Tag "Gaza"
https://southfront.org/gaza-conflict-report-november-13-2018-gaza-is-on-edge-of-israeli-ground-invasion/ The Gaza Strip is on the brink of a large-scale Israeli military intervention. The current round of escalation started on November 11 when a covert unit of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) opened fire at a patrol of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing, in the town of Khan Yunis inside the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) supported the retreating IDF unit by airstrikes.
Tonight, an anonymous poster, to whom I am most grateful, drew my attention to two very interesting pieces by Amal Saad-Ghorayeb: Why Islamic Jihad is the new Hizbullah Hamas and Islamic Jihad after the cease-fire: a new division of labour? One of the articles also references this article: Al-Quds Brigades: Zionist Entity Is Nothing More Than Dummy This is all very interesting. According to its Wikipedia entry, the Palestinian Islamic
It appears that the organizers of the Freedom Flotilla 2 have decided to ignore the various intimidations made by Israeli and US politicians and that the Freedom Flotilla 2 (FF2) is about to sail to Gaza. Predictably, Netanyahu’s threat to deport all journalists on the FF2 for 10 years and Hillary Clinton’s threat to arrest any US citizens involved in “aiding Hamas” had no effect at all the the FF2
It appears that the organizers of the Freedom Flotilla 2 have decided to ignore the various intimidations made by Israeli and US politicians and that the Freedom Flotilla 2 (FF2) is about to sail to Gaza. Predictably, Netanyahu’s threat to deport all journalists on the FF2 for 10 years and Hillary Clinton’s threat to arrest any US citizens involved in “aiding Hamas” had no effect at all the the FF2
According to Le Monde Mubarak has just ordered the opening of the Rafah crossing into Gaza. Ynet and al-Jazeera confirm. Ynet adds: It remains unclear whether the move has to do with the failed aid flotilla to Gaza, because the crossing opens once a month for a few days. Palestinian and Arab officials are pressuring Cairo to keep the crossing open indefinitely.
Follow all the developments live by clicking on this link: http://witnessgaza.com “Join us as we travel to Gaza. Witness what happens on board the boats. Watch our videos everyday. Stay tuned for WitnessGaza”
by Gilad Atzmon Haaretz reports today that Israel will attempt to block the humanitarian Freedom Flotilla heading toward Gaza. However, according to the Israeli paper, the humanitarian cargo would then be unloaded, inspected and sent to Gaza overland via the United Nations. Typical for Israel, it tries to win a lost battle. On the one hand, by stopping the flotilla Israel attempts to maintain its regional status as an omnipotent
Ha’aretz reports: A Spanish judge has opened a probe of seven current or former Israeli officials over a 2002 bombing in Gaza that killed a Hamas militant and 14 other people, including nine children. Judge Fernando Andreu said the attack by Israel, which targeted militant Salah Shehadeh in a densely populated civilian area, might constitute a crime against humanity. The judge is acting under a doctrine that allows prosecution in
Israel’s lack of options – sympathy with the devil? After weeks of rumors, speculations and not so veiled threats, Israel has finally begun its assault on the Gaza strip. Predictably, it began with F-16 airstrikes at “Hamas targets” and, equally predictably, the hospitals in Gaza are filling up with many casualties (190+ killed and many more wounded). Actually, this is the “least-bad” strategy for Israel as it makes it possible
al-Manar reports: Israeli Army Gets Green Light for Gaza Operation The Israeli defense establishment is currently preparing for a military move against Hamas targets in Gaza after it received the green light Wednesday from the Israeli Cabinet. During a cabinet meeting about the situation in and outside the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli occupation army officer gave ministers in attendance an overview of the potential retaliatory moves that the defense
Al-Manar reports: Action to end the inhumane Gaza siege has started from Lebanon… Lebanon, the country of Resistance and patriotism, raised on Friday the voice in response to Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s call, expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people amid a “suspicious” Arab and international calm. On Monday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah called upon all Arabs and Muslims to start actions against the siege. His eminence
Press TV reports: The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, has announced the cessation of the six-month-old ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza Strip. “The calm, which was reached with Egyptian sponsorship on June 19 and expires on December 19, is finished because the enemy did not abide by its obligations. The calm is over,” Hamas official, Ayman Taha, said on Thursday. The announcement raises the prospect of an escalation in cross-border
Press TV reports: A senior Iranian official says Egyptian support for Israel makes Cairo accountable for any crime committed in the Gaza Strip. “Egypt has closed the Rafah crossing and tightened the siege (of Gaza),” said Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Iranian Assembly of Experts, at Tehran’s Friday prayers. Tel Aviv placed the Gaza Strip under a blockade after the democratically-elected Palestinian government of Hamas took control
Ha’aretz as published an article entitled “U.S. Army training Egyptians to find, destroy smuggling tunnels” which describes how Egyptian soldiers are trained by the US Army to prevent any tunnels being dug out of the open air prison of Gaza. Ha’aretz writes: The United States Army has begun training Egyptian soldiers to locate and destroy tunnels, in an effort to improve the Egyptian army’s ability to cope with arms-smuggling from
A deal has finally been reached in Doha. The BBC reports that the Western-backed government and the pro-Syrian opposition arrived at the deal after days of talks in Qatar. Under the deal, the opposition – led by the Hezbollah political and militant group – will have the power of veto in a new cabinet of national unity. It also paves the way for parliament to elect a new president. The
We all now that Gaza was, until now, the biggest open air prison in the world, a Gulag for Palestinians, so to speak. Now the Empire is in the process of “Gazatizing” (as in “Gitmoize Abu Ghraib”) and creating an even bigger (3’000’000+ people!) Gulag for Iraqis. Check out Pepe Escobar’s report for Real News Network: One needs to remember that the Empire just suffered a rather humiliating defeat in
It is a great honour and long awaited pleasure for me to interview a real expert on Palestine and the rest of the Middle-East: Tony, the author of what is definitely one of the best Palestinian blogs – Palestinian Pundit, a “must visit daily” for anybody interested in the Palestinian drama. I have been reading Tony’s posts for quite a while already (many thanks to datta for drawing my attention
By Reuters (via Ha’aretz) Israel Defense Forces attacks in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip have boosted the popularity of the Islamist group’s leader Ismail Haniyeh among Palestinians in that territory and in the West Bank, according to a poll released Monday. The survey by the West Bank-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showed that if new presidential elections were held, Haniyeh would receive 47 percent of the vote compared
by Jonathan Cook in Nazareth for Counterpunch Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai’s much publicized remark last week about Gaza facing a “shoah” — the Hebrew word for the Holocaust — was widely assumed to be unpleasant hyperbole about the army’s plans for an imminent full-scale invasion of the Strip. More significantly, however, his comment offers a disturbing indication of the Israeli army’s longer-term strategy towards the Palestinians in the
