SPECIAL REPORTS PALESTINE

FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA - FREE PALESTINE
with special thanks to citizen-reporter 'Biba' (Algeria)
June wk4 P2 -- June wk4 -- June wk3 P2 --  June wk3 -- June wk2 part3 --June wk2 part2 -- June wk2 -- Click here for an overview by week in 2024
 

June 24 - 22, 2024 <<Israeli soldiers strapped injured Palestinian to jeep after West Bank arrest raid... Inhumanity does have a face... i.e. Tyrants and killers are of all times. And always thinking the highest of themselves. But in the the end they always fall. Mahatma Ghandi and more news but most with a 'give way or go away' yell! Next update Thursday June 27, 20.00 hours GMT June 22 - 20, 2024 Food for thought on the below headlines: "Hamas |or the Palestinians| cannot be eliminated |nor genocided| Read all below

June 19 - 17, 2024 <<'A slow death': Gazans live alongside rotting rubbish and rodents... and <<Live: Israel's actions in Gaza may have violated laws of war, UN rights office says... and <<Live: UN says unable to deliver aid to Gaza despite Israel's military 'pause'... and <<Israel-Lebanon: A funeral for two women shows how furious fighting is ratcheting up the risk of all-out war... and <<Israeli protesters demand new elections after war cabinet dissolution... and <<'Judging Putin and Netanyahu necessarily implies a fair and adversarial trial'... and more news but most with a 'give way or go away' yell! Next update Sunday June 22, 20.00 hours GMT

June 16 - 12, 2024 <<Israeli army says eight soldiers killed in armoured vehicle in southern Gaza... and <<Two women killed in Israeli airstrike on South Lebanon... and <<UNICEF's James Elder says Gaza a 'horror show' for children... and <<Gaza is in dire need of women's health services... and <<American brands in Middle East under pressure from Israel boycotts... and <<Hamas rebuffs Blinken blame for elusive ceasefire... and <<In the chaos of Gaza, merchants take up arms to deliver food... and <<Three Jordanian doctors' account of Gaza's descent into hell... and more news but most with a 'give way or go away' yell! Click here to go throughout June and earler, 2024

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

Related news: June 15, 2024 "Palestinian photographer Motaz Azaiza, on the front lines of Gaza's destruction..." June 11, 2024 "Journalist casualties in the Israel-Gaza war"   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.


Over 20,000 children missing
Jinha - Womens News Agency - June 24, 2024
<<Over 20,000 children missing in Gaza
Up to 21,000 children are missing in Gaza, British aid group Save the Children has said in a report on Monday.
News Center- Up to 21,000 children are estimated to be missing in the chaos of the war in Gaza, many trapped beneath rubble, detained, buried in unmarked graves, or lost from their families, British aid group Save the Children has said in a report on Monday. <It is almost impossible to collect and verify information under the current conditions in Gaza, but at least 17,000 children are believed to be unaccompanied and separated and approximately 4,000 children are likely missing under the rubble, with an unknown number also in mass graves,> the report says. <Others have been forcibly 'disappeared', including an unknown number detained and transferred out of Gaza, their whereabouts unknown to their families amidst reports of ill-treatment and torture.> As of June 9, around 250 Palestinian children from the West Bank are missing in the Israeli military detention system, their families unable to physically confirm their whereabouts and wellbeing due to additional restrictions on visits introduced since October, the report says.
<Families are tortured by the uncertainty of the whereabouts of their loved ones>
<Families are tortured by the uncertainty of the whereabouts of their loved ones. No parent should have to dig through rubble or mass graves to try and find their child's body. No child should be alone, unprotected in a war zone. No child should be detained or held hostage,> said Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children's Regional Director for the Middle East. <Children who are missing but living are vulnerable, face grave protection risks and must be found. They must be protected and reunited with their families. For the children who have been killed, their deaths must be formally marked, their families informed, burial rites respected, and accountability sought. As many have pointed out, Gaza has become a graveyard for children, with thousands of others missing, their fates unknown. There must be an independent investigation and those responsible must be held accountable. We desperately need a ceasefire to find and support the missing children who have survived, and to prevent more families from being destroyed.>
In the report, Save the Children calls on the UK Government to do everything in their power to protect children's lives, and immediately halt the transfer of weapons, parts, and ammunition to Israel and Palestinian armed groups.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/over-20-000-children-missing-in-gaza-35261?page=1


Expired canned food
Jinha - Womens News Agency - June 24, 2024
<<Expired canned food causes food poisoning in Gaza
Many cases of poisoning occur in the Gaza Strip due to consumption of expired canned food.
News Center- The ongoing Israeli attacks and restriction on the entry of food and other basic items have been deteriorating the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. The consumption of expired canned food causes many cases of poisoning, the Palestinian government said in a statement.
Children are more affected by starvation and infectious diseases
Children are more affected by starvation and infectious diseases, the statement emphasized, indicating that Israel follows its policy of starving and prevents civilians in Gaza from receiving treatment. <The Israeli army directly targets municipal officials trying to reopen water pipelines that provide water to the Gaza Strip,> the statement said, adding that Israel targets civil defense teams.
At least 37,598 Palestinians killed since Oct.7
At least 37,598 Palestinians, including 15,694 children and 10,279 women have been killed and 86,032 others injured in the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, the Gaza's health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/-35258?page=1

BBC - June 24, 2024 - By Robert Plummer,
<<Intense fighting in Rafah near end, says Netanyahu
Many Palestinians have escaped fighting in Rafah by fleeing to nearby Khan Younis
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the <intense phase> of fighting in Rafah in southern Gaza is nearly over, but that this does not mean that the war is coming to an end. He said the war would continue until Hamas was completely driven from power. He added that the Israeli military would soon be able to redeploy troops to the border with Lebanon, where exchanges of fire with Hezbollah have been escalating.
Mr Netanyahu also again rejected the idea that the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority should run Gaza in place of Hamas. <In the end, you will have to do two things: you will need the ongoing military demilitarisation by the Israel Defense Forces and you will need to establish a civil administration, I hope that with the support and management of certain countries in the region, I think this is the right way to move forward,> he said in an Israeli television interview. <I'll tell you what I'm not ready to do, I'm not ready to establish a Palestinian state there, I'm not ready to hand it over to the Palestinian Authority. I'm not ready to do that.> Residents of Rafah said there had been more clashes in the city, while Israeli air strikes on Gaza City are reported to have killed the Hamas-run health ministry's director of emergency services. An aid distribution centre was also hit: the IDF said it was being used by Hamas. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant is starting a visit to Washington, to discuss the war in Gaza and the escalating tensions with Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the Palestinian armed group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people - mostly civilians - were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 37,551 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it had reportedly identified 14,680 children, women and elderly people among the dead by the end of April.
Middle East>>
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpvvvkxpxwno

Le Monde - June 24, 2024 - COLUMN auteur Jean-Pierre Filiu - Historian and professor at Sciences Po Paris
<<Who really runs Hamas?
While international attention focuses on Hamas's exiled leaders, the Islamist organization actually gets its orders from Gaza's tunnels.Published In 1966, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin took over the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip, then under Egyptian administration. The following year, Israel seized this territory during the Six-Day War. Yassin broke with other Palestinian parties by refusing to oppose the occupying army, in turn encouraging the Islamist movement to weaken the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). But in December 1987, the intifada (literally <uprising>) of the population of the occupied territories convinced Yassin to swing from one extreme to the other. Faced with a PLO committed to peace with Israel, Yassin founded Hamas, whose Arabic acronym stands for <Islamic Resistance Movement,> dedicated to the destruction of Israel. However, the new organization had no armed wing, but merely a security service, the Majd (<Glory>), whose main target was Palestinian nationalists. The Majd was commanded by Salah Shehadeh, who helped found Hamas in this capacity, with Yahya Sinwar - imprisoned in Israel from February 1988 - as his deputy.
Political and military
Sheikh Yassin himself was arrested in May 1989, before being sentenced to life imprisonment in Israel. The imprisonment of Hamas's founder led to the creation of a political office in exile, led from Jordan by Khaled Meshal. Until then centered on Gaza, the Islamist organization restructured itself around four <councils> (<shura>) representing respectively Gaza, the West Bank, the diaspora, and prisoners detained by Israel. Sheikh Yassin's authority continued to be exercised within this framework. But the imprisoned leader was not involved in the December 1991 creation of the armed wing of Hamas, named <Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades,> in homage to a Syrian sheikh killed in 1935 by the British army in Palestine. The first leaders of the militia were killed one after the other by Israeli law enforcement, but Hamas attacks continued, all the more deadly as they aimed to sabotage the peace process between Israel and the PLO. It was in retaliation for one of these attacks that Benjamin Netanyahu, already Prime Minister, decided to strike Hamas at the top level in September 1997. But the Mossad hit squad sent to Amman to poison Meshal was intercepted by Jordanian security. Israel not only had to provide the antidote that saved Meshal, but also had to release Yassin, who returned to Gaza in triumph.
Despite their popularity, however, Yassin and Meshal had no direct authority over the al-Qassam Brigades, whose leader, Mohammed Al-Masri, is so elusive that he is nicknamed Deif, <the guest,> going from hideout to hideout. In contrast, Yassin, who escaped an Israeli raid in September 2003, was killed in a strike in March 2004. His successor, Abdul-Aziz Rantissi, was eliminated the following month in an Israeli bombardment. From then on, Hamas decided not to reveal the name of its supreme leader. Meanwhile, Deif, seriously wounded in an Israeli raid, retained command of the al-Qassam Brigades.>>
Read more here:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/06/24/who-really-runs-hamas_6675560_4.html

Le Monde - June 24, 2024
<<Netanyahu says Israel is winding down its Gaza operations
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the 'intense' phase of the war in Gaza was nearing an end, but warned of a possible new front on the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, June 23, that the current phase of fighting against Hamas in Gaza is winding down, setting the stage for Israel to send more troops to its northern border to confront the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The comments threatened to further heighten the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah at a time when they appear to be moving closer to war. Netanyahu also signaled that there is no end in sight for the grinding war in Gaza. The Israeli leader said in a lengthy TV interview that while the army is close to completing its current ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, that would not mean the war against Hamas is over. But he said fewer troops would be needed in Gaza, freeing up forces to battle Hezbollah. <We will have the possibility of transferring some of our forces north, and we will do that,> he told Israel's Channel 14, a pro-Netanyahu TV channel, in an interview that was frequently interrupted by applause from the studio audience. <First and foremost, for defense,> he added, but also to allow tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return home. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas' October 7 cross-border attack that triggered the Gaza war. Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire nearly every day since then, but the fighting has escalated in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown war.
The risk of a larger, region-wide war
Hezbollah is much stronger than Hamas, and opening a new front would raise the risk of a larger, region-wide war involving other Iranian proxies and perhaps Iran itself that could cause heavy damage and mass casualties on both sides of the border. White House envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week meeting with officials in Israel and Lebanon in an effort to lower tensions. But the fighting has continued. Netanyahu said he hoped a diplomatic solution to the crisis could be found but vowed to solve the problem <in a different way> if needed. <We can fight on several fronts and we are prepared to do that,> he said. He said any deal would not just be <an agreement on paper.> He said it would require Hezbollah to be far from the border, an enforcement mechanism and the return of Israelis back to their homes. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated shortly after the fighting erupted and have not been able to go home. Hezbollah has said it will continue battling Israel until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza. The group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, warned Israel last week against launching a war, saying Hezbollah has new weapons and intelligence capabilities that could help it target more critical positions deeper inside Israel. Hezbollah already has unveiled new weapons during the low-level fighting, including hard-to-defend attack drones that strike with little warning. An Israeli soldier was badly wounded Sunday in a drone strike. But Israel says it too has shown Hezbollah only a small part of its full capabilities, and that Lebanon will be turned into a second Gaza if there is a war. Israel's army last week said it had <approved and validated> a new plan for a Lebanon offensive. In the interview, Netanyahu said that Israel's offensive in Gaza is winding down. The Israeli army has been operating in the southern border town of Rafah since early May. It says it has inflicted heavy damage on Hamas in Rafah, which it has identified as the last remaining Hamas stronghold after a brutal war stretching nearly nine months. But he said Israel would have to continue <mowing> operations - targeted strikes aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping. Earlier on Sunday, Netanyahu again repeated his claim that there has been a <dramatic drop> in arms shipments from the US, Israel's closest ally, hindering the war effort. Biden has delayed delivering certain heavy bombs since May over concerns of heavy civilian casualties, but his administration fought back last week against Netanyahu's charges that other shipments had also been affected. Although the US and other mediators are pushing a ceasefire plan, Netanyahu has ruled out an end to the war until Israel releases all hostages held by Hamas and until it destroys Hamas' military and governing capabilities. The current phase of the war <is about to end,> Netanyahu said. <That doesn't mean the war is about to end.>
Le Monde with AP>>
Source:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/06/24/netanyahu-says-israel-is-winding-down-its-gaza-operations_6675558_4.html

BBC - June 23, 2024 - By Robert Greenall
<<Gaza protesters in Belfast supported by GAA
BBC People flying green, red, white and blue flags in the street BBC
The parade and rally took place from Writers Square to Belfast City Hall on Saturday
A parade and rally, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, took place in Belfast city centre on Saturday afternoon.
Protesters left Writers Square and marched through the city centre to Belfast City Hall.
It was organised by Gaels Against Genocide, which is supported by some of the best known names in the Gaelic Athletics Association (GAA).
Flags from counties and GAA clubs across Ireland were flying, and speeches were made in front of the City Hall.
A black, white, red and green flag that reads Derry Gaels For A Free Palestine. Flags from counties and Gaelic clubs across Ireland were flying during the rally.
There has been a surge in violence in the West Bank since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by Hamas's deadly attack on southern Israel on 7 October. A number of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrations have been held in Belfast since the violence started.
The UN says at least 480 Palestinians - members of armed groups, attackers and civilians - have been killed in conflict-related incidents in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Ten Israelis, including six security forces personnel, have also been killed in the West Bank.>>
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxxxxg3x97yo

France 24 - June 23, 2024
<<Vital supplies pile up at Gaza crossing as aid agencies say unable to work
Days after Israel announced a daily pause in fighting on a key route to allow more aid into Gaza, chaos in the besieged Palestinian territory has left vital supplies piled up and undistributed in the searing summer heat. More information with William Hilderbrandt.>>
On source/video:
https://www.france24.com/en/video/20240623-vital-supplies-pile-up-at-gaza-crossing-as-aid-agencies-say-unable-to-work


Screengrab by Mustafa Barghou
Sky News - June 23, 2024 - By Kieren Williams, news reporter
<<Israeli soldiers strapped injured Palestinian to jeep after West Bank arrest raid
The Israeli military has confirmed that the incident took place and admitted that its forces violated military protocol. An investigation is due to take place. Israeli soldiers strapped an injured Palestinian man to the bonnet of a military jeep after an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military confirmed the incident after a video circulated on social media showing the man tied to the vehicle and being driven around in Jenin on Saturday. Reuters news agency named him as Mujahed Azmi. In a statement, the Israeli military said Israeli forces were fired at and exchanged fire during the raid, wounding a suspect and arresting him. Soldiers then violated military protocol, the statement said, as "the suspect was taken by the forces while tied on top of a vehicle". The suspect was later transferred to a Red Crescent ambulance for treatment, the statement added. The military said the "conduct of the forces in the video of the incident does not conform to the values" of the Israeli military and the incident would be investigated.>>
Source incl. video:
https://news.sky.com/story/israeli-soldiers-strapped-injured-palestinian-to-jeep-after-west-bank-arrest-raid-13157408

France 24 - June 22, 2024 - By NEWS WIRES
<<Dozens killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza City neighbourhoods
Health officials in Gaza said Israeli air strikes on Saturday killed at least 24 people in the territory's north, a day after the International Committee of the Red Cross said 22 people were killed in shelling that damaged its office. The Gaza City strikes added to at least 120 deaths over the previous 48 hours which the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported earlier Saturday. Dr Mahmud Aliwa of Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City said his facility received 24 bodies after the strikes, which left smoke rising over the city. Gaza's civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP that at least 20 were killed in a strike on a house in Al-Tuffah neighbourhood, while a strike in Al-Shati refugee camp claimed the lives of four others.
<People were going about their business> when, suddenly, <the whole area was wiped out> in an air strike, said Abu Mahmud al-Kariri, an eyewitness in Al-Shati. Against a grey backdrop of destruction, men used a donkey cart to remove some of the dead in Al-Tuffah. Earlier on Saturday, Israel's military said its fighter jets were striking <two Hamas military infrastructure sites> in the Gaza City area. The European Union's foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, on Saturday called for an <independent investigation> into the shelling that damaged the ICRC office. The EU condemns the shelling which damaged the ICRC office in Gaza and led to dozens of casualties. An independent investigation is needed and those responsible must be held accountable.
Protection of civilians is an obligation under Geneva Conventions.
Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel 30 years ago, condemned what it called Israel's <systematic targeting> of civilians and relief organisations.
'Dangerously close'
Late Friday the ICRC said 22 dead and 45 wounded were taken to a Red Cross field hospital after shelling with <heavy calibre projectiles> near its southern Gaza office. Local ICRC chief William Schomburg told reporters Saturday: <There were piles of dead bodies, blood everywhere> and a <flood of wounded people> seeking help. Gaza's health ministry blamed the shelling on Israel, saying 25 were killed and 50 wounded in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, where thousands of displaced Palestinians have been sheltering in tents. An Israel military statement on Saturday said an initial inquiry found <there was no direct attack carried out by the IDF against a Red Cross facility>, but the incident was still under review and <findings will be presented to our international partners>. On Saturday witnesses reported gun battles in Gaza City between militants and Israeli forces backed by helicopter fire. The deadliest-ever Gaza war began with an unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel. That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza although the army says 41 are dead. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,551 people, also mostly civilians, Gaza's health ministry said on Saturday. Exchanges of fire across the Lebanese border between Israel and the powerful Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah have also escalated, raising fears of wider war. On Saturday a security source said a leader of the Lebanese Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya, a Hamas ally, was killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in eastern Lebanon.
'Precise strike'
Israel's military said an aircraft carried out a <precise strike> in the Bekaa area <to eliminate the terrorist> Ayman Ghotmeh, who they said supplied weapons to Hamas and Jamaa Islamiya.
In southern Lebanon, Israeli warplanes struck Hezbollah targets, the military said.
Experts are divided on the prospect of a wider war, but United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the cross-border hostilities must not turn Lebanon into <another Gaza>. Citing <bellicose rhetoric> on both sides, he warned: <One rash move -- one miscalculation -- could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the border, and frankly, beyond imagination.> Violence has also soared in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The Israeli military said on Saturday an Israeli civilian died after being shot near Qalqilya city. Months of negotiations towards a Gaza truce and hostage release have failed to make headway, but mediator Qatar on Friday said it was still working to <bridge the gap> between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners strongly oppose a ceasefire. Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges which he denies, on Saturday night faced what organisers said was the biggest anti-government protest since the war began.
Tens of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv. One demonstrator's sign accused Netanyahu of being an <Enemy of Israel>.
The war has destroyed much of Gaza's infrastructure and left residents short of food, fuel and other essentials.
In Jabalia, northern Gaza, the al-Balawi family lives under blankets strung up over a concrete slab in a sea of rubble.
<There is scarcity of food and water,> said Abu Siraj al-Balawi. <There are no vegetables or fruit.>
(AFP)>>
Source incl. video:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240622-dozens-killed-in-israeli-strikes-on-gaza-city-neighbourhoods

France 24 - June 22, 2024
<<Tens of thousands of Israelis rally against Netanyahu's government
Tens of thousands of protesters waving Israeli flags and chanting slogans against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government rallied in Tel Aviv Saturday, demanding new elections and the return of hostages held in Gaza. Read FRANCE 24’s live coverage of the day's events.
Summary
Israeli strikes on Gaza City districts in the north of the Palestinian enclave on Saturday killed at least 24 people and wounded several others, according to health authorities in Gaza. The IDF said it struck two Hamas infrastructure sites in Gaza City.
An Israeli national was found shot dead in a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank Saturday morning, Israel's army said, as violence surges in the occupied territory.
A commercial ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden saw explosions near the vessel, authorities said Saturday, likely the latest attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels attempting to target the shipping lane.
Israeli forces shelled tent camps for displaced Palestinians outside Gaza's southern city of Rafah late Friday, killing at least 25 people and wounding another 50.>>
Source and more incl. video:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240622-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-israeli-strikes-on-tent-camps-near-rafah-kill-at-least-25-and-wound-50

'Food for thought': Strong (Hamas) soldiers move in silence. Gino d'Artali

 Women's Liberation Front 2019/cryfreedom.net 2024