The expanded Israeli cabinet agreed to assign the Israeli negotiating team, which will leave for the Qatari capital, Doha, to complete negotiations aimed at reaching a prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas.

On Sunday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held two meetings of the two ministerial councils - the small one for managing war affairs, and the expanded one for political and security affairs.

The two meetings discussed the position of the Israeli government on the proposal presented by the Hamas movement, last week, to exchange prisoners under an agreement that includes a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The “extended cabinet” meeting ended more than three hours after it was held.

Netanyahu said on Sunday that he would continue the military campaign against the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, where relief agencies say famine is looming on the horizon.

Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting that Israel will advance into Rafah, the last relatively safe place in the small and crowded Gaza Strip, more than five months after the start of the war.

He added, "We will carry out an operation in Rafah. It will take several weeks, and it will be carried out," without clarifying whether he meant that the attack would continue for weeks or begin within weeks.

During the Israeli Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said, "Is your memory so weak? Did you forget so quickly on October 7th, the most horrific massacre of Jews since the Holocaust? So quickly are you prepared to deprive Israel of the right to defend itself against the monsters of Hamas?"

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) estimated today (Sunday) the volume of debris in the Gaza Strip as a result of the ongoing war between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Israeli army at approximately 23 million tons.

UNRWA said in a statement, “The destruction that befell the Gaza Strip caused the formation of an estimated 23 million tons of debris.”

The statement added that work will take years to remove the rubble and dispose of unexploded ordnance.

It pointed out that homes, schools, clinics and civilian infrastructure have been affected by the war, pointing out that the lives of more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed.

The matter will not be of interest to those who see politics as the "art of the impossible." As for those who see it as the "art of the possible" and believe that a lot of compromise and half-solutions are inherent to it, they cannot but be struck by the remarks of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

He called for new elections in Israel in a recent speech, seemingly suggesting that Netanyahu no longer has a popular mandate. The latter has lost his way, becoming a prisoner of the past and "a significant obstacle to peace" who "all too frequently bowed to the demands of extremists like Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, who "have stoked tensions and violence."

Doubtful that Netanyahu would do such a thing, Schumer said that kicking out the two ministers would be "a real and meaningful step forward." That is because Israel's rejection of the two-state solution is a "grave mistake", and the country should change course to achieve lasting peace.

Schumer's statements coincided with the United States' announcement of sanctions on three additional Israeli settlers and, for the first time, on two agricultural entities. These measures were presented as part of the US and UK governments' efforts to put an end to the expulsion and displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The fact is that it will not be easy to turn this rhetoric of Schumers' - a towering Democratic figure who is among the most ardent of Israel's traditional hardline supporters, as well as being the highest-ranking Jewish politician in US history - into the official position of the White House.

However, it would also be a mistake to ignore the fact that his remarks were preceded by a number of statements and insinuations by the president reflecting frustration with Netanyahu and disapproval of the barbaric manner in which he is waging this war. After the speech, Biden did not hesitate to call it a "good speech," and he stressed that Schumer "expressed a serious concern shared not only by him but by many Americans." Biden also mentioned that the Majority Leader "had informed the presidential staff about the speech before delivering it."

The executive shifting its position closer towards Schumer's is thus not impossible, though it is not guaranteed either. Joe Biden's presidential battle and its considerations will certainly bear on the direction he decides to take.

Netanyahu, as is well known, has not only alienated many across the globe, including in Israel itself, and turned them against him, but has also alienated the United States, the primary supporter of his country and its war, and turned it against him. Incidentally, he is already making up for lost ground in this regard as well, as he was the first prime minister in Israeli history to break with the tradition of standing with the White House, regardless of who is president, becoming embroiled in political and partisan disputes and siding with the Republicans.

In turn, the Reform Movement, the largest Jewish movement in the United States, expressed a position susceptible to change. Haaretz said the movement "agreed with the essence of the New York Senator's remarks", but "questioned whether they should have been said."

Overall, Schumer's words suggest that we could potentially see a change that results in an end to the death and prevents the war from spreading to other locations in the region. The formation of a broad coalition of those who can no longer tolerate Netanyahu or live with what he is doing could lead us to this outcome.

In addition to the American administration, this camp could include Western European countries, the Arab world, and the so-called Palestinian moderates, as well as Israeli opponents of Netanyahu and Jewish groups in the United States. Taking this course could do a lot to fracture the war camp within Israel, as many within it grudgingly tolerate their prime minister, because they believe that they too are targets of a genocidal war that the events of October 7 attested to.

Naturally, this trajectory, if it were to take off, would not lead to the liberation of Palestine, nor would it grant Hamas representation of Palestine and the Palestinians, nor would it be a victory of the "Global South" over the "white man." However, putting an end to the death and preventing the spread of violence should be regarded as a significant achievement, regardless of who declares "victory" in the end.

Such an achievement, if it were realized, would undoubtedly create a more suitable environment for waging political battles that grant the Palestinians more of the rights they are entitled to. It would also be a less bloody, painful, and destructive environment. This means that Schumer's stance could potentially be a transitional juncture if it is handled correctly, and it should be handled correctly.

Addressing intellectuals, though the sentiment applies to others as well, the French philosopher Raymond Aron asserted that one should ask, "What would I do if I were in the place of the statesman?" For him, the task is identifying the "possible" solution that would be best "for France or peace, or more consistent with our morals." He did not speak of "ideal solutions" or "moral solutions" in one go.

As for absolute and final judgments that cannot be implemented, their negative ramifications cannot always be undone, and for those who emphasize responsibility and practicality, like Raymond Aron, such an approach cannot be taken seriously.

From Alsharq Alawsat

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the raid on the hospital – Israel’s fourth since October – has resulted in deaths and injuries.

Fighting and humanitarian crisis

• Israeli forces stormed Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, with a military spokesman claiming Hamas fighters have regrouped inside the medical facility. Gaza’s Ministry of Health said the raid on the hospital – Israel’s fourth since October – has resulted in deaths and injuries.
• According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, some 30,000 people – including displaced civilians, wounded patients and medical staff – are trapped inside the hospital amid Israel’s onslaught.
• Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to go ahead with a ground assault on Rafah in Gaza after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned against it.
• In Gaza, 19 aid trucks arrived safely in Jabalia as the first convoys to travel from the south to the north of the Gaza Strip without incident in four months bring desperately needed aid.
• Israel’s air and ground campaign since October has killed more than 31,600 people, Gaza health authorities said. It has also driven most of the population from their homes, and brought people to the brink of famine, aid agencies added.

Diplomacy and regional tensions

• The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of pro-Iran armed groups, has said it launched a drone attack at an Israeli airbase in the occupied Golan Heights.
• Meanwhile, the Jordanian army has announced detecting suspicious aerial movements from an unknown source along the border with Syria, according to the Reuters news agency.
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned Israel’s Netanyahu on Sunday against his plans for a ground offensive in Rafah, while EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen echoed his sentiments during a visit to Cairo.

Violence in the occupied West Bank

• The Wafa news agency is reporting that Israeli forces detained at least 25 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, including a woman from Gaza, a child and former prisoners.
• The woman from Gaza has cancer and was arrested as she was heading to Jerusalem to complete her treatment, the agency said, citing a joint statement from the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

By Adnan Mahmutović

Bosnians have experience with genocide. Not just the signs of it coming. Not just the fact of it happening. But also this strange phenomenon we call “Schrödinger’s genocide”: the simultaneous glorification and denial of genocide. There is a cruel dance between the systematic relativisation of the legal qualification of genocide and the continuous pursuit of genocidal politics and its results.

Despite the verdicts issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), we have not healed. The ethnically cleansed Republika Srpska still stands as the triumph of the Serb genocidal project.

Bosnian history has demonstrated the futility of the “never again” mantra and Gaza is now confirming it. The genocide of my people was accompanied by the same rhetoric that Israeli officials now espouse: a genocidal army is the only thing standing between Europe and “Muslim barbarians”, they claim.

I have often lamented how the Jews, who struggled for years after World War II to globalise the knowledge about the Holocaust, started facing serious Holocaust denial as the number of living survivors started to dwindle. Swedish survivors Hédi Fried (98) and Emerich Roth (97) died recently – a major loss for the Jewish community and those working to uphold the “never again” vow.

By contrast, Bosnians are experiencing genocide denial while most of us, survivors, are still alive. Genocide scholar Gregory Stanton argued there are 10 stages of genocide, the last one being denial, but we are effectively experiencing the 11th phase: glorification and triumphalism.

There are people who not only invest resources into historical revisionism of the genocide they committed in the 1990s, but are de facto threatening to repeat it. The Bosnian “final solution” was not properly finalised, they often say. In my home city, Banja Luka, the administrative capital of Republika Srpska, you can buy T-shirts with the faces of war criminals Radovan Karadžić, Ratko Mladić, Biljana Plavšić, and Slobodan Milošević. And Russian President Vladimir Putin, too.

In the case of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has already characterised as a plausible genocide, we see denial among Israeli politicians and propagandists while it is still going on. There is even more denial in Western countries with histories of horrific genocides, especially Germany.

Western governments and media are engaged in a systematic cover-up of Israeli war crimes and bullying of those who try to expose them. Laws are proposed on short notice that aim to criminalise free speech and criticism of Israel.

At the same time, the glorification of this genocide is broadcast in real time on social media. Accounts with thousands of followers post footage of Israeli soldiers committing war crimes. People want credit even for discrediting content. The Palestinians have been dehumanised to such an extent that their executioners are deeply convinced that their violent acts are not just morally justified but also noble, and they must take pride in their “good work”.

The Serb authorities did much to hide the concentration camps from foreign journalists. They tried to cover up massacres, moving mass graves multiple times. By contrast, the hubris of Israeli soldiers drives them to produce countless images and videos of their work: endearing messages to loved ones from sites of destruction, the mocking of everything Palestinian, proud repetitions of the genocidal discourse.

French philosopher Jean Baudrillard was right: We postmodern humans want to broadcast ourselves to the world whatever we do. I am not surprised that the Israeli army is broadcasting its war crimes as I was not surprised that Hamas had cameras on on October 7.

We have seen attempts to whitewash Hamas’s crimes, but we have also seen propaganda campaigns aimed at making them look even more horrible as a way of justifying the crimes of the Israeli army. Meanwhile, Palestinians have felt compelled to report in detail the atrocities they face. It is perverse that people suffering so much are forced to record and broadcast unimaginable slaughter to be believed, to be humanised, to be pitied enough so their cry for help is heard.

We think we live in a different time, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has shown the world that the old rules still apply. Though Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari is correct that since World War II fewer people have died in wars, Israel keeps confirming the fact that nations are built through violence.

In Gaza, the old world order came back with a vengeance. Western powers are doing the exact opposite of acting in the spirit of the civilisation they have bragged about building. They have armed the aggressor and aided his indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, their starvation, and culturicide. They encouraged the media to dehumanise the victims and cover up the crimes. And finally, despite the explicit ruling by the ICJ, they cut aid.

Let us note here that even the Israeli judge in the ICJ hearing on Gaza voted in favour of the provision of humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians. As a Holocaust survivor, of course, he did at least that.

Despite the staggering effort by Western media to suppress information, there has been a significant shift in public opinion in the West. This means that the timing is bad for Israel. Netanyahu and his predecessors should have finished their genocidal project decades ago.

Back then, there were fewer avenues for the truth to surface. Places were ethnically cleansed and mass graves were buried under parking lots. As the Israeli interviewees in a 2022 documentary about a massacre in the Palestinian village of Tantura made clear, they got away with it because no one was watching.

But people across the whole world are watching now and there is no excuse not to act to stop it.

Once a genocide happens, history shows, there is no going back. Six million Jews and millions of their unborn descendants are missing in Germany and other nations. Many are missing from countries across Asia and Africa. They will never return.

Germans may have apologised, built memorial centres, financed historical studies, and instituted prizes for science and literature, but the fact remains. The state of Israel is a continuous reminder that the Jews will never get back what they lost.

The laws of nation-building are like entropy. It is a one-way road. We Bosnians know this too well. Despite all the convictions of war criminals, the authorities of Republika Srpska still enjoy the gift they were given: half of Bosnia, nice and clean. Threats of secession and annexation to Serbia continue. The dream of Greater Serbia is on the horizon. Greater Serbia in the European Union. Maybe even in NATO.

No peace process will ever retrieve the territories and recreate Bosnia and Herzegovina as a multiethnic state with equal rights for all citizens. Bosnia remains an ethnostate where three ethnicities rule and others, such as Jews and the Roma, do not have equal political rights.

We see Israelis dream big of Greater Israel. If the world – whatever that means – allows Israel to take Gaza, it will never go back to the Palestinians even if the ICJ convicts all war criminals. There might be symbolic justice for some, but in practice, it will be an irreversible loss, endlessly debated in history books.

Netanyahu knows, as do all the others in his government, that even if they are sentenced as war criminals, the posterity will absorb that. Films will be made about them as complex human beings with good and bad sides. Many will glorify and whitewash them. The Bibi T-shirt industry will do well.

Some Israelis are already thinking of Gaza in terms of real estate. The future intrudes on the present. We are watching Schrödinger’s genocide live, analysing what is happening as if it is already history, as if we are already in the future, observing it from a distance. It is almost like a quantum (entangled) genocide.

I understand some Israelis who are against the war but are in denial about the genocide just as I understand some Serbs who cannot imagine atrocities have been done in their name. And yet, a new zeitgeist is emerging and the interest in international law is rising. Times are changing, but where are we going? And, more importantly, what will we be when we get there?

Al-Baidar, an organization concerned with the rights of Bedouins in the West Bank, said that Israeli settlers forced 5 Palestinian families to leave a community they have lived in since the 1970s, and warned that deportation threatens the remaining residents of the community.

The general supervisor of the organization defending the rights of Bedouins, Hassan Malihat, said that a number of settlers attacked Bedouin families yesterday evening, Sunday, in the Sukhn area, east of the city of Nablus (north of the West Bank), and prevented them from grazing their sheep in the pastures, and denied them water.

Malehat stated that the harassment aimed at controlling large areas of Palestinian pastures forced 5 Bedouin families, numbering about 30 members, to leave at gunpoint. He pointed out that the residents of the Al-Sukhan community, estimated to number about 200 people, are threatened by the same fate.

Malihat explained that the residents of the community depend on grazing and livestock raising as their only source of income, while the beginning of their presence on the site dates back to the 1970s.

Seizure and warning

The organization's official warned that the departure of all families - if it occurs - would mean the settlers' seizure of large mountainous areas inhabited and moved by Bedouins and used for grazing and agriculture, exceeding 15 thousand dunams (a dunam equals a thousand square metres).

Malehat stressed that the Bedouin communities in particular in the Jordan Valley are subjected to "the largest ethnic cleansing process since the Nakba, as a result of settler terrorism and the lack of support from any party."

He explained that the Bedouin population feels the bitterness of alienation within their homeland, because they were left alone, exposed and isolated in an unequal battle with the settlers.

Malehat revealed statistics from his organization indicating that forced deportation has affected 28 Bedouin communities in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, in addition to 4 Bedouin communities that were deported before this date.

He pointed out the demolition of 6 schools in Bedouin communities during 2023, and the sabotage of 6 other schools, and indicated that the number of violations according to Al-Baidar Organization statistics in the same year amounted to 1,124 violations and assaults.

During 2024, Malihat said that the organization he runs monitored and documented approximately 460 violations. He said that the Israeli authorities and settlers devised a new policy at the beginning of this year against the Bedouins.

He explained that this policy consists of imposing a state of siege on citizens and their sheep within the vicinity of population centers, and imposing heavy financial fines on citizens who bring their sheep into the mountains for grazing, by the settlement council in the West Bank.

By Ameer Makhoul

 As the conflict drags on, the regional decline in Israeli and American influence could become a decisive factor

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has said the Israeli government’s plan for Gaza includes a ground invasion, a long-term presence, a new "security regime" in Gaza, along with "the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip". He did not say what that new security regime would entail.

Gallant has also said that Gaza’s area would shrink with the creation of a buffer zone.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has declared that it is not only Israel’s right, but also its duty to defend its citizens. Acknowledging that civilians will inevitably suffer in this war, he emphasised Israel’s obligation to protect its people.

At the same time, the northern Israeli front with Lebanon has escalated to a dangerous state of daily military clashes, which could lead to a comprehensive and devastating war. While neither side wants this, the situation is approaching a critical juncture.

Some Israeli analysts have called for a preemptive strike on the northern front, since after the Gaza plan is completed, it would be unacceptable to have a force in Lebanon that is significantly stronger than Hamas. Other voices have emphasised the need for international pressure to de-escalate.

Bottom of Form

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government lacks a clear objective in the wake of the 7 October surprise attack by Palestinian fighters. Feelings of shock, failure and revenge dominate the situation. 

Amid fears that Israel is seeking permanent demographic change in Gaza, Egypt and Jordan have firmly rejected the possibility of forcibly relocating Palestinians to either country.

Still, the formation of Israel’s war government, including opposition leader Benny Gantz, along with the neutralisation of hardline ministers, points to the crystallisation of a long-term Israeli plan that includes shrinking the Palestinian territory of Gaza, pushing its population south, causing extensive destruction, eliminating Hamas and its authority, and ensuring the sustainability of these measures through a buffer zone and a civilian authority under international sponsorship. 

This is the same model that Israel attempted to apply to Lebanon four decades ago and failed.

No political solution

The Israeli government has thus far been supported by the US administration and the European Union. Yet, while it openly seeks to undermine and eliminate Hamas, it also seeks to undercut any Palestinian demands for an independent state.

Despite the recent military and security shocks sustained by Israel, there has been no fundamental change in its approach to the long-standing occupation; no political force in the country has proposed a political solution or a just resolution.

In the US, President Joe Biden has asked Congress to allocate tens of billions of dollars in emergency support for Israel and Ukraine, drawing a parallel between the two conflicts. It is evident that Israel’s failure to achieve its goals would have repercussions on the (already dwindling) American influence in the region - and on Washington’s priorities.

The Palestinian people and their cause will remain at the forefront of the global agenda until a just solution is achieved

It is important to note that any statements regarding the goals of the war are not necessarily the actual goals or priorities. Even the Gallant plan, as outlined above, falls within the tactics of “hybrid warfare”, which seeks to collapse the enemy from within before the next stage of the war begins. 

Such statements should also be considered a form of psychological warfare as Israel continues to rain bombs on Gaza, killing thousands of people and displacing hundreds of thousands. Israel appears to be attempting to re-establish its control over the northern Gaza Strip, after disengaging and dismantling settlements in 2005. It is worth mentioning that earlier this year, the Knesset repealed clauses of the Disengagement Law pertaining to settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The war on Gaza has been accompanied by a dangerous escalation of aggression in the occupied West Bank involving the army, government and extremist gangs of “hilltop youth”, alongside a campaign of terrorism against Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Genocide and war crimes acts

Amid growing global protests against Israel’s war on Gaza and the targeting of civilians, the full responsibility for this humanitarian catastrophe lies with the Israeli and US governments, in addition to most major European countries. Gaza is now facing acts of genocide and war crimes. 

The global protest movement aligns with popular anger across the Arab world and the official Arab stance, leading to cracks in the western media system, which has long justified Israel’s crimes and fabrications. In some cases, we have seen a turnaround, with journalists and analysts starting to shift towards the Palestinian cause.

Israel’s US-backed push to suppress the Palestinian people has thus far proved to be an impossible task. The Palestinian people and their cause will remain at the forefront of the global agenda until a just solution is achieved.

At the same time, there is no clear ending to the current conflict. Not everything planned by Israel and the US necessarily leads to success from their perspective; in fact, they often stumble. Even Biden admitted the failure of US goals in the region after the 9/11 attacks. Regardless, this war is already catastrophic from the Palestinian perspective.

Across the region, there is a growing sense of a strategic, unified Arab stance, as seen in the recent peace conference hosted by Egypt. Cairo now represents the most significant regional challenge to the US-Israeli enterprise.

Ultimately, the regional decline in Israeli and American influence, alongside broader global power shifts, could be decisive factors in how the current conflict unfolds.

The Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, calls for a reversal of the policy adopted by the Israeli authorities over the past years, preventing settlers from storming Al-Aqsa Mosque during the last ten days of the month of Ramadan.

This came according to what was reported by Israeli Channel 13, this evening, Sunday. It stated that the Israeli security services received Ben Gvir's request prior to the deliberations that the Israeli government is scheduled to hold to discuss this issue during the next two weeks.

The channel quoted a government official as saying, “It is clear that the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will not ultimately agree to Ben Gvir’s request.” The report also suggested that the security services will oppose Ben Gvir’s request.

The Israeli official stressed that "simply asking Ben Gvir to violate the status quo, which has become the norm in recent years, will lead to more unnecessary unrest."

During an interview with CNN today, Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touched on the statements of the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, considering that “what he said is not appropriate, and it is not appropriate for him to try to change the elected leadership in another democratic country.” "We are not a banana republic."

Schumer said in his statements last Thursday that “as a democratic state, Israel has the right to choose its leaders,” adding that “what is important is that the choice be made available to the Israelis.”

During the interview, Netanyahu refused to pledge to hold general elections after the end of the war on Gaza, and claimed that “the Israeli public will decide that.”

This interview came after Netanyahu’s statements during his cabinet meeting this morning, in which he attacked US President Joe Biden, saying that “in the international community there are those who are trying to stop the war now” and directing “false accusations” against him, “through an effort to hold elections now, in... The height of the war.

During the government meeting, Netanyahu referred to the pressures of the Biden administration to prevent a large-scale military operation in Rafah, and said that these pressures “will not stop us from achieving all the goals of the war, and in order to implement that, we will work in Rafah.”

In response to a question about a prisoner exchange deal against the backdrop of negotiations that will begin in Qatar tomorrow, Netanyahu considered that “time will decide if we are close to a deal,” and claimed that the demands of the Hamas movement put difficulties in reaching a deal, and that “we will continue to try because we want to return the kidnapped people.” Our military pressure helps in this.”

After Netanyahu, CNN conducted an interview with former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, from the Democratic Party. "What we just heard from Netanyahu is how truthful Chuck Schumer was in his statement," Pelosi said. "Schumer loves Israel. The fact that he gave a speech like this means that he should be heard that Israel's reputation is in danger because of what is happening in Gaza. Hamas should be defeated. But then what?" We want a two-state solution, and Netanyahu is against this. What is his solution? Controlling Gaza?

Pelosi added, "Thousands of people are (demonstrating) in the streets of Israel and calling for elections, even yesterday evening. What does it mean that Netanyahu is not ready to say that after the war, the Israeli public will be given the opportunity to express its opinion?"

Pelosi said, "Netanyahu's claim that Schumer's speech was an interference in Israeli internal politics is strange, after he himself blatantly interfered in the elections in the United States," and supported former President Donald Trump.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Sunday that more than 13,000 children had died in Gaza as a result of the Israeli attack, adding that many of them suffered from severe malnutrition and did not have "even the energy to cry."

“Thousands of others have been injured or we cannot even locate them,” the organization’s executive director, Katherine Russell, told CBS on Sunday. “They may be trapped under the rubble... We have not seen this rate of deaths among children in almost any other conflict in the world.”

“I have been in the wards for children suffering from severe anemia and malnutrition, and the entire ward is completely quiet,” It added. Because babies and children...don't even have the energy to cry.”

Russell said there were “very significant bureaucratic challenges” to getting aid trucks into Gaza.

The United States mission to the United Nations distributed the fifth draft of the draft resolution, related to the war on Gaza and the catastrophic humanitarian conditions suffered by more than two million Palestinians.

Members of the Security Council have demanded that it be placed in blue so that it is ready to be voted on within 24 hours, but the United States is still procrastinating in the hope that an agreement will be reached on a ceasefire and the release of detainees through Egyptian-Qatari mediation. The United States distributed the draft resolution in its first draft on February 20, the day it used its veto against the Algerian draft resolution.

In its current draft, the draft resolution did not call for an immediate ceasefire, and the reference to a “six-week” ceasefire was removed. The draft resolution now states in its first working paragraph that the Security Council “unequivocally supports international diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire.” “An immediate and sustained ceasefire as part of a deal that releases hostages and provides the basis for a more sustainable peace and relief of human suffering.” The overwhelming majority of Council members want to see clear language demanding an immediate ceasefire.

On the other hand, the draft resolution, in its amended text, consisting of 26 working paragraphs, states not a rejection of the expected Israeli military operation in Rafah, but rather an expression of concern about any expansion of the military operation in Rafah and the dangers of military action on the civilian population under the current circumstances.

The second paragraph in the current draft of the US draft resolution indicates support for the window that the ceasefire will provide for a diplomatic effort to create the conditions for a sustainable reduction of hostilities and the establishment of lasting peace, as stipulated in UN Security Council Resolution 2720 (2023).

In its third working paragraph, the draft resolution calls for adherence to international humanitarian law, including with regard to action regarding the protection of civilians and civilian monuments and the protection of humanitarian aid, health workers and medical infrastructure.

The fourth paragraph calls for expanding and accelerating the delivery of humanitarian aid to all parts of Gaza, and the necessity of removing all barriers and obstacles to humanitarian aid, according to the text of Security Council Resolution 2712 (2023). The draft resolution also calls for the delivery of aid from all crossings, the opening of other crossings, the benefit of sea lines when available, and the need to provide protection for those crossings.

In its fifth paragraph, the draft resolution rejects the forced displacement of the civilian population in Gaza, which constitutes a violation of international law, international humanitarian law, and international human rights law.

The draft resolution also calls on Hamas and other armed groups to immediately allow “humanitarian communication with the remaining hostages.” The draft resolution calls for stopping the financing of “terrorist movements.”

The draft resolution also emphasizes the need to respect and protect hospitals and health and medical workers. It calls on all parties to respect all humanitarian notifications and distribution mechanisms to ensure the safety of UN staff and humanitarian workers. The resolution also calls on all parties to cooperate with the United Nations Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator, Ms. Sigrid Kaag.

Working Paragraph 22 relates to the necessity of respecting the Blue Line in southern Lebanon and calling on all parties to exercise restraint, while Paragraph 23 condemns in the strongest terms the Houthi attacks on ships crossing the Red Sea and demands that they be stopped immediately. Paragraphs 24 and 25 also indicate the importance of working to achieve a lasting peace based on mutual recognition, respect for human rights, protection from violence and incitement, and a commitment to the two-state solution: Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace within recognized borders, in harmony with United Nations resolutions, as the project confirms. The decision is based on the unity of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under the leadership of the Palestinian Authority.

Democratic Senator from Maryland, Chris Van Hollen, said that allegations that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) cooperated with Hamas are a "pure lie."

Speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation," the Democratic senator said the demonization of UNRWA in connection with the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel was an attempt by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get rid of the agency, once and for all.

“There is no doubt that the claim being made by Prime Minister Netanyahu and others, that UNRWA is in some way a proxy for Hamas, is just outright lies,” Van Hollen told host Margaret Brennan. “This is an outright lie. If you look at the person in charge of operations on the ground in Gaza for UNRWA, you will find that he is a former US Army soldier who spent 20 years in the army. You can be sure that he is not in collusion with Hamas. Netanyahu has wanted to get rid of UNRWA since 2017 at least".

Some Republicans on Capitol Hill, including Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), have called for defunding the agency. But Van Hollen said UNRWA's work remains essential at a time when many Gazans are experiencing severe hardship due to the ongoing war.

He also said that if there were specific members of UNRWA who cooperated with Hamas, they should be held accountable.

“There have been allegations by the Netanyahu government that as many as 14 of these 13,000 people were involved in the horrific October 7 attacks,” Van Hollen said. He added: "We must investigate the matter, and we must hold all these people accountable. But for goodness sake, let us not hold accountable two million innocent Palestinian civilians who are starving to death, and let us not hold them accountable, fundamentally, for the bad actions committed by 14 people."

At dawn on Monday, the Israeli forces launched a massive campaign of raids and arrests in the West Bank.

In Nablus, two young men, Arafat Jamal Ramadan and Nasr al-Din Khaldoun Asida, were arrested after their homes were stormed in the village of Tal, southwest of Nablus.

In Ramallah, the Israeli forces arrested the two young men, Abdullah Hassan Hamdan and Moamen Nazzal, after storming their homes in the town of Arora, northwest of Ramallah.

Meanwhile, Mahmoud Al-Shafi’i was arrested after a raid on his house in the suburb of Dhanaba, east of Tulkarm, and Muhammad Hashem Subha from the town of Attil, north of the governorate.

In Hebron, the Israeli  forces arrested Bilal Omar Al-Badarin and Mustafa Al-Aneed after raiding their homes and tampering with their contents in the town of Al-Samu.

In Bethlehem, the Israeli forces stormed the Dheisheh camp and raided a number of citizens’ homes, tampered with their contents, and subjected many citizens to field investigation before arresting Mamoun Ismail Al-Masry, Bashar Fouad Salem, and the freed prisoner Rawda Abu Ajamiya.

While the young man, Ali Ahmed Khal Qabha (38 years old), was arrested after his family’s home was raided and searched in the town of Ya’bad in Jenin.

In Tubas, special forces infiltrated the town of Tammoun and raided a house, followed by military reinforcements from the direction of the Hamra checkpoint, passing through the Al-Faraa camp, where the house in Tammoun was completely surrounded and the young man, Ahmed Nabil Jadallah, was arrested.

The second batch of humanitarian aid arrived in northern Gaza yesterday, Sunday, while the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) warned that people in the Strip are on the brink of famine, and Oxfam accused Israel of violating international humanitarian law by preventing aid from entering the Strip.

The second batch arrived in the city of Jabalia, north of Gaza, via Salah al-Din Street, which connects the south and north of the Strip. This came after the Israeli army allowed, for the second day in a row, a limited number of aid trucks to reach the area.

The second convoy included 9 trucks carrying flour, rice, canned food, and sugar. Al Jazeera’s correspondent said that the aid was placed in UNRWA warehouses in preparation for distribution to families.

The entry of aid, over the past two days, is the first of its kind to reach the northern Gaza Strip governorate since the end of last November. The stifling Israeli siege on northern Gaza caused widespread hunger and the death of about 27 Palestinians due to malnutrition and dehydration.

A matter of life and death

Despite the limited access to aid, criticism of Israel continued, and UNRWA warned that people in Gaza were on the brink of famine, and stressed the need for the largest possible number of them to have access to the necessary aid.

The agency stressed that safe, sustainable and unhindered access to all parts of the Gaza Strip is a matter of life and death, and added that delivering aid by land is the most efficient and safe way.

For its part, the NGO Oxfam accused Israel of "deliberately" preventing the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including food and medical equipment, in violation of international humanitarian law.

Oxfam said in a report on Monday: “Despite its responsibility as an occupying power, Israel’s practices and decisions continue to systematically and deliberately obstruct and prevent any meaningful international humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip.”

The NGO denounced "unfairly ineffective" aid inspection protocols that lead to delays of "20 days on average" to allow trucks to enter the Palestinian enclave. It also condemned "attacks against humanitarian workers and humanitarian convoys."

It criticized the "daily" ban on some equipment classified as "dual-use", which is materials considered usable for military purposes, and explained that water bags or water analysis tools had been rejected in one of her shipments "without reason", before they were later approved.

Oxfam explained that some equipment necessary for the work of her employees, such as communication or protection equipment, or electrical generators to operate her offices, is also subject to restrictions.

The NGO also noted “access restrictions” for humanitarian workers, particularly in the northern Gaza Strip.

Oxfam said, "The conditions we witnessed in Gaza are worse than catastrophic," and explained that 2,874 trucks entered Gaza in February, or "only 20% of the daily aid" that was entering before the Israeli aggression on October 7. This increased the suffering of the Gaza Strip's population of 2.2 million people.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the Israeli army committed 8 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, including 81 killed and 116 injuries to hospitals during the past 24 hours, which raises the death toll to 31,726 dead and 73,792 injured since last October 7.

It pointed out that there are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them.

Here are the latest developments: Israeli tanks and bulldozers continue to besiege and storm the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza amid heavy gunfire.

A number of citizens were killed and others were injured during the Israeli occupation forces' storming of Al-Shifa Medical Hospital in Gaza City.

According to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, medical teams are unable to save the injured due to the intensity of the Israeli fire targeting them and targeting anyone who approaches the windows.

The Ministry also confirmed that a fire broke out at the hospital gate, causing suffocation cases among the displaced and trapped women and children until this moment, while the occupation cut off communications from them.

Meanwhile, local sources indicated that the occupation forces arrested dozens of citizens from inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex.

In Nuseirat, medical sources reported that 9 citizens were killed and a number of others were injured after the Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Violent clashes are taking place in the vicinity of the hospital between the resistance and the Israeli forces, which suddenly entered under heavy fire cover and besieged the hospital, in light of bombing that targeted parts of it.

The Israeli army said that joint forces from the army and the Shin Bet are continuing a focused military operation at the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed that Hamas officials were working from within the compound against Israel.

Hagari said at dawn on Monday, "Army forces began a limited operation in the vicinity of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex based on intelligence information indicating the presence of Hamas officials inside it."

Hagari spoke about what he described as “senior leaders in Hamas” working from within the complex to attack Israel, as he put it.

UNRWA has been vital in providing humanitarian services to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but the agency was stripped of nearly $450 million of funding after top donors including the U.S. suspended payment in January in the wake of Israeli allegations against the agency.

Israel has accused the UN agency of employing over 450 “military operatives” from Hamas and other resistance groups, alleging that a dozen of them took part in the October 7 attack on Israel — a claim Israel has yet to back up with concrete evidence.

Since the initial withdrawal of funding, several countries, including Australia, Sweden and Canada have resumed their donation pledges to UNRWA as they have not seen any evidence backing Israel’s accusations.

UNRWA’s initial investigations have also found that some of its staff in Gaza were severely tortured and abused by Israeli forces and were forced into making false confessions to support Israel’s claims that the agency’s staff have ties to Hamas. 

The EU’s top humanitarian aid official, Janez Lenarcic, has confirmed that Israel did not present any evidence of the claims against UNRWA to him or any official at the EU executive or to any other donor.

The EU said early in March that it is going to pay $55 million in donation to UNRWA but will hold back nearly $35 million until the investigation into Israel’s allegations is resolved. 

“Even if those allegations, at the end of the day, prove to be true, that doesn’t mean that UNRWA is the perpetrator,” Lenarcic said.

“UNRWA has reacted properly, immediately, effectively. It took several measures. There is an investigation. There is a review. We are satisfied so far with all this,” Lenarcic added.

UNRWA has already fired nine of those employees, and is investigating the case of one. The remaining two staff members included in Israel’s allegations, were killed during the October 7 attack.

“UNRWA has of course a critical role to play here because it has unmatched infrastructure, warehouses, shelters, logistical capacities,” he said.

Lenarcic said more aid needs to enter the Gaza Strip by lorries and Israel should open additional land crossing points.

He added that the U.S. maritime corridor set from Cyprus to Gaza is “although a welcome addition, can only complement the land routes.”

“You cannot in current circumstances provide sufficient supplies by maritime routes or airdrops because there is no real port [in the Gaza Strip],” he added.

Israeli media reported that officials in the Israeli negotiating team accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wasting time, after he refused to hold a session of the mini-ministerial council for security and political affairs yesterday evening, Saturday, in order to send negotiators to the Qatari capital, Doha, to discuss the exchange of prisoners with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and ceasefire.

Al Jazeera correspondent Najwan Samri said that the controversy escalated in Israel after Netanyahu refused to hold this session, noting that some media reports stated that he was not responding to calls from ministers in the war council.

It added that politician Aryeh Deri (one of Netanyahu's allies) demanded that the negotiating team not leave on Saturday, claiming that this would affect the sanctity of the day among Jews, which sparked severe criticism from the families of Israeli prisoners who accused him of not caring about the lives of their children.

The Al Jazeera correspondent explained that the Israeli negotiating team is expected to leave for Doha after the mini-ministerial council meeting is held this Sunday evening.

Alternative session

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that the security establishment under his leadership is “committed to exhausting all capabilities and taking advantage of every opportunity to return the kidnapped people to their families.”

Yesterday, Saturday, Gallant held an alternative session to discuss the possible deal with Hamas, according to what was reported by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, after Netanyahu refused to hold a session of the mini-ministerial council.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that Mossad Foreign Intelligence Director David Barnea participated in the meeting and is expected to travel to Qatar at a later time.

Yesterday, angry demonstrations took place in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and occupied Jerusalem, demanding the conclusion of an exchange deal. Demonstrators also gathered in front of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, demanding the dismissal of Netanyahu and holding early elections.

On the other hand, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said today that "it is clear to us that there is no victory in the war without the return of the abductees."

He added, "It is our duty to remove doubts among the families of the kidnapped, and this must remain above all differences."

As for Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz, he said that Israel is willing to pay a price in exchange for the return of detainees in Gaza, but it is not ready to stop the war, describing that as a red line.

Regarding the implementation of a ground operation in Rafah, Katz said - in an interview with the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper website - that this will happen because victory in the war cannot be achieved without entering there, as he put it.

Doha talks

Meanwhile, the Associated Press quoted Egyptian officials as saying that talks on a ceasefire in Gaza and the exchange of prisoners may begin in Doha this Sunday afternoon or tomorrow, Monday.

The Hamas movement announced that it had presented to the mediators in Egypt and Qatar a vision based on stopping the aggression, providing relief, the return of the displaced, and the withdrawal of the occupation.

Washington said that Hamas's proposal came within the framework of the deal that has been working on for months, and expressed cautious optimism about the upcoming talks in Doha.

Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip for more than 5 months, leaving tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, amid warnings from international organizations of famine - especially in the northern Gaza Strip - as a result of the occupation restricting the entry of aid.

Sources revealed to Al Jazeera the details of the proposal presented by the Hamas movement, which includes 3 stages, each of which lasts 42 days.

According to the sources, in the first phase, Hamas stipulated that the occupation forces withdraw from Al-Rashid and Salah Al-Din Streets to allow the return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip and the passage of aid.

The movement also requested, in exchange for the release of every living Israeli female soldier, the release of 50 Palestinian prisoners it identifies, with 30 of them being life sentencers.

The sources added to Al Jazeera that Hamas stipulated - in conjunction with the start of the second phase - the declaration of a permanent ceasefire before any exchange of its captured soldiers.

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

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies + Israeli press

On Sunday, the far-right Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, launched a scathing attack on the Israeli occupation army.

The extremist minister said: “The Army General Staff caused one of the biggest disasters in the country,” according to the Hebrew Channel 12.

He stated that he believes "what will bring the kidnapped people back is cutting off contact and resuming intense military effort."

The Israeli army continues its aggression against the Gaza Strip for the 163rd day in a row, leaving 31,553 killed and 73,546 people injured since last October 7.

The American Wall Street Journal said on Sunday that the Israeli army is stuck in what resembles detention in the Gaza Strip. Despite its intention to enter the city of Rafah, south of the Strip, it is unable to do so without providing a safe way to leave more than a million civilians gathered in the city.

The day before yesterday, Friday, the Prime Minister of the Israeli occupation government, Benjamin Netanyahu, approved plans for the attack on Rafah after a meeting of the Israeli War Cabinet, without announcing details about the risky operation, which may cause more damage to the already tense relationship between Israel and the United States. United States unless civilians are protected.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Ofer Shelah, a military analyst at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, as saying, “The Israeli government is in a dilemma. Netanyahu cannot order the forces to enter Rafah before developing a clear plan to evacuate the population there, especially with warnings.” "The American administration of Israel has caused increasing civilian casualties."

The newspaper said that since the beginning of the war, US President Joe Biden has described the relationship between the United States and Israel as “unbreakable,” but his support for Netanyahu is rapidly eroding. She added: “When Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called in a speech last Thursday for new elections to succeed Netanyahu, Biden commented on the speech by saying: “He gave a good speech, and I think he expressed serious concern, not only from him. But from many Americans.

Schumer had considered that holding elections was "the only way to allow a healthy and open decision-making process regarding the future of Israel." While Netanyahu pledged to respond to any pressure on Israel to ease its goal of eliminating Hamas.

The newspaper added that the war cabinet is scheduled to discuss, today, Sunday, the issue of negotiations and prisoners held by Hamas in Gaza, which have reached advanced stages, while Israeli officials and analysts confirm that “the threat of an imminent operation in Rafah constitutes a major pressure point in the talks with Hamas".

The newspaper pointed out that the intensity of the fighting in Gaza has diminished in recent weeks with Israel’s reluctance to enter Rafah, as it did not deploy forces to enter the city, and reduced its military divisions stationed throughout Gaza from three divisions to one division. Adding that Israel is focusing on destroying Hamas’ infrastructure elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.

Commenting on this, retired Israeli Colonel Miri Eisin told the newspaper, “It is an arduous task that can take a long time and may last an entire year,” adding: “All it takes is an open tunnel that we did not know existed for Hamas fighters to come from the south to the north.” ".

The Wall Street Journal indicated that the ongoing military operations launched by Israel indicate the extent of the difficulty it may face in subduing the Hamas movement, which is now conducting its battle through a vast network of underground tunnels, which took about 15 years to build, and extends to about 300 miles.

iT continued, "The fighting has become increasingly sporadic, with Hamas shifting its stance from defense to simply staying alive and continuing its operations, setting ambushes and disabling Israeli forces wherever it can before disappearing again into the tunnels."

The newspaper concluded that Israel will send a delegation to Qatar, tomorrow, Monday, to discuss the ceasefire talks after Hamas made concessions, making the positions of the two sides closer than ever before. Pointing out that the concessions included reducing the number of Palestinian prisoners who would be exchanged for Israeli detainees, and abandoning demands for a permanent cessation of fighting before reaching an agreement.

The Egyptian-European summit stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for Israel to end its hostilities.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said that the Palestinian issue and the war on the Gaza Strip were at the top of the Egyptian-European summit talks, which stressed the inevitability of an immediate ceasefire and Israel ending its hostilities.

During the joint press conference with European leaders held at the Ittihadiya Palace on Sunday, President Sisi called for making more efforts to achieve an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, and to increase humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip to alleviate the severity of the humanitarian catastrophe that the Palestinians are experiencing.

The Egyptian President also confirmed that it was agreed with the President of the European Union Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Prime Minister of Belgium, the current President of the European Union, and the heads of state and government of Cyprus, Italy, Greece and Austria to reject Israel launching a military operation in Rafah, which will double the humanitarian catastrophe that is occurring. Civilians in the Gaza Strip suffer from it, in addition to the effects of this operation on liquidating the Palestinian cause, which Egypt rejects in its entirety.

Al-Sisi renewed Egypt's complete rejection of any attempts by Israel to forcibly displace the Palestinian people from their land occupied since 1967, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

He explained, we reviewed in detail the Egyptian efforts aimed at resolving the crisis while stressing the importance of dealing with the Palestinian issue from a comprehensive and integrated perspective that guarantees the rights of the Palestinians to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

President Sisi stressed the need to unify our message to the international community to highlight that the suffering of the Palestinian people in the entire occupied Palestinian territory over the past decades will not stop except by recognizing the State of Palestine, granting it full membership in the United Nations, and working to implement the two-state solution in accordance with international references, and that procrastination in solving that problem will not stop. The issue exposes the region and the entire world to instability.

The discussions also addressed the importance of continuing to confront common challenges, most notably illegal immigration, where the commitment to combating this phenomenon was emphasized within the framework of existing cooperation, while including the development dimension in addressing it, in addition to strengthening regular migration paths.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi stressed on Sunday the necessity of a ceasefire in Gaza, and stressed that his country “will not allow the forced displacement of Palestinians.”

This came during the Egyptian President’s meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, on the sidelines of the Egyptian-European Summit expected today, according to a statement by the Egyptian Presidency.

The meeting witnessed "discussions on a number of bilateral cooperation files, most notably the expected signing by both sides today of the Joint Political Declaration document to launch the path of upgrading relations between Egypt and the European Union to the level of a strategic and comprehensive partnership."

The regional situation was also discussed during the meeting, and in this regard, the Egyptian President stressed “the necessity of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”

He stressed that "Egypt rejects the forced displacement of Palestinians to its lands and will not allow it."

On Sunday, the Egyptian presidency announced, in a statement, the holding of an Egyptian-European summit today, to raise the level of relations to a “strategic partnership,” and to discuss the issue of the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip that has been raging since October 7 last.

The statement explained that the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, will receive at the Ittihadiya Palace, east of Cairo, the President of the European Union Commission, the Prime Minister of Belgium, the current President of the European Union, and the heads of state and government of Cyprus, Italy, Greece, and Austria.

The value of the agreements signed by Egypt with the European Union amounted to $12.8 billion during the period (2020-2023).

The European Union intends to provide an aid package of 7.4 billion euros ($8.08 billion) to Egypt aimed at supporting its economy, which is expected to be announced during the visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Egypt on Sunday, according to what was reported by the official Egyptian News Agency from the Financial Times newspaper. ", Friday.

The number of dead of the captive movement in Israeli prisons since the seventh of last October has risen to 14.

The Palestinian Prisoner's Club said in a statement today, Sunday, that the number of dead of the captive movement inside the Israeli prisons rose to 14 after the seventh of last October, as a result of torture, abuse, and starvation, in addition to medical crimes.

This came after the announcement of the death of the wounded detainee, Muhammad Abu Sneina from Jerusalem, in Hadassah Hospital, one day after he was injured and arrested.

The statement added that the oIsraeli media had revealed the death of detainees from Gaza in the Israeli camps, while it refuses to this day to disclose their identities, in light of its continued implementation of the crime of enforced disappearance against Gaza detainees after October 7.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will continue its attack on the Gaza Strip despite increasing international pressure.

During a government session on Sunday, Netanyahu reiterated that Israel will continue its attack on the Gaza Strip, including the city of Rafah, while it will evacuate civilians from the combat areas.

Netanyahu added: “To our friends in the international community, I say: Is your memory short? Did you forget October 7 so quickly? Are you prepared so quickly to deprive Israel of the right to defend itself against the monsters of Hamas? Did you lose your moral conscience so quickly?” Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper considered an escalation by Netanyahu in his confrontation with US President Joe Biden.

The Israeli prime minister denounced the international pressure on Israel, saying: “Instead of putting pressure on Israel, which is waging an unjust war against an enemy crueler than it, direct your pressure on Hamas and its sponsor, Iran.” They pose a threat to the region and the entire world.”

He stressed, "In any case, we will stand in the face of all pressures, and we will continue the war until complete victory."

At the beginning of the government session, Netanyahu referred to an attack launched against him by the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, who last week called for elections in Israel and claimed that Netanyahu had “lost his authority.”

Netanyahu added: “There are those in the international community who are trying to stop the war now, before all its goals are achieved.” They do this by making false accusations against the Israeli army, against the Israeli government, and against the prime minister.

He continued: “They are doing this by making an effort to hold elections now, in the middle of the war, and they are doing this because they know that the elections now will stop the war, and will paralyze the country for at least six months.”

The Prime Minister of the Israeli government stressed that if the war is stopped now, before achieving all its goals, this means that Israel has lost the war, continuing: “We will not allow that, and that is why we must not surrender to these pressures, and we will not surrender to them.”

He continued: “No international pressure will prevent us from achieving all the goals of the war: eliminating Hamas, releasing all detainees, and ensuring that Gaza will not pose another threat against Israel.”

He added: “In order to do this, we will also work in Rafah. This is the only way to eliminate the remaining Hamas brigades, and this is the only way to exert the necessary military pressure to release all detainees.”

He explained that operational plans for the incursion into Rafah had been approved, including steps to evacuate civilians from combat areas, noting that the operation in Rafah would take several weeks, stressing: “The operation will take place.”

Former Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon said that returning Israeli detainees in the Gaza Strip is not a priority for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is interested in remaining in power.

Ya'alon added - in statements reported by the Maariv newspaper - that there are officials within the Israeli government demanding the sacrifice of detainees in exchange for occupying the Gaza Strip, expelling the Palestinians, and settling Jews there.

He pointed out that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir do not want to reach a final status in which Israel does not control Gaza, stressing the responsibility of the occupation army for killing 100 Palestinians while distributing aid in the northern Gaza Strip.

Regarding what was reported about launching a ground operation in Rafah, Ya’alon considered the threat to enter Rafah to be a hoax, wondering if the government really needed to enter, so why did it not enter? Why were units of reserve soldiers demobilized?

Yaalon also expressed his belief that the right path lies in going to elections, to get Israel out of this crisis with a different leadership, calling on Israelis to take to the streets and protest.

Positions regarding the exchange deal

On the other hand, officials in the Israeli negotiating team accused Netanyahu of wasting time, according to what was reported by Israeli media.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that Defense Minister Yoav Galant held an alternative session in order to discuss the prisoner exchange deal, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to hold a session of the mini-ministerial council for security and political affairs.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation revealed that Mossad Director David Barnea participated in the session held by the Minister of Defense regarding the exchange deal.

For his part, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid ruled out the possibility of concluding an easy deal to release Israeli prisoners held by Hamas.

This came during his talk yesterday, Saturday, with the families of the prisoners, indicating what he described as the opposition’s full support for such a deal.

Lapid said that the deal that would return them was worth the price, and that it was not possible to move forward without their return to Israel.

On the other hand, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz said that Israel is willing to pay a price in exchange for the return of detainees in Gaza, but it is not ready to stop the war, describing this as a red line.

Regarding the implementation of a ground operation in Rafah, Katz responded during an interview with the Yedioth Ahronoth website that this will happen because victory in the war cannot be achieved without entering there, as he put it.

Human Rights Watch called on the international community to impose sanctions on Israel for not complying with the International Court of Justice's order to take precautionary measures in the Gaza Strip to prevent "genocide."

The organization said through its account on the “X” platform, “Countries must impose targeted sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel, in order to comply with the order issued by the International Court of Justice.”

The organization noted that Tel Aviv "did not comply with court orders and did not work to deliver aid and basic services to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."

At the end of last January, the International Court of Justice asked Israel to take all measures to prevent any acts that could be considered genocide, to ensure that the Israeli army does not carry out any acts of genocide, and to prevent any public statements or comments that could incite the commission of genocide in Gaza.

It called on it to take all measures to ensure the arrival of humanitarian aid, and not to throw away any evidence that could be used in the case against it.

On December 29, South Africa filed a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of committing “genocide crimes” in the Gaza Strip, before the court announced its rejection of Israel’s demands to drop the case, and ruled temporarily to obligate Israel “to take measures to stop the genocide and introduce Humanitarian aid."

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the administration of US President Joe Biden is cooperating with what he described as the “dangerous campaign” of the international boycott movement that aims to harm Israel and distort its image.

Smotrich stressed that Israel should not tolerate US sanctions on settlers under any circumstances.

In recent months, the Biden administration imposed several sanctions on settlers it accused of involvement in violence in the West Bank, indicating the United States' growing dissatisfaction with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Smotrich: I will demand that the cabinet stop new army appointments

Smotrich commented on the army's announcement of new appointments, saying that he would ask the Israeli cabinet to stop the appointments.

He added that if Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy did not understand on his own that he should not be preoccupied with appointments that he described as “non-urgent,” he would make him understand that through the cabinet, as he put it.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that one in three children under the age of two in northern Gaza now suffers from acute malnutrition, and that famine is looming on the horizon.

UNRWA added in a statement published on social media, “Child malnutrition is spreading rapidly and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza.”

Hospitals in Gaza reported that some children were dying from malnutrition and dehydration.

The international body responsible for monitoring food insecurity (the Integrated Interim Classification of Food Security) is expected to soon submit a report on the extent of the hunger crisis in Gaza, after it said last December that there is a risk of famine occurring during a forecast period extending until next May. .

World Central Kitchen said the first shipment to Gaza from the charity, which led aid deliveries via a new sea route via Cyprus, arrived on Thursday and was unloaded.

Son of Saul showed how the Holocaust's horrors required inmates to hollow out their humanity. The horrors of Gaza have made a similar moral monster of its director, Laszlo Nemes

Laszlo Nemes, the Hungarian director of the award-winning film Son of Saul, joins the elite mob determined to lynch film-maker Jonathan Glazer for trying to publicly prick Hollywood's conscience at the Oscars ceremony last week and end its deafening silence in the midst of a plausible genocide in Gaza.

Nemes' statement is a fascinating insight into the emotional and ideological contortions of the traumatised Zionist mind, incapable – given its particularist, zero-sum worldview – of acknowledging the endless suffering of the Palestinian people. Instead, it constantly seeks to deflect from its responsibility for that pain by demonising those who stand in solidarity with Palestinians or even those who can no longer, in good faith, stand by as 2.3 million people are being bombed and starved to death.

Nemes’ statement, published sympathetically by establishment media outlets, turns the world on its head in accepting the gravest atrocities in living memory only because they are being committed by Israel – a militarised, settler colonial state that claims to represent Jews around the world and was founded, with western backing, on the ruins of the Palestinian people’s homeland.

A state that has been ethnically cleansing Palestinians for eight decades and is now declared by the international human rights community to be an apartheid state.

A state that the World Court has ruled is committing a plausible genocide, and is known to have killed and maimed many tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and created famine conditions for some 2 million more.

All of this, according to Nemes, is evidence not that Israel has turned out to be a classic example of the abused turning abuser but of a continuing global plot supposedly against the Jewish people, one that threatens their existence more so even than the Nazi Holocaust.

It is, says Nemes, Zionist Jews like himself who are the true victims of Israel’s killing spree in Gaza – not the Palestinians being turned skeletal by a famine induced by the state Nemes identifies with, or the Palestinian bodies blown apart by bombs dropped by the state Nemes says represents him.

It is, Nemes claims, Israel and the Zionist Jews who excuse its every action who are friendless, isolated, vulnerable, even as the United States – the world’s global hegemon – provides a constant flow of bombs to Israel and untold billions in financial aid, and even as Washington and Europe freeze funding to UNRWA, the only United Nations body capable of keeping the famine in Gaza at bay.

All of that is irrelevant to Nemes’ traumatised, sick mind. He demands Glazer and others of conscience stay silent – stop “moralising” – and let Israel finish the job of erasing Gaza. A job it has been carrying out incrementally for decades with the support of the same western establishments that originally gave away what was not theirs to give away – the homeland of the Palestinian people – to a Zionist movement that had promised to colonise Palestine on the West's behalf.

With zero self-awareness, Nemes tells Glazer to instead worry about the "sorry state of cinema" and "the destruction of creative and artistic freedom by corporate mindset".

Yet in the same breath, he dismisses as antisemitism the call to stop bombing children in the pursuit of corporate profits by the arms industry, and the demand for Washington to stop backing a genocide by its most useful client state in controlling the oil-rich Middle East. Calls for an end to occupation, calls for the imposition of a ceasefire, remind him of "12th-century archbishops, in an ecstatic state of self-righteousness, self-flagellation, denouncing vice, longing for purity". According to Nemes, abhorrence at babies and children being actively starved to death is nothing more than a medieval “longing for purity”.

Glazer, in calling for Israel to stop hijacking the voice of Jews by claiming to speak for them all and shielding itself from criticism by weaponising the Holocaust, is supposedly regurgitating "talking points disseminated by propaganda meant to eradicate, at the end, all Jewish presence from the Earth".

In Nemes's twisted mind, Glazer's call for an end to Israel's belligerent occupation and 17-year siege of Gaza, and the oceans of Palestinian and Israeli blood spilt to sustain it, is simple propaganda that leads to the extermination of all Jews. Is it not Nemes who sounds like some terrifying throwback to the Dark Ages, not Glazer?

Nemes ends with a warning as divorced from reality as the rest of his screed. We are, he says, “reaching pre-Holocaust levels of anti-Jewish hatred”, in what he describes bafflingly as a “trendy, ‘progressive’ way”. So presumably in Nemes’ mind, the threat of antisemitism is not posed by the far-right racists stalking the corridors of power, like Donald Trump or Hungary’s own Viktor Orban, or the white nationalists who see Israel as a model for their own ethnic supremacist nationalism that will demand Jews be exiled from the West to a Jewish ghetto in the Middle East. No, Nemes is worried about those “progressives” who want equality for Palestinians and Jews, who want an end to Israel’s apartheid rule over Palestinians.

Son of Saul showed a Jewish inmate of Auschwitz who gained marginal privileges over other inmates by turning himself into a hollow, morally empty creature ignoring the horrors all around. There could be no clearer metaphor for the moral monster the genocide in Gaza has made of Laszlo Nemes.

According to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-administered Gaza Strip, more than 12,300 children died in the Palestinian territory between October and the end of February.

" Dizzy. The number of children allegedly killed in just four months in Gaza is higher than the number of children killed in four years in all conflicts around the world,” assured Tuesday, March 12, the head of the agency. the UN for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

Philippe Lazzarini refers in a post on Gaza, administered by Hamas, which report more than 12,300 children dead in the Palestinian territory between October and the end of February. “This war is a war against children,” denounced Mr. Lazzarini. It is a war against their childhood and their future. »

After five months of war between Israel and Hamas with no truce in sight, the population, already suffering from bombings, is threatened by famine. To compensate for the lack of aid arriving by land in the territory devastated by months of war, the international community is seeking to diversify the routes for delivering vital aid to the population.

This war began with the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, which left around 1,160 people dead in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The attackers also took around 250 people hostage, dozens of whom were freed during a week-long truce in November. Israel estimates there are around 130 captives remaining in Gaza, 32 of whom are presumed dead. Israel's retaliatory bombings and ground offensive have killed 31,184 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory's health ministry.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip reported on Sunday that the Israeli army committed 9 massacres against families, including 92 killed and 130 injuries to hospitals during the past 24 hours.

It indicated that there are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the roads that ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them, while the toll of the Israeli aggression has risen to 31,645 killed and 73,676 injuries since last October 7.

Here are the latest developments: Red Crescent crews transported 9 killed and 21 wounded after the Israeli forces bombed a house in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

On the 163rd day of the war on Gaza, and the seventh day of the holy month of Ramadan, the Israeli army continued to target defenseless civilians in several areas of the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Ministry of Health said earlier that the occupation committed 7 massacres within 24 hours, in which more than 60 were killed and about 100 were injured.

The first trucks of humanitarian aid loaded with flour arrived in the northern Gaza Strip to the Kuwait Roundabout area in the center of Gaza City, in addition to Salah al-Din Street in the northern Gaza Strip.

Eyewitnesses added that the aid delivery process was safe, in light of prior coordination between a number of tribal elders, mukhtars, and UN officials, as the trucks were unloaded at one of the centers of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) east of Jabalia, to be divided into small quantities in preparation for distribution to larger areas. A number of needy people.

This step comes at a time when the northern Gaza Strip is suffering from a severe famine that has so far resulted in dozens of deaths, most of them children.

To secure the entry of the first aid into the northern Gaza Strip, the Palestinian security forces in Gaza issued a circular to citizens to secure and ensure the safe arrival of aid and to preserve the safety of the population. The instructions included preventing people from going to the Kuwait Roundabout in the center of Gaza City to receive aid, as the place was targeted by the occupation forces several times, as the circular demanded. Not to gather on Salah al-Din Street while aid is arriving. The circular warned against violating the instructions under penalty of accountability, and called on citizens in Gaza to be responsible and not participate in spreading chaos and starving the Palestinian people.