Gaza death toll 40% higher than recorded, Lancet study estimates
Press TV – January 10, 2025
A new study published in the UK’s Lancet medical journal estimates that Gaza’s death toll during the first nine months of the war was about 40 percent higher than figures reported by the Palestinian health ministry.
Research published in The Lancet medical journal on Friday suggests that around 2.9 percent of Gaza’s pre-war population or approximately one in 35 inhabitants died in Israeli attacks until late July 2024.
Up to June 30 last year, the health ministry in Gaza reported a death toll of 37,877 in the war.
The study suggests the total death toll was actually at around 64,260, which would mean the health ministry had under-reported the number of deaths by 41 percent.
The new study used data from the ministry, an online survey and social media obituaries to estimate that there were between 55,298 and 78,525 deaths from traumatic injuries in Gaza by that time.
However, the toll did not count the deaths from a lack of health care or food, or the thousands of missing believed to be buried under rubble.
Earlier a UN report had indicated that around 10,000 missing Gazans are probably buried under rubble.
The number of dead in Gaza has been a matter of bitter debate since Israel launched its genocidal campaign against the blockaded territory back on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
On Thursday, Gaza’s health ministry said that 46,006 people had died over the full 15 months of war.
Normalizing expansion: Israel sets its sights on Egypt’s Sinai
By Robert Inlakesh | The Cradle | January 10, 2025
As Israel accuses Egypt of military buildup in the Sinai Peninsula, tensions between the two states – bound by their 1979 normalization treaty – are reaching a boiling point. Israeli officials and allied neoconservative think tanks are now actively escalating rhetoric alleging Cairo’s breach of the peace treaty while hinting at Tel Aviv’s ambitions to expand into Egyptian territory.
In September 2024, the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) published a report accusing Egypt of allegedly aiding Hamas through tunnels leading into Gaza to enable the Palestinian resistance movement to build its military capabilities. The charges are a stretch, given Cairo’s long-held acrimony toward Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations.
Sinai standoff intensifies
These claims were further contradicted by recently leaked documents showing Egypt’s aggressive measures to destroy over 2,000 tunnels between 2011 and 2015. Senior Egyptian military officials even explored the construction of a canal to obliterate these underground networks.
Also in September, Israeli military analyst Alon Ben-David admitted on Channel 13 News that “no single open tunnel has been found in the Egyptian territory. No single usable tunnel has been discovered under the Philadelphi Corridor.”
However, Tel Aviv’s allegations did not end there. Israel’s former ambassador to Egypt, David Govrin, has now accused Cairo of violating the normalization treaty by strengthening its military presence in the Sinai. He was quoted by Yedioth Aharonoth as saying, “after all these years, and even after 7 October 2023, questions remain about Egypt’s genuine recognition of Israel within its 1948 borders.”
On 7 January, the occupation state formally demanded explanations from Egypt regarding its military activities in Sinai, citing treaty violations related to demilitarization. The US, which brokered the 1979 treaty, joined the chorus, withholding $95 million in military aid to Egypt – a recurring tactic used to exert pressure on Cairo.
Washington then redirected those funds to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), echoing similar cuts in 2023 when Egypt-bound aid was diverted to Taiwan. The move ties with intensified pressure on Beirut, aiming to coerce and incentivize compliance with US influence over its internal affairs, especially with newly-elected President Joseph Aoun.
While Egypt’s human rights violations have been copiously documented, this is a card that the US government will routinely roll out when they want to see their North African ally play ball. It is worth noting that Egypt has historically been the second-largest US foreign aid recipient after Israel.
Stand-off in the Sinai
In 2005, following Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip to its periphery, an agreement was reached allowing 750 Egyptian security personnel to enter the Sinai Peninsula.
At the time, Yuval Steinitz, then chairman of Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, vehemently opposed the deal, calling it a “black day” and cautioning:
“We are inviting the cat to keep the cream. This is a solar eclipse that has befallen the government, which is giving up on demilitarizing Sinai in exchange for a lentil stew of compliments and gestures.”
Since then, Cairo has submitted hundreds of requests to deploy additional forces and equipment into Sinai, most of which were approved by Tel Aviv, especially after the rise of a takfiri insurgency in 2013. In 2018, the New York Times revealed that Israel had conducted airstrikes inside Sinai at the request of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to counter the insurgent activity.
In the aftermath of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv began to sour significantly. The occupation state initially proposed that Egypt facilitate ethnic cleansing via a mass expulsion of Gaza’s population into Sinai, creating a buffer zone between Gaza and occupied Palestine. President Sisi outright rejected the plan, sparking further tensions.
By early 2024, the occupation military had intensified its invasion of Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaling an assault on Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. Egypt swiftly issued warnings against any attempt to reclaim the Philadelphi Corridor, a border area that separates Egypt and Gaza, arguing that such actions would breach the 1979 normalization treaty.
In a dramatic escalation on 6 May, Israel launched its Rafah offensive on the same day Hamas agreed to a ceasefire proposal. This offensive, which included the seizure of the Rafah Crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor, drew condemnation even from former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who described it as “a blatant violation of the peace agreement with Egypt.” Despite threats from Cairo to annul the treaty, Sisi’s primary response was to join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
When Israeli tanks first entered the Rafah Crossing, they desecrated the area and taunted the Egyptian guards stationed there. Later that same month, a clash broke out, and Israeli soldiers killed an Egyptian soldier. Israel then launched a series of airstrikes in June against targets in the Sinai Peninsula.
The Zionist vision for expansion into Egypt
Last year, uncovered documents in the British National Archives shed light on Israel’s historical campaign to legitimize its claim over the Sinai Peninsula. During Israel’s occupation of Sinai following the 1967 war, pro-Israel lobbyists and think tanks in the west disseminated narratives to delegitimize Egyptian sovereignty over the strategic region.
Only two years after the occupation of the Sinai, which had come as a result of Israel’s war of aggression in June of 1967, the Jewish Observer and Middle East Review published an article that featured a provocative front cover, “Sinai without the Egyptians — a new look at the past, present and future.”
The Zionist Federation of Britain even argued that since Sinai had been under Turkiye’s control until 1923, it should have been incorporated into the British Mandate for Palestine, laying the groundwork for Israel’s claims to the territory.
Fast forward to today, similar arguments have resurfaced to justify Israel’s expansionist ambitions. On 6 January, Israeli-Arabic social media accounts published a map showcasing the supposed territories of the ancient kingdoms of Judah and Israel, sparking condemnation from Jordan and the Persian Gulf states. While these claims overtly target Jordanian, Lebanese, and Syrian lands, they also subtly include parts of modern Egypt, particularly Sinai.
In July of last year, Israel’s Heritage Minister, Amichai Eliyahu, retweeted a post made on X that called for the occupation army to occupy the Sinai Peninsula, along with southern Lebanon, southern Syria, and eventually part of Jordan.
Back in September, as Israel was launching its assault on Lebanon, the Jerusalem Post ran an article entitled ‘Is Lebanon part of Israel’s promised territory?’ that was later removed after considerable backlash.
An existential threat for the WANA region
At this current moment, Israel is openly talking about remaining in southern Lebanon even after the 60-day ceasefire implementation period, as it currently expands its occupation further into Syrian territory by the day. It also seeks an imminent annexation of the occupied West Bank. All of these moves are indicative of Israel’s seriousness in expanding its undeclared borders.
In March 2023, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich openly displayed a “Greater Israel” map, fueling speculation about the Zionist leadership’s long-term goals. The “Greater Israel” vision encompasses parts of Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
Israeli leaders employ fluid justifications – historical, religious, and political – to advance these claims, a strategy the late Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah warned would continue unabated unless confronted by a unified Arab resistance.
Israeli ministers discuss plot to divide Syria: Report
Press TV – January 10, 2025
Israeli media says the regime’s ministers have met to discuss a classified plot to promote the division of Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government.
The news outlet Israel Hayom reported that Israel’s minister of military affairs Israel Katz chaired a small ministerial meeting on Tuesday that discussed an Israeli plan under which Syria would be divided into provincial regions, or cantons.
The report sells the plot as a way to “safeguard the security and rights of all Syrian ethnic groups,” including the Druze and Kurdish populations.
The meeting also reportedly discussed the Turkish involvement in the Arab country and alleged concerns about the intentions of Syria’s de-facto leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who has said that Damascus “will not engage” in a conflict with Tel Aviv.
The meeting was held before an upcoming discussion with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The plan of Israel, which was a main supporter of the anti-Assad militancy that erupted in the country in 2011, was already existing before the fall of the government, the report said.
Last month, regional security sources briefed on the plot were quoted as saying that before Assad’s fall, Israel planned to divide Syria into three blocks and to establish military and strategic ties with the Kurds in Syria’s northeast and the Druze in the south, leaving Assad in power in Damascus.
The plot, which appears the same as the one discussed on Tuesday, was alluded to in a speech by Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar last November.
Saar said Israel needed to reach out to the Kurds and the Druze in Syria and Lebanon. “We must look at developments in this context and understand that in a region where we will always be a minority we can have natural alliances with other minorities.”
Foreign-backed militants, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), took control of Damascus on December 8 and declared an end to President Assad’s rule in a surprise offensive that was launched from their stronghold in northwestern Syria, reaching the capital in less than two weeks.
Following the fall of President Assad’s government, Israel invaded Syria from the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. The Israeli forces have invaded a UN-patrolled buffer zone in southwestern Syria, taking over the Syrian side of Mount Hermon as well as a number of Syrian towns and villages.
The Israeli army also launched massive airstrikes against Syrian military installations in recent weeks, drawing widespread condemnation for violating Syria’s sovereignty.
UK special forces had ‘golden pass’ to get away with murder – officer
RT | January 8, 2025
British SAS operatives were given a “golden pass allowing them to get away with murder” in Afghanistan, a former UK Special Forces officer has told a government inquest. Other witnesses described routine executions of unarmed civilians by British forces.
The officer’s statement was given behind closed doors to the UK’s Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan earlier this year, and included in a trove of documents published by the inquiry on Tuesday.
The former officer raised concerns about the killing of unarmed civilians in 2011, claiming that the SAS was covering these crimes up. The officer said that higher-ups within UK Special Forces – which comprises the Special Air Service (SAS), the Special Boat Service (SBS), and four other clandestine branches of the British military – had no interest in investigating the killings, and that SAS operatives had essentially been handed a “golden pass allowing them to get away with murder.”
The Afghanistan Inquiry is probing night raids carried out by British special forces between 2010 and 2013, when the alleged killings took place.
A junior officer told the inquest that “all fighting age males” were killed in these raids, regardless of whether they were armed or not. SAS personnel sometimes carried weapons to drop beside dead bodies after the killings in order to make them appear as combatants.
Prisoners were sometimes executed after they had been restrained, the witness recounted. “In one case, it was mentioned a pillow was put over the head of an individual before being killed with a pistol,” the document noted.
The inquiry is investigating the killings of at least 80 prisoners.
”I suppose what shocked me most wasn’t the execution of potential members of the Taliban, which was of course wrong and illegal, but it was more the age and the methods and, you know, the details of things like pillows,” the officer said, noting that some of the victims were “100%” aged 16 or younger.
The officer said that he was afraid for his own safety after testifying.
”Basically, there appears to be a culture there of ‘shut up, don’t question’,” another officer told the inquiry.
Claims of war crimes committed by British special forces in Afghanistan have surfaced before, with BBC Panorama, the Sunday Times, and other outlets claiming that civilians were routinely killed on night raids. In one case, the American military reportedly had video footage of one massacre, but mysteriously lost the footage when pressed by a British court.
Late last year, the BBC reported that one of the UK’s most senior generals had withheld from the latest inquiry evidence of soldiers executing handcuffed detainees in Afghanistan.
EU funding for Israeli tech raises fresh concerns about complicity in genocide
By Melike Pala | MEMO | January 8, 2025
Hind Rajab Foundation chief says his resolve ‘unchanged’ after Israeli minister’s death threat
Chairperson of pro-Palestine advocacy organization Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), Dyab Abou Jahjah (Photo via social media)
Press TV – January 8, 2025
The chairperson of pro-Palestine advocacy organization Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has stated that his resolve remains unchanged after an Israeli minister made a death threat against him after the group’s complaints in courts around the world against Israeli soldiers for committing war crimes in Gaza.
“When I decided to pursue justice against Israeli war criminals, I understood the consequences. As a father, husband, and teacher, this decision was not an easy one. My responsibilities to my family and my students weigh heavily on me. In recent days, following Israeli threats, I’ve taken time to reflect deeply once more. My resolve remains unchanged,” Dyab Abou Jahjah wrote in a post published on his X account on Tuesday.
He added, “After witnessing this genocide, there is no turning back. In the face of such grave injustice, the perpetrators must be held accountable. Justice is the only path forward—not revenge, not violence, but justice through the courts of law. International and national legal frameworks must prevail. This is not only for the victims, but for all of us and for future generations.”
The human rights activist pointed out that the genocide or the killing of children must not become normalized, stressing that “This pursuit of accountability and justice must and will continue, come what may.”
Abou Jahjah’s comments came after Israeli minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, made a death threat against him.
“Hello to our human rights activist. Watch your pager,” Chikli wrote on X in an address addressed to the activist.
The Israeli minister was making reference to the Tel Aviv regime’s simultaneous explosions of hundreds of pagers and communication devices belonging to the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah across Lebanon last September.
The series of explosions left dozens of people killed and injured at least 2,750 others wounded, according to security services and the Lebanese health ministry.
The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has filed several complaints in various countries against Israeli forces who participated in the genocidal campaign in Gaza. It has also lodged a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against 1,000 Israeli soldiers.
The foundation is named after Hind Rajab, a symbol of Gaza’s suffering.
On January 29 last year, Hind had been traveling in a car with her uncle, his wife and their three children, fleeing fighting in the neighborhood of Tel Al-Hawa in Gaza City, when they came under Israeli fire.
Trapped in the bullet-ridden vehicle and surrounded by her dead relatives, Hind begged for help from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
Two first responders, Yousef Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun, were deployed in a bid to save Hind, but the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) soon lost contact with them, along with the little girl.
On February 10, the bodies of Hind and her relatives were found lying in the car. Just meters away, a burned-out ambulance was found with the remains of the two paramedics who tried to save the girl.
Israel launched the genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023. The war has so far killed at least 45,885 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 109,196 others.
Israel blocks UN probe into alleged sexual violence during 7 October attack
MEMO | January 8, 2025
Israel has denied the United Nations permission to investigate sexual violence allegedly committed by Hamas during the 7 October cross-border infiltration, due to concerns that it could also involve investigating sexual violence against Palestinians in Israeli detention facilities.
Pramila Patten, the UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, sought authorisation to investigate the allegations against Hamas. However, she insisted that access to Israeli detention centres to probe allegations against Israeli soldiers was a necessary condition.
According to Haaertz, Israel rejected this request. Patten has called on Israel to sign a framework agreement with the UN, committing to measures to combat sexual violence in conflicts.
Patten’s office has confirmed plans to explore a future mission to the region, following invitations from both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government. “The Office is exploring a future mission to the region after receiving an invitation from the Palestinian Authority regarding reports of conflict-related sexual violence against Palestinians as well as outreach by the Government of Israel for a follow-up visit on the 7 October attacks and their aftermath.”
However, Patten’s office has warned that Israel’s refusal to allow UN investigations into alleged crimes attributed to it could have negative repercussions. Representatives from Israel’s Women’s Network, who met with Patten’s team in New York last month, reported being warned that this stance could lead to Israel being added to the UN’s blacklist of entities responsible for sexual violence in conflicts, while Hamas might remain off the list.
This comes after Israeli authorities admitted that no allegations of rape or sexual assault have been filed from the 7 October cross-border infiltration by Palestinian resistance factions, despite extensive investigations.
Moran Gaz, a former lead prosecutor in Israel’s Southern District Prosecutor’s Office and member of Team 7.10, disclosed the findings in an interview with Ynet.
In March 2023, United Nations experts had already debunked similar allegations, concluding they were either unverified or proven false. Similarly, other gruesome claims, such as babies being beheaded or burned in ovens, were widely discredited but continued to circulate in political rhetoric.
I’m undeterred in my pursuit of justice against Israeli soldiers despite threats: Lawyer
By Alireza Akbari | Press TV | January 6, 2025
Maira Pinheiro, a Brazilian lawyer and human rights advocate, says she is undeterred in her pursuit of justice against Israeli soldiers vacationing in Brazil, despite receiving vile threats.
Hailing from São Paulo, Pinheiro represents the Hind Rajab Foundation, an NGO named after a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was tragically killed in Gaza City last January.
Pinheiro was engaged to represent the Brussels-headquartered foundation as a legal counsel in pursuing charges against Yuval Vagdani, accused of heinous war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.
Vagdani has been accused of serious war crimes in the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.
Speaking to the Press TV website, the Brazil-based lawyer said the suspect participated in the “controlled demolition of multiple residential buildings, posed for smiling pictures, recorded videos of himself rigging houses with explosives and documented the explosion and consequently the unlawful mass destruction of civilian property.”
Pinheiro said the foundation’s investigation team had located several Palestinian families whose homes were destroyed. One family formally appointed her as their legal representative by signing a power of attorney.
The lawyer noted that she worked on documenting the digital evidence obtained through open-source intelligence investigation while preserving the chain of custody according to Brazilian law and rigorously geolocating all the mentioned places.
However, following a Brazilian court’s directive for law enforcement to investigate Vagdani, Israeli army radio confirmed that Israeli regime authorities facilitated his escape, brazenly obstructing justice and shielding him from accountability.
The Hind Rajab Foundation also corroborated this “smuggling” operation, highlighting Israel’s blatant disregard for international law and its attempt to undermine justice on South American soil.
“There are also indications that evidence is being destroyed. This is not only a scandal but an affront to Brazil’s sovereignty and rule of law. Israel has employed similar tactics before,” the foundation said in a statement, calling on Brazilian authorities to fulfill their responsibilities, protect their judicial processes, and ensure justice prevails.
“As of now, I’ve been made aware through public domain information that the suspect managed to evade Brazil and the Brazilian authorities with the aid of Israeli diplomacy,” Pinheiro stated.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian lawyer has been threatened and intimidated after taking up the case, with many threats made on Instagram purportedly by pro-Zionist lobbies.
Speaking to the Press TV website, Pinheiro said she remains unfazed by such threats.
“What motivated me to act is the fact that there’s an ongoing genocide being perpetrated against the Palestinian people. Of course, I’m afraid of what Israel and its defenders can do, but no risk I undergo comes even close to what the people of Gaza are experiencing, and my main commitment is to them.”
The Brazilian lawyer and activist described the threats to her and her daughter as “horrible.”
“The worst part is people exploiting my daughter’s image, an innocent child that has nothing to do with the work I do,” she told the Press TV website.
“There’s also a very clear misogynistic aspect to those threats and attacks, as a profound lack of respect to me as a woman exercising her profession.”
In response to these threats, Pinheiro documented hundreds of attacks and forwarded them, along with URLs, to the Brazilian authorities for necessary action.
“In Brazil, it is a crime under Article 344 of the Penal Code to threaten someone with the intent to interfere in a judicial process,” Pinheiro stated.
“It is very clear that these people intend to intimidate me to make me step away from my work. I do not intend to give them what they want and will keep on doing the same things and taking the same stances,” she hastened to add.
The Brussels-based foundation also strongly condemned the threats in a statement on Sunday.
“The #HindRajabFoundation strongly condemns the vile and cowardly attacks targeting our lawyer in Brazil, Ms. Maira Pinheiro,” wrote the foundation on X.
It added that Pinheiro’s involvement in the case against the Israeli soldier resulted in “serious threats, including threats to her life, doxxing, sexist slurs, and even threats directed toward her daughter.”
The foundation further noted that Pinheiro was simply carrying out her professional duty as part of the legal process and called for solidarity with her, particularly from the São Paulo Bar Association and the broader legal community.
“We urge everyone to stand united in support of those who courageously pursue justice despite attempts to derail accountability. Justice will prevail,” it stated.
Pinheiro, speaking to the Press TV website, said she has been following up on other cases that have not yet been formally presented to the Brazilian justice system.
According to reports, four Israeli soldiers are currently being investigated and interrogated in South Africa, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and France on charges of committing war crimes.
The Israeli daily, the Times of Israel, reported on Monday that 12 complaints have been filed against Israeli soldiers abroad over war crimes in Gaza, adding that nine of the cases have yielded arrests.
In October 2024, the Hind Rajab Foundation filed a formal complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against 1,000 Israeli soldiers for perpetrating war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.
The complaint targeted soldiers across all ranks, from high-ranking generals and air marshals to low-ranking personnel for direct involvement in genocidal war crimes in the besieged Palestinian strip.
The case was bolstered by over 8,000 pieces of evidence, including videos, audio recordings, forensic reports, and social media documentation, meticulously detailing the soldiers’ war crimes.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian lawyer also referenced her 2024 visit to occupied Palestine and her participation in the International Law Summer School by the organization Al Haq, emphasizing her commitment to the struggle for justice and the liberation of Palestine.
“I had the privilege of visiting Al Aqsa Mosque and experiencing its sacred beauty and profound meaning, and while I was there, all I could think of were the dear friends from Gaza I had the privilege to meet during this struggle, and how unfair it was that I could be there while they couldn’t. I made a commitment there to the struggle for justice and liberation of Palestine.”
She also expressed hope that “getting to know a bit of her story” would inspire people to “commit to the fight for justice and for the end of this genocide.”
The Brazilian lawyer also expressed her love and admiration for Hind, saying she means the world to her, as she saw her daughter in the 6-year-old Palestinian girl’s plea for help.
Pinheiro said her heart shattered into pieces when she learned from now-martyred journalist Ismail Al Ghoul that Hind had been murdered along with her family and the two healthcare workers who tried to rescue her.
“Hind’s voice will forever echo in my memory as a tragic representation of the suffering of the children of Gaza,” she said, recalling the tragic event when the Palestinian girl was murdered.
Israeli forces block food to north Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital to force doctors out
Press TV – January 5, 2025
The Israeli regime forces have blocked the supply of water and food to northern Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital to force the doctors there to flee.
The doctors are refusing to leave their patients behind, the nongovernmental organization that funded the supplies to the Indonesia Hospital said on Sunday.
The Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahiya near the Jabalia refugee camp was built from donations organized by the Jakarta-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee.
The four-story facility has been sheltering more than a dozen patients, caregivers, and health workers from Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital, which was destroyed in December after months of relentless Israeli attacks.
The doctors who have remained in the building are defying orders to leave the Indonesia Hospital, MER-C said, adding that they last received food aid from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“They are still holding out. The condition is deteriorating, there’s a lack of water and food,” Marissa Noriti, a MER-C volunteer in Deir el-Balah told media via WhatsApp.
“The Israeli occupation forces are blocking supply … The doctors are staying for the patients. They refuse to leave them behind.”
According to UNOCHA, the Indonesia Hospital is out of medical service due to the damage inflicted on it in frequent Israeli attacks since October 2023. However, the structure is still being used as a shelter for critically ill patients, despite not having electricity, water or supplies.
On Friday, the hospital was surrounded by Israeli forces attacking the area and ordering the doctors there to leave the facility and the patients.
“We are monitoring the situation. Israel’s occupation forces are cutting off all supplies to force them out; this is their strategy to empty north Gaza, to empty all the hospitals in the north so the people have no place to go to seek help,” said Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s board of trustees in Jakarta.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli regime force’s genocidal war against the defenseless people in Gaza has left more than 45,800 Palestinians dead and over 109,000 more wounded.
Israeli forces set homes ablaze, block roads in southern Lebanon
Al Mayadeen | January 5, 2025
Israeli occupation forces made advances toward the town of Taybeh, opening fire with machine guns at homes, several of which were set ablaze by the invading units, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in southern Lebanon reported on Sunday.
Explosions were also heard as the Israeli forces launched hand grenades during their infiltration into the neighborhood. In addition, the occupation forces erected an earthen berm to block the road linking the towns of Qantara and Taybeh.
Our correspondent further reported that Israeli forces carried out demolition operations on the outskirts of Aytaroun, followed by a barrage of machine gunfire aimed at the town, and a series of explosions at Tayr Harfa-Al-Jubayn junction.
These recent incidents bring the total number of Israeli violations since the implementation of the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon 40 days ago to more than 380.
Ongoing Israeli violations
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in southern Lebanon reported that on Saturday morning, Israeli occupation forces carried out bombings between the towns of Odaisseh and Taybeh.
She noted that Israeli occupation forces continue bulldozing land in several towns, particularly in Houla, Bani Hayyan, and Markaba.
On Thursday, the Lebanese Army entered al-Naqoura to reposition its forces, following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area. This marked the third such Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied during the recent ground invasion.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in southern Lebanon reported that Israeli invading units were observed withdrawing from al-Naqoura’s neighborhoods toward Ras al-Naqoura and Alma al-Shaab while conducting sweeps with automatic rifles. At the same time, Israeli Merkava tanks continued to shell several homes in the area.
Our correspondent also noted that an Israeli military convoy, reinforced with eight Merkava tanks, a bulldozer, and Hummer vehicles, advanced from the town of Ramieh toward al-Salhani, al-Qawzah, and reached Wadi Mazlam near the outskirts of Beit Lif—territory that had not been accessed during the recent Israeli war on Lebanon.
However, Israeli soldiers conducted searches of homes and surrounding forests, and machine gun fire was heard within the village. Additionally, Israeli drones launched two missiles at the outskirts of Yater.
Hezbollah is “stronger and more resilient than steel” and “more powerful than ever before, as witnessed by the enemy,” affirmed Wafiq Safa, head of Hezbollah’s Coordination and Liaison Unit.
In his first media appearance after the war on Lebanon, Safa stated Sunday that Hezbollah is “ready for all challenges,” and “will stand with the people, behind them, and on the ground” to rebuild what was destroyed during the Israeli aggression.
During a tour in the southern suburbs of Beirut, specifically at the site where Hezbollah’s former Secretary-General martyr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated by “Israel”, Safa stressed that the group will be “involved in every aspect” that impacts the morale of the people.
He added, “We have always stood and will continue to stand with the people of resistance, protecting them from any harm internally, and there will be no possibility for anyone to break our morale,” reassuring everyone that there is no need for concern.
Regarding whether Hezbollah will respond to Israeli violations, Safa revealed that Hezbollah’s capabilities have been restored and that the group has the ability to confront any aggression in the manner it deems appropriate.
He added that what happens after the 60-day period designated for the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from Lebanon “is up to Hezbollah and its leadership.”
Safa also noted that Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri will engage with US mediator Amos Hochstein regarding the Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.
On the subject of electing a new Lebanese president, Safa asserted that Hezbollah does not veto the nomination of Lebanese Army Commander Joseph Aoun for the presidency but that of the leader of the Lebanese Forces party Samir Geagea, whose “project is destructive to Lebanon.”
Concerning the funeral of martyr Sayyed Nasrallah, Safa revealed that the ceremony will take place in the Southern Suburb after the 60-day period.
Elsewhere, he emphasized that martyr Sayyed Nasrallah’s “presence is embodied in the resistance, its fighters, and the people of resistance.”
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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
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- Sanctions are collective punishment: immoral and self-defeating
- Phosphorus Munitions Fired by Israel Burn Groves, Orchards in Southern Lebanon
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- 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
