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  August wk3 P3 -- August wk3 bis2 -- August wk3bis -- August wk3 P4 -- August wk3 P3 -- August wk3 P2 -- August wk3 -- August 2 P2 -- August wk2 -- August wk1 P2 -- August wk1 --  Click here for an overview by week in 2024
 

Special reports: TRIBUTES TO MOTHERS AND CHILDREN Shoroughs' family August 12, 2024: 'Part of me is missing': How Israel's war on Gaza tears spouses apart earlier stories: August 7, 2024: 'My children cry all day from the heat': Life in Gaza’s tent camps... and August 5, 2024: Shorough 'We have nothing left in this world, except our daughter': a young mother on life in Gaza... Alaa al-Nimer  and daughter Nimah July 28, 2024 "My baby girl was born on the street": A traumatic birth in Gaza

July 22, 2024 Ms. Maram Humaid: "A letter to my son: As you turn one today in Gaza, I feel joy and sorrow"  July 12, 2024 Noor Alyacoubi - "I'm fighting to keep my baby alive" and other stories Mothers and children: Boom-And again Boom Special report: July 12, 2024: Scorched Hospitals - Schools -  Housing - Bodies -- fake or fact?

August 22 - 20, 2024 "Democrats fund the genocide of Palestinians" and "Genocide Joe's legacy: The Butcher of Gaza." Demontrators at the Democratic National Convention, USA and more actual news

Additional stories of utmost interest: August 20, 2024: <<Palestinians are being dehumanised to justify occupation and genocide... and August 18, 2024 <<Solidarity with Palestine must be about decolonisation, not just ceasefire...

August 20 - 18, 2024 Food for thought: A desisive moment? Yes, to give back what has been stolen after WW2 and as a then 'forgive us for not having intervened when 6 million jews were gassed.' (The Western allies) One thing is clear: these allies will not be forgiven again. Do the math: killed ...... and counting, ...... wounded and counting, 2 million traumatised and counting. Gino d'Artali and more actual news Click here to go throughout August and earler, 2024

June 14, 2024 Palestinian-Jordanian journalist Hiba Abu Taha sentenced to one year in prison

Related news: August 12, 2024 Israel's "blatant act of intimidation and incitement" August 2 - July 21, 2024 Is Western journalism as envisioned dead and other stories   Click here for earlier stories/news

May 23, 2024 In commemoration of Roshdi Sarraj and tribute to Shrouq Al Aila

 
When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.

Al Jazeera - August 22, 2024
<<Three Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on occupied West Bank
Israeli forces have carried out near-daily raids in the territory, killing more than 600 Palestinians since October.
Three Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air attack on a house in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health says. Reporting from Tulkarem, Al Jazeera's Nida Ibrahim said on Thursday that the raid was ongoing 12 hours later in the congested area, with sounds of explosives and gunfire heard and drones flying above. "People inside the refugee camp say the Israeli army has set fire to some of the homes and that civil defence teams are not being allowed in to put out the fires," she said. The aerial attack on Thursday came as the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said fighters from its Tulkarem Battalion clashed with Israeli soldiers in the camp and detonated explosive devices targeting military vehicles. "Our fighters continue to clash with the occupation forces and we have achieved direct hits among them," the Qassam Brigades said. The Israeli military deployed snipers on roofs and sent in bulldozers to destroy infrastructure. The Quds News Network posted a video of a fire following the army's ground assault on the camp. The Israeli military said its aircraft struck <several militants> in Tulkarem as ground forces searched for buried explosives. Dozens of buildings were destroyed in the operation and at least one Israeli soldier was wounded. Tulkarem has been hit hard by Israeli raids, with 90 homes in the area destroyed by the Israeli army's operations since Israel's war on Gaza started in October, Al Jazeera's Ibrahim said. Israeli forces also conducted raids in cities and towns across the West Bank, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported, and arrested two teenagers in the town of Deir Ballut and Tubas city.
A total of 25 Palestinians, including two women and a child, were arrested overnight and through Thursday morning across the West Bank, according to Wafa.
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) said in a joint statement that the Israeli raids were marked by violence and intimidation. Witnesses told PPS that detainees and their families there threatened and their homes were damaged.
In the village of Burqa, east of Ramallah, Israeli troops clashed with Palestinians and deployed tear gas, live rounds and sound bombs. Attacks in the West Bank have surged since October 7, with Israeli forces killing more than 600 Palestinians in the occupied territory, including 144 children, while more than 10,000 Palestinians have been arrested. In a landmark but nonbinding ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month declared Israel's continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as unlawful, saying it should come to an end "as rapidly as possible". Meanwhile, Israeli police arrested four Israeli settlers accused of taking part in a deadly rampage in the West Bank village of Jit last week, which drew international condemnation. The four suspects were being investigated for <terrorism against Palestinians>, according to a statement from police and the Shin Bet security service reported by the Reuters news agency.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/22/three-palestinians-killed-in-israeli-strike-on-occupied-west-bank

Al Jazeera - August 22, 2024 - By Ali Harb
<<Gaza protesters keep pressure up as Harris-Walz celebrated in Chicago DNC
Al Jazeera witnesses violent arrest of two hijab-wearing women as thousands in Chicago rally for Palestinian rights.
Chicago, United States - Chants echoed through the streets around the United Center in Chicago, where thousands of Democratic delegates and supporters gathered on Wednesday to officially nominate Kamala Harris as the party's presidential candidate. "Just like 1968, there's nothing to celebrate!" the Palestinian rights protesters shouted, highlighting the parallels they see between this Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the last time the gathering was held in the Windy City amid a violent crackdown on anti-Vietnam war protesters. Just as Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey lost the 1968 race to Richard Nixon, the demonstrators are warning Harris that they will not support her unless she ends the United States' unconditional support for Israel. Wednesday was the third day of the convention and the third day of the Gaza protests. "DNC your hands are red, over 40,000 dead," the protesters chanted as they waved Palestinian flags while marching in the streets. Police officers dragged a row of bicycles - forming a moving chain - on the side of the road along the march to keep protesters on the approved path. Whenever the protest came close to the convention centre, a wall of dozens of police officers blocked the road leading to the security perimeter that had been established around the venue.
A police helicopter hovered above the protest throughout. Jinan Chehade, one of the activists leading the chants, agreed that Wednesday's protest had been the largest of the 2024 convention. "The turnout is amazing, and it's a reflection of our call for justice and how big the Palestinian movement in Chicago is," Chehade told Al Jazeera. The protesters expressed anger and pain through their chants and posters over the war on Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in the past 10 months. But the demonstration remained peaceful.
Al Jazeera witnessed police officers violently arrest two young women at a transit station. As the demonstration snaked through the street leading to the Damen transit station, several journalists and some demonstrators rushed to the elevated train platform that overlooks the road to take aerial footage of the crowd. Law enforcement agents reminded people that photography was prohibited at the station, but their orders were largely ignored as journalists and protesters, including many professional photographers, continued to snap pictures. Police officers, however, singled out two women wearing the hijab and after a brief exchange, they wrestled them to the ground and handcuffed them. Demonstrators gathered around the police officers and chanted, "Let them go". Meanwhile, more law enforcement agents showed up at the scene to escort the two women and arresting officers out of the station. Officers did not respond to multiple questions by Al Jazeera on why the two visibly Muslim women were arrested out of more than two dozen people taking photos on the platform. The Chicago Police Department also did not immediately return a request for comment. More protests are scheduled on Thursday when the convention is set to conclude with Harris accepting the Democratic nomination. Chicago is home to one the largest Palestinian communities in the US. Lizette Garza, a social justice activist, said people of various backgrounds in the city were "grieving" for the atrocities in Gaza alongside Palestinians. "It's really important for Chicago particularly as a liberal city to represent and to be antiwar when our families and communities are hurting so much," Garza told Al Jazeera.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/22/theres-nothing-to-celebrate-gaza-protests-continue-around-dnc


Hayat Halimi
Jinha - Womens News Agency - August 21 , 2024 - by IKHLAS Al-HAMROUNI
<<Tunisian activist: We should make the voice of Palestinian women heard
"We should make the voice of Palestinian women heard all around the world," said Tunisian human rights activist Hayat Halimi, calling on the international community and organizations to take an urgent action to support Palestinian women.
Tunisia- Israel has attacked the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, killing and injuring thousands, including women and children as Palestinians have been suffering from a humanitarian crisis.
'Women suffer more than men in Palestine'
Hayat Halimi, a Tunisian human rights activist and member of the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, has supported the cause of Palestine since her childhood. "Whenever I watch the news, I see how Palestinians are subjected to discrimination. Palestinian women resist the lack of food, water and shelter, the hot and cold weather. They are also openly killed and displaced while losing their children. Women suffer more than men in Palestine. Women are always the victims of wars and conflicts due to gender discrimination. This discrimination becomes obvious when talking about the feminization of poverty, unemployment, marginalization and violence. Women are subjected to all forms of violence in all facets of life."
'What is going on is considered normal'
Hayat Halimi criticizes the silence of the international community and organizations against what is going on in the Gaza Strip. "The international community and human rights organizations have failed to support the cause of Palestine and Palestinian women. Unfortunately, what is going on in the Gaza Strip is considered 'normal'. The whole world must take an urgent action to protect Palestinians, especially Palestinian women, and end rights violations committed against them. Despite the international silence, feminist organizations and movements do their best to support Palestinian women. Tunisian human rights activists always defend the rights of Palestinian women; however, the voice of Tunisian women is insufficient to stop the massacres committed against Palestinian women."
'We should make the voice of Palestinian women heard all around the world'
When Israel started attacking the Gaza Strip, some Tunisian and Arab organizations took immediate action to protect Palestinian women, Hayat Halimi said. "However, they have limited means to protect and support all Palestinian women. Some international organizations that supposedly protect human rights have just chanted slogans instead of taking an urgent action against the crimes committed against Palestinians. Despite everything, we, as women’s organizations, should make the voice of Palestinian women heard all around the world to protect them." >>
Source incl. video:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/tunisian-activist-we-should-make-the-voice-of-palestinian-women-heard-35563?page=1


At least 40,223 Palestinians killed
Jinha - Womens News Agency - August 21 , 2024
<<At least 40,223 Palestinians killed in Gaza since Oct.7
At least 40,223 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, the Gaza's health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
News Center- Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have entered their 320th day. At least 40,223 Palestinian have been killed and 92,981 others injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7,2023, the Gaza's health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
At least 50 Palestinians were killed and 124 others injured in the last 24 hours, the ministry added, stressing that there are many bodies under rubble and the civil defense crews cannot reach them due to ongoing Israeli attacks.
Another Palestinian journalist killed
Palestinian journalist Hamza Abdul Rahman Murtaja was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza City, the Government Media Office in Gaza reported on Tuesday. Hamza Abdul Rahman Murtaja, a photographer and journalist working for several media outlets, was killed alongside at least ten people after an Israeli airstrike targeted the Mustafa Hafez School in Gaza City, where displaced people were seeking shelter, the media office said. "The martyrdom of journalist Hamza Abdul Rahman Murtaja brings the number of journalists who have been martyred to 170 journalists since the beginning of the Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip."
Latest evacuation orders by Israel
The Israeli army has issued evacuation orders since October 13, 2023. On Saturday, the Israeli army ordered civilians to evacuate Al-Mawasi, previously designated a <safe zone> by the Israeli military. The Israeli army has issued a new evacuation order for several neighborhoods in Deir el-Balah, a densely populated city in central Gaza. Avichay Adraee, the Israel Defense Forces' Arabic-language spokesperson, announced on X that certain areas in the southern part of the city are a <dangerous combat zone>, urging citizens to move westward immediately. According to UN data, 9 out of 10 people living in Gaza have been forced to flee due to Israeli attacks.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/at-least-87-people-executed-in-iran-after-presidential-elections-in-june-35565

Le Monde - August 20, 2024
<<'Time is of the essence' in Gaza as Blinken returns to Washington without a truce
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Israel has accepted a proposal by the US to bridge the gaps between the two sides and urged Hamas to follow suit. Media reports however quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying his government would insist on keeping control.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his ninth visit to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began without securing any major breakthrough for a cease-fire deal, warning on Tuesday, August 20, that "time is of the essence" even as Hamas and Israel signaled that challenges remain.
After meetings in fellow mediating countries Egypt and Qatar, Blinken said that because Israel has accepted a proposal to bridge gaps with the militant group, the focus turns to doing everything possible to "get Hamas on board" and ensure both sides agree to key details on implementation.
"Our message is simple. It's clear and it's urgent," he told reporters before leaving Qatar. "We need to get a cease-fire and hostage agreement over the finish line, and we need to do it now. Time is of the essence." There has been added urgency after the recent targeted killings of militant leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah in Iran and Lebanon, both attributed to Israel, and vows of retaliation that have sparked fears of a wider regional war.
Few details have been released about the so-called bridging proposal put forth by the US, Egypt and Qatar. Blinken said it is "very clear on the schedule and the locations of (Israeli military) withdrawals from Gaza." Hamas earlier Tuesday called the latest proposal a reversal of what it had agreed to, accusing the US of acquiescing to new conditions from Israel. There was no immediate US response to that. Blinken's comments on ending his latest Israel-Hamas peace mission were notably bare of the optimism that Biden administration officials expressed going into his trip, and earlier.
The upbeat tone through much of the spring and summer - with US officials at times describing a cease-fire and hostage deal as nearer than ever – reflected necessary messaging, at least in part, said Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council's Middle East Program. "If they don't project optimism then it won't create... even the potential for sufficient momentum to keep things going," Panikoff said. Americans have little alternative to continuing to push Israel and Hamas to agree to a negotiated end to fighting, but it's fundamentally about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who helped mastermind the October 7 attacks, Panikoff said. And they are "the two people that have been, frankly, most skeptical from the beginning" about making peace.
Le Monde with AFP>>
Source:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/20/blinken-says-time-is-of-the-essence-for-gaza-truce-as-he-returns-to-washington_6718996_4.html

BBC - August 20, 2024 - By Robert Greenall
<<US criticises Israeli PM's 'maximalist' ceasefire stance
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) had a three-hour meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday
A senior US administration official has pushed back at reported comments by Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing the Israeli prime minister of making "maximalist statements" that are "not constructive to getting a ceasefire deal across the finish line". It comes in the midst of an intense round of regional diplomacy by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as Washington tries to drive forward progress on a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
On Monday, Mr Blinken had talks lasting three hours with the Israeli leader in Jerusalem. He later said Mr Netanyahu had accepted Washington's so-called "bridging proposal" aimed at trying to solve sticking points and bring Israel and Hamas closer to a deal.
Six hostages' bodies retrieved from Gaza tunnels, says IDF
According to an Israeli media report, Mr Netanyahu later told a meeting of hostage families that he <convinced> Mr Blinken that the deal must see Israeli troops remaining in areas of Gaza he described as <strategic military and political assets>, including along the southern border with Egypt.
The reported comments appear to have irritated the US administration. "We saw the prime minister's comments, specifically on some of these items," said the senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We're certainly not going to negotiate in public but what I can say is that the only thing Secretary Blinken and the United States are convinced of is the need for getting a ceasefire proposal across the finish line. We fully expect that... if Hamas were also to also accept this bridging proposal, discussions will continue on some of the more technical... details. I would also just add that maximalist statements like this are not constructive to getting a ceasefire deal across the finish line and they certainly risk the ability of implementing level, working level and technical talks to be able to move forward when both parties agree to a bridging proposal."
The senior official's remarks followed Tuesday's round of talks between Mr Blinken and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the coastal city of El-Alamein. Egyptian officials are said to be strongly opposed to the idea of Israeli troops remaining along Egypt's border in Gaza. Following his stop in Egypt, Mr Blinken travelled on to Qatar for further talks in Doha - the last stop on his Middle East tour. The BBC has been travelling with the secretary of state and asked him about the conversation shortly before he left Doha. He revealed for the first time that the American bridging proposal included a "detailed plan" about Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. "The agreement is very clear on the schedule and locations of IDF [Israel Defense Forces] withdrawals from Gaza and Israel has agreed to that," said Mr Blinken. Asked by the BBC whether Mr Netanyahu's reported claim that the Israeli leader had "convinced" Mr Blinken to keep troops in Gaza, he said: "I can't speak to what he's quoted as saying, I can just speak to what I heard from him directly yesterday [Monday] when we spent three hours together," he said. "[That included] Israel's endorsement of the bridging proposal and thus the detailed plan. And that plan among other things includes a very clear schedule and locations for withdrawals."
Asked whether the proposal was for a "full withdrawal", Mr Blinken said he would not comment on the details of the plan. Hamas said the latest ceasefire proposals constituted "a coup" against what had been agreed upon in earlier negotiations, and reiterated its wish that a ceasefire plan for Gaza be based on where talks were in July rather than any new rounds of negotiations.>>
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd6ynq1jwdqo

Al Jazeera - August 20, 2024 - By Jillian Kestler-D'Amours
<<Canada refuses to comment on US sale of Canadian-made weapons to Israel
Rights advocates say Canada is not being transparent and has failed to take danger of arms exports to Israel seriously.
Montreal, Canada - Canada has refused to comment on a planned United States sale of Canadian-made weapons to Israel, after news of the deal drew rebuke from rights advocates who argue the arms will help fuel Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinians. In a brief statement to Al Jazeera on Tuesday, a spokesman for Canada's foreign affairs department, Global Affairs Canada, said it "will not speculate on a possible Foreign Military Sale by the United States". "Since January 8th, the Government of Canada has not approved new arms export permits to Israel, and this remains the federal government's approach," it said. Canada announced earlier this year that it would not authorise new export permits for weapons to Israel amid mass protests over the country's war in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians over nearly 11 months.
But rights advocates quickly noted that Canada has not revoked existing arms export permits, nor would the prohibition affect Canadian weapons and components that first go to the US before they are shipped to Israel. Those transfers to the US are difficult to track because of a decades-old preferential trade relationship that allows the North American neighbours to more easily exchange military weapons and related components.
Last Tuesday, the US's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced that a company based in the Canadian province of Quebec would be the main contractor in a possible deal to send $61.1m in munitions to Israel. The company, called General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc, is set to supply tens of thousands of "M933A1 120mm High Explosive Mortar Cartridges and related equipment", the agency said in a statement. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2026. Michael Bueckert, vice president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), an advocacy group, told Al Jazeera that the Canadian government "has a responsibility" to stop the shipment. "If Canada is going to knowingly allow weapons to be transferred to Israel while it claims to be stopping this sort of thing, it just destroys their entire credibility," he said. Bueckert added that, with experts accusing Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza, it also "shows that they’re more interested in public relations than taking action to prevent complicity in genocide". The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), another advocacy group, also urged Canada to prevent the transfer.
"Any decision otherwise would render the Government's earlier weapon permits ban to become moot," its CEO, Stephen Brown, said in a statement on Tuesday. On Monday, the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) issued a statement publicly opposing the sale, saying it was "horrified" to learn of Canada’s involvement. "Canada must not be fuelling the ongoing genocide in Gaza with Canadian-made weapons," said Heather McPherson, a Canadian parliament member and foreign affairs critic for the NDP. "By refusing to end arms sales to Israel, including by allowing loopholes to send weapons through the United States, Canada could potentially be complicit in war crimes." General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc, the Canada-based company involved in the sale, did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment. Legal experts have said Canada is flouting its obligations under international law to prohibit weapons transfers to countries when there is a serious risk the equipment could be used in human rights violations. For instance, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) - a United Nations pact to which Canada is a signatory - bans transfers if states have knowledge the arms could be used in genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other violations of international law. The UN's top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has already said there is a "plausible" risk that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Rights groups have also documented scores of Israeli military attacks against Palestinian civilians, journalists and humanitarian aid workers across the enclave since the war began. Against that backdrop, in March, a group of Palestinian Canadians and human rights lawyers sued Canada over exports of military equipment to Israel. "We are seeking to hold Canada to its own standards and to its international legal obligations," Henry Off, a board member for Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR), one of the groups involved in the case, told Al Jazeera at the time. "We don't want the Canadian government to be contributing to the mass starvation and bombardment of Gaza." But as Israel's war in Gaza drags on, rights advocates have urged the government to also close the "loopholes" that allow the country to send weapons to the US with less oversight and fewer reporting requirements. Bueckert said the Canadian government has failed to take the concerns of its citizens seriously - or take real action to address their calls to end weapons shipments to Israel. "I think they've really been very dismissive and condescending towards the concerns that Canadians have about the very real and dangerous transfer of military goods to Israel," Bueckert told Al Jazeera.
"I think in general Canada is not taking seriously the legal consequences for its complicity in genocide."
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/20/canada-refuses-to-comment-on-us-sale-of-canadian-made-weapons-to-israel

Al Jazeera - August 20, 2024 - By Mat Nashed
<<What is the Gaza ceasefire 'bridging proposal' and will it work?
US calls on Hamas to accept ceasefire 'bridging proposal', but the Palestinian group says it only serves the Israelis. The United States's top diplomat wrapped up his visit to Israel on Monday with a message for those pleading for an end to the war in Gaza. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that he consulted with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who - the American official said - had accepted a "bridging proposal" for a ceasefire in Gaza. The proposal ostensibly aims to bridge unresolved disputes between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in order to end the violence in Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 40,000 people and uprooted nearly the entire 2.3 million population during the last 10 months.
Israel's devastating war on Gaza began shortly after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which an estimated 1,139 people were killed and more than 250 taken captive.
Despite continuous efforts this year to bring about a ceasefire, and even after a proposal announced by US President Joe Biden that he said was supported by Israel and has publicly been backed by Hamas, the US has now been forced to announce the bridging proposal. Hamas has rejected the proposal, calling it an attempt by the US to buy time "for Israel to continue its genocide", and urged a return to the previous proposal. With Blinken travelling the Middle East, and a new potential round of talks in Cairo this week, let’s take a closer look at the latest proposal, and what the dispute between Israel and Hamas now centres on.
Permanent ceasefire?
Israel doesn't want a permanent ceasefire, despite engaging in <ceasefire> talks.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to reserve the right to resume attacks on Gaza after Israeli captives have been retrieved. This fits with a longstanding Israeli military doctrine of carrying out <preemptive attacks> in occupied Palestinian territory to ostensibly weaken the threat coming from Palestinian fighters, as it often does in the occupied West Bank. <Most Israelis can't argue with what Netanyahu wants to do, which is to destroy Hamas, despite those being empty words that have no meaning,> said Ori Goldberg, an Israeli commentator on political affairs. However, Israel's own security brass has said that Netanyahu’s stated goal of completely destroying Hamas is impossible and amounts to <throwing sand in the eyes of the [Israeli] public>. Even Netanyahu's defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has rubbished the idea of a <total victory> against Hamas.
Back in July, Hamas expressed willing to sign a temporary ceasefire and then indirectly continue talks that would eventually lead to a permanent one.
Netanyahu, however, has continued to add conditions and has proved unwilling to compromise.
Troop withdrawals
Hamas is calling for the departure of all Israeli troops from Gaza, beginning with a withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor, a name used for the land that separates the enclave from Egypt. Netanyahu, however, insists that Israeli troops must remain in the corridor - and other locations in the enclave - to preserve Israeli security and derail the smuggling of weapons to Hamas. That, Hamas says, is a departure from the ceasefire proposal backed by Biden in May, which the Americans said at the time Israel had agreed to. Secretary of State Blinken has tried to talk Netanyahu into watering down his new condition - which is also vehemently opposed by Egypt - by agreeing to keep a minimal number of soldiers in the Philadelphi corridor, according to Hugh Lovatt, an expert on Israel-Palestine for the European Council for Foreign Relations (ECFR). "It seems, from my view, the US is accepting the latest Israeli conditions, but trying to water them down to some extent," said Lovatt. "This [proposal] is basically a bridge between the US and Israel and not Israel and Hamas," he added.
Right of return
Israel has insisted on screening all Palestinians for weapons before allowing them to return to their homes in northern Gaza, a condition that is regarded by Palestinians as a pretext to be used to block families from returning to areas where they have been forcefully and deliberately displaced.
Israel has said that it aims to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping in the north. Hamas, on the other hand, says Palestinians should have total freedom of movement and that Israeli forces must withdraw in order to guarantee the safety of people in the Strip, tens of thousands of whom have been killed by Israeli forces. The call for an unimpeded return to the north is particularly sensitive for Palestinians, who have been repeatedly expelled from their lands since the creation of Israel in 1948.
Back then, some 750,000 Palestinians were uprooted by Zionist militias – a period Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or catastrophe. About 70 percent of Gaza's population are from refugee families that had fled their homes in other parts of Palestine during the Nakba.
Captive exchange
On Tuesday, Israeli families of the captives in Gaza met Netanyahu to gauge the likelihood of a ceasefire. After the meeting, one of them told local reporters that the prime minister is <not sure there will be a deal>. A ceasefire would, in theory, involve three phases, in which all Israeli captives are released in exchange for a certain number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Hamas wants a deal, but will not release captives unless Netanyahu agrees to withdraw troops from Gaza. Netanyahu's new ceasefire conditions, however, make the release of Israeli captives look increasingly unlikely. "I think the Americans are playing to Netanyahu's tune here," Lovatt, from ECFR, told Al Jazeera. “The Americans are not just endorsing his conditionalities – that have potential to torpedo the deal - but they are letting him off the hook to do that."
Humanitarian aid
Palestinians in Gaza are starving and in desperate need of food and medical aid.
Several UN agencies, as well as the US and other Western countries have repeatedly called on Israel to scale up aid to beleaguered civilians. The International Court of Justice also issued Israel a binding order to do so back in January. The Israelis have often ignored these calls. Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said that it may even be <justified> for his country to starve 2 million Palestinians to death, but that the world won't allow it. Hamas, however, accuses Israel and the US of de-facto conditioning the scaling up of life-saving aid for hundreds of thousands of people on a ceasefire deal. "The Israeli occupation and the US administration are explicitly using the policy of starvation and food denial against civilians in the Gaza Strip, as a means of political pressure, and this constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity," Hamas said in a news release.
Are we running out of time?
Short answer: Yes.
On Tuesday, Israel retrieved the bodies of six dead captives in Gaza, raising questions about how many left are still alive. The captives, said the Israeli army, were found in a tunnel in Khan Younis following what it described as a <complex operation>. There was no information about how they died. Palestinians in Gaza, meanwhile, continue to pay the price of Israel's devastating war, which many critics say amounts to a campaign of cruel collective punishment. Most recently, on Tuesday, Israel struck Mustafa Hafez School in Gaza City, killing 12 Palestinians, according to local rescue workers. Israel has fired at multiple schools sheltering thousands of displaced people in recent days, including an attack that killed more than 100 Palestinians on August 10. After the attack, rescue workers found that many of the corpses were dismembered or reduced to fragments of flesh that they collected the body parts in rubbish bags.
"The longer that time drags on, the less likely Israeli hostages are to remain alive. And obviously, without a ceasefire, thousands of more Palestinians will continue to die," Lovatt said.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
Source:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/20/explainer-what-does-the-bridging-ceasefire-proposal-consist-of

Al Jazeera - August 20, 2024
<<Young children among those killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza market
Video from the immediate aftermath of an Israeli air strike on a market in Deir el-Balah, Gaza shows young children on the ground covered in blood and not moving. The strike killed at least nine people and injured ten others.>>
Watch video here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/8/20/young-children-among-those-killed-in-israeli-air-strike-on-gaza-market

Al Jazeera - August 20, 2024
<<Israel strikes market and school in Gaza, killing at least 20 Palestinians
At least eight killed in Deir el-Balah market, hours after yet another school targeted by Israeli forces, killing at least 12 displaced Palestinians.
At least 20 more Palestinians have been killed in another deadly day in Gaza after Israeli forces targeted a busy market and a school sheltering the displaced people. At least eight Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli attack on a crowded market in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, according to an Al Jazeera correspondent on the scene, who said the number of the dead could rise. "This area is close to the market, it's a very busy street. It has a lot of traffic and that's why there are a lot of casualties," Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary said. She said many children were injured in the attack that hit an area less than a kilometre (0.6 miles) away from the Al-Aqsa Hospital, where most of the injured were brought. "There are at least 10 Palestinians, including children, still in the ICU," Khoudary said, adding that many of them are in critical condition. "Most of those who were wounded were children. We saw them in the hospital in the corridors lying on the ground, covered in blood and waiting for doctors." The attack on the market came hours after another Israeli attack targeted a school in the west of Gaza City, killing 12 people and wounding many others. Emergency crews were searching for survivors, with dozens of people still believed to be buried under the rubble after the school building collapsed. "Our crews retrieved 12 martyrs from the Mustafa Hafiz school, which was bombed by the Israeli occupation west of Gaza City," Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for Gaza's civil defence agency, told the AFP news agency earlier on Tuesday.
About 700 displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the school, according to civil defence authorities.
The wounded were taken to al-Alhi Arab Hospital in Gaza City.
The Israeli army claimed it targeted a command centre used by Palestinian fighters in the school – a claim it has repeatedly made while targeting Gaza's schools without providing any evidence to back it. Israel has systematically targeted civilian facilities, including schools, hospitals, and places of worship, amid its continuing offensive on the Gaza Strip, despite a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.
The Israeli onslaught on Gaza has killed more than 40,173 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured another 92,857 since October 7, according to local health authorities.
Also on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar as part of the latest diplomatic mission to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, even as Hamas and Israel signalled that challenges remain. In a statement, Palestinian armed group Hamas accused the United States of shifting the terms of the ceasefire negotiations and showing "blind bias" towards Israel. Hamas said Blinken's claim that it is backing away from a deal is "misleading" and that it remains committed to the US and UN-backed ceasefire framework put forward in June. "Biden's proposal states that Israel would entirely retreat in two phases and a complete ceasefire, whereas the Israeli demands include only a temporary ceasefire for six weeks," senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/20/israel-strikes-market-and-school-in-gaza-killing-at-least-20-palestinians

Al Jazeera - August 20, 2024 - By Ali Harb
<<'Empty words': Advocates say Biden's Gaza ceasefire nod at DNC falls short
US president says Palestinian rights demonstrators outside the party convention in Chicago 'have a point'.
US President Joe Biden gives the keynote address on day one of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on Chicago, Illinois - United States President Joe Biden's send-off speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was often interrupted by adoring chants of <Thank you, Joe.> But outside the convention halls on Monday, thousands of protesters held signs accusing Biden of war crimes and referring to him as "Genocide Joe" in response to his support for Israel's war in Gaza. Biden paid a nod to the protesters in his address, saying that they 'have a point'. "A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides," he said. "We're working around the clock, my secretary of state, to prevent a wider war and reunite hostages with their families and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza now to end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally, finally, finally deliver a ceasefire and end this war."
For many Palestinian rights supporters, though, Biden's statement fell short of the change they seek, especially as Washington continues to provide Israel with the weapons and bombs that are killing dozens of Palestinians daily. To Sabrene Odeh, an 'uncommitted' delegate from Washington state, Biden's words were not enough to allay her concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. "What's going to be enough is an arms embargo [on Israel] and a ceasefire," Odeh told Al Jazeera after the first night of the convention. "To be quite honest with you, Biden has given us nothing but empty words for the last 10 months," she said. "Words are not enough any more from President Biden. We need to see action." Odeh added that it was "illogical" for Biden to call for a ceasefire while arming Israel. It is "impossible to advocate for a permanent, immediate ceasefire and send those same perpetrators of the genocide arms to continue" the war, she said. Other activists echoed her concerns. Eva Borgwardt, a national spokesperson for IfNotNow, a youth-led, progressive Jewish group, also called out Biden's remarks, referencing the apparent contradiction between his words and deeds. "It's deeply disingenuous for President Biden to say that the protesters 'have a point' after approving $20bn in weapons sales to Israel just last week. President Biden cannot claim to be 'working around the clock' for a ceasefire while sending fighter jets to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to continue the war," Borgwardt told Al Jazeera in a statement. Biden's speech on Monday capped the first night of the convention, a four-day event designed to celebrate and promote the candidacy of the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, ahead of November's election.
But the atrocities in Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, are looming over the event's party-like atmosphere.
There are dozens of 'uncommitted' delegates at the convention, elected by the hundreds of thousands of Americans who cast protest votes in the Democratic primaries to show opposition to Biden's backing of Israel.
'Misleading'
Jonathan Simonds, a 29-year-old uncommitted delegate from Hawaii, told Al Jazeera on Monday that more and more young Americans are outraged by US support for Israel. Simonds, like other supporters of the 'uncommitted' movement, explained he is in Chicago to demand a ceasefire and US arms embargo against Israel. "The thing that we can do is we can stop sending the bombs. We can stop sending weapons," he said. Biden and Harris have acknowledged that anger at various points in the presidential campaign. After meeting with Netanyahu in July, for instance, Harris pledged not to be "silent" in the face of Palestinian "suffering". "We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies," she said in a July 25 news briefing.
But experts say that the Democrats may ignore the antiwar protesters at their own peril. If Harris alienates younger voters and progressives, it could cost her the presidential race. Hanieh Jodat, a political strategist, explained that Biden's remarks on Monday are likely to fall flat, as they failed to quash the criticisms he and Harris have faced. "The actions of this administration are a glaring contradiction to Biden's claims on stage about addressing the genocide in Gaza. Just days after approving a $20bn arms deal to Israel - fuelling the very violence he condemned - he stood before us, speaking of peace and humanitarian efforts," Jodat told Al Jazeera. "This disconnect between his rhetoric and reality is not just misleading. It's dangerous." The Biden administration has blocked three United Nations Security Council draft resolutions that would have called for a ceasefire in Gaza. The US also approved $14bn in additional military aid to Israel. While Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the Middle East to advance a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, Palestinian rights advocates say the US should pressure Israel to stop bombing Gaza immediately.
Hatem Abudayyeh, spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the DNC, which has been organising protests around the convention, said Biden's comments represent a "slight shift" in narrative due to pressure from activists. "But at the same time, we don’t think he’s trying to end the war on the Palestinian people of Gaza because if he were, it would be very easy: Demand that Israel stop the genocide now, and if it doesn't, implement an arms embargo and stop sending all aid and weapons," Abudayyeh told Al Jazeera. "We're tired of him and Kamala both only paying lip service to stopping Israel's terrorism against our people." Demonstrators protest against Biden's support of Israel's war of Gaza with signs that read: "Democrats fund the genocide of Palestinians" and "Genocide Joe's legacy: The Butcher of Gaza."
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Still, Palestinian rights advocates say the issue of US support for Israel will extend beyond the convention - and even beyond the November elections. The issue, they emphasise, is not about votes. It's about Palestinian lives.>>
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA and read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/20/empty-words-advocates-say-bidens-gaza-ceasefire-nod-at-dnc-falls-short


Israel targets children in Gaza
Jinha - Womens News Agency - August 20 , 2024
<<Israel targets children in Gaza
More than 16,480 Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7,2023, Ismail al-Thawabteh, head of the Government Media Office in Gaza, said in a statement on Monday.
News Center- Israeli forces targeted the Ash Shati' camp in the west of Gaza City, the Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, and al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the civil defense agency in Gaza, said in a written statement on Monday.
Eight Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Ash Shati’ camp and four in Israeli attacks on the Tuffah neighborhood and 12 Palestinians, including a baby and one woman, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on different areas of Khan Younis, the statement said.
At least 16,480 Palestinian children killed
At least 16,480 Palestinian children, including 115 babies, have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, Ismail al-Thawabteh, head of the Government Media Office in Gaza, said in a statement on Monday.
35 Palestinian children have died from malnutrition and dehydration due to Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, he added, stressing that at least 3,500 children in Gaza are facing the risk of death due to the lack of food and malnutrition under Israeli restrictions on the delivery of food into Gaza.
13,500 displaced Palestinians affected by the latest Israeli evacuation order
Some 13,500 displaced Palestinians across 18 sites have been affected by the latest Israeli evacuation order on Saturday, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, said in a press briefing on Monday.
"That order encompasses the entire Al Maghazi Refugee Camp, and several other neighbourhoods located in Deir al Balah area of Gaza. Initial mapping indicates that the areas newly placed under evacuation orders include five school buildings; 14 water, sanitation and health facilities; and 10 health sites, including 2 primary health care centres and 5 medical points."
Since October 2023, 86 per cent of the Gaza Strip, about 314 square kilometers, has been placed under evacuation orders, Stephane Dujarric added.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/israel-targets-children-in-gaza-35558?page=1

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