All posts tagged: Israel War on Gaza

Thousands march in Sweden’s Malmo against Israel’s Eurovision participation | Israel War on Gaza News

Thousands march in Sweden’s Malmo against Israel’s Eurovision participation | Israel War on Gaza News

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Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in the Swedish port city of Malmo against Israel’s participation in the pan-continental Eurovision Song Contest. Protesters waving Palestinian flags packed the historic Stortorget square near Malmo’s 16th-century town hall before a planned march on Thursday through the city for a rally in a park several kilometres from the Eurovision venue. Police estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 people took part. Among those in the crowd was Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Israel is a terror state”, the demonstrators set off smoke flares in the Palestinian flag colours during a noisy but peaceful rally to criticise Israel and call for a ceasefire in Gaza. There was a large police presence, with a hovering helicopter, and officers on rooftops with binoculars. A smaller pro-Israel protest was also held on Thursday in a central Malmo square. Contest organisers, who try to keep Eurovision a nonpolitical event, have rejected calls to bar Israel over the war on Gaza. But they told …

‘Fight with our fingernails’: Israel’s Netanyahu defies US weapons warning | Israel War on Gaza News

‘Fight with our fingernails’: Israel’s Netanyahu defies US weapons warning | Israel War on Gaza News

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Prime minister and officials say Israel will continue fight even as US increases pressure over Rafah assault. Israeli officials have struck a defiant tone after US President Joe Biden warned that the United States would not provide weapons for a full-scale ground assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are hemmed in with no safe way to leave. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in televised remarks on Thursday that Israel, which is heavily reliant on US weapons shipments, would “fight with our fingernails” if necessary. “Hamas [hearts] Biden,” Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right security minister, wrote in a social media post. Hamas ❤️Biden — איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) May 9, 2024 The US has consistently provided Israel with military support throughout the campaign in the Gaza Strip, defying growing international and domestic pressure and sidelining concerns over alleged violations of international law by Israeli forces. Biden, in an interview with CNN on Wednesday, said the US was still committed to Israel’s defence and would supply Iron Dome …

UK students at elite universities join mushrooming pro-Palestine protests | Protests News

UK students at elite universities join mushrooming pro-Palestine protests | Protests News

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London, England – At 3am last Wednesday, as the rain poured down, pro-Palestine students at Bristol University set up an encampment opposite a study centre on campus. Eugenia and five other student activists who had met at previous protests put four tents together. But despite the cold, more sprung up over the next few nights. “It’s now grown to at least 20 tents, with loads of people rotating in and out, usually about 30 [people] at the camp during the day. But it’s sometimes more if we have a specific event on,” Eugenia, an organiser with the Bristol for Palestine group, told Al Jazeera. “Staff and students stopping by to express support and ask how they can get involved is also so encouraging,” said Eugenia. “The movement to divest and fight for a free Palestine is so much bigger than the university executives like to pretend.” The encampment has communal supplies, such as food, face masks, COVID-19 tests, and books on Palestinian history. There are also flyers explaining protester rights as well as leaflets on …

Israel says reopening key Gaza border point as it steps up Rafah attacks | Israel War on Gaza News

Israel says reopening key Gaza border point as it steps up Rafah attacks | Israel War on Gaza News

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Israel claims it is reopening the main crossing point for humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip as its military launched new attacks across the Palestinian territory and was building its offensive on southern Rafah despite ongoing talks for a ceasefire. The Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis, was taken over by Israeli forces and closed after a Palestinian rocket attack killed four of their soldiers. Despite signalling the opening of the vital frontier in Rafah on the border with Egypt, aid trucks were yet to start entering the enclave on Wednesday. Israeli tanks took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, choking off supplies of crucial aid and preventing the injured from leaving, after launching a military incursion on the city on Monday, ordering 100,000 people to evacuate from the crowded eastern sector. Dozens of Palestinians have since been killed and wounded. The Kuwaiti Hospital, one of the few health facilities still operational in Rafah, has received the bodies of 35 people and 129 wounded, medical …

US pauses weapons delivery to Israel over Rafah offensive concerns: Reports | Israel War on Gaza News

US pauses weapons delivery to Israel over Rafah offensive concerns: Reports | Israel War on Gaza News

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United States President Joe Biden’s administration paused a shipment of weapons to Israel last week in opposition to apparent moves by its forces to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a senior administration official has said. Biden has been trying to head off a full-scale assault by the Israelis against Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from fighting elsewhere in the Gaza Strip. The AFP, Reuters and The Associated Press news agencies on Tuesday quoted unnamed US officials as saying Washington began to “carefully review proposed transfers of particular weapons to Israel that might be used in Rafah” in April when it seemed Israel appeared close to making a decision on the assault. “As a result of that review, we have paused one shipment of weapons last week. It consists of 1,800 2,000-pound [907kg] bombs and 1,700 500-pound [227kg] bombs,” one official reportedly said. “We are especially focused on the end-use of the 2,000-lb bombs and the impact they could have in dense urban settings as we have seen in …

Israel seizes key Gaza border crossing as it launches assault on Rafah | Israel War on Gaza News

Israel seizes key Gaza border crossing as it launches assault on Rafah | Israel War on Gaza News

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Israeli forces have seized control of Gaza’s Rafah border crossing, cutting off a vital route for humanitarian aid and potential sanctuary for civilians from a building offensive. The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had seized “operational control” of the Gaza side of the border post, which links the besieged enclave with Egypt. The closure of the crucial passage and positioning of tanks in the centre of Rafah is seen as a demonstration of Israel’s determination to press on with an assault on the southern city despite ongoing truce talks. The 401st Brigade entered the Rafah crossing early on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, closing a route vital for the aid entering Gaza and any civilians able to flee the fighting to Egypt. The military claimed that the crossing was “being used for terrorist purposes”, alleging that Hamas’s mortar attack on Sunday on the Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis, which remains closed, was launched from the vicinity. However, it has not so far provided evidence. IDF troops managed to …

Belgian and Dutch students protest against Israel’s war on Gaza | Israel War on Gaza News

Belgian and Dutch students protest against Israel’s war on Gaza | Israel War on Gaza News

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Students in Belgium and the Netherlands have joined the wave of protests around the world against Israel’s war on Gaza. The protesters occupied parts of the universities of Ghent and Amsterdam on Monday, joining international student demonstrations that started on US campuses. At the University of Amsterdam (UvA) in the centre of the city, hundreds of students set up a camp, pitching tents, playing in drum circles, and barricading access with wooden pallets. The students want UvA and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) to end their partnerships with Israeli institutions. A UvA spokesperson said that while it condoned the protest during the day, it will not tolerate students staying the night. “If students decide to spend the night, we will report it to the police”, he said. In neighbouring Belgium, some 100 students occupied part of Ghent University (UGent). Footage shared on social media shows students surrounded by tents chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has to go” in one university building. Several UGent employees and professors have signed an open letter supporting the protest …

What are the implications of Israel’s ban on Al Jazeera? | Israel War on Gaza

What are the implications of Israel’s ban on Al Jazeera? | Israel War on Gaza

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Qatar-based network says action by Israel’s government is illegal. Al Jazeera has condemned the Israeli government’s decision to shut down the media network’s operations in the country as a criminal act against international and humanitarian law. What’s behind this ban? And how effective will it be? Presenter: Tom McRae Guests: Ronnie Kasrils – leading anti-apartheid activist and former South African intelligence minister Maria Ressa – co-founder of the Rappler news website and recipient of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Jonathan Dagher – journalist heading the Middle East desk at Reporters Without Borders Source link