SPECIAL REPORTS

Dec wk4 P2 -- Dec wk4 -- Dec Wk3 P3 -- Dec Wk3 P2 -- Dec Wk 3 -- Dec Wk 2 P3 -- WK2 P 2 -- wk2 -- wk1 P 3 -- wk1 P 2 -- wk1 -- Nov wk5 P3 -- wk5 P2 -- wk5 -- wk4 P3 -- wk4 P2 -- Nwk4
 Click here for an overview by week in 2024

Special reports: Updates December 27 and earlier, 2024: 'Broken': Domestic violence impacts women, children in Gaza & Gaza toddlers got the polio vaccine, then an Israeli bomb took their legs & Millions in bonds for Israel put US states at odds with investment policies Previous reports:  As Gaza war rages israel supportive outlets under fire & EU research funds flow to Israel & My mother's shattered dream of family reunion in Gaza & Gaza's libraries will rise from the ashes & The genocide kills dreams, not just people and earler stories  Overview special reports

November 28 - 24 and earler stories, 2024 Is Netanyahu immune from ICC arrest warrant-NO!   TRIBUTES TO MOTHERS AND CHILDREN

Shireen Abu Akleh In commemoration of Shireen Abu Akleh, the 'voice of Al Jazeera' killed while revealing the true face of israel Updated: December 6, 2024: Attacks, arrests, threats, censorship: The high risks of reporting the Israel-Gaza war   Click here for earlier stories/news

December 27 - 24, 2024 Food for thought: Is Israel using starvation as a war tactic in its genocidal war in Gaza?... and 'The war in Gaza is beyond anything'... Yes they are! Gino d'Artali Read more and decide for yourself

December 24 - 18, 2024 Food for thought I, living in the EU, am, like millions of others, 'bombarded' with a tsunami of 'festivities celebrations' that urges to buy and buy without thinking. but... I can only feel ashamed knowing that hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people, and especially children, mothers, women, elderly, are starved to death as a zionist tool of genocide. So do I wish 'happy holidays'? NO I wish for food and peace for all. Gino d'Artali Read more and decide for yourself

December 10 - 7, 2024 Food for thought: 'The next one' as seen by an Iranian activist cartoonnist and yes, with the fall of assad it most likely is a matter of time before the next ones, netanyahu, khamenei, erdogan and others, will follow. Gino d'Artali Read more and decide for yourself

 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.


Another baby freezes to death


 Hanan - Photo Abdelhakim Abu Riash-Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera - Dec 18 2024 - Esraa Abo Qamar - Palestinian writer based in Gaza
<<This festive season, Gaza is starving
Winter has made life amid genocide all the more miserable for us.
Winter has now come to the Northern Hemisphere and has ushered in a festive mood in many places. In Gaza, it has brought more misery. The cold weather and rain have made the lives of the 1.9 million Palestinians displaced in Gaza that much more unbearable. It has rained hard several times already. Each time, tents of the displaced have been flooded, damaged, or destroyed, and what little some have had, has been taken away by the floodwaters. That has left many destitute families even more destitute. A new tent in Gaza right now can go up to $1,000. A makeshift shelter – with the wood and plastic needed for cover - costs hundreds of dollars. A new blanket can be as much as $100. No one in the camps has such sums of money. Many of the displaced had run away from the bombs with just the clothes on their backs. Some have tried to salvage clothes from the rubble, but few have succeeded. As winter approached, the prices of clothes skyrocketed. A light pyjama now costs $95; a coat - as much as $100. A pair of shoes - a rare commodity - can go for as much as $75. Second-hand clothes markets have appeared throughout Gaza to address overwhelming demand, but the prices there are also too high. As a result, the camps are full of people shuddering in the cold in thin summer clothes. Children walk around barefoot in the mud and puddles. Fuel for heating, which is either unavailable or unaffordable for most families. The cost of 8kg of gas has reached $72. Wood is a bit less, but also too expensive for most. The lack of clothes and fuel for heating is increasing the risk of colds, flu and other diseases during the winter which in Gaza can become life-threatening. A malnourished, vulnerable body, exhausted by fear and trauma, struggles even against a simple cold. Gaza's hospitals are barely functioning, taking care mostly of people gravely wounded in the bombardment. Suffering from a lack of supplies and staff, they can no longer provide care for simple illnesses. Diseases are spreading also because hygiene has also become nearly impossible to maintain. Living in in tents, without access to warm water, the displaced cannot shower or sometimes even wash their hands. A bar of soap is now $5, while a bottle of shampoo can be as much as $23. But perhaps the most unbearable fact of life in Gaza now is the famine. The amount of humanitarian aid that has entered Gaza has significantly decreased since October and we have felt its devastating impact across the Strip. It is not just the north that is experiencing famine. All of Gaza is. The price of what little food is available is beyond belief. A single sack of flour now costs more than $300. Other foodstuffs have also become expensive. A kilo (2.2 pounds) of lentils or a kilo of rice is $7. Vegetables are hard to find and also very expensive; 1kg of tomatoes is $14; a single onion is $2. Red meat and chicken cannot be found at all. We have not seen any for months. The bakeries that were once a lifeline for families are closed because they can’t get supplies. Bread, the simplest and most basic of foods, has become a luxury few of us can afford. Even if a family is able to get flour, it is often infested with bugs and tastes stale. People are now forced to rely on 'takaya' - charity soup kitchens - that provide small portions of food that are barely enough for a family. These organisations open at 11:00am, which results in large queues forming in front of their distribution centres. Most families who manage to get a meal from them have nothing else to feed their children. Hunger is not just limited to the physical pain that starving people experience. It also has an unbearable psychological impact. Parents are forced to watch their children cry for food during the long, cold nights. Some parents have also had to watch their children die from starvation. This psychological torment cannot compare to anything else. As I write these words, I am starving myself, having eaten nothing since morning. As I look around me, I see children and adults, pale and thin, exhausted by hunger and cold. I wonder how much more they can take; how much more any of us can take? The cruellest part of this suffering is the silence of the world that watches from afar but doesn't act. As the cold bites us and the hunger makes it worse, we are feeling isolated and abandoned, like we have been cut off from the rest of humanity. And as much of the world prepares for a holiday season, we prepare to face loneliness, despair and death.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.>>
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/12/18/this-festive-season-gaza-is-starving


Helmiya Helles
Jinha - Womens News Agency - Dec 27, 2024 - by NAGHAM KARAJEH
<<'The war in Gaza is beyond anything'
"The war in Gaza is beyond anything," said Helmiya Helles, who struggles to survive along with her family of 40 in a small room in Gaza. She calls on the international community to take urgent "action".
Gaza- The Israel's war on the Gaza Strip continues to cause destruction, deaths, forced displacement, famine and deep wounds, particularly in the lives of women and children. Despite their deep wounds, women do not leave their homeland and resist for the future of their children and the freedom of their people. One of these women is 70-year-old Helmiya Helles, who is displaced by the ongoing Israeli attacks, struggles to survive along with her family of 40 in a small room.
'We have no access to even clean water'
"We are not only a displaced family but also souls walking among the rubble with uncertainty," Helmiya Helles said in the beginning of her speech. "We struggle to survive on one meal a day. We have no access to even clean water. We have lost everything. Our houses have turned to rubble, our dreams have been taken from us, and even burying our loved ones has become a luxury for us. The whole world sees what we have experienced but they do nothing as if we are human beings."
'Women are the backbone of their family'
Helmiya Helles drew attention to the role played by Palestinian women in the difficult living conditions and said, "Women have endured the difficult living conditions that no human being could ever bear. In Gaza, women are not only mothers or wives but also the backbone of their families. Every day, they shoulder the burden of their families, providing food for their families and protecting their children. Women are the ones who first wake up in the morning and last go to sleep at night. They do their best to survive in these horrifying conditions. This war is beyond anything that we experienced before."
'I cannot provide even one meal a day for my family'
The room that we have taken shelter in has nothing, just four walls, Helmiya Helles emphasized. "Our living conditions become worse in winter. Our children cry because of hunger, women are helpless and all we have is dirty water. All roads are blocked and we receive no humanitarian aid. I cannot provide even one meal a day for my family. Our children get sick due to dirty water."
Helmiya Helles called on the international community to take "urgent action to stop this war. All we want is to live; children and women have been dying from starvation. The whole world does not do anything against this ongoing war. This war has become normal for them but it has turned into a hell for us.">>
Video: https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/the-war-in-gaza-is-beyond-anything-36242?page=1

Al Jazeera - Dec 28 2024 - Al Jazeera Live By Royce Kurmelovs
<<'This horror must end': WHO condemns Israeli assault on key Gaza hospital
Israeli forces storm Kamal Adwan Hospital, putting the last remaining medical facility in northern Gaza out of service.
The World Health Organization has condemned Israel's storming of a vital hospital in northern Gaza, saying assaults on medical facilities are a "death sentence" for thousands of Palestinians and that "this horror must end". An Israeli military assault on the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday put the last major health facility in northern Gaza out of service, the WHO said. "Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burned and destroyed during the raid," the WHO said in a statement on X on Friday evening. The Israeli military said in a statement that it had launched a raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital as it <serves as a Hamas terrorist stronghold>, but failed to provide evidence. Hamas said it "categorically" denied the claims. As of Friday morning, the hospital housed about 350 people, including 75 patients, along with 180 medical staff. The WHO said 60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition, including those on ventilators, reportedly remain in the hospital. The patients in moderate to severe condition were forced to evacuate to the destroyed and non-functional Indonesian Hospital, the United Nations health agency said, adding that it was "deeply concerned for their safety".
The WHO reiterated its call for a ceasefire.
"This raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital comes after escalating restrictions on access for WHO and partners, and repeated attacks on or near the facility since early October," the WHO said. "Such hostilities and the raids are undoing all our efforts and support to keep the facility minimal functional. The systematic dismantling of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for tens of thousands of Palestinians in need of healthcare."
"This horror must end and healthcare must be protected."
Israel's military began a renewed ground offensive in northern Gaza in October and claimed, also without evidence, that the hospital had become <a key stronghold for terrorist organisations and continues to be used as a hideout for terrorist operatives>. Before initiating the latest attack on the hospital, the Israeli military said its soldiers had <facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients, and medical personnel>. Hamas denied its fighters were present in the hospital, and urged the UN to set up an investigation committee "to examine the scale of crime being committed in northern Gaza". "We categorically deny the presence of any military activity or resistance fighters in the hospital," Hamas said in a statement. "The enemy's lies about the hospital aim to justify the heinous crime committed by the occupation army today, involving the evacuation and burning of all hospital departments as part of a plan for extermination and forced displacement." Al Jazeera's Hamdah Salhut said the Israeli military has often accused Hamas fighters of operating from medical facilities, but has never proven these claims. Most notable was the raid on al-Shifa Hospital back in 2023 when the military said Hamas was using al-Shifa as a command and control centre, claims that to this day have still never been proven," she said, reporting from Amman, Jordan, because Al Jazeera has been banned from operating in Israel and the occupied West Bank. "Now, Kamal Adwan was the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, but again, it was barely functioning because of the siege that was put forward by Israeli forces - a siege on food, water, and all other sorts of medical supplies." Gaza health officials said on Saturday that Israeli forces had detained the director of the hospital. "The occupation forces have taken dozens of the medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention centre for interrogation, including the director, Hussam Abu Safia," the Palestinian Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory said in a statement. The Gaza civil defence agency also reported that Abu Safia had been detained. The ministry had earlier quoted Abu Safia as saying that the military had "set on fire all surgery departments of the hospital". Abu Safia said there were "a large number of injuries" among the medical team. On Thursday, Abu Safia said five staff members had been killed in an Israeli air attack.
Israel's assault has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians since October last year, mostly children and women, according to health officials in the enclave. The vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.
In recent days, Abu Safia has repeatedly raised concerns about the hospital's situation.
"The world must understand that our hospital is being targeted with the intent to kill and forcibly displace the people inside," he said in a statement on Monday.>>
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/28/this-horror-must-end-who-condemns-israeli-assault-on-key-gaza-hospital

Al Jazeera - Dec 27 2024 - Al Jazeera Live By Royce Kurmelovs
<<Israeli soldiers burn Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital, force hundreds to leave
Health officials say they have lost contact with staff at the northern Gaza hospital after Israel forced 350 people out.
Israeli soldiers have stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last remaining medical facility in the northern Gaza Strip, torching large sections and ordering hundreds of people to leave. Gaza's Ministry of Health said on Friday that contact had been lost with staff inside the hospital in Beit Lahiya, which has been under siege and heavy pressure from Israeli forces for weeks. It had no information on the fate of patients who were inside, it added.
"The occupation forces are inside the hospital now and they are burning it," Munir al-Bursh, the director of the ministry, said in a statement. The Israeli army issued a statement confirming it launched a raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital, claiming without evidence that the medical facility <serves as a Hamas terrorist stronghold in northern Gaza>. Israeli forces have throughout their assault on Gaza routinely besieged and attacked medical facilities - housing both patients and displaced families - under similar pretexts.
Fire erupts
Youssef Abu el-Rish, Gaza's deputy health minister, said Israeli forces had set fire to the surgical department, laboratory and a storehouse in the hospital. The fire then "spread to all buildings" in the medical complex, according to a separate statement by the enclave's Health Ministry. It said Kamal Adwan is "suffering from a stifling siege, as the operating and surgery departments, laboratory, maintenance, ambulance units and warehouses have been completely burned". The ministry added that all generators in the facility had been destroyed. It also said, "the [Israeli] occupation army is forcibly transferring patients and the injured under the threat of weapons and gun barrels to the Indonesian Hospital, which lacks medical supplies, water, medicines, and even electricity and generators." Like the Indonesian and al-Awda hospitals, Kamal Adwan has been repeatedly attacked by Israeli forces, especially after they launched a renewed ground offensive in the area more than two months ago. The north, where a famine is looming, has been under total siege and cut off from the rest of the Strip since then. Al-Bursh said the Israeli army had ordered 350 people to leave Kamal Adwan for a nearby school sheltering displaced families. This included 75 patients, their companions, and 185 medical staff. Footage circulating on local media showed smoke rising from the area of Kamal Adwan Hospital. Much of the area around the northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya has been cleared of people and systematically razed, prompting speculation that Israel intends to keep the area as a closed buffer zone.
'Devastating blow'
Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from central Gaza's Deir el-Balah, said there has been a scarcity of information coming out of Kamal Adwan on Friday, but witnesses who were in the facility said they faced inspections from Israeli soldiers. Witnesses also "confirmed that the Israeli military had conducted field executions in [the hospital's] vicinity", Abu Azzoum said, adding that the fate of the hospital's director is unknown. Kamal Adwan has been seeing a "gradual escalation" and "deliberate attacks" by the Israeli army, our correspondent said, adding that the forced evacuations and fires have dealt a "devastating blow to the already fragile northern Gaza's healthcare system". On Thursday, health officials said five medical staff, including a paediatrician, were killed by Israeli fire at Kamal Adwan. In a statement, Hamas blamed Israel and the United States for the fate of the hospital's occupants. "The [Israeli] occupation government is committing crimes in Gaza, relying on American cover and some Western capitals that are partners in the ongoing genocide," it said on Telegram. Spokesperson for the UN's World Health Organization Margaret Harris expressed concern over the situation. "We are witnessing the targeting of civilians and the health system in Gaza," Harris told Al Jazeera. "What Gaza's hospitals are exposed to is horrific, and what we are witnessing represents a punishment for the population." Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people, including 15 people in a single house in Gaza City, medics and the civil emergency service said. Also on Friday, 14 countries joined or signalled their intention to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice. Organisations including the UN, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also found that Israeli actions in Gaza are compatible with the crime of genocide. Israel's assault has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians since October last year, according to health officials in the enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.>>
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES:
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/27/israeli-soldiers-burn-gazas-kamal-adwan-hospital-force-hundreds-to-leave

And view video here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/28/live-israeli-soldiers-storm-set-fire-to-last-hospital-in-northern-gaza

Al Jazeera - Dec 27 2024 - Al Jazeera Live By Royce Kurmelovs
<<Quotable
"No infrastructure left" in Palestinian Yarmouk camp>>
Read more and video here: https://www.aljazeera.com/program/quotable/2024/12/27/no-infrastructure-left-in-palestinian-yarmouk-camp

Women's Liberation Front 2019/cryfreedom.net 2024