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

SvennoJ 2 days ago

Rights experts ‘dismayed’ by deadly Israeli violence in West Bank’s Jenin

Israel’s intensified military assault in the occupied West Bank marks a dangerous escalation against Palestinians, independent human rights experts warn.

A group of UN special rapporteurs and independent experts urged the international community in a statement to take principled action to protect the human rights and dignity of the Palestinian people.

“We are dismayed by the escalation of deadly violence sweeping through Jenin and the rest of the occupied West Bank,” they said. “Israel’s repression seems to have no end in sight.”

“The new attacks come in the wake of a US decision to lift limited sanctions on Israeli settlers, and by Israeli authorities to remove administrative detention and other sanctions for Israeli settler violence, effectively offering a greenlight for more unchecked violence against the Palestinian people.”



Israeli forces cause blackout after attacking Tulkarem infrastructure

Israeli forces targeted an electricity transformer in the western neighbourhood of Tulkarem city, causing a widespread power outage in various parts of the city and its refugee camp.

Wafa news agency reported that Israeli snipers, positioned in a building in the western neighbourhood, unleashed heavy fire and struck the transformer, resulting in a power outage.

Israeli forces have continued their onslaught on Tulkarem city and its camp since early afternoon, reportedly turning several residents’ homes into military outposts and sniper positions and firing live ammunition at any moving object.

Footage circulated online by local Palestinian outlets showed the moment an Israeli bulldozer uprooted trees and destroyed infrastructure in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank. Other videos showed a fire breaking out in a house in the camp.


Israel forces dozens of families to evacuate homes in Tulkarem

Forced evacuations took place during the huge ongoing raid in the northern occupied West Bank city, according to the Wafa news agency.

The Israeli army seized several buildings overlooking the Shuhada and al-Hamam neighbourhoods and turned them into military barracks after forcing residents out, according to Wafa.

The military used bulldozers to destroy some other buildings in the city, it added.

Israeli forces blow up house in Jenin, raid several West Bank cities

Israeli forces have carried out military operations in several locations across the occupied West Bank over recent hours, according to local media reports.

Incidents include:

  • A Palestinian-owned house has been demolished during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp.
  • The cities of Tulkarem, Nablus, Hebron, Bethlehem and Dura have been stormed and several Palestinians arrested.
  • Israeli forces have also stormed the towns of Qarawat Bani Zeid and Kafr Ein, north of Ramallah; Fahma, southwest of Jenin; Odla, south of Nablus; Anabta and Kafr al-Labad, east of Tulkarem; and Surif and Adh Dhahiriya, near Hebron.

 

Israel holds ‘all-time high’ number of Palestinian children in ‘administrative detention’: Rights group

Child rights group Defense for Children International said that Israeli forces have imprisoned more Palestinian children than ever before under Israel’s controversial “administrative detention” laws, as of the end of December 2024.

The arrest and imprisonment of 112 Palestinian children “without charge or trial” comes amid escalating Israeli military operations in the occupied West Banks since October 2023, and the number is the highest since Defense for Children began monitoring “child administrative detainees” in 2008.

Israeli forces were holding 300 Palestinian children in prisons by the end of last year, including 112 in administrative detention, Defense for Children said.

“Palestinian children held under administrative detention orders are not presented with charges, and their detention is based on secret evidence that is neither disclosed to the child nor their attorney,” the organisation said.

“Israel has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world that systematically prosecutes between 500 and 700 children in military courts each year that lack fundamental fair trial rights,” it added.



Around the Network
SvennoJ 2 days ago

Main events on January 27th

  • Gaza’s Government Media Office has said that more than 300,000 people have headed north since Monday morning as displaced Palestinians cross the once-closed Netzarim Corridor and return to their destroyed homes for the first time since the war began.
  • An official from Gaza’s Government Media Office has told Al Jazeera that at least 120,000 tents are needed to shelter those displaced people returning to the north.
  • A child has been killed and three others injured after Israeli forces attacked a horse cart in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, in the latest incident of displaced Palestinians being fired on as they return to their homes in the war-torn Strip.
  • An official from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has slammed Israel’s decision to halt its operations as “unacceptable”, in advance of a ban which is set to come into force on Thursday.
  • US Senator Bernie Sanders has denounced President Trump’s proposal to cleanse millions of Palestinians from Gaza, urging Americans to condemn it.


Israeli president calls UN morally bankrupt on Holocaust anniversary

Isaac Herzog has slammed the UN General Assembly, marking the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust, accusing the body of exhibiting “moral bankruptcy” and failing to confront anti-Semitism.

Addressing the forum during worldwide commemorations, he said: “Today, we find ourselves yet again at a dangerous crossroads in the history of this institution.”

“Rather than fulfilling its purpose and fighting courageously against a global epidemic of jihadists, murderers, and abhorrent terror, time and again this assembly has exhibited moral bankruptcy,” Herzog claimed.

Israel has repeatedly criticised the UN for its condemnation of Israel’s relentless 15-month offensive on Gaza following Hamas’s October 2023 attacks on Israel.

First of all, the UN was created after the holocaust to prevent war crimes from happening again. The institution did not exist yet at the time of the holocaust.

And it is indeed happening again, by Israel. The UN is trying to do its job to stop the genocide yet the US has turned the UN into a lame duck.

Israel is beyond morally bankrupt after 76 years of oppression, apartheid and ethnic cleansing.



SvennoJ 1 day ago

Seven injured in Israeli attack on southern Lebanon

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health has said that seven people were injured in an Israeli attack on the village of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.

“The Public Health Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health issued a statement announcing that the Israeli enemy’s raid this evening on Nabatieh resulted in the initial toll of seven people being injured,” the ministry said in a social media post.

Despite a ceasefire between Israel and the armed group Hezbollah, Israeli forces have continued to use deadly force in southern Lebanon.


Lebanese army says Israeli attack injured one soldier, three civilians

In a post on X, the military says the Israeli attack happened in Yaroun, southern Lebanon.

It added that the Lebanese forces were escorting displaced residents returning to the southern border towns when the attack hit the convoy.


Number of injured in Israeli attack on Nabatieh, Lebanon rises to 14

The Lebanese Health Ministry says the number of people wounded in an Israeli attack on Nabatieh in southern Lebanon has risen to 14. The Israeli Army Radio confirmed that the military launched an air raid on the area.

The attack came despite a ceasefire being in force for more than six weeks.

Israel to occupy Mount Hermon in Syria ‘indefinitely’

Israeli forces who seized strategic ground in southern Syria after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad will remain on the summit of Mount Hermon indefinitely, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said after visiting troops there.

Katz said Israel would not allow what he described as “hostile forces” to establish themselves in southern Syria.

Mount Hermon, a huge cluster of snowcapped mountain peaks towering above the Syria-Lebanon border, overlooks the Damascus countryside as well as the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

Israel says its troops have taken up positions inside a UN-monitored demilitarised zone within Syria, and some have ventured beyond it. Israeli officials have previously said that the moves were limited and temporary, to ensure the security of Israeli borders.



SvennoJ 1 day ago

Hind Rajab Foundation says complaint against Israeli minister forced trip cancellation

The Hind Rajab Foundation, which advocates for legal action against Israeli soldiers and officials suspected of complicity in war crimes, says that a complaint filed against Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli forced him to suspend a planned trip to Belgium.

“The HRF made the details of my complaint against Israeli Minister Amichai Chikli available. This is an important line in the sand against Israeli terrorism and intimidation tactics,” HRB founder Dyab Abou Jahjah said in a social media post.

“Belgium’s judiciary recognised having jurisdiction on this and [refused] granting immunity to Chikli. Forcing Chikli to cancel his visit to Belgium for fears of arrest. A victory for justice.”

Chikli had previously posted “watch your pager” to Jahjah on social media, a reference to an Israeli operation that caused hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members to explode simultaneously across Lebanon. The foundation called that post an effort to “intimidate and suppress” human rights advocacy.


New Zealand requires Israelis to disclose military service when applying for visas: Report

New Zealand will now require Israelis applying for a visa to report details about their military service, and at least one person has been denied entry after doing so, according to the Times of Israel newspaper.

Israelis applying for a tourist visa will have to disclose whether they served in the military – as most Israelis do – or are active reservists, the outlet reported.

One of the questionnaires asks applicants if they “used or promoted violence or human rights abuses to further their aims”. Another question probes if the applicant has “been involved in war crimes, crimes against humanity, or human rights abuses”.

At least one soldier who served in Gaza in recent months was denied entry to New Zealand after filling out the questionnaire, he told the Times of Israel, adding that he had not been involved in war crimes.

“Palestinian and Israeli nationals can apply for any visa category they meet the requirements for,” New Zealand’s Immigration Authority told the outlet.

“We will continue to prioritise the processing of applications for people impacted by the conflict. However, all applicants must meet the relevant immigration requirements to be granted a visa. Exceptions may be considered on a case-by-case basis,” it added.



Western politicians silent as Israeli forces kill Palestinian children: UN expert

The UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory has called out Western politicians for their silence as Israel’s military kills children in the occupied West Bank.

“As Israel continues to kill Palestinian children from the River to the Sea, is any Western politician there to be heard or seen?” Francesca Albanese asked.

Albanese made her comment while reposting an Israeli news article about the killing of a two-year-old Palestinian toddler who was shot in the head when Israeli soldiers sprayed a house with gunfire as a family ate dinner in the occupied West Bank.



SvennoJ 1 day ago

Trump reiterates call for Egypt, Jordan to take Palestinians from Gaza: Report

Trump has again called for Palestinians to move out of Gaza and said he thinks both Egypt and Jordan will comply with his request to take in Palestinians, according to a report.

A journalist with the US news site Axios said Trump made his latest remarks about the future of Gaza and its population while speaking with reporters on his plane on Monday night.

“I want them to live in a place without violence. Gaza has been hell for so many years. They can live in much better and more comfortable areas,” Trump was quoted as saying.

Trump said he had spoken to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi about sending Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt. “I’ve helped him [el-Sisi] a lot and I hope he’ll help us. I think he’ll do it [take in Palestinians] and the king of Jordan will do it too,” Trump said.

Jordan and Egypt have issued official statements rejecting the removal of Palestinians from their land after Trump’s earlier remark on clearing Gaza of Palestinians.

At least Trump admits Israel is the one causing the violence...

Egypt’s parliament speaker rejects removal of Palestinians from Gaza, occupied West Bank

Hanfy el-Gebaly, the speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives, has vehemently rejected proposals to relocate Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

The speaker’s comments came after US President Donald Trump urged Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza. While not addressing Trump directly, el-Gebaly told a session of the Egyptian parliament that such proposals “are not only a threat to the Palestinians but also they also represent a severe threat to regional security and stability”.

“The Egyptian House of Representatives completely rejects any arrangements or attempts to change the geographical and political reality for the Palestinian cause,” he said.

Trump’s comments to “clean out” Gaza appear to align with far-right Israeli politicians who have long advocated for the departure of large numbers of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in the territory.

Israeli politicians have also called for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, where Israel has stepped up military operations and killed some 800 Palestinians since October 2023.


Albanian PM denies report he is talking with Trump about taking in Palestinians

Edi Rama denied a report by Israel’s Channel 12 claiming his government is in talks with the Trump administration about taking in up to 100,000 Palestinian refugees from Gaza.

“I haven’t heard something so fake in quite some time – and there’s been a lot of fake news lately! It is absolutely not true,” the Albanian prime minister wrote on X.

“Full respect and solidarity for the people of Gaza, who have been dehumanised by the savage Hamas regime and have endured a hellish war following the medieval horrors of October 7. But let me be clear: Albania has not been asked by anyone, nor can we even consider to take on any such responsibility,” he said.

As we previously reported, Trump called for Jordan and Egypt to take in Palestinian refugees to “clean out” war-battered Gaza.

Channel 12 reported that Israel believes this plan is unrealistic, and Washington is now looking for other potential host countries, including Albania. Earlier this month, NBC News reported that the US is also considering Indonesia as a potential destination.



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SvennoJ 1 day ago

Trump says Netanyahu meeting to be held ‘very soon’ to discuss two-state solution

Earlier, we reported that President Trump again called for Palestinians to leave Gaza, and he thinks Egypt and Jordan will comply with his request to take them in, when speaking with reporters on board Air Force One on Monday night.

Trump also said he’d like to have Palestinians “living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence”. “You know, when you look at the Gaza Strip, it’s been hell for so many years,” Trump reportedly said.

“There have been various civilisations on that strip. It didn’t start here. It started thousands of years before, and there’s always been violence associated with it,” he said.

When asked if this stance meant he did not believe in a two-state solution, Trump said he would be discussing that with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu when he visits Washington “in the not-so-distant future”.

Citing two anonymous sources, The Times of Israel says Netanyahu’s office plans for him to travel to the US on Sunday, before returning to Israel on Wednesday.


Qatar reiterates support for two-state solution after Trump’s controversial remarks

When asked about Trump’s comments on moving Palestinians out of Gaza to Egypt and Jordan, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson reaffirmed his country’s support for a two-state solution.

“Our position has always been clear to the necessity of the Palestinian people receiving their rights, and that the two-state solution is the only path forward,” Majed al-Ansari told the media.


Hamas slams Palestinian Authority over its ‘mini-state’ claims

Hamas has condemned the Palestinian Authority’s presidency after the latter warned Gaza’s ruling group not to get involved with “potential American and regional proposals for the establishment of a mini-Palestinian state and an extensive land exchange with Israel”.

Hamas said in a statement: “There are no such proposals except in the imagination of some influential people in the Authority aiming to distort the movement’s image, after the achievements it has made in thwarting displacement projects, forcing the Zionist enemy to stop its aggression, and achieving an honourable exchange deal.”

Hamas called on the PA “to stop the campaign of distortion and misinformation, and to give priority to the supreme interest of our people at this sensitive and delicate juncture in the life of our cause”.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Monday that the Palestinian presidency’s statement issued “a warning to the parties involved in such dubious projects, particularly Hamas, urging them not to persist in engaging with these plans”, referring to the alleged US proposals.



SvennoJ 1 day ago

Israel to cease all contact with UNRWA

Israel’s envoy to the United Nations Danny Danon has said that Israel will cut off all communications and collaboration with the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA and any other bodies acting on its behalf.

“Israel will terminate all collaboration communication and contact with UNRWA or anyone acting on its behalf,” the AFP news agency reported Danon as saying before a UN Security Council meeting.


UNRWA’s Lazzarini says ‘relentless assault’ on agency is harming Palestinians

Philippe Lazzarini, the leader of the UN’s Palestinian relief agency, has slammed Israel after the country moved to cut all contact with his organisation.

“The relentless assault on UNRWA is harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory,” he told a UN Security Council meeting.

“It is eroding their trust in the international community, jeopardising any prospect for peace and security,” the UNRWA chief added.


US envoy to the UN says UNRWA ‘exaggerating’ effects of Israeli ban

The US envoy to the United Nations has said the US supports Israel’s “sovereign decision” to shutter UNRWA in Jerusalem and that the agency is “exaggerating” the impact of an Israeli ban that experts and UN officials have said would have catastrophic impacts on humanitarian support for Palestinians.

“The United States supports this decision,” said envoy Dorothy Shae.


UNFPA Palestine expresses support for UNRWA

The Palestine branch of the UN Population Fund has expressed solidarity with UNRWA, stating that the agency is a “lifeline” for Palestinians.

“UNRWA is a lifeline for millions of Palestinian refugees, providing essential services,” the agency said in a social media post.

“UNFPA stands in solidarity with UNRWA and calls for the protection of its critical mission, in accordance with international law.”


UN chief urges Israel to rescind UNRWA ban

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has demanded that Israel suspend its order expelling UNRWA from Jerusalem.

“I regret this decision and request that the Government of Israel retract it,” Guterres wrote in a letter dated Monday, underscoring the agency’s “irreplaceable” role in humanitarian efforts and rejecting Israel’s claims of sovereignty over East Jerusalem, which is considered occupied under international law.



SvennoJ 1 day ago

Gaza’s Rafah is ‘a pile of rubble’: Mayor

Ahmed al-Soufi, the mayor of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, has described the state of his city in an interview with our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.

Once known for its agricultural production, trade ties and bustling marketplaces, Rafah has transformed “into a pile of rubble”, he said. “When I saw it for the first time since leaving on the eve of the Israeli military invasion last May, my heart sank.”

According to al-Soufi, Israeli attacks have:

  • Destroyed 80 percent of homes, more than 80 percent of municipal buildings and at least half of the water wells.
  • Damaged 70 percent of sewage facilities.
  • Wrecked 291 kilometres (181 miles) of road.
  • Destroyed 81 mosques, four schools, four hospitals and nine medical centres.
  • Razed thousands of dunams of farmland and greenhouses.

“The destruction is not justified militarily but appears retaliatory against Rafah and its residents,” said al-Soufi.


An aerial photograph taken by a drone shows Palestinians walking through the destruction in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, on January 21


Girl killed in Israeli attack near Gaza’s Nuseirat

Two Palestinians, including a child, have been killed and many wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza amid a ceasefire as thousands of people continued to return to the northern part of the besieged enclave.

Five-year-old Nadia Mohammed al-Amoudi was killed and three people were wounded after the Israeli army shelled a horse cart late on Monday in al-Jisr, west of the Nuseirat refugee camp, Wafa reported.


Vehicles queue up along Salah al-Din Street in Nuseirat near the Netzarim Corridor while waiting to cross to the northern part of Gaza


Israeli gunfire hits ambulance near Rafah: Red Crescent

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says one of its ambulances has been hit by Israeli sniper fire in the Tal as-Sultan area, west of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Footage posted online by the organisation shows what appears to be a bullet hole in the side of a marked ambulance.

Over the past 15 months of Israeli attacks on Gaza, Israeli forces have repeatedly fired at PRCS medics and other medical staff.


Forty-eight bodies recovered in Gaza in past two days: Ministry

Hospitals in Gaza have received 48 bodies in the last 48 hours, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

Among the deceased are 11 people killed in recent Israeli military attacks, along with 37 bodies recovered from the rubble of earlier strikes, the ministry said. At least 80 wounded individuals were also brought to hospitals.

The newly discovered casualties bring the total death toll in Gaza since the war began to 47,354, with 111,563 injured, the ministry reported.



SvennoJ 1 day ago

Palestinians en route to northern Gaza via Salah al-Din Street



Thousands of cars, trucks and carts are lined up in a slow-moving queue that stretches as far as the eye can see. They are moving slowly to the Netzarim Corridor [heading to northern Gaza].

They are carrying mattresses, blankets, household items and food supplies, precariously tied to the roofs of their vehicles. Many of the vehicles are carrying elderly people, women and children who are desperate to reunite with their family members. The situation here and journey to the north is overwhelming and exhausting.



Palestinians return to ruins in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoon city

People who returned to assess the damage to their homes [in the north] told us they found nothing but destruction and the remnants of their previous lives.

They’ve started again from scratch to rebuild what they lost. Many of them have set up their makeshift shelters again near the ruins of their destroyed homes.

Gaza’s Government Media Office has reiterated that there are not enough shelters for returning displaced families and has called for urgent, immediate assistance and more shelters.


Palestinians continue to return back to their homes after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, amid destruction in Beit Hanoon, Gaza on January 28



SvennoJ 1 day ago

Residents ordered to leave homes at gunpoint in West Bank’s Tulkarem: Ministry

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has given an update on the Israeli military raid in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, which is continuing for a second day.

According to the ministry, Israeli forces pushed families out of their homes at gunpoint in the Tulkarem refugee camp last night, while imposing a “tight siege” on the Martyr Dr Thabet Thabet Government Hospital.

In addition, Israeli forces blocked ambulances from “carrying out their duties” in the area, the statement issued on X said.

“These crimes and violations reflect the Israeli government’s systematic and deliberate replication of its crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, extending its brutal assaults to the West Bank in blatant violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions,” said the ministry.

It called on the international community to “act urgently” to protect Palestinians.


Israeli forces arrest 25 Palestinians in latest West Bank raids: Prisoners’ groups

The arrests took place across the governorates of Tulkarem, Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jerusalem governorates, according to the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).

The 25 detainees join at least 10,400 Palestinians currently in Israeli custody, with more than 3,300 detained without charge or trial, according to the groups’ joint statement.

While raiding the targeted Palestinians’ homes, Israeli forces also vandalised their property, delivered threats and carried out field interrogations, the statement said.


Released prisoners facing ‘systematic terrorism’ by Israel: Prisoners’ group

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society has released a statement on Israeli actions against recently released prisoners under the ceasefire agreement in Gaza:

  • Israeli forces practised “systematic terrorism” against the released prisoners and their families, including threats that reached the point of killings and arrests.
  • They also raided the homes of prisoners, causing sabotage in some cases.
  • They threatened to bomb places where well-wishers of the released prisoners gathered.
  • One released prisoner was detained while he was heading to receive treatment at a hospital. He was subjected to abuse during his detention.
  • This morning, Israeli forces summoned the released prisoner Ashwaq Awad to meet Israeli intelligence. In this context, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society expressed its fears that Israel could rearrest the released prisoners, especially under Military Order No (1651) of 2009, which allows this to happen even under exchange deals.
  • Israeli forces practised acts of abuse and severe beatings against many prisoners before their release.
  • The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society appealed to the mediators to seriously intervene to stop the systematic and organised terrorism practised against the released prisoners and their families.


Israeli forces tear down mosque in West Bank’s Jenin: Report

As we’ve been reporting, Israeli forces are continuing a violent raid in the city and the refugee camp of Jenin for the eighth straight day.

During the incursion, they demolished Hamza Mosque, located in the Jenin refugee camp, reports the Wafa news agency, citing local sources.

Israeli forces also stormed homes in the eastern part of the camp, while bulldozers kept wrecking infrastructure in the al-Hawashin and al-Alup neighbourhoods, said Wafa.

The Israeli military operation has so far killed 16 people and injured dozens across the governorate of Jenin.


Journalist among two people injured by Israeli gunfire in Tulkarem

Two Palestinians, including a journalist, have been injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank, according to medics and local media.

The official news agency Wafa said journalist Nagham al-Zayt sustained shrapnel wounds to her right hand while covering an Israeli military incursion in eastern Tulkarem city.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that a 20-year-old man was also injured in his face by Israeli fire in Tulkarem and was transferred to a hospital for treatment.

The Israeli army continued a military operation in the Tulkarem refugee camp for the second day in a row on Tuesday. They have killed at least two people, injured dozens and displaced hundreds of families since Monday.

The assault marks an expansion of a continuing military operation in the nearby Jenin refugee camp, where at least 16 people have been killed and 50 others injured since January 21.