Fighters of the Al-Qassam and Al-Quds Brigades, the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad Palestinian Resistance movements (photo from archive / Gaza city).
The Palestinian resistance fighters continued on Friday heroically confronting the Zionist aggression against Gaza ongoing for more than seven months, inflicting more losses upon the occupation troops.
Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas military wing, destroyed an Israeli personnel carrier with Al-Yassin 105 in the vicinity of Rafah crossing.
Al-Qassam Brigades published a video which shows Hamas fighters targeting the enemy soldiers and vehicles in eastern Rafah.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad resistance movement, detonated two highly explosive devices targeting the enemy vehicles in south of Gaza city.
Al-Quds Brigades fighters also bombarded with mortar shells the enemy soldiers and vehicles penetrating the vicinity of Al-Zaytoun Clinic in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City.
Friday battles were resounding as fighters of the Palestinian resistance movements valiantly defended Rafah against Israeli attempts to encircle the area to the east of Rafah.
In addition, Al-Quds Brigades’ military media depicted footage of an IOF “Skylark” UAV, which fighters successfully intercepted and commandeered in Gaza City
Meanwhile, the Zionist enemy continued bombarding the Palestinian civilian areas across the Strip, especially Jabalia, Gaza city and Rafah, committing more massacres and destroying more buildings.
At least 35 Palestinians were killed and 129 wounded as Israeli forces carried out new massacres in the eastern and southern areas of Rafah.
The United States reportedly suspended sending arms shipments to Israel, due to its failure to address our concerns regarding its plans to invade Rafah.
Al-Qassam Brigades and Al-Quds Brigades announced in a statement that they are engaged in fierce clashes with invading Israeli forces east of Rafah.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 34,844 Palestinians have been killed, and 78,404 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
HAARETZ: Clashes took place between families of captives in Gaza and Israeli police officers at a Tel Aviv demonstration demanding an exchange deal.
UNICEF: 600,000 Palestinian children are seeking shelter in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, some of whom have been displaced several times, exhausted, traumatized, sick and hungry.
FORMER ISRAELI CHIEF OF STAFF: Former Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said that stopping the war on the Gaza Strip is the only way to return Israeli prisoners held by the Resistance.
ISRAELI ARMY: An Israeli soldier was injured as a result of a shell fired by the resistance in the Kerem Shalom area in the southern Gaza Strip.
FREE UNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS: The Free University of Brussels decided to stop a technological research project with Israeli partners, and to review all other projects with Israeli participation.
HEZBOLLAH: We targeted “with artillery shells a force of Israeli enemy soldiers in the vicinity of the Ramia site, and we achieved a direct hit.”
ISRAELI ARMY: An Israeli soldier was injured as a result of a shell fired by the resistance in the Kerem Shalom area in the southern Gaza Strip.
FORMER ISRAELI CHIEF OF STAFF: Former Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said that stopping the war on the Gaza Strip is the only way… pic.twitter.com/MuJT6dqIui
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 8, 2024
Tuesday, May 7, 10:00 pm (GMT +2)
KAN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office is working on a draft law proposal with the ultra-Orthodox parties, bypassing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Defense Council Minister Benny Gantz.
ISRAELI MEDIA: Netanyahu backed down from showing flexibility in exchange negotiations.
UNRWA: The crossings must be opened, and humanitarian aid must flow.
HAMAS: The probability of the occupation remaining in the Gaza Strip is zero.
CHANNEL 14: Israeli occupation army evacuated a temporary military site on the Gaza envelope, fearing that resistance elements would infiltrate it.
WALLA (quoting Israeli sources): The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hid medical markings on an ambulance that had been accompanying Netanyahu’s convoy since he suffered a heart attack last month, in order to make it look like a regular civilian car.
WALLA (quoting Israeli sources): The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hid medical markings on an ambulance that had been accompanying Netanyahu’s convoy since he suffered a heart attack last month, in order to make it look like a regular civilian car.
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 8, 2024
UNRWA: Protest by Israeli extremists in front of our headquarters in Jerusalem is “intimidation and sabotage”.
NETANYAHU’S SPOKESMAN: The seizure of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip by the Israeli army does not violate the peace treaty between Tel Aviv and Cairo.
UNRWA: The agency’s buildings in Gaza were subjected to 368 Israeli attacks.
ISRAELI ARMY RADIO: Iron Dome was unable to intercept rockets launched by the Resistance from Gaza towards Shlomi.
ISRAELI ARMY RADIO: Iron Dome was unable to intercept rockets launched by the Resistance from Gaza towards Shlomi.
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 8, 2024
AUSTIN: We are absolutely committed to Israel’s right to defend itself.
FORMER MOSSAD CHIEF: There is no meaning to fighting in Rafah after all these days since the start of the war.
CHANNEL 13: Eight rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Shlomi in the Eshkol Regional Council in the Gaza Strip.
HEZBOLLAH: We carried out an attack with assault marches on the headquarters of the newly created Western Brigade in Ya’ra, and a direct hit was achieved.
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN: Carrying out an Israeli ground military operation in Rafah destabilizes the entire region. There are no prospects yet for resolving the situation in the Gaza Strip, and the conflict in the region is escalating daily.
US OFFICIAL (to Al-Jazeera): Washington’s position on Rafah has not changed, and a broad operation must not be launched.
UNRWA: We did not receive aid or fuel through the Rafah crossing.
NBC (citing Israeli official). There is deep frustration in the Israeli government with the American decision to halt the arms shipment.
Tuesday, May 7, 4:15 pm (GMT +2)
GAZA STRIP CROSSINGS AUTHORITY: The Gaza Strip Crossings Authority denied Israel’s claims that it had reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing, south of the Strip, for the entry of aid.
AL-JAZEERA: About 200 European Union employees demonstrated in the Belgian capital, Brussels, against the Union’s policies towards the Gaza Strip.
AL-QASSAM BRIGADES: The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades announced the bombing of Israeli occupation forces’ concentrations at the “Kerem Shalom Military Site” with a 114 mm short-range “Rajoum” missile system.
Tuesday, May 7, 2:45 pm (GMT +2)
GAZA GOVERNMENT MEDIA OFFICE: A third mass grave was found inside the Shifa Medical Complex and 49 bodies were recovered.
AL-JAZEERA: Six workers were injured by occupation fire at the Kerem Shalom crossing.
AL-QUDS BRIGADES: We bombed with heavy-caliber mortar shells Israeli occupation soldiers and vehicles penetrating the vicinity of the airport, east of the city of Rafah.
GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY: 34,844 Palestinians have been killed, and 78,404 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 8, 2024
ISRAELI ARMY: 3,361 Israeli soldiers have been injured since the start of the war on Gaza.
GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY: 34,844 Palestinians have been killed, and 78,404 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
US MEDIA: Metropolitan Police began evacuating a pro-Palestinian camp at George Washington University at dawn today.
Tuesday, May 7, 1:30 pm (GMT +2)
AL-JAZEERA: Rockets were launched from southern Lebanon towards the Israeli monk site in the Upper Galilee.
ISRAELI MEDIA: The Israeli army is investigating the downing of its drone in Kfar Saba, between Jaffa and Tulkarm.
HEZBOLLAH: We targeted two buildings used by Israeli army soldiers in the Hanita settlement.
In this video, Al-Quds Brigades fighters are seen bombarding Israeli soldiers and vehicles with mortar shells in the axes of advance east of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 8, 2024
PALESTINIAN MEDIA: The death toll from the Israeli bombing on the Al-Qara family’s home in the Khuza’a area, east of Khan Yunis, has risen to three.
Tuesday, May 7, 12:30 pm (GMT +2)
HEZBOLLAH: We targeted a building used by Israeli soldiers in the Metulla settlement, and two other buildings in the Shlomi settlement in the Upper Galilee.
YEDIOTH AHRONOTH: The Israeli army downplayed the US administration’s suspension of an arms shipment following an Israeli military operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip this week, saying that the two allied parties resolve any disputes “behind closed doors.”
Tuesday, May 7, 11:30 am (GMT +2)
PALESTINIAN FACTIONS: We will not accept the imposition of any guardianship over the Rafah crossing or any other party, and we consider this an occupation.
CHANNEL 13: An anti-tank missile hit a house in the town of Metulla.
PALESTINIAN MEDICAL SOURCES: The bodies of 35 Palestinians and 129 wounded arrived at Kuwait Hospital in Rafah within 24 hours.
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 8, 2024
KEREM SHALOM: Kerem Shalom crossing reopened for the entry of humanitarian aid after it was closed.
QATARI FM: Qatar strongly condemns the bombing of Rafah and calls for preventing its invasion.
AL-QUDS BRIGADES: We are engaged in fierce clashes east of Rafah.
MAARIV: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich submitted a petition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop delaying legislation on the use of Palestinian Authority funds held by Israel .
ISRAELI MEDIA: Instructions were issued to farmers in the Gaza Strip not to go out to work in the areas adjacent to the border fence.
Tuesday, May 7, 09:00 am (GMT +2)
BEN-GVIR: The demolition of dozens of homes in the Negev is an important step towards restoring governance.
AL-JAZEERA: Occupation forces begin demolishing dozens of Palestinian homes in the Naqab (Negev).
AL-JAZEERA: Occupation forces begin demolishing dozens of Palestinian homes in the Naqab (Negev).
AL-QASSAM BRIGADES: Our fighters are engaged in fierce clashes with the Israeli enemy forces penetrating east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 8, 2024
AL-QASSAM BRIGADES: Our fighters are engaged in fierce clashes with the Israeli enemy forces penetrating east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
UNRWA: UNRWA called for the reopening of Gaza crossings without any delay, noting that vital supplies and fuel are entered through them.
ISRAELI MEDIA: Dozens of prisoners’ families are closing the main Ayalon axis in Tel Aviv, demanding a deal to return their children.
Tuesday, May 7, 08:00 am (GMT +2)
AL-JAZEERA: An Israeli air strike targeted the vicinity of the destroyed Gaza Airport, east of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
PALESTINIAN MEDIA: A woman was killed and a number of injured in an Israeli artillery shelling that targeted the town of Khuza’a, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
AL-JAZEERA: An Israeli air strike targeted the vicinity of the destroyed Gaza Airport, east of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
PALESTINIAN MEDIA: A woman was killed and a number of injured in an Israeli artillery shelling that targeted the town of Khuza'a, east of… pic.twitter.com/9dfg0CjEgN
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 8, 2024
AFP (citing US official): We suspended sending an arms shipment to Israel of 1,800 1,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs. Suspending the shipment of weapons to Israel due to its failure to address our concerns regarding its plans to invade Rafah.
Tuesday, May 7, 05:00 am (GMT +2)
NBC (citing US officials): American, Qatari and Egyptian negotiators are trying in Cairo to resolve various disagreements regarding the ceasefire deal.
AXIOS (citing American source): Republican representatives are preparing legislation targeting international criminal officials.
Tuesday, May 7, 03:00 am (GMT +2)
WASHINGTON POST (quoting US official): The move by the administration of US President Joe Biden to postpone two arms shipments to Israel confirms Washington’s fears about the Rafah attack.
PALESTINIAN MEDIA: An Israeli raid and artillery shelling in the center and north of the Gaza Strip.
Tuesday, May 7, 02:00 am (GMT +2)
REUTERS (citing informed source): CIA Director William Burns will travel to Israel on Wednesday to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials.
REUTERS (citing informed source): CIA Director William Burns will travel to Israel on Wednesday to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials.
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 8, 2024
BRITISH DEPUTY FOREIGN SECRETARY: Israel’s attack on Rafah would violate international law and would not lead to the elimination of Hamas.
Tuesday, May 7, 01:00 am (GMT +2)
MARTIN GRIFFITHS: Martin Griffiths said that Israeli evacuation orders in Rafah and the ground operation will lead to more death and displacement.
REUTERS (quoting informed sources): The administration of US President Joe Biden will not submit its report to Congress on whether Israel is violating international law in Gaza on time.
BLINKEN: Blinken condemns “extremist attacks” on aid heading from Jordan to Gaza.
Tuesday, May 7, 12:00 am (GMT +2)
YEDIOTH AHRONOTH: CIA Director William Burns will arrive in Israel tomorrow, Wednesday, to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad Chief David Barnea to discuss a possible deal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the exchange of prisoners.
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations dismissed the Israeli regime’s accusation that proxies operate under Iran’s directive in the region, saying such allegations are made to obscure and justify the Zionist regime’s acts of aggression and destabilizing measures.
In a letter to President of the UN Security Council Pedro Comissario Afonso and UNSecretary General Antonio Guterres on May 7, Saeed Iravani categorically rejected the allegations that the representative of the Israeli regime has made against Iran.
He said the Israeli envoy has “resorted once more to lies and misinformation to make unfounded accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“Contrary to unfounded claims, Iran has consistently upheld international law, adhered to the principles of the UN Charter, and complied with UN Security Council resolutions. Moreover, Iran has played an active role in promoting international peace and security through its constructive involvement across multiple spheres,” Iravani said.
“Iran made a clear position that the action taken on 13 April 2024 was conducted directly and officially from Iran in response to the Israeli recurring military aggressions, particularly its armed attack on 1 April 2024 against Iranian diplomatic premises in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Republic. Iran’s action was necessary, legitimate, and fully in line with its inherent right to self-defense under the UN Charter. The action only targeted military objectives and was carried out carefully and with prior notification to prevent civilian harm. I wish to emphasize that no resistance groups were involved in Iran’s legitimate action and any assertions to the contrary are rejected,” the envoy added.
“In contrast to Israel’s assertions, Iran does not have proxies in the region, and no individual, group, or nation operates under Iran’s directive. Additionally, resistance groups are not proxies; they are legitimate groups and their actions are lawful, and engaged only in fighting against Israeli occupation and aggression in Gaza and other occupied territories in Palestine, as well as against occupied forces in other nations in the region. Therefore, Israel’s attempt to label them as ‘proxies’ is only to obscure and justify its own acts of aggression and destabilizing actions in the region,” he stated.
“It is indisputable that the Israeli regime, characterized by a long history and record of blatant violations of international law, the UN Charter, and UNSC resolutions, remains the primary and longstanding threat to international peace and security. Any cynical attempt by this regime to obscure this reality through disinformation, smear campaigns, or unsubstantiated accusations against others is both futile and groundless. The Israeli regime cannot deny its direct and full responsibility for the ongoing massacre and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza in defiance of UNSC resolutions. An obvious example of the Israeli regime’s persistent disregard for UNSC resolutions is exemplified in the Security Council’s resolution 2728 (2024), which urgently demands an immediate UNSC resolutions in the Gaza Strip. Despite clear demands from the Security Council, the occupying regime persists in its ruthless warfare against the Palestinian people and its military attacks in Rafah in blatant contempt for the Security Council’s demands,” the Iranian ambassador said.
“The occupying regime must finally bear full responsibility for the consequences of its actions and the Security Council must address Israel’s persistent destabilizing and irresponsible actions, as well as its atrocities against the Palestinian people and other nations in the region. These actions pose a genuine threat to both regional and international peace and security, demanding immediate attention and decisive action from the Security Council,” he added.
The State Department said it had confirmed “individual incidents of gross violations of human rights” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank before the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October.
VT Condemns the ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINIANS by USA/Israel
$ 280 BILLION US TAXPAYER DOLLARS INVESTED since 1948 in US/Israeli Ethnic Cleansing and Occupation Operation; $ 150B direct “aid” and $ 130B in “Offense” contracts Source: Embassy of Israel, Washington, D.C. and US Department of State.
The US has found five Israeli units guilty of gross , the State Department said on Monday.
The State Department said it had confirmed “individual incidents of gross violations of human rights” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank before the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October.
“After a careful process, we found five Israeli units responsible for individual incidents of gross violations of human rights. All of these were incidents much before October 7th and none took place in Gaza,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Monday.
“Four of these units have effectively remediated these violations, which is what we expect partners to do… For a remaining unit, we continue to be in consultations and engagements with the government of Israel.”
Patel said the findings would not impact arms transfers.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had signalled that a review of Israeli military units was underway.
Blinken said last week the State Department was conducting investigations under the Leahy law, which prohibits sending military aid to foreign security forces that violate human rights, adding : “I think it’s fair to say that you’ll see results very soon. I’ve made determinations. You can expect to see them in the days ahead.”
ABC News reported on Friday that the Biden administration had found at least three military units guilty of human rights violations but decided not to withhold military aid to the units because it believed Israel was addressing the findings.
The US has been investigating Netzah Yehuda, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish military battalion in the Israeli army, over human rights violations in the occupied West Bank.
A US State Department panel recommended months ago that Blinken blacklist a number of Israeli military and police units following a review into rights abuses against Palestinians, according to a report last week in ProPublica.
Hezbollah shot down an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a surface-to-air missile on Monday as Zionist circles consider the incident as dangerous development.
In a statement, Hezbollah’s Military Media announced it had downed a medium-size Israeli Hermes 450 over the Iqlim Al-Tuffah area, near Nabatieh in south Lebanon.
“In support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in reinforcement of their courageous and honorable resistance, the Islamic Resistance’s air defense unit shot down at 09:20 on Monday, February 26, 2024, an Israeli drone of Hermes 450 type with a surface-to-air missile above the area of Iqlim Al-Tuffah, and it was observed falling with the naked eye,” the statement read.
“The Islamic Resistance asserts that its fighters will relentlessly surveil and counter hostile aircraft, thwarting their aggressive pursuit with unwavering determination,” the statement added.
Earlier, Local media reported that an Israeli aircraft was downed in south Lebanon, with videos circulating on social media showing an aircraft on fire and spiraling out of control.
Israeli media reported that sirens sounded in an industrial zone near Afula due to the launch of an interceptor missile.
The Israeli occupation army then confirmed one of its drones was shot down by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
It said: “The David’s Sling medium-range air defense system successfully intercepted a surface-to-air missile fired by Hezbollah at an Israeli drone, but a short while later a second missile struck the aircraft.”
Hermes 450 UAV (photo from archive)
The Hermes 450 is the third largest UAV. It is an Israeli medium-sized multi-payload UAV designed for tactical long endurance missions. Made by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, the drone’s primary mission is reconnaissance, surveillance and communications relay.
Al-Manar prepared this inforgraphic that illustrates the spesifications of the downed Israeli drone.
Scenes of the Islamic Resistance shooting down an Israeli enemy Elbit Hermes 450 multi-purpose drone that violated Lebanese airspace at dawn today, Saturday, 11/18/2023.
Dangerous Development
Israeli circles described the incident in Iqlim AL-Tuffah as a dangerous development.
Military analyst in Israeli channel 14 said Hezbollah’s downing of an Israeli drone over the Lebanese territory is a dangerous incident.
For his part, Amir Bohbot, Israeli Walla news’ defense correspondent said: “Hezbollah calmly crossing red line (by downing Israeli aircraft).”
More Operations
Meanwhile, Hezbollah went ahead with its pro-Gaza operations against Israeli border sites. Before dawn on Monday (at 03:10), the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted an Israeli force at Al-Baghdadi site and its vicinity with missile weapons, achieving a direct hit, a statement released by Hezbollah Military Media Center read.
Another statement issued by the group announced that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 12:00 on Monday an Israeli gathering in the vicinity of Hadb Yarin with missile weapons, resulting in a direct hit.
Later at 12:10, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted Israeli settlement in Shtula with missile weapons, Hezbollah’s Military Media Center said in a statement.
Israeli media confirmed the strike on Shtula, reporting that an Israeli was hurt by a missile shrapnel.
In the fifth Hezbollah strike for Monday, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 13:15 Branit Barracks with missile weapons, achieving a direct hit, another statement read.
“In response to the Zionist aggression on the outskirts of Baalbeck city in the Bekaa and the attacks on villages and civilian homes, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the Command headquarters of the Golan Division in Nafah with sixty Katyusha rockets at 04:00 pm on Monday, February 26, 2024.,” Hezbollah military media affirmed in its sixth statement.
Hezbollah military media’s seventh statement maintained that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 04:15 pm on Monday, February 26, 2024 Al-Radar site with rocketry weapons, achieving direct hits.
Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 04:20 pm on Monday, February 26, 2024 Ruwaisat Al-Alam site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with missile weapons, achieving direct hits, Hezbollah military media’s eighth statement mentioned
Late on Sunday, the Military Media Center issued a video showing Hezbollah strikes targeting Israeli gatherings across the border between Lebanon and occupied Palestine. The strikes were dated according to the video on February 24, 2024.
Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist based in Sana’a. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.
Ahmed AbdulKareem
In the courtyard of Yemen’s famous Al Shaeb Mosque, guards of honor stood at attention accompanied by the melody of military music as the funeral ceremony of Yemeni marines killed in the latest round of U.S. and UK strikes commenced. The mourners, many of whom traveled from the countryside to attend, walked alongside a long convoy carrying the bodies of 17 victims as it made its way through the streets of Sana’a. Mourners held aloft photos of the deceased or thrust their rifles into the air while chanting slogans condemning the United States. Several banners peppered the crowd, emblazoned with the label given to those who gave their lives in what many view as a struggle in defense of Palestine: “Martyrs on the road to al-Quds (Jerusalem).”
Seventeen pickup trucks ensconced in green drapes bore the bodies. They were escorted by family members alongside thousands of mourners leaving Sana’a for the hometowns of the victims who hailed from various regions of Yemen. The scene unfolded last Sunday when thousands of angry Yemenis took to the streets of Sana’a and other cities to hold a funeral for those killed by the attacks. “Retribution against American soldiers… We will not abandon our revenge,” some mourners proclaimed.
In Bani Matar, 70 kilometers west of Sanaa towards the Hodeida Road, the mothers of Ziad Ajlan and Hashem Al-Sawari watched the convoy from a rooftop as it carried along the bodies of their sons. Ziad and Hashem were not involved in the fighting; they were among a number of civilians killed in attacks launched by the U.S. Navy on the Yemeni mainland one week ago. My son was martyred on the road to al-Quds,” Ziad’s mother said proudly. “We will not be broken, and we will not abandon Gaza.”
U.S. and British officials maintain that their attacks target “Houthi” military positions – ammunition stores and missile launch sites, but the reality of the ground tells a different story. Yemeni civilians say they are blind and indiscriminate and often leave civilians maimed or killed. Assuming the U.S. and UK are acting in good faith, it is clear that their intelligence information is lacking. A truck belonging to a farmer carrying plastic pipes was targeted in an airstrike outside the city of Saada last week. It is believed that the pipes were mistaken for missiles.
This story has repeated itself ad nauseam throughout Yemen since the end of December when the multinational “Operation Prosperity Guardian” (OIR) was launched in a thus-far failed attempt to protect ships linked with Israel from Ansar Allah. This week alone, as many as 40 strikes were launched by the U.S. and the UK, most targeting the coastal city of Hodeida.
Coffins of Asnar Allah fighters killed in the U.S.-led strikes on Yemen are transported during a mass funeral in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 10, 2024. Osamah Abdulrahman | AP
THE FOG OF WAR
The danger of Washington’s attacks on Yemen’s mainland lies not only in exposing civilians to danger but has the potential to spark retaliatory measures taken by Ansar Allah should pressure from the public and family members of victims continue to mount.
On December 29, when U.S. forces killed 10 Yemeni sailors aboard three ships in the Red Sea, Ansar Allah refrained from retaliating. But when American and British bombs peppered mainland Yemen the next month, striking major cities with over 100 precision-guided missiles, leaving civilians dead and maimed, Ansar Allah reacted, carrying out a barrage of retaliatory attacks.
Some Yemeni officials have even hinted that two U.S. Navy Seals that the U.S. government claims drowned while boarding a boat smuggling weapons into Yemen were actually killed in combat. It is not known whether the soldiers were killed in attacks by Ansar Allah ballistic missiles or drones or during a failed commando operation as the U.S. claims, but what is clear is that the U.S. is covering its losses and information about the deaths of the Seals has been highly politicized.
In fact, many of the details surrounding hostilities between the U.S. and Ansar Allah have been cast in a heavy fog of war, and it will likely be years before the truth is revealed. What is certain is that Ansar Allah has caused direct material damage to U.S. military vessels, targeting numerous times with advanced missiles and drones launched. In the wake of every such attack, a statement was issued, reaffirming Ansar Allah’s right to take revenge for those killed in American and British bombing raids.
On January 31, the Ansar Allah announced that the American destroyer, the USS Gravely, was hit by several anti-ship missiles. In the wake of the attack, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that the Gravely had shot down an advanced anti-ship cruise missile. Later, reports emerged that the destroyer in question and other Western military assets in the area had failed to intercept the missile until it got within “4 seconds from hitting the U.S. warship.”
On January 25, Ansar Allah said that it had clashed with American destroyers in the Gulf of Aden and Bab al-Mandab for two hours. One U.S. Navy vessel was directly hit after a failed interception attempt, according to Ansar Allah, who have been improving their capabilities since 2014, after a failed Saudi-led and U.S.-backed bombing campaign left the country in tatters.
This undated photograph released by CENTCOM shows the vessel that was being boarded by US Navy Seals near Yemen in a raid that saw two commandos go missing
MANUFACTURING CONSENT
Although President Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed that the United States does not seek to expand the war in the Middle East, the actions of the US military are undoubtedly making the situation in the Red Sea more tense. In the wake of American airstrikes targeting Hodeida on Thursday – for the ninth time that day alone, Ansar Allah Armed Forces spokesperson Brigadier Yahya Saree revealed that the group would take “further measures” within its legitimate right to self-defense in response to the repeated U.S.-UK aggression. In the same statement, Saree announced that the Barbados-flagged British Bulk Carrier ship, the LYCAVITOS, was targeted by naval missiles while sailing in the Gulf of Aden, raising questions about the actual deterrence factor of America’s escalatory approach.
Prior to that, the leader of Ansar Allah, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the revolution that the U.S.-backed Yemeni government in 2014, confirmed that any escalation on Ansar Allah’s part would be against Israel and to confront American and British aggression and would not target the interests of ordinary Westerners. The comment came in response to claims circulated in the media that Ansar Allah could sabotage a network of underwater internet cables that run through the Red Sea. “We do not plan to target submarine cables, and we have no intention of doing so, and what is reported in the media is a lie aimed at distorting our humanitarian position on the war on Gaza,” he said. Many Western media outlets promoted the claim, raising fears over the safety of infrastructure critical to the functioning of the Western Internet and the transmission of financial data. Yemen is strategically located, as internet lines connecting entire continents pass near it.
Airstrikes and claims that internet access may be cut off may be the tip of the escalatory iceberg, according to the government of Sana’a. The Minister of Information, Daifallah al-Shami, held a press conference on Thursday announcing that they have information that the UAE is seeking to recruit agents from multiple foreign nationalities in cooperation with Al-Qaeda and ISIS to target ships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea in order to confuse and distort operations carried out by Ansar Allah in support of Gaza. According to al-Shami, the move is supported by the U.S.
“WE WILL NOT ABANDON GAZA”
Contrary to what is being promoted in much of the Western media, which has taken the line that Ansar Allah’s Red Sea blockade has nothing to do with the ongoing genocide in Gaza, a review of the targets of Ansar Allah’s attacks makes their motivations clear. On October 19, Ansar Allah fired drones and missiles at Israel’s southern Eliat Port. In mid-November, the naval forces seized an Israeli ship headed towards occupied Palestine. Shortly after, Ansar Allah publically announced that the Israeli-linked ship would not be allowed to pass through the Baba al-Mandab Strait. Later, they announced that the ban on shipping would extend to all vessels attempting to reach Eliat Port. All of these measures were in support of a single, repeatedly declared goal, which was to pressure Israel to stop its war on Gaza and allow food and water to enter the besieged strip.
With visible sadness and anger, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi enumerated in a televised speech on Tuesday the reasons that motivate Yemen to continue operations to prevent international navigation supporting Israel in the Red Sea – the continued mass killing of the Gazans, renewed American support for Israel, including with lethal weapons and the use of internationally banned weapons against civilians in Gaza, including white phosphorus.
Al-Houthi said that “the Yemeni military’s retaliatory strikes in the Red Sea had proven to be effective as it led to the almost complete closure of the port of Umm al-Rashrash (the name of Eliat before Israel annexed it), and all food supply chains to Israel that were passing through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab stopped by 70%, and prices in the Israeli market rose by 30-50% after ships were forced to divert course through the Cape of Good Hope.” Israel, he noted, was one of the largest beneficiaries of maritime trade, with imports in 2022 reaching to $133 billion “thanks to the Red Sea.”
Responding to those who question the feasibility of Ansar Allah’s position, Al-Houthi said that “Yemeni operations have caused repercussions for ship insurance,” noting that insurers are now refusing to insure ships heading towards the ports of occupied Palestine. “Not only that,” he added, “but insurance companies require Israeli and American ships to pay additional amounts of up to 50%.”
“Our operations at sea led to a decline in Israel’s total imports of products by 25% during the past months,” Al-Houthi said, “The Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry admitted that the Red Sea operations harmed its trade relations with 14 countries.”
Amid threats of escalation and even whispers of a Western-led ground invasion of Yemen, Ansar Allah has reiterated its commitment to its mission. Mobilization, military training, demonstrations, and other activities will be continued as long as the aggression against Gaza continues, it has reaffirmed, saying that operations at sea will continue until Israel “allows food and medical supplies and the delivery of basic needs into Gaza.” “The U.S. and UK will not achieve their goals through aggression against our country, and the only solution is to stop the aggression and deliver food and medicine to the people of Gaza,” Al-Houthi vowed.
In a clear rejection of US policies and leadership in the Middle East, the UN general assembly voted overwhelmingly to back the Palestinian bid for full UN membership. The western media have mostly ignored Friday’s balloting since the widely-anticipated results represent another black eye for Washington. But the outcome of the vote is a blow to the Biden administration’s failed Gaza policy as well as a clear indication that America’s blanket support for Israel’s genocide is increasing Washington’s isolation and irrelevance.
The assembly vote was 143 to 9, which means that US diplomatic influence has eroded to the point where the White House could barely coerce 9 of their most-loyal vassal states to reject the motion. It is imperative that people fully grasp the meaning of this vote, which suggests that the so-called “Rules-Based Order” is a withering fraud that grows more anemic by the day. Additionally, the vote provides compelling evidence that the American Century is officially over and that the vast majority of the world’s nations are no longer willing to comply with Washington’s self-serving edicts.
Naturally, Israel’s envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, used the opportunity—not to express his remorse at being a participant in his nation’s sadistic rampage in Gaza—but to scold the other members of the assembly for acting courageously on a matter of principle. Without a trace of irony, Erdan accused the other members of “shredding the UN charter with your own hands. Yes, yes, that’s what you’re doing. Shredding the UN charter.”
What Erdan failed to mention is that Israel holds the world’s record for breaking UN resolutions and has yet to encounter an international law that it won’t break with impunity. Israel decided long-ago that its future depended on its ability to use the world’s biggest bully as its personal bodyguard thus allowing it to ignore any legal or moral restraints on its behavior. This is an excerpt from an article at the UK Guardian:
Friday’s resolution …. does not make Palestine a full member, or give it voting rights in the assembly, or the right to stand for membership of the security council, but the vote was a resounding expression of world opinion in favour of Palestinian statehood, galvanized by the continuing bloodshed and famine caused by Israel’s war in Gaza.
Even before the vote in the assembly on Friday morning, Israel and a group of leading Republicans urged US funding be cut anyway because of the new privileges the resolution granted to the Palestinian mission.
The US mission to the UN, which voted against the resolution, warned that it would also use its veto again if the question of Palestinian membership returned to the security council for another vote.
“Efforts to advance this resolution do not change the reality that the Palestinian Authority does not currently meet the criteria for UN membership under the UN charter,” the mission’s spokesperson, Nathan Evans, said. “Additionally, the draft resolution does not alter the status of the Palestinians as a “non-member state observer mission”. UN general assembly votes to back Palestinian bid for membership, The Guardian
Try to appreciate how hypocritical and morally bankrupt the US position really is. For the last 57 years, Republicans and Democrats alike, have paid lip-service to a two-state solution based on UN Resolution 242 which requires Israel to remove its settlements from Palestinian land in occupied Gaza and the West Bank. “Get off Palestinian land and there will be peace.” That is US policy which is backed-up by international law. But, now, under Biden, the US not only opposes Palestinian statehood (which would improve their chances of getting a fair deal.) but is also providing the money, bombs and logistical support for blowing 2 million Palestinians to smithereens. This is the Biden policy in a nutshell, and—in case you hadn’t noticed—it is a clear departure from more than a half century of US foreign policy. The reason Biden is now commonly referred to as “Genocide Joe” is because he is unilaterally breaking international law by providing material support to Israeli barbarism which makes him—and the United States—equally culpable in the premeditated annihilation of the Palestinian people. Here’s more from the Guardian:
…the resolution also makes plain that “the state of Palestine, in its capacity as an observer state, does not have the right to vote in the general assembly or to put forward its candidature to United Nations organs.”
…. “In essence, it gives the Palestinians the airs and graces of a UN member, but without the fundamental attributes of a real member, which are voting power and the right to run for the security council.”….
Despite the wording in the resolution making clear Palestine would not have a vote, Israel called on the US to cut funding for the UN because of the resolution, and a group of Republican senators announced they were introducing legislation to do that.
…. Senator Mitt Romney said in a written statement. “Our legislation would cut off US taxpayer funding to the UN if it gives additional rights and privileges to the Palestinian Authority and the PLO.” The Guardian
Nice, eh? So, the vote didn’t turn out the way Uncle Sam wanted, so now he’s going to “take his ball and go home.” That’s called, ‘being a crybaby,’ and it helps to explain why more and more leaders are joining an alternate bloc of nations called the BRICS. There’s simply no reason to align oneself with a waning superpower that is so morally corrupted that it believes that mass murder is an acceptable foreign policy. (Note: The other countries that opposed Palestine’s bid for membership were Micronesia, Argentina, Hungary, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Israel. The list helps to illustrate the ineffectiveness of US diplomacy which has virtually collapsed under Anthony Blinken.)
Not surprisingly, Russia’s Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia offered the most intelligent analysis. Here’s what he said just prior to the vote:
It is our common duty to correct the historical injustice regarding Palestinian aspirations for their own sovereign unified state, which should have been admitted to the United Nations as early as 1948. We are convinced that Palestine’s full UN membership would help to equalize the starting negotiating positions with Israel, which received is status as a UN member state more than 75 years ago.
Admission of the State of Palestine to the UN would be the first practical step towards a just solution of the Palestinian question on the UN-approved platform and within the universally recognized international legal framework. …..
This process should result in the implementation of the internationally recognized two-state solution providing for Israel coexisting in peace and security with Palestine in the 1967 borders and with the capital in East Jerusalem. For this dialogue to succeed, Israel and Palestine must be on an equal footing in accordance with the decisions of the UN Security Council….
….When this draft resolution is adopted, Palestine… will receive a number of additional opportunities for more effective work in the United Nations General Assembly and at the meetings held under UNGA’s auspices. We see this as an opportunity to at least partially correct the historical injustice against the long-suffering Palestinian people, who have lost an unprecedented number of peaceful lives over the past seven months…
… Palestine must become a full member of the UN…. We believe that the most important element of this draft is contained in its recommendation to the UN Security Council to reconsider Palestine’s application for UN membership. It is a moral obligation for all of us. Only full membership will allow Palestine to join the ranks of other members of the Organization and fully exercise the rights that this status implies. ….The Palestinian people have long deserved it. Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at the 10th Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly
Well said.
Bottom line: Biden and his handlers do not want the Palestinians to have their own state which is why he is assisting Israel in annihilating the native population and replacing them with Jewish settlers. Fortunately, under international law the Occupied Territories will be Palestinian land into perpetuity and there’s nothing the United States or Israel can do about it.
While presented to the world as a humanitarian effort, the US-led ‘Maritime Corridor’ in Gaza is a strategic maneuver aimed at consolidating US and Israeli control over land and sea.
Israel’s brutal military assault on Gaza, which has killed over 35,000 civilians, predominantly women and children, has been executed alongside the denial of humanitarian aid since the war’s onset last October.
With cases of famine already in evidence, Tel Aviv’s utter disregard of the recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling demanding immediate access to aid, and Washington’s veto of UN Security Council resolutions advocating for a Gaza ceasefire, both Israel and the US have come under significant global fire.
This backlash is notably strong on the campuses of major US universities, a growing student movement that has arguably breathed new life into the Palestinian solidarity movement. Concerns about the Gaza genocide’s potential damage to the global image of the US have belatedly reached the White House, with US President Joe Biden only now threatening – in advance of the November elections – to curtail the transfer of large offensive munitions to Israel.
A Maritime Corridor for Gaza
Curiously, despite his robust support of Israel’s Gaza assault until recent days, Biden appeared to take an atypical stance during his 7 March State of the Union address:
“Tonight, I’m directing the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier on the Gaza coast in the Mediterranean. This pier will facilitate the arrival of large ships loaded with food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters.“
That atypical initiative, during a period when hundreds of tons of US weapons were being airlifted to Israel daily, raises many questions about whether the establishment of a temporary pier in Gaza – under the guise of ‘humanitarian’ concern – is purely aimed at mitigating international criticism, or if it also serves Washington’s broader geopolitical objectives in the region.
If the US was indeed concerned about rushing aid to Gaza on an urgent basis, it could simply have done so via the Strip’s many land border crossings with Israel and the Egyptian one with Rafah, where hundreds of aid trucks have been lined up for months to deliver emergency food and medicine.
So why delay land aid for months to build a sea pier, one that potentially violates international maritime law? And is “humanitarian aid” just a ruse to occupy the seacoast of Gaza illegally?
According to Washington’s narrative, the maritime corridor is intended to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza via a new pier. The corridor plans to start with 90 trucks rolling off to Gaza, and then scale up to 150 trucks. However, this volume is still far below the hundreds of trucks needed daily.
There are several hurdles and concerns associated with the maritime corridor. The operations will include Israeli inspections in Cyprus, which could lead to delays and complications. The sensitivity around inspections and security, especially concerning items deemed as “dual-use” goods (usable for both civilian and military purposes) – which in the past, per Israeli diktats, have included biscuits, chickens, and toys, and today includes maternity kits, sleeping bags, and dates – could impede the smooth processing of aid.
In its provisional measures decision, the ICJ emphasized that humanitarian aid to Gaza must not be obstructed. Therefore, Israel’s blockade has become void under normal circumstances.
In maritime operations, if a blockade is applied, no ships should be able to enter the area. Now, since the US has established a humanitarian corridor, this effectively nullifies the blockade and helps Tel Aviv pretend there isn’t one. Consequently, the US is practically invalidating the blockade decision recorded in the provisional measures decision by the ICJ, which was not supposed to be implemented – a legal loophole to provide succor to Israel’s massive international law violations.
Humanitarian aid or geopolitical strategy?
There’s significant political tension surrounding the corridor, with plenty of suspicions that it might slow down land routes or be associated with a siege strategy. The involvement of military entities and international politics adds layers of complexity and potential for delays or the politicization of aid.
Another aspect that casts doubt on the efficacy of the humanitarian aid corridor is its reliance on the Netzarim Corridor, also known as Route 749, imposed by the occupation army during the carnage. This east–west passage divides the northern and southern regions of the Gaza Strip and is a fortified road constructed by the Israeli army primarily for military access.
The route’s strategic placement and military significance complicate the entry and distribution of aid throughout Gaza. For the aid arriving through the maritime corridor, once the goods are offloaded at the pier, they still need to be transported across Gaza to reach the populations in need.
The Netzarim Corridor’s checkpoints could become bottlenecks for these deliveries. It is uncertain whether these checkpoints will allow seamless transportation of goods from the maritime corridor to the northern parts of Gaza, where famine has struck badly.
Consolidating control
Critics argue that the corridor could serve as a smokescreen for political maneuvers, posing a major threat not only to Gaza but to Egypt too, which stands to “lose its strategic advantage” over the Palestine file.
The suspicion is that the project, while ostensibly “facilitating” aid delivery, might also allow for increased control over the entirety of Gaza under the guise of humanitarian assistance. This control could potentially streamline Israel’s military operations and fortify its strategic positions within Gaza, ultimately influencing the broader geopolitical dynamics of the conflict.
Furthermore, the positioning of the pier may strategically protect Gaza’s nearby offshore gas fields, aligning with Israeli and US interests in stealing Palestinians’ energy resources.
The positioning of the aid entry points away from the northern parts of Gaza, where famine is most acute, to areas controlled by the Israeli army suggests a strategic alignment with Israel’s military objectives to remain physically in Gaza despite ceasefire negotiations that demand their complete exit from the Strip.
Concerns have also been raised about the potential for the US to take over control of the Egyptian border, effectively aiding in a permanent blockade of Gaza from Egypt, which could sever Gazans from access to any non-Israeli access to goods – forever.
In essence, while the maritime corridor could indeed alleviate a tiny portion of Gaza’s immediate humanitarian needs, its broader implications suggest a tangled web of geopolitical strategies.
Instead of establishing a floating pier for humanitarian aid, one of the most practical solutions is to send aid directly to Israel’s Ashdod Port, and from there to Gaza under UN supervision. However, in line with Israel’s military strategy, sending the aid through the Netzarim Corridor under Israeli military control to the assembly areas in the south of Gaza and directing the Palestinians to these aid points has facilitated the assault on Rafah.
Historical and strategic significance
To understand Washington’s geopolitical calculations, it’s worth examining Biden’s statements to Congress on 20 October 2023, in which he requested assistance for Israel’s security.
“This is a prudent investment. It will benefit American security for generations to come,” “We will make Israel stronger than ever,” and “We will build a good future in the Middle East.”
Palestine, situated at the crossroads between Asia and Africa and on the border of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, has been a source of contention since the earliest known great powers of history.
Historically, for powers in Africa or those controlling Egypt, Palestine has been key to securing the strategic Suez point for military strategy. Similarly, for powers in Asia or those emerging from the continent, controlling Palestine was crucial for accessing the Suez.
Today, the US faces the potential loss of access to the Bab el-Mandeb passage due to Yemen’s maritime operations in and around the Red Sea, which are now expanding to the Mediterranean. Such a loss would likely shift the balance of power in the Red Sea strategic area and further across West Asia.
When considering historical and current rivalries, it is evident that a significant benefit for Washington, as noted by Biden, is to control the Suez Canal through Tel Aviv.
It is plausible that Israel’s dominion over the Gaza Strip and the US control of the offshore waters of Gaza under the guise of humanitarian aid could facilitate US control over the exits of the Suez Canal, as well as the routes from Iran and Russia to the Eastern Mediterranean through Lebanon and Syria. The alignment of Israel’s objectives in Gaza with Washington’s strategic goals explains the continued US support of Israel – in spite of intensifying global outrage over its enabling of ethnic cleansing and land grabbing.
A silent sentinel watches over every corner in the bustling streets of Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank, where the ancient echoes of history collide with the modern hum of daily life. This sentinel is not a person but a network of surveillance technology known ominously as the “Hebron Smart City.” Designed by Israeli authorities, this system blankets the city in a web of cameras, sensors and even automated weapons, tracking every movement of its Palestinian residents.
“Palestinians in Hebron are the most surveilled people on the planet,” explains journalist and activist Mnar Adley, highlighting the omnipresence of cameras and face-scanning technology. Adley says that the area, also known as al-Khalil to Palestinians, has become a testing ground for Israel’s surveillance apparatus, with advanced technologies like the “Wolf Pack” surveillance system in operation. This system collects vast amounts of data on Palestinians, including their personal details and movements, creating an atmosphere of constant surveillance.
Izzat Karake, a member of Youth Against Settlements, echoes this sentiment, noting the discomfort caused by constant surveillance. “Wherever I go as a Palestinian, I can see cameras,” he told MintPress while pointing out dozens of Israeli military cameras lining the streets. “We are constantly under surveillance.”
The Hebron Smart City, Adley explains, is more than just a collection of cameras and sensors; it is a symbol of Israel’s relentless efforts to control every aspect of Palestinian life. Face-scanning cameras, known as Red Wolf, line every street, their unblinking gaze capturing the faces of every passerby without their consent. These images are then fed into Israel’s Wolf Pack Database, a vast repository of information on Palestinians, all accessible through a mobile app, allowing them to track and monitor individuals with ease.
Amnesty International has condemned this mass surveillance project, denouncing it as “Automated Apartheid” in a scathing report. The system, they argue, reinforces existing practices of discrimination and segregation, further eroding the rights of Palestinians in Hebron at the hands of Israeli authorities, which the human rights group says has “a record of discriminatory and inhuman acts that maintain a system of apartheid. “The Israeli authorities are able to use facial recognition software – in particular at checkpoints – to consolidate existing practices of discriminatory policing, segregation, and curbing freedom of movement, violating Palestinians’ basic rights,” the report concludes.
This invasive surveillance technology that targets and monitors Palestinians compounds an already existing segregated system of apartheid in Hebron, where the city has been split into two zones, H1 and H2. These two segments of Hebron are separated by a militarized checkpoint that allows for the maintenance and expansion of an illegal Israeli settlement right in the middle of the Tel Rumeida neighborhood that overlooks the Palestinian city’s marketplace.
This is where Youth Against Settlements was born after a Palestinian building that was initially occupied first by the Israeli military and later by Israeli settlers was reclaimed for Palestinian use through a nonviolent direct action and legal campaign. Once a bustling Palestinian neighborhood, Tel Rumeida now hosts over 700 illegal Israeli settlers, heavily armed and protected by the military. The main thoroughfare, formerly known as Shuhada Street, has been renamed “Chicago Street” by Israeli authorities in an attempt to erase Palestinian heritage.
Each year, Izzat and his colleagues with Youth Against Settlements hold an annual march called Open Shuhada Street campaign that draws international attention to the illegal siege of the city. Not only has Israel occupied and fragmented this neighborhood to make room for the Israeli settlers, but it’s altering this area to Judaize the quarter – meaning planning to expand its colonization of the area to ethnically cleanse and displace Palestinians out of here, so Israeli settlers can take over. This military strategy is used to protect, expand and connect other Jewish settlements nearby in Israel’s quest to ensure an ethno-Jewish state.
Hebron has seen some of the most violent settler assaults against Palestinians, especially after Hamas’ surprise attack and Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza. In many cases, the armed settlers are escorted and protected by Israeli soldiers. Barbed wire covers Palestinian homes that are fenced in to protect them from Israeli settler attacks and harassment. But the intimidation doesn’t end there.
An AI smartshooter sits atop a checkpoint on Shuhada Street, pointing directly at Hebron’s marketplace, where thousands of Palestinians pass by each day. Israel installed the remote-controlled automatic turret gun in 2022. According to Israel’s Army spokesperson, the AI smart shooter “is used as a dispersal measure “as part of the Army’s improved preparations for confronting people disrupting order. However, the introduction of AI technology, such as the smartshooter, has only heightened tensions in the city. Residents walk through their own neighborhoods with a sense of unease, knowing that they are always under watchful eyes.
Just as Gaza has become a laboratory and showroom for Israel’s “battle-tested” weapons, the success of the Hebron Smart City facial recognition technology and database through Wolf Pack to track Palestinians will be used for Israel to continue to profit off of its illegal military occupation of Palestine and surveillance of Palestinian civilians.
This “Automated Apartheid” only further establishes segregation of Palestinians and expands Israel’s apartheid system and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
The battlefield has the final say in Gaza as the Palestinian resistance fighters engage in heroic confrontations against Israeli occupation forces in the eastern region of the southern city of Rafah.
Friday battles were resounding as fighters of the Palestinian resistance movements valiantly defended Rafah against Israeli attempts to encircle the area to the east of Rafah.
Photo circulated by Israeli media showing Zionist tanks near the eastern region in Rafah (May 2024).
Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, announced its fighters engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli occupation soldiers in eastern Rafah.
The group announced an operation in which resistance fighters targeted a structure where an Israeli force was stationed in with TBG shell and hit an Israeli troop carrier with an RPG east of Rafah. Al-Qassam confirmed that casualties were reported among members of the Israeli force.
The resistance group declared another operation in which Al-Qassam fighters detonated a minefield at Saad Sayel Barracks, east of Rafah.
“Confirmed casualties were reported among Israeli soldiers following the deadly ambush at Saad Sayel Barracks,” Al-Qassam announced.
The area near Saad Sayel Barracks was also a scene for a third operation carried by Al-Qassam fighters who targeted two Israeli Merkava tanks with Yassine-105 shells, according to the resistance group.
Meanwhile, Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad resistance movement, issued a video showing mortar shells being fired at an Israeli troops and vehicles in eastern Rafah.
Israeli media, for its part, reported that sirens sounded twice at Karem Abu Salem, south of the Gaza Strip.
Shortly after Al-Qassam announced the operation in which a minefield was detonated at Saad Sayel Barracks, media outlets and social media circulated reports that Israeli helicopters evacuated a number of Israeli soldiers from Rafah to Soroka Medical Center.
A Zionist helicopter has now landed in Soroka to transport dead and wounded from Rafah🔥 pic.twitter.com/gnznhHr22j
Later on Friday, Israeli occupation military announced that 11 soldiers were evacuated from southern Gaza for treatment, claiming that they were stung by wasps in the southern Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Resistance factions announce a series of operations against Israeli occupation forces across the Gaza Strip.
A screen grab from a video showing Israeli occupation soldiers being monitored by al-Qassam fighters. (Military Media of al-Qassam Brigades)
A field leader in the Palestinian Resistance from al-Zaytoun neighborhood told Al Mayadeen that Resistance fighters are engaged in fierce confrontations with the Israeli occupation forces southwest of the neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.
The leader mentioned that the confrontations are concentrated around the vicinity of Badr Mosque and the UNRWA clinic, where Resistance fighters managed to destroy several Israeli military vehicles since Thursday, in addition to showering Israeli occupation troops with 60mm mortar shells.
The source confirmed that the Resistance fighters were able to successfully carry out their operations despite the attacking Israeli forces being twice the number of forces who attempted to advance in the neighborhood about two months ago, noting that the Israeli occupation forces were now supported by dozens of tanks, armored personnel carriers, and bulldozers.
According to the leader, the Israeli occupation army is also intensifying the use of helicopters, drones, and fighter jets in its attacks.
The field leader said that the Israeli occupation forces demolished dozens of homes while bombing others with warplanes in al-Zaytoun neighborhood late Thursday.
This comes as the Palestinian Resistance intensified Thursday its operations against Israeli occupation forces raiding the al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
To the south of the neighborhood, al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, engaged Israeli forces’ gatherings with mortar shells and attacked two Israeli vehicles with an al-Yassin 105 shell and an explosive device.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, attacked Israeli occupation troops and vehicles with mortar shells near Ali Mosque, southwest of the al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades also engaged an Israeli military vehicle with an RPG shell, as well as Israeli troops, with several mortar shells south of the neighborhood.
On Friday, al-Qassam confirmed that its Resistance fighters are engaged in fierce confrontations with Israeli occupation forces penetrating south of the al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, destroying an Israeli Merkava 4 with an al-Yassin 105 shell.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said its fighters are engaged in fierce confrontations with Israeli occupation forces using appropriate weapons. The Brigades confirmed that its Resistance fighters bombed a gathering of Israeli soldiers with mortar shells around Ali Mosque southwest of the neighborhood and engaged a Merkva tank with RPG shells near Badr Mosque.
In addition, al-Quds Brigades said it engaged an Israeli military vehicle with an RPG shell in the vicinity of the al-Zaytoun clinic.
East of Rafah
In a related context, al-Qassam Brigades confirmed Friday that its fighters carried out a complex and simultaneous military operation against the Israeli occupation forces near al-Dawa Mosque east of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.
In detail, the Brigades mentioned that its fighters struck a building housing Israeli occupation forces with a TBG shell, while also engaging an Israeli military Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) stationed beneath the building with an al-Yassin 105 shell.
Al-Qassam Brigades also attacked Israeli occupation soldiers who were near the APC with an anti-personnel shell, inflicting casualties and injuries among their ranks.
The Brigades announced that its Resistance fighters ambushed an Israeli force, detonating a pre-prepared minefield inside the Saad Sayel barracks site, east of Rafah, and causing casualties among its ranks.
The Resistance group also said it engaged two Israeli tanks with al-Yassin 105 shells in the vicinity of the Saad Sayel barracks.
Al-Qassam mentioned that its fighters destroyed an Israeli Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) with an Al-Yassin 105 shell and set it ablaze near the barracks.
The Brigades also struck an Israeli Merkava tank with an al-Yassin 105 shell in the Abu Halawa area, east of the city of Rafah. In the same area, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades attacked gatherings of Israeli occupation soldiers and vehicles with a barrage of heavy-caliber mortar shells.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades mentioned that it engaged an Israeli military vehicle with an RPG shell on the combat axis in the vicinity of Saad Sayel barracks.
Al-Qassam Brigades also bombarded the Kerem Shalom military site east of Rafah with heavy-caliber mortar shells.
Israeli media outlets reported two severe incidents in Rafah, where a Namer-typed APC was hit by an explosive device, and another vehicle was engaged with an anti-tank rocket.
The media indicated that four Israeli soldiers were killed in these incidents, with a fifth soldier critically injured, stating that his condition was hopeless.
“Progressive forces need to push for the inalienable right of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, which has been systematically denied since the British mandate.”
South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, has said “it has never been so urgent for progressive forces around the world to come together in a collective effort to exert maximum pressure to end the genocidal campaign underway in Gaza and to end the apartheid system of Israel in the occupied territories.”
Minister Pandor delivered the keynote address at Friday’s opening of the Global Anti-Apartheid Conference for Palestine in Johannesburg, South Africa.
“Progressive forces need to push for the inalienable right of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, which has been systematically denied since the British mandate,” she said.
“They must also push for the right of refugees in the diaspora to return to their homeland,” stressed Pandor.
We’re at the Global Anti Apartheid Conference on Palestine in South Africa
She described the conference as “a watershed moment” as it is “the beginning of the global anti-apartheid movement on Palestine with all of us from around the globe coming together and joining forces in the struggle for justice for the Palestinian people.”
The three-day conference aims to set the basis for the mobilisation of a Global Anti-Apartheid Movement “to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people, and to work to dismantle Israeli apartheid,” according to the conference organizers.
Pandor said the “ongoing genocidal atrocities” being committed by Israel “have put renewed focus on the urgent need for wider international community demand for decolonization.”
Call to ICC
She also called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to expedite its investigation into the situation in occupied Palestine, saying the Court “must prioritize the case against Israel.”
“There can never be peace if the Palestinian people are not free …We should be ashamed that 35,000 people have been killed in Gaza,” the minister said.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 34,904 Palestinians have been killed, and 78,514 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Pandor said she was sure that when Israel planned its response to the October resistance operation, “it did not realize that its impunity and cruelty towards Palestinians will finally be naked to the world.”
She stressed that South Africa’s “association with the people of Palestine did not begin on the 8th of October 2023.”
The minister emphasized: “We continue to do so following in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela and will not rest until the freedom of the peoples of Palestine is realized.”
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 10, 2024
Symbolic Gesture of Kuffiyeh
In a symbolic gesture, Reverend Munther Isaac of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem placed a kuffiyeh around the shoulders of Minister Pandor.
“There is symbolism in what I’m going to do, to take the keffiyeh from the shoulder of a Palestinian and place it on the shoulder of a South African leader, and acknowledge that today you carry our cross as Palestinians with us upon their shoulders,” explained the reverend.
Various other speakers addressed the conference on the first day including Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestinian Legislative Council; Reverend Frank Chikane, moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs for the World Council of Churches; Declan Kearney, chairperson of Sinn Fein; and Ronnie Kasrils, former South African Minister of Intelligence.
The conference is being attended by delegations from across the globe, representing civil societies, religious institutions and Palestinian solidarity movements. Various workshops aimed at developing strategies for action are lined up for Day 2.
CNN has released leaked images of the Israeli torture camp Sde Teiman in the al-Naqab desert, where the Israelis perpetrate grave crimes against Palestinian prisoners abducted from Gaza (Social media)
According to the whistleblowers, the beatings inflicted upon detainees were said to be done out of spite and not intended for intelligence gathering.
Three Israeli whistleblowers working at the Sde Teiman torture camp, a “holding” site for Palestinians abducted during “Israel’s” invasion of Gaza, have come forward with testimonies of systemic abuses by the military, including prisoners being restrained, blindfolded, and forced to wear diapers, CNN reports.
The whistleblowers described the grim conditions that Palestinian detainees face in Sde Teiman, stating that they were not allowed to move, talk, or even peek under their blindfolds.
“We were told they were not allowed to move. They should sit upright. They’re not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold,” the whistleblowers told CNN.
CNN has released leaked images of the Israeli torture camp Sde Teiman in the Negev desert, where Israel perpetrates grave crimes against Palestinian prisoners abducted from Gaza. pic.twitter.com/hVqop9Tx22
Guards were instructed to enforce silence using Arabic commands like “uskot” (shut up: اسكت) and to identify and punish individuals described as “problematic.”
They described “a routine search when the guards would unleash large dogs on sleeping detainees, lobbing a sound grenade at the enclosure as troops barged in.”
Located approximately 18 miles from the Gaza separation line, the facility is said to be divided into two sections: enclosures where around 70 Palestinian detainees from Gaza are subjected to extreme physical restraint, and a field hospital where injured detainees are immobilized, diapered, and fed through straws.
“They stripped them down of anything that resembles human beings,” they said.
These testimonies align with details from a letter authored by a doctor working at Sde Teiman which was published by Haaretz in April.
“Just this week, two prisoners had their legs amputated due to handcuff injuries, which unfortunately is a routine event,” the physician said in the letter dated April.
He mentioned that prisoners were fed via straws, forced to use diapers for bodily functions, and subjected to continuous restraints, actions that contravene medical ethics and legal standards.
“We are all complicit in breaking law,” he was quoted as saying.
Accounts of a detained Palestinian doctor
Former detainee Dr. Mohammed al-Ran said that after being cleared of any links to Hamas links. He functioned as Shawish for a few weeks. The Shawish acted as middlemen to communicate and translate communications with Israeli guards on behalf of prisoners.
Al-Ran said he received “a special privilege”, namely the removal of his blindfold. This was a different type of hell, he said.
“Part of my torture was being able to see how people were being tortured,” Al-Ran said. “At first you couldn’t see. You couldn’t see the torture, the vengeance, the oppression.”
“When they removed my blindfold, I could see the extent of the humiliation and abasement … I could see the extent to which they saw us not as human beings but as animals.”
Earlier today, Hamas warned that the Israeli prison administration’s escalation of its aggressive policies against prisoners and detainees “will result in further explosions in the face of the occupation.”
Following circulating reports of abuse and torture in Israeli prisons, the Palestinian Resistance group made it clear that the systematic assault on prisoners and detainees “will not weaken their resolve,” reiterating that the Resistance is committed to their liberation, a statement read.
It pointed out that the reported abuse and torture of prisoners and detainees indicate that the Israeli occupation government adopts a policy of deliberate attacks against them, motivated by punishment and revenge.
Hamas emphasized that the Palestinian people “will not leave their prisoners and detainees to fall victim to the brutality of the Nazi-like occupation,” stressing that the Resistance remains committed to achieving their imminent freedom.
The movement called on the masses of the Palestinian people, their factions, and youths to boost their revolutionary and resistant actions in support of the prisoners by all means.
Elsewhere, Hamas warned the “fascist Israeli government” against continuing with its criminal policy and held it fully responsible for the well-being of every prisoner and detainee.
In support of the Palestinian people and resistance in Gaza and in light of the Israeli aggression on the various South Lebanon villages, the Islamic Resistance continued striking the Zionist occupation sites near Lebanon border.
Hezbollah military media issued consecutive statements to illustrate the attacks and their outcomes.
The first statement mentioned that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted one of the newly installed technical system at Ramya site with appropriate weapons at 01:23 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2024, hitting it directly and causing its destruction.
The second statement maintained that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a newly established leadership center of the “Israeli” enemy in the Netu’a settlement with artillery shells at 2:15 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2024, hitting it directly.
According to the third statement, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted a group of “Israeli” enemy soldiers at Al-Jardah checkpoint with appropriate weapons at 3:20 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2024, hitting them directly and causing casualties among them, leaving them dead and wounded.
The fourth statement affirmed that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 17:15 on Thursday, May 9, 2024, the deployment of “Israeli” enemy soldiers in the vicinity of Jal Al-Allam site with a heavy-caliber Burkan missile.
The fifth statement stressed that, in response to the assassination of the fighters in the town of Bafliyeh, the Islamic Resistance launched on Thursday, May 9, 2024, an aerial operation with assault drones targeting the military leadership of the command enemy forces in the settlement of Burkan missile and its vicinity, directly hitting its operations room and inflicting casualties among its officers and soldiers, which left them dead or wounded.
In support of the resilient Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in solidarity with their courageous resistance, the Islamic Resistance carried out a number of operations against “Israeli” army sites and deployments along the Lebanese-Palestinian borders on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, as follows:
– Eastern Sector:
1. At 10:30, targeting one of the newly installed technical systems in Al-Assi site with a raiding combat drone and directly hitting it, resulting in its destruction.
2. At 11:03, targeting a building used by “Israeli” soldiers in Al-Mutela settlement and directly hitting it in response to the enemy’s attacks on southern villages, civilian homes, and the targeting of civilians.
3. At 11:03, targeting a building used by “Israeli” soldiers in Al-Manara settlement in response to the enemy’s attacks on steadfast southern villages, civilian homes, and the targeting of civilians.
4. At 17:00, targeting Al-Samaqa site in the occupied Lebanese hills of Kafr Shuba with missile weapons and directly hitting it.
– Western Sector:
1. At 11:00, targeting two buildings used by “Israeli” soldiers in Shlomi settlement in response to the enemy’s attacks on steadfast southern villages, civilian homes, and the targeting of civilians.
2. At 11:00, targeting two buildings used by “Israeli” soldiers in the Avivim settlement in response to the enemy’s attacks on steadfast southern villages, civilian homes, and the targeting of civilians.
3. At 13:25, after monitoring and tracking the movement of “Israeli” soldiers at Al-Raheb site and their entry into their bunker, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance targeted it with guided missiles, directly hitting it. At the same time, the fighters targeted the espionage equipment at the site and destroyed it.
4. At 14:25, after monitoring and tracking the movement of “Israeli” soldiers at the Malkiya site and their entry into one of their bunkers, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance targeted it with guided missiles, directly hitting it. At the same time, the fighters targeted its espionage equipment and destroyed it.
5. At 15:00, targeting the newly established headquarters of the Western Brigade in Ya’ara with precision air strikes from assault drones.
6. At 16:20, targeting the headquarters of the 91st Division in the Branit barracks with a heavy-caliber Burkan missile, directly hitting it, in response to the “Israeli” enemy’s attacks on southern villages, civilian homes, and the targeting of civilians.
7. At 19:50, targeting a force of “Israeli” soldiers while they were moving near the Ramya site with artillery shells, directly hitting them
Ansarallah’s maritime operations against Israeli-linked shipping just expanded into the Mediterranean Sea, the Eurasian waterway NATO has long considered its own domain, home to Israel’s oil and gas platforms, and the site of Washington’s new ‘aid pier’ ploy.
In support of Gaza, Yemen’s Ansarallah-aligned armed forces executed their first direct operation against Israel on 18 October 2023. That operation involved cruise missiles and drones targeting the port of Eilat in southern occupied Palestine and came less than two weeks after the Palestinian resistance’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood flipped the script in West Asia.
Similar attacks ensued in rapid fire, with further warnings from the Yemeni military that it would “continue to carry out qualitative strikes with missiles and drones until the Israeli aggression stops.” One month later, amidst Tel Aviv’s worsening carnage in Gaza, Sanaa commenced its targeting of Israeli-linked and destined shipping vessels in the Red Sea, effectively blocking their passage through the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
‘Phased’ maritime operations
This marked Yemen’s first phase of a meticulously planned series of naval operations. The second phase saw a broader prohibition, blocking ships from any country from approaching Israeli ports – a waterway siege, just as Yemen has endured for eight long years. Sanaa’s scope of operations then broadened in the third phase to include the Indian Ocean, targeting Israeli vessels navigating the much longer Cape of Good Hope route – around the African continent – to deliver goods to the occupation state.
Israel’s shipping route before and after Yemen’s blockade
As tensions escalated, and to protect Israel, US and British naval forces cobbled together a ramshackle coalition of non-Arab states, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to strike Yemen – a country already ravaged by almost a decade of US-backed Saudi–UAE bombardment and siege.
This provoked a forceful and immediate response from Yemeni forces, who extended their target range to include US and British naval assets and, later, to expand their operational theater to the vast Indian Ocean.
But as Israel’s threats to invade and bombard Rafah intensified in recent days, Sanaa announced the start of a fourth phase of escalation, a significant ramp-up in their military response.
This phase will target Israeli ships or those heading to Israeli ports in the Mediterranean Sea and impose comprehensive sanctions on all vessels linked to companies that frequent the occupied state’s ports. Furthermore, the measures will be applied to all shipping vessels and companies that deliver goods to Israel, regardless of their final destinations. This effectively bars them from all Yemeni operational waterways.
The declaration of this fourth phase is a clear signal of widening the conflict zone to include the Mediterranean and tightening the siege on Israel, which economically depends on sea trade. It poses a renewed challenge to Tel Aviv and its allies, increasing pressure, particularly on Washington and its European partners.
Yemen’s scope of operations against Israeli shipping
Advancement of military capabilities
Sanaa’s strategic move is timed with ongoing ceasefire negotiations involving Hamas, which faces intense pressure to accept terms favorable to Israel, and is part of a broader strategy to influence political outcomes far beyond Yemen’s borders.
The Yemeni “circle of fire” – its maritime reach – now encompasses the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea. On land, Sanaa’s focus is on impacting Israel’s geographic depth, particularly its southern regions which abut the Red Sea.
In multiple speeches, Ansarallah leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi has emphasized Yemen’s staggering advances in military capabilities, both quantitatively and qualitatively. These advancements are made possible by various factors, most notably the real-world testing of their arsenal.
Recent broadcasts showcased a distant suicide drone targeting a ship in the Red Sea, equipped with a camera on its nose. Additionally, there has been significant Yemeni progress in the use of winged and ballistic missiles: according to military analysts, for the first time in history, anti-ship ballistic missiles were deployed against seaborne vessels, a qualitative advancement in Ansarallah’s military bag of tricks.
Sanaa’s strategic rise
Speaking to The Cradle, Brigadier General Mujib Shamsan, Chairman of the Yemeni Military Spokesmen’s Committee for the Media, says that Sanaa benefited from its operations and confrontation with American and British forces to fast-track its capabilities.
This is clearly evident through the comparison between the operations it carried out at the beginning of its decisions up to the end. Operations in the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean, where it was able to accumulate and develop its capabilities continuously, whether at the level of missile force, unmanned air force, or other naval weapons, thus bypassing various American defense systems, learning many tactics regarding confronting them, and even bringing it to a state of failure.
The failings of the two western coalitions dedicated to thwarting Yemen’s siege of Israel have become apparent to all.
Since early April, various European naval commanders have thrown their hands up in full public view.
Jerome Henry, commander of France’s Aquitaine-class FREMM frigate Alsace – deployed in the Red Sea for 71 straight days – said on 11 April that his ship had depleted its entire combat arsenal, and while it would head to port to replenish those munitions, would return to face an impossible mission:
We didn’t necessarily expect this level of threat. There was an uninhibited violence that was quite surprising and very significant. [The Yemenis] do not hesitate to use drones that fly at water level, to explode them on commercial ships, and to fire ballistic missiles.
“We had to carry out at least half a dozen assistances following [Yemeni] strikes,” Henry told French publication Le Figaro.
Also in early April, Rear Admiral Vasileios Gryparis, the Greek commander of the EU’s Operation Aspides, warned that his mission would not succeed with only three warships available to protect shipments through the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Since “the launch of the Operation Aspides on 19 February 2024 until now, the threat level remains the same,” lamented Gryparis.
Yemeni Brigadier-General Shamsan points out that the US defense system failures, and growing risks faced by the anti-Yemen naval coalitions, have “forced it and its allies to withdraw more than 18 ships from the theater of operations, as the number of American ships that left reached 10, while eight ships belonging to European tools left.”
Shamsan says the rapid development of Sanaa’s military capabilities during the ongoing war has positioned Yemen as a pivotal player not only regionally but globally, owing to its strategic position overseeing one of the world’s most crucial maritime passages.
As Ansarallah’s phase four operations commence in the Mediterranean Sea, Shamsan declares that Yemen has now effectively implemented a maritime blockade and economic stranglehold on Israel, which heavily relies on sea routes for the vast majority of its imports.
This blockade, in turn, represents a significant leverage point against both Tel Aviv and its western allies, which have failed to protect their interests in the Red Sea or counteract Sanaa’s embargo on ships entering the ports of the occupation state.
Far from being a mere political and military backwater, Yemen has demonstrated far-reaching military capabilities and impressive strategic planning that has confounded the world’s greatest naval powers. Sanaa’s formidable maneuvers in West Asian maritime zones have catapulted it to the forefront of the region’s Axis of Resistance as the member most capable of influencing global maritime security and regional stability.
As the US and its allies rally around their newly constructed “aid pier” on Gaza’s Mediterranean coastline to, as many suspect, consolidate the area as a future site for US military operations and protect Israel’s oil and gas platforms, Yemen is emerging as a frontline adversary in that far-flung theater.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.
A number of Palestinian civilians have been martyred, and others wounded, due to the relentless bombing by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza and Rafah. The aggression has escalated, with no signs of slowing down, as the war enters its 216th day.
"My children! My children! They bombed my children! Help my children!"
The recent attacks have resulted in the deaths of 13 Palestinians in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, as warplanes targeted a group of citizens near Al-Ibki Mosque. Additionally, a house belonging to the Radhi family in the new camp of Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, was also bombed, leading to more casualties.
Heavy Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling in Azzaytoon neighborhood in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/LkDVjqUU7p
In Rafah, a young man lost his life due to Israeli artillery shelling in the eastern part of the city. The municipality building and various other sites were also targeted by military aircraft, causing widespread destruction.
As people run to try to seek some kind of safety, nowhere is safe in Rafah as the bombings continue. pic.twitter.com/Hn074q4vUf
The ongoing aggression has forced families to flee their homes in Rafah, seeking safety from the relentless bombing. The toll on innocent civilians continues to rise, with reports of injuries from bombings in other areas such as Al-Fokhari, east of Khan Yunis.
BREAKING | Displaced families from Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Northern Gaza, flee as IOF military tanks advance and violent artillery shelling continues pic.twitter.com/xJaZfubm0S
According to the government media office in Gaza, the Israeli occupation forces have committed over 3,000 massacres during the 215 days of war on Gaza, resulting in thousands of martyrs and missing persons. The toll includes a number of child casualties, with more than 15,000 children losing their lives in the ongoing genocide.
A child has suffered extreme burns all over their body after their home was bombed in Rafah. pic.twitter.com/A2MrcpSSAS
This photo shows a tank with an Israeli occupation flag on it entering the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing in occupied Palestine, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP)
A new report by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz underscored a plot to take the Rafah border crossing away from Palestinian control in favor of giving it to a US security private contractor that would do “Israel’s” bidding.
In an exclusive for Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “Israel” has made a plea to the US regarding the takeover of the Rafah border crossing, saying it would be passed on to a private security contracting company.
This was offered up after “Israel” committed to “restrict its operation in Rafah”, which started on Monday, “aiming only to deny Hamas authority over the border crossing that connects Gaza with Egypt, and concentrating on the eastern side of the city.”
According to Haaretz, the Israeli occupation government, in order to secure the deal, has been negotiating with “a private company in the US that specializes in assisting armies and governments around the world engaged in military conflicts. The company has operated in several African and Middle Eastern countries, guarding strategic sites like oil fields, airports, army bases, and sensitive border crossings. It employs veterans of elite US Army units.”
Allegedly, Tel Aviv also pledged “not to damage the crossing’s facilities to ensure its continuous operation,” alleging that the “private American security company will assume management of the crossing after the IDF [Israeli occupation forces] concludes its operation.”
In turn, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, earlier claimed he had no information about such a plot to assume control over the Rafah border crossing.
In that regard, Haaretz also reported that Egyptian officials expressed opposition to an assault on Rafah because they were concerned that civilians might attempt to cross the border fence seeking shelter. Allegedly, they also warned that Hamas might try to breach the fence to assist Gazans in fleeing.
Under the agreed terms between the three countries, once “Israel” finishes its ‘limited operation’ in the border crossing area, a US company will take over the operation of the facility. This responsibility includes overseeing goods entering Gaza from Egypt and preventing Hamas from regaining control of the crossing. “Israel” and the US will provide support to the company as needed.
Rafah has a long history of confrontations with "Israel", yet each time, Israeli occupation forces are met with the unwavering resilience of the #Palestinian people. pic.twitter.com/rW7l3ugC7N
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 7, 2024
The Israeli newspaper also claimed that Cairo complained against “Israel” on Tuesday after Israeli occupation troops shared videos showing the Israeli occupation flag being flown at the Rafah crossing. The Egyptians argued, allegedly, that such a public display undermined their efforts to diminish tensions in the area near their territory.
Rafah crossing purely Egyptian-Palestinian: Senior Hamas official
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan made it clear on Tuesday that “the military operation in Rafah, if carried out by Israel, will not be a picnic” for the Israeli occupation forces, which were defeated and humiliated in all the areas they have entered in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking during a press conference in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Hamas’ acceptance of the ceasefire proposal presented by mediators Egypt and Qatar, Hamdan pointed out that the decision came as a result of long, difficult, complicated, and continuous negotiations over the past weeks and months.
He mentioned that the past period saw several proposals that did not meet the conditions of the Resistance or the demands of the Palestinian people, affirming that Hamas “adhered to its demands, showed flexibility where necessary, and set red lines that cannot be crossed or compromised.”
Hamdan stressed that Hamas’ acceptance of the ceasefire proposal stems from the movement’s responsibility before the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and its deep concern for its interests, rights, constants, and sacrifices, and from a positive response to the role of mediators in achieving this deal.
During a meeting of “Israel’s” Conflict Zone Forum, the leaders of the Israeli northern settlements decided to announce the establishment of the State of Galilee and fully separate from “Israel”.
According to Israeli news website Walla!, the step is set to be announced on “Independence Day”. The media website explained that their decision was reached after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dismissive response to Benny Gantz’s inquiry about settlers returning home for the school year, saying, “What would happen if they return a few months after September 1?”
This latest action follows the forum members’ publication of protest advertisements in early April, where they publicly solicited bids to “locate the Israeli government.”
As cited by Israeli media, the ads read, “A public tender to locate a government in Israel!” and “The Conflict Zone Forum hereby invites proposals to be submitted to an alternative government in Israel as detailed in the tender documents.”
Most significant was the ad which depicted the extent of the despair of Israeli settlers on the border with Lebanon that reads:
“The full details of the tender can be found in the evacuated hotels and the accommodation apartments of the displaced throughout the country, with the business owners who collapsed in the north, in the dead tourism areas in the north, and in the offices of the authorities in the north.”
In parallel with these claims, settlers from abandoned settlements in northern occupied Palestine are planning demonstrations on May 16 in al-Quds and Haifa, advocating against a political agreement with Hezbollah and calling for security to be brought back to their region through military means.
Nasrallah’s terror balance that ‘Israel’ can’t confront: Israeli media
A new balance of terror has emerged in the North, one that “Israel” cannot live with even for a “single hour,” an op-ed published by Israeli newspaper Maariv on Tuesday said.
Avi Ashkenazi, the military correspondent of the newspaper, recalled in his piece the course of confrontation, the balance of combat, and the rules of engagement between Hezbollah and the occupation since before the withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
“Any solution in the North requires decision-makers in Israel to work on dismantling this balance of terror,” the author began by warning.
According to the Ashkenazi, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was able, before the Israeli withdrawal, and over the years, to create engagement rules in his favor in the “security belt in Lebanon,” where “he decided that every Israeli attack on a civilian target would lead to rocket fire on Kiryat Shmona and settlements in the Galilee,” and that the targets of the rocket launches varied between “open areas and inhibited ones.”
Later, this led to the debate within the occupation entity about the withdrawal to intensify, he said.
Students and professors, carry on! History will only remember you, and it will have no mention at all of your oppressors. Keep up the fight to make the world a better place for us all.
For over 200 days, we here in the Arab World have been wondering how the so-called civilized world, along with its intellectual system and human rights laws, would allow such a genocide to take place against helpless women, children, and innocent civilians in Gaza and Palestine, without trying the impossible to stop this disgraceful insult against every human life everywhere.
Every day, the Zionists would perpetrate dozens of massacres against hundreds of Palestinians and would kill journalists, medical doctors, nurses, and patients, burying them in a mass grave inside the hospital. And yet the US continues to flood the Zionists with armaments, money, and moral support, enabling the worst genocide and ethnic cleansing that has brought dishonor upon our world and us who live in these times.
All of us here in the Middle East were feeling absolutely helpless, depressed, and utterly betrayed by the Western World, as it not only betrayed us, but also Western values which the West claimed to develop and promote in the interest of humanity. For seven, long, difficult months, we questioned everything the West had said about itself, most notably its propaganda regarding the free press, the rights of women, the rights of children, and human rights in decent and safe lives.
All of this was happening to us as if we lived on an extremely remote island until the students of Columbia University broke this cycle with their brave forthcoming acts to challenge the conspiratory world‘s silence and announce their extremely important call to stop genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, an act that triggered a worldwide movement by university students, professors, and employees in support of life in Gaza, and against the daily and continued massacres there.
Your movement has restored our faith in human conscience, but your suffering and the way you have been treated proved to us, beyond any doubt, that Western systems leave a lot to be desired. The deep alliance that has surfaced between Zionists everywhere and Western governments has shown the horrifying moral deterioration of Western governments. Just as they spread fear and horror about Covid-19, they also started to fabricate myths about attacks on Jews, although Jewish students and professors were at the forefront of these noble movements, this did not prevent misleading media from accusing the student movement as antisemitic.
Instead of trusting that the movement proved that the issue was not between Muslims and Jews, but one of occupation, racism, and the worst violation of human rights witnessed in modern times, the authorities went on distorting facts and misleading people.
When Jews were persecuted in Europe, they found their haven among the Arabs, and until the creation of the Zionist entity, Jews were citizens in most Arab countries, living amicably with Muslims and Christians and contributing to the prosperity and welfare of their countries. The Middle East is the cradle of the three monotheistic religions, and that is why its people lived together with the church and the mosque side by side, and with the deep-rooted faith that we all worship the same God but in different ways.
The first time we heard a language that divided the Iraqis into Sunnis and Shias was when American forces occupied Iraq and started talking about the Sunni triangle, Kurdish North, and Shia South. This is an alien language to the region’s indigenous Arabs, and this is the language that terrorists attempted to implant among our people.
Antisemitism is a label coined and promoted by those who gave themselves the right to uproot indigenous people and to use their land and resources as their own. The Arabs had never been and cannot be antisemitic, as they themselves are Semites. Those who misused movements to incite hatred against Jews have nothing to do with Islam, as the Quran lauded all prophets and mentioned the followers of all prophets with great respect; “Indeed the faithful, the Jews, the Christians, and the Sabaeans —those of them who have faith in Allah and the Last Day and act righteously— they shall have their reward near their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.”
The Quran stresses the importance of faith rather than religion, and any attempt to generate and spread fear among the followers of other religions is only a very suspicious political tool used for dubious purposes. The Western media that was supposed to facilitate communication among different people on different lands had become an impediment in the way of truth reaching audiences everywhere.
Students and professors paid a heavy price, and some have lost the opportunity to complete their studies, but what you have done is so gracious and so eternal that it restored our confidence in humanity and its ability to strongly object to gross injustice, no matter how powerful and militarized it may seem. In that sense, you restored some of our confidence that the voice of the people will override the voice of governments who cannot get beyond their narrow, material interests, and their deeply rooted and unquestioned prejudices and shallow slogans.
You proved that you do not belong to the hypocrisy of the State, whose current discourse and actions are in total contradiction with its own narrative. Western systems are trying to spread fear: Jews fearing Muslims, Muslims fearing Jews, Christians fearing Muslims, Westerners against Easterners, in order to serve the interests of Zionist dark forces who do not see people with similar hearts and minds, but only see what may divide their ranks and make them weaker: inactive and incapable of undermining the interests of these dark forces.
Our God said in the Quran, “O mankind! Indeed We created you from a male and a female, and made you nations and tribes that you may identify yourselves with one another. Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most Godwary among you. Indeed Allah is all-knowing, all-aware.” Differences in color, origin, religion, or ethnicity, only exist to prove the greatness of the Creator, and not to classify people as superior and inferior. Only the vile racists do that for their own evil purposes, which have nothing to do with the interests of most people on this planet.
Students and professors, carry on! History will only remember you, and it will have no mention at all of your oppressors. Keep up the fight to make the world a better place for us all.
The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
Israeli aggression against Gaza Strip on its 214th day continues, with intense bombardment in Rafah and raids in Gaza City and north. The Yarmouk area, east of Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun were targeted, leading to casualties among citizens. Reports indicate Israeli military vehicles entering Rafah land crossing, with buildings being hit by artillery shells.
"Oh the head of my heart, my life, I didn't want to put dirt on you, they are the ones who wanted to"
A father grieves over the loss of his daughter after she was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah pic.twitter.com/sZuDPMNuEL
Reports indicate that the Israeli military vehicles entered the direction of the Rafah land crossing, causing a halt in passenger movement and preventing aid from entering the Gaza Strip. The occupation forces have targeted crossing buildings with artillery shells, further escalating the situation.
The Israeli military are bombing Rafah, where over 1million Palestinians are seeking shelter as they were told it was the only ‘safe place’ in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/WqoU5O4jZd
In addition to the attacks on Rafah, the Israeli occupation forces have also targeted areas in the northern Gaza Strip, including towns like Beit Hanoun and Jabalia. The raids have resulted in casualties and further destruction in the region, adding to the already dire situation in the besieged territory.
Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi again called to postpone an investigation into the occupation army’s failures over Hamas’ Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, as the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the fronts in Gaza and Lebanon reached six.
Israeli media reported that Halevi issues a new letter to the state comptroller, asking him to postpone an investigation into the military’s multiple failures that occurred before, during, and after the October 7 attack.
“Your conclusion that the current timing makes it possible to start an audit does not correspond to the security reality and the burden” on the Israeli military, said Halevi to Matanyahu Englman, as reported by The Times of Israel.
Herzi Halevi, Israeli military chief speaking to troops ahead of a military march (Thursday, April 20, 2023).
“An audit at this time will cause substantial and severe harm to the war efforts,” Halevi said.
“I pledge that the IDF will cooperate fully with the state comptroller, but not at the expense of the complex tasks before us,” Halevi added referring to the occupation military (IOF).
In December, Englman said his office would “leave no stone unturned” in its investigation.
Halevi then raised objections, saying the state comptroller’s examination was unprecedented and would divert the attention of IDF commanders currently conducting operations in Gaza.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Israeli occupation military announced that two Israeli soldiers were killed in Hezbollah’s Monday drone strike on Metula.
Earlier, the occupation military revised the death toll of the Israeli soldiers killed in Hamas’ rocket attack on Karem Abu Salem site near Gaza to four.
The Israeli occupation army was on Monday investigating the failure over the Karem Abu Salem attack.
An Israeli businessman, identified as Ziv Kipper, was found dead in Alexandria, Egypt on Tuesday, sparking an investigation by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Kipper, the CEO of OK Group LLC, a company specializing in exporting frozen fruits and vegetables, reportedly entered Egypt with a Canadian passport.
A group known as Vanguards of Liberation – the group of martyr Mohammad Salah, released a statement on social media claiming responsibility for Kipper’s death. The group referred to Kipper as a “criminal Israeli agent” using his business as a front for espionage activities, including gathering intel and recruiting locals for the Israeli Mossad.
The statement hinted at more information to come, citing accurate intelligence gathered on Kipper. Martyr Mohammad Salah, who carried out an operation against Israeli occupation soldiers in October, was praised by the group in their announcement.
This incident comes just days after an Egyptian police officer killed three Israelis in a shooting operation in Alexandria, further heightening tensions in the region. Israeli officials are working to uncover the truth behind Kipper’s death as more details emerge about the Egyptian group claiming responsibility.
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 
