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‘Israel’ targeting police officers in Rafah violates ceasefire: Hamas

Al Mayadeen | February 16, 2025

Hamas has denounced an Israeli drone strike that targeted police officers in Rafah this Sunday morning, killing three officers. The attack occurred while the officers were securing the entry of humanitarian aid, and Hamas has labeled it a “serious violation” of the ceasefire agreement currently in place.

In an official statement, the movement reiterated its belief that “Israel’s” actions show a deliberate disregard for the terms of the ceasefire. Hamas pointed out that “Israel” had promised to allow the entry of caravans and heavy machinery to Gaza but failed to follow through, as evidenced by their announcement today that these supplies would be denied entry. This breach adds to “Israel’s” ongoing failure to maintain the truce, according to the Palestinian movement.

The statement also criticized “Israel’s” delay in beginning the second phase of negotiations, casting doubt on its commitment to the agreement brokered by international mediators. Hamas further accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing the peace process, using the time to continue military aggression and pursue policies that could lead to further war crimes.

Hamas condemned the attack and all other violations of the ceasefire and humanitarian protocols, holding “Israel” fully responsible for the repercussions. The movement called on international mediators to step in and pressure “Israel” to fulfill its commitments, including stopping its violations of the ceasefire, implementing the full humanitarian protocol, and immediately starting the second phase of peace talks.

Israeli violations tantamount to agreement failure: Gaza Media Office

In a similar vein, Salama Maarouf, the Director of the Government Media Office in Gaza said earlier today that “Israel’s” refusal to allow the entry of mobile homes and heavy equipment to Gaza constitutes a clear violation of its commitments under the ceasefire agreement and its accompanying humanitarian protocol.

In statements to Al Mayadeen, Maarouf emphasized that “Israel’s” refusal is tantamount to declaring the failure of the ceasefire agreement, despite the Palestinian Resistance’s commitment to its obligations as long as the occupation upholds its own.

He added that the Israeli occupation’s actions are clear proof to the world which party is obstructing the agreement, underscoring the need for mediators to intervene and pressure “Israel” to fulfill its commitments.

Maarouf also highlighted that “the catastrophic living conditions endured by the Palestinian people in Gaza due to the genocide and humanitarian crisis cannot withstand further delays, evasion, or obstruction of the entry of shelter materials and other essential supplies.”

The Palestinian official urged mediators and the international community to assume their responsibilities, respond immediately to Gaza’s urgent needs, and put an end to the ongoing suffering by compelling “Israel” to cease its violations and its exploitation of the plight of 2.4 million people in Gaza.

The Government Media Office in Gaza has repeatedly pointed out that “Israel” continues to stall and delay the implementation of the humanitarian protocol, while the humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorates at an alarming rate.

Despite the entry of 801 aid trucks into the besieged Gaza Strip on Wednesday, humanitarian organizations warn that “Israel” continues to severely limit the flow of essential supplies, in violation of the ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

According to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the aid deliveries were made “through interactions with the Israeli authorities and the guarantors for the ceasefire deal.” However, the agency cautioned that restrictions remain stringent, particularly on critical supplies like fuel and medical equipment.

It is noteworthy that Hamas intended to postpone the prisoner exchange set for February 15 due to the ongoing Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement before mediators intervened to overcome obstacles hindering the completion of the implementation of the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement. The violations include Palestinians being shot at, tanks trespassing the permitted distance, and preventing the entry of heavy equipment, medical supplies, and caravans.

February 16, 2025 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas delays next release of Israeli captives over ‘violations’ of Gaza ceasefire

Press TV – February 10, 2025

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says it will postpone the next release of Israeli captives under a ceasefire deal in Gaza until further notice as the Israeli regime continues to violate the terms of the agreement.

In a post on the social media platform X, Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, said the handover of the captives “who were scheduled to be released next Saturday… will be postponed until further notice, and until the occupation commits to and compensates for the entitlements of the past weeks retroactively.”

He added, “We affirm our commitment to the terms of the agreement as long as the occupation commits to them.”

The spokesman for the Qassam Brigades stated that over the past three weeks violations had included “delaying the return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip, and targeting them with shelling and gunfire.”

In response to Hamas’ announcement, Israeli minister of military affairs Israel Katz said he has instructed the military to “prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza.”

Hamas released three Israeli captives on Saturday as part of the fifth phase of the prisoner exchange deal under the ceasefire agreement with the Tel Aviv regime that took effect last month.

In exchange, Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners, of whom 18 were serving life sentences. The majority had been detained in Gaza since the onset of the Israeli genocidal war on October 7, 2023, and had no public charges against them.

A total of 16 Israeli captives and 566 Palestinian prisoners have been freed so far under the ceasefire agreement.

February 10, 2025 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

The next Israel-Hezbollah war is now unavoidable – and it will be worse

By Robert Inlakesh | RT | February 10, 2025

Another round of violence between Lebanon and Israel is not a matter of if, but when. Israel managed to extract a series of tactical victories from the war so far, but did not possess the capacity to defeat Hezbollah decisively. Now that Israel seeks to maintain freedom of action inside Lebanon, it threatens a much more violent outbreak than what was stopped by the November 27 ceasefire.

Much of the analyses offered on the conflict between Lebanon and Israel, which erupted into a paroxysmal battle in September 2024, trace its origins back to October 8, 2023. However, this take is limited in its scope and also often misses key lessons from the history of the conflict.

Understanding what shaped the Lebanon-Israel war

A day after the Hamas-led October 7 attack against Israel, it became clear, through the public statements and actions of the Israelis, that the war they sought to launch was intended to inflict maximum collective punishment on the civilian population of Gaza. Although it often goes unrecognized due to the shocking effects of the Hamas raid, at least 413 Palestinians were killed inside Gaza that day, most of them civilians. The next day, the Lebanese group Hezbollah began opening fire on Israeli monitoring equipment set up in the illegally occupied Shebaa Farms area.

After Israel conducted airstrikes in southern Lebanon and killed four Hezbollah members, the Lebanese armed group responded by opening fire on Israeli military sites and surveillance equipment on October 9. That same day, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a “complete siege” on Gaza and that “we are fighting against human animals” to justify blocking all food, water, and electricity from entering the territory.

Understanding the gravity of what had just happened, Hezbollah’s secretary general, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, understood that they were going to have to play a supporting role for the Palestinian armed groups in Gaza. However, the group did not want to drag Lebanon into a comprehensive war and repeatedly stressed this point. The one pledge that Nasrallah made was “Hamas will win,” offering no other red lines.

From October 8, 2023 to September 20, 2024, Israel was responsible for around 81% of all attacks between both sides, killing 752 people in Lebanon, while Hezbollah’s attacks killed 33 Israelis. The last time a war was fought between Lebanon and Israel was in 2006, which began when Hezbollah conducted a raid and kidnapped Israeli soldiers. The war was well planned by Hezbollah and resulted in a victory for the group, as Israeli forces retreated from Lebanese territory.

What made Hezbollah the first Arab force to claim a real victory over Israel in 2006 was down to the absolute power imbalance, in which a stalemate combined with tactical victories and a well executed plan made it a defeat of the Israeli military. After this, while Israeli forces committed thousands of violations of Lebanese sovereignty – by land, sea, and air – occasionally assassinating Hezbollah fighters in Syria that caused some brief border skirmishes, the two sides veered away from all-out war.

In 2019, however, the Israelis began working on a new security fence/wall along the Lebanese border, which cut into and annexed land clearly demarcated to be on Lebanon’s side of what is known as the Blue Line. In 2023, the most significant land grab was of the northern Ghajjar village, which was cut off from Lebanon and opened for Israelis to visit. In addition, Israeli forces repeatedly entered Lebanon in order to clear land between the fence and Lebanese farm lands, resulting in repeated standoffs.

During the period from 2006 to 2023, Israel had been working at infiltrating Hezbollah and spying on the political party, while the Lebanese group significantly strengthened its military power. This is of great significance to the conflict that has taken place over the past 16 months, because Hezbollah in 2006 was somewhat comparable in power to Hamas at the start of the war in October 2023.

Hezbollah was also born out of the conflict between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel, when the Israelis launched their invasion of Lebanon in 1982. The Israelis killed around 20,000 Palestinians and Lebanese in that war, which ended with a ceasefire due to the PLO’s surrender and acceptance of deportation to Tunisia.

Yet, after the PLO’s fighters and leadership left, Israel did not leave Lebanese territory and instead occupied the south of the country, while deploying its allied militias, including the Phalange Party, to massacre thousands of civilians in and around the Palestinian refugee camps. The lesson learned here for all future movements that would emerge to fight Israel, was that you never surrender your weapons; hence the Hamas slogan ‘victory or martyrdom’. The single biggest achievement that Hezbollah recorded in its history was forcing Israel to withdraw from Lebanese lands and give up on their occupation.

Why war is inevitable

It is clear that the war between Lebanon and Israel, which lasted nearly two months, was not one that Hezbollah was prepared for. Even after Israel’s booby-trapped pager attacks, which injured thousands across Lebanon, including many civilians, the Lebanese group still sought to fight a limited battle, as evidenced by the speech given by Nasrallah at the time. However, Israel did not stop there and decided to kill most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership, including Nasrallah, making a war unavoidable.

As early as October 8, 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was threatening Lebanon with the kind of destruction wrought on Gaza. While the assault that the Israelis launched was certainly devastating to the civilian population, killing nearly 2,000 people, it was clear that it had not decided to launch a Gaza-style attack. Meanwhile, Hezbollah began using heavier missiles from its vast arsenal, but was tame in its approach and was careful to make much of its strikes symbolic or aimed at military facilities. This had nothing to do with what either side may have liked to do, but there was strategic constraint, which appeared to be deteriorating into the final week prior to the ceasefire.

By late November, Israel had failed to make meaningful advances on the ground in southern Lebanon and did not achieve its objective of reaching the Litani River area. Meanwhile, Hezbollah was not capable of equaling the level of destruction that Israel was committing against Lebanese cities using their missile strategy, it was also fighting essentially blindfolded and standing on one leg after the blows it suffered. Both sides realized that the inevitable result would be a stalemate, so in order to stop further devastation, a ceasefire was reached.

After suffering a major disruption to its supply line through Syria, the loss of its leadership and many commanders, also battling to solve the issues of infiltration, Hezbollah was severely wounded, but not destroyed. While the Israeli tactical victories have now shifted the propaganda war to make Hezbollah appear to be on its last legs, it is far from done. In fact, it still maintains a formidable ground force of around 100,000 fighters, a domestic weapons production capacity, and an abundance of ammunition, which the Israeli military understands well.

The loss of Nasrallah is not a small thing and still lingers in the minds of each and every supporter inside the country, many of whom still yearn for revenge after what was just committed against their nation. Israel proved incapable of beating Hamas after 15 months of all-out devastation, committing one of the worst atrocities since the Second World War. Hezbollah is still a much more capable fighting force than Hamas, yet there are a number of constraints on it due to the domestic political/economic/social situation inside Lebanon.

If Israel chooses to stay inside Lebanese territory, for whatever reason, it will only be a matter of time before action is taken. The next round will also likely be much more bloody, and the death toll will make the conflict last year seem relatively insignificant in comparison. This may not happen in the immediate future and could even take over a year, but the conflict is far from over and that is because there isn’t really a ceasefire in effect as of now.

On November 27, Israel made a point of not only violating it from the first moments and later advancing further into southern Lebanon, it committed hundreds of violations of the ceasefire. Israel has made it very clear that the new reality is that it has full freedom of action and can remain inside pockets of southern Lebanon for as long as it chooses. Therefore, there will have to be a war to ensure that a real ceasefire is reached and Lebanese territory will not be open season for the Israeli military to bomb, shoot at, and kidnap civilians.

Netanyahu is now bragging about changing the map of the surrounding region, while his new army chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, recently declared “2025 will continue to be a year of combat.” Israel is acting aggressively, expanding its borders, and does not appear to be backing down from its warmongering with Iran, which will lead to even greater chaos. Hezbollah will have to carefully navigate Lebanon’s domestic terrain and when it acts, implement a well oiled plan if it chooses to retaliate against Israel’s daily assaults on its country. All of the signs point to a dangerous escalation brewing.

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the Palestinian territories and currently works with Quds News. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’.

February 10, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas says ‘Israel’ plotting to derail Gaza ceasefire deal

Al Mayadeen | February 10, 2025

The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas believes “Israel” is actively working to derail the ceasefire agreement, a senior Palestinian official told Al Mayadeen on Monday.

The official stated that Israeli statements regarding the second phase of the deal signal an unwillingness to commit to a lasting ceasefire.

Moreover, Hamas, as per the official, sees “Israel” as relying heavily on US President Donald Trump’s reckless decisions to justify its policies and actions in the next phase.

Hamas says that if “Israel” does not adhere to the second phase of the agreement, it will pay a heavy price, the Palestinian official underscored.

Netanyahu moves to sabotage ceasefire talks: Israeli media

Israeli media on Sunday suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is deliberately obstructing the ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, aiming to derail the agreement before its next phase.

Reports suggest that the Israeli delegation sent to Qatar lacks real authority, signaling Netanyahu’s unwillingness to move forward with a deal that would secure the release of more Palestinian detainees and a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Haaretz cited sources stating that the delegation’s presence in Doha is merely for show.

“Netanyahu is signaling quite clearly that he does not want to move on to the next phase,” one source said, adding that he views the ceasefire as politically damaging.

The reports indicate that Netanyahu is more concerned about appeasing “Israel’s” far-right factions than securing the freedom of Israeli captives.

“Right-wing voters see on the ground that we have not defeated Hamas and its operatives continue to walk around with weapons,” one source explained, referencing a sign at a Hamas-organized captive release event in Gaza that mocked Netanyahu‘s claim of achieving “total victory.”

Efforts to undermine the agreement

According to Haaretz, Netanyahu’s obstructionist tactics could lead to the ceasefire breaking down entirely. Analysts warn that Hamas, recognizing “Israel’s” refusal to honor its commitments, may halt further captive releases.

“Hamas is not stupid,” a source said. “They see the politicization of the negotiations, the placement of Netanyahu confidants Ron Dermer and Gal Hirsch [at the helm of negotiations], the threats by [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich and the right-wing ministers that they will dissolve the government. They understand where this is going.”

Channel 12 confirmed that Netanyahu sent the delegation only to discuss technicalities and not to negotiate the second phase of the ceasefire. Officials stated, “This delegation has no real mandate. It will not deal with anything related to the second phase.”

Among the delegation members was government captive negotiator Gal Hirsch, along with a Shin Bet official replacing the security agency’s head, Ronen Bar, who was removed from the process by Netanyahu.

Hamas officials have warned that “Israel’s” bad-faith approach could reignite hostilities. In an interview with AFP, Hamas politburo member Basem Naim criticized “Israel’s” failure to fulfill its obligations. “The delay and lack of commitment in implementing the first phase,” as well as the attempts to “pressure the Palestinian negotiators upon entering the second phase, certainly exposes this agreement to danger and thus it might stop and collapse,” he said.

Agreement in jeopardy

The first phase of the ceasefire, set to last 42 days, stipulates that Hamas will release 33 women, children, and elderly captives in exchange for the freedom of hundreds of Palestinians, many of whom have been detained without charge.

The next phase, if honored, would require “Israel” to release additional Palestinian detainees, halt military aggression, and withdraw from Gaza in exchange for the release of remaining captives.

Following the latest release, 73 captives out of the 251 taken on October 7 remain in Gaza, while at least 34 have been confirmed dead.

Hamas has so far handed over 21 captives under the current ceasefire, while 105 were released during a brief truce in November.

Under the deal, which came into effect on January 19, 17 more captives should be released before the end of the first 42-day phase of the truce.

Meanwhile, “Israel” continues to hold thousands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including children, journalists, and activists, many of whom have been subjected to inhumane treatment.

February 10, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Trump claims US will ‘buy and own’ Gaza, says Palestinians have ‘no alternative’

The Cradle | February 10, 2025

US President Donald Trump said he is “committed to buying and owning” the Gaza Strip and expelling the two million Palestinians living there, amid condemnation from Palestinians and the UN.

“I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza. As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it. Other people may do it through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back,” Trump said while speaking to reporters during a flight on Air Force One on 9 February.

Trump did not explain who he would buy Gaza from or how the US would own it.

“There’s nothing to move back into. The place is a demolition site … The remainder will be demolished … But we’ll make it into a very good site for future development by somebody,” the US president declared.

Trump promised to “take care of the Palestinians.”

He said, “We’re going to make sure they live beautifully and in harmony and peace and that they’re not murdered … They don’t want to go back to Gaza. They only go back because they have no alternative.”

Trump did not mention who might murder Palestinians or why they might not have an alternative to return to their lands and destroyed homes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s proposal as “revolutionary and creative” despite the plan being met with severe international backlash.

Israel relentlessly bombed Gaza for 15 months, killing at least 48,000 Palestinians, before the ceasefire went into effect on 19 January. Some estimates suggest Israeli forces may have killed over 200,000 Palestinians, largely with the help of US-supplied bombs.

As part of the so-called Generals’ Plan beginning in October, Israeli forces attempted for several months to besiege, starve, and bomb hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in north Gaza to forcibly expel them to the strip’s south.

Trump stated that people from all over the world would be able to move to Gaza, adding that he might allow regional countries to be involved in rebuilding parts of the territory and that he would make sure the Palestinian refugees would “live beautifully.”

The US president’s political allies in Israel, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, openly advocate ethnically cleansing Gaza of Palestinians, confiscating the strip’s land, and relocating Jewish settlers there.

Both the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the resistance movement Hamas condemned Trump’s plan.

“The rights of our people and our land are not for sale, exchange or bargaining,” the PA Foreign Ministry said, adding that “The Israeli government and Prime Minister Netanyahu are trying to cover up the crimes of genocide, forced displacement, and annexation which they have committed against our people.”

Hamas political official Izzat al-Rishq affirmed that “Gaza is not a property to be sold and bought. It is an integral part of our occupied Palestinian land.”

The UN Human Rights Office warned that any forcible transfer in, or deportation of, people from occupied territory was strictly prohibited under international law.

US voters are also skeptical of Trump’s plan. A CBS poll showed that 47 percent of US citizens believe that US control of the Gaza Strip is a “bad idea,” only 13 percent think it is a good idea, and 40 percent say they are not sure.

Trump also told journalists while flying on Air Force One that he was “losing patience” with the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas after seeing footage of the resistance movement releasing Israeli captives over the weekend.

“They look like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated … I don’t know how much longer we can take that … at some point, we’re going to lose our patience.”

At the same time, freed Palestinian prisoner Sami Jaradat told Anadolu Agency that he and other Palestinian prisoners were terrorized and subjected to humiliation, severe beatings, and deliberate starvation.

“I have lost more than 30 kilograms of my weight,” Jaradat said.

Palestinian prisoners and detainees are also often tortured and raped by their Israeli captors.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) alleges that Prime Minister Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant have committed war crimes by using starvation as a weapon against Palestinians.

The ICC issued arrest warrants for the Israeli leaders in November, who imposed a “total siege” on Gaza at the beginning of the war in October 2023, blocking food, water, and fuel from entering the enclave.

February 10, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Senior Ansar Allah official on why Yemen fought for Gaza

The Grayzone | February 9, 2025

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, welcome back to the Gray Zone. The Gaza ceasefire has finally been achieved after 15 months of gruesome fighting. And Western commentators, many of them referred to Ansar Allah as mad or insane for its refusal to back down in the face of U.S. and U.K. and Israeli airstrikes.

And to end its blockade of the Red Sea, its naval blockade. Why was Ansar Allah willing to risk so much to attempt to force a ceasefire in Gaza? And was the price worth it?

In the name of God, the most merciful, we in the Ansarullah movement act based on religious and moral principles, not agendas or self-interest.

That is why we were prepared to make every sacrifice to defend the oppressed in Gaza. We successfully pressured the US and the Zionist entity, ultimately leading to a ceasefire. Our operations became the most significant leverage for the Palestinian resistance. Without them, I feared the Palestinian people would have suffered even greater losses and the war would still be ongoing today. Yemen has endured immense suffering due to American and British policies. The price we paid was heavy, but it is insignificant compared to our duty toward Hamza. Our ultimate goal is to help establish a global order based on justice for all peoples of the world.

Many in the Gaza Strip, after the ceasefire was declared, profusely thanked Ansar Allah and the people of Yemen. That was the first party that they thanked, as well as Abu Abaydah, the spokesman for the Al Qasem Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. What message do you want to send back to them?

We consider what we did a moral, religious and humanitarian act. We consider the Palestinian people the first line of defense for the Arab and Muslim nations, as well as the nations of all those who are oppressed given the sacrifices they have made in the pursuit of justice.

For that reason, they are more deserving of gratitude than we are. They are confronting a global alliance of oppression and injustice.

Israel lobby-connected think tank, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said last October that the Houthis are stronger, more technically proficient, and more prominent members of the axis of resistance than they were at the war’s outset. At the same time, the U.S. government, Tel Aviv, Even Riyadh, Doha have said that the axis of resistance as a whole has been significantly weakened by Israeli attacks. So what is your message to them? Is the axis of resistance still intact? What’s your message to those who say it’s been defeated?

Al-Khan al-Sahyuni wa-Hulafaa.

The Zionist entity and its allies failed to achieve their objectives. The Hamas movement not only endures, but has grown more popular than ever. Not just in Palestine, but across the Arab and Muslim world. Additionally, global awareness has increased significantly. The Zionist entity is built on lies and deception and its defeat in the arena of public opinion is a major blow. Yemen’s military operations inflicted significant costs on the US and its allies by draining financial resources, undermining the security of the entity and weakening the credibility of their military presence in the region. the american navy despite its overwhelming strength was forced to yield to us as a result the losses suffered by global zionism and its allies far outweigh those of the axis of resistance while syria was a significant loss for the axis the zionist alliance has suffered even more especially in the battle of global awareness.

Well, we’ll get to the issue of Syria, but first I want to ask you, what did you do when Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced his intention, the intention of the Israeli military, to assassinate the leadership of Ansar Allah, including Abdul Malik al-Houthi and yourself? You appeared on a public Israeli kill list.

What did you do and do you believe Israel still has the intention to assassinate you and other leaders of Ansar Allah?

We have made it clear to the US and the Zionist entity that we are ready for modernism. Our message has also been clear that any targeting of leadership in Yemen will be met in an equal retaliation, whether that be in the US, the UK or in the entity. We are serious.

If they want this war to become one of assassinated leaders, we are ready. We would advise them to focus on maintaining the ceasefire rather than further escalation of the war. An escalated war and a war of assassinations will not go in their favor. We are ready for all options. The ball is in their court.

The new U.S. President Donald Trump is clearly driven by rabid Zionist forces.

Some of the most extreme forces on the political spectrum in Israel support Donald Trump. which leaves open the possibility of a U.S. war with Iran, which has been Netanyahu’s top objective. Now, if that happens, what will Ansar Allah do? Will you intervene, for example, by opening a front against American Gulf interests, attacking oil facilities, which has been put on the table by other members of the Axis?

First, we are focused on achieving stability in the region. We want peace for the region and the whole world. We will never start a war. We do not believe in pre-emptive strikes even if we know that the Trump administration will escalate. That said, in the case that one member of the Axis is targeted, we will not leave them alone and we will support them exactly like we supported our brothers in Gaza. We consider that the American foreign policy and that of its allies aims to break each member of the resistance individually.

We won’t let that happen. Are you concerned after the devastation of the war and with a new president in Washington, that the plans for the Abraham Accords and normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states could go ahead, could be reignited. And what will be the consequences for Ansar Allah if this takes place and what would you do to prevent it?

We are always advising Arab and Muslim nations not to normalize or design this entity, as this will not be in their own interest. This goes against their duties towards their people in Gaza, especially considering that the Zionist entity is backed by powerful and rich countries. But if the Saudis and the Emiratis continue with further normalization,
we send them nothing but the advice. We will never escalate militarily against them unless they attack us first.

You had warned that Syria was the weakest link in the axis of resistance. How damaging to the axis was the loss of Syria to Mohammad al-Jolani’s NATO-backed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham forces? And why do you think the Syrian government folded so quickly along with its Iranian and Russian allies?

Yes, I had mentioned that Syria was the weakest link. I also advised that the Syrian government should have opened a front against the Zionist entity. That would have made Syria the strongest link. But sadly, the Syrian government made the wrong calculations. The enemies of Syria and the enemies of the resistance were able to focus their efforts on Syria, while the rest of the Axis was preoccupied with its engagements with the United States, the United Kingdom and the Zionist entity. The Syrian army was also struck on many occasions, strikes that went without retaliation, which I believe weakened morale on the army. Also, we can’t forget the massive support that Al Jawlani’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham received from the United States and its allies, and especially Turkey. Al Jolani’s people learned some lessons from their handlers and they pretended to offer amnesty to all their former rivals in Syria. This eased their consolidation of power, but now we are seeing that these initial actions were fake and those who believed them are paying the price.

What does it mean for the Axis to lose an ally like Syria? Does it fundamentally cripple Hezbollah because it loses the land bridge with Iran? Where does the Axis stand today without Syria?

The Syrian front was an important one for the Axis for two reasons. The first, because it was an important path for delivering supplies and arms to the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements. And the second, because it was the last sovereign Arab nation that shared their border with Palestine. No such state exists any longer. Lebanon’s government is not sovereign. Therefore, the loss of Syria cannot be understated.

Still, we must also remember that Syria had become a huge burden on the Axis in the last years. Syria’s loss is not the end of the Axis. The Axis will adjust to this loss. The losses of the Axis, as large as they were, are minute in comparison to the losses of the Americans and their allies.

More close to home in Yemen, Ansar Allah unilaterally released 153 war detainees, detainees from the Yemeni Civil War, in a good faith gesture to your adversaries in the south. This took place obviously in the wake of the ceasefire. So what message are you trying to send to southern Yemen and to the quote-unquote international community?

Our decision to unilaterally release the hostages had nothing to do with Gaza or the ceasefire. In the past, we have done dozens of similar unilateral overtures as a message to all that we aim to turn the page on the practice of hostage-taking on both sides. However, it is evident that our internal opponents did not return the favor.

At the end of the day, we would not have any of their hostages if they did not have any of ours. We strive to turn the page on the practice.

And southern Yemen state media is calling for the purification of the country from the sectarian Houthi militia. They’re using this sort of language. They’re accusing you of all sorts of crimes, of using human shields, pointing fingers. What’s your response to the… to these accusations? And have you considered actually just seceding and declaring independence given the seeming intransigence?

The mercenary leadership in southern Yemen no longer holds a popular mandate, nor does it represent the Yemeni people. They represent our oppressors in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Everyone knows that the Saudis and their allies picked this mercenary government that is represented by Rashad Al Alimi and his leadership council.

They do not in any way represent the interests of the Yemeni people. Therefore, we are not surprised that this is their stance. For us, we still advocate for the unification of Yemen and a political solution that deals with the territorial and political concerns of all parties.

We are open to all solutions that address the interests of all the Yemeni governorates including the southern ones. And we must emphasize that the overwhelming majority of the Yemenis from the southern and eastern governorates are against secession. They equally desire the reunification of the country, especially after what they witnessed in terms of abuses from the militias that are supported from the outside, especially the militias that are controlled by the United Arab Emirates.

The forces of imperialism from Washington to Tel Aviv to the Wahhabi Gulf states are bringing enormous amounts of power down on Ansarallah and Yemen, seeking to dislodge you from power. And these are very powerful forces. Have you considered or undergone any process to reach out to China or Russia or any
other BRIC states to offset the impact of this imperial pressure?

Radical Islamic ideology exists in the world, but it is limited and weak. The problem is that the United Kingdom and the United States supported these radical movements, and on top of them, the Wahhabi movement, that considered all other Muslims infidels. The United Kingdom and then the United States benefited from these radicals.

They weaponized them against their opponents in the Muslim world and the rest of the globe. These radical forces were weaponized against the leftist movements in the Arab world. and the movements of Arab nationalism.

And most recently, they have been weaponized against the members of the axis of resistance in the name of a Sunni versus Shia sectarian war. They were also weaponized against countries that have stood by the Palestinian people historically, such as the USSR, as represented by Russia, and China, and even India.

We have sadly now lost India and its support in the struggle, and it is now one of the strongest allies of the United States and the Zionist entity. The victims of America and her politics are numerous. They include the Russians and the Chinese. Of course, there must be a form of an alliance between them and all the other victims of the United States around the globe, an alliance that could help each withstand the threats, external or internal, imposed by the United States. The United States today is the force that controls radicalism, whether that be by ISIS or Al-Qaeda.

Of course, it controls them indirectly through its Saudi and other Gulf puppets. Still, we emphasize that any alliance between said allies must be built on a strong foundation of humanitarian and ethical grounds. This is a sacred priority for us. And as I mentioned before, according to our military doctrine, we only engage in defensive military action, or military action to support the oppressed. We do not believe in preventative war. There are many shared interests that we can unite for with other nations of the resistance. Still, there are many shared interests that we can unite under with all the other nations that are equally suffering from American policies.

And finally, I asked you this question during our last interview, which took place at a different time in the midst of war. What is your message to the American people at the dawn of the second Trump administration?

My message to the American people and the people of the West in general is that every civilization is built on a set of foundational pillars. And when a civilization loses these pillars, it crumbles. Today, Western civilization is dangerously close to collapse due to its abandonment of many of its moral and ethical foundational values.

The ethical and moral values of the West seem to exclude the Palestinians and deprive them of their rights while excusing all the crimes of the Israelis and offering them no accountability. This is a massive problem for the Western mentality. Also, they must recognize that the peace that will come by way of Trump and his Abraham Accords is not a real peace, but a submission. Every time the West speaks of stability and security, they mean security and stability only for them and their people. We see how the Zionist entity is aiming to achieve a ceasefire for only one side. They want to keep targeting Gaza, the south of Lebanon, and the West Bank with impunity and without a response. That’s why we must all re-examine our moral and humanitarian ideology and worldview. Our ideologies must be built on the foundation that everyone deserves peace, everyone deserves freedom, and everyone deserves human rights. Not human rights, freedom, peace, for some, at the expense of others.

Okay, well, Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, spokesman for Ansar Allah, thank you for joining us again at the Grey Zone. Best of luck.

Thank you, Max, for all that you do in this fight for the rights of the Palestinian people. We count on voices like yours to achieve real change in the world, in America and in the West.

Absolutely. And I look forward to talking again with you.

February 10, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Withdrawal from Netzarim Corridor another ‘failure’ of war goals for Israel: Hamas

Press TV – February 9, 2025

The Palestinian resistance movement has celebrated the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Netzarim Corridor as a victory, describing it as yet another failure for the occupying regime in achieving its declared goals in the 15-month-long genocidal war on the people of Gaza.

Hamas made the remarks in a statement on Sunday, after Israeli troops withdrew from the Netzarim Corridor – a military zone cutting off the north of the Gaza Strip from the south- as part of a ceasefire deal in the blockaded territory.

The complete withdrawal of the Israeli military from the Netzarim Corridor signals a “continuation of the failure of the goals of the war of extermination against the Palestinian people,” the resistance group said.

Hamas went on to say that the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes and the ongoing prisoner swap refutes Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “lie” about achieving victory in Gaza.

“Gaza will remain a land liberated by the hands of its people and its fighters, and forbidden to the occupying invaders and any external force,” it added.

Meanwhile, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) described the Israeli forces’ withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor as a sign of the Palestinian nation’s and the resistance’s victory over the “American-Zionist” projects.

“The withdrawal of the enemy army from the Netzarim corridors is a victory for our people and their courageous resistance, and it destroys the myths of the Zionist extremists,” the coalition of resistance groups said.

The withdrawal of the Israeli military from the Netzarim Corridor confirms that Palestinians will remain in their land and that the displacement projects have failed in the face of the steadfastness of people in Gaza, they added.

The latest developments came after Hamas announced earlier in the day that the Israeli military has withdrawn from the Netzarim Corridor, with the police force deployed to the area to manage the flow of Palestinians crossing through.

The Netzarim military base was a corridor created by the Israeli occupation forces as a way to enforce the permanent displacement of Palestinians from the northern parts of the Gaza Strip.

However, after more than 15 months of genocide, Palestinians are now using the same corridor on their return journey back to the north.

February 9, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Released Israeli captive says Hamas made sure to meet all his needs in Gaza

Press TV – February 2, 2025

Former Israeli captive Keith Siegel, who was recently released after 15 months in Gaza, says Palestinian resistance fighters made sure to meet all his needs in captivity.

The US-Israeli dual national was among three captives released on Saturday. Before his release, Siegel recorded a farewell video message to “thank Al-Qassam for everything,” saying, “You were good with us for the past 15 months.”

Hamas military arm Al-Qassam Brigades released the video on Sunday.

“The fighters guarding me during this period made sure to meet all my needs, including food, drink, medicine, vitamins, eye treatment, blood pressure monitor, and other needs.”

Siegel said the resistance fighters “made sure to bring food that was suitable for my health condition, vegetarian food, without oil.”

“The guards treated me well,” he said.

The released captive also criticized Tel Aviv for not doing “what was required to reach a deal to return the prisoners and end the war, which led to many victims and additional damage to both parties.”

Gadi Moses, 80, the oldest captive and the first man who was released as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, also told his family that he was “treated with respect,” in Gaza.

Moses was released after 482 days in Gaza captivity on Thursday.

According to details Moses shared with his family, his son said in a written message that this father “lived in the same conditions as his captors & ate what they ate together.”

“He lived in the same conditions as his captors & ate what they ate together. They provided him with books about the environment & Islam & reading glasses.”

Israel’s bombardment was “very scary for him,” he said.

Hamas said in a previous statement that the Israeli military “deliberately and repeatedly” targeted locations where Israeli captives were held.

It said the regime was “seeking to get rid of their captives in Gaza by all means.”

Another freed Israeli captive said after she was released by Hamas in late November the resistance fighters protected her during the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

Chen Goldstein-Almog and three of her children were taken captive during Hamas Operation al-Aqsa Storm on October 2023.

Chen recounted that the captives were staying somewhere behind a supermarket when Israeli airstrikes hit nearby.

“Our guards, our captors … were on top of us, protecting us with their bodies from the strikes.”

The Israeli woman recalled asking her captors if they were going to kill them, “and they would tell us: We will die before you.”

February 2, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

‘Israel’ lost the Gaza war and must accept the reality: Report

Al Mayadeen | February 1, 2025

The threats by Israeli officials to destroy resistance movements in the Gaza Strip have diminished following the ceasefire agreement and the exchange of prisoners. This has shifted to discussions about “Israel’s” failure to achieve the war’s objectives, amid growing media criticism of “Israel’s” inability to secure victory despite claims of “absolute victory.”

Meanwhile, the Hamas movement has reasserted itself as a dominant force in shaping the future of the Gaza Strip, with its influence expanding towards the West Bank.

The Israeli failure is reflected in opinion polls, where responses to a question about the return of Gaza residents to the northern part of the Strip revealed that only 4% of respondents believe the war’s objectives were fully achieved. In contrast, 57% feel the objectives were not fully met, and 32% believe the objectives were not achieved at all.

‘Israel’ completely failed in its war on Gaza

The threats by Israeli officials to destroy the Resistance movements in the Gaza Strip have subsided following the ceasefire deal and the exchange of prisoners, shifting the focus to discussions about the Israeli occupation’s failure to achieve the war’s objectives.

In this context, Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Jewish Power Party and resigned Police Minister, encapsulated the prevailing sentiment in Israeli discourse by stating, “The horrific images from Gaza—referring to the release of Israeli captives by Palestinian Resistance movements—show that what happened in the Gaza Strip is not a complete victory, but a complete failure,” further describing the deal as an act of unparalleled recklessness.

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted a senior officer in the Israeli military’s General Staff as saying that “Israel, during the 15 months of the war on Gaza, has not achieved the war’s goals, which were to eliminate Hamas both militarily and administratively.”

The Israeli occupation’s failure to achieve its objectives in the war against the Gaza Strip, which started on October 7, 2023, has sparked attention from various experts and commentators in “Israel”. Among them, lawyer and penal law expert Doron Nir-Tzavi, who in an interview with Israeli Channel 7, emphasized that the true victor in any war is the side that “successfully achieves its goals.”

Since “Israel” set four goals for itself—destroying Hamas as a military force, dismantling Hamas’ authority in the Gaza Strip, ensuring the Israeli occupation is not exposed to “threats from Gaza”, and securing the return of all kidnapped individuals—it has failed to achieve any of these objectives. As a result, it is the party that did not win, according to the reports.

‘No achievements’ 

Former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo spoke to Israeli Channel 12, stating that while the Israeli army may have won the individual battles, “Israel” ultimately lost the war. He further emphasized that the proposal to create a buffer zone on the Gaza Strip border, 300 to 800 meters deep, to protect Israeli settlements, reflects “Israel’s” failure in the war. Pardo remarked, “This is not how you end a war, and this is not how you win a war.”

Former Mossad official Rami Igra highlighted in an interview with Israeli channel i24news that it is clear to everyone in “Israel” that the Israeli army failed to eliminate Hamas’ authority. He pointed out that no one in “Israel” planned for the aftermath or sought to establish an alternative authority to replace Hamas.

As mentioned in the interview, the clear outcome is that the lack of an alternative to Hamas’ authority means it continues to control the Gaza Strip, which is the reality on the ground. Igra further noted that “Israel” has, perhaps unwillingly, abandoned its goal of eliminating Hamas. The situation indicates that Hamas will remain in Gaza and is likely to grow stronger in the West Bank, which will force “Israel” to pay a significant price in the future.

‘Fruitless victory’

In an interview with Channel 12, former advisor to the Israeli Security Ministry, reserve Lieutenant Colonel Alon Avitar, stated, “Hamas is like a player who enters the field and says, if I don’t play, no one will play. That is, Hamas says that it will remain in power, whether directly or from behind the scenes, but in any case, it is the one dictating matters in the Gaza Strip. As for Israel, it must swallow the big frog in the story of absolute victory.”

In an article published in Haaretz, writer and linguist Rubik Rosenthal argued that everyone in “Israel knows they lost the Iron Swords war. Netanyahu knows it, the Smotrich-Ben Gvir duo knows it, Halevi knows it, and the whole world knows that Israel lost, failing to achieve any of the goals of the war.”

The article noted that despite “Israel destroying the enemy’s country, killing tens of thousands of its soldiers and citizens, eliminating its leaders, and blocking kilometers of its tunnels,” Rosenthal emphasized that there is no image of victory for “Israel” in this war, and therefore, no “fruits of victory.”

Hamas rebuilds itself militarily and authoritatively

In his analysis, Haaretz military affairs analyst Amos Harel stated that “there is no basis for the boasts of absolute victory by Netanyahu’s supporters” and emphasized that “one would have to be a foolish follower, who has lost all his control mechanisms, to believe that Israel defeated Hamas.”

Harel also pointed out that despite the massive military blow Hamas received, it did not surrender. Instead, it is gradually regaining its civil authority in the Gaza Strip and beginning to restore its military infrastructure. That said, this reality contradicts Netanyahu’s statements about the “goals of the war and the promises he made during it”.

Avi Issacharoff, an analyst on Arab affairs at the Walla website, criticized the Israeli government during an interview with Channel 12 for selling the public empty slogans about “absolute victory.” He argued that the government failed to achieve its primary goal of eliminating Hamas’ rule, which remains intact.

Zvi Yehezkeli, an Arab affairs commentator for the Israeli i24news channel, stated that Hamas is the dominant force in the Gaza Strip. He emphasized that it is evident to everyone that Hamas is the primary authority in Gaza, and it is the group with which “Israel” coordinates.

Yehezkeli further stated that the images Hamas intentionally broadcasts during the release of Israeli captives are not aimed at the people of Gaza, but rather at the international community. He noted that Hamas uses these images to demonstrate “how Israel was unable to achieve what it wanted in the Gaza Strip.”

February 1, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel releases 110 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for eight captives

Press TV – January 30, 2025

Israel has released 110 Palestinian prisoners after a temporary delay ordered by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu even as Hamas had released eight captives in the third phase of the prisoner swap.

The prisoners released on Thursday evening included 30 minors, 32 Palestinian who had received life sentences, and 48 others who were serving prison terms of different duration.

Most of them reunited with their families in the occupied West Bank, while 23 of them were sent to Egypt. The prisoners released on Thursday were all men, aged 15 to 69.

The released inmates transported by Red Cross buses to both Palestinian territories were greeted with cheers by thousands of joyful Palestinians.

Zakaria Zubeidi, Mohammed Abu Warda and Mohammed Aradeh were among the high-profile Palestinians released on Thursday.

Israeli drones dropped leaflets on the Gaza Strip warning Palestinians not to hold flags or banners or celebrate the release of prisoners in any way, Al Jazeera reported.

Israeli soldiers often attack crowds that gather near prisons to celebrate the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Earlier Thursday, 12 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli soldiers in Beitunia, near the prison in the West Bank where Palestinian prisoners were due to be released.

Two Palestinians were wounded by live bullets, two by rubber bullets and eight by tear gas, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Earlier in the day, Hamas released three Israeli captives, a female soldier and two settlers, plus five Thai nationals, fulfilling its part of the third phase of the prisoner swap, paving the way for Israel to to release 110 Palestinian prisoners, as scheduled.

However, Netanyahu said in a statement that he had ordered a halt to the release of Palestinians until further notice, claiming that the handover of eight captives had been conducted in a “chaotic” condition.

The Israeli premier said the exchange would be delayed until mediators secured guarantees from Hamas of “the safe exit of our hostages in the next rounds.”

Surrounded by masked Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, the captives made their way through large Palestinian crowds toward the Red Cross vehicles on Thursday without any incident.

Also a day after a second exchange of Israeli captives held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners, Netanyahu ordered Israeli troops to prevent Palestinians from returning to their homes in northern Gaza.

Israel said then Hamas had failed to free a captive who it claimed should have been released, but Hamas denied such an arrangement had ever been agreed.

The holdup left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians stranded behind an Israeli military barrier for two days before being allowed to head to their homes.

Israeli forces fired on the crowds on three occasions, killing two people and wounding nine, including a child, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.

Israel has pulled back from several areas of Gaza as part of the ceasefire, which came into effect last Sunday.

The ceasefire is aimed at ending the 15-month Israeli war on Gaza and freeing captives still held in Gaza in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Over six weeks, Hamas will release 33 Israeli captives – about one-third of those in captivity – in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

In the last two exchanges, Hamas released seven Israeli captives in return for 290 prisoners, nearly all of whom were Palestinians, except for one Jordanian.

A fourth exchange scheduled for Saturday will involve the release of three Israeli men, according to Netanyahu’s office.

January 30, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Trump administration pressuring Egypt to push Hamas out of Gaza

Press TV – January 29, 2025

The administration of US President Donald Trump is pressuring Egypt to push the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas out of the besieged Gaza Strip.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told his Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty that the two sides must maintain “close cooperation” in an attempt “to ensure Hamas can never govern Gaza.”

Israel began its campaign of genocide in Gaza in October 2023, after Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood in retaliation for Israel’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

However, after 15 months of ruthless aggression, the occupying regime failed to achieve its prime objective of eliminating Hamas, despite killing at least 47,306 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

The campaign has currently paused amid a fragile ceasefire.

The US State Department added on Tuesday that Rubio also “reinforced the importance of holding Hamas accountable.”

A day earlier, Trump once again called for forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan, despite strong opposition from Cairo and Amman to the plan which has been slammed by the United Nations as “ethnic cleansing.”

The Palestinian leadership has been divided between Fatah and Hamas since 2006, when the latter scored a landslide victory in parliamentary elections in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has ever since been running the Palestinian enclave, while the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is run by the ruling Fatah party and led by President Mahmoud Abbas, has been based in the autonomous parts of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had declared that the goal of the war for the regime was the total defeat and elimination of Hamas.

However, former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken implied in one of his final appearances, on January 14, that the regime had failed in achieving this goal.

Blinken said assessments by the US had revealed that “Hamas has recruited almost as many new” fighters “as it has lost.”

“That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war,” he added.

Israel managed to assassinate two top leaders of the movement – namely Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar – and according to the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), its weapons stockpile is also depleted, but as the dust settles in Gaza, it is clear that the resistance movement has not been eliminated and is still there.

Hamas fighters have prominently featured in the handover of Israeli captives as part of the ceasefire deal with Israel. And members of the Hamas-run civil administration have resumed work. If there is any authority in Gaza, it still appears to be Hamas, Al-Jazeera said in a report.

After “over a year of fighting, the [Hamas] fighters remain very much in control of Gaza,” Hugh Lovatt of the ECFR said.

“Hamas is trying to show Israel that it failed to destroy it but also that the movement will have a veto over Gaza’s future going forward because neither Israel and the PA nor the international community will be able to impose a post-conflict governance or security arrangement,” Lovatt said.

Israel aimed to destroy Hamas’s infrastructure, particularly its extensive tunnel network. However, Israeli media reports suggest that much of the network remains functional, though estimates of its intactness vary widely.

Hamas members told the ECFR that many tunnels have been preserved, restored, or even expanded in some areas.

According to the ECFR, Hamas even recycles “unexploded Israeli rockets, bombs, and artillery shells to use as improvised explosive devices and produce new projectiles.”

The Gaza Strip, home to some 2.4 million Palestinians, has been under Israeli siege since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

January 29, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

The Israelis are shocked that they didn’t beat Hamas, here’s why they failed

By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | January 28, 2025

Contrary to what has been presented to the Western public, the Israeli military did not fight a war that targeted Hamas, instead they pursued their genocides and employed cowardly tactics that aimed to minimize their soldier casualties.

Ever wondered why the Israelis never had any real combat footage that featured their soldiers engaged in battles with Palestinian fighters? One explanation could be that no battles were actually fought in the Gaza Strip, yet that is contradicted by the near daily stream of clips, produced by some dozen Resistance groups, that featured attacks against the invading army.

Through analyzing the videos released by the Palestinian armed groups like al-Quds Brigades, al-Qassam Brigades, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the Mujahideen Brigades, the Salah al-Din Brigades, and others, we can deduce that there were three main categories of attacks: Ambushes, Sniper Operations, and mortar/artillery strikes.

According to both the communiques and video documentation published by the groups in Gaza, the most frequent style of attacks was mortar/artillery operations; that would occur daily. Over 10,000 rockets were also used, but as the war progressed, most of the rockets fired were short-range munitions. Although this style of attacks used largely inaccurate weapons, it was indeed constant over the course of 15 months.

Then we have the steady stream of videos throughout the war, which featured ambushes, which could also be separated into two primary subcategories: Ambushes of convoys and ambushes on stationary Israeli army positions.

The first kind, against convoys, included the use of the now famous Yassin-105 Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) against tanks, bulldozers, jeeps, and Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs). Guided Anti-Tank systems and drones were occasionally used against military vehicles too, but appeared to be in much lower supply.

The spokesperson for the al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, announced in his ceasefire speech that over 2,000 Israeli tanks were damaged or destroyed by the group’s fighters. Despite the Israelis not having admitted to the number of tanks, bulldozers, jeeps, and APCs that were damaged/destroyed, reports published in Israeli media suggested that tanks were in short supply. In fact, several requests were made by senior Israeli military officials to deploy tanks into the West Bank after their assessments concluded the Resistance groups there had acquired heavy explosives, but were rejected due to the need to use those tanks in Gaza or Lebanon.

Another tactic that ended up proving more effective at neutralizing Israeli tanks later on in the war were Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) strategically planted in roads where military convoys would pass through. Groups like Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)’s al-Quds Brigades and Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades even repurposed many of the unexploded ordnances, including the infamous 2,000-pound bombs, to use against Israeli military convoys.

Then we had the attacks on Israeli forces who were either entering areas to set up positions or who were already utilizing a space as a temporary military base or command node. These ambushes used IEDs that were pre-planted in an area, but also incorporated other kinds of weapons. For instance, sniper attacks were used throughout the war, and there are many such attacks filmed, some showing headshots and armor piercing rounds hitting two soldiers in a single shot.

The variations of the RPG warheads used were also different, when in sufficient supply, for these kinds of assaults that would often target gatherings of soldiers or those holed up inside buildings. A thermobaric RPG round was frequently featured in the published videos of such ambush operations. Something we also saw was the use of automatic and semi-automatic guns in such confrontations. There were also some knife attacks and occasional use of feda’i bombers.

The Israeli military has admitted to suffering an average of 1,000 soldier injuries per month during the course of the war, yet this even appears to contradict earlier announcements on the total number of injuries their forces sustained. These numbers have changed throughout the course of the conflict and do not appear to be reliable, especially due to Tel Aviv’s military censorship surrounding such issues. Regardless, judging by the Israeli total soldier death toll, set around 800, the injury to death rate is separated by an enormous gap.

So far, the Palestinian armed groups have not provided their own estimates as to how many Israeli soldier casualties they inflicted. Therefore, attempting to come up with numbers is rather difficult, but if we are to work with the statistic of 1,000 injuries each month in Gaza, this would equate to 33 Israeli soldiers injured every day. Provided that most of the time the occupying military was only launching full invasions in a couple of areas at once, this indicates frequent resistance.

However, with the exception of a handful of examples where the Palestinian Resistance fighters chose to try and hold certain areas, or delay an Israeli entry to a specific neighborhood – like what occurred during the second major invasion of the Jabalia refugee camp in May of 2024 – the opposition to the invading army was almost entirely surprise attacks and artillery strikes.

The Palestinian fighting made sense for a number of reasons. To begin with, it was obvious that even in the event that the Israeli military had sought to fight the Palestinian groups directly and engage in fierce battles with them, the ability to hold off the invading army that is backed by the world’s top military superpower was always a terrible choice. Therefore, the idea of being able to work in a similar manner to Hezbollah, holding back the advances of the Israeli army, would have been a suicidal strategy.

Even if the Palestinian Resistance would have proven temporarily successful, the massive loss of fighters would have been a disaster. This leads us to the next reason that explains their actions, that being the lack of any supply lines into Gaza. The Palestinian groups were forced to use weapons that were primarily manufactured inside the Gaza Strip, and thus had to preserve the ammunition they had carefully, which they managed to do. Their strength was in their use of a complex web of tunnels that the Israelis were simply not interested in bothering to enter on foot in most cases.

Tel Aviv and Washington still have no clue how extensive the tunnel system is under Gaza and only provide guess estimates. Other than in a few rare circumstances, the Israelis never bothered entering the tunnels and when they did, they would either use Palestinian hostages to go in ahead of them or attack dogs. The vast majority of uncovered tunnels were already abandoned, were bombed first, and rendered useless anyway, or the entrances were simply sealed with explosive charges. Attempts to flood the tunnels with seawater and gas both failed.

Not only do the Israelis themselves admit that most of the tunnels weren’t destroyed, but even in areas where the invading army had been stationed for over a year and destroyed every structure in sight, were sites from which long-range rockets were fired. In December, the Qassam Brigades even fired M75 rockets at Israeli settlements in occupied al-Quds from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. Tellingly, the first Israeli prisoners were also released by the Qassam Brigades’ elite Shadow Unit out of northern Gaza, which surprised the Palestinians and Israelis alike.

The real reason why the Israelis didn’t defeat the Palestinian Resistance factions, is because they weren’t really there to fight them. The primary target of each of their invasions, throughout the Gaza Strip, was always civilian infrastructure. Each invasion would culminate with the takeover of a hospital like Al-Shifa, Kamal Adwan, or the Nasser Medical Complex for example. They rounded up civilians who were either held hostage in their homes prior, or were displaced and living in UN schools, hospitals or stadiums.

Israeli airstrikes were totally indiscriminate, and while there were some more targeted operations, they were anomalies. Simply looking at drone or satellite footage of the Gaza Strip proves this beyond any reasonable doubt. The vast majority of their soldiers deployed into Gaza never saw a Palestinian fighter, even when fired upon, they were simply there to vandalize and destroy buildings, while shooting indiscriminately at whoever they chose. They behaved lawlessly like a horde of 13th century Mongolian raiders, minus having to actually fight battles against a modern army.

It was clear from the language employed by every Israeli, from its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right down to its soldiers who filmed TikTok videos of themselves detonating buildings and wearing women’s underwear, they were committing a genocide against those they called “Amalekites”. Their true purpose was not to pursue a military victory over Hamas, which we can prove through the absence of any clear plans at any stage of the war, it was just uncontrolled slaughter and destruction. They sought to pulverize and terrorize, with the propaganda behind them to justify it in their own minds.

While the lie was sold to the world that the war was specifically designed to destroy Hamas, it never was, they sought to destroy the people of Gaza and their livelihoods. They didn’t invade in order to fight Palestinian resistance groups and that’s why there is virtually no footage documenting this, even the few examples of combat footage they filmed ended up making the Palestinian fighters they killed look like heroes from an action film.

Now that the ceasefire holds, the Israeli society appears baffled, believing that their regime’s murderous assault on Gaza was going to crush Hamas and return their captives by force. Instead, they witnessed Palestinian fighters and police officers quickly deploy throughout Gaza, with weapons, vehicles and military/security-force attire, seemingly un-scathed. Yet, to those who have been closely following the conflict, this made complete sense and it is also one of the reasons why the Israeli leadership feared a ceasefire.

The Israelis employed a strategy of maximum cowardice in order to minimize their own combatant casualties at all costs. For instance, under the US/”Israel” doctrine of counter-insurgency, tanks would traditionally follow infantry units heading into an urban warfare zone, or at least there would be soldiers on the ground accompanying the tanks, yet this was not the case in Gaza. The Israeli soldiers hid inside their heavily armored tanks and vehicles, betting on the armor and Active Protection System (APS) to guard them.

Despite our inability to accurately estimate Israeli military casualties, it does appear that the difference between the deaths and injuries is a ratio that portrays far more injuries to deaths than in other similar urban warfare environments. This is because the Israelis hid in fortified areas or inside heavily armored vehicles most of the time. The reality is that even in the event that a tank is damaged, it doesn’t necessarily mean soldiers were killed in that attack and could have sustained injuries alone.

Most of the time, after arriving in new areas or buildings, a drone or robot would be sent in first to inspect the scene, prior to the soldiers that stormed the area. However, this didn’t always work and there would occasionally be ambushes after a failure to locate explosives, or tunnels. Most of the work the soldiers did required little real courage or combat capabilities. They were also careless throughout, as videos over the span of the 15 months war repeatedly showed soldiers casually standing in open windows, in one case an Israeli was filmed smoking out of a bong before he was hit with a thermobaric warhead.

Tel Aviv wasn’t looking to sacrifice its soldiers in the way that would have been required had they actually fought a war against Hamas, so they took the coward’s way out instead, and its population that believed in every lie they were sold are now shocked that the tactics employed proved ineffective at achieving the publicly stated goals of the war. With every known military advantage, destroying or damaging almost every single building in Gaza and slaughtering its people in such a manner that has constituted perhaps the worst atrocity since the Second World War, the Israelis couldn’t even come out of Gaza with the image of victory.

This speaks to the utter cowardice of the genocidal regime, contrasted by the stunning steadfastness of Gaza’s people as a whole. The Israelis didn’t fight a war against Hamas or any of the other Palestinian Resistance groups, note that they don’t even produce any statistics on the number of alleged fighters they have killed from any specific group other than Hamas; with the exception of occasionally adding mention of PIJ to the Hamas death toll figures. Palestinian Resistance groups fought, using the limited tools they had, against an Israeli military that was committing a genocide, that is what really happened.

January 28, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

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