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Forums - Politics - Israel-Hamas war, Gaza genocide

SvennoJ on 23 February 2025

Israeli minister demands release of captives featured in Hamas video before deal progresses

“Israel must demand the release of the two abductees who appeared in yesterday’s Qassam video in exchange for the release of a batch of Palestinian prisoners”, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen says on X.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, released a video yesterday showing two Israeli captives, who were not released, during the ceremony for the release of six others. They are heard to be making disparaging remarks about the Israeli government in the video.

Israel then postponed the release of over 600 Palestinian prisoners, due to be freed as per the terms of the Gaza ceasefire deal.


Netanyahu ‘openly violating’ ceasefire: Israel’s Golan

Yair Golan, the leader of the Democrats in Israel, says his party has been warning that the Israeli prime minister would torpedo the Gaza ceasefire.

“Netanyahu ordered the delay in the release of the terrorists, openly violating the deal and blowing up Phase A,” he said in a post on X in reference to more than 600 Palestinian prisoners that Israel was obligated to release as part of the deal, including many women and girls taken from Gaza.

“There are no real negotiations on Phase B, just spin and the neglect of the hostages’ lives.”

Golan also issued a threat favoured by US President Donald Trump in recent weeks, warning Netanyahu that if he thwarts the deal, “the gates of hell will open.”


Israel ‘psychologically manipulating’ Palestinian prisoners and families: Monitor

The Palestinian Prisoners Media Office says the Israeli refusal to release more than 600 prisoners is an effort to play with the feelings of the detainees and their families “in a blatant violation of all human values and norms”.

“This behaviour once again reveals the reality of the occupation that does not respect covenants and agreements, as it left the families waiting for long hours in the rain hoping to meet their released prisoners, only to be surprised by the unjust postponement decision, which increases their suffering and exacerbates the injustice inflicted upon them,” it said in a statement.

“This inhumane act requires a firm stance from mediators and the international community to compel the occupation to implement its obligations without procrastination or delay.”



Israeli Supreme Court gives government 90 more days on October 7 inquiry

The High Court of Justice has agreed to give the government 90 more days before having to revisit a decision to postpone a state inquiry into the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023.

Netanyahu’s government created an uproar this month when it pushed for another deferral of the inquiry, based on arguments that Israel cannot engage in such an effort during ongoing conflicts and that there might be bias against the government.

Opposition factions have heavily criticised the far-right government, accusing it of shirking its responsibility and harming the state.



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SvennoJ on 23 February 2025

Israeli tanks to enter Jenin: Army

A tank division will operate in the northern occupied West Bank governorate, according to a military statement, as intense confrontations continue between troops and Palestinian fighters there.

Separately, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Authority said tanks are on their way to enter Jenin, sharing on X a purported photograph of the tanks en route.

It is the first time tanks will be used in the West Bank since Israel’s so-called “Operation Defensive Shield” in 2002.


Israeli soldiers arrest Palestinians in West Bank amid settler attacks

As the Israeli military prepares to significantly escalate its attacks on Jenin using a tank division, army and settler attacks are ongoing across the occupied West Bank.

Here are some of the latest updates from this morning by the official Palestinian Wafa news agency:

  • At least eight people were arrested during Israeli raids across the Nablus governorate since dawn.
  • Two Palestinians were arrested during an incursion on Beit Hanina, north of occupied East Jerusalem.
  • Occupation forces stormed Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem, raiding and ransacking homes.
  • Israeli bulldozers destroyed electricity and water lines in the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin.
  • Soldiers again set up a military checkpoint at the entrance to the town of Issawiya, northeast of East Jerusalem.
  • Israeli settlers released their livestock on Palestinian crops in the northern Jordan Valley.


40,000 Palestinians leave northern West Bank camps: Katz

The Israeli defence minister says he has ordered the army to stay in the occupied West Bank refugee camps for the next year.

In a statement quoted by the Israeli media, Katz said: “40,000 Palestinians have so far evacuated from the Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, and are now empty of residents. UNRWA activity in the camps has also been stopped.” He referred to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which Israel has banned.

“We will not return to the reality that was in the past. We will continue to clear refugee camps,” the minister said.

The Israeli army has been carrying out a large operation in the northern West Bank. It announced that Israeli tanks will be used in the Jenin operation – for the first time in the West Bank since 2002.



SvennoJ on 23 February 2025

Israeli forces impose curfew on Qabatiya amid Jenin-area attacks

Israeli forces have imposed a curfew on the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

The governor of Jenin said in a statement that a 48-hour curfew was announced starting this morning as the Israeli military deployed tanks to Jenin, according to the Wafa news agency.

Israeli soldiers have been destroying infrastructure in Qabatiya with bulldozers since dawn, also damaging Palestinian shops and vehicles.

The Israeli army has also been raiding towns around Jenin, including Silat al-Harithiya. Local online Palestinian platforms have broadcast scenes of Israeli tanks around the city of Jenin. Other scenes show the Israeli occupation pushing military reinforcements towards the towns of al-Yamoun and Silat al-Harithiya.


Israeli military says 26 arrested in occupied West Bank

The Israeli military reports that its soldiers arrested 26 “terrorists” on Saturday during incursions across the occupied West Bank. It said the army, Shin Bet and police forces also conducted field interrogations and confiscated three weapons, showing a rifle and two pistols.

The military confirmed more attacks in Jenin and nearby Qabatiya, Tulkarem and its Nur Shams refugee camp, and Nablus.


Israeli settlers burn Palestinian property in occupied East Jerusalem

Settlers have attacked a Palestinian Bedouin community and set fire to its members’ property in Jaba.

A rights group says Israel’s army and illegal settlers have launched nearly 3,000 attacks on the Bedouin community in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2024.


Israel pursuing demographic shift in West Bank to solidify Jewish dominance

Israel’s goal is to change the demography and geography of the occupied West Bank following the same strategy it pursued in previous wars, says Menachem Klein, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University.

“If we look at history in 1948 and 1967, immediately after the war Israel tried to change Palestinian demography to seize maximum territory – it’s doing the same now,” Klein told Al Jazeera. “There is a war and Israel tries to gain some demographic and geographic achievements to further base Jewish supremacy in the region.”

In the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948, Israeli forces expelled at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and land and captured 78 percent of historic Palestine.

And during the 1967 conflict, Israel absorbed the whole of historical Palestine, as well as additional territory from Egypt and Syria. By the end of the war, Israel had expelled another 300,000 Palestinians from their homes.

Which is called Ethnic Cleansing, been going on since 1948.



SvennoJ on 23 February 2025

New ‘Nakba’ fears grow as Israel ramps up occupied West Bank assault

Journalists based in the northern occupied West Bank report seeing several tanks move into Jenin, long a bastion of armed struggle against Israel.

The camps are home to descendants of Palestinians who fled or were forced to flee during wars with Israel decades ago. It was not clear how long an estimated 40,000 Palestinians would be prevented from returning.

The West Bank, seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, is seen by Palestinians as the core of a future Palestinian state, along with Gaza, but there have been increasingly open calls by Israeli hardliners for its annexation.

US President Donald Trump, who stunned the region with a call for Palestinians to be moved out of Gaza to make way for a US development project, has not yet said whether he would support full annexation.

However, his call in Gaza has already awakened fears among Palestinians of a second “Nakba”, or catastrophe, the name given to the loss of many of their lands in the 1948 war.

‘Dangerous Israeli escalation will not lead to stability’

Israeli tanks rolled into the occupied West Bank for the first time in more than 20 years as the government ordered the military to prepare for an “extended stay”.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the decision to deploy tanks in the northern West Bank. “This is a dangerous Israeli escalation that will not lead to stability or calm,” said Abu Rudeineh.

While Israeli troops have been constantly active in the occupied West Bank, the use of heavy tanks in addition to armoured personnel carriers underscores how intensely the military is trying to pressure armed groups.


Jordan and Arab League urge action to prevent further West Bank unrest

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and the Arab League’s Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit stressed the need to prevent further deterioration of the situation in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.

During a meeting in the Jordanian capital Amman, the two leaders discussed the need to strengthen the fragile Gaza ceasefire to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. They also opposed the displacement of Palestinians and expressed support for Egypt’s reconstruction plan for Gaza.

The meeting in Jordan comes after Arab leaders met in Saudi Arabia on Friday to discuss a counter-proposal to President Donald Trump’s controversial “plan” for the US to take over the Strip, displace its residents, and rebuild the territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

Under discussion is a plan drafted by Egypt that is to be presented in Cairo on March 4 at an emergency summit of the Arab League.


Israeli forces attack funeral in occupied West Bank

The Wafa news agency reports that Israeli troops attacked mourners attending the funeral of a Palestinian man in the town of al-Issawiya near occupied East Jerusalem.

Nael Obeid, 46, was released last week as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. He spent 21 years in detention and died on Saturday after falling from the roof of his house, the news report said.

Israeli soldiers stormed the town and fired tear gas at the cemetery and nearby streets during the funeral.

The attack took place as Israeli forces stepped up raids and mass detentions across the occupied West Bank. On Sunday, Israeli tanks rolled into Jenin for the first time in more than 20 years as the government ordered the military to prepare for an “extended stay”.



SvennoJ on 23 February 2025

Outgoing Israeli army chief criticises ‘galloping’ into war

Outgoing Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi appeared to offer veiled criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying rushing into combat without goals doesn’t work.

“The way to bring about achievements, especially in a war, is not to gallop like unbridled horses, rushing forward without discernment and without a precise goal,” Halevi said in remarks carried out by Israeli media.

“Anyone who thinks the sole purpose of a combat commander is to gallop forward will have to bear the consequences and be responsible for the consequences.”

In the past, the army’s chief reportedly criticised Netanyahu for lacking a strategy for post-war Gaza. He was also the most senior Israeli official to resign over the security breakdown that paved the way to the Hamas-led October 7 attack.


‘Why didn’t you save them?’

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu faced new criticism over the war on Gaza while speaking at a military graduation.

As he held up a picture of captives Shiri Bibas and her young boys, Ariel and Kfir, whose remains were returned from Gaza last week, to demonstrate “what we are fighting against”, audience members called out, “Shame!” and “Why didn’t you save them?”

The prime minister didn’t react.

Funeral procession to be held for Israeli captive family

Israeli captive Shiri Bibas and her two sons Ariel and Kfir will be laid to rest on Wednesday, said their family, urging the public to line the procession route.

A family statement said the funeral would “only be for members of the family and close friends”, but it wanted to let “whoever wishes to pay their respects and be a part of this moment to do so”.

“The route of the funeral procession will be published in order to enable anyone who wishes to do so to accompany our loved ones on their final journey,” it said.

The family expressed gratitude for the support it has received from the public. “The warm embrace, the love and the strength that you have sent us from all over Israel and the world strengthen us and accompany us during these moments of crisis,” it said.


Portraits of Israeli captives Shiri Bibas, centre, and her two children Ariel, left, and Kfir, right



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SvennoJ on 23 February 2025

Hamas calls on US mediators to compel Israel to act on Gaza truce

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim says Israel postponing the release of 620 Palestinian prisoners exposes “the entire agreement to grave danger”.

Naim called on the truce mediators, “especially the Americans”, to pressure Israel “to implement the agreement as it is and immediately release our prisoners”.

Hamas on Saturday freed six captives from Gaza but Israel failed to reciprocate on the truce deal. Both sides have accused each other of violations during the ceasefire but it has so far held.



Hamas official says no more talks until 620 Palestinians freed

A senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Mardawi, says the Palestinian group will not engage in further discussions with Israel through mediators until Israel releases the 620 Palestinian prisoners supposed to be freed on Saturday.

Israel said it’s delaying the release until it gets assurances that Hamas stops what Israel calls “humiliating” handovers of captives in staged ceremonies.

Palestinian family members who waited all day and night were distraught. “What have the prisoners done? We don’t know what happened. They killed our joy,” said one mother, Najah Zaqqot.



Israeli army says it increased ‘military readiness’ around Gaza

A brief statement comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is ready to resume fighting “at any moment” in the Gaza Strip as a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel hangs by a thread.

“Following a situational assessment, it was decided to increase the operational readiness in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip,” the army statement said.


Egypt, Qatar talking to Israel to release Palestinian prisoners

Egypt and Qatar are reportedly pressing Israel to release the 620 Palestinian prisoners it promised to after Hamas released six captives from Gaza, a news report says.

Egypt refused to discuss any Israeli demands before then, an unnamed Egyptian official involved in the talks told The Associated Press.

Palestinian families are devastated after the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office postponed the release of the Palestinian prisoners, accusing Hamas of “provocative ceremonies” with “rituals of humiliation”.

Hamas says the delay is a “blatant breach” of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 23 February 2025

SvennoJ on 23 February 2025

Syrian forces won’t be allowed south of Damascus: Netanyahu

Forces of the newly established Syrian army will not be allowed to move into territory south of the capital Damascus, the Israeli prime minister says.

Israeli soldiers will remain on Mount Hermon and in a buffer zone in the occupied Golan Heights for “an unlimited period of time”, PM Benjamin Netanyahu added. He also demanded the “full demilitarisation of southern Syria from troops of the new Syrian regime”.

Israel and Syria struck a ceasefire agreement in 1974 that determined the Golan Heights would be a demilitarised buffer zone. But shortly after the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Israeli military moved into the buffer zone.

Israeli forces established two posts on Mount Hermon and seven others in the buffer zone, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said.

 

Syria leader invited to Arab League summit on Gaza

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa received an invitation to attend an Egyptian-hosted Arab League meeting on Gaza on March 4 in Cairo.

“The president of the Syrian Arab Republic, Mr Ahmed al-Sharaa, received an official invitation from the president of the Arab Republic of Egypt… to participate in the extraordinary Arab League summit,” Syria’s presidency said in a statement.

The meeting was called in response to a widely criticised Gaza takeover plan by US President Donald Trump.

Al-Sharaa has called Trump’s plan “a very huge crime that cannot happen”.

 

‘Unacceptable’: Turkiye’s leader denounces Gaza displacement plan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his French counterpart the plan by US President Donald Trump to relocate Palestinians to Egypt, Jordan, or any other third country is completely “unacceptable”.

Erdogan reiterated the rejection of the plan to displace Palestinians during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, said the country’s communications directorate.

On Friday, the leaders of seven Arab countries held talks in Saudi Arabia to respond to a plan raised by Trump for the United States to “take over” Gaza, permanently forcibly displace its residents, and turn the Palestinian enclave into the “Riviera” of the Middle East.



SvennoJ on 23 February 2025

Hezbollah chief’s funeral crowd estimated at 450,000

Hundreds of thousands of people packed into a stadium in Beirut and nearby streets for the funeral of Hezbollah’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli air strike.

Hezbollah called on its supporters to attend the funeral in large numbers in what appears to be a move to show it remains powerful – even after suffering significant setbacks in a 14-month war with Israel.

One Lebanese official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the crowd size was 450,000 people.

“This massive crowd confirms that Hezbollah is still the most popular party at the Lebanese level, and as a result, all the talk that Hezbollah is weak or degraded is out of place,” said Ali Fayyad, a lawmaker with the group’s political wing.

Sahar al-Attar, a mourner who travelled from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley for the funeral, said, “We would have come even under bullets” to attend Nasrallah’s burial.




Hezbollah chief vows ‘resistance is not over’

Hezbollah’s leader said “resistance” is not over as hundreds of thousands mourned slain chief Hassan Nasrallah at a Beirut funeral, demonstrating continued support for the Lebanese group after a devastating war with Israel.

In a televised address at the ceremony, Nasrallah’s successor Naim Qassem said Hezbollah would keep following his “path”, and rejected any control by the “tyrant America” over Lebanon.

“The resistance is not over, the resistance is still present and ready” to face Israel, he said.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed “resistance” against Israel. He praised Nasrallah as “a great mujahid [fighter] and prominent leader”.


Naim Qassem speaks at a rally supporting Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023



SvennoJ on 23 February 2025

‘Mediators must ensure the enemy adheres to the terms’

Talks with Israel through mediators on further steps in the Gaza ceasefire agreement are conditional on 620 Palestinian prisoners being released as agreed, Hamas official Basem Naim says.

“Any talks with the enemy through mediators regarding any upcoming steps are conditional on the release of the 620 Palestinian prisoners agreed upon in exchange for the four bodies and the six Israeli captives who were freed on Saturday,” said Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau.

“The mediators must ensure the enemy adheres to the terms of the agreement as stated in the agreed-upon text.”

Naim’s comments come after Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi also said negotiations with Israel were frozen until the prisoners were freed.


Israel accused of ‘state terrorism’ after failing to free prisoners

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says Israel is practising “state terrorism against the prisoners and their families” after it refused to follow its Gaza ceasefire obligations and free 620 inmates.

Ghasan Washahi, whose brother Islam was set to be released on Saturday, said his family was disappointed with the delay.

“Every time there was a list of prisoners set to be released, we would wait, hoping Islam’s name would be among them, but it was never there,” he said. “My mother even started losing hope he would be freed in the deal. And when his name finally appeared, Israel halted the deal.”

 

White House backs Israel’s decision to delay releasing Palestinian prisoners

The White House says it supports Israel’s decision to delay releasing 620 Palestinian prisoners, citing the “barbaric treatment” of Israeli captives by Hamas.

Delaying the prisoner release is an “appropriate response”, a statement from National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said.

President Donald Trump is prepared to support Israel in “whatever course of action it chooses regarding Hamas”, he added.

The remarks came as the Gaza truce talks look increasingly precarious as Hamas announced earlier it shut down negotiations until the Palestinian prisoners are released as promised.

Ukraine beware, do not enter any agreement with the US as 'guarantor'. The US can not be trusted.





SvennoJ on 23 February 2025

Main events on February 23rd

  • Senior Hamas leaders Basem Naim and Mahmoud Mardawi have said the group will not engage in ceasefire discussions until Israel releases 620 Palestinian prisoners who were supposed to be freed on Saturday.
  • Egypt and Qatar are pressing Israel to release the prisoners, The Associated Press reports, as the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society accused Israel of practising “state terrorism against the prisoners and their families”.
  • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered Israeli forces to increase “operational readiness”, saying they are ready to resume fighting “at any moment”, as the Gaza ceasefire hangs by a thread.
  • Israeli tanks rolled into the occupied West Bank for the first time in more than two decades, as the government ordered its forces to prepare for an “extended stay”.
  • Hundreds of thousands of people attended the Beirut funeral of Hezbollah’s former leader, Hassan Nasrallah – killed in an Israeli air strike in September – as his successor, Naim Qassem, pledged that the “resistance” is not over.
  • Israel has warned it will not allow the new Syrian government’s military to operate south of Damascus, as interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa received an invitation to attend the Egypt-led Arab summit on Gaza’s reconstruction on March 4.

 

Palestinian rights group calls for international intervention as Israeli tanks patrol West Bank

Ramallah-based rights organisation, Al-Haq, has said the presence of armoured Israeli tanks shows that Israel’s “brutal military onslaught on the northern West Bank” is escalating.

In a statement appealing for “urgent international intervention”, Al-Haq said 40,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes in the occupied West Bank since the ceasefire in Gaza came into force.

“Israel’s escalated attacks on the West Bank are part of its settler colonial intentions to annex de jure the territory,” Al-Haq warned.

It added that an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in July means “governments have obligations to ensure that Israel brings the illegal occupation to an immediate end”.



Israeli military carries out raids across West Bank amid heightened tensions

As we have been reporting, the Israeli military has sent tanks into the occupied West Bank for the first time in more than two decades, with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government ordering forces to prepare for an “extended stay”.

Amid this escalation, several Israeli military raids have been reported across the Palestinian territory over recent hours, with operations taking place in the following locations:

  • The city of Hebron
  • The Nur Shams camp, east of Tulkarem
  • The Beitunia neighbourhood in the city of Ramallah
  • The towns of Kobar and Silwad, north Ramallah
  • The town of Silat al-Harithiya, west of Jenin, where Palestinian fighters have detonated explosive devices targeting Israeli military vehicles
  • The city of Qabatiya, south of Jenin, where Israeli forces are destroying infrastructure



Palestinian rights group shares report detailing abuse in Israeli prison camp

Addameer has released a report detailing “alarming conditions” for Palestinians being held in Israel’s Ofer camp, located next to Israel’s Ofer prison and military court near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

The report from the Jerusalem-based prisoner rights group is based on information gathered from lawyers’ visits and interviews with 373 prisoners who recounted experiencing conditions including starvation, low-quality food, poor hygiene, solitary confinement, assaults and beatings.

“The food is not only of poor quality but also insufficient in quantity. We often find spit from the soldiers mixed in, and at times there are boot prints on the cucumbers provided to us, yet we are compelled to eat it,” one unnamed prisoner is quoted as saying in the report.

The report also said, in addition to not being allowed visits from their families, a number of prisoners described being forced to wait in a cage for up to seven hours on the days they were permitted visits from their lawyers.

“The situation is challenging during the visit, as we are required to lie face down the entire time while waiting, with our hands shackled behind us and our eyes covered,” one prisoner said.