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

SvennoJ 4 hours ago

Israel gearing up for ‘new invasion’

Xavier Abu Eid, a political analyst and former adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization, says Israel’s forced displacement order for some neighbourhoods in Gaza shows it is planning a “new invasion”.

“If you look at the map [identifying areas Palestinians should evacuate from], it’s very clear what Israel’s military is doing,” he told Al Jazeera.

“They are taking several positions within all the border between Gaza and Israel – from the north to the south – so clearly what we are witnessing is not just a show of force or strength, but a new escalation, a new invasion you may want to call it.”

He added that Netanyahu, backed by the Trump administration, “feels that he has a green light to continue the war as he pleases”.


Captives’ relatives call for demonstration in Jerusalem

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing families of Israeli captives in Gaza, says its members are heading to Jerusalem to protest and are calling on the Israeli public to join them.

“There is nothing more urgent than this!” said the group in a post on X. “Military pressure will lead to the killing of the living hostages and the disappearance of the fallen!”


UN aid chief calls on ‘everyone with influence’ to stop Israeli attacks on Gaza

Tom Fletcher, the head of the UN’s humanitarian affairs bureau, has reacted to the “dreadful news” of Israel’s deadly attacks on Gaza, saying “everyone with influence must insist this stop”.

“Our humanitarians have done everything possible to save as many lives as we could in Gaza. Immense suffering among survivors. And now this,” he said on X. “Everyone with influence must insist this stop.”



Injured people dying in Gaza due to lack of resources: Al-Shifa Hospital chief

Muhammad Abu Salmiya, al-Shifa Hospital director, has told Al Jazeera Arabic that the hospital is unprepared to manage the influx of victims from Israel’s latest wave of attacks.

“Every minute, a wounded person dies due to a lack of resources,” Abu Salmiya said.

Only four intensive care beds were available in Gaza City and northern Gaza and the health system was lacking the most basic necessities, he added. Reaching the targeted areas to retrieve the victims from under the rubble also remained “extremely difficult”.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health issued a statement calling for urgent blood donations after the stocks available at blood banks were depleted.



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SvennoJ 4 hours ago

Gaza Media Office names 4 senior officials killed in Israeli attacks

In a statement, Gaza’s Government Media Office has named four high-ranking government officials killed in Israel’s overnight bombardment.

They include Issam al-Dalis, the head of government public works, Ahmed al-Hatta, undersecretary of the Justice Ministry, Mahmoud Abu Watfa, undersecretary of the Interior Ministry and Bahjat Abu Sultan, director general of the internal security service.

“May God have mercy on them, along with hundreds of martyrs from our Palestinian people as a result of the ongoing crimes since dawn today,” said the statement.

‘Barbarous’: Malta, Belgium, Switzerland call for end to attacks on Gaza

Condemnation of Israel’s deadly wave of attacks in the enclave is mounting, with the latest statements coming from the governments of Malta and Belgium, with Switzerland also calling for an “immediate return to the ceasefire”.

In a post on X, Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela called the attacks, which have killed at least 300 people, “barbarous”.


Gaza death toll rises above 400

At least 404 Palestinians have been killed and 562 others wounded in the latest wave of Israeli attacks across Gaza, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

The latest update said a number of victims were still under the rubble, and efforts were under way to recover them.


Turkiye says Gaza attack marks ‘new phase’ in ‘genocide policy’

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has issued a stinging condemnation of Israel’s latest wave of deadly attacks on the territory.

“The massacre of hundreds of Palestinians in Israel’s attacks on Gaza … demonstrates that the Netanyahu government’s genocide policy has entered a new phase,” it said in a statement.

“Israel defies humanity through its violations of international law and universal values in the gravest way,” the ministry added, arguing such aggression threatens the region’s future.


Hamas says US ‘bears full responsibility’ for Gaza ‘massacres’

The Palestinian group has blamed the US for its advance knowledge of Israel’s deadly bombardment in Gaza, saying this “confirms its direct partnership in the war of extermination against our people”.

The White House’s acknowledgement that it was consulted ahead of the attack “exposes the blatant American complicity and bias with the occupation”, said Hamas.

“With its unlimited political and military support for the occupation, Washington bears full responsibility for the massacres and the killing of women and children in Gaza,” it added.



SvennoJ 4 hours ago

Egypt condemns Israeli attacks on Gaza

We also have reaction from Egypt, one of the mediating countries in the conflict.

In a statement, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the Israeli air attacks constitute “a blatant violation” of the ceasefire deal and represent “a dangerous escalation” that threatens the stability of the region.

“Egypt reiterates its full rejection of Israel’s aggression aimed at reintroducing tension to the region and undermining efforts to achieve de-escalation and restore stability,” it added.



Where in Gaza did Israel attack and how many people did it kill?



Israeli forces attacking Gaza ‘at this very moment’: Army

The Israeli military says in a statement that its forces are attacking Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza, including weapons depots, launch sites and other military infrastructure.

As we’ve reported, Israel’s extensive wave of attacks across the enclave overnight killed at least 404 Palestinians and wounded 562, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, with many children and women among the victims.


Collapse of ceasefire ‘death sentence for Gaza’s children’: Humanitarian group

Save the Children has condemned the resumption of the war, saying the international community “cannot turn a blind eye as children in Gaza once again are at risk of being killed, maimed, displaced, starved, and left even more vulnerable to disease and the elements”.

Rachael Cummings, Save the Children’s humanitarian director based in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, said the collapse of the ceasefire was “nothing short of a death sentence for Gaza’s children.”

The denial of aid coinciding with the start of the holy month of Ramadan also amounts to “a grave violation against children”, Cummings said.

“We demand an immediate and definitive ceasefire and restrictions on humanitarian aid to be immediately lifted,” she added. “Anything less is a catastrophic failure to uphold international humanitarian law and protect the most vulnerable.”

Dozens of children were among the more than 400 victims killed by Israeli air strikes in recent hours. More than 17,800 children have been killed since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, while thousands more are missing.



SvennoJ 4 hours ago

Ben-Gvir’s party to rejoin Israel’s ruling coalition

The Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, led by far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, will return to Netanyahu’s coalition government, it has announced.

In a joint statement with Likud, Netanyahu’s party, Otzma Yehudit confirmed that it would “return to the government” along with its ministers.

The hardline party, which opposed a ceasefire with Hamas and pressed for Israel to cut off aid to Gaza, had left the coalition in January. Its return strengthens Netanyahu’s position before a crucial budget vote expected next week.

After his party confirmed the move, Ben-Gvir shared a photograph of himself shaking hands with Netanyahu on X, accompanied by the words, “Together in strength, for the people of Israel!”


Palestinians in eastern Gaza pushed into forced displacement yet again

The areas Israel has issued forced displacement orders for are in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip, including the entire city of Beit Hanoon.

This is not the first time we’re seeing this. There has been repeated enforced displacement of people as soon as they return to their homes.

The Israeli military has been quite vague and giving contradictory information about where people should take shelter.

As of now, there is not a single safe place across Gaza. People are dying inside their homes, they’re dying inside public facilities, and they’re dying inside schools they’ve turned to for shelter.

Just in the past couple of minutes, we’ve seen the body of a man recovered from under the rubble in northern Gaza’s Jabalia. We’ve been told by family members that there are still more [people] trapped under the rubble.



Three reasons behind Israel’s resumption of Gaza war

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara has said there are at least three explanations for why Israel decided to break the ceasefire and resume its war on Gaza.

On the military level, Netanyahu had long expressed his intention to continue the war until Hamas was destroyed. The group’s theatrical release of captives “humiliated Netanyahu” and persuaded his camp that the war must continue, Bishara said.

“There’s also a strategic rationale, and that’s building on Trump’s vision of transfer [of Palestinians out of Gaza],” the analyst said. “You cannot transfer millions of people without war.”

Lastly, Netanyahu “is on trial on a number of corruption charges and needs to deflect the attention away by launching another bloody campaign in Gaza”.

The move will not be welcomed by Egypt, which played a key role in the ceasefire negotiations, as well as Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

“The entire region is on the brink of something,” Bishara said. “Clearly, this humiliation of [Egyptian] President [Abdel Fattah] el-Sisi cannot go by with total impunity.”



SvennoJ 4 hours ago

‘Unacceptable massacres of civilians’: MSF

Doctors Without Borders, a medical charity known by its French initials MSF, says its teams in central and southern Gaza are responding to influxes of patients:

  • In Nasser Hospital, it received 55 dead and 113 injured
  • In Deir el-Balah, the MSF field hospital received 10 injured
  • In Al-Aqsa Hospital, it received 20 dead and 68 injured
  • Its Attar clinic in al-Mawasi, which was also hit with shrapnel, received 26 injured

“We woke up, at around 2am local time, to 20 minutes of airstrikes and heavy artillery, just like the past 15 months of war,” Claire Nicolet, MSF head of emergencies, said in a statement.

“We are appalled and outraged by these new unacceptable massacres of civilians.”

Saudi Arabia, Qatar slam Israeli attacks on Gaza

Saudi Arabia and Qatar are the latest Arab states to condemn Israel’s overnight onslaught.

Qatar, which is trying to help mediate an extended ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, strongly denounced the attacks, warning that Israel’s escalation rised igniting the region.

Its Foreign Ministry also stressed the urgent need to resume dialogue to implement the stages of the ceasefire deal leading to the end of the war

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, slammed “in the strongest terms” Israel’s “direct shelling of civilian areas, with no regard for international humanitarian law”.

The kingdom’s Foreign Ministry also emphasised “the importance of an immediate cessation of Israeli killing, violence and destruction, as well as the protection of Palestinian civilians from the unjust war machine”.


‘Mourn and reject’: Ireland, Spain condemn Israeli violence against Gaza people

Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares has condemned Israel’s renewed strikes on the enclave, saying he “can’t find the words to describe the situation in Gaza”.

“We must mourn and reject this new wave of violence and these new bombings, which indiscriminately hit the civilian population,” he told broadcaster Onda Cero.

Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin also condemned the Israeli violence, calling “on all parties to respect the ceasefire and the agreement to release hostages and return to negotiations”.

“I will be discussing the serious situation in the Middle East with EU leaders at this week’s meeting of the European Council and will be urging that we agree a clear and united EU position aimed at stopping any further escalation,” he said.


EU, UK and France call for Gaza ceasefire agreement to be respected

European Council President Antonio Costa has said he was “shocked and saddened” by the killing of civilians in the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

“Violence must stop and the terms of the ceasefire agreement must be respected,” Costa said on X. “All hostages and detainees must be released, and humanitarian aid must be resumed immediately.”

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said reports of civilian casualties were “appalling” and urged all parties to “return urgently to dialogue” to end fighting and for the ceasefire agreement to be implemented “in full”.

France’s Foreign Ministry called for an immediate ceasefire and return to negotiations. It also urged Israel to protect civilians and to stop blocking humanitarian aid, water and electricity from reaching the Gaza Strip and called on Hamas to unconditionally release all captives held in Gaza.



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SvennoJ 4 hours ago

Israel’s war on Gaza ‘nothing short of genocidal’: Humanitarian group

Action for Humanity has strongly condemned Israel’s killing of more than 400 people in the latest aerial attacks on Gaza, saying its military campaign was “nothing short of genocidal”.

“Their actions have made it undeniably clear: the Israeli government has no interest in acting within the framework of international law or to secure a just and lasting peace; for their own people or for Palestine,” it said in a statement.

The UK-based humanitarian organisation demanded that the government of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “immediately take a bold and unequivocal stance against this latest atrocity and the ongoing genocide”.

It added: “We cannot afford another 18 months of silence and complicity in war crimes.”


Total blockade of Gaza to have ‘disastrous impact’: UN coordinator

Tom Fletcher is briefing the UN Security Council about the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. Here are some of the remarks by the UN emergency relief coordinator:

  • Today, I am distressed to report that in addition to the intense air strikes that have resumed, since March 2, Israeli authorities have cut off the entry of all lifesaving supplies – food, medicines, fuel, cooking gas – for 2.1 million people.
  • Our repeated requests to collect aid sitting at Karem Shalom (Karem Abu Shalem) crossing have also been systematically rejected.
  • Essential survival resources needed are now being rationed.
  • Israel has cut power to southern Gaza’s desalination plant, limiting access to clean water for 600,000 people. The prices of staples have surged.
  • Vegetable prices in North Gaza have already tripled. Six bakeries subsidised by the World Food Programme have closed due to shortages of cooking gas and supplies.
  • The World Health Organization warns that public health risks remain very high, including for communicable diseases from overcrowding and poor sanitation.
  • This total blockade of lifesaving aid, basic commodities and commercial goods will have a disastrous impact on the people in Gaza who remain dependent on a steady flow of assistance into the Strip.

Israeli protesters slam Netanyahu’s decision to resume war on Gaza

Israelis protesting to demand the release of the captives held in Gaza have slammed their government’s decision to resume the war.

“The only reason the government would like to go back to fighting is to stay in power,” Roy Emek said at a rally in Tel Aviv. “It’s got nothing to do with what’s best for Israel.”

Einav Livne, who was demonstrating in Eshkol, said she was “boiling inside”.

“What’s happening is consciously sacrificing the lives of the hostages and the possibility of returning the dead for a proper burial,” she said. “The state of Israel, which is supposed to protect its citizens, is simply terrible.”

 



SvennoJ 4 hours ago

More from Fletcher’s UNSC briefing

We have some more lines from the statement by the UN emergency relief coordinator, who’s told the Security Council that three things need to happen:

  • First and foremost, humanitarian aid and commercial essentials must be allowed to enter Gaza.
  • Blocking food, water, and medicine for people who need them is unconscionable. It also goes against international humanitarian law and the provisional orders of the International Court of Justice.
  • Second, we must renew the ceasefire. Over 48,000 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more are missing. 1,200 Israelis have been killed. Over 100,000 Palestinians are injured, many with life-changing wounds.
  • The return to hostilities overnight must cease, and with urgency. The suffering of the people of Gaza must end. A renewed ceasefire is the best way of protecting civilians, releasing hostages and detainees and allowing aid and commercial supplies in.
  • Third, the humanitarian response must be funded. We have received only four  percent of what is needed – we don’t even have enough to get through this quarter.


‘Governments must act now’ to stop attacks on Gaza: Humanitarian group

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has said Israel’s attacks “threaten to plunge Gaza into yet another cycle of mass death, destruction, and displacement” and called on the international community to intervene.

“People across Gaza are in shock and disbelief at the collapse of the ceasefire and terrified of what it means,” Jan Egeland, secretary general of the NRC, said in a statement.

“Every day this crisis continues is another day of suffering for civilians on all sides,” the group said.

“Governments must act now. Israel’s siege, bombardment, and killing of civilians cannot be met with more empty statements,” it added.

“States with influence must demand an end to the attacks and ensure that aid reaches Gaza immediately. Without intervention, more lives will be lost, and history will record their failure.”

‘Muted response to Gaza attacks from Israel’s allies makes them complicit’

The humanitarian organisation Islamic Relief has said Israel’s overnight attacks on Gaza are an “appalling escalation” and must be “unequivocally condemned” by international governments.

“The muted response from Israel’s allies to these repeated violations of international law, consisting merely of superficial expressions of concerns, are insufficient and make them complicit in these crimes,” it said.

“We urge international governments to utilise all their political and economic leverage – including immediately ending all arms sales and suspending trade agreements – to hold Israel accountable, enforce the phased ceasefire agreement, and ensure the entry of sufficient supplies into Gaza.”