SPECIAL REPORTS

Sept wk4 P2 -- Sept wk4 -- Sept wk3 P3 --   Sept wk 3 P2 -- Sept wk3 -- Sept wk2 P3 -- Sept wk2 P2 -- Sept wk2 -- Sept wk1 P3 -- Sept wk1 P2 -- Sept wk1 -- Click here for an overview by week in 2024

 

Special reports: TRIBUTES TO MOTHERS AND CHILDREN   a   NEW: September 11, 2024: Nour, A midwife in Gaza Sept. 4, 2024: "He can't move at all": A Gaza mother's agony over baby with polio... and September 3, 2024: 'Tragic childhood': Gaza children vaccinated against polio, war continues...   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 daughterNimah 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: UPDATE: September 4, 2024: Gaza is hell for aid workers doubly difficult if you are a woman.   July 12, 2024: Scorched Hospitals - Schools -  Housing - Bodies -- fake or fact?

September 24 - 21, 2024 <<UN offials says "atricities must end" in Gaza as israeli raids kill donzens... and more actual news

September 21 - 19, 2024 One question: With the hate and violence against Arab and Muslim communities obviously being on the top-agenda of the Western allies and people, with israel leading, the question is if guantanamo-bay will be re-opened be it now to bring the guilty-ones of the genocide ("several thousand dead, over 11,355 of them are minors...") to justice?. Gino d'Artali   Click here to go throughout September and earler, 2024

Additional stories of utmost interest: August 28, 2024: <<Creating hope for Gaza's student doctors amid Israeli bombardment... 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...

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.

Le Monde - Sept 24, 2024 - Interview by Gilles Paris
<<Ghassan Salame: 'Despite the seriousness of the situation in Gaza, the real focus of the conflict remains the West Bank'
For over 20 years, Israel's elite was accustomed to the idea that it was preparing for the West Bank's annexation, with both the Israeli public's approval and the international community's complacency, says the Lebanese academic and diplomat in an interview. Having served as a professor of international relations at Sciences Po, culture minister in Lebanon and a United Nations diplomat, Ghassan Salamé is the author of a new book, La Tentation de Mars. Guerre et Paix au XXIe Siècle ("The Temptation of Mars: War and Peace in the 21st Century," untranslated), published in March.
Isn't the war in Gaza, ongoing for almost a year now, a reflection of the global dysfunctions you detail in your recent book - deregulation of force, the failure of multilateralism and the weakening of the United States? The situation in Gaza represents a significant case of forceful deregulation, a kind of deluge of fire that followed the unprecedented action of October 7, 2023. We are witnessing a total ignoring of humanitarian law, the disproportionate use of force and the confirmation of what we already know: In 21st-century conflicts, the vast majority of victims are civilians.
As for the United Nations' impotence, it confirms what people too often forget: This organization is a collection of institutions, each operating according to its own culture, with varying degrees of connection. Some, such as the World Food Program and the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, have become indispensable in dealing with major tragedies. Despite the paralysis of the Security Council and the overall political climate, these agencies continue to operate according to their assigned missions.
Is this the case for the agency that deals specifically with Palestinian refugees, UNRWA?
Of course. I'm not sure that the campaign against it was anything other than political. Very quickly, the countries that were accommodating to the Israeli position [which accused the UN agency of employing more than <450 terrorists>], particularly the Western countries, realized that the situation in Gaza was dire and would be even more so without UNRWA.
What is your analysis of Washington's position in this conflict?
The United States has maintained the same level of permissiveness toward Israel that has existed since Harry Truman's presidency [1945-1953]. They have not indicated to the Israeli authorities that they are willing to wield the <stick> by interrupting their arms supplies. On the contrary, President Biden signed [in April] the bill allocating Israel over $14 billion as part of an international aid package [which also includes Ukraine and Taiwan]. Despite the seriousness of the situation in Gaza, I believe that what is happening there is a deception.>>
Read more here:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/09/24/ghassan-salame-despite-the-seriousness-of-the-situation-in-gaza-the-real-focus-of-the-conflict-remains-the-west-bank_6727053_4.html

Al Jazeera - September 23, 2024
<<UN officials say 'atrocities must end' in Gaza as Israeli raids kill dozens
Heads of UN agencies say they cannot do their jobs 'in the face of overwhelming need and ongoing violence'.
Leading United Nations officials have demanded "an end to the appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe" in the Gaza Strip nearly one year into the war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas. "These atrocities must end," they said on Monday in a statement signed by the heads of UN agencies that included the World Food Programme and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) along with other aid groups as world leaders gathered in New York for the annual UN General Assembly. "Humanitarians must have safe and unimpeded access to those in need," they said. "We cannot do our jobs in the face of overwhelming need and ongoing violence." The UN has long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza during the war and distributing it amid "total lawlessness" in the besieged Palestinian enclave. Nearly 300 humanitarian aid workers, more than two-thirds of them UN staff, have been killed. "The risk of famine persists with all 2.1 million residents still in urgent need of food and livelihood assistance as humanitarian access remains restricted," the UN officials said. "Healthcare has been decimated. More than 500 attacks on healthcare have been recorded in Gaza."
At least 24 people have been killed and 60 wounded in Israeli military attacks in the latest 24-hour reporting period, the enclave's Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday. Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, said the increasingly desperate conditions in Gaza are "the byproducts of the intense bombing campaign". He added: "It is just hard to consider this a war because, since the beginning, it has been largely one-sided, dominated by the Israeli military, but we're seeing it on a daily basis."
The war in the Palestinian enclave began on October 7, 2023, after Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 captives back to Hamas-run Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel's military has levelled swaths of the Palestinian enclave, killing more than 41,400 people, driving nearly all of its population from their homes, and giving rise to deadly hunger and disease, according to Palestinian health authorities.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/23/top-un-officials-say-atrocities-must-end-in-gaza-as-israel-kills-dozens


Shireen Abu Akleh
Al Jazeera - September 23, 2024
<<Israeli forces attack Shireen Abu Akleh’s image, again
Israeli soldiers were filmed tearing down an image of murdered Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh when they closed the network's office in the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces killed Shireen in 2022. So why won't they let her rest in peace? Soraya Lennie takes a look.>>
Here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/9/23/israeli-forces-attack-shireen-abu-aklehs-image-again
Read more here about Shireen Abu Akleh:
Al Jazeera commemorates 100 days since Abu Akleh's killing.....

Al Jazeera - September 23, 2024
<<Israeli middle schoolers harass Palestinian classmate
Video shows Israeli middle schoolers dancing and chanting hate messages at a Palestinian classmate who called for a free Palestine and accused Israeli forces of being "murderers".>>
View video here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/9/23/israeli-middle-schoolers-harass-palestinian-classmate

Al Jazeera - September 22, 2024 - By Al Jazeera Staff
<<What's happening between Israel, Hezbollah as war on Gaza nears one year?
A longstanding, simmering conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah is escalating. Overnight on Sunday, exchanges following devastating attacks on Hezbollah's communication systems ratcheted up tension across the border, with chances of war imminent, according to Israeli Army former Brigadier General Amir Avivi.
What's happening right now?
A lot.
On Saturday, an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut killed 14, including a senior Hezbollah commander, and wounded 66. Israel's military says it launched 400 attacks on Lebanon overnight on Sunday, while Hezbollah says it fired rockets at the Ramat David airbase near the Israeli city of Haifa. The Iran-allied Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed to have launched al-Arqab missiles at Israeli bases, though no casualties are reported.
This was the second Israeli strike on Hezbollah targets in less than two months, the earlier killing two children and wounding 74 people to eliminate senior commander Fuad Shukr.
Why is this happening now?
Israel has announced it is turning its attention northwards, i.e. confronting Hezbollah, which has been engaging in a steady exchange of fire with Israel in support of its ally Hamas since Israel's war on Gaza began in October. Over the last week, Hezbollah has experienced two attacks on its communications systems that it blames on Israel, while Israel has dramatically increased troop numbers on its border. On Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant spoke of a <new phase> in the war on Gaza, announcing the deployment of the 98th Division, comprising 10,000 to 20,000 troops, to join Israel's restive Northern Command of four armed brigades near the Lebanese border. Gallant's comments were the closest Israel has come to acknowledging responsibility for the two attacks on Hezbollah's communication systems, the second still occurring as Gallant spoke. Between September 17 and 18, booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkie radios belonging to Hezbollah were detonated, killing 37, including two children, and wounding and maiming thousands. According to analysts who spoke to Al Jazeera, the attacks have created calls for a dramatic response from within Hezbollah, despite the group being compromised.
How might this escalate?
Alliances on the part of both Israel and Hezbollah could pull other actors in.
Hezbollah and Iran have worked in tandem since Hezbollah's founding as a response to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Israel, for its part, has consistently pitched its domestic battles with groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as part of a wider battle against Iran. Iran, while not yet nuclear-armed, is widely considered to be close to achieving that status after an agreement to limit the country's nuclear development was abruptly dissolved by former US President Donald Trump in 2018. Even without a nuclear weapons programme, Iran is one of the most powerful military forces in the region. In addition to its network of alliances with groups such as Yemen's Houthis and Gaza's Hamas, Iran has one of the largest conventional armies in the region. Working to counter Iranian influence in the region is the United States. Irrespective of its unequivocal support for Israel, the US has frequently found itself on a conflicting path with Iran as each battles for regional influence.
What would it take for other states to become involved?
Both the US and Iran have repeatedly shown themselves to be aware of the risks any escalation might pose.
Despite Israeli provocations - such as the April 2024 air strike on Iran's consulate in Damascus, Syria, and the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July - Iran's response to Israel has so far been tepid. Retaliation to the April air strike was telegraphed long in advance and was mostly intercepted. No response to Haniyeh's killing has been forthcoming. In the wake of the pager attacks on Hezbollah members and innocent civilians, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, promised <a crushing response from the axis of resistance>.
The US, despite its unflagging support for Israel, has also shown itself to be aware of the risks of escalation. US diplomats continue to play an active role in facilitating the indirect talks between Hamas and Israel to reach a ceasefire deal. US President Joe Biden even went so far as to announce a ceasefire deal in May, which at the time he attributed to Israel.
However, this has subsequently been rejected.
Are lawmakers in Israel seeking an escalation?
For many in Israel, after decades of tension and sporadic conflict, war with Hezbollah has already come to be seen as inevitable. Of more immediate concern are the fates of the 60,000 or so residents of northern Israel evacuated after October 7 in anticipation of a similar offensive from Hezbollah to that undertaken by Hamas. While that offensive did not happen, the steady exchange of rocket fire between the two has meant that Israel's north is no longer safe for displaced families to return to. Many have also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to prolong and escalate the current war for his own political ends. Groups representing the families of those taken captive by Hamas on October 7 have repeatedly accused the prime minister of derailing potential ceasefire agreements - concerns echoed even by Biden, who suggested as much in June. "Right now, there's the most expensive game of chicken in the world taking place across the region," political analyst Ori Goldberg said from Tel Aviv last week.
"It's always framed as a kind of inevitability, one that the Israeli leadership can't be held responsible for. They're creating their own self-fulfilling prophecy. There's no strategy, no vision, nothing. They're just working it out day by day and assuming war will follow."
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/22/what-is-happening-between-israel-hezbollah-as-war-on-gaza-nears-one-year

Le Monde - Sept 22, 2024
<<Israel raids Al Jazeera's West Bank bureau, orders 45-day closure
Israel's government last week announced it was revoking the press credentials of Al Jazeera journalists in the country, four months after banning the channel from operating inside Israel. Israeli troops raided the offices of the satellite news network Al Jazeera in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Sunday, September 22, ordering the bureau to shut down amid a widening campaign by Israel targeting the Qatar-funded broadcaster as it covers the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Al Jazeera aired footage of Israeli troops live on its Arabic-language channel ordering the office to be shut for 45 days. It follows an extraordinary order issued in May that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera's broadcast position in East Jerusalem, seizing equipment there, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking its websites. The move marked the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country. However, Al Jazeera has continued operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, territories that the Palestinians hope to have for their future state. Al Jazeera denounced the move as it continued broadcasting live from Amman in neighboring Jordan. The channel said in a statement it "vehemently condemns and denounces this criminal act." It rejected what it called "unfounded allegations presented by Israeli authorities to justify these illegal raids." The Israeli military said on Sunday that it closed the office because it incited <terror.> The closure order was signed after a legal opinion and intelligence assessment <determined that the offices were being used to incite terror, to support terrorist activities and that the channel's broadcasts endanger the security and public order in both the area and the state of Israel as a whole,> a military statement said.
Staff needed to leave immediately
Israeli troops entered the office and told a reporter live on air it would be shut for 45 days, saying that staff needed to leave immediately. The network later aired what appeared to be Israeli troops tearing down a banner on a balcony used by the Al Jazeera office. Al Jazeera said it bore an image of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist shot dead by Israeli forces in May 2022. <There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,> an Israeli soldier told Al Jazeera's local bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, in the live footage. <I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment.> Al-Omari later said that Israeli troops began confiscating documents and equipment in the bureau, as tear gas and gunshots could be seen and heard in the area. The Palestinians secured limited self-rule in Gaza and parts of the occupied West Bank through the 1993 Oslo agreements. While Israel occupies and controls vast areas of the West Bank, Ramallah is under full Palestinian political and security control, making the Israeli raid on the Al Jazeera office that much more surprising.
'New aggression against journalistic work'
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate denounced the Israeli raid and order. "This arbitrary military decision is a new aggression against journalistic work and media outlets," it said.
Editorial Freedom of information is under attack from all sides
The network has reported on the Israeli-Hamas war nonstop since the militants' initial cross-border attack on Oct. 7 and has maintained 24-hour coverage in the Gaza Strip amid Israel's grinding ground offensive that has killed and wounded members of its staff. It remains unclear whether the Israeli military would target Al Jazeera's operation in Gaza as well. While including on-the-ground reporting of the war's casualties, Al Jazeera's Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other regional militant groups. That has led to Israeli claims by officials up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the network has <harmed Israel's security and incited against soldiers.> Those claims have been vehemently denied by Al Jazeera, whose main funder, Qatar, has been key in negotiations between Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire to end the war. An order closing Al Jazeera in Israel has been repeatedly renewed in the time since, but it hadn't as of yet ordered the Ramallah offices closed.
The war began when Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn't differentiate between fighters and civilians.
The closure of Al Jazeera's Ramallah office also comes as tensions continue to rise over a possible expansion of the war to Lebanon, where electronic devices exploded last week in a likely sabotage campaign by Israel targeting the Shiite militia Hezbollah. The explosions Tuesday and Wednesday killed at least 37 people - including two children - and wounded around 3,000 others.
Le Monde with AP>>
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/09/22/israel-raids-al-jazeera-s-west-bank-bureau-orders-45-day-closure_6726877_4.html
For Al Jazeeras' video report click here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/9/22/israeli-forces-raid-al-jazeeras-office-in-ramallah

Al Jazeera - September 21, 2024
<<Israeli attack on Gaza school sheltering displaced Palestinians kills 22
The dead from the strike on Zeitoun School in Gaza City include 13 children and six women. At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli attack that hit a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. The Palestinian Civil Defence agency in Gaza confirmed that Israel targeted the Zeitoun School in the eastern part of Gaza City on Saturday. Those killed include 13 children, six women, and a three-month-old baby, the Government Media Office said in a statement, adding that Israel had committed a "horrific massacre". At least 30 people were wounded, the ministry said, including several who suffered severe burns. Two people remain missing. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal noted that thousands of displaced people had sought shelter at the school. Israel's military said in a statement the air force had <conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and control centre in Gaza City>. It said the target was <embedded inside> the al-Falah School, which is adjacent to the Zeitoun School buildings. Israeli forces frequently accuse the group of using civilian facilities for military purposes. Hamas denies this. This is the latest in a series of Israeli raids on school buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli offensives and evacuation orders have been sheltering. A strike on the United Nations-run al-Jawni School in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said six of its staffers were among the 18 reported deaths. According to the media office, Israel has bombed 181 displacement and shelter centres to date.
William Deere, director of UNRWA's Washington Office, told Al Jazeera earlier this month that Israeli forces have targeted a total of 190 UN-run facilities in the course of the war, "many of them more than once". That's despite the agency sharing their GPS coordinates with the Israeli military.
On August 1, at least 15 people were killed in an Israeli attack on the Dalal al-Mughrabi school in Gaza City, while on August 3, another 16 were killed in the bombing of the Hamama school, also in Gaza City.
On August 4, at least 30 people were killed in Israeli air raids on the Nassr and Hassan Salama schools, west of Gaza City, while on August 8, at least 17 were killed in attacks on Abdul Fattah Hamouda and az-Zahra schools, which are also located in Gaza City.
And on August 10, more than 100 people were killed and 150 others wounded after Israeli forces bombed al-Tabin school, east of Gaza City.
At least 41,391 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's war on Gaza since last October, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health, including 119 deaths in the past 72 hours.
It said on Saturday that 95,760 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 last year.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/21/several-killed-in-israeli-attack-on-gaza-school-sheltering-displaced-palestinians


Al Jazeera - September 21, 2024
<<US lawmaker Rashida Tlaib slams racist image of her with exploding pager
Cartoon published in National Review would 'incite more hate and violence against our Arab and Muslim communities'.
Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has condemned as racist a cartoon that depicts her with a detonating pager, days after thousands of communication devices exploded across Lebanon in attacks blamed on Israel. "Our community is already in so much pain right now. This racism will incite more hate + violence against our Arab & Muslim communities, and it makes everyone less safe," Tlaib said of the cartoon published in conservative magazine National Review. "It's disgraceful that the media continues to normalize this racism," the only Palestinian-American lawmaker in the United States Congress wrote on X on Friday.
Created by Henry Payne, the cartoon shows a woman sitting at a desk with a name card reading "Rep. Tlaib" where a device explodes. The woman remarks: "ODD. MY PAGER JUST EXPLODED."
The illustration alludes to attacks in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded killing at least 37 people and wounding nearly 3,000, including civilians. After the attacks, Tlaib shared a post by fellow Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez referring to it as a clear violation of "international humanitarian law". Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan in the US House of Representatives who is a vocal critic of Israel's war on Gaza, has often weathered harsh vitriol from Republican and some Democratic opponents, including baseless accusations of sympathies with Hamas. In November, Tlaib was formally censured by the House, a step just below expulsion, for allegedly <promoting false narratives> about the Gaza war and <seeking Israel's destruction>, charges she rejects. Tlaib said at the time she "will not be silenced and I will not let you distort my words". Tlaib voiced her support on Thursday for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, criticising her colleagues in the US Congress for their silence as US-funded weapons continue to fuel bloodshed in the besieged enclave.
"We are living through one of, again, the most documented horrific crimes against humanity in our history. These are children who did not live to see their first birthday. We cannot normalize this," said Tlaib. "My colleagues continue to be silent. I wonder if it's because these babies are Palestinian? They're children, that's it," she added.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/21/us-lawmaker-rashida-tlaib-slams-racist-image-of-her-with-exploding-pager

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