SPECIAL REPORTS

2025 - Wk1
2024 - Dec wk5 -- 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 and earlier, 2024: Al-Shifa was a dream and a nightmare & Why is hypothermia killing Gaza’s children? & Gaza's 2024: A year of war and misery & Genocide in Gaza: Silence is complicity Previous reports: '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 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

January 2, 2025 - December 31, 2024 Food for thought 'Survivors from the West (-ern allies of netanyahu)' you'll not see photos of the ongoing inhuman deliberate mayhem/destruction of the Gazaian people. Read more and decide for yourself where you want to watch it. Gino d'Artali

December 30 - 26, 2024 'Betrayed' and 'abandoned' Sixth baby dies from severe cold Dec 31 - 27, 2024 ........................................ ............................................ ................................................. just read the actual and fact-finding news

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.

2 Stories

Al Jazeera - Dec 31 2024 - By Simon Speakman Cordall and Maram Humaid
<<Gaza's 2024: A year of war and misery
Al Jazeera takes a closer look at events in Gaza over 2024, as Israel continued and escalated its brutal war. Palestinians in Gaza are entering the new year as defenceless and beleaguered as the last. Israel's war on the enclave continued into 2024, killing 23,842 people and wounding 51,925 during this year alone, driving the grisly official death toll to 46,376, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel has used siege and starve tactics, as well as scorched earth bombardment, drawing accusations that it is committing genocide, from rights groups and United Nations legal bodies.
All documented Israel's systematic targeting of hospitals, displacement shelters, aid workers, journalists and so-called safe zones, which are often anything but. In northern Gaza, the Israeli army has imposed a full and suffocating siege in an attempt to starve fighters and push out civilians, in what has been called <ethnic cleansing>. These tactics violate international law and are creating the conditions to kill a people <in whole or in part>, matching the definition of genocide in the UN's Genocide Convention, rights groups say. "This last year has been very dark for us. How can I describe it in any other way? It’s been more than torturous," said Eman Shaghnoubi, 52, from Deir el-Balah in Gaza. "We have moved from one humiliation to another," she added, remarking on the perpetual displacement of Palestinians in the enclave.
Within Gaza
Israel has rendered 34 hospitals in Gaza "nonfunctional" and forced 80 health centres to shut down entirely, according to the Gaza Government Media Office. In the last few days, Israeli forces stormed the only remaining major hospital in Gaza's devastated north, ejecting staff and patients before setting the medical facility on fire. Torrential rain is currently lashing the tent villages that stand in place of many of Gaza's towns and cities, with deaths from hypothermia rising as freezing temperatures continue to flatline. Shaghnoubi, who has six boys and two girls, said that her children are struggling to survive in the cold and that her small tent does not protect the family from the pouring rain. "My children sleep on soaked bedding at night," she told Al Jazeera. Shereen Abu Nida, 40, also said that she and her four children are coping with hardship due to the terrible living conditions brought on by the war. Worse still, her husband was abducted by Israeli forces about a year ago, leaving her to care for her children alone. "I have had to go through this whole year alone, all by myself," she said, her voice quivering. Musa Ali Muhammad al-Maghribi, 52, added that his family have little hope for the future. He said his nine children are ill and he cannot find medication, nor is there enough food or clean water for his family, an ordeal that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people face. "[Israel] has destroyed us," he told Al Jazeera. "Every day, we just hope to die."
Netanyahu extends the fight
Despite the extreme hardship, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is showing no sign of halting the onslaught. Efforts at mediating some form of ceasefire, which have been continuing throughout much of the conflict, have floundered in the face of what many, including United States President Joe Biden in June, have slammed as political self-interest on the part of the Israeli prime minister. Accusations of exploiting the war on Gaza for personal gain have centred upon Netanyahu's attempts to deflect from his ongoing trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of public trust, which he denies. In addition, the prime minister’s corruption trial suggests that Netanyahu is seeking to prolong the war to distract from accusations of negligence or incompetence during the Hamas-led attack of October 7 2023, which killed 1,139 Israelis. Charges of opportunism have come from both within Netanyahu's right-wing cabinet, as well as the street, where tens of thousands of people continue to rally in support of a deal that would see the captives taken during the Hamas-led attack released.
International impotence
The international community has failed to halt - or mitigate - the carnage in Gaza largely due to the US's unqualified political and military support for Israel's war on the enclave. In addition to the more than $20bn in aid provided to Israel since the war began, the US has torpedoed diplomatic efforts within the UN to end the war, including suppressing recent reports of the potential famine under way in northern Gaza. In January, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to do all it could to prevent any act that could be considered genocide. Despite this, rights organisations based in Palestine and internationally, including Amnesty, have concluded that Israel has actively embarked upon a campaign of genocide within the Strip. Similar international action has also been taken against both the Hamas and Israeli leadership. In November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Mohammed Deif. Israel claims to have killed Deif in July. Netanyahu and Gallant remain wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In October, Israel defied international pressure and voted to ban the UN’s Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), widely acknowledged as one of Gaza's principal lifelines. When the ban comes into effect in late January next year, Gaza will lose its principal aid agency and with it, much of the network that distributes food, medicine and the infrastructure needed to sustain life. In December, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for UNRWA's work to continue and, for the third time, that a ceasefire be immediately reached. Despite this, Israeli strikes on Gaza have continued and the agency's future remains uncertain.
Palestinians in Gaza such as Abu Nida just hope the war will end soon this coming year.
"This has been the worst year of my life," said Abu Nida.
"Nobody in the world has lived through the days that we are living through," she said.>>
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/31/gazas-2024-a-year-of-war-and-misery

And
Surviving 2024 in Gaza

Al Jazeera - Dec 31, 2024 - by Hassan Abo Qamar - Gaza-based writer
<<Surviving 2024 in Gaza
This year, I survived genocide. It burned my soul, but it also planted a seed of hope.
When I was a child, I dreamed of travelling the world, exploring new cultures and learning new things. I yearned for a journey of discovery. Living in Gaza felt like sitting in the stands, watching the world's achievements - its development, progress and technological marvels - unfold from afar without being able to participate. It was both a sanctuary and a cage - its regular rhythm comforting yet repetitive, its streets too familiar, its horizons too narrow for the aspirations I carried within me. I cherished its warmth and closeness, but the pull of life beyond its borders was irresistible. I was ready to leave the moment an opportunity came my way. This year, I did embark on a journey, but not the one that I had dreamed of. Instead of a trip of carefree exploration abroad, I found myself on a journey navigating a genocidal war and a struggle for survival within the narrow strip of Palestinian land I call home. Along the way, I learned a lot - about myself and my inner world. The "journey" began in January. While most people welcomed the new year under skies filled with fireworks, songs and joy, my sky delivered evacuation orders. Crumpled papers fell on us carrying a message written in Arabic: <Nuseirat camp is too dangerous. Move south for your safety.> I never thought leaving home would be that difficult. I had always thought of myself as someone who did not have a strong connection to home or homeland. But I was wrong. Leaving felt like abandoning a part of my soul. My family and I made our way to Rafah to stay with my aunt who gave us a warm welcome. Even though I felt some comfort there, in my mind, all I could think about was my home. So I greeted February, the "month of love", feeling incredibly homesick and realising just how much I loved the house I had grown up in. In mid-February, the Israeli military withdrew from Nuseirat, and we hurried back home. It was one of the best moments of the war - and of my entire life - to find my home still intact. Its front door was broken, our belongings were stolen and rubble from the bombing of our neighbour's home had crashed inside. But it was still standing. Although destruction surrounded us, the rubble of our neighbourhood still felt warmer than any safe place elsewhere in the world would have. For the first time in my life, I - the grandson of refugees - felt I belonged somewhere. My soul, my identity - they all belonged here. The joy of being back home was soon overshadowed by the reality of war. March came and brought in the holy month. For Muslims, Ramadan is a time of spiritual peace, prayer and togetherness. But this year, it was filled with loss, separation and deprivation. There were no shared meals or family gatherings, no mosques to pray in - only their rubble. Instead of tranquillity, we experienced relentless bombardment and terror. The bombs fell without warning, each explosion shattering any sense of safety we may have had. We were being punished, treated as "human animals" - as their defence minister had said - for an unknown crime. In April, Eid al-Fitr came and went, stripped of the joy that defines this cherished Muslim holiday. There was no children's laughter to wake us in the morning, no bustling preparations or decorations to welcome guests. Death was the only visitor in Palestinian homes in Gaza. Then May rolled in and with it an opportunity I had been waiting for my whole life. My family managed to gather enough money to pay an Egyptian company to help me leave Gaza. The process was riddled with uncertainty. There were rumours of scams, bribes and rejections. The thought of escaping the relentless horror around me was intoxicating. I wanted freedom, but it came at a cost. I was to leave my whole family behind and my home with an uncertain prospect of ever coming back. To outsiders, this might seem like a simple choice: follow your dreams, take the chance and leave! But for me, it was anything but easy. One late afternoon, I was sitting with my sister Aya on our rooftop under a sky filled with spy planes when I came to realise the true weight of my decision. Aya, just 15 years old, was full of energy and hope, her light brown eyes shining with ambition. "I want to learn programming like you," she said with excitement. "I want to start my own business like you. I want to improve my English like you." How could I leave her and my family in the midst of war? Did I deserve a better life while Aya stayed behind, struggling to eat, to sleep, to dream? How could I live a life elsewhere, knowing my sister faced nightmares alone? How could I abandon the very land that had made me who I am? In that moment, I realised my soul would never be free if I abandoned Gaza now, if I dismissed it as a place of rubble and ruin. I realised my identity was tied to this place, this struggle. When I first told my family that I wanted to stay, they refused to accept it. They insisted I leave to survive, fearing for my safety. After a long back and forth, they eventually respected my decision, but their fear never fully went away. A few days later, the Israeli army occupied the Rafah crossing, cutting off access to the outside world. I did not regret my decision. As the Israeli army continued to attack civilian areas all over Gaza, displacing hundreds of thousands of people, it was our turn to host relatives. We welcomed them not as displaced people but as our family. It is our duty to share and stand with each other in times of need. By the fall, we were 30 people in our house. Over the summer, we began to feel the growing impact of restrictions not only on humanitarian aid but on all paid goods. Basic food items disappeared from markets. Aid organisations struggled to distribute food. It was increasingly clear that those who survive the bombings would face a different, slower death through starvation. Food rationing became so severe that survival turned into a cruel competition. Life felt more like a jungle where only the strongest could survive.
In the fall, hunger was made worse by the rain and wind. We saw people forced to live in tents overcome by misery. In November, a family tragedy struck. My eight-year-old cousin Ahmad, who was like a little brother to me, fell from the third floor of our building and suffered a brain haemorrhage. The thought of losing him was overwhelming. We rushed him to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which was overcrowded with the wounded from air strikes and lacked the necessary equipment to perform brain scans. We tried to go to two nearby hospitals, only to be told they too could not do anything for him. By nightfall, we managed to find a medical centre that could help him, but it was far away. Sending him in an ambulance after dark was a huge risk - the vehicle could be targeted by a drone like so many had been. It was a choice between two deaths. We decided to hang onto hope and sent Ahmad in the ambulance. Even in the darkest of days, miracles happen. Ahmad arrived safely, underwent the necessary surgery and survived. He began to recover although he still needs physical therapy that he cannot receive in Gaza. As we worried and cared for Ahmad, December came. Soon we heard unexpected news from Syria: The brutal regime there had collapsed. I felt extremely happy. In Gaza, we have stood in solidarity with the Syrian people for a long time. We know the suffering of war and oppression, and we were genuinely happy to see the Syrian people finally free. Their liberation was the first time we witnessed justice prevail, which gave us a sense of hope. It reminded us that one day, we too might experience that kind of relief, in a liberated homeland where we are no longer afraid for our lives. As the year drew to a close, we followed carefully the news about ceasefire talks, but 2024 is now ending without a moment of relief for us Palestinians. This yearlong journey has left its mark on me: streaks of white in my black hair, a frail body, ill-fitting clothes, dark shadows beneath my eyes and a tired gaze that has lost its shine. But it is not just my physical appearance that has changed. This year has burned through my soul like wildfire. But even ashes carry seeds. I feel that something new has emerged within me - a determination to stay behind, to persevere, to change, to withstand all attempts to erase my memories, my identity, my people. The death and destruction have been overwhelming, but they have not managed to bring me down. If anything, I feel a deep desire to live – for many more years - in Gaza, in Palestine. I feel we owe a duty to the martyrs to resist, to stay on this land, to rebuild and to live. The responsibility of restoring our country rests on our shoulders. I am no longer the man I once was, full of dreams of leaving Gaza and living an easy life far away. I will remain in my homeland, and I will continue to hold onto the belief that peace, no matter how fragile, can someday return to Gaza. I will continue to dream of a Palestine where its people can finally be free.
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/2024/12/31/surviving-2024-in-gaza

Women's Liberation Front 2019/cryfreedom.net 2025