Hamas representative, Ahmed Abdel Hadi highlights concerns over vague language in the ceasefire proposal, and external pressures targeting the Palestinian Resistance.
The Hamas representative in Lebanon, Ahmed Abdel Hadi, in an interview with Al Mayadeen, said that although the movement is “seriously studying” the proposals for a ceasefire agreement, it is “too early to judge the results,” noting that the papers presented contain “general phrases that could suggest something ambiguous,” and emphasizing the role of the negotiators in this part.
Abdel Hadi pointed out that the only sides discussing positive outcomes from reaching an agreement are the US and Israeli sides. He stressed that no one has succeeded in pressuring the resistance to accept any deal and emphasized that “the popular support for the resistance cannot raise the white flag.”
Regarding the threat of an Israeli military operation in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Abdel Hadi said, “Netanyahu wants to prolong the war, and he agreed to a partial cessation of it. The threat to invade Rafah is to pressure the Resistance,” he said, stressing that “many surprises will confront the Israeli Prime Minister if he decides to invade Rafah.”
On a different note, Abdel Hadi discussed the development of the protest movement in US universities, which he considered “one of the results of the Al-Aqsa flood,” and predicted that these protests will spread “to all universities in the world, and this is a very important development in terms of the Palestinian cause.”
Hamas delegation to Cairo soon
In a related context, the head of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh called Egyptian Intelligence Minister General Abbas Kamel regarding the ceasefire negotiations.
Haniyeh praised Egypt’s role, affirming “the positive attitude of the movement towards studying the ceasefire proposal.”
The Hamas politburo head informed the Egyptian minister that the movement’s delegation for negotiations will arrive in Egypt “very soon,” with the intention “to continue the ongoing discussions,” with the goal of achieving “an agreement that meets the demands of the Palestinian people and stops the aggression.”
Al Mayadeen obtains a copy of the mediated Palestinian-Israeli deal
Al Mayadeen had acquired the details of the latest proposed deal between the Palestinian Resistance and the Israeli occupation, specifically related to the prisoner exchange deal and related clauses.
The framework of the agreement aims to achieve the release of all Israeli civilian and military captives, be they dead or alive, held in the Gaza Strip. The agreement will not only encompass captives taken on October 7 but all Israeli captives.
Primarily, the deal’s objective is to achieve calm in the area and work on reaching a ceasefire, the document acquired by Al Mayadeen explains.
What does the first stage of the prisoner exchange deal entail?
In the first stage of the prisoner exchange deal, Israeli occupation forces will withdraw eastward, away from densely populated areas. Forces will be relocated to areas near the separation fence between the Gaza Strip and Israeli-occupied ’48 Palestinian territories.
Israeli aircraft, both combat and reconnaissance, will be barred from flying over the Strip for a period of eight hours on a daily basis. However, on days when prisoners are being exchanged, Israeli aircraft will not fly over the Gaza Strip for a period of 10 hours.
On the seventh day of the deal and after women included in the deal are released, Israeli occupation forces will withdraw from al-Rashid Street and head eastwards, parallel to the Gaza Strip’s main road, to Salah al-Din Street.
The withdrawal of occupation forces is expected to ease the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and will allow non-armed civilians to return to their homes.
On the 22nd day, and after one-third of the Israeli captives are released, the Israeli occupation forces will withdraw from the central Gaza Strip to an area near the separation fence.
The return of displaced people and the entry of aid
This process will allow Palestinians forcibly displaced from the northern Gaza Strip to return to their residences.
The entry of concentrated amounts of humanitarian aid, including relief aid and fuel, will be facilitated in all stages of the agreement.
33 Israeli captives to be released
In the first stage, Hamas will release at least 33 captives, which includes all Israeli captives that are still alive. This group includes female Israeli servicepeople, civilians, children, elderly people, wounded individuals, and patients.
In turn, “Israel” will release 20 Palestinian children and women for every female or male Israeli captive released. The names of the released detainees will be agreed upon by the sides, in pre-set lists.
In detail, Hamas will release every living Israeli captive over the age of 50, wounded Israeli captive, and sick Israeli captive. “Israel” will therefore release 20 Palestinian captives, aged over 50, wounded, or sick.
Hamas will also release every living Israeli female conscript, who was serving on October 7, 2023. In return, “Israel” will release 40 Palestinian detainees in return for every Israeli servicewoman.
This includes 20 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 20 Palestinian prisoners serving shorter sentences.
Hamas will also release three captives on the first day of the deal, which will be followed by three captives every three days, encompassing female civilians and soldiers.
“Israel” will then release the agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners, according to the pre-set lists.
On the seventh day of the deal, Hamas will submit a list of the names of the remaining captives that it holds. These captives will be released on the 34th day of the deal.
Halting military operations and the continuity of the deal
Military operations will be halted for a number of days, determined by the number of Israeli captives remaining in captivity.
The continuity of the exchange process will be directly correlated with the Israeli side’s commitment to the clauses of the deal, including the halting of military operations, the relocation of occupation forces, and the return of the displaced people.
Among the clauses is that released Palestinian detainees must not be re-detained on charges that they had previously been detained on.
On the 14th day, an agreed-upon number of wounded Palestinian military personnel will be transferred to hospitals outside the Gaza Strip, through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, to receive adequate medical attention.
On the 16th day of the deal, the sides are obligated to participate in indirect talks for sustainable calm in the region.
During the period of every stage, the United Nations, its agencies, and international organizations will begin to work on distributing and providing aid to Palestinians across the entirety of the Gaza Strip.
Rebuilding Gaza
In the first stage, work will commence on the Gaza Strip’s destroyed infrastructure. A coordinating body will also begin delivering the necessary heavy equipment to the Palestinian Civil Defense.
Facilitating the entry of necessary supplies, to establish temporary camps to accommodate forcibly displaced people who lost their homes during the war, is also among the clauses included in the deal.
What about the second stage?
The second stage of the deal will extend for 42 days, in which both sides are expected to agree on the necessary actions to reach and implement a sustainable calm.
In the second phase, the necessary arrangements will be made for the comprehensive reconstruction of housing units, civil facilities, and civilian infrastructure.
The final stage of the deal: Exchanging bodies
The third stage of the deal will also extend for a period of 42 days, in which the bodies and remains of both killed individuals on both sides will be exchanged.
A 5-year reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip will be implemented which will include the construction of housing units and civilian facilities and infrastructure. The Palestinian side will refrain from rebuilding military installations and infrastructure during that period.
Moreover, the Palestinian side will not import any equipment, raw materials, or other components to be used for military purposes.
According to the document obtained by Al Mayadeen, Qatar, Egypt, and the United States are the stated guarantors of the agreement.
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Families of Israeli captives held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip hold a protest in Tel Aviv on Tuesday to mark 200 days of their sons being held captive.
The families and their supporters paint their hands red and hold them up to the sky, calling on the Israeli government to act to secure the release of at least 133 captives still held in the besieged enclave.
Earlier on Monday, Israeli protesters gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence to mark the first night of Jewish Passover.
Later in the night, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the gates of Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea and call out Netanyahu’s leadership out.
Protesters outside PM Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea call for a hostage release deal (April 22, 2024).
Israeli protesters set fire to a symbolic Passover table and chanted slogans calling for Israeli captives to be released.
The Jewish holiday of Passover began across the Zionist entity on Monday evening.
As protesters gathered near Netanyahu’s residence on Monday, some 500 members of the Kibbutz Be’eri held a Passover Seder(dinner) in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.
Passover event for families of Israeli captives at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv (April 22, 2024).
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and war cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot attended the event in Tel Aviv.
Palestinian al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obeida hails the steadfastness of the Palestinian Resistance as it faces the Israeli occupation forces for the 200th day.
The Israeli occupation has proven impotent as it proved unsuccessful in making any advances in Gaza 200 days into its ruthless onslaught as it only commits massacres and destroys civilian infrastructure, al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obeida said on Tuesday.
Today marks the 200th day of Israeli aggression on Gaza in the wake of Operation al-Aqsa Flood, an aggression that has thus far claimed the lives of more than 34,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others. However, no one is touting an Israeli victory, as their declared goal of destroying the Resistance is not only far from being achieved, but also continuously proving to be unattainable.
The spokesperson for Hamas’ armed wing underlined that the Israeli occupation continues to peddle the great lie that is its capacity to destroy all the Palestinian Resistance factions. “200 days later, and the Resistance is still unwavering. It will continue to deal blows to the occupation so long as its aggression continues and so long as it continues to exist on Palestinian land.”
“200 days later, the enemy is still stuck in the sands #Gaza with no goal, no horizon, and no retrieving of its captives,” Military spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida said in a televised speech.
“One of the lies of the enemy government is its attempt to make the… https://t.co/PPUOjWycgh
The Resistance’s operations, the spokesperson said, “Will take new forms and adapt with new, adequate tactics.”
As the war entered its seventh month, Abu Obeida stressed that the Israeli occupation “is still stuck in the mud in Gaza with no hope on the horizon, and it will reap nothing but shame and defeat.”
The Resistance fighters are expelling and will continue to expel “this enemy despite being covered in ashes, rising from beneath the rubble as the whole world bears witness to the might of the Resistance fighters, not just through action on the battlefield but their withdrawal from various directions.”
The Israeli occupation is still trying to restore its image that was tarnished on October 7, the spokesperson underlined. “They aim to link their victory to invading Rafah, and it tries to sell the lie that it defeated all Resistance factions except for the Rafah Battalion.”
Ron Arad scenario to repeat itself
Commenting on the ongoing negotiations and prisoner swap talks, Abu Obeida said the Israeli occupation was attempting to rid itself of the pledges it made during the talks as it aims to gain more time. However, he added, “The Palestinian Resistance will not surrender the pivotal rights of the Palestinian people, chief among which is the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces, the lifting of the blockade, and the return of the displaced.”
Abu Obeida, addressing Israeli settlers, underlined that the ball was in the court of the Israeli regime, “but the window of time is very narrow, and they have very limited opportunities.”
He recalled the story of Israeli pilot Ron Arad, who disappeared during a mission in the airspace of Lebanon in 1986, with no information being known about him since. “The Israeli captives in Gaza might be fortunate to meet the same fate as Ron Arad,” he said, warning the Israeli occupation against delaying the talks any further.
“The occupation’s policy of exerting military pressure will not push the Resistance but to adhere to its position and safeguard the rights of the people,” he said.
Iranian response set up new rules of engagement
Abu Obeida hailed Iran’s Operation True Promise carried out by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in Iran in response to the occupation’s aggression against the Iranian consulate in Damascus and emphasized that this response “set new rules of engagement and disarrayed the occupation,” as the regime’s backers scrambled to defend it from thousands of miles away.
The al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson went on to praise every military and popular effort made toward Operation al-Aqsa Flood, especially the fronts of Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq.
Abu Obeida said the leading edge front of the Resistance was the West Bank front. He also hailed the people of Jordan and called on them to escalate and called on the people of the Arab and Islamic Worlds to also escalate in support of the Palestinian people and cause.
“The hysteric reaction to the Resistance’s military actions on the various fronts indicates the importance of the armed struggle in the face of the occupying powers,” he concluded by saying.
200 days of genocide
The Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed Tuesday that the number of Palestinians killed as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression since October 7 has risen to 34,183 and those injured to 77,143.
In its daily report, the Ministry said that the Israeli occupation forces have committed three massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, resulting in 32 martyrs and 59 injuries who were transferred to hospitals in the past 24 hours.
On its part, the Government Media Office in Gaza confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces have committed a total of 3,025 massacres against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and dropped 75,000 tonnes of explosives on the enclave.
In an update on the figures resulting from 200 days of “Israel’s” genocidal war on Gaza, the Office emphasized that out of the 34,183 martyrs who reached hospitals, 14,778 are children and 9,752 are women. It added that 30 children lost their lives due to famine, confirming that 72% of the victims of the Israeli war were children and women.
According to the report, the Israeli occupation forces killed 485 medical staff, 67 civil defense crews, and 140 journalists.
It said that 7,000 are still missing and 17,000 children are now orphaned, living without one or both parents.
Multi-front solidarity
The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon – Hezbollah confirmed Tuesday that it engaged the headquarters of two Israeli military units in southern occupied Palestine in response to the assassination of one of its fighters in a southern Lebanese town earlier.
In a statement, Hezbollah said its Resistance fighters launched a combined aerial attack using diversionary and suicide drones and engaged the headquarters of the Golani Brigade and the Egoz Unit 621 at Shraga barracks north of the occupied city of Akka, hitting its targets precisely.
Reuters highlighted that this was Hezbollah’s “deepest attack” into occupied Palestinian territory since the start of the Gaza war on October 7.
Israeli media had earlier reported sirens sounding in the Upper al-Jalil area over a drone infiltration and mentioned that interception missiles were launched toward a suspicious aerial target in the skies of Nahariya.
The media also pointed out that sirens sounded in numerous northern settlements reaching the city of Akka. It was also noted that sirens sounded in Kiryat for the first time since last December.
The Israeli Army Radio confirmed that 200,000 Israelis took shelter in the north after three drones were launched from Lebanon over Nahariya.
The deputy chief of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement underlines that the Israeli occupation is fighting a losing battle as “Israel’s” strategic influence is diminishing.
The Israeli occupation’s strategic influence is diminishing at all levels, and it cannot support itself on its own without aid from the United States, Palestinian Islamic Jihad Deputy Secretary-General Mohammad al-Hindi told Al Mayadeen on Tuesday.
“The balance of power is changing; America has its own problems and challenges, and Israel does not have the support or capabilities to assert dominance in the region,” the Palestinian top Resistance official underlined.
"Israel's strategic influence is diminishing at all levels, the balance of power is changing; America has its own problems and challenges, and Israel does not have the support or capabilities to assert dominance in the region."
“There are new rules of engagement today,” al-Hindi said, stressing that Iran’s retaliation was a mere preliminary warning to the Israeli occupation.
“The West is complicit in Israel’s crimes in Gaza and Palestine and covers them. Yet, we’re ahead of a new landscape that necessitates reassessments,” he added.
"The West is complicit in Israel's crimes in #Gaza and Palestine and covers them. Yet, we're ahead of a new landscape that necessitates reassessments."
The United States, the PIJ deputy chief said, does not want a regional war, especially as it is during an election year, which implies that it would rather not back an Israeli attack that would bring escalation.
“Gaza today is the battleground that damaged Israel most as it tarnished the occupation’s image due to the fact that it is facing Resistance factions perfectly capable of manufacturing their own weapons despite the imposed blockade,” he underlined.
"Gaza represents the most challenging battleground for Israel that tarnished its reputation since it's facing [Resistance] factions that manufacture their own weapons despite the imposed siege [on Gaza]."
– Deputy Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Mohammad… https://t.co/iPbuxdpaQr
Moreover, al-Hindi wondered how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to avoid a regional war as he sought a “tough response” to Iran’s retaliation.
“The Americans and Israelis want to retrieve the captives at the lowest possible price, but that issue the trump card in our hands,” he said. “The proposal that was presented as one drawn up by the mediators is an Israeli paper par excellence, and some of the terms in it are deceptive.”
Al-Hindi went on to tell Al Mayadeen that the resistance submitted its response to the proposal and that it made it clear that withdrawal was a pivotal part of any agreement, though it said that a withdrawal could be gradual. Another core demand is a ceasefire, which the Resistance stressed could also be gradual.
“Israel is forced to pay a price through the deal because of its strategic military failures on the battleground,” the PIJ deputy chief stressed.
“There is more to come […] We have more time for Israel to realize that it must pay the price,” he added. “Israel’s deterrence in the face of Iran has ended.”
“Israel is facing a real impasse and its options are limited,” al-Hindi concluded. “It has grown to appear weaker, and its strategic importance has diminished. Many countries will reassess [their ties to Israel] after the war is over.”
‘Israel’, US lost deterrence
The Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom considered that Iran’s retaliatory attack against Israeli targets is a stark reminder of the loss of Israeli and US strategic deterrence, highlighting that it created an opportunity to change the geopolitical situation in the Middle East.
The newspaper indicated that Iran has put itself in direct confrontation with “Israel”, even at a time that does not seem optimal for it, and has acted against US President Joe Biden’s warning not to.
It suggested that Iran “has established a sophisticated strategy and is patiently, endlessly trying to create a reality where there becomes a question mark about Israel’s existence, not just a theory.”
Elsewhere, the newspaper stressed that “Israel” must prioritize and focus efforts on attempting to harness the United States, alongside a large Western alliance, to deal with the Iranian attack to restore deterrence.
In a related context, the Israeli news website Walla! cited a security official as saying that “Israel’s” response to Iran’s retaliatory strikes may include targeting military infrastructure and weapon depots, extending to assassination operations against officials.
The security official added that estimates indicate the Iranians have not yet said their final word, pointing out that the main battleground would be in the Gaza Strip, and therefore, “we should not expect broad-scale attacks on Iranian interests.”
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh speaks during a press briefing after his meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The head of Hamas’s Political Bureau tells Al Mayadeen that the Israeli government shall not retrieve its captives in Gaza except through “an honorable deal.”
The head of Hamas’s Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, reiterated told Al Mayadeen that the Palestinian Resistance group is adhering to its conditions in negotiations and will not engage in any deal with “Israel” without their fulfillment.
Haniyeh emphasized the Resistance’s insistence on the necessity of declaring a permanent and clear ceasefire in Gaza.
He made it clear that the Israeli occupation has not eliminated Hamas, and shall not eliminate it, pointing out that the Israeli government has not retrieved its captives held in Gaza and shall not retrieve them except through “an honorable deal.”
The head of Hamas's Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, tells #AlMayadeen that the Israeli occupation has not eliminated Hamas, and shall not eliminate it, pointing out that the Israeli government has not retrieved its captives held in #Gaza and shall not retrieve them except… https://t.co/NspGNmMpzn
The Palestinian leader affirmed the Resistance’s insistence on the complete withdrawal and the return of the displaced people to Gaza without any conditions or barriers, in addition to the conditions regarding relief and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, leading to a prisoner exchange deal.
Haniyeh touched on Israeli media’s speculations that the Israeli assassination of his sons and grandchildren is aimed at pressuring Hamas to ease its demands during ceasefire negotiations, underlining that “this will not happen.”
The Hamas chief indicated that the massacres and crimes committed by the Israeli occupation in Gaza reflect its strategic failure after not achieving its declared goals of the war.
“Israel, the spoiled child of the West, is no longer as it once was, and its image has been shattered,” he told Al Mayadeen, adding that what is happening in the “corridors of diplomacy” indicates an unprecedented isolation for the Israeli occupation entity.
The head of Hamas's Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, tells #AlMayadeen that what is happening in the "corridors of diplomacy" indicates an unprecedented isolation for the Israeli occupation entity. https://t.co/JATN3GH3th
Over and above industrial-scale mass murder of individual people—Israel is engaged in the eradication of Gazans as a People~ilana
Inarguably, to condemn Israel’s industrial-scale campaign of slaughter and starvation in Gaza ought to be ethically straightforward. Basic really.
That Israel is committing the “the crime of all crimes” against the Palestinians of Gaza is not within the realm of opinion.
That the Global North is standing stock-still in the face of this meticulously documented holocaust is not in dispute.
That the United States is an active participant in war crimes, funding and arming Israel in contravention of international humanitarian law , a plethora of US laws (having, without attached conditions, delivered more than 100 arms shipments to Israel since October 7), and the natural justice, articulated by Cicero as early as 106-43 B.C: these are all fact.
That America has provided the Jewish State with diplomatic cover—running interference for it, so that it may continue to its evil ends—until recently vetoing three (albeit symbolic) international attempts to stop Israel: this, too, is immutably true.
Right and wrong are universal, not relative. The Sixth Commandment is not opinion, but a species of the inviolable natural law. Neither is it optional. “Thou shalt not murder” is called a commandment for a reason. There are no tribal privilege clauses attached to it. Like gentiles, Jews are enjoined against murder, to say nothing of mass murder.
Yet Israelis now flout the Sixth Commandment with ugly audacity. They appear to believe that their sectarian supremacy transcends the universal moral order to which international law, the natural law and the Decalogue give expression.
With its actions, so “conspicuous and outrageous,” Israel has “knocked the cosmos out of kilter” (a lovely line by novelist Kathryn Harrison). Such is the moral turpitude of the Israel Über Alles crowd—Jewish and gentile, stateside and abroad—that they appear incapable of distinguishing evidence from assertion, and facts from feel-good fiction; they can’t tell right from wrong. By necessity, then, any preface to an essay about Israel’s manifestly intentional annihilation of the Gaza Strip must turn into a primer in ethics.
Clearly, if Israeli society is sick; then so are its cobelligerent backers and boosters.
AMERICA’S CEASEFIRE DECEPTION
America has conditioned the inalienable right to life of Palestinians on the return of Israeli hostages, in effect nullifying that right ~ilana
For throwing-up clouds of obfuscating sepia over its abstention vote on the United Nations Security Council’s ceasefire resolution, March 25, the Biden Administration and its UN representative must be exposed.
“Ceasefire” in previous U.S. drafts amounted to Orwellian News Speak. Having never once called for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire, the U.S. had perfunctorily predicated temporary ceasefireresolutions on the return of Israeli hostages.
Whereas it was obligated morally to compel Israel to forthwith cease and desist its systematic and sustained onslaught on Gaza’s civilians; the US had opted, until March 25, to merely condition the temporary cessation of immoral and illegal mass murder of innocent Palestinians on the release of Israeli hostages, in effect tethering a “ceasefire” to the return of the Israeli hostages.
Against the wishes of citizens of our country and the world, America has deployed its veto power, repeatedly and reliably, in previous United Nations Security Council votes, so as to prevent an immediate, unconditional cease-fire in Gaza.
By so doing, America had conditioned the inalienable right to life of Palestinians on the return of Israeli hostages, in effect nullifying that inalienable right.
Recognizing that the right to life of innocent men, women and children is unconditional; Security Council member states, aside the United States and its protégé Israel, had refused to tether the fate of Gaza to hostage negotiations.
With pellucid logic, Amar Bendjama, Algeria’s ambassador to the U.N and the Arab bloc’s current Security Council member, had stated, February 20, 2024, that, “A vote in favor of [an unconditional ceasefire] is a support to the Palestinians’ right to life.” With its prior veto es and current abstention, the US had nullified Palestinian right to life independent of the rights of Israeli hostages to the same.
You can say that Gaza’s innocent civilians are being held hostage by Israel enablers Blinken, Biden and Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
The general run of people around the world, however, are having none of this. We have been chanting “ceasefire” with catechetical promptness. The West’s “smart” set is belatedly getting the message that their constituents, decent citizens, are revolted by Israel’s acts and are in-revolt against supporting it.
In response, and oh-so cynically, all Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield did on March 25 was to abstain from using American veto power to stop the good guys—China, Russia, Algeria and the rest of the 15-member UN Security Council—from demanding an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. That’s all.
Expect the Biden Administration and its bi-partisan backers to keep gently cajoling brief lulls—conditional breaks—in the IDF’s bloodletting of a helpless, cornered civilian population.
For moral compass scrambled; it’s hard to beat former ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley. In this protracted foreign-policy mirage, Blinken, Biden, Thomas-Greenfield and their political posse do Nikki Haley, a Republican, proud, for Trump’s appointee to the UN would have done nothing different.
CEASE AND DESIST! WHERE’S THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT?
A violent offender, a serial killer, must be stopped; not cautioned and observed! ~ilana
IDF soldiers vaporize young men picking their way through rubble as though in a video game; they mock their victims, invade their homes; filch from their businesses, and rummage through the piteous intimate effects of people dead and dispossessed ~ilana
In the world of patronage, it doesn’t get much worse. The United States is at Israel’s elbow—it is a cobelligerent: In actively sustaining Israel’s armed forces, and running diplomatic interference for its politicians; America is acting as Israel’s “principal sponsor,” complicit in war crimes, signaling to the Jewish State that it will let it continue to its evil endgame.
As I ventured in January, the issuance of the equivalent of a legal cease-and-desist or a restraining order against a violent offender, Israel, is urgent and long overdue. It’s already too late for Gaza as a habitable landmass.
While progressives lauded the International Court of Justice (ICJ), my perspective about the Court’s indecision, some months back, was dimmer. (Disgust, actually.) Unfocused as I was on legalistic definitions of genocide; it was obvious to me that, what was indubitably mass murder and ethnic cleansing—crimes that are in process and ongoing—had to be stopped right away. A violent offender, a serial killer, must be stopped; not cautioned and observed!
Were the International Court of Justice an effective and just organization it would have issued some sort of binding cease and desist order, some manner of restraining order, if you will, instructing the Israel Defense Forces, the Devil’s emissaries on earth, to stop its depredations.
Another international tribunal, the International Criminal Court (ICC), had “issued, in March of 2023, warrants of arrest, no less “for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine,” one of whom was Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, president of the Russian Federation, who was being sought for war crimes.
With respect to Israel, the inept International Court of Justice appears compromised.
For in a just society, the moral strictures that apply to the individual must also extend to the collective. Immoral acts that are forbidden severally cannot be sanctioned collectively. If the citizen must not murder; neither should The State, any state.
UN SECURITY COUNCIL CEASEFIRE IS BINDING
A Security Council resolution not defanged by the US could have included a call for diplomatic, military, political, and economic sanctions, the freezing of Israeli assets, the deployment of a protection force, and the establishment of a tribunal for future prosecution ~ilana
In its uncontested superiority, the United States has asserted, moreover, that the UN ceasefire resolution is “non-binding.” “Completely false,” fumes international law expert Graig Mokhiber, in an interview, March 26, with Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now!” And I paraphrase Mr. Mokhiber:
It is black-letter law in the U.N. Charter that all members of the United Nations are bound to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. The Charter, in Article 25, and in subsequent decisions of the International Court of Justice, has made it indisputable that Security Council resolutions are binding for all member states.
Not only is the last ceasefire resolution binding, but it opens up an opportunity, given that Israel is in breach of it, to table a resolution for enforcement under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, which “empowers the Security Council to orchestrate … collective actions … through a Military Staff Committee.”
A Security Council resolution not defanged by the United States could include a call for corporeal action: diplomatic, military, political, and economic sanctions, the freezing of Israeli assets, the deployment of a protection force, and the establishment of a tribunal for future prosecution.
If left to the rudderless Europeans and Americans—they’ve done not a thing to stop what Ron Unz has termed the first televised mass murder in history—it is for a heavenly tribunal that we will be waiting.
Scars will knit, but the dead don’t rise, and spry young limbs won’t grow back. More than ten children lose their legs daily by the IDF. Spare a thought for the lot of these children hobbled for life, for the US and world leaders have not.
Again, these judicial and political knaves and curs (with apologies to the canine community) could have cut off the supply of munitions to the culprits. (Some have. God bless Canada for placing an embargo on the export of kayaks and maple syrup to Israel.) Without Americans (you and me, the taxpayers); Israel would not last a day in its brave battle against mothers and their babies. We could hobble Israel’s offensive by the imposition of sanctions and boycotts, by freezing Israeli assets worldwide, as was done to Russians. Arrest warrants could have been issued, as the International Criminal Court had for Russians.
In essence, stop murdering and maiming Palestinians, no conditions attached.
ANNIHILATION, NOT WAR
Israel’s war is not a war by any known definition ~ilana
A ceasefire is called upon in war. This is not a war.
Ceasefire is defined as “an agreement, usually between two armies, to stop fighting in order to allow discussions about peace.” Israel’s onslaught on Gaza is not a war by any definition. These are not two armies arrayed one against the other. This is no war between opposing warrior forces. There is no parity here.
If combat veteran Alan Shebaro, U.S. Special Forces, fails to convince you with his experience, I will follow with fact, law and reason. Listen to Shebaro tell it to a Texas City Council in McKinney:
“I know war. What is going on in Palestine right now is not a war. It is the dehumanization, it’s the genocide, it’s the ethnic cleansing of a specific people to take their land. This is wrong … I’ve seen horrible things, but this [Gaza] takes it to an entirely new level.”
Does any military man half-decent swallow the lie that, in its orgiastic annihilation of Gaza, Israel is fighting another army fair and square?!
Also a misnomer is the phrase “military operation.” It mocks out of meaning any linguistic convention that attaches words to the things they signify.
Valor was thus lost, not stolen, when, on October 24, 2023, Colonel Jack Jacobs, a retired US Army veteran—and a man who valiantly spoke up against the invasion of Iraq (ditto)—noodled on about Israel’s “expanding ground operations.” Once a principled voice, Colonel Jacobs lost respectability, right there, for there is no military operation an upstanding military man can get behind in Gaza, where easily 80 percent of the casualties are innocent civilians.
Hip to this last fact is U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. In a quickly retracted statement, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Congress, on February 19, “that more than 25,000 women and children had been killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7.”
The Pentagon later “clarified” that estimate, insisting that, because the figure came from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, not U.S. intelligence; it was unreliable. During that February congressional hearing, Austin had been asked how many Palestinian women and children had been killed by Israel. “It is over 25,000,” he had reflexively blurted out: This, according to the Pentagon, was but a monetary lapse of reason.
“As they were turning Gaza into Dresden on TV, before our very eyes, Israel’s quicksilver state propagandists were also telling us, their American funders, that ‘this is not happening. …Who are you going to believe? Democratic Israel, or your ‘lying eyes’?’ I believe my ‘lying eyes,’ thank you very much. Those ‘lying eyes’ speak to the scale of Israel’s depredations against Gazans. … [And the numbers of dead, injured and displaced] are deemed ‘broadly reliable,’ by all reputable humanitarian, aid-rendering organizations worldwide, backed as they are by the science of satellite and radar.”
Let us indulge Secretary Austin’s already out-of-date estimate, in order to establish here that Israel’s “operation” is not a military operation behind which any military man worth his salt can stand:
Assume that 25,000 is the number of women and children murdered by Israelis, although it is more, not less, considering that thousands are buried beneath the rubble and more souls are being assassinated as we speak: To wit, in the 24 hours following the Security Councils’ vote, 76 Palestinians were murdered in Gaza.
IF 30,000 is the total—men and women, combatants and civilians—murdered heretofore; then women and childrenmake up 83.3 percent of this total. (25,000/30,000) *100
IF 32,000 is the total number of souls slain to date; then the percentage of women and children is 78.1. (25,000/32,000) *100
IF a total of 33,000 human beings were slaughtered; then the percentage of women and children among them is 75.5. (25,000/33,000) *100
And if the number killed rises to 35,000, as it has, and the number of women and children assassinated is, by some miracle, held constant—their percentage would still constitute (25000/35000) *100= 71.4.
Israel’s war is not a war by any definition.
Unctuous UN ultimatums notwithstanding, as of March 21, Netanyahu had vowed to continue his evil clown’s campaign—so “handsomely equipped to fail” I observed in November—executed by a corrupt, clownishly inept and consistently depraved army.
Why, then, are Israel’s 2023-2024 actions in Gaza genocidal?
WHY GENOCIDE
Four conditions of genocide fulfilled; not one law of war heeded: In the course of its genocidal campaign; Israel has violated every law of war codified in Customary International Humanitarian Law ~ilana
How do you compensate a people whose society you’ve cannibalized? ~ilana
“If you know in advance that your actions will cause the deaths of thousands-upon-thousands of civilians; attached to your criminal actions (actus reus) is a guilty mind (mens rea), which means malice aforethought, also known as intent, in Western jurisprudence and judicial philosophy.”
“The razing and ethnic cleansing of Gaza by Benjmain Netanyahu, abetted by Joe Biden and his Uniparty accomplices, in the course of which tens of thousands civilians are dying: This is murder with malice aforethought, a concept that includes ‘deaths resulting from actions that display a depraved indifference to life.‘ Further depraved indifference to life was Israel’s throttling of supplies of water, food and power to the millions of aid-dependent Gazans, as Israel knew full-well this would imperil civilians indirectly.”
More than industrial-scale mass murder of individual people—Israel is engaged in the eradication of Gazans as a People.
Objectively speaking, what Israel has visited on Gazans and their little enclave is not self-defense; but irreparable, wanton mass murder, a “blitzkrieg, by any other name,” combined with ethnic cleansing, and an orchestrated program of starvation against helpless civilians, who are still being indiscriminately and daily bombed, buried—alive and dead—evicted for life.
So says an international law consortium out of a Middlesex University London. So say countless reputable human rights organizations, who have submitted amicus briefs in American courts to enjoin President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Austin from providing weapons and other forms of support for Israel’s Total War on Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Hoping to skirt jurisdictional limitations, “the U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights” has been joined by “an esteemed array of individuals and organizations from around the world, including 139 NGOs.”
Evidence of Israel’s trespass is everywhere.
As I write, raids on the Al Shifa hospital, begun on March 19, continue apace. As of March 22, Israel’sfourth raid on what remains of this hospital was in progress. Over 140 doctors, patients, journalists and other refugees had been summarily executed, reports the indefatigable Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now!” Thousands of refugees crammed into the hospital are currently being turned out, evicted.
All to “thwart terrorism.” Its missionary pursuit of murder in hospitals; Israel blankets with tidy lies.
Israel’s Hamas-made-me-do-it religious doctrine—this concealing of the truth for the faith—insults the intelligence. To listen to the Taqiyyah practiced by these Uncle Sam-sponsored Svengalis; “they are all terrorists.” Or “terrorist accomplices.” “Israel has effectively characterized the whole population in Gaza as human shields or terrorist accomplices as a matter of legal policy,” observed Francesca Albanese, speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where she presented her report, “Anatomy of a Genocide.” Ms. Albanese is a scholar, and a UN special rapporteur on the human-rights dispensation in the West Bank and Gaza. On March 27, she issued her report which found “reasonable grounds” to conclude that Israel is culpable of genocide in Gaza.
Gamely repeating Israel’s mantras; Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the United States Department of State, labeled and libeled Ms. Albanese as an “antisemite.” Yes, terrorism. Also, antisemitism if you disagree with Israel, or dare to disbelieve a country’s whose coin of the realm has become state terror.
On March 8, International Women’s Day, the United Nations detailed the warp and woof of survival as a woman in Gaza. At that time, 9000 Palestinian women had been slaughtered by the IDF; 63 women were being slain daily by the same force, including 37 mothers, each and every day.
While the women’s guerrilla movement, stateside, is galvanizing to go to the polls to ensure their right to evict fetuses from their wombs; Gaza’s women are fighting to keep their fully formed babies alive, fed, safe from unguided bunker-buster bombs lobbed by Israel, and provided by America.
Again: Around 80 percent of Gazans have been driven from their homes. More than 70 percent of structures in the Gaza Strip were reported demolished or damaged, three months ago by the Wall Street Journal. More current satellite radar is available, courtesy of researchers like Jamon Van Den Hoek. His March 13 mapped destruction via satellite reads thus:
IN North Gaza, 69.7 percent of buildings have been destroyed or damaged.
IN Gaza City, it’s 73.7 percent.
IN Deir El-Balah, it’s 54.1 percent.
IN Rafah, an Israeli “work” in progress, 29.5 percent of buildings have been destroyed or damaged.
Gazans have no residences or industries—no life-sustaining infrastructure—to return to upon the implementation of a permanent ceasefire. Gone are their homes, places of work and worship—businesses, agriculture, fisheries, food-production industries and the arable land attached. Gone are the roads, power plants, sanitation and drainage-works, water wells and wastewater treatment plants conduits of electricity, potable water, shelter and food distribution.
Mosques, churches and schools (primary, secondary, tertiary) have been vaporized. Most hospitals, too. Dr. Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian academic, clinician, and longtime volunteer in the occupied territories, speaks to “never-before-seen viciousness; sadism beyond evil.” Gaza had a network of European-style, teaching hospitals, where evidence-based medicine was practiced. Out of over 30 such hospitals, about four remain in tatters. Hundreds of the Strip’s top healthcare providers, who served heroically until hit, have been murdered, often while ministering to patients. The Palestinians of Gaza are now perishing from sepsis, curable and treatable diseases, starvation and dehydration, overseen by Israel. (According to Gisha, which means access.)
Lost with Gaza’s infrastructure is the very fabric of a society—immeasurable human capital—including indissoluble, extended-family networks, the kind of generational bonds we in the West can only dream of, whittled down and depleted in numbers and in their native energy. A people’s cemeteries and archived history have been decimated, their antiquities and artifacts bulldozed and pillaged; their universities flattened; their artists and intellectuals hunted from house to house and extinguished.
Broken, Tariq Haddad, MD, an American cardiologist, told of 100 members of his extended family eliminated. Images of beautiful people, in the full flowering of their vitality (most were highly educated) flashed across the “Democracy Now!” broadcast’s screen. In February, Dr. Nasser Abu-El-Noor, dean of the Faculty of Nursing at the Islamic University of Gaza, along with seven members of his family, sheltering in their home, were murdered. Dr. Medhat Saidam, a renowned plastic surgeon, is buried beneath a building.
Were the High Court in the Hague ever to do its job and engage forensic electronics to that end—it could easily trace the psychological warfare waged, say, against Dr. Refaat Alareer. He had figured out that, “There’s nowhere safe in Gaza, so he chose to stay in his house.” By guerrilla journalist Max Blumenthal’s telling, Alareer and family were sadistically hounded, telephonically, by IDF officers, as they fled from one abode to the next. The IDF finally assassinated he and six members of his family. Myself, I followed a young journalist , Ayat Al Khaddour, who vlogged heroically from her home in Gaza until she was no more, stopped by an IDF-lobbed “precision” bomb, along with members of her family.
Israel has clearly and systematically eliminated the human capital of Gaza in ways diabolically purposeful, irreparable and unforgivable. The best of Gaza are gone; entire Palestinian family trees truncated forever. Why purposeful? Just as the U.S.-backed Israeli military knows the precise azimuths of their targets, including that of the assassinated Refaat Alareer—in the same vein do Israelis have the GPS coordinates of “major infrastructure projects funded by the U.S. government.” These, reports the Associated Press, have been largely spared.
All this is what Article II of the Genocide Convention means by clause number four: “Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” (Amnesty International: Genocide: The Legal Basis For Universal Jurisdiction.)
To Israel’s rap sheet add at least three additional genocidal actions stipulated in Article II of the Genocide Convention, perpetrated “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” (Ibid). These are:
* Killing members of the group.
* Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.
* Direct and public incitement to commit genocide.
As after the Holocaust, responsibility for decent reparations—Israelis to the Palestinians of Gaza—will need to be worked out. But how do you compensate a people whose society you’ve cannibalized?
EVERY LAW OF WAR VIOLATED
Genocide is a process, not an act. It is the destruction of a population from its roots ~Francesca Albanese
Four conditions of genocide fulfilled; not one law of war obeyed. In the course of its genocidal campaign; Israel has violated every law of war, codified in Customary International Humanitarian Law:
‘Launching an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited.’ (Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck, Customary International Humanitarian Law, 2012, Cambridge University Press, 2012)
‘The undisputed cornerstone of international humanitarian law (IHL) is the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants, which obliges belligerents to distinguish at all times between persons who may be lawfully attacked, and persons who must be spared and protected from the effects of the hostilities. In order to avoid any ambiguity, these two categories of persons must be mutually exclusive…’ (Ibid)
‘In the conduct of military operations, constant care must be taken to spare the civilian population, civilians and civilian objects. All feasible precautions must be taken to avoid, and in any event to minimize, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.’ (Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck, Customary International Humanitarian Law (2012), Cambridge University Press, 2012)
Only neolithic beasts like Jonathan Conricus or IDF mouth Keren Hajioff, former IDF spokesmen for Israel’s war of annihilation in Gaza, would have the gall to praise the care uniformed IDF take with human life. In case you’ve missed these Israeli bulwark bureaucrats, Conricus and Hajioff are now fellows at the American Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C., as a perusal of the FDD member page would indicate. Following stints in which these two mindlessly chorused for and covered up the goings-on in Gaza—the two have migrated to an American “think tank,” likely promoting the interests of entities not the United States, and overriding the balancing forces of regionalism in the Middle East.
Still, nothing excites shame in Israeli leaders. Very many of them, including the prime minister, have called on IDF soldiers to show no mercy. This, International Law forbids. Quaintly put, prohibited are “directions to give no quarter,” as in “threatening an adversary therewith or conducting hostilities on this basis.” Prohibited.
“Genocide is a process, not an act,” explains Francesca Albanese. It is the “destruction of a population from its roots.” Lara Elborno, another articulate human-rights lawyer, has ventured the following clincher, and I paraphrase:
Had Israel not dropped a single bomb on Gaza, but had done no more than cut off food, water and electricity to its 2.3 million residents—these action alone would suffice to constitute genocide under the treaties.
RAFAH
Devil stretches; devil flexes ~Hilary Mantel
In its ravening appetite for destruction, Israeli leadership had explicitly indicated that it would “not relent in [its] assault on the Gaza Strip until they’ve effectively accomplished the destruction of the entire strip. And their attacks now on Rafah, in particular, demonstrate that the last refuge, the last piece of the Gaza Strip that hasn’t been effectively destroyed, is not only in their sights, but already under their bombs.” (Criag Mokhiber, “Democracy Now!,” March 26)
According to Customary International Humanitarian Law, cited so far, “Directing an attack against a zone established to shelter the wounded, the sick and civilians from the effects of hostilities is prohibited.” (Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck, Customary International Humanitarian Law (2012), Cambridge University Press, 2012, Chapter 11 – Protected Zones)
In truth, it was mid-February when the Israel Defense Forces had commenced its onslaught on 1.5 million Palestinian refugees, who had been corralled from the north to the south, and now huddle helplessly in Raffah.
Israeli leadership, political and other, pollute the ear with an unbroken stream of genocide-justification jargon. The barbaric nature of their discourse complements their army’s actions. “Conspicuous and ostentatious” about their depredations; the uniformed IDF appear proud to revel in terrorizing and murdering Palestinian civilians forsaken. In general, YouTube runs cover for the IDF. Still, there are countless videos of nauseating brutality, in which IDF soldiers vaporize young men picking their way through rubble, as though in a video game; they mock their victims, invade their homes; filch from their businesses, and rummage through the piteous intimate effects of people dead and dispossessed. Other acts of defilement are too lewd to recount. (See BBC News’ “Israeli soldier videos from Gaza could breach international law, experts say.” Or, watch the Glenn Greenwald’s “Shocking IDF Social Media Videos Mock Gazans—Expose New Atrocities.”)
GOOD PEOPLE: GALLOWAY & BUSHNELL
Wars are a rich man’s affair and a poor man’s fight ~ilana
How many generations of young people can you raise on Big Lies—such as that Israel and its sugar daddy are prosecuting a fair, legitimate war, rather than waging Total War against innocent civilians? ~ilana
“Genocide Joe” and the foreign agents knowns as the “American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), whose Israel-First focus makes them a fifth column; Trump with Jared Kushner and his better-half: These are America’s 2024 election options.
The Biden-AIPAC bloc has begun whispering sweet nothings in the ears of Benny Gantz (National Unity Party), ostensible rival of Bibi Netanyahu (Likud). The AIPAC-run Biden bloc would like you to believe that a chasm in “Israel’s wartime leadership” has opened up. Biden’s bedroom talk with Benny is intended to impress upon the two squalid Jewish supremacists the danger of approaching some sort of political precipice. In the end, Netanyahu and Gantz, who both officiate in their country’s War Cabinet, are philosophically one, inseparable, spherical Gluteus Maximus.
Or, “two flapping cheeks of the same ass,” in George Galloway’s delightfully ribald language. Galloway was describing the political amalgam arrayed against truth and justice in the United Kingdom. As I noted in 2005, Galloway is a master flyter: the ancient Scottish form of invective for which a quick mind and a masterful command of the English language are a must.
Galloway’s capacity for extemporaneous verbal swordplay is not the only thing that distinguishes this jousting member of the British parliament. MP Gallaway and his Worker’s Party ran on foreign policy, in Rochdale, UK, and, in particular, he secured “thumping majorities” in a protest vote for Gaza—and against our overlords, stateside and in Israel, whose new norm is to be out-and-proud about genocide.
There will be flyting words aplenty to come.
The normalization of genocide is what US Airman Aaron Bushnell was protesting when he set himself alight, February 28. Airman Aaron Bushnell, of blessed memory, self-immolated to protest that upon which Galloway secured his victory in Rochdale: Israel’s war on Gaza.
Bushnell died horrifically, yet heroically, like a man—calm and rational—as he recited his reason for self-immolation: “I will no longer be complicit in genocide. This is what our ruling class has decided is the new normal.” Airman Bushnell was driven not by mental disease, but by a morally depraved society that supports de facto terrorist state Israel, with American moral imprimatur, its money and materiel.
Wars are a rich man’s affair and a poor man’s fight. American soldiers have always served as collateral damage in the nefarious projects of Uncle Sam and client states. Their causes and concerns, unless jingoistic and Fox-News friendly, seldom rate a mention. But, following Aaron Bushnell’s demise; many members of our military symbolically burned their uniforms in disgust, only to be mocked by Conservative Inc (or ConOink, as I call them). But they are right, and “this is wrong,” inveighed Alan Shebaro. “There’s nothing more American than speaking out against what’s wrong.” Like elite soldier Alan Shebaro, “Bushnell decried U.S. complicity in the Gaza genocide.”
At its core, what Bushnell was protesting is something even-more fundamental. For words are symbols. They are used as agreed-upon conventions to make sense of the world. What happens when these shared linguistic constructs no longer correspond to the things they are supposed to describe? Bushnell, who was in-the-know militarily, must have grown angrier and angrier as the symbols his society deploys clashed with the reality these symbols were supposed to signify. Particularly did he appear susceptible to the schizophrenogenic communications transmitted, on an ongoing basis, by the many Orwellian Ministries of Truth.
For how many generations of young people can you raise on Big Lies—such as that Israel and its sugar daddy are prosecuting a fair, legitimate war, rather than waging Total War against innocent civilians? Total War is a term to describe an all-out war against any and all. “What I saw was not war, but annihilation,” lamented Dr. Ifran Galaria, volunteer in Gaza, to MSNBC’s Joy Reid.
CALIGULA KUSHNER
Jared Kushner, the nepotistic scion of a dodgy New York realtor, and an empty husk of a man, is coveting the waterfront property of a conquered and dying people ~ilana
These days, “bloody Blinken, secretary of genocide”—a moniker given to him by the grand ladies of “Code Pink,” who have camped out at the Blinken mansion—has been coming and going to the Middle East. In dizzy rapture over Israel, Blinken shuttles to-and-fro on missions to smooth over Israel’s assault on Gaza; make it more genteel, more sellable.
Sellable as Jared Kushner assesses “Gaza’s waterfront property” to be.
With the fey charm of a state-cutter—a coroner—preparing to carve a corpse; philosopher-king Kushner shrugged a slender shoulder, as he languidly mused:
‘I’m sitting in Miami Beach right now, and I’m looking at the situation [in Gaza] and I’m thinking: What would I do if I was there? … I would just bulldoze something in the Negev, I would try to move people in there … I think that’s a better option, so you can go in and finish the job. … I do think right now opening up the Negev, creating a secure area there, moving the civilians out, and then going in and finishing the job would be the right move.’
This waterfront property “could be very valuable” Kushner let slip, on February 15, to an audience at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Middle East Initiative.
Crooked Kushner, you recall, had been Trump’s point person on foreign policy, the Middle East and much else. Little Lord Fauntleroy had even been entrusted with “preparing a peace plan for the Middle East.”
That Kushner had been invited to regale an audience at an elite American university is all you need to know about the intellectual and moral tenor of discourse in the USA. In this repulsive vignette, Jared Kushner, the nepotistic scion of a dodgy New York realtor, and an empty husk of a man, is coveting the waterfront property of a conquered and dying people.
For once, America’s Fourth Column (media) was in the peculiar position of covering up and finessing Kushner’s unfiltered remarks. After all, his position is that of the legacy media and their political paymasters.
BILL CLINTON: ‘WHO’S THE F–KING SUPERPOWER HERE?’
Gaza is a desert of the dead and the dying. Let the American Super Power ride to the rescue ~ilana
Israel’s contempt for the United States is complete.
Unsatisfied with his butcher’s bill in Gaza, demiurge Netanyahu had, at first, cancelled Israel’s delegation to Washington, furious that the United States of America failed to veto a UN ceasefire proposal.
“After his first meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in 1996,” recounts Patrick Theros, of “Responsible Statecraft,” “Bill Clinton vented his fury before his staff about his visitor’s apparent presumptions about the balance of power in the bilateral relationship. ‘Who the f–k does he think he is?’ Clinton reportedly bellowed. ‘Who’s the f–king superpower here?’”
Indeed.
Gaza is a desert of the dead and the dying. Israel, however, is miring humanitarian aid in capriciously sadistic paperwork and protocol. An example is their “dual-purpose” doctrine: “Did you know that syringes, desperately stuck in Palestinian veins deflated by dehydration, can be dual-purpose items?” Yeah! Used for terrorism, found in the tunnels, the lot.
If you can believe it, our “allies” the Israelis are hindering the delivery of American aid to Gaza.
Come again?! You heard me. It now transpires that, in thrall to Bibi Netanyahu, the “Super Power” is planning to construct a floating pier—a run-around around the Israelis, who had also, long ago, tampered with Gaza’s little port, situated as it was, once-upon-a-time, “near the Remal district of Gaza City,” of blessed memory.
Commensurate with Israel’s outrageous excesses, and the crazed riffs coming out of Israeli heads; Israel has established itself as a war criminal. By letting the blood of Palestinians for six months, and showing no intention of letting up; Israel has forfeited its right to protest decisive American intervention. Besides, he who pays the piper calls the tune.
Under present conditions, a president who spoke like President Clinton might have made Americans proud. For once, the American Super Power could entertain ordering shabby little Israel, convulsing in paroxysms of evil, to cease and desist.
As easily, and after ordering Israel to stand down; America could… commandeer Israel’s Sde Dov or Ben Gurion Airport. Or, both. This is an emergency.
Fleets of our assorted military and cargo 747 aircraft would land like angels at an Israeli airport adjacent to Gaza.
Into Northern Gaza would rush these life-saving American trailer trucks, carrying supplies and sustenance for the starving.
Down would go Israel’s fences and in would flow non-stop supplies, as though on a loop.
Landing in and delivering life-saving supplies from a well-appointed Israeli facility into northern Gaza, and throughout the Strip: This is the fastest and smartest way to succor a dying people.
Instead, America chooses to fellate Bibi NetanYahoo, his barking mad military and their berserk countrymen, 88 percent of whom “give a positive assessment of the performance of the IDF in Gaza until now. (Tamar Hermann, “War in Gaza Survey 9,” Israel Democracy Institute, January 24, 2024), 58 percent of whom grumble that not enough force has been deployed to date; and 68 percent of whom say “they do not support the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
Ilana Mercer has been writing a weekly, paleolibertarian think piece since 1999. Her new book is ‘The Paleolibertarian Guide To Deep Tech, Deep Pharma & The Aberrant Economy’(February, 2024). She’s the author of “Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons for America From Post-Apartheid South Africa” (2011)), and other books. Mercer is described as “a system-builder. Distilled, her modus operandi has been to methodically apply first principles to the day’s events.”
Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich slammed the growing protests calling for a hostage deal and elections as “irresponsible pressures.”
“The demand for flexible positions on our part in the negotiations — as has been proven over and over again — only makes [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar harden his positions even more, and makes the return of the hostages even more distant,” Smotrich wrote on X.
“I call on the prime minister to stand firm in the face of irresponsible pressures that endanger the State of Israel and harm the goals of the war,” Smotrich said, as quoted by Israeli media.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli Finance Minister (photo from archive).
Smotrich’s comments came ahead of four days of action by families of Israelis held captive in Gaza, and anti-government protesters. The initiative was announced yesterday, with the relatives of some of the captives saying that it had become clear that the policy of using military pressure to secure their release was not effective.
Thousands Protest Netanyahu’s Handling of War
On Saturday, anti-government protests sprung up in both Tel Aviv and Al-Quds (Jerusalem), as Israelis feel that PM Benjamin Netanyahu is the main obstacle to signing a deal with Hamas and releasing the captives held in Gaza.
Protesters in Tel Aviv blocked the city’s ring road while demanding early elections as well as calling for the release of Israeli captives.
In Al-Quds, hundreds of protesters picketed Netanyahu’s private residence, blaming his far-right government for failing to secure the release of the around 130 captives believed to still be in Gaza — 33 of whom are presumed dead.
Israeli occupation forces stormed on Thursday Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s Khan Younis in a raid the echoes the deadly one on Al-Shifa Complex late November.
On the 132nd day of the brutal aggression on the besieged strip, Israeli occupation forces stormed the Nasser Medical Complex after demolishing its southern wall.
The military targeted the ambulance garage and tents of displaced Palestinians, and bulldozed mass graves inside the compound, Ashraf Al-Qudra, Health Ministry Spokesperson, said in a statement.
Soldiers ordered the hospital administration to transfer all patients – including those in intensive care and the nursery – to an older part of the compound. Six patients on ventilators were transferred, he said.
Meanwhile, he warned that the hospital’s intensive care patients are in grave danger.
Israeli forces attacked Nasser Hospital in besieged Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least one and severely injuring others during the night of February 14, according to WAFA news agency.
The hospital has been under an intense siege by Israeli forces over the last… pic.twitter.com/ewy9Oi4Al3
“The Israeli occupation forces the administration of Nasser Medical Complex to keep intensive care patients without medical staff, which puts their lives in grave danger,” Al-Qudra stated.
For its part, the Israeli occupation military claimed that Israeli captives are being held at the Nasser Hospital and that the medical compound is allegedly being used by Hamas fighters, in claims that echoes those voiced last November when the IOF brutally stormed Al-Shifa Complex, killed dozens and detained others, including medical staff and the facility’s Head, Dr. Mohammad Abu Selmiya.
Death Toll
The Health Ministry also offered an update to the death toll of the aggression, after saying that during the last 24 hours, the occupation killed 84 Palestinians and injured 104 others.
It put the death toll at 28,663, while saying that the number of injured reached 68,395.
BREAKING| The Ministry of Health: Israel committed 9 massacres in the past 24 hours, killing 87 civilians and wounding 104 others.
This brings the death toll in Gaza in 132 days of genocide to 28663 victims.
For its part, the Palestinian NGO Juhoud for Community and Rural Development warned that no humanitarian relief has entered Gaza in the last few days.
Reporting deliberate delays of aid trucks by the Israeli occupation, the NGO’s Abdalwahab Hamad stressed that the “denial of access to food, water, and other necessities consists of a serious violation of international law and humanitarian principles.”
Gaza’s Khan Younis has become the new war epicenter as the Israeli occupation intensified the aggression on Monday, hammering the southern city and committing brutal crimes against its residents.
Dozens were reported martyred or injured in the besieged southern city as Israeli occupation forces target hospitals, ambulances, and schools where thousands of civilians have been sheltering.
Much of Khan Younis has already been damaged or destroyed by Israeli air attacks. Palestinian activists also reported that Israeli occupation soldiers on the ground were blowing up residential buildings.
They’re blowing up entire neighborhoods in Khan Younis |
Israeli soldiers of Givati Brigade blew up 40 houses this evening, according to a soldier on facebook. See the mines used in the comment. pic.twitter.com/Ed0EmyCR6h
For its part, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the occupation military was attacking its ambulance center, preventing first responders from reaching the wounded in Khan Younis.
🚨Urgent: PRCS ambulances unable to reach the wounded in Khan Yunis. Israeli occupation forces are besieging the PRCS ambulance center, and targeting anyone attempting to move in the area.#Gaza#NotATarget ❌#IHLpic.twitter.com/NXOT2Zzvlv
“There is an intense bombing campaign near the Nasser hospital and also El Amal City Hospital in the western part of the city. Attacks are also targeting Gaza’s largest university where thousands of people are sheltering. The area is being bombed by land, air and sea – there’s no safe corridor for them to escape,” Al-Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported from Rafah.
In the latest toll, Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza announced that the number of martyrs since the Israeli aggression on Gaza started on October 7th surpassed 25,000.
As the ministry put the death toll at 25,105, it said that the number of injured Gazans reached 62,681.
“Bringing Hostages in Body bags Not a Victory”
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been under mounted pressure by the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
A group of Israeli hostages’ families and protesters blocked off traffic outside Netanyahu’s private residence in occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Sunday evening, demanding the occupation government reach a deal to ensure the return of the remaining captives held by Hamas.
Families of Israeli captives held in Gaza set up tents near the residence of PM Benjamin Netanyahu (January 21, 2024).
Israeli media reported that the hostages’ families pitched tents in the area.
The Times of Israel quoted a mother of an Israeli captive killed while in captivity in Gaza as urging Netanyahu and the war cabinet to “give up on ego.”
“My daughter didn’t just die, she died on our watch,” she said.
Meanwhile, a father of another Israeli captive said:” “We ask that they fix the failure of October 7… Bringing home 136 hostages in body bags can never be considered any part of a victory.”
n a continued display of defiance, the Palestinian resistance forces launched a series of attacks on occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem), promising more strikes against the occupation.
Al- Qassam and Al-Quds Brigades unleashed a barrage of rockets and missiles, damaging multiple enemy tanks and military vehicles. Meanwhile, the ‘Israeli army’ confirmed the death of five soldiers in the past 24 hours, bringing the total casualty count to 119 since the start of the occupation military incursion.
بالفيديو | كتائب القسام وسرايا القدس يستهدفون تجمع جنود الاحتلال شرق خان يونس بقذائف الهاون من العيار الثقيل وتحقيق إصابات محققة في صفوفهم pic.twitter.com/5LqZrWWoYa
On the 70th day of the Israeli aggression, Al- Qassam Brigades targeted occupied Jerusalem with a rocket barrage in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians. In a statement, the martyr Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades announced the successful targeting of three Israeli Merkava tanks with missiles, resulting in the destruction of one tank and the death and injury of its crew. The statement also mentioned the seizure of equipment from dead soldiers in the city of Khan Yunis.
The brigades further reported the destruction of a house where occupation soldiers were stationed, causing multiple casualties. Al-Qassam distributed videos showing their fighters targeting Israeli vehicles and soldiers in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City.
Abu Obeida: Accuses ‘Israel’ of Misleading killed Figures as Death Toll Rises
Abu Obeida, spokesperson for the martyr Ezz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, accused the occupation of lying about the numbers of dead and injured Israeli soldiers. He emphasized that the officially announced figures are far from the truth and stressed that the Isreali army is using mercenaries during its aggression on Gaza.
He also confirmed that the Brigades destroyed more than 100 Israeli armored vehicles in the past five days, adding that its fighters detonated pre-set explosive devices in buildings that Israeli forces used for cover during confrontations.
Abu Obeida pointed to the United States’ leading role, among the “powers of injustice and aggression,” in providing the Israeli occupation with the necessary military support, through a military airbridge.
While Al-Qassam Brigades continued their effective strikes, Al-Quds Brigades also made significant gains in the fight against the occupying forces. Brigades targeted occupation military vehicles and clashed with Zionist soldiers on various fronts.
Al-Quds Brigades successfully targeted three occupation military vehicles and eliminated two snipers holed up inside a house in eastern Gaza. They also targeted two tanks belonging to the occupation army in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood. The brigades utilized heavy-caliber mortars and distributed videos showcasing their operations.
IOF “Mistakenly” Kill 3 captives
The Israeli occupation army officially confirmed the death of a third soldier, bringing the overall occupation military death toll to 124, including officers and soldiers, since the start of the ground incursion.
Additionally, the occupation army acknowledged killing three Israeli captives in al-Shujaiya neighborhood after “mistakenly” identifying them as Resistance fighters from Hamas’ Al-Qassam.
Thousands of Israelis Take to Streets
Thousands of Israeli captives’ families protested on Friday evening in “Kaplan” Street, now known as the “Hostages Square” in “Tel Aviv” demanding an end to ground battles in Gaza and the establishment of an exchange deal with Hamas.
The demonstrators started their protest at the entrance to the Ministry of Security and the General Staff Headquarters in “Tel Aviv,” blocking roads following the announcement that three Israeli captives were shot and killed by IOF in the al-Shujaiya neighborhood.
Families and supporters of captives
On his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret for the “unbearable tragedy” and emphasized that the killings were a result of mistaken identification.
Hamas’ leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya al-Sinwar says the movement is prepared to initiate a prompt prisoner exchange arrangement that encompasses the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners in return for the release of all captives.
Hamas’ leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya al-Sinwar stated, on Saturday, that the Resistance movement is prepared for an “immediate” exchange of prisoners with “Israel”, however, he stressed that it should be under the formula of all for all.
“We are ready to conduct an immediate prisoner exchange deal that includes the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in exchange for all prisoners held by the Palestinian Resistance,” al-Sinwar said in a statement.
This comes shortly after the military spokesperson for Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, disclosed that the Israeli occupation entity has delayed negotiations regarding the release of Palestinian prisoners, noting that over 50 captives have been killed so far due to Israeli strikes.
“If the [Israeli] enemy wants to resolve the prisoners’ issue once and for all, we are ready. And if they want to go into the process of dealing with the file separately, we are also ready.”
"If the [Israeli] enemy wants to resolve the prisoners' issue once and for all, we are ready. And if they want to go into the process of dealing with the file separately, we are also ready."
Announcing terms of a possible agreement, Abu Obeida said the Resistance is willing to hand over all captives it is holding, but in exchange for the immediate release of all Palestinians in Israeli occupation prisons. He also declared that the Resistance is ready to carry out the agreement in one go or in several stages.
Since the start of the bombardment in the Gaza Strip, “Israel” has arrested a significant number of Palestinians, effectively doubling the number of Palestinians in its prisons. Before October 7, there were approximately 5,200 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Palestinian officials now report that the number of prisoners has exceeded 10,000. During the past three weeks, “Israel” arrested around 4,000 Gaza laborers working in “Israel” and is holding them in military bases. Additionally, 1,070 other Palestinians were arrested in overnight army raids in the occupied West Bank and al-Quds.
Shortly after Abu Obeida’s speech, Israeli media reported that representatives of the families of Israeli captives in Gaza requested, following their meeting with Israeli occupation’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a prisoner exchange deal involving all Palestinian prisoners in exchange for all captives held by the Resistance.
In response to growing concerns about the fate of the captives during “Israel’s expansion of ground operation in Gaza,” Netanyahu agreed to meet with representatives of the families who were seeking information on the government’s approach. While Netanyahu did not commit to a specific exchange deal, he claimed to the families that authorities would make every effort to bring the hostages home.
Earlier, relatives of some of the 229 Israeli captives in Gaza staged a protest and urgently appealed on Saturday for a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Security Minister Yoav Gallant, and other members of the war cabinet.
This request comes as “Israel” carried out deliberate strikes that disrupted communication networks in Gaza, while occupation forces declared an “expansion” of ground incursions into the Strip.
Israeli media reported that protesters demanding the release of captives and the dismissal of Netanyahu blocked a road near the Ministry of Security in “Tel Aviv”.
The families expressed concern for the safety of their family members as the Israeli war machine launched an unprecedented bombing of the Strip last night, which they described as “the most terrible of all nights.”
Simultaneously, the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum issued a statement on Saturday, describing a long and sleepless night filled with Israeli bombardments and a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. They expressed deep uncertainty about the fate of the captives held in Gaza, who were also subjected to heavy bombings.
It is worth noting that the Palestinian Health Ministry announced on Saturday that the number of martyrs in Gaza due to the Israeli aggression has risen to 7,703 so far, including 3,595 children. In a statement, the Ministry added that the Israeli occupation committed 53 massacres just yesterday and 825 against families in total since October 7.
Mnar Adley is an award-winning journalist and editor and is the founder and director of MintPress News. She is also president and director of the non-profit media organization Behind the Headlines. Adley also co-hosts the MintCast podcast and is a producer and host of the video series Behind The Headlines. Contact Mnar at mnar@mintpressnews.com or follow her on Twitter at @mnarmuh
Editor’s Note: Dear Readers, MintPress News’ YouTube channel was recently demonetized, and many of our videos made age-restricted. We would greatly appreciate your support by becoming a member of our Patreon page so that we can continue to bring you important stories like this one. Much of the work that we do is supported by viewers like you.
We were told Hamas killed 1400 Israelis on October 7, that they carried out rapes and torture of civilians en masse and, of course, that they beheaded babies.
These claims are being used to justify Israel’s bombardment of Gaza – the world’s largest open-air prison. Israel’s bombing of the strip, where over 50% of the population are children, has cost the lives of more than 5,000 people and left more than one million homeless.
Recent events surrounding the Gaza conflict have prompted questions about the accuracy of reported actions attributed to Hamas and Israel’s military response. A closer examination reveals a complex and, at times, conflicting narrative.
On October 7, initial reports suggested that Hamas had killed 1,400 Israelis, conducted mass rapes and torture, and even beheaded babies. These claims were cited as justification for Israel’s deadly bombardment of Gaza.
However, skepticism has emerged about the accuracy of these claims, as details remain unclear. The mainstream corporate media has largely adopted the narrative of the Israeli government, placing the blame squarely on Hamas. Nonetheless, emerging evidence from within the Israeli military and media has challenged that narrative.
One critical point of contention is the official list of Israeli casualties. Israel released a list of its dead on October 23, revealing that over 48% of those listed were soldiers or armed police on active duty, not civilians. Additionally, it has become evident that members of armed settler militias were also among the casualties.
Survivor testimonies, such as that of Yasmin Porat, suggest that Hamas captured civilians as bargaining chips to end the illegal siege on Gaza and secure the release of some of the 5,300 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, many of whom are women and children. Porat noted that Hamas treated her and others humanely, with an expressed intention to transport them to Gaza. “They were very humane towards us,” she said in an interview on Israeli state radio. She also added that one Hamas fighter told her, ‘We’re not going to kill you. We want to take you to Gaza.’ Once released, Porat also claimed that the Israeli government gave her a specific script of talking points that she refused to go along with.
The situation escalated when Israeli police and military arrived and initiated heavy gunfire and even tank shell attacks. Several Israeli testimonies now claim that they were fired upon by Israeli military and police rather than Hamas.
This approach appears consistent with the “Hannibal Directive,” an Israeli military policy dating back to 1986 that prioritizes preventing the capture of Israelis by enemy forces, even at the cost of their lives. This directive implies that Israelis might be killed rather than allowed to fall into the hands of Hamas.
The Hannibal Directive was certainly used on October 7, when Hamas overran an Israeli military base at the Erez Crossing. Brigadier General Avi Rosenfeld, the commander of the base, called in an airstrike on his own position, even as he and countless others were stationed there and still fighting Hamas. This was reported by Amos Harel in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz.
During the events of October 7, Hamas fighters managed to escape their Gaza prison using paragliders to reach Israeli military bases. They did kill and take Israelis captive. However, questions linger as video footage reveals Israeli police standing beside a truck and firing at approaching Palestinian fighters, raising doubts about the initial assumption that Hamas was attacking civilians at a festival.
The claims of “beheaded babies” made headlines on various news outlets, including CNN. The source of this claim was the Israeli channel i24 News, but it later emerged that the source was David Ben Zion, an extremist settler known for inciting race riots against Palestinians. A Haaretz investigation previously found that i24 News functions as a proxy for the Netanyahu family, with directives coming straight from the Israeli Prime Minister’s office at times.
Subsequently, the Israeli military distanced itself from these claims, CNN retracted the story, and the White House acknowledged a lack of evidence. Similarly, the case of Shani Louk, an Israeli tattoo artist initially reported by the Israeli government as having been raped and killed, took a different turn when her mother confirmed that she was safe in Gaza and was being treated in a hospital for a head injury.
The complex and evolving narrative surrounding the October 7 events has raised doubts about the justifications for Israel’s brutal military response in Gaza. As the situation continues to unfold, it becomes increasingly apparent that the true story of that day may not be as straightforward as initially portrayed.
Families of Israeli captives held by Palestinian resistance in Gaza during a rally in Tel Aviv.
Families of the Israelis held captive by Hamas since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7 called on the government to ‘use every opportunity’ to release them, warning that their “patience ran out.”
Just before the public news conference of the captives’ families began in Tel Aviv on Thursday, rocket warning sirens sounded in occupied city and environs, and those attending it had to evacuate to a protected area.
“20 days have passed. 20 days. 20 days we have no idea how they are doing or how they are being treated, if they are okay, if they are breathing, where they even breathe. 20 days that ask us to be patient. 20 days, can you imagine? A mother, a father, a child, a parent who doesn’t know where his loved one is, can you even imagine? Because we live it every day, all of us. We were very patient, beyond a lot, but that’s it. Our patience has run out. Our patience has run out,” mother of an Israeli captive said.
Before the press conference, the members of the families shouted in English: “Free then now,” and “200 families don’t sleep at night!”
Another mother of an Israeli captive addressed the comments to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Bibi, now is the time to make a deal and return all the hostages to Israel. I am begging you. Try to imagine that it was your son who was kidnapped to Gaza. Bring Almog (her son) home. Now!”
For its part, Hamas Palestinian resistance group said it could not release the Israeli captives it is holding until a ceasefire is agreed in the continuing conflict, according to Russia’s Kommersant newspaper.
The newspaper quoted an official called Abu Hamid as saying on Friday that the group needed time to locate all of those who had been taken to Gaza by various Palestinian factions during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7.
Israeli bombing of Gaza has killed 50 of the captives, Abu Hamid said.
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The Israeli captive said the Palestinian Resistance members treated her “well and attended to all her needs.”
Israeli captive Yocheved Lifshitz, who was released by the Qassam Brigades yesterday, said that the Al-Qassam Brigades were very friendly towards them, took care of them, and provided them with medicine.
During the press conference held in a hospital in “Tel Aviv”, she was asked why she shook hands with a member of the Hamas movement, she said it was because “They treated us very well.”
She added that the first thing the resistance fighters told them was that they were people who “believed in the Quran and would not harm them”, adding that they would get the same treatment the resistance members were getting.
She said that each of the five hostages in her group was looked after by a doctor, adding that there was also a paramedic who kept track of the medications.
On the other hand, the Israeli Kan channel quoted sources from the Israeli public relations office saying that “allowing Yocheved Lifshitz (the released captive) to make a direct statement was a mistake.”
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This comes after Abu Obeida announced on Friday that the Brigades released two captive US citizens also on “humanitarian grounds”.
"لدينا مجموعة محتجزين من جنسيات مختلفة تم جلبهم أثناء المعركة ولم تكن هناك فرصة للتحقق من هوياتهم، نعتبرهم ضيوف لدينا ونسعى لحمايتهم ونتمنى أن يبقوا سالمين"
It is noteworthy that Abu Obeida announced the release of two American detainees for humanitarian reasons in response to Qatari efforts.
“In response to Qatar’s efforts, we released two detained US women (mother and daughter) on humanitarian grounds to prove to the US people and the world that the allegations of [US President Joe] Biden and his fascist administration are unfounded lies,” Abu Obeida said in a statement released by Hamas.
Releasing Lifshitz comes after the Hamas movement accused the Israeli occupation of assassinating Palestinian prisoner and senior Hamas movement member Omar Hamza Draghma on Monday while on administrative detention in “Israel’s” “Megiddo” prison.
Draghma, the 58-year-old leader from Tubas, was arrested alongside his son at the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, according to Palestinian sources, as part of a detention campaign led by the Israeli Occupation Forces across the West Bank.q
He called on all the countries to warn their citizens against fighting alongside the Israeli army, confirming that the Resistance would release foreign prisoners “if the necessary conditions are met.”
Last week, Abu Obeida revealed that the Resistance is holding captives of different nationalities, adding that there was no opportunity to verify their identities amid Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, vowing to keep them safe and treat them well, keeping in mind the indiscriminate Israeli strikes and shelling on Gaza.
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 