Hamas launches war on Israel

[Jimbuna]

New Gaza hospital raid shows Hamas is not a spent force

Four months after Israeli troops first stormed Gaza's biggest hospital, al-Shifa, claiming it was a cover for a Hamas command and control centre, they have returned.

The Israeli military said it had "concrete intelligence" that Hamas operatives had regrouped there. Palestinians have told the BBC of their fears at being trapped in fierce battles.

While this week's raid again highlights a desperate humanitarian situation, it is also a strong reminder that Hamas is far from a spent force.

Some analysts suggest it shows the desperate need for a comprehensive strategy to deal with the Islamist armed group and a clear plan on the post-war governance of Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) now claim to have killed "over 140 terrorists" in ongoing fighting at al-Shifa and to have made some 600 arrests, including dozens of top Hamas commanders as well as some from Islamic Jihad. Two Israeli soldiers have also been killed.

Israeli reports suggest that in recent weeks the army found that senior Hamas figures had resumed operations at al-Shifa and that some even took their families to the hospital. The IDF says it uncovered arms caches and a large quantity of cash at the site.

Hamas has denied that its fighters were based there and claims that those killed were wounded patients and displaced people.

Palestinian witnesses have told the BBC that gunfire and Israeli air strikes have been endangering patients, medics and hundreds of people still sheltering in the grounds.

A local journalist has shared footage of smoke billowing from the complex.

In another unverified video, shared on social media, dozens of women can be seen hunkering down in a building with their children. One says: "They took our men to an unknown place and now they're asking women and children to leave. We don't know where we'll go".

In the background, an IDF officer says over loudspeaker: "Do not leave the buildings without instructions. We seek to evacuate civilians without harm, as we did in other hospitals in the past."

Since Wednesday evening, communications have been severely restricted, making it hard to contact medics and others at the scene.

Back in November, there were accusations of possible violations of international law as Israeli tanks closed in on al-Shifa, in the heart of Gaza City. Premature babies were among those who died as conditions deteriorated in the besieged hospital.

The IDF released surveillance camera footage which showed two hostages snatched from Israel being taken into the hospital. After an extensive search, Israeli troops blew up a large tunnel with rooms which ran under the site and later withdrew.

The Israeli army went on to suggest that Hamas's regional brigades and battalions in the north of the Gaza Strip had been disbanded. But soon reports emerged that small cells were regrouping.

While Hamas has undoubtedly been severely weakened by the war, there have since been signs that it has been trying to restore its governing capability, including through policing and with some possible involvement in aid distribution.

Washington has indicated that Israel's renewed military action at al-Shifa Hospital illustrates its worry that its close ally does not have an adequate strategy to dismantle the organisation.

"Israel cleared Shifa once. Hamas came back into Shifa, which raises questions about how to ensure a sustainable campaign against Hamas so that it cannot regenerate, cannot retake territory," the US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, said this week.

The US has been pressing Israel to come up with a feasible alternative for Hamas rule in Gaza. Its plan has been to promote individuals linked to the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority (PA) and to work with Arab states to prevent a power vacuum.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68629540

[Jimbuna]

Russia, China veto US-led UN resolution on Gaza ceasefire

March 22 (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Friday turned down a U.S.-led resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as part of a hostage deal after Russia and China vetoed the measure proposed by the United States.
The resolution, on which Algeria also voted no and Guyana abstained, called for an immediate and sustained ceasefire lasting roughly six weeks that would protect civilians and allow for the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle...za-2024-03-22/

[em2nought]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Russia, China veto US-led UN resolution on Gaza ceasefire

[Jimbuna]

Head of UN agency says Israel blocked him from entering Gaza - and he says it would be 'easy to flood besieged territory with food'

The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says he has been blocked from entering Gaza.

Philippe Lazzarini claimed it was the first time this had happened to an UNRWA commissioner-general in its history.

Speaking on Sky News' The World With Yalda Hakim, Mr Lazzarini said it would be "easy to flood Gaza with food" - but he was prevented from entering the besieged territory earlier this week.

He has accused Israel of singling him out and challenged the country's claim he was barred due to mistakes on his entry application.

Mr Lazzarini, who has been to Gaza numerous times before, says he was the only member of his delegation to be blocked by the Israeli defence body COGAT from entering on Monday.

It comes as Israel faces pressure from Western allies, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains steadfast in his commitment to a ground invasion of Rafah, where he claims Hamas's remaining battalions are hiding.

The nation has been accused of restricting the flow of aid into Gaza, something it has denied but the UN previously said could amount to war crimes.

Talking to Sky News, Mr Lazzarini said: "It is easy to flood Gaza with food, it's easy to reverse this trend."

He continued: "I was supposed to go to Gaza on Monday. I was in Cairo, when I was informed by the Israeli authorities that I will not be allowed to go into Gaza despite the fact that the rest of my delegation was allowed to enter.

"It is the first time in the history of the agency that the commissioner-general has been deliberately denied entry into Gaza."

UNRWA is the largest aid organisation in Gaza. Israel has accused the agency of providing cover for Hamas and alleges at least 12 UNRWA workers took part in the October 7 attack on southern Israel.
https://news.sky.com/story/head-of-u...-food-13098871

[Jimbuna]

Netanyahu says he is going into Rafah with or without American support

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that he is determined to send troops into the southern Gaza city of Rafah and would do so without U.S. support. He made the announcement after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. President Joe Biden's administration has urged Israel to hold off on its invasion of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering.

'Today, I met with the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. I conveyed my deep appreciation for our joint effort in combating Hamas for over five months,' Netanyahu said. 'I emphasized our commitment to evacuating civilians from conflict zones and addressing humanitarian needs. However, I underscored the necessity of entering the Strip and neutralizing the remaining militias to defeat Hamas,' he added.

'While I expressed hope for U.S. support, I made it clear that if necessary, we would proceed independently.' Blinken, meanwhile, warned Netanyahu that Israel's security and its place in the world are in peril, and 'you might not realize it until it's too late,' Axios reported citing sources. 'You need a coherent plan, or either you're going to be stuck in Gaza,' Blinken said.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...&ei=18#image=1

[Skybird]

What is mostly ignored in Western media is that Netanjahu has the very wide support of the vast majority of Israeli people behind him, regarding this question.

Still, it must noit be that he really gives the order to execute. He may find it more useful to maintian the current status oif tensiuon with the US, to benefit from the prestige this may earn him with his people as the unwavering rock opposing American pressure. If he attacks, the cards can no longer be used to just bluff, but must be shown. And then the result will be either this way - or that way.

[Jimbuna]

I don't think he has any alternative other than to go in, especially whilst there are still captive hostages being held.

[Jimbuna]

Israel besieges two more Gaza hospitals, demands evacuations, Palestinians say

CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli forces besieged two more Gaza hospitals on Sunday, pinning down medical teams under heavy gunfire, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, and Israel said it had captured 480 militants in continued clashes at Gaza's main Al Shifa hospital.

Israeli forces say hospitals in the Palestinian enclave where war has been raging for over five months have frequently been used as strongholds of Hamas militants harbouring bases and weapons. Hames and medical staff deny this.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said one of its staff was killed when Israeli tanks suddenly pushed back into areas around Al-Amal and Nasser hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis, amid heavy bombardment and gunfire.
Israeli armoured forces sealed off Al-Amal Hospital and carried out extensive bulldozing operations in its vicinity, the Red Crescent said in a statement, adding: "All of our teams are in extreme danger at the moment and are completely immobilised."

It said Israeli forces were now demanding the complete evacuation of staff, patients and displaced people from Al Amal's premises and were firing smoke bombs into the area to try to force out its occupants.

A displaced Palestinian was killed inside the hospital compound after being hit in the head by Israeli fire, the Red Crescent said in an update later in the day.

The Israeli military said its forces were hitting "infrastructure" in Khan Younis used as lairs for numerous militants. Hamas denies using hospitals for military ends and accuses Israel of war crimes against civilian targets.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said dozens of patients and medical staffers had been detained by Israeli forces at Al Shifa in Gaza City in the enclave's north that has been under Israeli control for a week.

The Hamas-run government media office said Israeli forces had killed five Palestinian doctors during their seven-day-old swoop on Al Shifa.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that report. It said earlier that it had killed over 170 gunmen in the raid, which the Palestinian Health Ministry said had also caused the deaths of five patients.

Al Shifa is one of the few healthcare facilities even partially operational in north Gaza, and - like others - had also been housing some of the nearly 2 million civilians - over 80% of Gaza's population - displaced by the war.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...4377041a&ei=13

[Jimbuna]

The UN Security Council has passed a resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza.

In a change in position, the US refrained from vetoing the measure, which also calls for the release of hostages.

The US move signals divergence with Israel - although the White House insists it's not a policy shift.

In response, Israel has cancelled its delegation's planned visit to the White House this week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls it a "clear retreat" from the previous US position.

The US says it's "very disappointed" by the cancelled visit - but says a separate visit by Israel's defence minister will go ahead.

The Security Council resolution was approved by 14 votes to none, with one abstention - from the US

[Jimbuna]

Fighting is continuing in the Gaza Strip despite the first UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire passing on Monday.

The resolution, which also called for the release of all hostages, followed several failed attempts at similar measures since the 7 October attacks.

The US abstained from the vote - allowing the motion to pass - leading Israel to cancel a meeting in Washington.

The Israeli Prime Minister's office said on Tuesday it Israel will not surrender to Hamas' "delusional" ceasefire demands.

In Gaza, witnesses say Israeli warplanes bombed the southern city of Rafah. Palestinian media report at least 18 people were killed in an air strike on a residential building.

Elsewhere, fierce gun battles raged around hospitals in nearby Khan Younis and Gaza City.

Meanwhile talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives aimed at ending the fighting continue via mediators in Qatar.

[Jimbuna]

Jeremy Bowen: Biden has decided strong words with Israel are not enough

For weeks, President Joe Biden and his senior officials have been losing patience with the way that Israel is fighting the war in Gaza.

They have used increasingly stiff language to convey their displeasure to Israel and the wider world.

The decision to allow the latest ceasefire resolution through the Security Council shows that President Biden has decided that strong words are not enough.

Removing diplomatic protection from Israel's conduct of the war is a significant step.

It shows the depth of the rift that has opened between the White House and Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Prime Minister Netanyahu responded with a broadside directed at Israel's most important ally.

He condemned the US decision not to use its veto, saying it had harmed the war effort and attempts to free the hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October last year.

Joe Biden and his top officials might file those remarks under the heading of extreme ingratitude.

The president is deeply attached to Israel, calls himself a Zionist, and has provided the Israeli people with emotional support as well as all the military and diplomatic assistance their state has needed since 7 October last year.

He wants freedom for the hostages as well as the destruction of Hamas as a military force. But Mr Biden wants Israel to do that, as he put it, "the right way".

In those devastating first weeks of the war President Biden warned Israel not to be blinded by rage, as America had been after the al-Qaeda attacks on 11 September 2001.

The US president travelled to Israel, comforted families of victims of the Hamas attacks and even embraced Mr Netanyahu, with whom he has never had an easy relationship.

President Biden and his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who's visited Israel six times since 7 October, have repeatedly told Israel to respect international humanitarian law, which includes an obligation to protect civilians.

At the start of the war, as those first American warnings were being prepared, Prime Minister Netanyahu promised Israelis what he called a "mighty vengeance".

Since then, more than 30,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed with weapons mostly provided by the US.

With Gaza in ruins, famine looming for Palestinian civilians and the prospect of many more deaths in an Israeli offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza, President Biden seems to have had enough of having his advice ignored.

Israel claims that it always respects the laws of war and denies that it blocks humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

But evidence has piled up that the Israelis are not telling the truth, with children dying of hunger a few miles from ample stores of food in Israel and Egypt.

The Americans, and the rest of the world, can see the evidence presented by the UN and aid agencies that Gaza is on the brink of famine.

The US military is dropping aid by air and bringing a temporary dock across the Atlantic so that supplies can come to Gaza by sea, while Israel lets only small amounts through the port of Ashdod, a modern container terminal only half an hour's drive north of Gaza.

The decision not to veto the Ramadan ceasefire resolution is also an attempt by the Americans to push back at accusations that they have enabled Israel's actions.

It comes after Prime Minister Netanyahu has rejected, vehemently, the Biden Administration's plans to find a way through the worst Middle East crisis in decades.

The Americans are trying to show that Israel's impunity from international pressure has limits.

Security Council resolutions are normally considered to have the force of international law. Israel must decide now whether it will respect the resolution, which has been welcomed by Hamas as well as the Palestinian representative at the UN.

Mr Netanyahu's coalition government relies on the support of Jewish ultranationalist extremists.

They will urge him to ignore the resolution. If he does, the US will have to respond.

If more words are not enough, the biggest lever at President Biden's disposal controls the air bridge of arms supplies to Israel, dozens of flights by huge transport planes bringing in the munitions Israel has used in the war, as well the ones it would need if it goes through with its plan to widen the ground war to Rafah.

The US-Israel alliance is deep - in 1948 President Harry Truman recognised Israel's independence 11 minutes after it had been declared - but at times it is dysfunctional.

Crises happen when Israel defies the wishes of American presidents, and harms what they see as US interests.

This isn't the first time that Benjamin Netanyahu has infuriated the men in the White House.

He has done so regularly since he first became Israel's prime minister in 1996.

But his defiance of the US has never been this prolonged, or bitter, and no crisis in the long US-Israel alliance has been as serious as the one that's developed in almost six months of the Gaza war.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68662011

[Jimbuna]

Surprise! Hamas has thousands more fighters than Israel initially thought

30,000 was always an estimate for how many fighters Hamas had. We now know that the number was too low. Following numbers provided by Israeli defense sources, Israel has killed around 13,000 members of Hamas.

Already back in early February, the IDF had wounded another 10,000 to such a degree that it was assessed that they would not be able to return to battle and had arrested another 2,300.

The IDF has not provided updated wounded and arrest numbers since then, but simply adding together a series of public announcements regarding arrests, such as the more than 500 Hamas terrorists arrested at Shifa Hospital, at least around 3,500 would have been arrested to date.

This means that at least around 26,000 Hamas members have been put out of action by Israel to date when adding together killed, wounded, and arrested totals.

Until Tuesday, Israeli defense sources had said that there were four Hamas battalions in Rafah and two left in central Gaza, leaving around 6,000 Hamas forces.

Adding 26,000 and 6,000 would have broken the 30,000 total but could be considered close enough to be generally accurate. However, on Tuesday, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said that Hamas has 8,000 of its forces in Rafah. Adding an additional 4,000 to 32,000 brings us up to 36,000.

But that is not the end of it. Recently, IDF sources gave a briefing indicating that around 70% of Hamas forces in Khan Yunis, out of an original 4,500, had been removed from the battlefield. That would leave at least 1,300 additional forces in Khan Yunis.

Similarly, there have been reports that Hamas still had at least a few thousand forces left in northern Gaza. Adding all these numbers up, one comes closer to a pre-war Hamas force of 40,000 or more and the idea that it still has around 15,000 or more remaining forces.

None of this takes credit away from Israel for having succeeded at taking apart 18 out of Hamas's 24 battalions and from having succeeded at removing - even with these new numbers - more than 60% of Hamas forces from the battlefield, an impressive feat.

The truth is that even as almost all official channels from the IDF repeated the 30,000 number, a couple of high officials always let slip, in less regulated briefings, that the actual number was closer to 40,000.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other...f2fb1fb&ei=102

[Jimbuna]

Gaza starvation could amount to war crime, UN human rights chief tells BBC

After months of warnings, a recent UN-backed report offered hard statistical evidence that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is turning into a man-made famine.

It has increased the pressure on Israel to fulfil its legal responsibilities to protect Palestinian civilians, and to allow adequate supplies of humanitarian aid to reach the people who need it.

The UN's most senior human rights official, Volker Türk, said in a BBC interview that Israel bore significant blame, and that there was a "plausible" case that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

Mr Türk, who is the UN high commissioner for human rights, said that if intent was proven, that would amount to a war crime.

Israel's economy minister, Nir Barkat, a senior politician in Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, dismissed Mr Türk's warnings as "total nonsense - a totally irresponsible thing to say".

Like his cabinet colleagues, Mr Barkat insisted that Israel was letting in all the aid offered by the US and the rest of the world. Israel says the UN fails to distribute whatever is left once Hamas has helped itself.

But a long line of lorries fully loaded with aid supplies desperately needed in the Gaza Strip is backing up on the Egyptian side of the border with Rafah. They can only enter Gaza through Israel, after a complex and bureaucratic series of checks.

The absence of adequate supplies has forced Jordan, and now other countries including the US and UK, to drop aid from the air - the least effective way to deliver humanitarian supplies.

Palestinians on the ground fighting to secure a share have drowned as they try to swim to pallets that have landed in the sea, or have been crushed when parachutes fail.

The US Navy is also sending an engineering flotilla across the Atlantic to build a temporary pier to land aid by sea.

None of that would be necessary if Israel granted full road access to Gaza and expedited the delivery of relief supplies through the modern container port at Ashdod, only about half an hour's drive north of the Gaza Strip.

In an interview from Geneva, Mr Türk said evidence had emerged that Israel was slowing down or withholding the delivery of aid.

Mr Türk condemned the Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers on 7 October, including killing, rape and hostage-taking. But he also said that no side in the war should evade accountability for its actions, including for any attempt to withhold aid supplies from the people who need it in Gaza.

"All of my humanitarian colleagues keep telling us that there is a lot of red tape. There are obstacles. There are hindrances… Israel is to blame in a significant way," he said.

"I can only say the facts speak for themselves… I understand that this needs to be controlled, but it cannot take days for it to be done.

"When you put all kinds of requirements on the table that are unreasonable in an emergency… that brings up the question, with all the restrictions that we currently see, whether there is a plausible claim to be made that starvation is, or may be used as, a weapon of war."

Concern about humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip deepened last week with the release of a soberly written commentary alongside a series of maps, charts and statistics. It prompted more warnings from Israel's allies that it should change the way it is fighting the war against Hamas to spare civilians from death from either high explosive or hunger.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68679482

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Top UN court orders Israel to allow food and medical aid into Gaza

The UN's top court has ordered Israel to enable the unhindered flow of aid into Gaza in order to avert a famine.

In a unanimous decision, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel had to act "without delay" to allow the "provision... of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance".

This follows warnings that famine could hit Gaza within weeks.

Israel has called allegations it is blocking aid "wholly unfounded".

Giving its response to the court order, the Israeli foreign ministry said it was continuing "to promote new initiatives, and to expand existing ones" to allow a continuous flow of aid into Gaza "by land, air and sea", working with the UN and others.

It said that Hamas was to blame for the situation in Gaza and for starting the war.

The latest ruling by the court in The Hague comes after South Africa asked it to bolster an order issued to Israel in January to take all measures to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza.

South Africa said it had an obligation to act to prevent genocide as a signatory of the UN's 1948 Genocide Convention.

The country has been highly critical of Israel's military operation in Gaza and its governing African National Congress (ANC) has a long history of solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

Although orders issued by the ICJ are legally binding, the court lacks the power to enforce them. The UN Security Council is the only UN body which can introduce measures to try to ensure compliance.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68691095