours confirmed the house did not receive any warning. People have fled the area, fearing it could be targeted again. The scenes at the morgue are very disturbing. The bodies have been lined up on the ground.


Qassam Brigades claims it ambushed convoy of Israeli vehicles

The armed wing of Hamas says it carried out an ambush to disrupt the supply line of Israeli forces advancing east of Rafah City. “We targeted three military bulldozers and two Merkava tanks as they passed through the eastern George junction,” the group said.


‘All Israeli units have been heavily engaged in the fighting’

There has been a significant change in terms of the security and humanitarian situation on the ground because Israel has been heavily hitting the Gaza Strip in the course of the past few hours.

The main focus of these attacks was on the central area, where a residential house alongside an evacuation centre, has been hit massively by the Israeli fighter jets where at least 10 Palestinians were confirmed killed.

Most of those victims were young children and a Palestinian mother.

The main situation in Gaza is getting very difficult and complex because families in northern Gaza have been widely targeted, and evacuation centres have been hit. All Israeli units have been heavily engaged in the fighting, including fighter jets, drone units and also artillery combat forces on the ground.