The far-right Otzma Yehudit party, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, said on Saturday it would follow through on its threat to leave the government, with members handing in resignations Sunday morning in protest of Israel’s acceptance of a hostage-ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
Archiv: third Netanyahu rule / government (December 2022 – Armageddon)
Israeli military intercepts rocket from Yemen ahead of Gaza ceasefire
The Israeli military on Saturday said it intercepted a rocket from Yemen, one day before a ceasefire with the Palestinian militant group Hamas is set to take effect.
Residents rushed to shelters as alerts sounded in Tel Aviv and other parts of Israel.
There were no initial reports of casualties or damage.
Yemen‘s Houthi militia, a Hamas ally, has so far not claimed the attack.
No, Biden Wasn’t Unable to Stop the Gaza War—He Was in on It
The truth of the matter is that every day for the past year, Biden could have secured a cease-fire by using America’s vast leverage, and every day for the past year, from all the evidence we have today, Biden chose not to.
Despite truce deal, Israel kills 88 more Gazans as death toll nears 47,000
(January 17, 2025)
Despite a cease-fire agreement, Israeli attacks killed at least 88 more Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, bringing the overall death toll since October 2023 to 46,876, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Friday.
HTS raids and forced disappearances fuel fear in Syria’s Alawi heartlands
MEE is not aware of any evidence linking Assad’s departure to a deal with Israel. However, there have been reports suggesting that the former president shared sensitive military information with Israel in exchange for a guarantee of safe passage out of Syria.
Since the government collapsed, Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes on Syrian military positions nationwide and launched a ground invasion, capturing the entire buffer zone along the occupied Golan Heights and beyond.
The government, Hussem said, had the means to resist but chose not to, opting instead to flee and leave their officers to fend for themselves.
Hope fades into anguish as deadly airstrikes hit Gaza after ceasefire news
Abdel Aal, who lost two children to airstrikes in the 15-month war, said he is not hopeful for an end to the killings in Gaza.
„The Palestinian people have not been able to take delight even just for a moment in the past 75 years while the death and destruction has taken place in these countries,“ he said.
There was no comment from the Israeli military on the latest strikes.
Israel has killed over 117 Palestinians since announcement of cease-fire deal on Wednesday: Civil Defense
Israeli airstrikes have killed 117 Palestinians since the announcement of a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, according to an official tally on Friday.
According to Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza‘s Civil Defense service, the latest attacks include 32 women and 30 children.
A Year of Empty Threats and a “Smokescreen” Policy: How the State Department Let Israel Get Away With Horrors in Gaza
In early November, a small group of senior U.S. human rights diplomats met with a top official in President Joe Biden’s State Department to make one final, emphatic plea: We must keep our word….
Report Says Biden‘s ‚Empty Threats‘ on Gaza Fed Israeli Impunity
New reporting published Wednesday details the impotence and insincerity of President Joe Biden‘s „multiple threats, warnings, and admonishments“ to Israel as it annihilated the Gaza Strip, killing tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians while receiving tens of billions of dollars in U.S. arms and unwavering diplomatic support.
Writing for ProPublica, Brett Murphy showed how multiple „red lines“ issued by Biden administration officials were ignored by Israel with impunity.
Israel kills 81 more Gazans as death toll nears 46,800
Medical sources told Anadolu that most of the victims were killed in intensified Israeli attacks across Gaza following the announcement of a cease-fire deal Wednesday evening.
At least 81 Palestinians killed in the past 24 hours: health ministry
At least 81 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the health ministry announced on Thursday.
Netanyahu delays cabinet vote on Israel-Gaza ceasefire deal and hostage release
An Israeli cabinet meeting to approve a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas was delayed Thursday morning after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the militant group of “reneging” on parts of the agreement.
Israel gov‘t expected to vote on Gaza deal by Thursday, according to FM statement
Israel‘s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he was cutting his visit to Europe short on Wednesday so that he could take part in security cabinet and government votes on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal.
Officials tout a Gaza ceasefire deal and plan to free hostages. Israel says details still in flux
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said final details were being ironed out, saying in a statement that it hoped “details will be finalized tonight.”
Gaza death toll tops 46,700 as Israeli attacks continue unabated
(7 hours ago)
At least 62 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll since October 2023 to 46,707, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Wednesday.
A ministry statement added that some 110,265 others were injured in the ongoing assault.
Protests Erupt in Washington: Blinken Dubbed ‚Secretary of Genocide‘ by Activists!
On January 14, 2025, during a speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was interrupted by activists:
„you will forever be known as bloody blinken, secretary of genocide.“
Gaza death toll reaches 46,645
Since the Israeli onslaught began on 7 October 2023, the death toll has risen to 46,645, with 110,012 people wounded, according to the ministry‘s latest figures.
32 Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza since dawn
(14 January 2025 12:25 GMT)
Medical sources reported to Al Jazeera Arabic that Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed 32 Palestinians since dawn today, with 24 of the victims located in the central and southern regions of Gaza.
Yemen launches missile attack on Israel‘s Tel Aviv
„We carried out a military operation targeting a vital target of the Israeli enemy in Tel Aviv, using a hypersonic ballistic missile,“ Yemeni spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement aired by al-Masirah TV.
„The operation achieved its goal successfully,“ he said, adding that his group also carried out an attack using four drones and targeted „vital targets“ in Tel Aviv.
Kamal Adwan’s Hussam Abu Safia held in Ofer Prison, rights group says
An Israeli rights group says Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital who was detained by Israeli forces during their raid on the facility in Beit Lahiya last month, is being held in a notorious Israeli military prison in the occupied West Bank.
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI), said the Israeli military confirmed in an email that Abu Safia was at Ofer Prison. A lawyer for Abu Safia’s family was told that he would not be allowed to see him until January 29, said a spokesman for PHRI, Ran Yaron, according to The Associated Press.
Gaza death toll reaches 46,584
The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that the death toll from Israel’s ongoing military onslaught has climbed to 46,584, with 109,731 people wounded since Israel‘s war on Gaza began on 7 October 2023.
CIA Director Reiterates There’s No Evidence Iran Has Decided To Build a Nuclear Bomb
(January 12, 2025)
The hype about Iran’s nuclear program is focused on the enrichment of some uranium at 60% purity, which is still below the 90% needed for weapons-grade. Iran took the step to enrich at 60% in response to an Israeli covert attack on its Natanz nuclear facility in 2021.
Iran is also a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, unlike Israel, which never signed the NPT and has a covert nuclear stockpile that’s not officially acknowledged by the US.
Transcript: NPR‘s full conversation with CIA Director William Burns
(January 10, 2025)
Kelly: Iran, which had a pretty lousy 2024, weakened internally, mounting pressures externally. We interviewed Jake Sullivan, the national security, the national security adviser at the White House the other day. He told me the big question on his mind is, given the losses Iran has sustained, will it make it more likely, more likely that Iran tries to go for a nuclear weapon? Director Burns, will it?
Burns: It‘s something we watch very intently, because you‘re right, Iran has it‘s strategic position has suffered considerably over the course of the last six or seven months. You know, two failed efforts to launch significant ballistic missile strikes against Israel, the collapse of its leading proxy, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the severe degradation of Hamas in Gaza, and then the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. All of that, I think, strategically puts the Iranian regime in a much weaker position. And so Jake Sullivan was right to express the concern that, you know, the Iranian regime could decide in the face of that weakness that it needs to restore its deterrence as it sees it and, you know, reverse the decision made at the end of 2003 to suspend their weaponization program. We do not see any sign today that any such decision has been made, but we obviously watch it intently.
Israeli airstrikes target Baalbek region in Lebanon, violating ceasefire agreement
In addition to the Baalbek strikes, Israeli aircraft executed six intense airstrikes across various locations in southern Lebanon, as reported by NNA.
The ceasefire, facilitated by the United States and France, was intended to conclude nearly 14 months of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
Is Iran Next?
(January 10, 2025)
Israeli military sources claim that its strikes inside Iran (precipitated by an Iranian missile assault on Israel) dismantled much of its air defense systems. These security officials note that this was a key mission: to eliminate Iran’s air defenses in preparation for a future all-out assault on its nuclear program. The sources estimate it will take a year or more for Iran to repair the current damage and restore its capabilities.
Is Biden Teeing Up an Iran War for Trump?
(January 3, 2025)
President Joe Biden has less than a month in office, but that might be enough time to leave a very big mess on President-elect Donald Trump‘s desk. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan presented Biden with plans to bomb Iranian nuclear sites before the end of his term „in a meeting several weeks ago,“ Axios reported on Thursday. A source told Axios that Biden‘s inner circle believes that he has both „an imperative and an opportunity to strike“ now.
Israel kills 13 Palestinians in northern Gaza Strip since dawn
(13 January 2025 07:49 GMT)
At least 13 Palestinians were killed in a series of Israeli air strikes on the northern Gaza Strip since the early hours of today, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.
Biden and Netanyahu discusses ceasefire deal
(12 January 2025 17:39 GMT)
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke over the phone on Sunday, according to several reports.
Trump‘s incoming national security advisor urges ceasefire before 20 January
(12 January 2025 16:15 GMT)
Donald Trump‘s incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, spoke with ABC News on Sunday, where he called for a ceasefire deal in Gaza to happen before Trump‘s inauguration on 20 January.
„Hamas has nowhere else to go but enter some type of agreement. Let‘s have a ceasefire, let‘s allow our hostages to be set free. I want to see them walking across a tarmac. At a minimum, some type of agreement before inauguration,“ he said.
Gaza Death Toll Reaches 46,565, 70 Children Killed in the Last 5 Days Alone
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip reported on Sunday that two separate massacres committed by Israeli forces over the past 24 hours resulted in the deaths of 28 Palestinians, with 89 others injured.
The Civil Defense in Gaza further revealed that in the past five days, nearly 70 children have been killed due to relentless Israeli bombing across the strip.
No more ‘cannon fodder’: Parents of troops, slain hostages demand Gaza deal
“The IDF has no reason to stay in Gaza, besides fulfilling messianic wishes of settling there,” the letter alleged, pushing back against Netanyahu’s stance that continued military action would free the 98 hostages believed to remain in Gaza, almost all of them kidnapped on October 7.
They charged the fighting in Gaza was “a war without a horizon, unlike anything in our history, solely in the interest of your own political survival.”
850 Parents of Soldiers Accuse Netanyahu: Our Children are Cannon Fodder
n a letter addressed to the premier, the relatives accuse him of leading “a war without a horizon, unlike anything in our history, solely in the interest of your own political survival.” “Our sons and daughters set out on a necessary war brought upon us by your actions. Our children are cannon fodder”, they claim. “They lost many friends and are continuing to die and get injured, mentally and physically.
Now, after more than a year of war, they assert the only way for the returning of the hostages is as part of a deal with Hamas, alleging that the war is being extended aimlessly and that the Israeli army “has no reason to stay in Gaza, besides fulfilling messianic wishes of settling there.” “We accuse you of abandoning the hostages and the soldiers,” the parents write, threatening to launch an “all-out struggle,” beginning in dozens of cities next Saturday.
Over 20 warplanes bomb Yemen in three-way attack by Israel, US, UK
Eleven air raids hit the Yemeni capital Sanaa, including the vicinity of Al-Sabeen Square, where around one million people were taking part in a weekly pro-Palestine march.
The Harf Sufyan District was hit by 12 airstrikes in the Amran Governorate of northern Yemen, while six hit the Hodeidah port west of the country. One strike also targeted the Ras Issa port north of Hodeidah.
The main power station in Haziz, south of Sanaa, was struck as well.
Israeli airstrike on Tayr Debba kills five, injures four, health ministry reports
An Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese town of Tayr Debba has resulted in five fatalities and four injuries, according to the Ministry of Public Health‘s Emergency Operations Center.
LIVE: Israeli air strikes hit Yemen, Lebanon as more than 20 killed in Gaza
Israel’s military said it attacked sites in Yemen controlled by Houthi fighters, including a power station near the capital Sanaa, and the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Isa.
Several people have been killed in an Israeli air strike in Lebanon’s south with Israel’s military saying later that it was still “committed to the understanding of the ceasefire” with Lebanon.
Humanitarian Situation Update #253 | Gaza Strip
Key Highlights
– Child Protection partners are facing severe challenges in bringing needed winter clothing kits into Gaza; only 19,000 kits have been distributed out of 220,000 procured.
– At least 369 aid workers, including 263 UNRWA staff, have been killed since October 2023, according to data received by the UN and its partners.
– Zero fuel reserves to operate electricity generators at hospitals across Gaza are placing the lives of patients and newborns at grave risk.
– The UN attempted to reach the besieged area in North Gaza 165 times between 6 October and 31 December 2024, of which 149 attempts were denied by the Israeli authorities and 16 faced impediments.
(…)
– Access to North Gaza governorate, which has been under intensified siege since 6 October 2024, continues to be largely denied by the Israeli authorities. From 6 October to 31 December 2024, the UN attempted to reach the area 165 times, of which 149 attempts were denied and 16 were allowed to proceed but faced impediments. Coordinated aid missions to areas in the Rafah governorate, where there has been an ongoing Israeli military operation since early May, have faced similar challenges. Overall, in 2024, the UN and its partners carried out 5,321 coordinated humanitarian movements across the Gaza Strip, including 3,707 in the south and 1,614 in the north. Of these, 48 per cent (North: 621, South: 1,936) were facilitated, 24 per cent (North: 398, South: 864) were denied, 19 per cent (North: 434, South: 567) were interfered with or initially agreed to but then faced impediments, and nine per cent (North: 161, South: 340) were cancelled by the organizers due to logistical and security challenges. Movements facing impediments were accomplished either partially or not at all.
Traumatic injury mortality in the Gaza Strip from Oct 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024: a capture–recapture analysis
Findings We estimated 64 260 deaths (95% CI 55 298–78 525) due to traumatic injury during the study period, suggesting the Palestinian MoH under-reported mortality by 41%. The annualised crude death rate was 39·3 per 1000 people (95% CI 35·7–49·4), representing a rate ratio of 14·0 (95% CI 12·8–17·6) compared with all-cause mortality in 2022, even when ignoring non-injury excess mortality. Women, children (aged <18 years), and older people (aged ≥65 years) accounted for 16 699 (59·1%) of the 28 257 deaths for which age and sex data were available. Interpretation Our findings show an exceptionally high mortality rate in the Gaza Strip during the period studied. These results underscore the urgent need for interventions to prevent further loss of life and illuminate important patterns in the conduct of the war.
Lancet Study: Gaza Health Ministry Undercounted Death Toll By 41%
Explaining the methodology, the study said it used “capture-recapture methods to estimate total deaths from traumatic injury in the Gaza Strip from Oct 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024. By combining three data lists—official hospital lists, an MoH survey, and social media obituaries—we provide an estimate of mortality that accounts for under-reporting.”
The study only accounts for deaths caused by violence and not indirect deaths caused by the Israeli siege and the destruction of medical and other civilian infrastructure.
46,006 and counting: Israel kills father, 3 sons in latest atrocities
The death toll in Israel‘s genocidal Gaza war crossed 46,006 on Thursday after at least 70 more Palestinians were killed in relentless Israeli attacks, the enclave‘s Health Ministry said.
A ministry statement added that some 109,378 others were injured in the ongoing assault.
US, Israel Cheer as Lebanon Elects Joseph Aoun as President
Aoun’s election happened only after former Interior Minister Suleiman Frangieh, the main alternative candidate, withdrew and endorsed Aoun.
Electing a president requires a two-thirds majority of parliament, which was met after Frangieh’s endorsement gave Aoun the support of Hezbollah and Amal Movements. Many media reports see Aoun’s election as a sign of Hezbollah’s weakness, despite most Hezbollah MPs supporting him.
ת חרבות ברזלמלחמ לע עדות
לי מרדכי, היסטוריון ואזרח ישראלי
.202412.5(גרסה5.5.6
Bearing Witness to the Israel-Gaza War
Last updated:1 November 29, 2024
I, Lee Mordechai, a historian by profession and an Israeli citizen, bear witness in this document to the situation in Gaza as events are unfolding. The enormous amount of evidence I have seen, much of it referenced later in this document, has been enough for me to believe that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza. I explain why I chose to use the term below. Israel’s campaign is ostensibly its reaction to the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023, in which war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed within the context of the longstanding conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that can be dated back to 1917 or 1948 (or other dates). In all cases, historical grievances and atrocities do not justify additional atrocities in the present. Therefore, I consider Israel’s response to Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7 utterly disproportionate and criminal.
(…)
Cases in which the IDF kills civilians almost never make the news in Israel and the United States. An exception happened in early April, when the IDF killed 7 workers of the international NGO World Central Kitchen (all foreign citizens) within their clearly marked vehicles operating in full coordination with the IDF. A source from the IDF stated that a drone attacked the convoy of three vehicles because a Hamas person was thought to be in it (later investigation stated this was uncertain and the person simply appeared armed). After the first vehicle was bombed, some NGO workers left their vehicle and evacuated to a second vehicle, immediately notifying the IDF. Despite this, the second vehicle was bombed as well, and the survivors evacuated it to a third vehicle that was also bombed, killing them all.