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More Palestinians share horror after Israeli soldiers ‘throw them on jeep bonnet’

Press TV – July 1, 2024

More Palestinians have said they were injured by Israeli soldiers then forced onto the hood of vehicles and driven at speed along village roads following a recent military operation in the occupied West Bank.

Two more men have said they were subjected to the terrifying ordeal after an Israeli raid in Jabariyat, on the outskirts of Jenin in the West Bank.

Samir Dabaya, 23, now hospitalized in Jenin, said he was shot in the back during the raid, and lay face-down and bleeding for hours before he was assessed by soldiers.

He said when the soldiers realized he was alive he was beaten with a gun and then picked up and thrown onto the bonnet of a military jeep.

“They took off my [trousers]. I wanted to hold onto the car, but [one soldier] hit my face and told me not to. Then he started driving. I was waiting for death,” Dabaya was quoted as saying by the British state-backed broadcaster BBC, which said it was shown security camera footage that appeared to confirm his account.

Another Palestinian, Hesham Isleit, said he was shot twice during the operation in Jabariyat and forced onto the same military jeep. He said during the raid he was shot in the leg as he tried to run away.

“They ordered us to stand up, and undressed us, then they asked us to get onto the front of the jeep,” Isleit said.

All this came after footage of 23-year-old Mujahid Abadi Balas clinging to the bonnet of the same jeep sparked international outrage. The shocking image raised concerns over the use of human shields, something that is repeated in several ways in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli regime forces put Palestinian civilians in front of them or otherwise put civilians in the line of fire and force them to open doors that could be booby-trapped or remove suspicious objects that might be bombs.

The Zionist forces also often employ the “neighbor procedure” in which Palestinian civilians are forced to attempt to persuade individuals to leave or surrender themselves.

The use of Palestinians as human shields by Israeli regime forces in numerous cases has been well documented by multiple human rights organizations.

For decades, Palestinian children and adults alike have been used as human shields by the Israeli forces during operations.

July 1, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

A compound crime: Israeli army hits Gaza family, uses them as human shields, and runs over their mother

Euro-Med Monitor | June 30, 2024

Palestinian Territory – The Israeli army continues to use its tanks to deliberately run over live Palestinian civilians and crush their bodies, in addition to using civilians as human shields, in the ground operations of its crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip that has been ongoing since 7 October 2023.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor field team documented a compound and comprehensive crime against a civilian family comprising an elderly woman and her four children, including three young women and a one-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter. The family was attacked with gunfire and bombs after Israeli forces stormed their house on Thursday evening, 27 June. They were later taken outside and detained for over three hours despite their injuries in their home, near Israeli tanks in a dangerous combat zone, where they were used as human shields. The 65-year-old mother, identified as Safiya Hassan Musa Al-Jamal, was run over by an Israeli tank and killed in front of her son.

In his testimony to the Euro-Med Monitor team, the elderly woman’s son, Muhannad Al-Jamal, 28, said: “We were living in Al-Nazaz Street in Al-Shuja’iya, east of Gaza, when at approximately 10 a.m. on Thursday we were surprised to hear the sound of shelling and explosions. We made an unsuccessful attempt to leave. All around us was chaos. We went inside, up to the first floor, and sat in a room in the center of the house. As we were sitting there, we noticed that Israeli tanks were moving closer to the area. Then the bombing started to get more intense, and I saw that many of the tanks had turned and were now positioned on the adjacent land of our neighbours, bulldozing and destroying it before raising the Israeli flag on the property. I was with my mother, my three sisters, and niece in the room. We were very careful not to make any noise. At the end of the afternoon or before sunset, the tanks began firing shells toward my brother’s ground floor flat in our home. I got my family together and we sat in one of the rooms, reciting the Shahada (a statement of belief that Muslims recite before death) and waiting to see what would happen to us.

“After sunset, we heard gunfire in the street, and then I realised that the soldiers had stormed the house after blowing up a wall. When they found us in the room, they started firing at the walls randomly and threw five bombs amid gunfire. They were shouting in Hebrew, and we did not understand what they were saying. I was hit by shrapnel in my back, along with my sisters. My mother was struck by a large piece of shrapnel in her chest while my sisters were screaming, “We are civilians.” The soldiers then moved forward one by one, yelling, “Shut up,” before dragging me away. They forced me to take off my clothes and put me against the wall. After my mother and sisters entered with a female soldier, the soldiers pointed their weapons at me for half an hour.

“They asked me to carry my mother on my back. After that, a different soldier ordered me to place her on a stretcher, so I did. I then carried her with another soldier out through the opening that the army attack had made. We then went to a nearby area and were placed in a tank, where I placed the stretcher in front of me before exiting. After that, they brought me back to the house. They later took me down and handcuffed me. My sisters were at the tank’s door when a soldier arrived at roughly 9:45 p.m. and asked them to wait before he removed the handcuffs and put shackles on my hands and a blindfold on my eyes. He stopped me on a sand hill, and he was shining a laser at me. I felt that they were going to execute me. Then he turned on the tank and ordered me to get into it. It was a different tank from the one my mother was in. Later, the tank shifted and swung around. After that, they dropped me in what appeared to be a set of stairs, and I had no idea where I was. I was asked to follow their directions as I moved. This went on for about 15 minutes while rude remarks were made. Then I was grabbed by the neck by one of the soldiers. After I moved fifty meters, they put me in yet another tank. I moved in, then they took me down and put me in a tank that contained the stretcher that we used to transport my mother. Later on, the tank moved.

“I had assumed that we would be taken to a medical facility so that my mother could be treated, but instead they tackled me and my mother, putting her on the ground. After a few minutes, I realised we had arrived at the Mushtaha Roundabout, at the end of Al-Nazzaz Street. I inquired as to my location. “Your mother will be taken by ambulance,” he said. My mom was on the ground, unconscious. There were two tanks on the right and left surrounding the roundabout. After the soldiers entered the tank, it started to move backward and ran over my mother.

“When I saw the scene, I thought I had gone insane and began to cry and scream… I fled, fearing for my life, as the tank on the right tried to run me over. However, the two tanks moved in another direction, and the tank on the left was trying to run my mother over once more, but that did not happen. Afterwards, the tanks pivoted and pointed their weapons towards me. Out of fear, I hid by taking cover. All I could hear as I started to scream was the sound of gunfire. Dogs were getting closer to my mother’s body and I shoved them away as they were going to eat her body. This was on Friday just after midnight, around 1 a.m. The soldier in the tank knew where he had placed her and was able to avoid her, but he deliberately ran over her. I could not bear the situation amid the heavy gunfire, and I could not carry my mother after the tank ran over her. I was shocked by what had happened, but I could hardly cover my mother and ran from the place, thinking if there had been an ‘ambulance,’ as he said, he would not run over her. I went looking for my sisters, as I did not know their fate. I kept crying as I walked through the intense gunfire until I came across someone on a balcony who offered me a bottle of water and directed me along a safe route that would get me to my friends’ location in a stairwell. I made every effort to get in touch with my sisters, and eventually I found out that they were receiving medical care at Baptist Hospital. They inquired about my mother, so I told them.”

His sister, Areeji, 30, added to the Euro-Med Monitor team: “When the soldiers stormed our house and started shooting and throwing bombs, we told them that my mother was injured and dying. We noticed that she had a large wound, and a female soldier arrived to provide first aid. We observed her attempting to treat her repeatedly, and I witnessed my mother on the verge of death. After they had taken my brother, they held us for a while before telling us to head to Salah al-Din Street. When we asked about my mother, they said they would take her to the hospital. Then, they gave us a green light (torch) and we started to move. We were injured and bleeding, and we had a one-and-a-half-year-old baby girl with us. When we got to the area before the Shuja’iya intersection at 11:30 p.m., there were tanks there, a lot of gunfire, and I waved the green light (torch) until we passed. No one was following us until we got to the Baptist Hospital.”

Euro-Med Monitor has previously documented many instances of the Israeli army killing Palestinian civilians by intentionally running over live civilians with military tanks.

Sixty-two-year-old Jamal Hamdi Hassan Ashour was one such victim. He was deliberately run over in Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood on 29 February after he was arrested. The father of five was subjected to harsh interrogation by members of the Israeli army, who bound his hands with plastic zip-tie handcuffs before running him over with a military vehicle from the bottom to the top of his body.

Ashour’s home was targeted by Israeli aircraft, killing his nephew, before the family had to evacuate it. The incident occurred on the main Salah al-Din Street in the Zaytoun neighbourhood, according to eyewitnesses who spoke to the Euro-Med Monitor team. Israeli forces besieged Ashour and his wife inside their home, before arresting him and transferring him to a building in the neighbourhood designated for interrogating detainees. Israeli soldiers restrained the victim’s hands with plastic shackles before they crushed him, and tramped on his body from the legs up, confirming that he was alive during the incident. To guarantee thorough and complete crushing, the victim was placed on asphalt rather than on an adjacent sandy area.

Another documented incident took place on 23 January, when an Israeli tank ran over members of the Ghannam family while they were sleeping in a shelter caravan in the Taiba Towers area of Khan Younis. As a result, a man and his eldest daughter were killed, and his remaining three children and wife were injured. Amina, his 13-year-old daughter, confirmed that her father and older sister were killed when an Israeli tank unexpectedly and repeatedly ran over the caravan, where the family had been sleeping. While her mother and two other siblings survived the attack, Amina experienced extreme pressure in her eyes, nearly losing her sight.

In another incident documented by Euro-Med Monitor, Israeli tanks and bulldozers ran over and crushed displaced people inside their tents in Beit Lahia’s Kamal Adwan Hospital courtyard on 16 December 2023. Several people were killed, including individuals who were initially injured and did not ultimately survive. The corpses of those who had been previously buried in the courtyard were also crushed in the 16 December incident.

Euro-Med Monitor has also documented numerous incidents of Israeli army tanks destroying civilian property, particularly cars, during Israel’s ground incursions into different parts of the Gaza Strip. Most of these tank attacks have targeted vehicles with no evident military connection, parked in the streets, demonstrating the Israeli army’s deliberate and systematic destruction of Palestinian property.

These violations are part of a larger Israeli effort to dehumanise every Palestinian in the Gaza Strip, apparently in an attempt to justify and normalise the crimes being committed against them. Crushing civilians with tanks is just one of the many brutal ways the Israeli army murders Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, denying their humanity, suffering, and dignity. These practices reflect the intention of Israel’s government and military to collectively punish the Palestinian people, with the aim of eliminating, intimidating, and/or harming them physically and psychologically. These crimes come in tandem with a public incitement campaign by Israeli officials, media figures, and settlers calling for the annihilation of Palestinians in Gaza, and are committed with total impunity by the perpetrators—which is evident in the absence of any meaningful action by the Israeli government or military at any level to hold the perpetrators accountable.

Israeli military attacks continue in various parts of the Gaza Strip, with ongoing aerial and artillery bombardment targeting residential homes. The Israeli army has also escalated its targeted killings, and extrajudicial executions against Palestinian civilians since 7 October 2023 through direct targeting with snipers, drones, and continuing operations in various regions of the Gaza Strip. These actions against civilians amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute, and are all part of the Israeli crime of genocide that has been ongoing in the Gaza Strip since 7 October.

The widespread and indiscriminate destruction of property caused by the Israeli army, as observed in the Shujaiya neighbourhood east of Gaza City, Rafah, Khan Yunis, and Jabalia north of the Gaza Strip, affecting over 65% of the buildings, is also considered a war crime under the Rome Statute.

The international community must take immediate action to fulfil its international obligations to put an end to the crime of genocide that Israel has been committing against all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for nine months. Measures must be taken to ensure that Israel complies with its international obligations, the Security Council’s ceasefire resolutions, and the International Court of Justice’s rulings, and to ensure Israel is held accountable for the crimes it has committed against the Palestinian people.

July 1, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Hundreds of Israeli Officers Request Discharge from Military Service as Gallant Highlights Need for Extra Troops

Al-Manar | July 1, 2024

Israeli Channel 12 reported that, in 2024, around 900 military officers requested to discharge from the army, adding that the annual average of those requests is less than 150.

The channel considered the sharp increase in the number of officers requesting discharge as a “crisis for the state, not just the army,” describing the situation as “worrying.”

Zionist Channel 12 explained that one of the most challenging issues now is keeping officers in important positions within the “army.” It noted that in recent months, it has become evident that officers are inclined to leave the “army” or are considering doing so.

Regarding the reasons for the increase in the number of officers requesting discharge, Zionist Channel 12 mentioned that October 7 was one of the main reasons, along with incentives and bonuses, as well as the de-legitimization campaigns against the “army” by some Israelis and certain politicians.

Haaretz newspaper indicated that dozens of reserve soldiers have announced that they will not rejoin the army even if they get punished.

Meanwhile, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said the Israeli army needs 10,000 new soldiers immediately, 4,800 of which can be recruited from the ultra-Orthodox community, according to Israeli Channel 12.

This follows the Israeli High Court’s decision last week that ultra-Orthodox men can be drafted for military service, which sparked protests against conscription.

The Israeli media also reported that the occupation army is going to move into the third phase of its war on Gaza, which implies ground withdrawals in parallel with intensification of aerial attacks in order to avoid more of the losses inflicted by the Palestinian resistance.

July 1, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

Gaza hospital chief says he was severely tortured in Israeli prisons

Al-Shifa hospital director Mohammed Abu Salmiya (2R)awaits to make a statement in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 1, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Press TV – July 1, 2024

The director of Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, who had been detained by Israeli forces for more than seven months, says he was put through “severe torture” during his detention in Israeli prisons.

Mohammed Abu Salmiya was among more than 50 Palestinians released and returned to Gaza, according to a medical source in the besieged territory.

Salmiya told a press conference on Monday that detainees “are subjected to all kinds of torture,” in Israel’s prisons and detention centers.

“There was almost daily torture. Cells are broken into and prisoners are beaten.”

“Several inmates died in interrogation centers and were deprived of food and medicine,” the hospital chief said.

Salmiya said the regime’s prison guards “broke his finger and caused his head to bleed during beatings, in which they used batons and dogs.”

According to him, the Israeli regime’s medical staff at different detention facilities had also taken part “in violation of all laws.”

Some Palestinian detainees, he said, had limbs amputated because of poor medical care.

Salmiya said there are still thousands of detainees held by the regime’s forces.

According to the Gaza media office, the regime forces have kidnapped at least 5,000 Palestinians since October 2023, when the military launched its bloodiest-ever war in the besieged territory.

The fate of many of them or the conditions of their detention are still unknown, said the media office.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, said previously that he received reports that Palestinians were being beaten, kept in cells blindfolded and handcuffed for excessive periods, deprived of sleep, and threatened with physical and sexual violence.

Other reports suggest detainees have been insulted and exposed to acts of humiliation, such as being photographed and filmed in degrading poses.

The UN expert urged the regime to allow immediate access to international human rights and humanitarian observers to all the places in which Palestinians have been detained since October.

Human rights groups have repeatedly raised the alarm about “unprecedented difficult conditions” in which all Palestinian detainees, including women, are being held. Around 80 female detainees are currently being held in the regime prisons.

July 1, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel Again Targets Family Of Ismael Haniyya, Killing 10

IMEMC | JUNE 30, 2024

Earlier this week, the Israeli military again targeted the family of the senior political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniya, killing ten civilians, including his elderly sister.

This is the second time during this current nine-month long invasion that the Israeli military targeted Haniyeh’s family for assassination by missile.

The first time, on April 10, 2024, on the first day of the Al-Fitr Muslim feast that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a car carrying members of Haniyya’s family in the Shati’ refugee camp, in Gaza City, killing three of his sons, Hazem, Amir and Mohammad, and two of his grandchildren.

It is worth mentioning that, on November 21, 2023, the army killed Haniyya’s oldest grandson, Jamal Mohmmad Haniyya, and his daughter. On November 10, the army killed Haniyya’s grandchild, Ro’a Hammad, after firing missiles at their homes.

At the time, Haniyya, in Doha – Qatar, told Al-Jazeera that that Israel has already killed at least sixty members of his family, including cousins, nephews, and nieces, and added that all Palestinians in Gaza have paid a heavy price, but is determined to create a better future, achieve liberation and independence.

In an earlier Israeli assault on Gaza, in 2014, Israeli forces had targeted Haniyeh’s family home with a missile, destroying the home but causing no casualties.

The targeting of Haniyeh’s family comes, just like the previous time, as the Palestinian Prime Minister had agreed to the terms of a peace agreement after careful negotiations between the Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Some analysts have called these assassinations an attempt by the Israeli government to undermine and subvert the ceasefire negotiations.

According to the Palestine Chronicle, some family members remain under the rubble, with most of the victims being women.

According to Al-Jazeera, search efforts for survivors are ongoing, and the death toll is expected to rise.

The attack came at a time when the Israeli army has intensified its raids on the Shati camp, also targeting a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) shelter school, killing dozens, including children.

On April 10, three of Haniyeh’s sons and several grandchildren were killed in an Israeli raid on a civilian car in the Beach Camp, Gaza City.

The Israeli army acknowledged responsibility for the raids on the Shati camp, claiming they bombed buildings used by Hamas.

Although they did not directly mention targeting Haniyeh’s family, the Israeli Army Radio commented on the attack in which family members, including Haniyeh’s sister, were killed.

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 37,626 Palestinians have been killed, and 86,098 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

June 30, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tunisians demonstrate outside US embassy, demand envoy expulsion

Al Mayadeen | June 30, 2024

Tunisia saw on Sunday mass popular demonstrations outside the US embassy, in support of Gaza and in rejection of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Strip, amid demands for the expulsion of the American ambassador and the closure of the embassy.

Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, Tunisians have been continuously taking to the streets and staging sit-ins to raise their voices in support of the Resistance and to demand an end to the genocide being committed in Gaza by Israeli occupation forces.

Salaheddine al-Masri, the chairman of the Tunisian League for Tolerance, told Al Mayadeen that the Israeli occupation would destroy itself if it dared to confront the Lebanese Resistance, as evidenced by the United States sending messages to the Israeli entity not to open a front with Lebanon.

June 30, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lebanese Prime Minister Says His Country in State of War Due to Threats From Israel

Sputnik – 29.06.2024

Lebanon is in a state of war due to threats and aggression from Israel, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said.

“The threats we see are a kind of psychological warfare. The question that is on everyone’s lips ‘Is it a war?’ Yes, we are in a state of war. Due to Israeli aggression, there are a large number of civilian and non-civilian casualties and destroyed villages,” Mikati said in a statement on Saturday.

On June 18, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it had approved operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz later said that Israel was “very close” to a decision to “change the rules” against Hezbollah and Lebanon, threatening to destroy the movement “in an all-out war” and to “severely hit” Lebanon.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said that the movement could invade northern Israel if the confrontation intensifies further.

The situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border worsened after the start of Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip in October 2023. The IDF and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters fire at each other’s positions in areas along the border on a daily basis. The Lebanese Foreign Ministry said that around 100,000 people had to leave their homes in border areas, while the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that 80,000 Israelis had to do the same.

June 29, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Saudi Arabia warns of ‘dire consequences’ of Israel’s new settlement plans in West Bank

Press TV – June 29, 2024

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry has warned of the “dire consequences” of Israel’s plan to expand illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry slammed the Israeli regime’s decision to legitimize five new outposts in the West Bank.

Saudi Arabia opposes the “ongoing Israeli violations of international law and international legitimacy resolutions,” it added.

“These violations undermine opportunities for peace and contribute to fueling conflicts and destabilizing regional and international security and stability,” the statement read.

On Thursday, Israel’s extremist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that the Security Cabinet authorized one outpost for every country that unilaterally recognized Palestine as a state in the last month.

Last month, Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognized the Palestinian state, joining over 140 UN member states that have recognized its statehood over the past four decades.

Slovenia and Malta have also indicated they plan to formally recognize the state of Palestine.

The five settlement outposts are Evyatar, Givat Assaf, Sde Efraim, Heletz, and Adorayim.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation in a statement on Saturday condemned Israel’s new settlement expansion plan in the West Bank.

It said all actions and decisions taken by Israel as the occupying power to perpetuate its colonial regime in the occupied Palestinian territory are null and void under international law and the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, especially UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016).

June 29, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

No slow down in US shipments of 2,000lb bombs to Israel

The Cradle | June 29, 2024

The US has sent Israel over 27,000 bombs since the start of its horrific aerial assault on Gaza in October, Reuters reported on 29 June, including 14,000 highly destructive 2,000-lb bombs that US officials have acknowledged as “inappropriate” for Israel to use.

Reuters stated that the US military had transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-lb bombs, 6,500 500-lb bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and other munitions, according to US officials who were not authorized to speak publicly.

A recent US shipment of bombs to Israel was allegedly delayed due to the inclusion of 2,000-lb bombs within it. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video harshly criticizing the White House for the delay.

A US official told Axios the White House’s “main concern from day one was the Israeli use of the 2,000-lb bombs in Gaza, which the administration thought was inappropriate.”

In October, Israel dropped a 2,000-lb bomb in the center of the crowded Jabaliya refugee camp, killing some 120 people.

However, Reuters notes that the totals suggest “no significant drop-off in U.S. military support for its ally,” despite the recent White House “decision to pause a shipment of powerful bombs.”

Experts told Reuters the size and contents of the shipments are sufficient for Israel to replenish weapons it has used in its eight-month bombing campaign, which has ruined much of Gaza, turning vast swathes into a “moonscape.”

In late April, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor estimated that Israel had dropped approximately 70,000 tons of bombs on Gaza since the start of the war, an amount far surpassing the US and allied bombing of Dresden, Hamburg, and London combined during World War II.

Israeli leaders say that major combat operations in Gaza are winding down and that they are now shifting troops and resources to fight against the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, on the northern front.

While the US provides detailed descriptions and quantities of military aid sent to Ukraine to fight Russia, the White House has revealed few details about the full extent of US weapons and munitions sent to Israel, Reuters added.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has led the effort to supply bombs to Israel that have slaughtered over 37,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children.

In January, 19 Democratic lawmakers called Blinken’s decision to unilaterally approve two emergency weapons sales to Israel without congressional approval “highly unusual.”

June 29, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Over 80 UK war planes deployed from Cyprus to Lebanon since 7 Oct: Report

The Cradle | June 28, 2024

The UK has sent over 80 military transport planes to the Lebanese capital of Beirut since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza nine months ago, Declassified UK reported on 28 June.

All the flights have gone from the UK’s massive Akrotiri airbase on the nearby island of Cyprus, long a staging post for UK bombing missions in West Asia.

Declassified UK notes that the number of UK military flights to Beirut has risen dramatically in recent months. The group tracked 25 flights in April and May and 14 so far in June.

Flights from the UK base take around 45 minutes to reach Beirut, which Israel has increasingly threatened to bomb in a possible full-scale war with the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah.

The Ministry of Defense declined to disclose the number of UK military flights to Lebanon since the start of the war on 7 October or their purpose.

A defense source told Declassified UK that the flights “have been primarily for the purpose of facilitating senior military engagement” with the Lebanese army.

But it is widely assumed the planes are carrying weapons to Beirut to arm anti-Hezbollah militias. The US, UK, and Israel would presumably use these militias to attack Hezbollah from within the country in the case of an Israeli invasion from the south.

Declassified UK notes that nearly every Royal Air Force flight to Lebanon has been the Voyager KC mark 2, which can carry a payload of 45 tons and 291 personnel or provide air-to-air refueling. Another flight involved a vast C-17 cargo plane.

Israeli threats to invade Lebanon have accelerated in tandem with the increase in flights.

Israeli military leaders have increasingly warned of a Lebanon campaign to push Hezbollah away from the border and past the Litani River.

Last week, the Israeli army approved “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon,” and the US pledged to support Israel with weapons if a full-scale war breaks out.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned the resistance movement will use its massive rocket and missile arsenal to hit targets across Israel in a “total war” if Tel Aviv decides to launch an invasion.

Nasrallah also threatened Cyprus, noting its role as a US, UK, and Israeli staging ground.

“The Cypriot government must be warned that opening Cypriot airports and bases for the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon means that the Cypriot government has become part of the war and the resistance [Hezbollah] will deal with it as part of the war,” he said.

Nasrallah’s threat appeared to include the Akrotiri base, which lies in territory retained by the UK when Cyprus gained independence in 1960. The territory now hosts vast military and intelligence hubs for Britain and the US, Declassified UK notes.

June 28, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

These are the craziest ‘pro-Israel’ votes on the Hill today

BY BLAISE MALLEY | RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT | JUNE 27, 2024

In the more than seven months since Israel’s war on Gaza began, the Biden administration has been almost entirely deferential to the war effort, providing Tel Aviv with $6.5 billion worth of weapons, offering rhetorical and diplomatic cover, and holding Hamas wholly responsible for the inability to strike a ceasefire deal.

To some members of Congress — mostly Republicans — this level of support for Israel does not go nearly far enough.

This week, the House of Representatives will be voting on the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations legislation. Among the 75 amendments to the bill that were made in order and will be voted on are a series of anti-Palestinian proposals that seek to eliminate any appearance of balance in the United States’ approach to the war.

Two of the amendments seek to “prohibit funds” appropriated in the bill from being spent on holding Israel accountable for any violations of U.S. law.

One, introduced by Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) “Prohibits funds from enforcing Executive Order 14115,” which Biden announced in February of this year as a way to sanction individuals or groups who the administration deemed “undermining peace, security and stability” in the West Bank. The effort was widely seen as an effort to punish extreme Israeli settlers — as of March, nine Israelis have been sanctioned under the law — but in June the U.S. also sanctioned a Palestinian armed group.

The other, introduced by Reps. Andy Ogles (R-TN) and Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), would block “the use of funds from being used to administer or enforce National Security Memorandum 20.” NSM-20 is the memo issued by Biden in February that required the administration to receive written assurances that recipients of American military aid were complying with international law — in essence, ensuring that no one is using our weapons while committing atrocities, including blocking aid and medicine from getting to civilians.

The first report issued to Congress under this memorandum found that Israel had not violated the law in war conduct or in the distribution of international law. The directive would require the State Department to issue a new report each fiscal year.

Both Executive Order 14115 and NSM-20 call on Israel to do the bare minimum to comply with U.S. law, and critics, including in Congress, have argued that the administration has not gone nearly far enough in administering them.

How exactly Congress could “defund” either of these operations is not exactly clear, but both of these are likely intended as symbolic messages that the United States should not do anything that could in any way constrain Israel as it carries out its war.

Two other proposed amendments are aimed at ensuring that Americans are not aware of the scale of suffering in Gaza nor capable of alleviating it.

A bipartisan group of five representatives, led by Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) introduced an amendment that would prohibit “funds appropriated by this act to be made available for the State Department to cite statistics obtained from the Gaza Health Ministry.”

Given that the Health Ministry — which estimates that more than 37,000 Palestinians have died since October — is the only official source for casualties in the Strip, members seem to think the amendment will preclude the State Department from using the statistics. If so, officially, the U.S. would be ignoring the true scale of destruction in Gaza if this amendment is adopted.

Supporters of Israel have used the fact that Hamas runs the outfit as a way to undermine the death count for public perception, though the figures offered by the ministry have in the past been corroborated by international organizations and the Israeli government.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian pier — the Biden’s administration’s military plan for getting aid into Gaza — has been a failure. Operations have stopped and started intermittently due to the weather, the amount of aid entering Gaza through the pier is wholly inadequate, and even the supplies that have reached the Strip have not made their way to Gazans due to aid workers’ safety concerns. But aside from air drops, absent a ceasefire or the Biden administration putting real pressure on the Israelis, the pier remains the only way that Washington is currently sending assistance.

Nevertheless, Reps. Michael Waltz (R-Fla), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), and Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) have put forth an amendment to cut off funding for the project.

Taken together with an earlier ban on funding UNRWA, the largest provider of humanitarian assistance in Gaza, and an amendment to the NDAA that prohibited Washington from funding the reconstruction of the strip, it is clear that some in Congress want to play no role in helping Gazans who have suffered during this brutal war.

Debate over the State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill began on Wednesday evening before being adjourned, with votes on these and a number of other amendments carrying over into Thursday morning.

June 28, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Dozens of Palestinian homes demolished across occupied West Bank

The Cradle | June 27, 2024

Israeli forces have demolished 17 Palestinian homes across the occupied West Bank on 26 June.

Local sources told WAFA news outlet that the demolitions included four houses east of Jericho, eleven homes in the Umm al-Khair community in Masafer Yatta in Hebron, one home in Beitillu village, and one home in east Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood.

In Jericho, the demolitions were carried out on the basis that they were built without Israeli-issued permits.

The eleven houses demolished in Masafer Yatta all belonged to to the Al-Hathalin family, leaving over 50 Palestinians homeless.

Bulldozers tore through the land, uprooting many solar cells, water tanks, and fences, as well as trees.

With international attention on Gaza, Israel has stepped up settler violence to ethnically cleanse and expand its illegal settlement of the occupied West Bank.

Last week, Israeli forces carried out a campaign of raids in various parts of the occupied West Bank, as Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich openly confirmed that Israel has plans to annex the West Bank. The Israeli military gave significant legal powers in the occupied West Bank to pro-settler civil servants working for Smotrich to accelerate the annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories.

In March, the Israeli government designated 2,000 acres of Palestinian-owned land in the occupied Jordan Valley as state-owned property for the construction of over 100 settlement housing units and an area for commerce and industry.

Earlier this month, Norway’s largest private pension fund, Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP), dropped its stakes in Caterpillar Inc over concerns of complicity in the destruction of Palestinian homes.

June 27, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

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