Opinion: Why I’m resigning from the State Department Editor’s Note: Annelle Sheline, PhD, served for a year as a foreign affairs officer at the Office of Near Eastern Affairs in the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. The views expressed here are her own. Read more opinion on CNN. CNN — normal Since Hamas’ attack on October 7, Israel has used American bombs in its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 32,000 people — 13,000 of them children — with countless others buried under the rubble, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Israel is credibly accused of starving the 2 million people who remain, according to the UN special rapporteur on the right to food; a group of charity leaders warns that without adequate aid, hundreds of thousands more will soon likely join the dead. Yet Israel is still planning to invade Rafah, where the majority of people in Gaza have fled; UN officials have described the carnage that is expected to ensue as “beyond imagination.” In the West Bank, armed settlers and Israeli soldiers have killed Palestinians, including US citizens. These actions, which experts on genocide have testified meet the crime of genocide, are conducted with the diplomatic and military support of the US government. For the past year, I worked for the office devoted to promoting human rights in the Middle East. I believe strongly in the mission and in the important work of that office. However, as a representative of a government that is directly enabling what the International Court of Justice has said could plausibly be a genocide in Gaza, such work has become almost impossible. Unable to serve an administration that enables such atrocities, I have decided to resign from my position at the Department of State. Whatever credibility the United States had as an advocate for human rights has almost entirely vanished since the war began. Members of civil society have refused to respond to my efforts to contact them. Our office seeks to support journalists in the Middle East; yet when asked by NGOs if the US can help when Palestinian journalists are detained or killed in Gaza, I was disappointed that my government didn’t do more to protect them. Ninety Palestinian journalists in Gaza have been killed in the last five months, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. That is the most recorded in any single conflict since the CPJ started collecting data in 1992. By resigning publicly, I am saddened by the knowledge that I likely foreclose a future at the State Department. I had not initially planned a public resignation. Because my time at State had been so short — I was hired on a two-year contract — I did not think I mattered enough to announce my resignation publicly. However, when I started to tell colleagues of my decision to resign, the response I heard repeatedly was, “Please speak for us.” Related article Opinion: What Biden needs to know about Rafah Across the federal government, employees like me have tried for months to influence policy, both internally and, when that failed, publicly. My colleagues and I watched in horror as this administration delivered thousands of precision-guided munitions, bombs, small arms and other lethal aid to Israel and authorized thousands more, even bypassing Congress to do so. We are appalled by the administration’s flagrant disregard for American laws that prohibit the US from providing assistance to foreign militaries that engage in gross human rights violations or that restrict the delivery of humanitarian aid. The Biden administration’s own policy states, “The legitimacy of and public support for arms transfers among the populations of both the United States and recipient nations depends on the protection of civilians from harm, and the United States distinguishes itself from other potential sources of arms transfers by elevating the importance of protecting civilians.” Yet this noble statement of policy has been directly in contradiction with the actions of the president who promulgated it. President Joe Biden himself indirectly admits that Israel is not protecting Palestinian civilians from harm. Under pressure from some congressional Democrats, the administration issued a new policy to ensure that foreign military transfers don’t violate relevant domestic and international laws. Yet just recently, the State Department ascertained that Israel is in compliance with international law in the conduct of the war and in providing humanitarian assistance. To say this when Israel is preventing the adequate entrance of humanitarian aid and the US is being forced to air drop food to starving Gazans, this finding makes a mockery of the administration’s claims to care about the law or about the fate of innocent Palestinians. Related article Opinion: The crux of Israel’s challenge Some have argued that the US lacks influence over Israel. Yet Retired Israeli Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Brick noted in November that Israel’s missiles, bombs and airplanes all come from the US. “The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting,” he said. “Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.” Even now, Israel is considering invading Lebanon, which brings a heightened risk of regional conflict that would be catastrophic. The US has sought to prevent this outcome but shows no appetite for withholding offensive weapons from Israel in order to compel greater restraint there or in Gaza. Biden’s support for Israel’s far-right government thus risks sparking a wider conflagration in the region, which could well put US troops in harm’s way. So many of my colleagues feel betrayed. I write for myself but speak for many others, including Feds United for Peace, a group mobilizing for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza that represents federal workers in their personal capacities across the country, and across 30 federal agencies and departments. After four years of then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to cripple the department, State employees embraced Biden’s pledge to rebuild American diplomacy. For some, US support for Ukraine against Russia’s illegal occupation and bombardment seemed to reestablish America’s moral leadership. Yet the administration continues to enable Israel’s illegal occupation and destruction of Gaza. I am haunted by the final social media post of Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old US Air Force serviceman who self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington on February 25: “Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.” I can no longer continue what I was doing. I hope that my resignation can contribute to the many efforts to push the administration to withdraw support for Israel’s war, for the sake of the 2 million Palestinians whose lives are at risk and for the sake of America’s moral standing in the world. https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/27/opinions/gaza-israel-resigning-state-department-sheline/index.html

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 171: ‘Horrific’ eyewitness accounts continue to emerge from Israel’s siege on Gaza’s hospitals Leila WarahMarch 25, 2024 Injured Palestinians, including children, are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir El-Balah for treatment following the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, on March 23, 2024. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images) Injured Palestinians, including children, are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir El-Balah for treatment following the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, on March 23, 2024. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images) Casualties 32,333 + killed* and at least 74,694 wounded in the Gaza Strip. 435+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.** Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147. 594 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.*** *Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on its Telegram channel. Some rights groups estimate the death toll to be much higher when accounting for those presumed dead. ** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to the PA’s Ministry of Health on March 17, this is the latest figure. *** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” Key Developments UNRWA: Israel says no more UNRWA food convoys to north Gaza. UNRWA chief: Israeli decision to deny all UNRWA food convoys to northern Gaza is “obstruct[ing] lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine.” Doctors Without Borders “deeply concerned” after medical staff arrested at al-Shifa Hospital amid “heavy air strikes by Israeli forces and fierce fighting” nearby. Tanks crushed bodies, ambulances at al-Shifa Hospital, reports AP News, citing witnesses. Footage emerges of Israeli soldiers assaulting Palestinian boy Casualties in Israeli attack on aid distributors at Kuwaiti roundabout in Gaza City, reports Al Jazeera. Israeli forces raid Al Aqsa mosque during nightly prayers, assault and expel worshipers, reports Al Jazeera journalist. WHO Chief: Israel must reverse decision on blocking north Gaza aid. Israeli war cabinet minister threatens to quit if bill exempting ultra-Orthodox Jews from conscription passes UNRWA: U.S. funding cut will ‘compromise access to food’ in Gaza. UN special rapporteurs decry underreporting of sexual violence against Palestinians. Israel blocks access to Jerusalem for West Bank Christians on Palm Sunday, reports Wafa. PRCS says it has lost radio contact with staff at al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis. Euro-Med: Israel’s attacks on academics in line with Gaza ‘genocide’ WAFA correspondent killed along with son Israeli airstrike on Gaza MAP report: Doctor says conditions inside European Gaza Hospital ‘unimaginable’ Gaza: Three Hospitals under military siege The Israeli military has imposed ongoing sieges on at least three medical facilities in the besieged enclave, terrorizing, injuring, and killing thousands of civilians in the process. Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza has entered its seventh day under siege, and the civilians able to flee are reporting ruthless massacres in and around the medical complex. A teenage Palestinian boy, Farouk Mohammed Hamd, told Al Jazeera he witnessed Israeli soldiers executing a group of eight people, including his father and brother, inside al-Shifa Hospital. He said he and the others were stripped of their clothing and moved several times inside the al-Shifa Hospital building in central Gaza over the course of hours before being taken to the top floor of the facility. “They left us for about three hours, then said, ‘You are safe. You can go south.” “We stood up, but then they opened fire. We all laid down on the floor again. Then, the snipers entertained themselves by shooting us one after the other.” Hamad said his father told him before being killed to run away if he could, and he managed to run, but not before seeing the unresponsive bodies of the executed group. On Sunday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its staff have reported “heavy air strikes by Israeli forces and fierce fighting” in the vicinity of al-Shifa hospital, “endangering patients, medical staff and people trapped inside with very few supplies.” Jameel al-Ayoubi, one of the thousands of Palestinians sheltering at the hospital, saw Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers drive over at least four bodies in the hospital courtyard, AP News reports. Ambulances were also crushed, he says. Kareem Ayman Hathat, who lived in a five-story building about 100 meters (328 feet) from the hospital, told AP he hid in his kitchen for days waiting as explosions shook the building. “From time to time, the tank would fire a shell,” he said. “It was to terrorise us.” MSF added that Israeli forces have carried out a mass-arrest campaign of medical staff and other people and that the organization is “deeply concerned” for the safety of those detained. Meanwhile, another two hospitals in Khan Younis have been under Israeli military siege for the last 24 hours: al-Amal and Nasser hospitals, reports Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud from Gaza. “Military vehicles, tanks and attack drones are encircling these two facilities. They’re also blocking the entrance with piles of sand, preventing medical staff, patients and injured people inside from leaving safely and constantly failing to provide a safe corridor for people and evacuees trapped inside the hospital,” Mahmoud said. Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) gave their latest update on the situation in al Amal hospital on Sunday afternoon, saying Israeli tanks and armored vehicles have completely surrounded all entrances to the hospital and control any movement in and out. Israeli forces attacked the hospital earlier on Sunday, surrounding it with tanks and forcing nearly everyone inside, from patients to displaced Palestinians sheltering there, to evacuate. “What we’re getting confirmed from al-Amal Hospital is that not only has it been under constant bombing and tank shells, but loudspeakers are ordering people inside the hospital to come out only with their underwear on. And that has been confirmed by multiple sources and witnesses on the ground, those who managed to flee the harrowing situation,” Mahmoud added. On Sunday evening, the PRCS announced that they lost radio contact with their staff at the hospital. While all displaced Palestinians and patients who could move independently were evacuated towards the al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, hospital staff remain, along with nine patients and their ten companions and a displaced family with children who have disabilities. PCRS says all of them need to be safely evacuated. PRCS added that staff member Amir Abu Aisha and a wounded individual who was being treated at the hospital after being shot in the head by the Israeli military were both killed, and their bodies need to be removed. In a statement, Hamas said the Israeli military is systematically targeting hospitals across Gaza with the goal of displacing all Palestinians from their lands, showing Israel wants to continue its “war of extermination” against Palestinians and forcibly displace them from their land “by destroying all means of life in the Gaza Strip, especially hospitals,” reported Al Jazeera. Underreporting of sexual violence against Palestinians Witnesses at al-Shifa hospital have reported that “Palestinian women have been subjected to rape, torture, and execution by Israeli forces.” Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said in a post on X that it is “abhorrent” that reports of rape by Israeli forces keep coming out without any consequences. “Rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide! It must stop!” Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, similarly said, “I lost count of how many renowned journalists interviewed me on the alleged mistreatment of/sexual abuse against Palestinian women by Israeli forces, and never published any article on this.” “What we can see on the ground is a systematic creation of a corrosive environment in which Israel, with its destruction of neighborhoods and hospitals, is making Gaza unliveable for the majority of Palestinians,” said Al Jazeera co-respondent, Tareq Abu Azzoum from Gaza while reporting on the besieged hospitals. “Horrific scenes” at European Hospital Meanwhile, at Gaza’s European Hospital near Khan Younis, one of the last functioning medical facilities, medical staff report “horrific scenes” at the hospital with patients “dying from infections with evidence of serious malnutrition,” reported Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). Husam Basheer, an orthopedic surgeon working at the hospital, says he and his staff are “managing with the bare minimum of resources” at the medical facility due to Israeli restrictions on medical aid entering the besieged enclave. “One day we wanted to do a plate and screw, which is a standard procedure for bone fixation, but we didn’t have the right equipment. Sometimes we’ve also lacked gauze which is a basic supply for surgery. We worked around the challenges we faced and managed in a different way, but the staff here are overwhelmed,” he said. Similarly, Konstantina Ilia Karydi, an anesthetist, described the situation inside the medical facility as “unimaginable.” “This hospital had an original capacity of just 200 beds. Now, it has expanded to 1,000 beds,” she said. “There are around 22,000 displaced people sheltering in the corridors and in tents inside the hospital because people feel that it’s safer to be here than anywhere else.” Israel bars UNRWA from northern Gaza The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Sunday that Israel has officially barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest. “This is outrageous [and] makes it intentional to obstruct lifesaving assistance during a man-made famine. These restrictions must be lifted,” the head of the UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, wrote in an X post. Famine is likely to occur by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the enclave by July, according to the world’s hunger watchdog, Integrated Food-Security Phase Classification (IPC), said last week. Lazzarini warned that Israel’s decision would speed up the coming of famine in the north of the Strip and said that “many more will die of hunger, dehydration.” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), says Israel must “urgently reverse” its decision to block the entry of food convoys organized by UNRWA into northern Gaza, where humanitarian needs are most urgent. “The levels of hunger are acute. All efforts to deliver food should not only be permitted but there should be an immediate acceleration of food deliveries,” Ghebreyesus said in a post on X. Martin Griffiths, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator at the UN, says he repeatedly urged Israel to lift all its restrictions on aid to Gaza. Still, it has now done the exact opposite. “UNRWA is the beating heart of the humanitarian response in Gaza,” Griffiths said on X , “The decision to block its food convoys to the north only pushes thousands closer to famine. It must be revoked.” No other agency is able to provide lifesaving assistance in Gaza in the same way as UNRWA, Natalie Boucly, the deputy commissioner-general of the UN agency, has said on X. Boucly added that attempts to “isolate” UNRWA will result in more people dying, “UNRWA is part of the UN and it was given a specific mandate by the General Assembly.” In January, several countries cut funding to UNRWA following unverified Israeli allegations that less than a dozen employees participated in Hamas’s operation on October 7. While some countries, including Canada and Sweden, have since reinstated their funding, several countries, including the US, have yet to follow suit, which will have severe implications for Palestinians in Gaza and the region. Israel is using famine as a “weapon of war” in Gaza to put pressure on the Palestinian people to leave the besieged enclave, Adel Abdel Ghafar, an analyst at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera. “In Gaza, the humanitarian community is racing against the clock to avert famine. As the backbone of the humanitarian response, any gap in funding to UNRWA will compromise access to food, shelter, primary health care & education at a time of deep trauma,” the organization’s chief, Lazzarini, wrote on X. “Palestine Refugees are counting on the international community to step up support to meet their basic needs.” Israel is using famine as a “weapon of war” in Gaza to put pressure on the Palestinian people to leave the besieged enclave, Adel Abdel Ghafar, an analyst at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera. The “dream” of many far-right politicians in Israel is to make Gaza “uninhabitable” for Palestinians, with the goal of re-establishing settlements for the Israelis, Ghafar continued. “The destruction of schools, hospitals, infrastructure [is making Gaza] almost unlivable and it will force the international community to take further refugees and thin out the population of Gaza,” he said. “I think Israel wants to have a big chunk of the population leave and become refugees elsewhere.” UN Resolution for ceasefire On Monday, the UN Security Council is expected to vote on yet another resolution regarding Israel’s war on Gaza. Since October seven, only two of eight resolutions have been accepted, with both mainly dealing with humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave. Guterres says the most recent UN Security Council resolution does not link a ceasefire in Gaza to the release of Israeli captives, reported Al Jazeera. In the resolution, “a ceasefire is required together with, but not in a linkage with, the unconditional release of all hostages,” he said. “And we have also claimed the need for that release.” Diplomats told the AFP news agency that the resolution had been worked on with the U.S. to avoid a veto, reported France 24. The U.S. has vetoed three resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. “We expect, barring a last-minute twist, that the resolution will be adopted and that the US will not vote against it,” one diplomat told AFP. Last Friday, the Security Council voted on a draft submitted by the U.S. that called for an “immediate” ceasefire linked to the release of captives. China and Russia vetoed the resolution, criticizing it for stopping short of explicitly demanding Israel halt its campaign. No progress on negotiations. Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas have continued negotiations mediated by Qatar with little progress. Hamas’s political bureau official Basem Naim says a lot of “misinformation” has recently been circulated through the media regarding the ongoing truce talks in Doha, reported Al Jazeera. Naim said the Israelis are focusing on only one aspect of the negotiations, the release of captives, and are unwilling to discuss Hamas’s three demands – a permanent end to the war, “total withdrawal” from Gaza, and the return of displaced people to their homes. Hamas had proposed the release of some 100 Israeli captives in phases in exchange for a permanent end to the war, total withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the return of displaced people to their homes; however, according to Al Jazeera, Israel rejected the demand to end the war and withdraw troops from Gaza. Al Jazeera added that Israeli negotiators said they would allow only 2,000 Palestinians to return to their homes each day, meaning it would take more than two years for all displaced Palestinians to leave Rafah. Meanwhile, Israel wants all Israeli captives released immediately. Hamas has indicated it will only release women and children in the first phase. As negotiations continue, Yossi Amrosi, an ex-senior official of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as admitting that the Israeli army does not have the means to return all captives currently held in Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian groups. Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said at the start of the war that it had taken 250 captives during its October 7 incursion into Israel. According to the Qassam Brigades, 50 captives have been killed in Israeli air raids. Israeli intelligence officers say 30 captives have died in Gaza so far since they were taken to the enclave. https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-171-horrific-eyewitness-accounts-continue-to-emerge-from-israels-siege-on-gazas-hospitals/

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 166: Israel kills Gaza officials handling food delivery to the north; Canada votes to halt arms sales to Israel Mustafa Abu SneinehMarch 20, 2024 Palestinians embrace in a bombed out building that was attacked by Israeli airstrikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing 27 members of the same family (Photo: APA Images) A view from the damaged buildings after Israeli airstrikes on Nuseirat in central Gaza killed 27 members of the same family on March 20, 2024. As a result of the attack, many buildings were destroyed and surrounding buildings were damaged. Palestinians in the area carried out search and rescue operations in the rubble of buildings destroyed in the attack. (Omar Ashtawy/apaimages) Casualties 31,923 + killed* and at least 74,096 wounded in the Gaza Strip. 435+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.** Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147. 594 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.*** *Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number at more than 40,000 when accounting for those presumed dead. ** The death toll in West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to PA’s Ministry of Health on March 17, this is the latest figure. *** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” Advertisement Follow the Mondoweiss channel on WhatsApp! Key Developments Israel bombs members of Palestinian clans and officers of Gaza’s emergency committee who handled aid supplies and delivery in north Gaza. Among people Israel killed on Tuesday evening is Amjad Hathat, director of Gaza’s emergency committee. On Monday, Israel assassinated Faiq Mabhouh, head of police operations in Gaza, who handled delivery of food in north Gaza. Hamas accuses Israel of spreading chaos in north Gaza in bid to create “administrative vacuum” by targeting members of emergency committee. In north Gaza, every 25 individuals share one kilogram of flour, or 20 loaves of bread, over one or two days. However, thousands of others cannot get a single loaf. Doctor who visited Gaza tells UN that “infections are getting worse and worse,” with whole families suffering from explosive injuries and burns. Israeli airstrikes on houses in Nuseirat refugee camp kill at least 27 Palestinians from the Habbash family. Israel’s Finance Minister says expanding settlements is “holistic Zionist response to [EU] declaration” of planned sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Israeli forces and settlers kill two Palestinians in the West Bank in separate incidents. Canada to halt arms sales to Israel after non-binding vote in parliament. Agreement made between White House and U.S. Congress bars U.S. funds to UNRWA until March 2025, according to a Reuters report. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says, “We will reiterate our opposition to military action on the ground by Israel in Rafah that could have even more catastrophic consequences for the civilians crowded in that area.” Israel bombs north Gaza’s Kuwait roundabout, targeting authorities tasked with aid delivery Israeli forces bombed a gathering point of dozens of Palestinians near the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City, killing at least 23 people and injuring dozens on Tuesday evening. Most of them were members of Palestinian clans and officers of Gaza’s emergency committee who handled aid supplies and deliveries to starving people in north Gaza. Since Saturday, they had successfully ensured the arrival of 35 aid trucks at the Kuwait and Nabulsi roundabouts, unloading the deliveries in shelters and centers of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza’s Al-Tuffah neighborhood and Jabalia refugee camp. Such a mission could not have been successful without Gaza Police directing Palestinians not to gather around aid trucks on Al-Rashid and Sala El-Din streets in north Gaza and allowing the emergency committee to do its job of unloading and distributing food. The missions between local police, the heads of clans in Gaza, and UNRWA were coordinated in an effort to protect civilians in the north after numerous attacks in recent weeks in which Israeli forces shot and killed hundreds of Palestinians as crowds attempted to get food and flour from trucks in Gaza since late February; a number of the dead were also reportedly killed in the crowd crush. In the past few days, Palestinians lined up to get their rations of flour inside the premises of the humanitarian centers in Jabalia and Gaza. Among the people Israel killed on Tuesday evening is Amjad Hathat, the director of Gaza’s emergency committee. Hamas says Israel is ‘spreading chaos’ in north Gaza In response to the targeting of the local officials in north Gaza, Hamas accused Israel of “spreading chaos” in a bid to create an “administrative vacuum” by targeting the emergency committee. Ismail Al-Thawabteh, a media government spokesperson, told Al-Jazeera Arabic that Israel allows aid trucks to enter north Gaza and then bombs people approaching it. On Monday evening, Israel assassinated Faiq Al-Mabhouh, the head of police operations in Gaza, who handled the entry of food trucks and managed to deliver 13 of them to north Gaza. Israel said Mabhouh was “the head of Operations Directorate of the Internal Security Service of Hamas.” Tel Aviv is trying to create an authority in the Gaza Strip in place of Hamas, and it views the successful coordination between local clans, Gaza Police and UN agencies to deliver aid as a sign of Hamas’s ability to administer in Gaza. Israel is still trying to use food and medical deliveries as a tool to strengthen and push some clan leaders to the front seat and put them in charge of handling the aid, coordinating with Israel and the international agencies. However, several Palestinian clans in the Gaza Strip refused to be “an alternative political regime” in the Gaza Strip and coordinate humanitarian missions with Israel. One kilogram of flour for every 25 people Although dozens of aid trucks reached north Gaza in the past days, where thousands of Palestinians are at risk of famine and starvation, the loads remain short to meet people’s needs. Al-Akhbar reported that a flour truck arrived at Abu Bakr al-Razi shelter center in Gaza’s Al-Tuffah neighborhood on Monday, where 8,000 people currently live, and contained 1,000 bags of flour, each weighing 25 kilograms. “We give each family what is sufficient for one or two days only. We have no other choice,” a member of the emergency committee told Al-Akhbar’s correspondent. “Every 25 individuals share one kilogram of flour. Knowing that a kilogram is enough to make 20 loaves, it means that a large number of people… won’t get even a single loaf of bread,” in Gaza, he added. Children in Gaza face grave injuries, malnutrition as hospitals struggle to operate A few trucks were also loaded with medical supplies and delivered to the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia, to Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in north Gaza, which are depleted and partially operating. Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are still short of fuel, medicine and medical machines, while other hospitals like Al-Shifa in Gaza City have been under Israeli attack since Sunday. The World Health Organization (WHO) has long warned that Israel is generating a famine in north Gaza, and that “over a million people are expected to face catastrophic hunger unless significantly more food is allowed to enter Gaza.” Children have already started dying of malnutrition in Gaza, which has long-term effects, such as “low consumption of nutrient-rich foods, repeated infections, and [the] lack of hygiene and sanitation services slow children’s overall growth,” the WHO added. Israel has killed more than 13,000 children in bombing Gaza since October 7, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Four doctors from France, the U.S. and the U.K., who visited the Gaza Strip, said during a UN event in New York that the healthcare system in the enclave is collapsing and that they treated children severely burned by Israel’s bombs. Nick Maynard, a cancer surgeon with British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, saw a Palestinian girl so badly burned in an Israeli bombardment that he could see her facial bones. “We knew there was no chance of her surviving that but there was no morphine to give her,” Maynard said. “So not only was she inevitably going to die but she would die in agony.” Maynar said that an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah “will be apocalyptic, the number of deaths we’re going to see.” Amber Alayyan, a pediatrician doctor, said hospitals in Gaza are operating on patients and the injured amid lack of supplies and in dire conditions. “The infections are getting worse and worse,” she said. “We have seen patients who traveled, who were victims of explosive injuries, a family of 11, for example, a whole family that arrived at our hospital in the south from the north,” Alayyan told the UN. “They’ve been moving for three months looking for hospital care. They were victims of explosions. Eleven members of the family were burnt,” she added. Israeli attack on Nuseirat refugee camp kills 27 family members In the past 24 hours, Israeli forces committed 10 massacres in various areas of the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health on Telegram, killing at least 104 people and injuring 162. Thousands remain under the rubble of bombed buildings, and nearly 32,000 Palestinians were killed and 74,000 injured. Israeli air strikes on houses in Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, killed at least 27 Palestinians from the Habbash family and injured dozens, Wafa news agency reported. In north Gaza, Israel bombed Al-Rimal and Al-Daraj neighborhoods. Palestinian rescue team recovered the bodies of 20 people in Gaza City following an Israeli bombardment. In Beit Lahia and Deir Al-Balah, Israeli artillery bombed several areas, while in Bureij refugee camp, six Palestinians were recovered from under the rubble of a bombed house. Italian PM opposes Rafah Invasion, Canada votes to stop arms transfers to Israel The Israeli government has vowed to press on with its planned invasion of the crowded city of Rafah in southern Gaza, despite warnings from international leaders and humanitarian groups. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has joined the chorus, saying that her country opposes the planned offensive. “We will reiterate our opposition to military action on the ground by Israel in Rafah that could have even more catastrophic consequences for the civilians crowded in that area,” Meloni told lawmakers in the Senate. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said during a meeting with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi this week, that she is “concerned about the risks a full-scale offensive in Rafah would have on the most vulnerable civilian population. This needs to be avoided at all costs.” An Israeli invasion of Rafah, the southernmost town in the Gaza Strip where 1.2 million Palestinians are sheltering, could spike tensions with Egypt which watches the western side of the border. Some Israeli officials and ministers said their wish is to evacuate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt. However, Egypt is closing its borders firmly, and is not allowing mass flux of Palestinians to its territories. Meanwhile, Canada’s House of Commons voted on Tuesday to halt arms sales to Israel, with Canadian foreign affairs minister, Mélanie Joly, reaffirming the vote, saying her government would halt future arms shipments to Israel, saying “it is a real thing.” Smotrich calls settlements ‘holistic’ response to sanctions Israel’s Finance Minister and far-right settler Bezalel Smotrich, suggested that expanding settlement was the “holistic” response to an agreement by the EU on Monday to sanction Israeli settlers, who assaulted Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. “There is one holistic Zionist response to this [EU] declaration, strengthening and entrenching settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel,” Smotrich said on Tuesday. He claimed that the Israeli justice system could deal with incidents of settlers’ violence on Palestinians. Israeli authorities systematically fail to investigate and prosecute ideological crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and are often documented joining the settlers in their attacks on Palestinian communities. The far-right minister is a vocal opponent of the establishment of Palestinian state, and is a supporter of annexing the West Bank into Israel. In January, he said Israel should “encourage the migration of Gaza residents as a solution to the humanitarian crisis”. The U.S. has recently sanctioned several Israeli settlers involved in attacks against Palestinians, including two entire outposts for the first time. Israeli forces and settlers kill two Palestinians in West Bank Two Palestinian were killed in separate incidents in the West Bank on Tuesday afternoon. Ziad Farhan Diab Hamran, 31, from the Al-Hashimiyah village in Jenin, was shot by Israeli forces near the entrance of Beit Fajjar village and the settlement of Gush Etzion, near Bethlehem. His body remains in Israel’s custody. Israel said that Hamran shot two intelligence officers from the Shin Bet, who were injured in the attack. Hamran succumbed to his wounds on Tuesday evening. In Nablus, Israeli settlers killed Fakher Bassem Bani Jaber, 43, from Aqraba village, south of Nablus. Wafa reported that Jaber was taken to Rafidiya Hospital where he died. Settlers attacked Khirbet al-Tawil area, near Aqraba village, which prompted Palestinians to defend their lands.In occupied Jerusalem, only 20,000 Palestinians performed Ramadan’s Al-Tarawih prayer on the tenth night as Israeli authorities kept restricting the numbers of Palestinians who could enter Jerusalem from the West Bank. It was also rainy and cold in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, Wafa reported. BEFORE YOU GO – At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever. Our traffic has increased ten times since October 7, and we need your help to cover our increased expenses. Support our journalists with a donation today. https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-166-israel-kills-gaza-officials-handling-food-delivery-to-the-north-canada-votes-to-halt-arms-sales-to-israel/ 👉https://telegra.ph/Operation-Al-Aqsa-Flood-Day-166-Israel-kills-Gaza-officials-handling-food-delivery-to-the-north-Canada-votes-to-halt-arms-sales--03-20

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 165: Israeli attacks escalate on Rafah, al-Shifa Hospital invasion enters second day Mustafa Abu SneinehMarch 19, 2024 A Palestinian man inspects a destroyed building following an Israeli air attack on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, March 19 2024. (Photo: © Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa via ZUMA Press APA Images) A Palestinian man inspects a destroyed building following an Israeli air attack on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, March 19 2024. (Photo: © Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa via ZUMA Press APA Images) Casualties 31,819 + killed* and at least 73,934 wounded in the Gaza Strip. 435+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.** Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147. 594 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.*** *Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number at more than 40,000 when accounting for those presumed dead. ** The death toll in West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to PA’s Ministry of Health on March 17, this is the latest figure. *** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” Key Developments Palestinian Authority warns that Israel started offensive on Rafah without official announcement to avoid international pressure. Majed Al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, says Israeli attack on Rafah will negatively affect the ceasefire talks in Doha. Ansari says “it is still too early to talk about any breakthrough in the negotiations” between Israel and Hamas, but mediators remain “optimistic.” All communication with Palestinian medical staff trapped inside al-Shifa Hospital went silent on Monday evening Israel arrests Al-Jazeera correspondent Ismail Al-Ghoul in al-Shifa Hospital. He says Israeli forces detained them for 12 hours, destroyed media tent, and seized smartphones, cameras, and laptops from journalists. WHO chief says, “hospitals should never be battlegrounds. We are terribly worried about the situation at al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, which is endangering health workers, patients, and civilians.” Israel bombs several houses on Al-Jalaa Street in north Gaza, close to al-Shifa Hospital, killing and injuring several Palestinians and causing immense damage. Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA chief, was barred entry by Israel to Rafah, while Tel Aviv says he did not follow “proper procedure.” Lazzarini says his visit “was supposed to coordinate and improve the humanitarian response. This man-made starvation under our watch is a stain on our collective humanity.” Israeli settlers vandalize UNRWA’s headquarters in occupied Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and affix posters on main gate calling for its closure. In Jerusalem, only 25,000 Palestinians were allowed by Israeli forces to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Ramadan’s prayer on the ninth night. Ahmed Al-Tibi, Palestinian Knesset member, warns that the life of national figure and Fatah leader Marwan Al-Barghouti is at risk inside Israeli prison. PA warns that “Israel began to destroy Rafah” The Palestinian Authority (PA) warned that Israel has started an offensive on Rafah without an official announcement to avoid international pressure. Overnight, Israel heavily bombed Rafah, killing at least 14 Palestinians in the area where more than one million people are displaced, the majority of them living in tents. “Israel began to destroy Rafah on a daily basis and in a systematic manner through repeated attacks on homes, bombing them, and killing and wounding dozens of civilians,” the PA’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday. It added that to avoid condemnation and international pressure to halt such attacks, “Israel… did not wait for permission from anyone, and did not announce” the operation publicly. The escalation of Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling in Rafah comes as the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting the region where talks between Israel and Hamas continue in Qatar, but has not seen any breakthrough to reach a ceasefire and hostages’ exchange deal. Israel has bombed several areas in Rafah overnight, targeting mainly Palestinian homes and residential blocks, according to Wafa, including the neighborhoods of Musabah, Khirbet Al-Adas, and Al-Jeneina. On Tuesday, Majed Al-Ansari, the spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, said that an attack on Rafah would negatively affect the ceasefire talks in Doha. “Any attack on Rafah will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe and will negatively affect the progress of the talks,” he said. Ansari added that mediators are working on a temporary ceasefire deal to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. “It is still too early to talk about any breakthrough in the negotiations, but we are optimistic about that,” he said, according to Al-Jazeera Arabic. Displaced Palestinians fleeing from the vicinity of Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital arrive at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 18, 2024. (Photo: Naaman Omar/APA Images) Displaced Palestinians fleeing from the vicinity of Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital arrive at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 18, 2024. (Photo: Naaman Omar/APA Images) Al-Shifa Hospital under Israeli control for second day In north Gaza, Israel forces storming of the al-Shifa Hospital has been ongoing since late on Sunday. All communication with medical staff trapped inside the hospital went silent on Monday evening. This is the second time Israeli forces stormed the al-Shifa Hospital since October, this time claiming that there were Hamas figures inside it, but has yet to provide evidence. A fire broke out in the al-Shifa’s specialized surgery building after the Israeli assault began. Around 25,000 Palestinians were sheltering in the medical complex, and Israel arrested 90 Palestinians, including journalists from inside al-Shifa. Among them was Al-Jazeera’s correspondent in north Gaza, Ismail al-Ghoul, who was released after 12 hours of detention. Al-Ghoul later said that Israeli forces destroyed the media tent inside the al-Shifa Hospital and seized smartphones, cameras, and laptops from journalists who were arrested and stripped of their clothes. “The [Israeli] occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us and interrogated all the journalists present in the place,” he told Al-Jazeera Arabic in a phone call on Monday. Al-Ghoul is one of the few journalists who report from north Gaza to a mainstream TV channel. He recently reported Israeli forces killing hundreds of Palestinians who gathered to get flour, aid and food near the Al-Nabulsi roundabout and Al-Rashid Street in Gaza City. “Hospitals should never be battlegrounds” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the chief of World Health Organization (WHO), said that “hospitals should never be battlegrounds. We are terribly worried about the situation at al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, which is endangering health workers, patients, and civilians.” Ghebreyesus added that the al-Shifa Hospital is partially operating. In November, Israeli forces stormed the complex following days of siege, claiming that Hamas hosted a “command center” underneath the facility and has yet to present a proof. Israel also bombed several houses on Al-Jalaa Street in north Gaza, which is close to the al-Shifa Hospital, killing and injuring several Palestinians and causing immense damage to the area. Some Palestinians were walking on Al-Jalaa Street at the time of the air raids, others came back from getting flour to find their apartments bombed while their families were inside. In the past 24 hours, Israeli forces committed several massacres in various areas of the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health on Telegram, killing at least 93 people and injuring 142. Thousands remain under the rubble of bombed buildings. Israeli bombing killed 16 Palestinians in north Gaza overnight. At least 15 people were killed in an Israeli air raid on a house of the Muqbel family in central Gaza City. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that 14 members have been killed since the Israeli aggression started on Gaza in October. In north Gaza, Israel bombed the house of the Al-Banna family in Jabalia, killing at least eight people, Wafa reported. Hundreds of Palestinians saw their tents sink or blown away as a result of strong wind and torrential rain in Deir al-Balah, Rafah, and the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis overnight, Wafa reported. Israel denies entry for UNRWA chief to Rafah Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), was barred entry to Rafah by Israel, as Tel Aviv claimed he did not follow “proper procedure.” Last month, Lazzarini accused Israel of aiming to destroy UNRWA and defended the organization’s relentless work in offering humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. “I intended to go to Rafah today, but I have been informed an hour ago that my entry into Rafah is declined,” Lazzarini said during a press conference in Cairo on Monday alongside the Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry. Shoukry said that Lazzarini was barred by Israel. “You were declined by the Israeli government, refused the entry, which is an unprecedented move for a representative at this high position,” he said. Although the Rafah crossing is an entry point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, Israel is in charge of who can enter or leave the enclave, according to the Israeli-Egyptian agreement. Lazzarini also accused Israel of creating a man-made famine in Gaza and said that UNRWA was “engaged in a race against the clock to try to reverse the impact of the spreading hunger and the looming famine in the Gaza Strip.” He added that his visit “was supposed to coordinate and improve the humanitarian response. This man-made starvation under our watch is a stain on our collective humanity.” “Too much time was wasted, all land crossings must open now. Famine can be averted with political will,” Lazzarini said. Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine, wrote on X platform that “Israel wants no witnesses, no truth-tellers”, in a comment on Lazzarini’s entry denial. On Monday, Israeli settlers vandalized the headquarters of UNRWA in occupied Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. They have affixed posters on the main gate calling for the shutdown of UNRWA agency, which also provides humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Jerusalem’s refugee camps, and operate in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Muslims who managed to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque are seen performing tarawih and night prayers during holy month of Ramadan in Jerusalem on March 17, 2024. (Photo: Department of Islamic Awqaf in Jerusalem/APA Images) Muslims who managed to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque are seen performing tarawih and night prayers during holy month of Ramadan in Jerusalem on March 17, 2024. (Photo: Department of Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem/APA Images) Israeli settlers attack Deir Istiya village Overnight, Israeli forces arrested several Palestinians from the occupied West Bank towns of Hebron, Jenin, Qalqilya, Nablus, and the Balata refugee camp. In Jerusalem, only 25,000 Palestinians were allowed by Israeli forces to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Ramadan’s Al-Tarawih prayer on the ninth night. This is a sharp drop from the 60,000 Palestinians who performed Al-Tarawih on Saturday night. Israeli authorities are still limiting the number of Palestinians from the West Bank to enter Jerusalem. Last week, Israeli forces set up at least 30 makeshift checkpoints on the outskirts of the Old City, at the city’s gates and the entrances of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Since October, Israel has issued 100 deportation orders against Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and Palestinian citizens of Israel, barring 55 of them from entry to Jerusalem and 45 to Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to Wadi Hilweh Human Rights Information Center. Wadi Hilweh added that this has become a routine policy “to deprive Palestinians of their right to worship and visit Al-Aqsa,” especially around religious occasions such as Ramadan. In the north of the West Bank, Israeli settlers attacked Deir Istiya village near Salfit, stole contents from an agricultural room owned by Youssef Salman, and destroyed the solar panels, Wafa reported. Marwan Al-Barghouti’s life is in danger inside Israeli prison Ahmed Al-Tibi, the Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, warned that the life of Marwan Al-Barghouti is at risk inside Israeli prison. Barghouti, a popular national figure and Fatah leader was put in solitary confinement in Megiddo prison. Since October, he has moved between several detention centers, including Ofer, Ramla, and Rimonim. “Marwan Al-Barghouti’s life is in danger inside the prison due to the assault on him and other detainees. I hold Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for any harm caused to him, his life, or the lives of the prisoners,” Al-Tibi said in a video post on the X platform. He added that Barghouti was assaulted and bled as a result, and warned that since October, 13 Palestinians died inside Israeli jail, “some of them were found murdered, according to families and judges, due to violence and torture.” Barghouti is seen by Palestinians as a national figure who could bridge the schism between Fatah and Hamas and lead a future Palestinian state. Hamas insisted that Barghouti will be among the prisoners that will be released in any exchange deal with Israel. Last month, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the National Security Minister, said that he ordered the transfer of Barghouti to solitary confinement in prison “following information about a planned uprising” in the occupied West Bank. https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-165-israeli-attacks-escalate-on-rafah-al-shifa-hospital-invasion-enters-second-day/ https://telegra.ph/Operation-Al-Aqsa-Flood-Day-165-Israeli-attacks-escalate-on-Rafah-al-Shifa-Hospital-invasion-enters-second-day-03-20

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 164: Israeli army storms al-Shifa again, aid reaches Jabalia for first time in months Leila WarahMarch 19, 2024 Palestinians gather in front of UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) building to receive flour in Jabalia, Gaza City, March 17, 2024. (Photo: Ashraf Amra/APA Images) Palestinians gather in front of UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) building to receive flour in Jabalia, Gaza City, March 17, 2024. (Photo: Ashraf Amra/APA Images) Casualties 31,726 + killed* and at least 73,792 wounded in the Gaza Strip. 435+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.** Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147. 591 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.*** *Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on its Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 40,000 when accounting for those presumed dead. ** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to the PA’s Ministry of Health on March 17, this is the latest figure. *** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” Key Developments Gaza Health Ministry: Israeli military storms al-Shifa Hospital for the fourth time, killing and wounding a number of people. 30,000 people in al-Shifa Hospital ordered to evacuate to Khan Younis. Palestinian Prisoners Society: Thirteenth Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli custody since October 7. UK charity Oxfam accuses Israel of “actively hindering” aid operations in Gaza. PRCS provides mental support groups for traumatized Palestinian children, medics. IPC: 1.1 million people, about half of Gaza, face “imminent” famine. Nineteen aid trucks arrive in Jabalia without being blocked or fired on by Israeli forces in months. UNICEF chief Catherine Russell: Airdrops and maritime deliveries are “a drop in a bucket” compared to the scale of humanitarian need. UNICEF: one in three babies under the age of two in northern Gaza suffers from acute malnutrition. Gaza Health Ministry: Israeli attacks killed 81 Palestinians and wounded 116 in Gaza during the last 24 hours. Biden reportedly shouts and swears upon learning Michigan and Georgia poll numbers dropped over handling of Gaza war, according to NBC News. Israeli army storms al-Shifa’ hospital…again In the early hours of Monday morning, Israeli forces stormed al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza with tanks and heavy gunfire. There have already been a “number of martyrs and wounded” in the ongoing Israeli onslaught, which began around 2:00 a.m. Gaza’s Ministry of Health said about 30,000 people, including displaced civilians, wounded patients, and medical staff, are trapped inside the complex. Sniper bullets and quadcopters target anyone who tries to move. A fire also broke out at the entrance to the hospital, and cases of suffocation occurred among the displaced women and children inside. Less than two hours after the attack began, the Israeli military announced that it was conducting a “precise operation” in the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, claiming that Hamas was using the medical facility to “conduct and promote terrorist activity.” “We know that senior Hamas terrorists have regrouped inside the [al-Shifa] Hospital and are using it to command attacks against Israel,” Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a video posted on X. The Israeli military used similar unverified claims to justify three prior attacks on the medical complex, killing dozens of Palestinians. Hagari added in his English video statement that the Israeli military would be conducting a “humanitarian effort” during the planned assault, providing food and water. At the same time, he emphasized that there is “no obligation” for patients and medical staff to evacuate the hospital. However, in Arabic, Israeli military’s spokesman Avichay Adraee called on Palestinians to evacuate the hospital and its surrounding area on X: “In order to maintain your security, you must immediately evacuate the area to the west and then cross Al-Rashid (Al-Bahr) Street to the south to the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi.” Al-Mawasi, a “humanitarian zone” in western Khan Younis, is a severely overcrowded strip of land in the west of the Gaza Strip, serving as one of Gaza’s few designated safe areas despite being subjected to Israeli fire. According to Gaza-based Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud, “leaflets dropped by the Israeli military told people inside al-Shifa Hospital, its vicinity and the entire residential blocks surrounding the medical complex to evacuate immediately.” “People are caught up between whether to leave and trust the statement or stay where they are. We are talking about thousands of Palestinians who have been sheltering inside the complex since the start of the war,” Mahmoud continued. “In early December, the Israeli military made a list of allegations and stormed al-Shifa Hospital, destroyed the vast majority of its property, and severely damaged major buildings and medical equipment inside the hospital. About 250 people were arrested from inside the hospital,” Mahmoud said. The Times of Israel, citing the Israeli military, reports that the army has taken control of al-Shifa Hospital and detained 80 people since the most recent attack began. “The crimes of the [Israeli] occupation will not create any image of victory for Netanyahu and his Nazi army,” Hamas said, as cited by Al Jazeera. “The crimes of the occupation express confusion and loss of hope of achieving a military achievement.” In a joint statement, Palestinian factions said targeting hospitals “is a continuation of the war of extermination waged by the occupation against the Palestinian people and a flagrant violation of all international conventions and laws,” reported Al Jazeera. Gaza’s Health Ministry has described the assault as a “massacre against the sick, the wounded, the displaced,” and has called on all international institutions to immediately stop the invasion. “What the occupation forces are doing is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” the Ministry continued. “The Israeli occupation is still using its fabricated narratives to deceive the world and justify the storming of the al-Shifa Medical Complex.” ‘Babies don’t even have the energy to cry’ Meanwhile, Palestinians in the besieged enclave are still being starved by Israel’s ongoing blockade, especially those living in the north, where Israeli forces have repeatedly blocked the entry of aid. In a new report, UK charity Oxfam has accused Israel of “actively hindering” aid operations in Gaza, defying orders by the International Court of Justice to prevent genocide in the besieged Palestinian enclave. Oxfam outlined seven ways Israel prevents the delivery of aid, including by only opening two crossings into Gaza, imposing a dysfunctional inspection system that keeps supplies help up, and cracking down on humanitarian missions. “The ICJ order should have shocked Israeli leaders to change course, but since then, conditions in Gaza have actually worsened,” said Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East and North Africa Director. One in three babies under the age of two in northern Gaza is suffering from acute malnutrition, according to UNICEF. Catherine Russell, the executive director of the UN’s children’s agency, says acute malnutrition is when “the body starts to consume itself as it has nothing else, and it’s a painful, painful death for children. I have been in wards where babies are suffering from malnutrition. The whole ward is absolutely quiet because the babies don’t even have the energy to cry.” “If we can get therapeutic feeding to them, they can survive, but often, they are stunted for life, and stunted means your cognitive ability is impacted as well, so it is a lifelong challenge for these children — if they survive,” she continued in an interview with CBS News. While some aid is being airdropped or delivered by sea, experts, NGOs, and residents say it is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of millions of Palestinians. Russell says that the aid coming in through airdrops and a maritime route is “a drop in a bucket in both cases.” “We have so little access right now and it’s very challenging. We are also facing very great bureaucratic challenges moving trucks in by land, which is by far the most efficient and effective way to get aid in,” she added. “If things are dual use, sometimes they get rejected. So, we can’t get plastic pipes in, we can’t get some medical kits in if they have little scissors. It’s almost Kafkaesque, sometimes trying to figure out how to get things into this bureaucratic mess.” Similarly, displaced Palestinian Zahr Saqr, told Al Jazeera, “The situation is so bad that no one can imagine it, and the ship, even if it helps, will be a drop in the ocean, because the entire region is in need of aid, and people are competing to take aid from the shore.” Airdrops have caused chaos and killed several people by falling pallets when parachutes failed to open. “We keep waiting for aid. This is not a solution, whether by ship or by plane. We saw planes dropping aid and people fighting over it. There are some children who drowned in the sea for aid,” Wael Miqdad, a Khan Younis resident, said. The UN warns that nearly 600,000 people are on the brink of famine. “The living situation is very bad. We cannot eat, or drink, and aid is very scarce. They told us there is aid in the south, but it is very scarce,” Iman Wadi, another displaced Palestinian, told Al Jazeera. “Israeli authorities are not only failing to facilitate the international aid effort but are actively hindering it. We believe that Israel is failing to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide,” Abi Khalil continued. Israel has created “the perfect storm for humanitarian collapse and only the state of Israel can fix it,” she added. Over a million Gazans face “imminent famine” as aid reaches Jabalia On Sunday evening, Al Jazeera cameras captured a convoy of 19 aid trucks entering the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. The trucks were carrying flour, rice, and other foodstuffs on their way to a UNRWA distribution center. The delivery marks the first convoys to travel from the south to the north of the Gaza Strip without incident in four months. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the body responsible for assessing and monitoring famine, said that about half of Gaza is facing “imminent” famine. “Between mid-March and mid-July, in the most likely scenario and under the assumption of an escalation of the conflict including a ground offensive in Rafah, half of the population of the Gaza Strip (1.11 million people) is expected to face catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5), the most severe level in the IPC Acute Food Insecurity scale,” the IPC said in a statement. “This is an increase of 530,000 people (92 percent) compared to the previous analysis.” The IPC also said that the rest of Gaza will likely face “a risk of famine” in July 2024 in the event of a “worst-case scenario.” “The southern governorates of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, and the Governorate of Rafah, are classified in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency),” the IPC said. Long way to go until Israeli military goals are achieved The Netanyahu administration shows no intention of ending its war on Gaza anytime soon, despite a growing choir of voices, including Israeli allies, calling for the end of the ongoing assault. Israeli military Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said in a press statement that much has been achieved during a “multi-front and complex war,” but that it will take time to achieve more, according to Al Jazeera. “We still have a long way to go until the war goals are achieved,” he said. Halevi also said the army continues to plan operations in “areas where we have not yet operated,” in reference to Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering. “The military is preparing for offenses in the additional areas and together with the political echelon we will decide on the timing and the appropriate conditions,” he said. “We are determined to act wherever Hamas is building its strength. It is wrong to leave Hamas brigades and Hamas battalions functioning.” However, former military commander Yitzhak Brick says Israel has already lost its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “You can’t lie to many people for a long time,” Yitzhak Brick said in an article in Israel’s Maariv newspaper, as reported by Al Jazeera. “What is happening in the Gaza Strip and against Hezbollah in Lebanon will blow up in our faces sooner or later.” Brick said the Israeli home front “is not prepared for a regional war, which will be thousands of times more difficult and serious than the war in the Gaza Strip.” Biden fears upcoming elections U.S. President Joe Biden’s endless support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza has jeopardized his chances of winning elections in 2024, reportedly sending him into a frenzy. Biden began to shout and swear after learning that his poll numbers in the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia had dropped over his handling of the Gaza war, according to NBC News. The report cited a lawmaker familiar with the private meeting in January at the White House, where the scene played out. He believed he had been doing what was right despite the political fallout, Biden told the group, according to the lawmaker. When asked about the episode, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said: “President Biden makes national security decisions based on the country’s national security needs alone — no other factor.” In a post on X, Amnesty International reminded President Biden that Israel used U.S.-made munitions to kill more than 30,000 people in Gaza and called on the President to demand a ceasefire and stop the transfers of arms to Israel. On Sunday, during a shamrock ceremony at the White House, the U.S. President said he agreed with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on the need for a truce deal in Gaza, still offering no plans to put material pressure on Israel. “The Taoiseach [Irish leader] and I agree about the urgent need to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza and reach a ceasefire deal that brings hostages home and moves toward a two-state solution, which is the only path for lasting peace and security,” Biden said, according to CNN. Varadkar says the Irish have such empathy for the Palestinian people because: “We see our history in their eyes, a story of displacement, of dispossession, a national identity questioned and denied, forced emigration, discrimination, and now hunger,” he said. The Irish leader, who has previously criticized U.S. arms transfers to Israel, said he “was not shocked” that Washington has decided to continue arming Israel. https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-164-israeli-army-storms-al-shifa-again-aid-reaches-jabalia/

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 142: UN experts call for immediate arms embargo on Israel Israel bombs near Egypt’s fortified wall with Rafah as talks resume to reach a captive exchange with Hamas. UN experts call for arms embargo against Israel and say states supplying weapons, ammunition or intelligence risk violating international law. Mustafa Abu SneinehFebruary 25, 2024 Palestinian women grieve over the bodies of their loved ones killed in Israeli airstrikes in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. Relatives of the Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks mourn as they receive the bodies of their loved ones at the the morgue of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, on February 24, 2024. (Bashar Taleb/apaimages) Casualties 29,606+ killed* and at least 69,737 wounded in the Gaza Strip. 380+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147. 579 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.** *This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Telegram channel on February 24. Some rights groups put the death toll number at more than 38,000 when accounting for those presumed dead. ** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” Key Developments CNN satellite imagery shows Egypt built more than two-mile-wide buffer zone along wall with Rafah, in southern Gaza, to keep displaced Palestinians at bay. Egyptian buffer zone is planned to stretch east-to-west from Kerem Abu Salem Crossing to the Mediterranean Sea. Several Palestinians in Gaza sound call of prayer through loudspeakers from windows in city where mosques have not held a Friday prior since October. UN experts call states to immediately cease transferring arms, and ammunition to Israel or share it with intelligence that could be used in Gaza Strip and violate international law. UN experts says that “military intelligence must also not be shared [with Israel] where there is a clear risk that it would be used to violate international humanitarian law.” So far, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Netherlands halted arms transfers to Israel, while Japan trade giant, Itochu Corporation, suspended agreement to supply Israel with military technology. Senior Hamas figure tells Al-Jazeera Arabic that “atmosphere of optimism” regarding prisoners’ exchange deal with Israel and ceasefire “does not reflect the truth.” EU chief of foreign policy Josep Borrell says Israel’s government plan to expand settlements in occupied West Bank is “inflammatory and dangerous”. In 2023, Israeli forces and settlers seized 43 agricultural tractors, 293 vehicles, and 296 sheep from Palestinian Bedouin communities in Jordan valley, inflicting heavy losses and disturbing their lives. Israeli forces bomb areas near Egypt’s border with Rafah In the past 24 hours, Israeli forces bombed several Palestinian neighborhoods in Deir Al-Balah, Rafah and north Gaza, killing and injuring tens of people. Israel’s warplanes launched bombs on a vast open area near the Egyptian border with Rafah, in southern Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians are sheltering. A video shows Palestinians fleeing from the bombs close to Egypt’s fortified wall to keep displaced people at bay from entering the Sinai Peninsula. All of the 1.4 million Palestinians who sought refuge in Rafah cannot enter Sinai except those who obtained a travel permit. Recent satellite imagery obtained by CNN reveals that Egypt had built more than a two-mile-wide buffer zone along the wall with Rafah. In early February, Egyptian bulldozers and cranes started working on the buffer zone as Israeli politicians threatened to invade Rafah. The Egyptian buffer zone is planned to stretch east-to-west from Kerem Abu Salem Crossing to the Mediterranean Sea. Overnight, Wafa news agency reported that Israeli forces bombed Al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City, and launched an air raid on Al-Shaaf area in Gaza. Armed clashes between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli forces were reported in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood. Several Palestinians in Gaza sounded the call of prayer through loudspeakers from windows in a city where mosques have not held a Friday prior since October as most of it has been either damaged or destroyed by Israel, including the ancient Al-Omari Mosque. In the Al-Shati refugee camp, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians and injured four in an airstrike overnight. It also bombed Beit Lahia, Rafah, and Deir Al-Balah. On Sunday, Gaza’s Ministry of Health did not update the casualty’s number for the past 24 hours. Yesterday, it said that Israeli forces committed eight “massacres” in various areas of the Gaza Strip, killing at least 92 Palestinian martyrs and injuring 123 people. UN experts call for immediate arms embargo on Israel Supplying arms to Israel to bomb, destroy, kill, and maim Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and also in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem has taken center stage in the past weeks. A UN report concluded that states should cease immediately from transferring arms and ammunition to Israel or supplying it with intelligence that could be used in the Gaza Strip, risking the violation of international law. So far, the U.S., Germany, the U.K., France, Canada and Australia have been at the helm of supplying weapons to Israel since October, with Washington and Berlin as the largest exporters of munitions. “States must accordingly refrain from transferring any weapon or ammunition – or parts for them – if it is expected, given the facts or past patterns of behavior, that they would be used to violate international law,” the UN experts said. They added that “as long there is a clear risk” of violating the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty and that arms will be used to commit crimes, exports of weapons and munitions to Israel should not go ahead. This also extends to sharing military intelligence. The U.S. and the U.K. have reportedly fed Israel with intelligence, dispatching military personnel to advise Israel early in October and operated reconnaissance flights over the Gaza Strip, eavesdropping on Palestinians in a bid to locate Israeli captives and help Tel Aviv destroy Hamas movement. “Military intelligence must also not be shared where there is a clear risk that it would be used to violate international humanitarian law,” the UN experts wrote. They added that there is a need for an arms embargo on Israel following the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on January 26 ordering Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza. However, Israel has killed nearly four thousand Palestinians since then. “This necessitates halting arms exports in the present circumstances,” the experts said. Belgium, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands are the only EU countries to halt arms transfers to Israel, while Japan trade giant, Itochu Corporation, has suspended an agreement to supply Israel with military technology. Early in February, the Netherlands halted a deal to export F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel following a court decision that found that Israeli forces would use these parts “to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law.” “There are many indications that Israel has violated the humanitarian law of war in a not insignificant number of cases,” the UN report added. Deal between Hamas and Israel swings between optimism and despair On Sunday morning, hopes were dashed again of reaching a deal between Israel and Hamas, despite high expectations over the weekend as Qatari and Egyptian mediators traveled back to Paris to hold talks with CIA and Israeli officials. A senior Hamas figure told Al-Jazeera Arabic that “the atmosphere of optimism”, regarding a possible prisoners exchange deal with Israel and ceasefire, “does not reflect the truth.” He accused Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “evading” to engage with Hamas counter-proposal for four and half months of ceasefire, the exchange of hostages and prisoners, and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. He added that Israel’s starvation policy in the Gaza Strip, blocking aid trucks from reaching north Gaza, could hinder any efforts to reach a deal. Israel’s Kan news reported on Sunday that they were “optimistic” about reaching a deal before the month of Ramadan, on March 10, but that would not discourage Israel from invading Rafah. An Israeli delegation is expected to fly to Qatar, Al-Jazeera reported. Scores of arrests in Tel Aviv as Netanyahu’s options narrow down On Saturday, the police arrested 18 Israelis as thousands protested in Tel Aviv, calling Netanyahu’s resignation and for a deal to be made on the release of Israeli captives in Gaza. The Israeli analyst at Haaretz, Amos Harel, wrote that Netanyahu’s government is facing three options at the current stage, either to strike a deal with Hamas, invade Rafah or “more empty promises” for Israelis and the US administration. A deal with Hamas, would mean a political headache for Netanyahu from his coalition government and threats of resignation from Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Invading Rafah would be a gamble as it risks deteriorating ties with Egypt, igniting the region, and massacring tens of thousands of Palestinians. “According to the third scenario,” Harel wrote, “things will continue as they have until now: Netanyahu will continue to provoke the Biden administration, will continue to promise ‘total victory,’ will evade promoting a hostage release deal, and will possibly antagonize Benny Gantz,” to push him to resign from war cabinet. Settlement expansion in West Banks is ‘dangerous’, officials warn Josep Borrell, the EU chief of foreign policy, said on Saturday that Israel’s government plan to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank is “inflammatory and dangerous”. “Settlements make Israelis and Palestinians less safe, fuel tensions, obstruct peace efforts, and constitute a grave breach of international law,” he added. Israel’s Finance Minister Smotrich announced on Thursday a plan of constructing 3,300 housing units as a “response” to a shooting attack carried out by three Palestinians near Ma’ale Adumim settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, killing at least one Israeli and wounding five others. “The serious attack on Ma’ale Adumim must have a decisive security response but also an answer from the settlements… Our enemies know that any harm to us will lead to more construction and more development and more of our control across the entire country,” Smotrich said. Following the attack, Israeli military prevented Palestinian vehicles from travelling on a main road leading to the Al-Eizariya neighborhood, close to Ma’ale Adumim’s main entrance, between 9pm and 6am the next morning. Over the past 24 hours, Israeli forces arrested 15 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank towns of Hebron, Nablus, Jericho, Jenin, and Ramallah. Sami Al-Shami, a journalist and former political prisoner, was arrested from his home in Asira Al-Qibliya, south of Nablus. North of the West Bank, Israeli forces stormed the towns of Qalqilya and Nabi Saleh, raiding several Palestinian houses. The Prisoners’ Club said around 7,225 Palestinians were arrested by Israel in the West Bank since October. Some of them were released. On Sunday morning, Israeli settlers stole sheep from the Palestinian community of Arab Malihat, northwest of the city of Jericho, Wafa reported. Hassan Malihat, an activist in the community, said 30 sheep belonged to Suleiman Atallah Malihat were stolen by settlers. Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley rely on raising livestock and agricultural farm to make a living. Wafa reported that Israeli forces and settlers seized 43 agricultural tractors, 293 vehicles, and 296 sheep in 2023, inflicting heavy losses on these communities and disturbing their lives. As Ramadan is approaching in a couple of weeks, Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday and performed silent Jewish prayers. These storming have become an almost daily act for over two decades and threaten to escalate tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank. https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-142-un-experts-call-for-immediate-arms-embargo-on-israel/

Niall McCrae: The Shocking Testimony of the COVID-19 Nurses "Overton observed that covid was killing only people in hospital, not at home nor among the homeless. The treatment regime was devised to end lives efficiently." Lioness of Judah Ministry One-time or recurring donations can be made through Ko-Fi: By Niall McCrae January 25, 2024 Most people seem to have moved on from Covid-19. They may occasionally refer to the ‘pandemic’, but they’d rather put it in the back of their minds. So it’s important that we critical thinkers don’t let the truth be buried by an official narrative that a deadly disease struck, radical interventions were necessary and then a miraculous vaccine saved millions of lives. I know a nurse who worked throughout covid at the local intensive care unit. She believes that while the disease was exaggerated, it was distinct from the usual respiratory infections. Positively-tested patients admitted to her unit frequently suffered from asthmatic attacks. But such symptoms probably resulted from the terror induced in society by the government. And these patients were right to be terrified, because they faced being hooked on to a ventilator, totally dependent on overworked clinical staff, with no visitors allowed. As Roger Watson and I explained on TCW, many never took another natural breath. The book What the Nurses Saw by Ken McCarthy features interviews with nurses who worked in the killing fields of US hospitals. An army veteran, Erin Marie Olszewski qualified and practised as a nurse in Florida. When New York became the American epicentre of Covid-19, she answered the urgent call for nurses from the city authorities. On arrival Olszewski was surprised to be boarded in a luxury hotel, having no work assigned but paid $10,000 weekly by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Clearly the crisis was not as bad as portrayed on the news. Eventually Olszeswki was posted to a large public hospital, to find doctors and nurses following extraordinary and harmful protocols. Rather than a last resort, intubation to breathing machines was primary treatment. Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, acted as medical dictator, ordering 30,000 ventilators. As paycheck employees following administrative policy, doctors abandoned their Hippocratic Oath, mistreating patients who walked into hospital but left via the morgue. Consent, so fundamental to healthcare, was reduced to doctors telling patients that their only chance of survival was mechanical ventilation. According to Olszewski the throughput was like a factory production line, manufacturing the desired mortality data. Nurses, normally reticent in challenging decisions made by doctors in a rigid hierarchical culture, failed to put their patients first. They were complicit in state-sanctioned murder. This was particularly awful in the public hospitals of New York, where the majority of patients were poor and funded by Medicare, the federal system that incentivised use of ventilators, paying hospitals $39,000 per case. As patients were expected to perish, little care was given and they lay unwashed on their faeces. As soon as a corpse was carried out, the apparatus was used for the next admission. Another whistle-blower, Nicole Sirotek, observed that institutional power was rarely needed to ensure nurses’ compliance with the covid regime. The nursing staff policed themselves, making clear that any dissident would be ostracised, imperilling their professional career. According to Kimberley Overton, a nurse in Nashville, nurses were told not to spend time near patients’ beds to reduce spread of the virus, despite their full exposure in wards dedicated to covid cases. This was unnecessary cruelty. Patients were deliberately isolated, deprived of nutrition and water (drips were regarded as sufficient fluid intake), and communication was impossible with nurses covered head-to-toe in PPE. Wards should have had a warning at the entrance to abandon hope, all ye who enter here. Overton observed that covid was killing only people in hospital, not at home nor among the homeless. The treatment regime was devised to end lives efficiently. Ventilators were key to this, as Overton described: ‘In all my career, I had never seen the PEEP (positive end-expiratory pressure) settings set so high. Typically we see it at about five, and we were seeing that pressure at fifteen. We were blowing people’s lungs out.’ To sedate intubated patients, high doses of fentanyl were administered. It was standard practice to conduct a breathing test on patients after a day on the ventilator. They almost always failed, because of the respiratory suppressant effect of fentanyl. But the most dubious intervention was remdesivir, declared by Anthony Fauci as the ‘drug of choice’ for covid sufferers. This antiviral was originally tested on Ebola cases, but over half died in the trial. For covid a rushed and incomplete trial was claimed as evidence of its efficacy, but the drug often caused kidney failure. British readers will be particularly interested in the account of Kevin Corbett. I spoke alongside Corbett at Trafalgar Square in September 2020, when he warned the mass audience of the ‘Nazification’ of the NHS. Covid-19 was not panic by the authorities, but a deliberate and planned takeover of the healthcare system. Individual care, to which taxpaying citizens believe they are entitled, was replaced by Nazi-style viral hygiene. Petty dictators in matrons’ uniform had never enjoyed so much power: no mask, no shift. The rationale for covid rules was never therapeutic, but exertion of totalitarian authority. The NHS was bad, but American hospitals were much worse. The profit incentive was irresistible to unscrupulous administrators, with incredibly high payments for concluded cases (i.e. deaths). Another factor is that senior managers and clinicians of Democrat leanings were dealing with patients of lower socio-economic status and populist Trump proclivities. Vaccination rates in the US confirmed this political divide. The motto, should another pandemic be declared (Disease X, as the media are priming), is ‘stay out of hospital’. That’s a terrible indictment on doctors and nurses, so many of whom broke their code of conduct to participate in crimes against humanity. What the Nurses Saw should be required reading for politicians, administrators and clinicians who uncritically accepted and applied the Covid-19 orthodoxy. McCarthy’s compendium of bedside experiences shows what happens when all professional and moral standards are abandoned in favour of a globally enforced problem-reaction-solution contrivance. As Bill Gates excitedly foresees, there will be a ‘next time’, and if as a society we do not learn the lessons from the pseudopandemic and confront the evil-doers, we deserve whatever follows. Source: conservativewoman.co.uk Share Related articles: NHS Whistleblower Claims “We Were Ordered To Euthanize” Patients Read full story The Corona PSYOP: Hospitals FAKED Pandemic Deaths – Top Heath Official Read full story Dr. Mike Yeadon: I Am Convinced That Over 100,000 People Were Killed By Government Protocols of Midazolam And Morphine Read full story Where Is The Pandemic? According To The BC Government Records Hospitalizations and ICU admissions in BC During the Covid-19 Pandemic Did Not Increase Compared to the Previous Years Read full story Denis Rancourt PhD : Data Proves COVID-19 Is Actually An Illusion Read full story Dr. Mike Yeadon Comments on “COVID-19 Vaccine-Associated Mortality in the Southern Hemisphere” by Denis Rancourt Read full story Dr. Mike Yeadon Comments on "There Was No Pandemic" by Denis Rancourt Read full story https://lionessofjudah.substack.com/p/niall-mccrae-the-shocking-testimony https://donshafi911.blogspot.com/2024/01/niall-mccrae-shocking-testimony-of.html

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 111: Hospitals under siege, UNRWA shelter bombed in southern Gaza Leila WarahJanuary 25, 2024 A view of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) school in Nuseirat, used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians, November 25, 2023. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images) A view of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) school in Nuseirat, used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians, November 25, 2023. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images) Casualties 25,700+ killed* and at least 63,740 wounded in the Gaza Strip. 387+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147. 556 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.** *This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health. Some rights groups put the death toll number at more than 33,000 when accounting for those presumed dead. ** This figure is released by the Israeli military. Key Developments Israeli forces are bombing Gaza’s perimeter in order to facilitate future land grab, buffer zone. ICJ: Verdict on South Africa genocide case against Israel to be announced Friday. Palestinian man shot dead at point blank-range south of Jenin in occupied West Bank. Israeli forces re-arrest 17-year-old Youssef al-Khatib, whom Israel freed in November swap deal with Hamas. Nasser Hospital and al-Amal hospitals in Khan Younis subjected to siege by Israeli military, hundreds of lives at risk. UN: Israel bombs UNRWA Shelter, killing at least 12, injuring 75 Egypt’s President accuses Israel of delaying Gaza aid deliveries as a pressure tactic. 5,000 Israeli protestors call for immediate deal to return all Israeli captives. Netanyahu allegedly criticizes Qatar mediating role as “problematic,” despite facilitating return of over 100 Israeli captives. Gaza Hospitals have a target on their back. In Khan Younis, Palestinians continue to face constant Israeli attacks, including those on medical centers, further crippling Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure and institutions. Advertisement Help Mondoweiss reach 100,000 subscribers on YouTube! The Israeli military has put several medical complexes under siege in Khan Younis, the second-largest city in Gaza, located in the southern district. At Nasser Hospital, The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reports that “no one can enter or exit” because of the nearby bombardment . In addition to about 400 dialysis patients at Nasser Hospital who cannot access treatment, hundreds of wounded people, sick patients, and maternity cases are facing serious complications as a result of the lack of access to the hospital. “Health staff is reported to be digging graves on hospital grounds due to the large numbers of fatalities anticipated and the need to manage burials,” the UNOCHA report continued. The Israeli army has also surrounded the al-Amal Hospital and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) headquarters in Khan Younis. Israeli troops are “enforcing restrictions on movement around both the building and the hospital,” PRCS said in a post on X. “The intense shelling around the hospital, gunfire, and the military vehicles approaching from all directions are ongoing violations of international laws and the Geneva Conventions,” PRCS added. “The occupation prohibits the movement of humanitarian teams, including ambulances, in blatant disregard for established norms.” In al-Amal Hospital, medical staff are running out of blood due to the inability to access the blood bank as a result of the ongoing siege. To combat the shortage, groups of displaced people sheltering at the hospital are donating blood. William Schomburg, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), warns that immediate action is required to prevent a complete shutdown of medical services in Gaza. “Every functioning hospital in the Gaza Strip is overcrowded and short on medical supplies, fuel, food and water. Many are housing thousands of displaced families. And now two more facilities risk being lost due to the fighting,” Schomburg said in a statement. “The cumulative impact on the health system is devastating and urgent action must be taken.” Israel attacks UN shelter, kills 12 Israeli forces attacked a UN shelter housing thousands of displaced people in the city of Khan Younis on Wednesday during the intensified fighting at and around the center. According to UNOCHA, at least 12 people were killed and 75 wounded, including 15 people who are in critical condition. “It seems that three shells have been landed inside the…training centre of Khan Younis that belongs to UNRWA,” UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna, who is based in Rafah, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday. “The building has been set on fire,” he said, adding that “there are many casualties.” Asked if there had been any warning, he replied: “No.” “We have not been able to get in and from the compound in the last 48 hours because the Israeli tanks actually [were] very close to the compound,” he said, describing the situation as “very dangerous.” Abu Hasna said this was far from the first time that an UNRWA facility in Gaza had been hit, but noted that it was “maybe the first time that we see such a huge fire.” “People are screaming, crying, asking for help. We hope that we will not find so many people to have been killed and injured.” “Another horrific day in Gaza. The number of those killed is likely higher. Khan Younis vocational training centre is one of the largest UNRWA facilities sheltering nearly 30,000 displaced people,” UNRWA leader Philippe Lazzarini said in a social media post. “The compound is a clearly marked UN facility and its coordinates were shared with Israeli Authorities as we do for all our facilities. Once again a blatant disregard of basic rules of war.” “Persistent attacks on civilian sites in Khan Younis are utterly unacceptable and must stop immediately,” Thomas White, the Director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, said in a statement on behalf of UNOCHA. “The situation in Khan Younis underscores a consistent failure to uphold the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: distinction, proportionality, and precautions in carrying out attacks. This is unacceptable and abhorrent and must stop,” stated White. About 800 displaced people were sheltering in the center, White added. Teams from UNRWA and the WHO are trying to reach the building via a route agreed upon with the Israeli army, but they have been blocked, he continued. Food used as a ‘weapon of war’ As the situation in Gaza continued to deteriorate amid Israel’s ongoing attacks on civilians, residents of the enclave are still facing extreme shortages of basic necessities due to the Israeli ongoing blockade. Although the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza is open 24/7, Israeli procedures hamper the entrance of lifesaving humanitarian aid. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has accused Israel of delaying aid deliveries into Gaza as a pressure tactic. “This is a form of pressure on the Gaza Strip and its people over the conflict and the release of hostages. They are using this as a pressure tool on the people of the Strip,” Sisi said, as cited by Reuters. Meanwhile, at the Israel-controlled Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) between Gaza and Israel, Israeli protests, including family members of captives in Gaza, gathered on Wednesday to prevent aid trucks from entering Gaza. The protestors, who are part of a group known as Order Nine Movement, are calling for an end to all aid from entering Gaza, including medical supplies, until all Israeli captives are released, reported Al Jazeera. Over the last two weeks, only 80 trucks a day have been allowed to enter the Gaza Strip due to Israel’s lengthy process of clearance and security checks, Al Jazeera added. UN agencies and humanitarian organizations working on the ground say that the aid that gets through is “a drop in the ocean” of what is needed amid the unfolding crisis in Gaza, which is said to be on the brink of famine. For context, before October 7, about 500 delivery trucks would enter Gaza every day. Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian physician and humanitarian activist, told Al Jazeera that Israel is weaponizing aid restrictions against Gaza. “It is a deliberate governmental plan to eradicate the people of Gaza — through disease, through bombing and through non-availability of medical supplies and medical services, and famine and the lack of water,” Gilbert said. “This is one of the most gruesome, concerted attacks on public health that I have ever seen.” He added that the humanitarian catastrophe is man-made. “This is a war crime. This is a weapon of mass destruction used deliberately by Israel.” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he told Netanyahu that more aid trucks must be able to enter Gaza and that an immediate “humanitarian pause” is needed to help those trapped in a “desperate situation.” “The scale of suffering in Gaza is unimaginable. More must be done faster to help people trapped in this desperate situation,” Cameron continued. “We have trebled our assistance for Gaza…But our efforts will only make a difference if aid gets to those who need it most. “As I said to Netanyahu … far more trucks need to be able to enter Gaza and more crossings need to open. We need an immediate humanitarian pause to get aid in and hostages out, followed by a sustainable ceasefire.” UN chief Guterres has once again called for “rapid, safe, unhindered, expanded & sustained humanitarian access throughout Gaza” in a post on X. Netanyahu disparages Qatari mediating role in prisoner exchange negotiations As Israel’s attacks on Gaza continue, Israeli society is growing increasingly frustrated with the Netanyahu administration’s lack of regard for the Israeli captives held in Gaza. On Wednesday night in Tel Aviv, 5,000 Israeli anti-government protestors gathered to call for an immediate deal to return all the hostages and chanting, “Stop the world, our brothers are there.” “We came to say to the government, ‘It’s enough. We want all the hostages back home, we want a ceasefire now,'” said protester Sapir Sluzker Amran, Al Jazeera reported. “There is no military solution, only a diplomatic solution — only agreements will bring the hostages back,” Amran continued. However, Netanyahu is adamant the war will continue. The Israeli Prime Minister said on Tuesday that Israel “will not stop fighting until absolute victory,” advocating for an additional six months of Israel’s aggression on Gaza. In response, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Ministry has said Israel is demonstrating a disregard for the UN and international calls for an immediate ceasefire. In a statement on Wednesday, the PA Foreign Ministry said Netanyahu’s comments mean “the continuation of genocide and forced displacement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.” “Netanyahu derives his courage from the failure of the international institutions to bear their legal and moral responsibilities to end the occupation,” the statement added. The Israeli Prime Minister has also allegedly criticized Qatar’s role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas as “problematic,” despite the Gulf country’s facilitation of the return of over 100 Israeli captives. In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Majed al-Ansari, said, “We are appalled by the alleged remarks attributed to the Israeli Prime Minister in various media reports about Qatar’s mediation role. These remarks, if validated, are irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives, but are not surprising.” “If the reported remarks are found to be true, the Israeli PM would only be obstructing and undermining the mediation process, for reasons that appear to serve his political career instead of prioritizing saving innocent lives, including Israeli hostages,” al-Ansari added. On Wednesday, Israeli forces rearrested 17-year-old Youssef al-Khatib, whom Israel freed in a swap deal with Hamas in November, sparking outrage by Palestinian groups. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society called the arrest a “blatant violation” of the terms of the swap agreement and a “dangerous” indicator that Israel is willing to re-arrest freed prisoners, according to Al Jazeera. Hamas has warned of the “ramifications” of the teen’s rearrest while also calling on the mediators of the November deal to interfere and pressure Israel to “live up to what was agreed upon.” Preparing for land grabs As the death toll in Gaza rises, the Israeli military is making space for its occupation of Gaza. The army demolished hundreds of buildings in Gaza within 1km of the fence, seeking to create a buffer zone, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing a new Hebrew University study. According to the study, about 40 percent of the 2,824 buildings in Gaza located within 1km of the border have been razed since October 7. “Everything has been flattened. It was mostly agriculture. Now it’s a military zone, a complete no man’s land,” one soldier is quoted as saying. Around Khan Younis city in southern Gaza, which has been under constant Israeli attacks for weeks, 67 percent of buildings within 1km of the border have been destroyed. Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker says Israel claims the plan is needed to “establish security” and prevent attacks. But this risks “diminishing an already tiny strip of Gaza, whose population has been stuck between walls and the sea” for years. The United States has opposed the creation of a buffer zone, saying there should be no permanent change to Palestinian territory. “However, it’s happening, Israel is executing it, and this of course is something the Palestinians and the wider international community does see as a land grab,” said Dekker. BEFORE YOU GO – At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever. Our traffic has increased ten times since October 7, and we need your help to cover our increased expenses. Support our journalists with a donation today. https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-111-hospitals-under-siege-unrwa-shelter-bombed-in-southern-gaza/

UNLOCKED: Spike Proteins and Lipid Nanoparticles are HIGHLY TOXIC per Systemic Review of Scientific Literature "People who know about medicine and biology don’t think about it (nanoparticles), which is why they say it’s an 'mRNA vaccine.' Ignorance is bliss. They fell into an infinite hell." Karen Kingston January 18, 2024: Due to numerous requests from respected colleagues and valued Kingston Report subscribers, I’ve unlocked this article for free. Please share this compelling and critical article with your friends, family and network. Share January 16, 2024: modRNA, ‘lipid’ nanoparticles, and other gene editing technologies have epically failed at providing any human benefits for decades. Since the unleashing of the mRNA COVID-19 injections on global civilians, these nanoparticle technologies have caused massive increases in disease, disabilities, infertility and death in men, women, and children over the past 3 years. The above stated claims were recently confirmed on January 11, 2024, by the Japanese General Incorporated Association Vaccine Issues Study Group. These prestigious scientists and doctors held a press conference to report on their systemic review of thousands of publications of scientific literature from the NIH PubMed database and other global databases on synthetic viruses, mRNA gene editing technologies, and ‘lipid’ nanoparticles. During the press conference, Professor Emeritus Masanori Fukushima of Kyoto University stated; “Thousands of papers have reported side effects after vaccination which affect every organ without exception.” Professor Emeritus Masayasu Inoue stated, “You will find diseases of the heart, kidney, thyroid, diabetes, liver, skin, eyes, blood, nerves, systemic diseases, brain, lungs… diseases across all medical fields have been reported. As Prof. Fukushima stated, the characteristics of this vaccine is that they occur simultaneously within entire families.” The Spike is Toxic Professor Yasufami Murakami of the Tokyo University of Science declared; “I believe it (the mRNA COVID-19 injection) should be STOPPED immediately. THE SPIKE IS TOXIC. It is very clear what happens when you administer a toxic gene to a human. Another point is that the lipid nanoparticles are also toxic.” Nanoparticles are the World’s #1 Problem Professor Emeritus Fukushima went on to explain that; “If the problem of ‘off-targets’ is solved, there are still many other problems because these nanoparticles, which are inflammatory and environmental (cause environmental harm), especially the plastic nanoparticles. Nanoparticles are the world’s number one problem.” - Professor Emeritus Fukushima, Kyoto University It may surprise you to learn that mRNA gene editing and nanoparticle technologies were considered weapons of mass destruction up until around 2019. Share mRNA Nanoparticles are Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disruption mRNA Nanoparticles are Weapons of Mass Destruction and Disruption January 15: 2024: Professor James Giordano is a former US marine and became an advisor to the US intelligence community (IC) and military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 2008 under President Barack Obama. Giordano is currently an advisor to the IC and DARPA. Read full story I’ve transcribed the summary of the press conference in this article and provided select references to substantiate many of the assertions made by the expert scientific and medical panel. The name of the press conference’s moderator is Takeguchi. Takeguchi, Moderator “Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to express my condolences to those who have passed away due to health issues after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Furthermore, I extend my best wishes to those who have suffered health issues and those who are currently struggling with symptoms.” Professor Emiritus Masanori Fukushima, Kyoto University “A systemic review of the literature has revealed some surprising facts. Thousands of papers have reported side effects after vaccination which affect every organ without exception from ophthalmology to general medicine to psychiatry. We have compiled this information into a paper that published yesterday. These documents have been preliminarily investigated by a group of volunteer physicians. They have looked into how many cases have been reported by Japanese academic societies. This kind of reporting on drug side effects or the like is unprecedented.” “This reporting on drug side effects is UNPRECEDENTED.” “As my specialty is cancer, chemotherapy drugs are plagued with side effects, but the patterns are known and predetermined. The patterns of the side effects caused by this vaccine are not determined. They can occur throughout the body.” Note: Many of the Harmful Clinical Effects of COVID-19 mRNA Were Predetermined On October 20, 2020, the FDA met with industry to review of “working list” of the known harmful clinical effects of the mRNA lipid nanoparticle injections. IMO, for the most part, the harmful effects of the mRNA injections were known and ‘predetermined’. Multiple diseases can occur simultaneously. “Multiple diseases can occur simultaneously. Doctors have ‘never seen such a thing’ is a candid opinion of the medical profession.” Note: Internal Pfizer records show that Pfizer has been recording multiple harmful clinical outcomes across multiple organ systems individual patients and failed to alert the public. In 2022, Pfizer recorded 5 million adverse events across 1.5 million subjects injected with their mRNA ‘vaccines’. On average, each subject experienced 3-4 adverse events across multiple organ systems. There are interferences. Censorship is taking place. “Japanese doctors are also trying hard, but they face various obstructions. There’s this sentiment of, ‘Why report on something like vaccine damage?’ There are interferences. Such actions themselves hinder academic freedom. In some academic departments, censorship is taking place. Such as in conference presentations and paper publications.” “This is happening globally.” This is happening globally. “Some journals are effectively practicing censorship. We are working on a paper that is expected to be published soon. Once published, we will be able to report in detail. For example, the age-adjusted mortality rate for leukemia has increased. And there are significant findings for breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and so on. We will share the relevant information with everyone as we advise and request the government on how to proceed.” “mRNA LNP injections should be stopped immediately.” Professor Yasufami Murakami, Tokyo University of Science “One thing I want to say initially is that it is clear how the adverse effects occur, which is still harming many victims today. I believe it (the mRNA COVID-19 injection) should be stopped immediately.” The spike proteins and lipid nanoparticles are toxic. “The mechanism by which adverse effects occur is well understood; the spike is toxic. It is very clear what happens when you administer a toxic gene to a human. Another point is that the lipid nanoparticles are also toxic. The major problem is we are injecting two toxic substances into people, one of which being that human cells are producing spike proteins (modRNA). Since the immune system will attack this, this causes very violent reactions. There are cases that occur within one or two weeks after injections, but there are also many cases that appear after one or two years.” Note: In 2014/2015 the FDA issued warning documents on toxic effects of gene-based ‘protein therapies’ that could have lethal consequences. In the fall of 2014, the FDA reviewed the auto-immune diseases and artificially induced genetic diseases that can be induced by protein (mRNA) gene therapies, many of which have lethal consequences. mRNA vaccines program the immune system to cause disease and death. “Additionally there is such a thing as good and bad antibodies in humans, and an antibody called IgG4 actually suppresses immunity. Usually with vaccines, if an IgG4 antibody is induced, it is considered a failure. However, with the current messenger-type vaccines, a significant amount of IgG4 is being induced. When this happens, it plays various trick on various immune functions. Therefore, we want to thoroughly investigate what ratio of Japanese people are (having this harmful immune response induced).” Note: At the 2021 JP Morgan Conference, Pfizer’s mRNA partner BioNTech published there mission statement to “harness the immune system’s full potential to fight human disease.” That is, “the disease of the human species.” Stop the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines immediately. “We aim to carefully examine what level of IgG4 that reacts with the spike protein is present in each individual. Of course, the problem is, we already understand these factors. Vaccines that have failed are still being administered and the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare recognizes these are failed vaccines. So I would like to stop them immediately. Even though I speak out in various places, they do not stop at all. So we will clearly present evidence and publish articles, one-by-one.” Professor Emeritus Masayasu Inoue, Osaka City University “We are working with Dr. Fukushima to create this database. So far, about 201 types of disease and 3,071 papers on side effects have been reported. It is unprecedented in human history for a single vaccine to have this much (harmful) literature out on it. With this, we plan to present to the nation and Japanese government in the form of solid science that one can dispute. You will find diseases of the heart, kidney, thyroid, diabetes, liver, skin, eyes, blood, nerves, systemic diseases, brain, lungs… diseases across all medical fields have been reported. As Prof. Fukushima stated, the characteristics of this vaccine is that they occur simultaneously within entire families. As for the data, when diseases such as those of the heart, kidney, endocrine, and liver are taken simultaneously within the range in which they occur, it turns out that a tremendous number of papers are reported over many pages.” Professor Emiritus Masanori Fukushima, Kyoto University “Mental disorders, psychiatric symptoms, depression, mania, anxiety, came up in abundance and it is endless. It’s about understanding why this is happening. That’s why actually with broader keywords, for example, not just COVID-19 vaccines, but also SARS-CoV-2, messenger RNA vaccines, and the like, when you separate it out into various key words, more and more results come up. So this is just part of it. Even with what Dr. Inoue introduced earlier, it’s just a part of what has been done with PubMed database. There are things that won’t be picked-up by PubMed.” Creutfeldt-Jakob Disease (CLD) “So like ‘Creutfeldt-Jakob Disease (CLD)’ is not caught (by PubMed). However, there are such peer-reviewed papers out there from Dr. Montagnier who discovered HIV and received the Nobel Prize. This is a persuasive paper. “So the spike protein sequence within the genes, you know, he (Dr. Montagnier) was warning that if there’s a prion-like sequence it could be very dangerous. Many scientists were warning. I too said it could be hazardous because of the possibility of prions. I discussed it with prion experts.” Unwanted ‘Off-Target’ Diseases Throughout the Body So, if you inject it (mRNA LNP technology) into the muscle, it will be taken up by the surrounding cells. People who know nothing about medicine and biology don’t think about such specific things, which is why they say it’s an mRNA ‘vaccine’. However, if you know biology and medicine, such specific things don’t happen. (Unwanted) specific things are what we call ‘off-target.’ Out of control beyond the target. It doesn’t know where to go. If it goes into the bloodstream, it goes to the brain, liver, and kidneys. Note: Pfizer publishes on their website that their mRNA spike proteins are gene editing proteins intended to modify the human genome with the hopes of not inducing off-target effects (autoimmune diseases, cancers and artificially induced genetic diseases). “What if it (spike) is made it everywhere? That’s something people don’t think about. So it’s a very vague story about the off-targets. That problem hasn’t been solved.” - Professor Emiritus Masanori Fukushima, Kyoto University Nanoparticle are the World’s #1 Problem. “If the problem of ‘off-targets’ is solved, there are still many other problems because these nanoparticles, which are inflammatory and environmental (cause environmental harm), especially the plastic nanoparticles. Nanoparticles are the world’s number one problem.” "By Hacking Organisms, Elites May Gain the Power to Re-Engineer the Future of Life Itself" "By Hacking Organisms, Elites May Gain the Power to Re-Engineer the Future of Life Itself" November 9, 2023: It was decided years ago to simply ‘cover-up’ the existence of the synthetic biology industry and the end-goal of converging the digital world with the human body and other life forms. Synthetic Biology is quite literally the science of turning technology into new biological life forms and Read full story Medical ‘Experts’ Don’t Understand the Basic Principles of Life “Those (nanoparticles) enter the brain. However, those who don’t know anything (so they) say, ‘It’s plastic. So it won’t be digested. So it’s okay to eat.’ They pretend to know, (but they don’t). It (PEG nanoparticles) doesn’t get digested. The person has no idea how toxic inorganic substances are attached to the surfaces of those plastic nanoparticles. So, with fragments of such knowledge, they exaggerate things and think they can get away with this (saying) “I understand! This (technology) is good!” It’s that kind of message. So honestly, they need to go back and redo from middle school biology to high school and university entrance exams. As I mentioned earlier, medicine is still immature. Basically, we don’t understand much about the principles of life. Now this kind of thing has happened, ‘turning adversity into fortune.’ We should learn from what has happened here. Instead of saying, “Go for it! Go for it!” with the vaccines….well, it’s like ignorance is bliss, such is the world today. So, it (the declaration by doctors and health care professionals that the mRNA vaccines are safe and effective) has become a kind of faith. Vaccines centers, they are like a cult. They (the ‘medical experts and professionals’) fell into an infinite hell. Thinking that things can be understood with fragments of knowledge is a mistake.” “Thinking that things can be understood with fragments of knowledge is a mistake.” - Prof. Fukushima Romans 1: 22-25 When they professed themselves to be wise, they became fools. For they turned the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and four footed beasts, and of creeping things. Wherefore also God gave them up to their hearts lusts, unto uncleanness, to defile their own bodies between themselves; which turned the truth of God unto a lie, and they worshipped and served the creature, forsaking the Creator which is blessed forever. Amen. It is past the time for Americans and global civilians to recognize that mRNA ‘vaccine’ technology is a catastrophic threat to humanity and a moratorium must be placed on its use in all biological life forms. The Kingston Report. TRUTH WINS. The Wellness Company - be well. FREE Membership($99 Value) + $50 Off Prescription Kits Just purchase any product here. (such as Spike Support) and then purchase the annual membership fo $99.99. Use code KINGSTON at checkout, and then enter FREEMEMBER and you’ll get the $99.99 membership for FREE plus additional discounts! SAVE $50 OFF Prescriptions Kits with FREEMEMBER Your FREE Membership (checkout code FREEMEMBER) gets you deep discounts across supplements and medical services, as well as SAVE $50 OFF Emergency Prescription Medical Kits. Stop Calling the mRNA LNP Injections ‘Vaccines’. They are not ‘vaccines’. Every time Freedom Movement leaders use the term ‘vaccine’ they are providing cover for Pfizer and other manufacturers under the Childhood Vaccine Protection Act. Why Opponents to Medical Freedom Don't Want You to Talk About this $Multi-Trillion Industry Why Opponents to Medical Freedom Don't Want You to Talk About this $Multi-Trillion Industry June 22, 2023: Yesterday I had one of the most important interviews of my life with Stew Peters. Stew and I discuss the nanotechnology industry; an unregulated, ‘dual-use’ industry with military weapons’ and consumer applications that has been causing mild-to-severe cognitive dysfunctions, infertility, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and death for dec… Read full story The Sheriff's Letter to Criminally Prosecute Pfizer The Sheriff's Letter to Criminally Prosecute Pfizer July 5, 2023: We’ve all been struggling with how to stop this hostile medical takeover of our nation, our communities, and our children. Like many of you, I’m exhausted from listening to the barrage of defensive strategies and futile tactics that have enabled innocent adults and children to continue to become disabled, diseased, and sometimes killed by … Read full story https://open.substack.com/pub/karenkingston/p/unlocked-spike-proteins-and-lipid?r=29hg4d&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

The Climate Scam Revealed by COP28 All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name (only available in desktop version). To receive Global Research’s Daily Newsletter (selected articles), click here. Click the share button above to email/forward this article to your friends and colleagues. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles. *** As COP28 draws to an end, it may be the moment to uncover the enormous scam these COPs are, have been and will be – if the fraud is maintained into the uncertain future. For those who do not know by now, COP stands for Conference of the Parties; 28 means it is the 28th Conference of the Parties, referring to the United Nations Climate Change Conferences, held every year in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The present COP28 is hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is taking place in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December 2023. The COPs started with the (in)famous Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. That is when the multi-trillion-dollar scam began. Actually, the precursor of this fraud is the Club of Rome’s report “Limits to Growth” which remains the blueprint for much of UN Agenda 2030 and the Great Reset. COPs are a worldwide swindle stretching over all 193 UN member countries, in a similar way as did the COVID con that began at midnight on 31 December 2019 – and marked the beginning of UN Agenda 2030, alias the WEF’s Great Reset. In case you do not know, the World Economic Forum (WEF), a mere NGO registered in a lush suburb in Geneva, Switzerland, and the world body called the United Nations, have entered into an agreement in 2019, under which their agendas are paired and are supposed to be implemented hand-in-hand. The UN Agenda 2030 and the WEF’s Great Reset are 2 in 1, a set of monstrous plans to massively reduce the world population, robotize and digitize the survivors for total control and use the multi-faceted man-made geoengineering technology to induce “climate change”. This brings us back to the topic at hand – a scam of unheard proportions, keeping still to this day some 90-plus percent of the world population spell-bound and indoctrinated by a monumental lie cast upon humanity for total control and enslavement by a small, utterly sick, insanely wealthy, and powerful “Big Money” elite. The President of COP28 is UAE’s Sultan Al Jaber, also CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), which is fully state-owned by UAE. It is the world’s 12th largest oil company by production. In 2021, the company had an oil production capacity exceeding 4 million bpd (barrels per day) with plans to increase to 5 million bpd by 2030. undefined The entrance to COP28 with the flags of all nations (Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0) COP28 UAE is taking place from 30 November to 12 December 2023 at Expo City, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In addition, Sultan Al Jaber is also a member of the Abu Dhabi Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs. He is chairman of the Emirates Development Bank and of the board of trustees of the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. ADNOC prides itself for taking transformative steps to make today’s energy cleaner while investing in “clean energies of tomorrow.” As a byline for the climate consciousness that precedes such events as COP28, a few weeks before the start of COP28, ADNOC announced the award of contracts for a huge natural gas production project. The company will invest in the Hail and Ghasha offshore gas fields off the coast of the Emirates. The two contracts are worth a total of $16.9 billion. A joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) and two Italian companies are responsible for the infrastructure on the mainland. So much for Europe’s official climate fanatism. The plan is to produce almost 42.5 million cubic meters of gas by 2030. The project is the first in the world that aims to be “climate neutral”, according to ADNOC. Question – what is “climate neutral” by producing more than 40 million cubic meters of gas? Climate neutrality is a mere slogan that has been injected under the skin of the common people, so they must not think anymore. The thinking has been done for them. “Climate Neutral” equals all is good. Let’s face it, Sultan Al Jabar is not leading COP28 to phase out the use of hydrocarbon energy, as the climate freaks may dream. Of course not. So, let us give all climate fanatics – including those who glue themselves on the highways and on airport runways in Europe and in the US of A in protest against fossil fuel-driven cars and planes – a picture of what reality has in store for them. Imagine, COP28, pretty much like COP27, held in Sharm El Sheikh Egypt in November 2022, is attended by some 70,000 people, or “participants”. Thousands are from NGOs and businesses who are using the event for networking. About 2,000 of them – maybe more – are lobbyists for oil companies or governments, or corporations, depending on fossil fuels for their economies, production and for their future. They are not lobbying for phasing out the world’s most important source of energy. About 85% of all energy used in the world stems from hydrocarbons. These lobbyists are in Dubai at the COP28 to make oil and gas deals for profit. Image: COP 28 President Dr. Sultan Al Jaber: Inaugural Plenary Address (Source) COP28 President Dr. Sultan Al Jaber: Inaugural Plenary Address This year more than ever. And Sultan Al Jabar will connect them to ADNOC dealmakers, as well as commercial managers of other large petrol and gas companies present at the COP28 – and previously at COP27, and previously at… well, you get the picture. Imagine, Since the Earth summit in 1992 in Rio, every year the same – just bigger – circus – while fossil fuel consumption rises. Now as then, of the world’s total energy consumption, about 85% stems from fossil fuels. There has been no change in hydrocarbon energy use in 30 years of pledging “good doing” and temperature and CO2 emissions reduction – and what-not nonsense. The number of lobbyists and the business deals grow — and the world’s public at large keeps slumbering away, and the number of COP participants grows every year. What level of CO2 emission would a 2-week summit attended by 70,000 people, many of them big shots and big spenders, generate? Probably thousands of tons – or more – of CO2. Just think of the air traffic for the participants, back and forth, many of the VIPs come in their private jets – not unlike the bigwigs going to the annual WEF meetings in Davos. Plus, the food and drink – production, transport, consumption, the air-conditioned comforts of the attendees’ hotel rooms – and much more. You got it. Or, has anybody dared to calculate the CO2 emissions of the currently active, lingering, and endless wars and conflicts around the globe? Driven, of course, by the dark forces behind the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), call it the hardly visible Financial-Military-IT-Media-Pharma (FMIMP) Complex? Talking about CO2 and other “greenhouse gases” emissions emanating from wars is a strictly forbidden topic for the COPs. Otherwise, you might endanger the huge profit concept of the FMIMP Complex. After all, they call the shots and pull the strings on the indoctrination and dumbing down of the people so they believe in climate change – which is so severe, it is said, that it affects life on earth within the span of a human life of about 80 years. To be sure, climate changes all the time. But by far the main driver of real climate change is the sun. Solar movements account for about 97% of Mother Earth’s climate. That was the case since the earth exists. Major climate changes may occur within 20,000 to 30,000 years with shorter cycles in between, but always at a pace, so that life on earth can adapt. That has been the history until now, and real science tells us, this history continues its course for the foreseeable billions of years left for Mother Earth. Take this – nobody pays the slightest attention to the CO2 and other “greenhouse gas” generating events like these GOPs and the Western-driven endless wars. But the Dutch government plans to force close up to 3,000 farms, one-third of Dutch farmland to become idle, because – literally – of farting cows and other agricultural prone methane emissions, purportedly affecting our climate. Tiny Holland, barely 42,000 km2 and about 18 million people, is the second largest agricultural goods exporter in the world, just after the United States. Might there be another Bill Gates agenda – misery and death by starvation – behind this ludicrous endeavor? Also worth mentioning may be this little innocent zoom anecdote just a few days ago, between Mary Robinson, former Irish President, and Sultan Al Jaber, the head of COP28. Ms. Robinson tells the Sultan, “We are in an absolute crisis that affects particularly women and children… as we have not yet committed to phasing out fossil fuels…. You, as the President of COP28, could now say with much credibility as you are the CEO of ADNOC …. “We must phase out fossil fuels and convert world economies into affordable, renewable, and clean energies. It will not happen overnight, but it is urgent. That’s what I would like to hear, your word “urgent”.” Sultan Al Jaber, with much patience, responds – “There is no science behind what you are asking me to do, which is phase out fossil fuels, oil, gas, coal… you are lying about it and you want me to lie about it on your behalf.” The ADNOC Chairman adds, that phasing out of coal, oil and gas would take the world ‘back into caves’. See video below. COP28 will end like all the previous COPs – no firm conclusions. The “agreements” of the Paris COP21 are still unfulfilled; they are talked about, but remain unfulfilled. Countries’ governments will continue thinking about the Paris agreements, and consider solutions, and present and debate them at the next COP, and the next… Amen. * Note to readers: Please click the share button above. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles. Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020). Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing. https://youtu.be/R3uQHT7PyNA https://www.globalresearch.ca/climate-scam-revealed-cop28/5842976

November 29: Today’s news on Palestine & Israel – Day 54 Truce/prisoner update, humanitarian situation, West Bank killings, messages from Pope & President Biden, $18 Billion for Israel, and more [email protected] November 29, 2023 November 29: Today’s news on Palestine & Israel – Day 54 A Palestinian man cooks inside his damaged apartment in the Khezaa district on the outskirts of the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, following weeks of Israeli bombardment. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP) (photo) ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: November 29 is the date that the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the partition of Palestine in 1947. Resolution 181 called for the creation of an Arab state and a Jewish state, but was never implemented on the ground. This vote was obtained through bribes and threats, was opposed by the U.S. State Department, and has no force of law. November 29 is also the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, an official observance adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1977. The date was chosen for its significance to the Palestinian people, who are still waiting for their inalienable rights as defined by the General Assembly. Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here. For more news, go here and here.**** Live broadcast news from the region is here. Latest statistics: Palestinian death toll: OCHA reports at least 14,571* (~14,329 in Gaza** (including at least 6,150 children and 4,000 women), and at least 242 in the West Bank). This does not include an estimated 7,000 more still buried under rubble. Euro-Med Monitor reports 20,360 Palestinian deaths. *IAK does not yet include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile is being disputed; although much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, experts are still looking into the incident. Israel is blocking an international investigation. Israel killed more Palestinians in a little over a month after Oct. 7 than in all the previous 22 years combined. Palestinian injuries: 39,093** (including at least 36,000 in Gaza** and 3,101 in the West Bank). **NOTE: it is impossible to offer an accurate number of injuries in Gaza due to the ongoing bombardment and communication disruption. It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties. in Gaza**, . About 1.8 million people have been displaced (nearly 80% of the population); 7,000 are missing (4,700 women and children) and presumed to be under rubble. Reported Israeli death toll ~1,200 (4 killed in West Bank, 75 in Gaza), including 32 Americans, and ~5,400 injured, approximately 30 children). NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel may have been caused by Israeli soldiers; additionally, since Israel has a policy of universal conscription, it is unknown how many of those attending the outdoor rave a few miles from Gaza on stolen Palestinian land were Israeli soldiers. RECOMMENDED READING: Israel has lost control of the narrative – October 7 truths coming out Hover over each bar for exact numbers. Source: IsraelPalestineTimeline.org Truce/hostage/prisoner news: Hamas has released 86 prisoners so far, including 66 Israelis. Israel has released a total of 180 Palestinian prisoners, including women and children. Another group of captives is expected to be released on Wednesday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. 160 people, 100 of them Israeli civilians, are still being held captive in Gaza. 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners are still in Israeli prisons. 2,070 have not been charged or tried. As reportedly agreed upon by Israel and Hamas, the initial four-day pause has been extended for an additional 48 hours starting on 28 November. Al Jazeera reports on leaks coming out that there are negotiations between Israel and Hamas to release additional captives and extend the ceasefire by another five days. (07:50 GMT) Humanitarian update: At least 750 trucks have crossed the Rafah border into Gaza since Friday. That works out to roughly 150 trucks per day. Earlier this week, UNRWA officials told Al Jazeera that 200 trucks of aid would be needed daily for two months to meet the population’s basic needs. (09:25 GMT) Across the Gaza Strip, more than 46,000 homes have been destroyed and over 234,000 housing units have been otherwise damaged. These constitute over 60 per cent of the housing stock as of 24 November. Palestinians in Gaza are reporting being shot at by the Israeli army while visiting their destroyed homes in at least one part of Gaza City. There have been at least two other incidents today amid the ongoing truce between Israel and Hamas: Israeli forces opened fire on a Palestinian boat and shelled the coast of Khan Younis in southern Gaza at dawn. (11:00 GMT) Gaza’s civil defense team is facing difficulties digging bodies out from underneath rubble after weeks of Israeli army bombardments in Gaza. They have recovered 160 bodies, with reportedly at least 7,000 more buried underneath the rubble. They suffer from a lack of heavy machinery and fuel. (10:10 GMT) On 27 November, the MoH in Gaza announced that the Shifa Hospital in Gaza city has been able to reactivate its dialysis department. As of 28 November, an additional hospital resumed operating partially. Five hospitals are now operating in the north, albeit partially. On 28 November, the Gaza city municipality warned of the health and environmental ramifications of the accumulation of more than 35 tons of solid waste in the city. The solid waste cannot be transferred to the main landfill located in the vicinity of Gaza’s perimeter fence, due to prohibition by the Israeli military, the municipality stated. On 28 November, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) stated that Gaza suffers a US$1.6 million daily loss in farm production. The institution assesses the losses are likely higher considering the destruction of farm equipment and farmland, and damage caused to thousands of trees, especially olive trees. The economic impact is also significant, considering that 55 per cent of the Gaza’s agricultural products are exported, PCBS stated. RECOMMENDED VIEWING: My life as a Palestinian fighter Senate leader Chuck Schumer, who says God made him a “guardian of Israel,” said he’ll bring the emergency aid bill up for a vote next week. The bill includes over $14 billion for Israel, bringing the total amount of Americans’ tax money to Israel this year to $18 billion – $50 million per day. West Bank news: Raid on Jenin: The Israeli army has reportedly blown up two homes and also destroyed roads and water mains, as its raid on Jenin and its refugee camp continues for more than 12 hours. Dozens of armored military vehicles, hundreds of soldiers, and at least four bulldozers stormed Jenin, a town that has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance, Tuesday evening. Israeli forces also blocked the entrances of two main hospitals – and briefly of a third one. (09:15 GMT) Israeli forces have closed off the city and set up military checkpoints on all approach routes. Two children have been shot and killed by Israeli forces, the Palestinian Health Ministry said: a nine-year-old was shot in the head and a 15-year-old was shot in the chest. The total number of people arrested since October 7 is now more than 3,200, the Palestinian Prisoners Club said. (11:10 GMT) RECOMMENDED READING: Jenin: How the city became a symbol of Palestinian resistance Other news: Hamas invites Elon Musk to Gaza to witness ‘massacres and destruction’ The invitation from senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan came on Tuesday. The previous day, the tech billionaire, who owns social media platform X, had visited a kibbutz targeted by Hamas gunmen during the October 7 attack and declared his commitment to do whatever was necessary to stop the spread of hatred. “We invite him to visit Gaza to see the extent of the massacres and destruction committed against the people of Gaza, in compliance with the standards of objectivity and credibility,” Hamdan said. Former Israeli PM Ehud Barak has called for the removal of Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, calling him “unfit to lead” in an opinion piece published in the Israeli publication Haaretz. Barak, who has also served as foreign minister and a military general, said that Netanyahu “can’t manage” the complexity of the current situation in the country, and he “must go before the consequences of his flaws become irreversible”. Barak called for the formation of a national unity government “without Netanyahu and the extreme right”. (03:50 GMT) President Biden tweeted: “Hamas unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace. To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek. We can’t do that.” – suggesting a call that Israel stop its attack. Hamas has said it was motivated to launch the attack essentially as the culmination of long-building anger over Israeli policy, including recent outbreaks of violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, but more generally over the treatment of Palestinians and the expansion of Israeli settlements. Pope Francis has called for a continuation of the truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, according to Vatican News. He said, I hope that the truce in Gaza might continue so that all the hostages might be freed, and the necessary humanitarian aid might be able to enter. May we please continue to pray for the serious situation in Israel and Palestine. Peace, please, peace. ****Some people are led to be skeptical of the Al Jazeera news network. However, the network has won several Emmys, a Peabody and the Overseas Press Association’s Edward R. Murrow award, among many other honors. The New York Times reports that “its reporting hews to international journalistic standards and provides a unique view on events in the Middle East.” it’s important to remember that all news sources may potentially have bias. For example, CNN uses anchors who used to work for the Israel Lobby, who have lifelong attachment to Israel, and who often exhibit pro-Israel spin and omission in their broadcasts. Similarly, Fox News is strongly influenced by Rupert Murdoch, who has a similarly strong attachment to Israel, and who may have fired Tucker Carlson, the network’s most popular host, in part due to the host’s opposition to war and his pattern of failing to exhibit sufficient devotion to Israel). RELATED: US poised to give Israel $18 billion in aid this year Gaza Civilians, Under Israeli Barrage, Are Being Killed at Historic Pace Israel has lost control of the narrative – October 7 truths coming out Essential facts and stats about the Hamas-Gaza-Israel war What media reports fail to tell you about October 7 More Palestinians killed in past 34 days than in the past 22 years combined https://israelpalestinenews.org/november-29-todays-news-on-palestine-israel-day-54/

Casualties Leila WarahNovember 29, 2023 A tearful Palestinian boy hugs his friends and family after being released from Israeli prison in the Israel-Hamas hostage exchange agreement. A Palestinian child prisoner is welcomed by friends and family after being released from an Israeli jail, as part of a hostage swap deal between Hamas and Israel. 150 Palestinians women and children were released as part of the exchange, while 60 Israelis were released from Hamas captivity in Gaza. (APA Images) 15,000+ killed*, including 6,150 children, and 33,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip. 240 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,200 *This figure has been confirmed by the government media office in Gaza. However, due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip (particularly in northern Gaza), the Gaza Ministry of Health has not been able to regularly update its tolls. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 20,000. Key developments 8-year-old Adam Samer Al-Ghoul and 15-year-old Basil Suleiman Abu Al-Wafa were shot dead by Israeli forces during a large-scale raid in Jenin, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank. Israel is looking into another extension on the truce, which was expected to end on Wednesday, reported the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation. A source close to Hamas said the group is willing to extend the truce by an additional four days, reported AFP news agency. OCHA: The amount of aid entering Gaza is still “insufficient to meet the extensive needs.” Israel’s former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is calling for the removal of Netanyahu, calling him “unfit to lead” as he “can’t manage” the complexity of the current situation in the country, and he “must go before the consequences of his flaws become irreversible.” Israel is still denying Palestinians from returning to their homes in the north of Gaza or from visiting the sea in certain parts of the Strip. Following the release of 12 captives, including 10 Israelis from Gaza, thirty Palestinian prisoners were freed and returned to their homes in occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank on Tuesday as part of the fifth prisoner swap. On Tuesday, the US said they airlifted 54,000 pounds of humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza. Following Elon Musk’s visit to Israel on Monday, Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan invited him to Gaza so he could “see the scale of the massacres.” Every day in Gaza, where 55% of the besieged enclave’s exports are agricultural products, they lose $1.6m in farm production as a result of Israeli bombardment, says the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Jordan cancels Christmas festivities in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, says the Jordan Council of Church Leaders. The Palestinian city of Bethlehem and the birthplace of Jesus Christ has also announced its plans to cancel Christmas celebrations in the city. Israel mulls over potential extension of truce While many of the people in Gaza are spending Wednesday, the last day of the temporary truce, trying to collect basic necessities like food and cooking oil in preparation for the Israeli bombardment to resume, political leaders are discussing yet another extension. Under the four-day truce deal, which began on Friday and has already been extended by two more days, Hamas has released 60 of about 240 captives from the Gaza Strip, and Israel has released 180 Palestinian political prisoners, all women and children. Another round of hostage exchanges is expected to take place on Wednesday evening. Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, says the group has been working “very hard” with the mediating countries to “reach a compromise” and “extend the ceasefire.” Hamas’s leadership was ready to enter deep negotiations about “a comprehensive deal” that would see the release of all the Palestinian prisoners for all the captives in Gaza, Hamad told Al Jazeera. On Wednesday, US lawmaker Rashida Tlaib similarly called for the release of all Palestinian political prisoners and captives held inside Gaza. “Every innocent civilian should be released and reunited with their family, no matter their faith or ethnicity,” she said, “Failure to do so demonstrates their refusal to view Palestinians as equal human beings who deserve the same rights, freedom and human dignity.” Within Israel, families of Israeli hostages have been for weeks protesting for their government to do more to secure the release of their relatives in Gaza, including a permanent ceasefire and an “all for all exchange”, which would see the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, who now number over 8,000, in exchange for the release of all Israeli captives, both soldiers and civilians. However, far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow Israeli forces to resume fighting in Gaza to “crush Hamas” in a post on x. ‘Everywhere you look, there is a child in need’ The humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen as people die from a lack of medical care, risks of infection skyrocket, and nearly 80% of the population has been left homeless. Despite the increase of supplies entering Gaza since the ‘humanitarian pause’ began, the volume of incoming commodities is insufficient to meet the extensive needs, says the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Aid groups are calling for the immediate re-opening of more crossing points, including for the entry of commercial goods. “Everywhere you turn is a child incredibly in need,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told Al Jazeera while standing outside the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. “Multiple children with amputations, little boys and little girls who six, seven weeks ago were playing football with their friends.” Elder praised the “incredible, brave, tireless health workers who are working around the clock” to tend “to every child they can.” However, “doctors are having to make decisions they shouldn’t have to make,” he said. “It will only be enough if these nail-biting pauses are extended into a ceasefire, into a lasting peace. We cannot possibly think that the destruction of Gaza and the killing of children is going to create peace in the region. That’s utterly nonsensical,” Elder concluded. In a video shared by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), plastic and reconstructive surgeon Hafez Abukhussa, based in Khan Younis, says he has been working “non-stop” since October 7. “Can you imagine receiving 100 to 200 patients a day, sometimes 500 patients a day?” he asked, adding that most of his patients are women and children. Despite the pressure and shortage of supplies at the hospital in Khan Yunis, Abukhussa said: “We know we are in danger at any time, but we will keep doing the same.” “We are calling for the increase of fuel supplies to the strip,” EU Commissioner Janez Lenarcic told journalists in Brussels. “The humanitarian access should be based on the needs and not on some restrictions.” “The ceasefire must be extended indefinitely,” Lenarcic said. Calls for ceasefire swell In light of the deteriorating circumstances in Gaza and continued disapproval from the American public about the role the US is playing in Israel’s war on Gaza, the US government narrative is ever so slightly shifting. Many social media users speculated that US President Joe Biden had indirectly called for an end to the war in a carefully crafted social media post on X on Wednesday. “Hamas unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace. To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek,” said Biden. “We can’t do that,” continued Biden, who has previously refused to call for a lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, US Senator Peter Welch was the second senator to call for a ceasefire and an end to the war, adding to the mounting pressure on Biden to call for a permanent ceasefire. “I fully support Israel’s right to pursue those who ordered and carried out the attacks of October 7. But Israel must not do so in a way that leads to massive civilian casualties and the large-scale destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza. This will only incite more enemies against Israel and the US,” Welch said in a statement calling for indefinite ceasefire. Similarly, Sheikha Alya Ahmed Saif Al Thani, the Qatari ambassador said she hopes “that this humanitarian truce will lead to a sustained and durable ceasefire that will put a stop to the war machine and the bloodshed,” while addressing the UN General Assembly. ‘For the Israeli government, the priority is not security’ Political analyst Mohammed Cherkaoui told Al Jazeera the Netanyahu government has not been able to achieve any of its military objectives but is still looking for a “zero-sum victory” against Hamas. “This is the debate in Israel now. After two months, nothing has materialized except massive Palestinian deaths. But there is zero gain in terms of a victory for Israel,” Cherkaoui, a professor of conflict resolution and diplomacy at George Mason University, continued. Similarly, Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan stated that Israel has “failed miserably” both militarily and politically in Gaza and that none of the state’s objectives have been reached, reported Al Jazeera. He also claimed that the number of Israeli soldiers killed and wounded during the ground invasion was higher than the Israeli military claims. When the fighting resumes, “enemy’s losses” will increase in the coming days, warned Hamdan. Addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour called on the UN to reaffirm its “permanent responsibility towards the question of Palestine” and for the end of the “grave and historic injustice [Palestinians] have borne for over 75 years, since the start of the Nakba”. “For the Israeli government, the priority is not security; it is the destruction of the Palestinian nation,” Mansour added. Two children killed in large-scale military raid in Jenin As the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel in Gaza continues, Israeli forces have continued their violent attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Overnight on Tuesday and well into Wednesday, Israeli forces conducted a “massive arrest campaign” on Jenin Refugee camp, forcing citizens in the Damj neighborhood from their homes amid violent confrontations, reported Wafa news agency. So far, at least two children have been killed during the violent military incursion, 8-year-old Adam Samer Al-Ghoul and 15-year-old Basil Suleiman Abu Al-Wafa. CCTV footage released of the moment 8-year-old Adam was killed show the young boy turning and running away along with some other boys, when he is shot down with his back turned, before being dragged out of the street by another boy. Adam was reportedly shot in the head. Israeli forces also prevented an ambulance from evacuating an injured man in Jenin who was shot by Israeli forces for over 40 minutes before arresting him. Christos Christou, the international president of Doctors Without Borders, was at Khalil Suleiman Hospital in Jenin when Israeli forces launched a large-scale raid on the city. “It has already been two-and-a-half hours that we are trapped in our hospital here in Jenin,” Christou said in a video posted on x. “There is no way for any of the injured patients to reach the hospital and there is no way for us to reach these people,” he added that Israeli military vehicles blocked the entrances to the hospital and have prevented ambulances from leaving. “Two Palestinians died of wounds while ambulances could not reach them,” he said; it is unclear if he was referring to the two young boys reported killed by the Ministry of Health. The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) emergency services said that the Israeli army arrested an injured Palestinian from inside a PRCS ambulance at the entrance of Jenin Governmental Hospital. A message from Hisham Awartani Hisham Awartani, one of the three Palestinian university students who were shot and injured in Vermont in an apparent hate crime, released a statement saying that the “hideous crime” did not happen in a vacuum, calling attention to the worsening situation in the West Bank. “I am but one casualty in a much wider conflict,” he said in his statement, which was read at a vigil at Brown University, where he studies. “Had I been shot in the West Bank, where I grew up, the medical services which saved my life here would have likely been withheld by the Israeli army. The soldier who would have shot me would go home and never be convicted,” said Awartani, who is still in hospital, “Any attempt like this is horrific, be it here or in Palestine.” Before you go – we need your support At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever. Our traffic has increased ten times since October 7, and we need your help to cover our increased expenses. Support our journalists with a donation today. https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-54-two-children-killed-by-israeli-forces-in-jenin-amid-discussions-of-truce-extension/

Did Israel build a bunker under al-Shifa hospital? Ali Abunimah 16 November 2023 Israel’s ongoing assault on al-Shifa hospital – where 7,000 people are currently besieged in desperate conditions – may be part of its attempt to prove its claims that Hamas operates a sophisticated command bunker under the hospital. That James Bond villain-like lair was depicted in an animation released by the Israeli army last month. Israel has never offered any evidence for its claims. But as I explain in the video at the top of this article recorded on Wednesday, its assertions go back to at least 2009. That year, The New York Times reported that “The Israeli intelligence chief, Yuval Diskin, in a report to the Israeli cabinet, said that the Gaza-based leadership of Hamas was in underground housing beneath the No. 2 building of al Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza. That allegation cannot be confirmed.” Also in 2009, Haaretz reported that “Senior Hamas officials in Gaza are hiding out in a ‘bunker’ built by Israel, intelligence officials suspect.” “Many are believed to be in the basements of the al-Shifa hospital complex in Gaza City, which was refurbished during Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip,” the Tel Aviv newspaper added. And in 2014, the pro-Israel publication Tablet asserted that “The Israelis are so sure about the location of the Hamas bunker … not because they are trying to score propaganda points, or because it has been repeatedly mentioned in passing by Western reporters – but because they built it.” “Back in 1983, when Israel still ruled Gaza, they built a secure underground operating room and tunnel network beneath al-Shifa hospital – which is one among several reasons why Israeli security sources are so sure that there is a main Hamas command bunker in or around the large cement basement beneath the area of Building 2 of the hospital,” Tablet added. Israel claims it destroyed underground infrastructure in 2021 During its assault on Gaza in May 2021, Israel heavily bombed the area around al-Shifa, perpetrating what came to be known as the al-Wihda Street massacre. “The air raids turned one of the busiest streets in Gaza, and the main access point to the strip’s chief hospital al-Shifa, into a crater-marked moonscape,” Britain’s The Independent reported at the time. “In place of apartment blocks are mangled heaps of concrete fringed with curls of iron rebar and scraps of belongings.” When challenged over the death and devastation its attacks caused to apartment buildings and their civilian residents near al-Shifa, the Israeli military claimed that it was attacking “underground military infrastructure” that was located under the road. “The underground military facilities collapsed causing the foundations of the civilian houses above them to collapse as well leading to unintended casualties,” the army added. Israel never presented any evidence to support these claims. But now, as it besieges and attacks the hospital again, Israel expects the world to believe that Hamas would keep its main command center in exactly the location Israeli and American newspapers have said it is in for years, and which Israel asserted in 2021 had been substantially destroyed. Still, given Israel’s propensity to lie, it may well “discover” an underground facility which Israel itself built, and try to present it to the world as vindication of its accusations. Israel releases more videos On Thursday evening, the Israeli military released a video showing a cache of weapons displayed on the ground in an outdoor area, that it claims was found in al-Shifa hospital. The military offered no evidence that the weapons – about a half dozen rifles, some magazines, hand grenades and what appears to be a drill – were found inside the hospital. It also released a video showing what it claims is the entrance to a tunnel near the hospital. The brief video shows a hole in the ground surrounded by overturned earth and rubble, making it difficult to discern what is depicted. Earlier this month, Israel claimed to have found the entrance to a Hamas tunnel near the Qatari-funded Sheikh Hamad hospital. The opening was in fact a water reservoir for the hospital. Biden admits “indiscriminate bombing” by Israel Trapped inside al-Shifa, some 7,000 people face a catastrophic situation and a slow death, without a water supply, food, medicine, medical oxygen, fuel or electricity. On Thursday, Israel continued to lay siege to al-Shifa as its troops ransacked buildings and bulldozers carried out excavations around the hospital and its grounds, including severing the main water line. This comes as US President Joe Biden continued to push Israel’s claims that Hamas uses the hospital as a command center. He also repeated previously debunked atrocity propaganda that Hamas fighters beheaded and burned dozens of Israeli babies on 7 October. And despite other comments Wednesday evening that show Biden to be out of touch with the realities of the situation, he did inadvertently admit that Israel has been bombing Gaza indiscriminately. Defending what he claimed was a careful Israeli assault on al-Shifa, the president said “this is a different story than I believe was occurring before, an indiscriminate bombing.” This admission means there can be no doubt that Biden has been arming Israel while knowing it is indiscriminately killing civilians, including thousands of children – a confession that will be of great interest to those trying to hold him legally accountable for war crimes and stop the slaughter in Gaza. Patients dying Speaking with Al Jazeera Arabic on Thursday, al-Shifa hospital’s director Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya said that one dialysis patient had died earlier in the day and four others faced imminent death. In total the hospital is caring for 45 patients who require dialysis – something they can’t receive with no electricity to run the machines. Two of some 650 injured people had died because staff could not provide effective treatment. Wounds he said are becoming seriously infected, some with maggots. Of 39 premature babies in the hospital, three had died in recent days, according to Abu Salmiya. With no electricity or fuel, incubators have stopped functioning. Purified water to make special formula for the babies has run out, so staff are using ordinary water and some of the infants are now sick with diarrhea, infections and fever. Thousands of displaced people, many of them children, have no food and are suffering from worsening desperation and hunger. Meanwhile, according to Dr. Abu Salmiya, the hospital compound is besieged from all sides by tanks and bulldozers, but no one can see clearly what they are doing. He said that anyone who tries to move between hospital buildings is shot at by snipers or drones. Israelis refuse to speak According to Dr. Abu Salmiya, hospital administrators tried to send a delegation to speak with the Israeli military and ask for food, water, fuel, medicine and other urgent relief supplies. On Wednesday, Israel presented a few guns and other equipment it claims to have found in one al-Shifa hospital building. The so-called evidence did not corroborate Israel’s longstanding claims that Hamas has a sophisticated command bunker under the hospital. It was met with the same widespread skepticism and derision as the farcical “evidence” of Hamas activity that Israel offered after it raided the Rantisi children’s hospital days earlier. Over the 48 hours that Israeli forces have occupied parts of the al-Shifa compound, no shots have been fired at them, according to Dr. Abu Salmiya. Palestinian resistance groups have firmly denied they use hospitals for military activities and have regularly called for impartial international bodies to visit the hospitals and investigate Israel’s claims. “Israeli soldiers briefly exchanged fire with gunmen outside the hospital before going in, a senior military official said, but more than 12 hours after it began, the operation appeared more like a police raid than a pitched battle,” The New York Times reported on Wednesday. The newspaper quoted a witness inside the hospital recounting that the Israelis “are digging and excavating and breaking tiles and looking.” While there is a particular focus on al-Shifa, Israel is also now laying siege to al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City. Biden repeats Israeli lies On Wednesday evening, President Joe Biden repeated Israeli assertions that Hamas has a major command center located under al-Shifa hospital. “Here’s the situation,” Biden told reporters after meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping in San Francisco. “You have a circumstance where the first war crime is being committed by Hamas by having their headquarters, their military hidden under a hospital. And that’s a fact. That’s what’s happened.” Administration officials have made similar assertions in recent days but have adamantly declined to offer any evidence for them. Nonetheless, they are a green light for Israel’s attack on al-Shifa. “We’ve discussed the need for them to be incredibly careful,” Biden added. “You have a circumstance where you know there is a fair number of Hamas terrorists. Hamas has already said publicly that they plan on attacking Israel again like they did before, to where they were cutting babies’ heads off to burn – burning women and children alive.” Last month Biden notoriously stated that he had seen photos corroborating Israeli claims that Palestinian fighters had beheaded dozens of beheaded babies, before the White House had to admit the president had been shown no such photos. Israel has presented no evidence for that claim and many of its other assertions. Meanwhile there’s a growing body of evidence that Israeli forces killed many of their own civilians on and after 7 October. Defending Israel’s actions at al-Shifa, Biden asserted, “they’re also bringing in incubators. They’re bringing in other – other means to help the people in the hospital, and they’ve given the doctors and – I’m told – the doctors and nurses and personnel an opportunity to get out of harm’s way.” Were Biden well-informed, he would know that al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza do not lack incubators, but the electricity and fuel to power them. Notably, al-Shifa director Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera earlier that the Israelis had delivered no supplies to the hospital – in spite of propaganda by the Israeli army designed to market its attack on the hospital as a “humanitarian” operation. Abu Salmiya said that despite the dire circumstances, the medical staff would not abandon their patients and would stay there and die with them if it came to that. Operation Al-Aqsa Flood al-Shifa Hospital https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/did-israel-build-bunker-under-al-shifa-hospital 👇https://donshafi911.blogspot.com/2023/11/did-israel-build-bunker-under-al-shifa.html

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 44: WHO says Israel turned Al-Shifa Hospital into ‘death zone,’ thousands of Palestinians ‘humiliated’ as they flee to southern Gaza Mustafa Abu SneinehNovember 19, 2023 Palestinians pray during the funeral of their relatives, who were killed after an Israeli airstrike on the city of Deir al-Balah, at Al-Aqsa Hospital, November 19, 2023. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images) Palestinians pray during the funeral of their relatives, who were killed after an Israeli airstrike on the city of Deir al-Balah, at Al-Aqsa Hospital, November 19, 2023. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images) Casualties 12,012 killed*, including 4,900 children, and 32,300 wounded in Gaza 215 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,200 *This figure covers the casualties from October 7 to November 16. Due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip (particularly in northern Gaza), the Gaza Ministry of Health has not been able to regularly update its tolls. Key Developments World Health Organization described Al-Shifa Hospital, which was raided by Israeli forces last week and was emptied of nearly all patients, medical staff, and displaced civilians, as a “death zone.” Doctors Without Borders said a convoy evacuating 137 of its Palestinian staff members and their families was targeted by Israeli forces, killing one relative and injuring another on Saturday. Palestinians who were injured, elderly, or have kids were forced to get out of vehicles and walk an average of 10 hours for 14 km to Salah Al-Deen Street’s checkpoint. Horrific stories spread of women harassed, young men stripped naked in front of the crowds, doctors and journalists detained and interrogated, and people sent into a hole dug in the ground at the Salah Al-Deen Street checkpoint. As of November 11, 807,000 Palestinians remained in the areas of the northern Gaza Strip, after an estimated 400,000 fled south of the Gaza Valley throughout the first month of the war. Jordan sets up a field hospital in the city of Nablus, which has raised alarm in anticipation of a further deterioration of the situation in the occupied West Bank. The Israel Prison Service imposes punitive measures against Palestinian prisoners, including poor-quality and insufficient food, denial of access to the exercise yard, daily power cuts, medical neglect and restriction on family visits. Al-Shifa Hospital turned into “death zone” as almost 400,000 Palestinians flee north of Gaza Strip The WHO described Al-Shifa Hospital, which was raided by Israeli forces last week and was emptied of nearly all patients, medical staff, and displaced civilians, as a “death zone.” “Signs of shelling and gunfire were evident. The team saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and was told more than 80 people were buried there,” the WHO team who spent an hour inside Al-Shifa said. On Sunday, Mohammed Al-Zaqout, the director of the Gaza hospital, told Al-Jazeera Arabic that four premature babies had died in Al-Shifa, which stopped receiving patients and directed them to be treated at the Indonesian Hospital. Zaqout said that medical staff at Al-Shifa are in talks with the WHO to evacuate the remaining 32 premature babies in the incubators. There are still 25 medical staff and 291 patients inside Al-Shifa as of Sunday morning, two of them in the ICU and 22 in the dialysis department. “Lack of clean water, fuel, medicines, food and other essential aid over the last 6 weeks have caused Al-Shifa Hospital…to essentially stop functioning as a medical facility,” the WHO said. “Corridors and the hospital grounds were filled with medical and solid waste, increasing the risk of infection. Patients and health staff with whom they spoke were terrified for their safety and health, and pleaded for evacuation,” the organization added. Israel claimed that Hamas fighters had a command and control center and web of tunnels under Al-Shifa, while the U.S. said that, based on intelligence sources, the hospital functioned as a node for Hamas’s operations. Hamas and Palestinian resistance factions were adamant in denying these claims and repeatedly called for international investigation teams to inspect the facility. Almost a week after its brutal siege and raid on Al-Shifa on November 15, Israeli forces have yet to publish evidence of Hamas’ tunnels or weapons cache in Al-Shifa. The occupation forces released a video showing a few rifles, bullet magazines, and bullet-proof vests, claiming it was left behind at Al-Shifa by fighters of Hamas. The video was taken down and then reposted after removing a section in which a laptop was presented as evidence of Hamas’s presence at Al-Shifa. Al Jazeera political analyst Marwan Bishara commented on the Israeli forces’ video, saying, “I’m baffled as to why Hamas keeps ‘leaving behind’ guns for the Israeli military to ‘find’ as evidence for their presence under hospitals!” “Oh yea, leave the gun, take the cannolis,” he wrote in X, in a satirical reference to a scene from The Godfather. Doctors Without Borders convoy targeted The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced on Saturday evening that 12,012 Palestinians were martyred in the Israeli bombardments and airstrikes since October 7, and around 32,300 were wounded. Until October 17, there were 3,750 people reportedly missing or under the rubble, 1,750 of them children. Israeli bombardments killed 4,900 children, 3,155 women, and 690 elderly people. Two-thirds of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip have stopped operating, and medical organizations such as the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) are struggling to respond to calls to evacuate the wounded or rescue the trapped under the rubble. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said a convoy evacuating 137 MSF Palestinian staff members and their families was targeted by Israeli forces, killing one MSF employee’s relative and injuring another on Saturday. “MSF condemns in the strongest terms this deliberate attack,” the organization said. MSF informed the Israeli forces of their movement towards the southern Gaza Strip. The convoy was made of five cars, all marked with the MSF emblem on the roof, carrying 137 people, 65 of them children, who were stuck for almost a week in Gaza City. However, they could not cross the overcrowded Israeli checkpoint at Salah Al-Deen Street and had to drive back 7 km north into Gaza, when they were targeted in Al-Wehda Street. “MSF calls again to urgently allow the evacuation of our staff, as well as of thousands of other people, trapped by fighting and living in extremely dire conditions in northern Gaza. We are calling for an immediate ceasefire, which is the only way for corridors to be implemented in order to safely evacuate trapped civilians,” it said in a statement. Salah Al-Deen Street checkpoint: ‘The corridor of death and humiliation’ For the past week, Israeli tanks and forces were stationed on the east and west of Salah Al-Deen Street, which cut the northern Gaza Strip into two halves. Palestinians evacuating areas of intense fighting in Gaza City, Sheikh Ridwan, Beit Lahia, Jabalia, and Beit Hanoun had to pass through an Israeli military checkpoint. Wafa correspondent Aseel Al-Akhras, who left Al-Shifa Hospital over the weekend, was among the thousands of people who took the perilous journey to the south on foot. She described the “humanitarian route” that Israel designated for civilians to flee south as the “corridor of humiliation and death.” Akhras said that Palestinians who were injured, elderly, or have kids, were forced to get out of vehicles and walk an average of 10 hours the 14km south to Salah Al-Deen Street’s checkpoint, which was surrounded by tanks.” She said she was detained at the checkpoint for more than an hour and a half. “The displaced girls and women were harassed, and one of them had her gold stolen. Some of the displaced were forced to completely remove their clothes in the cold, in front of all of us,” she said. Akhras said that Israeli tanks caused a cloud of soil and dirt to cover people while waiting. They were asked to raise their IDs, while some of them were taken into a hole dug near the checkpoint. “We were interrogated by the occupation soldiers, and I was separated from my family. Doctors and Red Crescent employees were also interrogated and arrested…we saw them shooting a young man whose fate we do not yet know. They also forced six young men to kneel before the [Israeli] occupation flag at gunpoint,” she said. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, as of November 11, there were about 807,000 Palestinians living in the areas of the northern Gaza Strip. An estimated 400,000 fled to the south of Gaza Valley to the areas of Khan Yunis, Dier al-Balah, and Rafah. In the north of Gaza Valley, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said that 183,000 forcibly displaced people are sheltered in 154 UNRWA facilities. On Sunday morning, Russia announced that it evacuated 550 people with Palestinian and Russian dual citizenship from Gaza, 230 of whom are children. In the past 24 hours, Israel bombed hospitals, schools, mosques, and family houses in various areas in Gaza. On Sunday, a shell targeted the children’s department at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. In Al-Nafaq Street in Gaza, Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike on a house on Saturday evening, while in the central Gaza Strip, at least 31 people were killed in bombardments. In Nuseirat camp and Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, 15 people were killed on Sunday morning. Al Jazeera Arabic reported that Israeli forces destroyed four mosques in Jabalia refugee camp, bringing the number of completely destroyed mosques to 76 and targeted churches to three. Jordan’s King Abdullah II called for a ceasefire in Gaza to put an end to the humanitarian crisis created by the “ugly war against civilians” during a meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission. “Israel’s continuation of its hideous war on Gaza and its illegal violations in the West Bank and Jerusalem will lead to an explosion in the situation in the entire region,” said King Abdullah. U.S. President Joe Biden stressed in an Op-ed in The Washington Post on Saturday that there will be no ceasefire before Hamas releases the Israeli captives taken on October 7. “As long as Hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, a ceasefire is not peace,” Biden wrote. Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s Foreign Minister and former spy chief, warned of the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, asserting that Israel’s possession of nuclear capabilities could trigger an arms race in the West Asia region. “The ongoing possession of nuclear weapons by Israel, coupled with the failure to denuclearize the region, will escalate the nuclear arms race, leading to increased nuclearization in the area. This is not a favorable situation for both the region and the world,” Fidan said in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic. West Bank: sixth Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli custody, Israeli forces kill three Palestinians As tension intensified in the occupied West Bank, Jordan set up a field hospital in the city of Nablus, which alarmed Palestinians anticipating a further deterioration in the situation. Jordan had set up field hospitals in the West Bank’s cities of Ramallah in 2000 and Jenin in 2001 during the early days of the Second Intifada. As of Sunday morning, 215 Palestinians have been martyred in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers. In Jenin, Issam Al-Fayed, 46, a person with special needs, was killed on Sunday morning by Israeli fire near the “horse” roundabout at the entrance of Jenin refugee camp. Omar Al-Laham, 20, from Dheisheh refugee camp, was killed when Israeli forces stormed the camp. A third Palestinian was killed in Aida, another refugee camp near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. On Sunday, Thaer Samih Abu Assab, 38, was the sixth Palestinian prisoner to die in Israeli custody since October 7. Qaddoura Fares, the head of the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Commission, told Wafa that Abu Assab is from the town of Qalqilya and died in the notorious Negev Desert Prison. Abu Assab was arrested in May 2005 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The Commission said Abu Assab’s death was a “premeditated assassination operation.” Last week, Ahmad Muhammad Mari, 33, died inside Megiddo prison. On November 6, Majed Ahmad Zaqoul, 32, from the Gaza Strip, also died in the prison. In October, prisoners Omar Daraghmeh, 58, from Tubas, and Arafat Hamdan, 25, from Ramallah, died in Israeli custody. Another Palestinian prisoner from the Gaza Strip, whose identity is yet to be identified by the Commission, was also announced dead. The Commission said that the Israel Prison Service has imposed punitive measures against Palestinian prisoners, including insufficient and low-quality food, denial of access to the exercise yard, daily power cuts, medical neglect, and restrictions on family visitation. There are 7,000 Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails as of November 6, according to the Addameer prisoners’ rights group. Almost 2,070 of them are serving administrative detention terms, a policy used by Israel to detain Palestinians without charge or trial indefinitely. Before you go – we need your support At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever. Our traffic has increased ten times since October 7, and we need your help to cover our increased expenses. Support our journalists with a donation today. https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-44-who-says-israel-turned-al-shifa-hospital-into-death-zone-and-thousands-of-palestinians-humiliated-as-they-flee-to-southern-gaza/

Why So Many Countries Followed China’s Lockdown Example Ron Brown A novel coronavirus that was 10 times deadlier than the flu had gripped the world in 2019. Without a compass to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic, all lessons learned from previous viral pandemics were thrown out the window. The World Health Organization was adamant, “This is not the flu.” Tony Fauci terrified the US House of Representatives with forecasts of disaster. Global populations were defenseless without a vaccine for the novel coronavirus that no one had ever seen before. The only viable defense at the time was to shut down the world. China took the lead in lockdowns. Media exported from China showed people dropping dead in the streets. Caskets were piling up. Doors to buildings were sealed to lock in tenants. Throughout the panic, all reasonable alternative assessments of risks from the viral outbreak were ignored, censored, or rejected. Nevertheless, I wondered whether a video of a person falling down in the street was really representative of the entire population. Were caskets piling up largely due to families fearing to claim them because of contamination with the virus? I noticed that the front doors to my local mall in Ontario, Canada had also been sealed, just like in China apartment buildings, but this was only to control access through a single entrance to the building, not to seal in customers. My first clue that the emergency response to the outbreak of the coronavirus didn’t seem to make sense was when I heard Fauci tell television audiences that if our response seems to be overreacting, then we are probably doing the right thing. What? Since when is overreacting ever the right thing to do? Do generals win wars by overreacting? I looked at the numbers that Fauci had presented to the US House of Representatives concerning case and infection fatalities of the coronavirus. They were backwards! His 10-times deadlier prediction was simply a made-up number! This was in March 2020. By May 2020 it was obvious that people were NOT dying at the inflated rate Fauci had predicted. I published a paper on Fauci’s coronavirus mortality overestimations: Public Health Lessons Learned From Biases in Coronavirus Mortality Overestimation. But when I mentioned all this to my friends, they responded that the lower than predicted deaths just proved the lockdowns were working. Fauci was off the hook. Back to China. WHO/China Joint Mission on Covid-19 The answer to why countries followed China’s lockdowns is simple. They were told to do so by the World Health Organization (WHO). Why did the WHO tell them to do that? You might want to ask Dr. Bruce Aylward, the Director of the WHO/China Joint Mission on Covid-19 investigating the coronavirus outbreak. Aylward noticed a precipitous drop in novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) in China during February 2020. This was before China adopted WHO’s name of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Upon seeing China’s surveillance data, Aylward announced the spectacular findings to the world and told the world to do what China has done and lock down. But he appeared to make a fundamental epidemiological error by wrongly assuming that the association of China’s lockdowns with lower deaths proved the lockdowns were working (just like my friends had told me). Soon after in March 2020, China published its latest case definitions for NCP (Covid-19). In a nutshell, the definitions showed that no one could be declared to have died of the disease unless they had viral pneumonia (a severe acute respiratory illness), and only if no other virus normally associated with viral pneumonia was present, except SARS-CoV-2. Coinfections with the coronavirus were not acceptable criteria, and what should have been a broad surveillance case definition with high sensitivity to monitor the spread of the virus within the population narrowed down considerably into an overly specific diagnostic case definition. That pretty much sealed the deal to declare Covid-19 deaths in only single digits for many months during the pandemic throughout China. This super-low outcome impressed Dr. Bruce Aylward enough in February 2020 to implore the world to lock down. Did we ever! In the meantime, other countries used case and death definitions that went to the opposite extreme of China’s narrow diagnostic definitions, disseminating overinflated surveillance numbers without adjusting the numbers to remove bias. Even Fauci eventually admitted that reported cases and deaths counted WITH the coronavirus are much higher than cases and deaths counted FROM the coronavirus. Ironically, the WHO had previously published material on the correct use and interpretation of surveillance and diagnostic definitions in infectious disease outbreaks. Aylward didn’t appear to get the memo. There is more to the story. Was this even really a novel coronavirus, or just a novel genetic sequence of the coronavirus showing greater detail than previously available? China supposedly received updated genetic sequencing technology in late 2019. They had abandoned surveillance of SARS in 2003 for lack of technology. Now they were back in business again by the end of 2019. The team of virologists that reported the genetic sequence of the virus in Wuhan noted that it would be necessary to investigate the epidemiological evidence to guide infection control responses. Who has time for that? Shut it down! If the novel coronavirus isn’t really so novel, this would explain why the lockdowns didn’t work. We had already known that lockdowns don’t work in other viral pandemics. Even China eventually gave up its Zero Covid Policy after it was obvious that lockdowns weren’t working. My friends owe me some explanations to justify their lockdown views. Maybe Fauci isn’t off the hook after all. For more information on biases in Covid-19 case and death definitions, see my peer-reviewed article with cited references: Biases in COVID-19 Case and Death Definitions: Potential Causes and Consequences. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License For reprints, please set the canonical link back to the original Brownstone Institute Article and Author. Your financial backing of Brownstone Institute goes to support writers, lawyers, scientists, economists, and other people of courage who have been professionally purged and displaced during the upheaval of our times. You can help get the truth out through their ongoing work. https://brownstone.org/articles/why-so-many-countries-followed-chinas-lockdown-example/