The Israeli forces, supported by military vehicles, stormed several villages and cities in the West Bank.

The most prominent incursions were concentrated in the city of Hebron and the town of Yatta from the southern side, and the Israeli forces raided homes in the “Umm Al-Satar” area.

Israeli forces also stormed the village of Al-Nazla Al-Sharqiya and the suburb of Shweika, west of Tulkarm, and raided two houses in Beit Tamar and Zaatara, east of Bethlehem.

In addition, the Israeli forces stormed villages northeast of Jenin, and the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus, and clashes subsequently broke out with Palestinian resistance fighters.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Saturday that the death toll from the Israeli aggression on the Strip since October 7 had risen to 29,606 dead and 69,737 injured.

It said that It had monitored the Israeli army committing 8 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 years.

Israel continues its aggression against Gaza... raids on the north, center and south of the Strip

For the 141st day, the Israeli army escalates its aggression against Gaza, targeting various areas of the Strip with its bombing.

At dawn on Saturday, a number of Palestinians were injured in an Israeli raid on the Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The Israeli bombing also targeted the city of Deir al-Balah in the center, and an Al-Arabi correspondent spoke of an Israeli aircraft raid on agricultural land in the Al-Zawaida area.

In the southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli army launched artillery shelling on areas west of the city of Khan Yunis.

As of yesterday, Friday, the Israeli aggression on Gaza left more than 29,514 killed and about 69,616 wounded, in an infinite toll of victims.

In addition, the leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas", Muhammad Nazzal, confirmed the continuation of the indirect negotiating process through the Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

He pointed out, "The coming hours will reveal whether we are on a path that leads to a ceasefire before Ramadan or not."

Palestinian and international media have repeatedly warned that the Israeli army is targeting media crews, and called for protection for them, while Israel has ignored these calls.

The death toll of journalists killed in the Gaza Strip as a result of the ongoing Israeli war since October 7, 2023, has risen to 132.

This came after the Government Information Office in Gaza announced the death of two journalists.

The Government Information Office said, “The number of journalist killed has risen to 132 journalists since the start of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, after the death of two fellow journalists, Muhammad Tishreen Yaghi (a photojournalist with several media outlets) in the bombing of a house in Al-Zawaida with his family, and Musab Abu Zayed (broadcaster). And a program presenter on the Holy Quran Radio) in the bombing of a house in the Nuseirat camp with his family.”

The martyred male and female journalists are: Muhammad Younis al-Zaytouniyah, Muhammad Abd al-Khaleq al-Af, Muhammad al-Salhi, Ibrahim Lafi, Muhammad Jarghoun, Asaad Shamlikh, Saeed al-Taweel, Hisham al-Nawajha, Muhammad Abu Rizq, Aed al-Najjar, Muhammad Abu Matar, Rajab al-Naqib, Ahmed Shehab. , Abdel Rahman Shehab, Hossam Mubarak, Hani Al-Madhoun, Issam Bahar, Muhammad Baalousha, Abdel Hadi Habib, Ali Nasman, Anas Abu Shamala, Samih Al-Nadi, Khalil Abu Athrah, Mahmoud Abu Zarifa, Muhammad Ali, Iman Al-Aqili, Muhammad Labad, Muhammad Al-Shorbaji. , Rushdi Al-Sarraj, Muhammad Al-Hassani, Saed Halabi, Jamal Al-Faqawi, Ahmed Abu Mahadi, Yasser Abu Namous, Salma Mkhaimer, Doaa Sharaf, Salam Mima, Majed Kashko, Imad Al-Wahidi, Hudhayfah Al-Najjar, Nazmi Al-Nadim, Majd Arandas, Iyad Matar, Muhammad Al-Biyari. , Muhammad Abu Hatab, Zaher Al-Afghani, Mustafa Al-Naqeeb, Haitham Harara, Muhammad Al-Jaja, Yahya Abu Mani’, Muhammad Abu Hasira, Mahmoud Matar, Ahmed Al-Qara, Musa Al-Barash, Ahmed Fatima, Yaqoub Al-Barash, Amr Abu Hayya, Mustafa Al-Sawaf, Abdel Halim Awad , Sari Mansour, Hassouna Islim, Bilal Jadallah, Alaa Al-Nimr, Ayat Khadura, Muhammad Al-Zaq, Asim Al-Barsh, Muhammad Ayyash, Mustafa Bakir, Amal Zuhd, Musab Ashour, Nader Al-Nazli, Jamal Haniyeh, Abdullah Darwish, Montaser Al-Sawaf, Marwan Al-Sawaf , Adham Hassouna, Muhammad Faraj Allah, Hudhayfa Lulu, Hassan Faraj Allah, Shaima Al-Jazzar, Mahmoud Salem, Abdel Hamid Al-Qarinawi, Hamada Al-Yaziji, Hossam Ammar, Ola Atallah, Doaa Al-Jabour, Nermin Qawwas, Muhammad Abu Samra, Abdel Karim Odeh, Ahmed Abu Absa, Hanan Ayyad, Samer Abu Daqqa, Rami Badir, Asim Kamal Moussa, Ali Ashour, Mishaal Shahwan, Haneen Al-Qatshan, Abdullah Alwan, Adel Zorob, Alaa Abu Muammar, Muhammad Khalifa, Muhammad Abu Huwaidi, Ahmed Jamal Al-Madhoun, Muhammad Abd Al-Khaleq Al-Af, Muhammad Younis Al-Zaytouniyah, Muhammad Khair Al-Din, Ahmed Maher Khair Al-Din, Jabr Abu Hadros, Akram Al-Shafi’i, Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh, Mustafa Thuraya, Ali Abu Ajwa, Abdullah Baris, Muhammad Abu Dayer, Ahmed Badir, Sharif Okasha, Heba Al-Abadla. , Fouad Abu Khammash, Muhammad Al-Thalathiini, Yazan Al-Zwaidi, Wael Abu Fanouneh, Iyad Al-Rawag, Issam Al-Lulu, Muhammad Abdel-Fattah Atallah, Rizq Al-Gharabli, Nafez Abdel-Jawad, Alaa Hassan Al-Homs, Angham Ahmed Adwan, Zaid Abu Zayed, Yasser Mamdouh, Muhammad Raslan Shanioura, Mahmoud Mushtaha, Muhammad Tishreen Yaghi, Musab Abu Zayed.”

Palestinian and international media have repeatedly warned that the Israeli army is targeting media crews, and called for protection for them, while Israel has ignored these calls.

By Mohamad Alasmar

For the sake of children, we have to demand an end to the violence and adherence to international law in Palestine.

A crisis. A horror. A tragedy. All words we’ve heard many times over to describe the situation in Gaza. All woefully insufficient.

As a Palestinian, I can assure you if there’s one thing Palestinians aren’t short of, it’s words. You may even recall that in the first weeks of this war, children in Gaza held their own press conference imploring the world “to protect them” so they could “live as other children live”.

But the scale of the violence in Gaza since the attacks on Israel on October 7, which killed about 1,139 people, is unlike anything we’ve experienced before.  Israeli forces have killed an average of 250 Palestinians a day, exceeding the daily death toll of all other conflicts in recent decades.

Over one million people have been displaced to Rafah, the only remaining place in Gaza where there is any semblance of a meaningful humanitarian response, waiting for the next military operation that could lead to a bloodbath.

And so, words have begun to fail us. Many now say there simply are no words that justly capture the torment we’re facing. I disagree.

There are still some words we can and must fall back on, words that anchor us to our collective humanity. The language of human rights, international law and accountability. Words like obligations, violations, atrocity crimes. The laws of occupation. And the laws of war.

I emphasise these words because they are the right words to use, but also because they counter other words that have come to the fore, such as the language of dehumanisation, which paves the way for atrocity crimes to be committed.

Back in June 2023, I attended my brother’s wedding in the occupied West Bank village where we grew up. If only for a brief moment, we were able to forget about the occupation we live under and the daily abuse that brings.

That moment of joy was swiftly crushed when a few days later hundreds of armed settlers marched into our village, firebombing homes and cars and attacking my family, friends and neighbours, in the 10th attack on the village in just six months.

A 27-year-old father of two young children was murdered. Many others were shot and injured. As far as we’re aware, not a single settler has been held to account.

The attacks on my village fitted a trend of increasing insecurity for Palestinians with more frequent and more violent attacks by settlers and Israeli forces occurring across the occupied West Bank. In September, a Save the Children report found that 2023 had become the deadliest year for Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank on record. The number of children killed in the first nine months of the year was triple the number killed in 2022- itself previously the deadliest year on record since 2005. And then came October 7, leading to unprecedented levels of dehumanisation and violence.

Horrifyingly, at least four of the six grave violations against children have been perpetrated since the war began, including children killed in Gaza and Israel, the abduction of children from Israel to Gaza, attacks on hospitals and schools across Gaza, and the denial of humanitarian access for children in Gaza.

At least 29,000 people have been reported killed and 69,000 wounded in Gaza while an estimated 8,000 people are missing, presumed buried under the rubble of bombed-out buildings, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Some of the most inhumane actions carried out by Israeli forces include directing Palestinian civilians to so-called “safe zones” and then bombing these areas, and preventing food, water and medicine from reaching civilians, even as aid agencies warn that nearly every single child in Gaza is at imminent risk of famine.

These extreme levels of violence are no doubt in part a consequence of the increasing dehumanisation of Palestinians. Senior Israeli government officials have labelled Palestinians “human animals”, there have been calls by some journalists for Gaza to be turned “into a slaughterhouse”, and some Israeli soldiers were shown wearing T-shirts depicting pregnant Palestinian women and babies as military targets.

Indiscriminate attacks on civilians, forced displacement, the use of collective punishment and starvation as a weapon of war are all violations of international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes.

Videos have been broadcast to the world showing Israeli bulldozers digging up Palestinian cemeteries, the lifeless bodies of Palestinians run over by military vehicles, and young Palestinian boys blindfolded and stripped naked in the street.

It terrifies me that many world leaders who claim to be champions of human rights and the rules-based order would have seen these same videos and failed to condemn them. In contrast, there was global condemnation when videos surfaced of some of the over 130 hostages still held captive in Gaza after being seized in Israel on October 7.

Just as in so many other places before our failure to prevent the atrocities in Gaza is making a mockery of “never again”.

With everything that we now know, I wonder whether world leaders will finally use their positions of power and influence to bring this bloodshed to an end or whether they will simply continue issuing “statements of concern” and turning a blind eye.

This war should never have begun but it has certainly gone on for far too long. Every day it continues, more and more children will be killed, maimed, orphaned, and left deeply traumatised.

But even if politics continues to undermine humanity, the rule of law can still be upheld. In the weeks, months and years ahead, judgements handed down have the potential to redefine society’s course, leading to a fairer and safer world.

We owe it to all children, including those across the occupied Palestinian territory in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and across Israel, to demand an end to the violence, adherence to international law and to hold to account those who violate it.

They have a right to no less.

Experts say any weapons that would be used by Israel in Gaza is likely a violation of international humanitarian law

A group of UN experts said on Friday that any arms exports to Israel that would be used in Gaza are likely a violation of international law and must stop immediately.

The statement is one of the most sharply defined calls for international actors to cease weapons shipments to Israel amid its ongoing war in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed more than 29,000 Palestinians.

The experts said weapons exports to Israel could be used in Gaza, where there is a "clear risk" that they would be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.

“All States must ‘ensure respect’ for international humanitarian law by parties to an armed conflict, as required by 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary international law,” the experts said.

“States must accordingly refrain from transferring any weapon or ammunition – or parts for them – if it is expected, given the facts or past patterns of behaviour, that they would be used to violate international law."

The experts added that the transfers of weapons are still "prohibited even if the exporting State does not intend the arms to be used in violation of the law – or does not know with certainty that they would be used in such a way".

The statement also lauded the decision made by a Dutch appeals court on 12 February, in which it ordered the Netherlands to halt the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel.

The court found that there was a “clear risk” that the parts would be used to commit violations of international humanitarian law, as “there are many indications that Israel has violated the humanitarian law of war in a not insignificant number of cases”.

Several other countries also announced they would be suspending arms to Israel, including Belgium, Italy, and Spain. The European Union has also discouraged arms sales to Israel.

Still, the main weapons supplier of Israel continues to be the US, which shows no signs of halting or even decreasing its weapons shipments to the country.

The amount of arms Washington gives to Israel even led to criticism from Josep Borrell, the foreign policy chief for the EU.

After US President Joe Biden called Israel's conduct in Gaza "over the top", Borrell suggested that the American leader do something about it.

“Well, if you believe that too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide less arms in order to prevent so many people being killed,” Borrell told reporters earlier this month.

By Jonathan Cook

 Were they being properly reported, two critically important court hearings this week - in London and The Hague - would expose the US 'rules-based order' as a hollow sham

Two legal cases posing globe-spanning threats to our most basic freedoms unfolded separately in Britain and the Netherlands this week. Neither received more than perfunctory coverage in western establishment media like the BBC. 

One was the last-ditch appeal of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in London against efforts by the United States to extradite him so he can be locked away for the rest of his life. 

Assange’s crime, according to the Biden administration, is that he published leaks exposing the systematic war crimes signed off on by the US and British establishments in Iraq and Afghanistan. The British government, perhaps not surprisingly, has assented to his extradition. 

The other case was heard by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Weeks after the World Court judges deemed it plausible that Israel was carrying out genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the US client state was back in the dock on a separate matter. 

The judges have been asked by the United Nations General Assembly to provide an advisory opinion on whether Israel’s now-permanent occupation and colonisation of the Palestinian territories amounts to an illegal annexation of territory where it has established an apartheid regime. 

Separately, Israel also has to report back on whether it has adhered to the court’s earlier ruling that it cease activities that might amount to genocide. 

While the cases of Assange and Israel might appear to share little in common, they are, in fact, intimately connected - and in ways that have underscored the degree to which the West’s so-called “rules-based order” is being exposed as a hollow sham.

Media silence

One telling similarity is the limited media coverage each case has attracted despite the gravity of what is at stake. The BBC’s main evening news dedicated mere seconds to the first day of the Assange hearing, and near the end of its running order. 

If the US gets its way, the courts would effectively hand the White House the power to seize any publisher who shines a light on US state crimes, and then disappear them into its draconian incarceration system. 

The purpose of reclassifying investigative journalism as espionage is to further chill critical reporting and free speech. Any journalist contemplating taking on the US national security state would remember Assange’s cruel fate.

But in truth, much of the establishment media appears to need no such threats, as confirmed by the many years of obedient, near-non-existent reporting on Assange’s mistreatment by British and US authorities.

A win for Israel would rip up the legal framework written after the horrors of the Second World War 

Meanwhile, if The Hague rules in its favour, Israel would be emboldened to accelerate its theft and colonisation of Palestinian land. The ethnic cleansing and oppression of Palestinians would deepen, with the risk that current regional tensions could further escalate into a wider war.

A win for Israel would rip up the legal framework written after the horrors of the Second World War and the Holocaust, stripping the weak and vulnerable of the protections supposed to be afforded to them by international humanitarian law. Conversely, it would signal to the strongest and most belligerent that they can do as they please. 

The legal clock would be set back eight decades or more.

Stinging hypocrisy

Yet strangely, both of these momentous cases - critical to the preservation of a modern liberal democratic order and the rule of law - have received barely a fraction of the interest and media attention dedicated to the death of Alexei Navalny, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In flaunting their concerns about Navalny, the western media have once again echoed rather than tackled the all-too-obvious hypocrisies of western governments. 

US President Joe Biden this week announced sanctions against Moscow for the targeting of the Russian political dissident. That is the very same Biden seeking, at the same time, to lock a dissident Australian journalist, Assange, out of sight for up to 175 years for bringing to light US war crimes. 

For years, the western media have paraded their horror over Navalny’s treatment and various attempts on his life, which they always ascribe to the Kremlin. But there has been barely an eyebrow raised over reported discussions by the CIA in 2017 plotting potential ways to abduct and assassinate Assange. 

Few have highlighted the fact that Assange has already suffered a stroke amid his persecution and the 15-year confinement imposed on him by US and UK authorities. He was too unwell to attend this week’s court hearings or even to watch the proceedings via a digital link from the court. 

The former UN special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, has long warned that Assange is being slowly “crushed” through isolation and psychological torture, with grave consequences for his health. 

Assange’s lawyers warned the High Court in London this week that there was a serious danger the US would add more charges once Assange was extradited, including ones warranting the death penalty. This threat to the life of a western journalist fell under the media radar. 

According to medical experts, and accepted by the first judge to hear the extradition case, Assange is in danger of committing suicide should he end up in the strict isolation of a US super-max prison. 

The media’s tears for Navalny sting with their hypocrisy.

Blank cheque

Another revealing similarity between the Assange and Israel cases is that both are in front of the courts only because Washington has dug in its heels and refused to resolve the legal issues, despite their deeply ominous implications.

Were the US to withdraw its extradition request, Assange could be set free immediately. The oppressive cloud hanging over the future of a free society, one that has the right and ability to hold its officials to account for wrongdoing, would instantly lift. 

Basic freedoms, such as those enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution, are being shredded only because a consensus reigns among the US political class - from Democrats to Republicans - to snuff out such rights.

Similarly, were the US to insist that the mass slaughter of children in Gaza stop - more than 12,000 have died so far - Israel’s guns would fall silent immediately. 

Were it to demand that Israel bring to an end its occupation of the Palestinian territories and 17-year siege of Gaza, and were the US to take a genuinely even-handed approach to peace talks, the World Court could set aside its hearings against Israel. Its opinion would be superfluous. 

Washington, whatever its protestations, has such power. It is the US and its allies supplying Israel with bombs and ammunition. It is the US and its allies providing the military aid and diplomatic cover that allows Israel to act as an attack dog in the oil-rich Middle East. 

Israel’s intransigence, its hunger for others’ land, its dehumanisation of the Palestinian people, and its constant resort to military options would have to be abandoned, however unwillingly, were it not being written a blank cheque by the US.

Instead, the US cast a veto this week at the Security Council, blocking efforts to impose a ceasefire to end the genocide. The UK abstained. 

Also this week, US officials told the World Court’s judges they should not call for Israel to end its occupation anytime soon. In Orwellian fashion, decades of violent oppression by Israel and the illegal settlement of Palestinian land were characterised by the US as “Israel’s very real security needs”. 

Intimidation campaign

The cases are connected in yet another way. 

In the Assange case, the US demands an absolute global legal jurisdiction to hound critics, those who wish to pull away the veil of secrecy that shields western officials from accountability for their crimes. 

It wishes to silence those who would expose its lies, deceptions and hypocrisies. It hopes to be able to disappear into its prison system those seeking to enforce the West’s self-professed commitment to a democratic order and lawful behaviour. 

In parallel, and for similar reasons, Washington demands the opposite for itself and client states such as Israel. It insists on absolute global legal immunity, whatever they do. 

It is the war criminals and genocide enablers in Washington who are free, while Assange is locked up in a dungeon and the people of Gaza are slowly being starved to death

Its veto at the Security Council is wielded to that effect, and so is its campaign of intimidation against judicial authorities who entertain the fanciful notion that the same international law used to rein in enemies might constrain Washington and its allies.

When the ICJ’s sister court at The Hague, the International Criminal Court, sought to properly investigate the US for war crimes in Afghanistan, and Israel for atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territories, Washington went on a rampage.

It placed financial sanctions on leading figures of the ICC and blocked entry to its investigators so they could not carry out their duties. Israel has similarly barred a series of UN special rapporteurs from entering the occupied Palestinian territories to report on human rights abuses there. 

Just as the persecution of Assange is meant to terrorise other journalists from considering holding US officials to account for their crimes, the bullying of the highest legal authorities on the planet is intended to send a clear message to national court systems. Certainly, that message appears to have been loudly received in London.

Information void

Another connection is perhaps the most significant. Assange once observed: “Nearly every war that has started in the past 50 years has been a result of media lies.”

It is only because of a void of real information - whether omitted by journalists for fear of upsetting powerful actors, or shielded from view by those same powerful actors’ self-serving secrecy policies - that states can persuade their publics to get behind wars and violent resource grabs.  

The only people to gain from these wars are a tiny, wealthy elite at the top of society. All too often it is ordinary people who pay the price: either with their lives or through damage to the parts of the economy on which the public depends.

The continuing proxy war in Ukraine - a Nato-funded and armed war with Russia, using Ukraine as the battlefield - is a perfect illustration. It is ordinary Ukrainians and Russians who are dying. 

Despite the West spurring on the bloodshed, European economies have been wrecked and further deindustrialised, while as a direct result of the fighting, yet another surge in consumer prices has hit the most vulnerable.

But a few - including major energy corporations and arms manufacturers, as well as their shareholders - have reaped a large windfall from the war. It has been precisely the same game plan in Gaza.

It is the job of the media to connect the dots for western publics by serving as a watchdog on power. But once again, they have failed in this, their most important professional and moral duty. The villains have yet again gotten away with their crimes.

It is the war criminals and genocide enablers in Washington who are free, while Assange is locked up in a dungeon and the people of Gaza are slowly being starved to death.

Assange’s project was designed to reverse all that. It was about bringing the war criminals in western capitals to book through truth-telling and transparency. It was about pulling back the veil.

Were Assange free, and were the whistleblowers and people of conscience in the corridors of power emboldened rather than terrorised by his treatment, we might live in a society where our leaders dared not arm a genocide; and dared not conspire in the starvation of two million people.

This is why the fates of the people of Gaza and Julian Assange are so tightly sealed together.

The Israeli Radio Corporation quoted sources as saying that the US administration informed Israel that Arab countries are preparing an initiative regarding the so-called “day after the war in Gaza,” noting that this Arab plan includes a clause stipulating the integration of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) into the Palestine Liberation Organization.

This Israeli body stated that Brett McGurk, the US President's envoy, pressured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold a discussion in the government regarding "the day after the Gaza war."

It said that - in conjunction with the Paris negotiations that seek to reach an agreement to release prisoners - the United States is holding talks with Arab countries (which it did not name) regarding the day after the war.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation added that the US President's administration is pressuring Netanyahu to hold a ministerial discussion on this issue.

There was no immediate comment from Washington or the Arab League regarding this news.

The day after the war

During his visit to Israel, the US President's special envoy - Netanyahu - urged a ministerial discussion on the issue of "the day after the war."

McGurk warned that if Israel did not make decisions, the Arab countries and the United States would move forward with the issue without it, according to the Israel Broadcasting Corporation.

Yesterday, Friday, talks began in Paris to discuss reaching an exchange and calm deal in the Gaza Strip with the participation of Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and an Israeli delegation headed by Mossad chief David Barnea, while a Hamas official said that the movement is waiting for what the mediators will return.

Also yesterday, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Prime Minister presented to the security cabinet a document of principles related to the policy of “the day after the Gaza war.”

The broadcasting corporation said that the "Netanyahu document" includes Israel retaining its freedom to operate in the entire Gaza Strip without a time limit, and also includes establishing a security zone in the Strip adjacent to Israeli towns.

Source: Al Jazeera + Anatolia

On Friday, the Hamas movement described the Israeli occupation’s positions on the negotiations on a prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian factions in Gaza and the ceasefire as “negative.”

This came in a press conference by the leader of the movement, Osama Hamdan, held in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Hamdan said, “The occupation’s positions and responses to the mediators are negative and pose many obstacles to reaching an agreement.”

He added, "Israeli Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu is stalling and evasive and aims to disrupt reaching an agreement. He does not care about the release of prisoners held by the resistance. Rather, it is a card he uses to achieve his goals."

Hamdan added, "Netanyahu holds his delegation responsible for any upcoming negotiations with four nos: no cessation of aggression, no withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, no return of the displaced to the north, and no real exchange deal."

He considered that "Netanyahu's private and personal goals, and those behind him, the group of extremist settlers who form the backbone of his fascist government, clash with all the initiatives and positions proposed."

Hamdan pointed out that his movement “dealt in a positive spirit with the mediators’ proposals and initiatives, and based its positions on its clear priorities of stopping the aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip, and ending their human suffering, which was caused by the Zionist machine of killing and destruction, and the freedom of movement of our people and their return to their homes and areas in North of the Strip, and in all its areas, and the necessity of urgent relief, shelter, and the start of reconstruction.”

He pointed out that “the Netanyahu government’s insistence on continuing the war of extermination against civilians in the Gaza Strip, without even caring about the killing of more (Israeli) prisoners held by the resistance, under the barbaric Zionist bombing, will not be stopped by mere ideas and initiatives, but rather requires firm positions and practical measures to end the aggression.” “And responding to the rights of our people and ending the occupation.”

Hamdan considered that the Netanyahu government, “which sees prolonging the war as a primary goal, to escape the entitlements of the post-aggression phase, still adopts an intransigent position regarding the just demands put forward by the Hamas movement and the Palestinian resistance factions, most notably the cessation of the aggression and the return and shelter of the displaced.” And lifting the siege to rebuild what was destroyed by the Zionist aggression.”

He added that this "requires the international community and concerned countries to properly diagnose the current situation."

Hamdan's statements came coinciding with the start of the Paris meetings to discuss reaching a calm in the Gaza Strip, in the presence of the delegations of Hamas and Israel, and the participation of Egypt, Qatar and the United States.

The meetings aim to achieve calm in Gaza, release Israeli and Palestinian detainees, and support the humanitarian situation in the Strip.

In this context, Osama Hamdan said that his movement agreed with the Palestinian factions to form a government to provide relief to the Palestinians, rebuild Gaza, and prepare for elections.

In a press conference, on Friday evening, Hamdan called on the official and popular sides, in the countries through which land shipments pass to supply the occupation with goods, to stop them, in light of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and the brutal starvation process against the Palestinians.

The Hamas leader said that the war of starvation and massacres in Gaza would not have continued without the support of the American administration.

He added: "American spy planes fly over the Gaza Strip around the clock to identify targets, monitor leaders, and find prisoners."

Regarding reports of the occupation’s violations against Palestinian female prisoners, which revealed cases of sexual harassment and rape, Hamdan said, “We call for an independent and rapid international investigation into the UN report on Israeli violations against Palestinian women.”

Regarding the situation in occupied Jerusalem, and the occupation’s threats to restrict the number of worshipers during Ramadan, Hamdan warned that “the explosion is coming and the anger is coming, and the occupation’s decision to restrict freedom of worship in Al-Aqsa, during Ramadan, will not pass without accountability, no matter the sacrifices and costs.”

He called for "mobilizing to Al-Aqsa Mosque, to let the occupation know that attacking the place will not pass without accountability, whatever the cost."

On Friday, the United States expressed its disappointment at Israel’s announcement that it plans to build 3,000 housing units in the occupied West Bank settlements.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a press conference from Argentina: “We regret that the Israeli government announced its intention to build thousands of settlement units.”

He added, "The United States believes that the settlements are not consistent with international law, and do not help achieve peace. They only weaken Israel's security, not strengthen it."

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reiterated on Friday that the United States rejects any “new occupation” of the Gaza Strip after the end of the war, in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement of a post-war plan against Hamas that notes the continued “security control” of Israel in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. .

Blinken said in response to a question during the press conference, “I have not seen the plan, so I refrain from answering,” but he added, “There should not be a new Israeli occupation of Gaza” and “The territory of Gaza should not be reduced,” which, in his opinion, constitute “basic principles” for the future of the Strip. .

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Gaza, Pascal Hunt, warned in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde that a large-scale Israeli military attack on Rafah would create an "absolute disaster."

Hunt spoke about the horrific humanitarian situation in the Strip, with Israel threatening to launch a military attack on the city of Rafah, where there are more than 1.3 million displaced people.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced the death of more than 29,000 since October 7, 2023, in daily massacres committed by the Israeli occupation forces.

What made the situation worse was the World Food Program's announcement last Tuesday of a "temporary suspension" of aid distribution in the northern Gaza Strip due to the lack of security conditions for aid convoys to enter.

Regarding the extent of the International Committee of the Red Cross's ability to send aid to Gaza, Hunt said that this is not possible, especially after the killing of 14 Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers.

He explained that the security guarantees obtained by the committee are not sufficient, which has made the activity of humanitarian workers more complex, especially in light of the continuing war.

Huge needs

Hunt stressed that there is an urgent need for very huge aid throughout the Gaza Strip, adding, "We spoke with parents who were crying because they saw the trucks passing and they had nothing left to give to their children. There are only 200 trucks that pass through Rafah every day, that is, one truck." For 10 thousand people.

Regarding Israel's intention to invade Rafah, Hunt replied, "We are terrified of that. When it bombed Rafah on February 12, within less than an hour, between 50 and 70 people were killed. This means that any large-scale military operation would be an absolute disaster."

He continued that some are talking about a new population displacement, but that is not available today in Gaza, as there is no place for people where they feel safe, and the need for water, food, and health care is urgent, noting that the health system has collapsed in the Gaza Strip, and a hospital or Two work in Rafah.

Hunt confirmed to the French newspaper that, according to international humanitarian law, people can be displaced for security reasons, but this displacement must be temporary, but what is happening is that entire areas in Gaza City have been destroyed and entire neighborhoods in Khan Yunis as well, and if the same fate would befall Rafah.” What will be the future of the Palestinians in Gaza: living in tents for 10 years?

According to Hunt, the Palestinians feel that the international community has completely abandoned them, especially those working in the humanitarian field who believe that all countries have ratified the Geneva Conventions and must also abide by their provisions. He stressed that the committee is still providing some of its simple services in Rafah despite the lack of capabilities compared to its size. "We all feel as if we are on the list, but we do not know when our turn will come," Hunt quoted one of the Palestinians as saying.

Source: Le Monde

On Friday evening, armed settlers beat two young Palestinians before seizing their vehicle, in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.

Local sources reported that a group of armed settlers blocked the road to a vehicle in which the two young men, Muhammad Murr and Mahmoud Ayed Murr, were traveling, near the village of Susya in Masafer Yatta, while they were on their way to their homes in the village of “Amnizel”, and assaulted them by beating them and spraying hot and poisonous gas on their faces, which led to their injuries. Bruised.

It added that the settlers then seized the two young men's vehicle and transported it by large truck to one of the nearby settlements.

At least 24 citizens were killed and others were injured, this Friday evening, in a new massacre committed by the Israeli army in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

Local sources reported that 24 citizens were killed and others were injured, the majority of them children and women, as a result of the Israeli aircraft bombing a house for the Abu Zuaiter family in the Bishara neighborhood in Deir al-Balah.

The bodies of the dead and the wounded were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city, while ambulance and rescue crews continued attempts to extract the victims from under the rubble of the house.

The Israeli aircraft also bombed a house north of Al-Maghazi camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip, wounding a number of citizens. A number of citizens were injured, some of them critically, in an Israeli raid that targeted them near the “Al-Shallal” cafeteria on the shore of the Nuseirat Sea. The Israeli aircraft opened heavy fire on the town of Al-Mughraqa, north of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, and the Israeli aircraft and its artillery bombed Khirbet Al-Adas, north of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, and a house. Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said that the Israeli forces targeted the vicinity of its Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, causing major damage to the hospital facilities.

It indicated that for the fourth time, its crews carried out the mission of evacuating the wounded from the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis after it was out of service, in coordination with the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in which 4 ambulances participated and evacuated 18 wounded, including two newborn girls who were missing. Their mother, and the cases were transferred to the International Medical Corps field hospitals, the Indonesian field hospital in Rafah Governorate, the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Yunis, in addition to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

The number of killed since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7 has risen to 29,514 people, in addition to 69,616 wounded, in an infinite toll.

Blinken: “We are working with countries in the region to develop a plan for the next day in the Gaza Strip. We are determined to end the conflict in the Middle East as quickly as possible.”

US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said that Washington is upset and rejects Israel’s announcement of a plan to build 3,000 new units in the settlements.

He pointed out, "We are disappointed by Israel's announcement that it plans to build 3,000 new units in the settlements, and we reject that."

He also said, "We are working to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East that ends the cycle of violence forever," adding, "We are keen to release the hostages in Gaza as soon as possible and establish a humanitarian ceasefire."

Blinken continued, "We are working with countries in the region to develop a plan for the next day in the Gaza Strip. We are determined to end the conflict in the Middle East as quickly as possible."

Blinken's statements come as the Israeli government pushes a plan to build 3,344 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, under the pretext of "responding" to the shooting that took place east of Jerusalem yesterday, Thursday.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (“Kan 11”) reported on Thursday evening that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a session to discuss “pushing the construction of thousands of housing units in the ‘Maale Adumim’ settlement, in response to the shooting.”

The Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, and the Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, participated in the session. The government intends to invite the Supreme Planning Council to hold a session within the next two weeks, to approve the new construction.

The Israeli government decided to hold a session of the Supreme Planning Council to approve the construction of thousands of settlement units in “Maale Adumim” (2,350 settlement units), “Kedar” (300 units), and “Efrat” (694 units).

Demonstrations took place in many Arab and Western cities - today, Friday - to denounce the Israeli massacres in the Gaza Strip and demand an end to the war. Activists also warned against the occupation carrying out its threats to invade the city of Rafah, south of the Strip.

A massive demonstration was organized in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, during which banners were raised saying, "The death of Gaza's children from hunger is a disgrace to all of humanity."

This comes with escalating warnings of the threat of famine looming over the Gaza Strip in general and its north in particular in light of the Israeli siege and obstruction of the entry of aid trucks.

In Jordan, crowds of demonstrators gathered to stand in front of the Ebad Al-Rahman Mosque, near the US Embassy in Amman, at the invitation of the “National Forum to Support the Resistance.”

The protest was titled “An American crime with Arab complicity,” as an expression of anger at the attack that Israel threatens to launch on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Demonstrators carried banners saying, “America is the head of terrorism,” “The Rafah aggression is an American-Zionist crime,” and “Stop the genocide.”

Anti-America chants

During the demonstration, chants were chanted in support of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and chants against the United States, including: “America is the head of the snake,” and “America is the devil. It supports Zionism.”

Washington used its veto - Tuesday - to thwart an Algerian draft resolution in the Security Council calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

Jordanian demonstrators called on the country's King Abdullah II to provide them with weapons to fight against Israel.

The protest also carried the slogan “The land bridge is betrayal,” referring to reports of a land bridge extending from the Gulf through Jordan and then to Israel to supply it with goods, which the Jordanian authorities denied earlier.

In Italy, a massive demonstration took place in Florence in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and the demonstrators chanted slogans demanding an end to the genocide in Gaza.

March towards AIPAC

As for the United States, thousands participated in a march in New York City, on Thursday, towards the headquarters of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to protest its support for the Israeli massacres against the Palestinians.

The demonstrators raised Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against AIPAC. They also criticized US Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand for receiving money from the committee.

The march witnessed occasional altercations with the New York Police, as its members arrested a number of demonstrators.

On Thursday, demonstrators in solidarity with Palestine stormed a hotel where US President Joe Biden was staying in San Francisco, California, demanding a ceasefire.

The demonstrators chanted slogans including, "Biden, you cannot hide. We accuse you of genocide." The US President was visiting the city as part of his campaign for the presidential elections.

The United States provides broad political support to Israel in its war on Gaza, as well as an air bridge to supply it with thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies

The Israeli war on the Gaza Strip raised discussion again in academic and research circles about the noticeable change in the trends of Jewish public opinion critical of the Zionist narrative and its relationship to Jewish identity in the largest Western capitals in support of Israeli policies, in light of the escalation of controversy over Israeli politicians’ deliberate intention to label every speech that opposes their settlement policies and rejects Zionist ideology is called "anti-Semitism."

The results of an opinion poll conducted by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (based in London), released this February, showed a decline in the percentage of British Jews who identify themselves as Zionists from 73% 10 years ago to 63%, especially among young people. The institute's survey, the largest of its kind in studying the formation of Jewish identity in Britain, indicates that young people prefer to separate their Jewish identity from association with Zionism as a political and ideological movement.

The study sheds light on the nature of the relationship between adopting the Zionist ideology and party affiliation among the Jewish minority in Britain, which does not exceed 300,000 Jews but is the second largest Jewish community in Europe. The survey concludes that most British Jewish supporters of the Conservative Party define themselves as 73% are Zionists, while this percentage drops to around 27% among supporters of the Green Party, which is affiliated with the far left of Britain.

The same results also indicated that approximately 88% of the respondents stated that they had visited Israel at least once, while 73% confirmed that they felt some kind of connection towards Israel.

Israel's racism

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Braden McGeever, an expert in anti-Semitism and professor of sociology at the University of London, said, “This emotional attachment to Israel no longer means unconditional support for its policies,” referring to a similar poll of the opinions of American Jews regarding Israel’s political behavior and its management of the peace process with the Palestinians, which Reflecting strongly critical positions of those policies.

While a previous poll among Jewish voters conducted by the Jewish Electoral Center found that more than a quarter of respondents agreed with describing Israel as an “apartheid state.”

MacGyver added that “an estimated quarter of the Jewish community in Britain prefers to put a distance between themselves and the Zionist ideology and refuses to be described as Zionists,” considering that these numbers embody a turning point that must be paid attention to, and work to examine and monitor the shifts that will occur in the trends of Jewish public opinion after the events of the 7th of September. Last October, to understand in depth the extent of the impact of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on shaping public opinion among Jewish communities around the world in the coming years.

With the escalation of protests in the British street against the war on the Gaza Strip, the “Jewish Voice for Peace” movement emerged, which organized solidarity movements with the people of the Strip in a number of British cities, and went out in protests demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The movement, which is active in More than one Western capital raises the slogan “Not in our name.” It rejects Israel committing its crimes against the Palestinians in the name of the Jews by monopolizing the representation of their religious and cultural identity.

This trend represents a shift in the mood of Jewish public opinion, especially in Western countries, where the margin of freedom of opinion and expression expands, and a new generation of Jewish communities emerges that is more open and learns about another narrative of the conflict through various channels that is different from the narrative promoted by Israel and the governments that support its policies.

Deliberate confusion

But the accusation of anti-Semitism by Israeli officials in the face of every critic of Israel revives the debate about the necessity of drawing a dividing line between rejection of Zionism and anti-Semitism, especially after Israel accused UN officials who criticized the Israeli military operation against the Gaza Strip of anti-Semitism, a speech that some saw as a deliberate confusion between anti-Semitism. As a racist and discriminatory practice against Jews because of their religious identity, and criticism of Israel and the Zionist settlement project on Palestinian lands.

The British arena experienced this dispute more than once, as it was renewed with the rise of voices criticizing the Labor Party’s handling of what was described as “anti-Semitic statements” made by some of its members commenting on the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, and holding Israel responsible for the events of October 7. The first is 2023, when the party leadership took the initiative to withdraw its support for two electoral candidates due to their critical views of the occupation.

Meanwhile, a trend within the party warns that the charge of “anti-Semitism” has become a justification to protect Israel from accountability, and a pretext to prevent it from being held accountable for discriminatory policies against the Palestinians.

Source: Al Jazeera

A White House spokesman said that Washington made clear to the Israelis its refusal to occupy the Gaza Strip.

He added that President Job Biden's administration has seen reports about Israel's plans for the aftermath of the Gaza war, and believes that any arrangement should have the Palestinians having a say in it.

He stressed that the White House will not support any Israeli military plan in Rafah that does not take into account civilians in Gaza, he said.

The Washington Post quoted an Israeli official as saying, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s presentation of the post-war plan in the Gaza Strip surprised many in the Israeli government,” expecting that the step was made in coordination with the American administration.

Netanyahu presented to the security mini-ministerial council (the cabinet) a document of principles related to the policy of the day after the Gaza war, which includes Israel’s preservation of freedom to operate in the entire Gaza Strip without a time limit, and also includes the establishment of a security zone in the Strip adjacent to Israeli towns, “It will remain in place as long as there is a security need for it.”

An assessment conducted by the US Intelligence Agency (CIA) cast doubt on the validity of Israeli allegations that employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) were involved in the attack launched by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7.

Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the attacks launched by Hamas on the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip, and said that 10% of all employees of the UN agency belong to Hamas.

This accusation - which was not based on evidence - prompted many countries, including the United States, to cut off the funding they were granting to the agency, which plays an important role in providing relief to Palestinians in Gaza during the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the Strip due to the siege and war that has been ongoing for 140 days.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the US intelligence report issued last week assessed with “low confidence” that “a handful of agency employees may have participated in the attack,” and indicated that intelligence considered these accusations credible, although it could not confirm them. health independently.

However, the US intelligence report explicitly questioned the validity of the accusations made by Israel against the UN agency of cooperation with Hamas on a broader basis.

A report published by the British newspaper "The Guardian" indicated that the report stated that although UNRWA coordinated with Hamas to provide humanitarian aid and work in Gaza, there was no evidence to indicate that it had entered into a partnership with the movement. She added that Israel "did not share the raw intelligence behind its assessments with the United States."

The newspaper explained that two informed sources - whose identities were not revealed - referred in this regard to the hatred that Israel has for UNRWA, and quoted one of the sources as saying, “A specific section mentions how Israeli bias distorts many of their assessments of UNRWA and says that this has led to distortions.”

The newspaper reported that the 4-page report issued by the National Intelligence Council was distributed to US government officials last week.

Investigations

It is noteworthy that UNRWA dismissed two workers in Gaza against the backdrop of Israeli accusations, and announced last January the opening of an independent investigation into the Israeli accusations regarding the involvement of its workers in the Hamas attack.

UNRWA spokeswoman Tamara Al-Rifai said, “It is extremely important for us to conduct an independent investigation into these specific matters in the individual cases that Israel has brought to our attention.”

She added in statements to Agence France-Presse, "We have 33,000 employees, almost all of whom work hard and are very committed, and have worked at the agency for many years."

Al-Rifai indicated that UNRWA received allegations from the Israeli government regarding 12 names in Gaza, and we had to verify these names in the records of the organization, which includes 13,000 employees in Gaza, and we were able to match 8 of these names.

She pointed out that countries freezing their funding contributions to UNRWA is extremely devastating, explaining that the agency provides shelters, food and medical aid, and clean water to about two million people in Gaza.

For his part, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to all countries to ensure the continuity of UNRWA's "life-saving" work.

Fair solution

UNRWA was established by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949, and was mandated to provide assistance and protection to refugees in 5 regions: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Its work aims to reach a just solution to the refugee tragedy.

The agency provides relief services to about 5.9 million registered Palestinian refugees, including 1.7 million in the Gaza Strip, while Israel confirms that it will seek to prevent the agency from working in the Gaza Strip after the end of the war.

The Israeli accusations against the agency are not the first of their kind. Since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza, Israel has accused the agency’s employees of working for the Hamas movement. According to observers, this accusation is a prior justification for targeting UNRWA schools and facilities in the Gaza Strip, which hosts tens of thousands of displaced people, most of whom are children and women.

Source: Al Jazeera + The Guardian

On Friday, February 23, 2024, the American newspaper "The New York Times" quoted Israeli security officials as saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's goal of destroying the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) "is still elusive," stressing that most of Hamas's tunnel network is still intact.

An Israeli military intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity under military protocol, said that Israel is engaged in a comprehensive mission to expose Hamas' military capabilities.

Israel launched its attack on Gaza after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023, which was launched by the Palestinian resistance in response to Israeli violations, in which an estimated 1,400 people were killed, or the resistance detained Israeli prisoners.

Since then, Israel has confirmed that it has killed more than 10,000 resistance fighters, but it has not explained how it calculates the number, and analysts say that it is difficult to obtain an accurate number in light of the chaos of war, according to the newspaper.

Meanwhile, Israeli officials indicated that “the occupation army dismantled the leadership structure of 18 of the 24 Hamas battalions in Gaza, resulting in the killing of commanders, deputy commanders, and other officers, rendering the units virtually ineffective.”

But thousands of Hamas fighters, attached to the remaining brigades, or operating independently, remain above and below the ground, according to what the American newspaper quoted former and current security officials as saying.

Hamas has revealed little about its losses, although it has expressed public grief over the killing of at least two of its senior leaders, Ayman Nofal and Ahmed Al-Ghandour. The movement regularly issues statements saying it has attacked Israeli soldiers throughout the Strip.

Youssef Hamdan, Hamas' representative in Algeria, said this month: "The resistance is still capable of inflicting pain on the enemy."

Israeli analysts also added that during the recent fighting in Gaza, Hamas avoided direct confrontations with Israeli units, which Israel considered a sign of weakness.

But other experts say Hamas has a reason behind this strategy, and according to Western officials who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue, “Hamas leadership believes that if any significant amount of its military strength survives the war, it will be "Victory."

North Gaza

In northern Gaza, Colonel Noshi Mandel, chief of staff of the Nahal Brigade, which operates in northern Gaza, said: “Hamas has not been completely defeated in the northern Gaza Strip.” “We have accomplished a lot of work, but there is still more to do.”

Mandel added that the occupation army returned this month to the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital, which was the scene of fierce fighting in November, to fight the resistance who regrouped in the region, and will return to other parts of the north in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, current and former Israeli officials said, “Israeli forces will likely continue to invade northern Gaza to suppress the Hamas rebellion for the foreseeable future, at least until some kind of post-war political settlement for Gaza is reached.”

Khan Younes

Since the collapse of the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in early December, Israeli forces have advanced through the southern city of Khan Yunis – and headed west towards the Mediterranean. Israeli military officials said, "The city was one of the most important centers of Hamas' military activity."

The intelligence official said that Israeli forces are targeting the extensive network of tunnels belonging to the Hamas movement in and around the city. The official added that several key underground command centers had been destroyed, but most of the tunnel network remained intact.

Military analysts explained that "Hamas fighters clearly avoided confrontations with the army in Khan Yunis, hoping to outlast their opponents in their safe underground areas."

For his part, Amos Harel, a military affairs analyst for Haaretz newspaper, said, “The army is behaving very aggressively there without facing much competition from the other side.”

Over the past month, Israeli forces have focused on the western edge of Khan Yunis, which includes two major medical complexes — Al-Amal and Al-Nasser Medical Center — in order to target what officials described as the last bastions of organized Hamas resistance in the area.

A human rights observatory reported that it monitored 6 main indicators that Israel was continuing the “crime of genocide” in the Gaza Strip within 4 weeks of the International Court of Justice’s decision, which obligated it to take measures to prevent this from happening.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory said in a statement today, Friday, that these 6 indicators include: “the continuation of mass killings of civilians in the Gaza Strip, intentionally inflicting serious physical and psychological harm on the residents of the Strip, and deliberately subjecting residents to miserable living conditions with the aim of actual destruction, including the destruction of homes.” Facilities and infrastructure, starvation and obstruction of humanitarian access, imposing measures aimed at preventing childbirth within Palestinian families, and official and public incitement by Israeli officials to escalate the commission of the crime of genocide.”

The Observatory also announced that it documented “the killing of more than 3,847 Palestinians by the Israeli army, including 1,306 children and 807 women, in addition to the injury of about 5,119 since the issuance of the Court of Justice decision.”

Euro-Med pointed out that the death toll of Palestinian victims since the seventh of last October had risen to "38,067, including 14,350 children and 8,620 women, including more than 8,000 martyrs under the rubble and in the streets who were unable to be recovered by medical teams, including hundreds after the court's decision."

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor accused Israel of continuing to violate international law with its peremptory rules "by committing the crime of genocide, as part of its implementation of grave violations, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, which exist as independent crimes in their own right, against the Palestinians, entirely in the Gaza Strip."

Today, Friday, Israeli bombing renewed on a number of towns and areas in southern Lebanon.

Israeli warplanes launched violent raids on the towns of Labouneh and Kafr Kila, as well as mock raids over the cities of Sidon and Nabatieh.

This afternoon, Friday, talks began in Paris on a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the Hamas movement, in which the head of the CIA, the heads of Mossad and Shin Bet, the director of Egyptian intelligence, and the Qatari prime minister will participate. But the results of this meeting are not yet clear, in light of the intransigence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue the war on Gaza and his repeated phrase “until absolute victory.”

The Israeli delegation arrived in Paris this afternoon, and includes the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, and Nitzan Alon.

The delegation is accompanied by Netanyahu's political advisor, Ofir Falk, "in order to closely monitor the delegation's performance," according to Channel 12. The delegation will also return to Israel tonight, according to Channel 13.

Meanwhile, Hamas leaders’ communication abroad with the movement’s head in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, remains difficult and sporadic.

The military analyst in the Haaretz newspaper, Amos Harel, pointed out today, “There is difficulty in agreeing on the deal without the permanent involvement of Sinwar, and this is also because the foreign leadership cannot appear less resolute than the domestic leadership, which bears the burdens of the fighting.”

Harel quoted a source who has known Netanyahu closely for decades, saying, “What is currently preoccupying Netanyahu without stopping is the assassination of Sinwar. He needs a clear achievement, almost a victory, that he can present to the public in Israel.”

According to the Ynet website, contrary to reports in the Israeli media, Sinwar is no longer described as “cut off from communications” and that the mediators, namely Egypt and Qatar, are talking with Hamas outside as well as with Hamas inside, in the Gaza Strip.

Channel 12 quoted an Israeli official as saying, “There is reason for optimism, but even if there is an initial general plan, the negotiations will be difficult and take time.”

The deal that will be discussed in Paris now is similar to what was agreed upon in the Paris talks, at the beginning of this month, which Netanyahu agreed to and then backed down.

The first stage requires a prisoner exchange, with the release of about 35 Israeli hostages in Gaza, including women, the elderly, the sick, the wounded, and perhaps Israeli female soldiers as well. It includes a ceasefire for 45 days and extends throughout the month of Ramadan.

In the second stage, the rest of the hostages, who are soldiers and men under the age of 50, and the bodies of the hostages are released.

According to Harel, the second phase would be associated with ending the war and the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip.

Harel pointed out that "Washington has lost its patience with Netanyahu's positions, statements, and deceptions. It also appears that the extent of international support for Israel is in doubt this time."

He added that Netanyahu has three options in the talks about the deal. The first possibility is that he will agree to the deal and "Israeli concessions", including the liberation of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners with high sentences, apparently in the first stage, and he is expected to face opposition within his government.

The second possibility is the continuation of the war during the month of Ramadan, which may include the invasion of Rafah. But Harel indicated that after that, Israel will return to the negotiating table and perhaps consider the “Biden Doctrine” about a new regional order.

He pointed out that this possibility "involves a bet that must take into account a severe deterioration in the regional situation due to the occupation of Rafah, which will primarily affect the civilian population in the Strip."

The third possibility is that Netanyahu will continue to “provoke” the Biden administration and evade a prisoner exchange deal. But Harel pointed out at the same time that sources in the Israeli government suggest not ruling out the possibility that “Netanyahu might decide to surprise and turn to the left. The United States and Saudi Arabia are making tremendous efforts to push a regional deal forward, and it allows presenting a picture of the success of the Biden administration’s foreign policy, before the elections.”

American Jewish media reported that the additional $14 billion in military aid to Israel that President Biden was seeking was not only intended for the war on Gaza, but also to prepare Israel for a “multi-front war.”

On Wednesday, the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) quoted a senior official in the Biden administration as telling the agency that the amount of $14 billion is allocated “to Israel to defend itself in a multi-front war and to ensure its ability to deter a multi-front war.”

Israel has intensified its air strikes in Lebanon against Lebanese Hezbollah, although many of the strikes have killed civilians. The cross-border exchange of fire threatens all-out war, and there is no sign that tensions will ease anytime soon. Israeli officials threaten to invade if Hezbollah does not retreat from the Israeli-Lebanese border.

American officials admitted to the Washington Post that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may view the war in Lebanon as the key to his political survival, as opinion polls showed that the Israelis want him to step down after the current conflict.

Israel also appears to be trying to provoke Iran, as several members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Syria since October 7. According to the New York Times, Israel was also behind a secret attack on two natural gas pipeline sites inside Iran.

The $14 billion comes within the $95 billion foreign military aid bill that was passed by the Senate but has not yet been put to the House of Representatives for a vote as Republicans are still searching for a border agreement. The legislation also includes about $60 billion for Ukraine, $4.8 billion for Taiwan, and other spending in the Asia-Pacific region.

It is noteworthy that the $14 billion provided to Israel is in addition to the $3.8 billion that Israel receives from the United States every year, and includes $5.2 billion allocated to Israeli missile defense, which is seen as a crucial necessity for the war with Hezbollah.

Another $3.5 billion will be allocated to compensate and renew the ammunition used by Israel in its war on Gaza. The United States will use $4 billion to replenish its own stockpiles, including emergency stockpiles in Israel that the Israeli army was authorized to use in the war on Gaza.

Since October 7, the United States has been shipping tons of bombs and other types of weapons almost daily. According to the Israeli news site Ynet, the United States shipped more than 25,000 tons of military equipment to support the Israeli massacre in Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of 30,000 Palestinians and the wounding of 65,000 citizens, the overwhelming majority of whom were children and women.

The official Israeli Broadcasting Authority said that Israel intends to approve, within the next two weeks, the establishment of more than 3,300 settlement units in the occupied West Bank.

If the decision is approved, this will be the largest settlement project in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7th.

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority said on Friday that the relevant committee will meet within two weeks to approve the establishment of 2,350 housing units in the Maale Adumim settlement, east of East Jerusalem, about 300 in the Kedar settlement, southeast of East Jerusalem, and 700 units in the Efrat settlement, south of occupied Jerusalem.

The commission claimed that the decision comes in response to the shooting operation carried out by Palestinian resistance fighters yesterday near the Maale Adumim settlement, which resulted in the death of an Israeli soldier and the wounding of at least 8 others with varying injuries.

According to the Commission, the Israeli authorities announced the closure of part of the road leading to Al-Za’im checkpoint, east of East Jerusalem, to Palestinian movement for at least two weeks.

The current right-wing Israeli government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, promotes and supports settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories. Recent years have witnessed a significant increase in settlement activities in the West Bank, according to the Israeli “Peace Now” organization, which monitors settlement in the Palestinian territories.

According to estimates by the left-wing organization, more than 700,000 settlers reside in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

A report last week revealed that the number of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank rose by approximately 3% last year, 2023, and expected “accelerated growth” in the number of settlers in the West Bank in the coming years.

The United Nations and the international community consider Israeli settlement in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 an illegal activity. The United Nations and human rights organizations have often called on Israel to stop settlement operations and warned that they undermine the chances of peace in accordance with the principle of the two-state solution, but these calls and warnings were rejected and ignored by Israel. 

Today, Friday, the hearings held by the International Court of Justice in The Hague continued to discuss the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territories.

On the fifth day of the sessions, representatives of a number of countries deliberated on the platform, and the representative of the State of Qatar expressed his rejection of double standards, stressed that international law must be applied to everyone, and said that Israel has obstructed all peaceful solutions and continues to occupy the Palestinian territories and pursues and practices a policy of apartheid as a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.

The representative of the State of Qatar stressed that the basis of the Israeli project is settlement and the imposition of settlers on the occupied territories, and pointed out that Israel exploited the war in the Gaza Strip to cover settlement activities in Jerusalem and the West Bank, which are witnessing a situation no less bad than the situation in Gaza.

He explained that ending the apartheid regime requires creating a situation that gives the Palestinians their rights, and considered that the court is obligated to take into account all opinions that consider the Israeli occupation illegal.

For his part, the representative of the Sultanate of Oman said that the Israeli occupation is working to change the demographic composition in the occupied territories, and stressed that the world witnessed today one of the worst atrocities committed in the Gaza Strip.

The Omani official said that the Palestinians have been living under occupation, oppression and daily humiliation for 75 years, and demanded that Israel’s violation of the right to self-determination of the Palestinians be examined, and that all activities that prevent the Palestinians from exercising their right be put to an end.

In turn, the representative of Norway described the apartheid wall built by Israel as a violation of international law and makes the two-state solution difficult to achieve. He accused Israel of exploiting natural resources to perpetuate its occupation of Palestinian lands. He considered it illegal to annex any Palestinian lands or impose a fait accompli on the ground. He said that establishing settlements in Palestinian lands violates Article 416 of the Geneva Convention.

For her part, the representative of Indonesia stressed that no country can be granted the right to do what it desires in front of weak countries, and said that Israel avoids negotiations, avoids stopping settlement projects, and constantly obstructs peace negotiations and the two-state solution. Israeli governments also publicly express their rejection of the peace process and ignore calls Security Council to resolve the conflict peacefully.

The representative of Pakistan spoke about Israel imposing facts on the ground that are difficult to remove, and accused Israel of imposing discrimination against the Palestinian people since 1967, and restricting the freedom of Muslims and Christians to worship in Jerusalem.

He stressed that the two-state solution should be the basis for peace, and called for the cancellation of all changes resulting from the forceful annexation of territories.

Disrespect for the court

On the other hand, Michael Lynk, the former United Nations rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, said that Israel does not respect the International Court of Justice by not participating in the hearings.

Israel was among the countries that submitted written statements to the court by the deadline set on July 25, 2023, and decided not to participate in the oral hearings, according to information contained on the United Nations website.

Link told Anadolu that the participation of 55 countries and international organizations in the hearings at the International Court of Justice is “historic,” and he considered that the main reason behind Israel’s avoidance of participating in the hearings is that it does not have an answer to the accusations against it.

He added, "I think the biggest reason is that Israel knows that the arguments it is making about annexation (lands), preventing the right to self-determination, and systematic discrimination against the Palestinians will not work, and it does not have any concrete political and legal answers to that."

The International Court of Justice sessions will be held between February 19 and 26, during which 52 countries will make statements about the legal consequences of Israeli practices in the occupied Palestinian territories, along with the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the African Union.

Dozens of citizens were killed and injured today, Friday, in an Israeli bombing that targeted the Al-Dahdouh area in Gaza City.

Medical sources announced the arrival of nine dead Palestinians and a number of wounded to the European Gaza Hospital, as a result of targeting a gathering of citizens near the Ashkelon School, east of Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

A number of citizens were also injured with various injuries, as a result of a violent Israeli bombardment that targeted Al-Sinaa Street in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City, while the Israeli forces targeted the displaced people in Al-Falah School with smoke bombs and forced them to move from the neighborhood to the west of the city. These forces are still continuing the work of digging and destroying homes east of Gaza City. District.

These sources confirmed that the Israeli army places the residents of the Gaza Strip in a triangle of death represented by continuous targeting, famine, and the spread of epidemics, noting that the continuation of the aggression means more genocide, pointing out that half a million citizens of northern Gaza are suffering from famine, which is silently killing their lives.

The sources confirmed that there are about 350,000 patients suffering from chronic diseases, 60,000 pregnant women, as well as 700,000 children in the Gaza Strip, who are exposed to serious complications as a result of malnutrition, dehydration, and the lack of medical facilities.

Today, Friday, Israeli settlers continue their attacks against citizens and their property in Hebron and Nablus.

In Hebron, a group of settlers attacked sheep herders and foreign sympathizers and beat them in the village of Al-Mufaqara in Musafer Yatta, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces.

The Israeli occupation army also renewed the closure of all entrances leading to Masafer Yatta.

In Nablus, settlers opened fire on a vehicle near Khirbet Yanun on the lands of Aqraba, causing it to overturn, but no casualties were reported.

Settlers also attacked citizens' vehicles near the town of Al-Nasariya, east of Nablus, with stones, causing damage and smashing the windows of a number of them.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Gaza is “just a step” in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s plan to “cleanse” the West Bank of Palestinians, empty the Al-Aqsa Mosque of Muslims, and annex Palestinian lands to Israel.

In an article in the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" on Friday, Olmert described Netanyahu's government as a "gang," noting that "the ultimate goal of the extreme right-wing duo, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, is not to occupy the Gaza Strip."

He added: "Even settlement throughout the devastated Strip is not the ultimate goal of a group of hallucinators who seized power in Israel."

He continued: "Gaza is just an introductory chapter, and the platform that this gang wants to build as a foundation on which the real battle they aspire to will take place: the battle of the West Bank and the Temple Mount," referring to Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Olmert pointed out that "the ultimate goal of this gang is to cleanse the West Bank of its Palestinian population, cleanse the Temple Mount of Muslim worshipers, and annex the lands to Israel." He warned, "The path to achieving this goal is filled with blood. Israeli blood in the state and in the lands that Israel has controlled for 57 years, as well as Jewish blood in other places in the world."

He said: "There is also a lot of Palestinian blood, of course, in the (Palestinian) areas, in Jerusalem, and if there is no alternative, also among the Arab citizens of Israel."

He added: "This goal will not be achieved without large-scale violent conflict. Catastrophe. All-out war." Olmert pointed out, "This gang succeeded in the first stage before the uproar and all-out war that they seem to hope will break out here."

Referring to Netanyahu's government, he said: "They have taken control of the government of Israel and made the man who heads it their servant. The possibility that they will dismantle the government and expel the prime minister from running the affairs of state is not strange. It is a process taking place at this very moment, step by step."

Olmert: We are far from complete victory in Gaza

Regarding the war on Gaza, Olmert stated, “It is clear that we are far from complete victory. Such victory is not possible, and even if military action continues for several more months, the price to be paid is not worth seeing a victory that there is no real possibility of achieving.”

He said: "Continuing military action now will drag Israel to Rafah, and this is what they want. Such a step will jeopardize the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in a tangible and immediate way."

Israeli threats to carry out a ground operation in Rafah, adjacent to the border with Egypt, are escalating, despite mounting regional and international warnings of possible catastrophic repercussions.

He added: "Amidst all this, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to burn the Temple Mount (Al-Aqsa Mosque)."

He pointed out that Ben Gvir and Smotrich want the reactions to the decision to restrict prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan to explode the situation in the West Bank, and they also want war on Lebanon.

Last Sunday, Netanyahu agreed to the recommendation of extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, to restrict and limit the access and entry of Palestinians from Jerusalem and the interior (the 1948 territories) to Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan, according to Hebrew media.

Olmert said: “The prime minister is aware of the inevitable consequences resulting from this complete surrender to the extremist cabal that controls his government. He sees, he understands, but he is cooperating.”

He added: “Ultimately, Netanyahu is willing to give up the hostages (Israeli prisoners in Gaza) and undermine the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan.”

Olmert continued: "He is willing to undermine relations with the United States to the point of causing a clear crisis with the president most committed to Israel's security ever, Joe Biden."

He warned, "Netanyahu realizes that the continuation of this reckless process will lead to Israel's isolation in the international community in a way it has never witnessed before."

Source: (Anatolia, Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed)

For the fifth day, the International Court of Justice continues its hearings for dozens of countries and 3 international organizations questioning the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

After the intervention of Norway, the Sultanate of Oman and Pakistan on Friday, Indonesia, Qatar, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria and Tunisia will provide interventions on the repercussions of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Interventions end at 6 pm Dutch time.

The Israeli army committed 10 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, leaving 104 killed and 160 injured during the past 24 hours.

According to the Ministry of Health, there are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the roads, and Israeli army prevents ambulance and civil defense crews from reaching them.

The Ministry indicated that the toll of the Israeli aggression had risen to 29,514 dead and 69,616 injured since the seventh of last October.