US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken returned - today, Monday - to Israel on a visit, the second of its kind within days, after an Arab tour during which he sought to rally support against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

Blinken's plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, and he is scheduled to meet with the head of the emergency government, Benjamin Netanyahu, and other officials, as part of what Washington says are efforts to reduce tensions and prevent further escalation in Gaza.

This is Blinken's second visit, while Hebrew media reported that US President Joe Biden may visit Israel on Wednesday or Thursday.

An informed source also reported yesterday that American and Israeli officials are discussing the possibility of Biden visiting Israel soon at the invitation of the Prime Minister.

Netanyahu invited Biden to visit Israel, praising his support for responding to the Al-Aqsa Flood operation launched by the Palestinian resistance on October 7.

Source: Al Jazeera

The Israeli government’s demand that more than one million Palestinians leave their homes in northern Gaza and flee south has horrific echoes of the past.

I worked as a journalist in the region in the 1990s, and in recent years I have spent a great deal of time in Gaza and Israel, researching the history of Gaza’s 2.3 million refugees. Almost everyone in Gaza is a refugee from one of 200 Arab villages, then in southern Palestine, that were destroyed by Israeli forces in 1948 when the Jewish state came into being. What remains of some of these villages lies within 10 miles of the Gaza boundary. Some refugees can even see their land through the fence.

The first phase of Israel’s revenge for Hamas’s atrocities – the intense aerial bombardment of the past few days – was easy to predict. Every innocent Palestinian in Gaza was bound to pay the appalling price, and thousands already have.

However, I did not predict that this time the west would not only let it happen – as it has several times before – but cheer Israel on, sending arms and effectively promising impunity from international law, abandoning the Palestinians to their plight.

With the green light from Israel’s allies, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Friday that 1.1 million Gazans were to be “evacuated” from the north to the south of Gaza. Netanyahu wants us to believe his prime concern is to keep civilians out of danger during the expected ground invasion from the north, which is presumably how he plans to finally “crush” Hamas. Such empty claims – at the time of writing, 1,800 Palestinians have already been killed – are made in the hope of immunizing Israel against accusations of war crimes. Driving one million people south will cause ever more horror, and we all know by now that there is no safe place for civilians to flee to or to shelter.

When Israeli forces “cleansed” the nearby villages in 1948, the process started with the same psychological warfare we see today, warnings to flee, the dropping of leaflets, and threats of what might happen if they didn’t. Villages were generally shelled before ground troops went in; many civilians were killed, and there were massacres. The village was usually surrounded, with one exit left open for Palestinians to flee through. 

Survivors eventually went to the Gaza Strip, as it was deemed a safe area. United Nations Resolution 194, passed in December 1948, granted them a right to return. Israel refused.

If Netanyahu continues with his “evacuation” plan, history and events on the ground tell us that after the warnings and bombings we are already seeing, the refugees will flee, as they did in 1948. The one potential exit for them is into Egypt. Although Egypt is strongly opposed to accepting refugees, knowing it would be collaborating in permanent ethnic cleansing, this could change if the humanitarian crisis at its borders escalates. If Gazans do indeed flood over into the Sinai, they may not be allowed back.

The risks for Netanyahu are huge, not least because of the Israeli hostages inside Gaza. But given that his political future looks almost certainly over anyway, he may calculate that he has nothing to lose. And the Israeli right has long pressed for expelling Gaza’s population into the Sinai.

In other words, should the west and other influential actors not move to halt this “evacuation”, a process of ethnic cleansing could be under way, bringing with it the risks of a regional conflagration.

As with Israel’s expulsions in 1948, today’s leadership will then project a narrative saying that there is no safe future for Israel unless the entire population of Gaza is permanently expelled. Negotiation will then begin about whether the refugees have a right to return to Gaza, which was already a place of exile.

This scenario may sound overly apocalyptic, but as Palestinian refugees know only too well, it is not. Israel has long hoped that the story of its ethnic cleansing of Palestinian villages of 1948 would be forgotten. From the first days of the 1948 flight, Israel devised its own narrative of those events, claiming the Palestinians fled under orders of the Arab leadership. When they tried to return to their villages after the war, they were labeled “infiltrators” and then “terrorists”.

Since Israel and Egypt blockaded Gaza in 2006-7, cutting it off from the world, Israel has seen reason to hope that the story of 1948 would remain hidden, too. Archives have been blocked, and the last remains of villages destroyed. But many Gazans today not only remember 1948, but feel as if they are back in it.

I have spoken to friends inside the strip who say they are determined not to be uprooted a second time, and that they would rather stay put in their houses and die there.

“I will not move. I will be killed in my house with my family,” one mother, Adalah, who lives in central Gaza, told me. Their house sits on the beach with a view out to sea, where Israeli gunboats patrol. Adalah told me she had gathered all her family in the house so they could die together.

Source: The Guardian

Sarah Helm is a former Middle East correspondent and diplomatic editor of the Independent

This week, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) issued a statement on “terrorist attacks in Israel” and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) followed suit with a similar statement. These are disappointingly one-eyed condemnations, as they make no reference to the 75-year-old Israeli occupation of Palestine. years and many atrocities committed against Palestinians throughout this period.

While the American Psychiatric Association portrays Palestinian resistance as “anti-Semitism and terrorism,” the right of the occupied people to resist is legal under international law and, like mental health itself, a fundamental human right.

The horrific imbalance in the declared positions of the two associations reflects a serious lack of awareness or willful neglect of the physical and psychological health effects of the occupation, especially the impact of the prolonged siege of Gaza, on Palestinians.

By failing to address the long-term suffering of Palestinians and standing unequivocally with the Israeli occupier, the two associations violated their principles of neutrality and revealed their lack of commitment to meeting the mental health needs of all people equally.

The statements of the most prominent psychiatric associations in the world ignore the historical context, the besieged population of Gaza, half of which is children, and do not mention the horrific bombing of the small Strip or what many rights groups now call genocide against the Palestinians.

In the same vein, the statements completely ignore the psychological impact and trauma even though human rights organizations have documented inhumane conditions for many years, including reports by Physicians for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Save the Children, and others.

In its brutal campaign of collective punishment, Israel has cut off food, fuel, electricity, water and medical supplies, displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been forced to flee their homes.

A third of the more than 2,400 Palestinians killed and nearly 12,000 injured so far in Gaza are children, yet their lives are apparently not worthy of being mentioned by the Society for Children and Adolescents.

Even in its tepid statement on the current “crisis” in Gaza, the association cannot express “mourning” for the children who were killed, and only faint concern about the traumatic “images” to which children may be exposed, despite the young teenagers being forced to It endures five Israeli wars on Gaza, which resulted in huge numbers of civilian deaths, during the past decade and a half.

Aside from the horrific violence, Gaza has been exhausted by the crippling 16-year blockade, which has turned Gaza into an open-air prison with the highest population density. In the past few days, Israel has ordered more than a million people to evacuate without providing them anywhere to go.

The concerns of mental health professionals must include all people equally. Who better than mental health professionals to understand the importance of freedom for all human beings? Otherwise, the only explanation for such apparent double standards is that the American Psychiatric Association and the American Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Association have fully embraced the official Israeli narrative and cannot see Palestinians as human beings.

These statements further dehumanize Palestinians by ignoring the ongoing mental health challenges and collective trauma resulting from decades of oppression, ongoing violence, humiliation, and injustice imposed by the occupation. The bombing of Palestinian schools, ambulances and hospitals – including Gaza’s only psychiatric hospital – which took place on Friday morning, as I learned from its director and colleague Dr Abdullah Al-Jamal, is just one example of these recurring harms.

Such statements by medical organizations - which are allegedly not a political lobby - further inflame public sentiment and promote dangerous propaganda supporting Israel's acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Instead, the two associations could have done better in the face of the vicious lies spread by the US government and the media, including the vicious slander of “headless children” that has since been debunked. If these organizations were truly concerned with the well-being of civilians or children, they could have objected to the massive arsenal of US military aid to Israel, which helps Israel implement its genocidal plans against the Palestinians.

The American Psychiatric Association and the American Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Association could have served the people of Israel better by helping them to make sense of what happened, internalizing it in their experience as occupiers, and helping them to shed their arrogant attitudes and sense of entitlement. They can also help stop future violence by recognizing the legitimate struggle of Palestinians to live in freedom and dignity and recognizing that where there is oppression, there will be resistance.

A more balanced and compassionate approach is necessary – one that acknowledges mental health struggles on both sides and calls for a fair solution for both people. Initial decisions must be based on human rights and international law.

Mental health as a basic human right was the theme of the recent World Mental Health Day on October 10. Working for global mental health requires a holistic, inclusive perspective that truly supports all those affected by this long and ongoing crisis.

Palestinian psychiatrists and mental health workers call on all colleagues and health organizations, both physical and mental, around the world, to adhere to the ethics of our professional role and not to corrupt it with political ideology.

We must resist the two associations and any other professional organizations that contribute to the hateful and negative portrayal of the Palestinian people. Such dangerous statements make them complicit in the bleeding of Palestinians.

On Monday, the Ministry of Interior in Gaza warned of a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe in the Strip, due to the presence of the bodies of more than a thousand martyrs under the rubble of destroyed homes, as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression for the tenth day in a row.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement, "On the tenth day of the ongoing barbaric Israeli aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip, we warn of a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe due to the presence of the bodies of more than a thousand martyrs under the rubble of destroyed homes."

Today, Monday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that the death toll from the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip since October 7 has risen to 2,750 martyrs and more than 9,700 injured in the Strip.

Ministry added - in a statement - that the number of Palestinian martyrs in the West Bank has reached 58, in addition to more than 1,250 wounded, since the seventh of this October.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the United Nations must be able to access Gaza in all its areas without hindrance, to provide humanitarian aid, including water and basic supplies.

Borrell stressed that human suffering cannot be a bargaining chip.

The United Nations Population Fund in Palestine revealed that there are 50,000 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip who cannot obtain basic health services.

The Fund added in a statement on the “X” platform: “50,000 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip cannot obtain health services. 5,500 of them will give birth during the month of October.”

The Fund stressed that these women “need urgent health care and protection,” and urged all parties to “abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”

The fund's director, Dominic Allen, said in an interview with the American network "CNN", and published on the "X" platform, "The health care system itself in Gaza is in a sensitive situation. It is under attack, and is on the verge of collapse."

He added, "These pregnant women, whom we are extremely concerned about, have nowhere to go," stressing that they face "unimaginable" challenges.

He continued: "Imagine going through this process in those final stages and the last three months of pregnancy before giving birth, with possible complications, without clothes, without hygiene and support, without knowing what will happen to them the next day, the next hour, and the next minute."

He stressed that "the stories coming from the hospitals were horrific, and that one of the midwives in the maternity hospital in Gaza told him that since the beginning of the aggression, some midwives were not even able to reach the maternity ward to provide assistance due to the unsafe environment."

Allen stressed the need to "allow aid and humanitarian supplies to pass into Gaza," stressing that "a humanitarian corridor must be opened, and humanitarian law must be adhered to. Therefore, pregnant women must receive these life-saving health services."

In light of the continuing escalation between Hamas and Israel, Washington announced that it had decided to deploy two aircraft carriers in the eastern Mediterranean to ensure Israel's security and not expand the escalation. There are 10,000 sailors on board the two carriers. One of them is the largest in the world, and the newest in the United States.

The United States announced the deployment of two aircraft carriers in the eastern Mediterranean as part of “Washington’s firm commitment to Israel’s security and our determination to deter any state or non-governmental entity that seeks to escalate this war.” The United States seeks to prevent further escalation between the Palestinian Hamas movement and Israel. Washington has repeatedly stressed Israel's right to defend itself, stressing that it stands with Tel Aviv.

Ford aircraft carrier

This giant carrier and its supporting ships arrived in the eastern Mediterranean last week. The Ford, which was commissioned in 2017, is the newest aircraft carrier in the United States and the largest in the world, with more than 5,000 sailors on board.

The carrier, which includes a nuclear reactor, can accommodate more than 75 military combat aircraft, including the F-18 Super Hornet and A-2 Hawkeye, which can be used as an early warning system.

It also carries an arsenal of missiles, including the Evolved Sea Sparrow missile, which is a medium-range surface-to-air missile used to confront aircraft, including drones.

Another rotary-frame missile aboard the Ford is used to target anti-ship missiles along with the MK-15 Phalanx Close-In weapon system, which is used to fire armour-piercing bullets.

The Ford carrier is also equipped with advanced radar systems that can assist in air traffic control and navigation.

Ships supporting Ford include the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser Normandy and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers Thomas Hudner, Ramage, Carney, and Roosevelt. The ships are equipped with surface-to-air, surface-to-surface and anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

The aircraft carrier Eisenhower

The Pentagon directed the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to move to the eastern Mediterranean. It will take between a week and a week and a half for it to arrive in the area. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which was commissioned in 1977, carried out its first operations during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

The carrier has 5,000 sailors on board and can carry up to nine squadrons of aircraft, including fighters, helicopters and reconnaissance.

As with the aircraft carrier Ford, the Eisenhower is accompanied by other ships such as the guided-missile cruiser Philippine Sea and the guided-missile destroyers Greeley and Mason.

These ships focus on protecting themselves and the aircraft carrier. While it can carry out offensive operations, it is not suitable to serve as a missile defense system for Israel, which already has advanced systems.

France 24/Reuters

The Israeli occupation army confirmed, on Monday, that the number of prisoners being held by the Al-Qassam Brigades "Hamas" in the Gaza Strip has reached 199 people.

Israeli occupation army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a press conference: “We notified the families of 199 prisoners.”

Israel had previously announced the presence of 155 prisoners held by the Al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas).

On the other hand, Hagari announced the killing of at least 291 Israeli soldiers.

Israel confirmed that about 1,400 Israelis were killed, and thousands were injured.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said that 11 journalists were martyred, and more than 20 others were injured, since the beginning of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, on October 7th.

The union’s report, issued by the Freedoms Committee, today, Monday, stated that the journalist martyrs were: Ahmed Shehab, programmer for Voice of Prisoners Radio, photojournalist Mohamed Al-Salhi from the Fourth Estate Agency, photojournalist Mohamed Fayez Abu Matar, and “Khabar” agency photographer Hisham Al-Nawajah. Muhammad Abu Rizq, Ain Media Foundation photographer Ibrahim Lafi, editor-in-chief of the Fifth News Agency Saeed Al-Taweel, journalist Muhammad Jarghouth from Smart Media Agency, journalist Asaad Shamlikh, journalist Salam Mayma, and jou rnalist Hossam Mubarak.

The Union indicated in her report that there are two journalists whose traces have been lost, namely: photojournalist Nidal Al-Wahidi, who works as a producer with Al-Najah TV, and journalist Haitham Abdel Wahed from the Ain Media Media Foundation.

He pointed out that more than 20 journalists were injured in the ongoing aggression, while about 20 houses owned by journalists were bombed, some of which were completely destroyed and others were partially destroyed.

The Journalists Syndicate said that about 50 headquarters and centers of media institutions were bombed, including: the offices of Al Jazeera Network, Palestine TV, the French Agency office, Al-Aqsa Media Network, Ma’an News Agency, Sawa Agency, Shihab Agency, Al-Quds newspaper, Radio Baladna, and Zaman Radio. The National Agency, Khabar Agency, Al-Ayyam newspaper, Event Media Services Company, Fadl Shanaa Foundation, Holy Quran Radio, Shams News Agency, and the APA office.

It stressed that the continued interruption of electricity and the Internet in the Gaza Strip limited the ability of journalists to continue their coverage of the Israeli aggression.

In its report, the Syndicate touched on violations in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and noted that many journalistic crews were beaten, arrested, detained, prevented from covering, and fired upon. It recorded 10 cases of shooting, the last of which targeted journalists Yazan Hamayel and Wahhaj Bani Mufleh in the town of Beita, south of Nablus, in addition to the arrest of 4 journalists, namely: Abdel Nasser Al-Laham, Sabri Jabr, Moaz Amarneh, and Mustafa Al-Khawaja, after the occupation forces raided their homes. There were also 22 cases of detention and prevention of crews from working, 10 beating attacks, and 7 cases of seizing and destroying journalists’ equipment, in addition to jamming the channel’s broadcast. Fourth and hacked. Al-Aqsa Channel was also stopped broadcasting on the Eutelsat satellite.

It pointed out that many journalists were subjected to direct threats and incitement campaigns from Israeli pages on social media platforms, as happened with journalist Muthanna Al-Najjar from Gaza, as well as journalist Muhammad Turkman from the West Bank, in addition to monitoring many publications calling for the liquidation of journalists, describing them as “saboteurs.” And terrorists,” and an armed colonist’s threat to the Al-Arabi TV broadcaster was monitored live.

Today, Monday, Israel announced a plan to evacuate residents of settlements near the Lebanese border, and acknowledged the killing of an officer in its army in a bombing by the Lebanese Hezbollah, amid an exchange of attacks between the two sides in conjunction with the continued occupation aggression against the Gaza Strip.

The Ministry of Defense and the Israeli army said - in a joint statement - that "a plan will be implemented to evacuate residents of northern Israel who live in a two-kilometre-deep sector of the Lebanese border to state-funded accommodation."

One of these settlements, Shtoula, was subjected to a missile attack from Hezbollah yesterday. Israeli media said that a civilian was killed.

For its part, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that an Israeli army officer was killed yesterday by anti-tank fire on the Lebanese border.

The newspaper said that the Israeli army allowed the publication of the name of Lieutenant Amitai Zvi Granot (24 years old) from Tel Aviv, a team leader in the 75th Battalion - storming formation from the Golan.

She explained that the lieutenant fell yesterday during operational activity as a result of anti-tank fire near the Nurit site, without further details.

Nurit is an Israeli military site located in the western region of the border with Lebanon.

Attack exchange

Hezbollah announced that it attacked with machine guns 8 Israeli positions along the border line with Israel.

The occupation army said that its forces attacked Hezbollah military infrastructure at night in response to the shooting that occurred yesterday towards Israel.

Tensions erupted on the Israeli-Lebanese border following the Israeli aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip, which entered its tenth day.

BY HASHEM ABUSHAMA 

With every Israeli massacre in the besieged Gaza Strip, the double standards of Western media and governments become palpable. This time, however, the targeting of Palestinians and their supporters, especially across Europe, seems to be more violent and coordinated than ever before. 

On October 10th, the UK Home Secretary sent a letter to Chief Constables in England and Wales, encouraging the police to broaden the grounds on which they can arrest Palestine supporters. The letter encourages the police to consider chants such as ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ as an “expression of violent desire” and Palestinian flags as “intended to glorify acts of terrorism.” Yesterday, the German police attacked supporters of Palestine on Sonnenallee, arresting some of the protestors. In Vienna, the police banned a Palestine protest and issued fines to as many as three hundred protestors. In France, the police banned Palestine protests. 

This coordinated violence across the continent occurs in parallel with the Israeli besiegement and bombardment of the Gaza Strip, its shooting of Palestinians in the West Bank, and its theft of land across 1948- and 1967-occupied lands. Thus far, the Israeli settler colonial regime has killed roughly 1,500 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and injured more than 6,000, as its brutal shelling has wiped entire families from the public record. And the death toll is only starting to mount. 

The Israeli settler colonial state has tightened its blockade on the Strip, holding its entire population hostage, refusing requests to bring food and medical supplies into Gaza, and has paralyzed the enclave’s already-overburdened and under-resourced health system. One is compelled to wonder how, in the midst of this calculated and systemic violence, can media organizations and governments in Europe and its offshoots (the United States, Australia, among others) choose to proactively pluck the Palestinian violence against the Israeli settler state out of context, selectively framing it as the root and cause of the unfolding atrocities. 

This ahistorical framing, coupled with a legal push in the higher power echelons to criminalize support for Palestine, contributes to the unfolding violence against Palestine and the Palestinians. The fact that the Western media only uses the register of violence to speak on Palestine feeds on a colonial, racist, patriarchal, and capitalist discourse that aims to justify the Israeli settler colonial erasure of Palestine.  

Since the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip started, I have been reviewing British media and its everyday items, such as the newspaper, phone, posters, and TV channels that seep into the public’s consciousness. Without the critical tools and education to puncture through their framing, we become complicit and easily intimidated. Some media outlets have gone as far as spreading misinformation, which surely would have been considered a hate crime in other contexts. Both the Daily Telegraph and The Times chose this misinformation as the headline for their October 11th issues. Although some (not all!) of those newspapers have already retracted their original false claims, the damage has already been done.  

The Guardian chose to adorn its main headline for October 12th with the words ‘Israelis suspended between fear, grief and foreboding.’ The Daily Mail selected ‘The King Calls Them Terrorists, Why Can’t the BBC?’ Marching to the same beat, the Daily Telegraph opted to plaster the Royals’ condemnation of Hamas on its front pages. Survey the pages of the newspapers, and the stories eliciting support and empathy for Israel abound, making it clear who the perpetrators are and that vengeance against them is justified. Meanwhile, the Palestinians are only evoked through the register of terrorism and violence.

Even those headlines, which are shy in their coverage of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, intentionally omit the perpetrators: the Israeli army and state. They are designed to neglect the root and cause of the violence: Israeli settler colonialism. By settler colonialism, we mean the gradual transfer of European Jews to the land of Palestine, the coercive displacement and dispossession of the indigenous Palestinian population, and the imposition of a coordinated and sustainable system that turns this displacement into a continuous process. 

Western media relies on racial, gendered, and colonial tropes to describe the atrocities in Palestine. It instrumentalizes white female faces to elicit support for Israel. Such a tactic simultaneously serves racism, patriarchy, and colonialism. It relies on notions of white female ‘innocence’ and ‘victimhood’ to justify the continuous erasure of Palestine. In a headline by the Daily Telegraph about a British IDF female soldier, below, we are shown a smiling white female soldier wearing military attire and a keffiyeh on her head. Neither the photograph nor the article questions why a British citizen is justified in enlisting in a settler army elsewhere, let alone the same army that is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. 

To the contrary, the article frames such enlisting as voluntary and dignified. These strategies bring to mind 9/11, Laura Bush, and the weaponization of white feminism in the service of imperialist and colonial expansion. Black and Brown feminist scholars and activists, including Lila Abu Lughod, bell hooks, Angela Davis, Audre Lorde amongst others, have long debunked and punctured through such strategies. It is this same white feminism that has been utilized by the media and governments to justify the intensification of Israeli brutality against the Palestinian residents of Gaza. 

There is a hierarchy of life and suffering at the root of this. And it is this hierarchy that the ahistorical and manipulative comparisons between the Nazi pogroms and Palestinian armed resistance against the Israeli settler colonial state aims to hide. A comparison that U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has used in his speech alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on October 12th. A comparison that not only obfuscates the colonial nature of the ongoing atrocities against the Gaza Strip but works to silence and intimidate any contextualization or criticism of said colonial atrocities. Nazism is a European sin, one that Europe chose to resolve through its colonial support for an ethno-nationalist settler colonial project on the land of historic Palestine. Europe has not dealt with Nazism, its roots (the racial logics of Europe, fed and bred in the colonies), and its ramifications

This is all evidenced by the rise of neo-Nazi groups in some European countries in the last few years. The establishment of Israel as a settler colonial project remains a desperate attempt to rationalize the racial logics of Europe rather than abolishing them. Is not that the root of all of this? That Europe killed, oppressed, and racialized its Jews until it came up with a racist solution to dispossess the Palestinian people and put the European Jews in their place? That Europe chose to offer reparations for the Holocaust by establishing institutional, legal, discursive, political, and military support for the Israeli settler state?  

BY HASHEM ABUSHAMA 

This selective offering of reparations by Europe to its white victims is already indicative of the racial nature of the Israeli state. It is not a surprise that the only reparations Europe and North America have offered to the descendants of the enslaved and colonized are performative placards placed inside and outside buildings and statues built through the blood and sweat of black and brown people. 

Only the European, white, male Jew could make a historical and political claim on Europe, and that claim was racist and colonial in its essence: to ask for reparations through the establishment of an exclusionary, ethno-nationalist state on a distant, colonized land. This is, then, the same Europe that is arresting protestors for Palestine today. To state the obvious: Europe has not been decolonized. Despite all the news titles, university reports, and academic books and articles that evoke this terminology, Europe has not been decolonized. It does to the Palestinians what it has always done to colonized people: relegating their suffering to the sphere of unintelligible and nonhuman. 

While violence against the Palestinians is specific, it does not occur in isolation from what is happening elsewhere in the world. Black and brown people are racialized everywhere in Europe and North America, and that racialization contributes to the demonization of Palestinian people. Our suffering is seen as illegitimate and unworthy of attention—let alone justice—because we are, quite literally, not seen as humans.  When it comes to Palestine, this racial violence becomes more exact and brutal. 

And that is precisely because of the power of the Palestinian cause: it puts into question the entire world order—in its racialization of black and brown people, its denial of the constitutive and active role of colonialism, and its coordination of violence and exploitation. Palestine brings to the forefront the racist, patriarchal, capitalist, and colonial relations that underpin today’s world and that Europe and its offshoots work tirelessly to hide. This is precisely why we need staunch support for Palestine and the Palestinian right to self-determination at this moment. Because, without exaggeration, a better world depends on that support.  

Source: mondoweiss.net

Today, Monday, settlers stormed the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, under heavy protection from the Israeli occupation police.

Local sources reported that dozens of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa from the direction of the Mughariba Gate, and carried out provocative rounds in its courtyards.

Settlers carry out provocative daily raids on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, except on Fridays and Saturdays, in an attempt to control it and impose temporal and spatial division.

In a related context, the occupation forces tightened their military measures at all gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque, preventing citizens from entering it, returning many of them, and preventing them from performing prayers in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque as well, in conjunction with allowing the colonists to storm it.

The war of genocide that the occupying state is waging against the Gaza Strip has become unstoppable. Homes are being demolished on their inhabitants, and deaths - children, women and the elderly - are in the hundreds. Indeed, the number of martyrs has reached more than 2,400 martyrs, along with thousands of wounded. So where are the Arab and Islamic nations and the leaders of these two nations? Is there a slaughter of innocent citizens?!

Isn't Palestine part of the Arab and Islamic world? Aren't the Palestinian people an integral part of this nation?! So why is this people not supported, even with the minimum of this support, and not just issuing statements of denunciation and denunciation and appealing to the United Nations and the world to intervene on the side of the Israeli occupation to stop these massacres that are being committed in front of the entire world’s eyes and ears?

Isn’t this world ruled by America and the colonial West unable to do anything except declaring solidarity and going out with demonstrations and marches by the masses of these countries? So why do Arab and Muslim leaders rely on this world that only recognizes force, and force alone?

The crime practiced by the occupation does not only require what the Arab and Muslim rulers do, but rather the matter requires much more than that. For example, but not limited to, why have the Arab countries not yet, especially the countries that are establishing normal relations and “peace” with the occupying state must stop these relations and expel the ambassadors of the occupying state from the capitals of their countries, so that the occupation feels that the Arab and Muslim leaders are not mediators between the occupying state and the Palestinian people and the resistance, which according to international laws and norms is a legitimate right to defend the national rights of the Palestinian people, and yet the occupying state and the colonial West consider them organizations. Terrorist, and the occupying state has the right to what is called self-defense, while the reasons for all of this are the continuation of the Israeli occupation and the practices of its forces and herds of settlers.

If international resolutions had been applied to the occupying state, what is happening now would not have happened and our people would have been able to establish their independent state with Holy Jerusalem as its capital. The occupation and its crimes are responsible, as are the countries supporting it, most notably America and the colonial West, which came to support the occupation as if it were the oppressed, when in fact it is the executioner and not the lamb. Meek, as the West likes to describe the occupying state.

The genocidal war committed by the occupying state must push the nation's rulers to unify its ranks and take practical measures on the ground that force this shameless occupation to put an end to its crimes. The nation has the capabilities to make it a force with influence in the world and prevent the occupying state from continuing its massacres against our people.

Second episode

Israel is now waging a war of revenge and genocide against the Palestinian people and is using a scorched earth policy. It is asking the people to flee! Giving leaflets in this regard is accompanied by the publication of pictures of military concentrations surrounding the Gaza Strip. Does this come in the context of psychological warfare and a war of rumors? Or in the context of misleading the resistance, distracting its efforts and deceiving it? And exhaust its forces? Or in preparation for a ground war, although it is still in the preparation stage.

The declared goals of the ground war: if it occurred?
1. Building a security belt in the northern Gaza Strip?
2. Reoccupation of the Gaza Strip?
3. Destroying the infrastructure of the Palestinian resistance?
4. Limited penetration process? To carry out assassinations and arrests?

Possible scenarios for ground war? If it happened???
The first scenario: a war without goals, by moving the external blockade from the cover of the Gaza Strip to the interior, carrying out reconnaissance operations, gathering information, and feeling the pulse of the force through limited penetrations and extensive maneuvers to avoid losses. With carrying out assassinations of leaders whenever possible. As a first stage, then any goal that looms on the horizon later.

The second scenario: limited progress on two main axes in northwest Jabalia and northeast of Beit Hanoun and the construction of a security belt and buffer zones that prevent the launching of Palestinian rockets. This is consistent with the military capabilities they have mobilized, given that this scenario reduces the possibility of confrontation and cohesion with the resistance and gives them a margin. A retreat maneuver in the event of a ceasefire agreement. It is most likely.

The third scenario: An advance towards the Salah al-Din axis and along the border, with another advance on an axis in the south, north of Rafah, and other sub-axes to deceive. In this scenario, there are many caveats that would open many closed doors that Israel does not want in its current crisis situation.

Fourth scenario: Dismemberment and advance from multiple main axes from the north, Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, and from the east, and naval landings in the areas of Al-Shati, northwest, and Al-Nuseirat and Deir Al-Balah, southwest of Gaza City, with the aim of draining a large number of the Palestinian resistance’s energy, isolating the forces, and preventing communication. This possibility means determining the Israeli army is forced to incursion and stay for a long time and requires a large number of forces, and this leads to the possibility of greater losses among the ranks of the Israeli army and difficulty in withdrawing.

The fifth scenario: The most dangerous, which is targeting the headland where the Palestinian leadership and strategic reserve of modern and advanced weapons are present. It is the most dangerous scenario for Israel due to the possibility of large losses occurring among their ranks, the lack of guarantee of victory and the achievement of goals, and even getting involved in the quagmire of a long war. This possibility is implemented through a ground advance and a rapid breach towards the depth of Gaza from the east is accompanied by the construction of a bridgehead and an advance from the sea. Naval battleships drop tanks and soldiers to close in and encircle Gaza while consolidating the other axes in the north, northeast, south and southeast with air and artillery fire and imaginary movements, but this scenario is governed by their ability to collect close detailed information about the resistance.

The ground war is not a picnic. It is an opportunity for direct confrontation between the Palestinian fighter, armed with his will and courage, and the Israeli soldier, whose morale and the support of his planes and tanks are deteriorating.
Finally, the Palestinian resistance fighters are waiting for the opportunity for a direct and close clash!?

*Military expert and analyst

The Hamas movement fought several major battles with Israel, and with its limited capabilities compared to its opponent, it held out and continued its rule of Gaza and its friction with Israel.

The battles it fought did not involve any external party, “in the sense of field participation,” but in order to strengthen morale, they never ceased to remind us of the support of Hezbollah, which is a branch of the Iranian tree.

By mentioning this, I intended to conclude that Hamas has long and detailed experience in fighting with Israel, and has succeeded, for a long time, in managing a war in which there is progress and retreat, prices are taken and prices are paid, and it has experienced concrete experience, action and reaction, bargaining to the brink of the abyss, and deception the enemy, according to Sadat's famous term.

All of this was done by Hamas, and it came at a very high price. There are thousands of martyrs, and the lives of two million and more Palestinians are the most difficult in the entire world.

Among its remarkable tactics was refraining from participating with “Jihad” in two major sites, when it left it facing two fierce Israeli attacks, alone, which confirmed, by the logical conclusion, that it was not willing to spoil its extensive and complex preparations for the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, in which it emulated “Hamas.” Egypt's initiative for history to record that it had two Octobers: one on the Egyptian-Syrian fronts, with Palestinian participation "with the size of the capabilities", and the other on the Gaza-Israeli front, and in comparison with the sizes and capabilities, the second October was the largest and deepest, and it can be considered, according to Israeli accounts, the toughest most painful and influential in all aspects.

The question that arose during the first hour of fighting inside the cover settlements. Did Hamas do it on its own responsibility, or did it agree with Hezbollah, i.e. Iran, on what this requires of immediate and direct intervention?

What raised doubts about this issue was the appeal of the head of the Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, who took a general formula, to the allies, to hasten to share in the victory. What is meant by participation is not celebration, of course, but rather fighting.

This was before the Israeli reaction crystallized as this time the complete destruction of Gaza, and the complete eradication of Hamas and those with it, as announced by the Israeli statements, which covered the continuous aerial bombardment to the point of turning neighborhoods into rubble. Without hiding the purpose of this, which is to pave the way for ground intervention.

I am writing this article on the sixth day of the fierce war between the “Al-Aqsa Flood” and the “Iron Swords.” During its short time frame, Israel mobilized about 400,000 soldiers in anticipation of a surprise on the northern front. Behind these thousands, composed of its planes, tanks, and cannons, the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford docked, as a supporter of Israeli power, a participant in the military decision, and a warning to Hezbollah against interference. American spokesmen did not stop saying that they had no evidence of an Iranian role in what was happening.

No one except the narrow circle in Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah knows whether there is agreed-upon coordination according to one plan. Or was the matter left to individual assessments, which believed that the size of the achievement, when achieved, would be a logical and automatic incentive to achieve what Haniyeh called for, who was apparently surprised by what happened, that the allies must hasten to share the victory with us.

6 days in which very limited clashes took place on the southern Lebanon front, and the question is: Was Hezbollah’s intention to intervene if the matter had remained merely an Israeli-invasion war, or did the American warning work decisively, as it is not right to ignore it and consider it a maneuver, as the aircraft carrier that arrived, called for another one, and this is something that Hezbollah and Iran deserve to take into consideration.

Gaza has reached a state of complete devastation and a siege that has tightened to the point of suffocation. Everything that is being done for it is an Egyptian and international effort to calm the situation for a few hours, for food and medicine to arrive, and Hamas and its fellow factions continue to withstand, bomb, and penetrate the Israeli lines with courage and boldness, as it appears that its missile stock is more than sufficient, and our brother Ismail Haniyeh continues his call to the allies to Share the victory with him. No one knows what happened and what will happen. Perhaps the coming days will reveal more and clearer facts. Most importantly, Gaza before the war, Gaza destroyed during it, and Gaza after it remain Palestinian in spirit, heart, belonging, and survival.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for urgent and unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

He said in a statement, "At this difficult moment, as we stand on the brink of abyss in the Middle East, it is my duty as Secretary-General of the United Nations to make two strong humanitarian appeals."

"For Hamas, the hostages must be released immediately and without conditions; and for Israel, urgent and unimpeded access must be allowed for humanitarian supplies and relief workers for civilians in Gaza," Guterres continued.

The Secretary-General emphasized that "both of these goals are important in themselves. They should not be a bargaining chip."

He explained that the United Nations has available stocks of food, water, non-food items, medical supplies and fuel, located in Egypt, Jordan, the West Bank and Israel. These materials can be sent within hours.

To ensure their delivery, UN staff and partners on the ground must be able to get these supplies into and around Gaza safely and without hindrance to get them to those in need, Guterres said.

The head of the Palestinian Water Authority, Mazen Ghoneim, denied reports that Israel was supplying the Gaza Strip with water, considering that what was said about that was “slander and untrue.”

Ghoneim said in a phone call with Xinhua News Agency, "Even if Israel pumps water, the Palestinian Water Authority will not be able to supply it to the residents due to the power outage required to pump it into taps and water pumps."

Ghoneim said in a press statement that the remaining water sources in the Gaza Strip “are not enough to provide 15 liters per person, which is the minimum recommended by the World Health Organization for survival.”

Ghoneim added that the continued disruption of water supply systems in the Gaza Strip threatens the lives of residents, calling on the international community to assume its responsibilities in providing urgent protection to the Water Authority’s technical crews so that they can operate the facilities and secure water for citizens.

The Palestinian official's statements come in response to Israeli Energy Minister Yisrael Katz, who stated today that Israel will restore water supplies to parts of the southern Gaza Strip in accordance with an agreement with US President Joe Biden.

Katz spoke in a tweet on the ((X) website) today about a decision to open water to the southern Gaza Strip according to an agreement between Netanyahu and Biden.

The Israeli minister said that this decision "will push civilians to the south of the Gaza Strip, and contribute to tightening the comprehensive siege on Gaza in terms of electricity, water and fuel."

Katz, who holds the position of a member of the Mini Security Political Council in the Israeli government, added that this step would contribute to eliminating Hamas, saying, "It will make it easier for the Israeli army to work and eliminate Hamas' infrastructure."

Israel has imposed a comprehensive siege on Gaza, which includes closing all crossings and cutting off electrical, water, food and energy supplies to the Strip since the Hamas movement launched a massive and unprecedented attack on southern Israel on the 7th of this month.

In response, Israel launched Operation Iron Swords against Hamas, and the Israeli army continues its military attacks on various areas in the Gaza Strip, killing 2,670 Palestinians and wounding 9,600 others.

Palestinian and relief sources denied that they had been informed by the Egyptian authorities of the decision to operate the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, or to start a truce with the Israeli side in the south of the Strip.

Salama Maarouf, head of the government media office in Gaza, said in a statement: “We have not received, until this moment, any communications or confirmations from the relevant authorities on the Egyptian side about the intention to open the Rafah crossing today, and everything that is being circulated in particular is attributed to (Israeli) media.”

Two sources, one a high-ranking Palestinian and the other a relief source, reported that they had not yet been informed of the decision to operate the Rafah crossing or start a truce, calling for waiting until an official position arrived from the Egyptian side.

The private Egyptian news channel Cairo, which is close to the authorities, had previously reported from "Israeli media" that there was a ceasefire in southern Gaza as of 9 am today (local time), while Arab press reports reported news of the start of a truce and the start of operation of the crossing.

Neither the Egyptian nor the Palestinian side issued any official positions regarding the news being circulated about the opening of the crossing.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that the occupation forces launched a massive arrest campaign last night and at dawn on Monday, targeting at least 70 citizens from the West Bank, including two women from Jerusalem, two journalists, and former prisoners, and the arrests were distributed in most of the West Bank governorates, including Jerusalem.

The number of arrests since October 7 has reached about 540.

The Prisoners' Club added that the arrest campaigns in the West Bank are the highest in years, as the number of arrests since October 7, the date of the start of the Al-Aqsa Flood battle, has reached about (540) arrests, concentrated in the Hebron and Jerusalem governorates, in addition. To the detained workers and detainees from Gaza, whose exact numbers and identities are not yet known.

The Prisoner's Club pointed out that the arrest operations included all groups, including (children, women, and the elderly), and the occupation forces adopted during them a policy of threats, severe beatings against detainees, and widespread acts of sabotage and destruction of homes.

It is noteworthy that since the beginning of this year, arrests have reached more than (6,000) cases.

It is worth mentioning that these arrest campaigns constitute the most prominent and systematic policies used by the occupation forces, with the aim of undermining any escalating situation of confrontation. They are also among the most prominent tools of the policy of (collective punishment), which also constitutes a central tool for the occupation in targeting citizens.

Two citizens were martyred on Monday morning, and others were injured, by bullets from the occupation army in the West Bank, raising the death toll in less than 10 days to 58 martyrs.

The Ministry of Health announced that the young man, Muin Ribhi Damo (21 years old), was killed by occupation bullets in Jericho at dawn today, and 3 others were injured, including a critical condition.

In this context, the Martyr Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarm reported, this morning, the death of the young man, Rami Bilal Hassan (33 years old), from the suburb of Artah, south of Tulkarm, as a result of critical wounds he sustained by occupation bullets in the neck last Friday.

Hassan was injured by an occupation sniper's bullet in the head while he was driving his vehicle west of Tulkarm.

With Hassan's death, the number of Tulkarm martyrs since last Friday rises to eight.

According to the Ministry of Health, the number of martyrs in the West Bank since October 7 has risen to 58 martyrs, including 14 children and women.

With the beginning of the tenth day of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the Israeli occupation army continued the intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip, targeting civilians on a large scale, bringing the number of martyrs to 2,750, and the wounded to 9,700, in addition to hundreds of people missing under the rubble, while the resistance responded by bombing the Israeli depth, and confirmed Its readiness to confront any ground invasion.

Israeli channel: Rafah crossing opened at nine o’clock

Israeli Channel 12 reported that the Rafah crossing will be opened at nine in the morning.

Informed sources revealed that a five-hour ceasefire agreement, starting at nine in the morning, includes opening the Rafah crossing to allow the departure of foreigners and the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip.

The government media in Gaza stated that they had not yet received any confirmations from the Egyptian side regarding the opening of the crossing.

7 members of the civil defense crews were killed in Israeli bombing

Seven members of the Civil Defense crews in Gaza were martyred tonight in two raids by occupation warplanes in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood, southwest and central of Gaza City.

Local sources reported that the occupation warplanes launched an Israeli raid on two Civil Defense headquarters and its vehicles in Tal al-Hawa and central Gaza, which led to the death of 7 of its crews and the injury of others.

American police said that a man from Illinois stabbed a Muslim child 26 times, killing him, while seriously wounding his mother, while chanting anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian statements.

The police accused the 71-year-old man of committing a hate crime against the 6-year-old child and his 32-year-old mother, saying that the two victims were targeted because of their Islamic faith.

The Will County Sheriff said in a statement posted on social media, “Investigators were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect because of their Muslim status and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.”

Officers found the two victims late in the day at a home in Plainfield, about 65 kilometers southwest of Chicago.

The police chief's office said the boy, who was declared dead in hospital, was stabbed 26 times with a large military knife, according to an autopsy.

The woman suffered more than 12 stab wounds to her body, and remained in the hospital, but her condition was stable.

Police charged the man with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crimes, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

US President Joe Biden said that he felt "shock and disgust" after the killing of a child of Palestinian origins and the attempt to kill his mother in Chicago, Illinois, against the backdrop of the escalation taking place between Israel and Gaza.

The US President offered his condolences to the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities over the child’s killing, stressing that “the brutal killing of a six-year-old child of Palestinian origins is a horrific act of hatred that has no place in America,” according to Al Hurra’s correspondent in the White House

United States President Joe Biden has warned Israel that any occupation of Gaza would be a “big mistake”. Speaking in an interview on US television, Biden said he supported the creation of a humanitarian corridor for people in Gaza to leave and aid to be delivered.

Biden also said in the interview that Hamas, which launched a surprise attack in Israel on October 7, needed to be eliminated.

The administration of US President Joe Biden on Sunday appointed former US Ambassador David Satterfield to Lebanon as a special envoy for humanitarian issues in the Middle East. Satterfield will lead US diplomacy to urgently address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including working to facilitate the provision of life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable people and enhance safety. Civilians, in coordination with the United Nations and US partners, according to a statement from the US State Department.

According to the statement, “Satterfield will lead a whole-of-government campaign to mitigate the humanitarian consequences of Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel, and support the critical efforts of the United States Agency for International Development and the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. His role depends on the United States’ long-term commitment to supporting peace and stability in the region.” .

“Satterfield has many decades of diplomatic experience and working amid some of the world’s most challenging conflicts will be instrumental in our ongoing efforts to meet urgent humanitarian needs. His regional experience spans forty years including assignments in Syria, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and two tours in Lebanon,” the statement said.

Satterfield served as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Director for Arab and Arab-Israeli Affairs at the State Department, and Director for Near Eastern Affairs on the National Security Council staff from 1993 to 1996, where he worked primarily on the Arab-Israeli peace process.

US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, confirmed on Sunday that he was confident that humanitarian aid would cross from Egypt to Gaza, according to what American media reported.

Blinken told reporters during his visit to Cairo that the “Rafah crossing will open,” noting that the United States is developing a mechanism with the United Nations, Egypt, and Israel to deliver aid to those who need it.

The Rafah crossing is the only passage not controlled by Israel between the Gaza Strip and the outside world, and it was bombed on the Palestinian side of it, which hindered the arrival of aid and the exit of the stranded.

In turn, the Egyptian presidency said on Sunday that Egypt is intensifying its diplomatic efforts to deliver aid to Gaza and stop the fighting.

These statements came during Blinken's visit to Cairo as part of a regional tour.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken promised on Sunday that the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt “will be open” after his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Blinken said that the Rafah crossing will be open. He added: "We are working with the United Nations, Egypt, Israel and others to establish a mechanism through which assistance can be introduced and delivered to the people who need it."

Israel closed its border crossings with Gaza and imposed a “total siege” on the Strip, preventing supplies of fuel, electricity and water. This left the Rafah crossing as the only practical outlet for getting people out of the Strip - and getting supplies in.

Officials from several countries participated in the talks about when and to what extent the crossing could be opened.

Blinken also announced US President Joe Biden's appointment of David Satterfield, the former US ambassador to Turkey, to help coordinate aid efforts. Blinken said that Satterfield will be in Israel on Monday to begin coordination.

Blinken, who met with several regional leaders including those of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, said he had "very good conversations" with both Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

He added that every country he spoke with shared the US administration's goal of preventing escalation and securing aid for civilians trapped in Gaza.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was deteriorating rapidly and there was an urgent need for supplies from abroad.

In a brief statement, Sunday evening, Bruel called for the urgent opening of border crossings to provide humanitarian aid to civilians, stressing the need to work to prevent the loss of more innocent lives.

This evening, the occupation forces threatened businessman Abdullah Al-Saadi, owner of a group of investment companies, to bomb the hotel he owns in the city of Jenin, and gave him 24 hours, claiming that his brother Farhan, 35 years old, is wanted by the Israeli security service.

Al-Saadi explained to Al-Quds that he received a phone call from an intelligence officer who identified himself as Captain Hassan, and informed him that he was speaking on behalf of the Israeli army to inform him of an official notification to evacuate the hotel and its guests due to the issuance of a decision to bomb it. He expressed his disapproval and condemnation of this unjustified behavior and action that contradicts all international standards.

Al-Saadi stated that there is no justification for this threat, as the hotel is inhabited by a number of guests, including foreigners, and he considered this a dangerous step and escalation, especially since the occupation did not stop targeting his worker during the past days, and the attack on his brother Jawad by the soldiers led to fractures in the chest and hair on the skull. .

It is worth noting that Al-Saadi owns several investment companies, including the City Center Mall and the Grand Cinema Hotel, which consists of 100 hotel rooms.

The African Union and the Arab League warned that an Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip “could lead to unprecedented genocide.”

A joint statement issued after a meeting between the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and the Chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, called for an "immediate cessation of military actions in Gaza."

He warned that "an Israeli ground operation in Gaza will undoubtedly involve a large number of civilian casualties, including women and children, which may lead to unprecedented genocide."

Today, Sunday, settlers began plowing land in Khirbet Al Farisiya in the northern Jordan Valley, in an attempt to seize it.

The official in charge of the Jordan Valley file in Tubas Governorate, Moataz Bisharat, reported that more than 20 settlers stormed the Nab’ al-Ghazal community in Khirbet al-Farisiya, and began plowing land near the tents of citizen Ali Zuhdi Abu Mohsen. They also attacked the residents with stones, noting that the same land a settler had begun plowing last week. The past, but residents and solidarity activists were able to expel him.

Earlier today, a force from the Settlements Council, accompanied by the Israeli police and occupation army, stormed the residence of citizen Ali Abu Mohsen, detained his family, and attempted to seize his agricultural tractor, but the citizens and solidarity activists present in the area prevented this, as skirmishes took place between them and the forces. Occupation.

The head of the Al-Maleh and Bedouin village council, Mahdi Daraghmeh, also reported that the family of citizen Abu Mohsen has been subjected to repeated attacks by settlers for about a week, as they are trying to force them to leave the area, while the “Colonial Council” threatened them and demanded that they leave it permanently.

In the villages of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, settlers attacked livestock herders and citizens.

Coordinator of the Popular Committees to Resist the Wall and Settlements in South Hebron, Ratib Al-Jabour, said that settlers from the “Karmiel” settlement established on citizens’ lands in south Hebron, under the protection of occupation soldiers, attacked the homes of a number of citizens from the Al-Hathalin family in the village of Umm Al-Khair, and prevented them from leaving their homes forcefully. weapons and threatened to kill them.

He added that a number of settlers from the "Bani Hefer" settlement, established on the lands of citizens from the Al-Mahaniya family, southeast of the town of Bani Na'im, attacked livestock herders in the village of Al-Buwaib and threatened them with death, while the occupation soldiers fired bullets at two vehicles near the village of Ma'in, east of Yatta, without causing any casualties.

Al-Jabour pointed out that settlers from the “Susya” settlement, established on citizens’ lands southeast of Yatta, attacked two young men in the Jurat al-Jamal area in the village of Susiya, from the Al-Nawajaa family, and smashed the windows of their vehicle, causing them to suffer bruises and contusions, and they were treated in the field.

The head of the Israeli National Security Council (Tzachi Hanegbi) admitted his mistake when he said that the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip was “deterred,” stressing that his country “received a severe blow.”

Just six days before the surprise attack launched by Hamas and other Palestinian factions, Hanegbi said, “Hamas is very deterred, and is aware of the consequences of further challenge.”

But in a press conference on Saturday evening, Hanegbi said, “This is my mistake, and it reflects the error of all evaluation factors over many years, and more so in the recent period, when we believed that Hamas had learned the lesson of Guardian of the Walls (an operation launched by Israel on Gaza in May 2021). At that time, it received a decisive blow.

He added, "Hamas's deterrence was also evident in the three military operations carried out by the Israeli army against Islamic Jihad."

He continued, “In Operation Shield and Arrow (May 9-13, 2013), we dealt a decisive blow to Islamic Jihad, which appealed to Hamas to intervene to save it, but Hamas decided not to enter the battle.”

“This was one of the reasons that made the Israelis believe that Hamas was afraid of entering into a confrontation,” Hanegbi said.

He went on to stress, “The State of Israel was subjected to a severe blow last Saturday (October 7).”

Hanegbi denied reports that Egyptian officials had warned his country of an upcoming Hamas attack from Gaza, saying, “Personally, the answer is no.”

“I did not receive such a warning,” he added. Systematically, the Egyptians did not communicate with any of the people they communicate with, neither the prime minister nor those close to me and the head of the Mossad. It is fake news that not only we denied, but the Egyptians also denied.”

Regarding the issue of Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip, Hanegbi said, “We are all committed to their return, as is the entire government.” However, he denied that there were negotiations in this regard to date.

Hamas was able to capture an undeclared number of Israelis during its attack on the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip, with the start of Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7.

On Monday, Hamas announced that it would not negotiate a prisoner exchange under fire, according to a televised speech by the military spokesman for the “Al-Qassam Brigades,” the movement’s military wing.

For the eighth day in a row, the Gaza Strip (besieged since 2006) is subjected to intense Israeli air strikes that destroyed entire neighborhoods, as the Israeli army launched a military operation called “Iron Swords.”