A News Aggregator That Covers The World's Major Wars And Conflicts. Military, Political, And Intelligence News Are Also Covered. Occasionally We Will Have Our Own Opinions Or Observations To Make.
Showing posts with label israel hamas war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label israel hamas war. Show all posts
Israel is in sixth place after the Committee to Protect Journalists recorded 19 Palestinian journalists in its jails
Israel has joined a notorious band of authoritarian states with a history of imprisoning journalists by detaining Palestinian reporters without trial since the beginning of the latest war in Gaza.
A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released on Thursday said that for the first time Israel figures in its list of “worst jailers of journalists”, putting it on a par with Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has told the United States that he opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state once the conflict in Gaza comes to an end.
In a news conference, a defiant Mr Netanyahu vowed to press on with the offensive in Gaza "until complete victory": the destruction of Hamas and return of the remaining Israeli hostages, adding that it could take "many more months".
With almost 25,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and 85% of the strip's population displaced, Israel is under intense pressure to rein in its offensive and engage in meaningful talks over a sustainable end to the war.
Israeli jets and tanks kill several Palestinians near Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza after night of 'terrifying' attacks
The Jordanian army on Wednesday accused Israel of a "flagrant breach of international law" after its field hospital in southern Gaza's Khan Younis was badly damaged by Israeli overnight shelling.
This came after Israeli forces heavily shelled and bombed the vicinity of Nasser Hospital, the main medical facility in Khan Younis, on Tuesday night, killing at least 23 people.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the security cabinet meet with western Negev local council chiefs in Beersheba, January 16, 2023. (Itai Ben-Onn/GPO)
PM speaks to local council chiefs from communities near Gaza, agrees to revise framework for residents’ return home, Channel 12 reports
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told local council chiefs from communities near Gaza on Tuesday that he anticipates the war against Hamas extending into 2025.
According to an unsourced Channel 12 report on the meeting, which was held at the IDF’s southern command headquarters in Beersheba and attended by other security cabinet ministers, Netanyahu told the council chiefs that, according to the current assessment, the war may continue into next year.
He disclosed the assessment in the course of a discussion in which he also reportedly agreed to revise a current Defense Ministry framework that provides financial assistance to Israeli residents who are prepared to return to evacuated communities 4-7 kilometers from the Gaza border areas.
Israel reported airstrikes Tuesday in northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip, a day after the country’s defense ministers said the intensive phase of Israel’s war with Hamas would soon end.
The Israel Defense Forces said airstrikes targeted militants in the Northern Shati area as well as Khan Younis.
Israeli troops killed dozens of militants and uncovered about 100 rocket installations, the military said.
Israel’s war in Gaza has brought famine with “such incredible speed,” the United Nations’ emergency relief chief told CNN on Monday, as he warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are starving in the besieged enclave.
The “great majority” of 400,000 Gazans characterized by UN agencies as at risk of starving “are actually in famine, not just at risk of famine,” Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
Guidance for officers deployed to Israel appears to show the U.S. military providing intelligence for airstrikes in Gaza.
Targeting intelligence — the information used to conduct airstrikes and fire long-range artillery weapons — has played a central role in Israel’s siege of Gaza. A document obtained through the Freedom of Information Act suggests that the U.S. Air Force sent officers specializing in this exact form of intelligence to Israel in late November.
Since the start of Israel’s bombardment in retaliation for Hamas’s strike on October 7, Israel has dropped more than 29,000 bombs on the tiny Gaza Strip, according to a U.S. intelligence reportOpens in a new tab last month. And for the first timeOpens in a new tab in U.S. history, the Biden administration has been flying surveillance drone missions over Gaza since at least early November, ostensibly for hostage recoveryOpens in a new tab by special forces. At the time the drones were revealed, U.S. Gen. Pat Ryder insistedOpens in a new tab that the special operations forces deployed to Israel to advise on hostage rescue were “not participating in [Israel Defense Forces] target development.”
WNU Editor: Targeting intelligence always play a critical role in any war. I see this US hand playing a critical role in the Russia - Ukraine war, and it looks like this is also the case in the Israel - Hamas war.
One hundred days ago, the previously unthinkable happened in Israel.
A state, born out of adversity and war only 75 years ago, woke up to what some have since described as a threat to its very existence.
On Saturday night, in Tel Aviv, the events of 7 October were commemorated by thousands of people.
Uppermost on the minds of everyone were the around 130 hostages abducted by Hamas and still being held in Gaza, although some of them may not still be alive.
Just after dawn 100 days ago, thousands of heavily armed Hamas fighters stormed through and over the Gaza border fence in several different places.
Attorneys argue ministers’ problematic comments cited by South Africa not impacting war, highlight Hamas’s use of civilians and IDF efforts to protect innocents
THE HAGUE — Israel’s legal team launched its response Friday morning to accusations brought by South Africa at the UN’s top court that its war against Hamas in Gaza, in response to Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught, was a state-led genocidal campaign aimed at wiping out the Palestinian population.
The legal adviser for Israel’s Foreign Ministry said at the opening of the second day of hearings that South Africa on Thursday brought “a grossly distorted story,” with “curated” allegations.
“If there were acts of genocide, they have been perpetrated against Israel,” Becker said, condemning South Africa’s assertion that Israel does not have the right to self-defense against Hamas.
WNU Editor: What struck me about yesterday's testimony from the South African representative was his remark that all countries have a right to defend themselves, but it does not give a country the right to retaliate in a manner that runs contrary to numerous UN charters and treaties. Israel, in today's testimony, says it is abiding by those rules and laws.
As to what is my take after listening to both sides.
Israel's blockade of food, water, and medical supplies to the Gaza population is a war crime, but is an act of genocide? I am still digesting what I have heard and seen in this courtroom for the past two days, but I think it is too early to say that Israel is committing genocide. But Israel, if it continues the war and destroys southern Gaza, will definitely be crossing the line on what is a genocide.
As to how will the UN court rule?
My gut tells me that when these UN judges look at the numerous videos that document the massive destruction of Gaza coupled with numerous public remarks from Israeli ministers and government officials on how they view the Palestinians, I for one will not be surprised if the UN court issues a ruling accusing Israel of committing genocide.
Israel Denies Accusations Of Genocide At Top UN Court
Israel went on trial Thursday at the United Nations' International Court of Justice, accused by South Africa of committing the crime of genocide with its ongoing military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
On December 29, South Africa became the first country to file a suit against Israel alleging that its operations in Gaza constitute genocide.
During Thursday's opening session, South Africa laid out its allegations and asked the court to order an immediate halt to Israel's military operations in Gaza.
The Jerusalem bureau has long reviewed all CNN stories relating to Israel and Palestine. Now, it’s helping shape the network’s coverage of the war.
Whether reporting from the Middle East, the United States, or anywhere else across the globe, every CNN journalist covering Israel and Palestine must submit their work for review by the news organization’s bureau in Jerusalem prior to publication, under a long-standing CNN policy. While CNN says the policy is meant to ensure accuracy in reporting on a polarizing subject, it means that much of the network’s recent coverage of the war in Gaza — and its reverberations around the world — has been shaped by journalists who operate under the shadow of the country’s military censor.
Like all foreign news organizations operating in Israel, CNN’s Jerusalem bureau is subject to the rules of the Israel Defense Forces’s censor, which dictates subjects that are off-limits for news organizations to cover, and censors articles it deems unfit or unsafe to print. As The Intercept reported last month, the military censor recently restricted eight subjects, including security cabinet meetings, information about hostages, and reporting on weapons captured by fighters in Gaza. In order to obtain a press pass in Israel, foreign reporters must sign a document agreeing to abide by the dictates of the censor.
WNU Editor: In past conflicts a network would always state if its coverage had to be cleared by censors. CNN is clearly not following that rule, and I suspect that they are not alone.
Three months ago, speaking to citizens rocked by a horrific day of attacks by Hamas, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a promise.
“The IDF will immediately use all its strength to destroy Hamas’s capabilities,” Netanyahu said. “We will destroy them.”
Now, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is shifting to a new phase of its war on Hamas in Gaza – and there are signs its objectives are changing too.
“The record is not very friendly to military campaigns seeking to eradicate political military movement that are deeply rooted,” Bilal Y. Saab, an associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa at Chatham House, told CNN.
“IDF leadership understands very well that the most they can do is severely degrade the military capabilities of Hamas,” Saab said.
Famine is “around the corner” as people in Gaza face the “highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded,” according to UN emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths.
Citing a death toll in the tens of thousands, attacks on medical facilities and a lack of functioning hospitals, Griffiths said in a statement issued Friday that Gaza had become “a place of death and despair.”
“Hope has never been more elusive,” he added.
A public health disaster is unfolding as infectious diseases spread in overcrowded shelters as sewers spill over, Griffiths said, adding that around 180 Palestinian women “are giving birth daily amidst this chaos.”
U.S. spy agencies believe that Hamas and another Palestinian group fighting Israel used Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza to command forces and hold some hostages, according to new American intelligence declassified on Tuesday.
The hospital was the focus of a large Israel Defense Forces effort in November to take control of the facility, an operation that came under intense international scrutiny and criticism.
WNU Editor: Israel is sending the message that this conflict is now going to be a war of attrition. For the population of Gaza they are now going to be faced with two options. Storm the border with Egypt to flee this carnage, or stay and die slowly.
Update #3: There are some reports in Israel making the prediction that this war may last well into 2025. Sighhh .... can anyone say "quagmire".
Israel withdrew tanks from parts of Gaza City on Monday, part of a previously announced plan to respond to changing military needs in Gaza, and to safeguard the Israeli economy.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are expected to continue operations in Gaza for months, focusing on “mopping up” Hamas militants, rather than a full-scale invasion, reported Reuters.
The Hamas attack on Oct. 7 detonated the months-long war between Israel and the terrorist group, resulting in an Israeli invasion, a 20,000-plus death toll and a humanitarian crisis for the rest of the territory’s population.
An Israeli drone strike on Hamas' office in Beirut, Lebanon, has killed four members of Hamas including the terror group's deputy political leader Saleh al-Arouri, officials have confirmed.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill al-Arouri, who headed the organisation in the West Bank, even before Hamas launched its bloody October 7 attack. Following tonight's strike, Israeli officials vowed that all Hamas leaders 'are doomed to death'.
Hamas condemned the killing as a 'cowardly assassination' by Israel and declared that such attacks 'will not succeed in breaking the will and steadfastness of our people, or undermining the continuation of their valiant resistance'.
The war in the Gaza Strip is generating destruction comparable in scale to the most devastating urban warfare in the modern record.
By mid-December, Israel had dropped 29,000 bombs, munitions and shells on the strip. Nearly 70% of Gaza’s 439,000 homes and about half of its buildings have been damaged or destroyed. The bombing has damaged Byzantine churches and ancient mosques, factories and apartment buildings, shopping malls and luxury hotels, theaters and schools. Much of the water, electrical, communications and healthcare infrastructure that made Gaza function is beyond repair.
The Biden administration for the second time this month has bypassed Congress to approve the transfer of nearly $150 million in military equipment to Israel amid the country’s war against Hamas.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Congress that he has made an emergency determination to immediately approve the transfer of “155mm ancillary items including fuzes, charges, and primers that make 155mm shells functional,” a State Department spokesperson said Friday.
“Given the urgency of Israel’s defensive needs, the secretary notified Congress that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer,” the spokesperson said.
I have been involved in numerous computer science projects since the 1980s, as well as developing numerous web projects since 1996.
These blogs are a summation of all the information that I read and catalog pertaining to the subjects that interest me.
