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Hamas calls on 18 countries signing hostage release initiative to expose Israel’s crimes

MEMO | April 27, 2024

The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas expressed its regret over the statement issued by the White House, signed by 18 countries, calling for the release of the hostages in the Gaza Strip.

The movement conveyed on Friday that the statement: “Did not address basic issues for our people who are suffering under the burden of a comprehensive genocidal war and did not stress the need for a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of the occupation army from the Gaza Strip. This is in addition to the ambiguity surrounding other issues.”

Hamas stressed that it is: “Open to any ideas or proposals that take into account the just needs and rights of our people, represented by a complete cessation of the aggression against them, the withdrawal of the occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, the unconditional and unrestricted return of the displaced, reconstruction, lifting the siege, and moving forward with reaching a serious prisoner exchange deal through the Palestinian people receiving their full legitimate national rights by self-determination, and establishing their independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Hamas called on the US administration, the countries that signed the statement and the international community: “To lift the lid on the crime of genocide committed by the Zionist enemy against children and defenceless civilians in the Gaza Strip, and to put pressure to end it, as an urgent priority.”

On Thursday, 18 countries called for an end to the crisis in the Gaza Strip and the establishment of peace and stability in the region.

This came in a joint statement on behalf of the leaders of the US, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the UK, published on the White House website.

The statement demanded: “The immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for over 200 days. They include our own citizens. The fate of the hostages and the civilian population in Gaza, who are protected under international law, is of international concern.”

The countries’ leaders who signed the statement emphasised that: “The deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza,” without mentioning the deal’s details.

April 27, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Hamas ready to join Palestinian ‘national army’ if statehood achieved: Official

The Cradle | April 25, 2024

Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said in an interview published on 25 April that the group could potentially join forces with a Palestinian national army in the event that Palestine is recognized as a state.

“All the experiences of people who fought against occupiers, when they became independent and obtained their rights and their state, what have these forces done? They have turned into political parties and their defending fighting forces have turned into the national army,” Hayya told AP.

He also said that Hamas would be willing to join the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and form a unified government for Gaza and the West Bank with the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Fatah party, on the condition of a “fully sovereign Palestinian state” on pre-1967 borders and “the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the international resolutions.”

He added that Hamas would be willing to “live in a state and establish a ceasefire for five years or more in order to live in security.”

Hayya said that Hamas has offered this solution repeatedly over the years.

“Today, Israel has hit the resistance with great blows, but has not ended it … they have not destroyed more than 20 percent of its capabilities … If they can’t finish [Hamas] off, what is the solution? The solution is to go to consensus.”

Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and all its combat capabilities at the start of the war but has so far failed to achieve this goal. The Israeli army is now planning to invade the overcrowded southern city of Rafah, which it says is Hamas’ last stronghold. Nonetheless, the resistance group remains entrenched across Gaza with several other factions.

The US has been pushing the idea of a ‘reformed’ PA assuming control over post-war Gaza. The plan, which Hamas has rejected, would depend on the resistance group’s defeat and the end of its political leadership in the strip.

Washington recently vetoed a resolution for the recognition of Palestine as a full UN member state.

Dozens of Israeli prisoners, including high-ranking army officers, are still being held by Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades.

The interview comes as truce negotiations remain stalemated by Israel’s repeated rejection of Hamas’ main terms, which the resistance group continues to hold fast. These terms include an end to the war and a permanent ceasefire, a withdrawal of all troops from Gaza, a return of the displaced to their homes, and reconstruction of the strip.

“If we are not assured the war will end, why would we hand over the prisoners?” Hayya told AP.

April 25, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas holds dozens of high-ranking Israeli officers in Gaza: Report

The Cradle | April 24, 2024

A source within Palestinian resistance movement Hamas told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on 24 April that the group holds around 30 Israeli army generals and officers from the Shin Bet security service as prisoners in the Gaza Strip.

“The movement alone has about 30 generals and Shin Bet officers, who were captured on October 7, from military units and some highly sensitive military sites,” the source said.

The source added that “these people in particular are in highly secured places, far from the hands of the occupation, and it is impossible to reach them under any circumstances,” and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have been hiding information from their people regarding “the identities of some of the prisoners.”

This concealment comes as part of efforts “to avoid provoking anger among the ranks of the combat forces.” He added that the military representative on Israel’s prisoner negotiation team, Nitzan Alon, is frustrated with Netanyahu’s “laxity” toward the issue.

The Israeli government has said that 129 Israeli prisoners remain captive in Gaza.

According to the source, Israel does not really know the exact number of prisoners left in Gaza after the prisoner exchanges in late November. He adds that Tel Aviv has not specified the number of imprisoned military officials, as part of a strategy “to classify some of the soldiers or officers … as civilians, in order to reduce the price of negotiating for them during the talks.”

The source also denied Hebrew media reports that only 20 prisoners are alive and that Hamas only proposed releasing 20, as opposed to 40, during the latest rounds of truce talks in Cairo.

Truce negotiations remain stalemated by Israel’s repeated rejection of Hamas’ main terms, which the resistance group continues to hold fast. These terms include an end to the war and a permanent ceasefire, a withdrawal of all troops from Gaza, a return of the displaced to their homes, and reconstruction of the strip.

“The only way [for Israel] to liberate the occupation prisoners is through serious negotiations followed by a full commitment to a ceasefire and reconstruction,” he said.

He also confirmed that the resistance remains in fighting form, and has not been defeated.

“The resistance is still fine, and is still in control in a disciplined manner within integrated structures in the field of operations.” Israel has repeatedly claimed that the southernmost city of Rafah is Hamas’ final stronghold, and is planning an operation against the desperately overcrowded city, posing the threat of a severe humanitarian catastrophe.

The source also confirmed that top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is “not isolated from reality” or hiding within the tunnels of Gaza, as some have claimed. According to the source, Sinwar has met with some of the fighters of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, has “inspected” some of the areas where clashes took place, and “is carrying out his work as a leader of the movement in the field.”

April 24, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas politburo considers Qatar exit

The Cradle | April 20, 2024

The political leadership of Hamas is considering moving its headquarters outside Qatar amid increasing criticism from members of the US Congress for the Gulf nation’s support for the Palestinian resistance movement, the Wall Street Journal  (WSJ) reported on 20 April.

The US financial newspaper quoted Arab officials as saying that Hamas had recently communicated with at least two countries in the region, including the Sultanate of Oman, about the possibility of ​​its political leaders moving to their capitals.

The WSJ indicated that Hamas’s departure from Qatar could disrupt talks to reach a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement to release dozens of Israelis held captive in Gaza, and hundreds of the many thousands of Palestinians held captive in Israel. Such a departure may also make it difficult for Israel and the US to convey messages to Hamas, which Washington classifies as a terrorist organization, the WSJ added.

A well-informed Arab mediator told the newspaper: “The talks have already stopped again, with little sign or possibility of resuming them anytime soon, and the lack of trust is growing between Hamas and the negotiators.”

Another Arab mediator said: “The possibility of the ceasefire talks collapsing completely has become very possible.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the religious settler ministers in his coalition government have shown little interest in winning the release of the Israelis held captive by Hamas since 7 October.

Netanyahu has instead prioritized continuing the bombing of Gaza, which has killed not only over 33,000 Palestinians but also many of Hamas’ Israeli captives as well.

Israel says more than 130 captives remain in Hamas custody, and about a quarter of those are believed dead.

Qatar is under fire from US lawmakers for its support of Hamas, although this was fully coordinated with the US and Israel.

Prominent US Congressman from the Democratic Party, Steny Hoyer, said recently that Qatar should pressure Hamas to release its Israeli captives by cutting off funding to the group or kicking its political leaders out of Doha. “If Qatar fails to apply this pressure, the United States must re-evaluate its relationship with Qatar,” he said in a statement.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, recently said the Gulf state was considering withdrawing as a mediator between Israel and Hamas in the face of what he says is unfair US and Israeli criticism.

“There are limits to this role and limits to the ability to which we can contribute to these negotiations in a constructive way,” the Qatari leader said at a news conference. “The state of Qatar will make the appropriate decision at the right time.”

Qatar is home to a large US air base and was named a “major non-NATO ally” by President Joe Biden in 2022.

A Qatari official told AFP that Hamas’s political office was opened in Qatar in 2012 in coordination with the US government “following a US request to open a communication channel.”

AFP added that West Asia analyst Andreas Krieg stated that US officials wanted to ensure “complete oversight and control over them.”

Qatar then provided financial aid to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for years, which was also “fully coordinated with Israel, the UN, and the US.”

Qatar’s funding of Hamas enjoyed the specific blessing of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. As journalist Scott Horton detailed, Netanyahu boasted to members of his party in the Knesset that he could reliably control the potential blowback that might result from his strategy should Hamas decide to wage a war against Israel.

Netanyahu claimed, “Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas … This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank … It’s impossible to reach an agreement with them [Hamas] … Everyone knows this, but we control the height of the flames.”

April 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | 2 Comments

Israel obstructs UN investigation into alleged rape on 7 October, prevents interviews of victims

MEMO | April 16, 2024

United Nations’ investigators have criticised Israel for actively preventing them from speaking to victims and witnesses of the 7 October attacks into Israeli-held territory by Hamas, amid growing scepticism of Israel’s account of the events.

According to Chris Sidoti, former human rights commissioner of Australia and one of the three members of the UN’s Commission of Inquiry into abuses committed in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, “we have not only seen a lack of cooperation [from the Israeli government], but active obstruction of our efforts to receive evidence from Israeli witnesses and victims to the events that occurred in southern Israel”.

Over the past six months, Israel has repeatedly alleged that Hamas militants and fighters committed numerous atrocities against Israeli civilians in settlements and areas surrounding the besieged Gaza Strip on 7 October last year, as part of the Resistance group’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

One of the key acts Israel accuses the fighters of committing was the rape and sexual assault of numerous Israeli women. Those claims have increasingly been disputed and questioned over the months, however, with even Israeli police reportedly being unable to find victims – either dead or alive – of the Hamas’s alleged sexual crimes.

Now, the UN probe into Israel’s allegations is itself growing frustrated with what it acknowledges is the government’s active attempts to obstruct the investigation.

Stressing that the investigation has found it difficult to collect evidence from large numbers of witnesses, Sidoti revealed that some of the digital evidence investigators began collecting early on 7 October has since “disappeared from the internet”, in what could be potential government interference.

“I use this opportunity to appeal again both to the government of Israel to cooperate, and to victims and witnesses to the events in southern Israel to contact the Commission of Inquiry so that we can hear what they have experienced”, he stated. “If it [the evidence] had not been collected on that day, it would not have been able to be collected.”

Navi Pillay, a former UN rights chief and former South African High Court judge who is currently chairing the three-person Commission, also criticised Tel Aviv’s obstruction today, stating that “I deplore the fact that people inside Israel who wish to speak to us are being denied that opportunity, because we cannot get access into Israel.”

In response to the briefing today, Israel’s mission to the UN insisted to the AFP news agency that UN representatives have been to Israel to meet with victims and survivors of the attacks, while claiming that the victims “know too well that they will never get any justice or the dignified treatment they deserve from the Commission of Inquiry and its members, who have a track record of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements”.

April 16, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | 1 Comment

Hamas adhering to its conditions for prisoner deal: Haniyeh

Al Mayadeen | April 12, 2024

The head of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, told Al Mayadeen that the Palestinian Resistance group is adhering to its conditions in negotiations and will not engage in any deal with “Israel” without their fulfillment.

Haniyeh emphasized the Resistance’s insistence on the necessity of declaring a permanent and clear ceasefire in Gaza.

He made it clear that the Israeli occupation has not eliminated Hamas, and shall not eliminate it, pointing out that the Israeli government has not retrieved its captives held in Gaza and shall not retrieve them except through “an honorable deal.”

The Palestinian leader affirmed the Resistance’s insistence on the complete withdrawal and the return of the displaced people to Gaza without any conditions or barriers, in addition to the conditions regarding relief and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, leading to a prisoner exchange deal.

Haniyeh touched on Israeli media’s speculations that the Israeli assassination of his sons and grandchildren is aimed at pressuring Hamas to ease its demands during ceasefire negotiations, underlining that “this will not happen.”

The Hamas chief indicated that the massacres and crimes committed by the Israeli occupation in Gaza reflect its strategic failure after not achieving its declared goals of the war.

“Israel, the spoiled child of the West, is no longer as it once was, and its image has been shattered,” he told Al Mayadeen, adding that what is happening in the “corridors of diplomacy” indicates an unprecedented isolation for the Israeli occupation entity.

Addressing the entire nation, Haniyeh highlighted that the ongoing genocide in Gaza requires a different stance from the past six months.

April 12, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli occupation forces kill three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haneyya and their children

Palestinian Information Center – April 10, 2024

GAZA – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haneyya and three of their children in Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza, on Wednesday evening.

Local sources said that Amir, Mohammed, and Hazem, the sons of Haneyya, were killed in the IOF shelling of their car along with three of their offspring, while a fourth kid was injured and taken to hospital.

Haneyya, commenting on the incident, said that it was an honor for his family that his sons were martyred, adding that around 60 of his family members were killed in the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza.

“Such crimes will only boost our steadfastness and insistence on upholding our principles,” he added.

“The enemy is in big illusion if it thinks that killing my sons will make us change our positions,” Haneyya underlined.

For its part, the Government Media Office (GMO) said in a statement on Wednesday that the IOF committed yet another massacre on the first day of the holy Eid al-Fitr by targeting the car in which the sons of Haneyya and their children were aboard.

The GMO strongly condemned the continuing Israeli massacres, adding that 125 martyrs were transferred to hospitals over the past 24 hours.

April 10, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | 1 Comment

Palestinian Political Groups Reject Israel’s Proposal to Send Arab Troops to Gaza – Hamas

Sputnik – 30.03.2024

TUNIS – Political groups making up the Alliance of Palestinian Forces have rejected Israel’s proposal to send Arab troops to the Gaza Strip, Palestinian movement Hamas said on Saturday.

On Friday, Axios reported, citing two senior Israeli officials, that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, during his recent visit to the United States, suggested forming a multinational contingent with Arab troops to bolster Gaza’s law and order and ensure safe humanitarian aid delivery.

“The factions of the Alliance of Palestinian Forces reject the Israeli proposal to send Arab forces to govern Gaza and warn against its consequences,” Hamas said in a statement.
The statement also claimed that the Israeli proposal was “a new Zionist trap and a lie.”

“Turning to certain Arab countries for help, it [Israel], together with the US, seeks to avoid a horrible defeat they have suffered … to get the occupation army out of the huge moor it finds itself trapped in the Gaza Strip,” the statement read.

Aside from Hamas, the Alliance includes Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and several other organizations that have their own military wings.

On Thursday, the International Court of Justice said that Israel must ensure the unhindered access of humanitarian aid and all necessary services to the Gaza Strip.

March 30, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , | 1 Comment

Lebanon Sunni militant head affirms coordination with Hezbollah against Israel

MEMO | March 27, 2024

The head of a Lebanese Sunni political and militant group that has joined Hezbollah, a Shia resistance movement, in its fight against Israel said yesterday that the conflict has helped strengthen cooperation between the two groups, despite their sectarian differences.

Secretary-General of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, Sheikh Mohammed Takkoush, told AP that his faction has joined the fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border in response to the occupation state’s ongoing genocidal war on Gaza and its strikes against Lebanese towns and villages, which have killed civilians including journalists.

“We decided to join [the battle] as a national, religious and moral duty. We did that to defend our land and villages,” Takkoush told the news agency at his group’s headquarters in Beirut. “We also did so in support of our brothers in Gaza,” where he said Israel was committing an “open massacre.”

According to AP, the Islamic Group’s armed wing, the Fajr Forces, carries out its operations against Israel mainly from the southern city of Sidon.

Takkoush said that he believed Israel has ambitions to seize more territory “not only in Palestine but in Lebanon too.”

The group acts independently but coordinates closely with Hezbollah and with the Lebanese branch of Hamas, Takkoush said. “Part of [the attacks against Israeli forces] were in coordination with Hamas, which coordinates with Hezbollah,” he explained, adding that direct cooperation with Hezbollah “is on the rise and this is being reflected in the field.”

“Our relations with Hezbollah are good and growing and it is being strengthened as we go through war,” adding that all the weapons they use are from their own arsenal: “We did not get even a bullet from any side.”

In a report published in November, L’Orient Today said Takkoush’s faction, which has been described as a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated group, may help Hezbollah boost its credentials among some Lebanese Sunnis, although “it is not guaranteed to extend Hezbollah’s influence beyond the war.” This is because “The Sheikh has neither the oratory skills and charisma of Hassan Nasrallah, his Hezbollah counterpart, nor the popularity of Saad Hariri.”

March 27, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

UN Security Council passes Gaza resolution, Israel fumes at US for not using veto power

Press TV – March 25, 2024

With the United States abstaining, the United Nations Security Council has finally adopted a long-awaited resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The resolution was put forward by the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council. It received unanimous support from the remaining 14 members on Monday.

Washington had already vetoed similar bids three times since Israel started its brutal campaign in Gaza in early October.

The resolution demands an immediate ceasefire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the release of Israelis the resistance movement Hamas took captive during Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on October 7, 2023. It also underscores the “urgent need to expand the flow” of aid into Gaza.

The regime says 253 Israelis were taken captive during the operation.

Given the duration of Ramadan, the truce demanded by the resolution would last for about two weeks.

The draft, however, says the truce should lead to a “lasting, sustainable ceasefire.”

Failure to implement truce ‘unforgivable’: UN chief

Right after the vote, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the resolution.

“This resolution must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable,” Guterres posted on X.

The Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said in remarks to the Security Council that the resolution must be “a turning point” in ending hostilities in Gaza.

“This must signal the end of this assault, of atrocities against our people.”

Hamas also welcomed the prospective ceasefire, saying the resistance group is ready for a prisoner exchange.

Slamming ‘US retreat’ at UN

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, responded to Washington’s abstention.

He said the move, which allowed the resolution to pass, “hurts both the war effort” and the effort to release the captives, according to a statement by his office.

Netanyahu “made it clear last night that if the US withdraws from its principled position, he will not send the Israeli delegation to the US.”

“This is a clear retreat from the consistent position of the United States at the Security Council since the beginning of the war.”

President Joe Biden of the United States had asked Netanyahu to send a team for consultations over the regime’s plans to launch a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter.

The UN Security Council’s call for a ceasefire comes as international fears have grown over the planned Israeli ground invasion.

Human rights groups say a ground invasion of Rafah would drastically worsen a heavy civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

March 25, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , | 2 Comments

Biden’s Offer for a 6-Week Pause in the Genocide in Gaza

By Steven Sahiounie | Strategic Culture Foundation | March 8, 2024

The Hamas delegation left Cairo on Thursday and will resume negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza next week. Time is running out before the Holy month of Ramadan begins. Hamas wants an end to the war, but the U.S. is looking only for a 6-week pause, and Israel is willing to allow a pause but resume the genocide afterward.

UN experts, many world leaders, humanitarian organizations, and millions of civilians across the U.S., UK, Europe, Africa, and Asia agree on one point: the only way to prevent or end famine in Gaza is an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Israel’s unrelenting attack on 2.3 million people in Gaza, day and night for almost five months, has killed over 30,700. If the bombs and bullets don’t kill them all, then starvation will.

U.S. President Joe Biden, the one man in the world who holds the keys to a ceasefire in Gaza, refuses to demand the Israelis end the war. Biden has finally come up with a weak deal to offer Hamas to stop the slaughtering, but just for six weeks, not permanently.

Hamas proposal in Cairo

Hamas representatives have been meeting in Cairo with Egyptian and Qatari negotiators. On Wednesday, March 6, Hamas said they were continuing their efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza even though Israel refused to participate in the negotiations.

Osama Hamdan, in Beirut, voiced the demands of the resistance group. They want a permanent end to Israeli attacks and the withdrawal of Israeli forces to allow the people to return to their homes. He stressed that a prisoner swap could only occur after a ceasefire.

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said Hamas had presented its draft deal and was awaiting a response from Israel, and that “the ball now is in the Americans’ court”.

The U.S. proposal at the UN

On March 5, Biden said a ceasefire deal was in the hands of Hamas. He was referring to the U.S. deal offered to Hamas, and he never mentioned or referred to the deal Hamas offered to Israel.

Biden’s deal offered a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release of all Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Israel is willing to pause the slaughter and genocide in Gaza for a few weeks, but Netanyahu and his radical right-wing partners insist they will never stop the bombardment until Hamas is exterminated.

“It’s in the hands of Hamas right now. Israelis have been cooperating. There’s been a rational offer,” Biden told reporters.

Getting the Israeli hostages out has never been a priority for Netanyahu, but it has been for the families and friends of the hostages. They have been holding protests and marches ever since the conflict began. The families of the hostages expected their government to negotiate for their release, but Netanyahu’s war room ignored their pleas, in favor of revenge killings in Gaza.

From the very beginning of the conflict which broke out October 7, 2023,  He is willing to use the phrase ‘humanitarian pause’, and his current deal offered to Hamas is only a pause, with an exact timetable attached to resume the butchery which has killed mainly women and children.

The U.S. is promoting its ‘pause’ deal at the UN, even though the U.S. has vetoed every UN resolution aimed at peace in Gaza, with the most recent U.S. veto on February 20.

Netanyahu says IDF will remain in Gaza for 10 years

The Times of Israel reported recently that Netanyahu has planned for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to remain in a military occupation of Gaza for at least 10 years. This is opposed by the U.S., EU, UN, and most world leaders. Israel may agree to a pause, but a ceasefire and withdrawal is out of the question. This means the Palestinian people and their supporters will remain resisting occupation, which is guaranteed by the Geneva Convention.

The Flour Massacre

On February 29, at least 112 people were killed and 760 were injured when Israeli tanks opened heavy fire on Palestinian civilians attempting to collect flour to make bread near Gaza City.

The attack was investigated by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. The attack was captured on video in which gunshots and weapon fire were heard. The victims were examined and had gunshot injuries, the scene was strewn with blood on flour sacks and aid boxes, and survivors’ eyewitness testimony attested to the Israeli attack on starving Palestinians in search of food for their families. Many of the survivors stated they were shot in the back while running away from the scene.

Israel tried to blame the deaths and injuries on a stampede in the chaos of scrambling to get the flour. However, the aerial footage the IDF released of the scene proved there were IDF tanks present. The people running in the aerial footage were running from Israeli gunfire directed at them.

After the ‘Flour Massacre’ happened, the first response from the Biden White House, as parroted by CNN on the front lawn, was the Israeli version of events: people stampeded because of chaos while trying to get some food.

However, in the video accompanying the CNN report, sounds of weapons fire are heard over and over again.

Later, Christiane Amanpour of CNN reported on information relayed to her from trusted contacts on the ground in Gaza, humanitarian groups, that those killed at the ‘Flour Massacre’ had gunshot wounds. Amanpour has a career motto: don’t be neutral, be truthful.

“The attack came after Israel has denied humanitarian aid into Gaza City and northern Gaza for more than a month,” said the UN experts, who described “a pattern of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians seeking aid”.

In a statement, a group of UN special rapporteurs accused Israel of “intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza since 8 October,” adding: “Now it is targeting civilians seeking humanitarian aid and humanitarian convoys.”

There is mounting evidence of famine in the Gaza Strip, and at least 14 similar incidents have been reported.

On Friday, March 1, the U.S. blocked a statement put forward by Algeria and backed by 15 UNSC members except the U.S. to condemn Israel for the killing of more than 100 Palestinians in the ‘Flour Massacre’. The U.S. claimed it was trying to verify how the people died in light of Israel’s denial of shooting the hungry people.

Biden doesn’t care about protests

Mitch Landrieu, national co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign, was asked on CNN about Biden’s reaction to being taunted by protesters demanding a ceasefire immediately in Gaza.

Landrieu replied that Biden respects their right to freedom of speech, and “he has no problem with it.”

Biden and his administration, view the call for a ceasefire in Gaza as just an exercise in the right of freedom of speech as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Biden and his administration will gladly tolerate calls for a ceasefire because that is the right of every American.

However, the Biden administration misses the point. Millions of Americans are demanding an end to the slaughter in Gaza, carried out by the American weapons provided without any oversight or conditions by the U.S. State Department. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has faced resignations among his staff because of the unbridled flow of weapons to Israel, which have killed well over 30,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children as reported by the UN and humanitarian groups.

Blinken has the authority to hold up weapons transfers based on the State Department’s own rule, that no weapons can be sent to a country that may use them in war crimes, crimes against humanity, or in violation of humanitarian law. Blinken famously told Netanyahu, that he came to support Israel as a Jew. Blinken was not representing the rules and protocol of the U.S. State Department, but was instead representing his race, and his bloodline having been born of a Jewish mother. Blinken turned the secular system of the American government into a racist and sectarian system in one fell swoop.

The next big protest movement in the U.S. may well be a popular uprising against paying taxes. Americans may ask, “Why do I pay taxes, if Washington, DC. is throwing away money on wars I oppose?”

Gaza is starving

Deliberating starving people amounts to war crimes and genocide under international law. More than 15 children have died from malnutrition in Gaza. The deaths are due not only to hunger but also dehydration. The elderly and small children are very susceptible to dehydration which causes the major organs to shut down.

The humanitarian aid trucks sit parked and idle at the gate to Gaza. Israel has prevented aid from coming to over 2 million Palestinians. Biden has only to pick up a phone and order the gate to be open and the aid to flow in unimpeded, but instead, he has asked the air force to fly over Gaza and drop pallets of food.

Israel has blocked humanitarian supplies to Gaza. On January 26, the International Court of Justice recognized the plausibility of Israel committing genocide and ordered it to allow the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian services and aid to Palestinians. However, since the court’s ruling, the number of trucks Israel has allowed to enter Gaza has fallen to 57 a day – compared with an average of 147 a day before the ICJ ruling.

The hospitals are barely functioning with hundreds of wounded arriving each day, and now they are filling up with people in the last stages of starvation.

March 9, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas rejects UN accusations of sexual violence in 7 October attack on Israel

MEMO | March 5, 2024

Palestinian group, Hamas, on Tuesday rejected accusations by a UN Special envoy for its fighters of sexually assaulting Israeli women during its 7 October cross-border attack into Israel, Anadolu Agency reports.

Pramila Patten, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said in a report on Monday that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, occurred during the Hamas attack.

Hamas dismissed the accusations by the UN envoy as “false” and “baseless”.

The report “came out after failed Israeli attempts to prove this false accusation to demonise the Palestinian Resistance and cover up … horrific human rights violations committed by Israeli Occupation forces against Palestinian women and girls,” it said in a statement.

Last month, UN experts expressed alarm over “credible allegations” of egregious human rights violations that Palestinian women and girls continue to face in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Hamas said the allegations “clearly contradict with testimonies of freed Israeli hostages of good treatment by Hamas fighters while in captivity.”

“This false accusation will not succeed in erasing the ugliness and horror of the Israeli crimes in the Gaza Strip,” the Palestinian group said.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a 7 October,  2023 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

More than 30,600 Palestinians have since been killed and over 72,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85 per cent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

March 5, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | 3 Comments

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