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

SvennoJ on 29 September 2024

Sirens sound near Eilat, Israel

Israeli Army Radio is reporting that air raid sirens have sounded near Eilat in Israel.

The reports come several hours after the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed to have fired drones at Eilat.


Four killed in Israeli raid on Tayr Debba, southern Lebanon

Four people have been killed and several others injured in an Israeli bombing of the town of Tayr Debba in the southern district of Tyre, Lebanon, according to the Lebanese state-run National News Agency (NNA).

Israeli warplanes reportedly targeted a civil defence centre, the NNA added.


Israel says ‘dozens’ of sites in Lebanon attacked in recent hours

Israel’s military said fighter jets have attacked “dozens” of targets in Lebanon in recent hours.

In a post on social media accompanied by grainy aerial footage of massive air strikes, the Israeli military said its warplanes continue to bomb Lebanon and its forces had “attacked hundreds of terrorist targets” over the last day. Targets attacked included rocket launch sites and buildings where weapons and “military structures” of the Hezbollah organisation were stored, it said.

The Israeli military made no mention of casualties from their air strikes.


Israel says navy ship intercepted attack drone over Red Sea

Israel’s military says a naval missile ship destroyed an unmanned aerial vehicle over the Red Sea before it entered Israeli airspace. It did not provide details on where the drone originated or its likely target in Israel.


Iran’s IRGC confirms senior commander killed alongside Nasrallah

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has confirmed that Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, the Iranian elite forces’ deputy commander for operations, was in the bunker with the Hezbollah chief when the Israeli bombs hit.

Nilforoushan was described as someone who worked for the security of Iran and helped the Palestinian cause, according to a short IRGC statement carried by state media.


Why is the assassination of IRGC’s Nilforoushan significant?

Nilforoushan is one of the most senior Iranian commanders to be killed in recent years, dealing a blow to the presence of Iranian forces in Lebanon and the region. Reports – which the IRGC has not commented on – indicate that Nilforoushan had taken charge of the Lebanon file after the assassination of Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi by Israeli warplanes in Syria in April.

Another Iranian general and five other members of the IRGC were also killed in that attack, which levelled an annexe building of the Iranian consulate in Syria’s capital Damascus and prompted Iran to retaliate by launching hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel.

The Israeli army has now killed the second of Iran’s top military commanders in Lebanon this year, which again increases the pressure on Tehran to respond.



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SvennoJ on 29 September 2024

Israel’s tactics in Gaza are on the minds of the Lebanese

A civil defence centre was just hit in a small town outside the Tyre governorate and we’re hearing that four people were killed and several were injured.

Questions are being asked about why this particular fire service unit was attacked. And, it is also affiliated with the Islamic Scout Association. So it has a community centre feel to it.

Overnight we saw several air strikes take place around southern Lebanon. Israel isn’t letting up its pressure at all.

People are saying to each other, “Where can we go?” Beirut isn’t safe, Tyre isn’t safe. This is now not just affecting Shia Muslim villages, but also the Christians, Druze villages, Sunni villages and the mixed towns.

The one thing, the one word that keeps getting brought up, and repeatedly, is Gaza, Gaza, Gaza. They saw how the Israelis pushed everybody to the south, called it a safe zone and then started bombing the safe zone. That’s how people are feeling about the Israeli operations here.


Israel imposing ‘military blockade’ of Lebanon

It looks like we’re heading towards further escalation.

Maybe in the past few hours, the Israeli strikes on Lebanon have not been as intense as we’ve seen on Friday and throughout Saturday, but the Israeli army is going to exert pressure on Hezbollah.

There are also some unconfirmed reports about a possible ground manoeuvre along the border. No doubt – whether this is true or not – this is part of the pressure that Israel is exerting on Hezbollah.

It has also imposed a military blockade on this country. Beirut international airport is still functioning but the Israeli army made clear that if Iranian planes, Syrian planes or any planes it considers hostile towards Israel, they will not be allowed to land.

They also said the border crossings that they have hit along the border with Syria will not be allowed to reopen.


Hezbollah ‘disarray’ amid top leaders’ killings temporary: Analysts

Hezbollah may be suffering from “temporary organisational paralysis” following the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and the killing of numerous senior and middle-level commanders in Israeli air strikes, military analysts said.

US-based defence think tanks the Critical Threats Project (CTP) and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), said Nasrallah’s death has worsened the group’s “internal disarray” coming so soon after Israel caused mass casualties by detonating thousands of Hezbollah pagers and other communication devices.

But that turmoil will likely only be temporary.

“All the commanders that Israel has killed have deputies who should in principle be able to fill those roles and help the force recover, although they will have taken over under extremely difficult circumstances and under intense pressure,” according to the latest CTP-ISW joint report on the fighting.


Resistance groups ‘will emerge victorious in the war’, says Iranian speaker

The Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former IRGC commander, says Hezbollah has built its structure over decades in a way that the deaths of its leaders and commanders would not lead to the group’s collapse.

“The resistance front will emerge victorious in the war, and we will see that the different pillars of resistance, with the help of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will continue to confront the regime in a unified and strong manner, continuing the regime’s defeat in the field of battle,” he said during an address to parliament in reference to Israel.

A large image of Nasrallah was erected on the parliament floor as lawmakers convened this morning.



SvennoJ on 29 September 2024

US ‘playing games’ with ceasefire calls while supporting Israel militarily: Analyst

Al Jazeera spoke a little earlier to Omar Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, about the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, what comes next for Hezbollah and the role of the US in Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Gaza.

“In terms of a ceasefire in Lebanon… I think the US is playing games, to be honest. It is trying to appear as the responsible partner while pushing the Israelis, financing the Israelis,” Rahman told Al Jazeera.

“I think there are people behind the scenes within the US administration that are very much on board with Israel’s strategy. They are communicating regularly in terms of the military strategy,” Rahman said.

“So when the Israelis are telling them we have a chance to go out there and take Hezbollah by surprise and really deal them a decisive blow, I think the United States is not telling them, ‘Don’t do it’. I think they are actually pushing it behind the scenes.

“Widening the lens here, the United States has been totally complicit in the destruction of Gaza over the past year. It has given Israel everything it has wanted. It hasn’t pushed back. It hasn’t enforced any red lines. So I think the US is as much to blame for what’s happened as Israel itself.”


US ceasefire talk ‘means nothing’ while sending Israel weapons: Analyst

Phyllis Bennis, a fellow with the Washington, DC-based Institute for Policy Studies think tank, said the US talks about a ceasefire but sends more weapons to Israel. And Israel’s leaders are only concerned about the US actions and not words when it comes to its wars on Gaza and now, Lebanon.

“What we are seeing is very much what we’ve seen for almost a year regarding Gaza. The United States, and its president, say one thing. He says we need a ceasefire. We don’t want to expand the war. But it is the actions that Israel is responding to,” Bennis told Al Jazeera.

“The actions of the United States and President Biden are to continue sending weapons and money that enable genocide in Gaza and the war that’s increasing in Lebanon… that is the message that gets through to Netanyahu and the rest of the Israeli leadership.

“Just yesterday, the White House approved the use of another $8bn worth of weapons that are now being approved to be sent to Israel,” she said. “So all of the talk about ceasefire means nothing. It means nothing as long as they continue to send these weapons and now send troops,” she added.


‘Tension between Lebanon and Israel is a spillover of the Gaza conflict’: China

Beijing opposes any violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty following Israel’s devastating wave of air strikes which killed Nasrallah, China’s Foreign Ministry said.

“China opposes the infringement on Lebanon’s sovereignty and security, opposes and condemns any action against innocent civilians, and opposes any move that fuels antagonism and escalates regional tensions,” the ministry said.

“The tension between Lebanon and Israel is a spillover of the Gaza conflict. The pressing priority is to implement relevant UN Security Council resolutions, end the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible, and earnestly safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East,” it added.


Pakistan denounces ‘growing Israeli adventurism in the Middle East’

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has condemned Israeli attacks on civilians in Lebanon and the killing of Nasrallah as “reckless” and a “major escalation in an already volatile region”.

“For the last several days, Israeli forces have engaged in unacceptable violation of the sovereignty of Lebanon, relentlessly targeting civilian population centers, and undermining its stability and security,” the ministry said in a statement.

“We urge the United Nations Security Council to restrain Israel from its adventurism in the region and violations of international law; and restore peace in the Middle East.”


Demonstrations in Bahrain after Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon

Demonstrations have been held in Bahrain amid ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon. The protesters could be heard chanting in honour of assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition opposition movement in Bahrain also released a statement to commemorate Nasrallah as a leader who “never feared the brutality” of Israel, according to Iran’s state-run PressTV.

Bahrain normalised relations with Israel in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords, and human rights organisations have reported that the Arab nation has stifled protests against Israeli attacks on Gaza and across the region since the start of the war.

Translation: Bahraini street witnesses uprising and memorial marches for the nation’s martyr and master of resistance, in Southern Sahla.



SvennoJ on 29 September 2024

Israeli air strike kills 11 people in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley

At least 11 people have been killed in an air raid on a house in the town of Ain in the Bekaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon, according to the National News Agency. Six bodies were recovered from under the rubble, while rescue operations are ongoing to retrieve the other five victims.

A total of 1,640 people in Lebanon have been killed since October 8, including 104 children and 194 women, the majority in Israeli strikes in the past two weeks.


Israeli military says no casualties after Hezbollah fired 8 rockets

The Israeli military says eight rockets were fired by Hezbollah at Tiberias this morning, but the projectiles landed in open areas and inflicted no casualties. The rockets set off sirens in the northeastern city and several towns nearby. Footage shared online appeared to show that at least one of the rockets landed in the Sea of Galilee.

Hezbollah has claimed one attack so far today, saying it launched Fadi 1 missiles at a military outpost along the border.


Lebanon’s army calls for national unity

The Lebanese army is instructing its citizens to maintain unity, as Israeli attacks on the country continue.

“The Army Command calls on citizens to preserve national unity and not to be drawn into actions that may affect civil peace at this dangerous and delicate stage in the history of our country, as the Israeli enemy is working to implement its destructive plans and sow division among the Lebanese,” the army said in a statement.


Israel says it has killed another senior Hezbollah figure

The Israeli army is claiming it has killed a senior Hezbollah figure, Nabil Kaouk. There is no confirmation from the Lebanese group yet.


People fleeing to Syria as fear of Israeli ground incursion grows in Lebanon

Families with their children are carrying as much as they can and crossing into Syria. We’ve spoken to some people here, many of them Syrian families who were refugees working in southern Lebanon, Beirut and the surrounding areas.

They’ve decided to go back to Syria and take their chances there as the likelihood of an Israeli ground incursion grows. There are also more intense Israeli strikes across Lebanon, including in Bekaa in the south.

On the road here, people lined up on the streets waiting for vehicles to take them to the border. People are tense and there’s a fear that the Israelis could intensify their bombardment. Just a few days ago, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said 30,000 people had crossed into Syria, and that number has increased.


Israel deploys tanks near Lebanon border


Lebanon PM says up to 1 million may be displaced by Israeli attacks

We have some comments from Najib Mikati following an emergency cabinet meeting in Beirut.

“The number of displaced people … could reach a million. Let’s not forget the large influx from the south and the Bekaa” region in Lebanon’s east, the prime minister said, calling it “the largest displacement movement that may have happened” in the country.

Asked about efforts to de-escalate the situation, Mikati said Lebanon had “no option but the diplomatic option”.



SvennoJ on 29 September 2024

‘You won’t be able to destroy us’: Lebanese after Israeli bombings

Aymen, a displaced resident from southern Lebanon, says he cannot imagine what will happen to the country in the future in light of the ongoing Israeli attacks.

“The future of Lebanon is in God’s hands. Nothing is clear. Look at us, we are sleeping in the streets. That’s how our life is now, and we are leaving it to God,” he said.

Francoise Azori, a Beirut resident, said the people in Lebanon will not abandon their country, striking a similar message to the one coming from Palestinians in Gaza. “You won’t be able to destroy us, whatever you do, however much you bomb, however much you displace people – we will stay here. We won’t leave. This is our country and we’re staying. Do whatever you want to do.”


Families after fleeing the Israeli air raids in Beirut’s southern suburbs


WFP mobilising food assistance for 1 million people in Lebanon

The World Food Programme has launched an emergency operation to provide meals for one million people affected by the growing conflict in Lebanon.

“A further acceleration of the conflict this weekend underscored the need for an immediate humanitarian response,” WFP said in a statement, announcing that it was distributing ready-to-eat food rations, bread, hot meals and food parcels to shelters across the country.

The bombing in Lebanon is “compounding the fragility of a population burdened by accumulated crises”, it said, adding that “as the crisis deepens, we are preparing to assist up to one million people through a mix of cash and food support”.

“Lebanon is at a breaking point and cannot endure another war,” WFP regional director Corinne Fleischer said.


Situation in Beirut ‘getting worse by the hour’

As we’ve been reporting, many residents of Beirut have been forced to live on the streets because of heavy Israeli bombardment, while hundreds of thousands have fled Israeli air attacks in the south and east.

“It’s hard to find the words to describe the situation, but it’s getting worse by the hour,” said Jad Assaf, Islamic Relief’s senior humanitarian programme officer in the Lebanese capital.

“People are camping out in parks, on the beach, or just by the side of the road,” he added in a statement.

“Hundreds of schools have been turned into shelters across the country, but many of these are now full to bursting point and are having to turn people away as they have no more space. The bombing is continuing, and we fear the numbers of displaced people will keep rising,” he added.

Assaf described the conditions at schools as “awful”, saying multiple families are sheltering in each classroom, with “100 or more people” sharing a single toilet, with no privacy for women or girls.


Displaced families shelter on a road of southern Beirut after spending the night fleeing the overnight Israeli attacks on Saturday


As drones fly overhead, Lebanon’s displaced pour into the streets

I’m about two blocks from the prime minister’s office but the sound of drones above me here is very loud – so everyone in Lebanon is feeling this threat.

The prime minister has just addressed people’s concerns speaking about the displacement that is maybe one of the biggest in the history of Lebanon. There are Lebanese in the south and Bekaa Valley who decided to leave their homes after receiving warnings from the Israeli army that they would be targeted.

Also, there are 1.5 million Syrians in Lebanon who had to leave their places of displacement because they’re already refugees. They had been living in houses, open areas, camps or schools, but have also been forced to leave and seek refuge. There are also about 200,000 Palestinians in refugee camps.

So, all these people are pouring into the streets of Beirut and other areas around Lebanon. Many of them are going to schools while some are just sleeping in parks, near the beach and on the streets.

All of this is a very heavy weight on the Lebanese government which is in a situation of bankruptcy.



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SvennoJ on 29 September 2024

Israeli attack kills 17 members of a family in Lebanon’s Bekaa

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) is reporting that at least 17 members of one family were killed in an Israeli air strike that hit the town of Zboud in the country’s northern Bekaa Valley.

The search for survivors under the rubble is still ongoing, NNA said.


Hezbollah says senior commander also killed in Friday’s Israeli attack

Hezbollah confirms that one of its senior commanders, Ali Karaki, was killed in the Israeli air strike on Friday that killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Earlier on Sunday, Israel announced it killed another Hezbollah senior commander, Nabil Kaouk, but the group has yet to comment.


Hezbollah’s latest operations

Hezbollah says its fighters carried out three operations today:

  • Firing a series of Fadi 1 rockets at the Ofek military base in northern Israel.
  • An attack on Israeli soldiers in Manara, opposite the Lebanese village of Hula.
  • Targeting Israel’s Sa’ar settlement with multiple rocket strikes.


New Israeli strikes target Beirut’s southern suburbs

The Israeli military has carried out new attacks on Lebanon, including Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of the capital, Beirut. It also claimed to target Hezbollah’s weapons storage facilities and infrastructure sites in the country.

A Lebanese security official confirmed the Beirut strike to AFP, with a loud explosion heard and smoke seen billowing from the area.


‘Same story complete’: Foreign volunteer doctor compares Lebanon with Gaza

The type of injuries from Israeli attacks on Lebanon is reminiscent of those in Gaza, particularly at the start of Israel’s war there last year, says Ghassan Abu Sittah, a foreign doctor currently in Beirut.

“Having worked in Gaza during the first two months of the genocide there, it’s the same story complete,” Abu Sittah told Al Jazeera from the Lebanese capital.

He said victims had almost “identical” patterns of injuries due to blasts and being pulled from under rubble. Multiple members of the same family were also being killed in Lebanon, just as in Gaza, he added.

“Children constitute a large part of the wounded,” Abu Sittah said, noting these young victims were largely injured inside their homes after coming under attack.

“We have been receiving children who needed paediatric intensive care and because of the shortage of paediatric intensive care beds, they’ve had to be sent from front-line hospitals in the south all the way back to Beirut.”

Many coming into hospitals also have no homes to go back to because those were destroyed in the attacks, the doctor said.


Israeli attacks kill 14 medics in Lebanon in two days

Fourteen medics have been killed over the course of two days of Israeli strikes across Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry has said in a statement.

“The Israeli occupation forces have accumulated their attacks on paramedics and health centres in recent days. This series of attacks led to the martyrdom of fourteen paramedics in two days,” it said in the statement.

“The Ministry of Public Health condemns in the strongest terms the repeated attacks by the Israeli enemy on health centres, which flout international laws and norms, especially the Geneva Convention, which stresses the need to neutralise health centres and health workers to allow them to carry out their humanitarian duty.

“Does Israel want blood to flow without stopping? Where is the international community and its responsibility to put an end to this escalating genocide?”


More than 1,600 people killed in Lebanon since last October

The Lebanese Government Emergency Committee has just shared these statistics:

  • Since October 8, 1,640 people, including 104 children and 194 women, have been killed and 8,408 wounded.
  • There have been 216 air attacks in the past 24 hours across Lebanon.
  • Right now, there are 116,100 displaced people in the 777 accredited shelters.
  • About 36,188 Syrians and 41,307 Lebanese have crossed the border into Syrian territory since September 23.


SvennoJ on 29 September 2024

Hezbollah rejects claims Abu Ali Reda killed

Hezbollah has just released a statement rejecting Israeli media claims that Abu Ali Reda, leader of the group’s Badr unit, was killed in Lebanon. There were reports that he was the target of the latest Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs this afternoon.


Hezbollah says it launched ‘rocket salvo’ towards north Israeli town

Hezbollah said it targeted two locations in northern Israel, including the town of Safad, an area it has fired at several times over the past week.

The group said in a statement that its fighters launched a “rocket salvo” at Safad and a smaller location “in defence of Lebanon and its people and in response” to Israeli attacks on cities, villages and civilians.


24 people killed in Israeli attack on Ain Deleb: Lebanon’s Health Ministry

An Israeli attack on the city of Ain Deleb in southern Lebanon killed 24 people, according to a preliminary toll, Lebanon’s Health Ministry has said. In a statement, the ministry said 29 others were also wounded in an Israeli strike near the city of Sidon.




Air raids hit Yemen’s port of Hodeidah

Yemen’s port of Hodeidah has been hit by air raids.

Israeli army targets power plant, oil facilities in Yemen

The Israeli army has confirmed that it attacked the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, saying “dozens of air force aircraft” were used in the attacks.

On X, the army said power plants and a seaport were attacked as there were places where the Houthis “transfer Iranian weapons to the region”.



US boosts air support and hikes troops’ readiness to deploy for Middle East

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has authorised the military to reinforce its presence in the Middle East with “defensive” air-support capabilities and put other forces on a heightened readiness status, the Pentagon said.

The statement did not detail what new aircraft would be deployed to the region.



SvennoJ on 29 September 2024

Back to the origin of all the conflicts


Three killed in Israeli attack on Gaza City

At least three Palestinians have been killed and several others wounded in an Israeli bombing that targeted a residential apartment near the Al-Sha’biya junction in central Gaza City, the Wafa news agency is reporting, citing local sources.

As we reported earlier, at least 52 people were killed and 118 wounded in the latest 24-hour reporting period, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.


Young Palestinian man killed in Israeli attack on Jabalia, northern Gaza

A young Palestinian man has been killed and several others wounded in an Israeli attack on the Al-Alami area of the Jabalia refugee camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip, the Wafa news agency is reporting, citing medical sources.

As we reported earlier, three people have also been killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City, also in the north of the Gaza Strip.


Three Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza

Three Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes targeting the northern and central parts of the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources said two people were killed in an Israeli air raid near the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, while another person was killed in a drone attack in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the enclave.

Wafa reported that Israeli gunboats fired shells at residential homes in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City in the north.


Gaza hospital corridors, where families say goodbye to their loved ones

Despite the distraction by the Israeli military on the northern front and attacks on Lebanon, it continues to carry out deadly attacks across Gaza. This morning, we saw attacks in the central area, where a father-of-six was killed inside his home and surviving family members were moved to hospital.

The courtyard of the hospital has turned into a place where families say goodbye to their loved ones. Many people have been brought here, either those hit in the early hours of the morning or those who did not survive earlier attacks.

The Israeli military has also carried out attacks in the northern parts of the enclave, killing two people and severely wounding multiple others. The Kamal Adwan Hospital in that area is running low on capacity.

The Israeli army is not leaving any moment of peace and quiet for people who are trying to get back to their homes in Khan Younis either, an area which has been invaded and seen much of its infrastructure destroyed.


Palestinian killed in attack on northern Gaza

Wafa is reporting that a civilian was killed and many others wounded in an Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya. The report, citing local sources, said there were attacks across several areas in the town.

We earlier reported that Israeli jets targeted the vicinity of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp as well as the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least three people.



SvennoJ on 29 September 2024

Killings, destruction continue on large scale in Gaza

The killings and destruction continue at a large level here in Gaza.

Just a while ago, an evacuation centre – a school – was attacked. Private schools and UNRWA schools are serving as evacuation centres across Gaza. They have been accommodating the many hundreds of families displaced across the Strip.

People would come here for safety and security but we’ve seen how that notion has been consistently toppled by Israeli attacks. They come here because they don’t have their homes any more. They have been destroyed by Israeli attacks.

About nine shelter schools have been bombed by Israel this month. This is the fourth such incident in less than a week. People also come to these shelters because they provide minimal levels of food and other necessities that are hard to find in Gaza.

This school is in western Beit Lahiya. Four people have been reported killed but this place was sheltering up to 300 families so the figure may rise. A number of Palestinians are also critically wounded.


In Gaza, the situation is deteriorating by the day

In tandem with the Israeli destruction in Lebanon, the Israeli operations in Gaza continue.

Israeli forces attacked a school today that serves as a UN shelter. In the attack, at least four displaced Palestinians were killed and 15 wounded. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked UN shelters or schools. At least 10 schools have been hit this month alone.

Palestinians who are wounded in these attacks do not have any source of medical treatment. Since the Israeli army took over the Philadelphi Corridor, no medical supplies have entered Gaza. Here at al-Aqsa Hospital, a very small number of medical supplies have come in. But in the north there have been none, and the situation is more disastrous there.

This was not the only attack on Gaza today. There were others in Rafah and the central areas. The situation is deteriorating by the day.


Mountains of rubbish piling up in Gaza: UNRWA

The UN agency said Gaza’s central areas are plagued with heaps of rubbish while sewage leaks onto the streets.

“Families have no choice but to live beside the accumulated waste, exposed to the reek and the threat of a looming health disaster,” UNRWA said in a post on X. “Sanitary and living conditions across Gaza are inhumane.”



SvennoJ on 29 September 2024

The latest Israeli raids and arrests in the occupied West Bank

We are getting reports that Israeli forces are raiding the occupied West Bank city of Aqqaba, northwest of Tubas.

Three Palestinians have been wounded and one person was arrested. Other early morning raids in the territory, including in Ramallah, el-Bireh, and Sa’ir, resulted in 17 people being arrested by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military also stormed the Balata refugee camp overnight, east of Nablus, where armed clashes broke out with Palestinian resistance fighters inside the camp.


Number of wounded in Israeli raid in West Bank rises to 6

At least six people have now been wounded and one arrested during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank city of Aqqaba, northwest of Tubas.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said five of the wounded were taken to Tubas Turkish Government Hospital, with one person suffering from a critical chest injury. The sixth injured was reportedly arrested by Israeli forces while receiving medical assistance, Wafa reported.

It also reported that Israeli troops surrounded the home of former prisoner Qutaybah al-Shawish during the early morning operation.

Kamel Bani Ouda, director of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society in Tubas, told Wafa that al-Shawish was arrested after being attacked by police dogs inside a neighbour’s home.


‘As long as Jerusalem remains occupied, wars will persist’: Palestinian official

The spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says the entire region has entered a phase of instability, adding that the only way to fix that was through a resolution to the Palestinian issue.

Nabil Abu Rudeinah said the ongoing attacks in Gaza and attacks in the occupied West Bank “will not bring security or stability but will instead lead to more violence and chaos across the region and beyond”, according to Wafa.

“As long as Jerusalem remains occupied, with its sacred sites, history, and heritage under threat, the wars witnessed today will persist as they have for the past century,” he added.

Abu Rudeinah also held successive US administrations accountable for the ongoing turmoil due to their support for Israel, saying, “Such actions have emboldened further crimes against the Palestinian people and the people of Syria and Lebanon as well, along with persistent threats to other areas.”


Israeli forces close military checkpoint northeast of Bethlehem

Israeli forces closed the military checkpoint northeast of Bethlehem, Wafa reported, citing security sources.

The report said the Israelis shut down the checkpoint, which connects the central and southern occupied West Bank, and stopped residents’ movement.

Restricting movement is one of the main tools Israel uses to enforce its occupation.

“These conditions result in a life of constant uncertainty for Palestinians, making it difficult to perform simple tasks and plan their lives, and obstruct the development of a stable economy,” said Israeli rights group B’Tselem.