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

SvennoJ 3 hours ago

Israeli response to October 7 attack ‘exceeded’ self-defence: Ex-UN official

Mogens Lykketoft, a Danish politician who led the Social Democrats from 2002 to 2005 and a former UN General Assembly president, says while the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7 2023 was the “trigger” for the war in Gaza, the Israeli response “has long since exceeded anything like legitimate self-defence”.

The genocide is a “human catastrophe of historic dimensions”, he said.

“Many people in rich Western countries simply do not understand the background and the character of the tragedy that’s ongoing,” he said.

He urged Europeans to break an “impenetrable media barrier” to “enlighten” others about the “facts on the ground”.

“Palestinians are human beings with the same hopes … that most of us in the Western world already enjoy.”


‘Increasingly impossible’ to stay alive in Gaza: Amnesty Denmark chief

Vibe Klarup, head of Amnesty Denmark, has underscored Amnesty’s findings that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. The global rights group in December released a report stating its conclusion.

“Israel is committing the act of genocide,” said Klarup. “When we say Israel is committing genocide, it is not an opinion, it’s a conclusion on the basis of a legal, thorough analysis”.

“It is increasingly impossible to stay alive in the Gaza Strip … Our role as people is to stop the genocide.”


Oxfam Denmark calls on country to take ‘strong action’ against Israel

Lars Koch, secretary-general of Oxfam Denmark, has urged Denmark to take strong action against Israel.

“If we do not act now, there will soon be nothing left of Palestine and its people,” he told Al Jazeera. “The best thing we can do in Denmark is to clamp down on what Israel is doing by ending the supply of arms to Israel.”

His comments were applauded by an audience of hundreds in central Copenhagen at a conference aimed at raising awareness about Palestine.

“Equally important, we must stop investments in Israeli settlements … Denmark needs to become a voice of international accountability,” he said. “We need to use the EU … to stop our complicity in order to look our kids in the eyes and tell them, ‘We did our best to end the genocide.'”



Around the Network
SvennoJ 3 hours ago

Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief says journalists in the enclave ‘feel the silence’

Addressing the European Palestinian Network Conference in the Danish capital, Al Jazeera’s Wael Dahdouh has said journalists in Gaza feel a “sense of isolation, of being alone to endure and swallow this bitterness”.

Dahdouh cited the grim toll on journalists, saying more than 200 reporters have been killed since Israel’s war began.

“Some of us feel the silence at times, bias at others, and the hesitant actions at other times are themselves part of our killing, part of our tragedy, and part of the heavy price we have paid, are still paying,” he told the audience.

Dahdouh, the network’s Gaza bureau chief, evacuated from the Strip after an Israeli attack that wounded him and killed Al Jazeera journalist Samer Abudaqa.

Israeli forces killed Dahdouh’s wife, son, daughter and grandson in October 2023, and in January 2024, killed his eldest son Hamza, who was also an Al Jazeera journalist.


Europe ignores ‘the most televised genocide of modern times’

Israeli historian and author Ilan Pappe shared his sense of shock about Europe’s response to the genocide in Gaza at the European-Palestinian Network’s conference in Copenhagen.

“I share with a lot of people a surprise at the European position,” he said. “Europe, that claims to be a model of civilisation, ignored the most televised genocide of modern times.

“What I like about the idea about a Palestinian-European Network is the need to ask a question – how come Europe behaves in an abysmal [way] … [it has] reached such a level of inhumanity, of disregard, of indifference. I wasn’t prepared for that.”

He rhetorically asked why people fly Ukrainian flags in solidarity with the war-torn European nation across the Danish capital but there are no Palestine flags visible.

“Let’s face it, there’s no genocide of Ukrainians, but there is of Palestinians.”

Putin is trying to erase the Ukrainian identity as much as Netanyahu wants to erase the Palestinian identity. In that way they're both genocides. The difference is the methodology and geography involved. The intent remains the same.



SvennoJ 3 hours ago

As Gaza’s population struggles to survive, one man filters mud for water

Amid huge shortages of food, medicine and clean war in Gaza, a resident in the war-torn territory has demonstrated a method for extracting water from mud in a video shared by our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.

The process involves collecting wet mud into a cloth, squeezing the liquid into a bowl and then filtering the liquid through a funnel made of a plastic bag and cotton.

From there, the container holding the dirty water is placed at a height on a stool or table. One end of a strip of cloth is dipped in the container, and the other is placed on the lip of a second container placed on the floor.

As the water is absorbed from the higher container, gravity draws down the liquid into the second container, where it gathers as cleaner water.


Fuel supplied to crisis-stricken Gaza hospitals: Ministry

International organisations were successful in bringing fuel to the Gaza Strip in recent days amid a shortage, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

“After exceptional and intensive efforts regarding the fuel crisis that Gaza Strip hospitals suffered from a few days ago, which almost destroyed the hospitals, we were informed by international organisations [like the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA] that they succeeded in bringing in quantities of fuel,” it said in a statement.

It also said it is working on the continuity of fuel supply “to ensure that there is no crisis in the near term”.


Bodies melted by explosives from Israeli attacks: Civil defence

A body has been recovered following Israeli bombing on the town of Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report.

Earlier, medical sources told Al Jazeera that 22 Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours. The civil defence added that a number of bodies had disappeared as a result of melting due to the amount of explosives fired by the Israeli army.


Gaza death toll rises

At least 32 Palestinians have been killed and 193 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 48 hours, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. The latest deaths have brought the total toll since October 7, 2023 to 46,537, the ministry said, adding that 499 previously unreported deaths were also added to the total.

Israel’s war on Gaza has also injured at least 109,571 people, the ministry said.


Deadly Israeli attack on school in Jabalia

At least eight people have been killed during an Israeli bombardment that targeted a school housing displaced families, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report.

The attack targeted the Zainab Al-Wazir School in Jabalia Al-Balad, north of the Gaza Strip.

The Wafa news outlet also reported that two children and two women were among those killed in the attack, while several others were wounded.



SvennoJ 3 hours ago

Three battalions to reinforce Israeli forces in occupied West Bank: Report

Three infantry battalions will be sent to reinforce Israeli forces in the north of the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reports.

The surge in troops comes after a meeting on Monday, where the head of the Israeli internal security agency, Shin Bet, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials to greenlight a major military expansion in the occupied West Bank.

The deployment also comes amid calls for the annexation of the Palestinian territory by ultra-far-right members of the Israeli government.


Israeli settlers open fire during attack on Palestinian village in occupied West Bank: UN

According to the latest report on violence in the occupied West Bank by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there were 14 incursions by Israeli settlers into the occupied West Bank that led to the injury of 18 Palestinians, mainly farmers, and included the vandalism of houses, tent shelters and vehicles.

Three settlers were also killed by armed Palestinians during the latest weeklong reporting period by OCHA, between December 31 and January 6.

In one incident, Israeli settlers, some of whom carried arms, were escorted by Israeli forces and threw stones at Palestinian farmers on the outskirts of the village of Silwad in Ramallah.

When the farmers responded, a group of settlers opened fire with live ammunition, beat Palestinians with clubs and set eight vehicles on fire.


Conditions in Jenin refugee camp deteriorate amid PA crackdown: UN

Conditions in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank are becoming increasingly dire amid a violent crackdown by the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Palestinian resistance fighters that has killed 14 people and seen 247 arrested, the UN said.

The UN’s humanitarian aid organisation (OCHA) said in its latest situation report that 650 families, amounting to around 3,400 people, are struggling to live inside the camp as shops have run out of supplies and there is “minimal” access to basic utilities such as water and electricity.

Another 2,000 families have already been displaced by the fighting from the camp to Jenin city and surrounding cities, OCHA reports.

During the reporting period from December 31 to January 6, three people, including a child and a member of the PA’s security forces, were killed in the camp.

In one incident, a man and his 14-year-old son were killed, though it remains unclear who was responsible for their shooting deaths with fighters in Jenin blaming PA security forces, who denied being in the area.

The deceased father’s 10-year-old daughter also sustained a serious neck injury from live ammunition in the same shooting incident.


Israeli special forces snatch man from street in occupied West Bank: Report

Israeli special forces have carried out another snatch operation in the occupied West Bank, according to reports. The Palestinian Media Center said that Israeli special forces snatched a young man from the Umm ash-Sharayet neighbourhood in el-Bireh city early this morning.

On Friday, an Israeli special forces unit used what appeared to be a delivery van to snatch a Palestinian man in the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. Israeli special forces last week used an ambulance during a raid in Nablus, where they killed an elderly Palestinian woman and a man.


Israeli forces intensify military measures around Nablus city: Report

Israeli forces have intensified military measures and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinians around the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

Israeli forces set up checkpoints on key roads connecting Nablus with Jenin and Tubas. Troops also increased procedures at existing checkpoints and closed some of them. The new measures have caused significant traffic congestion and restricted the movement of Palestinians.

Over the last few months, Israeli forces have been imposing similar measures across the occupied West Bank, including the use of iron gates and earth barriers at town and village entrances.