🇧🇩 Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker? (2 Viewers)

[Saif]

1,000 Hamas members hospitalised in Turkey

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that more than 1,000 members of the Palestinian group Hamas were being treated in hospitals across Turkey, reiterating his stance that Hamas was a “resistance movement”.

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1,000 Hamas members hospitalised in Turkey
Claims Turkey's Erdogan, says US, Europe not doing enough to pressure Israel into Gaza truce

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that more than 1,000 members of the Palestinian group Hamas were being treated in hospitals across Turkey, reiterating his stance that Hamas was a "resistance movement".

Speaking at a press conference after talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Ankara, Erdogan also said he was saddened by the Greek view that deems Hamas a terrorist organisation.

On Sunday evening, Erdogan said that the United States and European countries were not doing enough to pressure Israel to agree a ceasefire in Gaza, after Palestinian group Hamas' move to accept a truce proposal.

Turkey has denounced Israel's attacks on Gaza, called for an immediate ceasefire, and criticised what it calls unconditional support for Israel by the West.

Ankara has halted all trade with Israel and said it had decided to join South Africa's initiative to have Israel tried for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

"It has become clear who sides with peace and dialogue, and who wants clashes continuing and more bloodshed."

— Says President Erdogan

Speaking to Muslim scholars in Istanbul, Erdogan said on Sunday evening that Hamas had accepted a ceasefire proposal by Qatar and Egypt in a "step in the path toward a lasting ceasefire", but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government did not want the offensive to end.

"The response of the Netanyahu government was to attack the innocent people in Rafah," he said, referring to the Gazan city that Israel is targeting. "It has become clear who sides with peace and dialogue, and who wants clashes continuing and more bloodshed.

"And did Netanyahu see any serious reaction for his spoiled behaviour? No. Neither Europe nor America showed a reaction that would force Israel into a ceasefire."

Erdogan's intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met with Hamas leaders in Doha on Sunday to discuss ceasefire talks and the access of humanitarian aid into Gaza, a Turkish security source said.

Israel's military conduct in Gaza has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks, as the civilian death toll and devastation in the enclave mount.​

 

[Saif]

Fighting rocks Gaza despite US warning

Israel battled Hamas in Gaza on Monday, including in far-southern Rafah, despite US warnings against a full-scale invasion of the crowded city and...

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Fighting rocks Gaza despite US warning
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City 13 May, 2024, 20:52


Israeli army battle tanks move near the border with the Gaza Strip at a location in southern Israel on Monday, amid the on-going conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the Hamas movement. | AFP photo.

Israel battled Hamas in Gaza on Monday, including in far-southern Rafah, despite US warnings against a full-scale invasion of the crowded city and of the threat of post-war 'anarchy' across the Palestinian territory.

Clashes also raged in northern and central Gaza as Israel marked a sombre Memorial Day, which is followed by Independence Day from Monday night, more than seven months into the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack.

Israelis marked a moment's silence and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that 'our war of independence is not over yet. It continues even today We are determined to win this struggle.'

AFP correspondents in Gaza reported helicopter strikes and heavy artillery shelling in the east of Rafah, as well as battles in northern Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp and Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood.

Israel last week defied a chorus of warnings, including from top ally Washington, and sent tanks and troops into the east of Rafah, the city on the Egyptian border where some 1.4 million Palestinians had sought shelter.

This has sparked an exodus of nearly 3,60,000 people from Rafah so far, said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, which warned that 'no place is safe' in the largely devastated territory.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Sunday that Washington had not seen any credible Israeli plan to protect civilians in Rafah, and that 'we also haven't seen a plan for what happens the day after this war in Gaza ends'.

'Israel's on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left or, if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas,' he told NBC.

Fighting has raged in northern Gaza where — months after Israel declared Hamas's command structure had been dismantled — an Israeli army spokesman said there were 'attempts by Hamas to rebuild its military capabilities'.

'The army threw leaflets and sent a message on mobile phones warning everyone to leave Jabalia' refugee camp, said one displaced Palestinian, Umm Adi Nassar, after arriving in Gaza City.

'This is not the first time we have been displaced,' she said. 'Every time we try to return and settle, there is an invasion operation, and the army with its air planes and tanks bombards the houses and kills people.'

Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, also said that its militants were engaged in ground battles in Rafah and Jabalia.

A strike overnight on a house in Rafah killed at least four people, said the city's Kuwaiti hospital.

Rafah residents on Monday received more evacuation orders through phone calls and text messages, prompting yet more people to leave their homes, witnesses said.

While Israel has vowed to destroy remaining Hamas forces in Rafah, the New York Times cited unnamed US officials as saying that both US and Israeli intelligence suggested the group's leader Yahya Sinwar was not hiding there.

Sinwar — who has not been seen since the October 7 attack which Israel says he orchestrated — 'most likely never left the tunnel network' under southern Gaza's main city of Khan Yunis, the newspaper said.

Amid the fighting, Egyptian, Qatari and US mediation efforts towards a truce appeared to have stalled.

UN chief Antonio Guterres urged 'an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian aid' into Gaza.

As Israel marked its Memorial Day, sirens sounded across the country at 11:00am (0800 GMT), prompting a two-minute silence in honour of fallen soldiers and civilian victims of attacks.

Memorial Day comes ahead of the country's 76th Independence Day, beginning Monday at sunset, when Israelis celebrate the creation of their state in 1948.

Palestinians remember Israel's establishment as the 'Nakba', or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were expelled or pushed out of their homes amid the war, and commemorate it annually on May 15.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war broke out after Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also seized some 250 hostages, scores of whom were freed during a week-long truce in November. Israel estimates 128 captives remain in Gaza, including 36 the military says are dead.

Israel's bombardment and offensive in Gaza have killed at least 35,091 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Israel's military says 272 soldiers have been killed since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza on October 27.

The war has displaced most Gazans, many multiple times.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Sunday that Israel's latest evacuation orders were 'forcing people in Rafah to flee anywhere and everywhere'.

Umm Mohammed Al-Mughayyir, who has had to move her family seven times to escape the fighting, said: 'We have reached a point where we wish for death.'

Residents were told to head to the Al-Mawasi 'humanitarian zone' on the coast northwest of Rafah, though aid groups have warned it is not ready for an influx of people.

Hisham Adwan, spokesman for the Gaza crossings authority, said on Sunday the Rafah crossing with Egypt has remained closed since Israeli troops seized its Palestinian side last Tuesday, 'preventing the entry of humanitarian aid'.

The health ministry said Monday that Gaza's health system was 'hours away' from collapse after fighting has blocked fuel shipments through key crossings.

Israel's military said Sunday it had opened a new border crossing into northern Gaza as 'part of the effort to increase aid routes'.​

 

[Saif]

Fierce fighting rocks Gaza after US warning of post-war ‘anarchy’

Fierce fighting rocks Gaza as Israel battles Hamas despite US warnings of post-war ‘anarchy’. Clashes spread across Gaza, with Israel defying international calls for restraint and facing warnings of a potential power vacuum and insurgency.

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Fierce fighting rocks Gaza after US warning of post-war 'anarchy'
Amid the fighting, Egyptian, Qatari and American mediation efforts towards a truce appeared to have stalled

AFPRafah, Palestinian Territories
Published: 13 May 2024, 19: 29


This picture taken from Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip shows destroyed buildings in the Palestinian territory on 14 May, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas

Israel battled Hamas in Gaza on Monday, including in far-southern Rafah, despite US warnings against a full-scale invasion of the crowded city and of the threat of post-war "anarchy" across the Palestinian territory.

Clashes also raged in northern and central areas of the besieged Gaza Strip, AFP correspondents and witnesses said, as Israel prepared to mark a sombre Independence Day, beginning Monday night, more than seven months into the war sparked by Hamas's 7 October attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Memorial Day event that "our war of independence is not over yet. It continues even today ... We are determined to win this struggle."

AFP correspondents reported helicopter strikes and heavy artillery shelling in the east of Rafah, as well as battles in northern Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp and Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood.

Israel last week defied international warnings, including from its top ally Washington, and sent tanks and soldiers into the east of Rafah, a city on the Egyptian border where some 1.4 million Palestinians had sought shelter.

This has sparked an exodus of nearly 360,000 people from Rafah so far, said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, which warned that "no place is safe" in the largely devastated territory.


A smoke plume from an explosion billows in the Gaza Strip as seen from a position along Israel's southern border with the Palestinian territory on 13 May, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group HamasAFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that Washington had not seen any credible Israeli plan to protect civilians in Rafah, and that "we also haven't seen a plan for what happens the day after this war in Gaza ends".

"Israel's on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left or, if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas," he told NBC.

Fighting has raged in northern Gaza where -- months after Israel declared Hamas's command structure had been dismantled -- an Israeli army spokesman said there were "attempts by Hamas to rebuild its military capabilities".

Evacuation orders

Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, also said that its militants were engaged in ground battles in Rafah and Jabalia.

A strike overnight on a house in Rafah killed at least four people, said the city's Kuwaiti hospital which had received the bodies.

Rafah residents on Monday received more evacuation orders through phone calls and text messages, sending yet more people to start packing and leave their homes, witnesses said.

While Israel has vowed to destroy remaining Hamas forces in Rafah, the New York Times cited unnamed US officials as saying that both US and Israeli intelligence suggested the group's leader Yahya Sinwar was not hiding there.

Sinwar -- who has not been seen since the 7 October attack which Israel says he orchestrated -- "most likely never left the tunnel network" under southern Gaza's main city Khan Yunis, the Times said.

Amid the fighting, Egyptian, Qatari and American mediation efforts towards a truce appeared to have stalled.

UN chief Antonio Guterres urged on Sunday "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian aid" into Gaza.

Moment of silence

As Israel marked its Memorial Day, sirens sounded across the country at 11:00 am (0800 GMT), prompting a two-minute silence in honour of fallen soldiers and civilian victims of attacks.

Memorial Day comes ahead of the country's 76th Independence Day, beginning Monday at sunset, when Israelis celebrate the creation of their state in 1948.


Israeli army battle tanks move near the border with the Gaza Strip at a location in southern Israel on 13 May, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the Hamas movementAFP

Palestinians remember Israel's establishment as the "Nakba", or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of people were expelled or pushed out of their homes amid the war, and commemorate it annually on 15 May.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war broke out after Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also seized some 250 hostages, scores of whom were freed during a week-long truce in November. Israel estimates 128 captives remain in Gaza, including 36 who the military says are dead.

Israel's bombardment and offensive in Gaza have killed at least 35,034 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Israel's military says 272 soldiers have been killed since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza on 27 October.

'We wish for death'

The war and siege have displaced most Gazans, many multiple times.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X on Sunday that Israel's latest evacuation orders were "forcing people in Rafah to flee anywhere and everywhere".

Umm Mohammed Al-Mughayyir, who has had to move her family seven times to escape the fighting, said: "We have reached a point where we wish for death."

Residents were told to head to the Al-Mawasi "humanitarian zone" on the coast northwest of Rafah, though aid groups have warned it is not ready for an influx of people.

Hisham Adwan, spokesman for the Gaza crossings authority, told AFP on Sunday the Rafah crossing with Egypt has remained closed since Israeli troops seized its Palestinian side on Tuesday, "preventing the entry of humanitarian aid".

The health ministry said Monday that Gaza's health system is "hours away" from collapse, after fighting has blocked fuel shipments through key crossings.

Israel's military said Sunday it had opened a new border crossing into northern Gaza as "part of the effort to increase aid routes".

In a sign of growing regional tensions, Egypt -- the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel, in 1979 -- said it would formally support an International Court of Justice case brought by South Africa, accusing Israel of genocidal acts in the war.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli tanks push into Rafah

Israel’s military operation in Rafah has set truce negotiations with Hamas ‘backward’, mediator Qatar said on Tuesday, adding that talks have reached...

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Israeli tanks push into Rafah
New Age Desk 15 May, 2024, 00:43


People move past destroyed buildings along a street in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday amid the on-going conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. | AFP photo

Israel's military operation in Rafah has set truce negotiations with Hamas 'backward', mediator Qatar said on Tuesday, adding that talks have reached 'almost a stalemate', reports AFP.

'Especially in the past few weeks, we have seen some momentum building but unfortunately things didn't move in the right direction and right now we are on a status of almost a stalemate,' prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told the Qatar Economic Forum.

'Of course, what happened with Rafah has set us backward.'

Qatar, which has hosted Hamas's political office in Doha since 2012, has been engaged — along with Egypt and the United States — in months of behind-the-scenes mediation between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.

'There is no clarity how to stop the war from the Israeli side. I don't think that they are considering this as an option even when we are talking about the deal and leading to a potential ceasefire,' Sheikh Mohammed said.

Israeli politicians were indicating 'by their statements that they will remain there, they will continue the war. And there is no clarity on what Gaza will look like after this', he added.

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks forged deeper into eastern Rafah on Tuesday, reaching some residential districts of the southern border city where more than a million people had been sheltering, raising fears of yet further civilian casualties, reports Arab News.

Israel's international allies and aid groups have repeatedly warned against a ground incursion into refugee-packed Rafah, where Israel says four Hamas battalions are holed up.

The World Court, also known as the International Court of Justice, said it would hold hearings on Thursday and Friday to discuss a request by South Africa seeking new emergency measures over the Rafah incursion, which Qatar says has stalled efforts to reach a ceasefire.

South Africa's demand is part of a case it brought against Israel accusing it of violating the genocide convention in Gaza, and which Israel has called baseless. Israel will provide its views on the latest petition on Friday, the ICJ said.

Israel has vowed to press on into Rafah even without its allies' support, saying the operation is necessary to root out remaining Hamas fighters.

'The tanks advanced this morning west of Salahuddin Road into the Brzail and Jneina neighbourhoods. They are in the streets inside the built-up area and there are clashes,' one resident told Reuters via a chat app.

Palestinian residents of western Rafah later said they could see smoke billowing above the eastern neighbourhoods and hear the sound of explosions following an Israeli bombardment of a cluster of houses.

Hamas's armed wing said it had destroyed an Israeli troop carrier with an Al-Yassin 105 missile in the eastern Al-Salam district, killing some crew members and wounding others.

In a round-up of its activities, the IDF said its forces had eliminated 'several armed terrorist' cells in close-quarter fighting on the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. In the east of the city, it said it had also destroyed militant cells and a launch post from where missiles were being fired at IDF troops.

Israel issued evacuation orders for people to move from parts of eastern Rafah a week ago, with a second round of orders extending to further zones on Saturday.

They are moving to tracts of land such as Al-Mawasi, a sandy strip bordering the coast that aid agencies say lacks sanitary and other facilities to host an influx of displaced people.


UNRWA, the main United Nations aid agency in Gaza, estimates some 4,50,000 people have fled Rafah since May 6, warning 'nowhere is safe,' in the enclave of 2.3 million.

The war has pushed much of Gaza's population to the brink of famine, the UN says, and has devastated its medical facilities, where hospitals, if working at all, are running short of fuel to power generators and other essential supplies.

James Smith, a British emergency room doctor volunteering in hospitals in southern Gaza, said he had been told by a World Health Organisation official that some emergency fuel had made it into the Gaza Strip, potentially enough for six days.

Fighting across the Strip has intensified in recent days, including in the north, with the Israeli military heading back into areas where it had claimed to have dismantled Hamas months ago. Israel says the operations are to prevent Hamas, which runs Gaza, from rebuilding it military capacities.

The Palestinian death toll in the war has now surpassed 35,000, according to Gaza health officials, whose figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters. It said that 82 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, the highest death toll in a single day in many weeks.

Israel launched its Gaza operation following a devastating attack on October 7 by Hamas-led gunmen who rampaged through Israeli communities near the enclave, killing some 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

In the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north, bulldozers demolished clusters of houses to make a new road for tanks to roll through into the eastern suburb.

In northern Gaza's Jabalia, a sprawling refugee camp built for displaced Palestinians 75 years ago, residents said Israeli forces were trying to reach as deep as the camp's local market under heavy tank shelling.​

 

[Saif]

Bangladesh condemns Israeli attacks on humanitarian convoy to Gaza

Breaking News, International News & Multimedia

thedailynewnation.com

Bangladesh condemns Israeli attacks on humanitarian convoy to Gaza
14 May 2024, 5:25 pm



BSS: Bangladesh has condemned the recent attacks perpetrated by Israeli extremist settlers in Palestine on a Jordanian humanitarian convoy to Gaza via the Beit Hanoun Crossing meant for civilian aid in Gaza.

"It is the responsibility of the Israeli Occupation authorities to put an end to these settlers' violence and to protect humanitarian convoys," according to a statement issued by the Bangladesh foreign ministry today.

It said Bangladesh underscored the need for the signatory parties to uphold the International humanitarian law (IHL) which clearly lays out the responsibilities of states and non-state armed groups for rapid and unimpeded passage for all humanitarian aid.

"As we express our support and solidarity with the Jordanian government in their endeavors to serve humanity through its humanitarian aid, we call upon Israeli Occupation Authorities to allow unhindered access of humanitarian aid to Gaza as enshrined in the International Humanitarian Law," read the statement.​

 

[Saif]

The butcher of Gaza opens his mouth to tell a lie. He is trying to justify the mass murder of Palestinians by the Israeli forces by claiming that half of the murdered Palestinians are Hamas fighters.

Hamas fighters comprise almost half Gaza's death toll, claims Netanyahu

Netanyahu insisted to podcaster Dan Senor that Israel had "been able to keep the ratio of civilians to combatants killed... (to) a ratio of about one to one".

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Hamas fighters comprise almost half Gaza's death toll, claims Netanyahu
AFP
Published: 14 May 2024, 08: 40



Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a speech during a ceremony on the eve of the Memorial Day for fallen soldiers (Yom HaZikaron), at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem on May 12, 2024.

Israel's prime minister said on a podcast that almost half of those killed in the Gaza war are Hamas fighters, playing down a civilian toll that has sparked global outrage.

Benjamin Netanyahu maintained the overall toll is lower than that given by authorities in the Palestinian territory.

According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 35,091 people have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

But Netanyahu suggested in an interview on the "Call Me Back" podcast conducted on Sunday that the death toll in Gaza was actually around 30,000 and that Hamas fighters accounted for nearly half of that toll.

Gazan authorities do not provide an overview of the number of Palestinian militants killed, but have repeatedly said that a large majority of those killed in the war have been women and children.

The United Nations and a long line of countries have voiced alarm at the number of civilian deaths.

United Nations rights chief Volker Turk warned in a statement last month that children especially are "disproportionately paying the ultimate price in this war".

But Netanyahu insisted to podcaster Dan Senor that Israel had "been able to keep the ratio of civilians to combatants killed... (to) a ratio of about one to one".

"Fourteen thousand have been killed, combatants, and probably around 16,000 civilians have been killed," he said.

He gave similar figures in March during an interview with Politico, at a time when Gaza's health ministry was reporting a toll of at least 31,045.

Netanyahu said at the time that the figure included 13,000 militants and the number of civilians was "far less than" 20,000.

His latest comment comes at a time of intensified pressure from Israel's chief military supplier, the United States, over the Palestinian toll from the war.

Washington paused delivery of 3,500 bombs, and US president Joe Biden warned he would stop supplying artillery shells and other weapons if Israel carries out a full-scale invasion of Rafah, where around one million people are sheltering.

A US State Department report on Friday said it was "reasonable to assess" that Israel has used American arms in ways inconsistent with standards on humanitarian rights but that the United States could not reach "conclusive findings."

The bloodiest ever Gaza war broke out after Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also seized around 250 hostages, scores of whom were freed during a week-long truce in November. Israel estimates 128 captives remain in Gaza, including 36 the military says are dead.​

 

[Saif]

'What's happening in Gaza is not a religious crisis'

Rabbi Alissa Wise, founder of Rabbis for Ceasefire, talks about Jewish solidarity with Gaza in an exclusive interview with The Daily Star.

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Interview with Rabbi Alissa Wise
'What's happening in Gaza is not a religious crisis'


Rabbi Alissa Wise arrested with a group of seven other Rabbis while trying to deliver aid into Gaza during Passover, on April 26, 2024. PHOTO COURTESY: RABBI ALISSA WISE

Rabbi Alissa Wise, founder of Rabbis for Ceasefire, speaks to Ramisa Rob of The Daily Star in this exclusive interview about Jewish solidarity with Gaza, Zionism in Israel and the US, and the dehumanisation of Palestinians.

Can you describe the work you have been doing and what exactly led you to go to the Erez Crossing—between Israel and north Gaza—to deliver aid to Palestinians?

So I was raised in a Zionist community in the US, which is very pro-Israel. Throughout my childhood, I went to Israel many times with my family and in summer camps. When I was in college, I spent a year in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where I had the opportunity to learn about Nakba, the catastrophe and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the foundation of the state of Israel. I was shocked to learn, for the first time, that Palestinians were living under a system of occupation. I couldn't believe that the Jewish values that I was brought up with were being disregarded. When I applied the teachings of Judaism that I was taught growing up to real life, they led me to a life of seeking solidarity with the Palestinian people.

I became a rabbi in 2009, in Philadelphia, and for most of my career, I was a staff leader for Jewish Voice for Peace. When October 7 happened, there was a clear need in the Jewish community, of a reminder about what Judaism teaches: life, peace, and for our purposes, ceasefire. Before the ground invasion had even begun, I began organising a group of rabbis to call for a ceasefire. We did a series of events—outside the capitol building in Washington D.C., met with members of Congress for a ceasefire bill; we did an action inside the United Nations to draw attention to the Biden administration's continued veto of the ceasefire. We also organised interfaith work: a pilgrimage for peace walk from Philadelphia to Washington D.C.

As we were thinking about Passover this year—which is the season of our freedom, our liberation, and in the Passover story we talk about the obligation to feed people—we realised that the dire man-made famine of the 2.3 million people in Gaza was what needed our attention the most. So we at Rabbis for Ceasefire, in concert with Israeli leftists, organised a march to take food to Gaza, through the northern crossing, knowing the famine is most acute in the north.

Can you describe exactly what happened when you went to give aid to people in Gaza?

We had a tonne of rice and flour that we had brought with us in a truck. We had tried different ways to coordinate with a humanitarian organisation on the ground in Gaza to receive it on the other side, but the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) wasn't allowing them free movement. When we got to the crossing, on the morning of April 26, we pulled over on a side caravan to begin our walk to the crossing on foot. The police were already there, so it seemed that they were anticipating our arrival. So we were pushing forward by foot, with the bags of rice and flour, and we were chanting and singing verses of scripture and the Hagara. Then, at a certain point, the police started shoving us off the road and proceeded to start arresting us. They first arrested our Israeli leftist counterparts, then they took me and a couple of other women.

I was detained for about 10 hours. They told me, "You are being detained because you tried to bring food to Gaza." Then they said again, "You are being detained because you tried to bring rice and flour to Gaza." It was pretty shocking that this is a crime. They formally interrogated me and I reserved my right to remain silent throughout it. The female police officer pretended to turn off the recording device and said she just wanted to talk to me one on one. She told me, "I just really can't understand why you would do this, it doesn't make any sense," and then proceeded to say really horrific, genocidal comments. She said, "There are no innocents in Gaza, not even the babies, not even the foetuses in the womb." As she was talking, I saw on her desk, a picture of her with her toddler. The soldier herself is a mother and the fact that she's able to dehumanise Palestinian foetuses, babies to this extent, was truly stomach-turning.

What do you think is the reasoning behind this ingrained dehumanisation of Palestinians today?

For both Israeli Jews and American Jews—the context that I'm in—we are often taught that Israel is a social justice project of sorts, that the Jews of Eastern Europ (those who survived the Holocaust; and many of my family members died in the Holocaust) needed Israel because we cannot count on the world who turned its back on us. In fact, Netanyahu has said these exact words in a press conference recently. In our minds, Jews are always the victims of a genocide, not the perpetrators of it. People just don't wish to see or accept that Israel has in fact been acting like a vicious oppressor of Palestinians for decades. But Israel is a nation-state, it's not a person, and it is not "Jewish" because its behaviours such as denying Palestinians the right to life, freedom and dignity is not a Jewish value.


PHOTO COURTESY: RABBI ALISSA WISE/RABBIS FOR CEASEFIRE

We are literally live-streaming the mass murder and mass destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, but people are still reluctant to call it what it is. Our work at Rabbis for Ceasefire is to hold fast to the moral traditions deeply embedded in Judaism and to allow it to pull ourselves back from this thirst for revenge, and this fantasy of eliminating Hamas. You can kill human beings but you just cannot destroy an ideology. We know that Hamas has long recruited from those who have had family members killed by the state of Israel, so think about the hundreds of thousands of people that it's true for now. There is now a whole new generation that is traumatised and they will be prone to hate. But American Jews and Israeli Jews are engaging in a fantasy that they wouldn't possibly be resisting in the way oppressed Palestinians are resisting now, and they want to believe that Palestinian are just inherently violent, that they don't deserve protection and that they in fact are no longer human. This is such a dangerous road to go down because when you dehumanise any people, you start with the Palestinians but then where's it going to end? We know all too well from Jewish history where dehumanisation ends.

How do you, as a rabbi and an activist, feel about the religious rhetoric in this crisis?

The crisis between Israelis and Palestinians is a political crisis. It is not a religious one. There are a lot of efforts to turn this into a centuries-old religious conflict, stoked primarily by Christian Zionists. Most of the Zionists in the US are not Jewish; they are Christians. There's a group called "Christians United for Israel," which hosts more than 11 million members—more than the entire population of Jews in the US. They are the dominant political force behind the US support for Israel. Understanding this is actually really important, because when the founding idea first came about to establish a Jewish state, in the late 1800s, the first idea was not that it would be in historic Palestine. There was a Uganda plan, and people were also looking at the far reaches of Eastern Europe. There was an urging and influence from the Christian Zionist movement, essentially those within the British Parliament, that tried to leverage the traditions of the Torah and Bible and utilise those for the Christian Zionist context, to hasten the "Second Coming," at which point Jews would either have to convert in mass to Christianity or burn. There is literally nothing more antisemitic than that.

What do you make of "antisemitism" since October 7? Is the meaning being warped?

I have been called a self-hating Jew, an anti-Semite. There's a person in my neighbourhood who puts a sticker on my house almost every week, that says "You don't speak for Jews." The thing to really understand is that critiquing the actions of the Israeli state is not inherently antisemitic. Anti-Jewish hatred is a totally different thing. If you are motivated to critique Israel, because Israel is being led by a group of Jews and you mistrust Jews, then that's antisemitism. But if you are critiquing Israel because you see the mass demolition of life in Gaza and understand the state's systemic oppression of the Palestinian people, that's a valid critique of a nation-state. That is not antisemitism.

There's an industry in order to confuse people. And the reasons why powerful people are feeding into that idea is because there is no other way to shield themselves from accountability and critique, and there is just no rationale for decades of siege. As the pro-Israel community is muddying the waters of what is antisemitism, they are actually leaving Jews more vulnerable to it. As a Jew, I feel less safe in the US given the activities of the pro-Israel community, who are willing to make common cause with White nationalists and Christian nationalists—the very people who have committed murderous attacks against Jews in the US.

Politically, one of the ways you can actually be a true friend is by telling people when they are going down the wrong path and having some form of accountability. As we now wait to see what kind of horrors unfold in Rafah—the US has to stop sending blank checks to send munitions that have killed over 15,000 children in Gaza. You don't aid and abet people who are committing such heinous war crimes. The blood is now on our hands, here in the US, and what we are seeing everyday—such as the mass graves being uncovered in Al-Shifa hospital—is why students on college campuses are willing to sacrifice their degrees, reputations, internships because they understand that if they right now allow these horrors to happen to Palestinians, what kind of future are they even going to be living in? If in the present, we allow these horrors to go unchallenged and the US government continues to fund them, the universities continue to profit off of them, then what will happen in the future?

How do you plan to further your activism within the Jewish community since your visit to Israel?

I'm still trying to absorb my brief experience in Israel. There is a tendency to start the clock on October 7, but we need to understand that the state of Israel has been using Jewish traditions as a fig leaf to compromise Palestinian life and devastate families and communities for the sake of militarised ethno-nationalism. At this point, we need to really reckon with that history and refuse these easy narratives such as, "Hamas hates Jews." No. Hamas resents being under the apartheid system that the Israeli government has set up. And I am not trying to defend Hamas at all; in fact, I myself am a non-violent activist and I don't support armed resistance. But I think we need to understand the context. When I was there in the region in April, I also saw American Jews in the West Bank from Florida setting up outposts and terrorising Palestinian communities from just ploughing their fields. We really have a responsibility to understand history, address reality and refuse these easy narratives.

What we faced in Israel has also reinforced for me how important the organisation Rabbis for Ceasefire is. We are now over 330 rabbis and Jewish clergy, who are calling together for a ceasefire at a time when many in the Jewish community are not just opposing ceasefire, but recently there was a rally where a Jewish member of Congress called for more humanitarian aid into Gaza, and he was booed by the crowd; thousands of New Yorkers booed the idea of allowing aid into Gaza. The moral crisis inside the Jewish community cannot be overstated. We need to sever this idea right now that Israel and Zionism is akin to Judaism—which is a centuries-old multifaceted religion fostering peace and life. Zionism is over a 125-year-old political movement. These are completely different tracks that have been pushed together for political expediency. Part of the work now is to pull them apart.

Primarily, we want to bring more attention to a ceasefire but it doesn't just end there. The day the bombs stop falling and the people of Gaza, God willing, are able to start putting their lives back together—some experts say it'll take two decades before the strip can be adequately restored—we still have to figure out how to ensure that the apartheid system ends. Immediate ceasefire is what's needed to save lives now, but we also need to look at long-term peace and justice. It's hard to imagine how to rebuild that society where there's such a deep level of hate and dehumanisation. I was talking to my Israeli comrade, and she said she's been been reading up on how Germany "de-Nazified" after World War II, to see how this could end and how Palestinians and Israelis can really live together. A lot of work—moral, spiritual and humanitarian—has to be done.​

 

[Saif]

Women, children make up 56pc of Gaza dead: UN

Women and children make up at least 56 percent of the thousands killed in the Gaza offensive, the UN said Tuesday, amid controversy over the toll based on numbers from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

www.thedailystar.net

Women, children make up 56pc of Gaza dead: UN

Women and children make up at least 56 percent of the thousands killed in the Gaza offensive, the UN said Tuesday, amid controversy over the toll based on numbers from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

The United Nations was clarifying a fresh breakdown of the death toll in Gaza, after Israel slammed the world body for "parroting... Hamas's propaganda messages".

"Anyone who relies on fake data from a terrorist organisation in order to promote blood libels against Israel is antisemitic and supports terrorism," Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X, formerly Twitter, late Monday.

Due to a lack of access, UN agencies have since the beginning of the Gaza offensive on October 7 relied on death tolls provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. This has drawn criticism from Israel, but the United Nations says the ministry's tolls before the offensive were deemed reliable, and that it will strive to verify the figures "when conditions permit".

The ministry said Tuesday that at least 35,173 people have been killed in the territory due to Israeli military operations. Gaza authorities have consistently said women and children make up a large majority of those killed in the territory.

But a fresh breakdown provided by the health ministry and published by the UN last week appeared to cast doubt on that assertion.The ministry said that as of April 30 it had fully identified nearly 25,000 of those killed, with identification elements missing for the remainder of the nearly 10,000 others who had died.

Of those fully identified, it said 40 percent were men, 20 percent women and 32 percent children, while another eight percent were elderly -- a category not broken down by gender.

WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva that by applying the same ratio to the unidentified and assuming women represent half of the elderly, it could be expected that at least "56 percent women and children" were among the more than 35,000 dead.​

 

[Saif]

Biden admin plans $1b in new arms for Israel despite Rafah threat

US President Joe Biden's administration informed Congress on Tuesday of a $1 billion weapons package for Israel, official sources told AFP, a week after threatening to withhold some arms over concerns of a Rafah assault

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Biden admin plans $1b in new arms for Israel despite Rafah threat

US President Joe Biden's administration informed Congress on Tuesday of a $1 billion weapons package for Israel, official sources told AFP, a week after threatening to withhold some arms over concerns of a Rafah assault.

The administration informally notified the weapons package to Congress, which will need to approve it, a US official said, while a congressional aide who also requested anonymity said the weapons bought from US weapons makers amounted to around $1 billion.

The weapons would come out of a major $95 billion package recently approved by Congress in defense support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and the Biden administration has repeatedly said it planned to go ahead and appropriate the funds through purchases from US manufacturers.

But the deal comes a week after Biden warned he may withhold bombs and artillery shells to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went ahead in defiance of US warnings with an assault on Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than one million Palestinians have taken shelter after half a year of war.

The Biden administration also confirmed last week that for the first time it had halted a shipment including 2,000-pound bombs, fearing they would be used with devastating risks for civilians in Rafah.

Congress could still block the weapons sale to Israel, with left-leaning members of Biden's Democratic Party outraged by the toll on civilians in the Gaza war.

But the overall package passed despite opposition from the left, with the rival Republican Party almost unanimously in support of arms for Israel.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the new arms package. It said it could potentially include $700 million in tank ammunition and $500 million in tactical vehicles.

The Biden administration, while increasingly critical of Israel, has made clear it will continue to support its ally's security and pointed to US assistance last month in shooting down Iranian drones launched in retaliation for a strike on a diplomatic facility.

"We are continuing to send military assistance, and we will ensure that Israel receives the full amount provided in the supplemental," Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, told reporters on Monday.

"We have paused a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs because we do not believe they should be dropped in densely populated cities. We are talking to the Israeli government about this," he said.

Since the October 7 Hamas attack that triggered the massive Israeli retaliation, the Biden administration has twice cited emergency needs to avoid the regular 30-day review by Congress of military transfers.

Critics also point out that the Biden administration has sent a regular flow of weapons unknown to the public as they fall below the threshold for congressional notification.​

 

[Saif]

Ireland to recognise Palestinian statehood ‘this month’

Ireland is certain to recognise Palestinian statehood by the end of May, the country’s foreign minister Micheal Martin said on Wednesday, without specifying a date...

www.newagebd.net

Ireland to recognise Palestinian statehood 'this month'
Agence France-Presse . Dublin 15 May, 2024, 22:57

Ireland is certain to recognise Palestinian statehood by the end of May, the country's foreign minister Micheal Martin said on Wednesday, without specifying a date.

'We will be recognising the state of Palestine before the end of the month,' Martin, who is also Ireland's deputy prime minister, told the Newstalk radio station.

In March the leaders of Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Malta said in a joint statement that they stand ready to recognise Palestinian statehood.

Ireland has long said it has no objection in principle to officially recognising the Palestinian state if it could help the peace process in the Middle East.

But Israel's war against Hamas militants in Gaza has given the issue new impetus.

Last week, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Spain, Ireland and Slovenia planned to symbolically recognise a Palestinian state on May 21, with others potentially following suit.

But Martin on Wednesday shied away from pinpointing a date.

'The specific date is still fluid because we're still in discussions with some countries in respect of a joint recognition of a Palestinian state,' he said.

'It will become clear in the next few days as to the specific date but it certainly will be before the end of this month.

'I will look forward to consultations today with some foreign ministers in respect of the final specific detail of this.'

Last month during a visit to Dublin by Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez, Irish prime minister Simon Harris said the countries would coordinate the move together.

'When we move forward, we would like to do so with as many others as possible to lend weight to the decision and to send the strongest message,' said Harris.

Harris's office said Wednesday that he updated King Abdullah II of Jordan by telephone on Ireland's plan for statehood recognition.

Harris 'outlined Ireland and Spain's on-going efforts on Palestinian recognition and on-going discussions with other like-minded countries', a statement read.

'The King and the Taoiseach (prime minister) agreed that both Ireland and Jordan should stay in touch in the coming days,' it added.

The conflict in Gaza followed Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack against Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages, 128 of whom Israel estimates remain in Gaza, including 36 the military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.​

 

[Saif]

Hezbollah fires rocket barrage at Israeli positions

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it yesterday launched “more than 60” rockets at Israeli military positions in retaliation for overnight air strikes on the country’s east.

www.thedailystar.net

Hezbollah fires rocket barrage at Israeli positions

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it yesterday launched "more than 60" rockets at Israeli military positions in retaliation for overnight air strikes on the country's east.

Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire following the Palestinian group's October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, now in its eighth month.

Hezbollah fighters "launched a missile attack with more than 60 Katyusha rockets" on several Israeli military positions in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, the group said in a statement.

The strikes were "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks last night on the Bekaa region" in eastern Lebanon's Baalbek area, the group added.

The Israeli army later said it had identified "approximately 40 launches" from Lebanon "towards the Golan Heights", causing "no injuries".

It added that Israeli forces struck the sources of the fire. The army reported several more attacks from Lebanon on northern Israel, to which it had also responded with strikes.​

 

[Saif]

Bangladeshi poets observe Nakba Day in Dhaka

Renowned poets of the country said that any aggression or war destroyed people’s freedom and displaced them from their homes...

www.newagebd.net

Bangladeshi poets observe Nakba Day in Dhaka
Cultural Correspondent 15 May, 2024, 23:07


Poets and cultural activists pose for a photo at a programme marking Nakba Day organised by literary platform Bangiya Sahitya Sabha at DrikPath Bhaban in the capital on Wednesday. | — Press release

Renowned poets of the country said that any aggression or war destroyed people's freedom and displaced them from their homes.

They made the remarks while attending a programme to observe Nakba Day, the day of commemoration for the 'Nakba', also known as the Palestinian Catastrophe, held at DrikPath Bhaban in the capital on Wednesday.

Organised by literary platform Bangiya Sahitya Sabha, poets and cultural activists, including Kajal Shaahnewaz, Shayan, Sajjad Sharif, Shakhawat Tipu, Jahir Hasan, Shahed Kayes, Saikat Amin, Mridul Mahbub, Bayezid Bostami, Rafsan Galib, Ferdous Ara Rumi, Altaf Shahnewaz, Emran Mahfuz, Arup Rahi, Rumana Rumi, Shaibal Noor, Ektiza Ahsan and others participated in the programme, which was moderated by writer Mahbub Morshed.

Poet Shakhawat Tipu told New Age that any aggression or war destroyed people's freedom and displaced them from their homes.

'Aggression or war also endangers people's lives and destroys civilisation. As a result of this, the biggest disaster happens to humanity,' said Tipu, adding, 'In this case, it will be the humanitarian duty of people to stand up for defending the rights and freedom of the oppressed people of Palestine.'

Reading poems, the poets of Bangladesh are expressing solidarity for the oppressed people of Palestine, he mentioned.

When the people of Palestine are homeless, landless, without all human facilities, this poetry reading session will awaken people's minds against Israeli oppression, said poet Mridul Mahbub.

The poet said, 'I strongly believe that poetry is stronger than a well-equipped army. The living words of poetry against that military aggression are nothing less than guerrilla attacks.'

Pointing out that Palestine is the oldest wound in the world, poet Bayezid Bostami said, 'There is still war going on, blood is being shed, children are being killed. We believe that Palestine will be free one day.'

The poet mentioned that he attended the poetry reading programme in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The Nakba, Arabic for 'catastrophe', refers to the Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what today is Israel before and during the war surrounding its creation in 1948.​

 

[Saif]

Israel vows to 'intensify' operations in Rafah

Israel vows to 'intensify' its ground offensive in Rafah, defying global warnings over the fate of Palestinian civilians. Defence minister Yoav Gallant announces that 'additional forces will enter' the area and 'this activity will intensify'. The battle in Rafah is deemed 'critical' by Prime...

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Israel vows to 'intensify' operations in Rafah

AFPRafah, Palestinian Territories
Published: 17 May 2024, 09: 26


Smoke billows during Israeli strikes in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 13 May, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group HamasAFP

Israel vowed Thursday to "intensify" its ground offensive in Rafah, in defiance of global warnings over the fate of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians sheltering in Gaza's far-southern city.

Defence minister Yoav Gallant said "additional forces will enter" the Rafah area and "this activity will intensify".

"Hundreds of targets have already been struck and our forces are manoeuvring in the area," Gallant said following a troop visit on Wednesday.

Israel's top ally the United States has joined other major powers in appealing for it to hold back from a full ground offensive against Hamas in Rafah, the last city in Gaza so far spared heavy urban fighting.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Thursday that the ground assault on Rafah was a "critical" part of the army's mission to destroy Hamas and prevent any repetition of the 7 October attack that triggered the war.

"The battle in Rafah is critical... It's not just the rest of their battalions, it's also like an oxygen line for them for escape and resupply," he said.

Many of those fleeing Rafah have headed for the coastal area of Al-Mawasi that Israel has declared a "humanitarian zone". Satellite images also show a vast new tent city that has sprung up near the main southern city of Khan Yunis.

Many of the displaced are "exhausted, they are scared, they don't have resources", said Javed Ali, head of emergency response in Gaza for International Medical Corps.

Ali, who works at a field hospital in Al-Mawasi and is an aid veteran of multiple war zones, said the situation in Gaza was "far more catastrophic" than anything he had seen before.

"The immense number of trauma cases, the lack of resources, the interrupted supply chain... it's something that I've never seen."


Abbas criticises Hamas over war

More than seven months into the conflict, Israeli forces were also fighting Palestinian militants in new flashpoints in northern and central Gaza.

Heavy battles rocked the Jabalia refugee camp where Israel lost five soldiers to friendly fire on Wednesday.

In comments to troops outside Rafah Thursday, army chief Herzi Halevi pledged: "We won't let Hamas rebuild itself and they will pay a price."

Washington has repeatedly urged its ally to take greater steps to protect civilians -- and to make a post-war plan for Gaza to avoid being mired in a long counterinsurgency campaign.

Netanyahu insisted Wednesday that any planning for post-war Gaza was "empty talk" until Hamas is defeated.

In signs of a growing rift inside the war cabinet, Gallant called on Netanyahu to "declare that Israel will not establish civilian control over the Gaza Strip".

"The 'day after Hamas' will only be achieved with Palestinian entities taking control of Gaza, accompanied by international actors, establishing a governing alternative to Hamas rule," Gallant said.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh insisted the movement is "here to stay".

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas told an Arab League summit in Bahrain that Hamas's "unilateral decision" to launch the October 7 attack had "provided Israel with more pretexts and justifications to attack the Gaza Strip".

Hamas expressed "regret" at the president's criticism.

In a statement issued after the summit, the Arab League demanded an "immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza".

The 22-member bloc also called for UN peacekeepers to be deployed in the occupied Palestinian territories until a two-state solution has been implemented.

US says Gaza pier ready

The war broke out after the October 7 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The militants also seized about 250 hostages, 128 of whom Israel estimates remain in Gaza, including 38 the military says are dead.

Israel's devastating military retaliation has killed at least 35,272 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

An Israeli siege on Gaza has brought dire shortages of food as well as safe water, medicines and fuel for its 2.4 million people. The threat of famine hangs over parts of the war-ravaged territory.

The arrival of occasional aid convoys has slowed to a trickle since Israeli forces took control last week of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing.


The US military said Thursday it had completed a temporary pier on Gaza's coast, part of a project to ship in relief supplies from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

US Central Command said it expected around 500 tonnes of aid to be delivered on board several ships over the coming days.

But Farhan Haq, a spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres, said negotiations were still ongoing on how the aid would be distributed after Washington ruled out any involvement by its troops.

Haq also reiterated the UN's preference for a land route, saying "getting aid to people in need into and across Gaza cannot and should not depend on a floating dock far from where needs are most acute".

In a case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, South Africa accused Israel on Thursday of stepping up what it called a "genocide" in Gaza, urging the court to order a halt to Israel's assault on Rafah.

"As the primary humanitarian hub for humanitarian assistance in Gaza, if Rafah falls, so too does Gaza," said South Africa in its submission.

"In attacking Rafah, Israel is attacking the 'last refuge' in Gaza, and the only remaining area of the Strip which has not yet been substantially destroyed by Israel," the document added.

Israel, which is due to respond on Friday, has described South Africa's case as unfounded.​

 

[Saif]

Many killed in fierce fighting in Gaza

The Israeli army told AFP on Friday that renewed fighting in Gaza’s northern town of Jabalia was ‘perhaps the fiercest’ in over seven months of war.

www.newagebd.net

Many killed in fierce fighting in Gaza
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 17 May, 2024, 23:56


A displaced Palestinian woman holds a child by the hand as she walks in front of tents set up inside the European hospital compound in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday. | AFP photo

The Israeli army told AFP on Friday that renewed fighting in Gaza's northern town of Jabalia was 'perhaps the fiercest' in over seven months of war.

The army had said in early January that it had 'completed the dismantling of Hamas's military framework in the northern Gaza Strip' and vowed to focus its war efforts on central and southern areas of the Palestinian territory.

But intense fighting resumed less than a week ago in Jabalia, the second-most populous town in northern Gaza.

'Hamas was in complete control here in Jabalia until we arrived a few days ago,' the Israeli army told AFP on Friday, four months after its spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed that militants were operating in the area only sporadically and 'without commanders'.

The current fighting in Jabalia is 'perhaps the fiercest we have encountered' in this area since the start of the offensive in the Gaza Strip, the army said, adding that it was now operating in the town's refugee camp.

Before the war, Jabalia was home to the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, with more than 100,000 people packed into 1.4 square kilometres, according to the UN.

The army said it had killed around 200 militants since the resumption of fighting in Jabalia on Sunday.

Images provided by the Israeli army showed soldiers moving through a maze of heavily damaged and deserted buildings.

Intense fighting, accompanied by shelling, also resumed at the beginning of May in the Zeitun neighbourhood in the southwest of Gaza City, also in the north of the Palestinian territory.

Until recently, Israel claimed that the last four Hamas battalions were hiding out in Gaza's far-southern city of Rafah, on the Egyptian border.

On May 7, the Israeli army sent tanks and troops into eastern Rafah, vowing to wipe out the militant group.

According to Israeli military sources quoted in several media outlets, Hamas had about 30,000 fighters in the Gaza Strip, divided into 24 battalions before October 7.

More than 35,303 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war broke out, according to data provided by the health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza.

The Israeli army said Friday that troops had recovered the bodies of three hostages in the war-torn Gaza Strip who had been 'murdered' by their captors.

'Last night, the Israel Defence Forces (army) rescued the bodies of our hostages Shani Louk, Amit Buskila and Itzhak Gelerenter, who were taken hostage during the Hamas massacre on October 7 and murdered,' military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised address.

The US military said aid deliveries began Friday via a temporary pier in Gaza aimed at ramping up emergency humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

'Today at approximately 9 a.m. (Gaza time), trucks carrying humanitarian assistance began moving ashore via a temporary pier in Gaza,' the US Central Command said in a statement, adding that no US troops went ashore.

'This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature,' it said.

The pier was successfully anchored on Thursday, with around 500 tonnes of aid expected to enter the Palestinian territory in the coming days.

Photos released on Thursday by CENTCOM showed humanitarian aid being lifted onto a barge in the nearby Israeli port of Ashdod.

The Palestinian territory is facing famine after an Israeli siege brought dire shortages of food as well as safe water, medicines and fuel for its 2.4 million people.

The arrival of occasional aid convoys has slowed to a trickle since Israeli forces took control last week of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing.

The UN has said that opening up land crossing points and allowing more trucks convoys into Gaza is the only way to stem the spiralling humanitarian crisis.

The Gaza war broke out after Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's devastating military retaliation has killed at least 35,272 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.​

 

[Saif]

South Africa 'genocide' case 'totally divorced' from facts: Israel

Israel criticizes South Africa's case at ICJ, calling it 'totally divorced' from reality as Pretoria urges ceasefire in Gaza, while South Africa accuses Israel of genocide and seeks emergency orders from the court.

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South Africa 'genocide' case 'totally divorced' from facts: Israel
AFPThe Hague
Published: 18 May 2024, 08: 39


Court judges take part in a session in which Israel's legal team presented its response to South Africa's request of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, on 17 May 2024AFP

Israel lashed out Friday at South Africa's case before the UN's top court, describing it as "totally divorced" from reality, as Pretoria urges judges to order a ceasefire in Gaza.

A top lawyer for Israel painted the South Africa case as a "mockery" of the UN Genocide Convention it is accused of breaching.

"South Africa presents the court for the fourth time with a picture that is completely divorced from the facts and circumstances," Gilad Noam told the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Pretoria has petitioned the ICJ to order a stop to the Israeli assault on the Gaza city of Rafah, which Israel says is key to eliminating Hamas militants.

Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the ground assault on Rafah was a "critical" part of the army's mission to destroy Hamas and prevent a repetition of the 7-October attack.

"The battle in Rafah is critical... It's not just the rest of their battalions, it's also like an oxygen line for them for escape and resupply," he said.

Netanyahu ordered the Rafah offensive in defiance of US warnings that more than a million civilians sheltering there could be caught in the crossfire.

Friday in the Hague, Noam told the court Israel was "acutely aware" of civilians concentrated in Rafah.

"It is also acutely aware of Hamas efforts to use these civilians as a shield," he said.

Noam said there had been no "large-scale" assault on Rafah but "specific and localised operations prefaced with evacuation efforts and support for humanitarian activities."

A few dozen protesters rallied in support of Israel outside the Peace Palace seat of the ICJ, showing pictures of some of the hostages held by Hamas.

And the sitting was briefly interrupted as Israel was concluding its statement, with a woman heard shouting "liars" in the court.


'New and horrific stage'

On Thursday, lawyers representing Pretoria presented judges a litany of allegations against Israel, including mass graves, torture and deliberate withholding of humanitarian aid.

"South Africa had hoped, when we last appeared before this court, to halt this genocidal process to preserve Palestine and its people," said top lawyer Vusimuzi Madonsela.

"Instead, Israel's genocide has continued apace and has just reached a new and horrific stage," added Madonsela.

But Noam said that South Africa's accusations made a "mockery of the heinous charge of genocide."

"Calling something a genocide again and again does not make it genocide. Repeating a lie does not make it true," he said.

"There is a tragic war going on but there is no genocide."

It is the fourth time South Africa has appealed to the court, with Israel accusing them of abusing the procedure.

"If anyone should be told enough is enough, it should be South Africa, not Israel," said Noam.

"At what point do we say 'enough' to South Africa's repeated attempts to exploit the provisional measure procedure of this court in such a vile and cynical manner?"

'Protection from genocide'

In a ruling that made headlines worldwide, the ICJ in January ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent genocidal acts and enable humanitarian aid to Gaza.

But the court stopped short of ordering a ceasefire and South Africa's argument is that the situation on the ground -- notably the operation in the crowded city of Rafah -- requires fresh ICJ action.

The orders of the ICJ, which rules in disputes between states, are legally binding but it has little means to enforce them.

It has ordered Russia to halt its invasion of Ukraine, to no avail.

South Africa wants the ICJ to issue three emergency orders -- "provisional measures" in court jargon -- while it rules on the wider accusation that Israel is breaking the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.

It wants the court to order Israel to "immediately" cease all military operations in Gaza, including in Rafah, enable humanitarian access and report back on its progress on achieving these orders.

The Hamas attack on 7 October resulted in the death of more than 1,170 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Out of 252 people taken hostage that day, 128 are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, including 38 who the army says are dead.

At least 35,303 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war broke out, according to data provided by the health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza.

Israeli military says 279 soldiers have been killed in the Gaza military campaign since the start of the ground offensive on 27 October​