‘Over 1,000 children and patients died due to Israel’s closure of Rafah crossing’
Palestinian Information Center – August 14, 2024
GAZA – Gaza’s Government Media Office (GMO) has said that the Israeli occupation army’s closure of the Rafah border crossing over the past 100 days has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 children, patients and wounded civilians, warning that the humanitarian disaster in the war-ravaged costal enclave has deepened.
“The occupation army continues to close the Rafah border crossing between Palestine and Egypt for the 100th day running after burning and bulldozing it and putting it out of service,” GMO said in a statement on Wednesday.
“This Israeli closure of the crossing continues to take place as the humanitarian tragedy has deepened at all levels and affected all aspects of life,” GMO added.
GMO condemned the ongoing closure of the crossing as a “crime” and an “obvious legal violation of the international law, the international humanitarian law and all international conventions.”
GMO accused the Israeli occupation of preventing the entry of all sorts of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, including vital medical needs, which seriously worsened the health and humanitarian situation.
GMO also accused the Israeli occupation of seeking to destroy Gaza’s health system in its entirety and using the starvation policy as a tool for political pressure.
Israeli regime’s actions against civilians ‘blatant example of terrorism’: Iran envoy

Iran’s permanent representative to the UN Office in Geneva, Ali Bahraini.
Press TV | August 14, 2024
Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva has called for Israeli institutions to be recognized as “terrorists,” stressing that the regime’s inhumane actions against Palestinian civilians constitute “a clear example of terrorism.”
Ali Bahraini made the appeal in three separate letters to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, the UN special rapporteur on extra-judicial summary or arbitrary executions, Morris Tidball-Binz as well as UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese on Wednesday.
According to Article 2.1 of the international convention to prevent the financing of terrorism, the institutions of “the Zionist regime” must be identified as terrorists, he said, adding that “the actions carried out by the Israeli regime against civilians and Palestinian areas are a clear example of terrorism.”
Bahraini also noted that from Iran’s point of view, Hamas is “a liberation organization” that fights for the freedom and independence of Palestine.
Therefore, he said, the assassination of Hamas leaders is aimed at undermining the morale of the Palestinian people in their struggle to end the occupation and achieve the right to self-determination.
The Iranian diplomat also emphasized that by eliminating the Palestinian leaders, Israel seeks to destroy the Palestinian political identity and the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to have an independent state.
He further referred to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICC), which recognizes the right of Palestinians to self-determination, and described any action that violates this right as illegal.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Bahraini strongly denounced as “a gross violation of international law” the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the capital Tehran.
He also urged UN officials to condemn the assassination decisively and to document it in their future reports.
The top Iranian diplomat also stressed the need for more efforts to achieve justice for the Palestinian people and to hold the Israeli regime accountable for its crimes.
Haniyeh, who was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s newly-elected President Masoud Pezeshkian, alongside other Axis of Resistance leaders, was martyred in an attack early on July 31.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned the Israeli regime of a “harsh response” for Haniyeh’s assassination, calling it the Islamic Republic’s duty to avenge the Palestinian resistance leader’s blood.
Major US academic group approves boycott of Israel in a historic U-turn
MEMO | August 13, 2024
In a major U-turn, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has reversed its long-standing opposition to academic boycotts in the wake of last month’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that accused Israel of practicing apartheid. The ICJ’s decision, coupled with its ongoing investigation into allegations of genocide by Israel in Gaza and the potential for Israeli leaders to face arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court (ICC), appears to have prompted the AAUP to reconsider its long-standing position on academic boycotts.
The AAUP, a union dedicated to safeguarding academic freedom with 500 chapters on campuses across the US, approved a new statement marking a departure from the organisation’s previous stance articulated in its 2006 report “On Academic Boycotts”. Since its founding in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country’s colleges and universities.
AAUP’s new policy acknowledges that academic boycotts can be legitimate responses to certain circumstances. The statement reads, “Academic boycotts are not in themselves violations of academic freedom; rather, they can be considered legitimate tactical responses to conditions that are fundamentally incompatible with the mission of higher education.”
Crucially, the AAUP now holds that “individual faculty members and students should be free to weigh, assess, and debate the specific circumstances giving rise to calls for systematic academic boycotts and to make their own choices regarding their participation in them.” The organisation argues that to do otherwise would contravene academic freedom.
The statement is careful to delineate the boundaries of acceptable boycott practices. It explicitly states that academic boycotts should not involve political or religious litmus tests, nor should they target individual scholars engaged in ordinary academic practices. Instead, boycotts should “target only institutions of higher education that themselves violate academic freedom or the fundamental rights upon which academic freedom depends.”
While the AAUP’s statement does not specifically mention Israel, the timing of this policy change, coming after the ICJ’s ruling and amidst multiple investigations into Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, strongly suggests that the situation in the besieged enclave has played a major role in prompting this reconsideration.
This policy shift by the AAUP aligns more closely with actions taken by other academic associations in recent years. For instance, the American Studies Association approved measures to boycott Israeli universities a decade ago, and the American Anthropological Association followed suit last year.
Hamas demands return to agreed-upon ceasefire deal, calls new talks ‘cover for Israeli massacres’
The Cradle | August 12, 2024
Hamas has called on mediators in the ceasefire and prisoner exchange talks to present a plan to implement the proposal agreed to by the resistance movement in early July and to oblige Israel to do so as well.
“We demand that the mediators submit a plan to implement what they presented to the movement and that we agreed to on 2 July 2024, based on Biden’s vision and the Security Council resolution, and oblige the occupation to do so, instead of going to more rounds of negotiations or new proposals that provide cover for the occupation’s aggression and give it more time to perpetuate the war of genocide against our people,” Hamas said on 11 August.
The Hamas statement also said Israel’s assassination of political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh and the continuation of its massacres against civilians in Gaza prove its intentions of preventing a ceasefire deal.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al-Araby on Sunday that if there is no real pressure by the US president on Israel, “he does not have anything to bet on to make the [upcoming] negotiations successful].”
He added that Washington falsely guaranteed Israel’s acceptance of the proposal presented by Joe Biden, adding that “it is time” to oblige Israel to do so.
Biden unveiled a permanent ceasefire plan in late May, claiming Israel had also agreed to the proposal. Yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained insistent on having the right to continue the war and pursue Hamas after the captives’ exchange, a position which he has stuck to until now.
US and Qatari mediators eventually updated the Biden plan and presented it to Hamas in early July. The resistance movement proposed amendments to the revised plan on 3 July, which Israeli sources said were positive and could enable a deal to pass.
Yet Netanyahu’s position on pursuing the war’s goals, despite talks for a permanent ceasefire, obstructed the negotiations and prevented an agreement from being reached.
Israel had also rejected a proposal agreed to by Hamas on 6 May.
“The plan I put together, endorsed by the G7, endorsed by the UN Security Council, et cetera, is still viable. And I’m working literally every single day – and my whole team – to see to it that it doesn’t escalate into a regional war. But it easily can,” Biden said on 11 August.
Washington has been beefing up its presence across the region to defend Israel from the Resistance Axis, which has vowed to respond to the recent Israeli attacks on Tehran and Beirut.
Hamas’ statement came two days after Netanyahu’s office said Israel would send mediators to upcoming ceasefire talks, scheduled for 15 August, “to finalize the details of the implementation of the agreement framework.”
In a statement on Monday, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said, “It is unreasonable to hold any negotiations while the occupation’s crimes continue in shelters, schools, displacement tents, and hospitals.”
New negotiations are “meaningless as long as the aggression government and war criminals have not provided clear and declared approval of the formulation that was originally presented by them and adopted by US President Joe Biden,” the PFLP added.
Israel is a state built on lies and will continue promoting lies
By Motasem A Dalloul | MEMO | August 12, 2024
Additionally, [the named targeted included] “three elderly civilians who had no connection to the military action were also among the victims, including a school principal … an Arabic language teacher, … and six civilians, some of whom were even Hamas opponents.”
Ukraine accused of ‘new level of nuclear aggression’
RT | August 12, 2024
A Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (NPP) started a fire at the facility and caused serious damage to one of its cooling towers, nuclear power agency Rosatom has said. Its CEO Aleksey Likhachyov also noted that the attack represented “a completely new level of targeted aggression aimed at the infrastructure of nuclear facilities.”
In a statement on Monday shared by Russian media, Rosatom said one of the cooling towers at the Zaporozhye NPP had been hit by two Ukrainian attack drones on Sunday evening. The strikes resulted in a fire that burned internal structures, it added.
While the fire was mostly extinguished by first responders within a couple of hours, “the internal structures of the cooling tower suffered serious damage. The risk of the structure collapsing will be assessed by specialists as soon as possible, Rosatom stated.
The agency accused Ukraine of “nuclear terrorism,” arguing that the strike had targeted crucial cooling equipment, adding that Zaporozhye NPP, the largest facility of its kind in Europe, as well as the city of Energodar have frequently been attacked by Kiev in the past.
Commenting on the incident, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky claimed that “Russian occupiers started a fire” at the facility, without mentioning any drone strikes. He also shared footage showing a large blaze in the lower levels of the tower, with plumes of smoke rising hundreds of meters into the sky.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has a mission at Zaporozhye NPP, said that its experts heard “multiple explosions” at the facility, without attributing responsibility to either Russia or Ukraine. The watchdog stated that “no impact has been reported for nuclear safety.”
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi also condemned what he called “reckless attacks” that “endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident.”
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blasted the IAEA for its apparent inaction. “Where is Rafael Grossi and the rest of the IAEA? Is there at least an imitation of the work of this UN body in this critical area?” she asked, adding that the “terrorists in Kiev, under the leadership of the collective West, destroyed their country… and now they have begun the nuclear terror of the continent.”
Zaporozhye NPP was seized by Russian forces in 2022, several days after the start of the conflict. While Zaporozhye Region joined Russia in a public referendum in the autumn of 2022, the facility itself is located not far from the front line. Against this backdrop, Ukraine and Russia have often traded accusations over who was behind attacks on the facility.
Hamas rejects Israeli claim of having command center in bombed Gaza school
Press TV – August 11, 2024
The Palestinian Hamas resistance group has dismissed the Israeli military’s allegations that it had set up a “command and control center” at a school compound housing displaced Palestinian families in Gaza City, where more than 100 people were killed and dozens wounded in a dawn strike.
The Gaza-based group, in a statement, also denied the Israeli claim that 19 resistance fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements were killed in the assault on the al-Tabin school in Gaza City’s al-Daraj neighborhood as “false and baseless.”
“Such claims have made been in an attempt to justify the heinous crime amid widespread international criticism,” the statement read.
“We emphasize there was not a single armed individual among those martyred in Saturday’s massacre. They are all civilians who were targeted while performing morning prayers. The victims include children, civil servants, university professors and religious figures, most of whom have no connection whatsoever to any political or military party,” Hamas noted.
The Palestinian resistance group went on to describe the Israeli attack on the Gaza school as “among thousands of massacres committed by the criminal and Nazi Israeli regime in the Gaza Strip. The Zionist entity deliberately and intentionally targets unarmed civilians,” in the coastal sliver.
“The occupying regime purposely spreads such lies after every massacre it perpetrates [in Gaza] in order to justify the horrendous crimes, which are now conspicuous to all,” Hamas added.
Israel’s list of ‘terrorists’ killed in latest massacre exposed as civilians
The Cradle | August 11, 2024
The Israeli army has falsely claimed that over a dozen out of more than 100 civilians massacred in its strike on a Gaza school on 10 August were “terror operatives” belonging to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement.
Chairman of the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor Ramy Abdu and Gaza journalist Motasem Dalloul, both of whom knew some of the victims personally, were among many who picked apart Israel’s claims.
Abdu revealed via social media that two of those listed as “operatives” were, in fact, civilians who had been killed in earlier Israeli attacks.
Munther Daher, listed as a PIJ operative in Tel Aviv’s infographic of “terrorists” it said were eliminated in the attack, was a regular citizen who was killed alongside his sister on Friday, one day before the strike on the school, Abdu revealed in an X thread exposing the Israeli claims.
Yusuf al-Wadiya, listed by Israel as a Hamas operative, was also killed in his home two days before the massacre.
Another one of the names on Israel’s list is Muhammad Hamid al-Taif. He was not linked to any political activity and worked as an English teacher, but is listed as a Hamas operative.
Abdulaziz al-Kafarna, an elderly man who worked in Gaza’s public services sector and serves as the deputy mayor of Beit Hanoun in the northern strip, is listed as a Hamas “emergency committees operative.”
“Four of [those on Israel’s list] were from the Jaabari family, whom I personally know—they never engaged in any political or military activities. Another was an imam, one was my neighbor from the Habib family who had a serious dispute with Hamas,” the Euro-Med chairman said.
Another victim of the Israeli massacre was Yousef al-Kahlout, an Arabic language university professor who was listed as a member of Hamas’ “central leadership.”
“Israel lives on lies,” the Euro-Med chairman wrote in his thread.
The Israeli army bombed a school full of displaced Palestinians near Gaza City on 10 August, killing over 100 people and injuring others. The strike on the Tabi’in school took place as the displaced Gazans were performing morning prayers.
Gaza’s Civil Defense said the school was bombed with three missiles, including at least one 2000 kg MK-84.
“Our assessment is that the massacre … is the third largest disaster in terms of scale following the massacres at Maamadani (Baptist) Hospital and Al-Mawasi in Khan Yunis,” the civil defense said.
Al-Mayadeen‘s correspondent in Gaza reported on 11 August that “paramedics have counted each 70 kg of remains as one martyr, due to remains being so scattered.”
The Israeli military issued a statement acknowledging that precision munitions were used in the strike, justifying the killings by claiming Hamas uses civilians as human shields.
Israeli forces have been committing near-daily massacres against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Indonesia, Malaysia urge UN to forge consensus against Israel after latest massacre in Gaza
Press TV – August 11, 2024
Indonesia and Malaysia have urged the United Nations to reach a general agreement against Israel after its latest massacre in the Gaza Strip.
More than 100 Palestinians were killed on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced people in the east of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli regime has attacked schools at least 21 times in the past 40 days.
Southeast Asian nations have been critical of the Israeli regime, vocally supporting the defenseless Palestinian people trapped and massacred by the Zionist war machine in the besieged Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, both Indonesia and Malaysia called on the UN to unite against Tel Aviv to stop the mass killing of civilians in Gaza.
“The international community should no longer tolerate and accept the belligerence of Israel,” the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its statement.
“Malaysia continues to call for Israel’s allies to compel Israel to immediately stop the killings of innocent Palestinians, and to stop providing Israel with the tools to continue this genocide. An immediate, urgent and decisive action by the UN Security Council is needed to enforce a permanent ceasefire.”
Malaysia said that Israel has shown “that it has no desire for peace” and urged other Muslim countries under the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation to come together and work with UN member states to demand Tel Aviv comply with the UN Security Council resolution passed in June, which called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Israeli regime’s airstrike on Saturday sparked a new wave of international condemnation, with the UN Human Rights Office saying that it was at least the 21st attack on schools-turned-shelters that it has recorded since July 4.
Indonesia has also joined growing calls for the UN Security Council to “immediately conduct a comprehensive investigation” into the Al-Tabin school massacre.
“Indonesia also calls upon the international community to unite in stopping the crimes against humanity and genocide committed by Israel,” the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. “Israel must be held accountable for all these crimes, and all forms of impunity must be brought to an end.”
Backed by the US-led Western allies, the Israeli regime has since October launched a genocidal war on Gaza, enforcing a deadly siege of the Palestinian land by stopping the flow of potable water, medicine, and electricity into the coastal territory.
Israeli forces’ genocidal war on Gaza since early October has killed nearly 40,000 people, most of them women and children, with some 91,000 more injured.
Several Syrian soldiers killed in drone strike near Iraq border
The Cradle | August 11, 2024
Several Syrian army soldiers were killed and others wounded in an airstrike targeting a vehicle near Syria’s eastern city of Al-Bukamal on the Syrian-Iraqi border.
“A drone targeted a car carrying a number of fighters from the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) auxiliary forces, killing six members and wounding more than 15 others,” Sputnik’s correspondent in the eastern Deir Ezzor governorate reported on Sunday, citing local sources.
The military vehicle was carrying Syrian army personnel near the town of Al-Duwair in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, as it was en route to a checkpoint near Al-Bukamal city, tasked with preventing ISIS infiltrations from Iraq into the Syrian border city, according to Sputnik.
“The wounded were taken to hospitals in Deir Ezzor city to receive treatment, and among them were critical cases,” the correspondent added.
Local sources told the outlet that the drone which targeted the car belonged to the US military.
The strike came as eastern Syria has witnessed significant escalation in recent days after a coalition of Syrian Arab tribes launched a massive offensive against Washington’s Kurdish proxy, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Deir Ezzor’s countryside on 7 August, as part of a rebellion launched against the US-backed militants last year.
Damascus has been said to be supporting the Arab tribal rebellion against the SDF.
US airstrikes have targeted the Deir Ezzor countryside several times since the start of the tribal offensive.
A Syrian security source told Sputnik on Saturday that US helicopters bombed several villages in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, enabling the SDF to regain villages and towns they lost days ago after violent battles with tribal forces.
“US warplanes, with the support of the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) militia, have launched several raids in Deir Ezzor, Hasakah, and Qamishli, targeting innocent civilians defending their families, villages, and properties,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said on 10 August.
“The Syrian Arab Republic reaffirms that the US occupation of part of Syrian territory represents a flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and the unity and integrity of its territories, and that US support for its agent separatist militias (SDF) represents a cheap tool to implement its hostile plans against Syria,” it added.
China supports Iran in defending its security, sovereignty: Foreign minister
Press TV – August 11, 2024
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says Beijing supports Iran in defending its “sovereignty, security and national dignity” amid Tehran’s promise to harshly punish Israel over the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of the Hamas resistance movement.
In a phone call with Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani on Sunday, Wang repeated Beijing’s denunciation of the Hamas chief’s assassination in Tehran late last month, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
He said the strike against Haniyeh had violated Iran’s sovereignty and posed a threat to regional stability.
He added that the killing of Haniyeh had “directly undermined the Gaza ceasefire negotiation process and undermined regional peace and stability.”
Haniyeh was assassinated on July 31, while he was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said Haniyeh’s assassination was designed and executed by Israel, with support from the US administration.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned the Israeli regime of a “harsh response” for Haniyeh’s assassination, saying it was the Islamic Republic’s duty to avenge the Palestinian resistance leader’s blood.
Canadian ‘charity’ high school trains students to serve in Israeli military
Press TV – August 10, 2024
A ‘charity’ high school in the Canadian city of Toronto has been training students to serve in the Israeli military, highlighting those graduates who are fighting for the occupying regime.
Toronto high school Bnei Akiva (or Chaim) is reportedly under intense scrutiny following a recent incident involving one of its former students, identified as Ben Brown, who has been critically injured while serving with the Israeli military.
The former student of Chaim was hit by shrapnel from a rocket purportedly launched by the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah while on a military base in the occupied Shebaa Farms or Mount Dov. Brown.
The controversy has prompted calls on Canadian authorities to strip the school of its charitable status and investigate its officials for violating Canada’s Foreign Enlistment Act, which criminalizes the recruitment of Canadians into foreign armed forces.
“Any person who, within Canada, recruits or otherwise induces any person or body of persons to enlist or to accept any commission or engagement in the armed forces of any foreign state or other armed forces operating in that state is guilty of an offense,” the Act states.
The Bnei Akiva High School is affiliated with the World Bnei Akiva movement, which has a known connection to promoting service for the Israeli military.
Brown’s school has a plaque honoring alumni who joined the Israeli military and its website highlights graduates who fought in the ranks of the regime’s armed forces.
Testimonials on the high school’s website suggest the school devotes significant effort to inducing kids to join the Israeli military.
In a podcast, the Canadian Jewish News recently replayed parts of a three-year-old interview with Brown’s older brother, Zach Brown, a former Israeli soldier. In the podcast, Zach described his own military experiences, including his role in urban warfare and checkpoints in the occupied West Bank, boasting about how he was the “top sharpshooter” in a company of the Kfir brigade.
This revelation has intensified scrutiny over the educational and ideological influences provided by Bnei Akiva High Schools.
Critics argue that the school’s activities, which may include encouraging students to join the Israeli military, could constitute an illegal inducement under Canadian law. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is urged to investigate whether Bnei Akiva Schools has breached these regulations.
In addition to legal concerns related to foreign enlistment, the school’s charitable status is also under question as Bnei Akiva Schools has received substantial public funding, including federal grants totaling $3.5 million in 2021 and 2022 (the last years of its budget the public has access to).
This is while Canadian charity regulations stipulate that supporting foreign armed forces is not considered a charitable activity. Moreover, there are concerns that the school’s financial practices may be violating guidelines set by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
“CRA rules state clearly that paying private school tuition is not tax deductible except any portion covering ‘religious’ studies,” the report added.
The Bnei Akiva Schools has a history of supporting and celebrating the Israeli military. The school has organized fundraising events, such as marathons, to support wounded Israeli soldiers and has featured Israeli soldiers and the Israeli military’s choir in its programs.
The World Bnei Akiva movement, with which Bnei Akiva Schools is affiliated, operates an academy in Israel that prepares non-Israelis for military service. This connection raises further questions about the extent to which the school actively encourages enlistment in the Israeli military, the report further said.
Backed by the US and its Western allies, the Israeli regime launched an all-out invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip after it was caught off-guard by Operation al-Aqsa Storm inside the occupied territories in October last year.
Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed, most of them women and children, and upwards of 91,000 others injured in the merciless Israeli aggression.
Israel has also been enforcing a crippling siege on the coastal territory by choking off the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory.
