Israeli Channel 13 reported this evening, Sunday, that the administration of US President Joe Biden is exerting pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an attempt to push him to agree to a humanitarian truce in the besieged Gaza Strip for a period that may reach at least four months.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz continued the campaign to demonize the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), repeating Israeli allegations that the UN agency constitutes “part of the terrorist infrastructure of the Hamas movement,” while stressing that the Israeli authorities are “working to expel the agency from Gaza.” 

This came in a publication by the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs on the “X” website, following press reports that revealed a recommendation made by senior officers in the Israeli army to the Chief of Staff of the Army, Herzi Halevy, on the necessity of stopping the smear campaign led by the Israeli government against the UNRWA agency in light of There is no alternative to it at the present time.

The Israeli government is leading a smear campaign against the agency, claiming that about 12 of its employees participated in the attack of last October 7 carried out by the Hamas movement on Israeli military sites and towns, and claims that more than 190 employees belong to the “Hamas” or “Islamic Jihad” movements, which is prompted several countries to announce the cessation of their funding to the agency.

Israel Katz said, “UNRWA is part of the problem. Part of Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. And part of the Palestinian lie that there are ‘refugees’ (Palestinians) who need to return to the State of Israel. We are working to expel UNRWA from the Gaza Strip, "It is the problem, not the solution."

Following Katz's post, UNRWA said that "as the largest humanitarian organization in the Gaza Strip, we will do everything we can to continue our indispensable work to support people in Gaza. Despite repeated appeals, there is still no humanitarian ceasefire."

In turn, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, asked on Sunday whether “the UN agency was paying the price for raising its voice in drawing attention to the plight of the residents of the Gaza Strip, and to the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding before our eyes,” in a statement he made to the Financial Times newspaper and published a clip of it on the UN agency’s account via the “X” platform.

The Commissioner-General of UNRWA asked: “Are we paying the price for raising our voice in drawing attention to the plight of the people of Gaza, and to the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding before our eyes?” The UN official believed that this "contributed to directing, accelerating, or amplifying criticism of us."

As of last January 30, 18 countries and the European Union had decided to suspend funding for UNRWA, based on Israel’s allegations that 12 of the agency’s employees participated in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israeli settlements around the Gaza Strip.

On Saturday evening, Israeli Channel 12 revealed a letter sent by senior officers in the Israeli military establishment to the Army Chief of Staff, Halevy, in which it stated that the Israeli leaks, which prompted several countries to stop funding UNRWA, “took place in an unorganized and ill-considered manner, which may have negative consequences."

The letter stated, “In the short term, we recommend not escalating the process of distorting UNRWA, before the expected discussion in Congress, as well as until discussions are held to determine policies on this issue in the coming week, by the (Israeli) political level, and to discuss alternatives to the role of the agency.

The letter considered that “this campaign (against UNRWA) is like a snowball,” and that “the international campaign against the agency no longer depends on Israel, and there is nothing that can be done about it,” and pointed out that “the army’s policy in this regard has not yet been determined now, the political level must decide whether to press more to put an end to the organization after 75 years of its activity.”

The Ynet website indicated that the Deputy Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs conveyed the Israeli allegations regarding the involvement of 12 UNRWA employees in the attack of last October 7, to the Agency’s Commissioner General, during a routine meeting held on January 18, Without the knowledge of the Israeli army leadership.

A growing group of Democrats in the US Congress are warning that Israel's brutal bombing in its war on Gaza seeking to destroy Hamas is becoming more difficult to justify - eroding support for Tel Aviv on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers were quick from the beginning to support Israel's right to defend itself, especially after the Hamas attacks on October 7 that killed more than 1,000 people and took hundreds of others hostage.

But the four-month-old Israeli war on Gaza has killed more than 27,000 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to Gaza Health Ministry officials and the United Nations.

A report by the website specialized in congressional matters on Sunday stated, “The increasing number of civilian casualties - coupled with growing allegations that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done little to reduce harm to civilians - is sparking new dissatisfaction in Washington with Israeli military tactics, while calls are mounting for an immediate halt of fire, even temporarily, to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid."

The website quotes Representative Bennie Thompson (from Mississippi) as saying: “Many of the people I spoke to have real concerns about what is happening in Israel and Gaza, and their conversations with me recently were that we need some ceasefire, and some assessments have concluded "The killing must stop."

He continued: “Just because a group did something (Hamas on October 7) at some point does not mean that you can go ahead and eliminate many innocent people, excessively, who have nothing to do with this matter... People feel that “The matter (Israeli bombing) is excessive and exaggerated, and you cannot continue with this amount of widespread killing that targets children and women, who have nothing to do with the situation.”

Concerns are rising as Congress prepares to consider a package of national security proposals that combine tougher immigration policies on the US-Mexico border with billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine and Israel.

The fate of the legislation is already in doubt due to strong opposition from House conservatives to both Ukraine-specific funding and domestic border provisions. But the path becomes more difficult if liberal Democrats begin to back down over fears that Israeli aid will be used to indiscriminately kill Palestinian civilians.

Senator Bernie Sanders (independent from Vermont) led a campaign against at least some of the funds allocated to Israel, accusing Washington of inciting the killing of civilians in Gaza. He is drafting an amendment to the national security package that would keep funding for Israel's defensive weapons systems, but cut $10.1 billion in funding for what his office describes as "the offensive weapons of Netanyahu's right-wing government."

“This (the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza) is not just an imaginary horror show taking place in some far-flung corner of the world,” Sanders said on Wednesday on the Dean Obeidallah program (of Palestinian origin). “It is being done with direct American military assistance.”

For many years, Democrats have repeatedly criticized the right-wing Netanyahu, but this scrutiny has intensified since his last victory in 2022, when he joined several far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, formed the most extreme ruling coalition in Israel’s history and formed a government that included chauvinist nationalist agitators, to promote anti-Arab sentiments, such as Ben Gvir, Sometrich, and others.

At least two of those ministers joined a recent demonstration by Jewish settlers demanding Jewish control of Gaza – a position that Netanyahu officially opposed.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a Jewish Democrat who has fought for the return of hostages and humanitarian aid for Gaza, said he is concerned that the extremist views of these coalition ministers have already eroded American support for Israel — at home and abroad.

Raskin said: “Many of the statements and actions of the right-wingers in Netanyahu’s war government greatly undermine Netanyahu’s reputation and status in the United States and in Congress,” noting that the extremists in Netanyahu’s government “held a conference last week about removing the Palestinians from Gaza, and then restoring settlement to Gaza.”

“This becomes a very serious political problem here, if this is the rhetoric of people in Netanyahu’s government,” Raskin warned.

Debate over US policy in the Middle East has long divided Democrats, but those differences have become more pronounced since the Hamas attack on October 7, pitting Israel's staunchest defenders against liberal lawmakers who have sharply criticized Netanyahu's retaliation in Gaza, some accused Israel of committing genocide.

Republicans, on the other hand, are more united on this issue. Most of them strongly support the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which “they see as necessary to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas forever,” according to the experts. “Some believe that Hamas’ regional popularity means that all Palestinians in Gaza are complicit in terrorism,” according to the site.

“These are not innocent Palestinian civilians, including infants,” Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) told peace activists at the Capitol last week, who served in the Israeli occupation army.

This issue has become a huge headache for US President Joe Biden as he seeks re-election this year, as Muslim voters, who flocked to Biden in the 2020 elections, are angry at the president’s refusal to call for a ceasefire. Many of these critics have pledged to withhold their support on November 5 of this year, a threat that could have great significance in several so-called battleground states such as Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania.

Biden visited Michigan last week to shore up support with union workers and other friendly constituencies. But he also faced protesters angry at his continued support for Israel, some of whom accused him of killing children.

Biden has taken a number of steps to try to ease those tensions.

He has sent his senior government officials to the Middle East in an attempt to build regional support for the release of the hostages and reach a ceasefire agreement. He has pushed Netanyahu to work toward the creation of a Palestinian state when the conflict in Gaza subsides — a move the Israeli leader has repeatedly rejected. On Thursday, he issued an executive order imposing sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of carrying out violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

As part of this ongoing campaign, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken traveled this week to a number of Middle Eastern countries, where he will press for a two-month ceasefire and the release of all remaining hostages.

As sensitive talks continue, and innocent casualties pile up, Democrats have become more vocal in their protests that civilian casualties are too many and that the war must stop.

Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir once again called for encouraging the residents of the Gaza Strip to “voluntarily immigrate” and giving them financial incentives to do so. He attacked the administration of US President Joe Biden, accusing it of obstructing the Israeli war effort, which sparked a storm of criticism from Israel.

Ben Gvir said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that Biden, “instead of providing full support to us, is providing humanitarian aid and fuel to Gaza, and that goes to Hamas,” and he considered that American behavior would be completely different if former President Donald Trump were in the presidency.

The American newspaper quoted the far-right minister as saying that he has a plan aimed at “encouraging the residents of Gaza to voluntarily migrate to other countries around the world” by providing financial incentives to do so, and Ben Gvir said that this is the real humanitarian effort that must be undertaken.

Ben Gvir proposed holding a global conference to help Israel find countries ready to receive Palestinian refugees.

He also said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is at a crossroads now, and that he must choose the path he will take.

Sharp criticism

Ben Gvir's statements sparked dissatisfaction and sharp criticism, as Israeli War Council member Benny Gantz described them as irresponsible, and said that Netanyahu should order Ben Gvir to stop harming Israel's foreign relations.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid also considered it evidence that Netanyahu does not control the extremists in his government.

Lapid said, "Ben Gvir has proven that he does not understand anything in foreign policy, and Netanyahu has no control over the extremists in his government," and stressed that "Ben Gvir's statements are a direct attack on Israel's international standing and harm its security."

In turn, Knesset member Naor Shiri from the “There is a Future” party led by Lapid said, “Ben Gvir was not satisfied with the enormous damage he caused to internal security, and now he is causing international political damage to Israel,” according to what the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported.

In his column in the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof started from the story of a 10-year-old girl in Gaza. Her father was an X-ray technician. She was smart and spoke English well. She had been accepted into an international exchange program, and had to travel to Japan to meet a bright future that awaits her, but now she lies in a hospital bed with a severe wound to her thigh and part of her femur bone missing as a result of a bomb explosion.

Dr. Samer Al-Attar, the orthopedic surgeon who cared for the girl and told me about it, says Nicholas Kristof, says the girl needs to have her hip amputated to save her life, and her father is struggling to come to terms with how his life and the life of his daughter have collapsed.

Nicholas Kristof mentions that he covered many bloody wars, and wrote scathingly about how governments in Russia, Sudan, and Syria recklessly bombed civilians, but the matter is different this time, because “my government stands by what President Joe Biden referred to as indiscriminate bombing, and because I am this time helping pay for the bombs as a taxpayer."

While the writer understands Israel's reaction, the military response is not just one of two options without a third. Israel chose to respond with bombs weighing about two thousand pounds, destroying entire neighborhoods, and allowing a small amount of aid to enter the region, which is now teetering on the brink of famine. The result is This does not appear to be a war against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), but rather against the entire population of Gaza.

Responsibility for collusion

Nicholas Kristof wondered how Americans, with their conflicting views due to the war, could confront their friends from Gaza, pointing out that they might remain silent, or look away, instead of entering into a bitter and polarizing debate that might cost friendships, but “indifference is the most insidious danger.” Not at all,” says writer Elie Wiesel, who also said that “human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere.”

The writer warned that the suffering of children - and half of Gaza's population is children - "should raise our particular concern," noting that estimates by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) indicate that there are at least 17,000 children in Gaza who are unaccompanied or separated from their families. In the midst of the chaos of war and displacement.

Some will blame all of this on Hamas, but - for Nicholas Kristof - this seems to be an evasion of moral responsibility, because Israel and America have the ability to act, and “the atrocities suffered by Israeli civilians” do not justify leveling Palestinian neighborhoods to the ground.

The writer wondered how Biden criticizes Russia for bombing civilians and undermining the rules-based international order, while he himself supplies Israel with bombs that wipe out neighborhoods in Gaza, and how he gives diplomatic cover to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a time when the residents of Gaza are facing famine, especially since he suspended funding for His country to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA), which is responsible for providing assistance to them.

The writer concluded that decisions related to waging war are painful, because innocent civilians always suffer, stressing that a smart 10-year-old girl in Gaza is as valuable as the life of any American or Israeli child, “and therefore we Americans must bear responsibility.” “We are complicit in her tragedy and the tragedy of Gaza as a whole.”

Source: New York Times + Aljazeera

The testimonies collected from a number of Palestinians who disappeared at the hands of the Israeli occupying forces in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, and who were released yesterday [February 1, 2024] in Rafah, state of aggravated physical and psychological torture practiced against them by the Israeli prison administration.

The detainees bore visible marks of torture and beatings on their bodies, including their legs, feet and arms. Mahmoud Al-Nabulsi said: "The army entered my house in the Al-Amal neighborhood of Khan Yunis and I told them that I was sick and that I could not move. They arrested me, put me in a demolished house and took us then transferred to detention centers in Israel. 

I stayed in prison for ten days. "Every day we were beaten and tortured. I have never seen such torture in my life. They carried out the worst forms of torture against us.""If I had stayed in prison two more days, I would have died. They asked me about the tunnels and Israeli prisoners of war held in Gaza, and I told them I knew nothing. I'm 70 years old," he explained. "We didn't drink water in the prison for four days. They poured water on the ground in front of us to torture us when we were thirsty," he added. 

Khaled Al-Nabris said: "When we evacuated Khan Yunis, we took the route that along the sea: "When we evacuated Khan Yunis, we took the road along the sea. When we passed the checkpoint, I was kidnapped by Israeli army forces. They took us to prisons, we were subjected to severe torture, we were covered with water-soaked blankets, we remained in the extreme cold and we did not drink water.""The army transferred us to another place. We were subjected to different types of torture. Each place had a different torture process. 

The officer would hit me on the head and when I complained, he would hit me even more. I couldn't sleep because cold," he added. "In addition to physical torture, we are subjected to great psychological humiliation... insults and other things," he explained. The detainees, - he added, "are subjected to double torture, because they are attacked by dogs while they sleep."

The Wall Street Journal said that the aerial bombardment launched by American forces on the sites of pro-Iranian armed groups in the Middle East may be less effective in calming tensions in the region than an agreement that stops the fighting between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

According to the newspaper’s report, the American retaliatory strikes in response to the killing of 3 American soldiers at a military base in northeastern Jordan were carefully planned to ward off attacks on American forces in the Middle East without pushing Iran into a direct conflict.

Whatever the reaction the bombing provokes, it is unlikely to prevent Iran's allies from launching further attacks against American and Israeli interests. However, analysts and officials in the region that the newspaper spoke to believe that stopping these attacks requires a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

On Friday, American forces launched strikes on sites they said were belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Quds Force in Syria and Iraq, in response to the killing of the three soldiers, amid warnings of dragging the region into war.

The US Central Command announced that the strikes were carried out by aircraft launched from the United States, including long-range bombers, noting that more than 125 precision-guided missiles were used.

It added that the targeted facilities are command, control and espionage centers and storage sites for missiles and drones.

American forces in Iraq and Syria have been subjected to more than 160 attacks since the start of the war in Gaza, which represents a sharp escalation in a slowly worsening conflict in which the militants aim to expel the United States from the region, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The American newspaper attributes the reason for igniting the fiery conflict between the United States and the "constellation of militias allied with Iran" to the war that Israel began in the Gaza Strip following the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which came in response to the ongoing Israeli violations of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the ongoing incursions into West Bank cities and towns.

Since Israel's invasion of Gaza, Lebanese Hezbollah has also engaged in an exchange of fire on Israel's northern border. The attacks launched by the Iranian-backed Houthis have severely affected international shipping traffic in the Red Sea, which prompted the United States to launch air strikes on the territory controlled by the group in Yemen.

The two groups - Hezbollah and the Houthis - announced that they would not stop the fighting until Israel stopped its aggression against the Gaza Strip.

The newspaper pointed out that the war in Gaza, which claimed the lives of 27,000 people - most of them women and children - put the administration of US President Joe Biden under greater pressure to achieve its dual political goal, which is that a ceasefire in Gaza would lead to the release of Israelis detained by Hamas.

The United States is pushing a proposal that would initially stop the war for 6 weeks to allow the hostages out and pave the way for a more sustainable peace.

However, the newspaper says that there are major obstacles preventing the two sides from being convinced to agree to the deal, especially internal divisions over accepting its terms as they are.

The official Israeli radio reported that the Prime Minister did not want to hold a meeting of the mini-ministerial team to discuss the prisoner deal, before receiving a response from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), while former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen called for accelerating the conclusion of the deal.

The Israeli Prime Minister - according to the radio - fears that the differences will deepen and information about the position on the deal will leak. Channel 12 also quoted a senior political and security official as saying that the decision regarding concluding the prisoner deal is in the hands of the leaders of Hamas and the Al-Qassam Brigades in the Gaza Strip.

In the same context, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen called for a single deal that includes all detainees still in Gaza. He also called on officials to stop publicly criticizing Qatar, which plays the role of mediator to conclude an agreement, and called on them to act wisely.

Cohen said - in an interview with Israeli Army Radio - that Qatar is the only country that can mediate an exchange agreement at the present time, stressing that criticizing it publicly by Israeli officials is wrong.

The former Mossad chief explained that Israel will have to pay a heavy price to complete the exchange deal, and added, "Therefore, let us pay it today from the beginning (to release) everyone and shorten the period of hostage-holding in Gaza."

Many statements issued by Israeli officials reflect the extent of the division in the corridors of the government and politicians regarding the expected exchange deal. Opposition leader Yair Lapid stated that the deal will be painful, but the detainees must be returned.

But Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu indicated that their release was not obligatory, and said, “Jewish morality does not hold us fully responsible for the release of the kidnapped.”

"We have to get out of the mental stagnation that the deal is the only way to release the kidnapped people," Eliyahu said.

Hamas conditions

Hamas leader Osama Hamdan announced yesterday, Saturday, that the movement had received a general framework for a possible deal with Israel, stressing that its decision is contingent on reaching a halt to the aggression, withdrawing the occupation forces, lifting the siege on the Gaza Strip, and guaranteeing the right of the Palestinians to self-determination and establishing their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Hamdan confirmed - in a press conference from Beirut - that Hamas is open to everything that would stop the aggression and provide relief to the residents of the besieged Strip, at a time when Benjamin Netanyahu’s government continues to obstruct all initiatives.

He explained that Hamas is examining the general framework that was discussed at the Paris meeting, and is focusing on bringing the negotiations to a complete end to the aggression, withdrawing the occupation forces out of the Gaza Strip, lifting the siege on it completely, providing shelter for the displaced, reconstruction, completing a serious prisoner exchange deal, and the world’s recognition of the Palestinians’ right to Self-determination and the establishment of a fully sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Hamdan praised the efforts of Egypt and Qatar aimed at stopping the aggression against the Gaza Strip, stressing that Hamas “will be where the interest of the people is.” He said that the priority is to alleviate the suffering of the residents of the Gaza Strip and protect the Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as protecting the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the holy sites, and the Palestinians’ right to return and independence.

He also said that Hamas is in constant communication and consultation with all factions of the Palestinian forces, especially its field partners and comrades in arms, adding, "We commend all national positions that expressed unity and support for the resistance."

Mediation efforts

Efforts and calls have intensified - over the past few days - to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, amid cautious optimism towards concluding an exchange deal for prisoners and detainees between Hamas and Israel.

Last Thursday, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Al-Ansari said that the Hamas movement had received the ceasefire proposal in a positive atmosphere, awaiting its response.

In an interview organized by the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Al-Ansari expressed his hope that “the coming days will witness good news regarding the truce, even if the situation is volatile.” He added that efforts will now focus on the form of the humanitarian truce, although there are many details that must be discussed.

He pointed out that "optimism is present in light of the two parties' agreement on the hypothesis that will lead to the next truce, but the mediators still have a difficult road ahead of them."

Qatari mediation - with Egyptian-American support - succeeded in reaching a temporary humanitarian truce on November 24, which lasted for a week during which 240 Palestinian prisoners were released from occupation prisons in exchange for the release of more than 100 detainees held by the resistance in Gaza, including about 80 Israelis. .

The death toll in the Gaza Strip rose to 27,365 today, Sunday, the majority of whom are women and children, since the start of the occupation’s aggression on the 7th of last October.

According to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, the number of injured people rose to about 66,630, while more than 8,000 are still missing under the rubble and on the roads, and the Israel forces prevent ambulance crews from reaching them.

The Israeli aircraft targeted a civilian car in the Al-Salam neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah, leading to the death and injury of a number of citizens.

The head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Committee, Moayed Shaaban, said that the Israeli authorities and colonizers carried out 1,593 attacks during the month of last November.

Shaaban explained in the commission’s monthly report on “violations of the Israel and colonial expansion measures” that the Israeli forces carried out 1,407 attacks, while the colonists carried out 186 attacks.

He pointed out that the violations were concentrated in Hebron Governorate, with 291 attacks, followed by Jerusalem Governorate, with 203 attacks, and then Nablus Governorate, with 200 attacks.

He stated that the settlers’ attacks were concentrated in Hebron Governorate, with 63 attacks, 38 in Nablus, and 23 in Ramallah, the most prominent of which was the shooting of the young man Tawfiq Ajaq in the Eastern Farm.

Shaaban pointed out that the colonists stole 47 heads of livestock, 3 agricultural tractors, and two tents, while the Israeli forces seized 82 vehicles, 7 surveillance camera recordings, 15 bulldozers and trucks, and 19 cases of theft of money and gold jewelry were recorded. 60 heads of livestock were seized.

He pointed out that the colonists' attacks also led to the uprooting and burning of a total of 836 trees, including 473 olive trees, in the governorates of Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Nablus, and Hebron, in addition to stealing more than 70 heads of cows. They also carried out 9 thefts of farmers' equipment, 3 mobile homes, and an agricultural tractor. .

He added that the Israeli authorities carried out 58 demolition operations, affecting 62 facilities, including 22 occupied homes, two uninhabited homes, 16 agricultural facilities, and others, and were concentrated in the governorates of Hebron, Jerusalem, Qalqilya, and Bethlehem. They also issued 26 notices to demolish facilities concentrated in the governorates of Jerusalem, Nablus, and Hebron during the same period.

Shaaban stated that the recent attacks have begun to take a new and dangerous form, represented by two additional aspects. The first is the heavy fines that have been imposed by the so-called “Settlement Council” on Palestinian farmers and shepherds, amounting to hundreds of thousands of shekels, in a new mechanism to restrict citizens and forcing them to leave, and secondly, with the military orders that the occupation forces have begun to disseminate in order to seize lands, and in order to implement the idea of buffer zones previously proposed by the extremist Bezlael Smotrich.

Shaaban confirmed that the two recent orders that targeted the lands of Deir Istiya in Salfit Governorate, specifically those surrounding the Rafafa settlement, and the Western Farm in Ramallah Governorate, which surrounds the Harasha hotspot, do not only seize the targeted land, but rather form a buffer zone over vast areas of land that prevent citizens from accessing them. .

Shaaban warned of the new policy followed by the occupying state these days of preventing citizens from accessing the lands according to military orders, which is completely inconsistent with the applicable international laws that govern the work of the occupation in the occupied land, stressing that these measures have prevented citizens from reaching more than half a million dunums of their land as a result of colonial attacks and the systematic closure of Palestinian villages and cities by the Israeli forces in the recent period.

The Israeli aggression against Gaza continues for the 121st day, with continuous bombing of civilians in the Strip, where the death toll of Palestinian killed, according to the latest statistics of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, has reached 27,238 people since last October 7, adding that the aggression also resulted in 66,452 injuries.

The Hebrew Broadcasting Corporation reported, quoting the former head of the Mossad in Israel, Yossi Cohen, that Tel Aviv will need 5 years after the war to recover.

The former Mossad chief added that Tel Aviv will have to pay a heavy price to recover the detainees.

The government media office in the Gaza Strip announced that Israel destroyed 140 government headquarters, 100 schools and universities completely, 295 schools and universities partially, 183 mosques completely, and 264 mosques partially. It also targeted and destroyed 3 churches, and completely destroyed 70,000 housing units. 290,000 housing units were partially destroyed and rendered uninhabitable, as a result of the occupation dropping 66,000 tons of explosives.

It confirmed that Israel put 30 hospitals out of service, and 53 health centers were also out of service, in addition to partially targeting 150 health institutions, destroying 122 ambulances, and targeting 200 archaeological and heritage sites.

An Israeli religious young man from the Haredi movement surprised Father Nicodemus Schnabel and spat on him. When Father Nicodemus stressed his right to photograph the attacker, another young Jewish man came and insulted Jesus Christ, peace be upon him.

Yesterday, Saturday, the General Superior of the Benedictine Monks in the Holy Land, Father Nicodemus Schnabel, was subjected to a racist attack in the “Mount Zion” area in occupied Jerusalem.

Commenting on the racist attack, the coordinator of the Holy Land Christians Forum, Wadih Abu Nassar, said: “We are tired of denouncing such racist attacks, and we are even more tired of the lack of deterrence of the aggressors, neither by the Israeli police, nor by political and religious officials in Israel.”

Abu Nassar added: "The minimum required of the Israeli police is to bring the assailants to justice, and what is required is to submit serious indictments against them."

The coordinator of the Holy Land Christians Forum called on senior political and religious officials in Israel to denounce the attack, in order to send a strict message not to repeat such crimes in the future, he said.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that its team documented a “horrific scene” of the execution of a Palestinian civilian who was searching for food near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Observatory indicated that the target was shot directly in the back by an Israeli sniper, pointing to the documentation of cases of field executions carried out by Israeli snipers stationed on rooftops in various areas in Gaza.

The Observatory published a video clip showing a Palestinian lying on the ground as he appeared to be riding a bicycle, with bullet marks appearing on his back while two cats were standing on his body.

Observatory director Rami Abdo said on X: “(The clip) depicts the execution of a civilian who was searching for food near the Palestine Stadium. Every day, Israeli snipers stationed on rooftops kill dozens of civilians and restrict the movement of ambulances.”

The Observatory previously indicated that the Israeli army executed many residents of the Gaza Strip on the ground during its storming of residential homes as part of its ground invasion, while the victims’ children witnessed the execution scenes.

One of the testimonies documented by the Observatory was from a 16-year-old girl about a documented crime of genocide, in which she said: “My family and I were sitting in the house when the Israeli army stormed it. My grandfather came out raising a white flag. They shot him and killed him immediately. My brother came out.” "The 12-year-old was helping him, so they threw a bomb at him. I saw his insides coming out of his body, amidst the screams."

Last January, human rights organizations in the Gaza Strip monitored many field execution crimes, which caused civilian casualties and injuries even though they were carrying a white flag, including the execution of the two brothers Nahed (14 years old) and Ramez Barbakh (20 years old) in The city of Khan Yunis, on the morning of Wednesday, January 25, during their attempt to flee the neighborhood in which they lived.

A picture of the two killed brothers, with the white flag they were raising near them, was spread, and human rights organizations considered targeting them to be a premeditated murder carried out by sniper units in the occupation army.

After the Israeli army withdrew in recent days from the city of Beit Lahia in the far north of the Gaza Strip, an area that witnessed a ground incursion at the height of the brutal war, rescue crews and citizens found the bodies of 30 Palestinians placed in black bags and buried under rubble, while they were blindfolded and handcuffed. A field execution was carried out against these people after their arrest.

The Israeli army arrested thousands of Gazans during its ground incursion into the cities of the Gaza Strip, and practiced the most horrific methods of insult and abuse against them after stripping them of their clothes, claiming that they were members of the resistance, while one of the photos showed a long line of detainees stripped of their clothes, including Al-Araby Al-Jadeed correspondent Diaa Al-Kahlot, who He was later released.

The United States of America called on the Israeli authorities to provide urgent clarifications regarding human rights violations committed by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, in violation of the “Leahy Law,” which stipulates a ban on supplying weapons to units that violate American standards for preserving human rights.

This came according to what was revealed by the newspaper “Israel Hayom” on Saturday evening. The purpose of the Leahy Act, which Congress passed in 1997, is to prevent the United States from engaging in serious crimes committed by foreign forces it supports, by cutting off aid to a specific unit if Washington has reliable information that the unit has committed a serious crime.

The newspaper reported, “The administration of US President Joe Biden called on Israel to provide it with urgent answers regarding a series of cases in which Israeli army units operating in the West Bank acted in violation of the ‘Leahy Law’.”

The report explained that the American request was accompanied by a warning that might result in “preventing Israeli occupation army forces operating in the occupied West Bank from receiving security assistance from the United States, if the explanations are not convincing to Washington.”

The Leahy Act stipulates that the United States provides security assistance only to military units that meet American standards for maintaining human rights. If there is a deviation from the standards, the law prohibits the supply of weapons to these units involved.

According to "Israel Hayom", Washington delivered its warning to Tel Aviv regarding the Israeli army's violations more than a month ago, and said that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs is aware of this issue.

The report stated that "the International Law Department of the Israeli Military Prosecution and other legal bodies are in constant contact with the American side to provide answers to the cases for which Washington has asked Tel Aviv to provide clarifications."

The newspaper pointed out that Israel is required to submit its official response within less than two months, while it referred to a document confirming that “there is a high possibility that units in the Israeli army active in the occupied West Bank are involved” in violations of the Leahy Law.

About 10 days ago, the United States called on Israel to conduct an “urgent investigation” into the circumstances of the martyrdom of a 17-year-old Palestinian-American boy, who was killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank.

US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters: “We continue to cooperate closely with the Israeli government with the aim of obtaining the greatest amount of information, and we have requested that an urgent investigation be opened to clarify the circumstances of his killing and determine responsibilities.”

Tawfiq Hijazi (17 years old) was killed on Friday, January 19, in Al-Mazraa Al-Sharqiya near Ramallah. The American spokesman confirmed that he was “shocked” by the killing of the Palestinian young man, who also holds American citizenship, reiterating his call to contain the escalation.

Patel added, "We were clear about the tragic escalation of violence in the West Bank, and we call on all parties to avoid escalation." He explained that the Office of Palestinian Affairs and the US Embassy in Jerusalem were in contact with the family of the young victim.

Al-Monitor newspaper said that any options for the “next day” in Gaza cannot completely ignore the presence of Hamas, at least as a very popular Palestinian faction.

The American newspaper said in a report that the success of any deal to resolve the crisis based on the Palestinian Authority assuming the reins of government in Gaza requires great cooperation and coordination between the two largest factions, namely the Fatah and Hamas movements, as both factions are in dire need of the other to get out of the bottleneck and the current impasse.

In light of the fact that the war in Gaza is nearing its end, due to the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the main areas in the Gaza Strip, and the progress of ceasefire talks, and in light of the fact that the next stage in Gaza must be permanent and not temporary to ensure that security is achieved and that the conflict does not ignite again, and with the insistence of Jordan and Egypt the two neighboring countries stressed the need to respect Palestinian rights, as the only viable solution must be the Palestinian solution, according to the newspaper.

It added that the current situation is complicated because unless Hamas is completely eliminated, which everyone, including the Americans, knows will not happen, any solution will need approval If not the direct participation of Hamas.

What makes the situation more complicated, according to the newspaper, is the popularity of Hamas, which has risen since last October 7, as an opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, in January 2024, showed that 42% of Palestinians in Gaza said they support Hamas, compared to 38% in September 2023, while support for the movement in the West Bank reached 44%; compared to only 12% in September 2023.

The report suggested that the two Palestinian factions would become closer politically to try to find a common working platform that would contribute to improving the image of the Palestinian National Authority and support its acceptance among the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

It also requires the Palestinian National Authority to make radical changes in the chain of command, accompanied by administrative and organizational reforms that address corruption and achieve agility in the performance of any new legitimate elected government, according to Al-Monitor.

While the presence of Hamas would be completely rejected, Israeli first and internationally in general, it is believed that Hamas will not demand a clear political and administrative presence, and will prefer to play a role in the shadows, ensuring its moral participation and not disrupting any solutions, according to the newspaper.

On Saturday, Israeli Channel 13 reported that the Israeli government is considering moving the Farah border crossing with Egypt to the Kerem Shalom area.

According to the source, moving the Rafah crossing to the border triangle between Israel, Gaza and Egypt aims to not allow Cairo to interfere in the management of the crossing, and not to enter into a conflict over this issue.

In addition, Tel Aviv believes that moving the crossing will allow Israel to conduct security checks and prevent border smuggling operations.

The Israeli channel pointed out that the Egyptian authorities did not deal positively with the Israeli proposal.

On the other hand, the channel said that the American administration believes that the idea of moving the crossing is good, but it needs economic support.

No statement was issued by Egypt regarding this proposal, while no official Israeli clarification was issued in this regard.

The White House announced that the US administration rejected the House of Representatives bill on providing aid to Israel without additional aid to Ukraine.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said, “The administration has been working for months with a bipartisan group of senators to reach a national security agreement that secures our borders and provides support to the people of Ukraine and Israel. While the legislative text is imminent, House Republicans are coming up with the latest political maneuvers. Israel's security must be sacred, not a political game."

“We strongly oppose this stunt that does nothing to secure the border, does nothing to help the people of Ukraine defend themselves, and deprives Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom are women and children, of humanitarian assistance. Instead, House Republicans should act in a way that "Bipartisan, as the administration and the Senate do, on pressing national security issues."

US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson had unveiled legislation providing new military aid to Israel worth $17.6 billion as part of its war on Hamas, without allocating aid to Ukraine, and it is expected to be approved within days.

Citizens suffocated with poisonous gas, and 4 others were arrested this evening, Saturday, during confrontations with Israeli occupation forces in the town of Beita, south of Nablus.

According to local sources, the Israeli forces stormed the town of Beita amidst gunfire, which led to the outbreak of confrontations in the area, and arrested four young men

The sources added that Beita Municipality ambulance crews dealt with six cases of suffocation with toxic gas.

Since dawn on Saturday, the Israeli forces have bombed the last two shelters for displaced people in the Gaza Strip, intensively targeting Rafah in the south of the Strip and Deir al-Balah in its centre, resulting in the death of more than 22 Palestinians, and increasing fears that Israel will expand the scope of its ground operation in the two cities crowded with displaced people.

A child was killed and others were injured in the targeting of a densely populated residential apartment in the Hassan Salama Tower in the Al-Geneina neighborhood, east of Rafah.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that 14 people, including women and children, were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in Rafah.

Local sources confirmed renewed Israeli raids on the eastern areas of Rafah this evening, adding that the raids also targeted Gaza City.

During the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the Israeli forces committed 12 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, leaving 107 dead and 165 wounded.

Tens of thousands of displaced people have arrived in Rafah in the past few days, carrying their belongings in their hands and dragging children on carts since Israel intensified its aggression against Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip last week.

The Israeli army had previously declared Rafah a “safe zone” and ordered the residents of the north to flee there. According to the United Nations, the number of displaced people in the Egyptian border city is more than 1,300,000.

For its part, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that the Israeli forces targeted a house adjacent to the society’s headquarters and its affiliated Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, after a series of attacks targeted the society as the Israeli army intensified its aggression against the city.

The association added that 11 displaced people took refuge in its headquarters and were injured as a result of the occupation forces throwing smoke bombs at them.

Meanwhile, local sources confirmed the arrival of 3 decomposed bodies to the Nasser Medical Complex of martyrs who died during the Israeli bombing west of Khan Yunis, and the Civil Defense had not previously been able to recover them.

Al-Rimal neighborhood

In the northern Gaza Strip, 9 killed and 31 wounded were transferred to the Baptist Hospital in Gaza since this morning.

The Israeli aircraft also launched a raid near Al-Shifa Medical Complex in the northern Gaza Strip.

Two Palestinians were killed and 8 were injured in the bombing of a house near the Maatouq Junction in the Al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City.

Two Palestinians were killed and 3 others were injured by Israeli sniper bullets stationed at the Al-Nasr neighborhood intersection, west of Gaza City.

For its part, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory published a video clip of the body of a young Palestinian man who was executed by the Israeli sniper while he was searching for food near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City.

The scenes showed a number of cats gathering over the body of the killed thrown on the ground, while the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory confirmed that its teams monitor on a daily basis cases of sniping of Palestinians by the Israeli forces in different areas of the Gaza Strip.

Since last October 7, the Israeli aggression has resulted in the death of 27,238 Palestinians, while the number of wounded has reached 66,452.

Osama Hamdan, a leader in the Hamas movement, confirmed that the movement, since the beginning of the aggression, has been open to discussing any initiatives or ideas that lead to stopping the barbaric aggression against Palestinian people.

Hamdan said in a press conference, Saturday evening, in keeping pace with the developments of the ongoing Israeli occupation against the Gaza Strip, that the movement has received the general framework proposal that was circulated at the Paris Quartet meeting, and we affirm that the leadership discussion and consultation about it is based on the basis of the negotiations reaching a complete end to the Israeli aggression against our Palestinian people and complete withdrawal of the occupation army from the Gaza Strip.

He stressed that his movement seeks to stop the hand of this criminal enemy, which has killed civilians, including children, women and the elderly, and destroyed the civil structure and human life in the Gaza Strip, and continues its war in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and against our heroic prisoners in prisons.

Hamdan added: We confirm that our study of the proposal is also based on lifting the siege that has been ongoing on the Gaza Strip for 17 years, providing shelter for the displaced, rebuilding what was destroyed by the occupation, completing a serious prisoner exchange deal, and practical international recognition of the right of our people to self-determination and establishing their independent, fully sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital.

He appreciated the efforts made by the brothers in Egypt and Qatar to reach a sustainable ceasefire agreement in Gaza on the path to ending the Nazi aggression that continues against the Palestinian people.

Hundreds of Israelis demonstrated, on Saturday, in the cities of Haifa and Rehovot, against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding “to hold early elections now” and to return prisoners detained in the Gaza Strip, according to Hebrew media.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that hundreds of Israelis participated in the demonstration against the government at the Horev Junction in Haifa, demanding early elections.

The demonstrators also demanded the release of prisoners detained in the Gaza Strip, according to the same newspaper.

Participants carried banners reading: “Elections now” and “Save the prisoners.”

In the city of Rehovot, dozens demonstrated in front of the Weizmann Institute of Science and chanted against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.

It is expected that the pace of demonstrations against the government and others demanding the release of prisoners detained in the Gaza Strip will increase on Saturday evening, especially in the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Israelis demonstrate almost daily to demand early elections and the release of prisoners in Gaza, but the main demonstrations are organized on Saturday.

Israeli officials estimate that there are about “136 hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip” since Hamas launched an attack on Israeli military points and settlements around the Strip on October 7.

On October 7, the Palestinian resistance factions, led by Hamas, captured at least about 239 people in towns and cities surrounding Gaza, and exchanged dozens of them with Israel during a temporary humanitarian truce that lasted 7 days and ended in early December.

On the other hand, Palestinian prisoners’ institutions reported that, under the truce, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners from its prisons, including 71 female prisoners and 169 children.

More than 118 hours have passed and the fate of the Palestinian Red Crescent team that went out to rescue the little girl Hind is still unknown, according to Red Crescent statements.

On Saturday, the Red Crescent Society appealed to the international community to intervene immediately to pressure the occupation authorities to reveal the fate of the child Hind and the rescue crew.

Last Monday, an ambulance crew from the Red Crescent went out to rescue the two girls, Layan, 15 years old, and Hind, 6 years old, after they were surrounded by tanks and soldiers of the occupation army, inside a vehicle in which they were with their family members.

A number of Palestinian Red Crescent crews said, on Tuesday, during a video clip posted on the “X” platform, that the location of the accident was in Gaza City, near the “Fares” gas station, west of the city.

The Red Crescent also announced the martyrdom of the child Layan, when she was "talking on the phone with its crew asking for help, while Hind remained trapped inside the vehicle surrounded by occupation tanks and soldiers."

For her part, the child's mother narrated the circumstances of the accident that resulted in the death of her relative, the child Layan, and the disappearance of her daughter.

The child's mother, Hind, said in statements reported by Al Jazeera that she let her daughter go with her uncle's family, consisting of 6 members, in the car for fear of violent occupation air bombardment.

She explained that she was in constant contact with the two girls to check on them before she received the news of the martyrdom of Layan and family members.

The US says it hit more than 85 Iran-linked targets in Syria, Iraq in retaliation for attack that killed American soldiers.

At least 27,238 people have been killed and 66,452 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 

Regional tensions

• The US military says it hit more than 85 Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the deaths of three American soldiers in a drone attack in Jordan.
• The overnight air raids killed at least 18 Iran-aligned fighters, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The death toll could not be independently verified, and US officials only said the attack resulted in causalities.
• The White House said it informed Iraq before carrying out its air raids inside the country. The Iraqi military called the attack “a violation of Iraqi sovereignty”, adding it could “lead Iraq and the region into dire consequences”.

Human impact and fighting

• Almost all of Gaza’s 1.2 million children are in need of mental health support, UNICEF said.
• The agency also said about 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied or have been separated from their families during the conflict.
• More than one million displaced Palestinians fear a new Israeli military onslaught after the Israeli defence minister pledged to attack Rafah, an area once described as a “safe zone”.
• The United Nations said 112 Palestinians were killed and 148 injured between Thursday and Friday afternoon in Gaza.
• Palestinian officials said at least 27,131 people have been killed and 66,287 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.

Diplomacy

• Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Beirut, said the multistage proposal that officials from Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the United States put forward this week is unacceptable because it does not include a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel, the occupied West Bank, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar, and is expected to push for the release of captives held in Gaza and a pause in hostilities.
• Germany’s foreign minister warned Israel over its planned military offensive in Rafah, the dpa news agency reported.
• The US has announced new sanctions and charges targeting the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
• Some 800 European and US officials have written a letter to their governments denouncing Israel’s war on Gaza as “one of the worst human catastrophes of this century”.

Occupied West Bank

• Two Palestinian men in their 20s were hospitalised after being beaten by Israeli forces during a raid near the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported.
• Israeli raids were also reported in the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, in the towns of Rujib and Burqa in the Nablus governorate, Tubas city, northeast of Nablus, in the villages of Beit Tamar and al-Aruj, located east of Bethlehem.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

By Miranda Cleland

A US federal judge has urged the president to reconsider the country's unconditional military support for Israel, marking the latest blow to his beleaguered administration

This week, a US federal judge in California concluded it is "plausible" that Israel's military campaign against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amounts to genocide and "implored" President Joe Biden and his top officials to consider the impacts of their "unflagging" support for Israel. 

The tide is turning. Between this ruling, the International Court of Justice's provisional measures ordering Israel to stop killing Palestinians, protesters interrupting Biden's public events to demand a ceasefire, and more American voters pledging they will not vote to re-elect him in November, pressure is mounting on the Biden administration to cut off the flow of weapons and money to Israel.

The judge in Oakland, California, heard testimony last week from Palestinian and Palestinian-American plaintiffs, who described in excruciating detail how Israeli forces had killed their loved ones, destroyed their homes and bombed the Gaza they knew beyond recognition. 

Plaintiffs asked the judge to order the Biden administration to stop sending weapons that Israel would use to kill even more of their family members. The final witness, Jewish history and Holocaust scholar Barry Trachtenberg, testified that Israel's actions against Palestinians constituted a textbook case of genocide.

Trachtenberg stated in his testimony how rare it is that government and military officials so clearly express their intent to commit genocide. 

The judge agreed, and noted that "statements made by various officers of the Israeli government indicate that the ongoing military siege in Gaza is intended to eradicate a whole people and therefore plausibly falls within the international prohibition against genocide".

The court ultimately dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds, relying on precedent that the judicial branch cannot rule on foreign-policy decisions made by the executive branch. 

So what's next? Usually, a dismissed case is considered a loss for the plaintiffs. Not here. 

Building pressure

This case, filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of Palestinian human rights organisations Defense for Children International - Palestine and Al-Haq, alongside Palestinians in Gaza and the US, was historic from the onset. It remains a tool to build pressure on the Biden administration and hold US leaders accountable for their role in Israel's genocide. 

For too long, the US has unconditionally sent billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded weapons, warplanes and other military assistance to Israel. Americans have had enough, and so has the rest of the world. 

The US has provided Israel with about $158bn (in non-inflation-adjusted dollars) in bilateral assistance and missile-system funding since World War II, making it the largest recipient of US funding abroad.

Palestinian families in Gaza cannot afford for the US to send one more dollar to the genocidal Israeli regime. Every dollar of unconditional military funding - every tank shell, joint direct attack munition kit and warplane - sent by the US is used to destroy Palestinian life and the ability for families to build a future.

Just after Biden fast-tracked the sale of tank shells to the Israeli military late last year, 12-year-old Dunia Abu Mohsen was killed by an Israeli tank-fired shell as she slept in her bed at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. Dunia was in the hospital recovering from an Israeli air strike in late October that killed her family and injured her leg so severely it had to be amputated. 

Dunia's story follows an arc that has become representative of the Palestinian child's experience in Gaza. Israeli forces displaced, bombed, orphaned, maimed and killed Dunia, all in a matter of weeks. She is one of more than 10,000 Palestinian children in Gaza killed by Israeli forces in the past four months. 

It is past time for the US to stop arming the Israeli military. The push to cut off US support for Israel is stronger than ever

If Dunia were still alive, she might have been one of the million Palestinian children in Gaza on the edge of famine. She might have eaten grass, drank dirty water and shivered at night, like many Palestinian families living in tents with nowhere else to go. If Dunia had survived, she might have grown up to become a doctor and helped Palestinian children living with lifelong disabilities, like she dreamed. 

It is too late for Dunia. Had Biden acted as soon as Israeli forces started raining bombs down on Gaza, there is no doubt in my mind that she would still be alive. She could have lived, and it is the moral failure of the Biden administration that she did not. 

The federal judge in California understood this. I sat in the courtroom and watched him listen intently to the testimony of each plaintiff, especially those who described the shame and guilt they felt as their tax dollars paid for the annihilation of their families. I believe his shock at the US-backed Israeli military brutality was genuine, leading to his strong rebuke of the Biden administration's "unflagging support".

It is past time for the US to stop arming the Israeli military. The push to cut off US support for Israel is stronger than ever, and as the judge noted: "It is every individual's obligation to confront the current siege in Gaza."

International newspapers and news websites highlighted Israel's disregard for the International Court of Justice's decision regarding the Gaza Strip, and the reality in the West Store of incursions, security harassment, and settler violence.

The French website "Media Part" saw that "the Israeli massacre in the Gaza Strip continues, and nothing is on the horizon to curb it, despite the decision of the International Court of Justice calling on Israel to do everything in its power to prevent any act of genocide."

The website wrote that what it called "political negativity" trumped international law in Israel's war on Gaza, and wondered about the fate of international law, and who would protect the weak, whether countries or individuals, after this.

According to the Intercept website, the International Court of Justice’s ruling “did not deter Israel from continuing to commit atrocities in Gaza, thanks to American support,” noting that since the issuance of the Hague ruling, the Israeli army has killed about 900 Palestinians and wounded 1,490.

Last week, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its forces from committing acts of genocide, and to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation of Palestinians in Gaza, in a case brought by South Africa.

The New York Times focused its investigation on the West Bank, noting that the reality it is experiencing is one of the consequences of the war on Gaza, and this reality - according to the newspaper - is represented by more incursions, settler violence, and security harassment at checkpoints, the number of which has increased across the West Bank. It made moving between its cities a nightmare.

On the other hand, the newspaper "Politico" revealed that Israel faces another European danger, which is the possibility of being expelled from this year's edition of the Eurovision contest because of its war on Gaza.

The newspaper focused on the speed with which Russia was expelled from the competition after its invasion of Ukraine, noting calls to prevent Israel’s participation in this year’s edition, led by artists from Finland, Ireland and Iceland. Some of them threatened to boycott if Israel participated.

As for the Washington Post, it highlighted the nightly American bombing of the sites of Iraqi groups accused of being loyal to Iran, and described this bombing as “an escalation in the long-term confrontation between Washington and Tehran.”

In the same context, the Wall Street Journal quoted Mike Merloy, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, as reducing the feasibility of American bombing of Iraqi sites.

Source: Al Jazeera

Hundreds of thousands of British supporters of Palestine participated in a massive demonstration today, Saturday, in the capital, London, to demand an immediate end to the war against Gaza that the Israeli occupation launched four months ago.

The participants also called for the need to stop arms exports to Israel after it killed more than 27,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

This major event is organized by the “Palestine Solidarity Campaign,” the “Palestinian Forum in Britain,” the “Stop the War Coalition,” the “Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament,” “Friends of Al-Aqsa,” and the “Islamic League in Britain.” These organizations united under a unified banner to support the Palestinian cause.

Pressure exerted by the London Metropolitan Police failed to convince the organizers of the demonstration not to demonstrate in front of the government headquarters, which is the usual end for all marches, as the organizers of the demonstration deliver many speeches summarizing the most important demands that prompted them to demonstrate, which are intended to send direct messages to the government headquarters.

The London Police confirmed that the pro-Palestine march in London will end near the government headquarters in Downing Street, after it had previously refused to allow the expected 300,000 demonstrators to organize a march in Whitehall.

The police took a hesitant stance towards allowing the pro-Palestinian demonstrators to participate with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, as they may not be able to provide enough security personnel in the capital.

Just hours before the decision to approve the demonstration route, the Metropolitan Police said the "volume and frequency of marches" were causing serious disruption, and they did not support a request to extend the march to Whitehall.

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who has been negotiating with police over the marches, said the shift came at a meeting on Thursday evening.

However, a request to hold two marches to end the demonstration was rejected, including one in Trafalgar Square, as the Metropolitan Police claimed they had fewer resources than in previous march days to monitor the protests.

Jamal said he was concerned this would make the protest less safe, but that march organizers would try to control the crowds.

He explained that previous claims that police were unable to consult with “local stakeholders” such as government offices and commercial businesses about the Whitehall endpoint no longer appeared to be a factor in the Underground analysis.

He continued: "We said that people would go to Whitehall anyway, as this was the end of the previous demonstrations." He added: "They will not agree to a second phase and we have made it clear that this will increase the risks. Their justification was that they do not have the resources necessary to manage the two phases."

Jamal had claimed that the capital police yielded to government pressure to restrict the marches, which began after the start of the war in Gaza on October 7.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Ward, who is leading the police operation, said: “We respect people's right to protest, but other Londoners and visitors have rights too.”

He added: "I understand the cumulative impact of repeated protests since October on businesses, residents and those wishing to travel to the West End."

He continued: “Balancing competing rights may be difficult, but we will do so independently, impartially and always within the law.”

The French investigative website Mediapart said that despite the International Court of Justice’s decision calling on Israel to do everything in its power to prevent any act of genocide, nothing can stop the massacre in Gaza. This raises questions about the authority of international courts and governmental institutions.

How can this situation be explained, which could spark anger and incomprehension and reinforce accusations of double standards directed at Western countries, between supporting Ukraine and indifference to Palestine? Are there other ways to put an end to massacres and endangering an entire people in the name of the state's right to defend itself? What can states, NGOs and ordinary citizens do? Is the United Nations doomed to incompetence? What is the place of international law in this context? Mediapart asks.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the judicial body of the United Nations, and it suffers from the same weaknesses as the United Nations, says the French website, referring to the question posed by public law professor Mathilde Philippe Guy in her book: Can we judge Putin? […] The International Court of Justice has no coercive means of making its decisions enforceable. For this it must rely on the United Nations Security Council. However, this “world policeman” consists of fifteen members, including five permanent members (China, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Russia), who have veto power that allows them to oppose any decision. Israel has already completely ignored a 2004 International Court of Justice ruling that declared the separation wall built in the West Bank illegal.

As legal specialist Matti Alexiano points out in the European Journal of International Law blog, the compliance rate with ICJ decisions is around 50%, but has declined in recent years as the court has ruled on more controversial and higher-stakes cases. Complying with an ICJ ruling can enhance a state's reputation on the international stage, which is particularly important for those who value their status as law-abiding actors. But compliance is also expensive. It often requires countries to modify behavior that they deem to be politically or economically beneficial, according to Matti Alexiano.

However, the recent decision of the International Court of Justice is a “historic” step, “Mediapart” quotes Johan Sofi, a lawyer and former international prosecutor and former legal head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, who explained that even if it is temporary Because the merits of the case will not be decided until several years later, it obscures “some of the arguments that challenge the reality of the seriousness of the situation.”

Moreover, a conviction on the merits, even without a direct effect, would have a potentially significant impact. Johann Sophie continued: “If Israel is condemned, for several years, for violating the 1948 Genocide Convention, it will be a very powerful symbolic shift. It will be difficult for certain countries to continue to support Israel unconditionally, for example by sending weapons. The fact that there is a serious risk of genocide means that all states parties to the Genocide Convention have a duty to prevent it.”

The website also quotes Julia Pinzautti, an assistant professor at Leiden University (Netherlands), as saying that this is especially important for countries that supported Israel and provided it with military assistance.

Mediapart pointed out that, in contrast to the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court does not depend on the United Nations, but both are located in The Hague (Netherlands) and have jurisdiction over the crime of genocide. The ICC, which entered into force in July 2002, is governed by the Rome Statute signed in 1998, which has so far been ratified by 124 countries. Another major difference from the ICJ is that the ICC is a criminal court: it judges individuals, not states, its decisions are binding on the parties, and they have tangible consequences.

On March 17, 2023, for example, it issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, on charges of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia. Even if the implementation of the International Criminal Court’s decisions depends on the good faith of the countries that Vladimir Putin will visit, last July, the Russian president was forced to abandon a trip to South Africa, for fear of being arrested.

Mediapart continued to clarify that in 2009 and 2014, the United Nations Security Council condemned Israel’s disproportionate use of force in Gaza and called for an end to it. But since the start of the Israeli operation launched in the wake of the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, the Authority has shown the extent to which it is, despite the heavy losses among Palestinian civilians, unable to put itself into action.

In apparent contradiction, in response to Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine, Western countries and their allies imposed a package of international sanctions on Russia, affecting transportation, energy, services, raw materials, and financial assets. No such decision was taken with regard to Israel, despite the flagrant violations of international law. In Gaza and the occupied territories, and the horrific human and material losses of the operation carried out by the army of the Hebrew state, “Mediapart” explains.

Last Thursday, Washington imposed sanctions on only four Israeli settlers under a presidential decree issued by Joe Biden, targeting acts of violence committed in the occupied West Bank. The US administration is considering expanding these financial sanctions and visa bans to include other people involved in similar acts.

For the rest, the more general sanctions hypothesis does not spark any high-level political or media dialogue. In Europe, only a few political voices have spoken out on this topic. In mid-December, the leader of the “Proud France” party, Jacques-Lec Mélenchon, called for the imposition of “economic sanctions” on Israel, explaining that “these sanctions will not be sanctions against the Israelis, but rather against the government that is leading them to this massacre in Gaza.” In Belgium, the head of the Socialist Party, Paul Magnet, called in mid-January for “economic sanctions,” Mediapart notes.

Source: Sama News

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that she was "shocked" by Israeli statements regarding the possibility of military movement towards the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, stressing that this "would not be justified."

This came in an interview with a German news website, published on Saturday, in which it touched on statements by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant regarding the military movement towards Rafah.

Burbock expressed her shock when she heard Gallant's statements.

She added: "Moving now in Rafah, the last and most crowded place, as the Israeli Defense Minister announced, will simply not be justified."

She pointed out that the majority of those in Rafah are women and children, and added: "Let us imagine that they are our children."

On Thursday, the Israeli Defense Minister said, in a statement, that “we are achieving our mission in (the city of) Khan Yunis (south of Gaza), and we will also reach Rafah.”

Birbock stressed that reaching a humanitarian truce in Gaza is their top priority.

She continued: "At the same time, we are not giving up working for a lasting peace perspective. Because Israel will not live in safety unless the Palestinians live in safety within their state."

Berbock added: "This state cannot exist unless the Israelis are able to live in safety."

Yesterday, Friday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned that Israel’s statements about military action towards the Palestinian city of Rafah were “worrying and raise the alarm” for more than 1.5 million Palestinians, ordering them to go there.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that, as of Saturday, left “27,238 killed and 66,452 injured, most of them children and women,” according to the Palestinian authorities, and caused “massive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to the Palestinian authorities and United nations agencies.

On Saturday evening, Israeli forces stormed the town of Arraba, south of Jenin.

According to local sources, the Israeli forces stormed the town of Arraba, and confrontations subsequently broke out, but no casualties were reported.

In the same context, the Israeli forces set up several surprise military checkpoints south of Jenin.

The Israeli soldiers also stopped citizens' vehicles, searched them, and checked their occupants' cards, which led to the obstruction of movement on the road linking Ya'bad and its neighboring villages, the towns of Arraba and Ya'bad, and the Jerba area between Qabatiya and Sanur.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that the number of Palestinian detainees in the West Bank has risen to 6,500 since October 7, 2023, after the Israeli army arrested 12 Palestinians during its storming of several governorates last night.

It added that the statistics include those who were arrested from homes, through military checkpoints, those who were forced to surrender themselves under pressure, and those who were held hostage.

It pointed out that the Israel continues to "carry out the crime of enforced disappearance against Gaza detainees, 120 days after the aggression and genocide."