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[RD] War in Gaza News: Pas de Deux

With the US, their only source of serious "free" support, finally having a nationalist/transactional government that is not on their leash, foreign support dries.

The only source of support for Israel that remained for Israel's genocide plan was the US and Trump cut it even before the ammo in the US ran out.
Citation desperately needed.
Within one day we already have the Crook moving to sanction the ICC for their charges against Israeli leaders, lifted sanctions on far-right Israeli paramilitary "settlers" in the West Bank (which was immediately followed by said "settlers", by the Israeli governments own admission, raiding and attacking Palestinian villages but also attacking the Israeli troops sent to restore order, and nominated as UN ambassador someone who believes that Israel has a biblical right to the West Bank. The Al Jazeera article notes the Crook's pick for ambassador to Israel supports settlements in the West Bank.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...est-bank-sanctions-lifted-violence-rcna188503
 
No one takes the ICC seriously. That does not mean the new US government will be dumping more of its treasury and materiel in Israel. And that is what actually matters.
If it makes you happy I'm not attributing thus cut to Trump's humanititarian concerns, if any, so much as his ability to recognize a losing hand and fold.

They're out of bullets, eh?

The plains wars weren't fought with a rag tag army, btw. They were fought with what the US was left with after the Civil War - which was world class.

It wasn't. Logistics prevented mass movements of troops and artillery there, and the logic of the war had nothing to do with that of the ciovil war.
The US did had the population and state capability to replenish and rotate troops. It was enough to conquer all that land. And that is how wars are won - by the application of enough force.
Israel alone does not have enough force to realize the crazy plans of a greater Israel.
 
No one takes the ICC seriously. That does not mean the new US government will be dumping more of its treasury and materiel in Israel. And that is what actually matters.
If it makes you happy I'm not attributing thus cut to Trump's humanititarian concerns, if any, so much as his ability to recognize a losing hand and fold.
You say that, but you don't offer any support for it beyond "trust me he won't do it".
Nobody ever earned money by trusting the Crook.
 
Logistics prevented mass movements of troops and artillery there, and the logic of the war had nothing to do with that of the civil war.
The US did had the population and state capability to replenish and rotate troops. It was enough to conquer all that land. And that is how wars are won - by the application of enough force.
Your understanding of the Indian Wars in the US is weak. Not only did the conflict extend over ~5 decades (1840s to 1890s), it was spread over the entire midsection of the nation from Canada to Mexico and from the Mississippi to the Sierra Nevada. The war was actually many small wars of limited engagements that not only involved the US Cavalry, but many state militias and volunteer groups. Battles were fought by small groups of troops (100-200) on one side against usually even smaller groups of Indians or against villages of mostly women and children. Bigger battles were rare. The wars followed the westward expansion and some areas were resolved before the problems arose in other places.

In the 102 years between 1789 and 1891 estimates of the total "white" men women and children killed during the Indian Wars are about 19,000. The Indian casualties run very much higher and are difficult to calculate. The Indian wars were slow and mostly just crushed the Indians one small group at a time using massacre, disease, forced marches, destruction of their food, etc. to destroy them. Relentless racial hatred was the driving force.
 
No one takes the ICC seriously. That does not mean the new US government will be dumping more of its treasury and materiel in Israel. And that is what actually matters.
If it makes you happy I'm not attributing thus cut to Trump's humanititarian concerns, if any, so much as his ability to recognize a losing hand and fold.



It wasn't. Logistics prevented mass movements of troops and artillery there, and the logic of the war had nothing to do with that of the ciovil war.
The US did had the population and state capability to replenish and rotate troops. It was enough to conquer all that land. And that is how wars are won - by the application of enough force.
Israel alone does not have enough force to realize the crazy plans of a greater Israel.
Well, killing the buffalo had something to do with it.
 
If it makes you happy I'm not attributing thus cut to Trump's humanititarian concerns, if any, so much as his ability to recognize a losing hand and fold.

You cannot simultaneously credit Trump with the ceasefire and also say that it happened because Israel was militarily exhausted/defeated. And if Trump forced Israel to recognize reality as you claim, then the ceasefire has only saved the IDF from an inevitable collapse.
 

Israel's security chief says focus switching to West Bank​

Days into the Gaza ceasefire, the head of Israel's Shin Bet security service has signalled that the country's focus is switching to Palestinian armed groups in the occupied West Bank.

Ronen Bar said Israel was in the midst of a multi-front campaign, but that "right now, it's Samaria's [northern West Bank] time".

Israeli forces have been carrying out a major military operation in and around the West Bank city of Jenin since Tuesday.

The Israeli army's chief, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, has talked of bringing Jenin to "a different place" through continued military pressure there.

Army vehicles are currently controlling the entrance to Jenin's main hospital, and have blocked access to Jenin refugee camp - home to both civilians and armed Palestinian groups.

The roads into the camp - some of them torn up by military bulldozers - are guarded by small groups of soldiers, who raised their weapons when we approached.

On Thursday, a stream of men, women and children left the camp, picking their way past the military vehicles and over the rubble of the road, to the sound of explosions and gunfire behind them.

"The situation is horrible," said Adel, a taxi driver. "I live on al-Awda Street, and I'm the last one to leave. There's no one there."

Adel said the army had dropped leaflets in the camp, telling people to leave their homes.

"Everyone has to leave before 17:00," he told me. "God knows what they're going to do."

Many of those leaving the camp on Thursday, clutching children, pets and plastic bags full of clothes, told us they had received instructions from the army to leave - either by announcements from drones or trucks, or through the leaflets.

The BBC has seen photos of leaflets said to have been dropped inside the camp, and heard recordings believed to be of the Israeli announcements, which appear to corroborate what the residents said.

But Israel's government spokesman, David Mencer, told journalists in a briefing that there had been "no evacuation orders whatsoever" for the people of Jenin.

"People in Jenin not connected with terrorism are free to leave, to get away from our action," he said. But he described reports of evacuation orders as "fake news, probably spread by supporters of Hamas".

Israel says it aims to destroy the armed groups here - backed by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad - and stop them carrying out attacks against Israeli targets.

It is worried about the West Bank becoming the next focus for Iranian influence and arms.

But a show of force here after the ceasefire in Gaza also plays well with those in Israel who not only want to continue the war there, but want to annex the West Bank as well.

Twelve Palestinians are reported to have been killed in the operation and dozens injured, including two men suspected of murdering three Israelis in a shooting attack earlier this month.

Qutaiba Shalabi and Mohammed Nazzal were killed after a fierce gun battle with Israeli forces on Wednesday night in Burqin, just west of Jenin.

Hamas put out a statement claiming them as its fighters.

But civilians have also been killed during the operation.

Ahmed al-Shayeb owned a mobile phone shop in Jenin - a well-known businessman, not a fighter, locals said.

He was shot dead by Israeli forces, as he drove down a road near Jenin's refugee camp, with his 10-year-old son Taym in the car.

"They started shooting, and a bullet hit him," Taym told reporters at his father's funeral on Wednesday.

"He said, 'God, God,' then the car hit the pavement. I saw two army vehicles coming toward us. They started to shoot towards the car, but I jumped out and ran away."

Israel's army says the incident is under review.

Many people here told us this raid felt different to the many others Israel has carried out since Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza.

"It's different this time - they're striking everywhere. It's like Gaza," one man told me, as he left the camp on Wednesday.

Next to him, 52-year-old Kefah Sehwal said she had lost 15 members of her family in the past 15 months.

"After what happened to [Israeli forces] in Gaza, the reaction is here," she told me. "They're taking it out on us."

Israel's Defence Minister, Israel Katz, has talked about a "shift in strategy" for this operation, saying the lesson from Gaza is not just to "eliminate terrorists", as he put it, but to stop them coming back.

That plan didn't work in Gaza. It's not clear it'll work in Jenin.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq8k5je1dwvo
 

Harvard Medical School canceled a planned Jan. 21 lecture on wartime healthcare and a subsequent panel with patients from Gaza receiving care in Boston in response to objections that students would hear from Gazans impacted by the war and not also Israelis.

Course instructors and students were notified Tuesday morning that the events — scheduled for that evening — would not be held.

Medical School Dean George Q. Daley ’82 wrote in a Wednesday email sent to first-year students and obtained by The Crimson that his office began receiving complaints from students and faculty within days after the session was first publicized last week.

The guest lecture — by Tufts professor Barry S. Levy, who studies the public health effects of war — was an optional evening session of the Pathways 120: “Essentials of the Profession” course, a requirement for all first-year students at the Medical School and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

Students had organized the moderated discussion with patients and their families as a follow-up to Levy’s lecture, which was not focused specifically on Gaza.

In his email, Daley wrote that the Medical School supports research and teaching on the health effects of war on healthcare — but aims to avoid polarizing the school’s affiliates.

“We are committed to exploring the most educationally rigorous means to teach and learn about the impact of war on the delivery of healthcare and on the health of affected populations, and to do so in a way that does not divide members of our community who hold disparate views,” he wrote.

Daley wrote that Medical School’s Educational Policy and Curriculum Committee, which oversees its four-year M.D. curriculum, would be part of a “process” to develop programming that meets those goals.

Following the cancellation, HMS professor David S. Jones, who helped write the course’s curriculum, said he received 50 emails from students asking why the lecture and discussion had been canceled.

Harvard Medical School Spokesperson Ekaterina D. Pesheva declined to comment beyond Daley’s email to students.

HMS and HSDM Student Council President Anna R.P. Mulhern wrote in an emailed statement to The Crimson that she was “deeply disheartened” by the event’s cancellation.

“Respect for all patients and their stories is a fundamental tenet of the medical profession. This principle was not upheld yesterday,” she added.

Jones said that Arabic-speaking Medical School students who had served as interpreters for patients from Gaza in Boston asked course staff to arrange the session with Levy and patients’ families.

“Students often find that the presence of a patient who is interviewed and discusses their experiences is often far more engaging, powerful, and moving than hearing a professor carry on about the pathophysiology of disease,” Jones said.

The optional session was part of the course’s original spring semester curriculum and was approved by HMS administrators, according to Jones.

But the sudden Tuesday morning cancellation resulted in a swift back-and-forth over the fate of the panel, per an emailed timeline compiled by the event’s student organizers and obtained by The Crimson.

After the initial cancellation, the organizers briefly received conditional approval to host the event as a student group, separately from the Essentials course. Less than an hour later, at roughly 11:30 a.m., they were told they could not host the event at all.

Jones said he hopes that the lecture and clinic can be rescheduled for a future date.
 
I'm not sure why so many of you see this as a hamas victory. Yes the tunnels can be rebuilt, more hamas soldiers will be born/ become ol enough to serve, their ammunition stocks replenished etc... but that will take years to accomplish. In the short term, hamas is unable to launch any large scale attacks on Israel, even if they really want to. Israel never had to eliminate hamas entirely, just to buy time. With hamas unable to launch large scale attacks on Israel for the time being, Israel can take full advantage of it by expanding settlements in the west bank, while their military and intelligence expands with it. By the time hamas recovers with more soldiers, infrastructure, tunnels, more soliders etc...it will be too late. By that point Israel not just having settlements in the west bank of a strong military soldier and defensive presence there means Hamas will be unable to do anything about it. Hamas as a political entity has not been completely destroyed, but it never had to. Just to decimate them to the point they're a shadow of their former self and thus unable to harm Israel for a number of years. Hamas knew October 7th they would get an overwhelming Israeli response. But what they were counting is more countries/militaries getting involved to join them. Some did, like Hezbollah. But it wasn't enough. Hamas will undoubtedly rebuild their tunnel network, recruit more soldiers when they come of age, etc But by then, the conflict will be over.
 
Trump solves the Gaza problem!!

Trump floats refugee plan to ‘just clean out’ Gaza
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Donald Trump said Saturday he’d like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they are accepting from the Gaza Strip — potentially moving out enough of the population to “just clean out” the war-torn area to create a virtual clean slate.

During a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump also said he’s ended his predecessor’s hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. That lifts a pressure point that had been meant to reduce civilian casualties during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza that is now halted by a tenuous ceasefire.

“We released them today,” Trump said of the bombs. “They’ve been waiting for them for a long time.” Asked why he lifted the ban on those bombs, Trump responded, “Because they bought them.”

On his larger vision for Gaza, Trump said he had call earlier in the day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and would speak Sunday with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt.

“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’” Trump said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king, “I’d love for you to take on more, cause I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”

He said of such a mass movement of Palestinians, “it could be temporary or long term,” adding that the area of the world that encompasses Gaza, has “had many, many conflicts” over centuries.

“Something has to happen,” Trump said. “But it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there.” He added: “So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”


All that beach front for his hotels!!
 
You cannot simultaneously credit Trump with the ceasefire and also say that it happened because Israel was militarily exhausted/defeated. And if Trump forced Israel to recognize reality as you claim, then the ceasefire has only saved the IDF from an inevitable collapse.
I remain convinced that a ceasefire was being delayed at least partially to await the outcome of the US election, including specifically to weaken Biden as a candidate by sustaining the voter displeasure with the Gaza invasion and the Biden administration's response. The delay was also in the hopes of a Trump victory which, of course happened, along with an opportunity to leverage the cease fire into some favors from Trump, ostensibly for Netanyahu's government.
 
Trump solves the Gaza problem!!

Trump floats refugee plan to ‘just clean out’ Gaza
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Donald Trump said Saturday he’d like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they are accepting from the Gaza Strip — potentially moving out enough of the population to “just clean out” the war-torn area to create a virtual clean slate.

During a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump also said he’s ended his predecessor’s hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. That lifts a pressure point that had been meant to reduce civilian casualties during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza that is now halted by a tenuous ceasefire.

“We released them today,” Trump said of the bombs. “They’ve been waiting for them for a long time.” Asked why he lifted the ban on those bombs, Trump responded, “Because they bought them.”

On his larger vision for Gaza, Trump said he had call earlier in the day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and would speak Sunday with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt.

“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’” Trump said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king, “I’d love for you to take on more, cause I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”

He said of such a mass movement of Palestinians, “it could be temporary or long term,” adding that the area of the world that encompasses Gaza, has “had many, many conflicts” over centuries.

“Something has to happen,” Trump said. “But it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there.” He added: “So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”


All that beach front for his hotels!!
Sounds like literal, definitional, textbook ethnic cleansing. :(
 
Sounds like literal, definitional, textbook ethnic cleansing. :(
Nothing out of the ordinary. Trump is, above all, an honest reflection of the dark side of western society. No flowery language, just "clear out" Gaza.
 
What I find most interesting is how Trump is admitting Gaza is demolished and saying that there are only 1.5 million people there now
 
Nothing out of the ordinary. Trump is, above all, an honest reflection of the dark side of western society. No flowery language, just "clear out" Gaza.
Important distinction... not "clear out", but "CLEAN out", an explicit, perhaps subconscious implication/allusion to a view of the Gazans as dirty, unclean... the kind of attitude you might expect someone to have towards scum, vermin, and similar.
What I find most interesting is how Trump is admitting Gaza is demolished and saying that there are only 1.5 million people there now
Given that the pre-war population was estimated at about 2.2 Million, that would be a dizzying loss of 700,000 people from the region.
 
It should be noted that the only thing that has changed with regard to US policy is that now the President and those around him are not pretending to care about Palestinians.
 
Trump solves the Gaza problem!!

Trump floats refugee plan to ‘just clean out’ Gaza
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Donald Trump said Saturday he’d like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they are accepting from the Gaza Strip — potentially moving out enough of the population to “just clean out” the war-torn area to create a virtual clean slate.

During a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump also said he’s ended his predecessor’s hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. That lifts a pressure point that had been meant to reduce civilian casualties during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza that is now halted by a tenuous ceasefire.

“We released them today,” Trump said of the bombs. “They’ve been waiting for them for a long time.” Asked why he lifted the ban on those bombs, Trump responded, “Because they bought them.”

On his larger vision for Gaza, Trump said he had call earlier in the day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and would speak Sunday with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt.

“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’” Trump said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king, “I’d love for you to take on more, cause I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”

He said of such a mass movement of Palestinians, “it could be temporary or long term,” adding that the area of the world that encompasses Gaza, has “had many, many conflicts” over centuries.

“Something has to happen,” Trump said. “But it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there.” He added: “So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”


All that beach front for his hotels!!

Looks like the Palestinians turned down Trump and are returning to northern Gaza by the tens of thousands today.


Trump has also resumed shipping 2000 pound bombs to Israel.

Biden halted shipments of such large bombs because Israel kept using 6 of them at once to kill 1 terrorist + 200 innocent people that were within viewing distance of them.
 
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2-year-old Palestinian girl killed in her home by Israeli military​

Laila Al-Khatib was shot in the head during a raid in the West Bank, Health Ministry says

Israeli forces shot a two-year-old girl in the head in her West Bank home on Saturday while she was eating dinner with her family, according to health officials and family members.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says Laila Muhammad Al-Khatib was shot dead during an Israeli military raid on the village of Ash-Shuhada, just south of Jenin.

"They started to shoot at us through the windows without any warning," Ghada Asous, the toddler's grandmother, said. "All of a sudden, the special forces raided us and were shooting through the windows."

Media reports say the girl's pregnant mother also sustained light injuries. Images from the scene showed bullet holes in the home's windows.

A funeral was held on Sunday.

The Israel Defense Froces (IDF) say troops on a counterterrorism operation had fired at a structure where suspected militants had barricaded themselves. It said in a statement that it was reviewing reports that uninvolved civilians were injured.

Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director with Human Rights Watch, told CBC News the group has documented a wide range of unlawful killings of children and other civilians in the West Bank.

"In this particular case, it speaks to a pattern of such a reckless disregard for Palestinian life that bystanders and others are often regularly caught up in the killings," he said.

Shakir says the recent escalation of Israeli military violence in the West Bank has been "dramatic" and "alarming."

An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinian militants in the city of Tulkarm on Monday, according to Hamas and Israeli military officials.

In Jenin, further north, a major operation with hundreds of Israeli troops backed by armoured vehicles, drones and helicopters, looked set to go into a second week, with smoke rising above the refugee camp adjacent to the city.

The raid in Jenin, which is seen as a hub for Palestinian resistance groups, started the day after a ceasefire took effect in the Gaza Strip.

Armoured bulldozers and diggers have destroyed buildings and roads in the camp — a crowded township built for descendants of Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes in the 1948 war amid the creation of Israel. Thousands of people have left their homes.

At least 16 Palestinians have been killed in Jenin and surrounding areas since the start of the operation a week ago, including four claimed as fighters by Hamas and the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague said in July that Israel's occupation of the West Bank violates international law, writing in a non-binding advisory opinion that Israel should end its presence in occupied Palestinian territories as rapidly as possible. Israel has rejected the findings.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/toddler-killed-home-west-bank-1.7443175
 
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