Israel-Hamas Thread II

[Desk trauma]

I see the civilian casualties are fictional today, going back to them being ok because operation meetinghouse was worse tomorrow or is this the line for the weekend?

 

[JosephZ]

Israeli strikes on southern Gaza city of Rafah kill 22, including 18 children

Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight killed 22 people, including 18 children, health officials said Sunday...

The first strike killed a man, his wife and their 3-year-old child, according to the nearby Kuwaiti Hospital, which received the bodies. The woman was pregnant and the doctors managed to save the baby, the hospital said.

The second strike killed 17 children and two women, all from the same extended family, according to hospital records. First responders were still searching the rubble. An airstrike in Rafah the night before killed nine people, including six children.

The war has killed at least 34,097 Palestinians and wounded another 76,980, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count but says at least two-thirds have been children and women. It also says the real toll is likely higher as many bodies are stuck beneath the rubble left by airstrikes or are in areas that are unreachable for medics.

 

[Valletta]

In language reminiscent of the Passover story in which Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to allow the Jewish slaves to leave Egypt, Netanyahu said that Hamas was “hardening its heart and refusing to let our people go.”
“Therefore, we will strike it with additional painful blows – and this will happen soon,” Netanyahu vowed.

Netanyahu hints at Rafah op., vows to free hostages

“In the coming days, we will increase the military and political pressure on Hamas because this is the only way to free our hostages and achieve our victory,” Netanyahu said.

www.jpost.com

 

[Philip_B]

In language reminiscent of the Passover story in which Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to allow the Jewish slaves to leave Egypt, Netanyahu said that Hamas was “hardening its heart and refusing to let our people go.”
“Therefore, we will strike it with additional painful blows – and this will happen soon,” Netanyahu vowed.

“Like me,” she said to them, “you were late in coming. The shepherds were here long before; even the cattle. They had joined the chorus of angels before you were on your way. For you, the primordial discipline of the heavens was relaxed and a new defiant light blazed among the disconcerted stars.​

​

“How laboriously you came, taking sights and calculations, where the shepherds had run barefoot! How odd you looked on the road, attended by what outlandish liveries, laden with such preposterous gifts!​

​

“You came at length to the final stage of your pilgrimage and the great star stood still above you. What did you do? You stopped to call on King Herod. Deadly exchange of compliments in which there began that unended war of mobs and magistrates against the innocent!​

​

From Helena by Evelyn Waugh​

I have one cautionary note, namely that assuming a direct correlation between the ancient people of Israel and the contemporary expression of Israel as a secular democratic state is not simply a given. I have great respect for the Jewish people who have retained a significant strand of identity, culture and religion through nearly 2000 years of diaspora, however, the current nation-state is to some extent man-made and contrived. I am not against Israel or its existence, however, I am against ascribing some sort of divine imprimatur that excuses all acts by the state.

 

[MartyF]

I presume you mean the Balfour Declaration.

Assuming I did, are you going to answer the question or are you nitpicking?

 

[Philip_B]

Assuming I did, are you going to answer the question or are you nitpicking?

Absolutely. The Palestinians were treated duplicitously by the Balfour Declaration which is a blot on the idea of English decency. So no the Palestinians did nothing to deserve it.

As it so happens I was not nitpicking but to call it an agreement is to call it something that it most assuredly was not.

 

[Valletta]

Israel said readying to evacuate Palestinians from Rafah ahead of planned offensive​

Egyptian officials briefed on Israeli plans tell WSJ that IDF will gradually move into Hamas’s last major Gaza stronghold, with fighting expected to last at least 6 weeks​

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-readying-to-evacuate-palestinians-from-rafah-ahead-of-planned-offensive/

 

[essentialsaltes]

Independent Report says Israel has not provided evidence of widespread militancy among UNRWA staff​

Israel has not provided evidence that significant numbers of workers with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees are tied to militant groups, but the agency must implement more robust vetting of staff members to ensure neutrality and work to reestablish trust with donors, a highly anticipated report said Monday.

Based on an examination of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s screening procedures, code of ethics, management structure, staff training and other practices, the independent review group concluded that the agency has “established and updated a significant number of policies, mechanisms and procedures” to uphold neutrality in recent years but is in need of critical reforms.

The U.N. General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 to help Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during the creation of the state of Israel and continues to serve more than 5 million people across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

The findings released Monday will largely come as a relief to the embattled agency, which was pitched into an existential crisis in January after Israel alleged that a dozen of its 13,000 employees in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks [these 12 are being investigated by a different body; they were all fired by UNRWA.] and that more than 10 percent had ties to militant groups. Sixteen major donors, including the United States, promptly suspended funding worth about $450 million, nearly half of UNRWA’s budget for the year.

Responding to the report Monday, Israel alleged — without evidence — that more than 2,135 UNRWA workers belong to either Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and that “one-fifth of UNRWA school administrators are Hamas members.”

On staff vetting, the report said UNRWA shares staff lists annually with host countries and with Israel for East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. The United States also receives the lists upon request. These states are then responsible for raising any red flags — but Israel had not done so since 2011, the report said.

 

[DaisyDay]

Israel said readying to evacuate Palestinians from Rafah ahead of planned offensive​

Egyptian officials briefed on Israeli plans tell WSJ that IDF will gradually move into Hamas’s last major Gaza stronghold, with fighting expected to last at least 6 weeks​

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-readying-to-evacuate-palestinians-from-rafah-ahead-of-planned-offensive/

Where are they going to be evacuated to?

 

[The IbanezerScrooge]

In language reminiscent of the Passover story in which Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to allow the Jewish slaves to leave Egypt, Netanyahu said that Hamas was “hardening its heart and refusing to let our people go.”
“Therefore, we will strike it with additional painful blows – and this will happen soon,” Netanyahu vowed.

Netanyahu hints at Rafah op., vows to free hostages

“In the coming days, we will increase the military and political pressure on Hamas because this is the only way to free our hostages and achieve our victory,” Netanyahu said.

www.jpost.com

Pharaoh didn't harden his heart. God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Does he actually read his holy book stories?

 

[essentialsaltes]

U.S. cites a litany of rights violations in Israel, Gaza and West Bank​

The State Department’s annual human rights report cited several reported rights violations committed in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza in 2023 by parties including the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Hamas militants and the Palestinian Authority, before and after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks plunged the Middle East into heightened instability and violence.

It cited credible reports of “unlawful killings” by both Hamas and the Israeli government.

But Blinken stopped short of announcing a decision [to sanction] the Netzah Yehuda battalion

The report referenced the deaths of more than 21,000 people in the Gaza Strip through the end of 2023.

Blinken said the State Department was continuing to assess allegations from human rights groups that Israeli forces have violated international law in Gaza, but said Israel had shown it would hold its own people and institutions accountable. [example from West Bank]

But [the report] said that Israeli authorities operating in Gaza had taken “no publicly visible steps to identify and punish officials” implicated in alleged violations there.

Because the report covers 2023, it did not address the aftermath of a high-profile incident in which Israel’s military targeted an international aid convoy in April, killing seven people.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Independent Report says Israel has not provided evidence of widespread militancy among UNRWA staff​

Israel has not provided evidence that significant numbers of workers with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees are tied to militant groups, but the agency must implement more robust vetting of staff members to ensure neutrality and work to reestablish trust with donors, a highly anticipated report said Monday.

Countries are reinstating funds for UNRWA — but not the United States​

most of the key countries that paused funding to UNRWA have since reinstated it, citing the acute humanitarian situation and the agency’s new assurances of oversight in its operations.

But, even if the Biden administration wanted to reconsider supporting UNRWA, its hands are tied. Republicans in Congress tacked on a year-long funding ban to a government spending package that passed last month.

 

[Aviel]