Unarmed southern Lebanese defy Israeli occupation; injuries reported
Al Mayadeen | January 29, 2025
“Israel” continues to violate the ceasefire with Lebanon, persistently attacking residents of southern villages and demolishing homes and lands in the region.
In this context, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that five Lebanese civilians were injured, including two in critical condition, following an Israeli drone strike on the outskirts of Majdal Selem, near Wadi al-Slouqi.
Meanwhile, an Israeli military bulldozer conducted excavation operations at the western entrance to Mays al-Jabal, advancing beyond the UNIFIL headquarters in a provocative maneuver.
Invading Israeli units carried out extensive bulldozing operations on the outskirts of Marwahin, shielded by a Merkava tank while demolishing an artesian well in Houla and erecting new earthen fortifications.
Concurrently, an Israeli drone dropped three explosive bombs on the town of Tallousah, injuring one person and damaging a bulldozer and a truck. Additionally, Israeli forces set fire to homes between the towns of al-Qantara and Taybeh.
Residents defy the IOF, determined to reclaim their land
Despite the brutal Israeli assaults, residents of Maroun al-Ras continue attempting to enter their town from the northeastern side to retrieve the bodies of martyrs still under the rubble.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported that residents of Maroun al-Ras bypassed Israeli forces controlling the northern entrance by using alternative routes to enter the town. During the incident, one civilian was shot and wounded by Israeli forces, while the invading Israeli units abducted four civilians in Maroun al-Ras, including a woman. While three have been released, one remains in captivity.
It is worth noting that gunfire from Israeli forces echoed as residents entered for the first time.
A resident of Maroun al-Ras stated, “Our return is our decision. We will liberate our land with stones and boiling oil, just as we did in the 1980s.”
Similarly, residents of Yaroun are preparing to enter their town from the northern entrance, reaffirming their resilience and commitment to their land, supported by the Lebanese Army.
The National News Agency reported that residents of Kfar Kila set up a tent on the Khardali road at the Deir Mimas-Qlayaa junction, declaring their intent to remain there until invading Israeli units withdraw.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported a total of 36 injuries from Israeli attacks the previous day, with six in Yaroun as residents attempted to re-enter, 20 in an airstrike on Nabatieh al-Fawqa, and 10 in an assault on Zawtar.
It is worth noting that the Israeli occupation forces launched on Tuesday evening two airstrikes on Nabatieh al-Fawqa in Southern Lebanon within the span of an hour.
The first strike injured 14 people, according to the initial figures reported by Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.
Thousands of southern Lebanese residents gathered at the entrances of their villages, preparing to return after the expiration of the 60-day deadline. This marks the fourth consecutive day of their return following the conclusion of the deadline for Israeli forces’ withdrawal, which ended on Sunday.
“Israel”—under US backing—confirmed through Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office that its forces would not fully withdraw from southern Lebanon after the expiration of the deadline.
Hezbollah responded late Thursday, declaring that “any violation of the 60-day deadline is a blatant breach of the agreement and an escalation of the assault on Lebanese sovereignty.” The Resistance movement emphasized that the Israeli occupation had entered a new phase that should be confronted by the Lebanese state using all available methods guaranteed by international law to reclaim and liberate the land.
IRIB head confirms journalist held by Israeli forces in occupied territories
Press TV – January 28, 2025
The head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Peyman Jebelli says an IRIB journalist has been detained by Israeli forces in the occupied territories.
Jebelli on Tuesday revealed that following extensive inquiries, it has been confirmed that the journalist is currently imprisoned and held captive by the Israeli regime.
Highlighting the sensitivity of the matter, the IRIB chief noted that the family of the detained journalist had preferred not to publicize the matter, which has complicated efforts to secure the release.
He emphasized that the journalist remains in captivity in the occupied territories and is not in Gaza.
Jebelli said, “We are hopeful that he will be freed from captivity soon.”
Journalists working within the Palestinian territory encounter heightened risks while covering the genocidal war, particularly in light of Israeli ground assaults and airstrikes, as well as challenges such as disrupted communications, shortages of supplies, and power outages.
Despite these dangers, Palestinian journalists continue to document the atrocities of the war, serving as the eyes and ears of the global community during one of the deadliest wars of the 21st century.
Last month, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the deliberate targeting and killing of journalists and media professionals by Israeli forces in Gaza, labeling such actions as a “war crime.”
The statement emphasized that such attacks are meant to “terrorize Palestinian journalists and prevent them from performing their role in exposing the crimes and atrocities being committed by the occupation army against our people and land.”
Since the start of the Israeli war, an unprecedented number of journalists and media workers have been arrested — often without charge — in what they and their attorneys say is retaliation for their journalism and commentary.
More than 200 journalists have also been killed since Israel unleashed its strikes in October last year.
Nonetheless, media workers remain committed to reporting developments in Gaza, even in the aftermath of the recent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
The Israelis are shocked that they didn’t beat Hamas, here’s why they failed
By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | January 28, 2025
Contrary to what has been presented to the Western public, the Israeli military did not fight a war that targeted Hamas, instead they pursued their genocides and employed cowardly tactics that aimed to minimize their soldier casualties.
Ever wondered why the Israelis never had any real combat footage that featured their soldiers engaged in battles with Palestinian fighters? One explanation could be that no battles were actually fought in the Gaza Strip, yet that is contradicted by the near daily stream of clips, produced by some dozen Resistance groups, that featured attacks against the invading army.
Through analyzing the videos released by the Palestinian armed groups like al-Quds Brigades, al-Qassam Brigades, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the Mujahideen Brigades, the Salah al-Din Brigades, and others, we can deduce that there were three main categories of attacks: Ambushes, Sniper Operations, and mortar/artillery strikes.
According to both the communiques and video documentation published by the groups in Gaza, the most frequent style of attacks was mortar/artillery operations; that would occur daily. Over 10,000 rockets were also used, but as the war progressed, most of the rockets fired were short-range munitions. Although this style of attacks used largely inaccurate weapons, it was indeed constant over the course of 15 months.
Then we have the steady stream of videos throughout the war, which featured ambushes, which could also be separated into two primary subcategories: Ambushes of convoys and ambushes on stationary Israeli army positions.
The first kind, against convoys, included the use of the now famous Yassin-105 Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) against tanks, bulldozers, jeeps, and Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs). Guided Anti-Tank systems and drones were occasionally used against military vehicles too, but appeared to be in much lower supply.
The spokesperson for the al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, announced in his ceasefire speech that over 2,000 Israeli tanks were damaged or destroyed by the group’s fighters. Despite the Israelis not having admitted to the number of tanks, bulldozers, jeeps, and APCs that were damaged/destroyed, reports published in Israeli media suggested that tanks were in short supply. In fact, several requests were made by senior Israeli military officials to deploy tanks into the West Bank after their assessments concluded the Resistance groups there had acquired heavy explosives, but were rejected due to the need to use those tanks in Gaza or Lebanon.
Another tactic that ended up proving more effective at neutralizing Israeli tanks later on in the war were Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) strategically planted in roads where military convoys would pass through. Groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)’s al-Quds Brigades and Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades even repurposed many of the unexploded ordnances, including the infamous 2,000-pound bombs, to use against Israeli military convoys.
Then we had the attacks on Israeli forces who were either entering areas to set up positions or who were already utilizing a space as a temporary military base or command node. These ambushes used IEDs that were pre-planted in an area, but also incorporated other kinds of weapons. For instance, sniper attacks were used throughout the war, and there are many such attacks filmed, some showing headshots and armor piercing rounds hitting two soldiers in a single shot.
The variations of the RPG warheads used were also different, when in sufficient supply, for these kinds of assaults that would often target gatherings of soldiers or those holed up inside buildings. A thermobaric RPG round was frequently featured in the published videos of such ambush operations. Something we also saw was the use of automatic and semi-automatic guns in such confrontations. There were also some knife attacks and occasional use of feda’i bombers.
The Israeli military has admitted to suffering an average of 1,000 soldier injuries per month during the course of the war, yet this even appears to contradict earlier announcements on the total number of injuries their forces sustained. These numbers have changed throughout the course of the conflict and do not appear to be reliable, especially due to Tel Aviv’s military censorship surrounding such issues. Regardless, judging by the Israeli total soldier death toll, set around 800, the injury to death rate is separated by an enormous gap.
So far, the Palestinian armed groups have not provided their own estimates as to how many Israeli soldier casualties they inflicted. Therefore, attempting to come up with numbers is rather difficult, but if we are to work with the statistic of 1,000 injuries each month in Gaza, this would equate to 33 Israeli soldiers injured every day. Provided that most of the time the occupying military was only launching full invasions in a couple of areas at once, this indicates frequent resistance.
However, with the exception of a handful of examples where the Palestinian Resistance fighters chose to try and hold certain areas, or delay an Israeli entry to a specific neighborhood – like what occurred during the second major invasion of the Jabalia refugee camp in May of 2024 – the opposition to the invading army was almost entirely surprise attacks and artillery strikes.
The Palestinian fighting made sense for a number of reasons. To begin with, it was obvious that even in the event that the Israeli military had sought to fight the Palestinian groups directly and engage in fierce battles with them, the ability to hold off the invading army that is backed by the world’s top military superpower was always a terrible choice. Therefore, the idea of being able to work in a similar manner to Hezbollah, holding back the advances of the Israeli army, would have been a suicidal strategy.
Even if the Palestinian Resistance would have proven temporarily successful, the massive loss of fighters would have been a disaster. This leads us to the next reason that explains their actions, that being the lack of any supply lines into Gaza. The Palestinian groups were forced to use weapons that were primarily manufactured inside the Gaza Strip, and thus had to preserve the ammunition they had carefully, which they managed to do. Their strength was in their use of a complex web of tunnels that the Israelis were simply not interested in bothering to enter on foot in most cases.
Tel Aviv and Washington still have no clue how extensive the tunnel system is under Gaza and only provide guess estimates. Other than in a few rare circumstances, the Israelis never bothered entering the tunnels and when they did, they would either use Palestinian hostages to go in ahead of them or attack dogs. The vast majority of uncovered tunnels were already abandoned, were bombed first, and rendered useless anyway, or the entrances were simply sealed with explosive charges. Attempts to flood the tunnels with seawater and gas both failed.
Not only do the Israelis themselves admit that most of the tunnels weren’t destroyed, but even in areas where the invading army had been stationed for over a year and destroyed every structure in sight, were sites from which long-range rockets were fired. In December, the Qassam Brigades even fired M75 rockets at Israeli settlements in occupied al-Quds from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. Tellingly, the first Israeli prisoners were also released by the Qassam Brigades’ elite Shadow Unit out of northern Gaza, which surprised the Palestinians and Israelis alike.
The real reason why the Israelis didn’t defeat the Palestinian Resistance factions, is because they weren’t really there to fight them. The primary target of each of their invasions, throughout the Gaza Strip, was always civilian infrastructure. Each invasion would culminate with the takeover of a hospital like Al-Shifa, Kamal Adwan, or the Nasser Medical Complex for example. They rounded up civilians who were either held hostage in their homes prior, or were displaced and living in UN schools, hospitals or stadiums.
Israeli airstrikes were totally indiscriminate, and while there were some more targeted operations, they were anomalies. Simply looking at drone or satellite footage of the Gaza Strip proves this beyond any reasonable doubt. The vast majority of their soldiers deployed into Gaza never saw a Palestinian fighter, even when fired upon, they were simply there to vandalize and destroy buildings, while shooting indiscriminately at whoever they chose. They behaved lawlessly like a horde of 13th century Mongolian raiders, minus having to actually fight battles against a modern army.
It was clear from the language employed by every Israeli, from its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right down to its soldiers who filmed TikTok videos of themselves detonating buildings and wearing women’s underwear, they were committing a genocide against those they called “Amalekites”. Their true purpose was not to pursue a military victory over Hamas, which we can prove through the absence of any clear plans at any stage of the war, it was just uncontrolled slaughter and destruction. They sought to pulverize and terrorize, with the propaganda behind them to justify it in their own minds.
While the lie was sold to the world that the war was specifically designed to destroy Hamas, it never was, they sought to destroy the people of Gaza and their livelihoods. They didn’t invade in order to fight Palestinian resistance groups and that’s why there is virtually no footage documenting this, even the few examples of combat footage they filmed ended up making the Palestinian fighters they killed look like heroes from an action film.
Now that the ceasefire holds, the Israeli society appears baffled, believing that their regime’s murderous assault on Gaza was going to crush Hamas and return their captives by force. Instead, they witnessed Palestinian fighters and police officers quickly deploy throughout Gaza, with weapons, vehicles and military/security-force attire, seemingly un-scathed. Yet, to those who have been closely following the conflict, this made complete sense and it is also one of the reasons why the Israeli leadership feared a ceasefire.
The Israelis employed a strategy of maximum cowardice in order to minimize their own combatant casualties at all costs. For instance, under the US/”Israel” doctrine of counter-insurgency, tanks would traditionally follow infantry units heading into an urban warfare zone, or at least there would be soldiers on the ground accompanying the tanks, yet this was not the case in Gaza. The Israeli soldiers hid inside their heavily armored tanks and vehicles, betting on the armor and Active Protection System (APS) to guard them.
Despite our inability to accurately estimate Israeli military casualties, it does appear that the difference between the deaths and injuries is a ratio that portrays far more injuries to deaths than in other similar urban warfare environments. This is because the Israelis hid in fortified areas or inside heavily armored vehicles most of the time. The reality is that even in the event that a tank is damaged, it doesn’t necessarily mean soldiers were killed in that attack and could have sustained injuries alone.
Most of the time, after arriving in new areas or buildings, a drone or robot would be sent in first to inspect the scene, prior to the soldiers that stormed the area. However, this didn’t always work and there would occasionally be ambushes after a failure to locate explosives, or tunnels. Most of the work the soldiers did required little real courage or combat capabilities. They were also careless throughout, as videos over the span of the 15 months war repeatedly showed soldiers casually standing in open windows, in one case an Israeli was filmed smoking out of a bong before he was hit with a thermobaric warhead.
Tel Aviv wasn’t looking to sacrifice its soldiers in the way that would have been required had they actually fought a war against Hamas, so they took the coward’s way out instead, and its population that believed in every lie they were sold are now shocked that the tactics employed proved ineffective at achieving the publicly stated goals of the war. With every known military advantage, destroying or damaging almost every single building in Gaza and slaughtering its people in such a manner that has constituted perhaps the worst atrocity since the Second World War, the Israelis couldn’t even come out of Gaza with the image of victory.
This speaks to the utter cowardice of the genocidal regime, contrasted by the stunning steadfastness of Gaza’s people as a whole. The Israelis didn’t fight a war against Hamas or any of the other Palestinian Resistance groups, note that they don’t even produce any statistics on the number of alleged fighters they have killed from any specific group other than Hamas; with the exception of occasionally adding mention of PIJ to the Hamas death toll figures. Palestinian Resistance groups fought, using the limited tools they had, against an Israeli military that was committing a genocide, that is what really happened.
Egypt’s Parliament rejects plans for Palestinian resettlement after Trump’s call
MEMO | January 27, 2025
State Department Reports Record Foreign Arms Sales in 2024
By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | January 26, 2025
The State Department reports that US arms deals sold over $300 billion in weapons to foreign countries last year. The record-high sales include over $20 billion in arms paid for with US aid.
The State Department’s statement on 2024 arms sales explained that “the total value of transferred defense articles and services and security cooperation activities conducted under the Foreign Military Sales system was $117.9 billion.”
Compared to 2023, the State Department says last year’s totals represented an increase of 45.7%, adding, “This is the highest ever annual total of sales and assistance provided to our allies and partners.” According to the statement, $21 billion in the FMS was paid for with US aid.
In addition to the FMS, US arms deals brokered $200 billion in other transactions. “The total authorized value for privately contracted Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) authorizations for FY2024 was $200.8 billion,” the statement explained. “This represents a 27.5% increase, up from $157.5 billion in FY2023.”
Combined, the FMS and DCS sales total over $318 billion.
Most of the weapon sales went to US allies and partners in Europe, the Middle East or East Asia. In Europe, NATO countries continued to buy weapons at a rapid pace as they transferred older systems to Ukraine for the proxy war against Russia. China is the focus of American arm sales in East Asia as Washington prepares to fight a war with Beijing over Taiwan.
In the Middle East, Israel bought, often with US aid, billions in weapons from American arms deals. Tel Aviv is conducting what multiple international human rights organizations have identified as a genocide in Gaza. During the Biden administration, the State Department was flooded with hundreds of reports that American weapons were being used to kill civilians in Gaza.
The State Department asserted that the US arms transfers occurred in “accordance with the U.S. Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, and weighs political, social, human rights, civilian protection, economic, military, nonproliferation, technology security, and end use factors.”
However, the US military aid and arms sales to Israel violate multiple American laws as Israel is committing war crimes with US weapons, the IDF has blocked aid from reaching Gaza, and Tel Aviv has an undeclared nuclear weapons program.
Israeli forces fatally shoot 2-year-old Palestinian girl in the head near Jenin
Laila Mohammad Ayman Khatib, two, was shot and killed by Israeli forces while she ate dinner with her family near Jenin on January 25. (Photo: Courtesy of the Khatib family)
Defense for Children Palestine | January 26, 2025
Ramallah — Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian toddler near Jenin last night.
Laila Mohammad Ayman Khatib, two, was shot and killed by Israeli forces around 8:30 p.m. on January 25 while she was in the living room in her family’s home in the Palestinian town of Muthallath Al-Shuhada, south of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine. Laila was having dinner with her mother, grandparents, and aunts when sudden Israeli gunfire erupted without warning. Israeli forces fired four bullets through the living room window, one of which struck Laila in the back of the head. Laila’s grandfather carried her out of the house and brought her to Al-Razi Hospital in Jenin, where she received emergency surgery. Laila was pronounced dead around 10 p.m.
“Israeli forces regularly and routinely carry out military operations with complete contempt for Palestinian life,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Little Laila was having dinner with her family when Israeli forces, unprompted, fired live ammunition into their living room, killing her. It is outrageous that the Israeli military has been permitted by world leaders to kill Palestinian children with impunity in flagrant violations of international law.”
Laila’s mother and aunt sustained injuries from shrapnel during the attack, according to information collected by DCIP.
When Laila’s grandfather exited the house carrying her, he saw Israeli snipers stationed in a Palestinian home across the street from their house. No residents of Muthallath Al-Shuhada were aware of an Israeli military presence at the time of the attack, and later learned that Israeli special forces had infiltrated the Palestinian home. Israeli forces remained in the town until about 11 p.m.
Jenin, its refugee camp, and the surrounding villages have been under an ongoing Israeli military attack dubbed “Operation Iron Wall” since January 21, 2025.
Since the beginning of Operation Iron Wall, 16 Palestinians have been killed, including Laila and 16-year-old Motaz Abu Tabeekh. This operation has also been accompanied by Israeli drone strikes, widespread destruction of infrastructure and homes in the Jenin refugee camp, and the bulldozing of roads. Additionally, hundreds of Palestinians families have been forcibly displaced from their homes due to the continued military assault.
Israeli forces have killed eight Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2025, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Five children were killed by Israeli drone strikes and three children were shot and killed with live ammunition.
Trump calls for ethnic cleansing of Gaza’s population to Egypt, Jordan
The Cradle | January 26, 2025
While flying on Air Force One on 26 January, US President Donald Trump told reporters that the residents of Gaza should be “cleaned out” and ethnically cleansed to neighboring Arab countries after Israel’s US-backed bombing campaign turned the enclave into a “demolition site.”
“I’d like Egypt to take people, and I’d like Jordan to take people. You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we can just clean out the whole thing,” Trump said.
“You know, over the centuries, it’s had many, many conflicts. And I don’t know, something has to happen. It’s literally a demolition site, almost everything is demolished, and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,” the president added.
“I said to [the Jordanian King], I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess. I’d like him to take people … I’d like Egypt to take people [from Gaza],” Trump continued, saying he would discuss it with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement condemned the inflammatory comments in an official statement: “Trump’s statements are consistent with the worst of the agenda of the extreme Israeli right and a continuation of the denial of the existence of our people … We call on all countries, especially the Egyptian and Jordanian governments, to reject Trump’s plan, and we affirm that our people will thwart this scheme.”
The US president’s son-in-law and powerful businessman, Jared Kushner, has previously advocated developing new communities in Gaza due to its prime location and beaches on the Mediterranean Sea.
Israeli businessmen close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have advocated for the development of Gaza as a modern residential community and tax-free business and manufacturing zone, presumably to be built after all or most Palestinians have been expelled.
In the wake of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that took effect on 19 January, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are seeking to return to their homes, or what is left of them.
It is unclear whether the ceasefire will hold or whether Israel will seek to resume the war, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated he will.
Trump’s comments, including his claim that he wants to save Palestinian lives, echoed the recommendations of a leaked Israeli Ministry of Information report issued on 13 October 2023, just a week after Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and the beginning of Israel’s massive bombing campaign that has now left Gaza largely uninhabitable.
The plan recommended the ethnic cleansing of Gaza using humanitarian justifications. The document recommends beginning a dedicated campaign that will “motivate” Gazans “to agree to the plan,” and make them give up their land.
Gazans should be convinced that “Allah made sure that you lost this land because of the leadership of Hamas – there is no choice but to move to another place with the help of Your Muslim brothers,” the document reads.
Further, the plan states the government must launch a public relations campaign that will promote the transfer of Palestinians to Arab and western states in a way that does not promote hostility to Israel or damage its reputation.
The deportation of the population from Gaza must be presented as a necessary humanitarian measure to receive international support. Such a deportation could be justified if it will lead to “fewer casualties among the civilian population compared to the expected number of casualties if they remain,” the document says.
The document also states that the US should be leveraged to pressure Egypt to take in the residents of Gaza and to encourage other European countries, and in particular Greece, Spain, and Canada, to help take in and settle the refugees who will be evacuated from Gaza.
Finally, the document claims that if the population of Gaza remains, there will be “many Arab deaths” during the expected occupation of Gaza by the Israeli army, and this will damage Israel’s international image even more than the deportation of the population. For all these reasons, the recommendation of the Ministry of Intelligence is to promote the transfer of all Palestinians in Gaza to the Sinai permanently.
Israel Is Blocking 11 American Doctors and Nurses From Leaving Gaza
The group of doctors trapped in Gaza. Photo courtesy of Rahma.
By Prem Thakker | Zeteo | January 25, 2025
Only days into Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas, 11 American doctors and nurses say the Israeli government is blocking them from leaving Gaza and returning to the United States.
The doctors, who entered Gaza on Jan. 9 with authorization and clearance from the Israeli government, were set to leave the enclave on Wednesday. But Israel denied their planned exit, telling the group they couldn’t leave due to an unspecified “incident” at a security checkpoint, affected doctors and a colleague in the US told Zeteo.
It’s unclear what incident Israel was referring to. COGAT, the Israeli agency that coordinates humanitarian aid entering Gaza, did not immediately answer specific questions about the group. One doctor said the only major incident the group was aware of involved Israeli forces firing on Palestinians returning to their homes in Rafah.
The group, part of the humanitarian organization Rahma, is currently stuck in northern Gaza and was also told by Israel they cannot even move to the south to leave the Strip “due to certain operational considerations that are currently in consideration regarding the activities on these days.”
Shehzad Batliwala, one of the trapped doctors, told Zeteo that many in the group are “needed to provide critical care to US citizens and others back home.”
The doctors and nurses hope they can leave in the coming days. After the delay, Batliwala said Israel initially told the group they wouldn’t be able to leave until next Tuesday, but has since suggested they may be able to leave on Sunday. In any case, the doctors and their advocates said they would remain skeptical until they’ve successfully left Gaza.
Another Team Prevented From Entering
At the same time, the doctors say Israel is also preventing another Rahma team of doctors, who are part of a larger convoy of health workers, from entering Gaza. They were also told that an “incident” occurred near the Kerem Shalom crossing on the Gaza-Israel border, leaving it closed for both entry and exit. They were forced to leave Israel and return to Jordan. It’s unclear if and when they may be allowed to enter.
“Denying entry to humanitarian workers, especially during a ceasefire period, makes no sense given the dire healthcare and humanitarian needs on the ground,” Batliwala said. “As someone currently in Gaza, I can confirm that there are patients urgently awaiting follow-up and surgical intervention, none of which is happening due to these restrictions.”
A young boy holds the hand of an injured man at the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital after an Israeli attack in Gaza on Jan. 16, 2025. Photo by Abdalrahman T. A. Abusalama/Anadolu via Getty Images
Dr. Adam Hamawy, a US Army combat surgeon veteran – whom Sen. Tammy Duckworth credits with saving her life after she was wounded two decades ago during the Iraq War – is among the convoy of medical professionals trying to enter Gaza. Hamawy, who was also among a team of doctors temporarily barred from leaving Gaza in May, told Zeteo that Israel has “continued to hinder entry and exit of medical and humanitarian workers since the beginning of this genocide.”
The convoy, led by the UN and Rahma, includes some 50 people. At least 14 are American, Hamawy said.
Test for Trump
Israel’s decision to block the groups underscores the fragility of the first phase of a long-awaited ceasefire agreement, the first test for newly-elected President Donald Trump in the region. While the bombs have largely stopped in Gaza, Israeli forces have still continued its killing – particularly in the West Bank. Among the tens of thousands of people Israeli forces have killed, hundreds have been medical workers and volunteers – including American World Central Kitchen worker Jacob Flickinger.
Israel’s actions also renew concerns about the US government’s commitment to ensuring the Israeli government protects Americans in both Gaza and the West Bank. In the last year, the US continued to send billions in US military aid and provide diplomatic cover despite Israel’s actions against US citizens, including the killing of 26-year-old American Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, who was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank last September.
The State Department and White House did not respond to a request for comment. Zeteo also reached out to the offices of senators representing the states where the doctors trapped in Gaza hail, including Texas’ Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, California’s Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, Florida’s Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, Colorado’s Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, Ohio’s Bernie Moreno, and Arizona’s Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego.
Only Hickenlooper’s office responded, saying they are “in contact with a Colorado doctor in Gaza as well as with the US Embassy.”
Israel demands UNRWA end operations in Palestine by Jan. 30
Palestinian Information Center – January 25, 2025
Israel’s permanent representative to the UN Danny Danon has called on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to halt its operations in Occupied Jerusalem and evacuate its premises in the city “no later than January 30,” the day an Israeli ban on the organization is due to take effect.
As the date for the enforcement of the Israeli ban approaches, Danon told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday that UNRWA’s premises in Jerusalem must be vacated as stipulated by law.
The Israeli envoy claimed that the Israeli legislation came as a direct response to the acute national security risks posed by the widespread infiltration of UNRWA’s ranks by Hamas and other armed groups, and the agency’s persistent refusal to address the very grave and material concerns raised by Israel.
Most UN member states consider UNRWA, the largest aid agency for Palestinians, to be the irreplaceable backbone of humanitarian operations. However, few levers have been pulled to try to ensure the agency’s existence.
Asked by Arab News about this discrepancy between public statements of support and meaningful action, and whether it means Western countries are undermining the same multilateral values on which they were founded, UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said: “The same question could be asked about the importance of international humanitarian law and the blatant and constant disregard of that law.”
“You can ask the same question about the disrespect for the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly. And you can ask the same question about the International Court of Justice’s ruling that Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal, and the court’s call for its withdrawal.”
“And so, it’s obviously frustrating,” Lazzarini added. “What we have witnessed is an extraordinary ‘crisis of impunity,’ to the extent that international humanitarian law is almost becoming irrelevant if no mechanism is put in place to address this impunity.”
Legislation blocking UNRWA from operating within the occupied Palestinian territories was approved overwhelmingly by the Knesset last October. The ban also prevents any Israeli authority from maintaining contact with the relief agency.
Delivery of aid to Gaza and the West Bank requires close coordination between UNRWA and the Israeli occupation authority. If the legislation is executed, Israel will no longer issue work or entry permits for the agency’s staff, while coordination with the Israeli occupation army that is essential for ensuring safe passage for aid deliveries will no longer be possible.
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel has relentlessly condemned the aid agency and bombed its buildings and personnel. More than 260 of its staff have been killed, while a coordinated Israeli media campaign has attempted to discredit the agency by portraying it as a tool of Hamas.
Israel destroys only water desalination plant in northern Gaza
MEMO | January 25, 2025
The Palestinian Water Authority announced that the occupation army destroyed the water desalination plant during its recent ground operations in the northern Gaza Strip.
It issued a statement that for the sixth consecutive day, its technical crews have been working on assessing the damage in northern Gaza resulting from the Israeli aggression. Due to the massive destruction of residential areas, infrastructure, and roads, they have encountered significant difficulties in their access to water and sanitation facilities.
The Water Authority explained that its technical crews were able to reach the seawater desalination plant in northern Gaza and conduct an initial technical assessment of the extent of damage sustained. The assessment revealed serious technical malfunctions in the electrical and electromechanical components of all the plant’s operations stages and units. Moreover, the occupation completely destroyed some of the plant’s main components, which led to the destruction of five seawater supply wells, the plant’s intake pipeline, two power generators, a pump and a return water line, as well as the destruction of the external fences and output pumps.
The Water Authority confirmed that this plant is the only one serving northern Gaza and the Wadi Gaza area, providing clean water to the entire northwestern neighbourhoods of Gaza City with a production capacity of 10,000 cubic metres per day. There are no alternatives to cover this amount, and it is difficult to drill water wells due to the high salinity of the groundwater reservoir with seawater in the city’s western areas.
It also stressed that the damage to the desalination plants worsens the already dire water situation in Gaza, as it is the only safe and reliable source of drinking water for the population.
The Water Authority confirmed that, within the framework of the first phase of its emergency relief work, it will provide and install ten mobile desalination stations in the central and southern areas of the Gaza Strip. The production capacity of these stations will each reach 25 cubic metres per hour to produce 250 cubic metres for ten hours once operation begins.
It is noted that the mobile desalination station installations will provide emergency and urgent solutions to ensure the continuity of drinking water provision for all citizens.
Featured Video
HE SAVED LIVES. NOW HE FACES PRISON.
or go to
Aletho News Archives – Video-Images
From the Archives
NATO Sanctions and the Coming Global Diesel Fuel Disaster
By F. William Engdahl – New Eastern Outlook – 11.04.2022
Amid the ongoing global inflation crisis, NATO heads of state and mainstream media repeat a mantra that high energy prices are a direct result of Putin’s actions in Ukraine since end of February. The reality is that it is the western sanctions that are responsible. Those sanctions including cutting SWIFT interbank access for key Russian banks and some of the most severe sanctions ever imposed, are hardly having an impact on the military actions in Ukraine. What many overlook is the fact that they are increasingly impacting the economies of the West, especially the EU and USA. A closer look at the state of the global supply of diesel fuel is alarming. But Western sanctions planners at the US Treasury and the EU know fully well what they are doing. And it bodes ill for the world economy.
While most of us rarely think about diesel fuel as anything other than a pollutant, in fact it is essential to the entire world economy in a way few energy sources are. The director general of Fuels Europe, part of the European Petroleum Refiners Association, stated recently, “… there is a clear link between diesel and GDP, because almost everything that goes into and out of a factory goes using diesel.” … continue
Blog Roll
Aletho News- Iran FM meets with US envoy on UN meeting’s sidelines at American side’s insistence: Report
- Qatar PM calls for Gulf security framework with Iran, says war must be ‘wake-up call’
- China condemns US extortion of Iranian airlines, rejects Washington’s ‘illegal’ sanctions threats
- Italy to move military personnel from Taif base after missile strike
- Finland’s Stubb tells European leaders to calm down
- Defeating Russia on battlefield impossible – Fico
- Finland’s Gender Clinic Reversal
- Massachusetts Wants Mental Health Visits, Why Does Government Use ‘Health’ to Enter Our Homes & Families?
- US lawmaker admits American people footing bill for Trump’s failed aggression against Iran
- Pfizer Gave $500,000 to Groups That Lobbied to End Religious Exemption in Massachusetts
- If Americans Knew
- Sanctions are collective punishment: immoral and self-defeating
- Phosphorus Munitions Fired by Israel Burn Groves, Orchards in Southern Lebanon
- Israel Carries Out New Ceasefire Violations Across Gaza
- AI – Emphasis on the ‘I’: Israel Is Funding AI Chatbot Propaganda
- Israel Blocking Hundreds of Wheelchairs for Injured Children From Entering Gaza
- Israel Is Expanding and Upgrading Compounds for Palestinian Militias in Gaza
- The Palestinian-American Residents of This West Bank Town Are Wondering: Where Is Trump?
- Gaza desperately needs tents, wheelchairs, fuel… and everything else (Israel blocks it all) – Daily Update
- Israeli Attacks in Gaza Kill at Least Seven Palestinians Over Three Days, including Woman and Child
- Trump’s militarization of Washington DC as he pursues Israel’s war against Iran
- No Tricks Zone
- 2025 Nature Paper Claiming Worsening Global Drought Gets RETRACTED …Heavily Flawed
- New Study: ‘Global Drought Shows No Detectable Recent Acceleration Under Climate Warming’
- Economic Masterminds: German Socialists Suggest Taxing Productivity Gains Stemming From Using AI
- The South China Sea Has Not Been Cooperating With The Climate Change Narrative
- Energy Crisis: Germany Enters Heating Season With Historically Low Gas Reserve Fill Levels
- New Study: The Antarctic Ice Sheet Gained Mass From 2020-2024 Due To Staggering Snow And Ice Accumulation
- Study: Ocean Heating Rates From Thousands Of Years Ago ‘Dwarf’ Modern Ocean Heating Rates
- Climate Extremists Target, Attack Large-Scale Power Grid Infrastructure In Germany!
- New Study: Antarctic Ice Melt Has Contributed Less Than 1 Centimeter To Sea Level Rise In The Last 30 Years
- Fear Of Debate: Alarmist German Climate Scientist Calls On Mainstream Media To Discredit Skeptic Voices
