World Israel threatens Gaza's residents with "complete destruction" if Hamas doesn't hand over hostages

Israel's defense minister threatened earlier this week to open "the gates of hell" in Gaza if Hamas refuses to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demands, and Israel has been delivering. At least 58 people were killed in a third consecutive night of airstrikes up and down the Palestinian territory, bringing the death toll to an estimated 500 people since the ceasefire was shattered with Tuesday's shock pre-dawn Israeli missile barrages, according to the enclave's Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

"Residents of Gaza, this is a final warning," he said in a video broadcast Wednesday afternoon. "If all the Israeli hostages are not released and Hamas is not eliminated from Gaza Israel will act with forces you have never known before. Take the advice of the U.S. President. Return the hostages and eliminate Hamas, and other options will open up for you — including going to other places in the world for those who wish. The alternative is complete destruction and devastation."

Less than 2% of the Palestinian populatiom support or identify with the Hamas organization.

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As The Genocide Continues: 22nd anniversary of the killing of Rachel Corrie

Twenty-two years ago, the Israeli military killed 23-year-old American activist Rachel Corrie by running her over with a Caterpillar D-9R bulldozer while she was standing in front of a Palestinian family’s home in Gaza to prevent its demolition.

Since Rachel's death, Israeli soldiers have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and numerous international activists. The brutal oppression of Palestinians, the very reason Rachel went to Gaza, has only intensified. Today, her parents remind us that she would have continued to passionately advocate for global solidarity with Palestinians if she were still alive.

This is not Gaza, this is Jenin

This is not Gaza, this is Jenin moments ago as the Israeli army continues its offensive on the West Bank dubbing it "Operation Wall." 

Dozens of civilians are killed, including children (as young as 2 years and 9 years old).

This situation is terrifying. Even those killed in Jenin are not allowed to be buried, they've been in the refrigerators for more than a week as the army closes off the cemetery.

“In our profession as war journalists we are required to wear bullet-proof vests with the PRESS insignia on them, and our cars are all also marked with 'PRESS/TV.' 

It’s to be visible to armed groups, whether it’s the Israeli military or Palestinian resistance groups, that we are PRESS. With that, they’re all supposed to ensure our safety & not target us.

But in Palestine, being press means being a target. The gear which is meant to protect us has become a marker to attack us.

When the Israeli army is not around -even if I’m around Palestinian fighters- I actually don’t need my gear at all. 

In fact, fighters are eager to speak with us- often commending our “bravery” to dare go by them because the Israeli military does not want their stories out. 

It is only when Israeli army jets, drones, & soldiers are in the skies/ground do I find us- local and internationals- wearing our gear. 

The flack jacket can’t protect me from a drone strike, a bullet to the neck, to the thigh, to the shoulder.”

Mariam Barghouti

American-born Palestinian writer, journalist, blogger, researcher, and commentator.

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Trump and Netanyahu hold talks as US president warns ‘no guarantees’ fragile peace in Gaza will hold

President Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are set to meet Tuesday as the Israeli prime minister faces competing pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce against Hamas militants in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who want the remaining hostages home and the 15-month conflict to end.

Trump is guarded about the long-term prospects for the truce, even as he takes credit for pressuring Hamas and Israel into the hostage and ceasefire agreement that went into effect the day before he returned to office last month.

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Israel’s image crisis and the limits of propaganda

As a growing number of Israeli voices openly condemn the actions of their military in Gaza, the Israeli government is taking extraordinary steps to conceal the identities of soldiers committing war crimes.

Vanishing Voices: The Fight for Cultural Preservation

How conflict and neglect threaten humanity’s cultural heritage

Why these Israeli men volunteered to fight - but now refuse to return to Gaza

Then came the fighting in Gaza itself. Things seen that could not be unseen. Like the night he saw cats eating human remains in the roadway.....MORE

The Israeli military has the technology to strike whoever they target and the intellegence to know exactly who they are targeting

Food charity pauses Gaza work after staff killed in Israeli strike

The charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) has said it is pausing its operations in Gaza after a vehicle carrying its staff members was hit by an Israeli air strike.....MORE

Witnesses say Israel is using sniper drones in Gaza and they're shooting civilians

The stabilized Baduga drone sniper rifle is accurate enough to ensure one-shot kills at 200 meters

Last week British surgeon Nizam Mamode testified in front of a committee in the U.K. Parliament. Dr. Mamode had recently returned from working at a hospital in Central Gaza.

He told parliamentary members what he witnessed, including drones that would come down and "pick off civilians, children. And we had description after description. This is not, you know, an occasional thing. This was day after day after day."

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Israel’s forced displacement in Gaza amounts to war crime: HRW

Israeli authorities have caused massive and deliberate forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, in what amounts to a war crime, a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found.

The international human rights organisation analysed satellite imagery, Israeli forced evacuation orders and statements by senior Israeli officials to show that authorities in Israel are deliberately and permanently making returning to large areas of Gaza effectively impossible for the Palestinian population.

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Israel, Haiti top CPJ list of states where journalist murders go unpunished

Israel is the world’s second-worst offender after Haiti in letting the murder of journalists go unpunished, according to a new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists.....MORE

Echoes of a Lost Gaza - 2024 version

Mariam Shahin has been making films about Gaza for over thirty years. She’s also made many documentaries and short films for Al Jazeera English since it launched in 2006. When she moved to Gaza in 2005, she felt a powerful sense of optimism following the Israeli withdrawal. But by 2009, war had badly damaged its infrastructure, neighbourhoods, businesses and communities – and that optimism had evaporated.

Now, in the wake of the even more destructive war that began on 7th October 2023, Mariam seeks out the people she has met in Gaza over the years – and reflects on the wasted potential and devastated lives after sixteen years of blockade and a year of one of the most destructive wars in Middle East history.

Israeli Army Exposed For Using Palestinians As Human Shields

The New York Times is reporting that IDF soldiers are using Palestinian civilians as human shields.

Israel accused of using white phosphorus on residential buildings in Lebanon

The Israeli military has repeatedly used white phosphorous in Lebanon in recent months, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday, adding to concerns of war crimes by the Israeli military in the region since the onset of its war against Hamas.....Read More

Israeli military blames mistaken identity in aid workers’ deaths; dismisses two officers

Top left to right: Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom of Australia, Damian Soból of Poland, and Jacob Flickinger of the U.S. and Canada. Bottom left to right: John Chapman of Britain, James Henderson of Britain and James Kirby of Britain.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday dismissed two officers after finding that a fatal strike this week killing seven workers with the charity group World Central Kitchen (WCK) should not have occurred.

A preliminary investigation carried out by the Israeli Joint Chiefs of Staff found that the IDF mistakenly thought a convoy carrying the workers — who had communicated their movements to the military — were armed Hamas fighters and not from WCK.

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US considers major new weapons sale to Israel

The Biden administration is mulling a major new arms sale to Israel amid calls to stop sending weapons to the ally as civilian casualties in Gaza mount, The Hill confirmed Monday. 

The U.S. government is considering selling Israel up to 50 new F-15 fighter jets, 30 AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, as well as Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, equipment that can alter dumb bombs into precision-guided weapons, Politico first reported.

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