The International Court of Justice stated that it will hold hearings on the eighth and ninth of next April, to consider Nicaragua’s lawsuit against Germany, regarding Berlin’s provision of military aid to the Israeli occupation, and the suspension of funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

In a statement on Friday, the court confirmed that sessions would be held to listen to the two countries’ pleas in the upcoming meeting.

Nicaragua accused Germany before the International Court of Justice, based in The Hague, of facilitating genocide in Gaza by providing financial and military aid to the Israeli occupation entity.

According to Nicaragua's statement, Germany is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention and the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

Nicaragua accused Germany before the International Court of Justice, based in The Hague, of facilitating genocide in Gaza by providing financial and military aid to the Israeli occupation entity.

Nicaragua added, according to the lawsuit, that Germany facilitated the “genocide” in Gaza by suspending funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Nicaragua said in a memorandum published by the court that through these measures, “Germany facilitates the commission of genocide, and in any case it has failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide.”

In a temporary ruling issued on January 26, the Court of Justice asked the occupation forces to take measures to prevent genocide in Gaza and direct incitement to it, and to improve the humanitarian situation in the Strip. It also rejected the Israeli request to reject the case, but in return it rejected South Africa’s request to order a ceasefire. .

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Saturday that a third of children in northern Gaza under two years of age suffer from acute malnutrition.

The UN agency explained on the “X” platform that “child malnutrition is spreading rapidly and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza.”

It added: "One child out of every three under the age of two years in northern Gaza suffers from acute malnutrition."

UNRWA confirmed that "famine is looming on the horizon, and there is no time to waste."

Yesterday, Friday, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) revealed that acute malnutrition among children had doubled in one month in the northern Gaza Strip.

The organization said: “1 in 3 children under the age of two in the northern Gaza Strip suffers from acute malnutrition, which is a staggering increase compared to 15.6 percent last January.”

As a result of the war and Israeli restrictions, the population of Gaza, especially the Gaza and northern governorates, is on the verge of famine, amid a severe scarcity of food, water, medicine and fuel supplies, with the displacement of about two million Palestinians from the Strip, which has been besieged by Israel for 17 years.

In an attempt to remedy the crisis, Arab and foreign countries continue their cooperation to airdrop aid into areas north of the Gaza Strip, but it remains insufficient and does not meet the urgent needs of the Palestinians.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that an Israeli delegation is likely to head to the Qatari capital, Doha, this week to attend a new round of negotiations regarding the release of the hostages.

The Israeli newspaper said that the military cabinet is expected to meet tonight or tomorrow (Sunday) to discuss the “manoeuvre space” that will be granted to the head of the Mossad, who will head the team that will arrive this week to hold talks in Qatar. After that, the issue will be put up for discussion in the expanded political and security ministerial council.

An Israeli official told CNN on Friday that the Israeli War Council will meet on Saturday evening to discuss and formulate guidelines for the delegation. He continued that the reason the delegation headed to Doha was that a response had finally been received from Hamas, although "It is still extreme and ridiculous," and he expected negotiations to be "very difficult."

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "Hamas continues to adhere to unrealistic demands," but an Israeli delegation will be sent to Doha for further negotiations.

A second Israeli official who spoke to the American news network said that his country will take a decision by the end of Saturday regarding the scope of the mandate granted to the negotiating team and will authorize the mediators to strengthen indirect negotiations with Hamas.

1. US Senator Bernie Sanders told NBC that there is global anger towards the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, which caused hundreds of thousands of children to starve in Gaza.

He added, "We cannot continue to fund Netanyahu's war machine."

For his part, Senator Chris Van Hollen said that Netanyahu's ignoring the warnings of US President Joe Biden makes the United States appear helpless.

He added that the Biden administration must use other tools to effectively translate the warnings directed to Israel.

The network quoted American officials as saying that the White House is considering a response if Israel defies Biden's warning against invading Rafah without protecting civilians.

Veteran Lebanese diplomat Ghassan Salame published a new book covering world developments and crises in the 21st century. Published in French by Fayard, “The Temptation of Mars” provides Salame’s reading of world events, backing it up with his decades of academic, political and diplomatic experience and his wide global network of relations.

Asharq Al-Awsat sat down with Salame to discuss the book, whose, title, he explained, refers to Greek and Roman mythology and implies that several countries, even small ones, have succumbed to the temptation of power and wars.

“The conclusion I reached is that events that have taken place since 1990 cannot be summarized in one term,” he said. “Many have tried, such as Francis Fukuyama, who spoke of ‘the end of history’ and Samuel Huntington described it as the ‘clash of civilizations.’ But these descriptions are not enough.”

“After much examination and thought, I found that the period stretching from 1990 until 2024 can in fact be divided into two contradictory periods. The first, I called ‘the phase of wishes’, extends from 1990 to 2006, and the second, ‘the phase of disappointment’, extends from 2006 until this day,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“I based my assessment on six standards: The spread of democracy, globalization, the technological revolution, culture, absence of a basis to resort to force and finally, nuclear power.” The comprehensive review found that the first third of the century was filled with positive elements, but not so much in the second part.

Explaining the “basis to resort to force”, he said the 1991 war on Kuwait was waged with the backing of 12 United Nations Security Council resolutions that allowed 65 countries to take part in the liberation of the country.

George Bush Sr. was asked at the time why he wouldn’t forge ahead towards Baghdad, to which he replied that the resolutions give him the right to restore the sovereignty of Kuwait, not destroy the sovereignty of Iraq, continued Salame.

“The war waged by George W. Bush against Iraq in 2003 was completely different. It was not based on any legal foundation, went ahead without a UN resolution, did not lead to the formation of a large international coalition and its objectives were oscillating. At first, the goal was to destroy the alleged weapons of mass destruction. It was then followed with the goal of eliminating a dangerous dictator and spreading democracy. In the end, it failed in creating a stable political entity,” he added.

“I believe that the ‘original sin’ in the American-British attack on Iraq was that it paved the way for similar practices in other countries. We have seen Russia use the same excuse to attack Georgia in 2008. President Vladimir Putin used it again to attack Ukraine in 2014 and again in 2022,” he noted.

“We have seen other countries, such as Iran, Türkiye and Israel, not hesitate in using force. Even small countries like Rwanda are carrying out military operations in several African countries without any legal basis,” he remarked.

On the nuclear level, Salame cited the 1995 indefinite extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and several countries, led by the United States and Russia, agreed to decrease their nuclear arsenal. They cooperated together to tackle the fallout from the Chernobyl disaster to ensure that it never happens again.

Even more, four former US secretaries of state, including George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, called for a world without nuclear weapons, added Salame.

“But what do we have today? Britain is spending billions to modernize its nuclear weapons. France is doing the same. China wants to double is nuclear warheads from 1,500 to 3,000 before 2030. Putin, meanwhile, isn’t backing down from his threat to use nuclear arms,” he stated.

The US also wants to increase its nuclear arsenal. Even ministers in a small country such as Israel have threatened to drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza, he noted to Asharq Al-Awsat.

What used to be a red line when it came to nuclear weapons has been gradually chipped away over the past ten years, he said.

Several poles

Commenting on the debate about whether the world is still unipolar, bipolar, multipolar, or even non-polar, Salame said there are several sources of power and power hubs, but they are unbalanced. Some countries have started to make the shift towards become a pole, such as China and India, but the US still has a wide margin ahead of them. On paper, it is the greatest and top pole, but it is not the only one.

Salame stressed that the US has vast financial and military means, but its decision-making is severely unfocused, reflecting inner turmoil.

Moreover, the US does not want to become involved in long wars, which is increasing pressure on its decision-making power that is in turn, leading to pressure from the public. So, it has turned to military withdrawals as a means to appease the public, such as what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. The United States’ points of weakness are overshadowing its financial superiority in the world order, said Salame.

China, the US’ main rival, has achieved a leap forward in its military might in the past 30 years. It has increased its nuclear warheads and developed its weapons, but they remain inferior to western capabilities. India has doubled its military budget four times in the past 20 years. In Europe, Germany and Italy are also aiming to increase their military budget. “We mustn’t forget North Korea that is spending big on bolstering its forces,” he added.

“So, we have several players aspiring to have influence on the world order, while the US is no longer capable of imposing its views except in certain cases,” stated Salame.

“We must be aware of Washington’s problems with its allies. As for its rivals, the issues are clear: It fears the rise of China and is doing everything it can to reign it in and prevent it from emerging as a global power.” Salame also noted that the map of arms sales was changing. South Korea is selling weapons to Poland and North Korea is selling to Russia. The numbers are massive. South Korea has topped France as a weapons exporter. Türkiye is now exporting drones to 50 countries around the world and Iran is sending drones to Russia.

So, the global arms market is rapidly changing. “I can conclude that the post-Cold War phase is not over yet. The phase has not yet formed a stable and permanent reality, but as it stands, the US will remain the top superpower in the world, while its ability to rein in its allies and contain its rivals wanes,” stressed Salame.

The Wall Street Journal wrote that the continued conflict in Gaza and US President Joe Biden's criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatens to cause Biden to lose the support of American Jewish voters.

The newspaper indicates that prolonging the war will deepen the contradiction among Biden’s electoral base. By publicly criticizing Netanyahu, the American president is appeasing the progressive wing. But he needs to consider how far he can go with his criticism without losing the support of Jewish voters who constitute a key electoral base for the Democratic Party.

On the other hand, continuing to provide military support to Israel will satisfy pro-Israel voters in the United States, but it also threatens to undermine the support of young voters who are angry about what is happening in the Gaza Strip and about American support for Israel.

In addition, the White House fears a shift in support from Arab-American voters in Michigan, a crucial state that Biden needs for re-election.

The Wall Street Journal indicates that Netanyahu's insistence on continuing the war in Gaza and even prolonging it puts him in a confrontation with Biden's fears of a decline in his chances of winning the presidential elections.

The American newspaper claims that Netanyahu and his supporters consider Biden weak because he surrendered to internal political pressure, and began to exert pressure to stop the war at the moment when Israel began to approach victory.

The US President's public criticism of Netanyahu also encourages Hamas and strengthens its position in the negotiations aimed at releasing the hostages in Gaza.

ABC, citing a senior Israeli official, reported that the delivery of US military aid to Israel has slowed, and this is disrupting Israel's plans that seek to dismantle Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The official did not mention the reasons for the delay, but pointed out that Israel is aware of the American disappointment with the results of the conflict and the inadequacy of the measures taken by the Israeli side to provide humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

ABC reports that Democratic Majority Leader in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer (from New York), criticized the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 14, indicating the need to hold elections in the country.

In response to what Schumer said, the Likud Party, led by Netanyahu, called on the American politician to respect the Israeli government and not destabilize it while it is waging war.

Sama News

Israeli media questioned the validity of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement, on Friday, regarding the approval of an operational plan for a ground invasion of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to reports by Channel 12 and Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, which were also reported by The Times of Israel, “the ground operation in Rafah is not imminent despite Netanyahu’s statements.”

Sources say that Netanyahu's talk about an imminent operation in Rafah "seems more like a pressure tool on Hamas to agree to the faltering hostage deal."

During a government meeting earlier on Friday, Israeli media reported that New Hope Party leader Gideon Saar asked Netanyahu for an update on the situation in Rafah, given that War Cabinet member Benny Gantz and others had previously said that Israel would enter the city if no agreement was reached by Ramadan.

Netanyahu responded to him, saying: “We did not say that we would be in Rafah during the month of Ramadan, but rather we said that we would move forward according to our plans.”

Tens of thousands of reserve soldiers who were stationed in Gaza withdrew weeks ago, and will have to return en masse if the Israeli army wants to carry out a large-scale ground operation in Rafah.

What happened on Friday?

Netanyahu's office said he had approved a plan to attack the city of Rafah in the far south of Gaza on the border with Egypt, where more than half of the Strip's 2.3 million residents live, after 5 months of war.

The office added in a brief statement regarding the plan to attack Rafah: “The Israeli army is preparing for military operations and the evacuation of residents.” The Prime Minister’s Office did not specify a time frame for the start of the attack, and there is no evidence yet of additional preparations on the ground.

Allies and critics on the global stage are urging Netanyahu to postpone the attack on Rafah, for fear of large numbers of civilian deaths.

Israel says that Rafah is the last stronghold of Hamas, which it pledged to eliminate in the war, and that it will evacuate residents from the city before the operation begins.

Negotiators failed again this week to reach a ceasefire agreement before the month of Ramadan, but Washington and the Arab mediators remain determined to reach an agreement to prevent the Israeli attack on Rafah and allow the entry of food aid to stave off famine.

The Israeli statement said that Hamas's demands regarding the release of the hostages are still unrealistic, but an Israeli delegation will head to Doha as soon as the security cabinet discusses the situation.

David Hearst

Tel Aviv is coming up against myriad obstacles, from the loss of western public opinion to the nervousness of its key backers

The little boy spoke with the matter-of-factness of an adult. 

Faisal al-Khaldi talked of the moment Israeli soldiers entered his family’s home in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, as he was preparing to go to school.

“My mum was pregnant,” he told an Alaraby TV reporter who was interviewing him. “When we were going to school they (Israeli soldiers) came into the living room and then shot my mother in her stomach. She was pregnant in the seventh month.”

“Where was your father?” 

“He was asleep,” the boy said.         

“And then he woke up?”

“He was killed with my mother in the same week.”

“On the same day?

“Yes.”

“In front of you? Did you see it happen?”

“Yes, in front of me.”

“What did you see? What happened?

“They took them to the corridor and shot them in front of me. When we went to the corridor, they brought them and shot them in front of us.”

The world is watching

Perhaps these soldiers were following the instructions of Rabbi Eliyahu Mali, the head of a Jewish school in Yaffa: “The basic principle that we have is that when we live through the ‘holy war of the mitzvah’, in this case in Gaza, according to the voice of the judge, you will not let every soul live. The meaning is very clear. If you don’t kill them first, they will kill you.

“The terrorists of today and the children of the past, who have remained in their lives. And in reality, it’s the women who create these terrorists. What this means is that the definition ‘not every soul shall live’ is very clear in the scriptures. It’s either you or them.” So the Torah is clear about the need to kill women and children. 

But what about old men? The rabbi was asked by a member in the audience. “There are no innocent people. It is the same with the elderly person who is able to carry a weapon,” he said. “The Torah is also very clear in the book. In Gaza, according to all estimates of the security forces, 95-98 percent want to destroy us. That is the majority. It is the same thing [with children]. If you save him, don’t try and outsmart the Torah.” 

Perhaps this is why other soldiers recently congratulated their comrade who killed an unarmed, elderly man with hearing and speech difficulties who had his hands up in his bedroom.

“We opened the door. He fluttered. Came in my direction and did like this (waves his hands). I killed him with four bullets,” the soldier said.

For 75 years, the western world was indifferent. But this war is forcing Israel's western backers to see the full horrors of the crimes being committed

“He was the only one?” a colleague asked in a video clip posted to X. 

“I don’t know. We didn’t have time. There could be more. There was another room. We did not have time.”

“And he said, ‘no, no?'”

“Yes, ‘no, no.’” 

“And you took him down? Excellent!”

Later in the clip, the soldier was asked: “What without a weapon? He had something on him?”

“No, no, he hid beside the bed.”

“All respect!”

The clips show Israeli soldiers talking amongst themselves. They appear largely contemptuous of what the rest of the world might think, and wholly ignorant of the effect these clips are having around the globe. 

But the world is watching.

Contradiction in terms

For 75 years, the western world was indifferent. But this war is forcing Israel’s western backers to see the full horrors of the crimes being committed in a campaign they described five months ago as just. Even a progressive critic of Israel like US Senator Bernie Sanders said five months ago that the war against Hamas was just. 

The degree of brutality and glee shown by Israeli soldiers as they go on their daily killing sprees; starving Gaza, and then dropping leaflets in Arabic telling Palestinians to feed the needy; killing 400 people waiting for aid, and then vowing to flood Gaza with aid; all of this is too much to sweep under the carpet when this war stops.

A rubicon has been crossed. With this war, Israel has entered the elite rank of pariah states. It is now the ugliest of the ugly. It’s impossible to forgive. It cannot be justified, nor can it be put into context. The entire operation in Gaza is an atrocity.

Liberal Zionism has become a contradiction in terms. It’s too much of a stretch.

Acting like this, Israel has become not the home of a beleaguered people persecuted around the world for millennia, but the Fort Knox of Jewish supremacism, the natural heir to white supremacists.

This is having a transformational effect on Jewish people worldwide, in whose name and common past these crimes are being committed. 

'Not in our name'

The short cri de coeur of Jonathan Glazer, the British director of The Zone of Interest, did not come out of the blue when he said during his Oscar acceptance speech: “We stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict, for so many innocent people.”

The same cry of “not in my name” is coming from the thousands of young Jews who are marching every weekend in London to stop the war in Gaza.

Emily, a Jewish activist with the group Na’amod UK, recently said: “I think there has been a quiet reckoning in our community, and you can see this because the bloc keeps growing, the movement keeps growing, the constituency organisations keep getting bigger and bigger. I have never been so sure that I will see a free Palestine.” 

Asked what she thought of her government’s attempts to brand these marches as the work of extremists, she said: “I am very tired of being told how to feel as a Jewish person by people who are not Jewish. I am tired of being told to feel afraid when these marches are by and large peaceful, and people are so lovely to us and so thankful to us. It really shows the ignorance of Jewish opinion outside of their very small Zionist rabble.”

This is where real leadership is coming from. It’s on the streets, not parliament. These are the lions. Our political leaders are the donkeys.

Israel and its apologists are right to be scared of what a new generation of American and British Jews are telling them. 

For the last eight decades, Israel governed a consensus about its existence, identity and purpose that was more powerful than all the arms, money and Jewish migrants it received.

The weaker this consensus becomes, the quicker Israel will lose its influence in the centres of western powers. Already, the compulsive addiction of support for Israel is upending the West’s own attempts to explain to itself that it is a moral force, a force for good in the world.

Under the British government’s latest definition of extremism, it is right to support a government that flouts the Genocide Convention, starves a population under occupation, and kills unarmed mothers and children at will, but extremist to protest against that on the streets of London. 

Jewish academic opposition to Israel is strong and vocal. It cannot accurately be called 'fringe'

This is a patent absurdity. 

It is left to the likes of South Africa to show Britain the way. It is now going to prosecute its citizens who return after fighting for the Israeli army.

It will take time to erode, but after what has happened in Gaza, the future will surely not guarantee the hold Israel has over every major western political party. It will not be able to dictate the definition of antisemitism, nor will it guarantee the funds that aspiring western politicians need. 

Today, every Tory and Labour politician with ambitions for the top job must, almost by definition, be a Friend of Israel, a club that maintains a strong hold on each parliamentary party. That might not be true for the next generation of politicians.

Jewish academic opposition to Israel is strong and vocal. It cannot accurately be called “fringe”. Israel is now starting to lose the global Jewish voice.

The war from within

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to keep this war going for as long as possible are not being helped from within. 

Two senior members of the war cabinet have defied the prime minister’s wishes publicly. The first act of public defiance came from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who announced that he would only agree to present a new military draft law if MK Benny Gantz’s National Unity party agreed on how to regulate the exemption of yeshiva students from conscription. 

Gallant effectively gave Gantz a veto on the law, on which government funding to yeshivas, whose students refuse to serve, depends. Without such a law, Haredi parties would leave the coalition and collapse the government.

The second act came from Gantz, who made unsanctioned visits to the US and Britain, in which Netanyahu ordered his embassies not to cooperate. But such is Netanyahu’s political weakness, that neither Gantz nor Gallant can be fired.

A third blow to Netanyahu in as many weeks was the recent statement by Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who said that if the government were to enforce compulsory military service on the Haredim, they would leave Israel en masse. Yosef was denounced by a Jerusalem Post editorial that said his words were an insult to the soldiers risking their lives in Gaza.

Israel’s war leader has less and less authority within Israel to conduct the war he wants. The balance of power between Israel and Hamas is also not as clear-cut as it might seem at first glance.

The military campaign has undoubtedly degraded Hamas as a fighting force in Gaza, although members of the leadership in Gaza have consistently passed the message to their political wing in Doha and Beirut that they are confident they can carry on. 

Another sign of their confidence in their ability to shape the future of Palestine and its leadership is their list of prisoners who would be released in exchange for the remaining Israeli hostages.

The latest list includes Marwan Barghouti, the Fatah leader sentenced to five cumulative life sentences and 40 years in prison for his acts in the Second Intifada; Ahmed Saadat, secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Abdullah Barghouti, the Hamas military leader; and Ibrahim Hamid, a leader of the Second Intifada.

If any of these men were released, the effect would be a strategic shakeup of the Palestinian leadership across all factions: nationalist, secular and Islamist. 

For Palestinians, this would be a huge political renewal. It would also mean the definitive end of a Palestinian Authority (PA) that collaborates with their occupation. 

For Israel, the release of these men would present a real chance to negotiate an end to the conflict. But only the likes of Ami Ayalon, the former head of Shin Bet, gets this point. Instead, the war cabinet’s latest idea is to put another PA stooge, Majed Faraj, in charge of Gaza. Faraj’s mission is doomed before it starts, and he would be wise to decline such a poisoned chalice.

Green light turns yellow

Netanyahu’s weakness is having a profound effect on the western political elites who supported and armed Israel. 

US President Joe Biden’s rift with Netanyahu is now open and in the public eye. The US leader who said so loudly that Israel had every right to defend itself five months ago, now says Israel cannot kill another 30,000 Palestinians in the name of self-defence. 

I don’t believe Biden has had some dramatic change of heart or that the scales have fallen from his eyes. US government officials are fully informed about what is happening on the ground in Gaza at every stage of this operation. 

They knew, for instance, that Hamas was not diverting aid convoys or stealing food, and said so. 

Even if the war stops now, the price Israel has paid for the reoccupation of Gaza will be higher than it could have possibly calculated five months ago. But it has yet to realise this. It will

If Biden is confronting the consequences of having given Israel the brightest of green lights to invade Gaza after the Hamas attack on 7 October, those consequences are primarily electoral. Biden’s team has been shocked by the extent of the uncommitted vote.

Hundreds of thousands of voters across the US voted for no candidate in the Democratic primaries on Super Tuesday, as the movement urging voters to vote "uncommitted" gathers pace in protest against Biden's handling of the war in Gaza. This could cost him in the general election in November.

Biden’s Ramadan greetings were especially warm this year. But Arab Americans don’t want hugs. They want a change of policy. And Biden still only supports a temporary ceasefire, not a permanent one. He has not threatened to stop the supply of weapons to Israel. 

Nevertheless there has been a deliberate shift in tone. The Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest ranking Jewish official in the US, was  full throated in his support for Israel after the Hamas attack five months ago. On Thursday, he warned Israel it can not survive if it becomes a global pariah.

Schumer accused Netanyahu of putting political survival above national interest and said  he had been” too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows. Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah”.

The loss of public opinion in the West, the continuing genocide case at the International Court of Justice, the erosion of the Jewish consensus, and the nervousness of Israel’s backers - all of these elements point to a strategic defeat for Israel. 

Even if the war stops now, the price Israel has paid for the reoccupation of Gaza will be higher than it could have possibly calculated five months ago. But it has yet to realise this. It will.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Al Quds dot com.

Jonathan Cook

Why is the same western media obsessively reheating five-month-old allegations against Hamas so reluctant to focus on Israel’s current, horrifying atrocities?

Hostages tortured to death. Parents executed in front of their children. Doctors beaten. Babies murdered. Sexual assault weaponised.

No, not Hamas crimes. This is part of an ever-growing list of documented atrocities committed by Israel in the five months since 7 October - quite separate from the carpet bombing of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and a famine induced by Israel’s obstruction of aid. 

Last week, an investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz disclosed that some 27 Palestinians seized off Gaza’s streets over the past five months are known to have died during interrogations inside Israel.

Some were denied medical treatment. But most are likely to have been tortured to death.

Three months ago, a Haaretz editorial warned that Israeli jails “must not become execution facilities for Palestinians”.

Israeli TV channels have been excitedly taking viewers on tours of detention centres, showing the appalling conditions Palestinians are kept in, as well as the psychological and physical abuse they are subjected to.

An Israeli judge recently called the makeshift cages in which Palestinians are held “unsuitable for humans”.

Remember, a large proportion of the 4,000 or so Palestinians taken hostage by Israel since 7 October - probably the vast majority - are civilians, like the men and boys paraded through Gaza’s streets or held in a stadium stripped of clothing before being dragged off to a dark cell in Israel.

Women abused

According to Israeli media, many dozens of Palestinian women - including pregnant women - have been seized too, but in their case off camera.

Presumably, Israel has wished to avoid undermining its careful messaging that only Hamas weaponises violence against women. 

But according to United Nations legal experts, Palestinian women are suffering the most degrading forms of abuse at the hands of the Israeli military. 

Soldiers are also believed to have taken photos of female detainees in degrading circumstances and then uploaded them online

The experts observed that Palestinian women and girls in detention were reportedly being subjected to “multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers.

"At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence."

Soldiers are also believed to have taken photos of female detainees in degrading circumstances and then uploaded them online.

Palestinian women and girls in Gaza are also reported by their families to have gone missing after contact with the Israeli army.

“There are disturbing reports of at least one female infant forcibly transferred by the Israeli army into Israel, and of children being separated from their parents, whose whereabouts remain unknown,” they said.

Beatings, waterboarding

A separate report by the UN last week revealed that 21 of its staff - humanitarian aid workers - had been snatched by Israel. They were then tortured to extract confessions, most likely false, of involvement in Hamas’ 7 October attack. Their torture included beatings, waterboarding and threats to family members.

Those confessions were cited by western allies as the grounds - in fact, the only known grounds - for cutting off funding to the UN relief agency Unrwa, the last lifeline for Gaza’s starving population. It was these claims, extracted through torture, that helped Israel rationalise its imposing of a famine on Gaza.

Palestinian men rounded up and stripped by Israeli forces in Gaza before being taken to an undisclosed location (Screengrab/X)

Of the 1,000 detainees subsequently released, 29 were children, one as young as six, and 80 women. Some were reported to have cancer and chronic illnesses such as Alzheimer’s.

According to the UN investigation, Palestinians reported severe punishment beatings, being caged with attack dogs, and suffering sexual assault. Physical evidence - such as broken ribs, dislocated shoulders, bite marks, and burns - was still visible many weeks later. 

Executions, human shields

These horrors, of course, are not just taking place in cells and interrogation rooms inside Israel. Gaza is being subjected to astonishing levels of brutality and sadism from Israeli troops - quite aside from the carpet bombing and enforced starvation of civilians.

Israeli snipers have fired into Gaza’s hospitals, killing medical staff and patients there.

The Israeli military has used Palestinians as human shields, including one man sent into a hospital, his hands bound, to announce an Israeli order to evacuate the premises. Israeli forces executed him on his return.

Those trying to follow such evacuation orders, waving white flags, have been shot at.

Medical facilities have been repeatedly invaded by the Israeli military in stark violation of international law. Those who could not be evacuated, such as premature babies, have been left to die unattended, even while Israeli soldiers were occupying the building.

This week, the BBC interviewed medical staff who reported being tortured, savagely beaten and having attack dogs set on them inside the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis after Israeli soldiers stormed it. 

One, Dr Ahmed Abu Sabha, had his hands broken. He told the BBC: “They put me on a chair and it was like a gallows. I heard sounds of ropes, so I thought I was going to be executed.”

The BBC interviewed medical staff who reported being tortured, savagely beaten and having attack dogs set on them inside the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis

At another stage, he and other detainees were beaten in the back of a truck, while only in their underwear. They were taken to a gravel pit, where they were made to kneel blindfolded. They believed they were about to be executed. 

During his eight days as hostage, Sabha was never questioned. 

Dozens more medics are believed missing, presumed to still be in Israeli detention. 

Photographs published by the BBC also show patients in the grounds of Nasser hospital in beds with their hands bound tightly above their heads. 

Those who died were left to decompose by Israeli soldiers. A doctor there, Dr Hatim Rabaa, told the BBC: “Patients were screaming, ‘Please remove them [the corpses] from here'. I was telling them, 'It isn't in my hands'."

Other examples of murderous cruelty are documented daily. Unarmed Palestinians, including those waving white flags, have been shot dead by Israeli soldiers. Palestinian parents have been executed in cold blood in front of their children. There have been repeated episodes of Israeli forces gunning down en masse desperate Palestinians trying to reach aid, as happened yet again this week. And even Israeli hostages trying to escape their captors have been killed by the very Israeli soldiers they were trying to surrender to.

These are just some of the cases of Israeli sadism and barbarity that have surfaced briefly in western media coverage, soon to be forgotten.

Wiping Gaza off the map

The stomach-turning double standards are impossible to ignore. 

The western establishment media has been chock full of the most lurid allegations of savagery directed against Hamas, sometimes with little or no supporting evidence. Claims that Hamas beheaded babies or put them in ovens - emblazoned on front pages - were later found to be nonsense.

Accusations against Hamas have been endlessly reheated to paint a picture of a supremely dangerous and bestial militant group, in turn rationalising the carpet bombing and starvation of Gaza’s population to “eradicate” it as a terrorist organisation.

But equally barbarous atrocities committed by Israel - not in the heat of battle, but in cold blood - are treated as unfortunate, isolated incidents that cannot be connected, that paint no picture, that reveal nothing of import about the military that carried them out.

If Hamas’ crimes were so savage and sadistic they still need to be reported months after they took place, why does the establishment media never feel the need to express equal horror and indignation at the acts of cruelty and sadism being inflicted by Israel on Gaza - not five months ago, but right now? 

This is part of a pattern of behaviour by the western media that leads to only one possible deduction: Israel’s five-month-long attack on Gaza is not being reported. Rather, it is being selectively narrated - and for the most obscene of purposes. 

Through consistent and glaring failures in their coverage, establishment media - including supposedly liberal outlets, from the BBC and CNN to the Guardian and New York Times - have smoothed the way for Israel to carry out mass slaughter in Gaza, what the World Court has assessed as plausibly a genocide.

The role of the media has not been to keep us, their audiences, informed about one of the greatest crimes in living memory. It has been to buy time for US President Joe Biden to keep arming his most useful of client states in the oil-rich Middle East, and to do so without damaging his prospects for re-election in November’s US presidential vote. 

If Russian President Vladimir Putin was a madman and a barbarous war criminal for invading Ukraine, as every western media outlet agrees, what does that make Israeli officials, when every one of them supports far worse atrocities in Gaza, directed overwhelmingly at civilians? 

And more to the point, what does that make Biden and the US political class for materially backing Israel to the hilt: sending bombs, vetoing demands for a ceasefire at the United Nations, and freezing desperately needed aid? 

Worrying about the optics, the president expresses his discomfort, but he carries on helping Israel regardless.

While western politicians and commentators worry about some imaginary existential threat those brief events of five months ago pose to the nuclear-armed state of Israel, Israel is quite literally wiping Gaza off the map day by day, quite undisturbed.

Hamas ‘started it’

There have been two, largely implicit defences for this glaring imbalance in western priorities. Neither stands up to even the most cursory scrutiny. 

One is the argument that Hamas “started it” - insinuated in the endless claim that, in destroying Gaza, Israel has been “responding” or “retaliating” to the violence of 7 October.

This is a justification for killing tens of thousands of Palestinians and starving two million more that should never have been let out of the playground. But worse, it is patent nonsense. Hamas did not initiate anything on 7 October, except for handing Israel a pretext to wreck Gaza.

Hamas started nothing on 7 October. It was simply a new, and particularly gruesome phase in what has been decades of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s belligerent occupation of Gaza

The enclave has been under a crushing siege for 17 years, in which its land, sea and air were patrolled constantly by Israel. Its population was denied the essentials of life. They had no freedom of movement apart from inside their cage. 

Long before the current Israeli-induced famine, Israel’s trade restrictions had ensured high levels of malnutrition among Gaza’s children. Most exhibited too the scars of deep psychological trauma from constant and massive attacks by Israel on Gaza.

Biden crows about building a “temporary pier” - weeks or months down the road - to bring aid into Gaza that is desperately needed now. But there is a reason the enclave lacks a seaport and airport. Israel bombed the only airport back in 2001, long before Hamas took charge of Gaza. It has been attacking and killing fishermen trawling just off Gaza's coast for years.

Israel has refused to allow Gaza to connect to the world - and break free of Israeli control - ever since. 

Hamas started nothing on 7 October. It was simply a new, and particularly gruesome phase in what has been decades of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s belligerent occupation of Gaza. 

Bogus narrative

The other implicit defence of western establishments constantly stressing Hamas’ barbarism over Israel’s is that the nature of those atrocities is said to be categorically different - in the apples and pears sense.

Hamas supposedly demonstrated a degree of sadism in its killing spree on 7 October inside Israel that marks it out from Israel’s far larger killing spree in Gaza. 

That has been the basis for every media interview that requires guests to “condemn” Hamas before they are allowed to express concern about the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. No one is asked to condemn Israel. 

It is the basis too for permitting Israeli spokespeople to claim unchallenged that Israel targets only Hamas, not civilians, even while some three-quarters of Gaza’s dead are women and children.

On the BBC’s evening news at the weekend, presenter Clive Myrie made precisely this preposterous assertion as he intoned that since 7 October, “Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign targeting members of Hamas.” 

But the latest revelations of the 27 reported deaths in Israeli torture centres and the testimonies of beaten medics from Nasser Hospital confirm how bogus this entire narrative framing by the western media is - one intended to mislead and misinform audiences. 

Israel claims it is targeting Hamas, but its actions tell an entirely different story. Famine will kill off the sick and vulnerable long before it does Hamas fighters. 

The truth is, Israel is not primarily eradicating Hamas. It is eradicating Gaza. Its crimes are at least as cruel and savage as anything Hamas did on 7 October - and its atrocities have been carried out on a far larger scale and for far longer. 

Western establishments and their media have been waging a giant campaign of misdirection for the past five months, as they have against Palestinians over previous years and decades. Western publics have been encouraged to look in the wrong direction. 

Until that changes, the men, women and children of Gaza will continue to pay the heaviest of prices at the hands of a vengeful, sadistic Israeli military.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Al Quds Newspaper

By Orly Noy

Liberal Israeli sympathy for Palestinians was based on the colonial mindset that the subjugated are inferior and should be grateful for their support

The Hamas attack of 7 October and the war that Israel launched thereafter introduced a new conceptual category of persons to the Hebrew-Israeli vocabulary: the “disillusioned” - meaning, the folks who have now “sobered up”.

These people insist that, until 7 October, they were humanistic seekers of peace for whom the Hamas attack changed everything: in its wake, they moulted their former selves and now passionately supported the genocide that Israel was perpetrating in Gaza.

For more than five months, they have continued to flog one another for the sin of their earlier left-wing innocence. After suitable ritual absolution, they enter into the bosom of the tribe and are showered with forgiveness in the name of the people and the nation.

Already tiresomely long, the ranks of these disillusioned persons continue to expand. Many of the newly added are from the entertainment industry and identified with the liberal camp. Everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame to reiterate the formulaic arguments: I believed in peace, I wanted coexistence, but on 7 October I discovered that on the other side, there are no humans, only human animals that must be fought to the bitter end.

The ritual purification is complete with expressions of love and appreciation for "the Israel Defence Forces, the most moral army in the world”, plus thanks and congratulations to our heroic soldiers, and some lip service paid to the plight of the hostages.

As veteran actor Hanny Nahmias has said, "[We] were the most in favour of coexistence” - but now she wants a war “to the finish”. 

Legitimate targets

If we pay close attention to the newly disillusioned, the problem does not seem mainly to be their new, changed position - which now often embraces the total extermination of the Palestinians in Gaza.

For example, popular singer Idan Raichel, who is generally associated with progressive values and often collaborates with musicians from the Ethiopian community, is resentful that the residents of Gaza - displaced, brutalised, thirsty and starving - do not enter the tunnels and battle Hamas, even if it costs them thousands of casualties, to effect the return of all the abductees.

Raichel concludes that since they do not do so, they should be viewed as accomplices to the crimes of Hamas and hence as legitimate targets for attack by Israel.

In fact, the problem with these newly disillusioned persons seems rather to be in their interpretation of their “leftist” position prior to their disillusionment.

In an interview on comedian Shalom Assayag’s programme, Stronger Together, actor and TV presenter Tzufit Grant stated that “my leftist side no longer exists; I thought we were all human, but - no”.

On 7 October, in her words, the attackers killed off “some humanitarian part of the brain, of overwhelming compassion, [the idea that] ‘we are all human beings’”.

Grant no longer believes that we are all human. So, now what?

She describes over two million Palestinians in Gaza with an abhorrent vocabulary for someone for whom, until recently, a love for humanity was her guiding light.

Pure narcissism

Grant is not alone. Perhaps the strongest sentiment referenced repeatedly by many of the newly disillusioned folks is disappointment: the Palestinians have “lost them”.

They, the leftists of the past who claim that they were after all completely committed to coexistence and saw every person as a human being - and their "reward" was a criminal attack on 7 October.

Yes, the Hamas attack on the Gaza-adjacent communities was horrifying. But beware of the notion that the overlord’s mere goodwill was supposed to be sufficient to satisfy the Palestinians, who were supposed to be grateful for the mater’s kindness and continue bearing their oppression in silence. (Oh, that longing for the “good old days” when Palestinians in Gaza, by dint of the kindness of Israel, could enter Israel to work as day labourers and be grateful for it.)

This stance was pure narcissism, at best - not a political position based on an analysis of reality and its distorted power relations.

Some observers repeatedly mention that many of the residents from the Gaza-adjacent communities that were attacked on 7 October were peace-seeking people, some even activists who regularly volunteered to drive Gaza’s children from the Erez crossing to Israeli hospitals - a reference meant to portray Palestinians as ungrateful and to justify the shift in their own political positions.

This stance is tainted by the same narcissistic depoliticisation that views everything through the lens of the good intentions of (some) Israelis.

Undoubtedly, volunteering to transport sick Palestinians from Gaza is a noble act and the volunteers are people whose actions were prompted by morality and conscience. But a political position sees the larger context in which this volunteering takes place: that is, Israel's long-term siege of the Gaza Strip and the destruction of most of its civilian infrastructure.

Such a position inquires into how this reality came about - in which Palestinian civilians in Gaza must rely on the generosity of good Israelis and cannot receive suitable medical care in Gaza itself. It asks why there are no proper hospitals in Gaza, and who prevents Palestinians from building them, and by what right.

Embracing tribalism

Such a position would highlight the significance of such a far-reaching denial of the freedom of movement for millions of people who require the overlord’s permission not only to enter Israel but also to travel to the Palestinian territories in the West Bank. It would also point out the nature of the regime that for decades has controlled every breath taken by millions of disenfranchised subjects, and it would understand that such a regime inevitably must provoke an uprising.

And, contrary to all attempts to control how these realities are framed for public consumption, to understand them accurately is not the equivalent of supporting violence nor its justification, but quite the opposite: a dispassionate analysis of this bloody reality, to enable us to exit from it.

That the most the subject can aspire to is the master's recognition of his being human, a recognition that can be withheld as easily as it was given if the subject 'disappoints', is the hallmark of the colonial situation

The concept that the most the subject can aspire to is the master's recognition of his being human, a recognition that can be withheld as easily as it was given if the subject “disappoints”, is the hallmark of the colonial situation.

In this situation, the master deems himself so superior to the subject that the latter should be thankful for every moment in which the master’s grip on his throat remains loose, while any resistance to the ever-present threat of a chokehold is tantamount to ingratitude.

These are the same “leftists of the past” who, alongside their disappointment in the Palestinians, have also suddenly discovered the joys of embracing tribalism - as Tzufit Grant has evidently done.

Since 7 October, she says, she has wanted to walk all day through the streets and kiss Israelis: “I have become very Israeli, very Jewish.”

Lamentably, disastrously, in today's Israel, this would seem to involve parting not only with the “humanitarian portion” of the brain, but with the brain itself.

The Wall Street Journal published an article today, Saturday, saying that in the decades-long history of relations between the United States and Israel, there has rarely been another moment in which an American president was closer to Israel and more at odds with its prime minister.

Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza five months ago, President Biden has repeatedly described the relationship between the United States and Israel as unbreakable. But his nearly 50-year relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has steadily deteriorated, riven by their conflicting political agendas and conflicting war goals.

The tense relationship between Biden and Netanyahu highlights how Washington and Israel will grow further apart the longer Israel's war on Gaza drags on, raising uncomfortable questions about the long-term strength of a relationship that once seemed austere.

The newspaper attributes Itamar Rabinovich, former Israeli ambassador to the United States and advisor to a number of Israeli prime ministers, as saying that “there is a very serious crisis in the relationship.”

It is noteworthy that last week, Biden pledged to have what he described as a very frank conversation about the war with Netanyahu, pressed for more humanitarian aid to Gaza and announced that he may withhold US arms shipments unless Israel takes more steps to protect civilians in Gaza, a step he sought. White House aides were quick to downplay its importance.

In another extraordinary development, the top heads of US intelligence agencies publicly warned in their testimony before Congress this week that Netanyahu's political future is in grave danger, and Senate Majority Leader and the most important American Jewish political leader, Chuck Schumer (Democrat from New York), called on Thursday for Israeli elections were held to replace him in new elections during a scathing speech he delivered in the Senate. The White House said it was aware of the speech before it was delivered, but did not coordinate it with Schumer.

In response to a question about Schumer’s statements on Friday, Biden told reporters: “He gave a good speech, and I think he expressed serious concern not only for him, but also for many Americans.”

Netanyahu responded by pledging to resist pressure to curtail Israel's goal of destroying the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, whose surprise October 7 attack sparked the war. In a video address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, he said that Israel retains the support of an “overwhelming majority” of the American public and Congress — a not-so-subtle reminder to the White House that it runs a political risk by taking a hostile stance.

The newspaper says: “Washington’s relationship with its closest allies in the Middle East has been considered sacred for years, and so impregnable that neither Republican nor Democratic administrations were willing to risk a serious violation for fear that this would ultimately benefit the other party politically.”

The last time US-Israeli relations sank to this level was during Barack Obama's presidency when Netanyahu, who was also facing a re-election battle, said he would never accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel and denounced the nuclear deal the US reached with Iran in 2015.

The newspaper points out that Biden has a deep attraction towards Israel, which led him to strongly support its war on Gaza. In the war, this support even extended to Netanyahu, a frequent opponent during their long political career.

But instead of responding to Biden's embrace, Netanyahu rebuffed him at almost every turn, rejecting a postwar US plan that called for bringing the Palestinian Authority, which currently rules part of the West Bank, to Gaza and launching a new diplomatic campaign to establish a Palestinian state. . Biden still insists that he will never abandon Israel.

Netanyahu's opposition has blocked the president's plan for Israel to agree to a path to Palestinian statehood in exchange for normalizing Israeli relations with Saudi Arabia, depriving the White House of a diplomatic coup.

The newspaper attributes Martin Indyk, the former US ambassador to Israel, as saying that the relationship between Biden and Netanyahu was a “one-way street,” as the US president offered his support to Israel at some political cost, only to have his own requests rejected.

“Netanyahu was so inflexible and confrontational that the president had to take a stand,” Indyk said.

After weeks of American pressure from Washington to protect the Palestinians who took refuge in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, Netanyahu agreed on Friday to military plans that include the evacuation of civilians, according to a statement issued by his office without providing details. Israeli officials also said they plan to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, another US priority.

But there are also signs that Netanyahu believes he can win a contest for the White House, and that Biden may not want an all-out showdown in an election year.

Netanyahu is unpopular in Israel, but his government's handling of the war has broad support, including its plan to send troops to Rafah, even without Washington's support. Polls generally show that most Israelis agree with Netanyahu's positions, but also want him out of office.

Even his rivals, including Benny Gantz, head of the National Unity Party and a member of the war cabinet, support the Rafah process, complicating White House efforts to bypass Netanyahu, according to the newspaper.

It is noteworthy that, amid growing tensions with the White House, Netanyahu told AIPAC delegates meeting in Washington last Tuesday that he appreciated the support that Israel received from Biden and his administration, “and I hope that this continues, but let me be clear, Israel will win this war no matter what happens.” 

Netanyahu and his supporters say that Biden has now become an obstacle because of his yielding to internal political pressure to stop the war, at a time when Netanyahu claims that “victory is within reach,” noting that Israel has not achieved any of its declared goals, while Netanyahu’s Israeli critics say that he opposed Biden’s plans for the future. The war is to maintain the support of his allies in the extreme right-wing coalition, and because standing up to the American president plays well with right-wing voters in Israel.

“There is no logic in this public battle other than to please his political base, so that it is well received by his right wing,” Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said this week.

Netanyahu's determination to continue and prolong the war puts him in direct conflict with Biden's re-election concerns. Supporting Israel's conduct in the war may help Biden with pro-Israel voters in the United States, but it also risks undermining his support among young voters angry at the humanitarian crisis created by the war in Gaza and at US military aid to Israel. The White House is also concerned about alienating Arab-American voters in Michigan, a state critical to the president's re-election prospects.

Analysts say the longer the war lasts, the deeper the wedge it could drive into Biden's voter base.

The Israeli forces withdrew from the city of Nablus in the West Bank after storming the city at dawn on Saturday and arresting two young men from the Gaza Strip who were in a hotel in the vicinity of the Old City in the center of the city.

The Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) quoted eyewitnesses as saying that about 25 Israeli military vehicles stormed the city from the western side, while local sources explained that the occupation forces stormed the old town of the city, and deployed foot teams and snipers in the town and its surroundings.

The agency indicated that Palestinian youth clashed with the Israeli forces that were deployed in the city center, and that the Israeli army fired live bullets and tear gas bombs at the Palestinian resistance fighters.

Qalqilya

In the city of Qalqilya, west of the West Bank, at dawn on Saturday, the occupation forces stormed the city with several vehicles and stationed themselves in its center and in the Al-Naqar neighborhood. They raided several houses in the neighborhood, including the house of the detainee Raed Al-Hutari and the house of the detainee Erbakan Tabsiyeh, and wreaked havoc on them.

The same sources indicated the presence of foot forces from the occupation army in the Al-Dhahr area in the Daoud neighborhood, south of the city, at a time when several ambushes were set up on Al-Wad Street.

It reported that the occupation forces deployed snipers in locations in the city, amid confrontations, but no injuries or arrests were reported.

Ramallah

Today, Saturday, Israeli forces stormed the villages of Qarawat Bani Zeid and Kafr Ain, northwest of Ramallah.

Local sources reported that the Israeli forces stormed the two villages and deployed in the alleys and streets, without any arrests or confrontations reported.

Hebron

Today, Saturday, Israeli forces arrested citizens from the town of Bani Naim, east of Hebron.

Local sources reported that the Israeli forces stormed the town at dawn, and arrested Mahmoud Idaisat and Tariq Khaled Muhammad, after raiding and searching their homes, and tampering with their contents.

The same sources added that the Israeli forces raided and searched a number of homes.

Medical sources announced today, Saturday, that the death toll in the Gaza Strip had risen to 31,553 citizens, the majority of whom were children and women, since the 7th of last October.

The same sources added that the number of wounded has risen to 73,546 since the start of the aggression, while thousands of victims are still under the rubble.

It pointed out that the Israeli forces committed 7 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the death of 63 citizens and the injury of 112 others, during the past 24 hours.

It explained that a number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them.

The occupation forces withdraw from Hamad Town in Khan Yunis under intense artillery cover

Press sources said that Israeli army artillery targeted areas northeast of the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The sources added that the Israeli forces were withdrawing from the north of Hamad Town in Khan Yunis under cover of intense artillery shelling, which led to the injury of several Palestinians in the city.

The aggression against Gaza entered a new day in which the Strip witnessed more bombing and raids, in light of the deteriorating humanitarian conditions and the scarcity of aid.

Today, 3 people were killed as a result of an Israeli bombing that targeted a house in Khirbet Al-Adas, north of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, according to Al-Arabi’s correspondent.

At night, the Israeli forces bombed a 7-storey residential building housing displaced people near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, resulting in the death and injury of dozens, a large number of whom are still under the rubble.

Israeli artillery also targeted two homes in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, killing at least 36 people and wounding a number of others.

In the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli artillery shelling targeted the east of the town of Beit Hanoun.

Meanwhile, the White House expressed a cautiously optimistic tone after Hamas presented a proposal to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Alon Pinkas

Even when he was a member of the New York City Council, Senator Chuck Schumer, at the opening of every lecture or political appearance before a Jewish audience, used to say that his name was Shomir, originating from the Hebrew word “Shomir,” and that he was committed to the meaning of his name, and his primary goal was to defend a people and a state of Israel.

Yesterday, Schumer, who holds the position of Democratic Majority Leader in the Senate, did what he had committed to doing for many years. In his opinion, and according to his understanding, he defends and defends Israel. Not against its enemies, but rather protecting it from itself, not from the world, but from its prime minister. From Israel's point of view, if it loses Charles Chuck, it will have lost America.

The question of whether Schumer coordinated his speech with the White House, or merely informed the National Security Council, is not important, even if it was important at the political level. When the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate - a Jew from New York, positioned in the middle of the Democratic Party, and a constant supporter of Israel - says that the Prime Minister of Israel has lost his compass, is deceiving his audience, promoting an old, illogical vision, pushing Israel into isolation, and placing it in danger. He adds that, therefore, Israel must have a “new direction” and go to elections because it needs “new leadership” - this has very great political weight. Although Schumer's speech does not constitute an official policy for Biden, the strength and clarity of his words mark a major change in US-Israeli relations.

The question is: What is the motivation for this exceptional statement? The most important thing is that it took place from the Senate podium, unlike remarks that come out as a leak from a specific event, despite its importance. Schumer's statements are another link in the system of weak relations. The Biden administration does not see Benjamin Netanyahu as an ally of the United States. Yes to Israel, but no to Netanyahu.

This gradual but rapid path of distrust began years ago. It increased during Netanyahu’s provocative and unnecessary speech in 2015, specifically in Congress, against President Obama and the nuclear agreement with Iran, and it escalated with the attempted constitutional coup in 2023, and reached a (temporary) peak point in what the administration sees as Netanyahu’s lack of gratitude for the help and support he provided. He has had them since October 7, and also the direct confrontation with the United States, which Netanyahu is pushing and planning since November.

Despite the escalation that the speech presents, it is still a speech issued by a senator, despite its importance, and not a change in practical policy on the part of the Biden administration. However, the speech to a very large extent reflected Biden's disappointment on three basic points that turned out to be wrong regarding Israel.

The first point: We in the administration know Netanyahu and can deal with him. He speaks our language, we know his psycho-political profile. His penchant for emotional manipulation, fraud, double language, and his lies are well known to us. Because of the Israeli crisis since October 7, and the very strong attachment to American military and political aid, we will know how to deal with Netanyahu. This assumption turned out to be incorrect - Netanyahu's ability to camouflage and assume that confrontation would help him politically, is fueled by the Americans' claim that they know Netanyahu.

Secondly, Biden’s support, love, and concern for Israel are very strong and clear, and the assumption was that he was immune from entering into a confrontation with Israel, and that it would acknowledge him and avoid opposing American interests. This also turned out to be incorrect. Netanyahu has an interest in the confrontation, in order to turn October 7 into another story, which is that “they are imposing a Palestinian state on us.” Supporting Biden does not matter to him at all.

Third, Biden must refrain from direct confrontation with Israel because of America’s Jews. From the beginning of opinion polls in 1916, until 1952, when polls became conducted properly, 70% of American Jews vote for Democrats, and Israel is not among the five issues that concern them.

These three false assumptions are deconstructed by Chuck Schumer in one speech. His message is clear - if you've lost me, it's a sign you've lost Joe Biden. If you lose Joe Biden, your situation is very bad. The reason behind all this is Benjamin Netanyahu, and you have to do your own calculations.

By Amos Harel

The fighting in the sector these days is on hold. The main battle takes place in the center of the sector, in the Hamad neighbourhood. The neighborhood built by Qatar in northwest Khan Yunis, which the Israeli army entered two weeks ago. Meanwhile, limited military incursions took place in the northern Gaza Strip, where hundreds of Hamas militants were killed. But so far, this does not seem to have much effect in breaking the movement's will to continue fighting, even if it is intended for small military frameworks. The fighting there is taking place in parallel with an Israeli defensive effort focused on the West Bank and the Line of Contact, against the backdrop of Ramadan, in addition to the great tension over arrangements for Muslims to enter to pray in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Yesterday, the American news site Politico reported that the Biden administration is considering supporting an Israeli operation in the Rafah area, on the condition that it is a focused and limited operation, and that it refrains from occupying the entire city. This came after US President Joe Biden's public speech, in which he warned Israel of an inappropriate operation in Rafah, and demanded that it pledge not to harm more than a million Palestinian citizens, who are crowded with Rafah.

It is not certain that there is a way to effectively strike Hamas' capabilities in Rafah, without occupying it. In any case, and contrary to official Israeli statements, it seems that the army does not have the ability to carry out an operation in Rafah now, as evacuating the population requires many weeks, and as we previously mentioned, this requires large army forces, which must come from regular forces that are not currently deployed. In the south, the majority of the reserve forces were demobilized and returned to their homes.

The fundamental military achievement of the recent period remains in doubt. The assassination of Marwan Issa, the third figure in the hierarchy of the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip, who was apparently killed in an Israeli Air Force bombing of the Nuseirat camp at the weekend. Israeli intelligence has no confirmed information about it. Hence, the discussion on the subject is being conducted with caution.

The central change that occurred this week relates to humanitarian aid, which expanded significantly under American pressure. Under dictates from the United States, Israel allowed aid to be dropped in from the air, and currently, through a sea shipping corridor that could be launched next month, with the establishment of an American naval pier on the northern shore of the Strip. Brigadier General Hagari said this week in an interview with foreign correspondents that Israel intends to “flood the Strip with supplies.” On the other hand, Defense Minister Yoav Galant tried to push forward a step that would allow the intervention of the Palestinian Authority, or elements of “Fatah” in the Gaza Strip, in the process of receiving aid in the northern Gaza Strip, as “Hamas” control has become relatively weak. But the Prime Minister foils the move.

Negotiations on the kidnapped deal did not make significant progress this week. But it's not completely stopped. The Americans have missed the date they set at the beginning of the month of Ramadan on March 11, and they are blaming Hamas' stubbornness...but the Americans still have two tools they can use to put pressure on Hamas, through the Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Qatar hosts Hamas leadership abroad and pays money to the Strip; Egypt controls the Rafah crossing, as well as the tunnels dug under the border. Using these two points as leverage would likely reduce Hamas' opposition to a deal that could be reached during Ramadan.

Netanyahu's repeated threat to launch an operation in Rafah serves two purposes. A declared goal related to the kidnapped deal. The fear of the Egyptians, Americans, and Palestinians about the Israeli army storming Rafah may create a margin of flexibility in order to reach a deal. But at the same time, Netanyahu is trying to buy time, as the great preoccupation with the issue of a possible storming of Rafah distances the end of the war, and puts aside the public and political debate to investigate the shortcomings that allowed the October 7 “terrorist” attack.

Limited maneuver in Lebanon

Under the guise of a relative decline in battles in Gaza, Israel is increasing military pressure on Hezbollah in Lebanon. At the beginning of the week, Israel launched attacks on the Bekaa region, located 90 km from the border, and targeted a number of the party’s military sites. Israel is still moving below the threshold of all-out war, and is allowing Hezbollah to consider its response in a way that prevents a major confrontation from erupting. However, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's room for maneuver has begun to shrink. It is possible to estimate that in the discussions between him and the Iranians, the question has increasingly been raised: Is it not better for Hezbollah to dictate the course of events, rather than waiting for the Israeli decision to launch a war?

Political analyst at the Carnegie Institute, Michael Young, wrote on the website of Al-Ittihad newspaper, published in the Emirates, an article in which he said that the “terrorist” attack launched by “Hamas” on the cover settlements was disastrous for the Strip. In his opinion, if Israel continues the occupation of the Gaza Strip, Hamas will fail to achieve the goal of undermining normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Young believes that Sinwar was seeking to strengthen Hamas’ position in the competition with the Palestinian Authority, and to strengthen his own position in the internal struggle over the forces in Hamas leadership. 

Regarding Lebanon, Young wrote that Hassan Nasrallah's decision to join the battle, in part, led to harm to villages in southern Lebanon, and the killing of dozens of Lebanese citizens and hundreds of Hezbollah fighters. Is there any justification for this price? According to Young, Hezbollah is paying a high price in order to maintain the appearance of unity in the areas in the axis of resistance against Israel. Iran is the winner from this, but its Arab arms have been harmed. It has become clear that the unity of the squares is a strategic matter that poses a threat to Lebanon. According to Young: “There is no real goal, except a display of Iranian power, and Nasrallah realizes that. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have become prisoners of the confrontations they are waging. The only way out of this is to return to the status quo before the war. Then, Supporters of both organizations will ask: Are all these sacrifices justified?

On Friday, Israel decided to send a delegation to Doha to continue negotiations on a possible deal that includes a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, after it described an offer made by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to conclude an agreement in stages as unrealistic, while Washington expressed cautious optimism for the success of the talks.

Commenting on the offer made by Hamas to mediators in Egypt and Qatar, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said that the movement's demands are still unrealistic.

The Diwan added that an Israeli team will head to Doha to continue negotiations after the end of the discussions in this regard in the Mini Ministerial Council for Political and Security Affairs.

Al Jazeera's correspondent said earlier today that the Israeli mini-ministerial council is meeting at the Ministry of Defense headquarters to discuss Hamas' response to the exchange deal.

Israeli media reported that the War Council would hold another session on Friday to discuss Hamas’ response to the deal.

For his part, a correspondent for the American news website Axios quoted informed Israeli officials as saying that Netanyahu is expected to hold a consultative meeting on Saturday evening or Sunday morning to decide on expanding the Israeli delegation’s mandate before it leaves for Qatar.

The sources added that the large gaps between the two parties require additional flexibility on the part of Israel, noting that this is not possible without expanding the powers of the negotiating delegation.

For its part, Israeli Channel 12 quoted senior political officials that the gaps in the negotiation deal are very large, including Hamas’s insistence on the return of residents to the northern Gaza Strip.

Agreement in stages

Earlier Friday, sources told Al Jazeera that the proposal presented by Hamas to the mediators stipulates a ceasefire in 3 stages, each lasting 42 days.

It added that Hamas stipulated in the first stage that the Israeli occupation forces withdraw from Al-Rashid Street and the Salah al-Din axis for the return of the displaced and the passage of aid to the Gaza Strip.

It also offered, in exchange for the release of every living female prisoner, the release of 50 Palestinian prisoners, 30 of whom were serving life sentences. Israel estimates the number of its prisoners held by the resistance in Gaza at about 130, but it is likely that 32 of them were killed.

The sources added to Al Jazeera that, with the start of the second phase, Hamas stipulated that a permanent ceasefire be declared before any exchange of its captured soldiers.

Hamas's proposal also included starting the comprehensive reconstruction process for the Gaza Strip and ending the siege, with the start of the third phase.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said that the proposal presented by the movement to the mediators is realistic and characterized by high flexibility, adding that the Israeli occupation is trying to circumvent the ceasefire file.

Cautious optimism

In reactions, the White House said that the Hamas movement’s proposal certainly falls within the framework of the deal that has been worked on over the past months.

The White House expressed cautious optimism that the ceasefire talks in Gaza are moving in the right direction.

The New York Times also quoted an American official as saying that Hamas' response was within the framework agreed upon at the recent Paris meeting.

For his part, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that his country is working intensively with Egypt, Qatar and Israel to fill the remaining gaps regarding the “hostage exchange” agreement, stressing during a press conference with his Austrian counterpart in Vienna that Washington will work every effort to complete this deal.

Blinken added that there are talks now taking place regarding the deal, and that Israel is sending a negotiating team to follow up on this matter, which reflects the possibility and necessity of reaching an agreement, as he put it.

In this context, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and seven members of the US Senate called on Qatar to redouble its efforts to ensure the release of all “hostages.”

Since the end of the latest rounds of negotiations in Paris and Cairo, Washington has been offering a truce for a period of 6 weeks during which the Israeli prisoners will be released.

Meanwhile, Israelis demonstrated on Friday in front of the headquarters of the army command complex and security services in Tel Aviv to demand the return of Israeli prisoners detained in the Gaza Strip.

Activists published pictures of demonstrators chanting slogans demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conduct an exchange deal.

Source: Al Jazeera

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant warned on Friday against any Israeli military rule in the Gaza Strip.

Galant confirmed during an Israeli cabinet meeting that the war launched by Israel on Gaza will be followed by “Israeli military rule that will cost us the lives of soldiers and seize military resources in the face of preparedness for the north and Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). After that, chaos, which will lead to the investment of significant resources in confronting The international community and its unnecessary preoccupation with Gaza.”

According to Gallant, the option “less bad than Hamas rule” is “rule by another local body.” In this context, the Israeli Defense Minister said: “This means that it will look from time to time at what it says in Ramallah,” referring to the Palestinian Authority.

Gallant continued: “If we do not create an alternative to the government, we will not succeed in overthrowing Hamas,” adding: “The priorities are clear. We are talking about bad alternatives here... Hamas is the worst alternative, and the local elements are the least bad alternative. In the end, the person will look to Ramallah.” "From time to time, but there will be a local element (to governance in Gaza). The main thing is that we do not see Hamas."

Israeli Channel 13 reported that a number of ministers responded angrily to Gallant's speech and said: "He is promoting the Palestinian Authority."

Gallant responded to the ministers' criticism, saying, "Those who are paying the price today for not taking a decision are Israel's soldiers."

He continued, "Senior officers say in discussions with the political level that the forces (the Israeli army) raid a specific neighborhood (in the Gaza Strip) and leave. At this time, instead of bringing in a local element (to rule in Gaza), Hamas is asserting itself again." A sign of the return of Hamas control over some areas in the northern Gaza Strip.

Gallant stressed: “This way we will not eliminate Hamas.”

On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a military plan to invade Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

It is noteworthy that the Israeli army has lost 591 of its soldiers since October 7, 2023.

US President Joe Biden said on Friday that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gave a “good speech” yesterday, Thursday, in which he called for new elections in Israel and strongly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing him as an obstacle to peace.

“He gave a good speech,” Biden told reporters at the White House when asked about Schumer’s statements on the Senate floor yesterday.

Biden added, “He (Schumer) expressed serious concerns...which are shared by a large number of Americans,” noting that Schumer informed presidential staff about the speech earlier than he delivered it.

The Palestinian National Liberation Movement "Fatah" affirmed that whoever caused Israel's reoccupation of the Gaza Strip, and caused the Nakba that the Palestinian people are experiencing, especially in the Gaza Strip, does not have the right to dictate national priorities, stressing that the real disconnect from reality and the Palestinian people is the leadership of the movement. Hamas, which until this moment has not felt the magnitude of the catastrophe that our oppressed people are experiencing in the Gaza Strip and in the rest of the Palestinian territories.

Fatah expressed its astonishment and disapproval at Hamas’ talk of exclusivity and division, and wondered whether Hamas consulted the Palestinian leadership or any Palestinian national party when it made its decision to undertake the adventure of last October 7, which led to a catastrophe more horrific and cruel than the catastrophe of 1948? Did Hamas consult the Palestinian leadership, while it is now negotiating with Israel and offering it concessions after concessions, and that it has no goal other than for its leadership to receive guarantees for its personal security, and to try to reach an agreement with Netanyahu again to maintain its divisive role in Gaza and the Palestinian arena? The question is whether Hamas consulted anyone when it carried out its black coup on Palestinian national legitimacy in 2007, it rejected all initiatives to end the division.

Fatah affirmed that President Mahmoud Abbas has the right, in accordance with the Basic Law, to do everything that is in the interest of the Palestinian people, stressing that the President’s assignment to Dr. Muhammad Mustafa falls at the heart of the President’s political and legal responsibilities, and that the priorities set in the assignment book are the priorities of the Palestinian people, and every rational person is not Separated from his people and from the reality of the terrible tragedy experienced by our people who are exposed to great injustice in the Gaza Strip, they realize this, stressing that the priority of all Palestinians today is to stop the war immediately, prevent displacement, provide relief to our afflicted people, rebuild the Gaza Strip, end the division, and reunify the Palestinian homeland, and it is as it demonstrates. Hamas said in its statement today that it is not its priority.

Fatah confirmed that the Prime Minister-designate, Dr. Muhammad Mustafa, is armed with the national agenda and not with false agendas that have brought nothing but woes to the Palestinian people and have not achieved a single achievement for them. Fatah asked: Does Hamas want us to appoint a prime minister from Iran or for Tehran to appoint him for us?

Fatah criticized the actions and practices of the Hamas leadership and its behavior towards the genocidal war, noting that it seems that the comfortable life that this leadership lives in seven-star hotels has blinded it from what is right, wondering why most of Hamas’ leaders live abroad, and why they and their families fled and left the Palestinian people to face... A brutal war of extermination without any protection.

Fatah called on the leadership of the Hamas movement to stop its policy of being dependent on foreign agendas, and to return to the national side in order to stop the war and save our people and our cause from liquidation, and in order to provide relief to our people and rebuild Gaza, leading to complete withdrawal from the land of the State of Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital.

On Friday, Agence France-Presse revealed the most prominent provisions of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza in two stages.

Hamas announced, late Thursday evening, that it had presented to the mediators a comprehensive vision based on the principles it described as necessary to agree on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Agence France-Presse quoted an official in the movement as saying that the proposal presented by Hamas stipulates that the deal will begin in a first phase that includes a six-week truce and the release of 42 Israeli detainees, including women, children, the elderly and the sick.

In exchange, Israel releases 20 to 30 Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli detainee, including prisoners with high sentences. The movement demands the release of 30 to 50 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of every soldier detained in the Gaza Strip.

The same official explained that among the detainees whom the movement proposes to release in the first stage are female soldiers.

According to Hamas's proposal, the occupation army must withdraw from all cities and populated areas in the Gaza Strip, the displaced must return without restrictions, and aid must flow at least 500 trucks per day.

In the second stage, Hamas releases all its detainees in exchange for "an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners."

Hamas also demands, at the end of the second phase, “a complete Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, reconstruction, an end to the siege, and the opening of the crossings,” provided that “Egypt and Qatar, along with the United States, follow up and guarantee the agreement” and its implementation, according to the same official.

Hamdan: Hamas provided high flexibility and our negotiating card is realistic

In turn, the leader of the Hamas movement, Osama Hamdan, commented this Friday evening on the movement’s proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying, “Our negotiating card is realistic and has provided high flexibility, and our position is to be aligned with the interests of the Palestinian people.”

He added, "Our ceasefire proposal confirms the end of the aggression, the enemy's withdrawal, and the start of relief operations," noting that the Israeli occupation "is trying to go to the issue of prisoners to circumvent the issue of ending the aggression."

He continued, "The day after the battle of Gaza is distinctly Palestinian and is not allowed to be tampered with by the occupation or its sponsors," considering that "whoever accepts to be an agent of the occupation in the issue of the next day in Gaza must bear the consequences of his choice."

The Israeli War Council is expected to meet this evening to discuss this proposal.

Hamas had stressed in its statement yesterday that “in the context of the Hamas movement’s follow-up to negotiations through the mediating brothers in Egypt and Qatar, to stop the aggression against our people in Gaza and provide relief and aid to them, the return of the displaced to their places of residence, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.”

Israeli media reported, late Thursday night - Friday, that Mossad chief David Barnea received from the Prime Minister and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani the Hamas movement’s official response regarding the expected deal with the Israeli occupation, indicating that The War Cabinet will hold an urgent session on Friday evening to discuss the response.

The Hebrew website "Ynet" reported, quoting an Israeli official, that "it can be said that there are positive indicators about a certain progress in communications towards a new deal, but it is too early to say whether this will lead to moving the negotiations."

He revealed that "Israeli officials are currently studying Hamas' response, which includes a series of demands and conditions."

The death toll from the Israeli war on Gaza has risen to 31,490 citizens and 73,439 injured since October 7, according to what the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip reported on Friday.

The government media office in Gaza confirmed today that “the Israeli army committed 5 massacres against aid centers in two days, leaving 56 killed and 300 wounded.”

On the fifth day of Ramadan, the war on Gaza entered its 161st day today, Friday, as Israeli aircraft continued their raids on various areas of the Gaza Strip, causing dozens of killed and hundreds of injuries during the past 24 hours.

Yesterday evening, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced the death and injury of dozens of unarmed civilians who were waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza City, as a result of Israeli bombing and gunfire from warplanes and drones, stressing that the wounded are lying on the ground in the Shifa Medical Complex and the medical teams are unable to deal with the size and type of injuries. .

Israeli fighters are focusing their raids on the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip, and the city of Deir al-Balah, the Nuseirat camp, and the Bureij camp in its centre. Israeli artillery also renewed its bombardment of residential squares and neighborhoods, and the destruction of infrastructure.

The White House said on Friday that the proposal put forward by Hamas regarding a ceasefire agreement in Gaza in order to release prisoners is certainly within the limits of what is possible, expressing cautious optimism.

John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said that the proposal “certainly falls within the broad outlines of the agreement that we have been working on now for several months.”

"We're cautiously optimistic that things are moving in the right direction, but that doesn't mean it's done," Kirby told reporters.

The United Nations warned on Friday that the ground operation that Israel is planning to launch on the city of Rafah will have dire consequences for the residents of the Gaza Strip and for the delivery of humanitarian aid.

This came in a statement by United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric to reporters, commenting on news about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval of plans for a possible military operation in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, despite international warnings.

Dujarric indicated that he had seen the news regarding Netanyahu’s approval of the operation, and said that this was “very disturbing.”

He added, "The ground operation on Rafah will have serious consequences for the residents of Gaza and for humanitarian aid operations," expressing his hope that it will be prevented from happening.

Thirteen citizens were killed this Friday evening when the Israeli aircraft bombed a house in the Nuseirat camp and the Al-Tuffah neighborhood in the Gaza Strip.

Local sources said that 7 people were killed in a bombing carried out by occupation aircraft that targeted several homes in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, while dozens of citizens were injured as a result of the bombing.

Five citizens were killed and dozens of citizens, most of them children, were injured in a raid that targeted a house in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City.

A citizen was also killed and a number of citizens were injured when the Israeli army bombed a house for the Abu Dawaba family in the village of Al-Masdar in the central Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said on Friday that the mediators are working "tirelessly to fill the remaining gaps" in an effort to reach an agreement on the hostages and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Blinken said during a press conference in Vienna, “Yes, there is a counter-proposal presented by Hamas. It is clear that I cannot go into the details of what it includes, but what I can say is that we are working tirelessly with Israel, Qatar and Egypt to fill the remaining gaps and try to reach an agreement.”

He explained that Israel "resented negotiators to follow up on the process," adding, "I think this reflects a feeling that an agreement can be reached, a ceasefire, the hostages released, and more humanitarian aid delivered."

Earlier, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in a statement that Israel "will send a delegation to Doha in Qatar as part of negotiations on exchanging hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners."

Israel did not send representatives last week to Cairo, where mediators met with a delegation from Hamas.

Hamas, which is still demanding a final ceasefire in Gaza before any agreement regarding its prisoners and detainees, expressed its readiness to commit to a six-week truce during which 42 prisoners and detainees, including women, children, the elderly and the sick, will be released in exchange for the release of 20 to 50 Palestinian prisoners, according to what was reported. One of its officials reported.

Blinken was asked about a possible Israeli attack on Rafah in the far south of the Strip, and he said that he “has not yet seen the plan” prepared by the Israelis, while reminding him that the United States demands “a clear plan that can be implemented.”

Today, Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a military plan to invade Rafah.

A statement issued by his office stated that in addition to this, the Israeli army is preparing to evacuate residents and displaced people from Rafah.

Meanwhile, the Israeli war cabinet meeting, which discussed the proposal presented by Hamas, ended yesterday regarding the exchange of prisoners and hostages.

Netanyahu described Hamas's demands as "unrealistic."

The statement added that an Israeli delegation will go to Qatar to conduct negotiations on a prisoner exchange deal and a ceasefire, and that the delegation will present Israel’s position.

After the end of the war cabinet meeting, a meeting will be held for the mini-ministerial council for political and security affairs (the expanded cabinet), which will discuss the Israeli position that the Israeli delegation will bring to the negotiations in Qatar.

Hamas's proposal includes a first phase for the release of Israeli hostages, including women, children, the elderly and the sick, in exchange for the release of between 700 and 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, Reuters reported today.

The proposal includes the release of 100 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli prisons, and the release of Israeli female soldiers.

Hamas said it would agree to a date for a permanent ceasefire after the initial exchange of hostages and prisoners, according to the proposal, and that a final date would be agreed upon for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza after the first phase.

Hamas said that all detainees on both sides will be released in a second phase of the plan.

Agence France-Presse quoted a Hamas official as saying, “We propose a 6-week truce in Gaza and the exchange of hostages and detainees in stages.”

The Israeli army committed 13 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, claiming 149 killed and 300 injuries during the past 24 hours, which raises the toll of the aggression to 31,490 killed and 73,439 injuries since the 7th of last October.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip confirmed that there are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the roads, and Israeli army prevents ambulance and civil defense crews from reaching them.

In the latest developments: A number of citizens were killed as a result of Israeli targeting the Intelligence Towers area, northwest of Gaza City.

3 citizens were killed and 3 others were injured as a result of being targeted by Israeli drones while they were waiting for aid west of Gaza City.

Five dead were also recovered from Hamad Town in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli aircraft launched raids on various areas in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli forces committed a new massacre yesterday, Thursday, as they targeted a gathering of citizens at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City, while they were waiting for relief aid to arrive, which led to the death and injury of dozens.

The Israeli army continues its aggression against the Gaza Strip for the 161st day, by land, sea and air, which led to the death of more than 31,341 citizens and the injury of more than 73,134 others, an infinite toll, as thousands of victims are still under the rubble.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Friday that her country will resume funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), nearly two months after funding was suspended.

Wong explained that Australia had consulted with UNRWA and other donor countries, and was satisfied with the additional guarantees that had been put in place, adding that about six million Australian dollars ($3.9 million) in funding would be provided immediately.

Wong said, in a press conference, “There are children and families who are starving and we have the ability, along with the international community, to help them. We know that UNRWA is central and essential in providing this aid.”

Australia and several countries suspended funding to the United Nations agency last January, in response to Israeli allegations against 12 employees working for UNRWA.

Sweden, Canada and the European Union have resumed funding to some extent.

Last week, the agency's commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, expressed "cautious optimism" about the decision of "a number of donors" to resume funding the agency "in the next few weeks."

For hours this morning, the Israeli forces prevented thousands of worshipers from arriving at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform the first Friday prayer of the month of Ramadan.

Eyewitnesses reported that the Israeli forces deployed widely around the Qalandiya checkpoints north of Jerusalem, Zaytouna to the east, and Bethlehem to the south, and returned thousands of worshipers and did not allow them to reach Al-Aqsa Mosque, under the pretext of not obtaining the necessary permits.

Israeli forces also deployed thousands of police officers in the alleys of the Old City of Jerusalem, in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and at its gates.

Yesterday, the Israeli authorities installed iron barriers at the gates of the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, specifically at the gates of King Faisal, Al-Ghawanmeh, and Al-Hadid, in an effort to impose more control on the entry of worshipers, control the roads, and prevent freedom of worship normally in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

It is noteworthy that the Israeli forces have imposed a strict siege on the Old City of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque for six months, preventing entry to them. They have issued dozens of deportation orders against Jerusalemites, in order to prevent them from praying during the month of Ramadan.

The Israeli army committed a new massacre, on Thursday evening, against Palestinians who were waiting for aid in front of the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City, bombing them with artillery and shooting them from its warplanes and drones.

The Israeli war on the Gaza Strip continues for the 161st day in a row, despite the beginning of the month of Ramadan, amid violent bombardment that leaves hundreds of killed and wounded daily, while the starvation policy pursued by Israel against the Palestinians has reached its extreme levels in recent days.

The Israeli war on Gaza left tens of thousands of civilian victims, most of them children and women, an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure, which led to Tel Aviv being brought before the International Court of Justice on charges of “genocide.”

As a result of the war and Israeli restrictions, the people are on the brink of starvation, in light of the severe scarcity of food, water, medicine and fuel supplies, with the displacement of about two million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, which has been besieged by Israel for 17 years.