[RD] War in Gaza: News Thread

[Bonyduck Campersang]

Turkey halts all trade with Israel over military actions in Gaza

Turkey has announced that it is suspending all imports and exports to Israel over its ongoing military action in Gaza.

apnews.com

Turkey confirming that they're BDSing Israel

 

[Birdjaguar]

Moderator Action: A 48 hour ceasefire to attend the wounded, retrieve the dead, feed the hungry and seek out war criminals has been declared. Thread closed until further notice.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Moderator Action: Open again, be nice!

 

[Arwon]

So to be clear for anyone else who was confused by that: there was not actually a ceasefire in the conflict.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Then we move into the cities! Let's go!!!!

It all will wrap around ole Chi-town and that should be a fun ride.

Fun?... more like:

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

Palestinian employee of German development agency ‘abused’ in Israeli jail

Baraa Odeh has told her lawyer from prison that she has been repeatedly strip-searched and physically assaulted.

www.aljazeera.com

She has since been sentenced to three months of administrative detention without charge.

Neither her husband, who is a German national, nor her family have had direct contact with Odeh since her arrest.

“Our life is upside down,” her sister Shireen Odeh told Al Jazeera, adding that her family is extremely concerned for her wellbeing.

“The only thing we do is think about her. We haven’t had a normal life since they arrested her.”

Mahmoud Hassan, a lawyer for Odeh who has spoken to her in prison, said she has been physically assaulted and subject to inhumane conditions.

“When she arrived [at Hasharon] prison, she was strip-searched while the policewoman was shouting at her. She was kept in a cell and later, a policeman that also shouted at her beat her on her leg,” said Hassan, who works with Addameer Prisoner Support, an NGO that supports Palestinian prisoners.

“The policeman pushed her to the corner and the keys he had injured her hand. He kicked her. She said she had marks on her chest. He was threatening to keep her in this cell overnight.

Israel has arrested 8,425 Palestinians, including about 280 women and 540 children, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem between October 7 and April 22, according to Addameer. Some 5,210 administrative detention orders have been issued during the same period, while 16 prisoners have died in Israeli prisons.

Meanwhile, Israel has prevented the Red Cross from making humanitarian visits to prison detainees since October 7.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

Blinken blames social media for disrupting Israel’s narrative of war in Gaza

Secretary of state said social media allows history context to ‘get lost’

www.independent.co.uk

The Utah Republican asked the top diplomat why “the PR has been so awful” against Israel since the beginning of the 7 October conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits a storage unit with humanitarian aid bound for Gaza at the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization in Amman, Jordan, Tuesday, April 30, 2024
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits a storage unit with humanitarian aid bound for Gaza at the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization in Amman, Jordan, Tuesday, April 30, 2024
“Why has Hamas disappeared in terms of public perception?” he continued. “An offer is on the table for a ceasefire and yet the world is screaming about Israel.”

Mr Blinken said that part of the reason for that dynamic was a changing media environment, where people no longer all read from the same authoritative news sources and instead learn about current events on chaotic social media feeds.

“Now of course we’re on an intravenous feed of information with new impulses, inputs every millisecond,” Mr Blinken said. “And of course the way this has played out on social media has dominated the narrative. You have a social media ecosystem, environment in which context, history, facts get lost and the emotion, the impact of images dominate. We can’t discount that, but I think it also has a very very challenging effect on the narrative.”

Mr Romney appeared to agree, saying the effect Mr Blinken was describing was why “there was such overwhelming support for us to potentially shut down TikTok.”

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sitta denied entry into France

The surgeon who helped treat patients during Israel’s war on Gaza was scheduled to speak at the French Senate.

www.aljazeera.com

More Western Democracy in action. Abu Sitta is a hero who worked tirelessly to provide treatment to critical patients all while suffering from a lack of power and lack of proper medicine.

I spent 43 days in Gaza’s now-destroyed hospitals. My mind is still there.

Now thousands of miles away, I think of my patients in Gaza and wonder: Are they still alive?

www.aljazeera.com

We quickly ran out of morphine and ketamine and resorted in desperation to using intravenous paracetamol as pain relief as there was nothing else available. Victims of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, including tens of thousands of children, underwent extremely painful procedures without anaesthetic; it felt criminal to perform these procedures. It’s indescribably heart-wrenching to hear children scream from pain that you are causing, even when you know you are only trying to save their lives.
One little girl in particular, only nine years old, had her body covered in shrapnel wounds. I had performed surgery on her, but the type of injury meant that the wounds needed disinfection every 36 hours to keep her alive. I spoke to her dad and explained that her temperature was rising and the infection was spreading to her blood and killing her slowly. Without morphine or ketamine, the only option was to disinfect the many wounds she had every 36 hours without sufficient pain relief. She was screaming in pain, her father was crying, and I was in tears too.
I treated many injuries caused by chemical bombs, which turn the human body into Swiss cheese. Chemical particles continue to burn through the skin for as long as they can access oxygen, reigniting when exposed to oxygen again. The first little boy, 13, I treated in the current onslaught on Gaza had such chemical burns down to the bone. Early on I had to come to terms with the fact that, due to the conditions we were in and the injuries we were dealing with, survival rates among the wounded would be very low.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/wrapup1-israel-begins-evacuating-part-rafah-ahead-threatened-assault-2024-05-06/

"It has been raining heavily and we don't know where to go. I have been worried that this day may come, I have now to see where I can take my family," one refugee in Rafah, Abu Raed, told Reuters via a chat app.
Witnesses said the areas in and around Rafah to which Israel wants to move people are already crowded and there is almost no room for more tents to be added.
An Israeli offensive in Rafah "would be devastating for 1.4 million people" sheltering there, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on X, adding it would keep a presence in Rafah as long as possible to provide aid.

 

[pigswill]

Blinken blames social media for disrupting Israel’s narrative of war in Gaza

Secretary of state said social media allows history context to ‘get lost’

www.independent.co.uk

Because of course ordinary people only react to the pictures and never consider context and history. Really? No intellectual arrogance there. Maybe the history doesn't entirely support the official narrative of Israel as innocent victims, maybe the history doesn't support the official narrative that only Israel has a reasonable claim to the land between the Jordan and the Med. Maybe ordinary people aren't as dumb as the official narrative would like.

 

[Remorseless1]

CNN is reporting Hamas has agreed to a 40-day ceasefire and the release of most hostages in return for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners. Israel's War Cabinet has not commented yet.

 

[Crezth]

Blinken blames social media for disrupting Israel’s narrative of war in Gaza

Secretary of state said social media allows history context to ‘get lost’

www.independent.co.uk

Because of course ordinary people only react to the pictures and never consider context and history. Really? No intellectual arrogance there. Maybe the history doesn't entirely support the official narrative of Israel as innocent victims, maybe the history doesn't support the official narrative that only Israel has a reasonable claim to the land between the Jordan and the Med. Maybe ordinary people aren't as dumb as the official narrative would like.

You’ve gotta love the people whose entire job is creating that context going on to whine about that. Real “oh the peasants not paying their taxes hurts my feelings” kinda moment.

 

[schlaufuchs]

CNN is reporting Hamas has agreed to a 40-day ceasefire and the release of most hostages in return for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners. Israel's War Cabinet has not commented yet.

It's never been about hostages

https://twitter.com/x/status/1787527587146707253

 

[Lexicus]

This whole sequence of events is like a fever dream. Leaving aside the morality questions for a moment, I remember Netanyahu declaring on like October 8th "every Hamas member is a dead man" - given that, what incentive does Hamas have to turn over the hostages for a temporary ceasefire? "Oh, we'll wait 40 days before we kill you all" isn't exactly an enticing negotiating position.

 

[Lexicus]

It's never been about hostages

https://twitter.com/x/status/1787527587146707253

If it had ever been about the hostages you wouldn't have seen heavy weapons used in the recapture of the kibbutzim.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

If it had ever been about the hostages you wouldn't have seen heavy weapons used in the recapture of the kibbutzim.

Or that Israel is bombing and restricting food to the same areas they claim the hostages are being held

 

[Lexicus]

Or that Israel is bombing and restricting food to the same areas they claim the hostages are being held

And then I read lib articles about how it's terrible that the IDF is reducing children to red rags but we have to "understand that many Israelis feel strongly there should be no aid to Gaza until the hostages are free" and so on

 

[Sommerswerd]

CNN article on the current ceasefire proposal:

Hamas accepts Gaza ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar​

Hamas said it has accepted a ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar which seeks to halt the seven-month war with Israel in Gaza.

In a statement Monday, Hamas said the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, told the Qatari prime minister and Egyptian intelligence minister that the militant group had accepted their proposal.

The Israeli government is now reviewing the Hamas response, CNN has learned. The Israeli prime minister’s office has declined to comment at this stage.

It’s unclear whether Hamas has agreed to the most recent ceasefire proposal, as outlined last week, or a revised version of it.

The most recent framework, which Israel helped craft but has not fully agreed to, calls for the release of between 20 and 33 hostages over several weeks in exchange for a temporary ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

After the initial exchange, according to that framework, there would follow what sources describe as the “restoration of sustainable calm” during which the remaining hostages, captive Israeli soldiers and the bodies of hostages would be exchanged for more Palestinian prisoners.

A diplomatic source familiar with the talks told CNN that after a day-long meeting in Doha, Qatar’s capital, between CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, mediators had convinced Hamas to accept a three-part deal.

“The bill is now firmly in (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu’s court,” the source said.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/06/midd...re-proposal-israel-gaza-latam-intl/index.html

 

[Broken_Erika]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas' proposal was "far from Israel's basic requirements", but negotiators would continue discussions.
.............
A senior Palestinian official familiar with the proposal told the BBC that Hamas had agreed to end "hostile activity forever" if the conditions were met.

That phrase hinted that Hamas might be contemplating the end of its armed struggle, although no further details were provided. It would come at the conclusion of a two-phase ceasefire deal, with each phase lasting 42 days.

The first phase would include the release of the female Israeli soldiers being held hostage, each in exchange for 50 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including some who are serving life sentences.

During this period, Israeli troops would remain within Gaza. But within 11 days of the ceasefire coming into force, Israel would begin dismantling its military facilities in the centre of the territory and would withdraw from Salah al-Din Road, which is the main north-south route, and the coastal road.

After 11 days, displaced Palestinians would be allowed to return to the north.

complete lifting of the blockade of Gaza, according to the official.

"The ball is now in the court of [Israel], whether it will agree to the ceasefire agreement or obstruct it," a senior Hamas official told AFP news agency.

The were celebrations in Gaza as news of the Hamas statement spread.

But an unnamed Israeli official swiftly told Reuters news agency that the proposal Hamas had accepted was a "softened" version of an Egyptian proposal which included "far-reaching" conclusions that Israel could not accept.

"This would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal," the official said.

Later, Prime Minister Netanyahu's office said in a statement: "Even though the Hamas proposal is far from Israel's basic requirements, Israel will send a delegation of mediators to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement under conditions acceptable to Israel."

At the same time, Israel's war cabinet had decided to continue the Rafah operation "to exert military pressure on Hamas to advance our war aims: the release of our hostages, destroy Hamas's military and governing capabilities and ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future", it added.

The statement came at the same time as the Israeli military announced it was striking Hamas targets in eastern Rafah.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68964108

 

[Lexicus]

"This would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal," the official said.

Unfortunately I think this little line forecasts where things go from here. "Sensible opinion" will deem it "misinformation" that Israel rejected the deal. Basically the playbook laid out in what @innonimatu linked last week(?).