All posts tagged: IsraelPalestine

Gaza urgently needs a more effective humanitarian approach | Israel-Palestine conflict

Gaza urgently needs a more effective humanitarian approach | Israel-Palestine conflict

The ceasefire agreement in Gaza has now held for a month. There have been critical moments and violations, but the mediators have so far managed to keep the deal alive. This has allowed many of the 1.9 million displaced people to move back to areas they had fled from, easing the strain on southern and central Gaza which had hosted large makeshift camps without the necessary infrastructure. The ceasefire has certainly brought a sense of relief to the Gaza Strip, which has endured unimaginable suffering for 15 months. But for the families who have survived the relentless bombing and destruction, the battle is far from over. They face a new war – one against poverty, hunger, homelessness, and despair. Homes lie in ruins, hospitals are overwhelmed, and schools are either destroyed or still shelter the displaced and homeless. Gaza has been set back by decades. Over the past weeks, we have seen aid access ramp up significantly into the Strip, particularly the north, which was besieged for months. But significant challenges remain. On the ground, colleagues …

Four examples of Trump’s neverending support for Israel | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Four examples of Trump’s neverending support for Israel | Israel-Palestine conflict News

The return of US President Donald Trump has been hailed by parts of the Israeli public who see his second term as a return of uncritical support of Israel. Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, supported Israel in its war on Gaza, as well as its invasion of Lebanon, but his administration’s occasional misgivings about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which is now thought to have killed close to 62,000 people, made parts of the Israeli public unhappy. Trump’s involvement in a ceasefire that led to the release of some Israeli captives from Gaza and his enthusiastic suggestions of ethnically cleansing Gaza have raised Israeli hopes that his second term will be as pro-Israeli as his first. Here’s how he has helped prop Israel up. Diplomacy Trump’s diplomatic moves and appointments reflect his unwavering support for Israel. He wants the US ambassador to Israel to be Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who opposes the two-state solution that would give Palestine a state and has even questioned whether “such a thing as a Palestinian exists”. Trump’s previous ambassador to Israel …

The Iran-led axis of resistance in the aftermath of Syria’s upheaval | Israel-Palestine conflict News

The Iran-led axis of resistance in the aftermath of Syria’s upheaval | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Tehran, Iran – For decades, authorities in Iran have been meticulously building an “axis of resistance” of like-minded factions to oppose Israel and the United States across the region. The alliance has included armed entities and government actors in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, along with Palestinian groups. With the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Tehran lost not only a four-decade alliance with the ruling family in Damascus but also major axis lifelines. Amid claims that the axis has collapsed, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei asserted last week such views are “ignorant” and wrong. The span of resistance, he said, would “encompass the entire region” as the axis is not hardware that can be destroyed, rather it is faith and commitment that only grows stronger under pressure and will succeed in expelling the US from the region. Kicking the US out, especially from neighbouring Iraq, remains a top goal for Tehran to avenge the January 2020 assassination of Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top general and a main architect of the axis. Cutting off access …

At least 42 Palestinians killed as Israel ramps up bombing in central Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict News

At least 42 Palestinians killed as Israel ramps up bombing in central Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says conditions for reaching a ceasefire in Gaza have improved. At least 42 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, medical sources told Al Jazeera Arabic, as Israeli forces stepped up their bombardment of central areas and tanks pushed deeper into the enclave’s north and south. Six people were killed in two air strikes on a house and near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip while four others were killed when an Israeli strike hit a motorcycle in Khan Younis in the south, the Reuters news agency reported on Thursday, quoting medics. Later, an Israeli air strike near a tent camp housing displaced families in eastern Khan Younis killed at least five people and wounded others. In Nuseirat refugee camp, Israeli warplanes carried out several air attacks, destroying a multistorey building and hitting roads outside mosques. At least 11 people were killed in the strikes, according to health officials at al-Awda Hospital in the camp. They said in a statement that dozens …

Expected, yet stressful. How Iranians reacted to Israel’s attack | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Expected, yet stressful. How Iranians reacted to Israel’s attack | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Tehran, Iran – Thousands of Iranians in Tehran were jolted awake by the sound of explosions in the early hours of Saturday as Israel attacked. “I heard about 10 booms in relatively quick succession,” said Ali, a 32-year-old who lives in western Tehran, where the first booms were heard after 2am (22:30 GMT on Friday). Iranians got on social media to report hearing explosions all over the city and some surrounding areas. By the time the second round of attacks hit a few hours later, videos were circulating online showing air defences being activated to counter incoming threats. “Not that it was unexpected, but it was stressful anyway. We were up till morning with family checking the news, and we were talking with colleagues in our Telegram channels and looking for details,” said Ali, who asked his surname to be withheld. Echoes of war In Tehran and elsewhere across the country, life mostly continued as normal on Saturday, the first day of the working week in Iran. Traffic was normal in different areas of the …

Advocates question US ‘threat’ to Israel over Gaza aid: What to know | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Advocates question US ‘threat’ to Israel over Gaza aid: What to know | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Senior United States officials have warned Israel that if it does not take “urgent and sustained actions” to allow more humanitarian assistance into the Gaza Strip, the US government may be forced to curtail its support for the top ally. The warning, put forward in a letter signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin that was made public this week, came as Israel’s year-long war on Gaza has fuelled starvation and disease across the coastal Palestinian enclave. “The amount of assistance entering Gaza in September was the lowest of any month during the past year,” the US officials said in the letter, giving Israel 30 days to act on a series of demands to “reverse the downward humanitarian trajectory”. Almost immediately, lawyers, human rights advocates and other experts questioned the US administration’s apparent threat of cutting off American military assistance to Israel. “Once again, the Biden administration is doing bureaucratic gymnastics to avoid enforcing US law and ending arms transfers to Israel,” Annie Shiel, US advocacy director at the Center …

White House warned of risk of Israeli war crimes days after Oct 7: Report | Israel-Palestine conflict News

White House warned of risk of Israeli war crimes days after Oct 7: Report | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Senior Pentagon and Department of State officials warned US President Joe Biden’s administration of potential Israeli war crimes days after the start of the October 7, 2023, war on Gaza, an investigation by the Reuters news agency finds. Reuters reported on Friday that after reviewing three sets of email exchanges between senior US administration officials, dated between October 11 and 14, officials had sounded the alarm that a rising death toll in Gaza could violate international law and affect US ties to the Arab world. “The messages also show internal pressure in the Biden administration to shift its messaging from showing solidarity with Israel to including sympathy for Palestinians and the need to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza,” the investigation found. In an email sent on October 11 – five days after Hamas’s attack on Israel and the start of the offensive in Gaza – the US State Department’s top public diplomacy official, Bill Russo, told senior officials that the US was “losing credibility among Arabic-speaking audiences” by not addressing the unfolding humanitarian crisis …

Exploding pagers, psychological warfare: Israel’s attack on Hezbollah | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Exploding pagers, psychological warfare: Israel’s attack on Hezbollah | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Beirut, Lebanon – At least nine people were killed and some 3,000 injured, including the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, when thousands of pagers exploded – nearly simultaneously – in Lebanon. The attack on Tuesday, which purportedly targeted members of the Hezbollah group, caused havoc in civilian areas and overwhelmed hospitals. A resident of the Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp told Al Jazeera traffic was heavy as bloodied people arrived at the nearby Al Rassoul al-Azam Hospital. Lebanese hospitals called on all available medics to report for duty as injured people poured through their doors in need of treatment, many covered in blood and in visible pain. Iranian media said Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani was injured by an exploding pager. Iran’s mission in Beirut later posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying Amani’s treatment was “progressing well”, adding the reports of his “physical condition and vision are false”. Attacks were also reported in neighbouring Syria. An officer inspects a car in which a pager exploded in Beirut on September 17, 2024 [Hussein Malla/AP Photo] Hezbollah pledges ‘fair …