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

SvennoJ on 11 March 2024

No restrictions? Fascist state does as fascists states do.

Israel issues restrictions on West Bank Palestinians entering Al-Aqsa Mosque

Israeli authorities will be restricting West Bank Palestinians from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque by only allowing people of a certain age to enter the compound during Ramadan, says Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) office.

Only men over 55, women over 50 and children under the age of 10 will be allowed in.

All Muslim worshippers have to have an Israeli-issued permit to enter occupied East Jerusalem and a special ID called a magnetic card, while their entry will be subject to the “security situation”.

Malaysian PM Ibrahim defends Hamas ties on Germany trip

Speaking at a press conference alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, Anwar Ibrahim was repeatedly asked about Malaysia’s longstanding ties to Hamas and stance on the war.

He stressed that Malaysia’s links were with Hamas’s political wing, adding: “I make no apologies about it. “We do not have any connection with any military outfit or wing, I’ve clarified this to many of my European colleagues [and] the United States.”

He urged people to “understand the fundamental root cause of the problem” that triggered the conflict. “What I reject strongly is this narrative, this obsession, as if the entire problem begins and ends with the 7th of October,” he said. There have been decades of “atrocities, plunder and dispossession of Palestinians,” he added.

Meanwhile, Scholz reiterated Germany’s position that “Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas’s terror attack”. He also stressed that Berlin “wants more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, we want the hostages to be released unconditionally, we want there to be no unnecessary casualties.”

The chancellor also called for efforts to foster long-term peace and a two-state solution.






Israel says 169 packages airdropped over northern Gaza today

Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) says the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, France, Belgium and the US airdropped 169 humanitarian aid packages over northern Gaza today. It did not say how much aid the packages contained or what was in them.

It also claimed that Israeli forces “inspected and transferred to Gaza” a total of 149 aid trucks on Monday.


Gaza Health Ministry says 2,000 medical staff in northern Gaza need food

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has renewed its call for humanitarian aid for more than 2,000 medical personnel in northern Gaza who are facing famine like many other residents of the besieged enclave. They “did not find anything to break their fast with on the first day of Ramadan”, it said.

“We call on international and relief institutions to quickly provide food to hospitals in northern Gaza.”

WHO team reaches al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reports that a team with the UN organisation has managed to reach the al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza. He said in a post on X that they delivered food, 24,050 litres of fuel, and medical supplies for 42,000 patients.

“The hospital continues to be minimally functional, with an urgent need for specialised health workers,” Tedros said. The hospital, which has been at the heart of Israel’s war on Gaza, had been previously rendered inoperational after weeks-long Israeli attacks. The WHO team also managed to reach al-Helou Hospital, where Ghebreyesus said services are limited and there is an urgent need for staff, equipment and food.



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SvennoJ on 11 March 2024

More US, UK raids in Yemen: Report

US and UK forces have carried out five raids on the Takhiya area, Majz District in Saada, Houthi-affiliated media outlet Al Masirah TV TV is reporting. According to a spokesperson of the internationally recognised government of Yemen, at least 11 people have been killed and 14 injured in the raids.

Earlier, we reported that according to Al Masirah TV, US and UK jets carried out three raids on the Al-Araj area in the Bajil district of Yemen’s Hodeidah Governorate.


Israel strikes hit deep into Lebanese territory

Local Lebanese media is reporting that Israeli warplanes have bombed the city of Baalbek, nearly 100km (62 miles) from the country’s border with Israel, for a second time since the war in Gaza began.

The area, which plays host to Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group that has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces since October 8, was last hit by Israel on February 26.

Video shows moment Israeli strikes hit eastern Lebanese town

The governor of the Baalbek-Hermel region of Lebanon has posted a video, verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit, that shows the moment Israeli bombs hit the village of Duris, about 3km (1.8 miles) south of the city of Baalbeck.

Bachir Kohodor said in another post on X that people died as a result of the strike but did not give further details.

Israeli exchanges of fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, though frequent, have largely been contained to within a few kilometres of the countries’ shared border. This strike on an area about 100km (62 miles) from Lebanon’s border with Israel marks a significant escalation from Israel, which had previously hit the area only once since October 7.



SvennoJ on 11 March 2024

US intelligence chief says Gaza conflict may have ‘generational impact on terrorism’

The October 7 attacks and Israel’s war on Gaza have “galvanised violence by a range of actors around the world”, says Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence.

Speaking at a Senate Intelligence Committee briefing in Washington, DC, on Monday, Haines added that the conflict has inspired “individuals to conduct acts of anti-Semitism and Islamophobic terror worldwide”. “While it is too early to tell, it is likely that the Gaza conflict will have a generational impact on terrorism. Both al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), inspired by Hamas, have directed supporters to conduct attacks against Israeli and US interests,” she said.

Haines also added that US intelligence assesses that Hezbollah and Iran “do not want to cause an escalation of the conflict that pulls us or them into a full-out war”.

Israeli forces shoot and kill two men in Tulkarem

The Israeli military has shot and killed two Palestinian men near the town of Attil, north of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports. Members of Israel’s special forces were riding in a civilian vehicle when they opened fire on the two men who were inside a shop, Wafa reports, citing local sources.

Israeli forces prevented ambulances from reaching the wounded, named as Muhammad Jaber and Tawfiq Aed Fawaz Hussein. Both men subsequently succumbed to their injuries at the Martyr Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarem.

The Israeli military confirmed in a short statement that it had killed Muhammad Jaber, claiming he was carrying weapons and ammunition and about to carry out an attack.

Large march held in Arraba to protest killing of Palestinian man

A large public march has been held in the town of Arraba, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, in response to the killing of Palestinian man Muhammad Jaber.

Israeli raids have been reported elsewhere in the occupied West Bank in the following locations:

  • The towns of Silat Al-Dhahr and Al-Fandakumiya, south of Jenin, and Al-Jalama, Arana, Arbouna, and Beit Qad, northeast of Jenin
  • The town of Bir Nabala, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem
  • The village of Shuqba, west of Ramallah
  • Israeli forces have arrested a man at a checkpoint near the village of Zabada in the Ya’bad area

Restricting Al-Aqsa access ‘risks inflaming tensions’: UK minister

Tariq Ahmad, the UK minister of state responsible for relations with the Middle East, North Africa and the UN, has urged Israel to “allow unhindered access” to Jerusalem’s holy sites during Ramadan. “Restricting access to Al-Aqsa during Ramadan risks inflaming tensions and undermines Muslim rights to worship,” Ahmad said in a post on social media.



(in)actions speaks louder than words.

Biden says no meeting with Netanyahu planned

The US president also said he does not have any plans “at this moment” to address the Israeli parliament as earlier reported by some media. More than two weeks have now passed since Biden, on a visit to an ice cream shop in New York, said he had hoped to see a ceasefire by Monday.


Palestinians share iftars amid the rubble



The Palestinian Al-Naji family eats an iftar meal, the breaking of fast, amid the ruins of their family house, on the first day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Deir el-Balah on Monday



A couple share an iftar meal in a tent camp in Rafah



In Rafah, Palestinians wait in line for food donated by charities on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan



Even in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, food supplies are severely restricted and controlled by Israeli forces



SvennoJ on 12 March 2024

How does Hollywood help whitewash Israel’s ‘image problem’?



Hollywood has dehumanized many populations yet erased Palestinians completely in the past.



SvennoJ on 12 March 2024

9,000 women have been killed in Gaza: Palestinian minister to UN

Palestinian Minister of Women’s Affairs Amal Hamad has called on “all the women of the world to stand by Palestinian women” as she spoke to journalists during the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York.

“I am from Gaza and our people in Gaza are subjected to genocide, ethnic cleansing and an unprecedented war of starvation and thirst,” she said. “All the necessities of life have been destroyed by Israel’s war machine.” “Pressure should be exerted on Israel to reach a ceasefire urgently” so that people in Gaza can receive “urgent relief” during Ramadan, she added.

Hamad also spoke at a side event on women in Gaza, with Palestine’s mission to the UN sharing a video showing delegates responding with applause and chants of “Free, free Palestine”.

Israel’s FM says UN chief has brought organisation to ‘all-time low’

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz has slammed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for holding “a distressing bias” against Israeli victims of sexual assault.

In a letter sent to the UN chief before a Security Council session on Monday called to discuss Hamas’s use of sexual violence around the October 7 attacks, Katz said that Guterres’s office “would have responded in a much more vigorous way” if the victims weren’t Jewish or Israeli.

“The indifference displayed toward the report on Hamas’ sexual violence – crafted with bravery – is deplorable,” he wrote. “Your tenure at the UN is set to be remembered for diminishing the organization’s stature to an all-time low, allowing it to become an epicenter of antisemitism and anti-Israel incitement.”


Does he even believe it himself? What bias, the UN has wanted an independent investigation since the start. The bias is against systematic torture of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, including sexual torture, which has been going on for decades.

Guterres will be remembered for standing up to the world's biggest bullies, Israel and the US.



‘Israel to face Hamas resistance for years’: US intelligence report

A US intelligence report says a captive release deal is the most practical way to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, but raises doubts as to whether Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu can stay in power or achieve his aim of destroying Hamas.

“Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war,” according to the report. “A different, more moderate government is a possibility.”

“Israel will probably face lingering armed resistance from Hamas for years to come, and the military will struggle to neutralise Hamas’s underground infrastructure, which allows insurgents to hide, regain strength and surprise Israeli forces,” it added.

According to Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, the report encompasses findings by 18 different US intelligence agencies. “The conclusion from all these agencies is that despite what the Israeli prime minister has claimed, the war Israel is waging against Gaza is not going to be a short one,” Halkett says.

“The risk of escalation is very high. This is something that is going to continue even as Netanyahu tells his population this is something that is finite and could be finished in the near term.”



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SvennoJ on 12 March 2024

‘Reject AIPAC’: US progressives join forces against pro-Israel lobby group

Prominent progressive organisations in the United States are joining together to push back against the political and electoral influence of the country’s most powerful pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

More than 20 advocacy groups launched on Monday a formal coalition dubbed “Reject AIPAC” to organise against what they called AIPAC’s campaign to​​ silence the “growing dissent in Congress” against Israel’s war on Gaza.

The newly formed coalition cited reports that AIPAC is readying a $100m offensive through its electoral arms – AIPAC PAC and the United Democracy Project (UDP) – to take on a handful of progressives in Congress who called for a ceasefire in Gaza early in the war.


US progressive representatives Jamaal Bowman, Rashida Tlaib, and Cori Bush have called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and may face electoral challenges funded by AIPAC


To avoid more attention no doubt. It would not have looked good in front of a tribunal.
The UK knows what's up, now having to grant political asylum to Palestinians.

UK grants Palestinian activist asylum in U-turn

The UK has granted asylum to a Palestinian citizen of Israel, assessing that he holds a “well-founded fear” of persecution if he returns to the country. The UK Home Office had originally denied the claim but reversed its decision only 24 hours before the case was set to go before a tribunal.

The man, named only as Hasan in documents filed at an immigration tribunal, has said that Israel operates under an “apartheid” system in which Palestinians are systematically oppressed. He also said he was at a heightened risk of persecution from Israeli authorities for his pro-Palestinian activism and anti-Zionist views.

Aid organisations sue Denmark to stop arms sales to Israel

Several NGOs in Denmark say they are suing the country’s national police and foreign ministry to stop arms exports to Israel. Oxfam Denmark, Amnesty International Denmark, Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke (Action Aid Denmark) and the Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq are involved in the court action, according to a press release.

“There is a clear risk that weapons and military equipment that Denmark directly and indirectly exports to Israel will be used to commit serious crimes against civilians in Gaza,” their statement said. “In doing so, Denmark violates international rules on arms trade and risks becoming complicit in violations of international humanitarian law – including war crimes – and a plausible genocide.”


Ireland rocks!

Irish artists pull out of SXSW festival in US in solidarity with Palestinians

Seven of 10 Irish artists scheduled to play at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival have pulled out to support Palestine and to protest the US festival’s links with US military and defence companies.

The Belfast hip-hop trio Kneecap said it would not be playing the annual Austin, Texas, showcase in “solidarity with the people of Palestine”. Others soon followed suit.





SvennoJ on 12 March 2024

Heavy security presence near Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem has announced that 35,000 worshippers gathered at Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first night of Ramadan. Israeli forces earlier stopped young Palestinian men from entering the mosque compound, including Adel, who told Al Jazeera “I came to pray”.

“They always refuse to let us pray as if it’s their mosque. We are peaceful, we are not carrying anything,” he said. “This is the mosque that the prophet journeyed from,” he added.

Despite ICJ measures, Israel continues ‘indiscriminate’ bombings

Guy Shalev, the executive director of Physicians for Human Rights Israel, says despite the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures being announced in January, they still see Israel carrying out “indiscriminate bombings” on the besieged enclave.

“We’re preparing a petition to the high court to force the Israeli government and the Israeli military to change its policy towards the civilians in Gaza and to allow humanitarian aid. It is important to say that it’s not just a human thing to do for Israel; it’s an obligation according to international humanitarian law,” Shalev told Al Jazeera.

He added that his organisation deals with regulations from the Israeli government.“For example, we are trying to get humanitarian aid to Gaza since October 7 basically and we have been prevented by all kinds of regulations. Our banks threatened to freeze our accounts if we continue to try and transfer funds in order to buy medications into Gaza,” he said.

The ICJ has not responded yet to Africa's latest urgent request, on March 6th, for additional measures after the flour massacre
https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192 https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240306-pre-01-00-en.pdf



Israeli forces raid Jenin refugee camp

Israeli occupation forces have stormed the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reports. Undercover Israeli forces, backed by military reinforcements, besieged a house as confrontations broke out between Palestinian youth and Israeli soldiers.

Israeli forces bombed the besieged house with an Energa missile, and prevented ambulances from approaching the vicinity, Wafa added.

Two Palestinians injured in Israeli raid on Jenin camp

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported two casualties during the storming of Jenin’s refugee camp. One man was injured after Israeli soldiers fired bullets, while another was physically assaulted by them. Several homes have been besieged by Israeli forces in the camp.

Israel’s ‘pastoral’ settlement on the rise since October 7: Official

“These are projects that were planned previously and, in light of the war on Gaza, they took advantage of their implementation and joined the reserve army and began to implement what they wanted,” said Fouad al-Amour, coordinator of the protection committees in the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank.

This includes controlling large swathes of land and pastures in what he describes as an illegal “pastoral settlement”. “Settlers set up more than 10 tents on the mountains of South Hebron Hills and Masafer Yatta specifically, where the area of each tent is 50 metres, but they control more than that, in the range of 0.05-0.20 square kilometres,” he tells Al Jazeera.

“Settlers are driving a displacement process, by attacking residents, closing roads, obstructing the movement of citizens, and confiscating vehicles. In Masafer Yatta, life has come to a standstill.”



SvennoJ on 12 March 2024

Israeli attack kills 7 people waiting for aid in Gaza City: Report

Israeli forces have reportedly again attacked Palestinians waiting for aid trucks at the Kuwait Roundabout south of Gaza City, killing seven people, the Wafa news agency reports. More than 20 people injured in the attack were transferred to the Shifa Medical Complex, Wafa added, quoting medical sources.

Gaza City is in the north of the Gaza Strip, which has been almost completely cut off from aid, with only a small amount of trucks reaching the city from Rafah in the south. It's the fourth such attack on people waiting to receive aid at the Kuwait roundabout.

Eight killed in Israeli attack on Deir el-Balah residential home

At least eight people have been killed and a number are still missing under the rubble after an Israeli attack on the Abu Sanjar family home in Deir el-Balah.

Attacking aid seekers in Gaza is become new normal

People have been calling the Kuwait Roundabout on Salah al-Din Street a death trap. Hunger, starvation and dehydration don’t stop people from getting together to wait for aid. They’ve been displaced and traumatised from the start of this genocidal war.

Nine people have been killed so far in the latest incident. The initial number was seven and two just died at al-Shifa Hospital as there is no proper medical intervention. The other 20-plus injuries in the hospital are likely to lose their lives because their injuries are very severe and the hospital doesn’t have the capacity to provide life-saving treatments. It has been nonoperational since it was stormed and damaged by the Israeli military in the past three months.

This has unfortunately become the new normal for aid seekers and hungry Palestinians stranded in the northern part of Gaza City. We’ve seen this happening almost on a daily basis now. People get together, wait for food supplies and get attacked by the Israeli military.

Aid seekers death toll rises to 11

The Kuwait Roundabout is between the central area of the Gaza Strip and Gaza City, where people gather in large groups to wait for aid trucks. So far, at least 11 people have been reported killed as a result of direct attacks by the Israeli tanks stationed around the area, and multiple injuries, close to 25, with different injuries, as we were told by paramedics at al-Shifa hospital.

Gaza media office: More than 400 killed by Israeli fire while waiting for aid

The Gaza media office says that the latest Israeli attack on people waiting for aid at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City this morning has resulted in more than 400 people killed since the “flour massacre” in late February.

“The occupation army insists on targeting those searching for a living for their children to satisfy their hunger,” the office said in a statement.

Israeli forces attacking outskirts of Deir el-Balah

Since the early morning, Israeli tanks have been hitting the eastern outskirts of Deir el-Balah. At least four Israeli air strikes have targeted the same areas. We are also clearly hearing gunfire and fighting. People in Deir el-Balah, where more than half a million are taking shelter, are frightened and panicked from a deeper Israeli ground invasion that will force them into further displacement.

“We don’t have anywhere to go. All that we have is to stay and wait for our turns to be killed,” Hussain al-Ramlawi told Al Jazeera. “What is happening is beyond any human’s capability. My children are terrorised. Even in Ramadan, we are being killed and are unable to worship God. Where are the human rights organisations? Living in this world as Palestinians is a curse.”

 


Healing through play to support the mental health of Palestinian children

Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza has left many children in desperate need of psychological support, with about half of its population under the age of 18 and showing signs of deep trauma.

One project in the al-Mawasi camp near Khan Younis has become a sanctuary for many Palestinian children, and every day hundreds of them arrive at the centre to dance, play games and lose themselves in activities that restore a sense of normalcy.



Children in Gaza suffer from ‘complete psychological destruction’

Without urgent action, Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip will inflict further lifelong detrimental mental harm to Palestinian children, with rapidly shrinking opportunities to recover, a report by Save the Children said.

The report notes that before October 7, children in Gaza were already living with exceptionally poor mental health due to the 16 years of a blockade, lack of freedom of movement, various Israeli escalations on the Strip, economic collapse, and separation from family and friends.

“It is unacceptable that any child should contend with the horrors that those in Gaza have lived through,” said Jason Lee, Save the Children’s Country Director for the occupied Palestinian territories. “While dodging bombs and bullets, fleeing through streets littered with debris and corpses, being forced to sleep in the open air and going without the basic food and clean water they need to survive, children in Gaza are going through a period of mass-scale shock and grief.

“This war and the physical and mental scars it is leaving on children is further eroding their resilience.”



SvennoJ on 12 March 2024

Dozens of rockets fired at northern Israel and Golan Heights

Dozens of rockets have been fired from Lebanon at Israel’s Upper Galilee region and the occupied Golan Heights, according to the Israeli army radio and media reports. Some of them landed in open areas, while others were intercepted by Israel’s defence systems, reports say.

Footage shared on social media purportedly showed rockets in the air and landing in open areas. Sirens had sounded in several regions in the north of the occupied Golan Heights and Upper Galilee.

Israeli army says about 70 rockets fired from Lebanon

A barrage of rockets was fired from Lebanon at territories under Israeli control this morning, according to the army quoted by the national media. There were no immediate reports of causalities or damage.

Earlier, the reports said some of the rockets, which targeted Israel’s Upper Galilee region and the occupied Golan Heights, were intercepted by Israel’s defence system, while others landed in open areas.

More rockets launched from Lebanon to Golan Heights: Army radio

About 30 more rockets have been launched from Lebanon towards the occupied Golan Heights, increasing the total number to about 100, according to Israel’s army radio and other media reports.

Sirens did not sound for the second barrage and no causalities or damage was reported, media reports said.

Hezbollah claims rocket attacks on Golan Heights

The Lebanese group has claimed the rocket attacks on the occupied Golan Heights in the morning. A Hezbollah statement said its fighters targeted “the air and missile defence command in the Keila barracks” and “the missile and artillery base in Yoav” with more than 100 rockets.

The attacks were carried out in support of the Palestinians in Gaza and in response to the Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, including the most recent one in the vicinity of the city of Baalbek. Four people were reportedly killed in Israel’s strikes around Baalbek.

Israeli jets target rocket launchers in Lebanon

Israeli army says its fighter jets attacked three rocket launchers in Lebanon. The statement on X said this morning’s rocket attacks on the occupied Golan Heights were carried out from those launchers.

Israeli jets attack Lebanese city of Bint Jbeil

More updates are coming in on the cross-border attacks between Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and the Israeli army. Israeli warplanes carried out air strikes targeting the northwestern outskirts of the city of Bint Jbeil, according to the official Lebanese National News Agency.

Israeli jets hit Hezbollah sites in Lebanon’s Baalbek: Army

More updates are coming in on the cross-border attacks by the Israeli army and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. The army says its fighter jets recently attacked two military headquarters of Hezbollah in the Baalbek area in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah, Israel conflict ‘escalating steadily’

Omar Ashour, a security professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, say the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has been “escalating steadily”.

“Now we have more rockets launched from south Lebanon than anything that happened in Gaza from February 15, and also […] in 2006 the July 34 day war, Hezbollah was launching about 120 rockets per day, so now we’re reaching that,” Ashour told Al Jazeera.

He added that Hezbollah’s military arsenal is “much greater” than Hamas’s and is considered a “rocket artillery army”. “It [Hezbollah] has at least 50,000 members who are regulars in its armed forces and another 50,000 reservists. So we’re talking about a force of manpower of about 100,000, that’s the force of about a small state.”

US hits targets in Yemen after attack on merchant ship

US forces said they destroyed an underwater drone and nearly 20 ballistic missiles in a series of strikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Monday night the strikes were carried out after the Houthis fired two missiles towards a Singaporean-owned, Liberian-flagged merchant ship called the Pinocchio. “The missiles did not impact the vessel and there were no injuries or damage reported,” CENTCOM said.

Hours later, it added, US forces “conducted six self-defense strikes destroying an unmanned underwater vessel and 18 anti-ship missiles in Houthi controlled areas of Yemen”.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on the Pinocchio in a statement early Tuesday, maintaining the missile strike “was accurate”.

The British maritime security agency UKMTO had previously said on Monday that a ship in the area “reported a sound of an explosion” in its vicinity southwest of the Yemeni port of Salif, and that US-led coalition forces were investigating.



SvennoJ on 12 March 2024

UN: More children killed in four months of war on Gaza than in four years of global war

The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has shared data on X that shows this staggering figure. More than 12,300 children were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and February 2024, the data shows, compared to 12,193 children killed in global conflict from 2019 to 2023.

“This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote.



At least 17,000 children in Gaza separated from families: Report

The UK-based Palestinian Return Centre submitted a report to the UN on the treatment of Palestinian children by Israeli forces in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Here’s a summary of what it said:

  • More than 12,000 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza in attacks by Israeli forces since October 7, with many others facing amputations and life-changing injuries.
  • The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates at least 17,000 children in Gaza are “now unaccompanied or separated from their families”, amid Israel’s five-month war on the coastal enclave.
  • Israeli forces “systematically” detain Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, leading to the detention of at least 200 kids since the war in Gaza began. They’re often subjected to psychological and physical torture.
  • “The suffering of children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, must not fade into the background of the current conflict – it is part of it,” says the report.
  • Deliberately targeting and causing harm to civilians is considered a war crime.



Continuation of Gaza war ‘serves Netanyahu’s political agenda’

Hassan Barari from Qatar University says truce negotiations are faltering because of a lack of will on the part of the Israeli and US governments.

“The problem here is all the pressure is being placed on Hamas, especially from the Americans,” he told Al Jazeera. “What the Israelis are saying is: ‘Release the hostages and we’ll come back and bomb you.’ Hamas wants to end the war, which has been catastrophic for everyone.”

Barari said the Americans are failing to put real pressure on the Israelis to get a deal done. “The only one who can really sway the Israeli government is the Biden administration, and it is not doing this.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is stalling on a captive-prisoner exchange agreement as a “pretext” to continue the war, he added.

“It is not his number one priority otherwise he would have agreed on a deal. He’s trying to tell everyone that military pressure is the only way. But his objective is not really to release the hostages because the continuation of the war serves his political agenda,” said Barari.



Stating it in pounds now so it seems more....

US army announces latest aid drops on Gaza

The army’s Central Command (CENTCOM) says that at 2pm local time (12:00 GMT), it dropped airdropped aid boxes containing “5,280 pounds of food, including rice, flour, pasta, and canned food” over north Gaza, in a joint operation with the Jordanian air force.

The US has been carrying out these aid drops for the past several weeks in an effort to alleviate the acute starvation of northern Gaza, even as top humanitarian officials have repeatedly said that there is no substitute for existing land routes.

Last week, an aid airdrop by a still-unconfirmed party killed several Palestinians when its parachute failed to open.

5,280 pounds is only 2.4 metric tons, 1/10th of a truck load, only enough to feed 1,600 people for a day. Pathetic.


More useless propaganda

US military ships depart for Gaza pier construction

Four US Army vessels departed a base in the US state of Virginia, carrying about 100 soldiers and equipment needed to build a temporary port on Gaza’s coast for desperately needed aid deliveries.

The new facility – which will consist of an offshore platform for transshipment of aid from larger to smaller vessels and a pier to bring it ashore – is expected to be up and running “at the 60-day mark”, US Army Brigadier-General Brad Hinson told journalists.

About 500 troops from the 7th Transportation Battalion (Expeditionary) will take part in the operation, Hinson said, describing it as “the premier watercraft unit in our Army.” “They can provide sustainment support over the water in austere environments. They are trained to do this, and they’ve gone on many exercises to be ready to provide this capability,” he said.

With hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing starvation, the plan has been criticised while Israel refuses to fully open land crossings for aid deliveries.

 

Land based aid is the only thing that really works

WFP says food for 25,000 Palestinians delivered to Gaza City

The UN’s World Food Programme says it was the first successful delivery since February 20. “With people in northern Gaza on the brink of famine, we need deliveries every day + we need entry points directly into the north.”

UN officials last month accused Israel of “systematically” blocking aid from reaching desperate Palestinians in Gaza, warning at least one-quarter of the enclave’s population is a step away from famine without urgent action.



Better than aid drops, but needs to be ramped up 20 fold.