#government media office

[northgazaupdates]

20 February 2024

The United Nations World Food Program has announced a an indefinite “pause” of its activities in north Gaza until conditions are safer for their employees. This is an absolutely catastrophic decision. The WFP’s contributions were already minuscule due to the blockade imposed by the IOF. Now the UN has given up even trying to get food into the north. The United Nations and the criminal governments who run it like a mafia have abandoned 750,000 starving north Gazans to almost certain death, if not by IOF bombs or snipers then by starvation.

The Media Office of the government of Gaza has released a statement in response to the WFP announcement:

🚨 Government Media Office:

—

We demand the World Food Programme immediately retract its disastrous decision to suspend the delivery of food aid and hold the United Nations and the international community responsible.

We received with shock the decision of the World Food Programme to suspend the delivery of food aid in North Gaza, which amounts to a death sentence for 750,000 people, exacerbating the humanitarian situation doubly. We express our absolute rejection of this decision, which will lead to a global catastrophe.

We demand all United Nations institutions to urgently return to work in the provinces of Gaza and North Gaza without hesitation, instead of shirking and fleeing from their responsibilities and international duties that must be carried out. We hold them fully responsible for the clear shortfall in performing their assigned tasks, as well as for the catastrophic results of the famine deepening in the Gaza Strip.

We call upon Arab and Islamic countries to take a historic, moral, and humanitarian stance in the face of this humanitarian disaster unfolding in the Gaza Strip, especially with the genocide and starvation war. We urge the Arab peoples to take to the streets in protest marches in support of the Gaza Strip, which is undergoing a genocide against civilians, including children and women.

Government Media Office

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

[satellitebroadcast]

Government Media Office: Telegram

The Government Media Office publishes an update of the most important statistics of the genocide being carried out by the "Israeli" occupation against the Gaza Strip for the 335th day Thursday, September 5, 2024: - 335 days of the genocide. - 3,556 massacres committed by the occupation army. - 50,878 martyrs and missing persons. [Recorded not all] - 10,000 missing persons. [Recorded not all] - 40,878 martyrs who reached hospitals. [Recorded not all] - 16,715 child martyrs. [Recorded not all] - 115 infants born and martyred in the genocide. [Recorded not all] - 36 died as a result of starvation. - 11,308 female martyrs. [Recorded not all] - 885 martyrs from medical teams. - 82 martyrs from civil defense teams. - 172 martyrs from journalists. - 7 mass graves established by the occupation inside hospitals. - 520 martyrs were recovered from 7 mass graves inside hospitals. - 94,454 injured and wounded. [Recorded not all] - 69% of the victims are children and women. - 178 shelters targeted by the "israeli" occupation. - 17,000 children living without both parents or one of them. - 3,500 children at risk of death due to malnutrition and lack of food. - 121 days since the closure of all Gaza Strip crossings. - 12,000 injured needing to travel abroad for treatment. - 10,000 cancer patients facing death and in need of treatment. - 3,000 patients with various diseases needing treatment abroad. - 1,737,524 affected by infectious diseases due to displacement. - 71,338 cases of hepatitis infections due to displacement. - 60,000 pregnant women are at risk due to lack of healthcare. - 350,000 chronically ill patients at risk due to the prevention of medication entry. - 5,000 detainees from the Gaza Strip during the genocide. - 310 detentions from healthcare staff. - 36 journalist detentions whose names are known. - 2 million displaced in the Gaza Strip. - 200 government buildings destroyed by the occupation. - 123 schools and universities completely destroyed by the occupation. - 335 schools and universities partially destroyed by the occupation. - 110 scientists, university professors, and researchers executed by the occupation. - 610 mosques completely destroyed by the occupation. - 214 mosques partially destroyed by the occupation. - 3 churches targeted and destroyed by the occupation. - 150,000 housing units completely destroyed by the occupation. - 80,000 housing units uninhabitable due to destruction by the occupation. - 200,000 housing units partially destroyed by the occupation. - 82,000 tons of explosives dropped by the occupation on the Gaza Strip. - 34 hospitals rendered out of service by the occupation. - 80 health centers out of service by the occupation. - 162 health institutions targeted by the occupation. - 131 ambulances targeted by the occupation. - 206 archaeological and heritage sites destroyed by the occupation. - 3,130 kilometers of electricity networks destroyed by the occupation. - 34 facilities, stadiums, and sports halls destroyed by the occupation. - 700 water wells destroyed and rendered out of service by the occupation. - 33 billion USD in direct preliminary losses due to the genocide.

[vyorei]

This is a horror show

[hybbat]

Kids these days have no whimsy...

[william-r-melich]

Tik Tok on the Chopping Block - 04/25/2024

Yesterday, Joe Biden signed the Tik Tok Divest-or-Ban bill into law. I covered this bill extensively in my post, "Tik Tok Bill/HR 7521" back on March 16th of this year. This bill forces ByteDance to sell Tik Tok within one year. It's clear to me that this Chinese owned company is controlled by the CCP and is using it to gather information on US citizens and influence children toward committing self-harm and suicide.

Tik Tok's CEO, Shou Zi Chew released the following video statement yesterday. "Make no mistake, this is a ban, a ban on you and your voice. We are confident, and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts. The facts and the Constitution are on our side, and we expect to prevail again." He was referring to how they circumvented Trump's executive order to ban the app in the U.S. back in 2020. Tik Tok's position is that through China's Counterespionage Law, its customer data is stored in Virginia and backed up in Singapore. They claim that they have never or ever will share U.S. data with the CCP. Yet the owner of ByteDance previously issued a letter of apology to the CCP about failing to follow the CCP's directives. It's obvious to me that they are more of an arm of the CCP than a private company and we should not trust them. At the same time, I'm also conflicted about trusting our own government. Regardless it's now signed into law, like it or not.

Tik Tok and ByteDance together spent over $7 million since the beginning of this year on TV and digital ads in an effort to stop legislation from passing the bill. A Tik Tok spokesperson said this, "This expenditure reflects work we do to educate policy makers about how legislation could affect our community of 170 million American users." Tik Tok officials lobbied Congress and Biden's executive office last quarter. Biden's executive office contains the National Security Council, the Office Management and Budget, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and other divisions.

As I mentioned in my previous post on this bill last March, Donald Trump and Elon Musk both came out against it. Trump is concerned that it could expand government powers on other platforms, and Musk is concerned about censorship. The bill is intended to remove any foreign influence and investment in social media platforms and websites here in the U.S. The government would have to prove that a foreign entity is directly involved and then initially force divestment, and then later if necessary deplatform the app and shut down their operating websites.

I'm all for private companies operating platforms that allow freedom of expression, but not if they're being operated by a foreign adversary like China's CCP. Yet I'm always very skeptical of our government and their tendencies to over-reach in order to go after their political opposition. Especially with this current bunch in charge. All we can do is to stay informed and hopefully for the sake of our freedom and security vote in Republican majorities in both the house and senate, and get Donald Trump back into office, in my opinion.

[mooninoir]

i am going to become the joker

[playermagic23]

Shah Rukh Khan and team issues official statement denying any role in the ‘release of Indian naval officers’ from Qatar

Shah Rukh Khan recently attended the final AFC match between Qatar and Jordan which fuelled up speculations about his involvement in the release of these officers. 

Shah Rukh Khan recently attended the much-talked about AFC finale match which was held in Qatar along with a few exhibitions and other events in the UAE. Followed by his visit, the Qatar government issued a statement about releasing about seven Indian naval officers who were on the death row under spying charges. Considering the timing, some reports claimed the involvement of the superstar but the latter has now issued an official statement denying any such rumour.

In an official statement which was shared by the office of Shah Rukh Khan as well as by his manager Pooja Dadlani, on her official Instagram handle, the superstar has asserted that he had no involvement in such decisions and that it was purely a call taken between the Qatar and Indian Government. The statement read, “Regarding the reports concerning Shah Rukh Khan's purported role in the release of India's naval officers from Qatar, the office of Mr. Shah Rukh Khan says that any such assertions of his involvement are unfounded, emphasizing the execution of this successful resolution solely rests with the Indian government officials and unequivocally denies Mr.Khans participation in this matter.”

“Additionally, all matters involving diplomacy and statecraft are best executed by our very able leaders. Mr. Khan like many other Indians is happy that the naval officers are home safe and wishes them all the best,” the statement concluded.

Shah Rukh Khan had visited Qatar for the football match, being an ardent sports enthusiast, and he was also seen interacting with the Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. During his trip, he also met the FIFA president Gianni Infantino, and photos as well as videos of the same went viral on social media platforms.

[mydigitalmarketingstudio]

FIXER | 2023 ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

2023 ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR | FIXER WAR PRESS COVERAGE | OCT.-NOV. 2023. EUROPE1, French leading radio arrived to cover the war. I received 2 French senior radio journalists, coming to Israel to cover the war.Preparation with governement/army official accreditations and first informations to help with their mission.1st searches for people to be interviewed. Security & logistic aspects.I used my…

[thoughtportal]

This is a developing news story and may be updated as more information is obtained. If you value such information, please support this Substack.

On Dec. 1, a woman immolated herself with a Palestinian flag outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta.

Now, according to the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department, the woman — referred to in their report as “Jane Doe” — is alive and “in stable condition” at Grady Memorial Hospital, where she has been since the immolation.

After repeated requests for her name, the department stated to this reporter in an email that it “does not disclose the identities of victims”. Repeated inquiries to Grady, which is a public hospital, went unanswered. The hospital houses the Walter L. Ingram Burn Center.

“Jane Doe” is 27.

When asked if they had made any comment to tell the public that she was still alive this entire time, the official at Atlanta Fire Rescue Department said they “shared the last updated with local media via email on 12/21/23. The release stated: ‘The victim remains hospitalized in critical condition. The security guard, who attempted to assist the burn victim, has been released from the hospital.’” Several internet searches on that quote produce no results. This would also indicate that "Jane Doe" went from critical to stable condition without public notice. 

Aaron Bushnell immolated himself at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, explaining “I will no longer be complicit in genocide” and shouting “Free Palestine!” repeatedly as he burned alive. So, his case — unlike many other self-immolations including Gregory Levey, Raymond Moules, Timothy T. Brown, Malachi Ritscher and others — has received some attention. Thus, “Jane Doe” being ignored fits with the usual pattern. Bushnell is the exception — probably because he livestreamed it. See “Ignoring Immolators Lulls the Society to Sleep.”

As Bushnell was burning himself alive, an officer pointed a gun at him, barking orders as if he constituted a threat. A security guard, Michael Harris, sustained injuries working to rescue “Jane Doe” — but there were similarities, where she was actually viewed as a potential threat.

At one point, the police report for “Jane Doe” refers to it as being a case of “arson”.

Much of the media coverage and general discussion of her self-immolation in December focused on if she had done damage. The Atlanta Police Chief said: “We believe this building remains safe, and we do not see any threat here.” The Israeli government released a statement: “It is tragic to see the hate and incitement toward Israel expressed in such a horrific way.”

Police records indicate that they obtained a search warrant and entered an apartment they believed to be associated with “Jane Doe” — initially using a drone:

The drone was able to relay information as to the layout and the belongings inside. After it was deemed "safe" entry was made with bomb technicians. While clearing the apartment no improvised explosive devices were located.

The police report also noted:

During the search a Quran was found in the bedroom along with a [sic] Arabic dictionary and a Hebrew dictionary. The bedroom bookshelf contained books related to fiction and fantasy. A "Drug use for grown ups" book was on the bookshelf as well. Two journals were seized from the bedroom. A thumbdrive was seized from the bedroom as well. A laptop computer was seized from the kitchen counter. A copy of the search warrant was left in the living room of the apartment. The front door [of] the apartment was secured before law enforcement left the premises.

When pressed for more information in compliance with an Open Records Request under Georgia law, Atlanta Fire Rescue Department claimed: “There is an ongoing and active investigation for the incident in question, which is why the only releasable information has been shared via the incident report. Investigative documentation is not available for release until the investigation is closed.”

[vyorei]

IT'S OBVIOUS AND YET WHAT'S BEING FUCKING DONE ABOUT IT??

[withbriefthanksgiving]

The director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the UN (UN OHCHR), Craig Mokhiber, has resigned in a letter dated 28 October 2023

the resignation letter can be found embedded in this tweet by Rami Atari (@.Raminho) dated 31 October 2023.

The letters are here:

Transcription:

United Nations | Nations Unies

HEADQUARTERS I SIEGE I NEW YORK, NY 10017

28 October 2023

Dear High Commissioner,

This will be my last official communication to you as Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

I write at a moment of great anguish for the world, including for many of our colleagues. Once again, we are seeing a genocide unfolding before our eyes, and the Organization that we serve appears powerless to stop it. As someone who has investigated human rights in Palestine since the 1980s, lived in Gaza as a UN human rights advisor in the 1990s, and carried out several human rights missions to the country before and since, this is deeply personal to me.

I also worked in these halls through the genocides against the Tutsis, Bosnian Muslims, the Yazidi, and the Rohingya. In each case, when the dust settled on the horrors that had been perpetrated against defenseless civilian populations, it became painfully clear that we had failed in our duty to meet the imperatives of prevention of mass atrocites, of protection of the vulnerable, and of accountability for perpetrators. And so it has been with successive waves of murder and persecution against the Palestinians throughout the entire life of the UN.

High Commissioner, we are failing again.

As a human rights lawyer with more than three decades of experience in the field, I know well that the concept of genocide has often been subject to political abuse. But the current wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people, rooted in an ethno-nationalist settler colonial ideology, in continuation of decades of their systematic persecution and purging, based entirely upon their status as Arabs, and coupled with explicit statements of intent by leaders in the Israeli government and military, leaves no room for doubt or debate. In Gaza, civilian homes, schools, churches, mosques, and medical institutions are wantonly attacked as thousands of civilians are massacred. In the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, homes are seized and reassigned based entirely on race, and violent settler pogroms are accompanied by Israeli military units. Across the land, Apartheid rules.

This is a text-book case of genocide. The European, ethno-nationalist, settler colonial project in Palestine has entered its final phase, toward the expedited destruction of the last remnants of indigenous Palestinian life in Palestine. What's more, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and much of Europe, are wholly complicit in the horrific assault. Not only are these governments refusing to meet their treaty obligations "to ensure respect" for the Geneva Conventions, but they are in fact actively arming the assault, providing economic and intelligence support, and giving political and diplomatic cover for Israel's atrocities.

Volker Turk, High Commissioner for Human Rights Palais Wilson, Geneva

In concert with this, western corporate media, increasingly captured and state-adjacent, are in open breach of Article 20 of the ICCPR, continuously dehumanizing Palestinians to facilitate the genocide, and broadcasting propaganda for war and advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, and violence. US-based social media companies are suppressing the voices of human rights defenders while amplifying pro-Israel propaganda. Israel lobby online-trolls and GONGOS are harassing and smearing human rights defenders, and western universities and employers are collaborating with them to punish those who dare to speak out against the atrocities. In the wake of this genocide, there must be an accounting for these actors as well, just as there was for radio Mules Collins in Rwanda.

In such circumstances, the demands on our organization for principled and effective action are greater than ever. But we phave not met the challenge. The protective enforcement power Security Council has again been blocked by US intransigence, the SG [UN Secretary General] is under assault for the mildest of protestations, and our human rights mechanisms are under sustained slanderous attack by an organized, online impunity network.

Decades of distraction by the illusory and largely disingenuous promises of Oslo have diverted the Organization from its core duty to defend international law, international human rights, and the Charter itself. The mantra of the "two-state solution" has become an open joke in the corridors of the UN, both for its utter impossibility in fact, and for its total failure to account for the inalienable human rights of the Palestinian people. The so-called "Quartet" has become nothing more than a fig leaf for inaction and for subservience to a brutal status quo. The (US-scripted) deference to "agreements between the parties themselves" (in place of international law) was always a transparent slight-of-hand, designed to reinforce the power of Israel over the rights of the occupied and dispossessed Palestinians.

High Commissioner, I came to this Organization first in the 1980s, because I found in it a principled, norm-based institution that was squarely on the side of human rights, including in cases where the powerful US, UK, and Europe were not on our side. While my own government, its subsidiarity institutions, and much of the US media were still supporting or justifying South African apartheid, Israeli oppression, and Central American death squads, the UN was standing up for the oppressed peoples of those lands. We had international law on our side. We had human rights on our side. We had principle on our side. Our authority was rooted in our integrity. But no more.

In recent decades, key parts of the UN have surrendered to the power of the US, and to fear of the Israel Lobby, to abandon these principles, and to retreat from international law itself. We have lost a lot in this abandonment, not least our own global credibility. But the Palestinian people have sustained the biggest losses as a result of our failures. It is a stunning historic irony that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in the same year that the Nakba was perpetrated against the Palestinian people. As we commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the UDHR, we would do well to abandon the old cliché that the UDHR was born out of the atrocities that proceeded it, and to admit that it was born alongside one of the most atrocious genocides of the 20th Century, that of the destruction of Palestine. In some sense, the framers were promising human rights to everyone, except the Palestinian people. And let us remember as well, that the UN itself carries the original sin of helping to facilitate the dispossession of the Palestinian people by ratifying the European settler colonial project that seized Palestinian land and turned it over to the colonists. We have much for which to atone.

But the path to atonement is clear. We have much to learn from the principled stance taken in cities around the world in recent days, as masses of people stand up against the genocide, even at risk of beatings and arrest. Palestinians and their allies, human rights defenders of every stripe, Christian and Muslim organizations, and progressive Jewish voices saying "not in our name", are all leading the way. All we have to do is to follow them.

Yesterday, just a few blocks from here, New York's Grand Central Station was completely taken over by thousands of Jewish human rights defenders standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people and demanding an end to Israeli tyranny (many risking arrest, in the process). In doing so, they stripped away in an instant the Israeli hasbara propaganda point (and old antisemitic trope) that Israel somehow represents the Jewish people. It does not. And, as such, Israel is solely responsible for its crimes. On this point, it bears repeating, in spite of Israel lobby smears to the contrary, that criticism of Israel's human rights violations is not antisemitic, any more than criticism of Saudi violations is Islamophobic, criticism of Myanmar violations is anti-Buddhist, or criticism of Indian violations is anti-Hindu. When they seek to silence us with smears, we must raise our voice, not lower it. I trust you will agree, High Commissioner, that this is what speaking truth to power is all about.

But I also find hope in those parts of the UN that have refused to compromise the Organization's human rights principles in spite of enormous pressures to do so. Our independent special rapporteurs, commissions of enquiry, and treaty body experts, alongside most of our staff, have continued to stand up for the human rights of the Palestinian people, even as other parts of the UN (even at the highest levels) have shamefully bowed their heads to power. As the custodians of the human rights norms and standards, OHCHR. has a particular duty to defend those standards. Our job, I believe, is to make our voice heard, from the Secretary-General to the newest UN recruit, and horizontally across the wider UN system, incisting that the human rights of the Palestinian people are not up for debate, negotiation, or compromise anywhere under the blue flag.

What, then, would a UN-norm-based position look like? For what would we work if we were true to our rhetorical admonitions about human rights and equality for all, accountability for perpetrators, redress for victims, protection of the vulnerable, and empowerment for rights-holders, all under the rule of law? The answer, I believe, is simple—if we have the clarity to see beyond the propagandistic smokescreens that distort the vision of justice to which we are sworn, the courage to abandon fear and deference to powerful states, and the will to truly take up the banner of human rights and peace. To be sure, this is a long-term project and a steep climb. But we must begin now or surrender to unspeakable horror. I see ten essential points:

Legitimate action: First, we in the UN must abandon the failed (and largely disingenuous) Oslo paradigm, its illusory two-state solution, its impotent and complicit Quartet, and its subjugation of international law to the dictates of presumed political expediency. Our positions must be unapologetically based on international human rights and international law.

Clarity of Vision: We must stop the pretense that this is simply a conflict over land or religion between two warring parties and admit the reality of the situation in which a disproportionately powerful state is colonizing, persecuting, and dispossessing an indigenous population on the basis of their ethnicity.

One State based on human rights: We must support the establishment of a single, democratic, secular state in all of historic Palestine, with equal rights for Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and, therefore, the dicmantling of the deeply racist, settler-colonial project and an end to apartheid across the land.

Fighting Apartheid: We must redirect all UN efforts and resources to the struggle against apartheid, just as we did for South Africa in the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s.

Return and Compensation: We must reaffirm and insist on the right to return and full compensation for all Palestinians and their families currently living in the occupied territories, in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and in the diaspora across the globe.

Truth and Justice: We must call for a transitional justice process, making full use of decades of accumulated UN investigations, enquiries, and reports, to document the truth, and to ensure accountability for all perpetrators, redress for all victims, and remedies for documented injustices.

Protection: We must press for the deployment of a well-resourced and strongly mandated UN protection force with a sustained mandate to protect civilians from the river to the sea.

Disarmament: We must advocate for the removal and destruction of Israel's massive stockpiles of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, lest the conflict lead to the total destruction of the region and, possibly, beyond.

Mediation: We must recognize that the US and other western powers are in fact not credible mediators, but rather actual parties to the conflict who are complicit with Israel in the violation of Palestinian rights, and we must engage them as such.

Solidarity: We must open our doors (and the doors of the SG) wide to the legions of Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian human rights defenders who are standing in solidarity with the people of Palestine and their human rights and stop the unconstrained flow of Israel lobbyists to the offices of UN leaders, where they advocate for continued war, persecution, apartheid, and impunity, and smear our human rights defenders for their principled defense of Palestinian rights.

This will take years to achieve, and western powers will fight us every step of the way, so we must be steadfast. In the immediate term, we must work for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the longstanding siege on Gaza, stand up against the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank (and elsewhere), document the genocidal assault in Gaza, help to bring massive humanitarian aid and reconstruction to the Palestinians, take care of our traumatized colleagues and their families, and fight like hell for a principled approach in the UN's political offices.

The UN's failure in Palestine thus far is not a reason for us to withdraw. Rather it should give us the courage to abandon the failed paradigm of the past, and fully embrace a more principled course. Let us, as OHCHR, boldly and proudly join the anti-apartheid movement that is growing all around the world, adding our logo to the banner of equality and human rights for the Palestinian people. The world is watching. We will all be accountable for where we stood at this crucial moment in history. Let us stand on the side of justice.

I thank you, High Commissioner, Volker, for hearing this final appeal from my desk. I will leave the Office in a few days for the last time, after more than three decades of service. But please do not hesitate to reach out if I can be of assistance in the future.

Sincerely,

Craig Mokhiber

End of transcription.

Emphasis (bolding) is my own. I have added links, where relevant, to explanations of concepts the former Director refers to.

[zvaigzdelasas]

[Haaretz is Israeli Private Media]

[According to] a senior [IDF] air force officer[...]

[M]ost of the air force's equipment in the war so far was bought from American companies using U.S. military aid.[...]

With Congress' approval, the Biden administration has sent over unprecedented emergency military aid of $14 billion, on top of the regular annual U.S. military aid of $3.8 billion. Washington has also sent another $500 million for Israel's air defense systems – Iron Dome, David's Sling and Arrow.[...]

The senior air force official told Haaretz that without the Americans' supply of weapons to the Israel Defense Forces, especially the air force, Israel would have had a hard time sustaining its war for more than a few months.[...]

The Iranians thus made clear [in their attack] that they intended to very seriously damage the Nevatim Air Base in the south, where Israel's F-35 squadrons are based. Iran also launched a number of surface-to-surface missiles at the Mount Hermon base in the far north as a deception, but they missed the target.

Thus, the air force's planes and air defense systems inflicted a serious defeat on the Iranians. But this was also done with the vital help of American, British and French planes, and reportedly also from Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and with the coordination of radar and warning systems between Israel and those five countries.[...]

The Arab and wider international cooperation with Israel remains the most important component of the defense of Israel's skies – and this happened at a time when some government officials were disparaging our friends. This cooperation provided the most important contribution to the Iranian failure. We can safely estimate that many of the interceptions were done by foreign militaries.

"What do you even expect Biden or Kamala to do? Israel doesn't even need the US really" [2 Sep 24]

[sayruq]

Israeli forces have killed more than 400 people, including patients, the displaced, and medical workers during their 13-day siege of Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's government media office reported on 31 March. The ministry added that during the siege on Gaza's largest medical facility, where thousands of patients and displaced people are sheltering, Israeli troops have detained and tortured hundreds while destroying and or setting fire to 1,050 nearby houses. On 27 March, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported that Israeli forces had killed 13 children between the ages of 4 and 16 during operations in and around Al-Shifa in the previous week. "Some of the fatal shootings occurred during an Israeli army siege while the victims' families were inside their homes; others occurred when the victims attempted to escape via routes that the Israeli army had designated as 'safe' after forcibly evacuating them from their homes and places of residence," the report stated.

[reportwire]

Michelle Obama opens up about her 'uncontrollable sobbing' on day of Trump's inauguration | CNN Politics

Washington CNN  —  Michelle Obama broke down shortly after leaving then-President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the former first lady candidly shared in a new podcast, as the emotions of leaving their family’s home after eight years and resentment over Trump taking office overwhelmed her. “When those doors shut, I cried for 30 minutes straight, uncontrollable sobbing, because that’s how much we…

[newsfromstolenland]

The Israeli cabinet has agreed to a temporary ceasefire deal that will enable the release of about 50 people who have been held captive in Gaza since the Hamas armed group stormed southern Israel on October 7.

The agreement came after talks on a Qatar-mediated deal that continued into the early hours of Wednesday morning, with Israeli media reporting heated exchanges between ministers of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The prime minister’s office said the deal would require Hamas to release at least 50 women and children during a four-day truce.  For every additional 10 hostages released, the pause would be extended by a day, it said, without mentioning the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

[...]

Hamas, which controls Gaza, also released a statement, confirming that 50 women and children held in the territory would be freed in exchange for Israel releasing 150 Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails.

It said that Israel would also stop all military actions in Gaza and that hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian, medical and fuel aid would be allowed into the territory.

Full article

Tagging: @allthecanadianpolitics

To be clear, this is temporary, and Netanyahu has already said that Israel will resume its attack afterwards.

[rebel-girl-queen-of-my-world]

The air is heavy with the smell of death. It’s inescapable, in every corner, and worse with every body taken out of the ground.

Every time they dig, they find more corpses, sometimes in places they never expect. Sometimes they only find parts of a person, or a corpse decomposed beyond recognition.

According to the Gaza government media office, some bodies were found decapitated, or had their skin and organs removed. Children, elderly women and young men are said to be among the dead.

Rescue workers say they found bodies with their hands tied behind their backs, which the UN human rights office said “indicates serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law”.

Israel denies it buried the Palestinian bodies, claiming instead that it had “respectfully” exhumed the dead searching for Israeli captives.

There are so many tears at Nasser hospital today and so much pain. It’s hard for me to find the words to describe this scene.

The feeling of seeing someone find their relative is indescribable, the way mothers cover their dead sons in a shroud and accompany them to the cemeteries.

Every sight we capture as journalists we do so silently. We can’t speak, we cry blood as we film. Our hands are shaking so much our cameras lose focus. But we start over and try again.

Moatasim Mortaja is a Palestinian video journalist in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Over recent days, he has been documenting mass graves uncovered in Nasser hospital, where more than 300 bodies have been discovered since Israeli forces withdrew. On Monday, his video of a woman in grey holding the recently uncovered body of her son spread across social media. This is his descriptions of the scenes at Nasser hospital.

✍️: Lubna Masarwa/MEE