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FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA - FREE PALESTINE
 August wk4 P2 -- August wk 4 -- August wk3 P3 -- August wk3 bis2 -- August wk3bis -- 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 27 - 24, 2024 Food for thought: A million dollar question: do we really need to be informed about more and more nearing a million Gazanans, mostly women and children, genocided by idf fascists before true action is taken to avoid it or will WW2 repeat itself as a WW3? Gino d'Artali Read the latest news below.

August 25 - 22, 2024 Food for thought/question: What is not spoken of weighs the heaviest. Or does it? Gino d'Artali Read the latest news below.

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... 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.

Food for thought:
A million dollar question: do we really need to be informed about more and more nearing a million Gazanans, mostly women and children, genocided by idf fascists before true action is taken to avoid it or will WW2 repeat itself as a WW3?


Al Jazeera - August 27, 2024 - By AJLabs
<<Israel killed 40,000 people in Gaza. What does that look like?
Israeli attacks have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in the 320 days since October 7.
This includes almost 17,000 children. That' 2.6 percent of all children in Gaza who are now dead.
At least 53 children have been killed every day since October 7, and 72 men and women are killed in Israeli strikes, every single day.
At least 10,000 are missing under the rubble, most of them presumed dead.
Visualising 40,000 people
Madison Square Garden in New York City is a landmark indoor arena. Its total capacity is 19,500 people.
The number of people killed in Gaza would fill up Madison Square Garden twice.
If 40,000 people were standing tightly next to each other in Paris, the first person would be at Notre-Dame and the last would be in Versailles. The line would be 24 kilometres long.
If 40,000 people joined hands, standing apart, to form a human chain, they could surround the entire island of Manhattan. It would take an average person walking at 5km per hour 12 hours to walk from the beginning of that chain to the end.
Driving those 60 kilometres would take a sedan car driving at 50 kilometres per hour, 72 mins to pass the entire line. That's more than an hour of drive time.
Of the 40,000 people killed, 18.4 percent are women, and 33 percent are children.
In Gaza's pre-October 7 population of two million, almost half were children.
Of the more-than 40,000 people killed, nearly 17,000 are children. They could fill up 550 classrooms.
More than 500 schools being used as shelters have been targeted by Israel, most damaged and destroyed.
In the 10 months of war, an entire school year has been missed by Palestinian children in Gaza.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
Dare to view the charts and interactives here and act:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/27/israel-killed-40000-people-in-gaza-what-does-that-look-like

Al Jazeera - August 27, 2024 - By Ali Harb
<<In Chicago’s Little Palestine, locals protest and mourn amid Gaza war
The Palestinian community where US Democrats held their convention last week takes pride in its identity and rallies for Gaza.
Bridgeview, Illinois - Standing outside his local mosque in suburban Chicago, Robhi Gharallah said Israel's war in Gaza is on everyone's mind in his neighbourhood.
"We're praying. We're protesting. We're raising funds. We're doing all we can for Gaza," he told Al Jazeera after Friday prayer.
But Gharallah said there is one action he and his neighbours are uncertain about - and that is how to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
Gharallah lives in Bridgeview, Illinois, an area informally known as Chicago's Little Palestine. It sits in Cook County, home to an estimated 22,518 Palestinian Americans - one of the largest Palestinian communities in the United States. Sporting a cap with the colours of the Palestinian flag - red, white, green and black - Gharallah underscored that the Palestinian diaspora is a prominent presence in Chicago's cultural and business sectors.
But he said Palestinian Americans are facing a dilemma in the next election, with both the Republican candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris showing staunch support for Israel. "There is no good in Ammar nor Amira," Gharallah said, using male and female names in Arabic to represent Trump and Harris. "We are American citizens, and we want to vote, but we don't know for whom. Whether you vote for this one or this one, it's the same thing. And if you don't vote, it's like you don't exist [politically]." Bridgeview was in the national spotlight this month, as the Democratic National Convention arrived in Chicago. Just a day before Gharallah spoke to Al Jazeera, Harris appeared on stage at Chicago's United Center - only 24km (15 miles) away from Bridgeview - to accept the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency. In her acceptance speech, she pledged to continue arming Israel. For Chicago-area Palestinians confronting the devastating war in their homeland, the convention served as an opportunity to bring awareness to their cause. But residents and community advocates told Al Jazeera that the event was also a bitter reminder that the Palestinian identity continues to be vilified and pushed to the political margins, including by Democrats who claim to value inclusivity. They pointed to the Harris campaign's refusal to feature a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage of the convention. That exclusion, they said, added insult to injury, given the size of Chicago's Palestinian community.
'Not normal'
Jinan Chehade, 26, decried "the moral apathy and dissociation from the reality" she saw as Democrats gathered to celebrate Harris, while US bombs dropped on Palestinian civilians. "That's why it's so important for us to bring people together and remind them that this is not normal, that we're not going to be filtered or drowned out," Chehade told Al Jazeera, as she sat at a Bridgeview cafe with a mural depicting the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
In Bridgeview, a town of 17,000 people, Palestinian symbols are almost never out of sight.
At the cafe, there were several paintings related to the war, including depictions of Palestinian victims such as Hind Rajab, the six-year-old girl who was stranded in her family's car and gunned down by Israeli tank fire before rescuers were able to reach her. At the front counter, a map of historic Palestine - drawn with coffee beans - was arranged over the word "Palestine" spelled out in Arabic. Chehade, a lawyer and protest organiser, said that, while Chicago-area Palestinians have always had a strong sense of identity, the community has seen a "transformation" over the past 10 months, with pro-Palestinian activism reaching new heights. "The thing about Palestinians, the first thing you'll know about them is they are Palestinian especially here because everybody is very proud to be representing Little Palestine," she told Al Jazeera.
Little Palestine
Like much of the suburban US, Bridgeview has broad stretches of urban sprawl: low-rise buildings and rows of shops connected and separated by multi-lane roads. But in Bridgeview's Little Palestine area, many of the businesses - restaurants, cafes, barbershops, jewellery stores and clothing boutiques - are distinguished by Arabic signs and Palestinian flags in their windows. During the Democratic convention, some storefronts featured posters promoting the protests outside the United Center. "We will not surrender," read a mural above a store that sells hijabs and abayas, next to a bakery that raised funds for Gaza by selling pins that say "Free Palestine". An electronic billboard outside a barbecue spot cycled through several slides: one calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and another showing a Palestinian flag in between advertisements for job openings. Motorists especially put their Palestinian identity on display in their vehicles, with flags, keffiyeh-patterned headrest covers, watermelon air fresheners and bumper stickers calling for an end to the occupation of Palestine. For many of the residents who spoke to Al Jazeera, being Palestinian is not just about the keffiyeh and merchandise. They explained that it is an inherently political state of existence, one that requires them to constantly humanise and highlight the plight of Palestinians under occupation and bombardment in the Middle East.
Sereen Atieh, a 20-year-old Palestinian American immigrant, said while Little Palestine feels like home, she has struggled with a deep sense of sadness since the start of the war on Gaza. So she has turned to activism on her college campus. "All I can think about is my brothers and sisters being killed in Palestine," Atieh, draped in a Palestinian flag, told Al Jazeera at a protest outside the Democratic convention. "I've been trying to do everything I can to help people understand that this is not just a conflict but a genocide, where Israel is trying to remove the Palestinian identity."
'They want to live'
In Bridgeview, Mohammad Numan, who works in digital media and advertising, said people in the community are trying to do everything they can to stand with their brethren in Palestine. "These are humans. They have dreams. They want to live. So we are with them until the last moment," Numan told Al Jazeera. When asked about Harris's support for Israel, Numan said Palestinian Americans will not support any politician who does not support Palestinian human rights. "We have a strong community. We stand together at every turn," he told Al Jazeera. Several others vowed not to vote for Harris, but Illinois remains a solidly Democratic state. That means the Palestinian diaspora in Chicago does not have the same electoral sway as their fellow Arab Americans in Michigan, a key swing state, where even a small minority of voters can decide the outcome of the vote. But what they lack in swing-state leverage, Chicago's Palestinian Americans make up for with advocacy and activism. Locals have led weekly protests for Gaza since the start of the war, and they organised demonstrations every day of the convention. While the Palestinian American community is concentrated in Bridgeview, they are prominent across the entire Chicago area, which is home to leading Palestinian rights organisations, including American Muslims for Palestine, the US Palestinian Community Network and Palestine Legal.
Concern for community
Chicago is cosmopolitan and liberal, but that has not spared it the hate and violence that Palestinian Americans - and Arabs and Muslims more broadly - have experienced since the outbreak of the war.
In October, six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume was stabbed 26 times in a suspected hate crime in the Chicago area. The alleged perpetrator, a neighbour, shouted, <You Muslims must die>, as he attacked Al-Fayoume, according to the boy's mother. His funeral was held at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview.
Nouha Boundaoui, a 32-year-old local activist of Algerian descent, said she was fearful in the first few weeks of the war, especially as a Muslim woman who wears a hijab in public. "I can't speak for the whole community, but personally, I think being at the protests, organising and seeing just how much people have been activated in the last 10 months has made me feel safer," she told Al Jazeera. Other communities have shown solidarity with the Palestinian Americans in Chicago. Nader Ihmoud, the editor-in-chief of the Chicago-based Palestine in America magazine, said Israeli atrocities in Gaza have pushed more Americans to be sympathetic to Palestinians and learn more about the issue. Still, with political rhetoric heating up ahead of the elections, anxiety persists in Chicago, and Ihmoud says the city’s visibility as a home for the Palestinian diaspora makes it vulnerable to violence.
"Freaks come out at night," Ihmoud told Al Jazeera. "And right now, these next months, I consider them political darkness."
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/27/in-chicagos-little-palestine-locals-protest-and-mourn-amid-gaza-war

Al Jazeera - August 27, 2024 - By Stephen Quillen and Nils Adler
<<Israel's war on Gaza live: 20 killed in Israeli attacks this morning
This video may contain light patterns or images that could trigger seizures or cause discomfort for people with visual sensitivities.
Israeli attacks on Gaza, mainly in Deir el-Balah and Khan Younis, have killed at least 20 people this morning, reports our correspondent in the Gaza Strip.
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya says Israel is denying the medical sector fuel and aims for its destruction.>>
Read more and view video here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/27/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israeli-tanks-near-deir-el-balah-as-un-flees


Call on EU to suspend Association Agreement with Israel
Jinha - Womens News Agency - August 26 , 2024
<<60 organizations call on EU to suspend Association Agreement with Israel
In a joint letter, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 59 other organizations call on the European Union to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel.
News Center- Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 59 other organizations call on the European Union to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel and to adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible in response to the unprecedented number of journalists killed and other repeated press freedom violations by the Israeli authorities since the start of the war with Hamas. In the letter published on the official website of RSF on Monday, the 60 organizations have called for these urgent measures to the European Union as its foreign ministers prepare to meet in Brussels on 29 August. Carried out in contravention of Israel's human rights and international humanitarian law obligations, the killings and other media freedom violations should trigger the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and further EU targeted sanctions against those responsible, the letter said. "It is time to move from verbal condemnations to action. Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement stipulates that their relations are based on an essential component, which is respect for human rights and democratic principles," said Julie Majerczak, head of RSF's Brussels office. "The Israeli government is clearly trampling on this article. The EU, which is Israel's leading trade partner, must draw the necessary conclusions from this and must do everything to ensure that the Netanyahu government stops massacring journalists and respects the right to information and press freedom by opening media access to Gaza. The credibility of the EU is at stake."
169 journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, according to the statement issued by the Government Media Office in Gaza on August 19. >>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/journalists-organizations-call-on-eu-to-suspend-association-agreement-with-israel-35578?page=1

France 24 - August 26, 2024
<<White House says progress made in Gaza truce talks despite Israel-Hezbollah clash
The White House said Monday that Gaza truce talks in Cairo have made progress and were expected to continue at a working level for several days despite violence between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah over the weekend. Also on Monday, the UN said it was halting aid operations in Gaza after Israel issued new evacuation orders on Sunday for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip where the UN operations center is located. Displaced Palestinians leave the perimeter of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip following renewed Israeli evacuation orders for the area on August 26, 2024.
Summary:
Israel's military struck the Gaza Strip on Monday a day after truce talks in Cairo ended in stalemate. Medics said an air strike on a Gaza City house had killed at least five people, with two rescuers telling AFP more victims may be buried in the ruins. A round of <constructive> ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations concluded in Cairo on Sunday with no final agreement but talks will continue at lower levels in the coming days, a senior US official said. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told a news conference in Halifax that Washington was still <feverishly> working in Cairo with Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari mediators. The Israeli military launched strikes in Lebanon on Sunday after detecting preparations for <large-scale> attacks by Hezbollah. Three people were killed in the strikes on southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday's strikes in Lebanon were <not the final word> in his country's military campaign against Hezbollah.
At least 40,435 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 93,534 wounded in Israel's war in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Hamas-led October 7 attacks resulted in the deaths of more than 1,190 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures. Some 250 people were taken hostage, with about 120 remaining in Gaza. Many have been declared dead by Israeli authorities.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)>>
Read more here:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240826-ceasefire-talks-continue-cairo-israel-hezbollah-trade-heavy-fire-hamas-gaza

BBC - August 26, 2024 - By Robert Greenall
<<UN urges calm after Israel and Hezbollah trade strikes
The Israeli military said Hezbollah's attack had done <very little damage>
UN Secretary General António Guterres has said he is "deeply concerned" after Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement mounted their biggest round of cross-border strikes since the war in Gaza began. On Sunday, Israeli jets hit dozens of sites across southern Lebanon in what it said were pre-emptive strikes to prevent a much wider attack, and Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel. Mr Guterres warned that their actions put civilians at risk, as well as threatening regional security and stability. The US said it was working to avoid a further escalation in hostilities, and both sides suggested they were not interested in one. There have been almost daily exchanges of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the day after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on 7 October. Hezbollah has said it is acting in support of the Palestinian group. Both are backed by Iran and proscribed as terrorist organisations by Israel, the UK and other countries. Since October, more than 560 people have been reported killed by Lebanon's health ministry, the vast majority of them Hezbollah fighters, while 26 civilians and 24 soldiers have been killed in Israel, according to authorities.
Almost 200,000 people have also been displaced on both sides of the border.
Israel and Hezbollah say they don't want war - but they are both ready for it
What is Hezbollah and will it go to war with Israel?
The Israeli attack on Hezbollah began before dawn Sunday, when the military said about 100 jets bombed thousands rocket launchers at more than 40 sites in southern Lebanon. The strikes were launched after <extensive preparation> for a large-scale aerial attack by Hezbollah were detected, according to the military. Hezbollah said two of its fighters were killed in the strikes along with another fighter from the allied Amal movement.
Hezbollah said it had targeted and hit 11 military facilities in Israel and the occupied Golan Heights with 340 rockets and a <large number> of drones. It described the barrage as a response to the assassination of senior military commander Fuad Shukr, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut on 30 July. The Israeli military said it intercepted <many of the threats> launched by Hezbollah and that the projectiles which landed did <very little damage>. However, it also said a navy soldier was killed in combat in northern Israel, with local media reporting that he had been on a patrol boat when an interceptor missile engaged a drone. On Sunday evening, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a televised speech to his supporters that appeared to seek to draw a line under the escalation. He declared the group's <first response> for the retaliation for Shukr’s assassination had been completed <as planned>, although he noted that its impact was still being assessed. <If the result is not sufficient, we will reserve the right to respond at another time,> he said. In the meantime, he added, the people of Lebanon <can be at ease and carry on with their lives, as the country has been in tension for a month now>.
Footage shows rockets intercepted over Israel
Earlier, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told a cabinet meeting that <what happened today is not the end of the story>. <We are striking Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows,> he said. <Three weeks ago, we eliminated its chief-of-staff and today we thwarted its attack plan.> <Nasrallah in Beirut and [Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei in Tehran need to know that this is an additional step in changing the situation in the north, and returning our residents securely to their homes.> The UN secretary general called for "immediate de-escalation and on the parties to urgently and immediately return to a cessation of hostilities", a spokesperson said. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan expressed hope that Sunday's events would not lead to an all-our regional war. "We have worked round the clock with partners and allies, moving military assets, engaging in intensive diplomacy both publicly and privately behind the scenes to avert that outcome," he told reporters during a visit to Halifax, Canada. Diplomats told the Reuters news agency that the two sides had exchanged messages saying that neither wanted to take things any further. Mr Sullivan also said US officials had been "feverishly working" at talks in Cairo in recent days to broker a new ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, which the White House believes is key to restoring calm on the Israel-Lebanon border. However, there has so far been no sign of a breakthrough. Hamas said in a statement on Sunday that its representatives had left the Egyptian capital to review the outcome of the talks, which they did not attend. Egyptian security sources told Reuters news agency that neither Hamas nor Israel had agreed to several compromises presented by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.>>
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr40dz5524qo

Le Monde - August 26, 2024 - COLUMN auteur Jean-Pierre Filiu Historian and professor at Sciences Po Paris
<<How war and drugs are intertwined in Israel
In contrast to the strict moralism of the Zionist pioneers, addiction is now widespread in Israel. Drug use has taken on even more alarming proportions since October 7, 2023. The first waves of Zionist immigrants to Palestine, at the beginning of the last century, were often convinced that they embodied a form of Western superiority over a decadent East. This prejudice led to a persistent aversion to hashish, produced in Syria and Lebanon but very popular in Egypt, where the ban on cannabis only drove up prices without ever curbing its mass consumption. Although Palestine was merely a transit territory for various trafficking networks, in 1938 the most popular Hebrew-language daily accused Arab nationalists of <indulging in hashish and other narcotics.> When the State of Israel was founded in 1948, it institutionalized the prohibition of narcotics, which led to intense controversy six years later when cannabis was found being grown by small groups of Moroccan immigrants.
The Lebanese shift
Israel's triumph in the 1967 Six-Day War, with the occupation of the Palestinian territory of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, coincided with the rise of hippy culture in Israeli society. More and more young people, after completing their military service (three years for men and two for women), chose to spend several months in India, a highly psychedelic pilgrimage that served as a gateway to working life in Israel. A subculture that normalized the use of <soft drugs> gradually took root. Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 gave Lebanese hash producers much easier access to the Israeli market, where cannabis, which was becoming increasingly cheaper, continued to gain popularity. In 1983, the volume of narcotics imported into Israel from Lebanon was estimated at 700 metric tons of hashish and half a metric ton of heroin. A 1988 study estimated that one in 10 Israeli adults was a regular user and one in 100 a dependent addict. This public health challenge was compounded by genuine vulnerability in their security. The pro-Iranian militia Hezbollah has indeed taken control of a significant portion of the hashish and heroin production in Lebanon, with narcotics becoming bait or even a currency of exchange with compromised Israeli officers. In 2000, a retired Israeli colonel, lured to Dubai by the prospect of a lucrative deal, was kidnapped and handed over to Hezbollah in Beirut. He was not released until four years later, in exchange for Israel freeing 435 Arab prisoners, including senior members of the Shiite militia. In 2006, an active Israeli colonel was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for drug trafficking and espionage on behalf of Hezbollah, which paid for his collaboration with heroin. This landmark verdict marked the end of a 25-year Lebanese drug era in Israel.>>
Read more here:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/26/how-drug-addiction-is-on-the-rise-in-israel_6721836_4.html


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Al Jazeera - August 26, 2024
<<Press freedom groups urge EU to punish Israel for violating media rights
Sixty global organisations have called for urgent EU action against Israel over 'unprecedented' media freedom violations.
Sixty global press freedom and human rights organisations have signed a letter calling on the European Union to take decisive action against Israel for its escalating violations of media freedom and the killing of journalists in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Israel. The letter on Monday urged the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and the imposition of targeted sanctions on responsible Israeli officials. It was signed by organisations including the International Press Institute (IPI), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Free Press Unlimited (FPU). Addressing top EU diplomat Josep Borrell and European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, the appeal underscored the urgent need for action against what they describe as "unprecedented violations of media freedom by Israeli authorities. These are part of widespread and systematic abuses committed by Israeli authorities in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and elsewhere, as documented or acknowledged by Israeli, Palestinian and international NGOs, UN experts, the International Court of Justice, and in a request for arrest warrants by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court," the letter, said. "These violations should trigger the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and further EU targeted sanctions against those responsible," it was added in the letter. The organisations outlined eight actions taken by Israel that require an urgent response by the EU, including the targeted killing of journalists, a ban on independent media access to Gaza, and record-high arbitrary detention of journalists.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has faced accusations of systematic abuses, including the killing of more than 120 Palestinian journalists and media workers in Gaza, and the arrest and arbitrary detention of at least 49 journalists.
The letter also highlighted allegations of torture, enforced disappearances, and significant censorship within Israel and the Palestinian territory it occupies. The cumulative effect of these violations, the letter said, was to create conditions conducive to propaganda and misinformation, ultimately undermining the path to peace and security. In July, Israel killed Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi in an air attack, striking their car in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. In January, Israel killed Hamza Dahdouh, the oldest son of Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera Arabic's bureau chief in Gaza, who was also a journalist. In October last year, Israel had killed Dahdouh's wife, his 15-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter and toddler grandson in an air raid. In December, Israel attacked and killed Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Samer Abudaqa and injured Dahdouh in an attack in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/26/press-freedom-groups-urge-eu-to-act-on-israel-violations-of-media-rights
Tributes to 'the killed voice of Palestine' Shireen Abu Akleh


Patients flee Al-Aqsa Hospital
Jinha - Womens News Agency - August 26 , 2024
<<Patients flee Al-Aqsa Hospital following Israel’s evacuation order
Patients and displaced people have been fleeing Al-Aqsa Hospital after the Israeli army ordered people to evacuate from areas near the hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.
News Center- The Israeli army keeps issuing evacuation orders in the Gaza Strip, displacing Palestinians multiple times. Avichay Adraee, the Israel Defense Forces' Arabic-language spokesperson, told Deir Al Balah residents to evacuate West in a Sunday post on X. Following the evacuation order, patients and displaced people began to flee Al-Aqsa Hospital.
Patients and injured fleeing the hospital
At a press conference, Dr. Iyad al-Jabri, an administrator at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, said that the patients and injured began to flee the hospital in panic and fear following the evacuation order and called on the international organizations to take an immediate action for the protection of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the only hospital still functioning in central Gaza.
The Gaza's health ministry also issued a statement demanding the protection of the patients and healthcare workers at the hospital.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/patients-flee-al-aqsa-hospital-following-israel-s-evacuation-order-35575?page=1

Al Jazeera - August 25, 2024 - by By Al Jazeera Staff
<<What you need to know about the latest attacks between Israel and Hezbollah
Hezbollah's attack was anticipated, weeks in the making against Israel’s recent targeted killings, fuelling concerns about regional escalation.
Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged attacks across the Lebanon-Israel border in a marked escalation of the tit-for-tat engagement they have been undertaking since October 7.
Here's everything you need to know about what happened on Sunday morning.
What exactly happened?
Israeli jets attacked southern Lebanon in the early hours of Sunday morning, saying it was a preemptive strike against Hezbollah rocket launchers that were preparing to attack Israel. The Israeli military said it detected that Hezbollah would launch hundreds of missiles towards central Israel at 5am, Israel's Army Radio said, so it attacked half an hour beforehand with 100 Israeli jets. The chief of the Lebanese group Hassan Nasrallah said that the group launched hundreds of drones and rockets on northern Israel in retaliation for the killing of commander Fuad Shukr last month. In a televised speech, he also insisted that the Israelis had not uncovered the attack and rejected Israeli claims that its military had destroyed the Lebanese group's rocket launchers. <Talk about how the resistance [Hezbollah] was going to launch 8,000 or 6,000 rockets and drones and that [Israel] thwarted this ... are false claims,> Nasrallah said, adding that <dozens of rocket launchers> were destroyed - but that this occurred after Hezbollah's attack on Israel had already taken place.
Was anybody hurt?
Lebanon's NNA news agency reported one person was critically injured in a drone attack in Qasimia in southern Lebanon, and a later Israeli air raid killed one person in the Lebanese town of Khiam. There are also reports of some injuries in the Israeli city of Acre. The Israeli military said a member of its navy was killed and two others wounded in combat in northern Israel. <Petty Officer First Class, David Moshe Ben Shitrit, aged 21... fell during combat in northern Israel,> the military said in a statement, adding that he was from the navy and that two others were also wounded.
Who hit what?
Hezbollah says its attack hit 11 Israeli military installations, including the Meron base and four sites in the occupied Golan Heights. In his televised speech, Nasrallah said that the main target of the operation was the Israeli intelligence based at Glilot, near Tel Aviv. He added that the group had no plans to hit targets in Tel Aviv, including Ben Gurion airport and the Israeli Defence Ministry building. He added that while the Lebanese group had no intention to use precision missiles in today's attack, it may use them in the near future. Israel says it hit thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers.
So what's happening right now?
The situation seems to have calmed, at least momentarily.
Hezbollah has denied Israel's claims of hitting its launch sites. Nasrallah made clear that the group deemed its attack to be a success, but that it would wait and see what the Israeli response would be. <At this current stage, the country can take a breath and relax,> Nasrallah said. Israel has issued security directives for its north, but otherwise, matters seem calmer with Ben Gurion airport reopening after being closed for a few hours.
Why today?
The day of the attacks coincides with Arbaeen, 40 days after the killing of Imam al-Hussein, the third Shia imam. According to a Hezbollah statement, they chose this day because it commemorates it as a day of martyrdom. In his speech, Nasrallah explained that the group had decided to wait to respond to the killing of Fuad Shukr for a number of reasons, including to allow time for Gaza ceasefire talks to progress.
Does this mean war between Hezbollah and Israel?
According to Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, this has "the potential to draw the whole region into the full-blown war", but Hezbollah and Israel "are trying to avoid" that. The Reuters news agency, quoting Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said: <Israel does not seek a full-scale war but will act according to development on the ground.> Nasrallah said the Iranian-backed group's barrage had been completed <as planned>.However, the group would assess the impact of its strikes and <if the result is not enough, then we retain the right to respond another time>, he said.
The United States, meanwhile, has pledged ironclad support for Israel and moved a vast array of military assets to the Middle East in recent weeks to try and deter any retaliatory strike by Iran or Hezbollah. The USS Abraham Lincoln recently joined another aircraft carrier strike group in the region.
What happens next?
It is not clear.
Analyst Sami Nader told Al Jazeera that these events signal a "major escalation in terms of scope of operation and intensity". However, according to Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, the language being used by Israel has focused on "self-defence" and protecting Israelis from attacks, which seems to indicate that Israel will not pursue escalation at this time. "The clear message from Hezbollah is in many ways the retaliation is now over if, according to Nasrallah, it served its purpose...That means Israel will no longer act with little restraint in Lebanon," Khodr added.
What does this mean for Gaza ceasefire efforts?
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to broker an agreement for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of scores of hostages held by Hamas. Those efforts have gained urgency in recent weeks, as diplomats view such a deal as the best hope for lowering regional tensions.
Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks along the border if there is a ceasefire in Gaza. It's unclear whether Hezbollah or Iran would halt or scale back their threatened retaliatory strikes over the killing of Shukr and Haniyeh, but neither wants to be seen as the spoiler of any ceasefire deal.
Despite the intense diplomacy, major gaps remain, including Israel’s demand for a lasting presence along two strategic corridors in Gaza, a demand rejected by Hamas and Egypt.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/25/what-you-need-to-know-about-attacks-between-israel-and-hezbollah

Al Jazeera - August 25, 2024
<<Israeli attacks kill 28 across Gaza Strip, victims still under rubble
Israeli army ramps up attacks on Deir el-Balah over the weekend as authorities say 40,405 Palestinians now killed across Gaza.
At least 28 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn on Sunday, as a weekend of devastating strikes on the enclave continue. Medical sources gave the updated death toll to Al Jazeera, adding that the attacks had taken place across Gaza. The attacks bring the death toll since the start of Saturday from Israeli attacks in Gaza up to 71, with 112 injured, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Victims are also still believed to be under the rubble, with ambulances and civil defence crews unable to reach them. Among the dead are at least eight Palestinians who were killed in an overnight Israeli air attack in the eastern part of Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Medical sources in Gaza told Al Jazeera that six of those killed were from the same family. Witnesses reported that there was a drone strike before an Israeli jet dropped a giant bomb. The Wafa news agency reported, quoting local sources in Gaza, that the Israeli artillery launched a heavy barrage of attacks amid a series of intense air raids on the enclave. They struck a house belonging to the Maammar family in al-Hekker, resulting in the killings of the family members. Last week, the Israeli army called on Palestinians seeking shelter in the eastern part of Deir el-Balah to move westwards as the area had been declared a <red zone>. Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said this "weekend has been quite violent, [and] quite bloody. "This has been one-sided. The Israeli military has the upper hand in all of this in terms of the level of destruction, and it has caused further civilian casualties, including women and children," Mahmoud said. He added that as the attacks took place, the Israeli army withdrew "partially" from the eastern part of Deir el-Balah. "According to witnesses, they left trails of destruction and devastation, including homes, mosques and public buildings," he said. But the destruction continued, with reports from Wafa on Israeli drones firing at civilians near al-Aanan football field, killing three people and injuring several more. In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, rescue teams have also recovered the body of a person from al-Qarara, north of the town, despite artillery shells being fired towards the area. Israeli artillery also targeted a home belonging to the Ayad family in the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City, Wafa reported. Meanwhile, a child succumbed to their wounds 10 days after being hit by an Israeli strike on a group of civilians in the Batn as-Sameen area of Khan Younis. The continuing attacks come as Hezbollah launched drones and rockets into Israel and Israeli forces conducted <preemptive strikes> on Lebanon. It also comes as Egypt is hosting a new round of talks aimed at ending Israel's war on Gaza, now in its 11th month.
Since the war began, at least 40,405 Palestinians have been killed in intense Israeli bombardments, according to the enclave's Ministry of Health. At least 93,356 Palestinians have been wounded in these attacks.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/25/at-least-eight-people-killed-in-israeli-air-attack-in-gazas-deir-el-balah

Al Jazeera - August 25, 2024
<<Video of Israeli forces burning the Quran and bombing Gaza mosque
Al Jazeera has obtained videos of Israeli soldiers burning and tearing pages out of the Quran in northern Gaza's Bani Saleh Mosque, as well as drone footage of the Grand Mosque in Khan Younis being bombed and destroyed.>>
View it here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/8/25/video-of-israeli-forces-burning-the-quran-and-bombing-gaza-mosque


Le Monde - August 24, 2024
<<Israeli airstrikes kill dozens in Gaza on the eve of high-level ceasefire talks in Egypt
Among the victims are eleven memebrs of the same family, including two children. Meanwhile talks between US officials and Egyptian and Qatari mediators are expected to take place in Cairo on Sunday. Israeli airstrikes killed at least three dozen Palestinians in southern Gaza, health workers said Saturday, August 24, as officials including a Hamas delegation gathered for high-level ceasefire talks in neighboring Egypt. Eleven members of a family, including two children, were among the dead after an airstrike hit their home in Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received a total of 33 bodies from three strikes in and around the city that also hit tuk-tuks and passersby. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said it received three bodies from another strike. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. First responders also recovered 16 bodies from the Hamad City area of Khan Younis after a partial pullout of Israeli forces, 10 bodies from a residential building west of Khan Younis and two farther south in Rafah. The circumstances of their deaths weren't immediately clear, but the areas were repeatedly bombed by the Israeli military over the past week. An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies. Some residents returned to Hamad City, crunching on rubble as they walked between destroyed apartment buildings. One multistory building's entire wall was gone, its rooms framing residents picking through debris. "There is nothing, no apartment, no furniture, no homes, only destruction," Neveen Kheder said. "We are dying slowly. You know what, if they gave a mercy bullet, it would be better than what is happening to us."
The war in Gaza began when Hamas and other militants staged a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people, primarily civilians. Hamas is believed to still be holding around 110 hostages. Israeli authorities estimate about a third are dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians , according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry said Saturday a total of 69 dead and 212 wounded had been brought to hospitals across Gaza over the past 24 hours. Israel's military announced the deaths of four more soldiers in combat in central Gaza on Friday.
The conflict has caused widespread destruction and forced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents to flee their homes, with many cramming into shrinking <humanitarian zones.>
Talks in Cairo
In Egypt, the US delegation led by CIA Director William Burns and White House Middle East adviser Brett McGurk held talks with senior Egyptian officials and then with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, according to a person familiar with the ongoing talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to comment publicly. The Egyptian and Qatari negotiators were expected to meet with Hamas officials on Saturday evening. Hamas won't take part directly in Sunday's talks but will be briefed by Egypt and Qatar, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawy told the AP. Merdawy said Hamas' position hadn't changed from accepting an earlier draft that would include the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
An Israeli delegation that arrived Thursday included the heads of the Mossad foreign intelligence service and Shin Bet security service and Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano. The US has been pushing a proposal that aims at closing the gaps between Israel and Hamas as fears grow over a wider regional war after the recent killings of leaders of the militant Hamas and Hezbollah groups, both blamed on Israel. The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. CQ Brown Jr., was visiting Egypt, Jordan and Israel over the next few days to "stress the importance of deterring further escalation of hostilities," a statement said. US President Joe Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to stress the urgency of reaching a deal and discussed developments with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt on Friday. Major differences remain between Israel and Hamas over Israel’s insistence that it maintain forces in two strategic corridors in Gaza . Netanyahu wants Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor along Gaza's border with Egypt and the Netzarim east-west corridor across the territory to prevent smuggling and catch militants.
In the latest protest in Tel Aviv, some Israelis again expressed anger with Netanyahu as they pressed for a deal to bring hostages home.
"Remove him from his position and appoint a person who is able to return them," said Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of Yoram Metzger, whose body was recovered in Gaza last week.
Le Monde with AP>>
Source: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/24/israeli-airstrikes-kill-dozens-in-gaza-on-the-eve-of-high-level-ceasefire-talks-in-egypt_6721243_4.html

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