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Israeli troops launch new ‘limited incursion’ into Gaza

The Cradle | October 27, 2023

Israeli forces launched another limited ground incursion into the Gaza Strip overnight on Thursday, the second in a row following an incursion the night before. 

The small-scale incursions carried out so far are meant to test the waters for the upcoming ground invasion Israel has announced. 

“The IDF conducted strikes on Hamas terrorist targets over the last 24 hours. IDF ground troops, fighter jets, and UAVs struck: Anti-tank missile launch sites, Command and control centers, Hamas terrorist operatives,” the Israeli army said in a statement. 

“The troops exited the area and no injuries were reported,” it added. 

Israeli troops also carried out a limited incursion into Gaza the night before, on 25 October.

The incursion aimed to help prepare forces for the “next stages” of the war and the anticipated large-scale offensive on the besieged enclave. 

“IDF tanks and infantry struck numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure, and anti-tank missile launch posts. The soldiers have since exited the area and returned to Israeli territory,” a military statement said on 26 October. 

A previous Israeli attempt to enter the strip last weekend was met with fierce resistance by Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades. 

Israeli troops crossed the border fence by several meters for a preparatory incursion into the Gaza Strip. The Al-Qassam Brigades ambushed the troops, destroying two army bulldozers and a tank, leaving several soldiers seriously wounded, and forcing them to withdraw.

Retired US Army colonel Douglas Macgregor said this week that US special forces went into Gaza with the Israeli army to “reconnoiter” and plan for the release of prisoners. 

“They were shot to pieces and took heavy losses, as I understand,” Macgregor added.

Israel announced plans to launch a full ground invasion of the Gaza Strip following the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October. 

The stated goal is to “eradicate” Hamas. Israel says it intends to find and destroy the group’s extensive network of tunnels and wipe out its infrastructure while its army attacks from the air and sea.

However, Tel Aviv has continued to delay the operation, coinciding with reports that Washington is unconvinced of Israel’s readiness for a ground invasion. Nonetheless, US special forces have been advising and coordinating with the Israeli army to prepare. 

“The military leadership has already finalized an invasion plan, but [Benjamin] Netanyahu has angered senior officers by refusing to sign off on it — in part because he wants unanimous approval from members of the war cabinet he formed after the Oct. 7 attack,” the New York Times (NYT) reported on 26 October, citing two anonymous sources who have been present at Israeli cabinet meetings. 

“Analysts believe that Mr. Netanyahu is wary about unilaterally giving the go-ahead because, with public confidence in his leadership already decreasing, he fears being blamed if the operation fails,” NYT added. 

According to a recent poll, a majority of Israelis believe that Netanyahu must bear the responsibility for the massive security and intelligence failure which led the success of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. 

Israel announced on 25 October that it is waiting for further equipment deliveries from the US, but continues to maintain that the full ground invasion is imminent. 

Analysts have said Israel’s goal of “eradicating” Hamas is overambitious. 

According to The Cradle’s Hasan Illaik, such an operation will drag Israel into a massive multi-front war which it would not be able to bear the cost of. 

Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades have heavily prepared themselves to face Israel on the ground. 

October 27, 2023 Posted by | Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Israel reportedly planning to use banned chemical weapons in Gaza

By Lucas Leiroz | October 27, 2023

There seems to be no ethical limits to the IDF’s anti-humanitarian practices against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. According to local sources, the Israeli military is planning a chemical attack against Hamas’ underground tunnels. In addition to being illegal, the practice seems anti-strategic because with this maneuver the IDF could also kill Israeli citizens kept as prisoners of war by Hamas in the bunkers.

Rumors began to spread by local Palestinian correspondents, citing intelligence sources. According to the report, Israeli and American forces were working together to flood the bunkers with chemical weapons, mainly nerve gases. The objective would be to cause severe symptoms in Palestinian soldiers, facilitating an IDF invasion.

“The plan hinges on the element of surprise so as to decisively win the battle, using internationally forbidden gases, particularly nerve gas, and chemical weapons. Large quantities of nerve gas would be pumped into the tunnels (…) Inhaled or absorbed through the skin, most nerve gases can kill in anywhere between one to 10 minutes by crippling the respiratory centre of the central nervous system and paralysing the muscles around the lungs”, source said.

The sources also claim that Israel is postponing its incursion into the field to try to provoke an element of surprise when the invasion finally takes place. The objective is to deceive the enemy, in accordance with the elementary principles of military science, inducing the Palestinians to believe that the invasion will not occur at any time. So, when it happens, it will be something unexpected and capable of causing severe damage to the enemy.

Obviously, Israel and the US deny the accusations and claim that they are nothing more than unsubstantiated rumors. However, no solid argument is given to actually deny the “rumors”. On the contrary, Israeli military even used racist rhetoric to delegitimize the reports, stating that believing in an Arab official would be a sign of “ignorance.”

“It is utmost ignorance and naivety to rely on a chatter by some Arab official with regard to this matter and to take it seriously (…) Usually there should be logic [behind any military action]. What’s the point of releasing gas into these underground tunnels?”, Yaakov Kedmi, an Israeli military expert said. In the same sense, Sabrina Singh, a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense commented on the case stating: “This is not true and this reporting is inaccurate.”

However, it is important to emphasize that this is not the first time that journalistic reports citing sources familiar with Israeli military have suggested that Israel will use anti-humanitarian methods to attack Hamas’ tunnels. For example, a few days ago, US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh stated that occupation forces plan to use seawater to flood bunkers in order to kill Hamas members. In this type of operation, as well as in the use of gas, there would be many risks to hostages and prisoners of war, but, according to Hersh and his sources, Israel’s only real objective is to kill Hamas soldiers, with little concern for hostages.

“A well-informed American official told me that the Israeli leadership is known to be considering flooding Hamas’s vast tunnel system before sending in its troops, many of whom have had only a few weeks of training in the maneuvers and coordination required for the invasion (…) Where the estimated 200-plus hostages are is an open question. Israel is only talking about the end of the Hamas regime”, Hersh said.

In fact, these rumors and reports suggest that something serious is probably actually being planned by the IDF. There does not yet appear to be a consensus among Israeli officials on what techniques should be used against Hamas, but they are evidently thinking about different strategies to overcome the challenge of confronting Hamas’ complex system of tunnels. Israel wants to prevent Gaza from becoming its “Vietnam” but cannot find an efficient combat strategy to achieve this goal.

It is necessary to remember that Israel has been spreading accusations against Hamas recently, alleging that the Palestinian organization plans to use chemical weapons. It is unlikely that Hamas has this type of weapon, as the group’s capabilities do not allow for the manufacture of sophisticated equipment. Furthermore, the only country that publicly has stocks of chemical weapons is precisely the US, which is Israel’s biggest ally. It is possible then that Tel Aviv will use these illegal weapons in Gaza, not only to launch them in the tunnels, but also to carry out a false flag operation against Hamas and legitimize further escalations.

The only thing that seems clear so far is that the Zionist government remains convinced in its objective of carrying out a process of ethnic cleansing, collective punishment and actual massacre in Gaza. The possible use of chemical weapons will only worsen the international image of the Israeli regime, as this type of equipment is banned by international law.

Lucas Leiroz, journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant.

You can follow Lucas on Twitter and Telegram.

October 27, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Gaza Hospital massacre and the marketing of Israeli lies

By Jamal Kanj | MEMO | October 26, 2023

A blast killed more than 500 civilians in the “safe” yard of Al Ahli Baptist Hospital. Within a few hours, the Israeli army concluded it was a misfired Palestinian rocket. US President, Joe Biden, soon after his arrival in Tel Aviv, adopted the Israeli story blaming “the other side” for the explosion.

Israel’s deliberate targeting of individuals or civilians seeking refuge in “safer places” has been part of the Israeli war strategy since its inception in 1948. Therefore, and before addressing the hospital massacre, it is important to put this case within the broader context of the Israeli pogrom policy. The following is only a partial list of incidents where Israel first denied, before independent investigation implicated it in murdering civilians while managing to evade accountability, with full complicity of Western media and powers.

For instance, in the aftermath of the tragic murder of American Palestinian journalist Shereen Abu Akleh on 11 May, 2022, the then Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, issued a tweet attributing the responsibility to Palestinian fighters. He supported his assertions with a video released by the Israeli military, claiming gunmen firing in the vicinity where Abu Akleh lost her life. Western media immediately marketed the Israeli lie by giving it more space than the Palestinian narratives. It took weeks, overwhelmed by contrary evidence, before mainstream Western media finally launched a thorough investigation into the killing of the fellow journalist.

Six months later, on 15 November, 2022, Israeli War Minister, Benny Gantz, acknowledged Israeli responsibility, categorising the killing of Abu Akleh as a grave mistake. He also informed the American administration that Israel would not “cooperate with any external investigation,” meaning the American FBI who launched an investigation into the death of the American journalist. Biden neither called nor met the family of the “less equal” American citizen, which flew 6000 miles to Washington hoping to meet American officials. He, however, travelled 6000 miles to meet the more equal Americans, who chose another country’s citizenship, in Tel Aviv.

The reluctance of the Biden administration to seek justice for the death of an “American” is a reflection of American leaders’ ineptitude toward America’s welfare queen, and the political dominion of the most powerful foreign lobby in the US. Perhaps this explains the source of the insolent arrogance of current Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu who once boasted, “America is a thing you can move very easily . . .” For Israel has gotten away previously with murdering American soldiers when, on 8 June, 1967, the US supplied Israeli Air Force attacked the “USS Liberty”, killing 34 sailors and injuring 171 crew members.

Other “less equal” Americans lost their lives and received no attention from the White House. Alexander Michel Odeh was assassinated in October 1985 in his Santa Ana office at the hands of a Jewish Defence League terrorist. His killer escaped to the country of his new citizenship and was, for many years, ensconced in a Jewish-only colony in the Occupied West Bank. Another “less equal” American was Rachel Aliene Corrie who was crushed under an American made Israeli armoured bulldozer in March 2003. Netanyahu’s arrogance comes from his confidence that AIPAC’s eunuchised American political leaders would line up to kowtow to Israel and sacrifice American citizens at the Israeli altar.

Another example in targeting civilians was the Qana massacre in April 1996 during Israel’s war on Lebanon. To avoid any incident, the UN provided Israel with the coordinates of their base where civilians took refuge. The Israeli army might have used the same coordinates when firing heavy artillery at the “safe” UN compound, murdering 106 and injuring 116 of the mostly women and children.

Again, on 6 January, 2009, Israeli phosphorous bombs rained on civilians who had sought refuge inside Al-Fakhura United Nations (UNRWA) School. The bombs’ white smoke left behind trails of blood and phosphorous acid burned bodies of more than 40 dead and 50 injured children and women.

As in the Al Ahli Baptist Hospital – and following these tragedies – Israeli Hasbara aided by Western media, employed tactics of deflection and obfuscation, leading to weeks of debate over “alternative” facts. A strategy aimed to water down international outrage and, ultimately, remove these incidents from the news spotlight. Nevertheless, independent investigations consistently held Israel accountable, dispelling their false narratives. Yet, in all these cases, as in today’s hospital massacre, Western media and governments gave more latitude to Israel’s initial false assertions while stifling evidence provided by the Palestinian side.

Now, what evidence do we have to point to Israeli responsibility for the massacre at Al Ahli Baptist hospital?

In layman terms, if we look at all the rockets launched into Israel from the Palestinian side, none of them have caused an explosion anywhere near as strong as the blast at the hospital. In other words, Palestinians do not have in their homemade arsenal explosive heads similar to what we saw at the hospital. Israel is the only party with these types of powerful explosive loads and the means to deliver them.

Moreover, there are two compelling pieces of evidence that belies the Israeli orchestrated video that was presented to Biden. First, the direction of the recorded sound of the projectile, just before the explosion, was from east to west. While Palestinian rockets typically travel eastward or northward, never in a westward direction, unless they are aimed at the open sea. Additionally, the projectile seems to have detonated prior to impact, with the intention of causing maximum human loss. The only party that possesses this particular technology, thanks to US made bombs, is Israel. In contrast, the rudimentary missiles fired by Palestinians, explode only upon a direct high-impact, leaving behind large shrapnel and a significant part of the missile intact. None of these characteristics were uncovered in the vicinity of the hospital.

Further, the hospital had received two small Israeli “warning” rockets in the days leading up to the explosion, and Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum, who oversees the hospital, confirmed that the Israeli military had contacted hospital managers multiple times since 14 October, instructing them to evacuate the facility.

Meanwhile, and immediately following the explosion, Israeli Prime Minister’s digital aide, Hanayna Naftali, declared on his social media account that the “Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza.”

Considering these circumstances, it becomes highly improbable that a misfired home-made Palestinian missile with an exceptionally high explosive warhead never previously used, would fall into a crowd outside of the same hospital which was ordered to evacuate by the Israeli army.

In the context of these events, it is essential to recognise the historical element of deceit associated with Zionism, as highlighted by former Mossad officer, Victor Ostrovsky, in his book “By Way of Deception“. Western leaders have had first-hand experience dealing with Israel’s deception, personified by figures like Netanyahu. Notable instances include French President, Nicolas Sarkozy’s candid statement on unintended open mic to American President, Barack Obama, saying “I Cannot Bear Netanyahu. He’s a Liar.” Or, when Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel called him essentially a liar to his face.

Most recently, even American President, Joe Biden, became a messenger of the lie when he professed seeing non-existent images of decapitated Israeli children, as was told by Netanyahu. The US President doubled down on his lies when he accepted the Israeli version of deceit, blaming Palestinians for the explosion at the Gaza hospital.

President Biden was presented with a doctored video by Israeli intelligence of deceit, and referred to unfounded American intelligence, that “the other side was responsible” for the hospital explosion. The video the President saw could not be any different from the one initially used to deny responsibility for the murder of the American-Palestinian journalist.

Despite the history of Israeli deceit and outright lies, nevertheless, Western media and leaders continue to second guess the veracity of the narratives from first-hand witnesses on the ground, while eager to adopt the Israeli false version of events. The unquestioning acceptance of accounts from a bona fide liar, like Netanyahu, exposes Western confirmation bias and underlines a predisposed racism toward non-Western cultures. Confirmation bias is defined by the individual tendency to accept only what supports their pre-existing biased view. Western media and leaders serve as prime examples of the overt bias, where they are willing to embrace lies that support their preconceived racism toward non-Western cultures, thereby absolving themselves of the sins of murdering children.

The indiscriminate and relentless bombing of civilian neighbourhoods in Gaza is so extensive, it has not been seen since World War II. One quarter of a nuclear bomb dropped over the most densely populated area in the world, where injured civilians are operated on in hospital hallways under phone flashlights. To the point that US President Biden is so concerned with the depleting Israeli stockpile, he has asked US Congress to allocate additional $14.3 billions of taxpayers’ money to replenish it with new American bombs, like the one that fell on Al Ahli Baptist hospital.

The package includes another $100 million to the Palestinians. Biden could save US taxpayers, at least $100 million, by not sending bombs to Israel which makes the aid necessary to mitigate their killing, maiming and destruction of Palestinian civilians and infrastructure.

Apparently, it is not just Israel’s War Minister who believes Palestinians are “animals.” Western leaders’ disposition is equally demonstrated by their sending bombs and diplomatic support, empowering Israel to cut off water, food and fuel for the 2.3 million human beings who must be viewed by the West, too, as “human animals”.

October 26, 2023 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

US asks Qatar to ‘turn down volume’ on Al-Jazeera’s Gaza coverage

The Cradle | October 26, 2023

US Secretary of State Tony Blinken asked the Qatari prime minister to tone down Al-Jazeera’s rhetoric about the war in Gaza one week after Israel’s bombing campaign began, Axios reported on 25 October.

Blinken revealed the request when speaking with a group of American Jewish community leaders on Monday, according to three people who attended the meeting.

Blinken said he asked the Qataris during a visit to Doha on 13 October to “turn down the volume on Al Jazeera’s coverage because it is full of anti-Israel incitement,” according to one source speaking with Axios.

Blinken didn’t give any examples of the heightened rhetoric he asked to be dialed back.

Footage appearing on Al-Jazeera has vividly shown the effects of Israel’s devastating bombing campaign on Gaza, which has destroyed entire neighborhoods, hospitals, schools and markets. Israeli bombing has killed 6,546 Palestinians, including 2,360 children, in the three weeks since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on 7 October.

The Al-Jazeera satellite news channel is funded by the Qatari government and has a wide audience in the Sunni Arab world. Critics say its coverage reflects the foreign policy position of Qatar, which is a close ally of the United States, but also funds Hamas.

Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera said the wife, son and daughter of one of its correspondents in Gaza were killed on Wednesday night in an Israeli air strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp that killed at least 25 people, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Al-Jazeera said the correspondent, Wael al-Dahdouh, had moved his family to Nuseirat from their home in northern Gaza after Israel warned residents to move south ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion.

On Sunday, Israel killed Palestinian journalist Roshdi Sarraj when it launched an air strike on the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City,

According to the local WAFA news agency, the bombing of Tel al-Hawa was among many raids the Israeli army carried out in Gaza that day, killing at least 32 Palestinians.

Roshdi’s apartment was damaged in the first week of the war prompting him to take his wife Shorouq and one-year-old daughter Dania to their extended family home in Tel al-Hawa.

“The Israelis were bombing our area with no let-up,” said Yahya al-Sarraj, Roshdi’s father and municipal mayor of Gaza City. “Roshdi tried to shield his wife and daughter when the Israeli air raid struck.”

Israel has killed 22 Palestinian journalists in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict.

October 26, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Spanish minister calls on Europe to sever ties with Israel

MEMO | October 26, 2023

Spain’s acting Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, called on European countries to sever diplomatic relations with Israel and impose an arms embargo and economic sanctions.

Belarra said in a post on X yesterday, that it is still possible to stop the “genocide” and also called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and all other political leaders, who bombed civilians in the Gaza Strip, to be brought before the International Criminal Court.

In a previous statement, Belarra confirmed that “Israel has left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity, food, or water, and is bombing civilians, which constitutes collective punishment, serious violation of international humanitarian law and can be considered a war crime.”

She also accused the EU and US of encouraging Israel to practice a policy of discrimination, racism and aggression that – according to the Spanish minister – seriously violates human rights.

For the 19th consecutive day, the Israeli occupation army continues to target the Gaza Strip with intense air strikes that destroyed entire neighbourhoods and left thousands of Palestinian civilians martyred and wounded.

October 26, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Biden makes light of soaring Gaza death toll, calls deaths of innocents ‘price to pay’

The Cradle | October 26, 2023

US President Joe Biden on 25 October said that he has “no notion” that the Health Ministry in Gaza, journalists, and humanitarian groups are telling the truth about the soaring number of civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip 18 days into Israel’s indiscriminate carpet bombing campaign.

“What they say to me is I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” Biden said Wednesday during a joint press conference with Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using,” the US president added. However, he did not explain why he believes Palestinians lie about the genocide unfolding in Gaza.

Despite Biden’s alleged apprehensions, as of 26 October, the death toll in the Gaza Strip stands at over 6,500 – including at least 2,704 children.

“Everyone uses the figures from the Gaza Health Ministry because those are generally proven to be reliable,” Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), told the Washington Post on 24 October. “In the times in which we have done our own verification of numbers for particular strikes, I’m not aware of any time which there’s been some major discrepancy.”

“We know that a health ministry is going to base [death tolls] on assessments coming from hospitals, morgues, etc.,” he added. “They have an ability to collect that in a way that other sources not there can’t do.”

Biden’s inflammatory statement coincided with a televised address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he said that the war on Gaza is a battle between the “axis of evil” and the “axis of progress.”

“We are the people of light, they are the people of darkness — and light shall triumph over darkness,” Netanyahu stressed in the latest attempt by a senior Israeli official to dehumanize the Palestinian population.

Since the start of the Gaza-Israel war on 7 October, Israel and its western allies have been working overtime to discredit, censor, and obscure the reality faced by 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, who have been subjected to enough explosives over the past two weeks to equal the size of the nuclear bomb dropped in Hiroshima.

Moreover, Israel has completely cut off Gaza from access to humanitarian aid as well as electricity, water, fuel, food, and medicine for over two weeks, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.

October 26, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Gantz tells Gaza envelope settlers they may not return home for a year

MEMO | October 26, 2023

Israeli Minister Benny Gantz has reportedly told residents of settlements near Gaza that it is possible they might not be able to return to their homes for a year, Israel’s Channel 12 reported yesterday.

According to the channel, Gantz told residents of Zikim and Netiv Haasara who were evacuated in the aftermath of the surprise infiltration by Palestinian resistance forces on 7 October, that it is possible they will continue to live in hotels for three months before being transferred to alternative housing near the occupied city of Jerusalem.

Last week, Gantz said during an Israeli cabinet meeting with US President Joe Biden that “the process of dismantling Hamas and changing the reality in Gaza will be long and may take years.”

Israel has completely evacuated all residents of the Gaza envelope and the city of Sderot and areas in the city of Ashkelon. Israel has also evacuated residents of settlements near the border with Lebanon for fear of a new front opening with Hezbollah.

October 26, 2023 Posted by | Militarism, Timeless or most popular | , , | Leave a comment

Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza: not if, but when

By Hasan Illaik | The Cradle | October 23, 2023

The “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle launched by the Palestinian resistance on 7 October dealt Israel an unprecedented blow – in terms of human loss and its impact on the country’s military, intelligence, psychology, and deterrence.

In exchange for the blow it received, Israel set itself a goal of eliminating the Hamas movement. This goal was announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and the majority of Israeli officials.

Hence, any ceasefire without achieving the full elimination of Hamas means a pure Israeli loss.

And while the Israeli military has killed about 5,000 Palestinian civilians and caused massive damage to housing and infrastructure in its 17-day air assault on the Gaza Strip, it has neither restored the pre-7 October deterrence it enjoyed, nor is it capable of emerging victorious.

To date, Israel has not been able to seriously harm Hamas’ military structure, say Gaza sources who spoke to The Cradle. Any ceasefire today would therefore mean that Tel Aviv has publicly swallowed the losses it incurred in Operation Al-Aqsa flood: at least 1,400 dead Israelis, the destruction of its army’s Gaza division, and 250 captives held by its enemy inside Gaza. Together, these will deliver a massive blow to Israel’s hard-fought deterrence capacity. 

These prisoners will be used by the resistance to negotiate the release of more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention centers, in addition to lifting the siege on the Gaza Strip. Unless Tel Aviv is willing to sacrifice all these prisoners in its Gaza air blitz, the captives will play a big role in any settlement. Consider, for instance, that in 2011, Israel exchanged a single captured soldier for 1,027 Palestinian detainees.

Israel cannot exit this battle without fighting a ground war. Its army spokesman, Jonathan Conricus, told the Australian ABC that a ground war will occur unless Hamas complies with two conditions: surrendering without conditions, and releasing all Israeli prisoners. The Palestinian resistance outright rejects these conditions, and will continue to use its captives to pressure Israel to stop the war.

What’s taking so long?

Israel believes it needs a ground war to restore its deterrence with not only Gaza’s resistance factions, but also with adversaries in Lebanon, Iran, and the rest of the region. This ground war will focus on the northern Gaza Strip, including Gaza City and its environs, where the military and heart of the resistance is based. Eliminating Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip will inflict a defeat on the resistance that will take years, and perhaps decades, to recover from.

So then, why hasn’t the ground war begun yet? Eighteen days have already elapsed since Israel’s declaration of war, when it began to mobilize its 300,000 soldiers and reserve officers.

First, the occupation army knows well that the goal of “eliminating Hamas” is no easy feat. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has said that “eliminating Hamas is not possible” because it is an expression of an ideology and exists “in people’s hearts and minds.” Barak’s analysis is important – he isn’t just a former head of state, but importantly, a former Israeli army chief of staff and a former defense minister who led two battles in the Gaza Strip in 2008 and 2012.

Second, the Palestinian resistance in Gaza has prepared itself well for the ground war. The last such operation conducted by the Israelis in 2014, in which 60 troops were killed and two went missing, ended in failure by not achieving any of its goals. At that time, the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) forces had nowhere near the quality of armaments, training, and numbers that they have today.

Furthermore, the network of strategic underground tunnels allegedly built by the Gaza resistance also developed significantly after 2014, allowing Hamas, PIJ, and others to move troops, weapons, and supplies around the territory unseen.

While the Israeli army seems prepared to bear greater human losses than it did in any previous war, largely because of Al-Aqsa Flood’s huge death toll, this does not mean that Tel Aviv can bear the cost of thousands more deaths, hundreds of destroyed armored vehicles, and the economic fallout of war.

The Israelis usually also try to avoid lengthy battles at all cost. In the case of a ground war, Tel Aviv recognizes that it may need to occupy the northern Gaza Strip for months, which will place severe hardship and pressure on Israel’s settlement community who will effectively become refugees.

Third, is Israel’s fear that its regional adversaries will open other battle fronts to relieve pressure on the resistance in Gaza. Both Washington and Tel Aviv are most wary of this development unfolding on the border with Lebanon.

But even the introduction of two US aircraft carriers into the East Mediterranean was unable to deter the Lebanese resistance, Hezbollah, from continuing its attacks on Israeli military positions along the Lebanese-Palestinian border. Since October 8, these borders have turned into daily clashes that have only escalated on both sides. ​​

So far, the Israeli army has lost most of the surveillance equipment that it amassed over years on that critical border. Hezbollah has also destroyed more than 15 tanks and 20 armored vehicles, in addition to the killing and wounding of dozens of Israeli troops. In turn, the resistance has lost 28 of its soldiers, along with four Lebanese civilians.

Palestinian resistance factions (Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which had 5 casualties) have also participated in these Lebanese border operations, in addition to the “Islamic Group,” the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the “Lebanese Brigades for Resisting the Occupation,” which lost two fighters.

The situation on the Lebanese-Palestinian border is still being classified as “clashes,” despite the intensity of confrontations escalating each day. Tel Aviv expects the pace of these clashes to spike after the start of its ground operation in Gaza, which it fears will prevent the achievement of its goals in Gaza.

While the Resistance Axis refuses to divulge any of its plans, its sources indicate that escalation against the Israeli military will increase in correlation with developments in the Gaza war.

US presence & the Axis of Resistance

The fourth factor delaying the onset of Israel’s ground war is Washington’s need to secure its own regional military bases, assets, and interests, in advance of any regional escalation.

In recent days, US bases in Iraq and Syria have been bombed by Iraqi resistance factions, as Yemen’s resistance movement, Ansarallah, launched missiles and drones in the direction of Israel. When some of these projectiles were shot down by US defense systems, Ansarallah threatened to target Israeli ships in the Red Sea.

On the Iraqi-Jordanian border, Iraqi resistance factions are mobilizing thousands of supporters who have declared their intention to head to the occupied West Bank, via Jordan, if the aggression against Gaza continues.

To date, Israel’s western allies have amassed aircraft carriers and battleships; 2,000 American soldiers have landed in occupied Palestine; about 1,000 tons of western military aid has been airlifted to Israel; tens of thousands of munitions intended for Ukraine have been diverted to the occupation army; the Biden administration has announced the allocation of $14 billion in urgent aid to replenish Israel’s war coffers; the US has issued threats to the entire regional Axis of Resistance in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Iran that it will enter the war if those forces attacked the Israeli army.

Together, all these factors have delayed the start of Israel’s ground war in Gaza, as Tel Aviv awaits the arrival of even more US and western forces into West Asia and the eastern Mediterranean – both to bolster Israeli military forces and to fortify US bases in the region.

The fifth and final reason for postponing Tel Aviv’s ground invasion, is to provide a short window for Qatari-led negotiations to gain the release of further captives held in Gaza, as revealed by Israeli Army Radio on 23 October. The news leak coincides with fears expressed by the Washington establishment that the region could catch fire, to the detriment of American interests, if Israel insists on pursuing its Gaza ground war until the very end.

Delaying the ground war does not, however, mean canceling it. In 2014, Israel’s ground attack began two weeks after the war’s onset, although the number of Israeli reservists called up was no more than 40,000 – one-seventh of the 300,000 troops mobilized today.

Israel also faces another problem that it cannot solve: the presence of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians in the northern Gaza Strip who refuse to comply with Israeli orders to abandon their homes.
All these factors pose a potentially insurmountable challenge for Tel Aviv. They each conspire to thwart Israel’s plan to destroy Hamas and re-establish the deterrence capacity it lost on 7 October. While the occupation state may win many battles ahead, it cannot win the war with so many uncontrolled variables in the air.

October 26, 2023 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli Blockade of Gaza Strip Since 2007 Destroys Enclave’s Economy – UN Agency

Sputnik – 25.10.2023

The Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007 has caused a fall in real GDP per capita and a sharp increase in unemployment across the enclave, a fresh report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed on Wednesday.

“In the period 2006–2022, the population of Gaza grew by 61%, but GDP grew by only 1.1% and real GDP per capita shrank by 27%, from $1,994 in 2006 to $1,257 in 2022, compared with $2,923 and $4,458 in the West Bank, respectively,” the UNCTAD said in the report on its assistance to the Palestinian people.

During the same period, the Gaza Strip saw a 157% increase in the number of unemployed workers, with unemployment rising to 45.3% from 34.8%. Meanwhile, restrictions on the domestic market caused structural changes in the enclave’s economy, the report read.

“This ratio fell to 44% with the onset of the restrictions and closures in 2007 and reached an all-time low in 2021, at 27.7%. The economy of Gaza has undergone a significant structural distortion because of restrictions on movement, limited access to imported inputs, the destruction of the productive base and semi-autarkic isolation from domestic and global markets,” the report read.

In 2007, after Palestinian movement Hamas seized control over the Gaza Strip [after winning elections], Israel imposed a blockade and reduced exports to the region to a humanitarian minimum, while completely banning imports from the enclave. The situation persisted for the next 16 years, although some of the restrictions were altered.

Hamas launched a surprise large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7 and breached the border. Israel launched retaliatory strikes and ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million people, cutting off supplies of water, food and fuel.

The blockade was later eased to allow trucks with humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The escalation of the conflict has resulted in thousands of people killed and injured on both sides.

October 26, 2023 Posted by | Economics, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Russia, China veto US-drafted resolution backing Israeli offensive

Press TV – October 25, 2023

Russia and China have prevented the passage of a US-drafted UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution that had said Israel, which has killed more than 6,500 people as part of its underway war on Gaza, has been acting in “self-defense.”

The draft was put to vote on Wednesday. The United Arab Emirates also voted no, while 10 members voted in favor and Brazil and Mozambique abstained.

Israel launched the devastating war on October 7 after the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian resistance groups staged Operation al-Aqsa Storm, a surprise attack on the occupied territories, in response to the Israeli regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people. The war has killed 6,546 Palestinians, including 2,704 children, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The Council then voted on a Russian-drafted resolution that had called for a humanitarian ceasefire and urged Tel Aviv to immediately cancel its orders on Palestinian civilians to head into southern Gaza.

Only Russia, China, the UAE, and Gabon voted in favor of the draft, while nine members abstained and the United States and Britain voted no.

A resolution needs at least nine votes and no vetoes by the US, France, Britain, Russia or China to be adopted.

Also on Wednesday, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the death of thousands of children in the Gaza Strip had not been enough to get the West behind a resolution demanding a ceasefire in the besieged coastal territory.

“This is the most obvious and rather simple thing to do in this situation: Simply to produce a statement, a resolution, a document with a unified call for a ceasefire, settling the situation and so on,” she said in an interview with Sputnik Radio.

“Even these numbers (the fatality count among the Palestinian minors) cannot compel certain political forces in the West to come to their senses and realize what is going on,” Zakharova regretted.

October 25, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Prisoners under attack amid genocide in Gaza

Assassinating Hamas official in prison exposes extent of savagery of Israeli regime: Islamic Jihad warns

Deceased senior Hamas official Omar Daraghmeh
Press TV – October 24, 2023

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement has lamented the death of senior Hamas official Omar Daraghmeh in an Israeli prison, saying the tragic event exposes the extent of the brutality of the occupying regime against Palestinian inmates.

“The Israel Prison Service (IPS ‎) and [Israel’s so-called internal security service] Shin Bet are waging an open war against Palestinian prisoners being kept behind bars inside the occupying regime’s detention centers,” the movement said in a statement on Monday evening, according to the al-Mayadeen news network.

The Islamic Jihad made clear that it regards what happened to the 58-year-old and his unexpected death as “premeditated murder.”

It also noted that the crime was perpetrated under the support of certain members of the international community, which have encouraged the Tel Aviv regime and its various institutions to commit more atrocities.

Earlier in the day, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said Israel killed Daraghmeh, who was arrested on October 9 and placed under administrative detention.

The PPS said in a statement that the Israeli narrative about the circumstances of the Hamas member’s death “remains subject to doubt,” particularly since he had appeared at a court hearing hours earlier and seemed to be in good health.

An Israeli statement claimed his death was due to a heart attack.

Hamas mourned the death of Daraghmeh, describing it as an “assassination” by the Israeli regime.

The Gaza-based resistance movement further said that the deceased senior member was tortured to death while being held in the Israeli Megiddo prison.

According to Palestinian sources, Daraghmeh was arrested alongside his son at the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm as part of a wide detention campaign led by Israeli forces across the West Bank.

Israeli forces have arrested more than 1,215 Palestinians across the West Bank since fighting broke out between Palestinian resistance groups and Israel on October 7.

Earlier this month, head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Qadura Fares, warned against the rising brutal Israeli practices against Palestinian prisoners and underscored the need for exposition of the atrocities being committed against them.

Fares said in a statement that “many prisoners had their limbs, legs, and arms broken by Israeli forces,” adding that other inmates “could not recognize them” following the vicious physical assaults.

He added that the Negev prison “has become like Abu Ghraib prison, as it is a center of brutality and brutal behavior against our heroic prisoners,” emphasizing that “Israel is taking revenge on Palestinian prisoners for its defeat [in Gaza].”

Fares finally called upon Western powers to act in support of the principles they preach to others, as failure to do so would reveal their return to the era of colonialism.

October 24, 2023 Posted by | Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

International Community Faces Acid Test on Gaza

acid test

By Stuart Littlewood | Dissident Voice | October 23, 2023

I never thought I’d live to see a British prime minister warmly embracing a war criminal and genocidal thug like Netanyahu, go swanning around a hotel (the King David) which was used as the Jerusalem headquarters of the British Mandate aúthority and blown up by Jewish terrorists in 1946, killing 91 and wounding 45, then tell Netanyahu: “We want you to win.”

Win what, exactly? And who’s “we”? Certainly not the man-in-the-street in Britain. No, it’ll be that band of brainwashed Ziofreaks in Westminster who have shamed us for over a century.

And they (the Ziofreaks, not “we”) want Israel to win its dirty 75-year campaign of terror, illegal military occupation, dispossession, annexation, ethnic cleansing and extreme cruelty against the harshly oppressed Palestinians who are trying to defend their homeland.

I was even more infuriated to see queues of lorries carrying desperately needed aid held up for days at Gaza’s Rafah crossing into Egypt by the Israelis’ refusal to let them enter the mangled hell-hole they’ve created in the packed enclave. I hear they even bombed the crossing to make sure nothing could move.

Bypass Israel if necessary and deliver aid by sea

If the UN and the high and mighty powers wanted to, they could bypass Israeli and Egyptian cruelty and bring aid to Gaza by sea. They should have done so as soon as Israel slapped its illegal blockade on Gaza in 2006 following Hamas’s inconvenient election win. As it is, unarmed privateers have been left to try to break the siege.

In February 2003 British surgeon David Halpin chartered a small Danish cargo vessel, MV Barbara, filled her with important humanitarian items and sailed from Torquay to Ashdod, a port on the Israeli coast close to Gaza where the cargo was transferred by road into Gaza without too much trouble.

In 2008 two humanitarian vessels actually got through to Gaza. Their success in breaking the siege, and their safe arrival and departure, was due to the intervention of the British Foreign Office. Before the peace activists set sail, they asked the British government “to ensure the freedom boats’ safe and uninterrupted passage to Gaza considering these are international waters and Palestinian territorial waters”. Any attempt to stop the boats would surely infringe the right to freedom of movement to and from Gaza, and seriously breach the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Israel is a party.

The minister in charge of Middle East affairs Kim Howells later admitted that “FCO officials spoke to Israeli officials in advance of the trip and Israel allowed the boats peacefully into Gaza.”

Nearly three years later, as Gaza Freedom Flotilla II prepared to sail, Israel was determined not to let the boats reach their destination because safe arrival would drive a coach and horses through Israel’s control-freakery. This prompted the following statement by flotilla organizers to the UN Human Rights Council:

“We are determined to sail to Gaza. Our cause is just and our means are transparent. To underline the fact that we do not present an imminent threat to Israel nor do we aim to contribute to a war effort against Israel, thus eliminating any claim by Israel to self-defense, we invite the HRC or any other UN or international agency to come on board and inspect our vessels at their point of departure, on the high seas, or on their arrival in the Gaza port. We will – and must – continue to sail until the illegal siege of Gaza is ended and Palestinians have the same human and national rights those of us sailing enjoy.” – Steering Committee of the International Coalition for Gaza Freedom Flotilla II.

In the end Flotilla II didn’t sail. In all, five shipments were reportedly allowed access prior to the 2008–09 Gaza War, but after that everything was blocked by Israel.

In May 2010 the Mavi Marmara took part in a flotilla of ships operated by activist groups from 37 countries with the intention of directly confronting the Israeli blockade. While en route and in international waters Israeli Naval Forces communicated to them that a naval blockade around the Gaza area was in force and ordered the ships to follow them to Ashdod port or be boarded. The ships declined and were boarded in international waters.

Reports from journalists on the Mavi Marmara and from the UN claimed that Israeli gunboats opened fire with live rounds before boarding the ship. Passengers tried to repell the boarding parties of  Israeli commandos, and in the violent clash that followed nine were killed and a tenth died four years later of his wounds. Several dozen more were injured, some seriously. Israel claimed 10 of its troops were injured, one seriously.

The UN’s official report found Israel’s blockade of Gaza to be legal, but other UN experts, reporting to the Human Rights Council, disagreed and found it was a violation of international law.

A UN fact-finding mission, investigating the assault on the Mavi Marmara, declared that “no case can be made for the legality of the interception” and they therefore found that the interception was illegal and constituted collective punishment of the people living in the Gaza Strip and thus to be illegal and contrary to Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. It could not even be justified even under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations [the right of self-defence].

The Centre for Constitutional Rights also concluded that the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip was illegal under international law and amounted to collective punishment. “The flotilla did not seek to travel to Israel, let alone ‘attack’ Israel. Furthermore, the flotilla did not constitute an act which required an ‘urgent’ response, such that Israel had to launch a middle-of-the-night armed boarding… Israel could also have diplomatically engaged Turkey, arranged for a third party to verify there were no weapons onboard and then peacefully guided the vessel to Gaza.”

Craig Murray, an internationally recognized authority on these matters, was Head of the Maritime Section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and responsible for giving political and legal clearance to Royal Navy boarding operations in the Persian Gulf following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. He said that Israel had tried to justify previous fatal attacks on neutral civilian vessels on the High Seas in terms of enforcing an embargo under the legal cover given by the San Remo Manual of International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea. “San Remo only applies to blockade in times of armed conflict. Israel is not currently engaged in an armed conflict, and presumably does not wish to be. San Remo does not confer any right to impose a permanent blockade outwith times of armed conflict, and in fact specifically excludes as illegal a general blockade on an entire population.”

At the same time UN Security Council resolution 1860 (2009) emphasised “the need to ensure sustained and regular flow of goods and people through the Gaza crossings” and called for “the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment”.

But when MEP Kyriacos Triantaphyllides put a question to the EU Commission this was their reply:

After the organisation of a flotilla heading to Gaza in May 2010, the Quartet, of which the EU is a member, stated that all those wishing to deliver goods to Gaza should do so through established channels, so that their cargo can be inspected and transferred via land crossings into Gaza. It also stated that there was no need for unnecessary confrontations and that all parties should act responsibly in meeting the needs of the people of Gaza….

The Commission stands by this line. A flotilla is not the appropriate response to the humanitarian situation in Gaza. At the same time, Israel must abide by international law when dealing with a possible flotilla. The EU continues to request the lifting of the blockade on Gaza, including the naval blockade.

It might have been scripted in Tel Aviv and not by anyone with Christian principles. The “established channel” for delivering goods to Gaza is of course the time-honoured route by sea, which is protected by maritime and international law and therefore entirely appropriate.

There’s nothing “provocative” about unarmed vessels with humanitarian cargoes using it. The organizers had offered their cargoes for inspection and verification by a trusted third party to allay Israel’s fears about weapon supplies. They should not have to deal with a belligerent regime that was (and still is) cruelly waging a starvation war on women and children. Anyone suggesting they must do so seeks to legitimize the blockade, which we all know to be illegal and a crime against humanity.

And where are the UN when a rogue nation – also a UN member – shows contempt for their maritime Convention?

By 2018 Her Majesty’s Government had abandoned all pretence of upholding the Law of the Seas or even pursuing its 2008 policy of intervening to obtain advance clearance from the Israeli authorities. The Foreign Office appeared to have joined the Zionist conspiracy to legitimise the Gaza blockade and support Israel’s control-freakery.

Lord Ahmad for the Government, answering a written question in the House of Lords, said: “Embassy officials discussed the travelling flotilla with the Israeli authorities on 6 June… the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against all travel to Gaza including the waters off Gaza.”

The waters off Gaza are international waters where neutral civilian vessels are entitled to free passage under the UN Conventional on the Law of the Seas. Why shouldn’t unarmed aid boats be able sail there unmolested? Is the Law of the Seas now dead? Is Britain no longer committed to keeping the sea lanes open to innocent shipping? And why is the UN not upholdings its own Convention?

In particular, what happened to the diplomacy of 2008? Why didn’t our Government arrange advance clearance as before? Or were they, by any chance, colluding to thwart this mercy mission?

In reply to a question from myself, Alister Burt, minister for the Middle East at that time, said: “Delivery of aid should be co-ordinated with the UN and Israeli and Egyptian Governments. We expect Israel to show restraint and fully respect international law. If wrongdoing has taken place we expect those responsible to be held to account…. We remain deeply concerned about restrictions on movement and access in Gaza, and the impact that this is having on the humanitarian situation. We have frequent discussions with the Israeli Government about the need to ease restrictions on Gaza. We call on Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt to work together to ensure a durable solution for Gaza.”

As if Israel ever respected international law or had ever been held to account.

So here we have a horrific humanitarian crisis where the population of Gaza (nearly half of whom are children) are badly injured, starving and bombed out of their homes, with few if any public services still functioning and with aid waiting outside and prevented from entering by Israel.

This is an acid test for the United Nations and the international community who need to show their real worth and recover the respect they have carelessly lost over the years.

They are drinking in the Last Chance saloon and this is possibly their final opportunity to prove that the world has, after all, developed moral sensibilities and emerged from the caveman era. All it takes is a mercy flotilla of ships belonging to few UN member states, not privateers, to bring the Middle East issue to a head so the root causes can finally be dealt with in accordance with international law.

In short, the lives of 2.3 million innocent, incarcerated Gazan cannot be left in the hands of a psychopath like Netanyahu. Nor can the Israelis be allowed to dictate the wider future of the Holy Land they have defiled.

October 24, 2023 Posted by | Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

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