The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Tuesday that the death toll from the Israeli war on the Strip had risen to 20,915 dead and 54,918 injured since October 7.

Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said: “The toll of the Israeli aggression has risen to 20,915 dead and 54,918 injuries since October 7.”

He explained that the Israeli army "committed during the past 24 hours about 18 massacres against entire families, resulting in 241 dead and 382 injuries."

He expressed "the fear that targeting the vicinity of the Nasser Medical Complex (in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip) is a repetition of the scenario implemented by the army against the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City and hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip."

Al-Qudra called on "the international institutions to protect the Nasser Medical Complex and to protect the medical staff, the wounded, the sick, and the thousands of displaced people there."

He also called on international institutions to "conduct urgent interventions to ensure the provision of the necessary medicines and fuel to restart the Shifa Medical Complex in the face of the need of thousands of wounded and sick people."

At dawn on Tuesday, Israeli warplanes launched violent raids in the vicinity of the Nasser Medical Complex, in the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army is escalating its war on the Gaza Strip’s hospitals and health teams, as part of a devastating war on Gaza that it has been waging since last October 7, which has left material and human losses, massive infrastructure destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the Gaza Strip authorities and the United Nations.

Today, Tuesday, Israeli occupation bulldozers demolished five homes in the village of Forush Beit Dajan, east of Nablus.

According to local sources, the occupation forces stormed the village, accompanied by a military bulldozer, and demolished five houses, including those built before 1967, in addition to destroying three agricultural ponds.

The sources added that about 70 citizens became homeless, as the occupation targeted homes and water sources in the village, which has a population of about 1,100 citizens, and seized 11,000 dunums out of the total area estimated at 14,000 dunums of its lands.

In a report published by the American newspaper “The Washington Post” on Tuesday, the newspaper says that “in its plan for the day after the Israeli campaign to eliminate Hamas in Gaza, the United States hopes to pave the way for the besieged Palestinian Authority to take control, by encouraging the formation of a new government and launching training for its security forces.

The newspaper notes that so far, “Washington is stumbling over one of the first obstacles, which is convincing Israel to release the salaries necessary to prevent the authority from collapsing completely.”

It added, "In recent weeks, American officials have been moving in and out of the Muqata, the gated compound of 88-year-old Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which is located in Ramallah in the de facto capital of the occupied West Bank."

Palestinian and American officials say that the Palestinians demanded changes and new faces in key positions to improve the bad situation of the authority, which is unpopular among the Palestinians, while looking forward to an expanded role in the Gaza Strip after the war.

The newspaper pointed out that initially, Palestinian officials rejected the idea of returning to power in Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas since 2007, in the wake of the current brutal war on Gaza. But they have gradually become more receptive to seizing a rare opportunity to annex both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under their rule.

The newspaper revealed that the administration of US President Joe Biden is talking with the Palestinians and members of the international community about “a new government and some new blood joining the ranks of the Palestinian Authority government alongside Abbas and under his leadership,” according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. 

But Palestinian officials said they want to link any such efforts to a clear “political horizon” for Palestinian statehood, because they are skeptical that the United States can achieve anything while Israel’s current far-right government is in power.

The faltering American efforts to release $140 million in Palestinian tax money allocated to Gaza, which Israel has blocked since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7, did not strengthen the Palestinian Authority’s confidence in the American administration’s attempts.

On December 18, Reuters reported, “A number of senior American officials have continued to travel to the West Bank in the past few weeks to meet with Abbas, hoping that the Palestinian president, who is standing by as a spectator in the war between Israel and Hamas, will be able to reform the Palestinian Authority, which lacks sufficient popularity to manage the Gaza Strip after the conflict.

According to the newspaper, “Abbas is the architect of the Oslo peace agreements with Israel in 1993, which revived hopes for the establishment of a Palestinian state. But his legitimacy is constantly diminishing due to the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Now, many Palestinians view his administration as corrupt, undemocratic, and disconnected from reality.” 

But in the wake of Hamas' attacks on Israel on October 7, Biden said he wanted to revive the Palestinian Authority, which Abbas has headed since 2005, to take over responsibility in Gaza once the conflict ends and unify the administration of the Strip with the West Bank.

Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor, met with Abbas, becoming the latest senior US official to urge him to make rapid changes.

US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, told reporters after his meeting with Abbas, in late November, that they discussed the necessity of carrying out reforms to combat corruption and strengthen the role of civil society and the free press.

Three Palestinians and a senior regional official familiar with the talks told Reuters that Washington's secret proposals also include Abbas relinquishing some of his control over power.

Palestinian and regional sources said that the proposed proposals include appointing a deputy for Abbas, giving broader executive powers to the prime minister, and introducing new figures into the ranks of the leadership.

The US State Department said that leadership choices are a matter for the Palestinian people and did not clarify the steps necessary to renew the blood of the Palestinian Authority.

In an interview with Reuters in his office in Ramallah, the Palestinian President said that he is ready to renew the Palestinian Authority by including new leaders and holding elections, which have not happened since Hamas won the last elections in 2006 and expelled the Palestinian Authority from Gaza, on the condition that a binding international agreement is reached. It would lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state. This is something that was rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition.

When asked about the American proposals, Abbas said in the interview, “The problem is not changing people and forming a new government. The problem is the policies of the Israeli government.”

Abbas may concede that his long rule is nearing its end, but he and other Palestinian leaders say the United States, Israel's main strategic ally, must pressure Netanyahu's government to allow the establishment of a Palestinian state that includes Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

An informed source in Washington told the agency that Abbas expressed in private conversations his acceptance of some American proposals to reform the Palestinian Authority. These proposals included injecting “new blood” with technocratic skills and granting the position of prime minister new executive powers.

American officials confirmed that they did not put forward any names to Abbas, but regional sources and diplomats said that some figures in Washington and Israel prefer Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which includes factions far from the political Islam movement, to become a potential deputy and future successor to Abbas. 

Al-Sheikh, who also met with Sullivan in Ramallah, said that the brutal war in Gaza showed that the violent methods followed by Hamas do not work, and he expressed his support for the idea of talks.

The sheikh said in a rare interview with Reuters: “Doesn’t all of this and everything that is happening deserve a serious, honest and responsible assessment to protect our people and our cause?”

Four American sources, including two administration officials, said that Washington appealed to Jordan, Egypt and Gulf countries that have some influence on the Palestinian Authority to persuade Abbas to continue reforms quickly to prepare for what is coming.

The American sources said that Abbas pledged several times to reform his administration in the past few years and does not have much to offer about that, so senior American officials will continue the pressure and wait to see the extent of his implementation of that this time.

But American officials realize that Abbas is still the only realistic Palestinian leadership figure at the present time, despite his unpopularity among the Palestinians and his lack of confidence in Israel, which criticized his failure to condemn the October 7 attack, as a senior US administration official said, requesting anonymity. Because of the confidential nature of the talks, Biden's aides have quietly urged Israeli leaders to abandon their resistance to the Palestinian Authority's revival and leadership role in Gaza following the end of the conflict.

Another American source said, "This is the main focus of interest." American officials say that in the short term, Israel must release more tax revenues that it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and that it froze in the wake of October 7 so that the Palestinian Authority can pay salaries.

Palestinian and American diplomatic sources said that talks about what will happen after the end of the war have intensified in the past few weeks, but no plan has been presented to Abbas.

International condemnation of the Israeli attack on Gaza escalated with the death toll rising to more than 20,000 people according to health authorities in Gaza, but Netanyahu insisted that the war would continue until it succeeded in destroying Hamas, returning the hostages, and protecting Israel from future attacks.

Sullivan said that the United States is also telling Israel that the Palestinian Authority's security forces must have a presence in Gaza after the war, as is already the case in parts of the West Bank. But Netanyahu said that there is a disagreement with his ally, America, regarding the Palestinian Authority’s rule of Gaza. He added that Gaza "will neither be Hamas-stan (ruled by Hamas) nor Fatah-stan (ruled by the Fatah movement.")

The Palestinian Authority was established after the Oslo Accords in 1993 and is controlled by the Fatah movement led by Abbas. It was supposed to be a temporary administration to move on the path to establishing an independent Palestinian state. Abbas has headed it for 18 years, but he did not achieve this.

American officials said they believe Abbas can restore some credibility among Palestinians if he can show that he is rooting out corruption, fostering a new generation of leaders, bringing in foreign aid to rebuild Gaza after the war, and mobilizing support abroad for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

In his interview with Reuters, Abbas called on the United States to sponsor an international peace conference to agree on final steps leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state. This meeting may be similar to the Madrid Summit in 1991, which US President George H.W. Bush called for in the wake of the 1990-1991 Gulf War.

“Based on the information I received from soldiers and officers fighting in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, I came to the following conclusion: The IDF spokesman and military analysts on TV channels present a false picture of the thousands of Hamas deaths and of our fighting with their forces face to face.

With this preface, retired Israeli General Yitzhak Brik began an analysis in which he explained that the number of those killed among the forces of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) was much less than what was being promoted, and that most of the Israeli soldiers and officers killed fell as a result of Hamas’ bombs and anti-tank missiles.

He expressed his belief that the Israeli army does not currently have an effective and quick way to eliminate Hamas members, most of whom hide in the tunnels and only emerge from their openings to plant bombs, set up explosive traps, and fire anti-tank missiles at our armored vehicles, and then disappear again into the tunnels, as he put it.

It is clear, according to Brick, that the Israeli army spokesman and senior defense officials want to portray the war as a “great victory” before the dust of the battle settles and the true picture becomes clear.

To this end, they are bringing correspondents from major television channels to Gaza to show “pictures of victory,” making this the most photographed war ever waged by Israel, and perhaps any war waged even in the entire world, according to the retired general.

But such bragging by displaying images of victory, Brick says in his analysis in Haaretz newspaper, “Even before we get close to achieving our goals, it may be very destructive... It would have been better for us to remain more humble.”

He adds that this reminds him of what Israeli officials, including retired generals and others, used to repeat before the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, that their army is the strongest in the Middle East and that Israel’s enemies have been deterred.

“Unfortunately, these same reporters, analysts, and retired generals continue to fabricate images of this kind, as if they have learned nothing,” according to the author.

Regarding the Hamas tunnels, Brik asserts that their destruction will take many years, and will cost Israel heavy losses, noting that the Israeli army itself now acknowledges the existence of hundreds of kilometers of tunnels deep in the ground that connect the length and breadth of Gaza, and even connect this sector to the Sinai Peninsula.

The retired general stressed that the illusion of deterring Hamas was what made Israel neglect to direct its experts to study, plan and manufacture appropriate equipment for underground warfare, which is what made it today try to improvise solutions.

In this regard, many officers fighting in Gaza were quoted as saying that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to prevent Hamas from rebuilding itself, even after all the destruction that the Israeli army inflicted on its bases.

For Brick, the solution lies in leaving dense urban areas and acting more precisely, through bombing and air strikes based on accurate intelligence information. At the end of his analysis, he poses the following question: Are politicians and senior defense officials capable of dealing with such a scenario? Or are they able to think of other creative solutions, in which we do not achieve everything we want, but in which we are also not the biggest losers?

While the war waged by Israel in Gaza is about to complete its third month, the Israeli attacks on the residents of the Strip are not limited to aerial and artillery bombardment, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 20,000 dead and 53,000 wounded.

The occupation forces continued to abuse residents of the Palestinian Strip, detaining dozens of them - including elderly people and children - and then gathering them half-naked in a stadium in Gaza, according to pictures circulated by local media and social media accounts, yesterday, Monday.

The pictures also showed how tank nozzles were directed towards the Palestinians, including children and the elderly.

This is not the first time that the Israeli occupation has committed such a violation. Earlier this December, video clips published by Israeli and Palestinian websites showed that the occupation forces arrested displaced young men residing in a shelter center in Gaza, and stripped them of their clothes in front of the cameras.

The clips showed occupation soldiers standing in front of young men, handcuffed and naked except for short pants, after they had been gathered in the courtyard of a school before being taken to an unknown location.

Israeli sources claimed that the arrest of the young men was to verify whether some of them belonged to Hamas or other resistance factions in the Gaza Strip.

The occupation's behavior was widely criticized on social media sites and in the media, some of which are Western, but what is strange is that Mark Regev, an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when he received a question from the British channel Sky News in this regard, tried to downplay the importance of the incident, and responded by saying that it is not the end of the world, and that the weather in the Middle East is very hot.

Last week, Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian representative to the United Nations, had the opportunity to deliver a statement that gave him the moral high ground. He sharply criticized Washington's opposition to a permanent ceasefire in the war to displace the residents of the Gaza Strip. Personally, I believe that the general mood in the Arab world was sympathetic to the Russian representative’s speech denouncing the US’s insistence on hollowing out the UNSC Resolution and Washington's unconditional support for the ongoing Israeli war. However, emotions are one thing and political reality is another. Although Moscow is playing the humanitarian and ethical card today. In the recent past - specifically, since Moscow obstinately opposed the Syrian uprising and repeatedly used its veto against it - demonstrated that the whole thing is a question of a “conflict of interests” and an extension of the polarizing dispute of the Cold War. 

In conflicts and disputes of this sort, we learn that there is no place for ethics or principles... interests alone have the final say. Moreover, we now find ourselves facing a broad spectrum of explicit considerations and implicit calculations. The parties involved are the crucial players in Palestinian-Israeli situation. Despite nearly 80 days having passed, the situation remains obscure. There is genuine debate within Israel itself about the extent of progress the war has made thus far, and the prospect of realizing all the objectives set by Benjamin Netanyahu and the war cabinet he leads. Also, while it has become evident that there are no limits to US support for Tel Aviv, political and military, serious questions remain about the approach the US will take to dealing with Iran. The US is faced with difficult questions following military attacks carried out by Tehran's proxies in the region, starting from Hezbollah across the borders with Lebanon and Syria, through the Shiite militias in Iraq, and finally through the Houthis in Yemen. 

It is worth noting the US initially tried to leave these militias, who move to Tehran's rhythm and in service of its interests, out of the conflict, in order to allow Israel to focus on Gaza. Indeed, since the first days of the Israeli attack, Washington has been reiterating that "it has no evidence of Tehran's involvement in the Hamas attack on October 7..." despite being fully aware of the close relationship between the two sides.

Furthermore, Washington has stressed - and repeatedly called for - avoiding the expansion of military operations beyond Gaza, particularly on the northern front with Lebanon. Here, both parties, namely the Hezbollah militia and the Israeli army, have been complying with what has come to be known as the “rules of engagement.” Indeed, the fighters on both sides adhered to a precisely calibrated set for their skirmishes... which have been more political messages aimed at “saving face” and showing that “duties are being fulfilled” than serious battles that could change the course of the battle in the reoccupied Strip. 

For those who follow Lebanese politics, recent developments are still fresh in the memory. Hezbollah welcomed US presidential envoy Amos Hochstein’s initiative to demarcate the maritime borders with Israel. Another Hochstein initiative, this time to demarcate the land border, is expected soon. 

The same applies to the Iranian proxy militias in Iraq, although some observers see this as a new "bargaining" in the Iraqi theater. The Iranian wing of the Shiite forces, represented by the Coordination Framework, has managed to strengthen its grip on power in Baghdad. It is well known, of course, that the rise of the Shiite militias backed by Iran in Iraq began after the American invasion in 2003. As we recall, the influx of forces exiled to Iran began as soon as Baghdad fell at the hands of American forces. A phase of coexistence between Washington and the new rulers of Iraq then began... and their interactions ranged from agreement and coordination to extortion.

What is indeed new, however, with regard to Iran's regional proxies today, is the increasing intensity of the Houthis' military operation in the Red Sea. Their unprecedented attacks demanded US actions ostensibly to protect maritime routes. It will be interesting to see the repercussions of Washington establishing an international coalition to protect navigation in the Red Sea and ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the Gulf of Aden.

Naturally, several international powers are involved. Among them is China, which has an interest in allowing gods to move freely. Another player is Russia, which benefits from the US being bogged down in the sand and seas of the Middle East, while it fights in Ukraine. Amid all this, the countdown has begun for the US presidential elections next November. In these elections, it is crucial that we do not underestimate the potential “dynamics” that the Gaza displacement war could introduce into the electoral battle between a Democratic president, whose popularity appears to be declining in influential states and closely contested districts, and a leading Republican candidate facing prosecution.

As a result, the new year that begins in a few days brings with it doubts and fears whose repercussions leaders seem unable to control. It will be a turbulent and worrying year, and a turbulent and worried world awaits it, trying to confront its fears by fleeing forward.

Source: Alsharq Alawsat

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said yesterday, Monday, that 180 displaced Palestinian women in shelter centers give birth every day in unsafe conditions, while about 900,000 displaced children suffer from the risk of dehydration, famine, and disease.

This came in a speech by the Ministry’s spokesman, Ashraf Al-Qudra, during a press conference held at the Emirates Crescent Hospital in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

Al-Qudra added that "50,000 pregnant women are in shelter centers without food or health care," and that "about 180 Palestinian women give birth every day in unsafe and inhumane conditions."

He explained that about 900,000 children in shelter centers suffer from the risk of dehydration, famine, digestive and respiratory diseases, skin diseases, and anemia.

He stated that 70% of kidney failure patients are exposed to catastrophic health risks, as a result of bombing, displacement, and difficulty in accessing dialysis services, especially in northern Gaza.

Destruction of hospitals

Al-Qudra reported that Israel deliberately destroyed hospitals in northern Gaza, leaving 800,000 people there without health services.

He warned that the wounded, the sick, pregnant women, and infants in the northern Gaza areas were exposed to certain death.

Al-Qudra called on all international institutions to work immediately to urgently operate the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and hospitals in northern Gaza in order to save the lives of the wounded and sick.

Last Thursday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced that hundreds of wounded people were dying as a result of the lack of health services in the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, with the exception of the return of a limited number of them to work in the dialysis department in the complex since last November 27.

Israeli occupation forces launched - at dawn on Tuesday - a campaign of raids and arrests in various parts of the occupied West Bank, amid widespread confrontations and clashes, the most intense of which was concentrated in Tulkarm, coinciding with the bombing of a house and the besieging and bombing of another.

House bombing and clashes in Tulkarm

In Tulkarm, the occupation forces blew up the ground floor of the home of citizen Youssef al-Zindeeq at the entrance to Nour Shams camp, east of Tulkarm.

The occupation bulldozers also destroyed the walls of a number of homes, schools, and mosques in the camp, crushed citizens’ vehicles, and destroyed the street adjacent to the water tank feeding the camp.

Severe clashes and successive explosions broke out during the ongoing military operation in Nour Shams camp.

The occupation forces bombed a building under construction and surrounded it at the entrance to the Aktaba suburb, east of Tulkarm.

Media sources reported that the occupation targeted the building more than once with bullets and “Energa” shells, coinciding with its continued aggression against the city and Nour Shams camp.

The occupation forces fired light bombs and heavy bullets into the sky of the camp, coinciding with the continuation of their second aggression in two days.

The occupation forces also declared Nour Shams camp a closed military zone and prevented entry into or exit from it, and established military barracks in several homes in various neighborhoods of the camp.

Tonight, the occupation forces stormed the city of Tulkarm and besieged Nour Shams camp, east of the city.

Local sources reported that a large military force from the occupation army stormed the city from its western axis, towards Khadoori Street, Al-Alimi Roundabout, and Al-Sikka Street, accompanied by bulldozers, simultaneously with reconnaissance aircraft flying over Tulkarm and its camps, at a low altitude.

The occupation forces raided a number of citizens’ homes in the Al-Manshiya, Jabal Al-Nasr, and Jabal Al-Salehin areas, searched them, detained their owners in one room, and deployed snipers on their roofs, while they deployed a group of snipers in the bush area opposite the camp, and the high-rise buildings in its vicinity.

The occupation vehicles bulldozed the street adjacent to the entrance to the camp, as well as the Al-Manshiya and Al-Damj neighborhoods, destroying the infrastructure. They also pursued ambulances present in the camp and forced them to leave it at gunpoint.

The occupation forces also arrested the freed prisoner Islambouli Riad Badir (32 years old) after raiding his house in the southern neighborhood of Tulkarm.

Ramallah arrests

In Ramallah, the occupation forces arrested Khaleda Jarrar, a member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front, during their storming of her home in Ramallah, and the freed prisoner, Ihsan Shtayyeh, after they raided his home in the Al-Masayef neighborhood of the city.

The occupation forces arrested the head of the Safa Village Council, Rashad Karaja, who is a freed prisoner, after they raided his home in the village of Safa.

The occupation forces severely beat the young man, Muhammad Anasawy, while he was passing his vehicle through a flying military checkpoint north of Ramallah, and he was transferred to the hospital to receive treatment.

The occupation forces also stormed the town of Beitunia to the west, and raided a commercial store in the industrial area.

Tubas confrontations

In Tubas, the occupation forces stormed the town of Tammoun, and confrontations took place between young men and the occupation army, which fired live bullets and gas and sound bombs, resulting in a young man being slightly injured.

The occupation army deployed in several neighborhoods in the town, deployed its snipers in several places, and raided a number of homes.

The Hebrew newspaper "Israel Today" said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working to "achieve voluntary migration of residents of the Gaza Strip to other countries."

The newspaper added on its web page that these statements came in response to the representative from the Likud Party led by Netanyahu, Danny Danon, during a meeting held by the party bloc on Monday.

The newspaper quoted Netanyahu as saying: “Our problem is the countries that are prepared to absorb refugees, and we are working to solve it.”

In turn, Danon said in the same session: “The world is already discussing this matter. Canadian Immigration Minister (Mark Miller) spoke about these matters publicly, as did Nikki Haley (a potential Republican candidate for the US presidency).”

He added: "We must form a team in the State of Israel that will take care of this issue and make sure that anyone who wants to leave Gaza for a third country can do so."

Danon continued: “This must be organized, because it has strategic importance for the day after the war.”

According to the newspaper, Netanyahu responded to Danon, saying: “We are working on that.”

Last November, Danon proposed the issue of voluntary immigration for residents of the Gaza Strip.

Several times, the United States of America, in addition to European and Arab countries, announced their rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip abroad.

Since October 7, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, which, as of Monday, has left 20,674 dead, 54,536 wounded, most of them children and women, massive infrastructure destruction, and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the Gaza Strip authorities and the United Nations.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be writing this article which is offering the Palestinian people some proposals on what they ought to do. I am not Palestinian, I am Israeli. But since I have always considered myself a friend of the Palestinian people and because this article will also appear in Arabic in the daily Al Quds newspaper, I have decided to offer my thoughts on very sensitive internal Palestinian issues. 

The only way that this war can have a positive outcome is if it brings about the actualization of the two states solution. Yasser Arafat declared the independence of the State of Palestine on November 15, 1988. In the words attributed to the Palestinian National Poet Mahmoud Darwish, Yasser Arafat declared “Palestine, the land of the three monotheistic faiths, is where the Palestinian Arab people was born, on which it grew, developed and excelled. Thus the Palestinian Arab people ensured for itself an everlasting union between itself, its land, and its history… we call upon our great people to rally to the banner of Palestine, to cherish and defend it, so that it may forever be the symbol of our freedom and dignity in that homeland, which is a homeland for the free, now and always.” 

The State of Palestine was accepted as an observer state of the United Nations General Assembly in November 2012. As of now, 139 of the 193 United Nations member states have recognized the State of Palestine (Israel is recognized by 165).Most of the OECD nations have not yet recognized the State of Palestine including the State of Israel. All of the offices of the Palestinian Authority throughout the West Bank have signs on their buildings “The State of Palestine”. The letterhead of Palestinian Authority ministries and ministers have written “The State of Palestine”. In spite of all of this, most Palestinians themselves do not recognize the State of Palestine and they still call it the Palestinian Authority. That is mainly because the occupation continues to control their lives and they view the Palestinian Authority as collaborators with the occupation. They see the Palestinian Authority security forces proving more protection to Israeli settlers than to Palestinian citizens. It is difficult for Palestinians to view the reality of the existence of the State of Palestine when they lack basic human and political rights. 

If the two states solution will once again become viable it will happen because the OECD countries, led by President Biden and the United States will recognize the State of Palestine and grant it full member state status in the United Nation. It will also become a reality when Palestinians see the international community, led by the United States applying effective pressure on Israel that the occupation must come to an end. But even if that happens and the Palestinian people don’t make the State of Palestine real for them, it will not be real. First and foremost, the Palestinian people should hold democratic elections for a new parliament and government. The Palestinian people need to feel that their government represents them and their interests. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was officially established on June 2, 1964. On June 2, 2024 (perhaps too sort of a time frame but yet symbolic) the Palestinian people should go to the polls to elect their government and to also officially declare the PLO an institution of the past. The Government of the State of Palestine will govern over the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza at first and following state-to-state negotiations with the State of Israel, over their capital in East Jerusalem and over all of the territory that will be agreed to at the conclusion of negotiations on the border between the two states. The Palestinian Authority will no longer exist. The sovereign State of Palestine will become a reality and not a subject to be negotiated with the State of Israel.  The question of Palestinian statehood cannot be under negotiations. Until there is a permanent status agreement between Palestine and Israel, the State of Palestine will be considered to be a UN member state occupied by another UN member state. This will also change the entire international legal basis for negotiations between Israel and Palestine. If anyone asks “what are the borders of the State of Palestine?” the proper response should be: “What are the borders of the State of Israel?”

The Palestinian people desire deep democratic reform of their government and it is their responsibility to ensure that it happens. The overwhelming majority of Palestinians have been calling for new elections for many years. Elections are necessary but not enough to have a state that they should desire. They must ensure the independence of the Judiciary and the separation of authorities, the freedom of the press, and adherence to a constitution that puts the rights of the people before the rights of the government. The Palestinian people need to make sure that their democracy protects itself against those who are in favor of holding elections once and never again.  For the sake of the Palestinian people’s aspiration to live in peace with dignity in a state of their own, they need to make sure than when elections are held that political parties which do not believe in democracy as well as those who support the armed struggle will not legally be able to participate in elections. 

Islamic political parties can be legitimate, but not if they guarantee the ultimate destruction of Palestine because of adhering to violence and undemocratic principles. Palestine as a state will only be free when it believes that it must live in peace with its neighbors. In the same way, Israel will never be secure until it is willing to end its occupation and live in peace with the State of Palestine next door. 

In the post-war scenario that I foresee, Gaza will no longer be Hamastan and Israel will no longer be Bibistan. 

There will be significant changes in the political landscapes of both Palestine and Israel.  There will be new people in positions of leadership that will hopefully have to face the reality of the need to put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back into the mode of negotiations for peace. The most progress ever made in negotiations between Palestine and Israel was during the negotiations between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Mahmoud Abbas. After 42 negotiating meetings between them, they came closer to an agreement than ever before.   In 2012-2014 following private meetings that I held with President Abbas I delivered to Prime Minister Netanyahu offers to enter into direct secret negotiations based on the agreements and understandings that had been reached between Olmert and Abbas. Netanyahu rejected those offers.  After this war, renewed negotiations should be picked up from the point that was reached by Olmert and Abbas. Whoever will be negotiating on behalf of Palestine and Israeli, we should recognize that progress was made and that should be the starting point, taking into consideration, of course, developments from this current war. Furthermore, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations must be expanded to be based on the creation of a regional architecture for stability, security, and economic development with the direct engagement at the table of Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. All of these countries have a direct stake and interest in Israeli Palestinian peace, stability, security and economic development. 

Israel and Palestine cannot be left on their own to resolve the conflict, it must be an international effort backed first and directly by other regional countries. 

A young man was injured tonight in a settler attack on citizens’ vehicles, near the Taneeb Junction, west of Nablus.

According to local sources, ambulance crews dealt with the injury of a young man (31 years old) as a result of a settler attack on citizens’ vehicles with stones, on the Tulkarm-Nablus road, near the Taneeb intersection, and he was subsequently taken to the hospital.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that the United States has sent more than 230 cargo planes and 20 ships loaded with weapons to Israel since the start of the war waged by the occupation on the Gaza Strip on the 7th of last October.

The newspaper said, "Since there are still politicians who mock themselves and claim that the United States is not relevant, it is also useful to explain to them that more than 230 cargo planes and 20 ships have so far arrived in Israel carrying weapons."

It explained that the American shipments included artillery shells, armored vehicles, and basic combat equipment for soldiers.

It pointed out that in some cases, the Israeli Ministry of Defense advanced the implementation date for multi-year contracts for products left on shelves, or were in American emergency warehouses, noting the ministry’s talk that the cost of the war so far amounts to 65 billion shekels ($17.5 billion).

Regarding the use of ammunition shipments, the newspaper quoted a senior official in the Ministry of Defense - which it did not name - that the Israeli army used a lot of the ammunition it had on the eve of the war, and was able to refill the warehouses in order to remain prepared for a large-scale war against Hezbollah.

According to the sources relied upon by the Israeli newspaper, the threat was much greater than what Tel Aviv expected, in reference to the war in Gaza.

Regarding the army’s losses, Ahronot said that the large number of casualties and injuries among the ranks of the Israeli army in the war on Gaza raises an extensive discussion about the scope and strength of the weapons that were used in part with the aim of facilitating the soldiers’ activities in dense and dangerous areas.

It added, "This is a complex and sensitive issue, and it has aspects that cannot be expanded upon during war, and the enemy does not need to know from the media what exists and what does not exist."

The number of Israeli soldiers and officers killed since the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian resistance, led by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), carrying out the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, has reached 489, as the Israeli army announced on Monday morning.

The newspaper pointed out that one of the main lessons in Israel is to rely more on local industry, and accordingly, many leading Israeli companies were asked to cancel contracts concluded with foreign countries to supply the Israeli army with ammunition.

On October 25, the results of a poll conducted by CBS News in the United States revealed that 52% of Americans opposed their government sending weapons to Israel.

56% of Americans also expressed their dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden's policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Over the years, with the partnership and support of the United States, Israel has developed defense systems, including the “Iron Dome” to repel short- and medium-range missiles, the “David’s Sling” to repel medium- and long-range missiles, and the “Arrow 3” to repel long-range missiles.

Since October 7, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, which has left 20,674 dead to date, 54,536 wounded, most of them children and women, massive infrastructure destruction, and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the Gaza Strip authorities and the United Nations.

An American news website reported Israeli attacks that claimed the lives of 3 Israeli prisoners and two women inside a church in Gaza, and the execution of 11 unarmed Palestinians in front of their families, which raised new international concern about Israel’s continued targeting of civilians in the besieged Strip.

The Fox news website said in its report that these killings - which attracted great international attention - came within the framework of the ground invasion launched by Israel as it continued its bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip, which even its “loyal” ally, US President Joe Biden, described as “random” .

However - the site says - Biden has continued to press for additional and unconditional aid to Israel, despite what some foreign affairs experts say that current American laws aimed at preserving human rights should have restricted the flow of such aid long ago.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced today that the death toll from the Israeli aggression had risen to 20,674 dead and 54,536 wounded since the seventh of last October.

The ministry added that the occupation committed - yesterday, Sunday - 25 massacres in the Gaza Strip, and that 250 Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids during the past 24 hours, while 500 others were injured.

Former State Department official Josh Polis said, "We always treat Israel gently and leniently when it comes to potential human rights violations of any kind."

Boulos is considered one of the most prominent critics of Biden's policy towards Israel since his resignation from his position as Director of Congressional and Public Affairs in the office overseeing US arms sales, due to fears of the Israeli response to the attack of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7, 2023.

“When it comes to suspending or reducing lethal military aid, there is no indication that anyone is willing to take any actual steps,” Boulos added.

The United States provides more aid to Israel than any other country, amounting to about $3.8 billion annually, in recognition of the “special relationship” between the two parties dating back decades, according to the Fox website.

Bypass Congress

Biden now wants Congress to approve an additional $14.3 billion in aid to Israel as part of a larger package that also includes aid to Ukraine that had been suspended. The Fox report stated that Biden recently “bypassed” Congress and sold tank ammunition to Israel worth $106 million.

Biden administration officials told CNN that they are not currently considering placing conditions on aid beyond those already in federal law. They added that the United States expects Israel to adhere to international humanitarian law and for the Israeli army to conduct internal legal reviews of its strikes in advance.

But some foreign policy experts believe that these existing legal conditions do not adequately apply to Israel given the high number of civilian deaths in Gaza.

This includes policies aimed at preventing weapons from being sent to Israel that might help commit violations of international humanitarian law, or to outside powers suspected of using US weapons to harm civilians.

Leahy's law

However, Fox draws attention to the fact that there is one law in particular that has recently received much attention from progressive Democrats, which is the “Leahy Law.”

These experts argue that the United States may be "shirking" its legal duty to ensure that aid to Israel is not used to violate human rights.

The Fox report says that the purpose of the Leahy Act - which was first passed by Congress in 1997 - is to prevent the United States from engaging in serious crimes committed by foreign security forces that it supports, by cutting off aid to a specific unit if the United States has reliable information that the unit You committed a serious crime.

No security forces, not even American ones, enjoy complete immunity from committing such violations, according to the report.

The news site quoted a US State Department spokesman - whose name was not mentioned - as saying that the Leahy Law applies to all countries, including Israel, and that the authorization granted meets the requirements stipulated in the law.

However, the report attributes some former administration officials and Congressional staff to saying that the law would not have been applied against Israel, despite what human rights experts - whether inside or outside the US government - have identified as objective evidence that Israel committed human rights violations before and during its current war in Gaza.

“Our government has acted as if the Leahy Act does not apply to (Israelis),” said Tim Riser, a senior adviser to former Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Va.) who was a key architect of the law. “As a result, there is a kind of culture of impunity where they can He did almost anything for the Palestinians without being held accountable.”

The Ministry of Health said on Monday that the Israeli occupation forces committed 25 massacres during the past 24 hours against entire families, leaving 250 dead and 500 injured.

Ministry of Health spokesman Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra reported that the toll of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on its 80th day had risen to 20,674 martyrs and 54,536 wounded.

During a press conference, he pointed to the Israeli occupation’s violations against the health system, which led to the death of 311 health personnel and the destruction of 102 ambulances and their removal from service.

He added, “Israeli violations against the health system led to the targeting of 141 health institutions and the withdrawal of 23 hospitals and 53 health centers from service.”

The Israeli occupation is still detaining 99 health personnel, including the directors of hospitals in northern Gaza, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, Dr. Ahmed Al-Kahlot, and Dr. Ahmed Muhanna, according to the health spokesman.

Al-Qudra confirmed that the occupation deliberately destroyed hospitals in northern Gaza and left 800,000 people without health services, pointing out that patients, pregnant women and infants are exposed to certain death.

He explained that medical teams are helpless in the face of hundreds of critical, dangerous and complex cases and severe burns due to the lack of the required therapeutic, human and clinical capabilities.

He continued, “The clinical occupancy rate in hospitals in the south reached 350%, and hundreds of wounded people are sleeping on the floor in departments and operating rooms.”

In a tragic and disastrous picture, Al-Qudra pointed out that medical teams are choosing between critical cases to save what can be saved, and dozens of lives are lost every day as a result of weak medical capabilities.

Al-Qudra described the health and humanitarian conditions in the shelter centers as having “reached catastrophic, catastrophic levels” for more than 1.8 million displaced people who are exposed to the risks of famine, extreme cold, and the spread of diseases and epidemics.

He pointed out that “900,000 children in shelter centers suffer from the risk of dehydration, famine, digestive and respiratory diseases, skin diseases, and anemia.”

He pointed to 50,000 pregnant women languishing in shelters without water, food, or any health care, adding, “About 180 women give birth every day in unsafe and inhumane conditions.”

He mentioned that 70% of kidney failure patients were exposed to the risks of bombing, displacement, and difficulty in accessing dialysis services, especially in northern Gaza.

He highlighted the reality that the wounded are experiencing, which has reached catastrophic levels, and there are accelerating complications in their health conditions and severe infections of wounds and burns that are difficult to heal.

He continued, "We are losing the lives of large numbers of wounded as a result of the lack of treatment in Gaza's hospitals."

Al-Qudra stressed that the mechanism used to send the wounded out for treatment abroad is “useless” and contributes to the killing of hundreds of them, calling for a new mechanism to ensure the exit of 5,000 thousand wounded as a priority and urgently to save their lives.

He called on all parties to take effective measures to ensure monitoring the flow of medical aid and fuel to all hospitals in the Gaza Strip without deadly Israeli restrictions on the wounded and sick.

Al-Qudra called on countries and health institutions around the world to provide field hospitals and specialized medical teams and reach Gaza to save the lives of the wounded.

He appealed to all international institutions to work immediately to operate Al-Shifa Medical Complex and hospitals in northern Gaza in order to save the lives of the wounded and sick.

Al-Qudra called on international institutions to move from describing the catastrophic reality of the displaced and warnings of its danger, to “finding effective and urgent mechanisms that guarantee their humanitarian intervention” to prevent disaster and famine by providing shelter, drinking water, personal hygiene, food, clothing, and blankets, and establishing medical points for the displaced in all their places of residence.

Read more via the Palestinian Information Center:

https://palinfo.com/news/2023/12/25/869104/

Today, Monday, the Israeli occupation forces arrested a number of workers and merchants from Jenin Governorate.

According to local sources, the occupation forces detained 17 workers and merchants from Jenin Governorate yesterday evening at the Barta’a military checkpoint, south of the governorate, after interrogating them. Today, they were transferred to Salem Camp and then to detention in Huwwara Camp, south of Nablus.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Amnesty International said that Israel is arresting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip en masse, without publishing information about where many of them are being held or why. They called, in separate statements, for urgent investigations into violations related to “forcible disappearances.”

The organization said in a statement that it had received many disturbing reports from northern Gaza about mass arrests, ill-treatment and forced disappearance of thousands of Palestinian men and boys, and a number of women and girls, at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces, most of whom were arrested while trying to move south or were arrested. He took them during operations on their homes, hospitals, schools and other places of refuge.

It is reported that among the detainees are children as young as 12 years old and people as old as 70 years old. What is most disturbing is that there are numerous reports that many of the detainees have been subjected to serious ill-treatment, which in some cases may reach the level of torture. This includes allegations that many were forced to strip except for their underwear, were blindfolded and handcuffed tightly, and photographed in deliberately humiliating positions before being transported, without clothes and with little food or water, to unknown places of detention. Reports also allege that the IDF instructed remaining civilians, usually women and children, to move south before their shelters were destroyed, in many cases resulting in multiple displacements. Reliable information has also been received indicating that approximately 140 women and girls have been arbitrarily detained and are currently being held in undisclosed locations.

The families of the detainees were not provided with any information about the fate or whereabouts of their loved ones or any reasons for their detention, which exacerbated their feelings of pain and fear.

The IDF claims that it only arrests Palestinians “affiliated with Hamas” and that it has “good reasons” to suspect all Palestinians who have remained in northern Gaza contrary to orders from the IDF to move south – raising concerns about collective punishment.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights notes that Israel's instructions to civilians to move to the south in no way exempt Israel from its obligations under international humanitarian law. There are still tens of thousands of civilians in northern Gaza, and Israel maintains its obligations to ensure their respect and protection. International humanitarian law requires that civilians be detained only for compelling security reasons. Torture and other ill-treatment, including outrages on personal dignity, are strictly prohibited under international law, regardless of the detainee's status.

Israel must take urgent steps to ensure that civilians are detained only under the law – and that all persons arrested or detained are treated humanely and with dignity, with full respect for their rights to due process. Israel must also implement measures to enable families of detained persons to access all available information about their fate and location. All cases of ill-treatment or torture of arrested or detained persons must be fully and transparently investigated, and if proven to have occurred, the necessary measures must be taken to ensure accountability and prevent their recurrence.

It is of grave concern that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has received an increasing number of reports of civilian killings, including apparent extrajudicial executions, in places of refuge, particularly schools. Such incidents may constitute war crimes and must be investigated immediately and fully.

The organization's statement indicates that on the morning of December 12, the Israeli Defense Forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, after several days of siege and bombing of the hospital. The hospital was reportedly hosting about 3,000 displaced people, in addition to patients and medical staff. The IDF reportedly detained between 1,000 and 1,200 Palestinians, mostly men and boys between 16 and 65 years of age, including medical staff, patients and internally displaced persons, and transferred them to an unknown destination. More than 70 medical personnel, including Dr. Ahmed Al-Kahlot, the general director of the hospital, are still detained.

On December 7, the Israeli occupation army reportedly stormed Beit Lahia mixed school, which was housing approximately 3,000 to 4,000 displaced people. The IDF arrested dozens of male Palestinians, including older men, boys and a well-known Palestinian journalist. The IDF then blindfolded the detainees and stripped them except for their underwear before forcing them to sit on the street outside despite the cold weather. After filming the detainees on video and taking photos, they were forced into trucks, still naked, and transported to unknown destinations. On December 9, footage of dozens of semi-naked Palestinian men surrounded by IDF tanks was published in the media. The IDF claimed that Hamas fighters were surrendering their weapons. The men were reportedly taken to an unknown destination, while the children and women were instructed to move south. Later, it was reported that IDF soldiers set fire to the school.

On 12 December, the World Health Organization expressed concern about the lengthy IDF screening operation and detention of a Palestine Red Crescent Society staff member during a joint mission to supply and evacuate Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza. The World Health Organization reported that one of the wounded Palestinians died while being transported to the south while the IDF obstructed the convoy's movement. The WHO also reported that the IDF arrested one of the mission's staff, an employee of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, and "forced him to kneel at gunpoint... (He was) taken out of sight, where he was reportedly harassed and beaten." He was stripped of his clothes and assaulted. He was released later that night, but “left to walk south with his hands tied behind his back, without clothes or shoes.”

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that tens of thousands of displaced people in hospitals in the Gaza Strip face the “risk of hunger,” which has reached “frightening proportions.”

He added in his blog post on the “X” platform, on Monday, that on December 23, he visited 4 hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including Al-Shifa Hospital, accompanied by other UN officials.

He stressed that there is a great need in the besieged hospitals in the Gaza Strip for medical equipment, food, drinking water, and beds for patients.

He warned of the consequences of "chronic hunger" that Gaza is currently witnessing, calling on the World Health Organization and its partners to increase their assistance in terms of drinking water and food.

He explained that Al-Shifa Hospital, “which was once one of the largest hospitals in Gaza,” now provides only first aid.

He pointed out that Al-Shifa Hospital hosts approximately 50,000 displaced Palestinians who face the risk of hunger, as he put it.

Ghebreyesus called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which is suffering from a collapse in the health system due to intense Israeli attacks.

Israel may well wipe out Christian presence in Gaza as part of its genocide, and Western leaders would not care less.

Since October 7, Israel and its allies have tried to put the war in Gaza within the “war on terror” framework, actively comparing Hamas to ISIS. Many who instinctively equate Palestinians with Muslims have indeed fallen for this false narrative. But the brutal war Israel has waged on Gaza has not targeted “only terrorists” as it has claimed. Instead, it has massacred Palestinian Muslims as well as Palestinian Christians in what legal scholars agree amounts to genocide. The Christian community in Gaza has lost at least 21 members so far. This may sound like a small number, but given they were only 1,000 before the war, these massacres threaten to eliminate the Christian presence in the strip for the first time in almost 2,000 years. Proportionally speaking, the death rate of Palestinian Christians is double that of the entire Palestinian population in Gaza. And yet, the leaders of Christian-majority countries in the West have remained shockingly silent on the plight of Palestinian Christians. United States President Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, has said and done nothing to protect fellow Catholics in Gaza, who have also been targeted by the Israeli army. This falls in line with decades of unwavering Western Christian support for the racist Israeli state, which has threatened the Christian presence in the holy lands for decades. 

A history of Christians targeted 

The Israeli onslaught against Palestinian Christians was taking place long before Hamas was even created. During the Nakba of 1948 when Jewish militias attacked Palestinian villages and towns, Palestinian Christians were targeted just like Palestinian Muslims. Christian Palestinians were forced out from Lydda (what Israelis call today Lod). Many ended up taking refuge in Ramallah, walking dozens of kilometers on foot while trying to avoid the brutal Jewish militants. In Jerusalem and other areas, Palestinians regardless of their faith were also expelled. Members of my own family – my dad, uncle and grandmother – had to flee for their lives. My aunt and her family who lived in the Musrara neighborhood sought refuge near the Notre Dame Catholic Chapel, thinking they would be safe there, but a Jewish sniper shot and killed her husband, leaving her a widow with seven young children.

The terror and dispossession did not stop even after the state of Israel was established. 

For example, residents of the two predominantly Palestinian Christian villages of Iqrit and Biram, which at the end of the Arab-Israeli War fell within northern Israel, were forced out in November 1948. They were told they could return “within two weeks”, but the Israeli state never allowed them to. In the following decades, the Palestinian Christians who remained within the territory Israel claimed faced the same apartheid regime that Palestinian Muslims did. They have been subjected to about 65 racist laws that deprive them of the same rights as Jewish citizens of Israel, according to research done by the Haifa-based Adalah NGO.

One of the earliest of these laws was the 1950 Law of Return, which enshrined the right of Jews to come to Israel, settle and automatically receive citizenship. It denied the same right to the expelled indigenous Palestinian population despite the fact that the United Nations had decreed in Resolution 194 that Palestinian should be allowed to return to their homeland and be compensated for the loss of their homes. More recently, the Knesset approved the Nation State Bill in 2018, which formally declares Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, thus further solidifying the legal iteration of Jewish supremacy. This emboldened even more the extremist elements within Israeli society and encouraged even more anti-Palestinian violence. 

Incidents of Jewish extremists harassing and intimidating Palestinian Christians, spitting on them and attacking their processions have spiked. Christian properties, including churches and cemeteries, have been targeted. Just days before Hamas’s October 7 attacks in southern Israel, a group of Jewish men and boys harassed a Christian procession carrying a cross, viciously spitting on them. A video of the incident went viral and caused international outrage, but clearly not among Western leaders. Repeated appeals from Christian church leaders for action on Jewish Israeli violence have fallen on deaf ears for years.

Western silence on Palestinian Christians’ plight

On October 17, just days after launching its brutal war on Gaza, Israel bombed the courtyard of the Christian-run Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds of people who had sought shelter there from its bombardment. The Israeli propaganda machine tried to blame the attack on the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but subsequent investigations confirmed that the “evidence” it had produced was fabricated. Two days later, the Israeli army bombed the nearby Church of St Porphyrius, the world’s third oldest church, killing at least 18 people. The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which runs the church, said many of those inside at the time were women and children. “Targeting churches and their institutions, in addition to the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens … constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored,” it said in a statement .But the targeting of Palestinian Christians continued. On December 16, two Palestinian women who had taken refuge in the Holy Family Catholic church in Gaza City were shot dead by an Israeli sniper. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said the two women were “shot in cold blood” while Pope Francis condemned the murder during his weekly Sunday homily.

British MP Layla Moran, who has relatives trapped in the same church, has said they have witnessed the Israeli army use white phosphorus against its compound in addition to targeting its solar panels, water tanks and generators, making life incredibly difficult for those taking shelter there. Over the past 80 days of war, Christian Palestinians have not stopped appealing to the world to take note of their plight and the plight of all Palestinians and take action to stop the genocide. A Palestinian Catholic mother published an appeal to Biden, calling on him to base his policies on his moral beliefs. “We are not children of a lesser God, Mr. President, we are the Palestinian Christians of the holy land where the message of love peace, and justice started, and we call upon you to stop this Genocide.” Leaders of the Palestinian Christian community also sent an open letter to Western church leaders and theologians in which they challenged “western theologians and church leaders who have voiced uncritical support for Israel and [called on] them to repent and change”. 

Unfortunately, these appeals have been completely ignored. 

Biden and other leaders of Western Christian-majority nations have demonstrated remarkable disregard for Palestinian lives – both Muslim and Christian. The US has repeatedly voted against ceasefire resolutions at the UN Security Council and blocked any attempts to pressure Israel to stop slaughtering Palestinians or even to marginally criticize it. Biden and his administration have indeed treated us, Palestinian Christians, as the children of a lesser God. He and other Western leaders who have backed Israel are fully responsible for the genocide of the Palestinian people. What they have done will not be forgotten.

Today we are not celebrating Christmas. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, is also not celebrating. All festivities have been cancelled as Palestinian Christians mourn the victims of the Israeli genocide.

What gives many hope in this dark time is the fact that despite Israeli brutality and Western silence, Muslim and Christian Palestinians stand as a united front. Israel has long deployed the divide and rule tactic on us, but in the past two months and a half, we have demonstrated that our unity is stronger than ever in the face of Israeli colonial violence and racism.

Source: Aljazeera

On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen refused to extend the residence permit of a UN employee and rejected another visa application, in objection to the United Nations’ positions on the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip that has been ongoing for 80 days and has led to the death of more than 20,000 Palestinians.

Cohen said in a tweet: “I issued instructions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs not to extend the residence visa of one of the employees of the organization (UN Women) in Israel, and to reject the visa application for another employee.”

The Israeli minister considered that the behavior of the United Nations since October 7 “constitutes a disgrace to the organization and the international community,” as he put it.

He continued: “Starting with Secretary-General António Guterres, who legitimized war crimes and crimes against humanity, through the Commissioner for Human Rights, who spreads bloody, undocumented conspiracies, all the way to the United Nations Women’s Organization, which for two months ignored acts of rape against Israeli women,” according to his claim.

Cohen pointed out, saying: “We will stop working with those who cooperate with the propaganda carried out by the Hamas organization,” adding: “Stop remaining silent in the face of the hypocrisy of the United Nations,” as he put it.

UN employees working in the Palestinian territories are required to obtain Israeli visas to enter the occupied territories.

Since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7, Israel has directed sharp criticism at the United Nations agencies, led by its Secretary-General, António Guterres, because of his positions rejecting the war and his repeatedly calling for an immediate ceasefire.

During the aggression on Gaza, more than 130 United Nations employees were murdered as a result of the Israeli bombing, according to what officials in the organization announced.

Last Friday, after the Security Council approved the expansion of humanitarian aid to Gaza, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres confirmed that the Israeli aggression is “the real problem... and there are major obstacles” to the delivery of aid.

"Many people measure the effectiveness of humanitarian operations in Gaza based on the number of trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent, the United Nations and our partners allowed to cross the border. This is wrong," Guterres said.

He also expressed "deep disappointment at the statements of senior Israeli officials questioning the two-state solution."

Guterres said, "Despite how difficult it seems today, the two-state solution, in accordance with United Nations resolutions, international law and previous agreements, is the only path to lasting peace."

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor documented, in a preliminary file submitted to special rapporteurs of the United Nations and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, dozens of cases of field executions carried out by the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza Strip, calling for their immediate investigation to hold the perpetrators accountable and provide justice to the victims.

Euro-Med - according to a statement today, Monday - submitted the initial file to Mr. Maurice Tidball Benz, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial or arbitrary executions, and Ms. Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since In 1967, Ms. Navanethem Pillai, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and Mr. Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the Criminal Court.

Euro-Med urged the aforementioned parties to declare a position on all the widespread killing operations carried out by Israeli forces targeting Palestinian civilians, especially executions and physical liquidations in the Gaza Strip.

Euro-Med called for the announcement of the formation of an international legal team, and exercising pressure to ensure its access to the Gaza Strip, and the opening of an investigation into these and other incidents of killing and physical liquidation of Palestinian civilians.

Euro-Med urged the aforementioned parties to take serious action with the international community for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to ensure an end to the ongoing killings without military necessity, leading to the opening of a criminal investigation into all the horrific violations that occurred to achieve accountability and justice.

The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory documented the Israeli occupation army carrying out dozens of direct executions and physical liquidations by shooting or shelling against civilians, without any military necessity, about 10 days after the start of the Israeli army’s ground attack in the Gaza Strip, on October 27, coinciding with the continued of its comprehensive military attack, which began on the seventh of the same month.

It stressed that this - in addition to the intense air and artillery attacks - came as a form of revenge after the armed attack carried out by Palestinian factions in the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip.

Euro-Med highlighted the death of more than 28,000 Palestinians since the start of the Israeli genocidal attacks in the Gaza Strip, including those who have been counted so far who are still under the rubble of destroyed buildings, while children and women constitute about 70%. Thus, Palestinian casualties are the highest rate of civilian casualties in the world in the twenty-first century.

In the legal file, the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory reviewed a group of extrajudicial execution crimes and liquidations carried out by Israeli forces during their ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, as follows:

December 22, 2023: An execution was carried out against six civilians from one family when Israeli forces raided their home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, and opened fire on them without any justification. The victims of this execution were “Raed Abd Rabbuh Al-Khalidi,” “Amjad Abd Rabbuh Al-Khalidi,” “Ahmed Faisal Al-Khalidi,” “Hamid Muhammad Al-Khalidi,” “Moamen Raed Al-Khalidi,” and “Muhammad Zuhair Al-Khalidi.” While four others were injured, including a woman and her son.

December 21, 2023: Akram Abu Hasira and his wife, who were elderly, were killed after Israeli forces took them out of their home on Yarmouk Street in Gaza City. The soldiers shot them and left them to bleed to death, before burning their house and their families were able to transport and bury them after the Israeli forces retreated from the region, according to what their son, Mahmoud Abu Hasira, reported.

December 13, 2023: The elderly person, “Ahmed Suleiman Hassan Muhammad Abdel-Al” (60 years old), who was suffering from a psychological illness, was killed in his home in Jabalia camp, after he was exposed to gunfire from Israeli forces, after they stormed the camp and then the house after the Yemeni hospital was besieged for several days. 

December 13, 2023: Euro-Med received testimony about the execution by Israeli army forces of nine civilians, including children, inside a shelter center at the “Shadia Abu Ghazaleh” school in Jabalia. In his testimony about what happened, the elderly person, “Youssef Khalil,” told Euro-Med that after the Israeli forces stormed the school, two soldiers opened direct fire on his family members while they were in one of the classrooms. “Khalil” stated that after his family members were liquidated, Israeli forces arrested him and others for several days, during which he was beaten and tortured, before he was later released. After the Israeli forces withdrew from the vicinity of the school where they were stationed for a week, Khalil returned to the school to find the bodies of his family members nearly decomposed. Among the victims were a woman, her husband, and several of their children. Video clips from the school monitored by the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory, filmed from December 13 to 15, showed destroyed classrooms, at least two bodies on the floor, a number of bodies of people, including a woman, a mattress soaked in blood, bullet holes, and bloodstains on the floor.

December 10, 2023: Israeli forces executed an elderly person, “Nawaf Muhammad Musa Al-Zaanin,” while evacuating the “Awni Al-Harthani” school in the Beit Lahia project in northern Gaza. The elderly man, “Al-Zaanin,” is a resident of the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. He and his family were displaced several times until Israeli forces stormed the school in which they took refuge and he was executed by a direct bullet to the head.

December 10, 2023: Israeli forces executed “Munir Fadl Ali Al-Najjar” (41 years old) after direct fire was directed at him while he was with his elderly mother (74 years old) in a house in the Jabalia camp. They wounded him in the neck and he continued to bleed to death while he was next to his mother. The elderly man was a civilian and had injured his foot since he was a child. The Israeli forces did not allow his brother, “Sami,” who works for a United Nations agency, to remove his brother’s body from the room, and subjected him to interrogation in the house, and he remained until the forces withdrew, a day later, when they turned the house into a barracks to interrogate civilians.

December 8, 2023: The elderly “Abdel Nasser Khader” Haboub (62 years old) was killed after he was subjected to field execution by an artillery shell fired by Israeli forces towards him shortly after his release after two days of detention, and “Ahmed Hamdi Abu Absa” (38 years old), was killed with him who is the dean of Faculty of Information Technology at the University of Palestine. An eyewitness told Euro-Med: that Haboob and his family took refuge in the Holy Family School after an Israeli bombing of a house where they were taking refuge after they had been displaced from their home before, following a previous bombing in Gaza City. The day after their arrival at the school, Israeli forces stormed it and arrested all the men and some women. They then stripped the men and took them to an unknown destination.

After midnight on December 10, the Israeli forces released some elderly people and a group of detainees while they were naked, then targeted them several minutes later with a tank shell and a Quadcopter flying over them, which led to the death of the elderly “Habob” and the academic “Ahmed Abu Absa ” who accompanied him.”

November 11, 2023: Israeli army forces executed “Muhammad Eid Shabir” (77 years old), the former president of the Islamic University in Gaza, along with his wife, “Rehab Muhammad Shabir” (74 years old), after they left a relative’s house that was bombed in Gaza City. His daughter told Euro-Med: “Israeli planes bombed my aunt’s house on Abu Hasira Street in Gaza, killing 5 civilians, and saving 15, the majority of whom were women and children.” Among them were my parents and my brother’s wife, “Najat Ayoub Al-Helu,” and my nephew, “Muhammad Malek Shabir.” They came out alive, fleeing into the street. My mother sent a distress message, and my father’s voice was heard after the bombing, calling for one of his grandchildren. After more than 24 hours, the army forced the survivors to evacuate the place and walk to Al-Shifa Hospital. Among them were some wounded and elderly people, leaving the bodies of the dead under the rubble. On the way, those who went out saw my brother's wife and nephew killed in the street. After the start of the truce on November 25, my parents were found in the street on the opposite road to Shifa, dead bodies after they had been shot by an army sniper.”

November 10, 2023: Israeli forces executed the elderly “Bashir Hajji” (71 years old), a resident of the Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, while he was crossing the main “Salah al-Din” road, after the Israeli army published a photo showing one of its soldiers talking to him to claim that he was helping Palestinian civilians and providing Protection for them during their displacement.

The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory confirmed that the aforementioned victims are part of other victims whose killings were directly documented without justification, while Euro-Mediterranean crews continue to document and prepare comprehensive files on the circumstances of their arbitrary, extrajudicial, and unnecessary killing by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.

Euro-Med stressed that these executions and liquidations carried out by Israeli forces violate international standards and violate the right to life stipulated in Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It also violates Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that the right to life is an inherent right of every human being, that “the law shall protect” this right, and that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to life.”

Accordingly, the Euro-Mediterranean Monitor called on the rapporteurs at the United Nations and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to investigate the violations documented above and other war crimes committed by Israel against civilians in the Gaza Strip, and to bring everyone who issued and implemented the orders to justice.

Pope Francis condemned the "desperate humanitarian situation" and called for an end to military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday: “I appeal to the military operations and their horrific consequences, with innocent civilian casualties, to stop. I ask that the desperate humanitarian situation be addressed by allowing aid to arrive.”

He added to thousands of believers who gathered in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican, "Stop fueling violence and hatred, and move towards resolving the Palestinian issue, through an honest and continuous dialogue between the two parties, supported by a strong political will and the support of the international community."

In an infinite toll, the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since the 7th of last October has resulted in the death of 20,258 citizens and the wounding of about 53,688 citizens, more than 70% of whom are women and children.

ActionAid Palestine said that tens of thousands of pregnant women are suffering from severe hunger due to the escalating food crisis in Gaza, and mothers are also suffering from malnutrition, which limits their ability to breastfeed their newborns.

ActionAid added in a statement issued today, Monday, that 71% of the population of Gaza currently suffers from acute hunger, while 98% of the population does not have enough food, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory.

It pointed out that this crisis affects pregnant women, mothers and their young children severely, indicating that there are 50,000 pregnant women and 68,000 breastfeeding women in Gaza, according to recent United Nations data, and they need immediate life-saving preventive, therapeutic and nutritional interventions, and 7,685 children at the age of five suffers from life-threatening wasting, making them vulnerable to delayed growth, illness, and death in severe cases, while more than 4,000 children are classified as suffering from severe wasting, and they need life-saving treatment.

It explained that the average amount of water that one person in the Gaza Strip receives is 1.5 liters per day to cover all his needs for drinking, bathing, and cleaning, although the minimum that one person needs is 15 liters to survive, but pregnant and breastfeeding women also need 7.5. additional liters of drinking water daily to maintain their health and the health of their children.

Action Aid reported the case of a mother (Khitam) of five children, including a newborn, who was displaced to a school in Deir al-Balah, and does not have food to feed her children, saying: “There is no water or food to eat. My little daughter suffers from a skin rash due to lack of hygiene.” "Here, our situation is very difficult. How can we drink water? We wonder if there is enough for us and the children? Of course not! There is no clean water. We can barely make ends meet. I also have four other children who have wanted to eat since the morning, but there is no bread."

Khitam, who was displaced from her home due to the bombing just two days after she gave birth, adds, “Evacuation orders were issued just two days after I gave birth. I was very tired in the postpartum stage after I left the hospital with continued bleeding. I was carrying my daughter. We were walking under missiles and bombing.” We sit and relax for a while on the sidewalk and the streets.”

ActionAid Palestine pointed out that despite the enormous needs in the Gaza Strip, the amount of aid entering the Strip is still not sufficient at all. An average of 100 trucks of humanitarian supplies are currently entering through the Rafah crossing every day, and despite the opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing last week, but only 79 trucks entered the day after it opened, a drop in the ocean compared to the 500 trucks of aid and other supplies that entered the Gaza Strip every day before October 7.

Reham Jaafari, communications and advocacy officer at ActionAid Palestine, said: “We do not have words to describe the extent of the horror that the residents of the Gaza Strip are enduring. All residents suffer from hunger, but pregnant and breastfeeding women and their children suffer the most. The stories we hear are horrific. Mothers are forced to watch their children helplessly screaming and crying from hunger, and they are completely unable to do anything.”

She added: "Things may get terribly worse. There is no time to waste. Every day hundreds of people die in Gaza due to bombing, and soon hundreds will also die from hunger and disease. Only an immediate and permanent ceasefire will prevent any more deaths from occurring at all." 

Red Crescent spokesman Abdul Jalil Hanjal said that the Red Crescent’s crews receive dozens of reports daily about the presence of dead and wounded, especially in the northern and central areas of the Gaza Strip, which are subject to continuous bombardment by occupation aircraft and artillery, and are inaccessible due to the seriousness of the field conditions.

Hanjal explained in an interview with Voice of Palestine Radio today, Monday, that the occupation forces killed 310 medical personnel and arrested 99 others, the last of whom were 8 from the Red Crescent at the Jabalia Ambulance Center, and nothing has been known about them for five days, in addition to arresting the director of the Crescent Center in Khan Younes 35 days ago and there is no information about him yet.

He added that the occupation forces targeted 102 ambulances and damaged 59 other vehicles as a result of the continued aggression for the eightieth day in a row.

In an infinite toll, the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since the 7th of last October has resulted in the death of 20,258 citizens and the wounding of about 53,688 citizens, more than 70% of whom are women and children.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, said that the genocide currently taking place in the Gaza Strip is taking place with the permission of the world.

This came in her blog post, today, Monday, on the “X” platform, commenting on the accusation that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights accused Israel of “extrajudicial execution” of 11 unarmed Palestinians in front of their families, in the Al-Rimal neighborhood in the Gaza Strip.

The UN rapporteur added that what is happening in the Gaza Strip "is no different from other massacres committed (around the world) against civilians."

She continued: "Genocide is not a single act, but rather a process that extends over stages and must be obstructed."

She stressed that the genocide currently taking place in Gaza is being committed with the permission of the world and in full view of it.

Albanese explained that the genocide and massacres committed against children in Gaza are carried out by “mercenaries” coming from France, the United States, Britain, Ukraine, Italy, Germany, South Africa and India.

She added: "But no one describes these people as foreign terrorists."

She called for pressure on the judiciary in countries that send fighters who commit war crimes to other countries, including occupied Palestine, to try them and hold them accountable for what they committed.

In an infinite outcome, the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since the 7th of last October has resulted in the death of 20,424 citizens and the wounding of about 54,036 citizens, more than 70% of whom are women and children.

On Monday, the Hebrew newspaper "Haaretz" revealed a deal between US President Joe Biden and the head of the Israeli occupation government, Benjamin Netanyahu, allowing the continuation of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip as long as humanitarian aid continues to enter it.

According to what military analyst Amos Harel wrote, as long as humanitarian aid continues, Washington will not pressure Israel to reduce the war on the Gaza Strip, but at the same time he pointed out that it is not certain that this will serve the Israeli interest in light of the large losses among the ranks of the occupation soldiers. .

Early expectations, in Washington and to some extent in Tel Aviv, were that the Biden administration might demand that Israel end the intensive ground operation in the Gaza Strip by the end of this December, and that the American side would allow at most a few more weeks of fighting in its current form.

Harel indicated that the US administration will work in a reduced manner during the Christmas period, and if nothing exceptional happens during the war in the Gaza Strip in the coming days, the Americans will not ask Israel to stop.

He continued, saying that the deal between Biden and Netanyahu, which stipulates the continuation of the war in exchange for the entry of aid, allows Israel more time in its current method of war.

The writer pointed out that the United States had aborted last weekend a resolution in the United Nations Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire, in exchange for Netanyahu’s response to American demands to ensure the entry of large humanitarian aid into the sector, which is facing a very large humanitarian crisis.

He added that the American President, who justifies the Israeli response to the attack of last October 7, and supports the destruction of the Hamas authority, is in turn hindering the ceasefire, indicating that the Americans are not in a hurry to change the current form of the Israeli war, in the direction of reducing forces and reducing the areas in which the army is present in the Strip and the gradual transition to the method of raids, as long as aid continues to enter.

But at the same time, he pointed to two fundamental “weaknesses” in light of the current situation, claiming that humanitarian aid also helps Hamas, as it not only reduces pressure on it from civilians, but also benefits from fuel for tunnel ventilation systems and food. For the sake of its elements, he also stated that he is not confident that delaying changing the current form of war serves the Israeli interest.

He stated in this context that there are officials at the political level, as well as in the staff of the occupation army, who believe that there is a need to change the way the war is managed in the Gaza Strip as soon as possible, in light of the heavy losses in the lives of soldiers who are killed during the battles.

Netanyahu is accused of misleading the Israelis

There is also debate about whether the slow and methodical searches behind tunnels and weapons actually bring the declared goals of the war closer, including eliminating Hamas's capabilities and creating conditions for the return of Israeli detainees.

The writer believes that Netanyahu continues to mislead the public in Israel, as if the Israeli army is moving quickly towards achieving victory in the Gaza Strip without any obstacles.

Yesterday, Netanyahu pledged that Israel would continue its war on Hamas until achieving an “overwhelming victory,” while the Chief of the Strategic Department of the General Staff, General Eliezer Toldano, told the ministers, “This is a war that will continue for several more months. We will have to run an economy with weapons. We do not skimp on ammunition in war and do everything necessary to protect the lives of our soldiers."

The Israeli right, especially among its settler and religious wings, continues to openly fantasize about displacing the population of the Gaza Strip under the burden of war. In parallel with the normalization of calls demanding the killing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, it is expected that prominent voices in the Jewish settlement camp will rise, angry at Netanyahu because he ostensibly negotiated with the Americans on the issue of transferring responsibility for the Gaza Strip [instead of displacing its residents], at a time when these voices celebrate With the scenes of displacement that come from the Strip. We are forbidden from falling into this trap, if not for moral reasons, then at least because, from a practical standpoint, this is nothing but utter nonsense.

First, Israel cannot tolerate forced deportation of this kind, because the international community will not tolerate it. The current war has taught us an important lesson about how much Israel needs the support of the United States and other Western countries in order to remain safe. This support is available to Israel for various reasons, one of which is that Israel belongs to the “right family” of countries. Mass displacement in China or Russia may be considered possible in the 21st century, but the international community, to which we prefer to belong, refuses to do such things. Whoever carries out such matters does not receive a grant in the form of an airlift of ammunition and two aircraft carriers to protect him personally. Rather, what happens is that sanctions and ostracism are imposed on him.

The matter would have been tolerable if such illusions had remained, confined to the internal meetings of the editorial board of Channel 14 [known for its right-wing], or the management of the settlers’ council in the West Bank. But the insistence on dragging us all in the direction of a discourse that seems serious about the issue of displacement harms Israel and the “just war” that we launched in Gaza. Any satirical real estate announcement about a [settlement] housing project in the Gaza Strip is completely similar to the call to drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza [the Israeli Heritage Minister’s call to drop a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip, published in our bulletin on 11/5/2023], or a political document issued from one of the ministries, [the position paper issued by the Israeli Ministry of Intelligence, published by the Institute for Palestine Studies on 10/31/2023], is translated almost automatically, and is taken seriously outside Israel. The result is a reduction in the time given to fighting, and with it a reduction in the ability to bring Hamas to its knees and recover the kidnapped.

It goes without saying that, even if we are not punished or excluded, we should not deport Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The idea of forcing two million people to board ships, planes and buses (whose buses? Who will pay their fares?) without having a specific destination will not make the two million displaced people stop longing to return to their country, as they have not stopped doing so over the past 75 years. If there is anyone who knows that the people do not forget their homeland from which they were easily removed, it is us, the Jews.

I do not think that anyone observed this immediate and smooth transition in the statements of the Israeli right, from saying, “The Nakba did not happen in the first place,” to declaring that “The Nakba must be committed again.” The first statement was, at least to some extent, an expression of a sound moral feeling that the mass and intentional displacement of civilian populations should not be boasted about. As a people who have been expelled, time after time, throughout history, it is our right and our duty to protect ourselves from attempts to revoke our right to exist. In the same context, when we have a national homeland, we must renounce attempts to permanently displace millions of men, women and children from their homes.

The moral response of those calling for the Nakba is to say that Palestinians must be encouraged to emigrate, because it is in their interest. The proponents of this statement are trying to convey an objectionable message. It is true that it is forbidden to prevent Palestinians who wish to leave their homeland from fulfilling their desire. There are Palestinians who prefer to leave their country, just as there are Israelis who want to leave the country and immigrate abroad. But it is enough to imagine how we would feel if there was a Saudi project to pay a huge sum to every Jew who preferred to immigrate to Singapore, for us to realize that this innocent proposal to encourage immigration is not innocent when it turns into a political plan.

The right, which claims that it alone is realistic, but focuses on the disappearance of millions of Palestinians and the establishment of settlements in the lands from which they will flee, only proves that it is a camp that lives in illusion.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is primarily responsible for the widespread security and political failure that led to the October 7 “massacre” and the outbreak of war. The thousands who demonstrated at the end of every Saturday in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Caesarea, and who demanded his resignation from his position as prime minister, prove that the conditions are ripe for the resumption of protest and the expansion of its ranks.

There is nothing more valid than protesting against Netanyahu, now, and in times of war. There is nothing more right than calling for his removal, now, and in times of war. The shock that the country experienced at Simhat HaTorah, which marked a turning point in the history of the State of Israel, is the reason for curbing the protest against Netanyahu.

It is no coincidence that Netanyahu refuses to bear responsibility for the disaster that befell the State of Israel. His rejection represents the essence of his character. It is proven by his behavior that he tries to take advantage of the wartime in order to prepare politically for the “next day” in order to consolidate the narrative that holds the army, intelligence, and Shin Bet responsible for their negligence, and that the only theory that collapsed is the Oslo theory, and that the accused are Yitzhak Rabin and those who followed in his path, and the protest against him, of course.

All this without saying a single word about the judicial coup that he pushed forward, in the service of the Kahanist extreme right, which thirsts for Jewish annexation and supremacy, and which Netanyahu himself encouraged in an unprecedented way.

On October 7, the “protector of Israel” turned out to be a scarecrow. Everything Netanyahu said turned out to be just bragging. Not only did he succeed in ignoring the Palestinian conflict, but the State of Israel appeared naked during his long years of rule, which were longer than any other prime minister, even the Ben-Gurion governments. It is not surprising that there were those who described the situation on October 7 in the cover settlements as a vacuum: there was no state, no army, and no one came.

The state did not exist because Netanyahu eliminated it. For years, he convinced everyone that he was the homeland, and put himself before its interests and the interests of the public and the future, and when the time came, the truth became clear: there is nothing.

Two and a half months after the start of the war, it is clear to everyone that Israeli citizens do not have the luxury of surrendering to the shock that has befallen them and allowing Netanyahu to continue his rule. Because the one who destroyed cannot be the one who will repair. It is time to demand that the person who caused this catastrophe to the State of Israel vacate his position and allow others to repair what he destroyed.

The Hebrew Broadcasting Authority revealed, on Monday, that Israel is considering a settlement that would require the deportation of Hamas leaders abroad, with the aim of ending the war that has been ongoing in the Gaza Strip for more than two months.

The commission said: “Israel is studying the possibility of transferring Hamas’ leadership abroad, as part of a settlement aimed at ending the war in the Gaza Strip.”

The authority quoted an Israeli source familiar with the details of the ongoing deliberations in this regard, saying: “There is no concrete proposal on the table at this stage, but this possibility is under discussion.”

According to the source, discussion of this issue is possible “provided that it does not harm the goal set by the Israeli mini-ministerial council for security and political affairs (the cabinet), which is to eliminate the authoritarian and military capabilities of the Hamas movement.”

The Commission did not reveal the names of the Hamas leaders it intends to deport, or the country to which they are expected to be deported, but it explained that “while there are leaders of the Hamas movement in Gaza, there are also leaders in Qatar, Lebanon, and other countries.”

On Sunday evening, the Broadcasting Corporation began circulating news about the deportation of Hamas leaders in exchange for ending the war, which is considered a clear reduction of the Israeli ambition after eliminating the movement and its leaders was a priority during the war in which Tel Aviv suffered many material and human losses.

Commenting on this, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir said in a tweet on Sunday evening: “With (the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar) and (the leader of the military wing of Hamas, Muhammad Al-Deif), there is only one solution, which is to liquidate them!” Not deportation or negotiation.”

The number of Israeli soldiers and officers killed since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip and Hamas’ implementation of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7 has reached 489, the Israeli army announced on Monday morning.

The Israeli government has repeatedly repeated that one of the goals of its war on Gaza is to liquidate the leaders of Hamas, the first of whom are Al-Deif and Al-Sanwar, and it has allocated material rewards to those who provide information indicating their locations and achieving this.

As of Monday morning, Hamas had not commented on this report.

Yesterday, Sunday, the Israeli government approved the allocation of 75 million shekels ($20 million) to secure illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank, in conjunction with the campaign of raids and arrests it launches throughout the West Bank, and the violent aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip.

At its weekly meeting yesterday, the Israeli government approved Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s proposal to allocate 75 million shekels for the security aspects of the illegal settlements in the West Bank, which are known as “young settlements,” according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Recently, many Israeli officials have faced criticism for continuing to allocate funds to settlement outposts during the war.

The term "settlement outposts" refers to small settlements established by settlers on Palestinian land without official approval from the Israeli government.

Source: Al Jazeera

From yesterday evening until Monday morning, the Israeli occupation forces arrested at least (35) citizens from the West Bank, including children, with the continuation of systematic arrests and the comprehensive aggression launched by the occupation against our people.

The authority and the club said that the arrests were concentrated in the Jenin governorate, while the rest of the arrests were distributed in the governorates of: Bethlehem, Hebron, Ramallah, Tulkarm, Jericho, Tubas, and Jerusalem.

In addition to the arrests that were recorded, the occupation, since dawn today, continues to storm the town of Burqa/Nablus, and carries out field investigations with dozens of citizens, in addition to the ongoing raids on citizens’ homes, accompanied by widespread sabotage and destruction operations, and it has not been possible to confirm who the occupation has kept in detention. Until now.

It is noteworthy that the total number of arrests after October 7 amounted to about (4,730), and this total includes those who were arrested from homes, through military checkpoints, those who were forced to surrender themselves under pressure, and those who were held hostage.

Note that, in recent times, the occupation forces have been focusing on field investigation operations, where they arrest many citizens, with the aim of investigating them on the ground, and then release them later, after carrying out acts of abuse and torture against them.