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

SvennoJ on 27 February 2024

Netanyahu bragging about his successful propaganda campaigns

Netanyahu ‘signals’ he will not listen to White House as long as US public supports Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu clearly [is] signalling that as long as he enjoys American public support – as long as Israel enjoys support in the US public sphere – he does not have to do what the White House or what President Joe Biden says with regards to curbing the conflict or trying to bring an end to the war in Gaza.

Just on Sunday, on the US talk shows, Netanyahu was also quoted as saying that deal or no deal, an assault on Rafah – on the besieged area of Rafah where so many people are sheltering, so many displaced Palestinian are sheltering – will carry on regardless of how the deal does or does not go forward.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "Since the start of the war, I have been leading a diplomatic campaign to block pressure designed to end the war prematurely, and to secure strong support for Israel.

We have had considerable success. Today, a Harvard CAPS -Harris poll was published, which shows that 82% of the American public supports Israel, meaning that four out of five US citizens supports Israel and not Hamas. This will help us continue the campaign until total victory.

The poll doesn't say that, it posed the question, Do you favor Israel or Hamas, no alternatives. Comparing a country to a political resistance group designated as a terrorist group by the US. (Which they are, yet so is the IDF) Still it does show 51% of Americans support Israel.



Arab-Americans feel ‘betrayed’ by Biden over Gaza as they go to polls in Michigan primary

US President Joe Biden faces a crucial test in Michigan as people go to the polls to vote for the Republican and Democrat presidential candidates in the crucial swing state. In Michigan, the US state with the highest number of Arab-American voters, an “uncommitted” campaign has grown in recent months, fuelled by a sense of anger and betrayal in Arab and Muslim communities over Biden’s failure to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

People like Yemeni-American businessman Kalid Sharjah in Dearborn are calling on voters to refrain from casting a ballot in Tuesday’s primary for an incumbent Democratic administration as they seek to send a message to the Biden administration.

“We feel that we’ve been betrayed by President Biden. In 2020 we were his soldiers. We went campaigning, we knocked on doors, and when his team met with us, they said he’s going to be just, he’s going to be inclusive, and he’s going to be fair. What we have seen in the past 120 days or so is the opposite,” Sharjah told Al Jazeera.

Asked whether he was concerned that not voting for Biden would only increase the chances of Donald Trump returning to the White House, Sharjah said the Arab-American community doesn’t “see a whole lot of difference between the two”.“Every day, there’s still killing, and if one person can stop the killing of children, it’s President Biden. All he has to do is listen to over 60 percent of US voters who are saying ceasefire and he would be a hero…. He has refused to do that,” he said.

Biden calls on Congress to pass funding bill to ‘help Israel defend itself’

The US president has renewed his call for legislators to approve a foreign aid bill that includes $14bn for Israel as well as assistance for Ukraine and Taiwan. “The costs of delaying a vote on the bipartisan national security supplemental rise every day,” Biden wrote in a social media post. “This bill would arm Ukraine, invest in our defense industrial base, help Israel defend itself against Hamas, and get more humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians.”

The Senate approved the bill earlier this month but it is yet to pass in the House. While the Biden administration has been emphasising that the measure includes aid for Palestinians, the proposal only sets aside a fraction of the amount of aid to Israel for humanitarian assistance, some of which can go to Palestinians.

Moreover, the bill would ban funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which provides vital services for millions of Palestinians across the Middle East.

I would say let the USA have Trump again. At least nobody takes him serious. Two faced snake Biden has to go.



Aid groups ‘systemically denied access’ to areas of Gaza, says UN

The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, says aid organisations “have been unable to reach northern Gaza and increasingly parts of southern Gaza safely”.

It said the organisations had been unable to deliver aid because:

  • their “aid convoys have come under fire”.
  • they have been “systematically denied access to people in need”.

OCHA also raised concerns about the “protection of civilians” amid continued “allegations of shooting by Israeli forces at Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza city”.

Hungry Palestinian toddler dies from poisoning in northern Gaza

A two-year-old Palestinian child called Khaled has died after eating bread made from animal feed in the northern Gaza Strip. “The older children vomited what they had eaten and recovered”, Khaled’s grandmother Ibtisam Al-Kahlout said.

“As for the younger children, their condition worsened after they ate the bread,” she said. “The doctors said he was poisoned by bread, fodder and barley that we ate.” Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry, has called on international agencies to urgently provide food and drinking water throughout Gaza to avert an enormous humanitarian catastrophe.

“This escalating famine could kill thousands of citizens due to malnutrition and dehydration in the coming days in front of the eyes of the world,” he said.

PRCS footage shows paramedics searching for survivors in Deir el-Balah attack

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has released footage of its ambulance teams searching for survivors under the rubble at the scene of an Israeli air attack in the city of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

Israel has increased its attacks on Deir el-Balah as it prepares for ground operations in Rafah.

On Saturday, an Israeli attack on a home sheltering dozens of displaced Palestinians in the city killed at least 24 people.



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SvennoJ on 27 February 2024

Biden Repeats Antisemitic Trope That Israel Is “Only Place” Safe For Jews



4 more years of this old white racist?

 

North Gaza sees triple the number of attacks on Israeli forces compared with south

Undermining reports by Israel that fighting in Gaza City’s Zaitoun area was small in scale on Tuesday, two war monitors said that Palestinian fighters claimed to have carried out 16 attacks on Israeli forces – including one involving a missile from an F-16 jet fighter that was rigged as an improvised explosive device.

Palestinian fighters in Zaitoun, in Gaza’s north, claimed to have carried out three times more attacks on Tuesday against Israeli forces than their colleagues fighting against Israeli forces in the southern Khan Younis area, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said.

The ISW and CTP – both US-based think tanks – also report that Israel’s military is constructing three “forward operating bases” near the location of a road which is being built to divide the northern part of the Gaza Strip from the south. Citing reports from Israeli journalists embedded with Israel’s military in Gaza, the monitors said the plan is to dissect the Strip with a “well-controlled [Israeli military] highway”.

The road and forward operating bases were said to allow for “at least another year” of Israeli operations in Gaza, the ISW and CTP said in their latest report.



Children search through rubble for food in Maghazi refugee camp



This was Maghazi camp in 2022



https://www.apaimages.info/image?&_bqG=53&_bqH=eJzLTnc3TY43LPfLtMjyDgg3jAw3yTGLsAywCIy0MjIyMTS0MjI1sDI0AAIrz3iXYGfbotS00vTUVO3kxNwCNbBQvKOfi20JkB0a7BoU7.liGwpSHhIR5m5iEOnlG.arFu_oHGJbnJpYlJwBAF5UIXw-&GI_ID=

Jordan’s King takes part in air force airdrop over Gaza

King Abdullah II joined crews dropping aid into the devastated Gaza Strip from onboard a Jordanian Air Force plane on Tuesday. The Reuters news agency reported that King Abdullah said that humanitarian aid to Gaza must be doubled to prevent a deterioration in a hunger crisis affecting more than 2 million people in the war-torn territory.

A senior UN aid official has told the Security Council that widespread famine could be “almost inevitable” without action and that at least 576,000 people in the Gaza Strip – one-quarter of the population – are one step away from famine.

Jordan, which the UN and Western donors have turned into a regional hub for humanitarian supplies to Gaza, has carried flights, along with the French army, to drop food to thousands of displaced people sheltering on the beach in Gaza.


Jordan’s King Abdullah II, centre, takes part in an airdrop of aid to Gaza, in this handout picture released on February 27, 2024

Your turn Biden...

Michigan ‘uncommitted’ vote against US support for Gaza war shows early strength

With 14 percent of the votes counted in the Midwestern state’s Democratic presidential primary, more than 20,000 people have voted “uncommitted” to protest Biden’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza.

Palestinian rights supporters say the early results are a stark warning for Biden. Trump won the Republican primary in Michigan – a key swing state – by fewer than 11,000 votes. The “uncommitted” campaign is on course to receive more than 100,000 votes, according to observers.

“This shows that everything we’ve been warning about since early October is true,” Abed Ayoub, the executive director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), tells Al Jazeera.



SvennoJ on 27 February 2024

Follow the money

Egypt and Israel DON'T want you to know about this plan, it's TERRIFYING | Redacted News



SvennoJ on 28 February 2024

U.S. Terrorism Laws Are "Anti-Palestinian at the Core," Chill First Amendment



SvennoJ on 28 February 2024

More than 100,000 Democrats vote ‘uncommitted’ in Michigan primary

With nearly all votes tallied, 13.3 percent of US Democrats in Michigan – 100,960 people – have voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary, according to The Associated Press, in a strong show of opposition to President Biden’s pro-Israel policies.

The “uncommitted” vote campaign in Michigan, home to the US’s largest Arab-American population, sends a strong message to Biden ahead of what is expected to be a tight general election in November.




Hamas fires missiles at Israel from southern Lebanon

The Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, says it launched multiple missiles at northern Israel from southern Lebanon.

The strikes targeted the headquarters of Israel’s 769th Eastern Brigade and its airport barracks in Beit Hilal, the Qassam Brigades said on its Telegram account.

Clashes around the Israel-Lebanon border have been frequent amid the Gaza war, but Israeli forces have recently struck deeper into Lebanese territory, targeting what they claim are positions of Hezbollah, which is a staunch ally of Hamas.

Israeli air raid targets southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil town

Local media are reporting that Israel has carried out an air raid on southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil. The attack targeted the town’s al-Maslakh neighbourhood near Tahrir Square, the reports said. No casualties have so far been reported. Videos and photos shared on social media show plumes of smoke rising above the town.

Woman killed, daughter wounded in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon

A woman has been killed and her daughter seriously injured following Israeli attacks on Majdal Zoun, southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA). The NNA earlier reported that a raid targeted a house in the town 6km (4 miles) from the border.

Israel earlier bombed in the proximity of the towns of Khraibeh and Ibl al-Saqi, in the Marjayoun governorate. It also targeted the surroundings of Bint Jbeil and Ainata, in the Nabatieh governorate, local media reported.



Northern Gaza’s last functional hospital shuts down

Al-Awda Hospital in the city of Jabalia, northern Gaza, has announced the complete suspension of all its medical services due to severe shortages of fuel and medical supplies, according to the Wafa news agency. The director of the monitoring and evaluation department in al-Awda, Dr Muhammad Salha, warned in a press statement that the development would lead to “a complete deprivation of basic health services for citizens, especially in light of the cessation of service by all hospitals in the north”, according to the report.

He urgently appealed to all international, humanitarian and human rights organisations to put pressure on Israel to supply the hospital with medicines, consumables, medical supplies and fuel. The Israeli forces besieged al-Awda Hospital for 18 days, causing severe damage to the upper floors of the building, in addition to destroying a number of ambulances, the report said.

Boy rescued after Gaza City bombing

Footage shared by the Palestinian Wafa news agency shows an injured boy being carried away from a building bombed by Israeli forces in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City.

He is one of more than 180 casualties to be reported across Gaza in the last 24 hours. Many injured are feared to still be trapped under the rubble.

Video shows family searching for food under rubble in northern Gaza

Palestinian activist and blogger Hamza Abu Toha has posted a video on X that shows his family members searching for food under their demolished house. The video saw high engagement on social media where some considered that the footage expresses part of the suffering and famine experienced by the people of northern Gaza.

Another activist, Baraa Nizar Rayan, commented on his X account: “The famine continues in the northern Gaza Strip.”

Journalist Hossam al-Sukkari said on his account: “They are looking for what is left of their house. Rice… lentils… or books.”

Academic Rafeef al-Gharbi said: “The Palestinians are tireless. Like a phoenix, which always rises from the ashes.”

This has been our custom in the North Governorate since the famine, the pilgrimage to the rubble of our house. A group is searching for 2kg of rice that Musab left behind before he fled to Cairo. A group is searching for the handful of lentils that Muhammad hid before he fled to the South Governorate. A group of which I am the leader is searching for letters. Those books were crowded around the house. As for my mother, she still swore solemnly that she had picked the olives and pickled them with oil and pepper in bottles in the right corner of the kitchen. As for my father, he stood alone and, for his part, announced a ceasefire and began building a small room after collecting the wood and shelves of my library.

Israel claims delivering aid to starvation-stricken northern Gaza

The Israeli military has claimed that a convoy of 31 humanitarian aid trucks brought food into the northern Gaza Strip overnight. The Israeli Army Radio also said that nearly 50 trucks entered the area in the past three days.

Al Jazeera was not immediately able to verify the report.

With little aid, conditions are worsening with each passing day

People are not only dying from bombs but also from the acute famine in the north, where there is only a trickle of food supplies being delivered. Over the last two days, no more than 20 trucks made it to the north. Compared with the needs of the 600,000 people there, that is nothing.

There is a fear that famine is going to kill a large number of people.

Here in Rafah city, it is so overcrowded that it’s hard to walk in the streets. That’s because there are many displaced people who have set up tents, and so many people queueing up for long hours for bread and water. There are also those queueing up in front of pharmacies and health facilities for supplies.

It’s been over a month since the ICJ ruling that required Israel to ensure the delivery of essential assistance to Palestinians. But so far, Israel has failed to do the bare minimum to comply with this.

We’re seeing conditions worsening with each passing day.






Israeli forces with bulldozers storm village in occupied West Bank

Palestinian outlets have shared footage videos documenting the incursion of large Israeli forces into the village of Jalboun, east of Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The videos documented the Israeli occupation vehicles heading with bulldozers to the village.

Israeli forces have carried out multiple overnight and early morning raids throughout the region and arrested dozens of Palestinians while also damaging and destroying infrastructure.

At least 35 Palestinians arrested in overnight West Bank raids

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says the Israeli army arrested at least 35 Palestinians in multiple overnight raids across the occupied West Bank.

Most of the arrests were conducted in the city of Yatta, in the Hebron governorate. Raids also took place in the governorates of Bethlehem, Jenin, Ramallah and el-Bireh, and Jerusalem.

The total number of arrests made by Israeli forces since October 7 now stands at more than 7,305.



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SvennoJ on 28 February 2024

Senior Hamas official: ‘Long way to go before ceasefire deal agreed’

Basem Naim, Hamas’s head of political and international relations, has told Al Jazeera that there is still a long way to go to secure a potential ceasefire deal with Israel. “The gap is still wide. We have to discuss a lot of points with the mediators,” said Naim.

He added that the optimistic posture of the Biden administration is not “related to the reality on the ground” and has more to do with domestic political considerations in an election year.

“If the Americans want to be really optimistic, they have to end their game of double standards,” Naim said. “They talk about wanting a ceasefire and avoiding broadening the conflict in the region, but at the same time they are using their veto in the UN Security Council, they are providing billions of dollars to Israel, and they are securing more ammunition for Israel.”

While Hamas is willing to be flexible on some aspects of a potential ceasefire deal, it will not do so at the expense of its “main, strategic goals,” adds Basem Naim, a senior official.

Hamas’s non-negotiable demands, he says, are:

  • A final and total ceasefire and not just a humanitarian pause
  • The total withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza
  • Freedom of movement for Palestinians within Gaza.

However, when it comes to the exchange of prisoners and captives and plans for Gaza’s reconstruction, “there is some space for flexibility”.

“Hamas has shown great flexibility from the beginning to achieve a ceasefire because we know every added day to this slaughter means 100 to 150 more Palestinian civilians killed,” said Naim, speaking from Istanbul.

“People in the northern part of Gaza are dying because of starvation. We know exactly what this means. Our families are still there.”


Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh also made the following points:

  • Israel is committing the worst atrocities known to humanity, including the extermination and displacement of civilians.
  • The international community, especially Arab countries, has a duty to confront and restrain Israel’s actions to prevent a ground invasion of Rafah and starvation in the northern part of the Strip.
  • Any flexibility shown in negotiating with Israel is matched by our willingness to defend our people.
  • The rise in Israel’s attacks in the West Bank is part of a comprehensive plan to displace Palestinians.
  • Al-Aqsa Mosque and other holy sites must be managed in accordance with international law. Our people will defend their mosques, churches and holy sites with all forms of resistance.
  • We call on Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank to march to Al-Aqsa on the first day of Ramadan.

Not looking good, it's going to be another slaughter around Al-Aqsa in March (10th)



SvennoJ on 28 February 2024

US Congress members pen letter calling for full UNRWA funding

Congressperson Pramila Jayapal, head of the Progressive Caucus, has penned a letter calling for the full restoration of US funding for UNRWA, which was pulled over Israeli allegations that several of its employees had taken part in the October 7 attacks. Israel has not provided evidence for its claims more than a month after initially making them.

Assistance groups say that UNRWA plays an indispensable role in humanitarian operations in Gaza, and the decision of key donors such as the US to freeze assistance as the strip reels under extreme shortages of food, medicine, shelter, and water has been criticised.

The letter was also signed by representatives Andre Carson and Jamie Raskin.

“I’m leading a call w/@RepAndreCarson & @RepRaskin to fully fund UNRWA, a vital agency that supports the welfare and survival of Palestinians,” Jayapal said in a social media post.

“Prohibiting U.S. funding for UNRWA is irresponsible and unacceptable. We must do all we can to push humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

Rights groups say UK arms transfers to Israel may violate international law

Eight nongovernmental organisations, including the watchdog group Human Rights Watch, have released a joint statement expressing concern that the United Kingdom has not suspended arms transfers to Israel amid persistent allegations of human rights abuses by the Israeli military in Gaza.

“As UK and international organisations working in and on the Occupied Palestinian Territory we are deeply concerned that the UK government still refuses to suspend arms transfers to Israel despite the clear risk that UK-licensed equipment might be used to carry out or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law (IHL), including war crimes, amid the hostilities between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups that escalated following the 7 October Hamas-led attacks,” the statement reads.

Michigan vote ‘true rejection of Biden’s disastrous policies’ on Gaza

Palestinian-American comedian and organiser Amer Zahr calls the result “historic”, adding that the vote is a “true rejection of Biden’s disastrous policies of support for the genocide in Gaza”. More than 101,000 people voted uncommitted in Michigan state’s Democratic Party primary in a protest campaign against US President Joe Biden’s support for Israel.

“Now, the work continues. We must stay the course of denying Biden our votes. For the martyrs in Gaza. For our dignity. Otherwise, we turn into Ted Cruz, and nothing matters,” Zahr told Al Jazeera in a statement, referring to the Republican senator who endorsed Donald Trump in 2016 after the former US president insulted his wife.

Syrian state media reports apparent attack near Damascus

The country’s official news agency SANA said Syrian air defences confronted “hostile targets” over the capital area. Earlier, state-run Al-Ikhbariyah TV also said sounds of explosions had been heard above Damascus.

The Syrian Defence Ministry says Israel launched an air attack from the occupied Golan Heights, targeting areas in the Damascus countryside. “Our air defences confronted the missiles of the attack and downed most of them,” it said. The ministry added that the raids only caused material damage.

For the past few years, Israel has regularly carried out air raids on Iran-linked targets in Syria.

Finally a smart move

Israeli war cabinet backtracks on Al-Aqsa Mosque restrictions

Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 reports that the war cabinet stripped far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of the power to manage the site during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The report also said that the war cabinet had decided not to impose broad-ranging restrictions on entry to the compound during Ramadan, preferring instead to let police manage entry and exit from the mosque.

We reported last week on comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office saying that Israel would implement some restrictions on access to Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem during Ramadan according to “security needs”.

On X, Ben-Gvir fumed at the report, saying that he expects Netanyahu to deny the facts of it, and that the powers in question should belong to his office.

Israel continues to deny its responsibility to Palestinians: NGO

Tania Hary, executive director at Gisha-Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, says that the Israeli government continues to “sow chaos and deny its responsibility to the population” as public order in Gaza disintegrates with growing desperation and starvation.

“The ICJ [International Court of Justice] provisional measure states that Israel must ‘take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services’ not taunt, mock and endanger humanitarians trying to provide aid to 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza,” Hary says.

This comes in response to Israel blaming the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) for “logistical failures” that it says have led to low amounts of humanitarian aid being delivered to people in the besieged coastal enclave.

“Aid agencies, all those operating in the Strip, not just Israel’s scapegoat, UNRWA, report that they are not receiving proper deconfliction coordination, come under attack and can’t deliver aid safely,” Hary adds.



SvennoJ on 28 February 2024

Time ran out at least a week ago

Two more children die of malnutrition in northern Gaza: Ministry

The Health Ministry in Gaza says two children died of dehydration and malnutrition at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, bringing the death toll from hunger in the territory today to six.

Earlier the ministry said four children died at the Kamal Adwan Hospital. The four children died of extreme dehydration and malnutrition at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, while seven others remain in critical condition. The hospital director, Ahmed al-Kahlout, also said that the hospital had gone out of service due to a lack of fuel to run its generators.

Yesterday, the ministry called for urgent aid to be delivered across Gaza, warning that thousands could die in the coming days if the hunger crisis is not addressed.

“We ask international agencies to intervene immediately to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in northern Gaza,” Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement. “The international community is facing a moral and humanitarian test to stop the genocide in Gaza.”

Doctors Without Borders says healthcare services in Gaza are ‘collapsing’

Meinie Nicolai, director of the group Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), has said that medical workers are struggling to serve more than 1.5 million people in Gaza who are living in dire conditions with nowhere to go.

“They’re desperate. They live in makeshift shelters. It’s cold. There’s not enough food. There’s not enough water. There’s not enough healthcare,” said Nicolai.

"Healthcare has been attacked, it’s collapsing. The whole system is collapsing. We are working from tents trying to do what we can. We treat for the wounded. With the displacements, people’s wounds have been infected. And I’m not even talking about the mental wounds. People are desperate. They don’t know anymore what to do.”

Fate of Gaza’s detainees unknown, says prisoners’ rights group

According to Amani Sarhaneh of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, people being detained in the besieged coastal enclave are subject to forced disappearance by the Israeli military. “Israel refuses to give out any information about the whereabouts or fate of the detainees,” Sarahneh told Al Jazeera.

She added that released prisoners have spoken of “horrific torture practices carried out against them during their detention in Israeli camps”.

“Since October 7, there has been a radical change in the conditions of detention. Palestinian prisoners are subject to a systematic torture policy, humiliation and abuse,” she said, adding that 10 detainees have died while in prison.

Detainees are also being subject to malnourishment and cell overcrowding. They have had warm clothes and blankets taken away for winter; they are being prevented from taking daily showers; and are not being allowed any family or lawyer visitations, Sarahneh said.

Palestine Red Crescent says it’s concerned for well-being of 7 detained medics

Israeli forces continue to detain seven members of the PRCS teams for the 20th consecutive day, including ambulance crews, anesthesia technicians and a doctor, the organisation says.

“They were arrested during the Israeli occupation’s raid on Al Amal Hospital, and their fate remains unknown at the moment. PRCS expresses its utmost concern for the safety of the detained teams and demands their immediate release,” the organisation adds.

Norwegian Refugee Council director says ‘hundreds of trucks’ stuck outside of Gaza crossings

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, has said that Israel must allow aid trucks into Gaza in order to address the Gaza Strip’s dire humanitarian crisis. Israeli authorities have systematically blocked or delayed large portions of aid, even as health groups warn of looming famine.

“Hundreds of aid trucks wait in line to cross into Gaza at the Rafah and Kerem Shalom [Karem Abu Salem] crossings to a starving civilian population,” Egeland said in a social media post, with a video showing scores of aid trucks lined up. “There has not been a single day we have gotten the needed 500 trucks across. The system is broken and Israel could fix it for the sake of the innocent.”

Strikes reported on Nuseirat camp in central Gaza Strip

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting strikes taking place in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

The Israeli strikes on a residential area caused a number of casualties. Several have also been wounded.





UN highlights plight of Palestinians forced to live in destroyed buildings

The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees has shared images of 12-year-old Alaa, who has been forced to seek shelter – along with her family – in a demolished building in Rafah. “The place is very dark, and light only enters through narrow openings among the remnants of debris,” she said.

“For the population of Gaza, there is literally nowhere left to go,” the UN agency said.

More than 360,000 homes have been damaged or completely destroyed since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7.



In Gaza, water supply at only 7 percent of pre-October levels

According to Maurizio Martina, the deputy director general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), severe restrictions on fuel shipments and the lack of functioning desalination plants are crippling water supplies in the Gaza Strip.

Fuel shortages have also hampered the production and delivery of food and electricity, and seriously harmed the ability of bakeries to produce bread, he said.

Martina added that the collapse of agricultural production in the north is already happening and, in the most likely scenario, will be complete by May. As of February 15, over 46 percent of all cropland in Gaza was assessed to be damaged, he said.

The FAO official also said:

  • More than one-quarter of water wells have been destroyed.
  • An estimated 339 hectares (838 acres) of greenhouses have been destroyed.
  • Many livestock owners report substantial losses – all poultry have likely been slaughtered, and as many as 65 percent of calves and 70 percent of beef cattle are assumed to have died.

Many pregnant women malnourished in Gaza, relief group says

A humanitarian group operating a clinic in the Gaza Strip says 21 percent of the pregnant women it has treated in the last three weeks are suffering from malnutrition. Project Hope, which runs a primary health clinic in the central town of Deir el-Balah, says that 11 percent of the children under the age of five it has treated during the same period are also malnourished.

UN officials say the Israeli war has pushed a quarter of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians to the brink of famine. Project Hope says that “people have reported eating nothing but white bread as fruit, vegetables, and other nutrient-dense foods are nearly impossible to find or too expensive.”

Malnutrition is especially dangerous for pregnant women and newborns, who require additional nutrients.

Journalist says family killed in Israeli bombardment in Gaza City

Motasem A Dalloul, a Palestinian journalist based in Gaza City, has said that his pregnant wife and three-year-old son, along with 20 other people, have been killed in an Israeli bombardment of a residential compound.

On X, he posted a picture of his dead wife, Riham, and son, Abu Baker.

The journalist has been tweeting for days about the lack of food in Gaza City, as well as the lack of humanitarian aid in the northern part of the besieged Gaza Strip.



Israel’s Smotrich presses on with illegal settlement plans despite criticism

The Israeli finance minister has announced the approval of a new illegal settlements in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, and said work would continue on authorising further settlements despite widespread international criticism.

“We will continue the momentum of settlement throughout the country,” Bezalel Smotrich said in a statement.

The move comes just days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his country considered Jewish settlements in the West Bank to be inconsistent with international law, reverting to a longstanding US position that was overturned by the administration of former President Donald Trump.

Earlier this month, the UK and France also condemned Israel for promoting settlement construction in Palestinian territories and issued sanctions against Israelis accused of committing violent acts against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israel declares West Bank village of Jalboun closed military zone after confrontations

Israeli forces have demolished Palestinian-owned shacks in the village of Jalboun, northeast of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, prompting confrontations that ended with arrests, according to local sources cited by the Wafa news agency. Ibrahim Abu al-Rub, the head of the Jalboun village council, said the Israeli army, accompanied by bulldozers, destroyed a shack belonging to local resident Muhammad Nafi Shalabi.

Intense confrontations between local Palestinians and Israeli forces erupted following the demolition operation. The soldiers later arrested a young man and declared the village a closed military zone, the report said.

The Israeli forces demolished several structures in the same village, including fences, a caravan, electrical equipment and a sheep barn owned by two Palestinian siblings. Another Palestinian was also arrested after passing by in his vehicle.



SvennoJ on 28 February 2024

‘Absolutely clear’ Gaza needs more aid crossings: US official

Samantha Power, the administrator of the US’s international development agency, USAID, has paid a visit to the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Citing “deteriorating” conditions in Gaza, Power said in a video message from the border that it is “a matter of life and death” that “far more” aid crossings are opened.

Power said that the US is talking to Israeli officials in order to make this happen, however, the US has been urging Israel for months to open additional crossings into Gaza to no avail. Israel said it would open the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing between Israel and the Strip. However, it has often been shuttered as well as blocked by Israeli protesters trying to prevent aid from entering.

Report: US considers dropping aid on Gaza

As ground deliveries of humanitarian aid in Gaza have slowed, despite the US and other countries and humanitarian bodies urging Israel to facilitate delivery, the US is considering providing aid directly to Palestinians in Gaza via air, a report from US news site Axios says.

“The situation is really bad. We are unable to get enough aid [in] by truck, so we need desperate measures like airdrops,” one of four anonymous US officials cited by Axios said.

The fact that Biden is considering this move underscores the difficulty his administration has had in getting Israel to comply with its demands. The UN says that aid deliveries to and in the Strip have sharply fallen this month, and the majority of reasons cited for this have much to do with Israel either blocking or hampering efforts to distribute life-saving food, water, medicine and fuel to people in extreme need.

Why not bring it in by ship? Gaza city has a small port, can dock tenders ferrying back and forth.

Maybe Israel destroyed it too much or doesn't want ships there.

The IDF controls the Port of Gaza now, I'm guessing they won't give any safety to Humanitarian aid ships... Shooting at everything that moves on the water.

Februari 24th
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240224-israeli-navy-fires-at-gaza-fishermen/

It seems to be another frequent atrocity. Going back to long before Oct 7

Sept 18 https://imemc.org/article/israeli-navy-shoot-two-fisherman-in-southern-gaza/
Sept 8 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230908-israel-navy-shoots-sewage-water-at-gaza-fishermen/
Feb 24 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240224-israeli-navy-fires-at-gaza-fishermen/
Jan 8 https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/132709

That last link says it's been a problem since 2007 when the Israeli Navy put a blockade on Gaza.

So I guess no relief agency wants to risk meeting trigger happy gunboats or get in the way of the Israeli navy while they're shelling gaza from the sea. Not that Biden doesn't have any levers to force Israel in this.... Park a US navy boat there. (Although the Iraelis have sunk US navy boat before USS Liberty)

Campaign slams Biden’s statement following primary win

The “Listen to Michigan” campaign, which pushed voters to mark themselves as “uncommitted” in the state’s Democratic presidential primary yesterday in opposition to the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza, slammed a statement from the White House that made no mention of Gaza or the plight of the Palestinians.

“Quite frankly, Biden’s statement last night did not unite this party nor seek to unite this party. His statement last night ignored the more than 100,000 voters who showed up and asked of him to stand with the children of God, to stand against war crimes, to stand for peace and a ceasefire,” the statement reads.

“Yesterday showed that the center of the Democratic Party has moved on Palestine. Michigan has made our voices clear through our vote. It’s President Biden’s turn to tell us where he stands.”

US congresswoman slams Netanyahu’s ‘dishonesty’, calls for ceasefire

Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, who recently returned from a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, has become the latest US legislator to urge ending the war on Gaza. Dean said while Israel has a right to defend itself, the assault on Gaza goes beyond self-defence.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s dishonesty – his broken promises to use precision strikes to protect civilians and his false claims that safe zones have been created and enforced – is unacceptable,” the congresswoman said in a statement.

She accused Netanyahu of waging a war against civilians, adding that “no war against civilians is just”.

Israeli FM issues directive against unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has issued a directive against “international diktats” regarding a Palestinian state to envoys abroad. The move comes as countries around the world insist that Palestinians must have a state if the conflict is to be permanently solved, and reports that some governments are considering recognition of Palestinian statehood, which Israel objects to.

“Israel utterly rejects international diktats regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians,” the directive, which passed with the approval of 99 out of 120  members of the Israeli parliament, states.

“Israel will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” it adds.

Many Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, have consistently stated that they will never allow a sovereign Palestinian state.



SvennoJ on 28 February 2024

‘Even newborns are emaciated’: Paediatrician at Kamal Adwan Hospital

Al Jazeera’s Anas Al-Sharif spoke to doctors at Kamal Adwan Hospital a few hours before the hospital ran out of fuel for its generators. Dr Hossam Abu Safia, the head of paediatrics at the hospital, said the hospital was admitting between 1,000 to 1,200 babies a day, compared with 500 to 600 per day previously.

“We notice that all patients are showing signs of paleness and weakness. Even newborns are emaciated,” he said.

“The majority of newborns we are treating today at the Kamal Adwan Hospital are without parents. They were referred to us by shelters or other hospitals, and they are without their mothers,” Abu Safia said.

He added that the hospital was struggling to find enough milk to give to the babies, even as many needed milk to help their immune systems recover. “Whatever milk we have is split equally amongst everyone, and this will definitely affect the babies’ weight and their daily progress,” he added.

Three more children die from malnutrition at north Gaza hospital: Director

The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital Ahmed al-Kahlout has told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic that seven children have now died at the hospital due to malnutrition. Earlier we reported that four children had died at the hospital in northern Gaza and that others were in critical condition, while the hospital has also run out of fuel to run its generators.

The Health Ministry in Gaza has also reported that two children have died of dehydration and malnutrition at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

This brings the total number of children that have reportedly died from malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza in the past day to nine.

Protect the war criminals!

UK PM says Britain descending into ‘mob rule’ over Gaza tensions

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that “mob rule is replacing democratic rule” in the UK, as lawmakers face abuse for airing their views on Israel’s war on Gaza, leaving some fearing for their safety.

“We’ve got to collectively, all of us, change that urgently,” Sunak said at a meeting with police chiefs on Wednesday. “We simply cannot allow this pattern of increasingly violent and intimidatory behaviour which is, as far as anyone can see, intended to shout down free debate and stop elected representatives doing their job. That is simply undemocratic,” he added.

The UK’s Home Office, which is equivalent to an interior ministry, has announced that about 31 million British pounds ($39m) in extra funding will be provided to police to protect British lawmakers and other officials.


Protesters holding signs in front of the UK PM Rishi Sunak’s residence in London, England




Indonesian aid arrives in Gaza, volunteers say Israeli attacks curb distribution

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid from the Indonesian charity MER-C (Medical Emergency Rescue Committee) have managed to enter the Gaza Strip, according to Indonesian volunteers working on the ground.

MER-C volunteers Fikri Rofiul Haq and Reza Aldilla Kurniawan received delivery of wheat flour and food packages and have distributed supplies in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, which has become the epicentre of Israel’s military offensive in the enclave. “Since Monday, we have received three deliveries including 1,500 sacks of wheat flour,” Haq told Al Jazeera.

Stocks of flour have been delivered to a number of refugee camps, but the Indonesian aid workers were unable to distribute food packages to all areas as Israeli bombardments have been “too intense”.

Gaza is in need of much more aid including tents and warm clothing, Haq said. “Getting aid through Egypt to Gaza takes quite a long time and is a very difficult process,” he said. “Many trucks have had many problems entering Gaza because they did not meet the Israeli government’s requirements, and many aid items have been damaged as a result of Israeli inspections,” he added.


Indonesia aid volunteer Reza Aldilla Kurniawan delivers food packages in Gaza earlier this week