Israel’s Knesset approved a $19.4 billion budget increase to fund the ongoing Israeli genocide, while the Biden administration has indicated that it will greenlight the targeting of “high-value Hamas targets in and underneath Rafah.”
BY LEILA WARAH
Israel’s Genocide War in Gaza Continues
- The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said yesterday that at least one of its staff members was killed and 22 others injured when Israeli forces struck one of its food distribution centers in Rafah, southern Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged the strike, saying it had targeted and killed Hamas commander, Muhammad Abu Hasna. The IDF said Hasna was “involved in taking control of humanitarian aid and distributing it to Hamas terrorists.” Hamas confirmed the death of Hasna and said he was the deputy head of police operations in Rafah. Kareem Fahim, John Hudson, and Lior Soroka report for the Washington Post.
- The strike on the UNRWA center yesterday killed five Palestinians, the Hamas-run health ministry said.
- More children have been killed during four months of the war in Gaza than in four years of conflict worldwide, the UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini has said. Lazzarini shared a graph in a post on X, and according to the figures, a total of 12,193 children were killed between 2019 and 2022 globally, while a total of 12,300 children were killed in Gaza between Oct. 2023 and Feb. 2024. Celine Alkhaldi reports for CNN.
- Israel intends to “flood” Gaza with aid, Israel Defense Spokesperson Daniel Hagari told reporters yesterday, according to Israeli media. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken similarly told reporters yesterday “We need to see flooding the zone when it comes to humanitarian assistance for Gaza.” Frances Vinall reports for the Washington Post.
- President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority intends to appoint Muhammad Mustafa, a close economic adviser, as prime minister in the coming days, according to two Palestinian officials, an E.U. diplomat, and a fourth person with knowledge of the matter. Abbas is still holding final consultations with Arab countries before signing a presidential decree entrusting Mustafa with forming a new government, one of the Palestinian officials and the European Union diplomat said. Adam Rasgon reports for the New York Times.
- Israeli fire killed six Palestinians and wounded dozens of others as crowds of residents awaited aid trucks in northern Gaza City, the Hamas-run health ministry said today. The Palestinians were rushing to reach aid supplies late yesterday when Israeli forces opened fire, residents and health officials said. The Israeli military has not commented at the time of writing. Nidal Al-Mughrabi reports for Reuters.
- Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he visited northern Gaza yesterday amid mounting pressure from allies to increase aid to that part of the enclave. Gallant viewed preparation work for the newly-announced maritime corridor during his visit and called “the humanitarian element” of getting aid into Gaza a “central issue,” according to a statement from the defense ministry. Cassandra Vinograd reports for the New York Times.
- Israel’s justice ministry said yesterday it was questioning an officer who fatally shot a 12-year-old boy accused of shooting a firework at security forces in the Shuafat refugee camp, East Jerusalem. The Israeli police said the youth was shot after he “endangered” officers by launching a firework directly at officers. The justice ministry confirmed that an investigation into the incident is underway. Gabby Sobelman, Adam Sella, and Cassandra Vinograd report for the New York Times.
- U.S. RESPONSE
- Senior White House officials are planning to meet with Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian-American community leaders in Chicago today, multiple sources familiar with the meeting told CNN. Officials are also expected to more broadly discuss concerns about Islamophobia in the United States in the aftermath of Oct. 7.
- The United States conducted the ninth airdrop of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza yesterday. The forces airdropped “over 35,712 US meal equivalents and 28,800 bottles of water into Northern Gaza, an area of great need, allowing for civilian access to the critical aid,” CENTCOM said. Haley Britzky reports for CNN.
- REGIONAL RESPONSE
- South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, said her country’s citizens who fight in the Israeli armed forces or alongside them in Gaza will be arrested when they return home. Pandor commented earlier this week at a Palestinian solidarity event attended by officials from South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party, where Pandor also encouraged people to protest outside the embassies of what she called the “five primary supporters” of Israel. Pandor did not name the supporters directly. Gerald Imray reports for AP News.
- Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said he instructed the country’s permanent representative to the U.N. to file a complaint against Israel with the U.N. Security Council for strikes that have reached deeper into Lebanon in recent days.
- INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
- The United Kingdom said it is “doing everything we can” to get more aid into Gaza, including urging Israel to lift restrictions and open more border crossings. The UK is providing planning support to the Jordanian Armed Forces for their humanitarian aid efforts has provided around 500 parachutes to enable more airdrops, and is working with Qatar to increase aid to Gaza. Lauren Kent reports for CNN.
- The Canadian government pledged this week to make equal contributions to groups supporting either Israeli or Palestinian women who have been sexually abused during the war. Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, said that Canada would give the equivalent of $743,000 to groups assisting Palestinian women who have been victims of sexual violence, later adding that an identical amount of money would flow to groups supporting Israeli women who have been sexually abused. Israel’s envoy for combating antisemitism castigated Joly’s announcement and warned that Canada was creating a “false moral equivalence.” Joly is visiting the Middle East this week as part of a diplomatic tour of the region. Ian Austen reports for the New York Times.
- Germany’s Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius approved the country’s air force carrying out humanitarian airdrops over the Gaza Strip. “The people in Gaza lack the most necessities,” Pistorius said in a statement yesterday. A statement published by the German defense ministry said Pistorius had signed an order to authorize the mission and that aid drops could begin as early as next week. Chris Stern reports for CNN.
- MILITARY CONFLICT WITH THE HOUTHIS
- U.S. forces destroyed four drones and one surface-to-air missile in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen yesterday, U.S. Central Command said. The strike on the Houthis came after the group fired an anti-ship ballistic missile from Yemen into the Gulf of Aden, CENTCOM said. The missile did not hit any ships and no injuries were reported.
- IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS
- The leader of Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, vowed to continue fighting Israel and claimed Israel’s military has downplayed its losses in the north.“[Our southern front] continues to carry out its task of pressuring the enemy at the human, material, military, and economic levels,” Nasrallah said, adding that “After five months of fighting, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu was unable to present any spectacle of victory.” The Hezbollah leader also decried the U.S. stance on the war, saying, “I don’t think anyone on earth believes that President Biden cannot stop the war on Gaza.” Kareem El Damanhoury reports for CNN.
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to appoint on Thursday the chairman of the Palestinian Investment Fund, Mohammed Mustafa, as the new prime minister and task him with forming a new government. AXIOS
· IDF Says it Will Displace Gazans to “Humanitarian Islands” Ahead of Rafah Operation; Biden Admin Signals Conditional Support. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced plans to relocate a significant portion of the 1.4 million displaced Gazans from Rafah to “humanitarian islands” ahead of a ground operation. The IDF said this strategy aims to protect civilians and coordinate with international actors and reflects Israel’s efforts to mitigate humanitarian concerns while targeting Hamas strongholds. The move precedes potential ground operations in Rafah, a city on the Egypt border and a key Hamas base. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant emphasized Israel’s determination to eliminate Hamas threats and ensure aid reaches Gaza’s civilians, not Hamas. The Biden administration, prioritizing the protection of civilians, has indicated possible support for a precise IDF operation that would focus on targeting high-value Hamas objectives in Rafah while taking concrete measures to mitigate humanitarian concerns and minimize civilian casualties.
· US, Qatar, UAE, and European Countries Say There’s No Alternative to Land Routes for Gaza Aid Delivery. In a joint statement released on Thursday, Qatar, the UAE, the United States, the UK, Cyprus, and the European Union stressed the indispensability of land routes for delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. Following a ministerial meeting that included high-ranking officials from these nations, the statement emphasized the necessity of using Egypt, Jordan, and Israeli entry points for large-scale aid delivery. Additionally, the opening of Israel’s Ashdod port for humanitarian aid was highlighted as a welcome complement to the maritime corridor under consideration, alongside discussions on establishing a joint fund to support the corridor for sustained aid to Gaza.
· US to Impose Sanctions on Jewish Outposts for Settler Violence.
The Biden administration plans to sanction two Jewish settlements in the West Bank for their involvement in violence against Palestinians. This move aims to address settler violence by freezing US assets, denying visas, and blocking access to the US financial system. The sanctions follow President Biden’s executive order targeting actions that undermine peace in the West Bank, despite Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s assertion that the majority of Israeli settlers are law-abiding.
· Haniyeh Signals Openness to Truce if Israel Abandons “Obstinacy”. Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas’s political bureau, asserts that a multi-phase truce agreement in Gaza is feasible if Israel relinquishes its “obstinacy.” Haniyeh’s statement, as reported by the Arab World News Agency, calls for concrete actions from the US administration to halt what he describes as a genocidal war and starvation policies against Gazans. Despite parallel negotiations and resistance efforts, previous mediation by the US, Qatar, and Egypt since January has yet to yield an agreement. A temporary ceasefire facilitated by Egyptian and Qatari mediation in November saw the exchange of detainees between Hamas and Israel.
Gaza war shatters hopes for new Middle East
Washington’s vision for a Middle East in which economics and security bind Israel with its Arab neighbors is in tatters.
Hamas’s attack on Israel and the subsequent offensive in Gaza are testing a long-held belief that hostility among Arab citizens toward Israel is irrelevant to their leaders’ choices about normalizing ties with the Jewish state.
Pressure is mounting on Arab nations to act in the face of more than 30,000 dead Palestinians, including thousands of women and children — numbers now cited by the United Nations and US President Joe Biden — and images of starving people.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has made clear that a precondition to diplomatic rapprochement with Israel is “an irreversible path” toward a Palestinian state — anathema to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government.
A deal announced last year for BP and the United Arab Emirates’ state oil firm to buy a $2 billion stake in Israel’s NewMed Energy was supposed to highlight burgeoning ties between the UAE and Israel. It was suspended yesterday.
The war has undone “30 years of efforts to normalize the idea of peace with Israel in the Arab world,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in an interview last month.
Arab editorialists now wonder what it means to be America’s friend in a world where it’s being challenged by China — Beijing mediated a détente between Saudi Arabia and Iran last year — and defied daily by Israel over calls to pause the offensive.
They question, too, why the US, Israel’s leading arms supplier, can’t ensure food deliveries by land to Gazans and instead must build a dock to bring in aid by sea that will take months to complete.
For many, it all indicates the growing limits of US power. — Sam Dagher
Fake news on social media platforms in Palestine
Palestinians use social media platforms heavily, due to the restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation on their movement, and its isolation of population communities in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, and the occupied interior from each other, in a way that makes it difficult to communicate between them, in addition to the fact that they use these platforms for publishing as an available means of expressing opinion, not to mention what these platforms offer, to raise internal political and social issues, often do not find their way to publish in traditional media, whether official or private.
The Israeli Information Epidemic
A report of the company (Ebook for Information Technology), on the use of Palestinian social media platforms in 2023, stated that the percentage of users of these platforms reached 53.1% of males and 46.3% of females, while the rates of use of social media platforms were as follows: Facebook 95.16%, Twitter 26.14%, YouTube 81.53%, and Instagram 63.28%, while the percentage of smartphone use among users reached 83%.
About 72% of Internet users in Palestine are exposed to a constant infusion of false news and disinformation, of which Israeli sources reach about 54%
Read the full text here