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

SvennoJ on 09 March 2024

Rafah tower destruction raises fears of Israeli ground assault

People sheltering in a residential tower in Rafah that was blown up by Israel say they were given 30 minutes to flee, which caused mass panic with at least one pregnant woman falling down the stairs.

“People were startled, running down the stairs, some fell – it was chaos. People left their belongings and money,” said Mohammad al-Nabrees, one of the building’s 300 residents, after the building was destroyed. Among those who tripped down the stairs during the panicked evacuation was a friend’s pregnant wife, al-Nabrees said. The strike raised alarm among residents of a wider Israeli assault on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are sheltering.

Five months into Israel’s air and ground assault on Gaza, health authorities there say nearly 31,000 Palestinians have been killed and thousands of bodies are feared to be buried under rubble.


Palestinians walk away with items salvaged from the rubble of a residential building hit in an Israeli air strike in Rafah

Palestinian fighters defending against Israeli army across Gaza

The latest report by the Critical Threats Project shows how Palestinian fighters are defending against Israeli raids across the Gaza Strip, including in the north.

Fighting has raged in Beit Hanoon in the north where Israeli forces mounted a new effort over the past week to again try to clear the area of Palestinian fighters and locate military infrastructure months after the ground invasion began there.

Combat is also under way in eastern Jabalia where Palestinians have been firing mortars and rockets at Israeli forces. South of Gaza City, the Zeitoun neighbourhood has seen intense ground battles.

In Khan Younis in the south, a brigade of Israeli troops has been raiding the Hamad neighbourhood. Hamas and other Palestinian fighters, including those with the military wing of Fatah, are mounting the defence.

Mossad says truce talks still ongoing as Ramadan approaches

Efforts to secure a deal on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza are still ongoing, Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad says, despite dimming hopes for a truce during the holy month of Ramadan. “Contacts and cooperation with the mediators continue all the time in an effort to narrow the gaps and reach agreements,” a statement said. Egypt, the United States, and Qatar have been mediating truce negotiations since January.

Hamas blames Israel for the impasse in talks for a lasting truce and the release of 134 captives believed still held in Gaza, saying it refuses to give guarantees to end the war or pull its forces from the war-ravaged enclave. In a statement on Saturday marking Ramadan, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh pledged that Palestinians will continue to fight Israel “until they regain freedom and independence”.

Israel ramps up military presence ahead of Ramadan with truce unlikely

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari says the military is “strengthening” its forces and preparations before Ramadan as hopes for a truce before the start of the holy Muslim month appear to fade. “Hamas prevents an agreement and acts contrary to what was suggested by the mediators,” he was quoted as saying by the Times of Israel.

“By refusing an agreement, Hamas prevents a humanitarian ceasefire and continues to increase the suffering of the Gazan population,” Hagari added. Israeli outlet Ynet earlier reported the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, wrote to senior officials to call for additional security at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as the war on Gaza rages.



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SvennoJ on 09 March 2024

‘The war did not start with October 7’: UN rapporteur

The UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, says the war “did not start with the terrible day” of October 7.

Albanese said that she is soon releasing a report that shows how the latest assault on Gaza has only “intensified methods of warfare” used by Israel in its many other previous attacks and brought them to new and unprecedented levels.



More deflections and temper tantrums

Israeli ministers to join UNSC debate on sexual violence report

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Minister of Social Equality May Golan will head the Israeli delegation addressing the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Monday. Golan said she would “represent all Israeli women” in the emergency meeting, which was requested by France, the UK and US after a UN report said there were “reasonable grounds” that instances of sexual violence were committed during the October 7 Hamas attack.

Israel has blasted the UN for allegedly trying to “cover up” the report, which also cited established evidence of sexual violence committed by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The Times of Israel reports that Katz instructed Israel’s diplomats to launch a public relations offensive aimed at pressuring the UN to declare Hamas a “terrorist” organisation and scrutinise the findings of the UN report.


Israel slams Canada and Sweden decision to restore UNRWA funding

According to Lior Haiat, foreign ministry spokesman, the decision “is a serious mistake that constitutes tacit agreement and support by the governments of Canada and Sweden to continue to ignore the involvement of UNRWA employees in terrorist activity”. “The return to funding UNRWA will not change the fact the organisation is part of the problem and will not be part of the solution in the Gaza Strip,” added Haiat.

Israel alleges a dozen of the agency’s employees were involved in the October 7 attacks. UNRWA has fired nine of its employees preemptively as it investigates the allegations.


Israeli foreign minister blasts Turkey after Erdogan comments

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called Turkey “the biggest terrorist supporting country in the world next to Iran” after biting comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Katz said in a post on X its leader has become a “disgrace” to the republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Erdogan’s support for Hamas makes him “one of the greatest oppressors and anti-Semites in history”.

Erdogan earlier compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to authoritarian leaders such as Adolf Hitler, and said Turkey refuses to call Hamas a “terrorist” organisation.



SvennoJ on 09 March 2024

Deliberate killing of unarmed civilian: Video of Israeli soldier shooting elderly Palestinian




Scott Ritter shocking revelation: the harsh truth behind the Gaza disaster


 



SvennoJ on 09 March 2024

Biden says Netanyahu ‘hurting Israel’ with approach to Gaza war

US President Joe Biden has accused Benjamin Netanyahu of “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” in some of his most pointed criticism yet of the Israeli leader.

In an interview aired by MSNBC on Saturday, Biden said that while he supported Israel’s right to go after Hamas, Netanyahu should “pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken”. Addressing the mounting death toll in Gaza, Biden said that “it’s contrary to what Israel stands for. And I think it’s a big mistake”.

Biden also described a potential Israeli invasion of Rafah, where more than 1.3 million Palestinians are taking shelter, as “a red line”, although he said he would not “cut off all weapons so they don’t have the Iron Dome to protect them”.

While Biden has firmly backed Israel in its war in Gaza, relations between the US president and his Israeli counterpart have become increasingly strained over the latter’s handling of issues including civilian casualties and humanitarian aid.



Sadly in all likely hood at least another 30,000 will die from famine, disease, malnutrition, wound complications, lack of healthcare. Plus there are still over 8,000 people missing that are known of, likely trapped underneath the rubble. You are already far far too late Biden, no need to wait until the massacre in Rafah starts. Which has already started with daily bombings. 100 dead per day is fine?

The missiles for the Iron Dome are not the same as the bombs dropped on Gaza nor the shells from tanks, navy and artillery. Nor bullets and guns. Nothing wrong with keeping the Iron Dome operational. Defensive weapons fine, offensive, cut them off asap.



PR stunt in progress

US military sends ship to build ‘temporary pier’ in Gaza

The US Central Command says a US army ship carrying supplies to build a “temporary pier” in Gaza has departed from the United States. The ship left “less than 36 hours after President Biden announced the US would provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza by sea”.

Sigrid Kaag, the UN senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, has said air and sea deliveries will not make up for a shortage of supply routes on land.



The Chinese can probably build it in a week instead of months. However it won't make much difference without distribution on the ground

Major questions about sending aid by sea, former UN official

Ardi Imseis, a former UNRWA official, has questioned why the US is proposing sending humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea when Israel has six land crossings with Gaza it could use to deliver aid “at the scale needed”.

“As the occupying power, Israel has the sole obligation to provide humanitarian and relief supplies to the civilian population subject to its control in the Gaza Strip,” said the professor at Queens University, Canada. “It’s rather odd… that more pressure wouldn’t be brought to bear on Israel to provide sufficient humanitarian aid,” he said.

Imseis also said there were “major questions” about how aid would be distributed through the proposed maritime route. “Who is going to be on the other end to receive this aid?” he asked, adding that UNRWA – the embattled agency under attack by Israel – “is uniquely the only agency that is capable of logistically receiving and dispensing aid”.



Campaign group slams alleged Israeli torture of UNRWA staff

Gerald Staberock, the secretary general of the World Organisation Against Torture, has responded to allegations that Israel tortured some UNRWA staff and coerced them into making false confessions about the agency’s ties to Hamas. “Both torture and the use of any such information violates the UN Convention Against Torture,” Staberock said, in a post on social media.

Last week, UNRWA reported that “agency staff members have been subject to threats and coercion by the Israeli authorities while in detention, and pressured to make false statements against the agency”.

Canada and Sweden have since renewed funding for the UN agency, which is the largest provider of humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip.


Israeli soldiers kneel on rubble next to destroyed UN vehicles at the UNRWA compound in Gaza City on February 8



Another bloody day as Israel attacks Nuseirat, Deir el-Balah, Khan Younis

Here in Gaza, we’ve just witnessed another bloody day full of Israeli attacks in different areas of the Strip. Specifically, Israel has been targeting buildings full of evacuees and residents. The bloodiest was in Nuseirat refugee camp, with at least 13 killed.

We’ve been seeing very distressing images from the location. [An] entire house has been destroyed and there was extensive damage to the surrounding area. The vast majority of people killed were young children. One of the latest attacks targeted a house in Deir el-Balah. At least five were killed in that attack.

We also have reports of artillery shelling in Deir el-Balah and confrontations in eastern parts of Khan Younis as part of the ongoing military campaign. Initial reports indicate the Israeli military launched a barrage of air strikes on the Zeitoun neighbourhood and confrontations raging between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters there.

‘We were all civilians’: Survivor of deadly Nuseirat bombing

An elderly man who survived an Israeli attack on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp said all those in the building were women and children, except for him.

“To the Israelis, there is no safe zone all over the Gaza Strip. Not a single inch is safe. The Israelis are lying. We were told that from the Gaza Valley southwards is safe. We were forced to take shelter here. We are all civilians,” the man, who did not give his name, told Al Jazeera. “All those inside the house were women and children. I was the oldest and the only male among them. I repeat, all were women and children,” he said.

Some 21 displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the building. At least 13 of them were killed.



Embracing Ramadan in Rafah – Destroyed mosque turned into prayer space

Officials say more than 1000 mosques in Gaza have been destroyed since October 7. Despite the destruction, Palestinian Muslims are continuing to congregate, and practice their faith, as usual.

At al-Faruq mosque in Rafah, built in 1952 and destroyed in an Israeli raid last month, prayers continue in the rubble.



SvennoJ on 09 March 2024

Hundreds of thousands attend pro-Palestine rally in London

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has said that some 400,000 people attended their 10th national march for Palestine in central London.

The group also pushed back against the UK government’s counter-extremism commissioner who had said that pro-Palestine rallies turn London into a “no-go zone for Jews” during the weekend.

“13 different Jewish organisations were part of the National March for Palestine in London today, giving the lie to those who claim it is not a safe space,” PSC said in a post on X.


UK MP criticises media coverage of pro-Palestinian marches

UK MP Diane Abbot has criticised media coverage of pro-Palestinian protests after demonstrations in London on Saturday. “Yet another completely peaceful march calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Media and right-wing politicians need to stop denigrating these marchers,” Abbot, an independent MP, said in a post on X.

Abbot served as a Labour MP for more than three decades until she was stripped of the party whip last year over a newspaper letter she wrote arguing that Jewish people and other groups are not subject to racism “all their lives” like Black people are.

Arrests as Tel Aviv protests call for Netanyahu to step down

[I’m standing in front of] what’s known as Hostage Square. Family members of the captives started protesting here 22 weeks ago, saying they have one goal: to release the captives from Gaza.

There was also another much bigger protest in a place called Kaplan Square – the centre of the intelligence ministries and the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv. Protesters there were blocking highways and there were some arrests.

They are really calling for much stronger things and the rhetoric really shifted to anger. They want Netanyahu to step down. They want fresh elections to be held. They want to see some sort of ceasefire to take place in Gaza to release those captives and they want a political solution.

These protests have been led recently by what’s known as the Kaplan force. They are more centre-left, many of them are former soldiers, and they were involved in the judicial overhaul protests, which were seeing hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets last year.




Israeli forces spray water on antigovernment protests in Tel Aviv on Saturday night



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SvennoJ on 10 March 2024

Israeli settlers establish new illegal outpost in occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley: Report

A group of Israeli settlers has begun setting up an illegal outpost in Ein al-Sakout area in the northern Jordan Valley, northeast of the occupied West Bank. This is according to Mutaz Bisharat, a settlement affairs official in the Tubas governorate, cited by the Wafa news agency.

Situated along the Jordan River, Ein al-Sakout is a Palestinian village with some of the most fertile agricultural lands in the West Bank, the report said.


Gaza’s future must begin with freedom of movement: Israeli rights group

“The catastrophic situation [in Gaza] today must be understood within the context of Israel’s pre-October 7 policies, including vis-a-vis Palestinians’ freedom of movement between Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank,” says Gisha, a legal centre for freedom of movement.

“Even in ‘ordinary’ times, between its periodic military offensives in the [Gaza] Strip, Israel’s sweeping restrictions on the movement of people and goods have long undermined basic living conditions in Gaza and violated other human rights that depend on it – such as the rights to family life, education, medical treatment, and pursuing one’s livelihood,” it said.

Gisha said that five months into war in Gaza, it is important to remember that any “day after” plan must include access between Gaza, Israel, the West Bank, and the rest of the world.

“Going back to the status quo ante – a life of closures, separation, permits, and endless wars – is not an option,” it said.

Palestine cycling club stops trips over safety concerns

It has never been harder for Palestinians to move around the occupied West Bank. Increasing numbers of Israeli checkpoints and intense settler attacks make it safer just to stay at home. Simple activities like going for a hike or a bike ride are now almost impossible.


Israel to send in 15,000 extra soldiers to occupied West Bank

The Israeli army is deploying 24 battalions, 20 MGB companies and two special units in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as 5,000 reservists already stationed in the Palestinian territories, according to Israeli Army Radio.

A total of more than 15,000 soldiers will operate in the area, it added.


US NGO worker killed in Israeli attack

A Palestinian aid worker employed at a US charity has been killed in an Israeli attack on his shelter in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, according to the nongovernmental organisation. Anera – which helps refugees in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon – said Mousa Shawwa was killed on Friday despite “the fact the coordinates of his shelter had been provided for the purpose of protecting him on several occasions, including just days before the attack”.

US charity demands independent probe into staff member’s killing in Gaza

The American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera), a relief group, is calling for an investigation into the death of Mousa Shawwa, who was killed in Gaza by an Israeli air strike. Shawwa, the group’s logistics coordinator in Gaza, was the fifth American aid worker killed in Gaza.

“We demand an independent investigation into his death, which threatens our team’s ability to function safely and deliver aid to civilians facing starvation,” said Rebecca Abou-Chedid, a board member. Anera said it had shared coordinates with Israel for staff safety, “but this attack highlights the failure of deconfliction efforts”.

“Shawwa’s death threatens the ability of humanitarian staff to continue operations,” it said.



SvennoJ on 10 March 2024

Israeli drone footage documents sniping of a Palestinian boy

Al Jazeera has obtained photos of an Israeli drone that captured the moment soldiers sniped an unarmed Palestinian boy in the northern Gaza Strip. The incident took place during the forces’ incursion into the vicinity of Al Fakhoura School in Jabalia refugee camp last December.

The images were obtained from the camera of an Israeli drone that was later shot down in northern Gaza. The Israeli drone photographed the defenceless Palestinian boy covered in his blood after being sniped before taking close-up pictures of him.

Palestinian killed by Israeli soldier identified as elderly deaf man

Footage obtained by Al Jazeera from an Israeli soldier’s bodycam showed other soldiers congratulating him on killing a defenceless Palestinian man in Gaza City on November 6. “I killed him with four bullets,” the soldier said, adding that the man was hiding next to a bed. “Excellent,” another soldier replied. “All respect.”

The man was identified as Atta Ibrahim al-Muqaid, a 73-year-old deaf man. “He was deaf. So is a world that fails to hear the outcry for justice, ceasefire, and an end to Israel’s occupation,” Laith Arafeh, the Palestinian ambassador to Germany, said on X.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital receives victims of Israeli attacks on Deir el-Balah


A man injured in an Israeli attack is being brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah


Injured children are seen in shock at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah


Deir el-Balah hospital appeals for medical supplies

Khalil al-Dakran, the spokesman of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, has urged the international community to bring in medicines and fuel. Here is what he said to Al Jazeera:

- More than 37 bodies and 118 wounded have arrived during the past hours.
- We cannot receive such injuries due to the lack of space and medical supplies.
- The bombing of the central governorate and al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis has continued since yesterday.
- Most of the hospitals nearby are out of service.
- We provide mediocre healthcare for the wounded and there are not enough operating rooms.
- We appeal to the international community to send medical supplies and fuel.


Offices of a children’s charity destroyed in Gaza

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) said its last remaining office in Gaza has been destroyed in an Israeli attack.

In a post on X, the group shared pictures of a building reduced to rubble and said it was thankful that “no one was killed or severely injured during these bombings”. The PCRF, founded in 1991 by humanitarians in the US, said it provides medical care to injured and ill children who lack access to care within the local medical system.


Gaza death toll crosses 31,000

At least 31,045 people have been killed in Gaza and 72,654 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7, Gaza’s Health Ministry says. About 72 percent of the victims are children and women, the ministry said.

“In the past 24 hours, the Israeli occupation committed eight massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, resulting in 85 martyrs and 130 injuries,” it said in a post on its Telegram page.

The death toll includes the 25 Palestinians who died from malnutrition and dehydration.



SvennoJ on 10 March 2024

Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemns international community’s inability to protect civilians

The ministry has described the international failure to protect Palestinians during Ramadan as “an assassination of humanity”.

In a statement posted on X, it said more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip will experience the Muslim holy month of Ramadan with barely any food or access to clean water, as well as the continuing escalation of Israel’s aggression on the coastal enclave.

“The failure of the Security Council to implement Resolution 2720 and its inability to guarantee the entry of humanitarian and medical aid on a constant basis to civilians in the Gaza Strip has no justification,” the statement said.


Gaza municipal official: Israel destroyed 1 million square metres of roads in Gaza

Asem al-Nabeh, a member of the Gaza Municipality’s emergency committee, told Al Jazeera that Israel has destroyed one million square metres of roads in Gaza City. “Municipalities need machinery, heavy equipment and fuel,” he said, adding that the city has accumulated 70,000 tonnes of waste.

Nabih also said that while food aid that has arrived is important, it does not meet the needs of citizens. Groundwater reserves in Gaza are also in danger, he added. “The per capita share of water in the Gaza municipality is now two litres per day,” he said.

Gaza municipality calls on international groups to provide essential aid

The Municipality of Gaza has sent out an urgent appeal to international organisations ahead of the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. “Essential services like water, sanitation, and waste management are severely affected,” the municipality said in a post on X.

It called for international aid in supplying fuel and electricity for water wells and providing heavy machinery for infrastructure repair and waste management.


Gaza’s civil defence decries tactic of airdropping aid

A spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defence has criticised the move by several countries to airdrop aid over people in the Gaza Strip, saying it has caused casualties instead. “The method of using the dropping of aid via international relief planes has not limited the famine crisis suffered by our people in the Gaza Strip, but has increased the number of victims looking for a living,” Mahmoud Basal said in a statement.

“The continuation of this method of providing relief to citizens has caused a number of victims and injuries among citizens.

“Therefore, we affirm the need to search for radical solutions to prove the futility of this method in providing relief to citizens suffering from famine in the Gaza Strip, and we stress the need to work to enter this aid through the ports of the Gaza Strip and deliver it in a safe manner to all besieged citizens to avoid further victims.”

A senior UN aid official warned that at least 576,000 people across the Gaza Strip – one-quarter of the population – faced catastrophic levels of food insecurity and one in six children under the age of two in the north were suffering from acute malnutrition.


United States Air Force drops humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Saturday

Protests under way as Israel’s Herzog visits Amsterdam

Israeli President Herzog is attending the opening of the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam amid pro-Palestinian protests demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

Protesters were chanting “Never again is now” and “Ceasefire now” at a square close to the museum holding Palestinian flags and signs that said “Jews against genocide” and “The grandchild of a holocaust survivor says: Stop Gaza Holocaust”.

Amnesty International put up detour signs around the museum to direct Herzog to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander is set to meet Herzog today.


Demonstrators protest against Israel’s President Isaac Herzog attending the opening of the new National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Sunday


‘Genocide Joe’: Activist disrupts Biden speech in Georgia

A pro-Palestine activist has interrupted Joe Biden as he was delivering a campaign speech in Atlanta in the southern state of Georgia.

“You’re a dictator, genocide Joe,” the activist could be heard shouting in videos of the incident posted online. “Tens of thousands of Palestinians are dead. Children are dying.”

Local media said the protester was dragged away by Secret Service personnel. Afterwards, Biden said he did not “resent” the protester’s “passion”. The US leader added that “there’s a lot of Palestinians who are being unfairly victimised”.



SvennoJ on 10 March 2024

What’s happening at the Israel-Lebanon border?

Tensions over the Israeli-Lebanese have intensified since Saturday. Here is what is happening:

- Israel’s military says it targeted a housing of Hezbollah members in Khirbet Selm in southern Lebanon.
- Hezbollah confirms three of its members were killed in that attack.
- Israeli army says its jets struck a “Hezbollah infrastructure” in the village of Aita al-Shaab late on Saturday.
- Israel’s jets also reportedly bombed an antitank missile launch site in the village of Maroun al-Ras.
- Hezbollah fires dozens of missiles on the Meron area in northern Israel on Sunday morning.
- Israel says some of the rockets were downed by its defence systems, while reports say others fell on empty areas.
- Both sides report an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon’s al-Habbariyeh at Sunday noon, with Lebanon’s media reporting that it hit a caravan.

Palestinians fear Israeli violence in Jerusalem during Ramadan

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/10/palestinians-fear-israeli-violence-in-jerusalem-during-ramadan

Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem are in no mood to celebrate the beginning of Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting.

Many are just praying for a ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 31,000 people have been killed by Israel in retaliation for a deadly attack on Israeli civilians and military outposts by the Qassam Brigades and other Palestinian armed fighters on October 7.

Others fear that Israeli authorities and far-right settlers will attack Palestinians during the holy month as part of a broader campaign of collective punishment, as has happened before.

“I’m really worried about possible provocation,” said Munir Nuseibah, a Palestinian human rights lawyer who lives in East Jerusalem. “We learned from the past that the more there is a police presence and police intervention in East Jerusalem during Ramadan, the more we will see [violent] confrontations.”

Voices of Gaza – Surviving on handouts

As the situation in Gaza becomes more dire and desperate, a grandfather in Rafah, who has been striving to provide for his starving family, tells his story.

Palestinians prepare for Ramadan amid Israeli attacks


Palestinian artist Ayman al-Husari draws calligraphy on the tent of displaced people along a street in Rafah


Palestinians shop at stalls set up in a street in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday, as Muslims prepare for the holy fasting month of Ramadan


Palestinian artist Basil al-Maqousi draws calligraphy on the tent of displaced people along a street in Rafa



SvennoJ on 10 March 2024

More provocations

Israeli forces block entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

Israeli forces prevented a large number of Palestinian worshipers from entering the compound in occupied East Jerusalem for Taraweeh prayers on the eve of Ramadan, local media reports.

In a video verified by Al Jazeera, Israeli forces can be seen shoving a young man as he tries to enter the compound.

5,479 students killed in Israel’s war on Gaza: Official

According to Sadeq al-Khadour, a spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Education, 52 students have been killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7, and another 10,000 students and faculty were wounded in the besieged coastal enclave. “More than 261 faculty have been killed since the war began,” he tells Al Jazeera. “Almost 286 out of 307 government school buildings sustained some damage.”

“We must remember that 620,000 students in the Gaza Strip have been out of school since October 7, including 320,000 in government facilities and 300,000 in UNRWA and private schools.”

In one of the most infamous examples of Israel’s attacks on Palestinian educational institutions, footage showed the complete demolition of a Gaza university:


Hamas outlines requirements for truce negotiations

Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’s political bureau, is currently delivering an address on Hamas’s positon in negations for a truce in the Gaza war. He says the group’s requirements include securing a ceasefire, which is something Israel has not agreed to adhere to.

“Just hours before my speech, I reached out to the interlocutors and I did not receive any confirmation that the occupation will halt the war,” he says. “The occupation did not commit to having people return to the areas they were pushed out of,” he adds.

The Hamas official, in his ongoing speech, says that the group has showed great responsibility, positivity and flexibility in the negotiation process under the auspices of Qatar and Egypt. “If Israel adheres to a ceasefire and allows people to return to the areas they were forced to flee from, we will demonstrate flexibility in the issue of the captives,” he says.

“The Israeli enemy is responsible for not reaching an agreement, and we are open to reaching an agreement that secures the regulations we have stipulated.” Israel will not retrieve any of its captives without an agreement, Haniyeh adds.


Two-state solution still viable: Fatah

According to Dalal Salameh, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee, the Palestinian leadership (which includes the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Liberation Organization and Fatah) insists that any political solution to the wider conflict must first ensure a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, as well as a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the besieged coastal enclave.

“All Israeli violations in the West Bank and East Jerusalem must also cease, and a political framework that leads to an end to the occupation must be reached,” she tells Al Jazeera. “This framework must be based on a two-state solution, and this requires coordinating with Arab and regional powers as well as the international community, including the US and the European Union.”

Netanyahu rejects Biden, US policy on Gaza, says most Israelis support him

The Israeli prime minister has fired back at US President Joe Biden’s comments that he is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” through his Gaza policies. He emphasised during an interview with US outlet Politico that criticism from the US president is “wrong” and “false”.

“These are policies supported by the overwhelming majority of the Israelis,” Netanyahu said. “They support the action that we’re taking to support the remaining terrorist battalions of Hamas.” He also said “the last thing” Israel should do is allow the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza after the war, and that “we should resoundingly reject the attempt to ram down our throats a Palestinian state”.

“The majority of Israelis understand that if we don’t do this, what we will have is a repetition of the October 7 massacre, which is bad for Israel, bad for the Palestinians, and bad for the future of peace in the Middle East.”




‘A moral stain that will stay with us for generations’: Israeli rights group

Physicians for Human Rights Israel says that the state of near-famine in Gaza is a result of Israel’s policies. “According to the International Criminal Court, starvation is considered a war crime. Israel must immediately stop all forms of carnage in the Gaza Strip and stop limiting life-saving humanitarian aid. This is a moral stain that will stay with us for generations,” the group says.

In a statement, the Jaffa-based non-profit says that aid airdrops are not sufficient, as Palestinian families resort to animal feed for nourishment or skip meals, leading to acute malnutrition among a large section of the population in the besieged coastal enclave.

The group also refutes Israeli claims that food is entering the Strip in pre-war amounts, “since there is no local production due to the destruction of crops and local bakeries, so the need is much higher”.

Ramadan comes as extreme hunger spreads in Gaza: UNRWA chief

Philippe Lazzarini, who heads the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, says Ramadan is here as “displacement continues, and fear and anxiety prevail amid threats of a military operation on Rafah”, in Gaza’s southernmost point.

“This month should bring a ceasefire for those who have suffered the most. They need respite and peace of mind. It’s long over due,” he says.