Israel, Palestine & the Levant rolling events: Oct 23 on

that piece is great, thanks for sharing it

― symsymsym, Friday, 2 February 2024 bookmarkflaglink

np. There are some incredible details in that piece.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas has begun to resurface in areas where Israel withdrew the bulk of its forces a month ago, deploying police officers and making salary payments to some of its civil servants in Gaza City in recent days, four residents and a senior official in the militant group said Saturday.
...n recent days, Israeli forces renewed strikes in the western and northwestern parts of Gaza City, including in areas where some of the salary distributions reportedly took place.

Four Gaza City residents told The Associated Press that in recent days, uniformed and plainclothes police officers deployed near police headquarters and other government offices, including near Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest. The residents said they saw the return of civil servants and subsequent Israeli airstrikes near the makeshift offices.

The return of police marks an attempt to reinstate order in the devastated city after Israel withdrew a significant number of troops from northern Gaza last month, a Hamas official told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The official said the group’s leaders had given directions to reestablish order in parts of the north where Israeli forces had withdrawn, including by helping prevent the looting of shops and houses abandoned by residents who had heeded repeated Israeli evacuation orders and headed to southern Gaza.

...Meanwhile, combat continued in southern Gaza.

At least 11 people were injured when Israel’s military fired smoke bombs at displaced people sheltering at the headquarters of the Palestinian Red Crescent in the southern city of Khan Younis, the organization said. It followed a siege that Israel’s military has laid on the Red Crescent’s facilities for 12 days, the organization said.

The charity said it had documented the killing of 43 people, including three staff members, inside the buildings by Israeli fire in those 12 days, with another 153 injured.

Israel’s military didn’t address the charity’s allegations of firing on the buildings, the killings or the blocking of access, and asserted that the Al-Amal Hospital facilities had adequate fuel and electricity and that the military helped to replenish two oxygen tanks.

The military said operations in Khan Younis would continue for several days.

At least 17 people, including women and children, were killed in two separate airstrikes overnight in Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah on the border with Egypt, according to the registration office at Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital, where the bodies were taken.

The first strike hit a residential building east of Rafah, killing at least 13 people from the Hijazi family. The dead included four women and three children, hospital officials said.

“Two children are still under the rubble, and we don’t, still we don’t know anything about them,” relative Ahmad Hijazi said.

The second struck a house in Rafah’s Jeneina area, killing at least two men and two women from the Hams family.

The Health Ministry in Gaza said Saturday that 107 people were killed over the past 24 hours, bringing the wartime total to 27,238. More than 66,000 people have been wounded.

The conflict has leveled vast swaths of the tiny coastal enclave, displaced 85 percent of its population and pushed a quarter of residents to starvation.

More than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has taken refuge in Rafah and surrounding areas. A United Nations official on Friday said Rafah was becoming a “pressure cooker of despair.”

Israel’s defense minister warned earlier in the week that Israel might expand combat to Rafah after focusing on Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza. While the statement alarmed aid officials and international diplomats, Israel would risk significantly disrupting strategic relationships with the United States and Egypt if it were to send troops into Rafah, a key entry point for aid.

And a plurality of the Israeli public cheers this on.

Very detailed (mentions that CNN International doesn't have these problems so far; this is about what's being filtered for domestic)

CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’
Insiders say pressure from the top results in credulous reporting of Israeli claims and silencing of Palestinian perspectives

I would have put this on the Israel Palestine other countries thread,but it's currently derailed and has other etc.

Also, as you can see from some of my pastes, the CNN website'a eyewitness reports can be stark.

Oh that's interesting. I was looking at Allsides.com media bias charts on this recently as well.

BREAKING: Prime Minister of Qatar @MBA_AlThani_ met today in Doha with the families of two hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, a source with knowledge of the meeting said. This is the 2nd time the Qatari prime minister is hosting families of hostages in Doha

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) February 5, 2024

this article tries to game out possible ways the Israeli government could collapse, as discussed upthread: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/05/world/middleeast/israel-netanyahu-americans-elections.html

It’s official 🙌

Eden Golan will be representing us at this year’s @Eurovision!

Good luck Eden ❤️🇮🇱#Eurovision2024 pic.twitter.com/He6UhcLeAf

— Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 (@Israel) February 7, 2024

Do they actively boo at eurovision or is it one those things where Civility is importatn

I'd be surprised if there was no booing.

At least it's not Eyal Golan:

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/1704376559-south-africa-includes-eyal-golan-lyrics-as-evidence-against-israel-at-icj

I've spent the last few days confused about whether those were two different people

https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-02-09-2024-d3229eec6a85c071248d3ddc2de2a73e

GROWING FRICTION
Comments from top U.S. officials about Rafah have signaled growing friction with Netanyahu after a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Blinken, who has been working with Egypt and Qatar on trying to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, left the region Thursday without an agreement. But he said he believed it was still possible to strike a deal that would include an extended pause in fighting in exchange for the release of many of the more than 100 hostages held by Hamas.

Netanyahu appeared to snub Blinken, saying he will settle for nothing short of “total victory.” The Israeli leader has said the war seeks to destroy Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and return all hostages home. With Blinken still in town, Netanyahu said achieving those goals would require an operation in Rafah. Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesman, said Thursday that going ahead with such an offensive “with no planning and little thought in an area where there is sheltering of a million people would be a disaster.”

John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesman, said an Israel ground offensive in Rafah is “not something we would support.”

Aid agency officials have also sounded warnings over the prospect of a Rafah offensive. “We need Gaza’s last remaining hospitals, shelters, markets and water systems to stay functional,” said Catherine Russell, head of the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF. “Without them, hunger and disease will skyrocket, taking more child lives.”

With the war now in its fifth month, Israeli ground forces are still focusing on the city of Khan Younis, just north of Rafah, but Netanyahu has repeatedly said Rafah will be next, creating panic among hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

these repetitive reports about Blinken and Biden's growing frustration with Israel remind me of all the articles about President Trump being "increasingly isolated"

Yeah it's such bullshit.

Thread on Rafah:

Israel is set to invade Rafah, not in spite of, but precisely because of the fact that it's a densely packed refugee camp where 1.1 million people, including 600k children have nowhere else to flee. There are two main aims behind this: 1/

— Amal Saad (@amalsaad_lb) February 9, 2024

Palestinians have for generations been telling the world what israel is. israel has been telling the world what israel is. It exists to steal land & eliminate Natives. Theyve always done it with support from OG colonial powers. Only a global anti-colonial coalition can stop it. https://t.co/1pgBbdd0Er

— michael (@Sisyphusa) February 10, 2024

Unsurprising and infuriating. Of course the West will ignore this like it has ignored all of the Zionist entity’s crimes, which at this point are too numerous to name.

Germany is also on the concern trolling trip.

Already, the suffering in #Rafah is unfathomable. In an extremely confined space 1.3 million people are seeking shelter from the fighting. A large-scale IDF offensive in Rafah would be a humanitarian catastrophe in the making. The people of #Gaza cannot vanish into thin air. 1/2 https://t.co/ORgOBYJXdc

— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) February 10, 2024

The hunger situation is also unbearably bleak. I mean the entire situation is, but Israel is conducting a campaign to starve Gazans, and I guess they get a pass on this because...?

If Israel is causing "unfathomable suffering" maybe someone should do something ffs. This has gotten genuinely maddening

https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/trying-to-keep-his-family-safe-in-rafah

xp otm, also what rings more hollow than countries who spend hundreds of millions buying this exact thing & who actively suppress criticism of it suddenly issuing the stern message “oh isn’t that a bit much”

Yeah, it’s blatant manipulation of narrative: “We’re so concerned about this,” well why now? Because it’s having negative effects on approval ratings? Sickening and maddening.

When they were among the survivors of the ethnic cleansing in 1948, my grandfather and young uncle at the time went to the make shift Israeli military outpost for a food ration permit, my uncle realized the commanding officer was using their stolen dinner table as his desk. https://t.co/tTWkKyXIuk

— Yousef Munayyer (@YousefMunayyer) February 11, 2024

frustration, increasing

President Biden reportedly has grown increasingly frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, finding him to be harder to privately influence as Israel continues its ground assault on the Gaza Strip. https://t.co/765ZDjnNWm

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 11, 2024

Results for Biden “increasingly frustrated”
About 205,000 results (0.33 seconds)

it's unfortunate that there's no option for the President to take any action commensurate with his frustration

Maybe stop shoveling money and weapons to the Israelis, has anyone thought of that?

... and vetoing every single resolution concerning Israel in the UN.

…And cancelling all US funding to the largest humanitarian org in Gaza because Israel falsely accused a bunch of its workers of taking part in the October 7 attacks.

good ideas all, but not nearly as effective as leaking measured private criticism to sympathetic media outlets

“i’m a good person”

…And cancelling all US funding to the largest humanitarian org in Gaza because Israel falsely accused a bunch of its workers of taking part in the October 7 attacks

has this been proven one way or the other? I lost track of this story.

No evidence given by Israel, head of UNRWA admits so:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/09/head-of-unwra-says-he-followed-reverse-due-process-in-sacking-accused-gaza-staff

has anyone even tried to deny the story of 6yo hind rajab's family being killed, and then the paramedics who thought they'd been given an ok to rescue her being killed, and then she herself being killed

my bad; they were all simply 'found dead'

In Gaza right now more people than in San Francisco and Kansas City combined have been driven from their homes to seek refuge in a city so small it only has a clinic, not a full hospital. Israel is dropping our bombs on its tents

— Max Fox (@mxwfx) February 12, 2024

LeMonde posted a string of portraits among the 28'000 allegedly killed. Among them a 12-year old named Dunia who lost her leg and her family in a bombing, had time to be filmed and speak to the press, before being killed in another bombing three weeks later. This is next to a girl of three who died in a refugee camp, a young woman 14 who wanted to be a famous violinist, people of all age and trades.

As if public opinion and outcry mattered, but at least stories are starting to be told for those who have eyes to see

hey it's long thread so forgive me if this has been asked and answered, but what's a good, reputable organization that's giving humanitarian aid, food, etc to gaza?

you just hear so many things about how some orgs just do general fundraising on the back of big world tragedies and i want to avoid that

thank you

here is what I did:
https://palestinesolidaritycompilation.bandcamp.com/album/palestine-solidarity-compilation

I personally donated to the PCRF but I believe this is a solid list below

27 new tracks, demos and covers from your favorite and new favorite bands. All songs are previously unreleased. In solidarity with Palestine, forever and ever.

!!! PLEASE DON'T BUY THE DIGITAL ALBUM HERE !!!
Because of some temporary tax issues, payment from this account to MAP is blocked by BC. We are trying to resolve the issue at the moment. In the meantime, please follow these steps to buy the album.

1. Donate the amount directly to UNRWA, PCRF, PRCS, ANERA, MAP, PYM etc.
2. E-mail the donation receipt to gd4palest✧✧✧@gm✧✧✧.c✧✧
3. Get a Bandcamp download code in return
4. Use the code to add the album to your library and download

It's fine to donate, but remember that not a lot of it will get in. Zionist Israelis are holding demonstrations— last night they held a rave— preventing aid from getting in.

one that I donated to and recommended earlier is anera.org

they've only ever been focused on helping victims or war in the region, and they are transparent about their daily activities:

https://www.anera.org/blog/gaza-and-west-bank-response-log/

honestly hard for me to even process how sick and barbaric Israeli civilians blockading humanitarian aid is

seems extremely under-reported by the North American media too, this is the only times piece I could find about it and it's about how Israel is "stepping up efforts" to stop the "protesters"

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/28/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-aid-kerem-shalom.html

The goons at Kerem Shalom are not going to stop the IDF from doing as it pleases.

thanks for the recommendations

anera looks good

jfc

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/10/gaza-aid-blockade-protest-kerem-shalom/

Israeli minister blocking flour Bibi promised Biden would be allowed into Gaza: https://www.axios.com/2024/02/13/israel-gaza-flour-shipment

imagine what the UNRWA could do with all that flour, chilling

The teens, and a smattering of people in their 20s, have come from all over Israel. They say that humanitarian aid to Gaza helps Hamas, and they’ll block it even if it means innocents starve.

Ben Shabat argues sugar and flour can be used to make bombs. “When you mix flour with potassium nitrate you get an explosive for a warhead,” he says. “Every pound of sugar and flour that goes into Gaza from Israel, we will get it back by the way of a rocket that will kill our children.”

The tactic is also about starvation. “When a soldier is hungry, he’s not fighting so well.”

And the children? “Nobody can say children are bad,” he says. But “the children from the past were murdering and raping and kidnapping” on Oct. 7.

Others say the aid isn’t even necessary.

“We heard they are giving them stuff that they don’t really, really need,” Attar says. “Like strawberries. I don’t think people there are crying for strawberries.”