The Israeli army launched more than 235 raids on various sites in Lebanon during the last 24 hours, according to the Lebanese National News Agency, while the number of victims of the Israeli aggression rose to 2,483 martyrs and 11,628 wounded, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health; while Hezbollah targeted Israeli sites with dozens of missiles, most notably the Glilot base of the 8200 Military Intelligence Unit in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, which was targeted with "qualitative missiles."

Israeli Security Minister Yoav Galant decided to consider the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association in Lebanon a “terrorist organization and an arm of Hezbollah,” according to a statement issued by the Israeli Ministry of Security, which stated that Galant “signed today the addition of the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association to the list of declared terrorist organizations in the State of Israel, as part of the economic campaign being carried out by the security establishment against Hezbollah.”

The Israeli army confirmed that 45 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards the Golan Heights. It also indicated that a rocket was fired from Lebanon, and fell in an open area in the center of the country, without sirens sounding.

The massive Israeli aggression on Lebanon entered its 29th day on Monday, as the Israeli army continues its attacks on various areas in Lebanon, as it resumed its heavy bombing of the southern suburbs of Beirut, while Hezbollah announced that it launched attacks on cities and towns deep inside Israel and targeted military bases.

The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the number of raids on the southern suburbs of Beirut reached 11, including a raid on the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Foundation branch near Rafik Hariri International Airport. The strikes on Al-Qard Al-Hassan Foundation also affected Baalbek, Hermel and Rayak in eastern Lebanon.

The Syrian regime's news agency "SANA" announced on Monday that two civilians were killed and three others were injured as a result of an Israeli aggression that targeted a car in the Mazzeh neighborhood in the capital, Damascus.

SANA quoted an unnamed military source as saying: "At around 17:05 local time (14:05 GMT), the Israeli enemy launched an air strike targeting a civilian car in the residential neighborhood of Mezzeh in Damascus, which led to the martyrdom of two civilians and the injury of three others."

The source pointed out that "material damage occurred to private property in the area surrounding the aggression."

Earlier on Monday, SANA reported a car explosion in a neighborhood in the Mazzeh area of the capital, Damascus.

She stated in a post on her account on the X platform, "Initial information indicates a car explosion in one of the neighborhoods of the Mazzeh area in Damascus."

Since 2011, Israel has been launching occasional raids on Syria, saying it is targeting Iranian-backed groups and Syrian regime military positions.

The explosion comes at a time when Israel, with American support, continues to commit genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, in addition to a large-scale war on Lebanon since September 23.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that the attacks, restrictions and forced displacement of the Israeli occupation forces in the northern Gaza Strip could lead to "the end of the Palestinian presence in that area."

The office said in a statement on Monday that "the attacks launched by Israel in northern Gaza are horrific."

He added that life has become "impossible" for civilians trapped in northern Gaza, and that many residents are on the brink of starvation due to repeated forced displacement and severe restrictions on access to essential humanitarian aid supplies.

He pointed out that the occupation forces continue to bomb and brutally attack the area, especially Jabalia refugee camp and its surroundings.

The statement confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces stripped many citizens of their property before the onset of winter and destroyed homes and schools used as shelters.

On October 6, the occupation forces launched a ground invasion in the northern Gaza Strip, besieged the entire area, and carried out several massacres, including the direct execution of displaced persons, the bombing of civilian gatherings, and the targeting of schools housing displaced persons. They also prevented the entry of water, food, and medicine supplies.

The occupation forces continue their aggression on the Gaza Strip, by land, sea and air, since October 7, 2023, which resulted in the martyrdom of 42,603 citizens and the injury of 99,795 others, the majority of whom are children and women, in an incomplete toll, as thousands of people are still missing under the rubble.

Israeli Sports Minister Miki Zohar called on Monday for the death penalty to be imposed on two of his citizens accused of spying for Iran and "aiding it in times of war."

Zohar's call came hours after the Israeli police announced the arrest of 7 Jews who they claimed "communicated with Iranian intelligence agents in exchange for money."

This call, made by Zohar, a leader of the Likud party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is unprecedented.

"The phenomenon of betraying the homeland and harming Israel's security for money, while we are fighting for our future in the War of Resurrection, requires the implementation of extremely harsh measures, including the death penalty law for anyone who helps the enemy in times of war," Zohar said in a post on the X platform.

“This is the only way we can create a clear deterrent that will prevent more similar cases from occurring,” Zohar added.

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli police and the Shin Bet security service claimed to have arrested a spy network of seven "Israeli Jews" who provided Iranian intelligence with information about military sites and energy infrastructure, in the third such announcement since October 14.

As of 15:30 (GMT), there has been no comment from Iran on this matter.

On Wednesday, the Israeli police and the Shin Bet claimed to have arrested an Israeli recruited by Iran to assassinate an Israeli scientist, after announcing on October 14 the arrest of two Israelis recruited by Iranian intelligence to assassinate an Israeli figure and commit acts of sabotage.

Israel and Iran consider each other their number one enemy, and for years have traded accusations of responsibility for sabotage, assassinations and cyber attacks.

Since the beginning of October, Tehran has been anticipating a possible attack by Tel Aviv, after Iran launched about 180 missiles at Israel.

Iran said its attack was "in response to Israel's assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, as well as its ongoing massacres" in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

According to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (official) on Sunday evening, quoting an unnamed Israeli official, Tel Aviv, with the support of the United States, is preparing to launch a "major attack" on Iran.

On the other hand, an Iranian military source threatened Israel late Sunday with a response "beyond its estimates" if it attacked military sites in his country, according to the Iranian Tasnim News Agency.

Yesterday, Sunday, the head of the Israeli General Security Service (Shin Bet), Ronen Bar, presented to the Security and Political Affairs Cabinet (the Cabinet) the details of the talks he held in Egypt regarding the prisoner exchange negotiations.

The proposals included "a truce in exchange for the release of a number of Israeli prisoners held by resistance factions in the Gaza Strip, without the withdrawal of Israeli army forces from the Gaza Strip."

However, Hamas insists that it is committed to the withdrawal of the army from the Gaza Strip and the cessation of the war as a condition for any deal, and there is "no confirmation that it is interested in the new proposal," according to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation ("Kan 11").

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation quoted an informed source as saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent the head of the Shin Bet to Cairo again to "improve the proposal" before the Egyptian side, which is not clear whether it is negotiating in coordination with Hamas.

In turn, the Walla website reported that the head of the Egyptian intelligence service proposed to the head of the Shin Bet a path for a "limited" deal with Hamas, with the aim of restarting negotiations on a larger deal.

According to the proposal, in the first stage a deal will be implemented in which a number of prisoners will be released in exchange for a ceasefire for a number of days.”

According to Walla, Defense Minister Yoav Galant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi expressed their support for the proposal during the meeting, while Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich opposed it.

However, the report stressed that "the deliberations in the cabinet were preliminary and in-depth, and no votes or decisions were taken" in this regard.

Yesterday, the head of the Shin Bet visited Cairo and met with the new director of Egyptian General Intelligence, Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, and discussed negotiations on a prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas, after the assassination of the movement’s leader, Yahya Sinwar.

Reports stated that "the head of the Shin Bet visited Cairo today and met with the new head of Egyptian intelligence, Rashad, and the two discussed pushing for a hostage deal, after the assassination of Sinwar." It noted that this comes "within the framework of attempts to reach a breakthrough."

In a related development, an official in the Israeli negotiating team informed the families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip in recent days that the killing of Sinwar did not lead to a change in the positions of both sides regarding the possibility of reaching a prisoner exchange agreement.

The official stressed, according to what Haaretz newspaper reported earlier today, that in order to resume negotiations, Israel must "soften" its positions.

"Hamas' demands for an agreement are the same positions that have been on the table since July 2. There is no disintegration there, they continue to work. Hamas's apparatus is stable, although it has taken a hit," he added.

"They will appoint a successor to Sinwar first, then reorganize themselves again, and they are ready to continue the discussion from the same position, without flexibility, and perhaps they will tighten it," he continued.

He stressed that "the instructions to the security apparatus have not changed, that pressure should be exerted on Hamas in order to start negotiations."

According to the official, the Israeli security establishment's position is that the "military achievement" should be used to "move a deal."

He said, "There must be flexibility in Israel's position in order to enter into negotiations. Withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor, for example. Without such flexibility, there will be no progress in the negotiations. I do not see Hamas softening now."

Hamas is moving away from appointing a successor to its leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in an Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, stressing that a "five-member committee" will take over the management of the movement, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse, quoting two informed sources in the movement.

An informed source, who was not named by the agency, said that "the direction of the Hamas leadership is not to appoint a successor to the late leader of the movement, Yahya Sinwar, until the next elections are held" within the movement scheduled for March, "if circumstances permit."

He added that a "five-member committee" formed in August after the assassination of the movement's former political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran "will assume leadership of the movement."

The "Five-Member Leadership Committee" was formed to facilitate decision-making related to the movement in light of the difficulty of communicating with the head of the political bureau, Yahya Sinwar, in the Gaza Strip, where a devastating war has been raging between the movement and Hamas for more than a year.

The source explained that the committee consists of the leaders of the three regions, Khalil al-Hayya from the Gaza Strip, Zaher Jabarin in the West Bank, and Khaled Meshaal abroad, the head of the movement's Shura Council, Muhammad Darwish, and the Secretary of the Political Bureau, whose name the movement generally does not disclose for security reasons.

All members of the committee are based in Doha. The committee serves as a crisis cell and a leadership council for managing the war.

According to the source, the committee is responsible for "managing the movement in light of the war, exceptional circumstances and its future plans," and has the authority to "issue strategic decisions."

Another source in the movement said that Hamas leadership discussed a proposal "presented internally" to appoint a head for its general political bureau without announcing his name, but the members of the political bureau preferred to keep the five-member committee to assume leadership.

Yahya Sinwar has led the movement in Gaza since 2017. He was named head of its political bureau in early August, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran on July 31 in an Israeli strike.

Sinwar was also killed in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, accidentally in an Israeli military operation.

Hamas, which was founded in 1987, holds elections every four years to choose members of the political bureau.

It usually takes place in the three regions in complete secrecy, for fear of Israeli security prosecutions, but the movement usually officially announces the names of the head and most of the members of the General Political Bureau.

According to the second source, the committee renewed Al-Hayya’s assignment to the files of foreign relations and the truce negotiations in the Gaza Strip.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon as soon as possible.

This came in a phone call between them, according to a statement issued by the French Elysee Palace on Monday.

Stressing France's commitment to Israel's security, Macron considered that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar "should be an opportunity to move negotiations to a new stage in order to cease fire in Gaza."

On Thursday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the killing of Sinwar, adding that "the war is not over yet."

The Israeli army admitted on Thursday that the killing of Sinwar in the Gaza Strip was a coincidence.

While Hamas Political Bureau member Khalil Al-Hayya mourned Sinwar on Friday, saying that he "was martyred while engaging and confronting the Israeli army until the last moment of his life."

Regarding the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, Macron called for not targeting civilian infrastructure, protecting civilians, and reaching a ceasefire as soon as possible.

On the other hand, Macron described the attacks that targeted Netanyahu's residence with a drone on Saturday as "unacceptable."

On Saturday, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said that a drone was launched from Lebanon towards Netanyahu's home in Caesarea, northern Israel, but he and his family were not there.

Macron also denounced the "actions" of the Israeli army against the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

He explained that he wants the United Nations to "full-play its role in southern Lebanon," in response to a series of attacks by Israel targeting UN forces' positions over the past few days, which resulted in the injury of a number of UNIFIL soldiers.

A child was injured with bruises, Monday evening, after Israeli occupation soldiers attacked him, in the village of Kafr Qallil, south of Nablus.

Local sources reported that the occupation forces stormed the village of Kafr Qalil, deployed in its streets, and assaulted the child Mahmoud Mansour (14 years old), who was then taken to the hospital.

In Salfit, the occupation forces stormed the town of Az-Zawiya, firing live bullets and sound bombs, and detained a number of children and young men and abused them, before arresting the child Zain Raafat Shaqir and the young man Abdul Jabbar Ali Abdul Jabbar.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced today, Monday, that the death toll from the ongoing Israeli occupation aggression on Lebanon has risen to 2,483 martyrs and 11,628 wounded.

The ministry added, in a brief statement, that the occupation's aggression on Lebanon yesterday resulted in 19 martyrs and 98 wounded.

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, confirmed that Israel does not allow humanitarian aid to enter the northern Gaza Strip.

"Palestinians in northern Gaza are under siege," Lazzarini said in a post on the X platform on Monday.

Pointing out that "the Israeli attacks in the region targeted hospitals, leaving them without electricity, and depriving the wounded of health services."

He also pointed out the severe overcrowding in UNRWA shelters due to Israel's intensified attacks.

He stated that Israel "prevents humanitarian missions from delivering vital aid such as medicine and food to the area," stressing the need to allow relief organizations, including UNRWA, to enter northern Gaza.

"Preventing humanitarian aid or using it as a weapon to achieve military goals is an indication of how low the moral compass is," he added.

The New York Times said that the two-state solution is still the goal of the United States and the West, but many in the region say that the destruction in Gaza and the lack of effective Palestinian leadership make this a distant possibility.

The newspaper says: "The killing of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, has raised hopes in the Biden administration that this will help pave the way for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state."

But in many ways the goal of an independent Palestinian state seems further away than ever. In Gaza, there has been death and destruction on a devastating scale. Clear and solid Palestinian leadership is lacking. Israel is struggling with its own trauma over the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023.

President Biden hopes that Sinwar’s death will lead to a temporary ceasefire in Gaza and the return of the Israeli hostages, while producing a path toward negotiations on the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel — the so-called two-state solution. But it is unclear who can speak for Hamas now in Gaza, or even whether the group really knows where all the hostages are or how many are still alive, the newspaper reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war against Hamas while pursuing another war against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Beirut, as well as to exact revenge on Iran. Since October 7, he has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of a two-state solution, and the stability of his coalition government depends on far-right ministers who oppose a Palestinian state of any kind.

“All of this makes the possibility of Israel agreeing to serious negotiations on a Palestinian state extremely unlikely,” says Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a Gaza-based scholar and visiting professor at Northwestern University, according to the newspaper.

“Netanyahu has said several times recently that a Palestinian state would endanger Israel’s security,” Abu Saada said. “With the extremist part of Israel now in power, it is not on their agenda.”

The Oslo Accords of the 1990s, the peace framework for resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, were supposed to lead to an independent Palestinian state. The Palestinian Authority created under the accords was supposed to be an interim body exercising limited Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But Hamas ousted it from Gaza in 2007, and it now controls only part of the West Bank, and is viewed by Palestinians as corrupt and ineffective.

“In recent years, amid cycles of violence, hopes for a two-state solution have receded. After October 7 and the devastating Israeli response in Gaza, the United States and Europe, as well as some countries in the Middle East, have returned to pressing the issue as the best way to achieve a sustainable and secure peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Saudi Arabia, for example, insists that any recognition of Israel depends on a credible path to a viable and independent Palestinian state,” the newspaper said.

But even if Netanyahu decides to change his policy, analysts say a fragmented and weak Palestinian leadership will pose a serious obstacle to progress on the issue.

Any agreement would require broad Palestinian leadership, including Hamas’s buy-in, to champion and support the idea, said Mouin Rabbani, a non-resident fellow at the Doha-based Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies. “But the Palestinian Authority has largely lost whatever legitimacy it might have had. I expect Hamas to now adopt a more extreme line.”

Rabbani added to the newspaper that the insistence of the United States and European countries to continue to push for a two-state solution ignored this vacuum in Palestinian leadership and the extremist impact of the war in Gaza on Palestinian politics.

"The two-state solution is a fig leaf that allows the United States and Europe to pretend they are serious about resolving the issue without acknowledging the changes in the reality on the ground that contradict the possibility of achieving this goal," Rabbani said.

Complicating matters is the rapid growth of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, as well as the intensive Israeli raids on the territory in the wake of the October 7 attack.

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, confirmed that Israel does not allow humanitarian aid to enter the northern Gaza Strip.

"Palestinians in northern Gaza are under siege," Lazzarini said in a post on the X platform on Monday.

Pointing out that "the Israeli attacks in the region targeted hospitals, leaving them without electricity, and depriving the wounded of health services."

He also pointed out the severe overcrowding in UNRWA shelters due to Israel's intensified attacks.

He stated that Israel "prevents humanitarian missions from delivering vital aid such as medicine and food to the area," stressing the need to allow relief organizations, including UNRWA, to enter northern Gaza.

"Preventing humanitarian aid or using it as a weapon to achieve military goals is an indication of how low the moral compass is," he added.

The United States and key European countries are skeptical of Israel's claims that it is not pushing all residents out of northern Gaza, saying the Israeli denial does not accurately reflect the IDF's operations in the area.

Diplomats from Western countries said that Israel's claims in this regard did not assuage their concerns about the displacement of residents of the northern Gaza Strip, and added that they are facing difficulties in gathering reliable information about what is happening in the northern Gaza Strip, according to what was reported by the Haaretz website today, Monday.

Israeli ministers have expressed their support for the displacement of residents of the northern Gaza Strip under the “generals’ plan” drawn up by retired general Giora Eiland, one of the retired generals most consulted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

International fears that Israel is implementing this plan were reinforced by the fact that, in parallel with the Israeli army’s ground incursion into the northern Gaza Strip, especially in the Jabalia area, Israel prevented the entry of humanitarian aid, mainly food and medicine, into this area, which was interpreted in the world as an attempt to starve the population and force them to flee.

The newspaper reported that a number of governments in Western countries have approached Israel in the last two weeks, demanding to know whether Israel is implementing the Eiland Plan, and that the fear is that Israel's goal is to expel the population from the northern Gaza Strip.

"The liaison officers in the Foreign and Security Ministries told us that this is not the plan, but we are having a hard time being convinced when we look at the army's performance in the northern Gaza Strip," one diplomat said.

This is the third time that Israeli forces have entered Jabalia. A Western diplomat said, "When the army entered the first time, we understood that Israel was obliged to act there against Hamas. The second time, we were cautious and said that without a plan for the next day, Israel would have to return there again and again. This time, the reaction is different. We are really afraid that Israel is planning to do something else, very dangerous, and completely contrary to international law."

Israel has allowed humanitarian aid into the northern Gaza Strip following a US warning to halt arms supplies, but the amount Israel agreed to let in was far short of what the population needed. "The amounts that have been brought in are far from what we wanted to see," said a diplomat whose country supplies aid. "It's still below the ceiling. We and other countries continue to insist that much more aid should be brought in."

The international community is increasingly concerned about the absence of international relief organizations in the northern Gaza Strip, and the inability of international media to provide information about what is happening in this area, "which increases speculation about what Israel wants to implement there," according to a Western diplomat.

Last week, the newspaper quoted sources in the Israeli security apparatus as saying that "the government is pushing for a creeping annexation of large parts of the Strip." Israeli officers in the Strip said that their impression is that "the goal of the military operation in the northern Gaza Strip is to pressure the population to move south, according to the plan put forward by Eiland," the newspaper quoted them as saying today.

A leading source in the Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed to Al Jazeera today, Monday, that an Israeli female prisoner was recently killed in the northern Gaza Strip in mysterious circumstances in one of the combat zones.

He added that an investigation is underway to determine the causes of the incident, stressing that the Qassam Brigades do not intend to publish the name of the slain prisoner for security reasons.

The source did not clarify where the Israeli prisoner was killed, but the occupation army began a new military operation on October 6 in the Jabalia camp and town and large areas in the northern Gaza Strip, accompanied by violent shelling that left hundreds of martyrs and wounded.

In previous times, the Al-Qassam Brigades announced the killing of Israeli prisoners as a result of the violent Israeli bombardment that targeted various areas of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli estimates indicate that 107 Israelis are still being held in Gaza, more than 50 of whom are still alive, while the Palestinian resistance has not confirmed the numbers of living and dead detainees it holds.

It is noteworthy that in early September, the spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, said that the insistence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on releasing the prisoners through military pressure instead of concluding a deal would mean their return in coffins, after the Israeli army recovered the bodies of 6 detainees found in a tunnel in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

Ten citizens were killed and 30 others were injured on Monday, as a result of the Israeli occupation artillery shelling of a shelter center affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Jabalia camp, north of the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources said that the occupation artillery targeted the shelter center, which led to the martyrdom of at least 10 citizens and the injury of more than 30 others who were displaced to a center affiliated with UNRWA.

In a related context, the Civil Defense confirmed that more than 600 martyrs have been killed since the beginning of the occupation's aggression on Jabalia camp on October 6, while there are dozens of martyrs still under the rubble and in the streets.

He pointed out that the occupation is pursuing a policy of starvation and exhaustion in Jabalia, and that some of the families that the crews reached had not eaten for 5 days.

In turn, UNRWA reported that every minute counts and the delay in allowing entry into northern Gaza means that rescue teams are unable to reach the wounded.

The occupation forces continue their aggression on the Gaza Strip, by land, sea and air, since October 7, 2023, which resulted in the martyrdom of 42,603 citizens and the injury of 99,795 others, the majority of whom are children and women, in an incomplete toll, as thousands of people are still missing under the rubble.

The Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that the detainee, Shaima Rawajbeh (25 years old) from Nablus, suffers from extremely difficult health conditions that have greatly worsened after her arrest.

In a joint statement issued today, Monday, the Commission and the Prisoners Club held the Israeli Prison Service fully responsible for the fate and life of the detainee Rawajbeh.

They pointed out that Rawajbeh, who has been administratively detained since last April, was arrested while suffering from a fracture in one of her feet a week before her arrest. A month later, the cast was removed, but today she suffers from severe muscle weakness, to the point that the situation has worsened and she is no longer able to walk, as she has become completely dependent on the detainees to meet her needs.

The Authority and the Club added that her suffering did not stop there, as she suffers from severe stomach problems, to the point that she is no longer able to eat any type of so-called (meals) and vomits constantly, which led to her suffering from severe weight loss.

They continued: Throughout her detention, and despite legal attempts to push the prison administration to provide them with the necessary treatment, the prison administration claims that there are no longer any problems with her feet. As for the stomach problem, despite the recommendation that she be referred to a nutritionist, the prison administration was content to allow her to contact a nutritionist who speaks Hebrew and what the detainee Shaima said was translated into Arabic, without conducting medical examinations.

It is noteworthy that the detainee, Shaimaa, is one of (94) female detainees in Al-Damon prison, who face harsh and tragic conditions in light of the systematic procedures and crimes, most notably the crime of starvation, medical crimes, and systematic torture crimes. She is one of (28) female administrative detainees.

The Prisoners’ Authority and the Prisoners’ Club confirmed that the conditions of the female detainees have deteriorated significantly, compared to the past months, as a result of the retaliatory measures imposed by the occupation prison administration, in addition to the repressive and repeated searches they have been subjected to in the recent period, and the practice of systematic humiliation and abuse. The most prominent repressive operations were in late September and on October 7, according to the testimonies of female detainees who were visited.

The Prisoners' Authority and the Prisoners' Club called on the international human rights system to restore its necessary role and end the state of exception enjoyed by the occupying state in the face of the war crimes of genocide it is carrying out, one of the aspects of which is the crimes of torture in prisons and camps.

The Israeli Public Prosecution has uncovered a spy network working for Iran.

The Israeli prosecution alleged that the spy network consisted of seven Israelis, “new immigrants from Azerbaijan,” recruited by Iran, who photographed Israeli military bases that were targets of the Iranian missile attack. They also collected information on IDF military bases and installations, including the air force bases in Nabatim and Ramat David, the Karya camp in Tel Aviv, the locations of Iron Dome batteries, and more. They also obtained maps of strategic locations from the operators, including the Golani base, in exchange for a total payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars, which was carried out, among other things, using cryptocurrency.

The suspects are: Aziz Nisanov, Alexander Sidikov, Yigal Nisan, Vishaslav Gushchin, Yevgeny Yuva, and two minors whose names cannot be published who came from Azerbaijan. Over the course of two years, they carried out 600 missions for the Iranians.

The State Attorney's Office is expected to file an indictment against them on Friday in the Haifa District Court for a series of serious security offenses.

US Special Envoy to Lebanon Amos Hochstein said from Beirut on Monday that merely talking about Lebanon and Israel's commitment to UN Resolution 1701 is not enough.

He added that the United States is working on a formula to end the conflict once and for all. He said: "There is a lack of implementation of Resolution 1701 that has contributed to igniting the conflict we are suffering from today."

He explained that "the world will support Lebanon and its leadership if they take courageous decisions that are in the interest of the Lebanese people."

29 citizens, including children, were killed and others were injured in 5 new massacres carried out by the Israeli occupation army in the northern Gaza Strip today, Monday, which included direct execution of displaced persons, shelling of civilian gatherings, targeting a house in Gaza City, and a school housing displaced persons in Beit Hanoun.

Medical sources reported that 7 martyrs and wounded arrived as a result of artillery shelling that targeted displaced people inside a school in the vicinity of Abu Rashid Pool in Jabalia camp.

Eyewitnesses said that the occupation forces that penetrated the camp forced the displaced people who were besieged in the "Kreizm" school, which is affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), to gather and leave it.

Witnesses added that the occupation artillery fired a shell at them after they gathered, which led to the martyrdom of at least 7 of them and the injury of dozens.

Six citizens, including children, were killed and others were injured in an occupation raid that targeted a gathering of citizens while they were trying to fill drinking water in the town of Jabalia.

In Jabalia camp, 4 citizens were martyred in a raid launched by an occupation drone on a group of citizens near the "Happy Yemen" hospital.

In Gaza City, 9 citizens were killed and dozens were injured in an occupation bombing that targeted a house belonging to the "Maqat" family behind Sheikh Radwan Pool, north of the city.

Three citizens were also killed and others were injured in an occupation bombing that targeted the Ghazi al-Shawa School, which houses displaced people in the town of Beit Hanoun, north of the Strip.

The sources indicated that 41 citizens were martyred in the occupation raids on the Gaza Strip since dawn today, 33 of them in the northern Gaza Strip.

On October 6, the occupation forces launched a ground invasion in the northern Gaza Strip, besieging the entire area and preventing the entry of water, food and medicine supplies.

The occupation forces continue their aggression on the Gaza Strip, by land, sea and air, since October 7, 2023, which resulted in the martyrdom of 42,603 citizens and the injury of 99,795 others, the majority of whom are children and women, in an incomplete toll, as thousands of people are still missing under the rubble.

18 citizens were killed and others were injured today, Monday, in an occupation bombing that targeted the center and north of Rafah city, a group of citizens, and a school housing displaced people in Jabalia.

Local sources reported that the occupation artillery shelled the areas of Al-Shaboura, Khirbet Al-Adas, and Urayba in the center and north of Rafah city, which led to the martyrdom of five citizens and the injury of others.

She added that an occupation drone bombed a tent sheltering displaced people west of Khan Yunis, killing and wounding a number of citizens.

The occupation artillery shelled the vicinity of the UNRWA-affiliated "Kreizem" school, which houses displaced persons, in the vicinity of Abu Rashid Pool in Jabalia camp, while they were leaving the school, which led to the martyrdom of 7 citizens and the injury of dozens.

Eyewitnesses reported that shelling targeted a group of citizens while they were filling water in Jabalia al-Balad, which led to the martyrdom of six citizens and the injury of others.

The occupation warplanes targeted Al-Shanti land, west of Al-Saftawi area, and Sheikh Radwan neighborhood area, north of Gaza City.

The occupation forces continue their aggression on the Gaza Strip, by land, sea and air, since October 7, 2023, which resulted in the martyrdom of 42,603 citizens and the injury of 99,795 others, the majority of whom are children and women, in an incomplete toll, as thousands of people are still missing under the rubble.

Since yesterday evening until Monday morning, the Israeli occupation forces have arrested at least 18 citizens from the West Bank, including two children and former prisoners.

The Prisoners Club and the Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and Freed Prisoners said in a joint statement that the occupation forces are continuing field investigations in the town of Deir Abu Mash'al, north of Ramallah. We were unable to confirm the number of arrests in the town due to the ongoing operation, noting that field investigations have recently escalated significantly in all governorates, and have affected hundreds of young men.

The statement added that the arrest campaign and field investigations were accompanied by attacks and threats against citizens and their families, in addition to widespread acts of vandalism and destruction in citizens' homes.

He pointed out that the number of arrests since the beginning of the ongoing war of extermination and comprehensive aggression against our people has risen to more than 11,400 citizens from the West Bank, including Jerusalem.

He explained that the occupation forces continue to implement systematic arrest campaigns, as one of the most prominent fixed policies, which has escalated in an unprecedented manner since the beginning of the ongoing war of extermination.

Gaza remains the largest and most important main battlefield since the beginning of Israel’s aggression on several fronts. Amidst the continued indiscriminate killing of civilians and the targeting of anyone who moves, it can be said that the generals’ plan has begun in the northern Gaza Strip, according to a UN report that stated that Israel forced twenty thousand unarmed civilians to flee by force of arms, while the occupation falsely promoted that the operation was carried out willingly.

The siege of northern Gaza continues for the sixteenth consecutive day, and the occupation operation targets the cities of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, amidst massacres, the latest of which was the Beit Lahia massacre, which claimed the lives of 83 citizens, amidst bombing, starvation and destruction. However, the main plan seems to have been dedicated to displacement, amidst tragic and catastrophic aspects, as buildings were bombed and completely blown up to evacuate citizens and expand the size of the buffer zone that Israel covets.

The citizens of the northern Gaza Strip are facing the hell of death, whether by killing or starvation, through the use of harsh means against them. Despite this, the number that Israel has forced to leave is a minority, as the vast majority are bound to remain forever in their positions, and their steadfastness and pride reflect this and are evident on the ground, despite the grave risks resulting from this step.

The silent international community is required to act immediately to pressure Netanyahu and his government to stop the war on northern Gaza and all parts of the Strip, especially in light of the threats of members of the Likud Party to re-settle and increase its pace on the southern border.

Israel's attempts to implement the generals' plan are a declaration of war on the lives and assets of civilians, and there is no doubt that the price has become very high. Despite this, messages of steadfastness mixed with hope despite the pain remain the title that characterizes the citizens of the north in their confrontation with the deadly war, which is being led from behind the scenes by the United States, which has given Israel a period of one month to continue slaughtering the Palestinians.

The southern suburb is burning

In the north, it seems that Israel, shaken by its many security failures, has devised a plan to destroy the southern suburb of Beirut in response to the latest attempt to attack Netanyahu, as it launched last night several intensive raids on targets that were being bombed for the first time, especially inhabited facilities and buildings, thus continuing the occupation’s daily chapters of killing and destruction, all in the absence of any horizon for a diplomatic solution, despite the two quick visits today and tomorrow, respectively, to Beirut and Tel Aviv by Biden’s envoys Hochstein and his Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

Six children and women from one family were martyred, at dawn on Monday, in a new massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army in the "Nabi In'am" neighborhood in the city of Baalbek, east of Lebanon.

The Lebanese News Agency said, "The Israeli enemy committed a massacre against children and women in the Nabi Inam neighborhood in the city of Baalbek."

The agency added that an "enemy" drone launched a raid on the home of citizen Ali Abdo Othman, "in a neighborhood with close-knit and populated houses."

She explained that the targeting resulted in "the destruction of the building and damage to the neighboring houses, the martyrdom of 6 children and women from the Othman family, and the injury of 8 citizens in the neighborhood with injuries ranging from critical to moderate to minor, and they were transferred to hospitals."

The agency reported that the civil defense teams in the area worked to extinguish the fire in the targeted house, assist in rescue operations, and retrieve the bodies of the dead from under the rubble.

Volunteers from the Islamic Health Authority, the Lebanese Red Cross, and the Palestinian Al-Shifa Society participated in the search and rescue operations, according to the agency.

As Netanyahu said, he will not stop the war in the Gaza Strip in search of achieving impossible goals. He knows that very well, but he will not stop the war in order to justify his political survival and so that Israel does not collapse in front of the axis of resistance. Stopping the war means entering into real negotiations, and Netanyahu does not want that, and he cannot do that either. He is acting with the logic of a victor, not one seeking a settlement. He wants to continue the war to achieve its hidden goals. He does not care about the prisoners or uprooting the Hamas movement. What he cares about is erasing the place, ensuring calm for decades, and turning the Strip into a crossroads for transportation, communications, investments, and settlement. What he cares about is a complete change in the Palestinian demographics and geography in a way that will forever block any settlement with the Palestinian state, and an unprecedented separation between the Palestinian people’s communities so that they will no longer be able to build a society or establish a state. Destroying the Gaza Strip and displacing its people is the erasure of the geography that protected, embraced, and nourished the Palestinian national identity. These are Netanyahu's real goals in continuing his war on the Strip, as he may reduce its intensity, but he will certainly not end his occupation of the Strip, even if there are negotiations with Arab, international or Palestinian parties on how to manage the Strip. This time, Israel wants to control everything related to the life of the Strip and the lives of its people. These goals also include working to displace the Palestinian citizen by all available means. This ultimately means that Netanyahu is investing in the war to prolong his rule, prolong the occupation and prolong the conflict as well.

Almost all leaders in the East and West agree in their statements that the release of the Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip is their first demand. Nothing occupies, stops or concerns them except these prisoners. There are those who weep over them and point to the suffering of their families and the necessity of reuniting families, and there are those who point to their mistreatment and the harsh conditions under which they live. We are not against the release of every prisoner on the face of this earth because that guarantees the release of more than ten thousand Palestinian prisoners whom no one remembers, no one sympathizes with, and no one demands their release or work to improve their detention conditions despite all the horrific news about their detention conditions. Weeping over the Israeli prisoners is part of this hypocrisy, deception, duplicity and dominance of power. It reflects that the colonial West in particular gives Israel all it needs in terms of legitimacy, money, weapons, protection and adoption of the Israeli narrative of the entire conflict. In other words, these statements are not just words and not just a free compliment, but rather a complete vision of the conflict. The colonial West has dropped all the masks from its face, and no longer compliments anyone at all. It will not allow Israel to be defeated, criticized, or its actions to be delegitimized. This time, the West stands completely naked to reveal its ugly shame completely, as the German Foreign Minister expressed it by saying: “All Palestinian civilian targets lose their justification for protection because they are used as a shelter for terrorists,” or as she said… this is where things have come to.

We must admit that there is migration among our citizens, and I am not just saying young people, there are families migrating, yes, it must be said that this is happening. Away from the slogans and big words, the most common and used claim among these people is that everything has deteriorated, there is no security, no safety, no stability, no peaceful life, and that the occupation is restricting all means of living, and it is not only restricting it, but it is also depriving us of our means of living and depriving us of them as well. The occupation has made our lives an unbearable hell, it has confiscated land, dried up water, closed streets, and prevented construction and even hiking in the mountains. There is poverty, overcrowding, a non-existent infrastructure, and a polluted environment, as we know and do not know. There is social injustice, disparities, disharmony, and internal violence at all levels, and war or war conditions bring out the worst in people. For all of this, migration has become an easy, close, and available way out and solution for many reasons that are not hidden from any sane person. I say this with all my pain, and I do not claim solutions here nor do I propose ways out of this predicament. Preventing or reducing migration is not only due to social institutional efforts, but is an individual decision in the end. Migration is a torment for those who do not know, and staying in the homeland is also a torment, and one torment from another makes a big difference in reality.

..........

Crying over Israeli prisoners is part of this hypocrisy, deception, duplicity, and dominance of power, and it reflects that the colonial West itself gives Israel all it needs in terms of legitimacy, money, weapons, protection, and adoption of the Israeli narrative of the entire conflict.

The media officer at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Enas Hamdan, said that Israel rejected an urgent request submitted by the agency to evacuate those trapped under the rubble as a result of the genocide being committed in the northern Gaza Strip.

This came in statements made by Hamdan, at dawn today, while famine is worsening in the northern Gaza Strip due to the occupation's genocide and the policy of ethnic cleansing to which the citizens there are being subjected.

"Over the past two weeks, we have repeatedly warned that the tightening of the siege on Jabalia and the northern governorate in general is making the situation even more catastrophic, and the ongoing Israeli military operations are putting tens of thousands of civilians at imminent risk," the UN official said.

“Moreover, the military offensive in northern Gaza is cutting off people’s access to essentials for their survival, including water,” she added.

She warned that "Jabalia camp has been under siege for more than two weeks, and we are receiving information about families trapped in their homes, with water and food running out, and images coming from the camp showing residents running for their lives, with no safe place to go."

On the medical system, Hamdan said: “On October 18, two of the three remaining hospitals in the North Gaza Governorate were directly targeted (Al-Awda and the Indonesian Hospital), and these attacks exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in the North Gaza Governorate in a very worrying way.”

She continued: "In the Indonesian hospital, patients died due to power outages and lack of supplies, and since yesterday, an urgent request from the United Nations to reach northern Gaza to rescue the injured trapped under the rubble has not been implemented by the Israeli authorities."

The UN official called on Israel to "allow humanitarian and rescue teams to reach the sick, wounded and trapped without delay, because every minute of delay exacerbates the disaster."

Axios reported, citing American and Israeli officials, that Israel presented the United States last week with a document of principles regarding its conditions for reaching a diplomatic solution to end the war in Lebanon.

The report added that Amos Hochstein, the US President's envoy, will visit Beirut today to discuss with Lebanese officials the possibility of a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Walla website reported, citing American and Israeli officials, that the document of principles allows the displaced on both sides of the border to return to their homes.

The document also allows the Israeli army to ensure that Hezbollah does not rearm itself, and gives the Israeli Air Force freedom to operate in Lebanese airspace, according to the website.

The website indicated - quoting an American source - that the international community may not agree to Israel's conditions included in the document of principles.

It is noteworthy that since September 23, Israel has expanded the scope of its war and air strikes to include most of Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, and has also begun a "limited" ground invasion in the south of the country. The aggression on Lebanon has resulted in more than 2,350 deaths, 10,906 injuries, including a large number of women and children, in addition to more than 1,340,000 displaced persons, according to official Lebanese data.

Source: Axios + Al Jazeera + Israeli press

The distance between Jabalia camp and the German city of Dresden is vast in terms of kilometers, but in terms of the waterfalls of blood and the immorality of the desires for revenge and retaliation, it is as close as the victims are to their blood, and the hungry and thirsty to their intestines.

What has been happening in the stricken camp in terms of killing, destruction and starvation for the past sixteen days is beyond the capacity of a sane mind to comprehend, and is comparable to what the German city was subjected to at the end of World War II, in terms of raids launched by hundreds of British and American bombers, which left about 25,000 dead in three days, and at the time the British newspapers described those raids as horrific and unjustified.

In Jabalia camp, which is crowded with poor, destroyed homes and those on the verge of collapse, and is crowded with hundreds of thousands of refugees in brick houses, homes are being demolished on the heads of their residents, without prior warning, and ethnic cleansing is taking place in which hundreds are killed, wounded and missing, most of them children and women under the rubble, while ambulance and civil defense crews are prevented from reaching the besieged area, to rescue the injured and retrieve bodies from the streets.

With tank tracks and aircraft shells, the lines of longitude and latitude are drawn in the north, which is targeted for displacement, terror and killing at times, and starvation at other times, in a bloody implementation of the “generals’ plan,” which has exceeded all taboos.

Those besieged in Jabalia, Beit Lahia and all the camps and cities of the north are suffering from bleeding wounds and the pain of suffering, and they are being killed morning and evening, as punishment for their steadfastness and their sit-in in their homes. They are targeted for killing as they move and travel to their tents or to shelters, as the flying monsters distribute their incendiary bombs to them.

Stop the war of extermination now..!

The New York Times reported Sunday that days after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, the Pentagon quietly sent several dozen commandos to Israel to help advise on hostage recovery efforts, U.S. officials said.

The JSOC forces were quickly joined by a group of intelligence officers, some working with the commandos in Israel and others at the CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia, near Washington, DC.

For more than a year, much of the attention and criticism about U.S. support for Israel has focused on the American-made bombs and weapons that Israel has used to attack Gaza. But intelligence assistance to Israel has also been crucial. U.S. intelligence helped locate the four hostages rescued by Israeli commandos in June.

Almost from the beginning of the war, American military and intelligence cells focused not only on the search for hostages, but also on hunting down senior Hamas leaders.

Senior American leaders do not claim credit for the Israeli operation that killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 attack. But they say their intelligence helped in the hunt.

“Shortly after the October 7 massacre, I directed our special operations personnel and intelligence professionals to work alongside their Israeli counterparts to help locate and track Sinwar and other Hamas leaders hiding in Gaza,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement on Thursday after Israel announced it had killed Mr. Sinwar.

According to senior officials, during the course of the war in Gaza, American “fusion cells” shifted their focus based on the latest actionable intelligence. Sometimes the best tips were on the locations of hostages. At other times, the cells focused on the whereabouts of Hamas leaders. But neither mission was ever sidelined.

The two American intelligence analysis groups, in Israel and at CIA headquarters, regularly exchanged information and insights.

Defense officials insisted they did not directly support Israeli military operations on the ground in Gaza, a campaign that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians and reduced the area to rubble, but officials said the hunt for senior Hamas leaders was different, the newspaper reported.

“Hamas-led groups held about 250 hostages in attacks last year, including Americans. Mr. Sinwar and other senior Hamas leaders kept the captives close by, hoping to deter Israeli attempts to kill them with a bombing strike. Hamas leaders issued standing orders to shoot the hostages if Israeli forces were discovered nearby, a strategy designed to deter Israeli commando teams from entering the tunnel network where Mr. Sinwar was long believed to be hiding.”

Since the start of the more than year-long war, U.S. military officials have said that the search for the hostages has been their primary mission in Israel. But senior administration officials have described the search for the hostages and the Hamas leaders as intertwined.

It is noteworthy that in an interview conducted earlier this year, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that “the US military and spy agencies gained experience in finding high-value targets from the pursuit of Osama bin Laden and other terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan that was useful to the Israelis.”

“We have been using this expertise since the first weeks after October 7,” Mr. Sullivan said.

Senior White House officials have met regularly with William J. Burns, the CIA director, and Lloyd Austin III, the defense secretary, about what additional support targeting cells might need to accelerate the hunt for Mr. Sinwar, U.S. officials said.

Officials did not disclose many details about what kind of intelligence the cells provided to Israel.

At least six MQ-9 Reapers, operated by U.S. special operations forces, flew missions to help locate the hostages, monitor for signs of life and pass possible leads to the Israeli military, the officials said.

The drones cannot map Hamas’s vast underground tunnel network — Israel uses top-secret ground sensors to do that — but its infrared radar can detect the heat signatures of people entering or leaving the tunnels from above ground, officials said.

In the end, it was a random Israeli unit on patrol in southern Gaza that discovered Sinwar by chance, the highest-value target of all.

No U.S. forces were directly involved in the operation that killed the Hamas leader, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said Thursday. “This was an Israeli operation,” he said.

But American officials insist that the United States helped gather intelligence that helped the Israeli military narrow its search.

In the weeks since Hamas killed a group of hostages in tunnels in Rafah in southern Gaza, American and Israeli intelligence agencies have focused on the area, believing that this might be where Mr. Sinwar is hiding.

The use of Palestinian civilians as ‘human baits’ in Gaza demonstrates how racism informs Israel’s warfare practices.

Neve Gordon

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A screenshot from footage obtained by Al Jazeera shows a Palestinian man dressed in Israeli military forced to walk around in the rubble of a building in Gaza [Screenshot/Al Jazeera]

The use of human shields in war is not a new phenomenon. Militaries have forced civilians to serve as human shields for centuries. Yet, despite this long and dubious history, Israel has managed to introduce a new form of shielding in Gaza, one that appears unprecedented in the history of warfare.

The practice was initially revealed by Al Jazeera but, subsequently, Haaretz published an entire expose about how Israeli troops have abducted Palestinian civilians, dressed them in military uniforms, attached cameras to their bodies, and sent them into underground tunnels as well as buildings in order to shield Israeli troops.

 “[I]t’s hard to recognise them. They’re usually wearing Israeli army uniforms, many of them are in their 20s, and they’re always with Israeli soldiers of various ranks,” the Haaretz article notes. But if you look more closely, “you see that most of them are wearing sneakers, not army boots. And their hands are cuffed behind their backs and their faces are full of fear.”

In the past, Israeli troops have used robots and trained dogs with cameras on their collars as well as Palestinian civilians to serve as shields. However, Palestinians who were used as shields always wore civilian clothes and thus could be identified as civilians. By dressing Palestinian civilians in military garb and sending them into the tunnels, the Israeli military has, in effect, altered the very logic of human shielding.

Indeed, human shielding has historically been predicated on recognising that the person shielding a military target is a vulnerable civilian (or prisoner of war). This recognition is meant to deter the opposing warring party from attacking the target because the vulnerability of the human shield ostensibly invokes moral restraints on the use of lethal violence. It is precisely the recognition of vulnerability that is key to the purported effectiveness of human shielding and for deterrence to have a chance of working.

By dressing Palestinian civilians in Israeli military uniforms and casting them as combatants the Israeli military purposefully conceals their vulnerability. It deploys them as shields not to deter Palestinian fighters from striking Israeli soldiers, but rather to draw their fire and thus reveal their location, allowing the Israeli troops to launch a counterattack and kill the fighters. The moment these human shields, masked as soldiers, are sent into the tunnels, they are transformed from vulnerable civilians into fodder.

The Israeli army’s treatment of Palestinian civilians as expendable might not come as a surprise given the racialised form of colonial governance to which they have been subjected for decades. The deep-seated racism explains the ease with which Israeli President Isaac Herzog publicly claimed that there are “no innocent civilians” in the Gaza Strip as well as the prevailing indifference among Israel’s Jewish public to the tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians who have been killed.

Indeed, Israelis were not shocked when their political leaders repeatedly called to “erase” Gaza, “flatten” it, and turn it “into Dresden”. They have either supported or have been apathetic towards the damage and destruction of 60 percent of all civilian structures and sites in Gaza.

Within this context, dressing Palestinian civilians in military garb and sending them into tunnels is likely to be perceived in the eyes of most Israeli soldiers – and large sections within the Israeli public – as not much more than a detail.

Nonetheless, this new form of human shielding does shed important light on how racism plays out in the battlefield. It reveals that the military has taken to heart and operationalised Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s racist guidelines that “we are fighting human animals”, exposing how Israeli soldiers are relating to Palestinians as either bait or prey. Like hunters who use raw meat to lure animals they want to capture or kill, the Israeli troops use Palestinian civilians as if they were bare flesh whose function is to attract the hunter’s prey.

Racism also informs Israel’s disregard for international law. By randomly detaining Palestinian civilians – including youth and the elderly – and then dressing them in military garb before forcing them to walk in front of soldiers, the Israeli troops violate not only the legal provision against the use of human shields but also the provision that deals with perfidy and prohibits warring parties from making use of military “uniforms of adverse Parties while engaging in attacks or in order to shield, favour, protect or impede military operations”. Two war crimes in a single action.

The horrifying truth, however, is that no matter how much evidence emerges around Israel’s use of this new human shielding practice or indeed any other breach of international law, the likelihood that it will change actions on the ground is small.

Hopes that international law will protect and bring justice to the Palestinian people have historically been misplaced because colonial racism – as critical legal scholars from Antony Anghie to Noura Erekat have pointed out – informs not merely Israel’s actions but also the international legal order, including the way the International Criminal Court (ICC) metes out justice. To get a glimpse of this racism, all one needs to do is browse the website of the International Criminal Court to see who it has been willing to indict.

This evening, Sunday, Israeli occupation aircraft launched raids on the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and several towns in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese News Agency reported that the occupation aircraft launched four raids on facilities in the neighborhoods of Al-Salam, Burj Al-Barajneh, and Al-Ghobeiry in the southern suburb.

It also reported that the occupation aircraft launched raids on the towns of: Houmin al-Fawqa, Shebaa, Arabsalim, Qalawieh, Ma'roub, Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, Tayr Dibba, Yanuh, Fron, Kounin, Hadatha, al-Tuwairi, Tibnin, Aita al-Shaab, Dibbin, Yatar, Shaqra, Deir Antar and Qabrikha, in conjunction with heavy artillery shelling on the towns of Majdal Silm, Tulin, Aita al-Shaab, Burj al-Muluk and al-Khiam.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced in a statement that an Israeli army bulldozer deliberately demolished a watchtower and a fence surrounding a UN site in Marwahin.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that the death toll since the start of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon on October 8th until yesterday, Saturday, has risen to 2,464, and the number of wounded has risen to 11,530.

It reported that 16 people were killed and 59 were injured yesterday, including 11 martyrs and 27 injured in the South, 5 martyrs and 23 injured in Nabatieh, and 9 injured in the Bekaa.