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

SvennoJ on 18 February 2024

I can't even count on how many levels this constitutes a war crime.

Israel is a terrorist state.

Israel says it will expand military operations in Rafah if hostages are not returned by Ramadan

Israeli forces will expand military operations in Rafah if hostages held by Hamas are not returned by the start of Ramadan, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said Sunday. The Muslim holy month is expected to start on March 10 or 11 and Gantz's comments appear to be the clearest deadline yet for Israeli military action in the southern Gaza city, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians are taking shelter near the Egyptian border.

"The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know — if by Ramadan our hostages are not home — the fighting will continue to the Rafah area," Gantz told a gathering of American Jewish organizations in Jerusalem. "We will do so in a coordinated manner, facilitating the evacuation of civilians in dialogue with our American and Egyptian partners to minimize civilian casualties."

Israel has said it plans to expand its ground operations into Rafah as part of its goal to destroy Hamas after the October 7 attacks. But there is growing concern that the roughly 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering there will have nowhere to go. "To those saying the price is too high, I say this very clearly: Hamas has a choice — they can surrender, release the hostages, and the citizens of Gaza will be able to celebrate the holy holiday of Ramadan," Gantz said.

What choice do the civilians have? And what until March 10, let the population continue to starve and die of disease outbreaks while continuing to bomb Gaza?

This is terrorist threat.


Veteran British director Ken Loach calls for end to war on Gaza

Loach stood next to a sign with the message, “Gaza – Stop the massacre”, during the red carpet ceremony of the annual British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards in London. The image was posted by the UK news outlet The Telegraph and reposted by Loach’s and his production company’s X account with the caption, “CEASEFIRE NOW!!!”

Jeremy Corbyn urges vote for immediate ceasefire in Gaza

The former leader of the UK Labour Party says he will be voting for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza next week. “I urge fellow MPs to wake up, think about what is happening in Gaza, and do the same,” Corbyn said in a post on X. The Scottish National Party is set to table the motion to be debated in parliament on Wednesday.

UAE calls for immediate ceasefire and aid to Gaza

Yousef Al Otaiba, Abu Dhabi’s ambassador to Washington, has sounded the alarm on the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. “An immediate ceasefire and urgent aid surge are needed to meet the mounting humanitarian calamity in Gaza,” Al Otaiba said in a statement shared on social media by the UAE’s embassy in the US.

“Half of the people are starving. The medical system has collapsed. Safe water is scarce. An impending Israeli offensive will displace millions.” The UAE, a close ally of the US, has formal diplomatic ties and economic relations with Israel.

Israeli accusations of Hamas activity at hospitals ‘nonsense’: Gaza doctor

Osaid Alser, a Gaza surgeon and medical resident at Texas Tech University, says he has never seen any military activity while working at several medical centres in Gaza since 2010, including at the al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals. “When we talk about tunnels and all of that, I think this is Israeli propaganda that everybody should get used to at this point,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Anybody who has worked in any of these hospitals, they can easily say this is just nonsense. We never had our access limited to any area in these hospitals. We could go to literally any area in the hospital and nobody would say stop.”

Nablus facing ‘economic and political seige’ by Israel: Official

Ghassan Daghlas, the acting governor of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, says 48 people from the Palestinian city have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of the war on Gaza. Earlier, Israeli forces fatally shot Anas Jamil Dwaikat, a 26-year-old Palestinian police officer, at a checkpoint east of Nablus.

Daghlas said Israeli forces are also erecting gates and checkpoints around the towns and villages of the Nablus Governorate, turning it into a “big prison”. “Settler violence and aggression have also noticeably increased after October 7, especially in villages south of the city of Nablus,” Daghlas told Al Jazeera. He added that Nablus has been facing an “economic and political siege” by Israel, which intensified with the outbreak of the war on Gaza.

Turning the West Bank into lots of smaller copies of Gaza...



‘Occupation is always illegal’: UN expert

Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN rapporteur on the right to housing, says he is “hoping for justice” as the ICJ starts hearings on Monday about Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land. “Occupation is always illegal, no matter how long it has existed. Land theft and home demolitions are the main tools of converting occupation to annexation,” Rajagopal wrote in a social media post.

Hamas slams Israel’s rejection of international Palestine recognition

The Palestinian group says the Israeli government’s symbolic vote to reject any international recognition of a Palestinian state underscores Israel’s “rogue” behaviour and abuse of international law and treaties. Hamas added that Israel has been using peace talks for decades to buy time and further entrench its occupation and theft of Palestinian land.

Israeli policies must move the international community to reject Israel’s “manipulation” and violation of Palestinians’ right to self-determination, Hamas said.

The Israeli cabinet vote comes amid reports that some Western countries are considering recognising Palestine as a state in a push to end the broader conflict based on the two-state solution.



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SvennoJ on 19 February 2024

ICJ to hold hearings on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories

The United Nations’s highest court is set to open historic hearings into the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of the Palestinian territories. The week-long proceedings, which begin at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Monday, are separate from the genocide case brought by South Africa.

The case arrived at the court after the UN General Assembly (UNGA) voted by a wide margin in December 2022 to ask the 15-judge panel for a non-binding advisory opinion on the Israeli occupation.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/19/icj-to-hold-hearings-on-israels-occupation-of-palestinian-territories

Al-Aqsa ban is ‘blatant infringement’ of freedom says Israeli MP Ahmad Tibi

Ahmad Tibi, a member of the Israeli Knesset, has called Netanyahu’s reported plan to ban prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan a “blatant infringement on the freedom of worship”. In a statement shared on social media, Tibi described Netanyahu as a “captive” to the “convicted terrorist [National Security Minister] Ben-Gvir” and said that “it’s time for President Biden to impose sanctions on Ben-Gvir himself”.

“The prohibition for Muslims, both from the West Bank and within the Green Line, to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan, deserves to be discussed at the UN,” Tibi added. The 1949 Armistice Line, also known as the Green Line, is the generally recognised boundary between Israel and the West Bank.

Earlier, Israel’s war cabinet member Benny Gantz said restrictions will be in place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan for “security purposes only”, after media reports Netanyahu would impose the ban proposed by Israel’s far-right Minister Ben-Gvir.


The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem is one of the holiest sites in the world and one of the most contested


Displaced, bombed by Israel, Rafah’s kids seek warmth in hospital coveralls

Running out of options and solutions, parents in Gaza have resorted to putting their children in the white medical coveralls that were part of COVID-19 PPE kits, in a desperate bid to keep them warm and dry.

Gaza’s displaced – many of them having been forced to move multiple times – are suffering in the severe winter cold with little to protect them from the elements other than thin tents at best. “I’m warm and the water doesn’t get into my clothes,” says Nour al-Bayouk, 11. “I have no alternative clothes at all. If my clothes get wet, I won’t find anything else to wear.

“At first I looked funny and scary. I felt like I looked like a person undergoing an operation, or an astronaut. “I laugh every time I see myself in the car windows.”


Israeli gunboats fired on Palestinian fishing boats

Israeli gunboats have fired at Palestinian fishermen off the Gaza coast, threatening a vital source of food. The men were using small boats to catch fish off the coast near Rafah. Under the Israeli blockade, they used to be able to fish up to 37km (23 miles) out to the sea but not any more.


Israeli Navy boats patrol off the coast of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 27

 

Clashes and arrests in the town of Qabatiya in West Bank

The Israeli military has raided the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports. Israeli forces have destroyed property and vehicles, distributed threatening leaflets and arrested at least three Palestinians in raids on homes, Wafa reports. Confrontations have also broken out, with the Israeli military throwing smoke bombs.

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

  • The city of Qalqilya
  • The towns of Hajjah and Kafr Qaddum near Qalqilya
  • The village of Al-Arooj, east of Bethlehem
  • The Al-Fawwar camp, south of Hebron
  • The town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron
  • The village of Kobar, north of Ramallah
  • The town of Jabal Mukaber, south of occupied East Jerusalem

Israeli forces have also arrested a man from the Shuafat camp, north of occupied East Jerusalem and beaten a man from the city of Hebron.



Clear decline in aid entering Gaza

We’re here on the Palestinian side of the Karam Abu Salem border crossing, which has seen a clear decline in the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the month. Officials here say the decline is due to demonstrations on the Israeli side of the crossing, organised by the families of Israeli captives in Gaza.

The decline in the quantity of humanitarian aid has reached its lowest level. And that, of course, has a big negative effect on Palestinians in dire need of that aid. From February 1 to 13, the number of aid trucks was not more than 110, compared with 200 trucks last month.

Israel’s complicated procedures have also played a role in the decrease as well as the late delivery of goods that piled up at the Israeli side of the crossing. These procedures have worsened the suffering, bearing in mind the already deteriorated humanitarian situation in Gaza.


People protest at the Nitzana border crossing with Egypt in southern Israel on Monday, February 12



SvennoJ on 19 February 2024

Great discussion / interview, worth the time to watch

Comedian Bassem Youssef No-Holds-Barred On Middle East Turmoil And Media Manipulation

Chris Cuomo and surgeon-turned-comedian Bassem Youssef discuss the fraught political landscape of the Middle East, dissect the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and explore how fear is used as a tool for control across various political landscapes.

The conversation expands to critically evaluate the role of media, military-industrial complex, and sensationalism in the perpetuation of conflicts. Youssef provides his unique perspective, underscoring the importance of sustained conversation, understanding opposing views, and balancing heart and head-based decision making.



Cobretti2 on 19 February 2024
SvennoJ said:


Proud to be fascist... These are the people the US stands behind (Well they sanctioned 4 of the 750,000)

The preview image of the video already shows she is a demented psycho.

I truly hope this isn't the norm with most Israeli people, as I am sure most alive would still have connections through relatives who suffered due to Nazi Germany an would have herd the stories. If this woman is the norm, sadly they have become their worst enemy. 



 

 

SvennoJ on 19 February 2024
Cobretti2 said:

The preview image of the video already shows she is a demented psycho.

I truly hope this isn't the norm with most Israeli people, as I am sure most alive would still have connections through relatives who suffered due to Nazi Germany an would have herd the stories. If this woman is the norm, sadly they have become their worst enemy. 

It's definitely not the norm with Israeli people, Settlers aren't the norm either. It's 500 - 750K settlers out of 9.4 million people in Israel, consisting of 7.2 million Jews and 2.1 million Arabs (82% Muslims, 9% Druze, and 9% Christians) An additional 5.7% (roughly 554,000 people) are classified as "others". This diverse group comprises those with Jewish ancestry but not recognized as Jewish by religious law, non-Jewish family members of Jewish immigrants, Christians other than Arabs and Armenians, and residents without a distinct ethnic or religious categorization.

Settlers are luckily in the minority, but are over represented in the government and currently the religious Zionist movement (representing 22% of Jews in Israel) hold the war cabinet hostage. By far the majority of Jews in Israel are not religious Zionists and simply want to live in peace with their neighbors. 
https://www.haaretz.com/2014-12-27/ty-article/.premium/22-of-israeli-jews-identify-as-religious-zionist/0000017f-e673-df5f-a17f-ffff2d3a0000

However the memory of the holocaust has been weaponized and is used as a weapon of fear. "Never again" is what drives the current war. The media in Israel has convinced the people that they are fighting an existential war for survival. Watch that video above, it discusses a lot of what's going on in Israel amongst other things. Religious Zionism is the root cause of this long ongoing conflict:

https://academic.oup.com/book/39201/chapter-abstract/338697685?redirectedFrom=fulltext

“If you have your ‘why?’ in life, you can get along with almost any ‘how?,’ ” argued Friedrich Nietzsche. Does the same apply to societies seeking meaning to ensure their collective existence? This chapter submits that it does, engaging contemporary Israel. The author argues that the political pursuit of moral meaning amounts to existential legitimation, or “nomization,” which can boost the nation’s resilience but, if failed, may end in an impasse of meaning, a political absurd.

Israel has grown strong in many respects but existential fears, which have characterized Zionism from its onset, have not subsided. These existential fears and freedom—the realization of Zionism as but one solution to the modern Jewish condition—prompted Zionists to seek existential legitimation to the Jewish state. However, a growing sense that “the whole world is against us no matter what” has engendered the “Zionist absurd,” believing all Israel’s legitimation efforts are doomed, and thus substituting bad faith—essentialism, determinism, and fatalism—for freedom.

And now they literally are turning the whole world against them as a self-fulfilling prophecy...



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SvennoJ on 19 February 2024

Odd, no CNN updates today, silence for 14+ hours. No page for the 19th while the ICJ hearings are underway.


The struggle goes on

WHO says 14 patients evacuated from Nasser Hospital amid dire conditions

The World Health Organization has said that it helped facilitate the evacuation of 14 patients from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which has been under siege and has come under fire from Israeli forces over the last several weeks. “After two days of being denied entry into the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza, yesterday WHO and partners were allowed to go inside to assess the patients,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post today.

“As a result, lifesaving medical referral of 14 critical patients was facilitated. Two patients needed continuous manual ventilation throughout their journey.” Ghebreyesus also noted that 180 patients and 15 doctors and nurses remain inside Nasser. “The hospital is still experiencing an acute shortage of food, basic medical supplies, and oxygen. There is no tap water and no electricity, except a backup generator maintaining some lifesaving machines,” he added.

Cruel and systematic violations of Palestinian rights in Israeli prisons: Report

A report by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI) reveals that Palestinian prisoners have been beaten, abused, sexually humiliated and medically neglected since October 7. The findings outline a pattern of daily violence in which Israeli guards indiscriminately assault Palestinians with batons, including incidents of sexually explicit insults and urination on detainees.

The PHRI also stated that Palestinian prisoners were on occasion held in confinement for days or placed in overcrowded cells and deprived of water and electricity for up to 23 hours daily. The report documented forced disappearances of hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza, including many who were not engaged in combat.





‘Take Ben-Gvir’s statements on Al-Aqsa Ramadan prayers seriously’: PA

The PA’s Foreign Ministry says the international community should not turn a blind eye to the Israeli national security minister’s push to impose restrictions on Muslims’ access to Al-Aqsa during the Muslim holy month.

“This will provoke an unprecedented escalation in the conflict and will be a direct threat to the security and stability of the entire region,” the ministry said. “This is racist incitement against Palestinians, forbidding them from praying in their mosque during the holiest of months,” it said.

We reported earlier that according to Israeli media, Netanyahu had accepted a proposal by Ben-Gvir to impose restrictions on entry to the mosque during Ramadan.



Occupation ‘in every aspect of Palestinian daily life’: Jerusalem resident

Palestinian bookshop owner and East Jerusalem resident Ahmad Muna says growing up in the occupied territory has “never been easy”.

“For the last 33 years of my life, I have encountered and experienced living under Israeli occupation pretty much on a daily basis. As a young man, you constantly have to deal with continuous checkpoints – flying [moving] checkpoints in the streets, going from school to work and back, and when you go out to see your friends,” he told Al Jazeera.

“You will constantly see land in your neighbourhood being confiscated by the Israeli state and settlements going up pretty much in every neighbourhood today. … It feels like the occupation is in every aspect of Palestinian daily life.” Muna said over time, the occupation had only gone from “bad to worse”.

“I really don’t know how we can explain to young kids how to envision a future here because the future does not look very bright,” he added.


Israeli forces on a street in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem after Israeli authorities barred Palestinians from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque on November 17, 2023




Israeli raids hit deep inside southern Lebanon

Israeli forces have attacked the town of Ghaziyeh near Sidon about 55km (34 miles) from Lebanon’s southern border, several Lebanese media outlets report. Lebanon’s National News Agency said the Israeli military carried out several air strikes on the town. Journalists shared videos of huge plumes of smoke erupting from the attack.

The raids – deep inside southern Lebanon – could prove to be a major escalation in the conflict.

Israeli raids on Lebanon hit civilian factories: Report

While the Israeli military has said it targeted Hezbollah weapons depots in Ghaziyeh, near Sidon, Lebanon’s National News Agency reports that the raids hit a tire factory and a power generator plant as well as the vicinity of a tile factory.

Lebanese TV channel Al Jadeed interviewed a man who said he owns the power generator plant as fire raged in at the site in the background. “We make power generators. Our company is called Infinite Power. We’ve been open for a year,” he said. “You can go and see, there is nothing but power generators and offices.”

Israeli military comments on recent attacks in Lebanon

A spokesperson says Israeli forces have struck a weapons depot in Ghaziyeh near Sidon in southern Lebanon. “We located an unmanned aerial vehicle from Hezbollah near Tiberias, which apparently crossed today and crashed near Tiberias. In response to this activity, we attacked weapons depots near Sidon,” Daniel Hagari said at a news briefing.

The Israeli attack is one of the farthest north in Lebanon since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah broke out with the start of the war on Gaza.



SvennoJ on 19 February 2024

Israel rejects legitimacy of ongoing ICJ hearing on its occupation

With the hearings at the International Court of Justice over Israel’s occupation set to continue tomorrow, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has issued a statement saying it does not recognise the legitimacy of the ongoing proceedings. The statement said that the trial was “designed to harm Israel’s right to defend itself from existential threats”.

“The hearing in The Hague is part of a Palestinian attempt to dictate the results of a diplomatic settlement without any negotiations,” the statement added. “We will continue to fight this attempt, and the government and the Knesset are unified in rejecting his invalid trend.”

Palestinian minister tells ICJ Israel committing genocide in Gaza

Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and has enforced a policy of apartheid against Palestinians for years, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Maliki has said at the opening of six-day hearings on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.

“Allowing this to continue is unacceptable,” Maliki said. “It is a moral and legal obligation to bring it to a prompt end.”

Unilateral withdrawal from occupied West Bank would lead to another October 7: Israel

Lior Haiat, spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) of “hurling false accusations and creating a fundamentally distorted reality” at the ICJ hearing. He added in a social media post that the PA is “trying to turn a conflict that should be resolved through direct negotiations and without external impositions into a one-sided and improper legal process”.

Haiat invoked Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, saying those who called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied West Bank “without conditions and without negotiations are, in fact, calling for another massacre of Israeli citizens”.

Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, and Palestinians have engaged in direct negotiations with Israel for decades. But Palestinian rights advocates said the peace process has only entrenched the occupation without protecting the rights of Palestinians.

Israel’s rejection of ICJ hearing on occupation ‘not surprising’: AJ correspondent

Netanyahu has called an ICJ hearing on Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories “an unacceptable course of action”, part of a long history of Israel rejecting Palestinian efforts to exercise sovereignty. Reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said the Israeli government position is that “they will unilaterally reject accepting a Palestinian state, so it’s not surprising that this is being reiterated by the Israeli prime minister”.

“They’re also calling it a ‘media circus’, saying that it’s one-sided and the Israeli prime minister again saying he rejects its legitimacy, to give you an idea of the denial of Israel’s military occupation,” Salhut said. “So this is a reoccurring theme with the statements we get from the Israeli prime minister, and it’s not surprising in the slightest.”

Hearing on Israeli occupation could help peace process under international law

Daniel Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project think tank, says the likely response of Israel’s allies to this week’s proceedings at the ICJ is that the court should “keep its nose out” of an issue that they will argue is political and not legal. “Why is that so important? Because the question here is whether the peace process, the 30 years of agreements, … is something that should be untouched by international law,” Levy told Al Jazeera.

He said that while the court’s opinion will not be enforceable, it could be key in ensuring a future peace process is based on international law and not an effort to “formalise the existing apartheid reality”. Moreover, he said the legal proceedings would dial up the “squirm factor” for third parties in terms of their responsibilities as well as the consequences of being “complicit in this violation of international law and in guaranteeing impunity for the violating party, namely Israel”.

Smotrich urges Oslo Accords exit if ‘unilateral step taken against Israel’: Report

Israeli newspaper Haaretz is reporting that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called on Netanyahu to withdraw from the Oslo Accords if “faced with any unilateral step taken against the state of Israel”.

Speaking at a Religious Zionism party meeting, Smotrich was quoted as saying that Israel could also “completely and immediately stop all funds transferred to the Palestinian Authority and to completely dissolve the Palestinian Authority”.



A look at how the arguments will move ahead and Israel’s separation wall








SvennoJ on 19 February 2024

Qatar criticises Netanyahu over pressure on Hamas to release captives

Qatar Foreign Ministry’s spokesman says Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu asking Doha to pressure Hamas to release the captives is “nothing but an attempt to stall and prolong the war” in Gaza. “The Israeli Prime Minister knows very well that Qatar has been committed from day one to mediation efforts, ending the crisis and freeing the hostages,” spokesman Majed al-Ansari said in a post on X.

“We affirm that Qatar will continue its mediation efforts and will not be deterred by rhetoric and statements that can only be understood in the context of escaping from the Israeli Prime Minister’s personal political challenges.”

UN special rapporteur denounces US actions on Gaza

Francesca Albanese asks how the US government can be taken seriously when it plans to send more weapons to Israel and block the demand for a ceasefire in Gaza in the UN Security Council.

“These two actions will ensure many more Palestinian deaths,” Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, wrote on X.

Multiple bombardments by Israeli forces near al-Amal Hospital: Red Crescent

The PRCS says Israeli shelling on the hospital in Khan Younis has caused significant damage to the building and “instilled a state of terror among patients and their companions”. Earlier, the Red Crescent said the situation inside al-Amal Hospital “is highly dangerous due to a 28-day-long siege”.

“Further, there has been repeated attacks targeting the hospital, numerous arrests of our medical and administrative staff, a decrease in fuel reserves used to generate electricity for high-risk patients and a near-exhaustion of food.”

UN report: ‘Credible allegations’ of sexual assaults on Palestinian women

In a statement, the UN rights office says there are “credible allegations” of arbitrary detention, executions and sexual assaults of Palestinian women and children in the Gaza Strip, calling for an urgent and independent investigation.

The report by UN Special Rapporteurs Reem Alsalem, Francesca Albanese and others said at least two female Palestinian detainees were raped while others were “threatened with rape and sexual violence” by Israeli soldiers.

Women and girls were also reportedly held in cages during rain, with no access to food, or executed at their places of shelter while waving white flags. “Those responsible for these apparent crimes must be held accountable and victims and their families are entitled to full redress and justice,” said the report.

 

Life in Rafah amid Israeli threat of ground assault









More than 29,000 Palestinians killed: Gaza ministry

At least 107 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 29,092 since October 7, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry on its Telegram channel said a total of 69,028 others have been wounded since Israel launched its devastating campaign in the strip.

The Israeli forces are preventing ambulance and civil defence crews from reaching some of the wounded and people under the rubble, it said, adding that “nine massacres” were committed against families in Gaza in the last 24 hours.



SvennoJ on 19 February 2024

Amnesty says Israel must end ‘perpetual occupation’ of Palestinian territories

The global human rights watchdog Amnesty International says the Israeli occupation has been characterised by “widespread and systematic human rights violations”. “The occupation has also enabled and entrenched Israel’s system of apartheid imposed on all Palestinians,” Amnesty chief Agnes Callamard said in a statement. “Over the years, Israel’s military occupation has evolved into a perpetual occupation in flagrant violation of international law.”

‘Steep rise’ in malnutrition in Gaza reported

An analysis by the Global Nutrition Cluster, which monitors the nutritional needs of populations under emergency circumstances, has found that nearly 16 percent of children under the age of 2 in northern Gaza are “acutely malnourished”. Before the war, that figure was 0.8 percent for children under the age of 5. “Such a decline in a population’s nutritional status in three months is unprecedented globally,” its report reads.

“The Gaza Strip is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths, which would compound the already unbearable level of child deaths in Gaza,” UNICEF official Ted Chaiban said in a news release. UNICEF is the lead agency in the Global Nutrition Cluster. The report also found that at least 90 percent of children under 5 were affected by one or more infectious diseases and 70 percent have had diarrhoea in the past two weeks.

More than 95 percent of households said that adults were restricting the amount of food they eat so children would have more, and 64 percent of households said they were eating only one meal a day. According to the report, “95 per cent of pregnant and breastfeeding women face severe food poverty.”

Famine is spreading in Gaza because of the Israeli siege, which is severely restricting the entry of humanitarian aid into the territory.



Consequences of Israeli operation in Rafah would be disastrous: UN

Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, says the crowded city of Rafah “is not intended for a million people in shelters, in random sort of plastic-sheeted constructions”.

“Health conditions are very worrisome. We know that aid is not sufficient. It’s harder and harder to distribute,” she says.




EU countries, except Hungary, urge ‘immediate’ pause in Gaza war

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said 26 European countries — every EU member with the exception of Hungary — have together issued a statement calling for an “immediate” pause in the fighting in Gaza. “We ask the Israeli Government not to take military action in Rafah that would worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian situation and prevent the urgently needed provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance,” the statement says.

While European nations have expressed firm support for Israel throughout its war in Gaza, some have started to temper their rhetoric with concern over deteriorating humanitarian conditions and criticism of Israel’s campaign, one of the most destructive in modern history. The European statement calls for an “immediate humanitarian pause that would lead to a lasting ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and the provision of humanitarian assistance”.




US proposes UNSC resolution calling for temporary ceasefire in Gaza

The United States has proposed a UN Security Council resolution that would underscore the body’s “support for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable”, according to the text seen by Reuters news agency. The draft text also “determines that under current circumstances a major ground offensive into Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement including potentially into neighboring countries”.

It was not immediately clear when or if the draft resolution would be put to a vote. The draft resolution comes after Algeria requested that the 15-member council vote on Tuesday on its proposal, which would demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the war.

UN Security Council resolution proposed by US ‘significant’

A new US draft resolution before the UN Security Council includes some of the toughest language issued by Washington so far, calling for a temporary ceasefire and saying an Israeli assault on Rafah under the current circumstances would have “serious implications” for regional security. The US measure “is significant because Israel did not want the word ‘ceasefire’ in any resolution, and now it’s the US that’s proposing it”, Al Jazeera diplomatic correspondent James Bays reported from UN headquarters in New York City.

“Of course, other countries wanted the words ‘immediate ceasefire’ and wanted the Security Council to order it, so it probably doesn’t go so far as some other council members would like,” Bays added. “The second thing in this resolution I think is very significant is the US issuing this warning to Israel not to launch a ground offensive into Rafah.”

Despite reports of a growing divide between Netanyahu and Biden, the US has continued to send Israel weapons for its war on Gaza.

Palestinian FM says ICJ case could bring greater recognition of Israeli apartheid

Riad Malki says a recognition by the UN’s top court of Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories could be a “historic” decision that would place the close relations between Israel and countries like the US under greater pressure.

“Israel’s prolonged occupation has to be recognised; Israeli colonialism and the system of apartheid, have to also be recognised,” Malki told Al Jazeera. “And as such, we expect a huge – if not historic – decision that will expose Israel’s reality and force many countries that have been aligning themselves with Israel to reconsider their relationship and their position.”

Palestinians say ICJ is ‘important platform’ in ‘toolbox’ against occupation

While many Palestinians have celebrated efforts to hold Israel accountable through international forums, including the ICJ, they also note that such efforts are not sufficient to deliver an end to the occupation on their own.

“The ICJ is an important political platform. Any international platform that we can get, any tool in our toolbox to defend our rights, is important,” advocate Inez Abdel Razek told Al Jazeera from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

“However, we’ve seen it before. In 2004, they ruled against the apartheid wall, saying the wall is illegal. Since then, the situation on the ground has completely worsened. The settlements, the colonisation, has moved forward. So I think it’s about how can we use different tools in our box without them being solutions?”



SvennoJ on 19 February 2024

14 people wounded in Lebanon following Israeli strikes: Report

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) says 14 people in the country were wounded in Israeli air raids near Sidon earlier today. The NNA says that the strikes on Ghaziyeh injured mostly “Syrian and Palestinian workers”.

Israel says the attack targeted Hezbollah infrastructure but local reports said the raids hit civilian factories

Arab Group expresses support for Algeria’s UN resolution versus US measure

The Arab Group, a coalition of Arab states that promote common interests at the United Nations, has released a statement in support of a Security Council draft resolution by Algeria calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The US has said it will not allow such a measure to pass. Washington also put forward its own resolution calling instead for a temporary pause in the fighting.

The US has argued that calling for an immediate ceasefire could upend ongoing talks in search of a deal between Hamas and Israel, but in a statement, the Arab Group said that Algeria’s resolution could strengthen those efforts “rather than jeopardizing them”. “The time has come for the Security Council, entrusted with the primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security, to act decisively and make a resolute decision before it is too late,” the statement reads, as reported by Al Jazeera’s Rami Ayari.

Netanyahu says will submit legislation to reject calls for Palestinian state

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said in a video statement that he will submit legislation to the Knesset rejecting “international efforts to force on us a Palestinian state” amid growing calls for a two-state solution. The move follows the unanimous passage of a similar measure at the cabinet level yesterday. Netanyahu also reiterated that Israel will maintain “full security control” of the occupied West Bank and Gaza after the war.

“For five months we have been running an unprecedented political campaign,” he said, according to the Times of Israel. “This campaign allowed our fighters the freedom of action to achieve all the goals of the war.”

Israel is failing to reach its goals in Gaza: Hamas

Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya says Israel has failed terribly in achieving its objectives of returning the captives held in Gaza and dismantling Palestinian armed resistance in the territory. Al-Hayya dismissed Israeli claims of defeating Hamas in northern Gaza, saying the group is still fighting across the territory with strong determination.

“As the occupation has failed in eliminating the resistance’s capabilities in the north of the Strip and the central area and Khan Younis, it will fail in attempting to wrest its control over Rafah,” al-Hayya told Al Jazeera.

Saudi Arabia says Rafah assault would be ‘completely unacceptable’

The kingdom’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has warned against an Israeli offensive on Rafah. “The potential prospect of military operations in Rafah, the last safe haven in the south, and without any clear mechanisms to protect the civilians; this is completely unacceptable,” bin Farhan said in an interview with France 24.

“When I talk to our partners the international community, they all agree that the pathway to stability in our region, in Palestine, and for the security for Israel is towards a Palestinian State.”

Israel ‘not serious’ about reaching a captives deal: Senior Hamas official

Khalil al-Hayya says Benjamin Netanyahu is only looking to prolong the war and suffering of the Palestinian people to save his own position as Israel’s prime minister. “The Israeli occupation refuses to allow displaced Palestinians in Gaza to return to their homes in the north and the south. The Israeli occupation is not giving any indication that it will stop this aggression,” al-Hayya told Al Jazeera.

“The Israeli occupation, to this moment, has not given any guarantees that it will allow enough aid into Gaza or the rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries and infrastructure. Even the tents, the Israeli occupation has not given a clear approval to allow them in. “Then what can we agree on?”

Netanyahu had called Hamas’s demands to reach a deal that would lead to the release of the Israeli captives in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel and secure a prolonged pause to the fighting “delusional”. But al-Hayya said that it is Israel that is using “lies” to derail the talks and avoid meeting Palestinians’ demands.

Only three days of drinking water available at Khan Younis hospital: Red Crescent

Israeli forces have targeted and damaged a water desalination station at al-Amal Hospital, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said. “Available drinking water at Al-Amal Hospital is only sufficient for three days,” the group said in a post on X.

Earlier, the PRCS said the situation inside the Khan Younis hospital was “highly dangerous due to a 28-day-long siege”.

Brazil recalls envoy to Israel following spat over Lula’s comments on Gaza

Brazil’s foreign ministry has said that the country’s ambassador to Israel has been called home, following an Israeli announcement that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would be “persona non grata” until he retracted comments drawing parallels between Israel’s war on Gaza and the Holocaust.

“Given the gravity of the statements this morning by the government of Israel, Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira … has summoned the Israeli ambassador, Daniel Zonshine, to report today to the foreign ministry,” the foreign ministry said. “He also recalled the Brazilian ambassador in Tel Aviv, Frederico Meyer, for consultations. He will depart for Brazil tomorrow.”

Knesset vote to expel Israeli lawmaker over support for ICJ genocide case fails

An effort by Israeli right-wing lawmakers to expel Knesset member Ofer Cassif from the legislature over his support for the ICJ case accusing Israel of genocidal acts in Gaza has failed to move forward, falling five votes short of the 90 needed.

That effort was promoted by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who called Cassif a “terror-supporting Knesset member who incites against Israel in time of war”. Domestic opponents of Israel’s war in Gaza have faced intense pressure, including arrest over social media posts in support of Palestinians.

Before the vote, Cassif flatly rejected claims that he supports armed violence by groups like Hamas and said the push to expel him was part of a campaign of “political persecution and silencing of every critical voice in general and of Arab citizens and their representatives in the Knesset in particular”.


Israeli lawmaker Ofer Cassif, centre, takes part in a protest against efforts to displace a Palestinian family in Jerusalem on June 16, 2023

More than 200 percent increase in Israeli settler attacks on Nablus: Official

Since October 7, and compared with the same months in previous years, settler attacks have intensified by 208 percent, Nablus’s acting Governor Ghassan Daghlas has said. “The attacks have intensified, especially after more settlers were getting armed by the Israeli government, military checkpoints were closed, and barriers were imposed, tightening the siege on Nablus governorate,” Daghlas told Al Jazeera.

Twelve military checkpoints currently encircle Nablus city and its surrounding villages; the Israeli army has also installed 10 gates at the entrances to villages and towns south of Nablus, Daghlas said. “This is something we have not experienced since the second Intifada. The Israeli occupation is clear in its intention, which is to strike the beating heart of the West Bank – Nablus – which connects its centre and its north,” he added.