Hamas slams Israel over plans to restrict access of Palestinian worshipers to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem during the holy month of Ramadan. Meanwhile, more Palestinians die from preventable causes as Israel besieges hospitals in Gaza.
- 29,092+ killed* and at least 69,028 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 380+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
- 574 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.**
*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 36,500 when accounting for those presumed dead.
** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”
- India trade union to refuse to handle weapons shipments to Israel
- Gaza Ministry of Health: Lack of oxygen, electricity kills 8th person in Gaza’s Nasser Hospital.
- Netanyahu approves Al-Aqsa restrictions during Ramadan
- Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor: Israeli forces open fire on Palestinians approaching aid trucks in Gaza city.
- Netanyahu’s government formalizes its opposition to the “unilateral recognition” of Palestinian statehood with a unanimous cabinet vote.
- Norway to help transfer frozen funds to Palestinian Authority
- ICJ hearing on Israel’s occupation of Palestine began on Monday morning.
- Israeli protesters continue blocking aid from entering Gaza
- Israeli officials: Israel’s full-scale military operations are expected to continue for another six to eight weeks
Israel’s Genocide War in Gaza Continues
Israel expects to continue full-scale military operations in Gaza for another six to eight weeks as it prepares to mount a ground invasion of Rafah, four officials familiar with the strategy said. Military chiefs believe they can significantly damage Hamas‘ remaining capabilities in that time.
Israel will launch a ground offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah unless Hamas releases the hostages it’s holding by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in mid-March, said Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has come under intense pressure from the US and other close allies to scrap the planned assault on Rafah or ensure civilians are allowed to leave beforehand.
The brief news item at the link transmitted below reports on the moral clarity of President Lula of Brazil at this weekend’s African Union summit in Addis Ababa, at which a prominent place and role were accorded to my distinguished recipient Mohammad Shtayyeh, Prime Minister of the State of Palestine.
‘Like What Hitler Did’ – President Lula Accuses Israel of Genocide in Gaza (VIDEO)
In his opening speech at the summit, the Chairman of the African Union Commission went further than President Lula, condemning Israel’s war on Gaza as “unparalleled in the history of humanity.”
More diplomatically, the summit’s formal final statement condemned Israel’s “brutal” war and urged Israel to respond to international calls for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, comply with the decisions of the International Court of Justice to prevent genocide and lift the unjust siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Gov’t Unanimously Rejects Unilateral International Recognition of Palestinian State. The prime minister told the cabinet that the move comes amid international attempts of ‘unilaterally imposing a Palestinian state on Israel.’ The resolution determines that any permanent arrangement ‘will only be achieved through direct negotiations with no pre-conditions’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defied international pressure to call off Israel’s planned ground invasion of Rafah, the southernmost Gazan city where over a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. “Those who want to prevent us from operating in Rafah are basically telling us: Lose the war. It’s true that there’s a lot of opposition abroad, but this is exactly the moment that we need to say that we won’t be doing a half or a third of the job,” Netanyahu said. Adam Rasgon and Aaron Boxerman report for the New York Times.
Israeli forces will expand military operations in Rafah if hostages held by Hamas are not returned by the start of Ramadan, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz saidyesterday. The Muslim holy month is expected to start on March 10 or 11, and Gantz’s comments appear to be the clearest deadline yet for Israeli military action in the southern Gaza city. “The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know — if by Ramadan our hostages are not home — the fighting will continue to the Rafah area,” Gantz said, adding, “We will do so in a coordinated manner, facilitating the evacuation of civilians in dialogue with our American and Egyptian partners to minimize civilian casualties.”
Hamas’s demands for a hostage deal are “delusional” and need to be “close to reality,” Israel’s Coordinator for the Captives and the Missing, Gal Hirsch, told CNN. “We want a deal very much and we know we need to pay prices. But Hamas’s demands are disconnected from reality – delusional,” Hirsch said. He said there is “nothing more important” than bringing Israeli hostages home, but that “We are ready to stop warfare by ceasefires, not to stop the war.”
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has opened historic hearings into the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state. The session, expected to last for six days, follows a request by the U.N. General Assembly for a non-binding advisory opinion into Israel’s policies in the occupied territories. Judges will likely take months to issue an opinion. At the start of the hearings today, Palestinian foreign minister Riayd al-Maliki accused Israel of apartheid and urged the court to declare that Israel’s occupation is illegal and must end immediately and unconditionally. Mike Corder reports for AP News.
Israel formalized its opposition to what it called the “unilateral recognition” of Palestinian statehood, saying any such agreement must be reached through direct negotiations. Netanyahu brought the “declaratory decision” to a vote in cabinet, which unanimously approved the measure. Reuters reports.
Gaza’s Nasser hospital has ceased to function after “a week-long siege followed by the ongoing raid,” the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) has said. “Both yesterday and the day before, the WHO team was not permitted to enter the hospital to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel alongside partners. There are still about 200 patients in the hospital. At least 20 need to be urgently referred to other hospitals to receive health care,” W.H.O. head Tedros Ghebreyesu said. The Israeli military said no deaths have occurred as a result of its actions and that its troops had been told to keep the hospital running. BBC News reports.
At least 18 people have died following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza yesterday, according to a spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the victims. Dozens of others were injured, the spokesperson and another doctor at the hospital said. Most of those killed and wounded were children, the two health officials added. Abeer Salman and Mohammed Tawfeeq report for CNN.
REGIONAL RESPONSE
Talks to reach a ceasefire agreement were “not very promising in recent days,” Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said. “The pattern in the last few days [is] not really very promising but, as I always repeat, we will always remain optimistic and will always remain pushing,” he told world leaders at the Munich Security Conference, stressing that a truce should not be dependent on a deal to release the hostages held by Hamas. “This is the dilemma that we’ve been in and unfortunately that’s been misused by a lot of countries – that in order to get a ceasefire, it’s conditional to have the hostage deal,” he said. James Gregory reports for BBC News.
Israel has dismissed all plausible solutions to the war – Ayman Safadi. During a meeting at the Munich Security Conference (MSC), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi emphasized that the Israeli occupation is the main cause of the conflict in Palestine and the Gaza Strip. He called for an end to the war crimes in Gaza and stressed the importance of recognizing the Palestinian people’s rights, including their right to a two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Safadi also criticized the current Israeli government for not wanting to negotiate regarding its detainees and for not seeking an end to the ongoing conflict.
He highlighted the devastating impact of Israeli actions on Palestinian infrastructure and the living conditions in Gaza, emphasizing that the forced migration of Palestinians is unacceptable and constitutes a violation of international law and a war crime. Safadi concluded by asserting that peace cannot be achieved until the Palestinian people are granted their legitimate rights, including the right to establish their state and to live with freedom and dignity.
Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi told the Munich Security Conference yesterday that Israel is responsible for displacing millions of civilians in Gaza and that Jordan “should not be responsible for cleaning Israel’s mess” by accepting people into its borders. “What we see in Gaza is a devastating war, mass murder, destruction of the livelihood of 2 million people, pushing people to the abyss, destroying hospitals, killing journalists, medics, humanitarian workers. We have got to frame things in the right context,” Safadi said, when asked if Jordan would accept displaced Palestinians. Celine Alkhaldi and Jennifer Hauser report for CNN.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Israel accused Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of trivializing the Holocaust when he likened Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Nazi genocide. “What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments. In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” Lula said during the 37th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa. The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said it would summon the Brazilian ambassador for a reprimand over the remarks, which Netanyahu described as “disgraceful and grave.” Reuters reports.
World Court: A record 52 states will present arguments beginning Monday about the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories at the International Court of Justice. The court on Friday said it does not see the need for additional emergency measures to protect Palestinians’ rights following the Rafah offensive.
U.S. RESPONSE
The United States does not support the upcoming Security Council resolution proposed by Algeria calling for an immediate ceasefire, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. has confirmed.
The U.S. Special Envoy for humanitarian aid said on Friday that Israeli military strikes on Palestinian police officers were hampering the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. David Satterfield said Israeli strikes in recent days had killed multiple police officials who were escorting U.N. aid convoys in Gaza. “We’re working with the Israeli government, with the Israeli military, in seeing what solutions can be found here because everyone wants to see the assistance continue,” Satterfield said. “No one wants to empower Hamas.” Gaya Gupta reports for the New York Times.
IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS
The United States struck five Houthi military targets including an undersea drone in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Saturday, CENTCOM announced yesterday. It is believed to be the first time that the Houthi fighters have used an underwater drone since they began their campaign against ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Eden on Oct. 23. Julian E. Barnes reports for the New York Times.
Iran is privately urging Hezbollah and other armed groups to exercise restraint against U.S. forces, according to officials in the region. U.S. officials say the message might be having some effect. As of Saturday, Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria had not attacked U.S. forces for more than 13 days – an unusual lull since the start of the war in Gaza. Susannah George, Dan Lamothe, Suzan Haidamous, and Mustafa Salim report for the Washington Post.
Israel carried out covert attacks on two major natural gas pipelines inside Iran this week, disrupting the flow of heat and cooking gas to provinces with millions of people, according to two Western officials and a military strategist affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. While Israel has long targeted military and nuclear sites inside Iran, blowing up part of the country’s energy infrastructure marked an escalation in the covert war and appeared to open a new frontier, officials and analysts said. Farnaz Fassihi, Eric Schmitt, Ronen Bergman and Julian E. Barnes report for the New York Times.
Gaza’s Day After: Three Irrelevant Issues in This Moment of Grave Urgency
Despite 135 days of brutal Israeli attacks, and amidst the urgent need to stop the ongoing human suffering in Gaza, media and diplomatic circles are turning to other subjects. The discourse of American and European politicians and media appears to be dominated by three interrelated topics: what will the day after hold?, the need to reform the Palestinian Authority, and calls for a two-state solution.
There is no credibility in demanding a two-state solution while still tolerating Israel’s continued expansion of illegal settlements. A serious international position on illegal settlement expansion would require sanctions on Israel. Indeed, there is only one peaceful path to realizing the two-state solution. One must help establish a new state, the State of Palestine, in the same way the first state, the State of Israel, was established—with recognition and support.
“Paying lip service to the two-state solution will not have any practical effect; instead countries should contribute to its realization by recognizing the State of Palestine on its 1967 borders and helping to materialize its security and independence in a practical way.”
Paying lip service to the two-state solution will not have any practical effect; instead countries should contribute to its realization by recognizing the State of Palestine on its 1967 borders and helping to materialize its security and independence in a practical way. Reed the full text here
Genocidal DNA: Depravity, Evil and Cowardice in the ‘West’ as well
The details are inhumane, sickening and repulsive in the extreme. This is not collateral damage. It is the deliberate destruction in detail of Gaza, its homes, shops, hospitals, schools, universities, government offices, mosques, churches and its food, water and medical supplies and – so far – about 100,000 of its people, slaughtered or maimed mostly by missile fire.
People elect politicians to govern on their behalf. They get the power, the prestige, the salaries, the free travel, the generous pension fund and the black cars. In return, they are expected to make the right decisions on behalf of the people, right domestically and in foreign policy and right morally.
What we are seeing now in the global ‘west,’ while the people of Gaza are being butchered, is a total abandonment of that moral responsibility. Not one government has stepped forward to unequivocally condemn Israel for its crimes.
With people everywhere in the ‘west’ horrified at the images of total inhumanity coming out of Gaza, the gulf between them and their governments widens every day.
Only the historical victims of the crimes committed in the past by these same governments have defended the Palestinians. South Africa launched the case for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and other global south governments soon followed.
Economics Seminar: Rashid Khalidi
63rd Fifth Avenue, #UL104
Tuesday, February 20, 2024. 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, will present “The Genocide of Gaza in Context: the Political Economy of 100 years of Settler-Colonial Occupation of Palestine.”
With commentary on the racialized political discourse of the American support for foreign occupation by Marc Lamont Hill, Presidential Professor at the CUNY Graduate Center.
This talk will be moderated by Trinity College Assistant Professor of Economics and NSSR Economics alumn Ibrahim Shikaki.
Non-New School community members: Please register to get access to the buildings, as those that don’t and are not on the RSVP list may be refused by security.
Presented by the Economics Department at The New School of Social Research
Humanitarian Danger and Palestinian Life in Gaza
Date & Time
Feb 21, 2024 12:00 PM in
Description
This talk will explore the multiple forms of humanitarian danger that are confronting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The massive humanitarian crisis caused by Israeli bombardment and siege of Gaza is a clear danger. The healthcare system has been decimated by attack, starvation is looming as a product of the restriction on entry of food and fuel, the vast majority of the population has been displaced, and a significant portion of its buildings (both public buildings and homes) are destroyed or damaged. It is only possible to understand, and respond to, this overwhelming threat by also understanding how humanitarianization is, and has been, used as a weapon against Palestinians. Click here to register. The talk will situate today’s humanitarian dangers within a longer historical context in which Gazans have repeatedly confronted such dynamics.
Webinar On Thursday- Executive Action Against Settler Violence: A Deep Dive into President Biden’s Order.2023 saw a significant surge in West Bank settler violence with the highest recorded number of incidents to date. President Biden’s recently announced executive order is designed to address the escalating crisis. The first use of the executive order focused on Israeli settlers in the West Bank accused of perpetrating attacks against Palestinians and Israeli peace activists within the occupied territory. It did so by imposing financial sanctions and visa bans on four individuals. But is constructed in a way that it can have broader-reaching implications on the settlement enterprise.This webinar will feature insights from Joel Braunold, Managing Director at S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, and Lior Amichai, Executive Director of Peace Now. The speakers, in conversation with APN’s Government Relations Director Madeleine Cereghino, will delve into the intricacies of President Biden’s executive order, assessing its potential impact on mitigating extremist settlers and potentially undercutting the settlement enterprise as a whole.This webinar will take place on Feb 22, 2024 at 2:00 pm Eastern Time. Register Now