Israel's conflict with its neighbours

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

US military aircraft airdrop thousands of meals into Gaza in emergency humanitarian aid operation

Source: AP

Updated 9:43 AM EST, March 2, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military C-130 cargo planes on Saturday dropped food in pallets over Gaza, three U.S. officials said, two days after more than 100 Palestinians who had surged to pull goods off an aid convoy were killed during a chaotic encounter with Israeli troops.

Three planes from Air Forces Central dropped 66 bundles containing about 38,000 meals into Gaza at 8:30 a.m. EST, according to two of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity before a public announcement.

The airdrop is expected to be the first of many announced by President Joe Biden on Friday. The aid will be coordinated with Jordan, which has also conducted airdrops to deliver food to Gaza.

At least 115 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more wounded in the Thursday attack as they scrambled for aid, the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said. Israel says many of the dead were trampled in a chaotic crush for the food aid, and its troops fired warning shots after the crowd moved toward them in a threatening way.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas ... 78bc70a084

[weatheriscool]

US VP Harris calls for 'immediate' Gaza ceasefire in rare rebuke of Israel

Source: Al Jazeera

United States Vice President Kamala Harris has called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza while issuing a rare rebuke of Israel.

“Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table,” Harris said on Sunday.

“This will get the hostages out and get a significant amount of aid in.”

In some of the strongest criticism of Israel yet by the administration of US President Joe Biden, Harris said Israel must do more to allow the delivery of aid, including opening new border crossings and committing not to impose “unnecessary restrictions”.

Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/4 ... -of-israel

[wjfox]

Children starving to death in northern Gaza - WHO

9 hours ago

Children are dying of starvation in northern Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief says.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency's visits over the weekend to the Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals were the first since early October.

In a post on social media, he spoke of "grim findings".

A lack of food resulted in the deaths of 10 children and "severe levels of malnutrition", while hospital buildings have been destroyed, he wrote.

[...]

Dr Tedros reported "severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation, serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies, hospital buildings destroyed" in northern Gaza, where an estimated 300,000 people are living with little food or clean water.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68471572

[Time_Traveller]

US to set up temporary port on Gaza coast for aid delivery

2 minutes ago

President Joe Biden is to announce that the US military will construct a port in Gaza to get more humanitarian aid into the territory by sea, senior US officials say.

The temporary port will increase the amount of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians by "hundreds of additional truckloads" per day, officials say.

However it will not include US troops on the ground in Gaza, they said.

The UN warns that a quarter of the population is on the brink of famine.

The port will take "a number of weeks" to set up, the officials said, and will be able to receive large ships carrying food, water medicine, and temporary shelters. Initial shipments will arrive via Cyprus, where Israeli security inspections will take place.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68506356

[weatheriscool]

[Time_Traveller]

I want to comment aswell. Jewish people and Jewish settlement in Palestine are not a problem. I posted that map because it was the easiest resource I could find. But Jewish settlers had initially purchased land legally in Palestine prior to WW1. After WW1 and during the British administration of Palestine the history gets more murky and the British government fails to manage the situation. I don't actually know at what point some Jewish settlers started using the state as a weapon to force Palestinians out of their homes but it didn't start that way. Peaceful settlement and integration was possible, it would be possible today too I think but obviously the Israeli State is incapable of handling any of this in a peaceful equitable way.

More news which is related from Erowind's comment

Jewish settlers set their sights on Gaza beachfront

14 hours ago



Who wouldn't want a house on the beach? For some on Israel's far-right, desirable beachfront now includes the sands of Gaza.

Just ask Daniella Weiss, 78, the grandmother of Israel's settler movement, who says she already has a list of 500 families ready to move to Gaza immediately.

"I have friends in Tel Aviv," she says, "so they say, 'Don't forget to keep for me a plot near the coast in Gaza,' because it's a beautiful, beautiful coast, beautiful golden sand".

She tells them the plots on the coast are already booked.

Mrs Weiss heads a radical settler organisation called Nachala, or homeland. For decades, she has been kickstarting Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, on Palestinian land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68650815

[weatheriscool]

[Time_Traveller]

Update on this: -

UN Security Council passes resolution demanding Gaza ceasefire

Monday 25 March 2024 15:14, UK



The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution that demands a ceasefire in Gaza for the rest of Ramadan.

The Muslim holy month began on 10 March and is set to finish on 9 April - meaning the council is calling for a two-week ceasefire, though the draft said the pause in fighting should lead "to a permanent sustainable ceasefire".

The US abstained from the vote, with the 14 other council members - including Russia, China and the UK - voting in favour.

The resolution also demanded the immediate, unconditional release of all hostages and "emphasises the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to and reinforce the protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip and reiterates its demand for the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale."

Israel's Channel 12 reported after the vote that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a planned visit to Washington by a delegation as the US did not veto the proposal.

https://news.sky.com/story/un-security- ... e-13101682

[Time_Traveller]

Senior Hamas military leader known as 'shadow man' killed in strike, Israel says

Tuesday 26 March 2024 21:24, UK



Hamas's deputy political commander, Marwan Issa, was "eliminated" in a military strike earlier this month, Israel has said.

If the intelligence is correct, he would be the highest-ranking Hamas leader to have been killed in Gaza since the start of the current conflict between Israel and Hamas in October.

Fighter jets struck an underground compound in central Gaza between 9 and 10 March.

Another Hamas commander, Aziz Abu Tamaa, was believed to be with Issa.

The Israel Defence Forces said it had confirmed preliminary reports.

https://news.sky.com/story/senior-hamas ... s-13102372

[Time_Traveller]

Three British aid workers killed in Gaza, World Central Kitchen says

3 minutes ago

Three British aid workers have been killed in Gaza by an Israeli air strike, their charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) told BBC News.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called on Israel to "urgently" investigate the strike, which killed seven aid workers in total.

Other victims were Australian, Polish, Palestinian and a US-Canadian citizen, the charity said.

Israel said the aid workers were killed by an "unintended strike".

WCK has now paused its operations in Gaza.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68711832

[Time_Traveller]

‘The machine did it coldly’: Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets

Wed 3 Apr 2024 14.53 BST

The Israeli military’s bombing campaign in Gaza used a previously undisclosed AI-powered database that at one stage identified 37,000 potential targets based on their apparent links to Hamas, according to intelligence sources involved in the war.

In addition to talking about their use of the AI system, called Lavender, the intelligence sources claim that Israeli military officials permitted large numbers of Palestinian civilians to be killed, particularly during the early weeks and months of the conflict.

Their unusually candid testimony provides a rare glimpse into the first-hand experiences of Israeli intelligence officials who have been using machine-learning systems to help identify targets during the six-month war.

Israel’s use of powerful AI systems in its war on Hamas has entered uncharted territory for advanced warfare, raising a host of legal and moral questions, and transforming the relationship between military personnel and machines.

“This is unparalleled, in my memory,” said one intelligence officer who used Lavender, adding that they had more faith in a “statistical mechanism” than a grieving soldier. “Everyone there, including me, lost people on October 7. The machine did it coldly. And that made it easier.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... airstrikes

[firestar464]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/is ... r-BB1l7lEj

Israel dismisses 2 officers over deadly drone strikes on aid workers in Gaza

[caltrek]

I know that a lot of folks are upset with Biden concerning his support for Israel in its conflict with Hamas and military actions in Gaza. Still, they should be concerned with the alternative offered by Republicans:

GOP Plan Vote to Blast Biden Over Gaza
by Andrew Solender
April 12, 2024

Introduction:

(Axios) House Democrats are fuming over their Republican colleagues' plans to hold a vote denouncing what they say is President Biden's "one-sided pressure" on Israel.

Why it matters: Many pro-Israel Democrats, particularly Jewish lawmakers, are struggling to balance their affinity for Israel with their support of the president — while accusing Republicans of playing politics with a war.

• "There's the work that all of the serious adults are trying to work on [to address] an incredibly complicated and gut-wrenching situation, and then there is this nonsense," Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) told Axios.

Zoom in: The three-page, non-binding resolution introduced by Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) opposes "efforts to place one-sided pressure on Israel with respect to Gaza."

• It cites Biden's call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month in which the president urged an "immediate ceasefire" and a major shift in Israeli conduct in Gaza.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2024/04/12/democ ... el-house

Text of planned GOP resolution: https://rules.house.gov/sites/republic ... S_xml.pdf

[Time_Traveller]

US vetoes Palestinian bid for full UN membership

Friday 19 April 2024 08:38, UK



The US has blocked a Palestinian bid to be recognised as a full member state at the United Nations.

Twelve of the 15-member Security Council were in favour, Britain and Switzerland abstained, but America vetoed the motion.

The US said it still strongly supported a two-state solution, but its vote was "acknowledgment that it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties".

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it "unfair, unethical, and unjustified".

However, Israel's foreign minister Israel Katz praised the US for blocking the move.

https://news.sky.com/story/us-vetoes-pa ... p-13118257

This shows which side the West is on and as always there will not be a two-state solution under Netanyatu and his corrupt government.

[firestar464]

U.S. aid to Ukraine, Israel set to pass. But bills differ in one key area

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics ... r-AA1njxVk

Wait, so arms deliveries to Israel may be illegal per the Leahy Laws? Gazans should sue the US already

[firestar464]

And a unit just got sanctioned

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/th ... r-AA1nmyWl

[weatheriscool]

Biden and 17 other world leaders issue call for Hamas to release remaining hostages in Gaza

President Biden and 17 other world leaders issued a statement Thursday calling on Hamas to release the remaining hostages taken during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, arguing that doing so would bring about a prolonged cease-fire in the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

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

“We emphasize that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza, and lead to the credible end of hostilities,” they continued. “Gazans would be able to return to their homes and their lands with preparations beforehand to ensure shelter and humanitarian provisions.”

The statement was signed by Biden, as well as the leaders of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Columbia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom. The countries all have citizens who are being held or are missing in Gaza following Hamas’ terrorist attacks in Israel last October, a senior administration official said.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... -hostages/

[wjfox]

UN rights chief 'horrified' by mass grave reports at Gaza hospitals

1 day ago

The UN's human rights chief has said he is "horrified" by the destruction of Gaza's Nasser and al-Shifa hospitals and the reports of "mass graves" being found at the sites after Israeli raids.

Volker Türk called for independent investigations into the deaths.

Palestinian officials said they had exhumed 283 bodies at Nasser, some with their hands tied. It is not clear how they died or when they were buried.

Israel's military said claims that it buried bodies there were "baseless".

But it did say that during a two-week operation at the hospital in the city of Khan Younis in February, troops "examined" bodies buried by Palestinians "in places where intelligence indicated the possible presence of hostages".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68881325



Reuters

[firestar464]

Message From a Gazan to Campus Protesters: You're Hurting the Palestinian Cause | Opinion

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/me ... r-AA1nFvT7

Amazing op-ed