Nakba survivor says Israeli ‘brutality’ worse than 77 years ago

Israeli forces destroyed homes in the occupied West Bank and killed dozens in Gaza as Palestinians marked 77 years since the Nakba. Israel’s “brutality” has displaced 85-year-old Nakba survivor Mohammed once again, but he says this time it’s worse.

Nakba continues to this day for Palestinians

Israeli historian Ilan Pappe has said the Arabic term “ongoing Nakba” accurately represents the ideology and strategy that informs Israeli actions to this day.

“The ethnic cleansing of 1948 was incomplete, although it resulted in the expulsion of half of the Palestinian population,” Pappe, who chairs the Nakba Memorial Foundation, told Al Jazeera.

“After Israel occupied all of historical Palestine in 1967, Palestinians remained under direct or indirect rule of the Jewish state. This is still an impulse of Israel – to try and have as much as possible with as few Palestinians as possible.”

While the manifestations of the Nakba have changed over the years, “the impulse is the same and the impact on Palestinians is the same in the last 77 years”, Pappe said.

The historian added that Israel’s current leadership “believes that now is a historical opportunity to complete what has not been completed in 1948”.

“We had ethnic cleansing in 1948 and now we have genocide in Gaza,” he said.

Dozens arrested as German police disperse pro-Palestine demonstration on Nakba Day

Police have forcibly dispersed a pro-Palestine demonstration commemorating Nakba Day in Germany’s capital, Berlin. Videos posted by activists on Instagram, and verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit, show police forcibly removing protesters.

German media outlets quoted a spokesperson for Berlin Police saying that its officers arrested more than 50 people, while 10 officers were injured.

Germany has been accused of silencing pro-Palestinian voices, having ordered the deportations of three European nationals and a United States citizen over their alleged actions at demonstrations.

Film on Gaza photographer receives standing ovation in Cannes

The screening of a documentary about the life of Palestinian journalist Fatima Hassouna, who was killed by an Israeli air strike last month, has received a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival.

Director Sepideh Farsi said Hassouna had been “glowing with joy” when she learned that the film Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk had made the cut. She was killed a day after the film was selected.

“She is not here, but yet she is present. They didn’t manage to defeat her,” Farsi said. “Those who wanted to look away perhaps will now be confronted with her simplicity, her force, and she’s gone now, and they know it.”

Farsi added that she received a report this week from the London-based Forensic Architecture research group that had found Hassouna had been a target of an Israeli strike last month. “It’s hard to believe, it’s like science fiction,” she said.

Trump says US could make Gaza a ‘freedom zone’

Before travelling to the UAE, the US president told a business roundtable in Qatar that aerial shots of Gaza show “practically no building standing”.

“It’s not like you’re trying to save something. There’s no buildings. People are living under the rubble of buildings that collapsed, which is not acceptable,” he said.

“I want to see that [Gaza] be a freedom zone. And if it’s necessary, I think I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone. Let some good things happen.”

Trump first pitched his idea in February, saying he wanted to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”. The plan drew global condemnation, with Palestinians, Arab nations and the UN saying it would amount to ethnic cleansing.

Palestinians vehemently reject any plan involving them leaving Gaza, comparing such ideas to the 1948 “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced from their homes in the war that led to the creation of Israel.

Wtf is a freedom zone, does he mean free trade zone? As in no taxes nor regulations? So back to turning Gaza into Monaco? Playground and tax haven for billionaires...

Gaza is an integral part of Palestinian land: Hamas

Hamas official Basem Naim has responded to Trump’s remarks in Qatar, saying the president “possesses the necessary influence” to end the Gaza war and help establish a Palestinian state.

But he added that “Gaza is an integral part of Palestinian land – it is not real estate for sale on the open market.”

Trump’s earlier proposal to remove Gaza’s population has been called ethnic cleansing by human rights organisations. Under international law, forcibly relocating civilians is a war crime.

Hence starvation, hoping people will relocate willingly instead of die... Netanyahu thinks he found a loophole to avoid the ethnic cleansing charge.

UN will not take part in US-backed aid effort in Gaza

The United Nations has said it will not take part in a controversial US-backed humanitarian operation in Gaza, while Israel pledged to facilitate the effort without being involved in aid deliveries.

“This particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence, and we will not be participating in this,” deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters that the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation would launch a “major operation” very soon. However, Israel would not be involved inside the operation centre.

“We will not be the one giving the aid. We will not be even in those centres. It will be run by the fund itself, led by the US. And I’m happy that a few NGOs joined these efforts,” Danon said.

No humanitarian assistance has been delivered to Gaza since March 2, and a global hunger monitor has warned that half a million people face starvation.

It's just another delay tactic, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a scam to get people to move into the Southern end of Gaza behind the Morag corridor.



It's in French, blue is occupied by the IDF, the green zone is where 2.1 million people are supposed to go to receive aid from 4 distribution points, 60 trucks a day.

Trump failing to pressure Netanyahu to end Gaza assault, lift blockade

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, says “games [are] being played with children’s lives” as Palestinians in Gaza face starvation.

Commenting on earlier remarks by Marco Rubio – the US secretary of state – about Washington being troubled by the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Bishara said, “The aid issue is not complicated at all.”

“Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid just met with [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu today and he walked out of the meeting and said, it’s Netanyahu – he’s the obstacle for making a deal on a ceasefire or on letting the aid in. It’s clear,” Bishara said.

“But the Trump administration continues to give Netanyahu excuses and continues to play games,” he said, referring to a United Nations plan for an alternative aid delivery system that has been rejected by the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies.

“It’s very easy: you open the borders, you let the [aid] trucks in, it’s as simple as that.”


_{Israel has not allowed any humanitarian aid into Gaza since early March}

‘Gaza is being starved’: UNRWA

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has reiterated that it has thousands of aid trucks waiting outside of Gaza to deliver critical assistance to Palestinians, but cannot due to Israel’s blockade.

Gaza is being starved, not by lack of aid but by lack of access,” the agency said in a post on X.

“Hunger and desperation are spreading as food and relief assistance are being weaponised. The siege must be lifted now.”

The world’s top hunger monitor said earlier this week that Gaza’s entire population faced a risk of famine due to the Israeli blockade, while 500,000 Palestinians face starvation.

Israel’s blockade becoming ‘a tool of extermination’: HRW

Major NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) is sounding the alarm over reports that Israel plans to destroy Gaza’s remaining civilian infrastructure and force Palestinians into a tiny area in the bombarded coastal territory.

That plan, the rights group said, “would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide” in the Gaza Strip.

HRW cited a recent report by US news outlet Axios that said Israel planned to “flatten” Gaza and move two million Palestinians into the southern Rafah area if no deal is reached by the end of US President Trump’s trip to the region today.

“Hearing Israeli officials flaunt plans to squeeze Gaza’s two million people into an even tinier area while making the rest of the land uninhabitable should be treated like a five-alarm fire in London, Brussels, Paris, and Washington,” said Federico Borello, HRW’s interim executive director.

“Israel’s blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination."

‘Unconscionable’: UNICEF chief condemns killing of Gaza children

Catherine Russell, executive director of the UN’s child rights agency (UNICEF), has condemned the killing of dozens of Palestinian children in Gaza in the past days.

“This should shock the world but is largely met with indifference,” Russell said, adding that more than 1 million children in Gaza also are at risk of starvation amid Israel’s blockade.

“More than 1 million children in Gaza are at risk of starvation. They are deprived of food, water and medicine.

All parties to the conflict must respect international humanitarian law.” - Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director pic.twitter.com/lDxTExbpy0

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) May 15, 2025

US senators call on Trump to pressure Israel to end blockade

More than two dozen US senators have introduced a resolution urging the Trump administration to “use all diplomatic tools at its disposal” to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

“It’s been over two months since the Israeli government has been using its power to withhold food, medicine, lifesaving cancer treatments, dialysis systems, formula, and more from starving and suffering families across Gaza,” Senator Peter Welch told the Senate earlier this week.

“Half a million Palestinians in Gaza are facing starvation, and that number is rising … All the while, these trucks that are filled with food and medicine – much of that aid provided by the United States and our allies – is right there across the border,” he said.

“We cannot have or sanction a government-intentional policy of starvation.”

The US provides at least $3.8bn in military assistance to Israel each year. Since the Israeli war on Gaza began in October 2023, it has provided billions in additional weapons to the Israeli military, as well as diplomatic cover to its top ally amid international condemnation.

Last week, Jinan Iskafi died of starvation in Gaza. She was four months old.

The formula she needed to survive was just across the border.

But because of the month's-long blockage of aid into Gaza, her parents couldn't get it in time. pic.twitter.com/ojMTRpGhEz

— Senator Peter Welch (@SenPeterWelch) May 15, 2025

Israel Kills Over 100 Palestinians On Nakba Day

Israel has killed more than 100 people on the anniversary of the Nakba - when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were violently displaced from their land. Plus: Keir Starmer’s plan to send asylum seekers overseas; and a Ben & Jerry’s co-founder is arrested for protesting in the US Capitol.

Israel’s “Crime of Apartheid”: New Report by U.S. Professors as Palestinians Mark Nakba Day

A major new report by U.S. academics analyzes Israel’s occupation of Palestine under the legal framework of the crime of apartheid. The report was intentionally released on Nakba Day — the day that marks the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homes during Israel’s violent founding in 1948.

Citing dozens of experts, human rights organizations and judicial decisions, it concludes that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians “meets the legal threshold of apartheid.” Researchers found that Israel imposes “policies that are designed to ensure the perpetual racial subordination of the Palestinian people,” says Sandra Babcock, a clinical professor at Cornell Law School who helped author the report.

IDF K*LLS 12 Year Old Witness To Paramedic Massacre

BBC, Sky News expose lies on Gaza hospital strike, Arab rulers busy wooing Trump

BBC News and Sky News, two of the biggest media outlets from the West, have emphatically debunked the lies peddled by the Netanyahu regime on the airstrikes targeting European hospital in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Arab rulers appear to be living on a parallel universe, not bothered by the goings on in Gaza as they splash $400 million on a gift for Trump and organize dance events to welcome the US president. Rifat Jawaid returns with his sharp commentary explaining how the Arab rulers had an amazing opportunity to wield their clout on Trump but refused to exercise it.

Israeli forces kill 5 Palestinians; calls to raze occupied West Bank towns after settler killed

Israel’s military said it killed five Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Thursday. The killing of the five followed after an Israeli settler was killed in a shooting in the West Bank.

The military said in a statement that it surrounded a house and killed five “terrorists” and arrested a sixth person following an exchange of gunfire and the use of shoulder-fired missiles by Israeli forces to destroy the house in the Palestinian town of Tammun.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad later issued a statement saying five of its members were killed while clashing with Israeli forces in Tammun.

The town is located some 35km (22 miles) from the area where a pregnant Israeli settler, Tzeela Gez, was killed on Wednesday night when shots were fired at the vehicle in which she was travelling. No link has been made between the killing of the five and the Israeli settler.

The Reuters news agency reports that pro-settler leaders, including an Israeli minister, called for Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank to be razed following the killing of the settler.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the rights of Israeli settlers outweigh the rights of Palestinians to move freely, calling for checkpoints to be permanently established throughout the occupied West Bank.

He also called for the death penalty for “terrorists”.


_{Palestinians inspect a house destroyed by the Israeli army during a raid that killed five Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank village of Tammun on Thursday}

The Westbank is starting to look more like Gaza day after day.

Remember July 19 2024 the ICJ ruled that the occupation of the Westbank should end asap. https://www.icj-cij.org/node/204176 As well as instructed the UN and UNSC to take steps to end the occupation.

Settlers assault Palestinian woman protecting land in occupied West Bank

Footage obtained by Al Jazeera shows Israeli settlers assaulting a Palestinian woman who had reportedly been trying to stop the group from trespassing on her family’s land near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Israelis hold funeral for pregnant woman killed in occupied West Bank


_{Relatives and friends on Thursday mourn Tzeela Gez, an Israeli settler who was shot and killed near her home in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, while driving to the hospital with her husband to give birth}

Israeli settlers burn vehicle in new attack near Nablus

As we reported earlier, there have been reports of Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian-owned vehicles in the occupied West Bank town of Bruqin, west of Salfit, and the Ramin Plain area, east of Tulkarem.

The Quds News Network now reports that Israeli settler militias have attacked the Masoudiya water well, northwest of Nablus, and burned the guard’s vehicle.

مليشيات المستوطنين هاجمت بعد منتصف الليلة بئر المسعودية شمال غرب نابلس وأحرقت مركبة حارس البئر. pic.twitter.com/gfXqO3Jhug

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) May 16, 2025

Translation: Settler militias attacked the Masoudiya well, northwest of Nablus, after midnight, and burned the well guard’s vehicle.

Israel’s UN envoy urges Security Council to act on missing persons mandate

Speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Thursday, Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, urged the body to implement Resolution 2474, calling on parties to armed conflict and UN states to search for and return missing persons.

Danon, who was joined by Ruby Chen and Leah Goldin, the parents of slain Israeli captives Itay Chen and Hadar Goldin, said Hamas had “violated every letter of that resolution, repeatedly and openly”.

“Where is the response? Where is the demand for compliance? Where is the basic moral outrage?” he asked.

“We call on the Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres] to fulfil his mandate under Resolution 2474 by including a dedicated section in his next report on the protection of civilians,” Danon added.

Yes please, there are tens of thousands of Palestinians missing either stuck under the rubble, buried in mass graves or abducted by the IDF and 'disappeared' into one of the many Israeli torture camps.

Türk deplores Gaza escalation, pleads for global action to stop more killings

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/05/turk-deplores-gaza-escalation-pleads-global-action-stop-more-killings

The sharp escalation of attacks and killings this week in Gaza, including Israeli strikes on hospitals, are compounding the already desperate humanitarian situation amid signs of even worse to come, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said today.

“This latest barrage of bombs, forcing people to move amid the threat of intensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighborhoods, and the denial of humanitarian assistance underline that there appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in Gaza that is in defiance of international law and is tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” Türk said.

The High Commissioner said this week’s intensification raises fears of the start of an even wider Israeli offensive and urged all parties, including third States with direct influence, to stop the assault. “We must stop the clock on this madness,” he said.

Already, medical services are in a state of collapse, shelters continue to shrink under displacement orders and destruction, and families are forced to live in tents under conditions far below standards keeping their human dignity, and extreme hunger is deepening due to the Israeli blockade.

Disgusting, claiming 'innocence' while profiteering from genocide

Microsoft says no evidence Israeli military used its tech to harm civilians in Gaza

The US tech conglomerate announced on Thursday that following an interview review, it found no evidence that its technology has been used by the Israeli military to harm civilians during its war on Gaza.

The review came following months of protests and allegations from Microsoft employees that the company is complicit in international law violations through its commercial relationship with the Israeli military.

“We take these concerns seriously,” Microsoft said in in a blog post on the review, which involved dozens of employee interviews and a review of internal documents.

It added that it “found no evidence to date that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies have been used to target or harm people in the conflict in Gaza”.

Microsoft, which provides software, cloud infrastructure and AI services to Israel’s Ministry of Defence, said it maintains a standard commercial relationship with Israel’s government.


_{Demonstrators march in support of Palestinians in Gaza near the Microsoft Build conference in Seattle, Washington in May 2024, calling for the termination of Microsoft’s Azure contracts with Israel}

Revealed: Microsoft deepened ties with Israeli military to provide tech support during Gaza war

Leaked documents shed light on how Israel integrated the US tech giant into its war effort to meet growing demand for cloud and AI tools

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/23/israeli-military-gaza-war-microsoft

The Israeli military’s reliance on Microsoft’s cloud technology and artificial intelligence systems surged during the most intensive phase of its bombardment of Gaza, leaked documents reveal.

The files offer an inside view of how Microsoft deepened its relationship with Israel’s defence establishment after 7 October 2023, supplying the military with greater computing and storage services and striking at least $10m in deals to provide thousands of hours of technical support.

Microsoft’s deep ties with Israel’s military are revealed in an investigation by the Guardian with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and a Hebrew-language outlet, Local Call. It is based in part on documents obtained by Drop Site News, which has published its own story.

The investigation, which also draws on interviews with sources from across Israel’s defence and intelligence establishment, sheds new light on how the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) turned to major US tech companies to meet the technological demands of war.

https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/

Microsoft can't find any evidence Israeli military used its tech to harm civilians ???
MS is fully complicit in the genocide.

Trump and Abu Dhabi ink partnership to build massive AI data center complex in UAE

The United States and United Arab Emirates will partner to build a massive data center complex in Abu Dhabi to advance artificial intelligence capabilities with 5-gigawatts of capacity — enough to power a major city.

The agreement, announced Thursday during US President Donald Trump’s visit to the UAE, will mark the largest data center deployment outside of the United States, according to the Commerce Department. It will begin with a 1-gigawatt AI data center, but will eventually span 10 square miles.

The project is also expected to expand the footprint of American AI and cloud companies in the Middle East, allowing them to better serve the global south.

UAE is backing RSF, committing genocide in Sudan. How many genocides is Trump in bed with now...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/24/uae-sudan-war-peace-emirates-uk-us-officials
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/apr/14/leaked-un-experts-report-raises-fresh-concerns-over-uaes-role-in-sudan-war
https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/sudan-genocide-emergency-january-2025