505 Days of Genocide: February 22nd Newsletter
I stayed until the end, Dr Abu Nujaila. We will remember and rebuild.
“Whoever stays until the end will tell the story. We did what we could – remember us.”
These were the words Dr Mahmoud Abu Nujaila wrote on October 20, 2023, at al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia refugee camp. He scribbled them in blue ink on a whiteboard used for surgery schedules. They were a testament to resilience, a final message of defiance.
A month later, Nujaila redefined the moral dimensions of the medical oath not with words, but with his own blood. An Israeli air strike on the hospital killed him and two of his colleagues, Dr Ahmad Al Sahar and Dr Ziad Al-Tatari.
Nujaila’s words stayed with me for 15 months, as I watched in horror how the medical system in Gaza I had hoped to work in was bombed to rubble, the doctors I had hoped to learn from – killed, tortured, forcibly disappeared.
Every aspect of life was stained by death. Every warm memory was invaded by horror. Every certainty was replaced by an abyss of the unknown.
Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where I had volunteered in the emergency department just a month before the genocide started, was raided, ransacked and burned. It was Gaza’s biggest hospital, which provided critical care that could not be received elsewhere and which had assembled a staff of highly skilled doctors.
It was not only a place of healing but also a shelter for the displaced. Ultimately, it was turned into a graveyard.
The Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, where I had joined a university project on breast cancer awareness, was bombed, then besieged and shut down, its patients left to die slowly, helplessly. The fate of the only cancer hospital in Gaza was sealed by its location – lying within the “axis of death” – what the Israeli military calls the Netzarim Corridor, which it had established and occupied to divide Gaza into north and south.
Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, where my grandmother had a critical surgery performed by Dr Mohammed Al-Ron, a dedicated and skilled surgeon, was attacked and shelled. Then it was besieged, cut off from the world – its medical staff, patients and displaced civilians trapped inside without food or water. Eventually, everyone was forcibly expelled, and the hospital was rendered out of service.
I later learned that Al-Ron was forcibly disappeared from another hospital in northern Gaza and tortured in Israeli dungeons. When he emerged two months later, he had lost 30kg (65lb). He was still one of the fortunate ones.
Dr Adnan Al-Bursh, a leading surgeon at al-Shifa Hospital, was tortured to death.
Dr Hussam Abu Safia, head of Kamal Adwan Hospital, remains in Israeli captivity, where he has been tortured and abused.
More than 1,000 medical workers have been killed in Gaza. More than 300 have been forcibly disappeared.
It is blatantly apparent that healthcare workers are targets in Gaza. Practising medicine has become a deadly profession.
More from Hend Salama Abo Helow for Al Jazeera.
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Israeli soldiers used 80-year-old Palestinian as Gaza human shield.
“The Israeli military forced an 80-year-old Palestinian man to act as a human shield in Gaza by tying an explosive cord around his neck and threatening to have his head blown off, an investigation by the Israeli outlet The Hottest Place in Hell has found.
A senior officer from the army’s Nahal Brigade tied the explosive cord around the man’s neck before he was ordered to scout houses. After eight hours, soldiers ordered the man to flee with his wife from their home in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood in May, said +972 magazine, which reported the piece in partnership with The Hottest Place in Hell.
But when another Israeli battalion spotted the elderly couple on the street, they were shot dead on the spot, according to Israeli soldiers present at the scene.
The Israeli soldiers had initially encountered the couple in their home. They told Arabic-speaking soldiers that they were unable to flee to southern Gaza due to mobility difficulties.
But even in his condition, the soldiers forced the unnamed 80-year-old to walk ahead of them with his cane, while his wife was detained in their house.
A soldier told the investigation that the commander had decided to use the Palestinian couple as “mosquitoes”, referring to a procedure where the Israeli army forces Palestinian civilians to serve as human shields to protect the Israeli forces from being shot or blown up.
“He entered each house before us so that if there were [explosives] or a militant inside, he would [take the hit] instead of us,” one soldier said.
“He was told that if he did anything wrong or didn’t follow orders, the soldier behind him would pull the cord, and his head would be torn from his body.”
The man was forced to act as a human shield for eight hours, before he was ordered, along with his wife, to walk towards the so-called “humanitarian zone” in southern Gaza.
But the soldiers did not care to tell nearby Israeli divisions that the couple was going to pass through the area, according to the testimonies.
“After 100 metres, the other battalion saw them and immediately shot them,” a soldier said. “They died like that, in the street.”’
More from Al Jazeera.
Cairo Takeaway stunt. Building antisemitism one caper at the time
MWM researchers have tracked Ofir Birenbaum’s activities since October 2023. They include astroturfing in the NSW Local elections, media interviews, protests outside Greens MP offices, organising pro-Israel rallies, motivational talks urging support for Israel’s war effort, monitoring antisemitic graffiti, and even doing his own pro-Israeli graffiti at Sydney University and campaigning against Jewish people, pro-Palestinian academics and others who he perceives to be a threat to Israel.[…]
Birenbaum was attending lots of rallies in Sydney, Melbourne and Newcastle, photographing Greens and other activists. He was at the Supreme Court when the Palestine Action Group was appealing against a police refusal of a permit to march. He was at Sydney University during the camp-in protest. He even did his own graffiti there, which was captured on video.
On December 5, a protest was held across the road from the Great Synagogue in Elizabeth Street Sydney against a celebration for Israel Institute of Technology – the “Technion”.
As Birenbaum approached the synagogue for the event, he pulled out an Israeli flag. He vigorously objected when police assigned to the protest accused him of deliberately trying to provoke a confrontation.
On January 16, residents woke to the news that the former home of Executive Council of Australian Jewry CEO Alex Ryvchin had been graffitied. Birenbaum was there.
On January 30, police were notified that anti-semitic graffiti had been sprayed on a wall near a Jewish Primary school in Maroubra. News.com’s Duncan Evans headed to Maroubra and interviewed Ofir Birenbaum who was described as a “consultant for a software company who lives 10 minutes away from Maroubra.”
He arrived carrying an Israeli flag and said, “It feels like a told-you-so moment.” He blamed the graffiti on the weekly pro-Palestine protests, saying “It starts with tolerating what we see in our streets.
The flags and the chants that we see in our universities …. we need a change of attitude by our universities, we need a change of attitude by our writers’ festival, our arts and culture centres in fostering hateful ideologies, that result in violent actions.“
On February 2, he was again on the spot when more graffiti appeared in Kingsford.
Later, he appeared on a popular news show on Channel 12 in Israel in which he berated the Australian Labor government for having previously failed to act on anti-semitism and blamed protests for the anti-semitic graffiti.
If all this was not enough, Birenbaum fills his time with having gone at the pro-Palestians. For example, after Israeli pagers exploded, killing 32 people, including two children and injuring thousands (source BBC news) in Lebanon, he posted, “Someone made sure you’ll do your BDS properly”.
Last weekend, Birenbaum was a Sydney Town Hall rally after which he travelled to Melbourne. There, he celebrated the Advance Australia ‘Put Greens Last’ campaign in Prahran where a loss of preferences caused the Victorian Greens to lose the seat.
He also filmed a Jewish-led pro-Palestinian protest in Melbourne, labelling those Jews as anti-semites while attending the pro-Zionist one held at the same time.
He then returned to Sydney for his venture with the Daily Telegraph. But since the News Corporation stunt backfired, he has suddenly gone quiet and deleted his Instagram but not his OfirforIsrael Facebook page.”
More from Wendy Bacon for Michael West Media.
Israeli prime minister rejects entry of mobile homes into Gaza under ceasefire deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to approve the entry of mobile homes and heavy equipment into the Gaza Strip despite a ceasefire agreement, Israeli media said on Sunday.
The Israeli public broadcaster KAN, citing an unnamed Israeli source, said Netanyahu rejected access to heavy machinery to clear the rubble of destroyed buildings in the enclave.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been left homeless after Israel’s deadly onslaught that has killed more than 48,200 people, mostly women and children, and left Gaza in ruins.
Gaza’s government media office confirmed that mobile homes and heavy machinery have not been allowed into the enclave.
"Israel's failure to uphold its obligations under the agreement and the humanitarian protocol poses a significant challenge to mediators, who must exert more pressure on the occupation to ensure that these commitments are honored,” Ismail al-Thawabtah, who heads the media office, told Anadolu.
"The Israeli occupation is still stalling the entry of essential equipment into the enclave, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis,” he added.
"To date, no mobile homes (caravans) or heavy machinery necessary for the reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed by Israel have reached the Gaza Strip," Thawabtah said.
He appealed to the international community to "apply real pressure on Israel to force compliance with the terms of the agreement.”
More from Andalou.
Israel receives US shipment of heavy bombs held up by Biden
A shipment of US-made heavy bombs held up by the former administration of Joe Biden arrived in Israel, the Israeli Defense Ministry said Sunday, Anadolu reports.
A ministry statement said that a ship carrying the MK-84 2,000-lb munitions docked at Ashdod Port and was unloaded onto dozens of trucks and taken to Israeli airbases.
The shipment was held by the Biden administration last May following Israel’s ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“The munitions shipment that arrived in Israel tonight, released by the Trump administration, represents a significant asset for the Air Force and the IDF (army) and serves as further evidence of the strong alliance between Israel and the United States,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
“I thank President Donald Trump and the US administration for their unwavering support of the State of Israel. We will continue working together to strengthen our security,” he added.
According to the ministry, over 76,000 tons of military equipment have arrived in Israel on 678 transport planes and 129 ships, the vast majority from the US, since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023.
The MK-84 is an unguided, high-explosive bomb weighing approximately one ton. It is designed to destroy large structures and cause massive damage over a wide radius.
These heavy bombs had been linked to the bombing of the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which killed more than 470 people in October 2023.
More at Middle East Monitor.
Unchilding Palestine’s children
On February 7, 10-year-old Saddam Rajab died in a hospital in the occupied West Bank after being shot by an Israeli soldier days earlier. Saddam was standing in the street in front of his home when Israeli soldiers invaded his village near Tulkarem and started firing.
CCTV footage shows the moment he was shot. He fell to the ground, clutching his abdomen and curling up into a foetal position. The first hospital he was rushed to was unable to treat him and so he had to be transferred to another in Nablus. On the way, the ambulance was held up for hours at a checkpoint where an Israeli soldier taunted Saddam’s father, saying: “I am the one who shot your son. God willing, he will die.”
Saddam is one of 13 Palestinian children that the Israeli army has killed in the occupied West Bank since the start of the year. The death toll of children murdered by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the occupied West Bank has shockingly exceeded 220 since January 2023.
Saddam’s story – like the stories of other Palestinian child victims – never made international headlines. There was no reaction from the international community to his murder. That is because Palestinian children experience relentless dehumanisation.
This is apparent even in the few stories that get in the media spotlight, like the case of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed by the Israeli army in Gaza on January 29, 2024, almost exactly a year before Saddam was shot. Along with her aunt, uncle and cousins, Hind was attempting to evacuate from Gaza City in a car when they were surrounded by Israeli forces, who fired on them.
While her relatives were killed, Hind survived the initial bout of fire and managed to get in touch with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS). The released recording of her phone calls to the PRCS asking for help as Israeli tanks closed in on her shocked the world.
The ambulance that was sent to rescue her never came back, and Hind’s calls to the PRCS ceased. Nearly two weeks later, the bodies of Hind, her relatives and the two ambulance workers, Yusuf Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun, were found. Subsequent investigations showed that the Israeli army fired on the ambulance and the car in which Hind was stuck, despite being given their coordinates.
While the story of Hind’s brutal death made international headlines – a rare case among the more than 17,000 children killed in Gaza – there were still attempts to dehumanise her and deny her the status of a child victim. For example, when reporting on the Columbia University student encampment that named a building after her, CNN explained “Hind’s Hall” was a reference to a “woman” who was killed in Gaza.
More from Yara Hawari for Al Jazeera.
Israel rejects any rule for Hamas, Palestinian Authority of post-war Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he would not allow the Hamas group or the Palestinian Authority to take control of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on the enclave.
"As I promised, the day after the war in Gaza, neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority will be there,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
The Israeli premier said he is “committed to (US) President (Donald) Trump’s plan to create a different Gaza.”
More from Andalou.
Israeli settlers attack shepherds, homes south of Hebron
Israeli settlers yesterday attacked Palestinian shepherds and homes in the northern area of Al-Buwaib village, northeast of Yatta, in the occupied West Bank, Safa reported.
Al-Baydar Organisation for Defending Bedouin Rights in Targeted Villages stated that a group of settlers chased shepherds in Masafer Yatta, assaulted them and drove their livestock away from grazing areas.
The organisation added that settlers threw stones at Palestinian homes in the village of Al-Tuwani, causing property damage and spreading fear among residents, particularly children.
These attacks are part of escalating settler violence aimed at pressuring Palestinians to leave their lands to facilitate settlement expansion.
Al-Baydar Organisation expressed deep concern over the continued assaults, calling on the international community to take immediate action to stop settler practices and protect Palestinians from the risk of forced displacement.
Palestinians have no real democratic representatives: the leadership lacks legitimacy
The Palestinian struggle for liberation and independence has always been tied to the fight for democratic representation. However, the current reality reveals a painful truth: Palestinians, both inside Palestine and in the diaspora, lack a legitimate democratic leadership that truly represents them. The Palestinian Authority (PA), established under the Oslo Accords, has lost its legitimacy, while the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), which was founded on 28 May, 1964, to represent all Palestinians, no longer enjoys broad popular support. Instead, its legitimacy is mostly derived from Arab and international recognition rather than an authentic reflection of the popular will.
The last Palestinian legislative election was held on 25 January, 2006. It resulted in a sweeping victory for Hamas in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. However, this democratic outcome was not accepted by the PA and its backers. Instead, it was met with political and economic sanctions led by international and regional powers, culminating in an internal Palestinian split that persists to this day. Since then, no legislative or presidential elections have taken place, creating a political vacuum and an ongoing crisis of legitimacy.
The response to the 2006 election was effectively a coup against democracy.
According to the Palestinian Basic Law, Mahmoud Abbas’s term as president ended on 9 January, 2009. The law stipulates that the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) should have temporarily assumed the presidency until a new election could take place. That process was never implemented. Instead, Abbas has clung to power without a popular mandate, relying on regional and international backing to maintain his rule. Yet another coup against democracy.
Despite being formed as an umbrella body for Palestinians, after decades of decline the PLO no longer represents all components of the Palestinian people. Today, the organisation is dominated by Fatah, while excluding major political forces such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Moreover, it has failed to implement institutional reforms that address the aspirations of new generations of Palestinians, both at home and abroad.
True legitimacy for any political leadership under occupation derives from its ability to lead a comprehensive liberation project.
However, after signing the Oslo Accords, the PLO abandoned its role in spearheading resistance, focusing instead on administrative tasks and security coordination with the occupation state of Israel. This shift has eroded its popular legitimacy, even as it continues to be recognised by the United Nations and many governments as the official, sole representative of the Palestinian people.
More from Adnan Hmidan for Middle East Monitor.
Palestine demonstrators cover BBC London offices in red paint in protest against complicity in genocide
“On Monday, February 17, activists with UK-based solidarity direct action network Palestine Action covered BBC offices in Portland Place, London with red paint and broke windows in protest against what they claim is the BBC’s complicity in the genocide against the Palestinian people, through pro-Israel bias in media coverage.
Palestine Action accuses the BBC of failing “to provide a platform for Palestinian voices” or to “accurately represent the scale of Israel’s violence.”
“The BBC’s biased reporting isn’t a simple case of poor journalism—it’s a matter of life and death. By downplaying Israeli war crimes, the BBC is complicit in the genocide unfolding in Gaza,” said a spokesperson for Palestine Action. “This isn’t just about the news—it’s about the role of the media in shaping global complicity. The BBC has blood on its hands, and today’s action is part of a wider campaign to hold them accountable. We will not stand by as the BBC sanitises genocide.””
More from People’s Dispatch.
“Mordechai Brafman, 28, an American pro-Israel supporter, fired 17 rounds at a father and son in Miami Beach, wounding both. Believing he had killed them, he reportedly told police: “I killed two Palestinians.”
Israeli outlet Ynet identified the victims as Israeli citizens holidaying in Florida.
One of the shooting victims later reportedly posted on his Facebook account that they had survived an “antisemitic” attack and cheered “death to Arabs”.”
Via Middle East Eye
Israel forcibly removes students and shuts down UNRWA school in occupied Jerusalem
The Israeli authorities have forcibly removed students and shut down a school run by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in occupied Jerusalem, Wafa news agency has reported.
The Jerusalem governorate reported that Israeli occupation forces stormed the UNRWA-affiliated Jerusalem Boys’ Elementary School in Wadi Al-Joz district, and ordered staff to close the institution after forcibly removing students.
The move follows an order by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to enforce the ban on UNRWA operations in the city. Under the new restrictions, UNRWA activity within “areas under Israeli sovereignty” is now prohibited, including the operation of representative offices and providing services. Israelis are also prohibited from having any contact with the agency. Jerusalem was annexed by the occupation state in the 1980s, in a move which is not recognised by the majority of countries as annexation of territory acquired by force of arms is illegal under international law.
More Middle East Monitor.
Hamas offers to release all captives for end to Israel’s war on Gaza
Hamas has proposed to release all captives remaining in the Gaza Strip in “one go” in exchange for a lasting truce and a complete Israeli army withdrawal from the besieged enclave.
In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem outlined the group’s vision for the second phase of the ceasefire deal which includes the proposed exchange.
“We are ready for a second phase in which the prisoners will be exchanged in one go, within the criterion of reaching an agreement that leads to a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from the Strip,” Qassem said.
The group also rejected Israel’s call for its disarmament and removal from the Strip.
“The occupation’s condition of removing Hamas from the Gaza Strip is a ridiculous psychological war, and the withdrawal or disarmament of the resistance from Gaza is unacceptable,” Qassem added.
More from Al Jazeera
More than $50bn needed to rebuild Gaza after Israel’s war on enclave
Reconstruction efforts in Gaza will require more than $50bn after 15 months of Israel’s devastating war, according to a new assessment by the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank.
The figures come as Arab countries continue to scramble to find a viable recovery plan as an alternative to the mass displacement of the Palestinian enclave’s 2 million residents proposed by United States President Donald Trump.
The Gaza & West Bank Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (IRDNA), published on Tuesday, calculated that Israel’s war on Gaza caused $49bn in destruction between October 8, 2023 and October 8, 2024.
Researchers concluded that $53.2bn is now needed for the recovery and reconstruction of the Palestinian territory over the next 10 years, with about $20bn of the full amount required in the first three years alone.
“Funding will require a broad coalition of donors, diverse financing instruments, private sector resources, and significant improvements in the delivery of reconstruction materials to Gaza in the post-conflict period,” the joint report states.
More than half the total estimated cost of rebuilding, or $29.9bn, is needed for damaged buildings and other key infrastructure, while funds to replenish Gaza’s destroyed residential housing stock form the bulk of that figure – $15.2bn.
Housing suffered the most during Israel’s 15-month-long attack on the territory, with the report writers estimating that it accounted for 53 percent of the total destruction wrought by Israeli forces in Gaza, amounting to more than 292,000 homes destroyed or damaged.
More from Alistair McCready for Al Jazeera
2 Israeli soldiers flee Amsterdam over arrest warrant concerns
Two Israeli soldiers who fought in Gaza fled Amsterdam and returned to Israel after a pro-Palestinian group tracked them on social media, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported Tuesday, according to Anadolu Agency.
The soldiers were evacuated from Amsterdam after organizations working to issue arrest warrants against Israeli soldiers circulated their photos, KAN said.
The Israeli Genocide Tracker, a pro-Palestinian organization, published on Monday photos of the soldiers on X, saying: “After participating in the Gaza genocide, this Israeli tank commander from the 52nd Battalion, who was involved in kidnapping hundreds of civilians (especially in Jabalia) and who enjoyed taking selfies with them, landed in Amsterdam today for a vacation.”
The two soldiers had permission to travel to the Netherlands, according to Israel’s Channel 12.
More from Middle East Monitor.
London university apologises to lecturer wrongly accused of antisemitism
A London university has apologised and paid a settlement to a lecturer for causing him "distress" and suspending him during an investigation which cleared him of allegations of antisemitism.
In August 2023, Goldsmiths University launched an investigation into Ray Campbell after receiving a complaint from the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) about comments he had posted on social media.
The complaint, based on posts collected by GnasherJew, a pro-Israel monitoring group, accused Campbell of posting antisemitic content that targeted Jewish figures and drew comparisons between Israel and Nazis.
Campbell, an associate lecturer in theatre and performance at Goldsmiths and a teaching fellow at Royal Holloway University, denied the claims.
During the investigation, Goldsmiths suspended Campbell for five months. This meant he was banned from the college campus and denied access to his email. Campbell said these actions had severely disrupted his personal and professional life.
The posts under investigation concerned comments Campbell had made citing reports about Ethiopian women in Israel being given contraceptive injections without their consent, and a comment on a tweet posted by the journalist Robert Peston about the UK's chief rabbi Ephraim Mervis.
The CAA also sent the same complaint letter to Royal Holloway, which held one investigation meeting with Campbell and said there was "no case to answer".
Commenting on his case, Campbell said he was "shocked" that Goldsmiths had accepted the claims made against him by a source he described as "problematic".
"When I saw the accusations against me, the first instinct was to laugh. The evidence was so shoddy. If my students presented something like that to me in an essay, I would ask them to go away and find some evidence," Campbell told Middle East Eye.
"Goldsmiths persisted with the disciplinary process because I suspect they needed a scalp to present to the independent inquiry and justify the amount of money they spent on this exercise [the inquiry]."
More from Areeb Ullah for Middle East Eye.
BBC asked to remove Gaza documentary over narrator’s father’s ties to Hamas
“The BBC has been asked to remove a documentary about children living in Gaza from BBC iPlayer after it emerged the film’s 13-year-old narrator is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, a deputy agriculture minister in the territory’s Hamas-run government.
The corporation said that it had discovered the family connections of the film’s English-speaking narrator, a child called Abdullah, after the documentary was aired on BBC Two on Monday evening.
A new text attached to the film, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, reads: “The narrator of this film is 13-year-old Abdullah. His father has worked as a deputy agriculture minister for the Hamas-run government in Gaza. The production team had full editorial control of filming with Abdullah.”
The decision came after the connection was exposed in a blogpost by an antisemitism researcher, David Collier, on Tuesday and reported on in the Jewish Chronicle.”
“A group of 45 prominent Jewish journalists and members of the media, including present and former BBC staff, signed a letter to the BBC director general, Tim Davie, demanding the documentary be “removed” from iPlayer and questioning whether the film violated Ofcom rules.
The signatories to letter include former BBC governor Ruth Deech, Friday Night Dinner and EastEnders actor Tracy-Ann Oberman, Strike producer Neil Blair, former BBC One controller Danny Cohen and former ITV controller of entertainment Claudia Rosencrantz.”
More from Donna Ferguson for The Guardian.
Five Israeli soldiers charged over horrific abuse of Palestinian man at infamous Sde Temain jail
Five Israeli reserve soldiers have been accused of the horrific abuse of a Palestinian man in jail, which left him bleeding from his anus and requiring major surgery.
An indictment filed in an Israeli military court has detailed the shocking charges against the group, in an incident which occurred at the infamous Sde Temain facility in July last year.
Israeli media had published security camera vision of the sexual assault in August.
Warning: descriptions of sexual assault. More from ABC News.
Israel drops leaflets over Gaza threatening Palestinian existence there
“Israel has dropped leaflets over Gaza, urging Palestinians to cooperate with it or face “forced displacement”, adding that “the world map will not change if all the people of Gaza cease to exist”.
The paper, which included a picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump and verses from the Quran, said: “After the events that have taken place, the temporary ceasefire, and before the implementation of Trump’s mandatory plan — which will impose forced displacement upon you whether you accept it or not — we have decided to make one final appeal to those who wish to receive aid in exchange for cooperating with us. We will not hesitate for a moment to provide assistance.”
In what may be seen as a threat to the existence of Palestinians in Gaza, the text continues: “The world map will not change if all the people of Gaza cease to exist. No one will feel for you, and no one will ask about you. You have been left alone to face your inevitable fate.”
It goes on to isolate Palestinians, claiming that they stand alone, with no one on their side. “Neither America nor Europe care about Gaza in any way. Even your Arab countries, which are now our allies, provide us with money and weapons while sending you only shrouds.”
“The game is almost over.”
Israel has repeatedly dropped leaflets over Gaza, after it cut telecommunications cables in the enclave. Hours before the ceasefire was to come into effect, leaflets depicted a drawing of a Palestinian family sat on the rubble of their home, with some reading “Is victory at hand or not yet?” and “A new victory for the resistance” were flown over the Strip.””
Sinn Fein leaders to boycott White House visit over US Gaza plan
“Sinn Fein leaders say they will not attend St Patrick’s Day events at the White House in protest over United States President Donald Trump’s position on Gaza.
“We are all heartbroken as we witness the suffering of the Palestinian people and the recent comments of the US president around the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza, is something I cannot ignore,” Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said at a news conference in Dublin on Friday.
“The decision not to travel to the White House has not been taken lightly, but it is taken conscious of the responsibility each of us as individuals have to call out injustice.”
Sinn Fein party leader Mary Lou McDonald also addressed the news conference, saying she could not visit Washington “while there was a threat of mass expulsion hanging over the Palestinian people”.
More from Al Jazeera.
Jerusalem: Jewish man attacks Israeli woman with axe, mistaking her for a Christian
“An Israeli man attacked an Israeli woman with an axe in Jerusalem on Wednesday, mistakenly believing she was Christian, Anadolu reported yesterday, citing Israel’s Channel 13.
According to the media reports, police suspect that the attack, which took place in Jerusalem’s Old City, was motivated by “hatred of Christians”.
Eyewitnesses told the channel that the suspect shouted “Christian” at the victim before violently attacking her inside her home, leaving her with severe injuries.
The suspect then fled the scene.
The woman, who is around 70 years old and resides in the Old City, sustained serious injuries and remains in hospital for treatment, the reports added.
No statement has been issued by Israeli authorities regarding the incident.
In recent years, attacks against Christians in Jerusalem, including clergy members and tourists, have increased. Settlers frequently spit at and verbally abuse priests, while Israeli police have also been seen physically assaulting them.”
Netanyahu playing ‘dirty games’ to sabotage Gaza truce deal: Hamas
Hamas has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of sabotaging the Gaza ceasefire agreement, saying the Israeli government is not engaging in negotiations for the second phase of the deal due to end on March 1.
Details of the second and third phases of the agreement, though understood to be agreed to in principle, were supposed to be negotiated during the six-week first phase, which has seen the release of Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and delivery of aid into the enclave devastated by the 15 months of non-stop Israeli bombardment. Per the deal, which started on January 19, the second phase, if finalised, would see the release of all the Israeli captives and a permanent ceasefire.
“We believe that again, these are dirty games from the right-wing government to sabotage and undermine the deal and to send a message of willingness to go back to war,” Basem Naim, a senior member of the Hamas political bureau, told Al Jazeera on Saturday.
He said that the Palestinian group that governs Gaza remains committed to the agreement, and has abided by its obligations under the deal.
He accused Israel of violating the terms of the deal. “Over 100 Palestinians have been killed in the first phase, much of the agreed humanitarian aid was not allowed into Gaza, and the withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor [the militarised zone that divides Gaza into north and south] was postponed,” Naim said.
Earlier this month, Israeli officials confirmed to The New York Times that Hamas’s claims against Israel’s violations of the deal were accurate. But the Israeli government has officially denied them.
As part of the ceasefire agreement Israel had agreed to allow 60,000 mobile homes and 200,000 tents into Gaza, but that requirement has not been met. More than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.4 million Palestinians have been displaced and large swaths of the enclave have been turned into rubble.
More from Al Jazeera.
Israel conceals identities of 2 Israelis arrested over Tel Aviv bombings
“Israeli authorities are concealing the identities of the Israelis arrested by security services on Friday over suspicions of involvement in the bus bombings in Tel Aviv on Thursday night, Anadolu Agency reports.
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported on Friday: “Two Israelis were arrested overnight into Friday on suspicion of involvement in the explosions that took place on empty buses in two Tel Aviv suburbs.”
“The two suspects have been transferred to the Shin Bet security agency for interrogation, though a court has issued a gag order on further details of the affair,” it added.
The identities of the detainees or the role they are suspected of playing have not yet been revealed, as Israeli Channel 12 reported earlier on Friday, noting that one of them: “Is suspected of transporting one of the perpetrators to the city of Bat Yam,” where the bombings took place.
Ynet reported: “On Friday, reports indicated that the Israeli Internal Security Service arrested three suspects accused of helping to plant explosive devices on buses in the Tel Aviv area, in what authorities believe was a failed terrorist attack.”
The website, which is the electronic version of the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, added: “It was also reported that some of the detainees were identified as Israeli Jews.”
On Thursday, the Israeli police announced that explosions had occurred on several buses in the areas of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. The background and circumstances of the incident are being examined.
The Israeli police disclosed in a statement that it: “Received reports of explosions on a (unspecified) number of buses in the city of Bat Yam,” citing that the police are examining the possibility that the explosions were the result of a “potential attack”.
Israeli media, including the official broadcasting authority and Yedioth Ahronoth, stated that there were two explosions in two areas, leading to a fire on two buses.
Via Middle East Monitor.
Israel delays Palestinian prisoners release pending Netanyahu’s security consultations
Israel will postpone the release of the Palestinian prisoners included in the seventh batch in the exchange deal until after security consultations conducted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tonight, Israel’s broadcasting authority KAN said Saturday.
The security consultations will be on negotiations for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, said the broadcaster.
Citing the Israeli Prison Service, the daily Israel Hayom reported that the political leadership has not yet issued instructions for the release of the Palestinian prisoners in the current batch.
Via Middle East Monitor.
Israel Kills.
Israeli raids, assaults continue across occupied West Bank
Israeli strike kills three Palestinian police officers in Gaza
Israeli kills woman in south Lebanon border town
Israeli drone strike kills one in southern Lebanon
Palestinian child dies of injuries from recent Israel strike in West Bank
Israeli forces kill Palestinian child in southern Gaza’s Rafah
Israel killed 20 Palestinians in Rafah since ceasefire
Israeli army kills two Palestinian children in occupied West Bank
Official: Gaza school year to begin on Saturday [Today]
“The school year in the besieged Gaza Strip will begin tomorrow, following 16 months of cessation due to Israel’s genocidal war, a Palestinian official has said.
Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Gaza, Khaled Abu- Nada, said his ministry has been holding meetings with general directors, members of the emergency committee, education directors and school principals since the start of the ceasefire to expedite the assessment of damages in the public education sector with the aim of developing a plan to resume school year tomorrow.
Abu-Nada added that the ministry and directorates have been restoring and cleaning schools, removing rubble, and trying to provide school desks for the students.
He called on citizens to return school furniture they had to use during the war.
He pointed out that the ministry’s teams in Gaza and Ramallah are also working around the clock to hold the high school exam sessions, scheduled in early March.”
Via Middle East Monitor.
Chef Faten and her team at Beach Camp, Gaza Soup Kitchen 🍉🕊️☮️🗝️