Reports of Israeli casualties in Rafah blast, as strikes kill 16 in Gaza

An explosion in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip has killed and injured Israeli troops from the Golani Brigade, who were detonating a building, according to Israeli websites. There is currently an Israeli media blackout on the incident on Thursday and there has been no official comment from the government there yet.

Witnesses in Rafah told Al Jazeera of a large explosion, and Israeli helicopters trying to evacuate the wounded, and that there appear to be Israeli troops under the rubble of a building. There has been heavy fighting in the area, they said.

Hamas says it is engaging in fierce point-blank clashes with Israeli forces the El Geneina neighbourhood east of Rafah city. Israeli Forces are said to be facing difficulties in evacuating the dead and injured from the site due to the intensity of the fighting.


Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City said: “The available information talks about a group of Israeli soldiers – this is part of the occupying forces in the city of Rafah – and they were in the process of placing explosive wires as part of the ongoing, systematic demolition of homes across Rafah City, where the vast majority of buildings were destroyed so far since the invasion of Rafah City.”

“The Israeli military is imposing a media blackout on this particular incident. But what we know so far from what’s been available from one of the Telegraph accounts is that it talks about a number of Israeli soldiers inside the building who were ambushed as the building exploded and collapsed, bringing the roof of the building all the way down. And many of the soldiers were still inside the building, as they were trying to detonate the building.”

Mahmood also said that “eyewitnesses describe seeing military choppers moving along the borderline. They patrolled the area several times before landing in Rafah City. They also reported massive, heavy machine guns and explosions that kept going on for some time before it got quieter.”

In the meantime, Israeli air strikes have killed at least 16 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, following a deadly 24-hour period in which more than 100 people lost their lives, according to medical officials.

New strikes on Thursday killed at least three people in separate attacks in Deir el-Balah and the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Al Jazeera Arabic reported, quoting medical sources. In Shujayea, east of Gaza City, shelling killed another person and wounded several others.

Further north, Israeli warplanes targeted a home in Beit Lahiya, killing nine. Rescuers were still searching for a woman believed to be trapped beneath the rubble.

The attack site in Beit Lahiya was “full of displaced people”, said Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud.

“The owner of this residential home and the displaced people he hosted were killed inside this residential home,” he said. “Many others were reported with severe injuries and burns and transferred to the Indonesian Hospital, which is already overwhelmed.

“One single family just lost nine family members, including women and children, and more people are missing and trapped under the rubble.”

In Khan Younis, one girl was killed and four others wounded after Israeli artillery hit tents sheltering displaced families in the western part of the city.



The continuing assault on Gaza comes amid growing alarm that Israel’s total blockade of aid is pushing the enclave into famine.

One killed, eight wounded as Israel hits Lebanon in major post-truce attack


_{A picture taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjayoun shows smoke billowing from the site of Israeli air strikes on the hills of the southern Lebanese village of Nabatieh on May 8}

Israel has launched one of its most intense aerial assaults on southern Lebanon since a truce halted last year’s war with Hezbollah, according to Lebanese officials and the Israeli military.

Air strikes on Thursday targeted several locations across the Nabatieh region, around 12km (7 miles) from the Israeli border. At least one person was killed and eight others injured, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. Thick plumes of smoke rose from the bombed hilltops as residents fled the affected areas.

The Israeli army said its warplanes struck a “Hezbollah infrastructure site”, but gave no further details. The claim could not be independently verified. There was no immediate response from Hezbollah, which had previously said it withdrew its fighters from the border following the United States-brokered ceasefire.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said in a short post on X that he was closely monitoring the situation in southern Lebanon after Israeli strikes hit the region.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the attacks. In a statement on X, he said: “All Israeli violations of UN Resolution 1701 and ceasefire agreements must come to an end. The Lebanese government has not – and will not – stop pushing for Israel’s full withdrawal from our territory.”

الدبشة pic.twitter.com/o54o2MwjX0

— 🎤 المنشد علي بركات ( حساب جديد ) (@AliBarakat2023) May 8, 2025

The recent escalation marks a sharp intensification of the conflict, rooted in Hezbollah’s support for Hamas during Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, has maintained that the group no longer keeps weapons in the border zone, in accordance with the truce.

Documentary uncovers identity of Israeli soldier who shot Shireen Abu Akleh

Filmmakers behind a new documentary on the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli forces say they have uncovered the identity of the soldier who pulled the trigger.

Who Killed Shireen?, a 40-minute investigative documentary released on Thursday by Washington, DC-based media company Zeteo, identifies the killer as a 20-year-old Israeli soldier who was on his first combat tour in the occupied West Bank and lifts the lid on attempts by the United States to avoid holding ally Israel accountable for the murder.

Dion Nissenbaum, the executive producer of the documentary, told Al Jazeera that its makers had set out to uncover exactly who was behind the killing – a secret closely guarded by Israel up to now, according to Zeteo – and that they hoped the findings would lead to further investigations by the US.

The administration of former US President Joe Biden had “concluded early on that an Israeli soldier had intentionally targeted her, but that conclusion was overruled internally”, he said.

“We found some concerning evidence that both Israel and the Biden administration had covered up Shireen’s killing and allowed the soldier to get away without any accountability,” he added.

Anton Abu Akleh, Shireen’s brother, said the documentary was “really important” for her family. “I’m sure it will shed more light and prove that she was systematically targeted like other journalists in Palestine by the Israeli army,” he said.

The documentary features exclusive interviews not just with ex-US officials but also former top Israeli officials and soldiers, as well as journalists who knew Shireen personally.

“We hope that people will be reminded of what an icon Shireen was,” said Nissenbaum.

In ‘cold blood’

Abu Akleh was wearing a helmet and a clearly marked press vest when she was killed while covering an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp on May 11, 2022, an act that the Al Jazeera Media Network condemned as a “cold-blooded assassination”.

Investigations into her killing carried out by news agencies, rights groups and the United Nations have all concluded that Abu Akleh was killed – likely deliberately – by Israeli soldiers.

Israel initially tried to deflect blame for the incident and suggested that Palestinian fighters killed the journalist, but it eventually walked back that claim and acknowledged its troops were responsible for her death, saying it was “an accident”.

A year later, Israel’s military said it was “deeply sorry” for the death of Abu Akleh, but said it would not launch criminal proceedings against the soldiers believed to be behind the killing.

The US dropped its request for an Israeli criminal investigation after Israel’s apology.

Abu Akleh’s death shocked the world and focused an international spotlight on Israeli killings of Palestinian journalists.

Reporters Without Borders said on Friday that Israeli forces killed nearly 200 journalists in the first 18 months of Israel’s all-out assault on Gaza, at least 42 of whom were slain while doing their job.

Family of Shireen Abu Akleh Responds After Film Names Israeli Soldier Who Shot Her

As the Israeli military kills two more Palestinian journalists in Gaza, a new documentary by Zeteo has uncovered critical details about Israel's killing three years ago of the acclaimed Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The film identifies for the first time the Israeli soldier who allegedly shot Abu Akleh. We get response when we speak with two members of Abu Akleh's family — her brother Anton and her niece Lina — as well as the documentary's executive producer Dion Nissenbaum and Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan.

US official says Washington may advance Saudi deal without Israel: Reports

A senior United States official has reportedly warned that Washington could move forward with its deal with Saudi Arabia without Israeli involvement, unless Israel changes course, according to Israeli media.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the unnamed official met on Monday with families of captives still held in Gaza. During the meeting, the official said President Donald Trump is increasingly frustrated with Israel’s stance on the stalled ceasefire talks.

Trump intends to press ahead with the Saudi deal regardless of Israel’s position, said the report on Wednesday.

The US president is expected to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week. Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to Washington is lobbying the White House to add a brief stop in Israel, two Israeli officials told Axios.

According to The Jerusalem Post, the US official told attendees Israel could face “a much heavier price” if it continues to oppose a ceasefire deal.

“President Trump is determined to move forward with a significant deal with Saudi Arabia, even without Israeli involvement,” the official reportedly said. “The ceasefire agreement with the Houthis is just a prelude. If Israel doesn’t come to its senses, even the ‘Deal of the Millennium’ will happen without it.”

The report said families of the captives hoped the meeting would result in greater international pressure on Israeli leaders to act. Some attendees said they were alarmed by the unusually blunt tone from the official as Washington has long been viewed as Israel’s closest diplomatic ally.

The Trump administration has sought to realign regional alliances, focusing on normalising ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. “We hope Israel will board the historic train that has already left the station,” the US official reportedly said. “But the US will not wait at the platform.”

The official also echoed concerns from the families that ongoing Israeli military operations could endanger the captives.

What is the proposed US-Saudi-Israel deal?

The proposed US-Saudi Arabia-Israel deal aims to normalise ties between Riyadh and Tel Aviv in what would mark a historic diplomatic shift, brokered by Washington.

Building on the controversial 2020 Abraham Accords, the agreement would see Saudi Arabia formally recognise Israel – abandoning its long-held demand for a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territory as outlined in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.

In return, the US would offer Saudi Arabia a defence pact and access to advanced weapons, while urging Riyadh to scale back its growing ties with China and Russia.

Another pillar of the deal includes US support for a Saudi civil nuclear programme, though disagreements over uranium enrichment remain unresolved.

While Saudi Arabia originally insisted on concrete steps towards a two-state solution for Palestinians, recent reports suggest Riyadh may settle for symbolic concessions – such as freezing settlement expansion – if the US offers enough in return.

Will Saudi-Arabia sell out to the US or listen to their own population. The former likely.

Last year
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-forms-global-alliance-push-israeli-palestinian-two-state-solution-2024-09-27/

Israel vows to ‘defend ourselves alone’ after Trump strikes truce with Houthis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “defend ourselves alone” against Yemen’s Houthi rebels after US President Donald Trump struck a deal with the Iran-backed group.

The US deal, announced just hours after the Israeli military carried out major strikes against Yemen’s international airport and other facilities in response to a Houthi attack on Israel’s main airport, was a surprise to Israel, which was not informed in advance about the truce, an Israeli official told CNN earlier.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu said, “Israel will defend itself by itself.” In the past, Israel has carried out joint strikes with the US against the Houthis, but two consecutive days of Israeli attacks on Yemen earlier this week were done alone. “If others join us—our American friends—all the better. If they don’t, we will still defend ourselves on our own,” he said in a video posted on social media.

Trump ‘thinks about America’s interests’

The US-Houthi truce sidelined the Israeli government, according to former US Middle East envoy Dennis Ross.

He noted that Netanyahu was left in the dark when the US began talks with Hamas in March and only found out about US nuclear talks with Iran when Trump made the announcement seated next to the prime minister in the Oval Office last month. The US-Houthi ceasefire is one more instance where Israel’s concerns were a tertiary consideration for the White House, if at all, he said.

Whether Houthi ballistic missile launches against Israel continue remains to be seen, but Ross told CNN that Israel does not appear to have been a major factor in the White House’s thought process.

There has been no public criticism of the White House decision from Israeli officials. Netanyahu, who once openly criticized the Biden administration’s requests and policies, is one of Trump’s most vocal international supporters. Other members of the government have reserved their judgement as well, instead focusing on Israel’s resolve against the Houthis.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on Thursday that “Israel must be able to defend itself by itself against any threat and any enemy. This has been true in the face of many past challenges, and it will remain true in the future.”

With American weapons and many billions of dollars of support....

Israeli military extends detention of Palestinian journalist despite acknowledging lack of evidence


_{Samoudi, a prominent Palestinian journalist who has worked with CNN and other Western news outlets, was detained by Israeli forces on April 29}

The Israeli military acknowledged Thursday that it does not have “sufficient evidence” to substantiate terrorism funding allegations it leveled against a prominent Palestinian journalist, even as an Israeli general ordered he be detained for another six months.

The Israeli military’s top general in the occupied West Bank ordered the journalist, Ali Samoudi, 58, to be held under administrative detention, which allows the military to hold individuals without trial for up to six months at a time. Administrative detention orders can be renewed indefinitely.

The commander issued the order on Wednesday following a military court hearing last week during which prosecutors sought to extend his detention.

“As sufficient evidence was not found against him, and in light of the accumulated intelligence material, security authorities requested to consider issuing an administrative detention order,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement to CNN. “Today, after reviewing the intelligence, the commanding officer of the Central Command decided to place him under administrative detention for a period of six months.”

At the time, the Israeli military accused him of transferring funds to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant group in the West Bank and Gaza which Israel considers a terrorist organization. The Israeli military provided no evidence to back up its claim. Israeli military prosecutors never leveled that accusation in court, Samoudi’s lawyer Jamil al-Khatib said, instead vaguely accusing Samoudi of harming the activity of Israeli forces in the West Bank.

The military’s administrative detention order cites Samoudi’s “presence posing a danger to the security of the region” as justification for his detention. He is one of 20 journalists detained and held under administrative detention since the start of the war in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS)

Samoudi was also a witness to the high-profile killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, by Israeli forces in 2022, during which he was also shot.

Israel retrofitting DJI commercial drones to bomb and surveil Gaza

The Israeli military has been altering commercial drones to carry bombs and surveil people in Gaza, an investigation by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency has found.

According to Sanad, drones manufactured by the Chinese tech giant DJI have been used to attack hospitals and civilian shelters and to surveil Palestinian prisoners being forced to act as human shields for heavily armoured Israeli soldiers.

This is not the first time DJI drones have been modified and used by armies. There were similar reports about both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022.

At the time, DJI suspended all sales to both countries and introduced software modifications that restricted the areas where its drones could be used and how high they could fly.

However, DJI has not stopped selling drones to Israel.


_{A DJI Matrice 300 captured in Gaza}

By 2018, DJI drones were reportedly in extensive use across numerous divisions in the Israeli military. The Israeli campaign group Hamushim found evidence that Israeli military-trained operators were using DJI’s Matrice 600 model to drop tear gas on civilian protesters during the following year’s Great March of Return in Gaza.

Despite their previous deployment by the Israeli military, their lethal use against civilians and protected targets in Gaza, as documented in this investigation, is unprecedented.

Al Jazeera has reached out to Israeli authorities to request comment on the findings of this investigation but has received no response by time of publication.

Tools of war

Sanad has documented several DJI drones that have been adapted for military use.

However, it is the powerful DJI Agras drone, developed for agricultural use, that is the most significant.

According to its manufacturers, the DJI Agras can carry a substantial payload and is capable of precision flight. As Sanad’s investigation shows, it can also be used to deliver an explosive payload to targets beyond the reach of conventional military forces.


_{Israeli soldiers equip a DJI Agras drone with explosives}

In an incident documented by displaced civilians, footage shared on July 17, 2024, shows a DJI Agras drone dropping a bomb onto the IHH Turkish charity’s building in Jabalia, northern Gaza, less than 100 metres (330ft) from a school serving as a shelter and aid distribution centre.



In November in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, a DJI Agras drone dropped a bomb in a residential neighbourhood where civilians had fled after Israeli shelling of a UN-operated school-turned-shelter.

In addition to the DJI Agras, the DJI Mavic has been used by the Israeli military across Gaza for reconnaissance and target acquisition.

Similarly, the compact DJI Avata drone, designed for recreational filming, has been repurposed by the Israeli military to navigate and map the intricate tunnel networks beneath Gaza.

Beyond direct attacks, Israeli-modified DJI drones have been used extensively for surveillance and tactical operations throughout Gaza.

In a further incident, footage obtained by Al Jazeera Arabic from one Israeli drone shows a DJI Avata helping to track an unnamed Palestinian being used by heavily armed Israeli soldiers as a human shield – an illegal practice under international law – in Shujaiya in December 2023.

DJI double standards: Gaza vs Ukraine

In 2022, in response to complaints from Ukrainian officials that DJI was sharing critical data with their Russian adversaries, the drone manufacturer suspended all sales to its retail partners in both countries.

DJI explained the move: “We will never accept any use of our products to cause harm, and we will continue striving to improve the world with our work.”

Despite evidence of DJI drones being weaponised by the Israeli military in Gaza, DJI has had no such response.

Responding to direct inquiries from Sanad, DJI said: “Our products are for peaceful and civilian use only, and we absolutely deplore and condemn the use of [DJI] products to cause harm anywhere in the world.”

A subsequent direct query asked if it plans “to halt sales in Israel or implement measures similar to those taken in the Russia-Ukraine conflict”.

But DJI did not respond to the query not has it undertaken any measures to halt sales or impose software restrictions on where drones can fly over Gaza, allowing continued military deployments of their drones by the Israeli military.

And India is using Israeli drones

What are Israeli-made Harop drones India is said to be using against Pakistan?

Pakistani army spokesman Ahmad Sharif has said India fired several Israeli-made Harop drones at Pakistan overnight and into Thursday afternoon. Twenty-five of them were shot down, he said.

The Harop drone, produced by Israel’s Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), is one of several in India’s inventory, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance report.

According to IAI, the Harop drone is a “formidable loitering munition equipped to hunt high-value targets”. Loitering munitions are designed to hover over the battlefield and attack upon the operator’s commands.

It combines the capabilities of a drone and a missile and can operate at long ranges.

BIG- US official’s response confirms Trump has abandoned Netanyahu on Houthis

US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce on Thursday confirmed that the Trump administration had agreed with the Houthis on not including Israeli ships in the Red Sea as part of the ceasefire deal reached between the US and the Yemeni fighters. This was after she refused to comment on the Houthis’ stand that Israeli ships were not included in the deal. This was first reported by Rifat Jawaid of Janta Ka Reporter in this channel.

Tide TURNS On Israel As Rightwing Newspaper And Conservatives DENOUNCE West's Shame

Meet the Israeli Religious Extremists That Are Trying To Bring About The End Times

There’s a movement in Israel that wants to bring about the end times. The Temple Movement believes destroying Al-Aqsa Mosque and replacing it with a Jewish temple will bring about the messiah. BT’s Kei Pritsker explains the movement’s goals and its ties to Israeli fascism.



US Complicity In Israel's Gaza Starvation Is Policy, Not Accident

Child malnutrition is rising in Gaza as Israel's blockade enters third month

MALTA PANIC As Calls For Gaza Aid Ship Investigation Grow!

Malta appears to have dug its Freedom Flotilla Coalition shaped hole even deeper & now demands for the UN to investigate are growing. Right, so are Malta digging themselves an even bigger hole where it comes to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship, the Conscience, still stranded in international waters off their coast?

There’s been a lot of conflicting media coverage on this story, especially where it comes to the actions of the Conscience crew and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the FFC themselves. On one had some media are saying the crew was blocking aid and stopping a surveyor coming aboard to assess the damage, on the other hand, other outlets were saying the crew welcomed the surveyor to see the damage, though the crew, as a piece of footage the FFC have now released goes to show, may have rightly had concerns about that, wanted some assurances and they didn’t get them.

Why could an FFC representative not accompany the surveyor and indeed why are they blocking the FFC’s request for a UN investigation into the incident as well? What is it exactly Malta are trying to hide here, because all they’re doing is raising suspicions even more as to their own role in all of this. Right, so that was a piece of footage there, released by the FFC there, Tan Safi speaking on their behalf prior to the visit by a surveyor to inspect the ship, something some news outlets reported the crew had blocked, but in actual fact they had welcomed.

They were suspicious though clearly and understandably I think. The attack happened off Malta’s coast, 2000km from Israel, but who else would attack a vessel carrying aid for Gaza?  The FFC wanted one of their representatives to accompany the surveyor, yet this was refused. Why? What possible problem could that cause, unless the surveyor, or those who appointed him, had already predefined the results perhaps?

The very thing the crew might have concerned about, their vessel being surveyed by a nation that appears to be complicit to some degree by refusing to immediately come to their aid and bring them into port. Asking for guarantees is hardly unreasonable under the circumstances do you not think? This having been refused, its not like the crew had much leverage, they put this video out to call for a UN impartial observer, which was also refused.

This makes matters even worse for Malta because if you have something to hide from the UN, then you really are looking complicit to some degree here. 

US foundation eyes takeover of Gaza aid

The United States has said a new foundation is being established to coordinate aid deliveries to Gaza amid Israel’s two-month blockade.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told reporters on Friday that Israel would not be involved in distributing aid in the enclave but would provide security for the operations of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The plan for the “charitable” and “non-governmental” initiative was announced on Thursday by State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce. Although few details were revealed, it appears part of a US-Israeli push to take over the distribution of aid to prevent it from being diverted by Hamas and other groups.

The AP news agency reported that the newly created GHF had issued a proposal to implement a new aid distribution system, supplanting the current one run by the United Nations and other international aid agencies.

Reports claim that under the proposal, private contractors will be used to secure hubs where Palestinians will be required to gather to collect supplies.

Bruce promised further announcements regarding the proposal would follow soon. “I was hoping to introduce it today, but the foundation will be announcing this shortly,” she said.

The former executive director of the UN World Food Programme David Beasley is in talks with the US, Israel and other key players to head the GHF, reported US outlet Axis, quoting unnamed sources.

Israel’s blockade, implemented about two weeks before it resumed its bombardment of the enclave, has left Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, most of whom have been displaced multiple times, desperately short of food, fuel, and medicine.

Israeli ‘aid plan’

The US plan appears to be designed along similar lines to a proposal approved by Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday. Under the scheme, four “Secure Distribution Sites” would be constructed, each intended to serve 300,000 people. Palestinians expelled from northern Gaza would be forced to relocate to reach the centres.

The plan was met by sharp criticism from the UN and other aid groups, who noted that Palestinians have regularly come under attack from Israeli forces while collecting aid.

Addressing those concerns, Huckabee on Friday said “the most significant danger is not doing anything” and “people dying from hunger”. The aid would be “distributed effectively, but also safely”, the US official insisted, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.

[Remember the safety and effectiveness of the US 'aid' pier?]

The decision to bypass international aid agencies comes amid growing alarm over famine-like conditions in the besieged territory, where Israel’s near-total blockade has cut off all essential supplies for almost three months.

At least 57 Palestinians have starved to death in Gaza, with most of the victims being children, as well as the sick and elderly. UN humanitarian agency spokesperson Jens Laerke condemned the effort to dismantle existing aid structures on Tuesday. “This appears to be a deliberate attempt to weaponise the aid,” he said. “It should be based solely on humanitarian need.”

Gaza in desperate need for aid, but Israel will not be part of distribution, Huckabee says

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-853334

...

"The Israelis are going to be involved in providing necessary military security because it is a war zone, but they will not be involved in the distribution of the food or even bringing the food into Gaza," Huckabee told a press conference.

Asked whether the supply of aid hinged on a ceasefire being restored, Huckabee said: "The humanitarian aid will not depend on anything other than our ability to get the food into Gaza."

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Friday criticized emerging plans to take over the distribution of aid in Gaza floated by both Israel and the United States, saying this would increase suffering for children and families.

A proposal is circulating among the aid community for a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that would distribute food from four "Secure Distribution Sites," resembling plans announced by Israel earlier this week, but drew criticism that it would effectively worsen displacement among the Gaza population.

Huckabee said there would be an "initial number" of distribution centers that could feed "perhaps over a million people" before being scaled up to ultimately reach two million.

"Private security" would be responsible for the safety of workers getting into the distribution centers and in the distribution of the food itself, Huckabee said, declining to comment on rules of engagement for security personnel.

"Everything would be done in accordance with international law," he said.

Unlike everything so far?

Any aid is desperately needed at this point, but let's not pretend this isn't concentration camps in the making and a ploy to speed up ethnic cleansing in the Gaza strip.