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

SvennoJ 2 hours ago

Israel ceasefire deal not yet done: Lebanese minister

Lebanese Labour Minister Mustafa Bayram, who was named to the cabinet by Hezbollah, has said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told him the atmosphere surrounding a possible ceasefire deal was positive but cautioned that a deal was not yet done.

“Then attention will turn to the Israeli position. Does it want a ceasefire … or to continue in its crimes?” Bayram said, according to a statement from Berri’s office.

United States envoy Amos Hochstein is due in Lebanon on Tuesday for talks on a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The trip by Hochstein is expected to build on a US ceasefire proposal submitted to Lebanon last week.

This song and dance again, how many times have we heard this with Gaza...


Lebanon PM Mikati demands implementation of UN Resolution 1701

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, ended a monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah and was intended to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

“All countries and decision-makers are required to end the bloody and destructive Israeli aggression on Lebanon and implement international resolutions, most notably Resolution 1701,” caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a post on X, minutes after an Israeli attack on central Beirut’s Zuqaq al-Blat neighbourhood.

The resolution is again on the table as part of a US proposal for a ceasefire deal, aiming to end 13 months of exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah.


Israel ‘definitely not’ on board with ceasefire with Hezbollah

Samuel Ramani, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, says Israel’s killing of Hezbollah’s top leadership hasn’t affected the Lebanese group’s ability to launch significant attacks inside Israel.

His comments come after a deadly strike in the north and one later in Tel Aviv that wounded five people and started a major blaze near a shopping mall. Ramani told Al Jazeera that estimates suggest Hezbollah has at least 100,000 long-range missiles capable of causing “lethal damage” inside Israel.

“Hezbollah has been able to consistently penetrate the seemingly ironclad Iron Dome system,” he said, adding the Israelis “are definitely not” on board with a ceasefire. “I think after this attack it will make the Israelis even more intransigent in their position,” said Ramani.


Netanyahu: Attacks on Hezbollah will continue even with truce

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will continue to operate militarily against Hezbollah even if a ceasefire deal is reached in Lebanon.

“The most important thing is not [the deal that] will be laid on paper,” Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament. “We will be forced to ensure our security in the north and to systematically carry out operations against Hezbollah’s attacks … even after a ceasefire.”

Israel insists any truce deal must guarantee no further Hezbollah presence in the southern area bordering Israel.

“We will not allow Hezbollah to return to the state it was in on October 6” 2023 – the eve of the attack by its Palestinian ally Hamas into southern Israel, he said.


UNESCO’s ‘enhanced protection’ for 34 Lebanon heritage sites

Dozens of heritage sites in Lebanon have been granted “provisional enhanced protection” by UNESCO, which offers a higher level of legal shielding as fighting continues between Israel and Hezbollah.

The 34 cultural properties affected “now benefit from the highest level of immunity against attack and use for military purposes”, the UN cultural body said in a statement. Several Israeli strikes in recent weeks on Baalbek in the east and Tyre in the south hit close to ancient Roman ruins designated as World Heritage Sites.

UNESCO said the decision “helps send a signal to the entire international community of the urgent need to protect these sites”. “Non-compliance with these clauses would constitute ‘serious violations’ of the 1954 Hague Convention and … potential grounds for prosecution.”

Would be nice to have that (any) level of protection for civilians, paramedics, journalists and civilian infrastructure as well.



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SvennoJ 2 hours ago

Hezbollah says four media officials killed in Israeli raid on Sunday

Hezbollah has announced that four of its media officials were killed in an Israeli attack on Beirut yesterday, which killed spokesperson Mohammad Afif.

In a statement on Telegram, the group said the four workers, Musa Haidar, Mahmoud al-Sharqawi, Hilal Termos and Hussein Ramadan, had the “courage to be soldiers in the media field so that the truth of Zionist terrorism would reach every home”.

“They were not intimidated by threats, so they were supportive and steadfast with their leader, to confirm that resistance is an eternal thought, cause and message, unknown on earth, known in heaven,” the statement read.


Hezbollah targets sites in northern Israel

Hezbollah says its fighters targeted the Kerem Ben Zimra area for the first time with a rocket salvo. The group also claimed it attacked the Kiryat Shmona area with a “volley of rockets”.

Woman killed in rocket attack on northern Israeli town

A woman has been killed when a rocket struck a building in Shfaram in northern Israel, its ambulance service says. At least six people were wounded. One woman was still trapped in the building, it said. The Israeli military said about five projectiles had been fired from Lebanon.

Hezbollah has kept up rocket fire into northern Israel, where sirens sounded again today.


Lebanon death toll rises to 3,516

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 3,516 people and wounded 14,929 since October 2023, its Health Ministry says. Ten people died in Israeli air strikes on central Beirut on Sunday.

“The Israeli enemy strike on Ras al-Nabaa in Beirut led to a final toll of seven dead, including a woman, and 16 others wounded,” a ministry statement said. It added that the “final toll” of an Israeli strike on the Mar Elias district late on Sunday was three dead, including a woman, and 29 wounded.


Lebanon to file complaint against Israel at UNSC

Lebanon’s permanent mission to the UN in New York will submit a formal complaint condemning Israel’s continuing assaults on the Lebanese military.

Two soldiers died and three others were injured, including one who is in critical condition, following an Israeli strike on a military outpost on Sunday in the town of Mari in southern Lebanon.

With this latest incident, the total number of Lebanese army soldiers killed in Israeli attacks since October 8, 2023, rose to 36.

The Foreign Ministry said the attacks undermined international efforts to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for a full cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel.



SvennoJ 2 hours ago

New Israeli air strike hits central Beirut

An Israeli air strike has hit an area in central Beirut near the Lebanese government headquarters and several embassies. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two missiles hit the Zoqaq al-Blat neighbourhood, a densely populated residential area.

The Israeli air attack occurred near the Lebanese government’s headquarters and near a Shia mosque. The strike was also near the building of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. Smoke was seen rising from the scene, and ambulance sirens echoed through the area.

It was not immediately clear whether there were casualties. The target remains unclear and the Israeli army did not issue a prior warning. Many areas in central Beirut, including Zoqaq al-Blat, have become a refuge for those displaced by the ongoing conflict in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.


Four killed, 18 wounded in Israel’s latest attack on central Beirut

At least four people were killed following the Israeli air strike near Lebanon’s government headquarters. The Health Ministry said 18 others were wounded in central Beirut’s Zoqaq al-Blat district.

On Sunday, a strike in the area of Ras el-Nabaa killed Hezbollah media spokesperson Mohammed Afif along with six other people, including a woman. Later that day, four people were killed in a separate strike in the commercial district of Mar Elias. It remains unclear what the target of that strike was.


Death toll in central Beirut attack rises to five, with 24 wounded

One more person has been confirmed killed in the Israeli air strike on central Beirut’s Zuqaq al-Blat area. The total number of dead now stands at five. The number of wounded is now 24, the Health Ministry said.


Israel strike on central Beirut hit highly populated area

There is no indication what the target was, if there even was a target. The area hit is about 1km [0.6 miles] from where we are standing and from the prime minister’s office here in Beirut.

It is a densely populated area. It has a religious centre. It has several coffee shops that are popular. Many people live in this area – add to that a number of internally displaced people who moved here as a result of the war. There’s people coming from Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, which have been heavily targeted by Israeli air strikes.


The aftermath of an Israeli strike in the Zuqaq al-Blat area of central Beirut



SvennoJ 2 hours ago

Large blaze in Tel Aviv after raid sirens sound

Video shows a major fire burning in downtown Tel Aviv after emergency warning systems sounded in Israel’s main city. An apparent rocket strike from Lebanon hit a shopping centre in the Ramat Gan area of Tel Aviv in central Israel.

The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported a rocket hit a bus in Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv. Air traffic at Ben Gurion International Airport was also suspended, it said.

Red alert sirens were also activated in Haifa city in the country’s north.


This picture shows the site of a rocket attack from southern Lebanon in Ramat Gan, north of Tel Aviv


Military says rocket fragments fell in central Israel

Rocket fire from Lebanon was intercepted by defence systems, but shrapnel fell to the ground in central Israel, the military said in a statement.

“Following the alerts that were activated a short time ago in the centre of the country, the air force intercepted one launch that crossed Lebanese territory. A fall was detected, apparently originating from interception fragments,” the Israeli Army said in a post on X.


Casualties in Tel Aviv after Hezbollah rocket attack

Four people were wounded after a main street of a Tel Aviv suburb was hit by falling shrapnel. The fragments fell after a missile fired from Lebanon was intercepted by the Israeli military over central Israel, the ambulance service said.


Shrapnel from Lebanon projectile caused fire in Tel Aviv

A little while ago, we got a statement from the Israeli military saying the Israeli air force launched one interceptor after a projectile was launched from southern Lebanon – and this was not a direct impact in central Israel.

Rather, it was the result of shrapnel that fell from the sky and then ignited a fire in the city of Ramat Gan, which is in central Israel in the greater Tel Aviv area.

When there are air raid sirens – especially in places such as Tel Aviv and its surrounding cities and suburbs – protocols say people should stay in protected areas for at least 10 minutes, and that’s because shrapnel that falls from the sky can cause a lot of damage.

In fact, it has killed quite a few people over the last year of this war.


Power outage after Hezbollah rocket attack on Tel Aviv

The Israel Electric Corporation says a high-voltage line was damaged, affecting the local electricity supply.

After the attack that hit electricity infrastructure in the Bnei Brak and Ramat Gan area, “a high voltage line was damaged affecting the electricity supply in the streets near the strike”, it said in a statement.

“The company’s teams are on their way to repair the damage to the network and restore the electricity supply to the residents,” it said.


Israeli security services stand in front of a heavily damaged building at the site of a rocket attack from southern Lebanon in Ramat Gan, north of Tel Aviv



SvennoJ 2 hours ago

Israeli forces shell entrance to Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital

At Kamal Adwan Hospital – the only health facility still operating in northern Gaza now – director Hussam Abu Safia says Israeli tanks have been shelling the entrance, rooftop and courtyard. People inside the hospital were injured by shrapnel. This is not the first time the overwhelmed health centre has been targeted by Israeli forces.

It was stormed by Israeli soldiers repeatedly over the past couple of weeks. Abu Safia said hospital staff who remain are struggling to treat the many wounded and sick in the besieged northern areas of Gaza, where Israel’s army launched a deadly ground invasion six weeks ago.


Gaza: ‘Urgency of the crisis cannot be overstated’

Earlier, we reported that 98 trucks from a United Nations 109-truck convoy carrying food for Gaza were raided by unidentified assailants and some of the workers transporting the goods were injured during the incident.

“[This] highlights the severity of access challenges of bringing aid into southern and central Gaza,” said Louise Wateridge, UNRWA’s senior emergency officer.

“⁠The urgency of the crisis cannot be overstated. Without immediate intervention, severe food shortages are set to worsen, further endangering the lives of over two million people who depend on humanitarian aid to survive.”

An Israeli official said the main problem with aid deliveries was UN distribution challenges.

Yes, because you killed the police force and other civilian security forces.


Gaza ministry says 20 killed in aid-looter crackdown

Gaza’s Interior Ministry says at least 20 people were killed in an operation targeting “gangs” that looted United Nations trucks bringing aid into the war-torn territory threatened with famine.

“More than 20 members of gangs involved in stealing aid trucks were killed in a security operation carried out by security forces in cooperation with tribal committees,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Today’s security operation will not be the last. The phenomenon of truck thefts … has severely impacted society and led to signs of famine in southern Gaza.”

The statement called the operation “the beginning of a broad security campaign that has been long planned and will expand to include everyone involved in the theft of aid trucks”.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing in New York Monday that only 11 of the convoy’s 109 trucks made it to the warehouse where they were expected.


‘Famine is imminent’: UK minister calls for surge in Gaza assistance

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says there needs to be a “huge, huge rise in aid” to Gaza, where most of the population of 2.3 million is displaced.

“The situation is devastating and, frankly, beyond comprehension, and it’s getting worse, not better,” Lammy said. “Winter’s here. Famine is imminent, and 400 days into this war, it is totally unacceptable that it’s harder than ever to get aid into Gaza.”

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council that Washington is closely watching Israel’s actions to improve the situation for Palestinians and engaging with the Israeli government every day.

“Israel must also urgently take additional steps to alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza,” she said.

Teenager killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank

A teenager was shot and killed by Israeli forces east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Palestine’s Wafa news agency reports.

The victim was identified as Noor Ahmad Mustafa Arafat, 18, who was fatally wounded by live rounds in the chest. Local sources told Wafa that Israeli forces stormed the al-Masaken area, east of Nablus, and opened fire.

More than 700 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023. 

Last week, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ordered preparations for the annexation of the West Bank ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump taking office in January 2025.



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SvennoJ 2 hours ago

Erasing Palestinian Life in Gaza: Israel’s Genocide EXPOSED | Francesca Albanese & Eyal Weizman


“Israel aims to cancel and erase Palestinian life!” UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, and director of Forensic Architecture, Eyal Weizman, expose the mechanics of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Speaking to Palestinian journalist from Gaza, Ahmed Alnaouq, Francesca references her new UN report titled “Genocide as Colonial Erasure”, which documents how Israel is wielding its genocide as part of a broader, systematic and intentional state-organised forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians.

A new 800 page report published by Forensic Architecture titled “A Spatial Analysis of the Israeli Military’s Conduct in Gaza since October 2023”, uses innovative digital technology to illustrate Israel’s wholesale destruction of the Gaza Strip which has left “no safe place” for Palestinians under siege and bombardment, according director Eyal Weizman.

 

Israel's Attack of this American Journalist Will Shock You (w/ Jeremy Loffredo)



My shock level is non existent after last year. No need for clickbait titles.


Amsterdam Mayor: I REGRET Claiming Pogrom And Not Denouncing Tel Aviv Thugs' Violence



The story continues to fall apart.

 



SvennoJ 15 minutes ago

Main points on November 18th

  • At least 50 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since Monday morning, medical sources say, including 17 people who were killed in a raid on a house near Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north.
  • Gaza’s Interior Ministry says at least 20 people were killed in an operation targeting “gangs” that looted United Nations trucks bringing food into the war-torn territory.
  • Israeli forces attacked central Beirut again, carrying out an air raid on a densely populated area and killing at least five people and wounding 31 others.
  • In Israel, Hezbollah rockets killed a woman in a northern settlement, while shrapnel from an intercepted missile wounded six people in Tel Aviv. One of the victims is in serious condition.
  • Hezbollah said in a statement that it had launched an “air attack with a squadron of qualitative attack drones on sensitive military points” in Tel Aviv.
  • The attacks come as Hezbollah mulls over a US-backed ceasefire in Lebanon, with US envoy Amos Hochstein set to arrive in Beirut on Tuesday for talks, despite Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu saying Israel will continue to attack Hezbollah even if a deal is reached.

‘We must occupy northern Gaza entirely’: Israeli finance minister

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the complete occupation of the northern Gaza Strip to force Hamas to release Israeli captives.

“To bring the hostages home, we must occupy northern Gaza entirely and tell Hamas that if they don’t return them, we will stay there forever, costing Gaza a third of its territory,” Smotrich told a meeting of his Religious Zionism Party.

“Reaching an agreement with Hamas to end the war would mean surrender and defeat,” he added. “We will continue until Hamas is eliminated and an agreement is reached under which it surrenders. We won’t stop until our enemies are destroyed and security is fully restored to the state of Israel.”

UN committee chair says Israel’s war on Gaza turns clock back to ‘era of unchecked barbarity’

Peter Mohan Maithri Pieris made the remarks as he formally presented a report by the UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices in Palestine, which likened Israel’s policy in Gaza to genocide.

Pieris, who is also Sri Lanka’s UN envoy, told member states at UN headquarters in New York, that “history will not forget our inaction and complicity”.

“Under our watch, we have been permitting the clock to turn back to an era of unchecked barbarity,” he said.

“The very persecution we once vowed would never happen again, now permitted under the guise of technological precision, the manipulation of international law, the insidious disinformation,” Pieris added.

“Our inaction is not only failing to protect innocent lives from the ravages of war, it is unravelling the international legal system itself.”