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.”
UK suspends legal assessments on Israel’s compliance with international law
MEMO | April 24, 2024
In a shocking revelation during a hearing at the High Court, it has come to light that the UK government has suspended legal assessments over whether Israel is breaching International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The hearing was part of legal proceedings initiated in December by Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq and UK-based Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) against the UK after repeated written requests to suspend arms sales to Israel due to grave breaches of international law and UK rules.
According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), Trade Government lawyer James Eadie admitted to a “hiatus” in legal assessments of Israel’s compliance with IHL for reasons he “couldn’t go into,” stating that “decisions of some importance have been delayed for some time.” Eadie also mentioned that these delayed decisions were due “imminently” – likely in mid to late May.
The hearing also disclosed that the Secretary of State for Business and Trade last reviewed and approved arms sales to Israel on 8 April, three months after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) opened an instigation into possible genocide carried out by the apartheid state. However, according to information provided in court, this review only covered IHL violations committed up to 28 January, as the judge stated that the legal case into this review would only cover violations up to this date.
Notably, a determination that Israel is in violation of International Humanitarian Law would require the UK to suspend any arms sales to Israel. Details revealed during the hearing indicate that the UK government has sold weapons to Israel without a thorough review of the many breaches of international law documented by rights groups.
CAAT has strongly criticised the government’s actions. “This government likes to claim we have a robust arms export licensing system. This claim is now in tatters,” CAAT’s Media Coordinator, Emily Apple, said. “Israel is committing horrific war crimes with the aid of UK weapons and yet our government has suspended legal assessments of its compliance with international law, and delayed vital decisions.”
“It is outrageous that it has taken a court case for these revelations to come to light. David Cameron and other foreign office ministers have repeatedly avoided scrutiny on this issue. They are making a mockery of international law and a mockery of parliamentary scrutiny.”
While the case brought by GLAN and Al-Haq has been given permission to proceed, with a full hearing scheduled for October, CAAT emphasises the urgency of the situation. “We cannot wait until October for an arms embargo. Our government and the UK arms trade is complicit in genocide and they know it. We all need to keep up the pressure and demand that they stop prioritising the profits of arms dealers over Palestinian lives,” stated Apple.
The revelations from the High Court hearing have raised serious questions about the UK government’s commitment to upholding international law and its role in enabling the ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine through the continued sale of arms to Israel.
British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, has repeatedly dodged questions about the legality of UK arms sales to Israel. Leaked reports show that the British government has received advice from its own lawyers stating that Israel has breached international humanitarian law in Gaza but has failed to make it public.
The comments, made by the Conservative Chair of the House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, Alicia Kearns, at a Tory fundraising event on 13 March are at odds with repeated ministerial denials and evasion on the issue.
“I remain convinced the government has completed its updated assessment on whether Israel is demonstrating a commitment to international humanitarian law, and that it has concluded that Israel is not demonstrating this commitment, which is the legal determination it has to make,” Kearns said in March. “Transparency at this point is paramount, not least to uphold the international rules-based order.”
Pakistan under risk of sanctions over trade deal with Iran: Washington
The Cradle | April 24, 2024
Washington threatened Pakistan with sanctions on 23 April over a trade agreement recently signed with Iran.
“We advise anyone considering business deals with Iran to be aware of the potential risk of sanctions. Ultimately, the Government of Pakistan can speak to their own foreign policy pursuits,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on 23 April.
The warning came after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Pakistan on 22 April and met with top officials, including Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“Both sides agreed to increase the volume of bilateral trade to 10 billion US dollars in the next five years,” Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Raisi and Sharif also discussed during the visit the importance of energy cooperation between Tehran and Islamabad.
A gas pipeline project between the two, dating back over a decade and aimed at allowing the flow of Iranian gas into Pakistan, has been consistently held up by the US.
A US official revealed last month that Washington has set a “goal” to prevent the construction of the Iran–Pakistan gas pipeline. The project has been delayed by nearly a decade in large part due to US economic pressure.
“I fully support the efforts by the US government to prevent this pipeline from happening,” US Assistant Secretary Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, said during a congressional hearing on 19 March. “We are working toward that goal,” he stressed.
On Wednesday, Iran and Pakistan issued a joint statement calling on the UN Security Council “to prevent Israel’s regime from its adventurism in the region and its illegal acts attacking its neighbors and targeting foreign diplomatic facilities.”
The statement also called “for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access to the besieged people of Gaza, return of the displaced Palestinians, as well as ensuring accountability of the crimes being committed by the Israeli regime. They reiterated their support for a just, comprehensive, and durable solution based on the aspirations of the people of Palestine,” according to the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ukraine, Israel Aid Bill ‘Abomination’ That Will Prolong Suffering – Former US Diplomat
Sputnik – 23.04.2024
WASHINGTON – The $95 billion aid bill that Congress passed on Friday is an “abomination” that will only prolong the suffering caused by the Ukraine war and the Israeli onslaught in the Gaza Strip, former US diplomat and State Department consultant James Carden said on Monday.
“Seems to me the spending bill will only prolong the suffering in Ukraine and Gaza,” Carden said. “The parts of the bill having to do with funding Israel are an abomination and make us even more complicit in their crimes.”
The bill is expected to quickly be approved by the US Senate starting on Tuesday. The measure will provide funds to send Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s regime $60.84 billion, including $23 billion for new US weapons and ammunition; $26 billion to Israel; and another $8.12 billion to the Indo-Pacific region.
“Some of the bill was probably necessary in the sense that the United States needed to ‘restock’ after having wasted so much over the past couple of years,” Carden said.
Close to $30 billion in its provisions will go directly to refill US weapons and ammunition inventories which have been largely emptied over the past two years to primarily arm Ukrainian forces, Carden added.
The bill was approved earlier by 311 votes to 112 in the House of Representatives. No Demcorats voted against the bill and most of them waved Ukrainian flags inside Congress.
New $17Bln Aid to Israel ‘Last Nail in Coffin of US Credibility’ – ex-US Envoy to Riyadh
Sputnik – 23.04.2024
WASHINGTON – The US House of Representatives approval of $17 billion in additional military aid to Israel amid the ongoing war on Gaza demonstrates US disregard for international law and human decency, delivering the final blow to its reputation, former US Ambassador to Riyadh Chas Freeman told Sputnik.
On Saturday, the US House passed legislation to provide $26.38 billion in supplemental appropriation for Israel and Gaza. It includes $17 billion in military aid for Israel and $9 billion for worldwide humanitarian aid, including for civilians in Gaza.
“This puts the last nail in the coffin of US credibility around the world. It makes it clear to everyone beyond a reasonable doubt that the United States has joined Israel in contempt of both international law and human decency,” Freeman, who also served as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs in the Clinton administration, said.
The “obscenely massive aid” will enable Israel to continue to carry out “the very genocide in Gaza and the occupied West Bank that the United States hypocritically claims to oppose,” Freeman said.
“Neither Israel nor the United States is likely soon to overcome the international opprobrium generated by their partnership in depravity,” he predicted.
Saturday’s aid package approved more than double the amount of funds also for the Volodymyr Zelensky regime in Ukraine. But it would not avert Kiev’s looming defeat there at the hands of Russia, Freeman cautioned.
“Ukraine’s morale will be boosted by the renewal of financial support from the United States but this will not remedy its problems on the battlefield. It will not create more Ukrainian men with military training. Nor will it supply more artillery shells,” he said.
Along with Israel aid, the US national security supplemental package authorized $60.84 billion for Ukraine, including $23 billion to restore US arsenals of weapons and ammunition, and $8.12 billion for the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan. The package is expected to quickly pass the Senate this week.
Pro-Palestine rallies spread on US campuses despite heavy repression
The Cradle | April 23, 2024
Pro-Palestinian protests at major US universities continued to grow on 22 April despite arrests by police, suspensions by university administrators, and sabotage by pro-Israel lobby groups.
Columbia, a prestigious university in New York City, has been the epicenter of the student protests opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The protests have now spread to other universities, including Harvard, New York University, Yale, Arizona State, and California State Polytechnic University at Humboldt.
Police have arrested dozens at Columbia and Yale for refusing to leave protest encampments after administrators demanded it.
Columbia student and protester Grant Miner told the New Statesman that the protesters’ demands include “amnesty for students who had been suspended by the administration over earlier campus protests [he being one of them]; divestment from Israeli bonds and equity; financial transparency around how the university invests its $14 billion endowment.”
The protests made headlines in the US on Monday as new mass graves were discovered outside Nasser Hospital in Gaza with over 200 civilian bodies, including doctors and nurses still wearing scrubs, as well as women, men, and children, all killed by the Israeli army.
On Monday night, police cleared a protest encampment centered at New York University’s Gould Plaza at the university’s request. Faculty and students were arrested.
The Washington Post reported that videos on social media showed “dozens of officers in tense confrontations with protesters. Some officers tossed tents, and others grappled with demonstrators. Videos also showed police loading people, whose hands were zip-tied behind their backs, onto correctional buses.”
The confrontations began after university police blocked access to the plaza Monday morning, where about 50 protesters were demonstrating “without authorization,” NYU spokesman John Beckman said.
The barriers were breached early in the afternoon by additional protesters, “many of whom we believe were not affiliated with NYU,” who exhibited “disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing behavior” and refused to leave when told the protests would be disbanded, he said. The university then requested assistance from the [New York Police Department] NYPD, he said, adding there were “several antisemitic incidents reported.”
Last week, over 100 students at Columbia were arrested amid accusations of violence and antisemitism among protesters. NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said: “The students that were arrested were peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever, and were saying what they wanted to say.”
According to Grant Miner, a Jewish Columbia student, allegations of antisemitism are unfounded.
“I’m not sure what people would be referring to,” Miner said. “I myself am Jewish. The narrative is that … we’re a violent mob, and there’s been no violence here. The only anti-Jewish sentiments I’ve received are from hard-core Zionist Jews calling me a fake Jew. In fact, I got a fun email to my work email calling me, just a subject line, ‘Judenrat.’”
Journalist Max Blumenthal reported that pro-Israel lobby groups are offering “cash compensation” to young Zionists “willing to wear keffiyehs and walk in these demonstrations” as provocateurs to spread antisemitic slogans and issue threats against Jews.
On Monday, Republican Senators Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley used alleged concerns about the safety of Jewish students to demand that President Joe Biden call in the National Guard to suppress the protests at Columbia.
Google fires more employees protesting giant deal with Israel
Press TV – April 23, 2024
Google has fired about 20 more employees over recent protests against a deal between the US technology giant and Israel.
The activist group No Tech for Apartheid said on Monday that the new layoffs bring to more than 50 the total number of Google workers dismissed in the past week.
“The corporation is attempting to quash dissent, silence its workers and reassert its power over them,” said Jane Chung, a spokesperson for No Tech for Apartheid.
Meanwhile, a Google spokesperson confirmed the company had sacked more employees after continuing its investigation into the April 16 anti-Israel demonstrations, which included sit-ins at offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California.
The protesters held posters reading, “No More Genocide For Profit,” “No cloud apartheid,” “We Stand with Palestinian, Arab and Muslim Googlers” and “Don’t be evil, stop retaliation”.
They denounced Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract awarded to Google and Amazon to supply the Israeli regime with cloud computing services.
The contract dates back to 2021. However, the protests followed a report in Time magazine earlier this month, citing an internal company document, that the Israeli ministry of military affairs is a Google Cloud customer.
No Tech for Apartheid said the report showed that Google had “built custom tools” for the Israeli ministry of military affairs and had “doubled down on contracting” with the regime’s army after the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip began.
Israel waged its brutal war on the besieged Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
The Tel Aviv regime has so far killed at least 34,183 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 77,143 others.
Since the start of the onslaught, the US, Israel’s most dedicated ally, has fast-tracked arms shipments to the occupying regime and blocked UN resolutions that called for a Gaza truce.
Final Nail in America’s Coffin?
By Ron Paul | April 22, 2024
When future historians go searching for the final nail in the US coffin, they may well settle on the date April 20, 2024.
On that day Congress passed legislation to fund two and a half wars, hand what’s left of our privacy over to the CIA and NSA, and give the US president the power to shut down whatever part of the Internet he disagrees with.
The nearly $100 billion grossly misnamed “National Security Supplemental” guarantees that Ukrainians will continue to die in that country’s unwinnable war with Russia, that Palestinian civilians will continue to be slaughtered in Gaza with US weapons, and that the neocons will continue to push us toward a war with China.
It was a total victory for the war party.
The huge spending bill is all about politics for Biden, yet so many Republicans simply went along with it. The last thing the people running Biden’s White House want to see as a close election approaches are ads blaming Biden for “losing Ukraine.”
The US and its allies have already sent over $300 billion to Ukraine and the country is still losing its war with Russia. Nobody believes another $60 billion will pull a victory from the jaws of defeat. But this additional money is meant to keep up appearances until November at the expense of Americans who are forced to pay for it and Ukrainians who are forced to die for it.
Speaker Johnson could not have passed these monstrosities without the full support of House Democrats, as the majority of Republicans voted against more money for Ukraine. So in the worst example of “bipartisanship,” Johnson reached across the aisle, stiffed the Republican majority that elected him Speaker, and pushed through a massive gift to the warfare/(corporate) welfare state.
After the House voted to send another $60 billion to notoriously corrupt Ukraine, Members waved Ukrainian flags on the House Floor and chanted “Ukraine, Ukraine.” While I find it distasteful and disgusting, in some way it seemed fitting. After all, they may as well chant the name of a foreign country because they certainly don’t care about this country!
Along with sending $100 billion that we don’t have to fund more overseas war, Speaker Johnson threw in another version of the Tik Tok ban, which gives Joe Biden and future presidents the power to shut down websites at will by simply declaring them to be “foreign adversary controlled.”
Not to be outdone, the US Senate on that same day passed the extension of Section 702 of the FISA Act, which not only allowed the government to continue spying on us without a warrant, but also contained new language massively expanding how they can spy on us.
Many conservative voters are asking what the point of Republican control of the House is if the agenda is determined by Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is even reported to have bragged to his colleagues about how easily Speaker Johnson gave Democrats everything they wanted and asked for nothing in return.
What is the silver lining in all this bad news? Most Republicans in the House voted against continuing the Ukraine war. That’s a good start. Our ideas are growing, not only across the country but even in the DC swamp. Take courage and don’t give up! Work for peace!
US Will Blacklist Israeli Military Unit Accused of Killing an American
“Largely symbolic and easy for Israel to bypass”
By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | April 21, 2024
The State Department will place an ultra-Orthodox Israeli military unit on a blacklist preventing US weapons from reaching its soldiers. The sanctions, expected to be announced on Monday, have angered Tel Aviv. The move by Washington follows officials speaking with ProPublica about the White House failing to act even after the State Department determined Israel was in violation of US law.
Axios was the first outlet to report the pending sanctions on Saturday. The US is expected to blacklist the Netzah Yehuda battalion of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The battalion of about 1,000 soldiers makes significant accommodations for ultra-Orthodox Jews who enlist in the IDF.
The White House appears to have made the decision to sanction Netzah Yehuda after ProPublica reported that Secretary of State Antony Blinken was provided with a report that the Israeli military was committing war crimes in December but has failed to act. It is unclear if Netzah Yehuda was named in that report.
Netzah Yehuda will be placed on a blacklist under the Leahy Laws. Named for former Senator Patrick Leahy, the laws bar US military assistance to foreign militaries that commit war crimes. The sanctions will prevent any US training or weapons from being given to the soldiers in Netzah Yehuda.
Officials speaking with ProPublica said the sanctions could be largely symbolic and easy for Israel to bypass. “Even if Blinken were to approve the sanctions, officials said, Israel could blunt their impact,” the outlet reports. “One approach would be for the country to buy American arms with its own funds and give them to the units that had been sanctioned.”
The US is Israel’s largest arms supplier and gives Tel Aviv $3.8 billion in military aid every year. The White House has remained steadfast in its “ironclad” commitment to provide the IDF with all the weapons it needs to conduct its brutal onslaught in Gaza. On Saturday, the House overwhelmingly voted for an additional $26 billion in military assistance for Tel Aviv.
Soldiers in Netzah Yehuda are likely responsible for the death of Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian man. Assad was traveling in the West Bank in 2022 when IDF troops pulled him over, handcuffed him, and left him in a field lying face-down. When paramedics were finally allowed to reach Assad, he was already dead. Doctors determined he died as a result of a stress-induced heart attack.
The sanctions were recommended to Blinken by the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum (ILVF). According to State Department officials and an investigative report by the Guardian, the ILVF set up “extraordinary policies” to “benefit” Israel. The ILVF process gives Tel Aviv unprecedented sway over any report the board issues.
Still, Israeli officials were outraged over the impending sanctions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, this is the “height of absurdity and a moral low point” at a time when Israeli soldiers “[are] fighting the terrorist monsters.” Member of the war cabinet Benny Gantz, who is portrayed as Netanyahu’s moderate opposition, stated, “I have great appreciation for our American friends, but the decision to impose sanctions on an IDF unit . . . sets a dangerous precedent.”
Israeli forces kill 14 Palestinians during refugee camp siege in West Bank

Press TV – April 20, 2024
The Israeli regime’s forces have gunned down at least 14 Palestinians, including 10 fighters, during their ongoing days-long siege on Nour Shams, a refugee camp located in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
“So far, our crews have evacuated 14 martyrs from Nour Shams camp to the hospital,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday.
News agencies, meanwhile, reported sighting Israeli drones loitering overhead and armored vehicles roaming throughout the camp.
Earlier, the Palestinian health ministry said it had confirmed that as many as 11 people had been injured by the troops. Seven of those injured had been “wounded by live gunshots,” it said, adding that among the wounded was a paramedic shot while trying to get to the wounded.
Medics had been alerted to “a number of killed and injured” inside the camp, but the army was “denying them access to tend to the wounded,” the ministry noted.
Minister Muayad Shaaban, head of the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said residents were suffering from the “destruction of homes, shops, the electricity grid, the sewerage, the water network, and infrastructure.”
The Israeli military began its siege on the camp on Thursday, rolling bulldozers into the area, and deploying military vehicles on all routes leading to the camp.
The military began destroying main streets, alleyways, water, and wastewater networks inside the camp.
Reporting on Friday, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency said, “They (Israeli forces) turned some houses into military outposts, deployed snipers and prevented ambulances from entering the camp to evacuate patients.”
Also on Friday, the Israeli military killed Muhammad Samer Jaber, commander of the Tulkarm Brigade, a Palestinian resistance group affiliated with Saraya al-Quds, the military wing of the Gaza Strip-based Islamic Jihad movement, and a number of resistance fighters.
The Israeli regime has notably escalated its aggression against Palestinians across the West Bank since October 7, when it began an all-out genocidal war on Gaza.
Around 480 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank ever since the onset of the war that has claimed the lives of more than 34,000 people so far.
